Chap. I.—Of the Worship of the True God, and of Innocency, and of the Worship of False Gods.

We have completed that which was the object of our undertaking, through the teaching of the Divine Spirit, and the aid of the truth itself; the cause of asserting and explaining which was imposed upon me both by conscience and faith, and by our Lord Himself, without whom nothing can be known or clearly set forth. I come now to that which is the chief and greatest part of this work—to teach in what manner or by what sacrifice God must be worshipped. For that is the duty of man, and in that one object the sum of all things and the whole course of a happy life consists, since we were fashioned and received the breath of life from Him on this account, not that we might behold the heaven and the sun, as Anaxagoras supposed, but that we might with pure and uncorrupted mind worship Him who made the sun and the heaven. But although in the preceding books, as far as my moderate talent permitted, I defended the truth, yet it may especially be elucidated1057    [Let us call him Barbatus; for one so graphically described by our author deserves a name worthy of his sole claim to be a philosopher.]      Elucere potest.   by the mode of worship itself. For that sacred and surpassing majesty requires from man nothing more than innocence alone; and if any one has presented this to God, he has sacrificed with sufficient piety and religion. But men, neglecting justice, though they are polluted by crimes and outrages of all kinds, think themselves religious if they have stained the temples and altars with the blood of victims, if they have moistened the hearths with a profusion of fragrant and old wine. Moreover, they also prepare sacred feasts and choice banquets, as though they offered to those who would taste something from them. Whatever is rarely to be viewed, whatever is precious in workmanship or in fragrance, that they judge to be pleasing to their gods, not by any reference to their divinity, of which they are ignorant, but from their own desires; nor do they understand that God is in no want of earthly resources.  

For they have no knowledge of anything except the earth, and they estimate good and evil things by the perception and pleasure of the body alone. And as they judge of religion according to its pleasure, so also they arrange the acts of their whole life. And since they have turned away once for all from the contemplation of the heaven, and have made that heavenly faculty the slave of the body, they give the reins to their lusts, as though they were about to bear away pleasure with themselves, which they hasten to enjoy at every moment; whereas the soul ought to employ the service of the body, and not the body to make use of the service of the soul. The same men judge riches to be the greatest good. And if they cannot obtain them by good practices, they endeavour to obtain them by evil practices; they deceive, they carry off by violence, they plunder, they lie in wait, they deny on oath; in short, they have no consideration or regard for anything,1058    Protegebat.      Nihil moderati aut pensi habent. The expression is borrowed from Sallust, Catiline, xii.   if only they can glitter with gold, and shine conspicuous with plate, with jewels, and with garments, can spend riches upon their greedy appetite, and always walk attended with crowds of slaves through the people compelled to give way.1059    It was the custom of the philosophers to wear a beard; to which practise Horace alludes, Serm., ii. 3, “Sapientem pascere barbam,” to nourish a philosophic beard. [The readers of this series no longer require this information: but it may be convenient to recur to vol. ii. note 9, p. 321; also, perhaps, to Clement’s terrible defence of beards, Ibid., pp. 276–277.]      Per dimotum populum.   Thus devoting1060    Velamentum.      Addicti et servientes voluptatibus.   themselves to the service of pleasures, they extinguish the force and vigour of the mind; and when they especially think that they are alive, they are hastening with the greatest precipitation to death. For, as we showed in the second book, the soul is concerned with heaven, the body with the earth.1061    Ambitu. The word denotes the unlawful striving for a post.      [See book ii. cap. 2, p. 43, supra.]   They who neglect the goods of the soul, and seek those of the body, are engaged with darkness and death, which belong to the earth and to the body, because life and light are from heaven; and they who are without this, by serving the body, are far removed from the understanding of divine things. The same blindness everywhere oppresses the wretched men; for as they know not who is the true God, so they know not what constitutes true worship.  

0633D CAPUT PRIMUM. De Dei veri cultu et innocentia, atque de cultu falsorum deorum.

Quod erat officium suscepti muneris, divino Spiritu instruente, ac suffragante ipsa veritate, complevimus: cujus asserendae atque illustrandae causam 0634D mihi et conscientia, et fides, et ipse Dominus noster imposuit; 0634D sine quo nec sciri quidquam potest, nec explicari. Venio nunc ad id quod est summum operis hujus et maximum, ut doceam quo ritu, quove sacrificio Deum coli oporteat. Id enim est hominis officium, in eoque solo summa rerum, et omnis beatae vitae ratio consistit: quandoquidem propterea 0635A ficti 0635A et inspirati ab eo sumus, non ut coelum videremus et solem (quod Anaxagoras putavit), sed ut artificem solis et coeli Deum pura et integra mente coleremus. Quamvis autem praecedentibus libris, pro ingenii mediocritate defenderim veritatem; tamen ex ritu quoque ipso elucere vel maxime potest. Nihil enim sancta et singularis illa majestas aliud ab homine desiderat, quam solam innocentiam: quam si quis obtulerit Deo, satis pie, satis religiose litavit. Homines autem, neglecta justitia, cum sint omnibus flagitiis ac sceleribus inquinati, religiosos se putant, si templa et aras hostiarum sanguine cruentaverint, si focos odorati ac veteris vini profusione madefecerint. Quin etiam sacras dapes apparant, et exquisitas epulas, quasi aliquid inde libaturis offerunt. Quidquid aspectu rarum, quidquid 0635B opere aut odore pretiosum est, id gratum esse diis suis, non ex aliqua divinitatis ratione, quam nesciunt, sed ex suis cupiditatibus judicant; 0636A nec intelligunt terrenis opibus Deum non indigere.

Nihil enim sapiunt, nisi terram; bonaque et mala solius corporis sensu et voluptate perpendunt. Hujus arbitrio, ut religionem ponderant, sic totius vitae suae acta disponunt. Et quoniam se semel a coeli contemplatione averterunt, sensumque illum coelestem corpori mancipaverunt, libidinibus fraena permittunt; tanquam secum ablaturi voluptatem, quam momentis omnibus capere festinant, cum animus ministerio corporis, non corpus ministerio animi uti debeat. Iidem maximum bonum judicant opes. Quas si bonis artibus assequi non possunt, malis assequuntur; fraudant, rapiunt, spoliant, insidiantur, abjurant. Nihil denique moderati aut pensi habent, dummodo auro coruscent, argento, gemmis, vestibus fulgeant, avidissimo 0636B ventrio pes ingerant, stipati familiarum gregibus per dimotum populum semper incedant. Sic 0637A addicti et servientes 0637A voluptatibus, vim vigoremque mentis extinguunt; et cum vivere se maxime putant, ad mortem concitatissime properant. Nam, sicut in secundo libro docuimus, coeli ratio in animo, terrae autem in corpore est. Qui bona negligunt animi, et corporis appetunt, in tenebris ac morte versantur, quae sunt terrae atque corporis; quia vita et lumen a coelo est: cujus quoniam expertes sunt, corpori serviendo, longe absunt ab intellectu rerum divinarum. Eadem miseros ubique caecitas premit: sicut enim qui sit verus Deus, ita qui sit verus cultus, ignorant.