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STILL FURTHER, THAT THE DIVINATIONS AND ORACLES AMONG THE GENTILES ARE OF WICKED DEMONS, AND HOW ALL HAVE BEEN DESTROYED AND HAVE CEASED AFTER THE EVANGELICAL OF OUR SAVIOR

TEACHING What has been set forth before was sufficient to establish that they were not gods nor good demons, but quite the contrary were those honored as gods among the gentiles in cities and countries; but it does no harm to confirm the same hypothesis still more abundantly with more and richer refutations of their proof, showing the freedom from the ancient evils procured for all men through the evangelical teaching of our Savior.5.1.2 Hear, therefore, the Greeks themselves confessing that their oracles have ceased, and not at any other time from eternity than after the times of the saving and evangelical teaching, when the knowledge of the one God, the King of all and creator of the 5.1.3 universe, rose like a light for all men. For instance, we shall presently show that after His epiphany, even the deaths of the demons were recorded, and the wonderful and long-celebrated 5.1.4 oracles have ceased. And it has already been demonstrated before that the human sacrifices formerly performed cruelly and mercilessly among all the gentiles received a cessation of evils at no other time before than after the evangelical teaching; to which it is well to add at present that not only was the demonic superstition extinguished from that time, but also the polyarchy of the 5.1.5 nations. For in ancient times, in almost every city and village, one could see kings and tyrants, toparchs and rulers, ethnarchies and polyarchies, because of which, constantly rushing into wars against each other, they were always and forever carrying out devastations of countries, sieges of cities, enslavements, and captivities of their neighbors, being driven to war against 5.1.6 one another by their own demons. Since things were thus, in what a confusion of evils and successive calamities all life was then involved, I leave to you yourself 5.1.7 to consider. When, therefore, all these things at once, together with the polytheistic error, were removed at no other time than after the coming of our Savior to men, how can one not greatly marvel at the great mystery of the truly saving and evangelical proof, through which, at once, throughout the whole inhabited world of men, houses of prayer and temples were established, dedicated to the King of all and Creator of the universe and only God, in cities and villages and in the deserts of barbarian nations, and books and readings and all sorts of lessons and teachings, containing precepts concerning the highest virtue and the way of true piety, have been delivered to the hearing of men, women, and children alike, while all oracles 5.1.8 and divinations from demons are dead? Nor is anyone now so mad, since the divine and evangelical power of our Savior has shone out like a light upon all, as to dare to propitiate the murderous, blood-loving, misanthropic, and inhuman demons with the murder of a dearest one and with the slaughters of human sacrifices, such as it was truly dear to the wise men and kings of old, possessed by demons, 5.1.9 to do. And concerning the fact that the wicked demons are no longer able to prevail at all after the coming of our Savior to men, the very advocate of the demons against us, in his plot against us, testifies in this way, saying something like this: 5.1.10 “But now they wonder that for so many years the sickness has seized the city, since there is no longer any visitation of Asclepius and the other gods. For since Jesus is honored, no one has perceived any public help from the gods.” 5.1.11 These things Porphyry says in his own words. if

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ΕΤΙ ΠΕΡΙ ΤΟΥ ΠΟΝΗΡΩΝ ∆ΑΙΜΟΝΩΝ ΕΙΝΑΙ ΤΑ ΠΑΡΑ ΤΟΙΣ ΕΘΝΕΣΙ ΜΑΝΤΕΙΑ ΚΑΙ ΧΡΗΣΤΗΡΙΑ ΚΑΙ ΩΣ ΚΑΘΗΙΡΗΤΑΙ ΠΑΝΤΑ ΚΑΙ ΕΚΛΕΛΟΙΠΕΝ ΜΕΤΑ ΤΗΝ ΤΟΥ ΣΩΤΗΡΟΣ ΗΜΩΝ ΕΥΑΓΓΕΛΙΚΗΝ

∆Ι∆ΑΣΚΑΛΙΑΝ Ἱκανὰ μὲν καὶ τὰ προπαρατεθέντα συστῆσαι ἦν ὅτι μὴ θεοὶ μηδ' ἀγαθοὶ δαίμονες, πᾶν δὲ τοὐναντίον ὑπῆρχον οἱ παρὰ τοῖς ἔθνεσι κατά τε πόλεις καὶ χώρας ὡς θεοὶ τετιμημένοι· οὐ λυπεῖ δὲ ἐκ περιουσίας τὴν αὐτὴν ὑπόθεσιν ἐπὶ μᾶλλον βεβαιώσασθαι πλείοσιν καὶ δαψιλεστέροις ἐλέγχοις τῆς τούτων ἀποδείξεως τὴν διὰ τῆς τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν εὐαγγελικῆς διδασκαλίας προξενηθεῖ5.1.2 σαν ἅπασιν ἀνθρώποις ἐλευθερίαν τῶν πάλαι κακῶν ἐκφαινούσης. ἄκουε τοιγαροῦν αὐτῶν Ἑλλήνων ὁμολογούντων ἐκλελοιπέναι αὐτῶν τὰ χρηστήρια, οὐδ' ἄλλοτέ ποτε ἐξ αἰῶνος ἢ μετὰ τοὺς χρόνους τῆς σωτηρίου καὶ εὐαγγελικῆς διδασκαλίας τὴν ἑνὸς τοῦ παμβασιλέως καὶ δημιουργοῦ τῶν 5.1.3 ὅλων θεοῦ γνῶσιν φωτὸς δίκην πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις ἀνατειλάσης. αὐτίκα γοῦν μάλα ὅσον οὐδέπω παραστήσομεν ὡς ἄρα μετὰ τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν αὐτοῦ καὶ θάνατοι τῶν δαιμόνων ἱστορήθησαν καὶ τὰ θαυμαστὰ καὶ πάλαι βοώ 5.1.4 μενα χρηστήρια διαλελοίπασιν. ἤδη δὲ καὶ πρότερον ἀποδέδεικται ὅτι δὴ παῦλαν κακῶν οὐδ' ἄλλοτέ πω πρότερον ἢ μετὰ τὴν εὐαγγελικὴν διδασκαλίαν εἰλήφασιν αἱ παρὰ πᾶσι τοῖς ἔθνεσιν ὠμῶς καὶ ἀνηλεῶς ἐπιτελούμεναι τὸ πρὶν ἀνθρωποθυσίαι· οἷς ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος προσθεῖναι καλὸν ὅτι μὴ μόνον ἐξ ἐκείνου τὰ τῆς δαιμονικῆς ἀπέσβη δεισιδαιμονίας, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ τῆς τῶν ἐθ5.1.5 νῶν πολυαρχίας. σχεδὸν γὰρ κατὰ πᾶσαν πόλιν καὶ κώμην βασιλεῖς καὶ τυράννους τοπάρχας τε καὶ δυνάστας τὸ παλαιὸν ἦν ὁρᾶν ἐθναρχίας τε καὶ πολυαρχίας, δι' ἃς ἐπὶ τοὺς κατ' ἀλλήλων πολέμους συνεχῶς ὁρμῶντες δῃώσεις χωρῶν καὶ πόλεων πολιορκίας ἀνδραποδισμούς τε καὶ αἰχμαλωσίας τῶν πλησιοχώρων ἀεὶ καὶ διὰ παντὸς ἐνήργουν, πρὸς τῶν οἰκείων δαιμόνων ἐπὶ τὸν κατ' 5.1.6 ἀλλήλων πόλεμον ἐξοιστρούμενοι. ὧν οὕτως ἐχόντων ἐν ὁποίᾳ τότε συγχύσει κακῶν συμφορῶν τε ἐπαλλήλων ὁ πᾶς ἐνίσχητο βίος καὶ αὐτῷ σοι 5.1.7 καταλείπω σκοπεῖν. τούτων δὴ οὖν ἀθρόως ἁπάντων ὁμοῦ σὺν τῇ πολυθέῳ πλάνῃ ἐκποδὼν μεταστάντων οὐκ ἄλλοτε ἢ μετὰ τὴν τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν εἰς ἀνθρώπους ἐπιδημίαν, πῶς οὐ χρὴ τὸ μέγα μυστήριον τῆς ἀληθῶς σωτηρίου καὶ εὐαγγελικῆς ἀποδείξεως ὑπερθαυμάζειν, δι' ἧς ἀθρόως κατὰ πᾶσαν τὴν τῶν ἀνθρώπων οἰκουμένην προσευκτήρια καὶ ναοὶ τῷ παμβασιλεῖ καὶ δημιουργῷ τῶν ἁπάντων καὶ μόνῳ θεῷ ἔν τε πόλεσι καὶ κώμαις βαρβάρων τε ἐθνῶν ἐν ἐρημίαις ἀφιερωμένα συνέστη, βίβλοι τε καὶ ἀναγνώσματα μαθήματά τε παντοῖα καὶ διδασκαλίαι, περὶ τῆς εἰς ἄκρον ἀρετῆς καὶ τρόπου τοῦ κατὰ τὴν ἀληθῆ θεοσέβειαν παραγγέλματα περιέχουσαι, ἀνδράσιν ὁμοῦ καὶ γυναιξὶ καὶ παισὶν εἰς ἐπήκοον παραδέδονται, νεκρὰ δὲ τὰ ἀπὸ δαιμόνων πάντα χρη5.1.8 στήριά τε καὶ μαντεύματα; οὐδέ τις εἰς τοσοῦτον ἀνθρώπων μέμηνεν νῦν, ἐξ οὗπερ εἰς πάντας φωτὸς δίκην ἐξέλαμψεν ἡ τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν ἔνθεος καὶ εὐαγγελικὴ δύναμις, ὡς τολμᾶν τῷ τοῦ φιλτάτου φόνῳ καὶ ταῖς δι' ἀνθρωποθυσιῶν σφαγαῖς τὰ φονικὰ καὶ φίλαιμα μισάνθρωπά τε καὶ ἀπάνθρωπα δαιμόνια ἐξιλεοῦσθαι, οἷα πράττειν τοῖς πάλαι σοφοῖς καὶ βασιλεῦσι 5.1.9 δαιμονῶσιν ὡς ἀληθῶς φίλον ἦν. περὶ δὲ τοῦ μηκέτι δύνασθαί τι κατισχύειν τοὺς φαύλους δαίμονας μετὰ τὴν τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν εἰς ἀνθρώπους πάροδον καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ καθ' ἡμᾶς τῶν δαιμόνων προήγορος ἐν τῇ καθ' ἡμῶν συσκευῇ τοῦτόν που λέγων μαρτυρεῖ τὸν τρόπον· 5.1.10 «Νυνὶ δὲ θαυμάζουσιν εἰ τοσοῦτον ἐτῶν κατείληφεν ἡ νόσος τὴν πόλιν, Ἀσκληπιοῦ μὲν ἐπιδημίας καὶ τῶν ἄλλων θεῶν μηκέτι οὔσης. Ἰησοῦ γὰρ τιμωμένου οὐδεμιᾶς δημοσίας τις θεῶν ὠφελείας ᾔσθετο.» 5.1.11 Ταῦτα ῥήμασιν αὐτοῖς ὁ Πορφύριος. εἰ