Uselessness of These Allegories.
3326.
When Niceta had thus spoken, Aquila answered:
Whoever he was that was the author and inventor of these things,
he seems to me to have been very impious,
3327.
since he covered over those things which seem to be pleasant and seemly,
and made the ritual of his superstition to consist in base and shameful observances,
since those things which are written according to the letter are manifestly unseemly and base;
and the whole observance of their religion consists in these,
that by such crimes and impieties they may teach men to imitate their gods whom they worship.
3328.
For in these allegories what profit can there be to them?
3329.
For although they are framed so as to be decent,
yet no use is derived from them for worship, nor for amendment of morals.
The Allegories an Afterthought.
3330.
Whence it is the more evident that prudent men, when they saw that the common superstition was so disgraceful, so base, and yet they had not learned any way of correcting it, or any knowledge, endeavoured with what arguments and interpretations they could to veil unseemly things under seemly speech, and not, as they say, to conceal seemly reasons under unseemly fables.
3331.
For if this were the case, surely their statues and their pictures would never be made with representations of their vices and crimes.
3332.
The swan, which committed adultery with Leda, would not be represented,
nor the bull which committed adultery with Europa;
nor would they turn into a thousand monstrous shapes, him whom they think better than all.
3333.
And assuredly, if the great and wise men who are among them knew that all this is fiction and not truth, would not they charge with impiety and sacrilege those who should exhibit a picture or carve an image of this sort, to the injury of the gods?
3334.
In short, let them present a king of their own time in the form of an ox, or a goose, or an ant, or a vulture, and let them write the name of their king upon it, and set up such a statue or figure in a public place, and they will soon be made to feel the wrong of their deed, and the greatness of its punishment.
Like Gods, Like Worshippers.
3335.
Yet since those things rather are true which the public baseness testifies,
and concealments have been sought and fabricated by prudent men to excuse them by seemly speeches, therefore are they not only not prohibited,
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3336.
yet even in the very mysteries figures are produced of Saturn devouring his sons,
and of the boy hidden by the cymbals and drums of the Corybantes;
3337.
and with respect to the mutilation of Saturn, what better proof of its truth could there be,
than that even his worshippers are mutilated, by a like miserable fate, in honour of their god?
3338.
Since then these things are manifestly seen, who shall be found of so little sense, yea, of such stolidity,
that he does not perceive that those things are true concerning the unfortunate gods,
which their more unfortunate worshippers attest by the wounding and mutilation of their bodies?
Writings of the Poets.
3339.
Yet if, as they say, these things, so creditably and piously done, are dispensed by so discreditable and impious a ritual, assuredly he is sacrilegious, whoever either gave forth these things at first, or persists in fulfilling them, now that they have unhappily been given forth.
3340.
And what shall we say of the books of the poets?
3341.
Ought not they, if they have debased the honourable and pious deeds of the gods with base fables,
to be immediately cast away and thrown into the fire,
3342.
that they may not persuade the still tender age of boys that Jupiter himself, the chief of the gods,
was a parricide towards his parents, incestuous towards his sisters and his daughters,
and even impure towards boys;
3343.
that Venus and Mars were adulterers,
and all those things which have been spoken of above?
3344.
What do you think of this matter, my lord Peter?
All for the Best.
3345.
Then he answered:
Be sure, beloved Aquila, that all things are done by the good providence of God,
that the cause which was to be contrary to the truth should not only be infirm and weak, yet also base.
3346.
For if the assertion of error had been stronger and more truth-like,
any one who had been deceived by it would not easily return to the path of truth.
3347.
If even now, when so many wicked and disgraceful things are related concerning the gods of the Gentiles, scarce any one forsakes the base error,
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how much more if there had been in it anything seemly and truth-like?
3348.
For the mind is with difficulty transferred from those things that it's been imbued with in early youth;
3349.
and on this account, as I said, it has been effected by divine providence,
that the substance of error should be both weak and base.
3350.
Yet all other things also divine providence dispenses fitly and advantageously,
although the method of the divine dispensation, as good, and the best possible,
is not clear to us who are ignorant of the causes of things.
The Book of Recognitions CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED FOURTEEN
Divisions 3346-3370
Book 10
RECOGNITIONS 10
Further Information Sought.
3351.
When Peter had thus said, I, Clement, asked Niceta that he would explain to us,
for the sake of instruction, some things concerning the allegories of the Gentiles,
which he had carefully studied;
3352.
for, said I, it is useful that when we dispute with the Gentiles,
we should not be unacquainted with these things.
3353.
Then said Niceta:
If my lord Peter permits me, I can do as you ask me.
3354.
Then said Peter:
Today I have given you leave to speak in opposition to the Gentiles, as you know.
3355.
And Niceta said:
Tell me then, Clement, what you would have me speak about.
3356.
And I said to him:
Inform us how the Gentiles represent matters concerning the supper of the gods,
which they had at the marriage of Peleus and Thetis.
3357.
What do they make of the shepherd Paris,
and what of less Juno, Minerva, and Venus, between whom he acted as judge?
3358.
What of Mercury? [Hermes/Thoth/Enoch]
3359.
And what of the apple, and the other things which follow in order?
[It should be recognized that the gods of Greece, Egypt, & India correspond with Biblical patriarchs]
Explanation of Mythology.
3360.
Then Niceta:
The affair of the supper of the gods stands in this wise.
3361.
They say that the banquet is the world,
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that the order of the gods sitting at table is the position of the heavenly bodies.
3362.
Those whom Hesiod calls the first children of heaven and earth, of whom six were males and six females, they refer to the number of the twelve signs, which go round all the world.
3363.
They say that the dishes of the banquet are the reasons and causes of things, sweet and desirable,
which in the shape of inferences from the positions of the signs and the courses of the stars,
explain how the world is ruled and governed.
3364.
Yet they say these things exist after the free manner of a banquet, inasmuch as the mind of every one has the option whether he shall taste anything of this sort of knowledge, or whether he shall refrain;
3365.
and likewise in a banquet no one is compelled, yet every one is at liberty to eat,
thenceforth so also the manner of philosophizing depends upon the choice of the will.
3366.
They say that discord is the lust of the flesh,
which rise sup against the purpose of the mind, and hinders the desire of philosophizing;
and therefore they say that the time was that in which the marriage was celebrated.
3367.
Thus they make Peleus and the nymph Thetis to be the dry and the moist element,
by the admixture of which the substance of bodies is composed.
3368.
They hold that Mercury is speech, by which instruction is conveyed to the mind;
that Juno is chastity,
3369.
Minerva courage,
Venus lust,
Paris the understanding.
3370.
If therefore, say they, it happens that there is in a man a barbarous and uncultivated understanding,
and ignorant of right judgment, he will despise chastity and courage,
and will give the prize, which is the apple, to lust;
3371.
and thereby, ruin and destruction will come not only upon himself,
yet also upon his countrymen and the whole race. [a la Adam and Eve, Noah, Shechem, etc]
3372.
These things, therefore, it is in their power to compose from whatever matter they please;
yet they can be adapted to every man;
3373.
because if any one has a pastoral and rustic and uncultivated understanding,
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and does not wish to be instructed,
when the heat of his body shall make suggestions concerning the pleasure of lust,
straightway he despises the virtues of studies and the blessings of knowledge,
and turns his mind to bodily pleasures.
3374.
And hence it is that implacable wars arise, cities are destroyed, countries fall,
even as Paris, by the abduction of Helen,
armed the Greeks and the barbarians to their mutual destruction.
Interpretation of Scripture.
3375.
Then Peter, commending his statement, said:
Ingenious men, as I perceive, take many verisimilitudes from the things which they read;
3376.
and therefore great care is to be taken,
that when the law of God is read, it be not read according to the understanding of our own mind.
3377.
For there are many sayings in the divine Scriptures which can be drawn to that sense which every one has preconceived for himself; and this ought not to be done.
3378.
For you ought not to seek a foreign and extraneous sense, which you have brought from without,
which you may confirm from the authority of the Scriptures,
yet to take the sense of truth from the Scriptures themselves;
3379.
and therefore it behooves you to learn the meaning of the Scriptures from him who keeps it according to the truth handed down to him from his fathers,
so that he can authoritatively declare what he has rightly received.
3380.
Yet when one has received an entire and firm rule of truth from the Scriptures,
it will not be improper if he contribute to the establishment of true doctrine anything from common education and from liberal studies, which, it may be, he has attached himself to in his boyhood;
yet so that, when he has learned the truth, he renounce falsehood and pretense.
The Book of Recognitions CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED FIFTEEN
Divisions 3381-3415
Book 10
RECOGNITIONS 10
A Word of Exhortation.
3381.
And when he had said this, he looked to our father, and said:
You therefore, old man, if indeed you care for your soul's safety,
that when you desire to be separated from the body, it may, in consequence of this short conversion,
find eternal rest, ask about whatever you please,
and seek counsel, that you may be able to cast off any doubt that remains in you.
3382.
For even to young men the time of life is uncertain;
yet to old men it is not even uncertain,
for there is no doubt that there is yet little time remaining to them.
3383.
And therefore both young and old ought to be very earnest about their conversion and repentance,
and to be taken up with the adornment of their souls for the future with the worthiest ornaments,
that of the doctrines of truth, the grace of chastity,
the splendour of righteousness, the fairness of piety,
and all other things with which it becomes a reasonable mind to be adorned.
3384.
Then, besides, they should break off from unseemly and unbelieving companions,
and keep company with the faithful, and frequent those assemblies in which subjects are handled relating to chastity, righteousness and piety;
3385.
to pray to God always heartily, and to ask of Him those things which ought to be asked of God;
to give thanks to Him; to repent truly of their past doings;
3386.
in some measure also, if possible, by deeds of mercy towards the poor, to help their penitence:
for by these means pardon will be more easily bestowed,
and mercy will be sooner shown to the merciful.
Earnestness.
3387.
Yet if he who comes to repentance is of more advanced age, he ought the more to give thanks to God,
because, having received the knowledge of the truth,
after all the violence of carnal lust has been broken, there awaits him no fight of contest,
by which to repress the pleasures of the body rising against the mind.
3388.
It remains, therefore, that he be exercised in the learning of the truth,
and in works of mercy, that he may bring forth fruits worthy of repentance;
and that he do not suppose that the proof of conversion is shown by length of time,
yet by strength of devotion and of purpose.
3389.
For minds are manifest to God;
and He does not take account of the times, yet of the hearts.
3390.
For He approves if any one, on hearing the preaching of the truth, does not delay, nor spend time in negligence, yet immediately, and if I may say so, in the same moment, abhorring the past,
begins to desire things to come, and burns with love of the heavenly kingdom.
All Ought to Repent.
3391.
Wherefore, let no one of you longer dissemble nor look backwards,
yet willingly approach to the Gospel of the kingdom of God.
3392.
Let not the poor man say,
When I shall become rich, then I shall be converted.
3393.
God does not ask money of you, yet instead a merciful heart and a pious mind.
3394.
Nor let the rich man delay his conversion by reason of worldly care,
while he thinks how he may dispose the abundance of his fruits;
3395.
nor say within his heart, 'What shall I do?
Where shall I bestow my fruits?'
3396.
Nor say to his soul,
'You have much goods laid up for many years; feast and rejoice.'
3397.
For it shall be said to him,
'You fool, this night your soul shall be taken from you,
and whose shall those things be which you have provided?'
3398.
Therefore let every age, every gender, every condition,
haste to repentance, that they may obtain eternal life.
3399.
Let the young be thankful that they put their necks under the yoke of discipline in the very violence of their desires.
3400.
The old also are themselves praise-worthy, because they exchange for the fear of God,
the custom of a long time in which they have been unhappily occupied.
The Sure Word of Prophecy.
3401.
Let no one therefore put off.
Let no one delay.
3402.
For what occasion is there for delaying to do well?
3403.
Or are you afraid, lest, when you have done well, you do not find the reward as you supposed?
3404.
And what loss will you sustain if you do well without reward?
3405.
Would not conscience alone be sufficient in this?
3406.
Yet if you find as you anticipate, shall you not receive great things for small, and eternal for temporal?
3407.
Yet I say this for the sake of the unbelieving.
3408.
For the things which we preach are as we preach them;
because they cannot be otherwise, since they have been promised by the prophetic word.
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