Chapter XX.—Of the Fact that Nothing is Discovered to Have Been Predicted by the Prophets of the Pagans in Opposition to the God of the Hebrews.

28. Or let them aver, if they are able, that some Sibyl of theirs, or any one whatever among their other prophets, announced long ago that it would come to pass that the God of the Hebrews, the God of Israel, would be worshipped by all nations, declaring, at the same time, that the worshippers of other gods before that time had rightly rejected Him; and again, that the compositions of His prophets would be in such exalted authority,76    Reading futuras etiam litteras…in auctoritate ita sublimi. Six mss. give futurum…sublimari, but with substantially the same sense. that in obedience to them the Roman government itself would command the destruction of images, the said seers at the same time giving warning against acting upon such ordinances;—let them, I say, read out any utterances like these, if they can, from any of the books of their prophets. For I stop not to state that those things which we can read in their books repeat a testimony on behalf of our religion, that is, the Christian religon, which they might have heard from the holy angels and from our prophets themselves; just as the very devils were compelled to confess Christ when He was present in the flesh. But I pass by these matters, regarding which, when we bring them forward, their contention is that they were invented by our party. Most certainly, however, they may themselves be pressed to adduce anything which has been prophesied by the seers of their own gods against the God of the Hebrews; as, on our side, we can point to declarations so remarkable at once for number and for weight recorded in the books of our prophets against their gods, in which also we can both note the command and recite the prediction and demonstrate the event. And over the realization of these things, that comparatively small number of heathens who have remained such are more inclined to grieve than they are ready to acknowledge that God who has had the power to foretell these things as events destined to be made good; whereas in their dealings with their own false gods, who are genuine demons, they prize nothing else so highly as to be informed by their responses of something which is to take place with them.77    Nihil aliud pro magno appetant quam cum aliquid eorum responsis sibi futurum esse didicerint.

CAPUT XX. Contra Deum Hebraeorum nihil a Paganorum vatibus praedictum reperitur.

28. Aut legant, si possunt, vel aliquam Sibyllarum, vel quemlibet aliorum vatum suorum praedixisse hoc futurum, ut Deus Hebraeorum Deus Israel ab omnibus gentibus coleretur, et quod eum cultores aliorum deorum recte antea respuissent; futuras etiam litteras Prophetarum ejus in auctoritate ita sublimi , ut his obtemperans etiam imperium Romanorum juberet deleri simulacra; monuisse etiam ne talibus praeceptis obtemperaretur: legant ista, si possunt, ex aliquibus libris vatum suorum. Omitto enim dicere quod ea quae in illorum libris leguntur, pro nostra, hoc est, christiana religione testimonium dicunt, quod a sanctis Angelis, et ab ipsis nostris Prophetis audire potuerunt: sicut et praesentem in carne Christum etiam daemonia coacta sunt confiteri. Sed haec omitto, quae cum proferimus, a nostris ficta esse contendunt: 1055 ipsi omnino, ipsi urgendi sunt, ut proferant a vatibus deorum suorum contra Deum Hebraeorum aliquid prophetatum; sicut nos tot et tanta de libris Prophetarum nostrorum contra deos eorum et jussa observamus, et praedicta recitamus, et facta monstramus. Quae illi jam perpauci qui remanserunt, malunt dolere completa, quam illum Deum agnoscere, qui potuit praenuntiare complenda: cum in suis diis falsis, quae sunt vera daemonia, nihil aliud pro magno appetant, quam cum aliquid eorum responsis sibi futurum esse didicerint.