Letter 360

To Chryseros the Sophist. If the most loquacious tripod of Apollo [the Delphic oracle], commanded to silence through the incarnate coming of Christ, the Master of all, has been fittingly muzzled contrary to the expectation of the Greeks [pagans], as all who dwell beneath the sun behold, on what account do you yourself refuse to feel abashed or ashamed, you who make a defense on behalf of your senseless and utterly wretched gods, and champion their absurdity and their shamelessness? But if you should be willing to be persuaded by me, you will rather, even now, emulate the becoming silence of the prophetic tripod.

Εἰ ὁ πολυφωνότατος τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος τρίπους σιγῇ προστεταγμένος διὰ τῆς ἐνσάρκου παρουσίας τοῦ πάντων Δεσπότου Χριστοῦ παρὰ τὴν τῶν Ἑλλήνων προσδοκίαν πρεπόντως πεφίμωται, καθὼς ἅπαντες οἱ τὴν ὑφ᾽ ἡλίῳ νεμόμενοι βλέπουσιν, τίνος ἕνεκεν αὐτὸς ἐntραπῆναι, ἢ αἰσχυνθῆναι οὐ βούλει, τὸν ὑπὲρ τῶν ἀλογίστων, καὶ παναθλίων θεῶν σου λόγον ποιούμενος, καὶ ἀντιποιούμενος τῆς ἀτοπίας, καὶ τῆς ἀπροσωπίας; Ἀλλ᾽ εἴπερ ἐμοὶ πεισθῆναι θελήσεις, μᾶλλον εὐπροσωπήσαι τὴν ἀφωνίαν μᾶλλον ἀρτίως ζηλώσεις τοῦ μαντικοῦ τρίποδος.