[A phrase used] in reference to atheists and unbelievers and impious people. For after the capture of Melos[1] this man was living in Athens, and he disparaged the mysteries[2] in such a way as to turn many people away from initiation. So the Athenians made the following proclamation against him, and inscribed it on a bronze monument: anyone who killed him would receive a talent, and anyone who brought him [alive] would receive two. This proclamation was made because of his impiety, when he described the mysteries to everyone, making them common knowledge, trivialising them, and turning away those people who wanted to be initiated. So Aristophanes says in Birds: "on this day in particular the proclamation is made: if one of you kills Diagoras the Melian, he will receive a talent, and if anyone kills one of the tyrants, the dead ones, he will receive a talent." 'Dead': that is, those who are fleeing under penalty of death. He has said with exaggeration, 'to kill the dead'.[3]