What defense, then, what proof that these beings are gods can those caught in this superstition offer? From what was said a little earlier, our argument has shown that they are human beings, and not honorable human beings. Perhaps, however, they will turn to another argument and take great pride in the useful things these figures are said to have discovered for human life, claiming that they regard them as gods because they benefited humanity.
Zeus is said to have possessed the art of modeling, Poseidon navigation, Hephaestus metalworking, Athena weaving, Apollo music, Artemis hunting, Hera adornment, Demeter agriculture, and the others other arts, as those who tell their histories have related.
But people should not ascribe these and similar skills to these figures alone. They should ascribe them to the common nature of humanity, for human beings discover the arts by observing nature. Common speech itself calls art an imitation of nature. If, then, these figures became skilled in the arts they pursued, that is no reason to think them gods, but rather human beings. The arts did not originate from them; in practicing them, they too imitated nature.
Since human beings are by nature capable of knowledge, as has already been established, there is nothing surprising if they used human intelligence, looked at their own nature, came to understand it, and devised the arts. Or if they say that the discovery of arts makes people worthy to be proclaimed gods, then it is time to proclaim the discoverers of the other arts gods as well, on the same principle by which the former were thought worthy of that name.
The Phoenicians invented letters; Homer, heroic poetry; Zeno of Elea, dialectic; Corax of Syracuse, rhetoric; Aristaeus, beekeeping; Triptolemus, the sowing of grain; Lycurgus the Spartan and Solon the Athenian, laws. Palamedes discovered the arrangement of letters, numbers, measures, and weights. And others made known other and various things useful for human life, according to the testimony of those who wrote the histories.
If, therefore, these skills make gods, and carved gods exist because of them, then by their own reasoning those who later discovered the other arts must also be gods. But if they do not consider these later inventors worthy of the honor due to God and instead recognize them as human beings, then it follows that Zeus, Hera, and the others should not even be called gods. They too should be believed to have been human beings—especially since they were not even honorable people. The very carving of their forms in statues exposes them as nothing other than human beings.
What defense, then, what proof that these beings are gods can those caught in this superstition offer? From what was said a little earlier, our argument has shown that they are human beings, and not honorable human beings. Perhaps, however, they will turn to another argument and take great pride in the useful things these figures are said to have discovered for human life, claiming that they regard them as gods because they benefited humanity.
Zeus is said to have possessed the art of modeling, Poseidon navigation, Hephaestus metalworking, Athena weaving, Apollo music, Artemis hunting, Hera adornment, Demeter agriculture, and the others other arts, as those who tell their histories have related.
But people should not ascribe these and similar skills to these figures alone. They should ascribe them to the common nature of humanity, for human beings discover the arts by observing nature. Common speech itself calls art an imitation of nature. If, then, these figures became skilled in the arts they pursued, that is no reason to think them gods, but rather human beings. The arts did not originate from them; in practicing them, they too imitated nature.
Since human beings are by nature capable of knowledge, as has already been established, there is nothing surprising if they used human intelligence, looked at their own nature, came to understand it, and devised the arts. Or if they say that the discovery of arts makes people worthy to be proclaimed gods, then it is time to proclaim the discoverers of the other arts gods as well, on the same principle by which the former were thought worthy of that name.
The Phoenicians invented letters; Homer, heroic poetry; Zeno of Elea, dialectic; Corax of Syracuse, rhetoric; Aristaeus, beekeeping; Triptolemus, the sowing of grain; Lycurgus the Spartan and Solon the Athenian, laws. Palamedes discovered the arrangement of letters, numbers, measures, and weights. And others made known other and various things useful for human life, according to the testimony of those who wrote the histories.
If, therefore, these skills make gods, and carved gods exist because of them, then by their own reasoning those who later discovered the other arts must also be gods. But if they do not consider these later inventors worthy of the honor due to God and instead recognize them as human beings, then it follows that Zeus, Hera, and the others should not even be called gods. They too should be believed to have been human beings—especially since they were not even honorable people. The very carving of their forms in statues exposes them as nothing other than human beings.