17 When people could not honor monarchsa in their presence, since they lived at a distance,

they imagined their appearance far away,

and made a visible image of the king whom they honored,

so that by their zeal they might flatter the absent one as though present.

18 Then the ambition of the artisan impelled

even those who did not know the king to intensify their worship.

19 For he, perhaps wishing to please his ruler,

skillfully forced the likeness to take more beautiful form,

20 and the multitude, attracted by the charm of his work,

now regarded as an object of worship the one whom shortly before they had honored as a human being.