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Contra Faustum Manichaeum libri triginta tres

5.

Iam enim mihi ad te est sermo, Manichaea congregatio fallax et fallaciis involuta. Itane multinuba tot elementis uel potius meretrix prostituta daemoniis et sacrilegis vanitatibus impraegnata audes matrimonium catholicum domini tui crimine impudicitiae lacerare? p. 424,5 Ostende nobis moechos tuos, splenditenentem ponderatorem et Atlantem laturarium. Illum enim dicis capita elementorum tenere mundumque suspendere; istum autem genu fixo scapulis validis subbaiulare tantam molem, utique ne ille deficiat. Ubi sunt isti? Qui si vere essent, quando ad te venirent occupati tanto negotio? Quando ad te intrarent, ut blanda manu tua et otioso pane delicata post tantum laborem alteri digitos, alteri umeros confricares? Sed fallunt te mala daemonia, quae tecum scortantur, ut concipias mendacia et parias phantasmata. Cur ergo non respuas diptychium veri dei, tuis membranis inimicum, quibus tot falsos deos adamasti mente vagabunda per figmenta cogitationum tuarum, quibus omnia poetica mendacia graviora et honestiora reperientur, p. 424,18 vel hoc certe, quod apud poetas neminem decipit ipsa professio falsitatis, in libris autem tuis tanta fallaciarum turba pueriles et in senibus animas nomine veritatis illectas miserabilibus corrumpit erroribus, cum prurientes auribus, sicut apostolus dicit, et a veritate auditum suum avertentes ad fabulas convertuntur? Quomodo ergo sanam doctrinam ferres illarum tabularum, ubi primum praeceptum est: Audi, Israhel, dominus deus tuus deus unus est, cum tot[a] deorum nominibus delectata turpissimi cordis fornicatione voluteris? Annon recordaris amatorium canticum tuum, ubi describis maximum regnantem regem, sceptrigerum perennem, floreis coronis cinctum et facie rutilantem? Quem si solum talem amares, erubescendum tibi esset; p. 425,7 nam etiam vir unus floreis coronis cinctus pudicae coniugi displiceret. Neque enim potes dicere hoc aliqua mystica significatione ita dictum vel ita demonstratum, cum tibi praecipue laudari Manichaeus non ob aliud soleat, nisi quod remotis figurarum integumentis ipse tibi veritatem nudam et propriam loqueretur. Proprie igitur cantas deum regem sceptrigerum, floribus coronatum. Ponat saltem sceptrum, quando coronis floreis cingitur; non decet regiae virgae severitatem illa luxuriae mollitudo. Huc accedit, quia non a te solus adamatus est; sequeris enim cantando et adiungis duodecim saecula floribus convestita et canoribus plena et in faciem patris flores suos iactantia. Ubi et ipsos duodecim magnos quosdam deos profiteris, ternos per quattuor tractus, quibus ille unus circumcingitur. Quem quomodo immensum faciatis, quem sic circumdatum dicitis, numquam invenire potuistis. Adiungis etiam innumerabiles regnicolas et deorum agmina et angelorum cohortes, quae omnia non condidisse dicis deum, sed de sua substantia genuisse. p. 425,26

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Reply to Faustus the Manichaean

5.

I turn now to thee, thou deluded and deluding congregation of Manichaeus,--wedded to so many elements, or rather prostituted to so many devils, and impregnated with blasphemous falsehoods,--dost thou dare to slander as unchaste the marriage of the Catholic Church with thy Lord? Behold thy lovers, one balancing creation, and the other bearing it up like Atlas. For one, by thy account, holds the sources of the elements, and hangs the world in space; while the other keeps him up by kneeling down and carrying the weight on his shoulders. Where are those beings? And if they are so occupied, how can they come to visit thee, to spend an idle hour in getting their shoulders or their fingers relieved by thy soft, soothing touch? But thou art deceived by evil spirits which commit adultery with thee, that thou mayest conceive falsehoods and bring forth vanities. Well mayest thou reject the message of the true God, as opposed to thy parchments, where in the vain imaginations of a wanton mind thou hast gone after so many false gods. The fictions of the poets are more respectable than thine, in this at least, that they deceive no one; while the fables in thy books, by assuming an appearance of truth, mislead the childish, both young and old, and pervert their minds. As the apostle says, they have itching ears, and turn away from hearing the truth to listen to fables. ¹ How shouldest thou bear the sound doctrine of these tables, where the first commandment is, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord thy God is one Lord," ² when thy corrupt affections find shameful delight in so many false deities? Dost thou not remember thy love-song, where thou describest the chief ruler in perennial majesty, crowned with flowers, and of fiery countenance? To have even one such lover is shameful; for a chaste wife seeks not a husband crowned with flowers. And thou canst not say that this description or representation has a typical meaning, for thou art wont to praise Manichaeus for nothing more than for speaking to thee the simple naked truth without the disguise of figures. So the God of thy song is a real king, bearing a sceptre and crowned with flowers. When he wears a crown of flowers, he ought to put aside his sceptre; for effeminacy and majesty are incongruous. And then he is not thy only lover; for the song goes on to tell of twelve seasons clothed in flowers, and filled with song, throwing their flowers at their father's face. These are twelve great gods of thine, three in each of the four regions surrounding the first deity. How this deity can be infinite, when he is thus circumscribed, no one can say. Besides, there are countless principalities, and hosts of gods, and troops of angels, which thou sayest were not created by God, but produced from His substance.