9

THE DIVINE INSTITUTES

BOOK I.

OF THE FALSE WORSHIP OF THE GODS.

PREFACE.--OF WHAT GREAT VALUE THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUTH IS AND ALWAYS
HAS BEEN.

 MEN of great and distinguished talent, when they had entirely devoted
themselves to learning, holding in contempt all actions both private and
public, applied to the pursuit of investigating the truth whatever
labour could be bestowed upon it; thinking it much more excellent to
investigate and know the method of human and divine things, than to be
entirely occupied with the heaping up of riches or the accumulation of
honours.  For no one can be made better or more just by these things,
since they are frail and earthly, and pertain to the adorning of the
body only.  Those men were indeed most deserving of the knowledge of the
truth, which they so greatly desired to know, that they even preferred
it to all things.  For it is plain that some gave up their property, and
altogether abandoned the pursuit of pleasures, that, being disengaged
and without impediment, they might follow the simple truth, and it
alone.  And so greatly did the name and authority of the truth prevail
with them, that they proclaimed that the reward of the greatest good was
contained in it.  But they did not obtain the object of their wish, and
at the same time lost their labour and industry; because the truth, that
is the secret of the Most High God, who created all things, cannot be
attained by our own ability and perceptions.  Otherwise there would be
no difference between God and man, if human thought.  could reach to the
counsels and arrangements of that eternal majesty.  And because it was
impossible that the divine method of procedure should become known to
man by his own efforts, God did not suffer man any longer to err in
search of the light of wisdom, and to wander through inextricable
darkness without any result of his labour, but at length opened his
eyes, and made the investigation of the truth His own gift, so that He
might show the nothingness of human wisdom, and point out to man
wandering in error the way of obtaining immortality.

 But since few make use of this heavenly benefit and gift, because the
truth lies hidden veiled in obscurity; and it is either an object of
contempt to the learned because it has not suitable defenders, or is
hated by the unlearned on account of its natural severity, which the
nature of men inclined to vices cannot endure: for because there is a
bitterness mingled with virtues, while vices are seasoned with pleasure,
offended by the former and soothed by the latter, they are borne
headlong, and deceived by the appearance of good things, they embrace
evils for goods,--I have believed that these errors should be
encountered, that both the learned may be directed to true wisdom, and
the unlearned to true religion.  And this profession is to be thought
much better, more useful and glorious, than that of oratory, in which
being long engaged, we trained young men not to virtue, but altogether
to cunning wickedness.(1) Certainly we shall now much more rightly
discuss respecting the heavenly precepts, by which we may be able to
instruct the minds of men to the worship of the true majesty.  Nor does
he deserve so well respecting the affairs of men, who imparts the
knowledge of speaking well, as he who teaches men to live in piety and
innocence; on which account the philosophers were in greater glory among
the Greeks than the orators.  For they, the philosophers, were
considered teachers of right living, which is far more excellent, since
to speak well belongs only to a few, but to live well belongs to all.
Yet that practice in fictitious suits has been of great advantage to us,
so that we are now able to plead the cause of truth with greater
copiousness and ability of speaking; for although the truth may be
defended without eloquence, as it often has

10

been defended by many, yet it needs to be explained, and in a measure
discussed, with distinctness and elegance of speech, in order that it
may flow with greater power into the minds of men, being both provided
with its own force, and adorned with the brilliancy of speech.

CHAP. I.--OF RELIGION AND WISDOM.

 We undertake, therefore, to discuss religion and divine things.  For if
some of the greatest orators, veterans as it were of their profession,
having completed the works of their pleadings, at last gave themselves
up to philosophy, and regarded that as a most just rest from their
labours, if they tortured their minds in the investigation of those
things which could not be found out, so that they appear to have sought
for themselves not so much leisure as occupation, and that indeed with
much greater trouble than in their former pursuit; how much more justly
shall I betake myself as to a most safe harbour, to that pious, true,
and divine wisdom, in which all things are ready for utterance, pleasant
to the hearing, easy to be understood, honourable to be undertaken!  And
if some skilful men and arbiters of justice composed and published
Institutions of civil law, by which they might lull the strifes and
contentions of discordant citizens, how much better and more rightly
shall we follow up in writing the divine Institutions, in which we shall
not speak about rain-droppings, or the turning of waters, or the
preferring of claims, but we shall speak of hope, of life, of salvation,
of immortality, and of God, that we may put an end to deadly
superstitions and most disgraceful errors.

 And we now commence this work under the auspices of your name, O mighty
Emperor Constantine, who were the first of the Roman princes to
repudiate errors, and to acknowledge and honour the majesty of the one
and only true God.(1) For when that most happy day had shone upon the
world, in which the Most High God raised you to the prosperous height of
power, you entered upon a dominion which was salutary and desirable for
all, with an excellent beginning, when, restoring justice which had been
overthrown and taken away, you expiated the most shameful deed of
others.  In return for which action God will grant to you happiness,
virtue, and length of days, that even when old you may govern the state
with the same justice with which you began in youth, anti may hand down
to your children the guardianship of the Roman name, as you yourself
received it from your father.  For to the wicked, who still rage against
the righteous in other parts of the world, the Omnipotent will also
repay the reward of their wickedness with a severity proportioned to its
tardiness; for as He is a most indulgent Father towards the godly, so is
He a most upright Judge against the ungodly.  And in my desire to defend
His religion and divine worship, to whom can I rather appeal, whom can I
address, but him by whom justice and wisdom have been restored to the
affairs of

men?

 Therefore, leaving the authors of this earthly philosophy, who bring
forward nothing certain.  let us approach the right path; for if I
considered these to be sufficiently suitable guides to a good life, I
would both follow them myself, and exhort others to follow them.  But
since they disagree among one another with great contention, and are for
the most part at variance with themselves, it is evident that their path
is by no means straightforward: since they have severally marked out
distinct ways for themselves according to their own will, and have left
great confusion to those who are seeking for the truth.  But since the
truth is revealed from heaven to us who have received the mystery of
true religion, and since we follow God, the teacher of wisdom and the
guide to truth, we call to ether all, without any distinction either of
sex or of age, to heavenly pasture.  For there is no more pleasant food
for the soul than the knowledge of truth,(2) to the maintaining and
explaining of which we have destined seven books, although the subject
is one of almost boundless and immeasurable labour; so that if any one
should wish to dilate upon and follow up these things to their full
extent, he would have such an exuberant supply of subjects, that neither
books would find any limit, nor speech any end.  But oil this account we
will put together all things briefly, because those things which we are
about to bring forward are so plain and lucid, that it seems to be more
wonderful that the truth appears so obscure to men, and to those
especially who are commonly esteemed wise, or because men will only need
to be trained by us,--that is, to be recalled from the error in which
they are entangled to a better course of life.

 And if, as I hope, we shall attain to this, we will send them to the
very fountain of learning, which is most rich and abundant, by copious
draughts of which they may appease the thirst conceived within, and
quench their ardour.  And all things will be easy, ready of
accomplishment, and clear to them, if only they are not annoyed at
applying patience in reading or hearing to the perception of the
discipline of wisdom.(3) For many, pertinaciously adhering to vain
superstitions, harden themselves against the manifest

11

truth, not so much deserving well of their religions, which they wrongly
maintain, as they deserve ill of themselves; who, when they have a
straight path, seek devious windings; who leave the level ground that
they may glide over a precipice; who leave the light, that, blind and
enfeebled, they may lie in darkness.  We must provide for these, that
they may not fight against themselves, and that they may be willing at
length to be freed from inveterate errors.  And this they will assuredly
do if they shall at any time see for what purpose they were born; for
this is the cause of their perverseness,--namely, ignorance of
themselves: and if any one, having gained the knowledge of the truth,
shall have shaken off this ignorance, he will know to what object his
life is to be directed, and how it is to be spent.  And I thus briefly
define the sum of this knowledge, that neither is any religion to be
undertaken without wisdom, nor any wisdom to be approved of without
religion.

 CHAP. II.--THAT THERE IS A PROVIDENCE IN THE AFFAIRS OF MEN.

 Having therefore undertaken the office of explaining the truth, I did
not think it so necessary to take my commencement from that inquiry
which naturally seems the first, whether there is a providence which
consults for all things, or all things were either made or are governed
by chance; which sentiment was introduced by Democritus, and confirmed
by Epicurus.  But before them, what did Protagoras effect, who raised
doubts respecting the gods; or Diagoras afterwards, who excluded them;
and some others, who did not hold the existence of gods, except that
there was supposed to be no providence?  These, however, were most
vigorously opposed by the other philosophers, and especially by the
Stoics, who taught that the universe could neither have been made
without divine intelligence, nor continue to exist unless it were
governed by the highest intelligence.  But even Marcus Tullius, although
he was a defender of the Academic system, discussed at length and on
many occasions respecting the providence which governs affairs,
confirming the arguments of the Stoics, and himself adducing many new
ones; and this he does both in all the books of his own philosophy, and
especially in those which treat of the nature of the gods.(1)

 And it was no difficult task, indeed, to refute the falsehoods of a few
men who entertained perverse sentiments by the testimony of communities
and tribes, who on this one point had no disagreement.  For there is no
one so uncivilized, and of such an uncultivated disposition,

who, when he raises his eyes to heaven, although he knows not by the
providence of what God all this visible universe is governed, does not
understand from the very magnitude of the objects, from their motion,
arrangement, constancy, usefulness, beauty, and temperament, that there
is some providence, and that that which exists with wonderful method
must have been prepared by some greater intelligence.  And for us,
assuredly, it is very easy to follow up this part as copiously as it may
please us.  But because the subject has been much agitated among
philosophers, and they who take away providence appear to have been
sufficiently answered by men of sagacity and eloquence, and because it
is necessary to speak, in different places throughout this work which we
have undertaken, respecting the skill of the divine providence, let us
for the present omit this inquiry, which is so closely connected with
the other questions, that it seems possible for us to discuss no
subject, without at the same time discussing the subject of providence.

CHAP. III.--WHETHER THE UNIVERSE IS GOVERNED BY THE POWER OF ONE GOD OR
OF MANY.

 Let the commencement of our work therefore be that inquiry which
closely follows and is connected with the first: Whether the universe is
governed by the power of one God or of many.  There is no one, who
possesses intelligence and uses reflection, who does not understand that
it is one Being who both created all things and governs them with the
same energy by which He created them.  For what need is there of many to
sustain the government of the universe?  unless we should happen to
think that, if there were more than one, each would possess less might
and strength.  And they who hold that there are many gods, do indeed
effect this; for those gods must of necessity be weak, since
individually, without the aid of the others, they would be unable to
sustain the government of so vast a mass.  But God, who is the Eternal
Mind, is undoubtedly of excellence, complete and perfect in every part.
And if this is true, He must of necessity be one.  For power or
excellence, which is complete, retains its own peculiar stability.  But
that is to be regarded as solid from which nothing can be taken away,
that as perfect to which nothing can be added.

 Who can doubt that he would be a most powerful king who should have the
government of the whole world?  And not without reason, since all things
which everywhere exist would belong to him, since all resources from all
quarters would be centred in him alone.  But if more than one divide the
government of the world, undoubtedly each will have less power and
strength, since every one must confine him-

12

self within his prescribed portion.(1) In the same manner also, if there
are more gods than one, they will be of less weight, others having in
themselves the same power.  But the nature of excellence admits of
greater perfection in him in whom the whole is, than in him in whom
there is only a small part of the whole.  But God, if He is perfect, as
He ought to be, cannot but be one, because He is perfect, so that all
things may be in Him.  Therefore the excellences and powers of the gods
must necessarily be weaker, because so much will be wanting to each as
shall be in the others; and so the more there are, so much the less
powerful will they be.  Why should I mention that this highest power and
divine energy is altogether incapable of division?  For whatever is
capable of division must of necessity be liable to destruction also.
But if destruction is far removed from God, because He is incorruptible
and eternal, it follows that the divine power is incapable of division.
Therefore God is one, if that which admits of so great power can be
nothing else: and yet those who deem that there are many gods, say that
they have divided their functions among themselves; but we will discuss
all these matters at their proper places.  In the meantime, I affirm
this, which belongs to the present subject.  If they have divided their
functions among themselves, the matter comes back to the same point,
that any one of them is unable to supply the place of all.  He cannot,
then, be perfect who is unable to govern all things while the others are
unemployed.  And so is comes to pass, that for the government of the
universe there is more need of the perfect excellence of one than of the
imperfect powers of many.  But he who imagines that so great a magnitude
as this cannot be governed by one Being, is deceived.  For he does not
comprehend how great are the might and power of the divine majesty, if
he thinks that the one God, who had power to create the universe, is
also unable to govern that which He has created.  But if he conceives in
his mind how great is the immensity of that divine work, when before it
was nothing, yet that by the power and wisdom of God it was made out of
nothing--a work which could only be commenced and accomplished by one--
he will now understand that that which has been established by one is
much more easily governed by one.

 Some one may perhaps say that so immense a work as that of the universe
could not even have been fabricated except by many.  But however many
and however great he may consider them,--whatever magnitude, power,
excellence, and majesty he may attribute to the

many,--the whole of that I assign to one, and say that it exists in one:
so that there is in Him such an amount of these properties as can
neither be conceived nor expressed.  And since we fail in this subject,
both in perception and in words--for neither does the human breast admit
the light of so great understanding, nor is the mortal tongue capable of
explaining such great subjects--it is right that we should understand
and say this very same thing.  I see, again, what can be alleged on the
other hand, that those many gods are such as we hold the one God to be.
But this cannot possibly be so, because the power of these gods
individually will not be able to proceed further, the power of the
others meeting and hindering them.  For either each must be unable to
pass beyond his own limits, or, if he shall have passed beyond them, he
must drive another from his boundaries.  They who believe that there are
many gods, do not see that it may happen that some may be opposed to
others in their wishes, from which circumstance disputing and contention
would arise among them; as Homer represented the gods at war among
themselves, since some desired that Troy should be taken, others opposed
it.  The universe, therefore, must be ruled by the will of one.  For
unless the power over the separate parts be referred to one and the same
providence, the whole itself will not be able to exist; since each takes
care of nothing beyond that which belongs peculiarly to him, just as
warfare could not be carried on without one general and commander.  But
if there were in one army as many generals as there are legions,
cohorts, divisions,(2) and squadrons, first of all it would not be
possible for the army to be drawn out in battle array, since each would
refuse the peril; nor could it easily be governed or controlled, because
all would use their own peculiar counsels, by the diversity of which
they would inflict more injury than they would confer advantage.  So, in
this government of the affairs of nature, unless there shall be one to
whom the care of the whole is referred, all things will be dissolved and
fall to decay.

 But to say that the universe is governed by the will of many, is
equivalent to a declaration that there are many minds in one body, since
there are many and various offices of the members, so that separate
minds may be supposed to govern separate senses; and also the many
affections, by which we are accustomed to be moved either to anger, or
to desire, or to joy, or to fear, or to pity, so that in all these
affections as many minds may be supposed to operate; and if any one
should say this, he would appear to be destitute even of that very mind,
which is one.  But

13

if in one body one mind possesses the government of so many things, and
is at the same time occupied with the whole, why should any one suppose
that the universe cannot be governed by one, but that it can be governed
by more than one?  And because those maintainers of many gods are aware
of this, they say that they so preside over separate offices and parts,
that there is still one chief ruler.  The others, therefore, on this
principle, will not be gods, but attendants and ministers, whom that one
most mighty and omnipotent appointed to these offices, and they
themselves will be subservient to his authority and command.  If,
therefore, all are not equal to one another, all are not gods; for that
which serves and that which rules cannot be the same.  For if God is a
title of the highest power, He must be incorruptible, perfect, incapable
of suffering, and subject to no other being; therefore they are not gods
whom necessity compels to obey the one greatest God.  But because they
who hold this opinion are not deceived without cause, we will presently
lay open the cause of this error.  Now, let us prove by testimonies the
unity of the divine power.

 CHAP. IV.--THAT THE ONE GOD WAS FORETOLD EVEN BY THE PROPHETS.

 The prophets, who were very many, proclaim and declare the one God;
for, being filled with the inspiration of the one God, they predicted
things to come, with agreeing and harmonious voice.  But those who are
ignorant of the truth do not think that these prophets are to be
believed; for they say that those voices are not divine, but human.
Forsooth, because they proclaim one God, they were either madmen or
deceivers.  But truly we see that their predictions have been fulfilled,
and are in course of fulfilment daily; and their foresight, agreeing as
it does to one opinion, teaches that they were not under the impulse of
madness.  For who possessed of a frenzied mind would be able, I do not
say to predict the future, but even to speak coherently?  Were they,
therefore, who spoke such things deceitful?  What was so utterly foreign
to their nature as a system of deceit, when they themselves restrained
others from all fraud?  For to this end were they sent by God, that they
should both be heralds of His majesty, and correctors of the wickedness
of man.

 Moreover, the inclination to feign and speak falsely belongs to those
who covet riches, and eagerly desire gains,--a disposition which was far
removed from those holy men.  For they so discharged the office
entrusted to them, that, disregarding all things necessary for the
maintenance of life, they were so far from laying up store for the
future, that they did not even labour for the day, content with the
unstored food which God had supplied; and these not only had no gains,
but even endured torments and death.  For the precepts of righteousness
are distasteful to the wicked, and to those who lead an unholy life.
Wherefore they, whose sins were brought to light and forbidden, most
cruelly tortured and slew them.  They, therefore, who had no desire for
gain, had neither the inclination nor the motive for deceit.  Why should
I say that some of them were princes, or even kings,(1) upon whom the
suspicion of covetousness and fraud could not possibly fall, and yet
they proclaimed the one God with the same prophetic foresight as the
others?

 CHAP, V.--OF THE TESTIMONIES OF POETS AND PHILOSOPHERS.

 But let us leave the testimony of prophets, lest a proof derived from
those who are universally disbelieved should appear insufficient.  Let
us come to authors, and for the demonstration of the truth let us cite
as witnesses those very persons whom they are accustomed to make use of
against us,--I mean poets and philosophers.  From these we cannot fail
in proving the unity of God; not that they had ascertained the truth,
but that the force of the truth itself is so great, that no one can be
so blind as not to see the divine brightness presenting itself to his
eyes.  The poets, therefore, however much they adorned the gods in their
poems, and amplified their exploits with the highest praises, yet very
frequently confess that all things are held together and governed by one
spirit or mind.  Orpheus, who is the most ancient of the poets, and
coeval with the gods themselves,--since it is reported that he sailed
among the Argonauts together with the sons of Tyndarus and Hercules,--
speaks of the true and great God as the first-born(2) because nothing
was produced before Him, but all things sprung from Him.  He also calls
Him Phanes(3) because when as yet there was nothing He first appeared
and came forth from the infinite.  And since he was unable to conceive
in his mind the origin and nature of this Being, he said that He was
born from the boundless air: "The first-born, Phaethon, son of the
extended air;" for he had nothing more to say.  He affirms that this
Being is the Parent of all the gods, on whose account He framed the
heaven, and provided for His children that they might have a habitation
and place of abode in common: "He built for immortals an imperishable
home."  Thus, under the guidance of nature and reason, he understood
that there was a power of surpassing

14

greatness which framed heaven and earth.  For he could not say that
Jupiter was the author of all things, since he was born from Saturn; nor
could he say that Saturn himself was their author, since it was reported
that he was produced from the heaven; but he did not venture to set up
the heaven as the primeval god, because he saw that it was an element of
the universe, and must itself have had an author.  This consideration
led him to that first-born god, to whom he assigns and gives the first
place.

 Homer was able to give us no information relating to the truth, for he
wrote of human rather than divine things.  Hesiod was able, for he
comprised in the work of one book the generation of the gods; but yet he
gave us no information, for he took his commencement not from God the
Creator, but from chaos, which is a confused mass of rude and unarranged
matter; whereas he ought first to have explained from what source, at
what time, and in what manner, chaos itself had begun to exist or to
have consistency.  Without doubt, as all things were placed in order,
arranged, and made by some artificer, so matter itself must of necessity
have been formed by some being.  Who, then, made it except God, to whose
power all things are subject?  But he shrinks from admitting this, while
he dreads the unknown truth.  For, as he wished it to appear, it was by
the inspiration of the Muses that he poured forth that song on Helicon;
but he had come after previous meditation and preparation.

 Maro was the first of our poets to approach the truth, who thus speaks
respecting the highest God, whom he calls Mind and Spirit:(1)--

"Know first, the heaven, the earth, the main,

 The moon's pale orb, the starry train,

 Are nourished by a Soul,

 A Spirit, whose celestial flame

 Glows in each member of the frame,

 And stirs the mighty whole."

And lest any one should happen to be ignorant what that Spirit was which
had so much power, he has declared it in another place, saying:(2) "For
the Deity pervades all lands, the tracts of sea and depth of heaven; the
flocks, the herds, and men, and all the race of beasts, each at its
birth, derive their slender lives from Him."

 Ovid also, in the beginning of his remarkable work, without any
disguising of the name, admits that the universe was arranged by God,
whom he calls the Framer of the world, the Artificer of all things.(3)
But if either Orpheus or these poets of our country had always
maintained what they perceived under the guidance of nature,

they would have comprehended the truth, and gained the same learning
which we follow.(4)

 But thus far of the poets.  Let us come to the philosophers, whose
authority is of greater weight, and their judgment more to be relied on,
because they are believed to have paid attention, not to matters of
fiction, but to the investigation of the truth.  Thales of Miletus, who
was one of the number of the seven wise men, and who is said to have
been the first of all to inquire respecting natural causes, said that
water was the element from which all things were produced, and that God
was the mind which formed all things from water.  Thus he placed the
material of all things in moisture; he fixed the beginning and cause of
their production in God.  Pythagoras thus defined the being of God, "as
a soul passing to and fro, and diffused through all parts of the
universe, and through all nature, from which all living creatures which
are produced derive their life."  Anaxagoras said that God was an
infinite mind, which moves by its own power.  Antisthenes maintained
that the gods of the people were many, but that the God of nature was
one only; that is, the Fabricator of the whole universe.  Cleanthes and
Anaximenes assert that the air is the chief deity; and to this opinion
our poet has assented:(5) "Then almighty father Aether descends in
fertile showers into the bosom of his joyous spouse; and great himself,
mingling with her great body, nourishes all her offspring."  Chrysippus
speaks of God as a natural power endowed with divine reason, and
sometimes as a divine necessity.  Zeno also speaks of Him as a divine
and natural law.  The opinion of all these, however uncertain it is, has
reference to one point,--to their agreement in the existence of one
providence.  For whether it be nature, or aether, or reason, or mind, or
a fatal necessity, or a divine law, or if you term it anything else, it
is the same which is called by us God.  Nor does the diversity of titles
prove an obstacle, since by their very signification they all refer to
one object.  Aristotle, although he is at variance with himself, and
both utters and holds sentiments opposed to one another, yet upon the
whole bears witness that one Mind presides over the.  universe.  Plato,
who is judged the wisest of all, plainly and openly maintains the rule
of one God; nor does he name Him Aether, or Reason, or Nature, but, as
He truly is, God, and that this universe, so perfect and wonderful, was
fabricated by Him.  And Cicero, following and imitating him in many
instances, frequently acknowledges God, and calls Him supreme, in those
books which he wrote on the

15

subject of laws; and he adduces proof that the universe is governed by
Him, when he argues respecting the nature of the gods in this way:
"Nothing is superior to God: the world must therefore be governed by
Him.  Therefore God is obedient or subject to no nature; consequently He
Himself governs all nature."  But what God Himself is he defines in his
Consolation:(1) "Nor can God Himself, as He is comprehended by us, be
comprehended in any other way than as a mind free and unrestrained, far
removed from all mortal materiality, perceiving and moving all things."

 How often, also, does Annaeus Seneca, who was the keenest Stoic of the
Romans, follow up with deserved praise the supreme Deity!  For when he
was discussing the subject of premature death, he said "You do not
understand the authority and majesty of your Judge, the Ruler of the
world, and the God or heaven and of all gods, on whom those deities
which we separately worship and honour are dependent."  Also in his
Exhortations: "This Being, when He was laying the first foundations of
the most beautiful fabric, and was commencing this work, than which
nature has known nothing greater or better, that all things might serve
their own rulers, although He had spread Himself out through the whole
body, yet He produced gods as ministers of His kingdom."  And how many
other things like to our own writers did he speak on the subject of God!
But these things I put off for the present, because they are more suited
to other parts of the subject.  At present it is enough to demonstrate
that men of the highest genius touched upon the truth, and almost
grasped it, had not custom, infatuated by false opinions, carried them
back; by which custom they both deemed that there were other gods, and
believed that those things which God made for the use of man, as though
they were endowed with perception, were to be held and worshipped as
gods.

CHAP. VI.--OF DIVINE TESTIMONIES, AND OF THE SIBYLS AND THEIR
PREDICTIONS.

 Now let us pass to divine testimonies; but I will previously bring
forward one which resembles a divine testimony, both on account of its
very great antiquity, and because he whom I shall name was taken from
men and placed among the gods.  According to Cicero, Caius Cotta the
pontiff, while disputing against the Stoics concerning superstitions,
and the variety of opinions which prevail respecting the gods, in order
that he might, after the custom of the Academics, make everything
uncertain, says that there were five Mercuries; and having enumerated
four in order, says that the fifth was he by whom Argus

was slain, and that on this account he fled into Egypt, and gave laws
and letters to the Egyptians.  The Egyptians call him Thoth; and from
him the first month of their year, that is, September, received its name
among them.  He also built a town, which is even now called in Greek
Hermopolis (the town of Mercury), and the inhabitants of Phenae honour
him with religious worship.  And although he was a man, yet he was of
great antiquity, and most fully imbued with every kind of learning, so
that the knowledge of many subjects and arts acquired for him the name
of Trismegistus.(2) He wrote books, and those in great numbers, relating
to the knowledge of divine things, in which be asserts the majesty of
the supreme and only God, and makes mention of Him by the same names
which we use-God and Father.  And that no one might inquire His name, he
said that He was without name, and that on account of His very unity He
does not require the peculiarity of a name.  These are his own words:
"God is one, but He who is one only does not need a name; for He who is
self-existent is without a name."  God, therefore, has no name, because
He is alone; nor is there any need of a proper name, except in cases
where a multitude of persons requires a distinguishing mark, so that you
may designate each person by his own mark and appellation.  But God,
because He is always one, has no peculiar name.

 It remains for me to bring forward testimonies respecting the sacred
responses and predictions, which are much more to be relied upon.  For
perhaps they against whom we are arguing may think that no credence is
to be given to poets, as though they invented fictions, nor to
philosophers, inasmuch as they were liable to err, being themselves but
men.  Marcus Varro, than whom no man of greater learning ever lived,
even among the Greeks, much less among the Latins, in those books
respecting divine subjects which he addressed to Caius Caesar the chief
pontiff, when he was speaking of the Quindecemviri,(3) says that the
Sibylline books were not the production of one Sibyl only, but that they
were called by one name Sibylline, because all prophetesses were called
by the ancients Sibyls, either from the name of one, the Delphian
priestess, or from their proclaiming the counsels of the gods.  For in
the Aeolic dialect they used to call the gods by the word Sioi, not .
Theoi; and for counsel they used the word bule, not boule;--and so the
Sibyl received her name as though Siobule.(4) But he says that the
Sibyls

16

were ten in number, and he enumerated them all under the writers, who
wrote an account of each: that the first was from the Persians, and of
her Nicanor made mention, who wrote the exploits of Alexander of
Macedon;--the second of Libya, and of her Euripides makes mention in the
prologue of the Lamia;--the third of Delphi, concerning whom Chrysippus
speaks in that book which he composed concerning divination;--the fourth
a Cimmerian in Italy, whom Naevius mentions in his books of the Punic
war, and Piso in his annals;--the fifth of Erythraea, whom Apollodorus
of Erythraea affirms to have been his own country-woman, and that she
foretold to the Greeks when they were setting but for Ilium, both that
Troy was doomed to destruction, and that Homer would write falsehoods;--
the sixth of Samos, respecting whom Eratosthenes writes that he had
found a written notice in the ancient annals of the Samians.  The
seventh was of Cumae, by name Amalthaea, who is termed by some
Herophile, or Demophile and they say that she brought nine books to the
king Tarquinius Priscus, and asked for them three hundred philippics,
and that the king refused so great a price, and derided the madness of
the woman; that she, in the sight of the king, burnt three of the books,
and demanded the same price for those which were left; that Tarquinias
much more considered the woman to be mad; and that when she again,
having burnt three other books, persisted in asking the same price, the
king was moved, and bought the remaining books for the three hundred
pieces of gold: and the number of these books was afterwards increased,
after the rebuilding of the Capitol; because they were collected from
all cities of Italy and Greece, and especially from those of Erythraea,
and were brought to Rome, under the name of whatever Sibyl they were.
Further, that the eighth was from the Hellespont, born in the Trojan
territory, in the village of Marpessus, about the town of Gergithus; and
Heraclides of Pontus writes that she lived in the times of Solon and
Cyrus;--the ninth of Phrygia, who gave oracles at Ancyra;--the tenth of
Tibur, by name Albunea, who is worshipped at Tibur as a goddess, near
the banks of the river Anio, in the depths of which her statue is said
to have been found, holding in her hand a book.  The senate transferred
her oracles into the Capitol.

 The predictions of all these Sibyls(1) are both brought forward and
esteemed as such, except those of the Cumaean Sibyl, whose books are l
concealed by the Romans; nor do they consider it lawful for them to be
inspected by any

one but the Quindecemviri.  And them are separate books the production
of each, but because these are inscribed with the name of the Sibyl they
are believed to be the work of one; and they are confused, nor can the
productions of each be distinguished and assigned to their own authors,
except in the case of the Erythraean Sibyl, for she both inserted her
own true name in her verse, and predicted that she would be called
Erythraean, though she was born at Babylon.  But we also shall speak of
the Sibyl without any distinction, wherever we shall have occasion to
use their testimonies.  All these Sibyls, then, proclaim one God, and
especially the Erythraean, who is regarded among the others as more
celebrated and noble; since Fenestella, a most diligent writer, speaking
of the Quindecemviri, says that, after the rebuilding of the Capitol,
Caius Curio the consul proposed to the senate that ambassadors should be
sent to Erythrae to search out and bring to Rome the writings of the
Sibyl; and that, accordingly, Publius Gabinius, Marcus Otacilius, and
Lucius Valerius were sent, who conveyed to Rome about a thousand verses
written out by private persons.  We have shown before that Varro made
the same statement.  Now in these verses which the ambassadors brought
to Rome, are these testimonies respecting the one God:--

 1.  "One God, who is alone, most mighty, uncreated."

This is the only supreme God, who made the heaven, and decked it with
lights.

 2.  "But there is one only God of pre-eminent power, who made the
heaven, and sun, and stars, and moon, and fruitful earth, and waves of
the water of the sea."

And since He alone is the framer of the universe, and the artificer of
all things of which it consists or which are contained in it, it
testifies that He alone ought to be worshipped:--

 3.  "Worship Him who is alone the ruler of the world, who alone was and
is from age to age."

Also another Sibyl, whoever she is, when she said that she conveyed the
voice of God to men, thus spoke:--

 4.  "I am the one only God, and there is no other God."

 I would now follow up the testimonies of the others, were it not that
these are sufficient, and that I reserve others for more befitting
opportunities.  But since we are defending the cause of truth before
those who err from the truth and serve false religions, what kind of
proof ought we to bring forward(2) against them, rather than to refute
them by the testimonies of their own gods?

17

 CHAP. VII.--CONCERNING THE TESTIMONIES OF APOLLO AND THE GODS.

 Apollo, indeed, whom they think divine above all others, and especially
prophetic, giving responses at Colophon,--I suppose because, induced by
the pleasantness of Asia, he had removed from Delphi,--to some one who
asked who He was, or what God was at all, replied in twenty-one verses,
of which this is the beginning:--

 "Self-produced, untaught, without a mother, unshaken,

 A name not even to be comprised in word, dwelling in fire,

 This is God; and we His messengers are a slight portion of God."

Can any one suspect that this is spoken of Jupiter, who had both a
mother and a name?  Why should I say that Mercury, that thrice greatest,
of whom I have made mention above, not only speaks of God as "without a
mother," as Apollo does, but also as "without a father," because He has
no origin from any other source but Himself?  For He cannot be produced
from any one, who Himself produced all things.  I have, as I think,
sufficiently taught by arguments, and confirmed by witnesses, that which
is sufficiently plain by itself, that there is one only King of the
universe, one Father, one God.

 But perchance some one may ask of us the same question which Hortensius
asks in Cicero: If God is one only,(1) what solitude can be happy?  As
though we, in asserting that He is one, say that He is desolate and
solitary.  Undoubtedly He has ministers, whom we call messengers.  And
that is true, which I have before related, that Seneca said in his
Exhortations that God produced ministers of His kingdom.  But these are
neither gods, nor do they wish to be called gods or to be worshipped,
inasmuch as they do nothing but execute the command and will of God.
Nor, however, are they gods who are worshipped in common, whose number
is small and fixed.  But if the worshippers of the gods think that they
worship those beings whom we call the ministers of the Supreme God,
there is no reason why they should envy its who say that there is one
God, and deny that there are many.  If a multitude of gods delights
them, we do not speak of twelve, or three hundred and sixty-five as
Orpheus did; but we convict them of innumerable errors on the other
side, in thinking that they are so few, Let them know, however, by what
name they ought to be called, lest they do injury to the true God, whose
name they set forth, while they assign it to more than one.  Let them
believe their own Apollo, who in that same response took away from the
other gods their name, as he took away the dominion from Jupiter.  For

the third verse shows that the ministers of God ought not to be called
gods, but angels.  He spoke falsely respecting himself, indeed; for
though he was of the number of demons, he reckoned himself among the
angels of God, and then in other responses he confessed himself a demon.
For when he was asked how he wished to be supplicated, he thus answered:
--

 "O all-wise, all-learned, versed in many pursuits, hear, O demon."

And so, again, when at the entreaty of some one he uttered an
imprecation against the Sminthian Apollo, he began with this verse:--

 "O harmony of the world, bearing light, all-wise demon."

What therefore remains, except that by his own confession he is subject
to the scourge of the true God and to everlasting punishment?  For in
another response he also said:--

 "The demons who go about the earth and about the sea

 Without weariness, are subdued beneath the scourge of God."

We speak on the subject of both in the second book.  In the meantime it
is enough for us, that while he wishes to honour and place himself in
heaven.  he has confessed, as the nature of the matter is, in what
manner they are to be named who always stand beside God.

 Therefore let men withdraw themselves from errors; and laying aside
corrupt superstitions, let them acknowledge their Father and Lord, whose
excellence cannot be estimated, nor His greatness perceived, nor His
beginning comprehended.  When the earnest attention of the human mind
and its acute sagacity and memory has reached Him, all ways being, as it
were, summed up and exhausted,(2) it stops, it is at a loss, it fails;
nor is there anything beyond to which it can proceed.  But because that
which exists must of necessity have had a beginning, it follows that
since there was nothing before Him, He was produced from Himself before
all things.  Therefore He is called by Apollo "self-produced," by the
Sibyl "self-created," "uncreated," and "unmade."  And Seneca, an acute
man, saw and expressed this in his Exhortations.  "We," he said, "are
dependent upon another."  Therefore we took to some one to whom we owe
that which is most excellent in us.  Another brought us into being,
another formed us; but God of His own power made Himself.

CHAP. VIII.--THAT GOD IS WITHOUT A BODY, NOR DOES HE NEED DIFFERENCE OF
SEX FOR PROCREATION.

 It is proved, therefore, by these witnesses, so numerous and of such
authority, that the universe

18

is governed by the power and providence of one God, whose energy and
majesty Plato in the Timoeus asserts to be so great, that no one can
either conceive it in his mind, or give utterance to it in words, on
account of His surpassing and incalculable power.  And then can any one
doubt whether any thing can be difficult or impossible for God, who by
His providence designed, by His energy established, and by His judgment
completed those works so great and wonderful, and even now sustains them
by His spirit, and governs them by His power, being incomprehensible and
unspeakable, and fully known to no other than Himself?  Wherefore, as I
often reflect on the subject of such great majesty, they who worship the
gods sometimes appear so blind, so incapable of reflection, so
senseless, so little removed from the mute animals, as to believe that
those who are born from the natural intercourse of the sexes could have
had anything of majesty and divine influence; since the Erythraean Sibyl
says: "It is impossible for a God to be fashioned from the loins of a
man and the womb of a woman."  And if this is true, as it really is, it
is evident that Hercules, Apollo, Bacchus, Mercury, and Jupiter, with
the rest, were but men, since they were born from the two sexes.  But
what is so far removed from the nature of God as that operation which He
Himself assigned to mortals for the propagation of their race, and which
cannot be affected without corporeal substance?

 Therefore, if the gods are immortal and eternal, what need is there of
the other sex, when they themselves do not require succession, since
they are always about to exist?  For assuredly in the case of mankind
and the other animals, there is no other reason for difference of sex
and procreation and bringing forth, except that all classes of living
creatures, inasmuch as they are doomed to death by the condition of
their mortality, may be preserved by mutual succession.  But God, who is
immortal, has no need of difference of sex, nor of succession.  Some one
will say that this arrangement is necessary, in order that He may have
some to minister to Him, or over whom He may bear rule.  What need is
there of the female sex, since God, who is almighty, is able to produce
sons without the agency of the female?  For if He has granted to certain
minute creatures(1) that they

 "Should gather offspring for themselves with their mouth from leaves
and sweet herbs,"

why should any one think it impossible for God Himself to have offspring
except by union with the other sex?  No one, therefore, is so
thoughtless as not to understand that those were mere

mortals, whom the ignorant and foolish regard and worship as gods.  Why,
then, some one will say, were they believed to be gods?  Doubtless
because they were very great and powerful kings; and since, on account
of the merits of their virtues, or offices, or the arts which they
discovered, they were beloved by those over whom they had ruled, they
were consecrated to lasting, memory.  And if any one doubts this, let
him consider their exploits and deeds, the whole of which both ancient
poets and historians have handed down.

 CHAP. IX.--OF HERCULES AND HIS LIFE AND DEATH.(2)

 Did not Hercules, who is most renowned for his valour, and who is
regarded as an Africanus among the gods, by his debaucheries, lusts, and
adulteries, pollute the world, which he is related to have traversed and
purified?  And no wonder, since he was born from an adulterous
intercourse with Alcmena.

 What divinity could there have been in him, who, enslaved to his own
vices, against all laws, treated with infamy, disgrace, and outrage,
both males and females?  Nor, indeed, are those great and wonderful
actions which he performed to be judged such as to be thought worthy of
being attributed to divine excellence.  For what!  is it so magnificent
if he overcame a lion and a boar; if he shot down birds with arrows; if
he cleansed a royal stable; if he conquered a virago, and deprived her
of her belt; if he slew savage horses together with their master?  These
are the deeds of a brave and heroic man, but still a man; for those
things which he overcame were frail and mortal.  For there is no power
so great, as the orator says, which cannot be weakened and broken by
iron and strength.  But to conquer the mind, and to restrain anger, is
the part of the bravest man; and these things he never did or could do:
for one who does these things I do not compare with excellent men, but I
judge him to be most like to a god.

 I could wish that he had added something on the subject of lust,
luxury, desire, and arrogance, so as to complete the excellence of him
whom he judged to be like to a god.  For he is not to be thought braver
who overcomes a lion, than he who overcomes the violent wild beast shut
up within himself, viz.  anger; or he who has brought down most
rapacious birds, than he who restrains most covetous desires; or he who
subdues a warlike Amazon, than he who subdues lust, the vanquisher(3) of
modesty and fame; or he who cleanses a stable from dung, than he who
cleanses his heart from vices, which are more destructive

19

evils because they are peculiarly his own, than those which might have
been avoided and guarded against.  From this it comes to pass, that he
alone ought to be judged a brave man who is temperate, moderate, and
just.  But if any one considers what the works of God are, he will at
once judge all these things, which most trifling men admire, to be
ridiculous.  For they measure them not by the divine power of which they
are ignorant, but by the weakness of their own strength.  For no one
will deny this, that Hercules was not only a servant to Eurystheus, a
king, which to a certain extent may appear honourable, but also to an
unchaste woman, Omphale, who used to order him to sit at her feet,
clothed with her garments, and executing an appointed task.  Detestable
baseness!  But such was the price at which pleasure was valued.  What!
some one will say, do you think that the poets are to be believed?  Why
should I not think so?  For it is not Lucilius who relates these things,
or Lucian, who spared not men nor gods, but these especially who sting
the praises of the gods.

 Whom, then, shall we believe, if we do not credit those who praise
them?  Let him who thinks that these speak.  falsely produce other
authors on whom we may rely, who may teach us who these gods are, in
what manner and from what source they had their origin, what is their
strength, what their number, what their power, what there is in them
which is admirable and worthy of adoration--what mystery, in short, more
to be relied on, and more true.  He will produce no such authorities.
Let us, then, give credence to those who did not speak for the purpose
of censure, but to proclaim their praise.  He sailed, then, with the
Argonauts, and sacked Troy, being enraged with Laomedon on account of
the reward refused to him, by Laomedon, for the preservation of his
daughter, from which circumstance it is evident at what time he lived.
He also, excited by rage and madness, slew his wife, together with his
children.  Is this he whom men consider a god?  But his heir Philoctetes
did not so regard him, who applied a torch to him when about to be
burnt, who witnessed the burning and wasting of his limbs and sinews,
who buried his bones and ashes on Mount OEta, in return for which office
he received his arrows.

CHAP. X.--OF THE LIFE AND ACTIONS AESCULAPIUS, APOLLO, NEPTUNE,
MARS,CASTOR AND POLLUX, MERCURY AND BACCHUS.

 What other action worthy of divine honours, except the healing of
Hippolytus, did Aesculapius perform, whose birth also was not without
disgrace to Apollo?  His death was certainly

more renowned, because he earned the distinction of being struck with
lightning by a god.  Tarquitius, in a dissertation concerning
illustrious men, says that he was born of uncertain parents, exposed,
and found by some hunters; that he was nourished by a dog, and that,
being delivered to Chiron, he learned the art of medicine.  He says,
moreover, that he was a Messenian, but that he spent some time at
Epidaurus.  Tully also says that he was buried at Cynosurae.  What was
the conduct of Apollo, his father?  Did he not, on account of his
impassioned love, most disgracefully tend the flock of another, and
build walls for Laomedon, having been hired together with Neptune for a
reward, which could with impunity be withheld from him?  And from him
first the perfidious king learned to refuse to carry out whatever
contract he had made with gods.  And he also, while in love with a
beautiful boy, offered violence to him, and while engaged in play, slew
him.

 Mars, when guilty of homicide, and set free from the charge of murder
by the Athenians through favour, lest he should appear to be too fierce
and savage, committed adultery with Venus.  Castor and Pollux, while
they are engaged in carrying off the wives of others, ceased to be twin-
brothers.  For Idas, being excited with jealousy on account of the
injury, transfixed one of the brothers with his sword.  And the poets
relate that they live and die alternately: so that they are now the most
wretched not only of the gods, but also of all mortals, inasmuch as they
are not permitted to die once only.  And yet Homer, differing from the
other poets, simply records that they both died.  For when he
represented Helen as sitting by the side of Priam on the walls of Troy,
and recognising all the chieftains of Greece, but as looking in vain for
her brothers only, he added to his speech a verse of this kind:--

 "Thus she; unconscious that in Sparta they,

 Their native land, beneath the sod were laid."

What did Mercury, a thief and spendthrift, leave to contribute to his
fame, except the memory of his frauds?  Doubtless he was deserving of
heaven, because he taught the exercises of the palaestra, and was the
first who invented the lyre.(1) It is necessary that Father Liber should
be of chief authority, and of the first rank in the senate of the gods,
because he was the only one of them all, except Jupiter, who triumphed,
led an army, and subdued the Indians.  But that very great and
unconquered Indian commander was most shamefully overpowered by love and
lust.  For, being conveyed to Crete with his effeminate retinue, lie met
with an unchaste woman on the shore; and in the confidence inspired by
his

20

Indian victory, he wished to give proof of his manliness, lest he should
appear too effeminate.  And so he took to himself in marriage that
woman, the betrayer of her father, and the murderer of her brother,
after that she had been deserted and repudiated by another husband; and
he made her Libera, and with her ascended into heaven.

 What was the conduct of Jupiter, the father of all these, who in the
customary prayer is styled(1) Most Excellent and Great?  Is he not, from
his earliest childhood, proved to be impious, and almost a parricide,
since he expelled his father from his kingdom, and banished him, and did
not await his death though he was aged and worn out, such was his
eagerness for rule?  And when he had taken his father's throne by
violence and arms, he was attacked with war by the Titans, which was the
beginning of evils to the human race; and when these had been overcome
and lasting peace procured, he spent the rest of his life in
debaucheries and adulteries.  I forbear to mention the virgins whom he
dishonoured.  For that is wont to be judged endurable.  I cannot pass by
the cases of Amphitryon and Tyndarus, whose houses he filled to
overflowing with disgrace and infamy.  But he reached the height of
impiety and guilt in carrying off the royal boy.  For it did not appear
enough to cover himself with infamy in offering violence to women,
unless he also outraged his own sex.  This is true adultery, which is
done against nature.  Whether he who committed these crimes can be
called Greatest is a matter of question, undoubtedly he is not the Best;
to which name corrupters, adulterers, and incestuous persons have no
claim; unless it happens that we men are mistaken in terming those who
do such things wicked and abandoned, and in judging them most deserving
of every kind of punishment.  But Marcus Tullius was foolish in
upbraiding Caius Verres with adulteries, for Jupiter, whom he
worshipped, committed the same; and in upbraiding Publius Clodius with
incest with his sister, for he who was Best and Greatest had the same
person both as sister and wife.

CHAP. XI.--OF THE ORIGIN, LIFE, REIGN, NAME AND DEATH OF JUPITER, AND OF
SATURN AND URANUS.(2)

 Who, then, is so senseless as to imagine that he reigns in heaven who
ought not even to have reigned on earth?  It was not without humour that
a certain poet wrote of the triumph of Cupid: in which book he not only
represented Cupid as the most powerful of the gods, but

also as their conqueror.  For having enumerated the loves of each, by
which they had come into the power and dominion of Cupid, he sets in
array a procession, in which Jupiter, with the other gods, is led in
chains before the chariot of him, celebrating a triumph.  This is
elegantly pictured by the poet, but it is not far removed from the
truth.  For he who is without virtue, who is overpowered by desire and
wicked lusts, is not, as the poet feigned, in subjection to Cupid, but
to everlasting death.  But let us cease to speak concerning morals; let
us examine the matter, in order that men may understand in what errors
they are miserably engaged.  The common people imagine that Jupiter
reigns in heaven; both learned and unlearned are alike persuaded of
this.  For both religion itself, and prayers, and hymns, and shrines,
and images demonstrate this.  And yet they admit that he was also
descended from Saturn and Rhea.  How can he appear a god, or be
believed, as the poet says, to be the author of men and all things, when
innumerable thousands of men existed before his birth--those, for
instance, who lived during the reign of Saturn, and enjoyed the light
sooner than Jupiter?  I see that one god was king in the earliest times,
and another in the times that followed.  It is therefore possible that
there may be another hereafter.  For if the former kingdom was changed,
why should we not expect that the latter may possibly be changed, unless
by chance it was possible for Saturn to produce one more powerful than
himself, but impossible for Jupiter so to do?  And yet the divine
government is always unchangeable; or if it is changeable, which is an
impossibility, it is undoubtedly changeable at all times.

 Is it possible, then, for Jupiter to lose his kingdom as his father
lost it?  It is so undoubtedly.  For when that deity had spared neither
virgins nor married women, he abstained from Thetis only in consequence
of an oracle which foretold that whatever son should be born from her
would be greater than his father.  And first of all there was in him a
want of foreknowledge not befitting a god; for had not Themis related to
him future events, he would not have known them of his own accord.  But
if he is not divine, he is not indeed a god; for the name of divinity is
derived from god, as humanity is from man.  Then there was a
consciousness of weakness; but he who has feared, must plainly have
feared one greater than himself.  But he who does this assuredly knows
that he is not the greatest, since something greater can exist.  He also
swears most solemnly by the Stygian marsh: "Which is set forth the sole
object of religious dread to the gods above."  What is this object of
religious dread?  Or by whom is it set forth?

21

Is there, then, some mighty power which may punish the gods who commit
perjury?  What is this great dread of the infernal marsh, if they are
immortal?  Why should they fear that which none are about to see, except
those who are bound by the necessity of death?  Why, then, do men raise
their eyes to the heaven?  Why do they swear by the gods above, when the
gods above themselves have recourse to the infernal gods, and find among
them an object of veneration and worship?  But what is the meaning of
that saying, that there are fates whom all the gods and Jupiter himself
obey?  If the power of the Parcae is so great, that they are of more
avail than all the heavenly gods, and their ruler and lord himself, why
should not they be rather said to reign, since necessity compels all the
gods to obey their laws and ordinances?  Now, who can entertain a doubt
that he who is subservient to anything cannot be greatest?  For if he
were so, he would not receive fates, but would appoint them.  Now I
return to another subject which I had omitted.  In the case of one
goddess only he exercised self-restraint, though he was deeply enamoured
of her; but this was not from any virtue, but through fear of a
successor.  But this fear plainly denotes one who is both mortal and
feeble, and of no weight: for at the very hour of his birth he might
have been put to death, as his elder brother had been put to death; and
if it had been possible for him to have lived, he would never have given
up the supreme power to a younger brother.  But Jupiter himself having
been preserved by stealth, and stealthily nourished, was called Zeus, or
Zen,(1) not, as they imagine, from the fervor of heavenly fire, or
because he is the giver of life, or because he breathes life into living
creatures, which power belongs to God alone; for how can he impart the
breath of life who has himself received it from another source?  But he
was so called because he was the first who lived of the male children of
Saturn.  Men, therefore, might have had another god as their ruler, if
Saturn had not been deceived by his wife.  But it will be said the poets
reigned these things.  Whoever entertains this opinion is in error.  For
they spoke respecting men; but in order that they might embellish those
whose memory they used to celebrate with praises, they said that they
were gods.  Those things, therefore, which they spoke concerning them as
gods were feigned, and not those which they spoke concerning them as men
and this will be manifest from an instance which we will bring forward.
When about to offer violence to Danae, he poured into her lap a great
quantity of golden coins.  This was the price which he paid for her
dishonour.  But the poets

who spoke about him as a god, that they might not weaken the authority
of his supposed majesty, feigned that he himself descended in a shower
of gold, making use of the same figure with which they speak of showers
of iron when they describe a multitude of darts and arrows.  He is said
to have carried away Ganymede by an eagle; it is a picture of the poets.
But he either carried him off by a legion, which has an eagle for its
standard; or the ship on board of which he was placed had its tutelary
deity in the shape of an eagle, just as it had the effigy of a bull when
he seized Europa and conveyed her across the sea.  In the same manner,
it is related that he changed Io, the daughter of Inachus, into a
heifer.  And in order that she might escape the anger of Juno, just as
she was, now covered with bristly hair, and in the shape of a heifer,
she is said to have swam over the sea, and to have come into Egypt; and
there, having recovered her former appearance, she became the goddess
who is now called Isis.  By what argument, then, can it be proved that
Europa did not sit on the bull, and that Io was not changed into a
heifer?  Because there is a fixed day in the annals on which the voyage
of Isis is celebrated; from which fact we learn that she did not swim
across the sea, but sailed over.  Therefore they who appear to
themselves to be wise because they understand that there cannot be a
living and earthly body in heaven, reject the whole story of Ganymede as
false, and perceive that the occurrence took place on earth, inasmuch as
the matter and the lust itself is earthly.  The poets did not therefore
invent these transactions, for if they were to do so they would be most
worthless; but they added a certain colour to the transactions.(2) For
it was not for the purpose of detraction that they said these things,
but from a desire to embellish them.  Hence men are deceived; especially
because, while they think that all these things are feigned by the
poets, they worship that of which they are ignorant.  For they do not
know what is the limit of poetic licence, how far it is allowable to
proceed in fiction, since it is the business of the poet with some
gracefulness to change and transfer actual occurrences into other
representations by oblique transformations.  But to feign the whole of
that which you relate, that is to be foolish and deceitful rather than
to be a poet.

 But grant that they reigned those things which are believed to be
fabulous, did they also feign those things which are related about the
female deities and the marriages of the gods?  Why, then, are they so
represented, and so worshipped?  unless by chance not the poets only,
but painters also, and statuaries, speak falsehoods.  For if

22

this is the Jupiter who is called by you a god, if it is not he who was
born from Saturn and Ops, no other image but his alone ought to have
been placed in all the temples.  What meaning have the effigies of
women?  What the doubtful sex?  in which, if this Jupiter is
represented, the very stones will confess that he is a man.  They say
that the poets have spoken falsely, and yet they believe them: yes,
truly they prove by the fact itself that the poets did not speak
falsely; for they so frame the images of the gods, that, from the very
diversity of sex, it appears that these things which the poets say are
true.  For what other conclusion does the image of Ganymede and the
effigy of the eagle admit of, when they are placed before the feet of
Jupiter in the temples, and are worshipped equally with himself, except
that the memory of impious guilt and debauchery remains for ever?
Nothing, therefore, is wholly invented by the poets: something perhaps
is transferred and obscured by oblique fashioning, under which the truth
was enwrapped and concealed; as that which was related about the
dividing of the kingdoms by lot.  For they say that the heaven fell to
the share of Jupiter, the sea to Neptune, and the infernal regions to
Pluto.  Why was not the earth rather taken as the third portion, except
that the transaction took place on the earth?  Therefore it is true that
they so divided and portioned out the government of the world, that the
empire of the east fell to Jupiter, a part of the west was allotted to
Pluto, who had the surname of Agesilaus; because the region of the east,
from which light is given to mortals, seems to be higher, but the region
of the west lower.  Thus they so veiled the truth under a fiction, that
the truth itself detracted nothing from the public persuasion.  It is
manifest concerning the share of Neptune; for we say that his kingdom
resembled that unlimited authority possessed by Mark Antony, to whom the
senate had decreed the power of the maritime coast, that he might punish
the pirates, and tranquillize the whole sea.  Thus all the maritime
coasts, together with the islands, fell to the lot of Neptune.  How can
this be proved?  Undoubtedly ancient stories attest it.  Euhemerus, an
ancient author, who was of the city of Messene, collected the actions of
Jupiter and of the others, who are esteemed gods, and composed a history
from the titles and sacred inscriptions which were in the most ancient
temples, and especially in the sanctuary of the Triphylian Jupiter,
where an inscription indicated that a golden column had been placed by
Jupiter himself, on which column he wrote an account of his exploits,
that posterity might have a memorial of his actions.  This history was
translated and followed by Ennius, whose words are these: "Where Jupiter
gives to Neptune the government of the sea, that he might reign in all
the islands and places bordering on the sea."

 The accounts of the poets, therefore, are true, but veiled with an
outward covering and show.  It is possible that Mount Olympus may have
supplied the poets with the hint for saying that Jupiter obtained the
kingdom of heaven, because Olympus is the common name both of the
mountain and of heaven.  But the same history informs us that Jupiter
dwelt on Mount Olympus, when it says: "At that time Jupiter spent the
greatest part of his life on Mount Olympus; and they used to resort to
him thither for the administration of justice, if any matters were
disputed.  Moreover, if any one had found out any new invention which
might be useful for human life, he used to come thither and display it
to Jupiter."  The poets transfer many things after this manner, not for
the sake of speaking falsely against the objects of their worship, but
that they may by variously coloured figures add beauty and grace to
their poems.  But they who do not understand the manner, or the cause,
or the nature of that which is represented by figure, attack the poets
as false and sacrilegious.  Even the philosophers were deceived by this
error; for because these things which are related about Jupiter appeared
unsuited to the character of a god, they introduced two Jupiters, one
natural, the other fabulous.  They saw, on the one hand, that which was
true, that he, forsooth, concerning whom the poets speak, was man; but
in the case of that natural Jupiter, led by the common practice of
superstition, they committed an error, inasmuch as they transferred the
name of a man to God, who, as we have already said, because He is one
only, has no need of a name.  But it is undeniable that he is Jupiter
who was born from Ops and Saturn.  It is therefore an empty persuasion
on the part of those who give the name of Jupiter to the Supreme God.
For some are in the habit of defending their errors by this excuse; for,
when convinced of the unity of God, since they cannot deny this, they
affirm that they worship Him, but that it is their pleasure that He
should be called Jupiter.  But what can be more absurd than this?  For
Jupiter is not accustomed to be worshipped without the accompanying
worship of his wife and daughter.  From which his real nature is
evident; nor is it lawful for that name to be transferred thither,(1)
where there is neither any Minerva nor Juno.  Why should I say that the
peculiar meaning of this name does not express a divine, but human
power?  For Cicero explains the names Jupiter and Juno as being derived
from giving help;(2) and Jupiter is so called as if he were a helping
father,--a name which is ill adapted to God:

23

for to help is the part of a man conferring some aid upon one who is a
stranger, and in a case where the benefit is small.  No one implores God
to help him, but to preserve him, to give him life and safety, which is
a much greater and more important matter than to help.

 And since we are speaking of a father, no father is said to help his
sons when he begets or brings them up.  For that expression is too
insignificant to denote the magnitude of the benefit derived from a
father.  How ranch more unsuitable is it to God, who is our true Father,
by whom we exist, and whose we are altogether, by whom we are formed,
endued with life, and enlightened, who bestows upon us life, gives us
safety, and supplies us with various kinds of food!  He has no
apprehension of the divine benefits who thinks that he is only aided by
God.  Therefore he is not only ignorant, but impious, who disparages the
excellency of the supreme power under the name of Jupiter.  Wherefore,
if both from his actions and character we have proved that Jupiter was a
man, and reigned on earth, it only remains that we should also
investigate his death.  Ennius, in his sacred history, having described
all the actions which he performed in his life, at the close thus
speaks: Then Jupiter, when he had five times made a circuit of the
earth, and bestowed governments upon all his friends and relatives, and
left laws to men, provided them with a settled mode of life and corn,
and given them many other benefits, and having been honoured with
immortal glory and remembrance, left lasting memorials to his friends,
and when his age(1) was almost spent, he changed(2) his life in Crete,
and departed to the gods.  And the Curetes.  his sons, took charge of
him, and honoured him; and his tomb is in Crete, in the town of Cnossus,
and Vesta is said to have founded this city; and on his tomb is an
inscription in ancient Greek characters, "Zan Kronou," which is in
Latin.  "Jupiter the son of Saturn."  This undoubtedly is not handed
down by poets.  but by writers of ancient events; and these things are
so true, that they are confirmed by some verses of the Sibyls, to this
effect:--

 "Inanimate demons, images of the dead,

 Whose tombs the ill-fated Crete possesses as a boast."

 Cicero, in his treatise concerning the Nature of the Gods, having said
that three Jupiters were enumerated by theologians, adds that the third
was of Crete, the son of Saturn, and that his tomb is shown in that
island.  How, therefore, can a god be alive in one place, and dead in
another; in one place have a temple, and in another a tomb?  Let the
Romans then know that their Capitol, that is the chief head of their

objects of public veneration, is nothing but an empty monument.

 Let us now come to his father who reigned before him, and who perhaps
had more power in himself, because he is said to be born from the
meeting of such great elements.  Let us see what there was in him worthy
of a god, especially that he is related to have had the golden age,
because in his reign there was justice in the earth.  I find something
in him which was not in his son.  For what is so befitting the character
of a god, as a just government and an age of piety?  But when, on the
same principle, I reflect that he is a son, I cannot consider him as the
Supreme God; for I see that there is something more ancient than
himself,--namely, the heaven and the earth.  But I am in search of a God
beyond whom nothing has any existence, who is the source and origin of
all things.  He must of necessity exist who framed the heaven itself,
and laid the foundations of the earth.  But if Saturn was born from
these, as it is supposed, how can he be the chief God, since he owes his
origin to another?  Or who presided over the universe before the birth
of Saturn?  But this, as I recently said, is a fiction of the poets.
For it was impossible that the senseless elements, which are separated
by so long an interval, should meet together and give birth to a son, or
that he who was born should not at all resemble his parents, but should
have a form which his parents did not possess.

 Let us therefore inquire what degree of truth lies hid under this
figure.  Minucius Felix, in his treatise which has the title of
Octavius,(3) alleged these proofs: "That Saturn, when he had been
banished by his son, and had come into Italy, was called the son of
Coelus (heaven), because we are accustomed to say that those whose
virtue we admire, or those who have unexpectedly arrived, have fallen
from heaven; and that he was called the son of earth, because we name
those who are born from unknown parents sons of earth."  These things,
indeed, have some resemblance to the truth, but are not true, because it
is evident that even during his reign he was so esteemed.  He might have
argued thus: That Saturn, being a very powerful king, in order that the
memory of his parents might be preserved, gave their names to the heaven
and earth, whereas these were before called by other names, for which
reason we know that names were applied both to mountains and rivers.
For when the poets speak of the offspring of Atlas, or of the river
Inachus, they do not absolutely say that men could possibly be born from
inanimate objects; but they undoubtedly indicate those who were born
from those men, who either during their lives or after their death gave
their

24

names to mountains or rivers.  For that was a common practice among the
ancients, and especially among the Greeks.  Thus we have heard that seas
received the names of those who had fallen into them, as the Aegean, the
Icarian, and the Hellespont.  In Latium, also, Aventinus gave his name
to the mountain on which he was buried; and Tiberinus, or Tiber, gave
his name to the river in which he was drowned.  No wonder, then, if the
names of those who had given birth to most powerful kings were
attributed to the heaven and earth.  Therefore it appears that Saturn
was not born from heaven, which is impossible, but from that man who
bore the name of Uranus.  And Trismegistus attests the truth of this;
for when he said that very few had existed in whom there was perfect
learning, he mentioned by name among these his relatives, Uranus,
Saturn, and Mercury.  And because he was ignorant of these things, he
gave another account of the matter; how he might have argued, I have
shown.  Now I will say in what manner, at what time, and by whom this
was done; for it was not Saturn who did this, but Jupiter.  Ennius thus
relates in his sacred history: "Then Pan leads him to the mountain,
which is called the pillar of heaven.  Having ascended thither, he
surveyed the lands far and wide, and there on that mountain he builds an
altar to Coelus; and Jupiter was the first who offered sacrifice on that
altar.  In that place he looked up to heaven, by which name we now call
it, and that which was above the world which was called the
firmament,(1) and he gave to the heaven its name from the name of his
grandfather; and Jupiter in prayer first gave the name of heaven to that
which was called firmament,(1) and he burnt entire the victim which he
there offered in sacrifice."  Nor is it here only that Jupiter is found
to have offered sacrifice.  Caesar also, in Aratus, relates that
Aglaosthenes says that when he was setting out from the island of Naxos
against the Titans, and was offering sacrifice on the shore, an eagle
flew to Jupiter as an omen, and that the victor received it as a good
token, and placed it under his own protection.  But the sacred history
testifies that even beforehand an eagle had sat upon his head, and
portended to him the kingdom.  To whom, then, could Jupiter have offered
sacrifice, except to his grandfather Coelus, who, according to the
saying of Euhemerus,(2) died in Oceania, and was buried in the town of
Aulatia?

CHAP. XII.--THAT THE STOICS TRANSFER THE FIGMENTS OF THE POETS TO A
PHILOSOPHICAL SYSTEM.

 Since we have brought to light the mysteries of the poets, and have
found out the parents of Saturn, let us return to his virtues and
actions.  He was, they say, just in his rule.  First, from this very
circumstance he is not now a god, inasmuch as he has ceased to be.  In
the next place, he was not even just, but impious not only towards his
sons, whom he devoured, but also towards his father, whom he is said to
have mutilated.  And this may perhaps have happened in truth.  But men,
having regard to the element which is called the heaven, reject the
whole fable as most foolishly invented; though the Stoics, (according to
their custom) endeavour to transfer it to a physical system, whose
opinion Cicero has laid down in his treatise concerning the Nature of
the Gods.  They held, he says, that the highest and ethereal nature of
heaven, that is, of fire, which by itself produced all things, was
without that part of the body which contained the productive organs.
Now this theory might have been suitable to Vesta, if she were called a
male.  For it is on this account that they esteem Vesta to be a virgin,
inasmuch as fire is an incorruptible element; and nothing can be born
from it, since it consumes all things, whatever it has seized upon.
Ovid in the Fasti says:(3) "Nor do you esteem Vesta to be anything else
than a living flame; and you see no bodies produced from flame.
Therefore she is truly a virgin, for she sends forth no seed, nor
receives it, and loves the attendants of virginity."

 This also might have been ascribed to Vulcan, who indeed is supposed to
be fire, and yet the poets did not mutilate him.  It might also have
been ascribed to the sun, in whom is the nature and cause of the
productive powers.  For without the fiery heat of the sun nothing could
be born, or have increase; so that no other element has greater need of
productive organs than heat, by the nourishment of which all things are
conceived, produced, and supported.  Lastly, even if the case were as
they would have it, why should we suppose that Coelus was mutilated,
rather than that he was born without productive organs?  For if he
produces by himself, it is plain that he had no need of productive
organs, since he gave birth to Saturn himself; but if he had them, and
suffered mutilation from his son, the origin of all things and all
nature would have perished.  Why should I say that they deprive Saturn
himself not only of divine, but also of human intelligence, when they
affirm that Saturn is he who comprises the course and change of the
spaces and seasons, and that he has that very

25

name in Greek?  For he is called Cronos, which is the same as Chronos,
that is, a space of time.  But he is called Saturn, because he is
satiated with years.  These are the words of Cicero, setting forth the
opinion of the Stoics: "The worthlessness of these things any one may
readily understand.  For if Saturn is the son of Coelus, how could Time
have been born from Coelus, or Coelus have been mutilated by Time, or
afterwards could Time have been despoiled of his sovereignty by his son
Jupiter?  Or how was Jupiter born from Time?  Or with what years could
eternity be satiated, since it has no limit?"(1)

CHAP. XIII.- HOW VAIN AND TRIFLING ARE THE INTERPRETATIONS OF THE STOICS
RESPECTING THE GODS, AND IN THEM CONCERNING THE ORIGIN OF JUPITER,
CONCERNING SATURN AND OPS.

 If therefore these speculations of the philosophers are trifling, what
remains, except that we believe it to be a matter of fact that, being a
man, he suffered mutilation from a man?  Unless by chance any one
esteems him as a god who feared a co-heir; whereas, if he had possessed
any divine knowledge, he ought not to have mutilated his father, but
himself, to prevent the birth of Jupiter, who deprived him of the
possession of his kingdom.  And he also, when he had married his sister
Rhea, whom in Latin we call Ops, is said to have been warned by an
oracle not to bring up his male children, because it would come to pass
that he should be driven into banishment by a son.  And being in fear of
this, it is plain that he did not devour his sons, as the fables report,
but put them to death; although it is written in sacred history that
Saturn and Ops, and other men, were at that time accustomed to eat human
flesh, but that Jupiter, who gave to men laws and civilization, was the
first who by an edict prohibited the use of that food.  Now if this is
true, what justice can there possibly have been in him?  But let us
suppose it to be a fictitious story that Saturn devoured his sons, only
true after a certain fashion; must we then suppose, with the vulgar,
that he has eaten his sons, who has carried them out to burial?  But
when Ops had brought forth Jupiter, she stole away the infant, and
secretly sent him into Crete to be nourished.  Again, I cannot but blame
his want of foresight.  For why did he receive an oracle from another,
and not from himself?  Being placed in heaven, why did he not see the
things which were taking place on earth?  Why did the Corybantes with
their cymbals escape his notice?  Lastly, why did there exist any
greater force which might overcome his power?  Doubtless, being aged, he
was easily

overcome by one who was young, and despoiled of his sovereignty.  He was
therefore banished and went into exile; and after long wanderings came
into Italy in a ship, as Ovid relates in his Fasti:--

 "The cause of the ship remains to be explained.  The scythe-bearing god
came to the Tuscan river in a ship, having first traversed the world."

 Janus received him wandering and destitute; and the ancient coins are a
proof of this, on which there is a representation of Janus with a double
face, and on the other side a ship; as the same poet adds:--

 "But pious posterity represented a ship on the coin, bearing testimony
to the arrival of the stranger god."

 Not only therefore all the poets, but the writers also of ancient
histories and events, agree that he was a man, inasmuch as they handed
down to memory his actions in Italy: of Greek writers, Diodorus and
Thallus; of Latin writers, Nepos, Cassius, and Varro.  For since men
lived in Italy after a rustic fashion,(2)--

 "He brought the race to union first,

 Erewhile on mountain tops dispersed,

 And gave them statutes to obey,

 And willed the land wherein he lay

 Should Latium's title bear."

Does any one imagine him to be a god, who was driven into banishment,
who fled, who lay hid?  No one is so senseless.  For he who flees, or
lies hid, must fear both violence and death.  Orpheus, who lived in more
recent times than his, openly relates that Saturn reigned on earth and
among men:--

 "First Cronus ruled o'er men on earth,

 And then from Cronus sprung the mighty king,

 The widely sounding Zeus."

And also our own Maro says:(3)--

 "This life the golden Saturn led on earth;"

and in another place:(4)--

"That was the storied age of gold,

 So peacefully, serenely rolled

The years beneath his reign."

The poet did not say in the former passage that he led this life in
heaven, nor in the latter passage that he reigned over the gods above.
From which it appears that he was a king on earth; and this he declares
more plainly in another place:(5)--

 "Restorer of the age of gold,

 In lands where Saturn ruled of old."

26

Ennius, indeed, in his translation of Euhemerus says that Saturn was not
the first who reigned, but his father Uranus.  In the beginning, he
says, Coelus first had the supreme power on the earth.  He instituted
and prepared that kingdom in conjunction with his brothers.  There is no
great dispute, if there is doubt, on the part of the greatest
authorities respecting the son and the father.  But it is possible that
each may have happened: that Uranus first began to be pre-eminent in
power among the rest, and to have the chief place, but not the kingdom;
and that afterwards Saturn acquired greater resources, and took the
title of king.

CHAP. XIV.--WHAT THE SACRED HISTORY OF EUHEMERUS AND ENNIUS TEACHES
CONCERNING THE GODS.

 Now, since the sacred history differs in some degree from those things
which we have related, let us open those things which are contained in
the true writings, that we may not, in accusing superstitions, appear to
follow and approve of the follies of the poets.  These are the words of
Ennius: "Afterwards Saturn married Ops.  Titan, who was older than
Saturn, demands the kingdom for himself.  Upon this their mother Vesta,
and their sisters Ceres and Ops, advise Saturn not to give up the
kingdom to his brother.  Then Titan, who was inferior in person to
Saturn, on that account, and because he saw that his mother and sisters
were using their endeavours that Saturn might reign, yielded the kingdom
to him.  He therefore made an agreement with Saturn, that if any male
children should be born to him, he would not bring them up.  He did so
for this purpose, that the kingdom might return to his own sons.  Then,
when a son was first born to Saturn, they slew him.  Afterwards twins
were born, Jupiter and Juno.  Upon this they present Juno to the sight
of Saturn, and secretly hide Jupiter, and give him to Vesta to be
brought up, concealing him from Saturn.  Ops also brings forth Neptune
without the knowledge of Saturn, and secretly hides him.  In the same
manner Ops brings forth twins by a third birth, Pluto and Glauca.  Pluto
in Latin is Dispater; others call him Orcus.  Upon this they show to
Saturn the daughter Glauca, and conceal and hide the son Pluto.  Then
Glauca dies while yet young."  This is the lineage of Jupiter and his
brothers, as these things are written, and the relationship is handed
down to us after this manner from the sacred narrative.  Also shortly
afterwards he introduces these things: "Then Titan, when he learned that
sons were born to Saturn, and secretly brought up, secretly takes with
him his sons, who are called Titans, and seizes his brother Saturn and
Ops, and encloses

them within a wall, and places over them a guard."

 The truth of this history is taught by the Erythraean Sibyl, who speaks
almost the same things, with a few discrepancies, which do not affect
the subject-matter itself.  Therefore Jupiter is freed from the charge
of the greatest wickedness, according to which he is reported to have
bound his father with fetters; for this was the deed of his uncle Titan,
because he, contrary to his promise and oath, had brought up male
children.  The rest of the history is thus put together.  It is said
that Jupiter, when grown up, having heard that his father and mother had
been surrounded with a guard and imprisoned, came with a great multitude
of Cretans, and conquered Titan and his sons in an engagement, and
rescued his parents from imprisonment, restored the kingdom to his
father, and thus returned into Crete.  Then, after these things, they
say that an oracle was given to Saturn, bidding him to take heed lest
his son should expel him from the kingdom; that he, for the sake of
weakening the oracle and avoiding the danger, laid an ambush for Jupiter
to kill him; that Jupiter, having learned the plot, claimed the kingdom
for himself afresh, and banished Saturn; and that he, when he had been
tossed over all lands, followed by armed men whom Jupiter had sent to
seize or put him to death, scarcely found a place of concealment in
Italy.

 CHAP. XV.--HOW THEY WHO WERE MEN OBTAINED THE NAME OF GODS.

 Now, since it is evident from these things that they were men, it is
not difficult to see in what I manner they began to be called gods.(1)
For if there were no kings before Saturn or Uranus, on account of the
small number of men who lived a rustic life without any ruler, there is
no doubt but in those times men began to exalt the king himself, and his
whole family, with the highest praises and with new honours, so that
they even called them gods; whether on account of their wonderful
excellence, men as yet rude and simple really entertained this opinion,
or, as is commonly the case, in flattery of present power, or on account
of the benefits by which they were set in order and reduced to a
civilized state.  Afterwards the kings themselves, since they were
beloved by those whose life they had civilized, after their death left
regret of themselves.  Therefore men formed images of them, that they
might derive some consolation from the contemplation of their
likenesses; and proceeding further through love of their worth,(2) they
began to reverence the memory of the deceased, that

27

they might appear to be grateful for their services, and might attract
their successors to a desire of ruling well.  And this Cicero teaches in
his treatise on the Nature of the Gods, saying "But the life of men and
common intercourse led to the exalting to heaven by fame and goodwill
men who were distinguished by their benefits.  On this account Hercules,
on this Castor and Pollux, Aesculapius and Liber" were ranked with the
gods.  And in another passage: "And in most states it may be understood,
that for the sake of exciting valour, or that the men most distinguished
for bravery might more readily encounter danger on account of the state,
their memory was consecrated with the honour paid to the immortal gods."
It was doubtless on this account that the Romans consecrated their
Caesars, and the Moors their kings.  Thus by degrees religious honours
began to be paid to them; while those who had known them, first
instructed their own children and grandchildren, and afterwards all
their posterity, in the practice of this rite.  And yet these great
kings, on account of the celebrity of their name, were honoured in all
provinces.

 But separate people privately honoured the founders of their nation or
city with the highest veneration, whether they were men distinguished
for bravery, or women admirable for chastity; as the Egyptians honoured
Isis, the Moors Juba, the Macedonians Cabirus, the Carthaginians Uranus,
the Latins Faunus, the Sabines Sancus, the Romans Quirinus.  In the same
manner truly Athens worshipped Minerva, Samos Juno, Paphos Venus, Lemnos
Vulcan, Naxos Liber, and Delos Apollo.  And thus various sacred rites
have been undertaken among different peoples and countries, inasmuch as
men desire to show gratitude to their princes, and cannot find out other
honours which they may confer upon the dead.  Moreover, the piety of
their successors contributed in a great degree to the error; for, in
order that they might appear to be born from a divine origin, they paid
divine honours to their parents, and ordered that they should be paid by
others.  Can any one doubt in what way the honours paid to the gods were
instituted, when he reads in Virgil the words of Aeneas giving commands
to his friends:(1)--

 "Now with full cups libation pour

 To mighty Jove, whom all adore,

 Invoke Anchises' blessed soul."

And he attributes to him not only immortality, but also power over the
winds:(2)--

 "Invoke the winds to speed our flight,

 And pray that he we hold so dear

 May take our offerings year by year,

 Soon as our promised town we raise,

 In temples sacred to his praise."

In truth, Liber and Pan, and Mercury and Apollo, acted in the same way
respecting Jupiter, and afterwards their successors did the same
respecting them.  The poets also added their influence, and by means of
poems composed to give pleasure, raised them to the heaven; as is the
case with those who flatter kings, even though wicked, with false
panegyrics.  And this evil originated with the Greeks, whose levity
being furnished with the ability and copiousness of speech, cited in an
incredible degree mists of falsehoods.  And thus from admiration of them
they first undertook their sacred rites, and handed them down to all
nations.  On account of this vanity the Sibyl thus rebukes them:--

 "Why trustest thou, O Greece, to princely men?

 Why to the dead dost offer empty gifts?

 Thou offerest to idols; this error who suggested,

 That thou shouldst leave the presence of the mighty God,

 And make these offerings?"

 Marcus Tullius, who was not only an accomplished orator, but also a
philosopher, since he alone was an imitator of Plato, in that treatise
in which he consoled himself concerning the death of his daughter, did
not hesitate to say that those gods who were publicly worshipped were
men.  And this testimony of his ought to be esteemed the more weighty,
because he held the priesthood of the augurs, and testifies that he
worships and venerates the same gods.  And thus within the compass of a
few verses he has presented us with two facts.  For while he declared
his intention of consecrating the image of his daughter in the same
manner in which they were consecrated by the ancients, he both taught
that they were dead, and showed the origin of a vain superstition.
"Since, in truth,"

he says, "we see many men and women among the number of the gods, and
venerate their shrines, held in the greatest honour in cities and in the
country, let us assent to the wisdom of those to whose talents and
inventions we owe it that life is altogether adorned with laws and
institutions, and established on a firm basis.  And if any living being
was worthy of being consecrated, assuredly it was this.  If the
offspring of Cadmus, or Amphitryon, or Tyndarus, was worthy of being
extolled by fame to the heaven, the same honour ought undoubtedly to be
appropriated to her.  And this indeed I will do; and with the
approbation of the gods, I will place you the best and most learned of
all women in their assembly.  and will consecrate you to the estimation
of men."  Some one may perhaps say that Cicero raved through excessive
grief.  But, in truth, the whole of that speech, which was perfect both
in learning and in its examples, and in the very style of expression,
gave no indications of a dis-

28

tempered mind, but of constancy and judgment; and this very sentence
exhibits no sign of grief.  For I do not think that he could have
written with such variety, and copiousness, and ornament, had not his
grief been mitigated by reason itself, and the consolation of his
friends and length of time.  Why should I mention what he says in his
books concerning the Republic, and also concerning glory?  For in his
treatise on the Laws, in which work, following the example of Plato, he
wished to set forth those laws which he thought that a just and wise
state would employ, he thus decreed concerning religion:(1) "Let them
reverence the gods, both those who have always been regarded as gods of
heaven, and those whose services to men have placed them in heaven:
Hercules, Liber, Aesculapius, Castor, Pollux, and Quirinus."  Also in
his Tusculan Disputations,(2) when he said that heaven was almost
entirely filled with the human race, he said: "If, indeed, I should
attempt to investigate ancient accounts, and to extract from them those
things which the writers of Greece have handed down, even those who are
held in the highest rank as gods will be found to have gone from us into
heaven.  Inquire whose sepulchres are pointed out in Greece: remember,
since you are initiated, what things are handed down in the mysteries;
and then at length you will understand how widely this persuasion is
spread."  He appealed, as it is plain, to the conscience of Atticus,
that it might he understood from the very mysteries that all those who
are worshipped were men; and when he acknowledged this without
hesitation in the case of Hercules, Liber, Aesculapius, Castor and
Pollux, he was afraid openly to make the same admission respecting
Apollo and Jupiter their fathers, and likewise respecting Neptune,
Vulcan, Mars, and Mercury, whom he termed the greater gods; and
therefore he says that this opinion is widely spread, that we may
understand the same concerning Jupiter and the other more ancient gods:
for if the ancients consecrated their memory in the same manner in which
he says that he will consecrate the image and the name of his daughter,
those who mourn may be pardoned, but those who believe it cannot be
pardoned.  For who is so infatuated as to believe that heaven is opened
to the dead at the consent and pleasure of a senseless multitude?  Or
that any one is able to give to another that which he himself does not
possess?  Among the Romans, Julius was made a god, because it pleased a
guilty man, Antony; Quirinus was made a god, because it seemed good to
the shepherds, though one of them was the murderer of his twin brother,
the other the destroyer of his country.  But if Antony had not

been consul, in return for his services towards the state Caius Caesar
would have been without the honour even of a dead man, and that, too, by
the advice of his father-in-law Piso, and of his relative Lucius Caesar,
who opposed the celebration of the funeral, and by the advice of
Dolabella the consul, who overthrew the column in the forum, that is,
his monuments, and purified the forum.  For Ennius declares that Romulus
was regretted by his people, since he represents the people as thus
speaking, through grief for their lost king: "O Romulus, Romulus, say
what a guardian of your country the gods produced you?  You brought us
forth within the regions of light.  O father, O sire, O race, descended
from the gods."  On account of this regret they more readily believed
Julius Proculus uttering falsehoods, who was suborned by the fathers to
announce to the populace that he had seen the king in a form more
majestic than that of a man; and that he had given command to the people
that a temple should be built to his honour, that he was a god, and was
called by the name of Quirinus.  By which deed he at once persuaded the
people that Romulus had gone to the gods, and freed the senate from the
suspicion of having slain the king.

 CHAP, XVI.--BY WHAT ARGUMENT IT IS PROVED THAT THOSE WHO ARE
DISTINGUISHED BY A DIFFERENCE OF SEX CANNOT BE GODS.(3)

 I might be content with those things which I have related, but there
still remain many things which are necessary for the work which I have
undertaken.  For although, by destroying the principal part of
superstitions, I have taken away the whole, yet it pleases me to follow
up the remaining parts, and more fully to refute so inveterate a
persuasion, that men may at length be ashamed and repent of their
errors.  This is a great undertaking, and worthy of a man.  "I proceed
to release the minds of men from the ties of superstitions," as
Lucretius(4) says; and be indeed was unable to effect this, because he
brought forward nothing true.  This is our duty, who both assert the
existence of the true God and refute false deities.  They, therefore,
who entertain the opinion that the poets have invented fables about the
gods, and yet believe in the existence of female deities, and worship
them, are unconciously brought back to that which they had denied--that
they have sexual intercourse, and bring forth.  For it is impossible
that the two sexes can have been instituted except for the sake of
generation.  But a difference of sex being admitted, they do not
perceive that conception follows as a consequence.  And this cannot

29

be the case with a God.  But let the matter be as they imagine; for they
say that there are sons of Jupiter and of the other gods.  Therefore new
gods are born, and that indeed daily, for gods are not surpassed in
fruitfulness by men.  It follows that all things are full of gods
without number, since forsooth none of them dies.  For since the
multitude of men is incredible, and their number not to be estimated--
though, as they are born, they must of necessity die--what must we
suppose to be the case with the gods who have been born through so many
ages, and have remained immortal?  How is it, then, that so few are
worshipped?  Unless we think by any means that there are two sexes of
the gods, not for the sake of generation, but for mere gratification,
and that the gods practise those things which men are ashamed to do, and
to submit to.  But when any are said to be born from any, it follows
that they always continue to be born, if they are born at any time; or
if they ceased at any time to be born, it is befitting that we should
know why or at what time they so ceased.  Seneca, in his books of moral
philosophy, not without some plesantry, asks, "What is the reason why
Jupiter, who is represented by the poets as most addicted to lust,
ceased to beget children?  Was it that he was become a sexagenarian, and
was restrained by the Papian law?(1) Or did he obtain the privileges
conferred by having three children?  Or did the sentiment at length
occur to him, 'What you have done to another, you may expect from
another;' and does he fear lest any one should act towards him as he
himself did to Saturn?"  But let those who maintain that they are gods,
see in what manner they can answer this argument which I shall bring
forward.  If there are two sexes of the gods, conjugal intercourse
follows; and if this takes place, they must have houses, for they are
not without virtue and a sense of shame, so as to do this openly and
promiscuously, as we see that the brute animals do.  If they have
houses, it follows that they also have cities; and for this we have the
authority of Ovid, who says, "The multitude of gods occupy separate
places; in this front the powerful and illustrious inhabitants of heaven
have placed their dwellings."  If they have cities, they will also have
fields.  Now who cannot see the consequence,--namely, that they plough
and cultivate their lands?  And this is done for the sake of food.
Therefore they are mortal.  And this argument is of the same weight when
reversed.  For if they have no lands, they have no cities; and if they
have no cities, they are also without houses.  And if they have no
houses, they have no conjugal intercourse; and if they are without this,
they have no female sex.  But

we see that there are females among the gods also.  Therefore there are
not gods.  If any one is able, let him do away with this argument.  For
one thing so follows the other, that it is impossible not to admit these
last things.  But no one will refute even the former argument.  Of the
two sexes the one is stronger, the other weaker.  For the males are more
robust, the females more feeble.  But a god is not liable to feebleness;
therefore there is no female sex.  To this is added that last conclusion
of the former argument, that there are no gods, since there are females
also among the gods.

CHAP. XVII.--CONCERNING THE SAME OPINION OF THE STOICS, AND CONCERNING
THE HARDSHIPS AND DISGRACEFUL CONDUCT OF THE GODS.

 On these accounts the Stoics form a different conception of the gods;
and because they do not perceive what the truth is, they attempt to join
them with the system of natural things.  And Cicero, following them,
brought forward this opinion respecting the gods and their religions.
Do you see then, he says, how an argument has been drawn from physical
subjects which have been well and usefully found out, to the existence
of false and fictitious gods?  And this circumstance gave rise to false
opinions and turbulent errors, and almost old-womanly superstitions.
For both the forms of the gods, and their ages, and clothing and
ornaments, are known to us; and moreover their races, and marriages, and
all their relationships, and all things reduced to the similitude of
human infirmity.  What can be said more plain, more true?  The chief of
the Roman philosophy, and invested with the most honourable priesthood,
refutes the false and fictitious gods, and testifies that their worship
consists of almost old-womanly superstitions: he complains that men are
entangled in false opinions and turbulent errors.  For the whole of his
third book respecting the Nature of the Gods altogether overthrows and
destroys all religion.  What more, therefore, is expected from us?  Can
we surpass Cicero in eloquence?  By no means; but confidence was wanting
to him, being ignorant of the truth, as he himself simply acknowledges
in the same work.  For he says that he can more easily say what is not,
than what is; that is, that he is aware that the received system is
false, but is ignorant of the truth.(2) It is plain, therefore, that
those who are supposed to be gods were but men, and that their memory
was consecrated after their death.  And on this account also different
ages and established representations of form are assigned to each, be-

30

cause their images were fashioned in that dress and of that age at which
death arrested each.

 Let us consider, if you please, the hardships of the unfortunate gods.
Isis lost her son; Ceres her daughter; Latona, expelled and driven about
over the earth, with difficulty found a small island(1) where she might
bring forth.  The mother of the gods both loved a beautiful youth, and
also mutilated him when found in company with a harlot; and on this
account her sacred rites are now celebrated by the Galli(2) as priests.
Juno violently persecuted harlots, because she was not able to conceive
by her brother.(3) Varro writes, that the island Samos was before called
Parthenia, because Juno there grew up, and there also was married to
Jupiter.  Accordingly there is a most noble and ancient temple of hers
at Samos, and an image fashioned in the dress of a bride; and her annual
sacred rites are celebrated after the manner of a marriage.  If,
therefore, she grew up, if she was at first a virgin and afterwards a
woman, he who does not understand that she was a human being confesses
himself a brute.  Why should I speak of the lewdness of Venus, who
ministered to the lusts of all, not only gods, but also men?  For from
her infamous debauchery with Mars she brought forth Harmonia; from
Mercury she brought forth Hermaphroditus, who was born of both sexes;
from Jupiter Cupid; from Anchines AEneas; from Butes Eryx; from Adonis
she could bring forth no offspring, because he was struck by a boar, and
slain, while yet a boy.  And she first instituted the art of
courtesanship, as is contained in the sacred history; and taught women
in Cyprus to seek gain by prostitution, which she commanded for this
purpose, that she alone might not appear unchaste and a courter of men
beyond other females.  Has she, too, any claim to religious worship, on
whose part more adulteries are recorded than births?  But not even were
those virgins who are celebrated able to preserve their chastity
inviolate.  For from what source can we suppose that Erichthonius was
born?  Was it from the earth, as the poets would have it appear?  But
the circumstance itself cries out.  For when Vulcan had made arms for
the gods, and Jupiter had given him the option of asking for whatever
reward he might wish, and had sworn, according to his custom, by the
infernal lake, that he would refuse him nothing which he might ask, then
the lame artificer demanded Minerva in marriage.  Upon this the
excellent and mighty Jupiter, being bound by so great an oath, was not
able to refuse; he, however, advised Minerva to oppose and defend her
chastity.  Then in that

struggle they say that Vulcan shed his seed upon the earth, from which
source Erichthonius was born: and that this name was given to him from
<greek>eridos</greek> and <greek>kqonos</greek>, that is, from the
contest and the ground.  Why, then, did she, a virgin, entrust that boy
shut up with a dragon and sealed to three virgins born from Cecrops?  An
evident case of incest, as I think, which can by no means be glossed
over.  Another, when she had almost lost her lover, who was torn to
pieces by his madened horses, called in the most excellent physician
AEsculapius for the treatment of the youth; and when he was healed,

 "Trivia kind her favourite bides,

 And to Egeria's care confides,

 To live in woods obscure and lone,

 And lose in Virbius' name his own."(4)

What is the meaning of this so diligent and anxious care?  Why this
secret abode?  Why this banishment, either to so great a distance, or to
a woman, or into solitude?  Why, in the next place, the change of name?
Lastly, why such a determined hatred of horses?  What do all these
things imply, but the consciousness of dishonour, and a love by no means
consistent with a virgin?  There was evidently a reason why she
undertook so great a labour for a youth so faithful, who had refused
compliance with the love of his stepmother.

CHAP. XVIII.--ON THE CONSECRATION OF GODS, ON ACCOUNT OF THE BENEFITS
WHICH THEY CONFERRED UPON MEN.

 In this place also they are to be refuted, who not only admit that gods
have been made from men, but even boast of it as a subject of praise,
either on account of their valour, as Hercules, or of their gifts, as
Ceres and Liber, or of the arts which they discovered, as AEsculapius or
Minerva.  But how foolish these things are, and how unworthy of being
the causes why men should contaminate themselves with inexpiable guilt,
and become enemies to God, in contempt of whom they undertake offerings
to the dead, I will show from particular instances.  They say that it is
virtue(5) which exalts man to heaven,--not, however, that concerning
which philosophers discuss, which consists in goods of the soul, but
this connected with the body, which is called fortitude; and since this
was pre-eminent in Hercules, it is believed to have deserved
immortality.  Who is so foolishly senseless as to judge strength of body
to be a divine or even a human good, when it has been assigned in
greater measure to cattle, and it is often impaired by one disease, or
is lessened by old age

31

itself, and altogether fails?  And so Hercules, when he perceived that
his muscles were disfigured by ulcers, neither wished to be healed nor
to grow old, that he might not at any time appear to have less strength
or comeliness than he once had.(1) They supposed that he ascended into
heaven from the funeral pile on which he had burnt himself alive; and
those very qualities which they most foolishly admired, they expressed
by statues and images, and consecrated, so that they might for ever
remain as memorials of the folly of those who had believed that gods
owed their origin to the slaughter of beasts.  But this, perchance, may
be the fault of the Greeks, who always esteemed most trifling things as
of the greatest consequence.  What is the case of our own countrymen?
Are they more wise?  For they despise valour in an athlete, because it
produces no injury; but in the case of a king, because it occasions
widely-spread disasters, they so admire it as to imagine that brave and
warlike generals are admitted to the assembly of the gods, and that
there is no other way to immortality than to lead armies, to lay waste
the territory of others, to destroy cities, to overthrow towns, to put
to death or enslave free peoples.  Truly the greater number of men they
have cast down, plundered, and slain, so much the more noble and
distinguished do they think themselves; and ensnared by the show of
empty glory, they give to their crimes the name of virtue.  I would
rather that they should make to themselves gods from the slaughter of
wild beasts, than approve of an immortality so stained with blood.  If
any one has slain a single man, he is regarded as contaminated and
wicked, nor do they think it lawful for him to be admitted to this
earthly abode of the gods.  But he who has slaughtered countless
thousands of men, has inundated plains with blood, and infected rivers,
is not only admitted into the temple, but even into heaven.  In Ennius
Africanus thus speaks: "If it is permitted any one to ascend to the
regions of the gods above, the greatest gate of heaven is open to me
alone."  Because, in truth, he extinguished and destroyed a great part
of the human race.  Oh how great the darkness in which you were
involved, O Africanus, or rather O poet, in that you imagined the ascent
to heaven to be open to men through slaughters and bloodshed!  And
Cicero also assented to this delusion.  It is so in truth, he said, O
Africanus, for the same gate was open to Hercules; as though he himself
had been doorkeeper in heaven at the time when this took place.  I
indeed cannot determine whether I should think it a subject of grief or
of ridicule, when I see grave and learned, and, as they appear to
themselves, wise men, involved in such miserable waves of errors.  If
this is the virtue which renders us immortal, I for my part should
prefer to die, rather than to be the cause of destruction to as many as
possible.  If immortality can be obtained in no other way than by
bloodshed, what will be the result if all shall agree to live in
harmony?  And this may undoubtedly be realized, if men would cast aside
their pernicious and impious madness, and live in innocence and jus
rice.  Shall no one, then, be worthy of heaven?  Shall virtue perish,
because it will not be permitted men to rage against their fellow-men?
But they who reckon the overthrow of cities and people as the greatest
glory will not endure public tranquillity: they will plunder and rage;
and by the infliction of outrageous injuries will disturb the compact of
human society, that they may have an enemy whom they may destroy with
greater wickedness than that with which they attacked.

 Now let us proceed to the remaining subjects.  The conferring of
benefits gave the name of gods to Ceres and Liber.  I am able to prove
from the sacred writings that wine and corn were used by men before the
offspring of Coelus and Saturnus.  But let us suppose that they were
introduced by these.  Can it appear to be a greater thing to have
collected corn, and having bruised it, to have taught men to make bread;
or to have pressed grapes gathered from the vine, and to have made wine,
than to have produced and brought forth from the earth corn itself, or
the vine?  God, indeed, may have left these things to be drawn out by
the ingenuity of man; yet all things must belong to Him, who gave to man
both wisdom to discover, and those very things which might be
discovered.  The arts also are said to have gained immortality for their
inventors, as medicine for AEsculapius, the craft of the smith for
Vulcan.  Therefore let us worship those also who taught the art of the
fuller and of the shoemaker.  But why is not honour paid to the
discoverer of the potter's art?  Is it that those rich men despise
Samian vessels?  There are also other arts, the inventors of which
greatly profiled the life of man.  Why have not temples been assigned to
them also?  But doubtless it is Minerva who discovered all, and
therefore workmen offer prayers to her.  Such, then, was the low
condition(2) from which Minerva ascended to heaven.  Is there truly any
reason why any one should leave the worship of Him who created(3) the
earth with its living creatures, and the heaven with its stars, for the
adoration of her who taught men to set up the woof?  What place does he
hold who taught the healing of wounds in the

32

body?  Can he be more excellent than Him who formed the body itself, and
the power of sensibility and of life?  Finally, did he contrive and
bring to light the herbs themselves, and the other things in which the
healing art consists?

CHAP. XIX.--THAT IT IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR ANY ONE TO WORSHIP THE TRUE GOD
TOGETHER WITH FALSE DEITIES.

 But some one will say that this supreme Being, who made all things, and
those also who conferred on men particular benefits, are entitled to
their respective worship.  First of all, it has never happened that the
worshipper of these has also been a worshipper of God.  Nor can this
possibly happen.  For if the honour paid to Him is shared by others, He
altogether ceases to be worshipped, since His religion requires us to
believe that He is the one and only God.  The excellent poet exclaims,
that all those who refined life by the invention of arts are in the
lower regions, and that even the discoverer himself of such a medicine
and art was thrust down by lightning to the Stygian waves, that we may
understand how great is the power of the Almighty Father, who can
extinguish even gods by His lightnings.  But ingenious men perchance
thus reasoned with themselves: Because God cannot be struck with
lightning, it is manifest that the occurrence never took place; nay,
rather, because it did take place, it is manifest that the person in
question was a man, and not a god.  For the falsehood of the poets does
not consist in the deed, but in the name.  For they feared evil, if, in
opposition to the general persuasion, they should acknowledge that which
was true.  But if this is agreed upon among themselves, that gods were
made from men, why then do they not believe the poets, if at any time
they describe their banishments and wounds, their deaths, and wars, and
adulteries?  From which things it may be understood that they could not
possibly become gods, since they were not even good men, and during
their life they performed I those actions which bring forth everlasting
death.

CHAP.XX.--OF THE GODS PECULIAR TO THE ROMANS, AND THEIR SACRED RITES.

 I now come to the superstitions peculiar to the Romans, since I have
spoken of those which are common.  The wolf, the nurse of Romulus, was
invested with divine honours.  And I could endure this, if it had been
the animal itself whose figure she bears.  Livy relates that there was
an image of Larentina, and indeed not of her body, but of her mind and
character.  For she was the wife of Faustulus, and on account of her
prostitution she was called among the

shepherds wolf,(1) that is, harlot, from which also the brothel(2)
derives its name.  The Romans doubtless followed the example of the
Athenians in representing her figure.  For when a harlot, by name
Leaena, had put to death a tyrant among them, because it was unlawful
for the image of a harlot to be placed in the temple, they erected the
effigy of the animal whose name she bore.  Therefore, as the Athenians
erected a monument from the name, so did the Romans from the profession
of the person thus honoured.  A festival was also dedicated to her name,
and the Larentinalia were instituted.  Nor is she the only harlot whom
the Romans worship, but also Faula, who was, as Verrius writes, the
paramour of Hericules.  Now how great must that immortality be thought
which is attained even by harlots!  Flora, having obtained great wealth
by this practice, made the people her heir, and left a fixed sum of
money, from the annual proceeds of which her birthday might be
celebrated by public games, which they called Floralia.  And because
this appeared disgraceful to the senate, in order that a kind of dignity
might be given to a shameful matter, they resolved that an argument
should be taken from the name itself.  They pretended that she was the
goddess who presides over flowers, and that she must be appeased, that
the crops, together with the trees or vines, might produce a good and
abundant blossom.  The poet followed up this idea in his Fasti, and
related that there was a nymph, by no means obscure, who was called
Chloris, and that, on her marriage with Zephyrus, she received from her
husband as a wedding gift the control over all flowers.  These things
are spoken with propriety, but to believe them is unbecoming and
shameful.  Anti when the truth is in question, ought disguises of this
kind to deceive us?  Those games, therefore, are celebrated with all
wantonness, as is suitable to the memory of a harlot.  For besides
licentiousness of words, in which all lewdness is poured forth, women
are also stripped of their garments at the demand of the people, and
then perform the office of mimeplayers, and are detained in the sight of
the people with indecent gestures, even to the satiating of unchaste
eyes.  Tatius consecrated an image of Cloacina, which had been found in
the great sewer; and because he did not know whose likeness it was, he
gave it a name from the place.  Tullus Hostilius fashioned and
worshipped Fear and Pallor.  What shall I say respecting him, but that
he was worthy of having his gods always at hand, as men commonly wish?
The conduct of Marcus Marcellus concerning the consecration of Honour
and Valour differs from this in goodness of the names, but agrees with
it in reality.  The senate

33

acted with the same vanity in placing Mind(1) among the gods; for if
they had possessed any intelligence, they would never have undertaken
sacred rites of this kind.  Cicero says that Greece undertook a great
and bold design in consecrating the images of Cupids and Loves in the
gymnasia: it is plain that he flattered Atticus and jested with his
friend.  For that ought not to have been called a great design, or a
design at all, but the abandoned and deplorable wickedness of unchaste
men, who exposed their children, whom it was their duty to train to an
honourable course, to the lust of youth, and wished them to worship gods
of profligacy, in those places especially where their naked bodies were
exposed to the gaze of their corruptors, and at that age which, through
its simplicity and incautiousness, can be enticed and ensnared before it
can be on its guard.  What wonder, if all kinds of profligacy flowed
from this nation, among whom vices themselves have the sanction of
religion, and are so far from being avoided, that they are even
worshipped?  And therefore, as though he surpassed the Greeks in
prudence, he subjoined to this sentence as follows: "Vices ought not to
be consecrated, but virtues."  But if you admit this, O Marcus Tullius,
you do not see that it will come to pass that vices will break in
together with virtues, because evil things adhere to those which are
good, and have greater influence on the minds of men; and if you forbid
these to be consecrated, the same Greece will answer you that it
worships some gods that it may receive benefits, and others that it may
escape injuries.  For this is always the excuse of those who regard
their evils as gods, as the Romans esteem Blight and Fever.  If,
therefore, vices are not to be consecrated, in which I agree with you,
neither indeed are virtues.  For they have no intelligence or perception
of themselves; nor are they to be placed within walls or shrines made of
clay, but within the breast; and they are to be enclosed within, lest
they should be false if placed without man.  Therefore I laugh at that
illustrious law of yours which you set forth in these words: "But those
things on account of which it is given to man to ascend into heaven--I
speak of mind, virtue, piety, faith let there be temples for their
praises."  But these things cannot be separated from man.  For if they
are to be honoured, they must necessarily be in man himself.  But if
they are without man, what need is there to honour those things which
yon do not possess?  For it is virtue, which is to be honoured, and not
the image of virtue; and it is to be honoured not by any sacrifice, or
incense, or solemn prayer, but only by the will and purpose.  For what
else is it to honour virtue, but to comprehend it with the mind, and to
hold it fast?  And as soon as any one begins to wish for this, he
attains it.  This is the only honour of virtue; for no other religion
and worship is to be held but that of the one God.  To what purport is
it, then, O wisest man, to occupy with superfluous buildings places
which may turn out to the service of men?  To what purport is it to
establish priests for the worship of vain and senseless objects ? To
what purport to immolate victims?  To what purport to bestow such great
expenditure on the forming or worshipping of images?  The human breast
is a stronger and more uncorrupted temple: let this rather be adorned,
let this be filled with the true deities.  For they who thus worship the
virtues--that is, who pursue the shadows and images of virtues--cannot
hold the very things which are true.  Therefore there is no virtue in
any one when vices bear rule; there is no faith when each individual
carries off all things for himself; there is no piety when avarice
spares neither relatives nor parents, and passion rushes to poison and
the sword: no peace, no concord, when wars rage in public, and in
private enmities prevail even to bloodshed; no chastity when unbridled
lusts contaminate each sex, and the whole body in every part.  Nor,
however, do they cease to worship those things which they flee from and
hate.  For they worship with incense and the tips of their fingers those
things which they ought to have shrunk from with their inmost feelings;
and this error is altogether de~ rived from their ignorance of the
principal and chief good.

 When their city was occupied by the Gauls, and the Romans, who were
besieged in the Capitol, had made military engines from the hair of the
women, they dedicated a temple to the Bald Venus.  They do not therefore
understand how vain are their religions, even from this very fact, that
they jeer at them by these follies.  They had perhaps learned from the
Lacedaemonians to invent for themselves gods from events.  For when they
were besieging the Messenians, and they (the Messenians) had gone out
secretly, escaping the notice of the besiegers, and had hastened to
plunder Lacedaemon, they were routed and put to flight by the Spartan
women.  But the Lacedaemonians, having learned the stratagem of the
enemy, followed.  The women in arms went out to a distance to meet them;
and when they saw that their husbands were preparing themselves for
battle, supposing them to be Messenians, they laid bare their persons.
But the men, recognising their wives, and excited to passion by the
sight, rushed to promiscuous intercourse, for there was not time for
discrimination.  In like manner, the youths who had on a

34

former occasion been sent by the same people, having intercourse with
the virgins, from whom the Partheniae were born, in memory of this deed
erected a temple and statue to armed Venus.  And although this
originated in a shameful cause, yet it seems better to have consecrated
Venus as armed than bald.  At the same time an altar was erected also to
Jupiter Pistor (the baker), because he had admonished them in a dream to
make all the corn which they had into bread, and throw it into the camp
of the enemy; and when this was done, the siege was ended, since the
Gauls despaired of being able to reduce the Romans by want.

 What a derision of religions rites is this!  I were a defender of
these, what could I complain of so greatly as that the name of gods had
conic into such contempt as to be mocked by the most disgraceful names?
Who would not laugh at the goddess Fornax, or rather that learned men
should be occupied with celebrating the Fornacalia?  Who can refrain
from laughter on hearing of the goddess Muta?  They say that she is the
goddess from whom the Lares were born, and they call her Lara, or
Larunda.  What advantage can she, who is unable to speak, afford to a
worshipper?  Caca also is worshipped, who informed Hercules of the theft
of his oxen, having obtained immortality through the betrayal of her
brother; and Cunina, who protects infants in the cradle, and keeps off
witchcraft; and Stercutus, who first introduced the method of manuring
the land; and Tutinus, before whom brides sit, as an introduction to the
marriage rites; and a thousand other fictions, so that they who regarded
these as objects of worship may be said to be more foolish than the
Egyptians, who worship certain monstrous and ridiculous images.  These
however, have some delineation of form.  What shall I say of those who
worship a rude and shapeless stone under the name of Terminus?  This is
he whom Saturnus is said to have swallowed in the place of Jupiter; nor
is the honour paid to him underservedly.  For when Tarquinius wished to
build the Capitol, and there were the chapels of many gods on that spot,
he consulted them by augury whether they would give way to Jupiter; and
when the rest gave way, Terminus alone remained.  From which
circumstance the pact speaks of the immoveable stone of the Capitol.
Now from this very fact how great is Jupiter found to be, to whom a
stone did not give way, with this confidence, perhaps, because it had
rescued him from the jaws of his father!  Therefore, when the Capitol
was built, an aperture was left in the roof above Terminus himself,
that, since he had not given way, he might enjoy the free heaven; but
they did not themselves enjoy this, who imagined that a stone enjoyed
it.  And therefore they make public supplications to him, as to the god
who is the guardian of boundaries; and he is not only a stone, but
sometimes also a stock.  What shall I say of those who worship such
objects, unless--that they above all others are stones and stocks?

CHAP. XXI.--OF CERTAIN DEITIES PECULIAR TO BARBARIANS, AND THEIR SACRED
RITES; AND IN LIKE MANNER CONCERNING THE ROMANS.

 We have spoken of the gods themselves who are worshipped; we must now
speak a few words respecting their sacrifices and mysteries.  Among the
people of Cyprus, Teucer sacrificed a human victim to Jupiter, and
handed down to posterity that sacrifice which was lately abolished by
Hadrian when he was emperor.  There was a law among the people of
Tauris, a fierce and inhuman nation, by which it was ordered that
strangers should be sacrificed to Diana; and this sacrifice was
practised through many ages.  The Gauls used to appease Hesus and Teutas
with human blood.  Nor, indeed, were the Latins free from this cruelty,
since Jupiter Latialis is even now worshipped with the offering of human
blood.  What benefit do they who offer such sacrifices implore from the
gods?  Or what are such deities able to bestow on the men by whose
punishments they are propitiated?  But this is not so much a matter of
surprise with respect to barbarians, whose religion agrees with their
character.  But are not our countrymen, who have always claimed for
themselves the glory of gentleness and civilization, found to be more
inhuman by these sacrilegious rites?  For these ought rather to be
esteemed impious, who, though they are embellished with the pursuits of
liberal training, turn aside from such refinement.  than those who,
being ignorant and inexperienced, glide into evil practices from their
ignorance of those which are good.  And yet it is plain that this rite
of immolating human victims is ancient, since Saturn was honoured in
Latium with the same kind of sacrifice; not indeed that a man was slain
at the altar, but that he was thrown from the Milvian bridge into the
Tiber.  And Varro relates that this was done in accordance with an
oracle; of which oracle the last verse is to this effect: "And offer
heads to Ades, and to the father a man."(1) And because this appears
ambiguous, both a torch and a man are accustomed to be thrown to him.
But it is said that sacrifices of this kind were put an end to by
Hercules when he returned from Spain; the custom still continuing, that
instead of real men, images made from rushes were cast forth, as Ovid
informs us in his Fasti:(2) "Until the Tirynthian

35

came into these lands, gloomy sacrifices were annually offered in the
Leucadian manner: he threw into the water Romans made of straw; do you,
after the example of Hercules, cast(1) in the images of human bodies."

 The Vestal virgins make these sacred offerings, as the same poet
says:(2) "Then also a virgin is accustomed to cast from the wooden
bridge the images of ancient men made from rushes."

 For I cannot find language to speak of the infants who were immolated
to the same Saturn, on account of his hatred of Jupiter.  To think that
men were so barbarous, so savage, that they gave the name of sacrifice
to the slaughter of their own children, that is, to a deed foul, and to
be held in detestation by the human race; since, without any regard to
parental affection, they destroyed tender and innocent lives, at an age
which is especially pleasing to parents, and surpassed in brutality the
savageness of all beasts, which--savage as they are--still love their
offspring!  O incurable madness!  What more could those gods do to them,
if they were most angry, than they now do when propitious, when they
defile their worshippers with parricide, visit them with bereavements,
and deprive them of the sensibilities of men?  What can be sacred to
these men?  Or what will they do in profane places, who commit the
greatest crimes amidst the altars of the gods?  Pescennius Festus
relates in the books of his History by a Satire, that the Carthaginians
were accustomed to immolate human victims to Saturn; and when they were
conquered by Agathocles, the king of the Sicilians, they imagined that
the god was angry with them; and therefore, that they might more
diligently offer an expiation, they immolated two hundred sons of their
nobles: "So great the ills to which religion could prompt, which has
ofttimes produced wicked and impious deeds."  What advantage, then, did
the men propose by that sacrifice, when they put to death so large a
part of the state, as not even Agathocles had slain when victorious?

 From this kind of sacrifices those public rites are to be judged signs
of no less madness; some of which are in honour of the mother of the
gods, in which men mutilate themselves; others are in honour of Virtus,
whom they also call Bellona, in which the priests make offsprings not
with the blood of another victim, but with their own.(3) For, cutting
their shoulders, and thrusting forth drawn swords in each hand, they
run, they are beside themselves, they are frantic.  Quintilian therefore
says excellently in his Fanatic: "If a god compels this, he does it in
anger."  Are even these things sacred?  Is it not better to live like
cattle, than to worship deities so impious.  profane, and sanguinary?
But we will discuss at the proper time the source from which these
errors and deeds of such great disgrace originated.  In the mean time,
let us look also to other matters which are without guilt, that we may
not seem to select the worse parts through the desire of finding fault.
In Egypt there are sacred rites in honour of Isis, since she either lost
or found her little son.  For at first her priests, having made their
bodies smooth, beat their breasts, and lament, as the goddess herself
had done when her child was lost.  Afterwards the boy is brought
forward, as if found, and that mourning is changed into joy.  Therefore
Lucan says, "And Osiris never sufficiently sought for."  For they always
lose, and they always find him.  Therefore in the sacred rites there is
a representation of a circumstance which really occurred; and which
assuredly declares, if we have any intelligence, that she was a mortal
woman, and almost desolate, had she not found one person.  And this did
not escape the notice of the poet himself; for he represents Pompey when
a youth as thus speaking, on hearing the death of his father: "I will
now draw forth the deity Isis from the tomb, and send her through the
nations; and I will scatter through the people Osiris covered with
wood."  This Osiris is the same whom the people call Serapis.  For it is
customary for the names of the dead who are deified to be changed, that
no one, as I believe, may imagine them to be men.  For Romulus after his
death became Quirinus, and Leda became Nemesis, and Circe Marica; and
Ino, when she had leapt into the sea, was called Leucothea; and the
mother Matuta; and her son Melicerta was called Palaemon and Portumnus.
And the sacred rites of the Eleusinian Ceres are not unlike these.  For
as in those which have been mentioned the boy Osiris is sought with the
wailing of his mother, so in these Proserpine is carried away to
contract an incestuous marriage with her uncle; and because Ceres is
said to have sought for her in Sicily with torches lighted from the top
of Etna, on this account her sacred rites are celebrated with the
throwing of torches.

 At Lampsacus the victim to he offered to Priapus is an ass, and the
cause of the sacrifice of this animal is thus set forth in the Fasti:-
When all the deities had assembled at the festival of the Great Mother,
and when, satiated with feasting.  they were spending the night in
sport, they say that Vesta had laid herself on the ground for rest, and
had fallen asleep, and that Priapus upon this formed a design against
her honour as she slept; but that she was aroused by the unseasonable
braying of the ass on which Silenus used to ride, and that the design of
the insidi-

36

ous plotter was frustrated.  On this account they say that the people of
Lampsacus were accustomed to sacrifice an ass to Priapus, as though it
were in revenge; but among the Romans the same animal was crowned at the
Vestalia (festival of Vesta) with loaves,(1) in honour of the
preservation of her chastity.  What is baser, what more disgraceful,
than if Vesta is indebted to an ass for the preservation of her purity?
But the poet invented a fable.  But was that more true which is related
by those(2) who wrote "Phenomena," when they speak concerning the two
stars of Cancer, which the Greeks call asses?  That they were asses
which carried across father Liber when he was unable to cross a river,
and that he rewarded one of them with the power of speaking with human
voice; and that a contest arose between him and Priapus; and Priapus,
being worsted in the contest, was enraged, and slew the victor.  This
truly is ranch more absurd.  But poets have the licence of saying what
they will.  I do not meddle with a mystery so odious; nor do I strip
Priapus of his disguise, lest something deserving of ridicule should be
brought to light.  It is true the poets invented these fictions, but
they must have been invented for the purpose of concealing some greater
depravity.  Let us inquire what this is.  But in fact it is evident.
For as the bull is sacrificed to Luna,(3) because he also has horns as
she has; and as "Persia propitiates with a horse Hyperion surrounded
with rays, that a slow victim may not be offered to the swift god;" so
in this case no more suitable victim could be found than that which
resembled him to whom it is offered.

 At Lindus, which is a town of Rhodes, there are sacred rites in honour
of Hercules, the observance of which differs widely from all other
rites; for they are not celebrated with words of good omen(4) (as the
Greeks term it), but with revilings and cursing.  And they consider it a
violation of the sacred rites, if at any tithe during the celebration of
the solemnities a good word shall have escaped from any one even
inadvertently.  And this is the reason assigned for this practice, if
indeed there can be any reason in things utterly senseless.  When
Hercules had arrived at the place, and was suffering hunger, he saw a
ploughman at work, and began to ask him to sell one of his oxen.  But
the ploughman replied that this was impossible, because his hope of
cultivating the land depended altogether upon those two bullocks.
Hercules, with his usual violence, because he was not able to receive
one of them, killed both.  But the unhappy man, when he saw that his
oxen were slain, avenged the injury with revilings,--a circumstance
which afforded gratification to the man of elegance and refinement.  For
while he prepares a feast for his companions, and while he devours the
oxen of another man, he receives with ridicule and loud laughter the
bitter reproaches with which the other assails him.  But when it had
been determined that divine honours should be paid to Hercules in
admiration of his excellence, an altar was erected in his honour by the
citizens, which he named, from the circumstance, the yoke of oxen;(5)
and at this altar two yoked oxen were sacrificed, like those which he
had taken from the ploughman.  And he appointed the same man to be his
priest, and directed him always to use the same revilings in offering
sacrifice, because he said that he had never feasted more pleasantly.
Now these things are not sacred, but sacrilegious, in which that is said
to be enjoined, which, if it is done in other things, is punished with
the greatest severity.  What, moreover, do the rites of the Cretan
Jupiter himself show, except the manner in which he was withdrawn from
his father, or brought up?  There is

a goat belonging to the nymph Amalthea, which gave suck to the infant;
and of this goat Germanicus Caesar thus speaks, in his poem translated
from Aratus: 6--

"She is supposed to be the nurse of Jupiter; if in truth the infant
jupiter pressed the faithful teats of the Cretan goat, whichattests the
gratitude of her lord by a bright constellation."

 Musaeus relates that Jupiter, when fighting against the Titans, used
the hide of this goat as a shield, from which circumstance he is called
by the poets shield-bearer.(7) Thus, whatever was done in concealing the
boy, that also is done by way of representation in the sacred rites.
Moreover, the mystery of his mother also contains the same story which
Ovid sets forth in the Fasti:--

"Now the lofty Ida resounds with tinklings, that the boy may cry in
safety with infant mouth.  Some strike their shields with stakes,some
beat their empty helmets.  This is the employment of theCuretes, this of
the Corybantes.  The matter was concealed, andimitations of the ancient
deed remain; the attendant goddessesshake instruments of brass, and
hoarse hides.  Instead of helmetsthey strike cymbals, and drums instead
of shields; the flutegives Phrygian strains, as it gave before."

 Sallust rejected this opinion altogether, as though invented by the
poets, and wished to give an ingenious explanation of the reasons for

37

which the Curetes are said to have nourished Jupiter; and he speaks to
this purport: Because they were the first to understand the worship of
the deity, that therefore antiquity, which exaggerates all things, made
them known as the nourishers of Jupiter.  How much this learned man was
mistaken, the matter itself at once declares.  For if Jupiter holds the
first place, both among the gods and in religious rites, if no gods were
worshipped by the people before him, because they who are worshipped
were not yet born; it appears that the Curetes, on the contrary, were
the first who did not understand the worship of the deity, since all
error was introduced by them, and the memory of the true God was taken
away.  They ought therefore to have understood from the mysteries and
ceremonies themselves, that they were offering prayers to dead men.  I
do not then require that any one should believe the fictions of the
poets.  If any one imagines that these speak falsely, let him consider
the writings of the pontiffs themselves, and weigh whatever there is of
literature pertaining to sacred rites: he will perhaps find more things
than we bring forward, from which he may understand that all things
which are esteemed sacred are empty, vain, and fictitious.  But if any
one, having discovered wisdom, shall lay aside his error, he will
assuredly laugh at the follies of men who are almost without
understanding: I mean those who either dance with unbecoming gestures,
or run naked, anointed, and crowned with chaplets, either wearing a mask
or besmeared with mud.  What shall I say about shields now putrid with
age?  When they carry these, they think that they are carrying gods
themselves on their shoulders.  For Furius Bibaculus is regarded among
the chief examples of piety, who, though he was praetor, nevertheless
carried the sacred shield,(1) preceded by the lictors, though his office
as proetor gave him an exemption from this duty.  He was therefore not
Furius, but altogether mad,(2) who thought that he graced his
praetorship by this service.  Deservedly then, since these things are
done by men not unskilful and ignorant, does Lucretius exclaim :--

"O foolish minds of men!  O blinded breasts!  In what darkness of life
andin how great dangers is passed this term of life, whatever be
itsduration!"

 Who that is possessed of any sense would not laugh at these mockeries,
when he sees that men, as though bereft of intelligence, do those things
seriously, which if any one should do in sport, he would appear too full
of sport and folly?

CHAP. XXII.--WHO WAS THE AUTHOR OF THE VANITIES BEFORE DESCRIBED IN
ITALY AMONG THE ROMANS, AND WHO AMONG OTHER NATIONS.

 The author and establisher of these vanities among the Romans was that
Sabine king who especially engaged(3) the rude and ignorant minds of men
with new superstitions: and that he might do this with some authority,
he pretended that he had meetings by night with the goddess Egeria.
There was a very dark cavern in the grove of Aricia, from which flowed a
stream with a never failing spring.  Hither he was accustomed to
withdraw himself without any witnesses, that he might be able to pretend
that, by the admonition of the goddess his wife, he delivered to the
people those sacred rites which were most acceptable to the gods.  It is
evident that he wished to imitate the craftiness of Minos, who concealed
himself in the cave of Jupiter, and, after a long delay there, brought
forward laws, as though delivered to him by Jupiter, that he might bind
men to obedience not only by the authority of his government, but also
by the sanction of religion.  Nor was it difficult to persuade
shepherds.  Therefore he instituted pontiffs, priests, Salii, and
augurs; he arranged the gods in families; and by these means he softened
the fierce spirits of the new people and called them away from warlike
affairs to

 the pursuit of peace.  But though he deceived others, he did not
deceive himself.  For after many years, in the consulship of Cornelius
and Bebius, in a field belonging to the scribe Petilius, under the
Janiculum, two stone chests were found by men who were digging, in one
of which was the body of Numa, in the other seven books in latin
respecting the law of the pontiffs, and the same number written in Greek
respecting systems of philosophy, in which he not only annulled the
religious rites which he himself had instituted, but all others also.
When this was referred to the senate, it was decreed that these books
should be destroyed.  Therefore Quintus Petilius, the praetor who had
jurisdiction in the

 city burnt them in an assembly of the people.  This was a senseless
proceeding; for of what advantage was it that the books were burnt, s
when the cause on account of which they were burnt--that they took away
the authority due to religion--was itself handed down to memory?  Every
one then in the senate was most foolish; for the books might have been
burnt, and yet the matter itself have been unknown.  Thus, while they
wish to prove even to posterity with what piety they defended religious
institutions, they lessened the authority of the institutions themselves
by their testimony.

 But as Pompilius was the institutor of foolish

38

superstitions among the Romans, so also, before Pompilius, Faunus was in
Latium, who both established impious rites to his grandfather Saturnus,
and honoured his father Picus with a place among the gods, and
consecrated his sister Fatua Fauna, who was also his wife; who, as
Gabius Bassus relates, was called Fatua because she had been in the
habit of foretelling their fates to women, as Faunus did to men.  And
Varro writes that she was a woman of such great modesty, that, as long
as she lived, no male except her husband saw her or heard her name.  On
this account women sacrifice to her in secret, and call her the Good
Goddess.  And Sextus Claudius, in that book which he wrote in Greek,
relates that it was the wife of Faunus who, because, contrary to the
practice and honour of kings, she had drunk a jar of wine, and had
become intoxicated, was beaten to death by her husband with myrtle rods.
But afterwards, when he was sorry for what he had done, and was unable
to endure his regret for her, he paid her divine honours.  For this
reason they say that a covered jar of wine is placed at her sacred
rites.  Therefore Faunus also left to posterity no slight error, which
all that are intelligent see through.  For Lucilius in these verses
derides the folly of those who imagine that images are gods: "The
terrestrial(1) Lamiae, which Faunus and Numa Pompilius and others
instituted; at and these he trembles, he places everything in this.  As
infant boys believe that every statue of bronze is a living man, so
these imagine that all things reigned are true: they believe that
statues of bronze contain a heart.  It is a painter's gallery;(2) there
is nothing true; all things are fictitious."  The poet, indeed, compares
foolish men to infants.  But I say that they are much more senseless
than infants.  For they (infants) suppose that images are men, whereas
these take them for gods: the one through their age, the others through
folly, imagine that which is not true: at any rate, the one soon ceased
to be deceived; the foolishness of the others is permanent, and always
increases.  Orpheus was the first who introduced the rites of father
Liber into Greece; and he first celebrated them on a mountain of
Boeotia, very near to Thebes, where Liber was born; and because this
mountain continually resounded with the strains of the lyre, it was
called Cithaeron.(3) Those sacred rites are even now called Orphic, in
which he himself was lacerated and torn in pieces; and he lived about
the same time with Faunus.  But which of them was prior in age admits of
doubt, since Latinus and Priam reigned during the same years, as did
also their fathers Faunus and Laomedon, in whose reign Orpheus came with
the Argonauts to the coast of the Trojans.

 Let us therefore advance further, and inquire who was really the first
author of the worship of the gods.  Didymus,(4) in the books of his
commentary on Pindar, says that Melisseus, king of the Cretans, was the
first who sacrificed to the gods, and introduced new rites and parades
of sacrifices.  He had two daughters, Amalthaea and Melissa, who
nourished the youth fill Jupiter with goats' milk and honey.  Hence that
poetic fable derived its origin, that bees flew to the child, and filled
his mouth with honey.  Moreover, he says that Melissa was appointed by
her father the first priestess of the Great Mother; from which
circumstance the priests of the same Mother are still called Melissae.
But the sacred history testifies that Jupiter himself, when he had
gained possession of power, arrived at such insolence that he built
temples in honour of himself in many places.  For when he went about to
different lands, on his arrival in each region, he united to himself the
kings or princes of the people in hospitality and friendship; and when
he was departing from each, he ordered that a shrine should be dedicated
to himself in the name of his host, as though the remembrance of their
friendship and league could thus be preserved.  Thus temples were
founded in honour of Jupiter Atabyrius and Jupiter Labrandius; for
Atabyrius and Labrandius were his entertainers and assistants in war.
Temples were also built to Jupiter Laprius, to Jupiter Molion, to
Jupiter Casius, and others, after the same manner.  This was a very
crafty device on his part, that he might both acquire divine honour for
himself, and a perpetual name for his entertainers in conjunction with
religious observances.  Accordingly they were glad, and cheerfully
submitted to his command, and observed annual rites and festivals for
the sake of handing down their own name.  AEneas did something like this
in Sicily, when he gave the name of his host(5) Acestes to a city which
he had built, that Acestes might afterwards joyfully and willingly love,
increase, and adorn it.  In this manner Jupiter spread abroad through
the world the observance of his worship, and gave an example for the
imitation of others.  Whether, then, the practice of worshipping the
gods proceeded from Melisseus, as Didymus related, or from Jupiter also
himself, as Euhemerus says, the

39

time is still agreed upon when the gods began to be worshipped.
Melisseus, indeed, was much prior in time, inasmuch as he brought up
Jupiter his grandson.  It is therefore possible that either before, or
while Jupiter was yet a boy, he taught the worship of the gods, namely,
the mother of his foster-child, and his grandmother Tellus, who was the
wife of Uranus, and his father Saturnus; and he himself, by this example
and institution, may have exalted Jupiter to such pride, that he
afterwards ventured to assume divine honours to himself.

CHAP. XXIII.--OF THE AGES OF VAIN SUPERSTITIONS, AND THE TIMES AT WHICH
THEY COMMENCED.

 Now, since we have ascertained the origin of vain superstitions, it
remains that we should also collect the times during which they whose
memory is honoured lived.  Theophilus,(1) in his book written to
Autolycus respecting the times,(2) says that Thallus relates in his
history, that Belus, who is worshipped by the Babylonians and Assyrians,
is found to have lived 322 years before the Trojan war; that Belus,
moreover, was contemporary with Saturnus, and that they both grew up at
one time;-- which is so true, that it may be inferred by reason itself.
For Agamemnon, who carried on the Trojan war, was the fourth(3) in
descent from Jupiter; and Achilles and Ajax were of the third(4) descent
from him; and Ulysses was related in the same degree.  Priam, indeed,
was distant by a long series of descents.  But according to some
authorities, Dardanus and Iasius were sons of Coritus, not of Jupiter.
For if it had been so, Jupiter could not have formed that unchaste
connection with Ganymede, his own descendant.  Therefore, if you divide
the years which are in agreement, the number will be found in harmony
with the parents of those whom I have named above.  Now, from the
destruction of the Trojan city fourteen hundred and seventy years are
made up.  From this calculation of times, it is manifest that Saturnus
has not been born more than eighteen hundred years, and he also was the
father of all the gods.  Let them not glory, then, in the antiquity of
their sacred rites, since both their origin and system and times have
been ascertained.  There still remain some things which may be of great
weight for the disproving of false religions; but I have determined now
to bring this book to an end, that it may not exceed moderate limits.
For those things must be followed up more fully, that, having refuted
all things which seem to oppose the truth, we may be able to instruct in
true religion men who, through ignorance of good things, wander in
uncertainty.  But the first step towards wisdom is to understand what is
false; the second, to ascertain what is true.  Therefore he who shall
have profited by this first discussion of mine, in which we have exposed
false things, will be excited to the knowledge of the truth, than which
no pleasure is more gratifying to man; and he will now be worthy of the
wisdom of heavenly training, who shall approach with willingness and
preparation to the knowledge of the other subjects.

40

THE DIVINE INSTITUTES.

BOOK II.

OF THE ORIGIN OF ERROR.

CHAP. I--THAT FORGETFULNESS OF REASON MAKES MEN IGNORANT OF THE TRUE
GOD, WHOM THEY WORSHIP IN ADVERSITY AND DESPISE IN PROSPERITY.

 ALTHOUGH I have shown in the first book that the religious ceremonies
of the gods are false, because those in whose honour the general consent
of men throughout the world by a foolish persuasion undertook various
and dissimilar rites were mortals, and when they had completed their
term of life, yielded to a divinely appointed necessity and died, yet,
lest any doubt should be left, this second book shall lay open the very
fountain of errors, and shall explain all the causes by which men were
deceived, so that at first they believed that they were gods, and
afterwards with an inveterate persuasion persevered in the religious
observances which they had most perversely undertaken.  For I desire, O
Emperor Constantine, now that I have proved the emptiness of these
things, and brought to light the impious vanity of men, to assert the
majesty of the one God, undertaking the more useful and greater duty of
recalling men from crooked paths, and of bringing them back into favour
with themselves, that they may not, as some philosophers do, so greatly
despise themselves, nor think that they are weak and useless, and of no
account, and altogether born in vain.  For this notion drives many to
vicious pursuits.  For while they imagine that we are a care to no God,
or that we are about to have no existence after death, they altogether
give themselves to the indulgence of their passions; and while they
think that it is allowed them, they eagerly apply themselves to the
enjoyment of pleasures, by which they unconsciously run into the snares
of death; for they are ignorant as to what is reasonable conduct on the
part of man: for if they wished to understand this, in the first place
they would acknowledge their Lord, and would follow after virtue and
justice; they would not subject their souls to the influence of earth-
born fictions, nor would they seek the deadly fascinations of their
lusts; in short, they would value themselves highly, and would
understand that there is more in man than appears; and that they cannot
retain their power and standing unless men lay aside depravity, and
undertake the worship of their true Parent.  I indeed, as I ought, often
reflecting on the sum of affairs, am accustomed to wonder that the
majesty of the one God, which keeps together and rules all things, has
come to be so forgotten, that the only befitting object of worship is,
above all others, the one which is especially neglected; and that men
have sunk to such blindness, that they prefer the dead to the true and
living God, and those who are of the earth, and buried in the earth, to
Him who was the Creator of the earth itself.

 And yet this impiety of men might meet with some indulgence if the
error entirely arose from ignorance of the divine name.  But since we
often see that the worshippers of other gods themselves confess and
acknowledge the Supreme God, what pardon can they hope for their
impiety, who do not acknowledge the worship of Him whom man cannot
altogether be ignorant of?  For both in swearing, and in expressing a
wish, and in giving thanks, they do not name Jupiter, or a number of
gods, but God;(1) so entirely does the truth of its own accord break
forth by the force of nature even from unwilling breasts.  And this,
indeed, is not the case with men in their prosperity.  For then most of
all does God escape the memory of men, when in the enjoyment of His
benefits they ought to honour His divine beneficence.  But if any
weighty necessity shall press them, then they remember God.  If the
terror of war shall have resounded, if the pestilential force of
diseases shall have overhung them, if long-continued drought shall have
denied nourishment to the

41

crops, if a violent tempest or hail shall have assailed them, they
betake themselves to God, aid is implored from God, God is entreated to
suc-cour them.  If any one is tossed about on the sea, the wind being
furious, it is this God whom he invokes.  If any one is harassed by any
violence, he implores His aid.  If any one, reduced to the last
extremity of poverty, begs for food, he appeals to God alone, and by His
divine and matchless name(1) alone he seeks to gain the compassion of
men.  Thus they never remember God, unless it be while they are in
trouble.  When fear has left them, and the dangers have withdrawn, then
in truth they quickly hasten to the temples of the gods: they pour
libations to them, they sacrifice to them, they crown(2) them with
garlands.  But to God, whom they called upon in their necessity itself,
they do not give thanks even in word.  Thus from prosperity arises
luxury; and from luxury, together with all other vices, there arises
impiety towards God.

 From what cause can we suppose this to arise?  Unless we imagine that
there is some perverse power which is always hostile to the truth, which
rejoices in the errors of men, whose one and only task it is perpetually
to scatter darkness, and to blind the minds of men, lest they should see
the light,--lest, in short, they should look to heaven, and observe the
nature(3) of their own body, the origin(4) of which we shall relate at
the proper place; but now let us refute fallacies.  For since other
animals look down to the ground, with bodies bending forward, because
they have not received reason and wisdom, whereas an upright position
and an elevated countenance have been given to us by the Creator God, it
is evident that these ceremonies paid to the gods are not in accordance
with the reason of man, because they bend down the heaven-sprung being
to the worship of earthly objects.  For that one and only Parent of
ours, when He created man,--that is, an animal intelligent and capable
of exercising reason,--raised him from the ground, and elevated him to
the contemplation of his Creator.  As an ingenious poet s has well
represented it:--

"And when other animals bend forward and look to the earth, He gave to
man an elevated countenance, and commanded him to look up to theheaven,
and to raise his countenance erect to stars."

 From this circumstance the Greeks plainly derived the name
<greek>anqrwpos</greek>,(6) because he looks upward.  They therefore
deny themselves, and renounce the name of man, who do not look up, but
downward: unless they think that the fact of our being upright is
assigned to man without any cause.  God willed that we should look up to
heaven, and undoubtedly not without reason.  For both the birds and
almost all of the dumb creation see the heaven, but it is given to us in
a peculiar manner to behold the heaven as we stand erect, that we may
seek religion there; that since we cannot see God with our eyes, we may
with our mind contemplate Him, whose throne is there: and this cannot
assuredly be done by him who worships brass and stone, which are earthly
things.  But it is most incorrect that the nature of the body, which is
temporary, should be upright, but that the soul itself, which is
eternal, should be abject; whereas the figure and position have no other
signification, except that the mind of man ought to look in the same
direction as his countenance, and that his soul ought to be as upright
as his body, so that it may imitate that which it ought to rule.  But
men, forgetful both of their name and nature, cast down their eyes from
the heaven, and fix them upon the ground, and fear the works of their
own hands, as though anything could be greater than its own artificer.

CHAP. II.--WHAT WAS THE FIRST CAUSE OF MAKING IMAGES; OF THE TRUE
LIKENESS OF GOD, AND THE TRUE WORSHIP OF HIM.

 What madness is it, then, either to form those objects which they
themselves may afterwards fear, or to fear the things which they have
formed?  But, they say, we do not fear the images themselves, but those
beings after whose likeness they were formed, and to whose names they
are dedicated.  You fear them doubtless on this account, because you
think that they are in heaven; for if they are gods, the case cannot be
otherwise.  Why, then, do you not raise your eyes to heaven, and,
invoking their names, offer sacrifices in the open air?  Why do you look
to walls, and wood, and stone, rather than to the place where you
believe them to be?  What is the meaning of temples(7) and altars?
what, in short, of the images themselves, which are memorials either of
the dead or absent?  For the plan of making likenesses was invented by
men for this reason, that it might be possible to retain the memory of
those who had either been removed by death or separated by absence.

42

In which of these classes, then, shall we reckon the gods?  If among the
dead, who is so foolish as to worship them?  If among the absent, then
they are not to be worshipped, if they neither see our actions nor hear
our prayers.  But if the gods cannot be absent,--for, since they are
divine, they see and hear all things, in whatever part of the universe
they are,--it follows that images are superfluous, since the gods are
present everywhere, and it is sufficient to invoke with prayer the names
of those who hear us.  But if they are present, they cannot fail to be
at hand at their own images.  It is entirely so, as the people imagine,
that the spirits of the dead wander(1) about the tombs and relics of
their bodies.  But after that the deity has begun to be near, there is
no longer need of his statue.

 For I ask, if any one should often contemplate the likeness of a man
who has settled in a foreign land, that he may thus solace himself for
him who is absent, would he also appear to be of sound mind, if, when
the other had returned and was present, he should persevere in
contemplating the likeness, and should prefer the enjoyment of it,
rather than the sight of the man himself?  Assuredly not.  For the
likeness of a man appears to be necessary at that time when he is far
away; and it will become superfluous when he is at hand.  But in the
case of God, whose spirit and influence are diffused everywhere, and can
never be absent, it is plain that an image is always superfluous.  But
they fear lest their religion should be altogether vain and empty if
they should see nothing present which they may adore, and therefore they
set up images; and since these are representations of the dead, they
resemble the dead, for they are entirely destitute of perception.  But
the image of the ever-living God ought to be living and endued with
perception.  But if it received this name(2) from resemblance, how can
it be supposed that these images resemble God, which have neither
perception nor motion?  Therefore the image of God is not that which is
fashioned by the fingers of men out of stone, or bronze, or other
material, but man himself, since he has both perception and motion, and
performs many and great actions.  Nor do the foolish men understand,
that if images could exercise perception and motion, they would of their
own accord adore men, by whom they have been adorned and embellished,
since they would be either rough and unpolished stone, or rude and
unshapen wood,(3) had they not been fashioned by man.

 Man, therefore, is to be regarded as the parent of these images; for
they were produced by his instrumentality, and through him they first
had shape, figure, and beauty.  Therefore he who made them is superior
to the objects which were made.  And yet no one looks up to the Maker
Himself, or reverences Him: he fears the things which he has made, as
though there could be more power in the work than in the workman.
Seneca, therefore, rightly says in his moral treatises: They worship the
images of the gods, they supplicate them with bended knee, they adore
them, they sit or stand beside them through the whole day, they offer to
them contributions,(4) they slay victims; and while they value these
images so highly, they despise the artificers who made them.  What is so
inconsistent, as to despise the statuary and to adore the statue; and
not even to admit to your society him who makes your gods?  What force,
what power can they have, when he who made them has none?  But he was
unable to give to these even those powers which he had, the power of
sight, of hearing, of speech, and of motion.  Is any one so foolish as
to suppose that there is anything in the image of a god, in which there
is nothing even of a man except the mere resemblance?  But no one
considers these things; for men are imbued with this persuasion, and
their minds have thoroughly imbibed the deception s of folly.  And thus
beings endowed with sense adore objects which are senseless, rational
beings adore irrational objects, those who are alive adore inanimate
objects, those sprung from heaven adore earthly objects.  It delights
me, therefore, as though standing on a lofty watch-tower, from which all
may hear, to proclaim aloud that saying of Persius:(6)--

 "O souls bent down to the earth, and destitute of heavenly things?"

 Rather look to the heaven, to the sight of which God your Creator
raised you.  He gave to you an elevated countenance; you bend it down to
the earth; you depress to things below those lofty minds, which are
raised together with their bodies to their parent, as though it repented
you that you were not born quadrupeds.  It is not befitting that the
heavenly being should make himself equal to things which are earthly,
and incline to the earth.  Why do you deprive yourselves of heavenly
benefits, and of your own accord fall prostrate upon the ground?  For
you do wretchedly roll yourselves(7) on the ground,

43

when you seek here below that which you ought to have sought above.  For
as to those vain(1) and fragile productions, the work of man's hands,
from whatever kind of material they are formed, what are they but earth,
out of which they were produced?  Why, then, do you subject yourselves
to lower objects?  why do you place the earth above your heads?  For
when you lower yourselves to the earth, and humiliate yourselves, you
sink of your own accord to hell, and condemn yourselves to death; for
nothing is lower and more humble than the earth, except death and hell.
And if you wished to escape these, you would despise the earth lying
beneath your feet, preserving the position of your body, which you
received upright, in order that you might be able to direct your eyes
and your mind to Him who made it.  But to despise and trample upon the
earth is nothing else than to refrain from adoring images, because they
are made of earth; also not to desire riches, and to despise the
pleasures of the body, because wealth, and the body itself, which we
make use of as a lodging, is but earth.  Worship a living being, that
you may live; for he must necessarily die who has subjected(2) himself
and his soul to the dead.

CHAP. III.--THAT CICERO AND OTHER MEN OF LEARNING ERRED IN NOT TURNING
AWAY THE PEOPLE FROM ERROR.

 But what does it avail thus to address the vulgar and ignorant, when we
see that learned and prudent men, though they understand the vanity of
these ceremonies, nevertheless through some perverseness persist in the
worship of those very objects which they condemn?  Cicero was well aware
that the deities which men worshipped were false.  For when he had
spoken many things which tended to the overthrow of religious
ceremonies, he said nevertheless that these matters ought not to be
discussed by the vulgar, lest such discussion should extinguish the
system of religion which was publicly received.  What can you do
respecting him, who, when he perceives himself to be in error, of his
own accord dashes himself against the stones, that all the people may
stumble?  or tears out his own eyes, that all may be blind?  who neither
deserves well of others, whom he suffers to be in error, nor of himself,
since he inclines to the errors of others, and makes no use of the
benefit of his own wisdom, so as to carry out(3) in action the
conception of his own mind, but knowingly and consciously thrusts his
foot into the snare, that he also may be taken with the rest, whom he
ought, as the more prudent, to have extricated?  Nay rather, if you have
any virtue, Cicero, endeavour to make the people wise: that is a
befitting subject, on which you may expend all the powers of your
eloquence.  For there is no fear lest speech should fail you in so good
a cause, when you have often defended even bad ones with copious-ness
and spirit.  But truly you fear the prison of Socrates,(4) and on that
account you do not venture to undertake the advocacy of truth.  But, as
a wise man, you ought to have despised death.  And, indeed, it would
have been much more glorious to die on account of good words than on
account of revilings.  Nor would the renown of your Philippics have been
more advantageous to you than the dispersion of the errors of mankind,
and the recalling of the minds of men to a healthy state by your
disputation.

 But let us make allowance for timidity, which ought not to exist in a
wise man.  Why, then, are you yourself engaged in the same error?  I see
that you worship things of earth made by the hand: you understand that
they are vain, and yet you do the same things which they do, whom you
confess to be most foolish.  What, therefore, did it profit you, that
you saw the truth, which you were neither about to defend nor to follow?
If even they who perceive themselves to be in error err willingly, how
much more so do the unlearned vulgar, who delight in empty processions,
and gaze at all things with boyish minds!  They are delighted with
trifling things, and are captivated with the form of images; and they
are unable to weigh every object in their own minds, so as to understand
that nothing which is beheld by the eyes of mortals ought to be
worshipped, because it must necessarily be mortal.  Nor is it matter of
surprise if they do I not see God, when they themselves do not even see
man, whom they believe that they see.  For this, which falls under the
notice of the eyes,(5) is not man, but the receptacle of man, the
quality and figure of which are not seen from the lineaments of the
vessel which contains them, but from the actions and character.  They,
therefore, who worship images are mere bodies without men, because they
have given themselves to corporeal things, and do not see anything with
the mind more than with the body; whereas it is the office of the soul
to perceive those things more clearly which the eye of the body cannot
behold.  And that philosopher and poet severely accuses those men as
humble and abject, who, in opposition to the design of their nature,
prostrate them-

44

selves to the worship of earthly things; for he says:(1)--

"And they abase their souls with fear of the gods, and weigh and press
them down to earth."

When he said these things, indeed, his meaning was different--that
nothing was to be worshipped, because the gods do not regard the affairs
of men.

 In another place, at length, he acknowledges that the ceremonies and
worship of the gods is an unavailing office:(2)--

"Nor is it any piety to be often seen with veiled head to turn to a
stone, and approach every altar, and fall prostrate on the ground,
andspread the hands before the shrines of the gods, and sprinkle
thealtars with much blood of beasts, and to offer vow after vow."

And assuredly if these things are useless, it is not right that sublime
and lofty souls should be called away and depressed to the earth, but
that they should think only of heavenly things.

 False religious systems, therefore, have been attacked by more
sagacious men, because they perceived their falsehood; but the true
religion was not introduced, because they knew not what and where it
was.  They therefore so regarded it as though it had no existence,
because they were unable to find it in its truth.  And in this manner
they fell into a much greater error than they who held a religion which
was false.  For those worshippers of fragile images, however foolish
they may be, inasmuch as they place heavenly things in things which are
earthly and corruptible, yet retain something of wisdom, and may be
pardoned, because they hold the chief duty of man, if not in reality,
yet still in their purpose; since, if not the only, yet certainly the
greatest difference between men and the beasts consists in religion.
But this latter class, in proportion to their superior wisdom, in that
they understood the error of false religion, rendered themselves so much
the more foolish, because they did not imagine that some religion was
true.  And thus, because it is easier to judge of the affairs of others
than of their own, while they see the downfall of others, they have not
observed what was before their own feet.  On either side is found the
greatest folly, and a certain trace(3) of wisdom; so that you may doubt
which are rather to be called more foolish--those who embrace a false
religion, or those who embrace none.  But (as I have said) pardon may be
granted to those who are ignorant and do not own themselves to be wise;
but it cannot be extended to those who, while they profess(4) wisdom,
rather exhibit folly.  I am not, indeed, so unjust as to imagine that
they could divine, so that they might find out the truth by themselves;
for I acknowledge that this is impossible.  But I require from them that
which they were able to perform by reason(5) itself.  For they would act
more prudently, if they both understood that some form of religion is
true, and if, while they attacked false religions, they openly
proclaimed that men were not in possession of that which is true.

 But this consideration may perhaps have influenced them, that if there
were any true religion, it would exert itself and assert its authority,
and not permit the existence of anything opposed to it.  For they were
unable to see at all, on what account, or by whom, and in what manner
true religion was depressed, which partakes of a divine mystery(6) and a
heavenly secret.  And no man can know(7) this by any means, unless he is
taught.  The sum of the matter is this: The unlearned and the foolish
esteem false religions as true, because they neither know the true nor
understand the false.(8) But the more sagacious, because they are
ignorant of the true, either persist in those religions which they know
to be false, that they may appear to possess something; or worship
nothing at all, that they may not fall into error, whereas this very
thing partakes largely of error, under the figure of a man to imitate
the life of cattle.  To understand that which is false is truly the part
of wisdom, but of human wisdom.  Beyond this step man cannot proceed,
and thus many of the philosophers have taken away religious
institutions, as I have pointed out; but to know the truth is the part
of divine wisdom.  But man by himself cannot attain to this knowledge,
unless he is taught by God.  Thus philosophers have reached the height
of human wisdom, so as to understand that which is not; but they have
failed in attaining the power of saying that which really is.  It is a
well-known saying of Cicero:(9) "I wish that I could as easily find out
the truth as I can refute false things."  And because this is beyond the
power of man's condition, the capability of this office is assigned to
us, to whom God has delivered the knowledge of the truth; to the
explaining of which the four last books shall be devoted.  Now, in the
meantime, let us bring to light false things, as we have begun to do.

CHAP. IV.--OF IMAGES, AND THE ORNAMENTS OF TEMPLES, AND THE CONTEMPT IN
WHICH THEY ARE HELD EVEN BY THE HEATHENS THEMSELVES.

 What majesty, then, can images have, which were altogether in the power
of puny man, either

445

that they should be formed into something else, or that they should not
be made at all?  On which account Priapus thus speaks in Horace:(1)

"Formerly I was the trunk of a fig-tree,(2) a useless log, when
thecarpenter, at a loss whether he should make a bench or a
Priapus,decided that it should be a god.  Accordingly I am a god, a very
greatterror to thieves and birds."

Who would not be at ease with such a guardian as this?  For thieves are
so foolish as to fear the figure of Priapus; though the very birds,
which they imagine to be driven away by fear of his scythe, settle upon
the images which are skilfully made, that is, which altogether resemble
men, build their nests there, and defile them.  But Flaccus, as a writer
of satire, ridiculed the folly of men.  But they who make the images
fancy that they are performing a serious business.  In short, that very
great poet, a man of sagacity in other things, in this alone displayed
folly, not like a poet, but after the manner of an old woman, when even
in those most highly-finished(3) books he orders this to be done:--

"And let the guardianship of Priapus of the Hellespont,(4) who drives
away thieves and birds with his willow scythe, preserve them."

Therefore they adore mortal things, as made by mortals.  For they may be
broken, or burnt, or be destroyed.  For they are often apt to be broken
to pieces, when houses fall through age, and when, consumed by
conflagration, they waste away to ashes; and in many instances, unless
aided by their own magnitude, or protected by diligent watchfulness,
they become the prey of thieves.  What madness is it, then, to fear
those objects for which either the downfall of a building, or fires, or
thefts, may be feared!  What folly, to hope for protection from those
things which are unable to protect themselves!  What perversity, to have
recourse to the guardianship of those which, when injured, are
themselves unavenged, unless vengeance is exacted by their worshippers!
Where, then, is truth?  Where no violence can be applied to religion;
where there appears to be nothing which can be injured; where no
sacrilege can be committed.

 But whatever is subjected to the eyes and to the hands, that, in truth,
because it is perishable, is inconsistent with the whole subject of
immortality.  It is in vain, therefore, that men set off and adorn their
gods with gold, ivory, and jewels, as though they were capable of
deriving any pleasure from these things.  What is the use of precious
gifts to insensible objects?  Is it the same which the dead have?  For
as they embalm the bodies of the dead, wrap them in spices and precious
garments, and bury them in the earth, so they honour the gods, who when
they were made did not perceive it, and when they are worshipped have no
knowledge of it; for they did not receive sensibility on their
consecration.  Persius was displeased that golden vessels should be
carried into the temples, since he thought it superfluous that that
should be reckoned among religious offerings which was not an instrument
of sanctity, but of avarice.  For these are the things which it is
better to offer as a gift to the god whom you would rightly worship:--

"Written law(5) and the divine law of the conscience, and the
sacredrecesses of the mind, and the breast imbued with nobleness."(6)

 A noble and wise sentiment.  But he ridiculously added this: that there
is this gold in the temples, as there are doll(7) presented to Venus by
the virgin; which perhaps he may have despised on account of their
smallness.  For he did not see that the very images and statues of the
gods, wrought in gold and ivory by the hand of Polycletus, Euphranor,
and Phidias, were nothing more than large dolls, not dedicated by
virgins, to whose sports some indulgence may be granted, but by bearded
men.  Therefore Seneca deservedly laughs at the folly even of old men.
We are not (he says) boys twice,(8) as is commonly said, but are always
so.  But there is this difference, that when men we have greater
subjects of sport.  Therefore men offer to these dolls, which are of
large size, and adorned as though for the stage, both perfumes, and
incense, and odours: they sacrifice to these costly and fattened
victims, which have a mouth,(9) but one that is not suitable for eating;
to these they bring robes and costly garments, though they have no need
of clothing; to these they dedicate gold and silver, of which they who
receive them are as destitute(10) as they who have given them.

 And not without reason did Dionysius, the despot of Sicily, when after
a victory he had become master of Greece,(11) despise, and plunder and
jeer at such gods, for he followed up his sacrilegious acts by jesting
words.  For when he

46

had taken off a golden robe from the statue of the Olympian Jupiter, he
ordered that a woollen garment should be placed upon him, saying that a
golden robe was heavy in summer and cold in winter, but that a woollen
one was adapted to each season.  He also took off the golden beard from
AEsculapius, saying that it was unbecoming and unjust, that while his
father Apollo was yet smooth and beardless, the son should be seen to
wear a beard before his father.  He also took away the bowls, and
spoils, and some little images(1) which were held in the extended hands
of the statues, and said that he did not take them away, but received
them: for that it would be very foolish and ungrateful to refuse to
receive good things, when offered voluntarily by those from whom men
were accustomed to implore them.  He did these things with impunity,
because he was a king and victorious.  Moreover, his usual good fortune
also followed him; for he lived even to old age, and handed down the
kingdom in succession to his son.  In his case, therefore, because men
could not punish his sacrilegious deeds, it was befitting that the gods
should be their own avengers.  But if any humble person shall have
committed any such crime, there are at hand for his punishment the
scourge, fire, the rack,(2) the cross, and whatever torture men can
invent in their anger and rage.  But when they punish those who have
been detected in the act of sacrilege, they themselves distrust the
power of their gods.  For why should they not leave to them especially
the opportunity of avenging themselves, if they think that they are able
to do so?  Moreover, they also imagine that it happened through the will
of the deities that the sacrilegious robbers were discovered and
arrested; and their cruelty is instigated not so much by anger as by
fear, lest they themselves should be visited with punishment if they
failed to avenge the injury done to the gods.  And, in truth, they
display incredible shallowness in imagining that the gods will injure
them on account of the guilt of others, who by themselves were unable to
injure those very persons by whom they were profaned and plundered.
But, in fact, they have often themselves also inflicted punishment on
the sacrilegious: that may have occurred even by chance, which has
sometimes happened, but not always.  But I will show presently how that
occurred.  Now in the meantime I will ask, Why did they not punish so
many and such great acts of sacrilege in Dionysius, who insulted the
gods openly, and not in secret?  Why did they not repel this
sacrilegious man, possessed of such power, from their temples, their
ceremonies, and their images?  Why, even when he had carried off their
sacred things, had he a prosperous voyage--as he himself, according to
his custom, testified in joke?  Do you see, he said to his companions
who feared shipwreck, how prosperous a voyage the immortal gods
themselves give to the sacrilegious?  But perhaps he had learnt from
Plato that the gods have no(3) power.

 What of Caius Verres?  whom his accuser Tully compares to this same
Dionysius, and to Phalaris, and to all tyrants.  Did he not pillage the
whole of Sicily, carrying away the images of the gods, and the ornaments
of the temples?  It is idle to follow up each particular instance: I
would fain make mention of one, in which the accuser, with all the force
of eloquence--in short, with every effort of voice and of body--lamented
about Ceres of Catina, or of Henna: the one of whom was of such great
sanctity, that it was unlawful for men to enter the secret recesses of
her temple; the other was of such great antiquity, that all accounts
relate that the goddess herself first discovered grain in the soil of
Henna, and that her virgin daughter was carried away from the same
place.  Lastly, in the times of the Gracchi, when the state was
disturbed both by seditions and by portents, on its being discovered in
the Sibylline predictions that the most ancient Ceres ought to be
appeased, ambassadors were sent to Henna.  This Ceres, then, either the
most holy one, whom it was unlawful for men to behold even for the sake
of adoration, or the most ancient one, whom the senate and people of
Rome had appeased with sacrifices and gifts, was carried away with
impunity by Caius Verres from her secret anti ancient recesses, his
robber slaves having been sent in.  The same orator, in truth, when he
affirmed that he had been entreated by the Sicilians to undertake the
cause of the province, made use of these words: "That they had now not
even any gods in their cities to whom they might betake themselves,
since Verres had taken away the most sacred images from their most
venerable shrines."  As though, in truth, if Verres had taken them away
from the cities and shrines, he had also taken them from heaven.  From
which it appears that those gods have nothing in them more than the
material of which they are made.  And not without reason did the
Sicilians have recourse to you, O Marcus Tullius, that is, to a man;
since they had for three years experienced that those gods had no power.
For they would have been most foolish if they had fled for protection
against the injuries of men, to those who were unable to be angry with
Caius Verres on their own behalf.  But, it will be urged, Verres was
condemned on account of these deeds.  Therefore he was not punished by
the gods, but by the energy of Cicero, by which he either

47

crushed his defenders or withstood his influence.(1) Why should I say
that, in the case of Verres himself, that was not so much a condemnation
as a respite from labour?  So that, as the immortal gods had given a
prosperous voyage to Dionysius when he was carrying off the spoils of
gods, so also they appear to have bestowed on Verres quiet repose, in
which he might with tranquility enjoy the fruits of his sacrilege.  For
when civil wars afterwards raged, being removed from all danger and
apprehension, under the cloak of condemnation he heard of the disastrous
misfortunes and miserable deaths of others; and he who appeared to have
fallen while all retained their position, he alone, in truth, retained
his position while all fell; until the proscription of the triumvirs,--
that very proscription, indeed, which carried off Tully, the avenger of
the violated majesty of the gods,--carried him off, satiated at once
with the enjoyment of the wealth which he had gained by sacrilege, and
with life, and worn out by old age.  Moreover, he was fortunate in this
very circumstance, that before his own death he heard of the most cruel
end of his accuser; the gods doubtless providing that this sacrilegious
man and spoiler of their worship should not die before he had received
consolation from revenge.

CHAP. V.--THAT GOD ONLY, THE CREATOR OF ALL THINGS, IS TO BE WORSHIPPED,
AND NOT THE ELEMENTS OR HEAVENLY BODIES; AND THE OPINION OF THE STOICS
IS REFUTED, WHO THINK THAT THE STARS AND PLANETS ARE GODS.

 How much better, therefore, is it, leaving vain and insensible objects,
to turn our eyes in that direction where is the seat and dwelling-place
of the true God; who suspended the earth(2) on a firm foundation, who
bespangled the heaven with shining stars; who lighted up the sun, the
most bright and matchless light for the affairs of men, in proof of His
own single majesty; who girded the earth with seas, and ordered the
rivers to flow with perpetual course!

"He also commanded the plains to extend themselves, the valleys to sink
down, the woods to be covered with foliage, the stony mountains to
rise."(3)

All these things truly were not the work of Jupiter, who was born
seventeen hundred years ago; but of the same, "that framer of all
things, the origin of a better world,"(3) who is called God, whose
beginning cannot be comprehended, and ought not to be made the subject
of inquiry.  It is sufficient for man, to his full and perfect wisdom,
if he understands the existence of God: the force and sum of which
understanding is this, that he look up to and honour the common Parent
of the human race, and the Maker of wonderful things.  Whence some
persons of dull and obtuse mind adore as gods the elements, which are
both created objects and are void of sensibility; who, when they admired
the works of God, that is, the heaven with its various lights, the earth
with its plains and mountains, the seas with their rivers and lakes and
fountains, struck with admiration of these things, and forgetting the
Maker Himself, whom they were unable to see, began to adore and worship
His works.  Nor were they able at all to understand how much greater and
more wonderful He is, who made these things out of nothing.  And when
they see that these things, in obedience to divine laws, by a perpetual
necessity are subservient to the uses and interests of men, they
nevertheless regard them as gods, being ungrateful towards the divine
bounty, so that they preferred their own works to their most indulgent
God and Father.  But what wonder is it if uncivilized or ignorant men
err, since even philosophers of the Stoic sect are of the same opinion,
so as to judge that all the heavenly bodies which have motion are to be
reckoned in the number of gods; inasmuch as the Stoic Lucilius thus
speaks in Cicero:(4) "This regularity, therefore, in the stars, this
great agreement of the times in such various courses during all
eternity, are unintelligible to me with out the exercise of mind,
reason, and design; land when we see these things in the constellations,
we cannot but place these very objects in the number of the gods."  And
he thus speaks a little before: "It remains," he says, "that the motion
of the stars is voluntary; and he who sees these things, would act not
only unlearnedly, but also impiously, if he should deny it."  We in
truth firmly deny it; and we prove that you, O philosophers, are not
only unlearned and impious, but also blind, foolish, and senseless, who
have surpassed in shallowness the ignorance of the uneducated.  For they
regard as gods only the sun and moon, but you the stars also.

 Make known to us, therefore, the mysteries of the stars, that we may
erect altars anti temples to each; that we may know with what rites and
on what day to worship each, with what names and with what prayers we
should call on them; unless perhaps we ought to worship gods so
innumerable without any discrimination, and gods so minute in a mass.
Why should I mention that the argument by which they infer that all the
heavenly bodies are gods, tends to the opposite conclusion?  For if they
imagine that they are gods on this account, because they have their
courses fixed and in accordance with reason,

48

they are in error.  For it is evident from this that they are not gods,
because it is not permitted them to deviate(1) from their prescribed
orbits.  But if they were gods, they would be borne hither and thither
in all directions without any necessity, as living creatures on the
earth, who wander hither and thither as they please, because their wills
are unrestrained, and each is borne wherever inclination may have led
it.  Therefore the motion of the stars is not voluntary, but of
necessity, because they obey(2) the laws appointed for them.  But when
he was arguing about the courses of the stars, while he understood from
the very harmony of things and times that they were not by chance, he
judged that they were voluntary; as though they could not be moved with
such order and arrangement, unless they contained within them an
understanding acquainted with its own duty.  Oh, how difficult is truth
to those who are ignorant of it!  how easy to those who know it!  If, he
says, the motions of the stars are not by chance, nothing else remains
but that they are voluntary; nay, in truth, as it is plain that they are
not by chance, so is it clear that they are not voluntary.  Why, then,
in completing their courses, do they preserve their regularity?
Undoubtedly God, the framer of the universe, so arranged and contrived
them, that they might rim through their courses(3) in the heaven with a
divine and wonderful order, to accomplish the variations of the
successive seasons.  Was Archimedes(4) of Sicily able to contrive a
likeness and representation of the universe in hollow brass, in which he
so arranged the sun and moon, that they effected, as it were every day,
motions unequal and resembling the revolutions of the heavens, and that
sphere, while it revolved,(5) exhibited not only the approaches and
withdrawings of the sun, or the increase and waning of the moon, but
also the unequal courses of the stars, whether fixed or wandering?  Was
it then impossible for God to plan and create the originals,(6) when the
skill of man was able to represent them by imitation?  Would the Stoic,
therefore, if he should have seen the figures of the stars painted and
fashioned in that brass, say that they moved by their own design, and
not by the genius of the artificer?  There is therefore in the stars
design, adapted to the accomplishment of their courses; but it is the
design of God, who both made and governs all things, not of the stars
themselves, which are thus moved.  For if it had been His will that the
sun should remain.(7) fixed, it is plain that there would be perpetual
day.  Also if the stars had no motions, who doubts that there would have
been eternal night?  But that there might be vicissitudes of day and
night, it was His will that the stars should move, and move with such
variety that there might not only be mutual interchanges of light and
darkness, by which alternate courses(8) of labour and rest might be
established, but also interchanges of cold and heat, that the power and
influence of the different seasons might be adapted either to the
production or the ripening of the crops.  And because philosophers did
not see this skill of the divine power in contriving the movements of
the stars, they supposed them to be living, as though they moved with
feet and of their own accord, and not by the divine intelligence.  But
who does not understand why God contrived them?  Doubtless lest, as the
light of the sun was withdrawn, a night of excessive darkness should
become too oppressive with its foul and dreadful gloom, and should be
injurious to the living.  And so He both bespangled the heaven with
wondrous variety, and tempered the darkness itself with many and minute
lights.  How much more wisely therefore does Naso judge, than they who
think that they are devoting themselves to the pursuit of wisdom, in
thinking that those lights were appointed by God to remove the gloom of
darkness!  He concludes the book, in which he briefly comprises the
phenomena of nature, with these three verses:--

"These images, so many in number, and of such a figure, God placed in
theheaven; and having scattered them through the gloomy darkness,
Heordered them to give a bright light to the frosty night."  But if it
isimpossible that the stars should be gods, it follows that the sun
andmoon cannot be gods, since they differ from the light of the stars
inmagnitude only, and not in their design.  And if these are not
gods,the same is true of the heaven, which contains them all.

CHAP. VI.--THAT NEITHER THE WHOLE UNIVERSE NOR THE ELEMENTS ARE GOD, NOR
ARE THEY POSSESSED OF LIFE.

 In like manner, if the land on which we tread, and which we subdue and
cultivate for food, is not a god, then the plains and mountains will not
be gods; and if these are not so, it follows that the whole of the earth
cannot appear to be God.  In like manner, if the water, which is

49

adapted to the wants(1) of living creatures for the purpose of drinking
and bathing, is not a god, neither are the fountains gods from which the
water flows.  And if the fountains are not gods, neither are the rivers,
which are collected from the fountains.  And if the rivers also are not
gods, it follows that the sea, which is made up of rivers, cannot be
considered as God.  But if neither the heaven, nor the earth, nor the
sea, which are the parts of the world, can be gods, it follows that the
world altogether is not God; whereas the same Stoics contend that it is
both living and wise, and therefore God.  But in this they are so
inconsistent, that nothing is said by them which they do not also
overthrow.  For they argue thus: It is impossible that that which
produces from itself sensible objects should itself be insensible.  But
the world produces man, who is endowed with sensibility; therefore it
must also itself be sensible.  Also they argue: that cannot be without
sensibility, a part of which is sensible; therefore, because man is
sensible, the world, of which man is a part, also possesses sensibility.
The propositions(2) themselves are true, that that which produces a
being endowed with sense is itself sensible; and that that possesses
sense, a part of which is endowed with sense.  But the assumptions by
which they draw their conclusions are false; for the world does not
produce man, nor is man a part of the world.  For the same God who
created the world, also created man from the beginning: and man is not a
part of the world, in the same manner in which a limb is a part of the
body; for it is possible for the world to be without man, as it is for a
city or house.  Now, as a house is the dwelling-place of one man, and a
city of one people, so also the world is the abode(3) of the whole human
race; and that which is inhabited is one thing, that which inhabits
another.  But these persons, in their eagerness to prove that which they
had falsely assumed, that the world is possessed of sensibility, and is
God, did not perceive the consequences of their own arguments.  For if
man is a part of the world, and if the world is endowed with sensibility
because man is sensible, therefore it follows that, because man is
mortal, the world must also of necessity be mortal, and not only mortal,
but also liable to all kinds of disease and suffering.  And, on the
contrary, if the world is God, its parts also are plainly immortal:
therefore man also is God, because he is, as you say, a part of the
world.  And if man, then also both beasts of burden and cattle, and the
other kinds of beasts and of birds, and fishes, since these also in the
same manner are possessed of sensibility, and are parts of the world.
But this is endurable; for the Egyptians worship even these.  But the
matter comes to this: that even frogs, and gnats, and ants appear to be
gods, because these also have sensibility, and are parts of the world.
Thus arguments drawn from a false source always lead to foolish and
absurd conclusions.  Why should I mention that the same philosophers
assert that the world was constructed(4) for the sake of gods and men as
a common dwelling?  Therefore the world is neither god, nor living, if
it has been made: for a living "creature is not made, but born; and if
it has been built, it has been built as a house or ship is built.
Therefore there is a builder of the world, even God; and the world which
has been made is distinct from Him who made it.  Now, how inconsistent
and absurd is it, that when they affirm that the heavenly fires(5) and
the other elements of the world are gods, they also say that the world
itself is God!  How is it possible that out of a great heap of gods one
God can be made up?  If the stars are gods, it follows that the world is
not God, but the dwelling-place of gods.  But if the world is God, it
follows that all the things which are in it are not gods, but members(6)
of God, which clearly cannot by themselves(7) take the name of God.  For
no one can rightly say that the members of one man are many men; but,
however, there is no similar comparison between a living being and the
world.  For because a living being is endowed with sensibility, its
members also have sensibility; nor do they become senseless s unless
they are separated from the body.  But what resemblance does the world
present to this?  Truly they themselves tell us, since they do not deny
that it was made, that it might be, as it were, a common abode for gods
and men.  If, therefore, it has been constructed as an abode, it is
neither itself God, nor are the elements which are its parts; because a
house cannot bear rule over itself, nor can the parts of which a house
consists.  Therefore they are refuted not only by the truth, but even by
their own words.  For as a house, made for the purpose of being
inhabited, has no sensibility by itself, and is subject to the master
who built or inhabits it; so the world, having no sensibility of itself,
is subject to God its Maker, who made it for His own use.

50

CHAP. VII.--OF GOD, AND THE RELIGIOUS RITES OF THE FOOLISH; OF
AVARICE,AND THE AUTHORITY OF ANCESTORS.

 The foolish, therefore, err in a twofold manner: first, in preferring
the elements, that is, the works of God, to God Himself; secondly, in
worshipping the figures of the elements themselves under human form.
For they form the images of the sun and moon after the fashion of men;
also those of fire, and earth, and sea, which they call Vulcan, Vesta,
and Neptune.  Nor do they openly sacrifice to the elements themselves.
Men are possessed with so great a fondness for representations,(1) that
those things which are true are now esteemed of less value: they are
delighted, in fact, with gold, and jewels, and ivory.  The beauty and
brilliancy of these things dazzle their eyes, and they think that there
is no religion where these do not shine.  And thus, under pretence of
worshipping the gods, avarice and desire are worshipped.  For they
believe that the gods love whatever they themselves desire, whatever it
is, on account of which thefts and robberies and murders daily rage, on
account of which wars overthrow nations and cities throughout the whole
world.  Therefore they consecrate their spoils and plunder to the gods,
who must undoubtedly be weak, and destitute of the highest excellence,
if they are subject to desires.  For why should we think them celestial
if they long for anything from the earth, or happy if they are in want
of anything, or uncorrupted if they take pleasure in those things in the
pursuit of which the desire of men is not unreservedly condemned?  They
approach the gods, therefore not so much on account of religion, which
can have no place in badly acquired and corruptible things, as that they
may gaze upon(2) the gold, and view the brilliancy of polished marble or
ivory, that they may survey with unwearied contemplation garments
adorned with precious stones and colours, or cups studded with
glittering jewels.  And the more ornamented are the temples, and the
more beautiful the images, so much the greater majesty are they believed
to have: so entirely is their religion confined(3) to that which the
desire of men admires.

 These are the religious institutions handed down to them by their
ancestors, which they persist in maintaining and defending with the
greatest obstinacy.  Nor do they consider of what character they are;
but they feel assured of their excellence and truth on this account.
because the ancients have handed them down; anti so great is the
authority of antiquity, that it is said to be a crime to inquire into
it.  And thus it is everywhere believed as ascertained truth.  In short,
in Cicero,(4) Cotta thus speaks to Lucilius: "You know, Balbus, what is
the opinion of Cotta, what the opinion of the pontiff.  Now let me
understand what are your sentiments: for since you are a philosopher, I
ought to receive from you a reason for your religion; but in the case of
our ancestors it is reasonable to believe them, though no reason is
alleged by them."  If you believe, why then do you require a reason,
which may have the effect of causing you not to believe?  But if you
require a reason, and think that the subject demands inquiry, then you
do not believe; for you make inquiry with this view, that you may follow
it when you have ascertained it.  Behold, reason teaches you that the
religious institutions of the gods are not true: what will you do?  Will
you prefer to follow antiquity or reason?  And this, indeed, was not
imparted(5) to you by another, but was found out and chosen by yourself,
since you have entirely uprooted all religious systems.  If you prefer
reason, you must abandon the institutions and authority of our
ancestors, since nothing is right but that which reason prescribes.  But
if piety advises you to follow your ancestors, then admit that they were
foolish, who complied with religious institutions invented contrary to
reason; and that you are senseless, since you worship that which you
have proved to be false.  But since the name of ancestors is so greatly
objected to us, let us see, I pray, who those ancestors were from whose
authority it is said to be impious to depart.(6)

 Romulus, when he was about to found the city, called together the
shepherds among whom he had grown up; and since their number appeared
inadequate to the rounding of the city, he established an asylum.  To
this all the most abandoned men flocked together indiscriminately from
the neighbouring places, without any distinction of condition.  Thus he
brought together the people from all these; and he chose into the senate
those who were oldest, and called them Fathers, by whose advice he might
direct all things.  And concerning this senate, Propertius the elegiac
poet thus speaks:--

"The trumpet used to call the ancient Quirites to an assembly;(7) those
hundred in the field often formed the senate.  The senate-house,
whichnow is raised aloft and shines with the well-robed senate,
receivedthe Fathers clothed in skins, rustic spirits."

These are the Fathers whose decrees learned and sagacious men obey with
the greatest devotion; and all posterity must judge that to be true and
unchangeable which an hundred old men clothed in skins established at
their will; who, however,

51

as has been mentioned in the first book,(1) were enticed by Pompilius to
believe the truth of those sacred rites which he himself delivered.  Is
there any reason why their authority should be so highly esteemed by
posterity, since during their life no one either high or low judged them
worthy of affinity?(2)

CHAP. VIII.--OF THE USE OF REASON IN RELIGION; AND OF DREAMS, AUGURIES,
ORACLES, AND SIMILAR PORTENTS.

 It is therefore right, especially in a matter on which the whole plan
of life turns, that every one should place confidence in himself, and
use his own judgment and individual capacity for the investigation and
weighing of the truth, rather than through confidence in others to be
deceived by their errors, as though he himself were without
understanding.  God has given wisdom to all alike,(3) that they might be
able both to investigate things which they have not heard, and to weigh
things which they have heard.  Nor, because they preceded us in time did
they also outstrip us in wisdom; for if this is given equally to all, we
cannot be anticipated(4) in it by those who precede us.  It is incapable
of diminution, as the light and brilliancy of the sun; because, as the
sun is the light of the eyes, so is wisdom the light of man's heart.
Wherefore, since wisdom--that is, the inquiry after truth--is natural to
all, they deprive themselves of wisdom, who without any judgment approve
of the discoveries of their ancestors, and like sheep are led by others.
But this escapes their notice, that the name of ancestors being
introduced, they think it impossible that they themselves should have
more knowledge because they are called descendants, or that the others
should be unwise because they are called ancestors.(5) What, therefore,
prevents us from taking a precedent(6) from them, that as they handed
down to posterity their false inventions, so we who have discovered the
truth may hand down better things to our posterity?  There remains
therefore a great subject of inquiry, the discussion of which does not
come from talent, but from knowledge: and this must be explained at
greater length, that nothing at all may be left in doubt.  For perhaps
some one may have recourse to those things which are handed down

by many and undoubted authorities; that those very persons, whom we have
shown to be no gods, have often displayed their majesty both by
prodigies, and dreams, and auguries, and oracles.  And, indeed, many
wonderful things may be enumerated, and especially this, that Accius
Navius, a consummate augur, when he was warning Tarquinius Priscus to
undertake the commencement of nothing new without the previous sanction
of auguries,(7) and the king, detracting from(8) the credit due to his
art, told him to consult the birds, and then to announce to him whether
it was possible for that which he himself had conceived in his mind to
be accomplished, and Navius affirmed that it was possible; then take
this whetstone, he said, and divide it with a razor.  But the other
without any hesitation took and cut it.

 In the next place is the fact of Castor and Pollux having been seen in
the Latin war at the lake of Juturna washing off the sweat of their
horses, when their temple which adjoins the fountain had been open of
its own accord.  In the Macedonian war the same deities, mounted on
white horses, are said to have presented themselves to Publius Vatienus
as he went to Rome at night, announcing that King Perseus had been
vanquished and taken captive on that day, the truth of which was proved
by letters received from Paulus(9) a few days afterwards.  That also is
wonderful, that the statue of Fortune, in the form(10) of a woman, is
reported to have spoken more than once; also that the statue of Juno
Moneta,(11) when, on the capture of Veii, one of the soldiers, being
sent to remove it, sportively and in jest asked whether she wished to
remove to Rome, answered that she wished it.  Claudia also is set forth
as an example of a miracle.  For when, in accordance with the Sibylline
books, the Idaean mother was sent for, and the ship in which she was
conveyed had grounded on a shoal of the river Tiber, and could not be
moved by any force, they report that Claudia, who had been always
regarded as unchaste on account of her excess in personal adornment,
with bended knees entreated the goddess, if she judged her to be chaste,
to follow her girdle; anti thus the ship, which could not be moved by
all the strong men,(12) was moved by a single woman.  It is equally
wonderful, that during the prevalence of a pestilence, AEsculapius,
being called from Epidaurus, is said to have released the city of Rome
from the long-continued plague.

52

 Sacrilegious persons can also be mentioned, by the immediate punishment
of whom the gods are believed to have avenged the injury done to them.
Appius Claudius the censor having, against the advice of the oracle,
transferred the sacred rites of Hercules to the public slaves,(1) was
deprived of his eyesight; and the Potitian gens, which abandoned(2) its
privilege, within the space of one year became extinct.  Likewise the
censor Fulvius, when he had taken away the marble tiles from the temple
of the Lacinian(3) Juno, to cover the temple of the equestrian Fortuna,
which he had built at Rome, was deprived of his senses, and having lost
his two sons who were serving in Illyricum, was consumed with the
greatest grief of mind.  Turullius also, the lieutenant of Mark Antony,
when he had cut down a grove of AEsculapius in Cos,(4) and built a
fleet, was afterwards slain at the same place by the soldiers of Caesar.
To these examples is added Pyrrhus, who, having taken away money from
the treasure of the Locrian Proserpine, was shipwrecked, and dashed
against the shores near to the temple of the goddess, so that nothing
was found uninjured except that money.  Ceres of Miletus also gained for
herself great veneration among men.  For when the city had been taken by
Alexander, and the soldiers had rushed in to plunder her temple, a flame
of fire suddenly thrown upon them blinded them all.

 There are also found dreams which seem to show the power of the gods.
For it is said that Jupiter presented himself to Tiberius Atinius, a
plebeian, in his sleep, and enjoined him to announce to the consuls and
senate, that in the last Circensian(5) games a public dancer had
displeased him, because a certain Antonius Maximus had severely scourged
a slave under the furca(6) in the middle of the circus, and had led him
to punishment, and that on this account the games ought to be repeated.
And when he had neglected this command, he is said on the same day to
have lost his son, and to have been himself seized by a severe disease;
and that when he again perceived the same image asking whether he had
suffered sufficient punishment for the neglect of his command, he was
carried on a litter to the consuls; and having explained the whole
matter in the senate, he regained strength of body, and returned to his
house on foot.  And that dream also was not less wonderful, to which it
is said that Augustus Caesar owed his preservation.  For when in the
civil war with Brutus he was afflicted with a severe disease, and had
determined to abstain from battle, the image of Minerva presented itself
to his physician Artorius, advising him that Caesar should not confine
himself to the camp on account of his bodily infirmity.  He was
therefore carried on a litter to the army, and on the same day the camp
was taken by Brutus.  Many other examples of a similar nature may be
brought forward; but I fear that, if I shall delay too long in the
setting forth of contrary subjects, I may either appear to have
forgotten my purpose, or may incur the charge of loquacity.

 CHAP. IX.--OF THE DEVIL, THE WORLD,GOD, PROVIDENCE, MAN, AND HIS
WISDOM.

 I will therefore set forth the method of all these things, that
difficult and obscure subjects may be more easily understood; and I will
bring to light all these deceptions(7) of the pretended deity, led by
which men have departed very far from the way of truth.  But I will
retrace the matter far back from its source; that if any, unacquainted
with the truth and ignorant, shall apply himself to the reading of this
book, he may be instructed, and may understand what can in truth be "the
source and origin of these evils;" and having received light, may
perceive his own errors and those of the whole human race.

 Since God was possessed(8) of the greatest foresight for planning, and
of the greatest skill for carrying out in action, before He commenced
this business of the world,--inasmuch as there was in Him, and always
is, the fountain of full and most complete goodness,--in order that
goodness might spring as a stream from Him, and might flow forth afar,
He produced a Spirit like to Himself, who might be endowed with the
perfections of God the Father.  But how He willed that, I will endeavour
to show in the fourth book.(9) Then He made another being, in whom the
disposition of the divine origin did not remain.  Therefore he was
infected with his own envy as with poison, and passed from good to evil;
and at his own will, which had been given to him by God unfettered,(10)
he acquired for himself a contrary name.  From which it appears that the
source of all evils is envy.  For he envied his predecessor,(11) who
through his stedfastness(12) is acceptable and dear to God the Father.
This being, who from good became

53

evil by his own act, is called by the Greeks diabolus:(1) we call him
accuser, because he reports to God the faults to which he himself
entices us.  God, therefore, when He began the fabric of the world, set
over the whole work that first and greatest Son, and used Him at the
same time as a counsellor and artificer, in planning, arranging, and
accomplishing, since He is complete both in knowledge,(2) and judgment,
and power; concerning whom I now speak more sparingly, because in
another place(3) both His excellence, and His name, and His nature must
be related by us.  Let no one inquire of what materials God made these
works so great and wonderful: for He made all things out of nothing.

 Nor are the poets to be listened to, who say that in the beginning was
a chaos, that is, a confusion of matter and the elements; but that God
afterwards divided all that mass, and having separated each object from
the confused heap, and arranged them in order, He constructed and
adorned the world.  Now it is easy to reply to these persons, who do not
understand the power of God: for they believe that He can produce
nothing, except out of materials already existing(4) and prepared; in
which error philosophers also were involved.  For Cicero, while
discussing the nature of the gods,(5) thus speaks: "First of all,
therefore, it is not probable(6) that the matter(7) from which all
things arose was made by divine providence, but that it has, and has
had, a force and nature of its own.  As therefore the builder, when he
is about to erect any building, does not himself make the materials, but
uses those which are already prepared, and the statuary(8) also uses the
wax; so that divine providence ought to have had materials at hand, not
of its own production, but already prepared for use.  But if matter was
not made by God, then neither was the earth, and water, and air, and
fire, made by God."  Oh, how many faults there are in these ten lines
First, that he who in almost all his other disputations and books was a
maintainer of the divine providence, and who used very acute arguments
in assailing those who denied the existence of a providence, now
himself, as a traitor or deserter, endeavoured to take away providence;
in whose case, if you wish to oppose(9) him, neither consideration nor
labour is required: it is only necessary to remind him of his own words.
For it will be impossible for Cicero to be more strongly refuted by any
one than by Cicero himself.  But let us make this concession to the
custom and practice of the Academics,(10) that men are permitted to
speak with great freedom, and to entertain what sentiments they may
wish.  Let us examine the sentiments themselves.  It is not probable, he
says, that matter was made by God.  By what arguments do you prove this?
For you gave no reason for its being improbable.  Therefore, on the
contrary, it appears to me exceedingly probable; nor does it appear so
without reason, when I reflect that there is something more in God, whom
you verily reduce to the weakness of man, to whom you allow nothing else
but the mere workmanship.  In what respect, then, will that divine power
differ from man, if God also, as man does, stands in need of the
assistance of another?  But He does stand in need of it, if He can
construct nothing unless He is furnished with materials by another.  But
if this is the case, it is plain that His power is imperfect, and he who
prepared the material(11) must be judged more powerful.  By what name,
therefore, shall he be called who excels God in power?--since it is
greater to make that which is one's own, than to arrange those things
which are another's.  But if it is impossible that anything should be
more powerful than God, who must necessarily be of perfect strength,
power, and intelligence, it follows that He who made the things which
are composed of matter, made matter also.  For it was neither possible
nor befitting that anything should exist without the exercise of God's
power, or against His will.  But it is probable, he says, that matter
has, and always has had, a force and nature of its own.(12) What force
could it have, without any one to give it?  what nature, without any one
to produce it?  If it had force, it took that force from some one.  But
from whom could it take it, unless it were from God?  Moreover, if it
had a nature, which plainly is so called from being produced, it must
have been produced.  But from whom could it have derived its existence,
except God?  For nature, from which you say that all things had their
origin, if it has no understanding, can make nothing.  But if it has the
power of producing and making, then it has understanding, and must be
God.  For that force can be called by no other name, in which there is
both the foresight(13) to plan, and the skill and power to carry into
effect.  Therefore Seneca, the most intelligent of all the Stoics, says
better, who saw "that nature was nothing else but God."  Therefore he

54

says, "Shall we not praise God, who possesses natural excellence?"  For
He did not learn it from any one.  Yes, truly, we will praise Him; for
although it is natural to Him, He gave it to Himself,(1) since God
Himself is nature.  When, therefore, you assign the origin of all things
to nature, and take it from God, you are in the same difficulty:--

"You pay your debt by borrowing,(2) Geta."

For while simply changing the name, you clearly admit that it was made
by the same person by whom you deny that it was made.

 There follows a most senseless comparison.  "As the builder," he says,
"when he is about to erect any building, does not himself make the
materials, but uses those which are already prepared, and the statuary
also the wax; so that divine providence ought to have had materials at
hand, not of its own production, but already prepared for use."  Nay
rather it ought not; for God will have less power if He makes from
materials already provided, which is the part of man.  The builder will
erect nothing without wood, for he cannot make the wood itself; and not
to be able to do this is the part of human weakness.  But God Himself
makes the materials for Himself, because He has the power.  For to have
the power is the property of God; for if He is not able, He is not God.
Man produces his works out of that which already exists, because through
his mortality he is weak, and through his weakness his power is limited
and moderate; but God produces His works out of that which has no
existence, because through His eternity He is strong, and through His
strength His power is immense, which has no end or limit, like the life
of the Maker Himself.  What wonder, then, if God, when He was about to
make the world, first prepared the material from which to make it, and
prepared it out of that which had no existence?  Because it is
impossible for God to borrow anything from another source, inasmuch as
all things are in Himself and from Himself.  For if there is anything
before Him, and if anything has been made, but not by Him, He will
therefore lose both the power and the name of God.  But it may be said
matter was never made, like God, who out of matter made this world.  In
that case, it follows that two eternal principles are established, and
those indeed opposed to one another, which cannot happen without discord
and destruction.  For those things which have a contrary force and
method must of necessity come into collision.  In this manner

it will be impossible that both should be eternal, if they are opposed
to one another, because one must overpower the other.  Therefore the
nature of that which is eternal cannot be otherwise than simple, so that
all things descended from that source as from a fountain.  Therefore
either God proceeded from matter, or matter from God.  Which of these is
more true, is easily understood.  For of these two, one is endued with
sensibility, the other is insensible.  The power of making anything
cannot exist, except in that which has sensibility, intelligence,
reflection, and the power of motion.  Nor can anything be begun, or
made, or completed, unless it shall have been foreseen by reason how it
shall be made before it exists, and how it shall endure(3) after it has
been made.  In short, he only makes anything who has the will to make
it, and hands to complete that which he has willed.  But that which is
insensible always lies inactive and torpid; nothing can originate in
that source where there is no voluntary motion.  For if every animal is
possessed of reason, it is certain that it cannot be produced from that
which is destitute of reason, nor can that which is not present in the
original source(4) be received from any other quarter.  Nor, however,
let it disturb any one, that certain animals appear to be born from the
earth.  For the earth does not give birth to these of itself, but the
Spirit of God, without which nothing is produced.  Therefore God did not
arise from matter, because a being endued with sensibility can never
spring from one that is insensible, a wise one from one that is
irrational, one that is incapable of suffering from one that can suffer,
an incorporeal being from a corporeal one; but matter is rather from
God.  For whatever consists of a body solid, and capable of being
handled, admits of an external force.  That which admits of force is
capable of dissolution; that which is dissolved perishes; that which
perishes must necessarily have had an origin; that which had an origin
had a source(5) from which it originated, that is, some maker, who is
intelligent, foreseeing, and skilled in making.  There is one assuredly,
and that no other than God.  And since He is possessed of sensibility,
intelligence, providence, power, and vigour, He is able to create and
make both animated and inanimate objects, because He has the means of
making everything.  But matter cannot always have existed, for if it had
existed it would be incapable of change.  For that which always was,
does not cease always to be; and that which had no beginning must of
necessity be without an end.  Moreover, it is easier for that which had
a beginning to be without an end, than for that which had no beginning

55

to have an end.  Therefore if matter was not made, nothing can be made
from it.  But if nothing can be made from it, then matter itself can
have no existence.  For matter is that out of which something is made.
But everything out of which anything is made, inasmuch as it has
received the hand of the artificer, is destroyed,(1) and begins to be
some other thing.  Therefore, since matter had an end, at the time when
the world was made out of it, it also had a beginning.  For that which
is destroyed(1) was previously built up; that which is loosened was
previously bound up; that which is brought to an end was begun.  If,
then, it is inferred from its change and end, that matter had a
beginning, from whom could that beginning have been, except from God?
God, therefore, is the only being who was not made; and therefore He can
destroy other things, but He Himself cannot be destroyed.  That which
was in Him will always be permanent, because He has not been produced or
sprung from any other source; nor does His birth depend on any other
object, which being changed may cause His dissolution.  He is of
Himself, as we said in the first book;(2) and therefore He is such as He
willed that He should be, incapable of suffering, unchangeable,
incorruptible, blessed, and eternal.

 But now the conclusion, with which Tully finished the sentiment, is
much more absurd.(3) "But if matter," he says, "was not made by God, the
earth indeed, and water, and air, and fire, were not made by God."  How
skilfully he avoided the danger!  For he stated the former point as
though it required no proof, whereas it was much more uncertain than
that on account of which the statement was made.  If matter, he says,
was not made by God, the world was not made by God.  He preferred to
draw a false inference from that which is false, than a true one from
that which is true.  And though uncertain things ought to be proved from
those which are certain, he drew a proof from an uncertainty, to
overthrow that which was certain.  For, that the world was made by
divine providence (not to mention Trismegistus, who proclaims this; not
to mention the verses of the Sibyls, who make the same announcement; not
to mention the prophets,(4) who with one impulse and with harmonious(5)
voice.  bear witness that the world was made,(6) and that it

was the workmanship of God), even the philosophers almost universally
agree; for this is the opinion of the Pythagoreans, the Stoics, and the
Peripatetics, who are the chief of every sect.(7) In short, from those
first seven wise men,(8) even to Socrates and Plato, it was held as an
acknowledged and undoubted fact; until many ages afterwards(9) the crazy
Epicurus lived, who alone ventured to deny that which is most evident,
doubtless through the desire of discovering novelties, that he might
found a sect in his own name.  And because he could find out nothing
new, that he might still appear to disagree with the others, he wished
to overthrow old opinions.  But in this all the philosophers who
snarled(10) around him, refuted him.  It is more certain, therefore,
that the world was arranged by providence, than that matter was
collected(11) by providence.  Wherefore he ought not to have supposed
that the world was not made by divine providence, because its matter was
not made by divine providence; but because the world was made by divine
providence, he ought to have concluded that matter also was made bY the
Deity.  For it is more credible that matter was made by God, because He
is all-powerful, than that the world was not made by God, because
nothing can be made without mind, intelligence, and design.  But this is
not the fault of Cicero, but of the sect.  For when he had undertaken a
disputation, by which he might take away the nature of the gods,
respecting which philosophers prated, in his ignorance of the truth he
imagined that the Deity must altogether be taken away.  He was able
therefore to take away the gods, for they had no existence.  But when he
attempted to overthrow the divine providence, which is in the one God,
because he had begun to strive against the truth, his arguments failed,
and he necessarily fell into this pitfall, from which he was unable to
withdraw himself.  Here, then, I hold him firmly fixed; I hold him
fastened to the spot, since Lucilius, who disputed on the other side,
was silent.  Here, then, is the turning-point;(12) on this everything
depends.  Let Cotta disentangle himself, if he can, from this
difficulty;(13) let him bring forward arguments by which he may prove
that matter has always existed, which no providence made.  Let him show
how anything ponderous and heavy either could exist without an author or
could be changed, and how that which

56

always was ceased to be, so that that which never was might begin to be.
And if he shall prove these things, then, and not till then, will I
admit that the world itself was not established by divine providence,
and yet in making this admission I shall hold him fast by another snare.
For he will turn round again to the same point, to which he will be
unwilling to return, so as to say that both the matter of which the
world consists, and the world which consists of matter, existed by
nature; though I contend that nature itself is God.  For no one can make
wonderful things, that is, things existing with the greatest order,
except one who has intelligence, foresight, and power.  And thus it will
come to be seen that God made all things, and that nothing at all can
exist which did not derive its origin from God.

 But the same, as often as he follows the Epicureans,(1) and does not
admit that the world was made by God, is wont to inquire by what hands
by what machines, by what levers, by what contrivance, He made this work
of such magnitude.  He might see, if he could have lived at that time in
which God made it.  But, that man might not look into the works of God,
He was unwilling to bring him into this world until all things were
completed.  But he could not be brought in: for how could he exist while
the heaven above was being built, and the foundations of the earth
beneath were being laid; when humid things, perchance, either benumbed
with excessive stiffness were becoming congealed, or seethed with fiery
heat and rendered solid were growing hard?  Or how could he live when
the sun was not yet established, and neither corn nor animals were
produced?  Therefore it was necessary that man should be last made, when
the finishing(2) hand had now been applied to the world and to all other
things.  Finally, the sacred writings teach that man was the last work
of God, and that he was brought into this world as into a house prepared
and made ready; for all things were made on his account.  The poets also
acknowledge the same.  Ovid, having described the completion of the
world, and the formation of the other animals, added:(3)--

"An animal more sacred than these, and more capacious of a lofty mind,
was yet wanting, and which might exercise dominion over the rest.  Man
was produced."

So impious must we think it to search into those things which God wished
to be kept secret!  But his inquiries were not made through a desire of
hearing or learning, but of refuting; for he was confident that no one
could assert that.  As though, in truth, it were to be supposed that
these things were not made by God, because it cannot be plainly seen in
what manner they were created!  If you had been brought up in a well-
built and ornamented house, and had never seen a workshop,(4) would you
have supposed that that house was not built by man, because you did not
know how it was built?  You would assuredly ask the same question about
the house which you now ask about the world--by what hands, with what
implements, man had contrived such great works; and especially if you
should see large stones, immense blocks,(5) vast columns, the whole work
lofty and elevated, would not these things appear to you to exceed the
measure of human strength, because you would not know that these things
were made not so much by strength as by skill and ingenuity?

 But if man, in whom nothing is perfect, nevertheless effects more by
skill than his feeble strength would permit, what reason is there why it
should appear to you incredible, when it is alleged that the world was
made by God, in whom, since He is perfect, wisdom can have no limit, and
strength no measure?  His works are seen by the eyes; but how He made
them is not seen even by the mind, because, as Hermes says, the mortal
cannot draw nigh to (that is, approach nearer, and follow up with the
understanding) the immortal, the temporal(6) to the eternal, the
corruptible to the incorruptible.  And on this account the earthly
animal is as yet incapable of perceiving(7) heavenly things, because it
is shut in and held as it were in custody by the body, so that it cannot
discern all things with free and unrestrained perception.  Let him know,
therefore, how foolishly he acts, who inquires into things which are
indescribable.  For this is to pass the limits of one's own condition,
and not to understand how far it is permitted man to approach.  In
short, when God revealed the truth to man, He wished us only to know
those things which it concerned man to know for the attainment of life;
but as to the things which related to a profane and eager curiosity(8)
He was silent, that they might be secret.  Why, then, do you inquire
into things which you cannot know, and if you knew them you would not be
happier.  It is perfect wisdom in man, if he knows that there is but one
God, and that all things were made by Him.

 CHAP. X.--OF THE WORLD, AND ITS PARTS, THE ELEMENTS AND SEASONS.

 Now, having refitted those who entertain false sentiments respecting
the world and God its

57

Maker, let us return to the divine workmanship of the world, concerning
which we are informed in the sacred' writings of our holy religion.
Therefore, first of all, God made the heaven, and suspended it on high,
that it might be the seat of God Himself, the Creator.  Then He founded
the earth, and placed it under the heaven, as a dwelling-place for man,
with the other races of animals.  He willed that it should be surrounded
and held together by water.  But He adorned and filled His own dwelling-
place with bright lights; He decked it with the sun, and the shining orb
of the moon, and with the glittering signs of the twinkling stars; but
He placed on the earth the darkness, which is contrary to these.  For of
itself the earth contains no light, unless it receives it from the
heaven, in which He placed perpetual light, and the gods above, and
eternal life; and, on the contrary, He placed on the earth darkness, and
the inhabitants of the lower regions, and death.  For these things are
as far removed from the former ones, as evil things are from good, and
vices from virtues.  He also established two parts of the earth itself
opposite to one another, and of a different character,--namely, the east
and the west; and of these the east is assigned to God, because He
Himself is the fountain of light, and the enlightener, of all things,
and because He makes us rise to eternal life.  But the west is ascribed
to that disturbed and depraved mind, because it conceals the light,
because it always brings on darkness, and because it makes men die and
perish in their sins.  For as light belongs to the east, and the whole
course of life depends upon the light, so darkness belongs to the west:
but death and destruction are contained in darkness.(3) Then He measured
out in the same way the other parts,--namely, the south and the north,
which parts are closely united with the two former.  For that which is
more glowing with the warmth of the sun, is nearest to and closely
united with the east; but that which is torpid with colds and perpetual
ice belongs to the same division as the extreme west.  For as darkness
is opposed to light, so is cold to heat.  As, therefore, heat is nearest
to light, so is the south to the east; and as cold is nearest to
darkness, so is the northern region to the west.  And He assigned to
each of these parts its own time,--namely, the spring to the east, the
summer to the southern region, the autumn belongs to the west, and the
winter to the north.  In these two parts also, the southern and the
northern, is contained a figure of life and death, because life consists
in heat, death in cold.  And as heat arises from fire, so does cold from
water.  And according to the division of these parts He also made day
and night, to complete by alternate succession with each other the
courses(4) and perpetual revolutions of time, which we call years.  The
day, which the first east supplies, must belong to God, as all things
do, which are of a better character.  But the night, which the extreme
west brings on, belongs, indeed, to him whom we have said to be the
rival of God.

 And even in the making of these God had regard to the future; for He
made them so, that a representation of true religion and of false
superstitions might be shown from these.  For as the sun, which rises
daily, although it is but one,--from which Cicero would have it appear
that it was called Sol,(5) because the stars are obscured, and it alone
is seen,--yet, since it is a true light, and of perfect fulness, and of
most powerful heat, and enlightens all things with the brightest
splendour; so God, although He is one only, is possessed of perfect
majesty, and might, and splendour.  But night, which we say is assigned
to that depraved adversary of God,(6) shows by a resemblance the many
and various superstitions which belong to him.  For although innumerable
stars appear to glitter and shine,(7) yet, because they are not full and
solid lights, and send forth no heat, nor overpower the darkness by
their multitude, therefore these two things are found to be of chief
importance, which have power differing from and opposed to one another--
heat and moisture, which God wonderfully designed for the support and
production of all things.  For since the power of God consists in heat
and fire, if He had not tempered its ardour and force by mingling matter
of moisture and cold, nothing could have been born or have existed, but
whatever had begun to exist must immediately have been destroyed by
conflagration.  From which also some philosophers and poets said that
the world was made up of a discordant concord; but they did not
thoroughly understand the matter.  Heraclitus said that all things were
produced from fire Thales of Miletus from water.  Each saw something of
the truth, and yet each was in error: for if one element only had
existed, water could not have been produced from fire, nor, on the other
hand, could fire from water; but it is more true that all things were
produced from a mingling of the two.  Fire, indeed, cannot be mixed with
water, because they are opposed to each other; and if they came into
collision, the one which proved superior must destroy the other.  But
their sub-

58

stances may be mingled.  The substance of fire is heat; of water,
moisture.  Rightly therefore does Ovid say:(1)--

 "For when moisture and heat have become mingled, they conceive, and all
things arise from these two.  And though fire is at variance with water,
moist vapour produces all things, and discordant concord(2) is adapted
to production."

For the one element is, as it were, masculine; the other, as it were,
feminine: the one active, the other passive.  And on this account it was
appointed by the ancients that marriage contracts should be ratified by
the solemnity(3) of fire and water, because the young of animals are
furnished with a body by heat and moisture, and are thus animated to
life.

 For, since every animal consists of soul(4) and body, the material of
the body is contained in moisture, that of the soul in heat: which we
may know from the offspring of birds; for though these are full of thick
moisture, unless they are cherished by creative(5) heat, the moisture
cannot become a body, nor can the body be animated with life.  Exiles
also were accustomed to be forbidden the use of fire and water: for as
yet it seemed unlawful to inflict capital punishment on any, however
guilty, inasmuch as they were men.  When, therefore, the use of those
things in which the life of men consists was forbidden, it was deemed to
be equivalent to the actual infliction of death on him who had been thus
sentenced.  Of such importance were these two elements considered, that
they believed them to be essential for the production of man, and for
the sustaining of his life.  One of these is common to us with the other
animals, the other has been assigned to man alone.  For we, being a
heavenly and immortal race,(6) make use of fire, which is given to us as
a proof of immortality, since fire is from heaven; and its nature,
inasmuch as it is moveable and rises upward, contains the principle of
life.  But the other animals, inasmuch as they are altogether mortal,
make use of water only, which is a corporeal and earthly element.  And
the nature of this, because it is moveable, and has a downward
inclination, shows a figure of death.  Therefore the cattle do not look
up to heaven, nor do they entertain religious sentiments, since the use
of fire is removed from them.  But from what source or in what manner
God lighted up or caused(7) to flow these two principal elements, fire
and water, He who made them alone can know.(8)

CHAP. XI.--OF LIVING CREATURES, OF MAN; PROMETHEUS, DEUCALION, THE
PARCAE.

 Therefore, having finished the world, He commanded that animals of
various kinds and of dissimilar forms should be created, both great and

smaller.  And they were made in pairs, that is, one of each sex; from
the offspring of which both the air and the earth and the seas were
filled.  And God gave nourishment to all these by their kinds(9) from
the earth, that they might be of service to men: some, for instance,
were for food, others for clothing; but those which are of great
strength He gave, that they might assist in cultivating the earth,
whence they were called beasts of burthen.(10) And thus, when all things
had been settled with a wonderful arrangement, He determined to prepare
for Himself an eternal kingdom, and to create innumerable souls, on whom
He might bestow immortality.  Then He made for Himself a figure endowed
with perception and intelligence, that is, after the likeness of His own
image, than which nothing can be more perfect: He formed man out of the
dust of the ground, from which he was called man,(11) because He was
made from the earth.  Finally, Plato says that the human form(12) was
godlike; as does the Sibyl, who says,--

"Thou art my image, O man, possessed of right reason."(13)

The poets also have not given a different account respecting this
formation of man, however they may have corrupted it; for they said that
man was made by Prometheus from clay.  They were not mistaken in the
matter itself, but in the name of the artificer.  For they had never
come into contact with a line of the truth; but the things which were
handed down by the oracles of the prophets, and contained in the sacred
book(14) of God; those things collected from fables and obscure opinion,
and distorted, as the truth is wont to be corrupted by the multitude
when spread abroad by various conversations, every one adding something
to that which he had heard,--those things they comprised in their poems;
and in this, indeed, they acted foolishly, in that they attributed so
wonderful and divine a work to man.  For what need was there that man
should be formed of clay, when he might he generated in the same way in
which Prometheus himself was born from Iapetus?  For if he was a man, he
was able to beget a man, but not to make one.  But his punishment on
Mount

59

Caucasus declares that he was not of the gods.  But no one reckoned his
father Iapetus or his uncle(1) Titan as gods, because the high dignity
of the kingdom was in possession of Saturn only, by which he obtained
divine honours, together with all his descendants.  This invention of
the poets admits of refutation by many arguments.  It is agreed by all
that the deluge took place for the destruction of wickedness, and for
its removal from the earth.  Now, both philosophers and poets, and
writers of ancient history, assert the same, and in this they especially
agree with the language of the prophets.  If, therefore, the flood took
place for the purpose of destroying wickedness, which had increased
through the excessive multitude of men, how was Prometheus the maker of
man, when his son Deucalion is said by the same writers to have been the
only one who was preserved on account of his righteousness?  How could a
single descent(2) and a single generation have so quickly filled the
world with men?  But it is plain that they have corrupted this also, as
they did the former account; since they were ignorant both at what time
the flood happened on the earth, and who it was that deserved on account
of his righteousness to be saved when the human race perished, and how
and with whom he was saved: all of which are taught by the inspired(3)
writings.  It is plain, therefore, that the account which they give
respecting the work of Prometheus is false.

 But because I had said(4) that the poets are not accustomed to speak
that which is altogether untrue, but to wrap up in figures and thus to
obscure their accounts, I do not say that; they spoke falsely in this,
but that first of all Prometheus made the image of a man of rich and
soft clay, and that he first originated the art of making statues and
images; inasmuch as he lived in the times of Jupiter, during which
temples began to be built, and new modes of worshipping the gods
introduced.  And thus the truth was corrupted by falsehood; and that
which was said to have been made by God began also to be ascribed to
man, who imitated the divine work.  But the making of the true and
living man from clay is the work of God.  And this also is related by
Hermes,(5) who not only says that man was made by God, after the image
of God, but he even tried to explain in how skilful a manner He formed
each limb in the human body, since there is none of them which is not as
available for the necessity of use as for beauty.  But even the Stoics,
when they discuss the subject of providence, attempt to do

this; and Tully followed them in many places.  But, however, he briefly
treats of a subject so copious and fruitful, which I now pass over on
this account, because I have lately written a particular book on this
subject to my disciple Demetrianus.  But I cannot here omit that which
some erring philosophers say, that men and the other animals arose from
the earth without any author; whence that expression of Virgil:(6)--

"And the earth-born(7) race of men raised its head from the hard
fields."

And this opinion is especially entertained by those who deny the
existence of a divine providence.  For the Stoics attribute the
formation of animals to divine skill.  But Aristotle freed himself from
labour and trouble, by saying that the world always existed, and
therefore that the human race, and the other things which are in it, had
no beginning, but always had been, and always would be.  But when we see
that each animal separately, which had no previous existence, begins to
exist, and ceases to exist, it is necessary that the whole race must at
some time have begun to exist, and must cease at some time because it
had a beginning.

 For all things must necessarily be comprised in three periods of time--
the past, the present, and the future.  The commencement(8) belongs to
the past, existence to the present, dissolution to the future.  And all
these things are seen in the case of men individually: for we begin when
we are born; and we exist while we live; and we cease when we die.  On
which account they would have it that there are three Parcae:(9) one who
warps the web of life for men; the second, who weaves it; the third, who
cuts and finishes it.  But in the whole race of men, because the present
time only is seen, yet from it the past also, that is, the commencement,
and the future, that is, the dissolution, are inferred.  For since it
exists, it is evident that at some time it began to exist, for nothing
can exist without a beginning; and because it had a beginning, it is
evident that it will at some time have an end.  For that cannot, as a
whole, be immortal, which consists of mortals.  For as we all die
individually, it is possible that, by some calamity, all may perish
simultaneously: either through the unproductiveness of the earth, which
sometimes happens in particular cases; or through the general spread of
pestilence, which often desolates separate cities and countries; or by
the conflagration of the world, as is said to have happened in the case
of Phaethon; or by a deluge, as is reported in the time of Deucalion,
when

60

the whole race was destroyed with the exception of one man.  And if this
deluge happened by chance, it might assuredly have happened that he who
was the only survivor should perish.  But if he was reserved by the will
of divine providence, as it cannot be denied, to recruit mankind, it is
evident that the life and the destruction of the human race are in the
power of God.  And if it is possible for it to die altogether, because
it dies in parts, it is evident that it had an origin at some time; and
as the liability to decay(1) bespeaks a beginning, so also it gives
proof of an end.  And if these things are true, Aristotle will be unable
to maintain that the world also itself had no beginning.  But if Plato
and Epicurus extort this from Aristotle, yet Plato and Aristotle, who
thought that the world would be everlasting, will, notwithstanding their
eloquence, be deprived of this also by Epicurus, because it follows,
that, as it had a beginning, it must also have an end.  But we will
speak of these things at greater length in the last book.  Now let us
revert to the origin of man.

CHAP. XII.--THAT ANIMALS WERE NOT PRODUCED SPONTANEOUSLY, BUT BY A
DIVINE ARRANGEMENT, OF WHICH GOD WOULD HAVE GIVEN US THE KNOWLEDGE, IF
IT WERE ADVANTAGEOUS FOR US TO KNOW IT.

 They say that at certain changes of the heaven, and motions of the
stars, there existed a kind of maturity(2) for the production of
animals;

and thus that the new earth, retaining the productive seed, brought
forth of itself certain vessels(3) after the likeness of wombs,
respecting

which Lucretius(4) says,--

 "Wombs grew attached to the earth by roots;"

and that these, when they had become mature, being rent by the
compulsion of nature, produced tender animals; afterwards, that the
earth itself abounded with a kind of moisture which resembled milk, and
that animals were supported by this nourishment.  How, then, were they
able to endure or avoid the force of the cold or of heat, or to be born
at all, since the sun would scorch them or the cold contract them?  But,
they say, at the beginning of the world there was no winter nor summer,
but a perpetual spring of an equable temperature.(5) Why, then, do we
see that none of these things now happens?  Because, they say, it was
necessary that it should once happen, that animals might be born; but
after they began to exist, and the power of generation was given to
them, the earth ceased to bring forth, and the condition of time(6) was
changed.  Oh, how easy it is to refute falsehoods!  In the first place,
nothing can exist in this world which does not continue permanent, as it
began.  For neither were the sire and moon and stars then uncreated;
nor.  having been created, were they without their motions; nor did that
divine government, which manages and rules their courses, fail to begin
its exercise together with them.  In the next place, if it is as they
say, there must of necessity be a providence, and they fall into that
very condition which they especially avoid.  For while the animals were
yet unborn, it is plain that some one provided that they should be born,
that the world might not appear gloomy(7) with waste and desolation.
But, that they might be produced from the earth without the office of
parents, provision must have been made with great judgment; and in the
next place, that the moisture condensed from the earth might be formed
into the various figures of bodies; and also that, having received from
the vessels with which they were covered the power of life and
sensation, they might be poured forth, as it were, from the womb of
mothers, is a wonderful and indescribable(8) provision.  But let us
suppose that this also happened by chance; the circumstances which
follow assuredly cannot be by chance,--that the earth should at once
flow with milk, and that the temperature of the atmosphere should be
equable.  And if these things plainly happened, that the newly born
animals might have nourishment, or be free from danger, it must be that
some one provided these things by some divine counsel.

 But who is able to make this provision except God?  Let us, however,
see whether the circumstance itself which they assert could have taken
place, that men should be born from the earth.  If any one considers
during how long a time and in what manner an infant is reared, he will
assuredly understand that those earth-born children could not possibly
have been reared without some one to bring them up.  For they must have
lain for many months cast forth, until their sinews were strengthened,
so that they had power to move themselves and to change their place,
which can scarcely happen within the space of one year.  Now see whether
an infant could have lain through many months in the same manner and in
the same place where it was cast forth, without dying, overwhelmed and
corrupted by that moisture of the earth which it supplied for the sake
of nourishment, and by the excrements of its own body mixed together.
Therefore it is impossible but that it was reared by some one; unless,
indeed, all animals are born not in a tender con-

61

dition, but grown up: and it never came into their mind to say this.
Therefore the whole of that method is impossible and vain; if that can
be called method by which it is attempted that there shall be no method.
For he who says that all things are produced of their own accord, and
attributes nothing to divine providence, he assuredly does not assert,
but overthrows method.  But if nothing can be done or produced without
design, it is plain that there is a divine providence, to which that
which is called design peculiarly belongs.  Therefore God, the Contriver
of all things, made man.  And even Cicero, though ignorant of the sacred
writings, saw this, who in his treatise on the Laws, in the first
book,(1) handed down the same thing as the prophets; and I add his
words: "This animal, foreseeing, sagacious, various, acute, gifted with
memory, full of method and design, which we call man, was produced by
the supreme Deity under remarkable circumstances; for this alone of so
many kinds and natures of animals, partakes of judgment and reflection,
when all other animals are destitute of them."  Do you see that the man,
although far removed from the knowledge of the truth, yet, inasmuch as
he held the image of wisdom, understood that man could not be produced
except by God?  But, however, there is need of divine(2) testimony, lest
that of man should be insufficient.  The Sibyl testifies that man is the
work of God:--

 "He who is the only God being the invincible Creator, He Himself
fixed(3) the figure of the form of men, He Himself mixed the nature of
all belonging to the generation of life."

The sacred writings contain statements to the same effect.  Therefore
God discharged the office of a true father.  He Himself formed the body;
He Himself infused the soul with which we breathe.  Whatever we are, it
is altogether His work.  In what manner He effected this He would have
taught us, if it were right for us to know; as He taught us other
things, which have conveyed to us the knowledge both of ancient error
and of true light.

CHAP. XIII.--WHY MAN IS OF TWO SEXES; WHAT IS HIS FIRST DEATH, AND WHAT
THE SECOND AND OF THE FAULT AND PUNISHMENT OF OUR FIRST PARENTS.

 When, therefore, He had first formed the male after His own likeness,
then He also fashioned woman after the image of the man himself, that
the two by their union might be able to perpetuate their race, and to
fill the whole earth with a multitude.  But in the making of man himself

He concluded and completed the nature of those two materials which we
have spoken of as contrary to each other, fire and water.  For having
made the body, He breathed into it a soul from the vital source of His
own Spirit, which is everlasting, that it might bear the similitude of
the world itself, which is composed of opposing elements.  For he(4)
consists of soul and body, that is, as it were, of heaven and earth:
since the soul by which we live, has its origin, as it were, out of
heaven from God, the body out of the earth, of the dust of which we have
said that it was formed.  Empedocles--whom you cannot tell whether to
reckon among poets or philosophers, for he wrote in verse respecting the
nature of things, as did Lucretius and Varro among the Romans--
determined that there were four elements, that is, fire, air, water, and
earth; perhaps following Trismegistus, who said that our bodies were
composed of these four elements by God, for he said that they contained
in themselves something of fire, something of air, something of water,
and something of earth, and yet that they were neither fire, nor air,
nor water, nor earth.  And these things indeed are not false; for the
nature of earth is contained in the flesh, that of moisture in the
blood, that of air in the breath, that of fire in the vital heat.  But
neither can the blood be separated from the body, as moisture is from
the earth; nor the vital heat from the breath, as fire from the air: so
that of all things only two elements are found, the whole nature of
which is included in the formation of our body.  Man, therefore, was
made from different and opposite substances, as the world itself was
made from light and darkness, from life and death; and he has admonished
us that these two things contend against each other in man: so that if
the soul, which has its origin from God, gains the mastery, it is
immortal, and lives in perpetual light; if, on the other hand, the body
shall overpower the soul, and subject it to its dominion, it is in
everlasting darkness and death.(5) And the force of this is not that it
altogether annihilates(6) the souls of the unrighteous, but subjects
them to everlasting punishment.(7)

 We term that punishment the second death, which is itself also
perpetual, as also is immortality.  We thus define the first death:
Death is the dissolution of the nature of living beings; or thus: Death
is the separation of body and

62

soul.  But we thus define the second death: Death is the suffering of
eternal pain; or thus: Death is the condemnation of souls for their
deserts to eternal punishments.  This does not extend to the dumb
cattle, whose spirits, not being composed of God,(1) but of the common
air, are dissolved by death.  Therefore in this union of heaven and
earth, the image of which is developed(2) in man, those things which
belong to God occupy the higher part, namely the soul, which has
dominion over the body; but those which belong to the devil occupy the
lower(3) part, manifestly the body: for this, being earthly, ought to be
subject to the soul, as the earth is to heaven.  For it is, as it were,
a vessel which this heavenly spirit may employ as a temporary dwelling.
The duties of both are--for the latter, which is from heaven and from
God, to command; but for the former, which is from the earth and the
devil, to obey.  And this, indeed, did not escape the notice of a
dissolute man, Sallust,(4) who says: "But all our power consists in the
soul and body; we use the soul to command, the body rather to obey."  It
had been well if he had lived in accordance with his words; for he was a
slave to the most degrading pleasures, and he destroyed the efficacy of
his sentiment by the depravity of his life.  But if the soul is fire, as
we have shown, it ought to mount up to heaven as fire, that it may not
be extinguished; that is, it ought to rise to the immortality which is
in heaven.  And as fire cannot burn and be kept alive unless it be
nourished(5) by some rich fuel(6) in which it may have sustenance, so
the fuel and food of the soul is righteousness alone, by which it is
nourished unto life.  After these things, God, having made man in the
manner in which I have pointed out, placed him in paradise,(7) that is,
in a most fruitful and pleasant garden, which He planted in the regions
of the East with every kind of wood and tree, that he might be nourished
by their various fruits; and being free from all labours.(8) might
devote himself entirely to the service of God his Father.

 Then He gave to him fixed commands, by the observance of which he might
continue immortal; or if he transgressed them, be punished with death.
It was enjoined that he should not taste

of one tree only which was in the midst of the garden,(9) in which He
had placed the knowledge of good and evil.  Then the accuser, envying
the works of God, applied all his deceits and artifices to beguile(10)
the man, that he might deprive him of immortality.  And first he enticed
the woman by fraud to take the forbidden fruit, and through her
instrumentality he also persuaded the man himself to transgress the law
of God.  Therefore, having obtained the knowledge of good and evil, he
began to be ashamed of his nakedness, and hid himself from the face of
God, which he was not before accustomed to do.  Then God drove out the
man from the garden, having passed sentence upon the sinner, that he
might seek support for himself by labour.  And He surrounded(11) the
garden itself with fire, to prevent the approach of the man until He
execute the last judgment on earth; and having removed death, recall
righteous men, His worshippers, to the same place; as the sacred writers
teach.  and the Erythraean Sibyl, when she says: "But they who honour
the true God inherit everlasting life, themselves inhabiting together
paradise, the beautiful garden, for ever."  But since these are the last
things,(12) we will treat of them in the last part of this work.  Now
let us explain those which are first.  Death therefore followed man,
according to the sentence of God, which even the Sibyl teaches in her
verse, saying:"Man made by the very hands of God, whom the serpent
treacherously beguiled that he might come to the fate of death, and
receive the knowledge of good and evil."  Thus the life of man became
limited in duration;(13) but still, however, long, inasmuch as it was
extended to a thousand(14) years.  And when Varro was not ignorant of
this, handed down as it is in the sacred writings, and spread abroad by
the knowledge of all, he endeavoured to give reasons why the ancients
were supposed to have lived a thousand years.  For he says that among
the Egyptians months are accounted(15) as years: so that the circuit of
the sun through the twelve signs of the zodiac does not make a year, but
the moon, which traverses that sign-bearing circle in the space of
thirty days; which argument is manifestly false.  For no one then
exceeded the thousandth year.  But now they who attain to the hundredth
year, which frequently happens,

63

undoubtedly live a thousand and two hundred months.  And competent(1)
authorities report that men are accustomed to reach one hundred and
twenty years.(2) But because Varro did not know why or when the life of
man was shortened, he himself shortened it, since he knew that it was
possible for man to live a thousand and four hundred months.

CHAP. XIV.--OF NOAH THE INVENTOR OF WINE, WHO FIRST HAD KNOWLEDGE OF THE
STARS, AND OF THE ORIGIN OF FALSE RELIGIONS.

 But afterwards God, when He saw the earth filled with wickedness and
crimes, determined to destroy mankind with a deluge; but, however, for
renewing the multitude, He chose one man, who,(3) when all were
corrupted, stood forth pre-eminent, as a remarkable example of
righteousness.  He, when six hundred years old, built an ark, as God had
commanded him, in which he himself was saved, together with his wife and
three sons, and as many daughters-in-law, when the water had covered all
the loftiest mountains.  Then when the earth was dry, God, execrating
the wickedness of the former age, that the length of life might not
again be a cause of meditating evils, gradually diminished the age of
man by each successive generation, and placed a limit at a hundred and
twenty years,(4) which it might not be permitted to exceed.  But he,
when he went forth from the ark, as the sacred writings inform us,
diligently cultivated the earth, and planted a vineyard with his own
hand.  From which circumstance they are refuted who regard Bacchus as
the author of wine.  For he not only preceded Bacchus, but also Saturn
and Uranus, by many generations.  And when he had first taken the fruit
from the vineyard, having become merry, he drank even to intoxication,
and lay naked.  And when one of his sons, whose name was Cham,(5) had
seen this, he did not cover his father's nakedness, but went out and
told the circumstance to his brothers also.  But they, having taken a
garment, entered with their faces turned backwards, and covered their
father.(6) And when their father became aware of what had been done he
disowned and sent away his son.  But he went into exile, and settled in
a part of that land which is now called Arabia; and that land was

called from him Chanaan, and his posterity Chanaanites.  This was the
first nation which was ignorant of God, since its prince and founder did
not receive from his father the worship of God, being cursed by him;(7)
and thus he left to his descendants ignorance of the divine nature.(8)

 From this nation all the nearest people flowed as the multitude
increased.  But the descendants of his father were called Hebrews, among
whom the religion of the true God was established.(9) But from these
also in after times, when their number was multiplied exceedingly, since
the mall extent of their settlements could not contain them, then young
men, either sent by their parents or of their own accord, by the
compulsion of poverty, leaving their own lands to seek for themselves
new settlements, were scattered in all directions, and filled all the
islands and the whole earth; and thus being torn away from the stem of
their sacred root, they established for themselves at their own
discretion new customs and institutions.  But they who occupied Egypt
were the first of all who began to look up to and adore the heavenly
bodies.  And because they did not shelter themselves in houses on
account of the quality of the atmosphere, and the heaven is not
overspread with any clouds in that country, they observed the courses of
the stars, and their obscurations,(10) while in their frequent
adorations they more carefully and freely beheld them.  Then afterwards,
induced by certain prodigies, they invented monstrous figures of
animals, that they might worship them; the authors of which we will
presently disclose.  But the others, who were scattered over the earth,
admiring the elements of the world, began to worship the heaven, the
sun, the earth, the sea, without any images and temples, and offered
sacrifices to them in the open air, until in process of time they
erected temples and statues to the most powerful kings, and originated
the practice of honouring them with victims and odours; and thus
wandering from the knowledge of God, they began to be heathens.  They
err, therefore, who contend that the worship of the gods was from the
beginning of the world, and that heathenism was prior to the religion of
God: for they think that this was discovered afterwards, because they
are ignorant of the source and origin of the truth.  Now let us return
to the beginning of the world.

64

 CHAP. XV.--OF THE CORRUPTION OF ANGELS, AND THE TWO KINDS OF DEMONS.

 When, therefore, the number of men had begun to increase, God in His
forethought, lest the devil, to whom from the beginning He had given
power over the earth, should by his subtilty either corrupt or destroy
men, as he had done at first, sent angels for the protection and
improvement(1) of the human race; and inasmuch as He had given these a
free will, He enjoined them above all things not to defile themselves
with contamination from the earth, and thus lose the dignity of their
heavenly nature.(2) He plainly prohibited them from doing that which He
knew that they would do, that they might entertain no hope of pardon.
Therefore, while they abode among men, that most deceitful ruler(3) of
the earth, by his very association, gradually enticed them to vices, and
polluted them by intercourse with women.  Then, not being admitted into
heaven on account of the sins into which they had plunged themselves,
they fell to the earth.  Thus from angels the devil makes them to become
his satellites and attendants.  But they who were born from these,
because they were neither angels nor men, but bearing a kind of mixed(4)
nature, were not admitted into hell, as their fathers were not into
heaven.  Thus there came to be two kinds of demons; one of heaven, the
other of the earth.  The latter are the wicked(5) spirits, the authors
of all the evils which are done, and the same devil is their prince.
Whence Trismegistus calls him the ruler of the demons.  But grammarians
say that they are called demons, as though demoenes,(6) that is, skilled
and acquainted with matters: for they think that these are gods.  They
are acquainted, indeed, with many future events, but not all, since it
is not permitted them entirely to know the counsel of God; and therefore
they are accustomed to accommodate(7) their answers to ambiguous
results.  The poets both know them to be demons, and so describe them.
Hesiod thus speaks:--

"These are the demons according to the will of Zeus, Good, living on the
earth, the guardians of mortal men."

And this is said for this purpose, because God had sent them as
guardians to the human race; but they themselves also, though they are
the destroyers of men, yet wish themselves to appear as their guardians,
that they themselves may be worshipped, and God may not be worshipped.
The philosophers also discuss the subject of these beings.  For Plato
attempted even to explain their natures in his "Banquet;" and Socrates
said that there was a demon continually about him, who had become
attached to him when a boy, by whose will and direction his life was
guided.  The art also and power of the Magi altogether consists in the
influences(8) of these; invoked by whom they deceive the sight of men
with deceptive illusions,(9) so that they do not see those things which
exist, and think that they see those things which do not exist.  These
contaminated and abandoned spirits, as I say, wander over the whole
earth, and contrive a solace for their own perdition by the destruction
of men.  Therefore they fill every place with snares, deceits, frauds,
and errors; for they cling to individuals, and occupy whole houses from
door to door, and assume to themselves the name of genii; for by this
word they translate demons in the Latin language.  They consecrate these
in their houses, to these they daily pour out(10) libations of wine, and
worship the wise demons as gods of the earth, and as averters of those
evils which they themselves cause and impose.  And these, since spirits
are without substance(11) and not to be grasped, insinuate themselves
into the bodies of men; and secretly working in their inward parts, they
corrupt the health, hasten diseases, terrify their souls with dreams,
harass their minds with phrenzies, that by these evils they may compel
men to have recourse to their aid.

CHAP. XVI.--THAT DEMONS HAVE NO POWER OVER THOSE WHO ARE ESTABLISHED IN
THE FAITH.

 And the nature of all these deceits(12) is obscure to those who are
without the truth.  For they think that those demons profit them when
they cease to injure, whereas they have no power except to injure.(13)
Some one may perchance say that they are therefore to be worshipped,
that they may not injure, since they have the power to injure.  They do
indeed injure, but those only by whom they are feared, whom the powerful
and lofty hand of God does not protect, who are un-

65

initiated in the mystery(1) of truth.  But they fear the righteous,(2)
that is, the worshippers of God, adjured by whose name they depart(3)
from the bodies of the possessed: for, being lashed by their words as
though by scourges, they not only confess themselves to be demons, but
even utter their own names--those which are adored in the temples--which
they generally do in the presence of their own worshippers; not, it is
plain, to the disgrace of religion, but(4) to the disgrace of their own
honour, because they cannot speak falsely to God, by whom they are
adjured, nor to the righteous, by whose voice they are tortured.
Therefore ofttimes having uttered the greatest howlings, they cry out
that they are beaten, and are on fire, and that they are just on the
point of coming forth: so much power has the knowledge of God, and
righteousness!  Whom, therefore, can they injure, except those whom they
have in their own power?  In short, Hermes affirms that those who have
known God are not only safe from the attacks of demons, but that they
are not even bound by fate.  "The only protection," he says, "is piety,
for over a pious man neither evil demon nor fate has any power: for God
rescues the pious man from all evil; for the one and only good thing
among men is piety."  And what piety is, he testifies in another place,
in these words: "For piety is the knowledge of God."  Asclepius also,
his disciple, more fully expressed the same sentiment in that finished
discourse which he wrote to the king.  Each of them, in truth, affirms
that the demons are the enemies and harassers of men, and on this
account Trismegistus calls them wicked angels; so far was he from being
ignorant that from heavenly beings they were corrupted, and began to be
earthly.

CHAP. XVII.--THAT ASTROLOGY, SOOTHSAYING, AND SIMILAR ARTS ARE THE
INVENTION OF DEMONS.

 These were the inventors of astrology, and soothsaying, and divination,
and those productions which are called oracles, and necromancy, and the
art of magic, and whatever evil practices besides these men exercise,
either openly or in secret.  Now all these things are false of
themselves, as the Erythraean Sibyl testifies:--

 "Since all these things are erroneous,

 Which foolish men search after day by day."

But these same authorities by their countenance(5) cause it to be
believed that they are true.  Thus they delude the credulity of men by
lying divination, because it is not expedient for them to lay open the
truth.  These are they who taught men to make images and statues; who,
in order that they might turn away the minds of men from the worship of
the true God, cause the countenances of dead kings, fashioned and
adorned with exquisite beauty, to be erected and consecrated, and
assumed to themselves their names, as though they were assuming some
characters.  But the magicians, and those whom the people truly call
enchanters,(6) when they practise their detestable arts, call upon them
by their true names, those heavenly names which are read in the sacred
writings.  Moreover, these impure and wandering spirits, that they may
throw all things into confusion, and overspread the minds of men with
errors, interweave and mingle false things with true.  For they
themselves feigned that there are many heavenly beings, and one king of
all, Jupiter; because there are many spirits of angels in heaven, and
one Parent and Lord of all, God.  But they have concealed the truth
under false names, and withdrawn it from sight.

 For God, as I have shown in the beginning,(7) does not need a name,
since He is alone; nor do the angels, inasmuch as they are immortal,
either suffer or wish themselves to be called gods: for their one and
only duty is to submit to the will of God, and not to do anything at all
except at His command.  For we say that the world is so governed by God,
as a province is by its ruler; and no one would say that his
attendants(8) are his sharers in the administration of the province,
although business is carried on by their service.  And yet these can
effect something contrary to the commands of the ruler, through his
ignorance; which is the result of man's condition.  But that guardian of
the world and ruler of the universe, who knows all things, from whose
divine eyes nothing is concealed,(9) has alone with His Son the power
over all things; nor is there anything in the angels except the
necessity of obedience.  Therefore they wish no honour to be paid to
them, since all their hononr is in God.  But they who have revolted from
the service of God, because they are enemies of the truth, and
betrayers(10) of God attempt to claim for themselves the name and
worship of gods; not that they desire any hon-

66

our (for what honour is there to the lost?), nor that they may injure
God, who cannot be injured, but that they may injure men, whom they
strive to turn away from the worship and knowledge of the true Majesty,
that they may not be able to obtain immortality, which they themselves
have lost through their wickedness.  Therefore they draw on darkness,
and overspread the truth with obscurity, that men may not know their
Lord and Father.  And that they may easily entice them, they conceal
themselves in the temples, and are close at hand at all sacrifices; and
they often give prodigies, that men, astonished by them, may attach to
images a belief in their divine power and influence.  Hence it is that
the stone was cut by the augur with a razor; that Juno of Veii answered
that she wished to remove to Rome; that Fortuna Muliebris(1) announced
the threatening danger; that the ship followed the hand of Claudia; that
Juno when plundered, and the Locrian Proserpine, and the Milesian Ceres,
punished the sacrilegious; that Hercules exacted vengeance from Appius,
and Jupiter from Atinius, and Minerva from Caesar.  Hence it was that
the serpent sent for from Epidaurus freed the city of Rome from
pestilence.  For the chief of the demons was himself carried thither in
his own form, without any dissembling; if indeed the ambassadors who
were sent for that purpose brought with them a serpent of immense size.

 But they especially deceive in the case of oracles, the juggleries of
which the profane(2) cannot distinguish from the truth; and therefore
they imagine that commands,(3) and victories, and wealth, and prosperous
issues of affairs, are bestowed by them,--in short, that the state has
often been freed from imminent dangers by their interposition;(4) which
dangers they have both announced, and when appeased with sacrifices,
have averted.  But all these things are deceits.  For since they have a
presentiment(5) of the arrangements of God, inasmuch as they have been
His ministers, they interpose themselves in these matters, that whatever
things have been accomplished or are in the course of accomplishment by
God, they themselves may especially appear to be doing or to have done;
and as often as any advantage is hanging over any people or city,
according to the purpose of God, either by prodigies, or dreams, or
oracles, they promise that they will bring it to pass, if temples,
honours, and sacrifices are given to them.  And on the offering of
these, when the necessary(6) result comes to pass, they acquire for
themselves the greatest veneration.  Hence temples are vowed, and new
images consecrated; herds of victims are slain; and when all these
things are done, yet the life and safety of those who have performed
them are not the less sacrificed.  But as often as dangers threaten,
they profess that they are angry on account of some light and trifling
cause; as Juno was with Varro, because he had placed a beautiful boy on
the carriage(7) of Jupiter to guard the dress, and on this account the
Roman name was almost destroyed at Cannae.  But if Juno feared a second
Ganymede, why did the Roman youth suffer punishment?  Or if the gods
regard the leaders only, and neglect the rest of the multitude, why did
Varro alone escape who acted thus, and why was Paulus, who was
innocent,(8) slain?  Assuredly nothing then happened to the Romans by
"the fates of the hostile Juno,"(9) when Hannibal by craft and valour
despatched two armies of the Roman people.  For Juno did not venture
either to defend Carthage, where were her arms and chariot, or to injure
the Romans; for

 "She had heard that sons of Troy

 Were born her Carthage to destroy."(10)

But these are the delusions of those who, concealing themselves under
the names of the dead, lay snares for the living.  Therefore, whether
the impending danger can be avoided, they wish it to appear that they
averted it, having been appeased; or if it cannot be avoided, they
contrive that it may appear to have happened through disregard(11) of
them.  Thus they acquire to themselves authority and fear from men, who
are ignorant of them.  By this subtilty and by these arts they have
caused the knowledge of the true and only God to fail(12) among all
nations.  For, being destroyed by their own vices, they rage and use
violence that they may destroy others.  Therefore these enemies of the
human race even devised human victims, to devour as many lives as
possible.

CHAP. XVIII.--OF THE PATIENCE AND VENGEANCE OF GOD, THE WORSHIP OF
DEMONS, AND FALSE RELIGIONS.

 Some one will say, Why then does God permit these things to be done,
and not apply a remedy to such disastrous errors?  That evils may be at
variance with good; that vices may be opposed to virtues; that He may
have some whom He may punish, and others whom He

67

may honour.  For He has determined at the last times to pass judgment on
the living and the dead, concerning which judgment I shall speak in the
last book.  He delays,(1) therefore, until the end of the times shall
come, when He may pour out His wrath with heavenly power and might, as

 "Prophecies of pious seers

 Ring terror in the 'wildered ears."(2)

But now He suffers men to err, and to be impious even towards Himself,
just, and mild, and patient as He is.  For it is impossible that He in
whom is perfect excellence should not also be of perfect patience.
Whence some imagine, that God is altogether free from anger, because He
is not subject to affections, which are perturbations of the mind; for
every animal which is liable to affections and emotions is frail.  But
this persuasion altogether takes away truth and religion.  But let this
subject of discussing the anger of God be laid aside for the present;
because the matter is very copious, and to be more widely treated in a
work devoted to the subject.  Whoever shall have worshipped and followed
these most wicked spirits, will neither enjoy heaven nor the light,
which are God's; but will fall into those things which we have spoken of
as being assigned in the distribution of things to the prince of the
evil ones himself,--namely, into darkness, and hell, and everlasting
punishment.

 I have shown that the religious rites of the gods are vain in a
threefold manner: In the first place, because those images which are
worshipped are representations of men who are dead; and that is a wrong
and inconsistent thing, that the image of a man should be worshipped by
the image of God, for that which worships is lower and weaker than that
which is worshipped: then that it is an inexpiable crime to desert the
living in order that you may serve memorials of the dead, who can
neither give life nor light to any one, for they are themselves without
it: and that there is no other God but one, to whose judgment and power
every soul is subject.  In the second place, that the sacred images
themselves, to which most senseless men do service, are destitute of all
perception, since they are earth.  But who cannot understand that it is
unlawful for an upright animal to bend itself that it may adore the
earth?  which is placed beneath our feet for this purpose, that it may
be trodden.  upon, and not adored by us, who have been

raised from it, and have received an elevated position beyond the other
living creatures, that we may not turn ourselves again downward, nor
cast this heavenly countenance to the earth, but may direct our eyes to
that quarter to which the condition of their nature has directed, and
that we may adore and worship nothing except the single deity of our
only Creator and Father, who made man of an erect figure, that we may
know that we are called forth to high and heavenly things.  In the third
place, because the spirits which preside over the religious rites
themselves, being condemned and cast off by God, wallow(3) over the
earth, who not only are unable to afford any advantage to their
worshippers, since the power of all things is in the hands of one alone,
but even destroy them with deadly attractions and errors; since this is
their daily business, to involve men in darkness, that the true God may
not be sought by them.  Therefore they are not to be worshipped, because
they lie under the sentence of God.  For it is a very great crime to
devote(4) one's self to the power of those whom, if you follow
righteousness, you are able to excel in power, and to drive out and put
to flight by adjuration of the divine name.  But if it appears that
these religious rites are vain in so many ways as I have shown, it is
manifest that those who either make prayers to the dead,(5) or venerate
the earth, or make over(6) their souls to unclean spirits, do not act as
becomes men, and that they will suffer punishment for their impiety and
guilt, who, rebelling against God, the Father of the human race, have
undertaken inexpiable rites, and violated every sacred law.

 CHAP. XIX.--OF THE WORSHIP OF IMAGES AND EARTHLY OBJECTS.

 Whoever, therefore, is anxious to observe the obligations to which man
is liable, and to maintain a regard for his nature, let him raise
himself from the ground, and, with mind lifted up, let him direct his
eyes to heaven: let him not seek God under his feet, nor dig up from his
footprints an object of veneration, for whatever lies beneath man must
necessarily be inferior to man; but let him seek it aloft, let him seek
it in the highest place: for nothing can be greater than man, except
that which is above man.  But God is greater than man: therefore He is
above, and

68

not below; nor is He to be sought in the lowest, but rather in the
highest region.  Wherefore it is undoubted that there is no religion
wherever there is an image.(1) For if religion consists of divine
things, and there is nothing divine except in heavenly things; it
follows that images are without religion, because there can be nothing
heavenly in that which is made from the earth.  And this, indeed, may be
plain to a wise man from the very name.(2) For whatever is an imitation,
that must of necessity be false; nor can anything receive the name of a
true object which counterfeits the truth by deception and imitation.
But if all imitation is not particularly a serious matter, but as it
were a sport and jest, then there is no religion in images, but a
mimicry of religion.  That which is true is therefore to be preferred to
all things which are false; earthly things are to be trampled upon, that
we may obtain heavenly things.  For this is the state of the case, that
whosoever shall prostrate his soul, which has its origin from heaven, to
the shades(3) beneath, and the lowest things, must fall to that place to
which he has cast himself.  Therefore he ought to be mindful of his
nature and condition, and always to strive and aim at things above.  And
whoever shall do this, he will be judged altogether wise, he just, he a
man: he, in short, will be judged worthy of heaven whom his Parent will
recognise not as abject, nor cast down to the earth after the manner of
the beasts,(4) but rather standing and upright as He made him.

CHAP. XX.--OF PHILOSOPHY AND THE TRUTH.

 A great and difficult portion of the work which I have undertaken,
unless I am deceived, has been completed; and the majesty of heaven
supplying the power of speaking, we have driven away inveterate errors.
But now a greater and more difficult contest with philosophers is
proposed to us, the height of whose learning and eloquence, as some
massive structure, is opposed to me.  For as in the former(5) case we
were oppressed by a multitude, and almost by the universal agreement of
all nations, so in this subject we are oppressed by the authority of men
excelling in every kind of praise.  But who can be ignorant that there
is more weight in a smaller number of learned men than in a greater
number of ignorant persons?(6) But we must not despair that, under the
guidance of God and the truth, these also may be turned aside from their
opinion; nor do I think that they will be so obstinate as to deny that
they behold with sound and open eyes the sun as he shines in his
brilliancy.  Only let that be true which they themselves are accustomed
to profess, that they are possessed with the desire of investigation,
and I shall assuredly succeed in causing them to believe that the truth
which they have long sought for has been at length found, and to confess
that it could not have been found by the abilities of man.

69

THE DIVINE INSTITUTES

BOOK III.

 OF THE FALSE WISDOM OF PHILOSOPHERS.

CHAP. I.--A COMPARISON OF THE TRUTH WITH ELOQUENCE: WHY THE PHILOSOPHERS
DID NOT ATTAIN TO IT. OF THE SIMPLE STYLE OF THE SCRIPTURES.

 SINCE. it is supposed that the truth still lies hidden in obscurity--
either through the error and ignorance of the common people, who are the
slaves of various and foolish superstitions, or through the
philosophers, who by the perverseness of their minds confuse rather than
throw light upon it--I could wish that the power of eloquence had fallen
to my lot, though not such as it was in Marcus Tullius, for that was
extraordinary and admirable, but in some degree approaching it;(1) that,
being supported as much by the strength of talent as it has weight by
its own force, the truth might at length come forth, and having
dispelled and refuted public errors, and the errors of those who are
considered wise, might introduce among the human race a brilliant light.
And I could wish that this were so, for two reasons: either that men
might more readily believe the truth when adorned with embellishments,
since they even believe falsehood, being captivated by the adornment of
speech and the enticement of words; or, at all events, that the
philosophers themselves might be overpowered by us, most of all by their
own arms, in which they are accustomed to pride themselves and to place
confidence.  But since God has willed this to be the nature of the case,
that simple and undisguised truth should be more clear, because it has
sufficient ornament of itself, and on this account it is corrupted when
embellished(2) with adornings from without, but that falsehood should
please by means of a splendour not its own, because being corrupt of
itself it vanishes and melts away, unless it is set off(3) and polished
with decoration sought

from another source; I bear it with equanimity that a moderate degree of
talent has been granted to me.  But it is not in reliance upon
eloquence, but upon the truth, that I have undertaken this work,--a
work, perhaps, too great to be sustained by my strength; which, however,
even if I should fail, the truth itself will complete, with the
assistance of God, whose office this is.  For when I know that the
greatest orators have often been overcome by pleaders of moderate
ability, because the power of truth is so great that it defends itself
even in small things by its own clearness: why should I imagine that it
will be overwhelmed in a cause of the greatest importance by men who are
ingenious and eloquent, as I admit, but who speak false things; and not
that it should appear bright and illustrious, if not by our speech,
which is very feeble, and flows from a slight fountain, but by its own
light?  Nor, if there have been philosophers worthy of admiration on
account of their literary erudition, should I also yield to them the
knowledge and learning of the truth, which no one can attain to by
reflection or disputation.  Nor do I now disparage the pursuit of those
who wished to know the truth, because God has made the nature of man
most desirous of arriving at the truth; but I assert and maintain this
against them, that the effect did not follow their honest and well-
directed will, because they neither knew what was true in itself, nor
how, nor where, nor with what mind it is to be sought.  And thus, while
they desire to remedy the errors of men, they have become entangled in
snares and the greatest errors.  I have therefore been led to this task
of refuting philosophy by the very order of the subject which I have
undertaken.

 For since all error arises either from false religion or from
wisdom,(4) in refuting error it is necessary to overthrow both.  For
inasmuch as

70

it has been handed down to us in the sacred writings that the thoughts
of philosophers are foolish, this very thing iS to be proved by fact and
by arguments, that no one, induced by the honourable name of wisdom, or
deceived by the splendour of empty eloquence, may prefer to give
credence to human rather than to divine things.  Which things, indeed,
are related in a concise and simple manner.  For it was not befitting
that, when God was speaking to man, He should confirm His words by
arguments, as though He would not otherwise(1) be regarded with
confidence: but, as it was right, He spoke as the mighty Judge of all
things, to whom it belongs not to argue, but to pronounce sentence.  He
Himself, as God, is truth.  But we, since we have divine testimony for
everything, will assuredly show by how much surer arguments truth may be
defended, when even false things are so defended that they are
accustomed to appear true.  Wherefore there is no reason why we should
give so much honour to philosophers as to fear their eloquence.  For
they might speak well as men of learning; but they could not speak
truly, because they had not learned the truth from Him in whose power it
was.  Nor, indeed, shall we effect anything great in convicting them of
ignorance, which they themselves very often confess.  Since they are not
believed in that one point alone in which alone they ought to have been
believed, I will endeavour to show that they never spoke so truly as
when they uttered their opinion respecting their own ignorance.

CHAP. II.--OF PHILOSOPHY, AND HOW VAIN WAS ITS OCCUPATION IN SETTING
FORTH THE TRUTH.

 Now, since the falsehood of superstitions(2) has been shown in the two
former books, and the origin itself of the whole error has been set
forth, it is the business of this book to show the emptiness and
falsehood of philosophy also, that, all error being removed, the truth
may be brought to light and become manifest.  Let us begin, therefore,
from the common name of philosophy, that when the head itself is
destroyed, an easier approach may be open to us for demolishing the
whole body; if indeed that can be called a body, the parts and members
of which are at variance with one another, and are not united together
by any connecting link,(3) but, as it were, dispersed and scattered,
appear to palpitate rather than to live.  Philosophy is (as the name
indicates, and they themselves define it) the love of wisdom.

By what argument, then, can I prove that philosophy is not wisdom,
rather than by that derived from the meaning of the name itself?  For he
who devotes himself to wisdom is manifestly not yet wise, but devotes
himself to the subject that he may be wise.  In the other arts it
appears what this devotedness effects, and to what it tends: for when
any one by learning has attained to these, he is now called, not a
devoted follower of the profession, but an artificer.  But it is said it
was on account of modesty that they called themselves devoted to wisdom,
and not wise.  Nay, in truth, Pythagoras, who first invented this name,
since he had a little more wisdom than those of early times, who
regarded themselves as wise, understood that it was impossible by any
human study to attain to wisdom, and therefore that a perfect name ought
not to be applied to an incomprehensible and imperfect subject.  And,
therefore, when he was asked what was his profession,(4) he answered
that he was a philosopher, that is, a searcher after wisdom.  If,
therefore, philosophy searches after wisdom, it is not wisdom itself,
because it must of necessity be one thing which searches, and another
which is searched for; nor is the searching itself correct, because it
can find nothing.

 But I am not prepared to concede even that philosophers are devoted to
the pursuit of wisdom, because by that pursuit there is no attaining to
wisdom.  For if the power of finding the truth were connected(5) with
this pursuit, and if this pursuit were a kind of road to wisdom, it
would at length be found.  But since so much time and talent have been
wasted in the search for it, and it has not yet been gained, it is plain
that there is no wisdom there.  Therefore they who apply themselves to
philosophy do not devote themselves to the pursuit of wisdom; but they
themselves imagine that they do so, because they know not where that is
which they are searching for, or of what character it is.  Whether,
therefore, they devote themselves to the pursuit of wisdom or not, they
are not wise, because that can never be discovered which is either
sought in an improper manner, or not sought at all.  Let us look to this
very thing, whether it is possible for anything to be discovered by this
kind of pursuit, or nothing.

CHAP. III.--OF WHAT SUBJECTS PHILOSOPHY CONSISTS, AND WHO WAS THE CHIEF
FOUNDER OF THE ACADEMIC SECT.

 Philosophy appears to consist of two subjects, knowledge and
conjecture, and of nothing more.  Knowledge cannot come from the
understanding, nor be apprehended by thought; because

71

to have knowledge in oneself as a peculiar property does not belong to
man, but to God.  But the nature of mortals does not receive knowledge,
except that which comes from without.  For on this account the divine
intelligence has opened the eyes and ears and other senses in the body,
that by these entrances knowledge might flow through to the mind.  For
to investigate or wish to know the causes of natural things,--whether
the sun is as great as it appears to be, or is many times greater than
the whole of this earth; also whether the moon be spherical or concave;
and whether the stars are fixed to the heaven, or are borne with free
course through the air; of what magnitude the heaven itself is, of what
material it is composed; whether it is at rest and immoveable, or is
turned round with incredible swiftness; how great is the thickness of
the earth, or on what foundations it is poised and suspended,--to wish
to comprehend these things, I say, by disputation and conjectures, is as
though we should wish to discuss what we may suppose to be the character
of a city in some very remote country, which we have never seen, and of
which we have heard nothing more than the name.  If we should claim to
ourselves knowledge in a matter of this kind, which cannot be known,
should we not appear to be mad, in venturing to affirm that in which we
may be refuted?  How much more are they to be judged mad and senseless,
who imagine that they know natural things, which cannot be known by man!
Rightly therefore did Socrates, and the Academics(1) who followed him,
take away knowledge, which is not the part of a disputant, but of a
diviner.  It remains that there is in philosophy conjecture only; for
that from which knowledge is absent, is entirely occupied by conjecture.
For every one conjectures that of which he is ignorant.  But they who
discuss natural subjects, conjecture that they are as they discuss them.
Therefore they do not know the truth, because knowledge is concerned
with that which is certain, conjecture with the uncertain.

 Let us return to the example before mentioned.  Come, let us conjecture
about the state and character of that city which is unknown to us in all
respects except in name.  It is probable that it is situated on a plain,
with walls of stone, lofty buildings, many streets, magnificent and
highly adorned temples.  Let us describe, if you please, the customs and
deportment of the citizens.  But when we shall have described these,
another will make opposite statements;

and when he also shall have concluded, a third will arise, and others
after him; and they will make very different conjectures to those of
ours.  Which therefore of all is more true?  Perhaps none of them.  But
all things have been mentioned which the nature of the circumstances
admits, so that some one of them must necessarily be true.  But it will
not be known who has spoken the truth.  It may possibly be that all have
in some degree erred in their description, and that all have in some
degree attained to the truth.  Therefore we are foolish if we seek this
by disputation; for some one may present himself who may deride our
conjectures, and esteem us as mad, since we wish to conjecture the
character of that which we do not know.  But it is unnecessary to go in
quest of remote cases, from which perhaps no one may come to refute us.
Come, let us conjecture what is now going on in the forum, what in the
senate-house.  That also is too distant.  Let us say what is taking
place with the interposition of a single wall;(2) no one can know this
but he who has heard or seen it.  No one therefore ventures to say this,
because he will immediately be refuted not by words, but by the presence
of the fact itself.  But this is the very thing which philosophers do,
who discuss what is taking place in heaven, but think that they do that
with impunity, because there is no one to refute their errors.  But if
they were to think that some one was about to descend who would prove
them to be mad and false, they would never discuss those subjects at all
which they cannot possibly know.  Nor, however, is their shamelessness
and audacity to be regarded as more successful because they are not
refuted; for God refutes them to whom alone the truth is known, although
He may seem to connive at their conduct, and He reckons such wisdom of
men as the greatest folly.

CHAP.IV.--THAT KNOWLEDGE IS TAKEN AWAY BY SOCRATES, AND CONJECTURE BY
ZENO.

Zeno and the Stoics, then, were right in repudiating conjecture.  For to
conjecture that you know that which you do not know, is not the part of
a wise, but rather of a rash and foolish man.  Therefore if nothing can
be known, as Socrates taught, or ought to be conjectured, as Zeno
taught, philosophy is entirely removed.  Why should I say that it is not
only overthrown by these two, who were the chiefs of philosophy, but by
all, so that it now appears to have been long ago destroyed by its own
arms?  Philosophy has been divided into many sects; and they all
entertain various sentiments.  In which do we place the truth?  It
certainly cannot be in

72

all.  Let us point out some one; it follows that all the others will be
without wisdom.  Let us pass through them separately; in the same
manner, whatever we shall give to one we shall take away from the
others.  For each particular sect overturns all others, to confirm
itself and its own doctrines: nor does it allow wisdom to any other,
lest it should confess that it is itself foolish; but as it takes away
others, so is it taken away itself by all others.  For they are
nevertheless philosophers who accuse it of folly.  Whatever sect you
shall praise and pronounce true, that is censured by philosophers as
false.  Shall we therefore believe one which praises itself and its
doctrine, or the many which blame the ignorance of each other?  That
must of necessity be better which is held by great numbers, than that
which is held by one only.  For no one can rightly judge concerning
himself, as the renowned poet testifies;(1) for the nature of men is so
arranged, that they see and distinguish the affairs of others better
than their own.  Since, therefore, all things are uncertain, we must
either believe all or none: if we are to believe no one, then the wise
have no existence, because while they separately affirm different things
they think themselves wise; if all, it is equally true that there are no
wise men, because all deny the wisdom of each individually.  Therefore
all are in this manner destroyed; and as those fabled sparti(2) of the
poets, so these men mutually slay one another, so that no one remains of
all; which happens on this account, because they have a sword, but have
no shield.  If, therefore, the sects individually are convicted of folly
by the judgment of many sects, it follows that all are found to be vain
and empty; and thus philosophy consumes and destroys itself.  And since
Arcesilas the founder of the Academy understood this, he collected
together the mutual censures of all, and the confession of ignorance
made by distinguished philosophers, and armed himself against all.  Thus
he established a new philosophy of not philosophizing.  From this
founder, therefore, there began to be two kinds of philosophy: one the
old one, which claims to itself knowledge; the other a new one, opposed
to the former, and which detracts from it.  Between these two kinds of
philosophy I see that there is disagreement, and as it were civil war.
On which side shall we place wisdom, which cannot be torn asunder?(3) If
the nature of things can be known, this troop of recruits will perish;
if it cannot, the veterans will be destroyed: if they shall be equal,
nevertheless philosophy, the guide of all, will still perish, because it
is divided;

for nothing can be opposed to itself without its own destruction.  But
if, as I have shown, there can be no inner and peculiar knowledge in man
on account of the frailty of the human condition, the party of Arcesilas
prevails.  But not even will this stand firm, because it cannot be the
case that nothing at all is known.

 CHAP. V.--THAT THE KNOWLEDGE OF MANY THINGS IS NECESSARY.

 For there are many things which nature itself, and frequent use, and
the necessity of life, compel us to know.  Accordingly you must perish,
unless you know what things are useful for life, in order that you may
seek them; and what are dangerous, that you may shun and avoid them.
Moreover, there are many things which experience finds out.  For the
various courses of the sun and moon, and the motions of the stars, and
the computation of times, have been discovered, and the nature of
bodies, and the strength of herbs by students of medicine, and by the
cultivators of the land the nature of soils, and signs of future rains
and tempests have been collected.  In short, there is no art which is
not dependent on knowledge.  Therefore Arcesilas ought, if he had any
wisdom, to have distinguished the things which were capable of being
known, and those which were incapable.  But if he had done this, he
would have reduced himself to the common herd.  For the common people
have sometimes more wisdom, because they are only so far wise as is
necessary.  And if you inquire of them whether they know anything or
nothing, they will say that they know the things which they know, and
will confess that they are ignorant of what they are ignorant.  He was
right, therefore, in taking away the systems of others, but he was not
right in laying the foundations of his own.  For ignorance of all things
cannot be wisdom, the peculiar property of which is knowledge.  And
thus, when he overcame the philosophers, and taught that they knew
nothing, he himself also lost the name of philosopher, because his
system is to know nothing.  For he who blames others because they are
ignorant, ought himself to have knowledge; but when he knows nothing,
what perverseness or what insolence it is, to constitute himself a
philosopher on account of that very thing for which he takes away the
others!  For it is in their power to answer thus: If you convict us of
knowing nothing, and therefore of being unwise because we know nothing,
does it follow that you are not wise, because you confess that you know
nothing?  What progress, therefore, did Arcesilas make, except that,
having despatched all the philosophers, he pierced himself also with the
same sword?

73

 CHAP. VI.--OF WISDOM, AND THE ACADEMICS, AND NATURAL PHILOSOPHY.

 Does wisdom therefore nowhere exist?  Yes, indeed, it was amongst them,
but no one saw it.  Some thought that all things could be known: these
were manifestly not wise.  Others thought that nothing could be known;
nor indeed were these wise: the former, because they attributed too much
to man; the latter, because they attributed too little.  A limit was
wanting to each on either side.  Where, then, is wisdom?  It consists in
thinking neither that you know all things, which is the property of God;
nor that you are ignorant of all things, which is the part of a beast.
For it is something of a middle character which belongs to man, that is,
knowledge united and combined with ignorance.  Knowledge in us is from
the soul, which has its origin from heaven; ignorance from the body,
which is from the earth: whence we have something in common with God,
and with the animal creation.  Thus, since we are composed of these two
elements, the one of which is endowed with light, the other with
darkness, a part of knowledge is given to us, and a part of ignorance.
Over this bridge, so to speak, we may pass without any danger of
falling; for all those who have inclined to either side, either towards
the left hand or the right, have fallen.  But I will say how each part
has erred.  The Academics argued from obscure subjects, against the
natural philosophers, that there was no knowledge; and satisfied with
the examples of a few incomprehensible subjects, they embraced ignorance
as though they had taken away the whole of knowledge, because they had
taken it away in part.  But natural philosophers, on the other hand,
derived their argument from those things which are open, and inferred
that all things could be known, and, satisfied with things which were
manifest, retained knowledge; as if they had defended it altogether,
because they had defended it in part.  And thus neither the one saw what
was clear, nor the others what was obscure; but each party, while they
contended with the greatest ardour either to retain or to take away
knowledge only, did not see that there would be placed in the middle
that which might guide them to wisdom.

 But Arcesilas, who teaches that there is no knowledge,(1) when he was
detracting from Zeno, the chief of the Stoics, that he might altogether
overthrow philosophy on the authority of Socrates, undertook this
opinion to affirm that nothing could be known.  And thus he disproved
the judgment of the philosophers, who had thought that the truth was
drawn forth,(2) and

found out by their talents,--namely, because that wisdom was mortal,
and, having been instituted a few ages before, had now attained to its
greatest increase, so that it was now necessarily growing old and
perishing, the Academy(3) suddenly arose, the old age, as it were, of
philosophy, which might despatch it now withering.  And Arcesilas
rightly saw that they are arrogant, or rather foolish, who imagine that
the knowledge of the truth can be arrived at by conjecture.  But no one
can refute one speaking falsely, unless he who shall have previously
known what is true; but Arcesilas, endeavouring to do this without a
knowledge of the truth, introduced a kind of philosophy which we may
call unstable or inconstant.(4) For, that nothing may be known, it is
necessary that something be known.  For if you know nothing at all, the
very knowledge that nothing can be known will be taken away.  Therefore
he who pronounces as a sentiment that nothing is known, professes, as it
were, some conclusion already arrived at and known: therefore it is
possible for something to be known.

 Of a similar character to this is that which is accustomed to be
proposed in the schools as an example of the kind of fallacy called
asystaton; that some one had dreamt that he should not believe dreams.
For if he did believe them, then it follows that he ought not to believe
them.  But if he did not believe them, then it follows that he ought to
believe them.  Thus, if nothing can be known, it is necessary that this
fact must be known, that nothing is known.  But if it is known that
nothing can be known, the statement that nothing can be known must as a
consequence be false.  Thus there is introduced a tenet opposed to
itself, and destructive of itself.  But the evasive(5) man wished to
take away learning from the other philosophers, that he might conceal it
at his home.  For truly he is not for taking it from himself who affirms
anything that he may take it from others: but he does not succeed; for
it shows itself, and betrays its plunderer.  How much more wisely and
truly he would act, if he should make an exception, and say that the
causes and systems of heavenly things only, or natural things, because
they are hidden, cannot be known, for there is no one to teach them; and
ought not to be inquired into.  for they cannot be found out by inquiry!
For if he had brought forward this exception, he would both have
admonished the natural philosophers not to search into those things
which exceeded the limit of human reflection; and would have freed
himself from the ill-will arising from calumny, and would certainly

74

have left us something to follow.  But now, since he has drawn us back
from following others, that we may not wish to know more than we are
capable of knowing, he has no less drawn us back from himself also.  For
who would wish to labour lest he should know anything?  or to undertake
learning of this kind that he may even lose ordinary knowledge?  For if
this learning exists, it must necessarily consist of knowledge; if it
does not exist, who is so foolish as to think that that is worthy of
being learned, in which either nothing is learned, or something is even
unlearned?  Wherefore, if all things cannot be known, as the natural
philosophers thought, nor nothing, as the Academics taught, philosophy
is altogether extinguished.

 CHAP. VII.--OF MORAL PHILOSOPHY, AND THE CHIEF GOOD.

 Let us now pass to the other part of philosophy, which they themselves
call moral, in which is contained the method of the whole of philosophy,
since in natural philosophy there is only delight, in this there is
utility also.  And since it is more dangerous to commit a fault in
arranging the condition of life and in forming the character, greater
diligence must be used, that we may know how we ought to live.  For in
the former subject(1) some indulgence may be granted: for whether they
say anything, they bestow no advantage; or if they foolishly rave, they
do no injury.  But in this subject there is no room for difference of
opinion, none for error.  All must entertain the same sentiments, and
philosophy itself must give instructions as it were with one mouth;
because if any error shall be committed, life is altogether overthrown.
In that former part, as there is less danger, so there is more
difficulty; because the obscurity of the subject compels us to entertain
different and various opinions.  But in this, as there is more danger,
so there is less difficulty; because the very use of the subjects and
daily experiments are able to teach what is truer and better.  Let us
see, therefore, whether they agree, or what assistance they give us for
the better guidance of life.  It is not necessary to enlarge on every
point; let us select one, and especially that which is the chief and
principal thing, in which the whole of wisdom centres and depends.(2)
Epicurus deems that the chief good consists in pleasure of mind,
Aristippus in pleasure of the body.  Callipho and Dinomachus united
virtue with pleasure, Diodorus with the privation of pain, Hieronymus
placed the chief good in the absence of pain; the Peripatetics, again,
in the goods of the mind, the body, and fortune.  The chief good of
Herillus is knowledge; that of Zeno, to live agreeably to nature; that
of certain Stoics, to follow virtue.  Aristotle placed the chief good in
integrity and virtue.  These are the sentiments of nearly all.  In such
a difference of opinions, whom do we follow?  whom do we believe?  All
are of equal authority.  If we are able to select that which is better,
it follows that philosophy is not necessary for us; because we are
already wise, inasmuch as we judge respecting the opinions of the wise.
But since we come for the sake of learning wisdom, how can we judge, who
have not yet begun to be wise?  especially when the Academic is close at
hand, to draw us back by the cloak, and forbid us to believe any one,
without bringing forward that which we may follow.

CHAP. VIII.--OF THE CHIEF GOOD, AND THE PLEASURES OF THE SOUL AND BODY,
AND OF VIRTUE.

 What then remains, but that we leave raving and obstinate wranglers,
and come to the judge, who is in truth the giver of simple and calm
wisdom?  which is able not only to mould us, and lead us into the way,
but also to pass an opinion on the controversies of those men.  This
teaches us what is the true and highest good of man; but before I begin
to speak on this subject, all those opinions must be refuted, that it
may appear that no one of those philosophers was wise.  Since the
inquiry is respecting the duty of man, the chief good of the chief
animal ought to be placed in that which it cannot have in common with
the other animals.  But as teeth are the peculiar property of wild
beasts, horns of cattle, and wings of birds, so something peculiar to
himself ought to be attributed to man, without which he would lose the
fixed(3) order of his condition.  For that which is given to all for the
purpose of life or generation, is indeed a natural good; but still it is
not the greatest, unless it be peculiar to each class.  Therefore he was
not a wise man who believed that pleasure of the mind is the chief good,
since that, whether it be freedom from anxiety or joy, is common to all.
I do not consider Aristippus even worthy of an answer; for since he is
always rushing into pleasures of the body, and is only the slave of
sensual indulgences, no one can regard him as a man: for he lived in
such a manner that there was no difference between him and a brute,
except this only, that he had the faculty of speech.  But if the power
of speaking were given to the ass, or the dog, or swine, and you were to
inquire from these why they so furiously pursue the females, that they
can scarcely be separated from them, and even neglect their food and I
drink; why they either drive away other males,

75

or do not abstain from the pursuit even when vanquished, but often, when
bruised by stronger animals, they are more determined in their pursuit;
why they dread neither rain nor cold; why they undertake labour, and do
not shrink from danger;--what other answer will they give, but that the
chief good is bodily pleasure?--that they eagerly seek it, in order that
they may be affected with the most agreeable sensations; and that these
are of so much importance, that, for the sake of attaining them, they
imagine that no labour, nor wounds, nor death itself, ought to be
refused by them?  Shall we then seek precepts of living from these men,
who have no other feelings than those of the irrational creatures?

 The Cyrenaics say that virtue itself is to be praised on this account,
because it is productive of pleasure.  True, says the filthy dog, or the
swine wallowing in the mire.(1) For it is on this account that I contend
with my adversary with the utmost exertion of strength, that my valour
may procure for me pleasure; of which I must necessarily be deprived if
I shall come off vanquished.  Shall we therefore learn wisdom from these
men, who differ from cattle and the brutes, not in feeling, but in
language?  To regard the absence of pain as the chief good, is not
indeed the part of Peripatetic and Stoic, but of clinical philosophers.
For who would not imagine that the discussion was carried on by those
who were ill, and under the influence of some pain?  What is so
ridiculous, as to esteem that the chief good which the physician is able
to give?  We must therefore feel pain in order that we may enjoy good;
and that, too, severely and frequently, that afterwards the absence of
pain may be attended with greater pleasure.  He is therefore most
wretched who has never felt pain, because he is without that which is
good; whereas we used to regard him as most happy, because he was
without evil.  He was not far distant from this folly, who said that the
entire absence of pain was the chief good.  For, besides the fact that
every animal avoids pain, who can bestow upon himself that good, towards
the obtaining of which we can do no more than wish?  But the chief good
cannot make any one happy, unless it shall be always in his power; and
it is not virtue, nor learning, nor labour, which affords this to man,
but nature herself bestows it upon all living creatures.  They who
joined pleasure with virtuous principle, wished to avoid this common
blending together of all, but they made a contradictory kind of good;
since he who is abandoned to pleasure must of necessity be destitute of
virtuous principle, and he who aims at principle must be destitute of
pleasure.

 The chief good of the Peripatetics may possibly appear excessive,
various, and--excepting those goods which belong to the mind, and what
they are is a great subject of dispute--common to man with the beasts.
For goods belonging to the body--that is, safety, freedom from pain,
health--are no less necessary for dumb creatures than for man; and I
know not if they are not more necessary for them, because man can be
relieved by remedies and services, the dumb animals cannot.  The same is
true of those which they call the goods of fortune; for as man has need
of resources for the support of life, so have they(2) need of prey and
pasture.  Thus, by introducing a good which is not within the power of
man, they made man altogether subject to the power of another.  Let us
also hear Zeno, for he at times dreams of virtue.  The chief good, he
says, is to live in accordance with nature.  Therefore we must live
after the manner of the brutes.  For in these are found all the things
which ought to be absent from man: they are eager for pleasures, they
fear, they deceive, they lie in wait, they kill; and that which is
especially to the point, they have no knowledge of God.  Why, therefore,
does he teach me to live according to nature, which is of itself prone
to a worse course, and under the influence of some more soothing
blandishments plunges headlong into vices?  Or if he says that the
nature of brutes is different from the nature of man, because man is
born to virtue, he says something to the purpose; but, however, it will
not be a definition of the chief good, because there is no animal which
does not live in accordance with its nature.

 He who made knowledge the chief good, gave something peculiar to man;
but men desire I knowledge for the sake of something else, and not for
its own sake.  For who is contented with knowing, without seeking some
advantage from his knowledge?  The arts are learned for the purpose of
being put into exercise; but they are exercised either for the support
of life, or pleasure, or for glory.  That, therefore, is not the chief
good which is not sought for on its own account.  What difference,
therefore, does it make, whether we consider knowledge to be the chief
good, or those very things which knowledge produces from itself, that
is, means of subsistence, glory, pleasure?  And these things are not
peculiar to man, and therefore they are not the chief goods; for the
desire of pleasure and of food does not exist in man alone, but also in
the brutes.  How is it with regard to the desire of glory?  Is it not
discovered in horses, since they exult in victory, and are grieved when
vanquished?  "So great is their love of praises, so great is their
eagerness for victory."(3) Nor with-

76

out reason does that most excellent poet say that we must try "what
grief they feel when overcome, and how they rejoice in victory."  But if
those things which knowledge produces are common to man with other
animals, it follows that knowledge is not the chief good.  Moreover, it
is no slight fault of this definition that bare knowledge is set forth.
For all will begin to appear happy who shall have the knowledge of any
art, even those who shall know mischievous subjects; so that he who
shall have learned to mix poisons, is as happy as he who has learned to
apply remedies.  I ask, therefore, to what subject knowledge is to be
referred.  If to the causes of natural things, what happiness will be
proposed to me, if I shall know the sources of the Nile, or the vain
dreams of the natural philosophers respecting the heaven?  Why should I
mention that on these subjects there is no knowledge, but mere
conjecture, which varies according to the abilities of men?  It only
remains that the knowledge of good and evil things is the chief good.
Why, then, did he call knowledge the chief good more than wisdom, when
both words have the same signification and meaning?  But no one has yet
said that the chief good is wisdom, though this might more properly have
been said.  For knowledge is insufficient for the undertaking of that
which is good and avoiding that which is evil, unless virtue also is
added.  For many of the philosophers, though they discussed the nature
of good and evil things, yet from the compulsion of nature lived in a
manner different from their discourse, because they were without virtue.
But virtue united with knowledge is wisdom.

 It remains that we refute those also who judged virtue itself to be the
chief good, and Marcus Tullius was also of this opinion; and in this
they were very inconsiderate.(1) For virtue itself is not the chief
good, but it is the contriver and mother of the chief good; for this
cannot be attained without virtue.  Each point is easily understood.
For I ask whether they imagine that it is easy to arrive at that
distinguished good, or that it is reached only with difficulty and
labour?  Let them apply their ingenuity, and defend error.  If it is
easily attained to, and without labour, it cannot be the chief good.
For why should we torment ourselves, why wear ourselves out with
striving day and night, seeing that the object of our pursuit is so
close at hand, that any one who wishes may grasp it without any effort
of the mind?  But if we do not attain even to a common and moderate good
except by labour, since good things are by their nature arduous and
difficult,(2) whereas evil things have a

downward tendency, it follows that the greatest labour is necessary for
the attainment of the greatest good.  And if this is most true, then
there is need of another virtue, that we may arrive at that virtue which
is called the chief good; but this is incongruous and absurd, that
virtue should arrive at itself by means of itself.  If no good can be
reached unless by labour, it is evident that it is virtue by which it is
reached, since the force and office of virtue consist in the undertaking
and carrying through of labours.  Therefore the chief good cannot be
that by which it is necessary to arrive at another.  But they, since
they were ignorant of the effects and tendency of virtue, and could
discover nothing more honourable, stopped at the very name of virtue,
and said that it ought to be sought, though no advantage was proposed
from it; and thus they fixed for themselves a good which it self stood
in need of a good.  From these Aristotle was not far removed, who
thought that virtue together with honour was the chief good; as though
it were possible for any virtue to exist unless it were honourable, and
as though it would not cease to be virtue if it had any measure of
disgrace.  But he saw that it might happen that a bad opinion is
entertained respecting virtue by a depraved judgment, and therefore he
thought that deference should be paid to what in the estimation of men
constitutes a departure from what is right and good, because it is not
in our power that virtue should be honoured simply for its own deserts.
For what is honourable(3) character, except perpetual honour, conferred
on any one by the favourable report of the people?  What, then, will
happen, if through the error and perverseness of men a bad reputation
should ensue?  Shall we cast aside virtue because it is judged to be
base and disgraceful by the foolish?  And since it is capable of being
oppressed and harassed, in order that it may be of itself a peculiar and
lasting good, it ought to stand in need of no outward assistance, so as
not to depend by itself upon its own strength, and to remain stedfast.
And thus no good is to be hoped by it from man, nor is any evil to be
refused.

CHAP. IX.--OF THE CHIEF GOOD, AND THE WORSHIP OF THE TRUE GOD, AND A
REFUTATION OF ANAXAGORAS.

 I now come to the chief good of true wisdom, the nature of which is to
be determined in this manner: first, it must be the property of man
alone, and not belong to any other animal; secondly, it must belong to
the soul only, and

77

not be shared with the body; lastly, it cannot fall to the lot of any
one without knowledge and virtue.  Now this limitation excludes and does
away with all the opinions of those whom I have mentioned; for their
sayings contain nothing of this kind.  I will now say what this is, that
I may show, as I designed, that all philosophers were blind and foolish,
who could neither see, nor understand, nor surmise at any time what was
fixed as the chief good for man.  Anaxagoras, when asked for what
purpose he was born, replied that he might look upon the heaven and the
sun.  This expression is admired by all, and judged worthy of a
philosopher.  But I think that he, being unprepared with an answer,
uttered this at random, that he might(1) not be silent.  But if he had
been wise, he ought to have considered and reflected with himself; for
if any one is ignorant of his own condition, he cannot even he a man.
But let us imagine that the saying was not uttered on the spur of the
moment.  Let us see how many and what great errors he Committed in three
words.  First, he erred in placing the whole duty of man in the eyes
alone, referring nothing to the mind, but everything to the body.  But
if he had been blind, would he lose the duty of a man, which cannot
happen without the ruin(2) of the soul?  What of the other parts of the
body?  Will they be destitute, each of its own duty?  Why should I say
that more depends upon the ears than upon the eye, since learning and
wisdom can be gained by the ears only, but not by the eyes only?  Were
you born for the sake of seeing the heaven and the sun?  Who introduced
you to this(3) sight?  or what does your vision contribute to the heaven
and the nature of things?  Doubtless that you may praise this immense
and wonderful work.  Therefore confess that God is the Creator of all
things, who introduced you into this world, as a witness and praiser of
His great work.  You believe that it is a great thing to behold the
heaven and the sun: why, therefore, do you not give thanks to Him who is
the author of this benefit?  why do you not measure with your mind the
excellence, the providence, and the power of Him whose works you admire?
For it must be, that He who created objects worthy of admiration, is
Himself much more to be admired.  If any one had invited you to dinner,
and you had been well entertained, should you appear in your senses, if
you esteemed the mere pleasure more highly than the author of the
pleasure?  So entirely do philosophers refer all things to the body, and
nothing at all to the mind, nor do they see beyond that which fails
under their eyes.  But all

the offices of the body being put aside, the business of man is to be
placed in the mind alone.  Therefore we are not born for this purpose,
that we may see those things which are created, but that we may
contemplate, that is, behold with our mind, the Creator of all things
Himself.  Wherefore, if any one should ask a man who is truly wise for
what purpose he was born, he will answer without fear or hesitation,
that he was born for the purpose of worshipping God, who brought us into
being for his cause, that we may serve Him.  But to serve God is nothing
else than to maintain and preserve justice by good works.  But he, as a
man ignorant of divine things, reduced a matter of the greatest
magnitude to the least, by selecting two things only, which he said were
to be beheld by him.  But if he had said that he was born to behold the
world, although he would comprise all things in this, and would use an
expression of greater(4) sound, yet he would not have completed the duty
of man; for as much as the soul excels the body, so much does God excel
the world, for God made and governs the world.  Therefore it is not the
world which is to be contemplated by the eye, for each is a body;(5) but
it is God who is to be contemplated by the soul: for God, being Himself
immortal, willed that the soul also should be everlasting.  But the
contemplation of God is the reverence and worship of the common Parent
of mankind.  And if the philosophers were destitute of this, and in
their ignorance of divine things prostrated themselves to the earth, we
must suppose that Anaxagoras neither beheld the heaven nor the sun,
though he said that he was born that he might behold them.  The object
proposed to man is therefore plain(6) and easy, if he is wise; and to it
especially belongs humanity.(7) For what is humanity itself, but
justice?  what is justice, but piety?  And piety(8) is nothing else than
the recognition of God as a parent.

 CHAP.X.--IT IS THE PECULIAR PROPERTY OF MAN TO KNOW AND WORSHIP GOD.

 Therefore the chief good of man is in religion only; for the other
things, even those which are supposed to be peculiar to man, are found
in the other animals also.  For when they discern and distinguish their
own voices(9) by peculiar marks among themselves, they seem to converse:
they also appear to have a kind of smile, when with soothed ears, and
contracted mouth, and with

78

eyes relaxed to sportiveness, they fawn upon man, or upon their own
mates and young.  Do they not give a greeting which bears some
resemblance to mutual love and indulgence?  Again, those creatures which
look forward to the future and lay up for themselves food, plainly have
foresight.  Indications of reason are also found in many of them.  For
since they desire things useful to themselves, guard against evils,
avoid dangers, prepare for themselves lurking-places standing open in
different places with various outlets, assuredly they have some
understanding.  Can any one deny that they are possessed of reason,
since they often deceive man himself?  For those which have the office
of producing honey, when they inhabit the place assigned to them,
fortify a camp, construct dwellings with unspeakable skill, and obey
their king; I know not if there is not in them perfect prudence.  It is
therefore uncertain whether those things which are given to man are
common to him with other living creatures: they are certainly without
religion.  I indeed thus judge, that reason is given to all animals, but
to the dumb creatures only for the protection of life, to man also for
its prolongation.  And because reason itself is perfect in man, it is
named wisdom, which renders man distinguished in this respect, that to
him alone it is given to comprehend divine things.  And concerning this
the opinion of Cicero is true: "Of so many kinds of animals," he says,
"there is none except man which has any knowledge of God; and among men
themselves, there is no nation either so uncivilized or so savage,
which, even if it is ignorant of due conceptions of the Deity, does not
know that some conception of Him ought to be entertained."  From which
it is effected, that he acknowledges God, who, as it were, calls to mind
the source from which he is sprung.  Those philosophers, therefore, who
wish to free the mind from all fear, take away even religion, and thus
deprive man of his peculiar and surpassing good, which is distinct from
living uprightly, and from everything connected with man, because God,
who made all living creatures subject to man, also made man subject to
Himself.  What reason is there why they should also maintain that the
mind is to be turned in the same direction to which the countenance is
raised?  For if we must look to the heaven, it is undoubtedly for no
other reason than on account of religion; if religion is taken away, we
have nothing to do with the heaven.  Therefore we must either look in
that direction or bend down to the earth.  We are not able to bend down
to the earth, even if we should wish, since our posture is upright.  We
must therefore look up to the heaven, to which the nature of the body
calls us.  And if it is admitted that this must be done, it must either
be done with this

view, that we may devote ourselves to religion, or that we may know the
nature of the heavenly objects.  But we cannot by any means know the
nature of the heavenly objects, because nothing of that kind can be
found out by reflection, as I have before shown.  We must therefore
devote ourselves to religion, and he who does not undertake this
prostrates himself to the ground, and, imitating the life of the brutes,
abdicates the office of man.  Therefore the ignorant are more wise; for
although they err in choosing religion, yet they remember their own
nature and condition.

 CHAP. XI.--OF RELIGION, WISDOM, AND THE CHIEF GOOD.

 It is agreed upon, therefore, by the general consent of all mankind,
that religion ought to be undertaken; but we have to explain what errors
are committed on this subject.  God willed this to be the nature of man,
that he should be desirous and eager for two things, religion and
wisdom.  But men are mistaken in this, that they either undertake
religion and pay no attention to wisdom, or they devote themselves to
wisdom alone, and pay no attention to religion, though the one cannot be
true without the other.  The consequence is, that they fall into a
multiplicity of religions, but false ones, because they have left
wisdom, which could have taught them that there cannot be many gods; or
they devote themselves to wisdom, but a false wisdom, because they have
paid no attention to the religion of the Supreme God, who might have
instructed them to the knowledge of the truth.  Thus men who undertake
either of these courses follow a devious path, and one full of the
greatest errors, inasmuch as the duty of man, and all truth, are
included in these two things which are inseparably connected.  I wonder,
therefore, that there was none at all of the philosophers who discovered
the abode and dwelling-place of the chief good.  For they might have
sought it in this manner.  Whatever the greatest good is, it must be an
object proposed to all men.  There is pleasure, which is desired by all;
but this is common also to man with the beasts, and has not the force of
the honourable, and brings a feeling of satiety, and when it is in
excess is injurious, and it is lessened by advance of age, and does not
fall to the lot of many: for they who are without resources, who
constitute the greater part of men, must also be without pleasure.
Therefore pleasure is not the chief good; but it is not even a good.
What shall we say of riches?  This is much more(1) true of them.  For
they fall to the lot of fewer men, and that generally by chance; and
they often fall to the indolent, and

79

sometimes by guilt, and they are desired by those who already possess
them.  What shall we say of sovereignty itself?  That does not
constitute the chief good: for all cannot reign, but it is necessary
that all should be capable of attaining the chief good.

 Let us therefore seek something which is held forth to all.  Is it
virtue?  It cannot be denied that virtue is a good, and undoubtedly a
good for all men.  But if it cannot be happy because its power and
nature consist in the endurance of evil, it assuredly is not the chief
good.  Let us seek something else.  But nothing can be found more
beautiful than virtue, nothing more worthy of a wise man.  For if vices
are to be avoided on account of their deformity, virtue is therefore to
be desired on account of its beauty.  What then?  Can it be that that
which is admitted to be good and honourable should be requited with no
reward, and be so unproductive as to procure no advantage from itself?
That great labour and difficulty and struggling against evils with which
this life is filled, must of necessity produce some great good.  But
what shall we say that it is?  Pleasure?  But nothing that is base can
arise from that which is honourable.  Shall we say that it is riches?
or commands?  But these things are frail and uncertain.(1) Is it glory?
or honour?  or a lasting name?  But all these things are not contained
in virtue itself, but depend upon the opinion and judgment of others.
For virtue is often hated and visited with evil.  But the good which
arises from it ought to be so closely united with it as to be incapable
of being separated or disunited from it; and it cannot appear to be the
chief good in any other way than if it belongs peculiarly to virtue, and
is such that nothing can be added to it or taken from it.  Why should I
say that the duties of virtue consist in the despising of all these
things?  For not to long for, or desire, or love pleasures, riches,
dominions, and honours, and all those things which are esteemed as
goods, as others do overpowered by desire, that assuredly is virtue.
Therefore it effects something else more sublime and excellent; nor does
anything struggle against these present goods but that which longs for
greater and truer things.  Let us not despair of being able to find it,
if we turn our thoughts in all directions; for no slight or trifling
rewards are sought.

CHAP. XII.--OF THE TWOFOLD CONFLICT OF BODY AND SOUL; AND OF DESIRING
VIRTUE ON ACCOUNT OF ETERNAL LIFE.

 But our inquiry is as to the object for which we are born: and thus we
are able to trace out

what is the effect of virtue.  There are two(2) parts of which man is
made up, soul and body.  There are many things peculiar to the soul,
many peculiar to the body, many common to both, as is virtue itself; and
as often as this is referred to the body, it is called fortitude for the
sake of distinction.  Since, therefore, fortitude is connected with
each, a contest is proposed to each, and victory held forth to each from
the contest: the body, because it is solid, and capable of being
grasped, must contend with objects which are solid and can be grasped;
but the soul, on the other hand, because it is slights and subtle, and
invisible, contends with those enemies who cannot be seen and touched.
But what are the enemies of the soul, but lusts, vices, and sins?  And
if virtue shall have overcome and put to flight these, the soul will be
pure and free from stain.  Whence, then, are we able to collect what are
the effects of fortitude of soul?  Doubtless from that which is closely
connected with it, and resembles it, that is, from fortitude of the
body; for when this has come to any encounter and contest, what else
does it seek from victory but life?  For whether you contend with a man
or beast, the contest is for safety.  Therefore, as the body obtains by
victory its preservation from destruction, so the soul obtains a
continuation of its existence; and as the body, when over come by its
enemies, suffers death, so the soul, when overpowered by vices, must
die.  What difference, therefore, will there be between the contest
carried on by the soul and that carried on by the body, except that the
body seeks for temporal, but the soul eternal life?  If, therefore,
virtue is not happy by itself, since its whole force consists, as I have
said, in the enduring of evils; if it neglects all things which are
desired as goods; if in its highest condition it is exposed to death,
inasmuch as it often refuses life, which is desired by others, and
bravely undergoes death, which others fear; if it must necessarily
produce some great good from itself, because labours, endured and
overcome even until death, cannot fail of obtaining a reward; if no
reward, such as it deserves, is found on earth, inasmuch as it despises
all things which are frail and transitory, what else remains but that it
may effect some heavenly reward, since it treats with contempt all
earthly things, and may aim at higher things, since it despises things
that are humble?  And this reward can be nothing else but immortality.

 With good reason, therefore, did Euclid, no obscure philosopher, who
was the founder of the system of the Megareans, differing from the
others, say that that was the chief good which

80

was unvarying and always the same.  He certainly understood what is the
nature of the chief good, although he did not explain in what it
consisted; but it consists of immortality, nor anything else at all,
inasmuch as it alone is incapable of diminution, or increase, or change.
Seneca also unconsciously happened to confess that there is no other
reward of virtue than immortality.  For in praising virtue in the
treatise which he wrote on the subject of premature death, he says:
"Virtue is the only thing which can confer upon us immortality, and make
us equal to the gods."  But the Stoics also, whom he followed, say that
no one can be made happy without virtue.  Therefore, the reward of
virtue is a happy life, if virtue, as it is rightly said, makes a happy
life.  Virtue, therefore, is not, as they say, to be sought on its own
account, but on account of a happy life, which necessarily follows
virtue.  And this argument might have taught them in what the chief good
consisted.  But this present and corporeal life cannot be happy, because
it is subjected to evils through the body.  Epicurus calls God happy and
incorruptible, because He is everlasting.  For a state of happiness
ought to be perfect, so that there may be nothing which can harass, or
lessen, or change it.  Nor can anything be judged happy in other
respects, unless it be incorruptible.  But nothing is incorruptible but
that which is immortal.  Immortality therefore is alone happy, because
it can neither be corrupted nor destroyed.  But if virtue falls within
the power of man, which no one can deny, happiness also belongs to him.
For it is impossible for a man to be wretched who is endued with virtue.
If happiness falls within his power, then immortality, which is
possessed of the attribute of happiness, also belongs to him.

 The chief good, therefore, is found to be immortality alone, which
pertains to no other animal or body; nor can it happen to any one
without the virtue of knowledge, that is, without the knowledge of God
and justice.  And how true and right is the seeking for this, the very
desire of this life shows: for although it be but temporary, and most
full of labour, yet it is sought and desired by all; for both old men
and boys, kings and those of the lowest station, in fine, wise as well
as foolish, desire this.  Of such value, as it seemed to Anaxagoras, is
the contemplation of the heaven and the light itself, that men willingly
undergo any miseries on this account.  Since, therefore, this short and
laborious life, by the general consent not only of men, but also of
other animals, is considered a great good, it is manifest that it
becomes also a very great and perfect good if it is without an end and
free from all evil.  In short, there never would have been any one who
would despise this life, however short it is, or undergo death,

unless through the hope of a longer life.  For those who voluntarily
offered themselves to death for the safety of their countrymen, as
Menoeceus did at Thebes, Codrus at Athens, Curtius and the two Mures at
Rome, would never have preferred death to the advantages of life, unless
they had thought that they should attain to immortality through the
estimation of their countrymen; and although they were ignorant of the
life of immortality, yet the reality itself did not escape their notice.
For if virtue despises opulence and riches because they are frail, and
pleasures because they are of brief continuance, it therefore despises a
life which is frail and brief, that it may obtain one which is
substantial and lasting.  Therefore reflection itself, advancing by
regular order, and weighing everything, leads us to that excellent and
surpassing good, on account of which we are born.  And if philosophers
had thus acted, if they had not preferred obstinately to maintain that
which they had once apprehended, they would undoubtedly have arrived at
this truth, as I have lately shown.  And if this was not the part of
those who extinguish the heavenly souls together with the body, yet
those who discuss the immortality of the soul ought to have understood
that virtue is set before us on this account, that, lusts having been
subdued, and the desire of earthly things overcome, our souls, pure and
victorious, may return to God, that is, to their original source.  For
it is on this account that we alone of living creatures are raised to
the sight of the heaven, that we may believe that our chief good is in
the highest place.  Therefore we alone receive religion, that we may
know from this source that the spirit of man is not mortal, since it
longs for and acknowledges God, who is immortal.

 Therefore, of all the philosophers, those who have embraced either
knowledge or virtue as the chief good, have kept the way of truth, but
have not arrived at perfection.  For these are the two things which
together make up that which is sought for.  Knowledge causes us to know
by what means and to what end we must attain; virtue causes us to attain
to it.  The one without the other is of no avail; for from knowledge
arises virtue, and from virtue the chief good is produced.  Therefore a
happy life, which philosophers have always sought, and still do seek,
has no existence either in the worship of the gods or in philosophy; and
on this account they were unable to find it, because they did not seek
the highest good in the highest place, but in the lowest.  For what is
the highest but heaven, and God, from whom the soul has its origin?  And
what is the lowest but the earth, from which the body is made?
Therefore, although some philosophers have assigned the chief good, not
to the body, but to the soul, yet, inasmuch as they

81

have referred it to this life, which has its ending with the body, they
have gone back to the body, to which the whole of this time which is
passed on earth has reference.  Therefore it was not without reason that
they did not attain to the highest good; for whatever looks to the body
only, and is without immortality, must necessarily be the lowest.
Therefore happiness does not fall to the condition of man in that manner
in which philosophers thought; but it so falls to him, not that he
should then be happy, when he lives in the body, which must undoubtedly
be corrupted in order to its dissolution; but then, when, the soul being
freed from intercourse with the body, he lives in the spirit only.  In
this one thing alone can we be happy in this life, if we appear to be
unhappy; if, avoiding the enticements of pleasures, and giving ourselves
to the service of virtue only, we live in all labours and miseries,
which are the means of exercising and strengthening virtue; if, in
short, we keep to that rugged and difficult path which has been opened
for us to happiness.  The chief good therefore which makes men happy
cannot exist, unless it be in that religion and doctrine to which is
annexed the hope of immortality.

CHAP. XIII.--OF THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL, AND OF WISDOM, PHILOSOPHY,
AND ELOQUENCE.

 The subject seems to require in this place, that since we have taught
that immortality is the chief good, we should prove this also, that the
soul is immortal.  On which subject there is great disputation among
philosophers; nor have they who held true opinions respecting the soul
been able to explain or prove anything: for, being destitute of divine
knowledge, they neither brought forward true arguments by which they
might overcome, nor evidence by which they might convince.  But we shall
treat of this question more conveniently in the last book, when we shall
have to discuss the subject of a happy life.  There remains that third
part of philosophy, which they call Logic, in which the whole subject of
dialectics and the whole method of speaking are contained.  Divine
learning does not stand in need of this, because the seat of wisdom is
not the tongue, but the heart; and it makes no difference what kind of
language you employ, for the question is not about words,(1) but facts.
And we are not disputing about the grammarian or the orator, whose
knowledge is concerned with the proper manner of speaking, but about the
wise man, whose learning is concerned with the right manner of living.
But if that system of natural philosophy before mentioned is not
necessary, nor this of logic, because they are not able to render a man
happy, it remains that the whole force of philosophy is contained in the
ethical part alone, to which Socrates is said to have applied himself,
laying aside the others.  And since I have shown that philosophers erred
in this part also, who did not grasp the chief good, for the sake of
gaining which we are born; it appears that philosophy is altogether
false and empty, since it does not prepare us for the duties of justice,
nor strengthen the obligations and settled course of man's life.  Let
them know, therefore, that they are in error who imagine that philosophy
is wisdom; let them not be drawn away by the authority of any one; but
rather let them incline to the truth, and approach it.  There is no room
for rashness here; we must endure the punishment of our folly to all
eternity, if we shall be deceived either by an empty character or a
false opinion.  But man,(2) such as he is, if he trusts in himself, that
is, if he trusts in man, is (not to say foolish, in that he does not see
his own error) undoubtedly arrogant, in venturing to claim for himself
that which the condition of man does not admit of.

 And how much that greatest author of the Roman language is deceived, we
may see from that sentiment of his; for when, in his "Books on
Offices,"(3) he had said that philosophy is nothing else than the desire
of wisdom, and that wisdom itself is the knowledge of things divine and
human, added: "And if any one censures the desire Of this, I do not
indeed understand what there is which he imagines praiseworthy.  For if
enjoyment of the mind and rest from cares is sought, what enjoyment can
be compared with the pursuits of those who are always inquiring into
something which has reference to and tends to promote a good and happy
life?  Or if any account is taken of consistency and virtue, either this
is the study(4) by which we may attain them, or there is none at all.
To say that there is no system in connection with the greatest subjects,
when none of the least is without a system, is the part of men speaking
inconsiderately, and erring in the greatest subjects.  But if there is
any discipline of virtue, where shall it be sought when you have
departed from that kind of learning?"  For my own part, although I
endeavoured to attain in some degree to the means of acquiring learning,
on account of my desire to teach others, yet I have never been eloquent,
inasmuch as I never even engaged in

82

public speaking; but the goodness of the cause cannot fail of itself to
make me eloquent, and for its clear and copious defence the knowledge of
divinity and the truth itself are sufficient.  I could wish, therefore,
that Cicero might for a short time rise from the dead, that a man of
such consummate eloquence might be taught by an insignificant person who
is devoid of eloquence, first, what that is which is deemed worthy of
praise by him who blames that study which is called philosophy; and in
the next place, that it is not that study by which virtue and justice
are learned, nor any other, as he thought; and lastly, that since there
is a discipline of virtue, he might be taught where it is to be sought,
when you have laid aside that kind of learning, which he did not seek
for the sake of hearing and learning.  For from whom could he hear when
no one knew it?  But, as his usual practice was in pleading causes, he
wished to press his opponent by questioning, and thus to lead him to
confession, as though he were confident that no answer could be given to
show that philosophy was not the instructress of virtue.  And in the
Tusculan disputations he openly professed this, turning his speech to
philosophy, as though he was showing himself off by a declamatory style
of speaking.  "O philosophy, thou guide of life," he says; "O thou
investigator of virtue, and expeller of vices; what could not only we,
but the life of men, have effected at all without thee?  Thou hast been
the inventor of laws, thou the teacher of morals and discipline;"--as
though, indeed, she could perceive anything by herself, and he were not
rather to be praised who gave her.  In the same manner he might have
given thanks to food and drink, because without these life could not
exist; yet these, while they minister to sense, confer no benefit.  But
as these things are the nourishment of the body, so wisdom is of the
soul.

CHAP. XIV.--THAT LUCRETIUS AND OTHERS HAVE ERRED, AND CICERO HIMSELF, IN
FIXING THE ORIGIN OF WISDOM.

 Lucretius, accordingly, acts more correctly in praising him who was the
first discoverer of wisdom; but he acts foolishly in this, that he
supposed it to be discovered by a man,--as though that man whom he
praises had found it lying somewhere as flutes at the fountain,(1)
according to the legends of the poets.  But if he praised the inventor
of wisdom as a god,--for thus he speaks:(2)--

"No one, I think, who is formed of mortal body.  For if we must speak,
as the acknowledged majesty of the subject itself demands, he was a god,
he was a god, most noble Memmius,"--

yet God ought not to have been praised on this account, because He
discovered wisdom, but because He created man, who might be capable of
receiving wisdom.  For he diminishes the praise who praises a part only
of the whole.  But he praised Him as a man; whereas He ought to have
been esteemed as a God on this very account, because He found out
wisdom.  For thus he speaks:(3)--

"Will it not be right that this man should be enrolled among the gods?"

From this it appears, either that he wished to praise Pythagoras, who
was the first, as I have said,(4) to call himself a philosopher; or
Thales of Miletus, who is reported to have been the first who discussed
the nature of things.  Thus, while he seeks to exalt, he has depressed
the thing itself.  For it is not great if it could have been discovered
by man.  But he may be pardoned as a poet.  But that same accomplished
orator, that same consummate philosopher, also censures the Greeks,
whose levity he always accuses, and yet imitates.  Wisdom itself, which
at one time he calls the gift, at another time the invention, of the
gods, he fashions after the manner of the poets, and praises on account
of its beauty.  He also grievously complains that there have been some
who disparaged it.  "Can any one," he says, "dare to censure the parent
of life, and to defile himself with this guilt of parricide, and to be
so impiously ungrateful?"

 Are we then parricides, Marcus Tullius, and in your judgment worthy to
be sewed(5) up in a bag, who deny that philosophy is the parent of life?
Or you, who are so impiously ungrateful towards God (not this god whose
image you worship as he sits in the Capitol, but Him who made the world
and created man, who bestowed wisdom also among His heavenly benefits),
do you call her the teacher of virtue or the parent of life, having
learned(6) from whom, one must be in much greater uncertainty than he
was before?  For of what virtue is she the teacher?  For philosophers to
the present time do not explain where she is situated.  Of what life is
she the parent?  since the teachers themselves have been worn out by old
age and death before they have determined upon the befitting course of
life.  Of what truth can you hold her forth as an explorer?  since you
often testify that, in so great a multitude of philosophers, not a
single wise man has yet existed.  What, then, did that mistress of life
teach you?  Was it to assail with reproaches the most powerful
consul,(7) and by

83

your envenomed speeches to render him the enemy of his country?  But let
us pass by those things, which may be excused under the name of fortune.
You applied yourself, in truth, to the study of philosophy, and so,
indeed, that no one ever applied himself more diligently; since you were
acquainted with all the systems of philosophy, as you yourself are
accustomed to oast, and elucidated the subject itself in Latin writings,
and displayed yourself as an imitator of Plato.  Tell us, therefore,
what you have learned, or in what sect you have discovered the truth.
Doubtless it was in the Academy which you followed and approved.  But
this teaches nothing, excepting that you know your own ignorance.(1)
Therefore your own books refute you, and show the nothingness of the
learning which may be gained from philosophy for life.  These are your
words: "But to me we appear not only blind to wisdom, but dull and
obtuse to those very things which may appear in some degree to be
discerned."  If, therefore, philosophy is the teacher of life, why did
you appear to yourself blind, and dull, and obtuse?  whereas you ought,
under her teaching, both to perceive and to be wise, and to be engaged
in the clearest light.  But how you confessed the truth of philosophy we
learn from the letters addressed to your son, in which you advise him
that the precepts of philosophy ought to be known, but that we must live
as members of a community.(2)

 What can be spoken so contradictory?  If the precepts of philosophy
ought to be known, it is on this account that they ought to be known, in
order to our living well and wisely.  Or if we must live as members of a
community, then philosophy is not wisdom, if it is better to live in
accordance with society than with philosophy.  For if that which is
called philosophy be wisdom, he assuredly lives foolishly who does not
live according to philosophy.  But if he does not live foolishly who
lives in accordance with society, it follows that he who lives according
to philosophy lives foolishly.  By your own judgment, therefore,
philosophy is condemned of folly and emptiness.  And you also, in your
Consolation, that is, not in a work of levity and mirth, introduced this
sentiment respecting philosophy: "But I know not what error possesses
us, or deplorable ignorance of the truth."  Where, then, is the guidance
of philosophy?  or what has that parent of life taught you, if you are
deplorably ignorant of the truth?  But if this confession of error and
ignorance has been extorted almost against your will from your innermost
breast, why do you not at length acknowledge to yourself the truth, that
philosophy which, though it teaches nothing, you extolled with praises
to the heavens, cannot be the teacher of virtue?

CHAP. XV.--THE ERROR OF SENECA IN PHILOSOPHY, AND HOW THE SPEECH OF
PHILOSOPHERS IS AT VARIANCE WITH THEIR LIFE.

 Under the influence of the same error (for who could keep the right
course when Cicero is in error?), Seneca said: "Philosophy is nothing
else than the right method of living, or the science of living
honourably, or the art of passing a good life.  We shall not err in
saying that philosophy is the law of living well and honourably.  And he
who spoke of it as a rule of life, gave to it that which was its due."
He evidently did not refer to the common name of philosophy; for, since
this is diffused into many sects and systems, and has nothing certain--
nothing, in short, respecting which all agree with one mind and one
voice,--what can be so false as that philosophy should be called the
rule of life, since the diversity of its precepts hinders the right way
and causes confusion?  or the law of living well, when its subjects are
widely discordant?  or the science of passing life, in which nothing
else is effected by its repeated contradictions than general(3)
uncertainty?  For I ask whether he thinks that the Academy is philosophy
or not?  I do not think that he will deny it.  And if this is so, none
of these things, therefore, is in agreement with philosophy; which
renders all things uncertain, abrogates law, esteems art as nothing,
subverts method, distorts rule, entirely takes away knowledge.
Therefore all those things are false, because they are inconsistent with
a system which is always uncertain, and up to this time explaining
nothing.  Therefore no system, or science, or law of living well, has
been established, except in this the only true and heavenly wisdom,
which had been unknown to philosophers.  For that earthly wisdom, since
it is false, becomes varied and manifold, and altogether opposed to
itself.  And as there is but one founder and ruler of the world, God,
and as truth is one; so wisdom must be one and simple, because, if
anything is true and good, it cannot be perfect unless it is the only
one of its kind.  But if philosophy were able to form the life, no
others but philosophers would be good, and all those who had not learned
it would be always bad.  But since there are, and always have been,
innumerable persons who are or have been good without any learning, but
of philosophers there has seldom been one who has done anything
praiseworthy in his life; who is there, I pray, who does not see that
those men are not teachers

84

of virtue, of which they themselves are destitute?  For if any one
should diligently inquire into their character, he will find that they
are passionate, covetous, lustful, arrogant, wanton, and, concealing
their vices under a show of wisdom, doing those things at home which
they had censured in the schools.(1)

 Perhaps I speak falsely for the sake of bringing an accusation.  Does
not Tullius both acknowledge and complain of the same thing?  "How few,"
he says, "of philosophers are found of such a character, so constituted
in soul and life, as reason demands!  how few who think true instruction
not a display of knowledge, but a law of life!  how few who are obedient
to themselves, and submit to their own decrees!  We may see some of such
levity and ostentation, that it would be better for them not to have
learned at all; others eagerly desirous of money, others of glory; many
the slaves of lusts, so that their speech wonderfully disagrees with
their life."  Cornelius Nepos also writes to the same Cicero: "So far am
I from thinking that philosophy is the teacher of life and the completer
of happiness, that I consider that none have greater need of teachers of
living than many who are engaged in the discussion of this subject.  For
I see that a great part of those who give most elaborate precepts in
their school respect-modesty and self-restraint, live at the same time
in the unrestrained desires of all lusts."  Seneca also, in his
Exhortations, says: "Many of the philosophers are of this description,
eloquent to their own condemnation: for if you should hear them arguing
against avarice, against lust and ambition, you would think that they
were making a public disclosure(2) of their own character, so entirely
do the censures which they utter in public flow back upon themselves; so
that it is right to regard them in no other light than as physicians,
whose advertisements(3) contain medicines, but their medicine chests
poison.  Some are not ashamed of their vices; but they invent defences
for their baseness, so that they may appear even to sin with honour."
Seneca also says: "The wise man will even do things which he will not
approve of, that he may find means of passing to the accomplishment of
greater things; nor will he abandon good morals, but will adapt them to
the occasion; and those things which others employ for glory or
pleasure, he will employ for the sake of action."  Then he says shortly
afterwards: "All things which the luxurious and the ignorant do, the
wise man also will do, but not in the same manner, and with the same
purpose.  But it makes no difference with what intention you act, when
the action itself is vicious; because acts are seen, the intention is
not seen."

 Aristippus, the master of the Cyrenaics, had a criminal intimacy with
Lais, the celebrated courtesan; and that grave teacher of philosophy
defended this fault by saying, that there was a great difference between
him and the other lovers of Lais, because he himself possessed Lais,
whereas others were possessed by Lais.  O illustrious wisdom, to be
imitated by good men!  Would you, in truth, entrust your children to
this man for education, that they might learn to possess a harlot?  He
said that there was some difference between himself and the dissolute,
that they wasted their property, whereas he lived in indulgence without
any cost.  And in this the harlot was plainly the wiser, who had the
philosopher as her creature, that all the youth, corrupted by the
example and authority of the teacher, might flock together to her
without any shame.  What difference therefore did it make, with what
intention the philosopher betook himself to that most notorious harlot,
when the people and his rivals saw him more depraved than all the
abandoned?  Nor was it enough to live in this manner, but he began also
to teach lusts; and he transferred his habits from the brothel to the
school, contending that bodily pleasure was the chief good.  Which
pernicious and shameful doctrine has its origin not in the heart of the
philosopher, but in the bosom of the harlot.

 For why should I speak of the Cynics, who practised licentiousness in
public?  What wonder if they derived their name and title from dogs,(4)
since they also imitated their life?  Therefore there is no instruction
of virtue in this sect, since even those who enjoin more honourable
things either themselves do not practise what they advise; or if they do
(which rarely happens), it is not the system which leads them to that
which is right, but nature which often impels even the unlearned to
praise.

CHAP. XVI.--THAT THE PHILOSOPHERS WHO GIVE GOOD INSTRUCTIONS LIVE BADLY,
BY THE TESTIMONY OF CICERO; THEREFORE WE SHOULD NOT SO MUCH DEVOTE
OURSELVES TO THE STUDY OF PHILOSOPHY AS TO WISDOM.

 But when they give themselves up to perpetual sloth, and undertake no
exercise of virtue, and pass their whole life in the practice of
speaking, in what light ought they to be regarded rather than as
triflers?  For wisdom, unless it is engaged on some action on which it
may exert its force, is empty and false; and Tullius rightly

85

gives the preference, above teachers of philosophy, to those men
employed in civil affairs, who govern the state, who found new cities or
maintain with equity those already founded, who preserve the safety and
liberty of the citizens either by good laws or wholesome counsels, or by
weighty judgments.  For it is right to make men good rather than to give
precepts about duty to those shut up in corners, which precepts are not
observed even by those who speak them; and inasmuch as they have
withdrawn themselves from true actions, it is manifest that they
invented the system of philosophy itself, for the purpose of exercising
the tongue, or for the sake of pleading.  But they who merely teach
without acting, of themselves detract from the weight of their own
precepts; for who would obey, when they who give the precepts themselves
teach disobedience?  Moreover, it is a good thing to give right and
honourable precepts; but unless you also practise them it is a deceit,
and it is inconsistent and trifling to have goodness not in the heart,
but on the lips.

 It is not therefore utility, but enjoyment, which they seek from
philosophy.  And this Cicero indeed testified.  "Truly," he says, "all
their disputation, although it contains most abundant fountains of
virtue and knowledge, yet, when compared with their actions and
accomplishments, I fear lest it should seem not to have brought so much
advantage to the business of men as enjoyment to their times of
relaxation."  He ought not to have feared, since he spoke the truth; but
as if he were afraid lest he should be arraigned by the philosophers on
a charge of betraying a mystery, he did not venture confidently to
pronounce that which was true, that they do not dispute for the purpose
of teaching, but for their own enjoyment in their leisure; and since
they are the advisers of actions, and do not themselves act at all, they
are to be regarded as mere talkers.(1) But assuredly, because they
contributed no advantage to life, they neither obeyed their own decrees,
nor has any one been found, through so many ages, who lived in
accordance with their laws.  Therefore philosophy(2) must altogether be
laid aside, because we are not to devote ourselves to the pursuit of
wisdom, for this has no limit or moderation; but we must be wise, and
that indeed quickly.  For a second life is not granted to us, so that
when we seek wisdom in this life we may be wise in that; each result
must be brought about in this life.  It ought to be quickly found, in
order that it may be quickly taken up, lest any part of life should pass
away, the end of which is uncertain.  Hortensius in Cicero, contending
against philosophy, is pressed by a clever argument; inasmuch as, when
he said that men ought not to philosophize, he seemed nevertheless to
philosophize, since it is the part of the philosophers to discuss what
ought and what ought not to be done in life.  We are free and exempt
from this calumny, who take away philosophy, because it is the invention
of human thought; we defend wisdom, because it is a divine tradition,
and we testify that it ought to be taken up by all.  He, when he took
away philosophy without introducing anything better, was supposed to
take away wisdom; and on that account was more easily driven from his
opinion, because it is agreed upon that man is not born to folly, but to
wisdom.

 Moreover, the argument which the same Hortensius employed has great
weight also against philosophy,--namely, that it may be understood from
this, that philosophy is not wisdom, since its beginning and origin are
apparent.  When, he says, did philosophers begin to exist?  Thales, as I
imagine, was the first, and his age was recent.  Where, then, among the
more ancient men did that love of investigating the truth lie hid?
Lucretius also says:(3)--

"Then, too, this nature and system of things has been discovered lately,
and I the very first of all have only now been found able to transfer it
into native words."

And Seneca says: "There are not yet a thousand years since the
beginnings of wisdom were undertaken."  Therefore mankind for many
generations lived without system.  In ridicule of which, Persius
says:(4)--

 "When wisdom came to the city,

 Together with pepper and palms;"

as though wisdom had been introduced into the city together with savoury
merchandise.(5) For if it is in agreement with the nature of man, it
must have had its commencement together with man; but if it is not in
agreement with it, human nature would be incapable of receiving it.
But, inasmuch as it has received it, it follows that wisdom has existed
from the beginning: therefore philosophy, inasmuch as it has not existed
from the beginning, is not the same true wisdom.  But, in truth, the
Greeks, because they had not attained to the sacred letters of truth,
did not know how wisdom was corrupted.  And, therefore, since they
thought that human life was destitute of wisdom, they invented
philosophy; that is, they wished by discussion to tear up the truth
which was lying hid and unknown to them: and this employment, through
ignorance of the truth, they thought to be wisdom.

86

CHAP. XVII.--HE PASSES FROM PHILOSOPHY TO THE PHILOSOPHERS, BEGINNING
WITH EPICURUS; AND HOW HE REGARDED LEUCIPPUS AND DEMOCRITUS AS AUTHORS
OF ERROR.

 I have spoken on the subject of philosophy itself as briefly as I
could; now let us come to the philosophers, not that we may contend with
these, who cannot maintain their ground, but that we may pursue those
who are in flight and driven from our battle-field.  The system of
Epicurus was much more generally followed than those of the others; not
because it brings forward any truth, but because the attractive name of
pleasure invites many.(1) For every one is naturally inclined to vices.
Moreover, for the purpose of drawing the multitude to himself, he speaks
that which is specially adapted to each character separately.  He
forbids the idle to apply himself to learning; he releases the covetous
man from giving largesses to the people; he prohibits the inactive man
from undertaking the business of the state, the sluggish from bodily
exercise, the timid from military service.  The irreligious is told that
the gods pay no attention to the conduct of men; the man who is
unfeeling and selfish is ordered to give nothing to any one, for that
the wise man does everything on his own account.  To a man who avoids
the crowd, solitude is praised.  One who is too sparing, learns that
life can be sustained on water and meal.  If a man hates his wife, the
blessings of celibacy are enumerated to him; to one who has bad
children, the happiness of those who are without children is proclaimed;
against unnatural(2) parents it is said that there is no bond of nature.
To the man who is delicate and incapable of endurance, it is said that
pain is the greatest of all evils; to the man of fortitude, it is said
that the wise man is happy even under tortures.  The man who devotes
himself to the pursuit of influence and distinction is enjoined to pay
court to kings; he who cannot endure annoyance is enjoined to shun the
abode of kings.  Thus the crafty man collects an assembly from various
and differing characters; and while he lays himself out to please all,
he is more at variance with himself than they all are with one another.
But we must explain from what source the whole of this system is
derived, and what origin it has.

 Epicurus saw that the good are always subject to adversities, poverty,
labours, exile, loss of dear friends.  On the contrary, he saw that the
wicked were happy; that they were exalted with influence, and loaded
with honours; he saw that

innocence was unprotected, that crimes were committed with impunity: he
saw that death raged without any regard to character, without any
arrangement or discrimination of age; but that some arrived at old age,
while others were carried off in their infancy; that some died when they
were now robust and vigorous, that others were cut off by an untimely
death in the first flower of youth; that in wars the better men were
especially overcome and slain.  But that which especially moved him, was
the fact that religious men were especially visited with weightier
evils, whereas he saw that less evils or none at all fell upon those who
altogether neglected the gods, or worshipped them in an impious manner;
and that even the very temples themselves were often set on fire by
lightning.  And of this Lucretius complains,(3) when he says respecting
the god:--

"Then he may hurl lightnings, and often throw down his temples, and
withdrawing into the deserts, there spend his rage in practising his
bolt, which often passes the guilty by, and strikes dead the innocent
and unoffending."

But if he had been able to collect even a small particle of truth, he
would never say that the god throws down his own temples, when he throws
them down on this account, because they are not his.  The Capitol, which
is the chief seat of the Roman city and religion, was struck with
lightning and set on fire not once only, but frequently.  But what was
the opinion of clever men respecting this is evident from the saying of
Cicero, who says that the flame came from heaven, not to destroy that
earthly dwelling-place of Jupiter, but to demand a loftier and more
magnificent abode.  Concerning which transaction, in the books
respecting his consulship, he speaks to the same purport as Lucretius:--

"For the father thundering on high, throned in the lofty Olympus,
himself assailed his own citadels and famed temples, and cast fires upon
his abode in the Capitol.

In the obstinacy of their folly, therefore, they not only did not
understand the power and majesty of the true God, but they even
increased the impiety of their error, in endeavouring against all divine
law to restore a temple so often condemned by the judgment of Heaven.

 Therefore, when Epicurus reflected on these things, induced as it were
by the injustice of these matters (for thus it appeared to him in his
ignorance of the cause and subject), he thought that there was no
providence.(4) And having persuaded himself of this, he undertook also
to defend it, and thus he entangled himself in inextricable errors.  For
if there is no providence,

87

how is it that the world was made with such order and arrangement?  He
says: There is no arrangement, for many things are made in a different
manner from that in which they ought to have been made.  And the divine
man found subjects of censure.  Now, if I had leisure to refute these
things separately, I could easily show that this man was neither wise
nor of sound mind.  Also, if there is no providence, how is it that the
bodies of animals are arranged with such foresight, that the various
members, being disposed in a wonderful manner, discharge their own
offices individually?  The system of providence, he says, contrived
nothing in the production of animals; for neither were the eyes made for
seeing, nor the ears for hearing, nor the tongue for speaking, nor the
feet for walking; inasmuch as these were produced before it was possible
to speak, to hear, to see, and to walk.  Therefore these were not
produced for use; but use was produced from them.  If there is no
providence, why do rains fall, fruits spring up, and trees put forth
leaves?  These things, he says, are not always done for the sake of
living creatures, inasmuch as they are of no benefit to providence; but
all things must be produced of their own accord.  From what source,
therefore, do they arise,(1) or how are all things which are carried on
brought about?  There is no need he says, of supposing a providence; for
there are seeds floating through the empty void, and from these,
collected together without order, all things are produced and take their
form.  Why, then, do we not perceive or distinguish them?  Because, he
says, they have neither any colour, nor warmth, nor smell; they are also
without flavour and moisture; and they are so minute, that they cannot
be cut and divided.

 Thus, because he had taken up a false principle at the commencement,
the necessity of the subjects which followed led him to absurdities.
For where or from whence are these atoms?  Why did no one dream of them
besides Leucippus only?  from whom Democritus,(2) having received
instructions, left to Epicurus the inheritance of his folly.  And if
these are minute bodies, and indeed solid, as they say, they certainly
are able to fall under the notice of the eyes.  If the nature of all
things is the same, how is it that they compose various objects?  They
meet together, he says, in varied order and position as the letters
which, though few in number, by variety of arrangement make up
innumerable words.  But it is urged the letters have a variety of forms.
And so, he says, have these first principles; for they are rough, they
are furnished with hooks, they are smooth.  Therefore they can be cut
and divided, if there is in them any

part which projects.  Bat if they are smooth and without hooks, they
cannot cohere.  They ought therefore to he hooked, that they may be
linked together one with another.  But since they are said to be so
minute that they cannot be cut asunder by the edge of any weapon, how is
it that they have hooks or angles?  For it must be possible for these to
be torn asunder, since they project.  In the next place, by what mutual
compact, by what discernment, do they meet together, so that anything
may be constructed out of them?  If they are without intelligence, they
cannot come together in such order and arrangement; for nothing but
reason can bring to accomplishment anything in accordance with reason.
With how many arguments can this trifling be refuted!  But I must
proceed with my subject.  This is he

"Who surpassed in intellect the race of man, and quenched the light of
all, as the ethereal sun arisen quenches the stars."(3)

Which verses I am never able to read without laughter.  For this was not
said respecting Socrates or Plato, who are esteemed as kings of
philosophers, but concerning a man who, though of sound mind and
vigorous health, raved more senselessly than any one diseased.  And thus
the most vain poet, I do not say adorned, but overwhelmed and crushed,
the mouse with the praises of the lion.  But the same man also releases
us from the fear of death, respecting which these are his own exact
words:--

"When we are in existence, death does not exist; when death exists, we
have no existence: therefore death is nothing to us."

How cleverly he has deceived us!  As though it were death now completed
which is an object of fear, by which sensation has been already taken
away, and not the very act of dying, by which sensation is being taken
from us.  For there is a time in which we ourselves even yet(4) exist,
and death does not yet exist; and that very time appears to be
miserable, because death is beginning to exist, and we are ceasing to
exist.

 Nor is it said without reason that death is not miserable.  The
approach of death is miserable; that is, to waste away by disease, to
endure the thrust, to receive the weapon in the body, to be burnt with
fire, to be torn by the teeth of beasts.  These are the things which are
feared, not because they bring death, but because they bring great pain.
But rather make out that pain is not an evil.  He says it is the
greatest of all evils.

88

How therefore can I fail to fear, if that which precedes or brings about
death is an evil?  Why should I say that the argument is false, inasmuch
as souls do not perish?  But, he says, souls do perish; for that which
is born with the body must perish with the body.  I have already stated
that I prefer to put off the discussion of this subject, and to reserve
it for the last part of my work, that I may refute this persuasion of
Epicurus, whether it was that of Democritus or Dicaearchus, both by
arguments and divine testimonies.  But perhaps he promised himself
impunity in the indulgence of his vices; for he was an advocate of most
disgraceful pleasure, and said that man was born for its enjoyment.(1)
Who, when he hears this affirmed, would abstain from the practice of
vice and wickedness?  For; if the soul is doomed to perish, let us
eagerly pursue riches, that we may be able to enjoy all kinds of
indulgence; and if these are wanting to us, let us take them away from
those who have them by stealth, by stratagem, or by force, especially if
there is no God who regards the actions of men: as long as the hope of
impunity shall favour us, let us plunder and put to death.(2) For it is
the part of the wise man to do evil, if it is advantageous to him, and
safe; since, if there is a God in heaven, He is not angry with any one.
It is also equally the part of the foolish man to do good; because, as
he is not excited with anger, so he is not influenced by favour.
Therefore let us live in the indulgence of pleasures in every possible
way; for in a short time we shall not exist at all.  Therefore let us
suffer no day, in short, no moment of time, to pass away from us without
pleasure; lest, since we ourselves are doomed to perish, the life which
we have already spent should itself also perish.

 Although he does not say this in word, yet he teaches it in fact.  For
when he maintains that the wise man does everything for his own sake, he
refers all things which he does to his own advantage.  And thus he who
hears these disgraceful things, will neither think that any good tiring
ought to be done, since the conferring of benefits has reference to the
advantage of another; nor that he ought to abstain from guilt, because
the doing of evil is attended with gain.  If any chieftain of pirates or
leader of robbers were exhorting his men to acts of violence, what other
language could he employ than to say the same things which Epicurus
says: that the gods take no notice; that they are not affected with
anger nor kind feeling; that the punishment of a future state is not to
be dreaded, because souls die after

death, and that there is no future state of punishment at all; that
pleasure is the greatest good; that there is no society among men; that
every one consults for his own interest; that there is no one who loves
another, unless it be for his own sake; that death is not to be feared
by a brave man, nor any pain; for that he, even if he should be tortured
or burnt, should say that he does not regard it.  There is evidently
sufficient cause why any one should regard this as the expression of a
wise man, since it can most fittingly be applied to robbers!

CHAP. XVIII.--THE PYTHAGOREANS AND STOICS, WHILE THEY HOLD THE
IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL, FOOLISHLY PERSUADE A VOLUNTARY DEATH.

 Others, again, discuss things contrary to these, namely, that the soul
survives after death; and these are chiefly the Pythagoreans and Stoics.
And although they are to be treated with indulgence because they
perceive the truth, yet I cannot but blame them, because they fell upon
the truth not by their opinion, but by accident.  And thus they erred in
some degree even in that very matter which they rightly perceived.  For,
since they feared the argument by which it is inferred that the soul
must necessarily die with the body, because it is born with the body,
they asserted that the soul is not born with the body, but rather
introduced into it, and that it migrates from one body to another.  They
did not consider that it was possible for the soul to survive the body,
unless it should appear to have existed previously to the body.  There
is therefore an equal and almost similar error on each side.  But the
one side are deceived with respect to the past, the other with respect
to the future.  For no one saw that which is most true, that the soul is
both created and does not die, because they were ignorant why that came
to pass, or what was the nature of man.  Many therefore of them, because
they suspected that the soul is immortal, laid violent hands upon
themselves, as though they were about to depart to heaven.  Thus it was
with Cleanthes(3) and Chrysippus,(4) with Zeno,(5) and Empedocles,(6)
who in the dead of night cast himself into a cavity of the burning
AEtna, that when he had suddenly disappeared it might be believed that
he had departed to the gods; and thus also of the Romans Cato died, who
through the whole of his life was an imitator of Socratic

89

ostentation.  For Democritus, was of another persuasion.  But, however,

"By his own spontaneous act he offered up his head to death;"(2)

and nothing can be more wicked than this.  For if a homicide is guilty
because he is a destroyer of man, he who puts himself to death is under
the same guilt, because he puts to death a man.  Yea, that crime may be
considered to be greater, the punishment of which belongs to God alone.
For as we did not come into this life of our own accord; so, on the
other hand, we can only withdraw from this habitation of the body which
has been appointed for us to keep, by the command of Him who placed us
in this body that we may inhabit it, until He orders us to depart from
it; and if any violence is offered to us, we must endure it with
equanimity, since the death of an innocent person cannot be unavenged,
and since we have a great Judge who alone always has the power of taking
vengeance in His hands.

 All these philosophers, therefore, were homicides; and Cato himself,
the chief of Roman wisdom, who, before he put himself to death, is said
to have read through the treatise of Plato which he wrote on the
immortality of the soul, and was led by the authority of the philosopher
to the commission of this great crime; yet he, however, appears to have
had some cause for death in his hatred of slavery.  Why should I speak
of the Ambraciot,(3) who, having read the same treatise, threw himself
into the sea, for no other cause than that he believed Plato?--a
doctrine altogether detestable and to be avoided, if it drives men from
life.  But if Plato had known and taught by whom, and how, and to whom
and on account of what actions, and at what time, immortality is given,
he would neither have driven Cleombrotus nor Cato to a voluntary death,
but he would have trained them to live with justice.  For it appears to
me that Cato sought a cause for death, not so much that he might escape
from Caesar, as that he might obey the decrees of the Stoics, whom he
followed, and might make his name distinguished by some great action;
and I do not see what evil could have happened to him if he had lived.
For Caius Caesar, such was his clemency, had no other object, even in
the very heat of civil war, than to appear to deserve well of the state,
by preserving two excellent citizens, Cicero and Cato.  But let us
return to those who praise death as a benefit.  You complain of life as
though you had lived, or had ever settled with yourself why you were
born at all.  May not therefore the

true and common Father of all justly find fault with that saying of
Terence:(4)--

"First, learn in what life consists; then, if you shall be dissatisfied
with life, have recourse to death."

You are indignant that you are exposed to evils; as though you deserved
anything good, who are ignorant of your Father.  Lord, and King; who,
although you behold with your eyes the bright light, are nevertheless
blind in mind, and lie in the depths of the darkness of ignorance.  And
this ignorance has caused that some have not been ashamed to say, that
we are born for this cause, that we may suffer the punishment of our
crimes; but I do not see what can be more senseless than this.  For
where or what crimes could we have committed when we did not even exist?
Unless we shall happen to believe that foolish old man,(5) who falsely
said that he had lived before, and that in his former life he had been
Euphorbus.  He, I believe, because he was born of an ignoble race, chose
for himself a family from the poems of Homer.  O wonderful and
remarkable memory of Pythagoras!  O miserable forgetfulness on the part
of us all, since we know not who we were in our former life!  But
perhaps it was caused by some error, or favour, that he alone did not
touch the abyss of Lethe, or taste the water of oblivion; doubtless the
trifling old man (as is wont to be the case with old women who are free
from occupation) invented fables as it were for credulous infants.  But
if he had thought well of those to whom he spoke these things; if he had
considered them to be men, he would never have claimed to himself the
liberty of uttering such perverse falsehoods.  But the folly of this
most trifling man is deserving of ridicule.  What shall we do in the
case of Cicero, who, having said in the beginning of his Consolation
that men were born for the sake of atoning for their crimes, afterwards
repeated the assertion, as though rebuking him who does not imagine that
life is a punishment?  He was right, therefore, in saying beforehand
that he was held by error and wretched ignorance of the truth.

CHAP. XIX.--CICERO AND OTHERS OF THE WISEST MEN TEACH THE IMMORTALITY OF
THE SOUL, BUT IN AN UNBELIEVING MANNER; AND THAT A GOOD OR AN EVIL DEATH
MUST BE WEIGHED FROM THE PREVIOUS LIFE.

 But those who assert the advantage of death, because they know nothing
of the truth, thus reason: If there is nothing after death, death is

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not an evil; for it takes away the perception of evil.  But if the soul
survives, death is even an advantage; because immortality follows.  And
this sentiment is thus set forth by Cicero concerning the Laws:(1) "We
may congratulate ourselves, since death is about to bring either a
better state than that which exists in life, or at any rate not a worse.
For if the soul is in a state of vigour without the body, it is a divine
life; and if it is without perception, assuredly there is no evil."
Cleverly argued, as it appeared to himself, as though there could be no
other state.  But each conclusion is false.  For the sacred writings(2)
teach that the soul is not annihilated; but that it is either rewarded
according to its righteousness, or eternally punished according to its
crimes.  For neither is it right, that he who has lived a life of
wickedness in prosperity should escape the punishment which he deserves;
nor that he who has been wretched on account of his righteousness,
should be deprived of his reward.  And this is so true, that Tully also,
in his Consolation, declared that the righteous and the wicked do not
inhabit the same abodes.  For those same wise men, he says, did not
judge that the same course was open for all into the heaven; for they
taught that those who were contaminated by vices and crimes were thrust
down into darkness, and lay in the mire; but that, on the other hand,
souls that were chaste, pure, upright, and uncontaminated, being also
refined by the study and practice of virtue, by a light and easy course
take their flight to the gods, that is, to a nature resembling their
own.  But this sentiment is posed to the former argument.  For that is
based on the assumption that every man at his birth is presented with
immortality.  What distinction, therefore, will there be between virtue
and guilt, if it makes no difference whether a man be Aristides or
Phalaris, whether he be Cato or Catiline?  But a man does not perceive
this opposition between sentiments and actions, unless he is in
possession of the truth.  If any one, therefore, should ask me whether
death is a good or an evil, I shall reply that its character depends
upon the course of the life.  For as life itself is a good if it is
passed virtuously, but an evil if it is spent viciously, so also death
is to be weighed in accordance with the past actions of life.  And so it
comes to pass, that if life has been passed in the service of God, death
is not an evil, for it is a translation to immortality.  But if not so,
death must necessarily be an evil, since it transfers men, as I have
said, to everlasting punishment.(3)

 What, then, shall we say, but that they are in error who either desire
death as a good, or flee from life as an evil?  unless they are most
unjust, who do not weigh the fewer evils against the greater number of
blessings.  For when they pass all their lives in a variety of the
choicest gratifications, if any bitterness has chanced to succeed to
these, they desire to die; and they so regard it as to appear never to
have fared well, if at any time they happen to fare ill.  Therefore they
condemn the whole of life, and consider it as nothing else than filled
with evils.  Hence arose that foolish sentiment, that this state which
we imagine to be life is death, and that that which we fear as death is
life; and so that the first good is not to be born, that the second is
an early death.  And that this sentiment may be of greater weight, it is
attributed to Silenus.(4) Cicero in his Consolation says: "Not to be
born is by far the best thing, and not to fall upon these rocks of life.
But the next thing is, if you have been born, to die as soon as
possible, and to flee from the violence of fortune as from a
conflagration."  That he believed this most foolish expression appears
from this, that he added something of his own for its embellishment.  I
ask, therefore, for whom he thinks it best not to be born, when there is
no one at all who has any perception; for it is the perception which
causes anything to be good or bad.  In the next place, why did he regard
the whole of life as nothing else than rocks, and a conflagration; as
though it were either in our power not to be born, or life were given to
us by fortune, and not by God, or as though the course of life appeared
to bear any resemblance to a conflagration?  The saying of Plato is not
dissimilar, that he gave thanks to nature, first that he was born a
human being rather than a dumb animal; in the next place, that he was a
man rather than a woman; that he was a Greek rather than a barbarian;(5)
lastly, that he was an Athenian, and that he was born in the time of
Socrates.  It is impossible to say what great blindness and errors are
produced by ignorance of the truth would altogether contend that nothing
in the affairs of men was ever spoken more foolishly.  As though, if he
had been born a barbarian, or a woman, or, in fine, an ass, he would be
the same Plato, and not that very being which had been produced.  But he
evidently believed Pythagoras, who, in order that he might prevent men
from feeding on animals, said that souls passed from the bodies of men
to the bodies of other animals; which is both foolish and impossible.
It is foolish, because it was unnecessary to introduce souls that have
long existed into new bod

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ies, when the same Artificer who at one time had made the first, was
always able to make fresh ones; it is impossible, because the soul
endued with right reason can no more change the nature of its condition,
than fire can rush downwards, or, like a river, pour its flame
obliquely.(1) The wise man therefore imagined, that it might come to
pass that the soul which was then in Plato might be shut up in some
other animal, and might be endued with the sensibility of a man, so as
to understand and grieve that it was burthened with an incongruous body.
How much more rationally would he have acted, if he had said that he
gave thanks because he was born with a good capacity, and capable of
receiving instruction, and that he was possessed of those resources
which enabled him to receive a liberal education!  For what benefit was
it that he was born at Athens?  Have not many men of distinguished
talent and learning lived in other cities, who were better individually
than all the Athenians?  How many thousands must we believe that there
were, who, though born at Athens, and in the times of Socrates, were
nevertheless unlearned and foolish?  For it is not the walls or the
place in which any one was born that can invest a man with wisdom.  Of
what avail was it to congratulate himself that he was born in the times
of Socrates?  Was Socrates able to supply talent to learners?  It did
not occur to Plato that Alcibiades also, and Critias, were constant
hearers of the same Socrates, the one of whom was the most active enemy
of his country, the other the most cruel of all tyrants.

CHAP. XX.--SOCRATES HAD MORE KNOWLEDGE IN PHILOSOPHY THAN OTHER MEN,
ALTHOUGH IN MANY THINGS HE ACTED FOOLISHLY.

 Let us now see what there was so great in Socrates himself, that a wise
man deservedly gave thanks that he was born in his times.  I do not deny
that he was a little more sagacious than the others who thought that the
nature of things could be comprehended by the mind.  And in this I judge
that they were not only senseless, but also impious; because they wished
to send their inquisitive eyes into the secrets of that heavenly
providence.  We know that there are at Rome, and in many cities, certain
sacred things which it is considered impious for men to look upon.
Therefore they who are not permitted to pollute those objects abstain
from looking upon them; and if by error or some accident a man has
happened to see them, his guilt is expiated first by his punishment, and
afterwards by a repetition of sacrifice.  What can you do in the case of
those who wish to pry into unpermitted things?  Truly they are much more
wicked who seek to profane the secrets of the world and this heavenly
temple with impious disputations, than those who entered the temple of
Vesta, or the Good Goddess, or Ceres.  And these shrines, though it is
not lawful for men to approach them, were yet constructed by men.  But
these men not only escape the charge of impiety, but, that which is much
more unbecoming, they gain the fame of eloquence and the glory of
talent.  What if they were able to investigate anything?  For they are
as foolish in asserting as they are wicked in searching out; since they
are neither able to find out anything, nor, even if they had found out
anything, to defend it.  For if even by chance they have seen the truth-
-a thing which often happens--they so act that it is refuted by others
as false.  For no one descends from heaven to pass sentence on the
opinions of individuals; wherefore no one can doubt that those who seek
after these things are foolish, senseless, and insane.

 Socrates therefore had something of human wisdom,(2) who, when he
understood that these things could not possibly be ascertained, removed
himself from questions of this kind; but I fear that he so acted in this
alone.  For many of his actions are not only undeserving of praise, but
also most deserving of censure, in which things he most resembled those
of his own class.  Out of these I will select one which may be judged of
by all.  Socrates used this well-known proverb: "That which is above us
is nothing to us."  Let us therefore fall down upon the earth, and use
as feet those hands which have been given us for the production of
excellent works.  The heaven is nothing to us, to the contemplation of
which we have been raised;(3) in fine, the light itself can have no
reference to us; undoubtedly the cause of our sustenance is from heaven.
But if he perceived this, that we ought not to discuss the nature of
heavenly things, he was unable even to comprehend the nature of those
things which he had beneath his feet.  What then?  did he err in his
words?  It is not probable; but he undoubtedly meant that which he said,
that we are not to devote ourselves to religion; but if he were openly
to say this, no one would suffer it.

 For who cannot perceive that this world, completed with such wonderful
method, is governed by some providence, since there is nothing which can
exist without some one to direct it?  Thus, a house deserted by its
inhabitant fails to decay; a ship without a pilot goes to the bottom;
and a body abandoned by the soul wastes away.  Much less can we suppose
that so great a fabric could either have been constructed without an

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Artificer, or have existed so long without a Ruler.  But if he wished to
overthrow those public superstitions, I do not disapprove of this; yea,
I shall rather praise it, if he shall have found anything better to take
their place.  But the same man swore(1) by a dog and a goose.  Oh
buffoon (as Zeno the Epicurean(2) says), senseless, abandoned, desperate
man, if he wished to scoff at religion; madman, if he did this
seriously, so as to esteem a most base animal as God!  For who can dare
to find fault with the superstitions oft the Egyptians, when Socrates
confirmed them at Athens by his authority?  But was it not a mark of
consummate vanity, that before his death he asked his friends to
sacrifice for him a cock which he had vowed to AEsculapius?  He
evidently feared lest he should be put upon his trial before
Rhadamanthus, the judge, by AEsculapius on account of the vow.  I should
consider him most mad if he had died under the influence of disease.
But since he did this in his sound mind, he who thinks that he was wise
is himself of unsound mind.  Behold one in whose times the wise man
congratulates himself as having been born!

CHAP. XXI.--OF THE SYSTEM OF PLATO, WHICH WOULD LEAD TO THE OVERTHROW OF
STATES.

 Let us, however, see what it was that he learned from Socrates, who,
having entirely rejected natural philosophy, betook himself to inquiries
about virtue and duty.  And thus I do not doubt that he instructed his
hearers in the precepts of justice.  Therefore, under the teaching of
Socrates, it did not escape the notice of Plato, that the force of
justice consists in equality, since all are born in an equal condition.
Therefore (he says) they must have nothing private or their own; but
that they may be equal, as the method of justice requires, they must
possess all things in common.  This is capable of being endured, as long
as it appears to be spoken of money.  But how impossible and how unjust
this is, I could show by many things.  Let us, however, admit its
possibility.  For grant that nil arc wise, and despise money.  To what,
then, did that community lead him?  Marriages also, be says, ought to be
in common; so that many men may flock together like dogs to the same
woman, and he who shall be superior in strength may succeed in obtaining
her; or if they are patient as philosophers, they may await their turns,
as in a brothel.  Oh the wonderful equality of Plato!  Where, then, is
the virtue of chastity?  where conjugal fidelity?

And if you take away these, all justice is taken away.  But he also says
that states would be prosperous, if either philosophers were their
kings, or their kings were philosophers.  But if you were to give the
sovereignty to this man of such justice and equity, who had deprived
some of their own property, and given to some the property of others, he
would prostitute the modesty of women; a thing which was never done, I
do not say by a king, but not even by a tyrant.

 But what motive did he advance for this most degrading advice?  The
state will be in harmony, and bound together with the bonds of mutual
love, if all shall be the husbands, and fathers, and wives, and children
of all.  What a confusion of the human race is this?  How is it possible
for affection to be preserved where there is nothing certain to be
loved?  What man will love a woman, or what woman a man, unless they
shall always have lived together,--unless devotedness of mind, and faith
mutually preserved, shall have made their love indivisible?  But this
virtue has no place in that promiscuous pleasure.  Moreover, if all are
the children of all, who will be able to love children as his own, when
he is either ignorant or in doubt whether they are his own?  Who will
bestow honour upon any one as a father, when he does not know from whom
he was born?  From which it comes to pass, that he not only esteems a
stranger as a father, but also a father as a stranger.  Why should I say
that it is possible for a wife to be common, but impossible for a son,
who cannot be conceived except from one?  The community, therefore, is
lost to him alone, nature herself crying out against it.  It remains
that it is only for the sake of concord that he would have a community
of wives.  But there is no more vehement cause of discords, than the
desire of one woman by many men.  And in this Plato might have been
admonished, if not by reason, yet certainly by example, both of the dumb
animals, which fight most vehemently on this account, and of men, who
have always carried on most severe wars with one another on account of
this matter.

 CHAP. XXII.--OF THE PRECEPTS OF PLATO, AND CENSURES OF THE SAME.

 It remains that the community of which we have spoken admits of nothing
else but adulteries and lusts, for the utter extinction of which virtue
is especially necessary.  Therefore he did not find the concord which he
sought, because he did not see whence it arises.  For justice has no
weight in outward circumstances, not even in the body,(3) but it is
altogether employed on the mind of man.  He, therefore, who wishes to

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place men on an equality, ought not to take away marriage and wealth,
but arrogance, pride, and haughtiness, that those who are powerful and
lifted up on high may know that they are on a level even with the most
needy.  For insolence and injustice being taken from the rich, it will
make no difference whether some are rich and others poor, since they
will be equal in spirit, and nothing but reverence towards God can
produce this result.  He thought, therefore, that he had found justice,
whereas he had altogether removed it, because it ought not to be a
community of perishable things, but of minds.  For if justice is the
mother(1) of all virtues, when they are severally taken away, it is also
itself overthrown.  But Plato took away above all things frugality,
which has no existence when there is no property of one's own which can
be possessed; he took away abstinence, since there will be nothing
belonging to another from which one can abstain; he took away temperance
and chastity, which are the greatest virtues in each sex; he took away
self-respect, shame, and modesty, if those things which are accustomed
to be judged base and disgraceful begin to be accounted honourable and
lawful.  Thus, while he wishes to confer virtue upon all, he takes it
away from all.  For the ownership of property contains the material both
of vices and of virtues, but a community of goods contains nothing else
than the licentiousness of vices.  For men who have many mistresses can
be called nothing else than luxurious and prodigal.  And likewise women
who are in the possession of many men, must of necessity be not
adulteresses, because they have no fixed marriage, but prostitutes and
harlots.  Therefore he reduced human life, I do not say to the likeness
of dumb animals, but of the herds and brutes.  For almost all the birds
contract marriages, and are united in pairs, and defend their nests, as
though their marriage-beds, with harmonious mind, and cherish their own
young, because they are well known to them; and if you put others in
their way, they repel them.  But this wise man, contrary to the custom
of men, and contrary to nature, chose more foolish objects of imitation;
and since he saw that the duties of males and females were not separated
in the case of other animals, he thought that women also ought to engage
in warfare, and take a share in the public counsels, and undertake
magistracies, and assume commands.  And therefore he assigned to them
horses and arms: it follows that he should have assigned to men wool and
the loom, and the carrying of infants.  Nor did he see the impossibility
of what he said, from the fact that no nation has existed in the world
so foolish or so vain as to live in this manner.(2)

CHAP. XXIII.--OF THE ERRORS OF CERTAIN PHILOSOPHERS, AND OF THE SUN AND
MOON.

 Since, therefore, the leading men among the philosophers are themselves
discovered to be of such emptiness, what shall we think of those lesser
s ones, who are accustomed never to appear to themselves so wise, as
when they boast of their contempt of money?  Brave spirit!  But I wait
to see their conduct, and what are the results of that contempt.  They
avoid as an evil, and abandon the property handed down to them from
their parents.  And lest they should suffer shipwreck in a storm, they
plunge headlong of their own accord in a cairn, being resolute not by
virtue, but by perverse fear; as those who, through fear of being slain
by the enemy, slay themselves, that by death they may avoid death.  So
these men, without honour and without influence, throw away the means by
which they might have acquired the glory of liberality.  Democritus is
praised because he abandoned his fields, and suffered them to become
public pastures.  I should approve of it, if he had given them.  But
nothing is done wisely which is useless and evil if it is done by all.
But this negligence is tolerable.  What shall I say of him who changed
his possessions into money, which he threw into the sea?  I doubt
whether he was in his senses, or deranged.  Away, he says, ye evil
desires, into the deep.  I will cast you away, lest I myself should be
cast away by you.  If you have so great a contempt for money, employ it
in acts of kindness and humanity, bestow it upon the poor; this, which
you are about to throw away, may be a succour to many, so that they may
not die through famine, or thirst, or nakedness.  Imitate at least the
madness and fury of Tuditanus;(4) scatter abroad your property to be
seized by the people.  You have it in your power both to escape the
possession of money, and yet to lay it out to advantage; for whatever
has been profitable to many is securely laid out.

 But who approves of the equality of faults as laid down by Zeno?  But
let us omit that which is always received with derision by all.  This is
sufficient to prove the error of this madman, that he places pity among
vices and diseases.  He deprives us of an affection, which involves
almost the whole course of human life.  For since the nature of man is
more feeble than that of the other animals, which divine provi-

94

dence has armed with natural means of protection,(1) either to endure
the severity of the seasons or to ward off attacks from their bodies,
because none of these things has been given to man, he has received in
the place of all these things the affection of pity, which is truly
called humanity, by which we might mutually protect each other.  For if
a man were rendered savage by the sight of another man, which we see
happen in the case of those animals which are of a solitary(2) nature,
there would be no society among men, no care or system in the building
of cities; and thus life would not even be safe, since the weakness of
men would both be exposed to the attacks of the other animals, and they
would rage among themselves after the manner of wild beasts.  Nor is his
madness less in other things.

 For what can be said respecting him who asserted that snow was black?
How naturally it followed, that he should also assert that pitch was
white!  This is he who said that he was born for this purpose, that he
might behold the heaven and the sun, who beheld nothing on the earth
when the sun was shining.  Xenophanes most foolishly believed
mathematicians who said that the orb of the moon was eighteen times
larger than the earth; and, as was consistent with this folly, he said
that within the concave surface of the moon there was another earth, and
that there another race of men live in a similar manner to that in which
we live on this earth.  Therefore these lunatics have another moon, to
hold forth to them a light by night, as this does to us.  And perhaps
this globe of ours may be a moon to another earth below this.(3) Seneca
says that there was one among the Stoics who used to deliberate whether
he should assign to the sun also its own inhabitants; he acted foolishly
in doubting.  For what injury would he have inflicted if he had assigned
them?  But I believe the heat deterred him, so as not to imperil so
great a multitude; lest, if they should perish through excessive heat,
so great a calamity should be said to have happened by his fault.

CHAP. XXIV.--OF THE ANTIPODES, THE HEAVEN,

AND THE STARS.

 How is it with those who imagine that there are antipodes(4) opposite
to our footsteps?  Do they say anything to the purpose?  Or is there any
one so senseless as to believe that there are men whose footsteps are
higher than their heads?  or that the things which with us are in a
recumbent position, with them hang in an inverted direction?  that the
crops and trees grow downwards?  that the rains, and snow, and hail fall
upwards to the earth?  And does any one wonder that hanging gardens s
are mentioned among the seven wonders of the world, when philosophers
make hanging fields, and seas, and cities, and mountains?  The origin of
this error must also be set forth by us.  For they are always deceived
in the same manner.  For when they have assumed anything false in the
commencement of their investigations, led by the resemblance of the
truth, they necessarily fall into those things which are its
consequences.  Thus they fall into many ridiculous things; because those
things which are in agreement with false things, must themselves be
false.  But since they placed confidence in the first, they do not
consider the character of those things which follow, but defend them in
every way; whereas they ought to judge from those which follow, whether
the first are true or false.

 What course of argument, therefore, led them to the idea of the
antipodes?  They saw the courses of the stars travelling towards the
west; they saw that the sun and the moon always set towards the same
quarter, and rise from the same.  But since they did not perceive what
contrivance regulated their courses, nor how they returned from the west
to the east, but supposed that the heaven itself sloped downwards in
every direction, which appearance it must present on account of its
immense breadth, they thought that the world is round like a ball, and
they fancied that the heaven revolves in accordance with the motion of
the heavenly bodies; and thus that the stars and sun, when they have
set, by the very rapidity of the motion of the world(6) are borne back
to the east.  Therefore they both constructed brazen orbs, as though
after the figure of the world, and engraved upon them certain monstrous
images, which they said were constellations.  It followed, therefore,
from this rotundity of the heaven, that the earth was enclosed in the
midst of its curved surface.  But if this were so, the earth also itself
must be like a globe; for that could not possibly be anything but round,
which was held enclosed by that which was round.  But if the earth also
were round, it must necessarily happen that it should present the same
appearance to all parts of the heaven; that is.  that it should raise
aloft mountains, extend plains, and have level seas.  And if this were
so, that last consequence also followed, that there would be no part of
the earth uninhabited by men and the other animals.  Thus the rotundity
of the earth leads, in addition, to the invention of those suspended
antipodes.

95

 But if you inquire from those who defend these marvellous fictions, why
all things do not fall into that lower part of the heaven, they reply
that such is the nature of things, that heavy bodies are borne to the
middle, and that they are all joined together towards the middle, as we
see spokes in a wheel; but that the bodies which are light, as mist,
smoke, and fire, are borne away from the middle, so as to seek the
heaven.  I am at a loss what to say respecting those who, when they have
once erred, consistently persevere in their folly, and defend one vain
thing by another; but that I sometimes imagine that they either discuss
philosophy for the sake of a jest, or purposely and knowingly undertake
to defend falsehoods, as if to exercise or display their talents on
false subjects.  But I should be able to prove by many arguments that it
is impossible for the heaven to be lower than the earth, were is not
that this book must now be concluded, and that some things still remain,
which are more necessary for the present work.  And since it is not the
work of a single book to run over the errors of each individually, let
it be sufficient to have enumerated a few, from which the nature of the
others may be understood.

CHAP. XXV.--OF LEARNING PHILOSOPHY, AND WHAT GREAT QUALIFICATIONS ARE
NECESSARY FOR ITS PURSUIT.

 We must now speak a few things concerning philosophy in general, that
having strengthened our cause we may conclude.  That greatest imitator
of Plato among our writers thought that philosophy was not for the
multitude, because none but learned men could attain to it.
"Philosophy," says Cicero,(1) "is contented with a few judges, of its
own accord designedly avoiding the multitude."  It is not therefore
wisdom, if it avoids the concourse of men; since, if wisdom is given to
man, it is given to all without any distinction, so that there is no one
at all who cannot acquire it.  But they so embrace virtue, which is
given to the human race, that they alone of all appear to wish to enjoy
that which is a public good; being as envious as if they should wish to
bind or tear out the eyes of others that they may not see the sun.  For
what else is it to deny wisdom to men, than to take away from their
minds the true and divine light?  But if the nature of man is capable of
wisdom, it was befitting that both workmen, and country people, and
women, and all, in short, who bear the human form, should be taught to
he wise; and that the people should be brought together from every
language, and condition, and sex, and age.  Therefore it is a very
strong argument that philosophy neither tends to wisdom, nor is of
itself wisdom, that its mystery is only made known by the beard and
cloak of the philosophers.(2) The Stoics, moreover, perceived this, who
said that philosophy was to be studied both by slaves and women;
Epicurus also, who invites those who are altogether unacquainted with
letters to philosophy; and Plato also, who wished to compose a state of
wise men.

 They attempted, indeed, to do that which truth required; but they were
unable to proceed beyond words.  First, because instruction in many arts
is necessary for an application to philosophy.  Common learning must be
acquired on account of practice in reading, because in so great a
variety of subjects it is impossible that all things should be learned
by hearing, or retained in the memory.  No little attention also must be
given to the grammarians, in order that you may know the right method of
speaking.  That must occupy many years.  Nor must there be ignorance of
rhetoric, that you may be able to utter and express the things which you
have learned.  Geometry also, and music, and astronomy, are necessary,
because these arts have some connection with philosophy; and the whole
of these subjects cannot be learned by women, who must learn within the
years of their maturity the duties which are hereafter about to be of
service to them for domestic uses; nor by servants, who must live in
service during those years especially in which they are able to learn;
nor by the poor, or labourers, or rustics, who have to gain their daily
support by labour.  And on this account Tully says that philosophy is
averse from the multitude.  But yet Epicurus will receive the
ignorant.(3) How, then, will they understand those things which are said
respecting the first principles of things, the perplexities and
intricacies of which are scarcely attained to by men of cultivated
minds?

 Therefore, in subjects which are involved in obscurity, and confused by
a variety of intellects, and set off by the studied language of eloquent
men, what place is there for the unskilful and ignorant?  Lastly, they
never taught any women to study philosophy, except Themiste(4) only,
within the whole memory of man; nor slaves, except Phaedo(5) only, who
is said, when living in oppressive slavery, to have been ransomed and
taught by Cebes.  They also enumerate Plato and Diogenes: these,
however, were not slaves, though they had fallen into servitude, for
they

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had been taken captive.  A certain Aniceris is said to have ransomed
Plato for eight sesterces.  And on this account Seneca severely rebuked
the ransomer himself, because he set so small value upon Plato.  He was
a madman, as it seems to me, who was angry with a man because he did not
throw away much money; doubtless he ought to have weighed gold as though
to ransom the corpse of Hector, or to have insisted upon the payment of
more money than the seller demanded.  Moreover, they taught none of the
barbarians, with the single exception of Anacharsis the Scythian, who
never would have dreamed of philosophy had he not previously learned
both language and literature.

CHAP. XXVI.--IT IS DIVINE INSTRUCTION ONLY WHICH BESTOWS WISDOM; AND OF
WHAT EFFICACY THE LAW OF GOD IS.

 That, therefore, which they perceived to be justly required by the
demands of nature, but which they were themselves unable to perform, and
saw that the philosophers could not effect, is accomplished only by
divine instruction; for that only is wisdom.  Doubtless they were able
to persuade any one who do not even persuade themselves of anything; or
they will crush the desires, moderate the anger, and restrain the lusts
of any one, when they themselves both yield to vices, and acknowledge
that they are overpowered by nature.  But what influence is exerted on
the souls of men by the precepts of God, because of their simplicity and
truth, is shown by daily proofs.  Give me a man who is passionate,
scurrilous, and unrestrained; with a very few words of God,

"I will render him as gentle as a sheep."(1)

Give me one who is grasping, covetous, and tenacious; I will presently
restore him to you liberal, and freely bestowing his money with full
hands.  Give me a man who is afraid of pain and death; he shall
presently despise crosses, and fires, and the bull of Phalaris.(2) Give
me one who is lustful, an adulterer a glutton; you shall presently see
him sober, chaste, and temperate.  Give me one who is cruel and
bloodthirsty: that fury shall presently be changed into true clemency.
Give me a man who is unjust, foolish, an evil-doer; forthwith he shall
be just, and wise, and innocent for by one laver(3) all his wickedness
shall be taken away.  So great is the power of divine wisdom, that, when
infused into the breast of man, by one impulse it once for all expels
folly, which is the mother of faults, for the effecting of which there
is no need of payment, or books, or nightly studies.  These results are
accomplished gratuitously, easily, and quickly, if only the ears are
open and the breast thirsts for wisdom.  Let no one fear: we do not sell
water, nor offer the sun for a reward.  The fountain of God, most
abundant and most full, is open to all; and this heavenly light rises
for all,(4) as many as have eyes.  Did any of the philosophers effect
these things, or is he able to effect them if he wishes?  For though
they spend their lives in the study of philosophy, they are neither able
to improve any other person nor themselves (if nature has presented any
obstacle). Therefore their wisdom, doing its utmost, does not eradicate,
but hide vices.  But a few precepts of God so entirely change the whole
man, and having put off the old man, render him new, that you would not
recognise him as the same.

CHAP. XXVII.--HOW LITTLE THE PRECEPTS OF PHILOSOPHERS CONTRIBUTE TO TRUE
WISDOM. WHICH YOU WILL FIND IN RELIGION ONLY.

 What, then?  Do they enjoin nothing similar?  Yes, indeed, many things;
and they frequently approach the truth.  But those precepts have no
weight, because they are human, and are without a greater, that is, that
divine authority.  No one therefore believes them, because the hearer
imagines himself to be a man, just as he is, who enjoins them.
Moreover, there is no certainty with them, nothing which proceeds from
knowledge.  But since all things are done by conjecture, and many
differing and various things are brought forward, it is the part of a
most foolish man to be willing to obey their precepts.  since it is
doubted whether they are true or false; and therefore no one obeys them,
because no one wishes to labour for an uncertainty.  The Stoics say that
it is virtue which can alone produce a happy life.  Nothing can be said
with greater truth.  But what if he shall be tormented, or afflicted
with pain?  Will it be possible for any one to be happy in the hands of
the executioners?  But truly pain inflicted upon the body is the
material of virtue; therefore he is not wretched even in tortures.
Epicurus speaks much more strongly.  The wise man, he says, is always
happy; and even when shut up in the bull of Phalaris he will utter this
speech: "It is pleasant, and I do not care for it."  Who would not laugh
at him?  Especially, because a man who is devoted to pleasure took upon
himself the character of a man of fortitude, and that to an immoderate
degree; for it is impossible that any one should esteem tortures of the
body as pleasures, since it is sufficient for discharging the office of
virtue that one sustains and endures them.  What do you, Stoics, say?
What do

97

you, Epicurus?  The wise man is happy even when be is tortured.  If it
is on account of the glory of his endurance, he will not enjoy it, for
perchance he will die under the tortures.  If it is on account of the
recollection of the deed, either he will not perceive it if souls shall
perish, or, if he shall perceive it, he will gain nothing from it.

 What other advantage is there then in virtue?  what happiness of life?
Is it that a man may die with equanimity?  You present to me the
advantage of a single hour, or perhaps moment, for the sake of which it
may not be expedient to be worn out by miseries and labours throughout
the whole of life.  But how much time does death occupy?  on the arrival
of which it now makes no difference whether you shall have undergone it
with equanimity or not.  Thus it happens that nothing is sought from
virtue but glory.  But this is either superfluous and short-lived, or it
will not follow from the depraved judgments of men.  Therefore there is
no fruit from virtue where virtue is subject to death and decay.
Therefore they who said these things saw a certain shadow(1) of virtue:
they did not see virtue itself.  For they had their eyes fixed on the
earth, nor did they raise their countenances on high that they might
behold her

 "Who showed herself from the quarters of heaven."(2)

This is the reason why no one obeys their precepts; inasmuch as they
either train men to vices, if they defend pleasure; or if they uphold
virtue, they neither threaten sin with any punishment, except that of
disgrace only, nor do they promise any reward to virtue, except that of
honour and praise only, since they say that virtue is to be sought for
its own sake, and not on account of any other object.  The wise man
therefore is happy under tortures; but when he suffers torture on
account of his faith, on account of justice, or on account of God, that
endurance of pain will render him most happy.  For it is God alone who
can honour virtue, the reward of which is immortality alone.  And they
who do not seek this, nor possess religion, with which eternal life is
connected, assuredly do not know the power of virtue, the reward of
which they are ignorant; nor look towards heaven, as they themselves
imagine that they do, when they inquire into subjects which do not admit
of investigation, since there is no other cause for looking towards
heaven, unless it be either to undertake religion, or to believe that
one's soul is immortal.  For if any one understands that God is to be
worshipped, or has the hope of immortality set before him, his mind(3)
is in heaven; and although he may not behold it with his eyes, yet he
does behold it with the eye of his soul.  But they who do not take up
religion are of the earth, for religion is from heaven; and they who
think that the soul perishes together with the body, equally look down
towards the earth: for beyond the body, which is earth, they see nothing
further, which is immortal.  It is therefore of no profit that man is so
made, that with upright body he looks towards heaven, unless with mind
raised aloft he discerns God, and his thoughts are altogether engaged
upon the hope of everlasting life.

CHAP. XXVIII.--OF TRUE RELIGION AND OF NATURE. WHETHER FORTUNE IS A
GODDESS, AND OF PHILOSOPHY.

 Wherefore there is nothing else in life on which our plan and condition
can depend but the knowledge of God who created us, and the religious
and pious worship of Him; and since the philosophers have wandered from
this, it is plain that they were not wise.  They sought wis-dom, indeed;
but because they did not seek it in a right manner, they sunk down to a
greater distance, and fell into such great errors, that they did not
even possess common wisdom.  For they were not only unwilling to
maintain religion, but they even took it away; while, led on by the
appearance of false virtue, they endeavour to free the mind from all
fear: and this overturning of religion gains the name of nature.  For
they, either being ignorant by whom the world was made, or wishing to
persuade men that nothing was completed by divine intelligence, said
that nature was the mother of all things, as though they should say that
all things were produced of their own accord: by which word they
altogether confess their own ignorance.  For nature, apart from divine
providence and power, is absolutely nothing.  But if they call God
nature, what perverseness is it, to use the name of nature rather than
of God!(4) But if nature is the plan, or necessity, or condition of
birth, it is not by itself capable of sensation; but there must
necessarily be a divine mind, which by its foresight furnishes the
beginning of their existence to all things.  Or if nature is heaven and
earth.  and everything which is created.  nature is not God, but the
work of God.

 By a similar error they believe in the existence of fortune, as a
goddess mocking the affairs of then with various casualties, because
they know not from what source things good and evil hap-

98

pen to them.  They think that they are brought together to do battle
with her; nor do they assign any reason by whom and on what account they
are thus matched; but they only boast that they are every moment
carrying on a contest for life and death with fortune.  Now, as many as
have consoled any persons on account of the death and removal of
friends, have censured the name of fortune with the most severe
accusations; nor is there any disputation of theirs on the subject of
virtue, in which fortune is not harassed.  M. Tullius, in his
Consolation, says that he has always fought against fortune, and that
she was always overpowered by him when he had valiantly beaten back the
attacks of his enemies; that he was not subdued by her even then, when
he was driven from his home and deprived of his country; but then, when
he lost his dearest daughter, he shamefully confesses that he is
overcome by fortune.  I yield, he says, and raise my hand.(1) What is
more wretched than this man, who thus lies prostrate?  He acts
foolishly, he says; but it is one who professes that he is wise.  What,
then, does the assumption of the name imply?  What that contempt of
things which is laid claim to with magnificent words?  What that dress,
so different from others?  Or why do you give precepts of wisdom at all,
if no one has yet been found who is wise?  And does any one bear ill-
will to us because we deny that philosophers are wise, when they
themselves confess that they neither have knowledge nor wisdom?  For if
at any time they have so failed that they are not even able to feign
anything, as their practice is in other cases, then in truth they are
reminded of their ignorance; and, as though in madness, they spring up
and exclaim that they are blind and foolish.  Anaxagoras pronounces that
all things are overspread with darkness.  Empedocles complains that the
paths of the senses are narrow, as though for his reflections he had
need of a chariot and four horses.  Democritus says that the truth lies
sunk in a well so deep that it has no bottom; foolishly, indeed, as he
says other things.  For the truth is not, as it were, sunk in a well to
which it was permitted him to descend, or even to fall, but, as it were,
placed on the highest top of a lofty mountain, or in heaven, which is
most true.  For what reason is there why he should say that it is sunk
below rather than that it is raised aloft?  unless by chance he
preferred to place the mind also in the feet, or in the bottom of the
heels, rather than in the breast or in the head.

 So widely removed were they from the truth itself, that even the
posture of their own body did not admonish them, that the truth must be
sought for by them in the highest place.(2) From this despair arose that
confession of Socrates, in which he said that he knew nothing but this
one thing alone, that he knew nothing.  From this flowed the system of
the Academy, if that is to be called a system in which ignorance is both
learnt and taught.  But not even those who claimed for themselves
knowledge were able consistently to defend that very thing which they
thought that they knew.  For since they were not in agreement(3) with
one another, through their ignorance of divine things they were so
inconsistent and uncertain, and often asserting things contrary to one
another, that you are unable to determine and decide what their meaning
was.  Why therefore should you fight against those men who perish by
their own sword?  Why should you labour to refute those whom their own
speech refutes and presses?(4) Aristotle, says Cicero, accusing the
ancient philosophers, declares that they are either most foolish or most
vainglorious, since they thought that philosophy was perfected by their
talents; but that he saw, because a great addition had been made in a
few years, that philosophy would be complete in a short time.  What,
then, was that time?  In what manner, when, or by whom, was philosophy
completed?  For that which he said, that they were most foolish in
supposing that philosophy was made perfect by their talents, is true;
but he did not even himself speak with sufficient discretion, who
thought that it had either been begun by the ancients, or increased by
those who were more recent, or that it would shortly be brought to
perfection by those of later times.  For that can never be investigated
which is not sought by its own way.

CHAP. XXIX.--OF FORTUNE AGAIN, AND VIRTUE.

 But let us return to the subject which we laid aside.  Fortune,
therefore, by itself, is nothing; nor must we so regard it as though it
had any perception, since fortune is the sudden and unexpected
occurrence of accidents.  But philosophers, that they may not sometimes
fail to err, wish to be wise in a foolish matter; and say that she is
not a goddess, as is generally believed, but a god.  Sometimes, however,
they call this god nature, sometimes fortune, "because he brings about,"
says the same Cicero, "many things unexpected by us, on account of our
want of intelligence and our ignorance of causes."  Since, therefore,
they are ignorant of the causes on account of which anything is done,
they must also be ignorant of him who does them.  The

99

same writer, in a work of great seriousness, in which he was giving to
his son precepts of life drawn from philosophy, says, "Who can be
ignorant that the power of fortune is great on either side?  For both
when we meet with a prosperous breeze from her we gain the issues which
we desire, and when she has breathed contrary to us we are dashed on the
rocks."(1) First of all, he who says that nothing can be known, spoke
this as though he himself and all men had knowledge.  Then he who
endeavours to render doubtful even the things which are plain, thought
that this was plain, which ought to have been to him especially
doubtful; for to a wise man it is altogether false.  Who, he says, knows
not?  I indeed know not.  Let him teach me, if he can, what that power
is, what that breeze, and what the contrary breath.  It is disgraceful,
therefore, for a man of talent to say that, which if you were to deny
it, he would be unable to prove.  Lastly, he who says that the assent
must be withheld because it is the part of a foolish man rashly to
assent to things which are unknown to him, he, I say, altogether
believed the opinions of the vulgar and uninstructed, who think that it
is fortune which gives to men good and evil things.  For they represent
her image with the horn of plenty and with a rudder, as though she both
gave wealth and had the government of human affairs.  And to this
opinion Virgil(2) assented, who calls fortune omnipotent; and the
historian(3) who says, But assuredly fortune bears sway in everything.
What place, then, remains for the other gods?  Why is she not said to
reign by herself, if she has more power than others; or why is she not
alone worshipped, if she has power in all things?  Or if she inflicts
evils only, let them bring forward some cause why, if she is a goddess,
she envies men, and desires their destruction, though she is religiously
worshipped by them; why she is more favourable to the wicked and more
unfavourable to the good; why she plots, afflicts, deceives,
exterminates; who appointed her as the perpetual harasser of the race of
men; why, in short, she has obtained so mischievous a power, that she
renders all things illustrious or obscure according to her caprice
rather than in accordance with the truth.  Philosophers, I say, ought
rather to have inquired into these things, than rashly to have accused
fortune, who is innocent: for although she has some existence, yet no
reason can be brought forward by them why she should be as hostile to
men as she is supposed to be.  Therefore all those speeches in which
they rail at the injustice of fortune, and in opposition to fortune
arrogantly boast of their own virtues, are nothing else but the ravings
of thoughtless levity.

 Wherefore let them not envy us, to whom God has revealed the truth:
who, as we know that fortune is nothing, so also know that there is a
wicked and crafty spirit who is unfriendly to the good, and the enemy of
righteousness, who acts in opposition to God; the cause of whose enmity
we have explained in the second book.(4) He therefore lays plots against
all; but those who are ignorant of God he hinders by error, he
overwhelms with folly, he overspreads with darkness, that no one may be
able to attain to the knowledge of the divine name, in which alone are
contained both wisdom and everlasting life.  Those, on the other hand,
who know God, he assails with wiles and craft, that he may ensnare them
with desire and lust, and when they are corrupted by the blandishments
of sin, may impel them to death; or, if he shall have not succeeded by
stratagem, he attempts to cast them down by force and violence.  For on
this account he was not at once thrust down by God to punishment at the
original transgression, that by his malice he may exercise man to
virtue: for unless this is in constant agitation, unless it is
strengthened by continual harassing, it cannot be perfect, inasmuch as
virtue is dauntless and unconquered patience in enduring evils.  From
which it comes to pass that there is no virtue if an adversary is
wanting.  When, therefore, they perceived the force of this perverse
power opposed to virtue, and were ignorant of its name, they invented
for themselves the senseless name of fortune; and how far this is
removed from wisdom, Juvenal declares in these verses:(5)--

"No divine power is absent if there is prudence; but we make you a
goddess, O Fortune, and place you in heaven."

It was folly, therefore, and error, and blindness, and, as Cicero
says,(6) ignorance of facts and causes, which introduced the names of
Nature and Fortune.  But as they are ignorant of their adversary, so
also they do not indeed know virtue the knowledge of which is derived
from the idea of an adversary.  And if this is joined with wisdom, or,
as they say, is itself also wisdom, they must be ignorant in what
subjects it is contained.  For no one can possibly be furnished with
true arms if he is ignorant of the enemy against whom he must be armed;
nor can he overcome his adversary, who in fighting does not attack his
real enemy, but a shadow.  For he will be overthrown, who, having his at
-

100

tention fixed on another object, shall not previously have foreseen or
guarded against the blow aimed at his vitals.

CHAP. XXX.--THE CONCLUSION OF THE THINGS BEFORE SPOKEN; AND BY WHAT
MEANS WE MUST PASS FROM THE VANITY OF THE PHILOSOPHERS TO TRUE WISDOM,
AND THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUE GOD, IN WHICH ALONE ARE VIRTUE AND
HAPPINESS.

 I have taught, as far as my humble talents permitted, that the
philosophers held a course widely deviating from the truth.  I perceive,
however, how many things I have omitted, because it was not my province
to enter into a disputation against philosophers.  But it was necessary
for me to make a digression to this subject, that I might show that so
many and great intellects have expended themselves in vain on false
subjects, lest any one by chance being shut out by corrupt
superstitions, should wish to betake himself to them as though about to
find some certainty.  Therefore the only hope, the only safety for man,
is placed in this doctrine, which we defend.  All the wisdom of man
consists in this alone, the knowledge and worship of God: this is our
tenet, this our opinion.  Therefore with all the power of my voice I
testify, I proclaim.  I declare: Here, here is that which all
philosophers have sought throughout their whole life; and yet, they have
not been able to investigate, to grasp, and to attain to it, because
they either retained a religion which was corrupt, or took it away
altogether.  Let them therefore all depart, who do not instruct human
life, but throw it into confusion.  For what do they teach?  or whom do
they instruct, who have not yet instructed themselves?  whom are the
sick able to heal, whom can the blind guide?  Let us all, therefore, who
have any regard for wisdom, betake ourselves to this subject.  Or shall
we wait until Socrates knows something?  or Anaxagoras finds light in
the darkness?  or until Democritus draws forth truth from the well?  or
Empedocles extends the paths of his soul?  or until Arcesilas and
Carneades see, and feel, and perceive?

 Lo, a voice from heaven teaching the truth, and displaying to us a
light brighter than the sun itself.(1) Why are we unjust to ourselves,
and delay to take up wisdom, which learned men, though they wasted their
lives in its pursuit, were never able to discover.  Let him who wishes
to be wise and happy hear the voice of God, learn righteousness,
understand the mystery of his birth, despise human affairs, embrace
divine things, that he may gain that chief good to which he was born.
Having overthrown all false religions, and having refuted all the
arguments, as many as it was customary or possible to bring forward in
their defence; then, having proved the systems of philosophy to be
false, we must now come to true religion and wisdom, since, as I shall
teach, they are both connected together; that we may maintain it either
by arguments, or by examples, or by competent witnesses, and may show
that the folly with which those worshippers of gods do not cease to
upbraid us, has no existence with us, but lies altogether with them.
And although, in the former books, when I was contending against false
religions, and in this, when I was overthrowing false wisdom, I showed
where the truth is, yet the next book will more plainly indicate what is
true religion and what true wisdom.

101

THE DIVINE INSTITUTES

BOOK IV.

OF TRUE WISDOM AND RELIGION.

CHAP. I.--OF THE FORMER RELIGION OF MEN, AND HOW ERROR WAS SPREAD OVER
EVERY AGE, AND OF THE SEVEN WISE MEN OF GREECE.

 WHEN I reflect, O Emperor Constantine, and often revolve in my mind the
original condition of men, it is accustomed to appear alike wonderful
and unworthy that, by the folly of one age embracing various
superstitions, and believing in the existence of many gods, they
suddenly arrived at such ignorance of themselves, that the truth being
taken away from their eyes, the religion of the true God was not
observed, nor the condition of human nature, since men did not seek the
chief good in heaven, but on earth.  And on this account assuredly the
happiness of the ancient ages was changed.  For, having left God, the
parent and founder of all things, men began to worship the senseless
works(1) of their own hands.  And what were the effects of this
corruption, or what evils it introduced, the subject itself sufficiently
declares.  For, turning away from the chief good, which is blessed and
everlasting on this account, because it cannot be seen,(2) or touched,
or comprehended, and from the virtues which are in agreement with that
good, and which are equally immortal, gliding down to these corrupt and
frail gods, and devoting themselves to those things by which the body
only is adorned, and nourished, and delighted, they sought eternal death
for themselves, together with their gods and goods relating to the body,
because all bodies are subject to death.  Superstitions of this kind,
therefore, were followed by injustice and impiety, as must necessarily
be the case.  For men ceased to raise their countenances to the heaven;
but, their minds being depressed downwards, clung to goods of the earth,
as they did to earth-born superstitions.  There followed the
disagreement of mankind, and fraud, and all wickedness; because,
despising eternal and incorruptible goods, which alone ought to be
desired by man, they rather chose temporal and short-lived things, and
greater trust was placed by men in evil, inasmuch as they preferred vice
to virtue, because it had presented itself as nearer at hand.(3)

 Thus human life, which in former ages had been occupied with the
clearest light, was overspread with gloom and darkness; and in
conformity with this depravity, when wisdom was taken away, then at
length men began to claim for themselves the name of wise.  For at the
time when all were wise, no one was called by that name.  And would that
this name, once common to all the class, though reduced to a few, still
retained its power!  For those few might perhaps be able, either by
talent, or by authority, or by continual exhortations, to free the
people from vices and errors.  But so entirely had wisdom died out, that
it is evident, from the very arrogance of the name, that no one of those
who were so called was really wise.  And yet, before the discovery of
this philosophy, as it is termed, there are said to have been seven,(4)
who, because they ventured to inquire into and discuss natural subjects,
deserved to be esteemed and called wise men.

 O wretched and calamitous age, in which through the whole world there
were only seven who were called by the name of men, for no one can
justly be called a man unless he is wise!  But if all the others besides
themselves were foolish, even they themselves were not wise, because no
one can be truly wise in the judgment of the foolish.  So far were they
removed from wisdom, that not even afterwards, when learning increased,
and many and great intellects were always intent upon this very subject,
could the

102

truth be perceived and ascertained.  For, after the renown of those
seven wise men, it is incredible with how great a desire of inquiring
into the truth all Greece was inflamed.  And first of all, they
thought(1) the very name of wisdom arrogant, and did not call themselves
wise men, but desirous of wisdom.  By which deed they both condemned
those who had rashly arrogated to themselves the name of wise men, of
error and folly, and themselves also of ignorance, which indeed they did
not deny.  For wherever the nature of the subject had, as it were, laid
its hands upon their minds, so that they were unable to give any
account, they were accustomed to testify that, they knew nothing, and
discerned nothing.

Wherefore they are found to be much wiser, who in some degree saw
themselves, than those who had believed that they were wise.

CHAP. II.--WHERE WISDOM IS TO BE FOUND; WHY PYTHAGORAS AND PLATO DID NOT
APPROACH THE JEWS.

 Wherefore, if they were not wise who were so called, nor those of later
times, who did not hesitate to confess their want of wisdom, what
remains but that wisdom is to be sought elsewhere, since it has not been
found where it was sought.  But what can we suppose to have been the
reason why it was not found, though sought with the greatest earnestness
and labour by so many intellects, and during so many ages, unless it be
that philosophers sought for it out of their own limits?  And since they
traversed and explored all parts, but nowhere found any wisdom, and it
must of necessity be somewhere, it is evident that it ought especially
to be sought there where the title of folly(2) appears; under the
covering of which God hides the treasury of wisdom and truth, lest the
secret of His divine work should be exposed to view.(3) Whence I am
accustomed to wonder that, when Pythagoras, and after him Plato,
inflamed with the love of searching out the truth, had penetrated as far
as to the Egyptians, and Magi, and Persians, that they might become
acquainted with their religious rites and institutions (for they
suspected that wisdom was concerned with religion), they did not
approach the Jews only, in whose possession alone it then was, and to
whom they might have gone more easily.  But I think that they were
turned away from them by divine providence, that they might not know the
truth, because it was not yet permitted for the religion of the true God
and righteousness to become known to men of other nations.(4) For God
had determined, as the last time drew near,(5) to send from heaven a
great leader,(6) who should reveal to foreign nations that which was
taken away from a perfidious(7) and ungrateful people.  And I will
endeavour to discuss the subject in this book, if I shall first have
shown that wisdom is so closely united with religion, that the one
cannot be separated from the other.

CHAP. III.--WISDOM AND RELIGION CANNOT BE SEPARATED: THE LORD OF NATURE
MUST NECESSARILY BE THE FATHER OF EVERY ONE.

 The worship of the gods, as I have taught in the former book, does not
imply wisdom; not only because it gives up man, who is a divine animal,
to earthly and frail things, but because nothing is fixed in it which
may avail for the cultivation of the character and the framing of the
life; nor does it contain any investigation of the truth, but only the
rite of worship, which does not consist in the service of the mind, but
in the employment of the body.  And therefore that is not to be deemed
true religion, because it instructs and improves men by no precepts of
righteousness and virtue.  Thus philosophy, inasmuch as it does not
possess true religion, that is, the highest piety, is not true wisdom.
For if the divinity which governs this world supports mankind with
incredible beneficence, and cherishes it as with paternal indulgence,
wishes truly that gratitude should be paid, and honour given to itself,
man cannot preserve his piety if he shall prove ungrateful for the
heavenly benefits; and this is certainly not the part of a wise man.
Since, therefore, as I have said, philosophy and the religious system of
the gods are separated, and far removed from each other; seeing that
some are professors of wisdom, through whom it is manifest that there is
no approach to the gods, and that others are priests of religion,
through whom wisdom is not learned; it is manifest that the one is not
true wisdom, and that the other is not true religion.  Therefore I
philosophy was not able to conceive the truth, nor was the religious
system of the gods able to give an account of itself, since it is
without it.

 But where wisdom is joined by an inseparable connection with religion,
both must necessarily be true; because in our worship we ought to be
wise, that is, to know the proper object and mode of worship, and in our
wisdom to worship, that is, to complete our knowledge by deed and
action.

 Where, then, is wisdom joined with religion?  There, indeed, where the
one God is worshipped, where life and every action is referred to one

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source, and to one supreme authority: in short, the teachers of wisdom
are the same, who are also the priests of God.(1) Nor, however, let it
affect any one, because it often has happened, and may happen, that some
philosopher may undertake a priesthood of the gods; and when this
happens, philosophy is not, however, joined with religion; but
philosophy will both be unemployed amidst sacred rites, and religion
will be unemployed when philosophy shall be treated of.  For that system
of religious rites is dumb, not only because it relates to gods who are
dumb, but also because its observance is by the hand and the fingers,
not by the heart and tongue, as is the case with ours, which is true.
Therefore religion is contained in wisdom, and wisdom in religion.  The
one, then, cannot be separated from the other; because wisdom is nothing
else but the worship of the true God with just and pious adoration.  But
that the worship of many gods is not in accordance with nature, may be
inferred and conceived even by this argument: that every god who is
worshipped by man must, amidst the solemn rites and prayers, be invoked
as father, not only for the sake of honour, but also of reason; because
he is both more ancient than man, and because he affords life, safety,
and sustenance, as a father does.  Therefore Jupiter is called father by
those who pray to him, as is Saturnus, and Janus, and Liber, and the
rest in order; which Lucilius(2) laughs at in the council of the gods:
"So that there is none of us who is not called excellent father of the
gods; so that father Neptunus, Liber, father Saturnus, Mars, Janus,
father Quirinus, are called after one name."  But if nature does not
permit that one man should have many fathers (for he is produced from
one only), therefore the worship of many gods is contrary to nature, and
contrary to piety.

 One only, therefore, is to be worshipped, who can truly be called
Father.  He also must of necessity be Lord, because as He has power to
indulge, so also has He power to restrain.  He is to be called Father on
this account, because He bestows upon us many and great things; and Lord
on this account, because He has the greatest power of chastising and
punishing.  But that He who is Father is also Lord, is shown even by
reference to civil law.(3) For who will be able to bring up sons, unless
he has the power of a lord over them?  Nor without reason is he called
father of a household,(4) although he only has sons: for it is plain
that the name of father embraces also slaves(5), because "household"
follows; and the name of "household" comprises also sons, because the
name of "father" precedes: from which it is evident, that the same
person is both father of his slaves s and lord of his sons.  Lastly, the
son is set at liberty as if he were a slave; and the liberated slave
receives the name(6) of his patron, as if he were a son.  But if a man
is named father of a household, that it may appear that he is possessed
of a double power, because as a father he ought to indulge, and as a
lord to restrain, it follows that he who is a son is also a slave, and
that he who is a father is also a lord.  As, therefore, by the necessity
of nature, there cannot be more than one father, so there can only be
one lord.  For what will the slave do if many lords(7) shall give
commands at variance with each other?  Therefore the worship of many
gods is contrary to reason and to nature, since there cannot be many
fathers or lords; but it is necessary to consider the gods both as
fathers and lords.

 Therefore the truth cannot be held where the same man is subject to
many fathers and lords, where the mind, drawn in different directions to
many objects, wanders to and fro, hither and thither.  Nor can religion
have any firmness, when it is without a fixed and settled dwelling-
place.  Therefore there can be no true worship of many gods; just as
that cannot be called matrimony, in which one woman has many husbands,
but she will either be called a harlot or an adulteress.  For when a
woman is destitute of modesty, chastity, and fidelity, she must of
necessity be without virtue.  Thus also the religious system of the gods
is unchaste and unholy, because it is destitute of faith, for that
unsettled and uncertain honour has no source or origin.

CHAP. IV.--OF WISDOM LIKEWISE, AND RELIGION, AND OF THE RIGHT OF FATHER
AND LORD.

 By these things it is evident how closely connected are wisdom and
religion.  Wisdom relates to sons, and this relation requires love;
religion to servants, and this relation requires fear.  For as the
former are bound to love and honour their father, so are the latter
bound to respect and venerate their lord.  But with respect to God, who
is one only, inasmuch as He sustains the twofold character both of
Father and Lord, we are bound both to love Him, inasmuch as we are sons,
and to fear Him, inasmuch

104

as we are servants.(1) Religion, therefore, cannot be divided from
wisdom, nor can wisdom be separated from religion; because it is the
same God, who ought to be understood, which is the part of wisdom, and
to be honoured, which is the part of religion.  But wisdom precedes,
religion follows; for the knowledge of God comes first, His worship is
the result of knowledge.  Thus in the two names there is but one
meaning, though it seems to be different in each case.  For the one is
concerned with the understanding, the other with action.  But, however,
they resemble two streams flowing from one fountain.  But the fountain
of wisdom and religion is God; and if these two streams shall turn aside
from Him, they must be dried up: for they who are ignorant of Him cannot
be wise or religious.

 Thus it comes to pass that philosophers, and those who worship many
gods, either resemble disinherited sons or runaway slaves, because the
one do not seek their father, nor the other their master.  And as they
who are disinherited do not attain to the inheritance of their father,
nor runaway slaves impunity, so neither will philosophers receive
immortality, which is the inheritance of the heavenly kingdom, that is,
the chief good, which they especially seek; nor will the worshippers of
gods escape the penalty of everlasting death, which is the punishment of
the true Master against those who are deserters(2) of His majesty and
name.  But that God is Father and also Lord was unknown to both, to the
worshippers of the gods as well as to the professors of wisdom
themselves: inasmuch as they either thought that nothing at all was to
be worshipped; or they approved of false religions or, although they
understood the strength and power of the Supreme God (as Plato, who says
that there is one God, Creator of the world, and Marcus Tullius, who
acknowledges that man has been produced by the Supreme God in an
excellent condition), nevertheless they did not render the worship due
to Him as to the supreme Father, which was their befitting and necessary
duty.  But that the gods cannot be fathers or lords, is declared not
only by their multitude, as I have shown above,(3) but also by reason:
because it is not reported that man was made by gods, nor is it found
that the gods themselves preceded the origin of man, since it appears
that there were men on the earth before the birth of Vulcan, and Liber,
and Apollo, and Jupiter himself.  But the creation of man is not
accustomed to be assigned to Saturnus, nor to his father Coelus.

 But if none of those who are worshipped is said to have originally
formed and created man, it follows that none of these can be called the
father of man, and so none of them can be God.  Therefore it is not
lawful to worship those by whom man was not produced, for he could not
be produced by many.  Therefore the one and only God ought to be
worshipped, who was before Jupiter, and Saturnus, and Coelus himself,
and the earth.  For He must have fashioned man, who, before the creation
of man, finished the heaven and the earth.  He alone is to be called
Father who created us; He alone is to be considered Lord who rules, who
has the true and perpetual power of life and death.  And he who does not
adore Him is a foolish servant, who flees from or does not know his
Master; and an undutiful son, who either hates or is ignorant of his
true Father.

CHAP. V.--THE ORACLES OF THE PROPHETS MUST BE LOOKED INTO; AND OF THEIR
TIMES, AND THE TIMES OF THE JUDGES AND KINGS.

 Now, since I have shown that wisdom and religion cannot be separated,
it remains that we speak of religion itself, and wisdom.  I am aware,
indeed, how difficult it is to discuss heavenly subjects; but still the
attempt must be ventured, that the truth may be made clear and brought
to light, and that many may be freed from error and death, who despise
and refuse the truth, while it is concealed under a covering of folly.
But before I begin to speak of God and His works, I must first speak a
few things concerning the prophets, whose testimony I must now use,
which I have refrained from doing in the former books.  Above all
things, he who desires to comprehend the truth ought not only to apply
his mind to understand the utterances of the prophets, but also most
diligently to inquire into the times during which each one of them
existed, that he may know what future events they predicted, and after
how many years their predictions were fulfilled.(4) Nor is there any
difficulty in making these computations; for they testified under what
king each of them received the inspiration of the Divine Spirit.  And
many have written and published books respecting the times, making their
commencement from the prophet Moses, who lived about seven hundred years
before the Trojan war.  But he, when he had governed the people for
forty years, was succeeded by Joshua, who held the chief place twenty-
seven years.

 After this they were under the government of judges during three
hundred anti seventy years.

105

Then their condition was changed, and they began to have kings; and when
they had ruled during four hundred and fifty years, until the reign of
Zedekiah, the Jews having been besieged by the king of Babylon, and
carried into captivity,(1) endured a long servitude, until, in the
seventieth year afterwards, the captive Jews were restored to their own
lands and settlements by Cyrus the elder, who attained the supreme power
over the Persians, at the time when Tarquinius Superbus reigned at Rome.
Wherefore, since the whole series of times may be collected both from
the Jewish histories and from those of the Greeks and Romans, the times
of the prophets individually may also be collected; the last of whom was
Zechariah, and it is agreed on that he prophesied in the time of King
Darius, in the second year of his reign, and in the eighth month.  Of so
much greater antiquity(2) are the prophets found to be than the Greek
writers.  And I bring forward all these things, that they may perceive
their error who endeavour to refute Holy Scripture, as though it were
new and recently composed, being ignorant from what fountain the origin
of our holy religion flowed.  But if any one, having put together arid
examined the times, shall duly lay the foundation of learning, and fully
ascertain the truth, he will also lay aside his error when he has gained
the knowledge of the truth.

CHAP. VI.--ALMIGHTY GOD BEGAT HIS SON; AND THE TESTIMONIES OF THE SIBYLS
AND OF TRISMEGISTUS CONCERNING HIM.

 God, therefore, the contriver and founder of all things, as we have
said in the second hook, before He commenced this excellent work of the
world, begat a pure and incorruptible Spirit, whom He called His Son.
And although He had afterwards created by Himself innumerable other
beings, whom we call angels, this first-begotten, however, was the only
one whom He considered worthy of being called by the divine name, as
being pewerful in His Father's excellence and majesty.  But that there
is a Son of the Most High God, who is possessed of the greatest power,
is shown not only by the unanimous utterances of the prophets, but also
by the declaration of Trismegistus and the predictions of the Sibyls.
Hermes, in the book which is entitled The Perfect Word, made use of
these words: "The Lord and Creator of all things, whom we have thought
right to call God, since He made the second God visible and sensible.
But I use the term sensible, not because He Himself perceives (for the
question is not

whether He Himself perceives), but because He leads(3) to perception and
to intelligence.  Since, therefore, He made Him first, and alone, and
one only, He appeared to Him beautiful, and most full of all good
things; and He hallowed Him, and altogether loved Him as His own Son."
The Erythraean Sibyl, in the beginning of her poem, which she commenced
with the Supreme God, proclaims the Son of God as the leader and
commander of all, in these verses:--

"The nourisher and creator of all things, who placed the sweet breath in
all, and made God the leader of all."

And again, at the end of the same poem:--

 "But whom God gave for faithful men to honour."

And another Sibyl enjoins that He ought to be known:--

 "Know Him as your God, who is the Son of God."

Assuredly He is the very Son of God, who by that most wise King Solomon,
full of divine inspiration, spake these things which we have added:(4)
"God founded(5) me in the beginning of His ways, in His work before the
ages.  He set me up in the beginning, before He made the earth, and
before He established the depths, before the fountains of waters came
forth: the Lord begat me before all the hills; He made the regions, and
the uninhabitable(6) boundaries under the heaven.  When He prepared the
heaven, I was by Him: and when He separated His own seat, when He made
the strong clouds above the winds, and when He strengthened the
mountains, and placed them under heaven; when He laid the strong
foundations of the earth, I was with Him arranging all things.  I was He
in whom He delighted: I was daily delighted, when He rejoiced, the world
being completed."  But on this account Trismegistus spoke of Him as "the
artificer of God," and the Sibyl calls Him "Counsellor," because He is
endowed by God the Father with such wisdom and strength, that God
employed both His wisdom and hands in the creation of the world.

CHAP. VII.--OF THE NAME OF SON, AND WHENCE HE IS CALLED JESUS AND
CHRIST.

 Some one may perhaps ask who this is who is so powerful, so beloved by
God, and what name He has, who was not only begotten at first before the
world,(7) but who also arranged it by His

106

wisdom and constructed it by His might.  First of all, it is befitting
that we should know that His name is not known even to the angels who
dwell in heaven, but to Himself only, and to God the Father; nor will
that name be published, as the sacred writings relate, before that the
purpose of God shall be fulfilled.  In the next place, we must know that
this name cannot be uttered by the mouth of man, as Hermes teaches,
saying these things: "Now the cause of this cause is the will of the
divine good which produced God, whose name cannot be uttered by the
mouth of man."  And shortly afterwards to His Son: "There is, O Son, a
secret word of wisdom, holy respecting the only Lord of all things, and
the God first perceived(1) by the mind, to speak of whom is beyond the
power of man."  But although His name, which the supreme Father gave Him
from the beginning, is known to none but Himself, nevertheless He has
one name among the angels, and another among men since He is called
Jesus(2) among men: for Christ is not a proper name, but a title of
power and dominion; for by this the Jews were accustomed to call their
kings.  But the meaning of this name must be set forth, on account of
the error of the ignorant, who by the change of a letter are accustomed
to call Him Chrestus.(3) The Jews had before been directed to compose a
sacred oil, with which those who were called to the priesthood(4) or to
the kingdom might be anointed.  And as now the robe of purple(5) is a
sign of the assumption of royal dignity among the Romans, so with them
the anointing with the holy oil conferred the title and power of king.
But since the ancient Greeks used the word <greek>kriesqai</greek> to
express the art of anointing, which they now express by
<greek>aleifesqai</greek>, as the verse of Homer shows,

 "But the attendants washed, and anointed(6) them with oil;"

on this account we call Him Christ, that is, the Anointed, who in Hebrew
is called the Messias.  Hence in some Greek writings, which are badly
translated(7) from the Hebrew, the word eleimmenos(8) is found written,
from the word aleiphesthai,(9) anointing.  But, however, by either name
a king is signified: not that He has obtained this earthly kingdom, the
time for receiving which

has not yet arrived, but that He sways a heavenly and eternal kingdom,
concerning which we shall speak in the last book.  But now let us speak
of His first nativity.

CHAP. VIII.--OF THE BIRTH OF JESUS IN THE SPIRIT AND IN THE FLESH: OF
SPIRITS AND THE TESTIMONIES OF PROPHETS.

 For we especially testify that He was twice born, first in the spirit,
and afterwards in the flesh.  Whence it is thus spoken by Jeremiah:(10)
"Before I formed Thee in the womb I knew Thee."  And likewise by the
same: "Who was blessed before He was born;"(11) which was the case with
no one else but Christ.  For though He was the Son of God from the
beginning,(12) He was born again(13) a second time(14) according to the
flesh: and this twofold birth of His has introduced great terror into
the minds of men, and overspread with darkness even those who retained
the mysteries of true religion.  But we will show this plainly and
clearly, that they who love wisdom may be more easily and diligently
instructed.  He who hears the Son of God mentioned ought not to conceive
in his mind so great impiety as to think that God begat Him by marriage
and union with a woman, which none does but an animal possessed of a
body, and subject to death.  But with whom could God unite Himself,
since He is alone?  or since His power was so great, that He
accomplished whatever He wished, assuredly He did not require the co-
operation .s of another for procreation.  Unless by chance we shall
[profanely] imagine, as Orpheus supposed, that God is both male and
female, because otherwise He would have been unable to beget, unless He
had the power of each sex, as though He could have intercourse with
Himself, or without such intercourse be unable to produce.

 But Hermes also was of the same opinion, when he says that He was "His
own father," and "His own mother."(16) But if this were so, as He is
called by the prophets father, so also He would be called mother.  In
what manner, then, did He beget Him?  First of all, divine operations
cannot be known or declared(17) by any one; but nevertheless the sacred
writings teach us, in which it is laid down(18) that this Son of God is
the speech, or even the reason(19) of God, and also

107

that the other angels are spirits(1) of God.  For speech is breath sent
forth with a voice signifying something.  But, however, since breath and
speech are sent forth from different parts, inasmuch as breath proceeds
from the nostrils, speech from the mouth, the difference between the Son
of God and the other angels is great.  For they proceeded from God as
silent spirits, because they were not created to teach(2) the knowledge
of God, but for His service.  But though He is Himself also a spirit,
yet He proceeded from the mouth of God with voice and sound, as the
Word, on this account indeed, because He was about to make use of His
voice to the people; that is, because He was about to be a teacher of
the knowledge of God, and of the heavenly mystery(3) to be revealed to
man: which word also God Himself first spoke, that through Him He might
speak to us, and that He might reveal to us the voice and will of God.

 With good reason, therefore, is He called the Speech and the Word of
God, because God, by a certain incomprehensible energy and power of His
majesty, enclosed the vocal spirit proceeding from His mouth, which he
had not conceived in the womb, but in His mind, within a form which has
life through its own perception and wisdom, and He also fashioned other
spirits of His into angels.  Our spirits(4) are liable to dissolution,
because we are mortal: but the spirits of God both live, and are
lasting, and have perception; because He Himself is immortal, and the
Giver both of perception(5) and life.  Our expressions, although they
are mingled with the air, and fade away, yet generally remain comprised
in letters; how much more must we believe that the voice of God both
remains for ever, and is accompanied with perception and power, which it
has derived from God the Father, as a stream from its fountain!  But if
any one wonders that God could be produced from God by a putting forth
of the voice and breath, if he is acquainted with the sacred utterances
of the prophets he will cease to wonder.  That Solomon and his father
David were most powerful kings, and also prophets, may perhaps be known
even to those who have not applied themselves to the sacred writings;
the one of whom, who reigned subsequently to the other, preceded the
destruction of the city of Troy by one hundred and forty years.  His
father, the writer of sacred hymns, thus speaks in the thirty-second
Psalm:(6) "By the word of God we, re the heavens made firm; and all
their power(7) by the breath of His mouth."  And also again in the forty
-fourth Psalm:(8) "My heart hath given utterance to a good word; I speak
of my doings towards the king;" testifying, in truth, that the works of
God are known to no other than to the Son alone, who is the Word of God,
and who must reign for ever.  Solomon also shows that it is the Word of
God, and no other,(9) by whose hands these works of the world were made.
"I," He says, "came forth out of the mouth of the Most High before all
creatures: I caused the light that faileth not to arise in the heavens,
and covered the whole earth with a cloud.  I have dwelt in the height,
and my throne is in the pillar of the cloud."(10) John also thus taught:
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God.  The same was in the beginning with God.  All things were made
by Him, and without Him was not anything made."(11)

CHAP. IX.--OF THE WORD OF GOD.

 But the Greeks speak of Him as the Logos,(12) more befittingly than we
do as the word, or speech: for Logos signifies both speech and reason,
inasmuch as He is both the voice and the wisdom of God.  And of this
divine speech not even the philosophers were ignorant, since Zeno
represents the Logos as the arranger of the established order of things,
and the framer of the universe: whom also He calls Fate, and the
necessity of things, and God, and the soul of Jupiter, in accordance
with the custom, indeed, by which they are wont to regard Jupiter as
God.  But the words are no obstacle, since the sentiment is in agreement
with the truth.  For it is the spirit of God which he named the soul of
Jupiter.  For Trismegistus, who by some means or other searched into
almost all truth, often described the excellence and majesty of the
word, as the instance before mentioned declares, in which he
acknowledges that there is an ineffable and sacred speech, the relation
of which exceeds the measure of man's ability.  I have spoken briefly,
as I have been able, concerning the first nativity.  Now I must more
fully discuss the second, since this is the subject most controverted,
that we may hold forth the light of understanding to those who desire to
know the truth.

108

CHAP. X.--OF THE ADVENT OF JESUS; OF THE FORTUNES OF THE JEWS, AND THEIR
GOVERNMENT, UNTIL THE PASSION OF THE LORD.

 In the first place, then, men ought to know that the arrangements of
the Most High God have so advanced from the beginning, that it was
necessary, as the end of the world(1) approached, that the Son of God
should descend to the earth, that He might build a temple for God, and
teach righteousness; but, however, not with the might of an angel or
with heavenly power, but in the form of man and in the condition of a
mortal, that when He had discharged the office of His ministry,(2) He
might be delivered into the hands of wicked men, and might undergo
death, that, having subdued this also by His might, He might rise again,
and bring to man, whose nature He had put on(3) and represented, the
hope of overcoming death, and might admit him to the rewards of
immortality.  And that no one may be ignorant of this arrangement, we
will show that all things were foretold which we see fulfilled in
Christ.  Let no one believe our assertion unless I shall show that the
prophets before a long series of ages published that it should come to
pass at length that the Son of God should be born as a man, and perform
wonderful deeds, and sow(4) the worship of God throughout the whole
earth, and at last be crucified, and on the third day rise again.  And
when I shall have proved all these things by the writings of those very
men who treated with violence their God who had assumed a mortal body,
what else will prevent it from being manifest that true wisdom is
conversant with this religion only?  Now the origin of the whole mystery
is to be related.

 Our ancestors,(5) who were chiefs of the Hebrews, when they were
distressed by famine and want, passed over into Egypt, that they might
obtain a supply of corn; and sojourning there a long time, they were
oppressed with an intolerable yoke of slavery.  Then God pitied them,
and led them out, and freed them from the hand of the king of the
Egyptians, after four hundred and thirty(6) years, under the leadership
of Moses, through whom the law was afterwards given to them by God; and
in this leading out God displayed the power of His majesty.  For He made
His people to pass through the midst of the Red

Sea, His angel(7) going before and dividing the water, so that the
people might walk over the dry land, of whom it might more truly be said
(as the poet says(8)), that "the wave, closing over him after the
appearance of a mountain, stood around him."  And when he heard of this,
the tyrant of the Egyptians followed with this great host of his men,
and rashly entering the sea which still lay open, was destroyed,
together with his whole army, by the waves returning(9) to their place.
But the Hebrews, when they had entered into the wilderness, saw many
wonderful deeds.  For when they suffered thirst, a rock having been
struck with a rod, a fountain of water sprung forth and refreshed the
people.  And again, when they were hungry, a shower(10) of heavenly
nourishment descended.  Moreover, also, the wind(11) brought quails into
their camp, so that they were not only satisfied with heavenly bread,
but also with more choice banquets.  And yet, in return for these divine
benefits, they did not pay honour to God; but when slavery had been now
removed from them, and their thirst and hunger laid aside, they fell
away into luxury, and transferred their minds to the profane rites of
the Egyptians.  For when Moses, their leader, had ascended into the
mountain, and there tarried forty days, they made the head(12) of an ox
in gold, which they call Apis,(13) that it might go before them as a
standard.(14) With which sin and crime God was offended, and justly
visited the impious and ungrateful people with severe punishments, and
made them subject to the law(15) which He had given by Moses.

 But afterwards, when they had settled in a desert part of Syria, the
Hebrews(16) lost their ancient name; and since the leader of their
host(17) was Judas, they were called Jews,(18) and the land which they
inhabited Judaea.  And at

109

first, indeed, they were not subject to the dominion of Kings, but civil
Judges presided over the people and the law: they were not, however,
appointed only for a year, as the Roman consuls, but supported by a
perpetual jurisdiction.  Then, the name of Judges being taken away, the
kingly power was introduced.  But during the government of the Judges
the people had often undertaken corrupt religious rites; and God,
offended by them, as often brought them into bondage to n strangers,
until again, softened by the repentance of the people, He freed them
from bondage.  Likewise under the Kings, being oppressed by wars with
their neighbours on account of their iniquities, and at last taken
captive and led to Babylon, they suffered punishment for their impiety
by oppressive slavery, until Cyrus came to the kingdom, who immediately
restored the Jews by an edict.  Afterwards they had tetrarchs until the
time of Herod, who was in the reign of Tiberius Caesar; in whose
fifteenth year, in the consulship of the two Gemini, on the 23d of
March,(1) the Jews crucified Christ.  This series of events, this order,
is contained in the secrets of the sacred writings.  But I will first
show for what reason Christ came to the earth, that the foundation and
the system of divine religion may be manifest.

 CHAP. XI.--OF THE CAUSE OF THE INCARNATION OF CHRIST.

 When the Jews often resisted wholesome precepts, and departed from the
divine law, going astray to the impious worship of false gods, then God
filled just and chosen men with the Holy Spirit, appointing them as
prophets in the midst of the people, by whom He might rebuke with
threatening words the sins of the ungrateful people, and nevertheless
exhort them to repent of their wickedness; for unless they did this,
and, laying aside their vanities, return to their God, it would come to
pass that He would change His covenant,(2) that is, bestow(3) the
inheritance of eternal life upon foreign nations, and collect to Himself
a more faithful people out of those who were aliens(4) by birth.  But
they, when rebuked by the prophets, not only rejected their words; but
being offended because they were upbraided for their sins, they slew the
prophets themselves with studied(5) tortures: all which things are
sealed up and preserved in the sacred writings.  For the prophet
Jeremiah says:(6) "I

sent to you my servants the prophets; I sent them before the morning
light; but ye did not hearken, nor incline your ears to hear, when I
spake unto you: let every one of you turn from his evil way, and from
your most corrupt affections; and ye shall dwell in the land which I
gave to you and to your fathers for ever.(7) Walk ye not after strange
gods, to serve them; and provoke me not to anger with the works of your
hands, that I should destroy you."  The prophet Ezra(8) also, who was in
the times of the same Cyrus by whom the Jews were restored, thus speaks:
They rebelled against Thee, and cast Thy law behind their backs, and
slew Thy prophets which testified against them, that they might turn
unto Thee."

 The prophet Elias also, in the third book of Kings:(9) "I have been
very jealous(10) for the Lord God of hosts, because the children of
Israel have forsaken Thee, thrown down Thine altars, and slain Thy
prophets with the sword; and I only am left, and they seek my life to
take it away."  On account of these impieties of theirs He cast them off
for ever;(11) and so He ceased to send to them prophets.  But He
commanded His own Son, the first-begotten,(12) the maker of all things,
His own counsellor, to descend from heaven, that He might transfer the
sacred religion of God to the Gentiles,(13) that is, to those who were
ignorant of God, and might teach them righteousness, which the
perfidious people had cast aside� And He had long before threatened that
He would do this, as the prophet Malachi(14) shows, saying: "I have no
pleasure in you, saith the Lord, and I will not accept an offering from
your hands; for from the rising of the sun even unto its setting, my
name shall be great(15) among the Gentiles."  David also in the
seventeenth Psalm(16) says: "Thou wilt make me the head of the heathen;
a people whom I have not known shall serve me" Isaiah(17) also thus
speaks: "I come to gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come
and see my glory; and I will send among them a sign, and I will send
those that escape of them unto the nations which are afar off, which
have not heard my fame; and they shall declare my glory among

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the Gentiles."  Therefore, when God wished to send to the earth one who
should measure(1) His temple, He was unwilling to send him with heavenly
power and glory, that the people who had been ungrateful towards God
might be led into the greatest error, and suffer punishment for their
crimes, since they had not received their Lord and God, as the prophets
had before foretold that it would thus happen.  For Isaiah whom the Jews
most cruelly slew, cutting him asunder with a saw,(2) thus speaks:(3)
"Hear, O heaven; and give ear, O earth: for the Lord hath spoken, I have
begotten sons, and lifted(4) them up on high, and they have rejected me.
The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's stall; but Israel
hath not known, my people has not understood."  Jeremiah also says, in
like manner:(5) "The turtle and the swallow hath known her time, and the
sparrows of the field have observed(6) the tithes of their coining: but
my people have not known the judgment of the Lord.  How do you say, We
are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us?  The meting out(7) is in
vain; the scribes are deceived and confounded: the wise men are dismayed
and taken, for they have rejected the word of the Lord."

 Therefore (as I had begun to say), when God had determined to send to
men a teacher of righteousness, He commanded Him to be born again a
second time in the flesh, and to be made in the likeness of man himself,
to whom he was about to be a guide, and companion, and teacher.  But
since God is kind and merciful(8) to His people, He sent Him to those
very persons whom He hated,(9) that He might not close the way of
salvation against them for ever, but might give them a free opportunity
of following God, that they might both gain the reward of life if they
should follow Him (which many of them do, and have done), and that they
might incur the penalty of death by their fault if they should reject
their King.  He ordered Him therefore to be born again among them, and
of their seed, lest, if He should be born of another nation, they might
be able to allege a just excuse from the law for their rejection of Him;
and at the same time, that there might be no nation at all under heaven
to which the hope of immortality should be denied.

CHAP. XII.--OF THE BIRTH OF JESUS FROM THE VIRGIN; OF HIS LIFE, DEATH,
AND RESURRECTION, AND THE TESTIMONIES OF THE PROPHETS RESPECTING THESE
THINGS.

 Therefore the Holy Spirit of God, descending from heaven, chose the
holy Virgin, that He might enter into her womb.(10) But she, I being
filled by the possession(11) of the Divine Spirit, conceived; and
without any intercourse with a man, her virgin womb was suddenly
impregned.  But if it is known to all that certain animals are
accustomed to conceive(12) by the wind and the breeze, why should any
one think it wonderful when we say that a virgin was made fruitful by
the Spirit of God, to whom whatever He may wish is easy?  And this might
have appeared incredible, had not the prophets many ages previously
foretold its occurrence.  Thus Solomon speaks:(13) "The womb of a virgin
was strengthened, and conceived; and a virgin was made fruitful, and
became a mother in great pity."  Likewise the prophet Isaiah,(14) whose
words are these: "Therefore God Himself shall give you a sign: Behold, a
virgin shall conceive, and bear a son; and ye shall call His name
Emmanuel."  What can be more manifest than this?  This was read by the
Jews, who denied Him.  If any one thinks that these things are invented
by us, let him inquire of them, let him take especially from them: the
testimony is sufficiently strong to prove the truth, when it is alleged
by enemies themselves, But He was never called Emmanuel, but Jesus, who
in Latin is called Saving, or Saviour,(15) because He comes bringing
salvation to all nations.  But by this name the prophet declared that
God incarnate was about to come to men.  For Emmanuel signifies God with
us; because when He was born of a virgin, men ought to confess that God
was with them, that is, on the earth and in mortal flesh.  Whence
David(16) says in the eighty-fourth Psalm, "Truth has sprung out of the
earth;" because God, in whom is truth, hath taken a body of earth, that
He might open a way of salvation to those of the earth.  In like manner
Isaiah also:(17) "But they disbelieved, and vexed His Holy

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Spirit; and He was turned to be their enemy.  And He Himself fought
against them, and He remembered the days of old,(1) who raised up from
the earth a shepherd of the sheep."  But who this shepherd was about to
be, he declared in another place,(2) saying: "Let the heavens rejoice,
and let the clouds put on righteousness; let the earth open, and put
forth a Saviour.  For I the Lord have begotten Him."  But the Saviour
is, as we have said before, Jesus.  But in another place the same
prophet also thus proclaimed:(3) "Behold, unto us a child is born, unto
us a Son is given, whose dominion is upon His shoulders, and His name is
called Messenger of great counsel."  For on this account He was sent by
God the Father, that He might reveal to all the nations which are under
heaven the sacred mystery of the only true God, which was taken away
from the perfidious people, who ofttimes sinned against God.  Daniel
also foretold similar things:(4) "I saw," he said, "in a vision of the
night, and, behold, one like the Son of man coming with the clouds of
heaven, and He came even to the Ancient of days.  And they who stood by
brought Him near(5) s before Him.  And there was given unto Him a
kingdom, and glory, and dominion; and all people, tribes, and languages
shall serve Him: and His dominion is everlasting, which shall never pass
away, and His kingdom shall not be destroyed."  How then do the Jews
both confess and expect the Christ of God?  who rejected Him on this
account, because He was born of man.  For since it is so arranged by God
that the same Christ should twice come to the earth, once to announce to
the nations the one God, then again to reign, why do they who did not
believe in His first advent believe in the second?

 But the prophet comprises both His advents in few words.  Behold, he
says, one like the Son of man coming with the clouds of heaven.  He did
not say, like the Son of God, but the Son of man, that he might show
that He had(6) to be clothed with flesh on the earth, that having
assumed the form of a man and the condition of mortality, He might teach
men righteousness; and when, having completed the commands of God, He
had revealed the truth to the nations, He might also suffer death, that
He might overcome and lay open(7) the other world also, and thus at
length rising again, He might proceed to His Father borne aloft on a
cloud.(8) For the prophet said in addition: And came even to the Ancient
of days, and was presented to Him.  He called the Most High God the
Ancient of days, whose age and origin cannot be comprehended; for He
alone was from generations, and He will be always to generations.(9) But
that Christ, after His passion and resurrection, was about to ascend to
God the Father, David bore witness in these words in the cixth
Psalm:(10) "The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou at my right hand, until
I make Thine enemies Thy footstool."  Whom could this prophet, being
himself a king, call his Lord, who sat at the right hand of God, but
Christ the Son of God, who is King of kings and Lord of lords?  And this
is more plainly shown by Isaiah,(11) when he says: "Thus saith the Lord
God to my Lord Christ, whose right hand I have holden; I will subdue
nations before Him, and will break the strength of kings.  I will open
before Him gates, and the cities shall not be closed.  I will go before
Thee, and will make the mountains level; and I will break in pieces the
gates of brass, and shatter the bars of iron; and I will give Thee the
hidden and invisible treasures, that Thou mayest know that I am the Lord
God, which call Thee by Thy name, the God of Israel."  Lastly, on
account of the goodness and faithfulness which He displayed towards God
on earth, there was given to Him a kingdom, and glory, and dominion; and
all people, tribes, and languages shall serve Him; and His dominion is
everlasting, and that which shall never pass away, and His kingdom shall
not be destroyed.  And this is understood in two ways: that even

 now He has an everlasting dominion, when all nations and all languages
adore His name, confess His majesty, follow His teaching, and imitate
His goodness: He has power and glory, in that all tribes of the earth
obey His precepts.  And also, when He shall come again with majesty and
glory to judge every soul, and to restore the righteous to life, then He
shall truly have the government of the whole earth: then, every evil
having been removed from the affairs of men, a golden age (as the poets
call it), that is, a time of righteousness and peace, will arise.  But
we will speak of these things more fully in the last book, when we shall
speak of His second advent; now let us treat of His first advent, as we
began.

CHAP. XIII.--OF JESUS, GOD AND MAN; AND THE TESTIMONIES OF THE PROPHETS
CONCERNING HIM.

 Therefore the Most High God, and Parent of all, when He had purposed to
transfer(12) His

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religion, sent from heaven a teacher of righteousness, that in Him or
through Him He might give a new law to new worshippers; not as He had
before done, by the instrumentality of man.  Nevertheless it was His
pleasure that He should be born as a man, that in all things He might be
like His supreme Father� For God the Father Himself, who is the origin
and source of all things, inasmuch as He is without parents, is most
truly named by Trismegistus "fatherless" and "motherless,"(1) because He
was born from no one.  For which reason it was befitting that the Son
also should be twice born, that He also might become "fatherless" and
"motherless."  For in His first nativity, which was spiritual, He was
"motherless," because He was begotten by God the Father alone, without
the office of a mother.  But in His second, which was in the flesh, He
was born of a virgin's womb without the office of a father, that,
bearing a middle substance between God and man, He might be able, as it
were, to take by the hand this frail and weak nature of ours, and raise
it to immortality.  He became both the Son of God through the Spirit,
and the Son of man through the flesh,--that is, both God and man.  The
power of God was displayed in Him, from the works which He performed;
the frailty of the man, from the passion which He endured: on what
account He undertook it I will mention a little later.  In the meantime,
we learn from the predictions of the prophets that He was both God and
man-- composed(2) of both natures.  Isaiah testifies that He was God in
these words:(3) "Egypt is wearied,(4) and the merchandise of Ethiopia,
and the Sabaeans, men of stature, shall come over unto Thee, and shall
be Thy servants: and they shall walk behind Thee; in chains they shall
fall down unto Thee, and shall make supplication unto Thee, Since God is
in Thee, and there is no other God besides Thee.  For Thou art God, and
we knew Thee not, the God of lsrael, the Savour.  They shall all be
confounded and ashamed who oppose Thee, and shall fall into confusion."
In like manner the prophet Jeremiah(5) thus speaks: "This is our God,
and there shall none other be compared unto Him.  He hath found out all
the way of knowledge, and hath given it unto Jacob His servant, and to
Israel His beloved.  Afterward He was seen upon earth, and dwelt among
men."  David also, in the forty-fourth Psalm:(6) "Thy throne, O God, is
for ever and ever; a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of Thy
kingdom.  Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated wickedness l
therefore God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness."
By which word he also shows His name, since (as I have shown above) He
was called Christ from His anointing.  Then, that He was also man,
Jeremiah teaches, saying:(7) "And He is a man, and who hath known Him?"
Also Isaiah:(8) "And God shall send to them a man, who shall save them,
shall save them by judging."  But Moses also, in Numbers,(9) thus
speaks: "There shall arise a star out of Jacob, and a man(10) shall
spring forth from Israel."  On which account the Milesian Apollo,(11)
being asked whether He was God or man, replied in this manner: "He was
mortal as to His body, being wise with wondrous works; but being taken
with arms under Chaldean judges, with nails and the cross He endured a
bitter end."  In the first verse he spoke the truth, but he skilfully
deceived him who asked the question, who was entirely ignorant of the
mystery of the truth.  For he appears to have

 denied that He was God.  But when he acknowledges that He was mortal as
to the flesh, which we also declare, it follows that as to the spirit He
was God, which we affirm.  For why would it have been necessary to make
mention of the flesh, since it was sufficient to say that He was mortal?
But being pressed by the truth, he could not deny the real state of the
case; as that which he says, that He was wise.

 What do you reply to this, Apollo?  If he is wise, then his system of
instruction is wisdom, and no other; and they are wise who follow it,
and no others.  Why then are we commonly esteemed as foolish, and
visionary, and senseless, who follow a Master who is wise even by the
confession of the gods themselves?  For in that he said that He wrought
wonderful deeds, by which He especially claimed faith is His divinity,
he now appears to assent to us, when he says the same things in which we
boast.  But, however, he recovers himself, and again has recourse to
demoniacal frauds.  For when he had been compelled to speak the truth,
he now appeared to be a betrayer of the gods and of himself, unless he
had, by a deceptive falsehood, concealed that which the truth had
extorted from him.  He says, therefore, that He did indeed perform won-

113

derful works, yet not by divine power, but by magic.  What wonder if
Apollo thus persuaded men ignorant of the truth, when the Jews also,
worshippers (as they seemed to be) of the Most High God, entertained the
same opinion, though they had every day before their eyes those mira-
cles which the prophets had foretold to them as about to happen, and yet
they could not be induced by the contemplation of such powers to believe
that He whom they saw was God?  On this account, David, whom they
especially read above the other prophets, in the twenty-seventh Psalm(1)
thus condemns them: "Render to them their desert, because they regard
not the works of the Lord."  Both David himself and other prophets
announced that of the house of this very David, Christ should be born
according to the flesh.  Thus it is written in Isaiah:(2) "And in that
day there shall be a root of Jesse, and He who shall arise to rule over
the nations, in Him shall the Gentiles trust; and His rest shall be
glorious."  And in another place:(3) "There shall come forth a rod out
of the stem of Jesse, and a blossom(4) shall grow out of his root; and
the Spirit of God shall rest upon Him, the spirit of wisdom and
understanding, the spirit of counsel and of might, the spirit of
knowledge and of piety; and He shall be filled(5) with the spirit of
fear of the Lord."  Now Jesse was the father of David, from whose root
he foretold that a blossom would arise; namely him of whom the Sibyl
speaks, "A pure blossom shall spring forth."

 Also in the second book of Kings, the prophet Nathan was sent to David,
who wished to build a temple for God; and this was the word of the Lord
to Nathan, saying:(6) "Go and tell my servant David, Thus saith the Lord
Almighty, Thou shall not build me a house for me to dwell in; but when
thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will
raise up thy seed after thee, and I will establish His kingdom.  He
shall build me a house for my name, and I will set up His throne for
ever; and I will be to Him for a father, and He shall be to me for a
son; and His house shall be established,(7) and His kingdom for ever."
But the reason why the Jews did not understand these things was this,
because Solomon the son of David built a temple for God, and the city
which he called from his own name, Jerusalem.(8) Therefore they referred
the predictions of the prophets to him.  Now Solomon received the
government of the kingdom from his father himself.  But the prophets
spoke of Him who was then born after that David had slept with his
fathers.  Besides, the reign of Solomon was not everlasting; for he
reigned forty years.  In the next place, Solomon was never called the
son of God, but the son of David; and the house which he built was not
firmly established,(9) as the Church, which is the true temple of God,
which does not consist of walls, but of the heart(10) and faith of the
men who believe on Him, and are called faithful.  But that temple of
Solomon, inasmuch as it was built by the hand, fell by the hand.
Lastly, his father, in the cxxvith Psalm, prophesied in this manner
respecting the works of his son:(11) "Except the Lord build the house,
they have laboured in vain that built it; except the Lord keep the city,
the watchman hath waked but in vain."

CHAP. XIV.--OF THE PRIESTHOOD OF JESUS FORE-

TOLD BY THE PROPHETS.

 From which things it is evident that all the prophets declared
concerning Christ, that it should come to pass at some time, that being
born with a body(12) of the race of David, He should build an eternal
temple in honour of God, which is called the Church, and assemble all
nations to the true worship of God.  This is the faithful house, this is
the everlasting temple; and if any one hath not sacrificed in this, he
will not have the reward of immortality.  And since Christ was the
builder of this great and eternal temple, He must also have an
everlasting priesthood in it; and there can be no approach to the shrine
of the temple, and to the sight of God, except through Him who built the
temple.  David in the cixth Psalm teaches the same, saying:(13) "Before
the morning-star I begat Thee.  The Lord hath sworn, and will not
repent; Thou art a priest for ever, after the order of Melchisedec."
Also in the first book of Kings:(14) "And I will raise me up a faithful
Priest, who shall do all things that are in mine heart; and I will build
him a sure(15) house; and he shall walk in my sight(16) all his days."
But who this was about to be, to whom God promised an everlasting
priesthood, Zechariah most plainly teaches, even mentioning His
name:(17) "And the Lord God showed

114

me Jesus(1) the great Priest standing before the face of the angel of
the Lord, and the adversary(2) was standing at His right hand to resist
Him.  And the Lord said unto the adversary, The Lord who hath chosen
Jerusalem rebuke thee; and lo, a brand plucked out of the fire.  And
Jesus was clothed with filthy garments, and He was standing before the
face of the angel.  And He answered and spake unto those that stood
around before His face, saying, Take away the filthy garments from Him,
and clothe Him with a flowing(3) garment, and place a fair mitre(4) upon
His head; and they clothed Him with a garment, and placed a fair mitre
upon His head.  And the angel of the Lord stood, and protested, saying
to Jesus: Thus saith the Lord of hosts, If Thou wilt walk in my ways,
and keep my precepts, Thou shalt judge my house, and I will give Thee
those that may walk with Thee in the midst of these that stand by.
Hear, therefore, O Jesus, Thou great Priest."

 Who, therefore, would not believe that the Jews were then deprived of
understanding, who, when they read and heard these things, laid impious
hands upon their God?  But from the time in which Zechariah lived, until
the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, in which Christ was
crucified, nearly five hundred years are reckoned; since he flourished
in the time of Darius and Alexander,(5) who lived not long after the
banishment of Tarquinius Superbus.  But they were again misled and
deceived in the same manner, in supposing that these things were spoken
concerning Jesus(6) the son of Nave, who was the successor of Moses, or
concerning Jesus the high priest the son of Josedech; to whom none of
those things which the prophet related was suited.  For they were never
clothed in filthy garments, since one of them was a most powerful
prince, and the other high priest; or suffered any adversity, so that
they should be regarded as a brand plucked from the fire: not did they
ever stand in the presence of God and the angels; nor did the prophet
speak of the past so much as of the future.  He spoke, therefore, of
Jesus the Son of God, to show that He would first come in humility and
in the flesh.  For this is the filthy garment, that He might prepare a
temple for God, and might be scorched(7) as a brand with fire--that is,
might endure tortures from men, and at last be extinguished.  For a haft
-burnt brand drawn forth from the hearth and extinguished, is commonly
so called,(8) But in

 what manner and with what commands He was sent by God to the earth, the
Spirit of God declared through the prophet, teaching us that when

 He had faithfully and uniformly fulfilled the will of His supreme
Father, He should receive judgment(9) and an everlasting dominion.  If,
He

says, Thou wilt walk in my ways, and keep my precepts, then Thou shalt
judge my house.  What these ways of God were, and what His precepts, is
neither doubtful nor obscure.  For God, when He saw that wickedness and
the worship of false gods had so prevailed throughout the world, that
His name had now also been taken away from the memory of men (since even
the Jews, who alone had been entrusted with the secret of God, had
deserted the living God, and, ensared by the deceits of demons, had gone
astray, and turned aside to the worship of images, and when rebuked by
the prophets did not choose to return to God), He sent His Son(10) as an
ambassador to men, that He might turn them from their impious and vain
worship to the knowledge and worship of the true God; and also that He
might turn their minds from foolishness to wisdom, and from wickedness
to deeds of righteousness.  These are the ways of God, in which He
enjoined Him to walk.  These are the precepts which He ordered to be
observed.  But He exhibited faith towards God.  For He taught that there
is but one God, and that He alone ought to be worshipped.  Nor did He at
any time say that He Himself was God; for He would not have maintained
His faithfulness, if, when sent to abolish the false gods, and to assert
the existence of the one God, He had introduced another besides that
one.  This would have been not to proclaim one God, nor to do the work
of Him who sent Him, but to discharge a peculiar office for Himself, and
to separate Himself from Him whom He came to reveal.  On which account,
because He was so faithful, because He arrogated nothing at all to
Himself, that He might fulfil the commands of Him who sent Him, He
received the dignity of everlasting Priest, and the honour of supreme
King, and the authority of Judge, and the name of God.

CHAP. XV.--OF THE LIFE AND MIRACLES OF JESUS, AND TESTIMONIES CONCERNING
THEM.

 Having spoken of the second nativity, in which, He showed Himself in
the flesh to men, let us come to those wonderful works, on account of

115

which, though they were signs of heavenly power, the Jews esteemed Him a
magician.  When He first began to reach maturity(1) He was baptized by
the prophet John in the river Jordan, that He might wash(2) away in the
spiritual layer not His own sins, for it is evident that He had none,
but those of the flesh,(3) which He bare; that as He saved the Jews by
undergoing circumcision, so He might save the Gentiles also by baptism--
that is, by the pouring forth(4) of the purifying dew.  Then a voice
from heaven was heard: " Thou art my Son, to-day have I begotten
Thee."(5) Which voice is found to have been foretold by David.  And the
Spirit of God descended upon Him, formed after the appearance of a white
dove.(6) From that time He began to perform the greatest miracles, not
by magical tricks, which display nothing true and substantial, but by
heavenly strength and power, which were foretold even long ago by the
prophets who announced Him; which works are so many, that a single book
is not sufficient to comprise them all.  I will therefore enumerate them
briefly and generally, without any designation of persons and places,
that I may be able to come to the setting forth of His passion and
cross, to which my discourse has long been hastening.  His powers were
those which Apollo called wonderful:(7) that wherever He journeyed, by a
single word, and in a single moment, He healed the sick and infirm, and
those afflicted with every kind of disease: so that those who were
deprived of the use of all their limbs, having suddenly received power,
were strengthened, and themselves carried their couches, on which they
had a little time before been carried.  But to the lame, and to those
afflicted with some defect(8) of the feet, He not only gave the power of
walking, but also of running.  Then, also, if any had their eyes blinded
in the deepest darkness, He restored them to their former sight.  He
also loosened the tongues of the dumb, so that(9) they discoursed and
spoke eloquently.  He also opened the ears of the deaf, and caused them
to hear;(10) He cleansed the polluted and the blemished.(11) And He
performed all these things not by His hands, or the application of any
remedy,(12) but by His word and command, as also the Sibyl had foretold:

 "Doing all things by His word, and healing every disease."

 Nor, indeed, is it wonderful that He did wonderful things by His word,
since He Himself was the Word of God, relying upon heavenly strength and
power.  Nor was it enough that He gave strength to the feeble, soundness
of body to the maimed, health to the sick and languishing, unless He
also raised the dead, as it were unbound from sleep, and recalled them
to life.

 And the Jews, then, when they saw these things, contended that they
were done by demoniacal power, although it was contained in their secret
writings that all things should thus come to pass as they did.  They
read indeed the words of other prophets, and of Isaiah,(13) saying: "Be
strong, ye hands that are relaxed; and ye weak knees, be comforted.  Ye
who are of a fearful(14) heart, fear not, be not afraid: our Lord shall
execute judgment; He Himself shall come and save us.  Then shall the
eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall hear: then
shall the lame man leap as a deer, and the tongue of the dumb speak
plainly:(15) for in the wilderness water hath broken forth, and a stream
in the thirsty land."  But the Sibyl also foretold the same things in
these verses:--

"And there shall be a rising again of the dead; and the course of the
lame shall be swift, and the deaf shall hear, and the blind shall
see,the dumb shall speak."

On account of these powers and divine works wrought by Him when a great
multitude followed Him of the maimed, or sick, or of those who desired
to present their sick to be healed, He went up into a desert mountain to
pray there.  And when He had tarried there three days, and the people
were suffering from hunger, He called His disciples, and asked what
quantity of food(16) they had with them.  But they said that they had
five loaves and two fishes in a wallet.  Then He commanded that these
should be brought forward, and that the multitude, distributed by
riffles, should recline an the ground.  When the disciples did this, He
Himself broke the bread in pieces, and divided the flesh of the fishes,
and in His hands both of them were increased.  And when He had ordered
the disciples to set them before the people, five thousand men were
satisfied, and moreover twelve baskets(17) were filled from the
fragments which remained.  What can be more wonderful, either in
narration or in ac-

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lion?  But the Sibyl had before foretold that it would take place, whose
verses are related to this effect:--

 "With five loaves at the same time, and with two fishes, He
shallsatisfy five thousand men in the wilderness; And afterwards taking
allthe fragments that remain, He shall fill twelve baskets to the hope
ofmany."

I ask, therefore, what the art of magic could have contrived in this
case, the skill of which is of avail for nothing else than for
deceiving(1) the eves?  He also, when He was about to retire to a
mountain, as He was wont, for the sake of prayer, directed His disciples
to take a small ship and go before Him.  But they, setting out when
evening was now coming on, began to be distressed(2) through a contrary
wind.  And when they were now in the midst of the sea,(3) then, setting
His feet on the sea,(4) He came up to them, walking as though on the
solid ground,(5) not as the poets fable Orion walking on the sea, who,
while a part of his body was sunk in the water,

 "With his shoulder rises above the waves."(6)

And again, when He had gone to sleep in the ship, and the wind had begun
to rage, even to the extremity of danger, being aroused from sleep, He
immediately ordered the wind to be silent; and the waves, which were
borne with great violence, were still, and immediately at His word there
followed a calm.

 But perhaps the sacred writings(7) speak falsely, when they teach that
there was such power in Him, that by His command He compelled the winds
to obey, the seas to serve Him, diseases to depart, the dead to be
submissive.  Why should I say that the Sibyls before taught the same
things in their verses?  one of whom, already mentioned, thus speaks:--

 "He shall still the winds by His word, and calm the

 sea

 As it rages, treading with feet of peace and in faith."

And again another, which says:--

 "He shall walk on the waves, He shall release men

 from disease.

 He shall raise the dead, and drive away many pains;

 And from the bread of one wallet there shall be a satisfying of men."

Some, refuted by these testimonies, are accustomed to have recourse to
the assertion that these poems were not by the Sibyls, but made up and
composed by our own writers.  But he will assuredly not think this who
has read Cicero,(8) and Varro, and other ancient writers, who make
mention of the Erythraean and the other Sibyls, from whose books we
bring forward these examples; and these authors died before the birth of
Christ according to the flesh.  But I do not doubt that these poems were
in former times regarded as ravings, since no one then understood them.
For they announced some marvellous wonders, of which neither the manner,
nor the time, nor the author was signified.  Lastly, the Erythraean
Sibyl says that it would come to pass that she would be called mad and
deceitful.  But assuredly

 "They will say that the Sibyl

Is mad, and deceitful: but when all things shall come

 to pass,

Then ye will remember me; and no one will any longer

Say that I, the prophetess of the great God, am mad."

Therefore they were(9) neglected for many ages; but they received
attention after the nativity and passion of Christ had revealed secret
things.  Thus it was also with the utterances of the prophets, which
were read by the people of the Jews for fifteen hundred years and more,
but yet were not understood until after Christ had explained(10) them
both by His word and by His works.  For the prophets spoke of Him; nor
could the things which they said have been in any way understood, unless
they had been altogether fulfilled.

CHAP. XVI.--OF THE PASSION OF JESUS CHRIST;

THAT IT WAS FORETOLD.

 I come now to the passion itself, which is often cast in our teeth as a
reproach:(11) that we worship a man, and one who was visited and
tormented with remarkable punishment: that I may show that this very
passion was undergone by Him in accordance with a great and divine plan,
and that goodness and truth and wisdom are contained in it alone.  For
if He had been most happy on the earth, and had reigned through all His
life in the greatest prosperity, no wise man would either have believed
Him to be a God, or judged Him worthy of divine honour: which is the
case with those who are destitute of true divinity, who not only look
up(12) to perishable riches, and frail power, and the advantages arising
from the benefit of another, but even consecrate them, and knowingly do
service to the memory of the dead, worshipping fortune when it is now
extinguished, which the wise never regarded as an object of worship even
when alive and present with them.  For nothing among earthly things can
be venerable and worthy of heaven; but it is virtue alone, and justice

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 alone, which can be judged a true and heavenly, and perpetual good,
because it is neither given to any one, nor taken away.  And since
Christ came upon earth, supplied with virtue and righteousness, yea
rather, since He Himself is virtue and Himself righteousness, He
descended that He might teach it and mould the character of man.  And
having performed this office and embassy from God, on account of this
very virtue which He at once taught and practised, He deserved, and was
able, to be believed a God by all nations.  Therefore, when a great
multitude from time to time flocked to Him, either on account of the
righteousness which He taught or on account of the miracles which He
worked, and heard His precepts, and believed that He was sent by God,
and that He was the Son of God, then the rulers and priests of the Jews,
excited with anger because they were rebuked by Him as sinners, and
perverted by envy, because, while the multitude flocked to Him, they saw
themselves despised and deserted, and (that which was the crowning point
of their guilt) blinded by folly and error, and unmindful of the
instructors sent from heaven, and of the prophets, they caballed against
Him, and conceived the impious design of putting Him to death, and
torturing Him: of which the prophets had long before written.

 For both David, in the beginning of his Psalms, foreseeing in spirit
what a crime they were about to commit, says,(1) "Blessed is the man who
hath not walked in the way of the ungodly;" and Solomon in the book of
Wisdom used these words:(2) "Let us defraud the righteous, for he is
unpleasant to us, and upbraideth us with our offences against the law.
He maketh his boast that he has the knowledge of God; and he calleth
himself the Son of God.  He is made to reprove(3) our thoughts: it
grieveth us even to look upon him: for his life is not like the life of
others; his ways are of another fashion.(4) We are counted by him as
triflers,(5) he withdraweth himself from our ways as from filthiness; he
commendeth greatly(6) the latter end of the just, and boasteth that he
has God for his Father.  Let us see, therefore, if his words be true;
let us prove what end(7) he shall have let us examine him with rebukes
and torments that we may know his meekness,(8) and prove his patience;
let us condemn him to a shameful death.  Such things have they imagined,
and have gone astray.  For their own folly hath blinded them, and they
do not understand the mysteries(9) of God."  Does he not describe that
impious design entered into by the wicked against God, so that he
clearly appears to have been present?  But from Solomon, who foretold
these things, to the time of their accomplishment, ten hundred and ten
years intervened.  We feign nothing; we add nothing.  They who performed
the actions had these accounts; they, against whom these things were
spoken, read them.  But even now the inheritors of their name and guilt
have these accounts, and in their daily readings re-echo their own
condemnation as foretold by the voice of the prophets; nor do they ever
admit them into their heart, which is also itself a part of their
condemnation.  The Jews, therefore, being often reproved by Christ, who
upbraided them with their sins and iniquities, and being almost deserted
by the people, were stirred up to put Him to death.

 Now His humility emboldened them to this deed.  For when they read with
what great power and glory the Son of God was about to descend from
heaven, but on the other hand saw Jesus humble, peaceful, of low
condition,(10) without comeliness, they did not believe that He was the
Son of God, being ignorant that two advents on His part were foretold by
the prophets: the first, obscure in humility of the flesh; the other,
manifest in the power of His majesty.  Of the first David thus speaks in
the seventy-first Psalm:(11) "He shall descend as rain upon a fleece;
and in His days shall righteousness spring forth, and abundance of
peace, as long as the moon is lifted up."  For as rain, if it descends
upon a fleece, cannot be perceived, because it makes no sound; so he
said that Christ would come to the earth without exciting the notice(12)
of any, that He might teach righteousness and peace.  Isaiah also thus
spoke:(13) "Lord, who bath believed our report?  and to whom is the arm
of the Lord revealed?  We made proclamation(14) before Him as children,
and as a root in a thirsty land: He has no form nor glory; and we saw
Him, and He had no form nor comeliness.  But His form was without
honour, and defective beyond the rest of men.  He is a man
acquainted(15) with grief, and knowing how to endure infirmity, because
He turned(16) His face away from us; and He was not esteemed.  He

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carries our sins, and He endures pain for us: and we thought that He
Himself(1) was in pain and grief, and vexation.  But He was wounded for
our transgressions, He was bruised(2) for our offences; the
chastisement(3) of our peace was upon Him, by His bruises(4) we are
healed.  All we like sheep have gone astray, and God hath delivered Him
up for our sins."  And in the same manner the Sibyl spoke: "Though an
object of pity, dishonoured, without form, He will give hope to those
who are objects of pity."  On account of this humility they did not
recognise their God, and entered into the detestable design of depriving
Him of life, who had come to give them life.

CHAP. XVII.--OF THE SUPERSTITIONS OF THE JEWS, AND THEIR HATRED AGAINST
JESUS.

 But they alleged other causes for their anger and envy, which they bore
shut up s within in their hearts--namely, that He destroyed the
obligation(6) of the law given by Moses; that is, that He did not
rest(7) on the Sabbath, but laboured for the good s of men; that He
abolished circumcision; that He took away the necessity of abstaining
from the flesh of swine;(9)--in which things the mysteries of the Jewish
religion consist.  On this account, therefore, the rest of the people,
who had not yet withdrawn(10) to Christ, were incited by the priests to
regard Him as impious, because He destroyed the obligation of the law of
God, though He did this not by His own judgment, but according to the
will of God, and after the predictions of the prophets.  For Micah
announced that He would give a new law, in these terms:(11) "The law
shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.  And He
shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations."(12) For the
former law, which was given by Moses, was not given on Mount Zion, but
on Mount Horeb;(13) and the Sibyl shows that it would come to pass that
this law would be destroyed by the Son of God:--

"But when all these things which I told you shall be accomplished,
thenall the law is fulfilled with respect to Him."

But even Moses himself, by whom the law was given which they so
tenaciously maintain, though they have fallen away from God, and have
not acknowledged God, had foretold that it would come to pass that a
very great prophet would be sent by God, who should be above the law,
and be a bearer of the will of God to men.  In Deuteronomy he thus left
it written:(14) "And the Lord said unto me, I will raise them up a
Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee; and I will put my
word in His month, and He shall speak unto them all that I shall command
Him.  And whosoever will not hearken to those things which that Prophet
shall speak in my name, I will require(15) it of him."  The Lord
evidently announced by the law-giver himself that He was about to send
His own Son-that is, a law alive, anti present(16) in person, and
destroy that old law given by a mortal,(17) that by Him who was eternal
He might ratify afresh a law which was eternal.

 In like manner, Isaiah(18) thus prophesied concerning the abolition of
circumcision: "Thus saith the Lord to the men of Judah who dwell at
Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.
Circumcise yourselves to the Lord your God, and take away the foreskins
of your heart, lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can
quench it."  Also Moses himself says:(19) "In the last days the Lord
shall circumcise thine heart to love the Lord thy God."  Also Jesus(20)
the son of Nun, his successor, said: "And the Lord said unto Jesus, Make
thee knives of flint very sharp, and sit and circumcise the children of
Israel the second time."  He said that this second circumcision would be
not of the flesh, as the first was, which the Jews practise even now,
but of the heart and spirit, which was delivered by Christ, who was the
true Jesus.  For the prophet does not say, "And the Lord said unto me,"
but "unto Jesus," that he might show that God was not speaking of him,
but of Christ, to whom God was then speaking.  For that Jesus
represented(21) Christ: for when he was at first called Auses,(22)
Moses, foreseeing the future, ordered that he should be called Jesus;
that since he had been chosen as the leader of the warfare

119

against Amalek, who was the enemy of the children of Israel, he might
both subdue the adversary by the emblem(1) of the name, and lead the
people into the land of promise.  And for this reason he was also
successor to Moses, to show that the new law given by Christ Jesus was
about to succeed to the old law which was given by Moses.  For that
circumcision of the flesh is plainly irrational; since, if God had so
willed it, He might so have formed man from the beginning, that he
should be without a foreskin.  But it was a figure of this second
circumcision, signifying that the breast is to be laid bare; that is,
that we ought to live with an open and simple heart, since that part of
the body which is circumcised has a kind of resemblance to the heart,
and is to be treated with reverence.  On this account God ordered that
it should be laid bare, that by this argument He might admonish us not
to have our breast hidden(2) in obscurity; that is, not to veil any
shameful deed within the secrets of conscience.  This is the
circumcision of the heart of which the prophets speak, which God
transferred from the mortal flesh to the soul, which alone is about to
endure.  For being desirous of promoting our life and salvation in
accordance with His own goodness, in that circumcision He hath set
before us repentance, that if we lay open our hearts,--that is if we
confess our sins and make satisfaction to God,--we shall obtain pardon,
which is denied to those who are obstinate and conceal their faults, by
Him who regards not the outward appearance, as man does, but the
innermost secrets of the heart.(3)

 The forbidding of the flesh of swine also has the same intention; for
when God commanded them to abstain from this, He willed that this should
be especially understood, that they should abstain from sins and
impurities.  For this animal is filthy and unclean,(4) and never looks
up to heaven,(5) but prostrates itself to the earth with its whole body
and face: it is always the slave of its appetite and food; nor during
its life can it afford any other service, as the other animals do, which
either afford a vehicle for riding,(6) or aid in the cultivation of the
fields, or draw waggons by their neck, or carry burthens on their back,
or furnish a covering with their skins,(7) or abound with a supply of
milk, or keep watch for guarding our houses.  Therefore He forbade them
to use the flesh of the pig for food, that is, not to imitate the life
of swine, which are nourished only for death; lest, by devoting
themselves to their appetite and pleasures, they should be useless for
working righteousness, and should be visited with death.  Also that they
should not immerse themselves in foul lusts, as the sow, which wallows
in the mire;(8) of that they do not serve earthly images, and thus
defile themselves with mud: for they do bedaub themselves with mud who
worship gods, that is, who worship mud and earth.  Thus all the precepts
of the Jewish law have for their object the setting forth of
righteousness, since they are given in a mysterious(9) manner, that
under the figure of carnal things those which are spiritual might be
known.

CHAP, XVIII.--OF THE LORD'S PASSION, AND THAT

IT WAS FORETOLD.

 When, therefore, Christ fulfilled these things which God would have
done, and which He foretold many ages before by His prophets, incited by
these things, and ignorant of the sacred Scriptures, they conspired
together to condemn their God.  And though He knew that this would come
to pass, and repeatedly(10) said that He must suffer and be put to death
for the salvation of many, nevertheless He withdrew Himself with His
disciples, not that He might avoid that which it was necessary for Him
to undergo and endure, but that He might show what ought to take place
in every persecution, that no one should appear to have fallen into it
through his own fault: and He announced that it would come to pass that
He should be betrayed by one of them.  And thus Judas, induced by a
bribe, delivered up to the Jews the Son of God.  But they took and
brought Him before Pontius Pilate, who at that time was administering
the province of Syria as governor,(11) and demanded that He should be
crucified, though they laid nothing else to His charge except that He
said that He was the Son of God, the King of the Jews; also His own
saying,(12) "Destroy this temple, which was forty-six years in building,
and in three days I will raise it up again without hands,"

120

--signifying that His passion would shortly take place, and that He,
having been put to death by the Jews, would rise again on the third day.
For He Himself was the true temple of God.  They inveighed against these
expressions of His, as ill-omened and impious.  And when Pilate had
heard these things, and He said nothing in His own defence, he gave
sentence that there appeared nothing deserving of condemnation in Him.
But those most unjust accusers, together with the people whom they had
stirred up, began to cry out, and with loud voices to demand His
crucifixion.

 Then Pontius(1) was overpowered both by their outcries, and by the
instigation of Herod the tetrarch,(2) who feared lest he should be
deposed from his sovereignty.  He did not, however, himself pass
sentence, but delivered Him up to the Jews, that they themselves might
judge Him according to their law.(3) Therefore they led Him away when He
had been scourged with rods, and before they crucified Him they mocked
Him; for they put upon Him a scarlet(4) robe, and a crown of thorns, and
saluted Him as King, and gave Him gall for food, and mingled for Him
vinegar to drink.  After these things they spat upon His face, and
struck Him with the palms of their hands; and when the executioners s
themselves contended about His garments, they cast lots among themselves
for His tunic and mantle.(6) And while all these things were doing, He
uttered no voice from His mouth, as though He were dumb.  Then they
lifted Him up in the midst between two malefactors, who had been
condemned for robbery, and fixed Him to the cross.  What can I here
deplore in so great a crime?  or in what words can I lament such great
wickedness?  For we are not relating the crucifixion of Gavius,(7) which
Marcus Tullius followed up with all the spirit and strength of his
eloquence, pouring forth as it were the fountains of all his genius,
proclaiming that it was an unworthy deed that a Roman citizen should be
crucified in violation of all laws.  And although He was innocent, and
undeserving of that punishment, yet He was put to death, and that, too,
by an impious man, who was ignorant of justice.  What shall I say
respecting the indignity of this cross, on which the Son of God was
suspended and nailed?(8) Who will be found so eloquent, and supplied
with so great an abundance of deeds and words, what speech flowing with
such copious exuberance,(9) as to lament in a befitting manner that
cross, which the world itself, and all the elements of the world,
bewailed?

 But that these things were thus about to happen, was announced both by
the utterances of the prophets and by the predictions of the Sibyls.  In
Isaiah it is found thus written:(10) "I am not rebellious, nor do I
oppose: I gave my back to the scourge, and my cheeks to the hand:(11) I
turned not away my face from the foulness of spitting."  In like manner
David, in the thirty-fourth Psalm:(12) "The abjects(13) were gathered
together against me,(14) and they knew me not:(15) they were dispersed,
nor did they feel remorse; they tempted me, and greatly(16) derided me;
and they gnashed upon me with their teeth."  The Sibyl also showed that
the same things would happen:--

"He shall afterwards come into the hands of the unjust and the
faithless;and they shall inflict on God blows with impure hands, and
withpolluted mouths they shall send forth poisonous spittle; and He
shallthen absolutely(17) give His holy back to stripes."

Likewise respecting His silence, which He perseveringly maintained even
to His death, Isaiah thus spoke again:(18) "He was led as a sheep to the
slaughter; and as a lamb before the shearer is dumb, so He opened not
His mouth."  And the above-mentioned Sibyl said:--

"And being beaten, He shall be silent, lest any one should know what
theWord is, or whence it came, that it may speak with mortals; and
tieshall wear the crown of thorns."

But respecting the food and the drink which they offered to Him before
they fastened Him to the cross, David thus speaks in the sixty-eighth
Psalm:(19) "And they gave me gall for my meat;

121

and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink."  The Sibyl foretold
that this also would happen:--

"They gave me gall for my food, and for my thirst vinegar;
thisinhospitable table they will show."

And another Sibyl rebukes the land of Judges in these verses:--

"For you, entertaining hurtful thoughts, did not recognise your
Godsporting(1) with mortal thoughts; but crowned Him with a crown
ofthorns, and mingled dreadful gall."

Now, that it would come to pass that the Jews would lay hands upon their
God, and put Him to death, these testimonies of the prophets foretold.
In Esdras it is thus written:(2) "And Ezra said to the people, This
passover is our Saviour and our refuge.  Consider and let it come into
your heart, that we have to abase Him in a figure; and after these
things we will hope in Him, lest this place be deserted for ever, saith
the Lord God of hosts.  If you will not believe Him, nor hear His
announcement, ye shall be a derision among the nations."  From which it
appears that the Jews had no other hope, unless they purified themselves
from blood, and put their hopes in that very person whom they denied.(3)
Isaiah also points out their deed, and says:(4) "In His humiliation His
judgment was taken away.  Who shall declare His generation?  for His
life shall be taken away from the earth; from the transgressions of my
people He was led away to death.  And I will give Him the wicked for His
burial, and the rich for His death, because He did no wickedness, nor
spoke guile with His mouth.  Wherefore He shall obtain s many, and shall
divide the spoils of the strong; because He was delivered up to death,
and was reckoned among the transgressors; and He bore the sins of many,
and was delivered up on account of their transgressions."  David also,
in the ninety-third Psalm:(6) "They will hunt after the soul of the
righteous, and condemn the innocent blood; and the Lord is become my
refuge."  Also Jeremiah:(7) "Lord, declare it unto me, and I shall know.
Then I saw their devices; I was led as an innocent(8) lamb to the
sacrifice;(9) they meditated a plan against me, saying, Come, let us
send wood into his bread,(10) and let us sweep away his life from the
earth, and his name shall no more be remembered."  Now the wood(11)
signifies the cross, and the bread His body; for He Himself is the food
and the life of all who believe in the flesh which He bare, and on the
cross upon which He was suspended.

 Respecting this, however, Moses himself more plainly spoke to this
effect, in Deuteronomy:(12) "And Thy life shalL hang(13) before Thine
eyes; and Thou shall fear day and night, and shalt have no assurance of
Thy life."  And the same again in Numbers:(14) "God is not in doubt as a

suffer threats(15) as the son of man, nor does He man."  Zechariah also
thus wrote:(16) "And they shall look on me, whom they pierced."  Also
David in the twenty-first Psalm:(17) "They pierced my hands and my feet;
they numbered all my bones; they themselves looked and stared upon me;
they divided my garments among them; and upon my vesture they did cast
lots."  It is evident that the prophet did not speak these things
concerning himself.  For he was a king, and never endured these
sufferings; but the Spirit of God, who was about to suffer these things,
after ten hundred and fifty years, spoke by him.  For this is the number
of years from the reign of David to the crucifixion of Christ.  But
Solomon also, his son, who built Jerusalem, prophesied that this very
city would perish in revenge for the sacred cross:(18) "But if ye turn
away from me, saith the Lord, and will not keep my truth, I will drive
Israel from the land which I have given them; and this house which I
have built for them in my name, I will cast it out from all:(19) and
lsrael shall be for perdition(20) and a reproach to the people; and this
house shall be desolate, and every one that shall pass by it shall be
astonished, and shall say, Why hath God done these evils to this land
and to this house?  And they shall say, Because they forsook the Lord
their God, and persecuted their King most beloved by God, and crucified
Him with great degradation,(21) therefore hath God brought upon them
these evils."

122

CHAP. XIX.--OF THE DEATH, BURIAL, AND RESURRECTION OF JESUS; AND THE
PREDICTIONS OF THESE EVENTS.

 What more can now be said respecting the crime of the Jews, than that
they were then blinded and seized with incurable madness, who read these
things daily, and yet neither understood them, nor were able to be on
their guard so as not to do them?  Therefore, being lifted up and nailed
to the cross, He cried to the Lord with a loud voice, and of His own
accord gave up His spirit.  And at the same hour there was an
earthquake; and the veil of the temple, which separated the two
tabernacles, was rent into two parts; and the sun suddenly withdrew its
light, and there was darkness from the sixth(1) even to the ninth hour.
Of which event the prophet Amos testifies:(2) "And it shall come to pass
in that day, saith the Lord, that the sun shall go down at noon, and the
daylight shall be darkened; and I will turn your feasts into mourning,
and your songs into lamentation."  Also Jeremiah:(3) "She who brings
forth is affrighted, and vexed in spirit; her sun is gone down while it
was yet mid-day; she hath been ashamed and confounded;(4) and the
residue of them will I give to the sword in the sight of their enemies."
And the Sibyl:--

"And the veil of the temple shall be rent, and at midday there shall
bedark vast night for three hours,"

When these things were done, even by the heavenly prodigies, they were
not able to understand their crime.

 But since He had foretold that on the third day He should rise again
from the dead, fearing lest, the body having been stolen by the
disciples, and removed, all should believe that He had risen, and there
should be a much greater disturbance among the people, they took Him
down from the cross, and having shut Him up in a tomb, they securely
surrounded it with a guard of soldiers.  But on the third day, before
light, there was an earthquake, and the sepulchre was suddenly opened;
and the guard, who were astonished and stupefied with fear, seeing
nothing, He came forth uninjured and alive from the sepulchre, and went
into Galilee to seek His disciples: but nothing was found in the
sepulchre except the grave-clothes in which they haft enclosed and wrapt
His body.  Now, that He would not remain in bell,(5) but rise again on
the third day, had been foretold by the prophets.  David says, in the
fifteenth Psalm:(6) "Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt
Thou suffer Thine holy one to see corruption."  Also in the third
Psalm:(7) "I laid me down to sleep, and took my rest, and rose again,
for the Lord sustained me."  Hosea also, the first of the twelve
prophets, testified of His resurrection:(8) "This my Son is wise,
therefore He will not remain in the anguish of His sons: and I will
redeem Him from the power(9) of the grave.  Where is thy judgment, O
death?  or where is thy sting?"  The same also in another place:(10)
"After two days, He will revive us in the third day."  And therefore the
Sibyl said, that after three days' sleep he would put an end to death:--

"And after sleeping three days, He shall put an end to the fate of
death;and then, releasing Himself from the dead, He shall come to
light,first showing to the called ones the beginning of the
resurrection."

For He gained life for us by overcoming death.  No hope, therefore, of
gaining immortality is given to than, unless he shall believe on Him,
and shall take up that cross to be borne and endured.

CHAP. XX.--OF THE DEPARTURE OF JESUS INTO GALILEE AFTER HIS
RESURRECTION; AND OF THE TWO TESTAMENTS, THE OLD AND THE NEW.

 Therefore He went into Galilee, for He was unwilling to show Himself to
the Jews, lest He should lead them to repentance, and restore them from
their impiety to a sound mind.(11) And there He opened to His disciples
again assembled the writings of Holy Scripture, that is, the secrets of
the prophets; which before His suffering could by no means be
understood, for they told of Him and of His passion.  Therefore Moses,
and the prophets also themselves, call the law which was given to the
Jews a testament: for unless the testator shall have died, a testament
cannot be confirmed; nor can that which is written in it be known,
because it is closed and sealed.  And thus, unless Christ had undergone
death the testament could not have been opened; that is, the mystery of
God could not have been unveiled(12) and understood.

 But all Scripture is divided into two Testaments.  That which preceded
the advent and passion of Christ--that is, the law and the prophets--is
called the Old; but those things which were written after His
resurrection are named the New Testament.  The Jews make use of the Old,
we of the New: but yet they are not discordant, for the New is the
fulfilling of the Old, and in both there is the same testator, even
Christ, who, having suffered death for us,

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made us heirs of His everlasting kingdom, the people of the Jews being
deprived and disinherited.(1) As the prophet Jeremiah testifies when he
speaks such things:(2) "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I
will make a new testament(3) to the house of Israel and the house of
Judah, not according to the testament which I made to their fathers, in
the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of
Egypt; for they continued not in my testament, and I disregarded(4)
them, saith the Lord."  Also in another place he says in like manner:(5)
"I have forsaken my house, I have given up mine heritage into the hand
of its enemies.  Mine heritage is become unto me as a lion in the
forest; it hath cried out against me, therefore have I hated it."  Since
the inheritance is His heavenly kingdom, it is evident that He does not
say that He hates the inheritance itself, but the heirs, who have been
ungrateful towards Him, and impious.  Mine heritage, he says, is become
unto me as a lion; that is, I am become a prey and a devouring to my
heirs, who have slain me as the flock.  It hath cried out against me;
that is, they have pronounced against me the sentence of death and the
cross.  For that which He said above, that He would make(6) a new
testament to the house of Judah, shows that the old testament which was
given by Moses was not perfect;(7) but that that which was to be given
by Christ would be complete.  But it is plain that the house of Judah
does not signify the Jews, whom He casts off, but us, who have been
called by Him out of the Gentiles, and have by adoption succeeded to
their place, and are called sons(8) of the Jews, which the Sibyl
declares when she says:--

"The divine race of the blessed, heavenly Jews."

But what that race was about to be, Isaiah teaches, in whose book the
Most High Father addresses His Son:(9) "I the Lord God have called Thee
in righteousness, and will hold Thine hand, and will keep Thee:(10) and
I have given Thee for covenant of my race,(11) for a light of the
Gentiles

to open the eyes of the blind, to bring out the prisoners from the
prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison-house."  When,
therefore, we who were in time past as it were blind, and as it were
shut up in the prison of folly, were sitting in darkness, ignorant of
God and of the truth, we have been enlightened by Him, who adopted us by
His testament; and having freed us from cruel chains, and brought us out
to the light of wisdom, He admitted us to the inheritance of His
heavenly kingdom.

CHAP. XXI.--OF THE ASCENSION OF JESUS, AND THE FORETELLING OF IT; AND OF
THE PREACHING AND ACTIONS OF THE DISCIPLES.

 But when He had made arrangements with His disciples for the preaching
of the Gospel and His name, a cloud suddenly surrounded Him, and carried
Him up into heaven, on the fortieth day after His passion, as Daniel bad
shown that it would be, saying:(12) "And, behold, one like the Son of
man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days."
But the disciples, being dispersed through the provinces, everywhere
laid the foundations of the Church, themselves also in the name of their
divine(13) Master doing many and almost incredible miracles; for at His
departure He had endowed them with power and strength, by which the
system(14) of their new announcement might be founded and confirmed.
But He also opened to them all things which were about to happen, which
Peter and Paul preached at Rome; and this preaching being written for
the sake of remembrance,(15) became permanent, in which they both
declared other wonderful things, and also said that it was about to come
to pass, that after a short time God would send against them a king who
would subdue(16) the Jews, and level their cities to the ground, and
besiege the people themselves, worn out with hunger and thirst.  Then it
should come to pass that they should feed on the bodies of their own
children, and consume one another.  Lastly, that they should be taken
captive, and come into the hands of their enemies, and should see their
wives most cruelly harassed before their eyes, their virgins ravished
and polluted, their sons torn in pieces, their little ones dashed to the
ground; and lastly, everything laid waste with fire and sword, the
captives banished for ever from their own lands, because they had
exulted over the well-beloved and most approved Son of God.  And so,
after their decease, when Nero had put them to death, Vespasian
destroyed the name and nation of the Jews, and did all

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things which they had foretold as about to come to pass.

CHAP. XXII.--ARGUMENTS OF UNBELIEVERS AGAINST THE INCARNATION OF JESUS.

 I have now confirmed, as I imagine, the things which are thought false
and incredible by those who are not instructed in the true knowledge of
heavenly learning.  But, however, that we may refute those also who are
too wise, not without injury to themselves and who detract from the
credit due to divine things, let us disprove their error, that they may
at length perceive that the fact ought to have been as we show that it
actually was.  And although with good judges either testimonies are of
sufficient weight without arguments, or arguments without testimonies,
we, however, are not content with the one or the other, since we are
supplied with both, that we may not leave room for any one of depraved
ingenuity either to misunderstand or to dispute on the opposite side.
They say that it was impossible for anything to be withdrawn(1) from an
immortal nature.  They say, in short, that it was unworthy of God to be
willing to become man, and to burthen Himself with the infirmity of
flesh; to become subject of His own accord to sufferings, to pain, and
death:as though it had not been easy for Him to show Himself to men
without(2) the weakness incident to a body, and to teach them
righteousness (if He so wished) with greater authority, as of one who
acknowledged(3) Himself to be God.  For in that case all would have
obeyed the heavenly precepts, if the influence and power of God
enjoining them had been united with them.  Why, then (they say), did He
not come as God to teach men?  Why did He render Himself so humble and
weak, that it was possible for Him both to be despised by men and to be
visited with punishment?  why did He suffer violence from those who are
weak and mortal?  why did He not repel by strength, or avoid by His
divine knowledge,(4) the hands of men?  why did He not at least in His
very death reveal His majesty?  but He was led as one without strength
to trial, was condemned as one who was guilty, was put to death as one
who was mortal.  I will carefully refute these things, nor will I permit
any one to be in error.  For these things were done by a great and
wonderful plan; and he who shall understand this, will not only cease to
wonder that God was tortured by men, but also will easily see that it
could not have been believed

that he was God if those very things which he censures had not been
done.

 CHAP. XXIII.--OF GIVING PRECEPTS, AND ACTING.

 If any one gives to men precepts for living, and moulds the characters
of others, I ask whether he is bound himself to practise the things
which he enjoins, or is not bound.  If he shall not do so, his precepts
are annulled.  For if the things which are enjoined are good, if they
place the life of men in the best condition, the instructor ought not to
separate himself from the number and assemblage of men among whom he
acts; and he ought himself to live in the same manner in which he
teaches that men ought to live, lest, by living in another way, he
himself should disparage(5) his own precepts, and make his instruction
of less value, if in reality he should relax the obligations of that
which he endeavours to establish by his words.  For every one, when he
hears another giving precepts, is unwilling that the necessity of
obeying should be imposed upon him, as though the right of liberty were
taken from him.  Therefore he answers his teacher in this manner: I am
not able to do the things which you command, for they are impossible.
For yon forbid me to be angry, you forbid me to covet, you forbid me to
be excited by desire, you forbid me to fear pain or death; but this is
so contrary to nature, that all animals are subject to these affections.
Or if you are so entirely of opinion that it is possible to resist
nature, do you yourself practise the things which you enjoin, that I may
know that they are possible?  But since you yourself do not practise
them, what arrogance is it, to wish to impose upon a free man laws which
you yourself do not obey!  You who teach, first learn; and before you
correct the character of others, correct your own.  Who could deny the
justice of this answer?  Nay!  a teacher of this kind will fall into
contempt, and will in his turn be mocked, because he also will appear to
mock others.

 What, therefore, will that instructor do, if these things shall be
objected to him?  how will he deprive the self-willed(6) of an excuse,
unless he teach them by deeds before their eyes(7) that he teaches
things which are possible?  Whence it comes to pass, that no one obeys
the precepts of the philosophers.(8) For men prefer examples rather than
words, because it is easy to speak, but difficult to accomplish.(9)
Would to heaven that there were as many who acted well as there are who
speak well!  But they who give pre-

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cepts, without carrying them out into action, are distrusted;(1) and if
they shall be men, will be despised as inconsistent:(2) if it shall be
God, He will be met with the excuse of the frailty of man's nature.  It
remains that words should be confirmed by deeds, which the philosophers
are unable to do.  Therefore, since the instructors themselves are
overcome by the affections which they say that it is our duty to
overcome, they are able to train no one to virtue, which they falsely
proclaim;(3) and for this cause they imagine that no perfect wise man
has as vet existed, that is, in whom the greatest virtue and perfect
justice were in harmony with the greatest learning and knowledge.  And
this indeed was true.  For no one since the creation of the world has
been such, except Christ, who both delivered wisdom by His word, and
confirmed His teaching by presenting virtue to the eyes of men.(4)

CHAP. XXIV.--THE OVERTHROWING OF THE ARGUMENTS ABOVE URGED BY WAY OF
OBJECTION.

 Come, let us now consider whether a teacher sent from heaven can fail
to be perfect.  I do not as yet speak of Him whom they deny to have come
from God.  Let us suppose that some one were to be sent from heaven to
instruct the life of men in the first principles of virtue, and to form
them to righteousness.  No one can doubt but that this teacher, who is
sent from heaven, would be as perfect in the knowledge of all things as
in virtue, lest there should be no difference between a heavenly and an
earthly teacher.  For in the case of a man his instruction can by no
means be from within and of himself.(5) For the mind, shut in by earthly
organs, and hindered by a corrupt(6) body, of itself can neither
comprehend nor receive the truth, unless it is taught from another
source.(7) And if it had this power in the greatest degree, yet it would
be unable to attain to the highest virtue, and to resist all vices, the
materials of which are contained in our bodily(8) organs.  Hence it
comes to pass, that an earthly teacher cannot be perfect.  But a teacher
from heaven, to whom His divine nature gives knowledge, and His
immortality gives virtue, must of necessity in His teaching also, as in
other things, be perfect and complete.  But this cannot by any means
happen, unless He should take to Himself a mortal body.  And the reason
why it cannot happen is manifest.  For if He should come to men as God,
not to mention that mortal eyes cannot look upon and endure the glory of
His majesty in His own person, assuredly God will not be able to teach
virtue; for, inasmuch as He is without a body, He will not practise the
things which He will teach, and through this His teaching will not be
perfect.  Otherwise, if it is the greatest virtue patiently to endure
pain for the sake of righteousness and duty, if it is virtue not to fear
death itself when threatened, and when inflicted to undergo it with
fortitude; it follows that the perfect teacher ought both to teach these
things by precept, and to confirm them by practice.  For he who gives
precepts for the life, ought to remove every method(9) of excuse, that
he may impose upon men the necessity of obedience, not by any
constraint, but by a sense of shame, and yet may leave them liberty,
that a reward may be appointed for those who obey, because it was in
their power not to obey if they so wished; and a punishment for those
who do not obey, because it was in their power to obey if they so
wished.  How then can excuse be removed, unless the teacher should
practise what he teaches, and as it were go before(10) and hold out his
hand to one who is about to follow?  But how can one practise what he
teaches, unless he is like him whom he teaches?  For if he be subject to
no passion, a man may thus answer him who is the teacher: It is my wish
not to sin, but I am overpowered; for I am clothed with frail and weak
flesh: it is this which covets, which is angry, which fears pain and
death.  And thus I am led on against my will;(11) and I sin, not because
it is my wish, but because I am compelled.  I myself perceive that I
sin; but the necessity imposed by my frailty, which I am unable to
resist, impels me.  What will that teacher of righteousness say in reply
to these things?  How will he refute and convict a man who shall allege
the frailty of the flesh as an excuse for his faults, unless he himself
also shall be clothed with flesh, so that he may show that even the
flesh is capable of virtue?  For obstinacy cannot be refuted except by
example.  For the things which you teach cannot have any weight unless
you shall be the first to practise them; because the nature of men is
inclined to faults, and wishes to sin not only with indulgence, but also
with a reasonable plea.(12) It is befitting

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that a master and teacher of virtue should most closely resemble man,
that by overpowering sin he may teach man that sin may be overpowered by
him.  But if he is immortal, he can by no means propose an example to
man.  For there will stand forth some one persevering in his opinion,
and will say: You indeed do not sin, because you are free from this
body; you do not covet, because nothing is needed by an immortal; but I
have need of many things for the support of this life.  You do not fear
death, because it can have no power against you.  You despise pain,
because you can suffer no violence.  But I, a mortal, fear both, because
they bring upon me the severest tortures, which the weakness of the
flesh cannot endure.  A teacher of virtue therefore ought to have taken
away this excuse from men, that no one may ascribe it to necessity that
he sins, rather than to his own fault.  Therefore, that a teacher may be
perfect, no objection ought to be brought forward by him who is to be
taught, so that if he should happen to say, You enjoin impossibilities;
the teacher may answer, See, I myself do them.  But I am clothed with
flesh, and it is the property of flesh to sin.(1) I too bear the same
flesh, and yet sin does not bear rule in me.  It is difficult for me to
despise riches, because otherwise I am unable to live in this body.
See, I too have a body, and yet I contend against every desire.  I am
not able to bear pain or death for righteousness, because I am frail.
See, pain and death have power over me also; and I overcome those very
things which you fear, that I may make you victorious over pain and
death.  I go before you through those things which you allege that it is
impossible to endure: if you are not able to follow me giving
directions, follow me going before you.  In this way all excuse is taken
away, and you must confess that man is unjust through his own fault,
since he does not follow a teacher of virtue, who is at the same time a
guide.  You see, therefore, how much more perfect is a teacher who is
mortal, because he is able to be a guide to one who is mortal, than one
who is immortal, for he is unable to teach patient endurance who is not
subject to passions.  Nor, however, does this extend so far that I
prefer man to God; but to show that man cannot be a perfect teacher
unless he is also God, that he may by his heavenly authority impose upon
men the necessity of obedience; nor God, unless he is clothed with a
mortal body, that by carrying out his precepts to their completion(2) in
actions, he may bind others by the necessity of obedience.  It plainly
therefore appears, that he who is a guide of life and teacher of
righteousness must have a body, and that his teaching cannot otherwise
be full and perfect, unless it has a root and foundation, and remains
firm and fixed among men; and that he himself must undergo weakness of
flesh and body, and display in himself(3) the virtue of which he is a
teacher, that he may teach it at the same time both by words and deeds.
Also, he must be subject to death and all sufferings, since the duties
of virtue are occupied with the enduring of suffering, and the
undergoing death; all which, as I have said, a perfect teacher ought to
endure, that he may teach the possibility of their being endured.

CHAP. XXV.--OF THE ADVENT OF JESUS IN THE FLESH AND SPIRIT, THAT HE
MIGHT BE MEDIATOR BETWEEN GOD AND MAN.

 Let men therefore learn and understand why the Most High God, when He
sent His ambassador and messenger to instruct mortals with the precepts
of His righteousness, willed that He should be clothed with mortal
flesh, and be afflicted with torture, and be sentenced to death.  For
since there was no righteousness on earth, He sent a teacher, as it were
a living law, to found a new name and temple,(4) that by His words and
example He might spread throughout the earth a true and holy worship.
But, however, that it might be certain that He was sent by God, it was
befitting that He should not be born as man is born, composed of a
mortal on both sides;(5) but that it might appear that He was heavenly
even in the form of man, He was born without the office of a father.
For He had a spiritual Father, God; and as God was the Father of His
spirit without a mother, so a virgin was the mother of His body without
a father.  He was therefore both God and man, being placed in the middle
between God and man.  From which the Greeks call Him Mesites,(6) that He
might be able to lead man to God--that is, to immortality: for if He had
been God only (as we have before said), He would not have been able to
afford to man examples of goodness; if He had been man only, He would
not have been able to compel men to righteousness, unless there had been
added an authority and virtue greater than that of man.

 For, since man is composed of flesh and

127

spirit, and the spirit must earn(1) immortality by works of
righteousness, the flesh, since it is earthly, and therefore mortal,
draws with itself the spirit linked to it, and leads it from immortality
to death.  Therefore the spirit, apart from the flesh, could by no means
be a guide to immortality for man, since the flesh hinders the spirit
from following God.  For it is frail, and liable to sin; but sin is the
food and nourishment(2) of death.  For this cause, therefore, a mediator
came--that is, God in the flesh--that the flesh might be able to follow
Him, and that He might rescue man from death, which has dominion over
the flesh.  Therefore He clothed Himself with flesh, that the desires of
the flesh being subdued, He might teach that to sin was not the result
of necessity, but of man's purpose and will.  For we have one great and
principal struggle to maintain with the flesh, the boundless desire; of
which press upon the soul, nor allow it to retain dominion, but make it
the slave of pleasures and sweet allurements, and visit it with
everlasting death.  And that we might be able to overcome these, God has
opened and displayed to us the way of overcoming the flesh.  And this
perfect and absolutely complete(3) virtue bestows on those who conquer,
the crown and reward of immortality.

CHAP. XXVI.--OF THE CROSS, AND OTHER TORTURES OF JESUS, AND OF THE
FIGURE OF THE LAMB UNDER THE LAW.

 I have spoken of humiliation, and frailty, and suffering--why God
thought fit to undergo them.  Now an account must be taken of the cross
itself, and its meaning must be related.  What the Most High Father
arranged from the beginning, and how He ordained all things which were
accomplished, not only the foretelling by the prophets, which preceded
and was proved true(4) in Christ, but also the manner of His suffering
itself teaches.  For whatever sufferings He underwent were not without
meaning;(5) but they had a figurative meaning(6) and great significance,
as had also those divine works which He performed, the strength and
power of which had some weight indeed for the present, but also declared
something for the future.  Heavenly influence opened the eyes of the
blind, and gave light to those who did not see; and by this deed He
signified that it would come to pass that, turning to the nations which
were ignorant of God, He might enlighten the breasts of the foolish with
the light of wisdom, and open the eyes

of their understanding to the contemplation of the truth.  For they are
truly blind who, not seeing heavenly things, and surrounded with the
darkness of ignorance, worship earthly and frail things.  He opened the
ears of the deaf.  It is plain that this divine power did not limit its
exercise to this point;(7) but He declared that it would shortly come to
pass, that they who were destitute of the truth would both hear and
understand the divine words of God.  For you may truly call those deaf
who do not hear the things which are heavenly and true, and worthy of
being performed.  He loosed the tongues of the dumb, so that they spake
plainly.(8) A power worthy of admiration,(9) even when it was in
operation: but there was contained in this display(10) of power another
meaning, which showed that it would shortly come to pass that those who
were lately ignorant of heavenly things, having received the instruction
of wisdom, might speak respecting God and the truth.  For he who is
ignorant of the divine nature, he truly is speechless and dumb, although
he is the most eloquent of all men.  For when the tongue has begun to
speak truth--that is, to set forth the excellency and majesty of the one
God--then only does it discharge the office of its nature; but as long
as it speaks false things it is not rightly employed:(11) and therefore
he must necessarily be speechless who cannot utter divine things.  He
also renewed the feet of the lame to the office of walking,--a strength
of divine work worthy of praise; but the figure implied this, that the
errors of a worldly and wandering life being restrained, the path of
truth was opened by which men might walk to attain the favour of God.
For He is truly to be considered lame, who, being enwrapped in the gloom
and darkness of folly, and ignorant in what direction to go, with feet
liable to stumble and fall, walks in the way of death.

 Likewise He cleansed the stains and blemishes of defiled bodies,--no
slight exercise of immortal power; but this strength prefigured that by
the instruction of righteousness His doctrine was about to purify those
defiled by the stains of sins and the blemishes of vices.  For they
ought truly to be accounted as leprous and unclean,(12) whom either
boundless lusts compel to crimes, or insatiable pleasures to disgraceful
deeds, and affect with an everlasting stain those who are branded with
the marks of dis-

128

honourable actions.  He raised the bodies of the dead as they lay
prostrate; and calling them aloud by their names, He brought them back
from death.  What is more suitable to God, what more worthy of the
wonder of all ages, than to have recalled(1) the life which has run its
course, to have added times to the completed times of men, to have
revealed the secrets of death?  But this unspeakable power was the image
of a greater energy, which showed that His teaching was about to have
such might, that the nations throughout the world, which were estranged
from God and subject to death, being animated by the knowledge of the
true light, might arrive at the rewards of immortality.  For you may
rightly deem those to be dead, who, not knowing God the giver of life,
and depressing their souls from heaven to earth, run into the snares of
eternal death.  The actions, therefore, which He then performed for the
present, were representations of future things; the things which He
displayed in injured and diseased bodies were figures(2) of spiritual
things, that at present He might display to us the works of an energy
which was not of earth, and for the future might show the power of His
heavenly majesty.(3)

 Therefore, as His works had a signification also of greater power, so
also His passion did not go before us as simple, or superfluous, or by
chance.  But as those things which He did signified the great efficacy
and power of His teaching, so those things which He suffered announced
that wisdom would be held in hatred.  For the vinegar which they gave
Him to drink, and the gall which they gave Him to eat, held forth
hardships and severities(4) in this life to the followers of truth.  And
although His passion, which was harsh and severe in itself, gave to us a
sample of the future torments which virtue itself proposes to those who
linger in this world, yet drink and food of this kind, coming into the
mouth of our teacher, afforded us an example of pressures, and labours,
and miseries.  All which things must be undergone and suffered by those
who follow the truth; since the truth is bitter, and detested by all
who, being destitute of virtue, give up their life to deadly pleasures.
For the placing of a crown of thorns upon His head, declared that it
would come to pass that He would gather to Himself a holy people from
those who were guilty.  For people standing around in a circle are
called a corona.(5) But we,

who before that we knew God were unjust, were thorns--that is, evil and
guilty, not knowing what was good; and estranged from the conception and
the works of righteousness, polluted all things with wickedness and
lust.  Being taken, therefore, from briars and thorns, we surround the
sacred head of God; for, being called by Himself, and spread around Him,
we stand beside God, who is our Master and Teacher, and crown Him King
of the world, and Lord of all the living.

 But with reference to the cross, it has great force and meaning, which
I will now endeavour to show.  For God (as I have before explained),
when He had determined to set man free, sent as His ambassador to the
earth a teacher of virtue, who might both by salutary precepts train men
to innocence, and by works and deeds before their eyes(6) might open the
way of righteousness, by walking in which, and following his teacher,
man might attain to eternal life.  He therefore assumed a body, and was
clothed in a garment of flesh, that He might hold out to man, for whose
instruction He had come, examples of virtue and incitements to its
practice.  But when He had afforded an example of righteousness in all
the duties of life, in order that He might teach man also the patient
endurance of pain and contempt of death, by which virtue is rendered
perfect and complete, He came into the hands of an impious nation, when,
by the knowledge of the future which He had, He might have avoided them,
and by the same power by which He did wonderful works He might have
repelled them.  Therefore He endured tortures, and stripes, and thorns.
At last He did not refuse even to undergo death, that under His guidance
man might triumph over death, subdued and bound in chains with all its
terrors.  But the reason why the Most High Father chose that kind of
death in preference to others, with which He should permit Him to be
visited, is this.  For some one may perchance say: Why, if He was God,
and chose to die, did He not at least suffer by some honourable kind of
death?  why was it by the cross especially?  why by an infamous kind of
punishment, which may appear unworthy even of a man if he is free,(7)
although guilty?  First of all, because He, who had come in humility
that He might bring assistance to the humble and men of low degree, and
might hold out to all the hope of safety, was to suffer by that kind of
punishment by which the humble and low usually suffer, that there might
be no one at all who might not be able to imitate Him.  In the next
place, it was in order that His body might be

129

kept unmutilated,(1) since He must rise again from the dead on the third
day.

 Nor ought any one to be ignorant of this, that He Himself, speaking
before of His passion, also made it known that He had the power, when He
willed it, of laying down His life and of taking it again.  Therefore,
because He had laid down His life while fastened to the cross, His
executioners did not think it necessary to break His bones (as was their
prevailing custom), but they only pierced His side.  Thus His unbroken
body was taken down from the cross, and carefully enclosed in a tomb.
Now all these things were done lest His body, being injured and broken,
should be rendered unsuitable(2) for rising again.  That also was a
principal cause why God chose the cross, because it was necessary that
He should be lifted up on it, and the passion of God become known to all
nations.  For since he who is suspended upon a cross is both conspicuous
to all and higher than others, the cross was especially chosen, which
might signify that He would be so conspicuous, and so raised on high,
that all nations from the whole world should meet together at once to
know and worship Him.  Lastly, no nation is so uncivilized, no region so
remote, to which either His passion or the height of His majesty would
be unknown.  Therefore in His suffering He stretched forth His hands and
measured out the world, that even then He might show that a great
multitude, collected together out of all languages and tribes, from the
rising of the sun even to his setting, was about to come under His
wings, and to receive on their foreheads that great and lofty sign.(3)
And the Jews even now exhibit a figure of this transaction when they
mark their thresholds with the blood of a lamb.  For when God was about
to smite the Egyptians, to secure the Hebrews from that infliction He
had enjoined them to slay a white(4) lamb without spot, and to place on
their thresholds a mark from its blood.  And thus, when the first-born
of the Egyptians had perished in one night, the Hebrews alone were saved
by the sign of the blood: not that the blood of a sheep had such
efficacy in itself as to be the safety of men, hut it was an image of
things to come.  For Christ was the white lamb

without spot; that is, He was innocent, and just, and holy, who, being
slain by the same Jews, is the salvation of all who have written on
their foreheads the sign of blood--that is, of the cross, on which He
shed His blood.  For the forehead is the top of the threshold in man,
and the wood sprinkled with blood is the emblem(5) of the cross.
Lastly, the slaying of the lamb by those very persons who perform it is
called the paschal feast, from the word "paschein,"(6) because it is a
figure of the passion, which God, foreknowing the future, delivered by
Moses to be celebrated by His people.  But at that time the figure was
efficacious at the present for averting the danger, that it may appear
what great efficacy the truth itself is about to have for the protection
of God's people in the extreme necessity of the whole world.  But in
what manner or in what region all will be safe who have marked on the
highest part of their body this sign of the true and divine blood,(7) I
will show in the last book.

CHAP. XXVII.--OF THE WONDERS EFFECTED BY THE POWER OF THE CROSS, AND OF
DEMONS.

 At present it is sufficient to show what great efficacy the power of
this sign has.  How great a terror this sign is to the demons, he will
know who shall see how, when adjured by Christ, they flee from the
bodies which they have besieged.  For as He Himself, when He was living
among men, limit to flight all the demons by His word, and restored to
their former senses the minds of men which had been excited and maddened
by their dreadful attacks; so now His followers, in the name of their
Master, and by the sign of His passion, banish the same polluted spirits
from men.  And it is not difficult to prove this.  For when they
sacrifice to their gods, if any one bearing a marked forehead stands by,
the sacrifices are by no means favourable.(8)

 "Nor can the diviner, when consulted, give answers."(9)

And this has often been the cause of punishment to wicked kings.  For
when some of their attendants who were of our religion(10) were standing
by their masters as they sacrificed, having the sign placed on their
foreheads, they caused the gods of their masters to flee, that they
might not be able to observe(11) future events in the entrails of the
victims.  And when the soothsayers understood this, at the instigation
of the same

130

demons to whom they had sacrificed,(1) complaining that profane men were
present at the sacrifices, they drove their princes to madness, so that
they attacked the temple of the god, and contaminated themselves by true
sacrilege, which was expiated by the severest punishments on the part of
their persecutors.  Nor, however, are blind men able to understand even
from this, either that this is the true religion, which contains such
great power for overcoming, or that that is false, which is not able to
hold its ground or to come to an engagement.

 But they say that the gods do this, not through fear, but through
hatred; as though it were possible for any one to hate another, unless
it be him who injures, or has the power of injuring.  Yea, truly, it
would be consistent with their majesty to visit those whom they hated
with immediate punishment,(2) rather than to flee from them.  But since
they can neither approach those in whom they shall see the heavenly
mark, nor injure those whom the immortal sign(3) as an impregnable wall
protects, they harass them by men, and persecute them by the hands of
others: and if they acknowledge the existence of these demons, we have
overcome; for this must necessarily be the true religion, which both
understands the nature of demons, and understands their subtlety, and
compels them, vanquished and subdued, to yield to itself.  If they deny
it, they will be refuted by the testimonies of poets and philosophers.
But if they do not deny the existence and malignity of demons, what
remains except that they affirm that there is a difference between gods
and demons?(4) Let them therefore explain to us the difference between
the two kinds, that we may know what is to be worshipped and what to be
held in execration; whether they have any mutual agreement, or are
really opposed to one, another.  If they are united by some necessity,
how shall we distinguish them?  or how shall we unite the honour and
worship of each kind?  If, on the other hand, they are enemies, how is
it that the demons do not fear the gods, or that the gods cannot put to
flight the demons?  Behold, some one excited by the impulse of the demon
is out of his senses, raves, is mad: let us lead him into the temple of
the excellent and mighty Jupiter; or since Jupiter knows not how to cure
men, into the lane of AEsculapius or Apollo.  Let the priest of either,
in the name

of his god, command the wicked spirit to come out of the man: that can
in no way come to pass.  What, then, is the power of the gods, if the
demons are not subject to their control?  But, in truth, the same
demons, when adjured by the name of the true God, immediately flee.
What reason is there why they should fear Christ, but not fear Jupiter,
unless that they whom the multitude esteem to be gods are also demons?
Lastly, if there should be placed in the midst one who is evidently
suffering from an attack of a demon, and the priest of the Delphian
Apollo, they will in the same manner dread the name of God; and Apollo
will as quickly depart from his priest as the spirit of the demon from
the man; and his god being adjured and put to flight, the priest will be
for ever silent.(5) Therefore the demons, whom they acknowledge to be
objects of execration, are the same as the gods to whom they offer
supplications.

 If they imagine that we are unworthy of belief, let them believe Homer,
who associated the supreme Jupiter(6) with the demons; and also other
poets and philosophers, who speak of the same beings at one time as
demons, and at another time as gods,--of which names one is true, and
the other false.  For those most wicked spirits, when they are adjured,
then confess that they are demons; when they are worshipped, then
falsely say that they are gods; in order that they may lead men into
errors,(7) and call them away from the knowledge of the true God, by
which alone eternal death can be escaped.  They are the same who, for
the sake of overthrowing man, have founded various systems of worship
for themselves through different regions,(8)--under false and assumed
names, however, that they might deceive.  For because they were unable
by themselves to aspire to divinity, they took to themselves the names
of powerful kings, under whose titles they might claim for themselves
divine honours; which error may be dispelled, and brought to the light
of truth.  For if any one desires to inquire further into the matter,
let him assemble those who are skilled in calling forth spirits from the
dead.  Let them call forth(9) Jupiter, Neptune, Vulcan, Mercury, Apollo,
and Saturnus the father of all.  All will answer from the lower regions;
and being questioned they will speak, and confess respecting themselves
and

131

God.  After these things let them call up Christ; He will not be
present, He will not appear, for He was not more than two days in the
lower regions.  What proof can be brought forward more certain than
this?  I have no doubt that Trismegistus arrived at the truth by some
proof of this kind, who spoke many things(1) respecting God the Son
which are contained in the divine secrets.

 CHAP. XXVIII.--OF HOPE AND TRUE RELIGION, AND OF SUPERSTITION.

 And since these things are so, as we have shown, it is plain that no
other hope of life is set before man, except that, laying aside vanities
and wretched error, he should know God,(2) and serve God; except he
renounce this temporary life, and train himself by the principles of
righteousness for the cultivation of true religion.  For we are created
on this condition, that we pay just and due obedience to God who created
us, that we should know and follow Him alone.  We are bound and tied to
God by this chain of piety;(3) from which religion itself received its
name, not, as Cicero explained it, from carefully gathering,(4) for in
his second book respecting the nature of the gods he thus speaks: "For
not only philosophers, but our ancestors also, separated superstition
from religion.  For they who spent whole days in prayers and sacrifices,
that their children might survive(5) them, were called superstitious.
But they who handled again, and as it were carefully gathered all things
which related to the worship of the gods, were called religious from
carefully gathering,(6) as some were called elegant from choosing out,
and diligent from carefully selecting and intelligent from
understanding.  For in all these words there is the same meaning of
gathering which there is in the word religious: thus it has come to
pass, that in the names superstitious and religious, the one relates to
a fault, the other belongs to praise."  How senseless this
interpretation is, we may know from the matter itself.  For if both
religion and superstition are engaged in the worship of the same gods,
there is little or rather no difference between them.  For what cause
will he

allege why he should think that to pray once for the health of sons is
the part of a religious man, but to do the same ten times is the part of
a superstitious man?  For if it is an excellent thing to pray once, how
much more so to do it more frequently!  If it is well to do it at the
first hour, then it is well to do it throughout the day.  If one victim
renders the deity propitious, it is plain that many victims must render
him more propitious, because multiplied services oblige(7) rather than
offend.  For those servants do not appear to us hateful who are
assiduous and constant in their attendance, but more beloved.  Why,
therefore, should he be in fault, and receive a name which implies
censure,(8) who either loves his children more, or sufficiently honours
the gods; and he, on the contrary, be praised, who loves them less?  And
this argument has weight also from the contrary.  For if it is wrong(9)
to pray and sacrifice during whole days, therefore it is wrong to do so
once.  If it is faulty frequently to wish for the preservation of our
children, therefore he also is superstitious who conceives that wish
even rarely.  Or why should the name of a fault be derived from that,
than which nothing can be wished more honourable, nothing more just?
For as to his saying, that they who diligently take in hand again the
things relating to the worship of the gods are called religious from
their carefully gathering; how is it, then, that they who do this often
in a day lose the name of religious men, when it is plain from their
very assiduity that they more diligently gather those things by which
the gods are worshipped?

 What, then, is it?  Truly religion is the cultivation of the truth, but
superstition of that which is false.  And it makes the entire difference
what you worship, not how you worship, or what prayer you offer.(10) But
because the worshippers of the gods imagine themselves to be religious,
though they are superstitious, they are neither able to distinguish
religion from superstition, nor to express the meaning of the names.  We
have said that the name of religion is derived from the bond of
piety,(11) because God has tied man to Himself, and bound him by
piety;(12) for we must serve Him as a master, and be obedient to Him as
a father.  And therefore Lucre-

132

tius(1) better explained this name, who says that He loosens the knots
of superstitions.(2) But they are called superstitious, not who wish
their children to survive them, for we all wish this; but either those
who reverence the surviving memory of the dead, or those who, surviving
their parents, reverenced their images at their houses as household
gods.  For those who assumed to themselves new rites, that they might
honour the dead as gods, whom they supposed to be taken from men and
received into heaven, they called superstitious.  But those who
worshipped the public and ancient gods(3) they named religious.  From
which Virgil says:(4)--

 "Superstition vain, and ignorant of ancient gods."

But since we find that the ancient gods also were consecrated in the
same manner after their death, therefore they are superstitious who
worship many and false gods.  We, on the other hand, are religious, who
make our supplications to the one true God.

CHAP. XXIX.--OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, AND OF THE UNION OF JESUS WITH
THE FATHER.

 Some one may perhaps ask how, when we say that we worship one God only,
we nevertheless assert that there are two, God the Father and God the
Son: which assertion has driven many into the greatest error.  For when
the things which we say seem to them probable, they consider that we
fail in this one point alone, that we confess that there is another God,
and that He is mortal.  We have already spoken of His mortality: now let
us teach concerning His unity.  When we speak of God the Father and God
the Son, we do not speak of them as different, nor do we separate each:
because the Father cannot exist without the Son, nor can the Son be
separated from the Father, since the name of Father(5) cannot be given
without the Son, nor can the Son be begotten without the Father.  Since,
therefore, the Father makes the Son, and the Son the Father, they both
have one mind, one spirit, one substance; but the former(6) is as it
were an overflowing fountain, the latter(7) as a stream flowing forth
from it: the former as the sun, the latter as it were a ray(8) extended
from the sun.  And since He is both faithful to the Most High Father,
and beloved by Him, He is not separated from Him; just as the stream is
not separated from the fountain.

nor the ray from the sun: for the water of the fountain is in the
stream, and the light of the sun is in the ray: just as the voice cannot
be separated from the mouth, nor the strength or hand from the body.
When, therefore, He is also spoken of by the prophets as the hand, and
strength, and word of God, there is plainly no separation; for the
tongue, which is the minister of speech, and the hand, in which the
strength is situated, are inseparable portions of the body.

 We may use an example more closely connected with us.  When any one has
a son whom he especially loves, who is still in the house, and in the
power(9) of his father, although he concede to him the name and power of
a master, yet by the civil law the house is one, and one person is
called master.  So this world(10) is the one house of God; and the Son
and the Father, who unanimously inhabit the world, are one God, for the
one is as two, and the two are as one.  Nor is that wonderful, since the
Son is in the Father, for the Father loves the Son, and the Father is in
the Son; for He faithfully obeys the will of the Father, nor does He
ever do nor has done anything except what the Father either willed or
commanded.  Lastly, that the Father and the Son are but one God, Isaiah
showed in that passage which we have brought forward before,(11) when he
said:(12) "They shall fall down unto Thee, and make supplication unto
Thee, since God is in Thee, and there is no other God besides Thee."
And he also speaks to the same purport in another place:(13) "Thus saith
God the King of Israel, and His Redeemer, the everlasting God; I am the
first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God."  When he had
set forth two persons, one of God the King, that is, Christ, and the
other of God the Father, who after His passion raised Him from the dead,
as we have said(14) that the prophet Hosea showed,(15) who said, "I will
redeem Him from the power of the grave:" nevertheless, with reference to
each person, he introduced the words, "and beside me there is no God,"
when he might have said "beside us;" but it was not right that a
separation of so close a relationship should be made by the use of the
plural number.  For there is one God alone, free, most high, without any
origin; for He Himself is the origin of all things, and in Him at once
both the Son and all things are contained.  Wherefore, since the mind
and will of the one is in the other, or rather, since there is one in
both,

133

both are justly called one God; for whatever is in the Father(1) flows
on to the Son, and whatever is in the Son descends from the Father.
Therefore that highest and matchless God cannot be worshipped except
through the Son.  He who thinks that he worships the Father only, as he
does not worship the Son, so he does not worship even the Father.  But
he who receives the Son, and bears His name, he truly together with the
Son worships the Father also, since the Son is the ambassador, and
messenger, and priest of the Most High Father.  He is the door of the
greatest temple, He the way of light, He the guide to salvation, He the
gate of life.

CHAP. XXX.--OF AVOIDING HERESIES AND SUPERSTITIONS, AND WHAT IS THE ONLY
TRUE CATHOLIC CHURCH.

 But since many heresies have existed, and the people of God have been
rent into divisions at the instigation of demons, the truth must be
briefly marked out by us, and placed in its own peculiar dwelling-place,
that if any one shall desire to draw the water of life, he may not be
borne to broken cisterns(2) which hold no water, but may know the
abundant fountain of God, watered by which he may enjoy perpetual light.
Before all things, it is befitting that we should know both that He
Himself and His ambassadors foretold that there must be numerous sects
and heresies,(3) which would break the unity(4) of the sacred body; and
that they admonished us to be on our guard with the greatest prudence,
lest we should at any time fall into the snares and deceits of that
adversary of ours, with whom God has willed that we should contend.
Then that He gave us sure commands, which we ought always to treasure in
our minds; for many, forgetting them, and abandoning the heavenly road,
have made for themselves devious paths amidst windings and precipices,
by which they might lead away the incautious and simple part of the
people to the darkness of death: I will explain: how this happened.
There were some of our religion whose faith was less established, or who
were less learned or less cautious, who rent the unity and divided the
Church.  But they whose faith was unsettled,(5) when they pretended that
they knew and worshipped God aiming at the increase of their wealth and
honour, aspired to the highest sacerdotal power; and when overcome by
others more powerful, preferred to secede with their supporters, than to
endure those

set over them, over whom they themselves before desired to be set.(6)

 But some, not sufficiently instructed in heavenly learning, when they
were unable to reply to the accusers of the truth, who objected that it
was either impossible or inconsistent that God should be shut up in the
womb of a woman, and that the Majesty of heaven could not be reduced to
such weakness as to become an object of contempt and derision, a
reproach and mockery to men; lastly, that He should even endure
tortures, and be affixed to the accursed cross; and when they could
defend and refute all these things neither by talent nor learning, for
they did not thoroughly perceive their force and meaning, they were
perverted(7) from the right path, and corrupted the sacred writings, so
that they composed for themselves a new doctrine without any root and
stability.  But some, enticed by the prediction of false prophets,
concerning whom both the true prophets and he himself had foretold, fell
away from the knowledge of God, and left the true tradition.  But all of
these, ensnared by frauds of demons, which they ought to have foreseen
and guarded against, by their carelessness lost the name and worship of
God.  For when they are called Phrygians,(8) or Novarians,(9) or
Valentinians,(10) or Marcionites,(11) or Anthropians,(12) or Arians,(13)
or by any other name they have ceased to be Christians, who have lost
the name of Christ, and assumed human and external names.  Therefore it
is the Catholic Church alone which retains true worship.

 This is the fountain of truth, this is the abode of the faith, this is
the temple of God; into which if any one shall not enter, or from which
if any shall go out, he is estranged from the hope of life and eternal
salvation.  No one ought to flatter himself with persevering strife.
For the contest is respecting life and salvation, which,

134

unless it is carefully and diligently kept in view, will be lost and
extinguished.  But, however, because all the separate assemblies of
heretics call themselves Christians in preference to others, and think
that theirs is the Catholic Church, it must be known that the true
Catholic Church is that in which there is confession and repentance,(1)
which treats in a wholesome manner the sins and wounds to which the
weakness of the flesh is liable.  I have related these things in

the meanwhile for the sake of admonition, that no one who desires to
avoid error may be entangled in a greater error, while he is ignorant of
the secret(2) of the truth.  Afterwards, in a particular and separate
work, we will more fully and copiously(3) contend against all divisions
of falsehoods.  It follows that, since we have spoken sufficiently on
the subject of true religion and wisdom, we discuss the subject of
justice in the next book.

GENERAL NOTES BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR.

(On cap.  29.)

 HERE we should look for something also concerning the Holy Spirit.  But
our author's principle is doubtless a reflection of the prevailing
sentiment of the Church at this period, which was perhaps a violent
exaggeration of our Lord's example (Mark iv.  33). And see something of
this on p.  140, note 6, infra; also Matt.  vii.  6.

II.

(On cap.  30.)

 The simplicity with which our author gives a note of the Catholic
Church, in accordance with African canons and the teaching of Cyprian,
is very noteworthy.  It never occurred to him that communion with any
one particular See was the note.  Hippolytus alone would have reminded
him that the worst heretics had been in communion with both Zephyrinus
and Callistus in his days (see vol.  v.  pp.  156 and 160; also Ibid.,
125, 130), and that orthodoxy had been persecuted by these bishops of
Rome.

THE DIVINE INSTITUTES

BOOK V.

OF JUSTICE.

CHAP. I.--OF THE NON-CONDEMNATION OF ACCUSED PERSONS WITHOUT A HEARING
OF THEIR CAUSE; FROM WHAT CAUSE PHILOSOPHERS DESPISED THE SACRED
WRITINGS; OF THE FIRST ADVOCATES OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.

 I ENTERTAIN no doubt, O mighty Emperor Constantine,(1)--since they are
impatient through excessive superstition,--that if any one of those who
are foolishly religious should take in hand this work of ours, in which
that matchless Creator of all things and Ruler of this boundless world
is asserted, he would even assail it with abusive language, and perhaps,
having scarcely read the beginning, would dash it to the ground, cast it
from him, curse it, and think himself contaminated and bound by
inexpiable guilt if he should patiently read.  or hear these things.  We
demand, however, from this man, if it is possible, by the right of human
nature,(2) that he should not condemn before that he knows the whole
matter.  For if the right of defending themselves is given to
sacrilegious persons, and to traitors and sorcerers, and if it is lawful
for no one to be condemned beforehand, his cause being as yet untried,
we do not appear to ask unjustly, that if there shall be any one who
shall have fallen upon this subject, if he shall read it, he read it
throughout if he shall hear it, that he put off the forming of an
opinion until the end.  But I know the obstinacy of men; we shall never
succeed in obtaining this.  For they fear lest they should be overcome
by us, and be compelled at length to yield, truth itself crying out.
They interrupt, therefore, and make hindrances, that they may not hear;
and close their eyes, that they may not see the light which we present
to them.  Wherefore they themselves plainly show their distrust in their
own abandoned system, since they neither venture to investigate, nor to
engage with as, because they know that they are easily overpowered.And
therefore, discussion being taken away,

"Wisdom is driven from among them, they have recourse to violence"

as Ennius says; and because they eagerly endeavour to condemn as guilty
those whom they plainly know to be innocent, they are unwilling to be
agreed respecting innocence itself; as though, in truth, it were a
greater injustice to have condemned innocence, when proved to be such,
than unheard.  But, as I said, they are afraid lest, if they should
hear, they should be unable to condemn.

 And therefore they torture, put to death, and banish the worshippers of
the Most High God, that is, the righteous; nor are they, who so
vehemently hate, themselves able to assign the causes of their hatred.
Because they are themselves in error, they are angry with those who
follow the path of truth; and when they are able to correct themselves,
they greatly increase(3) their errors by cruel deeds, they are stained
with the blood of the innocent, and they tear away with violence souls
dedicated to God from the lacerated bodies.  Such are the men with whom
we now endeavour to engage and to dispute: these are the men whom we
would lead away from a foolish persuasion to the truth, men who would
more readily drink blood than imbibe the words of the righteous.  What
then?  Will our labour be in vain?  By no means.  For if we shall not be
able to deliver these from death, to which they are hastening with the
greatest speed; if we cannot recall them from that devious path to life
and light, since they themselves oppose their own safety; yet we shall
strengthen those who belong to us, whose opinion is not settled, and
founded and fixed

136

with solid roots.  For many of them waver, and especially those who have
any acquaintance with literature.  For in this respect philosophers, and
orators, and poets are pernicious, because they are easily able to
ensnare unwary souls by the sweetness of their discourse, and of their
poems flowing with delightful modulation.  These are sweets(1) which
conceal poison.  And on this account I wished to connect wisdom with
religion, that that vain system may not at all injure the studious; so
that now the knowledge of literature may not only be of no injury to
religion and righteousness, but may even be of the greatest profit, if
he who has learned it should be more instructed in virtues and wiser in
truth.

 Moreover, even though it should be profitable to no other, it certainly
will be so to us: the conscience will delight itself, and the mind will
rejoice that it is engaged in the light of truth, which is the food of
the soul, being overspread with an incredible kind of pleasantness.But
we must not despair.  Perchance

 "We sing not to the deaf."(2)

For neither are affairs in so bad a condition that there are no sound
minds to which the truth may be pleasing, and which may both see and
follow the right course when it is pointed out to them.  Only let the
cup be anointed(3) with the heavenly honey of wisdom, that the bitter
remedies may be drunk by them unawares, without any annoyance, whilst
the first sweetness of taste by its allurenment conceals, under the
cover(4) of pleasantness, the bitterness of the harsh flavour.  For this
is especially the cause why, with the wise and the learned, and the
princes of this world, the sacred Scriptures are without credit, because
the prophets spoke in common and simple language, as though they spoke
to the people.  And therefore they are despised by those who are willing
to hear or read nothing except that which is polished and eloquent; nor
is anything able to remain fixed in their minds, except that which
charms their ears by a more soothing sound.  But those things which
appear humble(5) are considered anile, foolish, and common.  So entirely
do they regard nothing as true, except that which is pleasant to the
ear; nothing as credible, except that which can excite(6) pleasure: no
one estimates(7) a subject by its truth, but by its embellishment.
Therefore they do not believe the sacred writings, because they are
without any pretence;(8) but they do not even believe those who explain
them, because they also are either altogether ignorant, or at any rate
possessed of little learning.  For it very rarely happens that they are
wholly eloquent; and the cause of this is evident.  For eloquence is
subservient to the world, it desires to display itself to the people,
and to please in things which are evil; since it often endeavours to
overpower the truth, that it may show its power; it seeks wealth,
desires honours; in short, it demands the highest degree of dignity.
Therefore it despises these subjects as low; it avoids secret things as
contrary to itself, inasmuch as it rejoices in publicity, and longs for
the multitude and celebrity.  Hence it comes to pass that wisdom and
truth need suitable heralds.  And if by chance any of the learned have
betaken themselves to it, they have not been sufficient for its defence.

 Of those who are known to me, Minucius Felix was of no ignoble rank
among pleaders.  His book, which bears the title of Octavius, declares
how suitable a maintainer of the truth he might have been, if he had
given himself altogether to that pursuit.(9) Septimius Tertullianus also
was skilled in literature of every kind; but in eloquence he had little
readiness, and was not sufficiently polished, and very obscure.  Not
even therefore did he find sufficient renown.  Cyprianus, therefore, was
above all others(10) distinguished and renowned, since he had sought
great glory to himself from the profession of the art of oratory, and he
wrote very many things worthy of admiration in their particular class.
For he was of a turn of mind which was ready, copious, agreeable, and
(that which is the greatest excellence of style) plain and open; so that
you cannot determine whether he was more embellished in speech, or more
ready in explanation, or more powerful in persuasion.  And yet he is
unable to please those who are ignorant of the mystery except by his
words; inasmuch as the things which he spoke are mystical, and prepared
with this object, that they may be heard by the faithful only: in short,
he is accustomed to be derided by the learned men of this age, to whom
his writings have happened to be known.  I have heard of a certain man
who was skilful indeed, who by the change of a single letter called him
Coprianus,(11) as though he were one who had applied to old women's
fables a mind which was elegant and fitted for better things.  But if
this happened to him whose eloquence is

137

not unpleasant, what then must we suppose happens to those whose
discourse is meagre and displeasing, who could have had neither the
power of persuasion, nor subtlety in arguing, nor any severity at all
for refuting?

CHAP. II.--TO WHAT AN EXTENT THE CHRISTIAN TRUTH HAS BEEN ASSAILED BY
RASH MEN.

 Therefore, because there have been wanting among us suitable and
skilful teachers, who might vigorously and sharply refute public errors,
and who might defend the whole cause of truth with elegance and
copiousness, this very want incited some to venture to write against the
truth, which was unknown to them.  I pass by those who in former times
in vain assailed it.  When I was teaching rhetorical learning in
Bithynia, having been called thither, and it had happened that at the
same time the temple of God was overthrown, there were living at the
same place two men who insulted the truth as it lay prostrate and
overthrown, I know not whether with greater arrogance or harshness: the
one of whom professed himself the high priest of philosophy;(1) but he
was so addicted to vice, that, though a teacher of abstinence, he was
not less inflamed with avarice than with lusts; so extravagant in his
manner of living, that though in his school he was the maintainer of
virtue, the praiser of parsimony and poverty, be dined less sumptuously
in a palace than at his own house.  Nevertheless he sheltered(2) his
vices by his hair(3) and his cloak, and (that which is the greatest
screen(4)) by his riches; and that he might increase these, he used to
penetrate with wonderful effort s to the friendships of the judges; and
he suddenly attached them to himself by the authority of a fictitious
name, not only that he might make a traffic of their decisions, but also
that he might by this influence hinder his neighbours, whom he was
driving froth their homes and lands, from the recovery of their
property.  This man, in truth, who overthrew his own arguments by his
character, or censured his own character by his arguments, a weighty
censor and most keen accuser against himself, at the very same time in
which a righteous peopIe were impiously assailed, vomited forth three
books against the Christian religion and name; professing, above all
things, that it was the office of a philosopher to remedy the errors of
men, and to recall them to the true way, that is, to the worship of the
gods, by whose power and majesty, as he said, the world is governed; and
not to permit that inexperienced men should be enticed by the frauds of
any, lest their simplicity should be a prey and sustenance to crafty
men.

 Therefore he said that he had undertaken this office, worthy of
philosophy, that he might hold out to those who do not see the light of
wisdom, not only that they may return to a healthy state of mind, having
undertaken the worship of the gods, but also that, having laid aside
their pertinacious obstinacy, they may avoid tortures of the body, nor
wish in vain to endure cruel lacerations of their limbs.  But that it
might be evident on what account he had laboriously worked out that
task, he broke out profusely into praises of the princes, whose piety
and foresight, as he himself indeed said, had been distinguished both in
other matters, and especially in defending the religious rites of the
gods; that he had, in short, consulted the interests of men, in order
that, impious and foolish superstition having been restrained, all men
might have leisure for lawful sacred rites, and might experience the
gods propitious to them.  But when he wished to weaken the grounds of
that religion against which he was pleading, he appeared senseless,
vain, and ridiculous; because that weighty adviser of the advantage of
others was ignorant not only what to oppose, but even what to speak.
For if any of our religion were present, although they were silent on
account of the time, nevertheless in their mind they derided him; since
they saw a man professing that he would enlighten others, when he
himself was blind; that he would recall others from error, when he
himself was ignorant where to plant his feet; that he would instruct
others to the truth, of which he himself had never seen even a spark at
any time; inasmuch as he who was a professor of wisdom, endeavoured to
overthrow wisdom.  All, however, censured this, that he undertook this
work at that time in particular, in which odious cruelty raged.  O
philosopher, a flatterer, and a time-server!  But this man was despised,
as his vanity deserved; for he did not gain the popularity which he
hoped for, and the glory which he eagerly sought for was changed into
censure and blame.(6)

 Another(7) wrote the same subject with more bitterness, who was then of
the number of the judges, and who was especially the adviser of enacting
persecution; and not contented with this crime, he also pursued with
writings those whom he bad persecuted.  For he composed

138

two books, not against the Christians, test he might appear to assail
them in a hostile manner but to the Christians, that he might be thought
to consult for them with humanity and kindness.  And in these writings
he endeavoured so to prove the falsehood of sacred Scripture, as though
it were altogether contradictory to itself; for he expounded some
chapters which seemed to be at variance with themselves, enumerating so
many and such secret(1) things, that he sometimes appears to have been
one of the same sect.  But if this was so, what Demosthenes will be able
to defend from the charge of impiety him who became the betrayer of the
religion to which he had given his assent,(2) and of the faith the name
of which he had assumed,(3) and of the mystery(4) which he had received,
unless it happened by chance that the sacred writings fell into his
hands?  What rashness was it, therefore, to dare to destroy that which
no one explained to him!  It was well that he either learned nothing or
understood nothing.  For contradiction is as far removed from the sacred
writings as he was removed from faith and truth.  He chiefly, however,
assailed Paul and Peter, and the other disciples, as disseminators of
deceit whom at the same time he testified to have been unskilled and
unlearned.  For he says that some of them made gain by the craft of
fishermen, as though he took it ill that some Aristophanes or
Aristarchus did not devise that subject.

CHAP. III.--OF THE TRUTH OF THE CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE, AND THE VANITY OF
ITS ADVERSARIES; AND THAT CHRIST WAS NOT A MAGICIAN.

 The desire of inventing,(5) therefore, and craftiness were absent from
these men, since they were unskilful.  Or what unlearned man could
invent things adapted to one another, and coherent, when the most
learned of the philosophers, Plato and Aristotle, and Epicurus and Zeno,
themselves spoke things at variance with one another, and contrary?  For
this is the nature of falsehoods, that they cannot be coherent.  But
their teaching, because it is true, everywhere agrees,(6) and is
altogether consistent with itself; and on this account it effects
persuasion, because it is based on a consistent plan.  They did not
therefore devise that religion for the sake of gain and advantage,
inasmuch as both by their precepts and in reality they followed that
course of life which is without pleasures, and despised all things which
are reckoned among good things, and since they not only endured death
for their faith, but also both knew and foretold that they were about to
die, and afterwards that all who followed their system would suffer
cruel and impious things.  But he(7) affirmed that Christ Himself was
put to flight by the Jews, and having collected a band of nine hundred
men, committed robberies.  Who would venture to oppose so great an
authority?  We must certainly believe this, for perchance some Apollo
announced it to him in his slumbers.  So many robbers have at all times
perished, and do perish daily, and you yourself have certainly condemned
many: which of them after his crucifixion was called, I will not say a
God, but a man?  But you perchance believed it from the circumstance of
your having consecrated the homicide Mars as a god, though you would not
have done this if the Areopagites had crucified him.

 The same man, when he endeavoured to overthrow his wonderful deeds, and
did not however deny them, wished to show that Apollonius(8) performed
equal or even greater deeds.  It is strange that he omitted to mention
Apuleius,(9) of whom many and wonderful things are accustomed to be
related.  Why therefore, O senseless one, does no one worship Apollonius
in the place of God?  unless by chance you alone do so, who are worthy
forsooth of that god, with whom the true God will punish you
everlastingly.  If Christ is a magician because He performed wonderful
deeds, it is plain that Apollonius, who, according to your-description.
when Domitian wished to punish him, suddenly disappeared on his trial,
was more skilful than He who was both arrested and crucified.  But
perhaps he wished from this very thing to prove the arrogance of Christ,
in that He made Himself God, that the other may appear to have been more
modest, who, though he performed greater actions, as this one thinks,
nevertheless did not claim that for himself.  I omit at present to
compare the works themselves, because in the second and preceding book I
have spoken respecting the fraud and tricks of the magic art.  I say
that there is no one who would not wish that that should especially
befall him after death which even the greatest kings desire.  For why do
men prepare for themselves magnificent sepulchres?  why statues and
images?  why by some illustrious deeds, or even by death undergone in
behalf of their countrymen, do they endeavour

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to deserve the good opinions of men?  Why, in short, have you yourself
wished to raise a monument of your talent, built with this detestable
folly, as if with mud, except that you hope for immortality from the
remembrance of your name?  It is foolish, therefore, to imagine that
Apollonius did not desire that which he would plainly wish for if he
were able to attain to it; because there is no one who refuses
immortality, and especially when you say that he was both adored by some
as a god, and that his image was set up under the name of Hercules, the
averter of evil, and is even now honoured by the Ephesians.

 He could not therefore after death be believed to be a god, because it
was evident that he was both a man and a magician; and for this reason
he affected(1) divinity under the title of a name belonging to another,
for in his own name he was unable to attain it, nor did he venture to
make the attempt.  But he of whom we speak(2) could both be believed to
be a god, because he was not a magician, and was believed to be such
because he was so in truth.  I do not say this, he says, that Apollonius
was not accounted a god, because he did not wish it, but that it may be
evident that we, who did not at once connect a belief in his divinity
with wonderful deeds, are wiser than you, who on account of slight
wonders believed that he was a god.  It is not wonderful if you, who are
far removed from the wisdom of God, understand nothing at all of those
things which you have read, since the Jews, who from the beginning had
frequently read the prophets, and to whom the mystery(3) of God had been
assigned, were nevertheless ignorant of what they read.  Learn,
therefore, if you have any sense, that Christ was not believed by us to
be God on this account, because He did wonderful things, but because we
saw that all things were done in His case which were announced to us by
the prediction of the prophets.  He performed wonderful deeds: we might
have supposed Him to be a magician, as you now suppose Him to be, and
the Jews then supposed Him, if all the prophets did not with one
accord(4) proclaim that Christ would do those very things.  Therefore we
believe Him to be God, not more from His wonderful deeds and works, than
from that very cross which you as dogs lick, since that also was
predicted at the same time.  It was not therefore on His own testimony
(for who can be believed when he speaks concerning himself?, but on the
testimony of the prophets who long before foretold all things which He
did and suffered, that He gained a belief in His divinity, which could
have happened neither to Apollonius,(5) nor to Apuleius, nor to any of
the magicians; nor can it happen at any time.  When, therefore, he had
poured forth such absurd ravings(6) of his ignorance, when he had
eagerly endeavoured utterly to destroy the truth, he dared to give to
his books which were impious and the enemies of God the title of "truth-
loving."  O blind breast!  O mind more black than Cimmerian darkness, as
they say!  He may perhaps have been a disciple of Anaxagoras,(7) to whom
snows were as black as ink.  But it is the same blindness, to give the
name of falsehood to truth, and of truth to falsehood.  Doubtless the
crafty man wished to conceal the wolf under the skin of a sheep,(8) that
he might ensnare the reader by a deceitful title.  Let it be true; grant
that you did this from ignorance, not from malice: what truth, however,
have you brought to us, except that, being a defender of the gods, you
had at last betrayed those very gods?  For, having set forth the praises
of the Supreme God, whom you confessed to be king, most mighty, the
maker of all things, the fountain of honours, the parent of all, the
creator and preserver of all living creatures, you took away the kingdom
from your own Jupiter; and when you had driven him from the supreme
power, you reduced him to the rank of servants.  Thus your own
conclusion(9) convicts you of folly, vanity, and error.  For you affirm
that the gods exist, and yet you subject and enslave them to that God
whose religion you attempt to overturn.

CHAP.IV.--WHY THIS WORK WAS PUBLISHED, AND AGAIN OF TERTULLIAN AND
CYPRIAN.

 Since, therefore, they of whom I have spoken had set forth their
sacrilegious writings in my presence, and to my grief, being incited
both by the arrogant impiety of these, and by the consciousness of truth
itself, and (as I think) by God, I have undertaken this office, that
with all the strength of my mind I might refute the accusers of
righteousness; not that I should write against these, who might be
crushed with a few words, but that I might once for all by one attack
overthrow all who everywhere effect, or have effected, the same work.
For I do not doubt that very many others, and in many places, and that
not only in Greek, but also in Latin writings, have raised a monument of
their own unrighteousness.  And since i was not able to reply to these
separately, I thought that this cause was to be so

140

pleaded by me that I might overthrow former writers, together with all
their writings, and cut off from future writers the whole power of
writing and of replying.(1) Only let them attend, and I will assuredly
effect that whosoever shall know these things, must either embrace that
which he before condemned, or, which is next to it, cease at length to
deride it.  Although Tertullian fully pleaded the same cause in that
treatise which is entitled the Apology,(2) yet, inasmuch as it is one
thing to answer accusers, which consists in defence or denial only, and
another thing to instruct, which we do, in which the substance of the
whole system must be contained, I have not shrunk from this labour, that
I might complete the subject, which Cyprian did not fully carry out in
that discourse in which he endeavours to refute Demetrianus (as he
himself says) railing at and clamouring(3) against the truth.  Which
subject he did not handle as he ought to have done; for he ought to have
been refuted not by the testimonies of Scripture, which he plainly
considered vain, fictitious, and false, but by arguments and reason.
For, since he was contending against a man who was ignorant of the
truth, he ought for a while to have laid aside divine readings, and to
have formed from the beginning this man as one who was altogether
ignorant,(4) and to have shown to him by degrees the beginnings of
light, that he might not be dazzled,(5) the whole of its brightness
being presented to him.(6)

 For as an infant is unable, on account of the tenderness of its
stomach, to receive the nourishment of solid and strong food, but is
supported by liquid and soft milk, until, its strength being confirmed,
it can feed on stronger nourishment; so also it was befitting that this
man, because he was not yet capable of receiving divine things, should
be presented with human testimonies--that is, of philosophers and
historians --in order that he might especially be refuted by his own
authorities.  And since he did not do this, being carried away by his
distinguished knowledge of the sacred writings, so that he was content
with those things alone in which faith consists, I have undertaken, with
the favour of God, to do this, and at the same time to prepare the way
for the imitation of others.  And if, through my exhortation, learned
and eloquent men shall begin to betake themselves to this subject, and
shall choose to display their talents and power of speaking in this
field of truth, no one can doubt that false religions will quickly
disappear, and philosophy altogether fall, if all shall be persuaded
that this alone is religion and the only true wisdom.  But I have
wandered from the subject further than I wished.

CHAP. V.--THERE WAS TRUE JUSTICE UNDER SATURNUS, BUT IT WAS BANISHED BY
JUPITER.

 Now the promised disputation concerning justice must be given; which is
either by itself the greatest virtue, or by itself the fountain of
virtue, which not only philosophers sought, but poets also, who were
much earlier, and were esteemed as wise before the origin of the name of
philosophy.  These clearly understood that this justice was absent from
the affairs of men; and they feigned that it, being offended with the
vices of men, departed from the earth, and withdrew to heaven; and that
they may teach what it is to live justly (for they are accustomed to
give precepts by circumlocutions), they repeat examples of justice from
the times of Saturnus, which they call the golden times, and they relate
in what condition human life was while it delayed on the earth.(7) And
this is not to be regarded as a poetic fiction, but as the truth.  For,
while Saturnus reigned, the religious worship of the gods not having yet
been instituted, nor any(8) race being as yet set apart in the belief of
its divinity, God was manifestly worshipped.  And therefore there were
neither dissensions, nor enmities, nor wars.

"Not yet had rage unsheathed maddened swords,"

as Germanicus Caesar speaks in his poem translated from Aratus,(9)

"Nor had discord been known among relatives."

No, nor even among strangers: but there were no swords at all to be
unsheathed.  For who, when justice was present and in vigour, would
think respecting his own protection, since no one plotted against him;
or respecting the destruction of another, since no one desired anything?

"They, preferred to live content with a simple mode of life,"

as Cicero(10) relates in his poem; and this is peculiar to our religion.
"It was not even allowed to mark out or to divide the plain with a
boundary: men sought all things in common;"(11) since God

141

had given the earth in common to all, that they might pass their life in
common, not that mad and raging avarice might claim all things for
itself, and that that which was produced for all might not be wanting to
any.  And this saying of the poet ought so to be taken, not as
suggesting the idea that individuals at that time had no private
property, but it must be regarded as a poetical figure; that we may
understand that men were so liberal, that they did not shut up the
fruits of the earth produced for them, nor did they in solitude brood
over the things stored up, but admitted the poor to share the fruits of
their labour:--

 "Now streams of milk, now streams of nectar flowed."(1)

And no wonder, since the storehouses of the good liberally lay open to
all.  Nor did avarice intercept the divine bounty, and thus cause hunger
and thirst in common but all alike had abundance, since they who had
possessions gave liberally and bountifully to those who had not.  But
after that Saturnus had been banished from heaven, and had arrived in
Latium,--

 "Exiled from his throne

 By Jove, his mightier heir,"(2)--

since the people either through fear of the new king, or of their own
accord, had become corrupted and ceased to worship God, and had begun to
esteem the king in the place of Cool, since he himself, almost a
parricide, was an example to others to the injury of piety,--

 "The most just Virgin in haste deserted the lands;"(3)

but not as Cicero says,(4)

 "And settled, in the kingdom of Jupiter, and in a part of the heaven."

For how could she settle or tarry in the kingdom of him who expelled his
father from his kingdom, harassed him with war, and drove him as an
exile over the whole world?

 "He gave to the black serpents their noxious poison,

 And ordered wolves to prowl;(6)

that is, he introduced among men hatred, and envy, and stratagem; so
that they were poisonous as serpents, and rapacious as wolves.  And they
truly do this who persecute those who are righteous and faithful towards
God, and give to judges the power of using violence against the
innocent.  Perhaps Jupiter may have done something of this kind for the
overthrow and removal of righteousness; and on this account he is
related to have made serpents fierce, and to have whetted the spirit of
wolves.

 "Then war's indomitable rage,

 And greedy lust of gain;"(7)

and not without reason.  For the worship of God being taken away, men
lost the knowledge of good and evil.  Thus the common intercourse of
life perished from among then, and the bond of human society was
destroyed.  Then they began to contend with one another, and to plot,
and to acquire for themselves glory from the shedding of human blood.

CHAP. VI.--AFTER THE BANISHMENT OF JUSTICE, LUST, UNJUST LAWS, DARING,
AVARICE, AMBITION, PRIDE, IMPIETY, AND OTHER VICES REIGNED.

 And the source of all these evils was lust; which, indeed, burst forth
from the contempt of true majesty.  For not only did they who had a
superfluity fail to bestow a share upon others, but they even seized the
property of others, drawing everything to their private gain; and the
things which formerly even individuals laboured to obtain for the common
use of men,(8) were now conveyed to the houses of a few.  Far, that they
might subdue others by slavery, they began especially to withdraw and
collect together the necessaries of life, and to keep them firmly shut
up, that they might make the bounties of heaven their own; not on
account of kindness,(9) a feeling which had no existence in them, but
that they might sweep together all the instruments of lust and avarice.
They also, tinder the name of justice, passed most unequal and unjust
laws, by which they might defend their plunder and avarice against the
force of the multitude.  They prevailed, therefore, as much by authority
as by strength, or resources, or malice.  And since there was in them no
trace of justice, the offices of which are humanity, equity, pity, they
now began to rejoice in a proud and swollen inequality, and made(10)
themselves higher than other men, by a retinue of attendants, and by the
sword, and by the brilliancy of their garments.  For this reason they
invented for themselves honours, and purple robes, and fasces, that,
being supported by the terror produced by axes and swords, they might,
as it were by the right of masters, rule them, stricken with fear, and

alarmed.  Such was the condition in which the life of man was placed by
that king who, having defeated and put to flight a parent, did not seize
his kingdom, but set up an impious tyranny by violence and armed men,
and took away that

142

golden age of justice, and compelled men to become wicked and impious,
even from this very circumstance, that he turned them away from God to
the worship of himself; and the terror of his excessive power had
extorted this.

 For who would not fear him who was girded about with arms, whom the
unwonted gleam of steel and swords surrounded?  Or what stranger would
he spare who had not even spared his own father?  Whom, in truth, should
he fear, who had conquered in war, and destroyed by massacre the race of
the Titans, which was strong and excelling in might?  What wonder if the
whole multitude, pressed by unusual fear, had given themselves up to the
adulation of a single man?  Him they venerated, to him they paid the
greatest honour.  And since it is judged to be a kind of obsequiousness
to imitate the customs and vices of a king, all men laid aside piety,
lest, if they should live piously, they might seem to upbraid the
wickedness of the king.  Thus, being corrupted by continual imitation,
they abandoned divine right, and the practice of living wickedly by
degrees became a habit.  And now nothing remained of the pious and
excellent condition of the preceding age; but justice being banished,
and drawing with her the truth, left to men error, ignorance, and
blindness.  The poets therefore were ignorant, who sung that she fled to
heaven, to the kingdom of Jupiter.  For if justice was on the earth in
the age which they call "golden," it is plain that she was driven away
by Jupiter, who changed the golden age.  But the change of the age and
the expulsion of justice is to be deemed nothing else, as I have said,
than the laying aside of divine religion, which alone effects that man
should esteem man dear, and should know that he is bound to him by the
tie of brotherhood, since God is alike a Father to all, so as to share
the bounties of the common God and Father with those who do not possess
them; to injure no one, to oppress no one, not to close his door against
a stranger, nor his ear against a suppliant, but to be bountiful,
beneficent, and liberal, which Tullius(1) thought to be praises suitable
to a king.  This truly is justice, and this is, the golden age, which
was first corrupted when Jupiter reigned, and shortly afterwards, when
he himself and all his offspring were consecrated as gods, and the
worship of many deities undertaken, had been altogether taken away.

CHAP. VII.--OF THE COMING OF JESUS, AND ITS FRUIT; AND OF THE VIRTUES
AND VICES OF THAT AGE.

 But God, as a most indulgent parent, when the last time approached,
sent a messenger to bring back that old age, and justice which had

been put to flight, that the human race might not be agitated by very
great and perpetual errors.  Therefore the appearance of that golden
time returned, and justice was restored to the earth, but was assigned
to a few; and this justice is nothing else than the pious and religious
worship of the one God.  But perhaps some may be inclined to ask, why,
if this be justice, it is not given to all mankind, and the whole
multitude does not agree to it.  This is a matter of great disputation,
why a difference was retained by God when He gave justice to the earth;
and this I have shown in another place, and whenever a favourable
opportunity shall occur it shall be explained.  Now it is sufficient
very briefly to signify it: that virtue can neither be discerned, unless
it has vices opposed to it; nor be perfect, unless it is exercised by
adversity.(2) For God designed that there should be this distinction
between good and evil things, that we may know from that which is evil
the quality of the good, and also the quality of the evil from the good;
nor can the nature of the one be understood if the other is taken away.
God therefore did not exclude evil, that the nature of virtue might be
evident.  For how could patient endurance(3) retain its meaning and name
if there were nothing which we were compelled to endure?(4) How could
faith devoted to its God deserve praise, unless there were some one who
wished to turn us away from God?  For on this account He permitted the
unjust to be more powerful, that they might be able to compel to evil;
and on this account to be more numerous, that virtue might be precious,
because it is rare.  And this very point is admirably and briefly shown
by Quintilian in "the muffled head."(5) "For what virtue," he says,
"would there be in innocence, had not its rarity furnished it with
praises?  But because it is provided by nature that hatred, desire, and
anger drive men blindly to that object to which they have applied
themselves, to be free from fault appears to be beyond the power of man.
Otherwise, if nature had given to all men equal affections, piety would
be nothing."

 How true this is, the necessity of the case itself teaches.  For if it
is virtue to resist with fortitude evils and vices, it is evident that,
without evil and vice, there is no perfected virtue; and that God might
render this complete and perfect, He retained that which was contrary to
it, with which it might contend.  For, being agitated by evils which
harass it, it gains stability; and in proportion to the frequency with
which

143

it is urged onward, is the firmness with which it is strengthened.  This
is evidently the cause which effects that, although justice is sent to
men, yet it cannot be said that a golden age exists; because God has not
taken away evil, that He might retain that diversity which alone
preserves the mystery of a divine religion.

CHAP. VIII.--OF JUSTICE KNOWN TO ALL, BUT NOT EMBRACED; OF THE TRUE
TEMPLE OF GOD, AND OF HIS WORSHIP,THAT ALL VICES MAY BE SUBDUED.

 They, therefore, who think that no one is just, have justice before
their eyes, but are unwilling to discern it.  For what reason is there
why they should describe it either in poems or in all their discourse,
complaining of its absence, when it is very easy for them to be good if
they wish?  Why do you depict to yourselves justice as worthless,(1) and
wish that she may fall from heaven, as it were, represented in some
image?  Behold, she is in your sight; receive her, if you are able, and
place her in the abode of your breast; and do not imagine that this is
difficult, or unsuited to the times.  Be just and good, and the justice
which you seek will follow you of her own accord.  Lay aside every evil
thought from your hearts, and that golden age will at once return to
you, which you cannot attain to by any other means than by beginning to
worship the true God.  But you long for justice on the earth, while the
worship of false gods continues, which cannot possibly come to pass.
But it was not possible even at that time when you imagine, because
those deities whom you impiously worship were not yet produced, and the
worship of the one God must have prevailed throughout the earth; of that
God, I say, who hates wickedness and requires goodness; whose temple is
not stones or clay, but man himself, who bears the image of God.  And
this temple is adorned not with corruptible gifts of gold and jewels,
but with the lasting offices of virtues.  Learn, therefore, if any
intelligence is left to you, that men are wicked and unjust because gods
are worshipped; and that all evils daily increase to the affairs of men
on this account, because God the Maker and Governor of this world has
been neglected; because, contrary to that which is right, impious
superstitions have been taken up; and lastly, because you do not permit
God to be worshipped even by a few.

But if God only were worshipped, there would

not be dissensions and wars, since men would

know that they are the sons of one God; and,

therefore, among those who were connected by

the sacred and inviolable bond of divine relation-

ship, there would be no plottings, inasmuch as

they would know what kind of punishments God

prepared for the destroyers of souls, who sees through secret crimes,
and even the very thoughts themselves.  There would be no frauds or
plunderings if they had learned, through the instruction of God, to be
content with that which was their own, though little, so that they might
prefer solid and eternal things to those which are frail and perishable.
There would be no adulteries, and debaucheries, and prostitution of
women, if it were known to all, that whatever is sought beyond the
desire of procreation is condemned by God.(2) Nor would necessity,
compel a woman to dishonour her modesty, to seek for herself a most
disgraceful mode of sustenance; since the males also would restrain
their lust, and the pious and religious contributions of the rich would
succour the destitute.  There would not, therefore, as I have said, be
these evils on the earth, if there were by common Consent a general
observance(3) of the law of God, if those things were done by all which
our people alone perform.  How happy and how golden would be the
condition of human affairs, if throughout the world gentleness, and
piety, and peace, and innocence, and equity, and temperance, and faith,
took up their abode!  In short, there would be no need of so many and
varying laws to rule men, since the law of God alone would be sufficient
for perfect innocence; nor would there be any need of prisons, or the
swords of rulers, or the terror of punishments, since the wholesomeness
of the divine precepts infused into the breasts of men would of itself
instruct them to works of justice.  But now men are wicked through
ignorance of what is right and good.  And this, indeed, Cicero saw; for,
discoursing on the subject of the laws,(4) he says: "As the world, with
all its parts agreeing with one another, coheres and depends upon one
and the same nature, so all men, being naturally confused among
themselves, disagree through depravity; nor do they understand that they
are related by blood, and that they are all subject to one and the same
guardianship: for if this were kept in mind, assuredly men would live
the life of gods."  Therefore the unjust and impious worship of the gods
has introduced all the evils by which mankind in turn destroy one
another.  For they could not retain their piety, who, as prodigal and
rebellious children, had renounced the authority of Coot, the common
parent of all.

CHAP. IX.--OF THE CRIMES OF THE WICKED, AND THE TORTURE INFLICTED ON THE
CHRISTIANS.

 At times, however, they perceive that they are wicked, and praise the
condition of the former

144

ages, and conjecture that justice is absent because of their characters
and deserts; for, though she presents herself to their eyes, they not
only fail to receive or recognise her, but they even violently hate, and
persecute, and endeavour to banish her.  Let us suppose, in the
meantime, that she whom we follow is not justice: how will they receive
her whom they imagine to be the true justice, if she shall have come,
when they torture and kill those whom they themselves confess to be
imitators of the just, because they perform good and just actions;
whereas, if they should put to death the wicked only, they would deserve
to be unvisited by justice, who had no other reason for leaving the
earth than the shedding of human blood?  How much more so when they slay
the righteous, and account the followers of justice themselves as
enemies, yea, as more than enemies; who, though they eagerly seek their
lives, and property, and children by sword and fire, yet are spared when
conquered; and there is a place for clemency even amidst arms; or if
they have determined to carry their cruelty to the utmost, nothing more
is done towards them, except that they are put to death or led away to
slavery!  But this is unutterable which is done towards those who are
ignorant of crime, and none are regarded as more guilty than those who
are of all men innocent.  Therefore most wicked men venture to make
mention of justice, men who surpass wild beasts in ferocity, who lay
waste the most gentle flock of God,--

 "Like gaunt wolves rushing from their den,

 Whom lawless hunger's sullen growl

 Drives forth into the night to prowl."(1)

 But these have been maddened not by the fury of hunger, but of the
heart; nor do they prowl in a black mist, but by open plundering; nor
does the consciousness of their crimes ever recall them from profaning
the sacred and holy name of justice with that mouth which, like the jaws
of beasts, is wet with the blood of the innocent.  What must we say is
especially the cause of this excessive and persevering hatred?

 "Does truth produce hatred,"(2)

as the poet says, as though inspired by the Divine Spirit, or are they
ashamed to be bad in the presence of the just and good?  Or is it rather
from both causes?  For the truth is always hateful on this account,
because he who sins wishes to have free scope for sinning, and thinks
that he cannot in any other way more securely enjoy the pleasure of his
evil doings, than if there is no one whom his faults may displease.
Therefore they endeavour entirely to exterminate and, take them away as
witnesses of their crimes and wickedness, and think them burthensome to:

themselves, as though their life were reproved.  For why should any be
unseasonably good, who, when the public morals are corrupted, should
censure them by living well?  Why should not all be equally wicked,
rapacious, unchaste, adulterers, perjured, covetous, and fraudulent?
Why should they not rather be taken out of the way, in whose presence
they are ashamed to lead an evil life, who, though not by words, for
they are silent, but by their very course of life, so unlike their own,
assail and strike the forehead of sinners?  For whoever disagrees with
them appears to reprove them.

 Nor is it greatly to be wondered at if these things are done towards
men, since for the same cause the people who were placed in hope,(3) and
not ignorant of God, rose up against God Himself; and the same necessity
follows the righteous which attacked the Author of righteousness
Himself.  Therefore they harass and torment them with studied kinds of
punishments, and think it little to kill those whom they hate, unless
cruelty also mocks their bodies.  But if any through fear of pain or
death, or by their own perfidy, have deserted the heavenly oath,(4) and
have consented to deadly sacrifices, these they praise and load(5) with
honours, that by their ample they may allure others.  But upon those who
have highly esteemed their faith, and have not denied that they are
worshippers of God, they fall with all the strength of their butchery,
as though they thirsted for blood; and they call them desperate,(6)
because they by no means spare their body; as though anything could be
more desperate, than to torture and tear in pieces him whom you know to
be innocent.  Thus no sense of shame remains among those from whom all
kind feeling is absent, and they retort upon just men reproaches which
are befitting to themselves.  For they call them impious, being
themselves forsooth pious, and shrinking from the shedding of human
blood; whereas, if they would consider their own acts, and the acts of
those whom they condemn as impious, they would now understand how false
they are, and more deserving of all those things which they either say
or do against the good.  For they are not of our number, but of theirs
who besiege the roads in arms, practise piracy by sea; or if it has not
been in their power openly to assail, secretly mix poisons; who kill
their wives that they may gain their dowries, or their husbands that
they may marry adulterers; who either strangle the sons born from
themselves, or if

145

they are too pious, expose them; who restrain their incestuous passions
neither from a daughter, nor sister, nor mother, nor priestess; who
conspire against their own citizens and country; who do not fear the
sack;(1) who, in fine, commit sacrilege, and despoil the temples of the
gods whom they worship; and, to speak of things which are light and
usually practised by them, who hunt for inheritances, forge wills,
either remove or exclude the just heirs; who prostitute their own
persons to lust; who, in short, unmindful of what they were born,
contend with women in passivity;(2) who, in violation of all
propriety,(3) pollute and dishonour the most sacred part of their body;
who mutilate themselves, and that which is more impious, in order that
they may be priests of religion; who do not even spare their own life,
but sell their lives to be taken away in public; who, if they sit as
judges, corrupted by a bribe, either destroy the innocent or set free
the guilty without punishment; who grasp at the heaven itself by
sorceries, as though the earth would not contain their wickedness.
These crimes, I say, and more than these, are plainly committed by those
who are worshippers of the gods.

 Amidst these crimes of such number and magnitude, what place is there
for justice?  And I have collected a few only out of many, not for the
purpose of censure, but to show their nature.  Let those who shall wish
to know all take in hand the books of Seneca, who was at the same time a
most true describer and a most vehement accuser of the public morals and
vices.  But Lucilius also briefly and concisely described that dark life
in these verses: "But now from morn to night, on festival and ordinary
day alike, the whole people and the fathers with one accord display
themselves in(4) the forum, and never depart from it.  They have all
given themselves to one and the same pursuit and art, that they may be
able cautiously to deceive, to fight treacherously, to contend in
flattery, each to pretend that he is a good man, to lie in wait, as if
all were enemies to all."  But which of these things can be laid to the
charge of our people,(5) with whom the whole of religion consists in
living without guilt and without spot?  Since, therefore, they see that
both they and their people do those things which we have said, but that
ours practise nothing else but that which is just and good, they might,
if they had any understanding, have perceived from this, both that they
who do what is good are pious, and that they themselves who commit
wicked actions are impious.  For it is impossible that they who do not
err in all the actions of their life, should err in the main point, that
is, in religion, which is the chief of all things.  For impiety, if
taken up in that which is the most important, would follow through all
the rest.  And therefore(6) it is impossible that they who err in the
whole of their life should not be deceived also in religion; inasmuch as
piety, if it kept its rule in the chief point, would maintain its course
in others.  Thus it happens, that on either side the character of the
main subject may be known from the state of the actions which are
carried on.

 CHAP. X.--OF FALSE PIETY, AND OF FALSE AND TRUE RELIGION.

 It is worth while to investigate their piety, that from their merciful
and pious actions it may be understood what is the character of those
things which are done by them contrary to the laws of piety.  And that I
may not seem to attack any one with harshness, I will take a character
from the poets, and one which is the greatest example of piety.In Maro,
that king "Than who The breath of being none e'er drew,

More brave, more pious, or more true,"(7)--

what proofs of justice did he bring forward to us?

 "There walk with hands fast bound behind

 The victim prisoners, designed

 For slaughter o'er the flames."(8)

What can be more merciful than this piety?  what more merciful than to
immolate human victims to the dead, and to feed the fire with the blood
of men as with oil?  But perhaps this may not have been the fault of the
hero himself, but of the poet, who polluted with distinguished
wickedness "a man distinguished by his piety."(9) Where then, O poet, is
that piety which you so frequently praise?  Behold the pious AEneas:--

"Four hapless youths of Sulmo's breed,

 And four who Ufens call their sire,

 He takes alive, condemned to bleed

 To Pallas' shade on Pallas' pyre."(10)

Why, therefore, at the very same time when he was sending the men in
chains to slaughter, did he say,

 "Fain would I grant the living peace,"(11)

when he ordered that those whom he had in his power alive should be
slain in the place of cattle?  But this, as I have said, was not his
fault--for

146

he perhaps had not received a liberal education--but yours; for, though
you were learned, yet you were ignorant of the nature of piety, and you
believed that that wicked and detestable action of his was the befitting
exercise of piety.  He is plainly called pious on this account only,
because he loved his father.  Why should I say that

 "The good AEneas owned their plea,"(1)

and yet slew them?  For, though adjured by the same father, and

 "By young Lulus' dawning day,"(2)

he did not spare them,

 "Live fury kindling every vein"(3)

What!  can any one imagine that there was any virtue in him who was
fired with madness as stubble, and, forgetful of the shade of his
father.  by whom he was entreated, was unable to curb his wrath?  He was
therefore by no means pious who not only slew the unresisting, but even
suppliants.  Here some one will say: What then, or where, or of what
character is piety?  Truly it is among those who are ignorant of wars,
who maintain concord with all, who are friendly even to their enemies,
who love all men as brethren, who know how to restrain their anger, and
to soothe every passion of the mind with calm government.  How great a
mist, therefore, how great a cloud of darkness and errors, has over-
spread the breasts of men who, when they think themselves especially
pious, then become especially impious?  For the more religiously they
honour those earthy images, so much the more wicked are they towards the
name of the true divinity.  And therefore they are often harassed with
greater evils as the reward of their impiety; and because they know not
the cause of these evils, the blame is altogether ascribed to fortune,
and the philosophy of Epicurus finds a place who thinks that nothing
extends to the gods, and that they are neither influenced by favour nor
moved by anger, because they often see their despisers happy, and their
worshippers in misery.  And this happens on this account, because when
they seem to be religious and naturally good, they are believed to
deserve nothing of that kind which they often suffer.  However, they
console themselves by accusing fortune; nor do they perceive that if she
had any existence, she would never injure her worshippers.  Piety of
this kind is therefore deservedly followed by punishment; and the deity
offended with the wickedness of men who are depraved in their religious
worship,(4) punishes them with

heavy misfortune; who, although they live with holiness in the greatest
faith and innocence, yet because they worship gods whose impious and
profane rites are an abomination to the true God, are estranged from
justice and the name of true piety.  Nor is it difficult to show why the
worshippers of the gods cannot be good and just.  For how shall they
abstain from the shedding of blood who worship bloodthirsty deities,
Mars and Bellona?  or how shall they spare their parents who worship
Jupiter, who drove out his father?  or how shall they spare their own
infants who worship Saturnus?  how shall they uphold chastity who
worship a goddess who is naked, and an adulteress, and who prostitutes
herself as it were among the gods?  how shall they withhold themselves
from plunder and frauds who are acquainted with the thefts of Mercurius,
who teaches that to deceive is not the part of fraud, but of cleverness?
how shall they restrain their lusts who worship Jupiter, Hercules,
Liber, Apollo, and the others, whose adulteries and debaucheries with
men and women are not only known to the learned, but are even set forth
in the theatres, and made the subject of songs, so that they are
notorious(5) to all?  Among these things is it possible for men to be
just, who, although they were naturally good, would be trained to
injustice by the very gods themselves?  For, that you may propitiate the
god whom you worship, there is need of those things with which you know
that he is pleased and delighted.  Thus it comes to pass that the god
fashions the life of his worshippers according to the character of his
own will,(6) since the most religious worship is to imitate.

 CHAP XI.--OF THE CRUELTY OF THE HEATHENS AGAINST THE CHRISTIANS.

 Therefore, because justice is burthensome and unpleasant to those men
who agree with the character of their gods, they exercise with violence
against the righteous the same impiety which they show in other things.
And not without reason are they spoken of by the prophets as beasts.
Therefore it is excellently said by Marcus Tullius:(7) "For if there is
no one who would not prefer to die than to be changed into the figure of
a beast, although he is about to have the mind of a man, how much more
wretched is it to be of a brutalized mind in the figure of a man!  To
me, indeed, it seems as much worse as the mind is more excellent than
the body."  Therefore they view with disdain the bodies of beasts,
though they are themselves more cruel than these; and they pride
themselves on this account, that they were born men,

147

though they have nothing belonging to man except the features and the
eminent figure.  For what Caucasus, what India, what Hyrcania ever
nourished beasts so.  savage and so bloodthirsty?  For the fury of all
wild beasts rages until their appetite is satisfied; and when their
hunger is appeased, immediately is pacified.That is truly a beast by
whose command alone

 "With rivulets of slaughter reeks

 The stern embattled field."

 "Dire agonies, wild terrors swarm,

 And Death glares grim in many a form."(1)

No one can befittingly describe the cruelty of this beast, which
reclines in one place, and yet rages with iron teeth throughout the
world, and not only tears in pieces the limbs of men, but also breaks
their very bones, and rages over their ashes, that there may be no place
for their burial, as though they who confess God aimed at this, that
their tombs should be visited, and not rather that they themselves may
reach the presence of God.

 What brutality is it, what fury, what madness, to deny light to the
living, earth to the dead?  I say, therefore, that nothing is more
wretched than those men whom necessity has either found or made the
ministers of another's fury, the satellites of an impious command.  For
that was no honour, or exaltation of dignity, but the condemnation of a
man to torture, and also to the everlasting punishment of God.  But it
is impossible to relate what things they performed individually
throughout the world.  For what number of volumes will contain so
infinite, so varied kinds of cruelty?  For, having gained power, every
one raged according to his own disposition.  Some, through excessive
timidity, proceeded to greater lengths than they were commanded; others
thus acted through their own particular hatred against the righteous;
some by a natural ferocity of mind; some through a desire to please, and
that by this service they might prepare the way to higher offices: some
were swift to slaughter, as an individual in Phrygia, who burnt a whole
assembly of people, together with their place of meeting.  But the more
cruel he was, so much the more merciful(2) is he found to be.  But that
is the worst kind of persecutors whom a false appearance of clemency
flatters; he is the more severe, he the more cruel torturer, who
determines to put no one to death.  Therefore it cannot be told what
great and what grievous modes of tortures judges of this kind devised,
that they might arrive at the accomplishment of their purpose.  But they
do these things not only on this account, that they may be able to boast
that they have slain none of the innocent,--for I myself have heard some
boasting that their administration has been in this respect without
bloodshed,--but also for the sake of envy, lest either they themselves
should be overcome, or the others should obtain the glory due to their
virtue.  And thus, in devising modes of punishment, they think of
nothing else besides victory.  For they know that this is a contest and
a battle.  I saw in Bithynia the prefect wonderfully elated with joy, as
though he had subdued some nation of barbarians, because one who had
resisted for two years with great spirit appeared at length to yield.
They contend, therefore, that they may conquer and inflict exquisite(3)
pains on their bodies, and avoid nothing else but that the victims may
not die under the torture: as though, in truth, death alone could make
them happy, and as though tortures also in proportion to their severity
would not produce greater glory of virtue.  But they with obstinate
folly give orders that diligent care shall be given to the tortured,
that their limbs may be renovated for other tortures, and fresh blood be
supplied for punishment.  What can be so pious, so beneficent, so
humane?  They would not have bestowed such anxious care on any whom they
loved.  This is the discipline of the gods: to these deeds they train
their worshippers; these are the sacred rites which they require.
Moreover, most wicked murderers have invented impious laws against the
pious.  For both sacrilegious ordinances and unjust disputations of
jurists are read.  Domitius, in his seventh book, concerning the office
of the proconsul, has collected wicked rescripts of princes, that he
might show by what punishments they ought to be visited who confessed
themselves to be worshippers of God.

CHAP.XII.--OF TRUE VIRTUE; AND OF THE ESTIMATION OF A GOOD OR BAD
CITIZEN.

 What would you do to those who give the name of justice to the tortures
inflicted by tyrants of old, who fiercely raged against the innocent;
and though they are teachers of injustice and cruelty, wish to appear
just and prudent, being blind and dull, and ignorant of affairs and of
truth?  Is justice so hateful to you, O abandoned minds, that ye regard
it as equal with the greatest crimes?  Is innocence so utterly lost in
your eyes, that you do not think it worthy of death only,(4) but it is
esteemed as beyond all crimes to commit no crime, and to have a breast
pure from all contagion of guilt?  And since we arc speaking generally
with those who worship

148

gods, let us have your permission to do good with you; for this is our
law, this our business, this our religion.  If we appear to you wise,
imitate us; if foolish, despise us, or even laugh at us, if you please;
for our folly is profitable to us.  Why do you lacerate, why do you
afflict us?  We do not envy your wisdom.  We prefer this folly of ours--
we embrace this.  We believe that this is expedient for us,--to love
you, and to confer all things upon you, who hate us.

 There is in the writings of Cicero(1) a passage not inconsistent with
the truth, in that disputation which is held by Furius against justice:
"I ask," he says, "if there should be two men, and one of them should be
an excellent man, of the highest integrity, the greatest justice, and
remarkable faith, and the other distinguished by crime and audacity; and
if the state should be in such error as to regard that good man as
wicked, vicious, and execrable, but should think the one who is most
wicked to be of the highest integrity and faith; and if, in accordance
with this opinion of all the citizens, that good man should be harassed,
dragged away, should be deprived of his hands, have his eyes dug out,
should be condemned, be bound, be branded, be banished, be in want, and
lastly, should most justly appear to all to be most wretched; but, on
the other hand, if that wicked man should be praised, and honoured, and
loved by all,--if all honours, all commands, all wealth, and all
abundance should be bestowed upon him,--in short, if he should be judged
in the estimation of all an excellent man, and most worthy of all
fortune,--who, I pray, will be so mad as to doubt which of the two he
would prefer to be?"  Assuredly he put forth this example as though he
divined what evils were about to happen to us, and in what manner, on
account of righteousness; for our people suffer all these things through
the perverseness of those in error.  Behold, the state, or rather the
whole world itself, is in such error, that it persecutes, tortures,
condemns, and puts to death good and righteous men, as though they were
wicked and impious.  For as to what he says, that no one is so
infatuated as to doubt which of the two he would prefer to be, he
indeed, as the one who was contending against justice, thought this,
that the wise man would prefer to be bad if he had a good reputation,
than to be good with a bad reputation.

 But may this senselessness be absent from us, that we should prefer
that which is false to the true?  Or does the character of our good man
depend upon the errors of the people, more than upon our own conscience
and the judgment of God?  Or shall any prosperity ever allure us, so
that we should not rather choose true goodness, though accompanied with
all evil, than false goodness together with all prosperity?  Let kings
retain their kingdoms, the rich their riches, as Plautus says,(2) the
wise their wisdom: let them leave to us our folly, which is evidently
proved to be wisdom, from the very fact that they envy us its
possession: for who would envy a fool, but he who is himself most
foolish?  But they are not so foolish as to envy fools; but from the
fact of their following us up with such care and anxiety, they allow
that we are not fools.  For why should they rage with such cruelty,
unless it is that they fear lest, as justice grows strong from day to
day, they should be deserted together with their decaying(3) gods?  If,
therefore, the worshippers of gods are wise, and we are foolish, why do
they fear lest the wise shall be allured by the foolish?

 CHAP. XIII.--OF THE INCREASE AND THE PUNISHMENT OF THE CHRISTIANS.(4)

 But since our number is continually increased from the worshippers of
gods, but is never lessened, not even in persecution itself,--since men
may commit sin, and be defiled by sacrifice, but they cannot be turned
away from God, for the truth prevails by its own power,--who is there, I
pray, so foolish and so blind as not to see on which side wisdom is?
But they are blinded by malice and fury, that they cannot see; and they
think that those are foolish who, when they have it in their power to
avoid punishments, nevertheless prefer to be tortured and to be put to
death; whereas they might see from this very circumstance, that it is
not folly to which so many thousands throughout the world agree with one
and the same mind.  For if women fall into error through the weakness of
their sex (for these persons sometimes call it a womanish and anile
superstition), men doubtless are wise.  If boys, if youths are
improvident through their age, the mature and aged doubtless have a
fixed judgment.  If one city is unwise, it is evident that the other
innumerable cities cannot be foolish.  If one province or one nation is
without prudence, the rest must have understanding of that which is
right.  But since the divine law has been received from the rising even
to the setting of the sun, and each sex, every age, and nation, and
country, with one and the same mind obeys God--since there is everywhere
the same patient endurance, the same contempt of death--they ought to
have understood that there is some reason in that matter, that it is not
without a cause that it is defended even to death, that there is some
foundation and solidity, which not

149

only frees that religion from injuries and molestation, but always
increases and makes it stronger.  For in this respect also the malice of
those is brought to light, who think that they have utterly overthrown
the religion of God if they have corrupted men, when it is permitted
them to make satisfaction also to God; and there is no worshipper of God
so evil who does not, when the opportunity is given him, return to
appease God, and that, too, with greater devotedness.  For the
consciousness of sin and the fear of punishment make a man more
religious, and the faith is always much stronger which is replaced
through repentance.  If, therefore, they themselves, when they think
that the gods are angry with them, nevertheless believe that they are
appeased by gifts, and sacrifices, and incense, what reason is there why
they should imagine our God to be so unmerciful and implacable, that it
should appear impossible for him to be a Christian, who by compulsion
and against his will has poured a libation to their gods?  Unless by
chance they think that those who are once contaminated are about to
change their mind, so that they may now begin of their own accord to do
that which they have done under the influence of torture.  Who would
willingly undertake that duty which began with injury?  Who, when he
sees the scars on his own sides, would not the more hate the gods, on
account of whom he bears the traces of lasting punishment, and the marks
imprinted upon his flesh?  Thus it comes to pass, that when peace is
given from heaven, those who were estranged (1) from us return, and a
fresh crowd(2) of others are added on account of the wonderful nature(3)
of the virtue displayed.  For when the people see that men are lacerated
by various kinds of tortures, and that they retain their patience
unsubdued while the executioners are wearied, they think, as is really
the case, that neither the agreement of so many nor the constancy of the
dying is without meaning, and that patience itself could not surmount
such great tortures without the aid of God.  Robbers and men of robust
frame are unable to endure lacerations of this kind: they utter
exclamations, and send forth groans; for they are overcome by pain,
because they are destitute of patience infused(4) into them.  But in our
case (not to speak of men), boys and delicate women in silence overpower
their torturers, and even the fire is unable to extort from them a
groan.  Let the Romans go and boast in their Mutius or Regulus,--the one
of whom gave himself up to be slain by the enemy, because he was ashamed
to live as a captive; the other being taken by the enemy, when he saw
that he could not escape death, laid his hand upon the burning hearth,
that he might make atonement for his crime to the enemy whom he wished
to kill, and by that punishment received the pardon which he had not
deserved.  Behold, the weak sex and fragile age endure to be lacerated
in the whole body, and to be burned: not Of necessity, for it is
permitted them to escape if they wished to do so; but of their own will,
because they put their trust in God.(5)

CHAP. XIV.--OF THE FORTITUDE OF THE CHRIS-

TIANS.

 But this is true virtue, which the vaunting philosophers also boast of,
not in deed, but with empty words, saying that nothing is so befitting
the gravity and constancy of a wise man as to be able to be driven away
from his sentiment and purpose by no torturers, but that it is worth his
while(6) to suffer torture and death rather than betray a trust or
depart from his duty, or, overcome by fear of death or severity of pain,
commit any injustice.  Unless by chance Flaccus appears to them to rave
in his lyrics, when he says,

"Not the rage of the million commanding things evil;

 Not the doom frowning near in the brows of the tyrant,

 Shakes the upright and resolute man

 In his solid completeness of soul."(7)

 And nothing can be more true than this, if it is referred to those who
refuse no tortures, no kind of death, that they may not turn aside from
faith and justice; who do not tremble at the commands of tyrants nor the
swords of rulers,(8) so as not to maintain true and solid liberty with
constancy of mind, which wisdom is to be observed in this alone.  For
who is so arrogant, who so lifted up, as to forbid me to raise my eyes
to heaven?  Who can impose upon me the necessity either of worshipping
that which I am unwilling to worship, or of abstaining from the worship
of that which I wish to worship?  What further will now be left to us,
if even this, which must be done of one's own will,(9) shall be extorted
from me by the caprice of another?  No one will effect this, if we have
any courage to despise death and pain.  But if we possess this
constancy, why are we judged foolish when we do those things which
philosophers praise?  Seneca, in charging men with inconsistency,
rightly says the highest virtue appears to them to consist in greatness
of spirit; and yet the same persons regard him who despises death as a
madman, which is plainly a mark of the greatest perverseness.  But those
followers of vain

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religions urge this with the same folly with which they fail to
understand the true God; and these the Erythraean Sibyl calls "deaf and
senseless,"(1) since they neither hear nor perceive divine things, but
fear and adore an earthen image moulded by their own fingers.

CHAP. XV.--OF FOLLY, WISDOM, PIETY, EQUITY,

AND JUSTICE.

 But the reason on account of which they imagine those who are wise to
be foolish has strong grounds of support (for they are not deceived
without reason). And this must be diligently explained by us, that they
may at length (if it is possible) recognise their errors.  Justice by
its own nature has a certain appearance of folly, and I am able to
confirm this both by divine and human testimonies.  But perhaps we
should not succeed with them, unless we should teach them from their own
authorities that no one can be just, a matter which is united with true
wisdom, unless he also appears to be foolish.  Carneades was a
philosopher of the Academic sect; and one who knows not what power he
had in discussion, what eloquence, what sagacity, will nevertheless
understand the character of the man himself from the praises of Cicero
or of Lucilius, in whose writings Neptune, discoursing on a subject of
the greatest difficulty, shows that it cannot be explained, even if
Orcus should restore Carneades himself to life.  This Carneades, when he
had been sent by the Athenians as ambassador to Rome, disputed copiously
on the subject of justice, in the hearing of Galba and Cato, who had
been censor, who were at that time the greatest of orators.  But on the
next day the same man overthrew his own argument by a disputation to the
contrary effect, and took away the justice which he had praised on the
preceding day, not indeed with the gravity of a philosopher, whose
prudence ought to be firm and his opinion settled, but as it were by an
oratorical kind of exercise of disputing on both sides.  And he was
accustomed to do this, that he might be able to refute others who
asserted anything.  L. Furius, in Cicero, makes mention of that
discussion in which justice is overthrown.(2) I believe, inasmuch as he
was discussing the subject of the state, he did it that he might
introduce the defence and praise of that without which he thought that a
state could not be governed.  But Carneades, that he might refute
Aristotle and Plato, the advocates of justice, in that first disputation
collected all the arguments which were alleged in behalf of justice,
that he might be able to overthrow them, as he did.  For it was very
easy to shake justice, having no roots, inasmuch as there was then none
on the earth, that its nature or qualities might be perceived by
philosophers.  And I could wish that men, so many and of such a
character, had possessed knowledge also, in proportion to their
eloquence and spirit, for completing the defence of this greatest
virtue, which has its origin in religion, its principle in equity!  But
those who were ignorant of that first part could not possess the second.
But I wish first to show, summarily and concisely, what it is, that it
may be understood that the philosophers were ignorant of justice, and
were unable to defend that with which they were unacquainted.  Although
justice embraces all the virtues together, yet there are two, the chief
of all, which cannot be torn asunder and separated from it--piety and
equity.  For fidelity, temperance, uprightness, innocence, integrity,
and the other things of this kind, either naturally or through the
training of parents, may exist in those men who are ignorant of justice,
as they have always existed; for the ancient Romans, who were accustomed
to glory in justice, used evidently to glory in those virtues which (as
I have said) may proceed from justice, and be separated from the very
fountain itself.  But piety and equity are, as it were, its veins: for
in these two fountains the whole of justice is contained; but its source
and origin is in the first, all its force and method in the second.  But
piety is nothing else but the conception(3) of God, as Trismegistus most
truly defined it, as we have said in another place.  If, therefore, it
is piety to know God, and the sum of this knowledge is that you worship
Him, it is plain that he is ignorant of justice who does not possess the
knowledge of God.  For how can he know justice itself, who is ignorant
of the source from which it arises?  Plato, indeed, spoke many things
respecting the one God, by whom he said that the world was framed; but
he spoke nothing respecting religion: for he had dreamed of God, but had
not known Him.  But if either he himself or any other person had wished
to complete the defence of justice, he ought first of all to have
overthrown the religions of the gods, because they are opposed to piety.
And because Socrates indeed tried to do this, he was thrown into prison;
that even then it might be seen what was about to happen to those men
who had begun to defend true justice, and to serve the only God.

 The other part of justice, therefore, is equity; and it is plain that I
am not speaking of the equity of judging well, though this also is
praiseworthy in a just man, but of making himself equal to others, which
Cicero calls equability.(4) For God, who produces and gives breath to

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men, willed that all should be equal, that is, equally matched.(1) He
has imposed on all the same condition of living; He has produced all to
wisdom; He has promised immortality to all; no one is cut off from His
heavenly benefits.  For as He distributes to all alike His one light,
sends forth His fountains to all, supplies food, and gives the most
pleasant rest of sleep; so He bestows on all equity and virtue.  In His
sight no one is a slave, no one a master; for if all have the same
Father, by an equal right we are all children.  No one is poor in the
sight of God, but he who is without justice; no one is rich, but he who
is full of virtues; no one, in short, is excellent, but he who has been
good and innocent; no one is most renowned, but he who has abundantly
performed works of mercy; no one is most perfect, but he who has filled
all the steps of virtue.  Therefore neither the Romans nor the Greeks
could possess justice, because they had men differing from one another
by many degrees, from the poor to the rich, from the humble to the
powerful; in short, from private persons to the highest authorities of
kings.  For where all are not equally matched, there is not equity; and
inequality of itself excludes justice, the whole force of which consists
in this, that it makes those equal who have by an equal lot arrived at
the condition of this life.

CHAP. XVI.--OF THE DUTIES OF THE JUST MAN, AND THE EQUITY OF CHRISTIANS.

 Therefore, since those two fountains of justice are changed, all virtue
and all truth are taken away, and justice itself returns to heaven.  And
on this account the true good was not discovered by philosophers,
because they were ignorant both of its origin and effects: which has
been revealed to no others but to our people.(2) Some one will say, Are
there not among you some poor, and others rich; some servants, and
others masters?  Is there not some difference between individuals?
There is none; nor is there any other cause why we mutually bestow upon
each other the name of brethren, except that we believe ourselves to be
equal.  For since we measure all human things not by the body, but by
the spirit, although the condition of bodies is different, yet we have
no servants, but we both regard and speak of them as brothers in spirit,
in religion as fellow-servants.  Riches also do not render men
illustrious, except that(3) they are able to make them more conspicuous
by good works.  For men are rich, not because they possess riches, but
because they employ them on works of justice; and they who seem to be
poor, on this account are rich, because they are not(4) in want, and
desire nothing.

 Though, therefore, in lowliness of mind we are on an equality, the free
with slaves, and the rich with the poor, nevertheless in the sight of
God we are distinguished by virtue.  And every one is more elevated in
proportion to his greater justice.  For if it is justice for a man to
put himself on a level even with those of lower rank, although he excels
in this very thing, that he made himself equal to his inferiors; yet if
he has conducted himself not only as an equal, but even as an inferior,
he will plainly obtain a much higher rank of dignity in the judgment of
God(5) For assuredly, since all things in this temporal life are frail
and liable to decay, men both prefer themselves to others, and contend
about dignity; than which nothing is more foul, nothing mere arrogant,
nothing more removed from the conduct of a wise man: for these earthly
things are altogether opposed to heavenly things.  For as the wisdom of
men is the greatest foolishness with God, and foolishness is (as I have
shown) the greatest wisdom; so he is low and abject in the sight of God
who shall have been conspicuous and elevated on earth.  For, not to
mention that these present earthly goods to which great honour is paid
are contrary to virtue, and enervate the vigour of the mind, what
nobility, I pray, can be so firm, what resources, what power, since God
is able to make kings themselves even lower than the lowest?  And
therefore God has consulted our interest in placing this in particular
among the divine precepts: "He that exalteth himself shall be abased;
and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted."(6) And the wholesomeness
of this precept teaches that he who shall simply place himself on a
level with other men, and carry himself with humility, is esteemed
excellent and illustrious in the sight of God.  For the sentiment is not
false which is brought forward in Euripides to this effect:--"The things
which are here considered evil are esteemed good in heaven."

CHAP. XVII.--OF THE EQUITY, WISDOM, AND

FOOLISHNESS OF CHRISTIANS.

 I have explained the reason why philosophers were unable either to find
or to defend justice.  Now I return to that which I had purposed.
Carneades, therefore, since the arguments of the philosophers were weak,
undertook the bold task of refuting them, because he understood that
they were capable of refutation.  The substance of his disputation was
this: "That men(7) enacted

152

laws for themselves, with a view to their own advantage, differing
indeed according to their characters, and in the case of the same
persons often changed according to the times: but that there was no
natural law: that all, both men and other animals, were borne by the
guidance of nature to their own advantage; therefore that there was no
justice, or if any did exist, it was the greatest folly, because it
injured itself by promoting the interests of others."  And he brought
forward these arguments: "That all nations which flourished with
dominion, even the Romans themselves, who were masters of the whole
world, if they wish to be just, that is, to restore the possessions of
others, must return to cottages, and lie down in want and miseries."
Then, leaving general topics, he came to particulars.  "If a good man,"
he says, "has a runaway slave, or an unhealthy and infected house, and
he alone knows these faults, and on this account offers it for sale,
will he give out that the slave is a runaway, and the house which he
offers for sale is infected, or will he conceal it from the purchaser?
If he shall give it out, he is good indeed, because he will not deceive;
but still he will be judged foolish, because he will either sell at a
low price or not sell at all.  If he shall conceal it, he will be wise
indeed, because he will consult his own interest; but he will be also
wicked, because he will deceive.  Again, if he should find any one who
supposes that he is selling copper ore when it is gold, or lead when it
is silver, will he be silent, that he may buy it at a small price; or
will he give information of it, so that he may buy it at a great price?
It evidently appears foolish to prefer to buy it at a great price."
From which he wished it to be understood, both that he who is just and
good is foolish, and that he who is wise is wicked; and yet that it may
possibly happen without ruin, for men to be contented with poverty.
Therefore he passed to greater things, in which no one could be just
without danger of his life.  For he said: "Certainly it is justice not
to put a man to death, not to take the property of another.  What, then,
will the just man do, if he shall happen to have suffered shipwreck, and
some one weaker than himself shall have seized a plank?  Will he not
thrust him from the plank, that he himself may get upon it, and
supported by it may escape, especially since there is no witness in the
middle of the sea?  If he is wise, he will do so; for he must himself
perish unless he shall thus act.  But if he choose rather to die than to
inflict violence upon another, in this case he is just, but foolish, in
not sparing his own life while he spares the life of another.  Thus
also, if the army of his own people shall have been routed, and the
enemy have begun to press upon them, and that just man shall have met
with a wounded man on horseback, will he spare him so as to be slain
himself, or will he throw him from his horse, that he himself may escape
from the enemy?  If he shall do this, he will be wise, but also wicked;
if he shall not do it, he will be just, but also of necessity foolish."
When, therefore, he had thus divided justice into two parts, saying that
the one was civil, the other natural, he subverted both: because the
civil part is wisdom, but not justice; but the natural part is justice,
but not wisdom.  These arguments are altogether subtle and acute,(1) and
such as Marcus Tullius was unable to refute.  For when he represents
Laelius as replying to Furius, and speaking in behalf of justice, he
passed them by as a pitfall without refuting them; so that the same
Laelius appears not to have defended natural justice, which bad fallen
under the charge of folly, but that civil justice which Furius had
admitted to be wisdom, but unjust.(2)

 CHAP. XVIII.--OF JUSTICE, WISDOM, AND FOLLY,

 With reference to our present discussion, I have shown how justice
bears the resemblance of folly, that it may appear that those are not
deceived without reason who think that men of our religion are foolish
in appearing to do such things as he proposed.  Now I perceive that a
greater undertaking is required from me, to show why God wished to
enclose justice under the appearance of folly, and to remove it from the
eyes of men, when I shall have first replied to Furius, since Laelius
has not sufficiently replied to him; who, although he was a wise man, as
he was called, yet could not be the advocate of true justice, because he
did not possess the source and fountain of justice.  But this defence is
easier for us, to whom by the bounty of Heaven this justice is familiar
and well known, and who know it not in name, but in reality.  For Plato
and Aristotle desired with an honest will to defend justice, and would
have effected something, if their good endeavours, their eloquence, and
vigour of intellect had been aided also by a knowledge of divine things.
Thus their work, being vain and useless, was neglected: nor were they
able to persuade any of men to live according to their precept, because
that system had no foundation from heaven.  But our work must be more
certain, since we are taught of God.  For they represented justice in
words, and pictured it when it was not in sight; nor were they able to
confirm their assertions by present examples.  For the hearers might
have answered that it was impossible to live as they prescribed in their
disputation; so that none have as yet existed who followed that course
of life.  But we show

153

the truth of our statements not only by words, but also by examples
derived from the truth.  Therefore Carneades understood what is the
nature of justice, except that he did not sufficiently perceive that it
was not folly; although I seem to myself to understand with what
intention he did this.  For he did not really think that he who is just
is foolish; but when he knew that he was not so, but did not comprehend
the cause why he appeared so, he wished to show that the truth lay
hidden, that he might maintain the dogma of his own sect,(1) the chief
opinion of which is, "that nothing can be fully comprehended."

 Let us see, therefore, whether justice has any agreement with folly.
The just man, he says, if he does not take away from the wounded man:
his horse, and from the shipwrecked man his plank, in order that he may
preserve his own life, is foolish.  First of all, I deny that it can in
any way happen that a man who is truly just should be in circumstances
of this kind; for the just man is neither at enmity with any human
being, nor desires anything at all which is the property of another.
For why should he take a voyage, or what should he seek from another
land, when his own is sufficient for him?  Or why should he carry on
war, and mix himself with the passions of others, when his mind is
engaged in perpetual peace with men?  Doubtless he will be delighted
with foreign merchandise or with human blood, who does not know how to
seek gain, who is satisfied with his mode of living, and considers it
unlawful not only himself to commit slaughter, but to be present with
those who do it, and to behold it ! But I omit these things, since it is
possible that a man may be compelled even against his will to undergo
these things.  Do you then, O Furius--or rather O Carneades, for all
this speech is his--think that justice is so useless, so superfluous,
and so despised by God, that it has no power and no influence in itself
which may avail for its own preservation?  But it is evident that they
who are ignorant of the mystery(2) of man, and who therefore refer all
things to this present life, cannot know how great is the force of
justice.  For when they discuss the subject of virtue, although they
understand that it is very full of labours and miseries, nevertheless
they say that it is to be sought for its own sake; for they by no means
see its rewards, which are eternal and immortal.  Thus, by referring all
things to the present life, they altogether reduce virtue to folly,
since it undergoes such great labours of this life in vain and to no
purpose.  But more on this subject at another opportunity.

 In the meanwhile let us speak of justice, as we began, the power of
which is so great, that when it has raised its eyes to heaven, it
deserves all things from God.  Flaccus therefore rightly said, that the
power of innocence is so great, that wherever it journeys, it needs
neither arms nor strength for its protection:--

 "He whose life hath no flaw, pure from guile, need not

 borrow

 Or the bow or the darts of the Moor, O my Fuscus !

 He relies for defence on no quiver that teems with

Poison-steept arrows.

 Though his path be along sultry African Syrtes,

 Or Caucasian ravines, where no guest finds a shelter,

 Or the banks which Hydaspes, the stream weird(3) with

 fable,

Licks languid-flowing."(4)

It is impossible, therefore, that amidst the dangers of tempests and of
wars the just man should be unprotected by the guardianship of Heaven;
and that even if he should be at sea in company with parricides and
guilty men, the wicked also should not be spared, that this one just and
innocent soul may be freed from danger, or at any rate may be alone
preserved while the rest perish.  But let us grant that the case which
the philosopher proposes is possible: what, then, will the just man do,
if he shall have met with a wounded man on a horse, or a shipwrecked man
on a plank?  I am not unwilling to confess he will rather die than put
another to death.  Nor will justice, which is the chief good of man, on
this account receive the name of folly.  For what ought to be better and
dearer to man than innocence?  And this must be the more perfect, the
more you bring it to extremity, and choose to die rather than to detract
from the character of innocence.  It is folly, he says, to spare the
life of another in a case which involves the destruction of one's own
life.  Then do you think it foolish to perish even for friendship?

 Why, then, are those Pythagorean friends praised by you, of whom the
one gave himself to the tyrant as a surety for the life of the other,
and the other at the appointed time, when his surety was now being led
to execution, presented himself, and rescued him by his own
interposition?  Whose virtue would not be held in such glory, when one
of them was willing to die for his friend, the other even for his
word(5) which had been pledged, if they were regarded as fools.  In
fine, on account of this very virtue the tyrant rewarded them by
preserving both, and thus the disposition of a most cruel man was
changed.  Moreover, it is even said that he entreated(6) them to admit
him as a third party to their friendship, from which it is plain that he
regarded them not

154

as fools, but as good and wise men.  Therefore I do not see why, since
it is reckoned the highest glory to die for friendship and for one's
word, it is not glorious to a man to die even for his innocence.  They
are therefore most foolish who impute it as a crime to us that we are
willing to die for God, when they themselves extol to the heavens with
the highest praises him who was willing to die for a man.  In short, to
conclude this disputation, reason itself teaches that it is impossible
for a man to be at once just and foolish, wise and unjust.  For he who
is foolish is unacquainted with that which is just and good,

and therefore always errs.  For he is as it were, led captive by his
vices ; nor can he in any way resist them, because he is destitute of
the virtue of which he is ignorant.  But the just man abstains from all
fault, because he cannot do otherwise, although he has the knowledge of
right and wrong.

 But who is able to distinguish right from wrong except the wise man?
Thus it comes to pass, that he can never be just who is foolish, nor
wise who is unjust.  And if this is most true, it is plain that he who
has not taken away a plank from a shipwrecked man, or a horse from one
who is wounded, is not foolish; because it is a sin to do these things,
and the wise man abstains from sin.  Nevertheless I myself also confess
that it has this appearance, through the error of men, who are ignorant
of the peculiar character(1) of everything.  And thus the whole of this
inquiry is refuted not so much by arguments as by definition.  Therefore
folly is the erring in deeds and words, through ignorance of what is
right and good.  Therefore he is not a fool who does not even spare
himself to prevent injury to another, which is an evil.  And this,
indeed, reason and the truth itself dictate.(2) For we see that in all
animals, because they are destitute of wisdom, nature is the provider of
supplies for itself.  Therefore they injure others that they may profit
themselves, for they do not understand that the(3) committing an injury
is evil.  But man, who has the knowledge of good and evil, abstains from
committing an injury even to his own damage, which an animal without
reason is unable to do; and on this account innocence is reckoned among
the chief virtues of man.  Now by these things it appears that he is the
wisest man who prefers to perish rather than to commit an injury, that
he may preserve that sense of duty(4) by which he is distinguished from
the dumb creation.  For he who does not point out the error of one who
is offering the gold for sale, in order that he may buy it for a small
sum, or he who does not avow that he is offering for sale a runaway
slave or an infected house, having an eye to his own gain or advantage,
is not a wise man, as Carneades wished it to appear, but crafty and
cunning.  Now craftiness and cunning exist in the dumb animals also:
either when they lie in wait for others, and take them by deceit, that
they may devour them; or when they avoid the snares of others in various
ways.  But wisdom falls to man alone.  For wisdom is understanding
either with the purpose of doing that which is good and right, or for
the abstaining from improper words and deeds.  Now a wise man never
gives himself to the pursuit of gain, because he despises these earthly
advantages: nor does he allow any one to be deceived, because it is the
duty of a good man to correct the errors of men, and to bring them back
to the right way; since the nature of man is social and beneficent, in
which respect alone he bears a relation to God.

CHAP. XIX.--OF VIRTUE AND THE TORTURES OF CHRISTIANS, AND OF THE RIGHT
OF A FATHER AND MASTER.

 But undoubtedly this is the cause(5) why he appears to be foolish who
prefers to be in want.  or to die rather than to inflict injury or take
away the property of another,--namely, because they think that man is
destroyed by death.  And from this persuasion all the errors both of the
common people and also of the philosophers arise.  For if we have no
existence after death, assuredly it is the part of the most foolish man
not to promote the interests of the present life, that it may be long-
continued, and may abound with all advantages.  But he who shall act
thus must of necessity depart from the rule of justice.  But if there
remains to man a longer and a better life--and this we learn both from
the !arguments of great philosophers, and from the answers of seers, and
the divine words of prophets--it is the part of the wise man to despise
this present life with its advantages, since its entire loss is
compensated by immortality.  The same defender of justice, Laelius, says
in Cicero:(6) "Virtue altogether wishes for honour; nor is there any
other reward of virtue."  There is indeed another, and that most worthy
of virtue, which you, O Laelius, could never have supposed; for you had
no knowledge of the sacred writings.  And this reward it easily
receives, and does not harshly demand.  You are greatly mistaken, if you
think that a reward can be paid to virtue by man, since you yourself
most truly said in another

155

place: "What riches will you offer to this man?  what commands?  what
kingdoms?  He who regards these things as human, judges his own
advantages to be divine."  Who, therefore, can think you a wise man, O
Laelius, when you contradict yourself, and after a short interval take
away from virtue that which you have given to her?  But it is manifest
that ignorance of the truth makes your opinion uncertain and wavering.

 In the next place, what do you add?  "But if all the ungrateful, or the
many who are envious, or powerful enemies, deprive virtue of its
rewards."  Oh how frail, how worthless, have you represented virtue to
be, if it can be deprived of its reward ! For if it judges its goods to
be divine, as you said, how can there be any so ungrateful, so envious,
so powerful, as to be able to deprive virtue of those goods which were
conferred upon it by the gods?  "Assuredly it delights itself," he says,
"by many comforts, and especially supports itself by its own beauty."
By what comforts?  by what beauty?  since that beauty is often charged
upon it as a fault, and turned into a punishment.  For what if, as
Furius said,(1) a man should be dragged away, harassed, banished, should
be in want, be deprived of his hands, have his eyes put out, be
condemned, put into chains, be burned, be miserably tortured also?  will
virtue lose its reward, or rather, will it perish itself?  By no means.
But it will both receive its reward from God the Judge, and it will
live, and always flourish.  And if you take away these things, nothing
in the life of man can appear to be so useless, so foolish, as virtue,
the natural goodness and honour of which may teach us that the soul is
not mortal, and that a divine reward is appointed for it by God.  But on
this account God willed that virtue itself should be concealed under the
character of folly, that the mystery of truth and of His religion might
be secret; that He might show the vanity and error of these
superstitions, and of that earthly wisdom which raises itself too
highly, and exhibits great self-complacency, that its difficulty being
at length set forth, that most narrow path might lead to the lofty
reward of immortality.  I have shown, as I think, why our people are
esteemed foolish by the foolish.  For to choose to be tortured and
slain, rather than to take incense in three fingers, and throw it upon
the hearth,(2) appears as foolish as, in a case where life is
endangered, to be more careful of the life of another than of one's own.
For they do not know how great an act of impiety it is to adore any
other object than God, who made heaven and earth, who fashioned the
human race, breathed into them the breath of life, and gave them light.
But if he is accounted the most worthless of slaves who runs away and
deserts his master, and if he is judged most deserving of stripes and
chains, and a prison, and the cross, and of all evil; and if a son, in
the same manner, is thought abandoned and impious who deserts his
father, that he may not pay him obedience, and on this account is
considered deserving of being disinherited, and of having his name
removed for ever from his family,--how much more so does he who forsakes
God, in whom the two names entitled to equal reverence, of Lord and
Father, alike meet?  For what benefit does he who buys a slave bestow
upon him, beyond the nourishment with which he supplies him for his own
advantage?  And he who begets a son has it not in his power to effect
that he shall be conceived, or born, or live ; from which it is evident
that he is not the father, but only the instrument(3) of generation.  Of
what punishments, therefore, is he deserving, who forsakes Him who is
both the true Master and Father, but those which God Himself has
appointed?  who has prepared everlasting fire for the wicked spirits;
and this He Himself threatens by His prophets to the impious and the
rebellious.(4)

CHAP. XX.--OF THE VANITY AND CRIMES IMPIOUS SUPERSTITIONS, AND OF THE
TORTURES OF THE CHRISTIANS.

 Therefore, let those who destroy their own souls and the souls of
others learn what an inexpiable crime they commit; in the first place,
because they cause their own death by serving most abandoned demons,
whom God has condemned to everlasting punishments; in the next place,
because they do not permit God to be worshipped by others, but endeavour
to turn men aside to deadly rites, and strive with the greatest
diligence that no life may be without injury on earth, which looks to
heaven with its condition secured.  What else shall I call them but
miserable men, who obey the instigations of their own plunderers,(5)
whom they think to be gods?  of whom they neither know the condition,
nor origin, nor names, nor nature; but, clinging to the persuasion of
the people, they willingly err, and favour their own folly.  And if you
should ask them the grounds of their persuasion, they can assign none,
but have recourse to the judgment of their ancestors, saying that they
were wise, that they approved them, that they knew what was best; and
thus they deprive themselves of all power of perception: they bid adieu
to reason, while they place confidence in the errors of others.  Thus,
involved in ignorance

156

of all things, they neither know themselves nor their gods.  And would
to heaven that they had been willing to err by themselves, and to be
unwise by themselves ! But they hurry away others also to be companions
of their evil, as though they were about to derive comfort from the
destruction of many.  But this very ignorance causes them to be so cruel
in persecuting the wise; and they pretend that they are promoting their
welfare, that they wish to recall them to a good mind.

 Do they then strive to effect this by conversation, or by giving some
reason?  By no means; but they endeavour to effect it by force and
tortures.  O wonderful and blind infatuation ! It is thought that there
is a bad mind in those who endeavour to preserve their faith, but a good
one in executioners.  Is there, then, a bad mind in those who, against
every law of humanity, against every principle of justice, are tortured,
or rather, in those who inflict on the bodies of the innocent such
things, as neither the most cruel robbers, nor the most enraged enemies,
nor the most savage barbarians have ever practised?  Do they deceive
themselves to such an extent, that they mutually transfer and change the
names of good and evil?  Why, therefore, do they not call day night--the
sun darkness?  Moreover, it is the same impudence to give to the good
the name of evil, to the wise the name of foolish, to the just the name
of impious.  Besides this, if they have any confidence in philosophy or
in eloquence, let them arm themselves, and refute these arguments of
ours if they are able; let them meet us hand to hand, and examine every
point.  It is befitting that they should undertake the defence of their
gods, lest, if our affairs should increase (as they do increase daily),
theirs should be deserted, together with their shrines and their vain
mockeries;(1) and since they can effect nothing by violence (for the
religion of God is increased the more it is oppressed), let them rather
act by the use of reason and exhortations.

 Let their priests come forth into the midst, whether the inferior ones
or the greatest; their flamens, augurs, and also sacrificing kings, and
the priests and ministers of their superstitions.  Let them call us
together to an assembly; let them exhort us to undertake the worship of
their gods; let them persuade us that there are many g beings by whose
deity and providence all things are governed; let them show how the
origins and beginnings of their sacred rites and gods were handed down
to mortals; let them explain what is their source and principle; let
them set forth what reward there is in their worship, and what
punishment awaits neglect; why they wish to be worshipped by men; what
the piety of men contributes to them, if they are blessed: and let them
confirm all these things not by their own assertion (for the authority
of a mortal man is of no weight), but by some divine testimonies, as we
do.  There is no occasion for violence and injury, for religion cannot
be imposed by force; the matter must be carried on by words rather than
by blows, that the will may be affected.  Let them unsheath the weapon
of their intellect; if their system is true, let it be asserted.  We are
prepared to hear, if they teach; while they are silent, we certainly pay
no credit to them, as we do not yield to them even in their rage.  Let
them imitate us in setting forth the system of the whole matter: for we
do not entice, as they say; but we teach, we prove, we show.  And thus
no one is detained by us against his will, for he is unserviceable to
God who is destitute of faith and devotedness; and yet no one departs
from us, since the truth itself detains him.  Let them teach in this
manner, if they have any confidence in the truth; let them speak, let
them give utterance; let them venture, I say, to discuss with us
something of this nature; and then assuredly their error and folly will
be ridiculed by the old women, whom they despise, and by our boys.  For,
since they are especially clever, they know from books the race of the
gods, and their exploits, and commands, and deaths, and tombs; they may
also know that the rites themselves, in which they have been initiated,
had their origin either in human actions, or in casualties, or in
deaths.(2) It is the part of incredible madness to imagine that they are
gods, whom they cannot deny to have been mortal; or if they should be So
shameless as to deny it, their own writings, and those of their own
people, will refute them; in short, the very beginnings of the sacred
rites will convict them.(3) They may know, therefore, even from this
very thing, how great a difference there is between truth and falsehood;
for they themselves with all their eloquence are unable to persuade,
whereas the unskilled and the uneducated are able, because the matter
itself and the truth speaks.

 Why then do they rage, so that while they wish to lessen their folly,
they increase it?  Torture(4) and piety are widely different; nor is it
possible for truth to be united with violence, or justice with cruelty.
But with good reason they do not venture to teach anything concerning
divine things, lest they should both be derided by our people and be
deserted by their own.  For the common people for the most part, if they
ascertain that these mysteries were instituted in memory of the dead,
will condemn them, and seek for some truer object of worship.

157

"Hence rites of mystic awe "(1)

were instituted by crafty men, that the people may not know what they
worship.  But since we are acquainted with their systems, why do they
either not believe us who are acquainted with both, or envy us because
we have preferred truth to falsehood?  But, they say, the public rites
of religion(2) must be defended.  Oh with what an honourable inclination
the wretched men go astray ! For they are aware that there is nothing
among men more excellent than religion, and that this ought to be
defended with the whole of our power; but as they are deceived in the
matter of religion itself, so also are they in the manner of its
defence.  For religion is to be defended, not by putting to death, but
by dying; not by cruelty, but by patient endurance; not by guilt, but by
good faith: for the former; belong to evils, but the latter to goods;
and it is necessary for that which is good to have place in religion,
and not that which is evil.  For if you wish to defend religion by
bloodshed, and by tortures, and by guilt, it will no longer be defended,
but will be polluted and profaned.  For nothing is so much a matter of
free-will as religion; in which, if the mind of the worshipper is
disinclined to it, religion is at once taken away, and ceases to exist.
The right method therefore is, that you defend religion by patient
endurance or by death; in which the preservation of the faith is both
pleasing to God Himself, and adds authority to religion.  For if he who
in this earthly warfare preserves his faith to his king in some
illustrious action, if he shall continue to live, because more beloved
and acceptable, and if he shall fall, obtains the highest glory, because
he has undergone death for his leader; how much more is faith to be kept
towards God, the Ruler of all, who is able to pay the reward of virtue,
not only to the living, but also to the dead!  Therefore the worship of
God, since it belongs to heavenly warfare, requires the greatest
devotedness and fidelity.  For how will God either love the worshipper,
if He Himself is not loved by him, or grant to the petitioner whatever
he shall ask, when he draws nigh to offer his prayer without sincerity
or reverence?  But these men, when they come to offer sacrifice, present
to their gods nothing from within, nothing of their own--no uprightness
of mind, no reverence or fear.  Therefore, when the worthless sacrifices
i are completed, they leave their religion altogether i in the temple,
and with the temple, as they had found it; and neither bring with them
anything of it, nor take anything back.  Hence it is that religious
observances of this kind are neither able to make men good, nor to be
firm and unchangeable.  And thus men are easily led away from them,
because nothing is learned in them relating to the life, nothing
relating to wisdom, nothing to faith.(3) For what is the religion of
those gods?  what is its power?  what its discipline?  what its origin?
what its principle?  what its foundation?  what its substance?  what is
its tendency?  or what does it promise, so that it may be faithfully
preserved and boldly defended by man?  I see nothing else in it than a
rite pertaining to the fingers only.(4) But our religion is on this
account firm, and solid, and unchangeable, because it teaches justice,
because it is always with us, because it has its existence altogether in
the soul of the worshipper, because it has the mind itself for a
sacrifice.  In that religion nothing else is required but the blood of
animals, and the smoke of incense, and the senseless pouring out of
libations; but in this of ours, a good mind, a pure breast, an innocent
life: those rites are frequented by unchaste adulteresses without any
discrimination, by impudent procuresses, by filthy harlots; they are
frequented by gladiators, robbers, thieves, and sorcerers, who pray for
nothing else but that they may commit crimes with impunity.  For what
can the robber ask when he sacrifices, or the gladiator, but that they
may slay?  what the poisoner, but that he may escape notice?  what the
harlot, but that she may sin to the uttermost?  what the adulteress, but
either the death of her husband, or that her unchastity may be
concealed?  what the procuress, but that she may deprive many of their
property?  what the thief, but that he may commit more peculations?  But
in our religion there is no place even for a slight and ordinary
offence; and if any one shall come to a sacrifice without a sound
conscience, he hears what threats God denounces against him: that God, I
say, who sees the secret places of the heart, who is alway hostile to
sins, who requires justice, who demands fidelity.  What place is there
here for an evil mind or for an evil prayer?  But those unhappy men
neither understand from their own crimes how evil it is to worship,
since, defiled by all crimes, they come to offer prayer; and they
imagine that they offer a pious sacrifice if they wash their skin; as
though any streams could wash away, or any seas purify, the lusts which
are shut up within their breast.  How much better it is rather to
cleanse the mind, which is defiled by evil desires, and to drive away
all vices by the one layer of virtue and faith!  For he who shall do
this, although he bears a body which is defiled and sordid, is pure
enough.

158

CHAP. XXI.--OF THE WORSHIP OF OTHER GODS AND THE TRUE GOD, AND OF THE
ANIMALS WHICH THE EGYPTIANS WORSHIPPED.

 But they, because they know not the object or the mode of worship,
blindly and unconsciously fall into the contrary practice.  Thus they
adore their enemies, they appease with victims their robbers and
murderers, and they place their own souls to be burned with the very
incense on detestable altars.  The wretched men are also angry, because
others do not perish in like manner, with incredible blindness of minds.
For what can they see who do not see the sun?  As though, if they were
gods, they would need the assistance of men against their despisers.
Why, therefore, are they angry with us, if they have no power to effect
anything?  Unless it be that they destroy their gods, whose power they
distrust, they are more irreligious than those who do not worship them
at all.  Cicero, in his Laws,(1) enjoining men to approach with holiness
to the sacrifices, says, "Let them put on piety, let them lay aside
riches; if any one shall act otherwise, God Himself will be the
avenger."  This is well spoken; for it is not right to despair about
God, whom you worship on this account, because you think Him powerful.
For how can He avenge the wrongs of His worshippers, if He is unable to
avenge His own?  I wish therefore to ask them to whom especially they
think that they are doing a service in compelling them to sacrifice
against their will, Is it to those whom they compel?  But that is not a
kindness which is done to one who refuses it.  But we must consult their
interests, even against their will, since they know not what is good.
Why, then, do they so cruelly harass, torture, and weaken them, if they
wish for their safety?  or whence is piety so impious, that they either
destroy in this wretched manner, or render useless, those whose welfare
they wish to promote?  Or do they do service to the gods?  But that is
not a sacrifice which is extorted from a person against his will.  For
unless it is offered spontaneously, and from the soul, it is a curse;
when men sacrifice, compelled by proscription, by injuries, by prison,
by tortures.  If they are gods who are worshipped in this manner, if for
this reason only, they ought not to be worshipped, because they wish to
be worshipped in this manner: they are doubtless worthy of the
detestation of men, since libations are made to them with tears, with
groaning, and with blood flowing from all the limbs.

 But we, on the contrary, do not require that any one should be
compelled, whether he is willing or unwilling, to worship our God, who
is the God of all men; nor are we angry if any one does not worship Him.
For we trust in the majesty of Him who has power to avenge contempt
shown towards Himself, as also He has power to avenge the calamities and
injuries inflicted on His servants.  And therefore, when we suffer such
impious things, we do not resist even in word; but we remit vengeance to
God, not as they act who would have it appear that they are defenders of
their gods, and rage without restraint against those who do not worship
them.  From which it may be understood how it is not good to worship
their gods, since men ought to have been led to that which is good by
good, and not by evil; but because this is evil, even its office is
destitute of good.  But they who destroy religious systems must be
punished.  Have we destroyed them in a worse manner than the nation of
the Egyptians, who worship the most disgraceful figures of beasts and
cattle, and adore as gods some things which it is even shameful to speak
of?  Have we done worse than those same who, when they say that they
worship the gods, yet publicly and shamefully deride them?--for they
even allow pantomimic(2) representations of them to be acted with
laughter and pleasure.  What kind of a religion is this, or how great
must that majesty be considered, which is adored in temples and mocked
in theatres?  And they who have done these things do not suffer the
vengeance of the injured deity, but even go away honoured and praised.
Do we destroy them in a worse manner than certain philosophers, who say
that there are no gods at all, but that all things are spontaneously
produced, and that all things which are done happen by chance?  Do we
destroy them in a worse manner than the Epicureans, who admit the
existence of gods, but deny that they regard anything, and say that they
are neither angry nor are influenced by favour?  By which words they
plainly persuade men that they are not to be worshipped at all, inasmuch
as they neither regard their worshippers, nor are angry with those who
do not worship them.  Moreover, when they argue against fears, they
endeavour to effect nothing else than that no one should fear the gods.
And yet these things are willingly heard by men, and discussed with
impunity.

CHAP. XXII.--OF THE RAGE OF THE DEMONS AGAINST CHRISTIANS, AND THE ERROR
OF UNBELIEVERS.

 They do not therefore rage against us on this account, because their
gods are not worshipped by us, but because the truth is on our side,
which (as it has been said most truly) produces hatred.  What, then,
shall we think, but that they

159

are ignorant of what they suffer?  For they act(1) with a blind and
unreasonable fury, which we see, but of which they are ignorant.  For it
is not the men themselves who persecute, for they have no cause of anger
against the innocent; but those contaminated and abandoned spirits by
whom the truth is both known and hated insinuate themselves into their
minds, and goad them in their ignorance to fury.  For these, as long as
there is peace among the people of God, flee from the righteous, and
fear them; and when they seize upon the bodies of men, and harass their
souls, they are adjured by them, and at the name of the true God are put
to flight.  For when they hear this name they tremble, cry out, and
assert that they are branded and beaten; and being asked who they are,
whence they are come, and how they have insinuated themselves into a
man, confess it.  Thus, being tortured and excruciated by the power of
the divine name, they come out of the man.(2) On account of these blows
and threats, they always hate holy and just men; and because they are
unable of themselves to injure them, they pursue with public hatred
those whom they perceive to be grievous to them, and they exercise
cruelty, with all the violence which they can employ, that they may
either weaken their faith by pain, or, if they are unable to effect
that, may take them away altogether from the earth, that there may be
none to restrain their wickedness.  It does not escape my notice what
reply can be made on the other side.  Why, then, does that God of
surpassing power, that mighty One, whom you confess to preside over all
things, and to be Lord of all, permit these things to be done, and
neither avenge nor defend His worshippers?  Why, in short, are they who
do not worship Him rich, and powerful, and happy?  and why do they enjoy
honours and kingly state, and have these very persons(3) subject to
their power and sway?

 We must also give a reason for this, that no error may remain.  For
this is especially the cause why it is thought that religion has not the
power of God, because men are influenced by the appearance of earthly
and present goods, which in no way have reference to the care of the
mind; and because they see that the righteous are without these goods,
and that the unrighteous abound in them, they both judge that the
worship of God is worthless, in which they do not see these things
contained, and they imagine that the rites of other gods are true, since
their worshippers enjoy riches and honours and kingdoms.  But they who
are of this opinion do not attentively consider the power and method

of man, which consists altogether in the mind, and not in the body.  For
they see nothing more than is seen, namely the body; and because this is
to be seen and handled,(4) it is weak, frail, and mortal; and to this
belong all those goods which are their desire and admiration, wealth,
honours, and governments, since they bring pleasures to the body, and
therefore are as liable to decay as the body itself.  But the soul, in
which alone man consists since it is not exposed to the sight of the
eyes, and its goods cannot be seen, for they are placed in virtue only,
must t therefore be as firm, and constant, and lasting as virtue itself,
in which the good of the soul consists.

 CHAP. XXIII.--OF THE JUSTICE AND PATIENCE OF THE CHRISTIANS.

 It would be a lengthened task to draw forth all the appearances of
virtue, to show respecting each how necessary it is for a wise and just
man to be far removed from those goods, the enjoyment of which by the
unjust causes the worship of their gods to be regarded as true and
efficacious.  As our present inquiry is concerned, it will be sufficient
to prove our point from the case of a single virtue.  For instance,
patience is a great and leading virtue, which the public voices of the
people and philosophers and orators alike extol with the highest
praises.  But if it cannot be denied that this is a virtue of the
highest kind, it is necessary that the just and wise man should be in
the power of the unjust, for obtaining patience; for patience is the
bearing with equanimity of the evils which are either inflicted or
happen to fall upon us.  Therefore the just and wise man, because he
exercises virtue, has patience in himself; but he will be altogether
free from this if he shall suffer no adversity.  On the other hand, the
man who lives in prosperity is impatient, and is without the greatest
virtue.  I call him impatient, because he suffers nothing.  He is also
unable to preserve innocency, which virtue is peculiar to the just and
wise man.  But he often acts unjustly also, and desires the property of
others, and seizes upon that which he has desired by injustice, because
he is without virtue, and is subject to vice and sin; and forgetful of
his frailty, he is puffed up with a mind elated with insolence.

 From this cause the unjust, and those who are ignorant of God, abound
with riches, and power, and honours.  For all these things are the
rewards of injustice, because they cannot be perpetual, and they are
sought through lust and violence.  But the just and wise man, because he
deems all these things as human, as it has been said by Laelius, and his
own goods as divine,

160

neither desires anything which belongs to another, lest he should injure
any one at all in violation of the law of humanity; nor does he long for
any power or honour, that he may not do an injury to any one.  For he
knows that all are produced by the same God, and in the same condition,
and are joined together by the right of brotherhood.(1) But being
contented with his own, and that a little, because he is mindful of his
frailty, he does not seek for anything beyond that which may support his
life; and even from that which he has he bestows a share on the
destitute, because he is pious; but piety is a very great virtue.  To
this is added, that he despises frail and vicious pleasures, for the
sake of which riches are desired; since he is temperate, and master of
his passions.  He also, having no pride or insolence, does not raise
himself too highly, nor lift up his head with arrogance; but he is calm
and peaceful, lowly(2) and courteous, because he knows his own
condition.  Since, therefore, he does injury to none, nor desires the
property of others, and does not even defend his own if it is taken from
him by violence, since he knows how even to bear with moderation an
injury inflicted upon him, because he is endued with virtue; it is
necessary that the just man should be subject to the unjust, and that
the wise should be insulted by the foolish, that the one may sin because
he is unjust, and the other may have virtue in himself because he is
just.

 But if any one shall wish to know more fully why God permits the wicked
and the unjust to become powerful, happy, and rich, and, on the other
hand, suffers the pious to be humble, wretched, and poor, let him take
the book of Seneca which has the title, "Why many evils happen to good
men, though there is a providence;" in which book he has said many
things, not assuredly with the ignorance of this world, but wisely, and
almost with divine inspiration.(3) "God," he says, "regards men as His
children, but He permits the corrupt and vicious to live in luxury and
delicacy, because He does not think them worthy of His correction.  But
He often chastises the good whom He loves, and by continual labours
exercises them to the practice of virtue: nor does He permit them to be
corrupted and depraved by frail and perishable goods."  From which it
ought to appear strange to no one if we are often chastised by God for
our faults.  Yea, rather, when we are harassed and pressed, then we
especially give thanks to our most indulgent Father, because He does not
permit our corruption to proceed

to greater lengths, but corrects it with stripes and blows.  From which
we understand that we r are an object of regard to God, since He is
angry when we sin.  For when He might have bestowed upon His people both
riches and kingdoms, as He had before given them to the Jews, whose
successors and posterity we are; on this account He would have them live
under the power and government of others, lest, being corrupted by the
happiness of prosperity, they should glide into luxury and despise the
precepts of God; as those ancestors of ours, who, ofttimes enervated by
these earthly and frail goods, departed from discipline and burst the
bonds of the law.  Therefore He foresaw how far He would afford rest to
His worshippers if they should keep His commandments, and yet correct
them if they did not obey His precepts.  Therefore, lest they should be
as much corrupted by ease as their fathers had been by indulgence,(4) it
was His will that they should be oppressed by those in whose power He
placed them, that He may both confirm them when wavering, and renew them
to fortitude when corrupted, and try and prove them when faithful.  For
how can a general prove the valour of his soldiers, unless he shall have
an enemy?  And yet there arises an adversary to him against his will,
because he is mortal, and is able to be conquered; but because God
cannot be opposed, He Himself stirs up adversaries to His name, not to
fight against God Himself, but against His soldiers, that He may either
prove the devotedness and fidelity of His servants, or may strengthen
them, until He corrects their wasting discipline by the stripes of
affliction.(5)

 There is also another cause why He permits persecutions to be carried
on against us, that the people of God may be increased.(6) Nor is it
difficult to show why or how this happens.  First of all, great numbers
are driven from the worship of the false gods by their hatred of
cruelty.  For who would not shrink from such sacrifices?  In the next
place, some are pleased with virtue and faith itself.  Some suspect that
it is not without reason that the worship of the gods is considered evil
by so many men, so that they would rather die than do that which others
do that they may preserve their life.  Some one desires to know what
that good is which is defended even to death, which is preferred to all
things which are pleasant and beloved in this life, from which neither
the loss of goods, nor of the light, nor bodily pain, nor tortures of
the vitals deter them.  These things have great effect; but these causes
have always especially increased

161

the number of our followers.  The people who stand around hear them
saying in the midst of these very torments that they do not sacrifice to
stones wrought by the hand of man, but to the living God, who is in
heaven: many understand that this is true, and admit it into their
breast.  In the next place, as it is accustomed to happen in matters of
uncertainty while they make inquiry of one another, what is the cause of
this perseverance, many things which relate to religion, being spread
abroad and carefully observed by rumour among one another, are learned;
and because these are good they cannot fail to please.  Moreover, the
revenge which follows, as always happens, greatly impels men to believe.
Nor, indeed, is it a slight cause that the unclean spirits of demons,
having received permission, throw themselves into the bodies of many;
and when these have afterwards been driven out, they who have been
healed cling to the religion, the power of which they have experienced.
These numerous causes being collected together, wonderfully gain over a
great multitude to God.(1)

CHAP. XXIV.--OF THE DIVINE VENGEANCE INFLICTED ON THE TORTURERS OF THE
CHRISTIANS.

 Whatever, therefore, wicked princes plan against us, God Himself
permits to be done.  And yet most unjust persecutors, to whom the

name of God was a subject of reproach and mockery, must not think that
they will escape with impunity, because they have been, as it were, the
ministers of His indignation against us.  For they will be punished with
the judgment of God, who, having received power, have abused it to an
inhuman degree, and have even insulted God in their arrogance, and
placed His eternal name beneath their feet, to be impiously and wickedly
trampled upon.  On this account He promises that He will quickly take
vengeance upon them, and exterminate the evil monsters(2) from the
earth.  But He also, although He is accustomed to avenge the
persecutions(3) of His people even in the present world, commands us,
however, to await patiently that day of heavenly judgment, in which He
Himself will honour or punish every man according to his deserts.
Therefore let not the souls of the sacrilegious expect that those whom
they thus trample upon will be despised and unavenged.  Those ravenous
and voracious wolves who have tormented just and innocent souls, without
the commission of any crimes, will surely meet with their reward.  Only
let us labour, that nothing else in us may be punished by men but
righteousness alone: let us strive with all our power that we may at
once deserve at the hands of God the avenging of our suffering and a
reward.

162

THE DIVINE INSTITUTES

BOOK VI.

OF TRUE WORSHIP.

CHAP. I.--OF THE WORSHIP OF THE TRUE GOD, AND OF INNOCENCY, AND OF THE
WORSHIP OF FALSE GODS.

 We have completed that which was the object of our undertaking, through
the teaching of the Divine Spirit, and the aid of the truth itself; the
cause of asserting and explaining which was imposed upon me both by
conscience and faith, and by our Lord Himself, without whom nothing can
be known or clearly set forth.  I come now to that which is the chief
and greatest part of this work--to teach in what manner or by what
sacrifice God must be worshipped.  For that is the duty of man, and in
that one object the sum of all things and the whole course of a happy
life consists, since we were fashioned and received the breath of life
from Him on this account, not that we might behold the heaven and the
sun, as Anaxagoras supposed, but that we might with pure and uncorrupted
mind worship Him who made the sun and the heaven.  But although in the
preceding books, as far as my moderate talent permitted, I defended the
truth, yet it may especially be elucidated(1) by the mode of worship
itself.  For that sacred and surpassing majesty requires from man
nothing more than innocence alone; and if any one has presented this to
God, he has sacrificed with sufficient piety and religion.  But men,
neglecting justice, though they are polluted by crimes and outrages of
all kinds, think themselves religious if they have stained the temples
and altars with the blood of victims, if they have moistened the hearths
with a profusion of fragrant and old wine.  Moreover, they also prepare
sacred feasts and choice banquets, as though, they offered to those who
would taste something from them.  Whatever is rarely to be viewed,
whatever is precious in workmanship or in fragrance, that they judge to
be pleasing to their

gods, not by any reference to their divinity, of which they are
ignorant, but from their own desires; nor do they understand that God is
in no want of earthly resources.

 For they have no knowledge of anything except the earth, and they
estimate good and evil things by the perception and pleasure of the body
alone.  And as they judge of religion according to its pleasure, so also
they arrange the acts of their whole life.  And since they have turned
away once for all from the contemplation of the heaven, and have made
that heavenly faculty the slave of the body, they give the reins to
their lusts, as though they were about to bear away pleasure with
themselves, which they hasten to enjoy at every moment; whereas the soul
ought to employ the service of the body, and not the booty to make use
of the service of the soul.  The same men judge riches to be the
greatest good.  And if they cannot obtain them by good practices, they
endeavour to obtain them by evil practices; they deceive, they carry off
by violence, they plunder, they lie in wait, they deny on oath; in
short, they have no consideration or regard for anything,(2) if only
they can glitter with gold, and shine conspicuous with plate, with
jewels, and with garments, can spend riches upon their greedy appetite,
and always walk attended with crowds of slaves through the people
compelled to give way.(3) Thus devoting(4) themselves to the service of
pleasures, they extinguish the force and vigour of the mind; and when
they especially think that they are alive, they are hastening with the
greatest precipitation to death.  For, as we showed in the second book.
the soul is concerned with heaven, the body with the earth.(5) They who
neglect the goods of the soul, and seek those of the body,

163

are engaged with darkness and death, which belong to the earth and to
the body, because life and light are from heaven; and they who are
without this, by serving the body, are far removed from the
understanding of divine things.  The same blindness everywhere oppresses
the wretched men; for as they know not who is the true God, so they know
not what constitutes true worship.

 CHAP. II.--OF THE WORSHIP OF FALSE GODS AND THE TRUE GOD.

 Therefore they sacrifice fine and fat victims to God, as though He were
hungry; they pour forth wine to Him, as though He were thirsty they
kindle lights to Him, as though He were in darkness.(1) But if they were
able to conjecture or to conceive in their mind what those heavenly
goods are, the greatness of which we cannot imagine, while we are still
encompassed with an earthly body, they would at once know that they are
most foolish with their empty offices.  Or if they would contemplate
that heavenly light which we call the sun, they will at once perceive
how God has no need of their candles, who has Himself given so clear and
bright a light for the use of man.(1) And when, in so small a circle,
which on account of its distance appears to have a measure no greater
than that of a human head, there is still so much brilliancy that mortal
eye cannot behold it, and if you should direct your eye to it for a
short time mist and darkness would overspread your dimmed eyes, what
light, I pray, what brightness, must we suppose that there is in God,
with whom there is no night?  For He has so attempered this very light,
that it might neither injure living creatures by excessive brightness or
vehement heat, and has given it so much of these properties as mortal
bodies might endure or the ripening of the crops require.  Is that man,
therefore, to be thought in his senses, who presents the light of
candles and torches as an offering to Him who is the Author and Giver of
light?  The light which He requires from us is of another kind, and that
indeed not accompanied with smoke, but (as the poet says) clear and
bright; I mean the light of the mind, on account of which we are called
by the poets photes,(2) which light no one can exhibit unless he has
known God.  But their gods, because they are of the earth, stand in need
of lights, that they may not be in darkness; and their worshippers,
because they have no taste for anything heavenly, are

recalled to the earth even by the religious rites to which they are
devoted.(1) For on the earth

there is need of a light, because its system and nature are dark.
Therefore they do not attribute to the gods a heavenly perception, but
rather a human one.  And on this account they believe that the same
things are necessary and pleasing to them as to us, who, when hungry,
have need of food; or, when thirsty, of drink; or, when we are cold,
require a garment; or, when the sun has withdrawn himself, require a
light that we may be able to see.(3)

 From nothing, therefore, can it be so plainly proved and understood
that those gods, since they once lived, are dead, as from their worship
itself, which is altogether of the earth.  For what heavenly influence
can there be in the shedding of the blood of beasts, with which they
stain their altars?  unless by chance they imagine that the gods feed
upon that which men shrink from touching.  And whoever shall have
offered to them this food,(4) although he be an assassin, an adulterer,
a sorcerer, or a parricide, he will he happy and prosperous.  Him they
love, him they defend, to him they afford all things which he shall wish
for.  Persius therefore deservedly ridicules superstitions of this kind
in his own style:(5) " With what bribe," he says, "dost thou win the
ears of gods?  Is it with lungs and rich intestines?"  He plainly
perceived that there is no need of flesh for appeasing the majesty of
heaven, but of a pure mind and a just spirit, and a breast, as he
himself says, which is generous with a natural love of honour.  This is
the religion of heaven--not that which consists of corrupt things, but
of the virtues of the soul, which has its origin from heaven; this is
true worship, in which the mind of the worshipper presents itself as an
undefiled offering to God.  But how this is to be obtained, how it is to
be afforded, the discussion of this book will show; for nothing can be
so illustrious and so suited to man as to train men to righteousness.(6)

 In Cicero, Catulus in the Hortensius, while he prefers philosophy to
all things, says that he would rather have one short treatise respecting
duty, than a long speech in behalf of a seditious man Cornelius.  And
this is plainly to be regarded not as the opinion of Catulus, who
perhaps did not utter this saying, but as that of Cicero, who wrote it.
I believe that he wrote it for the purpose of recommending these books
which he was about to write on Offices, in which cry books he testifies
that nothing in the whole

164

range of philosophy is better and more profitable than to give precepts
for living.  But if this is done by those who do not know the truth, how
much more ought we to do it, who are able to give true precepts,(1)
being taught and enlightened by God?  Nor, however, shall we so teach as
though we were delivering the first elements of virtue, which would be
an endless task, but as though we had undertaken the instruction of him
who, with them, appears to be already perfect.  For while their precepts
remain, which they are accustomed to give correctly, with a view to
uprightness, we will add to them things which were unknown to them, for
the completion and consummation of righteousness, which they do not
possess.  But I will omit those things which are common to us with them,
that I may not appear to borrow from those whose errors I have
determined to convict and bring to light.

CHAP. III.--OF THE WAYS, AND OF VICES AND VIRTUES; AND OF THE REWARDS OF
HEAVEN AND THE PUNISHMENTS OF HELL.

 There are two ways,(2) O Emperor Constantine, by which human life must
proceed--the one which leads to heaven, the other which sinks to hell;
and these ways poets have introduced in their poems, and philosophers in
their disputations.  And indeed philosophers have represented the one as
belonging to virtues, the other to vices; and they have represented that
which belongs to virtues as steep and rugged at the first entrance, in
which if any one, having overcome the difficulty, has climbed to the
summit.  they say that he afterwards has a level path, a bright and
pleasant plain, and that he enjoys abundant and delightful fruits of his
labours; but that those whom the difficulty of the first approach has
deterred, glide and turn aside into the way of vices, which at its first
entrance appears to be pleasant and much more beaten, but afterwards,
when they have advanced in it a little further, that the appearance of
its pleasantness is withdrawn, and that there arises a steep way, now
rough with stones, now overspread with thorns, now interrupted by deep
waters or violent with torrents, so that they must be in difficulty,
hesitate, slip about, and fall.  And all these things are brought
forward that it may appear that there are very great labours in
undertaking virtues, but that when they are gained there are the
greatest advantages, and firm and incorruptible pleasures; but that
vices ensnare the minds of men with certain natural blandishments, and
lead them captivated by the appearance of empty pleasures to bitter
griefs and miseries,--an altogether wise discussion, if they knew the
forms and limits of the virtues themselves.  For they had not learned
either what they are, or what reward awaits them from God: but this we
will show in these two books.

 But these men, because they were ignorant or in doubt that the souls of
men are immortal, estimated both virtues and vices by earthly honours or
punishments.  Therefore all this discussion respecting the two ways(3)
has reference to frugality and luxury.  For they say that the course of
human life resembles the letter Y, because every one of men, when he has
reached the threshold of early youth, and has arrived at the place
"where the way divides itself into two parts,'"(4) is in doubt, and
hesitates, and does not know to which side he should rather turn
himself.  If he shall meet with a guide who may direct him wavering to
better things--that is, if he shall learn philosophy or eloquence, or
some honourable arts by which he may turn to good conduct,(5) which
cannot take place without great labour--they say that he will lead a
life of honour and abundance; but if he shall not meet with a teacher of
temperance,(6) that he falls into the way on the left hand, which
assumes the appearance of the better,--that is, he gives himself up to
idleness, sloth, and luxury, which seem pleasant for a time to one who
is ignorant of true goods, but that afterwards, having lost all his
dignity and property, he will live in all wretchedness and ignominy.
Therefore they referred the end of those ways(3) to the body, and to
this life which we lead on earth.  The poets perhaps did better, who
would have it that this twofold way was in the lower regions; but they
are deceived in this, that they proposed these ways to the dead.  Both
therefore spoke with truth, but yet both incorrectly; for the ways
themselves ought to have been referred to life, their ends to death.  We
therefore speak better and more truly, who say that the two ways(3)
belong to heaven and hell, because immortality is promised to the
righteous, and everlasting punishment is threatened to the unrighteous.

 But I will explain how these ways either exalt to heaven or thrust down
to hell, and I will set forth what these virtues are of which the
philosophers were ignorant; then I will show what are their rewards, and
also what are vices, and what their punishments.  For perhaps some one
may expect that I shall speak separately of vices and virtues; whereas,
when we discuss the subject of good or evil, that which is contrary may
also

165

be understood.  For, whether you introduce virtues, vices will
spontaneously depart; or if you take away vices, virtues will of their
own accord succeed.  The nature of good and evil things is so fixed,
that they always oppose and drive out one another: and thus it comes to
pass that vices cannot be removed without virtues, nor can virtues be
introduced without the removal of vices.  Therefore we bring forward
these ways in a very different manner from that in which the
philosophers are accustomed to present them: first of all, because we
say that a guide is proposed to each, and in each case an immortal: but
that the one is honoured who presides over virtues and good qualities,
the other condemned who presides over vices and evils.  But they place a
guide only on the right side, and that not one only, nor a lasting one;
inasmuch as they introduce any teacher of a good art, who may recall men
from sloth, and teach them to be temperate.  But they do not represent
any as entering upon that way except boys and young men; for this
reason, that the arts are learned at these ages.  We, on the other hand,
lead those of each sex, every age and race, into this heavenly path,
because God, who is the guide of that way, denies immortality to no
human being.(1) The shape also of the ways themselves is not as they
supposed.  For what need is there of the letter Y in matters which are
different and opposed to one another?  But the one which is better is
turned towards the rising of the sun, the other which is worse towards
its setting: since he who follows truth and righteousness, having
received the reward of immortality, will enjoy perpetual light; but he
who, enticed by that evil guide, shall prefer vices to virtues,
falsehood to truth, must be borne to the setting of the sun, and to
darkness.(2) I will therefore describe each, and will point out their
properties and habits.

CHAP. IV.--OF THE WAYS OF LIFE, OF PLEASURES, ALSO OF THE HARDSHIPS OF
CHRISTIANS.

 There is one way, therefore, of virtue and the good, which leads, not,
as the poets say, to the Elysian plains, but to the very citadel of the
world:--

 "The left gives sinners up to pain,

 And leads to Tartarus' guilty reign."(3)

For it belongs to that accuser who, having invented false religions,
turns men away from the heavenly path, and leads them into the way of
perdition.  And the appearance and shape of this way is so composed to
the sight, that it

appears to be level and open, and delightful with all kinds of flowers
and fruits.  For there are placed(4) in it all things which are esteemed
on earth as good things--I mean wealth, honour, repose, pleasure, all
kinds of enticements; but together with these also injustice, cruelty,
pride, perfidy, lust, avarice, discord, ignorance, falsehood, folly, and
other vices.  But the end of this way is as follows: When they have
reached the point from which there is now no return, it is so suddenly
removed, together with all its beauty, that no one is able to foresee
the fraud before that he falls headlong into a deep abyss.  For whoever
is captivated by the appearance of present goods, and occupied with the
pursuit and enjoyment of these, shall not have foreseen the things which
are about to follow after death, and shall have turned aside from God;
he truly will be cast down to hell, and be condemned to eternal
punishment.

 But that heavenly way is set forth as difficult and hilly, or rough
with dreadful thorns, or entangled with stones jutting out; so that
every one must walk with the greatest labour and wearing of the feet,
and with great precautions against failing.  In this he has placed
justice, temperance, patience, faith, chastity, self-restraint, concord,
knowledge, truth, wisdom, and the other virtues; hut together with
these, poverty, ignominy, labour, pain, and all kinds of hardship.  For
whoever has extended his hope beyond the present, and chosen better
things, will be without these earthly goods, that, being lightly
equipped and without impediment, he may overcome the difficulty of the
way.  For it is impossible for him who has surrounded himself with royal
pomp, or loaded himself with riches, either to enter upon or to
persevere in these difficulties.  And from this it is understood that it
is easier for the wicked and the unrighteous to succeed in their
desires, because their road is downward and on the decline; but that it
is difficult for the good to attain to their wishes, because they walk
along a difficult and steep path.  Therefore the righteous man, since he
has entered upon a hard and rugged way, must be an object of contempt,
derision, and hatred.  For all whom desire or pleasure drags headlong,
envy him who has been able to attain to virtue, and take it ill that any
one possesses that which they themselves do not possess.  Therefore he
will be poor, humble, ignoble, subject to injury, and yet enduring all
things which are grievous; and if he shall continue his patience
unceasingly to that last step and end, the crown of virtue will be given
to him, and he will be rewarded by God with immortality for the labours
which he has endured in life for the sake of righteousness.  These are
the ways which

166

God has assigned to human life, in each of which he has shown both good
and evil things, but in a changed and inverted order.  In the one he has
pointed out in the first place temporal evils followed by eternal goods,
which is the better order; in the other, first temporal goods followed
by eternal evils, which is the worse order: so that, whosoever has
chosen present evils together with righteousness, he will obtain greater
and more certain goods than those were which he despised; but whoever
has preferred present goods to righteousness, will fall into greater and
more lasting evils than those were which he avoided.  For as this bodily
life is short, therefore its goods and evils must also be short; but
since that spiritual life, which is contrary to this earthly life, is
everlasting, therefore its goods and evils are also everlasting.  Thus
it comes to pass, that goods of short duration are succeeded by eternal
evils, and evils of short duration by eternal goods.

 Since, therefore, good and evil things are set before man at the same
time, it is befitting that every one should consider with himself how
much better it is to compensate evils of short duration by perpetual
goods, than to endure perpetual evils for short and perishable goods.
For as, in this life, when a contest with an enemy is set before you,
you must first labour that you may afterwards enjoy repose, you must
suffer hunger and thirst, you must endure heat and cold, you must rest
on the ground, must watch and undergo dangers, that your children,(1)
and house, and property being preserved, you may be able to enjoy all
the blessings of peace and victory; but if you should choose present
ease in preference to labour, you must do yourself the greatest injury:
for the enemy will surprise you offering no resistance, your lands will
be laid waste, your house plundered, your wife and children become a
prey, you yourself will be slain or taken prisoner; to prevent the
occurrence of these things, present advantage must be put aside, that a
greater and more lasting advantage may be gained;--so in the whole of
this life, because God has provided an adversary for us, that we might
be able to acquire virtue, present gratification must be laid aside,
lest the enemy should overpower us.  We must be on the watch, must post
guards, must undertake military expeditions, must shed our blood to the
uttermost; in short, we must patiently submit to all things which are
unpleasant and grievous, and the more readily because God our commander
has appointed for us eternal rewards for our labours.  And since in this
earthly warfare men expend so much labour to acquire for themselves
those things which may perish in the same manner as that in which they
were acquired, assuredly no labour ought to be refused by us, by whom
that is gained which can in no way be lost.

 For God, who created men to this warfare, desired that they should
stand prepared in battle array, and with minds keenly intent should
watch against the stratagems or open attacks of our single enemy, who,
as is the practice of skilful and experienced generals, endeavours to
ensnare us by various arts, directing his rage according to the nature
and disposition of each.  For he infuses into some insatiable avarice,
that, being chained by their riches as by fetters, he may drive them
from the way of truth.  He inflames others with the excitement of anger,
that while they are rather intent upon inflicting injury, he may turn
them aside from the contemplation of God.  He plunges others into
immoderate lusts, that, giving themselves to pleasure of the body, they
may be unable to look towards virtue.  He inspires others with envy,
that, being occupied with their own torments, they may think of nothing
but the happipiness of those whom they hate.  He causes others to swell
with ambitious desires.  These are they who direct the whole occupation
and care of their life to the holding of magistracies, that they may set
a mark upon the annals,(2) and give a name to the years.  The desire of
others mounts higher, not that they may rule provinces with the temporal
sword, but with boundless and perpetual power may wish to be called
lords of the whole human race.(3) Moreover, those whom he has seen to be
pious he involves in various(4) superstitions, that he may make them
impious.  But to those who seek for wisdom, he dashes philosophy before
their eyes,(5) that he may blind them with the appearance of light, lest
any one should grasp and hold fast the truth.  Thus he has blocked up
all the approaches against men, and has occupied the way, rejoicing in
public errors; but that we might be able to dispel these errors, and to
overcome the author of evils himself, God has enlightened us, and has
armed us with true and heavenly virtue, respecting which I must now
speak.

 CHAP. V.--OF FALSE AND TRUE VIRTUE; AND OF KNOWLEDGE.

 But before I begin to set forth the separate virtues, I must mark out
the character of virtue itself, which the philosophers have not rightly

167

defined, as to its nature, or in what things it consisted; and I must
describe its operation and office.  For they only retained the name, but
lost its power, and nature, and effect.  But whatever they are
accustomed to say in their definition of virtue, Lucilius puts together
and expresses in a few verses, which I prefer to introduce, lest, while
I refute the opinions of many, I should be longer than is necessary:--

 "It is virtue, O Albinus, to pay the proper price,

 To attend to the matters in which we are engaged, and in which we live.

 It is virtue for a man to know the nature of everything.

 It is virtue for a man to know what is right and useful and honourable,

 What things are good, and what are evil.

 What is useless,(1) base, and dishonourable.

 It is virtue to know the end of an object to be sought, and the means
of procuring it.

 It is virtue to be able to assign their value to riches.

 It is virtue to give that which is really due to honour;

 To be the enemy and the foe(2) of bad men and manners, but, on the
other hand, the defender of good men and manners;

 To esteem these highly, to wish them well, to live in friendship with
them,

 Moreover, to consider the interest of one's country first;

 Then those of parents, to put our own interests in the third and last
place."

From these definitions, which the poet briefly puts together, Marcus
Tullius derived the offices of living, following Panaetius the Stoic,(3)
and included them in three books.

 But we shall presently see how false these things are, that it may
appear how much the divine condescension has bestowed on us in opening
to us the truth.  He says that it is virtue to know what is good and
evil, what is base, what is honourable, what is useful, what is useless.
He might have shortened his treatise if he had only spoken of that which
is good and evil; for nothing can be useful or honourable which is not
also good, and nothing useless and base which is not also evil.  And
this also appears to be thus to philosophers, and Cicero shows it
likewise in the third book of the above-mentioned treatise.(4) But
knowledge cannot be virtue, because it is not within us, but it comes to
us from without.But that which is able to pass from one to the other is
not virtue, because virtue is the property of each individual.
Knowledge therefore consists in a benefit derived from another; for it
depends upon hearing.  Virtue is altogether our own; for it depends upon
the will of doing that which is good.  As, therefore, in undertaking a
journey, it is of no profit to know the way, unless we also have the
effort and

strength for walking, so truly knowledge is of no avail if our virtue
fails.  For, in general, even they who sin perceive what is good and
evil, though not perfectly; and as often as they act improperly, they
know that they sin, and therefore endeavour to conceal their actions.
But though the nature of good and evil does not escape their notice,
they are overpowered by an evil desire to sin, because they are wanting
in virtue, that is, the desire of doing right and honourable things.
Therefore that the knowledge of good and evil is one thing, and virtue
another, appears from this, because knowledge can exist without virtue,
as it has been in the case of many of the philosophers; in which, since
not to have done what you knew to be right is justly censurable, a
depraved will and a vicious mind, which ignorance cannot excuse, will be
justly punished.  Therefore, as the knowledge of good and evil is not
virtue, so the doing that which is good and the abstaining from evil is
virtue.  And yet [knowledge is so united with virtue, that knowledge
precedes virtue, and virtue follows knowledge; because knowledge is of
no avail unless it is followed up by action.  Horace therefore speaks
somewhat better: "Virtue is the fleeing from vice, and the first wisdom
is to be free from folly."(5) But he speaks improperly, because he
defined virtue by its contrary, as though he should say, That is good
which is not evil.  For when I know not what virtue is, I do not know
what vice is.  Each therefore requires definition, because the nature of
the case is such that each must be understood or not understood.(6)

 But let us do that which he ought to have done.  It is a virtue to
restrain anger, to control desire, to curb lust; for this is to flee
from vice.  For almost all things which are done unjustly and
dishonestly arise from these affections.  For if the force of this
emotion which is called anger be blunted, all the evil contentions of
men will be lulled to rest; no one will plot, no one will rush forth to
injure another.  Also, if desire be restrained, no one will use violence
by land or by sea, no one will lead an army to carry off and lay waste
the property of others.  Also, if the ardour of lusts be repressed,
every age and sex will retain its sanctity; no one will suffer, or do
anything disgraceful.  Therefore all crimes and disgraceful actions will
be taken away from the life and character of men, if these emotions are
appeased and calmed by virtue.  And this calming of the emotions and
affections has this meaning, that we do all things which are right.  The
whole duty of virtue then is, not to sin.  And assuredly he cannot
discharge this who is ignorant of God, since igno-

168

rance of Him from whom good things proceed must thrust a man unawares
into vices.  Therefore, that I may more briefly and significantly fix
the offices of each subject, knowledge is to know God, virtue is to
worship Him: the former implies wisdom, the latter righteousness.

CHAP. VI.--OF THE CHIEF GOOD AND VIRTUE, AND Or KNOWLEDGE AND
RIGHTEOUSNESS.

 I have said that which was the first thing, that the knowledge of good
is not virtue; and secondly, I have shown what virtue is, and in what it
consists.  It follows that I should show this also, that the
philosophers were ignorant of what is good and evil; and this briefly,
because it has been almost(1) made plain in the third book, when I was
discussing the subject of the chief good.  And because they did not know
what the chief good was, they necessarily erred in the case of the other
goods and evils which are not the chief; for no one can weigh these with
a true judgment who does not possess the fountain itself from which they
are derived.  Now the source of good things is God; but of evils, he who
is always the enemy of the divine name, of whom we have often spoken.
From these two sources good and evil things have their origin.  Those
which proceed from God have this object, to procure immortality, which
is the greatest good; but those which arise from the other have this
office, to call man away from heavenly things and sink him in earthly
things, and thus to consign him to the punishment of everlasting death,
which is the greatest evil.  Is it therefore doubtful but that all those
were ignorant of what was good and evil, who neither knew God nor the
adversary of God?  Therefore they referred the end of good things to the
body, and to this short life, which must be dissolved and perish: they
did not advance further.  But all their precepts, and all the things
which they introduce as goods, adhere to the earth, and lie on the
ground, since they die with the body, which is earth; for they do not
tend to procure life for man, but either to the acquisition or increase
of riches, honour, glory, and power, which are altogether mortal things,
as much so indeed as he who has laboured to obtain them.  Hence is that
saying,(2) "It is virtue to know the end of an object(3) to be sought,
and the means of procuring it;" for they enjoin by what means and by
what practices property is to be sought, for they see that it is often
sought unjustly.  But virtue of this kind is not proposed to the wise
man; for it is not virtue to seek riches, of which

neither the finding nor the possession is in our power: therefore they
are more easy to be gained and to be retained by the bad than by the
good.  Virtue, then, cannot consist in the seeking of those things in
the despising of which the force and purport of virtue appears; nor will
it have recourse to those very things which, with its great and lofty
mind, it desires to trample upon and bruise under foot; nor is it lawful
for a soul which is earnestly fixed on heavenly goods to be called away
from its immortal pursuits, that it may acquire for itself these frail
things.  But the course(4) of virtue especially consists in the
acquisition of those things which neither any man, nor death itself, can
take away from us.  Since these things are so, that which follows is
true: "It is virtue to be able to assign their value to riches:" which
verse is nearly of the same meaning as the first two.  But neither he
nor any of the philosophers was able to know the price itself, either of
what nature or what it is; for the poet, and all those whom he followed,
thought that it meant to make a right use of riches,--that is, to be
moderate in living, not to make costly entertainments, not to squander
carelessly, not to expend property on superfluous or disgraceful
objects.(5)

 Some one will perhaps say, What do you say?  Do you deny that this is
virtue?  I do not deny it indeed; for if I should deny it, I should
appear to prove the opposite.  But I deny that it is true virtue;
because it is not that heavenly principle, but is altogether of the
earth, since it produces no effect but that which remains on the
earth.(6) But what it is to make a right use of wealth, and what
advantage is to be sought from riches, I will declare more openly when I
shall begin to speak of the duty of piety.  Now the other things which
follow are by no means true; for to proclaim enmity against the wicked,
or to undertake the defence of the good, may be common to it with the
evil.  For some, by a pretence of goodness, prepare the way for
themselves to power, and do many things which the good are accustomed to
do, and that the more readily because they do them for the sake of
deceiving; and I wish that it were as easy to carry out goodness in
action as it is to pretend to it.  But when they have begun to attain to
their purpose and their wish in reaching the highest step of power,
then, truly laying aside pretence, these men discover their character;
they seize upon everything, and offer violence, and lay waste; and they
press upon the good themselves, whose cause they had undertaken; and
they cut away the steps by which they mounted, that no one

169

may be able to imitate them against themselves.  But, however, let us
suppose that this duty of defending the good belongs only to the good
man.  Yet to undertake it is easy, to fulfil it is difficult; because
when you have committed yourself to a contest and an encounter, the
victory is placed at the disposal of God, not in your own power.  And
for the most part the wicked are more powerful both in number and in
combination than the good, so that it is not so much virtue which is
necessary to overcome them as good fortune.  Is any one ignorant how
often the better and the juster side has been overcome?  From this cause
harsh tyrannies have always broken out against the citizens.  All
history is full of examples, but we will be content with one.  Cnoeus
Pompeius wished to be the defender of the good, since he took up arms in
defence of the commonwealth, in defence of the senate, and in defence of
liberty; and yet the same man, being conquered, perished together with
liberty itself,(1) and being mutilated by Egyptian eunuchs, was cast
forth unburied.(2)

 It is not virtue, therefore, either to be the enemy of the bad or the
defender of the good, because virtue cannot be subject to uncertain
chances.

 "Moreover, to reckon the interests of our country as in the first
place."

When the agreement of men is taken away, virtue has no existence at all;
for what are the interests of our country, but the inconveniences of
another state or nation?--that is, to extend the boundaries which are
violently taken from others, to increase the power of the state, to
improve the revenues,--all which things are not virtues, but the
overthrowing of virtues: for, in the first place, the union of human
society is taken away, innocence is taken away, the abstaining from the
property of another is taken away; lastly, justice itself is taken away,
which is unable to bear the tearing asunder of the human race, and
wherever arms have glittered, must be banished and exterminated from
thence.  This saying of Cicero(3) is true: "But they who say that regard
is to be had to citizens, but that it is not to be had to foreigners,
these destroy the common society of the human race; and when this is
removed, beneficence, liberality, kindness, and justice are entirely(4)
taken away."  For how can a man be just who injures, who hates, who
despoils, who puts to death?  And they who strive to be serviceable to
their country do all these things: for they are ignorant of what this
being serviceable is, who think nothing useful, nothing advantageous,
but that which can be held b the hand; and this alone cannot be held,
because it may be snatched away.

 Whoever, then, has gained for his country these goods--as they
themselves call them--that is, who by the overthrow of cities and the
destruction of nations has filled the treasury with money, has taken
lands and enriched his country-men--he is extolled with praises to the
heaven: in him there is said to be the greatest and perfect virtue.  And
this is the error not only of the people and the ignorant, but also of
philosophers, who even give precepts for injustice, test folly and
wickedness should be wanting in discipline and authority.  Therefore,
when they are speaking of the duties relating to warfare, all that
discourse is accommodated neither to justice nor to true virtue, but to
this life and to civil institutions;(5) and that this is not justice the
matter itself declares, and Cicero has testified.(6) "But we," he says,
"are not in possession of the real and life-like figure of true law and
genuine justice, we have nothing but delineations and sketches;(7) and I
wish that we followed even these, for they are taken from the excellent
copies made by nature and truth."  It is then a delineation and a sketch
which they thought to be justice.  But what of wisdom?  does not the
same man confess that it has no existence in philosophers "Nor," he
says,(8) "when Fabricius or Aristides is called just, is an example of
justice sought from these as from a wise man; for none of these is wise
in the sense in which we wish the truly wise to be understood.  Nor were
they who are esteemed and called wise, Marcus Cato and Caius Laelius,
actually wise, nor those well-known seven;(9) but from their constant
practice of the 'middle duties,'(10) they bore a certain likeness and
appearance(11) of wise men."  If therefore wisdom is taken away from the
philosophers by their own confession, and justice is taken away from
those who are regarded as just, it follows that all those descriptions
of virtue must be false, because no one can know what true virtue is but
he who is just and wise.  But no one is just and wise but he whom God
has instructed with heavenly precepts.

CHAP. VII.--OF THE WAY OF ERROR AND OF TRUTH: THAT IT IS SINGLE, NARROW,
AND STEEP, AND HAS GOD FOR ITS GUIDE.

 For all those who, by the confessed folly of others, are thought wise,
being clothed with the

170

appearance of virtue, grasp at shadows and outlines, but at nothing
true.  Which happens on this account, because that deceitful road which;
inclines to the west has many paths, on account of the variety of
pursuits and systems which are dissimilar and varied in the life of men.
For as that way of wisdom contains something which resembles folly, as
we showed in the preceding book, so this way, which belongs altogether
to folly, contains something which resembles wisdom, and they who
perceive the folly of men in general seize upon this; and as it has its
vices manifest, so it has something which appears to resemble virtue: as
it has its wickedness open, so it has a likeness and appearance of
justice.  For how could the forerunner(1) of that way, whose strength
and power are altogether in deceit, lead men altogether into fraud,
unless he showed them some things which resembled the truth?(2) For,
that His immortal secret might be hidden, God placed in his way things
which men might despise as evil and disgraceful, that, turning away from
wisdom and truth, which they were searching for without any guide, they
might fall upon that very thing which they desired to avoid and flee
from.  Therefore he points out that way of destruction and death which
has many windings, either because there are many kinds of life, or
because there are many gods who are worshipped.

 The deceitful(3) and treacherous guide of this way, that there may
appear to be some distinction between truth and falsehood, good and
evil, reads the luxurious in one direction, and those who are called
temperate(4) in another; the ignorant in one direction, the learned in
another; the sluggish in one direction, the active in another; the
foolish in one direction, the philosophers in another, and even these
not in one path.  For those who do not shun pleasures or riches, he
withdraws a little from this public and frequented road; but those who
either wish to follow virtue, or profess a contempt for things, he drags
over certain rugged precipices.  But nevertheless all those paths which
display an appearance of honours are not different roads, but turnings
off(5) and bypaths, which appear indeed to be separated from that common
one.  and to branch off to the right, but yet return to the same, and
all lead at the very end to one issue.  For that guide unites them all,
where it was necessary that the good should be separated from the bad,
the strong from the inactive, the wise from the foolish; namely, in the
worship of the gods, in which he slays them all with one sword, because
they were all foolish without any distinction, and plunges them into
death.  But this way--which is that of truth, and wisdom, and virtue,
and justice, of all which there is but one fountain, one source of
strength, one abode--is both simple,(6) because with like minds, and
with the utmost agreement, we follow and worship one God; and it is
narrow, because virtue is given to the smaller number; and steep,
because goodness, which is very high and lofty, cannot be attained to
without the greatest difficulty and labour.

CHAP. VIII.--OF THE ERRORS OF PHILOSOPHERS, AND THE VARIABLENESS OF LAW.

 This is the way which philosophers seek, but do not find on this
account, because they prefer to seek it on the earth, where it cannot
appear.  Therefore they wander, as it were, on the great sea, and do not
understand whither they are borne, because they neither discern the way
nor follow any guide.  For this way of life ought to be sought in the
same manner in which their course is sought by ships over the deep: for
unless they observe some light of heaven, they wander with uncertain
courses.  But whoever strives to hold the right course of life ought not
to look to the earth, but to the heaven: and, to speak more plainly, he
ought not to follow man, but God; not to serve these earthly images, but
the heavenly God; not to measure all things by their reference to the
body, but by their reference to the soul; not to attend to this life,
but the eternal life.  Therefore, if you always direct your eyes towards
heaven, and observe the sun, where it rises, and take this as the guide
of your life, as in the case of a voyage, your feet will spontaneously
be directed into the way; and that heavenly light, which is a much
brighter sun(7) to sound minds than this which we behold in mortal
flesh, will so rule and govern you as to lead you without any error to
the most excellent harbour of wisdom and virtue.

 Therefore the law of God must be undertaken, which may direct us to
this path; that sacred, that heavenly law, which Marcus Tullius, in his
third book respecting the Republic,(8) has described almost with a
divine voice; whose words have subjoined, that I might not speak at
greater length: "There is indeed a true law, right reason, agreeing with
nature, diffused among all, unchanging, everlasting, which calls to duty
by commanding, deters from wrong by forbidding; which, however, neither
commands nor forbids the good in vain, nor affects the wicked by
commanding or forbidding.  It is not allow-

171

able to alter(1) the provisions of this law, nor is it permitted us to
modify it, nor can it be entirely abrogated.(1) Nor, truly, can we be
released from this law, either by the senate or by the people; nor is
another person to be sought to explain or interpret it.  Nor will there
be one law at Rome and another at Athens; one law at the present time,
and another hereafter: but the same law, everlasting and unchangeable,
will bind all nations at all times; and there will be one common Master
and Ruler of all, even God, the framer, arbitrator, and proposer of this
law; and he who shall not obey this will flee from himself, and,
despising the nature of man, will suffer the greatest punishments
through this very thing, even though he shall have escaped the other
punishments which are supposed to exist."  Who that is acquainted with
the mystery of God could so significantly relate the law of God, as a
man far removed from the knowledge of the truth has set forth that law?
But I consider that they who speak true things unconsciously are to be
so regarded as though they prophesied(2) under the influence of some
spirit.  But if he had known or explained this also, in what precepts
the law itself consisted, as he clearly saw the force and purport of the
divine law, he would not have discharged the office of a philosopher,
but of a prophet.  And because he was unable to do this, it must be done
by us, to whom the law itself has been delivered by the one great Master
and Ruler of all, God.

CHAP. IX.--OF THE LAW AND PRECEPT OF GOD; OF MERCY, AND THE ERROR OF THE
PHILOSOPHERS.

 The first head of this law is, to know God Himself, to obey Him alone,
to worship Him alone.  For he cannot maintain the character of a man who
is ignorant of God, the parent of his soul: which is the greatest
impiety.  For this ignorance causes him to serve other gods, and no
greater crime than this can be committed.  Hence there is now so easy a
step to wickedness through ignorance of the truth and of the chief good;
since God, from the knowledge of whom he shrinks, is Himself the
fountain of goodness.  Or if he shall wish to follow the justice of God,
yet, being ignorant of the divine law, he embraces the laws of his own
country as true justice, though they were clearly devised not by
justice, but by utility.  For why is it that there are different and
various laws amongst all people, but that each nation has enacted for
itself that which it deemed useful for its own affairs?  But how greatly
utility differs from justice the Roman people themselves teach, who, by
proclaiming war through the Fecials, and by inflicting injuries
according to legal forms, by always desiring and carrying off the
property of other, have gained for themselves the possession of the
whole world.(3) But these persons think themselves just if they do
nothing against their own laws; which may be even ascribed to fear, if
they abstain from crimes through dread of present punishment.  But let
us grant that they do that naturally, or, as the philosopher says, of
their own accord, which they are compelled to do by the laws.  Will they
therefore be just, because they obey the institutions of men, who may
themselves have erred, or have been unjust?--as it was with the framers
of the twelve tables, who certainly promoted the public advantage
according to the condition of the times.  Civil law is one thing, which
varies everywhere according to customs; but justice is another thing,
which God has set forth to all as uniform and simple: and he who is
ignorant of God must also be ignorant of justice.

 But let us suppose it possible that any one, by natural and innate
goodness, should gain true virtues, such a man as we have heard that
Cimon was at Athens, who both gave alms to the needy, and entertained
the poor, and clothed the naked; yet, when that one thing which is of
the greatest importance is wanting--the acknowledgment of God--then all
those good things are superfluous and empty, so that in pursuing them he
has laboured in vain.(4) For all his justice will resemble a human body
which has no head, in which, although all the limbs are in their proper
position, and figure, and proportion, yet, since that is wanting which
is the chief thing of all, it is destitute both of life and of all
sensation.  Therefore those limbs have only the shape of limbs, but
admit of no use, as much so as a head without a body; and he resembles
this who is not without the knowledge of God, but yet lives unjustly.
For he has that only which is of the greatest importance; but he has it
to no purpose, since he is destitute of the virtues, as it were, of
limbs.

 Therefore, that the body may be alive, and capable of sensation, both
the knowledge of God is necessary, as it were the head, and all the
virtues, as it were the body.  Thus there will exist a perfect and
living man; but, however, the whole substance is in the head; and
although this cannot exist in the absence of all, it may exist in the
absence of some.  And it will be an imperfect and faulty animal, but yet
it will be alive, as he who knows God and yet sins in some respect.  For
God pardons sins.  And

172

thus it is possible to live without some of the limbs, but it is by no
means possible to live without a head.  This is the reason why the
philosophers, though they may be naturally good, yet have no knowledge
and no intelligence.  All their learning and virtue is without a head,
because they are ignorant of God, who is the Head of virtue and
knowledge; and he who is ignorant of Him, though he may see, is blind;
though he may hear, is deaf; though he may speak, is dumb.  But when he
shall know the Creator and Parent of all things, then he will both see,
and hear, and speak.  For he begins to have a head, in which all the
senses are placed, that is, the eyes, and ears, and tongue.  For
assuredly he sees who has beheld with the eyes of his mind the truth in
which God is, or God in whom the truth is; he hears, who imprints on his
heart the divine words and life-giving precepts; he speaks, who, in
discussing heavenly things, relates the virtue and majesty of the
surpassing God.  Therefore he is undoubtedly impious who does not
acknowledge God; and all his virtues, which he thinks that he has or
possesses, are found in that deadly road which belongs altogether to
darkness.  Wherefore there is no reason why any one should congratulate
himself if he has gained these empty virtues, because he is not only
wretched who is destitute of present goods, but he must also be foolish,
since he undertakes the greatest labours in his life without any
purpose.  For if the hope of immortality is taken away, which God
promises to those who continue in His religion, for the sake of
obtaining which virtue is to be sought, and whatever evils happen are to
be endured, it will assuredly be the greatest folly to wish to comply
with virtues which in vain bring calamities and labours to man.  For if
it is virtue to endure and undergo with fortitude, want, exile, pain,
and death, which are feared by others, what goodness, I pray, has it in
itself, that philosophers should say that it is to be sought for on its
own account?  Truly they are delighted with superfluous and useless
punishments, when it is permitted them to live in tranquillity.

 For if our souls are mortal, if virtue is about to have no existence
after the dissolution of the body, why do we avoid the goods assigned to
us, as though we were ungrateful or unworthy of enjoying the divine
gifts?  For, that we may enjoy these blessings, we must live in
wickedness and impiety, because virtue, that is, justice, is followed by
poverty.  Therefore he is not of sound mind, who, without having any
greater hope set before him, prefers labours, and tortures, and
miseries, to those goods which others enjoy in life.(1) But if virtue is
to be taken up,

as is most rightly said by these, because it is evident that man is born
to it, it ought to contain some greater hope, which may apply a great
and illustrious solace for the ills and labours which it is the part of
virtue to endure.  Nor can virtue, since it is difficult in itself, be
esteemed as a good in any other way than by having its hardship
compensated by the greatest good.  We can in no other way equally
abstain from these present goods, than if there are other greater goods
on account of which it is worth while to leave the pursuit of pleasures,
and to endure all evils.  But these are no other, as I have shown in the
third book,(2) than the goods of everlasting life.  Now who can bestow
these except God, who has proposed to us virtue itself?  Therefore the
sum and substance of everything is contained in the acknowledging and
worship of God; all the hope and safety of man centres in this; this is
the first step of wisdom, to know who is our true Father, and to worship
Him alone with the piety which is due to Him, to obey Him, to yield
ourselves to His service with the utmost devotedness: let our entire
acting, and care, and attention, be laid out in gaining His favour.(3)

CHAP. X.--OF RELIGION TOWARDS GOD, AND MERCY TOWARDS MEN; AND OF THE
BEGINNING OF THE WORLD.

 I have said what is due to God, I will now say what is to be given to
man; although this very thing which you shall give to man is given to
God, for man is the image of God.  But, how ever, the first office of
justice is to be united with God, the second with man.  But the former
is called religion; the second is named mercy or kindness;(4) which
virtue is peculiar to the just, and to the worshippers of God, because
this alone comprises the principle of common life.  For God, who has not
given wisdom to the other animals, has made them more safe from attack
in danger by natural defences.  But because He made him naked and
defenceless,(5) that He might rather furnish him with wisdom, He gave
him, besides other things, this feeling of kindness;(6) so that man
should protect, love, and cherish man, and both receive and afford
assistance against all dangers.  Therefore kindness is the greatest bond
of human society; and he who has broken this is to be deemed impious,
and a parricide.  For if we all derive our origin from one man, whom God

173

created, we are plainly of one blood; and therefore it must be
considered the greatest wickedness to hate a man, even though guilty.
On which account God has enjoined that enmities are never to be
contracted by us, but that they are always to be removed, so that we
soothe those who are our enemies, by reminding them of their
relationship.  Likewise, if we are all inspired and animated by one God,
what else are we than brothers?  And, indeed, the more closely united,
because we are united in soul rather than in body.(1) Accordingly
Lucretius does not err when he says:(2) "In short, we are all sprung
from a heavenly seed; all have that same father."  Therefore they are to
be accounted as savage beasts who injure man; who, in opposition to
every law and right of human nature, plunder, torture, slay, and banish.

 On account of this relationship of brotherhood, God teaches us never to
do evil, but always good.  And He also prescribes(3) in what this doing
good consists: in affording aid to those who are oppressed and in
difficulty, and in bestowing food on those who are destitute.  For God,
since He is kind,(4) wished us to be a social animal.  Therefore, in the
case of other men, we ought to think of ourselves.  We do not deserve to
be set free in our own dangers, if we do not succour others; we do not
deserve assistance, if we refuse to render it.  There are no precepts of
philosophers to this purport, inasmuch as they, being captivated by the
appearance of false virtue, have taken away mercy from man, and while
they wish to heal, have corrupted.(5) And though they generally admit
that the mutual participation of human society is to be retained, they
entirely separate themselves from it by the harshness of their inhuman
virtue.  This error, therefore, is also to be refuted, of those who
think that nothing is to be bestowed on any one.  They have introduced
not one origin only, and cause of building a city; but some relate that
those men who were first born from the earth, when they passed a
wandering life among the woods and plains, and were not united by any
mutual bond of speech or justice, but had leaves and grass for their
beds, and caves and grottos for their dwellings, were a prey to the
beasts and stronger animals.  Then, that those who had either escaped,
having been torn, or had seen their neighbours torn, being admonished of
their own danger, had recourse to other

men, implored protection, and at first made their wishes known by nods;
then that they tried the beginnings of conversation, and by attaching
names to each object, by degrees completed the system of speech.  But
when they saw that numbers themselves were not safe against the beasts,
they began also to build towns, either that they might make their
nightly repose safe, or that they might ward off the incursions and
attacks of beasts, not by fighting, but by interposing barriers.(6)

 O minds unworthy of men, which produced these foolish trifles!  O
wretched and pitiable men, who committed to writing and handed down to
memory the record of their own foil),; who, when they saw that the plan
of assembling themselves together, or of mutual intercourse, or of
avoiding danger, or of guarding against evil, or of preparing for
themselves sleeping-places and lairs, was natural even to the dumb
animals, thought, however, that men could not have been admonished and
learned, except by examples, what they ought to fear, what to avoid, and
what to do, or that they would never have assembled together, or have
discovered the method of speech, had not the beasts devoured them!
These things appeared to others senseless, as they really were; and they
said that the cause of their coming together was not the tearing of wild
beasts, but rather the very feeling of humanity itself; and that
therefore they collected themselves together, because the nature of men
avoided solitude, and was desirous of communion and society.  The
discrepancy between them is not great; since the causes are different,
the fact is the same.  Each might have been true, because there is no
direct opposition.  But, however, neither is by any means true, because
men were not born from the ground throughout the world, as though sprung
from the teeth of some dragon, as the poets relate; but one man was
formed by God, and from that one man all the earth was filled with the
human race, in the same way as again took place after the deluge, which
they certainly cannot deny.(7) Therefore no assembling together of this
kind took place at the beginning; and that there were never men on the
earth who could not speak except those who were infants,(8) every one
who is possessed of sense will understand.  Let us suppose, however,
that these things are true which idle and foolish old men vainly say,
that we may refute them especially by their own feelings and arguments.

 If men were collected together on this account,

174

that they might protect their weakness by mutual help, therefore we must
succour man, who needs help.  For, since men entered into and contracted
fellowship with men for the sake of protection, either to violate or not
to preserve that compact which was entered into among men from the
commencement of their origin, is to be considered as the greatest
impiety.  For he who withdraws himself from affording assistance must
also of necessity withdraw himself from receiving it; for he who refuses
his aid to another thinks that he stands in need of the aid of none.
But he who withdraws and separates himself from the body(1) at large,
must live not after the custom of men, but after the manner of wild
beasts.  But if this cannot be done, the bond of human society is by all
means to be retained, because man can in no way live without man.  But
the preservation(2) of society is a mutual sharing of kind offices; that
is, the affording help, that we may be able to receive it.  But if, as
those others assert, the assembling together of men has been caused on
account of humanity itself, man ought undoubtedly to recognise man.  But
if those ignorant and as yet uncivilized men did this, and that, when
the practice of speaking was not yet established, what must we think
ought to be done by men who are polished, and connected together by
interchange of conversation and all business, who, being accustomed to
the society of men, cannot endure solitude?

 CHAP. XI.--OF THE PERSONS UPON WHOM A BENEFIT IS TO BE CONFERRED.

 Therefore humanity is to be preserved, if we wish rightly to be called
men.  But what else is this preservation of humanity than the loving a
man because he is a man, and the same as ourselves?  Therefore discord
and dissension are not in accordance with the nature of man; and that
expression of Cicero is true, which says(3) that man, while he is
obedient to nature, cannot injure man.  Therefore, if it is contrary to
nature to injure a man, it must be in accordance with nature to benefit
a man; and he who does not do this deprives himself of the title of a
man, because it is the duty of humanity to succour the necessity and
peril of a man.  I ask, therefore, of those who do not think it the part
of a wise man to be prevailed upon and to pity, If a man were seized by
some beast, and were to implore the aid of an armed man, whether they
think that he ought to be succoured or not?  They are not so shameless
as to deny that that ought to be done which humanity demands and
requires.  Also, if any one were surrounded by fire, crushed by the
downfall of a building, plunged in the sea, or carried away by a river,
would they think it the duty of a man not to assist him?  They
themselves are not men if they think so; for no one can fail to be
liable to dangers of this kind.  Yes, truly, they will say that it is
the part of a human being, and of a brave man too, to preserve one who
was on the point of perishing.  If, therefore, in casualties of this
nature which imperil the life of man, they allow that it is the part of
humanity to give succour, what reason is there why they should think
that succour is to be withheld if a man should suffer from hunger,
thirst, or cold?  But though these things are naturally on an equality
with those accidental circumstances, and need one and the same humanity,
yet they make a distinction between these things, because they measure
all things not by the truth itself, but by

present utility.  For they hope that those whom they rescue from peril
will make a return of the favour to them.  But because they do not hope
for this in the case of the needy, they think that whatever they bestow
on men of this kind is thrown away.  Hence that sentiment of Plantus is
detestable:(4)--

 "He deserves ill who gives food to a beggar;

 For that which he gives is thrown away, and

 It lengthens out the life of the other to his misery."

But perhaps the poet spoke for the actor.(5)

 What does Marcus Tullius say in his books respecting Offices?  Does he
not also advise that bounty should not be employed at all?  For thus he
speaks:(6) "Bounty, which proceeds from our estate, drains the very
source of our liberality; and thus liberality is destroyed by
liberality: for the more numerous they are towards whom you practise it,
the less you will be able to practise it towards many."  And he also
says shortly afterwards: "But what is more foolish than so to act that
you may not be able to continue to do that which you do willingly?"
This professor of wisdom plainly keeps men back from acts of kindness,
and advises them carefully to guard their property, and to preserve
their money-chest in safety, rather than to follow justice.  And when he
perceived that this was inhuman and wicked, soon afterwards, in another
chapter, as though moved by repentance, he thus spoke: "Sometimes,
however, we must exercise bounty in giving: nor is this kind of
liberality altogether to be rejected; and we must give from our property
to suitable(7) persons when they are in need of assistance."  What is
the meaning of "suit-

175

able?"  Assuredly those who are able to restore and give back the
favour.(1) If Cicero were now alive, I should certainly exclaim: Here,
here, Marcus Tullius, you have erred from true justice; and you have
taken it away by one word, since you measured the offices of piety and
humanity by utility.  For we must not bestow our bounty on suitable
objects, but as much as possible on unsuitable objects.  For that will
be done with justice, piety, and humanity, which you shall do without
the hope of any return!

 This is that true and genuine justice, of which you say that you have
no real and life-like figure.(2) You yourself exclaim in many places
that virtue is not mercenary; and you confess in the books of your
Laws(3) that liberality is gratuitous, in these words: "Nor is it
doubtful that he who is called liberal and generous is influenced by a
sense of duty, and not by advantage."  Why therefore do you bestow your
bounty on suitable persons, unless it be that you may afterwards receive
a reward?  With you, therefore, as the author and teacher of justice,
whosoever shall not be a suitable person will be worn out with
nakedness, thirst, and hunger; nor will men who are rich and abundantly
supplied, even to luxuriousness, assist his last extremity.  If virtue
does not exact a reward; if, as you say, it is to be sought on its own
account, then estimate justice, which is the mother and chief of the
virtues, at its own price, and not according to your advantage: give
especially to him from whom you hope for nothing in return.  Why do you
select persons?  Why do you look at bodily forms?  He is to be esteemed
by you as a man, whoever it is that implores you, because he considers
you a man.  Cast away those outlines and sketches of justice, and hold
fast justice itself, true and fashioned to the life.  Be bountiful to
the blind, the feeble, the lame, the destitute, who must die: unless you
bestow your bounty upon them.  They are useless to men, but they are
serviceable to God, who retains them in life, who endues them with
breath, who vouchsafes to them the light.  Cherish as far as in you
lies, and support with kindness, the lives of men, that they may not be
extinguished.  He who is able to succour one on the point of perishing,
if he fails to do so, kills him.  But they, because they neither retain
their nature, nor know what reward there is in this, while they fear to
lose, do lose, and fall into that which they chiefly guard against; so
that whatever they bestow is either lost altogether, or profits only for
the briefest time.  For they who refuse a small gift to the wretched,
who wish to preserve humanity without any loss to themselves, squander
their property, so that they

either acquire for themselves frail and perishable things, or they
certainly gain nothing by their own great loss.

 For what must be said of those who, induced by the vanity of popular
favour,(4) expend on the exhibition of shows wealth that would be
sufficient even for great cities?  Must we not say that they are
senseless and mad who bestow upon the people that which is both lost to
themselves, and which none of those on whom it is bestowed receives?
Therefore, as all pleasure is short and perishable, and especially that
of the eyes and ears, men either forget and are ungrateful for the
expenses incurred by another, or they are even offended if the caprice
of the people is not satisfied: so that most foolish men ,have even
acquired evil for themselves by evil; or if they have thus succeeded in
pleasing, they gain nothing more than empty favour and the talk(5) of a
few days.  Thus every day the estates of most trifling men are expended
on superfluous matters.  Do they then act more wisely who exhibit to
their fellow-citizens more useful and lasting gifts?  They, for
instance, who by the building of public works seek a lasting memory for
their name?  Not even do they act rightly in burying their property in
the earth; because the remembrance of them neither bestows anything upon
the dead, nor are their works eternal, inasmuch as they are either
thrown down and destroyed by a single earthquake, or are consumed by an
accidental fire, or they are overthrough by some attack of an enemy, or
at any rate they decay and fall to pieces by mere length of time.  For
there is nothing, as the orator says,(6) made by the work of man's hand
which length of time does not weaken and destroy.  But this justice of
which we speak, and mercy, flourish more every day.  They therefore act
better who bestow their bounty on their tribesmen and clients, for they
bestow something on men.  and profit them; but that is not true and just
bounty, for there is no conferring of a benefit where there is no
necessity.  Therefore, whatever is given to those who are not in need,
for the sake of popularity, is thrown away; or it is repaid with
interest, and thus it will not be the conferring of a benefit.  And
although it is pleasing to those to whom it is given, still it is not
just, because if it is not done, no evil follows.  Therefore the only
sure and true office of liberality is to support the needy and
unserviceable.

 CHAP. XII.--OF THE KINDS OF BENEFICENCE, AND WORKS OF MERCY.

 This is that perfect justice which protects human society, concerning
which philosophers

176

speak.  This is the chief and truest advantage of riches; not to use
wealth for the particular, pleasure of an individual, but for the
welfare of many; not for one's own immediate enjoyment, but for justice,
which alone does not perish.  We must therefore by all means keep in
mind, that the hope of receiving in return must be altogether absent
from the duty of showing mercy: for the reward of this work and duty
must be expected from God alone; for if you should expect it from man,
then that will not be kindness, but the lending of a benefit at
interest;(1) nor can he seem to have deserved well who affords that
which he does, not to another, but to himself.  And yet the matter comes
to this, that whatever a man has bestowed upon another, hoping for no
advantage from him, he really bestows upon himself, for he will receive
a reward from God.  God has also enjoined, that if at any time we make a
feast, we should invite to the entertainment those who cannot invite us
in return, and thus make us a recompense, so that no action of our life
should be without the exercise of mercy.  Nor, however, let any one
think that he is debarred from intercourse with his friends or kindness
with his neighbours.  But God has made known to us what is our true and
just work: we ought thus to live with our neighbours, provided that we
know that the one manner of living relates to man, the other to God.(2)

 Therefore hospitality is a principal virtue, as the philosophers also
say; but they turn it aside from true justice, and forcibly apply(3) it
to advantage.  Cicero says:(4) "Hospitality was rightly praised by
Theophrastus.  For (as it appears to me) it is highly becoming that the
houses of illustrious men should be open to illustrious guests."  He has
here committed the same error which he then did, when he said that we
must bestow our bounty on "suitable" persons.  For the house of a just
and wise man ought not to be open to the illustrious, but to the lowly
and abject.  For those illustrious and powerful men cannot be in want of
anything, since they are sufficiently protected and honoured by their
own opulence.  But nothing is to be done by a just man except that which
is a benefit.  But if the benefit is returned, it is destroyed and
brought to an end; for we cannot possess in its completeness that for
which a price has been paid to us.  Therefore the principle of justice
is employed about those benefits which have remained safe and
uncorrupted; but they cannot thus remain by any other means than if they
are be stowed upon those men who can in no way profit us.  But in
receiving illustrious men, he looked to nothing else but utility; nor
did the ingenious man conceal what advantage he hoped from it.  For he
says that he who does that will become powerful among foreigners by the
favour of the leading men, whom he will have bound to himself by the
right of hospitality and friendship.  O by how many arguments might the
inconsistency of Cicero be proved, if this were my object!  Nor would he
be convicted so much by my words as by his own.  For he also says, that
the more any one refers all his actions to his own advantage, the less
he is a good man.  He also says, that it is not the part of a simple and
open man to ingratiate himself in the favour of others,(5) to pretend
and allege anything, to appear to be doing one thing when he is doing
another, to feign that he is bestowing upon another that which he is
bestowing upon himself; but that this is rather the part of one who is
designing(6) and crafty, deceitful and treacherous.  But how could he
maintain that that ambitious hospitality was not evil intention?(7) "Do
you run round through all the gates, that you may invite to your house
the chief men of the nations and cities as they arrive, that by their
means you may acquire influence with their citizens; and wish yourself
to be called just, and kind, and hospitable, though you are studying to
promote your own advantage?"  But did he not say this rather
incautiously?  For what is less suitable for Cicero?  But through his
ignorance of true justice he knowingly and with foresight fell into this
snare.  And that he might be pardoned for this, he testified that he
does not give precepts with reference to true justice, which he does not
hold, but with reference to a sketch and outline of justice.  Therefore
we must pardon this teacher who uses sketches and outlines,(8) nor must
we require the truth from him who admits that he is ignorant of it.

 The ransoming of captives is a great and noble exercise of justice, of
which the same Tullius also approved.(9) "And this liberality," he says,
"is serviceable even to the state, that captives should be ransomed from
slavery, and that those of slender resources should be provided for.
And I greatly prefer this practice of liberality to lavish expenditure
on shows.  This is the part of great and eminent men."  Therefore it is
the appropriate work of the just to support the poor and to ransom
captives, since

177

among the unjust if any do these things they are called great and
eminent.  For it is deserving of the greatest praise for those to confer
benefit from whom no one expected such conduct.  For he who does good to
a relative, or neighbour, or friend, either deserves no praise, or
certainly no great praise, because he is bound to do it, and he would be
impious and detestable if he did not do that which both nature itself
and relationship require; and if he does it, he does it not so much for
the sake of obtaining glory as of avoiding censure.  But he who does it
to a stranger and an unknown person, he truly is worthy of praise,
because he was led to do it by kindness only.  Justice therefore exists
there, where there is no obligation of necessity for conferring a
benefit.  He ought not therefore to have preferred this duty of
generosity to expenditure on shows; for this is the part of one making a
comparison, and of two goods choosing that which is the better.  For
that profusion of men throwing away their property into the sea is vain
and trifling, and very far removed from all justice.  Therefore they are
not even to be called girls,(1) in which no one receives but he who does
not deserve to receive.

 Nor is it less a great work of justice to protect and defend orphans
and widows who are destitute and stand in need of assistance; and
therefore that divine law prescribes this to all, since all good judges
deem that it belongs to their office to favour them with natural
kindness, and to strive to benefit them.  But these works are especially
ours, since we have received the law, and the words of God Himself
giving us instructions.  For they perceive that it is naturally just to
protect those who need protection, but they do not perceive why it is
so.  For God, to whom everlasting mercy belongs, on this account
commands that widows and orphans should be defended and cherished, that
no one through regard and pity for his pledges(2) should be prevented
from undergoing death in behalf of justice and faith, but should
encounter it with promptitude and boldness, since he knows that he
leaves his beloved ones to the care of God, and that they will never
want protection.  Also to undertake the care and support of the sick,
who need some one to assist them, is the part of the greatest kindness,
and of great beneficence;(3) and he who shall do this will both gain a
living sacrifice to God, and that which he has given to another for a
time he will himself receive from God for eternity.  The last and
greatest office of piety is the burying of strangers and the poor; which
subject those teachers

of virtue and justice have not touched upon at all.  For they were
unable to see this, who measured all their duties by utility.  For in
the other things which have been mentioned above, although they did not
keep the true path, yet, since they discovered some advantage in these
things, retained as it were by a kind of inkling(4) of the truth, they
wandered to a less distance; but they abandoned this because they were
unable to see any advantage in it.

 Moreover, there have not been wanting those who esteemed burial as
superfluous, and said that it was no evil to lie unburied and neglected;
but their impious wisdom is rejected alike by the whole human race, and
by the divine expressions which command the performance of the rite.(5)
But they do not venture to say that it ought not to be done, but that,
if it happens to be omitted, no inconvenience is the result.  Therefore
in that matter they discharge the office, not so much of those who give
precepts, as of those who suggest consolation, that if this shall by
chance have occurred to a wise man, he should not deem himself wretched
on this account.  But we do not speak of that which ought to be endured
by a wise man, but of that which he himself ought to do.  Therefore we
do not now inquire whether the whole system of burial is serviceable or
not; but this, even though it be useless, as they imagine, must
nevertheless be practised, even on this account only, that it appears
among men to be done rightly and kindly.  For it is the feeling which is
inquired into, and it is the purpose which is weighed.  Therefore we
will not suffer the image and workmanship of God to lie exposed as a
prey to beasts and birds, but we will restore it to the earth, from
which it had its origin; and although it be in the case of an unknown
man, we will fulfil the office of relatives, into whose place, since
they are wanting, let kindness succeed; and wherever there shall be need
of man, there we will think that our duty is required.(6) But in what
does the nature of justice more consist than in our affording to
strangers through kindness, that which we render to our own relatives
through affection?  And this kindness is much more sure and just when it
is now afforded, not to the man who is insensible, but to God alone, to
whom a just work is a most acceptable sacrifice.  Some one will perhaps
say: If I shall do all these things, I shall have no possessions.  For
what if a great number of men shall be in want, shall suffer cold, shall
be taken captive, shall die, since one who acts thus must deprive
himself of his property even in a single day, shall I throw away the es-

178

tate acquired by my own labour or by that of my ancestors, so that after
this I myself must live by the pity of others?

 Why do you so pusillanimously fear poverty, which even your
philosophers praise, and bear witness that nothing is safer and nothing
more calm than this?  That which you fear is a haven against anxieties.
Do you not know to how many dangers, to how many accidents, you are
exposed with these evil resources?  These will treat you well if they
shall pass without your bloodshed.  But you walk about laden with booty,
and you bear spoils which may excite the minds even of your own
relatives.  Why, then, do you hesitate to lay that out well which
perhaps a single robbery will snatch away from you, or a proscription
suddenly arising, or the plundering of an enemy?  Why do you fear to
make a frail and perishable good everlasting, or to entrust your
treasures to God as their preserver, in which case you need not fear
thief and robber, nor rust, nor tyrant?  He who is rich towards God can
never be poor.(1) If you esteem justice so highly, lay aside the
burthens which press you, and follow it; free yourself from fetters and
chains, that you may run to God without any impedient.  It is the part
of a great and lofty mind to despise and trample upon mortal affairs.
But if you do not comprehend this virtue, that you may bestow your
riches upon the altar(2) of God, in order that you may provide for
yourself firmer possessions than these frail ones, I wiIl free you from
fear.  All these precepts are not given to you alone, but to all the
people who are united in mind, and hold together as one man.  If you are
not adequate to the performance of great works alone, cultivate justice
with all your power, in such a manner, however, that you may excel
others in work as much as you excel them in riches.  And do not think
that you are advised to lessen or exhaust your property; but that which
you would have expended on superfluities, turn to better uses.  Devote
to the ransoming of captives that from which you purchase beasts;
maintain the poor with that from which you feed wild beasts; bury the
innocent dead with that from which you provide men for the sword.(3)
What does it profit to enrich men of abandoned wickedness, who fight
with beasts,(4) and to equip them for crimes?  Transfer things about to
be miserably thrown away to the great sacrifice, that in return for
these true gifts you may have an everlasting gift from God.  Mercy has a
great reward; for God promises it, that He will remit all sins.  If you

shall hear, He says, the prayers of your suppliant, I also will hear
yours; if you shall pity those in distress, I also will pity you in your
distress.  But if you shall not regard nor assist them, I also will bear
a mind like your own against you, and I will judge you by your own
laws.(5)

 CHAP. XIII.--OF REPENTANCE, OF MERCY, AND THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS.

 As often, therefore, as you are asked for aid, believe that you are
tried by God, that it may be seen whether you are worthy of being heard.
Examine your own conscience, and, as far as you are able, heal your
wounds.  Nor, however, because offences are removed by bounty, think
that a licence is given you for sinning.  For they are done away with,
if you are bountiful to God because you have sinned; for if you sin
through reliance on your bounty, they are not done away with.  For God
especially desires that men shall be cleansed from their sins, and
therefore He commands them to repent.  But to repent is nothing else
than to profess and to affirm that one will sin no more.  Therefore they
are pardoned who unawares and incautiously glide into sin; he who sins
wilfully has no pardon.  Nor, however, if any one shall have been
purified from all stain of sin, let him think that he may abstain from
the work of bounty because he has no faults to blot out.  Nay, in truth,
he is then more bound to exercise justice when he is become just, so
that that which he had before done for the healing of his wounds he may
afterwards do for the praise and glory of virtue.  To this is added,
that no ODe can be without fault as long as he is burthened with a
covering of flesh, the infirmity of which is subject to the dominion of
sin in a threefold manner--in deeds, in words, and thoughts.

 By these steps justice advances to the greatest height.  The first step
of virtue is to abstain from evil works; the second, to abstain also
from evil worsts; the third, to abstain even from the thoughts of evil
things.  He who ascends the first step is sufficiently just; he who
ascends the second is now of perfect virtue, since he offends neither in
deeds nor in conversation;(6) he who ascends the third appears truly to
have attained the likeness of God.  For it is almost beyond the measure
of man not even to admit to the thought(7) that which is either bad in
action or improper in speech.  Therefore even just men, who can refrain
from every unjust work, are sometimes, however, overcome by frailty
itself, so that they either speak evil in anger, or, at the sight of
delightful things, they desire them with silent thought.  But if the
condition of mortality does not suffer a man to

179

be pure from every stain, the faults of the flesh ought therefore to be
done away with by continual bounty.  For it is the single work of a man
who is wise, and just, and worthy of life, to lay out his riches on
justice alone; for assuredly he who is without this, although he should
surpass Croesus or Crassus in riches, is to be esteemed as poor, as
naked, as a beggar.  Therefore we must use our efforts that we may be
clothed with the garment of justice and piety, of which no one may
deprive us, which may furnish us with an everlasting ornament.  For if
the worshippers of gods adore senseless images, and bestow upon them
whatever they have which is precious, though they can neither make use
of them nor give thanks because they have received them, how much more
just and true is it to reverence the living images of God, that you may
gain the favour of the living God!  For as these make use of what they
have received, and give thanks, so God, in whose sight you shall have
done that which is good, will both approve of it and reward your piety.

CHAP. XIV.--OF THE AFFECTIONS, AND THE OPINION OF THE STOICS RESPECTING
THEM; AND OF VIRTUE, THE VICES, AND MERCY,

 If, therefore, mercy is a distinguished and excellent gift in man, and
that is judged to be very good by the consent both of the good and the
evil, it appears that philosophers were far distant from the good of
man, who neither enjoined nor practised anything of this kind, but
always esteemed as a vice that virtue which almost holds the first place
in man.  It pleases me here to bring forward one subject of philosophy,
that we may more fully refute the errors of those who call mercy,
desire, and fear, diseases of the soul.  They indeed attempt to
distinguish virtues from vices, which is truly a very easy matter.  For
who cannot distinguish a liberal man from one who is prodigal (as they
do), or a frugal man from one who is mean, or a calm man from one who is
slothful, or a cautious man from one who is timid?  Because these things
which are good have their limits, and if they shall exceed these limits,
fall into vices; so that constancy, unless it is undertaken for the
truth, becomes shamelessness.  In like manner, bravery, if it shall
undergo certain danger, without the compulsion of any necessity, or not
for an honourable cause, is changed into rashness.  Freedom of speech
also, if it attack; others rather than oppose those who attack it, is
obstinacy.  Severity also, unless it restrain itself within the
befitting punishments of the guilty, becomes savage cruelty.

 Therefore they say, that those who appear evil do not sin of their own
accord, or choose

evils by preference, but that, erring(1) through the appearance of good,
they fall into evils, while they are ignorant of the distinction between
good things and evil.  These things are not indeed false, but they are
all referred to the body.  For to be frugal, or constant, or cautious,
or calm, or grave, or severe, are virtues indeed, but virtues which
relate to this short(2) life.  But we who despise this life have other
virtues set before us, respecting which philosophers could not by any
means even conjecture.  Therefore they regarded certain virtues as
vices, and certain vices as virtues.  For the Stoics take away from man
all the affections, by the impulse of which the soul is moved--desire,
joy, fear, sorrow: the two former of which arise from good things,
either future or present; the latter from evil things.  In the same
manner, they call these four (as I said) diseases, not so much inserted
in us by nature as undertaken through a perverted opinion; and therefore
they think that these can be eradicated, if the false notion of good and
evil things is taken away.  For if the wise man thinks nothing good or
evil, he will neither be inflamed with desire, nor be transported with
joy, nor be alarmed with fear, nor suffer his spirits to droop(3)
through sadness.  We shall presently see whether they effect that which
they wish, or what it is which they do effect: in the meantime their
purpose is arrogant and almost mad, who think that they apply a remedy,
and that they are able to strive in opposition to the force and system
of nature.

CHAP. XV.--OF THE AFFECTIONS, AND THE OPINION OF THE PERIPATETICS
RESPECTING THEM.

 For, that these things are natural and not voluntary, the nature of all
living beings shows, which is moved by all these affections.  There fore
the Peripatetics act better, who say that all these cannot be taken from
us, because they were born with us; and they endeavour to show how
providently and how necessarily God, or nature (for so they term it),
armed us with these affections; which, however, because they generally
become vicious if they are in excess, can be advantageously regulated by
man,--a limit being applied, so that there may be left to man as much as
is sufficient for nature.  Not an unwise disputation, if, as I said, all
things were not referred to this life.  The Stoics therefore are mad who
do not regulate but cut them out, and wish by some means or other to
deprive man of powers implanted in him by nature.  And this is
equivalent to a desire of taking away timidity from stags, or poison
from serpents, or

180

rage from wild beasts, or gentleness from cattle.  For those qualities
which have been given separately to dumb animals, are altogether given
to man at the same time.  But if, as physicians affirm, the affection of
joy has its seat in the spleen,(1) that of anger in the gall, of desire
in the liver, of fear in the heart, it is easier to kill the animal
itself than to tear anything from the body; for this is to wish to
change the nature of the living creature.  But the skilful men do not
understand that when they take away vices from man, they also take away
virtue, for which alone they are making a place.  For if it is virtue in
the midst of the impetuosity of anger to restrain and check oneself,
which they cannot deny, then he who is without anger is also without
virtue.  If it is virtue to control the lust of the body, he must be
free from virtue who has no lust which he may regulate.  If it is virtue
to curb the desire from coveting that which belongs to another, he
certainly can have no virtue who is without that, to the restraining of
which the exercise of virtue is applied.  Where, therefore, there are no
vices, there is no place even for virtue, as there is no place for
victory where there is no adversary.  And so it comes to pass that there
can be no good in this life without evil.  An affection therefore is a
kind of natural fruitfulness(2) of the powers of the mind.  For as a
field which is naturally fruitful produces an abundant crop of
briars,(3) so the mind which is uncultivated is overgrown with vices
flourishing of their own accord, as with thorns.  But when the true
cultivator has applied himself, immediately vices give way, and the
fruits of virtues spring up.

 Therefore God, when He first made man, with wonderful foresight first
implanted in him these emotions of the mind, that he might be capable of
receiving virtue, as the earth is of cultivation; and He placed the
subject-matter of vices in the affections, and that of virtue in vices.
For assuredly virtue will have no existence, or not be in exercise, if
those things are wanting by which its power is either shown or exists.
Now let us see what they have effected who altogether removes vices.
With regard to those four affections(4) which they imagine to arise from
the opinion of things good and evil, by the eradication of which they
think that the mind of the wise man is to be healed, since they
understand that they are implanted by nature, and that without these
nothing can be put in motion, nothing be done, they put certain other
things into their place and room: for desire they substitute
inclination, as though it were not much better to desire a good than to
feel inclination for it; they in like manner substitute for joy
gladness, and for fear caution.  But in the case of the fourth they are
at a loss for a method of exchanging the name.  Therefore they have
altogether taken away grief, that is, sadness and pain of mind, which
cannot possibly be done.  For who can fail to be grieved if pestilence
has desolated his country, or an enemy overthrown it, or a tyrant
crushed its liberty?  Can any one fail to be grieved if he has beheld
the overthrow of liberty,(5) and the banishment or most cruel slaughter
of neighbours, friends, or good men?--unless the mind of any one should
be so struck with astonishment that all sensibility should be taken from
him.  Wherefore they ought either to have taken away the whole, or this
defective(6) and weak discussion ought to have been completed; that is,
something ought to have been substituted in the place of grief, since,
the former ones having been so arranged, this naturally followed.

 For as we rejoice in good things that are present, so we are vexed and
grieved with evil things.  If, therefore, they gave another name to joy
because they thought it vicious, so it was befitting that another name
should be given to grief because they thought it also vicious.  From
which it appears that it was no, the object itself which was wanting to
them, but a word, through want of which they wished, contrary to what
nature allowed, to take away that affection which is the greatest.  For
I could have refuted those changes of names at greater length, and have
shown that many names are attached to the same objects, for the sake of
embellishing the style and increasing its copiousness, or at any rate
that they do not greatly differ from one another.  For both desire takes
its beginning from the inclination, and caution arises from fear, and
joy is nothing else than the expression of gladness.  But let us suppose
that they are different, as they themselves will have it.  Accordingly
they will say that desire is continued and perpetual inclination, but
that joy is gladness bearing itself immoderately; and that fear is
caution in excess, and passing the limits of moderation.  Thus it comes
to pass, that they do not take away those things which they think ought
to be taken away, but regulate them, since the names only are changed,
the things themselves remain.  They therefore return unawares to that
point at which the Peripatetics arrive by argument, that vices, since
they cannot be taken away, are to be regulated with moderation.
Therefore they err, be cause they do not succeed in effecting that which
they aim at, and by a circuitous route, which is long and rough, they
return to the same path.

181

CHAP. XVI.--OF THE AFFECTIONS, AND THE REFUTATION OF THE OPINION OF THE
PERIPATETICS CONCERNING THEM; WHAT IS THE PROPER USE OF THE AFFECTIONS,
AND WHAT IS A BAD USE OF THEM.

 But I think that the Peripatetics did not even approach the truth, who
allow that they are vices, but regulate them with moderation.  For we
must be free even from moderate vices; yea, rather, it ought to have
been at first effected that there should be no vices.  For nothing can
be born vicious;(1) but if we make a bad use of the affections they
become vices, if we use them well they become virtues.  Then it must be
shown that the causes of the affections, and not the affections
themselves, must be moderated.  We must not, they say, rejoice with
excessive joy, but moderately and temperately.  This is as though they
should say that we must not run swiftly, but walk quietly.  But it is
possible that he who walks may err, and that he who runs may keep the
right path.  What if I show that there is a case in which it is vicious
not only to rejoice moderately, but even in the smallest degree; and
that there is another case, on the contrary, in which even to exult with
transports of joy is by no means faulty?  What then, I pray, will this
mediocrity profit us?  I ask whether they think that a wise man ought to
rejoice if he sees any evil happening to his enemy; or whether he ought
to curb his joy, if by the conquest of enemies, or the overthrow of a
tyrant, liberty and safety have been acquired by his countrymen.(2)

 No one doubts but that in the former case to rejoice a little, and in
the latter to rejoice too little, is a very great crime.  We may say the
same respecting the other affections.  But, as I have said, the object
of wisdom does not consist in the regulation of these, but of their
causes, since they are acted upon from without; nor was it befitting
that these themselves should be restrained; since they may exist in a
small degree with the greatest criminality, and in the greatest degree
without any criminality.  But they ought to have been assigned to fixed
times, and circumstances, and places, that they may not be vices, when
it is permitted us to make a right use of them.  For as to walk in the
right course is good, but to wander from it is evil, so to be moved by
the affections to that which is right is good, but to that which is
corrupt is evil.  For sensual desire, if it does not wander from its
lawful object, although it be ardent, yet is without fault.  But if it
desires an unlawful object, although it be moderate, yet it is a great
vice.  Therefore it is not a disease to be angry, nor to desire, nor to
be excited by lust; but to be passionate, to be covetous or licentious,
is a disease.  For he who is passionate is angry even with him with whom
he ought not to be angry or at times when he ought not.  He who is
covetous desires even that which is unnecessary.  He who is licentious
pursues even that which is forbidden by the laws.  The whole matter
ought to have turned on this, that since the impetuosity of these things
cannot be restrained, nor is it right that it should be, because it is
necessarily implanted for maintaining the duties of life, it might
rather be directed into the right way, where it may be possible even to
run without stumbling and danger.

CHAP. XVII.--OF THE AFFECTIONS AND THEIR USE; OF PATIENCE, AND THE CHIEF
GOOD OF CHRISTIANS.

 But I have been carried too far in my desire of refuting them; since it
is my purpose to show that those things which the philosophers thought
to be vices, are so far from being vices, that they are even great
virtues.  Of others, I will take, for the sake of instruction, those
which I think to be most closely related to the subject.  They regard
dread or fear as a very great vice, and think that it is a very great
weakness of mind; the opposite to which is bravery: and if this exists
in a man, they say that there is no place for fear.  Does any one then
believe that it can possibly happen that this same fear is the highest
fortitude?  By no means.  For nature does not appear to admit that
anything should fall back to its contrary.  But yet I, not by any
skilful conclusion, as Socrates does in the writings of Plato, who
compels those against whom he disputes to admit those things which they
had denied, but in a simple manner, will show that the greatest fear is
the greatest virtue.  No one doubts but that it is the part of a timid
and feeble mind either to fear pain, or want, or exile, or imprisonment,
or death; and if any one does not dread all these, he is judged a man of
the greatest fortitude.  But he who fears God is free from the fear of
all these things.  In proof of which, there is no need of arguments: for
the punishments inflicted on the worshippers of God have been witnessed
at all times, and are still witnessed through the world, in the
tormenting of whom new and unusual tortures have been devised.  For the
mind shrinks from the recollection of various kinds of death, when the
butchery of savage monsters has raged even beyond death itself.  But a
happy and unconquered patience endured these execrable lacerations of
their bodies without a groan.  This virtue afforded the greatest
astonishment to all people and provinces, and to the torturers
themselves, when

182

cruelty was overcome by patience.  But this virtue was caused by nothing
else than the fear of God.  Therefore (as I said) fear is not to be
uprooted, as the Stoics maintain, nor to be restrained, as the
Peripatetics wish, but to be directed into the right way; and
apprehensions are to be taken away, but so that this one only may be
left: for since this is the only lawful and true one, it alone effects
that all other things may not be feared.  Desire also is reckoned among
vices; but if it desires those things which are of the earth, it is a
vice; on the other hand, if it desires heavenly things, it is a virtue.
For he who desires to obtain justice, God, perpetual life, everlasting
light, and all those things which God promises to man, will despise
these riches, and honours, and commands, and kingdoms themselves.

 The Stoic will perhaps say that inclination is necessary for the
attainment of these things, and not desire; but, in truth, the
inclination is not sufficient.  For many have the inclination; but when
pain has approached the vitals, inclination gives way, but desire
perseveres: and if it effects that all things which are sought by others
are objects of contempt to him, it is the greatest virtue, since it is
the mother of self-restraint.  And therefore we ought rather to effect
this, that we may rightly direct the affections, a corrupt use of which
is vice.  For these excitements of the mind resemble a harnessed
chariot, in the right management of which the chief duty of the driver
is to know the way; and if he shall keep to this, with whatever
swiftness he may go, he will not strike against an obstacle.  But if he
shall wander from the course, although he may go calmly and gently, he
will either be shaken over rough places, or will glide over precipices,
or at any rate will be carried where he does not need to go.  So that
chariot of life which is led by the affections as though by swift
horses, if it keeps the right way, will discharge its duty.  Dread,
therefore, and desire, if they are cast down to the earth, will become
vices, but they will be virtues if they are referred to divine things.
On the other hand, they esteem parsimony as a virtue; which, if it is
eagerness for possessing, cannot be a virtue, because it is altogether
employed in the increase or preservation of earthly goods.  But we do
not refer the chief good to the body, but we measure every duty by the
preservation of the soul only.  But if, as I have before taught, we must
by no means spare our property that we may preserve kindness and
justice, it is not a virtue to be frugal; which name beguiles and
deceives under the appearance of virtue.  For frugality is, it is true,
the abstaining from pleasures; but in this respect it is a vice, because
it arises from the love of possessing, whereas we ought both to abstain
from pleasures, and by no means to withhold money.  For to use money
sparingly, that is, moderately, is a kind of weakness of mind, either of
one fearing lest he should be in want, or of one despairing of being
able to recover it, or of one incapable of the contempt of earthly
things.  But, on the other hand, they call him who is not sparing of his
property prodigal.  For thus they distinguish between the liberal man
and the prodigal: that he is liberal who bestows on deserving objects,
and on proper occasions, and in sufficient quantities; but that he is
prodigal who lavishes on undeserving objects, and when there is no need,
and without any regard to his property.

 What then?  shall we call him prodigal who through pity gives food to
the needy?  But it makes a great difference, whether on account of lust
you bestow your money on harlots, or on account of benevolence on the
wretched; whether profligates, gamesters, and pimps squander your money,
or you bestow it on piety and God; whether you expend it upon your own
appetite,(1) or lay it up in the treasury of justice.  As, therefore, it
is a vice to lay it out badly, so it is a virtue to lay it out well.  If
it is a virtue not to be sparing of riches, which can be replaced, that
you may support the life of man, which cannot be replaced; then
parsimony is a vice.  Therefore I can call them by no other name than
mad, who deprive man, a mild and sociable animal, of his name; who,
having uprooted the affections, in which humanity altogether consists,
wish to bring him to an immoveable insensibility of mind, while they
desire to free the soul from perturbations, and, as they themselves say,
to render it calm and tranquil; which is not only impossible, because
its force and nature consist in motion, but it ought not even to be so.
For as water which is always still and motionless is unwholesome and
more muddy, so the soul which is unmoved and torpid is useless even to
itself: nor will it be able to maintain life itself; for it will neither
do nor think anything, since thought itself is nothing less than
agitation of the mind.  In fine, they who assert this immoveableness of
the soul wish to deprive the soul of life; for life is full of activity,
but death is quiet.  They also rightly esteem some things as virtues,
but they do not maintain their due proportion.(2)

 Constancy is a virtue; not that we resist those who injure us, for we
must yield to these; and why this ought to be done I will show
presently: but that when men command us to act in opposition to the law
of God, and in opposition to justice, we should be deterred by no
threats or punishments from preferring the command of God to the command
of man.  Likewise

183

it is a virtue to despise death; not that we seek it, and of our own
accord inflict it upon ourselves, as many and distinguished philosophers
have often done, which is a wicked and impious thing; but that when
compelled to desert God, and to betray our faith, we should prefer to
undergo death, and should defend our liberty against the foolish and
senseless violence of those who cannot govern themselves, and with
fortitude of spirit we should challenge all the threats and terrors of
the world.  Thus with lofty and invincible mind we trample upon those
things which others fear--pain and death.  This is virtue; this is true
constancy--to be maintained and preserved in this one thing alone, that
no terror and no violence may be able to turn us away from God.
Therefore that is a true sentiment of Cicero: "No one," he says, "can be
just who fears death, or pain, or exile, or want."  Also of Seneca, who
says, in his books of moral philosophy: "This is that virtuous man, not
distinguished by a diadem or purple, or the attendance of lictors, but
in no respect inferior, who, when he sees death at hand, is not so
disturbed as though he saw a fresh object; who, whether torments are to
be suffered by his whole body, or a flame is to be seized by his mouth,
or his hands are to be stretched out on the cross,(2) does not inquire
what he suffers, but how well."  But he who worships God suffers these
things without fear.  Therefore he is just.  By these things it is
effected, that he cannot know or maintain at all either the virtues or
the exact limits of the virtues, whoever is estranged from the religion
of the one God.

 CHAP. XVIII.--OF SOME COMMANDS OF GOD, AND OF PATIENCE.

 But let us leave the philosophers, who either know nothing at all, and
hold forth this very ignorance as the greatest knowledge; or who,
inasmuch as they think they know that of which they are ignorant, are
absurdly and arrogantly foolish.  Let us therefore (that we may return
to our purpose), to whom alone the truth has been revealed by God, and
wisdom has been sent from heaven, practise those things which God who
enlightens us commands: let us sustain and endure the labours of life,
by mutual assistance towards each other; nor, however, if we shall have
done any good work, let us aim at glory from it.  For God admonishes us
that the doer of justice ought not to be boastful, lest he a should
appear to have discharged the duties of s benevolence, not so much from
a desire of obeying the divine commands, as of pleasing men, and should
already have the reward of glory

which he has aimed at, and should not receive the recompense of that
heavenly and divine reward.  The other things which the worshipper of
God ought to observe are easy, when these virtues are comprehended, that
no one should ever speak falsely for the sake of deceiving or injuring.
For it is unlawful for him who cultivates truth to be deceitful in
anything, and to depart from the truth itself which he follows.  In this
path of justice and all the virtues there is no place for falsehood.
Therefore the true and just traveller will not use the saying of
Lucilius:(3)--

 "It is not for me to speak falsely to a man who is a friend and
acquaintance;"

but he will think that it is not his part to speak falsely even to an
enemy and a stranger; nor will he at any time so act, that his tongue,
which is the interpreter of his mind, should be at variance with his
feeling and thought.  If he shall have lent any money, he will not
receive interest, that the benefit may be unimpaired t which succours
necessity, and that he may entirely abstain from the property of
another.  For in this kind of duty he ought to be content with that
which is his own; since it is his duty in other respects not to be
sparing of his property, in order that he may do good; but to receive
more than he has given is unjust.  And he who does this lies in wait in
some manner, that he may gain booty from the necessity of another.

 But the just man will omit no opportunity of doing anything mercifully:
nor will he pollute himself with gain of this kind; but he will so act
that without any loss to himself, that which he lends may be reckoned
among his good works.  He must not receive a gift from a poor man; so
that if he himself has afforded anything, it may be good, inasmuch as it
is gratuitous.  If any one reviles, he must answer him with a
blessing;(4) he himself must never revile, that no evil word may proceed
out of the mouth of a man who reverences the good Word.(5) Moreover, he
must also diligently take care, lest by any fault of his he should at
any time make an enemy; and if any one should be so shameless as to
inflict injury on a good and just man, he must bear it with calmness and
moderation, and not take upon himself his revenge, but reserve it for
the judgment of God.(6) He must at all times and in all places guard
innocence.  And this precept is not limited to this, that lie should not
himself inflict injury, but that lie should not avenge it when inflicted
on himself.  For there sits on the judgment-seat a very great and
impartial Judge, the observer and witness of all.  Let him prefer Him to
man; let him rather

184

choose that He should pronounce judgment respecting his cause, whose
sentence no one can escape, either by the advocacy of any one or by
favour.  Thus it comes to pass, that a just man is an object of contempt
to all; and because it will be thought that he is unable to defend
himself, he will be regarded as slothful and inactive; but if any one
shall have avenged himself upon his enemy, he is judged a man of spirit
and activity--aIl honour and reverence him.  And although the good man
has it in his power to profit many, yet they look up to him who is able
to injure, rather than to him who is able to profit.  But the depravity
of men will not be able to corrupt the just man, so that he will not
endeavour to obey God; and he would prefer to be despised, provided that
he may always discharge the duty of a good man, and never of a bad man.
Cicero says in those same books respecting Offices: "But if any one
should wish to unravel this indistinct conception of his soul,(1) let
him at once teach himself that he is a good man who profits those whom
he can, and injures no one(2) unless provoked by injury."

 Oh how he marred a simple and true sentiment by the addition of two
words!  For what need was there of adding these words, "unless provoked
by injury?"  that he might append vice as a most disgraceful tail to a
good man and might represent him as without patience, which is the
greatest of all the virtues.  He said that a good man would inflict
injuries if he were provoked: now he must necessarily lose the name of a
good man from this very circumstance, if he shall inflict injury.  For
it is not less the part of a bad man to return an injury than to inflict
it.  For from what source do contests, from what source do fightings and
contentions, arise among men, except that impatience opposed to
injustice often excites great tempests?  But if you meet injustice with
patience, than which virtue nothing can be found more true, nothing more
worthy of a man, it will immediately be extinguished, as though you
should pour water upon a fire.  But if that injustice which provokes
opposition has met with impatience equal(3) to itself, as though
overspread with oil, it will excite so great a conflagration, that no
stream can extinguish it, but only the shedding of blood.  Great,
therefore, is the advantage of patience, of which the wise man has
deprived the good man.  For this alone causes that no evil happens; and
if it should be given to all, there will be no wickedness and no fraud
in the affairs of men.  What, therefore, can be so calamitous to a good
man, so opposed to his

character, as to let loose the reins to anger, which deprives him not
only of the title of a good man, but even of a man; since to injure
another, as he himself most truly says, is not in accordance with the
nature of man?  For if you provoke cattle or horses,(4) they turn
against you either with their hoof or their horn; and serpents and wild
beasts, unless you pursue them that you may kill them, give no trouble.
And to return to examples of men, even the inexperienced and the
foolish, if at any time they receive an injury, are led by a blind and
irrational fury, and endeavour to retaliate upon those who injure them.
In what respect, then, does the wise and good man differ from the evil
and foolish, except that he has invincible patience, of which the
foolish are destitute; except that he knows how to govern himself, and
to mitigate his anger, which those, because they are without virtue, are
unable to curb?  But this circumstance manifestly deceived him, because,
when inquiry is made respecting virtue, he thought that it is the part
of virtue to conquer in every kind of contention.  Nor was he able in
any way to see, that a man who gives way to grief and anger, and who
indulges these affections, against which he ought rather to struggle,
and who rushes wherever injustice shall have called him, does not fulfil
the duty of virtue.  For he who endeavours to return an injury, desires
to imitate that very person by whom he has been injured.  Thus he who
imitates a bad man can by no means be good.

 Therefore by two words he has taken away from the good and wise man two
of the greatest virtues, innocence and patience.  But, as Sallustius
relates was said by Appius, because he himself practised that canine s
eloquence, be wished man also to live after the manner of a dog, so as,
when attacked, to bite in return.  And to show how pernicious this
repayment of insult is, and what carnage it is accustomed to produce,
from what can a more befitting example be sought, than from the most
melancholy disaster of the teacher himself, who, while he desired to
obey these precepts of the philosophers, destroyed himself?  For if,
when attacked with injury, he had preserved patience--if he had learned
that it is the part of a good man to dissemble and to endure insult, and
his impatience, vanity, and madness had not poured forth those noble
orations, inscribed with a name derived from another source,(6) he would
never, by his head affixed to them, have polluted the rostra on which he
had formerly distinguished himself, nor would that proscription have
utterly destroyed

185

the state.  Therefore it is not the part of a wise and good man to wish
to contend, and to commit himself to danger, since to conquer is not in
our power, and every contest is doubtful; but it is the part of a wise
and excellent man not to wish to remove his adversary, which cannot be
done without guilt and danger, but to put an end to the contest itself,
which may be done with advantage and with justice.  Therefore patience
is to be regarded as a very great virtue; and that the just man might
obtain this, God willed, as has been before said, that he should be
despised as sluggish.  For unless he shall have been insulted, it will
not be known what fortitude he has in restraining himself.  Now if, when
provoked by injury, he has begun to follow up his assailant with
violence, he is overcome.  But if he shall have repressed that emotion
by reasoning, he altogether has command over himself: he is able to rule
himself.  And this restraining(1) of oneself is rightly named patience,
which single virtue is opposed to all vices and affections.  This
recalls the disturbed and wavering mind to its tranquillity; this
mitigates, this restores a man to himself.  Therefore, since it is
impossible and useless to resist nature, so that we are not excited at
all; before, however, the emotion bursts forth to the infliction of
injury, as far(2) as is possible let it be calmed(3) in time.  God has
enjoined us not to let the sun go down upon our wrath,(4) lest he should
depart as a witness of our madness.  Finally, Marcus Tullius, in
opposition to his own precept, concerning which I have lately spoken,
gave the greatest praises to the forgetting of injuries.  "I entertain
hopes," he says, "O Caesar, who art accustomed to forget nothing except
injuries."(5) But if he thus acted--a man most widely removed not only
front heavenly, but also from public and civil justice--how much more
ought we to do this, who are, as it were, candidates for immortality?

 CHAP. XIX.--OF THE AFFECTIONS AND THEIR USE; AND OF THE THREE FURIES.

 When the Stoics attempt to uproot the affections from man as diseases,
they are opposed by the Peripatetics, who not only retain, but also
defend them, and say that there is nothing in man which is not produced
in him with great reason and foresight.  They say this indeed rightly,
if they know the true limits of each subject.  Accordingly they say that
this very affection of anger is the whetstone of virtue, as though no
one could fight bravely against enemies unless he were excited by anger;
by which they plainly show that they neither know what virtue is, nor
why God gave anger to man.  And if this was given to us for this
purpose, that we may employ it for the slaying of men, what is to be
thought more savage than man, what more resembling the wild beasts, than
that animal which God formed for communion and innocence?  There are,
then, three affections which drive men headlong to all crimes:(1)
anger,(2) desire, and (3) lust.(6) On which account the poets have said
that there are three furies which harass the minds of men: anger longs
for revenge, desire for riches, lust for pleasures.  But God has
appointed fixed limits to all of these; and if they pass these limits
and begin to be too great, they must necessarily pervert their nature,
and be changed into diseases and vices.  And it is a matter of no great
labour to show what these limits are.(7) Cupidity(8) is given us for
providing those things which are necessary for life; con-cupiscence,(9)
for the procreation of offspring; the affection of indignation,(10) for
restraining the faults of those who are in our power, that is, in order
that tender age may be formed by a severer discipline to integrity and
justice: for if this time of life is not restrained by fear,(11) licence
will produce boldness, and this will break out into every disgraceful
and daring action.  Therefore, as it is both just and necessary to
employ anger towards the young, so it is both pernicious and impious to
use it towards those of our own age.  It is impious, because humanity is
injured; pernicious, because if they oppose, it is necessary either to
destroy them or to perish.  But that this which I have spoken of is the
reason why the affection of anger has been given to man, may be
understood from the precepts of God Himself, who commands that we should
not be angry with those who revile and injure us, but that we should
always have our hands over the young; that is, that when they err, we
should correct them with continual stripes,(12) lest by useless love and
excessive indulgence they should be trained to evil and nourished to
vices.  But those who are inexperienced in affairs and ignorant of
reason, have expelled those affections which have been given to man for
good uses, and they wander more widely than reason de-

186

mands.  From this cause they live unjustly and impiously.  They employ
anger against their equals in age: hence disagreements, hence
banishments, hence wars have arisen contrary to justice.  They use
desire for the amassing of riches: hence frauds, hence robberies, hence
all kinds of crimes have originated.  They use lust only for the
enjoyment of pleasures: hence debaucheries, hence adulteries, hence all
corruptions have proceeded.  Whoever, therefore, has reduced those
affections within their proper limits, which they who are ignorant of
God cannot do, he is patient, he is brave, he is just.(1)

CHAP. XX.--OFTHE SENSES, AND THEIR PLEASURES IN THEBRUTES AND IN MAN;
AND OF PLEASURES OFTHE EYES, AND SPECTACLES.

 It remains that I should speak against the pleasures of the five
senses, and this briefly, for the measure of the book itself now demands
moderation; all of which, since they are vicious and deadly, ought to be
overcome and subdued by virtue, or, as I said a little before respecting
the affections, be recalled to their proper office.  The other animals
have no pleasure, except the one only which relates to generation.
Therefore they use their senses for the necessity of their nature: they
see, in order that they may seek those things which are necessary for
the preservation of life; they hear one another, and distinguish one
another, that they may be able to assemble together; they either
discover from the smell, or perceive from the taste, the things which
are useful for food; they refuse and reject the things which are
useless, they measure the business of eating and drinking by the fulness
of their stomach.  But the foresight of the most skilful Creator gave to
man pleasure without limit, and liable to fall into vice, because He set
before him virtue, which might always be at variance with pleasure, as
with a domestic enemy.  Cicero says, in the Cato Major:(2) "In truth,
debaucheries, and adulteries, and disgraceful actions are excited by no
other enticements than those of pleasure.  And since nature or some God
has given to man nothing more excellent than the mind, nothing is so
hostile to this divine benefit and gift as pleasure.  For when lust
bears sway there is no place for temperance, nor can virtue have any
existence when pleasure reigns supreme."  But, on the other hand, God
gave virtue on this account, that it might subdue and conquer pleasure,
and that, when it passed the boundaries assigned to it, it might
restrain it within the prescribed limits, lest it should soothe

and captivate man with enjoyments, render him subject to its control,
and punish him with everlasting death.

 The pleasure arising from the eyes is various and manifold, which is
derived from the sight of objects which are pleasant in intercourse with
men, or in nature or workmanship.  The philosophers rightly took this
away.  For they say that it is much more excellent and worthy of man to
look upon the heaven(3) rather than carved works, and to admire this
most beautiful work adorned with the lights of the stars shining
through,(4) as with flowers, than to admire things painted and moulded,
and varied with jewels.  But when they have eloquently exhorted us to
despise earthly things, and have urged us to look up to the heaven,
nevertheless they do not despise these public spectacles.  Therefore
they are both delighted with these, and are gladly present at them;
though, since they are the greatest incitement to vices, and have a most
powerful tendency to corrupt our minds, they ought to be taken away from
us; for they not only contribute in no respect to a happy life, but even
inflict the greatest injury.  For he who reckons it a pleasure, that a
man, though justly condemned, should be slain in his sight, pollutes his
conscience as much as if he should become a spectator and a sharer of a
homicide which is secretly committed.(5) And yet they call these sports
in which human blood is shed.  So far has the feeling of humanity
departed from the men, that when they destroy the lives of men, they
think that they are amusing themselves with sport, being more guilty
than all those whose blood-shedding they esteem a pleasure.  I ask now
whether they can be just and pious men, who, when they see men placed
under the stroke of death, and entreating mercy, not only suffer them to
be put to death, but also demand it, and give cruel and inhuman votes
for their death, not being satiated with wounds nor contented with
bloodshed.  Moreover, they order them, even though wounded and
prostrate, to be attacked again, and their caresses to he wasted(6) with
blows, that no one may delude them by a pretended death.  They are even
angry with the combatants, unless one of the two is quickly slain; and
as though they thirsted for human blood, they hate delays.  They demand
that other and fresh combatants should be given to them, that they may
satisfy their eyes

187

as soon as possible.  Being imbued with this practice, they have lost
their humanity.  Therefore they do not spare even the innocent, but
practise upon all that which they have learned in the slaughter of the
wicked.  It is not therefore befitting that those who strive to keep to
the path of justice should be companions and sharers in this public
homicide.  For when God forbids us to kill, He not only prohibits us
from open violence,(1) which is not even allowed by the public laws, but
He warns us against the commission of those things which are esteemed
lawful among men.  Thus it will be neither lawful for a just man to
engage in warfare, since his warfare is justice itself, nor to accuse
any one of a capital charge, because it makes no difference whether you
put a man to death by word, or rather by the sword, since it is the act
of putting to death itself(2) which is prohibited.  Therefore, with
regard to this precept of God, there ought to be no exception at all but
that it is always unlawful to put to death a man, whom God willed to be
a sacred animal.(3)

 Therefore let no one imagine that even this is allowed, to strangle(4)
newly-born children, which is the greatest impiety; for God breathes
into their souls for life, and not for death.  But men, that there may
be no crime with which they may not pollute their hands, deprive souls
as yet innocent and simple of the light which they themselves have not
given.  Can any one, indeed, expect that they would abstain from the
blood of others who do not abstain even from their own?  But these are
without any controversy wicked and unjust.  What are they whom a false
piety(5) compels to expose their children?  Can they be considered
innocent who expose their own offspring(6) as a prey to dogs, and as far
as it depends upon themselves, kill them in a more cruel manner than if
they had strangled them?  Who can doubt that he is impious who gives
occasion(7) for the pity of others?  For, although that which he has
wished should befall the child--namely, that it should be brought up--he
has certainly consigned his own offspring either to servitude or to the
brothel?  But who does not understand, who is ignorant what things may
happen, or are accustomed to happen, in the case of each sex,

even through error?  For this is shown by the example of OEdipus alone,
confused with twofold guilt.  It is therefore as wicked to expose as it
is to kill.  But truly parricides complain of the scantiness of their
means, and allege that they have not enough for bringing up more
children; as though, in truth, their means were in the power of those
who possess them, or God did not daily make the rich poor, and the poor
rich.  Wherefore, if any one on account of poverty shall be unable to
bring up children, it is better to abstain from marriage s than with
wicked hands to mar the work of God.

 If, then, it is in no way permitted to commit homicide, it is not
allowed us to be present at all,(9) lest any bloodshed should overspread
the conscience, since that blood is offered for the gratification of the
people.  And I am inclined to think that the corrupting influence of the
stage is still more contaminating.(10) For the subject of comedies are
the dishonouring of virgins, or the loves of harlots; and the more
eloquent they are who have composed the accounts of these disgraceful
actions, the more do they persuade by the elegance of their sentiments;
and harmonious and polished verses more readily remain fixed in the
memory of the hearers.  In like manner, the stories of the tragedians
place before the eyes the parricides and incests of wicked kings, and
represent tragic(11) crimes.  And what other effect do the immodest
gestures of the players produce, but both teach and excite lusts?  whose
enervated bodies, rendered effeminate after the gait and dress of women,
imitate(12) unchaste women by their disgraceful gestures.  Why should I
speak of the actors of mimes,(13) who hold forth instruction in
corrupting influences, who teach adulteries while they feign them, and
by pretended actions train to those which are true?  What can young men
or virgins do, when they see that these things are practised without
shame, and willingly beheld by all?  They are plainly admonished of what
they can do, and are inflamed with lust, which is especially excited by
seeing; and every one according to his sex forms(14) himself in these
representations.  And they approve of these things, while they laugh at
them, and with vices clinging to them, they return more corrupted to
their apartments; and not boys only, who ought not to be inured to vices
prematurely, but also old men, whom it does not become at their age to
sin.

188

 What else does the practice of the Circensian games contain but levity,
vanity, and madness?  For their souls are hurried away to mad excitement
with as great impetuosity as that with which the chariot races are there
carried on; so that they who come for the sake of beholding the
spectacle now themselves exhibit more of a spectacle, when they begin to
utter exclamations, to be thrown into transports, and to leap from their
seats.  Therefore all spectacles ought to be avoided, not only that no
vice may settle in our breasts, which ought to be tranquil and peaceful;
but that the habitual indulgence of any pleasure may not soothe and
captivate us, and turn us aside from God and from good works.(1) For the
celebrations of the games are festivals in honour of the gods, inasmuch
as they were instituted on account of their birthdays, or the dedication
of new temples.  And at first the huntings, which are called shows, were
in honour of Saturnus, and the scenic games in honour of Liber, but the
Circensian in honour of Neptune.  By degrees, however, the same honour
began to be paid also to the other gods, and separate games were
dedicated to their names, as Sisinnius Capita teaches in his book on the
games.  Therefore, if any one is present at the spectacles to which men
assemble for the sake of religion, he has departed from the worship of
God, and has be-taken himself to those deities whose birthdays and
festivals he has celebrated.(2)

 CHAP. XXI.--OF THE PLEASURES OF THE EARS, AND OF SACRED LITERATURE.

 Pleasure of the ears is received from the sweetness of voices and
strains, which indeed is as productive of vice as that delight of the
eyes of which we have spoken.  For who would not deem him luxurious anti
worthless who should have scenic arts at his house?  But it makes no
difference whether you practise luxury alone at home, or with the people
in the theatre.  But we have already spoken of spectacles:(3) there
remains one thing which is to be overcome by us, that we be not
captivated by those things which penetrate to the innermost perception.
For all those things which are unconnected with words, that is, pleasant
sounds of the air and of strings, may be easily disregarded, because
they do not adhere to its, and cannot be written.  But a well-composed
poem, and a speech be-guiling with its sweetness, captivate the minds of
men, and impel them in what direction they please.  Hence, when learned
men have applied themselves to the religion of God, unless they have
been instructed by some skilful teacher,

they do not believe.  For, being accustomed to sweet and polished
speeches or poems, they de spise the simple and common language of the
sacred writings as mean.  For they seek that t which may soothe the
senses.  But whatever is e pleasant to the ear effects persuasion, and
while it delights fixes itself deeply within the breast.  Is God,
therefore, the contriver both of the mind, and of the voice, and of the
tongue, unable to speak eloquently?  Yea, rather, with the greatest
foresight, He wished those things which are divine to be without
adornment, that all might understand the things which He Himself spoke
to all.

 Therefore he who is anxious for the truth, who does not wish to deceive
himself, must lay aside hurtful and injurious pleasures, which would
bind the mind to themselves, as pleasant food does the body: true things
must be preferred to false, eternal things to those which are of short
duration, useful things to those which are pleasant.  Let nothing be
pleasing to the sight but that which you see to be done with piety and
justice; let nothing be agreeable to the hearing but that which
nourishes the soul and makes you a better man.  And especially this
sense ought not to be distorted to vice, since it is given to us for
this pur pose, that we might gain the knowledge of God.  Therefore, if
it be a pleasure to hear melodies and songs, let it be pleasant to sing
and hear the praises of God.  This is true pleasure, which is the
attendant and companion of virtue.  This is not frail and brief, as
those which they desire, who, like cattle, are slaves to the body; but
lasting, and affording delight without any intermission.  And if any one
shall pass its limits, and shall seek nothing else from pleasure but
pleasure itself, he designs for himself death; for as there is perpetual
life in virtue, so there is death in pleasure.  For he who shall choose
temporal things will be without things eternal; he who shall prefer
earthly things will not have heavenly things.

 CHAP. XXII.--OF THE PLEASURES OF TASTE AND SMELL.

 But with regard to the pleasures of taste and smell, which two senses
relate only to the body, there is nothing to be discussed by us; unless
by chance any one requires us to say that it is dis graceful to a wise
and good man if he is the slave of his appetite, if he walks along
besmeared with unguents and crowned with flowers: and he who does these
things is plainly foolish and senseless, and is worthless, and one whom
not even a notion of virtue has reached.  Perhaps some one will say,
Why, then, have these things been made, except that we may enjoy them?
However, it has often been said that there would have been no virtue
unless it had things which it

189

might overpower.  Therefore God made all things to supply a contest
between two things.  Those enticements of pleasures, then, are the
instruments of that whose only business it is to subdue virtue, and to
shut out justice from men.  With these soothing influences and
enjoyments it captivates their souls; for it knows that pleasure is the
contriver of death.  For as God calls man to life only through virtue
and labour, so the other calls us to death by delights and pleasures;
and as men arrive at real good through deceitful evils, so they arrive
at real evil through deceitful goods.  Therefore those enjoyments are to
be guarded against, as snares or nets, lest, captivated by the softness
of enjoyments, we should be brought under the dominion of death with the
body itself, to which we have enslaved ourselves.

CHAP. XXIII.(1)--DE TACTUS VOLUPTATE ET LIBIDINE, ATQUE DE MATRIMONIO ET
CONTINENTIA.

 Venio nunc ad eam, quae percipitur ex tactu, voluptatem: qui sensus est
quidem totius corporis.  Sed ego non de ornamentis, aut vestibus, sed de
sola libidine dicendum mihi puto; qum maxime coercenda est, quia maxime
nocet.  Cure excogitasset Deus duorum sexuum rationero, attribuit iis,
ut se invicem appeterent, et conjunctione gauderent.  Itaque
ardentissimam cupiditatem cunctorum animantium corporibus admiscuit, ut
in hos affectus avidissime ruerent, eaque ratione propagari et
multiplicari genera possent.  Quae cupiditas et appetentia in homine
vehementior et acrior invenitur; vel quia hominum multitudinem voluit
esse majorem, vel quoniam virtutem soli homini dedit, ut esset laus et
gloria in coercendis voluptatibus, et abstinentia sui.  Seit ergo
adversarius ille noster, quanta sit vis hujus cupiditatis, quam quidam
necessitatem dicere maluerunt; eamque a recto et bono, ad malum et
pravum transfert.  Illicita enim desideria immittit, ut aliena
contaminent, quibus habere propria sine delicto licet.  Objicit quippe
oculis irritabiles formas, suggeritque fomenta, et vitiis pabulum
subministrat: tum intimis visceribus stimulos omnes conturbat et
commovet, et naturalem illum incitat atque inflammat ardorem, donee
irretitum hominem implicatumque decipiat.  Ac ne quis esset, qui
poenarum metu abstineret alieno, lupanaria quoque constituit; et pudorem
infelicium mulierum publicavit, ut ludibrio haberet tam eos qui faciunt,
quam quas pati necesse est.

 His obscoenitatibus animas, ad sanctitatem genitas, velut in coeni
gurgite demersit, pudorem extinxit, pudicitiam profligavit.  Idem etiam
mares maribus admiscuit; et nefandos coitus contra naturam contraque
institutum Dei machinatus est: sic imbuit homines, et armavit ad nefas
omne.  Quid enim potest esse sanctum iis, qui aetatem imbecillam et
praesidio indigentem, libidini suae depopulandam foedandamque
substraverint?  Non potest haec res pro magnitudine sceleris enarrari.
Nihil amplius istos appellare possum, quam implos et parricidas, quibus
non sufficit sexus a Deo datus, nisi eliare suum profane ac petulanter
illudant.  Haec tamen apud illos levia, et quasi honesta sunt.  Quid
dicam de iis, qui abominandam non libidinem, sod insaniam potius
exercent!  Piget dicere: sed quid his fore credamus, quos non piget
facere?  et tamen dicendum est, quia fit.  De istis loquor, quorum
teterrima libido et execrabilis furor ne capiti quidem parcit.  Quibus
hoc verbis, aut qua indignatione tantum nefas prosequar?  Vincit
officium linguae sceleris magnitudo.  Cum igitur libido haec edat opera,
et haec facinora designer, armandi adversus earn virtute maxima sumus.
Quisquis affectus illos fraenare non potest, cohibeat eos intra
praescriptum legitimi tori, ut et illud, quod avide expetat,
consequatur, et tamen in peccatum non incidat.  Nam quid sibi homines
perditi volunt?  Nempe honesta opera voluptas sequitur: si ipsam per se
appetunt, justa et legitima frui licet.

 Quod si aliqua necessitas prohibebit tum vero maxima adhibenda virtus
erit, ut cupiditati continentia reluctetur.  Nec tanturn alienis, quae
attingere non licet, veriun etiam publicis vulgatisque corporibus
abstinendum, Deus praecepit; docetque nos, cum duo inter se corpora
fuerint copulata, unum corpus efficere.  Ita qui se coeno immerserit,
coeno sit oblitus necesse est; et corpus quidem cito ablui potest: mens
autem contagione impudici corporis inquinata non potest, nisi et longo
tempore, et multis bonis operibus, ab ea quae inhaeserit colluvione
purgari.  Oportet ergo sibi quemque proponere, duorum sexuum
conjunctionem generandi causa datam esse viventibus, eamque legera his
affectibus positam, ut successionera parent.  Sicut autem dedit nobis
oculos Deus, non ut spectemus, voluptatemque capiamus, sed ut videamus
propter eos actus, qui pertinent ad vitae necessitatem, ita genitalem
corporis partem, quod nomen ipsum docet, nulla alia causa nisi
efficiendae sobolis accepimus.  Huic divinae legi summa devotione
parendum est.  Sint omnes, qui se discipulos Dei profitebuntur, ita
morati et instituti, ut imperare sibi possint.  Nam qui voluptatibus
indulgent, qui libidini obsequuntur, ii animam suam corpori mancipant,
ad mortemque condemnant: quia se corpori addixerunt, in quod habet mors
potestatem.  Unusquisque igitur, quantum potest, formet se ad
verecundiam, pudorem colat, castitatem conscientia et mente tueatur; nec
tantum legibus publicis pareat: sed sit supra omnes leges, qui legem Dei
sequitur.  Quibus

190

bonis si assueverit, jam pudebit eum ad deteriora desciscere: modo
placeant recta et honesta, quae melioribus jucundiora sunt quam prava et
inhonesta pejoribus.

 Nondum omnia castitatis officio exsecutus sum: quam Deus fion modo
intra privatos parietes, sed etiam praescripto lectuli terminat; ut cum
quis hobeat uxorem, neque servam, neque liberam habere insuper velit,
sed matrimonio fidem server.  Non enim, sicut juris publici ratio est,
solo mulier adultera est, quae habet allure, maritus outem, etiam si
plures habeat, a crimine adulterii solutus est.  Sed divina lex ira duos
in matrimonium, quod est in corpus unum, pari jure conjungit, ut adulter
habeatur, quisquis compagem corporis in diversa distraxerit.  Nec ob
aliam cansam Deus, cam caeteras animantes suscepto foetu maribus
repugnare voluisset, solam omnium mulierem patientem viri fecit;
scilicet ne foeminis repugnantibus, libido cogeret viros aliud appetere,
eoque facto, castitatis gloriam non tenerent.(1) Sed neque mulier
virtutem pudicitiae caperet, si peccare non posset.  Nam quis mutum
animal pudicum esse dixerit, quod suscepto foetu mari repugnat?  Quod
ideo facit, quia necesse est in dolorem atque in periculum veniat, si
admiserit.  Nulla igitur Iaus est, non facere quod facere non possis.
Ideo autem pudicitia in homine laudatur, quia non naturalis est, sed
voluntaria.  Servanda igitur fides ab utroque alteri est: immo exemplo
continentia: docenda uxor, ut se caste gerat.  Iniquum est enim, ut id
exigas, quod praestare ipse non possis.  Quae iniquitas effecit
profecto, ut essent adulteria, foeminis aegre ferentibus praestare se
fidem non exhibentibus mutuam charitatem.  Denique nulla est tam perditi
pudoris adultera, quae non hanc causam vitiis suis praetendat; injuriam
se peccando non facere, sed referre.  Quod optime Quintilianus
expressit: Homo, inquit, neque alieni matrimonii abstinens, neque sui
custos, quae inter se natura.  connexa sunt.  Nam neque maritus circa
corrumpendas aliorum conjuges occupatus potest vacare domesticae
sanctitati; et uxor, cum in tale incidit matrimonium, exemplo ipso
concitara, out imitari se putat, out vindicari.

 Cavendum igitur, ne occasionem vitiis nostra intemperantia demus: sed
assuescant invicem mores duorum, et jugum paribus animis ferant.  Nos
ipsos in altero cogitemus.  Nam fere in hoc justitiae summa consistit,
ut non facias alteri, quidquid ipse ab altero pati nolis.  Haec sunt
quae ad continentiam praecipiuntur a Deo.  Sed tamen ne quis divina
praecepta circumscribere se putet posse, adduntur ilia, ut omnis
calumnia, et occasio fraudis removeatur, adulterum esse, qui a marito
dimissam duxerit, et eum qui praeter crimen adulterii uxorem dimiserit,
ut alteram ducat; dissociari enim corpus et distrahi Deus noluit.
Praeterea non tanturn adulterium esse vitandum, sed etiam cogitationem;
ne quis aspiciat alienam, et animo concupiscat: adulteram enim fieri
mentem, si vel imaginem voluptatis sibi ipsa depinxerit.  Mens est enim
profecto quae peccat; quae immoderata: libidinis fructum cogitatione
complectitur; in hac crimen est, in hac omne delictum.  Nam etsi corpus
nulla sit lobe maculatum, non constat tamen pudicitiae ratio, si animus
incestus est; nec illibata castitas videri potest, ubi conscientiam
cupiditas inquinavit.  Nec verb aliquis existimet, difficile esse
fraenos imponere voluptati, eamque vagam et errantem castitatis
pudicitiaeque limitibus includere, cum propositum sit hominibus etiam
vincere, ac plurimi beatam atque incorruptam corporis integritatem
retinuerint, multique sint, qui hoc coelesti genere vitae felicissime
perfruantur.  Quod quidem Deus non ira fieri praecepit, tanquam
astringat, quia generari homines oportet; sed tanquam sinat.  Scit enim,
quantam his affectibus imposuerit necessitatem.  Si quis hoc, inquit,
facere potuerit, habebit eximiam incomparabilemque mercedem.  Quod
continentiae genus quasi fastigium est, omniumque consummatio virtutum.
Ad quam si quis eniti atque eluctari potuerit, hunc servum dominus, hunc
discipulum magister agnoscet; hic terrain triumphabit, hic erit
consimilis Deo, qui virtutem Dei cepit.  Haec quidem difficilia
videntur; sed de eo loquimur, cui calcatis omnibus terrenis, iter in
coelum paratur.  Nam quia virtus in Dei agnitione consistit, omnia
gravia sunt, dum ignores; ubi cognoveris, facilia: per ipsas
difficultates nobis exeundum est, qui ad summum bonum tendimus.

 CHAP. XXIV.--OF REPENTANCE, OF PARDON, AND

THE COMMANDS OF GOD.

 Nor, however, let any one be disheartened, or despair concerning
himself, if, overcome by passion, or impelled by desire, or deceived by
error, or compelled by force, he has turned aside to the way of
unrighteousness.  For it is possible for him to be brought back, and to
be set free, if he repents of his actions, and, turning to better
things, makes satisfaction to God.  Cicero, indeed.  thought that this
was impossible, whose words in the third book of the Academics(2) are:
"But if, as in the case of those who have gone astray on a journey, it
were permitted those who have followed a devious course to correct their
error by repentance, it would be more easy to amend rashness."  It is
altogether permitted them.  For if we think that our children are

191

corrected when we perceive that they repent of their faults, and though
we have disinherited and cast them off, we again receive, cherish, and
embrace them, why should we despair that the mercy of God our Father may
again be appeased by repentance?  Therefore He who is at once tile Lord
and most indulgent Parent promises that He will remit the sins of the
penitent, and that He will blot out all the iniquities of him who shall
begin afresh to practise righteousness.  For as the uprightness of his
past life is of no avail to him who lives badly, because the subsequent
wickedness has destroyed his works of righteousness, so former sins do
not stand in the way of him who has amended his life, because the
subsequent righteousness has effaced the stain of his former life.  For
he who repents of that which he has done, understands his former error;
and on this account the Greeks better and more significantly speak of
metanoia,(1) which we may speak of in Latin ass return to a right
understanding.(2) For he returns to a right understanding, and recovers
his mind as it were from madness, who is grieved for his error; and he
reproves himself of madness, and confirms his mind to a better course of
life: then he especially guards against this very thing, that he may not
again be led into the same snares.  In short, even the dumb animals,
when they are ensnared by fraud, if by any means they have extricated
themselves so as to escape, become more cautious for the future, and
always avoid all those things in which they have perceived wiles and
snares.  Thus repentance makes a man cautious and diligent to avoid the
faults into which he has once fallen through deceit.

 For no one can be so prudent and so circumspect as not at some time to
slip; and therefore God, knowing our weakness, of His compassion(3) has
opened a harbour of refuge for man, that the medicine of repentance
might aid this necessity to which our frailty is liable.(4) Therefore,
if any one has erred, let him retrace his step, and as soon as possible
recover and reform himself.

 "But upward to retrace the way,

 And pass into the light of day,

 Then comes the stress of labour."(5)

For when men have tasted sweet pleasures to their destruction,(6) they
can scarcely be separated from them: they would more easily follow right
things if they had not tasted their attractions.  But if they tear
themselves away from this pernicious slavery, all their error will be
forgiven them, if they shall have corrected their error by a better
life.  And let not any one imagine that he is a gainer if he shall have
no witness of his fault: for all things are known to Him in whose sight
we live; and if we are able to conceal anything from all men, we cannot
conceal it from God, to whom nothing can be hidden, nothing secret.
Seneca closed his exhortations with an admirable sentiment: "There is,"
he says," some great deity, and greater than can be imagined; and for
him we endeavour to live.  Let us approve ourselves to him.  For it is
of no avail that conscience is confirmed; we lie open to the sight of
God."  What can be spoken with greater truth by him who knew God, than
has been said by a man who is ignorant of true religion?  For he both
expressed the majesty of God, by saying that it is too great for the
reflecting powers of the human mind to receive; and he touched upon the
very fountain of truth, by perceiving that the life of men is not
superfluous,(7) as the Epicureans will have it, but that they make it
their endeavour to live to God, if indeed they live with justice and
piety.  He might have been a true worshipper of God, if any one had
pointed out to him God;(8) and he might assuredly have despised Zeno,
and his teacher Sotion, if he had obtained a true guide of wisdom.  Let
us approve ourselves to him, he says.  A speech truly heavenly, had it
not been preceded by a confession of ignorance.  It is of no avail that
conscience is confined; we lie open to the sight of God.  There is then
no room for falsehood, none for dissimulation; for the eyes of men are
removed by walls, but the divine power of God cannot be removed by the
inward parts from looking through and knowing the entire man.  The same
writer says, in the first book of the same work: "What are you doing?
what are you contriving?  what are you hiding?  Your guardian follows
you; one is withdrawn from you by foreign travel, another by death,
another by infirm health; this one adheres to you, and you can never be
without him.  Why do you choose a secret place, and remove the witness?
Suppose that yon have succeeded in escaping the notice of all, foolish
man!  What does it profit you not to have a witness,(9) if you have the
witness of your own conscience?

 And Tully speaks in a manner no less remarkable concerning conscience
and God: "Let him

192

remember," he says, "that he has God as a witness, that is, as I judge,
his own mind, than which God has given nothing more divine to man."(1)
Likewise, in speaking of the just and good man, he says: "Therefore such
a man will not dare not merely to do, but even to think, anything which
he would not dare to proclaim."  Therefore let us cleanse our
conscience, which is open to the eyes of God; and, as the same writer
says, "let us always so live as to remember that we shall have to give
an account;"(2) and let us reckon that we are looked upon at every
moment, not, as he said, in some theatre of the world by men, but from
above by Him who is about to be both the judge and also the witness, to
whom, when He demands an account of our life, it will not be permitted
any one to deny his actions.  Therefore it is better either to flee from
conscience, or ourselves to open our mind of our own accord, and tearing
open our wounds to pour forth destruction; which wounds no one else can
heat but He alone who made the lame to walk, restored sight to the
blind, cleansed the polluted limbs, and raised the dead.  He will quench
the ardour of desires, He will root out lusts, He will remove envy, He
will mitigate anger.  He will give true and lasting health.  This remedy
should be sought by all, inasmuch as the soul is harassed by greater
danger than the body, and a cure should be applied as soon as possible
to secret diseases.  For if any one has his eyesight clear, all his
limbs perfect, and his entire body in the most vigorous health,
nevertheless I should not call him sound if he is carried away by anger,
swollen and puffed up with pride, the slave of lust, and burning with
desires; but I should rather call him sound who does not raise his eyes
to the prosperity of another, who does not admire riches, who looks upon
another's wife with chaste eye, who covets nothing at all, does not
desire that which is another's, envies no one, disdains no one; who is
lowly, merciful, bountiful, mild, courteous: peace perpetually dwells in
his mind.

 That man is sound, he is just, he is perfect.  Whoever, therefore, has
obeyed all these heavenly precepts, he is a worshipper of the true God,
whose sacrifices are gentleness of spirit, and an innocent life, and
good actions.  And he who exhibits all these qualities offers a
sacrifice as often as he performs any good and pious action.  For God
does not desire the sacrifice of a dumb animal, nor of death and blood,
but of man and life.  And to this sacrifice there is neither need of
sacred boughs, nor of purifications,(3) nor of sods of turf, which
things are plainly most vain, but of those things which are put forth
from the innermost breast.  Therefore, upon the altar of God, which is
truly very great,(4) and which is placed in the heart of man, and cannot
be defiled with blood, there is placed righteousness, patience, faith,
innocence, chastity, and abstinence.  This is the truest ceremony, this
is that law of God, as it is called by Cicero, illustrious and divine,
which always commands things which are right and honourable, and forbids
things which are wrong and disgraceful; and he who obeys this most holy
and certain law cannot fail to live justly and lawfully.  And I have
laid down a few chief points of this law, since I promised that I would
speak only of those: things which completed the character(5) of virtue
and righteousness.  If any one shall wish to comprise all the other
parts, let him seek them from the fountain itself, from which that
stream flowed to us.

CHAP. XXV.--OF SACRIFICE, AND OF AN OFFERING WORTHY OF GOD, AND OF THE
FORM OF PRAISING GOD.

 Now let us speak briefly concerning sacrifice itself.  "Ivory," says
Plato, "is not a pure offering to God."  What then?  Are embroidered and
costly textures?  Nay, rather nothing is a pure offering to God which
can be corrupted or taken away secretly.  But as he saw this, that
nothing which was taken from a dead body ought to be offered to a living
being, why did he not see that a corporeal offering ought not to be
presented to an incorporeal being?  How much better and more truly does
Seneca speak: "Will you think of God as great and placid, and a friend
to be reverenced with gentle majesty, and always at hand?  not to be
worshipped with the immolation of victims and with much blood--for what
pleasure arises from the slaughter of innocent animals?--but with a pure
mind and with a good and honourable purpose.  Temples are not to be
built to Him with stones piled up on high; He is to be consecrated by
each man in his own breast."  Therefore, if any one thinks that
garments, and jewels, and other things which are esteemed precious, are
valued by God, he is altogether ignorant of what God is, since he thinks
that those things are pleasing to Him which even a man would be justly
praised for despising.  What, then, is pure, what is worthy of God, but
that which He Himself has demanded in that divine law of His?

 There are two things which ought to be offered, the gift(6) and the
sacrifice; the gift as a per-

193

petual offering, the sacrifice for a time.  But with those who by no
means understand the nature of the Divine Being, a gift is anything
which is wrought of gold or silver; likewise anything which is woven of
purple and silk: a sacrifice is a victim, and as many things as are
burnt upon the altar.  But God does not make use either of the one or
the other, because He is free from corruption, and that is altogether
corruptible.  Therefore, in each case, that which is incorporeal must be
offered to God, for He accepts this.  His offering is innocency of soul;
His sacrifice praise and a hymn.(1) For if God is not seen, He ought
therefore to be worshipped with things which are not seen.  Therefore no
other religion is true but that which consists of virtue and justice.
But in what manner God deals with the justice of man is easily
understood.  For if man shall be just, having received immortality, he
will serve God for ever.  But that men are not born except for justice,
both the ancient philosophers and even Cicero suspects.  For, discussing
the Laws,(2) he says: "But of all things which are discussed by learned
men, nothing assuredly is of greater importance than that it should be
entirely understood that we are born to justice."  We ought therefore to
hold forth I and offer to God that alone for the receiving of which He
Himself produced us.  But how true this twofold kind of sacrifice is,
Trismegistus Hermes is a befitting witness, who agrees with us, that is,
with the prophets, whom we follow, as much in fact as in words.  He thus
spoke concerning justice: "Adore and worship this word, O son."  But the
worship of God consists of one thing, not to be wicked.  Also in that
perfect discourse, when he heard Asclepius inquiring from his son
whether it pleased him that incense and other odours for divine
sacrifice: were offered to his father, exclaimed: "Speak words of good
omen, O Asclepius.  For it is the greatest impiety to entertain any such
thought concerning that being of pre-eminent goodness.  For these
things, and things resembling these, are not adapted to Him.  For He is
full of all things, as many as exist, and He has need of nothing at all.
But let us give Him thanks, and adore Him.  For His sacrifice consists
only of blessing."  And he spoke rightly.(3)

 For we ought to sacrifice to God in word; inasmuch as God is the Word,
as He Himself confessed.  Therefore the chief ceremonial in the worship
of God is praise from the mouth of a just man directed towards God.(3)
That this, however, may be accepted by God, there is need of humility,
and fear, and devotion in the greatest degree, lest any one should
chance to place confidence in his integrity and innocence, and thus
incur the charge of pride and arrogance, and by this deed lose the
recompense of his virtue.  But that he may obtain the favour of God, and
be free from every stain, let him always implore the mercy of God, and
pray for nothing else but pardon for his sins, even though he has
none.(4) If he desires anything else, there is no need of expressing it
in word to one who knows what we wish; if anything good shall happen to
him, let him give thanks; if any evil, let him make amends,(5) and let
him confess that the evil has happened to him on account of his faults;
and even in evils let him nothing less give thanks, and make amends in
good things, that he may be the same at all times, and be firm, and
unchangeable, and unshaken.  And let him not suppose that this is to be
done by him only in the temple, but at home, and even in his very bed.
In short, let him always have God with himself, consecrated in his
heart, inasmuch as he himself is a temple of God.  But if he has served
God, his Father and Lord, with this assiduity, obedience, and devotion,
justice is complete and perfect; and he who shall keep this, as we
before testified, has obeyed God, and has satisfied the obligations of
religion and his own duty.

194

THE DIVINE INSTITUTES

BOOK VII.

OF A HAPPY LIFE.

CHAP. I.--OF THE WORLD, AND THOSE WHO ARE ABOUT TO BELIEVE, AND THOSE
WHO ARE NOT; AND IN THIS THE CENSURE OF THE FAITHLESS.

 It is well: the foundations are laid, as the illustrious orator says.
But we have not only laid the foundations, which might be firth and
suitable for the support of the work; but we have raised the entire
edifice, with great and strong buildings, almost to the summit.  There
remains, a matter which is much easier, either to cover or adorn it;
without which, however, the former works are both useless and
displeasing.  For of what avail is it, either to be freed from false
religions(1) or to understand the true(2) one?  Of what avail, either to
see the vanity of false wisdom,(3) or to know what is true?(4) Of what
avail is it, I say, to defend that heavenly justice?(5) Of what avail to
hold the worship of God(2) with great difficulties, which is the
greatest virtue, unless the divine reward of everlasting blessedness
attends it?  Of which subject we must speak in this book, lest all that
is gone before should appear vain and unprofitable: if.  we should leave
this, on account of which they were undertaken, in uncertainty, lest any
one should by chance think that such great labours are undertaken in
vain; while he distrusts their heavenly reward, which God has appointed
for him who shall have despised the present sweet enjoyments of earth in
comparison of solitary and unrewarded(6) virtue.  Let us satisfy this
part of our subject also, both by the testimonies of the sacred writings
and also by probable arguments, that it may be equally manifest that
future things are to be preferred to those which are present; heavenly
things to earthly: and eternal things to those which are temporal: since
the rewards of vices are temporal, those of virtues are eternal.

 I will therefore set forth the system of the world, that it may easily
be understood both when and how it was made by God; which Plato, who
discoursed about the making of the world, could neither know nor
explain, inasmuch as he was ignorant of the heavenly mystery, which is
not learned except by the teaching of prophets and God; and therefore he
said that it was created for eternity.  Whereas the case is far
different, since whatever is of a solid and heavy body, as it received a
beginning at some time, so it must needs have an end.  For Aristotle,
when he did not see how so great a magnitude of things could perish, and
wished to escape this objection,(7) said that the world always had
existed, and always would exist.  He did not at all see, that whatever
material thing exists must at some time have had a beginning, and that
nothing can exist at all unless it bad a beginning.  For when we see
that earth, and water, and fire perish, are consumed, and extinguished,
which are clearly parts of the world, it is understood that that is
altogether mortal the members of which are mortal.  Thus it comes to
pass, that whatever is liable to destruction must have been produced.
But everything which comes within the sight of the eyes must of
necessity be material, and capable of dissolution.  Therefore Epicurus
alone, following the authority of Democritus, spoke truly in this
matter, who said that it had a beginning at some time, and that it would
at some time perish.  Nor, however, was he able to assign any reason,
either through what causes or at what time this work of such magnitude
should be destroyed.  But since God has revealed this to us, and we do
not arrive at it by conjectures, but by instruction from heaven, we will
carefully teach it, that it may at length be evident to those who are
desirous of the truth, that the

195

philosophers did not see nor comprehend the truth; but that they had so
slight a knowledge of it, that they by no means perceived from what
source that fragrance(2) of wisdom, which was so pleasant and agreeable,
breathed upon them.

 In the meantime, I think it necessary to admonish those who are about
to read this, that depraved and vicious minds, since the acuteness of
their mind is blunted by earthly passions, which weigh down all the
perceptions and render them weak, will either altogether fail to
understand these things which we relate, or, even if they shall
understand them, they will dissemble and be unwilling for them to be
true: because they are drawn away by vices, and they knowingly favour
their own evils, by the pleasantness of which they are captivated, and
they desert the way of virtue, by the bitterness of which they are
offended.  For they who are inflamed with avarice and a certain
insatiable thirst for riches--because, when they have sold or squandered
the things in which they delight, they are unable to live in a simple
style--undoubtedly prefer that by which they are compelled to renounce
their eager desires.  Also, they who, urged on by the incitements of
lusts, as the poet says,(3)

"Rush into madness and fire,"

say that we bring forward things plainly incredible; because the
precepts about self-restraint wound their ears, which restrain them from
their pleasures, to which they have given(4) up their soul, together
with their body.  But those who, swollen with ambition or inflamed with
the love of power, have bestowed all their efforts on the acquisition of
honours, will not, even if we should bear the sun himself in our hands,
believe that teaching which commands them to despise all power and
honour, and to live in humility, and in such humility that they may be
able to receive an injury, and if they have received one, be unwilling
to return it.  These are the men who cry out(5) in any way against the
truth with closed eyes.  But they who are or shall be of sound mind,
that is, not so immersed in vices as to be incurable, will both believe
these things, and will readily approach them; and whatever things we
say, they will appear to them open, and plain, and simple, and that
which is chiefly necessary, true and unassailable.

 No one favours virtue but he who is able to follow it; but it is not
easy for all to follow it: they can do so whom poverty and want have
exercised, and made capable of virtue.  For if the endurance of evils is
virtue, it follows that they

are not capable of virtue who have always lived in the enjoyment of good
things; because they have never experienced evils, nor can they endure
them, through their long-continued use and desire of good things, which
alone they know.  Thus it comes to pass that the poor and humble, who
are unencumbered, more readily believe God than the rich, who are
entangled with many hindrances;(6) yea, rather, in chains and fetters
they are enslaved to the nod of desire, their mistress, which has
ensnared them with inextricable bonds; nor are they able to look up to
heaven, since their mind is bent down to the earth, and fixed on the
ground.  But the way of virtue does not admit those carrying great
burthens.  The path is very narrow by which justice leads man to heaven;
no one can keep this unless he is unencumbered and lightly equipped.
For those wealthy men, who are loaded with many and great burthens,
proceed along the way of death, which is very broad, since destruction
rules with extended sway.  The precepts which God gives for justice, and
the things which we bring forward under the teaching of God respecting
virtue and the truth, are bitter and as poisons to these.  And if they
shall dare to oppose these things, they must own themselves to be
enemies of virtue and justice.  I will now come to the remaining part of
the subject, that an end may be put to the work.  But this remains, that
we should treat of the judgment of God, which will then be established
when our Lord shall return to the earth to render to every one either a
reward or punishment, according to his desert.  Therefore, as we spoke
in the fourth book concerning His first advent,(7) so in this book we
will relate His second advent, which the Jews also both confess and hope
for; but in vain, since He must return to the confusion(8) of those for
whose call He had before come.  For they who impiously treated Him with
violence in His humiliation, will experience Him in His power as a
conqueror; and, God requiting them, they will suffer all those things
which they read and do not understand; inasmuch as, being polluted with
all sins, and moreover sprinkled with the blood of the Holy One, they
were devoted to eternal punishment by that very One on whom they laid
wicked hands.  But we shall have a separate subject against the Jews, in
which we shall convict them of error and guilt.

CHAP. II.--OF THE ERROR OF THE PHILOSOPHERS, AND OF THE DIVINE WISDOM,
AND OF THE GOLDEN AGE.

 Now let us instruct those who are ignorant of the truth.  It has been
so determined by the

196

arrangement of the Most High God, that this unrighteous age, having run
the course(1) of its appointed times, should come to an end; and all
wickedness being immediately extinguished, and the souls of the
righteous being recalled to a happy life, a quiet, tranquil, peaceful,
in short, golden age, as the poets call it, should flourish, under the
rule of God Himself.  This was especially the cause of all the errors of
the philosophers, that they did not comprehend the system of the world,
which comprises the whole of wisdom.  But it cannot be comprehended by
our own perception and innate intelligence, which they wished to do by
themselves without a teacher.  Therefore they fell into various and
ofttimes contradictory opinions, out of which they had no way of escape,

 And they remained fixed in the same mire, as the comic writer(2) says,
since their conclusion does not correspond with their assumptions;(3)
inasmuch as they had assumed things to be true which could not be
affirmed, and proved without the knowledge of the truth and of heavenly
things.  And this knowledge, as I have often said already, cannot exist
in a man unless it is derived from the teaching of God.  For if a man is
able to understand divine things, he will be able also to perform them;
for to understand is, as it were, to follow in their track.  But he is
not able to do the things which God does, because he is clothed with a
mortal body; therefore he cannot even understand those things which God
does.  And whether this is possible is easy for every one to measure,
from the immensity of the divine actions and works.  For if you will
contemplate the world, with all the things which it contains, you will
assuredly understand how much the work of God surpasses the works of
men.  Thus, as great as is the difference between divine and human
works, so great must be the distance between the wisdom of God and man.
For because God is incorruptible and immortal, and therefore perfect
because He is everlasting, His wisdom also is perfect, as He Himself is;
nor can anything oppose it, because God Himself is subject to nothing.

 But because man is subject to passion, his wisdom also is subject to
error; and as many things hinder the life of man, so that it cannot be
perpetual, so also his wisdom must be hindered by many things: so that
it is not perfect in entirely perceiving the truth.  Therefore there is
no human wisdom, if it strives by itself to attain to the conception and
knowledge of the truth; inasmuch as the mind of man, being bound up with
a frail body, and enclosed in a

dark abode, is neither able to wander at large, nor clearly to perceive
the truth, the knowledge of which belongs to the divine nature.  For His
works are known to God alone.  But man cannot attain this knowledge by
reflection or disputation, but by learning and hearing from Him who
alone is able to know and to teach.  Therefore Marcus Tullius,(4)
borrowing from Plato the sentiment of Socrates, who said that the time
had come for himself to depart from life, but that they before whom he
was pleading his cause were still alive, says: Which is better is known
to the immortal gods; but I think that no man knows.  Wherefore all the
sects of philosophers must be far removed from the truth, because they
who established them were men; nor can those things have any foundation
or firmness which are unsupported by any utterances of divine voices.

CHAP. III.--OF NATURE, AND OF THE WORLD; AND A CENSURE OF THE STOICS AND
EPICUREANS.

 And since we are speaking of the errors of philosophers, the Stoics
divide nature into two parts--the one which effects, the other which
affords itself tractable for action.  They say that in the former is
contained all the power of perception, in the latter the material, and
that the one cannot act without the other.  How can that which handles
and that which is handled be one and the same thing?  If any one should
say that the potter is the same as the clay, or that the clay is the
same as the potter, would he not plainly appear to be mad?  But these
men comprehend under the one name of nature two things which are most
widely different, God and the world, the Maker and the work; and say
that the one can do nothing without the other, as though God were mixed
up in nature with the world.  For sometimes they so mix them together,
that God Himself is the mind of the world, and that the world is the
body of God; as though the world and God began to exist at the same
time, and God did not Himself make the world.  And they themselves also
confess this at other times, when they say that it was made for the sake
of men, and that God could, if He willed it, exist without the world,
inasmuch as God is the divine and l eternal mind, separate and free from
a body.  And since they were unable to understand His power and majesty,
they mixed Him(5) with the world, that is, with His own work.  Whence is
that saying of Virgil:(6)--

 "A spirit whose celestial flame

 Glows in each member of the frame,

 And stirs the mighty whole."

197

What, then, becomes of their own saying, that the world was both made
and is governed by the divine providence?  For if He made the world, it
follows that He existed without the world; if He governs it, it is plain
that it is not as the mind governs the body, but as a master rules the
house, as a pilot the ship, as a charioteer the chariot.  Nor, however,
are they mixed with those things which they govern.  For if all these
things which we see are members of God, then God is rendered insensible
by them, since the members are without sensibility, and mortal, since we
see that the members are mortal.

 I can enumerate how often lands shaken by sudden motions(1) have either
opened or sunk down precipitously; how often cities and islands have
been overwhelmed by waves, and gone into the deep; marshes have
inundated fruitful plains, rivers and pools have been dried up;(2)
mountains also have either fallen precipitously, or have been levelled
with plains.  Many districts, and the foundations of many mountains, are
laid waste by latent and internal fire.  And this is not enough, if God
does not spare His own members, unless it is permitted man also to have
some power over the body of God.  Seas are built up, mountains are cut
down, and the innermost bowels of the earth are dug out to draw forth
riches.  Why, should I say that we cannot even plough without lacerating
the divine body?  So that we are at once wicked and impious in doing
violence to the members of God.  Does God, then, suffer His body to be
harassed, and endure to weaken Himself, or permit this to be done by
man?  Unless by chance that divine intelligence which is mixed with the
world, and with all parts of the world, abandoned the first outer
aspect(3) of the earth, and plunged itself into the lowest depths, that
it might be sensible of no pain from continual laceration.  But if this
is trifling and absurd, then they themselves were as devoid of
intelligence as those are who have not perceived that the divine spirit
is everywhere diffused, and that all things are held together by it, not
however in such a manner that God, who is incorruptible, should Himself
be mixed with heavy and corruptible elements.  Therefore that is more
correct which they derived from Plato, that the world was made by God,
and is also governed by His providence.  It was therefore befitting that
Plato, and those who held the same opinion, should teach and explain
what was the cause, what the reason, for the contriving of so great a
work; why or for the sake of whom He made it.

 But the Stoics also say the world was made for the sake of men I hear
But Epicurus is ignorant on what account or who made men themselves.
For Lucretius, when he said that the world was not made by the gods,
thus spoke:(4)

 "To say, again, that for the sake of men they have willed to set in
order the glorious nature of the world"--

then he introduced:--

 "Is sheer folly.  For what advantage can our gratitude bestow on
immortal and blessed beings, that for our, sake they should take in hand
to administer aught?"

And with good reason.  For they brought forward no reason why the human
race was created or established by God.  It is our business to set forth
the mystery of the world and man, of which they, being destitute, were
able neither to reach nor see the shrine of truth.  Therefore, as I said
a little before, when they had assumed that which was true, that is,
that the world was made by God, and was made for the sake of men, yet,
since their argument failed them in the consequences, they were unable
to defend that which they had assumed.  In fine, Plato, that he might
not make the work of God weak and subject to ruin, said that it would
remain for ever.  If it was made for the sake of men, and so made as to
be eternal, why then are not they on whose account it was made eternal?
If they are mortal on account of whom it was made, it must also itself
be mortal and subject to dissolution, for it is not of more value than
those for whose sake it was made.  But if his argument(5) were
consistent, he would understand that it must perish because it was made,
and that nothing can remain for ever except that which cannot be
touched.

 But he who says that it was not made for the sake of men has no
argument.  For if he says that the Creator contrived these works of such
magnitude on His own account, why then were we produced?  Why do we
enjoy the world itself?  what means the creation of the human race, and
of the other living creatures?  why do we intercept the advantages of
others?  why, in short, do we grow, decrease, and perish?  What reason
is implied in our production itself?  what in our perpetual succession?
Doubtless God wished us to be seen, and to frame, as it were,
impressions(6) with various representations of Himself, with which He
might delight Himself.  Nevertheless, if it were so, He would esteem
living creatures as His care, and especially man.  to whose command He
made all things subject.  But with regard to those who say that the
world always existed: I omit that point, that itself cannot exist
without some beginning, from which they are unable to extricate
themselves; but I

198

say this, if the world always existed, it can have no systematic
arrangement.  For what could arrangement have effected in that which
never had a beginning?  For before anything is done or arranged, there
is need of counsel that it may be determined how it should be done; nor
can anything be done without the foresight of a settled plan.  Therefore
the plan precedes every work.  Therefore that which has not been made
has no plan.  But the world has a plan by which it both exists and is
governed; therefore also it was made: if it was made, it will also be
destroyed.  Let them therefore assign a reason, I if they can, why it
was either made in the beginning or will hereafter be destroyed.

 And because Epicurus or Democritus was unable to teach this, he said
that it was produced of its own accord, the seeds(2) coming together in
all directions; and that when these are again resolved, discord and
destruction will follow.  Therefore he perverted(3) that which he had
correctly seen, and by his ignorance of system entirely overthrew the
whole system, and reduced the world, and all things which are done in
it, to the likeness of a most trifling dream, if no plan exists in human
affairs.  But since the world and all its parts, as we see, are governed
by a wonderful plan; since the framing of the heaven, and the course of
the stars and of the heavenly bodies, which is harmonious(4) even in
variety itself, the constant and wonderful arrangement of the seasons,
the varied fruitfulness of the lands, the level plains, the defences and
heapings up of mountains, the verdure and productiveness of the woods,
the most salubrious bursting forth of fountains, the seasonable over-
flowings of rivers, the rich and abundant flowing(5) in of the sea, the
opposite and useful breathing(6) of the winds, and all things, are fixed
with the greatest regularity: who is so blind as to think that they were
made without a cause, in which a wonderful disposition of most provident
arrangement shines forth?  If, therefore, nothing at all exists nor is
done without a cause; if the providence of the Supreme God is manifest
from the disposition of things, His excellency from their greatness, and
His power from their government: therefore they are dull and mad who
have said that there is no providence.  I should not disapprove if they
denied the existence of gods with this object, that they might affirm
the existence of one; but when they did it with this intent, that they
might say that there is none, he who does not think that they were
senseless is himself senseless.

CHAP. IV.--THAT ALL THINGS WERE CREATED FOR SOME USE, EVEN THOSE THINGS
WHICH APPEAR EVIL; ON WHAT ACCOUNT MAN ENJOYS REASON IN SO FRAIL A BODY.

 But we have spoken sufficiently on the subject of providence in the
first book.  For if it has any existence, as appears from the wonderful
nature of its works, it must be that the same providence created man and
the other animals.  Let us therefore see what reason there was for the
creation of the human race, since it is evident, as the Stoics say, that
the world was made for the sake of men, although they make no slight
error in this very matter, in saying it was not made for the sake of
man, but of men.  For the naming of one individual comprehends the whole
human race.  But this arises from the fact that they are ignorant that
one man only was made by God, and they think that men were produced in
all lands and fields like mushrooms.  But Hermes was not ignorant that
man was both made by God and after the likeness of God.  But I return to
my subject.  There is nothing, as I imagine, which was made on its own
account; but whatever is made at all must necessarily be made for some
purpose.  For who is there either so senseless or so unconcerned as to
attempt to do anything at random, from which he expects no utility, no
advantage?  He who builds a house does not build it merely for this
purpose, that it may be a house, but that it may be inhabited.  He who
builds a ship does not bestow his labour on this account, only that the
ship may be visible, but that men may sail in it.  Likewise he who
designs and forms any vessel does not do it on this account, that he may
only appear to have done it, hut that the vessel when made may contain
something necessary for use.  In like manner, other things, whatever are
made, are plainly not made superfluously, but for some useful purposes.

 It is plain, therefore, that the world was made by God, not on account
of the world itself; for since it is without sensibility, it neither
needs the warmth of the sun, or light, or the breath of the winds, or
the moisture of showers, or the nourishment of fruits.  But it cannot
even be said that God made the world for His own sake, since He can
exist without the world, as He did before it was made; and God Himself
does not make use of all those things which are contained in it, and
which are produced.  It is evident, therefore, that the world was
constructed for the sake of living beings, since living beings enjoy
those things of which it consists; and that these may live and exist,
all things necessary for them are supplied at fixed times.  Again, that
the other living beings were made for the sake of man, is plain from
this, that they are subservient

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to man, and were given for his protection and service; since, whether
they are of the earth or of the water, they do not perceive the system
of the world as man does.  We must here reply to the philosophers, and
especially to Cicero, who says: "Why should God, when He made all things
on our account, make so large a quantity of snakes and vipers?  why
should He scatter so many pernicious things by land and by sea?"  A very
wide subject for discussion, but it must be briefly touched upon, as in
passing.  Since man is formed of different and opposing elements, soul
and body, that is, heaven and earth, that which is slight and that which
is perceptible to the senses, that which is eternal and that which is
temporal, that which has sensibility and that which is senseless, that
which is endued with light and that which is dark, reason itself and
necessity require that both good and evil things should be set before
man--good things which he may use, and evil things which he may guard
against and avoid.

 For wisdom has been given to him on this account, that, knowing the
nature of good and evil things, he may exercise the force of his reason
in seeking the good and avoiding the evil.  For because wisdom was not
given to the other animals, they were both defended with natural
clothing and were armed; but in the place of all these He gave to man
that which was most excellent, reason only.  Therefore He formed him
naked and unarmed, that wisdom might be both his defence and covering.
He placed his defence and ornament not without, but within not in the
body, but in the heart Unless, therefore, there were evils which he
might guard against, and which he might distinguish from good and useful
things, wisdom was not necessary for him.  Therefore let Marcus Tullius
know that reason was either given to man that he might take fishes on
account of his own use, and avoid snakes and vipers for the sake of his
own safety; or that good and evil things were set before him on this
account, because he had received wisdom, the whole force of which is
occupied in distinguishing things good and evil.(1) Great, therefore,
and right, and admirable is the force, and reason, and power of man, for
whose sake God made the world itself and all things, as many as exist,
and gave him so much honour that He set him over all things, since he
alone could admire the works of God.  Most excellently, therefore, does
our Asclepiades,(2) in discussing the providence of the Supreme God in

that book which he wrote to me, say: "And on this account any one may
with good reason think that the divine providence gave the place nearest
to itself to him who was able to understand its arrangement.  For that
is the sun: who so beholds it as to understand why it is the sun, and
what amount of influence it has upon the other parts of the system?
this is the heaven, who looks up to it?  this is the earth, who inhabits
it?  this is the sea, who sails upon it?  this is fire, who makes use of
it?"  Therefore the Supreme God did not arrange these things on account
of Himself, because He stands in need of nothing, but on account of man,
who might fitly make use of them.

CHAP. V.--OF THE CREATION OF MAN, AND OF THE ARRANGEMENT OF THE WORLD,
AND OF THE CHIEF GOOD.

 Let us now assign the reason why He made man himself.  For if the
philosophers bad known this, they would either have maintained those
things which they had found to be true, or would not have fallen into
the greatest errors.  For this is the chief thing; this is the point on
which everything turns.  And if any one does not possess this, the truth
altogether glides away from him.  It is this, in short, which causes
them to be inconsistent with reason;(3)for if this had shone upon them,
if they had known all the mystery(4) of man, the Academy would never
have been in entire opposition(5) to their disputations, and to all
philosophy.As, therefore, God did not make the world for His own sake,
because He does not stand in need of its advantages, but for the sake of
man, who has the use of it, so also He made man himself for His own
sake.  What advantage is there to God in man, says Epicurus, that He
should make him for His own sake?  Truly, that there might be one who
might understand His works; who might be able both to admire with his
understanding, and to express with his voice, the foresight displayed in
their arrangement, the order of their creation, the power exerted in
their completion.  And the sum of all these things is, that he should
worship God.(6) For he who understands these things worships Him; he
follows Him with due veneration as the Maker of all things, He as his
true Father, who measures the excellence of His majesty according to the
invention, the commencement, and completion of His works.

200

What more evident argument can be brought forward that God both made the
world for the sake of man, and man for His own sake, than that he alone
of all living creatures has been so formed that his eyes are directed
towards heaven, his face looking towards God, his countenance is in
fellowship with his Parent, so that God appears, as it were, with
outstretched hand to have raised man from the ground, and to have
elevated him to the contemplation of Himself.  "What, then," he says,
"does the worship paid by man confer on God, who is blessed, and in want
of nothing?  Or if He gave such honour to man as to create the world for
his sake, to furnish him with wisdom, to make him lord of all things
living, and to love him as a son, why did He make him subject to death
and decay?  why did He expose the object of His love to all evils?  when
it was befitting that man should be happy, as though closely connected
with God, and everlasting as He is, to the worship and contemplation of
whom he was formed."

 Although we have taught these things for the most part in a scattered
manner in the former books, nevertheless, since the subject now
specially requires it, because we have undertaken to discuss the subject
of a happy life, these things are to be explained by us more carefully
and fully, that the arrangement made by God, and His work and will, may
be known.  Though He was always able by His own immortal Spirit to
produce innumerable souls, as He produced the angels, to whom there
exists immortality without any danger and fear of evils, yet He devised
an unspeakable work, in what manner He might create an infinite
multitude of souls, which being at first united with frail and feeble
bodies, He might place in the midst between good and evil, that He might
set virtue before them composed as they were of both natures; that they
might not attain to immortality by a delicate and easy course of life,
but might arrive at that unspeakable reward of eternal life with the
utmost difficulty and great labours.  Therefore, that He might clothe
them with limbs which were heavy and liable to injury,(1) since they
were unable to exist in the middle void, the weight and gravity of the
body sinking downwards, He determined that an abode and dwelling-place
should first be built for them.  And thus with unspeakable energy and
power He contrived the surpassing works of the world; and having
suspended the light elements on high, and depressed the heavy ones to
the depths below, He strengthened the heavenly things, and established
the earthly.  It is not necessary at present to follow out each point
separately, since we discussed them all together in the second book.

 Therefore He placed in the heaven lights, whose regularity, and
brightness, and motion, were most suitably proportioned to the advantage
of living beings.  Moreover, He gave to the earth, which He designed as
their dwelling-place, fruitfulness for bringing forth and producing
various, things, that by the abundance of fruits and green herbs it
might supply nourishment according to the nature and requirements of
each kind.  Then, when He had completed all things which belonged to the
condition of the world, He formed man from the earth itself, which He
prepared for him from the beginning as a habitation; that is, He clothed
and covered his spirit with an earthly body, that, being compacted of
different and opposing materials, he might be susceptible of good and
evil; and as the earth itself is fruitful for the bringing forth of
grain, so the body of man, which was taken from the earth, received the
power of producing offspring, that, inasmuch as he was formed of a
fragile substance, and could not exist for ever, when tim space of his
temporal life was past, he might depart, and by a perpetual succession
renew that which he bore, which was frail and feeble.  Why, then, did He
make him frail and mortal, when He had built the world for his sake?
First of all, that an infinite number of living beings might be
produced, and that He might fill all the earth with a multitude; in the
next place, that He might set before man virtue, that is, endurance of
evils and labours, by which he might be able to gain the reward of
immortality.  For since man consists of two parts, body and soul, of
which the one is earthly, the other heavenly, two lives have been
assigned to man: the one temporal, which is appointed for the body; the
other everlasting, which belongs to the soul.  We received the former at
our birth we attain to the latter by striving, that immortality might
not exist to man without any difficulty.  That earthly one is as the
body, and therefore has an end; but this heavenly one is as the soul,
and therefore has no limit.  We received the first when we were ignorant
of it, this second knowingly; for it is given to virtue, not to nature,
because God wished that we should procure life for ourselves in life.

 For this reason He has given us this present life, that we may either
lose that true and eternal life by our vices, or win it(3) by virtue.
The chief good is not contained in this bodily life, since, as it was
given to us by divine necessity, so it will again be destroyed by divine
necessity.  Thus that which has an end does not contain the chief good.
But the chief good is contained in that spiritual life which we acquire
by ourselves, because it cannot contain evil, or have

201

an end; to which subject nature and the system of the body afford an
argument.  For other animals incline towards the ground, because they
are earthly, and are incapable of immortality, which is from heaven; but
man is upright and looks towards heaven,[1] because immortality is
proposed to him; which, however, does not come, unless it is given to
man by God.  For otherwise there would be no difference between the just
and the unjust, since every man who is born would become immortal.
Immortality, then, is not the consequence[2] of nature, but the reward
and recompense of virtue.  Lastly, man does not immediately upon his
birth walk upright, but at first on all fours,[3] because the nature of
his body and of this present life is common to us with the dumb animals;
afterwards, when his strength is confirmed, he raises himself, and his
tongue is loosened so that he speaks plainly, and he ceases to be a dumb
animal.  And this argument teaches that man is born mortal; but that he
afterwards becomes immortal, when he begins to live in conformity with
the will[4] of God, that is, to follow righteousness,[5] which is
comprised in the worship of God, since God raised man to a view of the
heaven and of Himself.  And this takes place when man, purified in the
heavenly laver, lays aside[6] his infancy together with all the
pollution of his past life, and having received an increase of divine
vigour, becomes a perfect and complete man.

 Therefore, because God has set forth virtue before man, although the
soul and the body are connected together, yet they are contrary, and

oppose one another.  The things which are good for the soul are evil to
the body, that is, the avoiding of riches, the prohibiting of pleasures,
the contempt of pain and death.  In like manner, the things which are
good for the body are evil to the soul, that is, desire and lust, by
which riches are desired, and the enjoyments of various pleasures, by
which the soul is weakened and destroyed?  Therefore it is necessary,
that the just and wise man should be engaged in all evils, since
fortitude is victorious over evils; but the unjust in riches, in
honours, in power.  For these goods relate to the body, and are earthly;
and these men also lead an earthly life, nor are they able to attain to
immortality.  because they have given themselves up to pleasures which
are the enemies of virtue.  Therefore this temporal life ought to be
subject to that eternal life, as the body is to the soul.  Whoever,
then, prefers the life of the soul must despise the life of the body;
nor will he in any other way be able to strive after that which is
highest, unless he shall have despised the things which are lowest.  But
he who shall have embraced the life of the body, and shall have turned
his desires downwards[8] to the earth, is unable to attain to that
higher life.  But he who prefers to live well for eternity, will live
badly[9] for a time, and will be subjected to all troubles and labours
as long as he shall be on earth, that he may have divine and heavenly
consolation.  And he who shall prefer to live well[10] for a time, will
live ill to eternity; for he will be condemned by the sentence of God to
eternal punishment, be cause he has preferred earthly to heavenly goods.
On this account, therefore, God seeks to be worshipped, and to be
honoured by man as a Father, that he may have virtue and wisdom, which
alone produce' immortality.  For because no other but Himself is able to
confer that immortality, since He alone possesses it, He will grant[11]
to the piety of the man, with which he has honoured God, this reward, to
be blessed to all eternity, and to be for ever in the presence of God
and in the society of God.

N.B.--The following paragraphs to the end of the chapter are wanting m
many MSS., and it is very doubtful whether they were written
byLactantius.

 Nor can any one shelter himself under the pretext that the fault
belongs to Him who made both good and evil.  For why did He will that
evil should exist if He hated it?  Why did He not make good only, that
no one might sin, no one commit evil?  Although I have explained this in
almost all the former books, and have touched upon it, though slightly,
above, yet it must be mentioned repeatedly, because the whole matter
turns on this point.  For there could be no virtue unless He had made
contrary things; nor can the power of good be at all manifest, except
from a comparison with evil.  Thus evil is nothing else but the
explanation of good.  Therefore if evil is taken away, good must also be
taken away.  If you shall cut off

202

your left hand or foot, your body will not be entire, nor will life
itself remain the same.  Thus, for the due adjustment of the framework
of the body, the left members are most suitably joined with the right.
In like manner, if you make chessmen[1] all alike, no one will play.  If
you shall give one colour[2] only to the circus, no one will think it
worth while to be a spectator, all the pleasure of the Circensian games
being taken away.  For he who first instituted the games was a favourer
of one colour; but he introduced another as a rival, that there might be
a contest, and some partisanship[3] in the spectacle.  Thus God, when He
was fixing that which was good, and giving virtue, appointed also their
contraries, with which they might contend.  If an enemy and a fight be
wanting, there is no victory.  Take away a contest, and even virtue is
nothing.  How many are the mutual contests of men, and with what various
arts are they carried on!  No one, however, would be regarded as
surpassing in bravery, swiftness, or excellence, if he bad no adversary
with whom he might contend.  And where victory is wanting, there also
glory and the reward of victory must be absent together with it.
Therefore, that he might strengthen virtue itself by continual exercise,
and might make it perfect from its conflict with evils, He gave both
together, because each of the two without the other is unable to retain
its force.  Therefore there is diversity, on which the whole system of
truth depends.

 It does not escape my notice what may here be urged in opposition by
more skilful persons.  If good cannot exist without evil, how do you say
that, before he had offended God, the first man lived in the exercise of
good only, or that be will hereafter live in the exercise of good only?
This question is to be examined by us, for in the former books I omitted
it, that I might here fill up the subject.  We have said above that the
nature of man is made up of opposing elements; for the body, because it
is earth, is capable of being grasped, of temporary duration, senseless,
and dark.  But the soul, because it is from heaven, is unsubstantial,[4]
everlasting, endued with sensibility, and full of lustre;[5] and because
these qualities are opposed to one another, it follows of necessity that
man is subject to good and evil.  Good is ascribed to the soul, because
it is incapable of dissolution; evil to the body, because it is frail.
Since, therefore, the body and the soul are connected and united
together, the good and the evil must necessarily hold together; nor can
they be separated from one another, unless when they (the body and soul)
are separated.  Finally, the knowledge of good and of evil was given at
the same time to the first man; and when he understood this, he was
immediately driven from the holy place in which there is no evil; for
when he was conversant with that which was good only, he was ignorant
that this itself was good.  But after that he had received the knowledge
of good and evil, it was now unlawful for him to remain in that place of
happiness, and he was banished to this common world, that he might at
once experience both of those things with the nature of which he had at
once become acquainted.  It is plain, therefore, that wisdom has been
given to man that he may disitinguish good from evil--that he may
discriminate between things advantageous and things disadvantageous,
between things useful and things useless--that he may have judgment and
consideration as to what he ought to guard against, what to desire, what
to avoid, and what to follow.  Wisdom therefore cannot exist without
evil; and that first author[6] of the human race, as long as he was
conversant with good only, lived as an infant, ignorant of good and
evil.  But, indeed, hereafter man must be both wise and happy without
any evil; but this cannot take place as long as the soul is clothed with
the abode of the body.

 But when a separation shall have been made between the body and the
soul, then evil will be disunited from good; and as the body perishes
and the soul remains, so evil will perish and good be permanent.  Then
man, having received the garment of immortality, will be wise and free
from evil, as God is.  He, therefore, who wishes that we should be
conversant with good only, especially desires this, that we should live
without the body, in which evil is.  But if evil is taken away, either
wisdom, as I have said, or the body, will be taken from man; wisdom,
that he may be ignorant of evil; the body, that he may not be sensible
of it.  But now, since man is furnished with wisdom to know, and a body
to perceive, God willed that both should exist alike in this life, that
virtue and wisdom may be in agreement.  Therefore He placed man in the
midst, between both, that he might have liberty to follow either good or
evil.  But He mingled with evil some things which appear good, that is,
various and delightful enjoyments, that by the

203

enticements of these He might lead men to the concealed evil.  And He
likewise mingled with good some things which appear evil--that is,
hardships, and miseries, and labours--by the harshness and
unpleasantness of which the soul, being offended, might shrink back from
the concealed good.  But here the office of wisdom is needed, that we
may see more with the mind than with the body, which very few are able
to do; because while virtue is difficult and rarely to be found,
pleasure is common and public.  Thus it necessarily happens that the
wise man is accounted as a fool, who, while he seeks good things which
are not seen, permits those which are seen to slip from his hands; and
while he avoids evils which are not seen, runs into evils which are
before the eyes; which happens to us when we refuse neither torture nor
death in behalf of the faith, since we are driven to the greatest
wickedness, so as to betray the faith and deny the true God, and to
sacrifice to dead and death-bearing gods.  This is the cause why God
made man mortal, and made him subject to evils, although he had framed
the world for his sake, namely, that he might be capable of virtue, and
that his virtue might reward him with immortality.  Now virtue, as we
have shown, is the worship of the true God.

CHAP. VI.--WHY THE WORLD AND MAN WERE CREATED. HOW UNPROFITABLE IS THE
WORSHIP OF FALSE GODS.

 Now let us mark the whole argument by a brief definition.[1] The world
has been created for this purpose, that we may be born; we are born for
this end, that we may acknowledge the Maker of the world and of
ourselves--God; we acknowledge Him for this end, that we may worship
Him; we worship Him for this end that we may receive immortality as the
reward of our labours, since the worship of God consists of the greatest
labours; for this end we are rewarded with immortality, that being made
like to the angels, we may serve the Supreme Father and Lord for ever,
and may be to all eternity a kingdom to God.  This is the sum of all
things, this the secret of God, this the mystery of the world, from
which they are estranged, who, following present gratification, have
devoted themselves to the pursuit of earthly and frail goods, and by
means of deadly enjoyments have sunk as it were in mire and mud their
souls, which were born for heavenly pursuits.

 Let us now, in the next place, inquire whether there is anything
reasonable in the worship of these gods; for if they are many, if they
are worshipped only on this account by men, that they may afford them
riches, victories, honours, and all things, which are of no avail except
for the present; if we are produced without cause--if no providence is
employed in the production of men--if we are brought forth by chance for
ourselves, and for the sake of our own pleasure--if we are nothing after
death,--what can be so superfluous, so empty, so vain, as the affairs of
man, and the world itself?  which, though it is of incredible magnitude,
and constructed with such wonderful arrangement, is nevertheless
occupied with trifling subjects.  For why should the breathings of the
winds put the clouds in motion?  Why should lightnings shine forth,
thunders roar, or showers fall, that the earth may bring forth its
increase, and nourish its various productions?  Why, in short, should
all nature labour that nothing may be wanting of those things by which
the life of man is sustained, if it is vain, if we utterly perish, if
there is in us nothing of greater advantage to God?  But if it is
unlawful to be spoken, and is not to be thought possible, that that
which you see to be most in accordance with reason was not established
on account of some reason of importance, what reason can there be in
these errors of depraved religions, and in this persuasion of
philosophers, by which they imagine that souls perish?  Assuredly there
is none; for what have they to say why the gods so regularly supply to
men everything in its season?  Is it that we may present to them corn
and wine, and the odour of incense, and the blood of cattle?  Which
things cannot be acceptable to the immortals, because they are
perishable; nor can they be of use to beings destitute of bodies,
because these things have been given for the use of those possessed of
bodies; and yet if they required these things, they could bestow them
upon themselves when they wished.  Whether, therefore, souls perish or
exist for ever, what principle is involved in the worship of the gods,
or by whom was the world established?  Why, or when, or how long, or how
far were men produced, or on what account?  Why do they arise, die,
succeed one another, are renewed?  What do the gods obtain from the
worship of those who after death are about to have no existence?  What
do they perform, what do they promise, What do they threaten, which is
worthy of men or of gods?  Or if souls remain after death, what do they
do or are they about to do respecting them?  What need is there to them
of a treasure-house of souls?  From what source do they themselves
arise?  How, or why, or whence are they so many?  Thus it comes to pass,
that if yon depart from that sum of things which we comprised above, all
system is destroyed, and all things return[2] to nothing.

204

CHAP. VII.--OF THE VARIETY OF PHILOSOPHERS, AND THEIR TRUTH.

 And because the philosophers did not comprehend this main point, they
were neither able to comprehend truth, although they for the most part
both saw and explained those things of which the main point itself
consists.  But different persons brought forward all these things, and
in different ways, not connecting the causes of things, nor the
consequences, nor the reasons, so that they might join together and
complete that main point which comprises the whole.  But it is easy to
show that almost the whole truth has been divided by philosophers and
sects.  For we do not overthrow philosophy, as the Academics are
accustomed to do, whose plan was to reply to everything, which is rather
to calumniate and mock; but we show that no sect was so much out of the
way, and no philosopher so vain, as not to see something of the
truth.[1] But while they are mad with the desire of contradicting, while
they defend their own arguments even though false, and overthrow those
of others even though true, not only has the truth escaped from them,
which they pretended that they were seeking, but they themselves lost it
chiefly through their own fault.  But if there had been any one to
collect together the truth which was dispersed amongst individuals and
scattered amongst sects, and to reduce it to a body, he assuredly would
not disagree with us.  But no one is able to do this, unless he has
experience[2] and knowledge of the truth.  But to know the truth belongs
to him only who has been taught by God.  For he cannot in any other way
reject the things which are false, or choose and approve of those which
are true; but if even by chance he should effect this, he would most
surely act the part of the philosopher; and though he could not defend
those things by divine testimonies, yet the truth would explain itself
by its own light.  Wherefore the error of those is incredible, who, when
they have approved of any sect, and have devoted themselves to it,
condemn all others as false and vain, and arm themselves for battle,
neither knowing what they ought to defend nor what to refute; and make
attacks everywhere, without distinction,[3] upon all things which are
brought forward by those who disagree with them.

 On account of these most obstinate contentions of theirs, no philosophy
existed which made a nearer approach to the truth, for the whole truth
has been comprised by these in separate portions.[4] Plato said[5] that
the world was made by God: the prophets[6] speak the same; and the same
is apparent from the verses of the Sibyl.  They therefore are in error,
who have said either that all things were produced of their own accord
or from an assemblage of atoms;[7] since so great a world, so adorned
and of such magnitude, could neither have been made nor arranged and set
in order without some most skilful author, and that very arrangement by
which all things are perceived to be kept together and to be governed
bespeaks[8] an artificer with a most skilful mind.  The Stoics say that
the world, and all things which are in it, were made for the sake of
men: the sacred writings[9] teach us the same thing.  Therefore
Democritus was in error, who thought that they were poured forth from
the earth like worms, without any author or plan.  For the reason of
man's creation belongs to a divine mystery; and because he was unable to
know this, he drew[10] down man's life to nothing.  Aristo asserted that
men were born to the exercise of virtue; we are also reminded of and
learn the same from the prophets.  Therefore Aristippus is deceived, who
made man subject to pleasure, that is, to evil, as though he were a
beast.  Pherecydes and Plato contended that souls were immortal; but
this is a peculiar doctrine in our religion.  Therefore Dicaearchus was
mistaken, together with Democritus, who argued that souls perished with
the body and were dissolved, Zeno the Stoic taught that there were
infernal regions, and that the abodes of the good were separated from
the wicked; and that the former enjoyed peaceful and delightful regions,
but that the latter suffered punishment in dark places, and in dreadful
abysses of mire: the prophets show the same thing.  Therefore Epicurus
was mistaken, who thought that that was an invention[11] of the poets,
and explained those punishments of the infernal regions, which are
spoken of, as happening in this life.  Therefore the philosophers
touched upon the whole truth, and every secret of our holy religion; but
when others denied it, they were unable to defend that which they had
found, because the system did not agree[12] with the particulars; nor
were they able to reduce to a summary those things which they had
perceived to be true, as we have done above.

CHAP. VIII.--OF THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL.

 The one chief good, therefore, is immortality, for the reception of
which we were originally formed and born.  To this we direct our course;
human nature regards this; to this virtue exalts us.  And because we
have discovered this good, it remains that we should also speak of immor
-

205

tality itself.  The arguments of Plato, although they contribute much to
the subject, have little strength to prove and fill up the truth, since
he had neither summed up and collected into one the plan of the whole of
this great mystery, nor had he comprehended the chief good.  For
although he perceived the truth respecting the immortality of the soul,
yet he did not speak respecting it as though it were the chief good.
We, therefore, are able to elicit the truth by more certain signs; for
we have not collected it by doubtful surmise,[1] but have known it by
divine instruction.  Now Plato thus reasoned, that whatever has
perception by itself, and always moves, is immortal; for that that which
has no beginning of motion is not about to have an end, because it
cannot be deserted by itself.  But this argument would give eternal
existence even to dumb animals, unless he had made a distinction by the
addition of wisdom.  He added, therefore, that he might escape this
common[2] linking together, that the soul of man could not be otherwise
than immortal, since its wonderful skill in invention, its quickness in
reflection, and its readiness in perceiving and learning, its memory of
the past, and its foresight of the future, and its knowledge of
innumerable arts and subjects, which other living creatures do not
possess, appear divine and heavenly; because of the soul, which
conceives such great things, and contains such great things, no origin
can be found on earth, since it has nothing of earthly admixture united
with it.  But that which is ponderous in man, and liable to dissolution,
must be resolved into earth; whereas that which is slight and subtle is
incapable of division, and when freed from the abode of the body, as
from prison, it flies to the heaven, and to its own nature.  This is a
brief summary of the tenets of Plato, which are widely and copiously
explained in his own writings.

 Pythagoras also was previously of the same sentiments, and his teacher
Pherecydes, whom Cicero reported to have been the first who discoursed
respecting the immortality of the soul.  And although all these excelled
in eloquence, nevertheless in this contest at least, those who argued
against this opinion had no less authority; Dicaearchus first, then
Democritus, and lastly Epicurus: so that the matter itself, respecting
which they were contending, was called into doubt.  Finally, Tullius
also having set forth the opinions of all these respecting immortality
and death, declared that he did not know what was the truth.  "Which of
these opinions is true," he said, "some God may see."[3] And again he
says in another place: "Since each of these opinions had most learned
defenders, it cannot be divined what is certainty."  But we have no need
of divination, since the divinity itself has laid open to us the truth.

CHAP. IX.--OF THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL,

AND OF VIRTUE.

 By these arguments, therefore, which neither Plato nor any other
invented, the immorality of souls can be proved and perceived: which
arguments we will briefly collect, since my discourse hastens on to
relate the great judgment of God, which will be celebrated on the earth
at the approaching end of the world.[4] Before all things, since God
cannot be seen by man, lest any one should imagine from this
circumstance that God does not exist, because He was not seen by mortal
eyes, among other wonderful arrangements s He also made many things the
power of which is manifest, but the substance is not seen, as the voice,
smell, the wind, that by the token and example of these things we might
perceive God from His power and operation and works, although He did not
fall under the notice of our eyes.  What is clearer than the voice, or
stronger than the wind, or more forcible than smell?  Yet these, when
they are borne through the air and come to our senses, and impel them by
their efficacy, are not distinguished by the eyesight, but are perceived
by other parts of the body.  In like manner, God is not to be perceived
by us through the sight or other frail sense; but He is to be beheld by
the eyes of the mind, since we see His illustrious and wonderful works.
For as to those who have altogether denied the existence of God, I
should not only refuse to call them philosophers, but even deny them the
name of men, who, with a close resemblance to dumb animals, consisted of
body only, discerning nothing with their mind, and referring all things
to the bodily senses, who thought that nothing existed but that which
they beheld with their eyes.  And because they saw that adversity befell
the wicked, or prosperity happened to the good, they believed that all
things were carried on by fortune, and that the world was established by
nature, and not by providence.

 Hence they at once fell into the absurdities[6] which necessarily
followed such a sentiment.  But if there is a God who is incorporeal,
invisible, and eternal, therefore it is credible that the soul, since it
is not seen, does not perish after its departure from the body; for it
is manifest that something exists which perceives and is vigorous, and
yet does not come into sight.

206

But, it is said, it is difficult to comprehend with the mind how the
soul can retain its perception without those parts of the body in which
the office of perception is contained.  What about God?  Is it easy to
comprehend how He is vigorous without a body?  But if they believe in
the existence of gods who, if they exist, are plainly destitute of
bodies, it must be that human souls exist in the same way, since it is
perceived from reason itself, and discernment, that there is a certain
resemblance in man and God.  Finally, that proof which even Marcus
Tullius[1] saw is of sufficient strength: that the immortality of the
soul may be discerned from the fact that there is no other animal which
has any knowledge of God; and religion is almost the only thing which
distinguishes man from the dumb creation.  And since this falls to man
alone, it assuredly testifies that we may aim at, desire, and cultivate
that which is about to be familiar and very near.

 Can any one, when he has considered the nature of other animals, which
the providence of the Supreme God has made abject, with bodies bending
down and prostrated to the earth, so that it may be understood from this
that they have no intercourse with heaven, fail to understand that man
alone of all animals is heavenly and divine, whose body raised from the
ground,[2] elevated countenance, and upright position, goes in quest of
its origin, and despising, as it were, the lowliness of the earth,
reaches forth to that which is on high, because he perceives that the
highest good is to be sought by him in the highest place, and mindful of
his condition in which God made him illustrious, looks towards his
Maker?  And Trismegistus most rightly called this looking a
contemplation of God,[3] which has no existence in the dumb animals.
Since therefore wisdom, which is given to man alone, is nothing else but
the knowledge of God, it is evident that the soul does not perish, nor
undergo dissolution, but that it remains for ever, because it seeks
after and loves God, who is everlasting, by the impulse of its very
nature perceiving either from what source it has sprung, or to what it
is about to return.  Moreover, it is no slight proof of immortality that
man alone makes use of the heavenly element.  For, since the nature of
the world consists of two elements[4] which are opposed to one another--
fire and

water--of which the one is assigned to the heaven, the other to the
earth, the other living creatures, because they are of the earth and
mortal, make use of the element which is earthly and heavy: man alone
makes use of fire, which is an element light, rising upward,[5] and
heavenly.  But those things which are weighty depress to death, and
those which are light elevate to life; because life is on high, and
death below.  And as there cannot be light without fire, so there cannot
be life without light.  Therefore fire is the element of light and life;
from which it is evident that man who uses it is a partaker of an
immortal condition, because that which causes life is familiar to him.

 The gift of virtue also to man alone is a great proof that souls are
immortal.  For this will not be in accordance with nature if the soul is
extinguished; for it is injurious to this present life.  For that
earthly life, which we lead in common with dumb animals, both seeks
pleasure, by the varied and agreeable fruits of which it is delighted,
and avoids pain, the harshness of which, by its unpleasant sensations,
injures the nature of living beings, and endeavours to lead them to
death, which dissolves the living being.  If, therefore, virtue both
prohibits man from those goods which are naturally desired, and impels
him to endure evils which are naturally avoided, it follows that virtue
is an evil, and opposed to nature; and he must necessarily be judged
foolish who pursues it, since he injures himself both by avoiding
present goods, and by seeking equally evils, without hope of greater
advantage.  For when it is permitted us to enjoy the sweetest pleasures,
should we not appear to be without sense if we should not prefer to live
in lowliness, in want, in contempt and ignominy, or not to live at all,
but to be tormented with pain, and to die, when from these evils we
should gain nothing to compensate us for the pleasure which we have
given up?  But if virtue is not an evil, and acts honourably, inasmuch
as it despises vicious and shameful pleasures, and bravely, inasmuch as
it neither fears pain nor death, that it may discharge its duty,
therefore it must obtain some greater good than those things are which
it despises.  But when death has been undergone, what further good can
be hoped for except immortality?

CHAP. X.--OF VICES AND VIRTUES, AND OF LIFE

AND DEATH.

 Let us now in turn pass on to those things which are opposed to virtue,
that from these also the immortality of the soul may be inferred.  All
vices are for a time; for they are excited for the present.  The
impetuosity of anger is appeased when vengeance has been taken; the
pleasure of the body puts an end[6] to lust; desire is destroyed either
by the full enjoyment of the ob-

207

jects which it seeks, or by the excitement of other affections;
ambition, when it has gained the honours which it wished for, loses[1]
its strength; likewise the other vices are unable to stand their ground
and remain, but they are ended by the very enjoyment which they desire.
Therefore they withdraw and return.  But virtue is perpetual, without
any intermission; nor can he who has once taken it up depart from it.
or if it should have any interruption[2] if we can at any time do
without it, vices, which always oppose virtue, will return.  Therefore
it has not been grasped, if it deserts its post, if at any time it
withdraws itself.  But when it has established for itself a firm abode,
it must necessarily be engaged in every act; nor can it faithfully drive
away and put to flight vices, unless it shall fortify with a perpetual
guard the breast which it inhabits.  Therefore the uninterrupted
duration[3] of virtue itself shows that the soul of man, if it has
received virtue, remains permanent, because virtue is perpetual, and it
is the human mind alone which receives virtue.  Since, therefore, vices
are contrary to virtue, the whole systems must of necessity differ from
and be contrary to each other.  Because vices are commotions and
perturbations of the soul; virtue, on the contrary, is mildness and
tranquillity of mind.  Because vices are temporary, and of short
duration; virtue is perpetual and constant, and always consistent with
itself.  Because the fruits of vices, that is, pleasures, equally with
themselves, are short and temporary, therefore the fruit and reward of
virtue are everlasting.  Because the advantage of vices is immediate,
therefore that of virtue is future.

 Thus it happens that in this life there is no reward of virtue, because
virtue itself still exists.  For as, when vices are completed in their
performance, pleasure and their rewards follow; so, when virtue has been
ended, its reward follows.  But virtue is never ended except by death,
since its highest office is in the undergoing of death: therefore the
reward of virtue is after death.  In fine, Cicero, in his Yusculan
Disputations,[4] perceived, though with doubt, that the chief good does
not happen to man except after death.  "A man will go," he says, "with
confident spirit, if circumstances shall so happen, to death in which we
have ascertained that there is either the chief good or no evil."
Death, therefore, does not extinguish man, but admits him to the reward
of virtue.  But he who has contaminated himself,[5] as the same writer
says, with vices and crimes, and has been the slave of pleasure, he
truly, being condemned, shall suffer eternal punishment, which the
sacred writings call the second death, which is both eternal and full of
the severest torments.[6] For as two lives are proposed to man, of which
the one belongs to the soul, the other to the body; so also two deaths
are proposed,--one relating to the body, which all must undergo
according to nature, the other relating to the soul, which is acquired
by wickedness and avoided by virtue.  As this life is temporary and has
fixed limits, because it belongs to the body; so also death is in like
manner temporary and has a fixed end, because it affects the body.

 CHAP. XI.--OF THE LAST TIMES, AND OF THE SOUL AND BODY.

 Therefore, when the times which God has appointed for death shall be
completed, death itself shall be ended.  And because temporal death
follows temporal life, it follows that souls rise again to everlasting
life, because temporal death has received an end.  Again, as the life of
the soul is everlasting, in which it receives the divine and unspeakable
fruits of its immortality; also its death must be eternal, in which it
suffers perpetual punishments and infinite torments for its faults.
Therefore things are in this position, that they who are happy in this
life, pertaining to the body and the earth, are about to be miserable
for ever, because they have already enjoyed the good things which they
preferred, which happens to those who adore false gods and neglect the
true God.  In the next place, they who, following righteousness, have
been miserable, and despised, and poor in this life, and have often been
harassed with insults and injuries on account of righteousness itself,
because virtue cannot otherwise be attained, are about to be always
happy, that since they have already endured evils, they may also enjoy
goods.  Which plainly happens to those who, having despised gods of the
earth and frail goods, follow the heavenly religion of God, whose goods
are everlasting, as He Himself who gave them.  What shall I say of the
works of the body and soul?  Do not they show that the soul is not
subject to death?  For, as to the body, since it is itself frail and
mortal, whatever works it contrives are equally perishable.  For Tullius
says that there is nothing which is wrought by the hands of man which is
not at some time reduced to destruction, either through injury caused by
men, or through length of time, which is the destroyer of all things.

 But truly we see that the productions of the mind are immortal.  For as
many as, devoting themselves to the contempt of present things,

208

have handed down to memory the monuments of their genius and great
deeds, have plainly gained by these an imperishable name for their mind
and virtue.  Therefore, if the deeds of the body are mortal for this
reason, because the body itself is mortal, it follows that the soul is
shown to be immortal from this, because we see that its productions are
not mortal.  In the same manner also, the desires of the body and of the
soul declare that the one is mortal, the other everlasting.  For the
body desires nothing except what is temporal, that is, food, drink,
clothing, rest, and pleasure; and it cannot desire or attain to these
very things without the assent and assistance[1] of the soul.  But the
soul of itself desires many things which do not extend[2] to the duty or
enjoyment of the body; and those are not frail, but eternal, as the fame
of virtue, as the remembrance of the name.  For the soul even in
opposition to the body desires the worship of God, which consists in
abstinence from desires and lusts, in the enduring of pain, in the
contempt of death.  From which it is credible that the soul does not
perish, but is separated from the body, because the body can do nothing
without the soul, but the soul can do many and great things without the
body.  Why should I mention that those things which are visible to the
eyes, and capable of being touched by the hand, cannot be eternal,
because they admit of external violence; but those things which neither
come under the touch nor tinder the sight, but are apparent only in
their force and method and effect, are eternal because they suffer no
violence from without?  But if the body is mortal on this account,
because it is equally open to the sight and to the touch, therefore the
soul is immortal for this reason, because it can be neither touched nor
seen.

CHAP. XII.--OF THE SOUL AND THE BODY, AND OF THEIR UNION AND SEPARATION
AND RETURN.

 Now let us refute the arguments of those who maintain the opposite
opinions, which Lucretius has related in his third book.  Since, he
says, the soul is born together with the body, it must necessarily die
with the body.  But the two cases are not similar.  For the body is
solid, and capable of being grasped[3] both by the eyes and the hand;
but the soul is slight,[4] and eluding the touch and sight.  The body is
formed from the earth, and made firm; the soul has in it nothing
concrete, nothing of earthly weight, as Plato maintained.  For it could
not have such great force, such great skill, such great rapidity, unless
it derived its origin from heaven.  The body, therefore, since it is
made up of a ponderous and corruptible element, and is tangible and
visible, is corrupted and dies; nor is it able to repel violence,
because it comes under the sight and under the touch; but the soul,
which by its slightness avoids all touch, can be dissolved by no attack.
Therefore, although they are joined and connected together from birth,
and the one which is formed of earthly material[5] is, as it were, the
vessel of the other, which is drawn out from heavenly fineness, when any
violence has separated the two, which separation is called death, then
each returns into its own nature; that which was of earth is resolved
into earth; that which is of heavenly breath remains fixed, and
flourishes always, since the divine spirit is everlasting.  In fine, the
same Lucretius, forgetting what he asserted, and what dogma he defended,
wrote these verses:[6]--

"That also which before was from the earth passes back into the earth,
and that which was sent from the borders of ether is carried again by
the quarters of heaven."[7]

But this language was not for him to employ, who contended that souls
perished with the bodies; but he was overcome by the truth, and the true
system stole upon him unawares.  Moreover, that very inference which he
draws, that the soul suffers dissolution, that is, that it perishes
together with the body, since they are produced together, is both false,
and is capable of being turned to the opposite direction.  For the body
does not perish together with the soul; but when the soul departs it
remains entire for many days.  and frequently by medical preparations it
remains entire for a very long time.  For if they both perished
together, as they are produced together, the soul would not hastily
depart and desert the body, but both would be dispersed alike at one
point of time; and the body also, while the breath still remained in it,
would dissolve and perish as quickly as the soul departs: yes, truly,
the body, being dissolved, the soul would vanish, as moisture poured
forth from a broken vessel.  For if the earthly and frail body after the
departure of the soul does not immediately flow away and waste into
earth, from which it has its origin, therefore the soul, which is not
frail, endures to eternity, since its origin is eternal.  He says, since
the understanding increases in boys, and is vigorous in young men, and
is lessened in the aged, it is evident that it is mortal.  First, the
soul is not the same thing as the mind; for it is one thing that we
live, another that we reflect.  For it is the mind of those who are
asleep which is at rest,[8] not

209

the soul; and in those who are mad, the mind is extinguished, the soul
remains; and therefore they are not said to be without a soul, but to be
deprived of their mind.[1] Therefore the mind, that is, the
understanding, is either increased or lessened according to age.  The
soul is always in its own condition; and from the time when it receives
the power of breathing, it remains the same even to the end, until,
being sent forth from the confinement of the body, it flies back to its
own abode.  In the next place, the soul, although inspired by God, yet,
because it is shut up in a dark abode of earthly flesh, does not possess
knowledge, which belongs to divinity.  Therefore it hears and learns all
things, and receives wisdom by learning and hearing; and old age does
not lessen wisdom, but increases it, if the age of youth has been passed
in virtue; and if excessive old age shall have enfeebled the limbs, it
is not the fault of the mind if the sight has vanished, if the tongue
has become benumbed, if the hearing has grown deaf, but it is the fault
of the body.  But, it is said, the memory fails.  What wonder, if the
mind is oppressed by the ruin of the falling house, and forgets the
past, not about to be divine on any other condition than if it shall
have escaped the prison in which it is confined?

 But the soul, be says, is also subject to pain and grief, and loses its
senses through drunkenness, whence it is evidently frail and mortal.  On
this account, therefore, virtue and wisdom are necessary, that both
grief, which is contracted by the suffering and the sight of unworthy
objects, may be repelled by fortitude, and that pleasure may be
overcome, not only by abstaining from drinking, but also from other
things.  For if it be destitute of virtue, if it be given up to
pleasure, and thus rendered effeminate, it will become subject to death,
since virtue, as we have shown, is the contriver of immortality, as
pleasure is of death.  But death, as I have set forth, does not entirely
extinguish and destroy, but visits with eternal torments.  For the soul
cannot entirely perish, since it received its origin from the Spirit of
God, which is eternal.  The soul, he says, is sensible even of disease
of the body, and suffers forgetfulness of itself; and as it grows ill,
so also it is often healed.  This is therefore the reason why virtue is
especially to be used, that the mind--not the soul[2]--may not be
harassed by any pain of the body, or undergo oblivion of itself.  And
since this has its seat in a certain part of the body, when any violence
of disease has vitiated that part, it is moved from its place; and as
though shaken, it departs from its station,

about to return when a cure and health shall have remodelled its abode.
For, since the soul is united with the body, if it is destitute of
virtue, it grows sick by the contagion of the body, and from sharing its
frailty the weakness extends to the mind.  But when it shall be
disunited from the body it will flourish by itself; nor will it now be
assailed by any, condition of frailty, because it has laid aside its
frail covering.  As the eye, he says, when torn out and separated from
the body, can see nothing, so also the soul, when separated, can
perceive nothing, because it is itself also a part of the body.  This is
false, and dissimilar to the case supposed; for the soul is not a part
of the body, but in the body.  As that which is contained in a vessel is
not a part of the vessel, and these things which are in a house are not
said to be a part of the house; so the mind is not a part of the body,
because the body is either the vessel or the receptacle of the soul.

 Now, that is a much more empty argument which says that the soul
appears to be mortal because it is not quickly sent forth from the body,
but gradually unfolds itself from all the members, beginning from the
extremity of the feet; as though, if it were eternal, it would burst
forth in a single moment of time, which takes place in those who die by
the sword.  But they who are slain by disease are longer in breathing
forth their spirit, so that as the limbs grow cold the soul is breathed
forth.  For, since it is contained in the material of the blood, as
light is in the oil, that material being consumed by the heat of fevers,
the extremities of the limbs must grow cold; since the more slender
veins are extended into the extremities of the body, and the extreme and
smaller streams are dried up when the fountain-spring fails.  It must
not, however, be supposed that, because the perception of the body
fails, the sensibility of the soul is extinguished and perishes.  For it
is not the soul that becomes senseless when the body fails, but it is
the body which becomes senseless when the soul takes its departure,
because it draws all sensibility with it.  But since the soul by its
presence gives sensibility to the body, and causes it to live, it is
impossible that it should not live and perceive by itself, since it is
in itself both consciousness and life.  For as to that which says,

"But if our mind were immortal, it would not when dying complain so much
of its dissolution as it would rejoice in passing abroad and quitting
its vesture like a snake,"[3]

I never saw any one who complained of his dissolution in death; but he
perhaps had seen some Epicurean philosophizing even in death,

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and with his latest breath discoursing about his dissolution.

 How can it be known whether he feels that he is in a state of
dissolution, or that he is being set free from the body, when his tongue
grows dumb at his departure?  For as long as he perceives and has the
power of speech, he is not yet dissolved; when he has suffered
dissolution, he is now unable either to perceive or to speak, so that
either he is not yet able to complain of his dissolution, or he is no
longer able.  But, it is said, he understands before he undergoes
dissolution, that he must undergo it.  Why should I mention that we see
many of the dying, not complaining that they are undergoing dissolution,
but testifying that they are passing out, and setting forth on their
journey and walking?  and they signify this by gesture, or if they still
are able, they express it also by their voice.  From which it is evident
that it is not a dissolution which takes place, but a separation; and
this shows that the soul continues to exist.  Other arguments of the
Epicurean system are opposed to Pythagoras, who contends that souls
migrate from bodies worn out with old age and death, and gain
admission[1] into those which are new and recently born; and that the
same souls are always reproduced at one time in a man, at another time
in a sheep, at another in a wild beast, at another in a bird; and that
they are immortal on this account, because they often change their
abodes, consisting of various and dissimilar bodies.  And this opinion
of a senseless man, since it is ridiculous and more worthy of a stage-
player than of a school of philosophy, ought not even to have been
refuted seriously; for he who does this appears to be afraid lest any
one should believe it.  Therefore we must pass by those things which
have been discussed in behalf of falsehood against falsehood; it is
sufficient to have refuted those things which are against the truth.

 CHAP. XIII.--OF THE SOUL, AND THE TESTIMONIES CONCERNING ITS ETERNITY.

 I have made it evident, as I think, that the soul is not subject to
dissolution.  It remains that I bring forward witnesses by whose
authority my arguments may be confirmed.  And I will not now allege the
testimony of the prophets, whose system and divination consist in this
alone, the teaching that man was created for the worship of God.  and
for receiving immortality from Him; but I will rather bring forward
those whom they who reject the truth cannot but believe.  Hermes,
describing the nature of man, that he might show how he was made by God,
introduced this statement: "And the same

out of two natures--the immortal and the mortal--made one nature, that
of man, making the same partly immortal, and partly mortal; and bringing
this, he placed it in the midst, between that nature which was divine
and immortal, and that which was mortal and changeable, that seeing all
things, he may admire all things."  But some one may perhaps reckon him
in the number of the philosophers, although he has been placed among the
gods, and honoured by the Egyptians under the name of Mercury, and may
give no more authority to him than to Plato or Pythagoras.  Let us
therefore seek for greater testimony.  A certain Polites asked Apollo of
Miletus whether the soul remains after death or goes to dissolution; and
he replied in these verses:--

"As long as the soul is bound by fetters to the body, perceiving
corruptible sufferings, it yields to mortal pains; but when, after the
wasting of the body, it has found a very swift dissolution of mortality,
it is altogether borne into the air, never growing old, and it remains
always uninjured; for the first-born providence of God made this
disposition."

What do the Sibylline poems say?  Do they not declare that this is so,
when they say that the time Will come when God will judge the living and
the dead?--whose authority we will hereafter bring forward.[2] Therefore
the opinion entertained by Democritus, and Epicurus, and Dicaearchus
concerning the dissolution of the soul is false; and they would not
venture to speak concerning the destruction of souls, in the presence of
any magician, who knew that souls are called forth from the lower
regions by certain incantations, and that they are at hand, and afford
themselves to be seen by human eyes, and speak, and foretell future
events; and if they should thus venture, they would be overpowered by
the fact itself, and by proofs presented to them.  But because they did
not comprehend the nature of the soul, which is so subtle that it
escapes the eyes of the human mind, they said that it perishes.  What of
Aristoxenus, who denied that there is any soul at all, even while it
lives in the body?  But as on the lyre harmonious sound, and the strain
which musicians call harmony, is produced by the tightening of the
strings, so he thought that the power of perception existed in bodies
from the joining together of the vitals, and from the vigour of the
limbs; than which nothing can be said more senseless.  Truly he had his
eyes uninjured, but his heart was blind, with which he did not see that
he lived, and had the mind by which he had conceived that very thought.
But this has happened to many philosophers,

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that they did not believe in the existence of any object which is not
apparent to the eyes; whereas the sight of the mind ought to be much
clearer than that of the body, for perceiving those things the force and
nature of which are rather felt than seen.

CHAP. XIV.--OF THE FIRST AND LAST TIMES OF THE WORLD.

 Since we have spoken of the immortality of the soul, it follows that we
teach how and when it is given to man; that in this also they may see
the errors of their perverseness and folly, who imagine that some
mortals have become gods by the decrees and dogmas of mortals; either
because they had invented arts, or because they had taught the use of
certain productions of the earth, or because they had discovered things
useful for the life of men, or because they had slain savage beasts.
How far these things were from deserving immortality we have both shown
in the former books, and we will now show, that it may be evident that
it is righteousness alone which procures for man eternal life, and that
it is God alone who bestows the reward of eternal life.  For they who
are said to have been immortalized by their merits, inasmuch as they
possessed neither righteousness nor any true virtue, did not obtain for
themselves immortality, but death by their sins and lusts; nor did they
deserve the reward of heaven, but the punishment of hell, which impends
over them, together with all their worshippers.  And I show that the
time of this judgment draws near, that the due reward may be given to
the righteous, and the deserved punishment may be inflicted on the
wicked.

 Plato and many others of the philosophers, since they were ignorant of
the origin of all things, and of that primal period at which the world
was made, said that many thousands of ages had passed since this
beautiful arrangement of the world was completed; and in this they
perhaps followed the Chaldeans, who, as Cicero has related in his first
book respecting divination,[1] foolishly say[2] that they possess
comprised in their memorials four hundred and seventy thousand years; in
which matter, because they thought that they could not be convicted,
they believed that they were at liberty[3] to speak falsely.  But we,
whom the Holy Scriptures instuct to the knowledge of the truth, know the
beginning and the end of the world, respecting which we will now speak
in the end of our work, since we have explained respecting the beginning
in the second book.  Therefore let the philosophers, who enumerate
thousands of

ages from the beginning of the world, know that the six thousandth year
is not yet completed, and that when this number is completed the
consummation must take place, and the condition of human affairs be
remodelled for the better, the proof of which must first be related,
that the matter itself may be plain.  God completed the world and this
admirable work of nature in the space of six days, as is contained in
the secrets of Holy Scripture, and consecrated the seventh day, on which
He had rested from His works.  But this is the Sabbath-day, which in the
language of the Hebrews received its name from the number,[4] whence the
seventh is the legitimate and complete number.  For there are seven
days, by the revolutions of which in order the circles of years are made
up; and there are seven stars which do not set, and seven luminaries
which are called planets,[5] whose differing and unequal movements are
believed to cause the varieties of circumstances and times.[6]

 Therefore, since all the works of God were completed in six days, the
world must continue in its present state through six ages, that is, six
thousand years.  For the great day of God is limited by a circle of a
thousand years, as the prophet shows, who says[7] "In Thy sight, O Lord,
a thousand years are as one day."  And as God laboured during those six
days in creating such great works, so His religion and truth must labour
during these six thousand years, while wickedness prevails and bears
rule.  And again, since God, having finished His works, rested the
seventh day and blessed it, at the end of the six thousandth year all
wickedness must be abolished from the earth, and righteousness reign for
a thousand years; and there must be tranquillity and rest from the
labours which the world now has long endured.  But how that will come to
pass I will explain in its order.  We have often said that lesser things
and things of small importance are figures and previous shadowings forth
of great things; as this day of ours, which is bounded by the rising and
the setting of the sun, is a representation[8] of that great clay to
which the circuit of a thousand years affixes its limits.[9]

 In the same manner also the fashioning of the earthly man held forth to
the future the formation of the heavenly people.  For as, when all
things were completed which were contrived for the use of man, last of
all, on the sixth day, He

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made man also, and introduced him into this world as into a home now
carefully prepared; so now on the great sixth day the true man is being
formed by the word of God, that is, a holy people is fashioned for
righteousness by the doctrine and precepts of God.  And as then a mortal
and imperfect man was formed from the earth, that he might live a
thousand years in this world; so now from this earthly age is formed a
perfect man, that being quickened by God, he may bear rule in this same
world through a thousand years.  But in what manner the consummation
will take place, and what end awaits the affairs of men, if any one
shall examine the divine writings he will ascertain.  But the voices
also of prophets of the world, agreeing with the heavenly, announce the
end and overthrow of all things after a short time, describing as it
were the last old age of the wearied and wasting world.  But the things
which are said by prophets and seers to be about to happen before that
last ending comes upon the world, I will subjoin, being collected and
accumulated from all quarters.

 CHAP, XV.--OF THE DEVASTATION OF THE WORLD AND CHANGE OF THE EMPIRES.

 It is contained in the mysteries of the sacred writings, that a prince
of the Hebrews, compelled by want of corn, passed into Egypt with all
his family and relatives.  And when his posterity, remaining long in
Egypt, had increased into a great nation, and were oppressed by the
heavy and intolerable yoke of slavery, God smote Egypt with an incurable
stroke, and freed His people, leading them through the midst of the sea,
when, the waves being cut asunder and parted on either side, the people
went over on dry ground.  And the king of the Egyptians endeavouring to
follow them as they fled, the sea returning to its place, he was cut
off, with all his people.  And this deed so illustrious and so
wonderful, although for the present it displayed to men the power of
God, was also a foreshadowing and figure of a greater deed, which the
same God was about to perform at the last consummation of the times, for
He will free His people from the oppressive bondage of the world.  But
since at that time the people of God were one, and in one nation only,
Egypt only was smitten.  But now, because the people of God are
collected out of all languages, and dwell among all nations, and are
oppressed by those hearing rule over them, it must come to pass that all
nations, that is, the whole world, be beaten with heavenly stripes, that
the righteous people, who are worshippers of God, may be set free.  And
as then signs were given by which the coming destruction was shown to
the Egyptians, so at the last time wonderful prodigies will take place
throughout all the elements of the world, by which the impending
destruction may be understood by all nations.

 Therefore, as the end of this world approaches, the condition of human
affairs must undergo a change, and through the prevalence of wickedness
become worse; so that now these times of ours, in which iniquity and
impiety have increased even to the highest degree, may be judged happy
and almost golden in comparison of that incurable evil.  For
righteousness will so decrease, and impiety, avarice, desire, and lust
will so greatly increase, that if there shall then happen to be any good
men, they will be a prey to the wicked, and will be harassed on all
sides by the unrighteous; while the wicked alone will be in opulence,
but the good will be afflicted in all calumnies and in want.  All
justice will be confounded, and the laws will be destroyed.  No one will
then have anything except that which has been gained or defended by the
hand: boldness and violence will possess all things.  There will be no
faith among men, nor peace, nor kindness, nor shame, nor truth; and thus
also there will be neither security, nor government, nor any rest from
evils.  For all the earth will be in a state of tumult; wars will
everywhere rage; all nations will he in arms, and will oppose one
another; neighbouring states will carry on conflicts with each other;
and first of all, Egypt will pay the penalties of her foolish
superstitions, and will be covered with blood as if with a river.  Then
the sword will traverse the world, mowing down everything, and laying
low all things as a crop.  And--my mind dreads to relate it, but I will
relate it, because it is about to happen--the cause of this desolation
and confusion will be this; because the Roman name, by which the world
is now ruled, will be taken away from the earth, and the government
return to Asia; and the East will again bear rule, and the West he
reduced to servitude.[1] Nor ought it to appear wonderful to any one, if
a kingdom rounded with such vastness, and so long increased by so many
and such men, and in short strengthened by such great resources, shall
nevertheless at some time fall.  There is nothing prepared by human
strength which cannot equally he destroyed by human strength, since the
works of mortals are mortal.  Thus also other kingdoms in former times,
though they had long flourished, were nevertheless destroyed.  For it is
related that the Egyptians, and Persians, and Greeks, and Assyrians had
the government of the world; and after the destruction of them all, the
chief power came to the Romans also.  And inasmuch as they excel all
other kingdoms in magnitude, with so much

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greater an overthrow will they fall, because those buildings which are
higher than others have more weight for a downfall.[1]

 Seneca therefore not unskilfully divided the times of the Roman city by
ages.  For he said that at first was its infancy under King Romulus, by
whom Rome was brought into being, and as it were educated; then its
boyhood under the other kings, by whom it was increased and fashioned
with more numerous systems of instruction and institutions; but at
length, in the reign of Tarquinius, when now it had begun as it were to
be grown up, it did not endure slavery; and having thrown off the yoke
of a haughty tyranny, it preferred to obey laws rather than kings; and
when its youth was terminated by the end of the Punic war, then at
length with confirmed strength it began to be manly.[2] For when
Carthage was taken away, which was long its rival in power, it stretched
out its hands by land and sea over the whole world, until, having
subdued all kings and nations, when the materials[3] for war now failed,
it abused its strength, by which it destroyed itself.  This was its
first old age, when, lacerated by civil wars and oppressed by intestine
evil, it again fell back to the government of a single ruler, as it were
revolving to a second infancy.[4] For, having lost the liberty which it
had defended under the guidance and authority of Brutus, it so grew old,
as though it had no strength to support itself, unless it depended on
the aid of its rulers.  But if these things are so, what remains, except
that death follow old age?  And that it will so come to pass, the
predictions of the prophets briefly announce under the cover[5] of other
names, so that no one can easily understand them.  Nevertheless the
Sibyls openly say that Rome is doomed to perish, and that indeed by the
judgment of God, because it held His name in hatred; and being the enemy
of righteousness, it destroyed the people who kept[6] the truth.
Hystaspes also,who was a very ancient king of the Medes, from whom also
the river which is now called Hydaspes received its name, handed down to
the memory of posterity a wonderful dream upon the interpretation of a
boy who uttered divinations, announcing long before the founding of the
Trojan nation, that the Roman empire and name would be taken away from
the world.

CHAP. XVI.--OF THE DEVASTATION OF THE WORLD,

AND ITS PROPHETIC OMENS.[7]

 But, test any one should think this incredible, I will show how it will
come to pass.  First, the kingdom will be enlarged, and the chief power,
dispersed among many and divided,[8] will be diminished.  Then civil
discords will perpetually be sown; nor will there be any rest from
deadly wars, until ten kings arise at the same time, who will divide the
world, not to govern, but to consume it.  These, having increased their
armies to an immense extent, and having deserted the cultivation of the
fields, which is the beginning of overthrow and disaster, will lay waste
and break in pieces and consume all things.  Then a most powerful enemy
will suddenly arise against him from the extreme boundaries of the
northern region, who, having destroyed three of that number who shall
then be in possession of Asia, shall be admitted into alliance by the
others, and shall be constituted prince of all.  He shall harass the
world with an intolerable rule; shall mingle things divine and human;
shall contrive things impious to relate, and detestable; shall meditate
new designs in his breast, that he may establish the government for
himself: he will change the laws, and appoint his own; he will
contaminate, plunder, spoil, and put to death.  And at length, the name
being changed and the seat of government being transferred, confusion
and the disturbance of mankind will follow.  Then, in truth, a
detestable and abominable time shall come, in which life shall be
pleasant to none of men.

 Cities shall be utterly overthrown, and shall perish; not only by fire
and the sword, but also by continual earthquakes and overflowings of
waters, and by frequent diseases and repeated famines.  For the
atmosphere will be tainted, and become corrupt and pestilential--at one
time by unseasonable rains, at another by barren drought, now by colds,
and now by excessive heats.  Nor will the earth give its fruit to man:
no field, or tree, or vine will produce anything; but after they have
given the greatest hope in the blossom, they will fail in the fruit.
Fountains also shall be dried up, together with the rivers; so that
there shall not be a sufficient supply for drinking; and waters shall be
changed into blood or bitterness.  On account of these things, beasts
shall fail on the land, and birds in the air, and fishes in the sea.
Wonderful prodigies also in heaven shall confound the minds of men with
the greatest terrors, and the trains of comets, and the darkness of the
sun, and the colour of the moon, and the gliding of the falling stars.
Nor, however, will these things take place in the accustomed manner; but
there will suddenly appear stars unknown and unseen by the eyes; the sun
will be perpetually darkened, so that there will be scarcely any
distinction between the night and the day; the moon will now fail, not
for three hours only, but overspread with perpetual blood, will go
through extraordinary movements, so that

214

it will not be easy for man to ascertain the courses of the heavenly
bodies or the system of the times; for there will either be summer in
the winter, or winter in the summer.  Then the year will be shortened,
and the month diminished, and the day contracted into a short space; and
stars shall fall in great numbers, so that all the heaven will appear
dark without any lights.  The loftiest mountains also will fall, and be
levelled with the plains; the sea will be rendered unnavigable.

 And that nothing may be wanting to the evils of men and the earth, the
trumpet shall be heard from heaven, which the Sibyl foretells in this
manner:--

"The trumpet from heaven shall utter its wailing voice."

And then all shall tremble and quake at that mournful sound.[2] But
then, through the anger of God against the men who have not known
righteousness, the sword and fire, famine and disease, shall reign; and,
above all things, fear always overhanging.  Then they shall call upon
God, but He will not hear them; death shall be desired, but it will not
come; not even shall night give rest to their fear, nor shall sleep
approach to their eyes, but anxiety and watchfulness shall consume the
souls of men; they shall deplore and lament, and gnash their teeth; they
shall congratulate the dead, and bewail the living.  Through these and
many other evils there shall be desolation on the earth, and the world
shall be disfigured and deserted, which is thus expressed in the verses
of the Sibyl:--

"The world shall be despoiled of beauty, through the destruction of
men."

For the human race will be so consumed, that scarcely the tenth part of
men will be left; and from whence a thousand had gone forth, scarcely a
hundred will go forth.  Of the worshippers of God also, two parts will
perish; and the third part, which shall have been proved, will remain.

CHAP. XVII.--OF THE FALSE PROPHET, AND THE HARDSHIPS OF THE RIGHTEOUS,
AND HIS DESTRUCTION.

 But I will more plainly set forth the manner in which this happens.
When the close of the times draws nigh, a great prophet shall be sent
from God to turn men to the knowledge of God, and he shall receive the
power of doing wonderful things.[2] Wherever men shall not hear him, he
will shut up the heaven, and cause it to withhold its rains; he will
turn their water into blood, and torment them with thirst and hunger;
and if any one shall endeavour to injure him, fire, shall come forth out
of his mouth, and shall bum that man.  By these prodigies and powers he
shall turn many to the worship of God; and when his works shall be
accomplished, another king shah arise out of Syria, born from an evil
spirit, the overthrower and destroyer of the human race, who shall
destroy that which is left by the former evil, together with himself.
He shall fight against the prophet of God, and shall overcome, and slay
him, and shall suffer him to lie unburied; but after the third day he
shall come to life again; and while all look on and wonder, he shall be
caught up into heaven.  But that king will not only be most disgraceful
in himself, but he will also be a prophet of lies; and he will
constitute and call himself God, and will order himself to be worshipped
as the Son of God; and power will be given him to do signs and wonders,
by the sight of which he may entice men to adore him.  He will command
fire to come down from heaven, and the sun to stand and leave his
course, and an image to speak; and these things shall be done at his
word,--by which miracles[3] many even of the wise shall be enticed by
him.  Then he will attempt to destroy the temple of God, and persecute
the righteous people; and there will be distress and tribulation?[4]
such as there never has been from the beginning of the world.

 As many as shall believe him and unite themselves to him, shall be
marked by him as sheep; but they who shall refuse his mark will either
flee to the mountains, or, being seized, will be slain with studied[5]
tortures.  He will also enwrap righteous men with the books of the
prophets, and thus burn them; and power will be given him to desolate[6]
the whole earth for forty-two months.  That will be the time in which
righteousness shall be cast out, and innocence be hated; in which the
wicked shall prey upon the good as enemies; neither law, nor order, nor
military discipline shall be preserved; no one shall reverence hoary
locks, nor recognise the duty of piety, nor pity sex or infancy; all
things shall be confounded and mixed together against right, and against
the laws of nature.  Thus the earth shall be laid waste, as though by
one common robbery.  When these things shall so happen, then the
righteous and the followers of truth shall separate themselves from the
wicked, and flee into solitudes.  And when he hears of this, the impious
king, inflamed with anger, will come with a great army, and bringing up
all his forces, will surround all the mountain in which the righteous
shall be situated, that he may seize them.  But they, when they shall
see themselves

215

to be shut in on all sides and besieged, will call upon God with a loud
voice, and implore the aid of heaven; and God shall hear them, and send
from heaven a great king to rescue and free them, and destroy all the
wicked with fire and sword.

CHAP. XVIII.--OF THE FORTUNES OF THE WORLD AT THE LAST TIME, AND OF THE
THINGS FORETOLD BY THE SOOTHSAYERS.

 That these things will thus take place, all the prophets have announced
from the inspiration of God, and also the soothsayers at the instigation
of the demons.  For Hystaspes, whom I have named above, having described
the iniquity of this last time, says that the pious and faithful, being
separated from the wicked, will stretch forth their hands to heaven with
weeping and mourning, and will implore the protection of Jupiter: that
Jupiter will look to the earth, and hear the voices of men, and will
destroy the wicked.  All which things are true except one, that he
attributed to Jupiter those things which God will do.  But that also was
withdrawn from the account, not without fraud on the part of the demons,
viz., that the Son of God would then be sent, who, having destroyed all
the wicked, would set at liberty the pious.  Which, however, Hermes did
not conceal.  For in that book which is entitled the Complete Treatise,
after an enumeration of the evils concerning which we have spoken, he
added these things: "But when these things thus come to pass, then He
who is Lord, and Father, and God, and the Creator of the first and one
God, looking upon what is done, and opposing to the disorder His own
will, that is, goodness, and recalling the wandering and cleansing
wickedness, partly inundating it with much water, and partly burning it
with most rapid fire, and sometimes pressing it with wars and
pestilences, He brought His world to its ancient state and restored it."
The Sibyls also show that it would not be otherwise than that the Son of
God should be sent by His supreme Father, to set free the righteous from
the hands of the wicked, and to destroy the unrighteous, together with
their cruel tyrants.  One of whom thus wrote:--

"He shall come also, wishing to destroy the city of the blest; and a
kingsent against him from the gods shall slay all the great kings
andchief men: then judgment shall thus come from the Immortal to men."

Also another Sibyl:--

"And then God shall send a king from the sun, who shall cause all the
earth to cease from disastrous war."

And again another:--

"He will take away the intolerable yoke of slavery which is placed on
ourneck, and he will do away with impious laws and violent chains."

CHAP. XIX.--OF THE ADVENT OF CHRIST TO JUDGMENT, AND OF THE OVERCOMING
OF THE FALSE PROPHET.

 The world therefore being oppressed, since the resources of men shall
be insufficient for the overthrow of a tyranny of immense strength,
inasmuch as it will press upon the captive world with great armies of
robbers; that calamity so great will stand in need of divine assistance.
Therefore God, being aroused both by the doubtful danger and by the
wretched lamentation of the righteous, will immediately send a
deliverer.  Then the middle of the heaven shall be laid open in the dead
and darkness of the night, that the light of the descending God may be
manifest in all the world as lightning: of which the Sibyl spoke in
these words:--

"When He shall come, there will be fire and darkness in the midst of
theblack night."

This is the night which is celebrated by us in watchfulness on account
of the coming of our King and God:[1] of which night there is a twofold
meaning; because in it He then received life when He suffered, and
hereafter He is about to receive the kingdom of the world.  For He is
the Deliverer, and Judge, and Avenger, and King, and God, whom we call
Christ, who before He descends will give this sign: There shall suddenly
fall from heaven a sword, that the righteous may know that the leader of
the sacred warfare is about to descend; and He shall descend with a
company of angels to the middle of the earth, and there shall go before
Him an unquenchable fire, and the power of the angels shall deliver into
the hands of the just that multitude which has surrounded the mountain,
and they shall be slain from the third hour until the evening, and blood
shall flow like a torrent; and all his forces being destroyed, the
wicked one shall alone escape, and his power shall perish from him.

 Now this is he who is called Antichrist; but he shall falsely call
himself Christ, and shall fight against the truth, and being overcome
shall flee; and shall often renew the war, and often be conquered, until
in the fourth battle, all the wicked being slain, subdued, and captured,
he shall at length pay the penalty of his crimes.  But other princes
also and tyrants who have harassed the world, together with him, shall
be led in chains to the king; and he shall rebuke them, and reprove
them, and upbraid them with their crimes, and condemn them, and consign
them to deserved tortures.  Thus, wickedness being extinguished and
impiety suppressed, the world will be at rest, which having been subject

216

to error and wickedness for so many ages, endured dreadful slavery.  No
longer shall gods made by the hands be worshipped; but the images being
thrust out from their temples and couches, shall be given to the fire,
and shall be burnt, together with their wonderful gifts: which also the
Sibyl, in accordance with the prophets, announced as about to take
place:--

"But mortals shall break in pieces the images and all the wealth."

The Erythraean Sibyl also made the same promise:--

"And the works made by the hand of the gods shall be burnt up."

CHAP. XX.--OF THE JUDGMENT OF CHRIST, OF CHRISTIANS, AND OF THE SOUL

 After these things the lower regions shall be opened, and the dead
shall rise again, on whom the same King and God shall pass judgment, to

whom the supreme Father shall give the great power both of judging and
of reigning.  And respecting this judgment and reign, it is thus found
in the Erythraean Sibyl:--

"When this shall receive its fated accomplishment, and the judgment of
the immortal God shall now come to mortals, the great judgment shallcome
upon men, and the beginning."

Then in another:--

"And then the gaping earth shall show a Tartarean chaos; and all
kingsshall come to the judgment-seat of God."

And in another place in the same:--

"Rolling along the heavens, I will open the caverns of the earth; and
then I will raise the dead, loosing fate and the sting of death;
andafterwards I will call them into judgment, judging the life of
piousand impious men."

Not all men, however, shall then be judged by God, but those only who
have been exercised in the religion of God.  For they who have not known
God, since sentence cannot be passed upon them for their acquittal, are
already judged and condemned, since the Holy Scriptures testify that the
wicked shall not arise to judgment.[1] Therefore they who have known God
shall be judged, and their deeds, that is, their evil works, shall be
compared and weighed against their good ones: so that if those which are
good and just are more[2] and weighty, they may be given to a life of
blessedness; but if the evil exceed, they may be condemned to
punishment.  Here, perhaps, some one will say, If the soul is immortal,
how is it represented as capable of suffering, and sensible of
punishment?  For if it shall be punished on account of its deserts, it
is plain that it will be sensible of pain, and even of death.  If it is
not liable to death, not even to pain, it follows that it is not capable
of suffering.

 This question or argument is thus met by the Stoics: that the souls of
men continue to exist, and are not annihilated[3] by the intervention of
death: that the souls, moreover, of those who have been just, being
pure, and incapable of suffering, and happy, return to the heavenly
abodes from which they had their origin, or are borne to some happy
plains, where they may enjoy wonderful pleasures; but that the wicked,
since they have defiled themselves with evil I passions, have a kind of
middle nature, between that of an immortal and a mortal, and have
something of weakness, from the contagion of the flesh; and being
enslaved to its desires and lusts, they contract an indelible stain and
earthly blot; and when this has become entirely inherent through length
of time, souls are given over to its nature, so that, though they cannot
altogether be extinguished, inasmuch as they are from God, nevertheless
they become liable to torment through the taint of the body, which being
burnt in by means of sins, produces a feeling of pain.  Which sentiment
is thus expressed by the poet:[4]--

 Nay, when at last the life has fled,

 And left the body cold and dead,

 E'en then there passes not away

 The painful heritage of clay:

 Full many a long contracted stain

 Perforce must linger deep in grain.

 So penal sufferings they endure

 For ancient crime, to make them pure."

These things are near to the truth.[5] For the semi, when separated from
the body, is, as the same poet says,[6] such as

 "No vision of the drowsy night,

 No airy current half so light,"

because it is a spirit, and by its very slighthess incapable of being
perceived, but only by us who are corporeal i but capable of being
perceived by God, since it belongs to Him to be able to do all things.

CHAP. XXI.--OF THE TORMENTS AND PUNISHMENTS

OF SOULS.

 First of all, therefore, we say that the power of God is so great, that
He perceives even incorporeal things, and manages them as He will.

217

For even angels fear God, because they can be chastised by Him in some
unspeakable manner; and devils dread Him, because they are tormented and
punished by Him.  What wonder is it, therefore, if souls, though they
are immortal, are nevertheless capable of suffering at the hand of God?
For since they have nothing solid and tangible in themselves, they can
suffer no violence from solid and corporeal beings; but because they
live in their spirits only, they are capable of being handled by God
alone, whose energy and substance is spiritual.  But, however, the
sacred writings inform us in what manner the wicked are to undergo
punishment.  For because they have committed sins in their bodies, they
will again be clothed with flesh, that they may make atonement in their
bodies; and yet it will not be that flesh with which God clothed man,
like this our earthly body, but indestructible, and abiding for ever,
that it may be able to hold out against tortures and everlasting fire,
the nature of which is different from this fire of ours, which we use
for the necessary purposes of life, and which is extinguished unless it
be sustained by the fuel of some material.  But that divine fire always
lives by itself, and flourishes without any nourishment; nor has it any
smoke mixed with it, but it is pure and liquid, and fluid, after the
manner of water.  For it is not urged upwards by any force, as our fire,
which the taint of the earthly body, by which it is held, and smoke
intermingled, compels to leap forth, and to fly upwards to the nature of
heaven, with a tremulous movement.[1]

 The same divine fire, therefore, with one and the same force and power,
will both burn the wicked and will form them again, and will replace as
much as it shall consume of their bodies, and will supply itself with
eternal nourishment: which the poets transferred to the vulture of
Tityus.  Thus, without any wasting of bodies, which regain their
substance, it will only burn and affect them with a sense of pain.  But
when He shall have judged the righteous, He will also try them with
fire.  Then they whose sins shall exceed either in weight or in number,
shall be scorched by the fire and burnt:[2] but they whom full justice
and maturity of virtue has imbued will not perceive that fire; for they
have something of God in themselves which repels and rejects the
violence of the flame.  So great is the force of innocence, that the
flame shrinks from it without doing harm; which has received from God
this power, that it burns the wicked, and is under the command of the
righteous.  Nor, however, let any one imagine that souls are immediately
judged.  after death.  For all are detained in one and a common place of
confinement, until the arrival of the time in which the great Judge
shall make an investigation of their deserts.[3] Then they whose piety
shall have been approved of will receive the reward of immortality; but
they whose sins and crimes shall have been brought to light will not
rise again, but will be hidden in the same darkness with the wicked,
being destined to certain punishment.

CHAP. XXII.--OF THE ERROR OF THE POETS, AND THE RETURN OF THE SOUL FROM
THE LOWER REGIONS.

 Some imagine that these things are figments of the poets, not knowing
whence the poets received them, and they say that these things are
impossible; and it is no wonder that it so appears to them.  For the
matter is related by the poets in a manner which is different from the
truth; for although they are much more ancient than the historians and
orators, and other kinds of writers, yet because they were ignorant of
the secret of the divine mystery, and mention of a future resurrection
had reached them by an obscure rumour, yet they handed it down, when
carelessly and lightly heard, after the manner of a feigned story.  And
yet they also testified that they did not follow a sure authority, but
mere opinion, as Maro, who says,[4]

"What ear has beard let tongue make known."

Although, therefore, they have partly corrupted the secrets of the
truth, yet the matter itself is found to be more true, because it partly
agrees with the prophets: which is sufficient for us as a proof of the
matter.  Yet some reason is contained in their error.  For when the
prophets proclaimed with continual announcements that the Son of God was
about to judge the dead, and this announcement did not escape their
notice; inasmuch as they supposed that there was no other ruler of
heaven but Jupiter, they reported that the son of Jupiter was king in
the lower regions, but not Apollo, or Liber, or Mercurius, who are
supposed to be gods of heaven, but one who was both mortal and just,
either Minos, or AEacus, or Rhadamanthus.  Therefore with poetic licence
they corrupted that which they had received; or, the opinion being
scattered through different mouths and various discourses, changed the
truth.  For inasmuch as they foretold that, when a thousand years had
been passed in the lower regions, they should again be restored to life,
as Maro said:[5]_

 "All these, when centuries ten times told

 The wheel of destiny have rolled,

218

 The voice divine from far and wide

 Calls up to Lethe's river side,

 That earthward they may pass once more,

 Remembering not the things before,

 And with a blind propension yearn

 To fleshly bodies to return:"

this matter escaped their notice, that the dead will rise again, not
after a thousand years from their death, but that, when again restored
to life, they may reign with God a thousand years.  For God will come,
that, having cleansed the world from all defilement, He may restore the
souls of the righteous to their renewed bodies, and raise them to
everlasting blessedness.Therefore the other things are true, except the
water of oblivion, which they feigned on this account, that no one might
make this objection: why, therefore, did they not remember that they
were at one time alive, or who they were, or what things they
accomplished?  But nevertheless it is not thought probable, and the
whole matter is rejected, as though licentiously and fabulously
invented.  But when we affirm the doctrine of the resurrection, and
teach that souls will return to another life, not forgetful of
themselves, but possessed of the same perception and figure, we are met
with this objection: So many ages have now passed; what individual ever
arose from the dead, that through.  his example we may believe it to be
possible?  But the resurrection cannot take place while unrighteousness
still prevails.  For in this world men are slain by violence, by the
sword, by ambush, by poisons, and are visited with injuries, with want,
with imprisonment, with tortures, and with proscriptions.  Add to this
that righteousness is hated, that all who wish to follow God are not
only held in hatred, but are harassed with all reproaches, and are
tormented by manifold kinds of punishments, and are driven to the
impious worship of gods made with hands, not by reason or truth, but by
dreadful laceration of their bodies.

 Ought men therefore to rise again to these same things, or to return to
a life in which it is impossible for them to be safe?  Since the right-
eous, then, are so lightly esteemed, and so easily taken away, what can
we suppose would have happened if any one returning from the dead had
recovered life by a recovery[1] of his former condition?  He would
assuredly be taken away from the eyes of men, lest, if he were seen or
heard, all men with one accord should leave the gods and betake
themselves to the worship and religion of the one God.  Therefore it is
necessary that the resurrection should take place once only when evil
shall have been taken away, since it is befitting that those who have
risen again should neither die any more, nor be injured in any way, that
they may be able to pass a happy life whose death has been annulled.[2]
But the poets, knowing that this life abounds with all evils, introduced
the river of oblivion, lest the souls, remembering their labours and
evils, should refuse to return to the upper regions; whence Virgil
says:[3]--

 "O Father l and can thought conceive

 That happy souls this realm would leave,

 And seek the upper sky,

 With sluggish clay to reunite?

 This dreadful longing for the light,

 Whence comes it, say, and why?"

For they did not know how or when it must take place; and therefore they
supposed that souls were born again, and that they returned afresh to
the womb, and went back to infancy.  Whence also Plato, while discussing
the nature of the soul, says that it may be known from this that souls
are immortal and divine, because in boys minds are pliant, and easy of
perception, and because they so quickly comprehend the subjects which
they learn, that they appear not then to be learning for the first time,
but to be recalling them to mind and recollecting them: in which matter
the wise man most foolishly believed the poets.

CHAP. XXIII.--OF THE RESURRECTION OF THE SOUL, AND THE PROOFS OF THIS
FACT.

 Therefore they will not be born again, which is impossible, but they
will rise again, and be clothed by God with bodies, and will remember
their former life, and all its actions; and being placed in the
possession of heavenly goods, and enjoying the pleasure of innumerable
resources, they will give thanks to God in His immediate presence,
because He has destroyed all evil, and because He has raised them to His
kingdom and to perpetual life.  Respecting which resurrection the
philosophers also attempted to speak as corruptly as the poets.  For
Pythagoras asserted that souls passed into new bodies; but foolishly,
that they passed from men into cattle, and from cattle into men; and
that he himself was restored from Euphorbus.  Chrysippus says better,
whom Cicero speaks of as supporting the portico of the Stoics, who, in
the books which he wrote concerning providence, when he was speaking of
the renewing of the world, introduced these words: "But since this is
so, it is evident that nothing is impossible, and that we, after our
death, when certain periods of time have again come round, are restored
to this state in which we now are."  But let us return from human to
divine things.  The Sibyl thus speaks:--

"For the whole race of mortals is hard to be believed; but when
thejudgment of the world and of mortals shall now come, which GodHimself
shall

219

institute, judging the impious and the holy at the same time, then at
length He shall send the wicked to darkness in fire.  But as many as are
holy shall live again on the earth, God giving them at the same time a
spirit, and honour, and life."

But if not only prophets, but even bards, and poets, and philosophers,
agree that there will be a resurrection of the dead, let no one ask of
us how this is possible: for no reason can be assigned for divine works;
but if from the beginning God formed man in some unspeakable manner, we
may believe that the old man can be restored by Him who made the new
man.

 CHAP. XXIV.--OF THE RENEWED WORLD.

 Now I will subjoin the rest.  Therefore the Son of the most high and
mighty God shall come to judge the quick and the dead, as the Sibyl
testifies and says:--

"For then there shall be confusion of mortals throughout the whole
earth, when the Almighty Himself shall come on His judgment-seat to
judge the souls of the quick and dead, and all the world."

But He, when He shall have destroyed unrighteousness, and executed His
great judgment, and shall have recalled to life the righteous, who have
lived from the beginning, will be engaged among men a thousand years,
and will rule them with most just command.  Which the Sibyl proclaims in
another place, as she utters her inspired predictions:--

 "Hear me, ye mortals; an everlasting King reigns."

Then they who shall be alive in their bodies shall not die, but during
those thousand years shall produce an infinite multitude, and their
offspring shall be holy, and beloved by God; but they who shall be
raised from the dead shall preside over the living as judges.[1] But the
nations shall not be entirely extinguished, but some shall be left as a
victory for God, that they may be the occasion of triumph to the
righteous, and may be subjected to perpetual slavery.  About the same
time also the prince of the devils, who is the contriver of all evils,
shall be bound with chains, and shall be imprisoned during the thousand
years of the heavenly rule in which righteousness shall reign in the
world, so that he may contrive no evil against the people of God.  After
His coming the righteous shall be collected from all the earth, and the
judgment being completed, the sacred city shall be planted in the middle
of the earth, in which God Himself the builder may dwell together with
the righteous, bearing rule in it.  And the Sibyl marks out this city
when she says:--

"And the city which God made this He made more brilliant than the stars,
and sun, and moon."

Then that darkness will be taken away from the

world with which the heaven will be overspread and darkened, and the
moon will receive the brightness of the sun, nor will it be further
diminished: but the sun will become seven times brighter than it now is;
and the earth will open its fruitfulness, and bring forth most abundant
fruits of its own accord; the rocky mountains shall drop with honey;
streams of wine shall run down, and rivers flow with milk: in short, the
world itself shall rejoice, and all nature exult, being rescued and set
free from the dominion of evil and impiety, and guilt and error.
Throughout this time beasts shall not be nourished by blood, nor birds
by prey; but all things shall be peaceful and tranquil.  Lions and
calves shall stand together at the manger, the wolf shall not carry off
the sheep, the hound shall not hunt for prey; hawks and eagles shall not
injure; the infant shall play with serpents.  In short, those things
shall then come to pass which the poets spoke of as being done in the
reign of Saturnus.  Whose error arose from this source,--that the
prophets bring forward and speak of many future events as already
accomplished.  For visions were brought before their eyes by the divine
Spirit, and they saw these things, as it were, done and completed in
their own sight.  And when fame had gradually spread abroad their
predictions, since those who were uninstructed in the mysteries[2] of
religion did not know why they were spoken, they thought that all those
things were already fulfilled in the ancient ages, which evidently could
not be accomplished and fulfilled under the reign of a man.[3] But when,
after the destruction of impious religions and the suppression of guilt,
the earth shall be subject to God,--

"The sailor[4] himself also shall renounce the sea, nor

 shall the naval pine Barter merchandise; all lands shall produce all
things.

The ground shall not endure the harrow, nor the vineyard the pruning
hook;

The sturdy ploughman also shall loose the bulls from the yoke.

The plain shall by degrees grow yellow with soft ears of corn,

The blushing grape shall hang on the uncultivated brambles,

And hard oaks shall distil the dewy honey.

Nor shall the wool learn to counterfeit various colours;

But the ram himself in the meadows shall change his fleece,

Now for a sweetly blushing purple, now for saffron dye;

Scarlet of its own accord shall cover the lambs as they feed.

The goats of themselves shall bring back home their udders distended
with milk; Nor shall the herds dread huge lions."[5]

220

Which things the poet foretold according to the verses of the Cumaean
Sibyl.  But the Erythraean thus speaks:--

"But wolves shall not contend with lambs on the mountains, and lynxes
shall eat grass with kids; boars shall feed with calves, and with all
flocks; and the carnivorous lion shall eat chaff at the manger, and
serpents shall sleep with infants deprived of their mothers."

And in another place, speaking of the fruitfulness of all things:--

"And then shall God give great joy to men; for the earth, and the trees,
and the numberless flocks of the earth shall give to men the true fruit
of the vine, and sweet honey, and white milk, and corn, which is the
best of all things to mortals."

And another in the same manner:--

"The sacred land of the pious only will produce all these things, the
stream of honey from the rock and from the fountain, and the milk of
ambrosia will flow for all the just."

 Therefore men will live a most tranquil life, abounding with resources,
and will reign together with God; and the kings of the nations shall
come from the ends of the earth with gifts and offerings, to adore and
honour the great King, whose name shall be renowned and venerated by all
the nations which shall be trader heaven, and by the kings who shall
rule on earth.

 CHAP. XXV.--OF THE LAST TIMES, AND OF THE CITY OF ROME,

 These are the things which are spoken of by the prophets as about to
happen hereafter: but I have not considered it necessary to bring
forward their testimonies and words, since it would be an endless task;
nor would the limits of my book receive so great a multitude of
subjects, since so many with one breath speak similar things; and at the
same time, lest weariness should be occasioned to the readers if I
should heap together things collected and transferred froth all;
moreover, that I might confirm those very things which I said, not by my
own writings, but in an especial manner by the writings of others, and
might show that not only among us, but even with those very persons who
revile us, the truth is preserved,[1] which they refuse to
acknowledge.[2] But he who wishes to know these things more accurately
may draw from the fountain itself, and he will know more things worthy
of admiration than we have comprised in these books.  Perhaps some one
may now ask when these things of which we have spoken are about to come
to pass?  I have already shown above, that when six thousand years shall
be completed this change must take place, and that the last day of the
extreme conclusion is now drawing

near.  It is permitted us to know respecting the signs, which are spoken
by the prophets, for they foretold signs by which the consummation of
the times is to be expected by us from day to day, and to be feared.
When, however, this amount will be completed, those teach, who have
written respecting the times, collecting them from the sacred writings
and from various histories, how great is the number of years from the
beginning of the world.  And although they vary, and the amount of the
number as reckoned by them differs considerably, yet all expectation
does not exceed the limit of two hundred years.  The subject itself
declares that the fall and ruin of the world will shortly take place;
except that while the city of Rome remains it appears that nothing of
this kind is to be feared.[3] But when that capital of the world shall
have fallen, and shall have begun to be a street,[4] which the Sibyls
say shall come to pass, who can doubt that the end has now arrived to
the affairs of men and the whole world?  It is that city, that only,
which still sustains all things; and the God of heaven is to be
entreated by us and implored--if, indeed, His arrangements and decrees
can be delayed--lest, sooner than we think for, that detestable tyrant
should come who will trader-take so great a deed, and dig out that eye,
by the destruction of which the world itself is about to fall.  Now let
us return, to set forth the other things which are then about to follow.

CHAP. XXVI.--OF THE LOOSING OF THE DEVIL, AND OF THE SECOND AND GREATEST
JUDGEMENT,

 We have said, a little before, that it will come to pass at the
commencement of the sacred reign, that the prince of the devils will be
bound by God.  But he also, when the thousand years of the kingdom, that
is, seven thousand of the world, shall begin to be ended, will be loosed
afresh, and being sent forth from prison, will go forth and assemble all
the nations, which shall then be trader the dominion of the righteous,
that they may make war against the holy city; and there shall be
collected together from all the world an innumerable company of the
nations, and shall besiege and surround the city.  Then the last anger
of God shall come upon the nations, and shall utterly[5] destroy them;
and first He shall shake the earth most violently, and by its motion the
mountains of Syria shall be rent, and the hills shall sink down
precipitously, and the walls of all cities shall fall, and God shall
cause the sun to stand, so that he set not for three days, and shall set
it on fire; and excessive heat and great burning shall descend upon the
hostile and impious people, and showers of brim-

221

stone, and hailstones, and drops of fire; and their spirits shall melt
through the heat, and their bodies shall be bruised by the hail, and
they shall smite one another with the sword.  The mountains shall be
filled with carcases, and the plains shall be covered with bones; but
the people of God during those three days shall be concealed under caves
of the earth, until the anger of God against the nations and the last
judgment shall be ended.

 Then the righteous shall go forth from their hiding-places, and shall
find all things covered with carcases and bones.  But the whole race of
the wicked shall utterly perish; and there shall no longer be any nation
in this world, but the nation of God alone.  Then for seven continuous
years the woods shall be untouched, nor shall timber be cut from the
mountains, but the arms of the nations shall be burnt; and now there
shall be no war, but peace and everlasting rest.  But when the thousand
years shall be completed, the world shall be renewed by God, and the
heavens shall be folded together, and the earth shall be changed, and
God shall transform men into the similitude of angels, and they shall be
white as snow; and they shall always be employed in the sight of the
Almighty, and shall make offerings to their Lord, and serve Him for
ever.  At the same time shall take place that second and public
resurrection[1] of all, in which the unrighteous shall be raised to
everlasting punishments.  These are they who have worshipped the works
of their own hands, who have either been ignorant of, or have denied the
Lord and Parent of the world.  But their lord with his servants shall be
seized and condemned to punishment, together with whom all the band of
the wicked, in accordance with their deeds, shall be burnt for ever with
perpetual fire in the sight of angels and the righteous.

 This is the doctrine of the holy prophets which we Christians follow;
this is our wisdom, which they who worship frail objects, or maintain an
empty philosophy, deride as folly and vanity, because we are not
accustomed to defend and assert it in public, since God orders us in
quietness and silence to hide His secret, and to keep it within our own
conscience; and not to strive with obstinate contention against those
who are ignorant of the truth, and who rigorously assail God and His
religion not for the sake of learning, but of censuring and jeering.
For a mystery ought to be most faithfully concealed and covered,
especially by us, who bear the name of faith.[2] But they accuse this
silence of ours, as though it were the result of an evil conscience;
whence also they invent some detestable things

respecting those who are holy and blameless, and willingly believe their
own inventions.

The address to Constantine is wanting in some mss.  and editions, but is
inserted in the text by Migne, as found in some important mss., and as
in accordance with the style and spirit of Lactantius.

 But all fictions have now been hushed, most holy Emperor, since the
time when the great God raised thee up for the restoration of the house
of justice, and for the protection of the human race; for while thou
rulest the Roman state, we worshippers of God are no more regarded as
accursed and impious.  Since the truth now comes forth[3] from
obscurity, and is brought into light, we are not censured as unrighteous
who endeavour to perform the works of righteousness.  No one any longer
reproaches us with the name of God.  None of us, who are alone of all
men religious, is any more called irreligious; since despising the
images of the dead, we worship the living and true God.  The providence
of the supreme Deity has raised thee to the imperial dignity, that thou
mightest be able with true piety to rescind the injurious decrees of
others, to correct faults, to provide with a fathers's clemency for the
safety of men,--in short, to remove the wicked from the state, whom
being cast down by pre-eminent piety, God has delivered into your hands,
that it might be evident to all in what true majesty consists.

 For they who wished to take away the worship of the heavenly and
matchless[4] God, that they might defend impious superstitions, lie in
ruin.[5] But thou, who defendest and lovest His name, excelling in
virtue and prosperity, enjoyest thy immortal glories with the greatest
happiness.  They suffer and have suffered the punishment of their guilt.
The powerful right hand of God protects thee from all dangers; He
bestows on thee a quiet and tranquil reign, with the highest
congratulations of all men.  And not undeservedly has the Lord and Ruler
of the world chosen thee in preference to all others, by whom He might
renew His holy religion, since thou alone didst exist of all, who
mightest afford a surpassing example of virtue and holiness: in which
thou mightest not only equal, but also, which is a very great matter,
excel the glory of ancient princes, whom nevertheless fame reckons among
the good.  They indeed perhaps by nature only resembled the righteous.
For he who is ignorant of God, the Ruler of the universe, may attain to
a resemblance of righteousness, but he cannot attain to righteousness
itself.  But thou, both by the innate sanctity of thy character, and by
thy acknowledgment of the truth and of God in every action, dost fully
perform[6] the works of right-

222

eousness.[1] It was therefore befitting that, in arranging the condition
of the human race, the Deity should make use of thy authority and
service.  Whom we supplicate with daily prayers, that He may especially
guard thee whom He has wished to be the guardian of the world: then that
He may inspire thee with a disposition by which thou mayest always
continue in the love of the divine name.  For this is serviceable to
all, both to thee for happiness, and to others for repose.

 CHAP. XXVII.--AN ENCOURAGEMENT AND CONFIRMATION OF THE PIOUS.

 Since we have completed the seven courses[2] of the work which we
undertook, and have advanced to the goal, it remains that we exhort all
to undertake wisdom together with true religion, the strength and office
of which depends on this, that, despising earthly things, and laying
aside the errors by which we were formerly held while we served frail
things, and desired frail things, we may be directed to the eternal
rewards of the heavenly treasure.  And that we may obtain these, the
alluring pleasures of the present life must as soon as possible be laid
aside, which soothe the souls of men with pernicious sweetness.  How
great a happiness must it be thought, to be withdrawn from these stains
of the earth, and to go to that most just Judge and indulgent Father,
who in the place of labours gives rest, in the place of death life, in
the place of darkness brightness, and in the place of short and earthly
goods, gives those which are eternal and heavenly: with which reward the
hardships and miseries which we endure in this world, in accomplishing
the works of righteousness, can in no way be compared and equalled.
Therefore, if we wish to be wise and happy, not only must those sayings
of Terence be reflected upon and proposed to us,

"That we must ever grind at the mill, we must be beaten, and put in
fetters;"[3]

but things much more dreadful than these must be endured, namely, the
prison, chains, and tortures: pains must be undergone, in short, death
itself must be undertaken and borne, when it is clear to our conscience
that that frail pleasure will not be without punishment, nor virtue
without a divine reward.  All, therefore, ought to endeavour either to
direct themselves to the right way as soon as possible, or, having
undertaken and exercised virtues, and having patiently performed the
labours of this life, to deserve to have God as their comforter.  For
our Father and Lord, who built and strengthened the heaven, who placed
in it the sun, with the other heavenly bodies, who by His power weighed
the earth and fenced it with mountains, surrounded it with the sea, and
divided it with rivers, and who made and completed out of nothing
whatever there is in this workmanship of the world; having observed the
errors of men, sent a Guide, who might open to us the way of
righteousness: let us all follow Him, let us hear Him, let us obey Him
with the greatest devotedness, since He alone, as Lucretius says,[4]

"Cleansed men's breasts with truth-telling precepts, and fixed a limit
to lust and fear, and explained what was the chief good which we all
strive to reach, and pointed out the road by which, along a narrow
track, we might arrive at it in a straightforward course."

 And not only pointed it out, but also went before us in it, that no one
might dread the path of virtue on account of its difficulty.  Let the
way of destruction and deceit, if it is possible, be deserted, in which
death is concealed, being covered by the attractions of pleasure.

 And the more nearly each one, as his years incline to old age, sees to
be the approach of that day in which he must depart from this life, let
him reflect how he may leave it in purity, how he may come to the Judge
in innocency; not as they do, to whose dark minds the light is denied[5]
who, when the strength of their body now fails, are admonished in this
of the last pressing necessity, that they should with greater eagerness
and ardour apply themselves to the satisfying of their lusts.  From
which abyss let everyone free himself while it is permitted him, while
the opportunity is present, and let him turn himself to God with his
whole mind, that he may without anxiety await that day, in which God,
the Ruler and Lord of the world, shall judge the deeds and thoughts of
each.  Whatever things are here desired, let him not only neglect, but
also avoid them, and let him judge that his soul is of greater value
than those deceitful goods, the possession of which is uncertain and
transitory; for they take their departure every clay, and they go forth
much more quickly than they had entered, and if it is permitted us to
enjoy them even to the last, they must still, without doubt, be left to
others.  We can take nothing with us, except a well and innocently spent
life.  That man will appear before God with abundant resources, that man
will appear in opulence, to whom there shall belong self-restraint,
mercy, patience, love, and faith.  This is our inheritance, which can
neither be taken away from any one, nor transferred to another.

223

And who is there who would wish to provide and acquire for himself these
goods?

 Let those who are hungry come, that being fed with heavenly food, they
may lay aside their lasting hunger; let those who are athirst come, that
they may with full mouth draw forth the water of salvation from an ever-
flowing fountain.[1] By this divine food and drink the blind shall both
see, and the deaf hear, and the dumb speak, and the lame walk, and the
foolish shall be wise, and the sick shall be strong, and the dead shall
come to life again.  For whoever by his virtue has trampled upon the
corruptions of the earth, the supreme and truthful arbiter will raise
him to life and to perpetual light.  Let no one trust m riches, no one
in badges of authority,

no one even in royal power: these things do not make a man immortal.
For whosoever shall cast away the conduct becoming a man,[2] and,
following present things, shall prostrate himself upon the ground, will
be punished as a deserter from his Lord, his commander, and his Father.
Let us therefore apply ourselves to righteousness, which will alone, as
an inseparable companion, lead us to God; and "while a spirit rules
these limbs,"[3] let us serve God with unwearied service, let us keep
our posts and watches, let us boldly engage with the enemy whom we know,
that victorious and triumphant over our conquered adversary, we may
obtain from the Lord that reward of valour which He Himself has
promised.

224

GENERAL NOTE.

 FOR remarks on the dubious passages which bear upon that of p.  221,
supra, see the General Note suffixed to the tractate on the Workmanship
of God, p.  300, infra.

 THE EPITOME OF THE DIVINE INSTITUTES

ADDRESSED TO HIS BROTHER PENTADIUS.

THE PREFACE.--THE PLAN AND PURPORT OF THE WHOLE EPITOME,[1] AND OF THE
INSTITUTIONS.

 ALTHOUGH the books of the Divine Institutions which we wrote a long
time since to illustrate the truth and religion, may so prepare and
mould the minds of the readers, that their length may not produce
disgust, nor their copiousness be burthensome; nevertheless you desire,
O brother Pentadius, that an epitome of them should be made for you, I
suppose for this reason, that I may write something to you, and that
your name may be rendered famous by my work, such as it is.  I will
comply with your desire, although it seems a difficult matter to
comprise within the compass of one book those things which have been
treated of in seven large volumes.[2] For the whole matter becomes less
full when so great a multitude of subjects is to be compressed within a
narrow space; and it becomes less clear by its very brevity, especially
since many arguments and examples, on which the elucidation of the
proofs depends, must of necessity be omitted, since their copiousness is
so great, that even by themselves they are enough to make up a book.
And when these are removed, what can appear useful, what plain?  But I
will strive as much as the subject permits, both to contract that which
is diffuse and to shorten that which is long; in such a manner, however,
that in this work, in which truth is to be brought to light, matter may
not seem to be wanting for copiousness, nor clearness for understanding
it.[3]

CHAP. I.--OF THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.

 First a question arises: Whether there is any providence which made or
governs the world?  That there is, no one doubts, since of almost all
the philosophers, except the school of Epicurus, there is but one voice
and one opinion, that the world could not have been made without a
contriver, and that it cannot exist without a ruler.  Therefore Epicurus
is refuted not only by the most learned men, but also by the testimonies
and perceptions of all mortals.  For who can doubt respecting a
providence, when he sees that the heavens and the earth have been so
arranged and that all things have been so regulated, that they might be
most befittingly adapted, not only to wonderful beauty and adornment,
but also to the use of men, and the convenience of the other living
creatures?  That, therefore, which exists in accordance with a plan,
cannot have had its beginning without a plan: thus[4] it

is certain that there is a providence.

CHAP. II.--THAT THERE IS BUT ONE GOD, AND THAT THERE CANNOT BE MORE.

 Another question follows: Whether there be one God or more?  And this
indeed contains much ambiguity.  For not only do individuals differ
among themselves, but also peoples and nations.  But he who shall follow
the guidance of reason will understand that there cannot be a Lord
except one, nor a Father except one.  For if God, who made all things,
is also Lord and Father, He must be one only, so that the same may be
the head and source of all things.  Nor is it possible for the world[5]
to exist unless all things be referred to one person, unless one hold
the rudder, unless one guide the reins, and, as it were, one mind direct
all the members of the body.  If there are many kings in a swarm of
bees, they will perish or be scattered abroad, while

 "Discord attacks the kings with great commotion."[6]

If there are several leaders in a herd, they will contend until one
gains the mastery.[7] If there

225

are many commanders in an army, the soldiers cannot obey, since
different commands are given; nor can unity be maintained by themselves,
since each consults his own interests according to his humours.  [1]
Thus, in this commonwealth of the world, unless there were one ruler,
who was also its founder, either this mass would be dissolved, or it
could not have been put together at all.

 Moreover, the whole authority, could not exist in many deities, since
they separately maintain their own duties and their own prerogatives.
No one, therefore, of them can be called omnipotent, which is the true
title of God, since he will be able to accomplish that only which
depends upon himself, and will not venture to attempt that which depends
upon others.  Vulcan will not claim for himself water, nor Neptune fire;
nor will Ceres claim acquaintance with the arts, nor Minerva with
fruits; nor will Mercury lay claim to arms, nor Mars to the lyre;
Jupiter will not claim medicine, nor AEsculapius the thunderbolt: he
will more easily endure it when thrown by another, than he will brandish
it himself.  If, therefore, individuals cannot do all things, they have
less strength and less power; but he is to be regarded as God who can
accomplish the whole, and not he who can only accomplish the smallest
part of the whole.

CHAP. III.--THE TESTIMONIES OF THE POETS CONCERNING THE ONE GOD.

 There is, then, one God, perfect, eternal, incorruptible, incapable of
suffering, subject to no circumstance or power, Himself possessing all
things, ruling all things, whom the human mind can neither estimate in
thought nor mortal tongue describe in speech.  For He is too elevated
and great to be conceived by the thought, or expressed by the language
of man.  In short, not to speak of the prophets, the preachers of the
one God, poets also, and philosophers, and inspired women, [2] utter
their testimony to the unity of God.  Orpheus speaks of the surpassing
God who made the heaven and the sun, with the other heavenly bodies; who
made the earth and the seas.  Also our own Maro calls the Supreme God at
one time a spirit, at another time a mind, and says that it, as though
infused into limbs, puts in motion the body of the whole world; also,
that God permeates the heights of heaven, the tracts of the sea and
lands, and that all living creatures derive their life from Him.  Even
Ovid was not ignorant that the world was prepared by God, whom he
sometimes calls the framer of all things, sometimes the fabricator of
the world.  [3]

CHAP. IV. --THE TESTIMONIES OF THE PHILOSOPHERS TO THE UNITY OF GOD.

 But let us come to the philosophers, whose authority is regarded as
more certain than that

 of the poets.  Plato asserts His monarchy, saying that there is but one
God, by whom the world was prepared and completed with wonderful order.
Aristotle, his disciple, admits that there is one mind which presides
over the world.  Antisthenes says that there is one who is God by
nature, [4] the governor of the whole system.  It would be a long task
to recount the statements which have been made respecting the Supreme
God, either by Thales, or by Pythagoras and Anaximenes before him, or
afterwards by the Stoics Cleanthes and Chrysippus and Zeno, or of our
countrymen, by Seneca following the Stoics, and by Tullius himself,
since all these attempted to define the being of God, [5] and affirmed
that the world is ruled by Him alone, and that He is not subject to any
nature, since all nature derives its origin from Him.

 Hermes, who, on account of his virtue and his knowledge of many arts,
deserved the name of Trismegistus, who preceded the philosophers in the
antiquity of his doctrine, and who is reverenced by the Egyptians as a
god, in asserting the majesty of the one God with infinite praises,
calls Him Lord and Father.  and says that He is without a name because
He does not stand in need of a proper name, inasmuch as He is alone, and
that He has no parents, since He exists of Himself and by Himself.  In
writing to his son he thus begins: To understand God is difficult, to
describe Him in speech is impossible, even for one to whom it is
possible to understand Him; for the perfect cannot be comprehended by
the imperfect, nor the invisible by the visible.

 CHAP. V.--THAT THE PROPHETIC WOMEN--THAT IS, THE SIBYLS--DECLARE THAT
THERE IS BUT ONE GOD.

 It remains to speak of the prophetic women.  Varro relates that there
were ten Sibyls, --the first of the Persians, the second the Libyan, the
third the Delphian, the fourth the Cimmerian, the fifth the Erythraean,
the sixth the Samian, the seventh the Cumaean, the eighth the
Hellespontian, the ninth the Phrygian, the tenth the Tiburtine, who has
the name of Albunea.  Of all these, he says that there are three books
of the Cumaean alone which contain the fates of the Romans, and are
accounted sacred, but that there exist.  and are commonly regarded as
separate, books of almost all the others, but that they are entitled, as
though by one name, Sibylline books,

226

excepting that the Erythraean, who is said to have lived in the times of
the Trojan war, placed her name in her book: the writings of the others
are mixed together.  [1]

 All these Sibyls of whom I have spoken, except the Cumaean, whom none
but the Quindecemviri [2] are allowed to read, bear witness that there
is but one God, the ruler, the maker, the parent, not begotten of any,
but sprung from Himself, who was from all ages, and will be to all ages;
and therefore is alone worthy of being worshipped, alone of being
feared, alone of being reverenced, by all living beings; -- whose
testimonies I have omitted because I was unable to abridge them; but if
you wish to see them, you must have recourse to the books themselves.
Now let us follow up the remaining subjects.

CHAP. Vl.--SINCE GOD IS ETERNAL AND IMMORTAL, HE DOES NOT STAND IN NEED
OF SEX AND SUCCESSION.

 These testimonies, therefore, so many and so great, clearly teach that
there is but one government in the world, and one power, the origin of
which cannot be imagined, or its force described.  They are foolish,
therefore, who imagine that the gods were born of marriage, since the
sexes themselves, and the intercourse between them, were given to
mortals by God for this reason, that every race might be preserved by a
succession of offspring.  But what need have the immortals either of sex
or succession since neither pleasure nor death affects them?  Those,
therefore, who are reckoned as gods, since it is evident that they were
born as men, and that they begat others, were plainly mortals: but they
were believed to be gods, because, when they were great and powerful
kings, on account of the benefits which they had conferred upon men,
they deserved to obtain divine hon-ours after death; and temples and
statues being erected to them, their memory was retained and celebrated
as that of immortals.

CHAP. VII. --OF the WICKED LIFE AND DEATH

OF HERCULES.

 But though almost all nations are persuaded that they are gods, yet
their actions, as related both by poets and historians, declare that
they were men.  Who is ignorant of the times in which Hercules lived,
since he both sailed with the Argonauts on their expedition, and having
stormed Troy, slew Laomedon, the father of Priam, on account of his
perjury?  From that time rather more than fifteen hundred years are

reckoned.  He is said not even to have been born honourably, but to have
been sprung from Alcmena by adultery, and to have been himself addicted
to the vices of his father.  He never abstained from women, or males,
and traversed the whole world, not so much for the sake of glory as of
lust, nor so much for the slaughter of beasts as for the begetting of
children.  And though he was unvanquished, yet he was triumphed over by
Omphale alone, to whom he gave up his club and lion's skin; and being
clothed in a woman's garment, and crouching at a woman's feet, he
received his task [3] to execute.  He afterwards, in a transport of
frenzy, killed his little children and his wife Megara.  At last, having
put on a garment sent by his wife Deianyra, when he was perishing
through ulcers, being unable to endure the pain, he constructed for
himself a funeral pile on Mount (Eta, and burnt himself alive.  Thus it
is effected, that although on account of his excellence [4] he might
have been believed to be a god, nevertheless on account of these things
be is believed to have been a man.

CHAP. VlIl.--OF AESCULAPIUS, APOLLO, MARS, CASTOR AND POLLUX, AND OF
MERCURIUS AND BACCHUS.

 Tarquitius relates that AEsculapius was born of doubtful parents, and
that on this account he was exposed; and being taken up by hunters, and
fed by the teats of a hound, was given to Chiron for instruction.  He
lived at Epidaurus, and was buried at Cynosurae, as Cicero says, [5]
when he had been killed by lightning.  But Apollo, his father, did not
disdain to take charge of another's flock that he might receive a wife;
[6] and when he had unintentionally killed a boy whom he loved, he
inscribed his own lamentations on a flower.  Mars, a man of the greatest
bravery, was not free from the charge of adultery, since he was made a
spectacle, being bound with a chain together with the adulteress.

 Castor and Pollux carried off the brides of others, but not with
impunity, to whose death and burial Homer bears witness, not with
poetical, but simple faith.  Mercurius, who was the father of Androgynus
by his intrigue with Venus, deserved to be a god, because he invented
the lyre and the paloestra.  Father Bacchus, after subduing India as a
conqueror, having by chance come to Crete, saw Ariadne on the shore,
whom Theseus had forced and deserted.  Then, being inflamed by love, he
united her in marriage to

227

himself, and placed her crown, as the poets say, conspicuously among the
stars.  The mother of the gods [1] herself, while she lived in Phrygia
after the banishment and death of her husband, though a widow, and aged,
was enamoured of a beautiful youth; and because he was not faithful, she
mutilated, and rendered him effeminate: on which account even now she
delights in the Galli [2] as her priests.

CHAP. IX.- OF THE DISGRACEFUL DEEDS OF THE

GODS.

 Whence did Ceres bring forth Proserpine, except from debauchery?
Whence did Latona bring forth her twins, except from crime?  Venus
having been subject to the lusts of gods and men, when she reigned in
Cyprus, invented the practice of courtesanship, and commanded women to
make traffic of themselves, that she might not alone be infamous.  Were
the virgins themselves, Minerva and Diana, chaste?  Whence, then, did
Erichthonius arise?  Did Vulcan shed his seed upon the ground, and was
man born from that as a fungus?  Or why did Diana banish Hippolytus
either to a retired place, or give him up to a woman, where he might
pass his life in solitude among unknown groves, and having now changed
his name, might be called Virbius?  What do these things signify but
impurity, which the poets do not venture to confess?

CHAP. X.--OF JUPITER, AND HIS LICENTIOUS LIFE.

 But respecting the king and father of all these, Jupiter, whom they
believe to possess the chief power in heaven,--what power [3] had he,
who banished his father Saturnus from his kingdom, and pursued him with
arms when he fled?  What self-restraint had he, who indulged every kind
of lust?  For he made Alemena and Leda, the wives of great men, infamous
through his adultery: he also, captivated with the beauty of a boy,
carried him off with violence as he was hunting and meditating manly
things, that he might treat him as a woman.  Why should I mention his
debaucheries of virgins?  and how great a multitude of these there was,
is shown by the number of his sons.  In the case of Thetis alone he was
more temperate.  For it bad been predicted that the son whom she should
bring forth would be more powerful than his father.  Therefore he
struggled with his love, that one might not be born greater than
himself.  He knew, therefore, that he was not of perfect virtue,
greatness, and power, since he

feared that which he himself had done to his father.  Why, therefore, is
he called best and greatest, since he both contaminated himself with
faults, which is the part of one who is unjust and bad, and feared a
greater than himself, which is the part of one who is weak and inferior?

CHAP. XI. -- THE VARIOUS EMBLEMS UNDER WHICH THE POETS VEILED THE
TURPITUDE OF JUPITER.

 But some one will say that these things are feigned by the poets.  This
is not the usage of the poets, to feign in such a manner that you
fabricate the whole, but so that you cover the actions themselves with a
figure, and, as it were, with a variegated veil.  Poetic licence has
this limit, not that it may invent the whole, which is the part of one
who is false and senseless, but that it may change something
consistently with reason.  They said that Jupiter changed himself into a
shower of gold, that he might deceive Danae.  What is a shower of gold?
Plainly golden coins, by offering a great quantity of which, and pouring
them into her bosom, he corrupted the frailty of her virgin soul by this
bribe.  Thus also they speak of a shower of iron, when they wish to
signify a multitude of javelins.  He carried off his catamite upon an
eagle.  What is the eagle?  Truly a legion, since the figure of this
animal is the standard of the legion.  He carried Europa across the sea
on a bull.  What is the bull?  Clearly a ship, which had its tutelary
image [4] fashioned in the shape of a bull.  So assuredly the daughter
of Inachus was not turned into a cow, nor as such did she swim across,
but she escaped the anger of Juno in a ship which had the form of a cow.
Lastly, when she had been conveyed to Egypt, she became Isis, whose
voyage is celebrated on a fixed day, in memory of her flight.

CHAP. XlI.--THE POETS DO NOT INVENT ALL THOSE THINGS WHICH RELATE TO THE
GODS.

 You see, then, that the poets did not invent all things, and that they
prefigured some things, that, when they spoke the truth, they might add
something like this of divinity to those whom they called gods; as they
did also respecting their kingdoms.  For when they say that Jupiter had
by lot the kingdom of Coelus, they either menu Mount Olympus, on which
ancient stories relate that Saturnus, and afterwards Jupiter, dwelt, or
a part of the East, which is, as it were, higher, because the light
arises thence; but the region of the West is lower, and therefore they
say that Pluto obtained the lower regions; but that the sea was given to
Neptune, because he

228

had the maritime coast, with all the islands.  Many things are thus
coloured by the poets; and they who are ignorant of this, censure them
as false, but only in word: for in fact they believe them, since they so
fashion the images of the gods, that when they make them male and
female, and confess that some are married, some parents, and some
children, they plainly assent to the poets; for these relations cannot
exist without intercourse and the generation of children.

CHAP. XIII.--THE ACTIONS OF JUPITER ARE RELATED FROM THE HISTORIAN
EUHEMERUS.

 But let us leave the poets; let us come to history, which is supported
both by the credibility of the facts and by the antiquity of the times.
Euhemerus was a Messenian, a very ancient writer, who gave an account of
the origin of Jupiter, and his exploits, and all his posterity, gathered
from the sacred inscriptions of ancient temples; he also traced out the
parents of the other gods, their countries, actions, commands, and
deaths, and even their sepulchres.  And this history Ennius translated
into Latin, whose words are these:--

"As these things are written, so is the origin and kindred of Jupiter
and his brothers; after this manner it is handed clown to us in the
sacred writing."

The same Euhemerus therefore relates that Jupiter, when he had five
times gone round the world, and had distributed governments to his
friends and relatives, and had given laws to men, and had wrought many
other benefits, being endued with immortal glory and everlasting
remembrance, ended his life in Crete, and departed to the gods, and that
his sepulchre is in Crete, in the town of Gnossus, and that upon it is
engraved in ancient Greek letters Zankronou, which is Jupiter the son of
Saturnus.  It is plain, therefore, from the things which I have related,
that he was a than, and reigned on the earth.

CHAP. XIV.--THE ACTIONS OF SATURNUS AND

 URANUS TAKEN FROM THE HISTORIANS.

Let us pass on to former things, that we may discover the origin of the
whole error.  Saturnus is said to have been born of Coelus and Terra.
This is plainly incredible; but there is a certain reason why it is thus
related, and he who is ignorant of this rejects it as a fable.  That
Uranus was the father of Saturnus, both Hermes affirms, and sacred
history teaches.  When Trismegistus said that there were very few men of
perfect learning, he enumerated among them Iris relatives, Uranus,
Saturnus.  and Mercurius.  Euhemerus relates that the same Uranus was
the first who reigned on earth, using these words: "In the beginning
Coelus first had the chief

power on earth: he instituted and prepared that kingdom for himself
together with his brothers."  [1]

CHAP. XX.--OF THE GODS PECULIAR TO THE

ROMANS.

 I have spoken of the religious rites which are common to all nations.
I will now speak of the gods which the Romans have peculiar to
themselves.  Who does not know that the wife of Faustulus, the nurse of
Romulus and Remus, in honour of whom the Larentinalia were instituted,
was a harlot?  And for this reason she was called Lupa, and represented
in the form of a wild beast.  Faula also and Flora were harlots, of whom
the one was the mistress of Hercules, as Verrius relates; the other,
having acquired great wealth by her person, made the people her heir,
and on this account the games called Floralia are celebrated in her
honour.

 Tatius consecrated the statue of a woman which had been found in the
principal sewer, and called it by the name of the goddess Cloacina.  The
Romans, being besieged by the Gauls, made engines for throwing weapons
of the hair of women; and on this account they erected an altar and
temple to Venus Calva: [2] also to Jupiter Pistor, [3] because he had
advised them in a dream to make all their corn into bread, and to throw
it upon the enemy; and when this had been done, the Gauls, despairing of
being able to reduce the Romans by famine, had abandoned the siege.
Tullus Hostilius made Fear and Pallor gods.  Mind is also worshipped;
but if they had possessed it, they would never, I believe, have thought
that it ought to be worshipped.  Marcellus originated Honour and Virtue.

CHAP. XXI.--OF THE SACRED RITES OF THE

ROMAN GODS.

 But the senate also instituted other false gods of this kind,--Hope,
Faith, Concord, Peace, Chastity, Piety; all of which, since they ought
truly to be in the minds of men, they have falsely placed within walls.
But although these have no substantial existence outside of man,
nevertheless I should prefer that they should be worshipped, rather than
Blight or Fever, which ought not to be consecrated, but rather to be
execrated; than Fornax, together with her sacred ovens; than Stercutus,
who first showed men to enrich the ground with manure; than the goddess
Muta, who brought forth the Lares; than Cumina, who presides over the
cradles of infants; than Caca, who gave information to Hercules
respecting the stealing of his cattle, that he might slay her brother.
How many other monstrous and

229

ludicrous fictions there are, respecting which it is grievous to speak!
I do not, however, wish to omit notice of Terminus, since it is related
that he did not give way even to Jupiter, though he was an unwrought
stone.  They suppose that he has the custody of the boundaries, and
public prayers are offered to him, that he may keep the stone of the
Capitol immoveable, and preserve and extend the boundaries of the Roman
empire.

CHAP. XXII.--OF THE SACRED RITES INTRODUCED

BY FAUNUS AND NUMA.

 Faunas was the first in Latium who introduced these follies, who both
instituted bloody sacrifices to his grandfather Saturnus, and wished
that his father Picus should be worshipped as a god, and placed Fatua
Fauna his wife and sister among the gods, and named her the good
goddess.  Then at Rome, Numa, who burthened those rude and rustic then
with new superstitions, instituted priesthoods, and distributed the gods
into families and nations, that he might call off the fierce spirits of
the people from the pursuits of arms.  Therefore Lucilius, in deriding
the folly of those who are slaves to vain superstitions, introduced
these verses:--

"Those bugbears [1] the Lamiae, which Faunus and Numa Pompilius and
others instituted, at these he trembles; he places everything in this.
As infant boys believe that every statue of bronze is a living man, so
these imagine that all things reigned are true: they believe that
statues of bronze contain a heart.  It is a painter's [2] gallery;
nothing is real, everything fictitious."

Tullius also, writing of the nature of the gods, complains that false
and fictitious gods have been introduced, and that from thus source have
arisen false opinions, and turbulent errors, and almost old womanly
superstitions, which opinion ought in comparison [3] with others to be
esteemed more weighty, because these things were spoken by one who was
both a philosopher and a priest.

CHAP. XXIII.--OF THE GODS AND SACRED RITES OF

THE BARBARIANS.

 We have spoken respecting the gods: now we will speak of the rites and
practices of their sacred institutions.  A human victim used to be
immolated to the Cyprian Jupiter, as Teucer had appointed.  Thus also
the Tauri used to offer strangers to Diana; the Latian Jupiter also was
propitiated with human blood.  Also before Saturnus, men of sixty years
of age, according to the oracle [4] of Apollo, were thrown from a bridge
into the Tiber.  And the Carthaginians not only

offered infants to the same Saturnus; but being conquered by the
Sicilians, to make an expiation, they immolated two hundred sons of
nobles.  And not more mild than these are those offerings which are even
now made to the Great Mother and to Bellona, in which the priests make
an offering, not with the blood of others, but with their own blood;
when, mutilating themselves, they cease to be men, and yet do not pass
over to the women; or, cutting their shoulders, they sprinkle the
loathsome altars with their own blood.  But these things are cruel.

 Let us come to those which are mild.  The sacred rites of Isis show
nothing else than the manner in which she lost and found her little son,
who is called Osiris.  For first her priests and attendants, having
shaved all their limbs, and beating their breasts, howl, lament, and
search, imitating the manner ill which his mother was affected;
afterwards the boy is found by Cynocephalus.  Thus the mournfuI rites
are ended with gladness.  The mystery of Ceres also resembles these, in
which torches are lighted, and Proserpine is sought for through the
night; and when she has been found, the whole rite is finished with
congratulations and the throwing about of torches.  The people of
Lampsacus, offer an ass to Priapus as an appropriate victim.  [5] Lindus
is a town of Rhodes, where sacred rites in honour of Hercules are
celebrated with revilings.  For when Hercules had taken away his oxen
from a ploughman, and had slain them, he avenged his injury by taunts;
and afterwards having been himself appointed priest, it was ordained
that he himself, and other priests after him, should celebrate
sacrifices with the same revilings.  But the mystery of the Cretan
Jupiter represents the manner in which he was withdrawn from his father,
or brought up.  The goat is beside him, by the teats of which Amalthea
nourished the boy.  The sacred rites of the mother of the gods also show
the same thing.  For because the Corybantes then drowned the cry of the
boy by the tinkling of their helmets and the striking of their shields,
a representation of this circumstance is now repeated in the sacred
rites; but cumbals are beaten instead of helmets, and drums instead of
shields, that Saturnus may not hear the cries of the boy.

CHAP. XXIV.--OF THE ORIGIN OF SACRED RITES

AND SUPERSTITIONS.

 These are the mysteries of the gods.  Now let us inquire also into the
origin of superstitions, that we may search out by whom and at what
times they were instituted.  Didymus, in those books which are inscribed
Of the Explanation

230

of Pindar, relates that Melisseus was king of the Cretans, whose
daughters were Amalthea and Melissa, who nourished Jupiter with goats'
milk and honey; that he introduced new rites and ceremonies of sacred
things, and was the first who sacrificed to gods, that is, to Vesta, who
is called Tellus,--whence the poet says:--

 "And the first of the gods,

Tellus,"--

and afterwards to the mother of the gods.  But Euhemerus, in his sacred
history, says that Jupiter himself, after that he received the
government, erected temples in honour of himself in many places.  For in
going about the world, as he came to each place he united the chiefs of
the people to himself in friendship and the right of hospitality; and
that the remembrance of this might be preserved, he ordered that temples
should be built to him, and annual festivals be celebrated by those
connected with him in a league of hospitality.  Thus he spread the
worship of himself through all lands.  But at what time they lived can
easily be inferred.  For Thallus writes in his history, that Belus, the
king of the Assyrians, whom the Babylonians worship, and who was the
contemporary and friend of Saturnus, was three hundred and twenty-two
years before the Trojan war, and it is fourteen hundred and seventy
years since the taking of Troy.  From which it is evident, that it is
not more than eighteen hundred years from the time when mankind fell
into error by the institution of new forms of divine worship.

CHAP. XXV.--OF THE GOLDEN AGE, OF IMAGES,

 AND PROMETHEUS, WHO FIRST FASHIONED MAN.

 The poets, therefore, with good reason say that the golden age, which
existed in the reign of Saturnus, was changed.  For at that time no gods
were worshipped, but they knew of one God only.  After that they
subjected themselves to frail and earthly things, worshipping idols of
wood, and brass, and stone, a change took place from the golden age to
that of iron.  For having lost the knowledge of God, and broken off that
one bond of human society, they began to harass one another, to plunder
and subdue.  But if they would raise their eyes aloft and behold God,
who raised them up to the sight of heaven and Himself, they never would
bend and prostrate themselves by worshipping earthly things, whose folly
Lucretius severely rebukes, saying: [1]

"And they abase their souls with fear of the gods, and weigh and press
them down to the earth."

Wherefore they tremble, and do not understand how foolish it is to fear
those things

which you have made, or to hope for any protection from those things
which are dumb and insensible, and neither see nor hear the suppliant.
What majesty, therefore, or deity can they have, which were in the power
of a man, that they should not be made, or that they should be made into
some other thing, and are so even now?  For they are liable to injury
and might be carried off by theft, were it not that they are protected
by the law and the guardianship of man.  Does he therefore appear to be
m possession of his senses, who sacrifices to such deities the choicest
victims, consecrates gifts, offers costly garments, as if they who are
without motion could use them?  With reason, then, did Dionysius the
tyrant of Sicily plunder and deride the gods of Greece when he had taken
possession of it as conqueror; and after the sacrilegious acts which he
had committed, he returned to Sicily with a prosperous voyage, and held
the kingdom even to his old age: nor were the injured gods able to
punish him.

 How much better is it to despise vanities, and to turn to God, to
maintain the condition which you have received from God, to maintain
your name!  For on this account he is called anthropos, [3] because he
looks upward.  But he looks upward who looks up to the true and living
God, who is in heaven; who seeks after the Maker and Parent of his soul,
not only with his perception and mind, but also with his countenance and
eyes raised aloft.  But he who enslaves himself to earthly and humble
things, plainly prefers to himself that which is below him.  For since
he himself is the workmanship of God, whereas an image is the
workmanship of man, the human workmanship cannot be preferred to the
divine; and as God is the parent of man, so is the man of the statue.
Therefore he is foolish and senseless who adores that which he himself
has made, of which detestable and foolish handicraft Prometheus was the
author, who was born from Iapetus the uncle of Jupiter.  For when first
of all Jupiter, having obtained supreme dominion, wished to establish
himself as a god, and to found temples, and was seeking for some one who
was able to imitate the human figure, at that time Prometheus lived, who
fashioned the image of a man from thick clay with such close
resemblance, that the novelty and cleverness of the art was a wonder.
At length the men of his own time, and afterwards the poets, handed him
down as the maker of a true and living man; and we, as often as we
praise wrought statues, say that they live and breathe.  And he indeed
was the inventor of earthenware images.  But posterity, following him,
both carved them out of marble, and moulded them

231

out of bronze; then in process of time ornament was added of gold and
ivory, so that not only the likenesses, but also the gleam itself, might
dazzle the eyes.  Thus ensnared by beauty, and forgetful of true
majesty, sensible beings considered that insensible objects, rational
beings that irrational objects, living beings that lifeless objects,
were to be worshipped and reverenced by them.

CHAP. XXVI. --OF THE WORSHIP OF THE ELEMENTS

AND STARS.

 Now let us refute those also who regard the elements of the world as
gods, that is, the heaven, the sun, and the moon; for being ignorant of
the Maker of these things, they admire and adore the works themselves.
And this error belongs not to the ignorant only, but also to
philosophers; since the Stoics are of opinion that all the heavenly
bodies are to be considered as among the number of the gods, since they
all have fixed and regular motions, by which they most constantly
preserve the vicissitudes of the times which succeed them.  They do not
then possess voluntary motion, since they obey prescribed laws, and
plainly not by their own sense, but by the workmanship of the supreme
Creator, who so ordered them that they should complete unerring [1]
courses and fixed circuits, by which they might vary the alternations of
days and nights, of summer and winter.  But if men admire the effects of
these, if they admire their courses, their brightness, their regularity,
their beauty, they ought to have understood how much more beautiful,
more illustrious, and more powerful than these is the maker and con-
trivet Himself, even God.  But they estimated the Divinity by objects
which fall under the sight of men; [2] not knowing that objects which
come within the sight cannot be eternal, and that those which are
eternal cannot be discerned by mortal eyes.

CHAP. XXVII.--OF THE CREATION, SIN, AND PUNISHMENT OF MAN; AND OF
ANGELS, BOTH GOOD AND BAD.

 One subject remains, and that the last: that, since it usually happens,
as we read in histories, that the gods appear to have displayed their
majesty by auguries, by dreams, by oracles, and also by the punishments
of those who had committed sacrilege, I may show what cause produced
this effect, so that no one even now may fall into the same snares into
which those of old fell.  When God, according to His excellent majesty,
had framed the world out of nothing,

and had decked the heaven with lights, and had filled the earth and the
sea with living creatures, then He formed man out of clay, and fashioned
him after the resemblance of His own likeness, and breathed into him
that he might live, [3] and placed him in a garden [4] which He had
planted with every kind of fruit-bearing tree, and commanded him not to
eat of one tree in which He had placed the knowledge of good and evil,
warning him that it would come to pass, that if he did so he would lose
his life, but that if he observed the command of God he would remain
immortal.  Then the serpent, who was one of the servants of God, envying
man because he was made immortal, enticed him by stratagem to transgress
the command and law of God.  And in this manner he did indeed receive
the knowledge of good and evil, but he lost the life which God had given
him to be for ever.

 Therefore He drove out the sinner from the sacred place, and banished
him into this world, that he might seek sustenance by labour, that he
might according to his deserts undergo difficulties and troubles; and He
surrounded the garden itself with a fence of fire, that none of men even
till the day of judgment might attempt secretly [5] to enter into that
place of perpetual blessedness.  Then death came upon man according to
the sentence of God; and yet his life, though it had begun to be
temporary, had as its boundary a thousand years, and that was the extent
of human life even to the deluge.  For after the flood the life of men
was gradually shortened, and was reduced to a hundred and twenty years.
But that serpent, who from his deeds received the name of devil, that
is, accuser or informer, did not cease to persecute the seed of man,
whom he had deceived from the beginning.  At length he urged him who was
first born in this world, under the impulse of envy, to the murder of
his brother, that of the two men who were first born he might destroy
the one, and make the other a parricide.  [6] Nor did he cease upon this
from infusing the venom of malice into the breasts of men through each
generation, from corrupting and depraving them; in short, from overwhelm
-inn them with such crimes, that an instance of justice was now rare,
but men lived after the manner of the beasts.

 But when God saw this, He sent His angels to instruct the race of men,
and to protect them from all evil.  He gave these a command to abstain
from earthly things, lest, being polluted by any taint, they should be
deprived of the honour of angels.  But that wily accuser, while they
tarried among men, allured these also to

232

pleasures, so that they might defile themselves with women.  Then, being
condemned by the sentence of God, and cast forth on account of their
sins, they lost both the name and substance of angels.  Thus, having
become ministers of the devil, that they might have a solace of their
ruin, they betook themselves to the ruining of men, for whose protection
they had come.  [1]

CHAP. XXVIII.--OF THE DEMONS, AND THEIR EVIL

PRACTICES.

 These are the demons, of whom the poets often speak in their poems,
whom Hesiod calls the guardians of men.  For they so persuaded men by
their enticements and deceits, that they believed that the same were
gods.  In fine, Socrates used to give out that he had a demon as the
guardian and director of his life from his first childhood and that he
could do nothing without his assent and command.  They attach
themselves, therefore, to individuals, and occupy houses under the name
of Genii or Penates.  To these temples are built, to these libations are
daily offered as to the Lares, to these honour is paid as to the
averters of evils.  These from the beginning, that they might turn away
men from the knowledge of the true God, introduced new superstitions and
worship of gods.  These taught that the memory of dead kings should be
consecrated, temples be built, and images made, not that they might
lessen the honour of God, or increase their own, which they lost by
sinning, but that they might take away life from men, deprive them of
the hope of true light, lest men should arrive at that heavenly reward
of immortality from which they fell.  They also brought to light
astrology, and augury, and divination; and though these things are in
themselves false, yet they themselves, the authors of evils, so govern
and regulate them that they are believed to be true.  They also invented
the tricks of the magic art, to deceive the eyes.  By their aid it comes
to pass, that that which is appears not to be, and that which is not
appears to be.  They themselves invented necromancies, responses, and
oracles, to delude the minds of men with lying divination by means of
ambiguous issues.  They are present in the temples and at all
sacrifices; and by the exhibition of some deceitful prodigies, to the
surprise of those who are present, they so deceive men, that they
believe that a divine power is present in images and statues.  They even
enter secretly into bodies.  as being slight spirits; and they excite
diseases in the vitiated limbs, which when appeased with sacrifices and
vows they may again remove.  They send dreams either full of terror, [2]
that

they themselves may be invoked, or the issues of which may correspond
with the truth, that they may increase the veneration paid to
themselves.  Sometimes also they put forth something of vengeance
against the sacrilegious, that whoever sees it may become more timid and
superstitious.  Thus by their frauds they have drawn darkness over the
human race, that truth might be oppressed, and the name of the supreme
and matchless God might be forgotten.

CHAP. XXIX.--OF THE PATIENCE AND PROVIDENCE

OF GOD.

 But some one says: Why, then, does the true God permit these things to
be done?  Why does He not rather remove or destroy the wicked?  Why, in
truth, did He from the beginning give power [3] to the demon, so that
there should be one who might corrupt and destroy all things?  I will
briefly say why He willed that this should be so.  I ask whether virtue
is a good or an evil.  It cannot be denied that it is a good.  If virtue
is a good, vice, on the contrary, is an evil.  If vice is an evil on
this account, because it opposes virtue, and virtue is on this account a
good, because it overthrows vice, it follows that virtue cannot exist
without vice; and if you take away vice, the merits of virtue will be
taken away.  For there can be no victory without an enemy.  Thus it
comes to pass, that good cannot exist without an evil.

 Chrysippus, a man of active mind, saw this when discussing the subject
of providence, and charges those with folly who think that good is
caused by God, but say that evil is not thus caused.  Aulus Gellius [4]
has interpreted his sentiment in his books of Attic Nights; thus saying:
"They to whom it does not appear that the world was made for the sake of
God and men, and that human affairs are governed by providence, think
that they use a weighty argument when they thus speak: If there were a
providence, there would be no evils.  For they say that nothing is less
in agreement with providence, than that in this world, on account of
which it is said that God made men, [5] the power of troubles and evils
should be so great.  In reply to these things, Chrysippus, when he was
arguing, in his fourth book respecting providence, said: Nothing can be
more foolish than those who think that good things could have existed,
if there were not evils in the same place.  For since good things are
contrary to evil, they must of necessity be opposed to, each other, and
must stand resting, as it were, on mutual and opposite support.  [6]
Thus there is no contrary without another contrary.

233

For how could there be any perception of justice, unless there were
injuries?  or what else is justice, but the removal of injustice?  In
like manner, the nature of fortitude cannot be understood.  except by
placing [1] beside it cowardice, or the nature of self-control except by
intemperance.  Likewise, in what manner would there be prudence, unless
there were the contrary, imprudence?  On the same principle, he says,
why do the foolish men not require this also, that there should be truth
and not falsehood?  For there exist together good and evil things,
prosperity and trouble, pleasure and pain.  For the one being bound to
the other at opposite poles, as Plato says, if you take away one, you
take away both."  You see, therefore, that which I have often said, that
good and evil are so connected with one another, that the one cannot
exist without the other.  Therefore God acted with the greatest
foresight in placing the subject-matter of virtue in evils which He made
for this purpose, that He might establish for us a contest, in which He
would crown the victorious with the reward of immortality.  [2]

CHAP.XXX. -- OF FALSE WISDOM.

 I have taught, as I imagine, that the honours paid to gods are not
only, impious, but also vain, either because they were men whose memory
was consecrated after death; or because the images themselves are
insensible and deaf, inasmuch as they are formed of earth, and that it
is not right for man, who ought to look up to heavenly things, to
subject himself to earthly things; or because the spirits who claim to
themselves those acts of religious service are unholy and impure, and on
this account, being condemned by the sentence of God, fell to the earth,
and that it is not lawful to submit to the power of those to whom you
are superior, if you wish to be a follower of the true God.  It remains
that, as we have spoken of false religion, we should also discuss the
subject of false wisdom, which the philosophers profess,--men endued
with the greatest learning and eloquence, but far removed from the
truth, because they neither know God nor the wisdom of God.  And
although they are clever and learned, yet, because their wisdom is
human, I shall not fear to contend with them, that it may be evident
that falsehood can be easily overcome by truth, and earthly things by
heavenly.

 They thus define the nature of philosophy.  Philosophy is the love or
pursuit of wisdom.  Therefore it is not wisdom itself; for that which
loves must be different from that which is loved.

If it is the pursuit of wisdom, not even thus is philosophy identical
with wisdom.  For wisdom is the object itself which is sought, but the
pursuit is that which seeks it.  Therefore the very definition or
meaning of the word plainly shows that philosophy is not wisdom itself.
I will say that it [3] is not even the pursuit of wisdom, in which
wisdom is not comprised.  For who can be said to devote himself to the
pursuit of that to which he can by no means attain?  He who gives
himself to the pursuit of medicine, or grammar, or oratory, may be said
to be studious of that art which he is learning; but when he has
learned, he is now said to be a physician, a grammarian, or an orator.
Thus also those who are studious of wisdom, after they had learned it,
ought to have been called wise.  But since they are called students of
wisdom as long as they live, it is manifest that that is not the
pursuit, because it is impossible to arrive at the object itself which
is sought for in the pursuit, unless by chance they who pursue wisdom
even to the end of life are about to be wise in another world.  Now
every pursuit is connected with some end.  That, therefore, is not a
right pursuit which has no end.

CHAP. XXXI. -- OF KNOWLEDGE AND SUPPOSITION.

Moreover, there are two things which appear to fall under the subject of
philosophy -- knowledge and supposition; and if these are taken away,
philosophy altogether falls to the ground.  But the chief of the
philosophers themselves have taken away both from philosophy.  Socrates
took away knowledge, Zeno supposition.  Let us see whether they were
right in doing so.  Wisdom is, as Cicero defined it, [4] the knowledge
of divine and human things.  Now if this definition is true, wisdom does
not come within the power of man.  For who of mortals can assume this to
himself, to profess that he knows divine and human things?  I say
nothing of human affairs; for although they are connected with divine,
yet, since they belong to man.  let us grant that it is possible for man
to know them.  Certainly he cannot

 know divine things by himself, since he is a man; whereas he who knows
them must be divine, and therefore God.  But man is neither divine nor
God.  Man, therefore, cannot thoroughly know divine things by himself.
No one, therefore, is wise but God, or certainly that man whom God has
taught.  But they, because they are neither gods.  nor taught by God.
cannot be wise, that is, acquainted with divine and human things.
Knowledge, therefore, is rightly taken away by Socrates and the
Academics.  Supposition also does not agree with the wise man.  For
every

234

one supposes that of which he is ignorant.  Now, to suppose that you
know that of which you are ignorant, is rashness and folly.
Supposition, therefore, was rightly taken away by Zeno.  If, therefore.
there is no knowledge in man, and there ought to be no supposition,
philosophy is cut up by the roots.

CHAP. XXXII.--OF THE SECTS OF PHILOSOPHERS,

AND THEIR DISAGREEMENT.

 To this is added, that it [1] is not uniform; but being divided into
sects, and scattered into many and discordant opinions, it has no fixed
state.  For since they all separately attack and harass one another, and
there is none of them which is not condemned of folly in the judgment of
the rest, while the members are plainly at variance with one another,
the whole body of philosophy is brought to destruction.  Hence the
Academy afterwards originated.  For when the leading men of that sect
saw that philosophy was altogether overthrown by philosophers mutually
opposing each other, they undertook war against all, that they might
destroy all the arguments of all; while they themselves assert nothing
except one thing -- that nothing can be known.  Thus, having taken away
knowledge, they overthrew the ancient philosophy.  But they did not even
themselves retain the name of philosophers, since they admitted their
ignorance, because to be ignorant of all things is not only not the part
of a philosopher, but not even of a man.  Thus the philosophers, because
they have no defence, must destroy one another with mutual wounds, and
philosophy itself must altogether consume and put an end to itself by
its own arms.  But they say it is only natural philosophy which thus
gives way.  How is it with moral?  Does that rest on any firm
foundation?  Let us see whether philosophers are agreed in this part at
any rate, which relates to the condition of life.

CHAP. XXXIII.--WHAT IS THE CHIEF GOOD TO BE

SOUGHT IN LIFE.

 What is the chief good must be an object of inquiry, that our whole
life and actions may be directed to it.  When inquiry is made respecting
the chief good of man, it ought to be settled to be of such a kind,
first, that it have reference to man alone; in the next place, that it
belong peculiarly to the mind; lastly, that it be sought by virtue.  Let
us see, therefore, whether the chief good which the philosophers mark
out be such that it has reference neither to a dumb animal nor to the
body, and cannot be attained without virtue.

 Aristippus, the founder of the Cyrenaic sect, who thought that bodily
pleasure was the chief

good, ought to be removed from the number of philosophers, and from the
society of men, because he compared himself to a beast.  The chief good
of Hieronymus is to be without pain, that of Diodorus to cease to be in
pain.  But the other animals avoid pain; and when they are without pain,
or cease to be in pain, are glad.  What distinction, then, will be given
to man, if his chief good is judged to be common with the beasts?  Zeno
thought that the chief good was to live agreeably to nature.  But this
definition is a general one.  For all animals live agreeably to nature,
and each has its own nature.

 Epicurus maintained that it was pleasure of the soul.  What is pleasure
of the soul but joy, in which the soul for the most part luxuriates, and
unbends itself either to sport or to laughter?  But this good befalls
even dumb animals, which, when they are satisfied with pasture, relax
themselves to joy and wantonness.  Dinomachus and Callipho approved of
honourable pleasure; but they either said the same that Epicurus did,
that bodily pleasure is dishonourable; or if they considered bodily
pleasures to be partly base and partly honourable, then that is not the
chief good which is ascribed to the body.  The Peripatetics make up the
chief good of goods of the soul, and body, and fortune.  The goods of
the soul may be approved of; but if they require assistance for the
completion of happiness, they are plainly weak.  But the goods of the
body and of fortune are not in the power of man; nor is that now the
chief good which is assigned to the body, or to things placed without
us, because this double good extends even to the cattle, which have need
of being well, and of a due supply of food.  The Stoics are believed to
have entertained much better views, who said that virtue was the chief
good.  But virtue cannot be the chief good, since, if it is the
endurance of evils and of labours, it is not happy of itself; but it
ought to effect and produce the chief good, because it cannot be
attained without the greatest difficulty and labour.  But, in truth,
Aristotle wandered far from reason, who connected honour with virtue, as
though it were possible for virtue at any time to be separated from
honour, or to be united with baseness.

 Herillus the Pyrrhonist made knowledge the chief good.  This indeed
belongs to man, and to the soul only, but it may happen to him without
virtue.  For he is not to be considered happy who has either learnt
anything by hearing, or has gained the knowledge of it by a little
reading; nor is it a definition of the chief good, because there may be
a knowledge either of bad things, or at any rate of things that are
useless.  And if it is the knowledge of good and useful things which you
have acquired by labour, nevertheless it is not the chief good, because
knowledge is

235

not sought on its own account, but on account of something else.  For
the arts are learnt on this account, that they may be to us the means of
gaining support, or a source of glory, or even of pleasure; and it is
plain that these things cannot be the chief goods.  Therefore the
philosophers do not observe the rule even in moral philosophy, inasmuch
as they are at variance with one another on the main point [1] itself,
that is, in that discussion by which the life is moulded.  For the
precepts cannot be equal, or resembling one another, when some train men
to pleasure, others to honour, others indeed to nature, others to
knowledge; some to the pursuit, others to the avoiding of riches; some
to entire insensibility to pain, others to the endurance of evils: in
all which, as I have shown before, they turn aside from reason, because
they are ignorant of God.

CHAP. XXXIV. -- THAT MEN ARE BORN TO JUSTICE.

 Let us now see what is proposed to the wise man as the chief good.  [2]
That men are born to justice is not only taught by the sacred writings,
but is sometimes acknowledged even by these same philosophers.  Thus
Cicero says: "But of all things which fall under the discussion of
learned men, nothing assuredly is more excellent than that it should be
clearly understood that we are born to justice."  This is most true.
[3] For we are not born to wickedness, since we are a social and
sociable animal.  The wild beasts are produced to exercise their
fierceness; for they are unable to live in any other way than by prey
and bloodshed.  These, however, although pressed by extreme hunger,
nevertheless refrain from animals of their own kind.  Birds also do the
same, which must feed upon the carcases of others.  How much more is it
befitting, that man, who is united with man both in the interchange of
language and in communion of feeling, should spare man, and love him!
For this is justice.

 But since wisdom has been given to man alone, that he may understand
God, and this alone makes the difference between man and the dumb
animals, justice itself is bound up in two duties.  He owes the one to
God as to a father, the other to man as to a brother; for we are
produced by the same God.  Therefore it has been deservedly and rightly
said, that wisdom is the knowledge of divine and human affairs.  For it
is right that we should know what we owe to God, and what to man;
namely, to God religion, to man affection.  But the former belongs to
wisdom, the latter to virtue; and justice comprises both.  If,
therefore, it is evident that man

is born to justice, it is necessary that the just man should be subject
to evils, that he may exercise the virtue with which he is endued.  For
virtue is the enduring of evils.  He will avoid pleasures as an evil: he
will despise riches, because they are frail; and if he has them, he will
liberally bestow them, to preserve the wretched: he will not be desirous
of honours, because they are short and transitory; he will do injury to
no one; if he shall suffer, he will not retaliate; and he will not take
vengeance upon one who plunders his property.  For he will deem it
unlawful to injure a man; and if there shall be any one who would compel
him to depart from God, he will not refuse tortures nor death.  Thus it
will come to pass, that he must necessarily live in poverty and
lowliness, and in insults, or even tortures.

CHAP. XXXV. --THAT IMMORTALITY IS THE CHIEF

GOOD.

 What, then, will be the advantage of justice and virtue, if they shall
have nothing but evil in life?  But if virtue, which despises all
earthly goods, most wisely endures all evils, and endures death itself
in the discharge of duty, cannot be without a reward, what remains but
that immortality alone is its reward?  For if a happy life falls to the
lot of man, as the philosophers will have it, and in this point alone
they do not disagree, therefore also immortality falls to him.  For that
only is happy which is incorruptible; that only is incorruptible which
is eternal.  Therefore immortality is the chief good, because it belongs
both to man, and to the soul, and to virtue.  We are only directed to
this; we are born to the attainment of this.  Therefore God proposes to
us virtue and justice, that we may obtain that eternal reward for our
labours.  But concerning that immortality [4] itself we will speak in
the proper place.  There remains the philosophy of Logic, [5] which
contributes nothing to a happy life.  For wisdom does not consist in the
arrangement of speech, but in the heart and the feeling.  But if natural
philosophy is superfluous, and this of logic, and the philosophers have
erred in moral philosophy, which alone is necessary, because they have
been unable in any way to find out the chief good; therefore all
philosophy is found to be empty and useless, which was unable to
comprehend the nature of man, or to fulfil its duty and office.

CHAP. XXXVI. -- OF THE PHILOSOPHERS,-NAMELY, EPICURUS AND PYTHAGORAS.

 Since I have spoken briefly of philosophy, now also I will speak a few
things about the

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philosophers.  This is especially the doctrine of Epicurus, that there
is no providence.  And at the same time he does not deny the existence
of gods.  In both respects he acts contrary to reason.  For if there are
gods, it follows that there is a providence.  For otherwise we can form
no intelligible idea of God, for it is His peculiar province to foresee.
[1] But Epicurus says He takes no care about anything.  Therefore He
disregards not only the affairs of men, but also heavenly things.  How,
therefore, or from what, do you affirm that He exists?  For when you
have taken away the divine providence and care, it would naturally
follow that you should altogether deny the existence of God whereas now
you have left Him in name, but in reality you have taken Him away.
Whence, then, did the world derive its origin, if God takes no care of
anything?  There are, he says, minute atoms, which can neither be seen
nor touched, and from the fortuitous meeting of these all things arose,
and are continually arising.  If they are neither seen nor perceived by
any part of the body, how could you know of their existence?  In the
next place, if they exist, with what mind do they meet together to
effect anything?  If they are smooth, they cannot cohere: if they are
hooked and angular, then they are divisible; for hooks and angles
project, and can be cut off.  But these things are senseless and
unprofitable.  Why should I mention that he also makes souls capable of
extinction?  who is refuted not only by all philosophers and general
persuasion, but also by the answers of bards, by the predictions of the
Sibyls, and lastly, by the divine voices of the prophets themselves; so
that it is wonderful that Epicurus alone existed, who should place the
condition of man on a level with the flocks and beasts.

 What of Pythagoras, who was first called a philosopher, who judged that
souls were indeed immortal, but that they passed into other bodies,
either of cattle, or of birds, or of beasts?  Would it not have been
better that they should be destroyed, together with their bodies, than
thus to be condemned to pass into the bodies of other animals?  Would it
not be better not to exist at all, than, after having had the form of a
man, to live as a swine or a dog?  And the foolish man, to gain credit
for his saying, said that he himself had been Euphorbus in the Trojan
war, and that, when he had been slain, he passed into other figures of
animals, and at last became Pythagoras.  O happy man!  to whom alone so
great a memory was given; or rather unhappy, who, when changed into a
sheep, was not permitted to be ignorant of what he was!

And would to Heaven that he alone had been thus senseless!  He found
also some to believe him, and some indeed among the learned, [2] to whom
the inheritance of folly passed.

CHAP. XXXII. --OF SOCRATES AND HIS CONTRA-

DICTION.

 After him Socrates held the first place in philosophy, who was
pronounced most wise even by the oracle, because he confessed that he
knew one thing only, -- namely, that he knew nothing.  And on the
authority of this oracle it was right that the natural philosophers
should restrain themselves, lest they should either inquire into those
things which they could not know, or should think that they knew things
which they did not know.  Let us, however, see whether Socrates was most
wise, as the Pythian god proclaimed.  He often made use of this proverb,
that that which is above us has also no reference to us.  He has now
passed beyond the limits of his opinion.  For he who said that he knew
one thing only, found another thing to speak of, as though he knew it;
but that in vain.  For God, who is plainly above us, is to be sought
for; and religion is to be undertaken, which alone separates us from the
brutes, which indeed Socrates not only rejected, but even derided, in
swearing by a goose and a dog, as if in truth he could not have sworn by
AEsculapius, to whom he had vowed a cock.  Behold the sacrifice of a
wise man!  And because he was unable to offer this in his own person,
since he was at the point of death, he entreated his friends to perform
the vow after his death, lest forsooth he should be detained as a debtor
in the lower regions.  He assuredly both pronounced that he knew
nothing, and made good his statement.  [3]

CHAP. XXXVIII.--OF PLATO, WHOSE DOCTRINE APPROACHES MORE NEARLY TO THE
TRUTH.

 His disciple Plato, whom Tully speaks of as the god of philosophers,
alone of all so studied philosophy that he approached nearer to the
truth; and yet, because he was ignorant of God, he so failed in many
things, that no one fell into worse errors, especially because in his
books respecting the state he wished all things to be common to all.
This is endurable concerning property, though it is unjust.  For it
ought not to be an injury to any one, if he possesses more than another
through his own industry; or to be a profit to any one, if through his
own fault he possesses less.  But, as I have said, this is capable of
being endured in some way.  Shall there be a com-

237

munity of wives also, and of children?  Shall there be no distinction of
blood, or certainty of race?  Shall there be neither families, nor
relationships, nor affinities, but all things confused and
indiscriminate, as in herds of cattle?  Shall there be no self-restraint
in men, no chastity in women?  What conjugal affection can there be in
these, between whom on either side there is no sure or peculiar (1)
love?  Who will he dutiful towards a father, when he knows not from whom
he was born?  Who will love a son, whom he will reckon as not his own?
(2) Moreover, he opened (3) the senate house to women, and en-trusted to
them warfare, magistracies, and commands.  (4) But how great will be the
calamity of that city, in which women shall discharge the duties of men!
But of this more fully at another opportunity.

 Zeno, the master of the Stoics, who praises virtue, judged that pity,
which is a very great virtue, should be cut away, as though it were a
disease of the mind, whereas it is at the same time dear to God and
necessary for men.  For who is there who, when placed in any evil, would
be unwilling to be pitied, and would not desire the assistance of those
who might succour them, which is not called forth so as to render aid,
except by the feeling of pity?  Although he calls this humanity and
piety, he does not change the matter itself, only the name.  This is the
affection which has been given to man alone, that by mutual assistance
we might alleviate our weakness; and he who removes this affection
reduces us to the life of the beasts.  For his assertion that all faults
are equal, proceeds from that inhumanity with which also be assails pity
as a disease.  For he who makes no difference in faults, either thinks
that light offences ought to be visited with severe punishments, which
is the part of a cruel judge, or that great offences should be visited
with slight punishments, which is the part of a worthless judge.  In
either case there is injury to the state.  For if the greatest crimes
are lightly punished, the boldness of the wicked will increase, and go
on to deeds of greater daring; and if a punishment of too great severity
is inflicted for slight offences, inasmuch as no one can be exempt from
fault, many citizens will incur peril, who by correction might become
better.

CHAP. XXXIX. -- OF VARIOUS PHILOSOPHERS, AND

OF THE ANTIPODES.

 These things, truly, are of small importance, but they arise from the
same falsehood.  Xenoph-

anes said that the orb of the moon is eighteen times larger than this
earth of ours; and that within its compass is contained another earth,
which is inhabited by men and animals of every kind.  About the
antipodes also one can neither hear nor speak without laughter.  It is
asserted as something serious, that we should believe that there are men
who have their feet opposite to ours.  The ravings of Anaxagoras are
more tolerable, who said that snow was black.  And not only the sayings,
but the deeds, of some are ridiculous.  Democritus neglected his land
which was left to him by his father, and suffered it to become a public
pasture.  Diogenes with his company of dogs, (5) who professes that
great and perfect virtue in the contempt of all things, preferred to beg
for his support, rather than to seek it by honest labour, or to have any
property.  Undoubtedly the life of a wise man ought to be to others an
example of living.  If all should imitate the wisdom of these, how will
states exist?  But perhaps the same Cynics were able to afford an
example of modesty, who lived with their wives in public.  I know not
how they could defend virtue, who took away modesty.

 Nor was Aristippus better than these, who, I believe, that he might
please his mistress Lais, instituted the Cyrenaic system, by which he
placed the end of the chief good in bodily pleasure, that authority
might not be wanting to his faults, or learning to his vices.  Are those
men of greater fortitude to be more approved, who, that they might be
said to have despised death, died by their own hands?  Zeno, Empedocles.
Chrysippus, Cleanthes, Democritus, and Cato, imitating these, did not
know that he who put himself to death is guilty of murder, according to
the divine right and law.  For it was God who placed us in this abode of
flesh: it was He who gave us the temporary habitation of the body, that
we should inhabit it as long as He pleased.  Therefore it is to be
considered impious, to wish to depart from it without the command of
God.  Therefore violence must not be applied to nature.  He knows how to
destroy (6) His own work.  And if any one shall apply impious bands to
that work, and shall tear asunder the bonds of the divine workmanship,
he endeavours to flee from God, whose sentence no one will be able to
escape, whether alive or dead.  Therefore they are accursed and impious,
whom I have mentioned above, who even taught what are the befitting
reasons for voluntary death; so that it was not enough of guilt that
they were self-murderers, unless they instructed others also to this
wickedness.  (7)

238

CHAP. XL.--OF THE FOOLISHNESS OF THE PHI-

LOSOPHERS.

 There are innumerable sayings and doings of the philosophers, by which
their foolishness may be shown.  Therefore, since we are unable to
enumerate them all, a few will be sufficient.  It is enough that it is
understood that the philosophers were neither teachers of justice, of
which they were ignorant, nor of virtue, of which they falsely boast.
For what can they teach, who often confess their own ignorance?  I omit
to mention Socrates, whose opinion is well known.  Anaxagoras proclaims
that all things are over-spread with darkness.  Empedocles says that the
paths for finding out the truth of the senses are narrow.  Democritus
asserts that truth lies sunk in a deep well; and because they nowhere
find it, they therefore affirm that no wise man has as yet existed.
Since, therefore, human wisdom has no existence (Socrates says in the
writings of Plato), let us follow that which is divine, and let us give
thanks to God, who has revealed and delivered it to us; and let us
congratulate ourselves, that through the divine bounty we possess the
truth and wisdom, which, though sought by so many intellects through so
many ages, philosophy (1) was not able to discover.

CHAP. XLI.--OF TRUE RELIGION AND WISDOM.

 Now, since we have refuted false religion, which is in the worship of
the gods, and false wisdom, which is in the philosophers, let us come to
true religion and wisdom.  And, indeed, we must speak of them both
conjointly, because they are closely connected.  For to worship the true
God, that and nothing else is wisdom.  For that God who is supreme and
the Maker of all things, who made man as the image of Himself, on this
account conferred on him alone of all animals the gift of reason, that
he might pay back honour to Him as his Father and his Lord, and by the
exercise of this piety and obedience might gain the reward of
immortality.  This is a true and divine mystery.  But among those, (2)
because they are not true, there is no agreement.  Neither are sacred
rites performed in philosophy, nor is philosophy treated of in sacred
things; and on this account their religion is false, because it does not
possess wisdom; and on this account their wisdom is false, because it
does not possess religion.  But where both are joined together, there
the truth must necessarily be; so that if it is asked what the truth
itself is, it may be rightly said to be either wise religion or
religious wisdom.

CHAP. XLII.--OF RELIGIOUS WISDOM: THE NAME OF CHRIST KNOWN TO NONE,
EXCEPT HIMSELF AND HIS FATHER.

 I will now say what wise religion, or religious wisdom, is.  God, in
the beginning, before He made the world, from the fountain of His own
eternity, and from the divine and everlasting Spirit, (3) begat for
Himself a Son incorruptible, faithful, corresponding to His Father's
excellence and majesty.  He is virtue, He is reason, He is the word of
God, He is wisdom.  With this artificer, as Hermes says, and counsellor,
as the Sibyl says, He contrived the excellent and wondrous fabric of
this world.  In fine, of all the angels, whom the same God formed from
His own breath, (4) He alone was admitted into a participation of His
supreme power, He alone was called God.  For all things were through
Him, and nothing was without Him.  In fine, Plato, not altogether as a
philosopher, but as a seer, spoke concerning the first and second God,
perhaps following Trismegistus in this, whose words I have translated
from the Greek, and subjoined: "The Lord and Maker of all things, whom
we have thought to be called God, created (5) a second God, who is
visible and sensible.  But by sensible I mean, not that He Himself
receives sensation, but that He causes sensation and sight.  When,
therefore, He had made this, the first, and one, and only one, He
appeared to Him most excellent, and full of all good qualities."  The
Sibyl also says that God the guide of all was made by God, and another,
that

"God the Son of God must be known,"

as those examples which I have brought forward in my books declare.  Him
the prophets, filled with the inspiration of the Divine Spirit,
proclaimed; of whom especially Solomon in the book of Wisdom, and also
his father, the writer of divine hymns--both most renowned kings, who
preceded the times of the Trojan war by a hundred and eighty years (6)--
testify that He was born of God.  His name is known to none, except to
Himself and the Father, as John teaches in the Revelation.  (7) Hermes
says that His name cannot be uttered by mortal mouth.  Yet by men He is
called by two names--Jesus, which is Saviour, and Christ, which is King.
He is called Saviour on this account, because He is the health and
safety of all who believe in God through Him.  He is called Christ on
this account, because He Himself will come from

239

heaven at the end of this dispensation (1) to judge the world, and,
having raised the dead, to establish for Himself an everlasting kingdom.

CHAP. XLIII.--OF THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST,

AND HIS TWOFOLD NATIVITY.

 But lest by any chance there should be any doubt in your mind why we
call Him Jesus Christ, who was born of God before the world, and who was
born of man three hundred years ago, I will briefly explain to you the
reason.  The same person is the son of God and of man.  For He was twice
born: first of God, in the spirit, before the origin of the world;
afterwards in the flesh of man, in the reign of Augustus; and in
connection with this fact is an illustrious and great mystery, in which
is contained both the salvation of men and the religion of the Supreme
God, and all truth.  For when first the accursed and impious worship of
gods crept in through the treachery of the demons, then the religion of
God remained with the Hebrews alone, who, not by any law, but after the
manner of their fathers, observed the worship handed down to them by
successive generations, (2) even until the time when they went forth out
of Egypt trader the leadership of Moses, the first of all the prophets,
through whom the law was given to them from God; and they were
afterwards called Jews.  Therefore they served God, being bound by the
chains of the taw.  But they also, by degrees going astray to profane
rites, undertook the worship of strange gods, and, leaving the worship
of their father, sacrificed to senseless images.  Therefore God sent to
them prophets filled with the Divine Spirit, to upbraid them with their
sins and proclaim repentance, to threaten them with the vengeance which
would follow, and announce that it would come to pass, if they persisted
in the same faults, that He would send another as the bearer of a new
law; and having removed the ungrateful people from their inheritance, He
would assemble to Himself a more faithful people from foreign nations.
But they not only persisted in their course, but even slew the
messengers themselves.  Therefore He condemned them on account of these
deeds: nor did He any longer send messengers to a stubborn people; but
He sent His own Son, to call all nations to the favour of God.  Nor,
however, did He shut them out, impious and ungrateful as they were, from
the hope of salvation: but He sent Him to them before all others, (3)
that if they should by chance obey, they might not lose that which they
had received; but if they should refuse to receive their God, then, the
heirs being

removed, (4) the Gentiles would come into possession.  Therefore the
supreme Father ordered Him to descend to the earth, and to put on a
human body, that, being subject to the sufferings of the flesh, He might
teach virtue and patience not only by words, but also by deeds.
Therefore He was born a second time as man, of a virgin, without a
father, that, as in His first spiritual birth, being born of God alone,
He was made a sacred spirit, so in His second and fleshly birth, being
born of a mother only, He might become holy flesh, that through Him the
flesh, which had become subject to sin, might be freed from destruction.

CHAP. XLIV. --THE TWOFOLD NATIVITY OF CHRIST IS PROVED FROM THE
PROPHETS.

 That these things should thus take place as I have set them forth, the
prophets had before predicted.  In the writings of Solomon it is thus
written: (5) "The womb of a virgin was strengthened, and conceived: and
a virgin was impregned, and became a mother in great pity."  In Isaiah
(6) it is thus written: "Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a
son, and ye shall call His name Immanuel;" which, being interpreted, is
God with us.  (7) For He was with us on the earth, when He assumed
flesh; and He was no less God in man, and man in God.  That He was both
God and man was declared before by the prophets.  That He was God,
Isaiah (8) thus declares: "They shall fall down unto Thee, they shall
make supplication unto Thee; since God is in Thee, and we knew it not,
even the God of Israel.  They shall be ashamed and confounded, all of
them who oppose themselves to Thee, and shall go to confusion."  Also
Jeremiah: (9) "This is our God, and there shall none other be compared
unto Him; He hath found out all the way of knowledge, and hath given it
unto Jacob His servant, and to Israel His beloved.  Afterward He was
seen upon earth, and dwelt among men."  Likewise that He was man, the
same Jeremiah (10) says: "And He is man, and who knew Him?"  Isaiah also
thus speaks: (11) "And the Lord shall send them a man who shall save
them, and with judgment shall He heal them."  Also Moses himself in the
book of Numbers: (12) "There shall come a star out of Jacob, and a man
shall arise out of Israel."  For this cause, therefore, being God, He
took upon Him flesh, that, becoming a mediator (13) between God and man,
having over-

240

come death, He might by His guidance lead man to God.

CHAP. XLV. --THE POWER AND WORKS OF CHRIST

ARE PROVED FROM THE SCRIPTURES.

 We have spoken of His nativity; now let us speak of His power and
works, which, when He wrought them among men, the Jews, seeing them to
be great and wonderful, supposed that they were done by the influence of
magic, not knowing that all those things which were done by Him had been
foretold by the prophets.  He gave strength to the sick, and to those
languishing under various diseases, not by any healing remedy, but
instantaneously, by the force and power of His word; He restored the
weak, He made the lame to walk, He gave sight to the blind, He made the
dumb to speak, the deaf to hear; He cleansed the polluted and unclean,
He restored their right mind to those who were maddened with the attack
of demons, He recalled to life and light those who were dead or now
buried.  He also fed and satisfied (1) five thousand men with five
loaves and two fishes.  He also walked upon the sea.  He also in a
tempest commanded the wind to be still, and immediately there was a
calm; all which things we find predicted both in the books of the
prophets and in the verses of the Sibyls.

 When a great multitude resorted to Him on account of these miracles,
and, as He truly was, believed Him to be the Son of God, and sent from
God, the priests and rulers of the Jews, filled with envy, and at the
same time excited with anger, because He reproved their sins and
injustice, conspired to put Him to death; and that this would happen,
Solomon had foretold a little more than a thousand years before, in the
book of Wisdom, using these words: (2) "Let us defraud the righteous,
for he is unpleasant to us, and upbraideth us with our offences against
the law.  He maketh his boast that he has the knowledge of God, and he
calleth himself the Son of God.  He is made to reprove our thoughts: it
grieveth us even to look upon him; for his life is not like the life of
others, his ways are of another fashion.  We are counted by him as
triflers; he withdraweth himself from our ways, as from filthiness; he
commendeth greatly the latter end of the just, and boasteth that he has
God for his father.  Let us see, therefore, if his words be true; let us
prove what end he shall have; let us examine him with rebukes and
torments, that we may know his meekness and prove his patience; let us
condemn him to a shameful death.  Such things have they imagined, and
have gone astray; for their own folly hath blinded

them, and they do not understand the mysteries of God."

 Therefore, being unmindful of these writings which they read, they
incited the people as though against an impious man, so that they seized
and led Him to trial, and with impious words demanded His death.  But
they alleged against Him as a crime this very thing, that He said that
He was the Son of God, and that by healing on the Sabbath He broke the
law, which He said that He did not break, but fulfilled.  And when
Pontius Pilate, who then as legate had authority in Syria, perceived
that the cause did not belong to the office of the Roman judge, he sent
Him to Herod the Tetrarch, and permitted the Jews themselves to be the
judges of their own law: who, having received the power of punishing His
guilt, sentenced (3) Him to the cross, but first scourged and struck him
with their hands, put on Him a crown of thorns, spat upon His face, gave
Him gall and vinegar to eat and drink; and amidst these things no word
was heard to fall from His lips.  Then the executioners, having cast
lots over His tunic and mantle, suspended Him on the cross, and affixed
Him to it, though on the next day they were about to celebrate the
Passover, that is, their festival.  Which crime was followed by
prodigies, that they might understand the impiety which they had
committed; for at the same moment in which He expired, there was a great
earthquake, and a withdrawing (4) of the sun, so that the day was turned
into night.

CHAP. XLVI.--IT IS PROVED FROM THE PROPHETS THAT THE PASSION AND DEATH
OF CHRIST HAD BEEN FORETOLD.

 And the prophets had predicted that all these things would thus come to
pass.  Isaiah thus speaks: (5) "I am not rebellious, nor do I oppose: I
gave my back to the scourge, and my cheeks to the hand: I turned not
away my face from the foulness of spitting."  The same prophet says
respecting His silence: (6) "I was brought as a sheep to the slaughter,
and as a lamb before its shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth."
David also, in the xxxivth Psalm: (7) "The abjects were gathered
together against me, and they knew me not: they were scattered, yet felt
no remorse: they tempted me, and gnashed upon me with their teeth."  The
same also says respecting food and drink in the lxviiith Psalm: (8)
"They gave me also gall for my meat, and in my thirst they gave me
vinegar to drink."  Also

241

respecting the cross of Christ: (1) "And they pierced my hands and my
feet, they numbered all my bones: they themselves have looked and

stared upon me; they parted my garments among them, and cast lots upon
my vesture."  Moses also says in Deuteronomy: (2) " And thy life shall
hang in doubt before thine eyes, and thou shall fear day and night, and
shall have none assurance of thy life."  Also in Numbers: (3) "God is
not in doubt as a man, nor does He suffer threats as the son of man."
Also Zechariah says: (4) "And they shall look on me whom they pierced."
Amos (5) thus speaks of the obscuring of the sun: "In that day, saith
the Lord, the sun shall go down at noon, and the clear day shall be
dark; and I will turn your feasts into mourning, and your songs into
lamentation."  Jeremiah (6) also speaks of the city of Jerusalem, in
which He suffered: "Her sun is gone down while it was yet day; she hath
been confounded and reviled, and the residue of them will I deliver to
the sword."  Nor were these things spoken in vain.  For after a short
time the Emperor Vespasian subdued the Jews, and laid waste their lands
with the sword and fire, besieged and reduced them by famine, overthrew
Jerusalem, led the captives in triumph, and prohibited the others who
were left from ever returning to their native land.  And these things
were done by God on account of that crucifixion of Christ, as He before
declared this to Solomon in their Scriptures, saying, (7) "And Israel
shall be for perdition and a reproach (8) to the people, and this house
shall be desolate; and every one that shall pass by shall be astonished,
and shall say, Why hath God done these evils to this land, and to this
house?  And they shall say, Because they forsook the Lord their God, and
persecuted their.

King, who was dearly beloved by God, and crucified Him with great
degradation, therefore hath God brought upon them these evils."  For
what would they not deserve who put to death their Lord, who had come
for their salvation?

CHAP. XLVII.--OF THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST, THE SENDING OF THE
APOSTLES, AND THE ASCENSION OF THE SAVIOUR INTO HEAVEN.

 After these things they took His body down from the cross, and buried
it in a tomb.  But on the third day, before daybreak, there was an
earthquake, and the stone with which they had closed the sepulchre was
removed, and He arose.  But nothing was found in the sepulchre except

the clothes in which the body had been wrapped.  (9) But that He would
rise again on the third day, the prophets had long ago foretold.  David,
in the xvth Psalm: (10) "Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither
wilt Thou suffer Thine Holy One to see corruption."  Likewise Hosea:
(11) This my Son is wise, therefore He shall not stay long in the
anguish of His sons: and I will ransom Him from the hand of the grave.
Where is thy judgment, O death, where is thy sting?"  The same again
says: (12) "After two days He will revive us on the third day."

 Therefore, after His resurrection He went into Galilee, and again
assembled His disciples, who had fled through fear; and having given
them commands which He wished to be observed, and having arranged for
the preaching of the Gospel throughout the whole world, He breathed into
them the Holy Spirit, (13) and gave them the power of working miracles,
that they might act for the welfare of men as well by deeds as words;
and then at length, on the fortieth day, He returned to His Father,
being carried up into a cloud.  The prophet Daniel (14) had long before
shown this, saying, "I saw in the night vision, and, behold, one like
the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient
of days; and they who stood beside Him brought Him near before Him.  And
there was given Him a kingdom, and glory, and dominion, and all people,
tribes, and languages shall serve Him; and His power is an everlasting
one, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be
destroyed."  Also David in the cixth Psalm: (15) "The Lord said unto my
Lord, Sit Thou at my right hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy
footstool."

CHAP. XLVIII. -- OF THE DISINHERITING OF THE JEWS, AND THE ADOPTION OF
THE GENTILES.

 Since, therefore, He sits at the right hand of God, about to tread down
His enemies, who tortured Him, when He shall come to judge the world, it
is evident that no hope remains to the Jews, unless, turning themselves
to repentance, and being cleansed from the blood with which they
polluted themselves, they shall begin to hope in Him whom they denied.
(16) Therefore Esdras thus speaks: (17) "This passover is our Saviour
and our refuge.  Consider and let it come into your heart, that we have
to abase

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Him in a figure: and after these things we have hoped (1) in Him."

 Now that the Jews were disinherited, because they rejected Christ, and
that we, who are of the Gentiles, were adopted into their place, is
proved by the Scriptures.  Jeremiah (2) thus speaks: "I have forsaken
mine house, I have given mine heritage into the hands of her enemies.
Mine heritage is become unto me as a lion in the forest; it hath given
forth its voice against me: therefore have I hated it."  Also Malachi:
(3) "I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord, neither will I accept an
offering at your hand.  For from the rising of the sun even unto the
going down thereof, my name shall be great among the Gentiles."  Isaiah
also thus speaks: (4) "I come to gather all nations and tongues: and
they shall come and see my glory."  The same says in another place, (5)
speaking in the person of the Father to the Son: "I the Lord have called
Thee in righteousness, and will hold Thine hand, and will keep Thee, and
give Thee for a covenant of my people, for a light of the Gentiles; to
open the eyes of the blind, to bring out the prisoners from the prison,
and them that sit in darkness out of the prison-house."

CHAP. XLIX. --THAT GOD IS ONE ONLY.

 If therefore the Jews have been rejected by God, as the faith due to
the sacred writings shows, and the Gentiles, as we see, brought in, and
freed from the darkness of this present life and from the chains of
demons, it follows that no other hope is proposed to man, unless he
shall follow true religion and true wisdom, which is in Christ, and he
who is ignorant of Him is always estranged from the truth and from God.
Nor let the Jews, or philosophers, flatter themselves respecting the
Supreme God.  He who has not acknowledged the Son has been unable to
acknowledge the Father.  (6) This is wisdom, and this is the mystery of
the Supreme God.  God willed that He should be acknowledged and
worshipped through Him.  (7) On this account He sent the prophets
beforehand to announce His coming, that when the things which had been
foretold were fulfilled in Him, then He might be believed by men to be
both the Son of God and God.

 Nor, however, must the opinion be entertained that there are two Coots,
for the Father and the Son are one.  For since the Father loves the Son,
and gives all things to Him, and the Son

faithfully obeys the Father, and wills nothing except that which the
Father does, it is plain that so close a relationship cannot be
separated, so that they should be said to be two in whom there is but
one substance, and will, and faith.  Therefore the Son is through the
Father, and the Father through the Son.  One honour is to be given to
both, as to one God, and is to be so divided through the worship of the
two, that the division itself may be bound by an inseparable bond of
union.  He will leave nothing to himself, who separates either the
Father from the Son, or the Son from the Father.  (8)

CHAP.L. --WHY GOD ASSUMED A MORTAL BODY,

 AND SUFFERED DEATH.

 It remains to answer those also, who deem that it was unbecoming and
unreasonable that God should be clothed with a mortal body; that He
should be in subjection to men; that He should endure insults; that He
should even suffer tortures and death.  I will speak my sentiments, and
I will sum up, as I shall be able, an immense subject in few words.  He
who teaches anything, ought, as I think, himself to practise what he
teaches, that he may compel men to obey.  For if he shall not practise
them, he will detract from the faith due to his precepts.  Therefore
there is need of examples, that the precepts which are given may have
firmness, and if any one shall prove contumacious, and shall say that
they cannot be carried out in practice, the instructor may refute him by
actual fact.  (9) Therefore a system of teaching cannot be perfect, when
it is delivered by words only; but it then becomes perfect, when it is
completed by deeds.

 Since therefore Christ was sent to men as a teacher of virtue, for the
perfection of His teaching it was plainly befitting that He should act
as well as teach.  But if He had not assumed a human body, He would not
have been able to practise what He taught,-- that is, not to be angry,
not to desire riches, not to be inflamed with lust, not to fear pain, to
despise death.  These things are plainly virtues, but they cannot be
done without flesh.  Therefore He assumed a body on this account, that,
since He taught that the desires of the flesh must be overcome, He might
in person first practise it, that no one might allege the frailty of the
flesh as an excuse.

CHAP. LI. --OF THE DEATH OF CHRIST ON THE

CROSS.

 I will now speak of the mystery of the cross, lest any one should
happen to say, If death must be endured by Him, it should have been not
one

243

that was manifestly infamous and dishonourable, but one which had some
honour.  I know, indeed, that many, while they dislike the name of the
cross, shrink from the truth, though there is in it great reasonableness
and power, For since He was sent for this purpose, that He might open to
the lowest men the way to salvation, He made Himself humble that He
might free them.  Therefore He underwent that kind of death which is
usually inflicted on the humble, that an opportunity of imitation might
be given to all.  Moreover, since He was about to rise again, it was not
allowable that His body should be in any way mutilated, or a bone
broken, which happens to those who are beheaded.  Therefore the cross
was preferred, which reserved the body with the bones uninjured for the
resurrection.

 To these grounds it was also added, that having undertaken to suffer
and to die, it was befitting that He should be lifted up.  Thus the
cross exalted Him both in fact and in emblem, (1) so that His majesty
and power became known to all, together with His passion.  For in that
He extended His hands on the cross, He plainly stretched out His wings
towards the east and the west, under which all nations from either side
of the world might assemble and repose.  But of what great weight this
sign is, and what power it has, is evident, since all the host of demons
is expelled and put to flight by this sign.  And as He Himself before
His passion put to confusion demons by His word and command, so now, by
the name and sign of the same passion, unclean spirits, having
insinuated themselves into the bodies of men, are driven out, when
racked and tormented, and confessing themselves to be demons, they yield
themselves to God, who harasses them.  What therefore can the Greeks
expect from their superstitions and with their wisdom, when they see
that their gods, whom they do not deny to be demons also, are subdued by
men through the cross?

CHAP. LII.--THE HOPE OF THE SALVATION OF MEN CONSISTS IN THE KNOWLEDGE
OF THE TRUE GOD, AND OF THE HATRED OF THE HEATHENS AGAINST THE
CHRISTIANS.

 There is therefore but one hope of life for men, one harbour of safety,
one refuge of liberty, if, laying aside the errors by which they were
held, they open the eyes of their mind and recognise God, in whom alone
is the abode of truth; despise earthly things, and those made from the
ground esteem as nothing philosophy, which is foolishness with God; and
having undertaken e true wisdom, that is, religion, become heirs of
immortality.  But indeed they are not so much opposed to the truth as to
their own safety; and

when they hear these things, they abominate them as some inexpiable
wickedness.  But they do not even endure, to hear: they think that their
ears are polluted with impiety (3) if they hear; nor do they now refrain
from reproaches, but assail them with the most insulting words; and
also, if they have obtained the power, persecute them as public enemies,
yea, even as worse than enemies; for enemies, when they have been
vanquished, are punished with death or slavery; nor is there any
torturing after the laying down of arms, although those deserved to
suffer all things who wished so to act, that piety might have place
among swords.

 Cruelty, combined with innocence, is unheard of, nor is it worthy of
the condition of victorious enemies.  What is the so powerful cause of
this fury?  Doubtless, because they cannot contend on the ground of
reason, they urge forward their cause by means of violence; and, with
the subject not understood, they condemn those as most pernicious
persons who have declined to make a stand respecting the fact of their
innocence.  Nor do they deem it sufficient that those whom they
unreasonably hate should die by a speedy and simple death; but they
lacerate them with refined tortures, that they may satisfy their hatred,
which is not produced by any fault, but by the truth, which is hateful
to those who live wickedly, because they take it ill that there are some
whom their deeds cannot please.  They desire in every way to destroy
these, that they may be able to sin without restraint in the absence of
any witness.

CHAP. LIII. --THE REASONS OF THE HATRED

 AGAINST THE CHRISTIANS ARE EXAMINED AND

REFUTED.

 But they say that they do these things for the defence of their gods.
In the first place, if they are gods, and have any power and influence,
they have no need of the defence and protection of men, but they
manifestly defend themselves.  Or how is man able to hope for aid from
them, if they are unable to average even their own injuries?  Therefore
it is a vain and foolish thing to wish to be avengers of the gods,
except that their distrust is more apparent from this.  For he who
undertakes the protection of the god whom he worships, admits the
worthlessness of that god; but if he worships him on this account,
because he thinks him powerful, he ought not to wish to defend him, by
whom he himself ought to be defended.  We therefore act rightly.  For
when those defenders of false gods, who are rebellious against the true
God, persecute His name in us, we resist not

244

either in deed or in word, but with meekness, and silence, and patience,
we endure whatever cruelty is able to contrive against us.  For we have
confidence in God, from whom we expect that retribution will hereafter
follow.  Nor is this confidence ungrounded, since we have in some cases
heard, and in other cases seen, the miserable ends of all those who have
dared to commit this crime.  Nor has any one had it in his power to
insult God with impunity; but he who has been unwilling to learn by word
has learned by his own punishment who is the true God.

 I should wish to know, when they compel men to sacrifice against their
will, what reasoning they have with themselves, or to whom they make
that offering.  If it is made to the gods, that is not worship, nor an
acceptable sacrifice, which is made by those who are displeasing to
them, which is extorted by injury, which is enforced by pain.  But if it
is done to those whom they compel, it is plainly not a benefit, which
any one would not receive, he even prefers rather to die.  If it is a
good to which you call me, why do you invite me with evil?  why with
blows, and not with words?  why not by argument, but by bodily tortures?
Whence it is manifest that that is an evil, to which you do not allure
me willing, but drag me refusing.  What folly is it to wish to consult
the good of any one against his will!  If any one, under the pressure of
evils, attempts to have recourse to death, can you, if you either wrest
the sword from his hand, or cut the halter, or drag him away from the
precipice, or pour out the poison, boast yourself as the preserver of
the man, when be, whom you think that you have preserved, does not thank
you, and thinks that you have acted ill towards him, in averting from
him the death which be desired, and in not permitting him to reach the
end and rest from his labours?  For a benefit ought not to be weighed
according to the quality of the action, but according to the feelings of
him who receives it.  Why should you reckon as a benefit that which is
an injury to me?  Do you wish me to worship your gods, which I consider
deadly to myself?  If it is a good, I do not envy it.  Enjoy your good
by yourself.  There is no reason why you should wish to succour my
error, which I have undertaken by my judgment and inclination.  If it is
evil, why do you drag me to a participation in evil?  Use your own
fortune.  I prefer to die in the practice of that which is good, than to
live in evil.

CHAP. LIV.--OF THE FREEDOM OF RELIGION IN

THE WORSHIP OF GOD.

 These things may indeed be said with justice.  But who will hear, when
men of furious and unbridled spirit think that their authority is dimin-

ished if there is any freedom in the affairs of men?  But it is religion
alone in which freedom has placed its dwelling.  For it is a matter
which is voluntary above all others, nor can necessity be imposed upon
any, so as to worship that which he does not wish to worship.  (1) Some
one may perhaps pretend, he cannot wish it.  In short, some, through
fear of torments, or overcome by tortures, have assented to detestable
sacrifices: they never do that voluntarily which they did from
necessity; but when the opportunity is again given to them, and liberty
restored, they again betake themselves to God, and appease Him with
prayers and tears, repenting not of the will, which they had not, but of
the necessity which they endured; and pardon is not denied to those who
make satisfaction.  What then does he accomplish who pollutes the body,
since he cannot change the will?

 But, in fact, men of weak understanding, if they have induced any man
of spirit (2) to sacrifice to their gods, with incredible alacrity
insolently exult, and rejoice, as though they had sent an enemy under
the yoke.  But if any one, neither frightened by threats nor by
tortures, shall have chosen to prefer his faith to his life, cruelty
puts forth all its ingenuity against him, plans dreadful and intolerable
things; and because they know that death for the cause of God is
glorious, and that this is a victory on our side, if, having overcome
the torturers, we lay down our life in be-haft of the faith and
religion, they also themselves strive to conquer us.  They do not put us
to death.  but they search out new and unheard-of tortures, that the
frailty of the flesh may yield to pains, and if it does not yield, they
put off further punishment, and apply diligent care to the wounds, that
while the scars are yet fresh, a repetition of the torture may inflict
more pain; and while they practise this torture (3) upon the innocent,
they evidently consider themselves pious, and just, and religious (for
they are delighted with such sacrifices to their gods), but they term
the others impious and desperate.  What perversity is this, that he who
is punished, though innocent, should be called desperate and impious,
and that the torturer, on the other hand, should be called just and
pious!

CHAP. LV. --THE HEATHENS CHARGE JUSTICE WITH

IMPIETY IN FOLLOWING GOD.

 But they say that those are rightly and deservedly punished, who
dislike the public rites of religion handed down to them by their
ancestors.  What if those ancestors were foolish in undertaking vain
religious rites, as we have shown before,

245

shall we be prohibited from following true and better things?  Why do we
deprive ourselves of liberty, and become enslaved to the errors of
others, as though bound, to them?  Let it be permitted us to be wise,
let it be permitted us to inquire into the truth.  But, however, if it
pleases them to defend the folly (2) of their ancestors, why are the
Egyptians suffered to escape, who worship cattle and beasts of every
kind as deities?  Why are the gods themselves made the subjects of
comics representations?  and why is he honoured who derides them most
wittily?  Why are philosophers attended to, who either say that there
are no gods, or that, if there are any, they take no interest in, and do
not regard the affairs of men, or argue that there is no providence at
all, which rules the world?

 But they alone of all are judged impious who follow God and the truth.
And since this is at once justice, and wisdom, they lay to its charge
either impiety or folly, and do not perceive what it is which deceives
them, when they call evil good, and good evil.  Many indeed of the
philosophers, and especially Plato and Aristotle, spoke many things
about justice, asserting and extolling that virtue with the greatest
praise, because it gives to each its due, because it maintains equity in
all things; and whereas the other virtues are as it were silent, and
shut up within, that it is justice alone which is neither concerned (4)
for itself only, nor hidden, but altogether shows itself (5) abroad, and
is ready for conferring a benefit, so as to assist as many as possible:
as though in truth justice ought to be in judges only, and those placed
in any post of authority, and not in all men.

 And yet there is no one of men, not even of the lowest and of beggars,
who is not capable of justice.  But because they did not know what it
was, from what source it proceeded, and what was its mode of operation,
they assigned to a few only that highest virtue, that is, the common
good of all, and said that it aimed at (6) no advantages peculiar to
itself, but only the interests of others.  And not without reason was
Carneades raised up, a man of the greatest talent and penetration, to
refute their speech, and overthrow the justice, which had no firm
foundation; not because he thought that justice was to be blamed, but
that

he might show that its defenders brought forward no firm or certain
argument respecting justice.

CHAP. LVI.--OF JUSTICE, WHICH IS THE WORSHIP

 OF THE TRUE GOD.

 For if justice is the worship of the true God (for what is so just with
respect to equity, so

pious with respect to honour, so necessary with respect to safety, as to
acknowledge God as a parent, to reverence Him as Lord, and to obey His
law or precepts?), it follows that the philosophers were ignorant of
justice, for they neither acknowledged God Himself, nor observed His
worship and law; and on this account they might have been refuted by
Carneades, whose disputation was to this effect, that there is no
natural justice, and therefore that all animals defended their own
interests by the guidance of nature itself, and therefore that justice,
if it promotes the advantages of others and neglects its own, is to be
called foolishness.  But if all people who are possessed of power, and
the Romans themselves, who are masters of the whole world, were willing
to follow justice, and to restore to every one his property which they
have seized by force and arms, they will return to cottages and a
condition of want.  And if they did this, they might indeed be just, but
they must of necessity be considered foolish, who proceed to injure
themselves for the advantage of others.  Then, if any one should find a
man who was through a mistake offering for sale gold as mountain-brass,
or silver as lead, and necessity should compel him to buy it, will he
conceal his knowledge and buy it for a small sum, or will he rather
inform the seller of its value?  If he shall inform him, he will
manifestly be called just; but he will also be foolish, for conferring
an advantage upon another, and injuring himself.  But it is easy to
judge in a case of injury.  What if he shall incur danger of his life,
so that it shall be necessary for him either to kill another or to die,
what will he do?  It may happen that, having suffered shipwreck, he may
find some feeble person clinging to a plank; or, his army having been
defeated, in his flight he may find a wounded man on horseback: will he
thrust the one from the plank, the other from his horse, that he himself
may be able to escape?  If he shall wish to be just, he will not do it;
but he will also be judged foolish, who in sparing the life of another
shall lose his own.  If he shall do it, he will indeed appear wise,
because he will provide for his own interests; but he will also be
wicked, because he will commit a wrong.

CHAP. LVII.--OF WISDOM AND FOOLISHNESS.

 These things indeed are said with acuteness; but we are able very
readily to reply to them.  For the imitation of names causes it thus to

appear.  For justice bears a resemblance to foolishness, and yet it is
not foolishness; and at the same time malice bears a resemblance to
wisdom, and yet it is not wisdom.  But as that malice is intelligent and
shrewd in preserving its own interests, it is not wisdom, but cunning
and craftiness; so likewise justice ought not to be called foolishness,
but innocence, because

246

the just man must be wise, and the foolish man unjust.  For neither
reason nor nature itself permits that he who is just should not be wise,
since it is plain that the just man does nothing except that which is
right and good, and always avoids that which is perverted (1) and evil.
But who will be able to distinguish between good and evil, depravity and
rectitude, but he who shall be wise?  But the fool acts badly, because
he is ignorant of what is good and evil.  Therefore he does wrong,
because he is unable to distinguish between things which are perverted
and those which are right.  Therefore justice cannot be befitting to the
foolish man, nor wisdom to the unjust.  He is not then a foolish person
who has not thrust off a shipwrecked man from a plank, nor a wounded man
from his horse, because he has abstained from injury, which is a

sin; and it is the part of the wise man to avoid

But that he should appear foolish at first sight is caused by this, that
they suppose the soul to be extinguished together with the body; and for
this reason they refer all advantage to this life.  For if there is no
existence after death, it is plain that he acts foolishly who spares the
life of another to his own loss, or who consults the gain of another
more than his own.  If death destroys the soul, we must use our
endeavours to live for a longer time, and more to our own advantage; but
if there remains after death a life of immortality and blessedness, the
just and wise man will certainly despise this corporeal existence, with
all earthly goods, because he will know what kind of a reward he is
about to receive from God.  Therefore let us maintain innocency, let us
maintain justice, let us undergo the appearance of foolishness, that we
may be able to maintain true wisdom.  And if it appears to men senseless
and foolish to prefer torture and death rather than to sacrifice to
gods, and to escape without harm, let us however strive to exhibit
faithfulness towards God by all virtue and by all patience.  Let not
death terrify us, nor pain subdue us, so as to prevent the vigour of our
mind and constancy from being preserved unshaken.  Let them call us
foolish, whilst they themselves are most foolish, and blind and dull,
and like sheep; who do not understand that it is a deadly thing to leave
the living God, and prostrate themselves in the adoration of earthly
objects; who do not know that eternal punishment awaits those who have
worshipped senseless images; and that those who have neither refused
tortures nor death for the worship and honour of the true God will
obtain eternal life.  This is the highest faith; this is true wisdom;
this is perfect justice.  It mat-

ters nothing to us what fools may judge, what trifling men may think.
We ought to await the judgment of God, that we may hereafter judge those
who have passed judgment on us.

CHAP. LVIII.--OF THE TRUE WORSHIP OF GOD, AND

SACRIFICE.

 I have spoken of justice, what was its nature.  It follows that I show
what is true sacrifice to God, what is the most just manner of worship-
ping Him, lest any one should think that victims, or odours, or precious
gifts, are desired by God, who, if He is not subject to hunger, and
thirst, and cold, and desire of all earthly things, does not therefore
make use of all these things which are presented in temples and to gods
of earth; but as corporeal offerings are necessary for corporeal beings,
so manifestly an incorporeal sacrifice is necessary for an incorporeal
being.  But God has no need of those things which He has given to man
for his use, since all the earth is under His power: He needs not a
temple, since the world is His dwelling; He needs not an image, since He
is incomprehensible both to the eyes and to the mind; He needs not
earthly lights, for He was able to kindle the light of the sun, with the
other stars, for the use of man.  What then does God require from man
but worship of the mind, which is pure and holy?  For those things which
are made by the hands, or are outside of man, are senseless, frail, and
displeasing.  This is true sacrifice, which is brought forth not from
the chest but from the heart; not that which is offered by the hand, but
by the mind.  This is the acceptable victim, which the mind sacrifices
of itself.  For what do victims bestow?  What dotes incense?  What do
garments?  What does silver?  What gold?  What precious stones, -- if
there is not a pure mind on the part of the worshipper?  Therefore it is
justice only which God requires.  In this is sacrifice; in this the
worship of God, respecting which I must now speak, and show in what
works justice must necessarily be contained.

CHAP. LIX. --OF THE WAYS OF LIFE,AND THE

FIRST TIMES OF THE WORLD.

 That there are two ways (2) of human life was unknown neither to
philosophers nor to poets, but both introduced them in a different
manner.  The philosophers wished the one to be the way of industry, the
other of idleness; but in this respect they were less correct in their
statements, that they referred them to the advantages of this life only.
The poets spoke better who said that one of them was the way of the
just, the other

247

of the unjust; but they err in this, that they say that they are not in
this life, but in the shades below.  We manifestly speak more correctly,
who say that the one is the way of life, the other that of death.  And
here, however, we say that there are two ways; but the one on the right
hand, in which the just walk, does not lead to Elysium, but to heaven,
for they become immortal; the other on the left leads to Tartarus, (1)
for the unjust are sentenced to eternal tortures.  Therefore the way of
justice, which leads to life, is to be held by us.  Now the first duty
of justice is to acknowledge God as a parent, and to fear Him as a
master, to love Him as a father.  For the same Being who begat us, who
animated us with vital breath, who nourishes and preserves us, has over
us, not only as a father but also as a master, authority to correct us,
and the power of life and death; wherefore twofold honour is due to Him
from man, that is, love combined with fear.  The second duty of justice
is to acknowledge man as a brother.  For if the same God made us, and
produced all men on equal terms to justice and eternal life, it is
manifest that we are united by the relationship of brotherhood; and he
who does not acknowledge this is unjust.  But the origin of this evil,
by which the mutual society of men, by which the bond of relationship
has been torn asunder, arises from ignorance of the true God.  For he
who is ignorant of that fountain of bounty can by no means be good.
Hence it is that, from the time when a multitude of gods began to be
consecrated and worshipped by men, justice, as the poets relate, being
put to flight, every compact was destroyed, the fellowship of human
justice was destroyed.  Then every one, consulting his own interest,
reckoned might to be right, injured another, attacked by frauds,
deceived (2) by treachery, increased his own advantages by the
inconvenience of others, did not spare relatives, or children, or
parents, prepared poisoned cups for the destruction of men, beset the
ways with the sword, infested the seas, gave the rein to his lust,
wherever passion led him,-- in short, esteemed nothing sacred which his
dreadful desire did not violate.  When these things were done, then men
instituted laws for themselves to promote the public advantage, that
they might meanwhile protect themselves from injuries.  But the fear of
laws did not suppress crimes, but it checked licentiousness.  For laws
were able to punish offences, they were unable to punish the conscience.
Therefore the things which before were done openly began to be done
secretly.  Justice also was evaded by stealth, since they who themselves
presided over the administration of the laws, corrupted by, gifts and
rewards, made a traffic

of their sentences, either to the escape (3) of the evil or to the
destruction of the good.  To these

 things were added dissensions, and wars, and mutual depredations; and
the laws being crushed, the power of acting with violence was assumed
without restraint.

CHAP. LX.--OF THE DUTIES OF JUSTICE.

 When the affairs of men were in this condition, God pitied us, revealed
and displayed Himself to us, that in Himself we might learn religion,
faith, purity, and mercy; that having laid aside the error of our former
life, together with God Himself we might know ourselves, whom impiety
had disunited from Him, and we might choose (4) the divine law, which
unites human affairs with heavenly, the Lord Himself delivering it to
us; by which law all the errors with which we have been ensnared,
together with vain and impious superstitions, might be taken away.  What
we owe to man, therefore, is prescribed by that same divine law which
teaches that whatever you render to man is rendered to God.  But the
root of justice, and the entire foundation of equity, is that you should
not do that which you would be unwilling to suffer, but should measure
the feelings of another by your own.  If it is an unpleasant thing to
bear an injury, and he who has done it appears unjust, transfer to the
person of another that which you feel respecting yourself, and to your
own person that which you judge respecting another, and you will
understand that you act as unjustly if you injure another as another
would if he should injure you.  If we consider these things, we shall
maintain innocence, in which the first step of justice is, as it were,
contained.  For the first thing is, not to injure; the next is, to be of
service.  And as in uncultivated lands, before you begin to sow, the
fields must be cleansed by tearing up the thorns and cutting off all the
roots of trunks, so vices must first be thrust out from our souls, and
then at length virtues must be implanted, from which the fruits of
immortality, being engendered by the word of God, may spring up.

CHAP. LXI.--OF THE PASSIONS.

 There are three passions, or, so to speak, three furies, which excite
such great perturbations in the souls of men, and sometimes compel them
to offend in such a manner, as to permit them to have regard neither for
their reputation nor for their personal safety: these are anger, which
desires vengeance; love of gain, which longs for riches; lust, which
seeks for pleasures.  We must above all things resist these vices: these

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trunks must be rooted up, that virtues may be implanted.  The Stoics are
of opinion that these passions must be cut off; the Peripatetics think
that they must be restrained.  Neither of them judge rightly, because
they cannot entirely be taken away, since they are implanted by nature,
and have a sure and great influence; nor can they be diminished, since,
if they are evil, we ought to be without them, even though restrained
and used with moderation; if they are good, we ought to use them in
their completeness.  (1) But we say that they ought not to be taken away
nor lessened.  For they are not evil of themselves, since God has
reasonably implanted them in us; but inasmuch as they are plainly good
by nature,-- for they are given us for the protection of life,-- they
become evil by their evil use.  And as bravery, if you fight in defence
of your country, is a good, if against your country, is an evil, so the
passions, if you employ them to good purposes, will be virtues, if to
evil uses, they will be called vices.  Anger therefore has been given by
God for the restraining of offences, that is, for controlling the
discipline of subjects, that fear may suppress licentiousness and
restrain audacity.  But they who are ignorant of its limits are angry
with their equals, or even with their superiors.  Hence they rush to
deeds of cruelty, hence they rise to slaughters, hence to wars.  The
love of gain also has been given that we may desire and seek for the
necessaries of life.  But they who are unacquainted with its boundaries
strive insatiably to heap up riches.  Hence poisoning, hence
defraudings, (2) hence false wills, hence all kinds of frauds have burst
forth.  Moreover, the passion of lust is implanted and innate in us for
the procreation of children; but they who do not fix its limits in the
mind use it for pleasure only.  Thence arise unlawful loves, thence
adulteries and debaucheries, thence all kinds of corruption.  These
passions, therefore, must be kept within their boundaries and directed
into their right course, in which, even though they should be vehement,
they cannot incur blame.

CHAP. LXII.--OF RESTRAINING THE PLEASURES OF

THE SENSES.

 Anger is to be restrained when we suffer an injury, that the evil may
be suppressed which is imminent from a contest, and that we may retain
two of the greatest virtues, harmlessness and patience.  Let the desire
of gain be broken when we have that which is enough.  For what madness
is it to labour in heaping up those things which must pass to others,
either by rob-

bery, or theft, or by proscription, or by death?  Let lust not go beyond
the marriage-bed, but be subservient to the procreation of children.
For a too great eagerness for pleasure both produces danger and
generates disgrace, and that which is especially to be avoided, leads to
eternal death.  Nothing is so hateful to God as an unchaste mind and an
impure soul.  Nor let any one think that he must abstain from this
pleasure only, quae capitur ex foeminei corporis copulatione, but also
from the other pleasures which arise from the rest of the senses,
because they also are of themselves vicious, and it is the part of the
same virtue to despise them.  The pleasure of the eyes is derived from
the beauty of objects, that of the ears from harmonious and pleasant
sounds, that of the nostrils from pleasant odour, that of taste from
sweet food,--all of which virtue ought strongly to resist, lest, en-
snared by these attractions, the soul should be depressed from heavenly
to earthly things, from things eternal to things temporal, from life
immortal to perpetual punishment.  In pleasures of the taste and smell
there is this danger, that they are able to draw us to luxury.  For he
who shall be given up to these things, either will have no property, or,
if he shall have any, he will expend it, and afterwards live a life to
be abominated.  But he who is carried away by hearing (to say nothing
respecting songs, (3) which often so charm the inmost senses that they
even disturb with madness a settled state of the mind by certain
elaborately composed speeches and harmonious poems, or skilful
disputations) is easily led aside to impious worship.  Hence it is that
they who are either themselves eloquent, or prefer to read eloquent
writings, do not readily believe the sacred writings, because they
appear unpolished; they do not seek things that are true, but things
that are pleasant; nay, to them those things appear to be most true
which soothe the cars.  Thus they reject the truth, while they are
captivated by the sweetness of the discourse.  But the pleasure which
has reference to the sight is manifold.  For that which is derived from
the beauty of precious objects excites avarice, which ought to be far
removed from a wise and just man; but that which is received from the
appearance of woman hurries a man to another pleasure, of which we have
already spoken above.

CHAP. LXIII.--THAT SHOWS ARE MOST POWERFUL

TO CORRUPT THE MINDS.

 It remains to speak of public shows, which, since they have a more
powerful influence on the corruption of the mind, ought to be avoided by
the wise, and to be altogether guarded against,

249

because it is said that they were instituted in celebration of the
honours of the gods.  For the exhibitions of shows are festivals of
Saturnus.  The stage belongs to Father Liber; but the Circensian games
are supposed to be dedicated to Neptunus: so that now he who takes part
in these shows appears to have left the worship of God, and to have
passed over to profane rites.  But I prefer to speak of the matter
itself rather than of its origin.  What is so dreadful, what so foul, as
the slaughter of man?  Therefore our life is protected by the most
severe laws; therefore wars are detestable.  Yet custom finds how a man
may commit homicide without war, and without laws; and this is a
pleasure to him, that he has avenged guilt.  But if to be present at
homicide implies a consciousness of guilt, and the spectator is involved
in the same guilt as the perpetrator, then in these slaughters of
gladiators, he who is a spectator is no less sprinkled with blood than
he who sheds it; nor can he be free from the guilt of bloodshed who
wished it to be poured out, or appear not to have slain, who both
favoured the slayer and asked a reward for him.  What of the stage?  Is
it more holy, --on which comedy converses on the subject of debaucheries
and amours, tragedy of incest and parricide?  The immodest gestures also
of players, with which they imitate disreputable women, teach the lusts,
which they express by dancing.  For the pantomime is a school of
corruption, (1) in which things which are shameful are acted by a
figurative representation, (2) that the things which are true may be
done without shame.  These spectacles are viewed by youths, whose
dangerous age, which ought to be curbed and governed, is trained by
these representations to vices and sins.  The circus, in truth, is
considered more innocent, but there is greater madness in this, since
the minds of the spectators are transported with such great madness,
that they not only break out into revilings, but often rise to strifes,
and battles, and contentions.  Therefore all shows are to be avoided,
that we may be able to maintain a tranquil state of mind.  We must
renounce hurtful pleasures, lest, charmed by pestilential sweetness, we
fall into the snares of death.

CHAP. LXIV. -- THE PASSIONS ARE TO BE SUBDUED, AND WE MUST ABSTAIN FROM
FORBIDDEN THINGS.

 Let virtue alone please us, whose reward is immortal when it has
conquered pleasure.  But when the passions have been overcome and
pleasures subdued labour in suppressing other things is easy to him who
is a follower of God

and of truth: he will never revile, who shall hope for a blessing from
God; he will not commit perjury, lest he should mock God; but he will
not even swear, test at any time, either by necessity or through habit,
he should fall into perjury.  He will speak nothing deceitfully, nothing
with dissimulation; he will not refuse that which he has promised, nor
will he promise that which he is unable to perform; he will envy no one,
since he is content with himself and with his own possessions; nor will
he take away from, or wish ill to another, upon whom, perhaps, the
benefits of God are more plenteously (5) bestowed.  He will not steal,
nor will he covet anything at all belonging to another.  He will not
give his money to usury, for that is to seek after gain from the evils
of others; nor, however, will he refuse to lend, if necessity shall
compel any one to borrow.  He must not be harsh towards a son, nor
towards a slave: he must remember that he himself has a Father and a
Master.  He will so act towards these as he will wish that others should
act towards him.  He will not receive excessive gifts from those who
have less resources than himself; for it is not just that the estates of
the wealthy should be increased by the losses of the wretched.

 It is an old precept not to kill, which ought not to be taken in this
light, as though we axe commanded to abstain only from homicide, which
is punished even by public laws.  But by the intervention of this
command, it will not be permitted us to apply peril of death by word,
nor to put to death or expose an infant, nor to condemn one's self by a
voluntary death.  We are likewise commanded not to commit adultery; but
by this precept we are not only prohibited from polluting the marriage
of another, which is condemned even by the common law of nations, but
even to abstain from those who prostitute their persons.  For the law of
God is above all laws; it forbids even those things which are esteemed
lawful, that it may fulfil justice.  It is a part of the same law not to
utter false witness, and this also itself has a wider meaning.  For if
false witness by falsehood is injurious to him against whom it is
spoken, and deceives him in whose presence it is spoken, we must
therefore never speak falsely, because falsehood always deceives or
injures.  Therefore he is not a just man who, even without inflicting
injury, speaks in idle discourse.  Nor indeed is it lawful for him to
flatter, for flattery is pernicious and deceitful; but he will
everywhere guard the truth.  And although this may for the present be
unpleasant, nevertheless, when its advantage and usefulness shall
appear, it will not produce hatred, as the poet says, (4) but gratitude.

250

CHAP. LXV. -- PRECEPTS ABOUT THOSE THINGS WHICH ARE COMMANDED, AND OF
PITY.

 I have spoken of those things which are forbidden; I will now briefly
say what things are commanded.  Closely connected with harmlessness is
pity.  For the former does not inflict injury, the latter works good;
the former begins justice, the latter completes it.  For since the
nature of men is more feeble than that of the other animals, which God
has provided with means of inflicting violence, and with defences for
repelling it, He has given to us the affection of pity, that we might
place the whole protection of our life in mutual aid.  For if we are
created by one God, and descended from one man, and are thus connected
by the law of consanguinity, we ought on this account to love every man;
and therefore we are bound not only to abstain from the infliction of
injury, but not even to avenge it when inflicted on us, that there may
be in us complete harmlessness.  And on this account God commands us to
pray always even for our enemies.  Therefore we ought to be an animal
fitted for companionship and society, that we may mutually protect
ourselves by giving and receiving assistance.  For our frailty is liable
to many accidents and inconveniences.  Expect that that which you see
has happened to another may happen to you also.  Thus you will at length
be excited to render aid, if you shall assume the mind of him who, being
placed in evils, implores your aid.  If any one is in need of food, let
us bestow it; if any one meets us who is naked, let us clothe him; if
any one suffers injury from one who is more powerful than himself, let
us rescue him.  Let our house be open to strangers, or to those who are
in need of shelter.  Let cur de-fence not be wanting to wards, or our
protection to the defenceless.  (1) To ransom captives is a great work
of pity, and also to visit and comfort the sick who are in poverty.  If
the helpless or strangers die, we should not permit them to lie
unburied.  These are the works, these the duties, of pity; and if any
one undertakes these, he will offer unto God a true and acceptable
sacrifice.  This victim is more adapted for an offering to God, who is
not appeased with the blood of a sheep, but with the piety of man, whom
God, because He is just, follows up with His own law, and with His own
condition.  He shows mercy to him whom He sees to be merciful; He is
inexorable to him whom He sees to be harsh to those who entreat him.
Therefore, that we may be able to do all these things, which are
pleasing to God, money is to be despised, and to be transferred to
heavenly treasures, where neither thief can break through, nor rust
corrupt, nor tyrant take away, but it may be preserved for

us under the guardianship of God to our eternal wealth.

CHAP. LXVI. -- OF FAITH IN RELIGION, AND OF

FORTITUDE.

 Faith also is a great part of justice; and this ought especially to be
preserved by us, who bear the name of faith, especially in religion,
because God is before and to be preferred to man.  And if it is a
glorious thing to undergo death in behalf of friends, of parents, and of
children, that is, in behalf of man, and if he who has done this obtains
lasting memory and praise, how much more so in behalf of God, who is
able to bestow eternal life in return for temporal death?  Therefore,
when a necessity of this kind happens.  that we are compelled to turn
aside from God, and to pass over to the rites of the heathens, no fear,
no terror should turn us aside from guarding the faith delivered to us.
Let God be before our eyes, in our heart, by whose inward help we may
overcome the pain of our flesh, and the torments applied to our body.
Then let its think of nothing else but the rewards of an immortal life.
And thus, even though our limbs should be torn in pieces, or burnt, we
shall easily endure all things which the madness of tyrannical cruelty
shall contrive against us.  Lastly, let us strive to undergo death
itself, not unwillingly or timidly, but willingly and undauntedly, as
those who know what glory we are about to bare in the presence of God,
having triumphed over the world and coming to the things promised us;
with what good things and how great blessedness we shall be compensated
for these brief evils of punishments, and the injuries of this life.
But if the opportunity of this glory shall be wanting, faith will have
its reward even in peace.  Therefore let it be observed in all the
duties of life, let it be observed in marriage.  For it is not
sufficient if you abstain from another's bed, or from the brothel.  Let
him who has a wife seek nothing further, but, content with her alone,
let him guard the mysteries of the marriage-bed.  chaste and undefiled.
For he is equally an adulterer in the sight of God and impure, who,
having thrown off the yoke, wantons in strange pleasure either with a
free woman or a slave.  But as a woman is bound by the bonds of chastity
not to desire any other man, so let the husband be bound by the same
law, since God has joined together the husband and the wife in the union
of one body.  On this account He has commanded that the wife shall not
be put away unless convicted of adultery, and that the bond of the
conjugal compact shall never be dissolved, unless unfaithfulness have
broken it.  (2) This also is added for the completion of chastity, that

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there should be an absence not only of the offence, but even of the
thought.  For it is evident that the mind is polluted by the desire,
though unaccomplished; and so that a just man ought neither to do, nor
to wish to do, that which is unjust.  Therefore the conscience must be
cleansed; for God, who cannot be deceived, inspects it.  The breast must
be cleared from every stain, that it may be a temple of God, which is
enlightened not by the gleam of gold or ivory, but by the brightness of
faith and purity.

CHAP. LXVII.--OF REPENTANCE, THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL, AND OF
PROVIDENCE.

 But it is true all these things are difficult to man, nor does the
condition of his frailty permit that any one should be without blemish.
Therefore the last remedy is this, that we have recourse to repentance,
which has not the least place among the virtues, because it is a
correction of oneself; that when we have happened to fail either in deed
or in word, we may immediately come to a better mind, and confess that
we have offended, and entreat pardon from God, which according to His
mercy He will not deny, except to those who persist in their error.
Great is the aid, great the solace of repentance.  That is the healing
of wounds and offences, that hope, that the harbour of safety; and he
who takes away this cuts off from himself the way of salvation, because
no one can be so just that repentance is never necessary for him.  But
we, even though there is no offence of ours, yet ought to confess to
God, and to entreat pardon for our faults, and to give thanks even in
evils.  Let us always offer this obedience to our Lord.  For humility is
dear and lovely in the sight of God; for since, He rather receives the
sinner who confesses his fault, than the just man who is haughty, how
much more will He receive the just man who confesses, and exalt him in
His heavenly kingdom in proportion to his humility!  These are the
things which the worshipper of God ought to hold forth; these are the
victims, this the sacrifice, which is acceptable; this is true worship,
when a man offers upon the altar of God the pledges of his own mind.
That supreme Majesty rejoices in such a worshipper as this, as it takes
him as a son and bestows upon him the befitting reward of immortality,
concerning which I must now speak, and refute the persuasion of those
who think that the soul is destroyed together with the body.  For
inasmuch as they neither knew God nor were able to perceive the mystery
of the world, they did not even comprehend the nature of man and of the
soul.  For how could they see the consequences, who did not hold the
main point?  (1) There-

fore, in denying the existence of a providence, they plainly denied the
existence of God, who is the fountain and source of all things.  It
followed that they should either affirm that those things which exist
have always existed, or were produced of their own accord, or arose from
a meeting together of minute seeds.

 It cannot be said that that which exists, and is visible, always
existed; for it cannot exist of itself without some beginning.  But
nothing can be produced of its own accord, because there is no nature
without one who generates it.  But how could there be original (2)
seeds, since both the seeds arise from objects, (3) and, in their turn,
objects from seeds?  Therefore there is no seed which has not origin.
Thus it came to pass, that when they supposed that the world was
produced by no providence, they did not suppose that even man was
produced by any plan.  (4) But if no plan was made use of in the
creation of man, therefore the soul cannot be immortal.  But others, on
the other hand, thought there was but one God, and that the world was
made by Him, and made for the sake of men, and that souls are immortal.
But though they entertained true sentiments, nevertheless they did not
perceive the causes, or reasons, or issues of this divine work and
design, so as to complete the whole mystery of the truth, and to
comprise it within some limit.  But that which they were not able to do,
because they did not hold the truth in its integrity, (5) must be done
by us, who know it on the announcement of God.

CHAP. LXVIII. -- OF THE WORLD, MAN, AND THE

PROVIDENCE OF GOD.

 Let us therefore consider what was the plan of making this so great and
so immense a work.  God made the world, as Plato thought, but he does
not show why He made it.  Because He is good, he says, and envying no
one, He made the things which arc good.  But we see that there are both
good and evil things in the system of nature.  Some perverse person may
stand forth, such as that atheist Theodorus was, and answer Plato: Nay,
because He is evil, He made the things which are evil.  How will he
refute him?  If God made the things which are good, whence have such
great evils burst forth, which, for the most part, even prevail over
those which are good?  They were contained, he says, in the matter.  If
there were evil, therefore there were also good things; so that either
God made nothing, or if He made only good things, the evil things which
were not made are more eternal than

252

the good things which had a beginning.  Therefore the things which at
one time began will have an end, and those which always existed will be
permanent.  Therefore evils are preferable.  But if they cannot be
preferable, they cannot indeed be more eternal.  Therefore they either
always existed, and God has been inactive, (1) or they both flowed from
one source.  For it is more in accordance with reason that God made all
things, than that He made nothing.

 Therefore, according to the sentiments of Plato, the same God is both
good, because He made good things, and evil, because He made evil
things.  And if this cannot be so, it is evident that the world was not
made by God on this account, because He is good.  For He comprised all
things, both good and evil; nor did He make anything for its own sake,
but on account of something else.  A house is built not for this purpose
only, that there may be a house, but that it may receive and shelter an
inhabitant.  Likewise a ship is built not for this purpose, that it may
appear only to be a ship, but that men may be able to sail in it.
Vessels also are made, not only that the vessels may exist, but that
they may receive things which are necessary for use.  Thus also God must
have made the world for some use.  The Stoics say that it was made for
the sake of then; and rightly so.  For men enjoy all these good things
which the world contains in itself.  But they do not explain why men
themselves were made, or what advantage Providence, the Maker of all
things, has in them.

 Plato also affirms that souls are immortal, but why, or in what manner,
or at what time, or by whose instrumentality they attain to immortality,
or what is the nature of that great mystery, why those who are about to
become immortal are previously born mortal, and then, having completed
the course (2) of their temporal life, and having laid aside the
covering (3) of their frail bodies, are transferred to that eternal
blessedness,--of all this he has no comprehension.  Finally, he did not
explain the judgment of God, nor the distinction between the just and
the unjust, but supposed that the souls which have plunged themselves
into crimes are condemned thus far, that they may be reproduced in the
lower animals, and thus atone for their offences, until they again
return to the forms of men, and that this is always taking place, and
that there is no end of this transmigration.  In my opinion, he
introduces some sport resembling a dream, in which there appears to be
neither plan, nor government of God, nor any design.

CHAP. LXIX.--THAT THE WORLD WAS MADE ON ACCOUNT OF MAN, AND MAN ON
ACCOUNT OF GOD.

 I will now say what is that chief (4) point which not even those who
spoke the truth were able to connect together, bringing into one view
causes and reasons.  The world was made by God, that men might be born;
again, men are born, that they may acknowledge God as a Father, in whom
is wisdom; they acknowledge Him, that they may worship Him, in whom is
justice; they worship Him, that they may receive the reward of
immortality; they receive immortality, that they may serve God for ever.
Do you see how closely connected the first are with the middle, and the
middle with the last?  Let us look into them separately, and see whether
they are consistent s with each other.  God made the world on account of
man.  He who does not see this, does not differ ranch from a beast.  Who
but man looks up to the heaven?  who views with admiration the sun, who
the stars, who all the works of God?  Who inhabits the earth?  who
receives the fruit from it?  Who has in his power the fishes, who the
winged creatures, who the quadrupeds, except man?  Therefore God made
all things on account of man, because all things have turned out for the
use of man.

 The philosophers saw this, but they did not see the consequence, that
He made man himself on His own account.  For it was befitting, and
pious, and necessary, that since He contrived such great works for the
sake of man, when He gave him so much honour, and so much power, that he
should bear rule in the world, man should both acknowledge God, the
Author of such great benefits, who made the world itself on his account,
and should pay Him the worship and honour due to Him.  Here Plato erred;
here he lost the truth which he had at first laid hold of, when he was
silent concerning the worship of that God whom he confessed to be the
framer and parent of all things, and did not understand that man is
bound to God by the ties of piety, whence religion itself receives its
name, and that this is the only thing on account of which souls become
immortal.  He perceived, however, that they are eternal, but he did not
descend by the regular gradations to that opinion.  For the middle
arguments being taken away, he rather fell into the truth, as though by
some abrupt precipice; nor did he advance further, since he had found
the truth by accident, and not by reason.  Therefore God is to be
worshipped, that by means of religion, which is also justice, man may
receive from God immortality, nor is there any other reward of a pious
mind; and if this is

253

invisible, it cannot be presented by the invisible God with any reward
but that which is invisible.

CHAP. LXX.--THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL IS

CONFIRMED.

 It may in truth be collected from many arguments that souls are
eternal.  Plato says that that which always moves by itself, and has no
beginning of motion, also has no end; but that the soul of man always
moves by itself, and be-

cause it is flexible for reflection, subtle for discovery, easy of
perception, adapted to learning, and because it retains the past,
comprehends the present, foresees the future, and embraces the knowledge
of many subjects and arts, that it is immortal, since it contains
nothing which is mixed with the contagion of earthly weight.  Moreover,
the eternity of the soul is understood from virtue and pleasure.
Pleasure is common to all animals, virtue belongs only to man; the
former is vicious, the latter is honourable; the former is in accordance
with nature, the latter is opposed to nature, unless the soul is
immortal.  For in defence of faith and justice, virtue neither fears
want, nor is alarmed at exile, nor dreads imprisonment, nor shrinks from
pain, nor refuses death; and because these things are contrary to
nature, either virtue is foolishness, if it stands in the way of
advantages, and is injurious to life; or if it is not foolishness, then
the soul is immortal, and despises present goods, because other things
are preferable which it attains after the dissolution of the body.  But
that is the greatest proof of immortality, that man alone has the
knowledge of God.  In the dumb animals there is no notion (1) of
religion, because they are earthly and bent down to the earth.  Man is
upright, and beholds the heaven for this purpose, that he may seek God.
Therefore he cannot be other than immortal, who longs for the immortal.
He cannot be liable to dissolution, who is connected (2) with God both
in countenance and mind.  Finally, man alone makes use of the heavenly
element, which is fire, For if light is through fire, and life through
light, it is evident that he who has the use of fire is not mortal,
since this is closely connected, this is intimately related to Him
without whom neither light nor life can exist.

 But why do we infer from arguments that souls are eternal, when we have
divine testimonies?  For the sacred writings and the voices of the
prophets teach this.  And if this appears to any one insufficient, let
him read the poems of the Sibyls, let him also weigh the answers of the
Milesian Apollo, that he may understand that Democritus, and Epicurus,
and Dicaearchus

raved, who alone of all mortals denied that which is evident.  Having
proved the immortality of the soul, it remains to teach by whom, and to
whom, and in what manner, and at what time, it is given.  Since fixed
and divinely ap- pointed times have begun to be filled up, a destruction
and consummation of all things must of necessity take place, that the
world may be renewed by God.  But that time is at hand, as far as may be
collected from the number of years, and from the signs which are
foretold by the prophets.  But since the things which have been spoken
concerning the end of the world and the conclusion of the times are
innumerable, those very things which are spoken are to be laid down
without adornment, since it would be a boundless task to bring forward
the testimonies.  If any one wishes for them, or does not place full
confidence in us, let him approach to the very shrine of the heavenly
letters, and being more fully instructed through their trustworthiness,
let him perceive that the philosophers have erred, who thought either
that this world was eternal, or that there would be numberless thousands
of years from the time when it was prepared.  For six thousand years
have not yet been completed, and when this number shall be made up, then
at length all evil will be taken away, that justice alone may reign.
And how this will come to pass, I will explain in few words.

CHAP. LXXI.--OF THE LAST TIMES.

 These things are said by the prophets, but as seers, to be about to
happen.  When the last end shall begin to approach to the world,
wickedness will increase; all kinds of vices and frauds will become
frequent; justice will perish; faith, peace, mercy, modesty, truth, will
have no existence; violence and daring will abound; no one will have
anything, unless it is acquired by the hand, and defended by the hand.
If there shall be any good men, they will be esteemed as a prey and a
laughing-stock.  No one will exhibit filial affection to parents, no one
will pity an infant or an old man; avarice and lust will corrupt all
things.  There will be slaughter and bloodshed.  There will be wars, and
those not only between foreign and neighbouring states, but also
intestine wars.  States will carry on wars among themselves, every sex
and age will handle arms.  The dignity of government will not be
preserved, nor military discipline; but after the manner of robbery,
there will be depredation and devastation.  Kingly power will be
multiplied, and ten men will occupy, portion out, and devour the world.
There will arise another by far more powerful and wicked, who, having
destroyed three, will obtain Asia, and having reduced and subdued the
others under his own

254

power, will harass all the earth.  He will appoint new laws, abrogate
old ones; he will make the state his own, and will change the name and
seat of the government.

 Then there will be a dreadful and detestable time, in which no one
would choose to live.  In fine, such will be the condition of things,
that lamentation will follow the living, and congratulation the dead.
Cities and towns will be destroyed, at one time by fire and the sword,
at another by repeated earthquakes; now by inundation of waters, now by
pestilence and famine.  The earth will produce nothing, being barren
either through excessive cold or heat.  All water will be partly changed
into blood, partly vitiated by bitterness, so that none of it can be
useful for food, or wholesome for drinking.  To these evils will also be
added prodigies from heaven, that nothing may be wanting to men for
causing fear.  Comets will frequently appear.  The sun will be
overshadowed with perpetual paleness.  The moon will be stained with
blood, nor will it repair the losses of its light taken away.  All the
stars will fall, nor will the seasons preserve their regularity, winter
and summer being confused.  Then both the year, and the month, and the
day will be shortened.  And Trismegistus has declared that this is the
old age and decline of the world.  And when this shall have come, it
must be known that the time is at hand in which God will return to
change the world.  But in the midst of these evils there will arise an
impious king, hostile not only to mankind, but also to God.  He will
trample upon, torment, harass and put to death those who have been
spared by that former tyrant.  Then there will be ever-flowing tears,
perpetual wailings and lamentations, and useless prayers to God; there
will be no rest from fear, no sleep for a respite.  The day will always
increase disaster, the night alarm.  Thus the world will be reduced
almost to solitude, certainly to fewness of men.  Then also the impious
man will persecute the just and those who are dedicated to God, and will
give orders that he himself shall be worshipped as God.  For he will say
that he is Christ, though he will be His adversary.  (1) That he may be
believed, he will receive the power of doing wonders, so that fire may
descend from heaven, the sun retire from his course, and the image which
he shall have set up may speak.  And by these prodigies he shall entice
many to worship him, and to receive his sign in their hand or forehead.
And he who shall not worship him and receive his sign will die with
refined tortures.  Thus he will destroy nearly two parts, the third will
flee into desolate solitudes.  But he, frantic and raging with
implacable anger, will lead an

army and besiege the mountain to which the righteous shall have fled.
And when they shall see themselves besieged, they will implore the aid
of God with a loud voice, and God shall hear them, and shall send to
them a deliverer.

CHAP. LXXII. -- OF CHRIST DESCENDING FROM HEAVEN TO THE GENERAL
JUDGMENT, AND OF THE MILLENARIAN REIGN. (2)

 Then the heaven shall be opened in a tempest, (3) and Christ shall
descend with great power, and there shall go before Him a fiery
brightness and a countless host of angels, and all that multitude of the
wicked shall be destroyed, and torrents of blood shall flow, and the
leader himself shall escape, and having often renewed his army, shall
for the fourth time engage in battle, in which, being taken, with all
the other tyrants, he shall be delivered up to be burnt.  But the prince
also of the demons himself, the author and contriver of evils, being
bound with fiery chains, shall be imprisoned, that the world may receive
peace, and the earth, harassed through so many years, may rest.
Therefore peace being made, and every evil suppressed, that righteous
King and Conqueror will institute a great judgment on the earth
respecting the living and the dead, and will deliver all the nations
into subjection to the righteous who are alive, and will raise the
righteous dead to eternal life, and will Himself reign with them on the
earth, and will build the holy city, and this kingdom of the righteous
shall be for a thousand years.  Throughout that time the stars shall be
more brilliant, and the brightness of the sun shall be increased, and
the moon shall not be subject to decrease.  Then the rain of blessing
shall descend from God at morning and evening, and the earth shall bring
forth all her fruit without the labour of men.  Honey shall drop from
rocks, fountains of milk and wine shall abound.  The beasts shall lay
aside their ferocity and become mild, the wolf shall roam among the
flocks without doing harm, the calf shall feed with the lion, the dove
shall be united with the hawk, the serpent shall have no poison; no
animal shall live by bloodshed.  For God shall supply to all abundant
and harmless (4) food.  But when the thousand years shall be fulfilled,
and the prince of the demons loosed, the nations will rebel against the
righteous, and an innumerable multitude will come to storm the city of
the saints.  Then the last judgment of God will come to pass against the
nations.  For He will shake the earth froth its foundations, and the
cities shall be overthrown, and He Shall rain upon the wicked fire with
brimstone and hail, and they shall be on fire, and

255

slay each other.  But the righteous shall for a little space be
concealed under the earth, until the destruction of the nations is
accomplished, and after the third day they shall come forth, and see the
plains covered with carcases.  Then there shall be an earthquake, and
the mountains shall be rent, and valleys shall sink down to a profound
depth, and into this the bodies of the dead shall be heaped together,
and its name shall be called Polyandrion.(1) After these things God will
renew the world, and transform the righteous into the forms of angels,
that, being presented with the garment of immortality, they may serve
God for ever; and this will be the kingdom of God, which shall have no
end.  Then also the wicked shall rise again, not to life but to
punishment; for God shall raise these also, when the second resurrection
takes place, that, being condemned to eternal torments and delivered to
eternal fires, they may suffer the punishments which they deserve for
their crimes.

CHAP. LXXIII.--THE HOPE OF SAFETY IS IN THE RELIGION AND WORSHIP OF GOD.

 Wherefore, since all these things arc true and certain, in harmony with
the predicted announcement of the prophets, since Trismegistus and
Hystaspes and the Sibyls have foretold the same things, it cannot be
doubted that all hope of life and salvation is placed in the religion of
God alone.  Therefore, unless a man shall have received Christ, whom God
has sent, and is about to send for our redemption, unless he shall have
known the Supreme God through Christ, unless he shall have kept His
commandments and law, he will fall into those punishments of which we
have spoken.  Therefore frail things must be despised, that we may gain
those which are substantial; earthly things must be scorned, that we may
be honoured with heavenly things; temporal things must be shunned, that
we may reach those which are eternal.  Let every one train himself to
justice, mould himself to self-restraint, prepare himself for the
contest, equip himself for virtue, that if by any chance an adversary
shall wage war, he may be driven from that which is upright and good by
no force, no terror, and no tortures, may give, himself up to no
senseless fictions, but in his uprightness acknowledge the true and only
God, may cast away pleasures, by the attractions of which the lofty soul
is depressed to the earth, may hold fast innocency, may be of service to
as many as possible, may gain for himself incorruptible treasures by
good works, that he may be able, with God for his judge, to gain for the
merits of his virtue either the crown of faith, or the reward of
immortality.

ELUCIDATIONS

I.

(Princes and kings, p.  13.)

 How memorable the histories, moreover, of Nebuchadnezzar(1) and his
decrees; of Darius(2) and his also; but especially of Cyrus and his
great monumental edict!(3) The beautiful narratives of the Queen of
Sheba and of the Persian consort of Queen Esther (probably Xerxes) are
also manifestations of the ways of Providence in giving light to the
heathen world through that "nation of priests" in Israel.

 But Lactantius, who uses the Sibyls so freely, should not have omitted
to show what Sibylline oracles God drew forth from "the princes of this
world" also, by the illumination of the pharos which he established in
Sion, "to be a light to lighten the Gentiles" until the great Epiphany
should rise upon them in "the dayspring from on high."

 I extract from a paradoxical but most entertaining author, whom I have
often quoted, certain extracts from Philo, which I translate from his
note in the Soirees.  Thus:--

 "Agrippa," says Philo,(4) "having visited Jerusalem in Herod's time,
was enchanted by the religion of the Jews, and could never cease to
speak of it.  . . . Augustus ordered that every day,

256

at his own expense, and under the legal forms, a bull and two lambs
should be offered in holocaust to the Most High God on the altar at
Jerusalem, though he knew that it contained no image, whether exposed or
within the veil; for this great prince, surpassed by none in the
philosophic spirit, felt the actual necessity in this world of an altar
dedicated to a God invisible."  Philo also says:--

 "Your great-grandmother Julia(1) also made superb presents to the
temple; and although women very reluctantly detach themselves from
images, and rarely conceive of anything apart from sensation, this lady,
nevertheless, greatly superior to her sex in culture and in natural
endowments, arrived at that point in which she preferred to contemplate
such things in the mind rather than in sensible objects, regarding these
as mere shadows of the realities."

 In the same discourse, wasting words on Caligula, Philo reminds him
that Augustus "not only admired, nay, rather, he adored
(<greek>eqaumaxe</greek> <greek>kai</greek> <greek>prosekunei</greek>
<greek>k</greek>.<greek>t</greek>.<greek>l</greek>.), this custom of
employing no sort of image ta represent, materially, a nature invisible
in itself."  Poor De Maistre, who quotes this testimony against images
from Philo with intense appreciation, will yet sophisticate himself and
others into the very contrary in behalf of his one predominant idea of
(<greek>proskunhsis</greek>) canine self-abasement to the decrees of the
Vatican.  On this account I am forced to consider him a sophist as well
as a fanatic; but I delight to render justice to his genius, for,
wherever he talks and reasons as a Christian merely, he fascinates and
instructs me.  He never conceived of "Catholicity," and lived under the
delusion of the Decretals, a disciple of the Jesuits.

II.

(Therefore they were neglected for many ages, p.  116.)

 The explicit statements of Lactantius, and his profuse quotations from
the Sibyllina, persuade me that these curious fragments deserve a degree
of scientific attention which they have not yet received.  The Fathers
all cite them, when it must have exposed them to scorn and overwhelming
refutation had their quotations not been found in the Sibylline books of
their adversaries.  The influence of the Jewish religion upon the
Gentiles under the Babylonian and Medo-Persian monarchies must have been
considerable, but after Alexander's time it was vastly increased.  Many
versions of select prophets were doubtless produced in Greek before the
authorized Septuagint.  These were soon embedded in the Sibyls' books;
and I cannot think the interpolations of early Christians were all
frauds, by any means.  Their numerous marginal annotations crept into
other copies; and very likely, in the time of our author, they were
inextricably confused with the text in the greater part of the
"editions," so to speak, then current with booksellers.

 But in vol.  viii.  we shall have occasion to recur again to this
interesting inquiry.

III.

(We made proclamation before him as children, p.  117.)

 "Sicut pueri."  This is not according to the Septuagint,
<greek>ws</greek> <greek>paixion</greek>. It is not the Vulgate, of
course; but its radical difference with that raises interesting
inquiries: Is it a specimen of one of many African or old Italic
versions?  Does our author endeavour to translate from the Septuagint?
May he not have had in hand a copy of Isaiah from among those which
preceded the Septuagint?

 The Septuagint reading finds its key in cap.  lii.  7, and in the tenth
verse, where the "Arm of the Lord" ("His Holy Arm") is introduced as the
personal Loges Incarnate.  The thirteenth and fourteenth verses predict
the amazing sequel, and its practical and blessed results; and then

257

begins cap.  liii., "Who hath believed" our message.  To whom is "the
Arm of the Lord" revealed?  "Going before Him (i.e., as heralds), we
have proclaimed Him as a child, and, as it were, a root in a thirsty
land; He has no form nor glory," etc.  In other words, "We have
prophesied of Him who is elsewhere predicted ("unto us a child is born
") as one who from His childhood is as a rush without water,--
prematurely withered,--a man of sorrows, and the Carpenter's Son."

 It does not hint, therefore, the "obscurity" of the Messiah's birth,
but rather what Irenaeus insists upon, i.e., His (premature) old age;
the worn and stricken appearance of senility in comparative youth.(1)
This is just what the messengers (Isa.  lii.  7) had said in their
proclamation (Isa.  lii.  14) just before: "His visage was so marred
more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men."

IV.

(There was darkness, etc., pp.  122, 240.)

 In former instances, where thought has turned to Phlegon the
Trallian,(2) I have failed to refer to an author whose excess of candour
sometimes gives away more than is called for, in questions on which
adversaries have contrived to fasten undue importance, in order to
elicit indiscreet defences.  But it is due to my readers that I should
refer them to a most learned work, to be found in public libraries only,
by my revered friend and instructor Dr.  Jarvis.  The sixth chapter
(part ii.)  of his Chronological Introduction to Church History(3) is
devoted to this matter, and I can do no better than give the summary of
its contents as follows:--

 "Who Phlegon was; his work lost; extracts from it by Julius Africanus
and Eusebius; their works, containing these extracts, lost; all we know
is from versions and later writers; collation of extracts as given by
the Armenian version of the Chronicon of Eusebius, St.  Jerome's Latin
version, the Chronographia of Syncellus, and the Chranicon Paschale;
extract by Syncellus from Julius Africanus; remarks upon it; testimony
of Origen concerning Phlegon's account; of John Philoponus (St.
Maximus) Malala; summary of the whole; account of Phlegon's testimony;
not noticed by the learned and voluminous writers of the fourth and
fifth centuries when they speak of the darkness, etc.; Dr.  Lardner's
judgment(4) adopted."

 Lardner's view, it will be observed, is thus sustained by an
independent and most competent critic.  This decision puts honour on the
early writers: he thinks they were unwilling to claim a corroboration
from evidence about which they were not well assured.

V.

(Divine and ethnic oracles, p.  210, note(2); p.  112, note 9.)

 The whole subject of ethnic oracles needs fresh study and illustration.
Nothing would be more fascinating in theological inquiry, and Divine
Inspiration might be richly illustrated by it, as anatomical science is
clarified by "comparative anatomy."  I commend this subject to men of
faith, learning, and intellectual vigour.  Notably, let it be observed:
(1) That Balaam's ass is instanced by St.  Peter as miraculously enabled
to rebuke the madness of his master; and the same Apostle shortly before
gives us the law as to divine inspiration in contrast.(5) (2) Balaam
himself, as mechanically as the beast he rode,(6) had his own mouth
opened (see Num.  xxiv.  16--

19). (3) The wicked Caiaphas in like manner (St.  John xi.  51, 52)
spoke prophetically, "not of himself."  (4) St.  Paul (Acts xvii.  28)
quotes a heathen oracle very much as does our author.(7)

258

Now, in view of the boldness with which the early Christians follow the
example of the Apostle in quoting the Orphica and Sibyllina, I cannot
imagine that these citations were not honestly believed by them to be
oracles of a certain sort, by which God permitted the heathen to be
enlightened.(1) Observe our author's moderate but most pregnant remark
about such inspiration (on p.  170, supra, note 8), "almost with a
divine voice;" then (on p.  192) compare other almost inspired words of
poor Tully (at note 2), and of Seneca also.(2)

 Finally, and to close the subject, the reader will readily forgive me
for introducing the following citations from the "Warburton Lecture" of
Dr.  Edersheim, on Prophecy and History(3) in Relation to the Messiah.
Discussing the pseudepigraphic writings (in Lecture Eleventh), he says
as follows:(4)--

 "The Sibylline oracles, in Greek hexameters, consist, in their present
form, of twelve books.  They are full of interpolations, the really
ancient portions forming part of the first two books and the largest
part of book third (verses 97-807). These sections are deeply imbued
with the Messianic spirit,(5) They date from about the year 140 before
our era, while another small portion of the same book is supposed to
date from the year 32 B.C.

 "As regards the promise of the Messiah, we turn in the first place, and
with special interest, to the Sibylline Oracles.  In the third book of
these (such portions as I shall quote date from about 140 B.C.) the
Messiah is described as 'the King sent from heaven, who would judge
every man in blood and splendour of fire.'  And the Vision of Messianic
times opens with a reference to 'the King whom God will send from the
Sun,' where we cannot fail to perceive a reference to the Seventy-second
Psalm,(6) especially as we remember that the Greek of the Seventy, which
must have been present to the Hellenist Sibyl, fully adapted the
Messianic application of the passage to a premundane Messiah.  We also
think of the picture drawn in the prophecies of Isaiah.  According to
the Sibylline books, King Messiah was not only to come, but He was to be
specifically sent of God.  He is supermundane, a King and a Judge(7) of
superhuman glory and splendour.  And, indeed, that a superhuman kingdom,
such as the Sibylline oracles paint, should have a superhuman king,
seems only a natural and necessary inference . . . . If, as certain
modern critics contend, the book of Daniel is not authentic,(8) but
dates from Maccabean times, ... it may well be asked to what king the
Sibylline oracles point, for they certainly date from that period; and
what is the relationship between the (supposed Maccabean) prophecies of
the book of Daniel and the certainly Messianic anticipations of the
undoubted literature of that period?"

 Dr.  Edersheim gives us the reference in the margin, to which I would
call attention, as directing to the whole pseudepigraphic literature.(9)
But who can wonder, after what we thus learn, that Constantine(10) was
so profoundly impressed with Virgil's Pollio?  In spite of all that has
been said,(11) I cannot but see Isaiah in its entire spirit.

259

A TREATISE ON THE ANGER OF GOD

ADDRESSED TO DONATUS.(1)

CHAP. I.--OF DIVINE AND HUMAN WISDOM.

 I HAVE often observed, Donatus, that many persons hold this opinion,
which some philosophers also have maintained, that God is not subject to
anger; since the divine nature is either altogether beneficent, and that
it is inconsistent with His surpassing and excellent power to do injury
to any one; or, at any rate, He takes no notice of us at all, so that no
advantage comes to us from His goodness, and no evil from His ill-will.
But the error of these men, because it is very great, and tends to
overthrow the condition of human life, must be refuted by us, lest you
yourself also should be deceived, being incited by the authority of men
who deem themselves wise.  Nor, however, are we so arrogant as to boast
that the truth is comprehended by our intellect; but we follow the
teaching of God, who alone is able to know and to reveal secret things.
But the philosophers, being destitute of this teaching, have imagined
that the nature of things can be ascertained by conjecture.  But this is
impossible; because the mind of man, enclosed in the dark abode of the
body, is far removed from the perception of truth: and in this the
divine nature differs from the human, that ignorance is the property of
the human, knowledge of the divine nature.  On which account we have
need of some light to dispel the darkness by which the reflection of man
is overspread, since, while we live in mortal flesh, we are unable to
divine by our senses.  But the light of the human mind is God, and he
who has known and admitted Him into his breast will acknowledge the
mystery of the

truth with an enlightened heart; but when God and heavenly instruction
are removed, all things are full of errors.  And Socrates, though he was
the most learned of all the philosophers, yet, that he might prove the
ignorance of the others, who thought that they possessed something,
rightly said that he knew nothing, except one thing--that he knew
nothing.  For he understood that that learning had nothing certain,
nothing true in itself; nor, as some imagine, did he pretend, to
learning that he might refute others, but he saw the truth in some
measure.  And he testified even on his trial (as is related by Plato)
that there was no human wisdom.  He so despised, derided, and cast aside
the learning in which the philosophers then boasted, that he professed
that very thing as the greatest learning, that he had learnt that he
knew nothing.  If, therefore, there is no human wisdom, as Socrates
taught, as Plato handed down, it is evident that the knowledge of the
truth is divine, and belongs to no other than to God.  Therefore God
must be known, in whom alone is the truth.  He is the Parent of the
world, and the Framer of all things; who is not seen with the eyes, and
is scarcely distinguished by the mind; whose religion is accustomed to
be attacked in many ways by those who have neither been able to attain
true wisdom, nor to comprehend the system of the great and heavenly
secret.

CHAP. II.--OF THE TRUTH AND ITS STEPS, AND OF GOD.

 For since there are many steps by which the ascent is made to the abode
of truth, it is not easy for any one to reach the summit.  For when the
eyes are darkened by the brightness of the truth, they who are unable to
maintain a firm step fall back to the level ground.(3) Now the first
step is to understand false religions, and to throw aside the impious
worship of gods which are made by the hand of man.  But the second step
is to perceive with the mind that there is but one Supreme God, whose
power and providence made the world from the beginning, and afterwards
continues to govern it.  The third step is to know His Servant and
Messenger,(4)

260

whom He sent as His ambassador to the earth, by whose teaching being
freed from the error in which we were held entangled, and formed to the
worship of the true God, we might learn righteousness.  From all of
these steps, as I have said, there is a rapid and easy gliding to a
downfall,(1) unless the feet are firmly planted with unshaken
stedfastness.

 We see those shaken off from the first step, who, though they
understand things which are false, do not, however, discover that which
is true; and though they despised earthly and frail images, do not
betake themselves to the worship of God, of whom they are ignorant.  But
viewing with admiration the elements of the universe, they worship the
heaven, the earth, the sea, the sun, the moon, and the other heavenly
bodies.

 But we have already reproved their ignorance in the second book of the
Divine Institutes.(2) But we say that those fall from the second step,
who, though they understand that there is but one Supreme God,
nevertheless, ensnared by the philosophers, and captivated by false
arguments, entertain opinions concerning that excellent majesty far
removed from the truth; who either deny that God has any figure, or
think that He is moved by no affection, because every affection is a
sign of weakness, which has no existence in God.  But they are
precipitated from the third step, who, though they know the Ambassador
of God, who is also the Builder of the divine and immortal temple,(3)
either do not receive Him, or receive Him otherwise than faith demands;
whom we have partly refuted in the fourth book of the above-named
work.(4) And we will hereafter refute more carefully, when we shall
begin to reply to all the sects, which, while they dispute,(5) have
destroyed the truth.

 But now we will argue against those who, falling from the second step,
entertain wrong sentiments respecting the Supreme God.  For some say
that He neither does a kindness to any one, nor becomes angry, but in
security and quietness enjoys the advantages of His own immortality.
Others, indeed, take away anger, but leave to God kindness; for they
think that a nature excelling in the greatest virtue, while it ought not
to be malevolent, ought also to be benevolent.  Thus all the
philosophers are agreed on the subject of anger, but are at variance
respecting kindness.  But, that my speech may descend in order to the
proposed subject, a division of this kind must be made and followed by
me, since anger and kindness are different, and opposed to one another.
Either anger must be attributed to God, and kindness taken from Him; or
both alike must be taken from Him; or anger must be taken away, and
kindness attributed to Him; or neither must be taken away.  The nature
of the case admits of nothing else besides these; so that the truth,
which is sought for, must necessarily be found in some one of these.
Let us consider them separately, that reason and arrangement may conduct
us to the hiding-place of truth.

CHAP. III.--OF THE GOOD AND EVIL THINGS IN HUMAN AFFAIRS, AND OF THEIR
AUTHOR.

 First, no one ever said this respecting God, that He is only subject to
anger, and is not influenced by kindness.  For it is unsuitable to God,
that He should be endowed with a power of this kind, by which He may
injure and do harm, but be unable to profit and to do good.  What means,
therefore, what hope of safety, is proposed to men, if God is the author
of evils only?  For if this is so, that venerable majesty will now be
drawn out, not to the power of the judge, to whom it is permitted to
preserve and set at liberty, but to the office of the torturer and
executioner.  But whereas we see that there are not only evils in human
affairs, but also goods, it is plain that if God is the author of evils,
there must be another who does things contrary to God, and gives to us
good things.  If there is such a one, by what name must he be called?
Why is he who injures us more known to us than He who benefits us?  But
if this can be nothing besides God, it is absurd and vain to suppose
that the divine power, than which nothing is greater or better, is able
to injure, but unable to benefit; and accordingly no one has ever
existed who ventured to assert this, because it is neither reasonable
nor in any way credible.  And because this is agreed upon, let us pass
on and seek after the truth elsewhere.

CHAP. IV.--OF GOD AND HIS AFFECTIONS, AND THE CENSURE OF EPICURUS.

 That which follows is concerning the school of Epicurus; that as there
is no anger in God, so indeed there is no kindness.  For when Epicurus
thought that it was inconsistent with God to injure and to inflict harm,
which for the most part arises from the affection of anger, he took away
from Him beneficence also, since he saw that it followed that if God has
anger, He must also have kindness.  Therefore, lest he should concede to
Him a vice, he deprived Him also of virtue?  From this, he says, He is
happy and uncorrupted, because He cares about nothing, and neither takes
trouble Himself nor occasions it to another.  Therefore He is not God,
if He

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is neither moved, which is peculiar to a living being, nor does anything
impossible for man, which is peculiar to God, if He has no will at all,
no action, in short, no administration, which is worthy of God.  And
what greater, what more worthy administration can be attributed to God,
than the government of the world, and especially of the human race, to
which all earthly things are subject?

 What happiness, then, can there be in God, if He is always inactive,
being at rest and un-moveable?  if He is deaf to those who pray to Him,
and blind to His worshippers?  What is so worthy of God, and so
befitting to Him, as providence?  But if He cares for nothing, and
foresees nothing, He has lost all His divinity.  What else does he say,
who takes from God all power and all substance, except that there is no
God at all?  In short, Marcus Tullius relates that it was said by
Posidonius, (1) that Epicurus understood that there were no gods, but
that he said those things which he spoke respecting the gods for the
sake of driving away odium; and so that he leaves the gods in words, but
takes them away in reality, since he gives them no motion, no office.
But if this is so, what can be more deceitful than him?  And this ought
to be foreign to the character of a wise and weighty man.  But if he
understood one thing and spoke another, what else is he to be called
than a deceiver, double-tongued, wicked, and moreover foolish?  But
Epicurus was not so crafty as to say those things with the desire of
deceiving, when he consigned these things also by his writings to
everlasting remembrance; but he erred through ignorance of the truth.
For, being led from the beginning by the probability (2) of a single
opinion, he necessarily fell into those things which followed.  For the
first opinion was, that anger was not consistent with the character of
God.  And when this appeared to him to be true and unassailable, (3) he
was unable to refuse the consequences; because one affection being
removed, necessity itself compelled him to remove from God the other
affections also.  Thus, he who is not subject to anger is plainly
uninfluenced by kindness, which is the opposite feeling to anger.  Now,
if there is neither anger nor kindness in Him, it is manifest that there
is neither fear, nor joy, nor grief, nor pity.  For all the affections
have one system, one motion, (4) which cannot he the case with God.  But
if there is no affection in God, because whatever is subject to
affections is weak, it follows that

there is in Him neither the care of anything, nor providence.

 The disputation of the wise man (5) extends thus far: he was silent as
to the other things which follow; namely, that because there is in Him
neither care nor providence, therefore there is no reflection nor any
perception in Him, by which it is effected that He has no existence at
all.  Thus, when he had gradually descended, he remained on the last
step, because he now saw the precipice.  But what does it avail to have
remained silent, and concealed the danger?  Necessity compelled him even
against his will to fall.  For he said that which he did not mean,
because he so arranged his argument that he necessarily came to that
point which he wished to avoid.  You see, therefore, to what point he
comes, when anger is removed and taken away from God.  In short, either
no one believes that, or a very few, and they the guilty and the wicked,
who hope for impunity for their sins.  But if this also is found to be
false, that there is neither anger nor kindness in God, let us come to
that which is put in the third place.

CHAP. V.--THE OPINION OF THE STOICS CONCERNING GOD; OF HIS ANGER AND
KINDNESS.

 The Stoics and some others are supposed to have entertained much better
sentiments respecting the divine nature, who say that there is kindness
in God, but not anger.  A very pleasing and popular speech, that God is
not subject to such littleness of mind as to imagine that He is injured
by any one, since it is impossible for Him to be injured; so that that
serene and holy majesty is excited, disturbed, and maddened, which is
the part of human frailty.  For they say that anger is a commotion and
perturbation of the mind, which is inconsistent with God.  Since, when
it fails upon the mind of any one, as a violent tempest it excites such
waves that it changes the condition of the mind, the eyes gleam, the
countenance trembles, the tongue stammers, the teeth chatter, the
countenance is alternately stained now with redness spread over it, now
with white paleness.  But if anger is unbecoming to a man, provided he
be of wisdom and authority, how much more is so foul a change unbecoming
to God!  And if man, when he has authority and power, inflicts
widespread injury through anger, sheds blood, overthrows cities,
destroys communities, reduces provinces to desolation, bow much more is
it to be believed that God, since He has power over the whole human
race, and over the universe itself, would have been about to destroy all
things if He were angry.

 Therefore they think that so great and so pernicious an evil ought to
be absent from Him.  And if anger and excitement are absent from

262

Him, because it is disfiguring and injurious, and He inflicts injury on
no one, they think that nothing else remains, except that He is mild
calm, propitious, beneficent, the preserver.  For thus at length He may
be called the common Father of all, and the best and greatest, which His
divine and heavenly nature demands.  For if among men it appears
praiseworthy to do good rather than to injure, to restore to life (1)
rather than to kill, to save rather than to destroy, and innocence is
not undeservedly numbered among the virtues,--and he who does these
things is loved, esteemed, honoured, and celebrated with all blessings
and vows,--in short, on account of his deserts and benefits is judged to
be most like to God; how much more right is it that God Himself, who
excels in divine and perfect virtues, and who is removed from all
earthly taint, should conciliate (2) the whole race of man by divine and
heavenly benefits!  Those things are spoken speciously and in a popular
manner, and they allure many to believe them but they who entertain
these sentiments approach nearer indeed to the truth, but they partly
fail, not sufficiently considering the nature of the case.  For if God
is not angry with the impious and the unrighteous, it is clear that He
does not love the pious and the righteous.  Therefore the error of those
is more consistent who take away at once both anger and kindness.  For
in opposite matters it is necessary to be moved to both sides or to
neither.  Thus, he who loves the good also hates the wicked, and he who
does not hate the wicked does not love the good; because the loving of
the good arises from the hatred of the wicked, and the hating of the
wicked has its rise from the love of the good.  There is no one who
loves life without a hatred of death, nor who is desirous of light, but
he who avoids darkness.  These things are so connected by nature, that
the one cannot exist without the other.

 If any master has in his household a good and a bad servant, it is
evident that he does not hate them both, or confer upon both benefits
and honours; for if he does this, he is both unjust and foolish.  But he
addresses the one who is good with friendly words, and honours him and
sets him over his house and household, and all his affairs; but punishes
the bad one with reproaches, with stripes, with nakedness, with hunger,
with thirst, with fetters: so that the latter may be an example to
others to keep them from sinning, and the former to conciliate them; so
that fear may restrain some, and honour may excite others.  He,
therefore, who loves also hates, and he who hates also loves; for there
are those who ought to be loved, and there are

those who ought to be hated.  And as he who loves confers good things on
those whom he loves, so he who hates inflicts evils upon those whom he
hates; which argument, because it is true, can in no way be refuted.
Therefore the opinion of those is vain and false, who, when they
attribute the one to God, take away the other, not less than the opinion
of those who take away both.  But the latter, (3) as we have shown, in
part do not err, but retain that which is the better of the two; whereas
the former, (4) led on by the accurate method of their reasoning, fall
into the greatest error, because they have assumed premises which are
altogether false.  For they ought not to have reasoned thus: Because God
is not liable to anger, therefore He is not moved by kindness; but in
this manner: Because God is moved by kindness, therefore He is also
liable to anger.  For if it had been certain and undoubted that God is
not liable to anger, then the other point would necessarily be arrived
at.  But since the question as to whether God is angry is more open to
doubt, while it is almost perfectly plain that He is kind, it is absurd
to wish to subvert that which is certain by means of an uncertainty,
since it is easier to confirm uncertain things by means of those which
are certain.

CHAP. VI.-- THAT GOD IS ANGRY.

 These are the opinions entertained by the philosophers respecting God.
But if we have discovered that these things which have been spoken are
false, there remains that one last resource, in which alone the truth
can be found, which has never been embraced by philosophers, nor at any
time defended: that it follows that God is angry, since He is moved by
kindness.  This opinion is to be maintained and asserted by us; for (5)
this is the sum and turning-point on which the whole of piety and
religion depend: and no honour can be due to God, if He affords nothing
to His worshippers; and no fear, if He is not angry with him who does
not worship Him.  (6)

CHAP. VII. --OF MAN, AND THE BRUTE ANIMALS,

AND RELIGION.

 Though philosophers have often turned aside from reason through their
ignorance of the truth, and have fallen into inextricable errors (for
that is wont to happen to these which happens to a traveller ignorant of
the way, and not confessing that he is ignorant, --namely, that he
wanders about, while he is ashamed to inquire from those

263

whom he meets), no philosopher, however, has ever made the assertion
that there is no difference between man and the brutes.  Nor has any one
at all, provided that he wished to appear wise, reduced a rational
animal to the level of the mute and irrational; which some ignorant
persons do, resembling the brutes themselves, who, wishing to give
themselves up to the indulgence of their appetite and pleasure, say that
they are born on the same principle as all living animals, which it is
impious for man to say.  For who is so unlearned as not to know, who is
so void of understanding as not to perceive, that there is something
divine in man?  I do not as yet come to the excellences of the soul and
of the intellect, by which there is a manifest affinity between man and
God.  Does not the position of the body itself, and the fashion of the
countenance, declare that we are not on a level with the dumb creation?
Their nature is prostrated to the ground and to their pasture, and has
nothing in common with the heaven, which they do not look upon.  But
man, with his erect position, with his elevated countenance raised to
the contemplation of the universe, compares his features with God, and
reason recognises reason.  (1)

 And on this account there is no animal, as Cicero says, (2) except man,
which has any knowledge of God.  For he alone is furnished with wisdom,
so that he alone understands religion; and this is the chief or only
difference between man and the dumb animals.  For the other things which
appear to be peculiar to man, even if there are not such in the dumb
animals, nevertheless may appear to be similar.  Speech is peculiar to
man; yet even in these there is a certain resemblance to speech.  For
they both distinguish one another by their voices; and when they are
angry, they send forth a sound resembling altercation; and when they see
one another after an interval of time, they show the office of
congratulation by their voice.  To us, indeed, their voices appear
uncouth, (3) as ours perhaps do to them; but to themselves, who
understand one another, they are words.  In short, in every affection
they utter distinct expressions of voice (4) by which they may show
their state of mind.  Laughter also is peculiar to man; and yet we see
certain indications of joy in other animals, when they use passionate
gestures (5) with a view to sports, hang down (6) their ears, contract
their mouth, smooth their forehead, relax their eyes to sportiveness.
What is so peculiar to man as reason and the foreseeing of the future?

 But there are animals which open several outlets in different
directions from their lairs, that if any danger comes upon them, an
escape may be open for them shut in; but they would not do this unless
they possessed intelligence and re flection.  Others are provident for
the future, as

"Ants, when they plunder a great heap of corn, mindful of the winter,
and lay it up in their dwelling;" (7)

again, --

"As bees, which alone know a country and fixed abodes; and mindful of
the winter which is to come, they practise labour in the summer, and lay
up their gains as a common stock."  (3)

 It would be a long task if I should wish to trace out the things most
resembling the skill of man, which are accustomed to be done by the
separate tribes of animals.  But if, in the case of all these things
which are wont to be ascribed to man, there is found to be some
resemblance even in the dumb animals, it is evident that religion is the
only thing of which no trace can be found in the dumb animals, nor any
indication.  For justice is peculiar to religion, and to this no other
animal attains.  For man alone bears rule; the other animals are
subjected (9) to him.  But the worship of God is ascribed to justice;
and he who does not embrace this, being far removed from the nature of
man, will live the life of the brutes under the form of man.  But since
we differ from the other animals almost in this respect alone, that we
alone of all perceive the divine might and power, while in the others
there is no understanding of God, it is surely impossible that in this
respect either the dumb animals should have more wisdom, or human nature
should be unwise, since all living creatures, and the whole system of
nature, are subject to man on account of his wisdom.  Wherefore if
reason, if the force of man in this respect, excels and surpasses the
rest of living creatures, inasmuch as he alone is capable of the
knowledge of God, it is evident that religion can in no way be
overthrown.

CHAP. VIII.--OF RELIGION.

 But religion is overthrown if we believe Epicurus speaking thus:--

"For the nature of gods must ever in itself of necessity enjoy
immortality together with supreme repose, far removed and withdrawn from
our concerns; since, exempt from every pain, exempt from all dangers,
strong in its own resources, not wanting aught of us, it is neither
gained by favours nor moved by anger."  (10)

Now, when he says these things, does he think that any worship is to be
paid to God, or does

264

he entirely overthrow religion ? For if God confers nothing good on any
one, if He repays the obedience of His worshipper with no favour, what
is so senseless, what so foolish, as to build temples, to offer
sacrifices, to present gifts, to diminish our property, that we may
obtain nothing?  (1) But (it will be said) it is right that an excellent
nature should be honoured.  What honour can be due to a being who pays
no regard to us, and is ungrateful?  Can we be bound in any manner to
him who has nothing in common with us?  "Farewell to God," says Cicero,
(2) "if He is such as to be influenced by no favour, and by no affection
of men.  For why should I say 'may He be propitious?  (1) for He can be
propitious to no one."  What can be spoken more contemptible with
respect to God?  Farewell to Him, he says, that is, let Him depart anti
retire, since He is able to profit no one.  But if God takes no trouble,
nor occasions trouble to another, why then should we not commit crimes
as often as it shall be in our power to escape the notice of men?  and
to cheat the public laws?  Wherever we shall obtain a favourable
opportunity of escaping notice, let us take advantage of the occasion:
let us take away the property of others, either without bloodshed or
even with blood, if there is nothing else besides the laws to be
reverenced.

 While Epicurus entertains these sentiments, he altogether destroys
religion; and when this is taken away, confusion and perturbation of
life will follow.  But if religion cannot be taken away without
destroying our hold of wisdom, by which we are separated from the
brutes, and of justice, by which the public life may be more secure, how
can religion itself be maintained or guarded without fear?  For that
which is not feared is despised, and that which is despised is plainly
not reverenced.  Thus it comes to pass that religion, and majesty, and
honour exist together with fear; but there is no fear where no one is
angry.  Whether, therefore, you take away from God kindness, or anger,
or both, religion must be taken away, without which the life of men is
full of folly, of wickedness, and enormity.  For conscience greatly
curbs men, if we believe that we are living in the sight of God; if we
imagine not only that the actions which we perform are seen from above,
but also that our thoughts and our words are heard by God.  But it is
profitable to believe this, as some imagine, not for the sake of the
truth, but of utility, since laws cannot punish conscience unless some
terror from above hangs over to restrain offences.  Therefore religion
is altogether false, and there is no divinity; but all things are made
up by skilful

men, in order that they may live more uprightly and innocently.  This is
a great question, and foreign to the subject which we have proposed; but
because it necessarily occurs, it ought to be handled, however briefly.

CHAP. IX. --OF THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD, AND

OF OPINIONS OPPOSED TO IT.

 When the philosophers of former times had agreed in their opinions
respecting providence, and there was no doubt but that the world was set
in order by God and reason, and was governed by reason, Protagoras, in
the times of Socrates, was the first of all who said that it was not
clear to him whether there was any divinity or not.  And this
disputation of his was judged so impious, and so contrary to the truth
and to religion, that the Athenians both banished him from their
territories, and burnt in a public assembly those books of his in which
these statements were contained.  But there is no need to speak
respecting his opinions, because he pronounced nothing certain.  After
these things Socrates and his disciple Plato, and those who flowed forth
from the school of Plato like rivulets into different directions,
namely, the Stoics and Peripatetics, were of the same opinion as those
who went before them.  (4)

 Afterwards Epicurus said that there was indeed a God, because it was
necessary that there should be in the world some being of surpassing
excellence, distinction, and blessedness; yet that there was no
providence, and thus that the world itself was ordered by no plan, nor
art, nor workmanship, but that the universe was made up of certain
minute and indivisible seeds.  But I do not see what can be said more
repugnant to the truth.  For if there is a God, as God He is manifestly
provident; nor can divinity be attributed to Him in any other way than
if He retains the past, and knows the present, and foresees the future.
Therefore, in taking away providence, he also denied the existence of
God.  But when he openly acknowledged the existence of God, at the same
time he also admitted His providence for the one cannot exist at all, or
be understood, without the other.  But in those later times in which
philosophy had now lost its vigour, (5) there lived a certain Diagoras
of Melos, (6) who altogether denied the existence of God, and on account
of this sentiment was called atheist; (7) also Theodorus (6) of Cyrene:
both of whom, because they were unable to discover anything new, all
things having already been said and found out, preferred even, in
opposition to the truth, to deny that in which all pre-

265

ceding philosophers had agreed without any ambiguity.  These are they
who attacked providence, which had been asserted and defended through so
many ages by so many intellects.  What then?  Shall we refute those
trifling and inactive philosophers by reason, or by the authority of
distinguished men, or rather by both?  But we must hasten onwards, lest
our speech should wander too far from our subject.

CHAP. X.--OF THE ORIGIN OF THE WORLD, AND THE NATURE OF AFFAIRS, AND THE
PROVIDENCE OF GOD.

 They who do not admit that the world was made by divine providence,
either say that it is composed of first principles coming together at
random, or that it suddenly came into existence by nature, but hold, as
Straton (1) does, that nature has in itself the power of production and
of diminution, but that it has neither sensibility nor figure, so that
we may understand that all things were produced spontaneously, without
any artificer or author.  Each opinion is vain and impossible.  But this
happens to those who are ignorant of the truth, that they devise
anything, rather than perceive that which the nature of the subject (2)
requires.  First of all, with respect to those minute seeds, by the
meeting together of which they say that the whole world came into
existence, (3) I ask where or whence they are.  Who has seen them at any
time?  Who has perceived them?  Who has heard them?  Had none but
Leucippus (4) eyes?  Had he alone a mind, who assuredly alone of all men
was blind and senseless, since he spoke those things which no sick man
could have uttered in his ravings, (5) or one asleep in his dreams?

 The ancient philosophers argued that all things were made up of four
elements.  (6) He would not admit this, lest he should appear to tread
in the footsteps of others; but he held that there were other first
principles of the elements themselves, which can neither be seen, nor
touched, nor be perceived by any part of the body.  They are so minute,
he says, that there is no edge of a sword so flue that they can be cut
and divided by it.  From which circumstance he gave them the name of
atoms.  But it occurred to him, that if they all had one and the same
nature, they could not make up different objects of so great a variety
as we see to be present in the world.  He said, therefore, that there
were smooth and rough ones, and round, and angular, and hooked.  How
much better had it been to be silent, than to have a tongue for such

miserable and empty uses!  And, indeed, I fear lest he who thinks these
things worthy of refutation, should appear no less to rave.  Let us,
however, reply as to one who says something.  (7) If they are soft s and
round, it is plain that they cannot lay hold of one another, so as to
make some body; as, though any one should wish to bind together millet
into one combination, (9) the very softness of the grains would not
permit them to come together into a mass.  If they are rough, and
angular, and hooked, so that they may be able to cohere, then they are
divisible, and capable of being cut; for hooks and angles must project,
(10) so that they may possibly be cut off.

 Therefore that which is able to be cut off and torn away, will be able
both to be seen and held.  "These," he says, "flutter about with
restless motions through empty space, and are carried hither and
thither, just as we see little particles of dust in the sun when it has
introduced its rays and light through a window.  From these there arise
trees and herbs, and all fruits of the earth; from these, animals, and
water, and fire, and all things are produced, and are again resolved
into the same elements."  This can be borne as long as the inquiry is
respecting small matters.  Even the world itself was made up of these.
He has reached to the full extent of perfect madness: it seems
impossible that anything further should be said, and yet he found
something to add.  "Since everything," he says, "is infinite, and
nothing can be empty, it follows of necessity that there are innumerable
worlds."  What force of atoms had been so great, that masses so
incalculable should be collected from such minute elements?  And first
of all I ask, What is the nature or origin of those seeds?  For if all
things are from them, whence shall we say that they themselves are?
What nature supplied such an abundance of matter for the making of
innumerable worlds?  But let us grant that he raved with impunity
concerning worlds; let us speak respecting this in which we are, and
which we see.  He says that all things are made from minute bodies which
are incapable of division.

 If this were so, no object would ever need the seed of its own kind.
Birds would be born without eggs, or eggs without bringing forth;
likewise the rest of the living creatures without coition: trees and the
productions of the earth would not have their own seeds, which we daily
handle and sow.  Why does a corn-field arise from grain, and again grain
from a corn-field?  In short, if the meeting together and collecting

266

of atoms would effect all things, all things would grow together in the
air, since atoms flutter about through empty space.  Why cannot the
herb, why cannot the tree or grain, arise or be increased without earth,
without roots, without moisture, without seed?  From which it is evident
that nothing is made up from atoms, since everything has its own
peculiar and fixed nature, its own seed, its own law given from the
beginning.  Finally, Lucretius, as though forgetful of atoms, (1) which
he was maintaining, in order that he might refute those who say that all
things are produced from nothing, employed these arguments, which might
have weighed against himself.  For he thus spoke: --

"If things came from nothing, any kind might be born of anything;
nothing would require seed."  (2)

Likewise afterwards: --

"We must admit, therefore, that nothing can come from nothing, since
things require seed before they can severally be born, and be brought
out into the buxom fields of air."  (3)

Who would imagine that he had brain when he said these things, and did
not see that they were contrary to one another?  For that nothing is
made by means of atoms, is apparent from this, that everything has a
definite (4) seed, unless by chance we shall believe that the nature
both of fire and water is derived from atoms.  Why should I say, that if
materials of the greatest hardness are struck together with a violent
blow, fire is struck out?  Are atoms concealed in the steel, or in the
flint?  Who shut them in?  Or why do they not leap forth spontaneously?
Or how could the seeds of fire remain in a material of the greatest
coldness?

 I leave the subject of the flint and steel.  If you hold in the sun an
orb of crystal filled with water, fire is kindled from the light which
is reflected from the water, even in the most severe cold.  Must we then
believe that fire is contained in the water?  And yet fire cannot be
kindled from the sun even in summer.  If you shall breathe upon wax, or
if a light vapour shall touch anything -- either the hard surface s of
marble or a plate of metal --water is gradually condensed by means of
the most minute drops.  Also from the exhalation of the earth or sea
mist is formed, which either, being dispersed, moistens whatever it has
covered, or being collected, is carried aloft by the wind to high
mountains, and compressed into cloud, and sends down great rains.
Where, then, do we say that fluids are produced?  Is it in the vapour?
Or in the exhalation?  Or in the wind?  But nothing can be formed in
that which

is neither touched nor seen.  Why should I speak of animals, in whose
bodies we see nothing formed without plan, without arrangement, without
utility, without beauty, so that the most skilful and careful marking
out (6) of all the parts and members repels the idea of accident and
chance?  But let us suppose it possible that the limbs, and bones, and
nerves, and blood should be made up of atoms.  What of the senses, the
reflection, the memory, the mind, the natural capacity: from what seeds
can they be compacted?  (7) He says, From the most minute.  There are
therefore others of greater size.  How, then, are they indivisible?

 In the next place, if the things which are not seen are formed from
invisible seeds, it follows that those which are seen are from visible
seeds.  Why, then, does no one see them?  But whether any one regards
the invisible parts which are in man, or the parts which can be touched,
and which are visible, who does not see that both parts exist in
accordance with design?  (8) How, then, can bodies which meet together
without design effect anything reasonable?  (9) For we see that there is
nothing in the whole world which has not in itself very great and
wonderful design.  And since this is above the sense and capacity of
man, to what can it be more rightly attributed than to the divine
providence?  If a statue, the resemblance of man, is made by the
exercise of design and art, shall we suppose that man himself is made up
of fragments which come together at random?  And what resemblance to the
truth is there in the thing produced, (10) when the greatest and most
surpassing skill (11) can imitate nothing more than the mere outline and
extreme lineaments (12) of the body?  Was the skill of man able to give
to his production any motion or sensibility?  I say nothing of the
exercise of the sight, of hearing, and of smelling, and the wonderful
uses of the other members, either those which are in sight or those
which are hidden from view.  What artificer could have fabricated either
the heart of man, or the voice, or his very wisdom?  Does any man of
sound mind, therefore, think that that which man cannot do by reason and
judgement, may be accomplished by a meeting together of atoms everywhere
adhering to each other?  You see into what foolish ravings they have
fallen, while they are unwilling to assign to God the making and the
care of all things

 Let us, however, concede to them that the things which are earthly are
made froth atoms: are the things also which are heavenly?  They

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say that the gods are without contamination, eternal, and blessed; and
they grant to them alone an exemption, so that they do not appear to be
made up of a meeting together of atoms.  For if the gods also had been
made up of these, they would be liable to be dispersed, the seeds at
length being resolved, and returning to their own nature.  Therefore, if
there is something which the atoms could not produce, why may we not
judge in the same way of the others?  But I ask why the gods did not
build for themselves a dwelling-place before those first elements
produced the world?  It is manifest that, unless the atoms had come
together and made the heaven, the gods would still be suspended through
the midst of empty space.  By what counsel, then, by what plan, did the
atoms from a confused mass collect themselves, so that from some the
earth below was formed into a globe, and the heaven stretched out above,
adorned with so great a variety of constellations that nothing can be
conceived more embellished?  Can he, therefore, who sees such and so
great objects, imagine that they were made without any design, without
any providence, without any divine intelligence, but that such great and
wonderful things arose out of fine and minute atoms?  Does it not
resemble a prodigy, that there should be any human being who might say
these things, or that there should be those who might believe them--as
Democritus, who was his hearer, or Epicurus, to whom all folly flowed
forth from the fountain of Leucippus?  But, as others say, the world was
made by Nature, which is without perception and figure.  (1) But this is
much more absurd.  If Nature made the world, it must have made it by
judgment and intelligence; for it is lie that makes something who has
either the inclination to make it, or knowledge.  If nature is without
perception and figure, how can that be made by it which has both
perception and figure, unless by chance any one thinks that the fabric
of animals, which is so delicate, could have been formed and animated by
that which is without perception, or that that figure of heaven, which
is prepared with such foresight for the uses of living beings, suddenly
came into existence by some accident or other, without a builder,
without an artificer?  (2)

 "If there is anything," says Chrysippus, "which effects those things
which man, though he is endowed with reason, cannot do, that assuredly
is greater, and stronger, and wiser than man."  But man cannot make
heavenly things; therefore that which shall produce or has produced
these things surpasses man in art, in design, in skill, and in power.
Who, therefore, can it be but God?  But Nature, which they

suppose to be, as it were, the mother of all things, if it has not a
mind, will effect nothing, will contrive nothing; for where there is no
reflection there is neither motion nor efficacy.  But if it uses counsel
for the commencement of anything, reason for its arrangement, art for
its accomplishment, energy for its consummation, and power to govern and
control, why should it be called Nature rather than God?  Or if a
concourse of atoms, or Nature without mind, made those things which we
see, I ask why it was able to make the heaven, but unable to make a city
or a house?  (3) Why it made mountains of marble, but did not make
columns and statues?  But ought not atoms to have come together to
effect these things, since they leave no position untried?  For
concerning Nature, which has no mind, it is no wonder that it forgot to
do these things.  What, then, is the case?  It is plain that God, when
He commenced this work of the world,--than which nothing can be better
arranged with respect to order, nor more befitting as to utility, nor
more adorned as to beauty, nor greater as to bulk,--Himself made the
things which could not be made by man; and among these also man himself,
to whom He gave a portion of His own wisdom, and furnished him with
reason, as much as earthly frailty was capable of receiving, that he
might make for himself the things which were necessary for his own

uses.

 But if in the commonwealth of this world, so to speak, there is no
providence which rules, no God who administers, no sense at all prevails
in this nature of things.  From what source therefore will it be
believed that the human mind, with its skill and its intelligence, had
its origin?  For if the body of man was made from the ground, from which
circumstance man received his name; (4) it follows that the soul, which
has intelligence, and is the ruler of the body, which the limbs obey as
a king and commander, which can neither be looked upon nor comprehended,
could not have come to man except from a wise nature.  But as mind and
soul govern everybody, so also does God govern the world.  For it is not
probable that lesser and humble things bear rule, but that greater and
highest things do not bear rule.  In short, Marcus Cicero, in his
Tusculan Disputations, (5) and in his Consolation, says: "No origin of
souls can be found on earth.  For there is nothing, he says, mixed and
compound (6) in souls, or which may appear to be produced and made up
from the earth; nothing moist or airy, (7) or of the nature of fire.

268

For in these natures there is nothing which has the force of memory, of
mind and reflection, which both retains the past and foresees the
future, and is able to comprise the present; which things alone are
divine.  For no source will ever be found from which they are able to
come to man, unless it be from God."  Since, therefore, with the
exception of two or three vain calumniators, it is agreed upon that the
world is governed by providence, as also it was made, and there is no
one who ventures to prefer the opinion of Diagoras and Theodorus, or the
empty fiction of Leucippus, or the levity of Democritus and Epicurus,
either to the authority of those seven ancient men who were called wise,
(1) or to that of Pythagoras or of Socrates or Plato, and the other
philosophers who judged that there is a providence; therefore that
opinion also is false, by which they think that religion was instituted
by wise men for the sake of terror and fear, in order that ignorant men
might abstain from sins.

 But if this is true, it follows that we are derided by the wise men of
old.  But if they invented religion for the sake of deceiving us, and
moreover of deceiving the whole human race, therefore they were not
wise, because falsehood is not consistent with the character of the wise
man.  But grant that they were wise; what great success in falsehood was
it, that they were able to deceive not only the unlearned, but Plato
also, and Socrates, and so easily to delude Pythagoras, Zeno, and
Aristotle, the chiefs of the greatest sects?  There is therefore a
divine providence, as those men whom I have named perceived, by the
energy and power of which all things which we see were both made and are
governed.  For so vast a system of things?  such arrangement and such
regularity in preserving the settled orders and times, could neither at
first have arisen without a provident artificer, or have existed so many
ages without a powerful inhabitant, or have been perpetually governed
without a skilful and intelligent (3) ruler; and reason itself declares
this.  For whatever exists which has reason, must have arisen from
reason.  Now reason is the part of an intelligent and wise nature; but a
wise and intelligent nature can be nothing else than God.  Now the
world, since it has reason, by which it is both governed and kept
together, was therefore made by God.  But if God is the maker and ruler
of the world, then religion is rightly and truly established; for honour
and worship are due to the author and common parent of all things.

CHAP. XI. --OF GOD, AND THAT THE ONE GOD, AND BY WHOSE PROVIDENCE THE
WORLD IS GOVERNED AND EXISTS.

 Since it is agreed upon concerning providence, it follows that we show
whether it is to be believed that it belongs to many, or rather to one
only.  We have sufficiently taught, as I think, in our Institutions,
that there cannot be many gods; because, if the divine energy and power
be distributed among several, it must necessarily be diminished.  But
that which is lessened is plainly mortal; but if He is not mortal, He
can neither be lessened nor divided.  Therefore there is but one God, in
whom complete energy and power can neither be lessened nor increased.
But if there are many, while they separately have something of power and
authority, the sum itself decreases; nor will they separately be able to
have the whole, which they have in corn-moN with others: so much will be
wanting to each as the others shall possess.  There cannot therefore be
many rulers in this world, nor many masters in one house, nor many
pilots in one ship, nor many leaders in one herd or flock, nor many
queens in one swarm.  But there could not have been many suns in heaven,
as there are not several souls in one body; so entirely

does the whole of nature agree in unity.But

if the world

 "Is nourished by a soul, A spirit whose celestial flame

Glows IN each member of the frame,

And stirs the mighty whole," (4)

it is evident from the testimony of the poet, that there is one God who
inhabits the world, since the whole body cannot be inhabited and
governed except by one mind.  Therefore all divine power must be in one
person, by whose will and command all things are ruled; and therefore He
is so great, that He cannot be described in words by man, or estimated
by the senses.  From what source, therefore, did the opinion or
persuasion s respecting many gods come to men?  Without doubt, all those
who are worshipped as gods were men, and were also the earliest and
greatest kings; but who is ignorant that they were invested with divine
honours after death, either on account of the virtue by which they had
profited the race of men, or that they obtained immortal memory on
account of the benefits and inventions by which they had adorned human
life?  And not only men, but women also.  And this, both the most
ancient writers of Greece, whom they call theologi, (6) and also Roman
writers following and imitating the

269

Greeks, teach; of whom especially Euhemerus and our Ennius, who point
out the birthdays, marriages, offspring, governments, exploits, deaths,
and tombs (1) of all of them.  And Tullius, following them, in his third
book, On the Nature of the Gods, destroyed the public religions; but
neither he himself nor any other person was able to introduce the true
one, of which he was ignorant.  And thus he himself testified that that
which was false was evident; that the truth, however, lay concealed.
"Would to heaven," he says, "that I could as easily discover true things
as refute those that are false!"  (2) And this he proclaimed not with
dissimulation as an Academic, but truly and in accordance with the
feeling of his mind, because the truth cannot be uprooted from human
perceptions: that which the foresight of man was able to attain to, he
attained to, that he might expose false things.  For whatever is
fictitious and false, because it is supported by no reason, is easily
destroyed.  There is therefore one God, the source and origin of all
things, as Plato both felt and taught in the Timoeus, whose majesty he
declares to be so great, that it can neither be comprehended by the mind
nor be expressed by the tongue.

 Hermes bears the same testimony, whom Cicero asserts (3) to be reckoned
by the Egyptians among the number of the gods.  I speak of him who, on
account of his excellence and knowledge of many arts, was called
Trismegistus; and he was far more ancient not only than Plato, but than
Pythagoras, and those seven wise men.  (4) In Xenophon, (5) Socrates, as
he discourses, says that "the form of God ought not to be inquired
about:" and Plato, in his Book Laws, (6) says: "What God is, ought not
to be the subject of inquiry, because it can neither be found out nor
related."  Pythagoras also admits that there is but one God, saying that
there is an incorporeal mind, which, being diffused and stretched
through all nature, gives vital perception to all living creatures; but
Antisthenes, in his Physics, said that there was but one natural God,
although the nations and cities have gods of their own people.
Aristotle, with his followers the Peripatetics, and Zeno with his
followers the Stoics, say nearly the same things.  Truly it would be a
long task to follow up the opinions of all separately, who, although
they used different names, nevertheless agreed in one power which
governed the world.  But, however, though philosophers and poets, and
those, in short, who worship the gods, often acknowledge the Supreme
God, yet

no one ever inquired into, no one discussed, the subject of His worship
and honours; with that persuasion, in truth, with which, always
believing Him to be bounteous and incorruptible, they think (7) that He
is neither angry with any one, nor stands in need of any worship.  Thus
there can be no religion where there is no fear.  (8)

CHAP. XII.--OF RELIGION AND THE FEAR OF GOD.

 Now, since we have replied to the impious and detestable wisdom, (9) or
rather senselessness of some, let us return to our proposed subject.  We
have said that, if religion is taken away, neither wisdom nor justice
can be retained: wisdom, because the understanding of the divine nature,
in which we differ from the brutes, is found in man alone; justice,
because unless God, who cannot be deceived, shall restrain our desires,
we shall live wickedly and impiously.  Therefore, that our actions
should be viewed by God, pertains not only to the usefulness of common
life, but even to the truth; because, if religion and justice are taken
away, having lost our reason, we either descend to the senselessness
(10) of the herds; or to the savageness of the beasts, yea, even more
so, since the beasts spare animals of their own kind.  What will be more
savage, what more unmerciful, than man, if, the fear of a superior being
taken away, he shall be able either to escape the notice of or to
despise the might of the laws?  It is therefore the fear of God alone
which guards the mutual society of men, by which life itself is
sustained, protected, and governed.  But that fear is taken away if man
is persuaded that God is without anger; for that He is moved and
indignant when unjust actions are done, not only the common advantage,
but even reason itself, and truth, persuade us.  We must again return to
the former subjects, that, as we have taught that the world was made by
God, we may teach why it was made.

CHAP. XllI. -- OF THE ADVANTAGE AND USE OF THE

WORLD AND OF THE SEASONS.

 If any one considers the whole government of the world, he will
certainly understand how true is the opinion of the Stoics, who say that
the world was made on our account.  For all the things of which the
world is composed, and which it produces from itself, are adapted to the
use of man.  Man, accordingly, uses fire for the purpose of warmth and
light, and of softening his food, and for the working of iron; he uses

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springs for drinking, and for baths; he uses rivers for irrigating the
fields, and assigning boundaries to countries; he uses the earth for
receiving a variety of fruits, the hills for planting vineyards, the
mountains for the use of trees and firewood, (1) the plains for crops of
grain; he uses the sea not only for commerce, and for receiving supplies
from distant countries, but also for abundance of every kind of fish.
But if he makes use of these elements to which he is nearest, there is
no doubt that he uses the hear-en also, since the offices even of
heavenly things are regulated for the fertility of the earth from which
we live.  The sun, with its ceaseless courses and unequal intervals, (2)
completes its annual circles, and either at his rising draws forth the
day for labour, or at his setting brings on the night for repose; and at
one time by his departure farther towards the south, at another time by
his approach nearer towards the north, he causes the vicissitudes of
winter and summer, so that both by the moistures and frosts of winter
the earth becomes enriched for fruitfulness, and by the heats of summer
either the produce of grass (3) is hardened by maturity, or that which
is in moist places, being seethed and heated, becomes ripened.  The moon
also, which governs the time of night, regulates her monthly courses by
the alternate loss and recovery of light, (4) and by the brightness of
her shining illumines the nights obscure with gloomy darkness, so that
journeys in the summer heat, and expeditions, and works, may be
performed without labour and inconvenience; since

"By night the light stubble, by night

The dry meadows are better mown."  (5)

The other heavenly bodies also, either at their rising or setting,
supply favourable times (6) by their fixed positions.  (7) Moreover,
they also afford guidance to ships, that they may not wander through the
boundless deep with uncertain course, since the pilot duly observing
them arrives at the harbour of the shore at which he aims.  (8) Clouds
are attracted by the breath of the winds, that the fields of sown grain
may be watered with showers, that the vines may abound with produce, and
the trees with fruits.  And these things are exhibited by a succession
of changes throughout the year, that nothing may at any time be wanting
by which the life of men is sustained.  But (9) (it is said) the same
earth nourishes the other living creatures, and by the produce of the

same even the dumb animals are fed.  Has not God laboured also for the
sake of the dumb animals?  By no means; because they are void of reason.
On the contrary, we understand that even these themselves in the same
manner were made by God for the use of man, partly for food, partly for
clothing, partly to assist him in his work; so that it is manifest that
the divine providence wished to furnish and adorn the life of men with
an abundance of objects and resources, and on this account He both
filled the air with birds, and the sea with fishes, and the earth with
quadrupeds.  But the Academics, arguing against the Stoics, are
accustomed to ask why, if God made all things for the sake of men, many
things are found even opposed, and hostile, and injurious to us, as well
in the sea as on the land.  And the Stoics, without any regard to the
truth, most foolishly repelled this.  For they say that there are many
things among natural productions, (10) and reckoned among animals, the
utility of which hitherto (11) escapes notice, but that this is
discovered in process of the times, as necessity and use have already
discovered many things which were unknown in former ages.  What utility,
then, can be discovered in mice, in beetles, in serpents, which are
troublesome and pernicious to man?  Is it that some medicine lies
concealed in them?  If there is any, it will at some time be found out,
namely, as a remedy against evils, whereas they complain that it is
altogether evil.  They say that the viper, when burnt and reduced to
ashes, is a remedy for the bite of the same beast.  How much better had
it been that it should not exist at all, than that a remedy should be
required against it drawn from itself?

 They might then have answered with more conciseness and truth after
this manner.  When God had formed man as it were His own image, that
which was the completion of His workmanship, He breathed wisdom into him
alone, so that he might bring all things into subjection to his own
authority and government, and make use of all the advantages of the
world.  And yet He set before him both good and evil things, inasmuch as
He gave to him wisdom, the whole nature of which is employed in
discerning things evil and good: for no one can choose better things,
and know what is good, unless he at the same time knows to reject and
avoid the things which are evil.  (12) They are both mutually connected
with each other, so that, the one being taken away, the other must also
be taken away.  Therefore, good and evil things being set before it,
then at length wisdom discharges its office, and desires

271

the good for usefulness, but rejects the evil for safety.  Therefore, as
innumerable good things have been given which it might enjoy, so also
have evils, against which it might guard.  For if there is no evil, no
danger--nothing, in short, which can injure man--all the material of
wisdom is taken away, and will be unnecessary for man.  For if only good
things are placed in sight, what need is there of reflection, of
understanding, of knowledge, of reason?  since, wherever he shall extend
his hand, that is befitting and adapted to nature; so that if any one
should wish to place a most exquisite dinner before infants, who as yet
have no taste, it is plain that each will desire that to which either
impulse, or hunger, or even accident, shall attract them; and whatever
they shall take, it will be useful and salutary to them.  What injury
will it therefore be for them always to remain as they are, and always
to be infants and unacquainted with affairs?  But if you add a mixture
either of bitter things, or things useless, or even poisonous, they are
plainly deceived through their ignorance of good and evil, unless wisdom
is added to them, by which they may have the rejection of evil things
and the choice of good things.  You see, therefore, that we have greater
need of wisdom on account of evils; and unless these things had been
proposed to us, we should not be a rational animal.  But if this account
is true, which the Stoics were in no manner able to see, that argument
also of Epicurus is done away.  God, he says, either wishes to take away
evils, and is unable; or He is able, and is unwilling; or He is neither
willing nor able, or He is both willing and able.  If He is willing and
is unable, He is feeble, which is not in accordance with the character
of God; if He is able and unwilling, He is envious, which is equally at
variance with God; if He is neither willing nor able, He is

both envious and feeble, and therefore not God; if He is both willing
and able, which alone is suitable to God, from what source then are
evils?  or why does He not remove them?  I know that many of the
philosophers, who defend providence, are accustomed to be disturbed by
this argument, and are almost driven against their will to admit that
God takes no interest in anything, which Epicurus especially aims at;
but having examined the matter, we easily do away with this formidable
argument.  For God is able to do whatever He wishes, and there is no
weakness or envy in God.  He is able, therefore, to take away evils; but
He does not wish to do so, and yet He is not on that account envious.
For on this account He does not take them away, because He at the same
time gives wisdom, as I have shown; and there is more of goodness and
pleasure in wisdom than of annoyance in evils.  For wisdom causes us
even to know God, and

 by that knowledge to attain to immortality, which is the chief good.
Therefore, unless we first know evil, we shall be unable to know good.
But Epicurus did not see this, nor did any other, that if evils are
taken away, wisdom is in like manner taken away; and that no traces of
virtue remain in man, the nature of which consists in enduring and
overcoming the bitterness of evils.  And thus, for the sake of a slight
gain (1) in the taking away of evils, we should be deprived of a good,
which is very great, and true, and peculiar to us.  It is plain,
therefore, that all things are proposed for the sake of man, as well
evils as also goods.

CHAP. XIV. --WHY GOD MADE MAN.

 It follows that I show for what purpose God made man himself.  As He
contrived the world

 for the sake of man, so He formed man himself t on His own account, as
it were a priest of a divine

 temple, a spectator of His works and of heavenly objects.  For he is
the only being who, since he is intelligent and capable of reason, is
able to understand God, to admire His works, and perceive His energy and
power; for on this account he is furnished with judgment, intelligence,
and prudence.  On this account he alone, beyond the other living
creatures, has been made with an upright body and attitude, so that he
seems to have been raised up for the contemplation of his Parent.  (2)
On this account he alone has received language, and a tongue the
interpreter of his thought, that he may be able to declare the majesty
of his Lord.  Lastly, for this cause all things were placed under his
control, that he himself might be under the control of God, their Maker
and Creator.  If God, therefore, designed man to be a worship per of
Himself, and on this account gave him so much honour, that he might rule
over all things; it is plainly most just that he should worship Him (3)
who bestowed upon him such great gifts, and love man, who is united with
us in the participation of the divine justice.  For it is not right that
a worshipper of God should he injured by a worshipper of God.  From
which it is understood that man was made for the sake of religion and
justice.  And of this matter Marcus Tullius is a witness in his books
respecting the Laws, since he thus speaks: (4) "But of all things
concerning which learned men dispute, nothing is of greater consequence
than that it should be altogether understood that we are born to
justice."  And if this is most true, it follows that God will have all
men to be just,

272

that is, to have God and man as objects of their affection; to honour
God in truth as a Father, and to love man as a brother: for m these two
things the whole of justice is comprised.  But he who either fails to
acknowledge God or acts injuriously to man, lives unjustly and contrary
to his nature, and in this manner disturbs the divine institution and
law.

CHAP. XV.--WHENCE SINS EXTENDED TO MAN.

 Here perhaps some one may ask, Whence sins extended to man, or what
perversion distorted the rule of the divine institution to worse things,
so that, though he was born to justice, he nevertheless performs unjust
works.  I have already in a former place explained, that God at the same
time set before him good and evil, and that He loves the good, and hates
the evil which is contrary to this; but that He permitted the evil on
this account, that the good also might shine forth, since, as I have
often taught, we understand that the one cannot exist without the other;
in short, that the world itself is made up of two elements opposing and
connected with one another, of fire and moisture, and that light could
not have been made unless there has also been darkness, since there
cannot be a higher place without a lower, nor a rising without a
setting, nor warmth without cold, nor softness without hardness.  Thus
also we are composed of two substances equally opposed to one another --
soul and body: the one of which is assigned to the heaven, because it is
slight and not to be handled; the other to the earth, because it is
capable of being laid hold of: the one is firm (1) and eternal, the
other frail and mortal.  Therefore good clings to the one, and evil to
the other: light, life, and justice to the one; darkness, death, anti
injustice to the other.  Hence there arose among men the corruption of
their nature, so that it was necessary that a law should be established,
by which vices might be prohibited, and the duties of virtue be en-
joined.  Since, therefore, there are good and evil things in the affairs
of men, the nature of which I have set forth, it must be that God is
moved to both sides, both to favour when He sees that just things are
done, and to anger when He perceives unjust things.

 But Epicurus opposes us, and says: "If there is in God the affection of
joy leading Him to favour, and of hatred influencing Him to anger, He
must of necessity have both fear, and inclination, and desire, and the
other affections which belong to human weakness."  It does not follow
that he who is angry must fear, or that he who feels joy must grieve; in
short, they who are liable to anger are less timid, and they who are

of a joyful temperament are less affected with grief.  What need is
there to speak of the affections of humanity, to which our nature
yields?  Let us weigh the divine necessity; for I am unwilling to speak
of nature, since it is believed that our God was never born.  The
affection of fear has a subject-matter in man, but it has none in God.
Man, inasmuch as he is liable to many accidents and dangers, fears lest
any greater violence should arise which may strike, despoil, lacerate,
dash down, and destroy him.  But God, who is liable neither to want, nor
injury, nor pain, nor death, can by no means fear, because there is
nothing which can offer violence to Him.  Also the reason and cause of
desire is manifest in man.  For, inasmuch as he was made frail and
mortal, it was necessary that another and different sex should be made,
by union with which offspring might be produced to continue the
perpetuity of his race.  But this desire has no place in God, because
frailty and death are far removed from Him; nor is there with Him any
female in whose union He is able to rejoice; nor does He stand in need
of succession, since He will live for ever.  The same things may be said
respecting envy and passion, to which, from sure and manifest causes,
man is liable, but to which God is by no means liable.  But, in truth,
favour and anger and pity have their substance (2) in God, and that
greatest and matchless power employs them for the preservation of the
world.

CHAP. XVI. --OF GOD, AND HIS ANGER AND AFFECTIONS.

Some one will ask what this substance is.  First of all, when evils
befall them, men in their dejected state for the most part have recourse
to God: they appease and entreat Him, believing that He is able to repel
injuries from them.  He has therefore an occasion of exercising pity;
for He is not so unmerciful and a despiser of men as to refuse aid to
those who are in distress.  Very many, also, who are persuaded that
justice is pleasing to God, both worship Him who is Lord and Parent of
all, and with continual prayers and repeated vows offer gifts and
sacrifices, follow up His name with praises, striving to gain His favour
by just and good works.  There is therefore a reason, on account of
which God may and ought to favour them.  For if there is nothing so
befitting God as beneficence, and nothing so unsuited to His character
as to be ungrateful, it is necessary that He should make some return for
the services of those who are excellent, and who lead a holy life, that
He may not be liable to the charge of ingratitude which is worthy of
blame (3) even in the case of

273

a man.  But, on the contrary, others are daring (1) and wicked, who
pollute all things with their lusts, harass with slaughters, practise
fraud, plunder, commit perjury, neither spare relatives nor parents,
neglect the laws, and even God Himself.  Anger, therefore, has a
befitting occasion (2) in God.

 For it is not right that, when He sees such things, He should not be
moved, and arise to take vengeance upon the wicked, and destroy the
pestilent and guilty, so as to promote the interests of all good men.
Thus even in anger itself there is also contained a showing of kindness.
(3) Therefore the arguments are found to be empty and false, either of
those who, when they will not admit that God is angry, will have it that
He shows kindness, because this, indeed, cannot take place without
anger; or of those who think that there is no emotion of the mind in
God.  And because there are some affections to which God is not liable,
as desire, fear, avarice, grief, and envy, they have said that He is
entirely free from all affection.  For He is not liable to these,
because they are vicious affections; but as to those which belong to
virtue,--that is, anger towards the wicked, regard towards the good,
pity towards the afflicted, -- inasmuch as they are worthy of the divine
power, He has affections of His own, (4) both just and true.  And if He
is not possessed of them, the life of man will be thrown into confusion,
and the condition of things will come to such disturbance that the laws
will be despised and overpowered, and audacity alone reign, so that no
one can at length be in safety unless he who excels (5) in strength.
Thus all the earth will be laid waste, as it were, by a common robbery.
But now, since the wicked expect punishment, and the good hope for
favour, and the afflicted look for aid, there is place for virtues, and
crimes are more rare.  But (6) it is said, ofttimes the wicked are more
prosperous, and the good more wretched, and the just are harassed with
impunity by the unjust.  We will hereafter consider why these things
happen.  In the meantime let us explain respecting anger, whether there
be any in God; whether He takes no notice at all, and is unmoved at
those things which are done with impiety.

CHAP. XVII.--OF GOD, HIS CARE AND ANGER.

 God, says Epicurus, regards nothing; therefore He has no power.  For he
who has power must of necessity regard affairs.  For if He has power,
and does not use it, what so great cause

is there that, I will not say our race, but even the universe itself,
should be contemptible in His sight?  On this account he says He is pure
(7) and happy, because He is always at rest.  (8) To whom, then, has the
administration of so great affairs been entrusted, (9) if these things
which we see to be governed by the highest judgment are neglected by
God?  or how can he who lives and perceives be at rest?  For rest
belongs either to sleep or to death.  But sleep has not rest.  For when
we are asleep, the body indeed is at rest, but the soul is restless and
agitated: it forms for itself images which it may behold, so that it
exercises its natural power of motion by a variety of visions, and calls
itself away from false things, until the limbs are satiated, and receive
vigour from rest.  Therefore eternal rest belongs to death alone.  Now
if death does not affect God, it follows that God is never at rest.  But
in what can the action of God consist, but in the administration of the
world?  But if God carries on the care of the world, it follows that He
cares for the life of men, and takes notice of the acts of individuals,
and He earnestly desires that they should be wise and good.  This is the
will of God, this the divine law; and he who follows and observes this
is beloved by God.  It is necessary that He should be moved with anger
against the man who has broken or despised this eternal and divine law.
If, he says, God does harm to any one, therefore He is not good.  They
are deceived by no slight error who defame all censure, whether human or
divine, with the name of bitterness and malice, thinking that He ought
to be called injurious (10) who visits the injurious with punishment.
But if this is so, it follows that we have injurious laws, which enact
punishment for offenders, and injurious judges who inflict capital
punishments on those convicted of crime.  But if the law is just which
awards to the transgressor his due, and if the judge is called upright
and good when he punishes crimes, -- for he guards the safety of good
men who punishes the evil,--it follows that God, when He opposes the
evil, is not injurious; but he himself is injurious who either injures
an innocent man, or spares an injurious person that he may injure many.

 I would gladly ask from those who represent God as immoveable, (11) if
any one had property, a house, a household" of slaves, and his slaves,
despising the forbearance of their master, should attack all things, and
themselves take the enjoyment of his goods, if his household should
honour them, while the master was despised by

274

all, insulted, and deserted: could he be a wise man who should not
avenge the insults, but permit those over whom he had power to have the
enjoyment of his property?  Can such forbearance be found in any one?
If, indeed, it is to be called forbearance, and not rather a kind of
insensible stupor.  But it is easy to endure contempt.  What if those
things were done which are spoken of by Cicero?  (1) "For I ask, if any
head of a family, (2) when his children had been put to death by a
slave, his wife slain and his house set on fire, should not exact most
severe punishment from that slave, whether he would appear to be kind
and merciful, or inhuman and most cruel?"  But if to pardon deeds of
this kind is the part of cruelty rather than of kindness, (3) it is not
therefore the part of goodness in God not to be moved at those things
which are done unjustly.  For the world is, as it were, the house of
God, and men, as it were, His slaves; and if His name is a mockery to
them, what kind or amount of forbearance is it to give (4) up His own
honours, to see wicked and unjust things done, and not to be indignant,
which is peculiar and natural to Him who is displeased with sins!  To be
angry, therefore, is the part of reason: for thus faults are removed,
and licentiousness is curbed; and this is plainly in accordance with
justice and wisdom.

 But the Stoics did not see that there is a distinction between right
and wrong, that there is a just and also an unjust anger; and because
they did not find a remedy for the matter, they wished altogether to
remove it.  But the Peripatetics said that it was not to be cut out, but
moderated; to whom we have made a sufficient reply in the sixth book of
the Institutions.  (5) Now, that the philosophers were ignorant of the
nature of anger, is plain from their definitions, which Seneca
enumerated in the books which he composed on the subject of anger.
"Anger is," he says, "the desire of avenging an injury."  Others, as
Posidonius says, describe it as the desire of punishing him by whom you
think that you have been unfairly injured.  Some have thus defined it:
"Anger is an incitement of the mind to injure him who either has
committed an injury, or who has wished to do so."  The definition of
Aristotle does not differ greatly from ours; (6) for he says that "anger
is the desire of requiting pain."  This is the unjust anger, con- coming
which we spoke before, which is contained even in the dumb animals; but
it is to be restrained in man, lest he should rush to some very great
evil through rage.  This cannot exist

in God, because He cannot be injured; (7) but it is found in man,
inasmuch as he is frail.  For the inflicting (8) of injury inflames (9)
anguish, and anguish produces a desire of revenge.  Where, then, is that
just anger against offenders?  For this is evidently not the desire of
revenge, inasmuch as no injury precedes.  I do not speak of those who
sin against the laws; for although a judge may be angry with these
without incurring blame, let us, however, suppose that he ought to be of
a sedate mind when he sentences the guilty to punishment, because he is
the executor (10) of the laws, not of his own spirit or power; for so
they wish it who endeavour to extirpate anger.  But I speak of those in
particular who are in our own power, as slaves, children, wives, and
pupils; for when we see these offend, we are incited to restrain them.

 For it cannot fail to be, that he who is just and good is displeased
with things which are bad, and that he who is displeased with evil is
moved when he sees it practised.  Therefore we arise to take vengeance,
not because we have been injured, but that discipline may be preserved,
morals may be corrected, and licentiousness be suppressed.  This is just
anger; and as it is necessary in man for the correction of wickedness,
so manifestly is it necessary in God, from whom an example comes to man.
For as we ought to restrain those who are subject to our power, so also
ought God to restrain the of-fences of all.  And in order that He may do
this, He must be angry; because it is natural for one who is good to be
moved and incited at the fault of another.  Therefore they ought to have
given this definition: Anger is an emotion of the mind arousing itself
for the restraining of faults.  (11) For the definition given by Cicero,
"Anger is the desire of taking vengeance," does not differ much from
those already mentioned.  (12) But that anger which we may call either
fury or rage ought not to exist even in man, because it is altogether
vicious; but the anger which relates to the correction of vices ought
not to be taken away from man; nor can it be taken away from God,
because it is both serviceable for the affairs of men, and necessary.

CHAP. XVIII.--OF THE PUNISHMENT OF FAULTS, THAT IT CANNOT TAKE PLACE
WITHOUT ANGER.

 What need is there, they say, of anger, since faults can be corrected
without this affection?  But there is no one who can calmly see any one
committing an offence.  This may perhaps be

275

possible in him who presides over the laws, because the deed is not
committed before his eyes, but it is brought before him as a doubtful
matter from another quarter.  Nor can any wickedness be so manifest,
that there is no place for a de-fence; and therefore it is possible that
a judge may not be moved against him who may possibly be found to be
innocent; and when the detected crime shall have come to light, he now
no longer uses his own opinion, but that of the laws.  It may be granted
that he does that which he does without anger; for he has that which he
may follow.  We, undoubtedly, when an offence is committed by our
household at home, whether we see or perceive it, must be indignant; for
the very sight of a sin is unbecoming.  For he who is altogether unmoved
either approves of faults, which is more disgraceful and unjust, or
avoids the trouble of reproving them, which a tranquil spirit and a
quiet mind despises and refuses, unless anger shall have aroused and
incited it.  But when any one is moved, and yet through unseasonable
leniency grants pardon more frequently than is necessary, or at all
times, he evidently both destroys the life of those whose audacity he is
fostering for greater crimes, and furnishes himself with a perpetual
source of annoyances.  Therefore the restraining of one's anger in the
case of sins is faulty.

 Archytas of Tarentum is praised, who, when he had found everything
ruined (1) on his estate, rebuking the fault of his bailiff, said,
"Wretch, I would have beaten you to death if I had not been angry."
They consider this to be a singular example of forbearance; but
influenced by authority, they do not see how foolishly he spoke and
acted.  For if (as Plato says) no prudent man punishes because there is
an offence, but to prevent the occurrence of an offence, it is evident
how evil an example this wise man put forth.  For if slaves shall
perceive that their master uses violence when he is not angry, and
abstains from violence (2) when he is angry, it is evident that they
will not commit slight offences, lest they should be beaten; but will
commit the greatest offences, that they may arouse the anger of the
perverse man, and escape with impunity.  But I should praise him if,
when he was enraged, he?  had given space to his anger, that the
excitement of his mind might calm down through the

i

interval of time, and his chastisement might be

confined within moderate limits.  Therefore, on account of the magnitude
of the anger, punishment ought not to have been inflicted, but to have
been delayed, lest it should inflict (3) upon the offender pain greater
than is just, or occasion an outburst of fury in the punisher.  But now,

how is it equitable or wise, that any one should be punished on account
of a slight offence, and should be unpunished on account of a very great
one?  But if he had learned the nature and causes of things, he never
would have professed so unsuitable a forbearance, that a wicked slave
should rejoice that his master has been angry with him.  For as God has
furnished the human body with many and various senses which are
necessary for the use of life, so also He has assigned to the soul
various affections by which the course of life might be regulated; and
as He has given desire for the sake of producing offspring, so has He
given anger for the sake of restraining faults.

 But they who are ignorant of the ends of good and evil things, as they
employ sensual desire for the purposes of corruption and pleasure, in
the same manner make use of anger and passion for the inflicting of
injury, while they are angry with those whom they regard with hatred.
Therefore they are angry even with those who commit no offence, even
with their equals, or even with their superiors.  Hence they daily rush
to monstrous (4) deeds; hence tragedies often arise.  Therefore Archytas
would be deserving of praise, if, when he had been enraged against any
citizen or equal who injured him, he had curbed himself, and by
forbearance mitigated the impetuosity of his fury.  This self-restraint
is glorious, by which any great evil which impends is restrained; but it
is a fault not to check the faults of slaves and children; for through
their escaping without punishment they will proceed to greater evil.  In
this case anger is not to be restrained; but even if it is in a state of
inactivity, (5) it must be aroused.  But that which we say respecting
man, we also say respecting God, who made man like to Himself.  I omit
making mention of the figure of God, because the Stoics say that God has
no form, and another great subject will arise if we should wish to
refute them.  I only speak respecting the soul.  If it belongs (6) to
God to reflect, to be wise, to understand, to foresee.  to excel, and of
all animals man alone has these qualities, it follows that he was made
after the likeness of God; but on this account he goes on to vice,
because, being mingled with frailty derived from earth, he is unable to
preserve pure and uncontaminated that which he has received from God,
unless he is imbued with the precepts of justice by the same God.

CHAP. XIX.--OF THE SOUL AND BODY, AND OF

PROVIDENCE.

 But since he is made up, as we have said, of two parts, soul and body,
the virtues are con-

276

tained in the one, and vices in the other, and they mutually oppose each
other.  For the good properties of the soul, which consist in
restraining lusts, are contrary to the body; and the good properties of
the body, which consist in every kind of pleasure, are hostile to the
soul.  But if the virtue of the soul shall have resisted the desires,
and suppressed them, he will be truly like to God.  From which it is
evident that the soul of man, which is capable of divine virtue, is not
mortal.  But there is this distinction, that since virtue is attended
with bitterness, and the attraction of pleasure is sweet, great numbers
are overcome and are drawn aside to the pleasantness; but they who have
given themselves up to the body and earthly things are pressed to the
earth, and are unable to attain to the favour of the divine bounty,
because they have polluted themselves with the defilements of vices.
But they who, following God, and in obedience to Him, have despised the
desires of the body, and, preferring virtue to pleasures, have preserved
innocence and righteousness, these God recognises as like to Himself.

 Since, therefore, He has laid down a most holy law, and wishes all men
to be innocent and beneficent, is it possible that He should not be
angry when He sees that His law is despised, that virtue is rejected,
and pleasure made the object of pursuit?  But if He is the governor of
the world, as He might to be, He surely does not despise that which is
even of the greatest importance in the whole world.  If He has fore-
sight, as it is befitting that God should have, it is plain that He
consults the interests of the human race, in order that our life may be
more abundantly supplied, and better, and safer.  If He is the Father
and God of all, He is undoubtedly delighted with the virtues of men, and
provoked by their vices.  Therefore He loves the just, and hates the
wicked.  There is no need (one says) of hatred; for He once for all has
fixed a reward for the good, and punishment for the wicked.  But if any
one lives justly and innocently, and at the same time neither worships
God nor has any regard for Him, as Aristides, and Timon, (1) and others
of the philosophers, will he escape (2) with impunity, because, though
he has obeyed the law of God, he has nevertheless despised God Himself?
There is therefore something on account of which God may be angry with
one rebelling against Him, as it were, in reliance upon His integrity.
If He can be angry with this man on account of his pride, why not more
so with the sinner, who has despised the law together with the Lawgiver?
The judge

cannot pardon offences, because he is subject to the will of another.
But God can pardon, because He is Himself the arbitrator (3) and judge
of His own law; and when He laid down this, He did not surely deprive
Himself of all power, but He has the liberty of bestowing pardon.

CHAP. XX.--OF OFFENCES, AND THE MERCY OF

GOD.

 If He is able to pardon, He is therefore able also to be angry.  Why,
then, some one will say, does it often occur, that they who sin are
prosperous, and they who live piously are wretched?  Because fugitives
and disinherited (4) persons live without restraint, and they who are
under the discipline of a father or master live in a more strict and
frugal manner.  For virtue is proved and fixed s by means of ills; vices
by means of pleasure.  Nor, however, ought he who sins to hope for
lasting impunity, because there is no lasting happiness.

"But, in truth, the last day is always to be looked for by man and no
one ought to be called happy before his death and last funeral rites,"
(6)

as the not inelegant poet says.  It is the end which proves happiness,
and no one is able to escape the judgment of God, either when alive or
after death.  For He has the power both to cast down the living from on
high, and to punish the dead with eternal torments.  Nay, he says, if
God is angry, He ought to have inflicted vengeance at once, and to have
punished every one according to his desert.  But (it is replied) if He
had done this, no one would survive.  For there is no one who offends in
no respect, and there are many things which excite to the commission of
sin--age, intemperance, want, opportunity, reward.  To such an extent is
the frailty of the flesh with which we are clothed liable to sin, that
unless God were indulgent to this necessity, perhaps too few would live.
On this account He is most patient, and restrains His anger.  For
because there is in Him perfect virtue, it follows of necessity that His
patience also is perfect, which is itself also a virtue.  How many men,
from having been sinners, have afterwards become righteous; from being
injurious, have become good; from being wicked, have become temperate!
How many who were in early life base, and condemned by the judgment of
all, afterwards have turned out praiseworthy?  But it is plain that this
could not happen if punishment followed every offence.

277

 The public laws condemn those who are manifestly guilty; but there are
great numbers whose offences are concealed, great numbers who restrain
the accuser either by entreaties or by reward, great numbers who elude
justice by favour or influence.  But if the divine censure should
condemn all those who escape the punishment of men, there would be few
or even no men on the earth.  In short, even that one reason for
destroying the human race might have been a just one, that men,
despising the living God, pay divine honour to earthly and frail images,
as though they were of heaven, adoring works made by human hands.  And
though God their Creator made them of elevated countenance and upright
figure, and raised them to the contemplation of the heaven and the
knowledge of God, they have preferred, like cattle, to bend themselves
to the earth.  (1) For he is low, and curved, and bent downward, who,
turning away from the sight of heaven and God his Father, worships
things of the earth, which he ought to have trodden upon, that is,
things made and fashioned from earth.  Therefore, amidst such great
impiety and such great sins of men, the forbearance of God attains this
object, that men, condemning the errors of their past life, correct
themselves.  In short, there are many who are just and good; and these,
having laid aside the worship of earthly things, acknowledge the majesty
of the one and only God.  But though the forbearance of God is very
great and most useful; yet, although late, He punishes the guilty, and
does not suffer them to proceed further, when He sees that they are
incorrigible.

CHAP. XXI.--OF THE ANGER OF GOD AND MAN.

 There remains one question, and that the last.  For some one will
perhaps say, that God is so far from being angry, that in His precepts
He even forbids man to be angry.  I might say that the anger of man
ought to be curbed, because he is often angry unjustly; and he has
immediate emotion, because he is only for a time.  (2) Therefore, lest
those things should be done which the low, and those of moderate
station, and great kings do in their anger, his rage ought to have been
moderated and suppressed, lest, being out of his mind, (3) he should
commit some inexpiable

crime.  But God is not angry for a short time, (4) because He is eternal
and of perfect virtue, and

He is never angry unless deservedly.  But, however, the matter is not
so; for if He should altogether prohibit anger, He Himself would have
been in some measure the censurer of His own

workmanship, since He from the beginning had inserted anger in the liver
s of man, since it is believed that the cause of this emotion is
contained in the moisture of the gall.  Therefore He does not altogether
prohibit anger, because that affection is necessarily given, but He
forbids us to persevere in anger.  For the anger of mortals ought to be
mortal; for if it is lasting, enmity is strengthened to lasting
destruction.  Then, again, when He enjoined us to be angry, and yet not
to sin, (6) it is plain that He did not tear up anger by the roots, but
restrained it, that in every correction we might preserve moderation and
justice.  Therefore He who commands us to be angry is manifestly Himself
angry; He who enjoins us to be quickly appeased is manifestly Himself
easy to be appeased: for He has enjoined those things which are just and
useful for the interests of society.  (7)

 But because I had said that the anger of God is not for a time (8)
only, as is the case with man, who becomes inflamed with an immediate
(9) excitement, and on account of his frailty is unable easily to govern
himself, we ought to understand that because God is eternal, His anger
also remains to eternity; but, on the other hand, that because He is
endued with the greatest excellence, He controls His anger, and is not
ruled by it, but that He regulates it according to His will.  And it is
plain that this is not opposed to that which has just been said.  For if
His anger had been altogether immortal, there would be no place after a
fault for satisfaction or kind feeling, though He Himself commands men
to be reconciled before the setting of the sun.(10) But the divine anger
remains for ever against those who ever sin.  Therefore God is appeased
not by incense or a victim, not by costly offerings, which things are
all corruptible, but by a reformation of the morals: and he who ceases
to sin renders the anger of God mortal.  For this reason He does not
immediately (11) punish every one who is guilty, that man may have the
opportunity of coming to a right mind, (12) and correcting himself.

CHAP. XXII.--OF SINS, AND THE VERSES OF THE SIBYLS RESPECTING THEM
RECITED.

 This is what I had to say, most beloved Donatus, respecting the anger
of God, that you might know how to refute those who represent God as
being without emotions.  (13) It only remains that, after the practice
of Cicero, I should use an

278

epilogue by way of peroration.  As he did in the Tusculan Disputations,
(1) when discoursing on the subject of death, so we in this work ought
to bring forward divine testimonies, which may be believed, to refute
the persuasion of those who, believing that God is without anger,
destroy all religion, without which, as we have shown, we are either
equal to the brutes in savageness, or to the cattle in foolishness; for
it is in religion only--that is, in the knowledge of the Supreme God--
that wisdom consists.  All the prophets, being filled with the Divine
Spirit, speak nothing else than of the favour of God towards the
righteous, and His anger against the ungodly.  And their testimony is
indeed sufficient for us; but because it is not believed by those who
make a display of wisdom by their hair and dress, (2) it was necessary
to refute them by reason and arguments.  For they act so pre-
posterously, (3) that human things give authority to divine things,
whereas divine things ought rather to give authority to human.  But let
us now leave these things, lest we should produce no effect upon them,
and the subject should be indefinitely drawn out.  Let us therefore seek
those testimonies which they can either believe, or at any rate not
oppose.

 Authors of great number and weight have made mention of the Sibyls; of
the Greeks, Aristo the Chian, and Apollodorus the Erythraean; of our
writers, Varro and Fenestella.  All these relate that the Erythraean
Sibyl was distinguished and noble beyond the rest.  Apollodorus, indeed,
boasts of her as his own citizen and countrywoman.  But Fenestella also
relates that ambassadors were sent by the senate to Erythrae, that the
verses of this Sibyl might be conveyed to Rome, and that the consuls
Curio and Octavius might take care that they should be placed in the
Capitol, which had then been restored under the care of Quintus Catulus.
In her writings, verses of this kind are found respecting the Supreme
God and Maker of the world: --

"The incorruptible and eternal Maker who dwells in the heaven, holding
forth good to the good, a much greater reward, but stirring up anger and
rage against the evil and unjust."

Again, in another place, enumerating the deeds by which God is
especially moved to anger, she introduced these things: --

"Avoid unlawful services, and serve the living God.  Abstain from
adultery and impurity; bring up a pure generation of children; do not
kill: for the Immortal will be angry with every one who may sin."

Therefore He is angry with sinners.

CHAP. XXIII. --OF THE ANGER OF GOD AND THE PUNISHMENT OF SINS, AND A
RECITAL OF THE VERSES OF THE SIBYLS RESPECTING IT; AND, MOREOVER, A
REPROOF AND EXHORTATION.

 But because it is related by most learned men that there have been many
Sibyls, the testimony of one may not be sufficient to confirm the truth,
as we purpose to do.  The volumes, indeed, of the Cumaean Sibyl, in
which are written the fates of the Romans are kept secret; but the
writings of all the others are, for the most part, not prohibited from
being in common use.  And of these another, denouncing the anger of God
against all nations on account of the impiety of men, thus began:--

"Since great anger is coming upon a disobedient world, I disclose the
commands of God to the last age, prophesying to all men from city to
city."

 Another Sibyl also said, that the deluge was caused by the indignation
of God against the unrighteous in a former age, that the wickedness of
the human race might be extinguished:--

"From the time when, the God of heaven being enraged against the cities
themselves and all men, a deluge having burst forth, the sea covered the
earth."

In like manner she foretold a conflagration about to take place
hereafter, in which the impiety of men should again be destroyed:--

 " And at some time, God no longer soothing His anger,

but increasing it, and destroying the race of men, and laying waste the
whole of it by fire."

From which mention is thus made concerning Jupiter by Ovid: (4) --

"He remembers also that it is fated that the time shall come in which
the sea, the earth, and the palace of heaven, being caught by fire,
shall be burnt, and the curiously wrought framework of the world (5) be
in danger."

And this must come to pass at the time when the honour and worship of
the Supreme shall have perished among men.  The same Sibyl, however,
testifying that He was appeased by reformation (6) of conduct and self-
improvement, added these things :--

"But, ye mortals, in pity (7) turn yourselves now, and do not lead the
great God to every kind of auger."

And also a little later: --

"He will not destroy, but will again restrain His anger, if you all
practise valuable piety in your minds."

Then another Sibyl declares that the Father of heavenly and earthly
things ought to be loved, lest His indignation should arise, to the
destruction of men: --

"Lest by chance the immortal God should be angry, and destroy the whole
race of men, their life and shameless race, it is befitting that we love
the wise, ever-living God the Father."

279

 From these things it is evident that the arguments of the philosophers
are vain, who imagine that God is without anger, and among His other
praises reckon that which is most useless, detracting from Him that
which is most salutary for human affairs, by which majesty itself
exists.  For this earthly, kingdom and government, unless guarded by
fear, is broken down.  Take away anger from a king, and he will not only
cease to be obeyed, but he will even be cast down headlong from his
height.  Yea, rather take away this affection from any person of low
degree, and who will not plunder him?  Who will not deride him?  Who
will not treat him with injury?  Thus he will be able to have neither
clothing, nor an abode, nor food, since others will deprive him of
whatever he has; much less can we suppose that the majesty of the
heavenly government can exist without anger and fear.  The Milesian
Apollo being consulted concerning the religion of the Jews, inserted
these things in his answer:--

"God, the King and Father of all, before whom the earth trembles, and
the heaven and sea, and whom the recesses of Tartarus and the demons
dread."

 If He is so mild, as the philosophers will have it, how is it that not
only the demons and ministers of such great power, but even the heaven
and earth, and the whole system of the universe, tremble at His
presence?  For if no one submits to the service of another except by
compulsion, it follows that all government exists by fear, and fear by
anger.  For if any one is not aroused against one who is unwilling to
obey, it will not be possible for him to be compelled to obedience.  Let
any one consult his own feelings; he will at once understand that no one
can be subdued to the command of another without anger and chastisement.
Therefore, where there shall be no anger, there will be no authority.
But God has authority; therefore also He must have anger, in which
authority consists.  Therefore let no one, induced by the empty
prating(1) of the philosophers, train himself to the contempt of God,
which is the greatest impiety.  We all are bound both to love Him,
because He is our Father; and to reverence Him, because He is our Lord:
both to pay Him honour, because He is bounteous; and to fear Him,
because He is severe: each character in Him is worthy of reverence.(2)
Who can preserve his piety, and yet fail to love the parent of his life?
or who can with impunity despise Him who, as ruler of all things, has
true and everlasting power over all?  If you consider Him in the
character of Father, He supplies to us our entrance to

the light which we enjoy: through Him we live, through Him we have
entered into the abode(3) of this world.  If you contemplate Him as God,
it is.  He who nourishes us with innumerable re sources: it is He who
sustains us, we dwell in His house, we are His household;(4) and if we
are less obedient than was befitting, and less attentive to our duty(5)
than the endless merits of our Master and Parent demanded: nevertheless
it is of great avail to our obtaining pardon, if we retain the worship
and knowledge of Him; if, laying aside low and earthly affairs and
goods, we meditate upon heavenly and divine things which are
everlasting.  And that we may be able to do this, God must be followed
by us, God must be adored and loved; since there is in Him the
substance(6) of things, the principle(7) of the virtues, and the source
of all that is good.  For what is greater in power than God, or more
perfect in reason, or brighter in clearness?  And since He begat us to
wisdom, and produced us to righteousness, it is not allowable for man to
forsake God, who is the giver of intelligence and life and to serve
earthly and frail things, or, intent upon seeking temporal goods, to
turn aside from innocence and piety.  Vicious and deadly pleasures do
not render a man happy; nor does opulence, which is the inciter of
lusts; nor empty ambition; nor frail honours, by which the human soul,
being ensnared and enslaved to the body, is condemned(8) to eternal
death: but innocence and righteousness alone, the lawful and due reward
of which is immortality, which God from the beginning appointed for holy
and uncorrupted minds, which keep themselves pure and uncontaminated
from vices, and from every earthly impurity.  Of this heavenly and
eternal reward they cannot be partakers, who have polluted their
conscience by deeds of violence, frauds, rapine, and deceits; and who,
by injuries inflicted upon men, by impious actions, have branded
themselves(9) with indelible stains.  Accordingly it is befitting that
all who wish deservedly to be called wise, who wish to be called men,
should despise frail things, should trample upon earthly things, and
should look down upon base(10) things, that they may be able to be
united in a most blissful relationship with God.

 Let impiety and discords be removed; let turbulent and deadly
dissensions be allayed,(11) by which human societies and the divine
union of the public league are broken in upon, divided, and dispersed;
as far as we can, let "us aim at

280

being good and bounteous: if we have a supply of wealth and resources,
let it not be devoted to the pleasure of a single person, but bestowed
on the welfare of many.  For pleasure is as shortlived as the body to
which it does service.  But justice and kindness are as immortal as the
mind and soul, which by good works attain to the likeness of God.  Let
God be consecrated by us, not in temples, but in our heart.  All things
which are made by the hand are destructible.(1) Let us cleanse this
temple, which is defiled not by smoke or dust, but by evil thoughts
which is lighted not by blazing tapers?  but by the brightness and light
of wisdom.  And if we believe that God is always present in this temple,
to whose divinity the secrets of the heart are open, we shall so live as
always to have Him propitious, and never to fear His anger.

NOTE BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR

 It is worth while to direct attention to (book vi.  cap.  2) what our
author has said of "true worship," just now, when the most violent and
persistent efforts are made to sensualize Christian worship, and to
explain away the testimony of the Ante-Nicene Fathers on this important
subject.  The argument of our author, in its entire drift, is as
applicable to our own times as to his; and, deeply as I value beauty in
the public worship of God, I cannot, as a Nicene Catholic, do less than
adopt the universal sentiment of the early Fathers as to the limits of
decoration.

281

 ON THE WORKMANSHIP OF GOD,

 OR THE FORMATION OF MAN

 A TREATISE ADDRESSED TO HIS PUPIL DEMETRIANUS.

 CHAP. I.--THE INTRODUCTION, AND EXHORTATION TO DEMETRIANUS.(1)

 How disturbed I am, and in the greatest necessities, you will be able
to judge from this little book which I have written to you, Demetrianus,
almost in unadorned words, as the mediocrity of my talent permitted,
that you might know my daily pursuit, and that I might not be wanting to
you, even now an instructor, but of a more honourable subject and of a
better system.  For if you afforded yourself a ready hearer in
literature, which did nothing else than form the style, how much more
teachable ought you to be in these true studies, which have reference
even to the life!  And I now profess to you, that I am hindered by no
necessity of circumstance or time from composing something by which the
philosophers of our sect(2) which we uphold may become better instructed
and more learned for the future, although they now have a bad
reputation, and are commonly reproved, as living otherwise than is
befitting for wise men, and as concealing their vices under the covering
of a name; whereas they ought either to have remedied them, or to have
altogether avoided them, that they might render the name of wisdom happy
and uncorrupted, their life itself agreeing with their precepts.  I,
however, shrink from no labour that I may at once instruct ourselves and
others.  For I am not able to forget myself, and especially at that time
when it is most necessary for me to remember; as also you do not forget
yourself, as I hope and wish.  For although the necessity of the state
may turn you aside from true and just works, yet it is impossible that a
mind conscious of rectitude should not from time to time look to the
heaven.

 I indeed rejoice that all things which are esteemed blessings turn out
prosperously to you,

but only on condition of their changing nothing of your state of mind.
For I fear lest custom and the pleasantness of these subjects should, as
usually happens, creep by degrees into your mind.  Therefore I advise
you,

"And repeating it, will again and again advise you,"(3)

not to believe that you have these enjoyments of the earth as great or
true blessings, since they are not only deceitful because they are
doubtful, but also treacherous because they are pleasant.  For you know
how crafty that wrestler and adversary of ours is, and also often
violent, as we now see that he is.  He employs all these things which
are able to entice as snares, and with such subtilty that they escape
the notice of the eyes of the mind, so that they cannot be avoided by
the foresight of man.  Therefore it is the highest prudence to advance
step by step, since he occupies the passes on both sides, and secretly
places stumbling-blocks for our feet.  Accordingly I advise you, either
to disregard, if you are able according to your virtue, your prosperity
in which you live, or not to admire it greatly.  Remember your true
parent, and in what(4) city you have given your name, and of what rank
you have been.  You understand assuredly what I say.  For I do not
charge you with pride, of which there is not even a suspicion in your
case; but the things which I say are to be referred to the mind, not to
the body, the whole system of which has been arranged on this account,
that it may be in subjection to the soul as to a master, and may be
ruled by its will.  For it is in a certain manner an earthen vessel in
which the soul, that is, the true man himself, is contained, and that
vessel indeed not made by Prometheus, as the poets say, but by that
supreme Creator and Artificer of the world, God, whose divine providence
and most perfect excellence it is neither

282

possible to comprehend by the perception, nor to express in word.

 I will attempt, however, since mention has been made of the body and
soul, to explain the nature of each, as far as the weakness of my
understanding sees through; and I think that this duty is especially to
be undertaken on this account, because Marcus Tullius, a man of
remarkable talent, in his fourth book on the Republic, when he had
attempted to do this, concluded a subject of wide extent within narrow
limits, lightly selecting the chief points.  And that there might be no
excuse, because he had not followed up this subject, he testified that
neither inclination nor attention had been wanting to him.  For in his
first book concerning the Laws, when he was concisely summing up the
same subject, he thus spoke: "Scipio, as it appears to me, has
sufficiently expressed this subject in those books which you have read."
Afterwards, however, in his second book concerning the Nature of the
Gods, he endeavoured to follow up the same subject more extensively.
But since he did not express it sufficiently even there, I will approach
this office, and will take upon myself boldly to explain that which a
man of the greatest eloquence has almost left untouched.  Perhaps you
may blame me for attempting to discuss something in matters of
obscurity, when you see that there have been men of such rashness who
are commonly called philosophers, that they scrutinized those things
which God willed to be abstruse and hidden, and investigated the nature
of things in heaven and on earth, which are far removed from us, and
cannot be examined(1) by the eyes, nor touched by the hand, nor
perceived by the senses; and yet they so dispute concerning the nature
of these things, as to wish that the things, which they bring forward
may appear to be proved and known.  What reason is there, I pray, why
any one should think it an invidious thing in us, if we wish to look
into and contemplate the system of our body,(2) which is not altogether
obscure, because from the very offices of the limbs, and the uses of the
several parts, it is permitted us to understand with what great power of
providence each part has been made?

 CHAP. II.--OF THE PRODUCTION OF THE BEASTS AND OF MAN.

 For our Creator and Parent, God, has given to man perception and
reason, that it might be evident from this that we are descended from
Him, because He Himself is intelligence, He Himself is perception and
reason.  Since He did not give that power of reason to the other

i

animals, He provided beforehand in what manner their life might be more
safe.  For He clothed them all with their own natural hair,(3) in order
that they might more easily be able to endure the severity of frosts and
colds.  Moreover, He has appointed to every kind its own peculiar
defence for the repelling of attacks from without; so that they may
either oppose the stronger animals with natural weapons, or the feebler
ones may withdraw themselves from danger by the swiftness of their
flight, or those which require at once both strength and swiftness may
protect themselves by craft, or guard themselves in hiding-places.(4)
And so others of them either poise themselves aloft with light plumage,
or are supported by hoofs,(5) or are furnished with horns; some have
arms in their mouth--namely, their teeth(6)--or hooked talons on their
feet; and none of them is destitute of a defence for its own protection.

 But if any fall as a prey to the greater animals, that their race might
not utterly perish, they have either been banished to that region where
the greater ones cannot exist, or they have received a more abundant
fruitfulness in production, that food might be supplied from them to the
beasts which are nourished by blood, and yet their very multitude might
survive the slaughter inflicted upon them, so as to preserve the
race.(7) But He made man--reason being granted to him, and the power of
perceiving and speaking being given to him--destitute of those things
which are given to the other animals, because wisdom was able to supply
those things which the condition of nature had denied to him.  He made
him naked and defenceless, because he could be armed by his talent, and
clothed by his reason.(8) But it cannot be expressed how wonderfully the
absence of those things which are given to the brutes contributes to the
beauty of man.  For if He had given to man the teeth of wild beasts, or
horns, or claws, or hoofs, or a tail, or hairs of various colour, who
cannot perceive how misshapen an animal he would be, as the dumb
animals, if they were made naked and defenceless?  For if you take from
these the natural clothing of their body, or those things by which they
are armed of themselves, they can be neither beautiful nor safe, so that
they appear wonderfully furnished if you think of utility, and
wonderfully adorned if you think of appearance: in such a wonderful
manner is utility combined with beauty.

 But with reference to man, whom He formed

283

an eternal and immortal being, He did not arm him, as the others,
without, but within; nor did He place his protection in the body, but in
the soul: since it would have been superfluous, when He had given him
that which was of the greatest value, to cover him with bodily defences,
especially when they hindered the beauty of the human body.  On which
account I am accustomed to wonder at the senselessness of the
philosophers who follow Epicurus, who blame the works of nature, that
they may show that the world is prepared and governed by no
providence;(1) but they ascribe the origin of all things to indivisible
and solid bodies, from the fortuitous meetings of which they say that
all things are and were produced.  I pass by the things relating to the
work itself with which they find fault, in which matter they are
ridiculously mad; I assume that which belongs to the subject of which we
are now treating.

 CHAP. III.--OF THE CONDITION OF THE BEASTS AND MAN.

 They complain that man is born in a more feeble and frail condition
than that in which the other animals are born: for that these, as soon
as they are produced from the womb, immediately raise themselves on
their feet, and express their joy by running to and fro, and are at once
fit for enduring the air, inasmuch as they have come forth to the light
protected by natural coverings; but man, on the contrary, being naked
and defenceless, is cast forth, and driven, as it were, from a
shipwreck, to the miseries of this life; who is neither able to move
himself from the place where he has been born,(2) nor to seek the
nourishment of milk, nor to endure the injury of time.  Therefore they
say that Nature is not the mother of the human race, but a stepmother,
who has dealt so liberally with the dumb creation, but has so produced
man, that, without resources, and without strength, and destitute of all
aid, he can do nothing else than give tokens(3) of the state of his
frailty by wailing and lamentations; "as well he may, whose destiny it
is to go through in life so many ills."(4)

 And when they say these things they are believed to be very wise,
because every one without consideration is displeased with his own
condition; but I contend that they are never more foolish than when they
say these things.(1) For when I consider the condition of things, I
understand that nothing ought to have been otherwise than it is--not to
say could have been

otherwise, for God is able to do all things: but it must be, that that
most provident majesty made that which was better and more right.

 I should like, therefore, to ask those censurers of the divine works,
what they think to be wanting in man, on account of his being born in a
more feeble condition.  Do they think that men are, on this account,
brought up worse?  Or that they advance the less to the greatest
strength of age?  Or that weakness is a hindrance to their growth or
safety, since reason bestows(5) the things which are wanting?  But, they
say, the bringing up of man costs the greatest labours: in truth, the
condition of the brute creation is better, because all these, when they
have brought forth their young, have no care except for their own food;
from which it is effected that, their teats being spontaneously
distended, the nourishment of milk is supplied to their offspring, and
that they seek this nourishment by the compulsion of nature, without any
trouble on the part of the mothers.  How is it with birds, which have a
different nature?  do they not undergo the greatest labours in bringing
up their young, so that they sometimes appear to have something of human
intelligence?  For they either build their nests of mud, or construct
them with twigs and leaves, and they sit upon the eggs without taking
food; and since it has not been given to them to nourish their young
from their own bodies, they convey to them food, and spend whole days in
going to and fro in this manner; but by night they defend, cherish, and
protect them.  What more can men do?  unless it be this only, that they
do not drive away their young when grown up, but retain them bound by
perpetual relationship and the bond of affection.  Why should I say that
the offspring of birds is much more fragile than that of man?  Inasmuch
as they do not bring forth the animal itself from the body of the
mother, but that which, being warmed by the nourishment and heat of the
body of the mother, produces the animal; and this, even when animated by
breath, being unfledged and tender, is not only without the power of
flying, but even of walking.  Would he not, therefore, be most
senseless, if any one should think that nature has dealt badly with
birds, first, because they are twice born, and then because they are so
weak, that they have to be nourished by food sought with labour by their
parents?  But they select the stronger, and pass by the more feeble
animals.

 I ask, therefore, from those who prefer the condition of the beasts to
their own, what they would choose if God should give them the choice:
would they prefer the wisdom of man

284

together with his weakness, or the strength of the beasts together with
their nature?  In truth, they are not so much like the beasts as not to
prefer even a much more fragile condition, provided that it be human, to
that strength of theirs unattended with reason.  But, in truth, prudent
men neither desire the reason of man together with frailty, nor the
strength of the dumb animals without reason.  Therefore it is nothing so
repugnant or contradictory,(1) that either reason or the condition of
nature should of necessity prepare each animal.  If it is furnished with
natural protection, reason is superfluous.  For what will it
contrive?(2) What will it do?  Or what will it plan?  Or in what will it
display that light of the intellect, when Nature of its own accord
grants those things which are able to be the result of reason?  But if
it be endued with reason, what need will there be of defences for the
body, when reason once granted is able to supply the office of nature?
And this has such power for the adorning and protection of man, that
nothing greater or better can be given by God.  Finally, since man is
possessed of a body which is not great, and of slight strength, and of
infirm health, nevertheless, since he has received that which is of
greater value, he is better equipped than the other animals, and more
adorned.  For though he is born frail and feeble, yet he is safe from
all the dumb animals, and all those which are born with greater
strength, though they are able to bear patiently the inclemency of the
sky, yet are unable to be safe from man.  Thus it comes to pass that
reason bestows more on man than nature does on the dumb animals; since,
in their case, neither greatness of strength nor firmness of body can
prevent them from being oppressed by us, or from being made subject to
our power.

 Can any one, then, when he sees that even elephants,(3) with their vast
bodies and strength, are subservient to man, complain respecting God,
the Maker of all things, because he has received moderate strength, and
a small body; and not estimate according to their deserts the divine
benefits towards himself, which is the part of an ungrateful man, or (to
speak more truly) of a madman?  Plato, I believe, that he might refute
these ungrateful men, gave thanks to nature that he was born a man.(4)
How much better and more soundly did he act, who perceived that the
condition of man was better, than they did who would have preferred that
they had been born beasts!  For if God should happen to change them into
those animals whose condition they

prefer to their own, they would now immediately desire to return to
their previous state, and o would with great outcries eagerly demand
their former condition, because strength and firmness of body are not of
such consequence that you should be without the office of the tongue; or
the free course of birds through the air, that you should be without the
hands.  For the hands o are of greater service than the lightness and
use n of the wings; the tongue is of greater service y than the strength
of the whole body.  What h madness is it, therefore, to prefer those
things which, if they were given, you would refuse to receive!

CHAP. IV.--OF THE WEAKNESS OF MAN.

 They also complain that man is liable to diseases, and to untimely
death.  They are indignant, it appears, that they are not born gods.  By
no means, they say; but we show from this, that man was made with no
foresight, which ought to have been otherwise.  What if I shall show,
that this very thing was foreseen with great reason, that he might be
able to be harassed by diseases, and that his life might often be cut
short in the midst of its course?  For, since God had known that the
animal which He had made, of its own accord passed to death, that it
might be capable of receiving death itself, which is the dissolution of
nature, He gave to it frailty, which might find an approach for death in
order to the dissolution of the animal.  For if it had been of such
strength that disease and sickness could not approach it, not even could
death, since death is the consequence of diseases.  But how could a
premature death be absent from him, for whom a mature death had been
appointed?  Assuredly they wish that no man should die, unless when he
has completed his hundredth year.  How can they maintain their
consistency in so great an opposition of circumstances?  For, in order
that no one may be capable of dying before a hundred years, something of
the strength which is immortal must be given to him; and when this is
granted, the condition of death must necessarily be excluded.  But of
what kind can that be, which can render a man firm and impregnable
against diseases and attacks from without?  For, inasmuch as he is
composed of bones, and nerves, and flesh, and blood, which of these can
be so firm as to repel frailty and death?  That man, therefore, may not
be liable to dissolution before that time which they think ought to have
been appointed for him, of what material will they assign to him a body?
All things which can be seen and touched are frail.  It remains that
they seek something from heaven, since there is nothing on earth which
is not weak.

 Since, therefore, man had to be so formed by

285

God, that he should at some time be mortal, the matter itself required
that he should be made with a frail and earthly body.  It is necessary,
therefore, that he should at some time receive death, since he is
possessed of a body; for every body is liable to dissolution and to
death.  Therefore they are most foolish who complain of premature death,
since the condition of nature makes a place for it.  Thus it will follow
that he is subject also to diseases; for nature does not admit that
infirmity can be absent from that body which is at some time to undergo
dissolution.  But let us suppose it to be possible, as they wish, that
man is not born under those conditions by which he is subject to disease
or death, unless, having completed the course of his life, he shall have
arrived at the extremity of old age.  They do not, therefore, see what
would be the consequence if it were so arranged, that it would be
plainly impossible to die at another time; but if any one can be
deprived of nourishment by another, it will be possible for him to die.
Therefore the case requires that man, who cannot die before an appointed
day, should have no need of the nourishment of food, because it may be
taken from him; but if he shall have no need of food, he will now not be
a man, but will become a god.  Therefore, as I have already said, they
who complain of the frailty of man, make this complaint especially, that
they were not born immortal and everlasting.  No one ought to die unless
he is old.  On this account, in truth, he ought to die, because he is
not God.  But mortality cannot be united with immortality: for if a man
is mortal in old age, he cannot be immortal in youth; neither is the
condition of death foreign to him who is at some time about to die; nor
is there any immortality to which a limit is appointed.  Thus it comes
to pass, that the exclusion of immortality for ever, and the reception
of mortality for a time, place man in such a condition that he is at
some time mortal.

 Therefore the necessity is in all points suitable,(1) that he ought not
to have been otherwise than he is, and that it was impossible.  But they
do not see the order of consequences, because they have once committed
an error in the main point itself.  For the divine providence having
been excluded from the affairs of men, it necessarily followed that all
things were produced of their own accord.  Hence they invented the
notion of those blows and fortuitous meetings together of minute seeds,
because they did not see the origin of things.  And when they had thrown
themselves into this difficulty, necessity now compelled them to think
that souls were born together with bodies, and in like manner were
extinguished together with bodies; for they had

made the assumption, that nothing was made by the divine mind.  And they
were unable to prove this m any other way, than by showing that there
were some things in which the system of providence appeared to be at
fault.(2) Therefore they blamed those things in which providence
wonderfully expressed its divinity, as those things which I have related
concerning diseases and premature death; whereas they ought to have
considered, these things being assumed, what would be the necessary
consequences (but those things which I have spoken are the consequences)
if he were not liable to diseases, and did not require a dwelling, nor
clothing.  For why should he fear the winds, or rains, or colds, the
power of which consists in this, that they bring diseases?  For on this
account he has received wisdom, that he may guard his frailty against
things that would injure him.  The necessary consequence is, that since
he is liable to diseases for the sake of retaining his wisdom, he must
also be liable to death; because he to whom death does not come, must of
necessity be firm.  But infirmity has in itself the condition of death;
but where there shall be firmness, neither can old age have any place,
nor death, which follows old age.

 Moreover, if death were appointed for a fixed age, man would become
most arrogant, and would be destitute of all humanity.  For almost all
the rights of humanity, by which we are united with one another, arise
from fear and the consciousness of frailty.  In short, all the more
feeble and timid animals herd together, that, since they are unable to
protect themselves by strength, they may protect themselves by their
multitude; but the stronger animals seek solitudes, since they trust in
their force and strength.(3) If man also, in the same manner, had
sufficient strength for the repelling of dangers, and did not stand in
need of the assistance of any other, what society would there be?  Or
what system?  What humanity?  Or what would be more harsh than man?
What more brutal?  What more savage?  But since he is feeble, and not
able to live by himself apart from man, he desires society, that his
life, passed in intercourse with others, may become both more adorned
and more safe.  You see, therefore, that the whole reason of man centres
most of all in this, that he is born naked and fragile, that he is
attacked by diseases, that he is punished by premature death.  And if
these things should be taken away from man, reason also, and wisdom,
must necessarily be taken away.  But I am discussing too long respecting
things which are manifest, since it is clear that nothing ever was made,
or could have been made, without providence.  And if

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I should now wish to discuss respecting all its works in order, the
subject would be infinite.  But I have purposed to speak so much
concerning the body of man only, that I may show in it the power of
divine providence, how great it has been in those things only which are
easy of comprehension and open; for those things which relate to the
soul can neither be subjected to the eyes, nor comprehended.  Now we
speak concerning the vessel itself of man, which we see.

 CHAP. V.--OF THE FIGURES AND LIMBS OF ANIMALS.

 In the beginning, when God was forming the animals, He did not wish to
conglobate(1) and collect them into a round shape, that they might be
able easily to put themselves in motion for walking, and to turn
themselves in any direction; but from the highest part of the body He
lengthened out the head.  He also carried out to a greater length some
of the limbs, which are called feet, that, being fixed on the ground
with alternate motions, they might lead forward the animal wherever his
inclination had borne him, or the necessity of seeking food had called
him.  Moreover, He made four limbs standing out from the very vessel of
the body: two behind, which are in all animals--the feet; also two close
to the head and neck, which supply various uses to animals.  For in
cattle and wild beasts they are feet like the hinder ones; but in man
they are hands, which are produced not for walking, but for acting and
controlling.(2) There is also a third class, in which those former limbs
are neither feet nor hands; but wings, which, having feathers arranged
in order, supply the use of flying.(3) Thus one formation has different
forms and uses; and that He might firmly hold together the density
itself of the body, by binding together greater and small bones, He
compacted a kind of keel, which we call the spine; and He did not think

fit to form it of one continued bone, lest the animal should not have
the power of walking and bending itself.  From its middle part, as it
were, He has extended in a different direction transverse and fiat
bones, by which, being slightly curved, and almost drawn together to
themselves as into a circle, the inward organs(4) may be covered, that
those parts which needed to be soft and less strong might be protected
by the encircling of a solid framework.(5) Bat at the end of that
joining together which we have said to resemble the keel of a ship, He
placed the head, in which might be the government of the whole

living creature; and this name was given to it, as indeed Varro writes
to Cicero, because from this the senses and the nerves take their
beginning.

 But those parts, which we have said to be lengthened out from the body,
either for the sake of walking, or of acting, or of flying, He would
have to consist of bones, neither too long, for the sake of rapidity of
motion, nor too short, for the sake of firmness, but of a few, and those
large.  For either they are two as in man, or four as in a quadruped.
And these He did not make solid, lest in walking sluggishness and weight
should retard; but He made them hollow, and full of marrow within, to
preserve the vigour of the body.  And again, He did not make them
equally extended to the end; but He conglobated their extremities with
coarse knots, that they might be able more easily to be bound with
sinews, and to be turned more easily, from which they are called joints.
(6) These knots He made firmly solid, and covered with a soft kind of
covering, which is called cartilage; for this purpose, that they might
be bent without galling or any sense of pain.  He did not, however, form
these after one fashion.  For He made some simple and round into an orb,
in those joints at least in which it was befitting that the limbs should
move in all directions, as in the shoulders, since it is necessary that
the hands should move and be twisted about in any direction; but others
He made broad, and equal, and round towards one part, and that plainly
in those places where only it was necessary for the limbs to be bent, as
in the knees, and in the elbows, and in the hands themselves.  For as it
was at the same time pleasant to the sight, and useful, that the hands
should move in every direction from that position from which they
spring; so assuredly, if this same thing should happen to the elbows, a
motion of that kind would be at once superfluous and unbecoming.  For
then the hand, having lost the dignity which it now has, through its
excessive flexibility,(7) would appear like the trunk of an elephant;
and man would be altogether snake-handed,(8)--an instance of which has
been wonderfully effected in that monstrous beast.  For God, who wished
to display His providence and power by a wonderful variety of many
things, inasmuch as He had not extended the head of that animal to such
a length that he might be able to touch the earth with his mouth, which
would have been horrible and hideous, and because He bad so armed the
mouth itself with extended tusks, that even if he touched the earth the
tusks would still deprive him of the power of feeding, He lengthened out

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between these from the top of the forehead a soft and flexible limb, by
which he might be able to grasp and lay hold of anything, lest the
prominent magnitude of the tusks, or the shortness of the neck, should
interfere with the arrangement for taking food.

 CHAP. VI.--OF THE ERROR OF EPICURUS, AND OF THE LIMBS AND THEIR USE.

 I cannot here be prevented from again showing the folly of Epicurus.
For all the ravings of Lucretius(1) belong to him, who, in order that he
might show that animals are not produced by any contrivance of the
divine mind, but, as he is wont to say, by chance, said that in the
beginning of the world innumerable other animals of wonderful form and
magnitude were produced; but that they were unable to be permanent,
because either the power of taking food, or the method of uniting and
generating, had failed them.  It is evident that, in order to make a
place for his atoms flying about through the boundless and empty space,
he wished to exclude the divine providence.  But when he saw that a
wonderful system of providence is contained in all things which breathe,
what vanity was it (O mischievous one!)  to say that there had been
animals of immense size, in which the system of production ceased!

 Since, therefore, all things which we see are produced with reference
to a plan--for nothing but a plan(2) can effect this very condition of
being born--it is manifest that nothing could have been born without a
plan.  For it was previously foreseen in the formation of everything,
how it should use the service of the limbs for the necessaries of life;
and how the offspring, being produced from the union of bodies, might
preserve all living creatures by their several species.  For if a
skilful architect, when he designs to construct some great building,
first of all considers what will be the effect(3) of the complete
building, anti previously ascertains by measurement what situation is
suitable for a light weight, in what place a massive part of the
structure will stand, what will be the intervals between the columns,
what or where will be the descents and outlets of the falling waters and
the reservoirs,--he first, I say, foresees these things, that he may
begin together with the very foundations whatever things are necessary
for the work when now completed,--why should any one suppose that, in
the contrivance of animals, God did not foresee what things were
necessary for living, before giving life itself?  For it is manifest
that life could not

exist, unless those things by which it exists were previously
arranged.(4)

 Therefore Epicurus saw in the bodies of animals the skill of a divine
plan; but that he might carry into effect that which he had before
imprudently assumed, he added another absurdity agreeing with the
former.  For he said that the eyes were not produced for seeing, nor the
ears for hearing, nor the feet for walking, since these members were
produced before there was the exercise of seeing, hearing, and walking;
but that all the offices of these members arose from hem after their
production.(5) I fear lest the refutation of such extravagant and
ridiculous stories should appear to be no less foolish; but it pleases
me to be foolish, since we are dealing with a foolish man, lest he
should think himself too clever.(6) What do you say, Epicurus?  Were not
the eyes produced for seeing?  Why, then, do they see?  Their use, he
says, afterwards showed itself.  Therefore they were produced for the
sake of seeing, since they can do nothing else but see.  Likewise, in
the case of the other limbs, use itself shows for what purpose they were
produced.  For it is plain that this use could have no existence, unless
all the limbs had been made with such arrangement and foresight, that
they might be able to have their use.

 For what if you should say, that birds were not made to fly, nor wild
beasts to rage, nor fishes to swim, nor men to be wise, when it is
evident that living creatures are subject to that natural disposition
and office to which each was created?  But it is evident that he who has
lost the main point itself of the truth must always be in error.  For if
all things are produced not by providence, but by a fortuitous meeting
together of atoms, why does it never happen by chance, that those first
principles meet together in such a way as to make an animal of such a
kind, that it might rather hear with its nostrils, smell with its eyes,
and see(7) with its ears?  For if the first principles leave no kind of
position untried, monstrous productions of this kind ought daily to have
been brought forth, in which the arrangement of the limbs might be
distorted,(8) and the use far different from that which prevails.  But
since all the races of animals, and all the limbs, observe their own
laws and arrangements, and the uses assigned to them, it is plain that
nothing is made by chance, since a perpetual arrangement of the divine
plan is preserved.  But we will refute Epicurus at another time.  Now
let

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us discuss the subject of providence, as we have begun.

 CHAP. VII.--OF ALL THE PARTS OF THE BODY.

 God therefore connected and bound together the parts which
strengthen(1) the body, which we call bones, being knotted and joined to
one another by sinews, which the mind might make use of, as bands,(2) if
it should wish to hasten forward or to lag behind; and, indeed, without
any labour or effort, but with a very slight inclination, it might
moderate and guide the mass of the whole body.  But He covered these
with the inward organs,(3) as was befitting to each place, that the
parts which were solid might be enclosed and concealed.  Also He mixed
with the inward organs, veins as streams divided through the whole body,
through which the moisture and the blood, running in different
directions, might be-dew all the limbs with the vital juices; and He
fashioned these inward organs after that manner which was befitting to
each kind and situation, and covered them with skin drawn over them,
which He either adorned with beauty only, or covered with thick hair, or
fenced with scales, or adorned with brilliant feathers.  But that is a
wonderful contrivance of God, that one arrangement and one state
exhibits innumerable varieties of animals.  For in almost all things
which breathe there is the same connection and arrangement of the limbs.
For first of all is the head, and annexed to this the neck; also the
breast adjoined to the neck, and the shoulders projecting from it, the
belly adhering to the breast; also the organs of generation subjoined to
the belly; in the last place, the thighs and feet.  Nor do the limbs
only keep their own course and position in all, but also the parts of
the limbs.  For in the head itself alone the ears occupy a fixed
position the eyes a fixed position likewise the nostrils, the mouth
also, and in it the teeth and tongue.  And though all these things are
the same in all animals, yet there is an infinite and manifold diversity
of the things formed; because those things of which I have spoken, being
either more drawn out or more contracted, are comprehended by lineaments
differing in various ways.  What!  is not that divine, that in so great
a multitude of living creatures each animal is most excellent in its own
class and species?--so that if any part should be taken from one to
another, the necessary result would be, that nothing would be more
embarrassed for use, nothing more unshapely to look upon; as if you
should give a prolonged neck to an elephant, or a short neck to a camel;

or if you should attach feet or hair to serpents, in which the length of
the body equally stretched out required nothing else, except that being
marked as to their backs with spots, and supporting themselves by their
smooth scales, with winding courses they should glide into slippery
tracts.  But in quadrupeds the same designer lengthened out the
arrangement of the spine, which is drawn out from the top of the head to
a greater length on the outside of the body, and pointed it into a tail,
that the parts of the body which are offensive might either be covered
on account of their unsightliness, or be protected on account of their
tenderness, so that by its motion certain minute and injurious animals
might be driven away from the body; and if you should take away this
member, the animal would be imperfect and weak.  But where there is
reason and the hand, that is not so necessary as a covering of hair.  To
such an extent are all things most befittingly arranged, each in its own
class, that nothing can be conceived more unbecoming than a quadruped
which is naked, or a man that is covered.

 But, however, though nakedness itself on the part of man tends in a
wonderful manner to beauty, yet it was not adapted to his head; for what
great deformity there would be in this, is evident from baldness.
Therefore He clothed the head with hair; and because it was about to be
on the top, He added it as an ornament, as it were, to the highest
summit of the building.  And this ornament is not collected into a
circle, or rounded into the figure of a cap, lest it should be unsightly
by leaving some parts bare; but it is freely poured forth in some
places, and with drawn in others, according to the comeliness of each
place.  Therefore, the forehead entrenched by a circumference, and the
hair put forth from the temples before the ears, and the uppermost parts
of these being surrounded after the manner of a crown, and all the back
part of the head covered, display an appearance of wonderful comeliness.
Then the nature of the beard contributes in an incredible degree to
distinguish the maturity of bodies, or to the distinction of sex, or to
the beauty of manliness and strength; so that it appears that the system
of the whole work would not have been in agreement, if anything had been
made otherwise than it is.

 CHAP. VIII.--OF THE PARTS OF MAN: THE EYES AND EARS,

 Now I will show the plan of the whole man, and will explain the uses
and habits of the several members which are exposed to view in the body,
or concealed.  When, therefore, God had determined of all the animals to
make man alone heavenly, and all the rest earthly, He

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raised him erect(1) to the contemplation of the heaven, and made him a
biped, doubtless that he might look to the same quarter from which he
derives his origin; but He depressed the others to the earth, that,
inasmuch as they have no expectation of immortality, being cast down
with their whole body to the ground, they might be subservient to their
appetite and food.  And thus the right reason and elevated position of
man alone, and his countenance, shared with and closely resembling God
his Father, bespeak his origin and Maker.(2) His mind, nearly divine,
because it has obtained the rule not only over the animals which are on
the earth, but even over his own body, being situated in the highest
part, the head, as in a lofty citadel, looks out upon and observes all
things.  He formed this its palace, not drawn out and extended, as in
the case of the dumb animals, but like an orb and a globe, because
all(3) roundness belongs to a perfect plan and figure.  Therefore the
mind and that divine fire is covered with it,(4) as with a vault;(5) and
when He had covered its highest top with a natural garment, He alike
furnished and adorned the front part which is called the, face, with the
necessary services of the members.

 And first, He closed the orbs of the eyes with concave apertures, from
which boring(6)' Varro thought that the forehead(7) derived its name;
and He would have these to be neither less nor more than two, because no
number is more perfect as to appearance than that of two: as also He
made the ears two, the doubleness(8) of which bears with it an
incredible degree of beauty, both because each part is adorned with a
resemblance, and that voices coming from both sides(9) may more easily
be collected.  For the form itself is fashioned after a wonderful
manner: because He would not have their apertures to be naked and
uncovered, which would have been less becoming and less useful; since
the voice might fly beyond the narrow space of simple caverns, and be
scattered, did not the apertures themselves confine it, received through
hollow windings and kept back from reverberation, like those small
vessels, by the application of which narrow-mouthed vessels are
accustomed to be filled.

 These ears, then, which have their name from the drinking(10) in of
voices, from which Virgil says,(11)

or because the Greeks call the voice itself <greek>audhn</greek>, from
hearing,--the ears (aures) were named as though audes by the change of a
letter,-God would not form of soft skins, which, hanging down and
flaccid, might take away beauty; nor of hard and solid bones, lest,
being stiff and immoveable, they should be inconvenient for use.  But He
designed that which might be between these, that a softer cartilage
might bind them, and that they might have at once a befitting anti
flexible firmness.  In these the office of bearing only is placed, as
that of seeing is in the eyes, the acuteness of which is especially
inexplicable and wonderful; for He covered their orbs, presenting the
similitude of gems in that part with which they had to see, with
transparent membranes, that the images of objects placed opposite them,
being refracted(12) as in a mirror, might penetrate to the innermost
perception.  Through these membranes, therefore, that faculty which is
called the mind sees those things which are without; lest you should
happen to think that we see either by the striking" of the images, as
the philosophers discuss, since the office of seeing ought to be in that
which sees, not in that which is seen; or in the tension of the air
together with the eyesight; or in the outpouring of the rays: since, if
it were so, we should see the ray towards which we turn with our eyes,
until the air, being extended together with the eyesight, or the rays
being poured out, should arrive at the object which was to be seen.

 But since we see at the same moment of time, and for the most part,
while engaged on other business, we nevertheless behold all things which
are placed opposite to us, it is more true and evident that it is the
mind which, through the eves, sees those things which are placed
opposite to it, as though through windows covered with pellucid crystal
or transparent stone;(14) and therefore the mind and inclination are
often known from the eyes.  For the refutation of which Lucretius(15)
employed a very senseless argument.  For if the mind, he says, sees
through the eye, it would see better if the eyes were torn out and dug
up, inasmuch as doors being torn up together with the door-posts let in
more light than if they were covered.  Truly his eyes, or rather those
of Epicurus who taught him, ought to have been dug out, that they might
not see, that the torn-out orbs, and the burst fibres of the eyes, and
the blood flowing through the veins, and the flesh increasing from
wounds, and the scars drawn over at last can admit no light; unless by
chance he would have it that eyes are produced resembling cars, so that
we should see

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not so much with eyes as with apertures, than which there can be nothing
more unsightly or more useless.  For how little should we be able to
see, if from the innermost recesses of the head the mind should pay
attention through Slight fissures of caverns; as, if any one should wish
to look through a stalk of hemlock.  he would see no more than the
capability of the stalk itself admitted!  For sight, therefore, it was
rather needful that the members should be collected together into an
orb, that the sight might be spread in breadth and the parts which
adjoined them in the front of the face, that they might freely behold
all things.  Therefore the unspeakable power of the divine providence
made two orbs most resembling each other, and so bound them together
that they might be able not only to be altogether turned, but to be
moved and directed with moderation.(1) And He willed that the orbs
themselves should be full of a pure and clear moisture, in the middle
part of which sparks of lights might be kept shut up, which we call the
pupils, in which, being pure and delicate, are contained the faculty and
method of seeing.  The mind therefore directs itself through these orbs
that it may see, and the sight of both the eyes is mingled and joined
together in a wonderful manner.

 CHAP. IX.--OF THE SENSES AND THEIR POWER.

 It pleases me in this place to censure the folly of those who, while
they wish to show that the senses are false, collect many instances in
which the eyes are deceived; and among them this also, that all things
appear double to the mad and intoxicated, as though the cause of that
error were obscure.  For it happens on this account, because there are
two eyes.  But hear how it happens.  The sight of the eyes consists in
the exertion of the soul.  Therefore, since the mind, as has been above
said, uses the eyes as windows, this happens not only to those who are
intoxicated or mad, but even to those who are of sound mind, and sober.
For if you place any object too near, it will appear double, for there
is a certain interval and space in which the sight of the eyes meets
together.  Likewise, if you call the soul back as if to reflection, and
relax the exertion of the mind, then the sight of each eye is drawn
asunder, and they each begin to see separately.

 If you, again, exert the mind and direct the eyesight, whatever
appeared double unites into one.  What wonder, therefore, if the mind,
impaired by poison anti the powerful influence of wine, cannot direct
itself to seeing, as the feet cannot to walking when they are weak
through the numbness of the sinews, or if the force of

madness raging against the brain disunites the agreement of the eyes?
Which is so true, that in the case of one-eyed(2) men, if they become
either mad or intoxicated, it can by no means happen that they see any
object double.  Wherefore, if the reason is evident why the eyes are
deceived, it is clear that the senses are not false: for they either are
not deceived if they are pure and sound; or if they are deceived, yet
the mind is not deceived which recognises their error.

 CHAP. X.--OF THE OUTER LIMBS OF MAN, AND THEIR USE.

 But let us return to the works of God.  That the eyes, therefore, might
be better protected from injury, He concealed them with the coverings of
the eyelashes,(3) from which Varro thinks that the eyes(4) derived their
name.  For even the eyelids themselves, in which there is the power of
rapid motion, and to which throbbing(5) gives their name, being
protected by hairs standing in order, afford a most becoming fence to
the eyes; the continual motion of which, meeting with incomprehensible
rapidity, does not impede the course of the sight, and relieves the
eyes.(6) For the pupil--that is, the transparent membrane--which ought
not to be drained and to become dry, unless it is cleansed by continual
moisture so that it shines clearly, loses its power.(7) Why should I
speak of the summits of the eyebrows themselves, furnished with short
hair?  Do they not, as it were by mounds, both afford protection to the
eyes.  so that nothing may fall into them from above,(8) and at the same
time ornament?  And the nose, arising from the confines of these, and
stretched out, as it were, with an equal ridge, at once serves to
separate anti to protect the two eyes.  Below also, a not unbecoming
swelling of the cheeks, gently rising after the similitude of hills,
makes the eyes safer on every side; and it has been provided by the
great Artificer, that if there shall happen to be a more violent blow,
it may be repelled by the projecting parts.  But the upper part of the
nose as far as the middle has been made solid; but the lower part has
been made with a softened cartilage annexed to it, that it may be
pliant(9) to the use of the fingers.  Moreover, in this, though a single
member, three offices are placed: one, that of drawing the breath; the
second, that of smelling; the third, that the secretions of the brain
may escape through its caverns.  And in how wonderful, how divine a
manner did God

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contrive these also, so that the very cavity of the nose should not
deform the beauty of the face: which would certainly have been the case
if one single aperture only were open.  But He enclosed and divided
that, as though by a wall drawn through the middle, and made it most
beautiful by the very circumstance of its being double.(1) From which we
understand of how much weight the twofold number, made firm by one
simple connection, is to the perfection of things.

 For though the body is one, yet the whole could not be made up of
single members, unless it were that there should be parts on the right
hand or on the left.  Therefore, as the two feet and also hands not only
avail to some utility and practice either of walking or of doing
something, but also bestow an admirable character and comeliness; so in
the head, which is, as it were, the crown of the divine work, the
hearing has been divided by the great Artificer into two ears, and the
sight into two eyes, and the smelling into two nostrils, because the
brain, in which is contained the system of the sensation, although it is
one, yet is divided into two parts by the intervening membrane.  But the
heart also, which appears to be the abode of wisdom, although it is one,
yet has two recesses within, in which are contained the living fountains
of blood, divided by an intervening barrier: that as in the world itself
the chief control, being twofold from simple matter, or simple from a
twofold matter, governs and keeps together the whole; so in the body,
all the parts, being constructed of two, might present an inseparable
unity.  Also how useful and how becoming is the appearance and the
opening of the mouth transversely cannot be expressed; the use of which
consists in two offices, that of taking food and speaking.

 The tongue enclosed within, which by its motions divides the voice into
words, and is the interpreter of the mind, cannot, however, by itself
alone fulfil the office of speaking, unless it strikes its edge against
the palate, unless aided by striking against the teeth or by the
compression of the lips.  The teeth, however, contribute more to
speaking: for infants do not begin to speak before they have teeth; and
old men, when they have lost their teeth, so lisp that they appear to
have returned afresh to infancy.  But these things relate to man alone,
or to birds, in which the tongue, being pointed and vibrating with fixed
motions, expresses innumerable in-flexions of songs and various kinds of
sounds.  It has, moreover, another office also, which it exercises in
all, and this alone in the dumb animals, that it collects the food when
bruised and ground by the teeth, and by its force presses it down when
collected into bails, and transmits it to the belly.  Accordingly, Varro
thinks that the name of tongue was given to it from binding(2) the food.
It also assists the beasts in drinking: for with the tongue stretched
out and hollowed they draw water; and when they have taken it in the
hollow(3) of the tongue, lest by slowness and delay it should flow away,
they dash(4) it against the palate with swift rapidity.  This,
therefore, is covered by the concave part of the palate as by a
shell,(5) and God has surrounded it with the enclosure of the teeth as
with a wall.

 But He has adorned the teeth themselves, which are arranged in order in
a wonderful manner, lest, being bare and exposed,(6) they should be a
terror rather than an ornament, with soft gums, which are so named from
producing teeth, and then with the coverings of the lips; and the
hardness of the teeth, as in a millstone, is greater and rougher than in
the other bones, that they might be sufficient for bruising the food and
pasture.  But how befittingly has He divided(7) the lips themselves,
which as it were before were united!  the upper of which, under the very
middle of the nostrils, He has marked with a kind of slight cavity, as
with a valley: He has gracefully spread out(8) the lower for the sake of
beauty.  For, as far as relates to the receiving of flavour, he is
deceived, whoever he is, who thinks that this sense resides in the
palate; for it is the tongue by which flavours are perceived, and not
the whole of it: for the parts of it which are more tender on either
side, draw in the flavour with the most delicate perceptions.  And
though nothing is diminished from that which is eaten or drunk, yet the
flavour in an indescribable manner penetrates to the sense, in the same
way in which the taking of the smell detracts nothing from any material.

 And how beautiful the other parts are can scarcely be expressed.  The
chin, gently drawn down from the cheeks, and the lower part of it so
closed that the lightly imprinted division appears to mark its extreme
point: the neck stiff and well rounded: the shoulders let down as though
by gentle ridges from the neck: the fore-arms(9) powerful, and
braced(10) by sinews for firmness: the great strength of the upper-
arms(11) standing out with remarkable muscles: the useful and becoming
bending of the elbows.  What shall I say of the hands, the ministers of
reason and wisdom?  Which the most skilful Creator made with a flat and
moderately concave bend, that if

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anything was to be held, it might conveniently rest upon them, and
terminated them in the fingers; in which it is difficult to explain
whether the appearance or the usefulness is greater.  For the perfection
and completeness of their number, and the comeliness of their order and
gradation, and the flexible bending of the equal joints, and the round
form of the nails, comprising and strengthening the tips of the fingers
with concave coverings, lest the softness of the flesh should yield in
holding any object, afford great adornment.  But this is convenient for
use, in wonderful ways, that one separated from the rest rises together
with the hand itself, and is enlarged(1) in a different direction,
which, offering itself as though to meet the others, possesses all the
power of holding and doing either alone, or in a special manner, as the
guide and director of them all; from which also it received the name of
thumb,(2) because it prevails among the others by force and power.  It
has two joints standing out, not as the others, three; but one is
annexed by flesh to the hand for the sake of beauty: for if it had been
with three joints, and itself separate, the foul and unbecoming
appearance would have deprived the hand of all grace.

 Again, the breadth of the breast, being elevated, and exposed to the
eyes, displays a wonderful dignity of its condition; of which this is
the cause, that God appears to have made man only, as it were, reclining
with his face upward: for scarcely any other animal is able to lie upon
its back.  But He appears to have formed the dumb animals as though
lying on one side, and to have pressed them to the earth.  For this
reason He gave them a narrow breast, and removed from sight, and
prostrate(3) towards the earth.  But He made that of man open and erect,
because, being full of reason given from heaven, it was not befitting
that it should be humble or unbecoming.  The nipples also gently rising,
and crowned with darker and small orbs, add something of beauty; being
given to females for the nourishment of their young, to males for grace
only, that the breast might not appear mis-shapen, and, as it were,
mutilated.  Below this is placed the fiat surface of the belly, about
the middle of which the navel distinguishes by a not unbecoming mark,
being made for this purpose, that through it the young, while it is in
the womb, may be nourished.

CHAP. XI.--OF TITLE INTESTINES IN MAN, AND

THEIR USE.

 It necessarily follows that I should begin to speak of the inward parts
also, to which has been assigned not beauty, because they are con-cealed
from view, but incredible utility, since it was necessary that this
earthly body should be nourished with some moisture from food and drink,
as the earth itself is by showers and frosts.  The most provident
Artificer placed in the middle of it a receptacle for articles of food,
by means of which, when digested and liquefied, it might distribute the
vital juices to all the members.  But since man is composed of body and
soul, that receptacle of which I have spoken above affords nourishment
only to the body; to the soul, in truth, He has given another abode.
For He has made a kind of intestines soft and thin,(4) which we call the
lungs, into which the breath might pass by an alternate interchange;(5)
and He did not form this after the fashion of the uterus, lest the
breath should all at once be poured forth, or at once inflate it.  And
on this account He did not make it a full intestine,(6) but capable of
being inflated, and admitting the air, so that it might gradually
receive the breath; while the vital air is spread through that thinness,
and might again gradually give it back, while it spreads itself forth
from it: for the very alternation of blowing and breathing,(7) and the
process of respiration, support life in the body.

 Since, therefore, there are in man two receptacles,--one of the air
which nourishes the soul,(8) the other of the food which nourishes the
body,--there must be two tubes(9) through the neck for food, and for
breath, the upper of which leads from the mouth to the belly, the lower
from the nostrils to the lungs.  And the plan and nature of these are
different: for the passage which is from the mouth has been made soft,
and which when closed always adheres(10) to itself, as the month itself;
since drink and food, being corporeal, make for themselves a space for
passage, by moving aside and opening the gullet.  The breath, on the
other hand, which is incorporeal and thin, because it was unable to make
for itself a space, has received an open way, which is called the
windpipe.  This is composed of flexible and soft bones, as though of
rings fitted together after the manner of a hemlock stalk,(11) and
adhering together; and this passage is always open.  For the breath can
have no cessation in passing; because it, which is always passing to and
fro, is checked as by a kind of obstacle through means of a portion of a
member usefully sent down from the brain, and which is called the uvula,
lest, drawn by pestilential air,

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it should come with impetuosity and spoil the slightness(1) of its
abode, or bring the whole violence of the injury upon the inner
receptacles.  And on this account also the nostrils are slightly open,
which are therefore so named, because either smell or breath does not
cease to flow(2) through these, which are, as it were, the doors of this
tube.  Yet this breathing-tube lies open(3) not only to the nostrils,
but also to the mouth in the extreme regions of the palate, where the
risings of(4) the jaws, looking towards the uvula, begin to raise
themselves into a swelling.  And the reason of this arrangement is not
obscure: for we should not have the power of speaking if the windpipe
were open to the nostrils only, as the path of the gullet is to the
mouth only; nor could the breath proceeding from it cause the voice,
without the service of the tongue.

 Therefore the divine skill opened a way for the voice from that
breathing-tube, so that the tongue might be able to discharge its
office, and by its strokes divide into words the even s course of the
voice itself.  And this passage, if by any means it is intercepted, must
necessarily cause dumbness.  For he is assuredly mistaken, whoever
thinks that there is any other cause why men are dumb.  For they are not
tongue-tied, as is commonly believed; but they pour forth that vocal
breath through the nostrils, as though bellowing,(6) because there is
either no passage at all for the voice to the mouth, or it is not so
open as to be able to send forth the full voice.  And this generally
comes to pass by nature; sometimes also it happens by accident that this
entrance is blocked up and does not transmit the voice to the tongue,
and thus makes those who can speak dumb.  And when this happens, the
hearing also must necessarily be blocked up; so that because it cannot
emit the voice, it is also incapable of admitting it.  Therefore this
passage has been opened for the purpose of speaking.  It also affords
this advantage, that in frequenting the bath,(7) because the nostrils
are not able to endure the heat, the hot air is taken in by the mouth;
also, if phlegm contracted by cold shall have happened to stop up the
breathing pores of the nostrils, we may be able to draw the air through
the mouth, lest, if the passage s should be obstructed, the breath
should be stifled.  But the food being received into the stomach, and
mixed with the moisture of the drink, when it has now been digested by
the heat, its juice, being in an indescribable manner diffused through
the limbs, bedews and invigorates the whole body.

 The manifold coils also of the intestines, and their length rolled
together on themselves, and yet fastened with one band, are a wonderful
work of God.  For when the stomach has sent forth from itself the food
softened, it is gradually thrust forth through those windings of the
intestines, so that whatever of the moisture by which the body is
nourished is in them, is divided to all the members.  And yet, lest in
any place it should happen to adhere and remain fixed, which might have
taken place on account of the turnings of the coils,(9) which often turn
back to themselves, and which could not have happened without injury, He
has spread over(10) these from within a thicker juice, that the
secretions of the belly might more easily work their way through the
slippery substance to their outlets.  It is also a most skilful
arrangement, that the bladder, which birds do not use, though it is
separated from the intestines, and has no tube by which it may draw the
urine from them, is nevertheless filled and distended with moisture.
And it is not difficult to see how this comes to pass.  For the parts of
the intestines which receive the food and drink from the belly are more
open than the other coils, and much more delicate.  These entwine
themselves around and encompass the bladder; and when the meat and the
drink have arrived at these parts in a mixed state, the excrement
becomes more solid, and passes through, but all the moisture is strained
through those tender parts,(11) and the bladder, the membrane of which
is equally fine and delicate, absorbs and collects it, so as to send it
forth where nature has opened an outlet.

CHAP. XII.--DE UTERO, ET CONCEPTIONE ATQUE

SEXIBUS.(12)

 De utero quoque et conceptione, quoniam de internis loquimur, dici
necesse est, ne quid praeterisse videamur; quae quamquam in operto
latent, sensum tamen atque intelligentiam latere non possunt.  Vena in
maribus, quae seminium continet, duplex est, paulo interior, quam illud
humoris obscoeni receptaculum.  Sicut enim renes duo sunt, itemque
testes, ita et venae seminales duae, in una tamen compage cohaerentes;
quod videmus in corporibus animalium, cum interfecta(13) patefiunt.  Sed
illa dexterior masculinum continet semen, sinisterior foemininum; et
omnino in toto corpore pars dextra masculina est, sinistra veto
foeminina.  Ipsum semen quidam putant ex medullis tantum, qui-

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dam ex omni corpore ad venam genitalem confluere, ibique concrescere.
Sed hoc, humana mens, quomodo fiat, non potest comprehendere.  Item in
foeminis uterus in duas se dividit partes, quae in diversum diffussae ac
reflexae, circumplicantur, sicut arietis cornua.  Quae pars in dextram
retorquetur, masculina est; quae in sinistram, foeminina.

 Conceptum igitur Varro et Aristoteles sic fieri arbitrantur.  Aiunt non
tantum maribus inesse semen, verum etiam foeminis, et inde plerumque
matribus similes procreari; sed earum semen sanguinem esse purgatum,
quod si recte cum virili mixture sit, utraque concreta et simul co-
agulata informari: et primum quidem cor hominis effingi, quod in eo sit
et vita omnis et sapientia; denique totum opus quadragesimo die
consummari.  Ex abortionibus haec fortasse collecta sunt.  In avium
tamen foetibus primurn oculos fingi dubium non est, quod in ovis saepe
deprehendimus.  Unde fieri non posse arbitror quin fictio a capite sumat
exordium.

 Similitudines autem in corporibus filiorum sic fieri putant.  Cum
semina inter se permixta coalescunt, si virile superaverit, patri
similem provenire, seu marem, seu foeminam; si muliebre praevaluerit,
progeniem cujusque sexus ad imaginem respondere maternam.  Id autem
praevalet e duobus, quod fuerit uberius; alterum enim quodammodo
amplectitur et includit: hinc plerumque fled, ut unius tantum lineamenta
praetendat.  Si vero aequa fuerit ex pari semente permixtio, figuras
quoque misceri, ut soboles illa communis aut neutrum referre videatur,
quia totum ex altero non habet; aut utrumque, quia partem de singulis
mutuata est.  Nam in cor-poribus animalium videmus aut confundi parentum
colores, ac fieri tertium neutri generantium simile; aut utriusque sic
exprimi, ut discoloribus membris per omne corpus concors mixtura
varietur.  Dispares quoque naturae hoc modo fieri putantur.  Cum forte
in laevam uteri partem masculinae stirpis semen inciderit, marem quidem
gigni opinatio est; sed quia sit in foeminina parte conceptus, aliquid
in se habere foemineum, supra quam decus virile patiatur; vel formam
insignem, vel nimium candorem, vel cor-poris levitatem, vel artus
delicatos, vel staturam brevem, vel vocem gracilem, vel animum
imbecillum, vel ex his plura.  Item, si partem in dextram semen
foeminini sexus influxerit, foeminam quidem procreari; sed quoniam in
masculina parte concepta sit, habere in se aliquid virilita-tis, ultra
quam sexus; ratio permittat; aut valida membra, aut immoderatam
Iongitudinem, aut fuscum colorem, aut hispidam faciem, aut vulture
indecorum, aut vocem robustam, aut animum audacem, aut ex his plura.

 Si vero masculinum in dexteram, foemininum in sinistram pervenerit,
utrosque foetus recte provenire; ut et foeminis per omnia naturae suae
decus constet, et maribus tam mente, quam corpore robur virile servetur.
Istud vero ipsum quam mirabile institutum Dei, quod ad conservationem
generum singulorum, duos sexus maris ac foeminae machinatus est; quibus
inter se per voluptatis illecebras copulatis, successiva soboles
pareretur, ne omne genus viventium conditio mortalitatis extingueret.
Sed plus roboris maribus attributum est, quo facilius ad patientiam jugi
maritalis foeminae cogerentur.  Vir itaque nominatus est, quod major in
eo vis est, quire in foemina; et hinc virtus nomen accepit.  Item mulier
(ut Varro interpretatur) a mollitie, immutata et detracta littera, velut
mollier; cui suscepto foetu, cum partus appropinquare jam coepit,
turgescentes mammae dulcibus succis distenduntur, et ad nutrimenta
nascentis fontibus lacteis foecundum pectus exuberat.  Nec enim decebat
aliud quam ut sapiens animal a corde alimoniam duceret.  Idque ipsum
solertissime comparatum est, ut candens ac pinguis humor teneritudinem
novi corporis irrigaret, donec ad capiendos fortiores cibos, et dentibus
instruatur, et viribus roboretur.  Sed redeamus ad propositum, ut
caetera, quae supersunt, breviter explicemus.

CHAP. XIII.--OF THE LOWER MEMBERS.

 Poteram nunc ego ipsorum quoque genitalium membrorum mirificam rationem
tibi exponere, nisi me pudor ab hujusmodi sermone revocaret: itaque a
nobis indumento verecundiae, quae sunt pudenda velentur.  Quod ad hanc
rem attinet, queri satis est, homines impios ac profanos summum nefas
admittere, qui divinum et admirabile Dei opus, ad propagandam
successionem inexcogitabili ratione provisum et effectum, vel ad
turpissimos quaestus, vel ad obscoenae libidinis pudenda opera
convertunt, ut jam nihil aliud ex re sanctissima petant, quam inanem et
sterilem voluptatem.

 How is it with respect to the other parts of the body?  Are they
without order and beauty?  The flesh rounded off into the hates, how
adapted to the office of sitting!  and this also more firm than in the
other limbs, lest by the pressure of the bulk of the body it should give
way to the bones.  Also the length of the thighs drawn out, and
strengthened by broader muscles, in order that it might more easily
sustain the weight of the body; and as this is gradually contracted, it
is bounded(1) by the knees, the comely joints(2) of which supply a bend
which is most adapted for walking and sitting.  Also the legs not drawn
out in an equal manner, lest an unbecoming figure should deform the
feet; but they are at once strengthened and adorned by

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well-turned(1) calves gently standing out and gradually diminishing.

 But in the soles of the feet there is the same plan as in the hands,
but yet very different: for since these are, as it were, the foundations
of the whole body,(2) the admirable Artificer has not made them of a
round appearance, lest man should be unable to stand, or should need
other feet for standing, as is the case with quadrupeds; but He has
formed them of a longer and more extended shape, that they might make
the body firm by their flatness,(3) from which circumstance their name
was given to them.  The toes are of the same number with the fingers,
for the sake of appearance rather than utility; and on this account they
are both joined together, and short, and put together by gradations; and
that which is the greatest of these, since it was not befitting that it
should be separated from the others, as in the hand, has been so
arranged in order, that it appears to differ from the others m magnitude
and the small space which intervenes.  This beautiful union(4) of them
strengthens the pressure of the feet with no slight aid; for we cannot
be excited to running, unless, our toes being pressed against the
ground, and resting upon the soil, we take an impetus and a spring.  I
appear to have explained all things of which the plan is capable of
being understood.  I now come to those things which are either doubtful
or obscure.

CHAP. XIV.--OF THE UNKNOWN PURPOSE OF SOME

OF THE INTESTINES.

 It iS evident that there are many things in the body, the force and
purpose of which no one can perceive but He who made them.  Can any one
suppose that he is able to relate what is the advantage, and what the
effect, of that slight transparent membrane by which the stomach is
netted over and covered?  What the twofold resemblance of the kidneys?
which Varro says are so named because streams of foul moisture arise
from these; which is far from being the case, because, rising on either
side of the spine, they are united, and are separated from the
intestines.  What is the use of the spleen?  What of the liver?  Organs
which appear as it were to be made up(5) of disordered blood.  What of
the very bitter moisture of the gall?  What of the heart?  unless we
shall happen to think that they ought to be believed, who think that the
affection of anger is placed in the gall, that of fear in the heart, of
joy in the spleen.  But they will have it that the office of the liver
is, by its embrace and heat, to digest the food in the stomach; some
think that the desires of the amorous passions are contained in the
liver.

 First of all, the acuteness of the human sense is unable to perceive
these things, because their offices lie concealed; nor, when laid open,
do they show their uses.  For, if it were so, perhaps the more gentle
animals would either have no gall at all, or less than the wild beasts;
the more timid ones would have more heart, the more lustful would have
more liver, the more playful more spleen.  As, therefore, we perceive
that we bear with our ears, that we see with our eyes, that we smell
with our nostrils; so assuredly we should perceive that we are angry
with the gall, that we desire with the liver, that we rejoice with the
spleen.  Since, therefore, we do not at all perceive from what part
those affections come, it is possible that they may come from another
source, and that those organs may have a different effect to that which
we suppose.  We cannot prove, however, that they who discuss these
things speak falsely.  But I think that all things which relate to the
motions of the mind and soul, are of so obscure and profound a nature,
that it is beyond the power of man to see through them clearly.  This,
however, ought to be sure and undoubted, that so many objects and so
many organs have one and the same office--to retain the soul in the
body.  But what office is particularly assigned to each, who can know,
except the Designer, to whom alone His own work is known?

CHAP. XV.--OF THE VOICE.

 But what account can we give of the voice?  Grammarians, indeed, and
philosophers, define the voice to be air struck by the breath; from
which words(6) derive their name: which is plainly false.  For the voice
is not produced outside of the mouth, but within, and therefore that
opinion is more probable, that the breath, being compressed, when it has
struck against the obstacle presented by the throat, forces out the
sound of the voice: as when we send down the breath into an open hemlock
stalk, having applied it to the lips, and the breath, reverberating from
the hollow of the stalk, and rolled back from the bottom, while it
returns(7) to that descending through meeting with itself, striving for
an outlet, produces a sound; and the wind, rebounding by itself, is
animated into vocal breath.  Now, whether this is true, God, who is the
designer, may see.  For the voice appears to arise not from the mouth,
but from the innermost breast.  In fine, even when the mouth is closed,
a sound such as is possible is emitted from the nostrils.

296

Moreover, also, the voice is not affected by that greatest breath with
which we gasp, but with a light and not compressed breath, as often as
we wish.  It has not therefore been comprehended in what manner it takes
place, or what it is altogether.  And do not imagine that I am now
failing into the opinion of the Academy, for all things are not
incomprehensible.  For as it must be confessed that many things are
unknown, since God has willed that they should exceed the understanding
of man; so, however, it must be acknowledged that there are many which
may

both be perceived by the senses and comprehended by the reason.  But we
shall devote an entire treatise to the refutation of the philosophers.
Let us therefore finish the course over which we are now running.

CHAP. XVI.--OF THE MIND AND ITS SEAT.

 That the nature of the mind is also incomprehensible, who can be
ignorant, but he who is altogether destitute of mind, since it is not
known in what place the mind is situated, or of what nature it is?
Therefore various things have been discussed by philosophers concerning
its nature and place.  But I will not conceal what my own sentiments
are: not that I should affirm that it is so--for in a doubtful matter it
is the part of a foolish person to do this ; but that when I have set
forth the difficulty of the matter, you may understand how great is the
magnitude off the divine works.  Some would have it, that the seat of
the mind is in the breast.  But if this is so, how wonderful is it, that
a faculty which is situated in an obscure and dark habitation should be
employed in so great a light of reason and intelligence; then that the
senses from every part of the body come together to it, so that it
appears to be present in any quarter of the limbs ! Others have said
that its seat is in the brain : and, indeed, they have used probable
arguments, saying that it was doubtless befitting that that which had
the government of the whole body should especially have its abode in the
highest place, as though in the citadel of the body; and that nothing
should be in a more elevated position than that which governs the whole
by reason,: just as the Lord Himself, and Ruler of the universe, is in
the highest place.  Then they say, that the organs which are the
ministers of each sense, that is, of hearing, and seeing, and smelling,
are situated in the head, and that the channels of all these lead not to
the breast, but to the brain: otherwise we must be more slow in the
exercise of our senses, until the power of sensation by a long course
should descend through the neck even to the breast.  These, in truth, do
not greatly err, or perchance not at all.  For the mind, which exercises
control over the body, appears to be placed in the highest part, the
head, as God is in heaven; but when it is engaged in any reflection, it
appears to pass to the breast, and, as it were, to withdraw to some
secret recess, that it may elicit and draw forth counsel, as it were,
from a hidden treasury.  And therefore, when we are intent upon
reflection, and when the mind, being occupied, has withdrawn itself to
the inner depth,(1) we are accustomed neither to hear the things which
sound about us, nor to see the things which stand in our way.  But
whether this is the case, it is assuredly a matter of admiration how
this takes place, since there is no passage from the brain to the
breast.  But if it is not so, nevertheless it is no less a matter of
admiration that, by some divine plan or other, it is caused that it
appears to be so.  Can any fail to admire that that living and heavenly
faculty which is called the mind or the soul, is of such volubility(2)
that it does not rest even then when it is asleep; of such rapidity,
that it surveys the whole heaven at one moment of time; and, if it
wills, flies over seas, traverses lands and cities,--in short, places in
its own sight all things which it pleases, however far and widely they
are removed?

 And does any one wonder if the divine mind of God, being extended(3)
through all parts of the universe, runs to and fro, and rules all
things, governs all things, being everywhere present, everywhere
diffused; when the strength and power of the human mind, though enclosed
within a mortal body, is so great, that it can in no way be restrained
even by the barriers of this heavy and slothful body, to which it is
bound, froth bestowing upon itself, in its impatience of rest, the power
of wandering without restraint?  Whether, therefore, the mind has its
dwelling in the head or in the breast, can any one comprehend what power
of reason effects, that that incomprehensible faculty either remains
fixed in the marrow of the brain, or in that blood divided into two
parts(4) which is enclosed in the heart; and not infer from this very
circumstance how great is the power of God, because the soul does not
see itself, or of what nature or where it is; and if it did see, yet it
would not be able to perceive in what manner an incorporeal substance is
united with one which is corporeal?  Or if the mind has no fixed
locality, but runs here and there scattered through the whole body,--
which is possible, and was asserted by Xenocrates, the disciple of
Plato,--then, inasmuch as intelligence is present in every part of

297

the body, it cannot be understood what that mind is, or what its
qualities are, since its nature is so subtle and refined, that, though
infused into solid organs by a living and, as it were, ardent
perception, it is mingled with all the members.

 But take care that you never think it probable, as Aristoxenus said,
that the mind has no existence, but that the power of perception exists
from the constitution of the body and the construction of the organs, as
harmony does in the case of the lyre.  For musicians call the stretching
and sounding of the strings to entire strains, without any striking of
notes in agreement with them, harmony.  They will have it, therefore,
that the soul in man exists in a manner like that by which harmonious
modulation exists on the lyre; namely, that the firm uniting of the
separate parts of the body and the vigour of all the limbs agreeing
together, makes that perceptible motion, and adjusts(1) the mind, as
well-stretched things produce harmonious sound.  And as, in the lyre,
when anything has been interrupted or relaxed, the whole method of the
strain is disturbed and destroyed; so in the body, when any part of the
limbs receives an injury, the whole are weakened, and all being
corrupted and thrown into confusion, the power of perception is
destroyed: and this is called death.  But he, if he had possessed any
mind, would never have transferred harmony from the lyre to man.  For
the lyre cannot of its own accord send forth a sound, so that there can
be in this any comparison and resemblance to a living person; but the
soul both reflects and is moved of its own accord.  But if there were in
us anything resembling harmony, it would be moved by a blow from
without, as the strings of the lyre are by the hands; whereas without
the handling of the artificer, and the stroke of the fingers, they lie
mute and motionless.  But doubtless he(2) ought to have beaten by the
hand, that he might at length observe; for his mind, badly compacted
From his members, was in a state of torpor.

CHAP.XVII.--OF THE SOUL, AND THE OPINION OF PHILOSOPHERS CONCERNING IT.

 It remains to speak of the soul, although its system and nature cannot
be perceived.  Nor, therefore, do we fail to understand that the soul.
is immortal, since whatever is vigorous and is in motion by itself at
all times, and cannot be seen or touched, must he eternal.  But what the
soul is, is not yet agreed upon by philosophers, and perhaps will never
be agreed upon.  For some have said that it is blood, others that it is
fire, others wind, from which it has received its name of anima, or
animus, because in Greek the wind is called anemos(3) and yet none of
these appears to have spoken anything.  For if the soul appears to be
extinguished when the blood is poured forth through a wound, or is
exhausted by the heat of fevers, it does not therefore follow that the
system of the soul is to be placed in the material of the blood; as
though a question should arise as to the nature of the light which we
make use of, and the answer should be given that it is oil, for when
that is consumed the light is extinguished: since they are plainly
different, but the one is the nourishment of the other.  Therefore the
soul appears to be like light, since it is not itself blood, but is
nourished by the moisture of the blood, as light is by oil.

 But they who have supposed it to be fire made use of this argument,
that when the soul is present the body is warm, but on its departure the
body grows cold.  But fire is both without perception and is seen, and
burns when touched.  But the soul is both endowed with perception and
cannot be seen, and does not burn.  From which it is evident that the
soul is something like God.  But they who suppose that it is wind are
deceived by this, because we appear to live by drawing breath from the
air.  Varro gives this definition: "The soul is air conceived in the
mouth, warmed in the lungs, heated in the heart, diffused into the
body."  These things are most plainly false.  For I say that the nature
of things of this kind is not so obscure, that we do not even understand
what cannot be true.  If any one should say to me that the heaven is of
brass, or crystal, or, as Empedocles says, that it is frozen air, must I
at once assent because I do not know of what material the heaven is?
For as I know not this, I know that.  Therefore the soul is not air
conceived in the mouth, because the soul is produced much before air can
be conceived in the mouth.  For it is not introduced into the body after
birth, as it appears to some philosophers, but immediately alter
conception, when the divine necessity has formed the offspring in the
womb; for it so lives within the bowels of its mother, that it is
increased in growth, and delights to bound with repeated beatings.  In
short, there must be a miscarriage if the living young within shall die.
The other parts of the definition have reference to this, that during
those nine months in which we were in the womb we appear to have been
dead.  None, therefore.  of these three opinions is true.  We cannot,
however, say that they who held these sentiments were false to such an
extent that they said nothing at all; for we live at once by the blood,
and heat, and breath.  But since the soul

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exists in the body by the union of all these, they did not express what
it was in its own proper sense;(1) for as it cannot be seen, so it
cannot be expressed.

CHAP. XVIII.--OF THE SOUL AND THE MIND, AND

THEIR AFFECTIONS.

 There follows another, and in itself an inexplicable inquiry: Whether
the soul and the mind are the same, or there be one faculty by which we
live, and another by which we perceive and have discernment.(2) There
are not wanting arguments on either side.  For they who say that they
are one faculty make use of this argument, that we cannot live without
perception, nor perceive without life, and therefore that that which is
incapable of separation cannot be different; but that whatever it is, it
has the office of living and the method of perception.  On which account
two(3) Epicurean poets speak of the mind and the soul indifferently.
But they who say that they are different argue in this way: That the
mind is one thing, and the soul another, may be understood from this,
that the mind may be extinguished while the soul is uninjured, which is
accustomed to happen in the case of the insane; also, that the soul is
put to rest(4) by death, the mind by sleep, and indeed in such a manner
that it is not only ignorant of what is taking place,(5) or where it is,
but it is even deceived by the contemplation of false objects.  And how
this takes place cannot accurately be perceived; why it takes place can
be perceived.  For we can by no means rest unless the mind is kept
occupied by the similitudes(6) of visions.  But the mind lies hid,
oppressed with sleep, as fire buried(7) by ashes drawn over it; but if
you stir it a little it again blazes, and, as it were, wakes up.(8)
Therefore it is called away by images,(9) until the limbs, bedewed with
sleep, are invigorated; for the body while the perception is awake,
although it lies motionless, yet is not at rest, because the perception
burns in it, and vibrates as a flame, and keeps all the limbs bound to
itself.  But when the mind is transferred from its application to the
contemplation of images, then at length the whole body is resolved into
rest.  But the mind is transferred from dark thought, when, under the
influence of darkness, it has begun to be alone with itself.  While it
is intent upon those things concerning which it is reflecting, sleep
suddenly creeps on, and the thought itself imperceptibly turns aside to
the nearest appearances:(10) thus it begins also to see those things
which it had placed before its eyes.  Then it proceeds further, and
finds diversions(11) for itself, that it may not interrupt the most
healthy repose of the body.  For as the mind is diverted in the day by
true sights, so that it does not sleep; so is it diverted in the night
by false sights, so that it is not aroused.  For if it perceives no
images, it will follow of necessity either that it is awake, or that it
is asleep in perpetual death.  Therefore the system of dreaming has been
given by God for the sake of sleeping; and, indeed, it has been given to
all animals in common; but this especially to man, that when God gave
this system on account of rest, He left to Himself the power of teaching
man future events by means of the dream.(12) For narratives often
testify that there have been dreams which have had an immediate and a
remarkable accomplishment,(13) and the answers of our prophets have been
after the character of a dream.(14) On which account they are not always
true, nor always false, as Virgil testified,(15) who supposed that there
were two gates for the passage of dreams.  But those which are false are
seen for the sake of sleeping; those which are true are sent by God,
that by this revelation we may learn impending goods or evils.

CHAP. XIX.--OF THE SOUL, AND IT GIVEN BY GOD.

 A question also may arise respecting this, whether the soul is produced
from the father, or rather from the mother, or indeed from both.  But I
think that this judgment is to be formed as though in a doubtful
matter.(16) For nothing is true of these three opinions, because souls
are produced neither from both nor from either.  For a body may be
produced from a body, since something is contributed from both; but a
soul cannot be produced from souls, because nothing can depart from a
slight and incomprehensible subject.  Therefore the manner of the
production of souls belongs entirely to God alone.

"In fine, we are all sprung from a heavenly seed, all all have that
sameFather."

as Lucretius(17) says.  For nothing but what is mortal can be generated
from mortals.  Nor ought he to be deemed a father who in no way

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perceives that he has transmitted or breathed a soul from his own; nor,
if he perceives it, comprehends in his mind when or in what manner that
effect is produced.

 From this it is evident that souls are not given by parents, but by one
and the same God and Father of all, who alone has the law and method of
their birth, since He alone produces them.  For the part of the earthly
parent is nothing more than with a sense of pleasure to emit the
moisture of the body, in which is the material of birth, or to receive
it; and to this work man's power is limited,(1) nor has he any further
power.  Therefore men wish for the birth of sons, because they do not
themselves bring it about.  Everything beyond this is the work of God,--
namely, the conception itself, and the moulding of the body, and the
breathing in of life, and the bringing forth in safety, and whatever
afterwards contributes to the preservation of man: it is His gift that
we breathe, that we live, and are vigorous.  For, besides that we owe it
to His bounty that we are safe in body, and that He supplies us with
nourishment from various sources, He also gives to man wisdom, which no
earthly father can by any means give; and therefore it often happens
that foolish sons are born from wise parents, and wise sons from foolish
parents, which some persons attribute to fate and the stars.  But this
is not now the time to discuss the subject of fate.  It is sufficient to
say this, that even if the stars hold together the efficacy of all
things, it is nevertheless certain that all things are done by God, who
both made and set in order the stars themselves.  They are therefore
senseless who detract this power from God, and assign it to His work.

 He would have it, therefore, to be in our own power, whether we use or
do not use this divine and excellent gift of God.  For, having granted
this, He bound man himself by the mystery(2) of virtue, by which he
might be able to gain life.  For great is the power, great the reason,
great the mysterious purpose of man; and if any one shall not abandon
this, nor betray his fidelity and devotedness, he must be happy: he, in
short, to sum up the matter in few words, must of necessity resemble
God.  For he is in error whosoever judges of(3) man by his flesh.  For
this worthless body(4) with which we are clothed is the receptacle of
man.(5) For man himself, can neither be touched, nor looked upon, nor
grasped, because he lies hidden within this body, which is seen.  And if
he shall be more luxurious and delicate in this life than its nature
demands, if he shall despise virtue, and give himself to the pursuit of
fleshly lusts, he will fall and be pressed down to the earth; but if (as
his duty is) he shall readily and constantly maintain his position,
which is right for him, and he has rightly obtained,(6)--if he shall not
be enslaved to the earth, which he ought to trample upon and overcome,
he will gain eternal life.

CHAP. XX.--OF HIMSELF AND THE TRUTH.

 These things I have written to you, Demetrianus, for the present in few
words, and perhaps with more obscurity than was befitting, in accordance
with the necessity of circumstances and the time, with which you ought
to be content, since you are about to receive more and better things if
God shall favour us.  Then, accordingly, I will exhort you with greater
clearness and truth to the learning of true philosophy.  For I have
determined to commit to writing as many things as I shall be able, which
have reference to the condition of a happy life; and that indeed against
the philosophers, since they are pernicious and weighty for the
disturbing of the truth.  For the force of their eloquence is
incredible, and their subtlety in argument and disputation may easily
deceive any one; and these we will refute partly by our own weapons, but
partly by weapons borrowed from their mutual wrangling, so that it may
be evident that they rather introduced error than removed it.

 Perhaps you may wonder that I venture to undertake so great a deed.
Shall we then suffer the truth to be extinguished or crushed?  I, in
truth, would more willingly fail even under this burthen.  For if Marcus
Tullius, the unparalleled example of eloquence itself, was often
vanquished by men void of learning and eloquence,--who, however, were
striving for that which was true,--why should we despair that the truth
itself will by its own peculiar force and clearness avail against
deceitful and captious eloquence?  They indeed are wont to profess
themselves advocates of the truth; but who can defend that which he has
not learned, or make clear to others that which he himself does not
know?  I seem to promise a great thing; but there is need of the favour
of Heaven, that ability and time may be given us for following our
purpose.  But if life is to be wished for by a wise man, assuredly I
should wish to live for no other reason than that I may effect something
which may be worthy of life, and which may be useful to my readers, if

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not for eloquence, because there is in me but a slight stream of
eloquence, at any rate for living, which is especially needful.  And
when I have accomplished this, I shall think that I have lived enough,
and that I have discharged the duty of a man, if my labour shall have
freed some men from errors, and have directed them to the path which
leads to heaven.

GENERAL NOTE BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR.

 Just here I economize a little spare room to note the cynical Gibbon's
ideas about Lactantius and his works.  He quotes him freely, and
recognises his Ciceronian Latinity, and even the elegance of his
rhetoric, and the spirit and eloquence with which he can garnish the
"dismal tale" of coming judgments, based on the Apocalypse.  But then,
again(1) he speaks of him as an "obscure rhetorician," and affects a
doubt as to his sources of information, notably in doubting the
conversation between Galerius and Diocletian which forced the latter to
abdicate.  This is before he decides to attribute the work on the Deaths
of Persecutors to somebody else, or, rather, to quote its author
ambiguously as Caecilius.  And here we may insert what he says on this
subject, as follows:--

 "It is certain that this . . . was composed and published while
Licinius, sovereign of the East, still preserved the friendship of
Constantine and of the Christians.  Every reader of taste must perceive
that the style is of a very different and inferior character to that of
Lactantius; and such, indeed, is the judgment of Le Clerc(2) and
Lardner.(3) Three arguments (from the title of the book and from the
names of Donatus and Caecilius) are produced by the advocates of
Lactantius.(4) Each of these proofs is, singly, weak and defective; but
their concurrence has great weight.  I have often fluctuated, and shall
tamely(5) follow the Colbert MS. in calling the author, whoever he was,
Caecilius."

 After this the critic adheres to this ambiguity.  I have no wish to
argue otherwise.  Quite as important are his notes on the Institutes.
He states the probable conjecture of two original editions,--the one
under Diocletian, and the other under Licinius.  Then he says:(6)--

 "I am almost convinced that Lactantius dedicated his Institutions to
the sovereign of Gaul at a time when Galerius, Maximin, and even
Licinius, persecuted the Christians; that is, between the years A.D. 306
and A.D. 311

On the dubious passages(7) he remarks:(8)--

 "The first and most important of these is, indeed, wanting in twenty-
eight MSS., but is found in nineteen.  If we weigh the comparative value
of those MSS., one, . . . in the King of France's library,(9) may be
alleged in its favour.  But the passage is omitted in the correct MS. of
Bologna, which the Pere de Montfaucon(10) ascribes to the sixth or
seventh century.  The taste of most of the editors(11) has felt the
genuine style of Lactantius."

 Do not many indications point to the natural suggestion of a third
original edition, issued after the conversion of Constantine?  Or the
questionable passages may be the interpolations of Lactantius himself.

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OF THE MANNER IN WHICH THE PERSECUTORS DIED.(1)

ADDRESSED TO DONATUS.

CHAP. I.

 THE Lord has heard those supplications which you, my best beloved
Donatus,(2) pour forth in His presence all the day long, and the
supplications of the rest of our brethren, who by a glorious confession
have obtained an everlasting crown, the reward of their faith.  Behold,
all the adversaries are destroyed, and tranquillity having been re-
established throughout the Roman empire, the late oppressed Church
arises again, and the temple of God, overthrown by the hands of the
wicked, is built with more glory than before.  For God has raised up
princes to rescind the impious and sanguinary edicts of the tyrants and
provide for the welfare of mankind; so that now the cloud of past times
is dispelled, and peace and serenity gladden all hearts.  And after the,
furious whirlwind and black tempest, the heavens are now become calm,
and the wished-for light has shone forth; and now God, the hearer of
prayer, by His divine aid has lifted His prostrate and afflicted
servants from the ground, has brought to an end the united devices of
the wicked, and wiped off the tears from the faces of those who mourned.
They who insulted over the Divinity, lie low; they who cast down the
holy temple, are fallen with more tremendous ruin; and the tormentors of
just men have poured out their guilty souls amidst plagues inflicted by
Heaven, and amidst deserved tortures.  For God delayed to punish them,
that, by great and marvellous examples, He might teach posterity that He
alone is God, and that with fit vengeance He executes judgment on the
proud, the impious, and the persecutors.(3)

 Of the end of those men I have thought good to publish a narrative,
that all who are afar off, and all who shall arise hereafter, may learn
how the Almighty manifested His power and sovereign greatness in rooting
out and utterly destroying the enemies of His name.  And this will
become evident, when I relate who were the persecutors of the Church
from the time of its first constitution, and what were the punishments
by which the divine Judge, in His severity, took vengeance on them.

CHAP. II.

 In the latter days of the Emperor Tiberius, in the consulship of
Ruberius Geminus and Fufius Geminus, and on the tenth of the kalends of
April,(4) as I find it written, Jesus Christ was crucified by the
Jews.(5) After He bad risen again on the third day, He gathered together
His apostles, whom fear, at the time of His being laid hold on, had put
to flight; and while He sojourned with them forty days, He opened their
hearts, interpreted to them the Scripture, which hitherto had been
wrapped up in obscurity, ordained and fitted them for the preaching of
His word and doctrine, and regulated all things concerning the
institutions of the New Testament; and this having been accomplished, a
cloud and whirlwind enveloped Him, and caught Him up from the sight of
men unto heaven.

 His apostles were at that time eleven in number, to whom were added
Matthias, in the room of the traitor Judas, and afterwards Paul.  Then
were they dispersed throughout all the earth to preach the Gospel, as
the Lord their Master had commanded them; and during twenty-five years,
and until the beginning of the reign of the Emperor Nero, they occupied
themselves in laying the foundations of the Church in every province

and city.And while Nero reigned, the Apostle Peter came to Rome, and,
through the power of God committed unto him, wrought certain miracles,
and, by turning many to the true religion, built up a faithful and
stedfast temple

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unto the Lord.  When Nero heard of those things, and observed that not
only in Rome, but in every other place, a great multitude revolted daily
from the worship of idols, and, condemning their old ways, went over to
the new religion, he, an execrable and pernicious tyrant, sprung forward
to raze the heavenly temple and destroy the true faith.  He it was who
first persecuted the servants of God; he crucified Peter, and slew
Paul:(1) nor did he escape with impunity; for God looked on the
affliction of His people; and therefore the tyrant, bereaved of
authority, and precipitated from the height of empire, suddenly
disappeared, and even the burial-place of that noxious wild beast was
nowhere to be seen.  This has led some persons of extravagant
imagination to suppose that, having been conveyed to a distant region,
he is still reserved alive; and to him they apply the Sibylline verses
concerning

"The fugitive, who slew his own mother, being to come from the
uttermostboundaries of the earth;"

as if he who was the first should also be the last persecutor, and thus
prove the forerunner of Antichrist!  But we ought not to believe those
who, affirming that the two prophets Enoch and Elias have been
translated into some remote place that they might attend our Lord when
He shall come to judgment,(2) also fancy that Nero is to appear
hereafter as the forerunner of the devil, when he shall come to lay
waste the earth and overthrow mankind.

CHAP. III.

 After an interval of some years from the death of Nero, there arose
another tyrant no less wicked (Domitian), who, although his government
was exceedingly odious, for a very long time oppressed his subjects, and
reigned in security, until at length he stretched forth his impious
hands against the Lord.  Having been instigated by evil demons to
persecute the righteous people, he was then delivered into the power of
his enemies, and suffered due punishment.  To be murdered in his own
palace was not vengeance ample enough: the very memory of his name was
erased.  For although he had erected many admirable edifices, and
rebuilt the Capitol, and left other distinguished marks of his
magnificence, yet the senate did so persecute his name, as to leave no
remains of his statues, or traces of the inscriptions put up in honour
of him; and by most solemn and severe decrees it branded him, even after
death, with perpetual infamy.  Thus, the commands of the tyrant having
been rescinded, the Church was not only restored to her former state,
but she shone forth with additional splendour, and became more and more
flourishing.  And in the times that followed, while many well-deserving
princes guided the helm of the Roman empire, the Church suffered no
violent assaults from her enemies, and she extended her hands unto the
east and unto the

west, insomuch that now there was not any the most remote corner of the
earth to which the divine religion had not penetrated, or any nation of
manners so barbarous that did not, by being converted to the worship of
God, become mild and gentle.(3)

CHAP. IV.

 This long peace,(4) however, was afterwards interrupted.  Decius
appeared in the world, an accursed wild beast, to afflict the Church,--
and who but a bad man would persecute religion?  It seems as if he had
been raised to sovereign eminence, at once to rage against God, and at
once to fall; for, having undertaken an expedition against the Carpi,
who had then possessed themselves of Dacia and Moefia, he was suddenly
surrounded by the barbarians, and slain, together with great part of his
army; nor could he be honoured with the rites of sepulture, but,
stripped and naked, he lay to be devoured by wild beasts and birds,(5)--
a fit end for the enemy of God.

CHAP. V.

 And presently Valerian also, in a mood alike frantic, lifted up his
impious hands to assault God, and, although his time was short, shed
much righteous blood.  But God punished him in a new and extraordinary
manner, that it might be a lesson to future ages that the adversaries of
Heaven always receive the just recompense of their iniquities.  He,
having been made prisoner by the Persians, lost not only that power
which he had exercised without moderation, but also the liberty of which
be had deprived others; and he wasted the remainder of his days in the
vilest condition of slavery: for Sapores, the king of the Persians, who
had made him prisoner, whenever he chose to get into his carriage or to
mount on horseback, commanded the Roman to stoop and present his back;
then, setting his foot on the shoulders of Valerian, he said, with a
smile of reproach, "This is true, and not what the Romans delineate on
board or plaster."  Valerian lived for a considerable time under the
well-merited insults of his conqueror; so that the Roman name remained
long the scoff and derision of the barbarians: and this also was added
to the severity of his punishment, that although he had an emperor for
his son, he found no one to revenge his captivity and most abject and
ser-

303

vile state; neither indeed was he ever demanded back Afterward, when he
had finished this shameful life under so great dishonour, he was flayed,
and his skin, stripped from the flesh, was dyed with vermilion, and
placed in the temple of the gods of the barbarians, that the remembrance
of a triumph so signal might be perpetuated, and that this spectacle
might always be exhibited to our ambassadors, as an admonition to the
Romans, that, beholding the spoils of their captived emperor in a
Persian temple, they should not place too great confidence in their own
strength.

 Now since God so punished the sacrilegious, is it not strange that any
one should afterward have dared to do, or even to devise, aught against
the majesty of the one God, who governs and supports all things?

 CHAP. VI.

 Aurelian might have recollected the fate of the captived emperor, yet,
being of a nature outrageous and headstrong, he forgot both his sin and
its punishment, and by deeds of cruelty irritated the divine wrath.  He
was not, however, permitted to accomplish what he had devised; for just
as he began to give a loose to his rage, he was slain.  His bloody
edicts had not yet reached the more distant provinces, when he himself
lay all bloody on the earth at Caenophrurium in Thrace, assassinated by
his familiar friends, who had taken up groundless suspicions against
him.

 Examples of such a nature, and so numerous, ought to have deterred
succeeding tyrants; nevertheless they were not only not dismayed, but,
in their misdeeds against God, became more bold and presumptuous.

CHAP. VII.

 While Diocletian, that author of ill, and deviser of misery, was
ruining all things, he could not withhold his insults, not even against
God.  This man, by avarice partly, and partly by timid counsels,
overturned the Roman empire.  For he made choice of three persons to
share the government with him; and thus, the empire having been
quartered, armies were multiplied, and each of the four princes strove
to maintain a much more considerable military force than any sole
emperor had done in times past.(1) There began to be fewer men who paid
taxes than there were who received wages; so that the means of the
husbandmen being exhausted by enormous impositions, the farms were
abandoned, cultivated grounds became woodland, and universal dismay
prevailed.  Besides, the provinces were divided into minute portions,
and many presidents and a multitude of inferior officers lay heavy on
each territory, and almost on each city.  There were also many stewards
of different degrees, and deputies of presidents.  Very few civil causes
came before them: but there were condemnations daily, and forfeitures
frequently inflicted; taxes on numberless commodities, and those not
only often repeated, but perpetual, and, in exacting them, intolerable
wrongs.

 Whatever was laid on for the maintenance of the soldiery might have
been endured; but Diocletian, through his insatiable avarice, would
never allow the sums of money in his treasury to be diminished: he was
constantly heaping together extraordinary aids and free gifts, that his
original hoards might remain untouched and inviolable.  He also, when by
various extortions he had made all things exceedingly dear, attempted by
an ordinance to limit their prices.  Then much blood was shed for the
veriest trifles; men were afraid to expose aught to sale, and the
scarcity became more excessive and grievous than ever, until, in the
end, the ordinance, after having proved destructive to multitudes, was
from mere necessity abrogated.  To this there were added a certain
endless passion for building, and on that account, endless exactions
from the provinces for furnishing wages to labourers and artificers, and
supplying carriages and whatever else was requisite to the works which
he projected.  Here public halls, there a circus, here a mint, and there
a workhouse for making implements of war; in one place a habitation for
his empress, and in another for his daughter.  Presently great part of
the city was quitted, and all men removed with their wives and children,
as from a town taken by enemies; and when those buildings were
completed, to the destruction of whole provinces, he said, "They are not
right,

let them be done on another plan."  Then they were to be pulled down, or
altered, to undergo perhaps a future demolition.  By such folly was he
continually endeavouring to equal Nicomedia with the city Rome in
magnificence.

 I omit mentioning how many perished on account of their possessions or
wealth; for such evils were exceedingly frequent, and through their
frequency appeared almost lawful.  But this was peculiar to him, that
whenever he saw a field remarkably well cultivated, or a house of
uncommon elegance, a false accusation and a capital punishment were
straightway prepared against the proprietor; so that it seemed as if
Diocletian could not be guilty of rapine without also shedding blood.

CHAP. VIII.

 What was the character of his brother in empire, Maximian, called
Herculius?  Not unlike to that of Diocletian; and, indeed, to render

304

their friendship so close and faithful as it was, there must have been
in them a sameness of inclinations and purposes, a corresponding will
and unanimity in judgment.  Herein alone they were different, that
Diocletian was more avaricious and less resolute, and that Maximian,
with less avarice, had a bolder spirit, prone not to good, but to evil.
For while he possessed Italy, itself the chief seat of empire, and while
other very opulent provinces, such as Africa and Spain, were near at
hand, he took little care to preserve those treasures which he had such
fair opportunities of amassing.  Whenever he stood in need of more, the
richest senators were presently charged, by suborned evidences, as
guilty of aspiring to the empire; so that the chief luminaries of the
senate were daily extinguished.  And thus the treasury, delighting in
blood, overflowed with ill-gotten wealth.

 Add to all this the incontinency of that pestilent wretch, not only in
debauching males, which is hateful and abominable, but also in the
violation of the daughters of the principal men of the state; for
wherever he journeyed, virgins were suddenly torn from the presence of
their parents.  In such enormities he placed his supreme delight, and to
indulge to the utmost his lust and flagitious desires was in his
judgment the felicity of his reign.

 I pass over Constantius, a prince unlike the others, and worthy to have
had the sole government of the empire.

CHAP. IX.

 But the other Maximian (Galerius), chosen by Diocletian for his son-in-
law, was worse, not only than those two princes whom our own times have
experienced, but worse than all the bad princes of former days.  In this
wild beast there dwelt a native barbarity and a savageness foreign to
Roman blood; and no wonder, for his mother was born beyond the Danube,
and it was an inroad of the Carpi that obliged her to cross over and
take refuge in New Dacia.  The form of Galerius corresponded with his
manners.  Of stature tall, full of flesh, and swollen to a horrible bulk
of corpulency; by his speech, gestures, and looks, he made himself a
terror to all that came near him.  His father-in-law, too, dreaded him
excessively.  The cause was this.  Narseus, king of the Persians,
emulating the example set him by his grandfather Sapores, assembled a
great army, and aimed at becoming master of the eastern provinces of the
Roman empire.  Diocletian, apt to be low-spirited and timorous in every
commotion, and fearing a fate like that of Valerian, would not in person
encounter Narseus; but he sent Galerius by the way of Armenia, while he
himself halted in the eastern provinces, and anxiously watched the

event.  It is a custom amongst the barbarians to take everything that
belongs to them into the field.  Galerius laid an ambush for them, and
easily overthrew men embarrassed with the multitude of their followers
and with their baggage.  Having put Narseus to flight, and returned with
much spoil, his own pride and Diocletian's fears were greatly increased.
For after this victory he rose to such a pitch of haughtiness as to
reject the appellation of Caesar;(1) and when he heard that appellation
in letters addressed to him, he cried out, with a stern look and
terrible voice, "How long am I to be Caesar?"  Then he began to act
extravagantly, insomuch that, as if he had been a second Romulus, he
wished to pass for and to be called the offspring of Mars; and that he
might appear the issue of a divinity, he was willing that his mother
Romula should be dishonoured with the name of adulteress.  But, not to
confound the chronological order of events, I delay the recital of his
actions; for indeed afterwards, when Galerius got the title of emperor,
his father-in-law having been divested of the imperial purple, he became
altogether outrageous, and of unbounded arrogance.

 While by such a conduct, and with such associates, Diocles--for that
was the name of Diocletian before he attained sovereignty--occupied
himself in subverting the commonweal, there was no evil which his crimes
did not deserve: nevertheless he reigned most prosperously, as long as
he forbore to defile his hands with the blood of the just; and what
cause he had for persecuting them, I come now to explain.

CHAP. X.

 Diocletian, as being of a timorous disposition, was a searcher into
futurity, and during his abode in the East he began to slay victims,
that from their livers he might obtain a prognostic of events; and while
he sacrificed, some attendants of his, who were Christians, stood by,
and they put the immortal sign on their foreheads.  At this the demons
were chased away, and the holy rites interrupted.  The soothsayers
trembled, unable to investigate the wonted marks on the entrails of the
victims.  They frequently repeated the sacrifices, as if the former had
been unpropitious; but the victims, slain from time to time, afforded no
tokens for divination.  At length Tages, the chief of the
soothsayers,(2) either from guess or from his own observation, said,
"There are profane persons here, who obstruct the rites."  Then
Diocletian, in furious passion, ordered not only all who were assisting
at the holy ceremonies, but also

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all who resided within the palace, to sacrifice, and, in case of their
refusal, to be scourged.  And further, by letters to the commanding
officers, he enjoined that all soldiers should be forced to the like
impiety, under pain of being dismissed the service.  Thus far his rage
proceeded; but at that season he did nothing more against the law and
religion of God.  After an interval of some time he went to winter in
Bithynia; and presently Galerius Caesar came thither, inflamed with
furious resentment, and purposing to excite the inconsiderate old man to
carry on that persecution which he had begun against the Christians.  I
have learned that the cause of his fury was as follows.

CHAP. XI.

 The mother of Galerius, a woman exceedingly superstitious, was a votary
of the gods of the mountains.  Being of such a character, she made
sacrifices almost every day, and she feasted her servants on the meat
offered to idols: but the Christians of her family would not partake of
those entertainments; and while she feasted with the Gentiles, they
continued in fasting and prayer.  On this account she conceived ill-will
against the Christians, and by woman-like complaints instigated her son,
no less superstitious than herself, to destroy them.  So, during the
whole winter, Diocletian and Galerius held councils together, at which
no one else assisted; and it was the universal opinion that their
conferences respected the most momentous affairs of the empire.  The old
man long opposed the fury of Galerius, and showed how pernicious it
would be to raise disturbances throughout the world and to shed so much
blood; that the Christians were wont with eagerness to meet death; and
that it would be enough for him to exclude persons of that religion from
the court(1) and the army.  Yet he could not restrain the madness of
that obstinate man.  He resolved, therefore, to take the opinion of his
friends.  Now this was a circumstance in the bad disposition of
Diocletian, that whenever he determined to do good, he did it without
advice, that the praise might be all his own; hut whenever he determined
to do ill, which he was sensible would be blamed, he called in many
advisers, that his own fault might be imputed to other men: and
therefore a few civil magistrates, and a few military commanders, were
admitted to give their counsel; and the question was put to them
according to priority of rank.  Some, through personal ill-will towards
the Christians, were of opinion that they ought to be cut off, as
enemies of the gods and adversaries of the established religious
ceremonies.  Others thought differently, but, having understood the will
of Galerius, they, either from dread of displeasing or from a desire of
gratifying him, concurred in the opinion given against the Christians.
Yet not even then could the emperor be prevailed upon to yield his
assent.  He determined above all to consult his gods; and to that end he
despatched a soothsayer to inquire of Apollo at Miletus, whose answer wa
such as might be expected from an enemy of the divine religion.  So
Diocletian was drawn over from his purpose.  But although he could
struggle no longer against his friends, and against Caesar and Apollo,
yet still he attempted to observe such moderation as to command the
business to be carried through without bloodshed; whereas Galerius would
have had all persons burnt alive who refused to sacrifice.

CHAP. XII.

 A fit and auspicious day was sought out for the accomplishment of this
undertaking; and the festival of the god Terminus, celebrated on the
sevens of the kalends of March,(2) was chosen, in preference to all
others, to terminate, as it were, the Christian religion.

 "That day, the harbinger of death, arose,

 First cause of ill, and long enduring woes;"

of woes which befell not only the Christians, but the whole earth.  When
that day dawned, in the eighth consulship of Diocletian and seventh of
Maximian, suddenly, while it was yet hardly light, the prefect, together
with chief commanders, tribunes, and officers of the treasury, came to
the church in Nicomedia, and the gates having been forced open, they
searched everywhere for an image of the Divinity.  The books of the Holy
Scriptures were found, and they were committed to the flames; the
utensils and furniture of the church were abandoned to pillage: all was
rapine, confusion, tumult.  That church, situated on rising ground, was
within view of the palace; and Diocletian and Galerius stood, as if on a
watch-tower, disputing long whether it ought to be set on fire.  The
sentiment of Diocletian prevailed, who dreaded lest, so great a fire
being once kindled, some part of the city might he burnt; for there were
many and large buildings that surrounded the church.  Then the Pretorian
Guards came in battle array, with axes and other iron instruments, and
having been let loose everywhere, they in a few hours levelled that very
lofty edifice with the ground.(3)

CHAP. XIII.

 Next day an edict was published, depriving the Christians of all
honours and dignities;

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ordaining also that, without any distinction of rank or degree, they
should be subjected to tortures, and that every suit at law should be
received against them; while, on the other hand, they were debarred from
being plaintiffs in questions of wrong, adultery, or theft; and,
finally, that they should neither be capable of freedom, nor have right
of suffrage.  A certain person tore down this edict, and cut it in
pieces, improperly indeed, but with high spirit, saying in scorn, "These
are the triumphs of Goths and Sarmatians."  Having been instantly seized
and brought to judgment, he was not only tortured, but burnt alive, in
the forms of law; and having displayed admirable patience under
sufferings, he was consumed to ashes.

CHAP. XIV.

 But Galerius, not satisfied with the tenor of the edict, sought in
another way to gain on the emperor.  That he might urge him to excess of
cruelty in persecution, he employed private emissaries to set the palace
on fire; and some part of it having been burnt, the blame was laid on
the Christians as public enemies; and the very appellation of Christian
grew odious(1) on account of that fire.  It was said that the
Christians, in concert with the eunuchs, had plotted to destroy the
princes; and that both of the princes had well-nigh been burnt alive in
their own palace.  Diocletian, shrewd and intelligent as he always chose
to appear, suspected nothing of the contrivance, but, inflamed with
anger, immediately commanded that all his own domestics should be
tortured to force a confession of the plot.  He sat on his tribunal, and
saw innocent men tormented by fire to make discovery.  All magistrates,
and all who had superintendency in the imperial palace, obtained special
commissions to administer the torture; and they strove with each other
who should be first in bringing to light the conspiracy.  No
circumstances, however, of the fact were detected anywhere; for no one
applied the torture to any domestics of Galerius.  He himself was ever
with Diocletian, constantly urging him, and never allowing the passions
of the inconsiderate old man to cool.  Then, after an interval of
fifteen days, he attempted a second fire; but that was perceived
quickly, and extinguished.  Still, however, its author remained unknown.
On that very day, Galerius, who in the middle of winter bad prepared for
his departure, suddenly hurried out of the city, protesting that he fled
to escape being burnt alive.

CHAP. XV.

 And now Diocletian raged, not only against his own domestics, but
indiscriminately against

all; and he began by forcing his daughter Valeria and his wife Prisca to
be polluted by sacrificing.  Eunuchs, once the most powerful, and who
had chief authority at court and with the emperor, were slain.
Presbyters and other officers of the Church were seized, without
evidence by witnesses or confession, condemned, and together with their
families led to execution.  In burning alive, no distinction of sex or
age was regarded; and because of their great multitude, they were not
burnt one after another, but a herd of them were encircled with the same
fire; and servants, having millstones tied about their necks, were cast
into the sea.  Nor was the persecution less grievous on the rest of the
people of God; for the judges, dispersed through all the temples, sought
to compel every one to sacrifice.  The prisons were crowded; tortures,
hitherto unheard of, were invented; and lest justice should be
inadvertently administered to a Christian, altars were placed in the
courts of justice, hard by the tribunal, that every litigant might offer
incense before his cause could be heard.  Thus judges were no otherwise
approached than divinities.  Mandates also had gone to Maximian
Herculius and Constantius, requiring their concurrence in the execution
of the edicts; for in matters even of such mighty importance their
opinion was never once asked.  Herculius, a person of no merciful
temper, yielded ready obedience, and enforced the edicts throughout his
dominions of Italy.  Constantius, on the other hand, lest he should have
seemed to dissent from the injunctions of his superiors, permitted the
demolition of churches,--mere walls, and capable of being built up
again,--but he preserved entire that true temple of God, which is the
human body.(2)

CHAP. XVI.

 Thus was all the earth afflicted; and from east to west, except in the
territories of Gaul, three ravenous wild beasts continued to rage.

 "Had I a hundred mouths, a hundred tongues,

 A voice of brass, and adamantine lungs,

 Not half the dreadful scene could I disclose,"

or recount the punishments inflicted by the rulers in every province on
religious and innocent men.

 But what need of a particular recital of those things, especially to
you, my best beloved Donatus,(3) who above all others was exposed to the
storm of that violent persecution?  For when you had fallen into the
hands of the prefect Flaccinian, no puny murderer, and afterwards of
Hierocles, who from a deputy became president of Bithynia, the author
and adviser of the persecution, and last of all into the hands of his
suc-

307

cessor Priscillian, you displayed to mankind a pattern of invincible
magnanimity.  Having been nine times exposed to racks and diversified
torments, nine times by a glorious profession of your faith you foiled
the adversary; in nine combats you subdued the devil and his chosen
soldiers; and by nine victories you triumphed, over this world and its
terrors.  How pleasing the spectacle to God, when He beheld you a
conqueror, yoking in your chariot not white horses, nor enormous
elephants, but those very men who had led captive the nations!  After
this sort to lord it over the lords of the earth is triumph indeed!
Now, by your valour were they conquered, when you set at defiance their
flagitious edicts, and, through stedfast faith and the fortitude of your
soul, you routed all the vain terrors of tyrannical authority.  Against
you neither scourges, nor iron claws, nor fire, nor sword, nor various
kinds of torture, availed aught; and no violence could bereave you of
your fidelity and persevering resolution.  This it is to be a disciple
of God, and this it is to be a soldier of Christ; a soldier whom no
enemy can dislodge, or wolf snatch, from the heavenly camp; no artifice
ensnare, or pain of body subdue, or torments overthrow.  At length,
after those nine glorious combats, in which the devil was vanquished by
you, he dared not to enter the lists again with one whom, by repeated
trials, he had found unconquerable; and he abstained from challenging
you any more, lest you should have laid hold on the garland of victory
already stretched out to you; an unfading garland, which, although you
have not at present received it, is laid up in the kingdom of the Lord
for your virtue and deserts.  But let us now return to the course of our
narrative.

CHAP. XVII.

 The wicked plan having been carried into execution, Diocletian, whom
prosperity had now abandoned, set out instantly for Rome, there to
celebrate the commencement of the twentieth year of his reign.  That
solemnity was performed on the twelfth of the kalends of December;(1)
and suddenly the emperor, unable to bear the Roman freedom of speech,
peevishly and impatiently burst away from the city.  The kalends of
January(2) approached, at which day the consulship, for the ninth time,
was to be offered to him; yet, rather than continue thirteen days longer
in Rome, he chose that his first appearance as consul should be at
Ravenna.  Having, however, begun his journey in winter, amidst intense
cold and incessant rains, he contracted a slight but lingering disease:
it harassed him without intermission, so that he was obliged for the
most part to be carried in a litter.  Then, at the close of summer, he
made a circuit along the banks of the Danube, and so came to Nicomedia.
His disease had now become more grievous and oppressing; yet he caused
himself to be brought out, in order to dedicate that circus which, at
the conclusion of the twentieth year of his reign, he had erected.
Immediately he grew so languid and feeble, that prayers for his life
were put up to all the gods.  Then suddenly, on the ides of December,(3)
there was heard in the palace sorrow, and weeping, and lamentation, and
the courtiers ran to and fro; there was silence throughout the city, and
a report went of the death, and even of the burial, of Diocletian: but
early on the morrow it was suddenly rumoured that he still lived.  At
this the countenance of his domestics and courtiers changed from
melancholy to gay.  Nevertheless there were who suspected his death to
be kept secret until the arrival of Galerius Caesar, lest in the
meanwhile the soldiery should attempt some change in the government; and
this suspicion grew so universal, that no one would believe the emperor
alive, until, on the kalends of March,(4) he appeared in public, but so
wan, his illness having lasted almost a year, as hardly to be known
again.  The fit of stupor, resembling death, happened on the ides of
December; and although he in some measure recovered, yet he never
attained to perfect health again, for he became disordered in his
judgment, being at certain times insane and at others of sound mind.

CHAP. XVIII.

 Within a few days Galerius Caesar arrived, not to congratulate his
father-in-law on the re-establishment of his health, but to force him to
resign the empire.  Already he had urged Maximian Herculius to the like
purpose, and by the alarm of civil wars terrified the old man into
compliance; and he now assailed Diocletian.  At first, in gentle and
friendly terms, he said that age and growing infirmities disabled
Diocletian for the charge of the commonweal, and that he had need to
give himself some repose after his labours.  Galerius, in confirmation
of his argument, produced the example of Nerva, who laid the weight of
empire on Trajan.

 But Diocletian made answer, that it was unfit for one who had held a
rank, eminent above all others and conspicuous, to sink into the
obscurity of a low station; neither indeed was it safe, because in the
course of so long a reign he must unavoidably have made many enemies.
That the case of Nerva was very different: he, after

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having reigned a single year, felt himself, either from age or from
inexperience in business, unequal to affairs so momentous, and therefore
threw aside the helm of government, and returned to that private life in
which he had already grown old.  But Diocletian added, that if Galerius
wished for the title of emperor, there was nothing to hinder its being
conferred on him and Constantius, as well as on Maximian Herculius.

 Galerius, whose imagination already grasped at the whole empire, saw
that little but an unsubstantial name would accrue to him from this
proposal, and therefore replied that the settlement made by Diocletian
himself ought to be inviolable; a settlement which provided that there
should be two of higher rank vested with supreme power, and two others
of inferior, to assist them.  Easily might concord be preserved between
two equals, never amongst four;(1) that he, if Diocletian would not
resign, must consult his own interests, so as to remain no longer in an
inferior rank, and the last of that rank; that for fifteen years past he
had been confined, as an exile, to Illyricum and the banks of the
Danube, perpetually struggling against barbarous nations, while others,
at their ease, governed dominions more extensive than his, and better
civilized.

 Diocletian already knew, by letters from Maximian Herculius, all that
Galerius had spoken at their conference, and also that he was augmenting
his army; and now, on hearing his discourse, the spiritless old man
burst into tears, and said, "Be it as you will."

 It remained to choose Caesars by common consent.  "But," said Galerius,
"why ask the advice of Maximian and Constantius, since they must needs
acquiesce in whatever we do?"--"Certainly they will," replied
Diocletian, "for we must elect their sons."

 Now Maximian Herculius had a son, Maxentius, married to the daughter of
Galerius, a man of bad and mischievous dispositions, and so proud and
stubborn withal, that he would never pay the wonted obeisance either to
his father or father-in-law, and on that account he was hated by them
both.  Constantius also had a son, Constantine, a young man of very
great worth, and well meriting the high station of Caesar.  The
distinguished comeliness of his figure, his strict attention to all
military duties, his virtuous demeanour and singular affability, had
endeared him to the troops, and made him the choice of every individual.
He was then at court, having long before been created by Diocletian a
tribune of the first order.

 "What is to be done?"  said Galerius, "for that Maxentius deserves not
the office.  He who,

while yet a private man, has treated me with contumely, how will he act
when once he obtains power?"--"But Constantine is amiable, and will so
rule as hereafter, in the opinion of mankind, to surpass the mild
virtues of his father."--"Be it so, if my inclinations and judgment are
to be disregarded.  Men ought to be appointed who are at my disposal,
who will dread me, and never do anything unless by my orders."--"Whom
then shall we appoint?"--"Severus."--"How!  that dancer, that habitual
drunkard, who turns night into day, and day into night?"--"He deserves
the office, for he has approved himself a faithful paymaster and
purveyor of the army; and, indeed, I have already despatched him to
receive the purple from the hands of Maximian."--"Well, I consent; but
whom else do you suggest?"--"Him," said Galerius, pointing out Daia, a
young man, half-barbarian.  Now Galerius had lately bestowed part of his
own name on that youth, and called him Maximin, in like manner as
Diocletian formerly bestowed on Galerius the name of Maximian, for the
omen's sake, because Maximian Herculius had served him with unshaken
fidelity.--"Who is that you present?"--"A kinsman of mine."--"Alas!"
said Diocletian, heaving a deep sigh, "you do not propose men fit for
the charge of public affairs!"--"I have tried them."--"Then do you look
to it, who are about to assume the administration of the empire: as for
me, while I continued emperor, long and diligent have been my labours in
providing for the security of the commonweal; and now, should anything
disastrous ensue, the blame will not be mine."

CHAP. XIX.

 Matters having been thus concerted, Diocletian and Galerius went in
procession to publish the nomination of Caesars.  Every one looked at
Constantine; for there was no doubt that the choice would fall on him.
The troops present, as well as the chief soldiers of the other legions,
who had been summoned to the solemnity, fixed their eyes on Constantine,
exulted in the hope of his approaching election, and occupied themselves
in prayers for his prosperity.  Near three miles from Nicomedia there is
an eminence, on the summit of which Galerius formerly received the
purple; and there a pillar, with the statue of Jupiter, was placed.
Thither the procession went.  An assembly of the soldiers was called.
Diocletian, with tears, harangued them, and said that he was become
infirm, that he needed repose after his fatigues, anti that he would
resign the empire into hands more vigorous and able, and at the same
time appoint new Caesars.  The spectators, with the utmost earnestness,
waited for the nomination.  Suddenly he declared that

309

the Caesars were Severus and Maximin.  The amazement was universal.
Constantine stood near in public view, and men began to question amongst
themselves whether his name too had not been changed into Maximin; when,
in the sight of all, Galerius, stretching back his hand, put Constantine
aside, and drew Daia forward, and, having divested him of the garb of a
private person, set him in the most conspicuous place.  All men wondered
who he could be, and from whence he came; but none ventured to interpose
or move objections, so confounded were their minds at the strange and
unlooked-for event.  Diocletian took off his purple robe, put it on
Daia, and resumed his own original name of Diocles.  He descended from
the tribunal, and passed through Nicomedia in a chariot; and then this
old emperor, like a veteran soldier freed from military service, was
dismissed into his own country; while Daia, lately taken from the
tending of cattle in forests to serve as a common soldier, immediately
made one of the lifeguard, presently a tribune, and next day Caesar,
obtained authority to trample under foot and oppress the empire of the
East; a person ignorant alike of war and of civil affairs, and from a
herdsman become a leader of armies.

CHAP. XX.

 Galerius having effected the expulsion of the two old men, began to
consider himself alone as the sovereign of the Roman empire.  Necessity
had required the appointment of Constantius to the first rank; but
Galerius made small account of one who was of an easy temper, and of
health declining and precarious.  He looked for the speedy death of
Constantius.  And although that prince should recover, it seemed not
difficult to force him to put off the imperial purple; for what else
could he do, if pressed by his three colleagues to abdicate?  Galerius
had Licinius ever about his person, his old and intimate acquaintance,
and his earliest companion in arms, whose counsels he used in the
management of all affairs; yet he would not nominate Licinius to the
dignity of Caesar, with the title of son, for he purposed to nominate
him, in the room of Constantius, to the dignity of emperor, with the
title of brother, while he himself might hold sovereign authority, and
rule over the whole globe with unbounded licence.  After that, he meant
to have solemnized the vicennial festival; to have conferred on his son
Candidianus, then a boy of nine years of age, the office of Caesar; and,
in conclusion, to have resigned, as Diocletian had done.  And thus,
Licinius and Severus being emperors, and Maximin and Candidianus in the
next station of Caesars, he fancied that, environed as it were by an
impregnable wall, he should lead an old age.  of security and peace.
Such were his projects; but God, whom he had made his adversary,
frustrated all those imaginations.

CHAP. XXI.

 Having thus attained to the highest power, he bent his mind to afflict
that empire into which he had opened his way.  It is the manner and
practice of the Persians for the people to yield themselves slaves to
their kings, and for the kings to treat their people as slaves.  This
flagitious man, from the time of his victories over the Persians, was
not ashamed incessantly to extol such an institution, and he resolved to
establish it in the Roman dominions; and because he could not do this by
an express law, he so acted, in imitation of the Persian kings, as to
bereave men of their liberties.  He first of all degraded those whom he
meant to punish; and then not only were inferior magistrates put to the
torture by him, but also the chief men in cities, and persons of the
most eminent rank, and this too in matters of little moment, and in
civil questions.  Crucifixion was the punishment ready prepared in
capital cases; and for lesser crimes, fetters.  Matrons of honourable
station were dragged into workhouses; and when any man was to be
scourged, there were four posts fixed in the ground, and to them he was
tied, after a manner unknown in the chastisement of slaves.  What shall
I say of his apartment for sport, and of his favourite diversions?  He
kept bears, most resembling himself in fierceness and bulk, whom he had
collected together during the course of his reign.  As often as he chose
to indulge his humour, he ordered some particular bear to be brought in,
and men were thrown to that savage animal, rather to be swallowed up
than devoured; and when their limbs were torn asunder, he laughed with
excessive complacency: nor did he ever sup without being spectator of
the effusion of human blood.  Men of private station were condemned to
be burnt alive; and he began this mode of execution by edicts against
the Christians, commanding that, after torture and condemnation, they
should be burnt at a slow fire.  They were fixed to a stake, and first a
moderate flame was applied to the soles of their feet, until the
muscles, contracted by burning, were torn from the bones; then torches,
lighted and put out again, were directed to all the members of their
bodies, so that no part had any exemption.  Meanwhile cold water was
continually poured on their faces, and their mouths moistened, lest, by
reason of their jaws being parched, they should expire.  At length they
did expire, when, after many hours, the violent heat had consumed their
skin and penetrated into their intestines.  The dead carcases were laid
on a

310

funeral pile, and wholly burnt; their bones were gathered, ground to
powder, and thrown into the river, or into the sea.

CHAP. XXII.

 And now that cruelty, which he had learned in torturing the Christians,
became habitual, and he exercised it against all men
indiscriminately.(1) He was not wont to inflict the slighter sorts of
punishment, as to banish, to imprison, or to send criminals to work in
the mines; but to burn, to crucify, to expose to wild beasts, were
things done daily, and without hesitation.  For smaller offences, those
of his own household and his stewards were chastised with lances,
instead of rods; and, in great offences, to be beheaded was an
indulgence shown to very few; and it seemed as a favour, on account of
old services, when one was permitted to die in the easiest manner.  But
these were slight evils in the government of Galerius, when compared
with what follows.  For eloquence was extinguished, pleaders cut off,
and the learned in the laws either exiled or slain.  Useful letters came
to be viewed in the same light as magical and forbidden arts; and all
who possessed them were trampled upon and execrated, as if they had been
hostile to government, and public enemies.  Law was dissolved, and
unbounded licence permitted to judges,--to judges chosen from amongst
the soldiery, rude and illiterate men, and let loose upon the provinces,
without assessors to guide or control them.

CHAP. XXIII.

 But that which gave rise to public and universal calamity, was the tax
imposed at once on each province and city.  Surveyors having been spread
abroad, and occupied in a general and severe scrutiny, horrible scenes
were exhibited, like the outrages of victorious enemies, and the
wretched state of captives.  Each spot of ground was measured, vines and
fruit-trees numbered, lists taken of animals of every kind, and a capi-
tation-roll made up.  In cities, the common people, whether residing
within or without the walls, were assembled, the market-places filled
with crowds of families, all attended with their children and slaves,
the noise of torture and scourges resounded, sons were hung on the rack
to force discovery of the effects of their fathers, the most trusty
slaves compelled by pain to bear witness against their masters, and
wives to bear witness against their husbands, In default of all other
evidence, men were tortured to speak against themselves; and no sooner
did agony oblige them to acknowledge what they had not, but those
imaginary effects were noted down in the lists.  Neither youth, nor old
age, nor sickness, afforded any exemption.  The diseased and the infirm
were carried in; the age of each was estimated; and, that the capitation
-tax might be enlarged, years were added to the young and struck off
from the old.  General lamentation and sorrow prevailed.  Whatever, by
the laws of war, conquerors had done to the conquered, the like did this
man presume to perpetrate against Romans and the subjects of Rome,
because his forefathers had been made liable to a like tax imposed by
the victorious Trajan, as a penalty on the Dacians for their frequent
rebellions.  After this, money was levied for each head, as if a price
had been paid for liberty to exist; yet full trust was not reposed on
the same set of surveyors, but others and others still were sent round
to make further discoveries; and thus the tributes were redoubled, not
because the new surveyors made any fresh discoveries, but because they
added at pleasure to the former rates, lest they should seem to have
been employed to no purpose.  Meanwhile the number of animals decreased,
and men died; nevertheless taxes were paid even for the dead, so that no
one could either live or cease to live without being subject to
impositions.  There remained mendicants alone, from whom nothing could
be exacted, and whom their misery and wretchedness secured from ill-
treatment.  But this pious man had compassion on them, and determining
that they should remain no longer in indigence, he caused them all to be
assembled, put on board vessels, and sunk in the sea.  So merciful was
he in making provision that under his administration no man should want!
And thus, while he took effectual measures that none, under the reigned
pretext of poverty, should elude the tax, he put to death a multitude of
real wretches, in violation of every law of humanity.

CHAP. XXIV.

 Already the judgment of God approached him, and that season ensued in
which his fortunes began to droop and to waste away.  While occupied in
the manner that I have described above, he did not set himself to
subvert or expel Constantius, but waited for his death, not imagining,
however, that it was so nigh.  Constantius, having become exceedingly
ill, wrote to Galerius, and requested that his son Constantine might be
sent to see him.  He had made a like request long before, but in vain;
for Galerius meant nothing less than to grant it.  On the contrary, he
laid repeated snares for the life of that young man, because he durst
not use open violence, lest he should stir up civil wars against
himself, and incur that which he most dreaded, the hate

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and resentment of the army.  Under pretence of manly exercise and
recreation, he made him combat with wild beasts: but this device was
frustrated; for the power of God protected Constantine, and in the very
moment of jeopardy rescued him from the hands of Galerius.  At length,
Galerius, when he could no longer avoid complying with the request of
Constantius, one evening gave Constantine a warrant to depart, and
commanded him to set out next morning with the imperial despatches.
Galerius meant either to find some pretext for detaining Constantine, or
to forward orders to Severus for arresting him on the road.  Constantine
discerned his purpose; and therefore, after supper, when the emperor was
gone to rest, he hasted away, carried off from the principal stages all
the horses maintained at the public expense, and escaped.  Next day the
emperor, having purposely remained in his bed-chamber until noon,
ordered Constantine to be called into his presence; but he learnt that
Constantine had set out immediately after supper.  Outrageous with
passion, he ordered horses to be made ready, that Constantine might be
pursued and dragged back; and hearing that all the horses had been
carried off from the great road, he could hardly refrain from tears.
Meanwhile Constantine, journeying with incredible rapidity, reached his
father, who was already about to expire.  Constantius recommended his
son to the soldiers, delivered the sovereign authority into his hands,
and then died, as his wish had long been, in peace and quiet.

 Constantine Augustus, having assumed the government, made it his first
care to restore the Christians to the exercise of their worship and to
their God; and so began his administration by reinstating(1) the holy
religion.

CHAP. XXV.

 Some few days after, the portrait of Constantine, adorned with laurels,
was brought to the pernicious wild beast, that, by receiving that
symbol, he might acknowledge Constantine in the quality of emperor.  He
hesitated long whether to receive it or not, and he was about to commit
both the portrait and its bearer to the flames, but his confidants
dissuaded him from a resolution so frantic.  They admonished him of the
danger, and they represented that, if Constantine came with an armed
force, all the soldiers, against whose inclination obscure or unknown
Caesars had been created, would acknowledge him, and crowd eagerly to
his standard.  So Galerius, although with the utmost unwillingness,
accepted the portrait, and sent the imperial purple to Constantine, that
he might seem of his own accord to have received that prince into
partnership of power with him.  And now his plans were deranged, and he
could not, as he intended formerly, admit Licinius, without exceeding
the limited number of emperors.  But this he devised, that Severus, who
was more advanced in life, should be named emperor, and that
Constantine, instead of the title of emperor, to which he had been
named, should receive that of Caesar in common with Maximin Daia, and so
be degraded from the second place to the fourth.

CHAP. XXVI.

 Things seemed to be arranged in some measure to the satisfaction of
Galerius, when another alarm was brought, that his son-in-law Maxentius
had been declared emperor at Rome.  The cause was this: Galerius having
resolved by permanent taxes to devour the empire, soared to such
extravagance in folly, as not to allow an exemption from that thraldom
even to the Roman people.  Tax-gatherers therefore were appointed to go
to Rome, and make out lists of the citizens.  Much about the same time
Galerius had reduced the Pretorian Guards.  There remained at Rome a few
soldiers of that body, who, profiting of the opportunity, put some
magistrates to death, and, with the acquiescence of the tumultuary
populace, clothed Maxentius in the imperial purple.  Galerius, on
receiving this news, was disturbed at the strangeness of the event, but
not much dismayed.  He hated Maxentius, and he could not bestow on him
the dignity of Caesar already enjoyed by two (Daia and Constantine);
besides, he thought it enough for him to have once bestowed that dignity
against his inclination.  So he sent for Severus, exhorted him to regain
his dominion and sovereignty, and he put under his command that army
which Maximian Herculius had formerly commanded, that he might attack
Maxentius at Rome.  There the soldiers of Maximian had been oftentimes
received with every sort of luxurious accommodation, so that they were
not only interested to preserve the city, but they also longed to fix
their residence in it.

 Maxentius well knew the enormity of his own offences; and although he
had as it were an hereditary claim to the services of his father's army,
and might have hoped to draw it over to himself, yet he reflected that
this consideration might occur to Galerius also, and induce him to leave
Severus in Illyricum, and march in person with his own army against
Rome.  Under such apprehensions, Maxentius sought to protect himself
from the danger that hung over him.  To his father, who since his
abdication resided in Campania, he sent the purple, and saluted him
again Augustus.  Maximian, given to change,

312

eagerly resumed that purple of which he had unwillingly divested
himself.  Meanwhile Severus marched on, and with his troops approached
the walls of the city.  Presently the soldiers raised up their ensigns,
abandoned Severus, and yielded themselves to Maxentius, against whom
they had come.  What remained but flight for Severus, thus deserted?  He
was encountered by Maximian, who had resumed the imperial dignity.  On
this he took refuge in Ravenna, and shut himself up there with a few
soldiers.  But perceiving that he was about to be delivered up, he
voluntarily surrendered himself, and restored the purple to him from
whom he had received it; and after this he obtained no other grace but
that of an easy death, for he was compelled to open his veins, and in
that gentle manner expired.

CHAP. XXVII.

 But Maximian, who knew the outrageous temper of Galerius, began to
consider that, fired with rage on hearing of the death of Severus, he
would march into Italy, and that possibly he might be joined by Data,
and so bring into the field forces too powerful to be resisted.  Having
therefore fortified Rome, and made diligent provision for a defensive
war, Maximian went into Gaul, that he might give his younger daughter
Fausta in marriage to Constantine, and thus win over that prince to his
interest.  Meantime Galerius assembled his troops, invaded Italy, and
advanced towards Rome, resolving to extinguish the senate and put the
whole people to the sword.  But he found everything shut and fortified
against him.  There was no hope of carrying the place by storm, and to
besiege it was an arduous undertaking; for Galerius had not brought with
him an army sufficient to invest the walls.  Probably, having never seen
Rome, he imagined it to be little superior in size to those cities with
which be was acquainted.  But some of his legions, detesting the wicked
enterprise of a father against his son-in-law, and of Romans against
Rome, renounced his authority, and carried over their ensigns to the
enemy.  Already had his remaining soldiers begun to waver, when
Galerius, dreading a fate like that of Severus, and having his haughty
spirit broken and humiliated, threw himself at the feet of his soldiers,
and continued to beseech them that he might not be delivered to the foe,
until, by the promise of mighty largesses, he prevailed on them.  Then
he retreated from Rome, and fled in great disorder.  Easily might he
have been cut off in his flight, had any one pursued him even with a
small body of troops.  He was aware of his danger, and allowed his
soldiers to disperse themselves, and to plunder and destroy far and
wide, that, if there were any pursuers, they might be deprived of all
means of subsistence in a mined country.  So the parts of Italy through
which that pestilent band took its course were wasted, all things
pillaged, matrons forced, virgins violated, parents and husbands
compelled by torture to disclose where they had concealed their goods,
and their wives and daughters; flocks and herds of cattle were driven
off like spoils taken from barbarians.  And thus did he, once a Roman
emperor, but now the ravager of Italy, retire into his own territories,
after having afflicted all men indiscriminately with the calamities of
war.  Long ago, indeed, and at the very time of his obtaining sovereign
power, he had avowed himself the enemy of the Roman name; and he
proposed that the empire should be called, not the Roman, but the Dacian
empire.

CHAP. XXVIII.

 After the flight of Galerius, Maximian, having returned from Gaul, held
authority in common with his son; but more obedience was yielded to the
young man than to the old: for Maxentius had most power, and had been
longest in possession of it; and it was to him that Maximian owed on
this occasion the imperial dignity.  The old man was impatient at being
denied the exercise of uncontrolled sovereignty, and envied his son with
a childish spirit of rivalry; and therefore he began to consider how he
might expel Maxentius and resume his ancient dominion.  This appeared
easy, because the soldiers who deserted Severus had originally served in
his own army.  He called an assembly of the people of Rome, and of the
soldiers, as if he had been to make an harangue on the calamitous
situation of public affairs.  After having spoken much on that subject,
he stretched his hands towards his son, charged him as author of all
ills and prime cause of the calamities of the state, and then tore the
purple from his shoulders.  Maxentius, thus stripped, leaped headlong
from the tribunal, and was received into the arms of the soldiers.
Their rage and clamour confounded the unnatural old man, and, like
another Tarquin the Proud, he was driven from Rome.

CHAP. XXIX.

 Then Maximian returned into Gaul; and after having made some stay in
those quarters, he went to Galerius, the enemy of his son, that they
might confer together, as he pretended, about the settlement of the
commonweal; but his true purpose was, under colour of reconciliation, to
find an opportunity of murdering Galerius, and of seizing his share of
the empire, instead of his own, from which he had been everywhere
excluded.

313

 Diocles was at the court of Galerius when Maximian arrived; for
Galerius, meaning now to invest Licinius with the ensigns of supreme
power in the room of Severus, had lately sent for Diocles to be present
at the solemnity.  So it was performed in presence both of him and of
Maximian; and thus there were six who ruled the empire at one and the
same time.(1)

 Now the designs of Maximian having been frustrated, he took flight, as
he had done twice before, and returned into Gaul, with a heart full of
wickedness, and intending by treacherous devices to overreach
Constantine, who was not only his own son-in-law, but also the child of
his son-in-law; and that he might the more successfully deceive, he laid
aside the imperial purple.  The Franks had taken up arms.  Maximian
advised the unsuspecting Constantine not to lead all his troops against
them, and he said that a few soldiers would suffice to subdue those
barbarians.  He gave this advice that an army might be left for him to
win over to himself, and that Constantine, by reason of his scanty
forces, might be overpowered.  The young prince believed the advice to
be judicious, because given by an aged and experienced commander; and he
followed it, because given by a father-in-law.  He marched, leaving the
most considerable part of his forces behind.  Maximian waited a few
days; and as soon as, by his calculation, Constantine had entered the
territory of the barbarians, he suddenly resumed the imperial purple,
seized the public treasures, after his wont made ample donatives to the
soldiery, and feigned that such disasters had befallen Constantine as
soon after befell himself.  Constantine was presently informed of those
events, and, by marches astonishingly rapid, he flew back with his army.
Maximian, not yet prepared to oppose him, was overpowered at unawares,
and the soldiers returned to their duty.  Maximian had possessed himself
of Marseilles (he fled thither), and shut the gates.  Constantine drew
nigh, and seeing Maximian on the walls, addressed him in no harsh or
hostile language, and demanded what he meant, and what it was that he
wanted, and why he had acted in a way so peculiarly unbecoming him.  But
Maximian from the walls incessantly uttered abuse and curses against
Constantine.  Then, of a sudden, the gates on the opposite side having
been unbarred, the besiegers were admitted into the city.  The rebel
emperor, and unnatural parent and a perfidious father-in-law, was
dragged into the presence of Constantine, heard a recital made of his
crimes, was divested of his imperial robe, and, after this reprimand,
obtained his life.

CHAP. XXX.

 Maximian, having thus forfeited the respect due to an emperor and a
father-in-law, grew impatient at his abased condition, and, emboldened
by impunity, formed new plots against Constantine.  He addressed himself
to his daughter Fausta, and, as well by entreaties as by the soothing of
flattery, solicited her to betray her husband.  He promised to obtain
for her a more honourable alliance than that with Constantine; and he
requested her to allow the bed-chamber of the emperor to be left open,
and to be slightly guarded.  Fausta undertook to do whatever he asked,
and instantly revealed the whole to her husband.  A plan was laid for
detecting Maximian in the very execution of his crime.  They placed a
base eunuch to be murdered instead of the emperor.  At the dead of night
Maximian arose, and perceived all things to be favourable for his
insidious purpose.  There were few soldiers on guard, and these too at
some distance from the bed-chamber.  However, to prevent suspicion, he
accosted them, and said that he had had a dream which he wished to
communicate to his son-in-law.  He went in armed, slew the eunuch,
sprung forth exultingly, and avowed the murder.  At that moment
Constantine showed himself on the opposite side with a band of soldiers;
the dead body was brought out of the bed-chamber; the murderer, taken in
the fact, all aghast,

"Stood like a stone, silent and motionless;"

while Constantine upbraided him for his impiety and enormous guilt.  At
last Maximian obtained leave that the manner of his death should be at
his own choice, and he strangled himself.

 Thus that mightiest sovereign of Rome--who ruled so long with exceeding
glory, and who celebrated his twentieth anniversary--thus that most
haughty man had his neck broken, and ended his detestable life by a
death base and ignominious.

CHAP. XXXI.

 From Maximian, God, the avenger of religion and of His people, turned
his eyes to Galerius, the author of the accursed persecution, that in
his punishment also He might manifest the power of His majesty.
Galerius, too, was purposing to celebrate his twentieth anniversary; and
as, under that pretext, he had, by new taxes payable in gold and silver,
oppressed the provinces, so now, that he might recompense them by
celebrating.  the promised festival, he used the like pretext for
repeating his oppressions.  Who can relate in fit terms the methods used
to harass mankind in levying the tax, and especially with regard to corn
and the other fruits of the earth?  The officers, or rather the execu-

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tioners, of all the different magistrates, seized on each individual,
and would never let go their hold.  No man knew to whom he ought to make
payment first.  There was no dispensation given to those who had
nothing; and they were required, under pain of being variously tortured,
instantly to pay, notwithstanding their inability.  Many guards were set
round, no breathing time was granted, or, at any season of the year, the
least respite from exactions.  Different magistrates, or the officers of
different magistrates, frequently contended for the right of levying the
tax from the same persons.  No threshing-floor without a tax-gatherer,
no vintage without a watch, and nought left for the sustenance of the
husbandman!  That food should be snatched from the mouths of those who
had earned it by toil, was grievous: the hope, however, of being
afterwards relieved, might have made that grievance supportable; but it
was necessary for every one who appeared at the anniversary festival to
provide robes of various kinds, and gold and silver besides.  And one
might have said," How shall I furnish myself with those things, O tyrant
void of understanding, if you carry off the whole fruits of my ground,
and violently seize its expected produce?"  Thus, throughout the
dominions of Galerius, men were spoiled of their goods, and all was
raked together into the imperial treasury, that the emperor might be
enabled to perform his vow of celebrating a festival which

he was doomed never to celebrate.

CHAP. XXXII.

 Maximin Daia was incensed at the nomination of Licinius to the dignity
of emperor, and he would no longer be called Caesar, or allow himself to
be ranked as third in authority.  Galerius, by repeated messages,
besought Daia to yield, and to acquiesce in his arrangement, to give
place to age, and to reverence the grey hairs of Licinius.  But Daia
became more and more insolent.  He urged that, as it was he who first
assumed the purple, so, by possession, he had right to priority in rank;
and he set at nought the entreaties and the injunctions of Galerius.
That brute animal was stung to the quick, and bellowed when the mean
creature whom he had made Caesar, in expectation of his thorough
obsequiousness, forgot the great favour conferred on him, and impiously
withstood the requests and will of his benefactor.  Galerius at length,
overcome by the obstinacy of Daia, abolished the subordinate title of
Caesar, gave to himself and Licinius that of the Augusti, and to Daia
and Constantine that of sons of the Augusti.  Daia, some time after, in
a letter to Galerius, took occasion to observe, that at the last general
muster he had been saluted by his army under the title of Augustus.
Galerius, vexed and grieved at this, commanded that all the four should
have the appellation of emperor.(1)

CHAP. XXXIII.

 And now, when Galerius was in the eighteenth year of his reign, God
struck him with an incurable plague.  A malignant ulcer formed itself
low down in his secret parts, and spread by degrees.  The physicians
attempted to eradicate it, and healed up the place affected.  But the
sore, after having been skinned over, broke out again; a vein burst, and
the blood flowed in such quantity as to endanger his life.  The blood,
however, was stopped, although with difficulty.  The physicians had to
undertake their operations anew, and at length they cicatrized the
wound.  In consequence of some slight motion of his body, Galerius
received a hurt, and the blood streamed more abundantly than before.  He
grew emaciated, pallid, and feeble, and the bleeding then stanched.  The
ulcer began to be insensible to the remedies applied, and a gangrene
seized all the neighbouring parts.  It diffused itself the wider the
more the corrupted flesh was cut away, and everything employed as the
means of cure served but to aggravate the disease.

"The masters of the healing art withdrew."

Then famous physicians were brought in from all quarters; but no human
means had any success.  Apollo and AEsculapius were besought
importunately for remedies: Apollo did prescribe, and the distemper
augmented.  Already approaching to its deadly crisis, it had occupied
the lower regions of his body: his bowels came out, and his whole seat
putrefied.  The luckless physicians, although without hope of overcoming
the malady, ceased not to apply fomentations and administer medicines.
The humours having been repelled, the distemper attacked his intestines,
anti worms were generated in his body.  The stench was so foul as to
pervade not only the palace, but even the whole city; and no wonder, for
by that time the passages from his bladder and bowels, having been
devoured by the worms, became indiscriminate, and his body, with
intolerable anguish, was dissolved into one mass of corruption.(2)

 "Stung to the soul, he bellowed with the pain,

 So roars the wounded bull."--PITT.

 They applied warm flesh of animals to the chief seat of the disease,
that the warmth might draw out those minute worms; and accordingly, when
the dressings were removed, there issued forth an innumerable swarm:
nevertheless the

315

prolific disease had hatched swarms much more abundant to prey upon and
consume his intestines.  Already, through a complication of distempers,
the different parts of his body had lost their natural form: the
superior part was dry, meagre, and haggard, and his ghastly-looking skin
had settled itself deep amongst his bones while the inferior, distended
like bladders, re rained no appearance of joints.  These things happened
in the course of a complete year; and at length, overcome by calamities,
he was obliged to acknowledge God, and he cried aloud, in the intervals
of raging pain, that he would re-edify the Church which he had
demolished, and make atonement for his misdeeds; and when he was near
his end, he published an edict of the tenor following:--

CHAP. XXXIV.

 "Amongst our other regulations for the permanent advantage of the
commonweal, we have hitherto studied to reduce all things to a
conformity with the ancient laws and public discipline of the Romans.

 "It has been our aim in an especial manner, that the Christians also,
who had abandoned the religion of their forefathers, should return to
right opinions.  For such wilfulness and folly had, we know not how,
taken possession of them, that instead of observing those ancient
institutions, which possibly their own forefathers had established,
they, through caprice, made laws to themselves, and drew together into
different societies many men of widely different persuasions.

 "After the publication of our edict, ordaining the Christians to betake
themselves to the observance of the ancient institutions, many of them
were subdued through the fear of danger, and moreover many of them were
exposed to jeopardy; nevertheless, because great numbers still persist
in their opinions, and because we have perceived that at present they
neither pay reverence and due adoration to the gods, nor yet worship
their own God, therefore we, from our wonted clemency in bestowing
pardon on all, have judged it fit to extend our indulgence to those men,
and to permit them again to be Christians, and to establish the places
of their religious assemblies; yet so as that they offend not against
good order.

 "By another mandate we purpose to signify unto magistrates how they
ought herein to demean themselves.

 "Wherefore it will be the duty of the Christians, in consequence of
this our toleration, to pray to their God for our welfare, and for that
of the public, and for their own; that the commonweal may continue safe
in every quarter, and that they themselves may live securely in their
habitations."

CHAP. XXXV.

 This edict was promulgated at Nicomedia on the day preceding the
kalends of May,(1) in the eighth consulship of Galerius, and the second
of Maximin Daia.  Then the prison-gates having been thrown open, you, my
best beloved Donatus,(2) together with the other confessors for the
faith, were set at liberty from a jail, which had been your residence
for six years.  Galerius, however, did not, by publication of this
edict, obtain the divine forgiveness.  In a few days after he was
consumed by the horrible disease that had brought on an universal
putrefaction.  Dying, he recommended his wife and son to Licinius, and
delivered them over into his hands.  This event was known at Nicomedia
before the end of the month.(3) His vicennial anniversary was to have
been celebrated on the ensuing kalends of March.(4)

CHAP. XXXVI.

 Daia, on receiving this news, hasted with relays of horses from the
East, to seize the dominions of Galerius, and, while Licinius lingered
in Europe, to arrogate to himself all the country as far as the narrow
seas of Chalcedon.  On his entry into Bithynia, he, with the view of
acquiring immediate popularity, abolished Galerius' tax, to the great
joy of all.  Dissension arose between the two emperors, and almost an
open war.  They stood on the opposite shores with their armies.  Peace,
however, and amity were established under certain conditions.  Licinius
and Daia met on the narrow sees, concluded a treaty, and in token of
friendship joined hands.  Then Daia, believing all things to be in
security, returned (to Nicomedia), and was in his new dominions what he
had been in Syria and Egypt.  First of all, he took away the toleration
and general protection granted by Galerius to the Christians, and, for
this end, he secretly procured addresses from different cities,
requesting that no Christian church might be built within their walls;
and thus he meant to make that which was his own choice appear as if
extorted from him by importunity.  In compliance with those addresses,
he introduced a new mode of government in things respecting religion,
and for each city he created a high priest, chosen from among the
persons of most distinction.  The office of those men was to make daily
sacrifices to all their gods, and, with the aid of the former priests,
to prevent the Christians from erecting churches, or from worshipping
God either publicly or in private; and he authorized them to compel the
Christians to sacrifice to idols, and,

316

on their refusal, to bring them before the civil magistrate; and, as if
this had not been enough, in every province he established a
superintendent priest, one of chief eminence in the state; and he
commanded that all those priests newly instituted should appear in white
habits, that being the most honourable distinction of dress.(1) And as
to the Christians, he purposed to follow the course that he had followed
in the East, and, affecting the show of clemency, he forbade the slaying
of God's servants, but he gave command that they should be mutilated.
So the confessors for the faith had their ears and nostrils slit, their
hands and feet lopped off, and their eyes dug out of the sockets.

CHAP. XXXVII.

 While occupied in this plan, he received letters from Constantine which
deterred him from proceeding in its execution, so for a time he
dissembled his purpose; nevertheless any Christian that fell within his
power was privily thrown into the sea.  Neither did he cease from his
custom of sacrificing every day in the palace.  It was also an invention
of his to cause all animals used for food to be slaughtered, not by
cooks, but by priests at the altars.; so that nothing was ever served
up, unless foretasted, consecrated, and sprinkled with wine, according
to the rites of paganism; and whoever was invited to an entertainment
must needs have returned from it impure and defiled.  In all things else
he resembled his preceptor Galerius.  For if aught chanced to have been
left untouched by Diocles and Maximian, that did Daia greedily and
shamelessly carry off.  And now the granaries, of each individual were
shut, anti all warehouses sealed up, and taxes, not yet due, were levied
by anticipation.  Hence famine, from neglect of cultivation, and the
prices of all things enhanced beyond measure.  Herds and flocks were
driven from their pasture for the daily sacrifice.  By gorging his
soldiers with the flesh of sacrifices, he so corrupted them, that they
disdained their wonted pittance in corn, and wantonly threw it away.
Meanwhile Daia recompensed his bodyguards, who were very numerous, with
costly raiment and gold medals, made donatives in silver to the common
soldiers and recruits, and bestowed every sort of largess on the
barbarians who served in his army.  As to grants of the property of
living persons, which he made to his favourites whenever they chose to
ask what belonged to another, I know not whether the same thanks might
not be due to him that are given to merciful robbers, who spoil without
murdering.

CHAP. XXXVIII.

 But that which distinguished his character, and in which he transcended
all former emperors, was his desire of debauching women.  What else can
I call it but a blind and headstrong passion?  Yet such epithets feebly
express my indignation in reciting his enormities.  The magnitude of the
guilt overpowers my tongue, and makes it unequal to its office.  Eunuchs
and panders made search everywhere, and no sooner was any comely face
discovered, than husbands and parents were obliged to withdraw.  Matrons
of quality and virgins were stripped of their robes, and all their limbs
were inspected, lest any part should be unworthy of the bed of the
emperor.  Whenever a woman resisted, death by drowning was inflicted on
her; as if, under the reign of this adulterer, chastity had been
treason.  Some men there were, who, beholding the violation of wives
whom for virtue and fidelity they affectionately loved, could not endure
their anguish of mind, and so killed themselves.  While this monster
ruled, it was singular deformity alone which could shield the honour of
any female from his savage desires.  At length he introduced a custom
prohibiting marriage unless with the imperial permission; and he made
this an instrument to serve the purposes of his lewdness.  After having
debauched freeborn maidens, he gave them for wives to his slaves.  His
conflicts also imitated the example of the emperor, and violated with
impunity the beds of their dependants.  For who was there to punish such
offences?  As for the daughters of men of middle rank, any who were
inclined took them by force.  Ladies of quality, who could not be taken
by force, were petitioned for, and obtained from the emperor by way of
free gift.  Nor could a father oppose this; for the imperial warrant
having been once signed, he had no alternative bat to die, or to receive
some barbarian as his son-in-law.  For hardly was there any person in
the lifeguard except of those people, who, having been driven from their
habitations by the Goths in the twentieth year of Diocletian, yielded
themselves to Galerius.  and entered into his service.  It was ill for
humankind, that men who had fled from the bondage of barbarians should
thus come to lord it over the Romans.  Environed by such guards, Daia
oppressed and insulted the Eastern empire.

CHAP. XXXIX.

 Now Daia, in gratifying his libidinous desires, made his own will the
standard of right; and therefore he would not refrain from soliciting
the widow of Galerius, the Empress Valeria, to whom he had lately given
the appellation of mother.  After the death of her husband, she

317

had repaired to Daia, because she imagined that she might live with more
security in his dominions than elsewhere, especially as he was a married
man; but the flagitious creature became instantly inflamed with a
passion for her.  Valeria was still in weeds, the time of her mourning
not being yet expired.  He sent a message to her proposing marriage, and
offering, on her compliance, to put away his wife.  She frankly returned
an answer such as she alone could dare to do: first, that she would not
treat of marriage while she was in weeds, and while the ashes of
Galerius, her husband, and, by adoption, the father of Daia, were yet
warm; next, that he acted impiously, in proposing to divorce a faithful
wife to make room for another, whom in her turn he would also cast off;
and, lastly, that it was indecent, unexampled, and unlawful for a woman
of her title and dignity to engage a second time in wedlock.(1) This
bold answer having been reported to Daia, presently his desires changed
into rage and furious resentment.  He pronounced sentence of forfeiture
against the princess, seized her goods, removed her attendants, tortured
her eunuchs to death, and banished her and her mother Prisca: but he
appointed no particular place for her residence while in banishment; and
hence he insultingly expelled her from every abode that she took in the
course of her wanderings; and, to complete all, he condemned the ladies
who enjoyed most of her friendship and confidence to die on a false
accusation of adultery.

 CHAP. XL.

 There was a certain matron of high rank who already had grandchildren
by more than one son.  Her Valeria loved like a second mother, and Daia
suspected that her advice had produced that refusal which Valeria gave
to his matrimonial offers; and therefore he charged the president
Eratineus to have her put to death in a way that might injure her fame.
To her two others, equally noble, were added.  One of them, who had a
daughter a Vestal virgin at Rome, maintained an intercourse by stealth
with the banished Valeria.  The other, married to a senator, was;
intimately connected with the empress.  Excellent beauty and virtue
proved the cause of their death.  They were dragged to the tribunal, not
of an upright judge, but of a robber.  Neither indeed was there any
accuser, until a certain Jew, one charged with other offences, was
induced, through hope of pardon, to give false evidence against the
innocent.  The equitable and vigilant magistrate conducted him out of
the city under a guard, lest the populace should have stoned him.  This
tragedy was acted at

Nicaea.  The Jew was ordered to the torture till he should speak as he
had been instructed, while the torturers by blows prevented the women
from speaking in their own defence.  The innocent were condemned to die.
Then there arose wailing and lamentation, not only of the senator, who
attended on his well-deserving consort, but amongst the spectators also,
whom this proceeding, scandalous and unheard of, had brought together;
and, to prevent the multitude from violently rescuing the condemned
persons out of the hands of the executioners, military commanders
followed with light infantry and archers.  And thus, under a guard of
armed soldiers, they were led to punishment.  Their domestics having
been forced to flee, they would have remained without burial, had not
the compassion of friends interred them by stealth.  Nor was the promise
of pardon made good to the feigned adulterer, for he was fixed to a
gibbet, and then he disclosed the whole secret contrivance; and with his
last breath he protested to all the beholders that the women died
innocent.

CHAP. XLI.

 But the empress, an exile in some desert region of Syria, secretly
informed her father Diocletian of the calamity that had befallen her.
He despatched messengers to Daia, requesting that his daughter might be
sent to him.  He could not prevail.  Again and again he entreated; yet
she was not sent.  At length he employed a relation of his, a military
man high in power and authority, to implore Daia by the remembrance of
past favours.  This messenger, equally unsuccessful in his negotiation
as the others.  reported to Diocletian that his prayers were vain.

CHAP. XLII.

 At this time, by command of Constantine, the statues of Maximian
Herculius were thrown down, and his portraits removed; and, as the two
old emperors were generally delineated in one piece, the portraits of
both were removed at the same time.  Thus Diocletian lived to see a
disgrace which no former emperor had ever seen, and, trader the double
load of vexation of spirit and bodily maladies, he resolved to die.
Tossing to and fro, with his soul agitated by grief, he could neither
eat nor take rest.  He sighed, groaned, and wept often, and incessantly
threw himself into various postures, now on his couch, and now on the
ground.  So he, who for twenty years was the most prosperous of
emperors, having been cast down into the obscurity of a private station,
treated in the most contumelious manner, and compelled to abhor life,
became incapable of receiving nourishment, and, worn out with anguish of
mind, expired.

318

CHAP. XLIII.

 Of the adversaries of God there still remained one, whose overthrow and
end I am now to relate.

 Daia had entertained jealousy and ill-will against Licinius from the
time that the preference was given to him by Galerius; and those
sentiments still subsisted, notwithstanding the treaty of peace lately
concluded between them.  When Daia heard that the sister of Constantine
was betrothed to Licinius, he apprehended that the two emperors, by
contracting this affinity, meant to league against him; so he privily
sent ambassadors to Rome, desiring a friendly alliance with Maxentius:
he also wrote to him in terms of cordiality.  The ambassadors were
received courteously, friendship established, and in token of it the
effigies of Maxentius and Daia were placed together in public view.
Maxentius willingly embraced this, as if it had been an aid from heaven;
for he had already declared war against Constantine, as if to revenge
the death of his father Maximian.  From this appearance of filial piety
a suspicion arose, that the detestable old man had but feigned a quarrel
with his son that he might have an opportunity to destroy his rivals in
power, and so make way for himself and his son to possess the whole
empire.  This conjecture, however, had no foundation; for his true
purpose was to have destroyed his son and the others, and then to have
reinstated himself and Diocletian in sovereign authority.

CHAP. XLIV.

 And now a civil war broke out between Constantine and Maxentius.
Although Maxentius kept himself within Rome, because the soothsayers had
foretold that if he went out of it he should perish, yet he conducted
the military operations by able generals.  In forces he exceeded his
adversary; for he had not only his father's army, which deserted from
Severus, but also his own, which he had lately drawn together out of
Mauritania and Italy.  They fought, and the troops of Maxentius
prevailed.  At length Constantine, with steady courage and a mind
prepared for every event, led his whole forces to the neighbourhood of
Rome, and encamped them opposite to the Milvian bridge.  The anniversary
of the reign of Maxentius approached, that is, the sixth of the kalends
of November,(1) and the fifth year of his reign was drawing to an end.

 Constantine was directed in a dream to cause the heavenly sign to be
delineated on the shields of his soldiers, and so to proceed to battle.
He did as he had been commanded, and he marked on their shields the
letter X, with a perpendicular line drawn through it and turned round
thus at the top, being the cipher of CHRIST. Having this sign, his
troops stood to arms.  The enemies advanced, but without their emperor,
and they crossed the bridge.  The armies met, and fought with the utmost
exertions of valour, and firmly maintained their ground.  In the
meantime a sedition arose at Rome, and Maxentius was reviled as one who
had abandoned all concern for the safety of the commonweal; and
suddenly, while he exhibited the Circensian games on the anniversary of
his reign, the people cried with one voice, "Constantine cannot be
overcome!"  Dismayed at this, Maxentius burst from the assembly, and
having called some senators together, ordered the Sibylline books to be
searched.  In them it was found that:--

"On the same day the enemy of the Romans should perish."

Led by this response to the hopes of victory, he went to the field.  The
bridge in his rear was broken down.  At sight of that the battle grew
hotter.  The hand of the Lord prevailed, and the forces of Maxentius
were routed.  He fled towards the broken bridge; but the multitude
pressing on him, he was driven headlong into the Tiber.

 This destructive war being ended, Constantine was acknowledged as
emperor, with great rejoicings, by the senate and people of Rome.  And
now he came to know the perfidy of Daia; for he found the letters
written to Maxentius, and saw the statues and portraits of the two
associates which had been set up together.  The senate, in reward of the
valour of Constantine, decreed to him the title of Maximus (the
Greatest), a title which Daia had always arrogated to himself.  Daia,
when he heard that Constantine was victorious and Rome freed, expressed
as much sorrow as if he himself had been vanquished; but afterwards,
when he heard of the decree of the senate, he grew outrageous, avowed
enmity towards Constantine, and made his title of the Greatest a theme
of abuse and raillery.

CHAP. XLV.

 Constantine having settled all things at Rome, went to Milan about the
beginning of winter.  Thither also Licinius came to receive his wife
Constantia.  When Daia understood that they were busied in solemnizing
the nuptials, he moved out of Syria in the depth of a severe winter, and
by forced marches he came into Bithynia with an army much impaired; for
he lost all his beasts of burden, of whatever kind, in consequence of
excessive rains and snow, miry ways, cold and fatigue.  Their carcases,
scattered about the

319

roads, seemed an emblem of the calamities of the impending war, and the
presage of a like destruction that awaited the soldiers.  Daia did not
halt in his own territories; but immediately crossed the Thracian
Bosphorus, and in a hostile manner approached the gates of Byzantium.
There was a garrison in the city, established by Licinius to check any
invasion that Daia might make.  At first Daia attempted to entice the
soldiers by the promise of donatives, and then to intimidate them by
assault and storm.  Yet neither promises nor force availed aught.  After
eleven days had elapsed, within which time Licinius might have learned
the state of the garrison, the soldiers surrendered, not through
treachery, but because they were too weak to make a longer resistance.
Then Daia moved on to Heraclea (otherwise called Perinthus), and by
delays of the like nature before that place lost some days.  And now
Licinius by expeditious marches had reached Adrianople, but with forces
not numerous.  Then Daia, having taken Perinthus by capitulation, and
remained there for a short space, moved forwards eighteen miles to the
first station.  Here his progress was stopped; for Licinius had already
occupied the second station, at the distance also of eighteen miles.
Licinius, having assembled what forces he could from the neighbouring
quarters, advanced towards Daia rather indeed to retard his operations
than with any purpose of fighting, or hope of victory: for Daia had an
army of seventy thousand men, while he himself had scarce thirty
thousand; for his soldiers being dispersed in various regions, there was
not time, on that sudden emergency, to collect all Of them together.

CHAP. XLVI.

 The armies thus approaching each other, seemed on the eve of a battle.
Then Daia made this vow to Jupiter, that if he obtained victory he would
extinguish and utterly efface the name of the Christians.  And on the
following night an angel of the Lord seemed to stand before Licinius
while he was asleep, admonishing him to arise immediately, and with his
whole army to put up a prayer to the Supreme God, and assuring him that
by so doing he should obtain victory.  Licinius fancied that, hearing
this, he arose, and that his monitor, who was nigh him, directed how be
should pray, and in what words.  Awaking from sleep, he sent for one of
his secretaries, and dictated these words exactly as he had heard them:-
-

"Supreme God, we beseech Thee; Holy God, we beseech Thee; unto Thee we
commend all right; unto Thee we commend our safety; unto Thee we commend
our empire.  By Thee we live, by Thee we are victorious and happy.
Supreme Holy God, hear our prayers; to Thee we stretch forth our arms.
Hear, Holy Supreme God."

Many copies were made of these words, and distributed amongst the
principal commanders, who were to teach them to the soldiers under their
charge.  At this all men took fresh courage, in the confidence that
victory bad been announced to them from heaven.  Licinius resolved to
give battle on the kalends of May;(1) for precisely eight years before
Daia had received the dignity of Caesar, and Licinius chose that day in
hopes that Daia might be vanquished on the anniversary of his reign, as
Maxentius had been on his.  Daia, however, purposed to give battle
earlier, to fight on the day before those kalends,(2) and to triumph on
the anniversary of his reign.  Accounts came that Daia was in motion;
the soldiers of Licinius armed themselves; and advanced.  A barren and
open plain, called Campus Serenus, lay between the two armies.  They
were now in sight of one another.  The soldiers of Licinius placed their
shields on the ground, took off their helmets, and, following the
example of their leaders, stretched forth their hands towards heaven.
Then the emperor uttered the prayer, and they all repeated it after him.
The host, doomed to speedy destruction, heard the murmur of the prayers
of their adversaries.  And now, the ceremony having been thrice
performed, the soldiers of Licinius became full of courage, buckled on
their helmets again, and resumed their shields.  The two emperors
advanced to a conference: but Daia could not be brought to peace; for he
held Licinius in contempt, and imagined that the soldiers would
presently abandon an emperor parsimonious in his donatives, and enter
into the service of one liberal even to profusion.  And indeed it was on
this notion that he began the war.  He looked for the voluntary
surrender of the armies of Licinius; and, thus reinforced, he meant
forthwith to have attacked Constantine.

CHAP. XLVII.

 So the two armies drew nigh; the trumpets ave the signal; the military
ensigns advanced; the troops of Licinius charged.  But the enemies,
panic-struck, could neither draw their swords nor yet throw their
javelins.  Daia went about, and, alternately by entreaties and promises,
attempted to seduce the soldiers of Licinius.  But he was not hearkened
to in any quarter, and they drove him back.  Then were the troops of
Daia slaughtered, none making resistance; anti such numerous legions,
and forces so mighty, were mowed down by an inferior enemy.  No one
called to mind his reputation, or former valour, or the honourable
rewards which had been conferred on him.  The Supreme God did so place
their necks under the sword of their

320

foes, that they seemed to have entered the field, not as combatants, but
as men devoted to death.  After great numbers had fallen, Daia perceived
that everything went contrary to his hopes; and therefore he threw aside
the purple, and having put on the habit of a slave, hasted across the
Thracian Bosphorus.  One half of his army perished in battle, and the
rest either surrendered to the victor or fled; for now that the emperor
himself had deserted, there seemed to be no shame in desertion Before
the expiration of the kalends of May, Daia arrived at Nicomedia,
although distant one hundred and sixty miles from the field of battle.
So in the space of one day and two nights he performed that journey.
Having hurried away with his children and wife, and a few officers of
his court, he went towards Syria; but having been joined by some troops
from those quarters, and having collected together a part of his
fugitive forces, he halted in Cappadocia, and then he resumed the
imperial garb.

CHAP. XLVIII.

 Not many days after the victory, Licinius, having received part of the
soldiers of Daia into his service, and properly distributed them,
transported his army into Bithynia, and having made his entry into
Nicomedia, he returned thanks to God, through whose aid he had overcome;
and on the ides of June,(1) while he and Constantine were consuls for
the third time, he commanded the following edict for the restoration of
the Church, directed to the president of the province, to be
promulgated:--

 "When we, Constantine and Licinius, emperors, had an interview at
Milan, and conferred together with respect to the good and security of
the commonweal, it seemed to us that, amongst those things that are
profitable to mankind in general, the reverence paid to the Divinity
merited our first and chief attention, and that it was proper that the
Christians and all others should have liberty to follow that mode of
religion which to each of them appeared best; so that that God, who is
seated in heaven, might be benign and propitious to us, and to every one
under our government.  And therefore we judged it a salutary measure,
and one highly consonant to right reason, that no man should be denied
leave of attaching himself to the rites of the Christians, or to
whatever other religion his mind directed him, that thus the supreme
Divinity, to whose worship we freely devote ourselves, might continue to
vouchsafe His favour and beneficence to us.  And accordingly we give you
to know that, without regard to any provisos in our former orders to you
concerning the Christians, all who choose that religion are

to be permitted, freely and absolutely, to remain in it, and not to be
disturbed any ways, or molested.  And we thought fit to be thus special
in the things committed to your charge, that you might understand that
the indulgence which we have granted in matters of religion to the
Christians is ample and unconditional; and perceive at the same tithe
that the open and free exercise of their respective religions is granted
to all others, as well as to the Christians.  For it befits the well-
ordered state and the tranquillity of our times that each individual be
allowed, according to his own choice, to worship the Divinity; and we
mean not to derogate aught from the honour due to any religion or its
votaries.  Moreover, with respect to the Christians, we formerly gave
certain orders concerning the places appropriated for their religious
assemblies; but now we will that all persons who have purchased such
places, either from our exchequer or from any one else, do restore them
to the Christians, without money demanded or price claimed, and that
this be performed peremptorily and unambiguously; and we will also, that
they who have obtained any right to such places by form of gift do
forthwith restore them to the Christians: reserving always to such
persons, who have either purchased for a price, or gratuitously acquired
them, to make application to the judge of the district, if they look on
themselves as entitled to any equivalent from our beneficence.

 "All those places are, by your intervention, to be immediately restored
to the Christians.  And because it appears that, besides the places
appropriated to religious worship, the Christians did possess other
places, which belonged not to individuals, but to their society in
general, that is, to their churches, we comprehend all such within the
regulation aforesaid, and we will that you cause them all to be restored
to the society or churches, and that without hesitation or controversy:
Provided always, that the persons making restitution without a price
paid shall be at liberty to seek indemnification from our bounty.  In
furthering all which things for the behoof of the Christians, you are to
use your utmost diligence, to the end that our orders be speedily
obeyed, and our gracious purpose in securing the public tranquillity
promoted.  So shall that divine favour which, in affairs of the
mightiest importance, we have already experienced, continue to give
success to us, and in our successes make the commonweal happy.  And that
the tenor of this our gracious ordinance may be made known unto all, we
will that you cause it by your authority to be published everywhere."

 Licinius having issued this ordinance, made an harangue, in which he
exhorted the Christians to rebuild their religious edifices.

And thus, from the overthrow of the Church

321

until its restoration, there was a space of ten years and about four
months.

CHAP. XLIX.

 While Licinius pursued with his army, the fugitive tyrant retreated,
and again occupied the passes of mount Taurus; and there, by erecting
parapets and towers, attempted to stop the march of Licinius.  But the
victorious troops, by an attack made on the right, broke through all
obstacles, and Daia at length fled to Tarsus.  There, being hard pressed
both by sea and land, he despaired of finding any place for refuge; and
in the anguish and dismay of his mind, he sought death as the only
remedy of those calamities that God had heaped on him.  But first he
gorged himself with food, and large draughts of wine, as those are wont
who believe that they eat and drink for the last time; and so he
swallowed poison.  However, the force of the poison, repelled by his
full stomach, could not immediately operate, but it produced a grievous
disease, resembling the pestilence; and his life was prolonged only that
his sufferings might be more severe.  And now the poison began to rage,
and to burn up everything within him, so that he was driven to
distraction with the intolerable pain; and during a fit of frenzy, which
lasted four days, he gathered handfuls of earth, and greedily devoured
it.  Having undergone various and excruciating torments, he dashed his
forehead against the wall, and his eyes started out of their sockets.
And now, become blind, he imagined that he saw God, with His servants
arrayed in white robes, sitting in judgment on him.  He roared out as
men on the rack are wont, and exclaimed that not he, but others, were
guilty.  In the end, as if he had been racked into confession, he
acknowledged his own guilt, and lamentably implored Christ to have mercy
upon him.  Then, amidst groans, like those of one burnt alive, did he
breathe out his guilty soul in

the most horrible kind of death.

CHAP. L.

 Thus did God subdue all those who persecuted His name,so that neither
root nor branch of for Licinius, as soon as he was established in
sovereign authority, commanded that Valeria should be put to death.
Daia, although exasperated against her, never ventured to do this, not
even after his discomfiture and flight, and when he knew that his end
approached.  Licinius commanded that Candidianus also should be put to
death.  He was the son of Galerius by a concubine, and Valeria, having
no children, had adopted him.  On the news of the death of Daia, she
came in disguise to the court of Licinius, anxious to observe what might
befall Candidianus.  The youth, presenting himself at Nicomedia, had an
outward show of honour paid to him, and, while he suspected no harm, was
killed.  Hearing of this catastrophe, Valeria immediately fled.  The
Emperor Severus left a son, Severianus, arrived at man's estate, who
accompanied Daia in his flight from the field of battle.  Licinius
caused him to be condemned and executed, under the pretence that, on the
death of Daia, he had intentions of assuming the imperial purple.  Long
before this time, Candidianus and Severianus, apprehending evil from
Licinius, had chosen to remain with Daia; while Valeria favoured
Licinius, and was willing to bestow on him that which she had denied to
Daia, all rights accruing to her as the widow of Galerius.  Licinius
also put to death Maximus, the son of Daia, a boy eight years old, and a
daughter of Daia, who was seven years old, and had been betrothed to
Candidianus.  But before their death, their mother had been thrown into
the Orontes, in which river she herself had frequently commanded chaste
women to be drowned.  So, by the unerring and just judgment of God, all
the implores received according to the deeds that they had done.

CHAP. LI.

 Valeria, too, who for fifteen months had wandered under a mean garb
from province to province, was at length discovered in Thessalonica, was
apprehended, together with her mother Prisca, and suffered capital
punishment.  Both the ladies were conducted to execution; a fall from
grandeur which moved the pity of the multitude of beholders that the
strange sight had gathered together.  They were beheaded, and their
bodies cast into the sea.  Thus the chaste demeanour of Valeria, and the
high rank of her and her mother, proved fatal to both of them.(1)

CHAP. LII.

 I relate all those things on the authority of well-informed persons;
and I thought it proper to commit them to writing exactly as they
happened, lest the memory of events so important should perish, and lest
any future historian of the persecutors should corrupt the truth, either
by suppressing their offences against God, or the judgment of God
against them.  To His everlasting mercy ought we to render thanks, that,
having at length looked on the earth, He deigned to collect again and to
restore His flock, partly laid waste by ravenous wolves, and partly
scattered abroad, and to extirpate those noxious wild beasts who had
trod down its pastures, and destroyed its resting-places.(2) Where now
are

322

the surnames of the Jovii and the Herculii, once so glorious and
renowned amongst the nations; surnames insolently assumed at first by
Diocles and Maximian, and afterwards transferred to their successors?
The Lord has blotted them out and erased them from the earth.  Let us
therefore with exultation celebrate the triumphs of God, and oftentimes
with praises make mention of His victory; let us in our prayers, by
night and by day, beseech Him to confirm for ever that peace which,
after a warfare of ten years, He has bestowed on His own: and do you,
above all others, my best beloved Donatus, who so well deserve to be
heard, implore the Lord that it would please Him propitiously and
mercifully to continue His pity towards His servants, to protect His
people from the machinations and assaults of the devil, and to guard the
now flourishing churches in perpetual felicity.

ELUCIDATION

(On the tenth of the kalends of April, p.  301.)

 SERIOUS difficulties are encountered by the learned in reconciling
Lactantius with himself, if, indeed, the fault be not one of his
copyists rather than his own.  In the fourth book of the Institutes(1)
his language is thus given by Baluzius:(2)--

 "Extremis temporibus Tiberii Caesaris, ut scriptum legimus, Dominus
noster Jesus Christus, a Judaeis cruciatus est post diem decimum
kalendarum Aprilis, duobus Geminis consulibus."

 Lactantius was writing in Nicomedia, and may have quoted from memory
what he had read, perhaps in the report of Pilate himself.  The
expression post diem decimum kalendarum Aprilis is ambiguous: and Jarvis
says, "My impression is, that it means 'after the tenth day before the
kalends of April;' that is, after the 23d of March."(3)

 But here our author says, according to the accurate edition of
Walchius(4) (A.D. 1715),--

 "Exinde tetrarchas habuerunt usque ad Herodem, qui fuit sub imperio
Tiberii Caesaris: cujus anno quinto decimo, id est duobus Geminis
consulibus, ante diem septimam Calendarum Aprilium, Judaei Christum
cruci affixerunt."

 But here, on the authority of forty manuscripts, Du Fresnoy reads,
"ante diem decimam," which he labours to reconcile with "post diem
decimum," as above.  Jarvis adheres to the reading septimam, supported
by more than fifty manuscripts, and decides for the 23d of March.

 He cites Augustine to the same effect in the noted passage:(5)--

 "Ille autem mense conceptum et passum esse Christum, et Paschae
observatio et dies ecclesiis notissimus Nativitatis ejus ostendit.  Qui
enim mense nono natus est octavo kalendas Janvarias profecto mense primo
conceptus est circa octavum kalendas Aprilis, quod tempus passionis ejus
fuit."

 This, Augustine considers to be "seething a kid in mother's milk,"
after a mystical sense; cruelly making the cross to coincide with the
maternity of the Virgin, who beheld her Son an innocent victim on the
anniversary of her salutation by the angel.

323

FRAGMENTS OF LACTANTIUS

 I. FEAR, love, joy, sadness, lust, eager desire, anger, pity,
emulation, admiration,--these motions or affections of the mind exist
from the beginning of man's creation by the Lord; and they were usefully
and advantageously introduced into human nature, that by governing
himself by these with method, and in accordance with reason, man may be
able, by acting manfully, to exercise those good qualities, by means of
which he would justly have deserved to receive from the Lord eternal
life.  For these affections of the mind being restrained within their
proper limits, that is, being rightly employed, produce at present good
qualities, and in the future eternal rewards.  But when they advance(1)
beyond their boundaries, that is, when they turn aside to an evil
course, then vices and iniquities come forth, and produce everlasting
punishments.(2)

 II. Within our memory, also, Lactantius speaks of metres,--the
pentameter (he says) and the tetrameter.(3)

 III. Firmianus, writing to Probus on the metres of comedies, thus
speaks: "For as to the question which you proposed concerning the metres
of comedies, I also know that many are of opinion that the plays of
Terence in particular have not the metre of Greek comedy,--that is, of
Menander, Philemon, and Diphilus, which consist of trimeter verses; for
our ancient writers of comedies, in the modulation of their plays,
preferred to follow Eupolis, Cratinus, and Aristophanes, as has been
before said."  That there is a measure--that is, metre(4)--in the plays
of Terence and PIautus, and of the other comic and tragic writers, let
these declare: Cicero, Scaurus, and Firmianus.(5)

 IV. We will bring forward the sentiments of our Lactantius, which he
expressed in words in his third volume to Probus on this subject.  The
Gauls, he says, were from ancient times called Galatians, from the
whiteness of their body; and thus the Sibyl terms them.  And this is
what the poet intended to signify when he said,--

"Gold collars deck their milk-white necks,"(6)

when he might have used the word white.  It is plain that from this the
province was called Galatia, in which, on their arrival in it, the Gauls
united themselves with Greeks, from which circumstance that region was
called Gallograecia, and afterwards Galatia.  And it is no wonder if he
said this concerning the Galatians, and related that a people of the
West, having passed over so great a distance in the middle of the earth,
settled in a region of the East.(7)

324

THE PHOENIX

BY AN UNCERTAIN AUTHOR. ATTRIBUTED TO LACTANTIUS.(1)

 THERE iS a happy spot, retired(2) in the first East, where the great
gate of the eternal pole lies open.  It is not, however, situated near
to his rising in summer or in winter, but where the sun pours the day
from his vernal chariot.  There a plain spreads its open tracts; nor
does any mound rise, nor hollow valley open(3) itself.  But through
twice six ells that place rises above the mountains, whose tops are
thought to be lofty among us.  Here is the grove of the sun; a wood
stands planted with many a tree, blooming with the honour of perpetual
foliage.  When the pole had blazed with the fires of Phaethon, that
place was uninjured by the flames; and when the deluge had immersed the
world in waves, it rose above the waters of Deucalion.  No enfeebling
diseases, no sickly old age, nor cruel death, nor harsh fear, approaches
hither, nor dreadful crime, nor mad desire of riches, nor Mars, nor
fury, burning with the love of slaughter.(4) Bitter grief is absent, and
want clothed in rags, and sleepless cares, and violent hunger.  No
tempest rages there, nor dreadful violence of the wind; nor does the
hoar-frost cover the earth with cold dew.  No cloud extends its
fleecy(5) covering above the plains, nor does the turbid moisture of
water fall from on high; but there is a fountain in the middle, which
they call by the name of "living;"(6) it is clear, gentle, and abounding
with sweet waters, which, bursting forth once during the space of
each(7) month, twelve times irrigates all the grove with waters.  Here a
species of tree, rising with lofty stem, bears mellow fruits not about
to fall on the ground.  This grove, these woods, a single(8) bird, the
phoenix, inhabits,--single, but it lives reproduced by its own death.
It obeys and submits(9) to Phoebus, a remarkable attendant.  Its parent
nature has given it to possess this office.  When at its first rising
the saffron morn grows red, when it puts to flight the stars with its
rosy light, thrice and four times she plunges her body into the sacred
waves, thrice and four times she sips water from the living stream.(10)
She is raised aloft, and takes her seat on the highest top of the lofty
tree, which alone looks down upon the whole grove; and turning herself
to the fresh risings of the nascent Phoebus, she awaits his rays and
rising beam.  And when the sun has thrown back the threshold of the
shining gate, and the light gleam(11) of the first light has shone
forth, she begins to pour strains of sacred song, and to hail(12) the
new light with wondrous voice, which neither the notes of the
nightingale(13) nor the flute of the Muses can equal with Cyrrhaean(14)
strains.  But neither is it thought that the dying swan can imitate it,
nor the tuneful strings of the lyre of Mercury.  After that Phoebus has
brought back his horses to the open heaven,(15) and continually
advancing, has displayed(16) his whole orb; she applauds with thrice-
repeated flapping of her wings, and having thrice adored the fire-
bearing head, is silent.  And she also distinguishes the swift hours by
sounds not liable to error by day and night: an overseer(17) of the
groves, a venerable priestess of the wood, and alone admitted to thy
secrets, O Phoebus.  And when she has

325

now accomplished the thousand years of her life, and length of days has
rendered her burdensome,(1) in order that she may renew the age which
has glided by, the fates pressing(2) her, she flees from the beloved
couch of the accustomed grove.  And when she has left the sacred places,
through a desire of being born(3) again, then she seeks this world,
where death reigns.  Full of years, she directs her swift flight into
Syria, to which Venus herself has given the name of Phoenice;(4) and
through trackless deserts she seeks the retired groves in the place,
where a remote wood lies concealed through the glens.  Then she chooses
a lofty palm, with top reaching to the heavens, which has the
pleasing(5) name of phoenix from the bird, and where(6) no hurtful
living creature can break through, or slimy serpent, or any bird of
prey.  Then AEolus shuts in the winds in hanging caverns, lest they
should injure the bright(7) air with their blasts, or lest a cloud
collected by the south wind through the empty sky should remove the rays
of the sun, and be a hindrance(8) to the bird.  Afterwards she builds
for herself either a nest or a tomb, for she perishes that she may live;
yet she produces herself.  Hence she collects juices and odours, which
the Assyrian gathers from the rich wood, which the wealthy Arabian
gathers; which either the Pygmaean(9) nations, or India crops, or the
Sabaean land produces from its soft bosom.  Hence she heaps together
cinnamon and the odour of the far-scented amomum, and balsams with mixed
leaves.  Neither the twig of the mild cassia nor of the fragrant
acanthus is absent, nor the tears and rich drop of frankincense.  To
these she adds tender ears(10) of flourishing spikenard, and joins the
too pleasing pastures(11) of myrrh.  Immediately she places her body
about to be changed on the strewed nest, and her quiet limbs on such(12)
a couch.  Then with her mouth she scatters juices around and upon her
limbs, about to die with her own funeral rites.  Then amidst various
odours she yields up(13) her life, nor fears the faith of so great a
deposit.  In the meantime her body, destroyed by death, which proves the
source of life,(14) is hot, and the heat itself produces a flame; and it
conceives fire afar off from the light of heaven: it blazes, and is
dissolved into burnt ashes.  And these ashes collected in death it
fuses,(15) as it were, into a mass, and has an effect(16) resembling
seed.  From this an animal is said to arise without limbs, but the worm
is said to be of a milky colour.  And it suddenly increases vastly with
an imperfectly formed(17) body, and collects itself into the appearance
of a well-rounded egg.  After this it is formed again, such as its
figure was before, and the phoenix, having burst her shell,(18) shoots
forth, even as caterpillars(19) in the fields, when they are fastened by
a thread to a stone, are wont to be changed into a butterfly.  No food
is appointed for her in our world, nor does any one make it his business
to feed her while unfledged.  She sips the delicate(20) ambrosial dews
of heavenly nectar which have fallen from the star-bearing pole.  She
gathers these; with these the bird is nourished in the midst of odours,
until she bears a natural form.  But when she begins to flourish with
early youth, she flies forth now about to return to her native abode.
Previously, however, she encloses in an ointment of balsam, and in myrrh
and dissolved(21) frankincense, all the remains of her own body, and the
bones or ashes, and relics(22) of herself, and with pious mouth brings
it into a round form,(23) and carrying this with her feet, she goes to
the rising of the sun, and tarrying at the altar, she draws it forth in
the sacred temple.  She shows and presents herself an object of
admiration to the beholder; such great beauty is there, such great
honour abounds.  In the first place, her colour is like the
brilliancy(24) of that which the seeds of the pomegranate when ripe take
under the smooth rind;(25) such colour as is contained in the leaves
which the poppy produces in the fields, when Flora spreads her garments
beneath the blushing sky.  Her shoulders and beautiful breasts shine
with this covering; with this her head, with this her neck, and the
upper parts of her back shine.  And her tail is extended, varied with
yellow metal, in the spots of which mingled purple blushes.  Between her
wings there is a bright(26) mark above, as(27) Tris on high is wont to
paint a cloud from above.  She gleams resplendent with a mingling of the
green emerald, and a shining beak(28) of pure horn opens itself.  Her
eyes are large;(29) you might

326

believe that they were two jacinths;(1) from the middle of which a
bright flame shines.  An irradiated crown is fitted(2) to the whole of

head, resembling on high the glory of the head of Phoebus.(3) Scales
cover her thighs spangled with yellow metal, but a rosy(4) colour paints
her claws with honour.  Her form is seen to blend the figure of the
peacock with that of the painted bird of Phasis.(5) The winged creature
which is produced in the lands of the Arabians, whether it be beast or
bird, can scarcely equal her magnitude.(6) She is not, however, slow, as
birds which through the greatness of their body have sluggish motions,
and a very heavy(7) weight.  But she is light and swift, full of royal
beauty.  Such she always shows herself(8) in the sight of men.  Egypt
comes hither to such a wondrous(9) sight, and the exulting crowd salutes
the rare bird.  Immediately they carve her image on the consecrated
marble, and mark both the occurrence and the day with a new title.
Birds of every kind assemble together; none is mindful of prey, none of
fear.  Attended by a chorus of birds, she flies through the heaven, and
a crowd accompanies her, exulting in the pious duty.  But when she has
arrived at the regions of pure ether, she presently returns;(10)
afterwards she is concealed in her own regions.  But oh, bird of happy
lot and fate,(11) to whom the god himself granted to be born from
herself!  Whether it be female, or male, or neither, or both, happy she,
who enters into(12) no compacts of Venus.  Death is Venus to her; her
only pleasure is in death: that she may be born, she desires previously
to die.  She is an offspring to herself, her own father and heir, her
own nurse, and always a foster-child to herself.  She is herself indeed,
but not the same, since she is herself, and not herself, having gained
eternal life by the blessing of death.

327

 A POEM ON THE PASSION OF THE LORD

FORMERLY ASCRIBED TO LACTANTIUS.

 WHOEVER you are who approach, and are entering the precincts[1] of the
middle of the temple, stop a little and look upon me, who, though
innocent, suffered for your crime; lay me up in your mind, keep me in
your breast.  I am He who, pitying the bitter misfortunes of men, came
hither as a messenger[2] of offered peace, and as a full atonement[3]
for the fault of men.[4] Here the brightest light from above is restored
to the earth; here is the merciful image of safety; here I am a rest to
you, the right way, the true redemption, the banner[5] of God, and a
memorable sign of fate.  It was on account of you and your life that I
entered the Virgin's womb, was made man, and suffered a dreadful death;
nor did I find rest anywhere in the regions of the earth, but everywhere
threats, everywhere labours.  First of all a wretched dwelling[6] in the
land of Judged was a shelter for me at my birth, and for my mother with
me: here first, amidst the outstretched sluggish cattle, dry grass gave
me a bed in a narrow stall.  I passed my earliest years in the
Pharian[7] regions, being an exile in the reign of Herod; and after my
return to Judaea I spent the rest of my years, always engaged[8] in
fastings, and the extremity of poverty itself, and the lowest
circumstances; always by healthful admonitions applying the minds of men
to the pursuit of genial uprightness, uniting with wholesome teaching
many evident miracles: on which account impious Jerusalem, harassed by
the raging cares of envy and cruel hatred, and blinded by madness, dared
to seek for me, though innocent, by deadly punishment, a cruel death on
the dreadful cross.  And if you yourself wish to discriminate these
things more fully,[9] and if it delights you to go through all my
groans, and to experience griefs with me, put together[10] the designs
and

plots, and the impious price of my innocent blood; and the pretended
kisses of a disciple,[11] and the insults and strivings of the cruel
multitude; and, moreover, the blows, and tongues prepared[12] for
accusations.  Picture to your mind both the witnesses, and the
accursed[13] judgment of the blinded Pilate, and the immense cross
pressing my shoulders and wearied back, and my painful steps to a
dreadful death.  Now survey me from head to foot, deserted as I am, and
lifted up afar from my beloved mother.  Behold and see my locks clotted
with blood, and my blood-stained neck under my very hair, and my head
drained[14] with cruel thorns, and pouring down like rain[15] from all
sides a stream[16] of blood over my divine face.  Survey my compressed
and sightless eyes, and my afflicted cheeks; see my parched tongue
poisoned with gall, and my countenance pale with death.  Behold my hands
pierced with nails, and my arms drawn out, and the great wound in my
side; see the blood streaming from it, and my perforated[17] feet, and
blood-stained limbs.  Bend your knee, and with lamentation adore the
venerable wood of the cross, and with lowly countenance stooping[18] to
the earth, which is wet with innocent blood, sprinkle it with rising
tears, and at times[19] bear me and my admonitions in your devoted
heart.  Follow the footsteps of my life, and while you look upon my
torments and cruel death, remembering my innumerable pangs of body and
soul, learn to endure hardships,[20] and to watch over your own safety.
These memorials,[21] if at any time you find pleasure in thinking over
them, if in your mind there is any confidence to bear anything like my
suffer-

328

ings),[1] if the piety due, and gratitude worthy of my labours shall
arise, will be incitements [2] to true virtue, and they will be shields
against the snares of an enemy, aroused[3] by which you will be safe,
and as a conqueror bear off the palm in every contest.  If these
memorials shall turn away your senses, which are devoted to a
perishable[4] world, from the fleeting shadow of earthly beauty, the
result will be, that you will not venture,[5] enticed by empty hope, to
trust the frail[6] enjoyments of fickle fortune, and to place your hope
in the fleeting years of life.  But, truly, if you thus regard this
perishable world,[7] and through your love of a better country deprive
yourself[8] of earthly riches and the enjoyment of present things,[9]
the prayers of the pious will bring you up[10] in sacred habits, and in
the hope of a happy life, amidst severe punishments, will cherish you
with heavenly dew, and feed you with the sweetness of the promised good.
Until the great favour of God shall recall your happy" soul to the
heavenly regions,[12] your body being left after the fates of death.
Then freed from all labour, then joyfully beholding the angelic choirs,
and the blessed companies of saints in perpetual bliss, it shall reign
with me in the happy abode of perpetual peace.

GENERAL NOTE.

 There is no Ms.  authority for ascribing the above to Lactantius.  "It
does not, in the leash come up to the purity and eloquence of his
style," says Dupin; and the same candid author notes the "adoration of
the cross" as fatal to any such claim.[1]

 Of the following poem, on Easter, Dupin says: "It is attributed to
Venantius upon the testimony of some MSS. in the Vatican Library."  This
writer became known to Gregory of Tours, who died about A.D. 595, and
seems to have succeeded him as bishop, dying soon after.  Bede quotes
his verse on St.  Alban,[2] --

"Albanum egregium fecunda Britannia profert,"

but styles him "presbyter Fortunatus."  He was the author of a poem on
St.  Martin, and another, In Laude Virginum.  His works were edited by
Brouverius, a Jesuit.

329

 POEM OF VENANTIUS HONORIUS[1] CLEMENTIANUS FORTUNATUS, ON EASTER

 The seasons blush varied with the flowery, fair weather,[2] and the
gate of the pole lies open with greater light.  His path in the heaven
raises the fire-breathing[3] sun higher, who goes forth on his
course,[4] and enters the waters of the ocean.  Armed with rays
traversing the liquid elements, in this[5] brief night he stretches out
the day in a circle.  The brilliant firmament[6] puts forth its clear
countenance, and the bright stars show their joy.  The fruitful earth
pours forth its gifts with varied increase,[7] when the year has well
returned I its vernal riches.[8] Soft beds of violets paint the purple
plain; the meadows are green with plants,[9] and the plant shines with
its leaves.  By degrees gleaming brightness of the flowers[10] comes
forth; all the herbs smile with their blossoms.[11] The seed being
deposited, the corn springs up far and wide[12] in the fields, promising
to be able to overcome the hunger of the husbandman.  Having deserted
its stem, the vine-shoot bewails its joys; the vine gives water only
from the source from which it is wont to give wine.  The swelling bud,
rising with tender down from the back of its mother, prepares its bosom
for bringing forth.  Its foliage[13] having been torn off in the wintry
season, the verdant grove now renews its leafy shelter.  Mingled
together, the willow, the fir, the hazel, the osier,[14] the elm, the
maple, the walnut, each tree applauds, delightful with its leaves.
Hence the bee, about to construct its comb, leaving the hive, humming
over the flowers, carries off honey with its leg.  The bird

which, having closed its song, was dumb, sluggish with the wintry cold,
returns to its strains.  Hence Philomela attunes her notes with her own
instruments,[15] and the air becomes sweeter with the re-echoed melody.
Behold, the favour of the reviving world bears witness that all gifts
have returned together with its Lord.  For in honour of Christ rising
triumphant after His descent to the gloomy Tartarus, the grove on every
side with its leaves expresses approval, the plants with their flowers
express approval.[16] The light, the heaven, the fields, and the sea
duly praise the God ascending above the stars, having crushed the laws
of hell.  Behold, He who was crucified reigns as God over all things,
and all created objects offer prayer to their Creator.  Hail, festive
day, to be reverenced throughout the world,[17] on which God has
conquered hell, and gains the stars!  The changes of the year and of the
months, the bounteous light of the days, the splendour of the hours, all
things with voice applaud.[18] Hence, in honour of you, the wood with
its foliage applauds; hence the vine, with its silent shoot, gives
thanks.  Hence the thickets now resound with the whisper of birds;
amidst these the sparrow sings with exuberant[19] love.  O Christ, Thou
Saviour of the world, merciful Creator and Redeemer, the only offspring
from the Godhead of the Father, flowing in an indescribable[20] manner
from the heart of Thy Parent, Thou self-existing Word, and powerful from
the mouth of Thy Father, equal to Him, of one mind with Him, His fellow,
coeval with the Father, from whom at first[21] the world derived its
origin!  Thou

330

dost suspend the firmament,[1] Thou heapest together the soil, Thou dost
pour forth the seas, by whose[2] government all things which are fixed
in their places flourish.  Who seeing that the human race was plunged in
the depth[3] of misery, that Thou mightest rescue man, didst Thyself
also become man: nor wert Thou willing only to be born with a body,[4]
but Thou becamest flesh, which endured to be born and to die.  Thou dost
undergo[5] funeral obsequies, Thyself the author of life and framer of
the world, Thou dost enter[6] the path of death, in giving the aid of
salvation.  The gloomy chains of the infernal law yielded, and chaos
feared to be pressed by the presence[7] of the light.  Darkness
perishes, put to flight by the brightness of Christ; the think pall of
eternal[8] night falls.  But restore the promised[9] pledge, I pray
Thee, O power benign!  The third day has returned; arise, my buried One;
it is not becoming that Thy limbs should lie in the lowly sepulchre, nor
that worthless stones should press that which is the ransom[10] of the
world.  It is unworthy that a stone should shut in with a confining[11]
rock, and cover Him in whose fist[12] all things are enclosed.  Take
away the linen clothes, I pray; leave the napkins in the tomb: Thou art
sufficient for us, and without Thee there is nothing.  Release the
chained shades of the infernal prison, and recall to the upper
regions[13] whatever sinks to the lowest depths.  Give back Thy face,
that the world may see the light; give back the day which flees from us
at Thy death.  But returning, O holy conqueror!  Thou didst altogether
fill the heaven![14] Tartarus lies depressed, nor retains its rights.
The ruler of the lower regions, insatiably opening his hollow jaws, who
has always been a spoiler, becomes[15] a prey to Thee.  Thou rescuest an
innumerable people from the prison of death, and they follow in freedom
to the place whither their leader[16] approaches.  The fierce monster in
alarm vomits forth the multitude whom he had swallowed up, and the
Lamb[17] withdraws the sheep from the jaw of the wolf.  Hence re-seeking
the tomb from the lower regions,[18] having resumed Thy flesh, as a
warrior Thou carriest back ample trophies to the heavens.  Those whom
chaos held in punishment[19] he[20] has now restored; and those whom
death might seek, a new life holds, Oh, sacred King, behold a great part
of Thy triumph shines forth, when the sacred layer blesses pure souls!
A host, clad in white,[21] come forth from the bright waves, and cleanse
their old[22] fault in a new stream.  The white garment also designates
bright souls, and the shepherd has enjoyments from the snow-white flock.
The priest Felix is added sharing[23] in this reward, who wishes to give
double talents to his Lord.  Drawing those who wander in Gentile error
to better things, that a beast of prey may not carry them away, He
guards the fold of God.  Those whom guilty Eve had before infected, He
now restores, fed[24] with abundant milk at the bosom of the Church.  By
cultivating rustic hearts with mild conversations, a crop is produced
from a briar by the bounty of Felix.  The Saxon, a fierce nation, living
as it were after the manner of wild beasts, when you, 0 sacred One!
apply a remedy, the beast of prey resembles[25] the sheep.  About to
remain with you through an age with the return[26] of a hundred-fold,
you fill the barns with the produce of an abundant harvest.  May this
people, free from stain, be strengthened[27] in your arms, and may you
bear to the stars a pure pledge to God.  May one crown be bestowed on
you from on high gained from yourself,[28] may another flourish gained
from your people.

GENERAL NOTE.

 A fine passage illustrating the gush of early Christian devotion at
Easter, "breaking into all the heavenly joy of the new creation," will
be found in Professor Milligan's remarkable work on The Resurrection of
our Lord (London, Macmillan, 1884). The author is "professor of divinity
and biblical criticism in the University of Aberdeen."

 ASTERIUS URBANUS

333

335

 THE EXTANT WRITINGS OF ASTERIUS

URBANUS(1)

I. THE EXORDIUM.

 HAVING now for a very long and surely a very sufficient period had the
charge pressed upon me by thee, my dear Avircius(2) Marcellus, to write
some sort of treatise against the heresy that bears the name of
Miltiades,(3) I have somehow been very doubtfully disposed toward the
task up till now; not that I felt any difficulty in refuting the
falsehood, and in bearing my testimony to the truth, but that I was
apprehensive and fearful lest I should appear to any to be adding some
new word or precept(4) to the doctrine of the Gospel of the New
Testament, with respect to which indeed it is not possible for one who
has chosen to have his manner of life in accordance with the Gospel
itself, either to add anything to it or to take away anything from

 Being recently, however, at Ancyra, a town of Galatia, and finding the
church in Pontus(5) greatly agitated(6) by this new prophecy, as they
call it, but which should rather be called this false prophecy, as shall
be shown presently, I discoursed to the best of my ability, with the
help of God, for many days in the church, both on these subjects and on
various others(7) which were brought under my notice by them.  And this
I did in such manner that the church rejoiced and was strengthened in
the truth, while the adversaries(8) were forthwith routed, and the
opponents put to grief.  And the presbyters of

the place accordingly requested us to leave behind us some memorandum of
the things which we alleged in opposition to the adversaries of the
truth, there being present also our fellow-presbyter Zoticus Otrenus.(9)
This, however, we did not; but we promised, if the Lord gave us
opportunity, to write down the matters here, and send them to them with
all speed.

II. FROM BOOK I.

 Now the attitude of opposition(10) which they have assumed, and this
new heresy of theirs which puts them in a position of separation from
the Church, had their origin in the following manner.  There is said to
be a certain village called Ardaba(11) in the Mysia, which touches
Phrygia.(12) There, they say, one of those who had been but recently
converted to the faith, a person of the name of Montanus, when Gratus
was proconsul of Asia, gave the adversary entrance against himself by
the excessive lust of his soul after taking the lead.  And this person
was carried away in spirit;(13) and suddenly being seized with a kind of
frenzy and ecstasy, he raved, and began to speak and to utter strange
things, and to prophesy in a manner contrary to the custom of the
Church, as handed down from early times and preserved thenceforward in a
continuous succession.  And among those who were present on that
occasion, and heard those spurious utterances, there were some who were
indignant, and rebuked him as one frenzied, and under the power of
demons, and possessed by the spirit of delusion, and agitating the
multitude, and debarred him from speaking any more; for they were
mindful of the Lord's

336

distinction(1) and threatening, whereby He warned them to be on their
guard vigilantly against the coming of the false prophets.  But there
were others too, who, as if elated by the Holy Spirit and the prophetic
gift, and not a little puffed up, and forgetting entirely the Lord's
distinction, challenged the maddening and insidious and seductive
spirit, being themselves cajoled and misled by him, so that there was no
longer any checking him to silence.(2) And thus by a kind of artifice,
or rather by such a process of craft, the devil having devised
destruction against those who were disobedient to the Lord's warning,
and being unworthily honoured by them, secretly excited and inflamed
their minds that had already left the faith which is according to truth,
in order to play the harlot with error.(3) For he stirred up two others
also, women, and filled them with the spurious spirit, so that they too
spoke in a frenzy and unseasonably, and in a strange manner, like the
person already mentioned, while the spirit called them happy as they
rejoiced and exulted proudly at his working, and puffed them up by the
magnitude of his promises; while, on the other hand, at times also he
condemned them skilfully and plausibly, in order that he might seem to
them also to have the power of reproof.(4) And those few who were thus
deluded were Phrygians.  But the same arrogant spirit taught them to
revile the Church universal under heaven, because that false spirit of
prophecy found neither honour from it nor entrance into it.  For when
the faithful throughout Asia met together often and in many places of
Asia for deliberation on this subject, and subjected those novel
doctrines to examination, and declared them to be spurious, and rejected
them as heretical, they were in consequence of that expelled from the
Church and debarred from communion.(5)

III. FROM BOOK II.

 Wherefore, since they stigmatized us as slayers of the prophets(6)
because we did not receive their loquacious(7) prophets,--for they say
that these are they whom the Lord promised to send to the people,--let
them answer us in the name of God, and tell us, O friends, whether there
is any one among those who began to speak from Montanus and the women
onward that was persecuted by the Jews or put to death by the wicked?
There is not one.  Not even one of them is there who was seized and
crucified for the name(8) of Christ.  No; certainly not.  Neither
assuredly was there one of these women who was ever scourged in the
synagogues of the Jews, or stoned.  No; never anywhere.  It is indeed by
another kind of death that Montanus and Maximillia are said to have met
their end.  For the report is, that by the instigation of that maddening
spirit both of them hung themselves; not together indeed, but at the
particular time of the death of each(9) as the common story goes.  And
thus they died, and finished their life like the traitor Judas.  Thus,
also, the general report gives it that Theodotus--that astonishing
person who was, so to speak, the first procurator(10) of their so-called
prophecy, and who, as if he were sometime taken up and received into the
heavens, fell into spurious ecstasies,(11) and gave himself wholly over
to the spirit of delusion--was at last tossed by him(12) into the air,
and met his end miserably.  People say then that this took place in the
way we have stated.  But as we did not see(13) them ourselves, we do not
presume to think that we know any of these things with certainty.  And
it may therefore have been in this way perhaps, and perhaps in some
other way, that Montanus and Theodotus and the woman mentioned above
perished.

IV.

 And let not the spirit of Maximilla say (as it is found in the same
book of Asterius Urbanus(14)), "I am chased like a wolf from the sheep;
I am no wolf.  I am word, and spirit, and power."  But let him clearly
exhibit and prove the power in the spirit.  And by the spirit let him
constrain to a confession those who were present at that time for the
very purpose of trying and holding converse with the talkative spirit--
those men so highly reputed as men and bishops--namely, Zoticus of the
village of Comana,(15) and Julian

337

of Apamea, whose mouths Themison(1) and his followers bridled, and
prevented the false and seductive spirit from being confuted by them.

V.

 And has not the falsity of this also been made manifest already?  For
it is now upwards of thirteen years since the woman died, and there has
arisen neither a partial nor a universal war in the world.  Nay, rather
there has been steady and continued peace to the Christians by the mercy
of God.

VI. FROM BOOK III.

 But as they have been refuted in all their allegations, and are thus at
a loss what to say, they try to take refuge in their martyrs.  For they
say that they have many martyrs, and that this is a sure proof of the
power of their so-called prophetic spirit.  But this allegation as it
seems, carries not a whit more truth with it than the others.  For
indeed some of the other heresies have also a great multitude of
martyrs; but yet certainly we shall not on that account agree with them,
neither shall we acknowledge that they have truth in them.  And those
first heretics, who from the heresy of Marcion are called Marcionites,
allege that they have a great multitude of martyrs for Christ.  But yet
they do not confess Christ Himself according to truth.

VII.

 Hence, also, whenever those who have been called to martyrdom for the
true faith by the Church happen to fall in with any of those so-called
martyrs of the Phrygian heresy, they always separate from them, and die
without having fellowship with them, because they do not choose to give
their assent to the spirit of Montanus and the women.  And that this is
truly the case, and that it has actually taken place in our own times at
Apamea, a town on the Maeander, in

the case of those who suffered martyrdom with Caius(2) and Alexander,
natives of Eumenia, is clear to all.

VIII.

 As I found these things in a certain writing of theirs directed against
the writing of our brother Alcibiades,(3) in which he proves the
impropriety of a prophet's speaking in ecstasy, I made an abridgment of
that work.

IX.

 But the false prophet falls into a spurious ecstasy, which is
accompanied by a want of all shame and fear.  For beginning with a
voluntary (designed) rudeness, he ends with an involuntary madness of
soul, as has been already stated.  But they will never be able to show
that any one of the Old Testament prophets, or any one of the New, was
carried away in spirit after this fashion.  Nor will they be able to
boast that Agabus, or Judas, or Silas, or the daughters of Philip, or
the woman Ammia in Philadelphia, or Quadratus, or indeed any of the
others who do not in any respect belong to them, were moved in this way.

X.

 For if, after Quadratus and the woman Ammia in Philadelphia, as they
say, the women who attached themselves to Montanus succeeded to the gift
of prophecy, let them show us which of them thus succeeded Montanus and
his women.  For the apostle deems that the gift of prophecy should abide
in all the Church up to the time of the final advent.  But they will not
be able to show the gift to be in their possession even at the present
time, which is the fourteenth year only from the death of Maximilla.(4)

338

ELUCIDATION

(Aviricius Marcellus, p.  335, supra.)

 LIKE his great predecessor in Patristic research (Bishop Pearson), the
learned and indefatigable Bishop Lightfoot will leave us gold-dust in
the mere sweepings of his literary work.  His recent voluminous edition
of the Apostolic Fathers(1) is encyclopedic in its treatment of the
subject; and I had hardly corrected the last proofs of the fragments
ascribed to Asterius Urbanus when I discovered, in one of his notes on
Polycarp, a most brilliant elucidation of a matter which I had supposed
involved in twofold obscurity.  Asterius is a mere name embedded in
Eusebius, and in his fragments there preserved is embedded the yet
obscurer name of Aviricius Marcellus, which the reader will find, with
its various spellings, in one of the translator's notes.(2) Who could
have supposed that even the learning and ingenuity of Lightfoot could
fish out of very dark waters such shining booty as fills the network
about "Abercius of Hierapolis?"  While he does not even name Asterius,
the mere nominis umbra of Aviricius Marcellus is material for a truly
remarkable dissertation covering nine pages of fine print, and enabling
us to conclude that this Aviricius is none other than the same "bishop
of Hierapolis" about whom there is such a long story in the Bollandist
Acta Sanctorum.(3) The story is a silly legend, but Lightfoot
understands the art ex fumo dare lucem; and any one who enjoys following
up such elaborations will find most curious and delightful reading in
the pages to which I have referred.  Our Aviricius, then, was bishop of
"Hieropolis of Lesser Phrygia," not of Hierapolis on the Maeander, and
flourished about A.D. 163, during the reign of M. Aurelius.  This date,
therefore, must correct the conjecture of Tillemont and the date which I
had accepted from him on the authority of Dr.  Lardner.(4)

341

 ON THE CREATION OF THE WORLD(1)

 To me, as I meditate and consider in my mind concerning the creation of
this world in which we are kept enclosed, even such is the rapidity of
that creation; as is contained in the book of Moses, which he wrote
about its creation, and which is called Genesis.  God produced that
entire mass for the adornment of His majesty in six days; on the seventh
to which He consecrated it ... with a blessing.  For this reason,
therefore, because in the septenary number of days both heavenly and
earthly things are ordered, in place of the beginning I will consider of
this seventh day after the principle of all matters pertaining to the
number of seven; and as far as I shall be able, I will endeavour to
portray the day of the divine power to that consummation.

 In the beginning God made the light, and divided it in the exact
measure of twelve hours by day and by night, for this reason, doubtless,
that day might bring over the night as an occasion of rest for men's
labours; that, again, day might overcome, and thus that labour might be
refreshed with this alternate change of rest, and that repose again
might be tempered by the exercise of day.  "On the fourth day He made
two lights in the heaven, the greater and the lesser, that the one might
rule over the day, the other over the night,"(2)--the lights of the sun
and moon and He placed the rest of the stars in heaven, that they might
shine upon the earth, and by their positions distinguish the seasons,
and years, and months, and days, and hours.

 Now is manifested the reason of the truth why the fourth day is called
the Tetras, why we fast even to the ninth hour, or even to the evening,
or why there should be a passing over even to the next day.  Therefore
this world of ours is composed of four elements--fire, water, heaven,
earth.  These four elements, therefore, form the quaternion of times or
seasons.  The

sun, also, and the moon constitute throughout the space of the year four
seasons--of spring, summer, autumn, winter; and these seasons make a
quaternion.  And to proceed further still from that principle, lo, there
are four living creatures before God's throne,(3) four Gospels, four
rivers flowing in paradise;(4) four generations of people from Adam to
Noah, from Noah to Abraham, from Abraham to Moses, from Moses to Christ
the Lord, the Son of God; and four living creatures, viz., a man, a
calf, a lion, an eagle; and four rivers, the Pison, the Gihon.  the
Tigris, and the Euphrates.  The man Christ Jesus, the originator of
these things whereof we have above spoken, was taken prisoner by wicked
hands, by a quaternion of soldiers.  Therefore on account of His
captivity by a quaternion, on account of the majesty of His works,--that
the seasons also, wholesome to humanity, joyful for the harvests,
tranquil for the tempests, may roll on,--therefore we make the fourth
day a station or a supernumerary fast.

 On the fifth day the land and water brought forth their progenies.  On
the sixth day the things that were wanting were created; and thus God
raised up man from the soil, as lord of all the things which He created
upon the earth and the water.  Yet He created angels and archangels
before He created man, placing spiritual beings before earthly ones.
For light was made before sky and the earth.  This sixth day is called
parasceve,(5) that is to say, the preparation of the kingdom.  For He
perfected Adam, whom He made after His image and likeness.  But for this
reason He completed His works before He created angels and fashioned
man, lest perchance they should falsely assert that they had been His
helpers.  On this day also.  on account of the passion of the Lord Jesus
Christ, we make either a station to God, or a fast.  On the seventh day
He rested from all His works, and blessed it, and sanctified it.  On the
former day we are accustomed to fast rigorously, that on the Lord's day
we may go forth

342

to our bread with giving of thanks.  And let the parasceve become a
rigorous fast, lest we should appear to observe any Sabbath with the
Jews, which Christ Himself, the Lord of the Sabbath, says by His
prophets that "His soul hateth;"(1) which Sabbath He in His body
abolished, although, nevertheless, He had formerly Himself commanded
Moses that circumcision should not pass over the eighth day, which day
very frequently happens on the Sabbath, as we read written in the
Gospel.(2) Moses, foreseeing the hardness of that people, on the Sabbath
raised up his hands, therefore, and thus figuratively fastened himself
to a cross.(3) And in the battle they were sought for by the foreigners
on the Sabbath-day, that they might be taken captive, and, as if by the
very strictness of the law, might be fashioned to the avoidance of its
teaching.(4)

 And thus in the sixth Psalm for the eighth day,(5) David asks the Lord
that He would not rebuke him in His anger, nor judge him in His fury;
for this is indeed the eighth day of that future judgment, which will
pass beyond the order of the sevenfold arrangement.  Jesus also, the son
of Nave, the successor of Moses, himSelf broke the Sabbath-day; for on
the Sabbath-day he commanded the children of Israel(6) to go round the
walls of the city of Jericho with trumpets, and declare war against the
aliens.  Matthias(7) also, prince of Judah, broke the Sabbath; for he
slew the prefect of Antiochus the king of Syria on the Sabbath, and
subdued the foreigners by pursuing them.  And in Matthew we read, that
it is written Isaiah also and the rest of his colleagues broke the
Sabbath(8)--that that true and just Sabbath should be observed in the
seventh millenary of years.  Wherefore to those seven days the Lord
attributed to each a thousand years; for thus went the warning: "In
Thine eyes, O Lord, a thousand years are as one day."(9) Therefore in
the eyes of the Lord each thousand of years is ordained, for I find that
the Lord's eyes are seven.(10) Wherefore, as I have narrated, that true
Sabbath will be in the seventh millenary of years, when Christ with His
elect shall reign.  Moreover, the seven heavens agree with those days;
for thus we are warned: "By the word of the Lord were the heavens made,
and all the powers of them by the spirit of His mouth."(11) There are
seven spirits.  Their names are the spirits which abode on the

Christ of God, as was intimated in Isaiah the prophet: "And there rests
upon Him the spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the spirit of
counsel and might, the spirit of wisdom(12) and of piety, and the spirit
of God's fear hath filled Him."(13) Therefore the highest heaven is the
heaven of wisdom; the second, of understanding; the third, of counsel;
the fourth, of might; the fifth, of knowledge; the sixth, of piety; the
seventh, of God's fear.  From this, therefore, the thunders bellow, the
lightnings are kindled,(14) the fires are heaped together; fiery
darts(15) appear, stars gleam, the anxiety caused by the dreadful comet
is aroused.(16) Sometimes it happens that the sun and moon approach one
another, and cause those more than frightful appearances, radiating with
light in the field of their aspect.  But the author of the whole
creation is Jesus.  His name is the Word; for thus His Father says: "My
heart hath emitted a good word."(17) John the evangelist thus says: "In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was
God.  The same was in the beginning with God.  All things were made by
Him, and without Him was nothing made that was made."(18) Therefore,
first, was made the creation; secondly, man, the lord of the human race,
as says the apostle.(19) Therefore this Word, when it made light, is
called Wisdom; when it made the sky, Understanding; when it made land
and sea, Counsel; when it made sun and moon and other bright things,
Power; when it calls forth land and sea, Knowledge; when it formed man,
Piety; when it blesses and sanctifies man, it has the name of God's
fear.

 Behold the seven horns of the Lamb,(20) the seven eyes of God(21)-- the
seven eyes are the seven spirits of the Lamb;(22) seven torches burning
before the throne of God(22) seven golden candlesticks,(23) seven young
sheep,(24) the seven women in Isaiah,(25) the seven churches in
Paul,(26) seven deacons,(27) seven angels,(28) seven trumpets,(29) seven
seals to the book, seven periods of seven days with which Pentecost is
completed, the seven weeks in Daniel,(30) also the forty-three weeks in
Daniel;(31) with Noah, seven of all clean

343

things in the ark;(1) seven revenges of Cain,(2) seven years for a debt
to be acquitted,(3) the lamp with seven orifices,(4) seven pillars of
wisdom in the house of Solomon.(5)

 Now, therefore, you may see that it is being told you of the unerring
glory of God in providence; yet, as far as my small capacity shall be
able, I will endeavour to set it forth.  That He might re-create that
Adam by means of the week, and bring aid to His entire creation, was
accomplished by the nativity of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord.  Who,
then, that is taught in the law of God, who that is filled with the Holy
Spirit, does not see in his heart, that on the same day on which the
dragon seduced Eve, the angel Gabriel brought the glad tidings to the
Virgin Mary; that on the same day the Holy Spirit overflowed the Virgin
Mary, on which He made light; that on that day He was incarnate in
flesh, in which He made the land and water; that on the same day He was
put to the breast, on which He made the stars; that on the same day He
was circumcised,(6) on which the land and water brought forth their
offspring; that on the same day He was incarnated, on which He formed
man out of the ground; that on the same day Christ was born, on which He
formed man; that on that day He

suffered, on which Adam fell; that on the same day He rose again from
the dead, on which He created light?  He, moreover, consummates His
humanity in the number seven: of His nativity, His infancy, His boyhood,
His youth, His young-manhood, His mature age, His death.  I have also
set forth His humanity to the Jews in these manners: since He is hungry,
is thirsty; since He gave food and drink; since He walks, and retired;
since He slept upon a pillow;(7) since, moreover, He walks upon the
stormy seas with His feet, He commands the winds, He cures the sick and
restores the lame, He raises the blind by His speech,(8)--see ye that He
declares Himself to them to be the Lord.

 The day, as I have above related, is divided into two parts by the
number twelve--by the twelve hours of day and night; and by these hours
too, months, and years, and seasons, and ages are computed.  Therefore,
doubtless, there are appointed also twelve angels of the day and twelve
angels of the night, in accordance, to wit, with the number of hours.
For these are the twenty-four witnesses of the days and nights(9) which
sit before the throne of God, having golden crowns on their heads, whom
the Apocalypse of John the apostle and evangelist calls elders, for the
reason that they are older both than the other angels and than men.

344

 COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE OF THE BLESSED JOHN

FROM THE FIRST CHAPTER.

 1.  "THE Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to Him, and showed
unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass, and signified
it.  Blessed are they who read and hear the words of this prophecy, and
keep the things which are written."] The beginning of the book promises
blessing to him that reads and hears and keeps, that he who takes pains
about the reading may thence learn to do works, and may keep the
precepts.

 4.  "Grace unto you, and peace, from Him which is, and which was, and
which is to come."] He is, because He endures continually; He was,
because with the Father He made all things, and has at this time taken a
beginning from the Virgin; He is to come, because assuredly He will come
to judgment.  "And from the seven spirits which are before His throne."]
We read of a sevenfold spirit in Isaiah,(1)--namely, the spirit of
wisdom and of understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, of
knowledge and of piety, and the spirit of the fear of the Lord.

 5.  "And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the first-
begotten of the dead."] In taking upon Him manhood, He gave a testimony
in the world, wherein also having suffered, He freed us by His blood
from sin; and having vanquished hell, He was the first who rose from the
dead and "death shall have no more dominion over Him,"(2) but by His own
reign the kingdom of the world is destroyed.

 6.  "And He made us a kingdom and priests unto God and His Father."]
That is to say, a Church of all believers; as also the Apostle Peter
says: "A holy nation, a royal priesthood."(3)

 7.  "Behold, He shall come with clouds, and every eye shall see Him."]
For He who at first came hidden in the manhood that He had undertaken,
shall after a little while come to judgment

manifest in majesty and glory.  And what saith He?

 12.  "And I turned, and saw seven golden candlesticks; and in the midst
of the seven golden candlesticks one like unto the Son of man."] He says
that He was like Him after His victory over death, when He had ascended
into the heavens, after the union in His body of the power which He
received from the Father with the spirit of His glory.

 13.  "As it were the Son of man walking in the midst of the golden
candlesticks."] He says, in the midst of the churches, as it is said in
Solomon, "I will walk in the midst of the paths of the just,"(4) whose
antiquity is immortality, and the fountain of majesty.

 "Clothed with a garment down to the ankles."] In the long, that is, the
priestly garment, these words very plainly deliver the flesh which was
not corrupted in death, and has the priesthood through suffering.

 "And He was girt about the paps with a golden girdle."] His paps are
the two testaments, and the golden girdle is the choir of saints, as
gold tried in the fire.  Otherwise the golden girdle bound around His
breast indicates the enlightened conscience, and the pure and spiritual
apprehension that is given to the churches.

 14.  "And His head and His hairs were white as it were white wool, and
as it were snow."] On the head the whiteness is shown; "but the head of
Christ is God."(5) in the white hairs is the multitude of abbots(6) like
to wool, in respect of simple sheep; to snow, in respect of the
innumerable crowd of candidates taught from heaven.

 "His eyes were as a flame of fire."] God's preceipts are those which
minister light to believers, but to unbelievers burning.

 16.  "And in His face was brightness as the sun."] That which He called
brightness was

345

the appearance of that in which He spoke to men face to face.  But the
glory of the sun is less than the glory of the Lord.  Doubtless on
account of its rising and setting, and rising again, that He was born
and suffered and rose again, therefore the Scripture gave this
similitude, likening His face to the glory of the sun.

 15.  "His feet were like unto yellow brass, as if burned in a
furnace."] He calls the apostles His feet, who, being wrought by
suffering, preached His word in the whole world; for He rightly named
those by whose means the preaching went forth, feet.  Whence also the
prophet anticipated this, and said: "We will worship in the place where
His feet have stood."(1) Because where they first of all stood and
confirmed the Church, that is, in Judea, all the saints shall assemble
together, and will worship their Lord.

 16.  "And out of His mouth was issuing a sharp two-edged sword."] By
the twice-sharpened sword going forth out of His mouth is shown, that it
is He Himself who has both now declared the word of the Gospel, and
previously by Moses declared the knowledge of the law to the whole
world.  But because from the same word, as well of the New as of the Old
Testament, He will assert Himself upon the whole human race, therefore
He is spoken of as two-edged.  For the sword arms the soldier, the sword
slays the enemy, the sword punishes the deserter.  And that He might
show to the apostles that He was announcing judgment, He says: "I came
not to send peace, but a sword."(2) And after He had completed His
parables, He says to them: "Have ye understood all these things?  And
they said, We have.  And He added, Therefore is every scribe instructed
in the kingdom of God like unto a man that is a father of a family,
bringing forth from his treasure things new and old,"(3)--the new, the
evangelical words of the apostles; the old, the precepts of the law and
the prophets: and He testified that these proceeded out of His mouth.
Moreover, He also says to Peter: "Go thou to the sea, and cast a hook,
and take up the fish that shall first come up; and having opened its
mouth, thou shalt find a stater (that is, two denarii), and thou shalt
give it for me and for thee."(4) And similarly David says by the Spirit:
"God spake once, twice I have heard the same."(5) Because God once
decreed from the beginning what shall be even to the end.  Finally, as
He Himself is the Judge appointed by the Father.  on account of His
assumption of humanity, wishing to show that men shall be judged by the
word that He had declared, He says: "Think ye that I will

judge you at the last day?  Nay, but the word," says He, "which I have
spoken unto you, that shall judge you in the last day."(6) And Paul,
speaking of Antichrist to the Thessalonians, says: "Whom the Lord Jesus
will slay by the breath of His mouth."(7) And Isaiah says: "By the
breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked."(8) This, therefore, is the
two-edged sword issuing out of His mouth.

 15.  "And His voice as it were the voice of many waters."] The many
waters are understood to be many peoples, or the gift of baptism that He
sent forth by the apostles, saying: "Go ye, teach all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost."(9)

 16.  "And He had in His right hand seven stars."] He said that in His
right hand He had seven stars, because the Holy Spirit of sevenfold
agency was given into His power by the Father.  As Peter exclaimed to
the Jews: "Being at the right hand of God exalted, He hath shed forth
this Spirit received from the Father, which ye both see and hear."(10)
Moreover, John the Baptist had also anticipated this, by saying to his
disciples: "For God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto Him.  The
Father," says he, "loveth the Son, and hath given all things into His
hands."(11) Those seven stars are the seven churches, which he names in
his addresses by name, old calls them to whom he wrote epistles.  Not
that they are themselves the only, or even the principal churches; but
what he says to one, he says to all.  For they are in no respect difent,
that on that ground any one should prefer them to the larger number of
similar small ones.  In the whole world Paul taught that all the
churches are arranged by sevens, that they are called seven, and that
the Catholic Church is one.  And first of all, indeed, that he himself
also might maintain the type of seven churches, he did not exceed that
number.  But he wrote to the Romans, to the Corinthians, to the
Galatians, to the Ephesians, to the Thessalonians, to the Philippians,
to the Colossians; afterwards he wrote to individual persons, so as not
to exceed the number of seven churches.  And abridging in a short space
his announcement, he thus says to Timothy: "That thou mayest know how
thou oughtest to behave thyself in the Church of the living God."(12) We
read also that this typical number is announced by the Holy Spirit by
the month of Isaiah: "Of seven women which took hold of one man."(13)
The one man is

346

Christ, not born of seed; but the seven women are seven churches,
receiving His bread, and clothed with his apparel, who ask that their
reproach should be taken away, only that His name should be called upon
them.  The bread is the Holy Spirit, which nourishes to eternal life,
promised to them, that is, by faith.  And His garments wherewith they
desire to be clothed are the glory of immortality, of which Paul the
apostle says: "For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this
mortal must put on mortality."(1) Moreover, they ask that their reproach
may be taken away--that is, that they may be cleansed from their sins:
for the reproach is the original sin which is taken away in baptism, and
they begin to be called Christian men, which is, "Let thy name be called
upon us."  Therefore in these seven churches, of one Catholic Church are
believers, because it is one in seven by the quality of faith and
election.  Whether writing to them who labour in the world, and live(2)
of the frugality of their labours, and are patient, and when they see
certain men in the Church wasters, and pernicious, they hear them, lest
there should become dissension, he yet admonishes them by love, that in
what respects their faith is deficient they should repent; or to those
who dwell in cruel places among persecutors, that they should continue
faithful; or to those who, under the pretext of mercy, do unlawful sins
in the Church, and make them manifest to be done by others; or to those
that are at ease in the Church; or to those who are negligent, and
Christians only in name; or to those who are meekly instructed, that
they may bravely persevere in faith; or to those who study the
Scriptures, and labour to know the mysteries of their announcement, and
are unwilling to do God's work that is mercy and love: to all he urges
penitence, to all he declares judgment.

FROM THE SECOND CHAPTER.

 2.  "I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience."] In the first
epistle He speaks thus: I know that thou sufferest and workest, I see
that thou art patient; think not that I am staying long from thee.

 "And that thou canst not bear them that are evil, and who say that they
are Jews and are not, and thou has found them liars, and thou hast
patience for My name's sake."] All these things tend to praise, and that
no small praise; and it behoves such men, and such a class, and such
elected persons, by all means to be admonished, that they may not be
defrauded of such privileges granted to them of God.  These few things
He said that He had against them.

 4, 5.  "And thou hast left thy first love: remember whence thou hast
fallen."] He who falls, falls from a height: therefore He said whence:
because, even to the very last, works of love must be practised; and
this is the principal commandment.  Finally, unless this is done, He
threatened to remove their candlestick out of its place, that is, to
disperse the congregation.

 6.  "This thou hast also, that thou hatest the deeds of the
Nicolaitanes."] But because thou thyself hatedst those who hold the
doctrines of the Nicolaitanes, thou expectest praise.  Moreover, to hate
the works of the Nicolaitanes, which He Himself also hated, this tends
to praise.  But the works of the Nicolaitanes were in that time false
and troublesome men, who, as ministers under the name of Nicolaus, had
made for themselves a heresy, to the effect that what had been offered
to idols might be exorcised and eaten, and that whoever should have
committed fornication might receive peace on the eighth day.  Therefore
He extols those to whom He is writing; and to these men, being such and
so great, He promised the tree of life, which is in the paradise of His
God.

 The following epistle unfolds the mode of life and habit of another
order which follows.  He proceeds to say:--

 9.  "I know thy tribulation and thy poverty, but thou art rich."] For
He knows that with such men there are riches hidden with Him, and that
they deny the blasphemy of the Jews, who say that they are Jews and are
not; but they are the synagogue of Satan, since they are gathered
together by Antichrist; and to them He says:--

 10.  "Be thou faithful unto death."] That they should continue to be
faithful even unto death.

 11.  "He that shall overcome, shall not be hurt by the second death."]
That is, he shalt not be chastised in hell.

 The third order of the saints shows that they are men who are strong in
faith, and who are not afraid of persecution; but because even among
them there are some who are inclined to unlawful associations, He says:-
-

 14-16.  "Thou hast there some who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who
taught in the case of Balak that he should put a stumbling-block before
the children of Israel, to eat and to commit fornication.  So also hast
thou them who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes; but I will fight
with them with the sword of my mouth."] That is, I will say what I shall
command, and I will tell you what you shall do.  For Balaam,(3) with his
doctrine, taught Balak to cast a stumbling-block before the eyes of the
children of Israel, to eat what was sacrificed to idols, and to

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commit fornication,--a thing which is known to have happened of old.
For he gave this advice to the king of the Moabites, and they caused
stumbling to the people.  Thus, says He, ye have among you those who
hold such doctrine; and under the pretext of mercy, you would corrupt
others.

 17.  "To him that overcometh I will give the hidden manna, and I will
give him a white stone."] The hidden manna is immortality; the white gem
is adoption to be the son of God; the new name written on the stone is
"Christian."

 The fourth class intimates the nobility of the faithful, who labour
daily, and do greater works.  But even among them also He shows that
there are men of an easy disposition to grant unlawful peace, and to
listen to new forms of prophesying; and He reproves and warns the others
to whom this is not pleasing, who know the wickedness opposed to them:
for which evils He purposes to bring upon the head of the faithful both
sorrows and dangers; and therefore He says:--

 24.  "I will not put upon you any other burden."] That is, I have not
given you laws, observances, and duties, which is another burden.

 25, 26.  "But that which ye have, hold fast until I come; and he that
overcometh, to him will I give power over all peoples."] That is, him I
will appoint as judge among the rest of the saints.

 28.  "And I will give him the morning star."] To wit, the first
resurrection.  He promised the morning star, which drives away the
night, and announces the light, that is, the beginning of day.

FROM THE THIRD CHAPTER.

 The fifth class, company, or association of saints, sets forth men who
are careless, and who are carrying on in the world other transactions
than those which they ought--Christians only in name.  And therefore He
exhorts them that by any means they should be turned away from
negligence, and be saved; and to this effect He says:--

 2.  "Be watchful, and strengthen the other things which were ready to
die; for I have not found thy works perfect before God."] For it is not
enough for a tree to live and to have no fruit, even as it is not enough
to be called a Christian and to confess Christ, but not to have Himself
in our work, that is, not to do His precepts.

 The sixth class is the mode of life of the best election.  The habit of
saints is set forth; of those, to wit, who are lowly in the world, and
unskilled in the Scriptures, and who hold the faith immoveably, and are
not at all broken down by any chance, or withdrawn from the faith by any
fear.  Therefore He says to them:--

 8.  "I have set before thee an open door, because thou hast kept the
word of my patience."] In such little strength.

 10.  "And I will keep thee from the hour of temptation."] That they may
know His glory to be of this kind, that they are not indeed permitted to
be given over to temptation.

 12.  "He that overcometh shall be made a pillar in the temple of God."]
For even as a pillar is an ornament of the building, so he who
perseveres shall obtain a nobility in the Church.

 Moreover, the seventh association of the Church declares that they are
rich men placed in positions of dignity, but believing that they are
rich, among whom indeed the Scriptures are discussed in their
bedchamber, while the faithful are outside; and they are understood by
none, although they boast themselves, and say that they know all things,
--endowed with the confidence of learning, but ceasing from its labour.
And thus He says:--

 15.  "That they are neither cold nor hot."] That is, neither
unbelieving nor believing, for they are all things to all men.  And
because he who is neither cold nor hot, but lukewarm, gives nausea, He
says:--

 16.  "I will vomit thee out of My mouth."] Although nausea is hateful,
still it hurts no one; so also is it with men of this kind when they
have been cast forth.  But because there is time of repentance, He says:
--

 18.  "I persuade thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire."] That is,
that in whatever manner you can, you should suffer for the Lord's name
tribulations and passions.

 "And anoint thine eyes with eye-salve."] That what you gladly know by
the Scripture, you should strive also to do the work of the same.  And
because, if in these ways men return out of great destruction to great
repentance, they are not only useful to themselves, but they are able
also to be of advantage to many, He promised them no small reward,--to
sit, namely, on the throne of judgment.

FROM THE FOURTH CHAPTER.

 "After this, I beheld, and, lo, a door was opened in heaven."] The new
testament is announced as an open door in heaven.

 "And the first voice which I heard was, as it were, of a trumpet
talking with me, saying, Come up hither."] Since the door is shown to be
opened, it is manifest that previously it had been closed to men.  And
it was sufficiently and fully laid open when Christ ascended with His
body to the Father into heaven.  Moreover, the first

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voice which he had heard when he says that it spoke with him, without
contradiction condemns those who say that one spoke in the prophets,
another in the Gospel; since it is rather He Himself who comes, that is
the same who spoke in the prophets.  For John was of the circumcision,
and all that people which had heard the announcement of the Old
Testament was edified with his word.

 "That very same voice," said he, "that I had heard, that said unto me,
Come up hither."] That is the Spirit, whom a little before he confesses
that he had seen walking as the Son of man in the midst of the golden
candlesticks.  And he now gathers from Him what had been foretold in
similitudes by the law, and associates with this scripture all the
former prophets, and opens up the Scriptures.  And because our Lord
invited in His own name all believers into heaven, He forthwith poured
out the Holy Spirit, who should bring them to heaven.  He says:--

 2.  "Immediately I was in the Spirit."] And since the mind of the
faithful is opened by the Holy Spirit, and that is manifested to them
which was also foretold to the fathers, he distinctly says:--

 "And, behold, a throne was set in heaven."] The throne set: what is it
but the throne of judgment and of the King?

 3.  "And He that sate upon the throne was, to look upon, like a jasper
and a sardine stone."] Upon the throne he says that he saw the likeness
of a jasper and a sardine stone.  The jasper is of the colour of water,
the sardine of fire.  These two are thence manifested to be placed as
judgments upon God's tribunal until the consummation of the world, of
which judgments one is already completed in the deluge of water, and the
other shall be completed by fire.

 "And there was a rainbow about the throne."] Moreover, the rainbow
round about the throne has the same colours.  The rainbow is called a
bow from what the Lord spake to Noah and to his sons,(1) that they
should not fear any further deluge in the generation of God, but fire.
For thus He says: I will place my bow in the clouds, that ye may now no
longer fear water, but fire.

 6.  "And before the throne there was, as it were, a sea of glass like
to crystal."] That is the gift of baptism which He sheds forth through
His Son in time of repentance, before He executes judgment.  It is
therefore before the throne, that is, the judgment.  And when he says a
sea of glass like to crystal, he shows that it is pure water, smooth,
not agitated by the wind, not flowing down as on a slope, but given to
be immoveable as the house of God.

"And round about the throne were four living

creatures."] The four living creatures are the four Gospels.

 7-10.  "The first living creature was like to a lion, and the second
was like to a calf, and the third had a face like to a man, and the
fourth was like to a flying eagle; and they had six wings, and round
about and within they were full of eyes; and they had no rest, saying,
Holy, holy, holy, Lord Omnipotent.  And the four and twenty elders,
failing down before the throne, adored God."] The four and twenty elders
are the twenty-four books of the prophets and of the law, which give
testimonies of the judgment.  Moreover, also, they are the twenty-four
fathers--twelve apostles and twelve patriarchs.  And in that the living
creatures are different in appearance, this is the reason: the living
creature like to a lion designates Mark, in whom is heard the voice of
the lion roaring in the desert.  And in the figure of a man, Matthew
strives to declare to us the genealogy of Mary, from whom Christ took
flesh.  Therefore, in enumerating from Abraham to David, and thence to
Joseph, he spoke of Him as if of a man: therefore his announcement sets
forth the image of a man.  Luke, in narrating the priesthood of
Zacharias as he offers a sacrifice for the people, and the angel that
appears to him with respect of the priesthood, and the victim in the
same description bore the likeness of a calf.  John the evangelist, like
to an eagle hastening on uplifted wings to greater heights, argues about
the Word of God.  Mark, therefore, as an evangelist thus beginning, "The
beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as it is written in Isaiah the
prophet;"(2) The voice of one crying in the wilderness,"(3)--has the
effigy of a lion.  And Matthew, "The hook of the generation of Jesus
Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham:"(4) this is the form of a
man.  But Luke said, "There was a priest, by name Zachariah, of the
course of Abia, and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron:"(5) this is
the likeness of a calf.  But John, when he begins, "In the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,"(6) sets
forth the likeness of a flying eagle.  Moreover, not only do the
evangelists express their four similitudes in their respective openings
of the Gospels, but also the Word itself of God the Father Omnipotent,
which is His Son our Lord Jesus Christ, bears the same likeness in the
time of His advent.  When He preaches to us, He is, as it were, a lion
and a lion's whelp.  And when for man's salvation He was made man to
overcome death, and to set all men free, and that He offered

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Himself a victim to the Father on our behalf, He was called a calf.  And
that He overcame death and ascended into the heavens, extending His
wings and protecting His people, He was named a flying eagle.  Therefore
these announcements, although they are four, yet are one, because it
proceeded from one mouth.  Even as the river in paradise, although it is
one, was divided into four heads.  Moreover, that for the announcement
of the New Testament those bring creatures had eyes within and without,
shows the spiritual providence which both looks into the secrets of the
heart, and beholds the things which are coming after that are within and
without.

 8.  "Six wings."] These are the testimonies of the books of the Old
Testament.  Thus, twenty and four make as many as there are elders
sitting upon the thrones.  But as an animal cannot fly unless it have
wings, so, too, the announcement of the New Testament gains no faith
unless it have the fore-announced testimonies of the Old Testament, by
which it is lifted from the earth, and flies.  For in every case, what
has been told before, and is afterwards found to have happened, that
begets an undoubting faith.  Again, also, if wings be not attached to
the living creatures, they have nothing whence they may draw their life.
For unless what the prophets foretold had been consummated in Christ,
their preaching was vain.  For the Catholic Church holds those things
which were both before predicted and afterwards accomplished.  And it
flies, because the living animal is reasonably lifted up from the earth.
But to heretics who do not avail themselves of the prophetic testimony,
to them also there are present living creatures; but they do not fly,
because they are of the earth.  And to the Jews who do not receive the
announcement of the New Testament there are present wings; but they do
not fly, that is, they bring a vain prophesying to men, not adjusting
facts to their words.  And the books of the Old Testament that are
received are twenty-four, which you will find in the epitomes of
Theodore.  But, moreover (as we have said), four and twenty elders,
patriarchs and apostles, are to judge His people.  For to the apostles,
when they asked, saying, "We have forsaken all that we had, and followed
Thee: what shall we have?"  our Lord replied, "When the Son of man shall
sit upon the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones,
judging the twelve tribes of Israel."(1) But of the fathers also who
should judge, says the patriarch Jacob, "Dan also himself shall judge
his people among his brethren, even as one of the tribes in lsrael."(2)

 5.  "And from the throne proceeded lightnings, and voices, and
thunders, and seven torches of fire burning."] And the lightnings, and
voices, and thunders proceeding from the throne of God, and the seven
torches of fire burning, signify announcements, and promises of
adoption, and threatenings.  For lightnings signify the Lord's advent,
and the voices the announcements of the New Testament, and the thunders,
that the words are from heaven.  The burning torches of fire signify the
gift of the Holy Spirit, that it is given by the wood of the passion.
And when these things were doing, he says that all the elders fell down
and adored the Lord; while the living creatures--that is, of course, the
actions recorded in the Gospels and the teaching of the Lord--gave Him
glory and honour.(3) In that they had fulfilled the word that had been
previously foretold by them, they worthily and with reason exult,
feeling that they have ministered the mysteries and the word of the
Lord.  Finally, also, because He had come who should remove death, and
who alone was worthy to take the crown of immortality, all for the glory
of His most excellent doing had crowns.

 10.  "And they cast their crowns under His feet."] That is, on account
of the eminent glory of Christ's victory, they cast all their victories
under His feet.  This is what in the Gospel the Holy Spirit consummated
by showing, For when about finally to suffer, our Lord had come to
Jerusalem, and the people had gone forth to meet Him, some strewed the
road with palm branches cut down, others threw down their garments,
doubtless these were setting forth two peoples--the one of the
patriarchs, the other of the prophets; that is to say, of the great men
who had any kind of palms of their victories against sin, and cast them
under the feet of Christ, the victor of all.  And the palm and the crown
signify the same things, and these are not given save to the victor.

FROM THE FIFTH CHAPTER.

 1.  "And I saw in the right hand of Him that sate upon the throne, a
book written within and without, sealed with seven seals."] This book
signifies the Old Testament, which has been given into the hands of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who received from the Father judgment.

 2, 3.  "And I saw an angel full of strength proclaiming with a loud
voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?
And no one was found worthy, neither in the earth nor under the earth,
to open the book."] Now to open the book is to overcome death for man.

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 4.  "There was none found worthy to do this."] Neither among the angels
of heaven, nor among men in earth, nor among the souls of the saints in
rest, save Christ the Son of God alone, whom he says that he saw as a
Lamb standing as it were slain, having seven horns.  What had not been
then announced, and what the law had contemplated for Him by its various
oblations and sacrifices, it behoved Himself to fulfil.  And because He
Himself was the testator, who had overcome death, it was just that
Himself should be appointed the Lord's heir, that He should possess the
substance of the dying man, that is, the human members.

 5.  "Lo, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, hath
prevailed."] We read in Genesis that this lion of the tribe of Judah
hath conquered, when the patriarch Jacob says, "Judah, thy brethren
shall praise thee; thou hast lain down and slept, and hast risen up
again as a lion, and as a lion's whelp."(1) For He is called a lion for
the overcoming of death; but for the suffering for men He was led as a
lamb to the slaughter.  But because He overcame death, and anticipated
the duty of the executioner, He was called as it were slain.  He
therefore opens and seals again the testament, which He Himself had
sealed.  The legislator Moses intimating this, that it behoved Him to be
sealed and concealed, even to the advent of His passion, veiled his
face, and so spoke to the people; showing that the words of his
announcement were veiled even to the advent of His time.  For he
himself, when he had read to the people, having taken the wool purpled
with the blood of the calf, with water sprinkled the whole people,
saying, "This is the blood of His testament who hath purified you."(2)
It should therefore be observed that the Man is accurately announced,
and that all things combine into one.  For it is not sufficient that
that law is spoken of, but it is named as a testament.  For no law is
called a testament, nor is any thing else called a testament, save what
persons make who are about to die.  And whatever is within the testament
is sealed, even to the day of the testator's death.  Therefore it is
with reason that it is only sealed by the Lamb slain, who, as it were a
lion, has broken death in pieces, and has fulfilled what had been
foretold; and has delivered man, that is, the flesh, from death, and has
received as a possession the substance of the dying person, that is, of
the human members; that as by one body all men had fallen under the
obligation of its death, also by one body all believers should be born
again unto life, and rise again.  Reasonably, therefore, His face is
opened and unveiled to Moses; and therefore He is called Apocalypse,
Revelation.  For now His book is unsealed--now the offered victims are
perceived--now the fabrication of the priestly chrism; moreover the
testimonies are openly understood.

 8, 9.  "Twenty-four elders and four living creatures, having harps and
phials, and singing a new song."] The proclamation of the Old Testament
associated with the New, points out the Christian people singing a new
song, that is, bearing their confession publicly.  It is a new thing
that the Son of God should become man.  It is a new thing to ascend into
the heavens with a body.  It is a new thing to give remission of sins to
men.  It is a new thing for men to be sealed with the Holy Spirit.  It
is a new thing to receive the priesthood of sacred observance, and to
look for a kingdom of unbounded promise.  The harp, and the chord
stretched on its wooden frame, signifies the flesh of Christ linked with
the wood of the passion.  The phial signifies the Confession,(3) and the
race of the new Priesthood.  But it is the praise of many angels, yea,
of all, the salvation of all, and the testimony of the universal
creation, bringing to our Lord thanksgiving for the deliverance of men
from the destruction of death.  The unsealing of the seals, as we have
said, is the opening of the Old Testament, and the foretelling of the
preachers of things to come in the last times, which, although the
prophetic Scripture speaks by single seals, yet by all the seals opened
at once, prophecy takes its rank.

FROM THE SIXTH CHAPTER.

 1, 2.  "And when the Lamb had opened one of the seven seals, I saw, and
heard one of the four living creatures saying, Come and see.  And, lo, a
white horse, and He who sate upon him had a bow."  ] The first seal
being opened, he says that he saw a white horse, and a crowned horseman
having a bow.  For this was at first done by Himself.  For after the
Lord ascended into heaven and opened all things, He sent the Holy
Spirit, whose words the preachers sent forth as arrows reaching to the
human heart, that they might overcome unbelief.  And the crown on the
head is promised to the preachers by the Holy Spirit.  The other three
horses very plainly signify the wars, famines, and pestilences announced
by our Lord in the Gospel.  And thus he says that one of the four living
creatures said (because all four are one), "Come and see."  "Come" is
said to him that is invited to faith; "see" is said to him who saw not.
Therefore the white horse is the word of preaching with the Holy Spirit
sent into the world.  For the Lord says, "This Gospel shall be preached

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throughout the whole world for a testimony to all nations, and then
shall come the end."(1)

 3, 4.  "And when He had opened the second seal, I heard the second
living creature saying, Come and see.  And there went out another horse
that was red, and to him that sate upon him was given a great sword."]
The red horse, and he that sate upon him, having a sword, signify the
coming wars, as we read in the Gospel: "For nation shall rise against
nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be great
earthquakes in divers places."(2) This is the ruddy horse.

 5.  "And when He had opened the third seal.  I heard the third living
creature saying, Come and see.  And, lo, a black horse; and he who sate
upon it had a balance in his hand."] The black horse signifies famine,
for the Lord says, "There shall be famines in divers places;" but the
word is specially extended to the times of Antichrist, when there shall
be a great famine, and when all shall be injured.  Moreover, the balance
in the hand is the examining scales, wherein He might show forth the
merits of every individual.  He then says:--

 6.  "Hurt not the wine and the oil."] That is, strike not the spiritual
man with thy inflictions.  This is the black horse.

 7, 8.  "And when He had opened the fourth seal, I heard the fourth
living creature saying, Come and see.  And, lo, a pale horse; and he who
sate upon him was named Death."] For the pale horse and he who sate upon
him bore the name of Death.  These same things also the Lord had
promised among the rest of the coming destructions--great pestilences
and deaths; since, moreover, he says:--

 "And hell followed him."] That is, it was waiting for the devouring of
many unrighteous souls.  This is the pale horse.

 9.  "And when He had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the
souls of them that were slain."] He relates that he saw under the altar
of God, that is, under the earth, the souls of them that were slain.
For both heaven and earth are called God's altar, as saith the law,
commanding in the symbolical form of the truth two altars to be made,--a
golden one within, and a brazen one without.  But we perceive that the
golden altar is thus called heaven, by the testimony that our Lord bears
to it; for He says, "When thou bringest thy gift to the altar"
(assuredly our gifts are the prayers which we offer), "and there
rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee, leave there thy
gift before the altar."(3) Assuredly prayers ascend to heaven.
Therefore heaven is understood to be the golden altar which was within;
for the priests also were accustomed to enter once in the year--as they
who had the anointing--to the golden altar, the Holy Spirit signifying
that Christ should do this once for all.  As the golden altar is
acknowledged to be heaven, so also by the brazen altar is understood the
earth, under which is the Hades,--a region withdrawn from punishments
and fires, and a place of repose for the saints, wherein indeed the
righteous are seen and heard by the wicked, but they cannot be carried
across to them.  He who sees all things would have us to know that these
saints, therefore-- that is, the souls of the slain--are asking for
vengeance for their blood, that is, of their body, from those that dwell
upon the earth; but because in the last time, moreover, the reward of
the saints will be perpetual, and the condemnation of the wicked shall
come, it was told them to wait.  And for a solace to their body, there
were given unto each of them white robes.  They received, says he, white
robes, that is, the gift of the Holy Spirit.

 12.  "And I saw, when he had opened the sixth seal, there was a great
earthquake."] In the sixth seal, then, was a great earthquake: this is
that very last persecution.

 "And the sun became black as sackcloth of hair."] The sun becomes as
sackcloth; that is, the brightness of doctrine will be obscured by

unbelievers.

 "And the entire moon became as blood."] By the moon of blood is set
forth the Church of the saints as pouring out her blood for Christ.

 13.  "And the stars fell to the earth."] The falling of the stars are
the faithful who are troubled for Christ's sake.

 "Even as a fig-tree casteth her untimely figs."] The fig-tree, when
shaken, loses its untimely figs--when men are separated from the Church
by persecution.

 14.  "And the heaven withdrew as a scroll that is rolled up."] For the
heaven to be rolled away, that is, that the Church shall be taken away.

 "And every mountain and the islands were moved from their places."]
Mountains and islands removed from their places intimate that in the
last persecution all men departed from their places; that is, that the
good will be removed, seeking to avoid the persecution.

FROM THE SEVENTH CHAPTER.

2.  "And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of
the living God" He speaks of Elias the prophet,who is the precursor of
the times of Antichrist, for the restoration and establishment of the
churches from the great and intolerable persecution.  We read

352

that these things are predicted in the opening of the Old and New
Testament; for He says by Malachi: "Lo, I will send to you Elias the
Tishbite, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, according
to the time of calling, to recall the Jews to the faith of the people
that succeed them."(1) And to that end He shows, as we have said, that
the number of those that shall believe, of the Jews and of the nations,
is a great multitude which no man was able to number.  Moreover, we read
in the Gospel that the prayers of the Church are sent from heaven by an
angel, and that they are received against wrath, and that the kingdom of
Antichrist is cast out and extinguished by holy angels; for He says:
"Pray that ye enter not into temptation: for there shall be a great
affliction, such as has not been from the beginning of the world; and
except the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved."(2)
Therefore He shall send these seven great archangels to smite the
kingdom of Antichrist; for He Himself also thus said: "Then the Son of
man shall send His messengers; and they shall gather together His elect
from the four corners of the wind, from the one end of heaven even to
the other end thereof."(3) For, moreover, He previously says by the
prophet: "Then shall there be peace for our land, when there shall arise
in it seven shepherds and eight attacks of men; and they shall encircle
Assur," that is, Antichrist, "in the trench of Nimrod,"(4) that is, in
the nation of the devil, by the spirit of the Church.  Similarly when
the keepers of the house shall be moved.  Moreover, the Lord Himself, in
the parable to the apostles, when the labourers had come to Him and
said, "Lord, did not we sow good seed in Thy field?  whence, then, hath
it tares?  answered them, An enemy hath done this.  And they said to
Him, Lord, wilt Thou, then, that we go and root them up?  And He said,
Nay, but let both grow together until the harvest; and in the time of
the harvest I will say to the reapers, that they gather the tares and
make bundles of them, and burn them with fire everlasting, but that they
gather the wheat into my barns."(5) The Apocalypse here shows,
therefore, that these reapers, and shepherds, and labourers, are the
angels.  And the trumpet is the word of power.  And although the same
thing recurs in the phials, still it is not said as if it occurred
twice, but because what is decreed by the Lord to happen shall be once
for all; for this cause it is said twice.  What, therefore, He said too
little in the trumpets, is here found in the phials.  We must not regard
the order of what is said, because frequently the Holy Spirit, when He
has traversed even to the end of the last times, returns again to the
same times, and fills up what He had before failed to say.(6) Nor must
we look for order in the Apocalypse; but we must follow the meaning of
those things which are prophesied.  Therefore in the trumpets and phials
is signified either the desolation of the plagues that are sent upon the
earth, or the madness of Antichrist himself, or the cutting off of the
peoples, or the diversity of the plagues, or the hope in the kingdom of
the saints, or the ruin of states, or the great overthrow of Babylon,
that is, the Roman state.

 9.  "After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man was
able to number, of every nation, tribe, and people, and tongue, clothed
with white robes."] What the great multitude out of every tribe implies,
is to show the number of the elect out of all believers, who, being
cleansed by baptism in the blood of the Lamb, have made their robes
white, keeping the grace which they have received.

FROM THE EIGHTH CHAPTER.

 1.  "And when He had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in
heaven for about half an hour."] Whereby is signified the beginning of
everlasting rest; but it is described as partial, because the silence
being interrupted, he repeats it in order.  For if the silence had
continued, here would be an end of his narrative.

 13 "And I saw an angel flying through the midst of heaven."] By the
angel flying through the midst of heaven is signified the Holy Spirit
beating witness in two of the prophets that a great wrath of plagues was
imminent.  If by any means, even in the last times, any one should be
willing to be converted, any one might even still be saved.

FROM THE NINTH CHAPTER.

 13, 14.  "And I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar
which is in the presence of God, saying to the sixth angel which had the
trumpet, Loose the four angels."] That is, the four corners of the earth
which hold the four winds.

 "Which are bound in the great river Euphrates."] By the corners of the
earth, or the four winds across the river Euphrates, are meant four
nations, because to every nation is sent an angel; as said the law, "He
determined them by the number of the angels of God,"(7) until the number
of the saints should be filled up.  They do not overpass their bounds,
because at the last they shall come with Antichrist.

353

 FROM THE TENTH CHAPTER.

 1, 2.  "I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, clothed
with a cloud; and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it
were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire: and he had in his hand an
open book: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot
upon the earth."] He signifies that that mighty ngel who, he says,
descended from heaven, clothed with a cloud, is our Lord, as we have
above narrated.

 "His face was as it were the sun."] That is, with respect to the
resurrection.

 "Upon his head was a rainbow."] He points to the judgment which is
executed by Him, of shall be.

 "An open book."] A revelation of works in the future judgment, or the
Apocalypse which John received.

 "His feet,"] as we have said above, are the apostles.  For that both
things in sea and land are trodden under foot by Him, signifies that all
things are placed under His feet.  Moreover, he calls Him an angel, that
is, a messenger, to wit, of the Father; for He is called the Messenger
of great counsel.  He says also that He cried with a loud voice.  The
great voice is to tell the words of the Omnipotent God of heaven to men,
and to bear witness that after penitence is closed there will be no hope
subsequently.

 3.  "Seven thunders uttered their voices."] The seven thunders uttering
their voices signify, the Holy Spirit of sevenfold power, who through
the prophets announced all things to come, and by His voice John gave
his testimony in the world; but because he says that he was about to
write the things which the thunders had uttered, that is, whatever
things had been obscure in the announcements of the Old Testament; he is
forbidden to write them, but he was charged to leave them sealed,
because he is an apostle, nor was it fitting that the grace of the
subsequent stage should be given in the first.  "The time," says he, "is
at hand."(1) For the apostles, by powers, by signs, by portents, and by
mighty works, have overcome unbelief.  After them there is now given to
the same completed Churches the comfort of having the prophetic
Scriptures subsequently interpreted, for I said that after the apostles
there would be interpreting prophets.

 For the apostle says: "And he placed in the Church indeed, first,
apostles; secondly, prophets; thirdly, teachers,"(2) and the rest.  And
in another place he says: "Let the prophets speak two or three, and let
the others judge."(3) And he says: "Every woman that prayeth or
prophesieth with her head uncovered, dishonoureth her head"(4) And when
he says, "Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the others
judge," he is not speaking in respect of the Catholic prophecy of things
unheard and unknown, but of things both announced and known.  But let
them judge whether or not the interpretation is consistent with the
testimonies of the prophetic utterance.(5) It is plain, therefore, that
to John, armed as he was with superior virtue, this was not necessary,
although the body of Christ, which is the Church, adorned with His
members, ought to respond to its position.

 10.  "I took the book from the hand of the angel, and ate it up."] To
take the book and eat it up, is, when exhibition of a thing is made to
one, to commit it to memory.

 "And it was in my mouth as sweet as honey."] To be sweet in the mouth
is the reward of the preaching of the speaker, and is most pleasant to
the hearers; but it is most bitter both to those that announce it, and
to those that persevere in its commandments through suffering.

 11.  "And He says unto me, Thou must again prophesy to the peoples, and
to the tongues, and to the nations, and to many kings."] He says this,
because when John said these things he was in the island of Patmos,
condemned to the labour of the mines by Caesar Domitian.  There,
therefore, he saw the Apocalypse; and when grown old, he thought that he
should at length receive his quittance by suffering, Domitian being
killed, all his judgments were discharged.  And John being dismissed
from the mines, thus subsequently delivered the same Apocalypse which he
had received from God.  This, therefore, is what He says: Thou must
again prophesy to all nations, because thou seest the crowds of
Antichrist rise up; and against them other crowds shall stand, and they
shall fall by the sword on the one side and on the other.

FROM THE ELEVENTH CHAPTER.

 1.  "And there was shown unto me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel
stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and
them that worship therein."] A reed was shown like to a rod.  This
itself is the Apocalypse which he subsequently exhibited to the
churches; for the Gospel of the complete faith he subsequently wrote for
the sake of our salvation.  For when Valentinus, and Cerinthus, and
Ebion, and others of the school of Satan, were scattered abroad
throughout the world, there assembled together to him from the
neighbouring provinces all the bishops, and compelled

354

him himself also to draw up his testimony.  Moreover, we say that the
measure of God's temple is the command of God to confess the Father
Almighty, and that His Son Christ was begotten by the Father before the
beginning of the world, and was made man in very soul and flesh, both of
them having overcome misery and death; and that, when received with His
body into heaven by the Father, He shed forth the Holy Spirit, the gift
and pledge of immortality, that He was announced by the prophets, He was
described by the law, He was God's hand, and the Word of the Father from
God, Lord over all, and founder of the world: this is the reed and the
measure of faith; and no one worships the holy altar save he who
confesses this faith.

 2.  "The court which is within the temple leave out."] The space which
is called the court is the empty altar within the walls: these being
such as were not necessary, he commanded to be ejected from the Church.

 "It is given to be trodden down by the Gentiles."] That is, to the men
of this world, that it may be trodden under foot by the nations, or with
the nations.  Then he repeats about the destruction and slaughter of the
last time, and says:--

 3.  "They shall tread the holy city down for forty and two months; and
I will give to my two witnesses, and they shall predict a thousand two
hundred and threescore days clothed in sackcloth."] That is, three years
and six months: these make forty-two months.  Therefore their preaching
is three years and six months, and the kingdom of Antichrist as much
again.

 5.  "If any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and
devoureth their enemies."] That fire proceedeth out of the mouth of
those prophets against the adversaries, bespeaks the power of the world.
For all afflictions, however many there are, shall be sent by their
messengers in their word.  Many think that there is Elisha, or Moses,
with Elijah; but both of these died; while the death of Elijah is not
heard of, with whom all our ancients have believed that it was Jeremiah.
For even the very word spoken to him testifies to him, saying, "Before I
formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out
of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the
nations."(1) But he was not a prophet unto the nations; and thus the
truthful word of God makes it necessary, which it has promised to set
forth, that he should be a prophet to the nations.

 4.  "These are the two candlesticks standing before the Lord of the
earth."] These two

candlesticks and two olive trees He has to this end spoken of, and
admonished you that if, when you have read of them elsewhere, you have
not understood, you may understand here.  For in Zechariah, one of the
twelve prophets, it is thus written: "These are the two olive trees and
two candlesticks which stand in the presence of the Lord of the
earth;"(2) that is, they are in paradise.  Also, in another sense,
standing in the presence of the lord of the earth, that is, in the
presence of Antichrist.  Therefore they must be slain by Antichrist.

 7.  "And the beast which ascendeth from the abyss."] After many plagues
completed in the world, in the end he says that a beast ascended from
the abyss.  Bat that he shall ascend from the abyss is proved by many
testimonies; for he says in the thirty-first chapter of Ezekiel:
"Behold, Assur was a cypress in Mount Lebanon."  Assur, deeply rooted,
was a lofty and branching cypress--that is, a numerous people--in Mount
Lebanon, in the kingdom of kingdoms, that is, of the Romans.  Moreover,
that he says he was beautiful in offshoots, he says he was strong in
armies.  The water, he says, shall nourish him, that is, the many
thousands of men which were subjected to him; and the abyss increased
him, that is, belched him forth.  For even Isaiah speaks almost in the
same words; moreover, that he was in the kingdom of the Romans, and that
he was among the Caesars.  The Apostle Paul also bears witness, for he
says to the Thessalonians: "Let him who now restraineth restrain, until
he be taken out of the way; and then shall appear that Wicked One, even
he whose coining is after the working of Satan, with signs and lying
wonders."(3) And that they might know that he should come who then was
the prince, he added: "He already endeavours after the secret of
mischief"(4)--that is, the mischief which he is about to do he strives
to do secretly; but he is not raised up by his own power, nor by that of
his father, but by command of God, of which thing Paul says in the same
passage: "For this cause, because they have not received the love of
God, He will send upon them a spirit of error, that they all may be
persuaded of a lie, who have not been persuaded of the truth."(5) And
Isaiah saith: "While they waited for the light, darkness arose upon
them."(6) Therefore the Apocalypse sets forth that these prophets are
killed by the same, and on the fourth day rise again, that none might be
found equal to God.

 8.  "And their dead bodies shall lie in the streets of the great city,
which spiritually is called

355

Sodom and Egypt."] But He calls Jerusalem Sodom and Egypt, since it had
become the heaping up of the persecuting people.  Therefore it behoves
us diligently, and with the utmost care, to follow the prophetic
announcement, and to understand what the Spirit from the Father both
announces and anticipates, and how, when He has gone forward to the last
times, He again repeats the former ones.  And now, what He will do once
for all, He sometimes sets forth as if it were done; and unless you
understand this, as sometimes done, and sometimes as about to be done,
you will fall into a great confusion.  Therefore the interpretation of
the following sayings has shown therein, that not the order of the
reading, but the order of the discourse, must be understood.

 19.  "And the temple of God was opened which is in heaven."] The temple
opened is a manifestation of our Lord.  For the temple of God is the
Son, as He Himself says: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will
raise it up."  And when the Jews said, "Forty and six years was this
temple in building," the evangelist says, "He spake of the temple of His
body."

 "And there was seen in His temple the ark of the Lord's testament."]
The preaching of the Gospel and the forgiveness of sins, and all the
gifts whatever that came with Him, he says, appeared therein.

 FROM THE TWELFTH CHAPTER.

 1.  "And there was seen a great sign in heaven.  A woman clothed with
the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve
stars.  And being with child, she cried out travailing, and bearing
torments that she might bring forth."] The woman clothed with the sun,
and having the moon under her feet, and wearing a crown of twelve stars
upon her head, and travailing in her pains, is the ancient Church of
fathers, and prophets, and saints, and apostles,(2) which had the groans
and torments of its longing until it saw that Christ, the fruit of its
people according to the flesh long promised to it, had taken flesh out
of the selfsame people.  Moreover, being clothed with the sun intimates
the hope of resurrection and the glory of the promise.  And the moon
intimates the fall of the bodies of the saints under the obligation of
death, which never can fail.  For even as life is diminished, so also it
is increased.  Nor is the hope of those that sleep extinguished
absolutely, as some think, but they have in their darkness a light such
as the moon.  And the crown of twelve stars signifies the choir of
fathers, according to the fleshly birth, of whom Christ was to take
flesh.

 3.  "And there appeared another sign in heaven; and behold a red
dragon, having seven heads."] Now, that he says that this dragon was of
a red colour--that is, of a purple colour--the result of his work gave
him such a colour.  For from the beginning (as the Lord says) he was a
murderer; and he has oppressed the whole of the human race, not so much
by the obligation of death, as, moreover, by the various forms of
destruction and fatal mischiefs.  His seven heads were the seven kings
of the Romans, of whom also is Antichrist, as we have said above.

 "And ten horns."] He says that the ten kings in the latest times are
the same as these, as we shall more fully set forth there.

 4.  "And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and cast
them upon the earth."] Now, that he says that the dragon's tail drew the
third part of the stars of heaven, this may be taken in two ways.  For
many think that he may be able to seduce the third part of the men who
believe.(3) But it should more truly be understood, that of the angels
that were subject to him, since he was still a prince when he descended
from his estate, he seduced the third part; therefore what we said
above, the Apocalypse says.

 "And the dragon stood before the woman who was beginning to bring
forth, that, when she had brought forth, he might devour her child."]
The red dragon standing and desiring to devour her child when she had
brought him forth, is the devil,--to wit, the traitor angel, who thought
that the perishing of all men would be alike by death; but He, who was
not born of seed, owed nothing to death: wherefore he could not devour
Him--that is, detain Him in death--for on the third day He rose again.
Finally, also, and before He suffered, he approached to tempt Him as
man; but when he found that He was not what he thought Him to be, he
departed from Him, even till the time.  Whence it is here said:--

 5.  "And she brought forth a son, who begins to rule all nations with a
rod of iron."] The rod of iron is the sword of persecution.

 "I saw that all men withdrew from his abodes."] That is, the good will
be removed, flying from persecution.(4)

 "And her son was caught up to God, and to His throne."] We read also in
the Acts of the Apostles that He was caught up to God's throne, just as
speaking with the disciples He was caught up to heaven.

 6.  "But the woman fled into the wilderness, and there were given to
her two great eagle's

356

wings."] The aid of the great eagle's wings--to wit, the gift of
prophets--was given to that Catholic Church, whence in the last times a
hundred and forty-four thousands of men should believe on the preaching
of Elias; but, moreover, he here says that the rest of the people should
be found alive on the coming of the Lord.  And the Lord says in the
Gospel: "Then let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains;"(1)
that is, as many as should be gathered together in Judea, let them go to
that place which they have ready, and let them be supported there for
three years and six months from the presence of the devil.

 14.  "Two great wings"] are the two prophets--Elias, and the prophet
who shall be with him.

 15.  "And the serpent cast out of his mouth after the woman water as a
flood, that he might carry her away with the flood."] He signifies by
the water which the serpent cast out of his mouth, the people who at his
command would persecute her.

 16.  "And the earth helped the woman, and opened her mouth, and
swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth."] That
the earth opened her month and swallowed up the waters, sets forth the
vengeance for the present troubles.  Although, therefore, it may signify
this woman bringing forth, it shows her afterwards flying when her
offspring is brought forth, because both things did not happen at one
time; for we know that Christ was born, but that the time should arrive
that she should flee from the face of the serpent: (we do not know) that
this has happened as yet.  Then he says:--

 7-9.  "There was a battle in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with
the dragon; and the dragon warred, and his angels, and they prevailed
not; nor was their place found any more in heaven.  And that great
dragon was cast forth, that old serpent: he was cast forth into the
earth."] This is the beginning of Antichrist yet previously Elias must
prophesy, and there must be times of peace.  And afterwards, when the
three years and six months are completed in the preaching of Elias, he
also must be cast down from heaven, where up till that time he had had
the power of ascending; and all the apostate angels, as well as
Antichrist, must be roused up from hell.  Paul the apostle says: "Except
there come a falling away first, and the man of sin shall appear, the
son of perdition; and the adversary who exalted himself above all which
is called God, or which is worshipped."(2)

FROM THE THIRTEENTH CHAPTER.(3)

 1.  "And I saw a beast rising up from the sea,

like unto a leopard."] This signifies the kingdom of that time of
Antichrist, and the people mingled with the variety of nations.

 2.  "His feet were as the feet of a bear."] A strong and most unclean
beast, the feet are to be understood as his leaders.

 "And his mouth as the mouth of a lion."] That is, his mouth armed for
blood is his bidding, and a tongue which will proceed to nothing else
than to the shedding of blood.

 * * * * * * * *

 18.  "His number is the name of a man, and his number is Six hundred
threescore and six."] As they have it reckoned from the Greek
characters, they thus find it among many to be <greek>teitan</greek>,
for <greek>teitan</greek> has this number, which the Gentiles call Sol
and Phoebus; and it is reckoned in Greek thus: <greek>t</greek> three
hundred, <greek>e</greek> five, <greek>i</greek> ten, <greek>t</greek>
three hundred, <greek>a</greek> one, <greek>t</greek> fifty,--which
taken together become six hundred and sixty-six.  For as far as belongs
to the Greek letters, they fill up this number and name; which name if
you wish to turn into Latin, it is understood by the antiphrase DICLUX,
which letters are reckoned in this manner: since D figures five hundred,
I one, C a hundred, L fifty, V five, X ten,--which by the reckoning up
of the letters makes similarly six hundred and sixty-six, that is, what
in Greek gives <greek>teitan</greek>, to wit, what in Latin is called
DICLUX; by which name, expressed by anti-phrases, we understand
Antichrist, who, although he be cut off from the supernal light, and
deprived thereof, yet transforms himself into an angel of light, daring
to call himself light.(4) Moreover, we find in a certain Greek codex
<greek>antemos</greek>, which letters being reckoned up, you will find
to give the number as above: <greek>a</greek> one, <greek>n</greek>
fifty, <greek>t</greek> three hundred, <greek>e</greek> five,
<greek>m</greek> forty, <greek>o</greek> seventy, <greek>s</greek> two
hundred,--which together makes six hundred and sixty-six, according to
the Greeks.  Moreover, there is another name in Gothic of him, which
will be evident of itself, that is,

<greek>genshrikos</greek>, which in the same way you will reckon in
Greek letters: <greek>g</greek> three, <greek>e</greek> five,
<greek>n</greek> fifty, <greek>s</greek> two hundred, <greek>h</greek>
eight, <greek>r</greek> a hundred, <greek>i</greek> ten,
<greek>k</greek> twenty, seventy, <greek>s</greek> also two hundred,
which, as has been said above, make six hundred and sixty-six.

 11.  "And I saw another beast coming up out of the earth."] He is
speaking of the great and false prophet who is to do signs, and
portents, and falsehoods before him in the presence of men.

 "And he had two horns like a lamb--that is, the appearance within of a
man--and he spoke like a dragon."] But the devil speaks full of malice;
for he shall do these things in the presence of men, so that even the
dead appear to rise again.

357

 13.  "And he shall make fire come down from heaven in the sight of
men."] Yes (as I also have said), in the sight of men.  Magicians do
these things, by the aid of the apostate angels, even to this day.  He
shall cause also that a golden image of Antichrist shall be placed in
the temple at Jerusalem, and that the apostate angel should enter, and
thence utter voices and oracles.  Moreover, he himself shall contrive
that his servants and children should receive as a mark on their
foreheads, or on their right hands, the number of his name, lest any one
should buy or sell them.  Daniel had previously predicted his contempt
and provocation of God.  "And he shall place," says he, "his temple
within Samaria, upon the illustrious and holy mountain that is at
Jerusalem, an image such as Nebuchadnezzar had made."(1) Thence here he
places, and by and by here he renews, that of which the Lord,
admonishing His churches concerning the last times and their dangers,
says: "But when ye shall see the contempt which is spoken of by Daniel
the prophet standing in the holy place, let him who readeth
understand."(2) It is called a contempt when God is provoked, because
idols are worshipped instead of God, or when the dogma of heretics is
introduced in the churches.  But it is a turning away because stedfast
men, seduced by false signs and portents, are turned away from their
salvation.

FROM THE FOURTEENTH CHAPTER.

 6.  "And I saw an angel flying through the midst of heaven."] The angel
flying through the midst of heaven, whom he says that he saw, we have
already treated of above, as being the same Elias who anticipates the
kingdom of Anti-christ in his prophecy.

 8.  "And another angel following him."] The other angel following, he
speaks of as the same prophet who is the associate of his prophesying.

But that he says,--

 15.  "Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather in the grapes of the
vine,"] he signifies it of the nations that should perish on the advent
of the Lord.  And indeed in many forms he shows this same thing, as if
to the dry harvest, and the seed for the coming of the Lord, and the
consummation of the world, and the kingdom of Christ, and the future
appearance of the kingdom of the blessed.

 19, 20.  "And the angel thrust in the sickle, and reaped the vine of
the earth, and cast it into the wine-press of the wrath of God.  And the
wine-press of His fury was trodden down without the city."] In that he
says that it was cast into the wine-press of the wrath of God,

and trodden down without the city, the treading of the wine-press is the
retribution on the sinner.

 "And blood went out from the wine-press, even unto the horse-bridles."]
The vengeance of shed blood as was before predicted, "In blood thou hast
sinned, and blood shall follow thee."(3)

 "For a thousand and six hundred furlongs."] That is, through all the
four parts of the world: for there is a quadrate put together by fours,
as in four faces and four appearances, and wheels by fours; for forty
times four is one thousand six hundred.  Repeating the same persecution,
the Apocalypse says:--

FROM THE FIFTEENTH CHAPTER.

 1.  "And I saw another great and wonderful sign, seven angels having
the seven last plagues; for in them is completed the indignation of
God."] For the wrath of God always strikes the obstinate people with
seven plagues, that is, perfectly, as it is said in Leviticus; and these
shall be in the last time, when the Church shall have gone out of the
midst.

 2.  "Standing upon the sea of glass, having harps."] That is, that they
stood stedfastly in the faith upon their baptism, and having their
confession in their mouth, that they shall exult in the kingdom before
God.  But let us return to what is set before us.

FROM THE SEVENTEENTH CHAPTER.

 1-6.  "There came one of the seven angels, which have the seven bowls,
and spake with me, saying, Come, I will show thee the judgment of that
great whore who sitteth upon many waters.  And I saw the woman drunk
with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs."] The
decrees of that senate are always accomplished against all, contrary to
the preaching of the true faith; and now already mercy being cast aside,
itself here gave the decree among all nations.

 3.  "And I saw the woman herself sitting upon the scarlet-coloured
beast, full of names of blasphemy."] But to sit upon the scarlet beast,
the author of murders, is the image of the devil.  Where also is treated
of his captivity, concerning which we have fully considered.  I
remember, indeed, that this is called Babylon also in the Apocalypse, on
account of confusion; and in Isaiah also; and Ezekiel called it Sodom.
In fine, if you compare what is said against Sodom, and what Isaiah says
against Babylon, and what the Apocalypse says, you will find that they
are all one.(4)

 9.  "The seven heads are the seven hills, on

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which the woman sitteth."] That is, the city of Rome.

 10.  "And there are seven kings: five have fallen, and one is, and the
other is not yet come; and when he is come, he will be for a short
time."] The time must be understood in which the written Apocalypse was
published, since then reigned Caesar Domitian; but before him had been
Titus his brother, and Vespasian, Otho, Vitellius, and Galba.  These are
the five who have fallen.  One remains, under whom the Apocalypse was
written--Domitian, to wit.  "The other has not yet come," speaks of
Nerva; "and when he is come, he will be for a short time," for he did
not complete the period of two years.

 11.  "And the beast which thou sawest is of the seven."] Since before
those kings Nero reigned.

 "And he is the eighth."] He says only when this beast shall come,
reckon it the eighth place, since in that is the completion.  He added:-
- "And shall go into perdition."(3) For that ten kings received royal
power when he shall move from the east, he says.  He shall be sent from
the city of Rome with his armies.  And Daniel sets forth the ten horns
and the ten diadems.  And that these are eradicated from the former
ones,--that is, that three of the principal leaders are killed by
Antichrist: that the other seven give him honour and wisdom and power,
of whom he says:--

 16.  "These shall hate the whore, to wit, the city, and shall burn her
flesh with fire."] Now that one of the heads was, as it were, slain to
death, and that the stroke of his death was directed, he speaks of Nero.
For it is plain that when the cavalry sent by the senate was pursuing
him, he himself cut his throat.  Him therefore, when raised up, God will
send as a worthy king, but worthy in such a way as the Jews merited.
And since he is to have another name, He shall also appoint another
name, that so the Jews may receive him as if he were the Christ.  Says
Daniel: "He shall not know the lust of women, although before he was
most impure, and he shall know no God of his fathers: for he will not be
able to seduce the people of the circumcision, unless he is a judge of
the law."(1) Finally, also, he will recall the saints, not to the
worship of idols, but to undertake circumcision, and, if he is able, to
seduce any; for he shall so conduct himself as to be called Christ by
them.  But that he rises again from hell, we have said above in the word
of Isaiah: "Water shall nourish him, and hell hath increased him;" who,
however, must come with name unchanged, and doings unchanged, as says
the Spirit.

FROM THE NINETEENTH CHAPTER.

 11.  "And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that
sate upon him was called Faithful and True."] The horse, and He that
sits upon him, sets forth our Lord coming to His kingdom with the
heavenly army.  Because from the sea of the north, which is the Arabian
Sea, even to the sea of Phoenice, and even to the ends of the earth,
they will command these greater parts in the coming of the Lord Jesus,
and all the souls of the nations will be assembled to judgment.

FROM THE TWENTIETH CHAPTER.

 1-3.  "And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the
abyss, and a chain in his hand.  And he held the dragon, that old
serpent, which is called the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a
thousand years, and cast him into the abyss, and shut him up, and set a
seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the
thousand years should be finished: after this he must be loosed a little
season."] Those years wherein Satan is bound are in the first advent of
Christ, even to the end of the age; and they are called a thousand,
according to that mode of speaking, wherein a part is signified by the
whole, just as is that passage, "the word which He commanded for a
thousand generations,"(2) although they are not a thousand.  Moreover
that he says, "and he cast him into the abyss," he says this, because
the devil, excluded from the hearts of believers, began to take
possession of the wicked, in whose hearts, blinded day by day, he is
shut up as if in a profound abyss.  And he shut him up, says he, and put
a seal upon him, that he should not deceive the nations until the
thousand years should be finished.  "He shut the door upon him," it is
said, that is, he forbade and restrained his seducing those who belong
to Christ.  Moreover, he put a seal upon him, because it is hidden who
belong to the side of the devil, and who to that of Christ.  For we know
not of those who seem to stand whether they shall not fall, and of those
who are down it is uncertain whether they may rise.  Moreover, that he
says that he is bound and shut up, that he may not seduce the nations,
the nations signify the Church, seeing that of them it itself is formed,
and which being seduced, he previously held until, he says, the thousand
years should be completed, that is, what is left of the sixth day, to
wit, of the sixth age, which subsists for a thousand years; after this
he must be loosed for a little season.  The little season signifies
three years and six months, in which with all his power the devil will
avenge himself trader Anti-

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christ against the Church.  Finally, he says, after that the devil shall
be loosed, and will seduce the nations in the whole world, and will
entice war against the Church, the number of whose foes shall be as the
sand of the sea.(1)

 4, 5.  "And I saw thrones, and them that sate upon them, and judgment
was given unto them; and I saw the souls of them that were slain on
account of the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which
had not worshipped the beast nor his image, nor have received his
writing on their forehead or in their hand; and they reigned with Christ
for a thousand years: the rest of them lived not again until the
thousand years were finished.  This is the first resurrection."] There
are two resurrections.  But the first resurrection is now of the souls
that are by the faith, which does not permit men to pass over to the
second death.  Of this resurrection the apostle says: "If ye have risen
with Christ, seek those things which are above."(2)

 6.  "Blessed and holy is he who has part in this resurrection: on them
the second death shall have no power, but they shall be priests of God
and Christ, and they shall reign with Him a thousand years."] I do not
think the reign of a thousand years is eternal; or if it is thus to be
thought of, they cease to reign when the thousand years are finished.
But I will put forward what my capacity enables me to judge.  The
tenfold number signifies the decalogue, and the hundredfold sets forth
the crown of virginity: for he who shall have kept the undertaking of
virginity completely, and shall have faithfully fulfilled the precepts
of the decalogue, and shall have destroyed the untrained nature or
impure thoughts within the retirement of the heart, that they may not
rule over him, this is the true priest of Christ, and accomplishing the
millenary number thoroughly, is thought to reign with Christ; and truly
in his case the devil is bound.  But he who is entangled in the vices
and the dogmas of heretics, in his case the devil is loosed.  But that
it says that when the thousand years are finished he is loosed, so the
number of the perfect saints being completed, in whom there is the glory
of virginity in body and mind, by the approaching advent of the kingdom
of the hateful one, many, seduced by that love of earthly things, shall
be overthrown, and together with him shall enter the lake of fire.

 8-10.  "And they went up upon the breadth of the earth, and compassed
the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city; and fire came down
from God out of heaven, and devoured them.  And the devil who seduced
them was cast into the take of fire and brimstone, where both the beast
and the false prophet shall be tormented day and night for ever and
ever."] This belongs to the last judgment.  And after a little time the
earth was made holy, as being at least that wherein lately had reposed
the bodies of the virgins, when they shall enter upon an eternal kingdom
with an immortal King, as they who are not only virgins in body, but,
moreover, with equal inviolability have protected themselves, both in
tongue and thought, from wickedness; and these, it shows, shall dwell in
rejoicing for ever with the Lamb.

FROM THE TWENTY-FIRST AND TWENTY-SECOND

CHAPTERS.

 16.  "And the city is placed in a square."] The city which he says is
squared, he says also is resplendent with gold and precious stones, and
has a sacred street, and a river through the midst of it, and the tree
of life on either side, bearing twelve manner of fruits throughout the
twelve months; and that the light of the sun is not there, because the
Lamb is the light of it; and that its gates were of single pearls; and
that there were three gates on each of the four sides, and that they
could not be shut.  I say, in respect of the square city, he shows forth
the united multitude of the saints, in whom the faith could by no means
waver.  As Noah is commanded to make the ark of squared beams,(3) that
it might resist the force of the deluge, by the precious stones he sets
forth the holy men who cannot waver in persecution, who could not be
moved either by the tempest of persecutors, or be dissolved from the
true faith by the force of the rain, because they are associated of pure
gold, of whom the city of the great King is adorned.  Moreover, the
streets set forth their hearts purified from all uncleanness,
transparent with glowing light, that the Lord may justly walk up and
down in them.  The river of life sets forth that the grace of spiritual
doctrine flowed through the minds of the faithful, and that manifold
flourishing forms of odours germinated therein.  The tree of life on
either bank sets forth the Advent of Christ, according to the flesh, who
satisfied the peoples wasted with famine, that received life from One by
the wood of the Cross, with the announcement of God's word.  And in that
he says that the sun is not necessary in the city, he shows, evidently,
that the Creator as the immaculate light shines in the midst of it,
whose brightness no mind has been able to conceive, nor tongue to tell.

 In that he says there are three gates placed on each of the four sides,
of single pearls, I think that these are the four virtues,(4) to wit,
prudence, fortitude, justice, temperance, which are associated with one
another.  And, being involved

360

together, they make the number twelve.  But the twelve gates we believe
to be the number of the apostles, who, shining in the four virtues as
precious stones, manifesting the light of their doctrine among the
saints, cause it to enter the celestial city, that by intercourse with
them the choir of angels may be gladdened.  And that the gates cannot be
shut, it is evidently shown that the doctrine of the apostles can be
separated from rectitude by no tempest of contradiction.  Even though
the floods of the nations and the vain superstitions of heretics should
revolt against their true faith, they are overcome, and shall be
dissolved as the foam, because Christ is the Rock(1) by which, and on
which, the Church is founded.(2) And thus it is overcome by no traces of
maddened men.  Therefore they are not to be heard who assure themselves
that there is to be an earthly reign of a thousand years; who think,
that is to say, with the heretic Cerinthus.(3) For the kingdom of Christ
is now eternal in the saints, although the glory of the saints shall be
manifested after the resurrection.

365

AGAINST THE SABELLIANS(1)

 1.  Now truly it would be just to dispute against those who, by
dividing and rending the monarchy, which is the most august announcement
of the Church of God, into, as it were, three powers, and distinct
substances (hypostases), and three deities, destroy it.(2) For I have
heard that some who preach and teach the word of God among you are
teachers of this opinion, who indeed diametrically, so to speak, are
opposed to the opinion of Sabellius.  For he blasphemes in saying that
the Son Himself is the Father, and vice versa; but these in a certain
manner announce three gods, in that they divide the holy unity into
three different substances, absolutely separated from one another.  For
it is essential that the Divine Word should be united to the God of all,
and that the Holy Spirit should abide and dwell in God; and thus that
the Divine Trinity should be reduced and gathered into one, as if into a
certain head--that is, into the omnipotent God of all.  For the doctrine
of the foolish Marcion, which Gilts and divides the monarchy into three
elements, is assuredly of the devil, and is not of Christ's true
disciples, or of those to whom the Saviour's teaching is agreeable.  For
these indeed rightly know that the Trinity is declared in the divine
Scripture, but that the doctrine that there are three gods is, neither
taught in the Old nor in the New Testament.

 2.  But neither are they less to be blamed who think that the Son was a
creation, and decided that the Lord was made just as one of those things
which really were made; whereas the divine declarations testify that He
was begotten, as is fitting and proper, but not that He was created or
made.  It is therefore not a trifling, but a very great impiety, to say
that the Lord was in any wise made with hands.  For if the Son was made,
there was a time when He was not; but He always was, if, as He Himself
declares,(3) He is undoubtedly in the Father.  And if Christ is the
Word, the Wisdom, and the Power,--for the divine writings tell us that
Christ is these, as ye yourselves know,--assuredly these are powers of
God.  Wherefore, if the Son was made, there was a time when these were
not in existence;(4) and thus there was a time when God was without
these things, which is utterly absurd.  But why should I discourse at
greater length to you about these matters, since ye are men filled with
the Spirit, and especially understanding what absurd results follow from
the opinion which asserts that the Son was made?  The leaders of this
view seem to me to have given very little heed to these things, and for
that reason to have strayed absolutely, by explaining the passage
otherwise than as the divine and prophetic Scripture demands.  "The Lord
created me the beginning of His ways."(5) For, as ye know, there is more
than one signification of the word "created;" and in this place
"created" is the same as "set over" the works made by Himself--made, I
say, by the Son Himself.  But this "created" is not to be understood in
the same manner as "made."  For to make and to create are different from
one another.  "Is not He Himself thy Father, that hath possessed thee
and created thee?"(6) says Moses in the great song of Deuteronomy.  And
thus might any one reasonably convict these men.  Oh reckless and rash
men!  was then "the first-born of every creature"(7) something made?--
"He who was begotten from the womb before the morningstar?"(8)--He who
in the person of Wisdom says, "Before all the hills He begot me?"(9)
Finally, any one may read in many parts of the divine utterances that
the Son is said to have been begotten, but never that He was made.  From
which considerations, they who dare to say that His divine and
inexplicable generation was a creation, are openly convicted of thinking
that which is false concerning the generation of the Lord.

 3.  That admirable and divine unity, therefore,

366

must neither be separated into three divinities, nor must the dignity
and eminent greatness of the Lord be diminished by having applied to it
the name of creation, but we must believe on God the Father Omnipotent,
and on Christ Jesus His Son, and on the Holy Spirit.  Moreover, that the
Word is united to the God of all, because He says, "I and the Father are
one;"(1) and, "I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me."(2) Thus
doubtless will be maintained in its integrity the doctrine of the divine
Trinity, and the sacred announcement of the monarchy.

ELUCIDATIONS. I.

 THE Confession, improperly called "the Creed of Athanasius," is
acknowledged to embody the (Athanasian) doctrine of the Nicene Council;
and I append it here as an index to the state of theology at the period
which is the limit of our series.  Nothing is properly a "creed" which
has never been accepted as such by the whole Church, and the Greeks knew
no other creed than that called Nicene.  The Anglo-American Church has
ceased to recite this Confession in public worship, but does not depart
from it as doctrine.  The "Reformed" communion in America(1) retains it
among her liturgical forms, and I suppose the same is true of the
Lutherans.  It is a Western Confession, and, like the Te Deum, is a hymn
rather than a symbol, though breathing the spirit of the Creed.

 Usher adopts A.D. 447 as its date, and Beveridge assigns it to the
fourth century.  Dupin gives it a later origin than Usher, and a
considerable number of eminent authorities agree with him in the date
A.D. 484.

 What are called the anathemas are the enacting clauses (so to speak),
and, like the same in the Nicene Creed, may be regarded as no part of
the Confession itself.  If they have disappeared from the Great Symbol
itself, as unsuitable to liturgical recitation, why not apply the same
rule here?

CONFESSION OF OUR CHRISTIAN FAITH, COMMONLY CALLED THE CREED OF

ST. ATHANASIUS.

Quicunque vult.

� Whosoever will be saved: before all things it is necessary that he
hold the Catholick Faith.  Which Faith except everyone do keep whole and
undefiled: without doubt he shall perish everlastingly.

I.

 And the Catholick Faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity,
and Trinity in Unity;

 Neither confounding the Persons: nor dividing the Substance.

 For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son: and another
of the Holy Ghost.

 But the God-head of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is
all one: the Glory equal, the Majesty co-eternal.

 Such as the Father is, such is the Son: and such is the Holy Ghost.
The Father un-create, the Son un-create: and the Holy Ghost un-create.

 The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible: and the
HolyGhost incomprehensible.  The Father eternal, the Son eternal: and
theHoly Ghost eternal.  And yet they are not three eternal: but one
eternal.

 As also there are not three incomprehensible, nor three un-created: but
one un-created, and one incomprehensible.

 So likewise the Father is Almighty, the Son Almighty: and the Holy
Ghost Almighty.

367

 And yet they are not three Almighties: but one Almighty.

 So the Father is God, the Son is God: and the Holy Ghost is God.

 And yet they are not three Gods: but one God.

 So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son is Lord: and the Holy Ghost is
Lord.

 And yet not three Lords: but one Lord.

 For like as we are compelled by the Christian verity: to acknowledge
every Person by Himself to be God and Lord;

 So we are forbidden by the Catholick Religion: to say, there be three
Gods, or three Lords.

 The Father is made of none: neither created, nor begotten.

 The Son is of the Father alone: not made, nor created, but begotten.

 The Holy Ghost is of the Father and of the Son:(1) neither made, nor
created, nor begotten, but proceeding.

 So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons: one
Holy Ghost, not three Holy Ghosts.

 And in this Trinity none is afore, or after other: none is greater, or
less than another;

 But the whole three Persons are co-eternal together: and co-equal.

 So that in all things, as is aforesaid: the Unity in Trinity, and the
Trinity in Unity, is to be worshipped.

 � He therefore that will be saved: must thus think of the Trinity.

II.

 Furthermore, it is necessary to everlasting salvation: that he also
believe rightly the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

 For the right Faith is, that we believe and confess; that our Lord
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man;

 God, of the Substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds: and
Man, of the Substance of His Mother, born in the world;

 Perfect God, and perfect Man: of a reasonable soul and human flesh
subsisting;

 Equal to the Father, as touching His God-head' and inferior to the
Father, as touching His Manhood.

 Who although He be God and Man: yet He is not two, but one Christ;

 One; not by conversion of the God-head into flesh: but by taking of the
Manhood into God;

 One altogether; not by confusion of Substance: but by unity of Person.

 For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man: so God and Man is one
Christ;

 Who suffered for our Salvation: descended into hell, rose again the
third day from the dead.

 He ascended into heaven, He sitteth on the right hand of the Father,
God Almighty: from whence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

 At whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies: and shall
give account for their own works.

 And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting: and they
that have done evil into everlasting

fire.

 � This is the Catholick Faith: which except a man believe faithfully,
he cannot be saved.

II.

It is with regret that I am forced to take exception to the most useful
Ecclesiastical History of the learned Professor Schaff, in this
connection.  I quote from that work(2) as follows:--

 "He, Dionysius, maintained distinctly, in (a) controversy with
Dionysius of Alexandria, at once the unity of essence and the real
personal distinction, etc., . . . and avoided tritheism, Sabellianism,
and (b) subordination, with the instinct of orthodoxy, and also with the
art of anathematizing, (c) already familiar to (d) the popes."

 Such a paragraph must convey to the youthful student a great confusion
of ideas; all the greater, because the same valuable work elsewhere
invites him to conclusions quite the reverse.  Thus, (a) there was no
controversy whatever between the two Dionysii; with a holy jealousy they
entered into fraternal explanations of the same truth, held by each, but
by neither very technically elucidated.  The mere reader would probably
infer that the greater of the two was guilty of tritheism or
Sabellianism, although that is not the meaning of these unguarded
expressions.  But (b) the "subordinationism" which he repudiated was the
doctrine of the subjection of the Son, not of the subordination, which
orthodoxy has always maintained.  Again, (c) I see no such "anathe-

368

matizing" in the letter of Dionysius as is here charged; indeed, it
contains no anathema(1) whatever, much less the artificial cursing of
the Papacy which is thus assumed.  And last, (d) what can be meant by
the expression, "already familiar to the popes?"  The learned pages of
the same author sufficiently prove that there were no such things(2) as
"popes" till a much later period of history; and, as to the "art of
anathematizing," if it existed at all in those days, we find it much
more freely exemplified by the Greek Fathers than by bishops of Rome.  I
say, if it existed at because the primitive anathema was a purely
scriptural enforcement of St.  Paul's great canon (Gal.  i.  8, 9);
while the "art of anathematizing," so justly credited to "the popes,"
was a vindictive and monstrous assertion, at a later date, of
prerogatives which they impiously arrogated to themselves, against other
churches.

377

 THE TEACHING OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES

THE LORD'S TEACHING THROUGH THE TWELVE APOSTLES TO THE NATIONS.(1)

 CHAP. I.--THE TWO WAYS;THE FIRST COMMANDMENT.

 THERE are two ways,(2) one of life and one of death;(3) but a great
difference between the two ways.  The way of life, then, is this: First,
thou shalt love God(4) who made thee; second, thy neighbour as
thyself;(5) and all things whatsoever thou wouldst should not occur to
thee, thou also to another do not do.(6) And of these sayings(7) the
teaching is this: Bless them that curse you, and pray for your enemies,
and fast for them that persecute you.(8) For what thank is there, if ye
love them that love you?  Do not also the Gentiles do the same?(9) But
do ye love them that hate you; and ye shall not have an enemy.(10)
Abstain thou from fleshly and worldly lusts.(11) If one give thee a blow
upon thy right cheek, turn to him the other also;(12) and thou shalt be
perfect.  If one impress thee for one mile, go with him two.(13) If one
take away thy cloak, give him also thy coat.(14) If one take from thee
thine own, ask it not back?  for indeed thou art not able.  Give to
every one that asketh thee, and ask it not back;(16) for the Father
willeth that to all

should be given of our own blessings (free gifts).(17) Happy is he that
giveth according to the commandment; for he is guiltless.  Woe to him
that receiveth; for if one having need receiveth, he is guiltless; but
he that receiveth not having need, shall pay the penalty, why he
received and for what, and, coming into straits (confinement),(18) he
shall be examined concerning the things which he hath done, and he shall
not escape thence until he pay back the last farthing.(19) But also now
concerning this, it hath been said, Let thine alms sweat(20) in thy
hands, until thou know to whom thou Shouldst give.

 CHAP. II.(21)--THE SECOND COMMANDMENT: GROSS SIN FORBIDDEN.

 And the second commandment of the Teaching; Thou shalt not commit
murder, thou shalt not commit adultery,(22) thou shalt not commit
paederasty,(23) thou shalt not commit fornication, thou shalt not
steal,(24) thou shalt not practise magic, thou shalt not practise
witchcraft, thou shalt not murder a child by abortion nor kill that
which is begotten.(25) Thou shalt not covet the things of thy
neighbour,(26) thou shalt not forswear thyself,(27) thou shalt not bear
false witness,(28) thou shalt not speak, evil, thou shalt bear no
grudge.(29) Thou shalt not be double-minded nor double-tongued; for to
be double-tongued is a

378

5 snare of death.(1) Thy speech shall not be false, 6 nor empty, but
fulfilled by deed.(2) Thou shalt not be covetous, nor rapacious, nor a
hypocrite, nor evil disposed, nor haughty.  Thou shalt not 7 take evil
counsel against thy neighbour.(3) Thou shalt not hate any man; but some
thou shalt reprove,(4) and concerning some thou shalt pray, and some
thou shalt love more than thy own life.(5)

CHAP. III.(6)--OTHER SINS FORBIDDEN.

1 My child,(7) flee from every evil thing, and from 2 every likeness of
it.  Be not prone to anger, for anger leadeth the way to murder; neither
jealous, nor quarrelsome, nor of hot temper; for 3 out of all these
murders are engendered.  My child, be not a lustful one; for lust
leadeth the way to fornication; neither a filthy talker, nor of lofty
eye; for out of all these adulteries are 4 engendered.  My child, be not
an observer of omens, since it leadeth the way to idolatry; neither an
enchanter, nor an astrologer, nor a purifier, nor be willing to took at
these things; 5 for out of all these idolatry is engendered.  My child,
be not a liar, since a lie leadeth the way to theft; neither money-
loving, nor vainglorious, 6 for out of all these thefts are engendered.
My child, be not a murmurer, since it leadeth the way to blasphemy;
neither self-willed nor evil-minded, for out of all these blasphemies
are 7 engendered.  But be thou meek, since the meek 8 shall inherit the
earth.(8) Be long-suffering and pitiful and guileless and gentle and
good and always trembling at the words which thou hast 9 heard.(9) Thou
shalt not exalt thyself,(10) nor give over-confidence to thy soul.  Thy
soul shall not be joined with lofty ones, but with just and lowly 10
ones shall it have its intercourse.  The workings that befall thee
receive as good, knowing that apart from God nothing cometh to pass.(11)

CHAP. IV.(12)--VARIOUS PRECEPTS.

 My child, him that speaketh to thee the word of God remember night and
day; and thou

shalt honour him as the Lord;(13) for in the place whence lordly rule is
uttered,(14) there is the Lord.  And thou shalt seek out day by day the
faces of 2 the saints, in order that thou mayest rest upon(15) their
words.  Thou shalt not long for(16) division, 3 but shalt bring those
who contend to peace.  Thou shalt judge righteously, thou shalt not
respect persons in reproving for transgressions.  Thou shalt not be
undecided whether it shall be 4 or no.(17) Be not a stretcher forth of
the hands 5 to receive and a drawer of them back to give.(18) If thou
hast aught, through thy hands thou shalt 6 give ransom for thy sins.(19)
Thou shalt not hesitate 7 to give, nor murmur when thou givest; for thou
shalt know who is the good repayer of the hire.  Thou shalt not turn
away from him that 8 is in want, but thou shalt share all things with
thy brother, and shalt not say that they are thine own; for if ye are
partakers in that which is immortal, how much more in things which are
mortal?(20) Thou shalt not remove thy hand from thy son or from thy
daughter, but from their 9 youth shalt teach them the fear of God.(21)
Thou 10 shalt not enjoin aught in thy bitterness upon thy bondman or
maidservant, who hope in the same God, lest ever they shall fear not God
who is over both;(22) for he cometh not to call according to the outward
appearance, but unto them whom the Spirit hath prepared.  And ye bondmen
shall 11 be subject to your(23) masters as to a type of God, in modesty
and fear.(24) Thou shalt hate all 12 hypocrisy and everything which is
not pleasing to the Lord.  Do thou in no wise forsake the 13
commandments of the Lord; but thou shalt keep what thou hast received,
neither adding thereto nor taking away therefrom.(25) In the church(26)
14 thou shalt acknowledge thy transgressions, and thou shalt not come
near for thy prayer(27) with an evil conscience.(28) This is the way of
life.(29)

379

CHAP. V.(1)--THE WAY OF DEATH.

1 And the way of death(2) is this: First of all it is evil and full of
curse:(3) murders,(4) adulteries, lusts, fornications, thefts,
idolatries, magic arts, witchcrafts, rapines, false witnessings,
hypocrisies, double-heartedness, deceit, haughtiness, depravity, self-
will, greediness, filthy talking, jealousy, 2 over-confidence,
loftiness, boastfulness; persecutors of the good,(5) hating truth,
loving a lie, not knowing a reward for righteousness, not cleaving(6) to
good nor to righteous judgment, watching not for that which is good, but
for that which is evil; from whom meekness and endurance are far, loving
vanities, pursuing requital, not pitying a poor man, not labouring for
the afflicted, not knowing Him that made them, murderers of children,
destroyers of the handiwork of God, turning away from him that is in
want afflicting him that is distressed, advocates of the rich, lawless
judges of the poor, utter sinners.(7) Be delivered, children, from all
these.(8)

 CHAP. VI.(9)--AGAINST FALSE TEACHERS, AND FOOD OFFERED TO IDOLS.

1 See that no one cause thee to err(10) from this way of the Teaching,
since apart from God it 2 teacheth thee.  For if thou art able to bear
all the yoke(11) of the Lord, thou wilt be perfect; but if thou art not
able, what thou art able that do.  3 And concerning food,(12) bear what
thou art able; but against that which is sacrificed to idols(13) be
exceedingly on thy guard; for it is the service of dead gods.(14)

 CHAP. VII.--CONCERNING BAPTISM.

 And concerning baptism,(15) thus baptize ye:(16) 1 Having first said
all these things, baptize into the name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit,(17) in living water.(18) But if thou 2 have not
living water, baptize into other water; and if thou 3 canst not in cold,
in warm.  But if thou have not either, pour out water thrice(19) upon
the head into the name of Father and Son and Holy Spirit.  But before
the baptism let the 4 baptizer fast, and the baptized, and whatever
others can; but thou shalt order the baptized to fast one or two days
before.(20)

 CHAP. VIII.(21)--CONCERNING FASTING AND PRAYER (THE LORD'S PRAYER).

 But let not your fasts be with the hypocrites;(22) 1 for they fast on
the second and fifth day of the week; but do ye fast on the fourth day
and the Preparation(Friday).(23) Neither pray as the 2 hypocrites; but
as the Lord commanded in His Gospel,(24) thus pray: Our Father who art
in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.  Thy kingdom come.  Thy will be done,
as in heaven, so on earth.  Give us to-day our daily (needful)
bread,(25) and forgive us our debt as we also forgive our debtors.  And
bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one (or,
evil); for Thine is the power and the glory for ever.(26) Thrice in the
day thus pray.(27) 3

 CHAP. IX.(28)--THE THANKSGIVING (EUCHARIST).

 Now concerning the Thanksgiving (Eucharist), 1 thus give thanks.
First, concerning the 2

380

cup:(1) We thank thee, our Father, for the holy vine of David Thy
servant,(2) which Thou madest known to us through Jesus Thy Servant; to
Thee 3 be the glory for ever.  And concerning the broken bread:(3) We
thank Thee, our Father, for the life and knowledge which Thou modest
known to us through Jesus Thy Servant; to Thee be the glory 4 for ever.
Even as this broken bread was scattered over the hills,(4) and was
gathered together and became one, so let Thy Church be gathered together
from the ends of the earth into Thy kingdom;(5) for Thine is the glory
and the power 5 through Jesus Christ for ever.  But let no one eat or
drink of your Thanksgiving (Eucharist), but they who have been baptized
into the name of the Lord; for concerning this also the Lord hath said,
Give not that which is holy to the dogs.(6)

CHAP. X.(7)--PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION.

1 But after ye are filled,(8) thus give thanks: 2 We thank Thee, holy
Father, for Thy holy name which Thou didst cause to tabernacle in our
hearts, and for the knowledge and faith and immortality, which Thou
modest known to us through Jesus Thy Servant; to Thee be the glory 3 for
ever.  Thou, Master almighty, didst create all things for Thy name's
sake; Thou gavest food and drink to men for enjoyment, that they might
give thanks to Thee; but to us Thou didst freely give spiritual food and
drink 4 and life eternal through Thy Servant.(9) Before all things we
thank Thee that Thou art mighty; to 5 Thee be the glory for ever.
Remember, Lord, Thy Church, to deliver it from all evil and to make it
perfect in Thy love, and gather it from the four winds, sanctified for
Thy kingdom which Thou hast prepared for it;(10) for Thine is the 6
power and the glory for ever.  Let grace come,



and let this world pass away.(11) Hosanna to the God(Son) (12) of David!
If any one is holy, let him come; if any one is not so, let him
repent.(13) Maranatha.(14) Amen.  But permit the prophets 7 to make
Thanksgiving as much as they desire.(15)

 CHAP. XI. 16--CONCERNING TEACHERS, APOSTLES, AND PROPHETS.

 Whosoever, therefore, cometh and teacheth 1 you all these things that
have been said before, receive him.(17) But if the teacher himself
turn(18) 2 and teach another doctrine to the destruction of this, hear
him not; but if he teach so as to increase righteousness and the
knowledge of the Lord, receive him as the Lord.  But concerning 3 the
apostles and prophets, according to the decree of the Gospel, thus do.
Let every apostle 4 that cometh to you be received as the Lord.(19) But
he shall not remain except one day; but if 5 there be need, also the
next; but if he remain three days, he is a false prophet.  And when the
6 apostle goeth away, let him take nothing but bread until he
lodgeth;(20) but if he ask money, he is a false prophet.  And every
prophet that 7 speaketh in the Spirit(21) ye shall neither try nor
judge; for every sin shall be forgiven, but this sin shall not be
forgiven.(22) But not every one 8 that speaketh in the Spirit is a
prophet; but only if he hold the ways of the Lord.  Therefore from their
ways shall the false prophet and the prophet be known.  And every
prophet who ordereth a 9 meal(23) in the Spirit eateth not from it,
except indeed he be a false prophet; and every prophet 10 who teacheth
the truth, if he do not what he teacheth, is a false prophet.  And every
prophet, 11 proved true,(24) working unto the mystery of the Church in
the world,(25) yet not teaching others to

381

do what he himself doeth, shall not be judged among you, for with God he
hath his judgment; for so did also the ancient prophets.  But whoever
saith in the Spirit, Give me money, or something else, ye shall not
listen to him; but if he saith to you to give for others' sake who are
in need, let no one judge him.

CHAP. XII.(1)--RECEPTION OF CHRISTIANS.

1 But let every one that cometh in the name of the Lord be received,(2)
and afterward ye shall prove and know him; for ye shall have
understanding 2 right and left.  If he who cometh is a wayfarer, assist
him as far as ye are able; but he shall not remain with you, except for
two or 3 three days, if need be.  But if he willeth to abide with you,
being an artisan, let him work and eat;(3) 4 but if he hath no trade,
according to your understanding see to it that, as a Christian,(4) he
shall 5 not live with you idle.  But if he willeth not

to do, he is a Christ-monger.(5) Watch that ye keep aloof from such.

CHAP. XIII.(6)--SUPPORT OF PROPHETS.

1 But every true prophet that willeth to abide 2 among you(7) is worthy
of his support.(8) So also a true teacher is himself worthy, as the
workman, 3 of his support.(9) Every first-fruit, therefore, of the
products of wine-press and threshing-floor, of oxen and of sheep, thou
shalt take and give to the prophets, for they are your high priests.(10)
4 But if ye have not a prophet, give it to the poor.  5 If thou makest a
batch of dough, take the first-fruit and give according to the
commandment.

So also when thou openest a jar of wine or of 6 oil, take the first-
fruit and give it to the prophets; and of money (silver) and clothing
and every 7 possession, take the first-fruit, as it may seem good to
thee, and give according to the commandment.

 yCHAP. XIV.(11)--CHRISTIAN ASSEMBLY ON THE LORD'S DAY.

 But every Lord's day(12) do ye gather yourselves 1 together, and break
bread, and give thanksgiving after having confessed your
transgressions,(13) that your sacrifice may be pure.(14) But let no one
that 2 is at variance(15) with his fellow come together with you, until
they be reconciled, that your sacrifice may not be profaned.  For this
is that 3 which was spoken by the Lord: In every place and time offer to
me a pure sacrifice;(16) for I am a great King, saith the Lord, and my
name is wonderful among the nations.(17)

 CHAP. XV.(18)--BISHOPS AND DEACONS; CHRISTIAN REPROOF.

 Appoint, therefore, for yourselves, bishops and 1 deacons worthy of the
Lord, men meek, and not lovers of money,(19) and truthful and proved;
for they also render to you the service(20) of prophets and teachers.
Despise them not therefore, for 2 they are your honoured ones, together
with the prophets and teachers.  And reprove one another, 3 not in
anger, but in peace, as ye have it in the Gospel;(21) but to every one
that acts amiss(22) against another, let no one speak, nor let him hear
aught from you until he repent.  But your prayers and 4 alms and all
your deeds so do, as ye have it in the Gospel of our Lord.(23)

382

 CHAP. XVI.(1)--WATCHFULNESS; THE COMING OF THE LORD.

1 Watch for your life's sake.(2) Let not your lamps be quenched, nor
your loins unloosed;(3) but be ye ready, for ye know not the hour in

2 which our Lord cometh.(4) But often shall ye come together, seeking
the things which are befitting to your souls: for the whole time of your
faith will not profit you,(5) if ye be not made 3 perfect in the last
time.  For in the last days(6) false prophets and corrupters shall be
multiplied, and the sheep shall be turned into wolves, and love 4 shall
be turned into hate;(7) for when lawlessness increaseth, they shall hate
and persecute and betray one another,(8) and then shall appear the world
-deceiver(9) as Son of God,(10) and shall do signs and wonders,(11) and
the earth shall be delivered into his hands, and he shall do iniquitous
things which have never yet come to pass since 5 the beginning.  Then
shall the creation of men come into the fire of trial,(12) and many
shall be

made to stumble and shall perish; but they that endure in their faith
shall be saved(13) from under the curse itself.(14) And then shall
appear the 6 signs of the truth;(15) first, the sign of an out-
spreading(16) in heaven; then the sign of the sound of the trumpet; and
the third, the resurrection of the dead; yet not of all, but as it is 7
said: The Lord shall come and all His saints with Him.(17) Then shall
the world see the 8 Lord coming upon the clouds of heaven.(18)

ELUCIDATIONS

 I

(Thus baptize ye, p.  379.)

 IF we compare this chapter with the corresponding one in the Apostolic
Constitutions, the Teaching seems to me to be a somewhat abridged form
of a common original.  This being designed for the catechumens, there is
an omission of what they are afterwards to know.  A form originally
drawn up for clergy and people has been very inartificially expurgated
for the instruction of young disciples.  This appears from the ninth
chapter (p.  380), where only certain receptive or responsive forms are
given.  The liturgy of the Apostolic Constitutions, book viii., embodies
what was studiously kept from all but the <greek>teleios</greek>, i.e.,
those "of full age."

383

II.

(Concerning apostles, p.  380, note 16.)

 The reference to "apostles," probably itinerant, in Rev.  ii.  2,
corresponds with this.  There were officers known in the Apostolic day
(compare 2 Cor.  viii.  23, Greek) as <greek>apostoloi</greek>
<greek>ekklhsiwn</greek>, for the pseud-apostles of the Apocalypse could
not have pretended what they did had it been otherwise.  Neither would
it have been needful to "try those who said they were apostles," in that
case: the mere assertion of such a pretence would have sufficiently
convicted them.

 The very childish directions (suited to mere catechumens) given in the
text illustrates Rev ii.  2, and is, so far, evidence of the very early
origin of the Teaching.

 The name apostles was made technical by Christ Himself: "He named them
Apostles" (Luke vi.  13). And the word is never used in the loose way
which Bishop Lightfoot hazardously suggests, as I must venture to
believe.

III.

(Incipient fanaticism, p.  381, note 25.)

 Unquestionably, for even in St.  Paul's day his admonitions imply
nothing less.  See 1 Cor.  cap.  xiv., passim.  But, as in the
Introductory Notice(1) I hinted my suspicions of incipient Montanism in
the Teaching, so I am strengthened in this idea by the learned critic to
whose note I venture to append this remark for the purpose of asking a
reference to my annotations of Hermas in vol.  ii.  of this series.  May
I also ask a reference to the same volume, pp.  4, 5, and 6?  The "meal"
(note 23, p.  380) of the Teaching is doubtless the Agape, which had
been abused at so early a day, that St.  Peter(2) himself was forced to
denounce the "false prophets" who polluted this feast of charity.

387

INTRODUCTORY NOTICE

TO

CONSTITUTIONS OF THE HOLY APOSTLES

 HAVING learned from the erudite Beveridge what I long supposed to be a
just view of the Constitutions, I have found in the recent literature of
the subject not a little to increase my confidence in the generaI
conclusions to which he was led by all that could be known in his times.
The treatise of Krabbe guided me to some results of more modern
investigations; and Dr.  Bunsen, though not apart from his critics, has
enabled me still further to correct some of my impressions.  But, in
connection with the late discovery of Bryennios, the field of discussion
and inquiry has been so much enlarged, that I have felt it due to the
readers and students of this republication to invoke the aid of
Professor Riddle, who is able to enrich the work with the results of
genuine learning and much patient research.  Whatever may be my own
convictions on some subordinate points, I have been glad to secure the
judgment of a critical scholar who, I am persuaded, aims to shed upon
the subject the colourless light of scientific investigation.  This is
all I can desire, anxious only to see facts clearly established and
historic truth illustrated, no matter to what results they may seem to
point.  Where the professor's decisions coincide with my own
impressions, I am naturally gratified by his valued and independent
corroboration: where the case is otherwise, I am hardly less gratified
to present my indulgent readers with opinions deserving of their highest
respect, and by which they will be stimulated, as well as influenced, in
forming convictions for themselves.

 The Constitutions are so full of material on which it is well for one
in my position not to speak very freely in such a work as this, that I
rejoice all the more to confide the task of annotation almost
exclusively to another and to one from whom American Christians must
ever be glad to hear on subjects requiring in an almost equal degree the
skill of an expert critic and the candour of a conscientious Christian.

 I prefix Professor Riddle's PREFACE tO the Introductory Notice of the
Edinburgh editor, as follows:--

 NEW interest has been awakened in the Apostolic Constitutions by the
discovery of an ancient manuscript in Constantinople.(1) While it does
not contain the Constitutions, it affords much material for discussion
respecting the sources and authorship of this compilation.  The so-
called Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, found in the Codex at
Constantinople, and published by Bryennios in 1883, is recognised as the
basis of the seventh book of the Constitutions.  The verbal
coincidences, the order of topics, and other obvious phenomena, leave
little room for reasonable doubt on this point.  That the reader may be
in possession of the main facts, the corresponding portions have been
indicated both in book vii.  of the Constitutions and in the version of
the Teaching inserted in this volume.  This literary connection has some
bearing on

388

the discussion as to the age of the Constitutions.  If the Teaching is
substantially the early work bearing that name, then some of the
references by early writers which have been applied to the larger work
must now be regarded as pointing to the Teaching; still, this only bears
against the theory of a date as early as the third century.  The new
critical material furnished by the Bryennios manuscript for the Ignatian
controversy has a bearing on the question respecting the work before us.
The opinion has been strengthened (see below), that the same hand
enlarged the Ignatian Epistles and adapted earlier matter (such as the
Teaching) for the Apostolic Constitutions.

 We may accept as established the following positions:--

 1.  The Apostolic Constitutions are a compilation, the material being
derived from sources differing in age.

 2.  The first six books are the oldest; the seventh, in its present
form, somewhat later, but, from its connection with the Teaching, proven
to contain matter of a very ancient date.  The eighth book is of latest
date.

 3.  It now seems to be generally admitted that the entire work is not
later than the fourth century, although the usual allowance must be made
for later textual changes, whether by accident or design.

 Dr.  Von Drey(1) regards the first six books as of Eastern origin
(mainly Syrian), and to be assigned to the second half of the third
century.  The seventh and eighth were more recent, he thinks, but united
with the others before A.D. 325.  With this, Schaff (in his Church
History, vol.  ii, rev.  ed., p.  185) substantially agreed; but, in his
later work on the Teaching, seems to assign the completion of the
compilation to a date somewhat later.  This is the view of Harnack, who,
"by a critical analysis and comparison, comes to the conclusion(2) that
pseudo-Clement, alias pseudo-Ignatius, was a Eusebian, a semi-Arian, and
rather worldly-minded anti-ascetic Bishop of Syria, a friend of the
Emperor Constantius between (340) and (360); that he enlarged and
adapted the Didascalia of the third and the Didache of the second
century, as well as the Ignatian Epistles, to his own view of morals,
worship, and discipline, and clothed them with Apostolic authority."(3)

 This is, at all events, a more reasonable view than that of Krabbe, who
assigns the first six books to the end of the third century, and the
eighth to the beginning of the fifth.  The latter, it is true, he
regards a compilation from older sources.  The purpose of the whole, in
his view, was to confirm the episcopal hierarchy, and to establish the
unity of the Catholic Church on the basis of the unity of the
priesthood, etc.  But it is now generally held that the purpose of the
compilation was merely to present a manual of instruction, worship,
polity, and usage for both clergy and laity.  Had it been designed to
further some ecclesiastical tendency, it would be far less valuable,
since it would less fairly reproduce the ecclesiastical life of the age
or ages in which it originated.  Bishop Beveridge at first attributed
the Constitutions to Clemens Alexandrinus (end of second century), but
afterwards accepted the third century as the more probable date.  The
views now prevalent do full justice to his opinions, but seem to be
better sustained in detail.

 The collection of Canons at the close of the Constitutions is
undoubtedly a compilation.  Some are evidently much more ancient than
others, and there is every evidence that various collections or
recensions existed.  That of Dionysius (about A.D. 500), in Latin,
contained fifty canons; that of John (Scholasticus) of Antioch (about
A.D. 565) contained eighty-five canons: and "it is undeniable that the
Greek copy which Dionysius had before him belonged to a (differ-

389

ent family of collections from that used by John Scholasticus, for they
differ frequently, if not essentially, both in text and in the way of
numbering the canons."(1)

 Bishop Beveridge sought to trace these Canons to the synods of the
first two centuries, while Daille held that the collection was made as
late as the fifth century.  The latter view is not generally accepted,
though the existence of a variety of collections tells against some of
the views of Bishop Beveridge.(2) It is impossible to enter into a full
discussion here.  It seemed better to annotate the Canons from the
results of Drey and Hefele, two most candid and scholarly Roman-Catholic
investigators.(3) The brief notes indicate the sources according to
these authors.  The reader will at once perceive from the views tires
suggested, as well as from the contents of the Canons, that, while some
canons are presumably quite ancient, a number belong to the fourth
century, and that, as a complete collection, they cannot antedate the
compilation of the Apostolic Constitutions.  Indeed, Drey, who accepts
the latter as Ante-Nicene (see above), thinks five of the canons (30,
67, 74, 81, 83) were derived from the canons of the Fourth OEcumenical
Council at Chalcedon, A.D. 451, and quite a number of others he traces
to synods and councils of the fourth century.  Hefele doubts the
positions taken by Drey in regard to most of these.  He does not,
however, insist that the collection is Ante-Nicene, while he traces the
origin of many of the canons to the Apostolic Constitutions.

 [The following is Dr.  Donaldson's INTRODUCTORY NOTICE:--]

 THERE has always existed a great diversity of opinion as to the author
and date of the Apostolical Constitutions.  Earlier writers were
inclined to assign them to the apostolic age, and to Clement; but much
discussion ensued, and the questions to which they give rise are still
unsettled.

 The most peculiar opinion in regard to them is that of Whiston, who
devoted a volume (vol.  iii.)  of his Primitive Christianity Revived to
prove that "they are the most sacred of the canonical books of the New
Testament;" for "these sacred Christian laws or constitutions were
delivered at Jerusalem, and in Mount Sion, by our Saviour to the eleven
apostles there assembled after His resurrection."

 Krabbe, who wrote an elaborate treatise on the origin and contents of
the Apostolical Constitutions, tried to show that the first seven books
were written "towards the end of the third century."  The eighth book,
he thinks, must have been written at the end of the fourth or beginning
of the fifth.

 Bunsen thinks that, if we expunge a few interpolations of the fourth
and fifth centuries, "we find ourselves unmistakeably in the midst of
the life of the Church of the second and third centuries."(4) "I think,"
he says, "I have proved in my analysis, more clearly than has been
hitherto done, the Ante-Nicene origin of a book, or rather books, called
by an early fiction Apostolical Constitutions, and consequently the
still higher antiquity of the materials, both ecclesiastical and
literary, which they contain.  I have shown that the compilers made use
of the Epistle of Barnabas,(5) which belongs to the first half of the
second century; that the eighth is an extract or transcript of
Hippolytus; and that the first six books are so full of phrases found in
the second interpolation of the Ignatian Epistles, that their last
compiler, the author of the present text, must either have lived soon
after that interpolation was made, or vice versa, or the interpolator
and compiler must have been one and the same person.(6) This last
circumstance renders it probable

390

that at least the first six books of the Greek compilation, like the
Ignatian forgeries,(1) were the produce of Asia Minor.  Two points are
self-evident--their Oriental origin, and that they belong neither to
Antioch nor to Alexandria.  I suppose nobody now will trace them to
Palestine."(2)

 Modern critics are equally at sea in determining the date of the
collections of canons given at the end of the eighth book.  Most believe
that some of them belong to the apostolic age, while others are of a
comparatively late date.  The subject is very fully discussed in Krabbe.

 Bovius first gave a complete edition of the Constitutions (Venice,
1563), but only in a Latin form.  The Greek was first edited by the
Jesuit Turrianus (Venice, 1563). It was reprinted several times.
Cotelerius gave it in his Apostolical Fathers.  In the second edition of
this work, as prepared by Clericus (1724), the readings of two Vienna
manuscripts were given.  These V. MSS. and Oxford MS. of book viii.  are
supposed by Bunsen to be nearer the original than the others, alike in
what they give and in what they omit.  The Constitutions have been
edited by Ultzen (1853), and by Lagarde in Bunsen's Analecta Ante-
Nicoena, vol.  ii.  (1854). Lagarde has partially introduced readings
from the Syriac, Arabic, AEthiopic, and Coptic forms of the
Constitutions.  Whiston devoted the second volume of his Primitive
Christianity to the Constitutions and Canons, giving both the Greek and
English.  It is his translation which we have republished, with
considerable alterations.  We have not deemed it necessary to give a
tithe of the various readings, but have confined ourselves to those that
seem important.  We have also given no indication of the Syriac form of
the first six books.  We shall give this form by itself.  The
translation of Whiston was reprinted by Irah Chase, D.D., very carefully
revised, with a translation of Krabbe's Essay on the Origin and Contents
of the Constitutions, and his Dissertation an the Canons (New York,
1848).(3)

391

CONSTITUTIONS OF THE HOLY APOSTLES(1)

BOOK I.

CONCERNING THE LAITY.

SEC. I.--GENERAL COMMANDMENTS.

 THE apostles and elders to all those who from among the Gentiles have
believed in the Lord Jesus Christ; grace and peace from Almighty God,
through our Lord Jesus Christ, be multiplied unto you in the
acknowledgment of Him.

 The Catholic Church is the plantation of God and His beloved
vineyard;(2) containing those who have believed in His unerring divine
religion; who are the heirs by faith of His everlasting kingdom; who are
partakers of His divine influence, and of the communication of the Holy
Spirit; who are armed through Jesus, and have received His fear into
their hearts; who enjoy the benefit of the sprinkling of the precious
and innocent blood of Christ; who have free liberty to call Almighty
God, Father; being fellow-heirs and joint-partakers of His beloved Son:
hearken to this holy doctrine, you who enjoy His promises, as being
delivered by the command of your Saviour, and agreeable to His glorious
words.  Take care, ye children of God, to do all things in obedience to
God; and in all things please Christ our Lord.(3) For if any man follows
unrighteousness, and does those things that are contrary to the will of
God, such a one will be esteemed by God as the disobedient heathen.

CONCERNING COVETOUSNESS.

 I. Abstain, therefore, from all unlawful desires and injustice.  For it
is written in the law, "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor
his field, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor
his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbour's;"(4) for all coveting of
these things is from the evil one.  For he that covets his neighbour's
wife, or his man-servant, or his maid-servant, is already in his mind an
adulterer and a thief; and if he does not repent, is condemned by our
Lord Jesus Christ: through whom s glory be to God for ever, Amen.  For
He says in the Gospel, recapitulating, and confirming, and fulfilling
the ten commandments of the law: "It is written in the law, Thou shalt
not commit adultery: but I say unto you, that is, I said in the law, by
Moses.  But now I say unto you myself, Whosoever shall look on his
neighbour's wife to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her
already in his heart."(6) Such a one is condemned of adultery, who
covets his neighbour's wife in his mind.  But does not he that covets an
ox or an ass design to steal them to apply them to his own use, and to
lead them away?  Or, again, does not he that covets a field, and
continues in such a disposition, wickedly contrive how to remove the
landmarks, and to compel the possessor to part with somewhat for
nothing?  For as the prophet somewhere speaks: "Woe to those who join
house to house, and lay field to field, that they may deprive their
neighbour of somewhat which was his."(7) Wherefore he says: "Must you
alone inhabit the earth?  For these things have been heard in the ears
of the Lord of hosts."  And elsewhere: "Cursed be he who removeth his
neighbour's landmarks: and all the people shall say, Amen."(8) Wherefore
Moses says: "Thou shalt not remove thy neighbour's landmarks(9) which
thy fathers have set."(10) Upon this account, therefore, terrors, death,
tribunals, and condemnations follow such as these from God.  But as to
those who are obedient to God, there is one law of God, simple,(10)
true, living, which is this: "Do not that to another which thou hatest
another should do to thee."(11) Thou

392

wouldst not that any one should look upon thy wife with an evil design
to corrupt her; do not thou, therefore, look upon thy neighbour's wife
with a wicked intention.  Thou wouldst not that thy garment should be
taken away; do not thou therefore, take away another's.  Thou wouldst
not be beaten, reproached, affronted; do not thou, therefore, serve any
other in the like manner.

THAT WE OUGHT NOT TO RETURN INJURIES, NOR REVENGE OURSELVES ON HIM THAT
DOES US WRONG.

 11.  But if any one curse thee, do thou bless him.  For it is written
in the book of Numbers: "He that blesseth thee is blessed, and he that
curseth thee is cursed."(1) In the same manner it is written inn the
Gospel: "Bless them that curse you."(2) Being injured, do not avenge
yourselves, but bear it with patience; for the Scripture speaks thus:
"Say not thou, I will avenge myself on my enemy for what injuries he has
offered me; but acquiesce under them, that the Lord may right thee, and
bring vengeance upon him who injures thee."(3) For so says He again in
the Gospel: "Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you, and pray
for them which despitefully use you and persecute you; and ye shall be
the children of your Father which is in heaven: for He maketh His sun to
shine on the evil and on the good, and raineth on the just and
unjust."(4) Let us therefore, beloved, attend to these commandments,
that we may be found to be the children of light by doing them.  Bear,
therefore, with one another, ye servants and sons of God.

SEC. II.--COMMANDMENTS TO MEN.

CONCERNING THE ADORNMENT OF OURSELVES, AND THE SIN WHICH ARISES FROM
THENCE.

 Let the husband not be insolent nor arrogant towards his wife; but
compassionate, bountiful, willing to please his own wife alone,(5) and
treat her honourably and obligingly, endeavouring to be agreeable to
her; (III.) not adorning thyself in such a manner as may entice another
woman to thee.  For if thou art overcome by her, and sinnest with her,
eternal death will overtake thee from God; and thou wilt be punished
with sensible and bitter torments.  Or if thou dost not perpetrate such
a wicked act, but shakest her off, and refusest her, in this case thou
art not wholly innocent, even though thou art not guilty of the crime
itself, but only in so far as through thy adorning thou didst entice the
woman to desire thee.  For thou art the cause that the woman was so
affected, and by her lusting after thee was guilty of adultery with
thee: yet art thou not so guilty, because thou didst not send to her,
who was ensnared by thee; nor didst thou desire her.  Since, therefore,
thou didst not deliver up thyself to her, thou shalt find mercy with the
Lord thy God, who hath said, "Thou shalt not commit adultery," and,
"Thou shalt not covet."(6) For if such a woman, upon sight of thee, or
unseasonable meeting with thee, was smitten in her mind, and sent to
thee, but thou as a religious person didst refuse her,(7) if she was
wounded in her heart by thy beauty, and youth, and adorning, and fell in
love with thee, thou wilt be found guilty of her transgressions, as
having been the occasion of scandal to her,(8) and shalt inherit a
woe.(9) Wherefore pray thou to the Lord God that no mischief may befall
thee upon this account: for thou art not to please men, so as to commit
sin; but God, so as to attain holiness of life, and be partaker of
everlasting rest.  That beauty which God and nature has bestowed on
thee, do not further beautify; but modestly diminish it before men.
Thus, do not thou permit the hair of thy head to grow too long, but
rather cut it short; lest by a nice combing thy hair, and wearing it
long, and anointing thyself, thou draw upon thyself such ensnared or
ensnaring women.  Neither do thou wear over-fine garments to seduce any;
neither do thou, with an evil subtilty, affect over-fine stockings or
shoes for thy feet, but only such as suit the measures of decency and
usefulness.  Neither do thou put a gold ring upon thy fingers; for all
these ornaments are the signs of lasciviousness, which if thou be
solicitous about in an indecent manner, thou wilt not act as becomes a
good man: for it is not lawful for thee, a believer and a man of God, to
permit the hair of thy head to grow long, and to brush it up together,
nor to suffer it to spread abroad, nor to puff it up, nor by nice
combing and platting to make it curl and shine; since that is contrary
to the law, which says thus, in its additional precepts: "You shall not
make to yourselves curls and round rasures."(10) Nor may men destroy the
hair of their beards, and unnaturally change the form of a man.  For the
law says: "Ye shall not mar your beards."(10) For God the Creator has
made this decent for women, but has determined that it is unsuitable for
men.  But if thou do these things to please men, in contradiction to the
law, thou wilt be abominable with God, who created thee after His own
image.

393

If, therefore, thou wilt be acceptable to God, abstain from all those
things which He hates, and do none of those things that are unpleasing
to Him.

THAT WE OUGHT NOT TO BE OVER-CURIOUS ABOUT THOSE WHO LIVE WICKEDLY, BUT
TO BE INTENT UPON OUR OWN PROPER EMPLOYMENT.

 IV. Thou shalt not be as a wanderer and gadder abroad, rambling about
the streets, without just cause, to spy out such as live wickedly.  But
by minding thy own trade and employment, endeavour to do what is
acceptable to God.  And keeping in mind the oracles of Christ, meditate
in the same continually.  For so the Scripture says to thee: "Thou shalt
meditate in His law day and night; when thou walkest in the field, and
when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou liest down, and when
thou risest up, that thou mayest have understanding in all things."(1)
Nay, although thou beest rich, and so dost not want a trade for thy
maintenance, be not one that gads about, and walks abroad at random; but
either go to some that are believers, and of the same religion, and
confer and discourse with them about the lively oracles of God:--

WHAT BOOKS OF SCRIPTURE WE OUGHT TO READ.

 V. Or if thou stayest at home, read the books of the Law, of the Kings,
with the Prophets; sing the hymns of David; and peruse diligently the
Gospel, which is the completion of the other.

THAT WE OUGHT TO ABSTAIN FROM ALL THE BOOKS OF THOSE THAT ARE OUT OF THE

CHURCH.

 VI. Abstain from all the heathen books.  For what hast thou to do with
such foreign discourses, or laws, or false prophets, which subvert the
faith of the unstable?  For what defect dost thou find in the law of
God, that thou shouldest have recourse to those heathenish fables?  For
if thou hast a mind to read history, thou hast the books of the Kings;
if books of wisdom or poetry, thou hast those of the Prophets, of Job,
and the Proverbs, in which thou wilt find greater depth of sagacity than
in all the heathen poets and sophisters, because these are the words of
the Lord, the only wise God.  If thou desirest something to sing, thou
hast the Psalms; if the origin of things, thou hast Genesis; if laws and
statutes, thou hast the glorious law of the Lord God.  Do thou therefore
utterly abstain from all strange and diabolical books.  Nay, when thou
readest the law, think not thyself bound to observe the additional
precepts; though not all of them, yet some of them.  Read those barely
for the sake of history, in order to the knowledge of them, and to
glorify God that He has delivered thee from such great and so many
bonds.  Propose to thyself to distinguish what rules were from the law
of nature, and what were added afterwards, or were such additional rules
as were introduced and given in the wilderness to the Israelites after
the making of the calf; for the law contains those precepts which were
spoken by the Lord God before the people fell into idolatry, and made a
calf like the Egyptian Apis--that is, the ten commandments.  But as to
those bonds which were further laid upon them after they had sinned, do
not thou draw them upon thyself: for our Saviour came for no other
reason but that He might deliver those that were obnoxious thereto from
the wrath which was reserved far them, that(2) He might fulfil the Law
and the Prophets, and that He might abrogate or change those secondary
bonds which were superadded to the rest of the law.  For therefore did
He call to us and say, "Come unto me,(2) all ye that labour and are
heavy laden, and I will dive you rest."(3) When, therefore, thou hast
read the Law, which is agreeable to the Gospel and to the Prophets, read
also the books of the Kings, that thou mayest thereby learn which of the
kings were righteous, and how they were prospered by God, and how the
promise of eternal life continued with them from Him; but those kings
which went a--whoring from God did soon perish in their apostasy by the
righteous judgment of God, and were deprived of His life, inheriting,
instead of rest, eternal punishment.  Wherefore by reading these books
thou wilt be mightily strengthened in the faith, and edified in Christ,
whose body and member thou art.  Moreover, when thou walkest abroad in
public, and hast a mind to bathe, make use of that bath which is
appropriated to men, lest, by discovering thy body in an unseemly manner
to women, or by seeing a sight not seemly for men, either thou beest
ensnared, or thou ensnarest and enticest to thyself those women who
easily yield to such temptations.(2) Take care, therefore, and avoid
such things, lest thou admit a snare upon thy own soul.

CONCERNING A BAD WOMAN.

 VII. For let us learn what the sacred word says in the book of Wisdom:
"My son, keep my words, and hide my commandments with thee.  Say unto
Wisdom, Thou art my sister; and make understanding familiar with thee:
that she may keep thee from the strange and wicked woman, in case such a
one accost thee with sweet words.

394

For from the window of her house she looks into the street, to see if
she can espy some young man among the foolish children, without
Understanding, walking in the market-place, in the meeting of the street
near her house, and talking in the dusk of the evening, or in the
silence and darkness of the night.  A woman meets him in the appearance
of an harlot, who steals away the hearts of young persons.  She rambles
about and is dissolute; her feet abide not in her house sometimes she is
without, sometimes in the streets, and lieth in wait at every corner.
Then she catches him, and kisses him, and with an impudent face says
unto him, I have peace-offerings with me; this day do I pay my vows:
therefore came I forth to meet thee; earnestly I have desired thy face,
and I have found thee.  I have decked my bed with coverings; with
tapestry from Egypt have I adorned it.  I have perfumed my bed with
saffron, and my house with cinnamon.  Come, let us take our fill of love
until the morning; come, let us solace ourselves with love," etc.  To
which he adds: "With much discourse she seduced him, with snares from
her lips she forced him.  He goes after her like a silly bird."(1) And
again: "Do not hearken to a wicked woman; for though the lips of an
harlot are like drops from an honey-comb, which for a while is smooth in
thy throat, yet afterwards thou wilt find her more bitter than gall, and
sharper than any two-edged sword."(2) And again: "But get away quickly,
and tarry not

fix not thine eyes upon her: for she hath thrown down many wounded; yea,
innumerable multitudes have been slain by her."(3) "If not," says he,
"yet thou wilt repent at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are
consumed, and wilt say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart has
avoided the reproofs of the righteous!  I have not hearkened to the
voice of my instructor, nor inclined mine ear to my teacher.  I have
almost been in all evil."(4) But we will make no more quotations; and if
we have omitted any, be so prudent as to select the most valuable out of
the Holy Scriptures, and confirm yourselves with them, rejecting all
things that are evil, that so you may be found holy with God in eternal
life.

SEC. III.--COMMANDMENTS TO WOMEN.

CONCERNING THE SUBJECTION OF A WIFE TO HER HUSBAND, AND THAT SHE MUST BE
LOVING AND MODEST.

 VIII. Let the wife be obedient to her own proper husband, because "the
husband is the head of the wife."(5) But Christ is the head of that
husband who walks in the way of righteousness; and "the head of Christ
is God," even His Father.  Therefore, O wife, next after the Almighty,
our God and Father, the Lord of the present world and of the world to
come, the Maker of everything that breathes, and of every power; and
after His beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom(6) glory be
to God, do thou fear thy husband, and reverence him, pleasing him alone,
rendering thyself acceptable to him in the several affairs of life, that
so on thy account thy husband may be called blessed, according to the
Wisdom of Solomon, which thus speaks: "Who can find a virtuous woman?
for such a one is more precious than costly stones.  The heart of her
husband doth safely trust in her, so that she shall have no need of
spoil: for she does good to her husband all the days of her life.  She
buyeth wool and flax, and worketh profitable things-with her hands.  She
is like the merchants ships, she bringeth her food from far.  She riseth
also while it is yet night, and giveth" meat to her household, and food
to her maidens.  She considereth a field, and buyeth it; with the fruit
of her hands she planteth a vineyard.  She girdeth her loins with
strength, and strengtheneth her arms.  She tasteth that it is good to
labour; her lamp goeth not out all the whole night.  She stretcheth out
her arms for useful work, and layeth her hands to the spindle.  She
openeth her hands to the needy; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the
poor.  Her husband takes no care of the affairs of his house; for all
that are with her are clothed with double garments.  She maketh coats
for her husband, clothings of silk and purple.  Her husband is eminent
in the gates, when he sitteth with the elders of the land.  She maketh
fine linen, and selleth it to the Phoenicians, and girdles to the
Canaanites.  She is clothed with glory and beauty, and she rejoices in
the last days.  She openeth her mouth with wisdom and discretion, and
puts her words in order.  The ways of her household are strict; she
eateth not the bread of idleness.  She will open her mouth with wisdom
and caution, and upon her tongue are the laws of mercy.  Her children
arise up and praise her for her riches, and her husband joins in her
praises.  Many daughters have obtained wealth and done worthily, but
thou surpassest and excellest them all.  May lying flatteries and the
vain beauty of a wife be far from thee.  For a religious wife is
blessed.  Let her praise the fear of the Lord:(7) give her of the fruits
of her lips, and let her husband be praised in the gates."(8) And again:
"A virtuous wife is a crown to her husband."(9) And

395

again: "Many wives have built an house."(1) You have learned what great
commendations a prudent and loving wife receives from the Lord God.  If
thou desirest to be one of the faithful, and to please the Lord, O wife,
do not superadd ornaments to thy beauty, in order to please other men;
neither affect to wear fine broidering, garments, or shoes, to entice
those who are allured by such things.  For although thou dost not these
wicked things with design of sinning thyself, but only for the sake of
ornament and beauty, yet wilt thou not so escape future punishment, as
having compelled another to look so hard at thee as to lust after thee,
and as not having taken care both to avoid sin thyself, and the
affording scandal to others.  But if thou yield thyself up, and commit
the crime, thou art both guilty of thy own sin, and the cause of the
ruin of the other's soul also.  Besides, when thou hast committed
lewdness with one man, and beginnest to despair, thou wilt again turn
away from thy duty, and follow others, and grow past feeling; as says
the divine word: "When a wicked man comes into the depth of evil, he
becomes a scorner, and then disgrace and reproach come upon him."(2) For
such a woman afterward being wounded, ensnares without restraint the
souls of the foolish.  Let us learn, therefore, how the divine word,
triumphs over such women, saying: "I hated a woman who is a snare and
net to the heart of men worse than death; her hands are fetters."(3) And
in another passage: "As a jewel of gold in a swine's snout, so is beauty
in a wicked woman."(4) And again: "As a worm in wood, so does a wicked
woman destroy her husband."(5) And again: "It is better to dwell in the
corner of the house-top, than with a contentious and an angry woman."(6)
You, therefore, who are Christian women, do not imitate such as these.
But thou who designest to be faithful to thine own husband, take care to
please him alone.  And when thou art in the streets, cover thy head; for
by such a covering thou wilt avoid being viewed of idle persons.  Do not
paint thy face, which is God's workmanship; for there is no part of thee
which wants ornament, inasmuch as all things which God has made are very
good.  But the

lascivious additional adorning of what is already good is an affront to
the bounty of the Creator.  Look downward when thou walkest abroad,
veiling thyself as becomes women.

 THAT A WOMAN MUST NOT BATHE WITH MEN.

 IX. Avoid also that disorderly practice of bathing in the same place
with men; for many are the nets of the evil one.  And let not a
Christian woman bathe with an hermaphrodite; for if she is to veil her
face, and conceal it with modesty from strange men, how can she bear to
enter naked into the bath together with men?  But if the bath be
appropriated to women, let her bathe orderly, modestly, and moderately.
But let her not bathe without occasion, nor much, nor often, nor in the
middle of the day, nor, if possible, every day; and let the tenth hour
of the day be the set time for such seasonable bathing.  For it is
convenient that thou, who art a Christian woman, shouldst ever
constantly avoid a curiosity which has many eyes.

CONCERNING A CONTENTIOUS AND BRAWLING WOMAN.

 X. But as to a spirit of contention, be sure to curb it as to all men,
but principally as to thine husband; lest, if he be an unbeliever or an
heathen, he may have an occasion of scandal or of blaspheming God, and
thou be partaker of a woe from God.  For, says He, "Woe to him by whom
My name is blasphemed among the Gentiles;"(7) and lest, if thy husband
be a Christian, he be forced, from his knowledge of the Scriptures, to
say that which is written in the book of Wisdom: "It is better to dwell
in the wilderness, than with a contentious and an angry woman."(8) You
wives, therefore, demonstrate your piety by your modesty and meekness to
all without the Church, whether they be women or men, in order to their
conversion and improvement in the faith.  And since we have warned you,
and instructed you briefly, whom we do esteem our sisters, daughters,
and members, as being wise yourselves, persevere all your lives in an
unblameable course of life.  Seek to know such kind of learning whereby
you may arrive at the kingdom of our Lord, and please Him, and so rest
for ever and ever.  Amen.

396

CONSTITUTIONS OF THE HOLY APOSTLES

BOOK II.

OF BISHOPS, PRESBYTERS, AND DEACONS.

 SEC. I.--ON EXAMINING CANDIDATES FOR THE EPISCOPAL OFFICE.

 THAT A BISHOP MUST BE WELL INSTRUCTED AND EXPERIENCED IN THE WORD.

 I. BUT concerning bishops, we have heard from our Lord, that a pastor
who is to be ordained a bishop for the churches in every parish, must be
unblameable, unreprovable, free from all kinds o wickedness common among
men, not under fifty years of age; for such a one is in good part past
youthful disorders, and the slanders of the heathen, as well as the
reproaches which are sometimes cast upon many persons by some false
brethren, who do not consider the word of God in the Gospel: "Whosoever
speaketh an idle word shall give an account thereof to the Lord in the
day of judgment."(1) And again: "By thy words thou shalt be justified,
and by thy words thou shalt be condemned."(2) Let him therefore, if it
is possible, be well educated; but if he be unlettered, let him at any
rate be(3) skilful in the word, and of competent age.  But if in a small
parish one advanced in years is not to be found,(4) let some younger
person, who has a good report among his neighbours, and is esteemed by
them worthy of the office of a bishop,--who has carried himself from his
youth with meekness and regularity, like a much elder person,--after
examination, and a general good report, be ordained in peace.  For
Solomon at twelve years of age was king of Israel,(5) and Josiah at
eight years of age reigned righteously,(6) and in like manner Joash
governed the people at seven years of age.(7) Wherefore, although the
person be young, let him be meek, gentle, and

quiet.  For the Lord God says by Esaias: "Upon whom will I look, but
upon him who is humble and quiet, and always trembles at my words?"(8)
In like manner it is in the Gospel also: "Blessed are the meek: for they
shall inherit the earth."(9) Let him also be merciful; for again it is
said: "Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy."(10) Let
him also be a peacemaker; for again it is said: " Blessed sons of
God."(11) Let him also be one of a good conscience, purified from all
evil, and wickedness, and unrighteousness; for it is said again:
"Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God."(12)

WHAT OUGHT TO BE THE CHARACTERS OF A BISHOP AND OF THE REST? OF THE
CLERGY.

 II. Let him therefore be sober, prudent, decent, firm, stable, not
given to wine; no striker, but gentle; not a brawler, not covetous; "not
a novice, test, being puffed up with pride, be fall into condemnation,
and the snare of the devil: for every one that exalteth himself shall be
abused."(13) Such a one a bishop ought to be, who has been the "husband
of one wife,"(14) who also has herself had no other husband, "ruling
well his own house."(15) In this manner let examination be made when he
is to receive ordination, and to be placed in his bishopric, whether he
be grave, faithful, decent; whether he hath a grave and faithful-wife,
or has formerly had such a one; whether he hath educated his children
piously, and has "brought them up in the nurture and admonition of the
Lord;"(16) whether his domestics do fear and reverence

397

him, and are all obedient to him: for if those who are immediately about
him for worldly concerns are seditious and disobedient, how will others
not of his family, when they are under his management, become obedient
to him?

 IN WHAT THINGS A BISHOP IS TO BE EXAMINED BEFORE HE IS ORDAINED.

 III. Let examination also be made whether he be unblameable as to the
concerns of this life; for it is written: "Search diligently for all the
faults of him who is to be ordained for the priesthood."(1)

 SEC. II.--ON THE CHARACTER AND TEACHING OF THE BISHOP.

 On which account let him also be void of anger; for Wisdom says: "Anger
destroys even the prudent."(2) Let him also be merciful, of a generous
and loving temper; for our Lord says: "By this shall all men know that
ye are my disciples, if ye love one another."(3) Let him be also ready
to give, a lover of the widow and the stranger; ready to serve, and
minister, and attend; resolute in his duty; and let him know who is the
most worthy of his assistance.

THAT CHARITABLE DISTRIBUTIONS ARE NOT TO BE MADE TO EVERY WIDOW, BUT
THAT SOMETIMES A WOMAN WHO HAS A HUSBAND IS TO BE PREFERRED: AND THAT NO
DISTRIBUTIONS ARE TO BE MADE TO ANY ONE WHO IS GIVEN TO GLUTTONY,
DRUNKENNESS, AND IDLENESS.

 IV. For if there be a widow who is able to support herself, and another
woman who is not a widow, but is needy by reason of sickness, or the
bringing up many children, or infirmity of her hands, let him stretch
out his hand in charity rather to this latter.  But if any one be in
want by gluttony, drunkenness, or idleness, he does not deserve any
assistance, or to be esteemed a member of the Church of God.  For the
Scripture, speaking of such persons, says: "The slothful hideth his hand
in his bosom, and is not able to bring it to his mouth again."(4) And
again: "The sluggard folds up his hands, and eats his own flesh."(5)
"For every drunkard and whoremonger shall come to poverty, and every
drowsy person shall be clothed with tatters and rags."(6) And in another
passage: "If thou give thine eyes to drinking and cups, thou shalt
afterwards walk more naked than a pestle."(7) For certainly idleness is
the mother of famine.

THAT A BISHOP MUST BE NO ACCEPTER OF PERSONS IN JUDGMENT; THAT HE MUST
POSSESS A GENTLE DISPOSITION, AND BE TEMPERATE IN HIS MODE OF LIFE.

 V. A bishop must be no accepter of persons; neither revering nor
flattering a rich man contrary to what is right, nor overlooking nor
domineering over a poor man.  For, says God to Moses, "Thou shalt not
accept the person of the rich, nor shalt thou pity a poor man in his
cause: for the judgment is the Lord's."(8) And again: "Thou shalt with
exact justice follow that which is right"(9) Let a bishop be frugal, and
contented with a little in his meat and drink, that he may be ever in a
sober frame, and disposed to instruct and admonish the ignorant; and let
him not be costly in his diet, a pamperer of himself, given to pleasure,
or fond of delicacies.  Let him he patient and gentle in his
admonitions, well instructed himself, meditating in and diligently
studying the Lord's books, and reading them frequently, that so he may
be able carefully to interpret the Scriptures, expounding the Gospel in
correspondence with the prophets and with the law; and let the
expositions from the law and the prophets correspond to the Gospel.  For
the Lord Jesus says: "Search the Scriptures; for they are those which
testify of me."(10) And again: "For Moses wrote of 'me."(11) But, above
all, let him carefully distinguish between the original law and the
additional precepts, and show which are the laws for believers, and
which the bonds for the unbelievers, lest any should fall under those
bonds.  Be careful, therefore, O bishop, to study the word, that thou
mayest be able to explain everything exactly, and that thou mayest
copiously nourish thy people with much doctrine, and enlighten them with
the light of the law; for God says: "Enlighten yourselves with the light
of knowledge, while we have yet opportunity."(12)

THAT A BISHOP MUST NOT BE GIVEN TO FILTHY LUCRE, NOR BE A SURETY NOR AN
ADVOCATE.

 VI. Let not a bishop be given to filthy lucre, especially before the
Gentiles, rather suffering than offering injuries; not covetous, nor
rapacious; no purloiner; no admirer of the rich, nor hater of the poor;
no evil-speaker, nor false witness; not given to anger; no brawler; not
entangled with the affairs of this life; not a surety for any one, nor
an accuser in suits about money; not ambitious; not double-minded, nor
double-tongued; not ready to hearken to calumny or evil-speaking; not a
dissembler; not addicted to the heathen festivals; not given to vain

398

deceits; not eager after worldly things, nor a lover of money.  For all
these things are oppoSite to God, and pleasing to demons.  Let the
bishop earnestly give all these precepts in charge to the laity also,
persuading them to imitate his conduct.  For, says He, "Do ye make the
children of Israel pious."(1) Let him be prudent, humble, apt to
admonish with the instructions of the Lord, well-disposed, one who has
renounced all the wicked projects of this world, and all heathenish
lusts; let hint be orderly, sharp in observing the wicked, and taking
heed of them, but yet a friend to all; just, discerning; and whatsoever
qualities are commendable among men, let the bishop possess them in
himself.  For if the pastor be unblameable as to any wickedness, he will
compel his own disciples, and by his very mode of life press them to
become worthy imitators of his own actions.  As the prophet somewhere
says, "And it will be, as is the priest, so is the people;"(2) for our
Lord and Teacher Jesus Christ, the San(3) of God, began first to do, and
then to teach, as Luke somewhere.  "which Jesus began to do and to
teach."(3) says:(4) Wherefore he says: "Whosoever shall do and teach, he
shall be called great in the kingdom of God."(5) For you bishops are to
be guides and watchmen to the people, as you yourselves have Christ for
your guide and watchman.  Do you therefore become good guides and
watchmen to the people of God.  For the Lord says by Ezekiel, speaking
to every one of you: "Son of man, I have given thee for a watchman to
the house of Israel; and thou shalt hear the word from my mouth, and
shalt observe, and shalt declare it from me.  When t say unto the
wicked, Thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked
from his wickedness, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, and his
blood will I require at thine hand.  But if thou warn the wicked from
his way, that he may turn from it, and he does not turn from it, he
shall die in his iniquity, and thou hast delivered thy soul."(6) "In the
same manner, if the sword of war be approaching, and the people set a
watchman to watch, and he see the same approach, and does not forewarn
them, and the sword come and take one of them, he is taken away in his
iniquity; but his blood shall be required at the watchman's hand,
because he did not blow the trumpet.  But if he blew the trumpet, and he
who heard it would not take warning, and the sword come and take him
away, his blood shall be upon him, because he heard the trumpet and took
not warning.  But he who took warning has delivered his soul; and the
watchman, because he gave warning, shall surely live."(7) The sword here
is the judgment; the trumpet is the holy Gospel; the watchman is the
bishop, who is set in the Church, who is obliged by his preaching to
testify and vehemently to forewarn(3) concerning that judgment.  If ye
do not declare and testify this to the people, the sins of those who are
ignorant of it will be found upon you.  Wherefore do you warn and
reprove the uninstructed with boldness, teach the ignorant, confirm
those that understand, bring back those that go astray.  If we repeat
the very same things on the same occasions, brethren, we shall not do
amiss.  For by frequent hearing it is to be hoped that some will be made
ashamed, and at least do some good action, and avoid some wicked one.
For says God by the prophet: "Testify those things to them; perhaps they
will hear thy voice."(8) And again: "If perhaps they will hear, if
perhaps they will submit."(9) Moses also says to the people: "If hearing
thou wilt hear the Lord God, and do that which is good and fight in His
eyes."(10) And again:(3) "Hear, O Israel; the Lord our God is one
Lord."(11) And our Lord is often recorded in the Gospel to have said:
"He that hath ears to hear, let him hear."(12) And wise Solomon says:
"My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and reject not the laws of
thy mother."(13) And, indeed, to this day men have not heard; for while
they seem to have heard, they have not heard aright, as appears by their
having left the one and only true God, and their being drawn into
destructive and dangerous heresies, concerning which we shall speak
again afterwards.

SEC. III.--HOW THE BISHOP IS TO TREAT THE INNOCENT, THE GUILTY, AND THE
PENITENT.

 WHAT OUGHT TO BE THE CHARACTER OF THE INITIATED.

 VII. Beloved, be it known to you that those who are baptized into the
death of our Lord Jesus are obliged to go on no longer in sin; for as
those who are dead cannot work wickedness any longer, so those who are
dead with Christ cannot practise wickedness.  We do not therefore
believe, brethren, that any one who has received the washing of life
continues in the practice of the licentious acts of transgressors.  Now
he who sins after his baptism, unless he repent and forsake his sins,
shall be condemned to hell-fire.

399

 CONCERNING A PERSON FALSELY ACCUSED, OR A PERSON CONVICTED.

 VIII. But if any one be maliciously prosecuted by the heathen, because
he will not still go along with them to the same excess of riot, let him
know that such a one is blessed of God, according as our Lord says in
the Gospel: "Blessed are ye when men shall reproach you, or persecute
you, or say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for your reward is great in heaven."(1)
If, therefore, any one be slandered and falsely accused, such a one is
blessed; for the Scripture says, "A man that is a reprobate is not tried
by God."(2) But if any one be convicted as having done a wicked action,
such a one not only hurts himself, but occasions the whole body of the
Church and its doctrine to be blasphemed; as if we Christians did not
practise those things that we declare to be good and honest, and we
ourselves shall be reproached by the Lord, that "they say and do
not."(3) Wherefore the bishop must boldly reject such as these upon full
conviction, unless they change their course of life.

 THAT A BISHOP OUGHT NOT TO RECEIVE BRIBES.

 IX. For the bishop must not only himself give no offence, but must be
no respecter of persons; in meekness instructing those that offend.  But
if he himself has not a good conscience, and is a respecter of persons
for the sake of filthy lucre, and receiving of bribes, and spares the
open offender, and permits him to continue in the Church, he disregards
the voice of God and of our Lord, which says, "Thou shalt exactly
execute right judgment."(4) "Thou shalt not accept persons in judgment:
thou shalt not justify the ungodly."(5) "Thou shalt not receive gifts
against any one's life; for gifts do blind the eyes of the wise, and
pervert the words of the righteous."(6) And elsewhere He says: "Take
away from among yourselves that wicked person."(7) And Solomon says in
his Proverbs: "Cast out a pestilent fellow from the congregation, and
strife will go out along with him."(8)

THAT A BISHOP WHO BY WRONG JUDGMENT SPARES AN OFFENDER IS HIMSELF
GUILTY.

 x.  But he who does not consider these things, will, contrary to
justice, spare him who deserves punishment; as Saul spared Agag,(9) and
Eli(10) his sons, "who knew not the Lord."  Such a one profanes his own
dignity, and that Church of God which is in his parish.  Such a one is
esteemed unjust before God and holy men, as affording occasion of
scandal to many of the newly baptized, and to the catechumens; as also
to the youth of both sexes, to whom a woe belongs, add "a mill-stone
about his neck,"(11) and drowning, on account of his guilt.  For,
observing what a person their governor is, through his wickedness and
neglect of justice they will grow sceptical, and, indulging the same
disease, will be compelled to perish with him; as was the case of the
people joining with Jeroboam,(12) and those which were in the conspiracy
with Corah.(13) But if the offender sees that the bishop and deacons are
innocent and unblameable, and the flock pure, he will either not venture
to despise their authority, and to enter into the Church of God at all,
as one smitten by his own conscience: or if he values nothing, and
ventures to enter in, either he will be convicted immediately, as
Uzza(14) at the ark, when he touched it to support it; and as Achan,(15)
when he stole the accursed thing; and as Gehazi,(16) when he coveted the
money of Naaman, and so will be immediately punished: or else he will be
admonished by the pastor, and drawn to repentance.  For when he looks
round the whole Church one by one, and can spy no blemish, neither in
the bishop nor in the people who are under his care, he will be put to
confusion, and pricked at the heart, and in a peaceable manner will go
his way with shame and many tears, and the flock will remain pure.  He
will apply himself to God with tears, and will repent of his sins, and
have hope.  Nay, the whole flock, at the sight of his tears, will be
instructed, because a sinner avoids destruction by repentance.

 HOW A BISHOP OUGHT TO JUDGE OFFENDERS.

 XI. Upon this account, therefore, O bishop, endeavour to be pure in thy
actions, and to adorn thy place and dignity, which is that of one
sustaining the character of God among men, as being set over all men,
over priests, kings, rulers, fathers, children, teachers, and in general
over all those who are subject to thee: and so sit in the Church when
thou speakest, as having authority to judge offenders.  For to you, O
bishops, it is said: "Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound
in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in
heaven."(17)

400

INSTRUCTION AS TO HOW A BISHOP OUGHT TO BEHAVE HIMSELF TO THE PENITENT.

 XII. Do thou therefore, O bishop, judge with authority like God, yet
receive the penitent; for God is a God of mercy.  Rebuke those that sin,
admonish those that are not converted, exhort those that stand to
persevere in their goodness, receive the penitent; for the Lord God has
promised with an oath to afford remission to the penitent for what
things they have done amiss.  For He says by Ezekiel: "Speak unto them,
As I live, saith the Lord, I would not the death of a sinner, but that
the wicked turn from his evil way, and live.  Turn ye therefore front
your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?"(1) Here the
word(2) affords hope to sinners, that if they will repent they shall
have hope of salvation, lest otherwise out of despair they yield
themselves up to their transgressions; but that, having hope of
salvation, they may he converted, and may address to God with tears, on
account of their sins, and may repent from their hearts, and so appease
His displeasure towards them; so shall they receive a pardon from Him,
as from a merciful Father.

 THAT WE OUGHT TO BEWARE HOW WE MAKE TRIAL OF ANY SINFUL COURSE.

 XIII. Yet it is very necessary that those who are yet innocent should
continue so, and not make an experiment what sin is, that they may not
have occasion for trouble, sorrow, and those lamentations which are in
order to forgiveness.  For how dost thou know, O man, when thou sinnest,
whether thou shalt live any number of days in this present state, that
thou mayest have time to repent?  For the time of thy departure out of
this world is uncertain; and if thou diest in sin, there will remain no
repentance for thee; as God says by David, "In the grave who will
confess to Thee?"(3) It behoves us, therefore.  to be ready in the doing
of our duty, that so we may await our passage into another world without
sorrow.  Wherefore also the Divine Word exhorts, speaking to thee by the
wise Solomon,(2) "Prepare thy works against thy exit, and provide all
beforehand in the field,"(4) lest some of the things necessary to thy
journey be wanting; as the oil of piety was deficient in the five
foolish virgins(5) mentioned in the Gospel, when they, on account of
their having extinguished their lamps of divine knowledge, were shut out
of the bride-chamber.  Wherefore he who values the security of his soul
will take care to be out of danger, by keeping free from sin, that so he
may preserve the advantage of his former good works to himself.  Do
thou, therefore, so judge as executing judgment for God.  For, as the
Scripture says, "the judgment is the Lord's."(6) In the first place,
therefore, condemn the guilty person with authority; afterwards try to
bring him home with mercy and compassion, and readiness to receive him,
promising him salvation if he will change his course of life, and become
a penitent; and when he does repent, and has submitted to his
chastisement, receive him: remembering that our Lord has said, "There is
joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth."(7)

CONCERNING THOSE WHO AFFIRM THAT PENITENTS ARE NOT TO BE RECEIVED INTO
THE CHURCH. THAT A RIGHTEOUS PERSON, ALTHOUGH HE CONVERSE WITH A SINNER,
WILL NOT PERISH WITH HIM. THAT NO PERSON IS PUNISHED FOR ANOTHER, BUT
EVERY ONE MUST GIVE AN ACCOUNT OF HIMSELF. THAT WE MUST ASSIST THOSE WHO
ARE WEAK IN THE FAITH; AND THAT A BISHOP MUST NOT BE GOVERNED BY ANY
TURBULENT PERSON AMONG THE LAITY.

 XIV. But if thou refusest to receive him that repents, thou exposest
him to those who lie in wait to destroy, forgetting what David says:
"Deliver not my soul, which confesses to Thee, unto destroying
beasts."(8) Wherefore Jeremiah, when he is exhorting men to repentance,
says thus: "Shall not he that falleth arise?  or he that turneth away,
cannot he return?  Wherefore have my people gone back by a shameless
backsliding?  and they are hardened in their purpose.(9) Turn, ye
backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings."(10) Receive,
therefore, without any doubting, him that repents.  Be not hindered by
such unmerciful men, who say that we must not be defiled with such as
those, nor so much as speak to them: for such advice is from men that
are unacquainted with God and His providence, and are unreasonable
judges, and unmerciful brutes.  These men are ignorant that we ought to
avoid society with offenders, not in discourse, but in actions: for "the
righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of
the wicked shall be upon him."(11) And again: "If a land sinneth against
me by trespassing grievously, and I stretch out my hand upon it, and
break the staff of bread upon it, and send famine upon it, and destroy
man and beast therein: though these three men, Noah, Job, and Daniel,
were in the midst of it, they shall only save their own souls

401

by their righteousness, saith the Lord God."(1) The Scripture most
clearly shows that a righteous man that converses with a wicked man does
not perish with him.  For in the present world the righteous and the
wicked are mingled together in the common affairs of life, but not in
holy communion: and in this the friends and favourites of God are guilty
of no sin.  For they do but imitate "their Farther which is in heaven,
who maketh His sun to rise on the righteous and unrighteous, and sendeth
His rain on the evil and on the good;"(2) and the righteous man
undergoes no peril on this account.  For those who conquer and those who
are conquered are in the same place of running, but only those who have
bravely undergone the race are where the garland is bestowed; and "no
one is crowned, unless he strive lawfully."(3) For every one shall give
account of himself, and God will not destroy the righteous with the
wicked; for with Him it is a constant rule, that innocence is never
punished.  For neither did He drown Noah, nor burn up Lot, nor destroy
Rahab for company.  And if you desire to know how this matter was among
us, Judas was one of us, and took the like part of the ministry which we
had; and Simon the magician received the seal of the Lord.  Yet both the
one and the other proving wicked, the former hanged himself, and the
latter, as he flew in the air in a manner unnatural, was dashed against
the earth.  Moreover, Noah and his sons with him were in the ark; but
Ham, who alone was found wicked, received punishment in his son.(4) But
if fathers are not punished for their children, nor children for their
fathers, it is thence clear that neither will wives be punished for
their husbands, nor servants for their masters, nor one relation for
another, nor one friend for another, nor the righteous for the wicked.
But every one will be required an account of his own doing.  For neither
was punishment inflicted on Noah for the world, nor was Lot destroyed by
fire for the Sodomites, nor was Rahab slain for the inhabitants of
Jericho, nor lsrael for the Egyptians.  For not the dwelling together,
but the agreement in their sentiments, alone could condemn the righteous
with the wicked.  We ought not therefore to hearken to such persons who
call for death, and hate mankind, and love accusations, and under fair
pretences bring men to death.  For one man shall not die for another,
but "every one is held with the chains of his own sins."(5) And,
"behold, the man and his work is before his face."(6) Now

we ought to assist those who are with us,(7) and are in danger, and
fall, and, as far as lies in our power, to reduce them to sobriety by
our exhortations, and so save them from death.  For "the whole have no
need of the physician, but the sick;"(8) since "it is not pleasing in
the sight of your Father that one of these little ones should
perish."(9) For we ought not to establish the will of hard-hearted men,
but the will of the God and Father of the universe, which is revealed to
us by Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom be glory for ever.  Amen.

 For it is not equitable that thou, O bishop, who art the head, shouldst
submit to the tail, that is, to some seditious person among the laity,
to the destruction of another, but to God alone.  For it is thy
privilege to govern those under thee, but not to be governed by them.
For neither does a son, who is subject by the course of generation,
govern his father; nor a slave, who is subject by law, govern his
master; nor does a scholar govern his teacher, nor a soldier his king,
nor any of the laity his bishop.  For that there is no reason to suppose
that such as converse with the wicked, in order to their instruction in
the word, are defiled by or partake of their sins, Ezekiel, as it were
on purpose preventing the suspicions of ill-disposed persons, says thus:
"Why do you speak this proverb concerning the land of lsrael?  The
fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on
edge.  As I live, saith the Lord Coot, ye shall not henceforth have
occasion to use this proverb in Israel.  For all souls are mine, in like
manner as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine:
the soul that sinneth, it shall die.  But the man who is righteous, and
does judgment and justice" (and so the prophet reckons up the rest of
the virtues, and then adds for a conclusion, "Such a one is just"), "he
shall surely live, saith the Lord God.  And if he beget a son who is a
robber, a shedder of blood, and walks not in the way of his righteous
father" (and when the prophet had added what follows, he adds in the
conclusion), "he shall certainly not live: he has done all this
wickedness; he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon him.  Yet they
will ask thee, Why?  Does not the son bear the iniquity of the father;
or his righteousness, having exercised righteousness and mercy himself?
And thou shalt say unto them, The soul that sinneth, it shall die.  The
son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, and the father shall not
bear the iniquity of the son.  The righteousness of the righteous shall
be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon

402

him."(1) And a little after he says: "When the righteous turneth away
from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, all his righteousness,
by reason of all his wickedness which he has committed, shall not be
mentioned to him: in his iniquity which he hath committed, and in his
sin which he hath sinned, in them shall he die."  And a little after he
adds: "When the wicked turneth away from his wickedness which he hath
committed, and doth judgment and justice, he hath preserved his soul, he
hath turned away from all his ungodliness which he hath done; he shall
surely live, he shall not die."  And afterwards: "I will judge every one
of you according to his ways, O house of Israel, saith the Lord God."

THAT A PRIEST MUST NEITHER OVERLOOK OFFENCES, NOR BE RASH IN PUNISHING
THEM.

 XV. Observe, you who are our beloved sons, how merciful yet righteous
the Lord our God is; how gracious and kind to men; and yet most
certainly "He will not acquit the guilty:"(2) though He welcomes the
returning sinner, and revives him, leaving no room for suspicion to such
as wish to judge sternly and to reject offenders entirely, and to refuse
to vouchsafe to them exhortations which might bring them to repentance.
In contradiction to such, God by Isaiah says to the bishops: "Comfort
ye, comfort ye my people, ye priests: speak comfortably to Jerusalem."
It therefore behoves you, upon hearing those words of His, to encourage
those who have offended, and lead them to repentance, and afford them
hope, and not vainly to suppose that you shall be partakers of their
offences on account of such your love to them.  Receive the penitent
with alacrity, and rejoice over them, and with mercy and bowels of
compassion judge the sinners.  For if a person was walking by the side
of a river, and ready to stumble, and thou shouldest push him and thrust
him into the river, instead of offering him thy hand for his assistance,
thou wouldst be guilty of the murder of thy brother; whereas thou
oughtest rather to lend thy helping hand as he was ready to fall, lest
he perish without remedy, that both the people may take warning, and the
offender may not utterly perish.  It is thy duty, O bishop, neither to
overlook the sins of the people, nor to reject those who are penitent,
that thou mayst not unskilfully destroy the Lord's flock, or dishonour
His new name, which is imposed on His people, and thou thyself beest
reproached as those ancient pastors were, of whom God speaks thus to
Jeremiah: "Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard; they have

polluted my heritage."(3) And in another passage: "My anger is waxed hot
against the shepherds, and against the lambs shall I have
indignation."(4) And elsewhere: "Ye are the priests that dishonour my
name."(5)

 OF REPENTANCE, THE MANNER OF IT, AND RULES ABOUT IT.

 XVI. When thou seest the offender, with severity command him to be cast
out; and as he is going out, let the deacons also treat him with
severity, and then let them go and seek for him, and detain him out of
the Church; and when they come in, let them entreat thee for him.  For
our Saviour Himself entreated His Father for those who had sinned, as it
is written in the Gospel: "Father, forgive them; for they know not what
they do."(6) Then order the offender to come in; and if upon examination
thou findest that he is penitent, and fit to be received at all into the
Church when thou hast afflicted him his days of fasting, according to
the degree of his offence--as two, three, five, or seven weeks--so set
him at liberty, and speak such things to him as are fit to be said in
way of reproof, instruction, and exhortation to a sinner for his
reformation, that so he may continue privately in his humility, and pray
to God to be merciful to him, saying: "If Thou, O Lord, shouldest mark
iniquities, O Lord, who should stand?  For with Thee there is
propitiation."(7) Of this sort of declaration is that which is said in
the book of Genesis to Cain: "Thou hast sinned; be quiet;"(8) that is,
do not go on in sin.  For that a sinner ought to be ashamed for his own
sin, that oracle of God delivered to Moses concerning Miriam is a
sufficient proof, when he prayed that she might be forgiven.  For says
God to him: "If her father had spit in her face, should she not be
ashamed?  Let her be shut out of the camp seven days, and afterwards let
her come in again."(9) We therefore ought to do so with offenders, when
they profess their repentance,--namely, to separate them some
determinate time, according to the proportion of their offence, and
afterwards, like fathers to children, receive them again upon their
repentance.

THAT A BISHOP MUST BE UNBLAMEABLE, AND A PATTERN FOR THOSE WHO ARE UNDER
HIS CHARGE.

 XVII. But if the bishop himself be an offender, how will he be able any
longer to prosecute the

403

offence of another?  Or how will he be able to reprove another, either
he or his deacons, if by accepting of persons, or receiving of bribes,
they have not all a clear conscience?  For when the ruler asks, and the
judge receives, judgment is not brought to perfection; but when both are
"companions of thieves, and regardless of doing justice to the
widows,"(1) those who are under the bishop will not be able to support
and vindicate him: for they will say to him what is written in the
Gospel, "Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but
considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?"(2) Let the bishop,
therefore, with his deacons, dread to bear any such thing; that is, let
him give no occasion for it.  For an offender, when he sees any other
doing as bad as himself, will be encouraged to do the very same things;
and then the wicked one, taking occasion from a single instance, works
in others, which God forbid: and by that means the flock will be
destroyed.  For the greater number of offenders there are, the greater
is the mischief that is done by them: for sin which passes without
correction grows worse and worse, and spreads to others; since "a little
leaven infects the whole lump,"(3) and one thief spreads the abomination
over a whole nation and "dead flies spoil the whole pot of sweet
ointment;"(4) and "when a king hearkens to unrighteous counsel, all the
servants under him are wicked."(5) So one scabbed sheep, if not
separated from those that are whole, infects the rest with the same
distemper; and a man infected with the plague is to be avoided by all
men; and a mad dog is dangerous to every one that he touches.  If,
therefore, we neglect to separate the transgressor from the Church of
God, we shall make the "Lord's house a den of thieves."(6) For it is the
bishop's duty not to be silent in the case of offenders, but to rebuke
them, to exhort them, to beat them down, to afflict them with fastings,
that so he may strike a pious dread into the rest: for, as He says,
"make ye the children of Israel pious."(7) For the bishop must be one
who discourages sin by his exhortations, and sets a pattern of
righteousness, and proclaims those good things which are prepared by
God, and declares that wrath which will come at the day of judgment,
lest he contemn and neglect the plantation of God; and, on account of
his carelessness, hear that which is said in Hosea: "Why have ye held
your peace at impiety, and have reaped the fruit thereof?"(8)

THAT A BISHOP MUST TAKE CARE THAT HIS PEOPLE DO NOT SIN, CONSIDERING
THAT HE IS SET FOR A WATCHMAN AMONG THEM.

 XVIII. Let the bishop, therefore, extend his concern to all sorts of
people: to those who have not offended, that they may continue innocent;
to those who offend, that they may repent.  For to you does the Lord
speak thus: "Take heed that ye offend not one of these little ones."(9)
It is your duty also to give remission to the penitent.  For as soon as
ever one who has offended says, in the sincerity of his soul, "I have
sinned against the Lord," the Holy Spirit answers, "The Lord also hath
forgiven thy sin; be of good cheer, thou shalt not die."(10) Be
sensible, therefore, O bishop, of the dignity of thy place, that as thou
hast received the power of binding, so hast thou also that of loosing.
Having therefore the power of loosing, know thyself, and behave thyself
in this world as becomes thy place, being aware that thou hast a great
account to give.  "For to whom," as the Scripture says, "men have
entrusted much.  of him they will require the more."(11) For no one man
is free from sin, excepting Him that was made man for us; since it is
written: "No man is pure from filthiness; no, not though he be but one
day old."(12) Upon which account the lives and conduct of the ancient
holy men and patriarchs are described; not that we may reproach them
from our reading, but that we ourselves may repent, and have hope that
we also shall obtain forgiveness.  For their blemishes are to us both
security and admonition, because we hence learn, when we have offended,
that if we repent we shall have pardon.  For it is written: "Who can
boast that he has a clean heart?  and who dare affirm that he is pure
from sin?"(13) No man, therefore, is without sin.  Do thou therefore
labour to the utmost of thy power to be unblameable; and be solicitous
of l all the parts of thy flock, lest any one be scandalized on thy
account, and thereby perish.  For the layman is solicitous only for
himself, but thou for all, as having a greater burden, and carrying a
heavier load.  For it is written: "And the Lord said unto Moses, Thou
and Aaron shall bear the sins of the priesthood."(14) Since, therefore,
thou art to give an account of all, take care of all.  Preserve those
that are sound, admonish those that sin; and when thou hast afflicted
them with fasting, give them ease by remission; and when with tears the
offender begs readmission, receive him, and let the whole Church pray
for him; and when by imposition

404

of thy hand thou hast admitted him, give him leave to abide afterwards
in the flock.  But for the drowsy and the careless, do thou endeavour to
convert and confirm, and warn and cure them, as sensible how great a
reward thou shalt have for doing so, and how great danger thou wilt
incur if thou beest negligent therein.  For Ezekiel speaks thus to those
overseers who take no care of the people: "Woe unto the shepherds of
lsrael, for they have fed themselves; the shepherds feed not the sheep,
but themselves.  Ye eat the milk, and are clothed with the wool; ye slay
the strong, ye do not feed the sheep.  The weak have ye not
strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have
ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that
which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but,
violently ye chastised them with insult: and they, were scattered,
because there was no shepherd; and they became meat to all the beasts of
the forest."  And again: "The shepherds did not search for my sheep; and
the shepherds fed themselves, but they fed not my sheep."  And a little
after: "Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require my sheep
at their hands, and cause them to cease from feeding my sheep, neither
shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; and I will deliver my
sheep out of their hands, and they shall not be meat for them."  And he
also adds, speaking to the people: "Behold, I will judge between sheep
and sheep, and between rams and rams.  Seemed it a small thing unto you
to have eaten up the good pasture, and to have trodden down with your
feet the residue of your pasture, and that the sheep have eaten what was
trodden down with your feet?"  And a little after He adds: "And ye shall
know that I am the Lord, and you the sheep of my pasture; ye are my men,
and I am your God, saith the Lord God."(1)

THAT A SHEPHERD WHO IS CARELESS OF HIS SHEEP WILL BE CONDEMNED, AND THAT
A SHEEP WHICH WILL NOT BE LED BY THE SHEPHERD IS TO BE PUNISHED.

 XIX. Hear, O ye bishops; and hear, O ye of; the laity, how God speaks:
"I will judge between ram and ram, and between sheep and sheep."  And He
says to the shepherds: "Ye shall be judged for your unskilfulness, and
for destroying the sheep."  That is, I will judge between one bishop and
another, and between one lay person and another, and between one ruler
and another (for these sheep and these rams are not irrational, but
rational creatures): lest at any time a lay person should say, I am a
sheep and not a shepherd, and I am not concerned for myself; let the
shepherd look to that, for he alone will be required to give an account
for me.  For as that sheep that will not follow its good shepherd is
exposed to the wolves, to its destruction; so that which follows a bad
shepherd is also exposed to unavoidable death, since his shepherd will
devour him.  Wherefore care must be had to avoid destructive shepherds.

 HOW THE GOVERNED ARE TO OBEY THE BISHOPS WHO ARE SET OVER THEM.

 XX. As to a good shepherd, let the lay person honour him, love him,
reverence him as his lord, as his master, as the high priest of God, as
a teacher of piety.  For he that heareth him, heareth Christ; and he
that rejecteth him, rejecteth Christ; and he who does not receive
Christ, does not receive His God and Father: for, says He, "He that
heareth you, heareth me; and he that rejecteth you, rejecteth me; and he
that rejecteth me, rejecteth Him that sent me."(2) In like manner, let
the bishop love the laity as his children, fostering and cherishing them
with affectionate diligence; as eggs, in order to the hatching of young
ones; or as young ones, taking them in his arms, to the rearing them
into birds: admonishing all men; reproving all who stand in need of
reproof; reproving, that is, but not striking; beating them down to make
them ashamed, but not overthrowing them; warning them in order to their
conversion: chiding them in order to their reformation and better course
of life; watching the strong, that is, keeping him firm in the faith who
is already strong; feeding the people peaceably; strengthening the weak,
that is, confirming with exhortation that which is tempted; healing that
which is sick, that is, curing by instruction that which is weak in the
faith through doubtfulness of mind; binding up that which is broken,
that is, binding up by comfortable admonitions that which is gone
astray, or wounded, bruised, or broken by their sins, and put out of the
way; leasing it of its offences, and giving hope: by this means restore
it in strength to the Church, bringing it back into the flock.  Bring
again that which is driven away, that is, do not permit that which is in
its sins, and is cast out by way of punishment, to continue excluded;
but receiving it, and bringing it back, restore it to the flock, that
is, to the people of the undefiled Church.  Seek for that which is lost,
that is, do not suffer that which desponds of its salvation, by reason
of the multitude of its offences, utterly to perish.  Do thou search for
that which is grown sleepy, drowsy, and sluggish, and that which is
unmindful of its own life, through the depth of its sleep, and which is
at a great dis-

405

tance from its own flock, so as to be in danger of falling among the
wolves, and being devoured by them.  Bring it back by admonition, exhort
it to be watchful; and insinuate hope, not permitting it to say that
which was said by some: "Our impieties are upon us, and we pine away in
them; how shall we then live?"(1) As far as possible, therefore, let the
bishop make the offence his own, and say to the sinner, Do thou but
return, and I will undertake to suffer death for thee, as our Lord
suffered death for me, and for all men.  For "the good shepherd lays
down his life for the sheep; but he that is an hireling, and not the
shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, that is,
the devil, and he leaveth the sheep, and fleeth, and the wolf seizes
upon them."(1) We must know, therefore, that God is very merciful to
those who have offended, and hath promised repentance with an oath.  But
he who has offended, and is unacquainted with this promise of God
concerning repentance, and does not understand His long-suffering and
forbearance, and besides is ignorant of the Holy Scriptures, which
proclaim repentance, inasmuch as he has never learned them from you,
perishes through his folly.  But do thou, like a compassionate shepherd,
and a diligent feeder of the flock, search out, and keep an account of
thy flock.  Seek that which is wanting;(3) as the Lord God our gracious
Father has sent His own Son, the good Shepherd and Saviour, our Master
Jesus, and has commanded Him to "leave the ninety-nine upon the
mountains, and to go in search after that which was lost, and when He
had found it, to take it upon His shoulders, and to carry it into the
flock, rejoicing that He had found that which was lost."(4) In like
manner, be obedient, O bishop, and do thou seek that which was lost,
guide that which has wandered out of the right way, bring back that
which is gone astray: for thou hast authority to bring them back, and to
deliver those that are broken-hearted by remission.  For by thee does
our Saviour say to him who is discouraged under the sense of his sins,
"Thy sins are forgiven thee: thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace."(5)
But this peace and haven of tranquillity is the Church of Christ, into
which do thou, when thou hast loosed them from their sins, restore them,
as being now sound and unblameable, of good hope, diligent, laborious in
good works.  As a skilful and compassionate physician, heal all such as
have wandered in the ways of sin; for "they that are whole have no need
of a physician, but they that are sick.  For the Son of man came to save
and to seek

that which was lost."(6) Since thou art therefore a physician of the
Lord's Church, provide remedies suitable to every patient's case.  Cure
them, heal them by all means possible; restore them sound to the Church.
Feed the flock, "not with insolence and contempt, as lording it over
them,"(7) but as a gentle shepherd, "gathering the lambs into thy bosom,
and gently leading those which are with young."(8)

THAT IT IS A DANGEROUS THING TO JUDGE WITHOUT HEARING BOTH SIDES, OR TO
DETERMINE OF PUNISHMENT AGAINST A PERSON BEFORE HE IS CONVICTED.

 XXI. Be gentle, gracious, mild, without guile, without falsehood; not
rigid, not insolent, not severe, not arrogant, not unmerciful, not
puffed up, not a man-pleaser, not timorous, not double-minded, not one
that insults over the people that are under thee, not one that conceals
the divine laws and the promises to repentance, not hasty in thrusting
out and expelling, but steady, not one that delights in severity, not
heady.  Do not admit less evidence to convict any one than that of three
witnesses, and those of known and established reputation; inquire
whether they do not accuse out of ill-will or envy: for there are many
that delight in mischief, forward in discourse, slanderous, haters of
the brethren, making it their business to scatter the sheep of Christ;
whose affirmation if thou admittest without nice scanning the same, thou
wilt disperse thy flock, and betray it to be devoured by wolves, that
is, by demons and wicked men, or rather not men, but wild beasts in the
shape of men--by the heathen, by the Jews, and by the atheistic
heretics.  For those destroying wolves soon address themselves to any
one that is cast out of the Church, and esteem him as a lamb delivered
for them to devour, reckoning his destruction their own gain.  For he
that is "their father, the devil, is a murderer."(9) He also who is
separated unjustly by thy want of care in judging will be overwhelmed
with sorrow, and be disconsolate, and so will either wander over to the
heathen, or be entangled in heresies, and so will be altogether
estranged from the Church and from hope in God, and will be entangled in
impiety, whereby thou wilt be guilty of his perdition: for it is not
fair to be too hasty in casting out an offender, but slow in receiving
him when he returns; to be forward in cutting off, but unmerciful when
he is sorrowful, and ought to be healed.  For of such as these speaks
the divine Scripture: "Their feet run to mischief; they are hasty to
shed blood.  Destruction and misery are in their

406

ways, and the way of peace have they not known.  The fear of God is not
before their eyes."(1) Now the way of peace is our Saviour Jesus Christ,
who has taught us, saying: "Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven.  Give,
and it shall be given to you;"(2) that is, give remission of sins, and
your offences shall be forgiven you.  As also He instructed us by His
prayer to say unto God: "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our
debtors."(3) If, therefore, you do not forgive offenders, how can you
expect the remission of your own sins?  Do not you rather bind
yourselves faster, by pretending in your prayers to forgive, when you
really do not forgive?  Will you not be confronted with your own words,
when you say you forgive and do not forgive?  For know ye, that he who
casts out one who has not behaved himself wickedly, or who will not
receive him that returns, is a murderer of his brother, and sheds his
blood, as Cain did that of his brother Abel, and his "blood cries to
God,"(4) and will be required.  For a righteous man unjustly slain by
any one will be in rest with God for ever.  The same is the case of him
who without cause is separated by his bishop.  He who has cast him out
as a pestilent fellow when he was innocent, is more furious than a
murderer.  Such a one has no regard to the mercy of God, nor is mindful
of His goodness to those that are penitent, nor keeping in his eye the
examples of those who, having been once great offenders, received
forgiveness upon their repentance.  Upon which account, he who casts off
an innocent person is more cruel than he that murders the body.  In like
manner, he who does not receive the penitent, scatters the flock of
Christ, being really against Him.  For as God is just in judging of
sinners, so is He merciful in receiving them when they return.  For
David, the man after God's own heart, in his hymns ascribes both mercy
and judgment to Him.

THAT DAVID, THE NINEVITES, HEZEKIAH, AND HIS SON MANASSEH, ARE EMINENT
EXAMPLES OF REPENTANCE,THE PRAYER OF MANASSEH KING OF JUDAH.

 XXII. It is also thy duty, O bishop, to have before thine eyes the
examples of those that have gone before, and to apply them skilfully to
the cases of those who want words of severity or of consolation.
Besides, it is reasonable that in thy administration of justice thou
shouldest follow the will of God; and as God deals with sinners, and
with those who return, that thou shouldest act accordingly in thy
judging.  Now, did not God by Nathan reproach David for his

offence?  And yet as soon as he said he repented, He delivered him from
death, saying, "Be of good cheer; thou shalt not die."(5) So also, when
God had caused Jonah(6) to be swallowed up by the sea and the whale,
upon his refusal to preach to the Ninerites, when yet he prayed to Him
out of the belly of the whale, He retrieved his life from corruption.
And when Hezekiah had been puffed up for a while, yet, as soon as he
prayed with lamentation, He remitted his offence.  But, O ye bishops,
hearken to an instance useful upon this occasion.  For it is written
thus in the fourth book of Kings and the second book of Chronicles: "And
Hezekiah died; and Manasseh his son reigned.  He was twelve years old
when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty and five years in
Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Hephzibah.  And he did evil in the
sight of the Lord: he did not abstain from the abominations of the
heathen, whom the Lord destroyed from the face of the children of
Israel.  And Manasseh returned and built the high places which Hezekiah
his father had overthrown; and he reared pillars for Baal, and set up an
altar for Baal, and made groves, as did Ahab king of Israel.  And he
made altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord spake to David
and to Solomon his son, saying, Therein will I put my name.  And Manas-
seh set up altars, and by them served Baal, and said, My name shall
continue for ever.(7) And he built altars to the host of heaven m the
two courts of the house of the Lord; and he made his children pass
through the fire in a place named Ge Benennom;(8) and he consulted
enchanters, and dealt with wizards and familiar spirits, and with
conjurers and observers of times, and with teraphim.  And he sinned
exceedingly in the eyes of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger.  And he
set a molten and a graven image, the image of his grove, which he made
in the house of the Lord, wherein the Lord had chosen to put His name in
Jerusalem, the holy city, for ever, and had said, I will no more remove
my foot from the land of Israel, which I gave to their fathers; only if
they will observe to do according to all that I have commanded them, and
according to all the precepts that my servant Moses commanded them.  And
they hearkened not.  And Manasseh seduced them to do more evil before
the Lord than did the nations whom the Lord cast out from the face of
the children of Israel.  And the Lord spake concerning Manasseh and
concerning His people by the hand of His servants the prophets, saying,
Because Manasseh king of Judah

407

has done all these wicked abominations in a higher degree than the
Amorite did which was before him, and hath made Judah to sin with his
idols, thus saith the Lord God of lsrael, Behold, I bring evils upon
Jerusalem and Judah, that whosoever heareth of them, both his ears shall
tingle.  And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the
plummet of the house of Ahab; and I will blot out Jerusalem as a table-
book is blotted out by wiping it.  And I will turn it upside down; and I
will give up the remnant of my inheritance, and will deliver them into
the hands of their enemies, and they shall become a prey and a spoil to
all their enemies, because of all the evils which they have done in mine
eyes, and have provoked me to anger from the day that I brought their
fathers out of the land of Egypt even until this day.  Moreover,
Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem
from one end to another, beside his sins wherewith he made Judah to sin
in doing evil in the sight of the Lord.  And the Lord brought upon him
the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, and they caught
Manasseh in bonds, and they bound him in fetters of brass, and brought
him to Babylon; and he was bound and shackled with iron all over in the
house of the prison.  And bread made of bran was given unto him
scantily, and by weight, and water mixed with vinegar but a little and
by measure, so much as would keep him alive; and he was in straits and
sore affliction.  And when he was violently afflicted, he besought the
face of the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the face of
the Lord God of his fathers.  And he prayed unto the Lord, saying, O
Lord, almighty God of our fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and of
their righteous seed, who hast made heaven and earth, with all the
ornament thereof, who hast bound the sea by the word of Thy commandment,
who hast shut up the deep, and sealed it by Thy terrible and glorious
name, whom all men fear and tremble before Thy power; for the majesty of
Thy glory cannot be borne, and Thine angry threatening towards sinners
is insupportable.  But Thy merciful promise is unmeasurable and
unsearchable; for Thou art the most high Lord,(1) of great compassion,
long-suffering, very merciful, and repentest of the evils of men.  Thou,
O Lord, according to Thy great goodness, hast promised repentance and
forgiveness to them that have sinned against Thee, and of Thine infinite
mercy hast appointed repentance unto sinners, that they may be saved.
Thou therefore, O Lord, that art the God of the just, has not appointed
repentance to the just as to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, which have not
sinned against Thee; but Thou hast appointed repentance unto me that am
a sinner: for I have sinned above the number of the sands of the sea.
My transgressions, O Lord, are multiplied; my transgressions are
multiplied, and I am not worthy to behold and see the height of heaven
for the multitude of mine iniquity.  I am bowed down with many iron
bands; for I have provoked Thy wrath, and done evil before Thee, setting
up abominations, and multiplying offences.  Now, therefore, I bow the
knee of mine heart, beseeching Thee of grace.  I have sinned, O Lord, I
have sinned, and I acknowledge mine iniquities; wherefore I humbly
beseech Thee, forgive me, O Lord, forgive me, and destroy me not with
mine iniquities.  Be not angry with me for ever, by reserving evil for
me; neither condemn me into the lower part of the earth.  For Thou art
the God, even the God of them that repent, and in me Thou wilt show Thy
goodness; for Thou wilt save me that am unworthy, according to Thy great
mercy.  Therefore I will praise Thee for ever all the days of my life;
for all the powers of the heavens do praise Thee, and Thine is the glory
for ever and ever.  Amen.  And the Lord heard his voice, and had
compassion upon him.  And there appeared a flame of fire about him, and
all the iron shackles and chains which were about him fell off; and the
Lord healed Manasseh from his affliction, and brought him back to
Jerusalem unto his kingdom: and Manasseh knew that the Lord He is God
alone.  And he worshipped the Lord God alone with all his heart, and
with all his soul, all the days of his life; and he was esteemed
righteous.  And he took away the strange gods and the graven image out
of the house of the Lord, and all the altars which he had built in the
house of the Lord, and all the altars in Jerusalem, and he cast them out
of the city.  And he repaired the altar of the Lord, and sacrificed
thereon peace-offerings and thank-offerings.  And Manasseh spake to
Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel.  And he slept in peace with his
fathers; and Amon his son reigned in his stead.  And he did evil in the
sight of the Lord according to all things that Manasseh his father had
done in the former part of his reign.  And he provoked the Lord his God
to anger."(2)

 Ye have heard, our beloved children, how the Lord God for a while
punished him that was addicted to idols, and had slain many innocent
persons; and yet that He received him when he repented, and forgave him
his offences, and restored him to his kingdom.  For He not only forgives
the penitent, but reinstates them in their former dignity.

408

AMON MAYBE AN EXAMPLE TO SUCH AS SIN WITH AN HIGH HAND.

 XXIII. There is no sin more grievous than idolatry, for it is an
impiety against God: and yet even this sin has been forgiven, upon
sincere repentance.  But if any one sin in direct opposition, and on
purpose to try whether God will punish the wicked or not, such a one
shall have no remission, although he say with himself, "All is well, and
I will walk according to the conversation of my evil heart."  Such a one
was Amon the son of Manasseh.  For the Scripture says: "And Amon
reasoned an evil reasoning of transgression, and said, My father from
his childhood was a great transgressor, and repented in his old age; and
now I will walk as my soul lusteth, and afterwards I will return unto
the Lord.  And he did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were
before him.  And the Lord God soon destroyed him utterly from His good
land.  And his servants conspired against him, and slew him in his own
house, and he reigned two years only."

THAT CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD CAME TO SAVE

SINNERS BY REPENTANCE.

 XXIV. Take heed, therefore, ye of the laity, lest any one of you fix
the reasoning of Amon in his heart, and be suddenly cut off, and perish.
In the same manner, let the bishop take all the care he can that those
which are vet innocent may not fall into sin; and let him heal and
receive those which turn from their sins.  But if he is pitiless, and
will not receive the repenting sinner, he will sin against the Lord his
God, pretending to be more just than God's justice, and not receiving
him whom He has received, through Christ; for whose sake He sent His Son
upon earth to men, as a man; for whose sake God was pleased that He, who
was the Maker of man and woman, should be born of a woman; for whose
sake He did not spare Him from the cross, from death, and burial, but
permitted Him to die, who by nature could not suffer, His beloved Son,
God the Word, the Angel of His great council, that he might deliver
those from death who were obnoxious to death.  Him do those provoke to
anger who do not receive the penitent.  For He was not ashamed of me,
Matthew, who had been formerly a publican; and admitted of Peter, when
he had through fear denied Him three times, but had appeased Him by
repentance, and had wept bitterly; nay, He made him a shepherd to His
own lambs.  Moreover, He ordained Paul, our fellow-apostle, to be of a
persecutor an apostle, and declared him a chosen vessel, even when he
had heaped many mischiefs upon us before, and had blasphemed His sacred
name.  He says also to another, a woman that was a sinner: "Thy sins,
which are many, are forgiven, for thou lovest much."(1) And when the
elders had set another woman which had sinned before Him, and had left
the sentence to Him, and were gone out, our Lord, the Searcher of the
hearts, inquiring of her whether the elders had condemned her, and being
answered No, He said unto her: "Go thy way therefore, for neither do I
condemn thee."(2) This Jesus, O ye bishops, our Saviour, our King, and
our God, ought to be set before you as your pattern; and Him you ought
to imitate, in being meek, quiet, compassionate, merciful, peaceable,
without passion, apt to teach, and diligent to convert, willing to
receive and to comfort; no strikers, not soon angry, not injurious, not
arrogant, not supercilious, not wine-bibbers, not drunkards, not vainly
expensive, not lovers of delicacies, not extravagant, using the gifts of
God not as another's, but as their own, as good stewards appointed over
them, as those who will be required by God to give an account of the
same.

SEC. IV.--ON THE MANAGEMENT OF THE RESOURCES COLLECTED FOR THE SUPPORT
OF THE CLERGY, AND THE RELIEF OF THE POOR.

 Let the bishop esteem such food and raiment sufficient as suits
necessity and decency.  Let him not make use of the Lord's goods as
another's, but moderately; "for the labourer is worthy of his
reward."(3) Let him not be luxurious in diet, or fond of idle furniture,
but contented with so much alone as is necessary for his sustenance.

OF FIRST-FRUITS AND TITHES, AND AFTER WHAT MANNER THE BISHOP IS HIMSELF
TO PARTAKE OF THEM, OR TO DISTRIBUTE THEM TO OTHERS.

 XXV. Let him use those tenths and first-fruits, which are given
according to the command of God, as a man of God; as also let him
dispense in a right manner the free-will offerings which are brought in
on account of the poor, to the orphans, the widows, the afflicted, and
strangers in distress, as having that God for the examiner of his
accounts who has committed the disposition to him.  Distribute to all
those in want with righteousness, and yourselves use the things which
belong to the Lord, but do not abuse them; eating of them, but not
eating them all up by yourselves: communicate with those that are in
want, and thereby show yourselves unblameable before God.  For if you
shall consume them by yourselves, you will be reproached by God, who
says to such unsatiable people, who

409

alone devour all, "Ye eat up the milk, and clothe yourselves with the
wool;"(1) and in another passage, "Must you alone live upon the earth

Upon which account you are commanded in the law, "Thou shalt love thy
neighbour as thyself."  Now we say these things, not as if you might not
partake of the fruits of your labours; for it is written, "Thou shalt
not muzzle the mouth of the ox which treadeth out the corn;"(4) but that
you should do it with moderation and righteousness.  As, therefore, the
ox that labours in the threshing-floor without a muzzle eats indeed, but
does not eat all up; so do you who labour in the threshing-floor, that
is, in the Church eat of the Church: which was also the case of the
Levites, who served in the tabernacle of the testimony, which was in all
things a type of the Church.  Nay, further, its very name implied that
that tabernacle was fore-appointed for a testimony of the Church.  Here,
therefore, the Levites also, who attended upon the tabernacle partook of
those things that were offered to God by all the people,--namely, gifts,
offerings, and first-fruits, and tithes, and sacrifices, and oblations,
without disturbance, they and their wives, and their sons and their
daughters.  Since their employment was the ministration to the
tabernacle, therefore they had not any lot or inheritance in the land
among the children of lsrael, because the oblations of the people were
the lot of Levi, and the inheritance of their tribe.  You, therefore, O
bishops, are to your people priests and Levites, ministering to the holy
tabernacle, the holy Catholic Church; who stand at the altar of the Lord
your God, and offer to Him reasonable and unbloody sacrifices through
Jesus the great High Priest.  You are to the laity prophets, rulers,
governors, and kings; the mediators between God and His faithful people,
who receive and declare His word, well acquainted with the Scriptures.
Ye are the voice of and witnesses of His will, who bear the sins of all,
and intercede for all; whom, as you have heard, the word severely
threatens if you hide the key of knowledge from men, who are liable to
perdition if you do not declare His will to the people that are under
you; who shall have a certain reward from God, and unspeakable honour
and glory, if you duly minister to the holy tabernacle.  For as yours is
the burden, so you receive as your fruit the supply of food and other.
necessaries.  For you imitate Christ the Lord; and as He "bare the sins
of us all upon the tree" at His crucifixion, the innocent for those who
deserved punishment, so also you ought to make the sins of the people
your own.  For concerning our Saviour it is said in Isaiah, "He bears
our sins, and is afflicted for us."(5) And again: "He bare the sins of
many, and was delivered for our offences."(6) As, therefore, you are
patterns for others, so have you Christ for your pattern.  As,
therefore, He is concerned for all, so be you for the laity under you.
For do not thou imagine that the office of a bishop is an easy or light
burden.  As, therefore, you bear the weight, so have you a right to
partake of the fruits before others, and to impart to those that are in
want, as being to give an account to Him, who without bias will examine
your accounts.  For those who attend upon the Church ought to be
maintained by the Church, as being priests, Levites, presidents, and
ministers of God; as it is written in the book of Numbers concerning the
priests: "And the Lord said unto Aaron, Thou, and thy sons, and the
house of thy family, shall bear the iniquities of the holy things of
priesthood."(7) "Behold, I have given unto you the charge of the first-
fruits, from all that are sanctified to me by the children of lsrael; I
have given them for a reward to thee, and to thy sons after thee, by an
ordinance for ever.  This shall be yours out of the holy things, out of
the oblations, and out of the gifts, and out of all the sacrifices, and
out of every trespass-offering, and sin-offerings; and all that they
render unto me out of all their holy things, they shall belong to thee,
and to thy sons: in the sanctuary shall they eat them."(8) And a little
after: "All the first-fruits of the oil, and of the wine, and of the
wheat, all which they shall give unto the Lord, to thee have I given
them; and all that is first ripe, to thee have I given it, and every
devoted thing.  Every first-born of man and of beast, clean and unclean,
and of sacrifice, with the breast, and the right shoulder, all these
appertain to the priests, and to the rest of those belonging to them,
even to the Levites."(9)

 Hear this, you of the laity also, the elect Church of God.  For the
people were formerly called "the people of God,"(10) and "an holy
nation."(11) You, therefore, are the holy and sacred "Church of God,
enrolled in heaven, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar
people,"(12) a bride adorned for the Lord God, a great Church, a
faithful Church.  Hear attentively now what was said formerly: oblations
and tithes belong to Christ our High Priest, and to those who minister
to Him.  Tenths of salvation are the first letter of the name of Jesus.
Hear, O thou Holy Catholic Church, who hast escaped the ten plagues, and
hast received the ten com-

410

mandments, and hast learned the law, and hast kept the faith, and hast
believed in Jesus, and hast known the decad, and hast believed in the
iota which is the first letter of the name of Jesus,(1) and art named
after His name, and art established, and shinest in the consummation of
His glory.  Those which were then the sacrifices now are prayers, and
intercessions, and thanksgivings.  Those which were then first-fruits,
and tithes, and offerings, and gifts, now are oblations, which are
presented by holy bishops to the Lord God, through Jesus Christ, who has
died for them.  For these are your high priests, as the presbyters are
your priests, and your present deacons instead of your Levites; as are
also your readers, your singers, your porters, your deaconesses, your
widows, your virgins, and your orphans: but He who is above all these is
the High Priest.

ACCORDING TO WHAT PATTERNS AND DIGNITY EVERY ORDER OF THE CLERGY IS
APPOINTED BY GOD.

 XXVI. The bishop, he is the minister of the word, the keeper of
knowledge, the medieator between God trod you in the several parts of
your divine worship.  He is the teacher of piety; and, next after God,
he is your father, who has begotten you again to the adoption of sons by
water and the Spirit.  He is your ruler and governor; he is your king
and potentate; he is, next after God, your earthly god, who has a right
to be honoured by you.  For concerning him, arid such as he, it is that
God pronounces, "I have said, Ye are gods; and ye are all children of
the Most High."(2) And, "Ye shall not speak evil of the gods."(3) For
let the bishop preside over you as one honoured with the authority of
God, which he is to exercise over the clergy, and by which he is to
govern all the people.  But let the deacon minister to him, as Christ
does to His Father;(4) and let him serve him unblameably in all things,
as Christ does nothing of Himself, but does always those things that
please His Father.  Let also the deaconess be honoured by you in the
place of the Holy Ghost, and not do or say anything without the deacon;
as neither does the Comforter say or do anything of Himself, but gives
glory to Christ by waiting for His pleasure.  And as we cannot believe
on Christ without the teaching of the Spirit, so let not any woman
address herself to the deacon or bishop without the deaconess.  Let the
presbyters be esteemed by you to represent us the apostles, and let them
be the teachers of divine knowledge; since our Lord, when He sent us,
said, "Go ye, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them
to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you."(5) Let the
widows and orphans be esteemed as representing the altar of burnt-
offering; and let the virgins be honoured as representing the altar of
incense, and the incense itself.

THAT IT IS A HORRIBLE THING FOR A MAN TO THRUST HIMSELF INTO ANY
SACERDOTAL OFFICE, AS DID CORAH AND HIS COMPANY, SAUL AND UZZIAH.

 XXVII. As, therefore, it was not lawful for one of another tribe, that
was not a Levite, to offer anything, or to approach the altar without
the priest, so also do you do nothing without the bishop;(6) for if any
one does anything without the bishop, he does it to no purpose.  For it
will not be esteemed as of any avail to him.  For as Saul, when he had
offered without Samuel, was told, "It will not avail for thee;"(7) so
every person among the laity, doing anything without the priest, labours
in vain.  And as Uzziah the king,(8) who was not a priest, and yet would
exercise the functions of the priests, was smitten with leprosy for his
transgression; so every lay person shall not be unpunished who despises
God, and is so mad as to affront His priests, and unjustly to snatch
that honour to himself: not imitating Christ, "who glorified not Himself
to be made an high priest;"(9) but waited till He heard from His Father,
"The Lord sware, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever, after
the order of Melchizedek."(10) If, therefore, Christ did not glorify
Himself without the Father, how dare any man thrust himself into the
priesthood who has not received that dignity from his superior, and do
such things which it is lawful only for the priests to do?  Were not the
followers of Corah, even though they were of the tribe of Levi, consumed
with fire, because they rose up against Moses and Aaron, and meddled
with such things as did not belong to them?  And Dathan and Abiram went
down quick into hell; and the rod that budded put a stop to the
readiness of the multitude, and demonstrated who was the high priest
ordained by God.(11) You ought therefore, brethren, to bring your
sacrifices and your oblations to the bishop, as to your high priest,
either by yourselves or by the deacons; and do you bring not those only,
but also your first-fruits, and your tithes, and your free-will
offerings to him.  For he knows who they are that are in affliction, and
gives to every one as is convenient,

411

that so one may not receive alms twice or oftener the same day, or the
same week, while another has nothing at all.  For it is reasonable
rather to supply the wants of those who really are in distress, than of
those who only appear to be so.

OF AN ENTERTAINMENT, AND AFTER WHAT MANNER EACH DISTINCT ORDER OF THE
CLERGY IS TO BE TREATED BY THOSE WHO INVITE THEM TO IT.

 XXVIII. If any determine to invite eider women to an entertainment of
love, or a feast, as our Saviour calls it,(1) let them most frequently
send to such a one whom the deacons know to be in distress.  But let
what is the pastor's due, I mean the first-fruits,(2) be set apart in
the feast for him, even though he be not at the entertainment, as being
your priest, and in honour of that God who has entrusted him with the
priesthood.  But as much as is given to every one of the eider women,
let double so much be given to the deacons, in honour of Christ.  Let
also a double portion be set apart for the presbyters, as for such who
labour continually about the word and doctrine, upon the account of the
apostles of our Lord, whose place they sustain, as the counsellors of
the bishop and the crown of the Church.  For they are the Sanhedrim and
senate of the Church.  If there be a reader there, let him receive a
single portion, in honour of the prophets, and let the singer and the
porter have as much.  Let the laity, therefore, pay proper honours in
their presents, and utmost marks of respect to each distinct order.  But
let them not on all occasions trouble their governor, but let them
signify their desires by those who minister to him, that is, by the
deacons, with whom they may be more free.  For neither may we address
ourselves to Almighty God, but only by Christ.  In the same manner,
therefore, let the laity make known all their desires to the bishop by
the deacon, and accordingly let them act as he shall direct them.  For
there was no holy thing offered or done in the temple formerly without
the priest.  "For the priest's lips shall keep knowledge, and they shall
seek the law at his mouth," as the prophet somewhere says, "for he is
the messenger of the Lord Almighty."(3) For if the worshippers of
demons, in their hateful, abominable, and impure performances, imitate
the sacred rules till this very day(it is a wide comparison indeed.  and
there is a vast distance between their abominations and God's sacred
worship), in their mockeries of worship they neither offer nor do
anything without their pretended priest, but esteem him as the very
mouth of their idols of stone, waiting to see what commands he will lay
upon them.  And whatsoever he commands them, that they do, and without
him they do nothing; and they honour him, their pretended priest, and
esteem his name as venerable in honour of lifeless statues, and in order
to the worship of wicked spirits.  If these heathens, therefore, who
give glory to lying vanities, and place their hope upon nothing that is
firm, endeavour to imitate the sacred rules, how much more reasonable is
it that you, who have a most certain faith and undoubted hope, and who
expect glorious, and eternal, and never-failing promises, should honour
the Lord God in those set over you, and esteem your bishop to be the
mouth of God !

WHAT IS THE DIGNITY OF A BISHOP AND OF A

DEACON.

 XXIX. For if Aaron, because he declared to Pharaoh the words of God
from Moses, is called a prophet; and Moses himself is called a god to
Pharaoh, on account of his being at once a king and a high priest, as
God says to him, "I have made thee a god to Pharaoh, and Aaron thy
brother shall be thy prophet;"(4) why do not ye also esteem the
mediators of the word to be prophets, and reverence them as gods?

AFTER WHAT MANNER THE LAITY ARE TO BE

OBEDIENT TO THE DEACON.

 XXX. For now the deacon is to you Aaron, and the bishop Moses.  If,
therefore, Moses was called a god by the Lord, let the bishop be
honoured among you as a god, and the deacon as his prophet.  For as
Christ does nothing without His Father, so neither does the deacon do
anything without his bishop; and as the Son without His Father is
nothing, so is the deacon nothing without his bishop; and as the Son is
subject to His Father, so is every deacon subject to his bishop; and as
the Son is the messenger and prophet of the Father, so is the deacon the
messenger and prophet of his bishop.  Wherefore let all things that he
is to do with any one be made known to the bishop, and be finally
ordered by him.

THAT THE DEACON MUST NOT DO ANYTHING

WITHOUT THE BISHOP.

 XXXI. Let him not do anything at all without his bishop, nor give
anything without his consent.  For if he gives to any one as to a person
in distress without the bishop's knowledge, he gives it so that it must
tend to the reproach of the bishop, and he accuses him as careless of
the distressed.  But he that casts reproach on his bishop, either by
word or deed, opposes God, not hearkening to what He says: "Thou shalt
not speak evil of the gods."(5) For He did not make that law concerning
deities of wood and

412

of stone, which are abominable, because they are falsely called gods,
but concerning the priests and the judges, to whom He also said, "Ye are
gods, and children of the Most High."(1)

THAT THE DEACON MUST NOT MAKE ANY DISTRIBUTIONS WITHOUT THE CONSENT OF
THE BISHOP, BECAUSE THAT WILL TURN TO THE REPROACH OF THE BISHOP.

 XXXII. If therefore, O deacon, thou knowest any one to be in distress,
put the bishop in mind of him, and so give to him; but do nothing in a
clandestine way, so as may tend to his reproach, lest thou raise a
murmur against him; for the murmur will not be against him, but against
the Lord God: and the deacon, with the rest, will hear what Aaron and
Miriam heard, when they spake against Moses: "How is it that ye were not
afraid to speak against my servant Moses?"(2) And again, Moses says to
those who rose up against him: "Your murmuring is not against us, but
against the Lord our God."(3) For if he that calls one of the laity
Raka,(4) or fool, shall not be unpunished, as doing injury to the
name(5) of Christ, how dare any man speak against his bishop, by whom
the Lord gave the Holy Spirit among you upon the laying on of his hands,
by whom ye have learned the sacred doctrines, and have known God, and
have believed in Christ, by whom ye were known of God, by whom ye were
sealed with the oil of gladness and the ointment of understanding, by
whom ye were declared to be the children of light, by whom the Lord in
your illumination testified by the imposition of the bishop's hands, and
sent out His sacred voice upon every one of you, saying, "Thou art my
son, this day have I begotten thee?"(6) By thy bishop, O man, God adopts
thee for His child.  Acknowledge, O son, that right hand which was a
mother to thee.  Love him who, after God, is become a father to thee,
and honour him.

AFTER WHAT MANNER THE BISHOPS ARE TO BE HONOURED, AND TO BE REVERENCED
AS OUR SPIRITUAL PARENTS.

 XXXIII. For if the divine oracle says, concerning our parents according
to the flesh, "Honour thy father and thy mother, that it may be well
with thee;"(7) and, "He that curseth his father or his mother, let him
die the death;"(8) how much more should the word exhort you to honour
your spiritual parents, and to love them as your benefactors and
ambassadors with God, who have regenerated you by water, and endued you
with the fulness of the Holy Spirit, who have fed you with the word as
with milk, who have nourished yon with doctrine, who have confirmed you
by their admonitions, who have imparted to you the saving body and
precious blood of Christ, who have loosed you from your sins, who have
made you partakers of the holy and sacred eucharist, who have admitted
you to be partakers and fellow-heirs of the promise of God!  Reverence
these, and honour them with all kinds of honour; for they have obtained
from God the power of life and death, in their judging of sinners, and
condemning them to the death of eternal fire, as also of loosing
returning sinners from their sins, and of restoring them to a new life.

THAT PRIESTS ARE TO BE PREFERRED BEFORE

RULERS AND KINGS.

 XXXIV. Account these worthy to be esteemed your rulers and your kings,
and bring them tribute as to kings; for by you they and their families
ought to be maintained.  As Samuel made constitutions for the people
concerning a king,(9) in the first book of Kings, and Moses did so
concerning priests in Leviticus, so do we also make constitutions for
you concerning bishops.  For if there the multitude distributed the
inferior services in proportion to so great a king, ought not therefore
the bishop much more now to receive of you those things which are
determined by God for the sustenance of himself and of the rest of the
clergy belonging to him?  But if we may add somewhat further, let the
bishop receive more than the other received of old: for he only managed
the affairs of the soldiery, being entrusted with war and peace for the
preservation of men's bodies; but the other is entrusted with the
exercise of the priestly office in relation to God, in order to preserve
both body and soul from dangers.  By how much, therefore, the soul is
more valuable than the body, so much the priestly office is beyond the
kingly.  For it binds and looses those that are worthy of punishment or
of remission.  Wherefore you ought to love the bishop as your father,
and fear him as your king, and honour him as your lord, bringing to him
your fruits and the works of your hands, for a blessing upon you, giving
to him your first-fruits, and your tithes, and your oblations, and your
gifts, as to the priest of God; the first-fruits of your wheat, and
wine, and oil, and autumnal fruits, and wool,(10) and all things which
the Lord God gives thee.  And thy offering shall be accepted as a savour
of a sweet smell to the Lord thy God; and the Lord will bless the works
of thy hands, and will multiply

413

the good things of the land.  "For a blessing is upon the head of him
that giveth."(1)

 THAT BOTH THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL PRESCRIBE OFFERINGS.

 XXXV. Now you ought to know, that although the Lord has delivered you
from the additional bonds, and has brought you out of them to your
refreshment, and does not permit you to sacrifice irrational creatures
for sin-offerings, and purifications, and scapegoats, and continual
washings and sprinklings, yet has He nowhere freed you from those
oblations which you owe to the priests, nor from doing good to the poor.
For the Lord says to you in the Gospel: "Unless your righteousness
abound more than that of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall by no means
enter into the kingdom of heaven."(2) Now herein will your righteousness
exceed theirs, if you take greater care of the priests, the orphans, and
the widows; as it is written: "He hath scattered abroad; he hath given
to the poor; his righteousness remaineth for ever."(3) And again: "By
acts of righteousness and faith iniquities are purged."(4) And again:
"Every bountiful soul is blessed."(5) So therefore shalt thou do as the
Lord has appointed, and shalt, give to the priest what things are due to
him, the first-fruits of thy floor, and of thy wine-press, and sin-
offerings, as to the mediator between God and such as stand in need of
purgation and forgiveness.  For it is thy duty to give, and his to
administer, as being the administrator and disposer of ecclesiastical
affairs.  Yet shalt thou not call thy bishop to account, nor watch his
administration, how he does it, when, or to whom, or where, or whether
he do it well or ill, or indifferently; for he has One who will call him
to an account, the Lord God, who put this administration into his hands,
and thought him worthy of the priesthood of so great dignity.

THE RECITAL OF THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, AND AFTER WHAT MANNER THEY DO HERE
PRESCRIBE TO US.

 XXXVI. Have before thine eyes the fear of God, and always remember the
ten commandments of God,--to love the one and only Lord God with all thy
strength; to give no heed to idols, or any other beings, as being
lifeless gods, or irrational beings or daemons.  Consider the manifold
workmanship of God, which received its beginning through Christ.  Thou
shalt observe the Sabbath, on account of Him who ceased from His work of
creation, but ceased not from His work of providence: it is a rest

for meditation of the law, not for idleness of the hands.  Reject every
unlawful lust, everything destructive to men, and all anger.  Honour thy
parents, as the authors of thy being.  Love thy neighbour as thyself.
Communicate the necessaries of-life to the needy.  Avoid swearing
falsely, and swearing often, and in vain; for thou shalt not be held
guiltless.  Do not appear before the priests empty, and offer thy free-
will offerings continually.  Moreover, do not leave the church of
Christ; but go thither in the morning before all thy work, and again
meet there in the evening, to return thanks to God that He has preserved
thy life.  Be diligent, and constant, and laborious in thy calling.
Offer to the Lord thy free-will offerings; for says He, "Honour the Lord
with the fruit of thy honest labours."(6) If thou art not able to cast
anything considerable into the Corban,(7) yet at least bestow upon the
strangers one, or two, or five mites.  "Lay up to thyself heavenly
treasure, which neither the moth nor thieves can destroy."(8) And in
doing this, do not judge thy bishop, or any of thy neighbours among the
laity; for if thou judge thy brother, thou becomest a judge, without
being constituted such by anybody, for the priests are only entrusted
with the power of judging.  For to them it is said, "Judge righteous
judgment;"(9) and again "Approve yourselves to be exact money-
changers."(10) For to yon this is not entrusted; for, on the

contrary, it is said to those who are not of the dignity of magistrates
or ministers: "Judge not, and ye shall not be judged."(11)

SEC. V.--ON ACCUSATIONS, AND THE TREATMENT OF ACCUSERS.

CONCERNING ACCUSERS AND FALSE ACCUSERS, AND HOW A JUDGE IS NOT RASHLY
EITHER TO BELIEVE THEM OR DISBELIEVE THEM, BUT AFTER AN ACCURATE
EXAMINATION.

 XXXVII. But it is the duty of the bishop to judge rightly, as it is
written, "Judge righteous judgment;"(12) and elsewhere, "Why do ye not
even of yourselves judge what is right?"(13) Be ye therefore as skilful
dealers in money: for as these reject bad money, but take to themselves
what is current, in the same manner it is the bishops's duty to retain
the unblameable, but either to heal, or, if they be past cure, to cast
off those that are blameworthy, so as not to be hasty in cutting off,
nor to believe alI accusations; for it sometimes happens that some,
either

414

through passion or envy, do insist on a false accusation against a
brother, as did the two elders in the case of Susanna in Babylon,(1) and
the Egyptian woman in the case of Joseph.(2) Do thou therefore, as a man
of God, not rashly receive such accusations, lest thou take away the
innocent and slay the righteous; for he that will receive such
accusations is the author of anger rather than of peace.  But where
there is anger, there the Lord is not; for that anger, which is the
friend of Satan--I mean that which is excited unjustly by the means of
false brethren--never suffers unanimity to be in the Church.  Wherefore,
when you know such persons to be foolish, quarrelsome, passionate, and
such as delight in mischief, do not give credit to them; but observe
such as they are, when you hear anything from them against their
brother: for murder is nothing in their eyes, and they cast a man down
in such a way as one would not suspect.  Do thou therefore consider
diligently the accuser,(3) wisely observing his mode of life, what, and
of what sort it is; and in case thou findest him a man of veracity, do
according to the doctrine of our Lord,(4) and taking him who is accused,
rebuke him, that he may repent, when nobody is by.  But if he be not
pervaded, take with thee out or two more, and so show him his fault, and
admonish him with mildness and instruction; for "wisdom will rest upon
an heart that is good, but is not understood in the heart of the
foolish."(5)

THAT SINNERS ARE PRIVATELY TO BE REPROVED, AND THE PENITENT TO BE
RECEIVED, ACCORDING TO THE CONSTITUTION OF OUR LORD.

 XXXVIII. If, therefore, he be persuaded by the mouth of you three, it
is well.  But if any one hardens himself, "tell it to the Church: but if
he neglects to hear the Church, let him be to thee as an heathen man and
a publican;"(6) and receive him no longer into the Church as a
Christian, but reject him as an heathen.  But if he be willing to
repent, receive him.  For the Church does not receive an heathen or a
publican to communion, before they every one repent of their former
impieties; for our Lord Jesus, the Christ of God, has appointed place
for the acceptance of men upon their repentance.

EXAMPLES OF REPENTANCE.

 XXXIX. For I Matthew, one of those twelve which speak to you in this
doctrine, am an apostle, having myself been formerly a publican, but now
have obtained mercy through believing, and

have repented of my former practices, and have been vouchsafed the
honour to be an apostle and preacher of the word.  And Zacchaeus, whom
the Lord received upon his repentance and prayers to Him, was also
himself in the same manner a publican at first.  And, besides, even the
soldiers and multitude of publicans, who came to hear the word of the
Lord about repentance, heard this from the prophet John, after he had
baptized them: "Do nothing more than that which is appointed you."(7) In
like manner, life is not refused to the heathen, if they repent and cast
away their unbelief.  Esteem, therefore, every one that is convicted of
any wicked action, and has not repented, as a publican or an heathen.
But if he afterward repents, and turns from his error, then, as we
receive the heathen, when they wish to repent, into the Church indeed to
hear the word, but do not receive them to communion until they have
received the seal of baptism, and are made complete Christians; so do we
also permit such as these to enter only to hear, until they show the
fruit of repentance, that by hearing the word they may not utterly and
irrecoverably perish.  But let them not be admitted to communion in
prayer; and let them depart after the reading of the law, and the
prophets, and the Gospel, that by such departure they may be made better
in their course of life, by endeavouring to meet every day about the
public assemblies, and to be frequent in prayer, that they also may be
at length admitted, and that those who behold them may be affected, and
be more secured by fearing to fall into the same condition.

THAT WE ARE NOT TO BE IMPLACABLE TO HIM WHO HAS ONCE OR TWICE OFFENDED.

 XL. But yet do not thou, O bishop, presently abhor any person who has
fallen into one or two offences, nor shalt thou exclude him from the
word of the Lord, nor reject him from common intercourse, since neither
did the Lord refuse to eat with publicans and sinners; and when He was
accused by the Pharisees on this account, He said: "They that are well
have no need of the physician, but they that are sick."(8) Do you,
therefore, live and dwell with those who are separated from you for
their sins; and take care of them, comforting them, and confirming them,
and saying to them: "Be strengthened, ye weak hands and feeble
knees."(9) For we ought to comfort those that mourn, and afford
encouragement to the fainthearted, lest by immoderate sorrow they
degenerate into distraction, since "he that is fainthearted is
exceedingly distracted."(10)

415

AFTER WHAT MANNER WE OUGHT TO RECEIVE A PENITENT; HOW WE OUGHT TO DEAL
WITH OFFENDERS, AND WHEN THEY ARE TO BE CUT OFF FROM THE CHURCH.

 XLI. But if any one returns, and shows forth the fruit of repentance,
then do ye receive him to prayer, as the lost son, the prodigal, who had
consumed his father's substance with harlots, who fed swine, and desired
to be fed with husks, and could not obtain it.  This son, when he
repented, and returned to his father, and said, "I have sinned against
Heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son;"(1)
the father, full of affection to his child, received him with music, and
restored him his old robe, and ring, and shoes, and slew the fatted
calf, and made merry with his friends.  Do thou therefore, O bishop, act
in the same manner.  And as thou receivest an heathen after thou hast
instructed and baptized him, so do thou let all join in prayers for this
man, and restore him by imposition of hands to his ancient place among
the flock, as one purified by repentance; and that imposition of hands
shall be to him instead of baptism: for by the laying on of our hands
the Holy Ghost was given to believers.  And in case some one of those
brethren who had stood immoveable accuse thee, because thou art
reconciled to him, say to him: "Thou art always with me, and all that I
have is thine.  It was meet to make merry and be glad: for this thy
brother was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found."  For
that God does not only receive the penitent, but restores them to their
former dignity, holy David is a sufficient witness, who, after his sin
in the matter of Uriah, prayed to God, and said: "Restore unto me the
joy of Thy salvation, and uphold me with Thy free Spirit."(2) And again:
"Turn Thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine offences.  Create in
me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit in my inward parts.
Cast me not away from Thy presence, and take not Thy Holy Spirit from
me."  Do thou therefore, as a compassionate physician, heal all that
have sinned, making use of saving methods of cure; not only cutting and
searing, or using corrosives, but binding up, and putting in tents, and
using gentle healing medicines, and sprinkling comfortable words.  If it
be an hollow wound, or great gash, nourish it with a suitable plaister,
that it may be filled up, and become even with the rest of the whole
flesh.  If it be foul, cleanse it with corrosive powder, that is, with
the words of reproof.  If it have proud flesh, eat it down with a sharp
plaister--the threats of judgment.  If it spreads further, sear it, and
cut off the putrid flesh, mortifying him with fastings.  But if, after
all that thou hast done, thou perceivest that from the feet to the head
there is no room for a fomentation, or oil, or bandage, but that the
malady spreads and prevents all cure, as a gangrene which corrupts the
entire member; then, with a great deal of consideration, and the advice
of other skilful physicians, cut off the putrefied member, that the
whole body of the Church be not corrupted.  Be not therefore ready and
hasty to cut off, nor do thou easily have recourse to the saw, with its
many teeth; but first use a lancet to lay open the wound, that the
inward cause whence the pain is derived being drawn out, may keep the
body free from pain.  But if thou seest any one past repentance, and he
is become insensible, then cut off the incurable from the Church with
sorrow and lamentation.  For: "Take out from among yourselves that
wicked person."(3) And: "Ye shall make the children of Israel to
fear."(4) And again: "'Thou shalt not accept the persons of the rich in
judgment."(5) And: "Thou shalt not pity a poor man in his cause: for the
judgment is the Lord's."(6)

 THAT A JUDGE MUST NOT BE A RESPECTER OF PERSONS.

 XLII. But if the slanderous accusation be false, and youthat are the
pastors, with the deacons, admit of that falsehood for truth, either by
acceptance of persons or receiving of bribes, as willing to do that
which will he pleasing to the devil, and so you thrust out from the
Church him that is accused, but is clear of the crime, you shall give an
account in the day of the Lord.  For it is written: "The innocent and
the righteous thou shalt not slay."(7) "Thou shalt not take girls to
smite the soul: for gifts blind the eyes of the wise, and destroy the
words of the righteous."(8) And again: "They that justify the wicked for
gifts, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him."(9) Be
careful, therefore, not to condemn any persons unjustly, and so to
assist the wicked.  For "woe to him that calls evil good, and good evil;
bitter sweet, and sweet bitter; that puts light for darkness, and
darkness for light."(10) Take care, therefore, lest by any means ye
become acceptors of persons, and thereby fall under this voice of the
Lord.(11) For if you condemn others unjustly, you pass sentence against
yourselves.  For the Lord says: "With what judgment ye judge, ye shall
be judged; and as you condemn, you shall be

416

condemned."(1) If, therefore, ye judge without respect of persons, ye
will discover that accuser who bears false witness against his
neighbour, and will prove him to be a sycophant, a spiteful person, and
a murderer, causing perplexity by accusing the man as if he were wicked,
inconstant in his words, contradicting himself in what he affirms, and
entangled with the words of his own mouth; for his own lips are a
dangerous, snare to him: whom, when thou hast convicted him of speaking
falsely, thou shalt judge severely, and shalt deliver him to the fiery
sword, and thou shalt do to him as he wickedly proposed to do to his
brother; for as much as in him lay he slew his brother, by forestalling
the ears of the judge.(2) Now it is written, that "he that sheddeth
man's blood, for that his own blood shall be shed."(3) And: "Thou shalt
take away that innocent blood, which was shed without cause, from
thee."(4)

 AFTER WHAT MANNER FALSE ACCUSERS ARE TO BE PUNISHED.

 XLIII. Thou shalt therefore cast him out of the congregation as a
murderer of his brother.  Some time afterwards, if he says that he
repents, mortify him with fastings, and afterwards ye shall lay your
hands upon him and receive him, but still securing him, that he does not
disturb anybody a second time.  But if, when he is admitted again, he be
alike troublesome, and will not cease to disturb and to quarrel with his
brother, spying faults out of a contentious spirit, cast him out as a
pernicious person, that he may not lay waste the Church of God.  For
such a one is the raiser of disturbances in cities; for he, though he be
within, does not become the Church, but is a superfluous and vain
member, casting a blot, as far as in him lies, on the body of Christ.
For if such men as are born with superfluous members of their body,
which hang to them as fingers, or excrescences of flesh, cut them away
from themselves on account of their indecency, whereby the unseemliness
vanishes, and the man recovers his natural good shape by the means of
the surgeon; how much more ought you, the pastors of the Church (for the
Church is a perfect body, and sound members; of such as believe in God,
in the fear of the Lord, and in love), to do the like when there is
found in it a superfluous member with wicked designs, and rendering the
rest of the body unseemly, and disturbing it with sedition, and war, and
evil-speaking; causing fears, disturbances, blots, evil-speaking,
accusations, disorders, and doing the like works of the devil, as if he
were ordained by the devil to cast a reproach on the Church by
calumnies, and mighty disorders, and strife, and division!  Such a one,
therefore, when he is a second time cast out of the Church, is justly
cut off entirely from the congregation of the Lord.  And now the Church
of the Lord will be more beautiful than it was before, when it had a
superfluous, and to itself a disagreeable member.  Wherefore
henceforward it will be free from blame and reproach, and become clear
of such wicked, deceitful, abusive, unmerciful, traitorous persons; of
such as are "haters of those that are good, lovers of pleasure,"(5)
affecters of vainglory, deceivers, and pretenders to wisdom; of such as
make it their business to scatter, or rather utterly to disperse, the
lambs of the Lord.

SEC. VI.--THE DISPUTES OF THE FAITHFUL TO BE SETTLED BY THE DECISIONS OF
THE BISHOP, AND THE FAITHFUL TO BE RECONCILED.

 Do thou therefore, O bishop, together with thy subordinate clergy,
endeavour rightly to divide the word of truth.  For the Lord says: "If
you walk cross-grained to me, I will walk cross-grained to you."(6) And
elsewhere: "With the holy Thou wilt be holy, and with the perfect man
Thou wilt be perfect, and with the froward Thou wilt be froward."(7)
Walk therefore holily, that you may rather appear worthy of praise from
the Lord than of complaint from the adversary.

THAT THE DEACON IS TO EASE THE BURTHEN OF THE BISHOPS, AND TO ORDER THE
SMALLER MATTERS HIMSELF.

 XLIV. Be ye of one mind, O ye bishops, one with another, and be at
peace with one another; sympathize with one another, love the brethren,
and feed the people with care; with one consent teach those that are
under you to be of the same sentiments and to be of the same opinions
about the same matters, "that there may be no schisms among you; that ye
may be one body and one spirit, perfectly joined together in the same
mind and in the same judgment,"(8) according to the appointment of the
Lord.  And let the deacon refer all things to the bishop, as Christ does
to His Farther.  But let him order such things as he is able by himself,
receiving power from the bishop, as the Lord did from His Father the
power of creation and of providence.  But the weighty matters let the
bishop judge; but let the deacon be the bishop's ear, and eye, and
mouth, and heart, and soul, that the bishop may not be distracted with
many cares, but with such only as are more considerable, as Jethro did
appoint for Moses, and his counsel was received.(9)

417

 THAT CONTENTIONS AND QUARRELS ARE UNBECOMING CHRISTIANS.

 XLV. It is therefore a noble encomium for a Christian to have no
contest with any one;(1) but if by any management or temptation a
contest arises with any one, let him endeavour that it may be composed,
though thereby he be obliged to lose somewhat; and let it not come
before an heathen tribunal.  Nay, indeed, you are not to permit that the
rulers of this world should pass sentence against your people; for by
them the devil contrives mischief to the servants of God, and occasions
a reproach to be cast upon us, as though we had not "one wise man that
is able to judge between his brethren," or to decide their
controversies.

THAT BELIEVERS OUGHT NOT TO GO TO LAW BEFORE UNBELIEVERS; NOR OUGHT ANY
UNBELIEVER TO BE CALLED FOR A WITNESS AGAINST BELIEVERS.

 XLVI. Let not the heathen therefore know of your differences among One
another, nor do you receive unbelievers as witnesses against yourselves,
nor be judged by them, nor owe them anything on account of tribute or
fear; but "render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God
the things that are God's,"(2) as tribute, taxes, or poll-money, as our
Lord by giving a piece of money was freed from disturbance.(3) Choose
therefore rather to suffer harm, and to endeavour after those things
that make for peace, not only among the brethren, but also among the
unbelievers.  For by suffering loss in the affairs of this life, thou
wilt be sure not to suffer in the concerns of piety, and wilt live
religiously, and according to the command of Christ.(4) But if brethren
have lawsuits one with another, which God forbid, you who are the rulers
ought thence to learn that such as these do not do the work of brethren
in the Lord, but rather of public enemies; and one of the parties will
be found to be mild, gentle, and the child of light; but the other
unmerciful, insolent, and covetous.  Let him, therefore, who is
condemned be rebuked, let him be separated, let him undergo the
punishment of his hatred to his brother.  Afterwards, when he repents,
let him be received; and so, when they have learned prudence, they will
ease your judicatures.  It is also a duty to forgive each other's
trespasses--not the duty of those that judge, but of those that have
quarrels; as the Lord determined when I Peter asked Him, "How oft shall
my brother sin against me, and I forgive him?  Till seven times?"  He
replied, "I say not unto thee, Until seven times, but until seventy
times seven."(5) For so would our Lord have us to be truly His
disciples, and never to have anything against anybody; as, for instance,
anger without measure, passion without mercy, covetousness without
justice, hatred without reconciliation.  Draw by your instruction those
who are angry to friendship, and those who are at variance to agreement.
For the Lord says: "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be
called the children of God."(6)

THAT THE JUDICATURES OF CHRISTIANS OUGHT TO BE HELD ON THE SECOND DAY OF
THE WEEK.

 XLVII. Let your judicatures be held on the second day of the week, that
if any controversy arise about your sentence, having an interval till
the Sabbath,(7) you may be able to set the controversy right, and to
reduce those to peace who have the contests one with another against the
Lord's day.  Let also the deacons and presbyters be present at your
judicatures, to judge without acceptance of persons, as men of God, with
righteousness.  When, therefore, both the parties are come, according as
the law says,(8) those that have the controversy shall stand severally
in the middle of the court; and when you have heard them, give your
votes holily, endeavouring to make them both friends before the sentence
of the bishop, that judgment against the offender may not go abroad into
the world; knowing that he has in the court the Christ of God as
conscious of and confirming his judgment.  But if any persons are
accused by any one, and their fame suffers as if they did not walk
uprightly in the Lord.  in like manner you shall hear both parties--the
accuser and accused; but not with prejudice, nor with hearkening to one
part only, but with righteousness, as passing a sentence concerning
eternal life or death.  For says God: "He shall prosecute that which is
right justly."(9) For he that is justly punished and separated by you is
rejected from eternal life and glory; he becomes dishonourable among
holy men, and one condemned of God.

THAT THE SAME PUNISHMENT IS NOT TO BE INFLICTED FOR EVERY OFFENCE, BUT
DIFFERENT PUNISHMENTS FOR DIFFERENT OFFENDERS.

 XLVIII. Do not pass the same sentence for every sin, but one suitable
to each crime, distinguishing all the several sorts of offences with
much prudence, the great from the little.  Treat a wicked action after
one manner, and a wicked word after another; a bare intention still
other-

418

wise.  So also in the case of a contumely or suspicion.  And some thou
shalt curb by threatenings alone; some thou shalt punish with fines to
the poor; some thou shalt mortify with fastings; and others thou shalt
separate according to the greatness of their several crimes.  For the
law did not allot the same punishment to every offence, but had a
different regard to a sin against God, against the priest, against the
temple, or against the sacrifice; from a sin against the king, or ruler,
or a soldier, or a fellow-subject; and so were the offences different
which were against a servant, a possession, or a brute creature.  And
again, sins were differently rated according as they were against
parents and kinsmen, and those differently which were done on purpose
from those that happened involuntarily.  Accordingly the punishments
were different: as death either by crucifixion or by stoning, fines,
scourgings, or the suffering the same mischiefs they had done to others.
Wherefore do you also allot different penalties to different offences,
lest any injustice should happen, and provoke God to indignation.  For
of what unjust judgment soever you are the instruments, of the same you
shall receive the reward from God.  "For with what judgment ye judge ye
shall be judged."(1)

 WHAT ARE TO BE THE CHARACTERS OF ACCUSERS AND WITNESSES.

 XLIX. When, therefore, you are set down at your tribunal, and the
parties are both of them present (for we will not call them brethren
until they receive each other in peace), examine diligently concerning
those who appear before you; and first concerning the accuser, whether
this be the first person he has accused, or whether he has advanced
accusations against some others before, and whether this contest and
accusation of theirs does not arise from some quarrel, and what sort of
life the accuser leads.  Yet, though he be of a good conscience, do not
give credit to him alone, for that is contrary to the law; but let him
have others to join in his testimony, and those of the same course of
life.  As the law says: "At the mouth of two or three witnesses
everything shall be established."(2) But why did we say that the
character of the witnesses was to be inquired after, of what sort it is?
Because it frequently happens that two and more testify for mischief,
and with joint consent prefer a lie; as did the two elders against
Susanna in Babylon,(3) and the sons of transgressors against Naborb in
Samaria,(4) and the multitude of the Jews against our Lord at
Jerusalem,(5) and

against Stephen His first martyr.(6) Let the witnesses therefore be
meek, free from anger, full of equity, kind, prudent, continent, free
from wickedness, faithful, religious; for the testimony of such persons
is firm on account of their character, and true on account of their mode
of life.  But as to those of a different character, do not ye receive
their testimony, although they seem to agree together in their evidence
against the accused; for it is ordained in the law: "Thou shalt not be
with a multitude for wickedness; thou shalt not receive a vain report;
thou shalt not consent with a multitude to pervert judgment."(7) You
ought also particularly to know him that is accused; what he is in his
course and mode of life; whether he have a good report as to his life;
whether he has been unblameable; whether he has been zealous in
holiness; whether he be a lover of the widows, a lover of the strangers,
a lover of the poor, and a lover of the brethren; whether he be not
given to filthy lucre; whether he be not an extravagant person, or a
spendthrift; whether he be sober, and free from luxury, or a drunkard,
or a glutton; whether he be compassionate and charitable.

THAT FORMER OFFENCES DO SOMETIMES RENDER AFTER ACCUSATIONS CREDIBLE.

 L. For if he has been before addicted to wicked works, the accusations
which are now brought against him will thence in some measure appear to
be true, unless justice do plainly plead for hint.  For it may be, that
though he had formerly been an offender, yet that he may not be guilty
of this crime of which he is accused.  Wherefore be exactly cautious
about such circumstances, and so render your sentences, when pronounced
against the offender convicted, safe and firm.  And if, after his
separation, he begs pardon, and falls down before the bishop, and
acknowledges his fault, receive him.  But neither do you suffer a false
accuser to go unpunished, that he may not calumniate another who lives
well, or encourage some other person to do like him.  Nor, to be sure,
do ye suffer a person convicted to go off clear, lest another be
ensnared in the same crimes.  For neither shall a witness of mischiefs
be unpunished, nor shall he that offends be without censure.

 AGAINST JUDGING WITHOUT HEARING BOTH SIDES.

 LI. We said before that judgment ought not to be given upon hearing
only one of the parties; for if you hear one of them when the other is
not there, and so cannot make his defence to the accusation brought
against him, and rashly

419

give your votes for condemnation, you will be found guilty of that man's
destruction, and partaker with the false accuser before God, the just
Judge.  For "as he that holdeth the tail of a dog, so is he that
presides at unjust judgment."  But if ye become imitators of the elders
in Babylon, who, when they had borne witness against Susanna, unjustly
condemned her to death, you will become obnoxious to their judgment and
condemnation.  For the Lord by Daniel delivered Susanna from the hand of
the ungodly, but condemned to the fire those elders who were guilty of
her blood, and reproaches you by him, saying: "Are ye so foolish, ye
children of Israel?  Without examination, and without knowing the truth,
have ye condemned a daughter of Israel?  Return again to the place of
judgment, for these men have borne false witness against her."(2)

THE CAUTION OBSERVED AT HEATHEN TRIBUNALS BEFORE THE CONDEMNATION OF
CRIMINALS AFFORDS CHRISTIANS A GOOD EXAMPLE.

 LII. Consider even the judicatures of this world, by whose power we see
murderers, adulterers, wizards, robbers of sepulchres, and thieves
brought to trial; and those that preside, when they have received their
accusations from those that brought them, ask the malefactor whether
those things be so.  And though he does not deny the crimes, they do not
presently send him out to punishment; but for several days they make
inquiry about him with a full council, and with the veil interposed.
And he that is to pass the final decree and suffrage of death against
him, lifts up his hands to the sun, and solemnly affirms that he is
innocent of the blood of the man.  Though they be heathens, and know not
the Deity, nor the vengeance which will fall upon men from God on
account of those that are justly condemned, they avoid such unjust
judgments.

THAT CHRISTIANS OUGHT NOT TO BE CONTEN-

TIOUS ONE WITH ANOTHER.

 LIII. But you who know who our God is, and what are His judgments, how
can you bear to pass an unjust judgment, since your sentence will be
immediately known to God?  And if you have judged righteously, you will
be deemed worthy of the recompenses of righteousness, both now and
hereafter; but if unrighteously, you will partake of the like.  We
therefore advise you, brethren, rather to deserve commendation from God
than rebukes; for the commendation of God is eternal life to men, as is
His rebuke everlasting death.  Be ye therefore righteous judges,
peacemakers, and without anger.  For "he that is angry with his brother
without a cause is obnoxious to the judgment."(3) But if it happens that
by any one's contrivance you are angry at anybody, "let not the sun go
down upon your wrath;"(4) for says David, "Be angry and sin not;"(5)
that is, be soon reconciled, lest your wrath continue so long that it
turn to a settled hatred, and work sin.  "For the souls of those that
bear a settled hatred are to death,"(6) says Solomon.  But our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ says in the Gospels: "If thou bring thy gift to the
altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee,
leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be
reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift to God."(7)
Now the gift to God is every one's prayer and thanksgiving.  If,
therefore, thou hast anything against thy brother, or he has anything
against thee, neither will thy prayers be heard, nor will thy
thanksgivings be accepted, by reason of that hidden anger.  But it is
your duty, brethren, to pray continually.  Yet, because God hears not
those which are at enmity with their brethren by unjust quarrels, even
though they should pray three times an hour, it is our duty to compose
all our enmity and littleness of soul, that we may be able to pray with
a pure and unpolluted heart.  For the Lord commanded us to love even our
enemies, and by no means to hate our friends.  And the lawgiver says:
"Thou shalt not hate any man; thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy
mind.  Thou shalt certainly reprove thy brother, and not incur sin on
his account."(8) "Thou shalt not hate an Egyptian, for thou wast a
sojourner with him.  Thou shalt not hate an Idumaean, for he is thy
brother."(9) And David says: "If I have repaid those that requited me
evil."(10) Wherefore, if thou wilt be a Christian, follow the law of the
Lord: "Loose every band of wickedness; for the Lord has given thee
authority to remit those sins to thy brother which he has committed
against thee as far as "seventy times seven,"(12) that is, four hundred
and ninety times.  How oft, therefore, hast thou remitted to thy
brother, that thou art unwilling to do it now, when thou also hast heard
Jeremiah saying, "Do not any of you impute the wickedness of his
neighbour in your hearts?"(13) But thou rememberest in juries, and
keepest enmity, and comest into judgment, and art suspicious of His
anger and thy prayer is hindered.  Nay, if thou hast re-

420

mitted to thy brother four hundred and ninety times, do thou still
multiply thy acts of gentleness more, to do good for thy own sake.
Although he does not do so, yet, however, do thou endeavour to forgive
thy brother for God's sake, "that thou mayest be the son of thy Father
which is in heaven,"(1) and when thou prayest, mayest be heard as a
friend of God.

THAT THE BISHOPS MUST BY THEIR DEACON PUT THE PEOPLE IN MIND OF THE
OBLIGATION THEY ARE UNDER TO LIVE PEACEABLY TOGETHER.

 LIV. Wherefore, O bishop, when you are to go to prayer after the
lessons, and the psalmody, and the instruction out of the Scriptures,
let the deacon stand nigh you, and with a loud voice say: Let none have
any quarrel with another; let none come in hypocrisy; that if there be
any controversy found among any of you, they may be affected in
conscience, and may pray to God, and be reconciled to their brethren.
For if, upon coming into any one's house, we are to say, "Peace be to
this house,"(2) like sons of peace bestowing peace on those who are
worthy, as it is written, "He came and preached peace to you that are
nigh, and them that are far off, whom the Lord knows to be His,"(3) much
more is it incumbent on those that enter into the Church of God before
all things to pray for the peace of God.  But if he prays for it upon
others, much more let himself be within the same, as a child of light;
for he that has it not within himself is not fit to bestow it upon
others.  Wherefore, before all things, it is our duty to be at peace in
our own minds; for he that does not find any disorder in himself will
not quarrel with another, but will be peaceable, friendly, gathering the
Lord's people, and a fellow-worker with him, in order to the increasing
the number of those that shall be saved in unanimity.  For those who
contrive enmities, and strifes, and contests, and lawsuits, are wicked,
and aliens from God.

AN ENUMERATION OF THE SEVERAL INSTANCES OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE, AND HOW IN
EVERY AGE FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE WORLD GOD HAS INVITED ALL MEN TO
REPENTANCE.

 LV. For God, being a God of mercy from the beginning, called every
generation to repentance by righteous men and prophets.  He instructed
those before the flood by Abel and Sem, and Seth, also by Enos, and by
Enoch that was translated; those at the flood by Noah; the inhabitants
of Sodom by hospitable Lot; those after the flood by Melchizedek, and
the patriarchs, and Job the beloved of God; the Egyptians by Moses; the
Israelites by him, and Joshua, and Caleb, and Phineas, and the rest;
those after the law by angels and prophets, and the same by His own
incarnation(4) of the Virgin; those a little before His bodily appear-
ance by John His forerunner, and the same by the same person after
Christ's birth, saying, "Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at
hand;"(5) those after His passion by us, the twelve apostles, and Paul
the chosen vessel.  We therefore, who have been vouchsafed the favour of
being the witnesses of His appearance, together with James the brother
of our Lord, and the other seventy-two disciples, and his seven deacons,
have heard from the mouth of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by exact
knowledge declare "what is the will of God, that good, and acceptable,
and perfect will"(6) which is made known to us by Jesus; that none
should perish, but that all men with one accord should believe in Him,
and send unanimously praise to Him, and thereby live for ever.

THAT IT IS THE WILL OF GOD THAT MEN SHOULD BE OF ONE MIND IN MATTERS OF
RELIGION, IN ACCORD WITH THE HEAVENLY POWERS.

 LVI. For this is that which our Lord taught us when we pray to say to
His Father, "Thy will be done, as in heaven, so upon earth;"(7) that as
the heavenly natures of the incorporeal powers do all glorify God with
one consent, so also upon earth all men with one mouth and one purpose
may glorify the only, the one, and the true God, by Christ His only-
begotten.  It is therefore His will that men should praise Him with
unanimity, and adore Him with one consent.(8) For this is His will in
Christ, that those who are saved by Him may be many; but that you do not
occasion any loss or diminution to Him, nor to the Church, or lessen the
number by one soul of man, as destroyed by you, which might have been
saved by repentance; and which therefore perishes not only by its own
sin, but also by your treachery besides, whereby you fulfil that which
is written, "He that gathereth not with me, scattereth."(9) Such a one
is a disperser of the sheep, an adversary, an enemy of God, a destroyer
of those lambs whose Shepherd was the Lord, and we were the collectors
out of various nations and tongues, by much pains and danger, and
perpetual labour, by watchings, by fastings, by lyings on the ground, by
persecutions, by stripes, by imprisonments, that we might do the will of
God, and fill the feast-chamber with guests to sit down at His

421

table, that is, the holy and Catholic Church, with joyful and chosen
people, singing hymns and praises to God that has called them by us to
life.  And you, as much as in you lies, have dispersed them.  Do you
also of the laity be at peace with one another, endeavouring like wise
men to increase the Church, and to turn back, and tame, and restore
those which seem wild.  For this is the greatest reward by His promise
from God, "If thou fetch out the worthy and precious from the unworthy,
thou shalt be as my mouth."(1)

SEC. VII.--ON ASSEMBLING IN THE CHURCH.

AN EXACT DESCRIPTION OF A CHURCH AND THE CLERGY, AND WHAT THINGS IN
PARTICULAR EVERY ONE IS TO DO IN THE SOLEMN ASSEMBLIES OF THE CLERGY AND
LAITY FOR, RELIGIOUS WORSHIP.

 LVII. But be thou, O bishop, holy, unblameable, no striker, not soon
angry, not cruel; but a builder up, a converter, apt to teach, forbear-
ing of evil, of a gentle mind, meek, long-suffering, ready to exhort,
ready to comfort, as a man of God.  When thou callest an assembly of the
Church as one that is the commander of a great ship, appoint the
assemblies to be made with all possible skill, charging the deacons as
mariners to prepare places for the brethren as for passengers, with all
due care and decency.  And first, let the building be long, with its
head to the east, with its vestries on both sides at the east end, and
so it will be like a ship.  In the middle let the bishop's throne be
placed, and on each side of him let the presbytery sit down; and let the
deacons stand near at hand, in close and small girt garments, for they
are like the mariners and managers of the ship: with regard to these,
let the laity sit on the other side, with all quietness and good order.
And let the women sit by themselves, they also keeping silence.  In the
middle, let the reader stand upon some high place: let him read the
books of Moses, of Joshua the son of Nun, of the Judges, and of the
Kings and of the Chronicles, and those written after the return from the
captivity; and besides these, the books of Job and of Solomon, and of
the sixteen prophets.  But when there have been two lessons severally
read, let some other person sing the hymns of David, and let the people
join at the conclusions of the verses.  Afterwards let our Acts be read,
and the Epistles of Paul our fellow-worker, which he sent to the
churches under the conduct of the Holy Spirit; and afterwards let a
deacon or a presbyter read the Gospels, both those which I Matthew and
John have delivered to you, and those which the fellow-workers of Paul
received and left to you, Luke and Mark.  And while the Gospel is read,
let all the presbyters and deacons, and all the people, stand up in
great silence; for it is written: "Be silent, and hear, O lsrael."(2)
And again: "But do thou stand there, and hear."(3) In the next place,
let the presbyters one by one, not all together, exhort the people, and
the bishop in the last place, as being the commander.  Let the porters
stand at the entries of the men, and observe them.  Let the deaconesses
also stand at those of the women, like shipmen.  For the same
description and pattern was both in the tabernacle of the testimony and
in the temple of God.(4) But if any one be found sitting out of his
place, let him be rebuked by the deacon, as a manager of the foreship,
and be removed into the place proper for him; for the Church is not only
like a ship, but also like a sheepfold.  For as the shepherds place all
the brute creatures distinctly, I mean goats and sheep, according to
their kind and age, and still every one runs together, like to his like;
so is it to be in the Church.  Let the young persons sit by themselves,
if there be a place for them; if not, let them stand upright.  But let
those that are already stricken in years sit in order.  For the children
which stand, let their fathers and mothers take them to them.  Let the
younger women also sit by themselves, if there be a place for them; but
if there be not, let them stand behind the women.  Let those women which
are married, and have children, be placed by themselves; but let the
virgins, and the widows, and the elder women, stand or sit before all
the rest; and let the deacon be the disposer of the places, that every
one of those that comes in may go to his proper place, and may not sit
at the entrance.  In like manner, let the deacon oversee the people,
that nobody may whisper, nor slumber, nor laugh, nor nod; for all ought
in the church to stand wisely, and soberly, and attentively, having
their attention fixed upon the word of the Lord.  After this, let all
rise up with one consent, and looking towards the east, after the
catechumens and penitents are gone out, pray to God eastward, who
ascended up to the heaven of heavens to the east; remembering also the
ancient situation of paradise in the east, from whence the first man,
when he had yielded to the persuasion of the serpent, and disobeyed the
command of God, was expelled.  As to the deacons, after the prayer is
over, let some of them attend upon the oblation of the Eucharist,
ministering to the Lord's body with fear.  Let others of them watch the
multitude, and keep them silent.  But let

422

that deacon who is at the high priest's hand say to the people, Let no
one have any quarrel against another; let no one come in hypocrisy.
Then let the men give the men, and the women give the women, the Lord's
kiss.  But let no one do it with deceit, as Judas betrayed the Lord with
a kiss.  After this let the deacon pray for the whole Church, for the
whole world, and the several parts of it, and the fruits of it; for the
priests and the rulers, for the high priest and the king, and the peace
of the universe.  After this let the high priest pray for peace upon the
people, and bless them, as Moses commanded the priests to bless the
people, in these words: "The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: the Lord
make His face to shine upon thee,(1) and give thee peace."(2) Let the
bishop pray for the people, and say: "Save Thy people, O Lord, and bless
Thine inheritance, which Thou hast obtained with the precious blood of
Thy Christ, and hast called a royal priesthood, and an holy nation."(3)
After this let the sacrifice follow, the people standing, and praying
silently; and when the oblation has been made, let every rank by itself
partake of the Lord's body and precious blood in order, and approach
with reverence and holy fear, as to the body of their king.  Let the
women approach with their heads covered, as is becoming the order of
women; but let the door be watched, lest any unbeliever, or one not yet
initiated, come in.(4)

OF COMMENDATORY LETTERS IN FAVOUR OF STRANGERS, LAY PERSONS, CLERGYMEN,
AND BISHOPS; AND THAT THOSE WHO COME INTO THE CHURCH ASSEMBLIES ARE TO
BE RECEIVED WITHOUT REGARD TO THEIR QUALITY.

 LVIII. If any brother, man or woman, come in from another parish,
bringing recommendatory letters, let the deacon be the judge of that
affair, inquiring whether they be of the faithful, and of the Church?
whether they be not defiled by heresy?  and besides, whether the party
be a married woman or a widow?  And when he is satisfied in these
questions, that they are really of the faithful, and of the same
sentiments in the things of the Lord, let him conduct every one to the
place proper for him.  And if a presbyter comes from another parish, let
him be received to communion by the presbyters; if a deacon, by the
deacons; if a bishop, let him sit with the bishop, and be allowed the
same honour with himself; and thou, O bishop, shalt desire him to speak
to the people words of instruction: for the exhortation and admonition
of strangers is very acceptable, and exceeding profitable.  For, as the
Scripture says, "no prophet is accepted in his own country."(5) Thou
shalt also permit him to offer the Eucharist; but if, out of reverence
to thee, and as a wise man, to preserve the honour belonging to thee, he
will not offer, at least thou shalt compel him to give the blessing to
the people.  But if, after the congregation is sat down, any other
person comes upon you of good fashion and character in the world,
whether he be a stranger, or one of your own country, neither do thou, O
bishop, if thou art speaking the word of God, or hearing him that sings
or reads, accept persons so far as to leave the ministry of the word,
that thou mayest appoint an upper place for him; but continue quiet, not
interrupting thy discourse, nor thy attention.  But let the brethren
receive him by the deacons; and if there be not a place, let the deacon
by speaking, but not in anger, raise the junior, and place the stranger
there.  And it is but reasonable that one that loves the brethren should
do so of his own accord; but if he refuse, let him raise him up by
force, and set him behind all, that the rest may be taught to give place
to those that are more honourable.  Nay, if a poor man, or one of a mean
family, or a stranger, comes upon you, whether he be old or young, and
there be no place, the deacon shall find a place for even these, and
that with all his heart; that, instead of accepting persons before men,
his ministration towards God may be well-pleasing.  The very same thing
let the deaconess do to those women, whether poor or rich, that come
unto them.

THAT EVERY CHRISTIAN OUGHT TO FREQUENT THE CHURCH DILIGENTLY BOTH
MORNING AND EVENING.

 LIX. When thou instructest the people, O bishop, command and exhort
them to come constantly to church morning and evening every day, and by
no means to forsake it on any account, but to assemble together
continually; neither to diminish the Church by withdrawing themselves,
and causing the body of Christ to be without its member.  For it is not
only spoken concerning the priests, but let every one of the laity
hearken to it as concerning himself, considering that it is said by the
Lord: "He that is not with me is against me, and he that gathereth not
with me scattereth abroad."(6) Do not you therefore scatter yourselves
abroad, who are the members of Christ, by not assembling together, since
you have Christ your head, according to His promise, present, and
communicating to you.(7) Be not careless of yourselves,

423

neither deprive your Saviour of His own members, neither divide His body
nor disperse His members, neither prefer the occasions of this life to
the word of God; but assemble yourselves together every day, morning and
evening, singing psalms and praying in the Lord's house: in the morning
saying the sixty-second Psalm, and in the evening the hundred and
fortieth, but principally on the Sabbath-day.  And on the day of our
Lord's resurrection, which is the Lord's day, meet more diligently,
sending praise to God that made the universe by Jesus, and sent Him to
us, and condescended to let Him suffer, and raised Him from the dead.
Otherwise what apology will he make to God who does not assemble on that
day to hear the saving word concerning the resurrection, on which we
pray thrice standing in memory of Him who arose in three days, in which
is performed the reading of the prophets, the preaching of the Gospel,
the oblation of the sacrifice, the gift of the holy food?

THE VAIN ZEAL WHICH THE HEATHENS AND JEWS SHOW IN FREQUENTING THEIR
TEMPLES AND SYNAGOGUES IS A PROPER EXAMPLE AND MOTIVE TO EXCITE
CHRISTIANS TO FREQUENT THE CHURCH.

 LX. And how can he be other than an adversary to God, who takes pains
about temporary things night and day, but takes no care of things
eternal?  who takes care of washings and temporary food every day, but
does not take care of those that endure for ever?  How can such a one
even now avoid hearing that word of the Lord, "The Gentiles are
justified more than you?"(1) as He says, by way of reproach, to
Jerusalem, "Sodom is justified rather than thou."  For if the Gentiles
every day, when they arise from sleep, run to their idols to worship
them, and before all their work and all their labours do first of all
pray to them, and in their feasts and in their solemnities do not keep
away, but attend upon them; and not only those upon the place, but those
living far distant do the same; and in their public shows all come
together, as into a synagogue: in the same manner those which are vainly
called Jews, when they have worked six days.  on the seventh day rest,
and come together into their synagogue, never leaving nor neglecting
either rest from labour or assembling together, while yet they are
deprived of the efficacy of the word in their unbelief, nay, and of the
force of that name Judah, by which they call themselves,--for Judah is
interpreted Confession,--but these do not confess to God (having
unjustly occasioned the suffering on the cross), so as to be saved on
their repentance;--if, therefore, those who are not saved frequently
assemble together for such purposes as do not profit them, what apology
wilt thou make to the Lord God who forsakest His Church, not imitating
so much as the heathen, but by such thy absence growest slothful, or
turnest apostate, or actest wickedness?  To whom the Lord says by
Jeremiah: "Ye have not kept my ordinances; nay, ye have not walked
according to the ordinances of the heathen, and you have in a manner
exceeded them."(2) And again: "lsrael has justified his soul more than
treacherous Judah."(3) And afterwards: "Will the Gentiles change their
gods which are not gods?(4) Wherefore pass over to the isles of Chittim,
and behold, and send to Kedar, and observe diligently whether such
things have been done.  For those nations have not changed their
ordinances; but," says He, "my people has changed its glory for that
which will not profit."(5) How, therefore, will any one make his apology
who has despised or absented himself from the church of God?

THAT WE MUST NOT PREFER THE AFFAIRS OF THIS LIFE TO THOSE WHICH CONCERN
THE WORSHIP OF GOD.

 LXI. But if any one allege the pretence of his own work, and so is a
despiser, "offering pretences for his sins," let such a one know that
the trades of the faithful are works by the by, but the worship of God
is their great work.  Follow therefore your trades as by the by, for
your maintenance, but make the worship of God your main business; as
also our Lord said: "Labour not for the meat which perishes, but for
that which endureth unto everlasting life."(6) And again: "This is the
work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent."(7) Endeavour
therefore never to leave the Church of God; but if any one overlooks it,
and goes either into a polluted temple of the heathens, or into a
synagogue of the Jews or heretics, what apology will such a one make to
God in the day of judgment, who has forsaken the oracles of the living
God, and the living and quickening oracles, such as are able to deliver
from eternal punishment, and has gone into an house of demons, or into a
synagogue of the murderers of Christ, or the congregation of the wicked?
--not hearkening unto him that says: "I have hated the congregation of
the wicked, and I will not enter with the ungodly.  I have not sat with
the assembly of vanity, neither will I sit with the ungodly."(8) And
again: "Blessed is the

424

man that hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the
way of sinners, and hath not sat in the seat of the scornful; but his
delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law will he meditate day
and night."(1) But thou, forsaking the gathering together of the
faithful, the Church of God, and His laws, hast respect to those "dens
of thieves," calling those things holy which He has called profane, and
making such things unclean which He has sanctified.  And not only so,
but thou already runnest after the pomps of the Gentiles, and hastenest
to their theatres, being desirous to be reckoned one of those that enter
into them, and to partake of unseemly, not to say abominable words; not
hearkening to Jeremiah, who says, "O Lord, I have not sat in their
assemblies, for they are scorners; but I was afraid because of Thy
hand;"(2) nor to Job, who speaks in like manner, "If I have gone at any
time with the scornful; for I shall be weighed in a just balance."(3)
But why wilt thou be a partaker of the heathen oracles, which are
nothing but dead men declaring by the inspiration of the devil deadly
things, and such as tend to subvert the faith, and to draw those that
attend to them to polytheism?  Do you therefore, who attend to the laws.
of God, esteem those laws more honourable than the necessities of this
life, and pay a greater respect to them, and run together to the Church
of the Lord, "which He has purchased with the blood of Christ, the
beloved, the first-born of every creature."(4) For this Church is the
daughter of the Highest, which has been in travail of you by the word of
grace, and has "formed Christ in you," of whom you are made partakers,
and thereby become His holy and chosen members, "not having spot or
wrinkle, or any such thing; but as being holy and unspotted in the
faith, ye are complete in Him, after the image of God that created
you."(5)

THAT CHRISTIANS MUST ABSTAIN FROM ALL THE IMPIOUS PRACTICES OF THE
HEATHENS.

 LXII. Take heed, therefore, not to join yourselves in your worship with
those that perish, which is the assembly of the Gentiles, to your deceit
and destruction.  For there is no fellowship between God and the devil;
for he that assembles himself with those that favour the things of the
devil, will be esteemed one of them, and will inherit a woe.  Avoid also
indecent spectacles: I mean the theatres and the pomps of the heathens;
their enchantments, observations of omens, soothsayings, purgations,
divinations, observations of birds; their necromancies and invocations.
For it is written: "There is no divination in Jacob, nor soothsaying in
Israel."(6) And again: "Divination is iniquity."(7) And elsewhere: "Ye
shall not be soothsayers, and follow observers of omens, nor diviners,
nor dealers with familiar spirits.  Ye shall not preserve alive
wizards."(8) Wherefore Jeremiah exhorts, saying: "Walk ye not according
to the ways of the heathen, and be not afraid of the signs of
heaven."(9) So that it is the duty of a believer to avoid the assemblies
of the ungodly, of the heathen, and of the Jews, and of the rest of the
heretics, lest by uniting ourselves to them we bring snares upon our own
souls; that we may not by joining in their feasts, which are celebrated
in honour of demons, be partakers with them in their impiety.  You are
also to avoid their public meetings, and those sports which are
celebrated in them.  For a believer ought not to go to any of those
public meetings, unless to purchase a slave, and save a soul?  and at
the same time to buy such other things as suit their necessities.
Abstain, therefore, from all idolatrous pomp and state, all their public
meetings, banquets, duels, and all shows belonging to demons.

SEC. VIII.--ON THE DUTY OF WORKING FOR A LIVELIHOOD.

THAT A CHRISTIAN WHO WILL NOT WORK MUST NOT EAT, AS PETER AND THE REST
OF THE APOSTLES WERE FISHERMEN, BUT PAUL AND AQUILA TENTMAKERS, JUDE THE
SON OF JAMES AN HUSBANDMAN.

 LXIII. Let the young persons of the Church endeavour to minister
diligently in all necessaries: mind your business with all becoming
seriousness, that so you may always have sufficient to support
yourselves and those that are needy, and not burden the Church of God.
For we ourselves, besides our attention to the word of the Gospel, do
not neglect our inferior employments.  For some of us are fishermen,
some tentmakers, some husbandmen, that so we may never be idle.  So says
Solomon somewhere: "Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways
diligently, and become wiser than she.  For she, having neither field,
overseer, nor ruler, prepareth her food in the summer, and layeth up a
great store in the harvest.  Or else go to the bee, and learn how
laborious she is, and her work how valuable it is, whose labours both
kings and mean men make use of for their health.  She is desirable and
glorious, though she be weak in strength, yet by honouring wisdom she is
improved, etc.  How long wilt thou lie on thy bed, O sluggard?  When
wilt thou

425

awake out of thy sleep?  Thou sleepest awhile thou liest down awhile,
thou slumberest awhile, thou foldest thy hands on thy breast to sleep
awhile.  Then poverty comes on thee like an evil traveller, and want as
a swift racer.  But if thou beest diligent, thy harvest shall come as a
fountain, and want shall fly from thee as an evil runagate."(1) And
again: "He that manageth his own land shall be filled with bread."(2)
And elsewhere he says: "The slothful has folded his own hands together,
and has eaten his own

flesh."(3) And afterwards: "The sluggard hides his hand; he will not be
able to bring it to his mouth."(4) And again: "By slothfulness of the
hands a floor will be brought low."(5) Labour therefore continually; for
the blot of the slothful is not to be healed.  But "if any one does not
work, let not such a one eat"(6) among you.  For the Lord our God hates
the slothful.  For no one of those who are dedicated to God ought to be
idle.

ELUCIDATION

(To purchase a slave, and save a soul, p.  424.)

 THE calm and patient course of the Church in gradually obliterating
slavery has been well defended by the pious Spanish Ultramontane writer
Jacques Balmas.(1) Of course, he imagines that "the Catholic Church,"
which wrought the change, was his own Tridentine Communion,(2) Lecky's
remarks on the gladiators and slavery as the product of famines and
distress are worthy of note, and even he is forced to recognise the
ameliorating influences of Christianity from the beginning.(3) He says:-
-

 "Christianity for the first time made charity a rudimentary virtue,
giving it a foremost place in the moral type and in the exhortations of
its teachers.  Besides its general influence in stimulating the
affections, it effected a complete revolution in this sphere, by
representing the poor as the special representatives of the Christian
founder, and thus making the love of Christ rather than the love of man
the principle of charity.  Even in the days of persecution, collections
for the relief of the poor were made at the Sunday meetings.  The
agapoe, or feasts of love, were intended mainly for the poor; and food
that was saved by the fasts was devoted to their benefit.  A vast
organization of charity, presided over by the bishops, and actively
directed by the deacons, soon ramified over Christendom, till the bond
of charity became the bond of unity, and the most distant sections of
the Christian Church corresponded by the interchange of mercy.(4) Long
before the era of Constantine it was observed that the charities of the
Christians were so extensive--it may perhaps be said so excessive--that
they drew very many impostors to the Church; and, when the victory of
Christianity was achieved, the enthusiasm for charity displayed itself
in the erection of numerous institutions that were altogether unknown to
the pagan world."

CONSTITUTIONS OF THE HOLY APOSTLES

BOOK III.

SEC. I.--CONCERNING WIDOWS.

 THE AGE AT WHICH WIDOWS SHOULD BE CHOSEN.

 I. CHOOSE your "widows not under sixty years of age,"(1) that in some
measure the suspicion of a second marriage may be prevented by their
age.  But if you admit one younger into the order of widows, and she
cannot bear her widowhood in her youth, and marries, she will procure
indecent reflections on the glory of the order of the widows, and shall
give an account to God; not because she married a second time, but
because she has "waxed wanton against Christ,"(2) and not kept her
promise, because she did not came and keep her promise with faith and
the fear of God.(3) Wherefore such a promise ought not to be rashly
made, but with great caution: "for it is better for her not to vow, than
to vow and not to pay."(4) But if any younger woman, who has lived but a
while with her husband, and has lost him by death or some other
occasion, and remains by herself, having the gift of widowhood, she will
be found to be blessed, and to be like the widow of Sarepta, belonging
to Sidon, with whom the holy prophet of God, Elijah,(5) lodged.  Such a
one may also be compared to "Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe
of Aser, which departed not from the temple, but continued in
supplications and prayers night and day, who was fourscore years old,
and had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity, who
glorified the coming of Christ, and gave thanks to the Lord, and spake
concerning Him to all those who looked for redemption in Israel."(6)
Such a widow will have a good report, and will be honoured, having both
glory with men upon earth, and eternal praise with God in heaven.

THAT WE MUST AVOID THE CHOICE OF YOUNGER WIDOWS, BECAUSE OF SUSPICION.

 II. But let not the younger widows be placed in the order of widows,
lest, under pretence of inability to contain in the flower of their age,
they come to a second marriage, and become subject to imputation.  But
let them be assisted and supported, that so they may not, under pretence
of being deserted, come to a second marriage, and so be ensnared in an
unseemly imputation.  For you ought to know this, that once marrying
according to the law is righteous, as being according to the will of
God; but second marriages, after the promise, are wicked, not on account
of the marriage itself, but because of the falsehood.  Third marriages
are indications of incontinency.  But such marriages as are beyond the
third are manifest fornication, and unquestionable uncleanness.  For God
in the creation gave one woman to one man; for "they two shall be one
flesh."(7) But to the younger women let a second marriage be allowed
after the death of their first husband, lest they fall into the
condemnation of the devil, and many snares, and foolish lusts, which are
hurtful to souls, and which bring upon them punishment rather than rest.

WHAT CHARACTER THE WIDOWS OUGHT TO BE OF, AND HOW THEY OUGHT TO BE
SUPPORTED BY THE BISHOP.

 III. But the true widows are those which have had only one husband,
having a good report among the generality for good works; widows indeed,
sober, chaste, faithful, pious, who have brought up their children well,
and have entertained strangers unblameably, which are to be supported as
devoted to God.  Besides, do thou, O bishop, be mindful of the needy,
both reaching Gilt thy helping hand and making provision

427

for them as the steward of God, distributing seasonably the oblations to
every one of them, to the widows, the orphans, the friendless, and those
tried with affliction.

 THAT WE OUGHT TO BE CHARITABLE TO ALL SORTS OF PERSONS IN WANT.

 IV. For what if some are neither widows nor widowers, but stand in need
of assistance, either through poverty or some disease, or the
maintenance of a great number of children?  It is thy duty to oversee
all people, and to take care of them all.  For they that give gifts do
not of their own head give them to the widows, but barely bring them in,
calling them free-will offerings, that so thou that knowest those that
are in affliction mayest as a good steward give them their portion of
the gift.  For God knows the giver, though thou distributest it to those
in want when he is absent.  And he has the reward of well-doing, but
thou the blessedness of having dispensed it with a good conscience.  But
do thou tell them who was the giver, that they may pray for him by name.
For it is our duty to do good to all men, not fondly preferring one or
another, whoever they be.  For the Lord says: "Give to every one that
asketh of thee."(1) It is evident that it is meant of every one that is
really in want, whether he be friend or foe, whether he be a kinsman or
a stranger, whether he be single or married.  For in all the Scripture
the Lord gives us exhortations about the needy, saying first by Isaiah:
"Deal thy bread to the hungry, and bring the poor which have no covering
into thine house.  If thou seest the naked, do thou cover him; and thou
shalt not overlook those which are of thine own family and seed."(2) And
then by Daniel He says to the potentate: "Wherefore, O king, let my
counsel please thee, and purge thy sins by acts of mercy, and thine
iniquities by bowels of compassion to the needy."(3) And He says by
Solomon: "By acts of mercy and of faith iniquities are purged."(4) And
He says again by David: "Blessed is he that has regard to the poor and
needy; the Lord shall deliver him in the evil day."(5) And again: "He
hath dispersed abroad, he hath given to the needy, his righteousness
remaineth for ever."(6) And Solomon says: "He that hath mercy on the
poor lendeth to the Lord;(7) according to his gift it shall be repaid
him again."(8) And afterwards: "He that stoppeth his ear, that he may
not hear him that is in want, he also shall call himself, and there
shall be none to hear him."(9)

 THAT THE WIDOWS ARE TO BE VERY CAREFUL OF THEIR BEHAVIOR.

 V. Let every widow be meek, quiet, gentle, sincere, free from anger,
not talkative, not clamorous, not hasty of speech, not given to evil-
speaking, not captious, not double-tongued, not a busybody.  If she see
or hear anything that is not right, let her be as one that does not see,
and as one that does not hear.  And let the widow mind nothing but to
pray for those that give, and for the whole Church; and when she is
asked anything by any one, let her not easily answer, excepting
questions concerning the faith, and righteousness, and hope in God,
remitting those that desire to be instructed in the doctrines of
godliness to the governors.  Let her only answer so as may tend to the
subversion of the error of polytheism, and let her demonstrate the
assertion concerning the monarchy of God.  But of the remaining
doctrines let her not answer anything rashly, lest by saying anything
unlearnedly she should make the word to be blasphemed.  For the Lord has
taught us that the word is like "a grain of mustard seed,"(10) which is
of a fiery nature, which if any one uses unskilfully, he will find it
bitter.  For in the mystical points we ought not to be rash, but
cautious; for the Lord exhorts us, saying: "Cast not your pearls before
swine, lest they trample them with their feet, and turn again and rend
you."(11) For unbelievers, when they hear the doctrine concerning Christ
not explained as it ought to be, but defectively, and especially that
concerning His incarnation or His passion, will rather reject it with
scorn, and laugh at it as false, than praise God for it.  And so the
aged women will be guilty of rashness, and of causing blasphemy, and
will inherit a woe.  For says He, "Woe to him by whom my name is
blasphemed among the Gentiles."(12)

 THAT WOMEN OUGHT NOT TO TEACH, BECAUSE IT IS UNSEEMLY; AND WHAT WOMEN
FOLLOWED OUR LORD.

 VI. We do not permit our "women to teach in the Church,"(13) but only
to pray and hear those that teach; for our Master and Lord, Jesus
Himself, when He sent us the twelve to make disciples of the people and
of the nations, did nowhere send out women to preach, although He did
not want such.  For there were with us the mother of our Lord and His
sisters; also Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Martha
and Mary the sisters of Lazarus; Salome, and certain others.  For, had
it been necessary for women to teach, He Himself had first com-

428

manded these also to instruct the people with us.  For "if the head of
the wife be the man,"(1) it is not reasonable that the rest of the body
should govern the head.  Let the widow therefore own herself to be the
"altar of God," and let her sit in her house, and not enter into the
houses of the faithful, under any pretence, to receive anything; for the
altar of God never runs about, but is fixed in one place.  Let,
therefore, the virgin and the widow be such as do not run about, or gad
to the houses of those who are alien from the faith.  For such as these
are gadders and impudent: they do not make their feet to rest in one
place, because they are not widows, but purses ready to receive,
triflers, evil-speakers, counsellors of strife, without shame, impudent,
who being such, are not worthy of Him that called them.  For they do not
come to the common station of the congregation on the Lord's day,(2) as
those that are watchful; but either they slumber, or trifle, or allure
men, or beg, or ensnare others, bringing them to the evil one; not
suffering them to be watchful in the Lord, but taking care that they go
out as vain as they came in, because they do not hear the word of the
Lord either taught or read.  For of such as these the prophet Isaiah
says: "Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye
shall see, and not perceive: for the heart of this people is waxen
gross,(3) and they hear heavily with their ears."(4)

 WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERS OF WIDOWS FALSELY SO CALLED.

 VII. In the same manner, therefore, the ears of the hearts of such
widows as these are stopped, that they will not sit within in their
cottages to speak to the Lord, but will run about with the design of
getting, and by their foolish prattling fulfil the desires of the
adversary.  Such widows, therefore, are not affixed to the altar of
Christ: for there are some widows which esteem gain their business; and
since they ask without shame, and receive without being satisfied,
render the generality more backward in giving.  For when they ought to
be content with their subsistence from the Church, as having moderate
desires, on the contrary, they run from one of their neighbours'
houses(5) to another, and disturb them, heaping up to themselves plenty
of money, and lend at bitter usury, and are only solicitous about
mammon, whose bag is their god; who prefer eating and drinking before
all virtue, saying, "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die;"(6) who

esteem these things as if they were durable and not perishing things.
For she that uses herself to nothing but talking of money, worships
mammon instead of God,--that is, is a servant to gain, but cannot be
pleasing to God, nor resigned to His worship; not being able to
intercede with Him continuously on account that her mind and disposition
run after money: for "where the treasure is, there will the heart be
also."(7) For she is thinking in her mind whither she may go to receive,
or that a certain woman her friend has forgot her, and she has somewhat
to say to her.  She that thinks of such things as these will no longer
attend to her prayers, but to that thought which offers itself; so that
though sometimes she would pray for anybody, she will not be beard,
because she does not offer her petition to the Lord with her whole
heart, but with a divided mind.  But she that will attend to God will
sit within, and mind the things of the Lord day and night, offering her
sincere petition with a mouth ready to utter the same without ceasing.
As therefore Judith, most famous for her wisdom, and of a good report
for her modesty, "prayed to God night and day for Israel;"(8) so also
the widow who is like to her will offer her intercession without ceasing
for the Church to God.  And He will hear her, because her mind is fixed
on this thing alone, and is not disposed to be either insatiable, or
covetous, or expensive; when her eye is pure, and her hearing clean, and
her hands undefiled, and her feet quiet, and her mouth prepared for
neither gluttony nor trifling, but speaking the things that are fit, and
partaking of only such things as are necessary for her maintenance.  So,
being grave, and giving no disturbance, she will be pleasing to God; and
as soon as she asks anything, the gift will come to her: as He says,
"While thou art speaking, I will say, Behold, I am here."(9) Let such a
one also be free from the love of money, free from arrogance, not given
to filthy lucre, not insatiable, not gluttonous, but continent, meek,
giving nobody disturbance, pious, modest, sitting at home, singing, and
praying, and reading, and watching, and fasting; speaking to God
continually in songs and hymns.  And let her take wool, and rather
assist others than herself want from them; being mindful of that widow
who is honoured in the Gospel with the Lord's testimony, who, coming
into the temple, "cast into the treasury two mites, which make a
farthing.  And Christ our Lord and Master, and Searcher of hearts, saw
her, and said, Verily I say unto you, that this widow hath cast into the
treasury more than they all: for all they have cast in of their

429

abundance, but this woman of her penury hath cast in all the living that
she had."(1)

 The widows therefore ought to be grave, obedient to their bishops, and
their presbyters, and their deacons, and besides these to the
deaconesses, with piety, reverence, and fear; not usurping authority,
nor desiring to do anything beyond the constitution without the consent
of the deacon: as, suppose, the going to any one to eat or drink with
him, or to receive anything from anybody.  But if without direction she
does any one of these things, let her be punished with fasting, or else
let her be separated on account of her rashness.

THAT THE WIDOWS OUGHT NOT TO ACCEPT OF ALMS FROM THE UNWORTHY NO MORE
THAN THE BISHOP, OR ANY OTHER OF THE FAITHFUL.

 VIII. For how does such a one know of what character the person is from
whom she receives?  or from what sort of ministration he supplies her
with food, whether it does not arise from rapine or some other ill
course of life?  while the widow does not remember that if she receives
in a way unworthy of God, she must give an account for every one of
these things.  For neither will the priests at any time receive a free-
will offering from such a one, as, suppose, from a rapacious person or
from a harlot.  For it is written, "Thou shalt not covet the goods that
are thy neighbour's;"(2) and, "Thou shalt not offer the hire of an
harlot to the Lord God."(3) From such as these no offerings ought to be
accepted, nor indeed from those that are separated from the Church.  Let
the widows also be ready to obey the commands given them by their
superiors, and let them do according to the appointment of the bishop,
being obedient to him as to God; for he that receives from such a one
who is worthy of blame, or from one excommunicated, and prays for him,
while he purposes to go on in a wicked course, and while he is not
willing at any time to repent, holds communion with him in prayer, and
grieves Christ, who rejects the unrighteous, and confirms them by means
of the unworthy gift, and is defiled with them, not suffering them to
come to repentance, so as to fall down before God with lamentation, and
pray to Him.

THAT WOMEN OUGHT NOT TO BAPTIZE, BECAUSE IT IS IMPIOUS, AND CONTRARY TO
THE DOCTRINE OF CHRIST.

 IX. Now, as to women's baptizing, we let you know that there is no
small peril to those that undertake it.  Therefore we do not advise you
to it; for it is dangerous, or rather wicked and impious.  For if the
"man be the head of the woman,"(4) and he be originally ordained for the
priesthood, it is not just to abrogate the order of the creation, and
leave the principal to come to the extreme part of the body.  For the
woman is the body of the man, taken from his side, and subject to him,
from whom she was separated for the procreation of children.  For says
He, "He shall rule over thee."(5) For the principal part of the woman is
the man, as being her head.  But if in the foregoing constitutions we
have not permitted them to teach, how will any one allow them, contrary
to nature, to perform the office of a priest?  For this is one of the
ignorant practices of the Gentile atheism, to ordain women priests to
the female deities, not one of the constitutions of Christ.  For if
baptism were to be administered by women, certainly our Lord would have
been baptized by His own mother, and not by John; or when He sent us to
baptize, He would have sent along with us women also for this purpose.
But now He has nowhere, either by constitution or by writing, delivered
to us any such thing; as knowing the order of nature, and the decency of
the action;(6) as being the Creator of nature, and the Legislator of the
constitution.

THAT A LAYMAN OUGHT NOT TO DO ANY OFFICE OF THE PRIESTHOOD: HE OUGHT
NEITHER TO BAPTIZE, NOR OFFER, NOR LAY ON HANDS, NOR GIVE THE BLESSING.

 X. Neither do we permit the laity to perform any of the offices
belonging to the priesthood; as, for instance, neither the sacrifice,
nor baptism, nor the laying on of hands, nor the blessing, whether the
smaller or the greater: for "no one taketh this honour to himself, but
he that is called of God."(7) For such sacred offices are conferred by
the laying on of the hands of the bishop.  But a person to whom such an
office is not committed, but he seizes upon it for himself, he shall
undergo the punishment of Uzziah.(8)

THAT NONE BUT A BISHOP AND PRESBYTER, NONE EVEN OF THE INFERIOR RANKS OF
THE CLERGY, ARE PERMITTED TO DO THE OFFICES OF THE PRIESTS; THAT
ORDINATION BELONGS WHOLLY TO THE BISHOP, AND TO NOBODY ELSE.

 XI. Nay, further, we do not permit to the rest of the clergy to
baptize,--as, for instance, neither to readers, nor singers, nor
porters, nor ministers,--but to the bishops and presbyters alone, yet so
that the deacons are to minister to them

430

therein.  But those who venture upon it shall undergo the punishment of
the companions of Corah.(1) We do not permit presbyters to ordain
deacons, or deaconesses, or readers, or ministers, or singers, or
porters, but only bishops; for this is the ecclesiastical order and
harmony.

 THE REJECTION OF ALL UNCHARITABLE ACTIONS.

 XII. Now, as concerning envy, or jealousy, or evil-speaking, or strife,
or the love of contention, we have said already to you, that these are
alien from a Christian, and chiefly in the case of widows.  But because
the devil, who works in men, is in his conduct cunning, and full of
various devices, he goes to those that are not truly widows, as formerly
to Cain (for some say they are widows, but do not perform the
injunctions agreeable to the widowhood; as neither did Cain discharge
the duties due to a brother: for they do not consider how it is not the
name of widowhood that will bring them to the kingdom of God, but true
faith and holy(2) works). But if any one possesses the name of
widowhood, but does the works of the adversary, her widowhood will not
be imputed, but she will be thrust out of the kingdom, and delivered to
eternal punishment.  For we hear that some widows are jealous, envious
calumniators, and envious at the quiet of others.  Such widows as these
are not the disciples of Christ, nor of His doctrine; for it becomes
them, when one of their fellow-widows is clothed by any one, or receives
money, or meat, or drink, or shoes, at the sight of the refreshment of
their sister to say:--

 HOW THE WIDOWS ARE TO PRAY FOR THOSE THAT SUPPLY THEIR NECESSITIES.

 XIII. Thou art blessed, O God, who hast refreshed my fellow-widow.
Bless, O Lord, and glorify him that has bestowed these things upon her,
and let his good work ascend in truth to Thee, and remember him for good
in the day of his visitation.  And as for my bishop, who has so well
performed his duty to Thee, and(3) has ordered such a seasonable alms to
be bestowed on my fellow-widow, who was naked, do Thou increase his
glory, and give him a(3) crown of rejoicing in the day of the revelation
of Thy visitation.  In the same manner, let the widow who has received
the alms join with the other in praying for him who ministered to her.

THAT SHE WHO HAS BEEN KIND TO THE POOR OUGHT NOT TO MAKE A STIR AND TELL
ABROAD HER NAME, ACCORDING TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE LORD.

 XIV. But if any woman has been good, let her, as a prudent person,
conceal her own name, not

sounding a trumpet before her, that her alms may be with God in secret,
as the Lord says: "Thou, when thou doest thine alms, let not thy left
hand know what thy right hand cloth, that thine alms may be in
secret."(4) And let the widow pray for him that gave her the alms,
whosoever he be, as being the holy altar of Christ;(5) and "the Father,
who seeth in secret, will render to him that did good openly."  But
those widows which will not live according to the command of God, are
solicitous and inquisitive what deaconess it is that gives the charity,
and what widows receive it.  And when she has learned those things, she
murmurs at the deaconess who distributed the charity, saying, Dost not
thou see that I am in more distress, and want of thy charity?  Why,
therefore, hast thou preferred her before me?  She says these things
foolishly, not understanding that this does not depend on the will of
man, but the appointment of God.  For if she is herself a witness that
she was nearer, and, upon inquiry, was in greater want, and more naked
than the other, she ought to understand who it is that made this
constitution, and to hold her peace, and not to murmur at the deaconess
who distributed the charity, but to enter into her own house, and to
cast herself prostrate on her face to make supplication to God that her
sin may be forgiven her.  For God commanded the deaconess who brought
the charity not to proclaim the same, and this widow murmured because
she did not publish her name, that so she might know it, and run to
receive; nay, did not only murmur, but also cursed her, forgetting Him
that said: "He that blesseth thee is blessed, and he that curseth thee
is cursed."(6) But the Lord says: "When ye enter into an house, say,
Peace be to this house.  And if the son of peace be there, your peace
shall rest upon it; but if it be not worthy, your peace shall return to
you."(7)

THAT IT DOES NOT BECOME US TO REVILE OUR NEIGHBOURS, BECAUSE CURSING IS
CONTRARY TO CHRISTIANITY.

 XV. If, therefore, peace returns upon those that sent it, nay, upon
those that before had actually given it, because it did not find persons
fit to receive it, much rather will a curse return upon the head of him
that unjustly sent it, because he to whom it was sent was not worthy to
receive it: for all those who abuse others without a cause curse
themselves, as Solomon says: "As birds and sparrows fly away, so the
curse causeless shall not come upon any one."(8) And again he says:
"Those that bring re-

 431

proaches are exceeding foolish."(1) But as the bee, a creature as to its
strength feeble, if she stings any one, loses her sting, and becomes a
drone; in the same manner you also, whatsoever injustice you do to
others, will bring it upon yourselves.  "He hath graven and digged a
pit, and he shall fall into the same ditch that he has made."(2) And
again: "He that diggeth a pit for his neighbour, shall fall into it."(3)
Wherefore he that avoids a curse, let him not curse another; for "what
thou hatest should be done to thee, do not thou to another."(4)
Wherefore admonish the widows that are feeble-minded, strengthen those
of them that are weak, and praise such of them as walk in holiness.  Let
them rather bless, and not calumniate.  Let them make peace, and not
stir up contention.

SEC. II.--ON DEACONS AND DEACONESSES, THE REST OF THE CLERGY, AND ON
BAPTISM.

 Let not therefore either a bishop, or a presbyter, or a deacon, or any
one else of the sacerdotal catalogue, defile his tongue with calumny,
lest he inherit a curse instead of a blessing; and let it also be the
bishop's business and care that no lay person utter any curse: for he
ought to take care of all,--of the clergy, of the virgins, of the
widows, of the laity.  For which reason, O bishop, do thou ordain thy
fellow-workers, the labourers for life and for righteousness, such
deacons as are pleasing to God, such whom thou provest to be worthy
among all the people, and such as shall be ready for the necessities of
their ministration.  Ordain also a deaconess who is faithful and holy,
for the ministrations towards women.  For sometimes he cannot send a
deacon, who is a man, to the women, on account of unbelievers.  Thou
shalt therefore send a woman, a deaconess, on account of the
imaginations of the bad.  For we stand in need of a woman, a deaconess,
for many necessities; and first in the baptism of women, the deacon
shall anoint only their forehead with the holy oil, and after him the
deaconess shall anoint them:(5) for there is no necessity that the women
should be seen by the men; but only in the laying on of hands the bishop
shall anoint her head, as the priests and kings were formerly anointed,
not because those which are now baptized are ordained priests, but as
being Christians, or anointed, from Christ the Anointed, "a royal
priesthood, and an holy nation, the Church of God, the pillar and ground
of the marriage-chamber,"(6) who formerly were not a people, but now are
beloved and chosen, upon whom is called His new name?  as Isaiah the
prophet witnesses, saying: "And they shall Call the people by His new
name, which the Lord shall name for them."(8)

CONCERNING THE SACRED INITIATION OF HOLY

BAPTISM.

 XVI. Thou therefore, O bishop, according to that type, shalt anoint the
head of those that are to be baptized, whether they be men or women,
with the holy oil, for a type of the spiritual baptism.  After that,
either thou, O bishop, or a presbyter that is under thee, shall in the
solemn form name over them the Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit, and
shall dip them in the water; and let a deacon receive the man, and a
deaconess the woman, that so the conferring of this inviolable seal may
take place with a becoming decency.  And after that, let the bishop
anoint those that are baptized with ointment.

WHAT IS THE MEANING OF BAPTISM INTO CHRIST, AND ON WHAT ACCOUNT
EVERYTHING IS THERE SAID OR DONE.

 XVII. This baptism, therefore, is given into the death of Jesus:(9) the
water is instead of the burial, and the oil instead of the Holy Ghost;
the seal instead of the cross; the ointment is the confirmation of the
confession; the mention of the Father as of the Author and Sender; the
joint mention of the Holy Ghost as of the witness; the descent into the
water the dying together with Christ; the ascent out of the water the
rising again with Him.  The Father is the God over all; Christ is the
only-begotten God, the beloved Son, the Lord of glory; the Holy Ghost is
the Comforter, who is sent by Christ, land taught by Him, and proclaims
Him.

OF WHAT CHARACTER HE OUGHT TO BE WHO IS

INITIATED.

 XVIII. But let him that is to be baptized be free from all iniquity;
one that has left off to work sin, the friend of God, the enemy of the
devil, the heir of God the Father, the fellow-heir of His Son; one that
has renounced Satan, and the demons, and Satan's deceits; chaste, pure,
holy, beloved of God, the son of God, praying as a son to his father,
and saying, as from the common congregation of the faithful, thus: "Our
Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy
will be done on earth, as it is in heaven; give us this day our daily
bread; and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors; and lead us
not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil

432

one: for Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever.
Amen."(1)

WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERS OF A DEACON.

 XIX. Let the deacons be in all things unspotted, as the bishop himself
is to be, only more active; in number according to the largeness of the
Church, that they may minister to the infirm as workmen that are not
ashamed.  And let the deaconess be diligent in taking care of the women;
but both of them ready to carry messages, to travel about, to minister,
and to serve, as spake Isaiah concerning the Lord, saying: "To justify
the righteous, who serves many faithfully."(2) Let every one therefore
know his proper place, and discharge it diligently with one consent,
with one mind, as knowing the reward of their ministration; but let them
not be ashamed to minister to those that are in want, as even our" Lord
Jesus Christ came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give
His life a ransom for many."(3) So therefore ought they also to do, and
not to scruple it, if they should be obliged to lay down their life for
a brother.  For the Lord and our Saviour Jesus Christ did not scruple to
"lay down His life," as Himself says, "for His friends."(4) If,
therefore, the Lord of heaven and earth underwent all His sufferings for
us, how then do you make a difficulty to minister to such as are in
want, who ought to imitate Him who underwent servitude, and want, and
stripes, and the cross for us?  We ought therefore also to serve the
brethren, in imitation of Christ.  For says He: "He that will be great
among you, let him be your minister; and he that will be first among
you, let him be your servant."(5) For so did He really, and not in word
only, fulfil the prediction of, "serving many faithfully."(6) For "when
He had taken a towel, He girded Himself.  Afterward He puts water into a
bason; and as we were sitting at meat, He came and washed the feet of us
all, and wiped them with the towel."(7) By doing this He demonstrated to
us His kindness and brotherly affection, that so we also might do the
same to one another.  If, therefore, our Lord and Master so humbled
Himself, how can you, the labourers of the truth, and administrators of
piety, be ashamed to do the same to such of the brethren as are weak and
infirm?  Minister therefore with a kind mind, not murmuring nor
mutinying; for ye do not do it on the account of man, but on the account
of God, and shall receive from Him the reward of your ministry in the
day of your visitation.  It is your duty who are deacons to visit all
those who stand in need of visitation.  And tell your bishop of all
those that are in affliction; for you ought to be like his soul and
senses--active and attentive in all things to hint(8) as to your bishop,
and father s and master.

THAT A BISHOP OUGHT TO BE ORDAINED BY THREE OR BY TWO BISHOPS, BUT NOT
BY ONE; FOR THAT WOULD BE INVALID.

 XX. We command that a bishop be ordained by three bishops, or at least
by two; but it is not lawful that he be set over you by one; for the
testimony of two or three witnesses is more firm and secure.  But a
presbyter and a deacon are to be ordained by one bishop and the rest of
the clergy.  Nor must either a presbyter or a deacon ordain from the
laity into the clergy; but the presbyter is only to teach, to offer, to
baptize, to bless the people, and the deacon is to minister to the
bishop, and to the presbyters, that is, to do the office of a
ministering deacon, but not to meddle with the other offices.

433

CONSTITUTIONS OF THE HOLY APOSTLES

BOOK IV.

SEC. I.--ON HELPING THE POOR.

THOSE WHO HAVE NO CHILDREN SHOULD ADOPT ORPHANS, AND TREAT THEM AS THEIR
OWN CHILDREN.

 I. WHEN any Christian becomes an orphan, whether it be a young man or a
maid, it is good that some one of the brethren who is without a child
should take the young man, and esteem him in the place of a son; and he
that has a son about the same age, and that is marriageable, should
marry the maid to him: for they which do so perform a great work, and
become, fathers to the orphans, and shall receive the reward of this
charity from the Lord God.  But if any one that walks in the way of man-
pleasing is rich, and therefore is ashamed of orphans, the Father of
orphans and Judge of widows will make provision for the orphans, but
himself shall have such an heir as will spend what he has spared; and it
shall happen to him according as it is said: "What things the holy
people have not eaten, those shall the Assyrians eat."  As also Isaiah
says: "Your land, strangers devour it in your presence,"(1)

HOW THE BISHOP OUGHT TO PROVIDE FOR THE

ORPHANS.

 II. Do you therefore, O bishops, be solicitous about their maintenance,
being in nothing wanting to them; exhibiting to the orphans the care of
parents; to the widows the care of husbands; to those of suitable age,
marriage; to the artificer, work; to the unable, commiseration; to the
strangers, an house; to the hungry, food; to the thirsty, drink; to the
naked, clothing; to the sick, visitation; to the prisoners, assistance.
Besides these, have a greater care of the orphans, that nothing may be
wanting to them; and that as to the maiden, till she arrives at the age
of marriage, and ye give her in marriage to a

brother: to the young man assistance, that he may learn a trade, and may
be maintained by the advantage arising from it; that so, when he is
dextrous in the management of it, he may thereby be enabled to buy
himself the tools of his trade, that so he may no longer burden any of
the brethren, or their sincere love to him, but may support himself: for
certainly he is a happy man who is able to support himself, and does not
take up the place of the orphan, the stranger, and the widow.

WHO OUGHT TO BE SUPPORTED ACCORDING TO THE

LORD'S CONSTITUTION.

 III. Since even the Lord said: "The giver was happier than the
receiver."(2) For it is again said by Him: "Woe to those that have, and
receive in hypocrisy; or who are able to support themselves, yet will
receive of others: for both of them shall give an account to the Lord
God in the day of judgment."  But an orphan who, by reason of his youth,
or he that by the feebleness of old age, or the incidence of a disease,
or the bringing up of many children, receives alms, such a one shall not
only not be blamed, but shall be commended: for he shall be esteemed an
altar to God, and be honoured by God, because of his zealous and
constant prayers for those that give to him; not receiving idly, but to
the uttermost of his power recompensing what is given him by his prayer.
Such a one therefore shall be blessed by God in eternal life.  But he
that hath, and receives in hypocrisy or through idleness, instead of
working and assisting others, shall be obnoxious to punishment before
God, because he has snatched away the morsel of the needy.(3)

OF THE LOVE OF MONEY.

 IV. For he that has money and does not bestow it upon others, nor use
it himself, is like the serpent, which they say sleeps over the
treasures; and of him is that scripture true which says, "He has
gathered riches of which he shall not

434

taste;"(1) and they will be of no use to him when he perishes justly.
For it says, "Riches will not profit in the day of wrath."  For such a
one has not believed in God, but in his own gold; esteeming that his
God, and trusting therein.  Such a one is a dissembler of the truth, an
accepter of persons, unfaithful, cheating, fearful, unmanly, light, of
no value, a complainer, ever in pain, his own enemy, and nobody's
friend.  Such a one's money shall perish, and a man that is a stranger
shall consume it, either by theft while he is alive, or by inheritance
when he is dead.  "For riches unjustly gotten shall be vomited up."(2)

WITH WHAT FEAR MEN OUGHT TO PARTAKE OF THE LORD'S OBLATIONS.

 V. We exhort, therefore, the widows and orphans to partake of those
things that are bestowed upon them with all fear, and all pious
reverence, and to return thanks to God who gives food to the needy, and
to lift up their eyes to Him.  For, says He, "Which of you shall eat, or
who shall drink without Him?  For He openeth His hand, and filleth every
living thing with His kindness: giving wheat to the young men, and wine
to the maidens, and oil for the joy of the living, grass for the cattle,
and green herb for the service of men, flesh for the wild beasts, seeds
for the birds, and suitable food for all creatures."(3) Wherefore the
Lord says:(4) "Consider the fowls of heaven,(5) that they sow not,
neither do they reap nor gather into barns, and your Father feedeth
them.  Are not ye much better than they?  Be not therefore solicitous,
saying, What shall we eat?  or what shall we drink?  For your Father
knoweth that ye have need of all these things."(6) Since ye therefore
enjoy such a providential care from Him, and are partakers of the good
things that are derived from Him, you ought to return praise to Him that
receives the orphan and the widow, to Almighty God, through His beloved
Son Jesus Christ our Lord; through whom(7) glory be to God in spirit and
truth for ever.  Amen.

WHOSE OBLATIONS ARE TO BE RECEIVED, AND

WHOSE NOT TO BE RECEIVED.

 VI. Now the bishop ought to know whose oblations he ought to receive,
and whose he ought not.  For he is to avoid corrupt dealers, and not
receive their gifts.  "For, a corrupt dealer.  shall not be justified
from sin."(8)For of them it was that Isaiah reproached lsrael, and said,
"Thy corrupt dealers mingle wine with water."(9) He is also to avoid
fornicators, for "thou shall not offer the hire of an harlot to the
Lord."(10) He is also to avoid extortioners, and such as covet other
men's goods, and adulterers; for the sacrifices of such as these are
abominable with God.  Also those that oppress the widow and overbear the
orphan, and fill prisons with the innocent, and abuse their own servants
wickedly, I mean with stripes, and hunger, and hard service, nay,
destroy whole cities; do thou, O bishop, avoid such as these, and their
odious oblations.  Thou shalt also refuse rogues, and such pleaders that
plead on the side of injustice, and idol-makers, and thieves, and unjust
publicans, and those that deceive by false balances and deceitful
measures, and a soldier who is a false accuser and not content with his
wages, but does violence to the needy, a murderer, a cut-throat, and an
unjust judge, a subverter of causes, him that lies in wait for men, a
worker of abominable wickedness, a drunkard, a blasphemer, a sodomite,
an usurer, and every one that is wicked and opposes the will of God.
For the Scripture says that all such as these are abominable with God.
For those that receive from such persons, and thereby support the widows
and orphans, shall be obnoxious to the judgment-seat of God; as Adonias
the prophet, in the book of Kings, when he disobeyed God, and both "eat
bread and drank water in the place which the Lord had forbid him,"(11)
because of the impiety of Jeroboam, was slain by a lion.  For the bread
which is distributed to the widows from labour is better, though it be
short and little, than that from injustice and false accusation, though
it be much and fine.  For the Scripture says: "Better is a little to the
righteous, than much riches of the sinners."(12) Now, although a widow,
who eats and is filled from the impious, pray for them, she shall not be
heard.  For God, who knows the heart, with judgment has declared
concerning the impious, saying, "If Moses and Samuel stand before my
face in their behalf, I will not hear them;"(13) and, "Pray thou not for
this people, and do not ask mercy for them, and do not intercede with me
for them, for I will not hear thee."(14)

THAT THE OBLIGATIONS OF THE UNWORTHY, WHILE THEY ARE SUCH, DO NOT ONLY
NOT PROPITIATE GOD, BUT ON THE CONTRARY PROVOKE HIM TO INDIGATION.

 VII. And not these only, but those that are in sin and have not
repented, will only not be

435

heard when they pray, but will provoke God to anger, as putting Him in
mind of their own wickedness.  Avoid therefore such ministrations, as
you would the price of a dog and the hire of an harlot; for both of them
are forbidden by the laws.  For neither did Elisha receive the presents
which were brought by Hazael,(1) nor Ahijah those from Jeroboam;(2) but
if the prophets of God did not admit of presents from the impious, it is
reasonable, O bishops, that neither should you.  Nay, when Simon the
magician offered money to me Peter and John,(3) and tried to obtain the
invaluable grace by purchase, we did not admit it, but bound him with
everlasting maledictions, because he thought to possess the gift of God,
not by a pious mind towards God, but by the price of money.  Avoid
therefore such oblations to God's altar as are Hot from a good
conscience.  For says He: "Abstain from all injustice, and thou shalt
not fear, and trembling shall not come nigh thee."(4)

THAT IT IS BETTER TO AFFORD, THOUGH IT BE INCONSIDERABLE AND FEW,
CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE WIDOWS FROM OUR OWN LABOURS, THAN THOSE WHICH ARE
MANY AND LARGE RECEIVED FROM THE UNGODLY; FOR IT IS BETTER TO PERISH BY
FAMINE THAN TO RECEIVE AN OBLATION FROM THE UNGODLY.

 VIII. But if ye say that those who give alms are such as these, and if
we do not receive from them, whence shall we administer to the widows?
And whence shall the poor among the people be maintained?  Ye shall hear
from us, that therefore have ye received the gift of the Levites, the
oblations of your people, that ye might have enough for yourselves, and
for those that are in want; and that ye might not be so straitened as to
receive from the wicked.  But if the churches be so straitened, it is
better to perish than to receive anything from the enemies of God, to
the reproach and abuse of His friends.  For of such as these the prophet
speaks: "Let not the oil of a sinner moisten my head."(5) Do ye
therefore examine such persons, and receive from such as walk holily,
and supply the afflicted.  But receive not from those that are
excommunicated, until they are thought worthy to become the members of
the Church.  But if a gift be wanting, inform the brethren, and make a
collection from them, and thence minister to the orphans and widows in
righteousness.

THAT THE PEOPLE OUGHT TO BE EXHORTED BY THE PRIEST TO DO GOOD TO THE
NEEDY, AS SAYS SOLOMON THE WISE.

 IX. Say unto the people under thee what Solomon the wise says: "Honour
the Lord out of thy just labours, and pay thy first-fruits to Him out of
thy fruits of righteousness, that thy garners may be filled with fulness
of wheat, and thy presses may burst out with wine."(6) Therefore
maintain and clothe those that are in want from the righteous labour of
the faithful.  And such sums of money as are collected from them in the
manner aforesaid, appoint to be laid out in the redemption of the
saints, the deliverance of slaves, and of captives, and of prisoners,
and of those that have been abused, and of those that have been
condemned by tyrants to single combat and death on account of the name
of Christ.  For the Scripture says: "Deliver those that are led to
death, and redeem those that are ready to be slain, do not spare."(7)

A CONSTITUTION, THAT IF ANY ONE OF THE UNGODLY BY FORCE WILL CAST MONEY
TO THE PRIESTS, THEY SPEND IT IN WOOD AND COALS, BUT NOT IN FOOD.

 X. But if at any time you be forced unwillingly to receive money from
any ungodly person, lay it out in wood and coals, that so neither the
widow nor the orphan may receive any of it, or be forced to buy with it
either meat or drink, which it is unfit to do.  For it is reasonable
that such gifts of the ungodly should be fuel for the fire, and not food
for the pious.  And this method is plainly appointed by the law,(8) when
it calls a sacrifice kept too long a thing not fit to be eaten, and
commands it to be consumed with fire.  For such oblations are not evil
in their nature, but on account of the mind of those that bring them.
And this we ordain, that we may not reject those that come to us, as
knowing that the common conversation of the pious has often been very
profitable to the ungodly, but religious communion with them is alone
hurtful.  And so much, beloved, shall suffice to have spoken to you in
order to your security.

SEC. II.--ON DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL LIFE. OF PARENTS AND CHILDREN.

 XI. Ye fathers, educate your children in the Lord, bringing them up in
the nurture and admonition of the Lord; and teach them such trades as
are agreeable and suitable to the word, lest

436

they by such opportunity become extravagant, and continue without
punishment from their parents, and so get relaxation before their time,
and go astray from that which is good.  Wherefore be not afraid to
reprove them, and to teach them wisdom with severity.  For your
corrections will not kill them, but rather preserve them.  As Solomon
says somewhere in the book of Wisdom: "Chasten thy son, and he will
refresh thee; so wilt thou have good hope of him.  Thou verily shalt
smite him with the rod, and shall deliver his soul from death."(1) And
again, says the same Solomon thus, "He that spareth his rod, hateth his
son;"(2) and afterwards, "Beat his sides whilst he is an infant, lest he
be hardened and disobey thee."(3) He, therefore, that neglects to
admonish and instruct his own son, hates his own child.  Do you
therefore teach your children the word of the Lord.  Bring them under
with cutting stripes, and make them subject from their infancy, teaching
them the Holy Scriptures, which are Christian and divine, and delivering
to them every sacred writing, "not giving them such liberty that they
get the mastery,"(4) and act against your opinion, not permitting them
to club together for a treat with their equals.  For so they will be
turned to disorderly courses, and will fall into fornication; and if
this happen by the carelessness of their parents, those that begat them
will be guilty of their souls.  For if the offending children get into
the company of debauched persons by the negligence of those that begat
them, they will not be punished alone by themselves; but their parents
also will be condemned on their account.  For this cause endeavour, at
the time when they are of an age fit for marriage, to join them in
wedlock, and settle them together, test in the heat and fervour of their
age their course of life become dissolute, and you be required to give
an account by the Lord God in the day of judgment.

OF SERVANTS AND MASTERS.

 XII. But as to servants, what can we say more than that the slave bring
a good will to his master, with the fear of God, although he be impious
and wicked,(5) but yet not to yield any compliance as to his worship?
And let the master love his servant, although he be his superior.  Let
him consider wherein they are equal, even as he is a man.  And let him
that has a believing master(6) love him both as his master, and as of
the same faith, and as a father, but still with the preservation of his
authority as his master: "not as an eye-servant, but as a lover of his
master; as knowing that God will recompense to him for his
subjection."(7) In like manner, let a master who has a believing servant
love him as a son or as a brother, on account of their communion in the
faith, but still preserving the difference of a servant.

IN WHAT THINGS WE OUGHT TO BE SUBJECT TO

THE RULERS OF THIS WORLD.

 XIII. Be ye Subject to all royal power and dominion in things which are
pleasing to God, as to the ministers of God, and the punishers of the
ungodly.(8) Render all the fear that is due to them, all offerings, all
customs, all honour, gifts, and taxes.(9) For this is God's command,
that l you owe nothing to any one but the pledge of love, which God has
commanded by Christ.(10)

OF VIRGINS.

 XIV. Concerning virginity we have received no commandment;(11) but we
leave it to the power of those that are willing, as a vow: exhorting
them so far in this matter that they do not promise anything rashly;
since Solomon says, "It is better not to vow, than to vow and not
pay."(12) Let such a virgin, therefore, be holy in body and soul, as the
temple of God,(13) as the house of Christ, as the habitation of the Holy
Spirit.  For she that vows ought to do such works as are suitable to her
vow; and to show that her vow is real, and made on account of leisure
for piety, not to cast a reproach on marriage.  Let her not be a gadder
abroad, nor one that rambles about unseasonably; not double-minded, but
grave, continent, sober, pure, avoiding the conversation of many, and
especially of those that are of ill reputation.(14)

437

 CONSTITUTIONS OF THE HOLY APOSTLES

BOOK V.

SEC. I.--CONCERNING THE MARTYRS.

THAT IT IS REASONABLE FOR THE FAITHFUL TO SUPPLY THE WANTS OF THOSE WHO
ARE AFFLICTED FOR THE SAKE OF CHRIST BY THE UNBELIEVERS, ACCORDING TO
THE CONSTITUTION OF THE LORD.

 I. IF any Christian, on account of the name of Christ, and love and
faith towards God, be condemned by the ungodly to the games, to the
beasts, or to the mines, do not ye overlook him; but send to him from
your labour and your very sweat for his sustenance, and for a reward to
the soldiers, that he may be eased and be taken care of; that, as far as
lies in your power, your blessed brother may not be afflicted: for he
that is condemned for the name of the Lord God is an holy martyr, a
brother of the Lord, the son of the Highest, a receptacle of the Holy
Spirit, by whom every one of the faithful has received the illumination
of the glory of the holy Gospel, by being vouchsafed the incorruptible
crown, and the testimony of Christ's sufferings, and the fellowship of
His blood, to be made conformable to the death of Christ for the
adoption of children.  For this cause do you, all ye of the faithful, by
your bishop, minister to the saints of your substance and of your
labour.  But if any one has not, let him fast a day, and set apart that,
and order it for the saints.  But if any one has superfluities, let him
minister more to them according to the proportion of his ability.  But
if he can possibly sell all his livelihood, and redeem them out of
prison, he will be blessed, and a friend of Christ.  For if he that
gives his goods to the poor be perfect, supposing his knowledge of
divine things, much more is he so that does it on account of the
martyrs.  For such a one is worthy of God, and will fulfil His will by
supplying those who have confessed Him before nations and kings, and the
children of Israel; concerning whom our Lord declared, saying:
"Whosoever shall confess me before men, him will I also confess before
my Father."(1) And if

these be such as to be attested to by Christ before His Father, you
ought not to be ashamed to go to them in the prisons.  For if you do
this, it will be esteemed to you for a testimony, because the real trial
was to them a testimony; and your readiness will be so to you, as being
partakers of their combat: for the Lord speaks somewhere to such as
these, saying: "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world.  For I was an hungry,
and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was a
stranger, and ye took me in; naked, and ye clothed me; I was sick, and
ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye came unto me.  Then shall the
righteous answer, and say, Lord, when saw we Thee an hungered, and fed
Thee?  or thirsty, and gave Thee drink?  When saw we Thee naked, and
clothed Thee?  or sick, and visited Thee?  When saw we Thee a stranger,
and took Thee in?  or in prison, and came unto Thee?  And He will answer
and say unto them, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of
these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.  And these shall go away
into life everlasting.  Then shall He say unto them on His left hand,
Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil
and his angels.  For I was hungry, and ye gave me no meat; I was
thirsty, and ye gave me no drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me not
in; naked, and ye clothed me not; sick, and in prison, and ye visited me
not.  Then shall they also answer and say, Lord when saw we Thee hungry,
or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not
minister unto Thee?  Then shall He answer and say unto them, Verily I
say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have not done it unto one of the least of
these, neither have ye done it unto me.  And these shall go away unto
everlasting punishment."(2)

438

THAT WE ARE TO AVOID INTERCOURSE WITH FALSE BRETHREN WHEN THEY CONTINUE
IN THEIR WICKEDNESS.

 II. But if any one who calls himself a brother is seduced by the evil
one, and acts wickedness, and is convicted and condemned to death as an
adulterer, or a murderer, depart from him, that ye may be secure, and
none of you may be suspected as a partner in such an abominable
practice; and that no evil report may be spread abroad, as if all
Christians took a pleasure in unlawful actions.  Wherefore keep far from
them.  But do you assist with all diligence those that for the sake of
Christ are abused by the ungodly and shut up in prison, or who are given
over to death, or bonds, or banishment, in order to deliver your fellow-
members from wicked hands.  And if any one who accompanies with them is
caught, and falls into misfortune, he is blessed, because he is partaker
with the martyr, and is one that imitates the sufferings of Christ; for
we ourselves also, when we oftentimes received stripes from Caiaphas,
and Alexander, and Annas, for Christ's sake, "went out rejoicing that we
were counted worthy to suffer such things for our Saviour."(1) Do you
also rejoice when ye suffer such things, for ye shall be blessed in that
day.(2)

THAT WE OUGHT TO AFFORD AN HELPING HAND TO SUCH AS ARE SPOILED FOR THE
SAKE OF CHRIST, ALTHOUGH WE SHOULD INCUR DANGER OURSELVES.

 III. Receive also those that are persecuted on account of the faith,
and who "fly from city to city"(3) on account of the Lord's commandment;
and assist them as martyrs, rejoicing that ye are made partakers of
their persecution, as knowing that they are esteemed blessed by the
Lord; for Himself says: "Blessed are ye when men shall reproach you, and
persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my
sake.  Rejoice, and be exceeding glad, because your reward is great in
heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before us."(4)
And again: "If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute
you."(5) And afterwards: "If they persecute you in this city, flee ye to
another.  For in the world ye have tribulation: for they shall deliver
you into the synagogues; and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings
for my sake, and for a testimony to them."(6) And, "He that endureth
unto the end, the same shall be saved."(7) For he that is persecuted for
the

sake of the faith, and bears witness in regard to Him, Christ, and
endures, is truly a man of

God.

 THAT IT IS AN HORRIBLE AND DESTRUCTIVE THING TO DENY CHRIST.

 IV. But he that denies himself to be a Christian, that he may not be
hated of men, and so loves his own life more than he does the Lord, in
whose hand his breath is, is wretched and miserable, as being detestable
and abominable, who desires to be the friend of men, but is the enemy of
God, having no longer his portion with the saints, but with those that
are accursed; choosing instead of the kingdom of the blessed, that
eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels: not being
any longer hated by men, but rejected by God, and cast out from His
presence.  For of such a one our Lord declared, saying: "Whosoever shall
deny me before men, and shall be ashamed of my name, I also will deny
and be ashamed of him before my Father which is in heaven."(8) And again
He speaks thus to us ourselves, His disciples: "He that loveth father or
mother more than me, is not worthy of me; and he that loveth son or
daughter more than me, is not worthy of me; and he that taketh not his
cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.  He that findeth his
life, shall lose it; and he that loseth his life for my sake, shall find
it.  For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and
lose his own souL? or what shall a man give in exchange for his
soul?"(9) And afterwards: "Fear not them that kill the body, but are not
able to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both
soul and body in hell."(10)

THAT WE OUGHT TO IMITATE CHRIST IN SUFFERING, AND WITH ZEAL TO FOLLOW
HIS PATIENCE.

 V. Every one therefore who learns any art, when he sees his master by
his diligence and skill perfecting his art, does himself earnestly
endeavour to make what he takes in hand like to it.  If he is not able,
he is not perfected in his work.  We therefore who have a Master, our
Lord Jesus Christ, why do we not follow His doctrine?--since He
renounced repose, pleasure, glory, riches, pride, the power of revenge,
His mother and brethren, nay, and moreover His own life, on account of
His piety towards His Father, and His love to us the race of mankind;
and suffered not only persecution and stripes, reproach and mockery, but
also crucifixion, that He might save the penitent, both Jews and
Gentiles.  If therefore He for our sakes renounced His repose, was not
ashamed

439

of the cross, and did not esteem death inglorious, why do not we imitate
His sufferings, and renounce on His account even our own life, with that
patience which He gives us?  For He did all for our sakes, but we do it
for our own sakes: for He does not stand in need of us, but we stand in
need of His mercy.  He only requires the sincerity and readiness of our
faith, as the Scripture says: "If thou beest righteous, what doest thou
give to Him?  or what will He receive at thy hand?  Thy wickedness is to
a man like thyself, and thy righteousness to a son of man."(1)

THAT A BELIEVER OUGHT NEITHER RASHLY TO RUN INTO DANGER THROUGH
SECURITY, NOR TO BE OVER-TIMOROUS THROUGH PUSILLANIMITY, BUT TO FLY AWAY
FOR FEAR; YET THAT IF HE DOES FALL INTO THE ENEMY'S HAND, TO STRIVE
EARNESTLY, UPON ACCOUNT OF THE CROWN THAT IS LAID UP FOR HIM.

 VI. Let us therefore renounce our parents, and kinsmen, and friends,
and wife, and children, and possessions, and all the enjoyments of life,
when any of these things become an impediment to piety.  For we ought to
pray that we may not enter into temptation; but if we be called to
martyrdom, with constancy to confess His precious name, and if on this
account we be punished, let us rejoice, as hastening to immortality.
When we are persecuted, let us not think it strange; let us not love the
present world, nor the praises which come from men, nor the glory and
honour of rulers, according as some of the Jews wondered at the mighty
works of our Lord, yet did not believe on Him, for fear of the high
priests and the rest of the rulers: "For they loved the praise of men
more than the praise of God."(2) But now, by confessing a good
confession, we not only save ourselves, but we confirm those who are
newly illuminated, and strengthen the faith of the catechumens.  But if
we remit any part of our confession, and deny godliness by the faintness
of our persuasion, and the fear of a very short punishment, we not only
deprive ourselves of everlasting glory, but we shall also become the
causes of the perdition of others; and shall suffer double punishment,
as affording suspicion, by our denial that that truth which we gloried
in so much before is an erroneous doctrine.  Wherefore neither let us be
rash and hasty to thrust ourselves into dangers, for the Lord says:
"Pray that ye fall not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing,
but the flesh is weak."(3) Nor let us, when we do fall into dangers, be
fearful or ashamed of our profession.

For if a person, by the denial of his own hope, which is Jesus the Son
of God, should be delivered from a temporary death, and the next day
should fall dangerously sick upon his bed, with a distemper in his
bowels, his stomach, or his head, or any of the incurable diseases, as a
consumption, or gangrene, or looseness, or iliac passion, or dropsy, or
colic, and has a sudden catastrophe, and departs this life; is not he
deprived of the things present, and loses those eternal?  Or rather, he
is within the verge of eternal punishment, "and goes into outer
darkness, where is weeping and gnashing of teeth."(4) But let him who is
vouchsafed the honour of martyrdom rejoice with joy in the Lord, as
obtaining thereby so great a crown, and departing out of this life by
his confession.  Nay, though he be trot a catechumen, let him depart
without trouble; for his suffering for Christ will be to him a more
genuine baptism, because he does really die with Christ, but the rest
only in a figure.  Let him therefore rejoice in the imitation of his
Master, since is it thus ordained: "Let every one be perfect, as his
Master is."(5) Now his and our Master, Jesus the Lord, was smitten for
our sake: He underwent reproaches and revilings with long-suffering.  He
was spit upon, He was smitten on the face, He was buffeted; and when He
had been scourged, He was nailed to the cross.  He had vinegar and gall
to drink; and when He had fulfilled all things that were written, He
said to His God and Father, "Into Thy hands I commend my spirit."(6)
Wherefore let him that desires to be His disciple earnestly follow His
conflicts: let him imitate His patience, knowing that, although he be
burned in the fire by men, he will suffer nothing, like the three
children;(7) or if he does suffer anything, he shall receive a reward
from the Lord, believing in the one and the only true God and Father,
through Jesus Christ, the great High Priest, and Redeemer of our souls,
and rewarder of our sufferings.  To whom be glory for ever.  Amen.

SEVERAL DEMONSTRATIONS CONCERNING THE RESURRECTION, CONCERNING THE
SIBYL, AND WHAT THE STOICS SAY CONCERNING THE BIRD CALLED THE PHOENIX.

 VII. For the Almighty God Himself will raise us up through our Lord
Jesus Christ, according to His infallible promise, and grant us a
resurrection with all those that have slept from the beginning of the
world; and we shall then be such as we now are in our present form,
without any defect or corruption.  For we shall rise incorruptible:
whether we die at sea, or are scat-

440

tered on the earth, or are torn to pieces by wild beasts and birds, He
will raise us by His own power; for the whole world is held together by
the hand of God.  Now He says: "An hair of your head shall not
perish."(1) Wherefore He exhorts us, saying: "In your patience possess
ye your souls."(2) But as concerning the resurrection of the dead, and
the recompense of reward for the martyrs, Gabriel speaks to Daniel: "And
many of them that sleep shall arise out of the dust of the earth, some
to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.  And
they that understand shall shine as the sun, and as the firmament, and
as the stars."(3) Therefore the most holy Gabriel foretold that the
saints should shine like the stars: for His sacred name did witness to
them, that they might understand the truth.  Nor is a resurrection only
declared for the martyrs, but for all men, righteous and unrighteous,
godly and ungodly, that every one may receive according to his desert.
For God, says the Scripture, "will bring every work into judgment, with
every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil."(4) This
resurrection was not believed by the Jews, when of old they said, "Our
bones are withered, and we are gone."(5) To whom God answered, and said:
"Behold, I open your graves, and will bring you out of them; and I will
put my Spirit into you, and ye shall live: and ye shall know that I the
Lord have spoken it, and will do it."  And He says by Isaiah: "The dead
shall rise, and those that are in the graves shall be raised up.  And
those that rest in the earth shall rejoice, for the dew which is from
Thee shall be healing to them."(6) There are indeed many and various
things said concerning the resurrection, and concerning the continuance
of the righteous in glory, and concerning the punishment of the ungodly,
their fall, rejection, condemnation, shame, "eternal fire, and endless
worm."(7) Now that, if it had pleased Him that all men should be
immortal, it was in His power, He showed in the examples of Enoch and
Elijah, while He did not suffer them to have any experience of death.
Or if it had pleased Him in every generation to raise those that died,
that this also He was able to do He hath made manifest both by Himself
and by others; as when He raised the widow's son(8) by Elijah, and the
Shunammite's son(9) by Elisha.  But we are persuaded that death is not a
retribution of punishment, because even the saints

have undergone it; nay, even the Lord of the saints, Jesus Christ, the
life of them that believe, and the resurrection of the dead.  Upon this
account, therefore, according to the ancient practice, for those who
live in the great city, after the combats He brings a dissolution for a
while, that, when He raises up every one, He may either reject him or
crown him.  For He that made the body of Adam out of the earth will
raise up the bodies of the rest, and that of the first man, after their
dissolution, (to pay what is owing to the rational nature of man; we
mean the continuance in being through all ages.  He, therefore, who
brings on the dissolution, will Himself procure the resurrection.  And
He that said, "The Lord took dust from the ground, and formed man, and
breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a living
soul,"(10) added after the disobedience, "Earth thou art, and unto earth
shalt thou return;"(11) the same promised us a resurrection
afterwards.(12)) For says He: "All that are in the graves shall hear the
voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live."(13) Besides
these arguments, we believe there is to be a resurrection also from the
resurrection of our Lord.  For it is He that raised Lazarus, when he had
been in the grave four days,(14) and Jairus' daughter,(15) and the
widow's son.(16) It is He that raised Himself by the command of the
Father in the space of three days, who is the pledge of our
resurrection.  For says He: "I am the resurrection and the life."(17)
Now He that brought Jonas(18) in the space of three days, alive and
unhurt, out of the belly of the whale, and the three children out of the
furnace of Babylon, and Daniel out of the mouth of the lions,(19) does
not want power to raise us up also.  But if the Gentiles laugh at us,
and disbelieve our Scriptures, let at least their own prophetess
Sibylla(20) oblige them to believe, who says thus to them in express
words:--

 "But when all things shall be reduced to dust and ashes,

 And the immortal God who kindled the fire shall have quenched it,

 God shall form those bones and that ashes into a man again,

 And shall place mortal men again as they were before.

 And then shall be the judgment, wherein God will do justice,

 And judge the world again.  But as many mortals as have sinned through
impiety

 Shall again be covered under the earth;

 But so many as have been pious shall live again in the world.

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 When God puts His Spirit into them, and gives those at once that are
godly both life and favour, Then shall all see themselves."(1)

If, therefore, this prophetess confesses the resurrection, and does not
deny the restoration of all things, and distinguishes the godly from the
ungodly, it is in vain for them to deny our doctrine.  Nay, indeed, they
say they can show a resemblance of the resurrection, while they do not
themselves believe the things they declare: for they say that there is a
bird single in its kind which affords a copious demonstration of the
resurrection, which they say is without a mate, and the only one in the
creation.  They call it a phoenix, and relate that every five hundred
years it comes into Egypt, to that which is called the altar of the sun,
and brings with it a great quantity of cinnamon, and cassia, and balsam-
wood, and standing towards the east, as they say, and praying to the
sun, of its own accord is burnt, and becomes dust; but that a worm
arises again out of those ashes, and that when the same is warmed it is
formed into a new-born phoenix; and when it is able to fly, it goes to
Arabia, which is beyond the Egyptian countries.  If, therefore, as even
themselves say, a resurrection is exhibited by the means of an
irrational bird, wherefore do they vainly disparage our accounts, when
we profess that He who by His power brings that into being which was not
in being before, is able to restore this body, and raise it up again
after its dissolution?  For on account of this full assurance of hope we
undergo stripes, and persecutions, and deaths.  Otherwise we should to
no purpose undergo such things if we had not a full assurance of these
promises, whereof we profess ourselves to be the preachers.  As,
therefore, we believe Moses when he says, "In the beginning God made the
heaven and the earth;"(2) and we know that He did not want matter, but
by His will alone brought those things into being which Christ was
commanded to make; we mean the heaven, the earth, the sea, the light,
the night, the day, the luminaries, the stars, the fowls, the fishes,
and four-footed beasts, the creeping things, the plants, and the herbs;
so also will He raise all men up by His will, as not wanting any
assistance.  For it is the work of the same power to create the world
and to raise the dead.  And then He made man, who was not a man before,
of different parts, giving to him a soul made out of nothing.  But now
He will restore the bodies, which have been dissolved, to the souls that
are still in being: for the rising again belongs to things laid down,
not to things which have no being.  He therefore that made the original
bodies out of nothing, and fashioned various forms of them, will also
again revive and

raise up those that are dead.  For He that formed man in the womb out of
a little seed, and created in him a soul which was not in being before,-
-as He Himself somewhere speaks to Jeremiah, "Before I formed thee in
the womb I knew thee;"(3) and elsewhere, "I am the Lord who established
the heaven, and laid the foundations of the earth, and formed the spirit
of man in him,"(4)--will also raise up all men, as being His
workmanship; as also the divine Scripture testifies that God said to
Christ, His only-begoten, "Let us make man after our image, and after
our likeness.  And God made man: after the image of God made He him;
male and female made He them."(5) And the most divine and patient Job,
of whom the Scripture says that it is written, that "he was to rise
again with those whom the Lord raises up,"(6) speaks to God thus: "Hast
not Thou milked me like milk, and curdled me like cheese?  Thou hast
clothed me with skin and flesh, and hast fenced me with bones and
sinews.  Thou hast granted me life and favour, and Thy visitation hath
preserved my spirit.  Having these things within me, I know that Thou
canst do all things, and that nothing is impossible with Thee."(7)
Wherefore also(8) our Saviour and Master Jesus Christ says, that "what
is impossible with men is possible with God."(9) And David, the beloved
of God, says: "Thine hands have made me, and fashioned me."(10) And
again: "Thou knowest my frame."(11) And afterward: "Thou hast fashioned
me, and laid Thine hand upon me.  The knowledge of Thee is declared to
be too wonderful for me; it is very great, I cannot attain unto it."(12)
"Thine eyes did see my substance, being yet imperfect; and all men shall
be written in Thy book."(13) Nay, and Isaiah says in his prayer to Him:
"We are the clay, and Thou art the framer of us."(14) If, therefore, man
be His workmanship, made by Christ, by Him most certainly will he after
he is dead be raised again, with intention either of being crowned for
his good actions or punished for his transgressions.  But if He, being
the legislator, judges with righteousness; as He punishes the ungodly,
so does He do good to and saves the faithful.  And those saints who for
His sake have been slain by men, "some of them He will make light as the
stars, and make others bright as the luminaries,"(15) as Gabriel said to
Daniel.

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All we of the faithful, therefore, who are the disciples of Christ,
believe His promises.  For He that has promised it cannot lie; as says
the blessed prophet David: "The Lord is faithful in all His words, and
holy in all His works."(1) For He that framed for Himself a body out of
a virgin, is also the Former of other men.  And He that raised Himself
from the dead, will also raise again all that are laid down.  He who
raises wheat out of the ground with many stalks from one grain, He who
makes the tree that is cut down send forth fresh branches, He that made
Aaron's dry rod put forth buds,(2) will raise us up in glory; He that
raised Him up that had the palsy whole,(3) and healed him that had the
withered hand,(4) He that supplied a defective part to him that was born
blind from clay and spittle,(5) will raise us up; He that satisfied five
thousand men with five loaves and two fishes, and caused a remainder of
twelve baskets,(6) and out of water made wine,(7) and sent a piece of
money out of a fish's mouth(8) by me Peter to those that demanded
tribute, will raise the dead.  For we testify all these things
concerning Him, and the prophets testify the other.  We who have eaten
and drunk with Him, and have been spectators of His wonder fill works,
and of His life, and of His conduct, and of His words, and of His
sufferings, and of His death, and of His resurrection from the dead, and
who associated with Him forty days after His resurrection,(9) and who
received a command from Him to preach the Gospel to all the world, and
to make disciples of all nations,(10) and to baptize them into His death
by the authority of the God of the universe, who is His Father, and by
the testimony of the Spirit, who is His Comforter,--we teach you all
these things which He appointed us by His constitutions, before "He was
received up in our sight into heaven,"(11) to Him that sent Him.  And if
you will believe, you shall be happy; but if you will not believe, we
shall be found innocent, and clear from your incredulity.

CONCERNING JAMES THE BROTHER OF THE LORD, AND STEPHEN THE FIRST MARTYR.

 VIII. Now concerning the martyrs, we say to you that they are to be had
in all honour with you, as we honour the blessed James the bishop, and
the holy Stephen our fellow-servant.  For these are reckoned blessed by
God, and are honoured by holy men, who were pure from all

transgressions, immoveable when tempted to sin, or persuaded from good
works, without dispute deserving encomiums: of whom also David speaks,
"Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His holy ones;"(12)
and Solomon says, "The memory of the just is with encomiums:"(13) of
whom also the prophet speaks, "Righteous men are taken away."(14)

CONCERNING FALSE MARTYRS.

 IX. These things we have said concerning those that in truth have been
martyrs for Christ, but not concerning false martyrs, concerning whom
the oracle speaks, "The name of the ungodly is extinguished."(13) For "a
faithful witness will not lie, but an unjust witness inflames lies."(15)
For he that departs this life in his testimony without lying, for the
sake of the truth, is a faithful martyr, worthy to be believed in such
things wherein he strove for the word of piety by his own blood.

 SEC. II.--ALL ASSOCIATION WITH IDOLS IS TO BE AVOIDED.

AMORAL ADMONITION, THAT WE ARE TO ABSTAIN FROM VAIN TALKING, OBSCENE
TALKING, JESTING, DRUNKENNESS, LASCIVIOUSNESS, AND LUXURY.

 X. Now we exhort you, brethren and fellow-servants, to avoid vain talk
and obscene discourses, and jestings, drunkenness, lasciviousness,
luxury, unbounded passions, with foolish discourses, since we do not
permit you so much as on the Lord's days, which are days of joy, to
speak or act anything unseemly; for the Scripture somewhere says: "Serve
the Lord with fear, and rejoice unto Him with trembling."(16) Even your
very rejoicings therefore ought to be done with fear and trembling: for
a Christian who is faithful ought neither to repeat an heathen hymn nor
an obscene song, because he will be obliged by that hymn to make mention
of the idolatrous names of demons; and instead of the Holy Spirit, the
wicked one will enter into him.

 AN ADMONITION INSTRUCTING MEN TO AVOID THE ABOMINABLE SIN OF IDOLATRY.

 XI. You are also forbidden to swear by them, or to utter their
abominable names through your mouth, and to worship them, or fear them
as gods; for they are not gods, but either wicked demons or the
ridiculous contrivances of men.  For somewhere God says concerning the
Israelites: "They have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no
gods."(17) And afterwards: "I

443

will take away the names of your idols out of their mouth."(1) And
elsewhere: "They have provoked me to jealousy with them that are no
gods; they have provoked me to anger with their idols."(2) And in all
the Scriptures these things are forbidden by the Lord God.

THAT WE OUGHT NOT TO SING AN HEATHEN OR AN OBSCENE SONG, NOR TO SWEAR BY
AN IDOL BECAUSE IT IS AN IMPIOUS THING, AND CONTRARY TO THE KNOWLEDGE OF
GOD.

 XII. Nor do the legislators give us only prohibitions concerning idols,
but also warn us concerning the luminaries, not to swear by them, nor to
serve them.  For they say: "Lest, when thou seest the sun, and the moon,
and the stars, thou shouldest be seduced to worship them."(3) And
elsewhere: "Do not ye learn to walk after the ways of the heathen, and
be not afraid of the signs of heaven."(4) For the stars and the
luminaries were given to men to shine upon them, but not for worship;
although the Israelites, by the perverseness of their temper,
"worshipped the creature instead of the Creator,"(5) and acted
insultingly to their Maker, and admired the creature more than is fit.
And sometimes they made a calf, as in the wilderness;(6) sometimes they
worshipped Baalpeor;(7) another time Baal,(8) and Thamuz,(9) and Astarte
of Sidon;(10) and again Moloch and Chamos;(11) another time the sun,(12)
as it is written in Ezekiel; nay, and besides, brute creatures, as among
the Egyptians Apis, and the Mendesian goat, and gods of silver and gold,
as in Judea.  On account of all which things He threatened them, and
said by the prophet: "Is it a small thing to the house of Judah to do
these abominations which they have done?  For they have filled the land
with their wickedness, to provoke me to anger: and, behold, they arc as
those that mock.  And I will act with anger.  Mine eye shall not spare,
neither will I have mercy; and they shall cry in mine ears with a great
voice, and I will not hearken unto them."  Consider, beloved, how many
things the Lord declares against idolaters, and the worshippers of the
sun and moon.  Wherefore it is the duty of a man of God, as he is a
Christian, not to swear by the sun, or by the moon, or by the stars; nor
by the heaven, nor by the earth, by any of the elements, whether small
or great.  For if our Master charged us not to swear by the true God,
that our word might be firmer than an oath, nor by heaven itself, for
that is a piece of heathen wickedness, nor by Jerusalem, nor by the
sanctuary of God, nor the altar, nor the gift, nor the gilding of the
altar, nor one's own head,(14) for this custom is a piece of Judaic
corruption, and on that account was forbidden; and if He exhorts the
faithful that their yea be yea, and their nay, nay, and says that "what
is more than these is of the evil one," how much more blameable are
those who appeal to deities falsely so called as the objects of an oath,
and who glorify imaginary beings instead of those that are real, whom
God for their perverseness "delivered over to foolishness, to do those
things that are not convenient!"(15)

SEC. III.--ON FEAST DAYS AND FAST DAYS.

A CATALOGUE OF THE FEASTS OF THE LORD WHICH ARE TO BE KEPT, AND WHEN
EACH OF THEM OUGHT TO BE OBSERVED.

 XIII. Brethren, observe the festival days; and first of all the
birthday which you are to celebrate on the twenty-fifth of the ninth
month; after which let the Epiphany be to you the most honoured, in
which the Lord made to you a display of His own Godhead, and let it take
place on the sixth of the tenth month; after which the fast of Lent is
to be observed by you as containing a memorial of our Lord's mode of
life and legislation.  But let this solemnity be observed before the
fast of the passover, beginning from the second day of the week, and
ending at the day of the preparation.  After which solemnities, breaking
off your fast, begin the holy week of the passover, fasting in the same
all of you with fear and trembling, praying in them for those that are
about to perish.

CONCERNING THE PASSION OF OUR LORD, AND WHAT WAS DONE ON EACH DAY OF HIS
SUFFERINGS; AND CONCERNING JUDAS, AND THAT JUDAS WAS NOT PRESENT WHEN
THE LORD DELIVERED THE MYSTERIES TO HIS DISCIPLES.

 XIV. For they began to hold a council against the Lord on the second
day of the week, in the first month, which is Xanthicus; and the
deliberation continued on the third day of the week; but on the fourth
day they determined to take away His life by crucifixion.  And Judas
knowing this, who for a long time had been perverted, but was then
smitten by the devil himself with the love of money, although he had
been long entrusted with the purse.(16) and used to steal what was set
apart for the needy, yet was he not cast off by the Lord, through much
long-suffering;

444

nay, and when we were once feasting with Him, being willing both to
reduce him to his duty and instruct us in His own foreknowledge, He
said: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you will betray me;"
and every one of us saying, "Is it I?"(1) And the Lord being silent, I,
who was one of the twelve, and more beloved by Him than the rest, arose
up from lying in His bosom.  and besought Him to tell who it should be
that should betray Him.  Yet neither then did our good Lord declare His
name, but gave two signs of the betrayer: one by saying, "he that
dippeth with me in the dish;" a second, "to whom I shall give the sop
when I have dipped it."  Nay, although he himself said, "Master, is it
I?" the Lord did not say Yes, but, "Thou hast said."  And being willing
to affright him in the matter, He said: "Woe to that man by whom the Son
of man is betrayed!  good were it for him if he had never been born.
Who, when he had heard that, went his way, and said to the priests, What
will ye give me, and I will deliver Him unto you?  And they bargained
with him for thirty pieces of silver."(2) And the scripture was
fulfilled, which said, "And they took(3) the thirty pieces of silver,
the price of Him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel
did value, and gave them for the house of the potter."(4) And on the
fifth day of the week, when we had eaten the passover with Him, and when
Judas had dipped his hand into the dish, and received the sop, and was
gone out by night, the Lord said to us: "The hour is come that ye shall
be dispersed, and shall leave me alone;"(5) and every one vehemently
affirming that they would not forsake Him, I Peter adding this promise,
that I would even die with Him, He said, "Verily I say unto thee, Before
the cock crows, thou shall thrice deny that thou knowest me."(6) And
when He had delivered to us the representative mysteries of His precious
body and blood, Judas not being present with us, He went out to the
Mount of Olives, near the brook Cedron, where there was a garden;(7) and
we were with Him, and sang an hymn according to the custom.(8) And being
separated not far(9) from us, He prayed to His Father, saying: "Father,
remove this cup away from me; yet not my will, but Thine be done."(10)
And when He had done this thrice, while we out of despondency of mind
were fallen asleep, He came and said: "The hour is come, and the Son of
man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.  And behold Judas, and with
him a multitude of ungodly men,"(11) to whom he shows the signal by
which he was to betray Him--a deceitful kiss.  But they, when they had
received the signal agreed on, took hold of the Lord; and having bound
Him, they led Him to the house of Caiaphas the high priest, wherein were
assembled many, not the people, but a great rout, not an holy council,
but an assembly of the wicked and council of the ungodly, who did many
things against Him, and left no kind of injury untried, spitting upon
Him, cavilling at Him, beating Him, smiting Him on the face, reviling
Him, tempting Him, seeking vain divination instead of true prophecies
from Him, calling Him a deceiver, a blasphemer, a transgressor of Moses,
a destroyer of the temple, a taker away of sacrifices, an enemy to the
Romans, an adversary to Caesar.  And these reproaches did these bulls
and dogs(12) in their madness cast upon Him, till it was very early in
the morning, and then they lead Him away to Annas, who was father-in-law
to Caiaphas; and when they had done the like things to Him there, it
being the day of the preparation, they delivered Him to Pilate the Roman
governor, accusing Him of many and great things, none of which they
could prove.  Whereupon the governor, as out of patience with them,
said: "I find no cause against Him."(13) But they bringing two lying
witnesses, wished to accuse the Lord falsely; but they being found to
disagree, and so their testimony not conspiring together, they altered
the accusation to that of treason, saying, "This fellow says that He is
a king, and forbids to give tribute to Caesar."(14) And themselves
became accusers, and witnesses, and judges, and authors of the sentence,
saying, "Crucify Him, crucify Him;"(15) that it might be fulfilled which
is written by the prophets concerning Him, "Unjust witnesses were
gathered together against me, and injustice lied to itself;"(16) and
again, "Many dogs compassed me about, the assembly of the wicked laid
siege against me;"(17) and elsewhere, "My inheritance became to me as a
lion in a wood, and has sent forth her voice against me."(18) Pilate
therefore, disgracing his authority by his pusillanimity, convicts
himself of wickedness by regarding the multitude more than this just
person, and bearing witness to Him that He was innocent, yet as guilty
delivering Him up to the punishment of the cross, although the Romans
had made laws that no man unconvicted should be put to death.  But

445

the executioners took the Lord of glory and nailed Him to the cross,
crucifying Him indeed at the sixth hour, but having received the
sentence of His condemnation at the third hour.  After this they gave to
Him vinegar to drink, mingled with gall.  Then they divided His garments
by lot.  Then they crucified two malefactors with Him, on each side one,
that it might be fulfilled which was written: "They gave me gall to eat,
and when I was thirsty they gave me vinegar to drink."(1) And again:
"They divided my garment among themselves, and upon my vesture have they
cast lots."(2) And in another place: "And I was reckoned with the
transgressors."(3) Then there was darkness for three hours, from the
sixth to the ninth, and again light in the evening; as it is written:
"It shall not be day nor night, and at the evening there shall be
light."(4) All which things,(5) when those malefactors saw that were
crucified with Him the one of them reproached Him as though He was weak
and unable to deliver Himself; but the other rebuked the ignorance of
his fellow and turning to the Lord, as being enlightened by Him, and
acknowledging who He was that suffered, he prayed that He would remember
him in His kingdom hereafter.(6) He then presently granted him the
forgiveness of his former sins, and brought him into paradise to enjoy
the mystical good things; who also cried out about the ninth hour, and
said to His Father: "My God!  my God!  why hast Thou forsaken me?"(7)
And a little afterward, when He had cried with a loud voice, "Father,
forgive them, for they know not what they do,"(8) and had added, "Into
Thy hands I commit my spirit," He gave up the ghost,(9) and was buried
before sunset in a new sepulchre.  But when the first day of the week
dawned He arose from the dead, and fulfilled those things which before
His passion He foretold to us, saying: "The Son of man must continue in
the heart of the earth three days and three nights."(10) And when He was
risen from the dead, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, and Mary the
mother of James, then to Cleopas in the way, and after that to us His
disciples, who had fled away for fear of the Jews, but privately were
very inquisitive about Him.(11) But these things are also written in the
Gospel.

OF THE GREAT WEEK, AND ON WHAT ACCOUNT THEY ENJOIN US TO FAST ON
WEDNESDAY AND FRIDAY.

 XV. He therefore charged us Himself to fast these six days on account
of the impiety and transgression of the Jews, commanding us withal to
bewail over them, and lament for their perdition.  For even He Himself
"wept over them, because they knew not the time of their
visitation."(12) But He commanded us to fast on the fourth and sixth
days of the week; the former on account of His being betrayed, and the
latter on account of His passion.  But He appointed us to break our fast
on the seventh day at the cock-crowing, but to fast on the Sabbath-day.
Not that the Sabbath-day is a day of fasting, being the rest from the
creation, but because we ought to fast on this one Sabbath only, while
on this day the Creator was under the earth.  For on their very feast-
day they apprehended the Lord, thai that oracle might be fulfilled which
says: "They placed their signs in the middle of their feast, and knew
them not."(13) Ye ought therefore to bewail over them, because when the
Lord came they did not believe on Him, but rejected His doctrine,
judging themselves unworthy of salvation.  You therefore are happy who
once were not a people, but are now an holy nation, delivered from the
deceit of idols, from ignorance, from impiety, who once had not obtained
mercy, but now have obtained mercy through your hearty obedience: for to
you, the converted Gentiles, is opened the gate of life, who formerly
were not beloved, but are now beloved; a people ordained for the
possession of God, to show forth His virtues, concerning whom our
Saviour said, "I was found of them that sought me not; I was made
manifest to them that asked not after me.  I said, Behold me, to a
nation which did not call upon my name."(14) For when ye did not seek
after Him, then were ye sought for by Him; and you who have believed in
Him have hearkened to His call, and have left the madness of polytheism,
and have fled to the true monarchy, to Almighty God, through Christ
Jesus, and are become the completion of the number of the saved--"ten
thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands;"(15) as it is
written in David, "A thousand(16) shall fall beside thee, and ten
thousand at thy right hand;"(17) and again, "The chariots of God are by
tens of thousands, and thousands of the prosperous."(18) But unto
unbelieving lsrael

446

He says: "All the day long have I stretched out mine hands to a
disobedient and gainsaying people, which go in a way that is not good,
but after their own sins, a people provoking me before my face."(1)

AN ENUMERATION OF THE PROPHETICAL PREDICTIONS WHICH DECLARE CHRIST,
WHOSE COMPLETION THOUGH THE JEWS SAW, YET OUT OF THE EVIL TEMPER OF
THEIR MIND THEY DID NOT BELIEVE HE WAS THE CHRIST OF GOD, AND CONDEMNED
THE LORD OF GLORY TO THE CROSS.

 XVI. See how the people provoked the Lord by not believing in Him!
Therefore He says: "They provoked the Holy Spirit, and He was turned to
be their enemy."(2) For blindness is cast upon them, by reason of the
wickedness of their mind, because when they saw Jesus they did not
believe Him to be the Christ of God, who was before all ages(3) begotten
of Him, His only-begotten Son, God the Word, whom they did not own
through their unbelief, neither on account of His mighty works, nor yet
on account of the prophecies which were written concerning Him.  For
that He was to be born of a virgin, they read this prophecy: "Behold, a
virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a Son, and they shall
call His name Emanuel."(4) "For to us a Child is born, to us a Son is
given, whose government is upon His shoulders; and His name is called
the Angel of His Great Council, the Wonderful Counsellor, the Mighty
God, the Potentate, the Prince of Peace, the Father of the Future
Age."(5) Now, that because of their exceeding great wickedness they
would not believe in Him, the Lord shows in these words: "Who hath
believed our report?  and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been
revealed?"(6) And afterward: "Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not
understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: for the
heart of this people is waxed gross."(7) Wherefore knowledge was taken
from them, because seeing they overlooked, and hearing they heard not.
But to you, the converted of the Gentiles, is the kingdom given, because
you, who knew not God, have believed by preaching, and "have known Him,
or rather are known of Him,"(8) through Jesus, the Saviour and Redeemer
of those that hope in Him.  For ye are translated from your former vain
and tedious mode of life and have contemned the lifeless idols, and
despised the demons, which are in darkness, and have run to the "true
light,"(9) and by it have "known the one and only true God and
Father,"(10) and so are owned to be heirs of His kingdom.  For since ye
have "been baptized into the Lord's death,"(11) and into His
resurrection, as "new-born babes,"(12) ye ought to be wholly free from
all sinful actions; "for you are not your own, but His that bought
you"(13) with His own blood.  For concerning the former Israel the Lord
speaks thus, on account of their unbelief: "The kingdom of God shall be
taken from them, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits
thereof;"(14) that is to say, that having given the kingdom to you, who
were once far estranged from Him, He expects the fruits of your
gratitude and probity.  For ye are those that were once sent into the
vineyard, and did not obey, but these they that did obey;(15) but you
have repented of your denial, and you work therein now.  But they, being
uneasy on account of their own covenants, have not only left the
vineyard uncultivated, but have also killed the stewards of the Lord of
the vineyard,(16)--one with stones, another with the sword; one they
sawed asunder,(17) another they slew in the holy place, "between the
temple and the altar;"(18) nay, at last they "cast the Heir Himself out
of the vineyard, and slew Him."(19) And by them He was rejected as an
unprofitable stone,(20) but by you was received as the corner-stone.
Wherefore He says concerning you: "A people whom I knew not have served
me, and at the hearing of the ear have they obeyed me."(21)

HOW THE PASSOVER OUGHT TO BE CELEBRATED.

 XVII. It is therefore your duty, brethren, who are redeemed by the
precious blood of Christ, to observe the days of the passover exactly,
with all care, after the vernal equinox, lest ye be obliged to keep the
memorial of the one passion twice in a year.  Keep it once only in a
year for Him that died but once.

 Do not you yourselves compute, but keep it when your brethren of the
circumcision do so: keep it together with them; and if they err in their
computation, be not you concerned.  Keep your nights of watching in the
middle of the days of unleavened bread.  And when the Jews are feasting,
do you fast and wail over them, because an the day of their feast they
crucified Christ;

447

and while they are lamenting and eating unleavened bread in bitterness,
do you feast.(1) But no longer be careful to keep the feast with the
Jews, for we have now no communion with them; for they have been led
astray in regard to the calculation itself, which they think they
accomplish perfectly, that they may be led astray on every hand, and be
fenced off from the truth.  But do you observe carefully the vernal
equinox, which occurs on the twenty-second of the twelfth month, which
is Dystros(March), observing carefully until the twenty-first of the
moon, test the fourteenth of the moon shall fall on another week, and an
error being committed, you should through ignorance celebrate the
passover twice in the year, or celebrate the day of the resurrection of
our Lord on any other day than a Sunday.

A CONSTITUTION CONCERNING THE GREAT PASSOVER

WEEK.

 XVIII. Do you therefore fast on the days of the passover, beginning
from the second day of the week until the preparation, and the Sabbath,
six days, making use of only bread, and salt, and herbs, and water for
your drink; but do you abstain on these days from wine and flesh, for
they are days of lamentation and not of feasting.  Do ye who are able
fast the day of the preparation and the Sabbath-day entirely, tasting
nothing till the cock-crowing of the night; but if any one is not able
to join them both together, at least let him observe the Sabbath-day;
for the Lord says somewhere, speaking of Himself: "When the bridegroom
shall be taken away from them, in those days shall they fast."(2) In
these days, therefore, He was taken from us by the Jews, falsely so
named, and fastened to the cross, and "was numbered among the
transgressors."(3)

CONCERNING THE WATCHING ALL THE NIGHT OF THE GREAT SABBATH, AND
CONCERNING THE DAY OF THE RESURRECTION.

 XIX. Wherefore we exhort you to fast on those days, as we also fasted
till the evening, when He was taken away from us; but on the rest of the
days, before the day of the preparation, let every one eat at the ninth
hour, or at the evening, or as every one is able.  But from the even of
the fifth day till cock-crowing break your fast when it is daybreak of
the first day of the week, which is the Lord's day.  From the even till
cock-crowing keep awake, and assemble together in the church, watch and
pray, and entreat God; reading, when you sit up all night, the Law, the
Prophets, and the Psalms, until cock-crowing, and baptizing your
catechumens, and reading the Gospel with fear and trembling, and
speaking to the people such things as tend to their salvation: put an
end to your sorrow, and beseech God that Israel may be converted, and
that He will allow them place of repentance, and the remission of their
impiety; for the judge, who was a stranger, "washed his hands, and said,
I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it.  But
Israel cried out, His blood be on us, and on our children."(4) And when
Pilate said, "Shall I crucify your king?  they cried out, We have no
king but Caesar: crucify Him, crucify Him; for every, one that maketh
himself a king speaketh against Caesar."  And, "If thou let this man go,
thou art not Caesar's friend."(5) And Pilate the governor and Herod the
king commanded Him to be crucified; and that oracle was fulfilled which
says, "Why did the Gentiles rage, and the people imagine vain things?
The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered
together against the Lord, and against His Christ;"(6) and, "They cast
away the Beloved, as a dead man, who is abominable."(7) And since He was
crucified on the day of the Preparation, and rose again at break of day
on the Lord's day, the scripture was fulfilled which saith, "Arise, O
God; judge the earth: for Thou shalt have an inheritance in all the
nations;"(8) and again, "I will arise, saith the Lord; I will put Him in
safety, I will wax bold through Him;"(9) and," But Thou, Lord, have
mercy upon me, and raise me up again, and I shall requite them."(10) For
this reason do you also, now the Lord is risen, offer your sacrifice,
concerning which He made a constitution by us, saying, "Do this for a
remembrance of me;"(11) and thenceforward leave off your fasting, and
rejoice, and keep a festival, because Jesus Christ, the pledge of our
resurrection, is risen from the dead.  And let this be an everlasting
ordinance till the consummation of the world, until the Lord come.  For
to Jews the Lord is still dead, but to Christians He is risen: to the
former, by their unbelief; to the latter, by their full assurance of
faith.  For the hope in Him is immortal and eternal life.  After eight
days let there be another feast observed with honour, the eighth day
itself, on which He gave me Thomas, who was hard of belief, full
assurance, by showing me the print of the nails, and the wound made in
His side by the spear.(12) And again, from the first Lord's

448

day count forty days, from the Lord's day till the fifth day of the
week, and celebrate the feast of the ascension of the Lord, whereon He
finished all His dispensation and constitution, and returned to that God
and Father that sent Him, and sat down at the right hand of power, and
remains there until His enemies are put under His feet; who also will
come at the consummation of the world with power and great glory, to
judge the quick and the dead, and to recompense to every one according
to his works.  And then shall they see the beloved Son of God whom they
pierced;(1) and when they know Him, they shall mourn for themselves,
tribe by tribe, and their wives apart.(2)

A PROPHETIC PREDICTION CONCERNING CHRIST

JESUS.

 XX. For even now, on the tenth day of the month Gorpiaeus, when they
assemble together, they read the Lamentations of Jeremiah, in which it
is said, "The Spirit before our face, Christ the Lord was taken in their
destructions;"(3) and Baruch, in whom it is written, "This is our God;
no other shall be esteemed with Him.  He found out every way of
knowledge, and showed it to Jacob His son, and lsrael His beloved.
Afterwards He was seen upon earth, and conversed with men."(4) And when
they read them, they lament and bewail, as themselves suppose, that
desolation which happened by Nebuchadnezzar; but, as the truth shows,
they unwillingly make a prelude to that lamentation which will overtake
them.  But after ten days from the ascension, which from the first
Lord's day is the fiftieth day, do ye keep a great festival: for on that
day, at the third hour, the Lord Jesus sent on us the gift of the Holy
Ghost, and we were filled with His energy, and we "spake with new
tongues, as that Spirit did suggest to us;" (5) and we preached both to
Jews and Gentiles, that He is the Christ of God, who is "determined by
Him to be the Judge, of quick and dead."(6) To Him did Moses bear
witness, and said: "The Lord received fire from the Lord, and rained it
down."(7) Him did Jacob see as a man, and said: "I have seen God face to
face, and my soul is preserved."(8) Him did Abraham entertain, and
acknowledge to be the Judge, and his Lord.(9) Him did Moses see in the
bush;(10) concerning Him did he speak in Deuteronomy: "A Prophet will
the Lord your God raise up unto you out of your brethren, like unto me;
Him shall ye hear in all things, whatsoever He shall say unto you.  And
it shall be, that every soul that will not hear that Prophet, shall be
destroyed from among his people."(11) Him did Joshua the son of Nun see,
as the captain of the Lord's host, in armour, for their assistance
against Jericho; to whom he fell down, and worshipped, as a servant does
to his master.(12) Him Samuel knew as the "Anointed of God,"(13) and
thence named the priests and the kings the anointed.  Him David knew,
and sung an hymn concerning Him, "A song concerning the Beloved;"(14)
and adds in his person, and says, "Gird Thy sword upon Thy thigh, O Thou
who art mighty in Thy beauty and renown: go on, and prosper, and reign,
for the sake of truth, and meekness, and righteousness; and Thy right
hand shall guide Thee after a wonderful manner.  Thy darts are
sharpened, O Thou that art mighty; the people shall fall under Thee in
the heart of the king's enemies.  Wherefore God, Thy God, hath anointed
Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows."  Concerning Him also
spake Solomon, as in His person: "The Lord created me the beginning of
His ways, for His works: before the world He founded me, in the
beginning before He made the earth, before the fountains of waters came,
before the mountains were fastened; He begat me before all the
hills."(15) And again: "Wisdom built herself an house."(16) Concerning
Him also Isaiah said: "A Branch shall come out of the root of Jesse, and
a Flower shall spring out of his root."  And, "There shall be a root of
Jesse; and He that is to rise to reign over the Gentiles, in Him shall
the Gentiles trust."(17) And Zechariah says: "(18) Behold, thy King
cometh unto thee, just, and

having salvation; meek, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt, the
foal of an ass."(19) Him Daniel describes as "the Son of man coming to
the Father,"(20) and receiving all judgment and honour from Him; and as
"the stone cut out of the mountain without hands, and becoming a great
mountain, and filling the whole earth,"(21) dashing to pieces the many
governments of the smaller countries, and the polytheism of gods, but
preaching the one God, and ordaining the monarchy of the Romans.
Concerning Him also did Jeremiah prophesy, saying: "The Spirit before
His face, Christ the Lord, was taken in their snares: of whom we said,
Under His shadow

449

we shall live among the Gentiles."(1) Ezekiel also, and the following
prophets, affirm everywhere that He is the Christ, the Lord, the King,
the Judge, the Lawgiver, the Angel of the Father, the only-begotten God.
Him therefore do we also preach to you, and declare Him to be God the
Word, who ministered to His God and Father for the creation of the
universe.  By believing in Him you shall live, but by disbelieving you
shall be punished.  For "he that is disobedient to the Son shall not see
life, but the wrath of God abideth on him."(2) Therefore, after you have
kept the festival of Pentecost, keep one week more festival, and after
that fast; for it is reasonable to rejoice for the gift of God, and to
fast after that relaxation: for both Moses and Elijah fasted forty days,
and Daniel for "three weeks of days did not eat desirable bread, and
flesh and wine did not enter into his mouth."(3) And blessed Hannah,
when she asked for Samuel, said: "I have not drunk wine nor strong

drink, and I pour out my soul before the Lord."(4) And the Ninevites,
when they fasted three days and three nights,(5) escaped the execution
of wrath.  And Esther, and Mordecai, and Judith,(6) by fasting, escaped
the insurrection of the ungodly Holofernes and Haman.  And David says:
"My knees are weak through fasting, and my flesh faileth for want of
oil."(7) Do you therefore fast, and ask your petitions of God.  We
enjoin you to fast every fourth day of the week, and every day of the
preparation, and the surplusage of your fast bestow upon the needy;
every Sabbath-day excepting one, and every Lord's day, hold your solemn
assemblies, and rejoice: for he will be guilty of sin who fasts on the
Lord's day, being the day of the resurrection, or during the time of
Pentecost, or, in general, who is sad on a festival day to the Lord.
For on them we ought to rejoice, and not to mourn.

450

 CONSTITUTIONS OF THE HOLY APOSTLES

BOOK VI.

SEC. I.--ON HERESIES.

WHO THEY WERE THAT VENTURED TO MAKE SCHISMS, AND DID NOT ESCAPE
PUNISHMENT.

 I. ABOVE all things, O bishop, avoid the sad and dangerous and most
atheistical heresies, eschewing them as fire that burns those that come
near to it.  Avoid also schisms: for it is neither lawful to turn one's
mind towards wicked heresies, nor to separate from those of the same
sentiment out of ambition.  For some who ventured to set up such
practices of old did not escape punishment.  For Dathan and Abiram,(1)
who set up in opposition to Moses, were swallowed up into the earth.
But Corah, and those two hundred and fifty who with him raised a
sedition against Aaron, were consumed by fire.  Miriam also, who
reproached Moses, was cast out of the camp for seven days; for she said
that Moses had taken an Ethiopian to wife.(2) Nay, in the case of
Azariah and Uzziah,(3) the latter of which was king of Judah, but
venturing to usurp the priesthood, and desiring to offer incense, which
it was not lawful for him to do, was hindered by Azariah the high
priest, and the fourscore priests; and when he would not obey he found
the leprosy to arise in his forehead, and he hastened to go out, because
the Lord had reproved him.

THAT IT IS NOT lAWFUL TO RISE UP EITHER AGAINST THE KINGLY OR THE
PRIESTLY OFFICE.

 II. Let us therefore, beloved, consider what sort of glory that of the
seditious is, and what their condemnation.  For if he that rises up
against kings is worthy of punishment, even though he be a son or a
friend, how much more he that rises up against the priests!  For by how
much the priesthood is more noble than the royal power, as having its
concern about the soul, so much has he a greater punishment who ventures
to oppose the priesthood, than he who ventures to oppose the royal
power, although neither of them goes unpunished.  For neither did
Absalom nor Abdadan(4) escape without punishment; nor Corah and
Dathan.(1) The former rose against David, and strove concerning the
kingdom; the latter against Moses, concerning pre-eminence.  And they
both spake evil; Absalom of his father David, as of an unjust judge,
saying to every one: "Thy words are good, but there is no one that will
hear thee, and do thee justice.  Who will make me a ruler?"(5) But
Abdadan: "I have no part in David, nor any inheritance in the son of
Jesse."(6) It is plain that he could not endure to be under David's
government, of whom God spake: "I have found David the son of Jesse, a
man after my heart, who will do all my commands."(7) But Dathan and
Abiram, and the followers of Corah, said to Moses: "Is it a small thing
that thou hast brought us out of the land of Egypt, out of a land
flowing with milk and honey?  And why hast thou put out our eyes?  And
wilt thou rule over us?"  And they gathered together against him a great
congregation; and the followers of Corah said: "Has God spoken alone to
Moses?  Why is it that He has given the high-priesthood to Aaron alone?
Is not all the congregation of the Lord holy?  And why is Aaron alone
possessed of the priesthood?"(8) And before this, one said: "Who made
thee a ruler and a judge over us?"(9)

CONCERNING THE VIRTUE OF MOSES AND THE INCREDULITY OF THE JEWISH NATION,
AND WHAT WONDERFUL WORKS GOD DID AMONG THEM.

 III. And they raised a sedition against Moses the servant of God, the
meekest of all men,(10) and faithful, and affronted(11) so great a man
with the highest ingratitude; him who was their lawgiver, and guardian,
and high priest, and king, the ad-

451

ministrator of divine things; one that showed as a creator the mighty
works of the Creator; the meekest man, freest from arrogance, and full
of fortitude, and most benign in his temper; one who had delivered them
from many dangers, and freed them from several deaths by his holiness;
who had done so many signs and wonders from God before the people, and
had performed glorious and wonderful works for their benefit; who had(1)
brought the ten plagues upon the Egyptians; who had divided the Red Sea,
and had separated the waters as a walt on this side and on that side,
and had led the people through them as through a dry wilderness,(2) and
had drowned Pharaoh and the Egyptians, and all that were in company with
them;(3) and had made the fountain sweet for them with wood, and had
brought water out of the stony rock for them when they were thirsty;(4)
and had given them manna out of heaven, and had distributed flesh to
them out of the air;(5) and had afforded them a pillar of fire in the
night to enlighten and conduct them, and a pillar of a cloud to shadow
them in the day, by reason of the violent heat of the sun;(6) and had
exhibited to them the law of God, engraven from the mouth, and hand, and
writing of God, in tables of stone, the perfect number of ten
commandments;(7) "to whom God spake face to face, as if a man spake to
his friend;"(8) of whom He said, "And there arose not a prophet like
unto Moses."(9) Against him arose the followers of Corah, and the
Reubenites,(10) and threw stones at Moses, who prayed, and said: "Accept
not Thou their offering."(11) And the glory of God appeared, and sent
some down into the earth, and burnt up others with fire; and so, as to
those ringleaders of this schismatical deceit which said, "Let us make
ourselves a leader,"(12) the earth opened its mouth, and swallowed them
up, and their tents, and what appertained to them, and they went down
alive into hell; but tie destroyed the followers of Corah with fire.

 SEC. II.--HISTORY AND DOCTRINES OF HERESIES.

THAT SCHISM IS MADE. NOT BY HIM WHO SEPARATES HIMSELF FROM THE UNGODLY,
BUT WHO DEPARTS FROM THE GODLY.

 IV. If therefore God inflicted punishment immediately on those that
made a schism on account of their ambition, how much rather will He do
it upon those who are the leaders of impious heresies!  Will not He
inflict severer punishment on those that blaspheme His providence or His
creation?  But do you, brethren, who are instructed out of the
Scripture, take care not to make divisions in opinion, nor divisions in
unity.  For those who set up unlawful opinions are marks of perdition to
the people.  In like manner, do not you of the laity come near to such
as advance doctrines contrary to the mind of God; nor be you partakers
of their impiety.  For says God: "Separate yourselves from (he midst of
these men, lest you perish together with them."(13) And again: "Depart
from the midst of them, and separate yourselves, says the Lord, and
touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you."(14)

UPON WHAT ACCOUNT ISRAEL, FALSELY SO NAMED, IS REJECTED BY GOD,
DEMONSTRATED FROM THE PROPHETIC PREDICTIONS.

 V. For those are most certainly to be avoided who blaspheme God.  The
greatest part of the ungodly, indeed, are ignorant of God; but these
men, as fighters against God, are possessed with a wilful evil
disposition, as with a disease.  For from the wickedness of these
heretics "pollution is gone out upon all the earth,"(15) as says the
prophet Jeremiah.  For the wicked synagogue is now cast off by the Lord
God, and His house is rejected by Him, as He somewhere speaks: "I have
forsaken mine house, I have left mine inheritance."(16) And again, says
Isaiah: "I will neglect my vineyard, and it shall not be pruned nor
digged, and thorns shall spring up upon it, as upon a desert; and I will
command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it."(17) He has therefore
"left His people as a tent in a vineyard, and as a garner in a fig or
olive yard, and as a besieged city."(18) He has taken away from them the
Holy Spirit, and the prophetic rain, and has replenished His Church with
spiritual grace, as the "river of Egypt in the time of first-
fruits;"(19) and has advanced the same "as an house upon an hill, or as
an high mountain; as a mountain fruitful for milk and fatness, wherein
it has pleased God to dwell.  For the Lord will inhabit therein to the
end."(20) And He says in Jeremiah: "Our sanctuary is an exalted throne
of glory."(21) And He says in Isaiah: "And it shall come to pass in the
last days, that the mountain of the Lord shall be glorious, and the
house of the Lord shall

452

be upon the top of the mountains, and shall be advanced above the
hills."(1) Since, therefore, He has forsaken His people, He has also
left His temple desolate, and rent the veil of the temple, and took from
them the Holy Spirit; for says He, "Behold, your house is left unto you
desolate."(2) And He has bestowed upon you, the converted of the
Gentiles, spiritual grace, as He says by Joel: "And it shall come to
pass after these things, saith God, that I will pour out of my Spirit
upon all flesh; and your sons shall prophesy, and your daughters shall
see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams."(3) For God has taken
away all the power and efficacy of His word, and such like visitations,
from that people, and has transferred it to you, the converted of the
Gentiles.  For on this account the devil himself is very angry at the
holy Church of God: he is removed to you, and has raised against you
adversities, seditions, and reproaches, schisms, and heresies.  For he
had before subdued that people to himself, by their slaying of Christ.
But you who have left his vanities he tempts in different ways, as he
did the blessed Job.(4) For indeed he opposed that great high priest
Joshua the son of Josedek;(5) and he oftentimes sought to sift us, that
our faith might fail.(6) But our Lord and Master, having brought him to
trial, said unto him: "The Lord rebuke thee, O devil; and the Lord, who
hath chosen Jerusalem, rebuke thee.  Is not this plucked out of the fire
as a brand?"(7) And who said then to those that stood by the high
priest, "Take away his ragged garments from him;" and added, "Behold, I
have taken thine iniquities away from thee;" He will say now, as He said
formerly of us when we were assembled together, "I have prayed that your
faith may not fail."(8)

THAT EVEN AMONG THE JEWS THERE AROSE THE DOCTRINE OF SEVERAL HERESIES
HATEFUL TO GOD.

 VI. For even the Jewish nation had wicked heresies: for of them were
the Sadducees, who do not confess the resurrection of the dead; and the
Pharisees, who ascribe the practice of sinners to fortune and fate; and
the Basmotheans, who deny providence, and say that the world is made by
spontaneous motion, and take away the immortality of the soul; and the
Hemerobaptists, who every day, unless they wash, do not eat,--nay, and
unless they cleanse their beds and tables, or platters and cups and
seats, do not make use of any of them; and those who arc newly risen

amongst us, the Ebionites, who will have the Son of God to be a mere
man, begotten by human pleasure, and the conjunction of Joseph and Mary.
There are also those that separate themselves from all these, and
observe the laws of their fathers, and these are the Essenes.  These,
therefore, arose among the former people.  And now the evil one, who is
wise to do mischief, and as for goodness, knows no such good thing, has
cast out some from among us, and has wrought by them heresies and
schisms.

WHENCE THE HERESIES SPRANG, AND WHO WAS THE RINGLEADER OF THEIR IMPIETY.

 VII. Now the original of the new heresies began thus: the devil entered
into one Simon, of a village called Gitthae, a Samaritan, by profession
a magician, and made him the minister of his wicked design.(9) For when
Philip our fellow-apostle,(10) by the gift of the Lord and the energy of
His Spirit, performed the miracles of healing in Samaria, insomuch that
the Samaritans were affected, and embraced the faith of the God of the
universe, and of the Lord Jesus, and were baptized into His name; nay,
and that Simon himself, when he saw the signs and wonders which were
done without any magic ceremonies, fell into admiration, and believed,
and was baptized, and continued in fasting and prayer,--we heard of the
grace of God which was among the Samaritans by Philip, and came down(11)
to them; and enlarging much upon the word of doctrine, we laid our hands
upon all that were baptized, and we conferred upon them the
participation of the Spirit.  But when Simon saw that the Spirit was
given to believers by the imposition of our hands, he took money, and
offered it to us, saying, "Give me also the power, that on whomsoever I
also shall lay my hand, he may receive the Holy Ghost;"(12) being
desirous that as the devil(13) deprived Adam by his tasting of the tree
of that immortality which was promised him, so also that Simon might
entice us by the receiving of money, and might thereby cut us off from
the gift of God,(14) that so by exchange we might sell to him for money
the inestimable gift of the Spirit.  But as we were all troubled at this
offer, I Peter, with a fixed attention on that malicious serpent which
was in him, said to Simon: "Let thy money go with thee to perdition,
because thou hast thought to purchase the gift of God with money.  Thou
hast no part in this matter, nor lot in this faith;

453

for thy heart is not fight in the sight of God.  Repent therefore of
this thy wickedness, and pray to the Lord, if perhaps the thought of
thine heart may be forgiven thee.  For I perceive thou art in the gall
of bitterness and the bond of iniquity."(1) But then Simon was
terrified, and said: "I entreat you, pray ye to the Lord for me, that
none of those things which ye have spoken come upon me."(2)

WHO WERE THE SUCCESSORS OF SIMON'S IMPIETY, AND WHAT HERESIES THEY SET
UP.

 VIII. But when we went forth among the Gentiles to preach the word of
life, then the devil wrought in the people to send after us false
apostles to the corrupting of the word; arid they sent forth one
Cleobius, and joined him with Simon, and these became disciples to one
Dositheus, whom they despising, put him down from the principality.
Afterwards also others were the authors of absurd doctrines: Cerinthus,
and Marcus, and Menander, and Basilides, and Saturnilus.  Of these some
own the doctrine of many gods, some only of three, but contrary to each
other, without beginning, and ever with one another, and some of an
infinite number of them, and those unknown ones also.  And some reject
marriage; and their doctrine is, that it is not the appointment of God;
and others abhor some kinds of food: some are impudent in uncleanness,
such as those who are falsely called Nicolaitans.  And Simon meeting me
Peter, first at Caesarea Stratonis (where the faithful Cornelius, a
Gentile, believed on the Lord Jesus by me), endeavoured to pervert the
word of God; there being with me the holy children, Zacchaeus, who was
once a publican, and Barnabas; and Nicetas and Aquila, brethren of
Clement the bishop and citizen of Rome, who was the disciple of Paul,
our fellow-apostle and fellow-helper in the Gospel.  I thrice discoursed
before them with him concerning the true Prophet, and concerning the
monarchy of God; and when I had overcome him by the power of the Lord,
and had put him to silence, I drove him away into Italy.

HOW SIMON, DESIRING TO FLY BY SOME MAGICAL ARTS, FELL DOWN HEADLONG FROM
ON HIGH AT THE PRAYERS OF PETER, AND BRAKE HIS FEET, AND HANDS, AND
ANKLE-BONES.

 IX. Now when he was in Rome, he mightily disturbed the Church, and
subverted many, and brought them over to himself, and astonished the
Gentiles with his skill in magic, insomuch that once, in the middle of
the day, he went into their theatre, and commanded the people that they
should bring me also by force into the theatre, and promised he would
fly in the air; and when all the people were in suspense at this, I
prayed by myself.  And indeed he was carried up into the air by demons,
and did fly on high in the air, saying that he was returning into
heaven, and that he would supply them with good things from thence.  And
the people making acclamations to him, as to a god, I stretched out my
hands to heaven, with my mind, and besought God through the Lord Jesus
to throw down this pestilent fellow, and to destroy the power of those
demons that made use of the same for the seduction and perdition of men,
to dash him against the ground, and bruise him, but not to kill him.
And then, fixing my eyes on Simon, I said to him: "If I be a man of God,
and a real apostle of Jesus Christ, and a teacher of piety, and not of
deceit, as thou art, Simon, I command the wicked powers of the apostate
from piety, by whom Simon the magician is carried, to let go their hold,
that he may fall down headlong from his height, that he may be exposed
to the laughter of those that have been seduced by him."  When I had
said these words, Simon was deprived of his powers, and fell down
headlong with a great noise, and was violently dashed against the
ground, and had his hip and ankle-bones broken; and the people cried
out, saying, "There is one only God, whom Peter rightly preaches in
truth."  And many left him; but some who were worthy of perdition
continued in his wicked doctrine.  And after this manner the most
atheistical heresy of the Simonians was first established in Rome; and
the devil wrought by the rest of the false apostles(3) also.

 HOW THE HERESIES DIFFER FROM EACH OTHER, AND FROM THE TRUTH.

 X. Now all these had one and the same design of atheism, to blaspheme
Almighty God, to spread their doctrine that He is an unknown being, and
not the Father of Christ, nor the Creator of the world; but one who
cannot be spoken of, ineffable, not to be named, and begotten by
Himself; that we are not to make use of the law and the prophets; that
there is no providence and no resurrection to be believed; that there is
no judgment nor retribution; that the soul is trot immortal; that we
must only indulge our pleasures, and turn to any sort of worship without
distinction.  Some of them say that there are many gods, some that there
are three gods without beginning, some that there are two unbegotten
gods, some that there are innumerable AEons.  Further, some of them
teach that men are not to marry, and must ab-

454

stain from flesh and wine, affirming that marriage, and the begetting of
children, and the eating of certain foods, are abominable; that so, as
sober persons, they may make their wicked opinions to be received as
worthy of belief.  And some of them absolutely prohibit the eating of
flesh, as being the flesh not of brute animals, but of creatures that
have a rational soul, as though those that ventured to slay them would
be charged with the crime of murder.  But others of them affirm that we
must only abstain from swine's flesh, but may eat such as are clean by
the law; and that we ought to be circumcised, according to the law, and
to believe in Jesus as in an holy man and a prophet.  But others teach
that men ought to be impudent in uncleanness, and to abuse the flesh,
and to go through all unholy practices, as if this were the only way for
the soul to avoid the rulers of this world.  Now all these are the
instruments of the devil, and the children of wrath.

 SEC. III.--THE HERESIES ATTACKED BY THE APOSTLES.

AN EXPOSITION OF THE PREACHING OF THE APOSTLES.

 XI. But we, who are the children of God and the sons of peace, do
preach the holy and right word of piety, and declare one only God, the
Lord of the law and of the prophets, the Maker of the world, the Father
of Christ; not a being that caused Himself, or begat Himself, as they
suppose, but eternal, and without original, and inhabiting light
inaccessible; not two or three, or manifold, but eternally one only; not
a being that cannot be known or spoken of, but who was preached by the
law and the prophets; the Almighty, the Supreme Governor of all things,
the All-powerful Being; the God and Father of the Only-begotten, and of
the First-born of the whole creation; one God, the Father of one Son,
not of many; the Maker of one Comforter by Christ, the Maker of the
other orders, the one Creator of the several creatures by Christ, the
same their Preserver and Legislator by Him; the cause of the
resurrection, and of the judgment, and of the retribution which shall be
made by Him: that this same Christ was pleased to become man, and went
through life without sin, and suffered, and rose from the dead, and,
returned to Him that sent Him.  We also say that every creature of God
is good, and nothing abominable; that everything for the support of
life, when it is partaken of righteously, is very good: for, according
to the Scripture, "all things were very good."(1) We believe that lawful
marriage, and the begetting of children, is honourable and undefiled;
for difference of sexes was formed in Adam and Eve for the increase of
mankind.  We acknowledge with us a soul that is incorporeal and
immortal,--not corruptible as bodies are, but immortal, as being
rational and free.  We abhor all unlawful mixtures, and that which is
practised by some against nature as wicked and impious.  We profess
there will be a resurrection both of the just and unjust, and a
retribution.  We profess that Christ is not a mere man, but God the
Word, and man the Mediator between God and men, the High Priest of the
Father; nor are we circumcised with the Jews, as knowing that He is come
"to whom the inheritance was reserved,"(2) and on whose account the
families were kept distinct-"the expectation of the Gentiles," Jesus
Christ, who sprang out of Judah,(3) the Son from the branch, the flower
from Jesse, whose government is upon His shoulder.(4)

 FOR THOSE THAT CONFESS CHRIST, BUT ARE DESIROUS TO JUDAIZE.

 XII. But because this heresy did then seem the more powerful to seduce
men, and the whole Church was in danger,(5) we the twelve assembled
together at Jerusalem (for Matthias was chosen to be an apostle in the
room of the betrayer, and took the lot of Judas; as it is said, "His
bishopric(6) let another take"). We deliberated, together with James the
Lord's brother, what was to be done; and it seemed good to him and to
the elders to speak to the people words of doctrine.  For certain men
likewise went down from Judea to Antioch, and taught the brethren who
were there, saying: "Unless ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses,
and walk according to the other customs which he ordained, ye cannot be
saved."(7) When, therefore, there had been no small dissension and
disputation, the brethren which were at Antioch, when they knew that we
were all met together about this question, sent out unto us men who were
faithful and understanding in the Scriptures to learn concerning this
question.  And they, when they were come to Jerusalem, declared to us
what questions were arisen in the church of Antioch,--namely, that some
said men ought to be circumcised, and to observe the other
purifications.  And when some said one thing, and some another, I Peter
stood up, and said unto them: "Men and brethren, ye know how that from
ancient days God made choice among you that the Gentiles should hear the
word of the Gospel by my mouth, and believe; and God, which knoweth the
hearts, bare

455

them witness.(1) For an angel of the Lord appeared on a certain time to
Cornelius,(2) who was a centurion of the Roman government, and spake to
him concerning me, that he should send for me, and hear the word, of
life from my mouth.  He therefore sent for me from Joppa to Caesarea
Stratonis; and when I was ready to go to him, I would have eaten.  And
while they made ready I was in the upper room praying; and I saw heaven
opened, and a vessel, knit at the four corners like a splendid sheet,
let down to the earth, wherein were all manner of four-looted beasts,
and creeping things of the earth, and fowls of the heaven.  And there
came a voice out of heaven to me, saying, Arise, Peter; kill, and eat.
And I said, By no means, Lord: for I have never eaten anything common or
unclean.  And there came a voice a second time, saying, What God hath
cleansed, that call not thou common.  And this was done thrice, and the
vessel was received up again into heaven.  But as I doubted what this
vision should mean, the Spirit said to me, Behold, men seek thee; but
rise up, and go thy way with them, nothing doubting, for I have sent
them.(3) These men were those which came from the centurion, and so by
reasoning I understood the word of the Lord which is written: 'Whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.'(4) And again: 'All
the ends of the earth shall remember, and turn unto the Lord, and all
the families of the heathen shall worship before Him: for the kingdom is
in the Lord's, and He is the governor of the nations.'(5) And observing
that there were expressions everywhere concerning the calling of the
Gentiles, I rose up, and went with them, and entered into the man's
house.  And while I was preaching the word, the Holy 'Spirit fell upon
him, and upon those that were with him, as it did upon us at the
beginning; and He put no difference between us and them, purifying their
hearts by faith.  And I perceived that God is no respecter of persons;
but that in every nation he that feareth Him, and worketh righteousness,
will be accepted with Him.  But even the believers which were of the
circumcision were astonished at this.  Now therefore why tempt ye God,
to lay an heavy yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither we
nor our fathers were able to bear?  But by the grace of the Lord, we
believe we shall be saved, even as they.(6) For the Lord has loosed us
from our bonds, and has made our burden light, and has loosed the heavy
yoke from us by His clemency."  While I spake these things, the whole
multitude kept silence.  But James the Lord's brother answered and said:
"Men and brethren, hearken unto me; Simeon hath declared how God at
first visited to take out a people from the Gentiles for His name.  And
to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written: 'Afterwards I
will return, and will raise again and rebuild the tabernacle of David,
which is fallen down; and I will rebuild its ruins, and will again set
it up, that the residue of men may seek after the Lord, and all the
nations upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doth these
things.'(7) Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the
world.  Wherefore my sentence is, that we do not trouble those who from
among the Gentiles turn unto God: but to charge them that they abstain
from the pollutions of the Gentiles, and from what is sacrificed to
idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication;
which laws were given to the ancients who lived before the law, under
the law of nature, Enos, Enoch, Noah, Melchizedek, Job, and if there be
any other of the same sort."(8) Then it seemed good to us the apostles,
and to James the bishop, and to the elders, with the whole Church, to
send men chosen from among our own selves, with Barnabas, and Paul of
Tarsus, the apostle of the Gentiles, and Judas who was called Barsabbas,
and Silas, chief men among the brethren, and wrote by their hand, as
follows: "The apostles, and elders, and brethren,(9) to the brethren of
Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia of the Gentiles, send greeting: Since we
have heard that some from us have troubled you with words, subverting
your souls, to whom we gave no such commandment, it has seemed good to
us, when we were met together with one accord, to send chosen men to
you, with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men that have hazarded their
lives for our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom ye sent unto us.  We have sent
also with them Judas and Silas, who shall themselves declare the same
things by mouth.  For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to
lay no other burden upon you than these necessary things; that ye
abstain from things offered to idols, and from blood, and from things
strangled, and from fornication: from which things if ye keep
yourselves, ye shall do well.  Fare ye well."(10) We accordingly sent
this epistle; but we ourselves remained in Jerusalem many days,
consulting together for the public benefit, for the well ordering of all
things.

THAT WE MUST SEPARATE FROM HERETICS.

 XIII. But after a long time we visited the brethren, anti confirmed
them with the word of

456

piety, and charged them to avoid those who, under the name of Christ and
Moses, war against Christ and Moses, and in the clothing of sheep hide
the wolf.  For these are false Christs, and false prophets, and false
apostles, deceivers and corrupters, portions of foxes, the destroyers of
the herbs of the vineyards: "for whose sake the love of many will wax
cold.  But he that endureth stedfast to the end, the same shall be
saved.(1) Concerning whom, that He might secure us, the Lord declared,
saying: "There will come to you men in sheep's clothing, but inwardly
they are ravening wolves.  Ye shall know them by their fruits; take care
of them.  For false Christs and false prophets shall arise and shall
deceive many."(2)

WHO WERE THE PREACHERS OF THE CATHOLIC DOCTRINE, AND WHICH ARE THE
COMMANDMENTS GIVEN BY THEM.

 XIV. On whose account also we, who are now assembled in one place,--
Peter and Andrew; James and John, sons of Zebedee; Philip and
Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus
who is surnamed Thaddaeus; and Simon the Canaanite,(3) and Matthias, who
instead of Judas was numbered with us; and James the brother of the Lord
and bishop of Jerusalem, and Paul the teacher of the Gentiles, the
chosen vessel, having all met together, have written to you this
Catholic doctrine for the confirmation of you, to whom the oversight of
the universal Church is committed: wherein we declare unto you, that
there is only one God Almighty, besides whom there is no other, and that
you must worship and adore Him alone, through Jesus Christ our Lord, in
the most holy Spirit;(4) that you are to make use of the sacred
Scriptures, the law, and the prophets; to honour your parents; to avoid
all unlawful actions; to believe the resurrection and the judgment, and
to expect the retribution; and to use all His creatures with
thankfulness, as the works of God, and having no evil in them; to marry
after a lawful manner, for such marriage is unblameable.  For "the woman
is suited to the man by the Lord;"(5) and the Lord says: "He that made
them from the beginning, made them male and female; and said, For this
cause shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto
his wife: and they two shall be one flesh."(6) Nor let it be esteemed
lawful after marriage to put her away who is without blame.  For says
He: "Thou shalt take care to thy spirit, and shalt not forsake the wife
of thy youth; for she is the partner(7) of thy life, and the remains of
thy spirit.  I and no other have made her."(8) For the Lord says: "What
God has joined together, let no man put asunder."(9) For the wife is the
partner of life, united by God unto one body from two.  But he that
divides that again into two which is become one, is the enemy of the
creation of God, and the adversary of His providence.  In like manner,
he that retains her that is corrupted is a transgressor of the law of
nature; since "he that retains an adulteress is foolish and
impious."(10) For says He, "Cut her off from thy flesh;"(11) for she is
not an help, but a snare, bending her mind from thee to another.  Nor be
ye circumcised in your flesh, but let the circumcision which is of the
heart by the Spirit suffice for the faithful; for He says, "Be ye
circumcised to your God, and be circumcised in the foreskin of your
heart."(12)

THAT WE OUGHT NOT TO REBAPTIZE, NOR TO RECEIVE THAT BAPTISM WHICH IS
GIVEN BY THE UNGODLY, WHICH IS NOT BAPTISM, BUT A POLLUTION.

 XV. Be ye likewise contented with one baptism alone, that which is into
the death of the Lord; not that which is conferred by wicked heretics,
but that which is conferred by unblameable priests, "in the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:"(13) and let not that
which comes from the ungodly be received by you, nor let that which is
done by the godly be disannulled by a second.  For as there is one God,
one Christ, and one Comforter, and one death of the Lord in the body, so
let that baptism which is unto Him be but one.  But those that receive
polluted baptism from the ungodly will become partners in their
opinions.  For they are not priests.  For God says to them: "Because
thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee from the office of
a priest to me."(14) Nor indeed are those that are baptized by them
initiated, but are polluted, not receiving the remission of sins, but
the bond of impiety.  And, besides, they that attempt to baptize those
already initiated crucify the Lord afresh, slay Him a second time, laugh
at divine and ridicule holy things, affront the Spirit, dishonour the
sacred blood of Christ as common blood, are impious against Him that
sent, Him that suffered, and Him that witnessed.  Nay, he that, out of
contempt, will not be baptized, shall be

457

condemned as an unbeliever, and shall be reproached as ungrateful and
foolish.  For the Lord says: "Except a man be baptized of water and of
the Spirit, he shall by no means enter into the kingdom of heaven."(1)
And again: "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he
that believeth not shall be damned."(2) But he that says, When I am
dying I will be baptized, lest I should sin and defile my baptism, is
ignorant of God, and forgetful of his own nature.  For "do not thou
delay to turn unto the Lord, for thou knowest not what the next day will
bring forth."(3) Do you also baptize your infants, and bring them up in
the nurture and admonition of God.  For says He: "Suffer the little
children to come unto me, and forbid them not."(4)

CONCERNING BOOKS WITH FALSE INSCRIPTIONS.

 XVI. We have sent all these things to you, that ye may know our
opinion, what it is; and that ye may not receive those books which
obtain in our name, but are written by the ungodly.  For you are not to
attend to the names of the apostles, but to the nature of the things,
and their settled opinions.  For we know that Simon and Cleobius, and
their followers, have compiled poisonous books under the name of Christ
and of His disciples, and do carry them about in order to deceive yon
who love Christ, and us His servants.  And among the ancients also some
have written apocryphal books of Moses, and Enoch, and Adam, and Isaiah,
and David, and Elijah, and of the three patriarchs, pernicious and
repugnant to the truth.  The same things even now have the wicked
heretics done, reproaching the creation, marriage, providence, the
begetting of children, the law, and the prophets; inscribing certain
barbarous names, and, as they think, of angels, but, to speak the truth,
of demons, which suggest things to them: whose doctrine eschew, that ye
may not be partakers of the punishment due to those that write such
things for the seduction and perdition of the faithful and unblameable
disciples of the Lord

Jesus.

MATRIMONIAL PRECEPTS CONCERNING CLERGYMEN.

 XVII. We have already said, that a bishop, a presbyter, and a deacon,
when they are constituted, must be but once married, whether their wives
be alive or whether they be dead; and that it is not lawful for them, if
they are unmarried when they are ordained, to be married afterwards; or
if they be then married, to marry a second time, but to be content with
that wife.  which they had when they came to ordination.(5) We also
appoint that the ministers, and singers, and readers, and porters, shall
be only once married.  But if they entered into the clergy before they
were married, we permit them to many, if they have an inclination
thereto, lest they sin and incur punishment.(6) But we do not permit any
one of the clergy to take to wife either a courtesan, or a servant, or a
widow, or one that is divorced, as also the law says.  Let the deaconess
be a pure virgin; or, at the least, a widow who has been but once
married, faithful, and well esteemed.(7)

AN EXHORTATION COMMANDING TO AVOID THE COMMUNION OF THE IMPIOUS
HERETICS.

 XVIII. Receive ye the penitent, for this is the will of God in Christ.
Instruct the catechumens in the elements of religion, and then baptize
them.  Eschew the antheistical heretics, who are past repentance, and
separate them from the faithful, and excommunicate them from the Church
of God, and charge the faithful to abstain entirely from them, and not
to partake with them either in sermons or prayers: for these are those
that are enemies to the Church, and lay snares for it; who corrupt the
flock, and defile the heritage of Christ, pretenders only to wisdom, and
the vilest of men; concerning whom Solomon the wise said: "The wicked
doers pretend to act piously."  For, says he, "there is a way which
seemeth right to some, but the ends thereof look to the bottom of
hell."(8) These are they concerning whom the Lord declared His mind with
bitterness and severity, saying that "they are false Christs and false
teachers;"(9) who have blasphemed the Spirit of grace, and done despite
to the gift they had from Him after the grace of baptism, "to whom
forgiveness shall not be granted, neither in this world nor in that
which is to come;"(10) who are both more wicked than the Jews and more
atheistical than the Gentiles; who blaspheme the God over all, and tread
under foot His Son, and do despite to the doctrine of the Spirit; who
deny the words of God, or pretend hypocritically to receive them, to the
affronting of God, and the deceiving of those that come among them; who
abuse the Holy Scriptures, and as for righteousness, they do not so much
as know what it is; who spoil the Church of God, as the "little foxes do
the vineyard;"(11) whom we exhort you to avoid, lest you lay traps for
your own souls.  "For he that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but
he that walketh

458

with the foolish shall be known."(1) For we ought neither to run along
with a thief, nor put in our lot with an adulterer; since holy David
says: "O Lord, I have hated them that hate Thee, and I am withered away
on account of Thy enemies.  I hated them with a perfect hatred: they
were to me as enemies."(2) And God reproaches Jehoshaphat with his
friendship towards Ahab, and his league with him and with Ahaziah, by
Jonah the prophet: "Art thou in friendship with a sinner?  Or dost thou
aid him that is hated by the Lord?"(3) "For this cause the wrath of the
Lord would be upon thee suddenly, but that thy heart is found perfect
with the Lord.  For this cause the Lord hath spared thee; yet are thy
works shattered, and thy ships broken to pieces."(4) Eschew therefore
their fellowship, and estrange yourselves from their friendship.  For
concerning them did the prophet declare, and say: "It is not lawful to
rejoice with the ungodly,"(5) says the Lord.  For these are hidden
wolves, dumb dogs, that cannot bark, who at present are but few, but in
process of time, when the end of the world draws nigh, will be more in
number and more troublesome, of whom said the Lord, "Will the Son of
man, when He comes, find faith on the earth?"(6) and, "Because iniquity
shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold;" and, "There shall come
false Christs and false prophets, and shall show signs in the heaven, so
as, if it were possible, to deceive the elect:"(7) from whose deceit
God, through Jesus Christ, who is our hope, will deliver us.  For we
ourselves, as we passed through the nations, and confirmed the churches.
curing some with much exhortation and healing words, restored them again
when they were in the certain way to death.  But those that were
incurable we cast out from the flock, that they might not infect the
lambs, which were found with their scabby disease, but might continue
before the Lord God pure and undefiled, sound and unspotted.  And this
we did in every city, everywhere through the whole world, and have left
to you the bishops and to the rest of the priests this very Catholic
doctrine worthily and righteously, as a memorial or confirmation to
those who have believed in God; and we have sent it by our fellow-
minister Clement, our most faithful and intimate son in the Lord,
together with Barnabas, and Timothy our most dearly beloved son, and the
genuine Mark, together with whom we recommend to you also Titus and
Luke, and Jason and Lucius, and Sosipater.(8)

SEC. IV.--OF THE LAW.

 By whom also we exhort you in the Lord to abstain from your old
conversation, vain bonds, separations, observances, distinction of
meats, and daily washings: for "old things are passed away; behold, all
things are become new."(9)

TO THOSE THAT SPEAK EVIL OF THE LAW,

 XIX. For since ye have known God through Jesus Christ, and all His
dispensation, as it has been from the beginning, that He gave a plain
law to assist the law of nature,(10) such a one as is pure, saving, and
holy, in which His own name was inscribed,(11) perfect, which is never
to fail, being complete in ten commands, unspotted, converting
souls;(12) which, when the Hebrews forgot, He put them in mind of it by
the prophet Malachi, saying, "Remember ye the law of Moses, the man of
God, who gave you in charge commandments and ordinances."(13) Which law
is so very holy and righteous, that even our Saviour, when on a certain
time He healed one leper, and afterwards nine, said to the first, "Go,
show thyself to the high priest, and offer the gift which Moses
commanded for a testimony unto them;"(14) and afterwards to the nine,
"Go, show yourselves to the priests."(15) For He nowhere has dissolved
the law, as Simon pretends, bat fulfilled it; for He says: "One iota, or
one tittle, shall not pass from the law until all be fulfilled."  For
says He, "I come not to dissolve the law, but to fulfil it."(16) For
Moses himself, who was at once the lawgiver, and the high priest, and
the prophet, and the king, and Elijah, the zealous follower of the
prophets, were present at our Lord's transfiguration in the
mountain,(17) and witnesses of His incarnation and of His sufferings, as
the intimate friends of Christ, but not as enemies and strangers.
Whence it is demonstrated that the law is good and holy, as also the
prophets.

WHICH IS THE LAW OF NATURE, AND WHICH iS THAT AFTERWARDS INTRODUCED, AND
WHY IT WAS INTRODUCED.

 XX. Now the law is the decalogue, which the Lord promulgated to them
with an audible voice,(18) before the people made that calf which
represented the Egyptian Apis.(19) And the law is righteous, and
therefore is it called the law, because judgments are thence made
according

459

to the law of nature, which the followers of Simon abuse, supposing they
shall not be judged thereby, and so shall escape punishment.  This law
is good, holy, and such as lays no compulsion in things positive.  For
He says: "If thou wilt make me an altar, thou shalt make it of
earth."(1) It does not say, "Make one," but, "If thou wilt make."  It
does not impose a necessity, but gives leave to their own free liberty.
For God does not stand in need of sacrifices, being by nature above all
want.  But knowing that, as of old, Abel, beloved of God, and Noah and
Abraham, and those that succeeded, without being required, but only
moved of themselves by the law of nature, did offer sacrifice to God out
of a grateful mind; so He did now permit the Hebrews, not commanding,
but, if they had a mind, permitting them; and if they offered from a
right intention, showing Himself pleased with their sacrifices.
Therefore He says: "If thou desirest to offer, do not offer.  to me as
to one that stands in need of it, for I stand in need of nothing; for
the world is mine, and the fulness thereof."(2) But when this people
became forgetful of that, and called upon a calf as God, instead of the
true God, and to him did ascribe the cause of their coming out of Egypt,
saying, "These are thy gods, O lsrael, which have brought thee out of
the land of Egypt;"(3) and when these men had committed: wickedness with
the "similitude of a calf that eateth hay;" and denied God who had
visited them by Moses(4) in their afflictions, and had done signs with
his hand and rod, and had smitten the Egyptians with ten plagues; who
bad divided the waters of the Red Sea into two parts; who had led them
in the midst of the water, as a horse upon the ground; who had drowned
their enemies, and those that laid wait for them; who at Marah had made
sweet the bitter fountain; who had brought water out of the sharp rock
till they were satisfied; who had overshadowed them with a pillar of a
cloud on account of the immoderate heat, and with a pillar of fire which
enlightened and guided them when they knew not which way they were to
go; who gave them manna from heaven, and gave them quails for flesh from
the sea;(5) who gave them the law in the mountain; whose voice He had
vouchsafed to let them hear; Him did they deny, and said to Aaron, "Make
us gods who shall go before us;"(6) and they made a molten calf, and
sacrificed to an idol;--then was God angry, as being ungratefully
treated by them, and bound them with bonds which could not be loosed,
with a mortifying burden and a hard collar, and no longer said, "If thou
makest," but, "Make an altar," and sacrifice perpetually; for thou art
forgetful and ungrateful.  Offer burnt-offerings therefore continually,
that thou mayest be mindful of me.  For since thou hast wickedly abused
thy power, I lay a necessity upon thee for the time to come, and I
command thee to abstain from certain meats; and I ordain thee the
distinction of clean and unclean creatures, although every creature is
good, as being made by me; and I appoint thee several separations,
purgations, frequent washings and sprinklings, several purifications,
and several times of rest; and if thou neglectest any of them, I
determine that punishment which is proper to the disobedient, that being
pressed and galled by thy collar, thou mayest depart from the error of
polytheism, and laying aside that, "These are thy gods, O Israel,"(3)
mayest be mindful of that, "Hear, O lsrael, the Lord thy God is one
Lord;"(7) and mayest run back again to that law which is inserted by me
in the nature of all men, "that there is only one God in heaven and on
earth, and to love Him with all thy heart, and all thy might, and all
thy mind," and to fear none but Him, nor to admit the names of other
gods into thy mind, nor to let thy tongue utter them out of thy mouth.
He bound them for the hardness of their hearts, that by sacrificing, and
resting, and purifying themselves, and by similar observances, they
might come to the knowledge of God, who ordained these things for them.

THAT WE WHO BELIEVE IN CHRIST ARE UNDER GRACE, AND NOT UNDER THE
SERVITUDE OF THAT ADDITIONAL LAW.

 XXI. "But blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they
hear."(8) Yours, I say, who have believed in the one God, not by
necessity, but by a sound understanding, in obedience to Him that called
you.  For you are released from the bonds, and freed from the servitude.
For says He:(9) "I call you no longer servants, but friends; for all
things that I have heard of my Father have I made known unto you."(10)
For to them that would not see nor hear, not for the want of those
senses, but for the excess of their wickedness, "I gave statutes that
were not good, and judgments whereby they would not live;"(11) they are
looked upon as not good, as burnings and a sword, and medicines are
esteemed enemies by the sick, and impossible to be observed on account
of their

460

obstinacy: whence also they brought death upon them being not obeyed.

THAT THE LAW FOR SACRIFICES IS ADDITIONAL, WHICH CHRIST WHEN HE CAME
TOOK AWAY.

 XXII. You therefore are blessed who are delivered from the curse, For
Christ, the Son of God, by His coming has confirmed and completed the
law, but has taken away the additional precepts, although not all of
them, yet at least the more grievous ones; having confirmed the former,
and abolished the latter, and has again set the free-will of man at
liberty, not subjecting him to the penalty of a temporal death, but
giving laws to him according to another constitution.  Wherefore He
says: "If any man will come after me, let him come."(1) And again: "Will
ye also go away?"(2) And besides, before His coining He refused the
sacrifices of the people, while they frequently offered them, when they
sinned against Him, and thought He was to be appeased by sacrifices, but
not by repentance.  For thus He speaks: "Why dost thou bring to me
frankincense from Saba, and cinnamon from a remote land?  Your burnt-
offerings are not acceptable, and your sacrifices are not sweet to
me."(3) And afterwards: "Gather your burnt-offerings, together with your
sacrifices, and eat flesh.  For I did not command you, when I brought
you out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt-offerings and
sacrifices."(4) And He says by Isaiah: "To what purpose do ye bring me a
multitude of sacrifices?  saith the Lord.  I am full of the burnt-
offerings of rams, and I will not accept the fat of lambs, and the blood
of bulls and of goats.  Nor do you come and appear before me; for who
hath required these things at your hands?  Do not go on to tread my
courts any more.  If you bring me fine flour, it is vain: incense is an
abomination unto me: your new moons, and your Sabbaths, and your great
day, I cannot bear them: your fasts, and your rests, and your feasts, my
soul hateth them; I am over-full of them."(5) And He says by another:
"Depart from me; the sound of thine hymns, and the psalms of thy musical
instruments, I will not hear."(6) And Samuel says to Saul, when he
thought to sacrifice: "Obedience is better than sacrifice, and
hearkening than the fat of rams.  For, behold, the Lord does not so much
delight in sacrifice, as in obeying Him."(7) And He says by David: "I
will take no calves out of thine house, nor he-goats out of thy flock.
If I should be hungry, I would not tell thee; for the whole world is
mine, and the fulness thereof.  Shall I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink
the blood of goats?  Sacrifice to God the sacrifice of praise, and pay
thy vows to the Most High."(8) And in all the Scriptures in like manner
He refuses their sacrifices on account of their sinning against Him.
For "the sacrifices of the impious are an abomination with the Lord,
since they offer them in an unlawful manner."(9) And again: "Their
sacrifices are to them as bread of lamentation; all that eat of them
shall be defiled."(10) If, therefore, before His coining He sought for
"a clean heart and a contrite spirit"(11) more than sacrifices, much
rather would He abrogate those sacrifices, I mean those by blood, when
He came.  Yet He so abrogated them as that He first fulfilled them.  For
He was both circumcised, and sprinkled, and offered sacrifices and whole
burnt-offerings, and made use of the rest of their customs.  And He that
was the Lawgiver became Himself the fulfilling of the law; not taking
away the law of nature, but abrogating those additional laws that were
afterwards introduced, although not all of them neither.

HOW CHRIST BECAME A FULFILLER OF THE LAW, AND WHAT PARTS OF IT HE PUT A
PERIOD TO, OR CHANGED, OR TRANSFERRED.

 XXIII. For He did not take away the law of nature, but confirmed it.
For He that said in the law, "The Lord thy God is one Lord;"(12)

the same says in the Gospel, "That they might know Thee, the only true
God."(13) And He that said, "Thou shalt love thy neighhour as
thyself,"(14) says in the Gospel, renewing the same precept, "A new
commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another."(15) He who then
forbade murder, does now forbid causeless anger.(16) He that forbade
adultery, does now forbid all unlawful lust.  He that forbade stealing,
now pronounces him most happy who supplies those that are in want out of
his own labours.(17) He that forbade hatred, now pronounces him blessed
that loves his enemies.(18) He that forbade revenge, now commands long-
suffering;(19) not as if just revenge were an unrighteous thing, but
because long-suffering is more excellent.  Nor did He make laws to root
out our natural passions, but only to forbid the excess of them.(20)

461

He who had commanded to honour our parents, was Himself subject to
them.(1) He who had commanded to keep the Sabbath, by resting thereon
for the sake of meditating on the laws, has now commanded us to consider
of the law of creation, and of providence every day, and to return
thanks to God, He abrogated circumcision when He had Himself fulfilled
it.  For He it was "to whom the inheritance was reserved, who was the
expectation of the nations."(2) He who made a law for swearing rightly,
and forbade perjury, has now charged us not to swear at all.(3) He has
in several ways changed baptism, sacrifice, the priesthood, and the
divine service, which was confined to one place: for instead of daily
baptisms, He has given only one, which is that into His death.  Instead
of one tribe, He has appointed that out of every nation the best should
be ordained for the priesthood; and that not their bodies should be
examined for blemishes, but their religion and their lives.  Instead of
a bloody sacrifice, He has appointed that reasonable and unbloody
mystical one of His body and blood, which is performed to represent the
death of the Lord by symbols.  Instead of the divine service confined to
one place, He has commanded and appointed that He should be glorified
from sun-rising to sunsetting in every place of His dominion.(4) He did
not therefore take away the law from us, but the bonds.  For concerning
the law Moses says: "Thou shalt meditate on the word which I command
thee, sitting in thine house, and rising up, and walking in the way."(5)
And David says: "His delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law
will he meditate day and night."(6) For everywhere would he have us
subject to His laws, but not transgressors of them.  For says He:
"Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord.
Blessed are they that search out His testimonies; with their whole heart
shall they seek Him."(7) And again: "Blessed are we, O Israel, because
those things that are pleasing to God are known to us."(8) And the Lord
says: "If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them."(9)

THAT IT PLEASED THE LORD THAT THE LAW OF RIGHTEOUSNESS SHOULD BE
DEMONSTRATED BY THE ROMANS.

 XXIV. Nor does He desire that the law of righteousness should only be
demonstrated by

us; but He is pleased that it should appear and shine by means of the
Romans.  For these Romans, believing in the Lord, left off their
polytheism and injustice, and entertain the good, and punish the bad.
But they hold the Jews under tribute, and do not suffer them to make use
of their own ordinances.

HOW GOD, ON ACCOUNT OF THEIR IMPIETY TOWARDS CHRIST, MADE THE JEWS
CAPTIVES, AND PLACED THEM UNDER TRIBUTE.

 XXV. Because, indeed, they drew servitude upon themselves voluntarily,
when they said, "We have no king but Caesar;"(10) and, "If we do not
slay Christ, all men will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and
will take away both our place and nation."(11) And so they prophesied
unwittingly.  For accordingly the nations believed on Him, and they
themselves were deprived by the Romans of their power, and of their
legal worship; and they have been forbidden to slay whom they please,
and to sacrifice when they will.  Wherefore they are accursed, as not
able to perform the things they are commanded to do.  For says He:
"Cursed be he that does not continue in all things that are written in
the book of the law to do them."(12) Now it is impossible in their
dispersion, while they are among the heathen, for them to perform all
things in their law.  For the divine Moses forbids both to rear an altar
out of Jerusalem, and to read the law out of the bounds of Judea.(13)
Let us therefore follow Christ, that we may inherit His blessings.  Let
us walk after the law and the prophets by the Gospel.  Let us eschew the
worshippers of many gods, and the murderers of Christ, and the murderers
of the prophets, and the wicked and atheistical heretics.  Let us be
obedient to Christ as to our King, as having authority to change several
constitutions, and having, as a legislator, wisdom to make new
constitutions in different circumstances; yet so that everywhere the
laws of nature be immutably preserved.

 SEC. V.--THE TEACHING OF THE APOSTLES IN OPPOSITION TO JEWISH AND
GENTILE SUPERSTITIONS, ESPECIALLY IN REGARD TO MARRIAGE AND FUNERALS.

 THAT WE OUGHT TO AVOID THE HERETICS AS THE CORRUPTERS OF SOULS.

 XXVI. Do you therefore, O bishops, and ye of the laity, avoid all
heretics who abuse the law and the prophets.  For they are enemies to
God Almighty, and disobey Him, and do not confess

462

Christ to be the Son of God.  For they also deny His generation
according to the flesh; they are ashamed of the cross; they abuse His
passion and His death; they know not His resurrection; they take away
His generation before all ages.  Nay, some of them are impious after
another manner, imagining the Lord to be a mere man, supposing Him to
consist of a soul and body.  But others of them suppose that Jesus
Himself is the God over all, and glorify Him as His own Father, and
suppose Him to be both the Son and the Comforter; than which doctrines
what can be more detestable?  Others, again, of them do refuse certain
meats, and say that marriage with the procreation of children is evil,
and the contrivance of the devil; and being ungodly themselves, they are
not willing to rise again from the dead on account of their wickedness.
Wherefore also they ridicule the resurrection, and say, We are holy
people, unwilling to eat and to drink; and they fancy that they shall
rise again from the dead demons without flesh, who shall be condemned
for ever in eternal fire.  Fly therefore from them, lest ye perish with
them in their impieties.

 OF SOME JEWISH AND GENTILE OBSERVANCES.

 XXVII. Now if any persons keep to the Jewish customs and observances
concerning the natural emission and nocturnal pollutions, and the lawful
conjugal acts,(1) let them tell us whether in those hours or days, when
they undergo any such thing, they observe not to pray, or to touch a
Bible, or to partake of the Eucharist?  And if they own it to be so, it
is plain they are void of the Holy Spirit, which always continues with
the faithful.  For concerning holy persons Solomon says: "That every one
may prepare himself, that so when he sleeps it may keep him, and when he
arises it may talk with him."(2) For if thou thinkest, O woman, when
thou art seven days in thy separation, that thou art void of the Holy
Spirit, then if thou shouldest die suddenly thou wilt depart void of the
Spirit, and without assured hope in God; or else thou must imagine that
the Spirit always is inseparable from thee, as not being in a place.
But thou standest in need of prayer and the Eucharist, and the coming of
the Holy Ghost, as having been guilty of no fault in this matter.  For
neither lawful mixture, nor child-bearing, nor the menstrual purgation,
nor nocturnal pollution, can defile the nature of a man, or separate the
Holy Spirit from him.  Nothing but impiety and unlawful practice can do
that.  For the Holy Spirit always abides with those that are possessed
of it, so long as they are worthy; and those from whom it is departed,
it leaves them desolate, and exposed to the

wicked spirit.  Now every man is filled either with the holy or with the
unclean spirit; and it is not possible to avoid the one or the other,
unless they can receive opposite spirits.  For the Comforter hates every
lie, and the devil hates all truth.  But every one that is baptized
agreeably to the truth is separated from the diabolical spirit, and is
under the Holy Spirit; and the Holy Spirit remains with him so long as
he is doing good, and fills him with wisdom and understanding, and
suffers not the wicked spirit to approach him, but watches over his
goings.  Thou therefore, O woman, if, as thou sayest, in the days of thy
separation thou art void of the Holy Spirit, thou art then filled with
the unclean one; for by neglecting to pray and to read thou wilt invite
him to thee, though he were unwilling.  For this spirit, of all others,
loves the ungrateful, the slothful, the careless, and the drowsy, since
he himself by ingratitude was distempered with evil mind, and was
thereby deprived by God his dignity; having rather chosen to be a devil
than an archangel.  Wherefore, O woman, eschew such vain words, and be
ever mindful of God that created thee, and pray to Him.  For He is thy
Lord, and the Lord of the universe; and meditate in His laws without
observing any such things, such as the natural purgation, lawful
mixture, child-birth, a miscarriage, or a blemish of the body; since
such observations are the vain inventions of foolish men, and such
inventions as have no sense in them.  Neither the burial of a man, nor a
dead man's bone, nor a sepulchre, nor any particular sort of food, nor
the nocturnal pollution, can defile the soul of man; but only impiety
towards God, and transgression, and injustice towards one's neighbour; I
mean rapine, violence, or if there be anything contrary to His
righteousness, adultery or fornication.  Wherefore, beloved, avoid and
eschew such observations, for they are heathenish.  For we do not
abominate a dead man, as do they, seeing we hope that he will live
again.  Nor do we hate lawful mixture; for it is their practice to act
impiously in such instances.  For the conjunction of man and wife, if it
be with righteousness, is agreeable to the mind of God.  "For He that
made them at the beginning made them male and female; and He blessed
them, and said, Increase and multiply, and fill the earth."(3) If,
therefore, the difference of sexes was made by the will of God for the
generation of multitudes, then must the conjunction of male and female
be also acceptable to His mind.

 OF THE LOVE OF BOYS, ADULTERY, AND FORNICATION.

 XXVIII. But we do not say so of that mixture that is contrary to
nature, or of any unlawful

463

practice; for such are enmity to God.  For the sin of Sodom is contrary
to nature, as is also that with brute beasts.  But adultery and
fornication are against the law; the one whereof is impiety, the other
injustice, and, in a word, no other than a great sin.  But neither sort
of them is without its punishment in its own proper nature.  For the
practisers of one sort attempt the dissolution of the world, and
endeavour to make the natural course of things to change for one that is
unnatural; but those of the second son--the adulterers--are unjust by
corrupting others' marriages, and dividing into two what God hath made
one, rendering the children suspected, and exposing the true husband to
the snares of others.  And fornication is the destruction of one's own
flesh, not being made use of for the procreation of children, but
entirely for the sake of pleasure, which is a mark of incontinency, and
not a sign of virtue.  All these things are forbidden by the laws; for
thus say the oracles: "Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with
womankind."(1) "For such a one is accursed, and ye shall stone them with
stones: they have wrought abomination."(2) "Every one that lieth with a
beast, slay ye him: he has wrought wickedness in his people."(3) "And if
any one defile a married woman, slay ye them both: they have wrought
wickedness; they are guilty; let them die."(4) And afterwards: "There
shall not be a fornicator among the children of Israel, and there shall
not be an whore among the daughters of Israel.  Thou shalt not offer the
hire of an harlot to the Lord thy God upon the altar, nor the price of a
dog."(5) "For the vows arising from the hire of an harlot are not
clean."(6) These things the laws have forbidden, but they have honoured
marriage, and have called it blessed, since God has blessed it who
joined male and female together.(7) And wise Solomon somewhere says: "A
wife is suited to her husband by the Lord."(8) And David says: "Thy wife
is like a flourishing vine in the sides of thine house; thy children
like olive-branches round about thy table.  Behold, thus shall the man
be blessed that feareth the Lord."  (9) Wherefore "marriage is
honourable"(10) and comely, and the begetting of children pure, for
there is no evil in that which is good.  Therefore neither is the
natural purgation abominable before God, who has ordered it to happen to
women within the space of thirty days for their advantage and healthful
state, who do less move about, and keep usually at home in the house.
Nay, moreover, even in the Gospel, when the woman with the perpetual
purgation of blood(11) touched the saving border of the Lord's garment
in hope of being healed, He was not angry at her, nor did complain of
her at all; but, on the contrary, He healed her, saying, "Thy faith hath
saved thee."  When the natural purgations do appear in the wives, let
not their husbands approach them, out of regard to the children to be
begotten; for the law has forbidden it, for it says: "Thou shalt not
come near thy wife when she is in her separation."(12) Nor, indeed, let
them frequent their wives' company when they are with child.(13) For
they do this not for the begetting of children, but for the sake of
pleasure.  Now a lover of God ought not to be a lover of pleasure.

HOW WIVES OUGHT TO BE SUBJECT TO THEIR OWN HUSBANDS, AND HUSBANDS OUGHT
TO LOVE THEIR OWN WIVES.

 XXXIX. Ye wives, be subject to your own husbands, and have them in
esteem, and serve them with fear and love, as holy Sarah honoured
Abraham.  For she could not endure to call him by his name, but called
him lord, when she said, "My lord is old."(14) In like manner, ye
husbands, love your own wives as your own members, as partners in life,
and fellow-helpers for the procreation of children.  For says He,
"Rejoice with the wife of thy youth.  Let her conversation be to thee as
a loving hind, and a pleasant foal; let her alone guide thee, and be
with thee at all times: for if thou beest every way encompassed with her
friendship, thou wilt be happy in her society."(15) Love them therefore
as your own members, as your very bodies; for so it is written, "The
Lord has testified between thee and between the wife of thy youth; and
she is thy partner, and another has not made her: and she is the remains
of thy spirit;" and, "Take heed to your spirit, and do not forsake the
wife of thy youth."(16) An husband, therefore, and a wife, when they
company together in lawful marriage, and rise from one another, may pray
without any observations, and without washing are clean.  But whosoever
corrupts and defiles another man's wife, or is defiled with an harlot,
when he arises up from her, though he should wash himself in the entire
ocean and all the rivers, cannot be clean.

464

SEC. VI.--CONCLUSION OF THE WORK.

THAT IT IS THE CUSTOM OF JEWS AND GENTILES TO OBSERVE NATURAL
PURGATIONS, AND TO ABOMINATE THE REMAINS OF THE DEAD; BUT THAT ALL THIS
IS CONTRARY TO CHRISTIANITY.

 XXX. Do not therefore keep any such observances about legal and natural
purgations, as thinking you are defiled by them.  Neither do you seek
after Jewish separations, or perpetual washings, or purifications upon
the touch of a dead body.  But without such observations assemble in the
dormitories, reading the holy books, and singing for the martyrs which
are fallen asleep, and for all the saints from the beginning of the
world, and for your brethren that are asleep in the Lord, and offer the
acceptable Eucharist, the representation of the royal body of Christ,
both in your churches and in the dormitories; and in the funerals of the
departed, accompany them with singing, if they were faithful in Christ.
For "precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints."(1)
And again: "O my soul, return unto thy rest, for the Lord hath done thee
good."(2) And elsewhere: "The memory of the just is with encomiums."(3)
And, "The souls of the righteous are in the hands of God."(4) For those
that have believed in God, although they are asleep, are not dead.  For
our Saviour says to the Sadducees: "But concerning the resurrection of
the dead, have ye not read that which is written, I am the God of
Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?  God, therefore, is
not the God of the dead, but of the living; for all live to Him."(5)
Wherefore, of those that live with God, even their very relics are not
without honour.  For even Elisha the prophet, after he was fallen
asleep, raised up a dead man who was slain by the pirates of Syria.(6)
For his body touched the bones of Elisha, and he arose and revived.  Now
this would not have

happened unless the body of Elisha were holy.  And chaste Joseph
embraced Jacob after he was dead upon his bed;(7) and Moses and Joshua
the son of Nun carried away the relics of Joseph,(8) and did not esteem
it a defilement.  Whence you also, O bishops, and the rest, who without
such observances touch the departed, ought not to think yourselves
defiled.  Nor abhor the relics of such persons, but avoid such
observances, for they are foolish.  And adorn yourselves with holiness
and chastity, that ye may become partakers of immortality, and partners
of the kingdom of God, and may receive the promise of God, and may rest
for ever, through Jesus Christ our Saviour.

 To Him, therefore, who is able to open the ears of your hearts to the
receiving the oracles of God administered to you both by the Gospel and
by the teaching of Jesus Christ of Nazareth; who was crucified under
Pontius Pilate and Herod, and died, and rose again from the dead, and
will come again at the end of the world with power and great glory, and
will raise the dead, and put an end to this world, and distribute to
every one according to his deserts: to Him that has given us Himself for
an earnest of the resurrection; who was taken up into the heavens by the
power of His God and Father in our sight, who ate and drank with Him for
forty days after He arose from the dead; who is sat down on the right
hand of the throne of the majesty of Almighty God upon the cherubim; to
whom it was said, "Sit Thou on my right hand, until I make Thine enemies
Thy footstool;"(9) whom the most blessed Stephen saw standing at the
right hand of power, and cried out, and said, "Behold, I see the heavens
opened, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God,"(10)as the
High Priest of all the rational orders,--through Him, worship, and
majesty, and glory be given to Almighty God, both now and for
evermore.(11) Amen.

465

CONSTITUTIONS OF THE HOLY APOSTLES

BOOK VII.

 CONCERNING THE CHRISTIAN LIFE, AND THE EUCHARIST, AND THE INITIATION
INTO CHRIST.

SEC. I.--ON THE TWO WAYS,(1)--THE WAY OF LIFE AND THE WAY OF DEATH.

THAT THERE ARE TWO WAYS,--THE ONE NATURAL, OF LIFE, AND THE OTHER
INTRODUCED AFTERWARDS, OF DEATH; AND THAT THE FORMER IS FROM GOD, AND
THE LATTER OF ERROR, FROM THE SNARES OF THE ADVERSARY.

 1.  THE lawgiver Moses said to the Israelites, "Behold, I have set
before your face the way of life and the way of death;"(2) and added,
"Choose life, that thou mayest live."(3) Elijah the prophet also said to
the people: "How long will you halt with both your legs?  If the Lord be
God, follow Him."(4) The Lord Jesus also said justly: "No one can serve
two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or
else he will hold to the one, and despise the other."(5) We also,
following our teacher Christ, "who is the Saviour of all men, especially
of those that believe,"(6) are obliged to say that there are two ways--
the one of life, the other of death;(7) which have no comparison one
with another, for they are very different,(8) or rather entirely
separate; and the way of life is that of nature, but that of death was
afterwards introduced,--it not being according to the mind of God, but
from the snares of the adversary.(9)

MORAL EXHORTATIONS OF THE LORD'S CONSTITUTIONS AGREEING WITH THE ANCIENT
PROHIBITIONS OF THE DIVINE LAWS. THE PROHIBITION OF ANGER, SPITE,
CORRUPTION, ADULTERY, AND EVERY FORBIDDEN ACTION.

 II. The first way, therefore, is that of life; and is this,(10) which
the law also does appoint: "To

love the Lord God with all thy mind, and with all thy soul, who is the
one and only God, besides whom there is no other;"(11) "and thy
neighbour as thyself."(12)And whatsoever thou wouldest not should be
done to thee, that do not thou to another."(13) "Bless them that curse
you; pray for them that despitefully use you."(14) "Love your enemies;
for what thanks is it if ye love those that love you?  for even the
Gentiles do the same."(15) "But do ye love those that hate you, and ye
shall have no enemy."  For says He, "Thou shalt not hate any man; no,
not an Egyptian, nor an Edomite;"(16) for they are all the workmanship
of God.  Avoid not the persons, but the sentiments, of the wicked.
"Abstain from fleshly and worldly lusts."(17) "If any one gives thee a
stroke on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also."(18) Not that
revenge is evil, but that patience is more honourable.  For David says,
"If I have made returns to them that repaid me evil."(19) "If any one
compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain."(20) And, "He that will sue
thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak
also."(21) "And from him that taketh thy goods, require them not
again."(22) "Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would
borrow of thee do not shut thy hand."(23) For "the righteous man is
pitiful, and lendeth."(24) For your Father would have you give to all,
who Himself "maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and
sendeth His rain on the just and on the unjust."(25) It is therefore
reasonable to give to all out of thine own labours; for says He, "Honour
the Lord out of thy right-

466

eous labours,"(1) but so that the saints be preferred.(2) "Thou shalt
not kill;"(3) that is, thou shalt not destroy a man like thyself: for
thou dissolvest what was well made.  Not as if all killing were wicked,
but only that of the innocent: but the killing which is just is reserved
to the magistrates alone.  "Thou shalt not commit adultery:" for thou
dividest one flesh into two.  "They two shall be one flesh:"(4) for the
husband and wife are one in nature, in consent, in union, in
disposition, and the conduct of life; but they are separated in sex and
number.  "Thou shall not corrupt boys:"(5) for this wickedness is
contrary to nature, and arose from Sodom, which was therefore entirely
consumed with fire sent from God.(6) "Let such a one be accursed: and
all the people shall say, So be it."(7) "Thou shall not commit
fornication:" for says He, "There shall not be a fornicator among the
children of Israel."(8) "Thou shalt not steal:" for Achan, whet he had
stolen in Israel at Jericho, was stoned to death;(9) and Gehazi, who
stole, and told a lie, inherited the leprosy of Naaman;(10) and Judas,
who stole the poor's money, betrayed the Lord of glory to the Jews,(11)
and repented, and hanged himself, and burst asunder in the midst, and
all his bowels gushed out;(12) and Ananias, and Sapphira his wife, who
stole their own goods, and "tempted the Spirit of the Lord," were
immediately, at the sentence of Peter our fellow-apostle, struck
dead.(13)

THE PROHIBITION OF CONJURING, MURDER OF INFANTS, PERJURY, AND FALSE
WITNESS.

 III. Thou shalt not use magic.(14) Thou shalt not use witchcraft; for
He says, "Ye shall not suffer a witch to live."(15) Thou shall not slay
thy child by causing abortion, nor kill that which is begotten; for
"everything that is shaped, and has received a soul from God, if it be
slain, shall be avenged, as being unjustly destroyed."(16) "Thou shalt
not covet the things that belong to thy neighbour, as his wife, or his
servant, or his ox, or his field."  "Thou shalt not forswear thyself;

for it is said, "Thou shalt not swear at all."(17) But if that cannot be
avoided, thou shalt swear truly;

for" every one that swears by Him shall be commended."(18) "Thou shalt
not bear false witness;" for "he that falsely accuses the needy provokes
to anger Him that made him."(19)

THE PROHIBITION OF EVIL-SPEAKING AND PASSION, OF DECEITFUL CONDUCT, OR
IDLE WORDS, LIES, COVETOUSNESS, AND HYPOCRISY.

 IV. Thou shall not speak evil;(20) for says He, "Love not to speak
evil, lest thou beest taken away."  Nor shalt thou be mindful of
injuries; for "the ways of those that remember injuries are unto
death."(21) Thou shall not be double-minded nor double-tongued; for "a
man's own lips are a strong snare to him,"(22) and "a talkative person
shall not be prospered upon earth."(23) Thy words shall not be vain; for
"ye shall give an account of every idle word."(24) Thou shalt not tell
lies: for says He, "Thou shalt destroy all those that speak lies."(25)
Thou shalt not be covetous nor rapacious: for says He, "Woe to him that
is covetous towards his neighbour with an evil covetousness."(26)

THE PROHIBITION OF MALIGNITY, ACCEPTATION OF PERSONS, WRATH, MALICE, AND
ENVY.

 V. Thou shalt not be an hypocrite, lest thy "portion be with them."(27)
Thou shalt not be ill-natured nor proud: for "God resisteth the
proud."(28) "Thou shalt not accept persons in judgment; for the judgment
is the Lord's."  "Thou shalt not hate any man; thou shalt surely reprove
thy brother, and not become guilty on his account;"(29) and, "Reprove a
wise man, and he will love thee."(30) Eschew all evil, and all that is
like it: for says He, "Abstain from injustice, and trembling shall not
come nigh thee."(31) Be not soon angry, nor spiteful, nor passionate,
nor furious, nor daring, lest thou undergo the fate of Cain, and of
Saul, and of Joab: for the first of these slew his brother Abel, because
Abel was found to be preferred before him with God, and because Abel's
sacrifice was preferred;(32) the second persecuted holy David, who had
slain Goliah the Philistine, being envious of the praises of the women
who danced;(33) the third slew two gen-

467

erals of armies--Abner of Israel, and Amasa of Judah.(1)

CONCERNING AUGURY AND ENCHANTMENTS.

 VI. Be not a diviner, for that leads to idolatry;(2) for says Samuel,
"Divination is sin;"(3) and, "There shall be no divination in Jacob, nor
soothsaying in Israel."(4) Thou shalt not use enchantments or purgations
for thy child.  Thou shall not be a soothsayer nor a diviner by great or
little birds.  Nor shalt thou learn wicked arts; for all these things
has the law forbidden.(5) Be not one that wishes for evil, for thou wilt
be led into intolerable sins.  Thou shalt not speak obscenely, nor use
wanton glances, nor be a drunkard; for from such causes arise whoredoms
and adulteries.  Be not a lover of money, lest thou "serve mammon
instead of God."(6) Be not vainglorious, nor haughty, nor high-minded.
For from all these things arrogance does spring.  Remember him who said:
"Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: I have not
exercised myself in great matters, nor in things too high for me; but I
was humble."(7)

THE PROHIBITION OF MURMURING, INSOLENCE,

PRIDE, AND ARROGANCE.

 VII. Be not a murmurer, remembering the punishment which those
underwent who murmured against Moses.  Be not self-willed, be not
malicious, be not hard-hearted, be not passionate, be not mean-spirited;
for all these things lead to blasphemy.  But be meek, as were Moses and
David,(8) since "the meek shall inherit the earth."(9)

CONCERNING LONG-SUFFERING, SIMPLICITY, MEEK-

NESS, AND PATIENCE.

 VIII. Be slow to wrath; for such a one is very prudent, since "he that
is hasty of spirit is a very fool."(10) Be merciful; for "blessed are
the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy."(11) Be sincere, quiet, good,
"trembling at the word of God."(12) Thou shalt not exalt thyself, as did
the Pharisee; for "every one that exalteth himself shall be abased,"(13)
and "that which is of high esteem with man is abomination with God."(14)
Thou shalt not entertain confidence in thy soul; for "a confident man
shall fall into mischief."(15) Thou shalt not go along with the foolish,
but with the wise and righteous; for "he that walketh(16) with wise men
shall be wise, but he that walketh with the foolish shall be known."(17)
Receive the afflictions that fall upon thee with an even mind, and the
chances of life without over-much sorrow, knowing that a reward shall be
given to thee by God, as was given to Job and to Lazarus.(18)

THAT IT IS OUR DUTY TO ESTEEM OUR CHRISTIAN TEACHERS ABOVE OUR PARENTS--
THE FORMER BEING THE MEANS OF OUR WELL-BEING, THE OTHER ONLY OF OUR
BEING.

 IX. Thou shalt honour him that speaks to thee the word of God, and be
mindful of him day and night; and thou shalt reverence him,(19) not as
the author of thy birth, but as one that is made the occasion of thy
well-being.  For where the doctrine concerning God is, there God is
present.  Thou shalt every day seek the face of the saints, that thou
mayest acquiesce in their words.

THAT WE OUGHT NOT TO DIVIDE OURSELVES FROM THE SAINTS, BUT TO MAKE PEACE
BETWEEN THOSE THAT QUARREL, TO JUDGE RIGHTEOUSLY, AND NOT TO ACCEPT
PERSONS.

 X. Thou shalt not make schisms among the saints, but be mindful of the
followers of Corah.(20) Thou shalt make peace between those that are at
variance, as Moses did when he persuaded them to be friends.(21) Thou
shalt judge righteously; for "the judgment is the Lord's."(22) Thou
shalt not accept persons when thou reprovest for sins; but do as Elijah
and Micaiah did to Ahab, and Ebedmelech the Ethiopian to Zedekiah, and
Nathan to David, and John to Herod.(23)

CONCERNING HIM THAT IS DOUBLE-MINDED AND DESPONDING.

 XI. Be not of a doubtful mind in thy prayer, whether it shall be
granted or no.  For the Lord said to me Peter upon the sea: "O thou of
little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?"(24) "Be not thou ready to
stretch out thy hand to receive, and to shut it when thou shouldst
give."(25)

468

CONCERNING DOING GOOD.

 XII. If thou hast by the work of thy hands, give, that thou mayest
labour for the redemption of thy sins; for "by alms and acts of faith
sins are purged away."(1) Thou shalt not grudge to give to the poor, nor
when thou hast given shalt thou murmur; for thou shalt know who will
repay thee thy reward.  For says he: "He that hath mercy on the poor man
lendeth to the Lord; according to his gift, so shall it be repaid him
again."(2) Thou shalt not turn away from him that is needy; for says he:
"He that stoppeth his ears, that he may not hear the cry of the needy,
himself also shall call, and there shall be none to hear him."(3) Thou
shall communicate in all things to thy brother, and shall not say thy
gods are thine own; for the common participation of the necessaries of
life is appointed to all men by God.  Thou shalt not take off thine hand
from thy son or from thy daughter, but shalt teach them the fear of God
from their youth; for says he: "Correct thy son, so shall he afford thee
good hope."(4)

HOW MASTERS OUGHT TO BEHAVE THEMSELVES TO THEIR SERVANTS, AND HOW
SERVANTS OUGHT TO BE SUBJECT.

 XIII. Thou shall not command thy man-servant, or lily maid-servant, who
trust in the same God, with bitterness of soul, lest they groan against
thee, and wrath be upon thee from God.  And, ye servants, "be subject to
your masters,"(5) as to the representatives of God, with attention and
fear, "as to the Lord, and not to men."(6)

CONCERNING HYPOCRISY, AND OBEDIENCE TO THE LAWS, AND CONFESSION OF SINS.

 XIV. Thou shalt hate all hypocrisy; and whatsoever is pleasing to the
Lord, that shalt thou do.  By no means forsake the commands of the Lord.
But thou shalt observe what things thou hast received from Him, neither
adding to them nor taking away from them.  "For thou shalt not add unto
His words, lest He convict thee, and thou becomest a liar."(7) Thou
shalt confess thy sins unto the Lord thy God; and thou shalt not add
unto them, that it may be well with thee from the Lord thy God, who
willeth not the death of a sinner, but his repentance.

CONCERNING THE OBSERVANCE DUE TO PARENTS.

 XV. Thou shalt be observant to thy father and mother as the causes of
thy being born, that thou mayest live long on the earth which the Lord
thy God giveth thee.  Do not overlook thy brethren or thy kinsfolk; for
"thou shalt not overlook those nearly related to thee."(8)

CONCERNING THE SUBJECTION DUE TO THE KING

AND TO RULERS.

 XVI. Thou shalt fear the king, knowing that his appointment is of the
Lord.  His rulers thou shalt honour as the ministers of God, for they
are the revengers of all unrighteousness; to whom pay taxes, tribute,
and every oblation with a willing mind.

CONCERNING THE PURE CONSCIENCE OF THOSE

THAT PRAY.

 XVII. Thou shalt not proceed to thy prayer in the day of thy
wickedness, before thou hast laid aside thy bitterness.  This is the way
of life, in which may ye be found, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

THAT THE WAY WHICH WAS AFTERWARD INTRODUCED BY THE SNARES OF THE
ADVERSARY IS FULL OF IMPIETY AND WICKEDNESS.

 XVIII. But the way of death(9) is known by its wicked practices: for
therein is the ignorance of God, and the introduction of many evils, and
disorders, and disturbances; whereby come murders, adulteries,
fornications, perjuries, unlawful lusts, thefts, idolatries, magic arts,
witchcrafts, rapines, false-witnesses, hypocrisies, double-heartedness,
deceit, pride, malice, insolence, covetousness, obscene talk, jealousy,
confidence, haughtiness, arrogance, impudence, persecution of the good,
enmity to truth, love of lies, ignorance of righteousness.  For they who
do such things do not adhere to goodness, or to righteous judgment: they
watch not for good, but for evil; from whom meekness and patience are
far off, who love vain things, pursuing after reward, having no pity on
the poor, not labouring for him that is in misery, nor knowing Him that
made them; murderers of infants, destroyers of the workmanship of God,
that turn away from the needy, adding affliction to the afflicted, the
flatterers of the rich, the despisers of the poor, full of sin.  May
you, children, be delivered from all these.

THAT WE MUST NOT TURN FROM THE WAY OF PIETY EITHER TO THE RIGHT HAND OR
TO THE LEFT. AN EXHORTATION OF THE LAWGIVER.

 XIX. See that no one seduce thee(10) from piety; for says He: "Thou
mayst not turn aside from

469

it to the right hand, or to the left, that thou mayst have understanding
in all that thou doest."(1) For if thou dost not turn out of the right
way, thou wilt not be ungodly.

SEC. II.--ON THE FORMATION OF THE CHARACTER OF BELIEVERS, AND ON GIVING
OF THANKS TO GOD.

THAT WE OUGHT NOT TO DESPISE ANY OF THE SORTS OF FOOD THAT ARE SET
BEFORE US, BUT GRATEFULLY AND ORDERLY TO PARTAKE OF THEM.

 XX. Now concerning the several sorts of food, the Lord says to thee,
"Ye shall eat the good things of the earth;"(2) and, "All sorts of flesh
shall ye eat, as the green herb;"(3) but, "Thou shalt pour out the
blood."(4) For "not those things that go into the mouth, but those that
come out of it, defile a man;"(5) I mean blasphemies, evil-speaking, and
if there be any other thing of the like nature.(6) But "do thou eat the
fat of the land with righteousness."(7) For "if there be anything
pleasant, it is His; and if there be anything good, it is His.  Wheat
for the young men, and wine to cheer the maids."  For "who shall eat or
who shall drink without Him?"(8) Wise Ezra(9) does also admonish thee
and say: "Go your way, and eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and be not
sorrowful."(10)

THAT WE OUGHT TO AVOID THE EATING OF THINGS

OFFERED TO IDOLS.

 XXI. But do ye abstain from things offered to idols;(11) for they offer
them in honour of demons, that is, to the dishonour of the one God, that
ye may not become partners with demons.

A CONSTITUTION OF OUR LORD, HOW WE OUGHT TO BAPTIZE, AND INTO WHOSE
DEATH.

 XXII. Now concerning baptism,(12) O bishop, or presbyter, we have
already given direction, and we now say, that thou shalt so baptize as
the Lord commanded us, saying: "Go ye, and teach all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost(teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded
you):"(13) of the Father who sent, of Christ who came, of the Comforter
who testified.  But thou shalt beforehand anoint the person with the
holy oil, and afterward baptize him with the water, and in the
conclusion shall seal him with the ointment; that the anointing with oil
may be the participation of the Holy Spirit, and the water the symbol of
the death of Christ, and the ointment the seal of the covenants.  But if
there be neither oil nor ointment, water is sufficient both for the
anointing, and for the seal, and for the confession of Him that is dead,
or indeed is dying together with Christ.  But before baptism, let him
that is to be baptized fast; for even the Lord, when He was first
baptized by John, and abode in the wilderness, did afterward fast forty
days and forty nights.(14) But He was baptized, and then fasted, not
having Himself any need of cleansing, or of fasting, or of purgation,
who was by nature pure and holy; but that He might testify the truth to
John, and afford an example to us.  Wherefore our Lord was not baptized
into His own passion, or death, or resurrection--for none of those
things had then happened--but for another purpose.  Wherefore He by His
own authority fasted after His baptism, as being the Lord of John.  But
he who is to be initiated into His death ought first to fast, and then
to be baptized.  For it is not reasonable that he who has been buried
with Christ, and is risen again with Him, should appear dejected at His
very resurrection.  For man is not lord of our Saviour's constitution,
since one is the Master and the other the servant.

WHICH DAYS OF THE WEEK WE ARE TO FAST, AND WHICH NOT, AND FOR WHAT
REASONS.

 XXIII. But let not your fasts be with the hypocrites;(15) for they fast
on the second and fifth days of the week.  But do you either fast the
entire five days, or on the fourth day of the week, and on the day of
the Preparation, because on the fourth day the condemnation went out
against the Lord, Judas then promising to betray Him for money; and you
must fast on the day of the Preparation, because on that day the Lord
suffered the death of the cross under Pontius Pilate.  But keep the
Sabbath, and the Lord's day festival; because the former is the memorial
of the creation, and the latter of the resurrection.  But there is one
only Sabbath to be observed by you in the whole year, which is that of
our Lord's burial, on which men ought to keep a fast, but not a
festival.  For inasmuch as the Creator was then under the earth, the
sorrow for Him is more forcible than the joy for the creation; for the
Creator is more honourable by nature and dignity than His own creatures.

470

WHAT SORT OF PEOPLE OUGHT TO PRAY THAT PRAYER THAT WAS GIVEN BY THE
LORD.

 XXIV. Now, "when ye pray, be not ye as the hypocrites; "(1) but as the
Lord has appointed us in the Gospel, so pray ye: "Our Father which art
in heaven, hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done, as
in heaven, so on earth; give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us
our debts, as we forgive our debtors; and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil; for Thine is the kingdom for ever.  Amen."(2)
Pray thus thrice in a day, preparing yourselves beforehand, that ye may
be worthy of the adoption of the Father; lest, when you call Him Father
unworthily, you be reproached by Him, as Israel once His first-born son
was told: "If I be a Father, where is my glory?  And if I be a Lord,
where is my fear?"(3) For the glory of fathers is the holiness of their
children, and the honour of masters is the fear of their servants, as
the contrary is dishonour and confusion.  For says He: "Through you my
name is blasphemed among the Gentiles."(4)

A MYSTICAL THANKSGIVING.

 XXXV. Be ye always thankful, as faithful and honest servants; and
concerning the eucharistical thanksgiving say thus:(5) We thank Thee,
our Father, for that life which Thou hast made known to us by Jesus Thy
Son, by whom Thou madest all things, and takest care of the whole world;
whom Thou hast sent to become man for our salvation; whom Thou hast
permitted to suffer and to die; whom Thou hast raised up, and been
pleased to glorify, and hast set Him down on Thy right band; by whom
Thou hast promised us the resurrection of the dead.  Do thou, O Lord
Almighty, everlasting God, so gather together Thy Church from the ends
of the earth into Thy kingdom, as this corn was once scattered, and is
now become one loaf.  We also, our Father, thank Thee for the precious
blood of Jesus Christ, which was shed for us and for His precious body,
whereof we celebrate this representation, as Himself appointed us, "to
show forth His death."(6) For through Him glory is to be given to Thee
for ever.  Amen.  Let no one eat of these things that is not initiated;
but those only who have been baptized into the death of the Lord.  But
if any one that is not initiated conceal himself, and partake of the
same, "he eats eternal damnation;"(7) because, being not of the faith of
Christ, he has partaken of such things as it is not lawful for him to
partake of, to his own punishment.  But if any one is a partaker through
ignorance, instruct him quickly, and initiate him, that he may not go
out and despise you.

A THANKSGIVING AT THE DIVINE PARTICIPATION.

 XXVI. After the participation,(8) give thanks in this manner: We thank
thee, O God and Father of Jesus our Saviour, for Thy holy name, which
Thou hast made to inhabit among us; and that knowledge, faith, love, and
immortality which Thou hast given us through Thy Son Jesus.  Thou, O
Almighty Lord, the God of the universe, hast created the world, and the
things that are therein, by Him; and hast planted a law in our souls,
and beforehand didst prepare things for the convenience of men.  O God
of our holy and blameless fathers, Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, Thy
faithful servants; Thou, O God, who art powerful, faithful, and true,
and without deceit in Thy promises; who didst send upon earth Jesus Thy
Christ to live with men, as a man, when He was God the Word, and man, to
take away error by the roots: do Thou even now, through Him, be mindful
of this Thy holy Church, which Thou hast purchased with the precious
blood of Thy Christ, and deliver it from all evil, and perfect it in Thy
love and Thy truth, and gather us all together into Thy kingdom which
Thou hast prepared.  Let this Thy kingdom come.(9) "Hosanna to the Son
of David.  Blessed be He that cometh in the name of the Lord"(10)--God
the Lord, who was manifested to us in the flesh.  If any one be holy,
let him draw near; but if any one be not such, let him become such by
repentance.Permit also to your presbyters to give thanks.

A THANKSGIVING ABOUT THE MYSTICAL OINTMENT.

XXVII. Concerning the ointment give thanks in this manner: We give Thee
thanks, O God, the Creator of the whole world, both for the fla-grancy
of the ointment, and for the immortality which Thou hast made known to
us by Thy Son Jesus.  For Thine is the glory and the power for ever.
Amen.  Whosoever comes to you,(11) and gives thanks in this manner,
receive him as a disciple of Christ.  But if he preach another doctrine,
different from that which Christ by us has delivered to you, such a one
you must not permit to give thanks; for such a one rather affronts God
than glorifies Him.

471

THAT WE OUGHT NOT TO BE INDIFFERENT ABOUT

COMMUNICATING.

 XXVIII. But whosoever comes to you, let him be first examined, and then
received: for ye have understanding, and are able to know the right hand
from the left,(1) and to distinguish false teachers from true teachers.
But when a teacher comes to you, supply him with what he wants with all
readiness.  And even when a false teacher comes, you shall give him for
his necessity, but shall not receive his error.  Nor indeed may ye pray
together with him, lest ye be polluted as well as he.  Every true
prophet or teacher(2) that comes to you is worthy of his maintenance, as
being a labourer in the word of righteousness.(3)

A CONSTITUTION CONCERNING OBLATIONS.

 XXIX. All the first-fruits of the winepress, the threshing-floor, the
oxen, and the sheep, shalt thou give to the priests,(4) that thy
storehouses and garners and the products of thy land may be blessed, and
thou mayst be strengthened with corn and wine and oil, and the herds of
thy cattle and flocks of thy sheep may be increased.  Thou shalt give
the tenth of thy increase to the orphan, and to the widow, and to the
poor, and to the stranger.  All the first-fruits of thy hot bread of thy
barrels of wine, or oil, or honey, or nuts, or grapes, or the first-
fruits of other things, shalt thou give to the priests; but those of
silver, and of garments, and of all sort of possessions, to the orphan
and to the widow.

HOW WE OUGHT TO ASSEMBLE TOGETHER, AND TO CELEBRATE THE FESTIVAL DAY OF
OUR SAVIOUR'S RESURRECTION.

 XXX. On the day of the resurrection of the Lord,(5) that is, the Lord's
day, assemble yourselves together, without fail, giving thanks to God,
and praising Him for those mercies God has bestowed upon you through
Christ, and has delivered you from ignorance, error, and bondage, that
your sacrifice may be unspotted, and acceptable to God, who has said
concerning His universal Church: "In every place shall incense and a
pure sacrifice be offered unto me; for I am a great King, saith the Lord
Almighty, and my name is wonderful among the heathen."(6)

WHAT QUALIFICATIONS THEY OUGHT TO HAVE WHO ARE TO BE ORDAINED.

 XXXI. Do you first ordain bishops worthy of the Lord,(7) and presbyters
and deacons, pious men, righteous, meek, free from the love of money,
lovers of truth, approved, holy, not accepters of persons, who are able
to teach the word of piety, and rightly dividing the doctrines of the
Lord.(8) And do ye honour such as your fathers, as your lords, as your
benefactors, as the causes of your well-being.  Reprove ye one another,
not in anger, but in mildness, with kindness and peace.  Observe all
things that are commanded you by the Lord.  Be watchful for your
life.(9) "Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning, and
ye like unto men who wait for their Lord, when He will come, at even, or
in the morning, or at cock-crowing, or at midnight.  For at what hour
they think not, the Lord will come; and if they open to Him, blessed are
those servants, because they were found watching.  For He will gird
Himself, and will make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and
serve them."(10) Watch therefore, and pray, that ye do not sleep unto
death.  For your former good deeds will not profit you, if at the last
part of your life you go astray from the true faith.

I PREDICTION CONCERNING FUTURITIES.

 XXXII. For in the last days false prophets shall be multiplied, and
such as corrupt the word; and the sheep shall be changed into wolves,
and love into hatred: for through the abounding of iniquity the love of
many shall wax cold.  For men shall hate, and persecute, and betray one
another.  And then shall appear the deceiver of the world, the enemy of
the truth, the prince of lies,(11) whom the Lord Jesus "shall destroy
with the spirit of His mouth, who takes away the wicked with His lips;
and many shall be offended at Him.  But they that endure to the end, the
same shall be saved.  And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man
in heaven;"(12) and afterwards shall be the voice of a trumpet by the
archangel;(13) and in that interval shall be the revival of those that
were asleep.  And then shall the Lord come, and all His saints with
Him,(14) with a great concussion above the clouds, with the angels of
His power,(15) in the throne of His kingdom, to condemn the devil, the
deceiver of the world, and to render to every one according to his
deeds.  "Then shall the wicked go away into everlasting punishment, but
the righteous shall go into life eternal,"(16) to inherit those things
"which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor

472

have entered into the heart of man, such things as God hath prepared for
them that love Him;" (1) and they shall rejoice in the kingdom of God,
which is in Christ Jesus.  Since we are vouchsafed such great blessings
from Him, let us become His suppliants, and call upon Him by continual
prayer, and say:--

A PRAYER DECLARATIVE OF GOD'S VARIOUS PROVI-

DENCE.

 XXXIII. Our eternal Saviour, the King of gods, who alone art almighty,
and the Lord, the God of all beings, and the God of our holy and
blameless fathers, and of those before us; the God of Abraham, and of
Isaac, and of Jacob; who art merciful and compassionate, long-suffering,
and abundant in mercy; to whom every heart is naked, and by whom every
heart is seen, and to whom every secret thought is revealed: to Thee do
the souls of the righteous cry aloud, upon Thee do the hopes of the
godly trust, Thou Father of the blameless, Thou hearer of the
supplication of those that call upon Thee with uprightness, and who
knowest the supplications that are not uttered: for Thy providence
reaches as far as the inmost parts of mankind; and by Thy knowledge Thou
searchest the thoughts of every one, and in every region of the whole
earth the incense of prayer and supplication is sent up to Thee.  O Thou
who hast appointed this present world as a place of combat to
righteousness, and hast opened to all the gate of mercy, and hast
demonstrated to every man by implanted knowledge, and natural judgment,
and the admonitions of the law, how the possession of riches is not
everlasting, the ornament of beauty is not perpetual, our strength and
force are easily dissolved; and that all is vapour and vanity; and that
only the good conscience of faith unfeigned passes through the midst of
the heavens, and returning with truth, takes hold of the right hand of
the joy, which is to come.  And withal, before the promise of the
restoration of all things is accomplished, the soul itself exults in
hope, and is joyful.  For from that truth which was in our forefather
Abraham, when he changed his way Thou didst guide him by a vision, and
didst teach him what kind of state this world is; and knowledge went
before his faith, and faith was the consequence of his knowledge; and
the covenant did follow after his faith.  For Thou saidst: "I will make
thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand which is by the
seashore."(3) Moreover, when Thou hadst given him Isaac, and knewest him
to be like him in his mode of life, Thou wast then called his God,
saying: "I will be a God to thee, and to thy seed after thee."(4) And
when our father Jacob was sent into Mesopotamia, Thou showedst him
Christ, and by him speakest, saying: "Behold, I am with thee, and I will
increase thee, and multiply thee exceedingly."(5) And so spakest Thou to
Moses, Thy faithful and holy servant, at the vision of the bush: "I am
He that is; this is my name for ever, and my memorial for generations of
generations."(6) O Thou great protector of the posterity of Abraham,
Thou art blessed for ever.

A PRAYER DECLARATIVE OF GOD'S VARIOUS CREA-

TION.

 XXXIV. Thou art blessed, O Lord, the King of ages, who by Christ hast
made the whole world, and by Him in the beginning didst reduce into
order the disordered parts; who dividedst the waters from the waters by
a firmament, and didst put into them a spirit of life; who didst fix the
earth, and stretch out the heaven, and didst dispose every creature by
an accurate constitution.  For by Thy power, O Lord, the world is
beautified, the heaven is fixed as an arch over us, and is rendered
illustrious with stars for our comfort in the darkness.  The light also
and the sun were begotten for days and the production of fruit, and the
moon for the change of seasons, by its increase and diminutions; and one
was called Night, and the other Day.  And the firmament was exhibited in
the midst of the abyss, and Thou commandedst the waters to be gathered
together, and the dry land to appear.  But as for the sea itself, who
can possibly describe it, which comes with fury from the ocean, yet rims
back again, being stopped by the sand at Thy command?  For Thou hast
said: "Thereby shall her waves be broken."(7) Thou hast also made it
capable of supporting little and great creatures, and made it navigable
for ships.  Then did the earth become green, and was planted with all
sorts of flowers, and the variety of several trees; and the shining
luminaries, the nourishers of those plants, preserve their unchangeable
course, and in nothing depart from Thy command.  But where Thou biddest
them, there do they rise and set for signs of the seasons and of the
years, making a constant return of the work of men.  Afterwards the
kinds of the several animals were created--those belonging to the land,
to the water, to the air, and both to air and water; and the artificial
wisdom of Thy providence does still impart to every one a suitable
providence.  For as He was not unable to produce different kinds, so
neither has He disdained to exercise a

473

different providence towards every one.  And at the conclusion of the
creation Thou gavest direction to Thy Wisdom, and formedst a reasonable
creature as the citizen of the world, saying, "Let us make man after our
image, and after our likeness;"(1) and hast exhibited him as the
ornament of the world, and formed him a body out of the four elements,
those primary bodies, but hadst prepared a soul out of nothing, and
bestowedst upon him his five senses, and didst set over his sensations a
mind as the conductor of the soul.  And besides all these things, O Lord
God, who can worthily declare the motion of the rainy clouds, the
shining of the lightning, the noise of the thunder, in order to the
supply of proper food, and the most agreeable temperature of the air?
But when man was disobedient, Thou didst deprive him of the life which
should have been his reward.  Yet didst Thou not destroy him for ever,
but laidst him to sleep for a time; and Thou didst by oath call him to a
resurrection, and loosedst the bond of death, O Thou reviver of the
dead, through Jesus Christ, who is our hope.

A PRAYER, WITH THANKSGIVING, DECLARATIVE OF GOD'S PROVIDENCE OVER THE
BEINGS HE HAS MADE.

 XXXV. Great art thou, O Lord Almighty, and great is Thy power, and of
Thy understanding there is no number.  Our Creator and Saviour, rich in
benefits, long-suffering, and the bestower of mercy, who dost not take
away Thy salvation from Thy creatures: for Thou art good by nature, and
sparest sinners, and invitest them to repentance; for admonition is the
effect of Thy bowels of compassion.  For how should we abide if we were
required to come to judgment immediately, when, after so much long-
suffering, we hardly get clear of our miserable condition?  The heavens
declare Thy dominion, and the earth shakes with earthquakes, and,
hanging upon nothing, declares Thy unshaken stedfastness.  The sea
raging with waves, and feeding a flock of ten thousand creatures, is
bounded with sand, as standing in awe at Thy command, and compels all
men to dry out: "How great are Thy works, O Lord!  in wisdom hast Thou
made them all: the earth is full of Thy creation."(2) And the bright
host of angels and the intellectual spirits say to Palmoni,(3) "There is
but one holy Being;"(4) and the holy seraphim, together with the six-
winged cherubim, who sing to Thee their triumphal song, cry out with
neverceasing voices, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts!  heaven and
earth are full of Thy glory;"(5) and the other multitudes of the orders,
angels archangels, thrones, dominions, principalities, authorities, and
powers cry aloud, and say, "Blessed be the glory of the Lord out of His
place."(6) But lsrael, Thy Church on earth, taken out of the Gentiles,
emulating the heav enly powers night and day, with a full heart and a
willing soul sings, "The chariot of God is ten thousandfold thousands of
them that rejoice: the Lord is among them in Sinai, in the holy
place."(7) The heaven knows Him who fixed it as a cube of stone, in the
form of an arch, upon nothing, who united the land and water to one
another, and scattered the vital air all abroad, and conjoined fire
therewith for warmth, and the comfort against darkness.  The choir of
stars strikes us with admiration, declaring Him that numbers them, and
showing Him that names them; the animals declare Him that puts life into
them; the trees show Him that makes them grow: all which creatures,
being made by Thy word, show forth the greatness of Thy power.
Wherefore every man ought to send up an hymn from his very soul to Thee,
through Christ, in the name of all the rest, since He has power over
them all by Thy appointment.  For Thou art kind in Thy benefits, and
beneficent in Thy bowels of compassion, who alone art almighty: for when
Thou willest, to be able is present with Thee; for Thy eternal power
both quenches flame, and stops the mouths of lions, and tames whales,
and raises up the sick, and overrules the power of all things, and over,
turns the host of enemies, and casts down a people numbered in their
arrogance.  Thou art He who art in heaven, He who art on earth, He who
art in the sea, He who art in finite things, Thyself unconfined by
anything.  For of Thy majesty there is no boundary; for it is not ours,
O Lord, but the oracle of Thy servant, who said, "And thou shalt know in
thine heart that the Lord thy God He is God in heaven above, and on
earth beneath, and there is none other besides Thee:"(8) for there is no
God besides Thee alone, there is none holy besides Thee, the Lord, the
God of knowledge, the God of the saints, holy above all holy beings; for
they are sanctified by Thy hands.  Thou art glorious, and highly
exalted, invisible by nature, and unsearchable in Thy judgments; whose
life is without want, whose duration can never alter or fail, whose
operation is without toil, whose greatness is unlimited, whose
excellency is perpetual, whose habitation is inaccessible, whose
dwelling is unchangeable, whose knowledge is without beginning, whose
truth is immutable, whose work is without assistants, whose dominion
cannot be

474

taken away, whose monarchy is without succession, whose kingdom is
without end, whose strength is irresistible, whose army is very
numerous: for Thou art the Father of wisdom, the Creator of the
creation, by a Mediator, as the cause; the Bestower of providence, the
Giver of laws, the Supplier of want, the Punisher of the ungodly, and
the Rewarder of the righteous; the God and Father of Christ, and the
Lord of those that are pious towards Him, whose promise is infallible,
whose judgment without bribes, whose sentiments are immutable, whose
piety is incessant, whose thanksgiving is everlasting, through whom(1)
adoration is worthily due to Thee from every rational and holy nature.

A PRAYER COMMEMORATIVE OF THE INCARNATION OF CHRIST, AND HIS VARIOUS
PROVIDENCE TO THE SAINTS.

 XXXVI. O Lord Almighty Thou hast created the world by Christ, and hast
appointed the Sabbath in memory thereof, because that on that day Thou
hast made us rest from our works, for the meditation upon Thy laws.
Thou hast also appointed festivals for the rejoicing of our souls, that
we might come into the remembrance of that wisdom which was created by
Thee; how He submitted to be made of a woman on our account;(2) He
appeared in life, and demonstrated Himself m His baptism; how He that
appeared is both God and man; He suffered for us by Thy permission, and
died, and rose again by Thy power: on which account we solemnly assemble
to celebrate the feast of the resurrection on the Lord's day, and
rejoice on account of Him who has conquered death, and has brought life
and immortality to light.  For by Him Thou hast brought home the
Gentiles to Thyself for a peculiar people, the true Israel beloved of
God, and seeing God.  For Thou O Lord, broughtest our fathers out of the
land of Egypt, and didst deliver them out of the iron furnace, from clay
and brick-making, and didst redeem them out of the hands of Pharaoh, and
of those under him, and didst lead them through the sea as through dry
land, and didst bear their manners in the wilderness, and bestow on them
all sorts of good things.  Thou didst give them the law or decalogue,
which was pronounced by Thy voice and written with Thy hand.  Thou didst
enjoin the observation of the Sabbath, not affording them an occasion of
idleness, but an opportunity of piety, for their knowledge of Thy power,
and the prohibition of evils; having limited them as within an holy
circuit for the sake of doctrine, for the rejoicing upon the seventh
period.  On this account was there appointed one week, and seven weeks,
and the seventh month, and the seventh year, and the revolution of
these, the jubilee, which is the fiftieth year for remission, that men
might have no occasion to pretend ignorance.(3) On this account He
permitted men every Sabbath to rest, that so no one might be willing to
send one word out of his mouth in anger on the day of the Sabbath.  For
the Sabbath is the ceasing of the creation, the completion of the world,
the inquiry after laws, and the grateful praise to God for the blessings
He has bestowed upon men.  All which the Lord's day excels,(4) and shows
the Mediator Himself, the Provider, the Lawgiver, the Cause of the
resurrection, the First-born of the whole creation, God the Word, and
man, who was born of Mary alone, without a man, who lived holily, who
was crucified under Pontius Pilate, and died, and rose again from the
dead.  So that the Lord's day commands us to offer unto Thee, O Lord,
thanksgiving for all.(5) For this is the grace afforded by Thee, which
on account of its greatness has obscured all other blessings.

A PRAYER CONTAINING THE MEMORIAL OF HIS PROVIDENCE, AND AN ENUMERATION
OF THE VARIOUS BENEFITS AFFORDED THE SAINTS BY THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD
THROUGH CHRIST.

 XXXVII. Thou who hast fulfilled Thy promises made by the prophets, and
hast had mercy on Zion, and compassion on Jerusalem, by exalting the
throne of David, Thy servant, in the midst of her, by the birth of
Christ, who was born of his seed according to the flesh, of a virgin
alone; do Thou now, O Lord God, accept the prayers which proceed from
the lips of Thy people which are of the Gentiles, which call upon Thee
in truth, as Thou didst accept of the gifts of the righteous in their
generations.  In the first place Thou did respect the sacrifice of
Abel,(6) and accept it as Thou didst accept of the sacrifice of Noah
when he went out of the ark;(7) of Abraham, when he went out of the land
of the Chaldeans;(8) of Isaac at the Well of the Oath;(9) of Jacob in
Bethel;(10) of Moses in the desert;(11) of Aaron between the dead and
the living;(12) of Joshua the son of Nun in Gilgal;(13) of Gideon at the
rock, and the fleeces, before his sin;(14) of Manoah and his wife in the
field; of Samson in his thirst before the transgression;(15) of Jephtha

475

in the war before his rash vow; of Barak and Deborah in the days of
Sisera;(1) of Samuel in Mizpeh;(2) of David in the threshing-floor of
Ornan the Jebusite;(3) of Solomon in Gibeon and in Jerusalem:(4) of
Elijah in Mount Carmel;(5) of Elisha at the barren fountain;(6) of
Jehoshaphat in war;(7) of Hezekiah in his sickness, and concerning
Sennacherib;(8) of Manasseh in the land of the Chaldeans, after his
transgression;(9) of Josiah in Phassa;(10) of Ezra at the return;(11) of
Daniel in the den of lions;(12) of Jonah in the whale's belly;(13) of
the three children in the fiery furnace;(14) of Hannah in the tabernacle
before the ark;(15) of Nehemiah at the rebuilding of the walls;(16) of
Zerubbabel; of Mattathias and his sons in their zeal;(17) of Jael in
blessings.  Now also do Thou receive the prayers of Thy people which are
offered to Thee with knowledge, through Christ in the Spirit.

A PRAYER FOR THE ASSISTANCE OF THE RIGHT-

EOUS.

 XXXVIII. We give Thee thanks for all things, O Lord Almighty, that Thou
hast not taken away Thy mercies and Thy compassions from us; but in
every succeeding generation Thou dost save, and deliver, and assist, and
protect for Thou didst assist in the days of Enos and Enoch, in the days
of Moses and Joshua, in the days of the judges, in the days of Samuel
and of Elijah and of the prophets, in the days of David and of the
kings, in the days of Esther and Mordecai, in the days of Judith, in the
days of Judas Maccabeus and his brethren, and in our days hast Thou
assisted us by Thy great High Priest, Jesus Christ Thy Son.  For He has
delivered us from the sword, and hath freed us from famine, and
sustained us; has delivered us from sickness, has preserved us from an
evil tongue.  For all which things do we give Thee thanks through
Christ, who has given us an articulate voice to confess withal, and
added to it a suitable tongue as an instrument to modulate withal, and a
proper taste, and a suitable touch, and a sight for contemplation, and
the hearing of sounds, and the smelling of vapours, and hands for work,
and feet for walking.  And all these members dost Thou form from a
little drop in the womb; and after the formation dost Thou bestow on it
an immortal soul, and producest it into the light as a rational
creature, even man.  Thou hast instructed him by Thy laws, improved him
by Thy statutes; and when Thou bringest on a dissolution for a while,
Thou hast promised a resurrection.  Wherefore what life is sufficient,
what length of ages will be long enough, for men to be thankful?  To do
it worthily it is impossible, but to do it according to our ability is
just and right.  For Thou hast delivered us from the impiety of
polytheism, and from the heresy of the murderers of Christ; Thou hast
delivered us from error and ignorance; Thou hast sent Christ among men
as a man, being the only begotten God; Thou hast made the Comforter to
inhabit among us; Thou hast set angels over us; Thou hast put the devil
to shame; Thou hast brought us into being when we were not.  Thou takest
care of us when made; Thou measurest out life to us; Thou affordest us
food; Thou hast promised repentance.  Glory and worship be to Thee for
all these things, through Jesus Christ,(8) now and ever, and through all
ages.  Amen.  Meditate on these things, brethren; and the Lord be With
you upon earth, and in the kingdom of His Father, who both sent Him, and
has "delivered us by Him from the bondage of corruption into His
glorious liberty;"(19) and has promised life to those who through Him
have believed in the God of the whole world.

SEC. III.--ON THE INSTRUCTION OF CATECHUMENS, AND THEIR INITIATION INTO
BAPTISM.

 Now, after what manner those ought to live that are initiated into
Christ, and what thanksgivings they ought to send up to God through
Christ, has been said in the foregoing directions.  But it is reasonable
not to leave even those who are not yet initiated without assistance.

HOW THE CATECHUMENS ARE TO BE INSTRUCTED

IN THE ELEMENTS.

 XXXIX. Let him, therefore, who is to be taught the truth in regard to
piety be instructed before his baptism in the knowledge of the
unbegotten God, in the understanding of His only begotten Son, in the
assured acknowledgment of the Holy Ghost.  Let him learn the order of
the several parts of the creation, the series of providence, the
different dispensations of Thy laws.  Let him be instructed why the
world was made, and why man was appointed to be a citizen therein;

476

let him also know his own nature, of what sort it is; let him be taught
how God punished the wicked with water and fire, and did glorify the
saints in every generation--I mean Seth, and Enos, and Enoch, and Noah,
and Abraham and his posterity, and Melchizedek, and Job, and Moses, and
Joshua, and Caleb, and Phineas the priest, and those that were holy in
every generation; and how God still took care of and did not reject
mankind, but called them from their error and vanity to the
acknowledgment of the truth at various seasons, reducing them from
bondage and impiety unto liberty and piety, from injustice to
righteousness, from death eternal to everlasting life.  Let him that
offers himself to baptism learn these and the like things during the
time that he is a catechumen; and let him who lays his hands upon him
adore God, the Lord of the whole world, and thank Him for His creation,
for His sending Christ His only begotten Son, that He might save man by
blot-ring out his transgressions, and that He might remit ungodliness
and sins, and might "purify him from all filthiness of flesh and
spirit,"(1) and sanctify man according to the good pleasure of His
kindness, that He might inspire him with the knowledge of His will, and
enlighten the eyes of his heart to consider of His wonderful works, and
make known to him the judgments of righteousness, that so he might hate
every way of iniquity, and walk in the way of truth, that he might be
thought worthy of the layer of regeneration, to the adoption of sons,
which is in Christ, that "being planted together in the likeness of the
death of Christ,"(2) in hopes of a glorious communication, he may be
mortified to sin, and may live to God, as to his mind, and word, and
deed, and may be numbered together in the book of the living.  And after
this thanksgiving, let him instruct him in the doctrines concerning our
Lord's incarnation, and in those concerning His passion, and
resurrection from the dead, and assumption.

A CONSTITUTION HOW THE CATECHUMENS ARE TO BE BLESSED BY THE PRIESTS IN
THEIR INITIATION, AND WHAT THINGS ARE TO BE TAUGHT THEM.

 XL. And when it remains that the catechumen is to be baptized, let him
learn what concerns the renunciation of the devil, and the joining
himself with Christ; for it is fit that he should first abstain from
things contrary, and then be admitted to the mysteries.  He must
beforehand purify his heart from all wickedness of disposition, from all
spot and wrinkle, and then partake of the holy things; for as the
skilfullest husbandman does first purge his ground of the thorns which
are grown up therein, and does then sow his wheat, so ought you also to
take away all impiety from them, and then to sow the seeds of piety in
them, and vouchsafe them baptism.  For even our Lord did in this manner
exhort us, saying first, "Make disciples of all nations;"(3) and then He
adds this, "and baptize them into the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost."  Let, therefore, the candidate for baptism
declare thus in his renunciation:(4)--

THE RENUNCIATION OF THE ADVERSARY, AND THE DEDICATION TO THE CHRIST OF
GOD.

 XLI. I renounce Satan, and his works, and his pomps, and his worships,
and his angels, and his inventions, and all things that are under him.
And after his renunciation let him in his consociation say: And I
associate myself to Christ, and believe, and am baptized into one
unbegotten Being, the only true God Almighty, the Father of Christ, the
Creator and Maker of all things, from whom are all things; and into the
Lord Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, the First-born of the whole
creation, who before the ages was begotten by the good pleasure of the
Father, by whom all things were made, both those in heaven and those on
earth, visible and invisible; who in the last days descended from
heaven, and took flesh, and was born of the holy Virgin Mary, and did
converse holily according to the laws of His God and Father, and was
crucified under Pontius Pilate, and died for us, and rose again from the
dead after His passion the third day, and ascended into the heavens, and
sitteth at the right hand of the Father, and again is to come at the end
of the world with glory to judge the quick and the dead, of whose
kingdom there shall be no end.  And I am baptized into the Holy Ghost,
that is, the Comforter, who wrought in all the saints from the beginning
of the world, hut was afterwards sent to the apostles by the Father,
according to the promise of our Saviour and Lord, Jesus Christ; and
after the apostles, to all those that believe in the Holy Catholic
Church; into the resurrection of the flesh, and into the remission of
sins, and into the kingdom of heaven, and into the life of the world to
come.  And after this vow, he comes in order to the anointing with oil.

A THANKSGIVING CONCERNING THE ANOINTING WITH THE MYSTICAL OIL.

 XLII. Now this is blessed by the high priest for the remission of sins,
and the first preparation for baptism.  For he calls thus upon the
unbegotten God, the Father of Christ, the King of all sensible and
intelligible natures, that He would sanctify the oil in the name of the
Lord

477

Jesus, and impart to it spiritual grace and efficacious strength, the
remission of sins, and the first preparation for the confession of
baptism, that so the candidate for baptism, when he is anointed may be
freed from all ungodliness, and may become worthy of initiation,
according to the command of the Only-begotten.

A THANKSGIVING CONCERNING THE MYSTICAL WATER.

 XLIII. After this he comes to the water, and blesses and glorifies the
Lord God Almighty, the Father of the only begotten God;(1) and the
priest returns thanks that He has sent His Son to become man on our
account, that He might save us; that He has permitted that He should in
all things become obedient to the laws of that incarnation, to preach
the kingdom of heaven, the remission of sins, and the resurrection of
the dead.  Moreover, he adores the only begotten God Himself, after His
Father, and for Him, giving Him thanks that He undertook to die for all
men by the cross, the type of which He has appointed to be the baptism
of regeneration.  He glorifies Him also, for that God who is the Lord of
the whole world, in the name of Christ and by His Holy Spirit, has not
cast off mankind but has suited His providence to the difference of
seasons: at first giving to Adam himself paradise for an habitation of
pleasure, and afterwards giving a command on account of providence, and
casting out the offender justly, but through His goodness not utterly
casting him off, but instructing his posterity in succeeding ages after
various manners; on whose account, in the conclusion of the world, He
has sent His Son to become man for man's sake, and to undergo all human
passions without sin.  Him, therefore, let the priest even now call upon
in baptism, and let him say: Look down from heaven, and sanctify this
water, and give it grace and power, that so he that is to be baptized,
according to the command of Thy Christ, may be crucified with Him, and
may die with Him, and may be buried with Him, and may rise with Him to
the adoption which is in Him, that he may be dead to sin and live to
righteousness.  And after this, when he has baptized him in the name of
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, he shall anoint him
with ointment, and shall add as follows:--

A THANKSGIVING CONCERNING THE MYSTICAL OINT-

MENT.

 XLIV. O Lord God, who art without generation, and without a superior,
the Lord of the whole world, who hast scattered the sweet odour of the
knowledge of the Gospel among all nations, do Thou grant at this time
that this ointment may be efficacious upon him that is baptized, that so
the sweet odour of Thy Christ may continue upon him firm and fixed; and
that now he has died with Him, he may arise and live with Him.  Let him
say these and the like things, for this is the efficacy of the laying on
of hands on every one; for unless there be such a recital made by a
pious priest over every one of these, the candidate for baptism does
only descend into the water as do the Jews, and he only puts off the
filth of the body, not the filth of the soul.  After this let him stand
up, and pray that prayer which the Lord taught us.  But, of necessity,
he who is risen again ought to stand up and pray, because he that is
raised up stands upright.  Let him, therefore, who has been dead with
Christ, and is raised up with Him, stand up.  But let him pray towards
the east.(2) For this also is written in the second book of the
Chronicles, that after the temple of the Lord was finished by King
Solomon, in the very feast of dedication the priests and the Levites and
the singers stood up towards the east, praising and thanking God with
cymbals and psalteries, and saying, "Praise the Lord, for He is good;
for His mercy endureth for ever."(3)

A PRAYER FOR THE NEW FRUITS.

 XLV. But let him pray thus after the foregoing prayer, and say: O God
Almighty, the Father of Thy Christ, Thy only begotten Son, give me a
body undefiled, a heart pure, a mind watchful, an unerring knowledge,
the influence of the Holy Ghost for the obtaining and assured enjoying
of the truth, through Thy Christ, by whom(4) glory be to Thee, in the
Holy Spirit, for ever.  Amen.  We have thought it reasonable to make
these constitutions concerning the catechumens.

SEC. IV.--ENUMERATION ORDAINED BY APOSTLES.

WHO WERE THEY THAT THE HOLY APOSTLES SENT

AND ORDAINED?

 XLVI. Now concerning those bishops which have been ordained in our
lifetime, we let you know that they are these:--James the bishop of
Jerusalem, the brother of our Lord;(5) upon whose death the second was
Simeon the son of Cleopas; after whom the third was Judas the son of
James.  Of Caesarea of Palestine, the

478

first was Zacchaeus, who was once a publican; after whom was Cornelius,
and the third Theophilus.  Of Antioch, Euodius, ordained by me Peter;
and Ignatius by Paul.  Of Alexandria, Annianus was the first, ordained
by Mark the evangelist; the second Avilius by Luke, who was also an
evangelist.  Of the church of Rome, Linus the son of Claudia was the
first, ordained by Paul;(1) and Clemens, after Linus' death, the second,
ordained by me Peter.(2) Of Ephesus, Timotheus, ordained by Paul; and
John, by me John.  Of Smyrna, Aristo the first; after whom Strataeas the
son of Lois;(3) and the third Aristo.  Of Pergamus, Gains.  Of
Philadelphia, Demetrius, by me.  Of Cenchrea, Lucius, by Paul.  Of
Crete, Titus.  Of Athens, Dionysius.  Of Tripoli in Phoenicia,
Marathones.  Of Laodicea in Phrygia, Archippus.(4) Of Colossae,
Philemon.(5) Of Borea in Macedonia, Onesimus, once the servant of
Philemon.(6) Of the churches of Galatia, Crescens.(7) Of the parishes of
Asia, Aquila and Nicetas.  Of the church of AEginae, Crispus.  These are
the bishops who are entrusted by us with the parishes in the Lord; whose
doctrine keep ye always in mind, and observe our words.  And may the
Lord be with you now, and to endless ages, as Himself said to us when He
was about to be taken up to His own God and Father.  For says He, "Lo, I
am with you all the days, until the end of the world.  Amen."(8)

SEC. V.--DAILY PRAYERS.

A MORNING PRAYER.

 XLVII. "Glory be to God in the highest, and upon earth peace, good-will
among men."(9) We praise Thee, we sing hymns to Thee, we bless Thee; we
glorify Thee, we worship Thee by Thy great High Priest; Thee who art the
true God, who art the One Unbegotten, the only inaccessible Being.  For
Thy great glory, O Lord and heavenly King, O God the Father Almighty, O
Lord God,(10) the Father of Christ the immaculate Lamb, who taketh away
the sin of the world, receive our prayer, Thou that sittest upon the
cherubim.  For Thou only art holy, Thou only art the Lord Jesus, the
Christ of the God of all created nature, and our King, by whom glory,
honour, and worship be to Thee.

AN EVENING PRAYER.

 XLVIII. "Ye children, praise the Lord: praise the name of the
Lord."(11) We praise Thee, we sing hymns to Thee, we bless Thee for Thy
great glory, O Lord our King, the Father of Christ the immaculate Lamb,
who taketh away the sin of the world.  Praise becomes Thee, hymns become
Thee, glory becomes Thee, the God and Father,(12) through the Son, in
the most holy Spirit, for ever and ever.  Amen.  "Now, O Lord, lettest
Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word; for mine eyes
have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all
people, a light for the revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy
people Israel."(13)

A PRAYER AT DINNER.

 XLIX. Thou art blessed, O Lord, who nourishest me from my youth, who
givest food to all flesh.  Fill our hearts with joy and gladness, that
having always what is sufficient for us, we may abound to every good
work, in Christ Jesus our Lord, through whom(14) glory, honour, and
power be to Thee for ever.  Amen.

GENERAL NOTE.

 COMPARING the Teaching with chapters xxv.  and xxvi.  of these
Constitutions, it seems to me that the nature of the
eucharistic(thanksgiving) prayers becomes apparent.  They presuppose the
formulas to be found in the eighth book of the Constitutions,(1) and are
such instructions as were imparted only to catechumens; the part
peculiar to presbyters being withheld, of course, as esoteric mysteries,
until further knowledge was canonically appropriate.  See Elucidation
IV. vol.  vi.  p.  236; and in this volume, Elucidation I. p.  382.  The
Bryennios MS. is cleared from nearly all difficulties by Dr.  Riddle's
lucid notes, when compared with corresponding passages in the
Constitutions, or illustrated by such as are supplementary.

479

CONSTITUTIONS OF THE HOLY APOSTLES

BOOK VIII.

CONCERNING GIFTS, AND ORDINATIONS, AND THE ECCLESIASTICAL CANONS.

SEC. I.--ON THE DIVERSITY OF SPIRITUAL GIFTS.

ON WHOSE ACCOUNT THE POWERS OF MIRACLES ARE PERFORMED.

 1.  JESUS CHRIST, our God and Saviour, delivered to us the great
mystery of godliness, and called both Jews and Gentiles to the
acknowledgment of the one and only[1] true God His Father,[2] as Himself
somewhere says, when He was giving thanks for the salvation of those
that had believed, "I have manifested Thy name to men, I have finished
the work Thou gavest me ;"[3] and said concerning us to His Father,
"Holy Father, although the world has not known Thee, yet have I known
Thee; and these have known Thee."[4] With good reason did He say to all
of us together, when we were perfected concerning those gifts which were
given from Him by the Spirit: "Now these signs shall follow them that
have believed in my name: they shall cast out devils; they shall speak
with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any
deadly thing, it shall by no means hurt them: they shall lay their hands
on the sick, and they shall recover."[5] These gifts were first bestowed
on us the apostles when we were about to preach the Gospel to every
creature, and afterwards were of necessity afforded to those who had by
our means believed; not for the advantage of those who perform them, but
for the conviction of the unbelievers, that those whom the word did not
persuade, the power of signs might put to shame: for signs are not for
us who believe, but for the unbelievers, both for the Jews and Gentiles.
For neither is it any profit to us to cast out demons, but to those who
are so cleansed by the power of the Lord; as the Lord[6] Himself
somewhere instructs us, and shows, saying: "Rejoice ye, not because the
spirits are subject unto you; but rejoice, because your names are
written in heaven."[7] Since the former is done by His power, but this
by our good disposition and diligence, yet (it is manifest) by His
assistance.  It is not therefore necessary that every one of the
faithful should cast out demons, or raise the dead, or speak with
tongues; but such a one only who is vouchsafed this gift, for some cause
which may be advantage to the salvation of the unbelievers, who are
often put to shame, not with the demonstration of the world, but by the
power of the signs; that is, such as are worthy of salvation: for all
the ungodly are not affected by wonders; and hereof God Himself is a
witness, as when He says in the law: "With other tongues will I speak to
this people, and with other lips, and yet will they by no means
believe."[8] For neither did the Egyptians believe in God, when Moses
had done so many signs and wonders;[9] nor did the multitude of the Jews
believe in Christ, as they believed Moses, who yet had healed every
sickness and every disease among them.[10] Nor were the former shamed by
the rod which was turned into a living serpent, nor by the hand which
was made white with leprosy, nor by the river Nile turned into blood;
nor the latter by the blind who recovered their sight, nor by the lame
who walked, nor by the dead who were raised."  The one was resisted by
Jannes and Jambres, the other by Annas and Caiaphas.[12] Thus signs do
not shame all into belief, but only those of a good disposition; for
whose sake also it is that God is pleased, as a wise steward of a
family, to appoint miracles to be wrought, not

480

by the power of men, but by His own will.  Now we say these things, that
those who have received such gifts may not exalt themselves against
those who have not received them; such gifts, we mean, as are for the
working of miracles.  For otherwise there is no man who has believed in
God through Christ,[1] that has not received some spiritual gift: for
this very thing, having been delivered from the impiety of polytheism,
and having believed in God the Father through Christ,[2] this is a gift
of God.  And the having cast off the veil of Judaism, and having
believed that, by the good pleasure of God, His only begotten Son, who
was before all ages,[3] was in the last time born of a virgin,[4]]
without the company of a man, and that He lived as a man, yet without
sin, and fulfilled all that righteousness which is of the law; and that,
by the permission of God, He who was God the Word endured the cross, and
despised the shame; and that He died, and was buried, and rose within
three days; and that after His resurrection, having continued forty days
with His apostles, and completed His whole constitutions, He was taken
up in their sight to His God and Father, who sent Him: he who has
believed these things, not at random and irrationally, but with judgment
and full assurance, has received the gift of God.  So also has He who is
delivered from every heresy.  Let not, therefore, any one that works
signs and wonders judge any one of the faithful who is not vouchsafed
the same: for the gifts of God which are bestowed by Him through Christ
are various; and one man receives one gift, and another another.  For
perhaps one has the word of wisdom, and another the word of
knowledge;[5] another, discerning of spirits; another, foreknowledge of
things to come; another, the word of teaching; another, long-suffering;
another, continence according to the law: for even Moses, the man of
God, when he wrought signs in Egypt, did not exalt himself against his
equals: and when he was called a god, he did not arrogantly despise his
own prophet Aaron.[6] Nor did Joshua the son of Nun, who was the leader
of the people after him, though in the war with the Jebusites he had
made the sun stand still over against Gibeon, and the moon over against
the valley of Ajalon[7] because the day was not long enough for their
victory, insult over Phineas or Caleb.  Nor did Samuel, who had done so
many surprising things, disregard David the beloved of God: yet they
were both prophets, and the one was high priest, and the other was king.
And when there were only seven thousand holy men in Israel who had not
bowed the knee to Baal,[8] Elijah alone among them, and his disciple
Elisha, were workers of miracles.  Yet neither did Elijah despise
Obadiah the steward, who feared God, but wrought no signs; nor did
Elisha despise his own disciple when he trembled at the enemies.[9]
Moreover, neither did the wise Daniel who was twice delivered from the
mouths of the lions, nor the three children who were delivered from the
furnace of fire,[10] despise the rest of their fellow-Israelites: for
they knew that they had not escaped these terrible miseries by their own
might; but by the power of God did they both work miracles, and were
delivered from miseries.  Wherefore let none of you exalt himself
against his brother, though he be a prophet, or though he be a worker of
miracles: for if it happens that there be no longer an unbeliever, all
the power of signs will thenceforwards be superfluous.  For to be pious
is from any one's good disposition; but to work wonders is from the
power of Him that works them by us: the first of which respects
ourselves; but the second respects God that works them, for the reasons
which we have already mentioned.  Wherefore neither let a king despise
his officers that are under him, nor the rulers those who are subject.
For where there are none to be ruled over, rulers are superfluous; and
where there are no officers, the kingdom will not stand.  Moreover, let
not a bishop be exalted against his deacons and presbyters, nor the
presbyters against the people: for the subsistence of the congregation
depends on each other.  For the bishops and the presbyters are the
priests with relation to the people; and the laity are the laity with
relation to the clergy.  And to be a Christian is in our own power; but
to be an apostle, or a bishop, or in any other such office, is not in
our own power, but at the disposal of God, who bestows the gifts.  And
thus much concerning those who are vouchsafed gifts and dignities.

CONCERNING UNWORTHY BISHOPS AND PRESBYTERS.

 11.  We add, in the next place, that neither is every one that
prophesies holy, nor every one that casts out devils religious: for even
Balaam the son of Beor the prophet did prophesy,[11] though he was
himself ungodly; as also did Caiaphas, the falsely-named high
priest.[12] Nay, the devil foretells many things, and the demons, about
Him; and yet for all that, there is not a spark of piety in them: for
they are oppressed

481

with ignorance, by reason of their voluntary wickedness.  It is
manifest, therefore, that the ungodly, although they prophesy, do not by
their prophesying cover their own impiety; nor will those who cast out
demons be sanctified by the demons being made subject to them: for they
only mock one another, as they do who play childish tricks for mirth,
and destroy those who give heed to them.  For neither is a wicked king
any longer a king, but a tyrant; nor is a bishop oppressed with
ignorance or an evil disposition a bishop, but falsely so called, being
not one sent out by God, but by men, as Ananiah and Samecab in
Jerusalem, and Zedekiah and Achiah the false prophets in Babylon.[1] And
indeed Balaam the prophet, when he had corrupted Israel by Baal-peor,
suffered punishment;[2] and Caiaphas at last was his own murderer; and
the sons of Sceva, endeavouring to cast out demons, were wounded by
them, and fled away in an unseemly manner;[3] and the kings of Israel
and of Judah, when they became impious, suffered all sorts of
punishments.  It is therefore evident how bishops and presbyters, also
falsely so called, will not escape the judgment of God.  For it will be
said to them even now: "O ye priests that despise my name,[4] I will
deliver you up to the slaughter, as I did Zedekiah and Achiah, whom the
king of Babylon fried in a frying-pan," as says Jeremiah the prophet.[5]
We say these things, not in contempt of true prophecies, for we know
that they are wrought in holy men by the inspiration of God, but to put
a stop to the boldness of vainglorious men; and add this withal, that
from such as these God takes away His grace: for "God resisteth the
proud, but giveth grace to the humble."[6] Now Silas and Agabus
prophesied in our times;[7] yet did they not equal themselves to the
apostles, nor did they exceed their own measures though they were
beloved of God.  Now women prophesied also.  Of old, Miriam the sister
of Moses and Aaron,[8] and after her Deborah,[9] and after these
Huldah[10] and Judith(11)"--the former under Josiah, the latter under
Darius.  The mother of the Lord did also prophesy, and her kinswoman
Elisabeth, and Anna;[12] and in our time the daughters of Philip:[13]
yet were not these elated against their husbands, but preserved their
own measures.[14] Wherefore if among you also there be a man or a woman,
and such a one obtains any gift let him be humble that God ma be pleased
with him.  For says He: Upon whom will I look, but upon him thatis
humble and quiet, and trembles at my words?"[15]

SEC. lI.--ELECTION AND ORDINATION OF BISHOPS: FORM OF SERVICE ON
SUNDAYS.

 THAT TO MAKE CONSTITUTIONS ABOUT THE OFFICES TO BE PERFORMED IN THE
CHURCHES IS OF GREAT CONSEQUENCE.

 III. We have now finished the first part of this discourse concerning
gifts, whatever they be, which God has bestowed upon men according to
His own will; and how He rebuked the ways of those who either attempted
to speak lies, or were moved by the spirit of the adversary; and that
God often employed the wicked[16] For prophecy and the performance of
wonders.  But now our discourse hastens as to the principal part, that
is, the constitution of ecclesiastical affairs, that so, when ye have
learned this constitution from us, ye who are ordained bishops by us at
the command of Christ, may perform all things according to the commands
delivered you, knowing that he that heareth us heareth Christ, and he
that heareth Christ heareth His God and Father,[17] to whom be glory for
ever.  Amen.

CONCERNING ORDINATIONS.

 iv.  Wherefore we, the twelve apostles of the Lord, who are now
together, give you in charge those divine constitutions concerning every
ecclesiastical form, there being present with us Paul the chosen vessel,
our fellow-apostle, and James the bishop, and the rest of the
presbyters, and the seven deacons.[18] In the first place, therefore, I
Peter say,[19] that a bishop ordained is to be, as we have already, all
of us, appointed, unblamable in all things, a select person,[20] chosen
by the whole people, who, when he is named and approved, let the people
assemble, with the presbytery and bishops that are present, an the
Lord's day, and let them give their consent.  And let the principal of
the bishops ask the presbytery and

482

people whether this be the person whom they desire for their ruler.  And
if they give their consent, let him ask further whether he has a good
testimony from all men as to his worthiness for so great and glorious an
authority; whether all things relating to his piety towards God be
right; whether justice towards men has been observed by him; whether the
affairs of his family have been well ordered by him; whether he has been
unblameable in the course of his life.  And if all the assembly together
do according to truth, and not according to prejudice, witness that he
is such a one, let them the third time, as before God the Judge, and
Christ, the Holy Ghost being also present, as well as all the holy and
ministering spirits, ask again whether he be truly worthy of this
ministry, that so "in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may
be established."[1] And if they agree the third time that he is worthy,
let them all be demanded their vote; and when they all give it
willingly, let them be heard.  And silence being made, let one of the
principal bishops, together with two others, stand near to the altar,
the rest of the bishops and presbyters praying silently, and the deacons
holding the divine Gospels open upon the head of him that is to be
ordained, and say to God thus:[2]--

THE FORM OF PRAYER FOR THE ORDINATION OF A BISHOP.

 v.  O Thou the great Being, O Lord God Almighty, who alone art
unbegotten, and ruled over by none; who always art, and wast before the
world; who standest in need of nothing, and art above all cause and
beginning; who only art true, who only art wise; who alone art the most
high; who art by nature invisible; whose knowledge is without beginning;
who only art good, and beyond compare; who knowest all things before
they are; who art acquainted with the most secret things; who art
inaccessible, and without a superior; the God and Father of Thy only
begotten Son, of our God and Saviour; the Creator of the whole world by
Him; whose providence

OXFORD MS.[3]

v.  God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and
the God of all consolation, who knowest all things before they take
place; Thou who didst appoint the rules of the Church through the word
of Thy grace who didst appoint beforehand the race righteous from the
beginning that came from Abraham to be rulers, and didst constitute them
priests, not leaving Thy sanctuary without ministers; who from the
foundation of the world didst deprovides for and takes the care of all;
the Father of mercies, and God of all consolation;[4] who dwellest in
the highest heavens,[5] and yet lookest down on things below: Thou who
didst appoint the rules of the Church, by the coming of Thy Christ in
the flesh; of which the Holy Ghost is the witness, by Thy apostles, and
by us the bishops, who by Thy grace are here present; who hast fore-
ordained priests from the beginning for the government of Thy people--
Abel in the first place, Seth and Enos, and Enoch and Noah, and
Melchisedec and Job; who didst appoint Abraham, and the rest of the
patriarchs, with Thy faithful servants Moses and Aaron, and Eleazar and
Phineas; who didst choose from among them rulers and priests in the
tabernacle of Thy testimony; who didst choose Samuel for a priest and a
prophet; who didst not leave Thy sanctuary without ministers; who didst
delight in those whom Thou chosest to be glorified in.  Do Thou, by us,
pour down the influence of Thy free Spirit, through the mediation of Thy
Christ, which is committed to Thy beloved Son Jesus Christ; which He
bestowed according to Thy will on the holy apostles of Thee the eternal
God.  Grant by Thy name, O God, who searchest the hearts, that this Thy
servant, whom Thou hast chosen to be a bishop, may feed Thy holy flock,
and discharge the office of an high priest to Thee, and minister to
Thee, unblameably night and day; that he may appease Thee, and gather
together the number of those that shall be saved, and may light in those
whom Thou chosest to be glorified in; and now pour down the influence of
Thy free Spirit, which through Thy beloved Son Jesus Christ Thou hast
bestowed on Thy holy apostles, who set up the Church in the place of the
sanctuary, to unending glory and praise of Thy name: O Thou, who knowest
the hearts of all, grant that this Thy servant whom Thou hast chosen to
the holy office of Thy bishop, may discharge the duty of a high priest
to Thee, and minister to Thee unblameably night and day; that he may
appease T h e e unceasingly, and present to Thee the gifts of Thy holy
Church, and in the spirit of the high-priesthood have power to remit
sins according to Thy commandment, to give lots according to Thy
injunction, to loose every bond according to the power which Thou hast
given to the apostles, and be well-pleasing to Thee, in meekness and a
pure heart offering a smell of sweet savour through Thy Son Jesus Christ
o u r Lord, with whom to Thee be glory, power, and honour, along with
the Holy Spirit, now and for ever.  Amen.

483

offer to Thee the girls of Thy holy Church.  Grant to him, O Lord
Almighty, through Thy Christ, the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, that so
he may have power to remit sins according to Thy command; to give forth
lots according to Thy command; to loose every bond, according to the
power which Thou gavest the apostles; that he may please Thee in
meekness and a pure heart, with a sledfast, unblameable, and
unreprovable mind; to offer to Thee a pure and unbloody sacrifice, which
by Thy Christ Thou hast appointed as the mystery of the new covenant,
for a sweet savour, through Thy holy child Jesus Christ, our God and
Saviour, through whom [1] glory, honour, and worship be to Thee in the
Holy Spirit, now and always, and for all ages.  And when he has prayed
for these things, let the rest of the priests add, Amen; and together
with them all the people.  And after the prayer let one of the bishops
elevate the sacrifice upon the hands of him that is ordained, and early
in the morning let him be placed in his throne, in a place set apart far
him among the rest of the bishops, they all giving him the kiss in the
Lord.[2] And after the reading of the Law[3] and the Prophets, and our
Epistles, and Acts, and the Gospels, let him that is ordained salute
they Church, saying, The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God
and the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, be with you all;
and let them all answer, and with Thy Spirit.  And after these words let
him speak to the people the words of exhortation; and when he has ended
his word of doctrine (I Andrew[4] the brother of Peter speak), all
standing up, let the deacon ascend upon some high seat, and proclaim,
Let none of the hearers, let none of the unbelievers stay; and silence
being made, let him say:--

THE DIVINE LITURGY, WHEREIN IS THE BIDDING

PRAYER FOR THE CATECHUMENS.

 VI. Ye catechumens, pray, and let all the faithful pray for them in
their mind, saying: Lord, have mercy upon them.  And let the deacon bid
prayers for them, saving: Let us all pray unto God for the catechumens,
that He that is good, He that is the lover of mankind, will mercifully
hear their prayers and their supplications, anti so accept their
petitions as to assist them and give them those desires of their hearts
which are for their advantage, and reveal to them the Gospel of His
Christ; give them illumination and understanding, instruct them in the
knowledge of God, teach them His commands and His ordinances, implant in
them His pure and saving fear, open the ears of their hearts, that they
may exercise themselves in His law day and night; strengthen them in
piety, unite them to and number them with His holy flock; vouchsafe them
the layer of regeneration, and the garment of incorruption, which is the
true life; and deliver them from all ungodliness, and give no place to
the adversary against them; "and cleanse them from all filthiness of
flesh and spirit, and dwell in them, and walk in them, by His Christ;
bless their goings out and their comings in, and order their affairs for
their good."[5] Let us still earnestly put up our supplications for
them, that they may obtain the forgiveness of their transgressions by
their admission, and so may be thought worthy of the holy mysteries, and
of constant communion with the saints.  Rise up, ye catechumens, beg for
yourselves the peace of God through His Christ, a peaceable day, and
free from sin, and the like for the whole time of your life, and your
Christian ends of it; a compassionate and merciful God; and the
forgiveness of your transgressions.  Dedicate yourselves to the only
unbegotten God, through His Christ.  Bow down your heads, and receive
the blessing.  But at the naming of every one by the deacon, as we said
before, let the people say, Lord, have mercy upon him; and let the
children say it first.  And as they have bowed down their heads, let the
bishop who is newly ordained bless them with this blessing: O God
Almighty, unbegotten and inaccessible, who only art the true God, the
God and Father of Thy Christ, Thy only begotten Son; the God[6] of the
Comforter, and Lord of the whole world; who by Christ didst appoint Thy
disciples to be teachers for the teaching of piety; do Thou now also
look down upon Thy servants, who are receiving instruction in the Gospel
of Thy Christ, and "give them a new heart, and renew a right spirit in
their inward parts,[7] that they may both know and do Thy will with full
purpose of heart, and with a willing soul.  Vouchsafe them an holy
admission, and unite them to Thy holy Church, and make them partakers of
Thy divine mysteries, through Christ, who is our hope, and who died for
them; by whom glory and worship be given to Thee in the Holy Spirit for
ever.  Amen.  And after this, let the deacon say: Go out, ye
catechumens, in peace.  And after they are gone out, let him say: Ye
energumens, afflicted with unclean spirits, pray, and let us all
earnestly, pray for them, that God, the lover of mankind, will

484

by Christ rebuke the unclean and wicked spirits, and deliver His
supplicants from the dominion of the adversary.  May He that rebuked the
legion of demons, and the devil, the prince of wickedness,[1] even now
rebuke these apostates from piety, and deliver His own workmanship from
his power, and cleanse those creatures which He has made with great
wisdom.  Let us still pray earnestly for them.  Save them, O God, and
raise them up by Thy power.  Bow down your heads, ye energumens, and
receive the blessings.  And let the bishop add this prayer, and say:--

FOR THE ENERGUMENS.

 VII. Thou, who hast bound the strong man, and spoiled all that was in
his house, who hast given us power over serpents and scorpions to tread
upon them, and upon all the power of the enemy;[2] who hast delivered
the serpent, that murderer of men, bound to us, as a sparrow to
children, whom all things dread, and tremble before the face of Thy
power;[3] who hast cast him down as lightning from heaven to earth,[4]
not with a fall from a place, but from honour to dishonour, on account
of his voluntary evil disposition; whose look dries the abysses, and
threatening melts the mountains, and whose truth remains for ever; whom
the infants praise, and sucking babes bless; whom angels sing hymns to,
and adore; who lookest upon the earth, and makest it tremble; who
touchest the mountains, and they smoke; who threatenest the sea, and
driest it up, and makest all its rivers as desert, and the clouds are
the dust of His feet; who walkest upon the sea as upon the firm
ground;[5] Thou only begotten God,[6] the Son of the great Father,
rebuke these wicked spirits, and deliver the works of Thy hands from the
power of the adverse spirit.  For to Thee is due glory, honour, and
worship, and by Thee to Thy Father, in the Holy Spirit, for ever.  Amen.
And let the deacon say: Go out, ye energumens.  And after them, let him
cry aloud: Ye that are to be illuminated, pray.  Let all us, the
faithful, earnestly pray for them, that the Lord will vouchsafe that,
being initiated into the death of Christ, they may rise with Him, and
become partakers of His kingdom, and may be admitted to the communion of
His mysteries; unite them to, number them among, those that are saved in
His holy Church.  Save them, and raise them up by Thy grace.  And being
sealed to God through His Christ, let them bow down their heads, and
receive this blessing from the bishop:--

FOR THE BAPTIZED.

 VIII. Thou who hast formerly said by Thy holy prophets to those that be
initiated, "Wash ye, become clean,"[7] and hast appointed spiritual
regeneration by Christ, do Thou now also look down upon these that are
baptized, and bless them, and sanctify them, and prepare them that they
may become worthy of Thy spiritual gift, and of the true adoption of Thy
spiritual mysteries, of being gathered together with those that are
saved through Christ our Saviour; by whom glory, honour, and worship be
to Thee, in the Holy Ghost, for ever.  Amen.  And let the deacon say: Go
out, ye that are preparing for illumination.  And after that let him
proclaim: Ye penitents, pray; let us all earnestly pray for our brethren
in the state of penitence, that God, the lover of compassion, will show
them the way of repentance, and accept their return and their
confession, and bruise Satan under their feet suddenly,[8] and redeem
them from the snare of the devil, and the ill-usage of the demons, and
free them from every unlawful word, and every absurd practice and wicked
thought; forgive them all their offences, both voluntary and
involuntary, and blot out that handwriting which is against them,[9] and
write them in the book of life;[10] cleanse them from all filthiness of
flesh and spirit,[11] and restore and unite them to His holy flock.  For
He knoweth our frame.  For who can glory that he has a clean heart?  And
who can boldly say, that he is pure from sin?[12] For we are all among
the blameworthy.  Let us still pray for them more earnestly, for there
is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth,[13] that, being
converted from every evil work, they may be joined to all good practice;
that God, the lover of mankind, will suddenly accept their petitions,
will restore[14] to them the joy of His salvation, and strengthen them
with His free Spirit;[15] that they may not be any more shaken,[16] but
be admitted to the communion of His most holy things, and become
partakers of His divine mysteries, that appearing worthy of His
adoption, they may obtain eternal life.  Let us all still earnestly say
on their account: Lord, have mercy upon them.  Save them, O God, and
raise them up by Thy mercy.  Rise up, and bow your heads to God through
His Christ, and receive the blessings.  Let the bishop then add this
prayer:--

485

IMPOSITION OF HANDS; PRAYER FOR PENlTENTS.

 IX. Almighty, eternal God, Lord of the whole world, the Creator and
Governor of all things, who hast exhibited man as the ornament of the
world through Christ, and didst give him a law both naturally implanted
and written, that he might live according to law, as a rational
creature; and when he had sinned, Thou gavest him Thy goodness as a
pledge in order to his repentance: Look down upon these persons who have
bended the neck of their soul and body to Thee; for Thou desirest not
the death of a sinner, but his repentance, that he turn from his wicked
way, and live.(1) Thou who didst accept the repentance of the Ninevites,
who willest that all men be saved, and come to the acknowledgment of the
truth;(2) who didst accept of that son who had consumed his substance in
riotous Iiving,(3) with the bowels of a father, on account of his
repentance; do Thou now accept of the repentance of Thy supplicants: for
there is no man that will not sin; for "if Thou, O Lord, markest
iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?  For with Thee there is
propitiation."(4) And do Thou restore them to Thy holy Church, into
their former dignity and honour, through Christ our God and Saviour, by
whom glory and adoration be to Thee, in the Holy Ghost, for ever.  Amen.
Then let the deacon say, Depart, ye penitents; and let him add, Let none
of those who ought not to come draw near.  All we of the faithful, let
us bend our knee: let us all entreat God through His Christ; let us
earnestly beseech God through His Christ.

THE BIDDING PRAYER FOR THE FAITHFUL.

 x.  Let us pray for the peace and happy settlement of the world, and of
the holy churches; that the God of the whole world may afford us His
everlasting peace, and such as may not be taken away from us; that He
may preserve us in a full prosecution of such virtue as is according to
godliness.  Let us pray for the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church which
is spread from one end of the earth to the other; that God would
preserve and keep it unshaken, and free from the waves of this life,
until the end of the world, as founded upon a rock; and for the holy
parish in this place, that the Lord of the whole world may vouchsafe us
without failure to follow after His heavenly hope, and without ceasing
to pay Him the debt of our prayer.  Let us pray for every episcopacy
which is under the whole heaven, of those that rightly divide the word
of Thy truth.  And let us pray for our bishop James,(5) and his
parishes; let us pray for our bishop Clement, and his parishes; let us
pray for our bishop Euodius, and his parishes; let us pray for our
bishop Annianus, and his parishes: that the compassionate God may grant
them to continue in His holy churches in health, honour, and long life,
and afford them an honourable old age in godIiness and righteousness.
And let us pray for our presbyters, that the Lord may deliver them from
every unreasonable and wicked action, and afford them a presbyterate in
health and honour.  Let us pray for all the deacons and ministers in
Christ, that the Lord may grant them an unblameable ministration.  Let
us pray for the readers, singers, virgins, widows, and orphans.  Let us
pray for those that are in marriage and in child-bearing, that the Lord
may have mercy upon them all.  Let us pray for the eunuchs who walk
holily.  Let us pray for those in a state of continence and piety.  Let
us pray for those that bear fruit in the holy Church, and give alms to
the needy.  And let us pray for those who offer sacrifices and oblations
to the Lord our God, that God, the fountain of all goodness, may
recompense them with His heavenly gifts, and "give them in this world an
hundredfold, and in the world to come life everlasting;"(6) and bestow
upon them for their temporal things, those that are eternal; for earthly
things, those that are heavenly.  Let us pray for our brethren newly
enlightened, that the Lord may strengthen and confirm them.  Let us pray
for our brethren exercised with sickness, that the Lord may deliver them
from every sickness and every disease, and restore them sound into His
holy Church.  Let us pray for those that travel by water or by land.
Let us pray for those that are in the mines, in banishments, in prisons,
and in bonds, for the name of the Lord.  Let us pray for those that are
afflicted with bitter servitude.  Let us pray for our enemies, and those
that hate us.  Let us pray for those that persecute us for the name of
the Lord, that the Lord may pacify their anger, and scatter their wrath
against us.  Let us pray for those that are without, and are wandered
out of the way, that the Lord may convert them.  Let us be mindful of
the infants of the Church, that the Lord may perfect them in His fear,
and bring them to a complete age.  Let us pray one for another, that the
Lord may keep us and preserve us by His grace to the end, and deliver us
from the evil one.  and from all the scandals of those that work
iniquity, and preserve us unto His heavenly kingdom.  Let us pray for
every Christian soul.  Save us, and raise us up, O God, by Thy mercy.
Let us rise up, and let us pray earnestly, and dedicate ourselves and
one another to the living God, through His Christ.  And let the high
priest add this prayer, and say:--

486

THE FORM OF PRAYER FOR THE FAITHFUL.

 XI. O Lord Almighty, the Most High, who dwellest on high, the Holy One,
that restest among the saints, without beginning, the Only Potentate,
who hast given to us by Christ the preaching of knowledge, to the
acknowledgment of Thy glory and of Thy name, which He has made known to
us, for our comprehension, do Thou now also look down through Him upon
this Thy flock, and deliver it from all ignorance and wicked practice,
and grant that we may fear Thee in earnest, and love Thee with
affection, and have a due reverence of Thy glory.  Be gracious and
merciful to them, and hearken to them when they pray unto Thee; and keep
them, that they may be unmoveable, unblameable, and unreprovable, that
they may be holy in body and spirit, not having spot or wrinkle, or any
such thing; but that they may be complete, and none of them may be
defective or imperfect.  O our support, our powerful God, who dost not
accept persons, be Thou the assister of this Thy peopled which Thou hast
redeemed with the precious blood of Thy Christ; be Thou their protector,
aider, provider, and guardian, their strong wall of defence, their
bulwark and security.  For "none can snatch out of Thy hand:"(2) for
there is no other God like Thee; for on Thee is our reliance.  "Sanctify
them by Thy truth: for Thy word is truth."(3) Thou who dost nothing for
favour, Thou whom none can deceive, deliver them from every sickness,
and every disease, and every offence, every injury and deceit, "from
fear of the enemy, from the dart that flieth in the day, from the
mischief that walketh about in darkness;"(4) and vouchsafe them that
everlasting life which is in Christ Thy only begotten Son, our God and
Saviour, through whom glory and worship be to Thee, in the Holy Spirit,
now and always, and for ever and ever.  Amen.  And after this let the
deacon say, Let us attend.  And let the bishop salute the church, and
say, The peace of God be with you all.  And let the people answer, And
with thy spirit; and let the deacon say to all, Salute ye one another
with the holy kiss.  And let the clergy salute the bishop, the men of
the laity salute the men, the women the women.  ' And let the children
stand at the reading-desk; and let another deacon stand by them, that
they may not be disorderly.(5) And let other deacons walk about and
watch the men and women, that no tumult may be made, and that no one
nod, or whisper, or slumber; and let the deacons(6) stand at the doors
of the men, and the sub-deacons at those of the women, that no one go
out, nor a door be opened, although it be for one of the faithful, at
the the of the oblation.  But let one of the sub-deacons bring water to
wash the hands of the priests, which is a symbol of the purity of those
souls that are devoted to God.

THE CONSTITUTION OF JAMES THE BROTHER OF JOHN, THE SON OF ZEBEDEE.

 XII. And I James,(7) the brother of John, the son of Zebedee, say, that
the deacon shall immediately say, Let none of the catechumens, let none
of the hearers, let none of the unbelievers, let none of the heterodox,
stay here.  You who have prayed the foregoing prayer, depart.(8) Let the
mothers receive their children; let no one have anything against any
one; let no one come in hypocrisy; let us stand upright before the Lord
with fear and trembling, to offer.  When this is done, let the deacons
bring the gifts to the bishop at the altar; and let the presbyters stand
on his right hand, and on his left, as disciples stand before their
Master.  But let two of the deacons, on each side of the altar, hold a
fan, made up of thin membranes, or of the feathers of the peacock, or of
fine cloth, and let them silently drive away the small animals that fly
about, that they may not come near to the cups.  Let the high priest,
therefore, together with the priests, pray(9) by himself; and let him
put on his shining garment, and stand at the altar, and make the sign of
the cross upon his forehead with his hand,(10) and say: The grace of
Almighty God, and the love of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the fellowship
of the Holy Ghost, be with you all.  And let all with one voice say: And
with thy spirit.  The high priest: Lift up your mind.  All the people:
We lift it up unto the Lord.  The high priest: Let us give thanks to the
Lord.  All the people: It is meet and right so to do.  Then let the high
priest say: It is very meet and fight before all things to sing an hymn
to Thee, who art the true God, who art before all beings, "from whom the
whole family in heaven and earth is named;"(11) who only art unbegotten,
and without beginning, and without a ruler, and without a master; who
standest in need of nothing; who art the bestower of everything that is
good; who art beyond all cause and generation; who art alway and
immutably the same; from whom all things came into being, as from their
proper original.  For Thou art eternal knowledge, ever-

487

lasting sight, unbegotten hearing, untaught wisdom, the first by nature,
and the measure of being, and beyond all number; who didst bring all
things out of nothing into being by Thy only begotten Son, but didst
beget Him before all ages by Thy will, Thy power, and Thy goodness,
without any instrument, the only begotten Son, God the Word, the living
Wisdom, "the First-born of every creature, the angel of Thy Great
Counsel,"(1) and Thy High Priest, but the King and Lord of every
intellectual and sensible nature, who was before all things, by whom
were all things.  For Thou, O eternal God, didst make all things by Him,
and through Him it is that Thou vouchsafest Thy suitable providence over
the whole world; for by the very same that Thou bestowedst being, didst
Thou also bestow well-being: the God and Father of Thy only begotten
Son, who by Him didst make before all things the cherubim and the
seraphim, the aeons and hosts, the powers and authorities, the
principalities and thrones, the archangels and angels; and after all
these, didst by Him make this visible world, and all things that are
therein.  For Thou art He who didst frame the heaven as an arch, and
"stretch it out like the covering of a tent,"(2) and didst found the
earth upon nothing by Thy mere will; who didst fix the firmament, and
prepare the night and the day; who didst bring the light out of Thy
treasures, and on its departure didst bring on darkness, for the rest of
the living creatures that move up and down in the world; who didst
appoint the sun in heaven to rule over the day, and the moon to rule
over the night, and didst inscribe in heaven the choir of stars to
praise Thy glorious majesty; who didst make the water for drink and for
cleansing, the air in which we live for respiration and the affording of
sounds, by the means of the tongue, which strikes the air, and the
hearings which co-operates therewith, so as to perceive speech when it
is received by it, and falls upon it; who madest fire for our
consolation in darkness, for the supply of our want, and that we might
be warmed and enlightened by it; who didst separate the great sea from
the land, and didst render the former navigable and the latter fit for
walking, and didst replenish the former with small and great living
creatures, and filledst the latter with the same, both tame and wild;
didst furnish it with various plants, and crown it with herbs, and
beautify it with flowers, and enrich it with seeds; who didst ordain the
great deep, and on every side madest a mighty cavity for it, which
contains seas of salt waters heaped together,(3) yet didst Thou every
way bound them with barriers of the smallest sand;(4) who sometimes dost
raise it to the height of mountains by the winds, and sometimes dost
smooth it into a plain; sometimes dost enrage it with a tempest, and
sometimes dost still it with a calm, that it may be easy to seafaring
men in their voyages; who didst encompass this world, which was made by
Thee through Christ, with rivers, and water it with currents, and
moisten it with springs that never fail, and didst bind it round with
mountains for the immoveable and secure consistence of the earth: for
Thou hast replenished Thy world, and adorned it with sweet-smelling and
with healing herbs, with many and various living creatures, strong and
weak, for food and for labour, tame and wild; with the noises of
creeping things, the sounds of various sorts of flying creatures; with
the circuits of the years, the numbers of months and days, the order of
the seasons, the courses of the rainy clouds, for the production of the
fruits and the support of living creatures.  Thou hast also appointed
the station of the winds, which blow when commanded by Thee, and the
multitude of the plants and herbs.  And Thou hast not only created the
world itself, but hast also made man for a citizen of the world,
exhibiting him as the ornament of the world; for Thou didst say to Thy
Wisdom: "Let us make man according to our image, and according to our
likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over
the fowls of the heaven."(5) Wherefore also Thou hast made him of an
immortal soul and of a body liable to dissolution--the former out of
nothing, the latter out of the four elements--and hast given him as to
his soul rational knowledge, the discerning of piety and impiety, and
the observation of right and wrong; and as to his body, Thou hast
granted him five senses and progressive motion: for Thou, O God

Almighty, didst by Thy Christ plant a paradise in Eden,(6) in the east,
adorned with all plants fit for food, and didst introduce him into it,
as into a rich banquet.  And when Thou madest him, Thou gavest him a law
implanted within him, that so he might have at home and within himself
the seeds of divine knowledge; and when Thou hadst brought him into the
paradise of pleasure, Thou allowedst him the privilege of enjoying all
things, only forbidding the tasting of one tree, in hopes of greater
blessings; that in case he would keep that command, he might receive the
reward of it, which was immortality.  But when he neglected that
command, and tasted of the forbidden fruit, by the seduction of the
serpent and the counsel of his wife, Thou didst justly cast him out of
paradise.  Yet of Thy goodness

488

Thou didst not overlook him, nor suffer him to perish utterly, for he
was Thy creature; but Thou didst subject the whole creation to him, and
didst grant him liberty to procure himself food by his own sweat and
labours, whilst Thou didst cause all the fruits of the earth to spring
up, to grow, and to ripen.  But when Thou hadst laid him asleep for a
while, Thou didst with an oath call him to a restoration again, didst
loose the bond of death, and promise him life after the resurrection.
And not this only; but when Thou hadst increased his posterity to an
innumerable multitude, those that continued with Thee Thou didst
glorify, and those who did apostatize from Thee Thou didst punish.  And
while Thou didst accept of the sacrifice of Abel(1) as of an holy
person, Thou didst reject the gift of Cain, the murderer of his brother,
as of an abhorred wretch.  And besides these, Thou didst accept of Seth
and Enos,(2) and didst translate Enoch:(3) for Thou art the Creator of
men, and the giver of life, and the supplier of want, and the giver of
laws, and the rewarder of those that observe them, and the avenger of
those that transgress them; who didst bring the great flood upon the
world by reason of the multitude of the ungodly,(4) and didst deliver
righteous Noah from that flood by an ark,(5) with eight souls, the end
of the foregoing generations, and the beginning of those that were to
come; who didst kindle a fearful fire against the five cities of Sodom,
and "didst turn a fruitful land into a salt lake for the wickedness of
them that dwelt therein,"(6) but didst snatch holy Lot out of the
conflagration.  Thou art He who didst deliver Abraham from the impiety
of his fore-fathers, and didst appoint him to be the heir of the world,
and didst discover to him Thy Christ; who didst aforehand ordain
Melchisedec an high priest for Thy worship;(7) who didst render Thy
patient servant Job the conqueror of that serpent who is the patron of
wickedness; who madest Isaac the son of the promise, and Jacob the
father of twelve sons, and didst increase his posterity to a multitude,
and bring him into Egypt with seventy-five souls.(8) Thou, O Lord, didst
not overlook Joseph, but grantedst him, as a reward of his chastity for
Thy sake, the government over the Egyptians.  Thou, O Lord, didst not
overlook the Hebrews when they were afflicted by the Egyptians, on
account of the promises made unto their fathers; but Thou didst deliver
them and punish the Egyptians.(9) And when men had corrupted the law of
nature, and had sometimes esteemed the creation the effect of chance,
and sometimes honoured it more than they ought, and equalled it to the
God of the universe, Thou didst not, however, suffer them to go astray,
but didst raise up Thy holy servant Moses, and by him didst give the
written law for the assistance of the law of nature,(10) and didst show
that the creation was Thy work, and didst banish away the error of
polytheism.  Thou didst adorn Aaron and his posterity with the
priesthood, and didst punish the Hebrews when they sinned, and receive
them again when they returned to Thee.  Thou didst punish the Egyptians
with a judgment of ten plagues, and didst divide the sea, and bring the
Israelites through it, and drown and destroy the Egyptians who pursued
after them.  Thou didst sweeten the bitter water with wood; Thou didst
bring water out of the rock of stone; Thou didst rain manna from heaven,
and quails, as meat out of the air; Thou didst afford them a pillar of
fire by night to give them light, and a pillar of a cloud by day to
overshadow them from the heat; Thou didst declare Joshua to be the
general of the army, and didst overthrow the seven nations of Canaan by
him;(11) Thou didst divide Jordan, and dry up the rivers of Etham;(12)
Thou didst overthrow walls without instruments or the hand of man.(13)
For all these things, glory be to Thee, O Lord Almighty.  Thee do the
innumerable hosts of angels, archangels, thrones, dominions,
principalities, authorities, and powers, Thine everlasting armies,
adore.  The cherubim and the six-winged seraphim, with twain covering
their feet, with twain their heads, and with twain flying,(14) say,
together with thousand thousands of archangels, and ten thousand times
ten thousand of angels,(15) incessantly, and with constant and loud
voices, and let all the people say it with them: "Holy, holy, holy, Lord
of hosts, heaven and earth are full of His glory: be Thou blessed for
ever.  Amen."(16) And afterwards let the high priest say: For Thou art
truly holy, and most holy, the highest and most highly exalted for ever.
Holy also is Thy only begotten Son our Lord and God, Jesus Christ, who
in all things ministered to His God and Father, both in Thy various
creation and Thy suitable providence, and has not overlooked lost
mankind.  But after the law of nature, after the exhortations in the
positive law, after the prophetical reproofs and the government of the
angels, when men had perverted both the positive law and that of nature,
and had cast out of their mind the memory of the flood, the burn-

489

ing of Sodom, the plagues of the Egyptians, and the slaughters of the
inhabitant of Palestine, and being just ready to perish universally
after an unparalleled manner, He was pleased by Thy good will to become
man, who was man's Creator; to be under the laws, who was the
Legislator; to be a sacrifice, who was an High Priest; to be a sheep,
who was the Shepherd.  And He appeased Thee, His God and Father, and
reconciled Thee to the world, and freed all men from the wrath to come,
and was made of a virgin, and was in flesh, being God the Word, the
beloved Son, the first-born of the whole creation, and was, according to
the prophecies which were foretold concerning Him by Himself, of the
seed of David and Abraham, of the tribe of Judah.  And He was made in
the womb of a virgin, who formed all mankind that are born into the
world; He took flesh, who was without flesh; He who was begotten before
time, was born in time; He lived holily, and taught according to the
law; He drove away every sickness and every disease from men, and
wrought signs and wonders among the people; and He was partaker of meat,
and drink, and sleep, who nourishes all that stand in need of food, and
"fills every living creature with His goodness;"(1) "He manifested His
name to those that knew it not;"(2) He drave away ignorance; He revived
piety, and fulfilled Thy will; He finished the work which Thou gavest
Him to do; and when He had set all these things right, He was seized by
the hands of the ungodly, of the high priests and priests, falseIy so
called, and of the disobedient people, by the betraying of him who was
possessed of wickedness as with a confirmed disease; He suffered many
things from them, and endured all sorts of ignominy by Thy permission;
He was delivered to Pilate the governor, and He that was the Judge was
judged, and He that was the Saviour was condemned; He that was
impassible was nailed to the cross, and He who was by nature immortal
died, and He that is the giver of life was buried, that He might loose
those for whose sake He came from suffering and death, and might break
the bonds of the devil, and deliver mankind from his deceit.  He arose
from the dead the third day; and when He had continued with His
disciples forty days, He was taken up into the heavens, and is sat down
on the right hand of Thee, who art His God and Father.  Being mindful,
therefore, of those things that He endured for our sakes, we give Thee
thanks, O God Almighty, not in such a manner as we ought, but as we are
able, and fulfil His constitution: "For in the same night that He was
betrayed, He took bread"(3) in His holy and undefiled hands, and,
looking up to Thee His God and Father, "He brake it, and gave it to His
disciples, saying, This is the mystery of the new covenant: take of it,
and eat.  This is my body, which is broken for many, for the remission
of sins."(4) In like manner also "He took the cup," and mixed it of wine
and water, and sanctified it, and delivered it to them, saying: "Drink
ye all of this; for this is my blood which is shed for many, for the
remission of sins: do this in remembrance of me.  For as often as ye eat
this bread and drink this cup, ye do show forth my death until I come."
Being mindful, therefore, of His passion, and death, and resurrection
from the dead, and return into the heavens, and His future second
appearing, wherein He is to come with glory and power to judge the quick
and the dead, and to recompense to every one according to his works, we
offer to Thee, our King and our God, according to His constitution, this
bread and this cup, giving Thee thanks, through Him, that Thou hast
thought us worthy to stand before Thee, and to sacrifice to Thee; and we
beseech Thee that Thou wilt mercifully look down upon these gifts which
are here set before Thee, O Thou God, who standest in need of none of
our offerings.  And do Thou accept them, to the honour of Thy Christ,
and send down upon this sacrifice Thine Holy Spirit, the Witness of the
Lord Jesus' sufferings, that He may show this bread to be the body of
Thy Christ, and the cup to be the blood of Thy Christ, that those who
are partakers thereof may be strengthened for piety, may obtain the
remission of their sins, may be delivered from the devil and his deceit,
may be filled with the Holy Ghost, may be made worthy of Thy Christ, and
may obtain eternal, life upon Thy reconciliation to them, O Lord
Almighty.  We further pray unto Thee, O Lord, for thy holy Church spread
from one end of the world to another, which Thou hast purchased with the
precious blood of Thy Christ, that Thou wilt preserve it unshaken and
free from disturbance until the end of the world; for every episcopate
who rightly divides the word of truth.  We further pray to Thee for me,
who am nothing, who offer to Thee, for the whole presbytery, for the
deacons and all the clergy, that Thou wilt make them wise, and replenish
them with the Holy Spirit.  We further pray to Thee, O Lord, "for the
king and all in authority,"(5) for the whole army, that they may be
peaceable towards us, that so, leading the whole time of our life in
quietness and unanimity, we may glorify Thee through Jesus Christ, who
is our hope.  We further offer to Thee also for all those holy persons
who have pleased Thee from the beginning of the world--patri-

490

archs, prophets, righteous men, apostles, martyrs, confessors, bishops,
presbyters, deacons, sub-deacons, readers, singers, virgins, widows, and
lay persons, with all whose names Thou knowest.  We further offer to
Thee for this people, that Thou wilt render them, to the praise of Thy
Christ, "a royal priesthood and an holy nation;"(1) for those that are
in virginity and purity; for the widows of the Church; for those in
honourable marriage and child-bearing; for the infants of Thy people,
that Thou wilt not permit any of us to "become castaways."  We further
beseech Thee also for this city and its inhabitants; for those that are
sick; for those in bitter servitude; for those in banishments; for those
in prison; for those that travel by water or by land; that Thou, the
helper and assister of all men, wilt be their supporter.  We further
also beseech Thee for those that hate us and persecute us for Thy name's
sake; for those that are without, and wander out of the way; that Thou
wilt convert them to goodness, and pacify their anger.  We further also
beseech Thee for the catechumens of the Church, and for those that are
vexed by the adversary, and for our brethren the penitents, that Thou
wilt perfect the first in the faith, that Thou wilt deliver the second
from the energy of the evil one, and that Thou wilt accept the
repentance of the last, and forgive both them and us our offences.  We
further offer to Thee also for the good temperature of the air, and the
fertility of the fruits, that so, partaking perpetually of the good
things derived from Thee, we may praise Thee without ceasing, "who
gavest food to all flesh."(2) We further beseech Thee also for those who
are absent on a just cause, that Thou wilt keep us all in piety, and
gather us together in the kingdom of Thy Christ, the God of all sensible
and intelligent nature, our King that Thou wouldst keep us immoveable,
unblameable, and unreprovable: for to Thee belongs all glory and
worship, and thanksgiving, honour and adoration, the Father, with the
Son, and to the Holy Ghost, both now and always, and for everlasting,
and endless ages for ever.  And let all the people say, Amen.  And let
the bishop say, "The peace of God be with you all."  And let all the
people say, "And with thy spirit."  And let the deacon proclaim again:--

THE BIDDING PRAYER FOR THE FAITHFUL AFTER THE DlVINE OBLATION.

 XIII. Let us still further beseech God through His Christ, and let us
beseech Him on account of the gift which is offered to the Lord God,
that the good God will accept it, through the mediation of His Christ,
upon His heavenly altar, for a sweet-smelling savour.  Let us pray for
this church and people.  Let us pray for every episcopate, every
presbytery, all the deacons and ministers in Christ, for the whole
congregation, that the Lord will keep and preserve them all.  Let us
pray "for kings and those in authority," that they may be peaceable
toward us, "that so we may have and lead a quiet and peaceable life in
all godliness and honesty."(3) Let us he mindful of the holy martyrs,
that we may be thought worthy to be partakers of their trial.  Let us
pray for those that are departed in the faith.  Let us pray for the good
temperature of the air, and the perfect maturity of the fruits.  Let us
pray for those that are newly enlightened, that they may be strengthened
in the faith, and all may be mutually comforted by one another.(4) Raise
us up, O God, by Thy grace.  Let us stand up, and dedicate ourselves to
God, through His Christ.  And let the bishop say: O God, who art great,
and whose name is great, who art great in counsel and mighty in works,
the God and Father of Thy holy child Jesus, our Saviour; look down upon
us, and upon this Thy flock, which Thou hast chosen by Him to the glory
of Thy name; and sanctify our body and soul, and grant us the favour to
be "made pure from all filthiness of flesh and spirit,"(5) and may
obtain the good things laid up for us, and do not account any of us
unworthy; but be Thou our comforter, helper, and protector, through Thy
Christ, with whom glory, honour, praise, doxology, and thanksgiving be
to Thee and to the Holy Ghost for ever.  Amen.  And after that all have
said Amen, let the deacon say: Let us attend.  And let the bishop speak
thus to the people: Holy things for holy persons.  And let the people
answer: There is One that is holy; there is one Lord, one Jesus Christ,
blessed for ever, to the glory of God the Father.  Amen.  "Glory to God
in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will among men.  Hosanna to the
son of David!  Blessed be He that cometh in the name of the Lord," being
the Lord God who appeared to us, "Hosanna in the highest."(6) And after
that, let the bishop partake, then the presbyters, and deacons, and(7)
sub-deacons, and the readers, and the singers, and the ascetics; and
then of the women, the deaconesses, and the virgins, and the widows;
then the children; and then all the people in order, with reverence and
godly fear, without tumult.  And let the bishop give the oblation,
saying, The body of Christ; and let him that receiveth say, Amen.

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And let the deacon take the cup; and when he gives it, say, The blood of
Christ, the cup of life; and let him that drinketh say, Amen.(1) And let
the thirty-third psalm be said, while the rest are partaking; and when
all,(2) both men and women, have partaken, let the deacons carry what
remains into the vestry.  And when the singer has done, let the deacon
say:--

THE BIDDING PRAYER AFTER THE PARTICIPATION.

 XIV. Now we have received the precious body and the precious blood of
Christ, let us give thanks to Him who has thought us worthy to partake
of these His holy(3) mysteries; and let us beseech Him that it may not
be to us for condemnation, but for salvation, to the advantage of soul
and body, to the preservation of piety, to the remission of sins, and to
the life of the world to come.  Let us arise, and by the grace of Christ
let us dedicate ourselves to God, to the only unbegotten God, and to His
Christ.  And let the bishop give thanks:--

THE FORM OF PRAYER AFTER THE PARTICIPATION.

 XV. O Lord God Almighty, the Father of Thy Christ, Thy blessed Son, who
hearest those who call upon Thee with uprightness, who also knowest the
supplications of those who are silent; we thank Thee that Thou hast
thought us worthy to partake of Thy holy mysteries, which Thou hast
bestowed upon us, for the entire confirmation of those things we have
rightly known, for the preservation of piety, for the remission of our
offences; for the name of thy Christ is called upon us, and we are
joined To Thee.  O Thou that hast separated us froth the communion of
the ungodly, unite us with those that are consecrated to Thee in
holiness; confirm us in the truth, by the assistance of Thy Holy Spirit;
reveal to us what things we are ignorant of, supply what things we are
defective in, confirm us in what things we already know, preserve the
priests blameless in Thy worship; keep the kings in peace, and the
rulers in righteousness, the air in a good temperature, the fruits in
fertility, the world in an all-powerful providence; pacify the warring
nations, convert those that are gone astray, sanctify Thy people, keep
those that are in virginity, preserve those in the faith that are in
marriage, strengthen those that are in purity, bring the infants to
complete age, confirm the newly admitted; instruct the catechumens, and
render them worthy of admission; and gather us all together into Thy
kingdom of heaven, by Jesus Christ our Lord, with whom glory, honour,
and worship be to Thee, in the Holy Ghost, for ever.  Amen.  And let the
deacon say: Bow down to(4) God through His Christ, and receive the
blessing.  And let the bishop add this prayer, and say: O God Almighty,
the true God, to whom nothing can be compared, who art everywhere, and
present in all things, and art in nothing as one of the things
themselves; who art not bounded by place, nor grown old by time; who art
not terminated by ages, nor deceived by words; who art not subject to
generation, and wantest no guardian; who art above all corruption, free
from all change, and invariable by nature; "who inhabitest light
inaccessible;"(5) who art by nature invisible, and yet art known to all
reasonable natures who seek Thee with a good mind, and art comprehended
by those that seek after Thee with a good mind; the God of Israel, Thy
people which truly see, and which have believed in Christ: Be gracious
to me, and hear me, for Thy name's sake, and bless those that bow down
their necks unto Thee, and grant them the petitions of their hearts,
which are for their good, and do not reject any one of them from Thy
kingdom; but sanctify, guard, cover, and assist them; deliver them from
the adversary and every enemy; keep their houses, and guard "their
comings in and their goings out."(6) For to Thee belongs the glory,
praise, majesty, worship, and adoration, and to Thy Son Jesus, Thy
Christ, our Lord and God and King, and to the Holy Ghost, now and
always, for ever and ever.  Amen.  And(7) the deacon shall say, Depart
in peace.(8) These constitutions concerning this mystical worship, we,
the apostles, do ordain for you, the bishops, presbyters, and deacons.

SEC. III.--ORDINATION AND DUTIES OF THE CLERGY.

 CONCERNING THE ORDINATION OF PRESBYTERS -THE CONSTITUTION OF JOHN, WHO
WAS BELOVED BY THE LORD.

 XVI. Concerning the ordination of presbyters, I(9) who am loved by the
Lord make this constitution for you the bishops: When thou ordainest a
presbyter, O bishop, lay thy hand upon his head,

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in the presence of the presbyters and deacons,(1) and pray, saying: O
Lord Almighty, our God, who hast created all things by Christ, and dost
in like manner take care of the whole world by Him; for He who had power
to make different creatures, has also power to take care of them,
according to their different natures; on which account, O God, Thou
takest care of immortal beings by bare preservation, but of those that
are mortal by succession--of the soul by the provision of laws, of the
body by the supply of its wants.  Do Thou therefore now also look down
upon Thy holy Church, and increase the same, and multiply those that
preside in it, and grant them power, that they may labour both in word
and work for the edification of Thy people.  Do Thou now also look down
upon this Thy servant, who is put into the presbytery by the vote and
determination of the whole clergy; and do Thou replenish him with the
Spirit of grace and counsel, to assist and govern Thy people with a pure
heart, in the same manner as Thou didst look down upon Thy chosen
people, and didst command Moses to choose elders, whom Thou didst fill
with Thy Spirit.(2) Do Thou also now, O Lord, grant this, and preserve
in us the Spirit of Thy grace, that this person, being filled with the
gifts of healing and the word of teaching, may in meekness instruct Thy
people, and sincerely serve Thee with a pure mind and a willing soul,
and may fully discharge the holy ministrations for Thy people, through
Thy Christ, with whom glory, honour, and worship be to Thee, and to the
Holy Ghost, for ever.  Amen.

CONCERNING THE ORDINATION OF DEACONS--THE CONSTITUTION OF PHILIP.

 XVII. Concerning the ordination of deacons, I Philip(3) make this
constitution: Thou shalt ordain a deacon, O bishop, by laying thy hands
upon him in the presence of the whole presbytery, and of the deacons,
and shall pray, and say:--

THE FORM OF PRAYER FOR THE ORDINATION OF A DEACON.

 XVIII. O God Almighty, the true and faithful God, who art rich unto all
that call upon Thee in truth, who art fearful in counsels, and wise in
understanding, who art powerful and great, hear our prayer, O Lord, and
let Thine ears receive our supplication, and "cause the light of Thy
countenance to shine upon this Thy servant," who is to be ordained for
Thee to the office of a deacon; and replenish him with Thy Holy Spirit,
and with power, as Thou didst replenish Stephen, who was Thy martyr, and
follower of the sufferings of Thy Christ.(4) Do Thou render him worthy
to discharge acceptably the ministration of a deacon, steadily,
unblameably, and without reproof, that thereby he may attain an higher
degree, through the mediation of Thy only begotten Son, with whom glory,
honour, and worship be to Thee and the Holy Spirit for ever.  Amen.

CONCERNING THE DEACONESS--THE CONSTITUTION OF BARTHOLOMEW.

 XIX. Concerning a deaconess, I Bartholomew(5) make this constitution: O
bishop, thou shalt lay thy hands upon her in the presence of the
presbytery, and of the deacons and deaconesses, and shall say:--

 THE FORM OF PRAYER FOR THE ORDINATION OF A DEACONESS.

 XX. O Eternal God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Creator of
man and of woman, who didst replenish with the Spirit Miriam, and
Deborah, and Anna, and Huldah;(6) who didst not disdain that Thy only
begotten Son should be born of a woman; who also in the tabernacle of
the testimony, and in the temple, didst ordain women to be keepers of
Thy holy gates,--do Thou now also look down upon this Thy servant, who
is to be ordained to the office of a deaconess, and grant her Thy Holy
Spirit, and "cleanse her from all filthiness of flesh and spirit,"(7)
that she may worthily discharge the work which is committed to her to
Thy glory, and the praise of Thy Christ, with whom glory and adoration
be to Thee and the Holy Spirit for ever.  Amen.

CONCERNING THE SUB-DEACONS--THE CONSTITUTION OF THOMAS.

 XXI. Concerning the sub-deacons, I Thomas(8) make this constitution for
you the bishops:(9) When thou dost ordain a sub-deacon,(10) O bishop,
thou shalt lay thy hands upon him, and say: O Lord God, the Creator of
heaven and earth, and of all things that are therein; who also in the
tabernacle of the testimony didst appoint overseers and keepers of Thy
holy vessels;(11) do Thou now look down upon this Thy servant, appointed

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a sub-deacon; and grant him the Holy Spirit, that he may worthily handle
the vessels of Thy ministry, and do Thy will always, through Thy Christ,
with whom glory, honour, and worship be to Thee and to the Holy Spirit
for ever.  Amen.

CONCERNING THE READERS--THE CONSTITUTION OF MATTHEW.

 XXII. Concerning readers,(1) I Matthew, also coiled Levi, who was once
a tax-gatherer, make a constitution: Ordain a reader by laying thy hands
upon him, and pray unto God, and say: O Eternal God, who art plenteous
in mercy and compassions, who hast made manifest the constitution of the
world by Thy operations therein, and keepest the number of Thine elect,
do Thou also now look down upon Thy servant, who is to be entrusted to
read Thy Holy Scriptures to Thy people, and give him Thy Holy Spirit,
the prophetic Spirit.  Thou who didst instruct Esdras Thy servant to
read Thy laws to the people,(2) do Thou now also at our prayers instruct
Thy servant, and grant that he may without blame perfect the work
committed to him, and thereby be declared worthy of an higher degree,
through Christ, with whom glory and worship be to Thee and to the Holy
Ghost for ever.  Amen.

CONCERNING THE CONFESSORS--THE CONSTITUTION OF JAMES THE SON OF ALPHEUS.

 XXIII. And I James, the son of Alphaeus, make a constitution in regard
to confessors: A confessor is not ordained; for he is so by choice and
patience, and is worthy of great honour, as having confessed the name of
God, and of His Christ, before nations and kings.  But if there be
occasion, he is to be ordained(3) either a bishop, priest, or deacon.
But if any one of the confessors who is not ordained snatches to himself
any such dignity upon account of his confession, let the same person be
deprived and rejected; for he is not in such an office, since he has
denied the constitution of Christ, and is "worse than an infidel."(4)

THE SAME APOSTLE'S CONSTITUTION CONCERNING VIRGINS.

 XXIV. I, the same, make a constitution in regard to virgins: A virgin
is not ordained, for we have no such command from the Lord ;(5) for this
is a state of voluntary trial, not for the reproach of marriage, but an
account of leisure for piety.

THE CONSTITUTION OF LEBBAEUS, WHO WAS SURNAMED THADDAEUS, CONCERNING
WIDOWS.

 XXV. And I Lebbaeus,(6) surnamed Thaddaeus, make this constitution in
regard to widows: A widow is not ordained; yet if she has lost her
husband a great while, and has lived soberly and unblameably, and has
taken extraordinary care of her family, as Judith(7) and Anna (8)--those
women of great reputation--let her be chosen into the order of widows.
But if she has lately lost her yokefellow, let her not be believed, but
let her youth be judged of by the time; for the affections do sometimes
grow aged with men, if they be not restrained by a better bridle.

 THE SAME APOSTLE CONCERNING THE EXORCIST.

 XXVI. I the same make a constitution in regard to an exorcist.  An
exorcist is not ordained.  For it is a trial of voluntary goodness, and
of the grace of God through Christ by the inspiration of the Holy
Spirit.  For he who has received the gift of healing is declared by
revelation from God, the grace which is in him being manifest to all.
But if there be occasion for him, he must be ordained(9) a bishop, or a
presbyter, or a deacon.

SIMON THE CANAANITE CONCERNING THE NUMBER NECESSARY FOR THE ORDINATION
OF A BISHOP.

 XXVII.(10) And I Simon the Canaanite(11) make a constitution to
determine by how many a bishop ought to be elected.  Let a bishop be
ordained by three or two bishops; but if any one be ordained by one
bishop, let him be deprived, both himself and he that ordained him.  But
if there be a necessity that he have only one to ordain him, because
more bishops cannot come together, as in time of persecution, or for
such like causes, let him bring the suffrage of permission from more
bishops.

 THE SAME APOSTLE'S CANONS CONCERNING BISHOPS, PRESBYTERS, DEACONS, AND
THE REST OF THE CLERGY.

 XXVIII. Concerning(12) the canons I the same make a constitution.  A
bishop blesses, but does not receive the blessing.  He lays on hands, or
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dains, offers, receives the blessing from bishops, but by no means from
presbyters.  A bishop deprives any clergyman who deserves deprivation,
excepting a bishop; for of himself he has not power to do that.  A
presbyter blesses, but does not receive the blessing; yet does he
receive the blessing from the bishop or a fellow-presbyter.  In like
manner does he give it to a fellow-presbyter.  He lays on hands, but
does not ordain; he does not deprive, yet does he separate those that
are under him, if they be liable to such a punishment.  A deacon does
not bless, does not give the blessing, but receives it from the bishop
and presbyter: he does not baptize, he does not offer; but when a bishop
or presbyter has offered, he distributes to the people, not as a priest,
but as one that ministers to the priests.  But it is not lawful for any
one of the other clergy to do the work of a deacon.  A deaconess does
not bless, nor perform anything belonging to the office of presbyters or
deacons, but only is to keep the doors, and to minister to the
presbyters in the baptizing of women, on account of decency.  A deacon
separates a sub-deacon, a reader, a singer, and a deaconess, if there be
any occasion, in the absence of a presbyter.  It is not lawful for a sub
-deacon to separate either one of the clergy or laity; nor for a reader,
nor for a singer, nor for a deaconess, for they are the ministers to the
deacons.

SEC. IV.--CERTAIN PRAYERS AND LAWS.

CONCERNING THE BLESSING OF WATER AND OIL--THE CONSTITUTION OF MATTHIAS.

 XXIX.(1) Concerning the water and the oil, I Matthias make a
constitution.  Let the bishop bless the water, or the oil.  But if he be
not there, let the presbyter bless it, the deacon standing by.  But if
the bishop be present, let the presbyter and deacon stand by, and let
him say thus: O Lord of hosts, the God of powers, the creator of the
waters, and the supplier of oil, who art compassionate, and a lover of
mankind, who hast given water for drink and for cleansing, and oil to
give man a cheerful and joyful countenance;(2) do Thou now also sanctify
this water and this oil through Thy Christ, in the name of him or her
that has offered them, and grant them a power to restore health, to
drive away diseases, to banish demons, and to disperse all snares
through Christ our hope, with whom glory, honour, and worship be to
Thee, and to the Holy Ghost, for ever.  Amen.

THE SAME APOSTLE'S CONSTITUTION CONCERNING FIRST-FRUITS AND TITHES.

 XXX. I(3) the same make a constitution in regard to first-fruits and
tithes.  Let all first-fruits be brought to the bishop, and to the
presbyters.  and to the deacons,(4) for their maintenance; but let all
the tithe be for the maintenance of the rest of the clergy, and of the
virgins and widows, and of those under the trial of poverty.  For the
first-fruits belong to the priests, and to those deacons that minister
to them.

THE SAME APOSTLE'S CONSTITUTIONS CONCERNING THE REMAINING OBLATIONS.

XXXI. I the same make a constitution in regard to remainders.  Those
eulogies which re main at the mysteries, let the deacons distribute

them among the clergy, according to the mind of the bishop or the
presbyters: to a bishop; four parts; to a presbyter, three(5) parts; to
a deacon, two(6) parts; and to the rest of the sub-deacons, or readers,
or singers, or deaconesses, one part.  For this is good and acceptable
in the sight of God, that every one be honoured according to his
dignity; for the Church is the school, not of confusion, but of good
order.

 VARIOUS CANONS OF PAUL THE APOSTLE CONCERNING THOSE THAT OFFER
THEMSELVES TO BE BAPTIZED--WHOM WE ARE TO RECEIVE, AND WHOM TO REJECT.

 XXXII. / also, Paul,(7) the least of the apostles, do make the
following constitutions for you, the bishops, and presbyters, and
deacons, concerning canons.  Those, that first come to the mystery of
godliness, let them be brought to the bishop or to the presbyters by the
deacons, and let them be examined as to the causes wherefore they come
to the word of the Lord; and let those that bring them exactly inquire
about their character, and give them their testimony.  Let their manners
and their life be inquired into, and whether they he slaves or freemen.
And if any one be a slave, let him be asked who is his master.  If he be
slave to one of the faithful, let his master be asked if he can give him
a good character.  If he cannot, let him be rejected, until he show
himself to be worthy to his master.  But if he does give him a good
character, let him be admitted.  But if he be household slave

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to an heathen, let him be taught to please his master, that the word be
not blasphemed.  If, then, he have a wife, or a woman hath an husband,
let them be taught to be content with each other; but if they be
unmarried, let them learn not to commit fornication, but to enter into
lawful marriage.  But if his master be one of the faithful, and knows
that he is guilty of fornication, and yet does not give him a wife, or
to the woman an husband, let him be separated; but if any one hath a
demon, let him indeed be taught piety, but not received into communion
before he be cleansed; yet if death be near, let him be received.  If
any one be a maintainer of harlots, let him either leave off to
prostitute women, or else let him be rejected.  If a harlot come, let
her leave off whoredom, or else let her be rejected.  If a maker of
idols come, let him either leave off his employment, or let him be
rejected.  If one belonging to the theatre(1) come, whether it be man or
woman, or charioteer, or dueller, or racer, or player of prizes, or
Olympic gamester, or one that plays on the pipe, on the lute, or on the
harp at those games, or a dancing-master or an huckster,(2) either let
them leave off their employments, or let them be rejected.  If a soldier
come, let him be taught to "do no injustice, to accuse no man falsely,
and to be content with his allotted wages:"(3) if he submit to those
rules, let him be received; but if he refuse them, let him be rejected.
He that is guilty of sins not to be named, a sodomite, an effeminate
person, a magician, an enchanter, an astrologer, a diviner, an user of
magic verses, a juggler, a mountebank, one that makes amulets, a
charmer, a soothsayer, a fortune-teller, an observer of palmistry; he
that, when he meets you, observes defects in the eyes or feet of the
birds or cats, or noises, or symbolical sounds: let these be proved for
some time, for this sort of wickedness is hard to be washed away; and if
they leave off those practices, let them be received; but if they will
not agree to that, let them be rejected.  Let a concubine, who is slave
to an unbeliever, and confines herself to her master alone, be
received;(4) but if she be incontinent with others, let her be rejected.
If one of the faithful hath a concubine, if she be a bond-servant, let
him leave off that way, and marry in a legal manner: if she be a free
woman, let him marry her in a lawful manner; if he does not, let him be
rejected.  Let him that follows the Gentile customs, or Jewish fables,
either reform, or let him be rejected.  If any one follows the sports of
the theatre, their huntings, or horse-races, or combats, either let him
leave them off, or let him be rejected.  Let him who is to be a
catechumen be a catechumen for three years; but if any one be diligent,
and has a good-will to his business, let him be admitted: for it is not
the length of time, but the course of life, that is judged.  Let him
that teaches, although he be one of the laity, yet, if he be skilful in
the word and grave in his manners, teach; for "they shall be all taught
of God."(5) Let all the faithful, whether men or women,

when they rise from sleep, before they go to work, when they have washed
themselves, pray; but if any catechetic instruction be held, let the
faithful person prefer the word of piety before his work.  Let the
faithful person, whether man or woman, treat servants kindly, as we have
ordained in the foregoing books, and have taught in our epistles.(6)

UPON WHICH DAYS SERVANTS ARE NOT TO WORK.

 XXXIII. I Peter and Paul do make the following constitutions.  Let the
slaves work five days; but on the Sabbath-day and the Lord's day let
them have leisure to go to church for instruction in piety.  We have
said that the Sabbath is on account of the creation, and the Lord's day
of the resurrection.  Let slaves rest from their work all the great
week, and that which follows it--for the one in memory of the passion,
and the other of the resurrection; and there is need they should be
instructed who it is that suffered and rose again, and who it is
permitted Him to suffer, and raised Him again.  Let them have rest from
their work on the Ascension, because it was the conclusion of the
dispensation by Christ.  Let them rest at Pentecost, because of the
coming of the Holy Spirit, which was given to those that believed in
Christ.  Let them rest on the festival of His birth, because on it the
unexpected favour was granted to men, that Jesus Christ, the Logos of
God, should be born of the Virgin Mary,(7) for the salvation of the
world.(8) Let them rest on the festival of Epiphany, because on it a
manifestation took place of the divinity of Christ, for the Father bore
testimony to Him at the baptism; and the Paraclete, in the form of a
dove, pointed out to the bystanders Him to whom testimony was borne.
Let them rest on the days of the apostles: for they were appointed your
teachers to bring you to Christ, and made you worthy of the Spirit.  Let
them rest on the day of the first(9) martyr Stephen, and of the other
holy martyrs who preferred Christ to their own life.

496

AT WHAT HOURS, AND WHY, WE ARE TO PRAY.

 XXXIV. Offer up your prayers in the morning, at the third hour, the
sixth, the ninth, the evening, and at cock-crowing: in the morning,
returning thanks that the Lord has sent you light, that He has brought
you past the night, and brought on the day; at the third hour, because
at that hour the Lord received the sentence of condemnation from Pilate;
at the sixth, because at that hour He was crucified;(1) at the ninth,
because all things were in commotion at the crucifixion of the Lord, as
trembling at the bold attempt of the impious Jews, and not bearing the
injury offered to their Lord; in the evening, giving thanks that He has
given you the night to rest from the daily labours; at cock-crowing,
because that hour brings the good news of the coming on of the day for
the operations proper for the light.  But if it be not possible to go to
the church on account of the unbelievers, thou, O bishop, shalt assemble
them in a house, that a godly man may not enter into an assembly of the
ungodly.  For it is not the place that sanctifies the man, but the man
the place.  And if the ungodly possess the place, do thou avoid it,
because it is profaned by them.  For as holy priests sanctify a place,
so do the profane ones defile it.  If it be not possible to assemble
either in the church or in a house, let every one by himself sing, and
read, and pray, or two or three together.  For "where two or three are
gathered together in my name, there all I in the midst of them."(2) Let
not one of the faithful pray with a catechumen, no, not in the house:
for it is not reasonable that he who is admitted should be polluted with
one not admitted.  Let not one of the godly pray with an heretic, no,
not in the house.  For "what fellowship hath light with darkness?"(3)
Let Christians, whether men or women, who have connections with slaves,
either leave them off, or let them be rejected.

THE CONSTITUTION OF JAMES THE BROTHER OF CHRIST CONCERNING EVENING
PRAYER.

 XXXV. I James,(4) the brother of Christ according to the flesh, but His
servant as the only be-begotten God, and one appointed bishop of
Jerusalem by the Lord Himself, and the Apostles, do ordain thus: When it
is evening, thou, O bishop, shall assemble the church; and after the
repetition of the psalm at the lighting up the lights, the deacon shall
bid prayers for the catechumens, the energumens, the illuminated, and
the penitents, as we have formerly said.  But after the dismission of
these, the deacon shall say: So many as are of the faithful, let us pray
to the Lord.  And after the bidding prayer, which is formerly set down,
he shall say:--

THE BIDDING PRAYER FOR THE EVENING.

 XXXVI. Save us, O God, and raise us up by Thy Christ.  Let us stand up,
and beg for the mercies of the Lord, and His compassions, for the angel
of peace, for what things are good and profitable, for a Christian
departure out of this life, an evening and a night of peace, and free
from sin; and let us beg that the whole course of our life may be
unblameable.  Let us dedicate ourselves and one another to the living
God through His Christ.  And let the bishop add this prayer, and say:--

THE THANKSGIVING FOR THE EVENING.

 XXXVII. O God, who art without beginning and without end, the Maker of
the whole world by Christ, and the Provider for it, but before all(5)
His God and Father, the Lord(6) of the Spirit, and the King of
intelligible and sensible beings; who hast made the day for the works of
light, and the night for the refreshment of our infirmity,--for "the day
is Thine, the night also is Thine: Thou hast prepared the light and the
sun,"(7)--do Thou now, O Lord, Thou lover of mankind, and Fountain of
all good, mercifully accept of this our evening thanksgiving.  Thou who
hast brought us through the length of the day, and hast brought us to
the beginnings of the night, preserve us by Thy Christ, afford us a
peaceable evening, and a night free from sin, and vouchsafe us
everlasting life by Thy Christ, through whom glory, honour, and worship
be to Thee in(8) the Holy Spirit for ever.  Amen.  And let the deacon
say: Bow down for the laying on of hands.  And let the bishop say: O God
of our fathers, and Lord of mercy, who didst form man of Thy wisdom a
rational creature, and be loved of God more than the other beings upon
this earth, and didst give him authority to rule over the creatures upon
the earth, and didst or dain by Thy will rulers and priests--the former
for the security of life, the latter for a regular worship,--do Thou now
also look down, O Lord Almighty, and cause Thy face to shine upon Thy
people, who bow down the neck of their heart, and bless them by Christ;
through whom Thou hast enlightened us with the light of

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knowledge, and hast revealed Thyself to us; with whom worthy adoration
is due from every rational and holy nature to Thee, and to the Spirit,
who is the Comforter, for ever.  Amen.  And let the deacon say: "Depart
in peace."  In like manner, in the morning, after the repetition of the
morning psalm, and his dismission of the catechumens, the energumens,
the candidates for baptism, and the penitents, and after the usual
bidding of prayers, that we may not again repeat the same things, let
the deacon add after the words, Save us, O God, and raise us up by Thy
grace: Let us beg of the Lord His mercies and His compassions, that this
morning and this day may be with peace and without sin, as also all the
time of our sojourning; that He will grant us His angel of peace, a
Christian departure out of this life, and that God will be merciful and
gracious.  Let us dedicate ourselves and one another to the living God
through His Only-begotten.  And let the bishop add this prayer, and say:
--

THE THANKSGIVING FOR THE MORNING.

 XXXVIII. O God, the God of spirits and of all flesh, who art beyond
compare, and standest in need of nothing, who hast given the sun to have
rule over the day, and the moon and the stars to have rule over the
night, do Thou now also look down upon us with gracious eyes, and
receive our morning thanksgivings, and have mercy upon us; for we have
not "spread out our hands unto a strange God;"(1) for there is not among
us any new God, but Thou, the eternal God, who art without end, who hast
given us our being through Christ, and given us our well-being through
Him.  Do Thou vouchsafe us also, through Him, eternal life; with whom
glory, and honour, and worship be to Thee and to the Holy Spirit for
ever.  Amen.  And let the deacon say: Bow down for the laying on of
hands.  And let the bishop add this prayer, saying:--

 THE IMPOSITION OF HANDS FOR THE MORNING.

 XXXIX. O God, who art faithful and true, who "hast mercy on thousands
and ten thousands of them that love Thee,"(2) the lover of the humble,
and the protector of the needy, of whom all things stand in need, for
all things are subject to Thee; look down upon this Thy people, who bow
down their heads to Thee, and bless them with spiritual blessing.  "Keep
them as the apple of an eye,"(3) preserve them in piety and
righteousness, and vouchsafe them eternal life in Christ Jesus Thy
beloved Son, with whom glory, honour, and worship be to Thee and to the
Holy Spirit, now and always, and for ever and ever.  Amen.  And let the
deacon say:

"Depart in peace."  And when the first-fruits are offered, the bishop
gives thanks in this manner:--

THE FORM OF PRAYER FOR THE FIRST-FRUITS.

 XL. We give thanks to Thee, O Lord Almighty, the Creator of the whole
world, and its Preserver, through Thy only begotten Son Jesus Christ our
Lord, for the first-fruits which are offered to Thee, not in such a
manner as we ought, but as we are able.  For what man is there that can
worthily give Thee thanks for those things Thou hast given them to
partake of?  The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, and of all
the saints, who madest all things fruitful by Thy word, and didst
command the earth to bring forth various fruits for our rejoicing and
our food; who hast given to the duller and more sheepish sort of
creatures juices--herbs to them that feed on herbs, and to some flesh,
to others seeds, but to us corn, as advantageous and proper food, and
many other things--some for our necessities, some for our health, and
some for our pleasure.  On all these accounts, therefore, art Thou
worthy of exalted hymns of praise for Thy beneficence by Christ, through
whom(4) glory, honour, and worship be to Thee.  in the Holy Spirit, for
ever.  Amen.  Concerning those that are at rest in Christ: After the
bidding prayer, that we may not repeat it again, the deacon shall add as
follows:--

THE BIDDING PRAYER FOR THOSE DEPARTED.

 XLI. Let us pray for our brethren that are at rest(5) in Christ, that
God, the lover of mankind, who has received his soul, may forgive him
every sin, voluntary and involuntary, and may be merciful and gracious
to him, and give him his lot in the land of the pious that are sent into
the bosom of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, with all those that have
pleased Him and done His will from the beginning of the world, whence
all sorrow, grief, and lamentation are banished.  Let us arise, let us
dedicate ourselves and one another to the eternal God, through that Word
which was in the beginning.  And let the bishop say: O Thou who art by
nature immortal, and hast no end of Thy being, from whom every creature,
whether immortal or mortal, is derived; who didst make man a rational
creature, the citizen of this world, in his constitution mortal, and
didst add the promise of a resurrection; who didst not suffer Enoch and
Elijah to taste of death: "the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the
God of Jacob, who art the God of them,

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not as of dead, but as of living persons: for the souls of all men live
with Thee, and the spirits of the righteous are in Thy hand, which no
torment can touch;"(1) for they are all sanctified under Thy hand: do
Thou now also look upon this Thy servant, whom Thou hast selected and
received into another state, and forgive him if voluntarily or
involuntarily he has sinned, and afford him merciful angels, and place
him in the bosom of the patriarchs, and prophets, and apostles, and of
all those that have pleased Thee from the beginning of the world, where
there is no grief, sorrow, nor lamentation; but the peaceable region of
the godly, and the undisturbed land of the upright, and of those that
therein see, the glory of Thy Christ; by whom(2) glory, honour, and
worship, thanksgiving, and adoration be to Thee, in the Holy Spirit, for
ever.  Amen.  And let the deacon say: Bow down, and receive the
blessing.  And let the bishop give thanks for them, saying as follows:
"O Lord, save Thy people, and bless Thine inheritance,"(3) which Thou
hast purchased with the precious blood of Thy Christ.  Feed them under
Thy right hand, and cover them under Thy wings, and grant that they may
"fight the good fight, and finish their course, and keep the faith"(4)
immutably, unblameably, and unreprovably, through our Lord Jesus Christ,
Thy beloved Son, with whom glory, honour, and worship be to Thee and to
the Holy Spirit for ever.  Amen.

HOW AND WHEN WE OUGHT TO CELEBRATE THE MEMORIALS OF THE FAITHFUL
DEPARTED, AND THAT WE OUGHT THEN TO GIVE SOMEWHAT OUT OF THEIR GOODS TO
THE POOR.

 XLII. Let the third day of the departed be celebrated with psalms, and
lessons, and prayers, on account of Him who arose within the space of
three days; and let the ninth day be celebrated in remembrance of the
living, and of the departed; and the fortieth(5) day according to the
ancient pattern: for so did the people lament Moses, and the anniversary
day in memory of him.(6) And let alms be given to the poor out of his
goods for a memorial of him.(7)

THAT MEMORIALS OR MANDATES DO NOT AT ALL PROFIT THE UNGODLY WHO ARE
DEAD.

 XLIII. These things we say concerning the pious; for as to the ungodly,
if thou givest all the world to the poor, thou wilt not benefit him at
all.  For to whom the Deity was an enemy while he was alive, it is
certain it will be so also when he is departed; for there is no
unrighteousness with Him.  For "the Lord(8) is righteous, and has loved
righteousness."(9) And, "Behold the man and his work."(10)

CONCERNING DRUNKARDS.

 XLIV. Now, when you are invited to their memorials, do you feast with
good order, and the fear of God, as disposed to intercede for those that
are departed.  For since you are the presbyters and deacons of Christ,
you ought always to be sober, both among yourselves and among others,
that so you may be able to warn the unruly.  Now the Scripture says,
"The men in power are passionate.  But let them not drink wine, lest by
drinking they forget wisdom, and are not able to judge aright."(11)
Wherefore(12) both the presbyters and the deacons are those of authority
in the Church next to God Almighty and His beloved Son.(13) We say this,
not they are not to drink at all, otherwise it would be to the reproach
of what God has made for cheerfulness, but that they be not disordered
with wine.  For the Scripture does not say, Do not drink wine; but what
says it?  "Drink not wine to drunkenness;" and again, "Thorns spring up
in the hand of the drunkard."(14) Nor do we say this only to those of
the clergy, but also to every lay Christian, upon whom the name of our
Lord jesus Christ is called.  For to them also it is said, "Who hath
woe?  who hath sorrow?  who hath uneasiness?  who hath babbling?  who
hath red eyes?  who hath wounds without cause?  Do not these things
belong to those that tarry long at the wine, and that go to seek where
drinking meetings are?"(15)

CONCERNING THE RECEIVING SUCH AS ARE PERSECUTED FOR CHRIST'S SAKE.

 XLV. Receive ye those that are persecuted(16) on account of the faith,
and who fly from city to city,(17) as mindful of the words of the Lord.
For, knowing that though "the spirit be willing, the flesh is weak,"(18)
they fly away, and prefer the spoiling of their goods, that they may
preserve the name of Christ in themselves without denying it.  Supply
them therefore with what they want, and thereby fulfil the commandment
of the Lord.

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SEC.V.--ALL THE APOSTLES URGE THE OBSERVANCE OF THE ORDER OF THE CHURCH.

THAT EVERY ONE OUGHT TO REMAIN IN THAT RANK WHEREIN HE IS PLACED, BUT
NOT SNATCH SUCH OFFICES TO HIMSELF WHICH ARE NOT ENTRUSTED TO HIM.

 XLVI. Now this we all in common do charge you, that every one remain in
that rank which is appointed him, and do not transgress his proper
bounds; for they are not ours, but God's.  For says the Lord: "He that
heareth you, heareth me; and he that heareth me, heareth Him that sent
me."  And, "He that despiseth you, despiseth me; and he that despiseth
me, despiseth Him that sent me."(1) For if those things that are without
life do observe good order, as the night, the day, the sun, the moon,
the stars, the elements, the seasons, the months, the weeks, the days,
and the hours, and are subservient to the uses appointed them, according
to that which is said, "Thou hast set them a bound which they shall not
pass;"(2) and again, concerning the sea, "I have set bounds thereto, and
have encompassed it with bars and gates; and I said to it, Hitherto
shalt thou come, and thou shalt go no farther;"(3) how much more ought
ye not to venture to remove those things which we, according to God's
will, have determined for you!  But because many think this a small
matter, and venture to confound the orders, and to remove the ordination
which belongs to them severally, snatching to themselves dignities which
were never given them, and allowing themselves to bestow that authority
in a tyrannical manner which they have not themselves, and thereby
provoke God to anger (as did the followers of Corah and King Uzziah,(4)
who, having no authority, usurped the high-priesthood without commission
from God; and the former were burnt with fire, and the latter was struck
with a leprosy in his forehead); and provoke Christ Jesus to anger, who
has made this constitution; and also grieve the Holy Spirit, and make
void His testimony: therefore, foreknowing the danger that hangs over
those who do such things, and the neglect about the sacrifices and
eucharistical offices which will arise from their being impiously
offered by those who ought not to offer them; who think the honour of
the high-priesthood, which is an imitation of the great High Priest
Jesus Christ our King, to be a matter of sport; we have found it
necessary to give you warning in this matter also.  For some are already
turned aside after their own vanity.  We say that Moses the servant of
God (" to whom God spake face to face, as if a man spake to his
friend;"(5) to whom He said, "I know thee above all men;" to whom He
spake directly, and not by obscure methods, or dreams, or angels, or
riddles),--this person, when he made constitutions and divine laws,
distinguished what things were to be performed by the high priests, what
by the priests, and what by the Levites; distributing to every one his
proper and suitable office in the divine service.  And those things
which are allotted for the high priests to do, those might not be
meddled with by the priests; and what things were allotted to the
priests, the Levites might not meddle with; but every one observed those
ministrations which were written down and appointed for them.  And if
any would meddle beyond the tradition, death was his punishment.  And
Saul's example does show this most plainly, who, thinking he might offer
sacrifice without the prophet and high priest Samuel,(6) drew upon
himself a sin and a curse without remedy.  Nor did even his having
anointed him king discourage the prophet.  But God showed the same by a
more visible effect in the case of Uzziah,(7) when He without delay
exacted the punishment due to this transgression, and he that madly
coveted after the high-priesthood was rejected from his kingdom also.
As to those things that have happened amongst us, you yourselves are not
ignorant of them.  For ye know undoubtedly that those that are by us
named bishops, and presbyters, and deacons, were made by prayer, and by
the laying on of hands; and that by the difference of their names is
showed the difference of their employments.  For not every one that will
is ordained, as the case was in that spurious and counterfeit priesthood
of the calves under Jeroboam;(8) but he only who is called of God.  For
if there were no rule or distinction of orders, it would suffice to
perform all the offices under one name.  But being taught by the Lord
the series of things, we distributed the functions of the high-
priesthood to the bishops, those of the priesthood to the presbyters,
and the ministration under them both to the deacons; that the divine
worship might be performed in purity.  For it is not lawful for a deacon
to offer the sacrifice, or to baptize, or to give either the greater or
the lesser blessing.  Nor may a presbyter perform ordination; for it is
not agreeable to holiness to have this order perverted.  For "God is not
the God of confusion,"(9) that the subordinate persons should
tyrannically assume to themselves the functions belonging to their
superiors, forming a new scheme of laws to their own mischief, not
knowing that "it is hard for them to

500

kick against the pricks;"(1) for such as these do not fight against us,
or against the bishops, but against the universal Bishop and the High
Priest of the Father, Jesus Christ our Lord.(2) High priests, priests,
and Levites were ordained by Moses,(3) the most beloved of God.  By our
Saviour(4) were we apostles, thirteen in number, ordained; and by the
apostles I James, and I Clement, and others with us, were ordained, that
we may not make the catalogue of all those bishops over again.  And in
common, presbyters, and deacons, and sub-deacons, and readers, were
ordained by all of us.  The great High Priest therefore, who is so by
nature, is Christ the only begotten; not having snatched that honour to
Himself, but having been appointed such by the Father; who being made
man for our sake, and offering the spiritual sacrifice to His God and
Father, before His suffering gave it us alone in charge to do this,
although there were others with us who had believed in Him.  But he that
believes is not presently appointed a priest, or obtains the dignity of
the high-priesthood.  But after His ascension we offered, according to
His constitution, the pure and unbloody sacrifice; and ordained bishops,
and presbyters, and deacons, seven in number: one of which was
Stephen,(5) that blessed martyr, who was not inferior to us as to his
pious disposition of mind towards God; who showed so great piety towards
God, by his faith and love towards our Lord Jesus Christ, as to give his
life for Him, and was stoned to death by the Jews, the murderers of the
Lord.  Yet still this so great and good a man, who was fervent in
spirit, who saw Christ on the right hand of God, and the gates of heaven
opened, does nowhere appear to have exercised functions which did not
appertain to his office of a deacon, nor to have offered the sacrifices,
nor to have laid hands upon any, but kept his order of a deacon unto the
end.  For so it became him, who was a martyr for Christ, to preserve
good order.  But if some do blame Philip(6) our deacon, and Ananias(7)
our faithful brother, that the one did baptize the eunuch, and the other
me Paul, these men do not understand what we say.  For we have affirmed
only that no one snatches the sacerdotal dignity to himself, but either
receives it from God, as Melchisedec and Job, or from the high priest,
as Aaron from Moses.  Wherefore Philip and Ananias did not constitute
themselves, but were appointed by Christ, the High Priest of that God to
whom no being is to be compared.

THE ECCLESIASTICAL CANONS OF THE SAME HOLY APOSTLES.(1)

 XLVII. 1.  Let a bishop be ordained by two or three bishops.

 2.  A presbyter by one bishop, as also a deacon, and the rest of the
clergy.(2)

 3.  If any bishop or presbyter, otherwise than our Lord has ordained
concerning the sacrifice, offer other things at the altar of God, as
honey, milk, or strong beer instead of wine, any necessaries, or birds,
or animals, or pulse, otherwise than is ordained, let him be deprived;
excepting grains of new corn, or ears of wheat, or bunches of grapes in
their season.(3)

 4.  For it is not lawful to offer anything besides these at the altar,
and oil for the holy lamp, and incense in the time of the divine
oblation.

 5.  But let all other fruits be sent to the house of the bishop, as
first-fruits to him and to the presbyters, but not to the altar.  Now it
is plain that the bishop and presbyters are to divide them to the
deacons and to the rest of the clergy.

 6.  Let not a bishop, a priest, or a deacon(4) cast off his own wife
under pretence of piety; but if he does cast her off, let him be
suspended.  If he go on in it, let him be deprived.

 7.  Let not a bishop, a priest, or deacon undertake the cares of this
world; but if he do, let him be deprived.(5)

 8.  If any bishop, or presbyter, or deacon shall celebrate the holiday
of the passover before the vernal equinox with the Jews, let him be
deprived.(6)

 9.  If any bishop, or presbyter, or deacon, or any one of the catalogue
of the priesthood, when the oblation is over, does not communicate, let

501

him give his reason; and if it be just, let him be forgiven; but if he
does not do it, let him be suspended, as becoming the cause of damage to
the people, and occasioning a suspicion against him that offered, as of
one that did not rightly offer.(1)

 10.  All those of the faithful that enter into the holy church of God,
and hear the sacred Scriptures, but do not stay during prayer and the
holy communion, must be suspended, as causing disorder in the church.

 11.  If any one, even in the house, prays with a person excommunicate,
let him also be suspended.

 12.  If any clergyman prays with one deprived as with a clergyman, let
himself also be deprived.

 13.  If any clergyman or layman who is suspended, or ought not to be
received,(2) goes away, and is received in another city without
commendatory letters, let both those who received him and he that was
received be suspended.  But if he be already suspended, let his
suspension be lengthened, as lying to and deceiving the Church of God.

 14.  A bishop ought not to leave his own parish and leap to another,
although the multitude should compel him, unless there be some good
reason forcing him to do this, as that he can contribute much greater
profit to the people of the new parish by the word of piety; but this is
not to be settled by himself, but by the judgment of many bishops, and
very great supplication.

 15.  If any presbyter or deacon, or any one of the catalogue of the
clergy, leaves his own parish and goes to another, and, entirely
removing himself, continues in that other parish without the consent of
his own bishop, him we command no longer to go on in his ministry,
especially in case his bishop calls upon him to return, and he does not
obey, but continues in his disorder.  However, let him communicate there
as a layman.

 16.  But if the bishop with whom they are undervalues the deprivation
decreed against them, and receives them as clergymen, let him be
suspended as a teacher of disorder.

 17.  He who has been twice married after his baptism, or has had a
concubine, cannot be made a bishop, or presbyter, or deacon, or indeed
any one of the sacerdotal catalogue.(3)

 18.  He who has taken a widow, or a divorced woman, or an harlot, or a
servant, or one belonging to the theatre, cannot be either a bishop,
priest, or deacon, or indeed any one of the sacerdotal catalogue.  19.
He who has married two sisters, or his brother's or sister's daughter,
cannot be a clergyman.

 20.  Let a clergyman who becomes a surety be deprived.

 21.  Let an eunuch, if he be such by the injury of men, or his virilia
were taken away in the persecution, or he was born such, and yet is
worthy of episcopacy, be made a bishop.

 22.  Let not him who has disabled himself be made a clergyman; for he
is a self-murderer, and an enemy to the creation of God.(4)

 23.  If any one who is of the clergy disables himself, let him be
deprived, for he is a murderer of himself.

 24.  Let a layman who disables himself be separated for three years,
for he lays a snare for his own life.(5)

 25.  Let a bishop, or presbyter, or deacon who is taken in fornication,
or perjury, or stealing, be deprived, but not suspended; far the
Scripture says: "Thou shall not avenge twice far the same crime by
affliction."(6)

 26.  In like manner also as to the rest of the clergy.

 27.  Of those who come into the clergy unmarried, we permit only the
readers and singers, if they have a mind, to marry afterward.(7)

 28.  We command that a bishop, or presbyter, or deacon who strikes the
faithful that offend, or the unbelievers who do wickedly, and thinks to
terrify them by such means, be deprived, for our Lord has nowhere taught
us such things.  On the contrary, "when Himself was stricken, He did not
strike again; when He was reviled, He reviled not again; when He
suffered, He threatened not."(8)

 29.  If any bishop, or presbyter, or deacon who is deprived justly for
manifest crimes, does venture to meddle with that ministration which was
once entrusted to him, let the same person be entirely cut off from the
Church.

 30.  If any bishop obtains that dignity by money, or even a presbyter
or deacon, let him and the person that ordained him be deprived; and let
him be entirely cut off from communion, as Simon Magus was by me
Peter.(9)

 31.  If any bishop makes use of the rulers of this world, and by their
means obtains to be a bishop of a church, let him be deprived and
suspended, and all that communicate with him.

502

 32.  If any presbyter despises his own bishop, and assembles
separately, and fixes another altar, when he has nothing to condemn in
his bishop either as to piety or righteousness, let him be deprived as
an ambitious person; for he is a tyrant, and the rest of the clergy,
whoever join themselves to him.  And let the laity be suspended.  But
let these things be done after one and a second, or even a third
admonition from the bishop.(1)

 33.  If any presbyter or deacon be put under suspension by his bishop,
it is not lawful for any other to receive him, but for him only who put
him under suspension, unless it happens that he who put him under
suspension die.

 34.  Do not ye receive any stranger, whether bishop, or presbyter, or
deacon, without commendatory letters; and when such are offered, let
them be examined.  And if they be preachers of piety, let them be
received; but if not, supply their wants, but do not receive them to
communion: for many things are done by surprise.

 35.  The bishops of every country ought to know who is the chief among
them, and to esteem him as their head, and not to do any great thing
without his consent; but every one to manage only the affairs that
belong to his own parish, and the places subject to it.  But let him not
do anything without the consent of all; for it is by this means there
will be unanimity, and God will be glorified by Christ, in the Holy
Spirit.

 36.  A bishop must not venture to ordain out of his own bounds for
cities or countries that are not subject to him.  But if he be convicted
of having done so without the consent of such as governed those cities
or countries, let him be deprived, both the bishop himself and those
whom he has ordained.

 37.  If any bishop that is ordained does not undertake his office, nor
take care of the people committed to him, let him be suspended until he
do undertake it; and in the like manner a presbyter and a deacon.  But
if he goes, and is not received, not because of the want of his own
consent, but because of the ill temper of the people, let him continue
bishop; but let the clergy of that city be suspended, because they have
not taught that disobedient people better.

 38.  Let a synod of bishops be held twice in the year, and let them ask
one another the doctrines of piety; and let them determine the
ecclesiastical disputes that happen--once in the fourth week of
Pentecost, and again on the twelfth of the month Hyperberetaeus.

 39.  Let the bishop have the care of ecclesiastical revenues, and
administer them as in the presence of God.  But it is not lawful for him
to appropriate any part of them to himself, or to give the things of God
to his own kindred.  But if they be poor, let him support them as poor;
but let him not, under such pretences, alienate the revenues of the
Church.

 40.  Let not the presbyters and deacons do anything without the consent
of the bishop, for it is he who is entrusted with the people of the
Lord, and will be required to give an account of their souls.  Let the
proper goods of the bishop, if he has any, and those belonging to the
Lord, be openly distinguished, that he may have power when he dies to
leave his own goods as he pleases, and to whom he pleases; that, under
pretence of the ecclesiastical revenues, the bishop's own may not come
short, who sometimes has a wife and children, or kinsfolk, or servants.
For this is just before God and men, that neither the Church suffer any
loss by the not knowing which revenues are the bishop's own, nor his
kindred, under pretence of the Church, be undone, or his relations fall
into lawsuits, and so his death be liable to reproach.(2)

 41.  We command that the bishop have power over the goods of the
Church; for if he be entrusted with the precious souls of men, much more
ought he to give directions about goods, that they all be distributed to
those in want, according to his authority, by the presbyters and
deacons, and be used for their support with the fear of God, and with
all reverence.  He is also to partake of those things he wants, if he
does want them, for his necessary occasions, and those of the brethren
who live with him, that they may not by any means be in straits: for the
law of God appointed that those who waited at the altar should be
maintained by the altar; since not so much as a soldier does at any time
bear arms against the enemies at his own charges.

 42.  Let a bishop, or presbyter, or deacon who indulges himself in dice
or drinking, either leave off those practices, or let him be
deprived.(3)

 43.  If a sub-deacon, a reader, or a singer does the like, either let
him leave off, or let him be suspended; and so for one of the laity.

 44.  Let a bishop, or presbyter, or deacon who requires usury of those
he lends to, either leave off to do so, or let him be deprived.

 45.  Let a bishop, or presbyter, or deacon who only prays with
heretics, be suspended; but if he also permit them to perform any part
of the office of a clergyman, let him be deprived.(4)

503

 46.  We command that a bishop, or presbyter, or deacon who receives the
baptism, or the sacrifice of heretics, be deprived: "For what agreement
is there between Christ and Belial?  or what part hath a believer with
an infidel?"(1)

 47.  If a bishop or presbyter rebaptizes him who has had true baptism,
or does not baptize him who is polluted by the ungodly, let him be
deprived, as ridiculing the cross and the death of the Lord, and not
distinguishing between real priests and counterfeit ones.

 48.  If a layman divorces his own wife, and takes another, or one
divorced by another, let him be suspended.(2)

 49.  If any bishop or presbyter does not baptize according to the
Lord's constitution, into the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, but
into three beings without beginning, or into three Sons, or three
Comforters, let him be deprived.(3)

 50.  If any bishop or presbyter does not perform the three immersions
of the one admission, but one immersion, which is given into the death
of Christ, let him be deprived; for the Lord did not say, "Baptize into
my death," but, "Go ye and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them
into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."  Do
ye, therefore, O bishops, baptize thrice into one Father, and Son, and
Holy Ghost, according to the will of Christ, and our constitution by the
Spirit.(4)

 51.  If any bishop, or presbyter, or deacon, or indeed any one of the
sacerdotal catalogue, abstains from marriage, flesh, and wine, not for
his own exercise, but because he abominates these things, forgetting
that "all things were very good,"(5) and that "God made man male and
female,"(6) and blasphemously abuses the creation, either let him
reform, or let him be deprived, and be cast out of the Church; and the
same for one of the laity.(7)

 52.  If any bishop or presbyter does not receive him that returns from
his sin, but rejects him, let him be deprived; because he grieves
Christ, who says, "There is joy in heaven over one sinner that
repenteth."(8)

 53.  If any bishop, or presbyter, or deacon does not on festival days
partake of flesh or wine, let him be deprived, as "having a seared
conscience,"(9) and becoming a cause of scandal to many.

 54.  If any one of the clergy be taken eating in a tavern, let him be
suspended, excepting when he is forced to bait at an inn upon the
road.(10)

 55.  If any one of the clergy abuses his bishop unjustly, let him be
deprived; for says the Scripture, "Thou shall not speak evil of the
ruler of thy people."  (11)

 56.  If any one of the clergy abuses a presbyter or a deacon, let him
be separated.

 57.  If any one of the clergy mocks at a lame, a deaf, or a blind man,
or at one maimed in his feet, let him be suspended; and the like for the
laity.

 58.  Let a bishop or presbyter who takes no care of the clergy or
people, and does not instruct them in piety, be separated; and if he
continues in his negligence, let him be deprived.(12)

 59.  If any bishop or presbyter, when any one of the clergy is in want,
does not supply his necessity, let him be suspended; and if he continues
in it, let him be deprived, as having killed his brother.(13)

 60.  If any one publicly reads in the Church the spurious books of the
ungodly, as if they were holy, to the destruction of the people and of
the clergy, let him be deprived.(14)

 61.  If there be an accusation against a Christian for fornication, or
adultery, or any other forbidden action, and he be convicted, let him
not be promoted into the clergy.

 62.  If any one of the clergy for fear of men,

504

as of a Jew, or a Gentile, or an heretic, shall deny the name of Christ,
let him be suspended; but if he deny the name of a clergyman, let him be
deprived; but when he repents, let him be received as one of the
laity.(1)

 63.  If any bishop, or presbyter, or deacon, or indeed any one of the
sacerdotal catalogue, eats flesh with the blood of its life, or that
which is torn by beasts, or which died of itself, let him be deprived;
for this the law itself has forbidden.(2) But if he be one of the laity,
let him be suspended.(3)

 64.  If any one of the clergy be found to fast on the Lord's day, or on
the Sabbath-day, excepting one only, let him be deprived; but if he be
one of the laity, let him be suspended.(4)

 65.  If any one, either of the clergy or laity, enters into a synagogue
of the Jews or heretics to pray, let him be deprived and suspended.(5)

 66.  If any one of the clergy strikes one in a quarrel, and kills him
by that one stroke, let him be deprived, on account of his rashness; but
if he be one of the laity, let him be suspended.(6)

 67.  If any one has offered violence to a virgin not betrothed, and
keeps her, let him be suspended.  But it is not lawful for him to take
another to wife; but he must retain her whom he has chosen, although she
be poor.(7)

 68.  If any bishop, or presbyter, or deacon, receives a second
ordination from any one, let him be deprived, and the person who
ordained him, unless he can show that his former ordination was from the
heretics; for those that are either baptized or ordained by such as
these, can be neither Christians nor clergymen.(8)

 69.  If any bishop, or presbyter, or deacon, or reader, or singer, does
not fast the fast of forty days, or the fourth day of the week, and the
day of the Preparation, let him be deprived, except he be hindered by
weakness of body.  But if he be one of the laity, let him be
suspended.(9)

 70.  If any bishop, or any other of the clergy, fasts with the Jews, or
keeps the festivals with them, or accepts of the presents from their
festivals, as unleavened bread or some such thing, let him be deprived;
but if he be one of the laity, let him be suspended.(10)

 71.  If any Christian carries oil into an heathen temple, or into a
synagogue of the Jews, or lights up lamps in their festivals, let him be
suspended.

 72.  If any one, either of the clergy or laity, takes away from the
holy Church an honeycomb, or oil, let him be suspended, and let him add
the fifth part to that which he took away.(11)

 73.  A vessel of silver, or gold, or linen, which is sanctified, let no
one appropriate to his own use, for it is unjust; but if any one be
caught, let him be punished with suspension.(12)

 74.  If a bishop be accused of any crime by credible and faithful
persons, it is necessary that he be cited by the bishops; and if he
comes and makes his apology, and yet is convicted, let his punishment be
determined.  But if, when he is cited, he does not obey, let him be
cited a second time, by two bishops sent to him.  But if even then he
despises them, and will not come, let the synod pass what sentence they
please against him, that he may not appear to gain advantage by avoiding
their judgment.(13)

 75.  Do not ye receive an heretic in a testimony against a bishop; nor
a Christian if he be single.  For the law says, "In the mouth of two or
three witnesses every word shall be established."  (14)

 76.  A bishop must not gratify his brother, or his son, or any other
kinsman, with the episcopal dignity, or ordain whom he pleases; for it
is not just to make heirs to episcopacy, and to gratify human affections
in divine matters.  For we must not put the Church of God under the laws
of inheritance; but if any one shall do so, let his ordination be
invalid, and let him be punished with suspension.(15)

 77.  If any one be maimed in an eye, or lame of his leg, but is worthy
of the episcopal dignity, let him be made a bishop; for it is not a
blemish of the body that can defile him, but the pollution of the
soul.(16)

 78.  But if he be deaf and blind, let him not be made a bishop; not as
being a defiled person, but that the ecclesiastical affairs may not be
hindered.

 79.  If any one hath a demon, let him not be made one of the clergy.
Nay, let him not pray with the faithful; but when he is cleansed, let
him be received; and if he be worthy, let him be ordained.(17)

505

 80.  It is not right to ordain him bishop presently who is just come in
from the Gentiles, and baptized; or from a wicked mode of life: for it
is unjust that he who has not yet afforded any trial of himself should
be a teacher of others, unless it anywhere happens by divine grace.(1)

 81.  We have said that a bishop ought not to let himself into public
administrations, but to attend on all opportunities upon the necessary
affairs of the Church.(2) Either therefore let him agree not to do so,
or let him be deprived.  For, "no one can serve two masters," (3)
according to the Lord's admonition.(4)

 82.  We do not permit servants to be ordained into the clergy without
their masters' consent; for this would grieve those that owned them.
For such a practice would occasion the subversion of families.  But if
at any time a servant appears worthy to be ordained into an high office,
such as our Onesimus appeared to be, and if his master allows of it, and
gives him his freedom, and dismisses him from his house, let him be
ordained.(5)

 83.  Let a bishop, or presbyter, or deacon, who goes to the army, and
desires to retain both the Roman government and the sacerdotal
administration, be deprived.  For "the things of Caesar belong to
Caesar, and the things of God to God."(6)

 84.  Whosoever shall abuse the king(7) or the governor unjustly, let
him suffer punishment; and if he be a clergyman, let him be deprived;
but if he be a layman, let him be suspended.

 85.  Let the following books be esteemed venerable and holy by you,
both of the clergy and laity.  Of the Old Covenant: the five books of
Moses--Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy; one of
Joshua the son of Nun, one of the Judges, one of Ruth, four of the
Kings, two of the Chronicles, two of Ezra, one of Esther, one of Judith,
three of the Maccabees, one of Job, one hundred and fifty psalms; three
books of Solomon--Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs; sixteen
prophets.  And besides these, take care that your young persons learn
the Wisdom of the very learned Sirach.  But our sacred books, that is,
those of the New Covenant, are these: the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark,
Luke, and John; the fourteen Epistles of Paul; two Epistles of Peter,
three of John, one of James, one of Jude; two Epistles of Clement; and
the Constitutions dedicated to you the bishops by me Clement, in eight
books; which it is not fit to publish before all, because of the
mysteries contained in them; and the Acts of us the Apostles.(8)

 Let these canonical rules be established by us for you, O ye bishops;
and if you continue to observe them, ye shall be saved, and shall have
peace; but if you be disobedient, you shall be punished, and have
everlasting war one with another, and undergo a penalty suitable to your
disobedience.

 Now, God who alone is unbegotten, and the Maker of the whole world,
unite you all through His peace, in the Holy Spirit; perfect you unto
every good work, immoveable, unblameable, and unreprovable; and
vouchsafe to you eternal life with us, through the mediation of His
beloved Son Jesus Christ our God and Saviour; with whom glory be to
Thee, the God over all, and the Father, in the Holy Spirit the
Comforter, now and always, and for ever and ever.  Amen.

 The end of the Constitutions of the Holy Apostles by Clement, which are
the Catholic doctrine.

506

ELUCIDATIONS

I.

(The Bidding Prayer, etc., p.  485.)

THE PAULINE NORM.(1)

 1.  Supplications.

 2.  Prayers, Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs.

 3.  Intercessions.

 4.  General Thanksgiving.  The Kiss of Peace.

 5.  Anaphora.(2)

 The Lord Jesus the same night in which He was betrayed took bread: And
when He had given thanks, He brake it,

 And said, Take, eat: this is my Body, which is broken for you:

 This do in remembrance of Me.

 After the same manner also He took the cup, when He had supped,

 Saying, This cup is the New Testament in my Blood:

 This do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of Me.

 For as often as ye eat this Bread, and drink this Cup, ye do show the
Lord's death till He come.

 6.  Our Father, etc.(3)

 7.  Communion.

 Let us note also that the Apostle had "delivered" unto the Corinthians
(1 Cor.  xi.  23), as doubtless to others (vii.  17), certain
institutions which he ordained in all the churches, and for departing
from which he censures the Corinthians in this place (ver.  17 compared
with ver.  2) in certain particulars.  In chap.  xiv.  at ver.  40, he
refers to these ordinances as a <greek>taxis</greek>, in the performance
of which they were to proceed (<greek>kosmips</greek>) with due order,
becomingly; not with mere decency, but with a beautiful decorum of
service.

 Finally, let me suggest that there are fragments of the Apostle's
(<greek>paradoseis</greek>) instructions everywhere scattered through
his Epistles, such as the minute canon(4) concerning the veiling of
women in acts of worship, insisting upon it with a length of argument
which in one of the Apostolic Fathers would be considered childish.  He
also insisted that his <greek>taxis</greek> is from the Lord.

507

Fragments of the primitive hymns are also scattered through the
Apostles' writings, as, e.g.,--

E<greek>geirai</greek> <greek>o</greek> <greek>?aqeudwn</greek>,

 <greek>kai</greek> <greek>anasta</greek> <greek>ek</greek>
<greek>tpn</greek> <greek>nekrpn</greek>

 <greek>kai</greek> <greek>epifausei</greek> <greek>soi</greek>
<greek>o</greek> X<greek>ristod</greek>

Of such passages the formula (<greek>dio</greek> <greek>legei</greek>)
"It saith" seems to be a frequent index.

 May we not conclude also that the sublime prayer and doxology of Eph.
iii.  14-21 is a quotation from the Apostle's own eucharistic
<greek>taxid</greek> for the whole state of Christ's Church militant?

 Might not the same be more constantly used in our days as an
intercession for the whole flock of the one Shepherd?

II.

(Fulfil His constitution, p.  489.)

 The Pauline Norm being borne in mind, we shall best comprehend this
Clementine liturgy, as to its primitive claims, by taking the testimony
of Justin, writing in Rome to the Antonines A.D. 160.  Referring to the
Apology in our first volume, we observe that the order kept up in his
day was this:--

 1.  Prayers for all estates of men.

 2.  The kiss of peace.

 3.  Oblation of bread and wine.

 4.  Thanksgiving.

 5.  Words of institution.

 6.  The prayer ending with Amen.

 7.  Communion.

 Now, a century later, we may suppose the original of this Clementine to
have taken a fuller shape; of which still later this Clementine is the
product.(2)

 Bear in mind that the early Roman use was (Greek) borrowed wholly from
the East;(3) and, comparing the testimony of Justin with the Pauline
Norm, may we not suppose that this norm in Rome was augmented by the
Eastern uses, and so preserves a true name in that of the first Bishop
of Rome, who accepted it from Jerusalem or Antioch?

III.

(That He may show this bread, etc., p.  489.)

 From a recent essay by Dr.  Williams, the erudite bishop of
Connecticut, I am permitted to cite, as follows:--

Compare the original texts thus:--

CLEMENTINE.(4)

 <greek>opwd</greek> <greek>apofhnh</greek> <greek>ton</greek>
<greek>ar</greek><s235<greek>on</greek> <greek>touton</greek>
<greek>spma</greek> <greek>tou</greek> X<greek>ristou</greek>
<greek>sou</greek> <greek>kai</greek> <greek>to</greek>
<greek>pothrion</greek> <greek>touton</greek> <greek>aima</greek>
<greek>tou</greek> X<greek>ristou</greek> <greek>sou</greek>
<greek>ina</greek> <greek>oi</greek> <greek>metalabon</greek>-
<greek>ted</greek>, <greek>k</greek>.<greek>t</greek>.<greek>l</greek>

 IRENAEUS.(5)

 <greek>opwd</greek> <greek>apofhnh</greek> <greek>thn</greek>
<greek>qusian</greek> <greek>tauthn</greek>, <greek>kai</greek>
<greek>ton</greek> <greek>arton</greek> <greek>spma</greek>
<greek>tou</greek> X<greek>ristou</greek>, <greek>kai</greek>
<greek>to</greek> <greek>pothrion</greek> <greek>to</greek>
<greek>aima</greek> <greek>tou</greek> X<greek>ristou</greek>
<greek>ina</greek> <greek>oi</greek> <greek>metala</greek>-
<greek>bonted</greek>,
<greek>k</greek>.<greek>t</greek>.<greek>l</greek>.

508

 Bishop Williams then proceeds to inquire:--

 "How is this striking agreement to be explained?  Does Irenaeus quote
from the Clementine, or the Clementine from him?  Or is it not much more
likely that they are independent witnesses to primitive uses, going back
to the period of the persecutions, and extending far beyond the limits
of Syria or Palestine'?"(1)

 I shall recur to these passages in the elucidations to Early Liturgies
(infra): but here I beg the reader to consult Pfaff, to whom we owe the
discovery of the fragment cited from Irenaeus; also Grabe, in the same
volume of Pfaff, whom I have already introduced to the reader.(2)

POSTSCRIPT.

 THE American editor had been promised the aid of his beloved friend the
Rev.  Dr.  Hobart in the elucidation of the liturgies; but a sudden and
almost fatal prostration of his health has deprived the reader of the
admirable comments with which he would have enriched these pages, had
Providence permitted.

AN ANCIENT HOMILY

COMMONLY STYLED

 THE SECOND EPISTLE OF CLEMENT

511

INTRODUCTORY NOTICE

TO THE HOMILY KNOWN AS

 THE SECOND EPISTLE OF CLEMENT

 It is gratifying that our series is marked by tokens of critical
progress, and not less cheering tokens of scientific research.  The
clearing-up of much that has perplexed us about Hermas; the Bryennios
discovery; and, not least, the completion of this fragment, which has
long been a scandal to patristic inquiry,--are surely such tokens.  They
enrich the reader with definite ideas on many collateral subjects.  May
they not stimulate American scholarship and American affluence to fresh
enterprises of the same character for the advancement of learning, and
the glory of the world's Redeemer and Illuminator?

 The very early date to which this homily is now assigned makes its
slightest allusions to the New-Testament canon of very great importance.
I have ventured to indicate a few such, even where they may be mere
allusions, not textual quotations: as, e.g., on p.  517, at notes 20 and
22, slight indications of a reference to the Second Epistle of St.
Peter and to the Apocalypse.[1]

 I shall have occasion to refer to this work in the elucidation of the
Liturgies which are to follow.  If it be, as Bishop Lightfoot supposes,
a homily of the second century, it may lend important retrospective aid
to the student of these volumes in other particulars; but, having
entrusted this interesting relic to the editorial care of a most
competent scholar, I shall not presume to anticipate his judgment in any
matter.

512

INTRODUCTORY NOTICE BY PROFESSOR M. B. RIDDLE, D.D.

SECTION 1.--TEXT.

 In this volume, pp.  372-376, will be found a brief account of the
Codex discovered by Bryennios, now Metropolitan of Nicomedia.  It
remains in the library of the Jerusalem Monastery of the Holy Sepulchre
at Constantinople.  While the publication of the Greek text of the
Teaching awakened unusual interest, the recovery of that document has
not been the only valuable result of this important discovery.  The
Codex, as was speedily known, contains the only complete copy of the
Greek text of the two Epistles of Clement.  The lacunoe previously
existing in the genuine Epistle were not extensive; but, as now appears,
the Alexandrian manuscript contains only three-fifths of the second
Epistle.  The entire Greek text of both Epistles was given to the public
by Bryennios, in 1875.

 This at once led to a revision of some recent editions, notably those
of Hilgenfeld,[2] and of Gebhardt and Harnack.[3] Many monographs soon
appeared.  But the discovery of a new (Syriac) source for the text in
1876, while not affecting the general problem, gave to patristic
scholars more abundant critical material.  Bishop Lightfoot's
Appendix[4] contains the most convenient and accessible collation of
this material, as well as the most clear statements on all points
affected by the two discoveries.  The Syriac manuscript, containing a
version of the two Epistles of Clement, was purchased by the Cambridge
University Library in 1876, from the collection of "the late Oriental
scholar M. Jules Mohl of Paris" (Lightfoot). It embraces the entire New
Testament, except the Apocalypse, in the Harkleian recension of the
Philoxenian (or later) Syriac version; but the scribe has inserted the
two Epistles of Clement (entire) between the Catholic and Pauline
Epistles.  The value of the manuscript for New-Testament criticism is
great, and the phenomena it presents interesting, as bearing on the
discussion of the New-Testament canon; but the paucity of sources for
the text of the Clementine Epistles gives special importance to the
discovery of a version of these writings so soon after the recovery of
the entire Greek text.  A discussion of the textual questions is
forbidden by the limits of this Introductory Notice, but a few points
may be stated:--

 1.  A comparison of the three authorities (the Alexandrian, the
Constantinopolitan, and the Syriac), in the parts they in common
contain, shows that the first is most trustworthy, and that the Syriac
is usually more correct than the Constantinopolitan.

 2.  Hence, in the recovered portions, the authority of the Syriac is
very valuable in correcting the obvious blunders of the Greek copy.
This should teach caution in accepting the text of the Teaching, where
the same Greek manuscript is our only authority.

 3.  The genuine Epistle of Clement, which stands next in age to the
canonical books of the New Testament, now stands next in accuracy of
text also.  Doubt in regard to textual questions decreases as the
critical material increases.

513

SECTION 2.--PLACE AND DATE OF COMPOSITION; AUTHOR.

 The recovery of the entire text of the Second Epistle settles the
question as to the purpose of the work.  As was previously surmised, it
is a homily (comp.  chaps.  xvii., xix., xx.); moreover, it was "read"
by the author at public worship after the Scripture lesson (see chap.
xix). But as to place, date, and author, there is still diversity of
opinion.  The three questions are closely related.  The view of Bishop
Lightfoot seems, on the whole, most tenable.  He regards the homily as
of Corinthian origin, delivered, in all probability, between A.D. 120
and 140, but the work of an unknown author, who seems to have been one
of the presbyters of the church,--possibly the bishop.  The allusions to
the athletic games are in favour of Corinth.  On this theory the title
is thus accounted for: The genuine Epistle of Clement was addressed to
the Corinthians, and read in the church of that city from time to time.
This homily was probably read in the same manner, and at length united
in a manuscript copy with the other.  Each was "to the Corinthians:"
hence it was gradually inferred that both were Epistles of Clement.  Of
this succession or movement Lightfoot finds some indications in the
manuscript authorities.

 The internal evidence of an early date has been increased by the
discovery of the concluding portion, but there is nothing to determine
the exact time of composition.  The distinction made in chap.  xiv.
between the Old and New Testaments, as well as the use of the Gospel of
the Egyptians (at the close of chap.  xii.), taken in connection with
the unmistakeable citations of New-Testament passages as of Divine
authority, point to the first half of the second century as the probable
period.  The absence of all direct opposition to Gnosticism points to an
origin within the same limits.  All these considerations make against
the view of Hilgenfeld, who attributes the homily to Clement of
Alexandria, thus assigning it to the latter half of the second century.

 In regard to the author, nothing further is learned from the newly
recovered portion, except the fact that he was a preacher.  Even this
does not determine his ecclesiastical position, since at that early date
much freedom of utterance was permitted in Christian assemblies.  It is,
however, very probable that the author was a presbyter; and it is not
improbable that he was the chief presbyter, or local bishop.

 The homily is still attributed to a person named Clement, but there are
three theories as to what Clement.  (1) Bryennios stands almost alone in
claiming that the document is the work of Clemens Romanus.  The internal
evidence against this view was quite sufficient before the full text of
the two Epistles was known; now it is to be regarded as abundantly
conclusive.  Even the English version of the two writings will suggest
to the intelligent reader the points of difference.  (2) As intimated
above, Hilgenfeld regards Clement of Alexandria as the author; but this
places the homily too late.  Moreover, the writings of the Alexandrian
Father stand immensely above this feeble, commonplace, and chaotic
production.  Even the citation from the Gospel of the Egyptians, common
to both,[1] is differently used by the two authors; Clement of
Alexandria opposing the interpretation favoured in this homily, as well
as objecting to the authority of that apocryphal Gospel.  Hilgenfeld's
argument from the word <greek>filosofein</greek> in chap.  xix., is
invalidated by the improbability of that reading; see note in loco.  (3)
The most plausible view, as Bishop Lightfoot admits, is that of Harnack.
He assigns the homily to a third Clement, referred to, as he supposes,
in the Shepherd of Hermas,[2] and living somewhat later than Clement of
Rome.  In favour of this may be urged: some similarity to the Shepherd
of Hermas, the probability that at the date of the later writing Clement
of Rome was not living, and the easy explanation it affords of the
traditional title.  But, while a third Clement may have lived at Rome,
we have no evidence other than the doubtful hint in the Shepherd.  The
allusion in that work seems far more appropriate to the well-known
Clement of Rome.  The argument from the later date of the Shepherd
proves very little; not only is the date uncertain, but the visions are
placed

514

quite early.  The editor of this series, while accepting A.D. 160 as the
probable date of the Shepherd, regards it as a compilation, introducing
"Hermas and Clement to identify the times which are idealized in his
allegory."[1] The view of Bishop Lightfoot, therefore, seems to be the
safest.

SECTION 3.--CHARACTER AND CONTENTS.

 The style of the homily is poor.  It abounds in connectives, which link
unconnected ideas; its thought is feeble, its theology peculiar though
not false, its arrangement confused.  While it furnishes some historical
data for practical theology, it is, in homiletical method and matter, in
sharp contrast with the Apostolic writings and with the homilies of
Origen.  Though referring to Scripture, it has none of the virtues of
the expository discourse; though hortatory in tone, it has little of the
unity and directness of better sermons of that class.  Its chief
excellence is its brevity.

 It is difficult to make an analysis of the contents.  The theme is the
duty of fulfilling the commands of Christ.

 (1) This obedience is the true confession of Christ, answering to the
greatness of His salvation; mainly in chaps.  i.-iv.

 (2) Thus the Christian shows his opposition to the world; chaps.  v.-
viii.

 (3) This obedience will be rewarded in the future world; chaps.  ix.-
xvii.

 (4) The conclusion: the preacher's confession (xviii.), justification
of his exhortation (xix.); concluding word of consolation, with doxology
(xx.). But the treatment is not strictly logical, nor are the parts
clearly distinguished.

 The theology shows no traces of heresy, nor does it sharply oppose any
false doctrinal views.  It lacks the dogmatic precision of a later age,
but emphasizes rigid views of the relation of the sexes.  "Repentance
and good works seem to be the main articles of its creed.  Of
regeneration there seems to be no definite idea: to be called is the
same as to be saved.  The Church is pre-existent; the kingdom of God is
in the future; no worth is left to this world or to the life in it.  The
principal argument urged in favour of standing firm in faith is the good
issue of it in the next life" (C. J. H. Ropes).

 The hints given in regard to public worship agree with the famous
description of Justin Martyr,[2] and there are indications that the
early freedom of exhortation had not yet disappeared.  Bishop Lightfoot
aptly concludes his dissertation with these words: "The homily itself,
as a literary work, is almost worthless.  As the earliest example of its
kind, however, and as the product of an important age of which we
possess only the scantiest remains, it has the highest value.  Nor will
its intellectual poverty blind us to its true grandeur, as an example of
the lofty moral earnestness and the triumphant faith which subdued a
reluctant world, and laid it prostrate at the foot of the cross."[3]

SECTION 4.--THE VERSION IN THIS VOLUME.

 Greater unity would have been secured by a new translation of the
entire work.  Since, however, this was not possible, the aim of the
editor has been to give the reader, as far as practicable, the benefit
of the light shed upon the whole by the recently discovered authorities.
The portion already translated in the Edinburgh volume has been supplied
with critical annotations, and a few exegetical points have been
treated.  The recent editions of the Greek text have, of course, been
consulted.

The newly recovered portion has been re-translated.  Bishop Lightfoot's
version is so excel-

515

lent that the temptation to use it was very great.  It has, of course,
influenced the editor in many places.  But the following version differs
from it mainly in two respects: (1) An effort has been made to preserve
the verbal correspondences between the language of the homily and that
of the New Testament: hence the English word used in the Revised Version
as an equivalent of a Greek term is given here as a similar equivalent.
(2) The view of the Greek tenses indicated in Lightfoot's renderings
does not always accord with that of the editor.

 It may be added, that Professor C. J. H. Ropes of Bangor, Me., kindly
sent, for use in the preparation of the Epistle for this volume, his
manuscript translation and notes.  These have been very helpful, and are
entitled to this acknowledgment.  It will be found that the American
translation is less paraphrastic than the Edinburgh.  The new portions,
both text and notes, have been printed without brackets when they are
the work of the editor.  The rare additions of the general editor are
always bracketed, that the reader may readily recognise to whom the
literary responsibility in each case properly belongs.

 The following is the Edinburgh Introductory Notice:--

 The first certain reference which is made by any early writer to this
so-called Epistle of Clement is found in these words of Eusebius (Hist.
Eccl., iii.  38): "We must know that there is also a second Epistle of
Clement.  But we do not regard it as being equally notable with the
former, since we know of none of the ancients that have made use of it."
Several critics in modern times have endeavoured to vindicate the
authenticity of this Epistle.  But it is now generally regarded as one
of the many writings which have been falsely ascribed to Clement.
Besides the want of external evidence, indicated even by Eusebius in the
above extract, the diversity of style clearly points to a different
writer from that of the first Epistle.  A commonly accepted opinion
among critics at the present day is, that this is not an Epistle at all,
but a fragment of one of the many homilies falsely ascribed to Clement.
There can be no doubt, however, that in the catalogue of writings
contained in the Alexandrian Ms.  it is both styled an Epistle, and, as
well as the other which accompanies it, is attributed to Clement.  As
the Ms.  is certainly not later than the fifth century, the opinion
referred to must by that time have taken firm root in the Church; but in
the face of internal evidence, and in want of all earlier testimony,
such a fact goes but a small way to establish its authenticity.

517

THE HOMILY(1)

CHAP. I.--WE OUGHT TO THINK HIGHLY OF

CHRIST.

 BRETHREN, it is fitting that you should think of Jesus Christ as of
God,--as the Judge of the living and the dead.  And it does not become
us(2) to think lightly(3) of our salvation; for if we think little(3) of
Him, we shall also hope but to obtain little from Him.  And those of
us(4) who hear carelessly of these things, as if they were of small
importance, commit sin, not knowing whence we have been called, and by
whom, and to what place, and how much Jesus Christ submitted to suffer
for our sakes.  What return, then, shall we make to Him?  or what fruit
that shall be worthy of that which He has given to us?  For,(5) indeed,
how great are the benefits(6) which we owe to Him!  He has graciously
given us light; as a Father, He has called us sons; He has saved us when
we were ready to perish.  What praise, then, shall we give to Him, or
what return shall we make for the things which we have received?(7) We
were deficient(8) in understanding, worshipping stones and wood, and
gold, and silver, and brass, the works of men's hand;(9) and our whole
life was nothing else than death.  Involved in blindness, and with such
darkness(10) before our eyes, we have received sight, and through His
will have laid aside that cloud by which we were enveloped.  For He had
compassion on us, and mercifully saved us, observing the many errors in
which we were entangled, as well as the destruction to which we were
exposed,(11) and that we had(12) no hope of salvation except it came to
us from Him.  For He called us when we were not,(13) and willed that out
of nothing we should attain a real existence.(14)

CHAP. II.--THE CHURCH, FORMERLY BARREN, IS

NOW FRUITFUL.

 "Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that
travailest not; for she that is desolate hath many more children than
she that hath an husband."(15) In that He said, "Rejoice, thou barren
that bearest not," He referred to us, for our Church was barren before
that children were given to her.  But when He said, "Cry out, thou that
travailest not," He means this, that we should sincerely offer up our
prayers to God, and should not, like women in travail, show signs of
weakness.(16) And in that He said, "For she that is desolate hath many
more children than she that hath an husband," He means that(17) our
people seemed to be outcast from God, but now, through believing, have
become more numerous than those who are reckoned to possess God.(18) And
another Scripture saith, "I came not to call the righteous, but
sinners."(19) This means that those who are perishing must be saved.
For it is indeed a great and admirable thing to establish, not the
things which are standing, but these that are falling.  Thus also did
Christ desire(20) to save the things which were perishing,(21) and has
saved many by coming and calling us when hastening to destruction.(22)

518

CHAP. III.--THE DUTY OF CONFESSING CHRIST.

 Since, then, He has displayed so great mercy towards us, and especially
in this respect, that we who are living should not offer sacrifices to
gods that are dead, or pay them worship, but should attain through Him
to the knowledge of the true Father,(1) whereby shall we show that we do
indeed know Him,(2) but by not denying Him through whom this knowledge
has been attained?  For He Himself declares,(3) "Whosoever shall confess
Me before men, him will I confess before My Father."(4) This, then, is
our reward if we shall confess Him by whom we have been saved.  But in
what way shall we confess Him?  By doing what He says, and not
transgressing His commandments, and by honouring Him not with our lips
only, but with all our heart and all our mind.(5) For He says(6) in
Isaiah, "This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is
far from Me."(7)

CHAP. IV.--TRUE CONFESSION OF CHRIST.

 Let us, then, not only call Him Lord, for that will not save us.  For
He saith, "Not every one that saith to Me, Lord, Lord, shall be saved,
but he that worketh righteousness."(8) Wherefore, brethren, let us
confess Him by(9) our works, by loving one another, by not committing
adultery, or speaking evil of one another, or cherishing envy; but being
continent, compassionate, and good.  We ought also to sympathize with
one another, and not be avaricious.  By such(10) works let us confess
Him,(11) and not by those that are of an opposite kind.  And it is not
fitting that we should fear men, but rather God.  For this reason, if we
should do such wicked things, the Lord hath said, "Even though ye were
gathered together to Me(12) in My very bosom, yet if ye were not to keep
My commandments, I would cast you off, and say unto you, Depart from Me;
I know you not whence ye are, ye workers of iniquity."(13)

CHAP. V.--THIS WORLD SHOULD BE DESPISED.

 Wherefore, brethren, leaving willingly our sojourn in this present
world, let us do the will of Him that called us, and not fear to depart
out of this world.  For the Lord saith, "Ye shall be as lambs in the
midst of wolves."(14) And Peter answered and said unto Him,(15) "What,
then, if the wolves shall tear in pieces the lambs?"  Jesus said unto
Peter, "The lambs have no cause after they are dead to fear(16) the
wolves; and in like manner, fear not ye them that kill you, and can do
nothing more unto you; but fear Him who, after you are dead, has power
over both soul and body to cast them into hell-fire."(17) And
consider,(18) brethren, that the sojourning in the flesh in this world
is but brief and transient, but the promise of Christ is great and
wonderful, even the rest of the kingdom to come, and of life
everlasting.(19) By what course of conduct, then, shall we attain these
things, but by leading a holy and righteous life, and by deeming these
worldly things as not belonging to us, and not fixing our desires upon
them?  For if we desire to possess them, we fall away from the path of
righteousness.(20)

CHAP. VI.--THE PRESENT AND FUTURE WORLDS

ARE ENEMIES TO EACH OTHER.

Now the Lord declares, "No servant can serve two masters."(21) If we
desire, then, to Serve both God and mammon, it will be unprofitable for
us.  "For what will it profit if a man gain the whole world, and lose
his own soul?"(22) This world and the next are two enemies.  The one
urges to(23) adultery and corruption, avarice and deceit; the other bids
farewell to these things.  We cannot therefore be the friends of both;
and it behoves us, by renouncing the one, to make sure(24) of the other.
Let us reckon that it is better to hate the things present, since they
are trifling, and transient, and corruptible; and to love those which
are to come, as being good and incorruptible.  For if we do the will of
Christ, we shall find rest; otherwise, nothing shall deliver us from
eternal punishment, if we disobey His commandments.  For thus also saith
the Scripture in Ezekiel, "If Noah, Job, and Daniel should rise up, they
should not deliver their children in captivity."(26) Now, if men

519

so eminently righteous(1) are not able by their righteousness to deliver
their children, how can we hope to(2) enter into the royal residence(3)
of God unless we keep our baptism holy and undefiled?  Or who shall be
our advocate, unless we be found possessed of works of holiness and
righteousness?(4)

CHAP. VII.--WE MUST STRIVE IN ORDER TO BE

CROWNED.

 Wherefore, then, my brethren, let us struggle s with all earnestness,
knowing that the contest is in our case close at hand, and that many
undertake long voyages to strive for a corruptible reward;(6) yet all
are not crowned, but those only that have laboured hard and striven
gloriously, Let us therefore so strive, that we may all be crowned, Let
us run the straight(7) course, even the race that is incorruptible; and
let us in great numbers set out s for it, and strive that we may be
crowned, And should we not all be able to obtain the crown, let us at
least come near to it, We must remember(9) that he who strives in the
corruptible contest, if he be found acting unfairly,(10) is taken away
and scourged, and cast forth from the lists.  What then think ye?  If
one does anything unseemly in the incorruptible contest, what shall he
have to bear?  For of those who do not preserve the seal" unbroken, the
Scripture saith,(12) "Their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not
be quenched, and they shall be a spectacle to all flesh."(13)

CHAP. VIII.--THE NECESSITY OF REPENTANCE

WHILE WE ARE ON EARTH.

 As long, therefore, as we are upon earth, let us practise repentance,
for we are as clay in the hand of the artificer.  For as the potter, if
he make a vessel, and it be distorted or broken in his hands, fashions
it over again; but if he have before this cast it into the furnace of
fire, can no longer find any help for it: so let us also, while we are
in this world, repent with our whole heart of the evil deeds we have
done in the flesh, that we may be saved by the Lord, while we have yet
an opportunity of repentance.  For after we have gone out of the world,
no further power of confessing or repenting will there belong to us.
Wherefore, brethren, by doing the will of the Father, and keeping the
flesh holy, and observing the commandments of the Lord, we shall obtain
eternal life.  For the Lord saith in the Gospel, "If ye have not kept
that which was small, who will commit to you the great?  For I say unto
you, that he that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also
in much."(14) This, then, is what He means: "Keep the flesh holy and the
seal undefiled, that ye(15) may receive eternal life."(16)

CHAP. IX.--WE SHALL BE JUDGED IN THE FLESH.

 And let no one of you say that this very flesh shall not be judged, nor
rise again.  Consider ye(17) in what state ye were saved, in what ye
received sight,(18) if not while ye were in this flesh.  We must
therefore preserve the flesh as the temple of God.  For as ye were
called in the flesh, ye shall also come to be judged in the flesh.  As
Christ(19) the Lord who saved us, though He was first a Spirit,(20)
became flesh, and thus called us, so shall we also receive the reward in
this flesh.  Let us therefore love one another, that we may all attain
to the kingdom of God.  While we have an opportunity of being healed,
let us yield ourselves to God that healeth us, and give to Him a
recompense.  Of what sort?  Repentance out of a sincere heart; for He
knows all things beforehand, and is acquainted with what is in our
hearts.  Let us therefore give Him praise,(21) not with the mouth only,
but also with the heart, that He may accept us as sons.  For the Lord
has said, "Those are My brethren who do the will of My Father."(22)

CHAP. X.--VICE IS TO BE FORSAKEN, AND VIRTUE

FOLLOWED.

 Wherefore, my brethren, let us do the will of the Father who called us,
that we may live; and let us earnestly(23) follow after virtue, but
forsake

520

every wicked tendency(1) which would lead into transgression; and flee
from ungodliness, lest evils overtake us.  For if we are diligent in
doing good, peace will follow us.  On this account, such men cannot find
it, i.e., peace, as are(2) influenced by human terrors, and prefer
rather present enjoyment to the promise which shall afterwards be
fulfilled.  For they know not what torment present enjoyment incurs, or
what felicity is involved in the future promise.  And if, indeed, they
themselves only did such things, it would be the more tolerable; but now
they persist in imbuing innocent souls with their pernicious
doctrines,(3) not knowing that they shall receive a double condemnation,
both they and those that hear them.

CHAP. XI.--WE OUGHT TO SERVE GOD, TRUSTING

IN HIS PROMISES.

 Let us therefore serve God with a pure heart, and we shall be
righteous; but if we do not serve Him, because we believe not the
promise of God, we shall be miserable.  For the prophetic word also
declares, "Wretched are those of a double mind, and who doubt in their
heart, who say, All these things have we heard even in the times of our
fathers; but though we have waited day by day, we have seen none of them
accomplished.  Ye fools!  compare yourselves to a tree; take, for
instance, the vine.  First of all it sheds its leaves, then the bud
appears; after that the sour grape, and then the fully-ripened fruit.
So, likewise, my people have borne disturbances and afflictions, but
afterwards shall they receive their good things."(4) Wherefore, my
brethren, let us not be of a double mind, but let us hope and endure,
that we also may obtain the reward.  For He is faithful who has promised
that He will bestow on every one a reward according to his works.  If,
therefore, we shall do righteousness in the sight of God, we shall enter
into His kingdom, and shall receive the promises, "which ear hath not
heard, nor eye seen, neither have entered into the heart of man."(5)

CHAP. XII.--WE ARE CONSTANTLY TO LOOK FOR

THE KINGDOM OF GOD.

 Let us expect, therefore, hour by hour, the kingdom of God in love and
righteousness, since we know not the day of the appearing of God.  For
the Lord Himself, being asked by one when His kingdom would come,
replied, "When two shall be one, and that which is without as that which
is within, and the male with the female, neither male nor female."(6)
Now, two are one when we speak the truth one to another, and there is
unfeignedly one soul in two bodies.  And "that which is without as that
which is within" meaneth this: He calls the soul "that which is within,"
and the body "that which is without."  As, then, thy body is visible to
sight, so also let thy soul be manifest by good works.  And "the male
with the female, neither male nor female," this(7) ...

[The newly recovered portion follows:](8)--

 ... meaneth,(9) that a brother seeing a sister should think nothing(10)
about her as of a female, nor she(11) think anything about him as of a
male.  If ye do these things, saith He,(12) the kingdom of my Father
shall come.

CHAP. XIII.--DISOBEDIENCE CAUSETH GOD'S NAME

TO BE BLASPHEMED.(13)

 Therefore, brethren,(14) let us now at length repent; let us be sober
unto what is good; for we are full of much folly and wickedness.  Let us
blot out from us our former sins, and repenting from the soul let us be
saved; and let us not become(15) men-pleasers, nor let us desire to
please only one another,(16) but also the men that are without, by our
righteousness, that the Name(17)

521

be not blasphemed on account of us.(1) For the Lord also saith
"Continually(2) My name is blasphemed among all the Gentiles,"(3) and
again, "Woe(4) to him on account of whom My name is blasphemed."
Wherein is it blasphemed?  In your not doing what I desire.(5) For the
Gentiles, when they hear from our mouth the oracles of God,(6) marvel at
them as beautiful and great; afterwards, when they have learned that our
works are not worthy of the words we speak, they then turn themselves to
blasphemy, saying that it is some fable and delusion.  For when they
hear from us that God saith,(7) "There is no thank unto you, if ye love
them that love you; but there is thank unto you, if ye love your enemies
and them that hate you;"(8) when they hear these things, they marvel at
the excellency of the goodness; but when they see that we not only do
not love them that hate us, but not even them that love us, they laugh
us to scorn, and the Name is blasphemed.

CHAP. XIV.--THE LIVING CHURCH IS THE BODY

OF CHRIST.

 Wherefore,(9) brethren, if we do the will of God our Father, we shall
be of the first Church, that is, spiritual, that hath been created
before the sun and moon;(10) but if we do not the will of the Lord, we
shall be of the scripture that saith, "My house was made a den of
robbers."(11) So then let us choose to be of the Church of life,(12)
that we may be saved.  I do not, however, suppose ye are ignorant that
the living Church is the body of Christ;(13) for the Scripture saith,
"God made man, male and female."(14) The male is Christ, the female is
the Church.  And the Books(15) and the Apostles plainly declare(16) that
the Church is not of the present, but from the beginning.(17) For she
was spiritual, as our Jesus also was, but was manifested In the last
days that He(18) might save us.  Now the Church, being spiritual, was
manifested in the flesh of Christ, thus signifying to us that, if any of
us keep(19) her in the flesh and do not corrupt her, he shall receive
her again so in the Holy Spirit: for this flesh is the copy of the
spirit.  No one then who corrupts the copy, shall partake of the
original.(21) This then is what He meaneth, "Keep the flesh,(22) that ye
may partake of the spirit."  But if we say that the flesh is the Church
and the spirit Christ,(23) then he that hath shamefully used the flesh
hath shamefully used the Church.  Such a one then shall not partake of
the spirit, which is Christ.  Such life and incorruption this flesh(24)
can partake of, when the Holy Spirit is joined to it.  No one can utter
or speak "what the Lord hath prepared" for His elect.(25)

CHAP. XV.--FAITH AND LOVE THE PROPER RETURN

TO GOD.

 Now I do not think I have given you any light counsel concerning self-
control,(26) which if any one do he will not repent of it, but will save
both himself and me who counselled him.  For it is no light reward to
turn again a wandering and perishing soul that it may be saved.(27) For
this is the recompense(28) we have to return to God who created us, if
he that speaketh and heareth both speaketh and heareth with faith and
love.  Let us therefore abide in the things which we believed, righteous
and holy, that with boldness we may ask of God who saith, "While thou
art yet speaking, I will say, Lo, I am here."(29) For this saying is the
sign of a great promise; for the Lord saith of Himself that He is more
ready to give than he that asketh to ask.(30) Being

522

therefore partakers of so great kindness, let us not be envious of one
another(1) in the obtaining of so many good things.  For as great as is
the pleasure which these sayings have for them that have done them, so
great is the condemnation they have for them that have been disobedient.

CHAP. XVI.--THE EXCELLENCE OF ALMSGIVING.

 Wherefore, brethren, having received no small occasion(2) for
repentance, while we have the opportunity,(3) let us turn unto God that
called us, while we still have Him as One that receiveth us.  For if we
renounce(4) these enjoyments and conquer our soul in not doing these its
evil desires, we shall partake of the mercy of Jesus.  But ye know that
the day of judgment even now "cometh as a burning oven,"(5) and some "of
the heavens shall melt," and all the earth shall be as lead melting on
the fire,(6) and then the hidden and open works of men shall appear.
Almsgiving therefore is a good thing, as repentance from sin; fasting is
better than prayer, but almsgiving than both;(7) "but love covereth a
multitude of sins."(8) But prayer out of a good conscience delivereth
from death.  Blessed is every one that is found full of these; for alms-
giving lighteneth the burden of sin.(9)

CHAP. XVII.--THE DANGER OF IMPENITENCE.

 Let us therefore repent from the whole heart, that no one of us perish
by the way.  For if we have commandments that we should also practise
this,(10) to draw away men from idols and instruct them, how much more
ought a soul already knowing God not to perish!  Let us therefore assist
one another that we may also lead up those weak as to what is good,(11)
in order that all may be saved; and let us convert and admonish one
another.(12) And let us not think to give heed and believe now only,
while we are admonished by the presbyters, but also when we have
returned home,(13) remembering the commandments(14) of the Lord; and let
us not be dragged away by worldly lusts, but coming(15) more frequently
let us attempt to make advances in the commandments of the Lord, that
all being of of the same mind(16) we may be gathered together unto life.
For the Lord said," I come to gather together all the nations, tribes,
and tongues."(17) This He speaketh of the day of His appearing, when He
shall come and redeem us, each one according to his works.(18) And the
unbelievers "shall see His glory," and strength; and they shall think it
strange when they see the sovereignty(19) of the world in Jesus, saying,
Woe unto us, Thou wast He,(20) and we did not know and did not believe,
and we did not obey the presbyters when they declared unto us concerning
our salvation.  And "their worm dieth not, and their fire is not
quenched, and they shall be for a spectacle unto all flesh."(21) He
speaketh of that day of judgment, when they shall see those among us(22)
that have been ungodly and acted deceitfully with the commandments of
Jesus Christ.  But the righteous who have done well and endured torments
and hated the enjoyments of the soul, when they shall behold those that
have gone astray and denied Jesus through their words or through their
works, how that they are punished with grievous torments in unquenchable
fire, shall be giving glory to God, saying, There will be hope for him
that hath served God with his whole heart.

CHAP. XVIII.--THE PREACHER CONFESSETH HIS

OWN SINFULNESS.

 Let us also become of the number of them that give thanks, that have
served God, and not of the ungodly that are judged.  For I myself also,
being an utter sinner,(23) and not yet escaped from temptation, but
still being in the midst of the engines(24) of the devil, give diligence
to fol-

523

low after righteousness, that I may have strength to come even near
it,(1) fearing the judgment to come.

CHAP. XIX.--HE JUSTIFIETH HIS EXHORTATION.

 Wherefore, brethren and sisters,(2) after the God of truth hath been
heard,(3) I read to you an entreaty(4) that ye may give heed to the
things that are written, in order that ye may save both yourselves and
him that readeth among you.  For as a reward I ask of you that ye repent
with the whole heart, thus giving to yourselves salvation and life.  For
by doing this we shall set a goal(5) for all the young who are minded to
labour(6) on behalf of piety and the goodness of God.  And let us not,
unwise ones that we are, be affronted and sore displeased, whenever some
one admonisheth and turneth us from iniquity unto righteousness.  For
sometimes while we are practising evil things we do not perceive it on
account of the double-mindedness and unbelief that is in our breasts,
and we are "darkened in our understanding"(7) by our vain lusts.  Let us
then practise righteousness that we may be saved unto the end.  Blessed
are they that obey these ordinances.  Even if for a little time they
suffer evil in the world,(8) they shall enjoy the immortal fruit of the
resurrection.  Let not then the godly man

 be grieved, if he be wretched in the times that now are; a blessed time
waits for him.  He, living again above with the fathers, shall be joyful
for an eternity without grief.

CHAP. XX.--CONCLUDING WORD OF CONSOLATION. DOXOLOGY.

 But neither let it trouble your understanding, that we see the
unrighteous having riches and the servants of God straitened.  Let us
therefore, brethren and sisters, be believing: we are striving in the
contest(9) of the living God, we are exercised by the present life, in
order that we may be crowned by that to come.  No one of the righteous
received fruit speedily, but awaiteth it.  For if God gave shortly the
recompense of the righteous, straightway we would be exercising
ourselves in business, not in godliness; for we would seem to be
righteous, while pursuing not what is godly but what is gainful.  And on
this account Divine judgment surprised a spirit that was not righteous,
and loaded it with chains.(10)

 To the only God invisible,(11) the Father of truth, who sent forth to
us the Saviour and Prince of incorruption,(12) through whom also He
manifested to us the truth and the heavenly life, to Him be the glory
for ever and ever.  Amen.(13)

THE NICENE CREED

THE CREED

As set forth at Nicoea,(1) A.D. 325.

 WE believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of all things,
visible and invisible:

 And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father,
only begotten, that is, of the substance of the Father;

 God of God; Light of light; very God of very God; begotten, not made;
being of one substance with the Father,

 By whom all things were made, both things in heaven and things in
earth:

 Who for us men and for our salvation came down, and was incarnate, and
was made man:

 He suffered, and rose again the third day:

 And ascended into heaven:

 And shall come again to judge the quick and the dead.

 And in the Holy Ghost, etc.(2)

THE RATIFICATION.

 And those who say There was a time when He was not, or that Before He
was begotten He was not, or that He was made out of nothing; or who say
that The Son of God is of any other substance, or that He is changeable
or unstable,--these the Catholic and Apostolic Church anathematizes.

ADDENDA,

As authorized at Constantinople, A.D. 381.

 (a) Of heaven and earth.

 (b) Begotten of the Father before all worlds.

 (c) By the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary.

 (d) Was crucified also for us, under Pontius Pilate,

 (e) And was buried.

 (f) Sitteth on the right hand of the Father,

 (g) Whose kingdom shall have no end.

 (h) The Lord, the Giver of life,

Who proceedeth from the Father;(3)

Who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified;

525

Who spake by the prophets:

In one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.

We acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins.

We look for the resurrection of the dead,

And the life of the world to come.  Amen.

 This Nicaeno-Constantinopolitan Creed was solemnly ratified by the
Council of Ephesus (A.D. 431) with the decree(1) that "No one(2) shall
be permitted to introduce, write, or compose any other faith,(3) besides
that which was defined by the holy Fathers assembled in the city of
Nice, with the presence of the Holy Ghost."

EARLY LITURGIES

537

EARLY LITURGIES(1)

THE DIVINE LITURGY OF JAMES, THE HOLY APOSTLE AND BROTHER

OF THE LORD.

I.

The Priest.(2)

 1.  O SOVEREIGN Lord our God, contemn me not, defiled with a multitude
of sins: for, behold, I have come to this Thy divine and heavenly
mystery, not as being worthy; but looking only to Thy goodness, I direct
my voice to Thee: God be merciful to me, a sinner; I have sinned against
Heaven, and before Thee, and am unworthy to come into the presence of
this Thy holy and spiritual table, upon which Thy only-begotten Son, and
our Lord Jesus Christ, is mystically set forth as a sacrifice for me, a
sinner, and stained with every spot.  Wherefore I present to Thee this
supplication and thanksgiving, that Thy Spirit the Comforter may be sent
down upon me, strengthening and fitting me for this service; and count
me worthy to make known without condemnation the word, delivered from
Thee by me to the people, in Christ Jesus our Lord, with whom Thou art
blessed, together with Thy all-holy, and good, and quickening, and
consubstantial(3) Spirit, now and ever, and to all eternity.  Amen.

Prayer of the standing beside the altar.

 II. Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, the
triune light of the Godhead, which is unity subsisting in trinity,
divided, yet indivisible: for the Trinity is the one God Almighty, whose
glory the heavens declare, and the earth His dominion, and the sea His
might, and every sentient and intellectual creature at all times
proclaims His majesty: for all glory becomes Him, and honour and might,
greatness and magnificence, now and ever, and to all eternity.  Amen.

Prayer of the incense at the beginning.(4)

 III. Sovereign Lord Jesus Christ, O Word of God, who didst freely offer
Thyself a blameless sacrifice upon the cross to God even the Father, the
coal of double nature, that didst touch the lips of the prophet with the
tongs, and didst take away his sins, touch also the hearts of us
sinners, and purify us from every stain, and present us holy beside Thy
holy altar, that we may offer Thee a sacrifice of praise: and accept
from us, Thy unprofitable servants, this incense as an odour of a sweet
smell, and make fragrant the evil odour of our soul and body, and purify
us with the sanctifying power of Thy all-holy Spirit: for Thou alone art
holy, who sanctifiest, and art communicated to the faithful; and glory
becomes Thee, with Thy eternal Father, and Thy all-holy, and good, and
quickening Spirit, now and ever, and to all eternity.  Amen.

Prayer of the commencement.

 IV. O beneficent King eternal, and Creator of the universe, receive Thy
Church, coming unto Thee through Thy Christ: fulfil to each what is
profitable; lead all to perfection, and make us perfectly worthy of the
grace of Thy sanctification, gathering us together within Thy holy
Church, which Thou hast purchased by the precious blood of Thy only-
begotten Son, and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, with whom Thou art
blessed and glorified, together with Thy all-holy, and good, and
quickening Spirit, now and ever, and to all eternity.  Amen.

The Deacon.

 V. Let us again pray to the Lord.

The Priest, prayer of the incense at the entrance of the congregation.

 God, who didst accept the gifts of Abel, the sacrifice of Noah and of
Abram, the incense of

538

Aaron and of Zacharias, accept also from the hand of us sinners this
incense for an odour of a sweet smell, and for remission of our sins,
and those of all Thy people; for blessed art Thou, and glory becomes
Thee, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, now and ever.

The Deacon.

Sir, pronounce the blessing.(1)

The Priest prays.

 Our Lord and God, Jesus Christ, who through exceeding goodness and love
not to be restrained wast crucified, and didst not refuse to be pierced
by the spear and nails; who didst provide this mysterious and awful
service as an everlasting memorial for us perpetually: bless Thy
ministry in Christ the God, and bless our entrance, and fully complete
the presentation of this our service by Thy unutterable compassion, now
and ever, and to all eternity.  Amen.

The responsive prayer from the Deacon.

 VI. The Lord bless us, and make us worthy seraphically to offer gifts,
and to sing the oft-sung hymn of the divine Trisagion, by the fulness
and exceeding abundance of all the perfection of holiness, now and ever.

Then the Deacon begins to sing in the entrance.(2)

 Thou who art the only-begotten Son and Word of God, immortal; who didst
submit for our salvation to become flesh of the holy God-mother,(3) and
ever-virgin Mary; who didst immutably become man and wast crucified, O
Christ our God and didst by Thy death tread death under foot; who art
one of the Holy Trinity glorified together with the Father and the Holy
Spirit, save us.

The Priest says this prayer from the gates to the

altar.

 VII. God Almighty, Lord great in glory, who hast given to us an
entrance into the Holy of Holies, through the sojourning among men of
Thy only-begotten Son, our Lord, and God, and Saviour Jesus Christ, we
supplicate and invoke Thy goodness, since we are fearful and trembling
when about to stand at Thy holy altar; send forth upon us, O God, Thy
good grace, and sanctify our souls, and bodies, and spirits, and turn
our thoughts to piety, in order that with a pure conscience we may bring
unto Thee gifts, offerings, and fruits for the remission of our
transgressions, and for the propitiation of all Thy people, by the grace
and mercies and loving-kindness of Thy only-begotten Son, with whom Thou
art blessed to all eternity.  Amen.

After the approach to the altar, the Priest says:

 VIII. Peace be to all.

The People.

And to thy spirit.

The Priest.

 The Lord bless us all, and sanctify us for the entrance and celebration
of the divine and pure mysteries, giving rest to the blessed souls among
the good and just, by His grace and loving-kindness, now and ever, and
to all eternity.  Amen.

 Then the Deacon says the bidding prayer.(4)

 IX. In peace let us beseech the Lord.

 For the peace that is from above, and for God's love to man, and for
the salvation of our souls, let us beseech the Lord.

 For the peace of the whole world, for the unity of all the holy
churches of God, let us beseech the Lord.

 For the remission of our sins, and forgiveness of our transgressions,
and for our deliverance from all tribulation, wrath, danger, and
distress, and from the uprising of our enemies, let us beseech the Lord.

 Then the Singers sing the Trisagion Hymn.

 Holy God, holy mighty, holy immortal, have mercy upon us.

Then the Priest prays, bowing.

 X. O compassionate and merciful, long-suffering, and very gracious and
true God, look from Thy prepared dwelling-place, and hear us Thy
suppliants, and deliver us from every temptation of the devil and of
man; withhold not Thy aid from us, nor bring on us chastisements too
heavy for our strength: for we are unable to overcome what is opposed to
us; but Thou art able, Lord, to save us from everything that is against
us.  Save us, O God, from the difficulties of this world, according to
Thy goodness, in order that, having drawn nigh with a pure conscience to
Thy holy altar, we may send up to Thee without condemnation the blessed
hymn Trisagion, together with the heavenly powers, and that, having
performed the service, well pleasing to Thee and divine, we may be
counted worthy of eternal life.

(Aloud.)

 Because Thou art holy, Lord our God, and dwellest and abidest in holy
places, we send up the praise and the hymn Trisagion to Thee, the
Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and to all
eternity.

539

The People.

 Amen.

The Priest.

 XI. Peace be to all.

The People.

 And to thy spirit.

The Singers.

 Alleluia.

 Then there are read in order(1) the holy oracles of the Old Testament,
and of the prophets; and the incarnation of the Son of God is set forth,
and His sufferings and resurrection from the

dead, His ascension into heaven, and His second appearing with glory;
and this takes place daily in the holy and divine service.(2)

After the reading and instruction the Deacon says:-

 XII. Let us all say, Lord, be merciful.(3)

 Lord Almighty, the God of our fathers;

 We beseech Thee, hear us.

 For the peace which is from above, and for

the salvation of our souls;

 Let us beseech the Lord.

 For the peace of the whole world, and the

unity of all the holy churches of God;

 Let us beseech the Lord.

 For the salvation and help of all the Christ-loving people;

 We beseech Thee, hear us.

 For our deliverance from all tribulation, wrath, danger, distress, from
captivity, bitter death, and from our iniquities;

 We beseech Thee, hear us.

 For the people standing round, and waiting for the rich and plenteous
mercy that is from Thee;

 We beseech Thee, be merciful and gracious.

 Save Thy people, O Lord, and bless Thine inheritance.

 Visit Thy world in mercy and compassion.

 Exalt the horn of Christians by the power of the precious and
quickening cross.

 We beseech Thee, most merciful Lord, hear us praying to Thee, and have
mercy upon us.

The People (thrice).

Lord, have mercy upon us.

The Deacon.

 XIII. For the remission of our sins, and forgiveness of our
transgressions, and for our deliverance from all tribulation, wrath,
danger, and distress, let us beseech the Lord.

 Let us all entreat from the Lord, that we may pass the whole day,
perfect, holy, peaceful, and without sin.

 Let us entreat from the Lord a messenger of peace, a faithful guide, a
guardian of our souls and bodies.

 Let us entreat from the Lord forgiveness and remission of our sins and
transgressions.

 Let us entreat from the Lord the things which are good and proper for
our souls, and peace for the world.

 Let us entreat from the Lord, that we may spend the remaining period of
our life in peace and health.

 Let us entreat that the close of our lives may be Christian, without
pain and without shame, and a good plea at the dread and awful judg-ment
-seat of Christ.

The Priest.

 XIV. For Thou art the gospel and the light, Saviour and keeper of our
souls and bodies, God, and Thy only-begotten Son, and Thy all-holy
Spirit, now and ever.

The People.

 Amen.(4)

The Priest.

 God, who hast taught us Thy divine and saving oracles, enlighten the
souls of us sinners for the comprehension of the things which have been
before spoken, so that we may not only be seen to be hearers of
spiritual things, but also doers of good deeds, striving after guileless
faith, blameless life, and pure conversation.

(Aloud.)

 In Christ Jesus our Lord, with whom Thou art blessed, together with Thy
all-holy, good, and quickening Spirit, now and always, and for ever.

The People.

 Amen.

The Priest.

 XV. Peace be to all.

540

The People.

 And to Thy spirit.

The Deacon.

 Let us bow our heads to the Lord.

The People.

 To Thee, Lord.

The Priest prays, saying:--

 O Sovereign giver of life, and provider of good things, who didst give
to mankind the blessed hope of eternal life, our Lord Jesus Christ,
count us worthy in holiness, and perfect this Thy divine service to the
enjoyment of future blessedness.

(Aloud.)

 So that, guarded by Thy power at all times, and led into the light of
truth, we may send up the praise and the thanksgiving to Thee, the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, now and ever.

The People.

 Amen.

The Deacon.

 XVI. Let none remain of the catechumens, none of the unbaptized, none
of those who are unable to join with us in prayer.  Look at one
another.(1) The door.

 All erect:(2) let us again pray to the Lord.

II.(3)

The Priest says the prayer of incense.

 Sovereign Almighty, King of Glory, who knowest all things before their
creation, manifest Thyself to us calling upon Thee at this holy hour,
and redeem us from the shame of our transgressions; cleanse our mind and
our thoughts from impure desires, from worldly deceit, from all
influence of the devil; and accept from the bands of us sinners this
incense, as Thou didst accept the offering of Abel, and Noah, and Aaron,
and Samuel, and of all Thy saints, guarding us from everything evil, and
preserving us for continually pleasing, and worshipping, and glorifying
Thee, the Father, and Thy only-begotten Son, and Thy all-holy Spirit,
now and always, and for ever.

And the Readers begin the Cherubic Hymn.

 Let all mortal flesh be silent, and stand with fear and trembling, and
meditate nothing earthly within itself:--

 For the King of kings and Lord of lords, Christ our God, comes forward
to be sacrificed, and to be given for food to the faithful; and the
bands of angels go before Him with every power and dominion, the many-
eyed cherubim, and the six-winged seraphim, covering their faces, and
crying aloud the hymn, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia.

The Priest, bringing in the holy gifts,(4) says lids

prayer:--

 XVII. O God, our God, who didst send forth the heavenly bread, the food
of the whole world, our Lord Jesus Christ, to be a Saviour, and
Redeemer, and Benefactor, blessing and sanctifying us, do Thou Thyself
bless this offering, and graciously receive it to Thy altar above the
skies:

 Remember in Thy goodness and love those who have brought it, and those
for whom they have brought it, and preserve us without condemnation in
the service of Thy divine mysteries: for hollowed and glorified is Thy
all-honoured and great name, Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit, now and
ever, and to all eternity.

The Priest.

 Peace be to all.

The Deacon.

 Sir, pronounce the blessing.

The Priest.

 Blessed be God, who blesseth and sanctifieth us all at the presentation
of the divine and pure mysteries, and giveth rest to the blessed souls
among the holy and just, now and always, and

to all eternity.

The Deacon.

 XVIII. Let us attend in wisdom.

The Priest begins.

 I believe in one God, Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and
in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God: and the rest of the Creed.

Then he prays, bowing his neck.

 XIX. God and Sovereign of all, make us, who are unworthy, worthy of
this hour, lover of mankind; that being pure from all deceit and all
hypocrisy, we may be united with one another by the bond of peace and
love, being confirmed by the sanctification of Thy divine knowledge
through Thine only-begotten Son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, with
whom Thou art blessed, together with Thy all-holy, and good, and
quickening Spirit, now and ever, and to all eternity.  Amen.

541

The Deacon.

 XX. Let us stand well, let us stand reverently, let us stand in the
fear of God, and with compunction of heart.  In peace let us pray to the
Lord.

The Priest.

 For God of peace, mercy, love, compassion, and loving-kindness art
Thou, and Thine only-begotten Son, and Thine all-holy Spirit, now and
ever.

The People.

 Amen.

The Priest.

 Peace be to all.

The People.

 And to thy spirit.

The Deacon.

 Let us salute one another with an holy kiss.(1) Let us bow our heads to
the Lord.

The Priest bows, saying this prayer:--

 XXI. Only Lord and merciful God, on those who are bowing their necks
before Thy holy altar, and seeking the spiritual gifts that come from
Thee, send forth Thy good grace; and bless us all with every spiritual
blessing, that cannot be taken from us, Thou, who dwellest on high, and
hast regard unto things that are lowly.

(Aloud.)

 For worthy of praise and worship and most glorious is Thy all-holy
name, Father and Son and Holy Spirit, now and always, and to all
eternity.

The Deacon.

 Sir, pronounce the blessing.

The Priest.

 The Lord will bless us, and minister with us all by His grace and
loving-kindness.

And again.

 The Lord will bless us, and make us worthy to stand at His holy altar,
at all times, now and always, and for ever.

And again.

 Blessed be God, who blesseth and sanctifieth us all in our attendance
upon, and service of, His pure mysteries, now and always, and for ever.

The Deacon makes the Universal Litany.

 XXII. In peace let us pray to the Lord.

The People.

 O Lord, have mercy.

The Deacon.

 Save us, have mercy upon us, pity and keep us, O God, by Thy grace.

 For the peace that is from above, and the loving-kindness of God, and
the salvation of our souls;

 Let us beseech the Lord.

 For the peace of the whole world, and the unity of all the holy
churches of God;

 Let us beseech the Lord.

 For those who bear fruit, and labour honourably in the holy churches of
God; for those who remember the poor, the widows and the orphans, the
strangers and needy ones; and for those who have requested us to mention
them in our prayers;

 Let us beseech the Lord.

 For those who are in old age and infirmity, for the sick and suffering,
and those who are troubled by unclean spirits, for their speedy cure
from God and their salvation;

 Let us beseech the Lord.

 For those who are passing their days in virginity, and celibacy, and
discipline, and for those in holy matrimony; and for the holy fathers
and brethren agonizing in mountains,(2) and dens, and caves of the
earth;

 Let us beseech the Lord.

 For Christians sailing, travelling, living among strangers, and for our
brethren in captivity, in exile, in prison, and in bitter slavery, their
peaceful return;

Let us beseech the Lord.

 For the remission of our sins, and forgiveness of our transgressions,
and for our deliverance from all tribulation, wrath, danger, and
constraint, and uprising against us of enemies;

 Let us beseech the Lord.

 For favourable weather, peaceful showers, beneficent dews, abundance of
fruits, the perfect close of a good season, and for the crown of the
year;

 Let us beseech the Lord.

 For our fathers and brethren present, and praying with us in this holy
hour, and at every season, their zeal, labour, and earnestness;

 Let us beseech the Lord.

542

 For every Christian soul in tribulation and distress, and needing the
mercy and succour of God; for the return of the erring, the health of
the sick, the deliverance of the captives, the rest of the fathers and
brethren that have fallen asleep aforetime;

 Let us beseech the Lord.

 For the hearing and acceptance of our prayer before God, and the
sending down on us His rich mercies and compassion.

 Let us beseech the Lord.(1)

 And for the offered, precious, heavenly, unutterable, pure, glorious,
dread, awful, divine gifts, and the salvation of the priest who stands
by and offers them;

 Let us offer supplication to God the Lord.

The People.

 O Lord, have mercy.

(Thrice.)

Then the Priest makes the sign of the cross on the gifts,(2) and,
standing, speaks separately thus:--

 XXIII. Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will among
men, etc.

(Thrice.)

 Lord, Thou wilt open my lips, and my mouth shall show forth Thy praise.

(Thrice.)

 Let my mouth be filled with Thy praise, O Lord, that I may tell of Thy
glory, of Thy majesty, all the day.

(Thrice.)

 Of the Father.  Amen.  And of the Son.  Amen.  And of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.  Now and always, and to all eternity.  Amen.

And bowing to this side and to that,(3) he says:--

 XXIV. Magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together.

And they answer, bowing:--

 The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall
overshadow thee.(4)

Then the Priest, at great length:--

 O Sovereign Lord, who hast visited us in compassion and mercies, and
bast freely given to us, Thy humble and sinful and unworthy servants,
boldness to stand at Thy holy altar, and to offer to Thee this dread and
bloodless sacrifice for our sins, and for the errors of the people, look
upon me Thy unprofitable servant, and blot out my transgressions for Thy
compassion's sake; and purify my lips and heart from all pollution of
flesh and spirit; and remove from me every shameful and foolish thought,
and fit me by the power of Thy all-holy Spirit for this service; and
receive me graciously by Thy goodness as I draw nigh to Thy altar.

 And be pleased, O Lord, that these gifts brought by our hands may be
acceptable, stooping to my weakness; and cast me not away from Thy
presence, and abhor not my unworthiness; but pity me according to Thy
great mercy, and according to the multitude of Thy mercies pass by my
transgressions, that, having come before Thy glory without condemnation,
I may be counted worthy of the protection of Thy only-begotten Son, and
of the illumination of Thy all-holy Spirit, that I may not be as a slave
of sin cast out, but as Thy servant may find grace and mercy and
forgiveness of sins before Thee, both in the world that now is and in
that which is to come.

 I beseech Thee, Almighty Sovereign, all-powerful Lord, hear my prayer;
for Thou art He who workest all in all, and we all seek in all things
the help and succour that come from Thee and Thy only-begotten Son, and
the good and quickening and consubstantial Spirit, now and ever.

 XXV. O God, who through Thy great and unspeakable love didst send forth
Thy only-begot-ten Son into the world, in order that He might turn back
the lost sheep, turn not away us sinners, laying hold of Thee by this
dread and bloodless sacrifice; for we trust not in our own
righteousness, but in Thy good mercy, by which Thou purchasest our race.

 We entreat and beseech Thy goodness that it may not be for condemnation
to Thy people that this mystery for salvation has been administered by
us, but for remission of sins, for renewal of souls and bodies, for the
well-pleasing of Thee, God and Father, in the mercy and love of Thy only
-begotten Son, with whom Thou art blessed, together with Thy all-holy
and good and quickening Spirit, now and always, and for ever.(5)

 XXVI. O Lord God, who didst create us, and bring us into life, who hast
shown to us ways to salvation, who hast granted to us a revelation of
heavenly mysteries, and hast appointed us to this ministry in the power
of Thy all-holy Spirit, grant, O Sovereign, that we may become servants
of Thy new testament, ministers of Thy pure

543

mysteries, and receive us as we draw near to Thy holy altar, according
to the greatness of Thy mercy, that we may become worthy of offering to
Thee girls and sacrifices for our transgressions and for those of the
people; and grant to us, O Lord, with all fear and a pure conscience to
offer to Thee this spiritual and bloodless sacrifice, and graciously
receiving it unto Thy holy and spiritual altar above the skies for an
odour of a sweet spiritual smell, send down in answer on us the grace of
Thy all-holy Spirit.

 And, O God, look upon us, and have regard to this our reasonable
service, and accept it, as Thou didst accept the gifts of Abel, the
sacrifices of Noah, the priestly offices of Moses and Aaron, the peace-
offerings of Samuel, the repentance of David, the incense of Zacharias.
As Thou didst accept from the hand of Thy apostles this true service, so
accept also in Thy goodness from the hands of us sinners these offered
gifts; and grant that our offering may be acceptable, sanctified by the
Holy Spirit, as a propitiation(1) for our transgressions and the errors
of the people; and for the rest of the souls(2) that have fallen asleep
aforetime; that we also, Thy humble, sinful, and unworthy servants,
being counted worthy without guile to serve Thy holy altar, may receive
the reward of faithful and wise stewards, and may find grace and mercy
in the terrible day of Thy just and good retribution.

Prayer of the veil.(3)

 XXVII. We thank Thee, O Lord our God, that Thou hast given us boldness
for the entrance of Thy holy places, which Thou hast renewed to us as a
new and living way through the veil of the flesh(4) of Thy Christ.  We
therefore, being counted worthy to enter into the place of the
tabernacle of Thy glory, and to be within the veil, and to behold the
Holy of Holies, cast ourselves down before Thy goodness:

 Lord, have mercy on us: since we are full of fear and trembling, when
about to stand at Thy holy altar, and to offer this dread and bloodless
sacrifice for our own sins and for the errors of the people:(5) send
forth, O God, Thy good grace, and sanctify our souls, and bodies, and
spirits; and turn our thoughts to holiness, that with a pure conscience
we may bring to Thee a peace-offering, the sacrifice of praise:

(Aloud.)

 By the mercy and loving-kindness of Thy only-begotten Son, with whom
Thou art blessed, together with Thy all-holy, and good, and quickening
Spirit, now and always:

The People.

 Amen.

The Priest.

 Peace be to all.

The Deacon.

 Let us stand reverently, let us stand in the fear of God, and with
contrition: let us attend to the holy communion service, to offer peace
to God.

The People.

 The offering of peace, the sacrifice of praise.

The Priest.  [A veil is now withdrawn from the oblation of bread and
wine.]

 And, uncovering the veils that darkly invest in symbol(6) this sacred
ceremonial, do Thou reveal it clearly to us: fill our intellectual
vision with absolute light, and having purified our poverty from every
pollution of flesh and spirit, make it worthy of this dread and awful
approach: for Thou art an all-merciful and gracious God, and we send up
the praise and the.  thanksgiving to Thee, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
now, and always, and for ever.

III.

THE ANAPHORA.

Then he says aloud:--

 XXVIII. The love of the Lord and Father, the grace of the Lord and Son,
and the fellowship and the gift of the Holy Spirit, be with us all.

The People.

 And with thy spirit.

The Priest.

 Let us lift up our minds and our hearts.(7)

The People.

 It is becoming and right.

Then the Priest prays.

 Verily it is becoming and right, proper and due to praise Thee, to sing
of Thee, to bless Thee, to worship Thee, to glorify Thee, to give Thee
thanks, Maker of every creature visible and invisible, the treasure of
eternal good things, the fountain of life and immortality, God and Lord
of all:

 Whom the heavens of heavens praise, and all the host of them; the sun,
and the moon, and all the choir of the stars; earth, sea, and all that
is in them; Jerusalem, the heavenly assembly,

544

and church of the first-born that are written in heaven; spirits of just
men and of prophets; souls of martyrs and of apostles; angels,
archangels, thrones, dominions, principalities, and authorities, and
dread powers; and the many-eyed cherubim, and the six-winged seraphim,
which cover their faces with two wings, their feet with two, and with
two they fly, crying one to another with unresting lips, with unceasing
praises:

(Aloud.)

 With loud voice singing the victorious hymn of Thy majestic glory,
crying aloud, praising, shouting, and saying:--

The People.

 Holy, holy, holy, O Lord of Sabaoth, the heaven and the earth are full
of Thy glory.  Hosanna in the highest; blessed is He that cometh in the
name of the Lord.  Hosanna in the highest.(1)

The Priest, making the sign of the cross(2) on the

gifts, says:--

 XXIX. Holy art Thou, King of eternity, and Lord and giver of all
holiness; holy also Thy only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, by
whom Thou hast made all things; holy also Thy Holy Spirit, which
searches all things, even Thy deep things, O God: holy art Thou,
almighty, all-powerful, good, dread, merciful, most compassionate to Thy
creatures; who didst make man from earth after Thine own image and
likeness; who didst give him the joy of paradise; and when he
transgressed Thy commandment,

and fell away, didst not disregard nor desert him, O Good One, but didst
chasten him as at merciful father, call him by the law, instruct him by
the prophets; and afterwards didst send forth Thine only-begotten Son
Himself, our Lord Jesus Christ, into the world, that He by His coming
might renew and restore Thy image;

 Who, having descended from heaven, and become flesh of the Holy Spirit
and Virgin Godmother(3) Mary, and having sojourned among men, fulfilled
the dispensation for the salvation of our race; and being about to
endure His voluntary and life-giving death by the cross, He the sinless
for us the sinners, in the night in which He was betrayed, nay, rather
delivered Himself up for the life and salvation of the world,

Then the Priest holds the bread in his hand, and

says:--

 XXX. Having taken the bread in His holy and pure and blameless and
immortal hands, lifting up His eyes to heaven, and showing it to Thee,
His God and Father, He gave thanks, and hallowed, and brake, and gave it
to us,(4) His disciples and apostles, saying:--

The Deacons say:(5)--

 For the remission of sins and life everlasting.

Then he says aloud:--

 Take, eat: this is my body, broken for you, and given for remission of
sins.

The People.

 Amen.

Then he takes the cup, and says:--

 In like manner, after supper, He took the cup, and having mixed wine
and water, lifting up His eyes to heaven, and presenting it to Thee, His
God and Father, He gave thanks, and hollowed and blessed it, and filled
it with the Holy Spirit, and gave it to us His disciples, saying, Drink
ye all of it; this is my blood of the new testament shed for you and
many, and distributed for the remission of sins.

The People.

 Amen.

The Priest.

 This do in remembrance of me; for as often as ye eat this bread, and
drink this cup, ye do show forth the Lord's death, and confess His
resurrection, till He come.

The Deacons say:--

 We believe and confess:

The People.

 We show forth Thy death, O Lord, and confess Thy resurrection.

The Priest (Oblation).

 XXXI. Remembering, therefore, His life-giving sufferings, His saving
cross, His death and His burial, and resurrection from the dead on the
third day, and His ascension into heaven, and sitting at the right hand
of Thee, our God and Father, and His second glorious and awful
appearing, when He shall come with glory to judge the quick and the
dead, and render to every one according to His works; even we, sinful
men, offer unto Thee, O Lord, this dread and bloodless sacrifice,
praying that Thou wilt not deal with us after our sins, nor reward us
according to our iniquities;

 But that Thou, according to Thy mercy and

545

Thy unspeakable loving-kindness, passing by and blotting out the
handwriting against us Thy suppliants, wilt grant to us Thy heavenly and
eternal gifts (which eye hath not seen, and ear hath not heard, and
which have not entered into the heart of man(1)) that thou hast
prepared, O God, for those who love Thee; and reject not, O loving Lord,
the people for my sake, or for my sin's sake:

Then he says, thrice:--

 For Thy people and Thy Church supplicate Thee.

The People.

 Have mercy on us, O Lord our God, Father Almighty.

Again the Priest says (Invocation):--

 XXXII. Have mercy upon us, O God Almighty.  Have mercy upon us, O God
our Saviour.  Have mercy upon us, O God, according to Thy great mercy,
and send forth on us, and on these offered gifts, Thy all-holy Spirit.

Then, bowing his neck, he says:--

 The sovereign and quickening Spirit, that sits upon the throne with
Thee, our God and Father, and with Thy only-begotten Son, reigning with
Thee; the consubstantial(2) and co-eternal; that spoke in the law and in
the prophets, and in Thy New Testament; that descended in the form of a
dove on our Lord Jesus Christ at the river Jordan, and abode on Him;
that descended on Thy apostles in the form of tongues of fire in the
upper room of the holy and glorious Zion on the day of Pentecost: this
Thine all-holy Spirit, send down, O Lord, upon us, and upon these
offered holy gifts;

And rising up, he says aloud:--

 That coming, by His holy and good and glorious appearing, He may
sanctify this bread, and make it the holy body of Thy Christ.(3)

The People.

 Amen.

The Priest.

 And this cup the precious blood of Thy Christ.

The People.

 Amen.

The Priest by himself standing.

 XXXIII. That they may be to all that partake of them for remission of
sins, and for life everlasting, for the sanctification of souls and of
bodies, for bearing the fruit of good works, for the stablishing of Thy
Holy Catholic Church, which Thou hast founded on the Rock of Faith,(4)
that the gates of hell may not prevail against it; delivering it from
all heresy and scandals, and from those who work iniquity, keeping it
till the fulness of the time.

And having bowed, he says:--

 XXXIV. We present them to Thee also, O Lord, for the holy places, which
Thou hast glorified by the divine appearing of Thy Christ, and by the
visitation of Thy all-holy Spirit; especially for the glorious Zion, the
mother of all the churches;(5) and for Thy Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic
Church throughout the world: even now, O Lord, bestow upon her the rich
gifts of Thy all-holy Spirit.

 Remember also, O Lord, our holy fathers and brethren in it, and the
bishops in all the world, who rightly divide the word of Thy truth.

 Remember also, O Lord, every city and country, and those of the true
faith dwelling in them, their peace and security.

 Remember, O Lord, Christians sailing, travelling, sojourning in strange
lands; our fathers and brethren, who are in bonds, prison, captivity,
and exile; who are in mines, and under torture, and in bitter slavery.

 Remember, O Lord, the sick and afflicted, and those troubled by unclean
spirits, their speedy healing from Thee, O God, and their salvation.

 Remember, O Lord, every Christian soul in affliction and distress,
needing Thy mercy and succour, O God; and the return of the erring.

 Remember, O Lord, our fathers and brethren, toiling hard, and
ministering unto us, for Thy holy name's sake.

 Remember all, O Lord, for good: have mercy on all, O Lord, be
reconciled to us all: give peace to the multitudes of Thy people: put
away scandals: bring wars to an end: make the uprising of heresies to
cease: grant Thy peace and Thy love to us, O God our Saviour, the hope
of all the ends of the earth.

 Remember, O Lord, favourable weather, peaceful showers, beneficent
dews, abundance of fruits, and to crown the year with Thy goodness; for
the eyes of all wait on Thee, and Thou givest their food in due season:
thou openest Thy hand, and fillest every living thing with gladness.

 Remember, O Lord, those who bear fruit, and labour honourably in the
holy(6) of Thy Church;

546

and those who forget not the poor, the widows, the orphans, the
strangers, and the needy; and all who have desired us to remember them
in

our prayers.

 Moreover, O Lord, be pleased to remember those who have brought these
offerings this day to Thy holy altar, and for what each one has brought
them or with what mind, and those persons who have just now been
mentioned to Thee.

 Remember, O Lord, according to the multitude of Thy mercy and
compassion, me also, Thy humble and unprofitable servant; and the
deacons who surround Thy holy altar, and graciously give them a
blameless life, keep their ministry undefiled, and purchase for them a
good degree, that we may find mercy and grace, with all the saints that
have been well pleasing to Thee since the world began, to generation and
generation--grandsires, sires, patriarchs, prophets, apostles, martyrs,
confessors, teachers, saints, and every just spirit made perfect in the
faith of Thy Christ.

 XXXV.(1) Hail, Mary, highly favoured: the Lord is with Thee; blessed
art thou among women, and blessed the fruit of thy womb, for thou didst
bear the Saviour of our souls.(2)

The Deacons.

 XXXVI. Remember us, O Lord God.

The Priest, bowing, says:--

 Remember, O Lord God, the spirits and all flesh, of whom we have made
mention, and of whom we have not made mention, who are of the true
faith, from righteous Abel unto this day: unto them do Thou give rest
there in the land of the living, in Thy kingdom, in the joy of paradise,
in the bosom of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, our holy fathers;
whence pain, and grief, and lamentation have fled: there the light of
Thy countenance looks upon them, and enlightens them for ever.(3)

 Make the end of our lives Christian, acceptable, blameless, and
peaceful, O Lord, gathering us together, O Lord, under the feet of Thine
elect, when Thou wilt, and as Thou wilt; only without shame and
transgressions, through Thy only-begotten Son, our Lord and God and
Saviour Jesus Christ: for He is the only sinless one who hath appeared
on the earth.

The Deacon.

 And let us pray:--

 For the peace and establishing of the whole world, and of the holy
churches of God, and for the purposes for which each one made his
offering, or according to the desire he has: and for the people standing
round, and for all men, and all women:

The People.

 And for all men and all women.  (Amen.)

The Priest says aloud:--

 Wherefore, both to them and to us, do Thou in Thy goodness and love:

The People.

 Forgive, remit, pardon, O God, our transgressions, voluntary and
involuntary: in deed and in word: in knowledge and in ignorance: by
night and by day: in thought and intent: in Thy goodness and love,
forgive us them all.

The Priest.

 Through the grace and compassion and love of Thy only-begotten Son,
with whom Thou art blessed and glorified, together with the all-holy,
and good, and quickening Spirit, now and ever, and to all eternity.

The People.

 Amen.

The Priest.

 XXXVII. Peace be to all:

The People.

 And to thy spirit.

The Deacon.

 Again, and continually, in peace let us pray to the Lord.

 For the gifts to the Lord God presented and sanctified, precious,
heavenly, unspeakable, pure, glorious, dread, awful, divine;

 Let us pray.

 That the Lord our God, having graciously received them to His altar
that is holy and above the heavens, rational and spiritual, for the
odour of a sweet spiritual savour, may send down in answer upon us the
divine grace and the gift of the all-holy Spirit;

 Let us pray.

547

 Having prayed for the unity of the faith, and the communion of His all-
holy and adorable Spirit;

 Let us commend ourselves and one another, and our whole life, to Christ
our God:

The People.

 Amen.

The Priest prays.

 XXXVIII. God and Father of our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ,
the glorious Lord, the blessed essence, the bounteous goodness, the God
and Sovereign of all, who art blessed to all eternity, who sittest upon
the cherubim, and art glorified by the seraphim, before whom stand
thousand thousands and ten thousand times ten thousand hosts of angels
and archangels: Thou hast accepted the gifts, offerings, and fruits
brought unto Thee as an odour of a sweet spiritual smell, and hast been
pleased to sanctify them, and make them perfect, O good One, by the
grace of Thy Christ, and by the presence of Thy all-holy Spirit.

 Sanctify also, O Lord, our souls, and bodies, and spirits, and touch
our understandings, and search our consciences, and cast out from us
every evil imagination, every impure feeling, every base desire, every
unbecoming thought, all envy, and vanity, and hypocrisy, all lying, all
deceit, every worldly affection, all covetousness, all vainglory, all
indifference, all vice, all passion, all anger, all malice, all
blasphemy, every motion of the flesh and spirit that is not in
accordance with Thy holy will:

(Aloud.)

 And count us worthy, O loving Lord, with boldness, without
condemnation, in a pure heart, with a contrite spirit, with unshamed
face, with sanctified lips, to dare to call upon Thee, the holy God,
Father in heaven, and to say,

The People.

 Our Father, which art in heaven: hollowed be Thy name; and so on to the
doxology.

The Priest, bowing, says (the Embolism(1)):--

 And lead us not into temptation, Lord, Lord of Hosts, who knowest our
frailty, but deliver us from the evil one and his works, and from all
his malice and craftiness, for the sake of Thy holy name, which has been
placed upon our humility:

(Aloud.)

 For Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit, now and for ever.

The People.

 Amen.

The Priest.

 XXXIX. Peace be to all.

The People.

 And to thy spirit.

The Deacon.

 Let us bow our heads to the Lord.

The People.

 To Thee, O Lord.

The Priest prays, speaking thus:--

 To Thee, O Lord, we Thy servants have bowed our heads before Thy holy
altar, waiting for the rich mercies that are from Thee.

 Send forth upon us, O Lord, Thy plenteous grace and Thy blessing; and
sanctify our souls, bodies, and spirits, that we may become worthy
communicants and partakers of Thy holy mysteries, to the forgiveness of
sins and life everlasting:

(Aloud.)

 For adorable and glorified art Thou, our God, and Thy only-begotten
Son, and Thy all-holy Spirit, now and ever.

The People.

 Amen.

The Priest says aloud:--

 And the grace and the mercies of the holy and consubstantial, and
uncreated, and adorable Trinity, shall be with us all.(2)

The People.

 And with thy spirit.

The Deacon.

 In the fear of God, let us attend.

The Priest says secretly:(3)--

 O holy Lord, that abidest in holy places, sanctify us by the word of
Thy grace, and by the visitation of Thy all-holy Spirit: for Thou, O
Lord, hast said, Ye will be holy, for I am holy.  O Lord our God,
incomprehensible Word of God, one in substance with the Father and the
Holy Spirit, co-eternal and indivisible, accept the pure hymn, in Thy
holy and bloodless sacrifices; with the cherubim, and seraphim, and from
me, a sinful man, crying and saying:--

He takes up the gifts and saith aloud:--

 XL. The holy things unto holy.

548

The People.

 One only is holy, one Lord Jesus Christ, to the glory of God the
Father, to whom be glory to all eternity.

The Deacon.

 XLI. For the remission of our sins, and the propitiation of our souls,
and for every soul in tribulation and distress, needing the mercy and
succour of God, and for the return of the erring, the healing of the
sick, the deliverance of the captives, the rest of our fathers and
brethren who have fallen asleep aforetime;

 Let us all say fervently, Lord, have mercy:

The People (twelve times).

 Lord, have mercy.(1)

Then the Priest breaks the bread, and holds the half in his right hand,
and the half in his left, and dips that in his right hand in the
chalice, saying:--

 The union of the all-holy body and precious blood of our Lord and God
and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

Then he makes the sign of the cross on that in his left hand: then with
that which has been signed the other half: then forthwith he begins to
divide, and before all to give to each chalice a single piece, saying:--

 It has been made one, and sanctified, and perfected, in the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, now and ever.

And when he makes the sign of the cross on the bread, he says:--

 Behold the Lamb of God, the Son of the Father, that taketh away the sin
of the world, sacrificed for the life and salvation of the world.

And when he gives a single piece to each chalice he says:--

 A holy portion of Christ, full of grace and truth, of the Father, and
of the Holy Spirit, to whom be the glory and the power to all eternity.

Then he begins to divide, and to say:--

 XLII. The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.  In green pastures,
and so on.(2)

Then,

 I will bless the Lord at all times, and so an.(3)

Then,

 I will extol Thee, my God, O King, and so on.(4)

Then,

 O praise the Lord, all ye nations, and so on.(5)

The Deacon.

 Sir, pronounce the blessing.

The Priest.

 The Lord will bless us, and keep us without condemnation for the
communion of His pure gifts, now and always, and for ever.

And when they have filled,(6) the Deacon says:--

 Sir, pronounce the blessing.

The Priest says:--

 The Lord will bless us, and make us worthy with the pure touchings of
our fingers to take the live coal, and place it upon the mouths of the
faithful for the purification and renewal of their souls and bodies, now
and always.

Then,

 O taste and see that the Lord is good; who is parted and not divided;
distributed to the faithful and not expended; for the remission of sins,
and the life everlasting; now and always, and for ever.

The Deacon.

 In the peace of Christ, let us sing:

The Singers.

 O taste and see that the Lord is good.

The Priest says the prayer before the communion.

 O Lord our God, the heavenly bread, the life of the universe, I have
sinned against Heaven, and before Thee, and am not worthy to partake of
Thy pure mysteries; but as a merciful God, make me worthy by Thy grace,
without condemnation to partake of Thy holy body and precious blood, for
the remission of sins, and life everlasting.(7)

 XLIII. Then he distributes to the clergy; and when the deacons take the
disks(8) and the chalices for distribution to the people, the Deacon,
who takes the first disk, says:--

 Sir, pronounce the blessing.

The Priest replies:--

 Glory to God who has sanctified and is sanctifying us all.

The Deacon says:--

 Be Thou exalted, O God, over the heavens, and Thy glory over all the
earth, and Thy kingdom endureth to all eternity.(9)

549

And when the Deacon is about to put it on the side-table(1) the Priest
says:--

 Blessed be the name of the Lord our God for ever.

The Deacon.

 In the fear of God, and in faith and love, draw nigh.

The People.

 Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord.(2)

And again, when he sets down the disk upon the side-table, he says:--

 Sir, pronounce the blessing.

The Priest.

 Save Thy people, O God, and bless Thine inheritance.

The Priest again.(3)

 Glory to our God, who has sanctified us all.

And when he has put the chalice back an the holy table, the Priest says:
--

 Blessed be the name of the Lord to all eternity.

The Deacons and the People say:--

 Fill our mouths with Thy praise, O Lord, and fill our lips with joy,
that we may sing of Thy glory, of Thy greatness all the day.

And again:--

 We render thanks to Thee, Christ our God, that Thou hast made us worthy
to partake of Thy body and blood, for the remission of sins, and for
life everlasting.  Do Thou, in Thy goodness and love, keep us, we pray
Thee, without condemnation.

The prayer of incense at the last entrance.

 XLIV. We render thanks to Thee, the Saviour and God of all, for all the
good things Thou hast given us, and for the participation of Thy holy
and pure mysteries, and we offer to Thee this incense, praying: Keep us
under the shadow of Thy wings, and count us worthy till our last breath
to partake of Thy holy rites for the sanctification of our souls and
bodies, for the inheritance of the kingdom of heaven: for Thou, O God,
art our sanctification, and we send up praise and thanksgiving to Thee,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

The Deacon begins in the entrance.

 Glory to Thee, glory to Thee, glory to Thee, O Christ the King, only-
begotten Word of the Father, that Thou hast counted us, Thy sinful and
unworthy servants, worthy to enjoy thy pure mysteries for the remission
of sins, and for life everlasting: glory to Thee.(4)

And when he has made the entrance, the Deacon begins to speak thus:--

 XLV. Again and again, and at all times, in peace, let us beseech the
Lord.

 That the participation of His Holy rites may be to us for the turning
away from every wicked thing, for our support on the journey to life
everlasting, for the communion and gift of the Holy Spirit;

 Let us pray.

The Priest prays.

 Commemorating our all-holy, pure, most glorious, blessed Lady, the God-
Mother and Ever-Virgin Mary,(5) and all the saints that have been well-
pleasing to Thee since the world began, let us devote ourselves, and one
another, and our whole life, to Christ our God:

The People.

 To Thee, O Lord.

The Priest.

 XLVI. O God, who through Thy great and unspeakable love didst
condescend to the weakness of Thy servants, and hast counted us worthy
to partake of this heavenly table, condemn not us sinners for the
participation of Thy pure mysteries; but keep us, O good One, in the
sanctification of Thy Holy Spirit, that being made holy, we may find
part and inheritance with all Thy saints that have been well-pleasing to
Thee since the world began, in the light of Thy countenance, through the
mercy of Thy only-begotten Son, our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus
Christ, with whom Thou art blessed, together with Thy all-holy, and
good, and quickening Spirit: for blessed and glorified is Thy all-
precious and glorious name, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now and ever,
and to all eternity.

The People.

 Amen.

The Priest.

 Peace be to all.

The People.

 And to thy spirit.

The Deacon.

 XLVII. Let us bow our heads to the Lord.

The Priest.

 O God, great and marvellous, look upon Thy servants, for we have bowed
our heads to Thee.  Stretch forth Thy hand, strong and full of bless-

550

ings, and bless Thy people.  Keep Thine inheritance, that always and at
all times we may glorify Thee, our only living and true God, the holy
and consubstantial(1) Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, now and
ever, and to all eternity.

(Aloud.)

 For unto Thee is becoming and is due praise from us all, and honour,
and adoration, and thanksgiving, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now and
ever.

The Deacon.

 XLVIII. In the peace of Christ let us sing:

And again he says:--

 In the peace of Christ let us go on:

The People.

 In the name of the Lord.  Sir, pronounce the blessing.(2)

Dismission prayer, spoken by the Deacon.

 Going on from glory to glory, we praise Thee, the Saviour of our souls.
Glory to Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit now and ever, and to all
eternity.  We praise Thee, the Saviour of our souls.

The Priest says a prayer from the altar to the

sacristy.

 XLIX. Going on from strength to strength, and having fulfilled all the
divine service in Thy temple, even now we beseech Thee, O Lord our God,
make us worthy of perfect loving-kindness; make straight our path: root
us in Thy fear, and make us worthy of the heavenly kingdom, in Christ
Jesus our Lord, with whom Thou art blessed, together with Thy all-holy,
and good, and quickening Spirit, now and always, and for ever.

The Deacon.

 L. Again and again, and at all times, in peace let us beseech the Lord.

Prayer said in the sacristy after the dismissal.

 Thou hast given unto us, O Lord, sanctification in the communion of the
all-holy body and precious blood of Thy only-begotten Son, our Lord
Jesus Christ; give unto us also the grace of Thy good Spirit, and keep
us blameless in the faith, lead us unto perfect adoption and redemption,
and to the coming joys of eternity; for Thou art our sanctification and
light, O God, and Thy only-begotten Son, and Thy all-holy Spirit, now
and ever, and to all eternity.  Amen.

The Deacon.

 In the peace of Christ let us keep watch.

The Priest.

 Blessed is God, who blesseth and sanctifieth through the communion of
the holy, and quickening, and pure mysteries, now and ever, and to all
eternity.  Amen.

Then the prayer of propitiation.

 O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, Lamb and Shepherd, who
takest away the sin of the world, who didst freely forgive their debt to
the two debtors, and gavest remission of her sins to the woman that was
a sinner, who gavest healing to the paralytic, with the remission of his
sins; forgive, remit, pardon, O God, our offences, voluntary and
involuntary, in knowledge and in ignorance, by transgression and by
disobedience, which Thy all-holy Spirit knows better than Thy servants
do:

 And if men, carnal and dwelling in this world, have in aught erred from
Thy commandments, either moved by the devil, whether in word or in deed,
or if they have come under a curse, or by reason of some special vow, I
entreat and beseech Thy unspeakable loving-kindness, that they may be
set free from their word, and released from the oath and the special
vow, according to Thy goodness.

 Verily, O Sovereign Lord, hear my supplication on behalf of Thy
servants, and do Thou pass by all their errors, remembering them no
more; forgive them every transgression, voluntary and involuntary;
deliver them from everlasting punishment: for Thou art He that hast
commanded us, saying, Whatsoever things ye bind upon earth, shall be
bound in heaven; and whatsoever things ye loose upon earth, shall be
loosed in heaven: for, thou art our God, a God able to pity, and to save
and to forgive sins; and glory is due unto Thee, with the eternal
Father, and the quickening Spirit, now and ever, and to all eternity.
Amen.

551

THE DIVINE LITURGY OF THE HOLY APOSTLE AND EVANGELIST MARK,(1)

THE DISCIPLE OF THE HOLY PETER.(2)

The Priest.

 1.  Peace be to all.

The People.

 And to thy spirit.

The Deacon.

 Pray.

The People.

 Lord, have mercy; Lord, have mercy; Lord, have mercy.

The Priest prays secretly.(3)

 We give Thee thanks, yea, more than thanks, O Lord our God, the Father
of our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ, for all Thy goodness at
all times and in all places, because Thou hast shielded, rescued,
helped, and guided us all the days of our lives, and brought us unto
this hour, permitting us gain to stand before Thee in Thy holy place,
that we may implore forgiveness of our sins and propitiation to all Thy
people.  We pray and beseech Thee, merciful God, to grant in Thy
goodness that we may spend this holy day(4) and all the time of our
lives without sin, in fulness of joy, health, safety, holiness, and
reverence of Thee.  But all envy, all fear, all temptation, all the
influence of Satan, all the snares of wicked men, do Thou, O Lord, drive
away from us, and from Thy Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.  Bestow
upon us, O Lord, what is good and meet.  Whatever sin we commit in
thought, word, or deed, do Thou in Thy goodness and mercy be pleased to
pardon.  Leave us not, O Lord, while we hope in Thee; nor lead us into
temptation, but deliver us from the evil one and from his works, through
the grace, mercy, and love of Thine only-begotten Son.

(In a loud voice.)

 Through whom and with whom be glory and power to Thee, in Thy most
holy, good, and life-giving Spirit, now, henceforth, and for evermore.

The People.

 Amen.

The Priest.

 II. Peace be to all.

The People.

 And to thy spirit.

The Deacon.

 Pray for the king.(5)

The People.

 Lord, have mercy;(6) Lord, have mercy; Lord, have mercy.

The Priest prays.

 O God, Sovereign Lord, the Father of our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus
Christ, we pray and beseech Thee to grant that our king may enjoy peace,
and be just and brave.  Subdue under him, O God, all his adversaries and
enemies.  Gird on thy shield and armour, and rise to his aid.  Give him
the victory, O God, that his heart may be set on peace and the praise of
Thy holy name, that we too(7) in his peaceful reign(8) may spend a calm
and tranquil life in all reverence and godly fear, through the grace,
mercy, and love of Thine only-begotten Son:

(In a loud voice.)

 Through whom and with whom be glory and power to Thee, with Thy most
holy, good, and life-giving Spirit, now, henceforth, and for evermore.

The People.

 Amen.

The Priest.

 III. Peace be to all.

The People.

 And to thy spirit.

The Deacon.

 Pray for the papas(9) and the bishop.

The People.

 Lord, have mercy; Lord, have mercy; Lord, have mercy.

552

The Priest.

 O Sovereign and Almighty God, the Father of our Lord, God, and Saviour
Jesus Christ, we pray and beseech Thee to defend in Thy good mercy our
most holy and blessed high priest our Father in God <greek>D</greek>,
and our most reverend Bishop <greek>D</greek>. Preserve them for us
through many years in peace, while they according to Thy holy and
blessed will fulfil the sacred priesthood committed to their care, and
dispense aright the word of truth; with all the orthodox bishops,
elders, deacons, sub-deacons, readers, singers, and laity, with the
entire body of the Holy and only Catholic Church.  Graciously bestow
upon them peace, health, and salvation.  The prayers they offer up for
us, and we for them, do Thou, O Lord, receive at Thy holy, heavenly, and
reasonable altar.  But all the enemies of Thy Holy Church put Thou
speedily under their feet, through the grace, mercy, and love of Thine
only-begotten Son:

(Aloud.)

 Through whom and with whom be glory and power to Thee, with Thy all-
holy, good, and life-giving Spirit, now, henceforth, and for evermore.

The People.

 Amen.

The Priest.

 IV. Peace be to all.

The People.

 And to thy spirit.

The Deacon.

 Stand(1) and pray.

The People.

 Lord have mercy (thrice).

The Priest offers up the prayer of entrance,(2) and

for incense.

The Priest.

 O Sovereign Lord our God, who hast chosen the lamp of the twelve
apostles with its twelve lights, and hast sent them forth to proclaim
throughout the whole world and teach the Gospel of Thy kingdom, and to
heal sickness and every weakness among the people, and hast breathed
upon their faces and said unto them, Receive the Holy Spirit the
Comforter: whose-soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and
whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained: Breathe also Thy Holy
Spirit upon us Thy servants, who, standing around, are about to enter on
Thy holy service,(3) upon the bishops, elders, deacons, readers,
singers, and laity, with the entire body of the Holy Catholic and
Apostolic Church.

 From the curse and execration, from condemnation, imprisonment, and
banishment, and from the portion of the adversary; O Lord, deliver us.

 Purify our lives and cleanse our hearts from all pollution and from all
wickedness, that with pure heart and conscience we may offer to Thee
this incense for a sweet-smelling savour, and for the remission of our
sins and the sins of all Thy people, through the grace, mercy, and love
of Thine only-begotten Son:

(Aloud.)

 Through whom and with whom be the glory and the power to Thee, with Thy
all-holy, good, and life-giving Spirit, now, henceforth, and for
evermore.

The People.

 Amen.

The Deacon.

 v.  Stand.

They sing:--

 Only-begotten Son and Word,(4) etc.

The Gospel is carried in, and the Deacon says:--

 Let us pray.

The Priest.

 Peace be to all.

The People.

 And to thy spirit.

The Deacon.

 Let us pray.

The People.

 Lord, have mercy.

The Priest says the prayer of the Trisagion.

 O Sovereign Lord Christ Jesus, the co-eternal Word of the eternal
Father, who wast made in all things like as we are, but without sin, for
the salvation of our race; who hast sent forth Thy holy disciples and
apostles to proclaim and teach the Gospel of Thy kingdom, and to heal
all disease, all sickness among Thy people, be pleased now, O Lord, to
send forth Thy light and Thy truth.  Enlighten the eyes of our minds,
that we may understand Thy divine oracles.  Fit us to become hearers,
and not only hearers, but doers of Thy word, that we, becoming fruitful,
and yielding good fruit from thirty to an hundred fold, may be deemed
worthy of the kingdom of heaven.

553

(Aloud.)

 Let Thy mercy speedily overtake us, O Lord.  For Thou art the bringer
of good tidings, the Saviour and Guardian of our souls and bodies and we
offer glory, thanks, and the Trisagion to Thee, the Father, Son, and
Holy Ghost, now, henceforth, and for evermore.

The People.

 Amen.  Holy God, holy mighty, holy immortal.  Holy, holy, holy,(1) etc.

 VI. After the Trisagion the Priest makes the sign of the cross over the
people, and says:--Peace be to all.

The People.

 And to thy spirit.

Then follow the Let us attend;(2) The Apostle and Prologue of the
Hallelujah.(3) The Deacons, after a prescribed form, say:--Lord, bless
us.(4)

The Priest says:--

 May the Lord(5) in His mercy bless and help us, now, henceforth, and
for evermore.

The Priest, before the Gospel is read, offers

incense,(6) and says:--

 Accept at Thy holy, heavenly, and reasonable altar, O Lord, the incense
we offer in presence of Thy sacred glory.  Send down upon us in return
the grace of Thy Holy Spirit, for Thou art blessed, and let Thy glory
encircle us.

VII. The Deacon, when he is about to read the Gospel, says:--

 Lord, bless us.

The Priest.

 May the Lord, who is the blessed God, bless and strengthen us, and make
us hearers of His holy Gospel, now, henceforth, and for evermore.

Amen.

The Deacon.

 Stand and let us hear the holy Gospel.

The Priest.

 Peace be to all.

The People.

 And to thy spirit.

VIII. The Deacon reads the Gospel, and the Priest says the prayer of the
Collect.(7)

 Look down in mercy and compassion, O Lord, and heal the sick among Thy
people.

 May all our brethren who have gone or who are about to go abroad,
safely reach their destination in due season.

 Send down the gracious rain upon the thirsty lands, and make the
rivers(8) flow in full stream, according to Thy grace.

 The fruits of the land do Thou, O Lord, fill with seed and make ripe
for the harvest.

 In peace, courage, justice, and tranquillity preserve the kingdom of
Thy servant, whom Thou hast deemed worthy to reign over this land.

 From evil days, from famine and pestilence, from the assault of
barbarians, defend, O Lord, this Christ-loving city, lowly and worthy of
Thy compassion, as Thou didst spare Nineveh of old.

 For Thou art full of mercy and compassion, and rememberest not the
iniquities of men against them.

 Thou hast said through Thy prophet Isaiah,--I will defend this city, to
save it for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake.

 Wherefore we pray and beseech Thee to defend in Thy good mercy this
city, for the sake of the martyr and evangelist Mark, who has shown us
the way of salvation through the grace, mercy, and love of Thine only-
begotten Son.

(Aloud.)

 Through whom and with whom be glory and power to Thee, with Thy all-
holy, good, and life-giving Spirit.

The Deacon.

 IX. Begin.

Then they say the verse.(9) The Deacon says--

The three.(10)

The Priest.

 O Sovereign and Almighty God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we
pray and beseech Thee to fill our hearts with the peace of heaven, and
to bestow moreover the peace of this life.  Preserve for us through many
years our most holy and blessed Papas <greek>D</greek>,(11) and our most
pious Bishop <greek>D</greek>, while they, according to Thy holy and
blessed will, peacefully fulfil the holy priesthood committed to their
care, and dispense aright the word of truth, with all the orthodox
bishops, elders, deacons, sub-deacons,(12) readers, singers, with the
entire body of the holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.  Bless our
meetings, O Lord.

554

Grant that we may hold them without let or hindrance, according to Thy
holy will.  Be pleased to give to us, and Thy servants after us for
ever, houses of praise and prayer.  Rise, O Lord, and let Thine enemies
be scattered.  Let all who hate Thy holy name be put to flight.  Bless
Thy faithful and orthodox people.  Multiply them by thousands and tens
of thousands.

 Let no deadly sin prevail against them, or against Thy holy people,
through the grace, mercy, and love of Thine only-begotten Son.

(Aloud.)

 Through whom and with whom be glory and power to Thee, with Thy all-
holy, good, and life-giving Spirit.

The People.

Amen.

The Priest.

 Peace be to all.

The People.

 And to thy spirit.

The Deacon.

 Take care that none of the catechumens(1)--

II.

Then they sing the Cherubic hymn.(2)

 X. The Priest offers incense at the entrance,(3) and prays:--

 O Lord our God, who lackest nothing, accept this incense offered by an
unworthy hand, and deem us all worthy of Thy blessing, for Thou art our
sanctification, and we ascribe glory to Thee.

The holy things are carried to the altar, and the

Priest prays thus:--

 O holy, highest, awe-inspiring God, who dwellest among the saints,
sanctify us, and deem us worthy of Thy reverend priesthood.  Bring us to
Thy precious altar with a good conscience, and cleanse our hearts from
all pollution.  Drive away from us all unholy thoughts, and sanctify our
souls and minds.  Grant that, with reverence of Thee, we may perform the
service of our holy fathers, and propitiate Thy presence through all
time; for Thou art He who blesseth and sanctifieth all things, and to
Thee we ascribe glory and thanks.

The Deacon.

 XI. Salute one another.

The Priest says the prayer of salutation.

 O Sovereign and Almighty Lord, look down from heaven on Thy Church, on
all Thy people, and on all Thy flock.  Save us all, Thy unworthy
servants, the sheep of Thy fold.  Give us Thy peace, Thy help, and Thy
love, and send to us the gift of Thy Holy Spirit, that with a pure heart
and a good conscience we may salute one another with an holy kiss,
without hypocrisy, and with no hostile purpose, but guileless and pure
in one spirit, in the bond of peace and love, one body and one spirit,
in one faith, even as we have been called in one hope of our calling,
that we may all meet in the divine and boundless love, in Christ Jesus
our Lord, with whom Thou art blessed.

Then the Priest offers the incense, and says:--

 The incense is offered to Thy name.  Let it ascend, we implore Thee,
from the hands of Thy poor and sinful servants to Thy heavenly altar for
a sweet-smelling savour, and the propitiation of all Thy people.  For
all glory, honour, adoration, and thanks are due unto Thee, the Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost, now, henceforth, and for evermore.  Amen.

After the Salutation,(4) the Deacon in a loud voice

says:--

 XII. Stand and make the offering duly.(5)

The Priest, making the sign of the cross over the disks and chalices,
says in a loud voice (the Nicene Creed):--

 I believe in one God, etc.

The Deacon.

 Stand for prayer.

The Priest.

 Peace be to all.

The Deacon.

 Pray for those who present the offering.

The Priest says the prayer of the Oblation.(6)

 O Sovereign Lord, Christ Jesus the Word, who art equal in power with
the Father and the Holy Spirit, the great high priest; the bread that
came down from heaven, and saved our souls from ruin; who gavest
Thyself, a spotless Lamb, for the life of the world ...

 We pray and beseech Thee, O Lord, in Thy mercy, to let Thy presence
rest upon this bread and these chalices(7) on the all-holy table, while
angels, archangels, and Thy holy priests stand round and minister for
Thy glory and the renewing of our souls, through the grace, mercy, and
love of Thine only-begotten Son, through

555

whom and with whom be glory and power to Thee.

And when the People say,

 And from the Holy Spirit was He made flesh;

The Priest makes the sign of the cross,(1) and

says:--

 And was crucified for us.

The Priest makes the sign of the cross again,(1)

and says:--

 And to the Holy Spirit.

III.

XIII.(2) In like manner also, as after the Creed,(3) he makes the sign
of the cross upon the People, and says aloud:--

 The Lord be with all.

The People.

 And with thy spirit.

The Priest.

 Let us lift up our hearts.

The People.

 We lift them up to the Lord.

The Priest.

 Let us give thanks to the Lord.

The People.

 It is meet and right.(4)

The Priest begins the Anaphoral prayer.

 O Lord God, Sovereign and Almighty Father, truly it is meet and right,
holy and becoming, and good for our souls, to praise, bless, and thank
Thee; to make open confession to Thee by day and night with voice, lips,
and heart without ceasing;

 To Thee who hast made the heaven, and all that is therein; the earth,
and all that is therein;

 The sea, fountains, rivers, lakes, and all that is therein;

 To Thee who, after Thine own image and likeness, hast made man, upon
whom Thou didst also bestow the joys of Paradise;

 And when he trespassed against Thee, Thou didst neither neglect nor
forsake him, good Lord,

 But didst recall him by Thy law, instruct him by Thy prophets, restore
and renew him by this awful, life-giving, and heavenly mystery.

 And all this Thou hast done by Thy Wisdom and the Light of truth, Thine
only-begotten Son, our Lord, God, and Saviour Jesus Christ,

 Through whom, thanking Thee with Him and the Holy Spirit,

 We offer this reasonable and bloodless sacrifice, which all nations,
from the rising to the setting of the sun, from the north and the south,
present to Thee, O Lord; for great is Thy name among all peoples, and in
all places are incense, sacrifice, and oblation offered to Thy holy
name.(5)

 XIV. We pray and beseech Thee, O lover of men, O good Lord,(6) remember
in Thy good mercy the Holy and only Catholic and Apostolic

 Church throughout the whole world, and all Thy people, and all the
sheep of this fold.(7) Vouchsafe to the hearts of all of us the peace of
heaven, but grant us also the peace of this life.

 Guide and direct in all peace the king,(8) army, magistrates,
councils,(9) peoples, and neighbour-hoods, and all our outgoings and
incomings.

 O King of Peace, grant us Thy peace in unity and love.  May we be
Thine, O Lord; for we know no other God but Thee, and name no other name
but Thine.  Give life unto the souls of all of us, and let no deadly sin
prevail against us, or against all Thy people.

 Look down in mercy and compassion, O Lord, and heal the sick among Thy
people.  Deliver them and us, O Lord, from sickness and disease, and
drive away the spirit of weakness.

 Raise up those who have been long afflicted, and heal those who are
vexed with unclean spirits.

 Have mercy on all who are in prison, or in mines, or on trial, or
condemned, or in exile, or crushed by cruel bondage or tribute.  Deliver
them, O Lord, for Thou art our God, who settest the captives free; who
raisest up the downtrodden; who givest hope to the hopeless, and help to
the helpless; who liftest up the fallen; who givest refuge to the
shipwrecked, and vengeance to the oppressed.

 Pity, relieve, and restore every Christian soul that is afflicted or
wandering.

 But do Thou, O Lord, the physician of our souls and bodies, the
guardian of all flesh, look down, and by Thy saving power heal all the
diseases of soul and body.

 Guide and prosper our brethren who have gone or who are about to go
abroad.  Whether they travel by land, or river, or lake, by public road,
or in whatever way journeying, bring them everywhere to a safe and
tranquil haven.  Be pleased to be with them by land and sea, and restore
them in health and joy to joyful and healthful homes.

556

 Ever defend, O Lord, our journey through this life from trouble and
storm.

 Send down rich and copious showers on the dry and thirsty lands.

 Gladden and revive the face of the earth, that it may spring forth and
rejoice in the raindrops.

 Make the waters of the river flow in full stream.

 Gladden and revive the face of the earth with the swelling waters.

 Fill all the channels of the streams, and multiply the fruits of the
earth.

 Bless, O Lord, the fruits of the earth, and keep them safe and
unharmed.  Fill them with seed, and make them ripe for the harvest.

 Bless even now, O Lord, Thy yearly crown of blessing for the sake of
the poor of Thy people, the widow, the orphan, and the stranger, and for
the sake of all of us who have our hope in Thee and call upon Thy holy
name; for the eyes of all are upon Thee, and Thou givest them bread in
due season.

 O Thou who givest food to all flesh, fill our hearts with joy and
gladness, that at all times, having all sufficiency, we may abound to
every good work in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 O King of kings and Lord of lords, defend the kingdom of Thy servant,
our orthodox and Christ-loving sovereign,(1) whom Thou hast deemed
worthy to reign over this land in peace, courage, and justice.

 Subdue under him, O Lord, every enemy and adversary, whether at home or
abroad.  Gird on Thy shield and armour, and rise to his aid.  Draw Thy
sword, and help him to fight against them that persecute him.  Shield
him in the day of battle, and grant that the fruit of his loins may sit
upon his throne.

 Be kind to him, O Lord, for the sake of Thy Holy and Apostolic Church,
and all Thy Christ-loving people, that we too in his peaceful reign may
live a calm and tranquil life, in all reverence and godliness.

 O Lord our God, give peace to the souls of our fathers and brethren who
have fallen asleep in Jesus, remembering our forefathers of old, our
fathers, patriarchs, prophets, apostles, martyrs, confessors, bishops,
and the souls of all the holy and just men who have died in the Lord.

 Especially remember those whose memory we this day celebrate, and our
holy father Mark,(2) the apostle and evangelist, who has shown us the
way of salvation.(3)

The Deacon.

 Lord, bless us.

The Priest.

 The Lord will bless thee in His grace, now, henceforth, and for
evermore.

The Deacon reads the record of the dead.(4)

The Priest bows and prays.

 XV. Give peace, O Sovereign Lord our God, to the souls of all who dwell
in the tabernacles of Thy saints.  Graciously bestow upon them in Thy
kingdom Thy promised blessing, which eye hath not seen, and ear hath not
heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man what Thou, O God, hast
prepared for those who love Thy holy name.  Give peace to their souls,
and deem them worthy of the kingdom of heaven.(5)

 Grant that we may end our lives as Christians, acceptable unto Thee and
without sin, and be pleased to give us part and lot with all Thy saints.

 Accept, O God, by Thy ministering archangels at Thy holy, heavenly, and
reasonable altar in the spacious heavens, the thank-offerings of those
who offer sacrifice and oblation, and of those who desire to offer much
or little, in secret or openly, but have it not to give.

 Accept the thank-offerings of those who have presented them this day,
as Thou didst accept the gifts of Thy righteous Abel:

The Priest offers incense, and says:(6)--

 As Thou didst accept the sacrifice of our father Abraham, the incense
of Zacharias, the alms of Cornelius, and the widow's two mites, accept
also the thank-offerings of these, and give them for the things of time
the things of eternity, and for the things of earth the things of
heaven.  Defend, O Lord, our most holy and blessed Papas(7)
<greek>D</greek>, whom Thou hast fore-ordained to rule over Thy Holy
Catholic and Apostolic Church, and our most pious Bishop
<greek>D</greek>, that they through many years of peace may, according
to Thy holy and blessed will, fulfil the sacred priesthood committed to
their care, and dispense aright the word of truth.

 Remember the orthodox bishops everywhere, the elders, deacons, sub-
deacons, readers, singers, monks,(8) virgins, widows, and laity.

 Remember, O Lord, the holy city(9) of our God, Jesus Christ; and the
imperial city;(10) and this city of ours, and all cities and all lands,
and the peace and safety of those who dwell therein in the orthodox
faith of Christ.

557

 Be mindful, O Lord, of the return of the back-sliding, and of every
Christian soul that is afflicted and oppressed, and in need of Thy
divine mercy and help.

 Be mindful, O Lord, of our brethren in captivity.  Grant that they may
find mercy and compassion with those who have led them captive.

 Be mindful also of us, O Lord, Thy sinful and unworthy servants, and
blot out our sins in Thy goodness and mercy.

 Be mindful also of me, Thy lowly, sinful, and unworthy servant, and in
Thy mercy blot out my sins.

 Be with us, O Lord, who minister unto Thy holy name.

 Bless our meetings, O Lord.

 Utterly uproot idolatry from the world.(1)

 Crush under our feet Satan, and all his wicked influence.

 Humble now, as at all times, the enemies of Thy Church.

 Lay bare their pride.

 Speedily show them their weakness.

 Bring to naught the wicked plots they contrive against us.

 Arise, O Lord, and let Thine enemies be scattered, and let all who hate
Thy holy name be put to flight.

 Do Thou bless a thousand times ten thousand Thy faithful and orthodox
people while they do Thy holy will.

The Deacon.

 Let those who are seated stand.

The Priest says the following prayer:--

 Deliver the captive; rescue the distressed feed the hungry; comfort the
faint-hearted, convert the erring; enlighten the darkened; raise the
fallen; confirm the wavering; heal the sick; and guide them all, good
Lord, into the way of salvation, and into Thy sacred fold.  Deliver us
from our iniquities; protect and defend us at all times.

The Deacon.

 Turn to the east.

The Priest bows and prays.

 For Thou art far above all principality, and power, and might, and
dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but in
that which is to come.  Round Thee stand ten thousand times ten
thousand, and thousands of thousands of holy angels and hosts of
archangels; and Thy two most honoured creatures, the many-eyed cherubim
and the six-winged seraphim.  With twain they cover their faces, and
with twain they cover their feet, and with twain they do fly; and they
cry one to another for ever with the voice of praise, and glorify Thee,
O Lord, singing aloud the triumphal and thrice-holy(2) hymn to Thy great
glory:--

 Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabaoth.  Heaven and earth are full of
Thy glory.

(Aloud.)

 Thou dost ever sanctify all men; but with all who glorify Thee, receive
also, O Sovereign Lord, our sanctification, who with them celebrate Thy
praise, and say:--

The People.

 Holy, holy, holy Lord.

The Priest makes the sign of the cross over the sacred mysteries.

 XVI. For truly heaven and earth are full of Thy glory, through the
manifestation of our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ.  Fill, O
God, this sacrifice with Thy blessing, through the inspiration of Thy
all-holy Spirit.  For the Lord Himself, our God and universal King,
Christ Jesus, reclining at meat the same night on which He delivered
Himself up for our sins and died in the flesh for all, took bread in His
holy, pure, and immaculate hands, and lifting His eyes to His Father,
our God, and the God of all, gave thanks; and when He had blessed,
hallowed, and broken the bread, gave it to His holy and blessed
disciples and apostles, saying:--

(Aloud.)

 Take, eat.

The Deacon.

 Pray earnestly.

The Priest (aloud).

 For this is my body, which is broken for you, and divided for the
remission of sins.

The People.

 Amen.

The Priest prays.

 After the same manner also, when He had supped, He took the cup of wine
mingled with water, and lifting His eyes to Thee, His Father, our God,
and the God of all, gave thanks; and when He had blessed and filled it
with the Holy Spirit, gave it to His holy and blessed disciples and
apostles, saying:--

(Aloud.)

 Drink ye all of it.

The Deacon.

 Pray earnestly again.

558

The Priest (aloud).

 For this is my blood of the new testament which is shed for you and for
many, and distributed among you for the remission of sins.

The People.

 Amen.

The Priest prays thus:--

 This do ye in remembrance of me; for as often as ye eat this bread and
drink this cup, ye do show forth my death and acknowledge my
resurrection and ascension until I come.  O Sovereign and Almighty Lord,
King of heaven, while we show forth(1) the death of Thine only-begotten
Son, our Lord, God, and Saviour Jesus Christ, and acknowledge His
blessed resurrection from the dead on the third day, we do also openly
declare His ascension into heaven, and His sitting on the right hand of
Thee, God and Father, and await His second terrible and dreadful coming,
in which He will come to judge righteously the quick and the dead, and
to render to each man according to his works.

 XVII. O Lord our God, we have placed before Thee what is Thine from
Thine own mercies.  We pray and beseech Thee, O good and merciful God,
to send down from Thy holy heaven, from the mansion Thou hast prepared,
and from Thine infinite bosom, the Paraclete Himself,(2) holy, powerful,
and life-giving, the Spirit of truth, who spoke in the law, the
apostles, and prophets; who is everywhere present, and filleth all
things, freely working sanctification.  in whom He will with Thy good
pleasure; one in His nature; manifold in His working; the fountain of
divine blessing; of like substance(3) with Thee, and proceeding from
Thee; sitting with Thee on the throne of Thy kingdom, and with Thine
only-begotten Son, our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ.  Send down
upon us also and upon this bread and upon these chalices Thy Holy
Spirit, that by His all-powerful and divine influence He may sanctify
and consecrate them, and make this bread the body.(2)

The People.

 Amen.

The Priest (aloud).

 And this cup the blood of the new testament, of the very Lord, and God,
and Saviour, and universal King Christ Jesus.

The Deacon.

 Deacons, come down.

The Priest (aloud).

 That to all of us who partake thereof they may tend unto faith,
sobriety, healing, temperance, sanctification, the renewal of soul,
body, and spirit, participation in the blessedness of eternal life and
immortality, the glory of Thy most holy name, and the remission of sins,
that Thy most holy, precious, and glorious name may be praised and
glorified in this as in all things.

The People.

 As it was and is.

The Priest.

 XVIII. Peace be to all.

The Deacon.

 Pray.

The Priest prays in secret.

 O God of light, Father of life, Author of grace, Creator of worlds,
Founder of knowledge, Giver of wisdom, Treasure of holiness, Teacher of
pure prayers, Benefactor of our souls, who givest to the faint-hearted
who put their trust in Thee those things into which the angels desire to
look: O Sovereign Lord, who hast brought us up from the depths of
darkness to light, who hast given us life from death, who hast
graciously bestowed upon us freedom from slavery, who hast scattered the
darkness of sin within us, through the presence of Thine only-begotten
Son, do Thou now also, through the visitation of Thy all-holy Spirit,
enlighten the eyes of our understanding, that we may partake without
fear of condemnation of this heavenly and immortal food, and sanctify us
wholly in soul, body, and spirit, that with Thy holy disciples and
apostles we may say this prayer to Thee: Our Father who art in heaven,
etc.

(Aloud.)

 And grant, O Sovereign Lord, in Thy mercy, that we with freedom of
speech, without fear of condemnation, with pure heart and enlightened
soul, with face that is not ashamed, and with hollowed lips, may venture
to call upon Thee, the holy God who art in heaven, as our Father, and
say:--

The People.

 Our Father who art in heaven, etc.

The Priest prays:(4)--

 Verily, Lord, Lord, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from
evil; for Thy abundant mercy showeth that we through our great infirmity
are unable to resist it.

 Grant that we may find a way whereby we may be able to withstand
temptation; for Thou hast given us power to tread upon serpents, and
scorpions, and all the power of the enemy.

559

 (Aloud.)

 For Thine is the kingdom and power.

 The People.

Amen.

 The Priest.

xix.  Peace be to all.

 The Deacon.

Bow your heads to Jesus.(1)

 The People.

Thou, Lord.

 The Priest prays.

 O Sovereign and Almighty Lord,(2) who sittest upon the cherubim, and
art glorified by the seraphim; who hast made the heaven out of waters,
and adorned it with choirs of stars; who hast placed an unbodied host of
angels in the highest heavens to sing Thy praise for ever; before Thee
have we bowed our souls and bodies in token of our bondage.  We beseech
Thee to repel the dark assaults of sin from our understanding, and to
gladden our minds with the divine radiance of Thy Holy Spirit, that,
filled with the knowledge of Thee, we may worthily partake of the
mercies set before us, the pure body and precious blood of Thine only-
begotten Son, our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ.  Pardon all our
sins in Thy abundant and unsearchable goodness, through the grace,
mercy, and love of Thine only-begotten Son:(3)

 (Aloud.)

 Through whom and with whom be glory and power to Thee, with the all-
holy, good, and life-giving Spirit.

 The Priest.

 xx.  Peace be to all.

 The Deacon.

 With the fear of God.

 The Priest prays.

 O holy, highest, awe-inspiring God, who dwellest among the saints,
sanctify us by the word of Thy grace and by the inspiration of Thy all-
holy Spirit; for Thou hast said, O Lord our God, Be ye holy; for I am
holy.  O Word of God, past finding out, consubstantial(4) and co-eternal
with the Father and the Holy Spirit, and sharer of their sovereignty,
accept the pure song which cherubim and seraphim, and the unworthy lips
of Thy sinful and unworthy servant, sing aloud.

The People.

 Lord, have mercy; Lord, have mercy; Lord, have mercy.

 The Priest (aloud).

 Holy things for the holy.(5)

 The People.

 One Father holy, one Son holy, one Spirit holy, in the unity of the
Holy Spirit.  Amen.(6)

 The Deacon.

 For salvation and help.

The Priest makes the sign of the cross upon the

 people, and saith in a loud voice:--

 The Lord be with all.

 The Priest breaks the bread, and saith:--

 Praise ye God.

The Priest divides it among those present, and

 saith:--

 The Lord will bless and help you through Hi great

mercy.

 The Priest says:--

 Command.

 The Clergy say:--

 The Holy Spirit commands and sanctifies.

 The Priest.

 Lo, they are sanctified and consecrated.

 The Clergy.

 One holy(7) Father, etc.  (thrice).

 The Priest says:--

 The Lord be with all.

 The Clergy.

 And with thy spirit.

 The Priest says:--

 The Lord Himself hath blessed it.

 The Priest partakes, and prays.

 According to Thy loving-kindness,(8) etc.

 Or,

 As the hart panteth after the water-brooks,(9) etc.

 When he gives the bread to the clergy, he says:--

 The holy body.

 And when he gives the chalice, he says:--

 The precious blood of our Lord, and God, and Saviour.

560

IV.

 After the service is completed, the Deacon says:--

 XXI. Stand for prayer.(1)

 The Priest.

 Peace be to all.

 The Deacon.

 Pray.

 The Priest says the prayer of thanksgiving.

 O Sovereign Lord our God, we thank Thee that we have partaken of Thy
holy, pure, immortal, and heavenly mysteries, which Thou hast given for
our good, and for the sanctification and salvation of our souls and
bodies.  We pray and beseech Thee, 0 Lord, to grant in Thy good mercy,
that by partaking of the holy body and precious blood of Thine only-
begotten Son, we may have faith that is not ashamed, love that is
unfeigned, fulness of holiness, power to eschew evil and keep Thy
commandments, provision for eternal life, and an acceptable defence
before the awful tribunal of Thy Christ:

 In a loud voice.

 Through whom and with whom be glory and power to Thee, with Thy all-
holy, good, and life-giving Spirit.

The Priest then turns to the people, and says:--

 XXII. O mightiest King, co-eternal with the Father, who by Thy might
hast vanquished hell and trodden death trader foot, who hast bound the
strong man, and by Thy miraculous power and the enlightening radiance of
Thy unspeakable Godhead hast raised Adam from the tomb, send forth Thy
invisible right hand, which is full of blessing, and bless us all.

 Pity us, O Lord, and strengthen us by Thy divine power.

 Take away from us the sinful and wicked influence of carnal desire.

 Let the light shine into our souls, and dispel the surrounding darkness
of sin.

 Unite us to the all-blessed assembly that is well-pleasing unto Thee;
for through Thee and with Thee, all praise, honour, power, adoration,
and thanksgiving are due unto the Father and the Holy Spirit, now,
henceforth, and for evermore.

 The Deacon.

 Depart in peace:

 The People.

 In the name of the Lord.

 The Priest (aloud).

 XXIII. The love of God the Father; the grace of the Son, our Lord Jesus
Christ; the communion and gift of the All-holy Spirit, be with us all,
now, henceforth, and for evermore.

The People.

 Amen.  Blessed be the name of the Lord.

 The Priest prays in the sacristy, and says:--

 O Lord, Thou hast given us sanctification by partaking of the all-holy
body and precious blood of Thine only-begotten Son; give us the grace
and gift of the All-holy Spirit.  Enable us to lead blameless lives; and
guide us unto the perfect redemption, and adoption, and the everlasting
joys of the world to come.  For Thou art our sanctification, and we
ascribe glory unto Thee, the Father, and the Son, and the All-holy
Spirit, now, henceforth, and for evermore.

 The People.

 Amen.

 The Priest.

 Peace be to all.

 The People.

 And to thy spirit.

 The Priest dismisses them, and says:--

 May God bless, who blesseth and sanctifieth, who defendeth and
preserveth us all through the partaking of His holy mysteries; and who
is blessed for ever.  Amen.

561

 THE LITURGY OF THE BLESSED APOSTLES.

COMPOSED BY ST. ADAEUS AND ST. MARIS, TEACHERS OF THE EASTERNS.(1)

 1.(2) First: Glory to God in the highest, etc.

 Our Father which art in heaven.

Prayer.

 Strengthen, O our Lord and God, our weakness through Thy mercy, that we
may administer the holy mystery which has been given for the renovation
and salvation of our degraded nature, through the mercies of Thy beloved
Son the Lord of all.

On common days.

 Adored, glorified, lauded, celebrated, exalted, and blessed in heaven
and on earth, be the adorable and glorious name of Thine ever-glorious
Trinity, O Lord of all.

 On common days they sing the Psalm (xv.), Lord, who shall dwell in Thy
tabernacle?  entire with its canon,(3) of the mystery of the sacraments.

(Aloud.)

 Who shall shout with joy?  etc.

 Prayer.

 11.  Before the resplendent throne of Thy majesty, O Lord, and the
exalted and sublime throne of Thy glory, and on the awful seat of the
strength of Thy love and the propiatory altar which Thy will hath
established, in the region of Thy pasture,(4) with thousands of cherubim
praising Thee, and ten thousands of seraphim sanctifying Thee, we draw
near, adore, thank, and glorify Thee always, O Lord of all.

On commemorations and Fridays.

 Thy name, great and holy, illustrious and blessed, the blessed and
incomprehensible name of Thy glorious Trinity, and Thy kindness to our
race, we ought at all times to bless, adore, and glorify, O Lord of all.

Responsory(5) at the chancel, as above.

 Who commanded, etc.

 To the priest, etc.

Prayer.

 How breathes in us, O our Lord and God, the sweet fragrance of the
sweetness of Thy love; illumined are our souls, through the knowledge of
Thy truth: may we be rendered worthy of receiving the manifestation of
Thy beloved from Thy holy heavens: there shall we render thanks unto
Thee, and, in the meantime, glorify Thee without ceasing in Thy Church,
crowned and filled with every aid and blessing, because Thou art Lord
and Father, Creator of all.

III. Prayer of Incense.

 We shall repeat the hymn to Thy glorious Trinity, O Father, Son, and
Holy Ghost.

 On fast-days.

 And on account, etc.

At the commemoration of saints.

 Thou, O Lord, art truly the raiser up of our bodies: Thou art the good
Saviour of our souls, and the secure preserver of our life; and we ought
to thank Thee continually, to adore and glorify Thee, O Lord of all.

At the lessons.(6)

 Holy art Thou, worthy of praise, mighty, immortal, who dwellest in the
holies, and Thy will resteth in them: have regard unto us, O Lord; be
merciful unto us, and pity us, as Thou art our helper in all
circumstances, O Lord of all.

IV. At the apostle.(7)

 Enlighten, O our Lord and God, the movements of our meditations to hear
and understand the sweet listenings to Thy life-giving and divine

562

commands; and grant unto us through Thy grace and mercy to gather from
them the assurance of love, and hope, and salvation suitable to soul and
body, and we shall sing to Thee everlasting glory without ceasing and
always, O Lord of all.

 On fast-days.

 To Thee, the wise governor, etc.

v.  Descending, he shall salute the Gospel, saying

 this prayer before the altar.

 Thee, the renowned seed of Thy Father, and the image of the person of
Thy Father, who wast revealed in the body of our humanity, and didst
arise to us in the light of Thy annunciation, Thee we thank, adore, etc.

And after the proclamation:(1)--

 Thee, O Lord God Almighty, we beseech and entreat, perfect with us Thy
grace, and pour out through our hands Thy gift, the pity and compassion
of Thy divinity.  May they be to us for the propitiation of the offences
of Thy people, and for the forgiveness of the sins of the entire flock
of Thy pasture, through Thy grace and tender mercies, O good friend of
men, O Lord of all.

 VI. The Deacons say: -Bow your heads.

The Priest says this secret prayer in the sanctuary:(2)--

 O Lord God Omnipotent, Thine is the Holy Catholic Church, inasmuch as
Thou, through the great passion of Thy Christ, didst buy the sheep of
Thy pasture; and from the grace of the Holy Spirit, who is indeed of one
nature with Thy glorious divinity, are granted the degrees of the true
priestly ordination; and through Thy clemency Thou didst vouchsafe, O
Lord, to make our weakness spiritual members in the great body of Thy
Holy Church, that we might administer spiritual aid to faithful souls.
Now, O Lord, perfect Thy grace with us, and pour out Thy gift through
our hands: and may Thy tender mercies and the clemency of Thy divinity
be upon us, and upon the people whom Thou hast chosen for Thyself.

 (Aloud.)

 And grant unto us, O Lord, through Thy clemency, that we may all
together, and equally every day of our life, please Thy divinity, and be
rendered worthy of the aid of Thy grace to offer Thee praise, honour,
thanksgiving, and adoration at all times, O Lord.

VII. And the Deacons ascend to the altar, and

say:--

 He who has not received baptism, etc.(3)

And the Priest begins the respansory of the mysteries,(4) and the
Sacristan and Deacon place the disk and the chalice upon the altar.  The
Priest crosses his hands, and says:(5)--

 We offer praise to Thy glorious Trinity at all times and for ever.

 And proceeds:--

 May Christ, who was offered for our salvation, and commanded us to
commemorate His death and His resurrection, Himself receive this
sacrifice from the hands of our weakness, through His grace and mercies
for ever.  Amen.

 And proceeds:--

 Laid are the renowned holy and life-giving mysteries upon the altar of
the mighty Lord, even until His advent, for ever.Amen.

 Praise, etc.

 Thy memory, etc.

 Our Father, etc.

 The apostles of the Father, etc.

 Upon the holy altar, etc.

 They who have slept, etc.

 Matthew Mark, Luke, etc.(6)

 THE CREED.(7)

VIII. The Priest draws near to celebrate, and

 thrice bows before the altar, the middle of

 which he kisses, then the right and the left horn

 of the altar; and bows to the Gospel side, and

 says:--

 Bless, O Lord, etc.

 Pray for me, my fathers, brethren, and masters, that God may grant unto
me the capability and power to perform this service to which I have
drawn near, and that this oblation may be accepted from the hands of my
weakness, for myself, for you, and for the whole body of the Holy
Catholic Church, through His grace and mercies for ever.  Amen.

 And they respond:--

 May Christ listen to thy prayers, and be pleased with thy sacrifice,
receive thy oblation, and honour thy priesthood, and grant unto us,
through thy mediation,(8) the pardon of our offences, and the
forgiveness of our sins, through His grace and mercies for ever.

563

Presently he bows at the other side, uttering the same words; and they
respond in the same manner: then he bows to the altar, and says:--

 God, Lord of all, be with us through His grace and mercies for ever.
Amen.

And bowing towards the Deacon, who is on the left(Epistle side), he
says:--

 God, the Lord of all, confirm thy words, and secure to thee peace, and
accept this oblation from my hands for me, for thee, for the whole body
of the Holy Catholic Church, and for the entire world, through His grace
and mercies for ever.

 He kneels at the altar, and says in secret:--

 IX. O our Lord and God, look not on the multitude of our sins, and let
not Thy dignity be turned away on account of the heinousness of our
iniquities; but through Thine unspeakable grace sanctify this sacrifice
of Thine, and grant through it power and capability, so that Thou mayest
forget our many sins, and be merciful when Thou shalt appear at the end
of time, in the man whom Thou hast assumed from among us, and we may
find before Thee grace and mercy, and be rendered worthy to praise Thee
with spiritual(1) assemblies.

 He rises, and says this prayer in secret:--

 We thank Thee, O our Lord and God, for the abundant riches of Thy grace
to us:

 And he proceeds:--

 Us who were sinful and degraded, on account of the multitude of Thy
clemency, Thou hast made worthy to celebrate the holy mysteries of the
body and blood of Thy Christ.  We beg aid from Thee for the
strengthening of our souls, that in perfect love and true faith we may
administer Thy gift to us.

 Canon.

 And we shall ascribe to Thee praise, glory, thanksgiving, and
adoration, now, always, and for ever and ever.

 He signs himself with the sign of the cross, and they respond:--

 Amen.

 x.  And he proceeds:--

 Peace be with you:

 They respond:--

 With thee and with thy spirit.

And they give the (kiss of) peace to each other,

and say:--

 For all:(2)

 The Deacon says:--

 Let us thank, entreat, and beseech.

 The Priest says this prayer in secret:--

 O Lord, mighty God, help my weakness through Thy clemency and the aid
of Thy grace; and make me worthy of offering before Thee this oblation,
as for the common aid of all, and to the praise of Thy Trinity, O
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

 Another prayer.(3)

 O our Lord and God, restrain our thoughts, that they wander not amid
the vanities of this world.  O Lord our God, grant that I may be united
to the affection of Thy love, unworthy though I be.  Glory be to Thee, O
Christ.

 Ascend into the chamber of Thy renowned light, O Lord; sow in me the
good seed of humility; and under the wings of Thy grace hide me through
Thy mercy.  If Thou wert to mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?
Because there is mercy with Thee.

 [The Priest says the following prayer in

 secret:(4)--

 O mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, beseech for me the only-begotten
Son, who was born of thee, to forgive me my offences and my sins, and to
accept from my feeble and sinful hands this sacrifice which my weakness
offers upon this altar, through thy intercession for me, O holy mother.]

XI. When the Deacon shall say, With watchfulness and care, etc.,
immediately the Priest rises up and uncovers the sacraments, taking away
the veil with which they were covered: he blesses the incense, and says
a canon with a loud voice:--

 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God the Father, and
the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with us all, now, etc.(5)

 He signs the sacraments, and they respond:--

 Amen.

 The Priest proceeds:--

 Lift up your minds:

They respond:--

 They are towards Thee, O God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, O glorious
King.

564

 The Priest.

 The oblation is offered to God, the Lord of all.

 They respond:--

 It is meet and right.

 The Deacon.

 Peace be with you.

The Priest puts on the incense, and says this prayer:--

 O Lord, Lord, grant me an open countenance before Thee, that with the
confidence which is from Thee we may fulfil this awful and divine
sacrifice with consciences free from all iniquity and bitterness.  Sow
in us, O Lord, affection, peace, and concord towards each other, and
toward every one.

 And standing, he says in secret:(1)--

 Worthy of glory from every mouth, and of thanksgiving from all tongues,
and of adoration and exaltation from all creatures, is the adorable and
glorious name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, who created the world
through His grace, and its inhabitants through His clemency, who saved
men through His mercy, and showed great favour towards mortals.  Thy
majesty, O Lord, thousands of thousands of heavenly spirits, and ten
thousand myriads of holy angels, hosts of spirits, ministers of fire and
spirit, bless and adore; with the holy cherubim and the spiritual
seraphim they sanctify and celebrate Thy name, crying and praising,
without ceasing crying unto each other.

 They say with a loud voice:--

 Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty; full are the heavens and the earth
of His glory.

 The Priest in secret:--

 Holy, holy, holy art Thou, O Lord God Almighty; the heavens and the
earth are full of His glory and the nature of His essence, as they are
glorious with the honour of His splendour; as it is written, The heaven
and the earth are full of me, saith the mighty Lord.

 Holy art Thou, O God our Father, truly the only one, of whom the whole
family in heaven and earth is named.  Holy art Thou, Eternal Son,
through whom all things were made.  Holy art Thou, Holy, Eternal Spirit,
through whom all things are sanctified.

 Woe to me, woe to me, who have been astonied, because I am a man of
polluted lips, and dwell among a people of polluted lips, and my eyes
have seen the King, the mighty Lord.  How terrible to-day is this place!
For this is none other than the house of God and the gate of heaven;
because Thou hast been seen eye to eye, O Lord.

 Now, I pray, may Thy grace be with us, O Lord; purge away our
impurities, and sanctify our lips; unite the voices of our
insignificance with the sanctification of seraphim and archangels.
Glory be to Thy tender mercies, because Thou hast associated the earthly
with the heavenly.(2)

And he proceeds, saying in secret this prayer, in a bowing posture:--

 XII. And with those heavenly powers we give Thee thanks, even we, Thine
insignificant, pithless, and feeble servants; because Thou hast granted
unto us Thy great grace which cannot be repaid.  For indeed Thou didst
take upon Thee our human nature, that Thou mightest bestow life on us
through Thy divinity; Thou didst exalt our low condition; Thou didst
raise our ruined state; Thou didst rouse up our mortality; Thou didst
wash away our sins; Thou didst blot out the guilt of our sins; Thou
didst enlighten our intelligence, and Thou didst condemn our enemy, O
Lord our God; and Thou didst cause the insignificance of our pithless
nature to triumph.

Here follow the words of institution,(3) after which:--

 Through the tender mercies of Thy grace poured out, O clement One,
pardon our offences and sins; blot out my offences in the judgment.  And
on account of all Thy aids and Thy favours to us, we shall ascribe unto
Thee praise,(4) honour, thanksgiving, and adoration, now, always, and
for ever and ever.

The Priest signs the sacraments.  The response is made.

 Amen.

 The Deacon.

 In your minds.  Pray for peace with us.

The Priest says this prayers bowing, and in a law voice:--

 O Lord God Almighty, accept this oblation for the whole Holy Catholic
Church, and for all

565

the pious and righteous fathers who have been pleasing to Thee, and for
all the prophets and apostles, and for all the martyrs and confessors,
and for all that mourn, that are in straits, and are sick, and for all
that are under difficulties and trials, and for all the weak and the
oppressed, and for all the dead that have gone from amongst us; then for
all that ask a prayer from our weakness, and for me, a degraded and
feeble sinner.  O Lord our God, according to Thy mercies and the
multitude of Thy favours, look upon Thy people, and on me, a feeble man,
not according to my sins and my follies, but that they may become worthy
of the forgiveness of their sins through this holy body, which they
receive with faith, through the grace of Thy mercy for ever and ever.
Amen.

 The Priest says this prayer of inclination in secret:--

 XIII. Do Thou, O Lord, through Thy many and ineffable mercies, make the
memorial good and acceptable with that of(1) all the pious and righteous
fathers who have been pleading before Thee in the commemoration of the
body and blood of Thy Christ, which we offer to Thee upon Thy pure and
holy altar, as Thou hast taught us; and grant unto us Thy rest all the
days of this life.

He proceeds with the Great Oblation:--

 O Lord our God, bestow on us Thy rest and peace all the days of this
life, that all the inhabitants of the earth may know Thee, that Thou art
the only true God the Father, and Thou didst send our Lord Jesus Christ,
Thy Son and Thy beloved; and He Himself our Lord and God came and taught
us all purity and holiness.  Make remembrance of prophets, apostles,
martyrs, confessors, bishops, doctors, priests, deacons, and all the
sons of the Holy Catholic Church who have been signed with the sign of
life, of holy baptism.  We also, O Lord:

Hie proceeds:--

 We, Thy degraded, weak, and feeble servants who are congregated in Thy
name, and now stand before Thee, and have received with joy the form
which is from Thee, praising, glorifying, and exalting, commemorate and
celebrate this great, awful, holy, and divine mystery of the passion,
death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

 And may Thy Holy Spirit come, O Lord,(2) and rest upon this oblation of
Thy servants which they offer, and bless and sanctify it; and may it be
unto us, O Lord, for the propitiation of our

offences and the forgiveness of our sins, and for a grand hope of
resurrection from the dead, and for a new life in the kingdom of the
heavens, with all who have been pleasing before Him.  And on account of
the whole of Thy wonderful dispensation towards us, we shall render
thanks unto Thee, and glorify Thee without ceasing in Thy Church,
redeemed by the precious blood of Thy Christ, with open mouths and
joyful countenances:

Canon.

 Ascribing praise,(3) honour, thanksgiving, and adoration to Thy holy,
loving, and life-giving name, now, always, and for ever.

 The Priest signs the mysteries with the cross, and they respond:--

Amen.

The Priest bows himself and kisses the altar, first in the middle, then
at the two sides right and left, and says this prayer:(4)--

 Have mercy upon me, O God, down to the words, and sinners shall be
converted unto Thee: and unto Thee lift I up mine eyes,(5) down to have
mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us.  Also stretch forth Thy hand,
and let Thy right hand save me, O Lord; may Thy mercies remain upon me,
O Lord, for ever, and despise not the works of Thy hands.(6)

 Then he says this prayer:--

 XIV. O Christ, peace of those in heaven and great rest of those
below,(7) grant that Thy rest and peace may dwell in the four parts of
the world,(8) but especially in Thy Holy Catholic Church; grant that the
priesthood with the government may have peace; cause wars to cease from
the ends of the earth, and scatter the nations that delight in wars,(9)
that we may enjoy the blessing of living in tranquillity and peace, in
all temperance and fear of God.  Spare the offences and sins of the
dead, through Thy grace and mercies for ever.

 And to those who are around the altar he says:--

 Bless, O Lord.  Bless, O Lord.

 And he puts on the incense with which he fumes himself, and says:--

 Sweeten, O Lord our God, the unpleasing savour(10) of our souls through
the sweetness of Thy

566

love, and through it cleanse me from the stains of my sin, and forgive
me my offences and sins, whether known or unknown to me.

A second time he takes the incense with both hands, and censes the
mysteries; presently he says:--

 The clemency of Thy grace, O our Lord and God, gives us access to these
renowned, holy, life-giving, and divine mysteries, unworthy though we
be.

The Priest repeats these wards once and again, and at each interval
unites his hands over his breast in the form of a cross.  fie kisses the
altar in the middle, and receives with both hands the upper oblation;
and looking up, says:--

 Praise be to Thy holy name, O Lord Jesus Christ, and adoration to Thy
majesty, always and for ever.  Amen.

 For He is the living and life-giving bread which cometh down from
heaven, and giveth life to the whole world, of which they who eat die
not; and they who receive it are saved by it, and do not see corruption,
and live through it for ever; and Thou art the antidote of our
mortality,(1) and the resurrection of our entire frame.(2)

 XV.3 * * *

 XVI. Praise to Thy holy name, O Lord.  (As above.)

The Priest kisses the host(4) in the form of a cross; in such a way,
however, that his lips do not touch it, but appear to kiss it; and he
says:--

 Glory to Thee, O Lord; glory to Thee, O Lord, on account of Thine
unspeakable gift to us, for ever.

Then he draws nigh to the fraction of the host,(4) which he accomplishes
with both his hands, saying:--

 We draw nigh, O Lord, with true faith, and break with thanksgiving and
sign through Thy mercy the body and blood of our Life-giver, Jesus
Christ, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

And, naming the Trinity, he breaks the host,(4) which he holds in his
hands, into two parts: and the one which is in his left hand he lays
down on the disk; with the other, which he holds in his right hand, he
signs the chalice, saying:--

 The precious blood is signed with the holy body of our Lord Jesus
Christ.  In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost for
ever.

And they respond:--

Amen.

Then he dips it even to the middle in the chalice, and signs with it the
body which is in the paten, sating:--

 The holy body is signed with the propitiatory blood of our Lord Jesus
Christ.  In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost for ever.

And they respond:--

Amen.  And he unites the two parts, the one with the other, saying:--

 Divided, sanctified, completed, perfected, united, and commingled have
been these renowned, holy, life-giving, and divine mysteries, the one
with the other, in the adorable and glorious name of Thy glorious
Trinity, O Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, that they may be to us, O Lord,
for the propitiation of our offences and the forgiveness of our sins;
also for the grand hope of a resurrection from the dead, and of a new
life in the kingdom of the heavens, for us and for the Holy Church of
Christ our Lord, here and in every place whatsoever, now and always, and
for ever.

XVII. In the meantime he signs the host(5) with his right thumb in the
form of a cross from the lower part to the upper, and from the right to
the left, and thus forms a slight fissure in it where it has been dipped
in the blood.  He puts a part of it into the chalice in the farm of a
cross: the lower part is placed towards the priest, the upper towards
the chalice, so that the place of the fissure looks to the chalice.  He
bows, and rising, says:--

 Glory be to Thee, O Lord Jesus Christ, who hast made me, unworthy
though I be, through Thy grace, a minister and mediator of Thy renowed,
holy, life-giving, and divine mysteries: through the grace of Thy mercy,
make me worthy of the pardon of my offences and the forgiveness of my
sins.

567

He signs himself with the sign of the cross an his forehead, and does
the same to those standing round him.(1)

The Deacons approach, and he signs each one of them an the forehead,
saying:--

 Christ accept thy ministry: Christ cause thy face to shine: Christ save
thy life: Christ make thy youth to grow.

 And they respond:--

Christ accept thy oblation.

XVIII. All return to their own place; and the Priest, after bowing,
rises and says, in the tone of the Gospel:--

 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God the Father, and
the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with us all.

The Priest signs himself, and lifts up his hand over his head, so that
it should be in the air, and the people be partakers in the singing:--

 The Deacon says:--

We all with fear, etc.

 And at these words:--

He hath given to us His mysteries:

The Priest begins to break(2) the body, and says:--

 Be merciful, O Lord, through Thy clemency to the sins and follies of
Thy servants, and sanctify our lips through Thy grace, that they may
give the fruits of glory and praise to Thy divinity, with all Thy saints
in Thy kingdom.

And, raising his voice, he says:--

 And make us worthy, O Lord our God, to stand before Thee continually
without stain, with pure heart, with open countenance, and with the
confidence which is from Thee, mercifully granted to us: and let us all
with one accord invoke Thee, and say thus: Our Father, etc.

 The People say:--

Our Father, etc.

The Priest.(3)

 O Lord God Almighty, O Lord and our good God, who art full of mercy, we
beg Thee, O Lord our God, and beseech the clemency of

Thy goodness; lead us not into temptation, but deliver and save us from
the evil one and his hosts; because Thine is the kingdom, the power, the
strength, the might, and the dominion in heaven and on earth, now and
always.

He signs himself, and they respond:--

 Amen.

XIX. And he proceeds:--

 Peace be with you.

 They respond:--

 With thee and with thy spirit.

He proceeds:--

 It is becoming that the holy things should be to the holy in
perfection.

And they say:--

 One holy Father: one holy Son: one Holy Ghost.  Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, for ever and ever.  Amen.

 The Deacon.

 Praise ye.

And they say the responsory.  And when the Deacon comes to carry the
chalice, he says:--

 Let us pray for peace with us.

The Priest says:--

 The grace of the Holy Ghost be with thee, with us, and with those who
receive Him.

And he gives the chalice to the Deacon.The Deacon says:--

 Bless, O Lord.

 The Priest.

 The gift of the grace of our Life-giver and Lord Jesus Christ be
completed, in mercies, with all.

And he signs the people with the cross.  In the meantime the
responsories are said.

 Brethren, receive the body of the Son, cries the Church, and drink ye
His chalice with faith in the house of His kingdom.

 On feast-days.

 Strengthen, O Lord, etc.

 On the Lord's day.

 O Lord Jesus Christ, etc.

Daily.

 The mysteries which we have received, etc.

The responsories being ended, the Deacon says:--

 All therefore, etc.

568

And they respond:--

 Glory be to Himself on account of His ineffable gift.

The Deacon.

 Let us pray for peace with us.

The Priest at the middle of the altar says this prayer:(1)--

 xx.  It is meet, O Lord, just and right in all days, times, and hours,
to thank, adore, and praise the awful name of Thy majesty, because Thou
hast through Thy grace, O Lord, made us, mortal men possessing a frail
nature, worthy to sanctify Thy name with the heavenly(2) beings, and to
become partakers of the mysteries of Thy gift, and to be delighted with
the sweetness of Thy oracles.  And voices of glory and thanksgiving we
ever offer up to Thy sublime divinity, O Lord.

Another.

 Christ, our God, Lord, King, Saviour, and Life-giver, through His grace
has made us worthy to receive His body and His precious and all-
sanctifying blood.  May He grant unto us that we may be pleasing unto
Him in our words, works, thoughts, and deeds, so that that pledge which
we have received may be to us for the pardon of our offences, the
forgiveness of our sins, and the grand hope of a resurrection from the
dead, and a new and true life in the kingdom of the heavens, with all
who have been pleasing before Him, through His grace and His mercies for
ever.

On ordinary days.

 Praise, O Lord, honour, blessing, and thanksgiving we ought to ascribe
to Thy glorious Trinity for the gift of Thy holy mysteries, which Thou
hast given to us for the propitiation of our offences, O Lord of all.

Another.

 Blessed be Thy adorable honour, from Thy glorious place, O Christ, the
propitiator of our offences and our sins, and who takest away our
follies through Thy renowned, holy, life-giving, and divine mysteries.
Christ the hope of our nature always and for ever.  Amen.

Obsignation or final benediction.

 May our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom we have ministered, and whom we have
seen and honoured in His renowned, holy, life-giving, and divine
mysteries, Himself render us worthy of the splendid glory of His
kingdom, and of gladness with His holy angels, and for confidence before
Him, that we may stand at His right hand.

 And on our entire congregation may His mercies and compassion be
continually poured out, now and always, and ever.

 On the Lord's day and on feast-days.

 May He Himself who blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the
heavens, through Jesus Christ our Lord, and prepared us for His kingdom,
and called us to the desirable good things which neither cease nor
perish, as He promised to us in His life-giving Gospel, and said to the
blessed congregation of His disciples--Verily, verily I say unto you,
that every one who eateth my body and drinketh my blood, abideth in me,
and I in him, and I will raise him up at the last day; and he cometh not
to judgment, but I will make him pass from death to eternal life:

 May He Himself now bless this congregation, and maintain our position,
and render glorious our people who have come and rejoiced in receiving
His renowned, holy, life-giving, and divine mysteries; and may ye be
sealed and guarded by the holy sign of the Lord's cross from all evils,
secret and open, now and always.

 ELUCIDATIONS

 I.

 (Disciple of the holy Peter, p.  551.)

 THE early use of the originals of this liturgy in the Alexandrian
patriarchate accounts for its bearing the name of St.  Mark,--"sister's
son to Barnabas," as St.  Paul calls him.(1) That he was St.  Peter's
pupil may be inferred from that Apostle's language,(2)--"Marcus, my
son."  See Clement's testimony concerning him (with Eusebius) in vol.
ii.  pp.  579, 580, this series.  That he founded the "Evangelical See,"
though resting on great historic authority,(3) seems to be doubted in
our times by some.

569

II.

(Our holy father Mark, p.  556.)

 While St.  Mark could not have written this, it may, of course, have
been added at a very early date.(1) This most touching prayer bears
marks of great antiquity, the reference to our "Christ-loving sovereign"
comporting better with the early enthusiasm inspired by Constantine's
conversion than with the disappointments incurred under his Arianizing
or apostate successors.  Now, this commemoration of St.  Mark would of
itself attach his name to the liturgy.

 But here is the place to note the principles of these primitive prayers
for saints departed.  (1) They could only be offered in behalf of the
holy dead who had fallen asleep in full communion with Christ and His
Church; (2) They were not prayers for their deliverance out of one place
into another; (3) They recognised the repose (not yet the triumph) of
the faithful departed as incomplete, and hence (4) invoked for them a
blessed consummation of peace and joy in the resurrection.

 Now, all this is fatal to the Roman dogmas and usages, because (1) they
thus include St.  Mark and the Blessed Virgin in these commemorations;
while Rome teaches, not only that these great saints went immediately to
the excellent glory, and there have reigned with Christ ever since they
died, but (2) that on this very ground, and that of their supererogatory
merits, the Pontiff holds a purse(2) of their excessive righteousness to
dispense to meaner Christians.

 St.  Augustine speaks of his dear Nebridius as in Abraham's bosom,(3)
but finds comfort in commemorating him and Monica his mother, "because
it is so comfortable."  This is his idea, in a word: "Et credo jam
feceris quod te rogo, sed (Ps.  cxix.  108) voluntaria oris mei,
approba, Domine."

III.

(Holy things for the holy, p.  559.)

 Bingham(4) has so fully elucidated this by quotations from Chrysostom
(Hom.  vii.)  and others, that one might think it useless to attach to
it any other meaning than that which Chrysostom understands in it; viz.,
"Holy things for holy persons."  It occurs just before the communicating
of the faithful, and has nothing whatever to do with the "elevation of
the host,"--a Western ceremony of the fourteenth century.(5) Yet, in an
otherwise (generally) useful manual of liturgies, an attempt is made to
give it this meaning; and the preceding prayer of "Intense Adoration,"
addressed to the Great High Priest in the heavens, is debased to eke out
the weak idea.  Nothing could be more averse to the primitive principle
of worship;(6) but it is sufficient to note the fact that the "elevation
of the host" revolutionized the eucharistic worship of the West as soon
as it was established.  (1) It abolished the Eucharist practically as
the synaxis, or communion of the faithful, and made it only a sacrifice
far them in their behalf; (2) not to be eaten and received, but to be
gazed at; (3) not for all the faithful at all times, excluding even
catechumens from beholding it, but to be displayed to all eyes in
pompous ceremonials, carried through the streets, and dispensed only in
half-communion, once a year, to the individual communicant.  All these
ancient liturgies, corrupted as they are in all the mss.  we possess,
are yet liturgies for communicating the faithful, in their turns,(7) one
and all; and, so far, they are true to the Scriptures and the precepts
of Christ and His Apostles.  But well does the pious Hirscher exclaim,
with reference to

570

the Mass, as he was obliged to celebrate it in his own gorgeous
cathedral at Freiburg in the Breisgau: "What would an Apostle think we
were doing, should he enter during Our ceremonies?"  Also, "I know all
that can be said in their favour.  I know just as well that by them the
spirit is turned apart from internal godliness, and borne away; and
that, with such appeals to sense, withdrawal from things of sense
becomes impossible.... God is a Spirit: He looks to be adored in spirit
and in truth, and all ceremonial which dulls the adoration(1) of the
spirit is odious to God.  To glorify self, as His minister, before the
King of kings, before the majesty of the Creator, before His Christ,
naked and crucified,--is it not an absurdity, a ceremony of
contradictions?  The people no longer comprehend the ceremonial ... to
see them satisfied by mere corporal attendance, is it not deplorable?
They do not understand Latin.  Is it not melancholy that they take no
real part in the touching offices of the Holy Week?  Is not a deplorable
indifference the result; in France, for example?  Nay, at Rome also?"(2)

 His remonstrances were vain; he was cruelly censured, yet he died in
the Papal communion.  Dear Hirscher!  The venerable man kissed me when I
parted from him in 1851,(3) and gave me his blessing with a primitive
spirit of Christian charity.  I gratefully quote him here.

 In Germany a passing stranger often sees the pious peasantry at Mass,
singing with all their hearts their beautiful German hymns.  It
misleads, however.  They are not attending to the Mass, but consoling
themselves by spiritual songs, while it goes on without their
assistance.  The bell rings: they adore the host, but that is all their
relation to the worship of the Christian liturgies.  Hirscher loved
their hymns, but bewailed the utter loss of their liturgic communion,
once common to the faithful.(4)

IV.

(Teachers of the Easterns, etc., p.  561.)

 The apostle Thaddeus is called Addai in Syriac.  Maris is said to have
been one of the seventy disciples, but his name is not on the list
ascribed to Hippolytus.  He was the first bishop of the people now
called "Nestorians," but whom Dr.  Badger(5) prefers to call "the
Christians of Assyria."

 We have this liturgy in another form in Dr.  Badger's important work,
Nestorians and their Rituals.  He selects that called "the Liturgy of
Nestorius" from three which are in use among the Assyrians, but
criticises the translation of Renaudot as not entirely faultless.  It is
selected by Dr.  Badger because of its reputed Nestorianism; while
Hammond gives us what is here translated, in Renaudot's Latin.(6) We
must bear in mind, that, since the Ephesine Council (A.D. 431), these
Christians have been separated from the communion of Eastern orthodoxy.

 The Malabar Liturgy should be carefully compared with this by the
student.  A convenient translation of it is to be found in Neale and
Littledale.  A most important fact, by the way, is noted in their
translation;(7) viz., that in this Malabar "the invocation of the Holy
Ghost, contrary to the use of every other Oriental liturgy, preceded the
words of institution;" that is to say, in the work of the Portuguese
revisers, a work from which Dr.  Neale and his colleague feel justified
in making "a considerable alteration" as to the order of the prayers.

 The words of institution are found in the Malabar, and suggest that
they belong not less to this Liturgy of the Assyrians, though, ex summa
verecundia,(8) they are omitted from the transcript, as the Lord's
Prayer is omitted in the Clementine.

571

 The normal form of this corrupted liturgy is credited with extreme
antiquity by Dr.  Neale.  To his learned and cogent reasoning on the
subject the student should by all means refer.(1)

V.

(For all the prophets and confessors, p.  565.)

 These commemorations of the dead, it will be noted, are in behalf of
the most glorious apostles and saints, and for martyrs who go straight
to glory.  Obviously, as Usher has said,(2) for whatever purpose, then,
the departed were commemorated, it was not to change their estate before
the resurrection, much less to relieve them from purgatorial penalties.
This comes out in the "Liturgy of St.  Chrysostom" (so called), where it
is said: "We offer to Thee this reasonable service for those who have
fallen asleep in faith, ... patriarchs, apostles, evangelists, martyrs,
... and every just one made perfect in the faith: especially our all-
holy, undefiled, most blessed Lady, Theotokos and ever-virgin Mary,"
etc.  But she, they tell us, was assumed into glory, like Christ
Himself, and reigns with Him as "Queen of Angels," etc.  See Elucidation
II. p.  569.

VI.

(The propitiatory blood, etc., p.  566.)

 The peril of confounding the early use of this idea of propitiation
with the mediaeval theory, which is quite another, is well pointed out
and enforced by Burbidge.(3) The primitive writers and the ancient
liturgies "do not regard the Eucharist as being itself a propitiatory
offering," but it is the perpetual pleading of the blood of propitiation
once offered.  Thus St.  Chrysostom: "We do not offer another sacrifice,
but always the same."  So far, his words might be quoted to favour the
Middle-Age doctrine; but he guards himself, and adds:(4) "or, rather, we
make a memorial of the sacrifice."

 The rhetoric of the liturgies and of the Fathers was unhappily made
into the logic of the Schoolmen, and hence the stupendous system of
propitiatory Masses, with Masses for the dead, and that traffic in
Masses which so fearfully defiles the priesthood of Western Europe and
the Spanish and Portuguese colonies in America.  In vain does the pious
Hirscher complain:(5) "The rich, then, are the happy sinners in this
respect: they can buy innumerable Masses, and establish them in
perpetuity; their privileges have no limit, and their advantages over
the poor extend through all eternity."His book was put into the Index
(Acts xvi.  19, xix.  27), but it was never answered.

VII.

 Let me now recur to Elucidation III. on p.  507, to which I would here
add the following from Bishop Williams, as there quoted:--

 "In both the Mozarabic and the Gallican Liturgies there was an
invocation as well as an oblation.  Irenaeus(6) says (and he, writing at
Lyons, must have in mind the Gallican Liturgy), ' The bread which is of
the earth, having received the invocation of God, is no longer common
bread, but the Eucharist.'  The word translated 'invocation' is
<greek>epiklhsin</greek>; and it is worthy of notice that Basil and
Cyril of Jerusalem use the same word in evidently the same technical
sense (Harvey's Irenaeus, vol.  ii.  pp.  205-207 and notes). In another
passage Irenaeus(7) speaks even more distinctly: ' We offer to God the
bread and the cup of blessing, giving thanks to Him for that He hath
commanded the earth to bring forth these fruits for our nourishment;
and, having finished the offering.

572

we invoke the Holy Spirit that He may exhibit (or declare,
<greek>apofhnh</greek>) this sacrifice and bread the body of Christ, and
the cup the blood of Christ, that they who shall receive these antitypes
may obtain remission of sins and everlasting life' (Harvey's Irenaeus,
vol.  ii.  p.  502). This passage is a remarkable one.  It proves beyond
question, that, in the time of Irenaeus d.  A.D. 202 or 208), the
Liturgy of Gaul contained an invocation of the Holy Ghost following the
oblation of the bread and cup.  Moreover, when we compare the words of
Irenaeus with those of the Clementine Liturgy, their agreement is too
clear and precise to be explained as a mere chance-matter.  The liturgy
reads, ' Send down Thy Holy Spirit on this sacrifice, the witness of the
sufferings of the Lord Jesus, that He may exhibit
(<greek>apofhnh</greek>) this bread, the body of Thy Christ, and this
cup, the blood of Thy Christ, that they who shall receive,'(1) etc.
Irenaeus says as above, using the same word (<greek>apofhnh</greek>), a
word which is found, it is believed, in no liturgy but the Clementine."

 Now I humbly suggest that Justin Martyr and Irenaeus concur in giving
us evidence that the Clementine Liturgy is substantially that which was
used in Rome and Gaul in their times.  The latter may have received it
from Polycarp.  The use of the Roman and the Greek churches was uniform
in his day, as may be inferred from the intercourse of Polycarp and
Victor.(2)