Ante-Nicene Christian library; translations of the writings of the Fathers down to A.D. 325

발행: 1867년

분량: 541페이지

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mis . Theretore me forme image of them, that theymio derivo some consolation rom the contemplationis theirii nosses; and proceedinisurther through love of their Worth, them gait reverencs tho memor of the deceased that thoymight appea tot gratesul sor thei services, and might attractthei successors to a destro os rutin weli. An this Ciceroteaches in his treatim omino Nature of tho Gods saying Butthe lis of men an common intercourse led to the exaltin is heaven is tam and good-Wil men ho ero distinguishod isthei benefiis O this account Hercules, o this Castor and Pollux, Esculapius and Liber' Were ranked illi the godsin. An in another passage: An in mos states it ma beundemtood that for ths ahe of excitin valour, o that thomen mos distinguished for braver might more readit en-

counter tangeris account of the state, thei memor Was consecrate vii the honour aid in the immorta gods.' It was doubilem in his account that tho Roman consecrate their Caesar' and the oors thei tangs Thus by degreos religious honoursaegan is besaida them; hile those ho had knownthem, fidit instructe their own childre an grandchildren, an asterWard ali thei posterity in tho practice of this rite. And et these great hings, o account of the celebrit of theirname, Mere honoured in ali provinces.

But separate eoplo privatelfhonoured thorioundere o their nationis ci 'it the ighest veneration, hether the were me distinguished sor bravery or omen admirabie so cha tity a the gyptians honoured Isis, the Moora Juba, tho Macedonians Cabirus, the Carthaginians Uranus, the Latins Faunus, in Sabines Sancus, the Romans Quirinus. In thesam manne truly Athens orshippe Minerva, Samos uno, Paphos Venus, Lemnos Vulcan, Naxos Liber, and Delos Apollo. And thus various sacre rites have been underlahenamonidisserent peoples and countries inasmuch a me destreto hoW gratitude to thei princes, and anno find ut therhonoum hic the ma conser po the eud. Moreover, the piet of thei successor contribute in a great degre tothe error for in ordo that the might appea to e orniram a divine origin the paid divine honour to thei parenta, and ordere that the should e pald by others. an any one

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Andae attributos to him no onb immortali , but also poWer

In truth, Liber an Pan, an Mercur an Apollo, aete in the fame a respecting Jupiter, an asterWatas thei succe sors did the fame respecting them Tho poets also added their influence anda means o poem composed in ive leasure, mised them to the heaven ascis the case With thos Who flatterkings, Vin though miched, it false panegyri . nothis erit originaled With the Greehs, hos levi ieini urnishod mitti the abilit and copiousnes of speech, excited in an incredibis degre misi os falsehoods. An thus smin admirationo thom in Irst underiso thei sacre rites, and handed them down to ali nations on account of this vanit the Siby thus rebukes them:

Marcus Tullius, ho a no oni an accomptished orator, but also a philosopher, sinceae alone Was an imitatoris Plato, in that reatis in hic he console himself concerning thedoath of his au ter, di no hesitatorio a that thos goti Who mere publici morshippe mers men Anythis testimonyo his oughtrioa esleemed the more eigh caussae held the pHesthood of the augura, and testifies that he w stips and Venerales the fame gods And thus Within the compassis afefverses he has presente us With two facts For hilo his

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Boox L THE DIUINE INSTITUTES. 43 declared his intentioni consecrating the image of his davo ter

in tho fame manne in hic the were consecrate by the ancients, he both taught that the wero ead, and showed thooriginis a vain superstition. Since, in truth, as sus, ,ese many men and momen among the number of the gods, and venerat thei stirines, held in the greates honour in cities and in the country letos assent to the wisdom of thos to homtalent an inventions κε owecit that lite is altogether adorned

in thei assembly, and wil consecrate o to the estimationis ali men.' Some one ma perhaps say that Cicero raved throuo cessive gries. ut in truth, the whole of that speech, hichwas perfect both in eamin and in iis examples, an in the Ver style os expression gave no indications os a distemperedmind butis constanc and judgment; and this very sentenco

exhibit no signis grief. Forata no thin that he could

have Writte mitti such varie , and copiousness, and ornament,

had not his grie been mitigated by reason velf, and the consolationis his Dionds and longili os timo. Wh inould I mention hacho sus in his books concerning the Republic, and also concerning glo I For in his reatis o tho Laws, in hichWork, follo in tho examplo os Plato, he wished in se forththos laws hic he thought that a jus and wis state ould

employ he thus decreed concerning religio : met thema vereno the goti, both those ho have alWay been regarde asgod of heaven, and those hos services to men have placedihem in heaven Hercules, Liber, Msculapius, Castor Pollu

and Quirinus. Also in his Tuscula Disputations Whenassai that heaven was almos entiroly filio mit the humanrace, he aid: Is indeed, I should attempto investigato

ancient accounts and to extractes m them thos things Whichthe writers of Greece in hande down even thos Who ara

fromos into heaven. Inquire hos sepulchre ara tanted

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44 LACTANTIUS. Boo I. out in Graece remember, since o Me initiated What thingsare hande down in the mysteries and then a tength Oumili understand o widely this persuasion is preM.' eappealed, scit is lain to the conscience of Atticus that tmightae underetood rom the ver mysteries that ali hos Whoare Orahippe were men and when e achnowledge this Without hesitation in tho case of Hercules, Liber, AEsculapius, Castor and Pollux, he was asraid opentrio mahe the fame admi sion respecting Apollo and Jupiter thei sathers, and like iserespecting Neptune, Vulcan, Mars, an Mercurn hom hetermed the greater gods and thereiore he says that this opinionis videly sp ad that, may understand the fame concerning Jupiter and the ther more ancient gods for is the ancients consecrated thei memorsin the fame manner in hic he saysthacho ill consecrate the mage and tho nam os his daughter, those ho mourn vae pardoned, but thoso ho belleve it cannot e pardoned For hocis o insaluate a to belleus that heaven is opened to the dead at the consent an pleasumo a sensetes multitude that an ono is able o give toanother that hichae himself oes not posses. Among the Roman Julius as made a god, ecauso it leased a guit man Antony Quirinus a made a god, ecaus it seemedgood to the shepherds, though one of them mas the murdere os his twin brother, the other the destruer of his count . ut ii Antony had notaeen consul, in return or his services toWardstho state Caius Caesar ould havo been ithout the honour evenis a dea man, and that too by the advice of his sathe in-la Piso, and of his relative Lucius Caesar, who opposed thecelebratio of the funerat, and by tho advice os Dolabella theconsul, ho Verthrow the colum in the forum, that is his monuments and purifled the forum. For Ennius declares that Romulus a regrette is his eople, sinco he represent the

Romulus Romulus, a What a guardian of you count thegod produce Foui ou broughtis forti Within the regionso light. oriather, O sire, o race, descended rem the gods.'On account of this regre the more readii bellove Julius Proculus ultering falsehoods, who was suborned by the satherato announce to tho populac that he had see tho hing in alam more majestic tha that os a man and that he had given

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Boo I. THE DIVINE INSTITUTES. 45 command to the eoplo that a temple hould bo uilio his honour, that he was a god, and was calle by the nam os Quirinus By hicli deed he at onc persuade the eoplo that Romulus had gone to the gods, and ireed tho senate Domthe suspicionis havingratain the hing.

CHAP. XVI.-' hat argument it is proved that hos et o aredistinguished by a disserene of seae annot be gori and

that the ossis o propagatini lus meo Ges o fati,ithiniae natureis God. might o content With thos things,hicha liave related, but there stili remat many things hicli are necessar sortho Mork,hicli I have underlahen. For although, is destroy- in the principat pari os superstitions Phave ahenoway the whole, et it leases meri solio u the remaining paris, and more sullyrio resut so inveterate a persuasion, that me may a longili hamed an repent of thei errora This is agreat undertising and worthyina man. I proceed to rete ethe minia os men rom the ties o superstitions,' a Lucretius sus an he indee was unablo to effect his, ecauso hebronght forWard nothin true. his is ur u , ho both asser the existence of the trus God an refute falso deitios. They thereiore, ho entertain the opinio that tho poeta avo invented abies about the gods, and et belleve in the existenceo female deities, and worshi them, re unconsciouslyarought bae to that hiel the had dented-that he have sexuat intercourse, an bring orth. For it is impossibis that thotwo sexes can have been instituted except so the ahe of gen ration. ut a differenc os sex ein admitted the do notperceive that conception solio sin a consequence. An this cannot e the case illi a God But let the matter o a theyimagine for the say that here are sons o Jupiter and of the ther gods Thereiare ne inod are bora, and that indeeddasy, forinod ars no surpasse in fruitsulnes by men. Itiollows that at things are fuit o god Without number, sinceformoth non of them dies. For inco the multitude os menis incredibis, and thei number notrioae estimated-though, as therare orn they must os necessit die-What must e suppos in bo the case With the god who have been or through

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46 LACTANTIUS. Boo I. so many ages, and have remained immortari Hon icit, then, that socio are orshipped ' Unles Wo thin is an means that there M tW sexes of the god' notrio tho salie of gen ration, ut for mere gratification, and that the god practisethos things hic me are ashame to do, an to submitrio. But heu an are sal to e bor fromony, it tollows that the alWays continue inae born is the are bor at an time or is the ceased at an timori be bore, it is efiitin that moinouldano 'hy or at What timo the so ceased Seneca, in his book of mora philosophy, not without somelleasantry, SES, What is in reason hy upiter, hocis represented by the poets a mos addicted torius 'eased toteget hildrens asit that he was ecome a sexagenarian, and was restraine byssis Papian law or dida obtain sis privileges conferre byhavin thre childron di the sentiment a longili occur

who maintain that the are gods, se in What manne the eananswer this argument hic I shal bring sorWard. I thereare Wo exes of the god' conjuga intercourso follows andis this aes placo the mus have ho es for the are notwithout virtve and a sense of shame so acto do this penly and promiscuo ly, a me se that the brute animal do. theyhavo ho es, it folio a that the also have cities an for his o have the authorit of Ovid, ho sus, alio multitudo ofgod occure separate places in his front tho powersu and illustrious inhabitant of heaven havs place thei dwellings.' Ii the havs cities, the will also have fietia. of ho cannot See the consequenm, amely that the plough and cultivate thoi tantis And this is dono for thoisahe of Aod Ther fore the are mortat. An this argument is of the samoweight hen reversed For i they have nodands, the limen cities an ii the have no cities, the are also ithout ho es Andri the have no housos the lime o conjugalintercourse an is the are Without this, they have no emalo sex. ut e se stat there are emales among the god alio. Therelare there are nodigoti. Is an ono is able let hi doaWay With this argument. Formne thin so follows the ther, stat it is impossibi notrio admit these last things Butino one

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Boox L TNE DIUINE INSTITUTES. 47

mill resut even in forme argument of tho mo sexes theon is stronger the the weaher. For the males are more

robust the semiae more feeble. ut a god is no liabis toti lenem thereiora there is no iamiae sex. o his is added

that last conclusionis the forme argument, that there are nomia, ainc thermare female also among the goci. CHAP. XVII.- neerning the sam opinion of the Stoies, andeoneerning the arrihips an diagraee Geonduet of thegori. O thes accounts the Stoica forina different conception ofth gods and ecause thesdomo perceive hat the truth is, the attemptrio join them illi the system o natura things. d Cicero, solio ing them, brought forWard this opinion specting the oci and thei religions. Do ou se then, hesus, ho an argument has been dram fram physica subjecti .hich havo been weli and usesullsiound out to the existenco offalso an fictilious md, An this circumstance gave riserio salso opinion an turbulent errore, and almos old-womanlysuperstitions. For both the forma of the gods, and thei ages, and lothing and ornaments are known to us and momoverthei races, and marriages, an ali thei relationships, an allthings reduced to the similitude os human infirmi . What cania said mors plain more truci The clites of the Roma philosophy, and invested With the mos honourabie priesthood, relates tho falso and fictilious mds, and testifies that their Worshipeo ista os almos ol&womani superstitions he complain thalmen armentan ed in false opinion and turbulent errore Fortho .holo of his stird book respectingetho Nature of the Godmiat gether overthrows and destros ali religion. What more there- fore, is expected hom Can We surpas Cicero in eloquencesssem means; ut confidenc Was Wantinxto him, betatim rant of the truth, as he himseli simply achnowledges in themme h. orae says that he an more eastly a Rhat is no than hat is that is that ho is a ars that the received system is false, bucis ignorant of the truth. It is plain thor fore, that hos Who are supposed to bo od were ut men, and that thei memor was consecrated aster their death. Andon this account also different ages and established representations o form aro assigne to acti,aecause thei image mero

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Whendound in compan with a hariot and on this account hersacred rite are noscelebrared by the Galli ' a priosis Juno Violenti persecuted hariola, becauso he was no able in conceive byae brother Jupiter . Varro rites, that tho istandSamos a besors called Parthonia, because uno there grewup, and there also a married to Jupiter. Accordingi therois a mos nobi an ancient temple of hera a Samos, and animam fashioned in the dressis a bride andae annuat sacred

me priret es cybele vere callo Galli.

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Boox L THE DIVINE INSTITUTES. 49sernal lahe, that he would resus him nothing whichi mi t

k, then the amo artifice demanded Minerva in marriage.

Upon this the excellent and mighty Jupiter,aeing ound byso great an ath, as nos abierio refuse he ho ever, advised

What is the meaning of this o diligent an anxion care Why this secret abodes hy this anishment eitheroo sogreat a distance, o to a Woman or into solitudes hy, in the ex place the change of name Lastly Wh such a

but in conscio nes of dishonour, an a love is no means consistent it a virgin There mas evidenti a reason hysti underi h so great a labour foris out so faithsul, hohad refusod compliance illi tho love of his sispmother. CHAP. VIII.-O the conseerationis sori, O aeeount of the benesis hie the eonfer edipo men. In this place also the ars inae resuted, homo oni admitthat god have been adorirom men, but ove boast oscit asa subjectis pratse either on account of thei valour, asine cules, or of their gisti, a Ceres and Liber, or of the aris hichthv discoVered, as msculapius o Minerva. ut how oolisti thes thinga re, and homunWorth of eing the causes hymen aliould contaminate themselves illi inexpiable uili, and hecome enemiecto God in contemptis Whom the underi e

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5 LACTANTIUS. Boo I. offoring to the dead I mili ho srom particula instances. Thensa that it is virtve' hicli exalta an to heaven,-not, hoWever, that concerning hicli philosopher discuss, hichconsist in good os the oes,aut this connected With theiodnwhicli is calle sortitudo an since his asor eminent in Hercules, it is bellave to havo deseruod immortality. Who isso foesistit sensetes acto judge strength of bodrtoae a divineor evenis human good, When it has been assigne in greater measuro in catile, and it is osten impatred by one diserae, oris tessened by id age iraeli, an altogether satis Andrio Hercules, he he perceived that his muscies ere disfigured by ulcera, nesther iste to bo heiae nor oram old thatho might notis an time appea to have les strengi or com lines than he nco ad. The supposed that he ascendedinto heaven iram the funerat pilo on hieli ho had burn himselfalive and those very qualities Whicli inermostdoesistit admired, they expresseda statues an images, and consecrated so that the mi trior ver remain a memorial of the soli of those who had belloved that god owed their origin to the lauotero Masta. ut this perchance may be tho fauit of the Greeis,

who alway esteemed most tristing things as of the greates consequenoe. What is the case of count men ore the more Wise For they dessese valour in an athlete, beca ei produces no injury but in tho case of a hing, ecauso it casions idely-spread dis ters, therso admire it a to imagine that brave and warithe generias are admittexto tho assembl of the gods, and that there is no oster anto immortalit than tolea armies, to lay, te in territorro othera, in destroy ciues,to overthro toWns, o ut o death or ensiave ire peoples. Tres the greater number os me they limo cast doWn plum

Virtus V in iis fira meaning denotea valour, in properuit a man Orex then it is usin to signisy morat excellence. Lit. than himself.

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