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Reply to Faustus the Manichaean
10.
Do the Manichaeans suppose that the animals which, according to their wild notions, were constructed by Hyle in the race of darkness, had not this harmonious action of their members, commended by the apostle, before God mixed His light with them; so that then the head did say to the feet, or the eye to the hand, I have no need of thee? This is not and cannot be the Manichaean doctrine, for they describe the animals as using all these members, and speak of them as creeping, walking, swimming, flying, each in its own kind. They could all see, too, and hear, and use the other senses, and nourish and cherish their own bodies with appropriate means and appliances. Hence, moreover, they had the power of reproduction, for they are spoken of as having offspring. All these things, of which Faust speaks disparagingly as the works of Hyle, could not be done without that harmonious arrangement which the apostle praises and ascribes to God. Is it not now plain who is to be followed, and who is to be pronounced accursed? Indeed, the Manichaeans tell us of animals that could speak; and their speeches were heard and understood and approved of by all creatures, whether creeping things, or quadrupeds, or birds, or fish. Amazing and supernatural eloquence! Especially as they had no grammarian or elocutionist to teach them, and had not passed through the painful experience of the cane and the birch. Why, Faustus himself began late in life to learn oratory, that he might discourse eloquently on these absurdities; and with all his cleverness, after ruining his health by study, his preaching has gained a mere handful of followers. What a pity that he was born in the light, and not in that region of darkness! If he had discoursed there against the light, the whole animal creation, from the biped to the centipede, from the dragon to the shell-fish, would have listened eagerly, and obeyed at once; whereas, when he discourses here against the race of darkness, he is oftener called eloquent than learned, and oftener still a false teacher of the worst kind. And among the few Manichaeans who extol him as a great teacher, he has none of the lower animals as his disciples; and not even his horse is any the wiser for his master's instructions, so that the mixture of a part of deity seems only to make the animals more stupid. What absurdity is this! When will these deluded beings have the sense to compare the description in the Manichaean fiction of what the animals were formerly in their own region, with what they are now in this world? Then their bodies were strong, now they are feeble; then their power of vision was such that they were induced to invade the region of God on account of the beauty which they saw, now it is too weak to face the rays of the sun; then they had intelligence sufficient to understand a discourse addressed to them, now they have no ability of the kind; then this astonishing and effective eloquence was natural, now eloquence of the most meagre kind requires diligent study and preparation. How many good things did the race of darkness lose by the mixture of good!
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Contra Faustum Manichaeum libri triginta tres
10.
Dicant ergo Manichaei, utrum animalia, quae secundum deliramenta eorum hyle fabricaverat in gente tenebrarum, antequam illis deus lucem suam miscuisset, non habebant istam membrorum concordiam, quam sic laudat apostolus, utrum ibi diceret caput pedibus aut oculus manui: Opus te non habeo. p. 580,23 Numquam hoc dixerunt nec dicere potuerunt. Tales enim eis actus et opera tribuunt: repebant, ambulabant, natabant, volabant quaeque pro genere suo; videbant quoque et audiebant ceterisque sensibus sentiebant, alimentis et temperamentis congruis nutriebant et fovebant corpora sua. Hinc etiam prolis fecunditas suppetebat; nam et coniugia tribuunt eis. Haec certe omnia, quae tamquam hyles opera vituperat Manichaeus, fieri non possunt sine membrorum concordia, quam laudat et deo assignat apostolus. Dubitatis adhuc, quisnam sectandus et quisnam anathemandus sit? Quid, quod erant ibi quaedam, quae etiam loquebantur, ut eis contionantibus omnia serpentia, quadrupedia, volatilia, natatilia audirent, intellegerent, consentirent? Miranda haec et omnino divina eloquentia! Et neminem grammaticum aut rhetorem audierant nec inter lacrimas ferularum atque virgarum ista didicerant. p. 581,10 Nempe iste Faustus, ut has vanitates diserte garriret, ad disciplinam faciendi sermonis etiam serus accessit, et quamvis esset acer ingenio, tamen legendo stomachum rupit, ut ei loquenti tam pauci assentirentur. O miserum, qui in ista luce ac non in illis tenebris natus est! Illic enim eum contra lucem contionantem omnis bipes, omnis multipes, omnis etiam serpens a dracone usque ad cocleam libenter audiret, alacriter oboediret; hic autem contra tenebras disputantem plures eloquentem quam doctum, multi autem seductorem perversissimum nominabant; inter paucos vero Manichaeos tamquam magno magistro plaudentes nullum ei pecus annuebat nec ex illa doctrina saltem caballus eius aliquid sciebat, tamquam omnibus animalibus ad hoc pars divina concreta sit, ut stolida fierent. p. 581,23 Quid est hoc, rogo? Evigilate aliquando, miseri, et comparate in fabula vestra omnium animantium prius tempus et praesens, tunc in terra sua, nunc in hoc mundo! Tunc firma erant corpora, nunc infirma sunt; tunc acris acies oculorum ad videndum cum delectatione invadendi regionem dei, nunc ita obtunsa, ut a solis radiis avertatur; tunc acutae mentes animalium ad intellegendum contionantis sermonem, nunc hebetes et ab eiusmodi capacitate penitus alienae; tunc naturalis tam magna et tam potens eloquentia, nunc tanto studio ac labore vix parva et exigua. O quam magna bona commixtione boni perdidit gens tenebrarum! p. 582,4