Traduction Masquer
Reply to Faustus the Manichaean

6.

Thou art thus convicted of worshipping gods without number; for thou canst not bear the sound doctrine which teaches that there is one Son of one God, and one Spirit of both. And these, instead of being without number, are not three Gods; for not only is their substance one and the same, but their operation by means of this substance is also one and the same, while they have a separate manifestation in the material creation. These things thou dost not understand, and canst not receive. Thou art full, as thou sayest, for thou art steeped in blasphemous absurdities. Will thou continue burying thyself under such crudities? Sing on, then, and open thine eyes, if thou canst, to thine own shame. In this doctrine of lying devils thou art invited to fabulous dwellings of angels in a happy clime, and to fragrant fields where nectar flows for ever from trees and hills, in seas and rivers. These are the fictions of thy foolish heart, which revels in such idle fancies. Such expressions are sometimes used as figurative descriptions of the abundance of spiritual enjoyments; and they lead the mind of the student to inquire into their hidden meaning. Sometimes there is a material representation to the bodily senses, as the fire in the bush, the rod becoming a serpent, and the serpent a rod, the garment of the Lord not divided by His persecutors, the anointing of His feet or of His head by a devout woman, the branches of the multitude preceding and following Him when riding on the ass. Sometimes, either in sleep or in a trance, the spirit is informed by means of figures taken from material things, as Jacob's ladder, and the stone in Daniel cut out without hands and growing into a mountain, and Peter's vessel, and all that John saw. Sometimes the figures are only in the language; as in the Song of Songs, and in the parable of a householder making a marriage for his son, or that of the prodigal son, or that of the man who planted a vineyard and let it out to husbandmen. Thou boastest of Manichaeus as having come last, not to use figures, but to explain them. His expositions throw light on ancient types, and leave no problem unsolved. This idea is supported by the assertion that the ancient types, in vision or in action or in words, had in view the coming of Manichaeus, by whom they were all to be explained; while he, knowing that no one is to follow him, makes use of a style free from all figurative expressions. What, then, are those fields, and shady hills, and crowns of flowers, and fragrant odors, in which the desires of thy fleshly mind take pleasure? If they are not significant figures, they are either idle fancies or delirious dreams. If they are figures, away with the impostor who seduces thee with the promise of naked truth, and then mocks thee with idle tales. His ministers and his wretched deluded followers are wont to bait their hook with that saying of the apostle, "Now we see through a glass in a figure, but then face to face." ¹ As if, forsooth, the Apostle Paul knew in part, and prophesied in part, and saw through a glass in a figure; whereas all this is removed at the coming of Manichaeus, who brings that which is perfect, and reveals the truth face to face. O fallen and shameless! still to continue uttering such folly, still feeding on the wind, still embracing the idols of thine own heart. Hast thou, then, seen face to face the king with the sceptre, and the crown of flowers, and the hosts of gods, and the great worldholder with six faces and radiant with light, and that other exalted ruler surrounded with troops of angels, and the invincible warrior with a spear in his right hand and a shield in his left, and the famous sovereign who moves the three wheels of fire, water, and wind, and Atlas, chief of all, bearing the world on his shoulders, and supporting himself on his arms? These, and a thousand other marvels, hast thou seen face to face, or are thy songs doctrines learned from lying devils, though thou knowest it not? Alas! miserable prostitute to these dreams, such are the vanities which thou drinkest up instead of the truth; and, drunk with this deadly poison, thou darest with this jest of the tablets to affront the matronly purity of the spouse of the only Son of God; because no longer under the tutorship of the law, but under the control of grace, neither proud in activity nor crouching in fear, she lives by faith, and hope, and love, the Israel in whom there is no guile, who hears what is written: "The Lord thy God is one God." This thou hearest not, and art gone a whoring after a multitude of false gods.

Edition Masquer
Contra Faustum Manichaeum libri triginta tres

6.

Ita convinceris innumerabiles deos colere, non ferendo sanam doctrinam, qua docetur unus de uno deo natus filius et utriusque spiritus sanctus. Quos tamen non solum innumerabiles, sed nec tres deos fas est dicere: quorum est non solum una eademque substantia, sed etiam una eademque operatio per ipsam propriam unam eandemque substantiam, per creaturam vero corporalem etiam demonstratio singulorum. Haec tu non intellegis, non capis, novi, plena es, inebriata es, ingurgitata es fabuloso sacrilegio. Digeras aliquando quod exhalas, et te iam obruere talibus desinas; interim canta, quod cantas, et inspice, si potes, dedecus fornicationis tuae. p. 426,8 Invitavit enim te doctrina daemoniorum mendaciloquorum ad fictas domos angelorum, ubi flat aura salubris, et ad campos, ubi scatent aromata, cuius arbores et montes, maria et flumina dulce nectar fluunt per cuncta saecula. Et credidisti et finxisti haec in corde tuo, ubi vanis recordationibus luxuriata et dissoluta iacteris. Cum enim quaedam talia dicuntur de ineffabili affluentia spiritalium deliciarum, utique in aenigmate dicuntur, ita ut noverit animus, qui talibus exercetur, esse aliud, quod ibi quaerendum et intellegendum sit, sive corporeis sensibus in veritate corporali tale quid demonstretur, sicut ignis in rubo et de virga serpens, de serpente virga et tunica domini a persecutoribus non divisa et obsequio mulieris unctio pedum aut capitis eius et frondes multitudinis praecedentis et consequentis asellum eius, p. 426,22 sive in spiritu per imagines corporum vel in somnio vel in extasi figurate ostendantur, sicut Iacob scalae et Daniheli lapis praecisus sine manibus et auctus in montem et Petro ille discus et Iohanni tam multa, sive sola locutione ad eundem modum figurentur, sicut cantica canticorum et quod in evangelio fecit pater familias nuptias filio suo et homo quidam duos filios habuit, frugi et luxuriosum, et homo quidam novellavit vineam et locavit agricolis. Tu vero praecipue Manichaeum ob hoc praedicas, quod non ad talia dicenda, sed potius ad solvenda ultimus venerit, ut et figuris antiquorum apertis et suis narrationibus ac disputationibus evidenti luce prolatis nullo se occultaret aenigmate. p. 427,8 Addis eam praesumptionis huius causam, quod videlicet antiqui, ut figuras huiusmodi vel viderent vel agerent vel dicerent, sciebant istum postea venturum, per quem cuncta manifestarentur, iste autem, qui sciret post se neminem affuturum, sententias suas nullis allegoricis ambagibus texeret. Quid ergo facit affectus tuus desideriis carnalibus sordidus in campis et montibus nemorosis et coronis floreis et scatentibus aromatis? Si non sunt aenigmata rationis, phantasmata sunt cogitationis aut vecordia furoris; si vero aenigmata esse dicuntur, cur non fugis adulterum, apertam veritatem ut illiciat promittentem et fabulosa fallacia quos illexerit illudentem? p. 427, 19 Nonne ministri eius, et ipsi miseri talibus vanitatibus venenati, in hamo suo solent hanc escam de Paulo apostolo ponere, ubi ait: Ex parte enim scimus et ex parte prophetamus; cum autem venerit quod perfectum est, quod ex parte est, auferetur et: Videmus nunc per speculum in aenigmate, tunc autem facie ad faciem, ut scilicet apostolus Paulus ex parte scierit et ex parte prophetaverit, per speculum et in aenigmate videns, quod totum auferendum est veniente Manichaeo et afferente quod perfectum est, ubi facie ad faciem veritas videatur. O lasciva, immunda, sine fronte adhuc ista garris, adhuc pascis ventos, adhuc amplecteris idola cordis tui! Itane tu facie ad faciem vidisti regnantem regem sceptrigerum floreis coronis cinctum et deorum agmina et splenditenentem magnum, sex vultus et ora ferentem micantemque lumine, et alterum regem honoris angelorum exercitibus circumdatum, et alterum adamantem heroam belligerum dextra hastam tenentem et sinistra clipeum; et alterum gloriosum regem tres rotas impellentem, ignis, aquae et venti; et maximum Atlantem mundum ferentem umeris, et eum genu flexo brachiis utrimquesecus fulcientem? p. 428,13 Haec et alia mille portenta tu facie ad faciem vidisti, an haec tibi doctrina daemoniorum mendaciloquorum per ora deceptorum cantat et nescis? Vae tibi, infelix! Ecce, quibus phantasmatis constupraris, ecce, quas vanitates pro veritate lambis et serpentinis poculis ebria de diptychio lapideo audes insultare matronali verecundiae coniugis unici filii dei, quia illa iam non sub paedagogio legis, sed sub magisterio gratiae nec superba operibus nec fracta terroribus vivit ex fide et spe et caritate, p. 428,25 facta Israhel, in quo dolus non est, et audiens, quod ibi scriptum est: Dominus deus tuus, deus unus est, quod tu non audiens in tam multos fictos deos fornicationem tuam diffudisti.