Chap. X.—Of Religion Towards God, and Mercy Towards Men; And of the Beginning of the World.

I have said what is due to God, I will now say what is to be given to man; although this very thing which you shall give to man is given to God, for man is the image of God. But, however, the first office of justice is to be united with God, the second with man. But the former is called religion; the second is named mercy or kindness;1126    Virg., Æn., ii. 355.      Humanitas.   which virtue is peculiar to the just, and to the worshippers of God, because this alone comprises the principle of common life. For God, who has not given wisdom to the other animals, has made them more safe from attack in danger by natural defences. But because He made him naked and defenceless,1127    Ter., Andr., i. 1, 41.      Fragilem.     [Φύσις κέρατα ταύροις     ὁπλὰς δ' ἒδωκεν ἲπποίς     τοι̑ς ἀνδράσιν φρόνημα, κ τ λ     Anacreon, Ode 2.]   that He might rather furnish him with wisdom, He gave him, besides other things, this feeling of kindness;1128    The Jewish people. Thus St. Paul speaks, Acts xxvi. 6: “I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers.”      Hunc pietatis affectum.   so that man should protect, love, and cherish man, and both receive and afford assistance against all dangers. Therefore kindness is the greatest bond of human society; and he who has broken this is to be deemed impious, and a parricide. For if we all derive our origin from one man, whom God created, we are plainly of one blood; and therefore it must be considered the greatest wickedness to hate a man, even though guilty. On which account God has enjoined that enmities are never to be contracted by us, but that they are always to be removed, so that we soothe those who are our enemies, by reminding them of their relationship. Likewise, if we are all inspired and animated by one God, what else are we than brothers? And, indeed, the more closely united, because we are united in soul rather than in body.1129    i.e., the Christian religion.      Conjunctiores, quòd animis, quàm quòd (others read “qui”) corporibus.   Accordingly Lucretius does not err when he says:1130    Mactant.      [Modern followers of Lucretius may learn from him:—     Denique cœlesti sumus omnes semine oriundi;     Omnibus ille idem pater est.]     ii. 991.   “In short, we are all sprung from a heavenly seed; all have that same father.” Therefore they are to be accounted as savage beasts who injure man; who, in opposition to every law and right of human nature, plunder, torture, slay, and banish.  

On account of this relationship of brotherhood, God teaches us never to do evil, but always good. And He also prescribes1131    Desperati, equivalent to παράβολοι, a word borrowed from combats with wild beasts, and applied to Christians as being ready to devote their lives to the cause of God.      Isa. lviii. 6, 7; Ezek. xviii. 7; Matt. xxv. 35.   in what this doing good consists: in affording aid to those who are oppressed and in difficulty, and in bestowing food on those who are destitute. For God, since He is kind,1132    There is an allusion to the punishment of parricides, who were enclosed in a bag with a dog, a serpent, an ape, and a cock, and thrown into the sea.      Pius.   wished us to be a social animal. Therefore, in the case of other men, we ought to think of ourselves. We do not deserve to be set free in our own dangers, if we do not succour others; we do not deserve assistance, if we refuse to render it. There are no precepts of philosophers to this purport, inasmuch as they, being captivated by the appearance of false virtue, have taken away mercy from man, and while they wish to heal, have corrupted.1133    Patientia, in a bad sense. [The text of the translator gives “endurance,” for which I venture to substitute as above.]      Dum volunt sanare, vitiaverunt. There is another reading: “dum volunt sanare vitia, auxerunt,” while they wish to apply a remedy to vices, have increased them.   And though they generally admit that the mutual participation of human society is to be retained, they entirely separate themselves from it by the harshness of their inhuman virtue. This error, therefore, is also to be refuted, of those who think that nothing is to be bestowed on any one. They have introduced not one origin only, and cause of building a city; but some relate that those men who were first born from the earth, when they passed a wandering life among the woods and plains, and were not united by any mutual bond of speech or justice, but had leaves and grass for their beds, and caves and grottos for their dwellings, were a prey to the beasts and stronger animals. Then, that those who had either escaped, having been torn, or had seen their neighbours torn, being admonished of their own danger, had recourse to other men, implored protection, and at first made their wishes known by nods; then that they tried the beginnings of conversation, and by attaching names to each object, by degrees completed the system of speech. But when they saw that numbers themselves were not safe against the beasts, they began also to build towns, either that they might make their nightly repose safe, or that they might ward off the incursions and attacks of beasts, not by fighting, but by interposing barriers.1134    Contra fas omne.      Objectis aggeribus. “Agger” properly signifies a mound of earth or other material.    

O minds unworthy of men, which produced these foolish trifles! O wretched and pitiable men, who committed to writing and handed down to memory the record of their own folly; who, when they saw that the plan of assembling themselves together, or of mutual intercourse, or of avoiding danger, or of guarding against evil, or of preparing for themselves sleeping-places and lairs, was natural even to the dumb animals, thought, however, that men could not have been admonished and learned, except by examples, what they ought to fear, what to avoid, and what to do, or that they would never have assembled together, or have discovered the method of speech, had not the beasts devoured them! These things appeared to others senseless, as they really were; and they said that the cause of their coming together was not the tearing of wild beasts, but rather the very feeling of humanity itself; and that therefore they collected themselves together, because the nature of men avoided solitude, and was desirous of communion and society. The discrepancy between them is not great; since the causes are different, the fact is the same. Each might have been true, because there is no direct opposition. But, however, neither is by any means true, because men were not born from the ground throughout the world, as though sprung from the teeth of some dragon, as the poets relate; but one man was formed by God, and from that one man all the earth was filled with the human race, in the same way as again took place after the deluge, which they certainly cannot deny.1135    Induforo. “Indu” and “endo” are archaisms, used by Lucretius and other writers in the same sense as “in.”      [Gen. x. 32.]   Therefore no assembling together of this kind took place at the beginning; and that there were never men on the earth who could not speak except those who were infants,1136    i.e., Christians. [See vol. i. pp. 26, 27.]      Prater infantiam—others read “propter infans”—properly means, one unable to speak. [See fine remarks on language, etc., in De Maistre, Soirées, etc., vol. i. p. 105 and notes, ed. Lyon, 1836.]   every one who is possessed of sense will understand. Let us suppose, however, that these things are true which idle and foolish old men vainly say, that we may refute them especially by their own feelings and arguments.  

If men were collected together on this account, that they might protect their weakness by mutual help, therefore we must succour man, who needs help. For, since men entered into and contracted fellowship with men for the sake of protection, either to violate or not to preserve that compact which was entered into among men from the commencement of their origin, is to be considered as the greatest impiety. For he who withdraws himself from affording assistance must also of necessity withdraw himself from receiving it; for he who refuses his aid to another thinks that he stands in need of the aid of none. But he who withdraws and separates himself from the body1137    Eoque fieri non potest. Others read “æque fieri,” etc.      A corpore, that is, from society.   at large, must live not after the custom of men, but after the manner of wild beasts. But if this cannot be done, the bond of human society is by all means to be retained, because man can in no way live without man. But the preservation1138    Retentio. The word sometimes signifies a “withholding,” or “drawing back;” but here, as in other passages, Lactantius uses it to express “preservation.”   of society is a mutual sharing of kind offices; that is, the affording help, that we may be able to receive it. But if, as those others assert, the assembling together of men has been caused on account of humanity itself, man ought undoubtedly to recognise man. But if those ignorant and as yet uncivilized men did this, and that, when the practice of speaking was not yet established, what must we think ought to be done by men who are polished, and connected together by interchange of conversation and all business, who, being accustomed to the society of men, cannot endure solitude?  

CAPUT X. De Religione erga Deum, et Misericordia erga homines; atque de Mundi principio.

0666B Dixi, quid debeatur Deo: dicam nunc, quid homini tribuendum sit; quanquam id ipsum quod homini tribueris, Deo tribuitur, quia homo Dei simulacrum est. Sed tamen primum officium justitiae est, conjungi cum Deo; secundum, cum homine. Sed illud primum, Religio dicitur; hoc secundum, misericordia vel humanitas nominatur. Quae virtus propria est justorum et cultorum Dei; quod ea sola vitae communis continet rationem. Deus enim, qui caeteris animalibus sapientiam non dedit, naturalibus ea munimentis ab incursu et periculo tutiora generavit. Hominem vero quia nudum fragilemque formavit, ut eum sapientia potius instrueret, dedit ei praeter caetera hunc pietatis affectum ut homo hominem tueatur, diligat, foveat, contraque omnia pericula et accipiat, 0666C et praestet auxilium. Summum igitur inter se hominum vinculum est humanitas: quod qui disrupit, nefarius et parricida existimandus est. Nam si ab uno homine, quem Deus finxit, omnes orimur, certe consanguinei sumus; et ideo maximum scelus putandum est, odisse hominem, vel nocentem. Propterea Deus praecepit inimicitias per nos nunquam faciendas, semper esse tollendas; scilicet ut eos, qui sint nobis 0667A inimici, necessitudinis admonitos mitigemus. Item si ab uno Deo inspirati omnes et animati sumus, quid aliud quam fratres sumus? Et quidem conjunctiores, quod animis, quam quod corporibus. 0667A Itaque non errat Lucretius, cum dicit: Denique, coelesti sumus omnes semine oriundi: Omnibus ille idem pater est.Ergo pro belluis immanibus sunt habendi, qui homini nocent, qui contra jus humanitatis et fas omne spoliant, cruciant, occidunt, exterminant.

Ob hanc necessitudinem germanitatis docet nos Deus, malum nunquam facere, semper bonum. Id autem ipsum bene facere quid sit, idem ipse praescribit: praestare auxilium depressis et laborantibus; 0667B impertiri victum non habentibus. Deus enim, quoniam 0668A pius est, animal nos voluit esse sociale. Itaque in aliis hominibus nos ipsos cogitare debemus. Non meremur in periculo liberari si non succurrimus: non meremur auxilium, si negamus. Ad hanc partem Philosophorum nulla praecepta sunt; quippe qui falsae virtutis specie capti, misericordiam de homine sustulerunt, et dum volunt sanare, vitiaverunt. Et cum iidem plerumque fateantur, societatis humanae communionem esse retinendam, ab ea plane seipsos inhumanae suae virtutis rigore dissociant. Convincendus ergo etiam hic error illorum est, qui nihil cuiquam impertiendum putant. Urbis condendae originem atque causam non unam intulerunt: sed alii eos homines, qui sint ex terra primitus nati, cum per silvas et campos erraticam degerent vitam, 0668B nec ullo inter se sermonis aut juris vinculo cohaererent, 0669A sed frondes et herbam pro cubilibus, speluncas et antra pro domibus haberent, bestiis et fortioribus animalibus praedae fuisse commemorant. Tum eos, qui aut laniati effugerant, aut laniari proximos viderant, admonitos periculi sui ad alios homines decurrisse, praesidium implorasse, et primo nutibus voluntatem suam significasse; deinde sermonis initia tentasse, ac singulis quibusque rebus nomina imprimendo, 0669A paulatim loquendi perfecisse rationem. Cum autem nec multitudinem ipsam viderent contra bestias esse tutam, oppida etiam coepisse munire; vel ut quietem noctis tutam sibi facerent, vel ut incursiones atque impetus bestiarum non pugnando, sed objectis aggeribus arcerent.

O ingenia hominibus indigna quae has ineptias protulerunt! 0669B miseros, atque miserabiles, qui stultitiam suam litteris memoriaeque mandaverunt! Qui cum viderent mutis quoque animalibus ingenitam esse rationem, vel conveniendi, vel invicem appetendi, vel periculi fugiendi, vel mali cavendi, vel cubilia sibi et latibula parandi; homines autem ipsos existimaverint non nisi exemplis admoneri ac discere potuisse, quid metuere, quid cavere, quid facere deberent; aut nunquam conventuros inter se fuisse, nec loquendi rationem reperturos, nisi eos bestiae comedissent. Haec aliis delira visa sunt (ut fuerunt) dixeruntque, non ferarum laniatus causam fuisse coeundi, sed ipsam potius humanitatem: itaque inter se congregatos, quod natura hominum solitudinis fugiens, et communionis ac societatis 0669C appetens esset. Non magna inter eos disceptatio est. Siquidem causae dispares sunt, res eadem est. Potuit 0670A igitur utrumque, quia non repugnat: sed tamen utrumque nullo modo verum est; quia non per omnem terram nati sunt homines e terra, tanquam ex draconis alicujus dentibus proseminati (ut poetae ferunt) sed unus homo à Deo fictus est, ab eoque uno omnis terra humano genere completa est, eadem scilicet ratione, qua rursus post diluvium: quod certe negare non possunt. Nulla igitur in principio facta est ejusmodi congregatio; nec unquam fuisse homines in terra, qui praeter infantiam non loquerentur, intelliget cui ratio non deest. Fingamus tamen illa vera esse, quae otiosi et inepti senes fabulantur, ut eos suis potissimum sensibus et suis rationibus refellamus.

Si hac de causa sunt homines congregati, ut mutuis 0670B auxiliis imbecillitatem suam tuerentur; succurrendum est igitur homini, qui egeat auxilio. Cum enim praesidii causa homines societatem cum hominibus inierint et sanxerint, foedus illud inter homines a principio ortus sui ictum aut violare, aut non conservare, summum nefas putandum est. Nam qui se a praestando auxilio removet, etiam ab accipiendo se removeat necesse est; quia nullius opera indigere se putat, qui alteri suam denegat. Huic vero, qui se ipse dissociat ac secernit a corpore, non ritu hominis, sed ferarum more vivendum est. Quod si fieri non potest, retinendum est igitur omni modo vinculum societatis humanae, quia homo sine homine nullo modo potest vivere. Retentio autem societatis est communitas, id est auxilium praestare, ut possimus accipere. Sin vero 0670C (ut illi alii disputant) humanitatis ipsius causa facta est hominum congregatio, homo certe hominem debet 0671A agnoscere. Quod si fecerunt illi rudes et adhuc feri homines, et fecerunt nondum constituta loquendi ratione, quid putemus hominibus expolitis, et sermonis 0671A rerumque omnium commercio inter se copulatis esse faciendum, qui assueti hominibus solitudinem ferre non possunt?