68

to undertake, since the evangelical treatise of our Savior proclaims against the aforesaid things and legislates against the laws of all the nations. 4.1.6

2. THAT IT IS EASY FOR THOSE WHO WISH TO SHOW THAT THE PROMISE CONCERNING THE ORACLES IS AN ERROR AND THE VILLAINY OF SORCERERS

That the lifeless wooden images are not gods, then, is obvious even to them, and that not even the things of their mythical theology bear any august and god-befitting account, has been shown in the first book, just as, then, also in the second and in the third, that not even the more physical and philosophical interpretation of the myths 4.1.7 contains for them an unforced explanation. Come, let us then consider the third point, what we must think of the powers that lurk in the wooden images, whether they are refined in character and good and truly divine, or the opposite of all these. 4.1.8 Now another, perhaps, in pursuing the argument concerning these things, might have supposed the whole thing to be an error and the contrivances and villainies of sorcerers, completely circumscribing the opinion, so as to think that the things rumored about them are not of God, nor even of an evil demon. For the poems and the compositions of the oracles are the fabrications not of untalented men, but of those very well contrived for deceit, being composed in a middling and ambiguous manner so as to apply not unskillfully to either of the outcomes expected from the result; and the portents that deceive the many through certain marvels are kindled by natural causes. 4.1.9 For there are many kinds of roots and herbs and plants and fruits and stones and other dry and wet powers of all sorts of matter in the nature of the universe, some being repellent and expulsive of certain things, others naturally drawing together and attracting, others able to separate and scatter, and to make dense and contract, others to loosen and moisten and make rare; some again to preserve and others to kill, and to completely turn and alter the present state, and at one time to change it in this way, at another in that, and some to do this for a longer time, others for a short time, and again some to be effective for a multitude, others only for a few, and for some things to lead, and for others to follow, and some to concur with others and to grow together and perish together; yes, and some are productive of health, not far from medical science, while others happen to be disease-causing and poisonous; and some things happen by natural necessities and wax and wane with the moon, and there are myriad antipathies of animals and roots and plants, and many incenses that are stupefying and sleep-inducing, and others productive of visions; and the regions and places in which the events are performed also contribute not a little; and there are instruments and implements skillfully prepared for them beforehand for the art; and many accomplices in the sorcery are brought in from outside, who pry into the affairs of those who arrive and the needs of each and what one has come to ask for; and the inner sanctuaries and the recesses of the temples, inaccessible to the many, conceal many things within; and the darkness also contributes not a little to their scheme; and not least, their pre-existing assumption and the superstition of those who approach them as gods, and the opinion among them 4.1.10 inherited from their ancestors. Let there be added also the foolishness of mind of the many, and the inertness and uncritical nature of the reasoning of the multitude, and conversely the cleverness and maliciousness of those who are busy with this wicked art, and the deceptive and knavish character of the sorcerers, at one time promising to each what is pleasant and soothing the present with good hopes, at another time guessing at the future and divining into the unknown, and the meaning of the oracles with ambiguities of words and

68

τε ὑποσχεῖν τῆς τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν εὐαγγελικῆς πραγματείας ἀντικηρυττούσης τοῖς εἰρημένοις καὶ τοῖς τῶν ἐθνῶν ἁπάντων νόμοις ἀντινομοθετούσης. 4.1.6

βʹ. ΟΤΙ ΤΟΙΣ ΘΕΛΟΥΣΙΝ ΕΥΧΕΡΕΣ ΑΠΟΦΗΝΑΙ ΠΛΑΝΗΝ ΕΙΝΑΙ ΤΗΝ ΠΕΡΙ ΤΩΝ ΧΡΗΣΤΗΡΙΩΝ ΕΠΑΓΓΕΛΙΑΝ ΚΑΙ ΓΟΗΤΩΝ ΑΝ∆ΡΩΝ ΡΑΙ∆ΙΟΥΡΓΙΑΝ

Ὅτι μὲν οὖν οὐ θεοὶ τὰ ἄψυχα ξόανα προφανὲς καὶ αὐτοῖς, ὅτι δ' οὐδὲ τὰ τῆς μυθικῆς αὐτῶν θεολογίας φέρει τινὰ σεμνὸν καὶ θεοπρεπῆ λόγον, ἐν τῷ πρώτῳ δέδεικται συγγράμματι, ὥσπερ οὖν καὶ ἐν τῷ δευτέρῳ καὶ ἐν τῷ τρίτῳ ὅτι μηδὲ τὰ τῆς φυσικωτέρας καὶ φιλοσόφου τῶν μύθων ἑρμηνείας 4.1.7 ἀβίαστον αὐτοῖς περιέχει τὴν ἐξήγησιν. τὸ δὴ τρίτον φέρε σκεψώμεθα, τί ποτε χρὴ νομίζειν τὰς ἐν τοῖς ξοάνοις φωλευούσας δυνάμεις, πότερα τὸν τρόπον ἀστείας καὶ ἀγαθὰς καὶ ὡς ἀληθῶς θείας ἢ τούτων ἁπάντων τὰ ἐναντία. 4.1.8 ἄλλος μὲν οὖν τάχα ἂν ἴσως τὸν περὶ τούτων ἐφοδεύων λόγον πλάνην εἶναι τὸ πᾶν καὶ γοήτων ἀνδρῶν τεχνάσματά τε καὶ ῥᾳδιουργίας ὑπεστήσατο, καθόλου περιγράφων τὴν δόξαν, ὡς μὴ ὅτι θεοῦ, ἀλλὰ μηδὲ πονηροῦ δαίμονος εἶναι νομίζειν τὰ περὶ αὐτῶν θρυλούμενα. τὰ μὲν γὰρ ποιήματα καὶ τὰς τῶν χρησμῶν συνθέσεις οὐκ ἀφυῶν ἀνδρῶν, εὖ μάλα δὲ πρὸς ἀπάτην ἐσκευωρημένων πλάσματα τυγχάνειν, μέσῳ καὶ ἀμφιβόλῳ συγκείμενα τρόπῳ πρὸς ἑκάτερά τε τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς ἐκβάσεως προσδοκωμένων οὐκ ἀφυῶς ἐφαρμόζειν· τὰ δὲ τὸν πολὺν ἀπατῶντα διά τινων τερατειῶν θαύματα φυσικαῖς αἰτίαις ἀνῆφ4.1.9 θαι. πολλὰ γὰρ εἶναι εἴδη ῥιζῶν καὶ βοτανῶν καὶ φυτῶν καὶ καρπῶν καὶ λίθων ξηρῶν τε ἄλλων καὶ ὑγρῶν παντοίας ὕλης δυνάμεων ἐν τῇ τῶν ὅλων φύσει, τὰ μὲν ἀποκρουστικὰ καί τινων ἀπελαστικά, τὰ δὲ συνάγειν πεφυκότα καὶ ἐφέλκεσθαι, τὰ δὲ διακρίνειν καὶ σκεδαννύναι πυκνοῦν τε καὶ στέλλειν δυνάμενα, ἕτερα δὲ χαλᾶν καὶ ὑγραίνειν καὶ ἀραιοῦν σῴζειν τε αὖ πάλιν ἄλλα καὶ ἕτερα κτείνειν τρέπειν τε διόλου καὶ τὸ παρὸν ἐναλλάττειν καὶ τοτὲ μὲν τῇδε μεταποιεῖν, τοτὲ δὲ τῇδε καὶ τὰ μὲν πρὸς πλείω χρόνον, τὰ δὲ πρὸς βραχὺν τοῦτο ποιεῖν καὶ πάλιν τὰ μὲν εἰς πλῆθος, τὰ δὲ μέχρις ὀλίγων μόνον ἰσχύειν καὶ τῶν μὲν τάδε ἡγεῖσθαι, τισὶ δὲ ἕτερα ἐπακολουθεῖν συντρέχειν τε ἄλλα ἄλλοις καὶ συναύξειν καὶ συμφθείρεσθαι· ναὶ μὴν καὶ ὑγείας εἶναι τινὰ ποιητικά, ἰατρικῆς οὐκ ἄπωθεν ἐπιστήμης, τὰ δὲ νοσοποιὰ τυγχάνειν καὶ δηλητήρια· ἤδη δὲ φυσικαῖς ἀνάγκαις συμβαίνειν τινὰ καὶ τῇ σελήνῃ συναύξειν καὶ συμφθίνειν ζῴων τε εἶναι καὶ ῥιζῶν καὶ φυτῶν ἀντιπαθείας μυρίας καὶ πολλὰ θυμιαμάτων καρωτικῶν τε καὶ ὑπνωτικῶν, ἑτέρων δὲ φαντασίας ποιητικῶν· συναίρεσθαι δὲ οὐχ ἥκιστα καὶ τὰ χωρία καὶ τοὺς τόπους ἐν οἷς τελίσκεται τὰ γινόμενα· ὄργανά τε εἶναι καὶ σκεύη πόρρωθεν αὐτοῖς ἐπιτηδείως τῇ τέχνῃ προηυτρεπισμένα· πολλοὺς δὲ καὶ συνεργοὺς τῆς μαγγανείας παραλαμβάνεσθαι ἔξωθεν, πολυπραγμονοῦντας τοὺς ἀφικνουμένους καὶ τὰς ἑκάστου χρείας καὶ ὧν ἧκέν τις δεησόμενος· πολλὰ δὲ καὶ τὰ ἄδυτα καὶ τοὺς τοῖς πολλοῖς ἀβάτους μυχοὺς τῶν ἱερῶν ἐντὸς ἀποκρύπτειν· καὶ τὸ σκότος δὲ οὐ μικρὰ συνεργεῖν τῇ κατ' αὐτοὺς ὑποθέσει· καὶ αὐτὴν δὲ οὐχ ἥκιστα τὴν προλαβοῦσαν ὑπόληψιν καὶ τὴν τῶν ὡς θεοῖς προσιόντων αὐτοῖς δεισιδαιμονίαν τήν τε ἐκ προγόνων προκατασχοῦσαν ἐν 4.1.10 αὐτοῖς δόξαν. προσκείσθω καὶ τὸ τῶν πολλῶν ἠλίθιον τῆς διανοίας τό τε ἀδρανὲς τοῦ λογισμοῦ καὶ ἀβασάνιστον τοῦ πλήθους καὶ ἔμπαλιν τὸ δεινὸν καὶ κακεντρεχὲς τῶν περὶ τὴν κακότεχνον ταύτην διατριβὴν τευταζόντων τό τε τῶν γοήτων ἀπατηλὸν καὶ πανοῦργον τοῦ τρόπου, τοτὲ μὲν τὰ πρὸς ἡδονὴν ἑκάστῳ προϋπισχνουμένων καὶ τὸ παρὸν ἐπὶ χρησταῖς ἐλπίσιν θεραπευόντων, τοτὲ δὲ τοῦ μέλλοντος καταστοχαζομένων καὶ εἰς ἄδηλον καταμαντευομένων τήν τε διάνοιαν τῶν χρησμῶν ἀμφιβολίαις ῥημάτων καὶ