Eusebius of Caesarea: Praeparatio Evangelica (Preparation for the Gospel). Tr. E.H. Gifford (1903) -- Book 13
CONTENTS
Preface p. 639 a
I. How Plato exposed the absurdity of the Greek theology. From the Timaeus p. 639 d
II. Further on the same subject from the dialogue Epinomis p. 640 d
III. Further on the same subject from the second Book of the Republic; also that God is not the cause of evils p. 641 a
IV. That nothing else than indecent fables were contained in the narratives concerning the gods of the Greeks, for not believing which Socrates was put to death by the Athenians. From the Euthyphron p. 649 d
V. Numenius on the same subject, from The Secrets in Plato p. 650 d
VI. That one must not heed the opinions of the multitude, nor depart from one's own purpose for fear of death. From the Crito p. 651 b
VII. That we must not retaliate on those who have endeavoured to injure us. From the same p. 653 d
VIII. That we must not set aside what has once been rightly determined, not even if any one threaten death. And this will apply to those who renounce their religion in times of persecution p. 655 e
IX. What will be the disposition of the man who through fear of death renounces his own purpose p. 658 b
X. That one ought not to shrink from death in defence of the truth. From the Apology of Socrates p. 659 d
XI. How we ought to honour the death of those who have nobly resigned their life. From Plato p. 663 a
XII. How Aristobulus the Peripatetic, who was a Hebrew before our time, acknowledges that the Greeks have started from the philosophy of the Hebrews. From the statements of Aristobulus addressed to King Ptolemy p. 663 d
XIII. How Clement in like proves that the noble sayings of the Greeks are in agreement with the doctrines of the Hebrews. From the fifth Miscellany p. 668 d
XIV. That Plato has not stated all things correctly: wherefore it is not without reason that we have declined his philosophy, and accepted the Hebrew oracles p. 691 c
XV. That Plato was not altogether right in his conduct of the argument concerning the intelligible essences, but the Hebrews were p. 694 c
XVI. That Plato did not on all points hold right opinions concerning the soul, like the Hebrews p. 696 b XVII. That the nature of the soul does not, as Plato supposes, consist of an impassive and passive essence. From the Platonist Severus On the Soul p. 700 c
XVIII. That Plato was not altogether right in his opinions concerning heaven and the luminaries therein p. 702 b
XIX. What kind of laws concerning women were not rightly ordained by Plato p. 706 a
XX. Plato's directions in the Phaedrus concerning unlawful love opposed to the Laws of Moses p. 709 c
XXI. Concerning the laws of murder in Plato, which were not worthy of his great intellect: with these the laws of Moses should be contrasted p. 711 b
PEEFACE
SINCE it has been seen in the preceding Books that the philosophy of Plato in very many points contains a translation, as it were, of Moses and the sacred writings of the Hebrews into the Greek language, I now proceed to add what is still wanting to the argument, and to go through the opinions expressed upon the several topics by those who were before me, and at the same time to free myself from a plausible charge of reproach, in case any one should accuse me. Why then, he might say, if Moses and Plato have agreed so well in their philosophy, are we to follow the doctrines not of Plato but of Moses, when we ought to do the reverse, because, in addition to the equivalence of the doctrines, the Greek author would be more congenial to us as Greeks than the Barbarian?
Being loth to make a retort to this charge from respect to the philosopher, I defer this question to a later period, and will first examine those points which I mentioned first. Take then and read what sort of opinion Plato used to put forward concerning the Greek poets and writers on religion, and how he used to reject all the traditional notions concerning the gods, and thoroughly expose their absurdity.
CHAPTER I
[PLATO] 1 'To tell of the other divinities, and to learn their origin, is beyond our power; but we must give credence to those who have spoken in former times, who being, as they said, the offspring of gods, had certain knowledge, I suppose, of their own ancestors. It is impossible therefore to disbelieve children of the gods, even though they speak without certain or probable proofs: but as they declare that they are reporting family histories, we must in obedience to the law believe them.
'On their authority then let the origin of these gods be admitted and stated thus. The children of Ge and Uranus (Earth and Heaven) were Oceanus and Tethys, and their children Phorcys and Kronos and Rhea and the rest of them; and of Kronos and Rhea sprang Zeus and Hera, and all whom we know as their reputed brethren, and still others who were their offspring.'
In exhorting us hereby to believe the fables concerning gods, and the authors also of the fables as being forsooth the children of gods, in the first place by saying that 'the poets are the offspring of the gods,' it seems to me that he scoffingly implies that the gods also had been men, and of the same nature as their children.
And next he brings a direct charge against the theologians, whom he had declared to be the offspring of gods, in the assertion which he adds, 'even though they speak without probable or certain proofs,' and by the addition of the words 'as they said.' He seems too to be jesting when he says, they 'had certain knowledge, I suppose, of their own ancestors'; and again, 'It is impossible to disbelieve children of the gods.' Also he expressly shows that he speaks thus against his own judgement on account of the laws, by confessing that it was necessary 'to believe them in obedience to the law.'
And in proof that this was his meaning, hear how in open and undisguised language he reproaches all the would-be theologians, smiting them in the Epinomis with the following words: 2
CHAPTER II
[PLATO] 'WITH regard therefore to the origin of gods and of living beings, as it has been misrepresented by those of former times, it seems necessary for me ia the first place to give a better representatioa in the subsequent discourse, taking up again the argument which I have undertaken against the impious.'
That he has good reason for repudiating the theology of the earliest writers, he shows in the second Book of the Republic, where it is worth while to fix the attention upon the number and nature of the statements which he makes concerning the same poets and theologians, from the traditions handed down from old times concerning the Hellenic gods, speaking in the very words that follow: 3
CHAPTER III
[PLATO] 'IN the greater fables, said I, we shall discern the lesser also: for the general character and the effect of both the greater and the less must be the same. Do you not think so? Yes, I do, said he: but I do not even understand which you call the greater. Those, said I, which Hesiod and Homer and the other poets used to tell us. For they, I suppose, used to compose and tell, and do still tell, false stories to mankind.
'What kind of stories do you mean, said he, and what fault do you find with them?
'The fault, said I, which before and above all we ought to reprove, especially if the falsehood is unseemly.
'What is this fault?
'When a man in his discourse concerning gods and heroes misrepresents their nature, as when an artist paints what is not at all like the things which he may wish to imitate.
'Yes indeed, said he, it is right to condemn such things: but how. and what kind of faults do we mean?
'In the first place then, said I, it was an unseemly lie that was told by the author of that greatest fiction about the greatest gods, how Uranus wrought what Hesiod says he did, and how Kronos took revenge upon him. Again, the doings of Kronos and his treatment by his son, even if they were true, ought not, I should have thought, to have been thus lightly mentioned before young and silly persons, but, best of all, to have been buried in silence; or, if there were any necessity to tell them, then as few as possible should have heard them in secret, after sacrificing no mere pig, but some great and scarce victim, so that very few might have had a chance of hearing them.
'Yes indeed, said he, these stories are mischievous. Aye, said I, and they must not be told in our city, Adeimantus; nor must a young hearer be told, that he would be doing nothing extraordinary in committing the worst crimes, nor on the other hand in inflicting every kind of punishment upon his father if he did wrong, but would be doing what the first and greatest of the gods did.
'Certainly not, nor in my own opinion are such stories fit to be told.
'Nor yet, said I, about gods going to war with gods, and plotting against each other and fighting (untrue as such things are), ought anything to be said, if the future guardians of our city are to think it most disgraceful to be quarrelling lightly one with another. Far less ought we to tell them in fables and on tapestry about wars of the giants and many other quarrels of all kinds between gods and heroes and their own kinsmen and relations: but if we could in any way persuade them, that no citizen was ever at enmity with a fellow citizen, and that such a thing was unholy, these are the kind of tales that ought rather to be told to children from the first by old men and old women and by those who are growing elderly, and the poets should be compelled to make their tales like these.
'The chaining too of Hera by her son, and the hurling of Hephaestus out of heaven by his father, when he was going to defend his mother from a beating, and all the battles of the gods that Homer has invented, must not be admitted into the city, whether they are composed with or without allegorical meanings.
'For the youth is not able to judge what is allegory and what is not: but whatever opinions he accepts at such an age are wont to become indelible and unalterable: and on this account perhaps we ought to regard it of the highest importance, that the tales which they first hear "should be adapted in the most perfect manner to the promotion of virtue." 4
'Yes, that is reasonable, said he: but if any one were to ask us again which these fictions are, and what fables we mean, which should we mention? Then said I: My dear Adeimantus, you and I are not speaking at present as poets, but as founders of a state: and founders of a state ought to know the moulds in which poets should cast their fictions, and from which they must not be permitted to deviate, nor must they invent the fables themselves.
'Quite right, said he: but that is the very point, what would be the proper models in the case of theology?
'Some such as the following, said I; God must of course always be represented as He really is, whether a poet describes Him in epic verse, or in lyrics, or in tragedy.
'Yes, that must be so.
'Is not God then really good, and to be so described?
'Of course.
'But surely nothing good is hurtful? Is it?
'I think not.
'Does then that which is not hurtful do hurt?
'Of course not.
'And does that which hurts not, do any evil?
'No, again.
'Neither can that which does no evil be the cause of any evil?
'How could it?
'Well then, is the good beneficial?
'Yes.
'It is the cause then of well-being?
'Yes.
'The good then is not the cause of all things, but only of what is right, and not the cause of evils.
'Quite so, said he.
'Neither then, said I, can God, since He is good, be the cause of all things, as the many say, but of few things that happen to men He is the cause, and of many things He is not the cause: for our good things are far fewer than the evil. And of the good we must assign no other cause than God, but of the evil we must seek the causes in other things, but not in God.
'I think, said he, you speak most truly.
'We must not then, said I, allow either Homer or any other poet foolishly to commit such an offence as this against the gods, and to say that
" Two coffers lie beside the door of Zeus,
With gifts for man; one good, the other ill." 5
'And to whom Zeus give a mixture of the two,
"Him sometimes evil, sometimes good befalls"; 6
'And to whom he gives no mixture, but the ill alone,
"Him ravenous hunger o'er God's earth pursues." 7
'Nor must we admit that Zeus is to us
"The sole dispenser both of weal and woe." 8
'And if any one say that the violation of oaths and treaties wrought by Pandarus was brought about by Athene and Zeus,9 we shall not approve: nor that the strife and contest of the gods was caused by Themis and Zeus:10 nor again must we permit our young men to hear how Aeschylus says that
" God plants in mortal breasts the cause of sin,
When He would utterly destroy a house." 11
'But if any one writes a poem, in which these iambics are found, about the sorrows of Niobe, or the calamities of "Pelops' line," or the "tale of Troy," or any other such events, either we must forbid him to call them the work of a god, or, if of a god, then he must invent some such explanation for them as we are now seeking, and must say that God did what was just and good, and the others were the better for being chastised. But we must not permit the poet to say that those who suffered punishment were miserable, and that this was God's doing.
'If, however, they would say that the wicked were miserable because they needed punishment, but were benefited by being punished by God, that we must approve.
'But as to saying that God, who is good, becomes the author of evil to any, we must by all possible means contend that no one shall make such statements in his own city, if it is to be governed by good laws, nor any one either young or old listen to his tales whether in verse or prose, as such statements if tittered would be impious, and neither profitable to us, nor consistent with themselves.
'I vote with you, said he, for this law, and am pleased with it.
'This then, said I, will be one of the laws and moulds in which our speakers must speak concerning God, and our poets write, That God is not the cause of all things, but only of the good.
'That is quite satisfactory, said he.
'And what then of this second? Do you suppose God to be a sorcerer, and of a nature to show Himself craftily now in one form and now in another, at one time actually becoming what He seems, and changing His own proper form into various shapes, and at another deceiving us, and making us imagine such transformations in Him; or do you think that He is a simple essence, and most unlikely to go out of His own proper form?
'I am not able, said he, to answer now off-hand.
'Well, what do you say to this? If anything were to change from its own proper form, must it not be changed either by itself or by some other?
'It must.
'Are not then the things which are in the best condition least liable to be altered or moved by another? As for example when a body is affected by meats and drinks and labours, and every plant by sunshine and winds and other such influences, is it not the healthiest and the most perfect that is altered least?
'Of course it is.
'And would not the bravest and wisest soul be least disturbed and altered by any influence from without?
'Yes.
'Moreover I suppose that, on the same principle, among all manufactured things, furniture, buildings, and clothes, those that are well made and in good condition suffer the least alteration from time and other influences?
'It is so.
'Everything then which is well constituted either by nature or art, or both, admits the least alteration by any other?
'So it seems.
'But surely God, and the things of God, are in every way most excellent?
'Of course.
'In this way then God is most unlikely to take many shapes.
'Most unlikely indeed.
'But would He change and alter Himself?
'Evidently, said he, if He is changed at all.
'Does He then change Himself into what is better and more beautiful, or into what is worse and less beautiful than Himself?
'It must be into what is worse than Himself, if He is changed at all: for surely we shall not say that God is imperfect in beauty or goodness.
'You are quite right, said I. And this being so, do you think, Adeimantus, that any one, whether god or man, would willingly make himself worse in any way?
'Impossible, said he.
'It is also impossible then, said I, that a god should be willing to change himself, but each one of them, as it seems, being as perfect as possible in beauty and goodness, remains ever absolutely in his own form.
'It seems to me quite certain, said he.
'Then, my good friend, said I, let none of the poets tell us that
" Gods, in the guise of strangers from afar,
Wander in various forms from state to state." 12
'Nor let any one slander Proteus and Thetis, nor introduce Hera in tragedies nor in any other poems transformed as a priestess begging alms
"For Inachus the Argive river-god's
Life-giving daughters." 13
'These and many other such falsehoods let them cease to invent. Neither let our mothers be persuaded by these poets to terrify their children by the tales which they wickedly tell them, that certain gods forsooth wander about by night in the likeness of many animals of different kinds, lest they be both guilty of blasphemy against the gods, and at the same time make their children more cowardly.
'Let them beware, said he.
'But then, said I, do the gods, though they are not capable of actual change, make us imagine, by their deception and magic, that they appear in various forms?
'Perhaps, said he.
'Well then, said I, would a god be willing to lie either by word or by deed, in putting phantoms before us?
'I do not know, said he.
'Do you not know, said I, that the true lie, if one may so speak, is hated by all both gods and men?
'How do you mean? said he.
'You know, of course, said I, that no one willingly consents to lie to the highest and chiefest part of himself, and concerning matters of the highest importance, but every one fears above all to harbour a lie there.
'No, I do not even now understand you, said he.
'Because, said I, you think I have some grand meaning: but I only mean that to lie to the soul about realities, and to be deceived and ignorant, and to have and to hold the falsehood there, is what all men would most dislike, and what in that part of them they utterly detest.
'Yes, utterly, said he.
'But surely, as I was saying just now, this is what might most rightly be called "a true lie," this ignorance in the soul of the deceived: since the lie in words is a sort of imitation of the affection in the soul, and an image produced afterwards, not at all a pure unmixed lie. Is it not so?
'Yes, certainly.
'The real lie then is hated not only by gods, but also by men?
'I think so.
'Well then? When and in what case is the lie in words useful, and so not deserving to be hated? Is it not in dealing with enemies, and when any of those who are called our friends from madness or any kind of folly attempt to do some mischief, it then becomes useful as a remedy to turn them from their purpose?
'Also in those mythical tales of which we were speaking just now, because we know not how the truth stands about ancient events, do we not make the falsehood as much like truth as possible, and so make it useful?
'It certainly is so, said he.
'For which of these reasons then is falsehood useful to God? Would He lie from ignorance of ancient events by trying to make them like the truth?
'Nay, that would be ridiculous.
'There is nothing of the lying poet then in God?
'I think not.
'But would He lie through fear of His enemies?
'Far from it.
'Or because His friends are foolish or mad?
'Nay, said he, no fool or madman is a friend of God.
'There is no motive then for a god to lie?
'There is none.
'The nature then of gods and demi-gods is quite incapable of falsehood?
'Yes, utterly so.
'God then is perfectly simple and true both in deed and word, and neither changes in Himself, nor deceives others, either in apparitions, or by words, or by sending signs, either in dream or waking vision.
'I too think it is just as you say.
'You agree then, said I, that this is a second mould in which speech or poetry about the gods must be cast, that they neither are wizards who transform themselves nor mislead us by falsehoods either in word or in deed?
'I do agree.
'While therefore we commend many other things in Homer, we shall not commend this, the sending of the dream by Zeus to Agamemnon;14 nor the passage of Aeschylus, in which Thetis says that Apollo, singing at her marriage,
"Dwelt on my happy motherhood,
The life from sickness free and lengthened years;
Then all-inclusively he blest my lot,
Favoured of heaven, in strains that cheered my soul.
And I too fondly deemed those lips divine
Sacred to truth, fraught with prophetic skill;
But he himself who sang, the marriage-guest
Himself, who spake all this, 'twas even he
That slew my son." 15
'When a poet says such things as these about gods, we shall be angry, and refuse him a chorus; neither shall we allow our teachers to use them for the education of the young, if our guardians are to grow up devout and godlike, as far as it is possible for man to be.
'I entirely assent, said he, to these principles, and would adopt them as laws.'
Thus speaks Plato: and you would find that the Hebrew Scripture does not contain disgraceful tales about the God of the universe, nor yet about the heavenly angels around Him, nor even about the men who are beloved of God, in any like manner to the Greek theologies; but it contains the model put forth by Plato, that God is good, and all things done by Him are of the same character.
Therefore after each of the works of creation that admirable man Moses adds,16 And God saw that it was good: and at the end of all he sums up his account of the whole and says,17 And God saw all things that He had made, and, behold, they were very good. It is also a doctrine of the Hebrews that God is not the author of evils, inasmuch as God made not death, neither hath He pleasure in the destruction of the living:18 for He created all things that they might have being, and the generative powers of the world are healthful; but by the envy of the devil death entered into the world.19
Wherefore by the prophet also God is introduced as saying to the man who from his own choice had become evil, Yet I had planted thee a fruitful vine: how wast thou turned back into the strange vine? 20 And if it should anywhere be said that evils happen to the wicked from God, it must be understood as an accidental coincidence of name, this name being given to the chastisements which God in His goodness is said to send not for the hurt of those who are chastised, but for their benefit and profit: just as a physician to save the sick might be thought to apply bad things in his painful and bitter remedies.
Wherefore in the sacred Scripture also, where it is said that evils are brought upon men by God, we must apply the saying of Plato, 'that God did what was just and good,' even when He was inflicting stern treatment and what men think evils upon those who so deserved, and that 'they were the better for being chastised,' not only according to the philosopher but also according to the Hebrew Scripture which says,21 For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth.
'But we must not permit the poet to say that they who were punished were miserable, and that this was God's doing; if, however, they would say that the wicked were miserable because they needed chastisement, but were benefited by being punished by God, that we must approve. But as to saying that God, who is good, becomes the author of evil to any, we must by all possible means contend against it.' 22
Moreover on the point that God is not subject to change, the Hebrew prophecy teaches as follows, speaking in the person of God: For I am the Lord your God, and I change not.23 David also, in his description of God, cries aloud saying: They all shall wax old as doth a garment, and as a vesture shalt Thou roll them up, and they shall be changed: but Thou art the same, and Thy years shall not fail.24
Wherever the Hebrew writings introduce the Word of God as appearing in form and fashion of man, we must remark that they do not represent Him as appearing to men in the same manner as Proteus and Thetis and Hera, according to the Greek legends, nor as the gods who wander about at night in the likeness of animals of many various kinds; but He came, as Plato himself says is sometimes necessary, for the benefit of friends: 'when through madness or some kind of folly they attempt to do mischief, then as a remedy to turn them from their purpose' 25 the advent of God among men is useful.
Now no species of living creatures on earth is dearer to God than man, a species which is of the kindred and family of the Word of God, by whom also man was made rational in the nature of his soul; with good reason therefore they say that the heavenly Word, in His care for a living creature whom He loved, came for the healing of the whole race, which had become subject to disease and a strange kind of madness, so that they knew neither God their Father, nor the proper essence of their own spiritual nature, nor yet God's providence which preserves the universe, but had almost come into the degenerate state of an irrational animal.
And on this account, they say, the Saviour and Physician at His advent departed not from His own proper nature, nor yet deceived those who saw Him, but preserved the truth of both natures, the invisible and the visible. For in one way He was seen as true man, and in another way He was the true Word of God, not by witchcraft nor by deluding the spectators; for even Plato thought that the divine nature was rightly free from falsehood.
'Therefore God the Word, being perfectly simple and true both in deed and in word, neither changed Himself, nor deceived others, either by apparitions or by words, or by sending signs, either in dream or waking vision.' 26 For all such actions He performed, as became a Physician of reasonable souls, for the salvation of the whole human race, in reality and not in mere seeming, by means of the human nature which He assumed; and thus He bestowed on all of us reconciliation and friendship with His Father through that knowledge of God and true religion which was announced by Him.
Such then are our doctrines: and with those who say otherwise 'we shall be angry, and refuse them a chorus, neither shall we allow our teachers to use their sayings for the education of the young, if our guardians are to grow up devout and godlike,' 27 as our philosopher also thought to be best.
CHAPTER IV
[PLATO] 'FOR though these men themselves consider Zeus the best and most righteous of the gods, yet they acknowledge that even he bound his own father Kronos, because he used wickedly to devour his sons, and that Kronos too had mutilated his own father for similar reasons; but they are angry with me because I proceed against my father for doing wrong, and so they contradict themselves in regard both to the gods and to me.
'Is this then the reason, Euthyphron, why I am prosecuted, because when any one says such things about the gods, I am vexed at hearing them? And for this, it seems, some one will say that I commit a great sin. Now therefore if you, who know so well about such matters, agree with them, it seems that I too must of necessity agree. For what else can I say, since I myself admit that I know nothing about them? But tell me, for friendship's sake, do you really believe that these things are so?
'Yes, Socrates, and more wonderful things than these, of which the multitude know nothing.
'Do you then also believe that there has really been war among the gods, and dire quarrels and battles, and many other such things, as are told by the poets, and seen in the decorations of our temples by good painters? Especially at the Great Panathenaea the robe that is carried up to the Acropolis is full of such embroideries. Are we to say that these tales are true, Euthyphron?
'Not these alone, O Socrates; but, as I said just now, I will, if you like, relate to you many other tales concerning the gods, which, I am sure, you will be astonished to hear.' 28
Thus writes Plato in the Euthyphron. And Numenius explains his meaning in his book concerning The Secrets in Plato, speaking in the way following: 29
CHAPTER V
[NUMENIUS] 'IF Plato, after proposing to write about the theology of the Athenians, had then been displeased with it, and accused it of containing tales of the quarrels of the gods among themselves, and of singing how some had intercourse with their children, and others devoured them, and how for these things children took vengeance upon their fathers, and brothers upon brothers, and other things of this kind,----if, I say, Plato had taken these stories and openly censured them, I think he would have afforded to the Athenians an occasion for showing their wickedness again by killing him, just as they killed Socrates.
'But since he would not have preferred life to truthfulness, and saw that he should be able to preserve both life and truth, he gave the part of the Athenians to Euthyphron, a boastful and stupid person, and especially bad in theology, but represented Socrates in his own person, and in his peculiar style, in which he was accustomed to converse with and confute every one.'
CHAPTER VI
[PLATO] 30 'MY dear Crito, your zeal would be most valuable, if it were consistent at all with right; but if not, the greater the zeal, the more dangerous. We must consider therefore whether we ought to do this or not; for I not only am now but always have been so disposed as to yield to no other persuasion from my friends except the reason which on consideration may appear to me the best.
'The arguments then which I used to urge aforetime, I cannot reject now, because this mischance has come upon me; but they appear to me of no less force, and I prefer and honour the same reasons as I did before: and unless we have any better to urge in my present position, be assured that I shall never agree with you, not even if the power of the multitude should try to scare us like children with more bugbears than at present, threatening bonds, and all kinds of death, and confiscations of goods.
'What then will be the fairest way of examining the question? Should we in the first place take up again this argument which you urge, I mean that concerning men's opinions, whether it was in every case a right statement or not, that we ought to pay attention to some opinions, and not to others? Or whether the statement was right before I was condemned to die, but now has been manifestly proved to have been urged just for the sake of arguing, while it was in reality mere jesting and trifling?
'My own desire then is to consider with your help, Crito, whether the argument will appear to me to be in anyway altered, now that I am. in this position, or still the same; and whether we shall renounce it or act according to it. Now I think that by those who thought they were talking seriously, it was generally stated in the same manner as I stated it just now, that of the opinions which men entertain we ought to prize some highly, and not others.
'Pray tell me, Crito, do you not think this a right statement? For you, in all human probability, are in no danger of dying to-morrow, and your judgement will not be perverted by the present mischance. Consider then: do you not think it a satisfactory statement, that we ought not to respect all the opinions that men hold, but to respect some and not others? Nor yet the opinions of all men, but those of some, and not of others? What say you? Is not this a right statement?
'Quite right.
'Must we not then respect the good opinions, and not the bad?
'Yes.
'And are not the opinions of the wise good, and those of the foolish bad?
'Of course.
'Come then, what again was said about such matters as these? Does a man who is learning gymnastics with serious attention give heed to the praise and blame and opinion of every man, or only of that one who may happen to be a physician or a trainer?
'Only of that one.
'He ought then to fear the censures and welcome the praises of that one, and not those of the many?
'That is evident.
'He must act then, and practise, and eat and drink in such way as may seem good to the one who is his master and understands the matter, rather than to all the others together.
'It is so.
'Well; and if he disobey that one, and disregard his opinion and praises, and respect those of the many who understand nothing about it, will he suffer no harm?
'Of course he will.
'But what is this harm? And whither does it tend, and to what part of the disobedient person?
'Evidently to the body, for it does harm to this.
'You are right. And, Crito, is not the case the same with the rest, not to go through them all? Moreover, in regard to what things are just and unjust, and disgraceful and honourable, and good and evil, which are the subjects of our present consultation, must we follow the opinion of the many and fear it, or that of the one, if there is a man of understanding, whom we ought to reverence and fear more than all the rest together? And if we fail to follow him we shall corrupt and ruin that part of us which, as we said, is improved by justice and degraded by injustice. Or is that part of no importance?
'I think it is important, Socrates.
'Well then, if we ruin that part of us, which is improved by what is healthful and damaged by what is unwholesome, by not yielding to the opinion of those who have understanding, is our life worth living when that is ruined? Now this part, I suppose, is the body, is it not?
'Yes.
'Is our life then worth living with a wretched and diseased body?
'By no means.
'But is then life tolerable for us with that part of us diseased which is damaged by injustice and improved by justice? Or do we believe that part of us, whatever it is, which is concerned with injustice and justice to be more worthless than the body?
'By no means.
'More precious then?
'By far.
'Then, my good friend, we must not care thus at all what the many will say of us, but what the man who understands about justice and injustice will say, the one man, and the very truth. So in the first place this proposal of yours is not right, when you advise that we ought to care for the opinion of the many in reference to what is just and honourable and good, and the contrary.'
The word of salvation also says: 'Ye seek the glory which cometh from men, and the glory which cometh from the Only One ye seek not.' 31 Wherefore we also in our conflicts for religion do rightly in not considering what the many will say of us, but what is the will of One, even the Word of God, whom having in our judgement chosen once for all, it behoves us still to honour even as we did before, and not to change, no, 'not even if the power of the multitude should scare us like children with bugbears.' 32 Now such were the men who bore illustrious testimony of old among the Hebrews.
CHAPTER VII
[PLATO] 33 'Do we say that we must not intentionally do wrong in any way, or that we ought to do wrong in one way, and not in another? Or is it neither honourable nor good to do wrong in any way, as we have often agreed in former times, and as I was saying just now? Or have all those our former admissions been scattered to the winds in these last few days, and have we at our age, dear Crito, while holding earnest discourse with one another, been unaware so long that we are no better than children? Or is it most surely true, as we used then to say, that whether the many affirm or deny it, and whether we are to receive still harder treatment or more gentle than now, nevertheless to do wrong is in every way both evil and disgraceful to the wrong-doer? Is this what we assert or not?
'It is.
'We must not then do wrong in any way.
'Surely not.
'Not even return wrong for wrong then, as is the opinion of the many, since we must never do wrong in any way?
'Evidently not.
'Well, again? Ought we, Crito, to do evil or not?
'Of course we ought not, Socrates.
'Well then? To render evil for evil, as the many say, is that just or not just?
'Not just.
'For, I suppose, there is no difference between doing evil to men, and doing them wrong.
'You say well.
'Then we must neither do wrong in return, nor do evil to any man, whatever we may suffer from him. But take care, dear Crito, lest you may be making this admission against your real opinion. For I know that this is what very few people think or ever will think. Between those then who have adopted this opinion and those who have not there is no common purpose, but they must necessarily despise each other when they look each at the others' intentions. Therefore do you also consider very carefully whether you share and agree with my opinion, and let us begin our deliberations from this point, that it is never right either to do wrong, or to return wrong, or when evil-entreated to retaliate by rendering evil. Or do you draw back, and not agree with my first principle? For I have long been of this opinion, and am so still. But if you have formed any other opinion, speak and explain. If, however, you abide by what you held before, listen to the next step.
'I do abide by it, and agree with you. But say on.
'I go on then to state the next point, or rather I ask whether a man ought to do whatever he has admitted to any one to he just, or falsely to abandon it?
'He ought to do it.'
Compare with this the saying: 'Render to no man evil for evil';34 and this: 'Bless them that curse you: pray for them that despitefully use and persecute you, that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven, who maketh His sun to rise upon the evil and upon the good, and sendeth rain upon the just and on the unjust.' 35 Also this: 'Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure; being defamed, we intreat': 36 a passage which occurs in our sacred Scriptures. The Hebrew prophet also says: 'If I rendered evil to them that rendered evil to me.' 37 And again: 'With them that hate peace I am for peace.' 38
CHAPTER VIII
[PLATO] 39 'BUT you used to boast then that you were not grieved if you must die, but preferred death, as you said, to banishment; now, however, you are neither ashamed of those fine sayings, nor pay any respect to us, the laws, but are attempting to destroy us; and you cire doing just what the vilest slave would do, in trying to run away contrary to the conditions and agreements on which you consented to be our citizen.
'In the first place, therefore, answer us this very question, whether we state the truth in asserting that you have agreed to be governed according to us in deed, and not only in word; or is it untrue? What are we to say in answer to this, Crito? Must we not admit it?
'Yes, Socrates, we must.
'Are you not then, they would say, transgressing the covenants and agreements which you made with us, and to which you agreed under no compulsion, nor deception? Nor were you forced to decide too hastily, but for a period of seventy years you were at liberty to go away, if you were not satisfied with us, and if our agreements appeared to you unjust?
'You did not, however, prefer either Lacedaemon or Crete, which you are always saying are well governed, nor any other state, Hellenic nor Barbarian, but you travelled away from Athens less than the lame and the blind and the cripples. So much more than other Athenians were you in love with the state, and of course with us the laws; for who would like a state without laws? And will you not now abide by your agreements? You will, if you take our advice, Socrates.'
CHAPTER IX
40 'FOR whoever is a corrupter of laws, would be surely thought a corrupter of young and foolish persons. Will you then flee from the well-governed states, and the best-behaved of men? And if you do this, will your life be worth living? Or will you associate with them, and feel no shame in discoursing with them,----and what arguments will you use, dear Socrates? The same as here, that virtue and justice and institutions and laws are the most precious things for mankind? And do you not think that this conduct of Socrates would be unseemly? You certainly ought to think so.
'But you will depart from these regions, and go to Crito's friends in Thessaly: for there forsooth is the greatest disorder and licence. And perhaps it will please them to hear from you, in what a ridiculous fashion you made your escape from the prison, having wrapped yourself in some disguise, or taken a goatskin, or something else such as runaways usually dress themselves up in, and so transformed your appearance.
'But will there be no one to remark that, being an old man, with probably but a short time left to live, you dared to show so greedy a love of life in defiance of the highest laws? Perhaps not, if you do not annoy any one: but otherwise, you will have to listen to many things unworthy, dear Socrates, of you. So you will live by cringing to all men, and serving them; and what will you be doing but feasting in Thessaly, as if you had gone abroad to Thessaly for a dinner? And those fine discourses about justice and the other virtues, where will they be?
'But forsooth you wish to live for the sake of your children, that you may bring them up and educate them?
'What then? Will you take them to Thessaly and bring them up and educate them there, making aliens of them, that they may receive this further benefit from you? Or if instead of that they are brought up here, will they be better brought up and educated because you are alive though not with them? For your friends will take care of them? They will take care of them then if you are gone away to Thessaly; but if you are gone to the other world, will they not take care of them, if indeed there is any good in those who say that they are your friends? You must surely suppose they will.
'Nay, dear Socrates, listen to us who have reared you, and value neither children, nor life, nor any thing else as of more account than justice, that when you come to the unseen world you may have all these pleas to offer in your defence to the rulers there. For it is evident that to act in this manner is neither in this life better or more just or more holy for you or any of yours, nor will it be better for you when you have arrived in the other world.
'But now, if you go hence, you will go as one who has suffered injustice not from us, the laws, but from men. But if you go abroad in this disgraceful manner, returning injury for injury and evil for evil, transgressing your own agreements and covenants which you made with us, and wronging those whom you ought least to wrong, yourself and your friends and country and us, we shall be angry with you while you live, and in the other world our brethren, the laws in Hades, will give you no friendly reception, knowing that you have tried your best to destroy us.'
CHAPTER X
41 'PERHAPS therefore some one will say, Are you not ashamed then, Socrates, of having pursued such a course of life, that you are now in danger of being put to death for it? But I should return a just answer to him, You are wrong in what you say, Sir, if you suppose that any man who is of the least good ought to take into account the risk of life or death, instead of looking at this point alone in his actions, whether he is doing what is just or unjust, the works of a good or a bad man.
'For according to your argument the demi-gods who died at Troy would be good for nothing, especially the son of Thetis, who so despised danger in comparison with incurring disgrace, that though his mother, being a goddess, had spoken to him, I suppose, in this way, when he was so eager to kill Hector, O my Son, if you avenge the murder of your friend Patroclus and kill Hector, you will be killed yourself, for, said she,
"On Hector's fate thine own will follow close." 42
And after hearing this he cared little for death and danger, but fearing much more to live as a coward and not avenge his friends, he exclaims:
"Would I might die this hour" 43
after inflicting vengeance on the injurious foe, that I remain not here a laughing-stock,
"Cumbering the ground, beside the sharp-beaked ships." 44
'Think you that he cared for death and danger? Thus, O men of Athens, the case stands in very truth: wherever a man has chosen his own post because he thought it best, or has been placed by a commander, there, in my judgement, he is bound to await the danger, taking no account either of death or of anything else than disgrace.
'If therefore, O men of Athens, when the leaders whom you chose to be my commanders set me in my post at Potidaea, and Amphipolis, and at Delium, or anywhere else, I remained just like any other where they placed me and ran the risk of being killed,----how strangely should I have acted, when the god, as I thought and supposed, ordered me to live the life of a philosopher, examining myself and others, if in this case, through fear either of death or anything else whatever, I should desert my post.
'Strange it would be indeed, and then in truth any one might justly bring me before the court, on the ground that I do not believe in the existence of gods, since I disobey the oracle, and am afraid of death, and think myself wise when I am not. For to be afraid to die, Sirs, is nothing else than to think oneself to be wise, when one is not: for it is to think that one knows, what one does not know. For no one knows about death even whether it may not be the greatest of all blessings to man; but they fear it as if they certainly knew that it is the greatest of evils. And what is this but that same disgraceful ignorance, for a man to think that he knows what he does not know?
'But I, Sirs, perhaps on this subject also differ from most men in this; and were I to say that I am wiser than another in any respect, it would be in this, that, as I do not know enough about the state of things in Hades, so I also think that I do not know. But I do know that to do wrong and to disobey one's superior, whether god or man, is evil and disgraceful. Those evils therefore which I know to be evil I shall always fear and shun, rather than things which, for aught I know, may really be good.
'Therefore not even if you acquit me now, and refuse to believe Anytus, who said that either I ought _ not to have come into this court at all, or that, since I had come, it was impossible to avoid putting me to death, and told you that, if I should be acquitted, at once your sons would all be utterly corrupted by practising what Socrates teaches----if in answer to this you should say to me,
Socrates, we are not going to be persuaded by Anytus this time, but we acquit you, on this condition however, that you cease to spend your time in this speculation, and in philosophy; and if you be convicted of doing so any more, you will be put to death;----if then, as I said, you were to acquit me on these conditions, I should say to you, O men of Athens, I honour and I love you, but I shall obey the god rather than you, and as long as I have breath and power, I shall never cease from studying philosophy, and exhorting and instructing any of you whom I may meet from time to time, in my usual style of discourse.'
And a little further on he adds: 45
'Let us then consider it also in this way, that there is much reason to hope that death is a good. For the state of the dead is one of two things: either it is like non-existence and absence of all sensation in the dead, or, as is commonly said, it is a sort of transference and migration of the soul from this region to another. And if there is no sensation, but as it were a sleep in which the sleeper sees nothing even in a dream, death must be a wonderful gain.
'For I suppose, that if a man were obliged to select the night in which he slept so soundly as to see nothing even in a dream, and to compare all the other nights and days of his life with this night,----if, I say, he were obliged to consider and tell us how many days and nights in the course of his life he had passed more happily and more pleasantly than this night, I think that not merely any ordinary person but even the great King himself would find these better nights very few in comparison with all the rest of his days and nights. If therefore death is something of this kind, I call it a gain: for thus all time appears nothing more than a single night.
'But if on the other hand death is like a departure hence to another place, and if what is said is true, that all the dead exist there, what greater good could there be than this, O my judges? For if on arriving in Hades, after having been delivered from the self-styled judges here, a man shall find the true judges, who are said to give judgement there, Minos, and Rhadamanthus, and Aeacus, and Triptolemus, and all the other demi-gods who were just in their own lives, will the change of abode be worth nothing?
'Or on the contrary, what would any of you pay to associate with Orpheus, and Musaeus, and Hesiod, and Homer? For my part I am willing to die many a death, if indeed these things are true, since I too should find it a delightful occupation there, whenever I met with Palamedes, and Ajax the son of Telamon, and any other of the ancients who has died through an unjust judgement, to compare my own sufferings with theirs,----no unpleasant thing, methinks it would he. And moreover the chief delight would be to spend my life in examining and scrutinizing the dwellers in that world, as I do those here, to learn which of them is wise, and which, though he thinks so, is not.'
We also have the saying: 'We ought to obey God rather than men.' 46 And: 'Be not afraid of them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul.' 47 And we know, 'that if the earthly house of our bodily frame be dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens':48 ... and that'whilst we are absent from the body we are at home with the Lord,' 49 who also hath promised to all who have hoped in Him, that they shall rest in the bosoms of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and, in company with all the other Hebrew prophets and righteous men beloved of God, shall pass the long eternity in a blessed life.
CHAPTER XI
50 'OF those then who have been killed in war, shall we not say in the first place that any one who died an honourable death was of the golden race?
'Most certainly.
'But when any of such a race as this have died, shall we not believe Hesiod, that:
"These still on earth as holy daemons dwell,
Brave guardians of mankind from every ill"?
'Yes, we shall believe him.
'Shall we then inquire of the god how we ought to class daemons and deities, and with what difference, and place them thus in whatever way he may direct?
'Of course we shall.
'And for all time to come, believing them to have become daemons, we shall so serve and worship their tombs; and these same customs we shall observe, when from old age or any other cause any one dies of those who have been judged pre-eminently good in life? '
These customs also may fitly be adopted on the death of those beloved of God, whom you would not do wrong in calling soldiers of the true religion. Hence comes also our custom of visiting their tombs, and offering our prayers beside them, and honouring their blessed souls, believing that we do this with good reason.
But in truth though I have made these selections out of the writings of Plato, any other student might find still more points of agreement with our doctrines in the same author, and perhaps in others also. Since, however, others before us have touched upon the same subject, I think it would be right for me to look at the results of their work also. And I will quote first the words of the Hebrew philosopher Aristobulus, which are as follows: 51
CHAPTER XII
[ARISTOBULUS] 'IT is evident that Plato closely followed our legislation, and has carefully studied the several precepts contained in it. For others before Demetrius Phalereus, and prior to the supremacy of Alexander and the Persians, have translated both the narrative of the exodus of the Hebrews our fellow countrymen from Egypt, and the fame of all that had happened to them, and the conquest of the land, and the exposition of the whole Law; so that it is manifest that many things have been borrowed by the aforesaid philosopher, for he is very learned: as also Pythagoras transferred many of our precepts and inserted them in his own system of doctrines.
'But the entire translation of all the contents of our law was made in the time of the king surnamed Philadelphus, thy ancestor, who brought greater zeal to the work, which was managed by Demetrius Phalereus.'
Then, after interposing some remarks, he further says:
'For we must understand the voice of God not as words spoken, but as construction of works, just as Moses in the Law has spoken of the whole creation of the world as words of God. For he constantly says of each work, "And God said, and it was so."
'Now it seems to me that he has been very carefully followed in all by Pythagoras, and Socrates, and Plato, who said that they heard the voice of God, when they were contemplating the arrangement of the universe so accurately made and indissolubly combined by God. Moreover, Orpheus, in verses taken from his writings in the Sacred Legend, thus sets forth the doctrine that all things are governed by divine power, and that they have had a beginning, and that God is over all. And this is what he says: 52
"I speak to those who lawfully may hear:
Depart, and close the doors, all ye profane,
Who hate the ordinances of the just,
The law divine announced to all mankind.
But thou, Musaeus, child of the bright Moon,
Lend me thine ear; for I have truths to tell.
Let not the former fancies of thy mind
Amerce thee of the dear and blessed life.
Look to the word divine, keep close to that,
And guide thereby the deep thoughts of thine heart.
Walk wisely in the way, and look to none,
Save to the immortal Framer of the world:
For thus of Him an ancient story speaks:
One, perfect in Himself, all else by Him
Made perfect: ever present in His works,
By mortal eyes unseen, by mind alone
Discerned. It is not He that out of good
Makes evil to spring up for mortal men.
Both love and hatred wait upon His steps,
And war and pestilence, and sorrow and tears:
For there is none but He. All other things
'Twere easy to behold, could'st thou but first
Behold Himself here present upon earth.
The footsteps and the mighty hand of God
Whene'er I see, I'll show them thee, my son:
But Him I cannot see, so dense a cloud
In tenfold darkness wraps our feeble sight.
Him in His power no mortal could behold,
Save one, a scion of Chaldaean race:
For he was skilled to mark the sun's bright path,
And how in even circle round the earth
The starry sphere on its own axis turns,
And winds their chariot guide o'er sea and sky;
And showed where fire's bright flame its strength displayed.
But God Himself, high above heaven unmoved,
Sits on His golden throne, and plants His feet
On the broad earth; His right hand He extends
O'er Ocean's farthest bound; the eternal hills
Tremble in their deep heart, nor can endure
His mighty power. And still above the heavens
Alone He sits, and governs all on earth,
Himself first cause, and means, and end of all.
So men of old, so tells the Nile-born sage,
Taught by the twofold tablet of God's law;
Nor otherwise dare I of Him to speak:
In heart and limbs I tremble at the thought,
How He from heaven all things in order rules.
Draw near in thought, my son; but guard thy tongue
With care, and store this doctrine in thine heart."
Aratus also speaks of the same subject thus: 53
"From Zeus begin the song, nor ever leave
His name unsung, whose godhead fills all streets,
All thronging marts of men, the boundless sea
And all its ports: whose aid all mortals need;
For we his offspring are; and kindly he
Reveals to man good omens of success,
Stirs him to labour by the hope of food,
Tells when the land best suits the grazing ox,
Or when the plough; when favouring seasons bid
Plant the young tree, and sow the various seed."
'It is clearly shown, I think, that all things are pervaded by the power of God: and this I have properly represented by taking away the name of Zeus which runs through the poems; for it is to God that their thought is sent up, and for that reason I have so expressed it. These quotations, therefore, which I have brought forward are not inappropriate to the questions before us.
'For all the philosophers agree, that we ought to hold pious opinions concerning God, and to this especially our system gives excellent exhortation; and the whole constitution of our law is arranged with reference to piety, and justice, and temperance, and all things else that are truly good.'
To this, after an interval, he adds what follows: 54
'With this it is closely connected, that God the Creator of the whole world, has also given us the seventh day as a rest, because for all men life is full of troubles: which day indeed might naturally be called the first birth of light, whereby all things are beheld.
'The same thought might also be metaphorically applied in the case of wisdom, for from it all light proceeds. And it has been said by some who were of the Peripatetic School that wisdom is in place of a beacon-light, for by following it constantly men will be rendered free from trouble through their whole life.
'But more clearly and more beautifully one of our forefathers, Solomon, said that it has existed before heaven and earth;55 which indeed agrees with what has been said above. But what is clearly stated by the Law, that God rested on the seventh day, means not, as some suppose, that God henceforth ceases to do anything, but it refers to the fact that, after He has brought the arrangement of His works to completion, He has arranged them thus for all time.
'For it points out that in six days He made the heaven and the earth and all things that are therein, to distinguish the times, and predict the order in which one thing comes before another: for after arranging their order, He keeps them so, and makes no change. He has also plainly declared that the seventh day is ordained for us by the Law, to be a sign of that which is our seventh faculty, namely reason, whereby we have knowledge of things human and divine.
'Also the whole world of living creatures, and of all plants that grow, revolves in sevens. And its name "Sabbath" is interpreted as meaning "rest."
'Homer also and Hesiod declare, what they have borrowed from our books, that it is a holy day; Hesiod in the following words: 56
"The first, the fourth, the seventh a holy day."
'And again he says:
''And on the seventh again the sun shines bright."
'Homer too speaks as follows:
" And soon the seventh returned, a holy day."
'And again:
" It was the seventh day, and all was done."
'Again:
" And on the seventh dawn the baleful stream
Of Acheron we left."
'By which he means, that after the soul's forgetfulness and vice have been left, the things it chose before are abandoned on the true seventh which is reason, and we receive the knowledge of truth, as we have said before.
'Linus too speaks thus:
"All things are finished on the seventh dawn."
'And again:
"Good is the seventh day, and seventh birth."
'And:
"Among the prime, and perfect is the seventh."
'And:
"Seven orbs created in the starlit sky
Shine in their courses through revolving years."'
Such then are the statements of Aristobulus. And what Clement has said on the same subject, you may learn from the following: 57
CHAPTER XIII
[CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA] 'BUT we must add the further evidence, and show now more clearly the plagiarism of the Greeks from the Barbarian philosophy. For the Stoics say that God, as also the soul of course, is in essence body and spirit. All this you will find directly stated in their writings. For I do not wish you now to consider whether their allegorical interpretations, as the Gnostic verity delivers them, show one thing and mean another, like clever wrestlers. But what they say is that God extends through all being, while we call Him simply the Creator, and Creator by a word.
Now they were misled by what is said in Wisdom: "Yea, she pervadeth and penetrateth all things by virtue of her purity":58 since they did not understand that this is said of that wisdom which was the first-created of God. Yes, say they; but the philosophers, Stoics as well as Plato and Pythagoras and even Aristotle the Peripatetic, suppose matter to be one of the first principles, and do not assume one only principle.
'Let them know, then, that the so-called matter, which is said by them to be without quality or shape, has been previously described more boldly by Plato as "Not-being"; and is it perchance from knowing that the real and true first cause is one, that he speaks so mysteriously in the Timaeus in these very words?
59 'Now therefore let my position be stated as follows: "Of the first principle or principles of all things, or in whatever way it is thought right to describe them, I must not speak at present, for no other reason than this, that it is difficult to explain my opinions according to our present form of discourse."
'And, besides, that prophetic expression, "The earth was invisible and without order," 60 has given them suggestions of a material essence. In fact, the interposition of "chance" occurred to Epicurus from having misunderstood the language of the following passage: "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity." 61 To Aristotle it occurred to bring Providence down only so far as to the moon, from this Psalm: " Thy mercy, O LORD, is in the heaven, and Thy truth reacheth unto the clouds." 62 For before the coming of the Lord the meaning of the prophetic mysteries was not as yet revealed.
'Again the chastisements after death and the punishment by fire were stolen from our Barbarian philosophy both by every Muse of poetry and even by the Greek philosophy. Plato, for instance, in the last Book of the Republic says in. express terms: "Hereupon certain fierce men of fiery aspect, who were standing by and understood the sound, seized and led away some of them separately; But Aridaeus and the rest they bound hand and foot and head together, and threw them down, and flayed them, and dragged them along the road outside, carding them like wool on thorns." 63 For his "fiery men" are meant to indicate angels, who seize the unrighteous and punish them. " Who maketh," says the Scripture, " His angels spirits, and His ministers a flaming fire." 64
'Now it follows upon this that the soul is immortal. For that which is undergoing punishment or correction being in a state of sensation, must be living, though it be said to suffer. Again, does not Plato know also rivers of fire, and the deep of the earth, called by the Barbarians Gehenna, which he calls poetically Tartarus, and introduces Cocytus, and Acheron, and Phlegethon, and names of this kind, as places of punishment for correctional training? And representing, according to the Scripture, the angels of the least of the little ones which behold the face of God,65 and also His supervision extended to us through the angels set over us, he does not hesitate to write:
'"After all the souls have chosen their lives, according to their lot, they went forward in order to Lachesis, and she sent with each the genius of his choice, to be the guardian of his life, and the fulfiller of his chosen destiny." 66
'Perhaps also something of this kind was intimated to Socrates by his daemon.
'Nay more, the philosophers borrowed, from Moses their doctrine that the world was created, and Plato has said expressly:
' " Was it that the world had no beginning of creation, or has it been created at first from some beginning? For it is visible, and tangible, and has a body." 67
'And again, when he says: "To find therefore the Maker and Father of this universe is a hard task," 68 he not only shows that the world has been generated, but also indicates that it was generated from Him, as from one alone, and sprang up out of non-existence. The Stoics also suppose that the world has been created.
'The devil too, so often mentioned by the Barbarian philosophy, the prince of the daemons, is described by Plato, in the tenth Book of the Laws, as being a malignant soul, in the following words: 69 "As then a soul directs and inhabits all things that move in every direction, must we not say that it also directs the heaven?
' " Of course.
' "One soul or more? More, I will answer for both of you. Less than two surely we must not suppose, one that does good, and the other that has power to work evil."
'In like manner also he writes in the Phaedrus thus: 70 "There are indeed other evils, but with most of them some daemon has mingled an immediate pleasure." And further in the tenth Book of the Laws be directly expresses that thought of the Apostle: "Our wrestling is not against blood and flesh, . . . but against the spiritual powers of the hosts in heaven," 71 when he writes thus:
' " For since we agreed among ourselves that the heaven is full of many goods, and full also of evils, and of more evils than goods, such a conflict as this, we say, is immortal, and requires wonderful caution." 72
'Again, the Barbarian philosophy knows one intelligible world, and another sensible, the one an archetype, and the other an image of that fair model; and the former it ascribes to unity, as being perceptible to thought only, but the sensible to the number six: for among the Pythagoreans six is called marriage, as being a generative number. And in the unity it sets an invisible heaven, and a holy earth, and intelligible light. For "In the beginning," says the Scripture, "God created the heaven and the earth: and the earth was invisible." 73 Then it adds, "And God said, Let there be light, and there was light." 74 But in the creation of the sensible world He framed a solid heaven (and what is solid is sensible), and a visible earth, and a light that is seen. Do you not think that from this passage Plato was led to leave the "ideas" of living things in the intelligible world, and to create the sensible forms according to the various kinds of that intelligible world?
'With good reason, therefore, Moses says that the body was formed of earth, what Plato calls "an earthly tabernacle," but that the reasonable soul was breathed by God from, on high into man's face: for they say that the ruling faculty is seated in this part, and interpret thus the accessory entrance of the soul through the organs of sense in the first-formed man; for which reason also man, they say, is made "after the image and likeness of God." 75
'For the image of God is the divine and royal Word, the impassible man; and an image of that image is the human mind. But if you will admit another name for the growing likeness, you will find it called in Moses a following of God: for he says, "Walk after the LORD your God, . . . and keep His commandments." 76 And all the virtuous are, I suppose, followers and servants of God.
'Hence the Stoics have said that the end of philosophy is to live according to the guidance of nature, while Plato says it is to become like God, as we showed in the second Miscellany; and Zeno the Stoic having received it from Plato, and he from the Barbarian philosophy, says that all good men are friends one of another. For in the Phaedrus Socrates says that "Fate has not ordained that the wicked should be a friend to the wicked; nor the good fail to be a friend to the good." 77
'This he also fully showed in the Lysis, 78 that friendship can never be preserved amid injustice and wickedness. The Athenian Stranger too says in like manner, "That it is conduct pleasing to God and like Him, and has one ancient saying in its favour, when 'like loves like' if it be in measure, but things beyond measure agree neither with things beyond nor with things within measure. And God must be to us the measure of all things." 79
'Then lower down Plato adds again:
' " For indeed every good man is like every other good man, and consequently being also like God, he is beloved both by every good man and by God." Arrived at this point, I am reminded of the following passage, for at the end of the Timaeus he says that "one should assimilate that which perceives to that which is perceived, according to its original nature, and by thus assimilating them attain the end of that life which is proposed by the gods to men as the best both for the present time and for that which is to follow." 80
And after a few sentences he adds: 81
'That we are brethren as belonging to one God and one teacher, Plato evidently declares in the following terms:
" For ye in the city are all brothers, as we shall say to them in telling the fable; but God, in forming as many of you as are fit to rule, mixed gold in their composition, wherefore they are the most to be honoured: and for all the auxiliaries silver, but iron and copper for the husbandmen and other operatives." 82
'Whence, he says, it has necessarily come to pass that some embrace and love those things which are objects of knowledge, and others those which are matters of opinion. For perhaps he is prophesying of that elect nature which desires knowledge; unless in assuming three natures he, as some supposed, is describing three forms of polity, that of the Jews silver, that of the Greeks the third, and that of the Christians in whom there has been infused the royal gold, the Holy Spirit.
'Also he exhibits the Christian life when writing word for word in the Theaetetus: 83
''Let us speak then of the leaders; for why should one talk about those who spend their time to no good purpose in philosophy? But these leaders, I suppose, neither know the way to the Agora, nor where the court of justice is, or the council-chamber, or any other public assembly of the State; and laws, and decrees whether read or written, they neither see nor hear. The strivings of political clubs, and meetings, to obtain offices, and revellings with flute-girls are practices which do not occur to them even in dreams. And what has happened well or ill in the city, or what evil has come to any one from his ancestors, is less known to them than, as the proverb says, the number of gallons in the sea. As to all these things he knows not even that he does not know them: for in fact it is his body only that has its place and home in the city, but the man himself 'is flying,' as Pindar says,'underneath the earth' 84 and above the heaven, studying the stars, and scrutinizing every nature on all sides."
'Again, with the Lord's saying, "Let your yea be yea, and your nay, nay," 85 we must compare this: "But it is by no means right for me to admit a falsehood, and to suppress a truth." 86 Also with the prohibition of swearing agrees this saying in the tenth Book of the Laws: "Let there be no praising nor swearing about anything." 87 And to speak generally, Pythagoras and Socrates and Plato, when they say that they hear God's voice, while carefully contemplating the constitution of the universe as made by God and held together without interruption, must have heard Moses say, in describing the word of God as a deed, "He spake, and it was done." 88
'Also taking their stand upon the formation of the man out of dust, the philosophers on every occasion proclaim that the body is of earth, and Homer does not shrink from putting it in the light of a curse:
" But may all ye to earth and water turn." 89
Just as Esaias says: " And tread them down as clay." 90
'Callimachus too writes expressly:
" It was that year in which the winged tribe
And they that swim the sea or tread the earth
Spake like the clay Prometheus called to life." 91
'And again the same poet said:
" If thou wast fashioned by Prometheus' hand,
And not of other clay." 92
'Hesiod also says of Pandora:
" Renowned Hephaestus bade he with all speed
Mix earth with water, and therein infuse
The voice and mind of man." 93
'Now as the Stoics define nature as an artistic fire which proceeds systematically to generation; 94 so by the Scripture God and His Word are represented figuratively by fire and light. Again, is not Homer also alluding to the separation of the water from the land, and the clear discovery of the dry land, when he says of Tethys and Oceanus:
" For now have they long time
From love and from the marriage-bed abstained "? 95
'Again, the most learned among the Greeks ascribe to God power in all things: thus Epicharmus, who was a Pythagorean, says:
" Nothing e'er from God escapeth; this behoves thee well to know;
He o'erlooks us closely; nothing is to God impossible." 96
'The lyric poet too:
" From thickest darkness of the night
God can call forth the purest light,
Or with dark clouds at will o'erlay
The brightness of the orient day." 97
'He who alone can turn the present day into night, the poet says, is God.
'Aratus also, in the book entitled Phaenomena, after saying:
" From Zeus begin the song, nor ever leave
His name unsung, whose godhead fills all streets,
All thronging marts of men, the boundless sea,
And all its ports; whose aid all mortals need," 98
'adds:
"For we his offspring are,"
as it were by creation,
. . . "and kindly he
Reveals to man good omens of success.
In heaven he set those guiding lights, and marked
Their several course; and for the year he wove
The circlet of the stars, to show to man
What best the seasons suit, that all things set
In order due may grow. Him ever first,
Him last our prayers invoke. Hail, Father, hail!
Wonder and joy and blessing of mankind."
'Also before him Homer, in the account of the shield made by Hephaestus, describes the creation of the world in accordance with Moses, saying:
"Thereon were figured earth, and sky, and sea,
And all the signs that crown the vault of heaven." 99
'For the Zeus who is celebrated in all poems and prose compositions, carries up our thought to God.
'Then, further, Democritus writes that some few of mankind are in the light, so to say, 100 "who lift up their hands to that place which we Greeks now call the air, and mythically speak of all as Zeus; and he knows all things, and gives and takes away, and he is king of all." With deeper mystery the Boeotian Pindar, as being a Pythagorean, teaches:
" One race of men and one of gods,
Both from one mother draw our breath," 101
that is, from matter: he teaches also that the Creator of this world is one, whom he calls,
" Father, of all artificers the best," 102
who has also provided the means of advancement to divinity according to merit.
'For I say nothing as to Plato, how he plainly appears in the Epistle to Erastus and Coriscus to set forth Father and Son somehow from the Hebrew Scriptures, when he exhorts them in these words 103 "to invoke both with a graceful earnestness, and with the culture which is akin to such earnestness, the God who is the cause of all, and also to invoke the Father and Lord of Him who is ruler and cause, whom (says he) ye shall know, if ye study philosophy aright."
'Also Zeus in his harangue in the Timaeus calls the Creator Father, in these words: 104
"Ye gods and sons of gods, whose Father I am, and Creator of the works." So that also when he says, 105 "Around the King of all are all things, and for His sake they all are, and that is the cause of all things beautiful; and around a Second are the secondary things, and around a Third the tertiary," I understand it in no other way than that the Holy Trinity is signified. For I think that the Holy Spirit is the third, and the Son the second, "by whom all things were made" according to the will of the Father.
'The same author, in the tenth Book of the Republic,106 mentions Er, the son of Armenius, a Pamphylian by birth, who is Zoroaster. At least Zoroaster himself writes, "Zoroaster the sou of Armenius, a Pamphylian by birth, having been slain in war, writes down here all things which when in Hades I learned from the gods." Now Plato says that this Zoroaster when laid upon the funeral pile on the twelfth day after death came to life again. Perhaps he alludes not to the resurrection, but to the circumstance that the way for souls to their reception above is through the twelve signs of the Zodiac, and Plato himself says that their way of return to birth is the same. In this way we must understand also that the labours of Hercules were said to be twelve, after which the soul obtains its release from this world entirely. Einpedocles also I do not pass over, who mentions the restitution of all things in merely physical language, saying that there will at some time be a change into the essence of fire.
'And most plainly is Heracleitus of Ephesus of this opinion, who maintained that there is one world eternal, and another that perishes, namely, the world in its orderly arrangement, which he knew to be no other than a certain condition of the former. But that he knew the world, which consisting of all being is eternally of a certain quality, to be eternal, he makes evident in speaking thus: 107
" The world which is the same for all was made neither by any god nor man, but always was, and is, and shall be, an everliving fire, kindled in measure, and in measure extinguished."
'His doctrine was that the world was created and perishable, as is shown by what he adds: "The transmutations of fire are first sea, and of sea one half becomes earth and the other half lightning." 108 For virtually he says, that by God the Word, who administers the universe, fire is changed through air into moisture, the seed as it were of the cosmical arrangement; and this moisture he calls sea.109 And out of this again heaven and earth arise, and all things therein contained.
'How the world is again taken back into the primitive essence, and destroyed by fire, he clearly shows in these words: " The sea is spread abroad, and is measured to the same proportion as it was before it became earth." In like manner concerning the other elements the same is to be understood.
'Doctrines similar to this are taught also by the most celebrated of the Stoics in their discussions concerning a conflagration and re-arrangement of the world's order, and concerning both the world and man in their proper quality, and the continuance of our souls. Again, Plato in the seventh Book of the Republic has called our day here a " darkness visible," 110 because, I suppose, of the world-rulers of this darkness; and the soul's entrance into the body he has called "sleep" and "death," in the same manner as Heracleitus.111 And is this, perhaps, what the Holy Spirit, speaking by David, foretold concerning our Saviour: " I laid me down and slept: I awaked, for the LORD will sustain me." 112 For he figuratively calls not only the Resurrection of Christ an awaking from sleep, but also the Lord's coming down into flesh a sleep.
'For instance, the same Saviour gives the exhortation "Watch," as much as to say, study to live, and try to keep the soul independent of the body. Also in the tenth Book of the Republic, Plato speaks prophetically of the Lord's day in these words:
"But when those in the meadow had each been there seven days, they were obliged on the eighth to arise thence and proceed on their journey, and arrive on the fourth day." 113
'By the meadow, therefore, we must understand the fixed sphere, as a quiet and pleasant place, and an abode of the saints; and by the seven days, each motion of the seven planets, and the whole effective device which speeds them to their final rest. The journey after passing the planets leads to heaven, that is to the eighth motion and eighth day; and when he says that the souls are four days on the journey, he indicates their passage through the four elements.
'Moreover, the Greeks as well as the Hebrews recognize the holiness of the seventh day, by which the cycle of the whole world of animals and plants is regulated. Hesiod, for instance, speaks of it thus:
"The first, the fourth, the seventh a holy day."
'And again:
"And on the seventh again the sun shines bright."
'Homer too:
" And soon the seventh returned, a holy day."
'And again:
"The seventh day was holy." 114
'And again:
" It was the seventh day, and all was done."
'And again:
"And on the seventh day the baleful stream
Of Acheron we left."
'Moreover, the poet Callimachus writes:
"All things were finished on the seventh dawn."
'And again:
" Good is the seventh day, and seventh birth."
'And:
" Among the prime, and perfect is the seventh."
'Also:
" Seven orbs created in the starlit sky
Shine in their courses through revolving years."
'The Elegies of Solon also make the seventh day very divine. 115
'And again: Is it not like the Scripture, which says, 116 "Let us take away from us the righteous man, because he is of disservice to us," when Plato, all but foretelling the dispensation of salvation, speaks thus in the second Book of the Republic: "In these circumstances the just man will be scourged, fettered, both eyes torn out; and at last, after suffering every kind of torture, he will be crucified "? 117 Antisthenes too, the Socratic, paraphrases that prophetic Scripture, "To whom did ye liken Me? saith the LORD," when he says that "God is like to none, wherefore no man can come to know Him from an image." 118 The like thoughts Xenophon the Athenian expresses in these words: " That He who moves all things, and is Himself at rest, is a great and mighty Being, is manifest: but what He is in form, is unknown. Neither, indeed, does the sun, which appears to shine on all, seem to allow himself to be seen: but if any one gazes impudently upon him, he is deprived of sight." 119 The Sibyl had said before:
"What flesh can e'er behold with mortal eyes
The immortal God, who dwells above the skies?
Or who of mortal birth can stand and gaze
With eyes unshrinking on the sun's fierce rays?" 120
'Rightly, therefore, does also Xenophanes of Colophon, when teaching that God is one and incorporeal, add this:
" One God there is, supreme o'er gods and men,
Not like in form to mortals, nor in mind." 121
'And again:
" But mortals fondly deem that gods are born,
Have voice, and form, and raiment like their own." 122
'And again:
"If then the ox and lion had but hands
To paint and model works of art, like man,
The ox would give his god an oxlike shape,
The horse a figure like his own would frame,
And each would deify his kindred form." 123
'Again, then, let us listen to Bacchylides, the lyric poet, when he says concerning the divine nature:
" No taint of foul disease can them assail,
No bane annoy, unlike in all to man." 124
'Hear also Cleanthes, the Stoic, who has written as follows in a certain poem concerning the Deity:
"Askest thou what good is? List then to me.
Good is well ordered, holy, just, devout,
Self-mastering, useful, honourable, right,
Grave, self-dependent, ever full of help,
Unmoved by fear, by sorrow, and by pain,
Beneficent, well pleasing, friendly, safe,
Of good report, acknowledged, and esteemed,
Free from vainglory, careful, gentle, strong,
Deliberate, blameless, during to the end." 125
'The same author, tacitly accusing the idolatry of the multitude, adds this:
"Poor slave is he who to opinion looks,
In hope, forsooth, some honour thence to gain." 126
'We must not, therefore, any longer think of the divine nature according to the opinion of the multitude: for, as Amphion says in the Antiope:
" Never can I believe that secretly,
Disguised in fashion of some wicked knave,
Zeus visited thy bed in human form." 127
'But Sophocles writes in straightforward language:
" For this man's mother was by Zeus espoused,
Not in a shower of gold, nor in disguise
Of feathered swan, as when he pregnant made
Fair Leda, but complete in manly form." 128
'Then farther down he added:
"Swiftly then the adulterer
Upon the bridal chamber's threshold stood." 129
'After which he still more openly describes the incontinence of Zeus as represented in the fable, in the following manner:
"Then he nor feast, nor lustral water touched,
But hastened to the couch, with heart deep stung
By lust, and wantoned there that whole night through." 130
'Let these things, however, he left to the follies of the theatres. Heracleitus expressly says: "Men are found incapable of understanding the reason of what is right on each occasion, both before they have heard it, and on hearing it for the first time."
'And Melanippides, the lyric poet, sings thus:
" Hear me, O Father, man's delight,
Thou ruler of the undying soul." 131
'Parmenides too, "the Great," as Plato calls him in the Sophist,132 writes in the following manner concerning the Deity:
" Many the proofs that show
The Deity knows neither birth nor death,
Sole of His kind, complete, immovable." 133
'Moreover, Hesiod says that He is
"Sole king and lord of all the immortal gods,
With whom no other may in power contend." 134
'Nay, further, Tragedy also draws us away from the idols, and teaches us to look up to heaven. For as Hecataeus, who composed the Histories, says in the passage concerning Abraham and the Egyptians, Sophocles openly cries out upon the stage:
"There is in truth One God, and One alone,
Who made the lofty heavens, and wide-spread earth,
The sea's blue wave, and might of warring winds.
But we poor mortals with deceived heart,
Seeking some solace for our many woes,
Raised images of gods in stone or bronze,
Or figures Wrought of gold or ivory;
And when we crowned their sacrifice, and held
High festival, we thought this piety." 135
'Euripides, too, says in his tragedy upon the same stage:
"Seest thou this boundless ether spread on high,
With watery arms embracing all the earth?
Call this thy Zeus, deem this thine only god." 136
'In the drama of Pirithous also the same tragic poet speaks as follows:
" Thee we sing, the Self-begotten,
Who all nature dost embrace,
And mid yon bright ether guidest
In her everlasting race.
Day and dusky night returning
Deck for Thee heaven's wide expanse:
Myriad stars for ever burning
Weave round Thee their mystic dance." 137
'For here he speaks of the Creative mind as " the Self-begotten," and all things that follow are ranked with the cosmos, in which also are the alternations of light and darkness.
Aeschylus also, the son of Euphorion, speaks very solemnly of God:
" Zeus is the bright pure ether, Zeus the earth,
The heaven, the universe, and all above." 138
'I know that Plato adds his testimony to Heracleitus when he writes: " One, the only wise, wills not to be described, and wills to be named Zeus." 139 And again, "law is obedience to the will of one." 140 Also if you should wish to trace back the meaning of the saying, " He that hath ears to hear, let him hear," 141 you would find it explained by the Ephesian thus: " Those who hear without understanding are like deaf persons: the proverb witnesses of them that though present they are absent." 142
'But you wish perhaps to hear from the Greeks an express statement of one first cause? Timaeus the Locrian, in his treatise on Nature, will testify for me word for word: "There is one beginning of all things, which is unoriginate: for if it had an origin, it would be no longer a beginning, but that from which it originated would be the beginning." 143 For this opinion, which is true, flowed from the passage, " Hear, O Israel, the LORD thy God is One, and Him only shalt thou serve." 144
"Lo! He is clear to all, from error free," 145
as says the Sibyl.
'Also Xenocrates, the Chalcedonian, by naming " the High and Nether" Zeus,146 admits an indication of Father and Son. And the strangest thing of all is, that the Deity seems to be known to Homer, who represents the gods as subject to human passions, yet even so does not gain the respect of Epicurus. Homer says at least:
"Achilles, why with active feet pursue,
Thou mortal, me Immortal?
Knowest thou not My Godhead? " 147
'For he has made it clear that the deity cannot be apprehended by a mortal, nor perceived by feet, or hands, or eyes, or by the body at all. "To whom have ye likened the Lord? Or to what likeness have ye compared Him?" 148 says the Scripture. " Is He an image that a workman made, or did a goldsmith melt gold and spread it over Him? " and the rest.
'The Comic poet Epicharmus also, in his Republic, speaks evidently of the Word (Reason) in this manner:
" Greatest need hath man of Reason and of number in life's ways;
For in them is our salvation, and by them we mortals live." 149
Then he adds expressly: 150
"Reason is man's guide, to govern and preserve him in the way."
Then:
" Mortal men have use of Reason; Reason also is divine:
Reason is the gift of nature for man's life and sustenance.
Reason man's divine attendant guideth him in all his arts:
Reason is his sole instructor, teaching what is best to do.
Art is not of man's invention, but a gift that comes from God,
Man's own reason is the offspring of that Reason all-divine."
'Moreover, the Spirit had cried by the mouth of Esaias, " What is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt-offerings [of rams], and in the fat of lambs and blood of bulls [and of he-goats] I have no delight"; 151 and added soon after, " Wash you, make you clean, put away your iniquities from your souls." 152 So Menander, the Comic poet, writes what answers to this in these very words:
"For whosoever brings a sacrifice
Of countless bulls or kids, O Pamphilus,
Or aught like these, who works of art designs,
Vestments of gold or purple, life-like forms
Graven in emerald or ivory,
And hopes thereby God's favour may be
Won He strangely errs, and hath a dullard's mind.
Man's duty is to help his brother man,
Nor simple maid nor wedded wife betray.
Nor steal nor murder for foul lucre's sake.
Then covet not, dear friend, a needle's thread,
For God is ever near to watch thy deeds." 153
'" I am a God at hand, and not a God far off. Shall man do aught in secret places, and I not see him?" 154 So God speaks by Jeremiah. And again Menander, paraphrasing that Scripture, "Offer the sacrifice of righteousness, and put your trust in the LORD," 155 writes in this way:
"Then, dearest friend,
Ne'er covet even a pin that is not thine;
For God in works of righteousness delights,
And thine own life permits thee to enrich,
Ploughing the land and toiling night and day.
Then be thou ever just, and worship God
With heart as pure ag is thy festal robe.
And if the thunder roll, flee not, my lord,
For conscious of no guilt thou need'st not fear:
Since God is watching o'er thee nigh at hand." 156
"Whilst thou art yet speaking, I will say, Behold, here I am," 157 saith the Scripture.
'Diphilus again, the Comic poet, discourses of the Judgement somewhat as follows: 158
"Thinkest thou then, Niceratus, the dead,
Who in this life all luxury enjoyed,
Escaped from God lie hidden from His sight?
There is an eye of Justice that sees all,
And even in Hades we believe there are
Two paths of destiny, one for the just,
The other for the ungodly. If men say
The earth shall hide them both alike for ever,
Go rob, and steal, all right and wrong confound:
Be not deceived; in Hades judgement waits,
Which God will execute, the Lord of all,
Whose Name so terrible I dare not speak.
He to the sinners length of days accords;
159 But if a mortal thinks, that day by day
He can do evil, and escape the gods,
In this his wicked thought, though Justice lag
With tardy foot, he shall be caught at last.
160 All ye who think there is no God, beware!
There is, there is: let then the wicked man
Cease to do ill, and so redeem the time:
Else his just doom he shall at last receive."
'With this the tragedy also agrees in these words:
161 "There comes in after days, there comes a time,
When you bright golden ether shall pour forth
Her store of fire, until the well-fed flame
All things in heaven and earth shall fiercely burn."
And again soon after it adds:
"And then when all creation is dissolved,
The sea's last wave shall die upon the shore,
The bald earth stript of trees, the burning air
No winged thing shall bear upon its breast;
When all is lost then all shall be restored."
The like thoughts we shall find also expressed in the Orphic poems, as follows:
"He hides them all, then from his heart again
With anxious care brings all to gladsome light." 162
And if we live a just and holy life throughout, happy are we here, and happier after our departure hence, enjoying blessedness not merely for a time, but enabled to find rest in eternity.
"Sharing with all the gods one hearth, one feast,
And free from human sorrows, toil, and death."
So says the philosophic poetry of Empedocles. There is none so great, even in the opinion of the Greeks, as to be above the judgement, nor so small as to be hidden from it. 'The same Orpheus says also this:
" Look to the word divine, keep close to that,
And guide thereby the deep thoughts of thine heart.
Walk wisely in the way; and look to none
Save to the immortal Framer of the world." 163
And again concerning God, calling Him invisible, he says that He was made known only to one certain person, a Chaldaean by birth, whether he so speaks of Abraham, or of his son, in the following words:
"Save one, a scion of Chaldaean race:
For he was skilled to mark the sun's bright path,
And how in even circle round the earth
The starry sphere on its own axis turns,
And winds their chariot guide o'er sea and sky." 164
'Then, as it were paraphrasing the Scripture, " Heaven is my throne, and earth the footstool of my feet," 165 he adds:
"But God Himself high above heav'n, unmoved,
Sits on His golden throne; and plants His feet
On the broad earth; His right hand He extends
O'er Ocean's farthest bound; the eternal hills
Tremble in their deep heart, nor can endure
His mighty power. And still above the heavens
Alone He sits, and governs all on earth.
Himself first cause, and means, and end of all.
Not otherwise dare I to speak of Him:
In heart and limbs I tremble at the thought,
How He from heav'n all things in order rules," 166
and the lines that follow these. For herein he has plainly set forth all those prophetic sayings: "Whosoever shall rend the heaven, trembling shall seize him: and from Thee the. mountains shall melt away, as wax melteth from the presence of fire." 167 Also what is said by the mouth of Esaias: "Who measured the heaven with a span, and all the earth with his fist?" 168
'Again, when he says:
"Lord of the heavens, of Hades, land, and sea,
Whose thunders shake Olympus' strong-built dome,
Whom daemons shuddering flee, and all the gods
Do fear, and Fates implacable obey.
Eternal Mother and eternal Sire,
Whose anger shakes the universal frame,
Awakes the stormy wind, veils all with clouds,
And rends with sudden flash the expanse of heav'n.
At Thy command the stars their changeless course
In order run. Before Thy fiery throne
Angels unwearied stand; whose only care
Is to perform Thy gracious will for man.
Thine is the Spring new-decked with purple buds,
The winter Thine, with chilling clouds o'ercast,
And autumn with its merry vintage Thine." 169
'Then, expressly calling God the Almighty, he adds:
" Come, then, thou deathless and Immortal Power,
Whose name none but Immortals can express.
Mightiest of Gods, whose will is strong as Fate,
Dreadful art Thou, resistless in Thy might,
Deathless, and with etherial glory crowned." 170
So then by the word mhtropa&twr he not only indicated the creation out of nothing, but gave occasion perhaps to those who introduce the doctrine of emissions to imagine also a consort of God. And he paraphrases the prophetic Scriptures, both that which was spoken by Hosea (Amos): " Lo! I am he that formeth the thunder and createth the wind, whose hands founded the host of heaven":171 and that which was spoken by Moses: " See, see, that it is I, and there is no other god but me. I will kill, and I will make to live: I will wound, and I will heal: and there is none that shall deliver out of my hand." 172
" 'Tis He that out of good for mortals brings
Evil and cruel war," 173
according to Orpheus.
'Such also is the saying of Archilochus of Pares:
"Zeus, Father Zeus, the realm of heav'n is thine,
But knavish and unholy deeds of men
Scape not thine eye." 174
'Let Thracian Orpheus again sing for us thus:
"His right hand He extends
O'er Ocean's farthest bound; and plants His feet
On the broad earth." 175
These thoughts are manifestly taken from that passage, "The Lord shall shake inhabited cities, and take the whole world in His hand, as a nest";176 "The LORD who made the earth by His power," as Jeremiah says, " and established the world by His wisdom." 177
'Moreover in addition to this Phocylides, calling the angels daemons, shows in the following words that some of them are good and some bad, as we also have been taught that some are apostate:
" But daemons different in kind o'er men
At various times preside; some to protect
Mankind from coming evils." 178
'Well therefore does Philemon also, the Comic poet, exterminate idolatry by these words:
" Fortune is no divinity for us,
No goddess; only that which of itself
Happens by chance to each is fortune called." 179
'Sophocles too, the Tragedian, says:
"Not even the gods have all things at their will,
Save Zeus, the final and first cause of all." 180
'Orpheus also says:
" One power, one god, one vast and flaming heav'n,
One universal frame, wherein revolve
All things which here we see, fire, water, earth," 181
and the lines that follow.
'Pindar too, the Lyric poet, breaks out as it were in transport, saying expressly:
" What then is God? The All." 182
'And again:
" God, who for mortals all things makes,
(Gives also grace to song)." 183
'Also when he says:
"Why hope in wisdom to excel
Thy brother man? It is not well
For mortals here on eart