 Section I of Octavius by Minucius Felix, translated by John Henry Freezed. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Marcus, read by Kevin S. Octavius, a Christian lawyer, read by Cadastra. Cecilius, a pagan friend of Octavius, read by Adam Bielka. The Octavius by Minucius Felix. Chapter 1 When I look back and examine my recollections of Octavius, the dear and intimate friend of my youth, the charm of his character and personal affection are so firmly rooted in my mind that I see him as it were to be actually living again in the past, not merely recalling to mind what is finished and done with. The further he is removed from my earthly gaze, the more deeply is his image imprinted on my heart, nay, on my inmost feelings, and not without reason has the loss of so excellent a Christian left behind such infinite regret. For his affection for me was so passionate that, whether we were gesting or discussing serious matters, our wills were always in perfect harmony. Our likes and dislikes identical. You would have thought we had only one soul between us. He was the sole confidant of my youthful follies, the sole partner of my errors. And when the gloom was dispersed and I emerged from the depths of mental darkness into the light of truth and wisdom, he did not reject my companionship, but what was even more noble took the lead. And so when my thoughts returned to all the days past together in closest intimacy my mind wells with special interest upon that discourse of his which by the force of his arguments, Cicilius, who still clung to superstitious fancies, was converted to the true faith. CHAPTER II Octavius had come to Rome on business and also to see me. He had left home wife and children, the latter still in the age of innocence, and their broken utterances are so charming. The childish prattle to which the halting accents of their faltering tongue lend additional sweetness. Words cannot express how eagerly and with what transports of joy I welcomed his arrival. A joy increased by the suddenness of this visit of my bosom friend. After two days uninterrupted enjoyment of his company, when the eager longings of our hearts were satisfied, and we had told each other matters of mutual interest unknown to us in consequence of our separation, we decided to pay a visit to Ostia. This is a delightful town, where I hope to find in seabedly an agreeable and beneficial treatment for certain humours from which I suffered, owing to the vacation legal work was slack and had made way for the vintage. And just then, after the heat of summer, the weather had turned cooler with the coming of autumn. One morning at dawn we happened to be walking along the bank of the Tiber towards the sea. The gentle breeze invigorated our limbs and the walk over the sand, as it healed beneath our soft tread, was especially delightful. Cicilius noticed an image of seraphus, and after the custom of the superstitious vulgar, put his hand to his mouth and kissed it. Brother Marcus, it is unworthy of an honest man to leave one who in and out of the house is your constant companion in such a blind and vulgar ignorance. On a fine day like this, how can you allow him to do homage to stones, even though they are fashioned in the likeness of the gods, anointed with oil and crowned with garlands? You must be aware that the shame of his error will recoil as much upon you as upon him. While Octavius was speaking, we were half way between Ostia and the sea, and were already nearing the open beach where the gentle waves, which laid the furthest stretch of sands, extended, and as it were, laid it out for a promenade. The sea is always restless, even when the winds are still, and although it did not reach the shore and white foaming waves, we were highly delighted to see it curling and winding round in about our feet when we dipped them at the water's edge. Alternately, it dashed against our feet and sport it with the waves, and then, as it retired and retraced its course, sucked them back into it itself. In this manner, we walked on slowly and quietly along the shore of the gentle winding beach, beguiling the way with conversation, which turned upon Octavius' account of his voyage. After we had gone on for a considerable distance during the course of our conversation, we turned back and went over the same ground again. When we reached a spot where some small vessels, all up on the land, had been placed on oak supports, high and dry above mud, we saw some boys thoroughly enjoying themselves in a game of ducks and ducks. This game is played as follows. A shell, rounded and polished by the constant movements of the waves, is picked up from the beach and firmly grasped between the fingers on the flat side. The player then stoopes and bending down throws it as far as he can along the top of the water. The missile either skims the surface or, cutting through the crest of the waves, darts along, springing in the air. The boy whose shell goes furthest and oftenest jumps out of the water, and then swims the victory. CHAPTER IV While we were all enjoying the sight, Sicilius alone was indifferent, did not even smile at the eagerness of the contest. Silent, anxious, holding aloof, he showed clearly, by the expression of his face, the signs of some secret grief. What does this mean, I said to him? What has become of your usual vivacity? I miss the cheerfulness natural to you, even on serious occasions. He replied, I have for some time felt keenly distressed and hurt by the manner in which Octavius attacked and reproached you with carelessness in order to support his charges of ignorance against me more strongly, though indirectly. So I will go further. The whole matter shall be thrashed out between Octavius and myself. If he wishes me to argue with him as a member of the sect which he attacks, he will see it once that it is easier to argue as among friends than to engage in a scientific discussion. Let us sit down on that rocky mole projecting into the sea which has been made to protect the baths. We shall be able to rest after our walk, and discuss matters more earnestly. We sat down as he proposed myself between my two friends, with one of them on each side of me. This was not a mark of respect, rank or honor, for friends are always equal or become so. The object of the arrangement was that I, as arbitrator, should be next to both in order to hear them better and to keep the disputants apart. Chapter 5 Then Cecilius began as follows My dear Marcus, you cannot be in doubt as to the matter which we are now to investigate, since, having carefully tested both systems, you have abandoned the one and chosen the other. Nevertheless, for the present occasion your mind should be so trained that you can hold the balance evenly as an upright judge, without inclining to one side more than the other, otherwise your verdict will appear to be the expression of your own feelings, rather than the result of our arguments. If then you will take your seat as an entire stranger who knows nothing of either party, it will be easy for me to show that everything in human affairs is doubtful, uncertain, undecided, and probable, rather than true. For this reason it is the more surprising that some, weary of a thorough search after truth, should blindly give in to any opinion whatever, rather than steadfastly and diligently persevere in their investigations. Probably all must feel grieved and indignant at the thought that certain people, people too ignorant of learning, unlettered and unacquainted, even with the meanest arts, should pronounce definitely upon the universe and the supreme power, which, after all these ages, still forms the subject of the deliberations of the philosophers and their numerous schools. And this is only natural, since human insignificance is quite incapable of investigating things divine. It is not given us to know, and we are forbidden to examine, what is suspended above our heads in the heavens, or buried deep down in the earth. We should rightly consider ourselves tolerably happy and wise if we had a more intimate knowledge of ourselves in accordance with the maxim of the wise man of old. But in so much as abandoning ourselves to idle and senseless efforts, we overstep the limits of our insignificance, and though thrown upon the earth, in our bold ambition transcend heaven and the stars themselves, at least let us not complicate our mistake by idle and terrifying fancies. Granted that, in the beginning, the germs of everything were condensed by the self-fructifying action of nature. What God is the author of this? Granted that the members of the body of the universe have been united, arranged, and formed by a fortuitous concourse of atoms. What God is the architect? Let us admit that the stars have been lighted by fire, that the sky has been suspended aloft by the nature of its material, that the earth has been similarly secured by its own weight, and that the sea was formed from moisture. How does this explain this new religion, this dread, which is nothing but superstition? Man, an every living creature, which is born, lives, and grows, is formed by a half-hazard union of elements into which they are again separated, dissolved, and dispersed. And in like manner, all things in the universe flow back to their source and return to themselves. There is no artificer, no judge, no creator of the world. Thus, when the elements of fire have united, new and ever-new suns are always shining. When the vapors of earth have been given off, the mists are continually increasing. When these mists are compressed and gathered together, the clouds rise higher. When they fall, the rain pours down. The winds blow, the hail rattles. If the thunder clouds collide, the thunder roars. The lightning glows. The thunderbolts flash and fall at random. Hurl themselves upon the mountains, attack the trees, strike without distinction, places sacred and profane, smite the guilty, and oftentimes the pious. What need to speak of the shifting and uncertain storms by which of all things are violently whirled along promiscuously and in disorder? In shipwrecks are not the destinies of good and bad mixed up with no distinction of their merits and defects. In fires does not death come upon innocent and guilty alike? When an expanse of the sky is tainted by plague and pestilence, do not all perish indiscriminately? In the heat and fury of battle, is it not the best and bravest that fall? Even in peaceful times, not only is vice put on a level with virtue, but is even respected so that often one does not know whether to detest a man's depravity or to envy his good fortune. But if the world were ruled by divine providence and by the authority of some divinity, phalaris and Dionyses would never have deserved a throne. Rutelus and Camelus' banishment. Socrates, the draught of hemlock. Look how the fruit trees, the corn white for harvest and the ripe grapes are spoiled by the rain and beaten down by the hail. So either the truth, being uncertain, is hidden from us and concealed, or more probably fortune, not restrained by any laws, exercises its power in various dangerous emergencies. Chapter 6. Since then, either fortune is blind or nature is uncertain, how much more respectful, how much better is it to receive the teaching of our ancestors as the high priest of truth, to reverence the traditional religion, to worship the gods whom your parents taught you to fear before you knew them intimately and not to pronounce judgment upon the divinities, but to believe our forefathers, who in a still uncivilized age, when the world was only just born, were thought worthy of having the gods as their servants or rulers. Thus, it is that in every empire, province and city, each nationality observes the ritual of its own family and worships its local divinities. Thus, the Illusinians revere Ceres, the Phrygians, the Great Mother, the Epidarians, Escalapios, the Caldeans, Elus, the Syrians, Astarte, the Torians, Diana, the Gauls, Mercury, the Romans, all the gods. This is why the power and authority of the Romans has embraced the entire world, extended its empire beyond east and west and the borders of ocean itself. In the field, they exhibited valor combined with respect for the gods. They fortified their city with religious rites, with chaste maidens, with many priestly offices and titles. When besieged and with nothing between them and captivity but the capital, they still worship the gods whom others would have renounced as hostile and unarmed, saved with the weapons of religious faith, broke through the ranks of the Gauls, who were astounded at the audacity inspired by their reverence for the gods. Having stormed the enemy's ramparts, even the first frenzy of victory, they respected the divinities of the conquered, seeking everywhere for strange gods and adopting them as their own and even setting up altars to unknown powers and the shades of the dead. Thus, by adopting the rites of all nations, they became entitled to rule over them. Hence, the feeling of reverence for the gods continued uninterrupted and uniform, not diminishing but increasing as time went on. For the ancients were accustomed to attribute sanctity to religious ceremonies and temples in proportion to the antiquity attributed to them. End of section one. Section two of Octavius by Minucius Felix, translated by John Henry Freese. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Chapter seven. In the meantime, I will venture to grant the point. And, if I am wrong, I prefer to err in good company. It is not without good reason that our ancestors so zealously observed the auguries, consulted the entrails of victims, instituted sacrifices, and dedicated temples. Look at the records of our chronicles. You will find that our forefathers admitted the rites of all religions, either by way of thanks for divine favors, or to avert the threatened wrath of the gods, or to appease their actual rage and fury. Witness the idian mother who, on her arrival in Italy, both cleared the reputation of a Roman matron and delivered the city from the fear of the enemy. Witness the consecrated statues by the lake, representing the twin brethren on horseback, just as they appeared when, mounted on their foaming and reeking skis in hot haste, they brought the news of the victory over Perseus on the same day on which they had gained it. Witness the great renewal of the games in honor of offended Jupiter, the result of a plebeian's dream. Witness the self-devotion of the Dekai, justified by the event. Witness also, Certius, who filled up the deep and yawning gulf with the bulk of himself and his horse, while the people assisted by throwing in gifts of grain and valuables in his honor. More often, indeed, than we wished, neglect of the auspices has borne witness to the presence of the gods. Thus, Alia, in a name of Iloman, thus the attack of Claudius and Junius on the Carthaginians was no battle, but a disastrous shipwreck. Flaminius despised the auguries with the result that Lake Trasimus was swollen and died with Roman blood. Crassus mocked at and justly incurred the curses of the theories with the result that we had to reconquer our standards from the Parthians. I omit numerous instances in ancient history. I say nothing about the songs of the poets on the birth, gifts, and favors of the gods. I also pass over oracular predictions of the destiny of the world, lest the history of antiquity should seem to you too full of legend. Look at the temples and shrines of the gods, the protection and ornament of the Roman state. They are rather worthy of honor by reason that their divine inhabitants ever present indwellers, than rich in worship, decorations, and vote of gifts. Hence, it is that our seers full of and as it were mingled with the God, anticipated the future, give warning of dangers, heal the sick, encourage the afflicted, help the unfortunate, console the suffering, assist the toilers. Even when at rest we see, hear, and recognize those gods, whom in the daytime we impiously deny, refuse to acknowledge and forswear. Chapter 8. Accordingly, since all peoples are firmly convinced that there are immortal gods, although their nature and origin are undecided, I cannot think there is anyone so audacious and so swollen with impious pretensions to wisdom as to endeavor to destroy or weaken so ancient, useful, and salutary a religion. Certainly Theodorus of Cyrene, and previous to him, Diagoras of Milose, called Athios by the ancients, both asserted that there were no gods, a statement which, if believed, would have utterly destroyed the feeling of awe and veneration by which human actions are governed. But they will never secure much influence for their impious doctrines under the name and authority of their sham philosophy. Protagoras of Abdera, who discussed the question of the Godhead rather as a philosopher than as an atheist, was banished by the Athenians and his writings publicly burnt. Is it not then deplorable that an attack should be made upon the gods by certain fellows? You must excuse my expressing with some freedom how strongly I feel in regard to this cause I have taken up. Certain fellows, I repeat, belonging to a party whose case is hopeless, proscribed, and desperate? Having gathered together from the lowest dregs of the people, a number of ignorant men and credulous women, always ready to believe anything, they have formed a rabble of impious conspirators. At their nocturnal gatherings, solemn fasts, and barbers' meals, the bond of union is not any sacred rite, but crime. It is a people that lurks in darkness and shuns the light, silent in public, talkative in corners. They despise our temples as tombs, insult our gods, ridicule our ceremonies, and, in need of pity themselves, profess, if allowed, to pity our priests. Half-naked themselves, they contemptuously refuse offices and dignities, marvellous folly, and incredible audacity. They despise the torments that are before their eyes, but they fear those that are uncertain and in the future. They are afraid of dying after death, but have no fear of death itself. Thus treacherous hope quiets their alarm by the comforting assurance of a life hereafter. Ill weeds grow apace, and these vicious habits are spreading day by day, and these abdominable, secret haunts where these impious wretches hold their meetings, are increasing in number all over the world. These excruable conspirators must be utterly rooted out. They recognize one another by secret signs and marks. They love one another after the briefest acquaintance. A kind of religion of sensuality prevails amongst them. They call themselves permiuously brothers and sisters, and, under the cloak of these names, are guilty of the most horrible offenses. Thus their vain and foolish superstition glories in its crimes. Were these charges untrue, rumor, which is ever shrewd, would never spread such scandalous reports about them, such as I should be ashamed to mention. I am told that, under the influence of some foolish belief, they worship as sacred the head of the lowest of animals, the ass, a religion worthy of the morality from which it sprang. Again, to say that a man who had suffered capital punishment for a crime and the death-dealing wood of the cross are objects of their veneration, is to assign fitting altars to abandoned wretches and to assert that they worship what they deserve to worship. The details of the initiation of novices are as horrible as they are well known. An infant, covered with dough to deceive the unwary, is brought to the would-be novice, who, misled by the coating of dough and encouraged to deal what are apparently harmless blows, secretly stabs it to death. Then, shame on them, they thirstily lick up the child's blood and eagerly divide his limbs. This victim is their bond of union, complicity in the crime is their pledge of mutual silence. Such rights are more abominable than any acts of sacrilege. What takes place at their banquets is also well known. It is everywhere talked about, as is attested by a speech by our countryman of Serta. On a fixed day, they assemble together children, sisters, mothers, people of both sexes and of all ages. After much feasting, a dog fastened to the lamp is encouraged by some pieces of meat thrown to it to spring violently beyond the length of its chain. The lamp, which would have been an inconvenient witness, is overturned and extinguished. After this, riot and in decency reign supreme. I purposely omit much. What I have already said is too much and all or most of it is shown to be true by the very atmosphere of secrecy which surrounds this impious religion. Why do they make such efforts to hide and conceal whatever it is that they worship? Honorable acts always welcome publicity. Only crimes delight in secrecy. Why have they no altars, no temples, no well known images? Why do they never speak in public? Never meet freely. Unless it be that the hidden object of their worship is either criminal or disgraceful. But whence who or where is that one God solitary, forsaken, whom no free people or kingdom nor even Roman superstition has acknowledged? Only the miserable race of the Jews also worships one God, but at least openly with temples, altars, victims and ceremonies. Yet their God is so weak and powerless that he and his people are prisoners of the Romans. And what monstrous absurdities the Christians invent. According to them, that God of theirs whom they can neither see nor show to others carefully investigates all men's characters, acts, even their words and secret thoughts since he is present everywhere and always on the move. According to them, he is a nuisance, restless, shamelessly curious, being present at man's every act and wandering from place to place. But if he is occupied with the whole, he cannot attend to details and if he is engaged with details he cannot do his duty to the whole. Further, Christians threaten the whole world and the universe together with the hosts of heaven with destruction by fire and profess to believe in its future ruin as if the eternal order of things established by the divine laws of nature could be disturbed, the bond of all the elements broken, the framework of heaven taken to pieces and that mass by which it is enclosed and surrounded undermined. Not content with this insane idea they improve on it by adding certain old wives' fables. They assert that they are born again after death when they are nothing but dust and ashes and strangely confiding believe each other's lies. You would think that they had already come to life again. A twofold evil and a double folly while threatening the heavens and the stars with destruction whereas we leave them as we found them they promise themselves on the other hand eternal life when dead and extinct the inevitable sequel of birth. Hence, it is easy to understand why they curse our funeral pyres and condemn cremation. Just as if everybody, although withdrawn from the flames were not reduced to dust as the years and ages roll on just as if it makes any difference whether our bodies are torn to pieces by wild beasts swallowed up by the sea covered with earth or destroyed by fire any kind of burial must be a punishment to them if they had any feeling after death. If they have not, cremation must be regarded as a more beneficent remedy in the rapidity of its effect. Self-deceived, they promise themselves as the elect the blessings of eternal life after death. The rest of the world as evildoers are doomed to eternal punishment. I could say much more on this but I am in a hurry to conclude my speech. I need not labour the point that it is they themselves who are the evildoers. I have already proved it although even if I were to admit that they are good and honest men I know that most people are of the opinion and in this you agree that guilt or innocence is the work of fate. While some consider fate responsible for all our actions you attribute them to God so that the members of your sect do not favour it of their own accord but as the elect of God. Thus you imagine an unjust judge who while punishing men for an action which is due to fate spares those who follow their own will. However I should like to ask whether we are to rise again with or without bodies if the former with what bodies with the old or new ones without bodies but this so far as I can judge would mean no life, no mind, no soul with the old bodies but these would have been dissolved long ago with new ones then this is a case of the birth of a new man not the renovation of the old and yet although so much time has elapsed and countless ages have passed is there a single trustworthy instance of a man having returned from dead like Protosilos if only for a few hours? all these figments of a disordered brain these senseless consolations invented by lying poets to lend a charm to their verse to your shame you have hashed up in your excessive credulity in honour of your God Chapter 12 not even does the experience of the present convince you how deceptive are these empty hopes and useless promises miserable wretches you can guess from what happens to you during life what awaits you in death look, some of you, the greater the better part as you assert suffer from want, cold, toil and hunger and your God permits it or tends not to see it he either will not or cannot help his people hence he is either powerless or unjust you who dream of immortality after death when unnerved by severe illness consumed by fever wracked by pain can you not yet understand your condition do you not yet recognize your frailty? against your will miserable wretch you are convicted of weakness but will not admit it but to pass over things common to all consider again what awaits you threats, punishment, torture crosses, no longer objects of worship but instruments of suffering and prayers which you both anticipate and read where is that God of yours who is able to help those who come to life again but not the living do not the Romans without the help of your God rule, govern and possess the whole world and hold sway over yourselves you in the meantime in your suspense and anxiety abstain from legitimate amusements you never visit the shows never join the processions never attend the public banquets you express abhorrence of the sacred games of meat already offered in sacrifice of libations poured upon the altars thus you show your fear of the very gods whom you deny you never crown your heads with garlands nor grace your bodies with perfumes you reserve unjuints for funerals you even refuse to lay wreaths on the grave pale and trembling wretches who deserve to be pitied but by our gods therefore if you have any sense any feeling of shame give up prying into the quarters of the sky the destinies and secrets of the universe for ignorant uneducated rude uncultivated people to whom it has not been given to understand human affairs and who are still less qualified to discuss things divine for such it is sufficient to look at what is before their eyes if however any one of you desires to philosophize if he is capable of it let him if he can imitate the example of Socrates the prince of wisdom whenever that illustrious man was asked about heavenly things he answers as it is well-known that which is above us has nothing to do with us justly therefore the oracle paid a tribute to his remarkable wisdom he himself clearly perceived that he was put before all other men by the oracle not because he had found out everything but because he had learnt that he knew nothing the height of wisdom is the confession of ignorance this was the source of the prudent skepticism in most important questions which distinguished Archizelus and later Carnids and several academicians this attitude enables the ignorant to philosophize with caution the learned with ostentation is not the hesitation of simides the lyric poet worthy of the admiration and imitation of all when the tyrant Hyrule asked him what he thought about the gods and their nature he first asked for a day to consider the next day he put off his answer for two days more and then in spite of the hints given him he asked for another two days at last when Hyrule asked the reason of his long delay he answered the more carefully and deliberately I examined the matter the more obscured as the truth appear I also am of opinion that things which are doubtful should be left as they are and since so many distinguished men are unable to make up their minds we must not hastily and rashly take one side or the other lest an old wives superstition should be introduced or religion be entirely destroyed End of Section 2 Section 3 of Octavius by Manusius Felix translated by John Henry Freese This is a LibriVox recording While LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Chapter 14 Having finished his speech Cecilius beamed with joy for the vehemence of his outburst had soothed his indignant excitement turned to Octavius and asked How's Octavius, one of the tribe of Plautus the best of bakers but the worst of philosophers anything to say and reply to this Stop jeering at him, I interrupted you have no right to want your carefully arranged speech before the matter has been more fully discussed on both sides especially as the aim of your argument is not glory but truth Certainly I have been greatly delighted by your varied and subtle arguments but I am more deeply impressed not in reference to the present discussion but to argument in general by the feeling that in most cases our attitude towards even the clearest truth is affected by the orator's talents and the power of his eloquence This it is well known is due to the hearer's easy nature they allow their minds to be diverted from attention to things by the allurement of words they assent without discrimination to all that is said being unable to distinguish the true from the false and they are unaware that what seems incredible may contain a truth than what is probable may be false and so the more they believe the serverations of others the more frequently they are refuted by more skillful debaters thus being continually the dupes of their own rashness they shift the blame and the responsibility for their own judgment and complain of the uncertainty of things they prefer to condemn everything and to leave all in doubt rather than express a decided opinion upon things that always prove deceptive therefore we must beware of becoming possessed with hatred of all speeches whatever which would cause numbers of simple-minded persons to be carried away by execration and hatred of all mankind for those who are careless and credulous are deceived by those whom they thought to be good by a similar kind of mistake they regard all with suspicion in fear as dishonorable those whom they might have considered most worthy this is the reason of our anxiety every matter is capable of discussion from two points of view on the one side is truth though generally difficult to find on the other a wonderful acuteness which sometimes by its copious language apes the certainty of an undisputed proof we must therefore consider each point by itself as carefully as we can so that while duly appreciating subtlety of argument we may at the same time be able to pick up and prove and adopt what is right Chapter 15 you are deviating from the duty of a conscientious judge said Cecilius it is very wrong of you to weaken the force of my pleading by interposing so weighty an argument since it is for Octavius to refute each point at present untouched and not yet mooted if he can as for your charge I answered unless I am mistaken my words were spoken in the general interest my idea was that we should examine everything most carefully and base our judgment not on bombastic eloquence but on the solid foundation of facts but as you justly complain our attention must no longer be diverted let us hear the answer of our friend Januarius who is eager to speak in perfect silence Chapter 16 then said Octavius I will reply to the best of my ability at the same time you must help me to wash away bitter and disgraceful abuse with the water of truth I will not deny that at first the opinion of my friend Natalis seemed so hesitating, vague undecided and uncertain that I could not make out whether it was upset by his own shrewdness or wavered through error for his opinion varies at one time he declares his belief in the gods at another disputes it with the result that the indefiniteness of his argument makes the purport of my reply even more indefinite and ill-founded but I do not wish to believe indeed I do not believe that there is any craftiness in Natalis subtlety and trickery are far removed from his simple character what then? just as a man who does not know the right road when, as is often the case it divides into several and is perplexed and anxious not venturing to choose one or to try all in like manner if a man has found no fixed criterion of truth whether an ill-founded suggestion is brought to his notice his opinions always hesitating disappear all together and so it is no wonder that Cecilius is often tossed about excited and wavering in the midst of contradictions and inconsistencies to prevent this going farther I will refute and disprove his arguments however varied they are by the confirmation and establishment of a single truth thus he will be freed from all further doubt and hesitation and since my brother has given vent to his feelings and declares that he is vexed, angry, indignant and grieved that certain uneducated poor and inexperienced people should discuss heavenly things he must not forget that all human beings without distinction of age sex or rank are born incapable of reason and able to understand that they do not obtain wisdom by chance but that it is implanted in them by nature even the philosophers themselves or any other scientific discoverers whose names have been handed down were considered common, ignorant and half-naked before their keenness of intellect brought lustre on their name indeed the rich are so taken up with their wealth that they are in the habit of thinking more of gold than of heaven the poor disciples who have both found wisdom and have handed down its teaching to others hence it is clear that talent is neither to be obtained by wealth nor acquired by study but is created within us at the time when the mind itself is formed and so there is no reason to be grieved or indignant if anyone, whoever he be examines things divine and expresses his opinion it is not the authority of the disputant but the truth contained in the disputation that needs examination the less learned the language the clearer the argument since it is not disguised by bombastic eloquence or charm of style but is supported in its true character by the rule of truth Chapter 17 I do not reject the principle which Cecilius has endeavored to establish as one of great importance namely that man ought thoroughly to examine and acquire a knowledge of himself his nature, his origin and his destination whether he is a compound of elements a skillful arrangement of atoms or preferably created, formed and animated by God but it is just this that we cannot investigate and bring to light without an examination of the universe all things are so closely connected combined and linked together that it is impossible to understand the nature of man without thoroughly examining the nature of the deity it is impossible successfully to administer affairs of state without a knowledge of this state that is common to all the world above all we should remember in what respect we chiefly differ from the beasts of the field they ever bending forward with heads towards the ground are adapted to look for nothing but their food we with looks erect and eyes lifted to heaven endowed with speech and reason whereby we recognize, feel and imitate God neither ought to nor can we ignore the heavenly brightness that thrusts itself before our eyes and senses it would be extremely like sacrilege to look on the ground for that which can only be found on high hence I am the more convinced that those who maintain that the arrangement of the entire universe is not the perfected work of divine intelligence but a mere ball the result of the fortuitous adherence of fragments of matter are themselves devoid of sense and understanding even of the power of sight lift up your eyes to heaven examine what is below and around you what can be clearer more certain more obvious than that there exists a supreme being endowed with the highest intelligence by whom the whole of nature is inspired moved nourished and governed look at the sky itself its vast expanse its rapid revolution whether studied with stars by night or illuminated by the sun by day you will at once understand how wonderful how divine is the equilibria maintained by the supreme ruler of the universe consider how the moon by its increase weighing and disappearance brings round the month I need only mention the successive recurrence of darkness and light to provide the alternate renewal of work and rest I must leave the astrologers to speak at greater length about the stars their influence on the course of navigation how they usher in the time for plowing and harvest the creation development and arrangement of all these things not only needed a supreme architect in perfect intelligence but they cannot even be felt perceived and understood without a supreme effort of reason and understanding what again about the order of the seasons of the year and its fruits marked by constancy amidst a variety do not spring with its flowers summer with its harvest autumn with its ripe and delicious fruits winter so necessary for the growth of the olives do not all alike bear witness to their mother and creator this order would be soon upset unless it were maintained by a supreme intelligence further what force I did shown in the insertion of the medium temperature of spring and autumn so that we may not be nipped with cold by a perpetual winter nor scorched with heat by a perpetual summer and the transition from one season to another as the year retraces its course is hardly noticed and does no harm look at the sea it is limited by the boundary fixed for see how all the plants draw life from the bowels of the earth gaze upon the ocean it's alternate ebb and flow consider the springs with their inexhaustible supply of water observe the rivers ever flowing in their regular course what shall I say of the apt arrangement of the steep mountains of the winding hills of the outstretched planes what of the various means of defense against each other possessed by animals summer armed with horns others protected by teeth others shod with hooves others furnished with sharp stings summer protected by their swiftness of foot or soaring pinions the very beauty of our form declares the workmanship of God our upright attitude uplifted countenance our eyes set in the top of the face as in a watch tower and all our other organs of sense in their allotted positions as in a fortress Chapter 18 it would take too long to go through all the details there is no single member of the human body which is not either necessary or ornamental and it is even more surprising that although we all have the same form each one of us has different features thus we all seem alike while in reality we are all found to be unlike each other what is the meaning of birth is not the desire of procreation implanted in us by God so that the mother's breast may be full of milk the offspring matures and that the tender fruit may grow up nourished by its copious flow but God takes thought not only for the universe but for each of its parts Britain lacks sunshine but is refreshed by the warmth of the sea that surrounds it the river Nile moderates the drought of Egypt the Euphrates compensates Mesopotamia for the want of rain the Indus is said to both sow and water the east if you entered a house and found it carefully kept properly arranged well furnished you would certainly believe that it had an owner far superior to all those fine things who looked after it it is the same in the case of this house called the universe when you see providence order and law prevailing in heaven and earth believe that there is a ruler and author of the universe more beautiful even than the stars and the different parts of the world but perhaps since there is no doubt about the existence of a providence you think you ought to inquire the earthly kingdom is governed by a single ruler or according to the will of several the solution of the question presents little difficulty to the one who considers the earthly kingdoms which are modeled on the celestial one has an imperial partnership ever begun in good faith or been dissolved without bloodshed I say nothing about the Persians who selected their ruler by omens drawn from the name of horses I pass over the story of the Theban pair now long forgotten the story of the twins fighting for a kingdom of shepherds and huts is well known the wars between father and law and son in law spread all over the world and the fortunes of so mighty an empire had not room for two rulers consider other instances the bees have only one king the flocks only one head the herds only one leader can you believe that in heaven the supreme power is divided and that the entire majesty of that true divine authority is broken up it is obvious that god the father of all has neither beginning nor end he who gives existence to all has given himself eternal life before the world was created he was a world in himself whatsoever things there are he calls into being by his word arranges them by his wisdom and perfects them by his might he is invisible for he is too bright for us to look upon he is impelpable for he is too pure for us to touch he is incomprehensible for he is beyond can infinite immense and his real greatness is known to himself alone our mind is too limited to understand him therefore we can only form a just estimate of him by calling him inestimable I will frankly state my opinion the man who thinks that he knows the greatness of god depreciates it he who does not desire to depreciate it is ignorant of it nor need you seek a name for god god is his name names are only necessary where a large number of persons have to be distinguished individually by special marks and designations for god who is alone the name god is all sufficient if I should speak of him as father you would think of him as an earthly father if as king you would imagine him as a king of the world if as lord you would certainly understand him to be mortal take away all additional names and you will behold his splendor on this point all agree with me when the common people stretch out their hands to heaven they say nothing but god and god is great or god is true if god grant is that the natural language of the people or a form of words used by the christian in confessing his faith even those who are in favor of jupiter as their supreme lord are only mistaken in the name they agree with us that there is a single undivided authority CHAPTER 19 I also find the poets proclaiming the father of gods and men and that the mind of man varies according to the day which the father of all has appointed for him what can be clearer, truer or more apposite than what morrow of mantua says in the beginning heaven and earth and the other parts of the world are nourished by a spirit within and moved by a pervading mind whence come the race of man flocks and herds and all other living things in another passage he calls that mind and breath god these are his words god pervades all lands the tracks of the sea and high heaven whence come the race of man flocks and herds, fire and water what else do we also declare god to be but mind, intelligence and spirit if you like let us review the teaching of the philosophers you will find that although their language varies they are essentially at one and in agreement as to this one point I omit these ignorant men of old who earned the name of wise men from their sayings let fails of mildest come first who was the first to discuss heavenly things that same fails held water to be the first principle of all things god being the mind which formed everything from it this idea of water and spirit is too lofty and sublime to have been invented by man but must have been suggested to him by god so you see that the opinion of the first of philosophers is in complete agreement with our own next, Anaximenes and after him Diogenes of Apollonia teach that the infinite and boundless air is god here again they agree as to the existence of a divinity according to Anaxagoras god is the arrangement and movement of an infinite intelligence the god of Pythagoras is also a mind pervading and diffuse throughout the entire universe from which the life of all living creatures is derived it is well known that xenophains held god to be the infinite all combined with intelligence that Antisthenes maintained that the gods of different peoples were many but that there was only one supreme god of nature Speasipus recognized as god a certain vital force by which everything is governed does not democratis although the originator of the atomic theory generally give the name of god to nature which sends forth images of things and to intelligence Stratto also calls nature god even the well known Epicurus who pretends that the gods are either idle or non-existent sets nature above them Aristotle though he frequently contradicts himself assigns supreme power to one at one time he calls mind god at another the world at another he subordinates the world to god Heraclides of Pontus also though not always consistent ascribes a divine intellect to the world the Ephrastis too varies at one time investing the world with supreme authority at another the divine mind Xeno, Chrysippus and Cleantys similarly inconsistent all three hark back to the idea of the unity of providence Cleantys at one time argues that mind at another that soul at another that ether but generally that reason is god his master Xeno considers the beginning of all things to be natural and divine law but sometimes ether sometimes reason further by explaining Juno as the air, Jupiter as the sky Neptune as the sea Vulcan as fire and by similarly demonstrating that the other gods of the vulgar were only natural elements he vigorously attacks and refutes a common error Chrysippus says almost the same believing that god is a divine force nature endowed with reason the universe or the necessity of fate he follows Xeno physiological interpretation of the poems of Homer, Hesiod and Orpheus Diogenes the Babylonian follows the same line in discussing and explaining the birth of Jupiter the origin of Minerva and other similar incidents which he regards as the names of things not of gods Xenophon the follower of Socrates asserts that the form of the true god is invisible and therefore should not be looked for Eristan the stoic that he is absolutely incomprehensible both of them though they despaired of understanding it were conscious of the majesty of god Plato speaks more plainly both in substance and expression concerning god his language would be quite divine were it not sometimes debased by an alloy of political bias thus in the Timaeus Plato's god is by his very name the author of the world the creator of the soul the maker of all things in heaven and earth whose great and extraordinary power makes it difficult to find him and even if he were found it would be impossible to speak of him to all men this is almost exactly what we say we both know god and call him the father of all things but never speak of him publicly unless we are asked End of Section 3 Section 4 of Octavius by Anusius Felix translated by John Henry Freese this is a Librivox recording a Librivox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit Librivox.org I have now stated the opinions of nearly all the most distinguished philosophers they describe one god under different names so that one might think either that the present day Christians are philosophers or that the early philosophers were Christians but if the world is ruled by providence and governed by the will of a single god we ought not to allow the ignorant men of antiquity delighted or captivated by their fables to hurry us into the mistake of agreeing with them they are refuted by the opinions of their own philosophers supported by the authority of reason and antiquity our ancestors were so ready to believe any lies that they even accepted without thinking such monstrous prodigies as silo with many bodies of many shapes hydra ever growing again from its fruitful wounds centaurs like horse and rider grown together all the fictions of tradition were eagerly listened to what of those old wives fables of men being changed into birds and beasts into trees and flowers if such things had ever happened they would happen now but since they cannot happen now they have never happened our ancestors were similarly mistaken their religious worship of their kings their desire of seeing them in the form of images after their death their eagerness to keep the memory of them alive in statues caused what had originally been intended as a means of consolation to become objects of worship finally before the world was thrown open to commerce before the ritual and customs of the different nations were intermingled each people revered its founder or a famous commander or a famous commander or a modest queen superior to her sex or the inventor of some art or public boon or a citizen worthy of remembrance in this manner both the dead were rewarded and an example was given to posterity Chapter 21 Read the writings of historians or philosophers you will find it as I say Youhemaris maintains that men were deified as the reward of their services in war or peace he records the day of their birth the place where they were born and buried and locates them in different districts Jupiter and Deeked Apollo and Delphi Isis and Pharaohs Ceres and Eleusis Prodicus speaks of men admitted amongst the gods who as the result of their travels conferred great blessings upon mankind by the discovery of new fruits Perseus pursues the same line of argument adding the same names to the fruits discovered and their discoverers just as the comic poet says Venus without Bacchus and Ceres is cold the famous Alexander the Great of Macedon in a remarkable letter to his mother asserts that the secret of men made gods was revealed to him by a priest who was afraid of his own power he makes Vulcan supreme and next to the family of Jupiter Saturn the head of this large family according to all the ancient Greek and Roman writers was a man the historians Nepos and Cassius are aware of this Thalus and Diodorus say the same this Saturn a fugitive from Crete in fear of his son's rage came to Italy where he was hospitably received by Janus in return being a paltry Greek though a man of some culture he taught those untutored rustics many useful arts such as writing coinage in the manufacture of various implements he preferred that his retreat should be called Latium since it had afforded him a safe hiding place and he and Janus have both handed down their name to posterity the one in that city Saturnia the other in the Geniculum certainly then he who was a fugitive and in hiding was a man the son of a man and the father of a man he was only said to be the son of earth and heaven because the Italians did not know who his parents were just as to this day they speak of those who unexpectedly present themselves as if they were sent down from heaven but call those who are obscure and of ignoble birth sons of earth after the expulsion of Saturn his son Jupiter reigned in Crete had sons there and died there the cave of Jupiter can be seen his grave is still shown and his human nature is proved by the sacrifices offered him it would be a waste of time to go through all his descendants and to set forth the entire lineage of that family since the mortal nature that was established in the case of their first parents was communicated to the rest by mere order of succession but perhaps you make gods of them after their death just as Romulus was deified by the perjury of Procolus Juba by the will of the Moors and all the other deified kings who are placed amongst the gods rather to do honor to their reign than as a confirmation of their divine nature the gods bestowed upon them against their will they would rather continue to be men they are afraid of becoming gods and in spite of their age do not wish to be deified the dead cannot become gods since a god cannot die nor can any who are born since everything that is born dies but that alone is divine which has neither beginning nor end for if gods were once born why are they not born now can it be that Jupiter is too old that Juno has become barren or she has had a child is it not more probable that the supposed generation of gods has come to an end because fables of this kind are no longer believed moreover if the gods could have children but could not die the number of gods would exceed that of men in that case heaven could not contain them nor air hold them nor earth support them this proves that those gods were men of whom we read and know that they were born and died Chapter 22 No one can doubt then that the common people will supplicate and publicly worship the consecrated images of such men as long as the imagination and understanding of the ignorant is led astray by artistic beauty of style blinded by the glitter of gold deadened by the sheen of silver and the whiteness of ivory but if one calls to mind the instruments and machines used in fashioning every statue he will feel ashamed of the material on which a workman has exercised his ingenuity to make it into a god for the god that is made of wood perhaps a piece of funeral pile or a gallows is hung up hewn, chipped, and planed the god of gold or silver is melted down from a dirty vessel as was often done by a king of Egypt beaten with hammers and fashioned on the anvil the god of stone is hewn, carved and polished by some vile wretch and is no more aware of the disgraceful of his birth than of the honor paid him by your veneration but perhaps you may say the stone, wood, or silver is not yet a god when, then, does it become one it is cast, fashioned and carved, but is not yet a god it is soldered, put together and set up, but still it is not a god it is bedecked, consecrated and supplicated, then at last it is a god since man wielded it to be so and has declared it holy chester is the estimate of your gods shown in the natural instincts of dumb animals mice, swallows, hawks knowing that they cannot feel peck them, tread on them, purge upon them and in less driven away build nests even in the mouth of your god spiders spin their web over his face and suspend their threads from his head you wipe them clean them, scrape them thus, those whom you have yourselves made are both protected and dreaded by you not one of you remembers that he ought to know god before he worships him rashly eager to obey your elders you prefer to assent to the errors of others rather than trust yourself while knowing nothing about that which you dread thus in gold and silver as avarice consecrated thus the form of useless statues has been confirmed thus roman superstition has originated if you examine their rights how many are ridiculous how many even pitiable some run about naked during the cruel winter others walk about with felt caps on their heads carry round old shields beat drums carry the gods from street to street asking alms certain shrines may only be entered once a year some it is forbidden to enter at all to some men are refused admission and women are excluded from certain rights at certain ceremonies even the presence of a slave is a crime that calls for atonement some shrines are crowned by a woman who has had only one husband others by one who has had several and in some instances a woman who has on several occasions been guilty of adultery is religiously sought for with not the man who offers libations of his own blood and makes his wounds an occasion for supplication be better without any religion at all than with such a religion as that do not those who thus mediate themselves insult the God whom they hope to propitiate if God wanted eunuchs he would create them not have them made it is easy to understand how half insane foolish and wrong-headed persons fall into such absurdities and how those who go astray from the truth find mutual support in their very numbers in fact the large number of madmen is the excuse for the general madness lastly consider the sacred rights and the mysteries themselves you will find that the history of these wretched gods is one of tragic ends deaths and burials sorrow and lamentation thus year in year out they always lose what they find or find what they lose is it not yet these rights of Egyptian origin are now practiced in Rome where you can play the fool with the swallow and rattle of Isis and at the tomb of your Serapis or Osiris which is empty now that his limbs have been scattered abroad series with a lighted torch girdled with snakes full of care and anxiety searches for her daughter Libra who was carried off during her wandering and dishonored this is the meaning of the Elucidian mysteries and what are the rights of Jupiter a goat is his nurse the child is removed to prevent his being devoured by his greedy father the tinkling symbols of the caribans are loudly beaten that the father may not hear the child's cries again do not the very form and appearance of your gods show the ridiculous and disgraceful nature Vulcan is lame and feeble Apollo beardless in spite of his years while Escalopias although the son of the ever youthful Apollo is full bearded Neptune has grey eyes Minerva blue Juno those of an ox Mercury has wings on his feet Pan hooves Saturn fetters Janus has two faces so that he appears to be walking backwards Diana as a huntress has her dress skirt up high at Ephesus she is represented with a number of swelling breasts as trivia she is a dreadful being with three heads and many hands even your Jupiter himself is sometimes represented as beardless in other places as bearded when he is called Hammond he has horns Escapichillinus he wields the thunderbolt as Latiaris he is covered with blood as Feritrius he is no longer heard of not to waste time over all these Jupiters I will merely say that he has as many monstrous forms as names Origini hanged herself that she might shine amongst the stars as the Virgin Caster and Pollux die alternately that both may live Escalopias is struck by lightning that he may rise a God Hercules is consumed by fire on Mount Eda to divest himself of his mortal nature all these fables and delusions we learn from ignorant parents and what is worse improve upon them as the result of our own training and studies especially the works of the poets whose authority has been exceedingly prejudicial to the cause of truth for this reason Plato was quite right to exclude the famous poet Homer whom he had loaded with praise and garlands from the model state set up by him in his dialogue The Republic for it was Homer in particular who in his story of the Trojan War made your gods take part in human affairs and actions although certainly he was only joking set pairs of them fighting represented Venus wounded wounded and put to flight he tells us how Jupiter was set free by Briarius who prevented his being bound by the rest of the gods how he wept for his son Sarpedon with tears of blood since he could not save him from death according to another poet Hercules has to carry away Dung and Apollo tends the flocks of Edmitus Neptune built walls for Leomedon and the unlucky builder received no pay for his work elsewhere again we read of the forging of the thunderbolt of Jove and the arms of Aeneas on an Anvil although the sky, thunder and lightning were in existence long before Jupiter was born in Crete and a Cyclops could no more imitate the flashes of the real thunderbolt than Jupiter could help fearing it why need I speak of Mars and Venus caught in open adultery and the shameful passion of Jupiter for Ganymede which received divine sanction all these stories have been put forward to provide a certain justification for human vices by these and similar even more attractive fictions and lies the minds of boys are corrupted they grow up to the prime of life with the same stories deeply rooted in their minds and reach old age miserable wretches that they are still of the same opinion although the truth is easy to find if only they will seek for it but according to you it was just this superstition that gave the Romans their empire increased it and set it on a firm footing since their strength not so much in their valor as in their religion and dutiful conduct towards the gods everybody knows that Roman Justice so remarkable and world renowned came into being while the infant empire was still in its cradle at the very outset were not the Romans drawn together by crime was not the growth of their power due to the immunity afforded by dread of their cruelty the original Romans gathered together in an asylum to which had flocked numbers of desperate men, criminals lewd fellows, cutthroats and traitors and Romulus himself their leader and commander to surpass his people in crime killed his own brother such were the first beginnings of this religious state soon afterwards they carried off ridiculed and violated young women from other states already betrothed and promised to a husband and even married women an unparalleled insult to crown all they made war upon their own fathers in law and shed the blood of relatives what could have been more impious more audacious, more disgraceful than this shameless crime the result was that the other kings and later rulers like Romulus made it their common practice to drive out their neighbors from their territory to overthrow the states nearest to them together with their temples and altars to drive them into captivity to grow greater by robbing others and by their own crimes thus all the territory that the Romans now hold, cultivate and occupy has been acquired by bare faced theft the temples have all been built with the proceeds of the spoils of war, the destruction of cities the murder of priests, the plundering of the gods, it is an insult and a mockery to serve the gods of the conquered to take them captive and after defeating them to offer them homage to worship what one has taken by main force is to consecrate sacrilege not gods thus the Roman triumphs always involved with the forces against religion all trophies won from other nations were so many robberies from the gods the truth is that the Romans owed their greatness not to piety but to sacrilege that went unpunished for they could not have looked for assistance in their wars from the gods against whom they had taken up arms but whom they did not begin to worship until they had triumphed over them but what can those gods of yours do for the Romans seeing that they were powerless to defend their own people against your arms we know the native gods of Rome Romulus, Picus, Tibernius, Consus, Palumnis, Volumnus Cloesina was invented in her worship introduced by Tadius Pavor, Fear, and Paler Palmus, by Hastilius soon afterwards Fibras was deified by someone unknown such as the foster mother of the city superstition, diseases, and infirmities surely Acca, Laurentia, and Flora, two shameful harlots must be reckoned amongst the diseases as well as amongst the deities of the Romans of course it was these gods who overcame the resistance of the gods worshiped by other nations and enlarged the Roman Empire for Thrashen Mars, Cretan Jupiter, Argyre of Simeon or Phoenician Juno, Torek Diana the Aedian mother or those Egyptian gods or rather monsters certainly never assisted you against their own worshippers but perhaps your maidens were more chaste your priests holier have not many of the vestals been punished for immorality and others have escaped by mere good luck are not your temples haunts of vice managed by the priests and yet before the Romans existed by divine dispensation Assyrians, Medes, Persians, even Greeks and Egyptians long ruled over mighty empires although they had no priests Arvil brethren, soli, vestals or augers no chickens shut up in a cage by whose acceptance or rejection of their food the destinies of the state were decided I now come to those auspices and augeries of which you have so laboriously collected examples to prove that neglect of them always brings regret their observance good fortune no doubt Claudius and Flaminius and Junius lost their armies because they did not think it worthwhile to wait until the chickens began to feed greedily what about Regulus? did he not observe the augeries and yet was taken prisoner? Mansinus showed due respect for religion and yet was given up to the enemy and sent under the yoke Paulus also found the chickens very greedy but was defeated at Cannae with the greater part of his army Gaius Caesar although the augeries and auspices were against his crossing to Africa before winter paid no attention to them and the result was that his voyage was more favorable and his victory speedier and what and how much shall I tell you about the oracles Infiarus predicted what was to happen after his death but did not know that he would be betrayed by his wife for the sake of a necklace the blind Thereseus who could not see the present saw the future Aeneas invented the answers of the Pythian Apollo about Pyrrhus although the god had long before that ceased to deliver oracles in verse for his cautious and ambiguous oracle was no longer credited when men began to be better educated and less credulous Demosthenes also being aware that the oracular responses were mere inventions that the Pythian priestess was a Philippic sometimes however auspices or oracles have hit the truth and amidst a host of lies chance may seem to have played the part of design nevertheless I will attempt to unearth and bring into the light of day the source of that error and perverseness the origin of all the present obscurity there exist certain wandering unclean spirits who have lost their heavenly activities from being weighed down by earthly passions and disorders so then these spirits burdened with sin and steeped vice who have sacrificed their original simplicity being themselves lost unceasingly strive to destroy others as a consolation for their own misfortune depraved themselves they strive to communicate error and depravity to others estranged from god they strive to alienate others by the introduction of vicious forms of religion poets know these spirits as demons philosophers discuss their existence and Socrates recognized it by avoiding or pursuing a certain course of action in accordance with the will and command of the demon who was always by his side the magi also are not aware of the existence of demons but all their pretended miracles are the work of these spirits by their inspiration and influence they perform juggler's tricks causing things which do not exist to appear and things which do exist to disappear Hostenis the chief of these magi by reason of his eloquence and performances renders to the true god the homage that he deserves he also recognizes that the angels and his servants and messengers guard the throne of god and stand by his side to worship, terrified and trembling at a sign or look from their master Hostenis has also told us of earthly demons wandering spirits the enemies of mankind does not Plato who thought it hard to find god find it easy to tell of angels and demons does he not in the dialogue symposium even attempt to define their nature he assumes that it is a substance midway between mortal and immortal substance that is between body and spirit an admixture or compound of the heaviness of earth and the lightness of heaven from this he tells us love is fashioned penetrates the human heart, excites the senses creates the passions and inspires the ardor of desire End of Section 4 Section 5 of Octavius by Minucius Felix translated by John Henry Freese this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Chapter 27 Now these unclean spirits the demons as the magi and philosophers have shown conceal themselves in statues and consecrated images and by their spiritual influence acquire the authority of a present divinity at one time they inspire the soothsayers at another take up their abode in the temples sometimes animate the fibers of the victim's entrails direct the flight of birds control the lots compose oracles enveloped in a mist of untruth for they both deceive and are deceived being ignorant of the pure truth to their own destruction they are afraid to confess that which they do know thus they weigh down men's minds and draw them from heaven call them away from the true god to material things disturb their lives and trouble their sleep getting into men's bodies thanks to their rarefied and subtle nature they counterfeit diseases terrify the imagination rack the limbs to compel men to worship them then sated with the fumes from the altars and the slaughter of beasts they undo what they have tied themselves so as to appear to have affected a cure they are also responsible for the madmen whom you see running out into the streets themselves soothsayers of a kind but without a temple raging, ranting whirling round in the dance there is the same demoniacal possession but the object of the frenzy is different similarly they are the origin of such stories as you recently mentioned Jupiter's demand and a dream for the renewal of his games the appearance of castor and Pollux on horseback to all these things as most of you are aware the demons themselves plead guilty when they are driven out of our bodies by the compelling force of our words Saturn, Serapis, Jupiter and whatsoever demons you worship when overcome by pain confess what they are they certainly would not lie and bring disgrace upon themselves especially when any of you were present you may believe their own testimony that they are demons when they confess the truth about themselves for when adjured by the only true God against their will poor wretches they quake with fear in men's bodies and either come forth at once or gradually disappear according as the faith of the sufferer assists or the grace of the healer inspires thus they avoid the company of Christians whom they formerly attacked from a distance in their meetings with your assistants again since it is natural to hate those whom you fear and if possible to assail those whom you hate they make their way into the minds of the ignorant and implant hatred of us secretly by the agency of fear thus they take possession of men's souls and block up their hearts they may begin to hate us before they know us for they are afraid that when they do know us they may either be inclined to imitate us or at least unable to condemn us chapter 28 how unfair it is to pass judgment as you do upon what is unknown and unexamined you can judge it from our own confession for we were once the same as you blind and ignorant our opinions were once the same as yours we believe that the Christians worshiped monsters ate the flesh of infants and practiced incest at their feasts we did not understand that these tales were always being spread abroad by the demons without examination or proof we did not remember that during all this time no one came forward to betray the secret although he would not only have been forgiven but also rewarded for his information Christian is so far from being an evil that its followers when accused show neither shame nor fear one regret is that they have not become Christians sooner we however, when undertaking the defense and advocacy of certain sacrilegious and incestuous persons even of parasites did not think that Christians ought to be given a hearing at all sometimes out of pity for them we treated them with even greater cruelty torturing them to force them to deny their faith so as to save their lives in their case the practice of torture was reversed it was employed not to elicit the truth but to compel people to lie if any one, weaker than his neighbors crushed and overwhelmed by suffering abjured his faith we looked upon him with favor as if in renouncing the name he had atoned for all his crimes do you understand that we once thought and acted as you do now whereas if reason and not the prompting of a demon had controlled our decision Christians should rather have been forced not to disavow their faith but to confess their incest their sinful rites, their sacrifice of children it is with these and such like fables that these same demons have filled the ears of the ignorant to our prejudice to excite horror and indignation against us and no wonder, since rumor whichever feeds on the lies that are spread about but is put to an end by the manifestation of the truth is equally the work of demons it is they who propagate and keep alive this is the origin of the story which you say you have heard the deification of an ass's head who would be so foolish as to worship such a thing or even still more foolish and believe it except yourselves who keep whole asses as sacred in your stables together with your or their opponent and piously decorate them and company with ISIS who sacrifice oxen and sheep and worship their heads and set up as gods, beings, half-goats half-men or with dogs and lions faces do you not, like the Egyptians worship and feed the bull apis nor do you condemn their rights instituted in honor of serpents, crocodiles and other beasts, birds and fishes the penalty for killing any one of which gods is death again, like these same Egyptians you are guilty of certain shameful acts of which you accuse us these and the like infamous practices we may not even hear described many of us think it a disgrace to speak of them even in our own defense you falsely allege that acts are committed by modest clean living persons such as we should deem incredible if your own acts did not demonstrate their possibility Chapter 29 as to the worship of a criminal and his cross with which you charge our religion you are far from the truth in thinking either that a criminal deserved or that a mortal had the power to be believed to be a god truly the man deserves pity who rests all his hopes on a mere mortal with whose death all his power of rendering assistance is at an end the Egyptians certainly select one of themselves as an object of worship court his favor alone consult him about everything sacrifice victims to him but this man whom others regard as a god is certainly only a man in his own eyes whether he will or know for even if he can dupe another person's conscience he cannot deceive his own even kings and princes are not only hailed as great and elect names to which they have a right but are falsely called gods by disgraceful flatterers whereas honor would be the truest homage to a famous man and affection the most agreeable tribute that could be offered to the worthiest thus they invoke the godhead of these men offer up supplication at their images implore the aid of their genius that is their demon more dangerous to swear falsely by the genius of the emperor than by that of Jupiter we neither worship crosses nor wish for them certainly you who consecrate gods of wood may perhaps worship wooden crosses as parts of your gods for what are your standards banners and ensigns but gilded and decorated crosses your trophies of victory not only present the appearance of a simple cross but also that of one crucified certainly we see the sign of the cross represented in a natural manner on a ship when it rides over the waves with swelling sails or glides along gently without spread ores again when a yoke is set up it is like the sign of the cross and in like manner when a man with outstretched hands worships god with a pure heart thus there is either some natural explanation of the sign of the cross or it embodies the form of your religion I should like to meet the man who says or believes that initiation into Christianity is accompanied by the murder of an infant and the drinking of its blood do you think it possible that so tender so small a body could receive such fatal wounds that anyone could have the heart to kill one just born hardly entered upon life and shed and drink its fresh young blood no one can believe this unless he himself were capable of doing so I see your newly born sons exposed by you to wild beasts and birds of prey or cruelly strangled to death there are also women among you who by taking certain drugs destroy the beginnings of the future human being while it is still in the womb and are guilty of infanticide before they are mothers these practices have certainly come down to you from your gods for Saturn did not expose his children but devoured them not without reason therefore in certain parts of Africa children were sacrificed to him by their parents their cries being stifled with kisses and caresses to prevent the sacrifice of a victim in tears the Torians of Pontus and the Egyptian King Bucyrus were in the habit of sacrificing strangers the Gauls offered human or rather inhuman victims to Mercury the Romans buried alive a Greek and Gaelic man and woman by way of sacrifice and even at the present day the worship of Jupiter Ladiaris is accompanied by homicide and as is worthy of the son Saturn he battens on the blood of the evildoer and the criminal I believe that it was he who inspired Catiline to enter into a league of blood with the conspirators that it was due to him that the rites of Bologna were steeped in drafts of human gore and that human blood was used to cure epilepsy a remedy worse than the disease such people resemble those who devour wild beasts from the arena smeared and stained with blood or fattened with the limbs we are not allowed either to see or hear of homicide and we are so averse from bloodshed that we even abstain from the blood of those animals which serve us for food the story of our incestuous banquet is a monstrous lie invented by a league of demons to injure us in order that our reputation for chastity might be sullied by charges of infamous and disgusting practices and that before they had learned the truth men might be driven to shun us owing to the terror inspired by unutterable suggestions thus also your friend Fronto has not given evidence as one who affirms a thing but a scattered abuse broadcast like a public speaker for such practices rather originated amongst people like yourselves in Persia a man is allowed to marry his mother in Egypt and Athens his sister your histories and tragedies eagerly read and listen to treat incest as something to be proud of hence it is that you worship incestuous gods united to mother daughter and sister not without reason then is incest often detected amongst you but always permitted we on the other hand show our modesty not only outwardly but inwardly we willingly cleave to one marriage tie in the desire to have children we have only one wife or else none our banquets are conducted not only with honesty but also with sobriety we indulge in no luxurious feasts nor spin out our meals and drinking but temper our gayity with seriousness our language is pure our body even more so and most of us practice perpetual virginity without boasting of it so far from our having any desire for incest even a chaste and legitimate union calls forth a blush of shame nor again are we composed of the lowest dregs of the people even if we refuse your offices and dignities nor do we belong to any faction if we recognize only one virtue and are as quiet when assembled together as by ourselves nor are we talkative in corners if you are either ashamed or afraid to listen to us in public the fact that our number is increasing daily is no proof of error but evidence of merit for when men live an honorable life their own friends remain constant and are joined by others lastly we easily recognize each other not by external marks as you imagine but by the stamp of innocence and modesty we love one another which annoys you since we do not know how to hate we call ourselves brethren which excites your ill will as being children of one and the same father god as showing the same faith as co-heirs of the same hope whereas you on the contrary do not recognize each other give way to outbursts of mutual hatred and only acknowledge any ties of brotherhood and league together for murder further do you think that we wish to conceal the objects of our worship because we have neither temples nor altars by what image am I to represent god since rightly considered man himself is the image of god what temple am I to erect to him since the whole of this world which has been fashioned by him is unable to contain him am I to confine such might and within the limits of a small temple while I myself a mere man have a more spacious dwelling place is not the mind a better place of dedication the heart a better place for his consecration am I to offer to god the sacrifices and victims which he has provided for our use and reject his gifts this would be ungrateful since the most acceptable sacrifice is a good heart a clean spirit therefore the man who practices innocence offers prayer to god he who practices justice offers libation to him he who abstains from wrongdoing propitiates him the man who rescues another from danger sacrifices the most excellent victim these are our sacrifices these are our rights he who is most just amongst us is the most religious but you say we neither see nor show to others the god whom we worship this is just the reason why we believe in him although we cannot see him we feel that he exists in his works and in all the changes of the universe we behold his ever present influence when it thunders and lightens when the thunderbolt falls when the sky is clear you need not wonder if you do not see god the wind and blasts drive shake and agitate everything but the wind and blasts are not visible to us again we cannot even look into the sun which is the origin of our vision our powers of sight are impaired by its rays our eyes are weakened by gazing at it and if we look at it too long we are unable to see it all could you endure the sight of the creator of the sun himself the source of light you who turn away from his lightnings and hide yourself from his thunderbolts do you expect to look upon god with the eyes of the flesh when you can neither behold nor grasp your own soul by which you are quickened and speak but again you say god is ignorant of man's actions and all things in heaven can neither visit all nor know each one you are wrong old man you are mistaken god is everywhere near since all things in heaven and earth and all things outside the limits of the world are full of him he is everywhere not only near us but everywhere within us look again at the sun although stationary in heaven its light is shed over every land present everywhere alike it mingles with all from whom nothing can be hid must with far greater reason be present in the darkness be present in our thoughts which are as it were a second darkness we not only act under his inspection but I had almost said live with him and let us not flatter ourselves as to our numbers to ourselves we see many but to god very few we separate peoples and nations around the entire world as one family kings learn the condition of their empire from various official reports of ministers but god has no need of such information we live not only under his eyes but in his bosom in the case of the jews you assert that their worship of only one god with altars and temples and the most scrupulous observances profited them nothing it would show ignorance and be a great mistake on your part either having forgotten or never having known their past to remember only their present history for they too had learnt to know our god for he is the god of all and as long as they worshipped him with a pure heart in innocence and piety as long as they obeyed his salutary precepts their numbers at first few increased enormously once poor they became rich once slaves they became kings few in numbers and unarmed they overwhelmed armed hosts and pursued them as they fled at the bidding of god and with the assistance of the elements read their writings again either passing over ancient authors the works of Flavius Josephus or if you prefer Romans consult the remarks of Antonius Julianus on the jews you will find that their ill fortune was due to their own perversity that nothing happened to them which had not been foretold as the consequence of persisting in their obstinacy thus you will understand that they deserted god before they were deserted by him that they have not been taken captive with their god as you impiously put it but have been handed over by god as deserters from his teaching to the mercy of their enemies End of section 5