Chap. VI.—Almighty God Begat His Son; And the Testimonies of the Sibyls and of Trismegistus Concerning Him.

God, therefore, the contriver and founder of all things, as we have said in the second book, before He commenced this excellent work of the world, begat a pure and incorruptible Spirit, whom He called His Son. And although He had afterwards created by Himself innumerable other beings, whom we call angels, this first-begotten, however, was the only one whom He considered worthy of being called by the divine name, as being powerful in His Father’s excellence and majesty. But that there is a Son of the Most High God, who is possessed of the greatest power, is shown not only by the unanimous utterances of the prophets, but also by the declaration of Trismegistus and the predictions of the Sibyls. Hermes, in the book which is entitled The Perfect Word, made use of these words: “The Lord and Creator of all things, whom we have thought right to call God, since He made the second God visible and sensible. But I use the term sensible, not because He Himself perceives (for the question is not whether He Himself perceives), but because He leads499    Literally, “sends.” The passage appears to be corrupt: ὑποπίπτει has been suggested instead of ὑποπέμπει, “falls under perception,” “is an object of perception.”   to perception and to intelligence. Since, therefore, He made Him first, and alone, and one only, He appeared to Him beautiful, and most full of all good things; and He hallowed Him, and altogether loved Him as His own Son.” The Erythræan Sibyl, in the beginning of her poem, which she commenced with the Supreme God, proclaims the Son of God as the leader and commander of all, in these verses:—  

And again, at the end of the same poem:—  

And another Sibyl enjoins that He ought to be known:—  

Assuredly He is the very Son of God, who by that most wise King Solomon, full of divine inspiration, spake these things which we have added:500    Prov. viii. 22–31. Lactantius quotes from the Septuagint.  , “God founded501    According to the Hebrew, “possessed me in the beginning,” and so the authorized version.   me in the beginning of His ways, in His work before the ages. He set me up in the beginning, before He made the earth, and before He established the depths, before the fountains of waters came forth: the Lord begat me before all the hills; He made the regions, and the uninhabitable502    Fines inhabitabiles. Other editions read terras inhabitabiles, “uninhabitable lands.”   boundaries under the heaven. When He prepared the heaven, I was by Him: and when He separated His own seat, when He made the strong clouds above the winds, and when He strengthened the mountains, and placed them under heaven; when He laid the strong foundations of the earth, I was with Him arranging all things. I was He in whom He delighted: I was daily delighted, when He rejoiced, the world being completed.” But on this account Trismegistus spoke of Him as “the artificer of God,” and the Sibyl calls Him “Counsellor,” because He is endowed by God the Father with such wisdom and strength, that God employed both His wisdom and hands in the creation of the world.  

0461A CAPUT VI. Deus omnipotentem genuit Filium; atque de eo testimonia Sibyllarum et Trismegisti.

Deus igitur machinator constitutorque rerum, sicuti in secundo libro (scilicet, cap. 9) diximus, antequam praeclarum hoc opus mundi adoriretur, 0461A sanctum et incorruptibilem spiritam genuit, quem Filium nuncuparet. Et quamvis alios postea innumerabiles per ipsum creavisset, quos angelos dicimus, hunc tamen solum primogenitum divini nominis appellatione dignatus est, patria scilicet virtute ac majestate pollentem. Esse autem summi Dei Filium, qui sit potestate maxima praeditus, non tantum congruentes in unum voces Prophetarum, sed etiam Trismegisti praedicatio, et Sibyllarum vaticinia demonstrant. 0461B Hermes in eo libro, qui ὁ λόγος τέλειος inscribitur, his usus est verbis: ὁ Κύριος καὶ τῶν πάντων ποιητὴς, ὃν Θεὸν καλεῖν νενομίκαμεν, ἐπεὶ τὸν δεύτερον ἐποίησε θεὸν ὁρατὸν καὶ αἰσθητὸν· αἰσθητὸν δέ φημι οὐ διὰ τὸ αἰσθέσθαι αὐτὸν, περὶ γὰρ τούτου οὐκ ἔστι πότερον αὐτὸς αἴσθοιτο, ἀλλ᾽ ὅτι εἰς αἴσθησιν ὑποπέμπει καὶ εἰς νοῦν. Ἐπεὶ τοῦτον ἐποίησε πρῶτον, καὶ μόνον, καὶ ἕνα, καλὸς δέ αὐτῷ ἐφάνη, καὶ πληρέστατος πάντων τῶν ἀγαθῶν, 0462A ἡγίασέ τε καὶ πάνυ ἐφίλησεν ὤς ἴδιον τόκον. Sibylla Erythraea in carminis sui principio, quod a summo Deo exorsa est, filium Dei Ducem et Imperatorem omnium his versibus praedicat: Παντοτρόφον κτίστην, ὅστις γλυκὺ πνεῦμ᾽ ἐν ἅπασι Κάττετο, χ᾽ ἡγητῆρα Θεὸν πάντων ἐποίησε.Et rursus in fine ejusdem carminis: Ἄλλ᾽ ὂν ἔδωκε Θεὸς πιστοῖς ἀνδράσσι γεραίρειν.Et alia Sibylla praecipit hunc oportere cognosci: Αὐτὸν σὸν γίνωσκε Θεὸν Θεοῦ υἱὸν ἐόντα. Videlicet ipse est Dei Filius, qui per Salomonem sapientissimum regem divino spiritu plenum locutus est ea quae subjecimus: «Deus condidit me in initio viarum suarum, in opera sua ante secula. Fundavit me in principio, antequam terram faceret, et antequam 0462B abyssos constitueret; priusquam prodirent fontes aquarum: ante omnes colles genuit me Deminus; fecit regiones, et fines inhabitabiles sub coelo. Cum pararet coelum, aderam illi; et cum secerneret suam sedem, cum super ventos faceret validas nubes, et cum confirmatos poneret montes sub coelo: quando fortia faciebat fundamenta terrae, eram penes illum disponens. Ego eram, cui adgaudebat; quotidie 0463A autem jucundabar ante faciem ejus, cum laetaretur orbe perfecto.» Idirco autem Trismegistus δημιουργὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ 0463A dixit, et Sibylla σύμβουλον appellat, quod tanta sapientia et virtute sit instructus a Deo Patre, ut et consilio ejus, et manibus uteretur in fabricatione mundi.