Arnobius

“ Do you declare, say yourselves, what that was, or to what race of beings it should be referred, if your service of certain personages is in itself certain. [2] Since the case is thus, and the discussion deals with your deity, and your religion also, it is your part to teach, and yours to show what that was, rather than to wish to hear our opinions and to await our decisions. For we, indeed, what else can we say than that which took place and was seen, which has been handed down in all the narratives, and has been observed by means of the eyes? ”

“ It is weak reasoning from this, [10] to suppose that that serpent was a god because with all speed it withdrew itself from the eyes of the beholders, since, by the same reasoning, it can be proved, on the other hand, that it was not a god. ”