chap. VII.—Concerning the testimonies of apollo and the gods.

Apollo, indeed, whom they think divine above all others, and especially prophetic, giving responses at Colophon,—I suppose because, induced by the pleasantness of Asia, he had removed from Delphi,—to some one who asked who He was, or what God was at all, replied in twenty-one verses, of which this is the beginning:—  

Can any one suspect that this is spoken of Jupiter, who had both a mother and a name? Why should I say that Mercury, that thrice greatest, of whom I have made mention above, not only speaks of God as “without a mother,” as Apollo does, but also as “without a father,” because He has no origin from any other source but Himself? For He cannot be produced from any one, who Himself produced all things. I have, as I think, sufficiently taught by arguments, and confirmed by witnesses, that which is sufficiently plain by itself, that there is one only King of the universe, one Father, one God.  

But perchance some one may ask of us the same question which Hortensius asks in Cicero: If God is one only,22    [1 John iv. 8. The Divine Triad “is Love.”]      [Iidem sunt doctores sapientiæ qui et De. sacerdotes.]   what solitude can be happy? As though we, in asserting that He is one, say that He is desolate and solitary. Undoubtedly He has ministers, whom we call messengers. And that is true, which I have before related, that Seneca said in his Exhortations that God produced ministers of His kingdom. But these are neither gods, nor do they wish to be called gods or to be worshipped, inasmuch as they do nothing but execute the command and will of God. Nor, however, are they gods who are worshipped in common, whose number is small and fixed. But if the worshippers of the gods think that they worship those beings whom we call the ministers of the Supreme God, there is no reason why they should envy us who say that there is one God, and deny that there are many. If a multitude of gods delights them, we do not speak of twelve, or three hundred and sixty-five as Orpheus did; but we convict them of innumerable errors on the other side, in thinking that they are so few. Let them know, however, by what name they ought to be called, lest they do injury to the true God, whose name they set forth, while they assign it to more than one. Let them believe their own Apollo, who in that same response took away from the other gods their name, as he took away the dominion from Jupiter. For the third verse shows that the ministers of God ought not to be called gods, but angels. He spoke falsely respecting himself, indeed; for though he was of the number of demons, he reckoned himself among the angels of God, and then in other responses he confessed himself a demon. For when he was asked how he wished to be supplicated, he thus answered:—  

And so, again, when at the entreaty of some one he uttered an imprecation against the Sminthian Apollo, he began with this verse:—  

What therefore remains, except that by his own confession he is subject to the scourge of the true God and to everlasting punishment? For in another response he also said:—  

We speak on the subject of both in the second book. In the meantime it is enough for us, that while he wishes to honour and place himself in heaven, he has confessed, as the nature of the matter is, in what manner they are to be named who always stand beside God.  

Therefore let men withdraw themselves from errors; and laying aside corrupt superstitions, let them acknowledge their Father and Lord, whose excellence cannot be estimated, nor His greatness perceived, nor His beginning comprehended. When the earnest attention of the human mind and its acute sagacity and memory has reached Him, all ways being, as it were, summed up and exhausted,23    Subductis et consummatis.      [The satirist, not Cicero’s friend; Nat. Deor., iii.]   it stops, it is at a loss, it fails; nor is there anything beyond to which it can proceed. But because that which exists must of necessity have had a beginning, it follows that since there was nothing before Him, He was produced from Himself before all things. Therefore He is called by Apollo “self-produced,” by the Sibyl “self-created,” “uncreated,” and “unmade.” And Seneca, an acute man, saw and expressed this in his Exhortations. “We,” he said, “are dependent upon another.” Therefore we look to some one to whom we owe that which is most excellent in us. Another brought us into being, another formed us; but God of His own power made Himself.  

CAPUT VII. De testimoniis Apollinis et deorum.

Apollo enim, quem praeter caeteros divinum maximeque fatidicum existimant, Colophone respondens, quod Delphis (credo) migraverat, Asiae ductus amoenitate; quaerenti cuidam, quis esset, aut quid 0148B esset omnino Deus, respondit viginti et uno versibus, quorum hoc principium est: 0149A Αὐτοφυὴς, 0149A ἀδίδακτος, ἀμήτωρ, ἀστυφέλικτος, Οὔνομα μηδὲ λόγῳ χωρούμενόν, ἐν πυρὶ ναίων· Τουτὶ θεὸς, μικρὰ δὲ θεοῦ μερὶς ἄγγελοι ἥμεῖς,Num quis potest suspicari de Jove esse dictum, qui et matrem habuit, et nomen? Quid quod, Mercurius ille ter maximus, cujus supra mentionem feci, non modo ἀμήτορα, ut Apollo, sed ἀπάτορα quoque appellat Deum; quod origo illi non sit aliunde? Nec enim potest ab ullo esse generatus, qui ipse universa generavit. Satis (ut opinor) et argumentis docui, et testibus confirmavi, quod per se satis clarum est Unum esse regem mundi, unum patrem, unum Deum.

Sed fortasse quaerat aliquis a nobis idem illud, quod apud Ciceronem quaerit Hortensius: Si Deus unus est, quae esse beata solitudo queat? Tamquam nos, qui unum esse dicimus, desertum ac solitarium 0149B esse dicamus; habet enim ministros, quos vocamus 0150A nuntios. Et est illud verum, quod dixisse in Exhortationibus Senecam supra retuli, ministros genuisse regni sui Deum. Verum hi neque dii sunt, neque deos se vocari, aut coli volunt: quippe qui nihil praeter jussum ac voluntatem Dei faciant. Nec tamen illi sunt, qui vulgo coluntur, quorum et exiguus et certus est numerus. Quod si cultores deorum eos ipsos se colere putant, quos summi Dei ministros appellamus, nihil est quod nobis faciant invidiam, qui unum Deum dicamus, multos negemus. Si eos multitudo delectat, non duodecim dicimus, aut trecentos sexaginta quinque (ut Orpheus), sed innumerabiles esse arguimus errores eorum in diversum, qui tam paucos putant. Sciant tamen, quo nomine appellari debeant: ne Deum verum violent, cujus 0150B nomen exponunt, dum pluribus tribuunt. Credant 0151A Apollini suo, qui eodem illo responso, ut Jovi principatum, sic etiam caeteris diis abstulit nomen. Tertius enim versus ostendit, Dei ministros, non deos, verum angelos appellari oportere. De se quidem ille mentitus est, qui cum sit e numero daemonum, 0151A angelis se Dei aggregavit: denique in aliis responsis daemonem se esse confessus est. Nam cum interrogaretur, quomodo sibi supplicari vellet, ita respondit: Πάνσοφε, παντοδίδακτ᾽ αἰολόστροφε, κέκλυθι, δαῖμον. Item rursus cum precem in Apollinem Smynthium rogatus expromeret, ab hoc versu exorsus est: Ἁρμονίη κόσμοιο, φαεσφόρε καὶ σοφὲ δαῖμον. Quid ergo superest, nisi ut sua confessione verberibus veri Dei ac poenae subjaceat sempiternae? Nam et in alio responso ita dixit: 0151B Δαίμονες οἳ φοιτῶσι περὶ χθόνα καὶ περὶ πόντον Ἀκὰματοι δάμανται ὑπαὶ μάστιγι θεοῖο. De utrisque generibus in secundo libro disserimus 0152A (scilicet cap. 15). Interim nobis sat est, quod, dum honorare se vult, et in coelo collocare, confessus est, id quod res habet, quomodo sint appellandi qui Deo semper assistunt.

Retrahant ergo se homines ab erroribus et abjectis religionibus pravis, parentem suum dominumque cognoscant: cujus nec virtus aestimari potest, nec magnitudo perspici, nec principium comprehendi. Cum ad illum mentis humanae intentio et acumen et memoria pervenerit, quasi subductis et consummatis omnibus viis, subsistit, haeret, deficit; nec est aliquid ulterius quo progredi possit. Verum quia fieri non potest, quin id quod sit, aliquando esse coeperit, consequens est, ut quando nihil ante illum fuit, ipse ante omnia ex se ipso sit procreatus. Ideoque ab Apolline αὐτοφυὴς, a Sibylla αὐτογενὴς, 0152B et ἀγέννητος, et ἀποίητος nominatur. Quod Seneca, homo acutus, in Exhortationibus vidit: «Nos, inquit, aliunde pendemus. Itaque ad aliquem respicimus, 0153A cui, quod est optimum in nobis debeamus.0153A Alius nos edidit; alius instruxit: Deus ipse se fecit.»