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The City of God

Chapter 23.--Porphyry's Account of the Responses Given by the Oracles of the gods Concerning Christ.

For in his book called ek logion philosophias, in which he collects and comments upon the responses which he pretends were uttered by the gods concerning divine things, he says--I give his own words as they have been translated from the Greek: "To one who inquired what god he should propitiate in order to recall his wife from Christianity, Apollo replied in the following verses." Then the following words are given as those of Apollo: "You will probably find it easier to write lasting characters on the water, or lightly fly like a bird through the air, than to restore right feeling in your impious wife once she has polluted herself. Let her remain as she pleases in her foolish deception, and sing false laments to her dead God, who was condemned by right-minded judges, and perished ignominiously by a violent death." Then after these verses of Apollo (which we have given in a Latin version that does not preserve the metrical form), he goes on to say: "In these verses Apollo exposed the incurable corruption of the Christians, saying that the Jews, rather than the Christians, recognized God." See how he misrepresents Christ, giving the Jews the preference to the Christians in the recognition of God. This was his explanation of Apollo's verses, in which he says that Christ was put to death by right-minded or just judges,--in other words, that He deserved to die. I leave the responsibility of this oracle regarding Christ on the lying interpreter of Apollo, or on this philosopher who believed it or possibly himself invented it; as to its agreement with Porphyry's opinions or with other oracles, we shall in a little have something to say. In this passage, however, he says that the Jews, as the interpreters of God, judged justly in pronouncing Christ to be worthy of the most shameful death. He should have listened, then, to this God of the Jews to whom he bears this testimony, when that God says, "He that sacrificeth to any other god save to the Lord alone shall be utterly destroyed." But let us come to still plainer expressions, and hear how great a God Porphyry thinks the God of the Jews is. Apollo, he says, when asked whether word, i.e., reason, or law is the better thing, replied in the following verses. Then he gives the verses of Apollo, from which I select the following as sufficient: "God, the Generator, and the King prior to all things, before whom heaven and earth, and the sea, and the hidden places of hell tremble, and the deities themselves are afraid, for their law is the Father whom the holy Hebrews honor." In this oracle of his god Apollo, Porphyry avowed that the God of the Hebrews is so great that the deities themselves are afraid before Him. I am surprised, therefore, that when God said, He that sacrificeth to other gods shall be utterly destroyed, Porphyry himself was not afraid lest he should be destroyed for sacrificing to other gods.

This philosopher, however, has also some good to say of Christ, oblivious, as it were, of that contumely of his of which we have just been speaking; or as if his gods spoke evil of Christ only while asleep, and recognized Him to be good, and gave Him His deserved praise, when they awoke. For, as if he were about to proclaim some marvellous thing passing belief, he says, "What we are going to say will certainly take some by surprise. For the gods have declared that Christ was very pious, and has become immortal, and that they cherish his memory: that the Christians, however, are polluted, contaminated, and involved in error. And many other such things," he says, "do the gods say against the Christians." Then he gives specimens of the accusations made, as he says, by the gods against them, and then goes on: "But to some who asked Hecate whether Christ were a God, she replied, You know the condition of the disembodied immortal soul, and that if it has been severed from wisdom it always errs. The soul you refer to is that of a man foremost in piety: they worship it because they mistake the truth." To this so-called oracular response he adds the following words of his own: "Of this very pious man, then, Hecate said that the soul, like the souls of other good men, was after death dowered with immortality, and that the Christians through ignorance worship it. And to those who ask why he was condemned to die, the oracle of the goddess replied, The body, indeed, is always exposed to torments, but the souls of the pious abide in heaven. And the soul you inquire about has been the fatal cause of error to other souls which were not fated to receive the gifts of the gods, and to have the knowledge of immortal Jove. Such souls are therefore hated by the gods; for they who were fated not to receive the gifts of the gods, and not to know God, were fated to be involved in error by means of him you speak of. He himself, however, was good, and heaven has been opened to him as to other good men. You are not, then, to speak evil of him, but to pity the folly of men: and through him men's danger is imminent."

Who is so foolish as not to see that these oracles were either composed by a clever man with a strong animus against the Christians, or were uttered as responses by impure demons with a similar design,--that is to say, in order that their praise of Christ may win credence for their vituperation of Christians; and that thus they may, if possible, close the way of eternal salvation, which is identical with Christianity? For they believe that they are by no means counter working their own hurtful craft by promoting belief in Christ, so long as their calumniation of Christians is also accepted; for they thus secure that even the man who thinks well of Christ declines to become a Christian, and is therefore not delivered from their own rule by the Christ he praises. Besides, their praise of Christ is so contrived that whosoever believes in Him as thus represented will not be a true Christian but a Photinian heretic, recognizing only the humanity, and not also the divinity of Christ, and will thus be precluded from salvation and from deliverance out of the meshes of these devilish lies. For our part, we are no better pleased with Hecate's praises of Christ than with Apollo's calumniation of Him. Apollo says that Christ was put to death by right-minded judges, implying that He was unrighteous. Hecate says that He was a most pious man, but no more. The intention of both is the same, to prevent men from becoming Christians, because if this be secured, men shall never be rescued from their power. But it is incumbent on our philosopher, or rather on those who believe in these pretended oracles against the Christians, first of all, if they can, to bring Apollo and Hecate to the same mind regarding Christ, so that either both may condemn or both praise Him. And even if they succeeded in this, we for our part would notwithstanding repudiate the testimony of demons, whether favorable or adverse to Christ. But when our adversaries find a god and goddess of their own at variance about Christ the one praising, the other vituperating Him, they can certainly give no credence, if they have any judgment, to mere men who blaspheme the Christians.

When Porphyry or Hecate praises Christ, and adds that He gave Himself to the Christians as a fatal gift, that they might be involved in error, he exposes, as he thinks, the causes of this error. But before I cite his words to that purpose, I would ask, If Christ did thus give Himself to the Christians to involve them in error, did He do so willingly, or against His will? If willingly, how is He righteous? If against His will, how is He blessed? However, let us hear the causes of this error. "There are," he says," in a certain place very small earthly spirits, subject to the power of evil demons. The wise men of the Hebrews, among whom was this Jesus, as you have heard from the oracles of Apollo cited above, turned religious persons from these very wicked demons and minor spirits, and taught them rather to worship the celestial gods, and especially to adore God the Father. This," he said, "the gods enjoin; and we have already shown how they admonish the soul to turn to God, and command it to worship Him. But the ignorant and the ungodly, who are not destined to receive favors from the gods, nor to know the immortal Jupiter, not listening to the gods and their messages, have turned away from all gods, and have not only refused to hate, but have venerated the prohibited demons. Professing to worship God, they refuse to do those things by which alone God is worshipped. For God, indeed, being the Father of all, is in need of nothing; but for us it is good to adore Him by means of justice, chastity, and other virtues, and thus to make life itself a prayer to Him, by inquiring into and imitating His nature. For inquiry," says he, "purifies and imitation deifies us, by moving us nearer to Him." He is right in so far as he proclaims God the Father, and the conduct by which we should worship Him. Of such precepts the prophetic books of the Hebrews are full, when they praise or blame the life of the saints. But in speaking of the Christians he is in error, and caluminates them as much as is desired by the demons whom he takes for gods, as if it were difficult for any man to recollect the disgraceful and shameful actions which used to be done in the theatres and temples to please the gods, and to compare with these things what is heard in our churches, and what is offered to the true God, and from this comparison to conclude where character is edified, and where it is ruined. But who but a diabolical spirit has told or suggested to this man so manifest and vain a lie, as that the Christians reverenced rather than hated the demons, whose worship the Hebrews prohibited? But that God, whom the Hebrew sages worshipped, forbids sacrifice to be offered even to the holy angels of heaven and divine powers, whom we, in this our pilgrimage, venerate and love as our most blessed fellow-citizens. For in the law which God gave to His Hebrew people He utters this menace, as in a voice of thunder: "He that sacrificeth unto any god, save unto the Lord only, he shall be utterly destroyed." ¹ And that no one might suppose that this prohibition extends only to the very wicked demons and earthly spirits, whom this philosopher calls very small and inferior,--for even these are in the Scripture called gods, not of the Hebrews, but of the nations, as the Septuagint translators have shown in the psalm where it is said, "For all the gods of the nations are demons," ² --that no one might suppose, I say, that sacrifice to these demons was prohibited, but that sacrifice might be offered to all or some of the celestials, it was immediately added, "save unto the Lord alone." ³ The God of the Hebrews, then, to whom this renowned philosopher bears this signal testimony, gave to His Hebrew people a law, composed in the Hebrew language, and not obscure and unknown, but published now in every nation, and in this law it is written, "He that sacrificeth unto any god, save unto the Lord alone, he shall be utterly destroyed." What need is there to seek further proofs in the law or the prophets of this same thing? Seek, we need not say, for the passages are neither few nor difficult to find; but what need to collect and apply to my argument the proofs which are thickly sown and obvious, and by which it appears clear as day that sacrifice may be paid to none but the supreme and true God? Here is one brief but decided, even menacing, and certainly true utterance of that God whom the wisest of our adversaries so highly extol. Let this be listened to, feared, fulfilled, that there may be no disobedient soul cut off. "He that sacrifices," He says, not because He needs anything, but because it behoves us to be His possession. Hence the Psalmist in the Hebrew Scriptures sings, "I have said to the Lord, Thou art my God, for Thou needest not my good." ⁴ For we ourselves, who are His own city, are His most noble and worthy sacrifice, and it is this mystery we celebrate in our sacrifices, which are well known to the faithful, as we have explained in the preceding books. For through the prophets the oracles of God declared that the sacrifices which the Jews offered as a shadow of that which was to be would cease, and that the nations, from the rising to the setting of the sun, would offer one sacrifice. From these oracles, which we now see accomplished, we have made such selections as seemed suitable to our purpose in this work. And therefore, where there is not this righteousness whereby the one supreme God rules the obedient city according to His grace, so that it sacrifices to none but Him, and whereby, in all the citizens of this obedient city, the soul consequently rules the body and reason the vices in the rightful order, so that, as the individual just man, so also the community and people of the just, live by faith, which works by love, that love whereby man loves God as He ought to be loved, and his neighbor as himself,--there, I say, there is not an assemblage associated by a common acknowledgment of right, and by a community of interests. But if there is not this, there is not a people, if our definition be true, and therefore there is no republic; for where there is no people there can be no republic.

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De civitate Dei (CCSL)

Caput XXIII: Quae Porphyrius dicat oraculis deorum responsa esse de Christo.

Nam in libris, quos εκ λογίων φιλοσοφίας appellat, in quibus exsequitur atque conscribit rerum ad philosophiam pertinentium uelut diuina responsa, ut ipsa uerba eius, quemadmodum ex Graeca lingua in Latinam interpretata sunt, ponam: interroganti, inquit, quem deum placando reuocare possit uxorem suam a Christianismo, haec ait uersibus Apollo. deinde uerba uelut Apollinis ista sunt: forte magis poteris in aqua inpressis litteris scribere aut adinflans leues pinnas per aera auis uolare, quam pollutae reuoces inpiae uxoris sensum. pergat quomodo uult inanibus fallaciis perseuerans et lamentari fallaciis mortuum deum cantans, quem iudicibus recta sentientibus perditum pessima in speciosis ferro uincta mors interfecit. deinde post hos uersus Apollinis, qui non stante metro Latine interpretati sunt, subiunxit atque ait: in his quidem inremediabile sententiae eorum manifestauit dicens, quoniam Iudaei suscipiunt deum magis quam isti. ecce, ubi decolorans Christum Iudaeos praeposuit Christianis, confitens quod Iudaei suscipiant deum. sic enim exposuit uersus Apollinis, ubi a iudicibus recta sentientibus Christum dicit occisum, tamquam illis iuste iudicantibus merito sit ille punitus. uiderim quid de Christo uates mendax Apollinis dixerit atque iste crediderit aut fortasse uatem, quod non dixit, dixisse iste ipse confinxerit. quam sibi constet uel ipsa oracula inter se faciat conuenire, postea uidebimus; hic tamen Iudaeos, tamquam dei susceptores, recte dicit iudicasse de Christo, quod eum morte pessima excruciandum esse censuerint. deus itaque Iudaeorum, cui perhibet testimonium, audiendus fuit dicens: sacrificans dis eradicabitur, nisi domino tantum. sed ad manifestiora ueniamus et audiamus quam magnum deum dicat esse Iudaeorum. item ad ea, quae interrogauit Apollinem, quid melius, uerbum siue ratio an lex: respondit, inquit, uersibus haec dicens. ac deinde subicit Apollinis uersus, in quibus et isti sunt, ut quantum satis est inde decerpam: in deum uero, inquit, generatorem et in regem ante omnia, quem tremit et caelum et terra atque mare et infernorum abdita et ipsa numina perhorrescunt; quorum lex est pater, quem ualde sancti honorant Hebraei. tali oraculo dei sui Apollinis Porphyrius tam magnum deum dixit Hebraeorum, ut eum et ipsa numina perhorrescant. cum ergo deus iste dixerit: sacrificans dis eradicabitur, miror quod ipse Porphyrius non perhorruerit et sacrificans dis eradicari non formidauerit. dicit etiam bona philosophus iste de Christo, quasi oblitus illius, de qua paulo ante locuti sumus, contumeliae suae, aut quasi in somnis di eius maledixerint Christo et euigilantes eum bonum esse cognouerint digneque laudauerint. denique tamquam mirabile aliquid atque incredibile prolaturus: praeter opinionem, inquit, profecto quibusdam uideatur esse quod dicturi sumus. Christum enim di piissimum pronuntiauerunt et inmortalem factum et cum bona praedicatione eius meminerunt; Christianos uero pollutos, inquit, et contaminatos et errore inplicatos esse dicunt et multis talibus aduersus eos blasphemiis utuntur. deinde subicit uelut oracula deorum blasphemantium Christianos et post haec: de Christo autem, inquit, interrogantibus si est deus, ait Hecate: quoniam quidem inmortalis anima post corpus ut incedit, nosti; a sapientia autem abscisa semper errat. uiri pietate praestantissimi est illa anima; hanc colunt aliena a se ueritate. deinde post uerba huius quasi oraculi sua ipse contexens: piissimum igitur uirum, inquit, eum dixit et eius animam, sicut et aliorum piorum, post obitum inmortalitate dignatam et hanc colere Christianos ignorantes. interrogantibus autem, inquit: cur ergo damnatus est? oraculo respondit dea: corpus quidem debilitantibus tormentis semper obpositum est; anima autem piorum caelesti sedi insidet. illa uero anima aliis animabus fataliter dedit, quibus fata non adnuerunt deorum dona obtinere neque habere Iouis inmortalis agnitionem, errore inplicari. propterea ergo dis exosi, quia, quibus fato non fuit nosse deum nec dona ab dis accipere, his fataliter dedit iste errore inplicari. ipse uero pius et in caelum, sicut pii, concessit. itaque hunc quidem non blasphemabis, misereberis autem hominum dementiam, ex eo in eis facile praecepsque periculum. quis ita stultus est, ut non intellegat aut ab homine callido eoque Christianis inimicissimo haec oracula fuisse conficta aut consilio simili ab inpuris daemonibus ista fuisse responsa, ut scilicet, quoniam laudant Christum, propterea credantur ueraciter uituperare Christianos atque ita, si possint, intercludant uiam salutis aeternae, in qua fit quisque Christianus? suae quippe nocendi astutiae milleformi sentiunt non esse contrarium, si credatur eis laudantibus Christum, dum tamen credatur etiam uituperantibus Christianos; ut eum, qui utrumque crediderit, talem Christi faciant laudatorem, ne uelit esse Christianus, ac sic quamuis ab illo laudatus ab istorum tamen daemonum dominatu eum non liberet Christus; praesertim quia ita laudant Christum, ut, quisquis in eum talem crediderit, qualis ab eis praedicatur, Christianus uerus non sit, sed Photinianus haereticus, qui tantummodo hominem, non etiam deum nouerit Christum, et ideo per eum saluus esse non possit nec istorum mendaciloquorum daemonum laqueos uitare uel soluere. nos autem neque Apollinem uituperantem Christum neque Hecaten possumus adprobare laudantem. ille quippe tamquam iniquum Christum uult credi, quem iudicibus recta sentientibus dicit occisum; ista hominem piissimum, sed hominem tantum. una est tamen et illius et huius intentio, ut nolint homines esse Christianos, quia, nisi Christiani erunt, ab eorum erui potestate non poterunt. iste uero philosophus, uel potius qui talibus aduersus Christianos quasi oraculis credunt, prius faciant, si possunt, ut inter se de ipso Christo Hecate atque Apollo concordent eumque aut ambo condemnent aut ambo conlaudent. quod si facere potuissent, nihilominus nos et uituperatores et laudatores Christi fallaces daemones uitaremus. cum uero eorum deus et dea inter se de Christo, ille uituperando, ista laudando dissentiant, profecto eis blasphemantibus Christianos non credunt homines, si recte ipsi sentiant. sane Christum laudans uel Porphyrius uel Hecate, cum dicat eum ipsum fataliter dedisse Christianis, ut inplicarentur errore, causas tamen eiusdem, sicut putat, pandit erroris. quas antequam ex uerbis eius exponam, prius quaero, si fataliter dedit Christus Christianis erroris inplicationem, utrum uolens an nolens dederit. si uolens, quomodo iustus? si nolens, quomodo beatus? sed iam causas ipsius audiamus erroris. sunt, inquit, spiritus terreni minimi loco quodam malorum daemonum potestati subiecti. ab his sapientes Hebraeorum - quorum unus iste etiam Iesus fuit, sicut audisti diuina Apollinis, quae superius dicta sunt - ab his ergo Hebraei daemonibus pessimis et minoribus spiritibus uetabant religiosos et ipsis uacare prohibebant; uenerari autem magis caelestes deos, amplius autem uenerari deum patrem. hoc autem, inquit, et di praecipiunt et in superioribus ostendimus, quemadmodum animum aduertere ad deum monent et illum colere ubique imperant. uerum indocti et inpiae naturae, quibus uere fatum non concessit ab dis dona obtinere neque habere Iouis inmortalis notionem, non audientes et deos et diuinos uiros deos quidem omnes recusauerunt, prohibitos autem daemones et hos non odisse, sed reuereri. deum autem simulantes colere, ea sola, per quae deus adoratur, non agunt. nam deus quidem, utpote omnium pater, nullius indiget; sed nobis est bene, , cum eum per iustitiam et castitatem aliasque uirtutes adoramus, ipsam uitam precem ad ipsum facientes per imitationem et inquisitionem de ipso. inquisitio enim purgat, inquit; imitatio deificat adfectionem ad ipsum operando. bene quidem praedicauit deum patrem, et quibus sit colendus moribus dixit; quibus praeceptis prophetici libri pleni sunt Hebraeorum, quando sanctorum uita siue imperatur siue laudatur. sed in Christianis tantum errat aut tantum calumniatur, quantum uolunt daemones, quos opinatur deos; quasi cuiquam difficile sit recolere, quae turpia, quae dedecora erga deorum obsequium in theatris agebantur et templis, et adtendere quae legantur dicantur audiantur in ecclesiis, uel deo uero quid offeratur, et hinc intellegere ubi aedificium, et ubi ruina sit morum. quis autem huic dixit uel inspirauit, nisi diabolicus spiritus, tam uanum apertumque mendacium, quod daemones ab Hebraeis coli prohibitos reuereantur potius, quam oderint Christiani? sed deus ille, quem coluerunt sapientes Hebraeorum, etiam caelestibus sanctis angelis et uirtutibus dei, quos beatissimos tamquam ciues in hac nostra nostra peregrinatione mortali ueneramur et amamus, sacrificari uetat intonans in lege sua, quam dedit Hebraeo populo suo, et ualde minaciter dicens: sacrificans dis eradicabitur. et ne quisquam putaret daemonibus pessimis terrenisque spiritibus, quos iste dicit minimos uel minores, ne sacrificetur esse praeceptum - quia et ipsi in scripturis sanctis dicti sunt di, non Hebraeorum, sed gentium; quod euidenter in psalmo septuaginta interpretes posuerunt dicentes: quoniam omnes di gentium daemonia - , ne quis ergo putaret istis quidem daemoniis prohibitum, caelestibus autem uel omnibus uel aliquibus sacrificari esse permissum, mox addidit: nisi domino soli, id est nisi domino tantum; ne forte in eo, quod ait: domino soli, dominum solem credat esse quispiam, cui sacrificandum putet; quod non ita esse intellegendum in scripturis Graecis facillime reperitur. deus igitur Hebraeorum, cui tam magnum tantus etiam iste philosophus perhibet testimonium, legem dedit Hebraeo populo suo, Hebraeo sermone conscriptam, non obscuram et incognitam, sed omnibus iam gentibus diffamatam, in qua lege scriptum est: sacrificans dis eradicabitur nisi domino tantum. quid opus est in hac eius lege eiusque prophetis de hac re multa perquirere; immo non perquirere, non enim abstrusa uel rara sunt, sed aperta et crebra colligere et in hac disputatione mea ponere, quibus luce clarius apparet nulli omnino nisi tantum sibi deum uerum et summum uoluisse sacrificari? ecce hoc unum breuiter, immo granditer, minaciter, sed ueraciter dictum ab illo deo, quem tam excellenter eorum doctissimi praedicant, audiatur timeatur inpleatur, ne inoboedientes eradicatio consequatur. sacrificans inquit, dis eradicabitur nisi domino tantum; non quo rei egeat alicuius, sed quia nobis expedit, ut res eius simus. huic enim canitur in sacris litteris Hebraeorum: dixi domino: deus meus es tu, quoniam bonorum meorum non eges. huius autem praeclarissimum atque optimum sacrificium nos ipsi sumus, hoc est ciuitas eius, cuius rei mysterium celebramus oblationibus nostris, quae fidelibus notae sunt, sicut in libris praecedentibus disputauimus. cessaturas enim uictimas, quas in umbra futuri offerebant Iudaei, et unum sacrificium gentes a solis ortu usque ad occasum, sicut iam fieri cernimus, oblaturas per prophetas Hebraeos oracula increpuere diuina; ex quibus quantum satis uisum est, nonnulla protulimus et huic iam operi adspersimus. quapropter ubi non est ista iustitia, ut secundum suam gratiam ciuitati oboedienti deus imperet unus et summus, ne cuiquam sacrificet nisi tantum sibi, et per hoc in omnibus hominibus ad eandem ciuitatem pertinentibus atque oboedientibus deo animus etiam corpori atque ratio uitiis ordine legitimo fideliter imperet; ut, quemadmodum iustus unus, ita coetus populusque iustorum uiuat ex fide, quae operatur per dilectionem, qua homo diligit deum, sicut diligendus est deus, et proximum sicut se met ipsum, - ubi ergo non est ista iustitia, profecto non est coetus hominum iuris consensu et utilitatis communione sociatus. quod si non est, utique populus non est, si uera est haec populi definitio. ergo nec respublica est, quia res populi non est, ubi ipse populus non est.