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Contra Faustum Manichaeum libri triginta tres

40.

Nec pagani nobis in hoc obstrepunt; neque enim audent contradicere, ne illa non solum dicta sed etiam facta figurate accepta interpretemur ad Christum intellegendum, praesertim quia ea, quae praenuntiata intellegimus, etiam demonstramus impleta, cum fabulas suas ut aliquo modo commendent, ad nescio quas physiologias vel theologias, id est rationes naturales uel divinas interpretando referre conentur, ex parte plene satis indicantes, qualia sint, ex parte autem dissimulantes. Dum ea rident in theatris, quae venerantur in templis, in turpitudine nimium liberi, in superstitione nimium servi.

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Reply to Faustus the Manichaean

40.

The Pagans, too, cannot deny our right to give a figurative meaning to both words and things, especially as we can point to the fulfillment of the types and figures. For the Pagans themselves try to find in their own fables figures of natural and religious truth. Sometimes they give clear explanations, while at other times they disguise their meaning, and what is sacred in the temples becomes a jest in the theatres. They unite a disgraceful licentiousness to a degrading superstition.