Edition Masquer
De civitate Dei (CCSL)

Caput VI: Quibus passionibus daemones confitente Apuleio exagitentur, quorum ope homines apud deos adserit adiuuari.

Qua interim de sanctis angelis quaestione dilata uideamus quemadmodum dicant Platonici medios daemones inter deos et homines constitutos istis passionum aestibus fluctuare. si enim mente ab his libera eisque dominante motus huiuscemodi paterentur, non eos diceret Apuleius simili motu cordis et salo mentis per omnes cogitationum aestus fluctuare. ipsa igitur mens eorum, id est pars animi superior, qua rationales sunt, in qua uirtus et sapientia, si ulla eis esset, passionibus turbulentis inferiorum animi partium regendis moderandisque dominaretur, - ipsa, inquam, mens eorum, sicut iste Platonicus confitetur, salo perturbationum fluctuat. subiecta est ergo mens daemonum passionibus libidinum formidinum irarum atque huiuscemodi ceteris. quae igitur pars in eis libera est composque sapientiae, qua placeant dis et ad bonorum morum similitudinem hominibus consulant, cum eorum mens passionum uitiis subiugata et obpressa, quidquid rationis naturaliter habet, ad fallendum et decipiendum tanto acrius intendat, quanto eam magis possidet nocendi cupiditas?

Traduction Masquer
The City of God

Chapter 6.--Of the Passions Which, According to Apuleius, Agitate the Demons Who Are Supposed by Him to Mediate Between Gods and Men.

Deferring for the present the question about the holy angels, let us examine the opinion of the Platonists, that the demons who mediate between gods and men are agitated by passions. For if their mind, though exposed to their incursion, still remained free and superior to them, Apuleius could not have said that their hearts are tossed with passions as the sea by stormy winds. ¹ Their mind, then,--that superior part of their soul whereby they are rational beings, and which, if it actually exists in them, should rule and bridle the turbulent passions of the inferior parts of the soul,--this mind of theirs, I say, is, according to the Platonist referred to, tossed with a hurricane of passions. The mind of the demons, therefore, is subject to the emotions of fear, anger, lust, and all similar affections. What part of them, then, is free, and endued with wisdom, so that they are pleasing to the gods, and the fit guides of men into purity of life, since their very highest part, being the slave of passion and subject to vice, only makes them more intent on deceiving and seducing, in proportion to the mental force and energy of desire they possess?