1
Aristides now turns specifically to Greek mythology.
2
He acknowledges Greek intellectual sophistication but argues that this makes the contradiction sharper rather than smaller.
3
Their poets describe gods as male and female, adulterous, jealous, murderous, thieving, wounded, mad, enslaved, defeated, or sexually uncontrolled.
4
Some are said to die; others are struck by lightning, imprisoned, abducted, or transformed into animals for sexual pursuit.
5
Aristides argues that stories about divine beings become ethical models for worshipers.
6
If the gods are praised while doing what Greek laws punish in humans, religion and law condemn one another.
7
His concern is therefore not only metaphysical inconsistency but the social consequence of making vice divine.