Exhortation to the Greeks 3.44

So I am led to wonder by what fantasies those who first went astray were carried off when they proclaimed superstition to human beings, laying down the law that accursed daemons should be worshiped: whether it was the famous Phoroneus, or Merops, or someone else, who set up temples and altars to them and, as the myth goes, were the first to offer sacrifices to them. And indeed, as time went on, they kept inventing gods to worship. Certainly no one used to honor this Eros, who is said to be among the oldest of the gods, until Charmus seduced a certain youth and set up an altar in the Academy as a thank offering for the fulfillment of his desire; and they have called the licentiousness of this disease Eros, making a god of unbridled desire. The Athenians did not even know who Pan was until Philippides told them. Naturally, then, superstition, having taken its beginning from somewhere, has become a fountain of senseless wickedness; and then, not checked but growing and flowing in abundance, it has become the maker of many daemons, sacrificing hecatombs, celebrating festivals, setting up statues, and building temples. These (for I will not keep silent about them either, but will expose them too) are called temples as a euphemism, but in fact are tombs [that is, tombs called temples].