Wisdom 14:16 CPDV

¹⁴  For by the great emptiness of men they came into the world, and therefore their end is soon discovered.

¹⁵  For a father, embittered with the suffering of grief, made an image of his son, who had been suddenly taken away from him, and then, he who had died as a man, now begins to be worshiped as if a god, and so rites and sacrifices are established among his servants.

¹⁶  Then, in the course of time, iniquity gains strength within this erroneous custom, so that this error has been observed as if it were a law, and this figment has been worshiped at the command of tyrants.

¹⁷  And those, whom men could not openly honor because they were far off, a likeness of them was carried from far off, and from it they made a similar image of the king that they wanted to honor, so that, by their solicitude, they might worship he who was absent, just as if he were present.

¹⁸  Yet, it passes into their care, and those whom they did not know, they love because of the excellence of the artist.