HKB
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superioibus ostendimus, quemadmodum animadvertere ad Deum monent, et ilium colère ubique imperant. Verum indocti et impiæ naturae, quibus vere Fatum non concessit a Dius dona obtinere, neque habere Jovis immortalis notitiam, non audientes Deos et divinos viros; Deos quidem omnes recusaverunt, prohibitos autem dæmones non solum nullis odiis insequi, sed etiam revereri delegerunt. Deum autem simulantes se colère, ea sola per quae Deus adoratur, non agunt. Nam Deus quidem utpote omnium pater nullius indiget: sed nobis est bene, cum eum per justitiam et castitatem, aliasque virtutes adoramus, ipsam vitam precem ad ipsum fa-cientes, per imitationem et inquisitionem de ipso. Inquisitio enim purgat, imitatio deificat affectionem ad ipsum operando."
i. e. "There are terrene spirits of the lowest order, who in a certain terrene place are subject to the power of evil demons. From these were derived the wise men of the Hebrews, of whom Jesus also was one; as you have heard the divine oracles of Apollo above mentioned assert. From these worst of demons therefore, and lesser spirits of the Hebrew, the oracles forbid the religious, and prohibit from paying attention to them, but exhort them rather to venerate the celestial gods, and still more the father of the gods. And we have above
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shown how the gods admonish us to look to Divinity, and everywhere command us to worship him. But the unlearned and impious natures, to whom Fate has not granted truly to obtain gifts from the gods, and to have a knowledge of immortal Jupiter,--these not attending to the gods and divine men, reject indeed all the gods, and are so far from hating prohibited demons, that they even choose to reverence them*. But pretending that they worship God, they do not perform those things through which alone God is adored. For God, indeed, as being the father of all things, is not in want of any thing; but it is well with us when we adore him through justice and continence, and the other
*The Platonic philosopher Sallust, in his golden book On the Gods and the World, says, alluding to the Christians, cap. 18, "Impiety, which invades some places of the earth, and which will often subsist in future, ought not to give any disturbance to the worthy mind; for things of this kind do not affect, nor can religious honours be of any advantage to the gods; and the soul from its middle nature is not always able to pursue that which is right Besides, it is not improbable that impiety is a species of punishment; for those who have known and at the same time despised the gods, we may reasonably suppose will in another life be deprived of the knowledge of their nature. And those who have honoured their proper sovereigns as gods, shall be cut off from the divinities, as the punishment of their impiety."
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virtues, making our life a prayer to him through the imitation and investigation of him. For investigation purifies, but imitation deifies the affection of the mind by energizing about divinity."
The following extract from Porphyry concerning a pestilence which raged for many years at Rome, and could not be mitigated by any sacrifices, is preserved by Theodoret: "[--------]." i. e. "The Christians now wonder that the city has been for so many years attacked by disease, the advent [or manifest appearance] of Esculapius and the other gods no longer existing. For Jesus being now reverenced and worshiped, no one any longer derives any public benefit from the gods."
A FRAGMENT OF THE THIRTY-FOURTH BOOK OF DIODORUS SICULUS.
"King Antiochus besieged Jerusalem; but the Jews resisted him for some time. When, however, all their provision was spent, they were forced to send ambassadors to him to treat on terms. Many of his friends persuaded him to storm the city, and
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