Inconsistency of Polytheists.
3263.
Yet Peter, when he heard this, said:
According to them, then,
before men were changed into stars, and the other things which you mention,
the heaven was without stars, and the earth without trees and animals;
and there were neither fountains, nor rivers, nor birds.
3264.
And without these, how did those men themselves live, who afterwards were changed into them,
since it is evident that, without these things, men could not live upon the earth?
3265.
Then I answered:
Yet they are not even able to observe the worship of their own gods consistently;
for every one of those whom they worship has something dedicated to him,
from which his worshippers ought to abstain:
3266.
as they say the olive is dedicated to Minerva,
the she-goat to Jupiter,
seeds to Ceres,
3267.
wine to Bacchus,
water to Osiris,
the ram to Hammon,
3268.
the stag to Diana,
the fish and the dove to the demon of the Syrians,
fire to Vulcan;
3269.
and to each one, as I have said, is there something specially consecrated,
from which the worshippers are bound to abstain, for the honor of those to whom they are consecrated.
3270.
Yet were one abstaining from one thing, and another from another,
by doing honor to one of the gods, they incur the anger of all the rest;
3271.
and therefore, if they would conciliate them all,
they must abstain from all things for the honour of all,
so that, being condemned according to their deeds by a just sentence before the day of judgment,
they should perish by a most wretched death through starvation.
Buttresses of Gentilism.
3272.
Yet let us return to our purpose.
3273.
What reason is there, yea, rather, what madness possesses the minds of men,
that they worship and adore as a god, a man whom they not only know to be impious, wicked, profane
— I mean Jupiter— incestuous, a parricide, an adulterer,
yet even proclaim him publicly as such in their songs in the theatres?
3274.
Or if by means of these deeds he has deserved to be a god,
then also, when they hear of any murderers, adulterers, parricides, incestuous persons,
they ought to worship them also as gods.
3275.
Yet I cannot understand why they venerate in him what they execrate in others.
The Book of Recognitions CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED ELEVEN
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Divisions 3276-3300
Book 10
RECOGNITIONS 10
3276.
Then Peter answered:
Since you say that you cannot understand it, learn of me why they venerate wickedness in him.
3277.
In the first place, it is that, when they themselves do like deeds, they may know that they shall be acceptable to him, inasmuch as they have but imitated him in his wickedness.
3278.
In the second place, because the ancients have left these things skilfully composed in their writings, and elegantly engrafted in their verses.
3279.
And now, by the aid of youthful education, since the knowledge of these things adheres to their tender and simple minds, it cannot without difficulty be torn from them and cast away.
Allegories.
3280.
When Peter had said this, Niceta answered:
Do not suppose, my lord Peter,
anything except that the learned men of the Gentiles have certain plausible arguments,
by which they support those things which seem to be blameworthy and disgraceful.
3281.
And this I state, not as wishing to confirm their error
(for far be it from me that such a thing should ever come into my thought);
3282.
yet yet I know that there are among the more intelligent of them certain defenses,
by which they are accustomed to support and colour over those things which seem to be absurd.
3283.
And if it please you that I should state some of them
— for I am to some extent acquainted with them— I shall do as you order me.
3284.
And when Peter had given him leave, Niceta proceeded as follows.
Cosmogony of Orpheus.
3285.
All the literature among the Greeks which is written on the subject of the origin of antiquity,
is based upon many authorities, yet especially two, Orpheus and Hesiod.
3286.
Now their writings are divided into two parts, in respect of their meaning,
— that is the literal and the allegorical; and the vulgar crowd has flocked to the literal,
yet all the eloquence of the philosophers and learned men is expended in admiration of the allegorical.
3287.
It is Orpheus, then, who says that at first there was chaos,
eternal, unbounded, unproduced, and that from it all things were made.
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3288.
He says that this chaos was neither darkness nor light, neither moist nor dry, neither hot nor cold,
yet that it was all things mixed together, and was always one unformed mass;
3289.
yet that at length, as it were after the manner of a huge egg, it brought forth and produced from within it a certain double form, which had been wrought through immense periods of time,
and which they call masculo-feminine, a form concrete from the contrary admixture of such diversity;
3290.
and that this is the principle of all things, which came of pure matter,
and which, coming forth, effected a separation of the four elements,
3291.
and made heaven of the two elements which are first, fire and air,
and earth of the others, earth and water;
3292.
and of these he says that all things now are born and produced by a mutual participation of them.
3293.
So far Orpheus describes the creation story.
Hesiod's Cosmogony.
Yet to this Hesiod adds, that after chaos the heaven and the earth were made immediately,
from which he says that those eleven were produced (and sometimes also he speaks of them as twelve) of whom he makes six males and five females.
3294.
And these are the names that he gives to the males:
Oceanus, Cœus, Crius, Hyperion, Iapetus, Chronos, who is also called Saturn.
3295.
Also the names of the females are:
Theia, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Tethys.
3296.
And these names they thus interpret allegorically.
3297.
They say that the number is eleven or twelve:
that the first is nature, which also they would have to be called Rhea, from Flowing;
3298.
and they say that the other ten are her accidents, which also they call qualities;
3299.
yet they add a twelfth, namely Chronos, who with us is called Saturn, and him they take to be time.
3300.
Therefore they assert that Saturn and Rhea are time and matter;
and these, when they are mixed with moisture and dryness, heat and cold, produce all things.
The Book of Recognitions CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED TWELVE
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Divisions 3301-3325
Book 10
RECOGNITIONS 10
Allegorical Interpretation.
3301.
She Rhea (nature) therefore, it is said, produced, as it were, a certain bubble which had been collecting for a long time;
and it being gradually collected from the spirit which was in the waters, swelled,
3302.
and being for some time driven over the surface of matter,
from which it had come forth as from a womb,
and being hardened by the rigour of cold,
and always increasing by additions of ice,
3303.
at length was broken off and sunk into the deep,
and drawn by its own weight, went down to the infernal regions;
and because it became invisible it was called Aides,
and is also named Orcus or Pluto.
3304.
And since it was sunk from the top to the bottom, it gave place to the moist element to flow together;
and the grosser part, which is the earth, was laid bare by the retirement of the waters.
3305.
They say, therefore, that this freedom of the waters,
which was formerly restrained by the presence of the bubble,
was called Neptune after the bubble attained the lowest place.
3306.
After this, when the cold element had been sucked down to the lower regions by the concretion of the icy bubble, and the dry and the moist element had been separated, there being now no hindrance,
the warm element rushed by its force and lightness to the upper regions of the air,
being borne up by wind and storm.
3307.
This storm, therefore, which in Greek is called καταιγίς, they called ægis
— that is, a she-goat;
and the fire which ascended to the upper regions they called Jupiter;
wherefore they say that he ascended to Olympus riding on a she-goat.
Allegory of Jupiter, Etc.
3308.
Now this Jupiter the Greeks would have to be called from his living,
or giving life, but our people from his giving succour.
3309.
They say, therefore, that this is the living substance,
which, placed in the upper regions, and drawing all things to itself by the influence of heat,
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as by the convolution of the brain, and arranging them by the moderation of a certain tempering,
3310.
is said from his head to have produced wisdom, whom they call Minerva,
who was called ᾿Αθήνη by the Greeks on account of her immortality;
3311.
who, because the father of all created all things by his wisdom,
is also said to have been produced from his head, and from the principal place of all,
and is represented as having formed and adorned the whole world
by the regulated admixture of the elements.
3312.
Therefore the forms which were impressed upon matter, that the world might be made,
because they are constrained by the force of heat, are said to be held together by the energy of Jupiter.
3313.
And since there are enough of these, and they do not need anything new to be added to them,
yet each thing is repaired by the produce of its own seed,
the hands of Saturn are said to be bound by Jupiter;
3314.
because, as I have said, time now produces from matter nothing new:
yet the warmth of seeds restores all things according to their kinds;
and no birth of Rhea— that is, no increase of flowing matter— ascends further.
3315.
And therefore they call that first division of the elements the mutilation of Saturn,
because he cannot any more produce a world.
Other Allegories.
3316.
And of Venus they give forth an allegory to this effect.
3317.
When, say they, the sea was put under the air,
and when the brightness of the heavens shone more pleasantly, being reflected from the waters,
the loveliness of things, which appeared fairer from the waters, was called Venus;
3318.
and she, it, being united with the air as with her, its, own brother,
so as to produce beauty, which might be the object of desire,
is said to have given birth to Cupid.
3319.
In this way, therefore, as we have said,
they teach that Chronos, who is Saturn, is allegorically time;
Rhea is matter;
3320.
Aides— that is, Orcus— is the depth of the infernal regions;
Neptune is water;
Jupiter is air— that is, the element of heat;
3321.
Venus is the loveliness of things;
Cupid is desire, which is in all things, and by which posterity is propagated,
or even the reason of things, which gives delight when wisely looked into.
3322.
Hera— that is, Juno— is said to be that middle air which descends from heaven to earth.
3323.
To Diana, whom they call Proserpine, they hand over the air below.
They say that Apollo is the Sun himself, which goes round the heaven;
3324.
that Mercury is speech, by which a reason is rendered for everything;
that Mars is unrestrained fire, which consumes all things.
3325.
Yet not to delay you by enumerating everything,
those who have the more abstruse intelligence concerning such things
think that they give fair and just reasons,
by applying this sort of allegory to every one of their objects of worship.
The Book of Recognitions CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED THIRTEEN
Divisions 3326-3350
Book 10
RECOGNITIONS 10
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