§12θέμενοι δὲ βωμοὺς καὶ προρρήσεις καὶ περιρραντήρια προσάγουσι τὰς θυσίας, βοῦν μὲν ἀροτῆρα ὁ γεωργός, ἄρνα δὲ ὁ ποιμὴν καὶ αἶγα ὁ αἰπόλος, ὁ δέ τις λιβανωτὸν ἢ πόπανον, ὁ δὲ πένης ἱλάσατο τὸν θεὸν κύσας μόνον τὴν ἑαυτοῦ δεξιάν.
And having set up altars, public notices, and lustral basins, they bring forward their sacrifices: the farmer a ploughing ox, the shepherd a lamb, and the goatherd a goat, while someone else offers frankincense or a cake, and the poor man propitiates the god by merely kissing his own right hand.
ἀλλʼ οἵ γε θύοντες — ἐπʼ ἐκείνους γὰρ ἐπάνειμι — στεφανώσαντες τὸ ζῷον καὶ πολύ γε πρότερον ἐξετάσαντες εἰ ἐντελὲς εἴη, ἵνα μηδὲ τῶν ἀχρήστων τι κατασφάττωσιν, προσάγουσι τῷ βωμῷ καὶ φονεύουσιν ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς τοῦ θεοῦ γοερόν τι μυκώμενον καὶ ὡς τὸ εἰκὸς εὐφημοῦν καὶ ἡμίφωνον ἤδη τῇ θυσίᾳ ἐπαυλοῦν.
But those who do sacrifice—for I return to them—having garlanded the animal and, long before, having examined whether it is perfect, so that they might not slaughter any of the useless things, bring it to the altar and slaughter it before the eyes of the god while it bellows piteously and, as is natural, 'utters auspicious sounds,' and, already half-voiced, 'plays an accompaniment' to the sacrifice.
τίς οὐκ ἂν εἰκάσειεν ἥδεσθαι ταῦτα ὁρῶντας τοὺς θεούς;
Who would not suppose that the gods are pleased when they see these things?
§13καὶ τὸ μὲν πρόγραμμά φησι μὴ παριέναι εἰς τὸ εἴσω τῶν περιρραντηρίων ὅστις μὴ καθαρός ἐστιν τὰς χεῖρας· ὁ δὲ ἱερεὺς αὐτὸς ἕστηκεν ᾑμαγμένος καὶ ὥσπερ ὁ Κύκλωψ ἐκεῖνος ἀνατέμνων καὶ τὰ ἔγκατα ἐξαιρῶν καὶ καρδιουλκῶν καὶ τὸ αἷμα τῷ βωμῷ περιχέων καὶ τί γὰρ οὐκ εὐσεβὲς ἐπιτελῶν;
And the notice indeed says that anyone who is not clean of hands must not enter within the lustral basins; but the priest himself stands covered in blood, and just like that Cyclops cutting open the victim and extracting the entrails and tearing out the heart and pouring the blood around the altar, and indeed what pious act is he not performing?
ἐπὶ πᾶσι δὲ πῦρ ἀνακαύσας ἐπέθηκε φέρων αὐτῇ δορᾷ τὴν αἶγα καὶ αὐτοῖς ἐρίοις τὸ πρόβατον· ἡ δὲ κνῖσα θεσπέσιος καὶ ἱεροπρεπὴς χωρεῖ ἄνω καὶ εἰς αὐτὸν τὸν οὐρανὸν ἠρέμα διασκίδναται.
And on top of all, having kindled a fire, he places on it the goat with its very skin and the sheep with its very wool; and the wondrous and holy-befitting fat-savour rises upward and gently disperses into heaven itself.
ὁ μέν γε Σκύθης πάσας τὰς θυσίας ἀφεὶς καὶ ἡγησάμενος ταπεινὰς αὐτοὺς τοὺς ἀνθρώπους τῇ Ἀρτέμιδι παρίστησι καὶ οὕτως ποιῶν ἀρέσκει τὴν θεόν.
At least the Scythian, dismissing all such sacrifices and deeming them trivial, presents humans themselves to Artemis, and by so doing pleases the goddess.
§14ταῦτα μὲν δὴ ἴσως μέτρια καὶ τὰ ὑπʼ Ἀσσυρίων γιγνόμενα καὶ ὑπὸ Φρυγῶν καὶ Λυδῶν, ἢν δʼ εἰς τὴν Αἴγυπτον ἔλθῃς, τότε δὴ τότε ὄψει πολλὰ τὰ σεμνὰ καὶ ὡς ἀληθῶς ἄξια τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, κριοπρόσωπον μὲν τὸν Δία, κυνοπρόσωπον δὲ τὸν βέλτιστον Ἑρμῆν καὶ τὸν Πᾶνα ὅλον τράγον καὶ ἶβίν τινα καὶ κροκόδειλον ἕτερον καὶ πίθηκον. "εἰ δʼ ἐθέλεις καὶ ταῦτα δαήμεναι, ὄφρʼ εὖ εἰδῇς,"
ἀκούσῃ πολλῶν σοφιστῶν καὶ γραμματέων καὶ προφητῶν ἐξυρημένων διηγουμένων, — πρότερον δέ, φησὶν ὁ λόγος,
θύρας δʼ ἐπίθεσθε βέβηλοι
— ὡς ἄρα ὑπὸ τὸν πόλεμον καὶ τῶν γιγάντων τὴν ἐπανάστασιν οἱ θεοὶ φοβηθέντες ἧκον εἰς τὴν Αἴγυπτον ὡς δὴ ἐνταῦθα λησόμενοι τοὺς πολεμίους· εἶθʼ ὁ μὲν αὐτῶν ὑπέδυ τράγον, ὁ δὲ κριὸν ὑπὸ τοῦ δέους, ὁ δὲ θηρίον ἢ ὄρνεον· διὸ δὴ εἰσέτι καὶ νῦν φυλάττεσθαι τὰς τότε μορφὰς τοῖς θεοῖς.
These things indeed, and those done by the Assyrians, Phrygians, and Lydians, are perhaps moderate; but if you go to Egypt, then indeed, then you will see many solemn things and truly worthy of heaven: Zeus with a ram's face, the excellent Hermes with a dog's face, Pan as a whole goat, a certain ibis, another crocodile, and an ape. “But if you wish to learn these things also, that you may know well,” you will hear many sophists and scribes and shaven-headed prophets explaining—but first, as the saying goes, 'shut the doors, ye profane!' — that during the war and the uprising of the giants, the gods, being terrified, came to Egypt, as if to hide from their enemies here; then one of them slipped into a goat, another into a ram out of fear, another into a beast or a bird; and that is why even to this day those shapes of that time are preserved by the gods.
ταῦτα γὰρ ἀμέλει ἐν τοῖς ἀδύτοις ἀπόκειται γραφέντα πλεῖον ἢ πρὸ ἐτῶν μυρίων.
For these things, of course, are laid up in the innermost shrines, having been written more than ten thousand years ago.
§15αἱ δὲ θυσίαι καὶ παρʼ ἐκείνοις αἱ αὐταί, πλὴν ὅτι πενθοῦσι τὸ ἱερεῖον καὶ κόπτονται περιστάντες ἤδη πεφονευμένον.
And the sacrifices among them are the same, except that they mourn the victim and beat their breasts, standing around it when it has already been slaughtered.
οἱ δὲ καὶ θάπτουσι μόνον ἀποσφάξαντες.
And some indeed only bury it after slaughtering.
ὁ μὲν γὰρ Ἆπις, ὁ μέγιστος αὐτοῖς θεός, ἐὰν ἀποθάνῃ, τίς οὕτω περὶ πολλοῦ ποιεῖται τὴν κόμην ὅστις οὐκ ἀπεξύρησε καὶ ψιλὸν ἐπὶ τῆς κεφαλῆς τὸ πένθος ἐπεδείξατο, κἂν τὸν Νίσου ἔχῃ πλόκαμον τὸν πορφυροῦν;
For if Apis, their greatest god, dies, who holds his hair in such high esteem that he does not shave it off and display his mourning bare upon his head, even if he possesses the purple lock of Nisus?
ἔστι δὲ ὁ Ἆπις ἐξ ἀγέλης θεός, ἐπὶ τῷ προτέρῳ χειροτονούμενος ὡς πολὺ καλλίων καὶ σεμνότερος τῶν ἰδιωτῶν Βοῶν.
And Apis is a god chosen from the herd, elected over his predecessor as being much more beautiful and majestic than the ordinary oxen.
ταῦτα οὕτω γιγνόμενα καὶ ὑπὸ τῶν πολλῶν πιστευόμενα δεῖσθαί μοι δοκεῖ τοῦ μὲν ἐπιτιμήσοντος οὐδενός, Ἡρακλείτου δέ τινος ἢ Δημοκρίτου, τοῦ μὲν γελασομένου τὴν ἄγνοιαν αὐτῶν, τοῦ δὲ τὴν ἄνοιαν ὀδυρουμένου.
These things, happening thus and believed by the many, seem to me to need no one to rebuke them, but some Heraclitus or Democritus, the one to laugh at their ignorance, the other to bewail their folly.