Chapter VI.—By Divine Inspiration Philosophers Sometimes Hit on the Truth.

A great crowd of this description rushes on my mind, introducing, as it were, a terrifying apparition of strange demons, speaking of fabulous and monstrous shapes, in old wives’ talk. Far from enjoining men to listen to such tales are we, who avoid the practice of soothing our crying children, as the saying is, by telling them fabulous stories, being afraid of fostering in their minds the impiety professed by those who, though wise in their own conceit, have no more knowledge of the truth than infants. For why (in the name of truth!) do you make those who believe you subject to ruin and corruption, dire and irretrievable? Why, I beseech you, fill up life with idolatrous images, by feigning the winds, or the air, or fire, or earth, or stones, or stocks, or steel, or this universe, to be gods; and, prating loftily of the heavenly bodies in this much vaunted science of astrology, not astronomy, to those men who have truly wandered, talk of the wandering stars as gods? It is the Lord of the spirits, the Lord of the fire, the Maker of the universe, Him who lighted up the sun, that I long for. I seek after God, not the works of God. Whom shall I take as a helper in my inquiry? We do not, if you have no objection, wholly disown Plato. How, then, is God to be searched out, O Plato? “For both to find the Father and Maker of this universe is a work of difficulty; and having found Him, to declare Him fully, is impossible.”65    Timæus.

Why so? by Himself, I beseech you! For He can by no means be expressed. Well done, Plato! Thou hast touched on the truth. But do not flag. Undertake with me the inquiry respecting the Good. For into all men whatever, especially those who are occupied with intellectual pursuits, a certain divine effluence has been instilled; wherefore, though reluctantly, they confess that God is one, indestructible, unbegotten, and that somewhere above in the tracts of heaven, in His own peculiar appropriate eminence, whence He surveys all things, He has an existence true and eternal.

Euripides says. Accordingly, Menander seems to me to have fallen into error when he said:—

For the sun never could show me the true God; but that healthful Word, that is the Sun of the soul, by whom alone, when He arises in the depths of the soul, the eye of the soul itself is irradiated. Whence accordingly, Democritus, not without reason, says, “that a few of the men of intellect, raising their hands upwards to what we Greeks now call the air (ἀήρ), called the whole expanse Zeus, or God: He, too, knows all things, gives and takes away, and He is King of all.”

Of the same sentiments is Plato, who somewhere alludes to God thus: “Around the King of all are all things, and He is the cause of all good things.” Who, then, is the King of all? God, who is the measure of the truth of all existence. As, then, the things that are to be measured are contained in the measure, so also the knowledge of God measures and comprehends truth. And the truly holy Moses says: “There shall not be in thy bag a balance and a balance, great or small, but a true and just balance shall be to thee,”66    Deut. xxv. 13, 15. deeming the balance and measure and number of the whole to be God. For the unjust and unrighteous idols are hid at home in the bag, and, so to speak, in the polluted soul. But the only just measure is the only true God, always just, continuing the self-same; who measures all things, and weighs them by righteousness as in a balance, grasping and sustaining universal nature in equilibrium. “God, therefore, as the old saying has it, occupying the beginning, the middle, and the end of all that is in being, keeps the straight course, while He makes the circuit of nature; and justice always follows Him, avenging those who violate the divine law.”

Whence, O Plato, is that hint of the truth which thou givest? Whence this rich copiousness of diction, which proclaims piety with oracular utterance? The tribes of the barbarians, he says, are wiser than these; I know thy teachers, even if thou wouldst conceal them. You have learned geometry from the Egyptians, astronomy from the Babylonians; the charms of healing you have got from the Thracians; the Assyrians also have taught you many things; but for the laws that are consistent with truth, and your sentiments respecting God, you are indebted to the Hebrews,67    [This great truth comes forcibly from an Attic scholar. Let me refer to a very fine passage in another Christian scholar, William Cowper (Task, book ii.): “All truth is from the sempiternal source,” etc.]

And let it not be this one man alone—Plato; but, O philosophy, hasten to produce many others also, who declare the only true God to be God, through His inspiration, if in any measure they have grasped the truth. For Antisthenes did not think out this doctrine of the Cynics; but it is in virtue of his being a disciple of Socrates that he says, “that God is not like to any; wherefore no one can know Him from an image.” And Xenophon the Athenian would have in his own person committed freely to writing somewhat of the truth, and given the same testimony as Socrates, had he not been afraid of the cup of poison, which Socrates had to drink. But he hints nothing less; he says: “How great and powerful He is who moves all things, and is Himself at rest, is manifest; but what He is in form is not revealed. The sun himself, intended to be the source of light to all around, does not deem it fitting to allow himself to be looked at; but if any one audaciously gazes on him, he is deprived of sight.” Whence, then, does the son of Gryllus learn his wisdom? Is it not manifestly from the prophetess of the Hebrews68    The Sibyl. who prophesies in the following style?—

Cleanthes Pisadeus,69    Or Asseus, native of Asso. the Stoic philosopher, who exhibits not a poetic theogony, but a true theology, has not concealed what sentiments he entertained respecting God:—

Here, as I think, he clearly teaches of what nature God is; and that the common opinion and religious customs enslave those that follow them, but seek not after God.

We must not either keep the Pythagoreans in the background, who say: “God is one; and He is not, as some suppose, outside of this frame of things, but within it; but, in all the entireness of His being, is in the whole circle of existence, surveying all nature, and blending in harmonious union the whole,—the author of all His own forces and works, the giver of light in heaven, and Father of all,—the mind and vital power of the whole world,—the mover of all things.” For the knowledge of God, these utterances, written by those we have mentioned through the inspiration of God, and selected by us, may suffice even for the man that has but small power to examine into truth.

Καὶ πολύς μοι ἐπιρρεῖ τοιοῦτος ὄχλος, οἱονεὶ μορμώ τινα δαιμονίων παρεισάγων ξένων ἄτοπον σκιαγραφίαν, μυθολογῶν ὕθλῳ γραϊκῷ· πολλοῦ γε δεῖ ἀνδράσιν ἐπιτρέ πειν ἀκροᾶσθαι τοιούτων λόγων, οἷς μηδὲ τοὺς παῖδας τοὺς ἑαυτῶν, τοῦτο δὴ τὸ λεγόμενον, κλαυθμυριζομένους ἐθίζομεν παρηγορεῖσθαι μυθίζοντες, ὀρρωδοῦντες συνανατρέφειν αὐτοῖς ἀθεότητα τὴν πρὸς τῶν δοκήσει σοφῶν δὴ τούτων καταγγελλομένην, μηδέν τι νηπίων μᾶλλον τἀληθὲς εἰδότων. Τί γάρ, ὢ πρὸς τῆς ἀληθείας, τοὺς σοὶ πεπιστευκότας δεικνύεις ῥύσει καὶ φορᾷ δίναις τε ἀτάκτοις ὑποβεβλημένους; Τί δέ μοι εἰδώλων ἀναπίμπλης τὸν βίον, ἀνέμους τε ἢ ἀέρα ἢ πῦρ ἢ γῆν ἢ λίθους ἢ ξύλα ἢ σίδηρον, κόσμον τόνδε θεοὺς ἀναπλάττουσα, θεοὺς δὲ καὶ τοὺς ἀστέρας τοὺς πλανήτας, τοῖς ὄντως πεπλανημένοις τῶν ἀνθρώπων διὰ τῆς πολυθρυ λήτου ταύτης ἀστρολογίας, οὐκ ἀστρονομίας, μετεωρολο γοῦσα καὶ ἀδολεσχοῦσα; Τὸν κύριον τῶν πνευμάτων ποθῶ, τὸν κύριον τοῦ πυρός, τὸν κόσμου δημιουργόν, τὸν ἡλίου φωταγωγόν· θεὸν ἐπιζητῶ, οὐ τὰ ἔργα τοῦ θεοῦ. Τίνα δὴ λάβω παρὰ σοῦ συνεργὸν τῆς ζητήσεως; οὐ γὰρ παντάπασιν ἀπεγνώκαμέν σε. Εἰ βούλει, τὸν Πλά τωνα. Πῇ δὴ οὖν ἐξιχνευτέον τὸν θεόν, ὦ Πλάτων; "Τὸν γὰρ πατέρα καὶ ποιητὴν τοῦδε τοῦ παντὸς εὑρεῖν τε ἔργον καὶ εὑρόντα εἰς ἅπαντας ἐξειπεῖν ἀδύνατον." ∆ιὰ τί δῆτα, ὢ πρὸς αὐτοῦ; "Ῥητέον γὰρ οὐδαμῶς ἐστίν." Εὖ γε, ὦ Πλάτων, ἐπαφᾶσαι τῆς ἀληθείας· ἀλλὰ μὴ ἀποκάμῃς· ξύν μοι λαβοῦ τῆς ζητήσεως τἀγαθοῦ πέρι· πᾶσιν γὰρ ἁπαξαπλῶς ἀνθρώποις, μάλιστα δὲ τοῖς περὶ λόγους ἐνδια τρίβουσιν ἐνέστακταί τις ἀπόρροια θεϊκή. Οὗ δὴ χάριν καὶ ἄκοντες μὲν ὁμολογοῦσιν ἕνα τε εἶναι θεόν, ἀνώλεθρον καὶ ἀγένητον τοῦτον, ἄνω που περὶ τὰ νῶτα τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἐν τῇ ἰδίᾳ καὶ οἰκείᾳ περιωπῇ ὄντως ὄντα ἀεί· θεὸν δὲ ποῖον εἰπέ μοι νοητέον; Τὸν πάνθ' ὁρῶντα καὐτὸν οὐχ ὁρώμενον, Εὐριπίδης λέγει. Πεπλανῆσθαι γοῦν ὁ Μένανδρός μοι δοκεῖ, ἔνθα φησίν ἥλιε, σὲ γὰρ δεῖ προσκυνεῖν πρῶτον θεῶν, δι' ὃν θεωρεῖν ἔστι τοὺς ἄλλους θεούς· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἥλιος ἐπιδείξει ποτ' ἂν τὸν θεὸν τὸν ἀληθῆ, ὁ δὲ λόγος ὁ ὑγιής, ὅς ἐστιν ἥλιος ψυχῆς, δι' οὗ μόνου ἔνδον ἀνατείλαντος ἐν τῷ βάθει τοῦ νοῦ αὐτοῦ καταυγάζεται τὸ ὄμμα· ὅθεν οὐκ ἀπεικότως ὁ ∆ημόκριτος "τῶν λογίων ἀνθρώπων ὀλίγους" φησίν "ἀνατείναντας τὰς χεῖρας ἐνταῦθα ὃν νῦν ἠέρα καλέομεν οἱ Ἕλληνες, πάντα ∆ία μυθεῖσθαι, καὶ πάντα οὗτος οἶδεν καὶ διδοῖ καὶ ἀφαιρεῖται, καὶ βασιλεὺς οὗτος τῶν πάντων". Ταύτῃ πῃ καὶ Πλάτων διανοούμενος τὸν θεὸν αἰνίττεται "περὶ τὸν πάντων βασιλέα πάντ' ἐστί, κἀκεῖνο αἴτιον ἁπάντων καλῶν." Τίς οὖν ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν πάντων; Θεὸς τῆς τῶν ὄντων ἀληθείας τὸ μέτρον. Ὥσπερ οὖν τῷ μέτρῳ καταληπτὰ τὰ μετρούμενα, οὑτωσὶ δὲ καὶ τῷ νοῆσαι τὸν θεὸν μετρεῖται καὶ καταλαμβάνεται ἡ ἀλήθεια. Ὁ δὲ ἱερὸς ὄντως Μωυσῆς "οὐκ ἔσται", φησίν, "ἐν τῷ μαρσίππῳ σου στάθμιον καὶ στάθμιον μέγα ἢ μικρόν, οὐδὲ ἔσται ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ σου μέτρον μέγα ἢ μικρόν, ἀλλ' ἢ στάθμιον ἀληθινὸν καὶ δίκαιον ἔσται σοι", στάθμιον καὶ μέτρον καὶ ἀριθμὸν τῶν ὅλων ὑπολαμ βάνων τὸν θεόν· τὰ μὲν γὰρ ἄδικα καὶ ἄνισα εἴδωλα οἴκοι ἐν τῷ μαρσίππῳ καὶ ἐν τῇ ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν ῥυπώσῃ ψυχῇ κατακέκρυπται· τὸ δὲ μόνον δίκαιον μέτρον, ὁ μόνος ὄντως θεός, ἴσος ἀεὶ κατὰ τὰ αὐτὰ καὶ ὡσαύτως ἔχων, μετρεῖ τε πάντα καὶ σταθμᾶται, οἱονεὶ τρυτάνῃ τῇ δικαιο σύνῃ τὴν τῶν ὅλων ἀρρεπῶς περιλαμβάνων καὶ ἀνέχων φύσιν. "Ὁ μὲν δὴ θεός, ὥσπερ καὶ ὁ παλαιὸς λόγος, ἀρχὴν καὶ τελευτὴν καὶ μέσα τῶν ὄντων ἁπάντων ἔχων, εὐθεῖαν περαίνει κατὰ φύσιν περιπορευόμενος· τῷ δ' ἀεὶ ξυνέπεται δίκη τῶν ἀπολειπομένων τοῦ θείου νόμου τιμωρός." Πόθεν, ὦ Πλάτων, ἀλήθειαν αἰνίττῃ; Πόθεν ἡ τῶν λόγων ἄφθονος χορηγία τὴν θεοσέβειαν μαντεύεται; Σοφώ τερα, φησίν, τούτων βαρβάρων τὰ γένη. Οἶδά σου τοὺς διδασκάλους, κἂν ἀποκρύπτειν ἐθέλῃς· γεωμετρίαν παρ' Αἰγυπτίων μανθάνεις, ἀστρονομίαν παρὰ Βαβυλωνίων, ἐπῳ δὰς τὰς ὑγιεῖς παρὰ Θρᾳκῶν λαμβάνεις, πολλά σε καὶ Ἀσσύριοι πεπαιδεύκασι, νόμους δὲ τοὺς ὅσοι ἀληθεῖς καὶ δόξαν τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ παρ' αὐτῶν ὠφέλησαι τῶν Ἑβραίων, οἵτινες οὐκ ἀπάτῃσι κεναῖς, οὐδὲ ἔργα ἀνθρώπων χρύσεα καὶ χάλκεα καὶ ἀργύρου ἠδ' ἐλέφαντος καὶ ξυλίνων λιθίνων τε βροτῶν εἴδωλα θανόντων τιμῶσιν, ὅσα πέρ τε βροτοὶ κενεόφρονι βουλῇ· ἀλλὰ γὰρ αἴρουσι πρὸς οὐρανὸν ὠλένας ἁγνάς, ὄρθριοι ἐξ εὐνῆς, ἀεὶ χρόα ἁγνίζοντες ὕδασι, καὶ τιμῶσι μόνον τὸν ἀεὶ μεδέοντα ἀθάνατον. Καί μοι μὴ μόνον, ὦ φιλοσοφία, ἕνα τοῦτον Πλάτωνα, πολλοὺς δὲ καὶ ἄλλους παραστῆσαι σπούδασον, τὸν ἕνα ὄντως μόνον θεὸν ἀναφθεγγομένους θεὸν κατ' ἐπίπνοιαν αὐτοῦ, εἴ που τῆς ἀληθείας ἐπιδράξαιντο. Ἀντισθένης μὲν γὰρ οὐ Κυνικὸν δὴ τοῦτο ἐνενόησεν, Σωκράτους δὲ ἅτε γνώριμος "θεὸν οὐδενὶ ἐοικέναι" φησίν· "διόπερ αὐτὸν οὐδεὶς ἐκμαθεῖν ἐξ εἰκόνος δύναται". Ξενοφῶν δὲ ὁ Ἀθη ναῖος διαρρήδην ἂν καὶ αὐτὸς περὶ τῆς ἀληθείας ἐγεγράφει τι μαρτυρῶν ὡς Σωκράτης, εἰ μὴ τὸ Σωκράτους ἐδεδίει φάρμακον· οὐδὲν δὲ ἧττον αἰνίττεται. "Ὁ γοῦν τὰ πάντα", φησί, "σείων καὶ ἀτρεμίζων ὡς μὲν μέγας τις καὶ δυνατός, φανερός· ὁποῖος δέ τις μορφήν, ἀφανής· οὐδὲ μὴν ὁ παμφαὴς δοκῶν εἶναι ἥλιος οὐδ' αὐτὸς ἔοικεν ὁρᾶν αὑτὸν ἐπιτρέπειν, ἀλλ' ἤν τις ἀναιδῶς αὐτὸν θεάσηται, τὴν ὄψιν ἀφαιρεῖται." Πόθεν ἄρα ὁ τοῦ Γρύλλου σοφίζεται ἢ δηλαδὴ παρὰ τῆς προφήτιδος τῆς Ἑβραίων θεσπιζούσης ὧδέ πως; Τίς γὰρ σὰρξ δύναται τὸν ἐπουράνιον καὶ ἀληθῆ ὀφθαλμοῖς ἰδεῖν θεὸν ἄμβροτον, ὃς πόλον οἰκεῖ; Ἀλλ' οὐδ' ἀκτίνων κατεναντίον ἠελίοιο ἄνθρωποι στῆναι δυνατοί, θνητοὶ γεγαῶτες. Κλεάνθης δὲ ὁ Πηδασεύς, ὁ ἀπὸ τῆς Στοᾶς φιλόσοφος, οὐ θεογονίαν ποιητικήν, θεολογίαν δὲ ἀληθινὴν ἐνδείκνυται. Οὐκ ἀπεκρύψατο τοῦ θεοῦ πέρι ὅ τί περ εἶχεν φρονῶν· τἀγαθὸν ἐρωτᾷς μ' οἷόν ἐστ'; Ἄκουε δή· τεταγμένον, δίκαιον, ὅσιον, εὐσεβές, κρατοῦν ἑαυτοῦ, χρήσιμον, καλόν, δέον, αὐστηρόν, αὐθέκαστον, ἀεὶ συμφέρον, ἄφοβον, ἄλυπον, λυσιτελές, ἀνώδυνον, ὠφέλιμον, εὐάρεστον, ἀσφαλές, φίλον, ἔντιμον, ὁμολογούμενον * * * * * εὐκλεές, ἄτυφον, ἐπιμελές, πρᾶον, σφοδρόν, χρονιζόμενον, ἄμεμπτον, ἀεὶ διαμένον. Ἀνελεύθερος πᾶς ὅστις εἰς δόξαν βλέπει, ὡς δὴ παρ' ἐκείνης τευξόμενος καλοῦ τινος. Ἐνταῦθα δὴ σαφῶς, οἶμαι, διδάσκει ὁποῖός ἐστιν ὁ θεός, καὶ ὡς ἡ δόξα ἡ κοινὴ καὶ ἡ συνήθεια τοὺς ἑπομένους αὐταῖν, ἀλλὰ μὴ τὸν θεὸν ἐπιζητοῦντας, ἐξανδραποδίζεσθον. Οὐκ ἀποκρυπτέον οὐδὲ τοὺς ἀμφὶ τὸν Πυθαγόραν, οἵ φασιν "ὁ μὲν θεὸς εἷς, χοὖτος δὲ οὐχ, ὥς τινες ὑπονοοῦσιν, ἐκτὸς τᾶς διακοσμήσιος, ἀλλ' ἐν αὐτᾷ, ὅλος ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ κύκλῳ ἐπίσ κοπος πάσας γενέσιος, κρᾶσις τῶν ὅλων, ἀεὶ ὢν καὶ ἐργάτας τῶν αὑτοῦ δυνάμιων καὶ ἔργων, ἁπάντων ἐν οὐρανῷ φωστὴρ καὶ πάντων πατήρ, νοῦς καὶ ψύχωσις τῷ ὅλῳ κύκλῳ, πάντων κίνασις." Ἀπόχρη καὶ τάδε εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν θεοῦ ἐπιπνοίᾳ θεοῦ πρὸς αὐτῶν μὲν ἀναγεγραμμένα, πρὸς δὲ ἡμῶν ἐξειλεγμένα τῷ γε καὶ σμικρὸν διαθρεῖν ἀλήθειαν δυναμένῳ.