Part X,

440
impious, you may be believed. Where is God, (Kurupin Temples? O pious Men, who place God in the dark ! It is a reproach to a Man to tell him, he is a Stone; but of God you pro- fefs, as a truth and in his commendations, he is born of a Rock. You ignorant people ! you know not, that God is not made with Hands, nei¬ ther hath he any Bafis from the beginning, nor hath one Circumference , but the whole World, adorned with living Creatures, Plants and Stars, is his Manfion. But if you your felves are un¬ learned, let not my Learning beconftrued impie¬ ty. Learn Wifdom,and undeiftand ; but you will not, neither do I force you. You grow old with ignorance, and rejoyce in your own Wickednefs. Hercules was not, as Homer bely’d him to be, a Murthererof Strangers. What was it that Dei¬ fied him ? his own Integrity and Fortitude, by which he perform’d fo many Labours. Am not I then, O ye Men, goodalfo? I wasmiftaken when I asked you ; for though you Ihould fay the contrary, yet I am good, and have perform¬ ed many difficult Labours. I have overcome pieafures; I have overcome Riches; Lhave over¬ come Ambition; I have mafter’d Cowardice; I have mafter’d Flattery : Fear hath nothing to objesfiragainft me, Drunkenefs hath toothing to obje ger is afraid.of me ; I have won the Garland in Fighting againft thefe Adverfaries, a task which wasimpofed on me by my felf, not by Eurifius. Will you not give over to flander Wifdom, and to prefs your own Sins and Crimes upon your felves i If you could return to life yoo years hence, you would find Heraclitus ftill alive, but not the leaft print of your Names. I fiiall equa¬ lize, by reafon of my Learning, the lives of Cities and Nations, I fiiall never be filenc’d. If the City of the Epheftans were razed to the Ground, and all their Altars deftroy’d, yet will the Souls of Men be the places to preferve my memory. I will alfo marry Hebe^ not the Hebe of Hercules^ he will always be with her Himfelf; mine is another.- Vertue hath brought forth ma¬ ny, and beftow’d one upon Homer, another up¬ on and to every good Man one, which is
the renown of his Learning. Am not I wifer than Euthycles, who alone know God ? But thou being bold and impious thy felf, think’ft himGod, who is not God; If the Altar of God be not eretfted, there is not God; but if the Altar of one that is not God beeretfted, then he is God, as if ftones were witnefTes of the iGods. His works fhould bear witnefs of him , as thofe of the Sun, Night and Day, bear witnefs ; the four fea- fons of the year are his witnelfes ; the whole fruitful Earth is his witnefs ; the Moon is his work, a heavenly teftimony.
The other Epiftle is this.
To Hermodorus.
IUnderftand that the Epheftans are about to make a Law againft me, moft illegally ; for it is not a Law which is made for a fingle perfon, but. Judgment; the Epheftans jctiow not that a Judge is different from a Law-giver, and this is fo much the better, for that it is uncertain who (hall tranfgrefs it : But the Judge leeth before his Eyes the Perfon that is to fuffer. They know.
Hermodorus, that I affifted you in the framing of Laws, and therefore will banifh me, but not be¬ fore they have confuted themfelves. They de¬ cree, that he who laughs not, and hates mankind, ftiall depart the City before the Sun rife; this is the Law they would make.There is no Man, H(r- modorus, but laughs, except Heraclitus ; and fo they banilh me. O ye Men .' Will ye not learn, why I never laugh ? It is not that I hate Men, but their Wickednefs; write your Law thus,W'ho- foever hateth Wickednefs, let him depart the City, and I will be the firft that (hall go, willing to forfake, not my Country, but the malice of my Country-men. Write your decree, over again. But if you grant there is Wickednefs and Vice amongft the Epheftans, and that I hate you for it, why fhould not I make a jufter Law, That they, who through their Wickednefs are the occafion that Heraclitus never laughs, fhould depart this life ? Or rather let them be fined great Sums, for the lofs of Wealth will more af- fiid you, this is death to you. You have done me wrong in taking away that which God gave me, and banifhing meunjuftly. Shall I therefore love you ? firft, for that you have taken all joy away from me, and not cealing there, opprefs me with Laws and Exile ; for whilft I live in the City, I am banifhed from you? With whom do I commit Adulteries? With what company do I commit Murther ? with whom am I Drunk ? Withwhomdol joyn in Wickednefs? I corrupt none; linjurenone ; I am alone in the City. You have made it a Defart by your Wickednefs. Hath Heraclitus made your Forum honeft ? No: but Heraclitus would have made you and the whole City good ; but you would not. I would do it, and am a Law to others ; I am the only Perfon that ought not tobe punifhed by the City. Do you wonder, that I never laugh ? I wonder at you, that you can rejoyce, and do wrong ; for thofe that do unjuftly ought to have a fower look. If you would give me an opportunity of laughter, live in peace; and conteft not unjuftly : You car¬ ry Swords in your Tongues, plunder Wealth, raviffi women, poifon friends, commit facriledge, betray theTrurtthe People repofe in you, take away Mens Lives by Torture; every Man is full of a feveral Wickednefs. Shall I laugh, when I fee Men do thefe things ? Their Garments, Beards and Heads order’^d with unnecelfary care j a Mo¬ ther deferred by a wicked Son, or young Men confuming their Patrimony, or a Citizen whofe Wife is taken from him, or a Virgin ravifh’d, or a Concubin entertained as a Wife, or one impu¬ dent young man courted by the whole City, or deadly Poifons by Unguents; or fome at Feafts filling their Bellies more with Poifon than with Dainties, or the People treating of Publick Af¬ fairs in the Theatre ? Virtue, more rigid than Vice, would ftrike me blind, if I ftiouldlaugh at your Ways. By Mufick, Pipes, and Stripes, you are excited to things contrary to all Harmony. Iron, a Metal more proper for Ploughs and Til¬ lage, is fitted for flaughter and death. You injure the Gods, warlike A/iwerx'a, and !\dars, furnamed Enyalius: Men, raifing Armies againft Men, co¬ vet to kill one another, punifti them whoforLke the Field , for not- being murderous ; and ho¬ nour, as valiant, fuch asaVe drunk with blood : But Lyons arm not themfelves againft one ano¬ ther :
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