Book I.
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1. Since I have found some who
deem themselves very
wise in their
opinions,
acting as if they were
inspired, and
announcing with all the
authority of an
oracle, that from the
time when the
Christian people began to
exist in the
world the
universe has
gone to
ruin, that the
human race has been
visited with
ills of many
kinds, that even the very
gods,
abandoning their
accustomed charge, in
virtue of which they were
wont in former
days to
regard with
interest our
affairs, have been
driven from the
regions of
earth,-I have
resolved, so
far as my
capacity and my
humble power of
language will
allow, to
oppose public prejudice, and to
refute calumnious accusations;
lest, on the one
hand, those
persons should
imagine that they are
declaring some
weighty matter, when they are
merely retailing vulgar rumours; and on the other,
lest, if we
refrain from such a
contest, they should
suppose that they have
gained a
cause,
lost by its own
inherent demerits, not
abandoned by the
silence of its
advocates. For I should not
deny that that
charge is a most
serious one, and that we
fully deserve the
hatred attaching to
public enemies, if it should
appear that to us are
attributable causes by
reason of which the
universe has
deviated from its
laws, the
gods have been
driven far away, and such
swarms of
miseries have been
inflicted on the
generations of
men.
2. Let us therefore
examine carefully the
real significance of that
opinion, and what is the
nature of the
allegation; and
laying aside all
desire for
wrangling, by which the
calm view of
subjects is
wont to be
dimmed, and even
intercepted, let us
test, by
fairly balancing the
considerations on both
sides, whether that which is
alleged be
true. For it will
assuredly be
proved by an
array of
convincing arguments, not that we are
discovered to be more
impious, but that they themselves are
convicted of that
charge who
profess to be
worshippers of the
deities, and
devotees of an
antiquated superstition. And, in the first
place, we
ask this of them in
friendly and
calm language: Since the
name of the
Christian religion began to be used on the
earth, what
phenomenon,
unseen before,
unheard of before, what
event contrary to the
laws established in the beginning, has the
so-called "
Nature of
Things"
felt or
suffered? Have these first
elements, from which it is
agreed that all
things were
compacted, been
altered into
elements of an
opposite character? Has the
fabric of this
machine and
mass of the
universe, by which we are all
covered, and in which we are
held enclosed,
relaxed in any
part, or
broken up? Has the
revolution of the
globe, to which we are
accustomed,
departing from the
rate of its
primal motion,
begun either to
move too
slowly, or to be
hurried onward in
headlong rotation? Have the
stars begun to
rise in the
west, and the
setting of the
constellations to
take place in the
east? Has the
sun himself, the
chief of the
heavenly bodies, with whose
light all
things are
clothed, and by whose
heat all
things are
vivified,
blazed forth with
increased vehemence? has he become less
warm, and has he
altered for the
worse into
opposite conditions that
well-regulated temperature by which he is
wont to
act upon the
earth? Has the
moon ceased to
shape herself
anew, and to
change into former
phases by the
constant recurrence of
fresh ones? Has the
cold of
winter, has the
heat of
summer, has the
moderate warmth of
spring and
autumn, been
modified by
reason of the
intermixture of
ill-assorted seasons? Has the
winter begun to have
long days? has the
night begun to
recall the very
tardy twilights of
summer? Have the
winds at all
exhausted their
violence? Is the
sky not
collected into
clouds by
reason of the
blasts having lost their
force, and do the
fields when
moistened by the
showers not
prosper? Does the
earth refuse to
receive the
seed committed to it, or will not the
trees assume their
foliage? Has the
flavour of
excellent fruits altered, or has the
vine changed in its
juice? Is
foul blood pressed forth from the
olive berries, and is
oil no
longer supplied to the
lamp, now
extinguished? Have
animals of the
land and of the
sea no
sexual desires, and do they not
conceive young? Do they not
guard, according to their own
habits and their own
instinct, the
offspring generated in their
wombs? In
fine, do
men themselves, whom an
active energy with its first
impulses has
scattered over
habitable lands, not
form marriages with
due rites? Do they not
beget dear children? do they not
attend to
public, to
individual, and to
family concerns? Do they not
apply their
talents as each one
pleases, to
varied occupations, to
different kinds of
learning? and do they not
reap the
fruit of
diligent application? Do those to whom it has been so
allotted, not
exercise kingly power or
military authority? Are
men not every
day advanced in
posts of
honour, in
offices of
power? Do they not
preside in the
discussions of the
law courts? Do they not
explain the
code of
law? do they not
expound the
principles of
equity? All other
things with which the
life of
man is
surrounded, in which it
consists, do not all
men in their own
tribes practise, according to the
established order of their
country's
manners?
3. Since this is so, and since no
strange influence has
suddenly manifested itself to
break the
continuous course of
events by
interrupting their
succession, what is the
ground of the
allegation, that a
plague was
brought upon the
earth after the
Christian religion came into the
world, and after it
revealed the
mysteries of
hidden truth? But
pestilences,
say my
opponents, and
droughts,
wars,
famines,
locusts,
mice, and
hailstones, and other
hurtful things, by which the
property of
men is
assailed, the
gods bring upon us,
incensed as they are by your
wrong-doings and by your
transgressions. If it were not a
mark of
stupidity to
linger on
matters which are already
clear, and which
require no
defence, I should
certainly show, by
unfolding the
history of
past ages, that those
ills which you
speak of were not
unknown, were not
sudden in their
visitation; and that the
plagues did not
burst upon us, and the
affairs of
men begin to be
attacked by a
variety of
dangers, from the
time that our
sect won the
honour of this
appellation. For if we are to
blame, and if these
plagues have been
devised against our
sin, whence did
antiquity know these
names for
misfortunes? Whence did she
give a
designation to
wars? By what
conception could she
indicate pestilence and
hailstorms, or how could she
introduce these
terms among her
words, by which
speech was
rendered plain? For if these
ills are
entirely new, and if they
derive their
origin from recent
transgressions, how could it be that the
ancients coined terms for these
things, which, on the one
hand, they
knew that they themselves had never
experienced, and which, on the other, they had not
heard of as
occurring in the
time of their
ancestors?
Scarcity of
produce,
say my
opponents, and
short supplies of
grain,
press more
heavily on us. For, I would
ask, were the former
generations, even the most
ancient, at any
period wholly free from such an
inevitable calamity? Do not the very
words by which these
ills are
characterized bear evidence and
proclaim loudly that no
mortal ever
escaped from them with
entire immunity? But if the
matter were
difficult of
belief, we might
urge, on the
testimony of
authors, how
great nations, and what
individual nations, and how often such
nations experienced dreadful famine, and
perished by
accumulated devastation. Very many
hailstorms fall upon and
assail all
things. For do we not
find it
contained and
deliberately stated in
ancient literature, that even
showers of
stones often
ruined entire districts?
Violent rains cause the
crops to
perish, and
proclaim barrenness to
countries:-were the
ancients, indeed,
free from these
ills, when we have
known of
mighty rivers even
being dried up, and the
mud of their
channels parched? The
contagious influences of
pestilence consume the
human race:-
ransack the
records of
history written in
various languages, and you will
find that all
countries have often been
desolated and
deprived of their
inhabitants. Every
kind of
crop is
consumed, and
devoured by
locusts and by
mice :-
go through your own
annals, and you will be
taught by these
plagues how often former
ages were
visited by them, and how often they were
brought to the
wretchedness of
poverty.
Cities shaken by
powerful earthquakes totter to their
destruction:-what! did not
bygone days witness cities with their
populations engulphed by
huge rents of the
earth? or did they
enjoy a
condition exempt from such
disasters?
4. When was the
human race destroyed by a
flood? was it not before us? When was the
world set on
fire, and
reduced to
coals and
ashes? was it not before us? When were the
greatest cities engulphed in the
billows of the
sea? was it not before us? When were
wars waged with
wild beasts, and
battles fought with
lions? was it not before us? When was
ruin brought on whole
communities by
poisonous serpents? was it not before us? For,
inasmuch as you are
wont to
lay to our
blame the
cause of
frequent wars, the
devastation of
cities, the
irruptions of the
Germans and the
Scythians,
allow me, with your
leave, to
say,-In your
eagerness to
calumniate us, you do not
perceive the
real nature of that which is
alleged.
5. Did we
bring it about, that
ten thousand years ago a
vast number of
men burst forth from the
island which is
called the
Atlantis of
Neptune, as
Plato tells us, and
utterly ruined and
blotted out
countless tribes? Did this
form a
prejudice against us, that between the
Assyrians and
Bactrians, under the
leadership of
Ninus and
Zoroaster of
old, a
struggle was
maintained not only by the
sword and by
physical power, but also by
magicians, and by the
mysterious learning of the
Chaldeans? Is it to be
laid to the
charge of our
religion, that
Helen was
carried off under the
guidance and at the
instigation of the
gods, and that she became a
direful destiny to her own and to after
times? Was it because of our
name, that that
mad-cap Xerxes let the
ocean in upon the
land, and that he
marched over the
sea on
foot? Did we
produce and
stir into
action the
causes, by
reason of which one
youth,
starting from
Macedonia,
subjected the
kingdoms and
peoples of the
East to
captivity and to
bondage? Did we,
forsooth,
urge the
deities into
frenzy, so that the
Romans lately, like some
swollen torrent,
overthrew all
nations, and
swept them
beneath the
flood? But if there is no
man who would
dare to
attribute to our
times those
things which
took place long ago, how can we be the
causes of the
present misfortunes, when nothing
new is
occurring, but all
things are
old, and were
unknown to none of the
ancients?
6. Although you
allege that those
wars which you
speak of were
excited through
hatred of our
religion, it would not be
difficult to
prove, that after the
name of
Christ was
heard in the
world, not only were they not
increased, but they were even in
great measure diminished by the
restraining of
furious passions. For since we, a
numerous band of
men as we are, have
learned from His
teaching and His
laws that
evil ought not to be
requited with
evil, that it is
better to
suffer wrong than to
inflict it, that we should rather
shed our own
blood than
stain our
hands and our
conscience with that of another, an
ungrateful world is now for a
long period enjoying a
benefit from
Christ,
inasmuch as by His
means the
rage of
savage ferocity has been
softened, and has
begun to
withhold hostile hands from the
blood of a
fellow-creature. But if all without
exception, who
feel that they are
men not in
form of
body but in
power of
reason, would
lend an
ear for a
little to His
salutary and
peaceful rules, and would not, in the
pride and
arrogance of
enlightenment,
trust to their own
senses rather than to His
admonitions, the whole
world,
having turned the
use of
steel into more
peaceful occupations, would now be
living in the most
placid tranquillity, and would
unite in
blessed harmony,
maintaining inviolate the
sanctity of
treaties.
7. But if,
say my
opponents, no
damage is done to
human affairs by you, whence
arise those
evils by which
wretched mortals are now
oppressed and
overwhelmed? You
ask of me a
decided statement, which is by no
means necessary to this
cause. For no
immediate and
prepared discussion regarding it has been
undertaken by me, for the
purpose of
showing or
proving from what
causes and for what
reasons each
event took place; but in
order to
demonstrate that the
reproaches of so
grave a
charge are
far removed from our
door. And if I
prove this, if by
examples and by
powerful arguments the
truth of the
matter is made
clear, I
care not whence these
evils come, or from what
sources and first
beginnings they
flow.
8. And yet, that I
may not seem to have no
opinion on
subjects of this
kind, that I
may not
appear when
asked to have nothing to
offer, I
may say, What if the
primal matter which has been
diffused through the
four elements of the
universe,
contains the
causes of all
miseries inherent in its own
constitution? What if the
movements of the
heavenly bodies produce these
evils in
certain signs,
regions,
seasons, and
tracts, and
impose upon
things placed under them the
necessity of
various dangers? What if, at
stated intervals,
changes take place in the
universe, and, as in the
tides of the
sea,
prosperity at one
time flows, at another
time ebbs,
evils alternating with it? What if those
impurities of
matter which we
tread trader our
feet have this
condition imposed upon them, that they
give forth the most
noxious exhalations, by
means of which this our
atmosphere is
corrupted, and
brings pestilence on our
bodies, and
weakens the
human race? What
if-and this seems
nearest the
truth-whatever appears to us
adverse, is in
reality not an
evil to the
world itself? And what if,
measuring by our own
advantages all
things which
take place, we
blame the
results of
nature through
ill-formed judgments?
Plato, that
sublime head and
pillar of
philosophers, has
declared in his
writings, that those
cruel floods and those
conflagrations of the I
world are a
purification of the
earth; nor did that
wise man dread to
call the
overthrow of the
human race, its
destruction,
ruin, and
death, a
renewal of
things, and to
affirm that a
youthfulness, as it were, was
secured by this
renewed strength.
9. It
rains not from
heaven, my
opponent says, and we are in
distress from some
extraordinary deficiency of
grain crops. What then, do you
demand that the
elements should be the
slaves of your
wants? and that you
may be
able to
live more
softly and more
delicately,
ought the
compliant seasons to
minister to your
convenience? What if, in this
way, one who is
intent on
voyaging complains, that now for a
long time there are no
winds, and that the
blasts of
heaven have for ever
lulled? Is it therefore to be
said that that
peacefulness of the
universe is
pernicious, because it
interferes with the
wishes of
traders? What if one,
accustomed to
bask himself in the
sun, and thus to
acquire dryness of
body,
similarly complains that by the
clouds the
pleasure of
serene weather is
taken away? Should the
clouds, therefore, be
said to
hang over with an
injurious veil, because
idle lust is not
permitted to
scorch itself in the
burning heat, and to
devise excuses for
drinking? All these
events which are
brought to
pass, and which
happen under this
mass of the
universe, are not to be
regarded as
sent for our
petty advantages, but as
consistent with the
plans and
arrangements of
Nature herself.
10. And if anything
happens which does not
foster ourselves or our
affairs with
joyous success, it is not to be
set down
forthwith as an
evil, and as a
pernicious thing. The
world rains or does not
rain: for itself it
rains or does not
rain; and, though you perhaps are
ignorant of it, it either
diminishes excessive moisture by a
burning drought, or by the
outpouring of
rain moderates the
dryness extending over a very
long period. It
raises pestilences,
diseases,
famines, and other
baneful forms of
plagues: how can you
tell whether it does not thus
remove that which is in
excess, and whether, through
loss to themselves, it does not
fix a
limit to
things prone to
luxuriance?
11. Would you
venture to
say that, in this
universe, this
thing or the other
thing is an
evil, whose
origin and
cause you are
unable to
explain and to
analyze? And because it
interferes with your
lawful, perhaps even your
unlawful pleasures, would you
say that it is
pernicious and
adverse? What, then, because
cold is
disagreeable to your
members, and is
wont to
chill the
warmth of your
blood,
ought not
winter on that
account to
exist in the
world? And because you are
unable to
endure the
hottest rays of the
sun, is
summer to be
removed from the
year, and a
different course of
nature to be
instituted under
different laws?
Hellebore is
poison to
men; should it therefore not
grow? The
wolf lies in
wait by the
sheepfolds; is
nature at all in
fault, because she has
produced a
beast most
dangerous to
sheep? The
serpent by his
bite takes away
life; a
reproach,
forsooth, to
creation, because it has
added to
animals monsters so
cruel.
12. It is rather
presumptuous, when you are not your own
master, even when
yon are the
property of another, to
dictate terms to those more
powerful; to
wish that that should
happen which you
desire, not that which you have found
fixed in
things by their
original constitution.
Wherefore, if you
wish that your
complaints should have a
basis, you must first
inform us whence you are, or who you are; whether the
world was
created and
fashioned for you, or whether you
came into it as
sojourners from other
regions. And since it is not in your
power to
say or to
explain for what
purpose you
live beneath this
vault of
heaven,
cease to
believe that anything
belongs to you; since those
things which
take place are not
brought about in
favour of a
part, but have
regard to the
interest of the whole.
13. Because of the
Christians, my
opponents say, the
gods inflict upon us all
calamities, and
ruin is
brought on our
crops by the
heavenly deities. I
ask when you
say these
things, do you not
see that you are
accusing us with
bare-faced effrontery, with
palpable and
clearly proved falsehoods? It is almost
three hundred years -something less or
more-since we
Christians began to
exist, and to be
taken account of in the
world. During all these
years, have
wars been
incessant, has there been a
yearly failure of the
crops, has there been no
peace on
earth, has there been no
season of
cheapness and
abundance of all
things? For this must first be
proved by him who
accuses us, that these
calamities have been
endless and
incessant, that
men have never had a
breathing time at all, and that without any
relaxation they have
undergone dangers of many
forms.
14. And yet do we not
see that, in these
years and
seasons that have
intervened,
victories innumerable have been
gained from the
conquered enemy,-that the
boundaries of the
empire have been
extended, and that
nations whose
names we had not
previously heard, have been
brought under our
power,-that very often there have been the most
plentiful yields of
grain,
seasons of
cheapness, and such
abundance of
commodities, that all
commerce was
paralyzed,
being prostrated by the
standard of
prices? For in what
manner could
affairs be
carried on, and how could the
human race have
existed even to this
time, had not the
productiveness of
nature continued to
supply all
things which
use demanded?
15. Sometimes, however, there were
seasons of
scarcity; yet they were
relieved by
times of
plenty. Again,
certain wars were
carried on
contrary to our
wishes. But they were afterwards
compensated by
victories and
successes. What shall we
say, then?-that the
gods at one
time bore in
mind our
acts of
wrong-doing, at another
time again
forgot them? If, when there is a
famine, the
gods are
said to be
enraged at us, it
follows that in
time of
plenty they are not
wroth, and
ill-to-be-appeased; and so the
matter comes to this, that they both
lay aside and
resume anger with
sportive whim, and always
renew their
wrath afresh by the
recollection of the
causes of
offence.I
16. Yet one cannot
discover by any
rational process of
reasoning, what is the
meaning of these
statements. If the
gods willed that the
Alemanni and the
Persians should be
overcome because
Christians dwelt among their
tribes, how did they
grant victory to the
Romans when
Christians dwelt among their
peoples also? If they
willed that
mice and
locusts should
swarm forth in
prodigious numbers in
Asia and in
Syria because
Christians dwelt among their
tribes too, why was there at the same
time no such
phenomenon in
Spain and in
Gaul, although
innumerable Christians lived in those
provinces also? If among the
Gaetuli and the
Tinguitani they
sent dryness and
aridity on the
crops on
account of this
circumstance, why did they in that very
year give the most
bountiful harvest to the
Moors and to the
Nomads, when a
similar religion had its
abode in these
regions as well? If in any one
state whatever they have
caused many to
die with
hunger, through
disgust at our
name, why have they in the same
state made
wealthier,
ay, very
rich, by the
high price of
corn, not only
men not of our
booty, but even
Christians themselves?
Accordingly, either all should have had no
blessing if we are the
cause of the
evils, for we are in all
nations; or when you
see blessings mixed with
misfortunes,
cease to
attribute to us that which
damages your
interests, when we in no
respect interfere with your
blessings and
prosperity. For if I
cause it to be
ill with you, why do I not
prevent it from
being well with you? If my
name is the
cause of a
great dearth, why am I
powerless to
prevent the
greatest productiveness? If I am
said to
bring the
ill luck of a
wound being received in
war, why, when the
enemy are
slain, am I not an
evil augury; and why am I not
set forth against
good hopes, through the
ill luck of a
bad omen?
17. And yet,
O ye
great worshippers and
priests of the
deities, why, as you
assert that those most
holy gods are
enraged at
Christian communities, do you not
likewise perceive, do you not
see what
base feelings, what
unseemly frenzies, you
attribute to your
deities? For, to be
angry, what else is it than to be
insane, to
rave, to be
urged to the
lust of
vengeance, and to
revel in the
troubles of another's
grief, through the
madness of a
savage disposition? Your
great gods, then,
know, are
subject to and
feel that which
wild beasts, which
monstrous brutes experience, which the
deadly plant natrix contains in its
poisoned roots. That
nature which is
superior to others, and which is
based on the
firm foundation of
unwavering virtue,
experiences, as you
allege, the
instability which is in
man, the
faults which are in the
animals of
earth. And what therefore
follows of
necessity, but that from their
eyes flashes dart,
flames burst forth, a
panting breast emits a
hurried breathing from their
mouth, and by
reason of their
burning words their
parched lips become
pale?
18. But if this that you
say is
true,-if it has been
tested and
thoroughly ascertained both that the
gods boil with
rage, and that an
impulse of this
kind agitates the
divinities with
excitement, on the one
hand they are not
immortal, and on the other they are not to be
reckoned as at all
partaking of
divinity. For wherever, as the
philosophers hold, there is any
agitation, there of
necessity passion must
exist. Where
passion is
situated, it is
reasonable that
mental excitement follow. Where there is
mental excitement, there
grief and
sorrow exist. Where
grief and
sorrow exist, there is already
room for
weakening and
decay; and if these
two harass them,
extinction is at
hand,
viz.
death, which
ends all
things, and
takes away
life from every
sentient being.
19. Moreover, in this
way you
represent them as not only
unstable and
excitable, but, what all
agree is
far removed from the
character of
deity, as
unfair in their
dealings, as
wrong-doers, and, in
fine, as
possessing positively no
amount of even
moderate fairness. For what is a
greater wrong than to be
angry with some, and to
injure others, to
complain of
human beings, and to
ravage the
harmless corn crops, to
hate the
Christian name, and to
ruin the
worshippers of
Christ with every
kind of
loss?
20. Do they on this
account wreak their
wrath on you too, in
order that,
roused by your own
private wounds, you
may rise up for their
vengeance? It seems, then, that the
gods seek the
help of
mortals; and were they not
protected by your
strenuous advocacy, they are not
able of themselves to
repel and to
avenge the
insults offered them.
Nay rather, if it be
true that they
burn with
anger,
give them an
opportunity of
defending themselves, and let them
put forth and make
trial of their
innate powers, to
take vengeance for their
offended dignity. By
heat, by
hurtful cold, by
noxious winds, by the most
occult diseases, they can
slay us, they can
consume us, and they can
drive us
entirely from all
intercourse with
men; or if it is
impolitic to
assail us by
violence, let them
give forth some
token of their
indignation, by which it
may be
clear to all that we
live under
heaven subject to their
strong displeasure.
21. To you let them
give good health, to us
bad,
ay, the very
worst. Let them
water your
farms with
seasonable showers; from our
little fields let them
drive away all those
rains which are
gentle. Let them
see to it that your
sheep are
multiplied by a
numerous progeny; on our
flocks let them
bring luckless barrenness. From your
olive-trees and
vineyards let them
bring the
full harvest; but let them
see to it that from not one
shoot of ours one
drop be
expressed.
Finally, and as their
worst, let them
give orders that in your
mouth the
products of the
earth retain their
natural qualities; but, on the
contrary that in ours the
honey become
bitter, the
flowing oil grow rancid, and that the
wine when
sipped, be in the very
lips suddenly changed into
disappointing vinegar.
22. And since
facts themselves
testify that this
result never
occurs, and since it is
plain that to us no less
share of the
bounties of
life accrues, and to you no
greater, what
inordinate desire is there to
assert that the
gods are
unfavourable,
nay,
inimical to the
Christians, who, in the
greatest adversity,
just as in
prosperity,
differ from you in no
respect? If you
allow the
truth to be
told you, and that, too, without
reserve, these
allegations are but
words,-
words, I
say;
nay,
matters believed on
calumnious reports not
proved by any
certain evidence.
23. But the
true gods, and those who are
worthy to have and to
wear the
dignity of this
name, neither
conceive anger nor
indulge a
grudge, nor do they
contrive by
insidious devices what
may be
hurtful to another
party. For
verily it is
profane, and
surpasses all
acts of
sacrilege, to
believe that that
wise and most
blessed nature is
uplifted in
mind if one
prostrates himself before it in
humble adoration; and if this
adoration be not
paid, that it
deems itself
despised, and
regards itself as
fallen from the
pinnacle of its
glory. It is
childish,
weak, and
petty, and
scarcely becoming for those whom the
experience of
learned men has for a
long time called demigods and
heroes, not to be
versed in
heavenly things, and,
divesting themselves of their own
proper state, to be
busied with the
coarser matter of
earth.
24. These are your
ideas, these are your
sentiments,
impiously conceived, and more
impiously believed.
Nay, rather, to
speak out more
truly, the
augurs, the
dream interpreters, the
soothsayers, the
prophets, and the
priestlings, ever
vain, have
devised these
fables; for they,
fearing that their own
arts be
brought to
nought, and that they
may extort but
scanty contributions from the
devotees, now few and
infrequent, whenever they have found you to be
willing that their
craft should
come into
disrepute,
cry aloud, The
gods are
neglected, and in the
temples there is now a very
thin attendance. Former
ceremonies are
exposed to
derision, and the
time-honoured rites of
institutions once
sacred have
sunk before the
superstitions of
new religions.
Justly is the
human race afflicted by so many
pressing calamities,
justly is it
racked by the
hardships of so many
toils. And
men-a senseless race-being unable, from their
inborn blindness, to
see even that which is
placed in
open light,
dare to
assert in their
frenzy what you in your
sane mind do not
blush to
believe.
25. And
lest any one should
suppose that we, through
distrust in our
reply,
invest the
gods with the
gifts of
serenity, that we
assign to them
minds free from
resentment, and
far removed from all
excitement, let us
allow, since it is
pleasing to you, that they
put forth their
passion upon us, that they
thirst for our
blood, and that now for a
long time they are
eager to
remove us from the
generations of
men. But if it is not
troublesome to you, if it is not
offensive, if it is a
matter of
common duty to
discuss the
points of this
argument not on
grounds of
partiality, but on those of
truth, we
demand to
hear from you what is the
explanation of this, what the
cause, why, on the one
hand, the
gods exercise cruelty on us alone, and why, on the other,
men barn against us with
exasperation. You
follow, our
opponents say,
profane religious systems, and you
practise rites unheard of throughout the
entire world. What do you,
O men,
endowed with
reason,
dare to
assert? What do you
dare to
prate of? What do you
try to
bring forward in the
recklessness of
unguarded speech? To
adore God as the
highest existence, as the
Lord of all
things that be, as
occupying the
highest place among all
exalted ones, to
pray to Him with
respectful submission in our
distresses, to
cling to Him with all our
senses, so to
speak, to
love Him, to
look up to Him with
faith,-is this an
execrable and
unhallowed religion,
full of
impiety and of
sacrilege,
polluting by the
superstition of its own
novelty ceremonies instituted of
old?
26. Is this, I
pray, that
daring and
heinous iniquity on
account of which the
mighty powers of
heaven whet against us the
stings of
passionate indignation, on
account of which you yourselves, whenever the
savage desire has
seized you,
spoil us of our
goods,
drive us from the
homes of our
fathers,
inflict upon us
capital punishment,
torture,
mangle,
barn us, and at the last
expose us to
wild beasts, and
give us to be
torn by
monsters?
Whosoever condemns that in us, or
considers that it should be
laid against us as a
charge, is he
deserving either to be
called by the
name of
man, though he seem so to himself? or is he to be
believed a
god, although he
declare himself to be so by the
mouth of a
thousand prophets? Does
Trophonius, or
Jupiter of
Dodona,
pronounce us to be
wicked? And will he himself be
called god, and be
reckoned among the
number of the
deities, who either
fixes the
charge of
impiety on those who
serve the
King Supreme, or is
racked with
envy because His
majesty and His
worship are
preferred to his own?
Is
Apollo whether
called Delian or
Clarian Didymean,
Philesian, or
Pythian, to be
reckoned divine, who either
knows not the
Supreme Ruler, or who is not
aware that He is
entreated by us in
daily prayers? And although he
knew not the
secrets of our
hearts, and though he did not
discover what we
hold in our
inmost thoughts, yet he might either
know by his
ear, or might
perceive by the very
tone of
voice which we
use in
prayer, that we
invoke God Supreme, and that we
beg from Him what we
require.
27. This is not the
place to
examine all our
traducers, who they are, or whence they are, what is their
power, what their
knowledge, why they
tremble at the
mention of
Christ, why they
regard his
disciples as
enemies and as
hateful persons; but with
regard to ourselves to
state expressly to those who will
exercise common reason, in
terms applicable to all of us
alike,-We
Christians are nothing else than
worshippers of the
Supreme King and
Head, under our
Master,
Christ. If you
examine carefully, you will
find that nothing else is
implied in that
religion. This is the
sum of all that we do; this is the
proposed end and
limit of
sacred duties. Before Him we all
prostrate ourselves, according to
oar custom; Him we
adore in
joint prayers; from Him we
beg things just and
honourable, and
worthy of His
ear. Not that He
needs our
supplications, or
loves to
see the
homage of so many
thousands laid at His
feet. This is our
benefit, and has a
regard to our
advantage. For since we are
prone to
err, and to
yield to
various lusts and
appetites through the
fault of our
innate weakness, He
allows Himself at all
times to be
comprehended in our
thoughts, that
whilst we
entreat Him and
strive to
merit His
bounties, we
may receive a
desire for
purity, and
may free ourselves from every
stain by the
removal of all our
shortcomings.
28. What
say ye,
O interpreters of
sacred and of
divine law? Are they
attached to a
better cause who
adore the
Lares Grundules, the
Aii Locutii, and the
Limentini, than we who
worship God the
Father of all
things, and
demand of Him
protection in
danger and
distress? They, too, seem to you
wary,
wise, most
sagacious, and not
worthy of any
blame, who
revere Fauni and
Fatuae, and the
genii of
states, who
worship Pausi and
Bellonae:-we are
pronounced dull,
doltish,
fatuous,
stupid, and
senseless, who have
given ourselves up to
God, at whose
nod and
pleasure everything which
exists has its
being, and
remains immoveable by His
eternal decree. Do you
put forth this
opinion? Have you
ordained this
law? Do you
publish this
decree, that he be
crowned with the
highest honours who shall
worship your
slaves? that he
merit the
extreme penalty of the
cross who shall
offer prayers to you yourselves, his
masters? In the
greatest states, and in the most
powerful nations,
sacred rites are
performed in the
public name to
harlots, who in
old days earned the
wages of
impurity, and
prostituted themselves to the
lust of all; and yet for this there are no
swellings of
indignation on the
part of the
deities.
Temples have been
erected with
lofty roofs to
cats, to
beetles, and to
heifers: -the
powers of the
deities thus
insulted are
silent; nor are they
affected with any
feeling of
envy because they
see the
sacred attributes of
vile animals put in
rivalry with them. Are the
deities inimical to us alone? To us are they most
unrelenting, because we
worship their
Author, by whom, if they do
exist, they
began to be, and to have the
essence of their
power and their
majesty, from whom,
having obtained their very
divinity, so to
speak, they
feel that they
exist, and
realize that they are
reckoned among
things that be, at whose will and at whose
behest they are
able both to
perish and be
dissolved, and not to be
dissolved and not to
perish? For if we all
grant that there is only one
great Being, whom in the
long lapse of
time nought else
precedes, it
necessarily follows that after Him all
things were
generated and
put forth, and that they
burst into an
existence each of its
kind. But if this is
unchallenged and
sure, you will be
compelled as a
consequence to
confess, on the one
hand, that the
deities are
created, and on the other, that they
derive the
spring of their
existence from the
great source of
things. And if they are
created and
brought forth, they are also
doubtless liable to
annihilation and to
dangers; but yet they are
believed to be
immortal,
ever-existent, and
subject to no
extinction. This is also a
gift from
God their
Author, that they have been
privileged to
remain the same through
countless ages, though by
nature they are
fleeting, and
liable to
dissolution.
29. And would that it were
allowed me to
deliver this
argument with the whole
world formed, as it were, into one
assembly, and to be
placed in the
hearing of all the
human race! Are we therefore
charged before you with an
impious religion? and because we
approach the
Head and
Pillar of the
universe with
worshipful service, are we to be
considered-to use the
terms employed by you in
reproaching us-as persons to be
shunned, and as
godless ones? And who would more
properly bear the
odium of these
names than he who either
knows, or
inquires after, or
believes any other
god rather than this of ours? To Him do we not
owe this first, that we
exist, that we are
said to be
men, that,
being either
sent forth from Him, or
having fallen from Him, we are
confined in the
darkness of this
body? Does it not
come from Him that we
walk, that we
breathe and
live? and by the very
power of
living, does He not
cause us to
exist and to
move with the
activity of
animated being? From this do not
causes emanate, through which our
health is
sustained by the
bountiful supply of
various pleasures? Whose is that
world in which you
live? or who hath
authorized you to
retain its
produce and its
possession? Who hath
given that
common light,
enabling us to
see distinctly all
things lying beneath it, to
handle them, and to
examine them? Who has
ordained that the
fires of the
sun should
exist for the
growth of
things,
lest elements pregnant with
life should be
numbed by
settling down in the
torpor of
inactivity? When
yon believe that the
sun is a
deity, do you not
ask who is his
founder, who has
fashioned him? Since the
moon is a
goddess in your
estimation, do you in like
manner care to
know who is her
author and
framer?
30. Does it not
occur to you to
reflect and to
examine in whose
domain you
live? on whose
property you are? whose is that
earth which you
till? whose is that
air which you
inhale, and
return again in
breathing? whose
fountains do you
abundantly enjoy? whose
water? who has
regulated the
blasts of the
wind? who has
contrived the
watery clouds? who has
discriminated the
productive powers of
seeds by
special characteristics? Does
Apollo give you
rain? Does
Mercury send yon water from
heaven? Has
Aesculapius,
Hercules, or
Diana devised the
plan of
showers and of
storms? And how can this be, when you
give forth that they were
born on
earth, and that at a
fixed period they
received vital perceptions? For if the
world preceded them in the
long lapse of
time, and if before they were
born nature already
experienced rains and
storms, those who were
born later have no
right of
rain-giving, nor can they
mix themselves up with those
methods which they found to be in
operation here, and to be
derived from a
greater Author.
31.
O greatest,
O Supreme Creator of
things invisible!
O Thou who
art Thyself unseen, and who
art incomprehensible! Thou
art worthy, Thou
art verily worthy-if only
mortal tongue may speak of
Thee-that all
breathing and
intelligent nature should never
cease to
feel and to
return thanks; that it should throughout the whole of
life fall on
bended knee, and
offer supplication with
never-ceasing prayers. For Thou
art the first
cause; in Thee
created things exist, and Thou
art the
space in which
rest the
foundations of all
things, whatever they be. Thou
art illimitable,
unbegotten,
immortal,
enduring for
aye,
God Thyself alone, whom no
bodily shape may represent, no
outline delineate; of
virtues inexpressible, of
greatness indefinable;
unrestricted as to
locality,
movement, and
condition,
concerning whom nothing can be
clearly expressed by the
significance of
man's
words. That Thou
mayest he
understood, we must be
silent; and that
erring conjecture may track Thee through the
shady cloud, no
word must be
uttered.
Grant pardon,
O King Supreme, to those who
persecute Thy
servants; and in
virtue of Thy
benign nature,
forgive those who
fly from the
worship of Thy
name and the
observance of Thy
religion. It is not to be
wondered at if Thou
art unknown; it is a
cause of
greater astonishment if Thou
art clearly comprehended.
But
perchance some one
dares-for this
remains for
frantic madness to
do-to be
uncertain, and to
express doubt whether that
God exists or not; whether He is
believed in on the
proved truth of
reliable evidence, or on the
imaginings of
empty rumour. For of those who have
given themselves to
philosophizing, we have
heard that some
deny the
existence of any
divine power, that others
inquire daily whether there be or not; that others
construct the whole
fabric of the
universe by
chance accidents and by
random collision, and
fashion it by the
concourse of
atoms of
different shapes; with whom we by no
means intend to
enter at this
time on a
discussion of such
perverse convictions. For those who
think wisely say, that to
argue against
things palpably foolish, is a
mark of
greater folly.
32. Our
discussion deals with those who,
acknowledging that there is a
divine race of
beings,
doubt about those of
greater rank and
power,
whilst they
admit that there are
deities inferior and more
humble. What then? Do we
strive and
toil to
obtain such
results by
arguments?
Far hence be such
madness; and, as the
phrase is, let the
folly,
say I, be
averted from us. For it is as
dangerous to
attempt to
prove by
arguments that
God is the
highest being, as it is to
wish to
discover by
reasoning of this
kind that He
exists. It is a
matter of
indifference whether you
deny that He
exists, or
affirm it and
admit it; since
equally culpable are both the
assertion of such a
thing, and the
denial of an
unbelieving opponent.
33. Is there any
human being who has not
entered on the first
day of his
life with an
idea of that
Great Head? In whom has it not been
implanted by
nature, on whom has it not been
impressed,
aye,
stamped almost in his
mother's
womb even, in whom is there not a
native instinct, that He is
King and
Lord, the
ruler of all
things that be? In
fine, if the
dumb animals even could
stammer forth their
thoughts, if they were
able to
use our
languages;
nay, if
trees, if the
clods of the
earth, if
stones animated by
vital perceptions were
able to
produce vocal sounds, and to
utter articulate speech, would they not in that
case, with
nature as their
guide and
teacher, in the
faith of
uncorrupted innocence, both
feel that there is a
God, and
proclaim that He alone is
Lord of all?
34. But in
vain,
says one, do you
assail us with a
groundless and
calumnious charge, as if we
deny that there is a
deity of a
higher kind, since
Jupiter is by us both
called and
esteemed the
best and the
greatest; and since we have
dedicated to him the most
sacred abodes, and have
raised huge Capitols. You are
endeavouring to
connect together
things which are
dissimilar, and to
force them into one
class, thereby
introducing confusion. For by the
unanimous judgment of all, and by the
common consent of the
human race, the
omnipotent God is
regarded as
having never been
born, as
having never been
brought forth to
new light, and as not
having begun to
exist at any
time or
century. For He Himself is the
source of all
things, the
Father of
ages and of
seasons. For they do not
exist of themselves, but from His
everlasting perpetuity they
move on in
unbroken and ever
endless flow. Yet
Jupiter indeed, as you
allege, has both
father and
mother,
grandfathers,
grandmothers, and
brothers: now
lately conceived in the
womb of his
mother,
being completely formed and
perfected in
ten months, he
burst with
vital sensations into
light unknown to him before. If, then, this is so, how can
Jupiter be
God supreme, when it is
evident that He is
everlasting, and the former is
represented by you as
having had a
natal day, and as
having uttered a
mournful cry, through
terror at the
strange scene?
35. But
suppose they be one, as you
wish, and not
different in any
power of
deity and in
majesty, do you therefore
persecute us with
undeserved hatred? Why do you
shudder at the
mention of our
name as of the
worst omen, if we too
worship the
deity whom you
worship? or why do you
contend that the
gods are
friendly to you, but
inimical,
aye, most
hostile to us, though our
relations to them are the same? For if one
religion is
common to us and to you, the
anger of the
gods is
stayed; but if they are
hostile to us alone it is
plain that both you and they have no
knowledge of
God. And that that
God is not
Jove, is
evident by the very
wrath of the
deities.
36. But,
says my
opponent, the
deities are not
inimical to you, because you
worship the
omnipotent God; but because you both
allege that one
born as
men are, and
put to
death on the
cross, which is a
disgraceful punishment even for
worthless men, was
God, and because you
believe that He still
lives, and because you
worship Him in
daily supplications. If it is
agreeable to you, my
friends,
state clearly what
deities those are who
believe that the
worship of
Christ by us has a
tendency to
injure them? Is it
Janus, the
founder of the
Janiculum, and
Saturn, the
author of the
Saturnian state? Is it
Fauna Fatua, the
wife of
Faunus, who is
called the
Good Goddess, but who is
better and more
deserving of
praise in the
drinking of
wine? Is it those
gods Indigetes who
swim in the
river, and
live in the
channels of the
Numicius, in
company with
frogs and
little fishes? Is it
Aesculapius and
father Bacchus, the former
born of
Coronis, and the other
dashed by
lightning from his
mother's
womb? Is it
Mercury,
son of
Maia, and what is more
divine,
Maia the
beautiful? Is it the
bow-bearing deities Diana and
Apollo, who were
companions of their
mother's
wanderings, and who were
scarcely safe in
floating islands? Is it
Venus,
daughter of
Dione,
paramour of a
man of
Trojan family, and the
prostituter of her
secret charms? Is it
Ceres,
born in
Sicilian territory, and
Proserpine,
surprised while
gathering flowers? Is it the
Theban or the
Phoenician Hercules,-the latter
buried in
Spanish territory, the other
burned by
fire on
Mount Oeta? Is it the
brothers Castor and
Pollux,
sons of
Tyndareus,-the one
accustomed to
tame horses, the other an
excellent boxer, and
unconquerable with the
untanned gauntlet? Is it the
Titans and the
Bocchores of the
Moors, and the
Syrian deities, the
offspring of
eggs? Is it
Apis,
born in the
Peloponnese, and in
Egypt called Serapis? Is it
Isis,
tanned by
Ethiopian suns,
lamenting her
lost son and
husband torn limb from
limb?
Passing on, we
omit the
royal offspring of
Ops, which your
writers have in their
books set forth for your
instruction,
telling you both who they are, and of what
character. Do these, then,
hear with
offended ears that
Christ is
worshipped, and that He is
accepted by us and
regarded as a
divine person? And
being forgetful of the
grade and
state in which they recently were, are they
unwilling to
share with another that which has been
granted to themselves? Is this the
justice of the
heavenly deities? Is this the
righteous judgment of the
gods? Is not this a
kind of
malice and of
greed? is it not a
species of
base envy, to
wish their own
fortunes only to
rise,-those of others to be
lowered, and to be
trodden down in
despised lowliness?
37. We
worship one who was
born a
man. What then? do you
worship no one who was
born a
man? Do you not
worship one and another,
aye,
deities innumerable?
Nay, have you not
taken from the
number of
mortals all those whom you now have in your
temples; and have you not
set them in
heaven, and among the
constellations? For if,
perchance, it has
escaped you that they once
partook of
human destiny, and of the
state common to all
men,
search the most
ancient literature, and
range through the
writings of those who,
living nearest to the
days of
antiquity,
set forth all
things with
undisguised truth and without
flattery: you will
learn in
detail from what
fathers, from what
mothers they were each
sprung, in what
district they were
born, of what
tribe; what they made, what they did, what they
endured, how they
employed themselves, what
fortunes they
experienced of an
adverse or of a
favourable kind in
discharging their
functions. But if, while you
know that they were
born in the
womb, and that they
lived on the
produce of the
earth, you nevertheless
upbraid us with the
worship of one
born like ourselves, you
act with
great injustice, in
regarding that as
worthy of
condemnation in us which you yourselves
habitually do; or what you
allow to be
lawful for you, you are
unwilling to be in like
manner lawful for others.
38. But in the meantime let us
grant, in
sub-mission to your
ideas, that
Christ was one of
us-similar in
mind,
soul,
body,
weakness, and
condition; is He not
worthy to be
called and to be
esteemed God by us, in
consideration of His
bounties, so
numerous as they are? For if you have
placed in the
assembly of the
gods Liber, because he
discovered the
use of
wine;
Ceres, because she
discovered the
use of
bread;
Aesculapius, because he
discovered the
use of
herbs;
Minerva, because she
produced the
olive;
Triptolemus, because he
invented the
plough;
Hercules, because he
overpowered and
restrained wild beasts and
robbers, and
water-serpents of many
heads,-with how
great distinctions is He to be
honoured by us, who, by
instilling His
truth into our
hearts, has
freed us from
great errors; who, when we were
straying everywhere, as if
blind and without a
guide,
withdrew us from
precipitous and
devious paths, and
set our
feet on more
smooth places; who has
pointed out what is
especially profitable and
salutary for the
human race; who has
shown us what
God is, who He is, how
great and how
good; who has
permitted and
taught us to
conceive and to
understand, as
far as our
limited capacity can, His
profound and
inexpressible depths; who, in in His
great kindness, has
caused it to be
known by what
founder, by what
Creator, this
world was
established and made; who has
explained the
nature of its
origin and
essential substance, never before
imagined in the
conceptions of any; whence
generative warmth is
added to the
rays of the
sun; why the
moon, always
uninjured in her
motions, is
believed to
alternate her
light and her
obscurity from
intelligent causes; what is the
origin of
animals, what
rules regulate seeds; who
designed man himself, who
fashioned him, or from what
kind of
material did He
compact the very
build of
bodies; what the
perceptions are; what the
soul, and whether it
flew to us of its own
accord, or whether it was
generated and
brought into
existence with our
bodies themselves; whether it
sojourns with us,
partaking of
death, or whether it is
gifted with an
endless immortality; what
condition awaits us when we shall have
separated from our
bodies relaxed in
death; whether we shall
retain our
perceptions, or have no
recollection of our former
sensations or of
past memories; who has
restrained our
arrogance, and has
caused our
necks,
uplifted with
pride, to
acknowledge the
measure of their
weakness; who hath
shown that we are
creatures imperfectly formed, that we
trust in
vain expectations, that we
understand nothing
thoroughly, that we
know nothing, and that we do not
see those
things which are
placed before our
eyes; who has
guided us from
false superstitions to the
true religion,-a
blessing which
exceeds and
transcends all His other
gifts; who has
raised our
thoughts to
heaven from
brutish statues formed of the
vilest clay, and has
caused us to
hold converse in
thanksgiving and
prayer with the
Lord of the
universe.
39. But
lately,
O blindness, I
worshipped images produced from the
furnace,
gods made on
anvils and by
hammers, the
bones of
elephants,
paintings,
wreaths on
aged trees; whenever I
espied an
anointed stone and one
bedaubed with
olive oil, as if some
power resided in it I
worshipped it, I
addressed myself to it and
begged blessings from a
senseless stock. And these very
gods of whose
existence I had
convinced myself, I
treated with
gross insults, when I
believed them to be
wood,
stone, and
bones, or
imagined that they
dwelt in the
substance of such
objects. Now,
having been
led into the
paths of
truth by so
great a
teacher, I
know what all these
things are, I
entertain honourable thoughts concerning those which are
worthy, I
offer no
insult to any
divine name; and what is
due to each, whether
inferior or
superior, I
assign with
clearly-defined gradations, and on
distinct authority. Is
Christ, then, not to be
regarded by us as
God? and is He, who in other
respects may be
deemed the very
greatest, not to be
honoured with
divine worship, from whom we have already
received while
alive so
great gifts, and from whom, when the
day comes, we
expect greater ones?
40. But He
died nailed to the
cross. What is that to the
argument? For neither does the
kind and
disgrace of the
death change His
words or
deeds, nor will the
weight of His
teaching appear less; because He
freed Himself from the
shackles of the
body, not by a
natural separation, but
departed by
reason of
violence offered to Him.
Pythagoras of
Samos was
burned to
death in a
temple, under an
unjust suspicion of
aiming at
sovereign power. Did his
doctrines lose their
peculiar influence, because he
breathed forth his
life not
willingly, but in
consequence of a
savage assault? In like
manner Socrates,
condemned by the
decision of his
fellow-citizens,
suffered capital punishment: have his
discussions on
morals, on
virtues, and on
duties been
rendered vain, because he was
unjustly hurried from
life? Others without
number,
conspicuous by their
renown, their
merit, and their
public character, have
experienced the most
cruel forums of
death, as
Aquilius,
Trebonius, and
Regulus: were they on that
account adjudged base after
death, because they
perished not by the
common law of the
fates, but after
being mangled and
tortured in the most
cruel kind of
death? No
innocent person foully slain is ever
disgraced thereby; nor is he
stained by the
mark of any
baseness, who
suffers severe punishment, not from his own
deserts, but by
reason of the
savage nature of his
persecutor.
41. And yet,
O ye who
laugh because we
worship one who
died an
ignominious death, do not ye too, by
consecrating shrines to him,
honour father Liber, who was
torn limb from
limb by the
Titans? Have you not, after his
punishment and his
death by
lightning,
named Aesculapius, the
discoverer of
medicines, as the
guardian and
protector of
health, of
strength, and of
safety? Do you not
invoke the
great Hercules himself by
offerings, by
victims, and by
kindled frankincense, whom you yourselves
allege to have been
burned alive after his
punishment, and to have been
consumed on the
fatal pyres? Do you not, with the
unanimous approbation of the
Gauls,
invoke as a
propitious and as a
holy god, in the
temples of the
Great Mother, that
Phrygian Atys who was
mangled and
deprived of his
virility?
Father Romulus himself, who was
torn in
pieces by the
hands of a
hundred senators, do you not
call Quirinus Martius, and do you not
honour him with
priests and with
gorgeous couches, and do you not
worship him in most
spacious temples; and in
addition to all this, do you not
affirm that he has
ascended into
heaven? Either, therefore, you too are to be
laughed at, who
regard as
gods men slain by the most
cruel tortures; or if there is a
sure ground for your
thinking that you should do so,
allow us too to
feel assured for what
causes and on what
grounds we do this.
42. You
worship,
says my
opponent, one who was
born a
mere human being. Even if that were
true, as has been already
said in former
passages, yet, in
consideration of the many
liberal gifts which He has
bestowed on us, He
ought to be
called and be
addressed as
God. But since He is
God in
reality and without any
shadow of
doubt, do you
think that we will
deny that He is
worshipped by us with all the
fervour we are
capable of, and
assumed as the
guardian of our
body? Is that
Christ of yours a
god, then? some
raving,
wrathful, and
excited man will
say. A
god, we will
reply, and the
god of the
inner powers;
and-what may still further
torture unbelievers with the most
bitter pains-He was
sent to us by the
King Supreme for a
purpose of the very
highest moment. My
opponent, becoming more
mad and more
frantic, will perhaps
ask whether the
matter can be
proved, as we
allege. There is no
greater proof than the
credibility of the
acts done by Him, than the
unwonted excellence of the
virtues He
exhibited, than the
conquest and the
abrogation of all those
deadly ordinances which
peoples and
tribes saw executed in the
light of
day, with no
objecting voice; and even they whose
ancient laws or whose
country's
laws He
shows to be
full of
vanity and of the most
senseless superstition, (even they)
dare not
allege these
things to be
false.
43. My
opponent will perhaps
meet me with many other
slanderous and
childish charges which are
commonly urged.
Jesus was a
Magian; He
effected all these
things by
secret arts. From the
shrines of the
Egyptians He
stole the
names of
angels of might, and the
religious system of a
remote country. Why,
O witlings, do you
speak of
things which you have not
examined, and which are
unknown to you,
prating with the
garrulity of a
rash tongue? Were, then, those
things which were done, the
freaks of
demons, and the
tricks of
magical arts? Can you
specify and
point out to me any one of all those
magicians who have ever
existed in
past ages, that did anything
similar, in the
thousandth degree, to
Christ? Who has done this without any
power of
incantations, without the
juice of
herbs and of
grasses, without any
anxious watching of
sacrifices, of
libations, or of
seasons? For we do not
press it, and
inquire what they
profess to do, nor in what
kind of
acts all their
learning and
experience are
wont to be
comprised. For who is not
aware that these
men either
study to
know beforehand
things impending, which, whether they will or not,
come of
necessity as they have been
ordained? or to
inflict a
deadly and
wasting disease on whom they
choose; or to
sever the
affections of
relatives; or to
open without
keys places which are
locked; or to
seal the
month in
silence; or in the
chariot race to
weaken,
urge on, or
retard horses; or to
inspire in
wives, and in the
children of
strangers, whether they be
males or
females, the
flames and
mad desires of
illicit love? Or if they seem to
attempt anything
useful, to be
able to do it not by their own
power, but by the might of those
deities whom they
invoke.
44. And yet it is
agreed on that
Christ performed all those
miracles which He
wrought without any
aid from
external things, without the
observance of any
ceremonial, without any
definite mode of
procedure, but
solely by the
inherent might of His
authority; and as was the
proper duty of the
true God, as was
consistent with His
nature, as was
worthy of Him, in the
generosity of His
bounteous power He
bestowed nothing
hurtful or
injurious, but only that which is
helpful,
beneficial, and
full of
blessings good for
men.
45. What do you
say again,
oh you -? Is He then a
man, is He one of us, at whose
command, at whose
voice,
raised in the
utterance of
audible and
intelligible words,
infirmities,
diseases,
fevers, and other
ailments of the
body fled away? Was He one of us, whose
presence, whose very
sight, that
race of
demons which
took possession of
men was
unable to
bear, and
terrified by the
strange power,
fled away? Was He one of us, to whose
order the
foul leprosy, at once
checked, was
obedient, and
left sameness of
colour to
bodies formerly
spotted? Was He one of us, at whose
light touch the
issues of
blood were
stanched, and
stopped their
excessive flow? Was He one of us, whose
hands the
waters of the
lethargic dropsy fled from, and that
searching fluid avoided; and did the
swelling body,
assuming a
healthy dryness,
find relief? Was He one of us, who
bade the
lame run? Was it His
work, too, that the
maimed stretched forth their
hands, and the
joints relaxed the
rigidity acquired even at
birth; that the
paralytic rose to their
feet, and
persons now
carried home their
beds who a
little before were
borne on the
shoulders of others; the
blind were
restored to
sight, and
men born without
eyes now
looked on the
heaven and the
day?
46. Was He one of us, I
say, who by one
act of
intervention at once
healed a
hundred or more
afflicted with
various infirmities and
diseases; at whose
word only the
raging and
maddened seas were still, the
whirlwinds and
tempests were
lulled; who
walked over the
deepest pools with
unwet foot; who
trod the
ridges of the
deep, the very
waves being astonished, and
nature coining under
bondage; who with
live loaves satisfied five thousand of His
followers: and who,
lest it might
appear to the
unbelieving and
bard of
heart to be an
illusion,
filled twelve capacious baskets with the
fragments that
remained? Was He one of us, who
ordered the
breath that had
departed to
return to the
body,
persons buried to
come forth from the
tomb, and after
three days to be
loosed from the
swathings of the
undertaker? Was He one of us, who
saw clearly in the
hearts of the
silent what each was
pondering, what each had in his
secret thoughts? Was He one of us, who, when He
uttered a
single word, was
thought by
nations far removed from one another and of
different speech to be using
well-known sounds, and the
peculiar language of each? Was He one of us, who, when He was
teaching His
followers the
duties of a
religion that could not be
gainsaid,
suddenly filled the whole
world, and
showed how
great He was and who He was, by
unveiling the
boundlessness of His
authority? Was He one of us, who, after His
body had been
laid in the
tomb,
manifested Himself in
open day to
countless numbers of
men; who
spoke to them, and
listened to them; who
taught them,
reproved and
admonished them; who,
lest they should
imagine that they were
deceived by
unsubstantial fancies,
showed Himself once, a
second time,
aye frequently, in
familiar conversation; who
appears even now to
righteous men of
unpolluted mind who
love Him, not in
airy dreams, but in a
form of
pure simplicity; whose
name, when
heard,
puts to
flight evil spirits,
imposes silence on
soothsayers,
prevents men from
consulting the
augurs,
causes the
efforts of
arrogant magicians to be
frustrated, not by the
dread of His
name, as you
allege, but by the
free exercise of a
greater power?
47. These
facts set forth in
sanctuary we have
put forward, not on the
supposition that the
greatness of the
agent was to be
seen in these
virtues alone. For however
great these
things be, how
excessively petty and
trifling will they be found to be, if it shall be
revealed from what
realms He has
come, of what
God He is the
minister! But with
regard to the
acts which were done by Him, they were
performed, indeed, not that He might
boast Himself into
empty ostentation,
bat that
hardened and
unbelieving men might he
assured that what was
professed was not
deceptive, and that they might now
learn to
imagine, from the
beneficence of His
works, what a
true god was. At the same
time we
wish this also to be
known, when, as was
said, an
enumeration of His
acts has been
given in
summary, that
Christ was
able to do not only those
things which He did, but that He could even
overcome the
decrees of
fate. For if, as is
evident, and as is
agreed by all,
infirmities and
bodily sufferings, if
deafness,
deformity, and
dumbness, if
shrivelling of the
sinews and the
loss of
sight happen to us, and are
brought on us by the
decrees of
fate and if
Christ alone has
corrected this, has
restored and
cared man, it is
clearer than the
sun himself that He was more
powerful than the
fates are when He has
loosened and
overpowered those
things which were
bound with
everlasting knots, and
fixed by
unalterable necessity.
48. But,
says some one, you in
vain claim so much for
Christ, when we now
know, and have in
past times known, of other
gods both
giving remedies to many who were
sick, and
healing the
diseases and the
infirmities of many
men. I do not
inquire, I do not
demand, what
god did so, or at what
time; whom he
relieved, or what
shattered frame he
restored to
sound health: this only I
long to
hear, whether, without the
addition of any
substance-that is, of any
medical application-he ordered diseases to
fly away from
men at a
touch; whether he
commanded and
compelled the
cause of
ill health to be
eradicated, and the
bodies of the
weak to
return to their
natural strength. For it is
known that
Christ, either by
applying His
hand to the
parts affected, or by the
command of His
voice only,
opened the
ears of the
deaf,
drove away
blindness from the
eyes,
gave speech to the
dumb,
loosened the
rigidity of the
joints,
gave the
power of
walking to the
shrivelled,-was
wont to
heal by a
word and by an
order,
leprosies,
agues,
dropsies, and all other
kinds of
ailments, which some
fell power has
willed that the
bodies of
men should
endure. What
act like these have all these
gods done, by whom you
allege that
help has been
brought to the
sick and the
imperilled? for if they have at any
time ordered, as is
reported, either that
medicine or a
special diet be
given to some, or that a
draught be
drunk off, or that the
juices of
plants and of
blades be
placed on that which
causes uneasiness or have
ordered that
persons should
walk,
remain at
rest, or
abstain from something
hurtful,-and that this is no
great matter, and
deserves no
great admiration, is
evident, if you will
attentively examine it-a similar mode of
treatment is
followed by
physicians also, a
creature earth-born and not
relying on
true science, but
founding on a
system of
conjecture, and
wavering in
estimating probabilities. Now there is no
special merit in
removing by
remedies those
ailments which
affect men: the
healing qualities belong to the
drugs-not virtues inherent in him who
applies them; and though it is
praiseworthy to
know by what
medicine or by what
method it
may be
suitable for
persons to be
treated, there is
room for this
credit being assigned to
man, but not to the
deity. For it is, at least, no
discredit that he should have
improved the
health of
man by
things taken from without: it is a
disgrace to a
god that he is not
able to
effect it of himself, but that he
gives soundness and
safety only by the
aid of
external objects.
49. And since you
compare Christ and the other
deities as to the
blessings of
health bestowed, how many
thousands of
infirm persons do you
wish to be
shown to you by us; how many
persons affected with
wasting diseases, whom no
appliances whatever
restored, although they
went as
suppliants through all the
temples, although they
prostrated themselves before the
gods, and
swept the very
thresholds with their
lips-though, as
long as
life remained, they
wearied with
prayers, and
importuned with most
piteous vows Aesculapius himself, the
health-giver, as they
call him? Do we not
know that some
died of their
ailments? that others
grew old by the
torturing pain of their
diseases? that others
began to
live a more
abandoned life after they had
wasted their
days and
nights in
incessant prayers, and in
expectation of
mercy? Of what
avail is it, then, to
point to one or another who
may have been
healed, when so many
thousands have been
left unaided, and the
shrines are
full of all the
wretched and the
unfortunate? Unless,
perchance, you
say that the
gods help the
good, but that the
miseries of the
wicked are
overlooked. And yet
Christ assisted the
good and the
bad alike; nor was there any one
rejected by Him, who in
adversity sought help against
violence and the
ills of
fortune. For this is the
mark of a
true god and of
kingly power, to
deny his
bounty to none, and not to
consider who
merits it or who does not; since
natural infirmity and not the
choice of his
desire, or of his
sober judgment, makes a
sinner. To
say, moreover, that
aid is
given by the
gods to the
deserving when in
distress, is to
leave undecided and
render doubtful what you
assert: so that both he who has been made whole
may seem to have been
preserved by
chance, and he who is not
may appear to have been
unable to
banish infirmity, not because of his
demerit, but by
reason of a
heaven-sent weakness.
50. Moreover, by His own
power He not only
performed those
miraculous deeds which have been
detailed by us in
summary, and not as the
importance of the
matter demanded; but, what was more
sublime, He has
permitted many others to
attempt them, and to
perform them by the
use of His
name. For when He
foresaw that you were to be the
detractors of His
deeds and of His
divine work,
ill order that no
lurking suspicion might
remain of His
having lavished these
gifts and
bounties by
magic arts, from the
immense multitude of
people, which with
admiring wonder strove to
gain His
favour, He
chose fishermen,
artisans,
rustics, and
unskilled persons of a
similar kind, that they
being sent through
various nations should
perform all those
miracles without any
deceit and without any
material aids. By a
word He
assuaged the
racking pains of the
aching members; and by a
word they
checked the
writhings of
maddening sufferings. By one
command He
drove demons from the
body, and
restored their
senses to the
lifeless; they, too, by no
different command,
restored to
health and to
soundness of
mind those
labouring under the
inflictions of these
demons. By the
application of His
hand He
removed the
marks of
leprosy; they, too,
restored to the
body its
natural skin by a
touch not
dissimilar. He
ordered the
dropsical and
swollen flesh to
recover its
natural dryness; and His
servants in the same
manner stayed the
wandering waters, and
ordered them to
glide through their own
channels,
avoiding injury to the
frame.
Sores of
immense size,
refusing to
admit of
healing, He
restrained from further
feeding on the
flesh, by the
interposition of one
word; and they in like
manner, by
restricting its
ravages,
compelled the
obstinate and
merciless cancer to
confine itself to a
scar. To the
lame He
gave the
power of
walking, to the
dark eyes sight, the
dead He
recalled to
life; and not less
surely did they, too,
relax the
tightened nerves,
fill the
eyes with
light already
lost, and
order the
dead to
return from the
tombs,
reversing the
ceremonies of the
funeral rites. Nor was anything
calling forth the
bewildered admiration of all done by Him, which He did not
freely allow, to be
performed by those
humble and
rustic men, and which He did not
put in their
power.
51. What
say ye,
O minds incredulous,
stubborn,
hardened? Did that
great Jupiter Capitolinus of yours
give to any
human being power of this
kind? Did he
endow with this
right any
priest of a
curia, the
Pontifex Maximus,
nay, even the
Dialis, in whose
name he is
revealed as the
god of
life? I shall not
say, did he
impart power to
raise the
dead, to
give light to the
blind,
restore the
normal condition of their
members to the
weakened and the
paralyzed, but did he even
enable any one to
check a
pustule, a
hang-nail, a
pimple, either by the
word of his
mouth or the
touch of his
hand? Was this, then, a
power natural to
man, or could such a
right be
granted, could such a
licence be
given by the
mouth of one
reared on the
vulgar produce of
earth; and was it not a
divine and
sacred gift? or if the
matter admits of any
hyperbole, was it not more than
divine and
sacred? For if you do that which you are
able to do, and what is
compatible with your
strength and your
ability, there is no
ground for the
expression of
astonishment; for you will have done that which you were
able, and which your
power was
bound to
accomplish, in
order that there should be a
perfect correspondence between the
deed and the
doer. To be
able to
transfer to a
man your own
power,
share with the
frailest being the
ability to
perform that which you alone are
able to do, is a
proof of
power supreme over all, and
holding in
subjection the
causes of all
things, and the
natural laws of
methods and of
means.
52.
Come, then, let some
Magian Zoroaster arrive from a
remote part of the
globe,
crossing over the
fiery zone, if we
believe Hermippus as an
authority. Let these
join him
too-that Bactrian, whose
deeds Ctesias sets forth in the first
book of his
History; the
Armenian,
grandson of
Hosthanes; and
Pamphilus, the
intimate friend of
Cyrus;
Apollonius,
Damigero, and
Dardanus;
Velus,
Julianus, and
Baebulus; and if there be any other one who is
supposed to have
especial powers and
reputation in such
magic arts. Let them
grant to one of the
people to
adapt the
mouths of the
dumb for the
purposes of
speech, to
unseal the
ears of the
deaf, to
give the
natural powers of the
eye to those
born without
sight, and to
restore feeling and
life to
bodies long cold in
death. Or if that is too
difficult, and if they cannot
impart to others the
power to do such
acts, let themselves
perform them, and with their own
rites. Whatever
noxious herbs the
earth brings forth from its
bosom, whatever
powers those
muttered words and
accompanying spells contain-these let them
add, we
envy them not; those let them
collect, we
forbid them not. We
wish to make
trial and to
discover whether they can
effect, with the
aid of their
gods, what has often been
accomplished by
unlearned Christians with a
word only.
53.
Cease in your
ignorance to
receive such
great deeds with
abusive language, which will in no
wise injure him who did them, but which will
bring danger to
yourselves-danger, I
say, by no
means small, but one
dealing with
matters of
great,
aye, even the
greatest importance, since beyond a
doubt the
soul is a
precious thing, and nothing can be found
dearer to a
man than himself. There was nothing
magical, as you
suppose, nothing
human,
delusive, or
crafty in
Christ; no
deceit lurked in Him, although you
smile in
derision, as your
wont is, and though you
split with
roars of
laughter. He was
God on
high,
God in His
inmost nature,
God from
unknown realms, and was
sent by the
Ruler of all as a
Saviour God; whom neither the
sun himself, nor any
stars, if they have
powers of
perception, not the
rulers and
princes of the
world, nor, in
fine, the
great gods, or those who,
reigning themselves so,
terrify the whole
human race, were
able to
know or to
guess whence and who He
was-and naturally so. But when,
freed from the
body, which He
carried about as but a very
small part of Himself, He
allowed Himself to be
seen, and let it be
known how
great He was, all the
elements of the
universe bewildered by the
strange events were
thrown into
confusion. An
earthquake shook the
world, the
sea was
heaved up from its
depths, the
heaven was
shrouded in
darkness, the
sun's
fiery blaze was
checked, and his
heat became
moderate; for what else could
occur when He was
discovered to be
God who
heretofore was
reckoned one of us?
54. But you do not
believe these
things; yet those who
witnessed their
occurrence, and who
saw them done before their
eyes-the very
best vouchers and the most
trustworthy authorities-both believed them themselves, and
transmitted them to us who
follow them, to be
believed with no
scanty measure of
confidence. Who are these? you perhaps
ask.
Tribes,
peoples,
nations, and that
incredulous human race; but if the
matter were not
plain, and, as the
saying is,
clearer than
day itself, they would never
grant their
assent with so
ready belief to
events of such a
kind. But shall we
say that the
men of that
time were
untrustworthy,
false,
stupid, and
brutish to such a
degree that they
pretended to have
seen what they never had
seen, and that they
put forth under
false evidence, or
alleged with
childish asseveration things which never
took place, and that when they were
able to
live in
harmony and to
maintain friendly relations with you, they
wantonly incurred hatred, and were
held in
execration?
55. But if this
record of
events is
false, as you
say, how
comes it that in so
short a
time the whole
world has been
filled with such a
religion? or how could
nations dwelling widely apart, and
separated by
climate and by the
convexities of
heaven,
unite in one
conclusion? They have been
prevailed upon,
say my
opponents, by
mere assertions, been
led into
vain hopes; and in their
reckless madness have
chosen to
incur voluntarily the
risks of
death, although they had
hitherto seen nothing of such a
kind as could by its
wonderful and
strange character induce them to
adopt this
manner of
worship.
Nay, because they
saw all these
things to be done by
Christ Himself and by His
apostles, who
being sent throughout the whole
world carried with them the
blessings of the
Father, which they
dispensed in
benefiting as well the
minds as the
bodies of
men;
overcome by the
force of the very
truth itself they both
devoted themselves to
God, and
reckoned it as but a
small sacrifice to
surrender their
bodies to you and to
give their
flesh to be
mangled.
56. But our
writers, we shall be
told, have
put forth these
statements with
false effrontery; they have
extolled small matters to an
inordinate degree, and have
magnified trivial affairs with most
pretentious boastfulness. And would that all
things could have been
reduced to
writing,-both those which were done by Himself, and those which were
accomplished by His
apostles with
equal authority and
power. Such an
assemblage of
miracles, however, would make you more
incredulous; and perhaps you might be
able to
discover a
passage from which it would seem very
probable, both that
additions were made to
facts, and that
falsehoods were
inserted in
writings and
commentaries. But in
nations which were
unknown to the
writers, and which themselves
knew not the
use of
letters, all that was done could not have been
embraced in the
records or even have
reached the
ears of all
men; or, if any were
committed to
written and
connected narrative, some
insertions and
additions would have been made by the
malevolence of the
demons and of
men like to them, whose
care and
study it is to
obstruct the
progress of this
truth: there would have been some
changes and
mutilations of
words and of
syllables, at once to
mar the
faith of the
cautious and to
impair the
moral effect of the
deeds. But it will never
avail them that it be
gathered from
written testimony only who and what
Christ was; for His
cause has been
put on such a
basis, that if what we
say be
admitted to be
true, He is by the
confession of all
proved to have been
God.
57. You do not
believe our
writings, and we do not
believe yours. We
devise falsehoods concerning Christ, you
say; and you
put forth baseless and
false statements concerning your
gods: for no
god has
descended from
heaven, or in his own
person and
life has
sketched out your
system, or in a
similar way thrown discredit on our
system and our
ceremonies. These were
written by
men; those, too, were
written by
men-set forth in
human speech; and whatever you
seek to
say concerning our
writers,
remember that about yours, too, you will
find these
things said with
equal force. What is
contained in your
writings you
wish to be
treated as
true; those
things, also, which are
attested in our
books, you must of
necessity confess to be
true. You
accuse our
system of
falsehood; we, too,
accuse yours of
falsehood. But ours is more
ancient,
say you, therefore most
credible and
trustworthy; as if, indeed,
antiquity were not the most
fertile source of
errors, and did not herself
put forth those
things which in
discreditable fables have
attached the
utmost infamy to the
gods. For could not
falsehoods have been both
spoken and
believed ten thousand years ago, or is it not most
probable that that which is
near to our own
time should be more
credible than that which is
separated by a
long term of
years? For these of ours are
brought forward on the
faith of
witnesses, those of yours on the
ground of
opinions; and it is much more
natural that there should be less
invention in
matters of recent
occurrence, than in those
far removed in the
darkness of
antiquity.
58. But they were
written by
unlearned and
ignorant ripen, and should not therefore be
readily believed.
See that this be not rather a
stronger reason for
believing that they have not been
adulterated by any
false statements, but were
put forth by
men of
simple mind, who
knew not how to
trick out their
tales with
meretricious ornaments. But the
language is
mean and
vulgar. For
truth never
seeks deceitful polish, nor in that which is well
ascertained and
certain does it
allow itself to be
led away into
excessive prolixity.
Syllogisms,
enthymemes,
definitions, and all those
ornaments by which
men seek to
establish their
statements,
aid those
groping for the
truth, but do not
clearly mark its
great features. But he who
really knows the
subject under
discussion, neither
defines, nor
deduces, nor
seeks the other
tricks of
words by which an
audience is
wont to be
taken in, and to be
beguiled into a
forced assent to a
proposition.
59. Your
narratives, my
opponent says, are
overrun with
barbarisms and
solecisms, and
disfigured by
monstrous blunders. A
censure,
truly, which
shows a
childish and
petty spirit; for if we
allow that it is
reasonable, let us
cease to
use certain kinds of
fruit because they
grow with
prickles on them, and other
growths useless for
food, which on the one
hand cannot
support us, and yet do not on the other
hinder us from
enjoying that which
specially excels, and which
nature has
designed to be most
wholesome for us. For how, I
pray you, does it
interfere with or
retard the
comprehension of a
statement, whether anything be
pronounced smoothly or with
uncouth roughness? whether that have the
grave accent which
ought to have the
acute, or that have the
acute which
ought to have the
grave? Or how is the
truth of a
statement diminished, if an
error is made in
number or
case, in
preposition,
participle, or
conjunction? Let that
pomposity of
style and
strictly regulated diction be
reserved for
public assemblies, for
lawsuits, for the
forum and the
courts of
justice, and by all
means be
handed over to those who,
striving after the
soothing influences of
pleasant sensations,
bestow all their
care upon
splendour of
language. But when we are
discussing matters far removed from
mere display, we should
consider what is
said, not with what
charm it is
said nor how it
tickles the
ears, but what
benefits it
confers on the
hearers,
especially since we
know that some even who
devoted themselves to
philosophy, not only
disregarded refinement of
style, but also
purposely adopted a
vulgar meanness when they might have
spoken with
greater elegance and
richness,
lest forsooth they might
impair the
stern gravity of
speech and
revel rather in the
pretentious show of the
Sophists. For indeed it
evidences a
worthless heart to
seek enjoyment in
matters of
importance; and when you have to
deal with those who are
sick and
diseased, to
pour into their
ears dulcet sounds, not to
apply a
remedy to their
wounds. Yet, if you
consider the
true state of the
case, no
language is
naturally perfect, and in like
manner none is
faulty. For what
natural reason is there, or what
law written in the
constitution of the
world, that
paries should be
called hic, and
sella hoec?-since neither have they
sex distinguished by
male and
female, nor can the most
learned man tell me what
hic and
hoec are, or why one of them
denotes the
male sex while the other is
applied to the
female. These
conventionalities are
man's, and
certainly are not
indispensable to all
persons for the
use of
forming their
language; for
paries might perhaps have been
called hoec, and
sella hic, without any
fault being found, if it had been
agreed upon at first that they should be so
called, and if this
practice had been
maintained by
following generations in their
daily conversation. And yet,
O you who
charge our
writings with
disgraceful blemishes, have you not these
solecisms in those most
perfect arid wonderful books of yours? Does not one of you make the
plur. of
uter,
utria? another
utres? Do you not also
say Coelus and
coelum,
filus and
filum,
crocus and
crocum,
fretus and
fretum? Also
hoc pane and
hic panis,
hic sanguis and
hoc sanguen? Are not
candelabrum and
jugulum in like
manner written jugulus and
candelaber? For if each
noun cannot have more than one
gender, and if the same
word cannot be of this
gender and of that, for one
gender cannot
pass into the other, he
commits as
great a
blunder who
utters masculine genders under the
laws of
feminines, as he who
applies masculine articles to
feminine genders. And yet we
see you using
masculines as
feminines, and
feminines as
masculines, and those which
yon call neuter both in this
way and in that, without any
distinction. Either. therefore, it is no
blunder to
employ them
indifferently, and in that
case it is
vain for you to
say that our
works are
disfigured with
monstrous solecisms; or if the
way in which each
ought to be
employed is
unalterably fixed, you also are
involved in
similar errors, although you have on your
side all the
Epicadi,
Caesellii,
Verrii,
Scauri, and
Nisi.
60. But,
say my
opponents, if
Christ was
God, why did He
appear in
human shape, and why was He
cut off by
death after the
manner of
men? Could that
power which is
invisible, and which has no
bodily substance, have
come upon
earth and
adapted itself to the
world and
mixed in
human society, otherwise than by taking to itself some
covering of a more
solid substance, which might
bear the
gaze of the
eyes, and on which the
look of the least
observant might
fix itself? For what
mortal is there who could have
seen Him, who could have
distinguished Him, if He had
decreed to
come upon the
earth such as He is in His own
primitive nature, and such as He has
chosen to be in His own
proper character and
divinity? He
took upon Him, therefore, the
form of
man; and under the
guise of our
race He
imprisoned His
power, so that He could be
seen and
carefully regarded, might
speak and
teach, and without
encroaching on the
sovereignty and
government of the
King Supreme, might
carry out all those
objects for the
accomplishment of which He had
come into the
world.
61. What, then,
says my
opponent, could not the
Supreme Ruler have
brought about those
things which He had
ordained to be done in the
world, without
feigning Himself a
man? If it were
necessary to do as you
say, He perhaps would have done so; because it was not
necessary, He
acted otherwise. The
reasons why He
chose to do it in this
way, and did not
choose to do it in that, are
unknown,
being involved in so
great obscurity, and
comprehensible by
scarcely any; but these you might perhaps have
understood if you were not already
prepared not to
understand, and were not
shaping your
course to
brave unbelief, before that was
explained to you which you
sought to
know and to
hear.
62. But, you will
say, He was
cut off by
death as
men are. Not
Christ Himself; for it is
impossible either that
death should
befall what is
divine, or that that should
waste away and
disappear in
death which is one in its
substance, and not
compounded, nor
formed by
bringing together any
parts. Who, then, you
ask, was
seen hanging on the
cross? Who
dead? The
human form, I
reply, which He had
put on, and which He
bore about with Him. It is a
tale passing belief, you
say, and
wrapt in
dark obscurity; if you will, it is not
dark, and is
established by a very
close analogy. If the
Sibyl, when she was
uttering and
pouring forth her
prophecies and
oracular responses, was
filled, as you
say, with
Apollo's
power, had been
cut down and
slain by
impious robbers, would
Apollo be
said to have been
slain in her? If
Bacis, if
Helenus,
Marcius, and other
soothsayers, had been in like
manner robbed of
life and
light when
raving as
inspired, would any one
say that those who,
speaking by their
mouths,
declared to
inquirers what should be done, had
perished according to the
conditions of
human life? The
death of which you
speak was that of the
human body which He had
assumed, not His
own-of that which was
borne, not of the
bearer; and not even this
death would He have
stooped to
suffer, were it not that a
matter of such
importance was to be
dealt with, and the
inscrutable plan of
fate brought to
light in
hidden mysteries.
63. What are these
hidden and
unseen mysteries, you will
say, which neither
men can
know, nor those even who are
called gods of the
world can in any
wise reach by
fancy and
conjecture; which none can
discover, except those whom
Christ Himself has
thought fit to
bestow the
blessing of so
great knowledge upon, and to
lead into the
secret recesses of the
inner treasury of
wisdom? Do you then
see that if He had
determined that none should do Him
violence, He should have
striven to the
utmost to
keep off from Him His
enemies, even by
directing His
power against them? Could not He, then, who had
restored their
sight to the
blind, make His
enemies blind if it were
necessary? Was it
hard or
troublesome for Him to make them
weak, who had
given strength to the
feeble? Did He who
bade the
lame walk, not
know how to
take from them all
power to
move their
limbs, by
making their
sinews stiff? Would it have been
difficult for Him who
drew the
dead from their
tombs to
inflict death on whom He would? But because
reason required that those
things which had been
resolved on should be done here also in the
world itself, and in no other
fashion than was done, He, with
gentleness passing understanding and
belief,
regarding as but
childish trifles the
wrongs which
men did Him,
submitted to the
violence of
savage and most
hardened robbers; nor did He
think it
worth while to
take account of what their
daring had
aimed at, if He only
showed to His
disciples what they were in
duty bound to
look for from Him. For when many
things about the
perils of
souls, many
evils about their ... on the other
hand, the
Introducer, the
Master and
Teacher directed His
laws and
ordinances, that they might
find their end in
fitting duties; did He not
destroy the
arrogance of the
proud? Did He not
quench the
fires of
lust? Did He not
check the
craving of
greed? Did He not
wrest the
weapons from their
hands, and
rend from them all the
sources of every
form of
corruption? To
conclude, was He not Himself
gentle,
peaceful,
easily approached,
friendly when
addressed? Did He not,
grieving at
men's
miseries,
pitying with His
unexampled benevolence all in any
wise afflicted with
troubles and
bodily ills,
bring them
back and
restore them to
soundness?
64. What, then,
constrains you, what
excites you to
revile, to
rail at, to
hate implacably Him whom no
man can
accuse of any
crime?
Tyrants and your
kings, who,
putting away all
fear of the
gods,
plunder and
pillage the
treasuries of
temples; who by
proscription,
banishment, and
slaughter,
strip the
state of its
nobles? who, with
licentious violence,
undermine and
wrest away the
chastity of
matrons and
maidens,-these
men you
name indigites and
divi; and you
worship with
couches,
altars,
temples, and other
service, and by
celebrating their
games and
birthdays, those whom it was
fitting that you should
assail with
keenest hatred. And all those, too, who by
writing books assail in many
forms with
biting reproaches public manners; who
censure,
brand, and
tear in
pieces your
luxurious habits and
lives; who
carry down to
posterity evil reports of their own
times in their
enduring writings; who
seek to
persuade men that the
rights of
marriage should be
held in
common; who
lie with
boys,
beautiful,
lustful,
naked; who
declare that you are
beasts,
runaways,
exiles, and
mad and
frantic slaves of the most
worthless character,-all these with
wonder and
applause you
exalt to the
stars of
heaven, you
place in the
shrines of your
libraries, you
present with
chariots and
statues, and as much as in you
lies,
gift with a
kind of
immortality, as it were, by the
witness which
immortal titles bear to them.
Christ alone you would
tear in
pieces, you would
rend asunder, if you could do so to a
god;
nay, Him alone you would, were it
allowed,
gnaw with
bloody months, and
break His
bones in
pieces, and
devour Him like
beasts of the
field. For what that He has done,
tell, I
pray you, for what
crime? What has He done to
turn aside the
course of
justice, and
rouse you to
hatred made
fierce by
maddening torments? Is it because He
declared that He was
sent by the only
true King to be your
soul's
guardian. and to
bring to you the
immortality which you
believe that you already
possess,
relying on the
assertions of a few
men? But even if you were
assured that He
spoke falsely, that He even
held out
hopes without the
slightest foundation, not even in this
case do I
see any
reason that you should
hate and
condemn Him with
bitter reproaches.
Nay, if
yon were
kind and
gentle in
spirit, you
ought to
esteem Him even for this alone, that He
promised to you
things which you might well
wish and
hope for; that He was the
bearer of
good news; that His
message was such as to
trouble no one's
mind,
nay, rather to
fill all with less
anxious expectation.
65.
Oh ungrateful and
impious age,
prepared for its own
destruction by its
extraordinary obstinacy! If there had
come to you a
physician from
lands far distant and
unknown to you before,
offering some
medicine to
keep off from you
altogether every
kind of
disease and
sickness, would you not all
eagerly hasten to him? Would you not with every
kind of
flattery and
honour receive him into your
houses, and
treat him
kindly? Would you not
wish that that
kind of
medicine should be
quite sure, and should be
genuine, which
promised that even to the
utmost limits of
life you should be
free from such
countless bodily distresses? And though it were a
doubtful matter, you would yet
entrust yourselves to him; nor would you
hesitate to
drink the
unknown draught,
indited by the
hope of
health set before you and by the
love of
safety.
Christ shone out and
appeared to
tell us
news of the
utmost importance,
bringing an
omen of
prosperity, and a
message of
safety to those who
believe. What, I
pray you,
means this
cruelty, what such
barbarity,
nay rather, to
speak more
truly,
scornful pride, not only to
harass the
messenger and
bearer of so
great a
gift with
taunting words; but even to
assail Him with
fierce hostility, and with all the
weapons which can be
showered upon Him, and with all
modes of
destruction? Are His
words displeasing, and are you
offended when you
hear them?
Count them as but a
soothsayer's
empty tales. Does He
speak very
stupidly, and
promise foolish gifts?
Laugh with
scorn as
wise men, and
leave Him in His
folly to be
tossed about among His
errors. What
means this
fierceness, to
repeat what has been
said more than once; what a
passion, so
murderous? to
declare implacable hostility towards one who has done nothing to
deserve it at your
hands; to
wish, if it were
allowed you, to
tear Him
limb from
limb, who not only did no
man any
harm, but with
uniform kindness told His
enemies what
salvation was
being brought to them from
God Supreme, what must be done that they might
escape destruction and
obtain an
immortality which they
knew not of? And when the
strange and
unheard-of things which were
held out
staggered the
minds of those who
heard Him, and made them
hesitate to
believe, though
master of every
power and
destroyer of
death itself He
suffered His
human form to be
slain, that from the
result they might
know that the
hopes were
safe which they had
long entertained about the
soul's
salvation, and that in no other
way could they
avoid the
danger of
death.