Sextus Empiricus: Physics 365
whereas those dubbed 'atheists' hold that god does not exist, for example,
Euhemerus, "an old huckster, grinding out unjust books," Diagoras of
Melos, Prodicus of Ceos, Theodorus, and very many others. Of these,
Euhemerus used to say that those who were taken to be gods were actually
certain powerful men and because of this they were deified by the others
and thought to be gods; 52. whereas Prodicus said that that which benefits
life was supposed to be a god, for example, the sun, moon, rivers, lakes,
meadows, crops, and all such things. 53. The dithyramb-writer Diagoras
of Melos, as they say, was at first as superstitious as anyone. At least,
he began his poem in this way: "Everything is accomplished according
to daimons and fortune." But when he suffered an injustice from someone
who broke his word to him, and this person did not suffer anything as
a result of this, he changed his tune and said that god does not exist.
And Critias, one of the tyrants in Athens,^39 seems to be one of the band
of atheists, saying that the ancient lawmakers fashioned god as an overseer
of the [morally] perfect actions and [moral] errors of men, in order to
prevent people from doing injustice to their neighbour in secret, since
[if they believed in a god] they would be mindful of the punishment of
the gods ....
- Theodorus the atheist is in agreement with these men, and, accord-
ing to some, so is Protagoras of Abdera; the former, in his book on the
gods, provided all sorts of destructive arguments against Greek theological
beliefs, while the latter somewhere wrote these exact words,^40 "I am not
able to say whether gods exist or what sort of things they are, for there
are many things impeding my [understanding]." It was for this reason
that the Athenians decreed his death. He fled, and while on board ship,
fell overboard and drowned at sea .... - And Epicurus, according to some, allows a god for the many, but
does not allow that a god exists in the nature of things. 59. The sceptics
said that, because of the equal force of the opposing arguments, there is
no more reason to believe one way rather than the other. And we shall
realize this if we give a summary rundown of the arguments advanced
on either side. - Those then who think it right to hold that gods exist attempt to
establish their thesis by four modes: the first is the argument from the
agreement among all men; the second is the argument from cosmic design;
the third [is a reductio argument which] draws the absurd consequences
of denying the divine; the fourth and last is the refutation of opposing ar-
guments. - The reign of the Thirty Tyrants in 404 B.c.
- Fr. 1-12 D.-K., cf. 11-4.