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8th comparison. 9th. Oath concerning what will be said. 10th. That one must not bring what will be said to everyone. 11th. How Apollo commands to propitiate the gods through sacrifices. 12th. That those who rejoice in sacrifices of animals would not be gods. 13th. That one must neither burn incense nor sacrifice any earthly thing to the God over all. 14th. That it is not fitting to sacrifice or burn incense of anything from the earth even to the divine powers. 15th. Further, concerning the need not to offer anything from the earth to the God over all. 16th. That sacrificing animals to the gods is unlawful, harmful, unjust, and unholy, and that it is subject to curses. 17th. That the things sacrificed by them are sacrificed to demons, but not to gods. 18th. Concerning ancient human sacrifice, and that it was abolished after the evangelical teaching. 19th. That all the theology of the nations was dedicated to evil demons. 20th. That one must not sacrifice to evil demons. 21st. How one must be dedicated to the God over all. 22nd. How Apollo commands to sacrifice to the evil demon. 23rd. That no one else from eternity except our Savior and Lord alone has freed the human race from demonic error. 24th. What is the mode of demonic activity. Concerning the evil demons, and who their rulers are. D 4.1.1

1. PREFACE CONCERNING THE ORACLES IN THE CITIES, AND THOSE WHOSE PROPHECIES ARE ESPECIALLY CELEBRATED IN PARADOXICAL EPIPHANIES OF DEMONS; AND FOR WHAT REASON WE HAVE DESPISED THESE TOO

The time calls us to refute, in this fourth book of the Evangelical Preparation, the third form of polytheistic error, from which we have been set free by the power and beneficence of our Redeemer and Savior. 4.1.2 For since they divide the entire form of their theology more generally into three: into the mythical, which is dramatized by the poets; and into the physical, which was indeed devised by the philosophers; and into that which is maintained by the laws, observed in each city and country, two parts of these have already been previously set forth by us in the books before this: both the historical, which they indeed call mythical, and that which builds upon the myths, which they indeed delight in calling physical or theoretical or by whatever other name, it would be time to go through the third in the present book. And this is that which is established in cities and countries, called by them the political; which is also especially maintained by the laws, as being at once ancient and ancestral and 4.1.3 showing from its very self the power of the divinities they worship. For indeed oracles and prophecies, cures and remedies for all kinds of sufferings, and visitations against the impious are celebrated among them; and claiming to have come to these things through experience, they have strongly convinced themselves that in honoring the divine things they act justly, but that we are most impious, holding in no account powers so manifest and beneficent, and are openly lawless, when it is necessary for each one to revere the ancestral customs and not to move the immovable, but to adhere to and follow the piety of our forefathers and not to be meddlesome out of a love for innovation. In this way, they say, death has fittingly been defined by the laws as the penalty for those who transgress. 4.1.4 Therefore, let one place the first, historical and mythical, form of theology where one wishes among the poets, just as also the second, among the philosophers, delivered through the more physical allegory of the myths; but the third, which has been legislated by the rulers as being at once ancient and political and necessary to be honored and guarded, let neither any of the poets, they say, nor of the philosophers disturb it, but let everyone remain adhering to the ordinances that have prevailed from of old, both in the country and in the cities, 4.1.5 obeying the ancestral laws. Therefore, it is now time to give our account as a defense against these things

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παραθέσεως ηʹ. Ὅρκος περὶ τῶν λεχθησομένων θʹ. Ὅτι οὐ χρὴ τὰ λεχθησόμενα εἰς πάντας ἐκφέρειν ιʹ. Ὅπως θεραπεύειν διὰ θυσιῶν ὁ Ἀπόλλων προστάττει τοὺς θεούς ιαʹ. Ὅτι οὐκ ἂν εἶεν θεοὶ οἱ ταῖς διὰ ζῴων θυσίαις χαίροντες ιβʹ. Ὅτι οὐδὲν τῶν αὐτὸ γῆς χρὴ τῷ ἐπὶ πάντων θεῷ οὔτε θυμιᾶν οὔτε θύειν ιγʹ. Ὅτι οὐδὲ ταῖς θείαις δυνάμεσι τῶν ἀπὸ γῆς τι θύειν ἢ θυμιᾶν προσήκει ιδʹ. Ἔτι περὶ τοῦ μὴ χρῆναι τῷ ἐπὶ πάντων θεῷ τῶν ἀπὸ γῆς τι προσφέρειν ιεʹ. Ὅτι παράνομόν ἐστι καὶ βλαβερὸν καὶ ἄδικον καὶ ἀνόσιον τὸ θύειν ζῷα θεοῖς καὶ ὅτι κατάραις ὑποβεβλημένον ιʹ. Ὅτι τὰ θυόμενα παρ' αὐτοῖς δαίμοσιν, ἀλλ' οὐ θεοῖς θύεται ιζʹ. Περὶ τῆς παλαιᾶς ἀνθρωποθυσίας καὶ ὅτι μετὰ τὴν εὐαγγελικὴν διδασκαλίαν κατελύθη ιηʹ. Ὅτι πονηροῖς δαίμοσιν ἀνέκειτο πᾶσα ἡ τῶν ἐθνῶν θεολογία ιθʹ. Ὅτι μὴ δεῖ τοῖς πονηροῖς δαίμοσι θύειν κʹ. Ὅπως ἀνακεῖσθαι δεῖ τῷ ἐπὶ πάντων θεῷ καʹ. Ὡς ὁ Ἀπόλλων τῷ πονηρῷ δαίμονι προστάττει θύειν κβʹ. Ὡς οὐδεὶς ἄλλος τῶν ἐξ αἰῶνος ἢ μόνος ὁ σωτὴρ καὶ κύριος ἡμῶν τὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων γένος τῆς δαιμονικῆς ἠλευθέρωσεν πλάνης κγʹ. Τίς ὁ τρόπος τῆς δαιμονικῆς ἐνεργείας κδʹ. Περὶ τῶν πονηρῶν διαμόνων, καὶ τίνες ποτ' εἰσὶν αὐτῶν οἱ ἄρχοντες ∆ 4.1.1

αʹ. ΠΡΟΟΙΜΙΟΝ ΠΕΡΙ ΤΩΝ ΚΑΤΑ ΠΟΛΕΙΣ ΧΡΗΣΤΗΡΙΩΝ ΚΑΙ ΩΝ

ΜΑΛΙΣΤΑ ∆ΙΑΤΕΘΡΥΛΗΤΑΙ ΤΑ ΜΑΝΤΕΙΑ ΕΝ ΠΑΡΑ∆ΟΞΟΙΣ ∆ΑΙΜΟΝΩΝ ΕΠΙΦΑΝΕΙΑΙΣ· ΤΙΝΙ ΤΕ ΛΟΓΩ ΚΑΙ ΤΟΥΤΩΝ ΚΑΤΕΦΡΟΝΗΣΑΜΕΝ

Τὸ τρίτον εἶδος τῆς πολυθέου πλάνης, ἀφ' ἧς δυνάμει καὶ εὐεργεσίᾳ τοῦ λυτρωτοῦ καὶ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν ἠλευθερώθημεν, ἐν τετάρτῳ τούτῳ συγγράμματι τῆς Εὐαγγελικῆς Προπαρασκευῆς καιρὸς ἀπελέγξαι καλεῖ. 4.1.2 ἐπειδὴ γὰρ τὸ πᾶν τῆς θεολογίας αὐτῶν εἶδος εἰς τρία γενικώτερον διαιροῦσιν, εἴς τε τὸ μυθικὸν ὑπὸ τῶν ποιητῶν τετραγῳδημένον καὶ εἰς τὸ φυσικὸν τὸ δὴ πρὸς τῶν φιλοσόφων ἐφευρημένον εἴς τε τὸ πρὸς τῶν νόμων διεκδικούμενον ἐν ἑκάστῃ πόλει καὶ χώρᾳ πεφυλαγμένον, τούτων δὲ μέρη δύο ἤδη πρότερον διὰ τῶν πρὸ τούτου συγγραμμάτων ἡμῖν ἐξήπλωται, τό τε ἱστορικόν, ὃ δὴ μυθικὸν ἀποκαλοῦσιν, καὶ τὸ ἐπαναβεβηκὸς τοὺς μύθους, ὃ δὴ φυσικὸν ἢ θεωρητικὸν ἢ ὅπη ἄλλῃ χαίρουσι προσαγορεύοντες, καιρὸς ἂν εἴη τὸ τρίτον ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος διελθεῖν. τοῦτο δέ ἐστι τὸ κατὰ πόλεις καὶ χώρας συνεστώς, πολιτικὸν αὐτοῖς προσηγορευμένον· ὃ καὶ μάλιστα πρὸς τῶν νόμων διεκδικεῖται, ὡς ἂν παλαιὸν ὁμοῦ καὶ πάτριον καὶ 4.1.3 τῆς τῶν θεολογουμένων δυνάμεως αὐτόθεν τὴν ἀρετὴν ὑποφαῖνον. διατεθρύληται γοῦν αὐτοῖς μαντεῖα καὶ χρησμοὶ θεραπεῖαί τε καὶ ἀκέσεις παντοίων παθῶν ἐπισκήψεις τε κατ' ἀσεβῶν· ὧν δὴ καὶ διὰ πείρας ἐλθεῖν φάσκοντες εὖ μάλα πεπείκασιν ἑαυτοὺς τὰ θεῖα τιμῶντας δίκαια πράττειν, ἡμᾶς δὲ τὰ μέγιστα ἀσεβεῖν, τὰς οὕτως ἐμφανεῖς καὶ εὐεργετικὰς δυνάμεις ἐν οὐδενὶ λόγῳ τιθεμένους, ἄντικρυς δὲ παρανομοῦντας, δέον σέβειν ἕκαστον τὰ πάτρια μηδὲ κινεῖν τὰ ἀκίνητα, στοιχεῖν δὲ καὶ ἐφέπεσθαι τῇ τῶν προπατόρων εὐσεβείᾳ μηδὲ πολυπραγμονεῖν ἔρωτι καινοτομίας. ταύτη γοῦν φασιν ἐπαξίως καὶ θάνατον ὑπὸ τῶν νόμων ὡρίσθαι τοῖς πλημμελοῦσι τὴν ζημίαν. 4.1.4 τὸ μὲν οὖν πρῶτον ἱστορικόν τε ὂν καὶ μυθικὸν τῆς θεολογίας εἶδος ὅπη τις βούλεται ποιητῶν τιθέσθω, ὥσπερ οὖν καὶ φιλοσόφων τὸ δεύτερον, διὰ τῆς τῶν μύθων φυσικωτέρας ἀλληγορίας ἀπηγγελμένον· τὸ δὲ τρίτον, ὃ καὶ πρὸς τῶν ἀρχόντων ὡς ἂν παλαιὸν ὁμοῦ καὶ πολιτικὸν τιμητέον τε καὶ φυλακτέον εἶναι νενομοθέτηται, μήτε τις ποιητῶν, φασίν, μήτε φιλοσόφων κινείτω, τοῖς δ' ἐκ παλαιοῦ κρατήσασι θεσμοῖς ἔν τε ἀγροῖς καὶ πόλεσι με4.1.5 νέτω πᾶς στοιχῶν, νόμοις πατρίοις πειθόμενος. πρὸς δὴ οὖν ταῦτα καιρὸς ἀποδοῦναι τὸν παρ' ἡμῖν λόγον ἀπολογισμόν