Theophilus of Antioch, Theophilus to Autolycus

Chapter VIII.— Opinions Concerning Providence.

And why should I recount further the vast array of such names and genealogies? So that all the authors and poets, and those called philosophers, are wholly deceived; and so, too, are they who give heed to them. For they plentifully composed fables and foolish stories about their gods, and did not exhibit them as gods, but as men, and men, too, of whom some were drunken, and others fornicators and murderers. But also concerning the origin of the world, they uttered contradictory and absurd opinions. First, some of them, as we before explained, maintained that the world is uncreated. And those that said it was uncreated and self-producing contradicted those who propounded that it was created. For by conjecture and human conception they spoke, and not knowing the truth. And others, again, said that there was a providence, and destroyed the positions of the former writers. Aratus, indeed, says:36 The following lines are partly from the translation of Hughes.—

“From Jove begin my song; nor ever be

The name unuttered: all are full of thee;

The ways and haunts of men; the heavens and sea:

On thee our being hangs; in thee we move;

All are thy offspring and the seed of Jove.

Benevolent, he warns mankind to good,

Urges to toil and prompts the hope of food.

He tells where cattle best may graze, and where

The soil, deep-furrowed, yellow grain will bear.

What time the husbandman should plant or sow,

’Tis his to tell, ’tis his alone to know.”

Who, then, shall we believe: Aratus as here quoted, or Sophocles, when he says:37 Œdipus Rex, line 978.—

“And foresight of the future there is none;

’Tis best to live at random, as one can”?

And Homer, again, does not agree with this, for he says38 Il., xx. 242. that virtue

“Waxes or wanes in men as Jove decrees.”

And Simonides says:—

“No man nor state has virtue save from God;

Counsel resides in God; and wretched man

Has in himself nought but his wretchedness.”

So, too, Euripides:—

“Apart from God, there’s nothing owned by men.”

And Menander:—

“Save God alone, there’s none for us provides.”

And Euripides again:—

“For when God wills to save, all things He’ll bend

To serve as instruments to work His end.”

And Thestius:—

“If God design to save you, safe you are,

Though sailing in mid-ocean on a mat.”39 This verse is by Plutarch hesitatingly attributed to Pindar. The expression, “Though you swim in a wicker basket,” was proverbial.

And saying numberless things of a like kind, they contradicted themselves. At least Sophocles, who in another place denied Providence, says:—

“No mortal can evade the stroke of God.”

Besides, they both introduced a multitude of gods, and yet spoke of a Unity; and against those who affirmed a Providence they maintained in opposition that there was no Providence. Wherefore Euripides says:—

“We labour much and spend our strength in vain,

For empty hope, not foresight, is our guide.”

And without meaning to do so, they acknowledge that they know not the truth; but being inspired by demons and puffed up by them, they spoke at their instance whatever they said. For indeed the poets,—Homer, to wit, and Hesiod, being, as they say, inspired by the Muses,—spoke from a deceptive fancy,40 Literally, “in fancy and error.” and not with a pure but an erring spirit. And this, indeed, clearly appears from the fact, that even to this day the possessed are sometimes exorcised in the name of the living and true God; and these spirits of error themselves confess that they are demons who also formerly inspired these writers. But sometimes some of them wakened up in soul, and, that they might be for a witness both to themselves and to all men, spoke things in harmony with the prophets regarding the monarchy of God, and the judgment and such like.

Καὶ τί μοι τὸ λοιπὸν τὸ πλῆθος τῶν τοιούτων ὀνομασιῶν καὶ γενεαλογιῶν καταλέγειν; ὥστε κατὰ πάντα τρόπον ἐμπαίζονται οἱ συγγραφεῖς πάντες καὶ ποιηταὶ καὶ φιλόσοφοι λεγόμενοι, ἔτι μὴν καὶ οἱ προσέχοντες αὐτοῖς. μύθους γὰρ μᾶλλον καὶ μωρίας συνέταξαν περὶ τῶν κατ' αὐτοὺς θεῶν· οὐ γὰρ ἀπέδειξαν αὐτοὺς θεοὺς ἀλλὰ ἀνθρώπους, οὓς μὲν μεθύσους, ἑτέρους δὲ πόρνους καὶ φονεῖς. Ἀλλὰ καὶ περὶ τῆς κοσμογονίας ἀσύμφωνα ἀλλήλοις καὶ φαῦλα ἐξεῖπον. πρῶτον μὲν ὅτι τινὲς ἀγένητον τὸν κόσμον ἀπεφήναντο, καθὼς καὶ ἔμπροσθεν ἐδηλώσαμεν, καὶ οἱ μὲν ἀγένητον αὐτὸν καὶ ἀΐδιον φύσιν φάσκοντες οὐκ ἀκόλουθα εἶπον τοῖς γενητὸν αὐτὸν δογματίσασιν. εἰκασμῷ γὰρ ταῦτα καὶ ἀνθρωπίνῃ ἐννοίᾳ ἐφθέγξαντο, καὶ οὐ κατὰ ἀλήθειαν. Ἕτεροι δ' αὖ εἶπον πρόνοιαν εἶναι, καὶ τὰ τούτων δόγματα ἀνέλυσαν. Ἄρατος μὲν οὖν φησιν· Ἐκ ∆ιὸς ἀρχώμεσθα, τὸν οὐδέποτ' ἄνδρες ἐῶμεν ἄρρητον. μεσταὶ δὲ ∆ιὸς πᾶσαι μὲν ἀγυιαί, πᾶσαι δ' ἀνθρώπων ἀγοραί, μεστὴ δὲ θάλασσα καὶ λιμένες· πάντη δὲ ∆ιὸς κεχρήμεθα πάντες. τοῦ γὰρ καὶ γένος ἐσμέν· ὁ δ' ἤπιος ἀνθρώποισιν δεξιὰ σημαίνει, λαοὺς δ' ἐπὶ ἔργον ἐγείρει μιμνήσκων βιότοιο· λέγει δ' ὅτε βῶλος ἀρίστη βουσί τε καὶ μακέλῃσι, λέγει δ' ὅτε δεξιαὶ ὧραι καὶ φυτὰ γυρῶσαι καὶ σπέρματα πάντα βαλέσθαι. τίνι οὖν πιστεύσωμεν, πότερον Ἀράτῳ ἢ Σοφοκλεῖ λέγοντι· Πρόνοια δ' ἐστὶν οὐδενός, εἰκῇ κράτιστον ζῆν ὅπως δύναιτό τις; Ὅμηρος δὲ πάλιν τούτῳ οὐ συνᾴδει. λέγει γάρ· Ζεὺς δ' ἀρετὴν ἄνδρεσσιν ὀφέλλει τε μινύθει τε. καὶ Σιμωνίδης· Oὔτις ἄνευ θεῶν ἀρετὰν λάβεν, οὐ πόλις, οὐ βρότος· θεὸς ὁ παμμῆτις, ἀπήμαντον δ' οὐδέν ἐστιν ἐν αὐτοῖς. ὁμοίως καὶ Eὐριπίδης· Oὐκ ἔστιν οὐδὲν χωρὶς ἀνθρώποις θεοῦ. καὶ Μένανδρος· Oὐκ ἄρα φροντίζει τις ἡμῶν ἢ μόνος θεός. καὶ πάλιν Eὐριπίδης· Σῶσαι γὰρ ὁπόταν τῷ θεῷ δοκῇ, πολλὰς προφάσεις δίδωσιν εἰς σωτηρίαν. καὶ Θέστιος· Θεοῦ θέλοντος σώζῃ, κἂν ἐπὶ ·ιπὸς πλέῃς. καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα μυρία εἰπόντες ἀσύμφωνα ἑαυτοῖς ἐξεῖπον. ὁ γοῦν Σοφοκλῆς ἀπρονοησίαν εἴρων ἐν ἑτέρῳ λέγει· Θεοῦ δὲ πληγὴν οὐχ ὑπερπηδᾷ βροτός. Πλὴν καὶ πληθὺν εἰσήγαγον ἢ καὶ μοναρχίαν εἶπον, καὶ πρόνοιαν εἶναι τοῖς λέγουσιν ἀπρονοησίαν τἀναντία εἰρήκασιν. ὅθεν Eὐριπίδης ὁμολογεῖ λέγων· Σπουδάζομεν δὲ πολλ' ὑπ' ἐλπίδων, μάτην πόνους ἔχοντες, οὐδὲν εἰδότες. Καὶ μὴ θέλοντες ὁμολογοῦσιν τὸ ἀληθὲς μὴ ἐπίστασθαι· ὑπὸ δαιμόνων δὲ ἐμπνευσθέντες καὶ ὑπ' αὐτῶν φυσιωθέντες ἃ εἶπον δι' αὐτῶν εἶπον. ἤτοι γὰρ οἱ ποιηταί, Ὅμηρος δὴ καὶ Ἡσίοδος ὥς φασιν ὑπὸ Μουσῶν ἐμπνευσθέντες, φαντασίᾳ καὶ πλάνῃ ἐλάλησαν, καὶ οὐ καθαρῷ πνεύματι ἀλλὰ πλάνῳ. ἐκ τούτου δὲ σαφῶς δείκνυται, εἰ καὶ οἱ δαιμονῶντες ἐνίοτε καὶ μέχρι τοῦ δεῦρο ἐξορκίζονται κατὰ τοῦ ὀνόματος τοῦ ὄντως θεοῦ, καὶ ὁμολογεῖ αὐτὰ τὰ πλάνα πνεύματα εἶναι δαίμονες, οἱ καὶ τότε εἰς ἐκείνους ἐνεργήσαντες, πλὴν ἐνίοτέ τινες τῇ ψυχῇ ἐκνήψαντες ἐξ αὐτῶν εἶπον ἀκόλουθα τοῖς προφήταις, ὅπως εἰς μαρτύριον αὐτοῖς τε καὶ πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις περί τε θεοῦ μοναρχίας καὶ κρίσεως καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν ὧν ἔφασαν.