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llio e th. Thus frem angias tho devii mines them to bocomo his satellites and attendanta. But they Who mero bom hominem, becauso they Were netther angeis nor men, but bearing akind of mixed ' nature, Mero not admitted into hell, as thalafathera mere not into heaven. Thus thero came to bo tWolanda ot demons; one of heaven, sto other of the earth. Tholaiter are tho Wiched ' spirita, the authors of est tho Mils whichare done, and the fame devit is their prince. Whenco Trismegistus calis him tho rutor of tho demons. But grammarianasay that they aro called demons, as though Maemonead that is,skilled and acquainted mith mattere: for they thinh that thessare gods. They are acquianted, indeed, With many future evenis, but not ali, since it is not permitted them entirely toknon ths cou et os God; and thereiore they are accustomedio accommodate' their ansWers to ambiguous resulta. Thopoeta both know them to be demons, and so describo them. Hesiod thus speas: Theso are the demons according to tho
- ρονες. inher derivationa havo been proposed; but ine mord proh j comis hom δαίω, to distribute deauniea. Plato approvea es the etymolore invon is Lactantius; for ho ava inat mod men, distinguiahed by great honoura, alter theis deain hecame demons, in aecordance vita thiatiue os prudeneo and Madom. di combino, qualisy, or temperate.
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also discuss the subject of theso beings. For Plato attempted even to explain their natures in his μ Banqueland Socratessaid that thero Was a demon continuatly about him, Who hadbecome attached to him When a bon by whose Will and directionhis lite mas guided. The art also and power of the Magi alto-gether consista in tho influences in of these; involied by Whomthey deceivs the figlit os men mith deceptivo illusions,' so thatthey do not see those things Whicli exist, and thinh that they seothose things whicli do not exist. These contaminated and aban-doned spirita, as I say, Wander over the whole earth, and contrive a solace for their o n perdition by the destruction of men.
Therelare they fili every place With snares, decetis, frauds, and errors; for they cling to individuals, and occupy Whole houses hom door to door, and assume to themselves the name os genii; for by this Word they translate demons in the Latin language. They consecrate these in their houses, to these they datly pourout ' libations of wine, and worship the wise demons as gods of
the earth, and as averters of those eviis Whicli they themselves cause and impose. And these, sinoe spirita are Without substance' and not in bo grasped, insinuato themselves into thebodies of men; and secretly Working in their in aes paris, they corrupi the health, hasten diseases, terrisy their fouis Withdream' harass their minds With phrengies, that by theso eviis they may compei men to have recourae to their aid.
established in the faith. And the naturo os ali theso decetis ' is obscure to those Whoare mithout the truth. For they thinh that those demons profitthem When they cease in injure, Whereas they lime no poWer except to injure.' Somo one may perchance say that they are
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testifies in another place, in these Wotas: For piety is thahnowledgo of God.' Asclepius also, his disciple, moro fullyexpressed tho fame sentiment in that finished disconrso .hichiis Wroto to the hing. Each of them, in truth, inris that tho demons are the enemies and harassera of men, and on this account Trismegistus calla them Miched augela; in iis Was he
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CHAP. XVII.-That astrology, aoothsaying, and similar aris ara the invention os demons.
Theso mero tho inventora os astrology, and wOthsaying, and divination, and thoso productions Whicli aro called oracles, and necroman , and the are os magic, and whatever erit practicea besides these men exercise, either openly or in secret. NoWali theso things are falso of themselves, as tho Eostraean Sibyltostifies:
But these samo auctorities by their munienanco cause it tobe belleved that they are trae. Thus they delude ins creduli os men is lying divination, becauso it is not expedient for
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that tho fhip sollowod tho hand of Claudia; that Juno Whenpiundered, and tho Locrian Proserpine, and the Milesian Ceres,
Apparitora.' The mord is inpecialty applied in publio aereanis, as
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punished the sacrilogious; that Hercules exactod vengennceimm Appius, and Jupiter from Atinius, and Minerva irom Caesar. Henco it Was that the serpent sent sor smm Epidaurus heed the city of Romo from pestilenco. For tho chiel of the demons mas himself carried thither in his oWn form, Without any dissembling; is indeed the ambassadors who were sent sorthat purpose brought With them a serpent os immenso siete. But they especialty deceive in tho case of oracles, the jug- glories of whicli the profane in cannot distinguisti irem thotruth; and theretare they imagino that commanda,' and victories, and wealth, and prosperous issuos os affaira, aro bestomed by them,-in stiori, stat tho state has osten Men sreed iromimminent dangere is their interposition; which dangere in have both announced, and when appeased mith sacrifices, hausaverted. But ali theso things are decetis. For since they havea presentiment' of the arrangementi os God, inasmuch as theyhave been His ministere, they interpose themselves in those mattera, that Whatever things have been accomptished or aroin the courso os accomptishment is God, they themselves mayespecialty appear to be doing or to have dono; and as osten asany advantage is hanging over any peopte or city, accordingto the purpose of God, either by prodigies, or dreams, or oracles, they promiso that they Will bring it to pras, is temples, honours, and sacrifices ara given to them. And on the offering of these, When tho necessary' result comes to pass, they acquire forthemselves the greatest veneration. Heneo temples ara VoWed, and neW images consecrated; hords ot victims aro alain; and
when ali theso things ars done, yet tho lito and sasely of thmowho have performed them are not tho lem sacrificed. But asosten as dangere threaten, they profess that they are ango onaccount of somo light and tristing cause; as Juno was with Varro, because he had placed a beautisul by on tho carriage' of Jupiter to guard the dreas, and on this account the Romannamo Was almost destro1ed ut Cannae. But ii Juno feared a
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ino rest of tho multitudo, Why did Varro Mons escape whoacted thus, and why vas Paulus, who mas innocent, flain Assuredly nothing then happened to tho Romans tho fates of tho hostilo Juno, whon Hannibal by crast and valourdespalched two armies of tho Roman people. For Juno didnot venturo etther to defend Carthage, Where Were her arma and chariot, or to injure tho Romans; sor
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Himself, just, and mild, and patient as Ho is. For it is impossibis that He in Whom is perfeci excellenco inould not also M of perfeci patience. Whence some imagine, that God is altogether freo fram anger, becauso Ho is not subject to affections, Whicli are perturbations of the mind; for every animal hicli is liabis to affections and emotions is frail. But this persuasion altogether tahes aWay truth and religion. But letthis subject of discussing the anger of God bo laid aside fortho present; becauso the matter is very copious, and to bemore Widely ueated in a Work devoted to tho subjeci. ever shali have Worshipped and followed these most miched spiriis, Will neither enjoy heaven nor tho licti, which aro God's; but will sali into thoso things which wo have spolien os asbeing assigned in the distribution os things to tho prinos os the evit ones himself, amely, into dariiness, and hell, and
evertasting punishment. I havo fhown that tho religions rites of the gods are vain ina threelald manner: In tho fidit place, because those images Whicli are Worshipped are representations os men Who are dead; and that is a Wrong and inconsistent thing, that the imago os a
then that it is an inexpiabie crimo is desert the living in orderstat you may serve memorials of the dead, Who can neitherove lita nor light to any one, for they are themselves Withoutit: and that there is no oster God but one, to Whoso jud ent
' Virg. cim. iv. 464. Soma read priorum inalaad os piorum.
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sacred images themselves, in Whicli most sensiaesa men do se Vice, are destitute os ali perception, since they ars earth. But ho cannot underatand that it is unia sui sor an upright animal to bend itsed that it may adoro the earth hicli is placed beneath our ieet for this purpose, that it may be trodden upon, and not adored by us, Who have been mised hom it, and have received an elevated position beyond the other liring creatures,
that quartor in Which the condition os their natum has directed, and that mo may adore and worship nothing except the single deity oi our onj Creator and Father, Who mado man os an erect figure, that we may know that mo ars called sortii in hioand heavenly things. In the thies place, because tho spiritawhich presido over the religious rites themselves, Ming condemned and east in is God, Wallo δ over tho earin, Who notonj ars unable to afford any advantago in their Worshippers, sines tho powor os ali inings is in the hanti of ons alone, buteven destroy them With deadly attractions and errors; since
os the divino name. But is it appears that theso religious ritea aro vian in m many Ways as I have shoWn, it is manifest statinose Who either maho prayers to the dead, or venerate thoearin, or mas over' thela fouis in unclean spirita, do not actas becomes men, and that they Wili suffer punishment for their
impiety and gunt, Who, rebelling against God, tho Father of
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veneration lar Whatever lies beneath man must necessarily bo in serior to man); but let him meh it alost, let him saek it intho hi est placo: sor nothing can be greater than man, exceptthat which is above man. But God is greater than manethere oro He is above, and not belo ; nor is He to bs fought in tho lowest, but rather in tho highest region. Wheresors it is undoubted that there is no religion Whereuer there is an image. For is religion constits of divine things, and there is nothingdivino excepi in heavenly things; it solions that images ars mithout religion, because there can be nothing heavenly in that whicli is mado from the earth. And this, indeed, may bo plain
tion, that must of necessi be salse; nor can anything receivo the name os a true Object Which counterseita tho truth is deception and imitation. But it ali imitation is not particularly a serious matter, but as it Wers a spori and jest, then there is noreligion in images, but a mimicry ot religion. That whieli istruo is thereiam in bo preferred in ali things Whicli ars falso; earthly things are to be trampled upon, that κε may obtain
heavenly things. For this is the stato of the case, that wh
Simulacrum,' an image, fram aimulo,' to imitate. 3 The infernal regiona. Quadrupeda.