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But when is this fault committed?

Whenever an erroneous representation is made of the nature of

gods and heroes,-as when a painter paints a portrait not having

the shadow of a likeness to the original.

Yes, he said, that sort of thing is certainly very blameable; but

what are the stories which you mean?

First of all, I said, there was that greatest of all lies in high

places, which the poet told about Uranus, and which was a bad lie

too,-I mean what Hesiod says that Uranus did, and how Cronus

retaliated on him. The doings of Cronus, and the sufferings which

in turn his son inflicted upon him, even if they were true, ought

certainly not to be lightly told to young and thoughtless

persons; if possible, they had better be buried in silence. But

if there is an absolute necessity for their mention, a chosen few

might hear them in a mystery, and they should sacrifice not a

common (Eleusinian) pig, but some huge and unprocurable victim;

and then the number of the hearers will be very few indeed.