Exhortation to the Greeks 4.57

We must go, then, as close as possible to the statues, so that the error may be exposed as familiar from their very appearance; for the forms of the statues are very clearly stamped with the character of the daemons. If anyone goes around and looks at the paintings and statues, he will at once recognize your gods from their disgraceful figures: Dionysus by his dress, Hephaestus by his craft, Deo by her misfortune, Ino by her veil, Poseidon by his trident, Zeus by the swan; the pyre points out Heracles; and if one sees a naked woman painted, he understands “golden” Aphrodite. So that famous Pygmalion of Cyprus fell in love with an ivory statue; the statue was of Aphrodite, and it was naked. The Cypriot is conquered by its form and has intercourse with the statue; Philostephanus records this. Another Aphrodite, at Cnidus, was of stone and was beautiful; another man fell in love with her and had intercourse with the stone. Posidippus records it: the first in his book on Cyprus, the second in his book on Cnidus. So powerful was art to deceive, becoming a procurer that led amorous men into the pit. The craftsman's art is effective, but it cannot deceive a rational being, nor those who have lived according to reason. Doves, indeed, have flown to painted doves because of the likeness, and horses have neighed at well-painted mares. They say a girl fell in love with an image, and a handsome youth with the Cnidian statue; but the eyes of the spectators had been deceived by the art. For no one in his right mind would have embraced a goddess, or been buried with a dead woman, or fallen in love with a daemon and a stone. But art deceives you with another kind of sorcery: if not by leading you to love the statues and paintings, then to honor and worship them. The painting is a likeness: let the art be praised, but let it not deceive the human being as if it were the truth.