Concerning the Ten Commandments, which are the Heads of the Law (5-7)

Pride is also the cause of many other evils, such as insolence, arrogance, and impiety. And these are the beginnings of foreign and civil wars, allowing nothing whatever to rest in peace in any part, whether it be public or private, by sea or by land.

And why need I mention the offences of such men against one another? For even divine things are neglected by pride, even though they are generally thought to be entitled to the highest honour. And what honour can there be where there is not truth also which has an honourable name and reality, since falsehood, on the other hand, is by nature devoid of honour;

and the neglect of divine things is evident to those who see clearly; for they, having fashioned an infinite variety of appearances by the arts of painting and sculpture, have surrounded them with temples and shrines, and have erected altars, and adorned them with images and statues, and erections of that kind, giving celestial honours to all sorts of inanimate things,