Hence the wealth and
grandeur
of the
state.
state.
Tacitus
** This is said conformably to the opinion of the Stoics.
{39}
incorruptible progeny of a divine and incorporeal nature*, or whatever
other appellation they may think fit to give it; those who thus hope,
(but I say this in accordance with Divinity,) in this respect think
rightly, that those who have lived well in this life will be blessed,
but that those who have been entirely unjust, will be involved in
endless evils. And neither the Christians nor any other man were ever
hostile to this dogma.
"Since men are bound to body, whether they are so for the sake of the
dispensation of the whole of things, or in order that they may suffer
the punishment of their offences, or in consequence of the soul through
certain passions becoming heavy and tending downwards, till through
certain orderly periods it becomes purified;--for according to
Empedocles, it is necessary that
'From the blest wandering thrice ten thousand times,
Through various mortal forms the soul should pass. '--
* This is asserted in accordance with the doctrine of the
Platonists.
** This 30,000 times must not be considered mathematically;
since it symbolically indicates a certain appropriate
measure of perfection. For in units S is a perfect number,
as having a beginning, middle, and end. And again, 10 is
perfect, because it comprehends all numbers in itself.
These numbers, however, were call-. . .
{40}
This being the case, it is requisite to believe that men are committed
to the care of certain inspective guardians of this prison the body.
"That to the least of things, however, are allotted guardian powers,
may be learnt from the Egyptians, who say that the human body is divided
into thirty-six parts, and that dæmons* or certain etherial gods who are
distributed into the same number of parts, are the guardians of these
divisions of the body. Some also assert, that there is a much greater
number of these presiding powers; different corporeal parts being under
the inspection of different powers. The names of these also in the
vernacular tongue of the Egyptians are Chnoumën, Chnachoumën, Knat,
Sicat, Biou, Erou, Erebiou, Ramanor, Reianoor. What, therefore, should
prevent him from making use of these and other powers, who wishes
rather to be well than to be ill, to be fortunate rather than to be
unfortunate, and to be liberated from such
. . . ed by the ancients perfect, in a different way from 6, 28,
&c. ; for these were thus denominated because they are equal
to the sum of their parts.
* i. e. beneficent dæmonss; for the ancients divided
dæmonss into the beneficent and malevolent. They also
considered the former as assisting the soul in its ascent to
its pristine state of felicity; but the latter as of a
punishing and avenging characteristic.
{41}
tormentors and castigators as these things are thought to be? *
"He, however, who invokes these powers ought to be careful, lest being
conglutinated [as it were] to the worship of them, and to a love of
the body, he should turn from and become oblivious of more excellent
natures. For it is perhaps requisite not to disbelieve in wise men, who
say that the greater part of circumterrestrial dæmons are conglutinated
to generation, and are delighted with blood, with the odour and vapour
of flesh, with melodies and with other things of the like kind**; to
which being bound, they are unable to effect any thing superior to the
sanction of the body, and the prediction of future events to men and
cities. Whatever also pertains to mortal actions they know, and are able
to bring to pass.
"If some one should command a worshiper of God either to act impiously,
or to say any thing of a most disgraceful nature, he is in no respect
whatever to be obeyed; but all trial and every kind of death are to be
endured rather than to meditate,
* Vid. Salmas. In fine libri He Annis climactericis.
** See Book II. of Taylor's translation of Porphyry,--On
Abstinence from Animal Food.
{42}
and much more to assert, any thing impious concerning God. But if any
one should order us to celebrate the Sun or Minerva, we ought most
gladly to sing hymns to their praise. For thus you will appear to
venerate the supreme God in a greater degree *, if you also celebrate
these powers: for piety when it passes through all things becomes more
perfect. "
EXTRACTS FROM, AND INFORMATION RELATIVE TO, THE TREATISE OF PORPHYRY
AGAINST THE CHRISTIANS
[Illustration: Porphyry]
This work of Porphyry consisted of Fifteen Books, and is unfortunately
lost. It is frequently mentioned by the Fathers of the Church, from
whose writings the following particulars are collected.
The First Book appears to have contained a development of the
contrariety of the Scriptures, and proofs that they did not proceed from
Divinity, but from men. To this end Porphyry especially adduces what
Paul writes to the Galatians, chap. ii.
* For as the ineffable principle of things possesses all
power and the highest power, he first produced from himself
beings most transcendently allied to himself; and therefore,
by venerating these, the highest God will be in a greater
degree venerated, as being a greater veneration of his
power.
{43}
viz. that "when Peter came to Antioch, he withstood him to his face,
because he was to be blamed. " Hence Porphyry infers, "that the Apostles,
and indeed the chief of them, did not publicly study the salvation
of all men, but that each of them was privately attentive to his own
renown. " This the Fathers testify in more than one place. See the
Commentary of Jerome on the above-mentioned Epistle. Jerome also, in his
89th Epistle to Augustin, informs us that Porphyry says, "that Peter and
Paul opposed each other in a puerile contest, and that Paul was envious
of the virtue of Peter. "
The Third Book treated of the interpretation of the Scriptures, in
which Porphyry condemned the mode of explaining them adopted by the
commentators, and especially the allegories of Origen. This is evident
from a long extract from this work of Porphyry given by Eusebius in
Hist. Eccl. lib. i. cap. 13.
The Fourth Book treated of the Mosaic history and the antiquities of the
Jews, as we learn from Eusebius, Proep. Evang. lib. i. cap. 9, and from
Theo-doret, Serm. ii. Therap.
But the Twelfth Book was the most celebrated of all, in which Porphyry
strenuously opposes the
{44}
prophecy of Daniel. Of this work Jerome thus speaks in the Preface to
his Commentary on that prophet: "Porphyry's twelfth book is against the
prophet Daniel, as he was unwilling to admit that it was written by that
prophet, but contends that it was composed by a person in Judæa named
Epiphanes, and who lived in the time of Antiochus. Hence he says,
that Daniel does not so much narrate future as past events. Lastly, he
asserts, that whatever is related as far as to the reign of Antiochus
contains a true history; but that all that is said posterior to this
time, as the writer was ignorant of futurity, is false. "
The Thirteenth Book also, according to Jerome*, was written against
the same prophet; in which book, speaking of the "abomination of
desolation," as it is called by Daniel, (when standing in the sacred
place,) he says many reproachful things of the Christians.
The same Jerome likewise, in Epist. ci. , ad Pam-machium, testifies, that
Porphyry accuses the history of the Evangelists of falsehood, and says**
that Christ, after he had told his brethren that he should
* Vid. lib. iv. Comment, in 24 Cap. Matth.
** Lib. ii. adversus Pelagianos.
{45}
not go up to the feast of tabernacles, yet afterwards went up to it
(John vii. ). Hence Porphyry accuses him of inconstancy and mutability.
Jerome's observation on this is curious, viz. "Nesciens omnia scandala
ad carnem esse referenda. "
Jerome adds (in Lib. Quasst. Hebraic, in Genesin) "that Porphyry
calumniates the Evangelists for making a miracle to the ignorant, by
asserting that Christ walked on the sea, calling the lake Genezareth
the sea. " He likewise says, that Porphyry called the miracles which
were performed at the sepulchres of the martyrs, "the delusions of evil
demons. "
The following remarkable passage from one of the lost writings of
Porphyry relative to the Christians, is preserved by Augustin in his
Treatise De Civit. lib. xix. cap. 23.
"Sunt spiritus terreni minimi loco terreno quodam malorum dæmonum
potestati subjecti. Ab his sapientes Hebræorum, quorum unus iste etiam
Jesus fuit, sicut audivisti divina Apollonis oracula quæ superius dicta
sunt. Ab his ergo _Hebæi_ dsemonibus pessimis et minoribus spiritibus
vetabant religiosos, et ipsis vacare prohibebant: venerari autem magis
coelestes Deos, amplius autem venerari Deum patrem. Hoc autem et Dii
præcipiunt, et in
{40}
superioibus ostendimus, quemadmodum animadvertere ad Deum monent, et
ilium colère ubique imperant. Verum indocti et impiæ naturae, quibus
vere Fatum non concessit a Dius dona obtinere, neque habere Jovis
immortalis notitiam, non audientes Deos et divinos viros; Deos quidem
omnes recusaverunt, prohibitos autem dæmones non solum nullis odiis
insequi, sed etiam revereri delegerunt. Deum autem simulantes se colère,
ea sola per quae Deus adoratur, non agunt. Nam Deus quidem utpote omnium
pater nullius indiget: sed nobis est bene, cum eum per justitiam et
castitatem, aliasque virtutes adoramus, ipsam vitam precem ad ipsum
fa-cientes, per imitationem et inquisitionem de ipso. Inquisitio enim
purgat, imitatio deificat affectionem ad ipsum operando. "
i. e. "There are terrene spirits of the lowest order, who in a certain
terrene place are subject to the power of evil demons. From these were
derived the wise men of the Hebrews, of whom Jesus also was one; as you
have heard the divine oracles of Apollo above mentioned assert. From
these worst of demons therefore, and lesser spirits of the _Hebrew_,
the oracles forbid the religious, and prohibit from paying attention to
them, but exhort them rather to venerate the celestial gods, and still
more the father of the gods. And we have above
{47}
shown how the gods admonish us to look to Divinity, and everywhere
command us to worship him. But the unlearned and impious natures, to
whom Fate has not granted truly to obtain gifts from the gods, and to
have a knowledge of immortal Jupiter,--these not attending to the gods
and divine men, reject indeed all the gods, and are so far from hating
prohibited demons, that they even choose to reverence them*. But
pretending that they worship God, they do not perform those things
through which alone God is adored. For God, indeed, as being the father
of all things, is not in want of any thing; but it is well with us when
we adore him through justice and continence, and the other
*The Platonic philosopher Sallust, in his golden book On the
Gods and the World, says, alluding to the Christians, cap.
18, "Impiety, which invades some places of the earth, and
which will often subsist in future, ought not to give any
disturbance to the worthy mind; for things of this kind do
not affect, nor can religious honours be of any advantage to
the gods; and the soul from its middle nature is not always
able to pursue that which is right Besides, it is not
improbable that impiety is a species of punishment; for
those who have known and at the same time despised the gods,
we may reasonably suppose will in another life be deprived
of the knowledge of their nature. And those who have
honoured their proper sovereigns as gods, shall be cut off
from the divinities, as the punishment of their impiety. "
{48}
virtues, making our life a prayer to him through the imitation and
investigation of him. For investigation purifies, but imitation deifies
the affection of the mind by energizing about divinity. "
The following extract from Porphyry concerning a pestilence which raged
for many years at Rome, and could not be mitigated by any sacrifices, is
preserved by Theodoret: "[--------]. " i. e. "The Christians now wonder
that the city has been for so many years attacked by disease, the advent
[or manifest appearance] of Esculapius and the other gods no longer
existing. For Jesus being now reverenced and worshiped, no one any
longer derives any public benefit from the gods. "
A FRAGMENT OF THE THIRTY-FOURTH BOOK OF DIODORUS SICULUS.
"King Antiochus besieged Jerusalem; but the Jews resisted him for some
time. When, however, all their provision was spent, they were forced to
send ambassadors to him to treat on terms. Many of his friends persuaded
him to storm the city, and
{49}
to root out the whole nation of the Jews; because they only, of all
people, hated to converse with any of another nation, and treated all of
them as enemies. They likewise suggested to him, that the ancestors of
the Jews were driven out of Egypt as impious and hateful to the Gods.
For their bodies being overspread and infected with the itch and
leprosy, they brought them together into one place by way of expiation,
and as profane and wicked wretches expelled them from their coasts.
Those too that were thus expelled seated themselves about Jerusalem,
and being afterwards embodied into one nation, called the nation of
the Jews, their hatred of all other men descended with their blood to
posterity. Hence they made strange laws, entirely different from those
of other nations. In consequence of this, they will neither eat nor
drink with any one of a different nation, nor wish him any prosperity.
For, say they, Antiochus, surnamed Epiphanes, having subdued the Jews,
entered into the temple of God, into which by their law no one was
permitted to enter but the priest. Here, when he found the image of a
man with a long beard carved in stone sitting on an ass, he conceived
it to be Moses who built Jerusalem, established the nation, and made all
their impious customs and practises legal: for these abound in hatred
and enmity to all other men. Antiochus, therefore, abhorring this
{50}
their contrariety to all other nations, used his utmost endeavour to
abrogate their laws. In order to effect this, he sacrificed a large hog
at the image of Moses and at the altar of God that stood in the outward
court, and sprinkled them with the blood of the sacrifice. He commanded
likewise that the sacred books, whereby they were taught to hate all
other nations, should be sprinkled with the broth made of the hog's
flesh. And he extinguished the lamp called by them immortal, which was
continually burning in the temple. Lastly, he compelled the high priest
and the other Jews to eat swine's flesh. Afterwards, when Antiochus and
his friends had deliberately considered these things, they urged him to
root out the whole nation, or at least to abrogate their laws and compel
them to change their former mode of conducting themselves in common
life. But the king being generous and of a mild disposition, received
hostages and pardoned the Jews. He demolished, however, the walls of
Jerusalem, and took the tribute that was due. "
FROM MANETHO RESPECTING THE ISRAELITES.
"While such was the state of things in Ethiopia, the people of
Jerusalem, having come down with the defiled of the Egyptians, treated
the inhabitants in such an unholy manner, that those who witnessed
{51}
their impieties, believed that their joint sway was more execrable than
that which the shepherds had formerly exercised. For they not only set
fire to the cities and villages, but committed every kind of sacrilege,
and destroyed the images of the gods, and roasted and fed upon those
sacred animals that were worshipped; and having compelled the priests
and prophets to kill and sacrifice them, they cast them naked out of the
country. It is said also that the priest who ordained their polity and
laws was by birth of Heliopolis, and his name Osarsiph, from Osons the
god of Heliopolis; but that when he went over to these people, his name
was changed, and he was called Moÿses. "
Manetho again says: "After this, Amenophis returned from Ethiopia with
a great force, and Rampses also his son with other forces; and
encountering the shepherds and defiled people, they defeated and slew
multitudes of them, add pursued them to the bounds of Syria. "--Joseph
contn App. lib. i. cap. 26, & 27.
"Cherilus also, a still more ancient writer [than Herodotus], and a
poet, makes mention of our nation, and informs us that it came to the
assistance of king Xerxes in his expedition against Greece. For in his
enumeration of all those nations, he last of
{52}
all inserts ours among the rest, when he says: "At the last, there
passed over a people wonderful to behold; for they spake the Phoenician
tongue, and dwelt in the Solymæan mountains, near a broad lake. Their
heads were sooty; they had round rasures on them; their heads and
faces were like nasty horse heads, also, that had been hardened in the
smoke. "--Whiston's Josephus, vol. iv. p. 299.
EXTRACTS FROM THE FIFTH BOOK OF TACITUS RESPECTING THE JEWS, AS
TRANSLATED BY MURPHY.
"Being now to relate the progress of a siege that terminated in the
destruction of that once celebrated city [Jerusalem], it may be proper
to go back to its first foundation, and to trace the origin of the
people. The Jews we are told were natives of the Isle of Crete. At the
time when Saturn was driven from his throne by the violence of Jupiter,
they abandoned their habitations, and gained a settlement at the
extremity of Libya. In support of this tradition, the etymology of their
name is adduced as a proof. Mount Ida, well known to fame, stands in
the Isle of Crete: the inhabitants are called Idæans; and the word by
a barbarous corruption was changed afterwards to that of Judæans.
According to others they were a colony from Egypt, when that country,
during the reign of Isis,
{53}
overflowing with inhabitants poured forth its redundant numbers under
the conduct of Hierosolymus and Juda. A third hypothesis makes them
originally Ethiopians, compelled by the tyranny of Cepheus, the reigning
monarch, to abandon their country. Some authors contend that they were
a tribe of Assyrians, who for some time occupied a portion of Egypt, and
afterwards transplanting themselves into Syria, acquired in their own
right a number of cities, together with the territories of the Hebrews.
There is still another tradition, which ascribes to the Jews a more
illustrious origin, deriving them from the ancient Solymans, so highly
celebrated in the poetry of Homer. By that people the city was built,
and from its founder received the name of Hierosolyma.
"In this clash of opinions, one point seems to be universally admitted.
A pestilential disease, disfiguring the race of man, and making the body
an object of loathsome deformity, spread all over Egypt. Bocchoris, at
that time the reigning monarch, consulted the oracle of Jupiter
Ammon, and received for answer that the kingdom must be purified by
exterminating the infected multitude as a race of men detested by the
gods. After diligent search, the wretched sufferers were collected
together, and in a wild and barren desert abandoned to their misery.
In that distress, while the vulgar herd was
{54}
sunk in deep despair, Moses, one of their number, reminded them, that
by the wisdom of his counsels they had been already rescued out of
impending danger. Deserted as they were by men and gods, he told them
that if they did not repose their confidence in him, as their chief by
divine commission, they had no resource left. His offer was accepted.
Their march began they knew not whither. Want of water was their chief
distress. Worn out with fatigue they lay stretched out on the bare
earth, heart-broken, ready to expire; when a troop of wild asses,
returning from pasture, went up the steep ascent of a rock covered with
a grove of trees. The verdure of the herbage round the place, suggested
the idea of springs near at hand. Moses traced the steps of the animals,
and discovered a plentiful vein of water. By this relief the fainting
multitude was raised from despair. They pursued their journey for six
days without intermission. On the seventh they made a halt, and having
expelled the natives took possession of the country, where they built
their city and dedicated their temple.
"In order to draw the bond of union closer, and to establish his own
authority, Moses gave a new form of worship, and a system of religious
ceremonies, the reverse of every thing known to any other age or
country. _Whatever is held sacred by_
{55}
_the Romans, with the Jews is profane: and what in other nations is
unlawful and impure, with them is fully established_. The figure of
the animal that guided them to refreshing springs is consecrated in the
sanctuary of their temple*. In contempt of Jupiter Hammon they sacrifice
a ram. The ox worshiped in Egypt for the god Apis is slain as a victim
by the Jews. From the flesh of swine they abstain altogether. An animal
subject to the same leprous disease that infected their whole nation, is
not deemed proper food. The famine with which they were for a long time
afflicted, is frequently commemorated by a solemn fast. Their bread,
in memory of their having seized a quantity of grain to relieve their
wants, is made without leaven. The seventh day is sacred to rest, for
on that day their labours ended; and such is their natural propensity to
sloth, that in consequence of it every seventh year is devoted to repose
and sluggish inactivity. For this septennial custom some account in a
* Conformably to this, see what Diodorus Siculus says (in
the extract given from him, p. 49. ): Josephus denies that
the figure of an ass was consecrated in the sanctuary of the
Jewish temple. But this does not invalidate the testimony of
Diodorus Siculus to the contrary. For Antiochus when he
subdued the Jews might have found the image of this animal
in their temple; but in the time of Josephus the ass might
not have been consecrated by them.
{56}
different manner: they tell us that it is an institution in honour of
Saturn; either because the Idæans, expelled, as has been mentioned,
from the Isle of Crete, transmitted to their posterity the principles
of their religious creed; or because among the seven planets that govern
the universe, Saturn moves in the highest orbit, and acts with the
greatest energy. It may be added that the period in which the heavenly
bodies perform their revolutions is regulated by the number seven.
"These rites and ceremonies, from whatever source derived, owe their
chief support to their antiquity.
They have other institutions, in themselves corrupt, impure, and even
abominable; but eagerly embraced, as if their very depravity were a
recommendation. The scum and refuse of other nations, renouncing the
religion of their country, flocked in crowds to Jerusalem, enriching
the place with gifts and offerings.
Hence the wealth and grandeur of the
state. Connected amongst themselves by the most obstinate and inflexible
faith, the Jews extend their charity to all of their own persuasion,
while towards the rest of mankind they nourish a sullen and inveterate
hatred. Strangers are excluded from their tables. Unsociable to all
others, they eat and lodge with one another only; and though addicted to
sensuality, they admit no intercourse with women
{57}
from other nations. Among themselves their passions are without
restraint. Vice itself is lawful. That they may know each other by
distinctive marks, they have established the practice of circumcision.
All who embrace their faith, submit to the same operation. The first
elements of their religion teach their proselytes to despise the gods,
to abjure their country, and forget their parents, their brothers,
and their children. With the Egyptians they agree in their belief of a
future state; they have the same notion of departed spirits, the same
solicitude, and the same doctrine. With regard to the Deity their creed
is different. The Egyptians worship various animals, and also symbolical
representations, which are the work of man: the Jews acknowledge one
God only, and him they adore in contemplation; condemning as impious
idolaters all who, with perishable materials wrought into the human
form, attempt to give a representation of the Deity. Their priests made
use of fifes and cymbals; they were crowned with wreaths of ivy, and a
vine wrought in gold was seen in their temple. Hence some have inferred
that Bacchus, the conqueror of the East, was the object of their
adoration. But the Jewish forms of worship have no conformity to the
rites of Bacchus. The latter have their festive days which are always
celebrated with mirth and carousing banquets. Those of the Jews are a
gloomy ceremony,
{58}
fall of absurd enthusiasm, rueful, mean, and sordid. "
--------
"Chæremon *, professing to write the history of Egypt, says, that under
Amenophis and his son Ramessis two hundred and fifty thousand leprous
and polluted men were cast out of Egypt. Their leaders were Moses the
scribe, and Josephus, who was also a sacred scribe. The Egyptian name
of Moses was Tisithen, of Joseph Peteseph. These coming to Pelusium, and
finding there 380,000 men left by Amenophis, which he would not admit
into Egypt, making a league with them, they undertook an expedition
against Egypt. Upon this Amenophis flies into Ethiopia, and his son
Messenes drives out the Jews into Syria, in number about 200,000, and
receives his father Amenophis out of Ethiopia. I know Lysimachus**
assigns another king and another time in which Moses led the Israelites
out of Egypt, and that was when Bocchoris reigned in Egypt; the nation
of the Jews, being infected with leprosies and scabs and other diseases,
betook themselves to the temples to beg their living, and many being
tainted with the disease, there happened a dearth in Egypt. Whereupon
Bocchoris consulting
* Joseph, lib. i. contra Apionem.
** Idem.
{59}
with the oracle of Ammon, received for answer that the leprous people
were to be drowned in the sea, in sheets of lead, and the scabbed were
to be carried into the wilderness; who choosing Moses for their
leader, conquered that country which is now called Judæa. "--Greaves
Pyramidograpkia, p. 26.
EXTRACTS FROM THE WORKS OF THE EMPEROR JULIAN RELATIVE TO THE
CHRISTIANS.
[Illustration: Julian]
EXTRACT FROM EPISTLE LI. TO THE ALEXANDRIANS.
"As the founder of your city was Alexander, and your ruler and tutelar
deity King Serapis, together with the virgin his associate, and the
queen of all Egypt, Isis, * * *, you do not emulate a healthy city, but
the diseased part dares to arrogate to itself the name of [the whole]
city. By the gods, Men of Alexandria, I should be very much ashamed, if,
in short, any Alexandrian should acknowledge himself to be a Galilæan.
"The ancestors of the Hebrews were formerly slaves to the Egyptians.
But now, Men of Alexandria, you, the conquerors of Egypt (for Egypt
was conquered by your founder), sustain a voluntary servitude to the
despisers of your national dogmas, in opposition to your ancient sacred
institutions. And you do not recollect your former
{60}
felicity, when all Egypt had communion with the gods, and we enjoyed an
abundance of good. But, tell me, what advantage has accrued to your city
from those who now introduce among you a new religion? Your founder was
that pious man Alexander of Macedon, who did not, by Jupiter! resemble
any one of these, or any of the Hebrews, who far excelled them. Even
Ptolemy, the son of Lagus, was also superior to them. As to Alexander,
if he had encountered, he would have endangered even the Romans. What
then did the Ptolemies, who succeeded your founder? Educating your city,
like their own daughter, from her infancy, they did not bring her to
maturity by the discourses of Jesus, nor did they construct the form
of government, through which she is now happy, by the doctrine of the
odious Galilæans.
"Thirdly: After the Romans became its masters, taking it from the
bad government of the Ptolemies, Augustus visited your city, and thus
addressed the citizens: 'Men of Alexandria, I acquit your city of all
blame, out of regard to the great god Serapis,
and also for the sake of the people, and the grandeur of the city. A
third cause of my kindness to you is my friend Areus. ' This Areus,
the companion of Augustus Caesar, and a philosopher, was your
fellow-citizen.
{61}
"The particular favours conferred on your city by the Olympic gods
were, in short, such as these. Many more, not to be prolix, I omit. But
those blessings which the apparent gods bestow in common every day, not
on one family, nor on a single city, but on the whole world, why do you
not acknowledge? Are you alone insensible of the splendour that flows
from the sun? Are you alone ignorant that summer and winter are produced
by him, and that all things are alone vivified and alone germinate from
him? Do you not, also, perceive the great advantages that accrue to your
city from the moon, from him and by him the fabricator of all things?
Yet you dare not worship either of these deities; but this Jesus, whom
neither you nor your fathers have seen, you think must necessarily be
God the word, while him, whom from eternity every generation of mankind
has seen, and sees and venerates, and by venerating lives happily, I
mean the mighty sun, a living, animated, intellectual, and beneficent
image of the intelligible Father, you despise. If, however, you listen
to my admonitions, you will by degrees return to truth. You will not
wander from the right path, if you will be guided by him, who to the
twentieth year of his age pursued that road, but has now worshiped the
gods for near twelve years. "
{62}
EXTRACTS FROM THE FRAGMENT OF AN ORATION OR EPISTLE ON THE DUTIES OF A
PRIEST.
"If any are detected behaving disorderly to their prince, they are
immediately punished; but those who refuse to approach the gods, are
possessed by a tribe of evil dæmons, who driving many of the atheists
[i. e. of the Christians] to distraction, make them think death
desirable, that they may fly up into heaven, after having forcibly
dislodged their souls. Some of them prefer deserts to towns; but man,
being by nature a gentle and social animal, they also are abandoned to
evil dæmons, who urge them to this misanthropy; and many of them*
have had recourse to chains and collars. Thus, on all sides, they are
impelled by an evil dæmons, to whom they have voluntarily surrendered
themselves, by forsaking the eternal and saviour gods.
"Statues and altars, and the preservation of the unextinguished fire,
and in short all such particulars, have been established by our fathers,
as symbols of the presence of the gods; not that we should believe that
these symbols are gods, but that through these we should worship the
gods. For since we are connected with body, it is also
* i. e. The Cappadocian monks and hermits.
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necessary that our worship of the gods should be performed in a
corporeal manner; but they are incorporeal. And they, indeed, have
exhibited to us as the first of statues, that which ranks as the second
genus of gods from the first, and which circularly revolves round the
whole of heaven*. Since, however, a corporeal worship cannot even be
paid to these, because they are naturally unindigent, a third kind of
statues was devised in the earth, by the worship of which we render the
gods propitious to us. For as those who reverence the images of kings,
who are not in want of any such reverence, at the same time attract to
themselves their benevolence; thus, also, those who venerate the statues
of the gods, who are not in want of any thing, persuade the gods by
this veneration to assist and be favourable to them. For alacrity in the
performance of things in our power is a document of true sanctity;
and it is very evident that he who accomplishes the former, will in a
greater degree possess the latter. But he who despises things in his
power, and afterwards pretends to desire impossibilities, evidently does
not pursue the
* Meaning those divine bodies the celestial orbs, which in
consequence of participating a divine life from the
incorporeal powers from which they are suspended, may be
very properly called secondary gods.
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latter, but overlooks the former. For though divinity is not in want
of any thing, it does not follow that on this account nothing is to be
offered to him. For neither is he in want of celebration through the
ministry of _words_. What then? Is it, therefore, reasonable that he
should also be deprived of this? By no means. Neither, therefore, is he
to be deprived of the honour which is paid him through _works_; which
honour has been legally established, not for three or for three thousand
years, but in all preceding ages, among all nations of the earth.
"But [the Galilaeans will say], O! you who have admitted into your
soul every multitude of dæmons, whom, though according to you they are
formless and unfigured, you have fashioned in a corporeal resemblance,
it is not fit that honour should be paid to divinity through such works.
How, then, do we not consider as wood and stones those statues which
are fashioned by the hands of men? O more stupid than even stones
themselves! Do you fancy that all men are to be drawn by the nose as
you are drawn by execrable dæmonss, so as to think that the artificial
resemblances of the gods are the gods themselves? Looking, therefore, to
the resemblances of the gods, we do not think them to be either stones
or wood; for neither do we
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think that the gods are these resemblances; since neither do we say that
royal images are wood, or stone, or brass, nor that they are the kings
therefore, but the images of kings. Whoever, therefore, loves his king,
beholds with pleasure the image of his king; whoever loves his child is
delighted with his image; and whoever loves his father surveys his image
with delight. Hence, also, he who is a lover of divinity gladly surveys
the statues and images of the gods; at the same time venerating and
fearing with a holy dread the gods who invisibly behold him*. If,
therefore, some
* The Catholics have employed similar arguments in defence
of the reverence which they pay to the images of the men
whom they call saints. But the intelligent reader need not
be told, that it is one thing to venerate the images of
those divine powers which proceed from the great first Cause
of all things, and eternally subsist concentrated and rooted
in him, and another to reverence the images of men, who when
living were the disgrace of human nature. In addition to
what is said by Julian on this subject, the following
extract from the treatise of Sallust, on the Gods, and the
World, is well worthy the attentive perusal of the reader:
"A divine nature is not indigent of any thing; but the
honours which we pay to the gods are performed for the sake
of our advantage. And since the providence of the gods is
everywhere extended, a certain habitude or fitness is all
that is requisite, in order to receive their beneficent
communications. But all habitude is produced through
imitation and similitude. Hence temples imitate the
heavens, but altars,. . .
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one should fancy that these ought never to be corrupted, because they
were once called the images of the gods, such a one appears to me to
be perfectly void of intellect. For if this were admitted, it is also
requisite that they should not be made by men. That, however, which
is produced by a wise and good man may be corrupted by a depraved and
ignorant man. But the gods which circularly revolve about the heavens,
and which are living statues, fashioned by the gods themselves as
resemblances of their unapparent essence,--these remain for ever. No
one, therefore, should disbelieve in the gods, in consequence of seeing
and hearing that some persons have behaved insolently towards statues
and temples. For have there not been many who have destroyed good men,
such as Socrates and Dion, and the great Empedotimus? And who, I well
know, have, more than statues or temples, been taken care of by the
gods. See, however, that the gods, knowing the body of these to
. . . the earth; statues resemble life, and on this account
they are similar to animals. Prayers imitate that which is
intellectual; but characters, superior ineffable powers.
Herbs and stones resemble matter; and animals which are
sacrificed, the irrational life of our souls. But, from all
these, nothing happens to the gods beyond what they already
possess; for what accession can be made to a divine nature?
But a conjunction with our souls and the gods is by these
means produced.
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be corruptible, have granted that it should yield and be subservient
to nature, but afterwards have punished those by whom it was destroyed;
which clearly happened to be the case with all the sacrilegious of our
time.
"Let no one, therefore, deceive us by words, nor disturb us with
respect to providential interference. For as to the prophets of the
Jews, who reproach us with things of this kind, what will they say of
their own temple, which has been thrice destroyed, but has not been
since, even to the present time, rebuilt? I do not, however, say this as
reproaching them; for I have thought of rebuilding it, after so long
a period, in honour of the divinity who is invoked in it. But I have
mentioned this, being willing to show, that it is not possible for any
thing human to be incorruptible; and that the prophets who wrote things
of this kind were delirious, and the associates of stupid old women.
Nothing, however, hinders, I think, but that God may be great, and yet
he may not have worthy interpreters [of his will]. But this is because
they have not delivered their soul to be purified by the liberal
disciplines; nor their eyes, which are profoundly closed, to be opened;
nor the darkness which oppresses them to be purged away. Hence, like men
who survey a great light through thick darkness,
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neither see purely nor genuinely, and in consequence of this do not
conceive it to be a pure light, but a fire, and likewise perceiving
nothing of all that surrounds it, they loudly exclaim, _Be seized with
horror, be afraid, fire, flame, death, a knife, a two-edged sword_;
expressing by many names the one noxious power of fire. Of these men,
however, it is better peculiarly to observe how much inferior their
teachers of the words of God are to our poets. "
AN EDICT, FORBIDDING THE CHRISTIANS TO TEACH THE LIFE-RATURE OF THE
HEATHENS.
"We are of opinion that proper erudition consists not in words, nor
in elegant and magnificent language, but in the sane disposition of an
intelligent soul, and in true opinions of good and evil, and of what is
beautiful and base. Whoever, therefore, thinks one thing, and teaches
another to his followers, appears to be no less destitute of erudition
than he is of virtue. Even in trifles, if the mind and tongue be
at variance, there is some kind of improbity. But in affairs of the
greatest consequence, if a man thinks one thing, and teaches another
contrary to what he thinks, in what respect does this differ from the
conduct of those mean-spirited, dishonest, and abandoned traders, who
generally affirm what they know to be false, in order to deceive and
inveigle customers?
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"All, therefore, who profess to teach, ought to possess worthy manners,
and should never entertain opinions opposite to those of the public;
but such especially, I think, ought to be those who instruct youth, and
explain to them the works of the ancients, whether they are orators
or grammarians; but particularly if they are sophists. For these last
affect to be the teachers, not only of words, but of manners, and
assert that political philosophy is their peculiar province. Whether,
therefore, this be true or not, I shall not at present consider. I
commend those who make such specious promises, and should commend
them much more, if they did not falsify and contradict themselves, by
thinking one thing, and teaching their scholars another. What then? Were
not Homer, Hesiod, Demosthenes, Herodotus, Thucydides, Isocrates, and
Lysias, the leaders of all erudition? And did not some of them
consider themselves sacred to Mercury, but others to the Muses? I think,
therefore, it is absurd for those who explain their works to despise the
gods whom they honoured.
"I do not mean (for I think it would be absurd) that they should change
their opinions for the sake of instructing youth; but I give them their
option, either not to teach what they do not approve, or, if they choose
to teach, first to persuade their
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scholars that neither Homer, nor Hesiod, nor any of those whom they
expound and charge with impiety, madness, and error concerning the gods,
are really such as they represent them to be. For as they receive a
stipend, and are maintained by their works, if they can act with such
duplicity for a few drachms, they confess themselves guilty of the most
sordid avarice.
"Hitherto, indeed, many causes have prevented their resorting to the
temples; and the dangers that everywhere impended, were a plea for
concealing the most true opinions of the gods. But now, since the gods
have granted us liberty, it seems to me absurd for any to teach those
things to men which they do not approve. And if they think that those
writers whom they expound, and of whom they sit as interpreters, are
wise, let them first zealously imitate their piety towards the gods.
But if they think they have erred in their conceptions of the most
honourable natures [the gods], let them go into the churches of the
Galilæans, and there expound Matthew and Luke, by whom being persuaded
you forbid sacrifices. I wish that your ears and your tongues were (as
you express it) regenerated in those things of which I wish that myself,
and all who in thought and deed are my friends, may always be partakers.
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"To masters and teachers let this be a common law. But let no youths be
prevented from resorting to whatever schools they please. It would be
as unreasonable to exclude children, who know not yet what road to
take, from the right path, as it would be to lead them by fear and with
reluctance to the religious rites of their country. And though it would
be just to cure such reluctance, like madness, even by force, yet
let all be indulged with that disease. For I think it is requisite to
instruct, and not to punish the ignorant. "
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APPENDIX
LIBANIUS'S ORATION FOR THE TEMPLES*.
[The occasion of the oration was this. In the reign of Theodosius
several heathen temples, some of them very magnificent, were pulled down
and destroyed in the cities, and especially in country-places, by the
monks, with the consent and connivance, as Libanius intimates, of the
bishops, and without express order of the Emperor to that purpose. Of
this Libanius complains, and implores the Emperor's protection, that the
temples may be preserved. ]
"Having already, O Emperor, often offered advice which has been approved
by you, even when others have advised contrary things, I come to you now
upon the same design, and with the same hopes, that now especially you
will be persuaded by me. But if not, do not judge the speaker an
* From Dr. Lardner's Heathen Testimonies.
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enemy to your interests, considering, beside other things, the great
honour* which you have conferred upon me, and that it is not likely that
he who is under so great obligations should not love his benefactor.
And, for that very reason, I think it my duty to advise, where I
apprehend I have somewhat to offer which may be of advantage; for I have
no other way of showing my gratitude to the Emperor but by orations, and
the counsel delivered in them.
"I shall, indeed, appear to many to undertake a matter full of danger
in pleading with you for the temples, that they may suffer no injury, as
they now do. But they who have such apprehensions seem to me to be very
ignorant of your true character. For I esteem it the part of an angry
and severe disposition, for any one to resent the proposal of counsel
which he does not approve of: but the part of a mild and gentle and
equitable disposition, such as yours is, barely to reject counsel not
approved of. For when it is in the power of him to whom the address is
made to embrace any counsel or not, it is not reasonable to refuse a
hearing which can do no harm; nor yet to resent and punish the proposal
of counsel, if it appear contrary to his own judgment;
* The office of Præfectus Prætorio.
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when the only thing that induced the adviser to mention it, was a
persuasion of its usefulness.
"I entreat you, therefore, O Emperor, to turn your countenance to me
while I am speaking, and not to cast your eyes upon those who in many
things aim to molest both you and me; forasmuch as oftentimes a look is
of greater effect than all the force of truth. I would further insist,
that they ought to permit me to deliver my discourse quietly and without
interruption; and then, afterwards, they may do their best to confute us
by what they have to say. [Here is a small breach in the Oration. But
he seems to have begun his argument with an account of the origin of
temples, that they were first of all erected in country places. ] Men
then having at first secured themselves in dens and cottages, and having
there experienced the protection of the gods, they soon perceived how
beneficial to mankind their favour must be: they therefore, as may be
sup-, posed, erected to them statues and temples, such as they could
in those early times. And when they began to build cities, upon the
increase of arts and sciences, there were many temples on the sides of
mountains and in plains: and in every city [as they built it] next to
the walls were temples and sacred edifices raised, as the beginning of
the rest of the body. For from such governors they expected the
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greatest security: and, if you survey the whole Roman empire, you
will find this to be the case every where. For in the city next to the
greatest * there are still some temples**, though they are deprived
of their honours; a few indeed out of many, but yet it is not quite
destitute. And with the aid of these gods the Romans fought and
conquered their enemies; and having conquered them, they improved their
condition, and made them happier than they were before their defeat;
lessening their fears and making them partners in the privileges of
the commonwealth. And when I was a child, he*** led the Gallic army
overthrew him that had affronted him; they having first prayed to the
gods for success before they engaged. But having prevailed over him who
at that time gave prosperity to the cities, judging it for his advantage
to have another deity, for the building of the city which he then
designed he made use of the sacred money, but made no alteration in the
legal worship. The temples indeed were impoverished, but the rites
were still performed there. But when the empire came to his son****, or
rather the form of empire, for the government was really in the hands of
others, who
* He means Constantinople.
** He alludes to the ancient temples of Byzantium.
*** Constantine.
**** Constantius.
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from the beginning had been his masters, and to whom he vouchsafed equal
power with himself: he therefore being governed by them, even when he
was Emperor, was led into many wrong actions, and among others to forbid
sacrifices. These his cousin*, possessed of every virtue, restored: what
he did otherwise, or intended to do, I omit at present. After his death
in Persia, the liberty of sacrificing remained for some time: but at
the instigation of some innovators, sacrifices were forbidden by the
two brothers**, but not incense;--which state of things your law has
ratified. So that we have not more reason to be uneasy for what is
denied us, than to be thankful for what is allowed. You, therefore, have
not ordered the temples to be shut up, nor forbidden any to frequent
them: nor have you driven from the temples or the altars, fire or
frankincense, or other honours of incense. But those black-garbed
people***, who eat more than elephants, and demand a large quantity of
liquor from the people who send them drink for their chantings, but who
hide their luxury by their pale artificial countenances,--these men, O
Emperor, even whilst your law is in force, run to the temples, bringing
with them wood, and stones, and iron, and
* Julian.
**Valentinian and Valens.
*** The monks.
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when they have not these, hands and feet. Then follows a Mysian prey*,
the roofs are uncovered, walls are pulled down, images are carried off,
and altars are overturned: the priests all the while must be silent upon
pain of death. When they have destroyed one temple they run to another,
and a third, and trophies are erected upon trophies: which are all
contrary to [your] law. This is the practice in cities, but especially
in the countries. And there are many enemies every where. After
innumerable mischiefs have been perpetrated, the scattered multitude
unites and comes together, and they require of each other an account
of what they have done; and he is ashamed who cannot tell of some great
injury which he has been guilty of. They, therefore, spread themselves
over the country like torrents, wasting the countries together with the
temples: for wherever they demolish the temple of a country, at the same
time the country itself is blinded, declines, and dies. For, O Emperor,
the temples are the soul of the country; they have been the first
original of the buildings in the country, and they have subsisted for
many ages to this time; and in
* This proverbial expression took its rise from the Mysians,
who, in the absence of their king Telephus, being plundered
by their neighbours, made no resistance. Hence it came to be
applied to any persons who were passive under injuries.
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them are all the husbandman's hopes, concerning men, and women, and
children, and oxen, and the seeds and the plants of the ground. Wherever
any country has lost its temples, that country is lost, and the hopes of
the husbandmen, and with them all their alacrity: for they suppose they
shall labour in vain, when they are deprived of the gods who should
bless their labours; and the country not being cultivated as usual, the
tribute is diminished. This being the state of things, the husbandman
is impoverished, and the revenue suffers. For, be the will ever so
good, impossibilities are not to be surmounted. Of such mischievous
consequence are the arbitrary proceedings of those persons in the
country, who say, 'they fight with the temples. ' But that war is the
gain of those who oppress the inhabitants: and robbing these miserable
people of their goods, and what they had laid up of the fruits of the
earth for their sustenance, they go off as with the spoils of those whom
they have conquered. Nor are they satisfied with this, for they also
seize the lands of some, saying it is sacred: and many are deprived of
their paternal inheritance upon a false pretence. Thus these men riot
upon other people's misfortunes, who say they worship God with fasting.
And if they who are abused come to the pastor in the city, (for so they
call a man who is not one of the meekest,) complaining of the injustice
that has been done
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them, this pastor commends these, but rejects the others, as if they
ought to think themselves happy that they have suffered no more.
