On the Vanity of Idols: Showing that the Idols are Not Gods, and that God is One, and that Through Christ Salvation is Given to Believers.

 1. That those are no gods whom the common people worship, is known from this. They were formerly kings, who on account of their royal memory subsequen

 2. Melicertes and Leucothea are precipitated into the sea, and subsequently become sea-divinities. The Castors die by turns, that they may live. Æscul

 3. From this the religion of the gods is variously changed among individual nations and provinces, inasmuch as no one god is worshipped by all, but by

 4. But why do you think that the gods can avail on behalf of the Romans, when you see that they can do nothing for their own worshipers in opposition

 5. Kingdoms do not rise to supremacy through merit, but are varied by chance. Empire was formerly held by both Assyrians and Medes and Persians and w

 6. Of all these, however, the principle is the same, which misleads and deceives, and with tricks which darken the truth, leads away a credulous and f

 7. These spirits, therefore, are lurking under the statues and consecrated images: these inspire the breasts of their prophets with their afflatus, an

 8. Therefore the one Lord of all is God. For that sublimity cannot possibly have any compeer, since it alone possesses all power. Moreover, let us bor

 9. He cannot be seen—He is too bright for vision nor comprehended—He is too pure for our discernment nor estimated—He is too great for our perceptio

 10. But that Christ is, and in what way salvation came to us through Him, after this manner is the plan, after this manner is the means. First of all,

 11. Moreover, God had previously foretold that it would happen, that as the ages passed on, and the end of the world was near at hand, God would gathe

 12. And the Jews knew that Christ was to come, for He was always being announced to them by the warnings of prophets. But His advent being signified t

 13. Therefore when Christ Jesus, in accordance with what had been previously foretold by the prophets, drove out from men the demons by His word, and

 14. That they would do this He Himself also had foretold and the testimony of all the prophets had in like manner preceded Him, that it behoved Him t

 15.  And that the proof might not be the less substantial, and the confession of Christ might not be a matter of pleasure, they are tried by tortures,

2. Melicertes and Leucothea are precipitated into the sea, and subsequently become sea-divinities. The Castors1    Most editors read, “Castor and Pollux.” die by turns, that they may live. Æsculapius is struck by lightning, that he may rise into a god. Hercules, that he may put off the man, is burnt up in the fires of Œta. Apollo fed the flocks of Admetus; Neptune founded walls for Laomedon, and received—unfortunate builder—no wages for his work.  The cave of Jupiter is to be seen in Crete, and his sepulchre is shown; and it is manifest that Saturn was driven away by him, and that from him Latium received its name, as being his lurking-place.2    Latebra. He was the first that taught to print letters; he was the first that taught to stamp money in Italy,3    [“Litteras imprimere…signare nummos.” How could the art of printing have failed to follow such inventions and such words? Every coin was a hint of the printer’s art.  God only could have restrained the invention till the set time.  Dan. xii. 4.] and thence the treasury is called the treasury of Saturn. And he also was the cultivator of the rustic life, whence he is painted as an old man4    According to some readings, the words “an old man” are omitted. carrying a sickle. Janus had received him to hospitality when he was driven away, from whose name the Janiculum is so called, and the month of January is appointed. He himself is portrayed with two faces, because, placed in the middle, he seems to look equally towards the commencing and the closing year. The Mauri, indeed, manifestly worship kings, and do not conceal their name by any disguise.

II. Melicertes et Leucothea praecipitantur in maria, et fiunt postmodum maris numina. Castores alternis 0567A moriuntur ut vivant. Aesculapius ut in Deum surgat fulminatur. Hercules ut hominem exuat Oeteis ignibus concrematur. Apollo Admeti pecus pavit. Laomedonti muros Neptunus instituit, nec mercedem operis infelix structor accepit. Antrum Jovis in Creta visitur , et sepulchrum ejus ostenditur, et ab eo Saturnum fugatum esse manifestum est. Inde Latium de latebra ejus nomen accepit. Hic litteras imprimere, hic signare nummos in Italia primus instituit: inde aerarium Saturni vocatur. Et rusticitatis hic cultor fuit: inde falcem ferens senex pingitur . Hunc fugatum hospitio Janus exceperat 0568A ; de cujus nomine Janiculum dictum est, et mensis Januarius institutus est. Ipse bifrons exprimitur, quod, in medio constitutus, annum incipientem pariter et recedentem spectare videatur. Mauri vero manifeste reges colunt , nec ullo velamento hoc nomen obtexunt.