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,

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 we know, too, that both Greeks and Egyptians have had dominion. Thus, in the varying vicissitudes of power, the period of empire has also come to the Romans as to the others. But if you recur to its origin, you must needs blush. A people is collected together from profligates and criminals, and by founding an asylum, impunity for crimes makes the number great; and that their king himself may have a superiority in crime, Romulus becomes a fratricide;7    “Parricida.” and in order to promote marriage, he makes a beginning of that affair of concord by discords. They steal, they do violence, they deceive in order to increase the population of the state; their marriage consists of the broken covenants of hospitality and cruel wars with their fathers-in-law. The consulship, moreover, is the highest degree in Roman honours, yet we see that the consulship began even as did the kingdom. Brutus puts his sons to death, that the commendation of his dignity may increase by the approval of his wickedness. The Roman kingdom, therefore, did not grow from the sanctities of religion, nor from auspices and auguries, but it keeps its appointed time within a definite limit. Moreover, Regulus observed the auspices, yet was taken prisoner; and Mancinus observed their religious obligation, yet was sent under the yoke. Paulus had chickens that fed, and yet he was slain at Cannæ. Caius Cæsar despised the auguries and auspices that were opposed to his sending ships before the winter to Africa; yet so much the more easily he both sailed and conquered.

0571B V. Regna autem non merito accidunt, sed sorte variantur. Caeterum imperium ante tenuerunt et Assyrii et Medi et Persae , et Graecos et Aegyptios regnasse cognovimus. Ita vicibus potestatum variantibus, 0572A Romanis quoque, ut et caeteris, imperandi tempus obvenit. Caeterum, si ad originem redeas, erubescas. Populus de sceleratis et nocentibus congregatur, et asylo constituto facit numerum impunitas criminum. Nunc, ut rex ipse principatum habeat, ad crimina fit Romulus parricida. Atque, ut matrimonium faciat , rem concordiae per discordias auspicatur. Rapiunt, ferociunt, fallunt, ad copiam civitatis augendam. Nuptiae sunt illis rupta hospitii foedera et cum sociis bella crudelia. Est et gradus summus in Romanis honoribus consulatus. Sic consulatum coepisse videmus ut regnum. Filios interficit Brutus ut crescat de suffragio sceleris commendatio dignitatis. Non ergo de religionibus sanctis, nec de auspiciis aut auguriis Romana regna creverunt, sed acceptum tempus certo 0572B fine custodiunt. Caeterum et Regulus auspicia servavit, et captus est; et Mancinus religionem tenuit, et sub jugum missus est et victus . Pullos edaces Paulus habuit, apud Cannas tamen caesus est. C. Caesar, 0573A ne ante brumam in Africam navigia transmitteret auguriis et auspiciis renitentibus, sprevit, eo facilius et navigavit et vicit.