d Hermes, a lusty fellow, a thief,
and a covetous, a sorcerer, bowlegged, and an interpreter of speech.
It is impossible for such an one to be a God.

"They also exhibit Asklepius as god, a physician, a maker of medicines,
a compounder of plasters for his livelihood (for he is a needy wight),
and in the end, they say that he was struck by Zeus with a
thunder-bolt, because of Tyndareus, son of Lakedaemon, and thus
perished. Now if Asklepius, though a god, when struck by a
thunder-bolt, could not help himself, how can he help others?

"Ares is represented as a warlike god, emulous, and covetous of sheep
and other things. But in the end they say he was taken in adultery
with Aphrodite by the child Eros and Hephaestus and was bound by them.
How then can the covetous, the warrior, the bondman and adulterer be a
god?

"Dionysus they show as a god, who leadeth nightly orgies, and teacheth
drunkenness, and carrieth off his neighbours' wives, a madman and an
exile, finally slain by the Titans. If then Dionysus was slain and
unable to help himself, nay, further was a madman, a drunkard, and
vagabond, how could he be a god?

"Herakles, too, is represented as drunken and mad, as slaying his own
children, then consuming with fire and thus dying. How then could a
drunkard and slayer of his own children, burnt to death by fire, be a
god? Or how can he help others who could not help himself?

"Apollo they represent as an emulous god, holding bow and quiver, and,
at times, harp and flute, and prophesying to men for pay. Soothly he is
needy: but one that is needy and emulous and a minstrel cannot be a god.

"Artemis, his sister, they represent as an huntress, with bow and
quiver, ranging the mountains alone, with her hounds, in chase of stag
or boar. How can such an one, that is an huntress and a ranger with
hounds, be a goddess?

"Of Aphrodite, adulteress though she be, they say that she is herself a
goddess. Once she had for leman Ares, once Anchises, once Adonis,
whose death she lamenteth, seeking her lost lover. They say that she
even descended into Hades to ransom Adonis from Persephone. Didst
thou, O king, ever see madness greater than this? They represent this
weeping and wailing adulteress as a goddess.

"Adonis they show as an hunter-god, violently killed by a boar-tusk,
and unable to help his own distress. How then shall he take thought
for mankind, he the adulterer, the hunter who died a violent death?

"A