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not completely corrected. EWTN has corrected all discovered errors.)


EUSEBIUS PAMPHILUS OF CAESAREA

THE ORATION OF THE EMPEROR CONSTANTINE, WHICH HE ADDRESSED "TO THE ASSEMBLY
OF THE SAINTS."

[The Bagster translation, revised by Ernest Cushing Richardson, Ph.D.,
Librarian and Associate Professor in Hartford Theological Seminary.]


CHAPTER I

   Preliminary Remarks on the Feast of Easter: and how the Word of God,
having conferred Manifold Benefits on Mankind, was betrayed by his
Beneficiaries.

   THAT light which far outshines the day and sun, first pledge of
resurrection, and renovation of bodies long since dissolved, (1) the divine
token (2) of promise, the path which leads to everlasting life -- in a
word, the day of the Passion -- is arrived, best beloved doctors, and ye,
my friends who are assembled here, ye blessed multitudes, who worship him
who is the author of all worship, and praise him continually with heart and
voice, according to the precepts of his holy word. But thou, Nature, (3)
parent of all things, what blessing like to this hast thou ever
accomplished for mankind? Nay rather, what is in any sense thy workmanship,
since he who formed the universe is himself the author of thy being? For it
is he who has arrayed thee in thy beauty; and the beauty of Nature is life
according to Nature's laws. But principles quite opposed to Nature have
mightily prevailed; in that men have agreed in withholding his rightful
worship from the Lord of all, believing that the order of the universe
depended, not on his providence, but, on the blind uncertainty of chance:
and this notwithstanding the clearest announcement of the truth by his
inspired prophets, whose words should have claimed belief, but were in
every way resisted by that impious wickedness which hates the light of
truth, and loves the obscure mazes of darkness. Nor was this error
unaccompanied by violence and cruelty, especially in that the will of
princes encouraged the blind impetuosity of the multitude, or rather itself
led the way in the career of reckless folly. Such principles as these,
confirmed by the practice of many generations, became the source of
terrible evils in those early times: but no sooner had the radiance of the
Saviour's presence appeared, than justice took the place of wrong, a calm
succeeded the confusion of the storm, and the predictions of the prophets
were all fulfilled. For after he had enlightened the world by the glorious
discretion and purity of his character, and had ascended to the mansions of
his father's house, he founded his Church on earth, as a holy temple of
virtue, an immortal, imperishable temple, wherein the worship due to the
Supreme Father and to himself should be piously performed. But what did the
insane malice of the nations hereupon devise? Their effort was to reject
the grace of Christ, and to ruin that Church which was ordained for the
salvation of all, though they thus ensured the overthrow of their own
superstition. (4) Once more then unholy sedition, once more war and strife
prevailed, with stiff-neckedness, luxurious riot, and that craving for
wealth which now soothes its victims with specious hope, now strikes them
with groundless fear; a craving which is contrary to nature, and the very
characteristic of Vice herself. Let her, however, lie prostrate in the
dust, and own the victorious power of Virtue; and let her rend and tear
herself, as well she may, in the bitterness of repentance. But let us now
proceed to speak of topics which pertain to the Divine doctrine.

CHAPTER II: An Appeal to the Church and to his Hearers to pardon and
correct the Errors of his Speech.

   HEAR then, thou master (1) of the ship, possessor of virgin purity, and
thou Church, the cherisher of tender and inexperienced age, guardian of
truth and gentleness, through whose perennial fountain the stream" of
salvation flows! Be ye also indulgent, my hearers, who worship God
sincerely, and are, therefore, the objects of his care: attending, not to
the language, but to the truth of what is said; not to him who speaks, but
rather to the pious zeal which hallows his discourse! For what will be the
use of words when the real purpose of the speaker remains unknown? It may
be, indeed, that I essay great things; the love of God which animates my
soul, a love which overpowers natural reserve, is my plea for the bold
attempt. On you, then, I call, who are best instructed in the mysteries of
God, to aid me with your counsel, to follow me with your thoughts, and
correct whatever shall savor of error in my words, expecting no display of
perfect knowledge, but graciously accepting the sincerity of my endeavor.
And may the Spirit of the Father and the Son accord his mighty aid, while I
utter the words which he shall suggest to speech or thought. (8) For if any
one, whether in the practice of eloquence, or any other art, expects to
produce a finished work without the help of God, both the author and his
efforts will be found alike imperfect; while he has no cause to fear, no
room for discouragement, (4) who has once been blessed with the inspiration
of Heaven. Wherefore asking your indulgence for the length of this preface,
let us attempt the theme in its utmost scope. (5)

CHAPTER III: That God is the Father of the Word, and the Creator of all
Things; and that Material Objects could not continue to exist, were their
Causes Various.

   GOD, who is ever above all existence, and the good which all things
desire, has no origin, and therefore no beginning, being himself the
originator (1) of all things which receive existence. But he who proceeds
from him is again united to him; and this separation from and union with
him is not local, but intellectual in its character. For this generation
was accompanied by no diminution of the Father's substance (as in the case
of generation by seed); but by the determining act of foreknowledge God
manifested a Saviour presiding over (2) this sensible world, and all
created things therein. (3) From hence, then, is the source of existence
and life to all things which are within the compass of this world; hence
proceed the soul, and every sense; (4) hence those organs through which the
sense-perceptions are perfected. What, then, is the object of this
argument? To prove that there is One director of all things that exist, and
that all things, whether in heaven or on earth, both natural and organized
bodies, (5) are subject to his single sovereignty. For if the dominion of
these things, numberless as they are, were in the hands, not of one but of
many, there must be a partition and distribution of the elements, and the
old fables would be true; (6) jealousy, too, and ambition, striving for
superior power, would destroy the harmonious concord of the whole, while
each of the many masters would regulate in a manner different from the rest
the portion subject to his control. The fact, however, that this universal
order is ever one and the same, is the proof that it is under the care of a
superior power, and that its origin cannot be ascribed to chance. Else how
could the author of universal nature ever be known? To whom first, or last,
could prayers and supplications be addressed? Whom could I choose (7) as
the object of my worship, without being guilty of impiety towards the rest?
Again, if haply I desired to obtain some temporal blessing, should I not,
while expressing my gratitude to the Power who favored my request, convey a
reproach to him who opposed it? Or to whom should I pray, when desiring to
know the cause of my calamity, and to obtain deliverance? Or let us suppose
that the answer is given by oracles and prophecies, but that the case is
not within the scope of their authority, being the province of some other
deity.(8) Where, then, is mercy? where is the provident care of God for the
human race? Unless, indeed, some more benevolent Power assuming a hostile
attitude against another who has no such feeling, be disposed to accord me
his protection. Hence anger, discords, mutual censure, and finally
universal confusion, would ensue, while each departed from his proper
sphere of action, dissatisfied, through ambitious love of power, with his
allotted portion. What, then, would be the result of these things? Surely
this discord among the heavenly powers would prove destructive to the
interests of earth the orderly alternation of times and seasons would
disappear; the successive productions of the earth would be enjoyed no
more: the day itself, and the repose of night which follows it, would cease
to be. But enough on this subject: let us once more resume that species of
reasoning which admits of no reply.

CHAPTER IV: On the Error of Idolatrous Worship.

   WHATEVER has had a beginning, has also an end. Now that which is a
beginning in respect of time, is called a generation: and whatever is by
generation is subject to corruption, and its beauty (1) is impaired by the
lapse of time. How, then, can they whose origin is from corruptible
generation, be immortal? Again, this supposition has gained credit with the
ignorant multitude, that marriages, and the birth of children, are usual
among the gods. Granting, then, such offspring to be immortal, and
continually produced, the race must of necessity multiply to excess: and if
this were so, where is the heaven, or the earth, which could contain so
vast and still increasing a multitude of gods? But what shall we say of
those men who represent these celestial beings as joined in incestuous
union with their sister goddesses, and charge them with adultery and
impurity? (2) We declare, further, with all confidence, that the very
honors and worship which these deities receive from men are accompanied by
acts of wantonness and profligacy. Once more; the experienced and skillful
sculptor, having formed the conception of his design, perfects his work
according to the rifles of art; and in a little while, as if forgetful of
himself, idolizes his own creation, and adores it as an immortal god, while
yet he admits that himself, the author and maker of the image, is a mortal
man. Nay, they even show the graves and monuments of those whom they deem
immortal, and bestow divine honors on the dead: not knowing that that which
is truly blessed and incorruptible needs no distinction which perishable
men can give: for that Being, who is seen by the mental eye, and conceived
by the intellect alone, requires to be distinguished by no external form,
and admits no figure to represent its character and likeness. But the
honors of which we speak are given to those who have yielded to the power
of death: they once were men, and tenants, while they lived, of a mortal
body.

CHAPTER V: That Christ, the Son of God, created All Things, and has
appointed to Every Thing the Term of its Existence.

   BUT why do I defile my tongue with unhallowed words, when my object is
to sound the praises of the true God? Rather let me cleanse myself, as it
were, from this bitter draught by the pure stream which flows from the
everlasting fountain of the virtue (1) of that God who is the object of my
praise. Be it my special province to glorify Christ, as well by the actions
of my life, as by that thanksgiving which is due to him for the manifold
and signal blessings which he has bestowed. I affirm, therefore, that he
(2) has laid the foundations of this universe; and conceived the race of
men, ordaining these things by his word. And immediately he transferred our
newly created parents (ignorant at first, according to his will, of good
and evil) to a happy region, abounding in flowers and fruits of every kind.
(3) At length, however, he appointed them a seat on earth befitting
creatures endued with reason; and then unfolded to their faculties, as
intelligent beings, the knowledge of good and evil. Then, too, he bade the
race increase; and each healthy region of the world, as far as the bounds
of the circumambient ocean, became the dwelling-place of men; while with
this increase of numbers the invention of the useful arts went hand in
hand. Meantime the various species of inferior (4) animals increased in due
proportion, each kind discovering some characteristic quality, the special
gift of nature: the tame distinguished by gentleness and obedience to man;
the wild by strength and swiftness, and an instinctive foresight which
warned them to escape from peril. The gentler animals he placed entirely
beneath man's protecting care, but entailed on him the necessity of strife
with those of fiercer nature. He next created the feathered race, manifold
in number, diverse in character and habits; brilliant with every variety of
color, and endued with native powers of melody. Finally, having arranged
with wise discrimination whatever else the compass of this world contains,
and having assigned to every creature the stated term of its existence, he
thus completed the beautiful order of the perfect whole.

CHAPTER VI: The Falsity of the General Opinion respecting Fate (1) is
proved by the Consideration of Human Laws, and by the Works of Creation,
the Course of which is not Fortuitous, but according to an Orderly
Arrangement which evinces the Design of the Creator.

   THE great majority, however, in their folly, ascribe the regulation of
the universe to nature, while some imagine fate, or accident, (2) to be the
cause. With regard to those who attribute the control of all things to
fate, they know not that in using this term they utter a mere word, but
designate no active power, nor anything which has real and substantial
existence. For what can this fate be, considered in itself, if nature be
the first cause of all things? Or what shall we suppose nature itself to
be, if the law of fate be inviolable? Indeed, the very assertion that there
is a law of fate implies that such law is the work of a legislator: if,
therefore, fate itself be a law, it must be a law devised by God. All
things, therefore, are subject to God, and nothing is beyond the sphere of
his power. If it be said that fate is the will (3) of God, and is so
considered, we admit the fact. But in what respect do justice, (4) or self-
control, (5) or the other virtues, depend on fate? From whence, if so, do
their contraries, as injustice and intemperance, proceed? For vice has its
origin from nature, not from fate; and virtue is the due regulation of
natural character and disposition. But, granting that the varied results of
actions, whether right or erroneous in themselves, depend on fortune or
fate: in what sense can the general principle of justice, (6) the principle
of rendering to every one his due, be ascribed to fate? (7) Or how can it
be said that laws, encouragements to virtue and dissuasives from what is
evil, praise, blame, punishment, in short whatever operates as a motive to
virtue, and deters from the practice of vice, derive their origin from
fortune or accident, and not rather from that of justice, (8) which is a
characteristic attribute of the God of providence? For the events which
befall men are consequent upon the tenor of their lives. Hence pestilence
or sedition, famine and plenty, succeed in turn, declaring plainly and
emphatically that all these things are regulated with reference to our
course of life. For the Divine Being delights in goodness, but turns with
aversion from all impiety; looks with acceptance on the humble spirit, but
abhors presumption, and that pride which exalts itself above what becomes a
creature. And though the proofs of these truths are clear and manifest to
our sight, they appear in a still stronger light, when we collect, and as
it were concentrate our thoughts within ourselves, and ponder their causes
with deep attention. I say, then, that it becomes us to lead a life of
modesty and gentleness, not suffering our thoughts to rise proudly above
our natural condition, and ever mindful that God is near us, and is the
observer of all our actions. But let us still farther test the truth of the
proposition, that the order of the universe depends on chance (9) or
accident. (1) Are we then to suppose that the stars and other heavenly
bodies, the earth and sea fire and wind, water and air, the succession of
the seasons, the recurrence of summer and winter, that all these have an
undesigned and fortuitous existence, and not rather that they proceed from
the creative hand of God? Some indeed, are so senseless as to say that most
of these things have been devised by mankind because of their need of them.
Let it be admitted that this opinion has a semblance of reason in regard to
earthly and corruptible things (though Nature herself supplies every good
with a lavish hand); yet can we believe that things which are immortal and
unchangeable are the inventions of men? These, indeed, and all things else
which are beyond the reach of our senses, and comprehended by the intellect
(11) alone, receive their being, not from the material life of man, but
from the intellectual and eternal essence of God. Again, the orderly
arrangement of these things is the work of his providence: for instance,
that the day, deriving radiance from the sun, is bright; that night
succeeds his setting, and the starry host (12) by which night itself is
redeemed from total darkness. And what shall we say of the moon, which when
most distant from, and opposite to the sun, is filled with light, but wanes
in proportion to the nearness of her approach to him? Do not these things
manifestly evince the intelligence (13) and sagacious wisdom of God? Add to
this that needful warmth of the solar rays which ripens the fruits of the
earth; the currents of wind, so conducive to the fertility of the seasons;
the cool and refreshing showers; and the harmony of all these things in
accordance with which all are reasonably and systematically conducted:
lastly, the everlasting order of the planets, which return to the selfsame
place at their appointed times: are not all these, as well as the perfect
ministry of the stars, obedient to a divine law, evident proofs of the
ordinance (14) of God? Again, do the mountain heights, the deep and hollow
valleys, the level and extensive plains, useful as they are, as well as
pleasing to the eye, appear to exist independently of the will of God? Or
do not the proportion and alternate succession of land and water,
serviceable, the one for husbandry, the other for the transport of such
foreign products as we need, afford a clear demonstration of his exact and
proportionate providential care? For instance, the mountains contain a
store of water, which the level ground receives, and after imbibing
sufficient for the renovation of the soil, sends forth the residue into the
sea, and the sea in turn passes it onward to the ocean. And still we dare
to say that all these things happen by chance (15) and accident; unable
though we be to show by what shape or form this chance is characterized; a
thing which has no foundation either in intellect or sense existence; which
rings in our ears as the mere sound of an unsubstantial name!

CHAPTER VII: In regard to Things above our Comprehension, we should glorify
the Creator's Wisdom, and attribute their Causes to him alone, and not to
Chance.

   IN fact, this word "chance" is the expression of men who think in
haphazard and illogical fashion; who are unable to understand the causes of
these things, and who, owing to the feebleness of their own apprehensions,
conceive that those things for which they cannot assign a reason, are
ordered without reason. There are, unquestionably, some things which
possess wonderful natural properties, and the full apprehension of which is
very difficult: for example, the nature of hot springs. For no one can
easily explain the cause of so powerful a fire; and it is indeed surprising
that though surrounded on all sides by a body of cold water, it loses none
of its native heat. These phenomena appear to be of rare occurrence
throughout the world, being intended, I am persuaded, to afford to mankind
convincing evidence of the power of that Providence which ordains that two
directly opposite natures, heat and cold, should thus proceed from the
self-same source. Many indeed, yea, numberless, are the gifts which God has
bestowed for the comfort and enjoyment of man; and of these the fruit of
the olive-tree and the vine deserve especial notice; the one for its power
of renovating and cheering the soul, (1) the other because it ministers to
our enjoyment, and is likewise adapted for the cure of bodily disease.
Marvelous, too, is the course of rivers, flowing night and day with
unceasing motion, and presenting a type of ever- flowing, never-ceasing
life: and equally wonderful is the alternate succession of day and night.

CHAPTER VIII: That God bestows an Abundant Supply of whatever is suited to
the Wants of Man, and ministers but sparingly to his Pleasures; in Both
Cases with a View to his Advantage.

   LET what has been said suffice to prove that nothing exists without
reason and intelligence, and that reason itself and providence are of God.
It is he who has also distributed the metals, as gold, silver, copper, and
the rest, in due proportion; ordaining an abundant supply of those which
would be most needed and generally employed, while he dispensed those which
serve the purposes merely of pleasure in adornment of luxury with a liberal
and yet a sparing hand, holding a mean between parsimony and profusion. For
the searchers for metals, were those which are employed for ornament
procured in equal abundance with the rest, would be impelled by avarice to
despise and neglect to gather those which, like iron or copper, are
serviceable for husbandry, or house-building, or the equipment of ships;
and would care for those only which conduce to luxury and a superfluous
excess of wealth. Hence it is, as they say, that the search for gold and
silver is far more difficult and laborious than that for any other metals,
the violence of the toil thus acting as a counterpoise to the violence of
the desire. And how many instances might still further be enumerated of the
workings of that Divine Providence which, in all the gifts which it has so
unsparingly conferred upon us, plainly urges us to the practice of self-
control and all other virtues, and leads us away from unbefitting
covetousness! To trace the secret reasons of all these things is indeed a
task which exceeds the power of human faculties. For how can the intellect
of a frail and perishable being arrive at the knowledge of perfect truth,
or apprehend in its purity the counsel of God from the beginning?

CHAPTER IX: Of the Philosophers, who fell into Mistaken Notions, and Same
of them into Danger, by their Desire of Universal Knowledge. -- Also of the
Doctrines of Plato.

   WE ought, therefore, to aim at objects which are within our power, and
exceed not the capacities of our nature. For the persuasive influence of
argument has a tendency to draw most of us away from the truth of things,
which has happened to many philosophers, who have employed themselves in
reasoning, and the study of natural science, and who, as often as the
magnitude of the subject surpasses their powers of investigation, adopt
various devices for obscuring the truth. Hence their diversities of
judgment, and contentious opposition to each others' doctrines, and this
notwithstanding their pretensions to wisdom. Hence, too, popular commotions
have arisen, and severe sentences, passed by those in power, apprehensive
of the overthrow of hereditary institutions, have proved destructive to
many of the disputants themselves. Socrates, for example, elated by his
skill in argumentation, indulging his power of making the worse appear the
better reason, (1) and playing continually with the subtleties of
controversy, fell a victim to the slander of his own countrymen and fellow-
citizens. Pythagoras, too, who laid special claim to the virtues of silence
and self-control, was convicted of falsehood. For he declared to the
Italians that the doctrines which he had received during his travels in
Egypt, and which had long before been divulged by the priests of that
nation, were a personal revelation to himself from God. Lastly, Plato
himself, the gentlest and most refined of all, who first essayed to draw
men's thoughts from sensible to intellectual and eternal objects, and
taught them to aspire to sublimer speculations, in the first place
declared, with truth, a God exalted above every essence, but to him he
added also a second, distinguishing them numerically as two, though both
possessing one perfection, and the being of the second Deity proceeding
from (2) the first. For he is the creator and controller of the universe,
and evidently supreme: while the second, as the obedient agent of his
commands, refers the origin of all creation to him as the cause. In
accordance, therefore, with the soundest reason, we may say that there is
one Being whose care and providence are over all things, even God the Word,
who has ordered all things; but the Word being God himself is also the Son
of God. For by what name can we designate him except by this title of the
Son, without falling into the most grievous error? For the Father of all
things is properly considered the Father of his own Word. Thus far, then,
Plato's sentiments were sound; but in what follows he appears to have
wandered from the truth, in that he introduces a plurality of gods, to each
of whom he assigns specific forms. And this has given occasion to still
greater error among the unthinking portion of mankind, who pay no regard to
the providence of the Supreme God, but worship images of their own
devising, made in the likeness of men or other living beings. Hence it
appears that the transcendent nature and admirable learning of this
philosopher, tinged as they were with such errors as these, were by no
means free from impurity and alloy. And yet he seems to me to retract, and
correct his own words, when he-plainly declares that a rational soul is the
breath (3) of God, and divides all things into two classes, intellectual
and sensible: [the one simple, the other] (4) consisting of bodily
structure; the one comprehended by the intellect alone, the other estimated
by the judgment and the senses. The former class, therefore, which partakes
of the divine spirit, and is uncompounded and immaterial, is eternal, and
inherits everlasting life; but the latter, being entirely resolved into the
elements of which it is composed, has no share in everlasting life. He
farther teaches the admirable doctrine, that those who have passed a life
of virtue, that is, the spirits of good and holy men, are enshrined, after
their separation from the body, in the fairest mansions of heaven. A
doctrine not merely to be admired, but profitable too. (3) For who can
believe in such a statement, and aspire to such a happy lot, without
desiring to practice righteousness and temperance, and to turn aside from
vice? Consistently with this doctrine he represents the spirits of the
wicked as tossed like wreckage on the streams of Acheron and
Pyriphlegethon.

CHAPTER X: Of those who reject the Doctrines of Philosophers, as well as
those of Scripture: and that we ought to believe the Poets in All Things,
or disbelieve them in All.

   THERE are, however, some persons so infatuated, that when they meet
with such sentiments as these, they are neither converted or alarmed: nay,
they even treat them with contempt and scorn, as if they listened to the
inventions of fable; applauding, perhaps, the beauty of the eloquence, but
abhorring the severity of the precepts. And yet they give credence to the
fictions of the poets, and make both civilized and barbarous (1) countries
ring with exploded and false tales. For the poets assert that the judgment
of souls after death is committed to men whose parentage they ascribe to
the gods, (2) extolling their righteousness and impartiality and represent
them as guardians of the dead. The same poets describe the battles of the
gods and certain usages of war among them, and speak of them as subject to
the power of fate. Some of these deities they picture to us as cruel,
others as strangers to all care for the human race, and others again as
hateful in their character. They introduce them also as mourning the
slaughter of their own children, thus implying their inability to succor,
not strangers merely, but those most dear to them. They describe them, too,
as subject to human passions, and sing of their battles and wounds, their
joys and sorrows. And in all this they appear worthy of belief. (3) For if
we suppose them to be moved by a divine impulse to attempt the poetic art,
we are bound to believe them and to be persuaded of what they utter under
this inspiration. They speak, then, of the calamities to which their
divinities are subject; calamities which of course are altogether true! But
it will be objected that it is the privilege of poets to lie, since the
peculiar province of poetry is to charm (4) the spirits of the hearers,
while the very essence of truth is that things told be in reality exactly
what they are said to be. (5) Let us grant that it is a characteristic of
poetry occasionally to conceal the truth. But they who speak falsehood do
it not without an object; being influenced either by a desire of personal
gain or advantage, or possibly, being conscious of some evil conduct, they
are induced to disguise the truth by dread of the threatening vengeance of
the laws. But surely it were possible for them (in my judgment), by
adhering faithfully to truth at least while treating of the nature of the
Supreme Being, to avoid the guilt at once of falsehood and impiety.

CHAPTER XI: On the Coming of our Lord in the Flesh; its Nature and Cause.
(1)

   WHOEVER, then, has pursued a course unworthy of a life of virtue, and
is conscious of having lived an irregular and disorderly life, let him
repent, and turn with enlightened spiritual vision to God; and let him
abandon his past career of wickedness, content if he attain to wisdom even
in his declining years. We, however, have received no aid from human
instruction; nay, whatever graces of character are esteemed of good report
by those who have understanding, are entirely the gift of God. And I am
able to oppose no feeble buckler against the deadly weapons of Satan's
armory; I mean the knowledge I possess of those things which are pleasing
to him: and of these I will select such as are appropriate to my present
design, while I proceed to sing the praises of the Father of all. But do
thou, O Christ Saviour of mankind, be present to aid me in my hallowed
task! Direct the words which celebrate thy virtues, (2) and instruct me
worthily to sound thy praises. And now, let no one expect to listen to the
graces of elegant language: for well I know that the nerveless eloquence of
those who speak to charm the ear, and whose aim is rather applause than
sound argument, is distasteful to hearers of sound judgment. It is
asserted, then, by some profane and senseless persons, that Christ, whom we
worship, was justly condemned to death, and that he who is the author of
life to all, was himself deprived of life. That such an assertion should be
made by those who have once dared to enter the paths of impiety, who have
cast aside all fear, and all thought of concealing their own depravity, is
not surprising. But it is beyond the bounds of folly itself that they
should be able, as it seems, really to persuade themselves that the
incorruptible God yielded to the violence of men, and not rather to that
love alone which he bore to the human race: that they should fail to
perceive that divine magnanimity and forbearance is changed by no insult,
is moved from its intrinsic steadfastness by no revilings; but is ever the
same, breaking down and repelling, by the spirit of wisdom and greatness of
soul, the savage fierceness of those who assail it. The gracious kindness
of God had determined to abolish iniquity, and to exalt order and justice.
Accordingly, he gathered a company of the wisest among men, (3) and
ordained that most noble and useful doctrine, which is calculated to lead
the good and blessed of mankind to an imitation of his own providential
care. And what higher blessing can we speak of than this, that God should
prescribe the way of righteousness, and make those who are counted worthy
of his instruction like himself; that goodness might be communicated to all
classes of mankind, and eternal felicity be the result? This is the
glorious victory: this the true power: this the mighty work, worthy of its
author, the restoration of all people to soundness of mind: and the glory
of this triumph we joyfully ascribe to thee, thou Saviour of all! But thou,
vile and wretched blasphemy, whose glory is in lies and rumors and calumny;
thy power is to deceive and prevail with the inexperience of youth, and
with men who still retain the folly of youth. These thou seducest from the
service of the true God, and settest up false idols as the objects of their
worship and their prayers; and thus the reward of their folly awaits thy
deluded victims: for they calumniate Christ, the author of every blessing,
who is God, and the Son of God. Is not the worship of the best and wisest
of the nations of this world worthily directed to that God, who, while
possessing boundless power, remains immovably true to his own purpose, and
retains undiminished his characteristic kindness and love to man? Away,
then, ye impious, for still ye may while vengeance on your transgressions
is yet withheld; begone to your sacrifices, your feasts, your scenes of
revelry and drunkenness, wherein, under the semblance of religion, your
hearts are devoted to profligate enjoyment, and pretending to perform
sacrifices, yourselves are the willing slaves of your own pleasures. No
knowledge have ye of any good, nor even of the first commandment of the
mighty God, who both declares his will to man, and gives commission to his
Son to direct the course of human life, that they who have passed a career
of virtue and self-control may obtain, according to the judgment of that
Son, a second, yea, a blessed and happy existence. (4) I have now declared
the decree of God respecting the life which he prescribes to man, neither
ignorantly, as many have done, nor resting on the ground of opinion or
conjecture. But it may be that some will ask, Whence this title of Son?
Whence this generation of which we speak, if God be indeed only One, and
incapable of union with another? We are, however, to consider generation as
of two kinds; one in the way of natural birth, which is known to all; the
other, that which is the effect of an eternal cause, the mode of which is
seen by the prescience of God, and by those among men whom he loves. For he
who is wise will recognize the cause which regulates the harmony of
creation. Since, then, nothing exists without a cause, of necessity the
cause of existing substances preceded their existence. But since the world
and all things that it contains exist, and are preserved, (5) their
preserver must have had a prior existence; so that Christ is the cause of
preservation, and the preservation of things is an effect: (6) even as the
Father is the cause of the Son, and the Son the effect of that cause.
Enough, then, has been said to prove his priority of existence. But how do
we explain his descent to this earth, and to men? His motive in this, (7)
as the prophets had foretold, originated in his watchful care for the
interests of all: for it needs must be that the Creator should care for his
own works. But when the time came for him to assume a terrestrial body, and
to sojourn on this earth, the need requiring, he devised for himself a new
mode (8) of birth. Conception was there, yet apart from marriage:
childbirth, yet pure virginity: and a maiden became the mother of God! An
eternal nature received a beginning of temporal existence: a sensible form
of a spiritual essence, a material manifestation of incorporeal brightness,
(9) appeared. Alike wondrous were the circumstances which attended this
great event. A radiant dove, like that which flew from the ark of Noah,
(10) alighted on the Virgin's bosom: and accordant with this impalpable
union, purer than chastity, more guileless than innocence itself, were the
results which followed. From infancy possessing the wisdom of God, received
with reverential awe by the Jordan, in whose waters he was baptized, gifted
with that royal unction, the spirit of universal intelligence; with
knowledge and power to perform miracles, and to heal diseases beyond the
reach of human art; he yielded a swift and unhindered assent to the prayers
of men, to whose welfare, indeed, his whole life was devoted without
reserve. His doctrines instilled, not prudence only, (11) but real wisdom:
his hearers were instructed, not in the mere social virtues, (12) but in
the ways which conduct to the spiritual world; and devoted themselves to
the contemplation of immutable and eternal things, and the knowledge of the
Supreme Father. The benefits which he bestowed were no common blessings:
for blindness, the gift of sight; for helpless weakness, the vigor of
health; in the place of death, restoration to life again. I dwell not on
that abundant provision in the wilderness, whereby a scanty measure of food
became a complete and enduring supply (13) for the wants of a mighty
multitude? Thus do we render thanks to thee, our God and Saviour, according
to our feeble power; unto thee, O Christ, supreme Providence of the mighty
Father, who both savest us from evil, and impartest to us thy most blessed
doctrine: for I say these things, not to praise, but to give thanks. For
what mortal is he who shall worthily declare thy praise, of whom we learn
that thou didst from nothing call creation into being, and illumine it with
thy light; that thou didst regulate the confusion of the elements by the
laws of harmony and order? But chiefly we mark thy loving-kindness, (15) in
that thou hast caused those whose hearts inclined to thee to desire
earnestly a divine and blessed life, and hast provided that, like merchants
of true blessings, they might impart to many others the wisdom and good
fortune they had received; themselves, meanwhile, reaping the everlasting
fruit of virtue. Freed from the trammels of vice, and imbued with the love
of their fellow-men, they keep mercy ever before their eyes, and hoping for
the promises of faith; (16) devoted to modesty, and all those virtues which
the past career of human life had thrown aside [but which were now restored
by him whose providence is over all]. (17) No other power could be found to
devise a remedy for such evils, and for that spirit of injustice which had
heretofore asserted its dominion over the race of men. Providence, however,
could reach the circumstances even here, and with ease restored whatever
had been disordered by violence and the licentiousness of human passion.
And this restoring power he exercised without concealment. For he knew
that, though there were some whose thoughts were able to recognize and
understand his power, others there were whose brutish and senseless nature
led them to rely exclusively on the testimony of their own senses. In open
day, therefore, that no one, whether good or evil, might find room for
doubt, he manifested his blessed and wondrous healing power; restoring the
dead to life again, and renewing with a word the powers of those who had
been bereft of bodily sense. (18) Can we, in short, suppose, that to render
the sea firm as the solid ground, to still the raging of the storm, and
finally to ascend to heaven, after turning the unbelief of men to steadfast
faith by the performance of these wondrous acts, demanded less than
almighty power, was less than the work of God? Nor was the time of his
passion unaccompanied by like wonders: when the sun was darkened, and the
shades of night obscured the light of day. Then terror everywhere laid hold
upon the people, and the thought that the end of all things was already
come, and that chaos, such as had been ere the order of creation began,
would once more prevail. Then, too, the cause was sought of so terrible an
evil, and in what respect the trespasses of men had provoked the wrath of
Heaven; until God himself, who surveyed with calm dignity the arrogance of
the ungodly, renewed the face of heaven, and adorned it with the host of
stars. Thus the be-clouded face of Nature was again restored to her
pristine beauty.

CHAPTER XII: Of those who are Ignorant of this Mystery; and that their
Ignorance is Voluntary. The Blessings which await those who know it,
especially such as die in the Confession of the Faith. (1)

   BUT it will be said by some, who love to blaspheme, that it was in the
power of God to ameliorate and soften the natural will of man. What better
way, I ask, what better method could be devised, what more effectual effort
put forth for reclaiming evil man, than converse with God himself? Was not
he visibly present to teach them the principles of virtuous conduct? And if
the personal instructions of God were without effect, how much more, had he
continued absent and unheard? What, then, had power to hinder this most
blessed doctrine? The perverse folly of man. For the clearness of our
perceptions is at once obscured, as often as we receive with angry
impatience those precepts which are given for our blessing and advantage.
In truth, it was the very choice of men to disregard these precepts, and to
turn a deaf ear to the commandments so distasteful to them; though had they
listened, they would have gained a reward well worthy such attention, and
that not for the present only, but the future life, which is indeed the
only true life. For the reward of obedience to God is imperishable and
everlasting life, to which they may aspire who know him, (2) and frame
their course of life so as to afford a pattern to others, and as it were a
perpetual standard for the imitation of those who desire to excel in
virtue. Therefore was the doctrine committed to men of understanding, that
the truths which they communicated might be kept with care and a pure
conscience by the members of their households, and that thus a truthful and
steadfast observance of God's commands might be secured, the fruit of which
is that boldness in the prospect of death which springs from pure faith and
genuine holiness before God. He who is thus armed can withstand the tempest
of the world, and is sustained even to martyrdom by the invincible power of
God, whereby he boldly overcomes the greatest terrors, and is accounted
worthy of a crown of glory by him to whom he has thus nobly testified. (3)
Nor does he himself assume the praise, knowing full well that it is God who
gives the power both to endure, and to fulfill with ready zeal the Divine
commands. And well may such a course as this receive the meed of never-
failing remembrance and everlasting honor. For as the martyr's life is one
of sobriety and obedience to the will of God, so is his death an example of
true greatness and generous fortitude of soul. Hence it is followed by
hymns and psalms, words and songs of praise to the all-seeing God: and a
sacrifice of thanksgiving is offered in memory of such men, a bloodless, a
harmless sacrifice, wherein is no need of the fragrant frankincense, no
need of fire; but only enough of pure light (4) to suffice the assembled
worshipers. Many, too, there are whose charitable spirit leads them to
prepare a temperate banquet for the comfort of the needy, and the relief of
those who had been driven from their homes: a custom which can only be
deemed burdensome (5) by those whose thoughts are not accordant with the
divine and sacred doctrine.

CHAPTER XIII: That there is a Necessary Difference between Created Things.
That the Propensity to Good and Evil depends on the Will of Man; and that,
consequently, Judgment is a Necessary and Reasonable Thing.

   THERE are, indeed, some who venture with childish presumption to find
fault with God in respect of this also, and ask why it is that he has not
created one and the same natural disposition for all, but rather has
ordained the existence of many things different, nay, contrary in their
nature, whence arises the dissimilarity of our moral conduct and character.
Would it not (say they) have been better, both as regards obedience to the
commands of God, and a just apprehension of himself, and for the
confirmation of individual faith, that all mankind should be of the same
moral character? It is indeed ridiculous to expect that this could be the
case, and to forget that the constitution of the world is different from
that of the things that are in the world; that physical and moral objects
are not identical in their nature, nor the affections of the body the same
as those of the soul. [For the immortal soul far exceeds the material world
in dignity, and is more blessed than the perishable and terrestrial
creation, in proportion as it is noble and more allied to God. (1)] Nor is
the human race excluded from participation in the divine goodness; though
this is not the lot of all indiscriminately, but of those only who search
deeply into the Divine nature, and propose the knowledge of sacred things
as the leading object of their lives.

CHAPTER XIV: That Created Nature differs infinitely from Uncreated Being;
to which Man makes the Nearest Approach by a Life of Virtue.

   SURELY it must be the very height of folly to compare created with
eternal things, which latter have neither beginning nor end, while the
former, having been originated and called into being, and having received a
commencement of their existence at some definite time, must consequently,
of necessity have an end. How then can things which have thus been made,
bear comparison with him who has ordained their being? Were this the case,
(1) the power to command their existence could not rightly be attributed to
him. Nor can celestial things be compared to him, any more than the
material (2) with the intellectual (3) world, or copies with the models
from which they are formed. Nay, is it not absurd thus to confound all
things, and to obscure the honor of God by comparing him with men, or even
with beasts? And is it not characteristic of madmen, utterly estranged from
a life of sobriety and virtue, to affect a power equivalent to that of God?
If indeed we in any sense aspire to blessedness like that of God, our duty
is to lead a life according to his commandments: so shall we, having
finished a course consistent with the laws which he has prescribed, dwell
for ever superior to the power of fate, in eternal and undecaying mansions.
For the only power in man which can be elevated to a comparison with that
of God, is sincere and guileless service and devotion of heart to himself,
with the contemplation and study of whatever pleases him, the raising our
affections above the things of earth, and directing our thoughts, as far as
we may, to high and heavenly objects: for from such endeavors, it is said,
a victory accrues to us more valuable than many blessings. (4) The cause,
then, of that difference which subsists, as regards the inequality both of
dignity and power in created beings, is such as I have described. In this
the wise acquiesce with abundant thankfulness and joy: while those who are
dissatisfied, display their own folly, and their arrogance will reap its
due reward.

CHAPTER XV: Of the Saviour's Doctrines and Miracles; and the Benefits he
confers on those who own Subjection to him.

   THE Son of God invites all men to the practice of virtue, and presents
himself to all who have understanding hearts, as the teacher of his saving
precepts. (1) Unless, indeed, we will deceive ourselves; and remain in
wretched ignorance of the fact, that for our advantage, that is, to secure
the blessing of the human race, he went about upon earth; and, having
called around him the best men of their age, committed to them instructions
full of profit, and of power to preserve them in the path of a virtuous
life; teaching them the faith and righteousness which are the true remedy
against the adverse power of that malignant spirit whose delight it is to
ensnare and delude the inexperienced. Accordingly he visited the sick,
relieved the infirm from the ills which afflicted them, and consoled those
who felt the extremity of penury and want. He commended also sound and
rational sobriety of character, enjoining his followers to endure, with
dignity and patience, every kind of injury and contempt: teaching them to
regard such as visitations permitted by their Father, and the victory is
ever theirs who nobly bear the evils which befall them. For he assured them
that the highest strength of all consisted in this steadfastness of soul,
combined with that philosophy which is nothing else than the knowledge of
truth and goodness, producing in men the generous habit of sharing with
their poorer brethren those riches which they have themselves acquired by
honorable means. At the same time he utterly forbade all proud oppression,
declaring that, as he had come to associate with the lowly, so those who
despised the lowly would be excluded from his favor. Such and so great was
the test whereby he proved the faith of those who owned allegiance to his
authority, and thus he not only prepared them for the contempt of danger
and terror, but taught them at the same time the most genuine confidence in
himself. Once, too, his rebuke was uttered to restrain the zeal of one of
his companions, who yielded too easily to the impulse of passion, when he
assaulted with the sword, and, eager to protect his Saviour's life, exposed
his own. Then it was that he bade him desist, and returned his sword to its
sheath, reproving him for his distrust of refuge and safety in himself, and
declaring solemnly that all who should essay to retaliate an injury by like
aggression, or use the sword, should perish by a violent death. (2) This is
indeed heavenly wisdom, to choose rather to endure than to inflict injury,
and to be ready, should necessity so require, to suffer, but not to do,
wrong. For since injurious conduct is in itself a most serious evil, it is
not the injured party, but the injuring, on whom the heaviest punishment
must fall. It is indeed possible for one who is subject to the will of God
to avoid the evil both of committing and of suffering injury, provided his
confidence be firm in the protection of that God whose aid is ever present
to shield his servants from harm. For how should that man who trusts in God
attempt to seek for resources in himself? In such a case he must abide the
conflict with uncertainty of victory: and no man of understanding could
prefer a doubtful to a certain issue. Again, how can that man doubt the
presence and aid of God, who has had experience of manifold dangers, and
has at all times been easily delivered, at his simple nod, from all
terrors: who has passed, as it were, through the sea which was leveled by
the Saviour's word, and afforded a solid road for the passage of the
people? This is, I believe, the sure basis of faith, the true foundation of
confidence, that we find such miracles as these performed and perfected at
the command of the God of Providence. Hence it is that even in the midst of
trial we find no cause to repent of our faith, but retain an unshaken hope
in God; and when this habit of confidence is established in the soul, God
himself dwells in the inmost thoughts. But he is of invincible power: the
soul, therefore, which has within it him who is thus invincible, will not
be overcome by the perils which may surround it. Likewise, (3) we learn
this truth from the victory of God himself, who, while intent on providing
for the blessing of mankind, though grievously insulted by the malice of
the ungodly, yet passed unharmed through the sufferings of his passion, and
gained a mighty conquest, an everlasting crown of triumph, over all
iniquity; thus accomplishing the purpose of his own providence and love as
regards the just, and destroying the cruelty of the impious and unjust.

CHAPTER XVI: The Coming of Christ was predicted by the Prophets; and was
ordained to be the Overthrow of Idols and Idolatrous Cities.

   LONG since had his passion, as well as his advent in the flesh, been
predicted by the prophets. The time, too, of his incarnation had been
foretold, and the manner in which the fruits of iniquity and profligacy, so
ruinous to the works and ways of righteousness, should be destroyed, and
the whole world partake of the virtues of wisdom and sound discretion,
through the almost universal prevalence of those principles of conduct
which the Saviour should promulgate, over the minds of men; whereby the
worship of God should be confirmed, and the rites of superstition utterly
abolished. By these not the slaughter of animals alone, but the sacrifice
of human victims, and the pollutions of an accursed worship, had been
devised: as, for example, by the laws of Assyria and Egypt, the lives of
innocent men were offered up in images of brass or earth. Therefore have
these nations received a recompense worthy so foul a worship. Memphis and
Babylon [it was declared] (1) shall be wasted, and left desolate with their
fathers' gods. Now these things I speak not from the report of others, but
having myself been present, and actually seen the most wretched of these
cities, the unfortunate Memphis. (2) Moses desolated, at the Divine
command, the land of the once mighty Pharaoh, whose arrogance was his
destruction, (3) and destroyed his army (which had proved victorious over
numerous and mighty nations, an army strong in defenses and in arms), not
by the flight of arrows or the hurling of hostile weapons, but by holy
prayer alone, and quiet supplication.

CHAPTER XVII: Of the Wisdom of Moses, which was an Object of Imitation to
the Wise among Heathen Nations. Also concerning Daniel, and the Three
Children.

   No nation has ever been more highly blessed than that which Moses led:
none would have continued to enjoy higher blessings, had they not willingly
withdrawn themselves from the guidance of the Holy Spirit. But who can
worthily describe the praises of Moses himself; who, after reducing to
order an unruly nation, and disciplining their minds (1) to habits of
obedience and respect, out of captivity restored them to a state of
freedom, turned their mourning into gladness, and so far elevated their
minds, (1) that, through the excess of contrast with their former
circumstances, and the abundance of their prosperity, the spirit of the
people was elated with haughtiness and pride? So far did he surpass in
wisdom those who had lived before him, that even the wise men and
philosophers (2) who are extolled by heathen nations aspired to imitate his
wisdom. For Pythagoras, following his wisdom, attained to such a pitch of
self-control, that he became to Plato, himself a model of discretion, the
standard of his own self-mastery. Again, how great and terrible the cruelty
of that ancient Syrian king, over whom Daniel triumphed, the prophet who
unfolded the secrets of futurity, whose actions evinced transcendent
greatness of soul, and the luster of whose character and life shone
conspicuous above all? The name of this tyrant was Nebuchadnezzar, whose
race afterward became extinct, and his vast and mighty power was
transferred to Persian hands. The wealth of this tyrant was then, and is
even now, celebrated far and wide, as well as his ill-timed devotion to
unlawful worship, his idol statues, lifting their heads to heaven, and
formed of various metals, and the terrible and savage laws ordained to
uphold this worship. These terrors Daniel, sustained by genuine piety
towards the true God, utterly despised, and predicted that the tyrant's
unseasonable zeal would be productive of fearful evil to himself. He
failed, however, to convince the tyrant (for excessive wealth is an
effectual barrier to true soundness of judgment), and at length the monarch
displayed the savage cruelty of his character, by commanding that the
righteous prophet should be exposed to the fury of wild beasts. Noble, too,
indeed was the united spirit exhibited by those brethren (3) (whose example
others have since followed, and have won surpassing glory by their faith in
the Saviour's name), (4) those, I mean, who stood unharmed in the fiery
furnace, and the terrors appointed to devour them, repelling by the holy
touch of their bodies the flame by which they were surrounded. On the
overthrow of the Assyrian Empire, which was destroyed by thunderbolts from
Heaven, (5) the providence of God conducted Daniel to the court of Cambyses
the Persian king. Yet envy followed him even here; nor envy only, but the
deadly plots of the magians against his life, with a succession of many and
urgent dangers, from all which he was easily delivered by the providential
care of Christ, (6) and shone conspicuous in the practice of every virtue.
Three times in the day did he present his prayers to God, and memorable
were the proofs of supernatural power which he displayed: and hence the
magians, filled with envy at the very efficacy of his petitions,
represented the possession of such power to the king as fraught with
danger, and prevailed on him to adjudge this distinguished benefactor of
the Persian people to be devoured by savage lions. Daniel, therefore, thus
condemned, was consigned to the lions' den (not indeed to suffer death, but
to win unfading glory); and though surrounded by these ferocious beasts of
prey, he found them more gentle than the men who had enclosed him there.
Supported by the power of calm and steadfast prayer, he was enabled to
subdue all these animals, ferocious as, by nature, they were. Cambyses, on
learning the event (for so mighty a proof of Divine power could not
possibly be concealed), amazed at the marvelous story, and repenting the
too easy credence he had given to the slanderous charges of the magians,
resolved, notwithstanding, to be himself a witness of the spectacle. But
when he saw the prophet with uplifted hands rendering praises to Christ,
and the lions crouching, and as it were worshiping, at his feet,
immediately he adjudged the magians, to whose persuasions he had listened,
to perish by the self-same sentence, and shut them up in the lions' den.
(7) The beasts, erewhile so gentle, rushed at once upon their victims, and
with all the fierceness of their nature tore and destroyed them all. (8)

CHAPTER XVIII: Of the Erythraean Sibyl, who pointed in a Prophetic Acrostic
at our Lord and his Passion. The Acrostic is "Jesus Christ, Son of God,
Saviour, Cross."

   My desire, however, is to derive even from foreign sources a testimony
to the Divine nature of Christ. For on such testimony it is evident that
even those who blaspheme his name must acknowledge that he is God, and the
Son of God if indeed they will accredit the words of those whose sentiments
coincided with their own. (1) The Erythraean Sibyl, then, who herself
assures us that she lived in the sixth generation after the flood, was a
priestess of Apollo, who wore the sacred fillet in imitation of the God she
served, who guarded also the tripod encompassed with the serpent's folds,
and returned prophetic answers to those who approached her shrine; having
been devoted by the folly of her parents to this service, a service
productive of nothing good or noble, but only of indecent fury, such as we
find recorded in the case of Daphne. (2) On one occasion, however, having
rushed into the sanctuary of her vain superstition, she became really
filled with inspiration from above, and declared in prophetic verses the
future purposes of God; plainly indicating the advent of Jesus by the
initial letters of these verses, forming an acrostic in these words: JESUS
CHRIST, SON OF GOD, SAVIOUR, CROSS. The verses themselves are as follows:

   Judgment! Earth's oozing pores (3) shall mark the day;
   Earth's heavenly king his glories shall display:
   Sovereign of all, exalted on his throne,
   Unnumbered multitudes their God shall own;
   Shall sea their Judge, with mingled joy and fear,
   Crowned with his saints, in human form appear.
   How vain, while desolate earth's glories lie,
   Riches, and pomp, and man's idolatry!
   In that dread hour, when Nature's fiery doom
   Startles the slumb'ring tenants of the tomb,
   Trembling all flesh shall stand; each secret wile,
   Sins long forgotten, thoughts of guilt and guile,
   Open beneath God's searching light shall lie:
   No refuge then, but hopeless agony.
   O'er heaven's expanse shall gathering shades of night
   From earth, sun, stars, and moon, withdraw their light;
   God's arm shall crush each mountain's towering pride;
   On ocean's plain no more shall navies ride.
   Dried at the source, no river's rushing sound
   Shall soothe, no fountain slake the parched ground.
   Around, afar, shall roll the trumpet's blast,
   Voice of wrath long delayed, revealed at last.
   In speechless awe, while earth's foundations groan,
   On judgment's seat earth's kings their God shall own.
   Uplifted then, in majesty divine,
   Radiant with light, behold Salvation's Sign!
   Cross of that Lord, who, once for sinners given,
   Reviled by man, now owned by earth and heaven,
   O'er every land extends his iron sway.
   Such is the name these mystic lines display;
   Saviour, eternal king, who bears our sins away. (4)

   It is evident that the virgin uttered these verses under the influence
of Divine inspiration. And I cannot but esteem her blessed, whom the
Saviour thus selected to unfold his gracious purpose towards us.

CHAPTER XIX: That this Prophecy respecting our Saviour was not the Fiction
of any Member of the Christian Church, but the Testimony of the Erythraean
Sibyl, whose Books were translated into Latin by Cicero before the coming
of Christ. Also that Virgil makes mention of the same, and of the Birth of
the Virgin's Child: though he spoke obscurely of this Mystery from Fear of
the Ruling Powers.

   MANY, however, who admit that the Erythraean Sibyl was really a
prophetess, yet refuse to credit this prediction, and imagine that some one
professing our faith, and not unacquainted with the poetic art, was the
composer of these verses. They hold, in short, that they are a forgery, and
alleged to be the prophecies of the Sibyl on the ground of their containing
useful moral sentiments, tending to restrain licentiousness, and to lead
man to a life of sobriety and decorum. Truth, however, in this case is
evident, since the diligence of our countrymen (1) has made a careful
computation of the times; so that there is no room to suspect that this
poem was composed after the advent and condemnation of Christ, or that the
general report is false, that the verses were a prediction of the Sibyl in
an early age. For it is allowed that Cicero was acquainted with this poem,
which he translated into the Latin tongue, and incorporated with his own
works. (2) This writer was put to death during the ascendancy of Antony,
who in his turn was conquered by Augustus, whose reign lasted fifty-six
years. Tiberius succeeded, in whose age it was that the Saviour's advent
enlightened the world, the mystery of our most holy religion began to
prevail, and as it were a new race of men commenced: of which, I suppose,
the prince of Latin poets thus speaks:

   Behold, a new, a heaven-born race appears. (3)

And again, in another passage of the Bucolics:

   Sicilian Muses, sound a loftier strain.

What can be clearer than this? For he adds,

   The voice of Cuma's oracle is heard again. (4)

Evidently referring to the Cumaean Sibyl. Nor was even this enough: the
poet goes further, as if irresistibly impelled to bear his testimony. What
then does he say?

   Behold! the circling years new blessings bring:
   The virgin comes, with her the long-desired king. (5)

Who, then, is the virgin who was to come? Is it not she who was filled
with, and with child of the HolySpirit? And why is it impossible that she
who was with child of the Holy Spirit should be, and ever continue to be a
virgin? This king, too, will return, and by his coming lighten the sorrows
of the world. The poet adds,

   Thou, chaste Lucina, greet the new-born child,
   Beneath whose reign the iron offspring ends,
   A golden progeny from heaven descends;
   His kingdom banished virtue shall restore,
   And crime shall threat the guilty world no more.

We perceive that these words are spoken plainly and at the same time
darkly, by way of allegory. Those who search deeply for the import of the
words, are able to discern the Divinity of Christ. But lest any of the
powerful in the imperial city might be able to accuse the poet of writing
anything contrary to the laws of the country, and subverting the religious
sentiments which had prevailed from ancient times, he intentionally
obscures the truth. For he was acquainted, as I believe, with that blessed
mystery which gave to our Lord the name of Saviour: (6) but, that he might
avoid the severity of creel men, he drew the thoughts of his hearers to
objects with which they were familiar, saying that altars must be erected,
temples raised, and sacrifices offered to the new- born child. His
concluding words also are adapted to the sentiments of those who were
accustomed to such a creed; for he says:

CHAPTER XX: A Farther Quotation from Virgilius Maro respecting Christ, with
its Interpretation, showing that the Mystery was indicated therein darkly,
as might be expected from a Poet.

   A life immortal he shall lead, and be
   By heroes seen, himself shall heroes see;

evidently meaning the righteous.

   The jarring nations he in peace shall bind,
   And with paternal virtues rule mankind.
   Unbidden earth her earliest fruits shall bring,
   And fragrant herbs, to greet her infant king.

Well indeed was this admirably wise and accomplished man acquainted with
the cruel character of the times. He proceeds:

   The goats, uncall'd, full udders home shall bear;
   The lowing herds no more fierce lions fear.

Truly said: for faith will not stand in awe of the mighty in the imperial
palace.

   His cradle shall with rising flowers be crown'd:
   The serpent's brood shall die; the sacred ground
   Shall weeds and poisonous plants refuse to bear;
   Each common bush th' Assyrian rose (1) shall wear.

Nothing could be said more true or more consistent with the Saviour's
excellency than this. For the power of the Divine Spirit presents the very
cradle of God, like fragrant flowers, to the new-born race. (2) The
serpent, too, and the venom of that serpent, perishes, who originally
beguiled our first parents, and drew their thoughts from their native
innocence (3) to the enjoyment of pleasures, that they might experience (4)
that threatened death. For before the Saviour's advent, the serpent's power
was shown in subverting the souls of those who were sustained by no well-
grounded hope, and ignorant of that immortality which awaits the righteous.
But after that he had suffered, and was separated for a season from the
body which he had assumed, the power of the resurrection was revealed to
man through the communication of the Holy Spirit: and whatever stain of
human guilt might yet remain was removed by the washing of sacred
lustrations.

   Then indeed could the Saviour bid his followers be of good cheer, and,
remembering his adorable and glorious resurrection, expect the like for
themselves. Truly, then, the poisonous race may be said to be extinct.
Death himself is extinct, and the truth of the resurrection sealed. Again,
the Assyrian race is gone, which first led the way to faith in God. (5) But
when he speaks of the growth of amomum every where, he alludes to the
multitude of the true worshipers of God. (6) For it is as though a
multitude of branches, crowned with fragrant flowers, and fitly watered,
sprung from the self-same root. Most justly said, Maro, thou wisest of
poets! and with this all that follows is consistent.

   But when heroic worth his youth shall hear,
   And learn his father's virtues to revere.

By the praises of heroes, he indicates the works of righteous men: by the
virtues of his Father he speaks of the creation and everlasting structure
of the world: and, it may be, of those laws by which God's beloved Church
is guided, and ordered in a course of righteousness and virtue. Admirable,
again, is the advance to higher things of that state of life which is
intermediate, as it were, between good and evil, and which seldom admits a
sudden change:

   Unlabored harvests shall the fields adorn, (7)

that is, the fruit of the Divine law springs up for the service of men.

   And clustered gropes shall blush on every thorn.

Far otherwise has it been during the corrupt and lawless period of human
life.

   The knotted oaks shall showers of honey weep. (8)

He here describes the folly and obduracy of the men of that age; and
perhaps he also intimates that they who suffer hardships in the cause of
God, shall reap sweet fruits of their own endurance.

   Yet, of old fraud some footsteps shall remain;
   The merchant still shall plough the deep for gain:
   Great cities shall with walls be compassed round,
   And sharpened shares shall vex the fruitful ground:
   Another Tiphys shall new seas explore;
   Another Argo land the chiefs upon the Iberian shore;
   Another Helen other wars create,
   And great Achilles urge the Trojan fate.

Well said, wisest of bards! Thou hast carried the license of a poet
precisely to the proper point. For it was not thy purpose to assume the
functions of a prophet, to which thou hadst no claim. I suppose also he was
restrained by a sense of the danger which threatened one who should assail
the credit of ancient religious practice. Cautiously, therefore, and
securely, as far as possible, he presents the truth to those who have
faculties to understand it; and while he denounces the munitions and
conflicts of war (9) (which indeed are still to be found in the course of
human life), he describes our Saviour as proceeding to the war against
Troy, understanding by Troy the world itself. (10) And surely he did
maintain the struggle against the opposing powers of evil, sent on that
mission both by the designs of his own providence and the commandment of
his Almighty Father. How, then, does the poet proceed?

   But when to ripen'd manhood he shall grow,

that is, when, having arrived at the age of manhood, he shall utterly
remove the evils which encompass the path of human life, and tranquilize
the world by the blessings of peace

   The greedy sailor shall the seas forego;
   No keel shall cut the waves for foreign ware,
   For every soil shall every product bear.
   The laboring hind his oxen shall disjoin;
   But the luxurious father of the fold,
   With native purple, and unborrow'd gold,
   Beneath his pompous fleece shall proudly sweat;
   And under Tyrian robes the lamb shall bleat.
   Mature in years, to ready honors move,
   O of celestial seed, O foster son of Jove!
   See, laboring nature calls thee to sustain
   The nodding flame of heaven, and earth, and main!
   See to their base restored earth seas, and air;
   And joyful ages, from behind, in crowing ranks appear.
   To ring thy praise, would heaven my breath prolong.
   Infusing spirits worthy such a song,
   Not Thracian Orpheus should transcend my lays,
   Nor Linus, crown'd with never-fading bays;
   Though each his heavenly parent should inspire;
   The Muse instruct the voice, and Phoebus tune the lyre.
   Should Pan contend in verse, and thou my theme,
   Arcadian judges should their God condemn. (11)

Behold (says he) how the mighty world and the elements together manifest
their joy.

CHAPTER XXI: That these Things cannot have been spoken of a Mere Man: and
that Unbelievers, owing to their Ignorance of Religion, know not even the
Origin of their own Existence.

   IT may be some will foolishly suppose that these words were spoken of
the birth of a mere ordinary mortal. But if this were all, what reason
could there be that the earth should need neither seed nor plough, that the
vine should require no pruning-hook, or other means of culture? How can we
suppose these things to be spoken of a mere mortal's birth? For nature is
the minister of the Divine will not an instrument obedient to the command
of man. Indeed, the very joy of the elements indicates the advent of God,
not the conception of a human being. The prayer, too, of the poet that his
life might be prolonged is a proof of the Divinity of him whom he invoked;
for we desire life and preservation from God, and not from man. Indeed, the
Erythraean Sibyl thus appeals to God: "Why, O Lord, dost thou compel me
still to foretell the future, and not rather remove me from this earth to
await the blessed day of thy coming?" And Maro adds to what he had said
before:

   Begin, sweet boy! with smiles thy mother know,
   Who ten long months did with thy burden go.
   No mortal parents smiled upon thy birth:
   No nuptial joy thou know'st, no feast of earth.

How could his parents have smiled on him? For his Father (1) is God, who is
a Power without sensible quality, (2) existing, not in any definite shape,
but as comprehending other beings, (3) and not, therefore, in a human body.
And who knows not that the Holy Spirit has no participation in the nuptial
union? For what desire can exist in the disposition of that good which all
things rise desire? What fellowship, in short, can wisdom hold with
pleasure? But let these arguments be left to those who ascribe to him a
human origin, and who care not to purify themselves from all evil in word
as well as deed. On thee, Piety, I call to aid my words, on thee who art
the very law of purity, most desirable of all blessings, teacher of holiest
hope, assured promise of immortality! Thee, Piety, and thee, Clemency, I
adore. We who have obtained thine aid (4) owe thee everlasting gratitude
for thy healing power. But the multitudes whom their innate hatred of
thyself deprives of thy succor, are equally estranged from God himself, and
know not that the very cause of their life and being, and that of all the
ungodly, is connected with the rightful worship of him who is Lord of all:
for the world itself is his, and all that it contains.

CHAPTER XXII: The Emperor thankfully ascribes his Victories and all other
Blessings to Christ; and condemns the Conduct of the Tyrant Maximin, the
Violence of whose Persecution had enhanced the Glory of Religion.

   To thee, Piety, I ascribe the cause of my own prosperity, and of all
that I now possess. To this truth the happy issue of all my endeavors bears
testimony: brave deeds, victories in war, and triumphs over conquered foes.
This truth the great city itself allows with joy and praise. The people,
too, of that much-loved city accord in the same sentiment, though once,
deceived by ill-grounded hopes, they chose a ruler unworthy of themselves,
(1) a ruler who speedily received the chastisement which his audacious
deeds deserved. But be it far from me now to recall the memory of these
events, while holding converse with thee, Piety, and essaying with earnest
endeavor to address thee with holy and gentle words. Yet will I say one
thing, which hazy shall not be unbefitting or unseemly. A furious, a cruel,
and implacable war was maintained by the tyrants against thee, Piety, and
thy holy churches: nor were there wanting some in Rome itself who exulted
at a calamity so grievous to the public weal. Nay, the battlefield was
prepared; when thou disdst stand forth, (2) and present thyself a voluntary
victim, supported by faith in God. Then indeed it was that the cruelty of
ungodly men, which raged incessantly like a devouring fire, wrought for
thee a wondrous and ever memorable glory. Astonish-merit seized the
spectators themselves, when they beheld the very executioners who tortured
the bodies of their holy victims wearied out, and disgusted at the
cruelties; (3) the bonds loosened, the engines of torture powerless, the
flames extinguished, while the sufferers preserved their constancy unshaken
even for a moment. What, then, hast thou gained by these atrocious deeds,
most impious of men? (4) And what was the cause of thy insane fury? Thou
wilt say, doubtless, these acts of thine were done in honor of the gods.
What gods are these? or what worthy conception hast thou of the Divine
nature? Thinkest thou the gods are subject to angry passions as thou art?
Were it so indeed, it had been better for thee to wonder at their strange
determination than obey their harsh command, when they urged thee to the
unrighteous slaughter of innocent men. Thou wilt allege, perhaps, the
customs of thy ancestors and the opinion of mankind in general, as the
cause of this conduct. I grant the fact: for those customs are very like
the acts themselves, and proceed from the self- same source of folly. Thou
thoughtest, it may be, that some special power resided in images formed and
fashioned by human art; and hence thy reverence, and diligent care lest
they should be defiled: those mighty and highly exalted gods, thus
dependent on the care of men!

CHAPTER XXIII: Of Christian Conduct. That God is pleased with those who
lead a Life of Virtue: and that we must expect a Judgment and Future
Retribution.

   COMPARE our religion with your own. Is there not with us genuine
concord, and unwearied love of others? If we reprove a fault, it is not our
object to admonish, not to destroy; our correction for safety, not for
cruelty? Do we not exercise, not only sincere faith towards God, but
fidelity in the relations of social life? Do we not pity the unfortunate?
Is not ours a life of simplicity which disdains to cover evil beneath the
mask of fraud and hypocrisy? Do we not acknowledge the true God, and his
undivided sovereignty? This is real godliness: this is religion sincere and
truly undefiled: this is the life of wisdom; and they who have it are
travelers, as it were, on a noble road which leads to eternal life. For he
who has entered on such a course, and keeps his soul pure from the
pollutions of the body, does not wholly die: rather may he be said to
complete the service appointed him by God, than to die. Again, he who
confesses allegiance to God is not easily overborne by insolence or rage,
but nobly stands under the pressure of necessity and the trial of his
constancy is as it were, a passport to the favor of God. For we cannot
doubt that the Deity is pleased with excellence in human conduct. For it
would be absurd indeed if the powerful and the humble alike acknowledge
gratitude to those from whose services they receive benefit, and repay them
by services in return, and yet that he who is supreme and sovereign of all,
nay, who is Good itself should be negligent in this respect. Rather does he
follow us throughout the course of our lives, is near us in every act of
goodness, accepts, and at once rewards our virtue and obedience; though he
defers the full recompense to that future period, when the actions of our
lives shall pass under his review and when those who are clear in that
account shall receive the reward of everlasting life, while the wicked
shall be visited with the penalties due to their crimes.

CHAPTER XXIV: Of Decius, Valerian, and Aurelian who experienced a Miserable
End in consequence of their Persecution of the Church.

   To thee, Decius, (1) I now appeal, who has trampled with insult on the
labors of the righteous: to thee, the hater of the Church, the punisher of
those who lived a holy life: what is now thy condition after death? How
hard and wretched thy present circumstances! Nay, the interval before thy
death gave proof enough of thy miserable fate, when overthrown with all
thine army on the plains of Scythia, thou didst expose the vaunted power of
Rome to the contempt of the Goths. Thou, too, Valerian, who didst manifest
the same spirit of cruelty towards the servants of God, hast afforded an
example of righteous judgment. A captive in the enemies' hands, led in
chains while yet arrayed in the purple and imperial attire, and at last thy
skin stripped from thee, and preserved by command of Sapor the Persian
king, thou hast left a perpetual trophy of thy calamity. And thou,
Aurelian, fierce perpetrator of every wrong, how signal was thy fall, when,
in the midst of thy wild career in Thrace, thou wast slain on the public
highway, and didst fill the furrows of the road with thine impious blood!

CHAPTER XXV: Of Diocletian, who ignobly abdicated (1) the Imperial Throne,
and was terrified by the Dread of Lightning for his Persecution of the
Church.

   DIOCLETIAN, however, after the display of relentless cruelty as a
persecutor, evinced a consciousness of his own guilt and owing to the
affliction of a disordered mind, endured the confinement of a mean and
separate dwelling. (2) What then, did he gain by his active hostility
against our God? Simply this I believe, that he passed the residue of his
life in continual dread of the lightning's stroke. Nicomedia attests the
fact; eyewitnesses, of whom I myself am one, declare it. The palace, and
the emperor's private chamber were destroyed, consumed by lightning,
devoured by the fire of heaven. Men of understanding hearts had indeed
predicted the issue of such conduct; for they could not keep silence, nor
conceal their grief at such unworthy deeds; but boldly and openly expressed
their feeling, saying one to another: "What madness is this? and what an
insolent abuse of power, that man should dare to fight against God; should
deliberately insult the most holy and just of all religions; and plan,
without the slightest provocation, the destruction of so great a multitude
of righteous persons? O rare example of moderation to his subjects! Worthy
instructor of his army in the care and protection due to their fellow-
citizens! Men who had never seen the backs of a retreating army plunged
their swords into the breasts of their own countrymen!" So great was the
effusion of blood shed, that if shed in battle with barbarian enemies, it
had been sufficient to purchase a perpetual peace. (3) At length, indeed,
the providence of God took vengeance on these unhallowed deeds; but not
without severe damage to the state. For the entire army of the emperor of
whom I have just spoken, becoming subject to the authority of a worthless
person, (4) who had violently usurped the supreme authority at Rome (when
the providence of God restored freedom to that great city), was destroyed
in several successive battles. And when we remember the cries with which
those who were oppressed, and who ardently longed for their native liberty
implored the help of God; and their praise and thanksgiving to him on the
removal of the evils under which they had groaned, when that liberty was
regained, and free and equitable intercourse restored: do not these things
every way afford convincing proofs of the providence of God, and his
affectionate regard for the interests of mankind?

CHAPTER XXVI: The Emperor ascribes his Personal Piety to God; and shows
that we are bound to seek Success from God, an attribute it to him; but to
consider Mistakes as the Result of our own Negligence.

   WHEN men commend my services, which owe their origin to the inspiration
of Heaven, do they not dearly establish the truth that God is the cause of
the exploits I have performed? Assuredly they do: for it belongs to God to
do whatever is best, and to man,, to perform the commands of God. I
believe, indeed, the best and noblest course of action is, when, before an
attempt is made, we provide as far as possible for a secure result: and
surely all men know that the holy service in which these hands have been
employed has originated in pure and genuine faith towards God; that
whatever has been done for the common welfare has been effected by active
exertion combined with supplication and prayer; the consequence of which
has been as great an amount of individual and public benefit as each could
venture to hope for himself and those he holds most dear. They have
witnessed battles, and have been spectators of a war in which the
providence of God has granted victory to this people: (1) they have seen
how he has favored and seconded our prayers. For righteous prayer is a
thing invincible; and no one fails to attain his object who addresses holy
supplication to God: nor is a refusal possible, except in the case of
wavering faith; (2) for God is ever favorable, ever ready to approve of
human virtue. While, therefore, it is natural for man occasionally to err,
yet God is not the cause first for our own individual security and then for
the happy posture of public affairs: at the same time intreating the favor
of Christ with holy prayers and constant supplications, that he would
continue to us our present blessings. For he is the invincible ally and
protector of the righteous: he is the supreme judge of all things, the
prince of immorality, the Giver of everlasting life.


Taken from "The Early Church Fathers and Other Works" originally published
by Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co. in English in Edinburgh, Scotland, beginning in
1867. (LNPF II/XII, Schaff and Wace). The digital version is by The
Electronic Bible Society, P.O. Box 701356, Dallas, TX 75370, 214-407-WORD.

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