Praeparatio Evangelica 1 part 2/4

Or do we not see that those who skillfully heal the ailments of the body do likewise — themselves, through much practice and training, having mastered the principles of the medical art and performing every procedure rationally, while those who come to them for treatment entrust themselves to faith and to the hope of better things, understanding nothing precisely of the theoretical principles of the science, but depending solely upon good hope and faith?

And the best of physicians, coming forward publicly, prescribes with scientific knowledge, as a ruler and master, both what must be guarded against and what ought to be done; and the patient obeys as one obeys a king and lawgiver, trusting that what has been prescribed will be beneficial to him. Even so ...

... students too receive instruction from their teachers, believing that the lesson will prove good for them; and indeed no one would ever set his hand to philosophy before first believing that the profession would be beneficial to him. And one man forthwith chooses the doctrines of Epicurus, another emulates the Cynic way of life, another philosophizes according to Plato, yet another according to Aristotle, and again another has preferred, above all, the Stoic teachings — each embracing what seemed good to him, in the hope and faith that it would be beneficial, with better expectation.

In this same way men also took up the middling crafts, some the military life, others the mercantile life, having beforehand believed, by faith, that the occupation would prove to provide their livelihood. And even the first unions and companionships of marriage began from good faith in the hope of raising children.

And again, one sets sail into the unknown, having put forward no other anchor of safety than faith alone and good hope; and again another tills the earth, and having cast the seed into the ground, sits waiting for the turning of the season, believing that what has perished in the earth and been covered by floods of rain will come to life again, as it were from the dead; and yet another, setting out on a long journey to a foreign land from his own home, again takes hope and faith along with him as good guides.

And indeed, what else is this but to perceive that the whole life of men is suspended upon these two things, hope and faith? Why, then, do you wonder if the better things concerning the soul are, for some, delivered by faith — those for whom there is no leisure to be instructed more rationally in the particulars — while for others it is possible even to pursue the very arguments themselves, and to learn the demonstrations of the doctrines advocated?

But since we have, in brief, not exercised ourselves in these matters to no purpose, let us return to our first point, and consider what we shall answer to those who inquire who we are and from where we take our origin. That we are, then, by race Greeks, and think as the Greeks think, having been gathered together as picked recruits, as it were of a newly levied army, out of all the nations, and have become apostates from the ancestral superstition — this we ourselves would never deny. But that, adhering to the Jewish books, and gathering from the prophecies among them the greater part of our doctrine, we no longer consider it fitting to live as those of the circumcision do — this too we would readily confess.

It is time, then, to give an account of these matters. How, then, could we appear to have done well in abandoning our ancestral ways, unless we first set them forth in public and bring them before the eyes of our readers? For in this way the divine power of the evangelical demonstration would become manifest, if it were set before the eyes of all, from what and from what sort of evils it proclaims deliverance as good news.

And how could the reasonableness of our departure from the pursuit of Jewish ways become manifest, unless the excellence of these ways too has been demonstrated? By what reasoning, then, embracing their Scriptures, do we decline the similar manner of life? It would be good to go through this as well, and, above all, what our position is regarding the subject-matter of the evangelical proposition, and what could properly be called Christianity — being neither Hellenism nor Judaism, but a certain new and true divine wisdom, bearing its own innovation from the very name itself.

Come, then, let us first of all examine the most ancient theologies — and in particular our own ancestral ones — still today celebrated throughout every city, together with the solemn opinions of the noble philosophers concerning the constitution of the cosmos and concerning the gods, so that we may know whether we have rightly departed from them, or not.

I shall set forth, in the exposition of these matters, not my own words, but rather those of the very men who made the piety concerning those they call gods their most zealous pursuit, so that the account may stand entirely free of any suspicion that we are fabricating.

Tradition, then, holds that the Phoenicians and Egyptians were the first of all men to declare the sun, moon, and stars to be gods, and to be the sole causes of the generation and destruction of all things; and that they were the first to introduce into human life the idol-fashionings and theogonies celebrated among all peoples.

But before these, no one knew anything more than what appeared in the heavens, except for a few men remembered among the Hebrews, who, with the purest eyes of understanding, looked beyond everything visible and revered the Maker of the cosmos and the Craftsman of all things, marveling greatly at his so great wisdom and power, which they perceived from his works; and having been persuaded that he alone is God, they fittingly theologized him alone — this true and first and only piety being handed down and preserved from father to child.

The rest of mankind, however, having fallen away from this sole and true piety, being struck, like infants in their souls, by the fleshly eyes at the light-bearing bodies of the heavens, both declared them gods and honored them with sacrifices — not building temples, nor fashioning likenesses of mortal forms in images and idols, but gazing at the very ether and heaven itself, and reaching with their souls only as far as the things visible in this realm.

But things did not remain thus even for the men who came afterward; rather, the error of polytheism was fashioned so as to drive them into a still greater abyss of evils than atheism itself, the Phoenicians, and after them the Egyptians, having initiated this error — from whom, it is said, Orpheus, son of Oeagrus, was the first to transfer to the Greeks the mysteries current among the Egyptians, just as Cadmus likewise brought the Phoenician mysteries to the same people, together also with the learning of letters; for the Greeks did not yet at that time know the use of writing.

First, then, we shall examine the matters of the first cosmogony, as those we are discussing have understood them; then the matters concerning the first and most ancient superstition of human life; and third, the beliefs of the Phoenicians; fourth, those of the Egyptians; after which, fifth, having distinguished the beliefs of the Greeks, we shall first survey their ancient and more mythical error, and then their more solemn and more physical philosophy concerning the gods; and after this we shall proceed to treat the account of the wondrous oracles — following which we shall also examine the solemn teachings of the noble Greek philosophy.

Once these matters have been sifted out for us, we shall pass on to the affairs of the Hebrews — the first and truly Hebrews, and those after them who obtained the name of Jews. And upon all these, as a seal set upon the whole, we shall bring forward our own [teachings].

And it is necessary that we call to mind the history of all these things, so that, by setting side by side what has been admired in each place, the proof of the truth may be demonstrated, and it may become clear to our readers from what beliefs we have departed and which we have chosen.

But let us come to the first point. From what source, then, shall we make our proofs credible? Certainly not from writings of our own, lest we seem to be doing a favor to our own argument; rather, let there stand as witnesses for us the Greeks themselves — both those who pride themselves on philosophy and those who have thoroughly investigated the rest of the history of the nations.

Diodorus of Sicily, then, writing from the beginning and setting forth the ancient theology of the Egyptians, is a man very well known among the most learned of the Greeks, since he gathered the whole 'Historical Library' into a single work. From him I shall first set forth what he laid out at the beginning of his discourse concerning the cosmogony of the universe, giving the opinions of the ancient historians in this manner.

Concerning the gods, then — what conceptions were held by those who first showed forth honor to the divine, and concerning the myths told of each of the immortals — we shall attempt to set forth most of this separately, in its own place, since this subject requires a lengthy discussion; but whatever we judge to correspond to the histories now before us we shall set forth in summary, so that nothing worthy of hearing may be left wanting.

But concerning the race of all mankind, and the deeds done in the known parts of the inhabited world, we shall record accurately — so far as is possible concerning things so ancient — beginning from the most ancient times.

Concerning the first origin of mankind, then, two declarations have arisen among the most respected of both natural philosophers and historians. For some of them, positing the world as unbegotten and imperishable, declared also that the race of men has existed from eternity, their propagation never having had a beginning; while others, holding it to be begotten and perishable, said that men likewise came to their first origin at fixed times.

For according to the original constitution of the universe, heaven and earth had a single form, their natures being mingled together; but afterward, when the bodies were separated from one another, the world took in the whole arrangement now seen within it, while the air received continuous motion, and its fiery portion ran together toward the most elevated regions — such a substance having an upward tendency because of its lightness (for which reason the sun and the rest of the multitude of the stars were caught up in the general whirl), while the muddy and turbid part, together with the mixture of the moist elements, settled together in the same place on account of its weight; and as this was rolled about and continually turned upon itself, it made the sea out of the moist elements, and the earth — muddy and altogether soft — out of the more solid ones.

This earth, when the fire around the sun first shone upon it, took on solidity; then, as its surface fermented on account of the heat, some of the moist matter swelled up in many places, and around these there arose putrid masses enclosed in thin membranes — a thing which may still be seen happening even now in marshes and in stagnant places, whenever, after the ground has been chilled, the air suddenly becomes fiery hot without the change occurring gradually.

And as the moist elements were quickened into life by the heat in the manner described, during the nights they at once received nourishment from the mist falling from the surrounding air, while during the day they were solidified by the burning heat; and finally, when the things thus conceived had attained their full growth, and the membranes had been scorched through and torn apart, there sprang forth animals of every kind of form.

Of these creatures, those which had partaken of the greatest amount of heat became winged and departed to the elevated regions; those which clung to an earthy composition were numbered in the order of reptiles and the other creatures of the land; and those which had partaken most of moist nature ran together to the region akin to their own, and were named swimming creatures.

And the earth, becoming ever more solidified by the fire around the sun and by the winds, was at last no longer able to bring any of the larger creatures to life, but each of the living beings came to be generated instead through mutual union with one another.

Concerning the nature of the universe, Euripides too seems to be in no disagreement with what has been said above, being a disciple of Anaxagoras the natural philosopher. For in the Melanippe he sets it forth thus: that heaven and earth were once a single form; but when they were parted asunder from one another, they brought forth all things, and gave birth into the light — trees, birds, wild beasts, and those whom the brine nourishes, and the race of mortals.

Such, then, is what we have received concerning the first generation of the universe. As for the men first begotten in the beginning, they say that, living a disorderly and beast-like life, they went out scattered to the pastures, and fed upon the most agreeable plants and the spontaneous fruits of the trees; and being warred upon by wild beasts, they helped one another, taught by self-interest, and, gathering together out of fear, they came gradually to recognize one another's features.

And since their speech was inarticulate and confused, they gradually began to articulate words, and by establishing among themselves signs for each of the things before them, they made the interpretation of all things intelligible to one another.

And since such communities arose throughout the whole inhabited world, not all had the same speech in common, each group having arranged its words as chance would have it; hence there came to be languages of every sort of character, and the first communities that arose became the original founders of all the nations.

The first men, then, since none of the things useful for life had yet been discovered, lived a laborious existence, being naked of clothing, unaccustomed to dwelling and fire, and wholly without any notion of cultivated food. For, being ignorant of the gathering and storing of wild food, they made no provision of fruits against times of want; wherefore many of them perished in the winters, both from the cold and from lack of food.

From this, being taught gradually by experience, they took refuge in caves during the winter and stored away such fruits as could be preserved. And once fire and other useful things became known, the arts, too, were gradually discovered, along with the other things capable of benefiting communal life.

For, in general, need itself became the teacher of all things to mankind, guiding fittingly the learning of each matter in a creature naturally well-endowed, and possessing as helpers for everything hands, and reason, and keenness of soul. And concerning the first origin of mankind and their most ancient way of life, we shall be content with what has been said, aiming at due proportion.

So much, then, from the aforementioned writer, who did not so much as mention the name of God in his account of the world's origin, but introduced the ordering of the universe as a matter of mere coincidence and chance. And you will find in agreement with him also the majority of the philosophers among the Greeks, whose opinions concerning first principles, and their disagreements and dissensions with one another — arising from conjecture, not from true comprehension — I shall now set forth from the Stromateis of Plutarch. Do you, then, not carelessly, but at leisure and with due reflection, observe the mutual disagreement of what is here shown.

They say that Thales, first of all, posited water as the first principle of all things; for from it, he held, all things come, and into it all things return.

After him, Anaximander — who had become a companion of Thales — declared that the infinite holds the entire cause of the origin and destruction of the universe, and that from it, he says, the heavens have been separated off, and in general all the worlds, which are infinite in number. He declared that destruction takes place, and origination much earlier, all things being cycled round from infinite time. He says that the earth in shape is cylinder-like, and has a depth as great as would be a third of its breadth. He says that what is generative of hot and cold was separated off from the eternal at the origin of this world, and that a certain sphere of flame grew around the air surrounding the earth, as bark grows around a tree; and that when this sphere was broken off and enclosed within certain circles, the sun, the moon, and the stars came into being. He further says that in the beginning man was born from creatures of a different kind, because, whereas the other animals quickly find their own nourishment by themselves, man alone requires a lengthy period of nursing; hence, being such a creature, he could never have survived from the beginning. Such, then, is the teaching of Anaximander.

They say that Anaximenes declared air to be the first principle of all things, and that this is, in kind, infinite, but determinate in the qualities attaching to it; and that all things are generated by a certain condensation of it, and again by rarefaction. Its motion, indeed, exists from eternity; and as the air was compressed, the earth, he says, came into being first, being very flat; wherefore it is reasonably borne upon the air; and the sun, the moon, and the rest of the stars have the origin of their generation from the earth. He declares, at any rate, that the sun is earth, but that on account of its swift motion it acquired a heat sufficiently intense.

Xenophanes of Colophon, having traveled a certain path of his own, differing from all those mentioned above, admits neither generation nor destruction, but says that the universe is always alike. For if this came to be, he says, it would necessarily not have existed before; but that which does not exist could not come to be, nor could that which does not exist make anything, nor could anything come to be from that which does not exist. He declares also that the senses are false, and, together with them, he generally discredits reason itself as well. He declares also that the earth, being continuously carried down through time, gradually passes into the sea. He says too that the sun is gathered together from many small fiery particles. He also declares concerning the gods that there is no sovereignty among them; for it is not right that any of the gods be ruled over; nor does any of them stand in need of anything at all; and that they hear and see, but as a whole, and not in respect of particular parts. He declares also that the earth is infinite, and is not encompassed on every side by air; and that all things come to be from earth; and he says that the sun and the other stars come into being from the clouds.

Parmenides of Elea, the companion of Xenophanes, at once laid claim to his opinions and also undertook the opposite position. For he declares the universe to be eternal and unmoved, and this according to the truth of the matter; for it is, he says, one alone, of a single kind, unshaken, and unbegotten; and he casts out generation as belonging to things that merely seem to be true according to opinion, along with the senses, as apart from truth. He says that if anything exists besides being, this is not being; and that non-being does not exist at all among the totality of things. Thus, then, he leaves being unbegotten; and he says that the earth came to be from air that had flowed down and become dense.

Zeno of Elea set forth no doctrine of his own, but raised further difficulties concerning these matters at greater length.

Democritus of Abdera posited the universe as infinite, on the ground that it was in no way fashioned by anyone; moreover, he says it is unchangeable; and, in general, as regards the nature of the whole, he expressly sets forth that the causes of what now comes to be have no beginning at all, but that from all eternity, from infinite time back, absolutely all things — what has come to be, what exists, and what shall be — have been governed beforehand by necessity. He says that the sun and moon came into being, moving each on its own, not yet having at all a hot nature, nor indeed being altogether most luminous, but on the contrary resembling in nature that which surrounds the earth; for each of these, he says, came into being earlier still, as a certain substrate peculiar to a world of its own, but afterward, as the circle around the sun grew in size, the fire was caught up and enclosed within it.

Epicurus, son of Neocles, the Athenian, attempts to suppress the vain conceit concerning the gods; and he says: nothing comes into being from that which does not exist, because the universe has always been such as it is, and shall be such; that nothing strange is brought about in the universe beyond the infinite time that has already elapsed; that the whole is body, and not only unchangeable but infinite; and that the end of all good things is pleasure.

Aristippus of Cyrene holds pleasure to be the end of good things, and pain the end of evils; and he excludes the rest of natural philosophy, saying that the only profitable inquiry is to seek 'whatever of good or evil has been wrought within thy halls.'

Empedocles of Acragas posits four elements — fire, water, air, and earth — and as their cause, love and strife. He says that, at the first separation of the elements' mixture, air was separated off and poured around in a circle; and that after the air, fire ran out, and having no other place, ran upward, being pressed by the compacted mass around the air. And there are, borne in a circle around the earth, two hemispheres, the one wholly of fire, the other a mixture of air and a little fire, which he supposes to be night. The beginning of motion came about from the chance occurring at the coming-together, when fire pressed down upon it. The sun, in its nature, is not fire, but a reflection of fire, similar to that which comes from water. He says the moon was formed by itself from the air that had been cut off by the fire; for this air was compacted, just as hail is; and it has its light from the sun. The governing faculty is neither in the head nor in the chest, but in the blood; hence, in whatever part of the body the governing faculty happens to be more widely dispersed, he supposes men to excel in that respect.

Metrodorus of Chios says that the universe is eternal, because, if it were begotten, it would have come from that which does not exist; and that it is infinite, because it is eternal — for it has no beginning from which it started, nor limit, nor end; but he says that the universe does not even partake of motion at all. For it is impossible for it to be moved without changing place; and it is necessary that a change of place be either into what is full or into what is empty. As it is condensed, the aether makes clouds, then water, which, descending upon the sun, extinguishes it; and again, as it is rarefied, it is kindled. In time, the sun becomes solid through dryness, and makes stars out of the bright water; night and day come about from its extinguishing and kindling, and eclipses in general are produced in this same way.

Diogenes of Apollonia posits air as the element; all things are in motion, and the worlds are infinite. He constructs the world thus: that, as the whole is in motion, and part of it becomes rarefied and part condensed, wherever the condensed part happened to come together it produced a coalescence, and so the rest, by the same principle, the lightest parts taking the position above, brought the sun to completion.

Such, then, is the account of the constitution of the universe and of the first cosmogony given by the all-wise Greeks who have been called natural philosophers — men who posited no craftsman or maker of the universe whatsoever, nor made any mention of God at all, but ascribed the cause of the whole to mere irrational motion and to spontaneous, automatic movement.

So great, moreover, is their mutual contrariety, that they have agreed together on nothing whatsoever, but have filled everything with strife and dissension. Hence the admirable Socrates convicted all these men of folly, and said that they differed in no way from madmen — if indeed Xenophon is for you a witness worthy of credit, speaking thus in his Memorabilia.

No one ever saw Socrates doing, nor heard him saying, anything impious or unholy. For he did not discourse concerning the nature of the universe, or on other such matters, as most men did, inquiring how the so-called 'cosmos' of the sophists is constituted, and by what necessities each of the heavenly bodies comes to be, but rather he demonstrated that those who concerned themselves with such things were fools. And he adds next.

...whether it is not evident to them that it is impossible for men to discover these things, since even those who think most highly of themselves for discoursing on these matters do not hold the same opinions as one another, but are disposed toward one another just like madmen. For among madmen, some do not even fear things that are terrible, while others fear things that are not fearful at all; and likewise among those who are anxiously occupied with the nature of the universe, some think that being is one alone, others that it is infinite in multitude; some think that all things are always in motion, others that nothing could ever be moved at all; and some think that all things come to be and perish, while others hold that nothing could ever come to be or perish.

These things Socrates said, as Xenophon testifies. And Plato too agrees with this account in the Phaedo, recording him as saying such things as these: 'For I, Cebes,' he said, 'when I was young, desired with astonishing eagerness that wisdom which they call the investigation of nature; for it seemed to me a splendid thing to know the causes of each thing — why each thing comes to be, and why it perishes, and why it exists; and I often turned myself about, up and down, examining first such questions as these: whether, when the hot and the cold undergo a certain putrefaction, as some said, living creatures are then nourished together into being; and whether it is the blood by which we think, or the air, or the fire; or whether none of these, but the brain is that which furnishes the senses of seeing and hearing and smelling, and from these memory and opinion come to be, and from memory and opinion, once they have attained stability, knowledge comes to be accordingly.'

And again, investigating the destructions of these things, and the phenomena concerning heaven and earth, I ended up finally supposing myself to be, in the end, no good at all for this kind of inquiry — good for nothing whatsoever. And I will tell you a sufficient proof of this: for the very things which I had previously known clearly — or so it seemed to myself and to others — I was then, by this very investigation, so utterly blinded that I unlearned even those things which I had before thought I knew.

These things were said by Socrates himself, that man celebrated in song by all the Greeks. Since, then, even to so great a philosopher the natural philosophy of the aforementioned men appeared to be of such a kind, it seems reasonable to me that we too should have rejected the atheism of all these men, especially since the error of their polytheism does not seem to be foreign to what has been said. This point, however, shall be examined at the fitting time, when we shall demonstrate that Anaxagoras is remembered as the first of the Greeks to have set Mind over the cause of the universe. For now, let me pass on to Diodorus, and consider what he relates concerning the earliest theology of mankind.

The men who lived in Egypt in ancient times, then, looking up at the heavens, and being struck with astonishment and wonder at the nature of the universe, supposed that there were two gods, eternal and first, namely the sun and the moon, and they named the one Osiris and the other Isis, each name having been given from a certain etymology.

For when these names are translated into the Greek manner of speech, Osiris means 'many-eyed,' and reasonably so; for, casting his rays in every direction, he beholds, as it were with many eyes, all the earth and sea. And the poet, too, says things in accord with this: 'O Helios, who beholdest all things and hearest all things.'

Some of the ancient mythologers among the Greeks call Osiris by the name Dionysus, and, by a related name, Sirius. Of these, Eumolpus, in his Bacchic verses, says: 'star-shining Dionysus, fiery-eyed amid his rays'; and Orpheus says: 'Wherefore they call him both Phanes and Dionysus.' And some say that the fawn-skin garment worn by him was put on him in reference to the variegated array of the stars.

As for Isis, when translated, it means 'ancient one,' this name having been given to the moon on account of her eternal and ancient origin; and they place horns upon her, both from the appearance she presents whenever she is crescent-shaped, and from the cow that is consecrated to her among the Egyptians. These two gods, they suppose, govern the whole universe.