16
As time goes by, his godless custom becomes tradition. Eventually, his custom becomes law, and rulers order the people to worship these carved images.
17
These rulers, moreover, lived far away from most of their subjects. So because the people couldn't pay their respects in person, they imagined what the ruler looked like and made an image of their honored leader. By their diligent efforts, they were thus still able to shower the king with their flattery.
18
But the artist's desire to be recognized for his work also incited the fools to an ever greater intensity of worship.
19
Perhaps out of a desire to please the person in power, the artist makes the most of his artistic skill to fashion an even more beautiful and perfect image.
20
The masses, charmed by the object's workmanship, now begin to consider the object worthy of their worship, where not long before they had only honored the person as a human being.