Traduction Masquer
Reply to Faustus the Manichaean

6.

If you will not eat flesh why should you not slay animals in sacrifice to your God, in order that their souls, which you hold to be not only human, but so divine as to be members of God Himself, may be released from the confinement of flesh, and be saved from returning by the efficacy of your prayers? Perhaps, however, your stomach gives more effectual aid than your intellect, and that part of divinity which has had the advantage of passing through your bowels is more likely to be saved than that which has only the benefit of your prayers. Your objection to eating flesh will be that you cannot eat animals alive, and so the operation of your stomach will not avail for the liberation of their souls. Happy vegetables, that, torn up with the hand, cut with knives, tortured in fire, ground by teeth, yet reach alive the altars of your intestines! Unhappy sheep and oxen, that are not so tenacious of life, and therefore are refused entrance into your bodies! Such is the absurdity of your notions. And you persist in making out an opposition in us to the Old Testament, because we consider no flesh unclean: according to the opinion of the apostle, "To the pure all things are pure;" ¹ and according to the saying of our Lord Himself, "Not that which goeth into your mouth defileth you, but that which cometh out." ² This was not said to the crowd only, as your Adimantus, whom Faustus, in his attack on the Old Testament, praises as second only to Manichaeus, wishes us to understand; but when retired from the crowd, the Lord repeated this still more plainly and pointedly to His disciples. Adimantus quotes this saying of our Lord in opposition to the Old Testament, where the people are prohibited from eating some animals which are pronounced unclean; and doubtless he was afraid that he should be asked why, since he quotes a passage from the Gospel about man not being defiled by what enters into his mouth and passes into his belly, and out into the draft, he yet considers not some only, but all flesh unclean, and abstains from eating it. It is in order to escape from this strait, when the plain truth is too much for his error, that he makes the Lord say this to the crowd; as if the Lord were in the habit of speaking the truth only in small companies, while He blurted out falsehoods in public. To speak of the Lord in this way is blasphemy. And all who read the passage can see that the Lord said the same thing more plainly to His disciples in private. Since Faustus praises Adimantus so much at the beginning of this book of his, placing him next to Manichaeus, let him say in a word whether it is true or false that a man is not defiled by what enters into his mouth. If it is false, why does this great teacher Adimantus quote it against the Old Testament? If it is true, why, in spite of this, do you believe that eating any flesh will defile you? It is true, if you choose this explanation, that the apostle does not say that all things are pure to heretics, but, "to the pure all things are pure." The apostle also goes on to explain why all things are not pure to heretics: "To the impure and unbelieving nothing is pure, but both their mind and conscience are defiled." ³ So to the Manichaeans there is absolutely nothing pure; for they hold that the very substance or nature of God not only may be, but has actually been defiled, and so defiled that it can never be wholly restored and purified. What do they mean when they call animals unclean, and refrain from eating them, when it is impossible for them to think anything, whether food or whatever it may be, clean? According to them, vegetables too, fruits, all kinds of crops, the earth and sky, are defiled by mixture with the race of darkness. Why do they not act up to their opinions about other things as well as about animals? Why do they not abstain altogether, and starve themselves to death, instead of persisting in their blasphemies? If they will not repent and reform, this is evidently the best thing that they could do.

Edition Masquer
Contra Faustum Manichaeum libri triginta tres

6.

Cur autem, si carnibus vesci non vultis, non ipsa animalia deo vestro oblata mactatis, ut animae illae, quas non solum putatis humanas, sed ita divinas, ut ipsa dei membra esse credatis, a carnis carcere dimittantur, et ne iterum redeant vestris orationibus commendentur? An amplius eas adiuvatis ventre quam mente et illa potius dei natura salvatur, quae vestris visceribus exhalari meruerit, quam quae vestris precibus commendari? Propterea ergo ventri vestro pecora non sacrificatis, quia ea viva absumere non potestis, ut eorum animas intercessione vestri stomachi liberetis. p. 292,16 O beata olera, quibus et manu evulsis et ferro concisis et igne cruciatis et dente contritis concessum est tamen, ut ad vestrorum intestinorum aras viva perveniant, et misera pecora, quae cum citius de corpore suo exeunt, in vestra corpora intrare non possunt! Ita delirantes adhuc putatis, quod ideo sumus inimici veteris testamenti, quia nullam carnem immundam dicimus tenentes apostoli sententiam dicentis: Omnia munda mundis et illud, ubi dominus ait: Non quod intrat in os vestrum, vos coinquinat, sed quod exit. Quod non ad solas turbas dominus dixit, sicut vester Adimantus, quem post Manichaeum Faustus praecipue laudat, cum veteri testamento calumniaretur, voluit intellegi, sed etiam remotus a turbis hoc idem discipulis suis evidentius et expressius elocutus est. p. 293,3 Cum enim hanc domini sententiam testamento veteri opposuisset Adimantus, quia in illo scripta sunt quaedam immunda carnium, a quibus ille populus iussus est abstinere, timuit, ne sibi diceretur: ‛Cur ergo vos non quasdam, sed omnes carnes immundas existimatis atque ab edendis omnibus temperatis, cum tu ipse proferas evangelicum testimonium non coinquinari hominem ex his, quae in os ingrediuntur et in ventrem vadunt atque in latrinam emittuntur?’ Itaque has artissimas et fallaciam suam manifestissima veritate praefocantes angustias conatus evadere ait hoc dominum ad turbas dixisse, quasi paucis ille in secreto vera diceret, in turbas autem falsa iactaret, cum et hoc de domino credere sacrilegum sit, et omnes qui legunt, noverint hoc et remotis turbis eum planius dixisse discipulis. p. 293,16 Quapropter quia in exordio harum litterarum suarum Faustus sic miratur Adimantum, ut ei solum praeferat Manichaeum, compendio requiro, utrum ista domini sententia, qua dixit non inquinari hominem his, quae in os eius intrant, vera an falsa sit. Si falsam dicunt, cur eam tantus eorum doctor Adimantus a Christo prolatam dicens ad expugnandum testamentum vetus obiecit? Si autem vera est, cur adversus eam credunt se coinquinari, si quacumque carne vescantur? Nisi forte verum respondere velint et dicere apostolum non dixisse: Omnia munda haereticis, sed omnia munda mundis. Cur enim non sint istis haec munda, idem apostolus sequitur et dicit: Immundis autem et infidelibus nihil est mundum; sed polluta sunt eorum et mens et conscientia. Unde revera Manichaeis omnino nihil est mundum, quandoquidem etiam ipsam dei substantiam vel naturam non solum coinquinari potuisse sed etiam ex parte coinquinatam esse contendunt, nec solum coinquinatam esse verum etiam ex omni parte recuperari mundarique non posse. p. 294,5 Unde mirum est, quod ita se dicunt immundas omnes carnes existimare et ob hoc ab eis abstinere, quasi aliquid existiment esse mundum non solum escarum, sed omnium creaturarum. Nam et ipsa olera et poma et omnes fruges et totam terram et caelum commixtione gentis tenebrarum perhibent inquinata. Utinam ergo et in ceteris cibis errori suo congruerent atque ab his, quae immunda dicunt, omnibus abstinendo fame potius morerentur quam tales blasphemias pertinaciter loquerentur! Nam se corrigere atque emendare nolentibus hoc esse utilius quis non intellegat?