(Now in so far as all soul, but in a much higher degree the soul of man, is akin to and related to the gods, so much the more is it likely that the gaze of the gods should penetrate through his soul easily and effectively. And observe the love of the god for mankind when he says that he delights in the disposition of god‐fearing men as much as in Olympus most pure and bright. How then shall he not lead up our souls from the darkness and from Tartarus, if we approach him with pious awe? And indeed he has knowledge even of those who have been imprisoned in Tartarus—for not even that region falls outside the power of the gods,—and to the god‐fearing he promises Olympus instead of Tartarus. Wherefore we ought by all means to hold fast to deeds of piety, approaching the gods with reverence, and neither saying nor listening to anything base. And the priests ought to keep themselves pure not only from impure or shameful acts, but also from uttering words and hearing speeches of that character. Accordingly we must banish all offensive jests and all licentious intercourse. And that you may understand what I mean by this, let no one who has been consecrated a priest read either Archilochus or Hipponax(525) or anyone else who writes such poems as theirs. And in Old Comedy let him avoid everything of that type—for it is better so—and indeed on all accounts philosophy alone will be appropriate for us priests; and of philosophers only those who chose the gods as guides of their mental discipline, like Pythagoras and Plato and Aristotle, and the school of Chrysippus and Zeno. For we ought not to give heed to them all nor to the doctrines of all, but only to those philosophers and those of their doctrines that make men god‐fearing, and teach concerning the gods, first that they exist, secondly that they concern themselves with the things of this world, and further that they do no injury at all either to mankind or to one another out of jealousy or envy or enmity. I mean the sort of thing our poets in the first place have brought themselves into disrepute by writing, and in the second place such tales as the prophets of the Jews take pains to invent, and are admired for so doing by those miserable men who have attached themselves to the Galilaeans.) Πρέποι δ᾽ ἂν ἡμῖν ἱστορίαις ἐντυγχάνειν, ὁπόσαι συνεγράφησαν ἐπὶ πεποιημένοις τοῖς ἔργοις· ὅσα δὲ ἐστιν ἐν ἱστορίας εἴδει παρὰ τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν ἀπηγγελμένα πλάσματα παραιτητέον, ἐρωτικὰς ὑποθέσεις καὶ πάντα ἁπλῶς τὰ τοιαῦτα. καθάπερ γὰρ οὐδὲ ὁδὸς πᾶσα τοῖς ἱερωμένοις ἁρμόττει, τετάχθαι δὲ χρὴ καὶ ταύτας, [C] οὕτως οὐδὲ ἀνάγνωσμα πᾶν ἱερωμένῳ πρέπει. ἐγγίνεται γάρ τις τῇ ψυχῇ διάθεσις ὑπὸ τῶν λόγων, καὶ κατ᾽ ὀλίγον ἐγείρει τὰς ἐπιθυμίας, εἶτα ἐξαίφνης ἀνάπτει δεινὴν φλόγα, πρὸς ἣν οἶμαι χρὴ πόρρωθεν παρατετάχθαι.