Single Idea 15659

[catalogued under 29. Religion / A. Polytheistic Religion / 2. Greek Polytheism]

Full Idea

They purify themselves by staining themselves with other blood, as if one were to step into mud to wash off mud. But a man would be thought mad if any of his fellow-men should perceive him acting thus.

Gist of Idea

Purifying yourself with blood is as crazy as using mud to wash off mud

Source

Heraclitus (fragments/reports [c.500 BCE], B005), quoted by Origen - Against Celsus 7.62

Book Reference

'Ancilla to the Pre-Socratic Philosophers', ed/tr. Freeman,Kathleen [Harvard 1957], p.25