Philosophers knew one God; the gods were deified humans
Octavius is replying to Caecilius, arguing that the philosophers already knew one God and that the pagan gods were merely honored humans.
I have set out the opinions of nearly all the philosophers whose glory is most illustrious, showing that they have designated one God by many names, so that anyone may judge that either Christians are now philosophers, or philosophers were already Christians then. But if the world is ruled by providence and governed by the nod of one God, the antiquity of the unskilled should not delight us with its little fables, nor should it capture us and drag us to the error of mutual agreement, since it is refuted by the opinions of its own philosophers, whom the authority of both reason and age supports. For our ancestors had such an easy faith in lies that they rashly believed even such monstrous wonders as these: the many-formed Scylla, the multiform Chimaera, the Hydra reborn with fortunate wounds, and Centaurs, horses intertwined with their own humans. Whatever fame was allowed to invent, they were glad to hear. What of those old wives' tales about humans turned into birds and beasts, and humans turned into trees and flowers? If such things had happened, they would still happen; because they cannot happen, they were never done. In the same way, our ancestors were also improvident and credulous toward the gods in their rude simplicity: while they worshiped their kings religiously, while they longed to see them after death in images, while they eagerly preserved their memories in statues, what had been adopted as consolation became sacred rites. Finally, before the world was opened to commerce and before nations mixed their rites and customs, each nation venerated its own founder, or its renowned leader, or a chaste queen stronger than her sex, or the discoverer of some gift or art, as a citizen of good memory. In this way a reward was given to the dead and an example to those to come.
Latin
Exposui opiniones omnium ferme philosophorum, quibus inlustrior gloria est, Deum unum multis licet designasse nominibus, ut quiuis arbitretur, aut nunc Christianos philosophos esse aut philosophos fuisse iam tunc Christianos.
quod si prouidentia mundus regitur et unius Dei nutu gubernatur, non nos debet antiquitas inperitorum fabellis suis delectata uel capta ad errorem mutui rapere consensus, cum philosophorum suorum sententiis refellatur, quibus et rationis et uetustatis adsistit auctoritas.
maioribus enim nostris tam facilis in mendaciis fides fuit, ut temere crediderint etiam talia monstruosa miracula: Scyllam multiplicem, Chimaeram multiformem et Hydram felicibus uulneribus renascentem et Centauros equos suis hominibus inplexos, et quicquid famae licet fingere, illis erat libenter audire.
quid lllas aniles fabulas, de hominibus aues et feras, t homines et de hominibus arbores atque flores ? quae si essent facta, fierent: quia fieri non possunt, ideo nec facta sunt.
similiter t ac uero erga deos quoque maiores nostri inprouidi, creduli rudi simplicitate crediderunt: dum reges suos colunt religiose, dum defunctos eos desiderant in imaginibus uidere, dum gestiunt eorum memorias in statuis detinere, sacra facta sunt quae fuerant adsumpta solacia.
denique et antequam commerciis orbis pateret et antequam gentes ritus suos moresque miscerent, unaquaeque natio conditorem suum aut ducem inclytum aut reginam pudicam sexu suo fortiorem aut alicuius muneris uel artis repertorem uenerabatur ut ciuem bonae memoriae: sic et defunctis praemium et futuris dabatur exemplum.