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

발행: 1867년

분량: 541페이지

출처: archive.org

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But ho who has laughtere countles thousand of men, has inundato plain With lood, and insected vera, is no oesyadmitte into the temple, ut even into heaven In Ennius Africanus thus speis Is it is permitte any one to ascendio the region of the god abovo, in greates gais of heaven is ope in me alone.' Because, in truth, he extinguished and destrue a great par of the human race o hoWareat thodatanes in hic yo were involved, o Africanus, or atheroemet in that ou imagined the ascent to heaven to M opento me through siaughters and loodshod Cicero also assente to this delusion It is o in truth ho atrii Ahia

canus, o the fame gato as ope to Hercules a thoughhe himself ha been do heope in heaven a the time,lientias too place. I indeo cannot determino hether I shouldratha thin it a subjectis grie or o ridicule, hena see

involved in such miserable aves of errore. Pthicis the virtuo .hic rendere us immortat, I sor, part should preferri die,

rather than toto tho cause of destruction to a many a pos

mould castisside thei pernicious an implous adness, and

live in innocenc and justice. Shalliso one, then, be orthyos heaven Shali virtve perish,aecauso it Willio bo permitted me is ago against thei sello men ' ut the who rechonine overthromo citie any Opi a tho greates glor mill notendum public tranquilliu the mill junde and rage and by tho inaictionis utrageous injuries Wil distur the compactis human societ' that the ma lime an nem Whom the may destro mit greater Wichednes stan that with hic theyattae d.

Nom tetrus proceed to the remaining subjecis me conse ring of benefit gave the nam os md to Ceres and Liber. Iam able o proverimm the sacred writing that wine an cornmere sed by monaefore the offspring of celus and Saturnus. But letos suppos that the were introduce by these Canit appea toto a greater thin to have collected cora, and lia inlesulae it to have taught men to mahe read ordo have

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52 LACTANTI US. Boo I. pressed grapes gathered from the vine and to have made ine, than to have produce and rought sorth smintho earth cornitself, o the vine God indeed, may have lest thes thingstoa dram out by the ingenuit os man; et at things mustbelong tomim, ho gave o man both Wisdom to discover, and thos very things hicli might be discovered. ho aris also aro sal to avo gaine immortalit for thei inuemtors, a medicine for A sculapius, the cras of the smith sor Vulcan. Theretare letis moralii thos also ho aught the artis thου fuller and of the hoemaher. But Whnis no honour aid tost discoverer of the potier' art ' scit that hos rich mondospis Samian esset, There are also other aris, the inventor of whic greatly profited the lis os man. Why have nottemple been assigned to them also' ut doubilescit is Minerva

CHAP. XIX.-ria it is impossibi for annone to orahis thetrue Goduogether Uith false deuies. But sommone Will say that this supremeraeing, who mado allthings, and thos also lio conferre&on men particular benefit

are entille to thei respective orship. Firs of ait, it has neve happene that the worshippe os these has also been a Worshippe of God Nor an his possibi happen. For iltho honourlaid o Him is silared by others, He altogether Masesinae morshipped since His religio require u in belleve that Horis the ne and only God. The excellent poet exclaims thatali hos vlio refine lis by the inventionis aris are in tho

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Boo I. THE DIUINE INSTITUTES. 53Iower regions and that even the discoorer himsel o suci a ii medicine and ari Was thrustraown is lighining to the Stygian

boea scit didriae place, it is manifes that the person in question a a man, and no a god For the salsehood of the poetsdoes no consist in the deed, but in the name For thensearederit, is in opposition to the genera persuasion, the shouldacknowledgo that which was true. ut it this is agreedisponamon themselves that god were ad hom men, Why thendo the no belleus the poets, inat an time thendescribo theirhanishmenta and wounds, thei deaths, and wars, an adul-t ries' rem hicli things it a b underatood that theycould not possibi become gods, since the were notisVe good men, and during their life the performed inose actions hichbring sortii evertastinideath. CHAP. XX.-of the gori peeuliar to the Romana, and their

no com to the superstition peculia to the Romans, since I have spolienis inose hicli are common. The wol the nursem Romulus, Was invested with divine honoure And

could enduro his, is it ad been tho animal itsol Whose figura he Mars Liv relates that there as an mage of Larentina, and indeed notis heraody but of her min and

character. For ahe was the wis of Faustulus, and on account

of her prostitution he was calle among the shepherds lupa molf that is hariot, rom hic also the brothel lupanar d

rivescit name. The Roman doubiles solio ed the exampleo the Athenians in representingier figure For,hen a har-les, is name Leaena, had puto death a tyrant amon them, causa it was unia fulcior the image of a hariotrioae placedi in temple the erected the effg of the animal whose name in bore. Therelare, a the Athenians erecte a monumenthom the me, o di the Roman from tho profession ofth person thus honoured). A sestiva was also dedicate inher name, and the Larentinalia ero instituted. Nor is he

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mas, a Verrius rites, the paramour o Hercules. No 'o

great must that immortali a thought whichris attained evenis hariolad Flora, havin obtained great wealtha this practice, mado the people heraeir, and lest a fixe sum os money, fram the annua proceed of hicli e birthda might ocelebrate is public ames, hic the called Floralia. Andbecause his appeared disgracesul to the senate, in orde thata hin os dignit might e give to a shamesul matter, theyresolved that an argument inould e ahen rom the ameliseis. The protended that ahe was the goddem ho resides over fio era, and that in mus M appeased that the crops, together Wit in tree o vines, might produce a good and abundantalossom. The poet solio odi this idea in his Fasti, and related that there Was a nymph, is no means obscure, howas calle Chloris, and that, o her arriage it Zephyrus, sho received fro herausbandis a medding of the conuolove ali flowera These things are spolien it propriety, butio belleve them is unbecomin and shamefui. And whenthe truth is in question, ought disguises of this hindri deceiveus ' Those ames, thereiare, are celebrate mit ali manto ness, ascis uitable to the memor of a hariot For besides licentiousnes of Wotas, in hic ali leWdnes is oured fori momen re also trippe of thei garmenta at the demand of the eople, and the periam the ossice of mimeplayers, andaro delaine in the sight of tho peoplo Mith indecent gestures, even to the satiatingi unchaste ves. Tatius consecrate an imago o Cloacina, hici ha been found in the great seWer indaecaussae did notanom homithenes it mas, heram it a nam from in place Tullus

Hostilius fastione and worshipped ear an Pallor. Whatshali Psa respectinchim, but that he was mortis of haringhi god alWay at hand a me commoni misiu The conducto Marcus Marcellus concerning the consecrationis Hono an Valour differs rom his in goodnes of the ames, butagrees it it in reality. he senate acte missi in fame

lia possesse any intelligence, the would neve have unde inhen sacre rites of this hind. Cicero says that Gree underi Ea great an bold design in consecrating the images

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Boox L THE DIUINE INSTITUTES. 55 o Cupid and oves in the gymnasia it is lain that hessallere Atticus, and jeste Wit his hiend. For that ought

notrio have been calle a mea design or a designis ali, buttas abandone an deplorable ichednes of unchaste men, Who exposed thei children, Whom it a thei duinto train toan honourable ourae, to the lusi os outh, and wished them tomorahi god o profliga , in hos places speciali Wherethela naedaodies ero exposed in the gage of thei corruptora, an a that ago hicli, through ita simplicit an incautious-ness, canae enticed and ensnared besore it canae on ita guata. What wonder, is allaind of profligacfflo ed sminthis nation, among Whom vices themselves have the sanctionis religion, and are so far hom being avoided that therare even Worshippedi d there ore, a thoughae surpassed the Greelis in prudence, he subjo eda this sentenco as solioWs Vices ought no toti consecrared, but virtves.' ut Dyo admit this, o Marcus Tullius, you domo se stat it mill comerio pas that vices illhrea in together illi virtves,aecause evi things adhere tothos Whic are good, and have greater influencein the mindso men and is D forbi these to e consecrated the fame Greec mill ansWer ou that it Worship some god that it mureceivo benesta, and othera that i may cape injuries. For this is alWay the excuse of thos Who regard thei eviis Minota, as the Romans stoem Blight and ever. Is ther fore, vices are notrio e consecrated in hiches agres ithyou neither indeed are virtues. For they have no intelligenceor perceptionis themselves nor are the to e placed within alis o stirines madem clay but Within the reast and theyam to e enclosed Mithin, test the should e falso is placod.ithout man. Theratore Claugii a that illustrious la Myour Whichoo se sortii in these Words: lut thos thingson account of Whicli it is ive to an to ascend into heaven - Ι spea os mind virtve, pleu, salth-let there bo templesti thei praises.' But thes things cannotae separate immman. For i the are t be honoured the must necessarilybe in man himself. ut is the are Without man, What needia there to hono 'hos things hic yo domo posses, Forit is virtus whichris tot honoured, and notatio imaginos virtve; an it icto e honoured not is an sacrifice, o incense, or

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56 LACTANTIUS. Booz I. eis is it to honour virtuo, but to comprehen it With tho minii, an to hold it ast ' An as Oon a any one egins to isti for this, he attainscit. his is homni honour os virium sorno ther religion and worahi is to b hel but that of tho otio God. o ha purpore is it then, o isest an to occupywith superfluous uildings places hich may tum ut to tho service of men 'oo what purpor is it to estabiisti priosis sortho morshi of vain and sensetes objecis T What purpori toimmolato victim. To What ut portat besto rauch great expenditur on the formin or orshippin os mages Thehumanareas is a stronge and more uncorrupte tomple letthis atho bo adornod, let thisae filled with in true deitios. For the who thus oratii tho Viriues-that is, ho pureue the shadows and image of virtves-cannot hold the very thingswhicli are true Theretare there is no virtuo in any one When vices bear ule there is no faith When acti individual carries orati things for himself there is no pie 'hen avarice sparesneither relatives nor arenis, and passion rusties to polson and the Word no eace, o concord When ars age in public

things hicli they flee from and liate. For the worahim illi incens and the ipsis thei finger thos things hicli sisyought to hau fhrun from illi their inmos seelings and this error is altogether derived iram thei ignorance of the principaland chie good. Whenethei cit Was occupied by the Gauis, and the Romans, who ore bestem in the Capitol, ad made militar engines homine air of the omen the dedicate a templo to the Bald Venus. The do no thereiare underatand ho vainare thei religions even from his verniaci that the jeer atthem by thes follies. The had perhaps earne from the

Lacedaemonians to invent for themselves oti rom eventa.

For hen the were besieging the Messentans, and they the Messentans had gone ut secretiy, escaping the notice of thebesiegers, and ad astene to tunder Lacedaemon, heymero routed and putrio flight y the Spartan omen. ut the

Lacedaemonians havinitearne the stratagem of the nemy, tolloKed. The omen in arm Went ut to a distanceri meet

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them; and when the saW that thei husband were preparingiliemselves sor batile, supposing them to e Messentans, theylaid bare thei persons. ut the men, recognising thei Wives, an exciteda passion by the sight rushed is promiscuous inte courae, to there mas no time sor discrimination. In themaniter, the outh Who had n a forme occasio been sent by the fame eopte limin intercourse Wit the virgins, romwhom the Partheniae ere born, in memor of this deed erecteda temple and statueri armed Venus And although this originate in a hamesul cause,ae it seem belle to have cons crated Venus as armed than bald A the fame time an altarmas erecto also to Jupiter Pistor the aher),aecauso' had admonished them in Ddream to maho ali the corii hichah had into bread, and throw it into the campis the enemy and when his a done the lege mas enderi since lis Gaula d patred of being abierio reduce the Romana by Want. What a dorisionis religious rite is his I I mero a d fender of theso, hat could I complain Pso greatly a that thonams of gods had come into such contemptis to be mocked by thomost disgracesul nam i ho ouldio lavo at the goddessFornax, or ather that learne men hould bo occupio with celebratin tho Fornacalia lolio can refrain rom laughteron hearin os the goddes Mutas They say that horis thogoddem frum Whom the Lares Were born, and thercali her Lara, o Laranda. What advantage canishe, Who is nablerio speah, assor to a morshipper Cain also is orshipped, ho informe Hercules of the thes of his xon, havin obtainedimmortalit through theaetrvat os herarother; and Cunina, who protecta insanis in the riale, and heeps o witchcraft; an Stercutus, Wh sirs introduce tho methodis manuring tho land and Tutinus, besore hom rides sit, as an introduction to the marriage rites; and a thousand other fictions sothat the who regataed theseos objecta os Worahi may bo saidio e more laolis than the gyptians, bo oratii certain monstrous and ridiculous mages These hoWever h. somedetineationis form. What hali I say of those ho Worshi a rude and shapetes sione unde tho nam o Terminusa Thisis he whom Saturnus is aida hau sWallo ed in the place of Jupiter nor is tho honour at in him undeservedly. Forwhen Tarquinius Wished inauit in Capitol, and there ero

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58 LACTANTIUS. Boo I. the chapelsi many godsi stat pol, he consulte them byaugur Whether the would give a to Jupiter; and whenthe est me V, Terminus alone remained From hicli circumstanc the poet speis os in immoveable tone os tho

mysteries Among the eople o Cyprus, Teucer sacrifice a human victim to Jupiter, an hande domo posterit that sacrifieo hic was latet abolislied is Hadrian when e Wasemperor There Was a la among the eople o Tauris, a fierco an inhuman nation, is hic it was ordered that strangere hould e sacrificedri Diana; and this sacrifice aspracilae throuo many ages. The aut me to appease Hesus and Teutas it humanalood Nor, indeed, ore the Latina fres hom his ruet , sinceraupiter Latialis is evenno morshippe mitti the offering of human lood. What benefit do the who offer such sacrifices imploro from the goda or mliat are sue delites able to esto on the me is hose punishment the aro propitiatessit ut this is notis much amalter of su rise illi respect in barbarians, hos religion

ho though therare embellislied missi the pursuit os liberal

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Mox L TUE DIUINE INSTITUTES. 5straining turn aside rom suci refinement, stan hos Who,

Ming ignorant an inexperienced glide into evit practices immthei ignorance of thos Whicli are good And et it is plain that this rite os immolating human victim is ancient, sin Satur Was honoured in Latium it tho samo End of sacrifieo; no indeed that a man was alat at tho alta aut that he was thrown homilio Milvia bridgo into tho Tiberi And Varro relates that this a dono in accordanc missi an oracle ofwhic oraclo the last verso is to this effect offer heias in Ades, an to the fallier a man or lighis .'' causothis appear ambiguo , both a torch and a mamare accustomedio bo thrown in his Bucit is sald that sacrifices of this hindmere put amenda is Hercules When he returned iram Spain; in customatili continuing that instea os rea men images made rom rushea mero cast forth, as vid inform us in his P ali: Unti in Tirynthia camerint these lands, gloomysacrifices mere annuali offere in the Leucadia manner hothre into in mater Romans madem straW; do ou aster theexample o Hercules, cast in tho mage of humanaodios.'Τho Vesta virgins mine thes sacred offerings, a the samemet sus: The also a virgin is accustome to cast homtho ooden ridy the mage es ancient men ad hom

For I anno fin language to spea of the insanis homere immolated to th samo Saturn, o account os his halredo Jupiter. To thin that men ere so barbarous, o SaVage,

that the goo the nam os sacrifice to the alaughter of thalaown hilaren that is to a deed foul, and toae hel in detest tio by the huma race; since, Without an regard to parentalaffection, the destroyed tende and innocent lives, at an agemhic is especiallylleasing to parenis, and surpassed in brutati the magenes of est easis, hic smage a the ars stilllove stela inspring o incurabie adnessi tat more eouid thos god do to them, it the were mos angry thantherno do hen propitious, When thendefit their orshiinpers Wit parricide, visit them ithaereavemenis, and depriis them of the sensibilities o me What canas sacre to these

Tho molocia ambiguo , aince the or φως signisses a man, an iam

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60 LACTANTIUS. Boo I. mens r hat mill thendo in prosane places, ho committit greates crimes amidst the altar of the godsi escennius Festus relates in tho book of his Historsis a Satire, that tho

Carthaginians ere accustomed to immolato human victim to

Saturn and when the were conquered by Agathocles, thehing of the Sicilians the imaginei that the go Was angomith them and theretare, stat the might more diligenti offera expiation the immolated two hundred sons of thei nobies: S great the lis to hicli religio could prompt, hicli has illime produce miched an implous deeds.' What advantage, then, di the me propos by that sacrifice, henthe puto death so large a par of the state, as not VenAgathocles had flain hen victorious Frem his in os sacrifices hos public rite are to ejudged signs os o os madness some of hichoro inhonour of the mother of the gods, in hic me mutilate them--lVesa thera are in honour of Virtus, hom the also callBellona, in hicli the priest mali offering not with the bloodo another victim, ut illi their own. For, culting their alioulders, and thrustin forti drawn word in acti and, the run the are beside themselves the are Dantic Quintilia thereiore mys excellenti in his anatis: It a god competa his, he oes it in anger.' Are even hos things sacredi scit no belle to livo like catile, than to orshipdeities o impious, profane, an sanguinary ut me illdiscus at the prope time the fource rom hicli theso errorsand deed os such great disgraco originaled. In the meantime, letos look also to ther matters hic are Withou guili, that κε may no seem in selec the worse part through the desim

aacre rite thereas a representationis a circumstance hichreatly occurred; and whicli assuredi declares, is, have any

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