15. For a father, embittered with the suffering of grief, made an image of his son, who had been suddenly taken away from him, and then, he who had died as a man, now begins to be worshiped as if a god, and so rites and sacrifices are established among his servants.
16. Then, in the course of time, iniquity gains strength within this erroneous custom, so that this error has been observed as if it were a law, and this figment has been worshiped at the command of tyrants.
17. And those, whom men could not openly honor because they were far off, a likeness of them was carried from far off, and from it they made a similar image of the king that they wanted to honor, so that, by their solicitude, they might worship he who was absent, just as if he were present.
18. Yet, it passes into their care, and those whom they did not know, they love because of the excellence of the artist.
19. For he, wishing to please the one who hired him, embellished his art, so as to fashion a better likeness.
20. But the multitude of men, brought together by the beauty of the work, now considered him to be a god, whom they had formerly honored as a man.