Edition Masquer
De civitate Dei (CCSL)

Caput XXII: An uerus sit deus, cui Christiani seruiunt, cui soli debeat sacrificari.

Sed responderi potest: quis iste deus est aut unde dignus probatur, cui deberent obtemperare Romani, ut nullum deorum praeter ipsum colerent sacrificiis? magnae caecitatis est, adhuc quaerere, quis iste sit deus. ipse est deus, cuius prophetae praedixerunt ista quae cernimus. ipse est deus, a quo responsum accepit Abraham: in semine tuo benedicentur omnes gentes. quod in Christo fieri, qui secundum carnem de illo semine exortus est, idem ipsi qui remanserunt huius nominis inimici, uelint nolint ue, cognoscunt. ipse est deus, cuius diuinus spiritus per eos locutus est, quorum praedicta atque conpleta per ecclesiam, quam uidemus toto orbe diffusam, in libris superioribus posui. ipse est deus, quem Varro doctissimus Romanorum Iouem putat, quamuis nesciens quid loquatur; quod tamen ideo commemorandum putaui, quoniam uir tantae scientiae nec nullum istum deum potuit existimare nec uilem. hunc enim eum esse credidit, quem summum putauit deum. postremo ipse est deus, quem doctissimus philosophorum, quamuis Christianorum acerrimus inimicus, etiam per eorum oracula, quos deos putat, deum magnum Porphyrius confitetur.

Traduction Masquer
The City of God

Chapter 22.--Whether the God Whom the Christians Serve is the True God to Whom Alone Sacrifice Ought to Be Paid.

But it may be replied, Who is this God, or what proof is there that He alone is worthy to receive sacrifice from the Romans? One must be very blind to be still asking who this God is. He is the God whose prophets predicted the things we see accomplished. He is the God from whom Abraham received the assurance, "In thy seed shall all nations be blessed." ¹ That this was fulfilled in Christ, who according to the flesh sprang from that seed, is recognized, whether they will or no, even by those who have continued to be the enemies of this name. He is the God whose divine Spirit spake by the men whose predictions I cited in the preceding books, and which are fulfilled in the Church which has extended over all the world. This is the God whom Varro, the most learned of the Romans, supposed to be Jupiter, though he knows not what he says; yet I think it right to note the circumstance that a man of such learning was unable to suppose that this God had no existence or was contemptible, but believed Him to be the same as the supreme God. In fine, He is the God whom Porphyry, the most learned of the philosophers, though the bitterest enemy of the Christians, confesses to be a great God, even according to the oracles of those whom he esteems gods.