17
And those whom men could not honour in presence, because they dwelt far off, they brought their resemblance from afar, and made an express image of the king whom they had a mind to honour: that by this their diligence, they might honour as present, him that was absent.
18
And to worshipping of these, the singular diligence also of the artificer helped to set forward the ignorant.
19
For he being willing to please him that employed him, laboured with all his art to make the resemblance in the best manner.
20
And the multitude of men, carried away by the beauty of the work, took him now for a god that a little before was but honoured as a man.
21
And this was the occasion of deceiving human life: for men serving either their affection, or their kings, gave the incommunicable name to stones and wood.