ΒΙΒΛΙΟΝ ΤΡΙΤΟΝ
Third Book
Third Book
ΠΡΟΟΙΜΙΟΝ
Preface
Preface
| 1. Τὰ μὲν δὴ παραστάντα τοῖς κρατίστοις τῶν φιλοσόφων καὶ τοῖς παλαιοῖς καὶ πρώτοις τῆς Ῥωμαίων ἡγεμονίας περὶ τῆς Ἑλληνικῆς θεολογίας τοιαῦτα ἦν, οὐδαμῶς φυσιολογίας ἐν τοῖς περὶ θεῶν μύθοις παραδεχόμενα, οὐδέ γε τὰς σεμνοφανεῖς καὶ σοφιστικὰς τερθρείας. | 1. Such, then, were the views concerning Greek theology held by the most excellent of the philosophers and by the ancient and founding leaders of the Roman empire—in no way admitting physical explanations in the myths concerning the gods, nor their impressive-sounding and sophistical nonsense. |
| 2. ἡμεῖς γε μὴν ἐπείπερ ἅπαξ ὡρμήθημεν καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν τούτων ἔλεγχον, φέρε τὰς ἑρμηνείας αὐτῶν καὶ θεωρίας, τί ποτε ἄρα σεμνὸν καὶ θεοπρεπὲς ἐπικομίζονται, συνίδωμεν, μηδὲν μὲν ἐξ ἡμῶν, πάντα δὲ ταῖς αὐτῶν φωναῖς συγχρώμενοι, ὡς ἂν παρ’ αὐτῶν αὖθις τὰ αὐτῶν σεμνὰ καὶ ἀπόρρητα καταμάθωμεν. | 2. Since, however, we have once set out to refute them, come now, let us examine together their interpretations and theories—to see what solemn and god-befitting meaning they claim to introduce. We shall contribute nothing of our own, but shall make full use of their own words in every respect, so that from their own mouths we may learn their sacred and secret doctrines. |
| 3. Μυρίοις μὲν οὖν ἄλλοις τῶν φιλοσοφεῖν ἐπαγγελλομένων πολὺς περὶ τούτων εἰσῆκται πόνος, διαφόρους τὰς αὐτῶν εὑρεσιλογίας πεποιημένοις, καὶ τὸ παραστὰν καὶ δόξαν ἑκάστῳ τοῦτ’ εἶναι τὸ ἀληθὲς ἀπισχυριζομένοις· ἐμοὶ δὲ ἐξαρκεῖ τὰς ἀποδείξεις ἀπὸ τῶν μάλιστα διαφανῶν καὶ πᾶσι τοῖς φιλοσόφοις γνωρίμων κλέος τε οὐ μικρὸν φιλοσοφίας παρ’ Ἕλλησιν ἀπενηνεγμένων παρασχεῖν. | 3. Now, countless others among those professing philosophy have expended much labor on these matters, producing various subtle inventions of their own, and stoutly asserting that whatever occurred to or seemed good to each was the absolute truth. But for me it is sufficient to provide demonstrations drawn from those who are most distinguished and well known to all philosophers, men who have carried off no small reputation for philosophy among the Greeks. |
| 4. ὧν πρώτου λαβὼν ἀνάγνωθι τοῦ Χαιρωνέως Πλουτάρχου τὰς περὶ τῶν προκειμένων φωνάς, ἐν αἷς σεμνολογῶν παρατρέπει τοὺς μύθους ἐφ’ ἅς φησιν εἶναι μυστηριώδεις θεολογίας· ἃς δὴ ἐκκαλύπτων τὸν μὲν Διόνυσον τὴν μέθην εἶναί φησιν, οὐκέτι τὸν ὑπὸ τῆς ἱστορίας ἐν τῷ πρὸ τούτου συγγράμματι δεδηλωμένον θνητὸν ἄνδρα, τὴν δὲ Ἥραν τὴν γαμήλιον ἀνδρὸς καὶ γυναικὸς συμβίωσιν· εἶθ’, ὥσπερ ἐπιλελησμένος τῆς ἀποδόσεως, ἑτέραν ἑξῆς ἐπισυνάψας ἱστορίαν, τὴν Ἥραν οὐκέτι ὡς τὸ πρότερον, ἀλλὰ τὴν γῆν ὀνομάζει, λήθην δὲ καὶ νύκτα τὴν Λητώ· καὶ πάλιν τὴν αὐτὴν τῇ Λητοῖ κύησιν εἶναι τὴν Ἥραν· | 4. Taking the words of the first of these, Plutarch of Chaeronea, read his statements concerning the subjects before us, in which, speaking solemnly, he turns the myths aside toward what he claims are mystical radiancies of theology. Unveiling these, he says that Dionysus is drunkenness—no longer the mortal man shown by history in our previous book—and that Hera is the marital union of man and woman. Then, as if forgetting his own explanation, subjoining another narrative next in order, he calls Hera no longer what he did before, but the Earth; and Leto he calls forgetfulness and night; and again he says that Hera is the same as the act of child-bearing associated with Leto! |
| 5. εἶτ’ ἐπὶ τούτοις εἰσάγεται αὐτῷ ὁ Ζεὺς εἰς τὴν αἰθέριον δύναμιν ἀλληγορούμενος. Καὶ τί με δεῖ ταῦτα προλαμβάνειν, αὐτοῦ παρὸν ἀκοῦσαι τοῦ ἀνδρὸς ὧδέ πως ἐν οἷς ἐπέγραφε Περὶ τῶν ἐν Πλαταιαῖς Δαιδάλων τὰ λανθάνοντα τοὺς πολλοὺς τῆς ἀπορρήτου περὶ θεῶν φυσιολογίας ἐκφαίνοντος; | 5. Then, in addition to these, Zeus is introduced by him, allegorized into the ethereal power. But why need I anticipate these things, when it is possible to hear the man himself speaking in this manner in his work entitled On the Daedala at Plataea, as he reveals the physical theory concerning the gods that remains hidden from the multitude? |
Chapter 1
In this chapter, Plutarch explains ancient allegorical and symbolic views of pagan religion: first examining the symbolic/moral prohibitions (such as why Hera and Dionysus are kept apart) and the myth of Leto and Hera, and second interpreting the mythical feud between Zeus and Hera as elemental disharmony (fire/heat vs. air/moisture) ending in a post-deluge restoration symbolised by the oak tree.
| 1.1 «Ὅτι μὲν οὖν ἡ παλαιὰ φυσιολογία καὶ παρ’ Ἕλλησι καὶ βαρβάροις λόγος ἦν φυσικὸς ἐγκεκρυμμένος μύθοις, τὰ πολλὰ δι’ αἰνιγμάτων καὶ ὑπονοιῶν ἐπίκρυφος καὶ μυστηριώδης θεολογία, τά τε λαλούμενα τῶν σιγωμένων σαφέστερα τοῖς πολλοῖς ἔχοντα καὶ τὰ σιγώμενα τῶν λαλουμένων ὑποπτότερα, δῆλόν ἐστιν ἐν τοῖς Ὀρφικοῖς ἔπεσι καὶ τοῖς Αἰγυπτιακοῖς καὶ Φρυγίοις λόγοις· μάλιστα δὲ οἱ περὶ τὰς τελετὰς ὀργιασμοὶ καὶ τὰ δρώμενα συμβολικῶς ἐν ταῖς ἱερουργίαις τὴν τῶν παλαιῶν ἐμφαίνει διάνοιαν. | 1.1 "That the ancient physical philosophy, both among Greeks and barbarians, was a natural account concealed in myth—a hidden and mystical theology for the most part expressed through riddles and allegorical meanings, in which the spoken elements were clearer to the crowd while the unspoken elements were more suspect—is plain in the Orphic verses and the Egyptian and Phrygian accounts. Most of all, the orgiastic rites surrounding the secret initiations and the symbolic acts performed in sacred rites display the intent of the ancients. |
| 1.2 Οἷον, ἵνα μὴ μακρὰν τῶν ἐνστηκότων λόγων βαδίζωμεν, οὐ νομίζουσιν οὐδὲ ἀξιοῦσι κοινωνίαν εἶναι πρὸς Διόνυσον Ἥρᾳ· φυλάσσονται δὲ συμμιγνύναι τὰ ἱερὰ καὶ τὰς Ἀθήνησιν ἱερείας ἀπαντώσας φασὶν ἀλλήλαις μὴ προσαγορεύειν, μηδὲ ὅλως κιττὸν εἰς τὸ τῆς Ἥρας εἰσκομίζεσθαι τέμενος, οὐ διὰ τὰς μυθικὰς καὶ φλυαρώδεις ζηλοτυπίας, ἀλλ’ ὅτι γαμήλιος μὲν ἡ θεὸς καὶ νυμφαγωγός, ἀπρεπὲς δὲ νυμφίοις τὸ μεθύειν, καὶ γάμοις ἀναρμοστότατον, ὥς φησιν ὁ Πλάτων· ἀκρατοποσία γάρ, φησί, ταραχὴν ἐμποιεῖ καὶ ψυχαῖς καὶ σώμασιν, ὑφ’ ἧς ἄπλαστα καὶ πεπλανημένα ῥιζοῦται κακῶς τὰ σπειρόμενα καὶ κυϊσκόμενα. πάλιν οἱ θύοντες Ἥρᾳ τὴν χολὴν οὐ καθαγίζουσιν, ἀλλὰ κατορύττουσι παρὰ τὸν βωμόν, ὡς δέον ἄθυμον καὶ ἄχολον καὶ καθαρεύουσαν ὀργῆς καὶ πικρίας ἁπάσης τὴν γυναικὸς καὶ ἀνδρὸς εἶναι συμβίωσιν.» | 1.2 For instance, not to wander far from our immediate subject, they do not consider or deem it right for Hera to have fellowship with Dionysus; and they guard against mixing their sacred rites. They say that the priestesses at Athens, when meeting one another, do not greet each other, nor is ivy ever brought into the sacred precinct of Hera—not because of mythical and nonsensical jealousies, but because Hera is the goddess of marriage and the escort of brides, whereas drunkenness is unbecoming to newlyweds and most discordant with marriage, as Plato says: for drinking unmixed wine causes turmoil in both souls and bodies, under which the seed sown and conceived takes root poorly, being malformed and erratic. Again, those sacrificing to Hera do not dedicate the gall-bladder, but bury it beside the altar, indicating that the cohabitation of man and woman ought to be without anger, without gall, and pure from all rage and bitterness." |
| 1.3 Τοῦτο δὴ τὸ συμβολικὸν εἶδος ἐν τοῖς λόγοις καὶ τοῖς μύθοις μᾶλλόν ἐστιν. οἷον, ἱστοροῦσι τὴν Ἥραν ἐν τῇ Εὐβοίᾳ τρεφομένην ἔτι παρθένον ὑπὸ τοῦ Διὸς κλαπῆναι, καὶ διακομισθεῖσαν ἐνταῦθα κρύπτεσθαι, Κιθαιρῶνος αὐτοῖς ἐπίσκιόν τινα μυχὸν καὶ θάλαμον αὐτοφυῆ παρασχόντος. ἐλθούσης δὲ τῆς Μακρίδος κατὰ ζήτησιν — ἦν δὲ Ἥρας τιθήνη — καὶ βουλομένης ἐρευνᾶν οὐκ ἐᾶν τὸν Κιθαιρῶνα πολυπραγμονεῖν, οὐδὲ τῷ χωρίῳ προσάγειν, ὡς τοῦ Διὸς ἐκεῖ τῇ Λητοῖ συναναπαυομένου καὶ συνδιατρίβοντος. ἀπελθούσης δὲ τῆς Μακρίδος, οὕτω τότε μὲν διαλαθεῖν τὴν Ἥραν, ὕστερον δὲ τῇ Λητοῖ χάριν ἀπομνημονεύουσαν ὁμοβώμιον θέσθαι καὶ σύνναον, ὥστε καὶ Λητοῖ μυχίᾳ προθύεσθαι· τινὲς δὲ νυχίαν λέγουσι. σημαίνεται δὲ ἐν ἑκατέρῳ τῶν ὀνομάτων τὸ κρύφιον καὶ διαλεληθός. ἔνιοι δὲ τὴν Ἥραν αὐτὴν ἐκεῖ τῷ Διὶ λάθρα συνοῦσαν καὶ λανθάνουσαν οὕτω Λητὼ φασὶν νυχίαν προσηγορεῦσθαι· φανερῶν δὲ τῶν γάμων γενομένων, καὶ περὶ τὸν Κιθαιρῶνα πρῶτον ἐνταῦθα καὶ τὰς Πλαταιὰς τῆς ὁμιλίας ἀνακαλυφθείσης, Ἥραν τελείαν καὶ γαμήλιον αὐτὴν προσαγορευθῆναι. | 1.3 This symbolic mode is even more prominent in the stories and myths. For example, they tell that Hera, while still a maiden being brought up in Euboea, was stolen by Zeus, and brought here to be hidden, Mount Cithaeron providing them with a shady nook and a natural bedchamber. And when Macris came looking for her—for she was Hera's nurse—and wanted to search, Cithaeron would not allow her to be inquisitive or approach the place, saying that Zeus was resting there and spending time with Leto. So, Macris having departed, Hera escaped notice for the time being; and later, remembering her gratitude to Leto, she established a shared altar and temple with her, so that sacrifice is offered first to 'Leto of the Recess' (or some say 'Night-Leto'). In both names, that which is hidden and secret is signified. Some say that Hera herself, being secretly united with Zeus there and hiding, was thus called 'Night-Leto'; but when the marriage became public and their union was first revealed around Cithaeron and Plataea, she was called 'Hera the Fulfiller' (Teleia) and 'Goddess of Marriage'. |
| 1.4 «οἱ δὲ φυσικῶς μᾶλλον καὶ πρεπόντως ὑπολαμβάνοντες τὸν μῦθον οὕτως εἰς τὸ αὐτὸ τῇ Λητοῖ συνάγουσιν τὴν Ἥραν. γῆ μέν ἐστιν ἡ Ἥρα, καθάπερ εἴρηται, νὺξ δὲ ἡ Λητώ, λήθω τις οὖσα τῶν εἰς ὕπνον τρεπομένων, νὺξ δὲ οὐδέν ἐστιν ἄλλο πλὴν σκιὰ γῆς· ὅταν γὰρ πλησιάσασα ταῖς δυσμαῖς ἀποκρύψῃ τὸν ἥλιον, ἀναπλατυνομένη μελαίνει τὸν ἀέρα, καὶ τοῦτο ἔστι τὸ ἐκλειπτικὸν ὀλίσθημα τῶν πανσελήνων, ὅταν τῆς σελήνης περιφερομένης ἡ σκιὰ τῆς γῆς ἐπιψαύσῃ καὶ διαθολώσῃ τὸ φέγγος. | "Those who interpret the myth in a more physical and appropriate manner identify Hera with Leto in this way: Hera is Earth, as has been said, and Leto is Night—being a sort of forgetfulness (lethe) for those turning to sleep. And night is nothing other than the shadow of the earth; for when, drawing near its setting, it hides the sun, expanding it darkens the air. And this is the eclipse-slippage of full moons, whenever, as the moon revolves, the shadow of the earth touches it and darkens its light. |
| 1.5 Ὅτι οὐκ ἄλλη τίς ἐστι τῆς Ἥρας ἡ Λητὼ μάθοιτ’ ἂν ἐνθένδε. τὴν Ἄρτεμιν ἤδη που θυγατέρα Λητοῦς καλοῦμεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ Εἰλήθυιαν τὴν αὐτὴν ὀνομάζομεν· οὐκοῦν ἥ τε Ἥρα καὶ ἡ Λητὼ δύο εἰσὶ μιᾶς θεοῦ προσηγορίαι. πάλιν, ἐκ μὲν Λητοῦς ὁ Ἀπόλλων, ἐκ Ἥρας ὁ Ἄρης γέγονε, μία δέ ἐστιν ἀμφοτέρων δύναμις, καὶ κέκληται Ἄρης μὲν ὡς ἀρήγων τοῖς κατὰ βίαν καὶ μάχην συμπτώμασιν, Ἀπόλλων δὲ ὡς ἀπαλλάττων καὶ ἀπολύων τῶν περὶ σῶμα νοσηματικῶν παθῶν τὸν ἄνθρωπον. διὸ καὶ τῶν ἐμπυρωτάτων ἄστρων καὶ πυριφλεγεστάτων ὁ μὲν ἥλιος Ἀπόλλων κέκληται, ὁ δὲ πυροειδὴς Ἄρης ἐπωνόμασται. καὶ οὐκ ἀπότροπόν ἐστι τὴν αὐτὴν θεὸν γαμήλιον λέγεσθαι καὶ μητέρα Εἰληθυίας καὶ ἡλίου νομίζεσθαι. γάμου μὲν γὰρ τέλος γένεσίς ἐστι, γένεσις δὲ ἡ εἰς ἥλιον καὶ φῶς ἐκ σκότους πορεία. καὶ καλῶς ἔφη ὁ ποιητής· "Αὐτὰρ ἐπειδὴ τόν γε μογοστόκος Εἰλήθυια ἐξάγαγε πρὸ φόωσδε καὶ ἠελίου ἴδεν αὐγάς." εὖ ὁ ποιητὴς τῇ μὲν προθέσει τὴν σύνθεσιν ἔθλιψεν, ἐμφαίνων τὸ βεβιασμένον τῆς ὠδῖνος, τέλος δὲ τῆς γενέσεως ἐποίησεν ἥλιον ἰδεῖν. οὐκοῦν ἡ αὐτὴ θεὸς ἐποίησε καὶ γάμον συνελθεῖν, ἵνα γένεσιν παρασκευάσῃ.» | 1.5 That Leto is no other than Hera you may learn from this: we call Artemis the daughter of Leto, but we also name the very same goddess Eileithyia; therefore Hera and Leto are two titles of one goddess. Again, from Leto came Apollo, and from Hera came Ares; yet both possess one and the same power. Ares is named as helping (aregon) in events of violence and battle, while Apollo is named as releasing and freeing man from the diseases of the body. Wherefore among the most fiery and blazing stars, the sun is called Apollo, while the fire-colored star is named Ares. Nor is it unnatural that the same goddess should be called patron of marriage and be considered mother of Eileithyia [childbirth] and the sun. For the end of marriage is birth, and birth is the journey out of darkness into the sun and light. And well spoke the poet: 'But when the birth-pangs of Eileithyia brought him forth to the light, and he saw the rays of the sun.' Well did the poet compress the compound word with the preposition, showing the forced nature of labor, while making the end of birth to be seeing the sun. Therefore the same goddess caused them to come together in marriage in order to prepare birth." |
| 1.6 «Δεῖ δὲ ἴσως καὶ τὸν εὐηθέστερον μῦθον εἰπεῖν. λέγεται γὰρ ὁ Ζεύς, τῆς Ἥρας αὐτῷ διαφερομένης καὶ μηκέτι φοιτᾶν εἰς τὸ αὐτὸ βουλομένης, ἀλλὰ κρυπτούσης ἑαυτήν, ἀμηχανῶν καὶ πλανώμενος Ἀλαλκομένει τῷ αὐτόχθονι συντυχεῖν, καὶ διδαχθῆναι ὑπὸ τούτου ὡς ἐξαπατητέον τὴν Ἥραν, σκηψάμενον γαμεῖν ἑτέραν. συνεργοῦντος δὲ τοῦ Ἀλαλκομένους κρύφα τεμόντας αὐτοὺς εὐκτέανον καὶ παγκάλην δρῦν μορφῶσαί τε αὐτὴν καὶ καταστεῖλαι νυμφικῶς, Δαιδάλην προσαγορεύσαντας· εἶτα οὕτως ἀναμέλπεσθαι μὲν τὸν ὑμέναιον, λουτρὰ δὲ κομίζειν τὰς Τριτωνίδας νύμφας, αὐλοὺς δὲ καὶ κώμους τὴν Βοιωτίαν παρασχεῖν· περαινομένων δὲ τούτων οὐκέτι τὴν Ἥραν καρτερεῖν, ἀλλὰ καταβᾶσαν ἐκ τοῦ Κιθαιρῶνος, τῶν Πλαταιίδων αὐτῇ γυναικῶν ἑπομένων, ὑπ’ ὀργῆς καὶ ζηλοτυπίας θέουσαν ἐλθεῖν πρὸς τὸν Δία, καὶ τοῦ πλάσματος φανεροῦ γενομένου διαλλαγεῖσαν μετὰ χαρᾶς καὶ γέλωτος αὐτὴν νυμφαγωγεῖν· τιμὴν δὲ τῷ ξοάνῳ προσθεῖναι καὶ Δαίδαλα τὴν ἑορτὴν προσαγορεῦσαι, κατακαῦσαι δὲ ὅμως αὐτό, καίπερ ἄψυχον ὄν, ὑπὸ ζηλοτυπίας.» | 1.6 "Perhaps we must also tell the sillier myth. For it is said that when Hera quarreled with Zeus and was no longer willing to associate with him, but hid herself, Zeus, being at a loss and wandering about, met Alalcomenes the earth-born, and was taught by him that he must deceive Hera by pretending to marry another. With Alalcomenes assisting, they secretly cut down a well-proportioned and beautiful oak, shaped it, dressed it as a bride, and named it 'Daedale'. Then they sang the hymeneal song, the Tritonian nymphs brought baths, and Boeotia provided flutes and revel-rout. But as these things were being carried out, Hera could endure it no longer; coming down from Cithaeron with the women of Plataea following her, she came running to Zeus in rage and jealousy. When the trick was revealed, being reconciled with joy and laughter, she herself escorted the bride. She added honor to the wooden image, naming the festival 'Daedala', but burned it nevertheless, though it was inanimate, out of jealousy." |
| 1.7 «Ὁ μὲν οὖν μῦθος τοιοῦτος, ὁ δὲ λόγος αὐτοῦ τοιόσδε. Ἥρας καὶ Διὸς διαφορά καὶ στάσις οὐδὲν ἄλλο πλὴν στοιχείων δυσκρασία καὶ τάραχός ἐστιν, ὅταν ἀλλήλοις μηκέτι συμμετρῆται κατὰ κόσμον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀνωμαλίας καὶ τραχύτητος ἐγγενομένης δυσμαχήσαντα λύσῃ τὴν κοινωνίαν καὶ φθορὰν τῶν ὅλων ἀπεργάσηται. ἂν μὲν οὖν ὁ Ζεύς, τουτέστιν ἡ θερμὴ καὶ πυρώδης δύναμις, αἰτίαν παράσχῃ τῆς διαφθορᾶς, αὐχμὸς τὴν γῆν καταλαμβάνει, ἐὰν δὲ περὶ τὴν Ἥραν, τουτέστι τὴν ὑγρὰν καὶ πνευματικὴν φύσιν, ὕβρις τις ἢ πλεονασμὸς γένηται, ῥεῦμα ἦλθε πολὺ καὶ συνώμβρισε καὶ κατέκλυσε τὰ πάντα. τοιούτου δέ τινος γενομένου καὶ περὶ τοὺς τότε χρόνους, καὶ μάλιστα τῆς Βοιωτίας βυθισθείσης, ὡς πρῶτον ἀνέδυ τὸ πεδίον καὶ ἡ πλήμμυρα ἐλώφησεν, ὁ μὲν ἐξ εὐδίας κόσμος τοῦ περιέχοντος ὁμόνοια καὶ διαλλαγὴ τῶν θεῶν ἐλέχθη, πρῶτον δὲ ἀνέσχεν ἐκ τῶν φυτῶν τῆς γῆς ἡ δρῦς, καὶ ταύτην ἠγάπησαν οἱ ἄνθρωποι, τροφῆς βίου καὶ σωτηρίας διαμονὴν παρασχοῦσαν, οὐ γὰρ μόνον τοῖς εὐσεβέσιν, ὡς Ἡσίοδός φησιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς ὑπολειφθεῖσι τῆς φθορᾶς· "Ἄκρη μέν τε φέρει βαλάνους, μέσση δὲ μελίσσας."» | 1.7 "Such is the myth, and its rational meaning is as follows: The strife and faction between Hera and Zeus is nothing other than the imbalance and turmoil of the elements, whenever they no longer measure together harmoniously in orderly fashion, but irregularity and harshness arising, they fight, dissolve their partnership, and work the destruction of the whole. Now if Zeus—that is, the warm and fiery power—causes the destruction, drought grips the earth; but if regarding Hera—that is, the moist and atmospheric nature—some excess or violence occurs, a great flood comes, bringing rain and inundating everything. Something of this sort having occurred about those times, and Boeotia especially having been submerged, as the plain first re-emerged and the flood abated, the resulting clear weather and order of the atmosphere was called the harmony and reconciliation of the gods. And the oak was the first of the plants of the earth to spring up, and men loved it as providing a stay of nourishment, life, and safety—not only for the pious, as Hesiod says, but for those left behind from the destruction: 'Its top bears acorns, and its middle bears bees.'" [Plutarch, De Daedalis Plataeensibus, Fragment] |
Chapter 2
In this chapter, Eusebius argues that allegorizing the gods reduces them merely to material elements, human passions, or natural phenomena (like fire, water, earth, or drunkenness). To support his point that early religion was merely cosmic/elemental worship, he cites Plato’s Cratylus and Diodorus Siculus’s account of Egyptian theology.
| 2.1 Ταῦτα μὲν ὁ Πλούταρχος. ἡμεῖς δὲ ἐκ τῶν παρατεθεισῶν αὐτῷ φωνῶν ὡς ἄρα καὶ ἡ θαυμαστὴ καὶ ἀπόρρητος φυσιολογία τῆς Ἑλληνικῆς θεολογίας θεῖον μὲν οὐδέν, οὐδέ τι μέγα καὶ θεοπρεπὲς καὶ τῆς ἀνατάσεως ἄξιον ἐπήγετο. | 2.1 So much then for Plutarch. But as for us, from the very words quoted from him, we observe that even the wondrous and secret physical philosophy of Greek theology brought in nothing divine, nor anything grand, god-befitting, or worthy of spiritual elevation. |
| 2.2 ἀκήκοας γὰρ τὴν Ἥραν, τότε μὲν γαμήλιον ἀναγορευομένην καὶ τὴν ἀνδρὸς καὶ γυναικὸς συμβίωσιν δηλοῦσαν, τότε δὲ τὴν γῆν πάλιν Ἥραν ὀνομαζομένην, τότε δὲ τὴν ὑγρὰν οὐσίαν, τὸν δὲ Διόνυσον εἰς τὴν μέθην μετενηνεγμένον, εἰς νύκτα δὲ τὴν Λητώ, καὶ τὸν ἥλιον εἰς Ἀπόλλωνα, καὶ αὐτὸν δὲ τὸν Δία εἰς τὴν θερμὴν καὶ πυρώδη δύναμιν. | 2.2 For you have heard Hera proclaimed at one moment as the patroness of marriage, signifying the union of man and woman, and then at another moment the Earth called Hera again, and then at another the moist substance; while Dionysus was transferred into drunkenness, Leto into night, the sun into Apollo, and Zeus himself into the warm and fiery power! |
| 2.3 οὐκοῦν πρὸς τῇ τῶν μύθων ἀπρεπείᾳ καὶ ἡ δοκοῦσα σεμνοτέρα διήγησις καὶ φυσιολογία οὐκ ἐπί τινας οὐρανίους νοερὰς καὶ θείας δυνάμεις οὐδ’ ἐπὶ λογικὰς καὶ ἀσωμάτους ἀνῆγεν οὐσίας, κάτω δὲ πάλιν καὶ αὐτὴ εἰς μέθας καὶ γάμους καὶ ἀνθρώπεια πάθη, εἴς τε πῦρ καὶ γῆν καὶ ἥλιον καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ τῆς ὕλης στοιχεῖα κατέστρεφε τὰ μέρη τοῦ κόσμου, καὶ πλέον θεοποιοῦσα οὐδέν. | 2.3 Therefore, in addition to the indecency of the myths, even the interpretation and physical explanation that seems more dignified led up to no heavenly, intellectual, or divine powers, nor to rational and incorporeal essences; but down again it brought everything back into drunkenness, marriages, human passions, fire, earth, sun, and the remaining material elements—reversing its course into the parts of the material universe, and deifying nothing beyond them. |
| 2.4 τοῦτο δὲ καὶ ὁ Πλάτων οἶδεν. ὁμολογεῖ γοῦν διαρρήδην ἐν τῷ Κρατύλῳ μηδὲν πλέον τῶν ὁρωμένων τοῦ κόσμου μερῶν τοὺς πρώτους τῶν περὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα ἀνθρώπων ἐγνωκέναι, μόνους δὲ θεοὺς εἶναι τοὺς ἐν οὐρανῷ φωστῆρας καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ τῶν φαινομένων νομίσαι. | 2.4 Plato also knows this. At any rate, he expressly agrees in the Cratylus [397c–d] that the earliest people in Greece knew nothing more than the visible parts of the universe, and considered those luminaries in the sky and the rest of the visible phenomena to be the only gods. |
| 2.5 λέγει δ’ οὖν ὧδε πρὸς λέξιν· «Φαίνονταί μοι οἱ πρῶτοι τῶν ἀνθρώπων περὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα τούτους μόνους θεοὺς ἡγεῖσθαι οὕσπερ νῦν πολλοὶ τῶν βαρβάρων, ἥλιον καὶ σελήνην καὶ γῆν καὶ ἄστρα καὶ οὐρανόν.» | 2.5 He speaks, then, word for word as follows: "It seems to me that the first men in Greece considered those to be the only gods whom many of the barbarians worship today: the sun, the moon, the earth, the stars, and the sky." |
| 2.6 Ἀλλὰ τὰ μὲν Ἑλληνικὰ τοιαῦτα· ἴδωμεν δὲ καὶ τὰ τούτων παλαίτατα· ἦν δὲ τὰ Αἰγύπτια. τὴν Ἶσίν φασι καὶ Ὄσιριν τὸν ἥλιον καὶ τὴν σελήνην εἶναι, καὶ Δία μὲν τὸ διὰ πάντων χωροῦν πνεῦμα, Ἥφαιστον δὲ τὸ πῦρ, τὴν δὲ γῆν Δήμητραν ἐπονομάσαι, ὠκεανόν τε τὸ ὑγρὸν νομίζεσθαι παρ’ Αἰγυπτίοις καὶ τὸν παρ’ αὐτοῖς ποταμὸν Νεῖλον, ᾧ καὶ τὰς τῶν θεῶν ἀναθεῖναι γενέσεις· τὸν δὲ ἀέρα φασὶν αὐτοὺς προσαγορεύειν Ἀθηνᾶν. | 2.6 Such, then, are the Greek views. But let us look also at what is most ancient among these—namely, the Egyptian doctrines. They say that Isis and Osiris are the sun and the moon; that Zeus is the spirit (pneuma) passing through all things; Hephaestus is fire; Demeter is the name given to the earth; Oceanus among the Egyptians is considered to be the moist element and their river Nile, to which they also attribute the origins of the gods; and the air, they say, they call Athena. |
| 2.7 τούτους δὲ τοὺς πέντε θεούς, τὸν Ἀέρα λέγω καὶ τὸ Ὕδωρ τό τε Πῦρ καὶ τὴν Γῆν καὶ τὸ Πνεῦμα, τὴν πᾶσαν οἰκουμένην ἐπιπορεύεσθαι, ἄλλοτε ἄλλως εἰς μορφὰς καὶ ἰδέας ἀνθρώπων τε καὶ παντοίων ζῴων σχηματιζομένους, καὶ τούτων ὁμωνύμους παρ’ αὐτοῖς Αἰγυπτίοις γεγονέναι θνητοὺς ἀνθρώπους, Ἥλιον καὶ Κρόνον καὶ Ῥέαν, ἔτι δὲ Δία καὶ Ἥραν καὶ Ἥφαιστον καὶ Ἑστίαν ἐπονομασθέντας. γράφει δὲ καὶ τὰ περὶ τούτων πλατύτερον μὲν ὁ Μανεθῶς, ἐπιτετμημένως δὲ ὁ Διόδωρος ἐν τῇ προλεχθείσῃ αὐτοῦ γραφῇ ὧδέ πως ἱστορῶν κατὰ λέξιν· | 2.7 And these five gods—I mean Air, Water, Fire, Earth, and Spirit—traverse the entire inhabited world, transforming themselves now in one way, now in another into the shapes and forms of men and all kinds of animals. And mortal men among the Egyptians themselves became namesakes of these, being called Sun, Cronus, Rhea, and further Zeus, Hera, Hephaestus, and Hestia. Manetho writes about these matters at greater length, but Diodorus records them in summary form in his aforementioned work, writing word for word as follows: |
Chapter 3
In this chapter, Eusebius quotes Diodorus Siculus (Bibliotheca Historica 1.11–13) detailing Egyptian nature-mythology, followed by a citation from Plutarch (De Iside et Osiride 32–33 / 358e–f), and concludes with his own dialectical refutation: if these "gods" are merely cosmic elements (fire, air, water, earth), why are they depicted as mortal men with physical infirmities (like Hermes being short-armed/deformed)? Eusebius exposes the internal contradiction of physical allegory (physiologia).
| 3.1 «Τούτους δὲ τοὺς θεούς, τὸν Ἥλιον, φασί, καὶ τὴν Σελήνην, Ὄσιριν ὄντας κατ’ Αἰγυπτίους καὶ Ἶσιν, τὸν σύμπαντα κόσμον διοικεῖν τρέφοντάς τε καὶ αὔξοντας πάντα τριμερέσιν ὥραις, ἀοράτῳ κινήσει τὴν περίοδον ἀπαρτιζούσαις, τῇ τε ἐαρινῇ καὶ θερινῇ καὶ χειμερινῇ· ταύτας δὲ ἐναντιωτάτην ἀλλήλαις τὴν φύσιν ἐχούσας ἀπαρτίζειν τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν ἀρίστῃ συμφωνίᾳ. | 3.1 "Now these gods—namely the Sun and the Moon, who according to the Egyptians are Osiris and Isis—they say govern the entire universe, nourishing and increasing all things by three seasonal divisions that complete their cycle through an invisible motion: spring, summer, and winter. And these seasons, though possessing natures utterly opposed to one another, complete the year in the finest harmony. |
| 3.2 Φύσιν δὲ συμβάλλεσθαι πλείστην εἰς τὴν τῶν ἀπάντων ζωογονίαν τῶν θεῶν τούτων, τὸν μὲν πυρώδους καὶ πνεύματος, τὴν δὲ ὑγροῦ καὶ ξηροῦ, κοινῇ δ’ ἀμφοτέρους ἀέρος· καὶ διὰ τούτων πάντα γεννᾶσθαι καὶ τρέφεσθαι. διὸ καὶ τὸ μὲν ἅπαν σῶμα τῆς τῶν ὅλων φύσεως ἐξ ἡλίου καὶ σελήνης ἀπαρτίζεσθαι, τὰ δὲ τούτων μέρη πέντε τὰ προειρημένα, τὸ πνεῦμα καὶ τὸ πῦρ καὶ τὸ ξηρόν, ἔτι δὲ τὸ ὑγρόν, καὶ τὸ τελευταῖον τὸ ἀερῶδες, ὥσπερ ἐπ’ ἀνθρώπου κεφαλὴν καὶ χεῖρας καὶ πόδας καὶ τὰ ἄλλα μέρη καταριθμοῦμεν, τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον τὸ σῶμα τοῦ κόσμου συγκεῖσθαι πᾶν ἐκ τῶν προειρημένων. | 3.2 And these gods contribute the greatest share to the generation of all living things: the male supplying the nature of fire and spirit, and the female that of the moist and the dry, while both share in the air. And through these elements all things are born and nourished. On this account, the entire body of universal nature is completed out of the sun and moon, while its five aforementioned parts—spirit, fire, the dry, the moist, and finally the airy—are arranged just as we enumerate a man's head, hands, feet, and other parts; in the very same manner, the whole body of the cosmos is composed of the elements mentioned. |
| 3.3 Τούτων δ’ ἕκαστον θεὸν νομίσαι, καὶ προσηγορίαν ἰδίαν ἑκάστῳ θεῖναι κατὰ τὸ οἰκεῖον, τοὺς πρώτους διαλέκτῳ χρησαμένους διηρθρωμένῃ τῶν κατ’ Αἴγυπτον ἀνθρώπων. τὸ μὲν οὖν πνεῦμα Δία προσαγορεῦσαι μεθερμηνευομένης τῆς λέξεως· ὃν αἴτιον ὄντα τοῦ ψυχικοῦ τοῖς ζῴοις ἐνόμισαν ὑπάρχειν πάντων οἱονεί τινα πατέρα. | 3.3 Each of these elements they considered to be a god, assigning a proper name to each according to its character, being the first among men in Egypt to use an articulated dialect. Thus, the spirit they addressed as Zeus (when the word is translated), holding him—since he is the cause of the vital principle (psyche) in living beings—to be as it were the father of all things. |
| 3.4 Συμφωνεῖν δὲ τούτοις φασὶ καὶ τὸν ἐπιφανέστατον τῶν παρ’ Ἕλλησι ποιητῶν ἐπὶ τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦτο λέγοντα· "πατὴρ ἀνδρῶν τε θεῶν τε." τὸ δὲ πῦρ μεθερμηνευόμενον Ἥφαιστον ὀνομάσαι, νομίσαντας μέγαν εἶναι θεὸν καὶ πολλὰ συμβάλλεσθαι πᾶσιν εἰς γένεσίν τε καὶ τελείαν αὔξησιν. τὴν δὲ γῆν ὥσπερ ἀγγεῖόν τι τῶν φυομένων ὑπολαμβάνοντας μητέρα προσαγορεῦσαι· καὶ τοὺς Ἕλληνας δὲ ταύτην παραπλησίως Δήμητρα καλεῖν, βραχὺ μετατεθείσης διὰ τὸν χρόνον τῆς λέξεως. | 3.4 And with these views, they say, even the most renowned poet among the Greeks agrees when he says of the god: 'Father of men and gods.' Fire, translated, they named Hephaestus, deeming it a great god that contributes greatly to all things for both generation and complete growth. Earth, considering it as a kind of vessel for growing things, they addressed as mother; and the Greeks similarly call her Demeter, the word having been slightly altered over time. |
| 3.5 Τὸ γὰρ παλαιὸν ὀνομάζεσθαι γῆν μητέρα, καθάπερ καὶ τὸν Ὀρφέα προσμαρτυρεῖν λέγοντα· "Γῆ μήτηρ πάντων, Δημήτηρ πλουτοδότειρα." τὸ δ’ ὑγρὸν ὀνομάσαι λέγουσι τοὺς παλαιοὺς ὠκεανόν, ὃ μεθερμηνευόμενον μέν ἐστι τροφῆς μητέρα, παρ’ ἐνίοις δὲ τῶν Ἑλλήνων ὠκεανὸν ὑπάρχειν ὑπειλῆφθαι, περὶ οὗ καὶ τὸν ποιητὴν λέγειν· "Ὠκεανόν τε θεῶν γένεσιν καὶ μητέρα Τηθύν." | 3.5 For in ancient times she was named 'Earth-Mother' (Ge-Meter), just as Orpheus also testifies when he says: 'Earth, mother of all, Demeter, giver of wealth.' The moist element, they say, the ancients named Oceanus, which translated means 'mother of nourishment'—though among some Greeks it was taken to be Oceanus, concerning whom the poet also says: 'Oceanus, origin of the gods, and mother Tethys.' |
| 3.6 Οἱ γὰρ Αἰγύπτιοι νομίζουσιν ὠκεανὸν εἶναι τὸν παρ’ αὐτοῖς ποταμὸν Νεῖλον, πρὸς ᾧ καὶ τὰς τῶν θεῶν γενέσεις ὑπάρξαι. τῆς γὰρ πάσης οἰκουμένης κατὰ μόνην τὴν Αἴγυπτον εἶναι πόλεις πολλὰς ὑπὸ τῶν ἀρχαίων θεῶν ἐκτισμένας· οἷον Διός, Ἡλίου, Ἑρμοῦ, Ἀπόλλωνος, Πανός, Εἰληθυίας, ἄλλων πλειόνων. | 3.6 For the Egyptians consider their river Nile to be Oceanus, at which river also the births of the gods occurred. For out of the entire inhabited world, in Egypt alone are there many cities founded by the ancient gods—such as those of Zeus, Sun, Hermes, Apollo, Pan, Eileithyia, and many others. |
| 3.7 Τὸν δὲ ἀέρα προσαγορεῦσαί φασιν Ἀθηνᾶν, μεθερμηνευομένης τῆς λέξεως, καὶ Διὸς θυγατέρα γε νομίσαι ταύτην, καὶ παρθένον ὑποστήσασθαι διά τε τὸ ἄφθορον εἶναι φύσει τὸν ἀέρα καὶ τὸν ἀκρότατον ἐπέχειν τόπον τοῦ σύμπαντος κόσμου· διόπερ ἐκ τῆς κορυφῆς τοῦ Διὸς μυθολογηθῆναι γενέσθαι ταύτην. ὠνομάσθαι δὲ αὐτὴν καὶ τριτογένειαν ἀπὸ τοῦ τρὶς μεταβάλλειν τὴν φύσιν αὐτῆς κατ’ ἐνιαυτόν, ἔαρος καὶ θέρους καὶ χειμῶνος. | 3.7 The air, they say, they addressed as Athena (when the word is translated), regarding her as the daughter of Zeus, and depicting her as a virgin because the air is by nature incorruptible and occupies the highest realm of the entire cosmos; wherefore in myth she is said to have been born from the crown of Zeus's head. She was also named Tritogeneia from her nature changing thrice each year—in spring, summer, and winter. |
| 3.8 Λέγεσθαι δὲ αὐτὴν καὶ γλαυκῶπιν, οὐχ ὥσπερ ἔνιοι τῶν Ἑλλήνων ὑπέλαβον ἀπὸ τοῦ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς γλαυκοὺς ἔχειν· τοῦτο μὲν γὰρ εὔηθες ὑπάρχειν· ἀλλ’ ἀπὸ τοῦ τὸν ἀέρα τὴν πρόσοψιν ἔχειν ἔγγλαυκον. φασὶ δὲ τοὺς πέντε θεοὺς τοὺς προειρημένους τὴν πᾶσαν οἰκουμένην ἐπιπορεύεσθαι φανταζομένους τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἐν ἱερῶν ζῴων μορφαῖς, ἔστι δ’ ὅτε καὶ εἰς ἀνθρώπων ἰδέας ἤ τινων ἄλλων μεταβάλλοντας. | 3.8 She is also called 'bright-eyed' (glaukopis), not as some Greeks supposed from having blue/grey eyes—for that is a foolish notion—but from the air having a bright, bluish appearance (engglaukos). And they say that these five aforementioned gods travel over the entire inhabited world, appearing to men in the forms of sacred animals, and sometimes transforming into human shapes or those of other creatures. |
| 3.9 Καὶ τοῦτο μὴ μυθῶδες ὑπάρχειν, ἀλλὰ δύνατον, εἴπερ οὗτοι πρὸς ἀλήθειάν εἰσιν οἱ πάντα γεννῶντες. καὶ τὸν ποιητὴν δ’ εἰς Αἴγυπτον παραβαλόντα καὶ μετασχόντα παρὰ τῶν ἱερέων τῶν τοιούτων λόγων, θεῖναί που κατὰ ποίησιν τὸ προειρημένον ὡς γινόμενον· "Καί τε θεοὶ ξείνοισιν ἐοικότες ἀλλοδαποῖσι παντοῖοι τελέθοντες ἐπιστρωφῶσι πόληας, ἀνθρώπων ὕβριν τε καὶ εὐνομίην ἐσορῶντες." περὶ μὲν οὖν τῶν ἐν οὐρανῷ θεῶν καὶ γένεσιν ἀίδιον ἐσχηκότων τοσαῦτα λέγουσιν Αἰγύπτιοι.» | 3.9 And this is not fabulous, but possible—if indeed these are in truth the generators of all things. Even the poet, having visited Egypt and shared in such teachings from the priests, set down somewhere in his poetry what has been said as actually occurring: 'And gods in the likeness of strangers from afar, taking all kinds of shapes, roam through the cities, beholding the insolence and righteousness of men.' Concerning the gods in the sky who have an eternal generation, the Egyptians say this much." [Diodorus Siculus 1.11–13] |
| 3.10 «Ἄλλους δὲ ἐκ τούτων ἐπιγείους γενέσθαι φασίν, ὑπάρξαντας μὲν θνητούς, διὰ δὲ σύνεσιν καὶ κοινὴν ἀνθρώπων εὐεργεσίαν τετευχότας τῆς ἀθανασίας, ὧν ἐνίους καὶ βασιλεῖς γεγονέναι κατὰ τὴν Αἴγυπτον. μεθερμηνευομένων δ’ αὐτῶν τινὰς μὲν ὁμωνύμους ὑπάρχειν τοῖς οὐρανίοις, τινὰς δὲ ἰδίαν ἐσχηκέναι προσηγορίαν, Ἥλιόν τε καὶ Κρόνον καὶ Ῥέαν, ἔτι δὲ Δία τὸν ὑπό τινων Ἄμμωνα προσαγορευόμενον, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις Ἥραν καὶ Ἥφαιστον, ἔτι δὲ Ἑστίαν, καὶ τελευταῖον Ἑρμῆν. καὶ πρῶτον μὲν Ἥλιον βασιλεῦσαι τῶν κατ’ Αἴγυπτον, ὄντα τῷ κατ’ οὐρανὸν ἄστρῳ.» | 3.10 "And others besides these, they say, became earthly gods—having been born mortal, yet on account of their wisdom and common beneficence to humanity, they attained immortality, some of whom even became kings in Egypt. When translated, some share names with the heavenly gods, while others have acquired a proper title: Sun, Cronus, and Rhea, and further Zeus (called Ammon by some), and in addition to these Hera, Hephaestus, Hestia, and lastly Hermes. And first the Sun reigned over the people of Egypt, being namesake to the star in heaven." [Diodorus Siculus 1.13.1–2] |
| 3.11 Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ὁ δηλωθεὶς συγγραφεύς. καὶ ὁ Πλούταρχος δὲ ἐν τῷ Περὶ τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἶσιν αὐτοῦ συγγράμματι τάδε γράφει κατὰ λέξιν· «Ἀπ’ ἄλλης δὲ ἀρχῆς τῶν φιλοσοφώτερόν τι λέγειν δοκούντων τοὺς ἁπλουστάτους σκεψώμεθα πρῶτον. οὗτοι δ’ εἰσὶν οἱ λέγοντες, ὥσπερ Ἕλληνες Κρόνον ἀλληγοροῦσι τὸν χρόνον, Ἥραν δὲ τὸν ἀέρα, γένεσιν δὲ Ἡφαίστου τὴν εἰς τὸ πῦρ ἀέρος μεταβολήν, οὕτω παρ’ Αἰγυπτίοις Νεῖλον εἶναι τὸν Ὄσιριν, Ἴσιδι συνόντα τῇ γῇ, Τυφῶνα δὲ τὴν θάλασσαν, εἰς ἣν ὁ Νεῖλος ἐμπίπτων ἀφανίζεται.» | 3.11 Such then are the statements of the aforementioned writer [Diodorus]. Plutarch too, in his treatise On Isis, writes these words verbatim: "Starting from another principle, let us consider first the simplest of those who seem to say something more philosophical. These are the ones who say that, just as the Greeks allegorize Cronus as Time (Chronos), Hera as Air, and the generation of Hephaestus as the transformation of air into fire, so among the Egyptians the Nile is Osiris, united with Isis, who is the Earth, while Typhon is the sea, into which the Nile falls and disappears." [Plutarch, De Iside et Osiride 32] |
| 3.12 Ταῦτα καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα εἰπὼν πάλιν εἰς δαίμονας ἀναφέρει τοὺς περὶ τῶν δηλουμένων θεῶν μύθους, καὶ πάλιν ἄλλως ἀποδίδωσι, καὶ αὖθις ἑτέρως ἀλληγορῶν. | 3.12 Having said these and similar things, he [Plutarch] refers the myths concerning the gods in question back to daemons, explaining them again in another way, and allegorizing them yet again differently. |
| 3.13 Ἦν δ’ ἂν κατὰ λόγον πυθέσθαι ὁποτέρων θεῶν τὰ ξόανα τὰς ἐντετυπωμένας μορφὰς σώζειν φήσουσιν. πότερα δαιμόνων; ἀλλὰ πυρὸς καὶ ἀέρος καὶ γῆς καὶ ὕδατος, ἢ ἀνδρῶν καὶ γυναικῶν εἰκόνας, καὶ ζῴων ἀλόγων καὶ θηρίων σχήματα; | 3.13 But it would be reasonable to ask: of which gods will they claim that the carved images (xoana) preserve the engraved shapes? Of daemons? Or are they images of fire, air, earth, and water, or portraits of men and women, and shapes of irrational animals and wild beasts? |
| 3.14 Ἐπεὶ γὰρ καὶ πρὸς αὐτῶν συγκεχώρηται ὁμωνύμως ἡλίῳ καὶ τοῖς καθόλου στοιχείοις θνητούς τινας ἄνδρας γεγονέναι, καὶ τούτους θεοὺς ἀνηγορεῦσθαι, τίνων εἰκὸς ἂν εἴη μορφὰς καὶ εἰκόνας λέγειν τὰς ἐν τοῖς ἀψύχοις ξοάνοις γλυφάς; πότερον τῶν καθόλου στοιχείων, ἢ, ὅπερ καὶ τὸ ἐναργὲς τῆς ὄψεως ἐπιδείκνυσι, τῶν ἐν νεκροῖς κειμένων θνητῶν; | 3.14 For since it is conceded even by them that certain mortal men existed homonymously with the Sun and the general elements, and that these men were proclaimed gods, whose forms and likenesses is it reasonable to say the carvings in inanimate wooden images represent? Those of the general elements, or—what the clarity of sight itself demonstrates—those of mortals lying among the dead? |
| 3.15 Ἀλλ’ εἰ καὶ αὐτοὶ μὴ λέγοιεν, ὅ γέ τοι ἀληθὴς λόγος βοᾷ καὶ κέκραγε, μονονουχὶ φωνὴν ἀφιεὶς, θνητοὺς ἄνδρας μαρτυρῶν γεγονέναι τοὺς δηλουμένους. ὁ δὲ Πλούταρχος καὶ τῶν σωμάτων αὐτῶν ἐκ περιουσίας τὸν ποῖον ὑπογράφει τοῦ σχήματος χαρακτῆρα, ἐν τοῖς Περὶ τῆς Ἴσιδος καὶ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων θεῶν ὧδέ πως λέγων· | 3.15 Even if they themselves will not say it, true reason shouts and cries aloud, all but uttering a voice, witnessing that the figures shown were mortal men. Plutarch, moreover, goes out of his way to sketch the very character of their body shapes, speaking somewhat as follows in his work On Isis and the Egyptian Gods: |
| 3.16 «Ἱστοροῦσι γὰρ Αἰγύπτιοι τὸν μὲν Ἑρμῆν τῷ σώματι γενέσθαι γαλιάγκωνα, τὸν δὲ Τυφῶνα τῇ χροιᾷ πυρρόν, λευκὸν δὲ τὸν Ἄρην, καὶ μελάγχρουν τὸν Ὄσιριν, ὡς τῇ φύσει γεγονότας ἀνθρώπους.» | 3.16 "For the Egyptians relate that Hermes was short-armed (galiangkon) in body, Typhon red in complexion, Ares white, and Osiris dark-skinned—showing that they were men born by nature." [Plutarch, De Iside et Osiride 22] |
| 3.17 Ταῦτα καὶ ὁ Πλούταρχος. Νεκρῶν ἄρα ἡ πᾶσα αὐτῶν θεοποιία καθέστηκε· πέπλασται δ’ αὐτοῖς τὰ τῆς φυσιολογίας. τί γὰρ ἐχρῆν ἀνδρῶν καὶ γυναικῶν σχήματα ζωοπλαστεῖν, παρὸν καὶ δίχα τούτων ἥλιον σέβειν καὶ σελήνην, καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ τοῦ κόσμου στοιχεῖα; | So far Plutarch. Their entire deification, therefore, consists of dead men; and their physical explanations (physiologia) are mere inventions! For why was it necessary to craft the shapes of men and women if it were possible, apart from these, to worship the sun, the moon, and the remaining elements of the cosmos directly? |
| 3.18 Ποτέροις δὲ τούτων καὶ ἐκ τίνων ἀρξάμενοι τὰς τοιάσδε προσηγορίας ἐπεφήμισαν; οἷον, λέγω τὸν Ἥφαιστον καὶ τὴν Ἀθηνᾶν, Δία τε καὶ Ποσειδῶνα καὶ Ἥραν. ἆρα γὰρ ταῦτα τῶν καθόλου στοιχείων πρότερον ὄντα ὀνόματα δεύτερον αὐτὰ τοῖς θνητοῖς ὁμωνύμως τοῖς οὐρανίοις ἐπιτεθείκασιν, ἢ τοὔμπαλιν ἐκ τῆς παρ’ ἀνθρώποις ἐπικλήσεως τὴν μεταφορὰν ἐπὶ τὰς οὐσίας πεποίηνται; | 3.18 And to which of these, and starting from what origins, did they attach such names—I mean Hephaestus, Athena, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hera? Were these names belonging to the general elements first, and did they secondly apply them to mortals homonymously with the heavenly bodies? Or on the contrary, did they make the transfer to physical substances starting from human names? |
| 3.19 Καὶ τί χρὴ θνηταῖς προσηγορίαις τὰς καθόλου φύσεις ἐπιφημίζειν; τὰ δὲ καθ’ ἕκαστον θεὸν μυστήρια, οἵ τε ὕμνοι καὶ αἱ ᾠδαὶ καὶ τῶν τελετῶν τὰ ἀπόρρητα, πότερον τῶν καθόλου στοιχείων, ἢ τῶν πάλαι θνητῶν ἀνδρῶν τῶν τοῖς θεοῖς ὁμωνύμων ἐπάγονται τὰ σύμβολα; | 3.19 And why attach mortal names to universal nature? And the mysteries belonging to each individual god, the hymns, the chants, and the secret rites of the initiations—do they bring forward symbols of the universal elements, or of ancient mortal men who shared the names of the gods? |
| 3.20 Ἀλλὰ γὰρ πλάνας καὶ μέθας καὶ ἔρωτας φθοράς τε γυναικῶν καὶ ἀνδρῶν ἐπιβουλὰς καὶ μυρία ἄττα, θνητὰ ὡς ἀληθῶς καὶ αἰσχρὰ καὶ ἄσεμνα, πῶς ἄν τις ἀναθείη τοῖς καθόλου στοιχείοις, αὐτόθεν τὸ θνητὸν καὶ ἀνθρωποπαθὲς ἐπενηνεγμένα; | 3.20 Furthermore, wanderings, drunkenness, erotic passions, seductions of women, plots of men, and ten thousand other things—truly mortal, shameful, and unseemly—how could anyone attribute them to universal elements, since they carry upon their face a mortal and humanly-passionate character? |
| 3.21 Ὥστε ἐκ τούτων ἁπάντων ἁλίσκεσθαι τὴν θαυμαστὴν ταύτην καὶ γενναίαν φυσιολογίαν κατ’ οὐδὲν ἀληθείας ἡμμένην, οὐδέ τι θεῖον ἀληθῶς ἐπαγομένην, βεβιασμένην δὲ καὶ διεψευσμένην ἔχουσαν τὴν ἔξωθεν σεμνολογίαν. ἄκουε δ’ οὖν οἷα καὶ ὁ Πορφύριος ἐν τῇ πρὸς Ἀνεβὼ τὸν Αἰγύπτιον ἐπιστολῇ περὶ τῶν αὐτῶν ἱστορεῖ· | 3.21 So from all these considerations this admirable and noble physical philosophy (physiologia) stands convicted of touching truth in no way, nor bringing in anything truly divine, but holding an outward grandeur that is forced and false. Listen, then, to what Porphyry also records concerning these same matters in his Letter to Anebo the Egyptian: |
Chapter 4
In this chapter, Eusebius presents a dual citation from Porphyry: first from his Letter to Anebo (4.1–4.2), where Porphyry summarizes the stoicizing materialist view of Chaeremon the Stoic regarding Egyptian religion; and second from Porphyry’s De Abstinentia (4.6–4.14), where Porphyry explains the theological rationale behind Egyptian zoolatry (animal worship). Eusebius frames both citations with his own sharp polemical commentary (4.3–4.5), exposing the absurdity of worshipping inanimate elements, physical stars, or irrational beasts.
| 4.1 «Χαιρήμων μὲν γὰρ καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι οὐδ’ ἄλλο τι πρὸ τῶν ὁρωμένων κόσμων ἡγοῦνται, ἐν ἀρχηγῶν λόγῳ τιθέμενοι τοὺς Αἰγυπτίων, οὐδ’ ἄλλους θεοὺς πλὴν τῶν πλανητῶν λεγομένων καὶ τῶν συμπληρούντων τὸν ζωδιακόν, καὶ ὅσοι τούτοις παρανατέλλουσι· τάς τε εἰς τοὺς δεκανοὺς τομὰς καὶ τοὺς ὡροσκόπους καὶ τοὺς λεγομένους κραταιοὺς ἡγεμόνας, ὧν καὶ τὰ ὀνόματα ἐν τοῖς ἀλμενιχιακοῖς φέρεται, καὶ θεραπεῖαι παθῶν, καὶ ἀνατολαὶ καὶ δύσεις, καὶ μελλόντων σημειώσεις. | 4.1 "For Chaeremon and the others hold that nothing exists prior to the visible worlds, placing at the head of their system the doctrines of the Egyptians, nor any other gods except the so-called planets and those stars that complete the zodiac, along with all those that rise alongside them—as well as the divisions into decans, the horoscopes, and the so-called 'mighty leaders,' whose names are even contained in the almanacs (almenichiaka), together with healings of diseases, risings, settings, and signs of future events. |
| 4.2 ἑώρα γὰρ τοὺς τὸν ἥλιον δημιουργὸν φαμένους καὶ τὰ περὶ Ὄσιριν καὶ τὴν Ἴσιν, καὶ πάντας τοὺς ἱερατικοὺς μύθους, ἢ εἰς τοὺς ἀστέρας καὶ τὰς τούτων φάνσεις καὶ κρύψεις καὶ ἐπιτολὰς ἑλιττομένους, ἢ εἰς τὰς τῆς σελήνης αὐξήσεις καὶ μειώσεις, ἢ εἰς τὴν τοῦ ἡλίου πορείαν, ἢ τό γε νυκτερινὸν ἡμισφαίριον ἢ τὸ ἡμερινόν, ἢ τόν γε ποταμόν· καὶ ὅλως πάντα εἰς τὰ φυσικά, καὶ οὐδὲν εἰς ἀσωμάτους καὶ ζώσας οὐσίας ἑρμηνεύοντας. ὧν οἱ πλείους καὶ τὸ ἐφ’ ἡμῖν ἐκ τῆς τῶν ἀστέρων ἀνῆψαν κινήσεως, οὐκ οἶδ’ ὅπως δεσμοῖς ἀλύτοις ἀνάγκῃ, ἣν εἱμαρμένην λέγουσι, πάντα καταδήσαντες, καὶ πάντα τούτοις ἀνάψαντες τοῖς θεοῖς, οὕτω λυτῆρας τῆς εἱμαρμένης μόνους ἔν τε ἱεροῖς καὶ ξοάνοις καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις θεραπεύουσι.» | 4.2 For he observed that those who claim the sun is the creator, along with the myths concerning Osiris and Isis and all the priestly tales, either resolve them into the stars and their appearances, concealments, and risings, or into the waxings and wanings of the moon, or into the course of the sun, or the nocturnal hemisphere, or the diurnal, or into the river [Nile]; and in short, they interpret everything into physical elements, and nothing into incorporeal and living essences. Most of these thinkers even attached our free will (to eph' hemin) to the motion of the stars, binding all things—I know not how—with unbreakable chains to Necessity, which they call Fate, and attaching everything to these gods; thus in their temples and sacred images they worship them as the sole liberators from Fate." [Porphyry, Letter to Anebo] |
| 4.3 Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἀπὸ τῆς δηλωθείσης ἐπιστολῆς κείσθω, σαφῶς διαγορεύοντα ὅτι καὶ ἡ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων ἀπόρρητος θεολογία οὐδὲ ἄλλους πλὴν τῶν κατ’ οὐρανὸν ἀστέρων, τῶν τε ἀπλανῶν καλουμένων καὶ τῶν ὀνομαζομένων πλανητῶν, ἐθεολόγει, δημιουργόν τε τῶν ὅλων εἰσῆγεν οὔτινα οὖν ἀσώματον, οὐδὲ λόγον δημιουργικόν, οὐδὲ μὴν θεόν, οὐδὲ θεούς, οὐδέ τινας νοερὰς καὶ ἀφανεῖς δυνάμεις, μόνον δὲ τὸν ὁρώμενον ἥλιον· διὸ καὶ μόνοις τοῖς ἄστροις τὴν τῶν ὅλων ἀνετίθεσαν αἰτίαν, τὰ πάντα εἱμαρμένης ἐξάπτοντες καὶ τῆς τῶν ἄστρων κινήσεώς τε καὶ φορᾶς, ὥσπερ ἀμέλει εἰσέτι καὶ νῦν ἥδε παρ’ αὐτοῖς κεκράτηκεν ἡ δόξα. | 4.3 Let this citation from the cited letter suffice, clearly demonstrating that even the secret theology of the Egyptians recognized no gods other than the stars in the sky—both those called fixed and those named planets—and introduced no incorporeal creator of the universe whatsoever, nor a demiurgic Word (Logos), nor indeed a God, nor gods, nor any intellectual and invisible powers, but only the visible sun! On this account, they attributed the cause of all things to the stars alone, hanging everything upon Fate and the motion and course of the stars—just as indeed among them this opinion prevails down to the present day. |
| 4.4 Εἰ τοίνυν εἰς μόνα τὰ ὁρώμενα τοῦ κόσμου στοιχεῖα καὶ οὐδὲν εἰς ἀσωμάτους καὶ ζώσας οὐσίας ἡρμήνευται τοῖς Αἰγυπτίοις, τὰ δὲ στοιχεῖα καὶ πάντα τὰ ὁρατὰ σώματα τῷ ἰδίῳ λόγῳ ἄψυχα καὶ ἄλογα ῥευστά τε τῇ φύσει καὶ φθαρτὰ συνέστηκε, θέα εἰς οἷα πάλιν αὐτῶν καταπέπτωκεν ἡ θεολογία, τὴν ἄψυχον οὐσίαν καὶ τὰ νεκρὰ καὶ ἄλογα σώματα θειάζουσα, μάλιστα ὅτε εἰς ἀσωμάτους καὶ νοερὰς οὐσίας οὐδὲν αὐτοῖς ἀνεφέρετο, οὐδὲ ἐπὶ νοῦν καὶ λόγον δημιουργικὸν τῶν ὅλων. | 4.4 If, then, everything among the Egyptians is interpreted with reference to the visible elements of the world alone and nothing to incorporeal and living essences, and if the elements and all visible bodies are by their very nature inanimate, irrational, fluid, and corruptible, see into what a plight their theology has fallen! For it deifies inanimate substance and dead, irrational bodies—especially since they referred nothing to incorporeal and intellectual essences, nor to a Mind (Nous) and demiurgic Word (Logos) of all things. |
| 4.5 Ἐπεὶ δὲ προωμολογήθη διὰ τῶν πρόσθεν εἰς Ἕλληνας παρ’ Αἰγυπτίων τὰ τῆς θεολογίας μετακεκομίσθαι, ὥρα τούτοις στοιχεῖν καὶ Ἕλληνας, καὶ τὰ αὐτὰ Αἰγυπτίοις φυσιολογεῖν, ἀπελέγχεσθαί τε αὐτοὺς οὐδὲν πλέον τῆς ἀψύχου ὕλη θεοποιοῦντας. ταῦτα γὰρ ἦν τὰ σεμνὰ Αἰγυπτίων κατὰ τὴν τοῦ δεδηλωμένου συγγραφέως γραφήν, ὅστις πάλιν ἐν οἷς ἐπέγραψε Περὶ τῆς τῶν ἐμψύχων ἀποχῆς τοιαῦτα περὶ τῶν αὐτῶν διέξεισιν· | 4.5 And since it was previously agreed that the contents of theology were transferred from the Egyptians to the Greeks, it is high time for the Greeks to follow them, to offer the same physical explanations (physiologei) as the Egyptians, and to be exposed as deifying nothing more than inanimate matter. For such were the solemn doctrines of the Egyptians according to the writing of the aforementioned author [Porphyry], who again, in his work entitled On Abstinence from Animal Food, details the same matters as follows: |
| 4.6 «Ἀπὸ δὲ ταύτης ὁρμώμενοι τῆς ἀσκήσεως καὶ τῆς πρὸς τὸ θεῖον οἰκειώσεως ἔγνωσαν ὡς οὐ δι’ ἀνθρώπου μόνου τὸ θεῖον διῆλθεν, οὔτε ψυχὴ ἐν μόνῳ ἀνθρώπῳ ἐπὶ γῆς κατεσκήνωσεν, ἀλλὰ σχεδὸν ἡ αὐτὴ διὰ πάντων διῆλθε τῶν ζῴων. διὸ εἰς τὴν θεοποιίαν παρέλαβον πᾶν ζῷον, καὶ ὁμοίως που ἀνέμιξαν θηρία καὶ ἀνθρώπους, καὶ πάλιν ὀρνέων σώματα καὶ ἀνθρώπων. | 4.6 "Starting from this discipline and familiarity with the divine, they recognized that the divine did not pass through man alone, nor did soul dwell in man alone upon the earth, but that virtually the same soul passed through all living creatures. Therefore, they adopted every living creature into their deification, and blended wild beasts and men together in similar fashion, and again bodies of birds and men. |
| 4.7 εἴκασται γάρ τις παρ’ αὐτοῖς μέχρι τραχήλου ἀνθρωποειδής, τὸ δὲ πρόσωπον ὀρνέου ἢ λέοντος ἢ ἄλλου τινὸς ζῴου κεκτημένος· καὶ πάλιν αὖ κεφαλὴ ἀνθρώπειος, καὶ ἄλλων τινῶν ζῴων μέρη, τῇ μὲν ὑποκείμενα, τῇ δὲ ἐπικείμενα· δι’ ὧν δηλοῦσιν ὅτι κατὰ γνώμην θεῶν καὶ ταῦτα ἀλλήλοις κοινωνεῖ, καὶ σύντροφα ἡμῖν καὶ τιθασά ἐστι τῶν θηρίων τὰ ἄγρια οὐκ ἄνευ τινὸς θείας βουλήσεως. | 4.7 For among them a figure is fashioned human-like up to the neck, but possessing the face of a bird, a lion, or some other animal; and again, a human head with parts of other animals attached—some underneath, some above. Through these representations they demonstrate that by the will of the gods these creatures also share in one another, and that even wild beasts are nurtured with us and tamed not without some divine purpose. |
| 4.8 ὅθεν καὶ ὁ λέων ὡς θεὸς θρησκεύεται, καὶ μέρος τι τῆς Αἰγύπτου, ὃ καλοῦσι νομόν, ἐπώνυμον ἔχει Λεοντοπολίτην, ἄλλο δὲ Βουσιρίτην, ἄλλο δὲ Κυνοπολίτην. τὴν γὰρ ἐπὶ πάντα δύναμιν διὰ τῶν συννόμων ζῴων ὧν ἕκαστος τῶν θεῶν παρέσχεν ἐθρήσκευσαν. | 4.8 Hence the lion is worshipped as a god, and a certain portion of Egypt—which they call a 'nome'—derives its name from it, being called Leontopolis ('Lion-city'); another is named Busirite, and another Cynopolis ('Dog-city'). For they worshipped the power extending over all things through the companion animals that each of the gods provided. |
| 4.9 ὕδωρ δὲ καὶ πῦρ σέβονται, τὰ κάλλιστα τῶν στοιχείων, ὡς ταῦτα αἰτιώτατα τῆς σωτηρίας ἡμῶν, καὶ ταῦτα δεικνύντες ἐν τοῖς ἱεροῖς, ὥς που ἔτι καὶ νῦν ἐν τῇ ἀνοίξει τοῦ ἁγίου Σαράπιδος ἥ τε θεραπεία διὰ πυρὸς καὶ ὕδατος γίνεται, λείβοντος τοῦ ὑμνῳδοῦ τὸ ὕδωρ, καὶ τὸ πῦρ φαίνοντος, ὁπηνίκα ἑστὼς ἐπὶ τοῦ οὐδοῦ τῇ πατρίῳ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων φωνῇ ἐγείρει τὸν θεόν. | 4.9 They also venerate water and fire, the fairest of the elements, as being most responsible for our preservation, displaying these in their temples—just as even down to the present day at the opening of the holy Sarapis the ritual service is conducted by means of fire and water, with the singer pouring the water and displaying the fire whenever, standing upon the threshold, he awakens the god in the native language of the Egyptians. |
| 4.10 ταῦτ’ οὖν σέβονται τὰ μέτοχα, καὶ μάλιστα πλέον τούτων ἐσέφθησαν τὰ ὡς ἐπὶ πλέον τῶν ἱερῶν μετέχοντα. τοιαῦτα δὲ πάντα τὰ ζῷα, ἐπεὶ καὶ ἄνθρωπον σέβουσι κατ’ Ἄναβιν κώμην, ἐν ᾗ καὶ τούτῳ θύεται καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν βωμῶν τὰ ἱερὰ ἐκκάεται· | 4.10 They worship these elements as sharing in divinity; and even more than these they venerated those creatures that share to a greater degree in sacred things. Such are all the animals—since they even worship a human being in the village of Anabis, in which sacrifice is offered to him and the sacred offerings are burned upon the altars; |
| 4.11 ὁ δὲ μετ’ ὀλίγον φάγοι ἂν τὰ ἴδια αὐτῷ ὡς ἀνθρώπῳ παρεσκευασμένα. ὡς οὖν ἀνθρώπου ἀφεκτέον, οὕτω καὶ τῶν ἄλλων. | 4.11 and shortly after, he [the man] eats the things prepared specifically for him as a human being. Just as one must abstain from man, so also from the other creatures. |
|
4.12
ἔτι δὲ ἐκ περιττῆς σοφίας καὶ τῆς περὶ τὸ θεῖον συντροφίας κατέλαβόν τισι τῶν θεῶν προσφιλῆ τῶν ζῴων τινὰ μᾶλλον ἀνθρώπων, ὡς ἡλίῳ ἱέρακα, σύμπασαν μὲν τὴν φύσιν ἐξ αἵματος ἔχοντα καὶ πνεύματος, οἰκτείροντα δὲ καὶ ἄνθρωπον, καὶ κωκύοντα ἐπὶ νεκρῷ κειμένῳ, γῆν τε ἐπαμώμενον.»
Καὶ μετὰ βραχέα φησίν· |
4.12
Furthermore, out of extraordinary wisdom and intimate acquaintance with the divine, they perceived that certain animals are more beloved to some of the gods than humans are—such as the hawk to the sun, having its entire nature composed of blood and spirit, taking pity even on man, wailing over a lying corpse, and casting dirt over it." [Porphyry, De Abstinentia 4.9–10]
And shortly after he says: |
| 4.13 «Κάνθαρον δὲ ἀμαθὴς μὲν βδελυχθείη ἂν ἀγνώμων ὑπάρχων τῶν θείων, Αἰγύπτιοι δὲ ἐσέφθησαν ὡς εἰκόνα ἡλίου ἔμψυχον. κάνθαρος γὰρ πᾶς ἄρρην, καὶ ἀφιεὶς τὸν θορὸν ἐν τέλματι καὶ ποιήσας σφαιροειδῆ, τοῖς ὀπισθίοις ἀνταναφέρει ποσίν, ὡς ἥλιος οὐρανόν, καὶ περίοδον ἡμερῶν ἐκδέχεται σεληνιακήν. | 4.13 "The ignorant man, lacking knowledge of divine things, might loathe the dung-beetle (kantharos), but the Egyptians venerated it as a living image of the sun. For every beetle is male, and discharging its seed into a ball of mud and forming it into a sphere, it rolls it backwards with its hind legs, just as the sun moves the sky, and awaits a lunar cycle of days. |
| 4.14 οὕτω δὲ καὶ περὶ κριοῦ τι φιλοσοφοῦσι, καὶ ἄλλο τι περὶ κροκοδείλου, περί τε γυπὸς καὶ ἴβεως, καὶ ὅλως καθ’ ἕκαστον τῶν ζῴων· ὡς ἐκ φρονήσεως καὶ τῆς ἄγαν θεοσοφίας ἐπὶ τὸ σέβας ἐλθεῖν καὶ τῶν ζῴων.» | 4.14 So also they philosophize something concerning the ram, something else regarding the crocodile, and concerning the vulture and the ibis—and in short, regarding each of the animals; so that out of wisdom and excessive divine knowledge (theosophia) they arrived at worshipping even the animals." [Porphyry, De Abstinentia 4.10] |
Chapter 5
In this chapter, Eusebius reflects on the Porphyrian excerpts (from De Abstinentia) regarding animal worship and the doctrine of a single shared soul (psuche) between humans and beasts. He highlights the logical absurdity of Egyptian theology: while denying animals the name or dignity of "man," they proceed to elevate them to the rank of "god." Eusebius concludes with a classic Christian apologetic flourish, exalting Christ as the liberator who heals humanity — including the Egyptians themselves — from this long-standing blindness.
| 5.1 Τοιαῦτα καὶ τὰ περὶ τῆς γενναίας τῶν σοφῶν Αἰγυπτίων φυσιολογίας τέθειται τῷ δεδηλωμένῳ, Αἰγυπτίων διασαφήσαντι ἡμῖν τὰ ἀπόρρητα, ὅτι τε ὕδωρ καὶ πῦρ σέβουσι, καὶ μία λογικῶν καὶ ἀλόγων οὐ μόνον σωμάτων, ἀλλὰ καὶ ψυχῆς οὐσία κέκριται εἶναι παρ’ αὐτοῖς, ὡς εὐλόγως αὐτῷ δοκεῖν θεοὺς ἀνηγορεῦσθαι τὰ θηρία. | 5.1 Such are the details set down by the aforementioned author concerning the noble physical philosophy (physiologia) of the wise Egyptians, revealing to us their secret doctrines: namely, that they worship water and fire, and that a single essence not only of bodies but also of soul is judged among them to belong to both rational and irrational beings alike—so that it seemed reasonable to him for wild beasts to be proclaimed gods! |
| 5.2 Καίτοι πῶς οὐ παραλογώτατον εἰς θεοποιίαν παραλαμβάνειν τὴν ἄλογον καὶ θηριώδη φύσιν, διὰ τὸ τῆς ἴσης, ὥς φασιν, ἀνθρώποις μετέχειν ψυχῆς; ἐχρῆν γάρ, εἴπερ ἄρα, ἀνθρώπους καὶ αὐτὰ ἡγεῖσθαι, καὶ τῆς ἀνθρωπείας αὐτοῖς δόξης τε καὶ τιμῆς μεταδιδόναι. | 5.2 And yet, how is it not utterly absurd to adopt an irrational and bestial nature into deification on the grounds that it shares, as they claim, an equal soul with human beings? For if indeed that were so, they ought to have considered these animals to be men as well, and to have imparted to them human honor and glory. |
| 5.3 Οἱ δὲ τοῦτο μὴ πράξαντες, τὰ πρὸς αὐτῆς τῆς φύσεως ἄλογα θηρία γενόμενα, καὶ ταύτην εἰληχότα τὴν ἐπωνυμίαν, καὶ οὐδὲ τῆς ἀνθρώπων προσρήσεως ἠξιωμένα, οὐδ’ ὁμοίως ἀνθρώποις ἠξίωσαν ἀποδέξασθαι· τὴν ἀνωτάτω δὲ τοῦ παμβασιλέως προσηγορίαν καὶ τοῦ τῶν ἁπάντων δημιουργοῦ θεοῦ φέροντες εἰς τὴν θηρίων φύσιν καταβεβλήκασι, καὶ θεοὺς ἐπεφήμισαν ἃ μηδὲ τῆς ἀνθρώπων πρὸς αὐτοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ κατηξίωται προσηγορίας. | 5.3 But they did no such thing! These creatures, made by nature itself irrational wild beasts, inheriting that very title and deemed unworthy even of the designation of "man," they did not deign to receive as equals to human beings; yet taking the supreme title of the All-King and of God, the Creator of all things, they cast it down into the nature of beasts, calling those things "gods" which were not even judged worthy by God Himself of the name of "man"! |
| 5.4 Ἐπὶ τούτοις ἀκήκοας καὶ τῆς θεοσοφίας τῆς μυστικῆς, δι’ ἣν οἱ θαυμάσιοι τῶν Αἰγυπτίων λύκους καὶ κύνας καὶ λέοντας ἐσεβάσθησαν· ἔγνως καὶ τοῦ κανθάρου τὸ θαῦμα καὶ ἱέρακος τὴν ἀρετήν· μὴ δὴ γέλα τοῦ λοιποῦ τοὺς θεούς, ἐλέει δὲ τῆς πολλῆς εὐηθείας καὶ ἀβλεψίας τὸ τρισάθλιον ἀνθρώπων γένος. | 5.4 In addition to these things, you have heard also of their mystical wisdom (theosophia), on account of which these admirable Egyptians venerated wolves, dogs, and lions; you have learned too of the wonder of the dung-beetle (kantharos) and the virtue of the hawk. Do not laugh henceforth at their gods, but pity the thrice-wretched race of men for their immense folly and blindness! |
| 5.5 Καὶ δὴ σκόπει πάντα περιαθρῶν οἵων ἡμῖν ἀγαθῶν πάρεστι δοτὴρ ὁ Χριστὸς τοῦ θεοῦ, τοσαύτης νόσου μακρᾶς τε καὶ πολυχρονίου πηρώσεως καὶ τὰς Αἰγυπτίων ψυχὰς διὰ τῆς εὐαγγελικῆς αὐτοῦ διδασκαλίας λελυτρωμένος, ὡς τοὺς πλείους ἤδη τῶν κατ’ Αἴγυπτον καὶ ταύτης ἀπηλλάχθαι τῆς νόσου. | 5.5 And so, considering all things attentively, observe what great blessings Christ, the Son of God, bestows upon us—having redeemed even the souls of the Egyptians through His evangelical teaching from so great a disease and long-standing, ancient blindness, so that the majority of those in Egypt are already delivered from this plague! |
Chapter 6
This chapter forms the conclusion of Eusebius’s critique of Egyptian and Greek physical theology (physiologia).
He summarizes the fatal limitations of pagan physical theology: even when allegorized by philosophers, it never rises above the physical elements, stars, and material world. He contrasts this with the transcendent Christian Gospel introduced by Christ, which elevates the human mind to worship the invisible, incorporeal Creator of all things. Finally, in vs 6.7, Eusebius transitions to targeting the Neoplatonists of his own day (such as Porphyry), who attempted to salvage ancient mythology by fusing it with Platonic metaphysics.
He summarizes the fatal limitations of pagan physical theology: even when allegorized by philosophers, it never rises above the physical elements, stars, and material world. He contrasts this with the transcendent Christian Gospel introduced by Christ, which elevates the human mind to worship the invisible, incorporeal Creator of all things. Finally, in vs 6.7, Eusebius transitions to targeting the Neoplatonists of his own day (such as Porphyry), who attempted to salvage ancient mythology by fusing it with Platonic metaphysics.
| 6.1 Ἀλλὰ γὰρ τοιαῦτα καὶ τὰ παρ’ Αἰγυπτίοις, ἃ καὶ παλαίτερα τῶν Ἑλληνικῶν ἁπάντων μνημονεύεται. ἔχεις τοιγαροῦν πρὸς τῇ μυθικῇ καὶ τὴν φυσικωτέραν θεολογίαν Ἑλλήνων ὁμοῦ καὶ Αἰγυπτίων, τῶν πάλαι τὴν πολύθεον δεισιδαιμονίαν συστησαμένων, παρ’ οἷς ὅτι μηδέν τι τῶν ἀληθῶς θείων ἀσωμάτων τε καὶ νοερῶν οὐσιῶν ἐγνωρίζετο μεμάθηκας. | 6.1 Such, then, are the accounts among the Egyptians, which are recorded as being older than all the Greek traditions. You have now learned, therefore, alongside the mythical theology, the more physical theology of both Greeks and Egyptians—the ancient founders of polytheistic superstition—among whom you have seen that nothing of the truly divine, incorporeal, and intellectual essences was recognized. |
| 6.2 Πλὴν ἀλλὰ δεδόσθω καὶ συγκεχωρήσθω τουτοισὶ τοῖς μετεωρολέσχαις λέγειν ἀληθῆ, καὶ ἐπιτυγχάνειν ἐν τῇ τῶν ἀλληγορουμένων φυσιολογίᾳ· γινέσθω τε αὐτοῖς ὁ ἥλιος ποτὲ μὲν Ἀπόλλων, καὶ πάλιν Ὧρος, καὶ Ὄσιρις πάλιν ὁ αὐτός, καὶ μυρία ἄλλα ὅσα καὶ θέλοιεν· ὥσπερ οὖν καὶ ἡ σελήνη, ἢ Ἶσις ἢ Ἄρτεμις, καὶ ὅσα ἄν τις ἐξαριθμεῖν βούλοιτο· | 6.2 Nevertheless, let it be granted and conceded to these babblers on high (meteoroleschai) to speak the truth, and let them succeed in their physical explanations of allegorized myths! Let the sun be for them at one time Apollo, again Horus, and again Osiris himself, and ten thousand other names if they wish—just as the moon may be Isis, Artemis, or whatever anyone might wish to enumerate. |
| 6.3 μὴ γὰρ ἔστω ταῦτα θνητῶν ἀνδρῶν, ἀλλ’ αὐτῶν τῶν ἐπουρανίων φωστήρων σημαντικαὶ προσηγορίαι· τὸν ἥλιον ἄρα καὶ τὴν σελήνην καὶ τοὺς ἀστέρας καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ τοῦ κόσμου μέρη ὡς θεοὺς προσκυνητέον; | 6.3 For let these names be not those of mortal men, but titles signifying the heavenly luminaries themselves—must we then worship the sun, the moon, the stars, and the remaining parts of the cosmos as gods? |
| 6.4 Καὶ ταύτῃ τοιγαροῦν ἡ γενναία τῶν Ἑλλήνων φιλοσοφία ὥσπερ διὰ μηχανῆς πέφηνεν εἰς ὕψος μὲν ἀνάγουσα τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν τοῦ λόγου, κάτω δὲ περιστρέφουσα ἀμφὶ τὴν αἰσθητὴν καὶ φαινομένην τοῦ θεοῦ δημιουργίαν τὴν τῶν σοφῶν διάνοιαν, καὶ πλέον οὐδὲν ἀλλ’ ἢ πῦρ καὶ τὴν θερμὴν οὐσίαν, τά τε μέρη τοῦ κόσμου, διὰ τῶν οὐρανίων φωστήρων, ἔστω δὲ καὶ τὴν ὑγρὰν καὶ τὴν ξηρὰν καὶ τὴν σύγκρασιν τῶν σωμάτων θειάζουσα. | 6.4 And in this way, indeed, the noble philosophy of the Greeks appears like a theatrical device (dia mechanes), raising the promise of its discourse to a high pitch, yet turning the mind of its wise men downward around the sensible and visible creation of God—deifying nothing more than fire and hot substance, and the parts of the cosmos through the heavenly luminaries, as well as the moist, the dry, and the mixture of physical bodies! |
| 6.5 Πῶς οὖν οὐ μέγα καὶ θαυμάσιον τὸ τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ τοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ εὐαγγέλιον, πᾶν γένος ἀνθρώπων παιδεῦον τὸν ἡλίου καὶ σελήνης θεὸν καὶ δεσπότην καὶ δημιουργὸν τοῦ σύμπαντος κόσμου, αὐτὸν τὸν ἀνωτάτω καὶ ἐπέκεινα τῶν ὅλων, ταῖς προσηκούσαις ἐννοίαις εὐσεβεῖν; | 6.5 How, then, is not the Gospel of God, our Savior Jesus Christ, great and wonderful, instructing every race of men to worship with fitting concepts the God, Master, and Creator of the sun, moon, and the whole cosmos—Him who is supreme and beyond all things? |
| 6.6 Καὶ οὐ τὰ τῶν σωμάτων στοιχεῖα, ἀλλὰ τὸν ζωῆς αὐτῆς καὶ τροφὸν καὶ πάντων τῶν ἀγαθῶν ταμίαν ὑμνεῖν, μέρη τε τοῦ κόσμου τὰ ὁρώμενα καὶ πᾶν τὸ καταληπτὸν σαρκὸς αἰσθήσει, ὡς ἂν τῆς φθαρτῆς ὄντα φύσεως, οὐδαμῶς καταπλήττεσθαι, τὸν δ’ ἐν τούτοις ἅπασιν ἀόρατον, καὶ τὸν καθόλου τε καὶ κατὰ μέρος δημιουργικὸν νοῦν μόνον ἀποθαυμάζειν, καὶ θεολογεῖν μίαν μόνην ἐκείνην τὴν διήκουσαν καὶ διακοσμοῦσαν τὰ πάντα θείαν δύναμιν, ἀσώματον οὖσαν καὶ νοερὰν τὴν φύσιν, μᾶλλον δὲ ἄρρητον εἰπεῖν καὶ ἀκατάληπτον, δι’ ὧν καὶ ἐνεργεῖ παραφαινομένην, διήκουσάν τε ἀσωμάτως καὶ ἀσυμπλόκως τὰ πάντα ἐπιπορευομένην, καὶ διὰ πάντων οὐκ οὐρανίων μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν ἐπὶ γῆς, τῶν τε καθόλου στοιχείων καὶ τῶν ἐπὶ μέρους, τὴν τῆς θεότητος διαρκῆ μεγαλουργίαν ἐπιδεικνυμένην, πᾶσί τε ἀφανῶς καὶ ἡμῖν ἀνεπαισθήτως ἐπιστατοῦσαν, καὶ λόγοις ἀνекφράστου σοφίας τὸν σύμπαντα κόσμον διακυβερνῶσαν; | 6.6 And instructing them to praise not the elements of physical bodies, but the Nurturer of life itself and the Dispenser of all good things; and in no way to be struck with awe before the visible parts of the world and all that is perceived by bodily sense, as being of a corruptible nature; but to marvel only at the invisible, universal, and individual demiurgic Mind within all these things, and to recognize as God only that single divine power that penetrates and arranges all things—being incorporeal and intellectual by nature, or rather unspeakable and incomprehensible to state—manifesting itself through all things in which it acts, penetrating and traversing all things incorporeally and without entanglement, and displaying the enduring majesty of its divinity through all things (not only heavenly, but also earthly, both general elements and individual parts), invisibly and imperceptibly presiding over all, and governing the whole cosmos by the principles (logoi) of unutterable wisdom? |
| 6.7 Τοσούτων ἡμῖν ἀποδεδειγμένων εἰς ἔλεγχον τῆς ἀσυστάτου σοφίας ἢ θεολογίας, τῆς τε λεγομένης μυθικωτέρας καὶ τῆς ὑψηλοτέρας δὴ καὶ φυσικωτέρας, ἣν οἱ παλαιοὶ Ἕλληνές τε καὶ Αἰγύπτιοι σεμνύνοντες ἀπεδείχθησαν, ὥρα καὶ τῶν νέων τῶν δὴ καθ’ ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς φιλοσοφεῖν ἐπαγγελλομένων ἐπαθρῆσαι τὰ καλλωπίσματα· οἵδε γὰρ τὰ περὶ νοῦ δημιουργοῦ τῶν ὅλων καὶ τὰ περὶ ἀσωμάτων ἰδεῶν νοερῶν τε καὶ λογικῶν δυνάμεων τοῖς ἀμφὶ τὸν Πλάτωνα μακροῖς ποθ’ ὕστερον χρόνοις ἐφευρημένα καὶ λογισμοῖς ὀρθοῖς ἐπινενοημένα συμπλέξαι τῇ τῶν παλαιῶν θεολογίᾳ πεπειραμένοι μείζονι τύφῳ τὴν περὶ τῶν μύθων ἐπαγγελίαν ἐξῆραν. Ἄκουε δ’ οὖν καὶ τῆς τούτων φυσιολογίας, μεθ’ οἵας ἐξενήνεκται τῷ Πορφυρίῳ ἀλαζονείας· | 6.7 Now that so many proofs have been set forth by us in refutation of this inconsistent wisdom or theology—both the so-called more mythical and the loftier physical kind, which the ancient Greeks and Egyptians were shown to boast of—it is time to examine also the embellishments of the moderns, those who in our own times profess to practice philosophy. For these men, attempting to weave together with the theology of the ancients the doctrines concerning the demiurgic Mind of all things and incorporeal Ideas and intellectual and rational powers—doctrines discovered long afterwards by Plato's school and conceived by right reasoning—have exalted the claim regarding the myths with even greater arrogance. Listen, then, to their physical theology, and with what boastfulness it has been set forth by Porphyry: |
Chapter 7
Having introduced his critique of late Neoplatonism in 6.7, Eusebius now quotes directly from Porphyry’s lost work On Images (Peri Agalmaton). Porphyry attempts a sophisticated defense of idol worship, arguing that statues are not worshipped as literal gods, but read like books as symbolic, material representations of invisible, spiritual powers. Eusebius immediately follows (7.5) with his own sharp rebuttal, condemning this symbolic defense as a modern, forced sophistication (sophisma) designed to mask gross idolatry and obscene iconographical motifs.
| 7.1 «Φθέγξομαι οἷς θέμις ἐστί, θύρας δ’ ἐπίθεσθε βέβηλοι, σοφίας θεολόγου νοήματα δεικνὺς οἷς τὸν θεὸν καὶ τοῦ θεοῦ τὰς δυνάμεις διὰ εἰκόνων συμφύλων αἰσθήσει ἐμήνυσαν ἄνδρες τὰ ἀφανῆ φανεροῖς ὑποτυπώσαντες πλάσμασι, τοῖς καθάπερ ἐκ βίβλων τῶν ἀγαλμάτων ἀναλέγειν τὰ περὶ θεῶν μεμαθηκόσι γράμματα. θαυμαστὸν δὲ οὐδὲν ξύλα καὶ λίθους ἡγεῖσθαι τὰ ξόανα τοὺς ἀμαθεστάτους, καθὰ δὴ καὶ τῶν γραμμάτων οἱ ἀνόητοι λίθους μὲν ὁρῶσι τὰς στήλας, ξύλα δὲ τὰς δέλτους, ἐξυφασμένην δὲ πάπυρον τὰς βίβλους.» | 7.1 "I shall speak to those for whom it is lawful, but shut the doors, ye profane!—revealing the concepts of theological wisdom by which men made known the deity and the powers of the deity through cognate images to sense perception. They depicted invisible things by visible forms for those who have learned to read the inscriptions concerning the gods from statues as if from books. It is no wonder, then, that the most ignorant regard wooden images (xoana) as mere wood and stone—just as foolish men among those who look at letters see stelae as mere stones, tablets as wood, and books as woven papyrus!" [Porphyry, On Images, Fr. 1] |
| 7.2 Τοιαῦτα δὲ ὡς ἐν προοιμίῳ κατακοσμήσας, ἄκουε οἷα προϊόντι ἐξῆς γράφει πρὸς λέξιν· «Φωτοειδοῦς δὲ ὄντος τοῦ θείου καὶ ἐν πυρὸς αἰθερίου περιχύσει διάγοντος, ἀφανοῦς τε τυγχάνοντος αἰσθήσει περὶ θνητὸν βίον ἀσχόλῳ, διὰ μὲν τῆς διαυγοῦς ὕλης, οἷον κρυστάλλου ἢ Παρίου λίθου ἢ καὶ ἐλέφαντος, εἰς τὴν τοῦ φωτὸς αὐτοῦ ἔννοιαν ἐνῆγε, διὰ δὲ τῆς τοῦ χρυσοῦ εἰς τὴν τοῦ πυρὸς διανόησιν, καὶ τὸ ἀμίαντον αὐτοῦ, ὅτι χρυσὸς οὐ μιαίνεται. | 7.2 Having adorned his preface with such grand words, listen to what he writes next word for word as he proceeds: "The divine being, composed of light and dwelling in the surrounding effusion of etherial fire, is invisible to human sense preoccupied with mortal life. Therefore, through translucent material—such as crystal, Parian marble, or even ivory—he led men into the conception of its light, and through gold into the idea of its fire and its untainted purity, because gold is not subject to stain. |
| 7.3 πολλοὶ δὲ αὖ καὶ μέλανι λίθῳ τὸ ἀφανὲς αὐτοῦ τῆς οὐσίας ἐδήλωσαν, καὶ ἀνθρωποειδεῖς μὲν ἀπετύπουν τοὺς θεοὺς ὅτι λογικὸν τὸ θεῖον, καλοὺς δέ, ὅτι κάλλος ἐν ἐκείνοις ἀκήρατον· διαφόροις δὲ σχήμασι καὶ ἡλικίαις, καθέδραις τε καὶ στάσεσι καὶ ἀμφιάσεσι, καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἄρρενας, τὰς δὲ θηλείας, καὶ παρθένους, καὶ ἐφήβους, ἢ γάμου πεῖραν εἰληφότας, εἰς παράστασιν αὐτῶν τῆς διαφορᾶς. | 7.3 Many, moreover, indicated the invisibility of its essence by black stone; and they fashioned the gods in human shape because the divine is rational, and beautiful because in those beings beauty is unblemished. They depicted them in diverse shapes, ages, seatings, postures, and garments—some male, others female, virgins, youths, or those who have entered into marriage—to represent their various differences. |
| 7.4 ὅθεν πᾶν τὸ λευκὸν τοῖς οὐρανίοις θεοῖς ἀπένειμαν, σφαῖράν τε καὶ τὰ σφαιρικὰ πάντα ἰδίως τε κόσμῳ καὶ ἡλίῳ καὶ σελήνῃ, ἔσθ’ ὅπου δὲ καὶ τύχῃ καὶ ἐλπίδι· κύκλον δὲ καὶ τὰ κυκλικὰ αἰῶνι καὶ τῇ κατὰ τὸν οὐρανὸν κινήσει ταῖς τε ἐν αὐτῷ ζώναις καὶ τοῖς κύκλοις· κύκλων δὲ τμήματα τοῖς σχηματισμοῖς τῆς σελήνης· πυραμίδας δὲ καὶ ὀβελίσκους τῇ πυρὸς οὐσίᾳ, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τοῖς Ὀλυμπίοις θεοῖς· ὥσπερ αὖ κῶνον μὲν ἡλίῳ, γῇ δὲ κύλινδρον, σπορᾷ δὲ καὶ γενέσει φάλητα, καὶ τὸ τρίγωνον σχῆμα διὰ τὸ μόριον τῆς θηλείας.» | 7.4 Hence they assigned everything white to the heavenly gods, and the sphere and all spherical shapes specifically to the cosmos, the sun, and the moon, and in some places to Fortune (Tyche) and Hope; the circle and circular forms to Eternity (Aion), to the movement in the heavens, and to the zones and cycles within it; segments of circles to the phases of the moon; pyramids and obelisks to the essence of fire, and for this reason to the Olympian gods; while again they assigned the cone to the sun, the cylinder to the earth, the phallus to sowing and generation, and the triangular shape to the female organ." [Porphyry, On Images, Fr. 2] |
| 7.5 Ταῦτα ὁ θαυμαστὸς φιλόσοφος, ὧν τί ἂν γένοιτο ἀσχημονέστερον τὰ αἰσχρὰ σεμνολογοῦσιν; τί δὲ βιαιότερον; τὰς ἀψύχους ὕλας, χρυσὸν καὶ λίθον καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα, εἰκόνας φέρειν τοῦ φωτὸς τῶν θεῶν καὶ τῆς οὐρανίου καὶ αἰθερίου φύσεως δηλώματα φάσκειν! ὅτι δὲ τῶν νέων ἐστὶ ταῦτα σοφίσματα, μηδ’ ὄναρ τῶν παλαιῶν εἰς ἐνθύμησιν ἐλθόν, γνοίης ἂν μαθὼν ὅτι καὶ ἀπόβλητα ἦν παρὰ τοῖς προτέροις τὰ διὰ χρυσοῦ καὶ τῆς νομιζομένης πολυτελεστέρας ὕλης ξόανα. λέγει δ’ οὖν Πλούταρχος ὧδέ πῃ κατὰ λέξιν· | 7.5 Thus speaks this wondrous philosopher! But what could be more disgraceful than those who speak solemnly of obscene things, or what could be more forced than claiming that inanimate matter—gold, stone, and the like—bears images of the light of the gods and manifestations of the heavenly, etherial nature? That these are modern subtleties (sophismata) which never crossed the minds of the ancients even in a dream, you may learn when you realize that statues made of gold and of material considered more costly were actually rejected among the men of old. Plutarch, at any rate, speaks somewhat as follows, word for word: |
Chapter 8
Following his attack on Porphyry's allegorical defense of idol-making in Chapter 7, Eusebius here brings forward ancient pagan authorities themselves — first by quoting Plutarch (from a lost fragment) and then Plato (Laws Book XII, 955e) — to demonstrate that early humans made simple wooden or stone tokens rather than costly statues, and that the greatest philosophers considered precious metals, ivory, and ornate craftsmanship unfitting or impious for the divine nature.
| 8.1 «Ἡ δὲ τῶν ξοάνων ποίησις ἀρχαῖον ἔοικεν εἶναί τι καὶ παλαιόν, εἴ γε ξύλινον μὲν ἦν τὸ πρῶτον εἰς Δῆλον ὑπὸ Ἐρυσίχθονος Ἀπόλλωνι ἐπὶ τῶν θεωριῶν ἄγαλμα, ξύλινον δὲ τὸ τῆς Πολιάδος ὑπὸ τῶν αὐτοχθόνων ἱδρυθέν, ὃ μέχρι νῦν Ἀθηναῖοι διαφυλάττουσιν. Ἥρας δὲ καὶ Σάμιοι ξύλινον εἶχον ἕδος, ὥς φησι Καλλίμαχος· “Οὔπω Σκέλμιον ἔργον ἐύξοον, ἀλλ’ ἐπὶ τεθμὸν δηναιὸν γλυφάνων ἄξοος ἦσθα σανίς.” Ὧδε γὰρ ἱδρύοντο θεοὺς τότε· καὶ γὰρ Ἀθήνης ἐν Λίνδῳ Δαναὸς λᾶαν ἔθηκεν ἕδος. λέγεται δὲ Πείρας ὁ πρῶτος Ἀργολίδος Ἥρας ἱερὸν εἱσάμενος, τὴν ἑαυτοῦ θυγατέρα Καλλίθυιαν ἱέρειαν καταστήσας, ἐκ τῶν περὶ Τίρυνθα δένδρων ὄγχνην τεμὼν εὔκνητον, Ἥρας ἄγαλμα μορφῶσαι. πέτραν μὲν γὰρ εἰς θεοῦ κόπτειν εἰκόνα σκληρὰν καὶ δύσεργον καὶ ἄψυχον οὐκ ἐβούλοντο, χρυσὸν δὲ καὶ ἄργυρον ἡγοῦντο γῆς ἀκάρπου καὶ διεφθαρμένης χρώματα νοσώδη καὶ κηλῖδας ἐξανθεῖν ὥσπερ μώλωπας ὑπὸ πυρὸς ῥαπισθείσης· ἐλέφαντι δὲ παίζοντες μὲν ἴσθ’ ὅπου προσεχρῶντο, ποικίλματι τρυφῆς.» | 8.1 "The making of wooden images (xoana) seems to be something ancient and primitive, if indeed the first statue dedicated to Apollo at Delos by Erysichthon on the sacred embassies was made of wood, and wooden too was the image of Athena Polias set up by the aboriginal inhabitants, which the Athenians preserve to this day. The Samians also had a wooden seat (hedos) of Hera, as Callimachus says: 'Not yet was the well-carved work of Skelmis, but according to the ancient custom you were an uncarved plank untouched by chisels.' For thus they set up images of the gods in those days; for Danaus also dedicated a rough stone (laas) as a seat for Athena in Lindos. And Peiras, who first established the sanctuary of Hera in Argolis and appointed his own daughter Callithyia as priestess, is said to have cut down a well-shaped pear tree from the trees around Tiryns and fashioned an image of Hera. For they did not wish to carve rock into the image of a god, as it was hard, difficult to work, and lifeless; while gold and silver they regarded as diseased discolorations and stains breaking out like welts from a barren and corrupted earth whipped by fire. As for ivory, you may know they used it only on rare occasion in play, as an embellishment of luxury." [Plutarch, Fragment] |
| 8.2 Ταῦτα ὁ Πλούταρχος· καὶ τούτου δὲ πολὺ πρότερον ὁ Πλάτων, οὐδὲν εἶναι σεμνὸν οὐδὲ προσεοικὸς θείᾳ φύσει ἐν χρυσῷ καὶ λίθοις καὶ ἐλέφαντί τε καὶ τοῖς ἐξ ὕλης ἀψύχου κατασκευάσμασιν εὖ μάλα εἰδώς, ἐπάκουσον ἐν τοῖς Νόμοις ὁποῖα διατάττεται· «Γῆ μὲν οὖν ἑστία τε οἰκήσεως ἱερὰ πᾶσι πάντων θεῶν· μηδεὶς οὖν δευτέρως ἱερὰ καθιερούτω θεοῖς. χρυσὸς δὲ καὶ ἄργυρος ἐν ἄλλαις πόλεσιν ἰδίᾳ τε καὶ ἐν ἱεροῖς ἐπίφθονόν ἐστι κτῆμα, ἐλέφας δὲ ἀπολελοιπότος ψυχὴν σώματος οὐκ εὐαγὲς ἀνάθημα· σίδηρος δὲ καὶ χαλκὸς πολέμων ὄργανα.» Ταῦτα δὲ σαφῆ περιέχειν ἡγοῦμαι τῆς προτεθείσης ἀνατροπὴν φυσιολογίας, ἧς φέρε καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ ἐπιθεωρήσωμεν. ἐπάκουσον οὖν οἷά φησιν· | 8.2 Thus speaks Plutarch! And long before him, Plato—knowing full well that there is nothing venerable or like the divine nature in gold, stones, ivory, and structures made of inanimate matter—listen to what he decrees in the Laws: "The earth, then, and the hearth of human dwelling are sacred to all gods; let no one, therefore, dedicate sacred places to the gods a second time. Gold and silver in other cities, both privately and in sanctuaries, are an object of envy; ivory, coming from a body that has lost its soul, is not a pure offering; while iron and bronze are instruments of war." [Plato, Laws 955e] These passages, I consider, contain a clear overthrow of the physical theology set before us. Come, then, let us examine the remaining parts of it as well! Listen, therefore, to what he [Porphyry] says: |
Chapter 9
In this chapter, Eusebius continues quoting Porphyry's On Images (Peri Agalmaton). Porphyry cites the famous Orphic hymn describing Zeus as the cosmic whole—whose body is the cosmos (head of sky, eyes of sun/moon, chest of air, etc.)—and explains how statues of Zeus allegorize his immanent creative intellect (nous) and seed-principles (logoi spermatikoi).
Eusebius then launches a devastating critique (9.6–9.15):
He shows that the hymn itself and Stoic/Egyptian theology equate Zeus strictly with the material, visible cosmos and the elemental fire/ether (aither), without any concept of a transcendent Creator.
He accuses Porphyry of double-dealing (9.13–9.15)—forcibly superimposing Platonic metaphysics (the transcendent demiurgic Mind) onto ancient Orphic and Egyptian texts that originally knew nothing beyond physical elements and celestial bodies, as confirmed by both Plato (Cratylus) and Chaeremon.
Eusebius then launches a devastating critique (9.6–9.15):
He shows that the hymn itself and Stoic/Egyptian theology equate Zeus strictly with the material, visible cosmos and the elemental fire/ether (aither), without any concept of a transcendent Creator.
He accuses Porphyry of double-dealing (9.13–9.15)—forcibly superimposing Platonic metaphysics (the transcendent demiurgic Mind) onto ancient Orphic and Egyptian texts that originally knew nothing beyond physical elements and celestial bodies, as confirmed by both Plato (Cratylus) and Chaeremon.
| 9.1 «Ὅρα δὲ τὴν τῶν Ἑλλήνων σοφίαν οὑτωσὶ διασκοπούμενος. τὸν γὰρ Δία τὸν νοῦν τοῦ κόσμου ὑπολαμβάνοντες, ὃς τὰ ἐν αὐτῷ ἐδημιούργησεν ἔχων τὸν κόσμον, ἐν μὲν ταῖς θεολογίαις ταύτῃ περὶ αὐτοῦ παραδεδώκασιν οἱ τὰ Ὀρφέως εἰπόντες· | 9.1 "Observe the wisdom of the Greeks, considering it thus: for conceiving Zeus to be the mind of the cosmos, who created the things in it containing the cosmos, the speakers of Orpheus have handed down concerning him in their theological works as follows: |
| 9.2 “Ζεὺς πρῶτος γένετο, Ζεὺς ὕστατος ἀργικέραυνος, Ζεὺς κεφαλή, Ζεὺς μέσσα, Διὸς δ’ ἐκ πάντα τέτυκται. Ζεὺς ἄρσην γένετο, Ζεὺς ἄφθιτος ἔπλετο νύμφη. Ζεὺς πυθμὴν γαίης τε καὶ οὐρανοῦ ἀστερόεντος. Ζεὺς βασιλεύς, Ζεὺς αὐτὸς ἁπάντων ἀρχιγένεθλος. ἓν κράτος, εἷς δαίμων γένετο, μέγας ἀρχὸς ἁπάντων, ἓν δὲ δέμας βασίλειον, ἐν ᾧ τάδε πάντα κυκλεῖται, πῦρ καὶ ὕδωρ καὶ γαῖα καὶ αἰθήρ, νύξ τε καὶ ἦμαρ, καὶ Μῆτις, πρῶτος γενέτωρ καὶ Ἕρως πολυτερπής· πάντα γὰρ ἐν μεγάλῳ Ζῆνος τάδε σώματι κεῖται. τοῦ δή τοι κεφαλὴν μὲν ἰδεῖν καὶ καλὰ πρόσωπα οὐρανὸς αἰγλήεις, ὃν χρύσεαι ἀμφὶς ἔθειραι ἄστρων μαρμαρέων περικαλλέες ἠερέθονται, ὼ ταύρεα δ’ ἀμφοτέρωθε δύο χρύσεια κέρατα, ἀντολίη τε δύσις τε, θεῶν ὁδοὶ Οὐρανιώνων, ὄμματα δ’ ἠέλιός τε καὶ ἀντιόωσα σελήνη. νοῦς δέ οἱ ἀψευδής, βασιλήϊος, ἄφθιτος αἰθήρ, ᾧ δὴ πάντα κυκλεῖ καὶ φράζεται, οὐδέ τις ἐστὶν αὐδή, οὔτ’ ἐνοπή, οὔτε κτύπος, οὐδὲ μὲν ὄσσα, ἣ λήθει Διὸς οὖας ὑπερμενέος Κρονίωνος. ὧδε μὲν ἀθανάτην κεφαλὴν ἔχει ἠδὲ νόημα· σῶμα δέ οἱ περιφεγγές, ἀπείριτον, ἀστυφέλικτον, ὄβριμον, ὀβριμόγυιον, ὑπερμενὲς ὧδε τέτυκται. ὦμοι μὲν καὶ στέρνα καὶ εὐρέα νῶτα θεοῖο ἀὴρ εὐρυβίης, πτέρυγες δέ οἱ ἐξεφύοντο, τῇς ἐπὶ πάντα ποτᾶτ’, ἱερὴ δέ οἱ ἔπλετο νηδύς, γαῖά τε παμμήτειρ ὀρέων τ’ αἰπεινὰ κάρηνα· μέσση δὲ ζώνη βαρυηχέος οἶδμα θαλάσσης καὶ πόντου· πυμάτη δὲ βάσις, χθονὸς ἔνδοθι ῥίζαι, Τάρταρά τ’ εὐρώεντα καὶ ἔσχατα πείρατα γαίης. πάντα δ’ ἀποκρύψας αὖθις φάος ἐς πολυγηθὲς μέλλεν ἀπὸ κραδίης προφέρειν πάλι, θέσκελα ῥέζων.” |
9.2
'Zeus became first, Zeus last, lord of the bright lightning; Zeus is head, Zeus middle, and from Zeus all things are fashioned. Zeus became male, Zeus became an imperishable maiden. Zeus is the foundation of the earth and the starry sky. Zeus is king, Zeus himself the prime origin of all things. One power, one divine spirit (daimon) became, the great ruler of all, one royal body, in which all these things revolve: fire and water and earth and ether, night and day, and Metis, the first generator, and Eros full of delight; for all these things lie in the great body of Zeus. His head indeed to behold and his beautiful face is the gleaming sky, around which golden locks of glittering stars hang beautifully floating; and on either side two golden bull's horns, the East and West, the paths of the Heavenly Gods; and his eyes are the sun and the confronting moon. His mind is the unerring, royal, imperishable ether, by which he circles and considers all things, nor is there any voice, nor sound, nor noise, nor rumor, which escapes the ear of Zeus, the almighty son of Kronos. Thus he has an immortal head and thought; and his radiant body, boundless, unshakable, mighty, strong-limbed, powerful, is fashioned thus: the shoulders, chest, and broad back of the god are the wide-raging air, and wings grew out on him, upon which he flies everywhere; and his sacred belly became earth, the mother of all, and the lofty heads of mountains; while the middle belt is the swell of the heavy-sounding sea and deep ocean; and his lowest base, roots deep within the earth, are gloomy Tartarus and the ultimate bounds of earth. And having hidden all things, he was about to bring them forth again from his heart into the joyful light, performing wondrous deeds.' [Orphic Fragment] |
| 9.3 Ζεὺς οὖν ὁ πᾶς κόσμος, ζῷον ἐκ ζῴων καὶ θεὸς ἐκ θεῶν· Ζεὺς δέ, καθὸ νοῦς, ἀφ’ οὗ προφέρει πάντα καὶ δημιουργεῖ τοῖς νοήμασι. | 9.3 Zeus, therefore, is the whole cosmos, a living being made of living beings, and a god made of gods. And Zeus, insofar as he is mind, is that from which he brings forth all things and creates by his thoughts. |
| 9.4 Τῶν δὴ θεολόγων τὰ δὴ περὶ τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦτον ἐξηγησαμένων τὸν τρόπον, εἰκόνα μὲν τοιαύτην δημιουργεῖν, οἵαν ὁ λόγος ἐμήνυσεν, οὔθ’ οἷόν τε ἦν οὔτ’, εἴ τις ἐπενόησε, τὸ ζωτικὸν καὶ νοερὸν καὶ προνοητικὸν διὰ τῆς σφαίρας ἐδείκνυεν. | 9.4 The theologians having explained divine matters in this way, to make such an image as the account described was neither possible, nor, if anyone had devised it, could he have shown the vital, intellectual, and provident nature through a sphere. |
| 9.5 ἀνθρωπόμορφον δὲ τοῦ Διὸς τὸ δείκελον πεποιήκασιν, ὅτι νοῦς ἦν καθ’ ὃν ἐδημιούργει καὶ λόγοις σπερματικοῖς ἀπετέλει τὰ πάντα· κάθηται δέ, τὸ ἑδραῖον τῆς δυνάμεως αἰνιττόμενος· γυμνὰ δὲ ἔχει τὰ ἄνω, ὅτι φανερὸς ἐν τοῖς νοεροῖς καὶ τοῖς οὐρανίοις τοῦ κόσμου μέρεσίν ἐστι· σκέπεται δὲ αὐτῷ τὰ πρόσθια, ὅτι ἀφανὴς τοῖς κάτω κεκρυμμένοις· ἔχει δὲ τῇ μὲν λαιᾷ τὸ σκῆπτρον, καθ’ ὃ μάλιστα τῶν τοῦ σώματος μερῶν τὸ ἡγεμονικώτατόν τε καὶ νοερώτατον ὑποικουρεῖ σπλάγχνον, ἡ καρδία· βασιλεὺς γὰρ τοῦ κόσμου ὁ δημιουργικὸς νοῦς· προτείνει δὲ τῇ δεξιᾷ ἢ ἀετόν, ὅτι κρατεῖ τῶν ἀεροπόρων θεῶν, ὡς τῶν μεταρσίων ὀρνέων ὁ ἀετός, ἢ νίκην, ὅτι νενίκηκεν αὐτὸς πάντα.» |
9.5
They made the image (deikelon) of Zeus human in form, because he was mind according to which he created and brought all things to completion by generative principles (logoi spermatikoi). He is seated, signifying the steadfastness of his power. His upper parts are naked, because he is manifest in the intellectual and heavenly parts of the cosmos; but his lower parts are covered, because he is invisible to things hidden below. He holds the scepter in his left hand, because in that part of the body the heart—the most ruler-like and intellectual organ—is housed; for the demiurgic mind is king of the cosmos. In his right hand he stretches out either an eagle, because he rules the air-faring gods, just as the eagle rules high-flying birds; or Victory, because he himself has conquered all things." [Porphyry, On Images, Fr. 3]
|
Eusebius's Rebuttal Begins
| 9.6 Ταῦτά σοι ὁ Πορφύριος, ὧν τὸν εἰρημένον τρόπον ἀποδεδομένων ἠρέμα καὶ ἐπὶ σχολῆς ἐπιθεωρῆσαι καλὸν τίνα ποτὲ ἄρα τὸν Δία φασὶν εἶναι τὰ ἔπη. ἐγὼ μὲν γὰρ οὐδὲ ἄλλον ἡγοῦμαι ἢ τὸν ὁρώμενον κόσμον ἐκ παντοίων συνεστῶτα μερῶν, τῶν τε κατ’ οὐρανὸν καὶ αἰθέρα καὶ τῶν ἐν τούτοις φαινομένων ἄστρων, ὥσπερ ἐν μεγάλου σώματος κεφαλῇ προτεταγμένων, τῶν τε ἐν ἀέρι καὶ γῇ καὶ θαλάττῃ καὶ τοῖς παραπλησίοις. | 9.6 Such are the words of Porphyry to you! Now that these things have been set down in the manner stated, it is good to examine calmly and at leisure what kind of Zeus verses like these actually claim exists. For my part, I consider him to be nothing other than the visible cosmos itself, composed of all kinds of parts—those in the sky and ether, and the stars appearing in them (set in front like the head of a great body), and those in air, earth, sea, and the like. |
| 9.7 μέρη γοῦν κόσμου καὶ γῆ καὶ ὄρη καὶ βουνοί, εἱλεῖταί τε αὐτῶν ἐν μέσῳ ζώνης τρόπον ἡ θάλαττα, καὶ πῦρ δὲ καὶ ὕδωρ νύξ τε καὶ ἡμέρα τῆς αὐτῆς εἶεν ἂν τοῦ κόσμου φύσεως μέρη. ταῦτα δ’ ἄντικρυς τὸν ὁρώμενον ὑποφαίνειν ἡγοῦμαι κόσμον, εἰ μή τι καὶ σφάλλομαι, καὶ τὸ ὅλον ἐκ μερῶν συνεστὼς διδάσκει. | 9.7 Indeed, earth, mountains, and hills are parts of the cosmos, and in their midst the sea coils like a belt; fire, water, night, and day would likewise be parts of the same nature of the cosmos. These things, I hold, directly reveal the visible cosmos, unless I am entirely mistaken, teaching that the whole consists of these parts. |
| 9.8 λέγει δ’ οὖν «πάντα γὰρ ἐν μεγάλῳ Ζῆνος τάδε σώματι κεῖται.» καὶ τίνα τὰ πάντα διασαφεῖ· «πῦρ καὶ ὕδωρ καὶ γαῖα καὶ αἰθήρ, νύξ τε καὶ ἦμαρ. τοῦ δή τοι κεφαλὴν μὲν ἰδεῖν καὶ καλὰ πρόσωπα οὐρανὸς αἰγλήεις, ὃν χρύσεαι ἀμφὶς ἔθειραι ἄστρων μαρμαρέων περικαλλέες ἠερέθονται,» | 9.8 At any rate, he says: "For all these things lie in the great body of Zeus." And he clarifies what "all things" means: "fire and water and earth and ether, night and day; his head indeed to behold and his beautiful face is the gleaming sky, around which golden locks of glittering stars hang floating..." |
| 9.9 καὶ τὰ τούτοις ἀκόλουθα· ἐν οἷς ἐπιφέρει τὸν νοῦν τοῦ Διὸς λέγων εἶναι τὸν αἰθέρα καὶ οὐδὲν ἄλλο, κατὰ τοὺς Στωϊκοὺς τὴν πυρώδη καὶ θερμὴν οὐσίαν τὸ ἡγεμονικὸν φάσκοντας εἶναι τοῦ κόσμου, καὶ τὸν θεὸν εἶναι σῶμα, καὶ τὸν δημιουργὸν αὐτὸν οὐδ’ ἕτερον τῆς τοῦ πυρὸς δυνάμεως. κατὰ τὰ αὐτὰ γὰρ οἶμαι καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἔπεσιν εἰρῆσθαι· «νοῦς δέ οἱ ἀψευδὴς βασιλήϊος, ἄφθιτος αἰθήρ, ᾧ δὴ πάντα κυκλεῖ καὶ φράζεται.» | 9.9 and what follows these lines. In these verses, he adds that the mind of Zeus is the ether and nothing else—according to the Stoics, who claim that the fiery and hot substance is the ruling principle (hegemonikon) of the cosmos, that God is a body, and that the Creator Himself is nothing other than the power of fire. For in the same way, I think, it is stated in the verses: "His mind is the unerring, royal, imperishable ether, by which he circles and considers all things." |
| 9.10 δι’ ὧν ἀνεπικαλύπτως ζῷον μέγα τὸν κόσμον ὑποθέμενος, καὶ τοῦτον Δία προσειπών, νοῦν μὲν αὐτοῦ τὸν αἰθέρα, σῶμα δὲ τὰ λοιπὰ τοῦ κόσμου μέρη ἀπεφήνατο εἶναι. | 9.10 Through these lines, having openly assumed the cosmos to be a great living being and calling it "Zeus," he declared its mind to be the ether and its body to be the remaining parts of the cosmos. |
| 9.11 τοιοῦτος μέν τις ὁ διὰ τῶν ἐπῶν ὑπογραφόμενος τυγχάνει Ζεύς. ὁ δὲ τῶν ἐπῶν ἐξηγητὴς ἀρξάμενος μὲν τοῖς ἔπεσιν ἀκολούθως λέγει· «Ζεὺς οὖν ὁ πᾶς κόσμος, ζῷον ἐκ ζῴων, θεὸς ἐκ θεῶν·» σαφῶς τὸν θεολογούμενον Δία οὐδὲ ἄλλον ἢ τὸν ὁρώμενον καὶ αἰσθητὸν κόσμον δηλοῦσθαι διὰ τῶν ἐπῶν ἑρμηνεύσας. |
9.11
Such, then, is the Zeus depicted through the verses! But the interpreter of the verses, beginning in agreement with the poems, says:
"Zeus, therefore, is the whole cosmos, a living being made of living beings, a god made of gods"— clearly interpreting the Zeus of theology as nothing other than the visible and perceptible cosmos! |
| 9.12 Αἰγυπτίων δὲ ὁ λόγος, παρ’ ὧν καὶ Ὀρφεὺς τὴν θεολογίαν ἐκλαβὼν τὸν κόσμον εἶναι τὸν θεὸν ᾤετο, ἐκ πλειόνων θεῶν τῶν αὐτοῦ μερῶν (ὅτι καὶ τὰ μέρη τοῦ κόσμου θεολογοῦντες ἐν τοῖς πρόσθεν ἀπεδείχθησαν) συνεστῶτα, καὶ τούτου πλέον οὐδὲν τὰ παρατεθέντα τῶν ἐπῶν ῥήματα διεσάφησεν. | 9.12 This is the doctrine of the Egyptians—from whom Orpheus received his theology and held the cosmos to be god, composed of many gods who are its parts (for they were shown earlier to deify the parts of the cosmos)—and the cited words of the verses made nothing more than this clear! |
| 9.13 ὁ δὲ μετὰ τὴν πρώτην ἑρμηνείαν δευτέραν ἐξ αὑτοῦ προστίθησι, τὸν τῶν ὅλων ποιητὴν θεὸν τὸν δημιουργικὸν νοῦν τοῦτον φάσκων εἶναι τὸν τεθεολογημένον. | 9.13 Yet after his first interpretation, he adds a second of his own invention, claiming that this divine Creator of all things, the demiurgic mind, is the one described in the theology. |
| 9.14 πῶς δ’ ἂν αὐτὸν τοῦτον ἐθεολόγει, ὃν μηδὲ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἔγνω ὁ τῶν ἐπῶν ποιητής, εἴτε ὁ Θρᾷξ εἴη Ὀρφεὺς εἴτε τις ἄλλος; εἰ δὴ παρ’ Αἰγυπτίων ἢ καὶ τῶν πρώτων Ἑλλήνων ἥκοντα ἦν εἰς αὐτὸν τὰ τῆς θεολογίας, οἱ δέ γε ἀπεδείχθησαν οὐδὲν νοητὸν ἐπιστάμενοι, οὐδ’ ἐν ἀφανεῖ καὶ ἀσωμάτῳ οὐσίᾳ περιεχόμενον, εἴ τῳ ἱκανὸς πιστώσασθαι ὁ Πλάτων, ὁμολογῶν ἐν Κρατύλῳ τοὺς πρώτους τῶν ἀνθρώπων περὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα τούτους μόνους θεοὺς ἡγεῖσθαι, οὕσπερ νῦν πολλοὶ τῶν βαρβάρων, ἥλιον καὶ σελήνην καὶ γῆν καὶ ἄστρα καὶ οὐρανόν. | 9.14 But how could the poet of these verses—whether Thracian Orpheus or someone else—theologize about this very Being whom he did not even know in the first place? If indeed his theological ideas came to him from the Egyptians or the earliest Greeks, those men were shown to understand nothing intelligible (noeton), nor anything contained in an invisible and incorporeal essence—if Plato is a sufficient witness, agreeing in the Cratylus that the first men around Greece held only these to be gods (just as many barbarians do now): the sun, moon, earth, stars, and sky! |
| 9.15 καὶ ὁ Χαιρήμων δὲ μικρῷ ἔμπροσθεν ἐμαρτύρει οὐδ’ ἄλλο τι πρὸ τοῦ ὁρωμένου κόσμου τοὺς Αἰγυπτίους ἡγεῖσθαι, οὐδ’ ἄλλους θεοὺς πλὴν τῶν πλανητῶν καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν ἀστέρων, πάντα τε εἰς τὰ ὁρώμενα τοῦ κόσμου μέρη καὶ οὐδὲν εἰς ἀσωμάτους καὶ ζώσας οὐσίας ἑρμηνεύοντας. | 9.15 Furthermore, Chaeremon also testified a short while back that the Egyptians acknowledged nothing prior to the visible cosmos, nor any gods other than the planets and the remaining stars, interpreting everything in terms of the visible parts of the cosmos and nothing in terms of incorporeal, living essences! |
Chapter 10
In this famous chapter, Eusebius critiques the allegorical interpretations of Greek mythology (specifically Porphyry's reading of Orphic theology), arguing that turning Zeus into the "creative mind of the universe" creates insurmountable logical and theological contradictions.
| 10.1 Ὁ δὴ οὖν ἐκ τούτων ὁρμώμενος ποιητὴς πόθεν, ἢ πῶς, ἢ παρὰ τίνος λαβὼν ἐν τοῖς ἔπεσι τὸν ἐπέκεινα τοῦ κόσμου θεὸν, καὶ τὸν ἡλίου καὶ σελήνης καὶ ἄστρων αὐτοῦ τε οὐρανοῦ καὶ τοῦ σύμπαντος κόσμου δημιουργὸν κατεβάλλετο; ἀσωμάτου δὲ ἡ γνῶσις αὐτῷ πόθεν; | 10.1 Taking his starting point from these things, where, or how, or from whom did the poet [Orpheus] receive the notion in his verses to establish the God who is beyond the cosmos, and the creator of the sun, moon, stars, heaven itself, and the entire universe? And from where did he gain knowledge of an incorporeal being? |
| 10.2 ἀλλ’ οὐ τούτων γε οὐδὲν εἰδὼς τυγχάνει· ὁ γάρ τοι τῶν ὅλων δημιουργικὸς νοῦς οὔτ’ ἐκ πλειόνων μερῶν συνέστηκεν οὔτ’ ἂν γένοιτο αὐτοῦ κεφαλὴ οὐρανὸς, οὐ σῶμα πῦρ καὶ ὕδωρ καὶ γαῖα, ἀλλ’ οὐδὲ ὄμματα αὐτοῦ ἥλιος καὶ σελήνη. πῶς δ’ ἂν εἶεν ὦμοι καὶ στέρνα καὶ νῶτα καὶ νηδὺς τοῦ τῶν ὅλων δημιουργοῦ θεοῦ ἀὴρ εὐρυβίης καὶ γῆ καὶ ὀρέων αἰπεινὰ κάρηνα; ἢ πῶς ὁ αἰθὴρ νοῦς ποτ’ ἂν ἐπινοηθείη τοῦ τῶν ὅλων ποιητοῦ, ἢ τοῦ νοῦ τοῦ δημιουργικοῦ; | 10.2 Yet he happens to know nothing of these matters! For surely the creative mind of the universe neither consists of multiple parts, nor could heaven become its head, nor fire, water, and earth its body, nor the sun and moon its eyes. And how could the wide-raging air, the earth, and the lofty mountain peaks be the shoulders, chest, back, and belly of the creator God of all things? Or how could the ether ever be conceived as the mind of the maker of all things, or of the creative mind itself? |
| 10.3 ὅτι μὲν οὖν ταῦτα σεσόφισται τῷ τῶν ἐπῶν ἑρμηνεῖ οὐδὲν ἐπιλέγειν χρή. ἔγωγε μὴν τὰ ἔσχατα ἀσεβεῖν φημι τὸν φάσκοντα μέρη εἶναι τοῦ θεοῦ τὰ μέρη τοῦ κόσμου, καὶ ἔτι μᾶλλον τὸν ἀποφηνάμενον τὸν αὐτὸν εἶναι τῷ κόσμῳ τὸν θεὸν, καὶ ἐπὶ τούτοις τὸν ἡγούμενον τοῦ κόσμου νοῦν εἶναι τὸν τῶν ὅλων δημιουργόν. | 10.3 Now, there is no need to add further comment on how these things have been sophistically devised by the interpreter of the verses. For my part, I declare that it is the height of impiety to claim that the parts of the cosmos are parts of God, and even more so to declare that God is identical with the cosmos, and in addition to these, to suppose that the governing mind of the cosmos is the creator of all things. |
| 10.4 ποιητὴν μὲν γὰρ αὐτὸν καὶ σωτῆρα τοῦ κόσμου ἕτερον ὄντα τοῦ πεποιημένου εὐσεβὲς ἀποφαίνειν, νοῦν δὲ τοῦ κόσμου, ὥσπερ τινὸς ζῴου ψυχὴν, ἡνωμένον διόλου καὶ τὸ πᾶν ἠμφιεσμένον, οὐκέθ’ ὅσιον ἂν εἴη λέγειν. | 10.4 For while it is pious to declare Him the maker and savior of the cosmos, being distinct from that which was made, it would no longer be holy to speak of Him as the mind of the cosmos—like the soul of some living animal—bound up throughout it and wrapped in the whole. |
| 10.5 καίτοι παρεῖναι αὐτὸν τῷ παντὶ καὶ προνοεῖν τοῦ κόσμου παιδεύει τὰ καθ’ ἡμᾶς ἱερὰ λόγια, θεολογοῦντα ἐπαξίως καὶ θεοπρεπῶς δι’ ὧν φησιν· «οὐχὶ τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν ἐγὼ πληρῶ; λέγει κύριος.» καὶ πάλιν· «ὅτι ὁ θεὸς ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ ἄνω καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς κάτω.» καὶ πάλιν· «ἐν αὐτῷ γὰρ καὶ ζῶμεν καὶ κινούμεθα καὶ ἐσμέν·» ἀλλ’ οὐχ ὡς ἐν μέρει τοῦ κόσμου, οὐδ’ ὡς ἐν ψυχῇ αὐτοῦ καὶ νοΐ. | 10.5 And yet, our holy oracles teach that He is present to the whole and exercises providence over the cosmos, theologizing in a worthy and divine manner when He says: "Do I not fill heaven and earth? says the Lord." [Jeremiah 23:24] And again: "That God is in heaven above and upon the earth below." [Joshua 2:11] And again: "For in Him we live and move and have our being." [Acts 17:28] Yet this is not as though He were a part of the cosmos, nor as though He were in its soul and mind. |
| 10.6 ἀλλ’ εἰ χρὴ παραδείγματι χρήσασθαι, θεοπρεπέστερον καὶ ἀληθείας οἰκείως ὁ ἱερός που λόγος ἐξεφώνησεν· «ὁ οὐρανός μοι θρόνος, ἡ δὲ γῆ ὑποπόδιον τῶν ποδῶν μου.» | 10.6 Rather—if one must use an illustration—the holy word somewhere proclaimed in a manner more worthy of God and proper to the truth, saying: "Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool." [Isaiah 66:1] |
| 10.7 εἰ γὰρ χρῆν ὅλως προσωποποιεῖν ἀνθρωπινωτέρῳ λόγῳ, θέα τὸ διάφορον τῆς θεολογίας. ὁ μὲν γὰρ τὸν οὐρανὸν εἰπὼν θρόνον ἐπέκεινα τοῦ θρόνου καὶ ἀνωτάτω τῶν ὅλων τὸν παμβασιλέα θεὸν ἀφωρίσατο, οὐδὲ τὴν γῆν τῆς προνοίας αὐτοῦ χωρίσας· συγκατιέναι γὰρ καὶ ἐπὶ τὰ τῇδε τῆς θεότητος τὰς προνοητικὰς αὐτοῦ δυνάμεις διδάσκει· διό φησιν· «ἡ δὲ γῆ ὑποπόδιον τῶν ποδῶν μου.» | 10.7 For if it was necessary at all to personify Him in more human language, see the difference in theology! For the one who called heaven a throne set apart the All-King God beyond the throne and above all things, without separating even the earth from His providence; for scripture teaches that His providential powers descend even to the things here below, which is why it says: "and the earth is my footstool." |
| 10.8 ἀλλ’ οὔτε τὸ ὑποπόδιον οὔτε μὴν ὁ θρόνος σῶμα τοῦ καθιδρυμένου, οὐδέ γε μέρη γ’ ἂν αὐτοῦ λεχθείη. ὁ δὲ κεφαλὴν τοῦ θεοῦ τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὰ ἐν τούτῳ φήσας καὶ νοῦν αὐτοῦ τὸν αἰθέρα, μέλη τε αὐτοῦ καὶ σῶμα τὰ λοιπὰ τοῦ κόσμου μέρη, οὔτε δημιουργὸν οὔτε θεὸν ἁλίσκεται εἰδώς. | 10.8 Yet neither the footstool nor the throne is the body of the one seated upon it, nor could they ever be called His parts. But he who claimed that heaven and the things within it are the head of God, that ether is His mind, and that the remaining parts of the cosmos are His limbs and body, is caught knowing neither the Creator nor God. |
| 10.9 οὐ γὰρ ἂν αὐτὸς ἑαυτὸν δημιουργοίη, οὐδ’ ἂν ἔτι νοῦς λέγεσθαι δύναιτο οὗ νοῦς ἦν ὁ αἰθήρ. ποῖος δὲ καὶ εἴη ἂν θεὸς οὗ μέρη γῆ καὶ τὰ ἐπὶ γῆς ὄρη, ὄγκοι σωμάτων ἄλογοι; πῶς δὲ καὶ εὔλογον θεὸν ἀναγορεύειν τὸν ἀδελφὸν καὶ συγγενῆ πυρὸς καὶ ἀέρος καὶ ὕδατος, ἀλόγου καὶ φθαρτῆς ὕλης ἐκγόνων; | 10.9 For He could not create Himself, nor could that whose mind was ether still be called "mind." And what kind of god would he be whose parts are the earth and the mountains upon the earth—irrational masses of body? And how is it reasonable to proclaim as God one who is the brother and kinsman of fire, air, and water, offspring of irrational and perishable matter? |
| 10.10 εἰ δὲ καὶ ὁ νοῦς τοῦ Διὸς οὐδὲν ἄλλο πλὴν τοῦ δηλωθέντος αἰθέρος ἦν, αἰθὴρ δὲ ἀήρ ἐστιν ὁ ὑψηλότατος καὶ πυρώδης ἀπὸ τοῦ αἴθεσθαι, ὅπερ ἐστὶ καίεσθαι, ταύτην, ὥς φασιν, εἰληχὼς τὴν ἐπωνυμίαν, σώματα δὲ ἄμφω ὅ τε ἀὴρ, ὅ τε αἰθὴρ, ὅρα ποῦ σοι τοῦ Διὸς ὁ νοῦς ἀποπέπτωκε. | 10.10 And if the mind of Zeus was nothing other than the aforementioned ether, and ether is the highest, fiery air—taking this name, as they say, from aithesthai [to blaze], which means to burn—and both air and ether are bodies, see how far the mind of your Zeus has fallen! |
| 10.11 καὶ τίς ἂν ἔτι προσείποι θεὸν τῶν εὖ φρονούντων τοῦτον ᾧ νοῦς ὑπῆρχεν ἄνους καὶ ἄλογος, εἰ δὴ τοιαύτη παντὸς σώματος φύσις; διόπερ ἡμῖν ἐν ταῖς θεολογίαις πάντα τοῖς εἰρημένοις τὰ ἐναντία παραληπτέον, ὅτι τε μὴ οὐρανὸς ὢν τυγχάνει, μήτε αἰθὴρ μήθ’ ἥλιος μήτε σελήνη, μήθ’ ὁ σύμπας τῶν ἄστρων χορὸς μήτ’ αὐτὸς ἀθρόως ὁ πᾶς κόσμος· ἔργα δὲ χειρῶν αὐτοῦ ταῦτα μικρὰ ἔτι καὶ βραχέα, ταῖς ἀσωμάτοις καὶ νοεραῖς δυνάμεσι παραβαλλόμενα· ὅτι δὴ πᾶν σῶμα φθαρτὸν καὶ ἄλογον, τοιαύτη δὲ τῶν ὁρωμένων ἡ φύσις· τὰ δ’ ἐπέκεινα ἐν ἀοράτοις λογικὰ καὶ ἀθάνατα, συνδιαιωνίζοντα τῇ τοῦ παμβασιλέως θεοῦ μακαρίᾳ ζωῇ, μακρῷ γένοιτ’ ἂν τῶν ὁρωμένων ἁπάντων βελτίω. | 10.11 And who among the right-minded could still call him God whose mind was mind-less and irrational—if indeed such is the nature of every body? Therefore, in our theological doctrines, we must accept the exact opposite of what has been said: that He happens to be neither heaven, nor ether, nor sun, nor moon, nor the whole choir of stars, nor the entire cosmos all at once; rather, these are the works of His hands—small and trivial when compared to the incorporeal and intellectual powers. Because every body is perishable and irrational, and such is the nature of visible things; whereas the things beyond, among the invisible realities, being rational and immortal, co-eternal with the blessed life of the All-King God, would be vastly superior to all visible things. |
| 10.12 εἰκότως οὖν τὰ θεῖα λόγια περὶ τῶν ὁρωμένων τοῦ κόσμου μερῶν ὧδέ πως παιδεύει· «Ὅτι ὄψομαι τοὺς οὐρανοὺς, ἔργα τῶν δακτύλων σου, σελήνην καὶ ἀστέρας, ἃ σὺ ἐθεμελίωσας.» καὶ πάλιν· «σὺ κύριε κατ’ ἀρχὰς τὴν γῆν ἐθεμελίωσας, καὶ ἔργα τῶν χειρῶν σου εἰσὶν οἱ οὐρανοί.» καὶ αὖθις· «ἀναβλέψατε εἰς ὕψος τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ὑμῶν, καὶ ἴδετε τίς κατέδειξε ταῦτα πάντα.» | 10.12 Appropriately, therefore, the divine oracles instruct us concerning the visible parts of the cosmos in some such way as this: "For I shall look at the heavens, the works of your fingers, the moon and stars which you have established." [Psalm 8:3] And again: "You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of your hands." [Psalm 102:25 / Hebrews 1:10] And once more: "Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has displayed all these things." [Isaiah 40:26] |
| 10.13 Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν εἰς τὴν πρώτην τῶν ἐπῶν ἑρμηνείαν εἰρήσθω· φέρε δὲ καὶ τὰ ἐξῆς διασκοπήσωμεν. ἐπεὶ μὴ οἷόν τ’ ἦν, φησὶν, εἰκόνα τοιαύτην δημιουργεῖν οἵαν ὁ λόγος ἐμήνυσε, διὰ τοῦτο ἀνθρωπόμορφον τοῦ Διὸς τὸ δείκελον πεποιήκασιν, ὅτι νοῦς ἦν καθ’ ὃν ἐδημιούργει, καὶ λόγοις σπερματικοῖς ἀπετέλει τὰ πάντα. | 10.13 So much, then, for the first interpretation of the verses; but come, let us also examine what follows. "Since it was impossible," he says, "to craft such an image as the account described, on this account they made the image of Zeus human-shaped, because He was the mind according to which He created, and by generative principles (logoi spermatikoi) He brought all things to completion." |
| 10.14 καὶ πῶς εἰ μὴ οἷόν τε ἦν εἰκόνα τοιαύτην ποιεῖν οἵαν ὁ λόγος ἐμήνυσεν, ἐμήνυσε δὲ ἄρα τοῦ φαινομένου καὶ ὁρωμένου κόσμου τὰ μέρη, οὐρανὸν καὶ τὰ ἐν οὐρανῷ, ἀέρα τε καὶ γῆν καὶ τὰ ἐν τούτοις· εἰ δὴ οὖν τῶν ὁρωμένων τοῦ κόσμου μερῶν οὐχ οἷόν τε ἦν εἰκόνα συστήσασθαι, καθὸ νοῦς ἦν ὁ θεὸς, πῶς ἄν τις τὴν εἰκόνα αὐτοῦ δημιουργήσειεν; | 10.14 And how—if it were impossible to make such an image as the account described, and the account described the parts of the visible and manifest cosmos (heaven and the things in heaven, air, earth, and the things in them)—if, then, it was impossible to construct an image of the visible parts of the cosmos in so far as God was mind, how could anyone craft an image of Him? |
| 10.15 τί δ’ ἂν ἔχοι σῶμα ἀνθρώπειον ἐμφερὲς πρὸς τὸν τοῦ θεοῦ νοῦν; ἐγὼ μὲν γὰρ οὐδὲ πρὸς τὸν ἀνθρώπινον ἡγοῦμαι· ἐπεὶ ὁ μὲν ἀσώματος καὶ ἀσύνθετος καὶ ἀμερὴς, τὸ δὲ βαναύσων ἀνδρῶν ἔργον καὶ θνητοῦ σώματος φύσιν ἀπομεμίμηται, καὶ ζώσης σαρκὸς ἐν ἀψύχῳ καὶ νεκρᾷ ὕλῃ κωφὴν καὶ ἄναυδον εἰκόνα καταγέγραπται. | 10.15 And what could a human body have in common with the mind of God? For my part, I do not think it resembles even the human mind! For while the mind is incorporeal, uncompounded, and impartible, the statue is the work of menial artisans and an imitation of the nature of a mortal body; it has depicted a deaf and speechless image of living flesh in inanimate and dead matter. |
| 10.16 ψυχὴ μὲν οὖν λογικὴ καὶ ἀθάνατος καὶ νοῦς ἀπαθὴς ἐν ἀνθρώπου φύσει εὖ μοι δοκεῖ λέγεσθαι εἰκόνα καὶ ὁμοίωσιν ἀποσώζειν θεοῦ, καθ’ ὅσον ἄϋλος καὶ ἀσώματος νοερά τε καὶ λογικὴ τὴν οὐσίαν συνέστηκεν, ἀρετῆς οὖσα καὶ σοφίας δεκτική. | 10.16 A rational and immortal soul, then, and an impassible mind within human nature seem to me well said to preserve the image and likeness of God, in so far as it exists as immaterial, incorporeal, intellectual, and rational in its essence, capable of receiving virtue and wisdom. |
| 10.17 εἰ δή τις εἴη δυνατὸς ψυχῆς ἄγαλμα καὶ μορφὴν ἐν εἰκόνι τεκτήνασθαι, δύναιτ’ ἂν οὗτος καί τι τῶν κρειττόνων· εἰ δὲ ἄμορφος καὶ ἀειδὴς καὶ ἀσχημάτιστος, οὔτε ὁράσει θεωρητὸς οὔτε λόγῳ καὶ ἀκοῇ τὴν οὐσίαν καταληπτὸς ὁ ἀνθρώπινος νοῦς, τίς ἂν μανείη τοσοῦτον ὡς τὸ ἀνδρείκελον ξόανον θεοῦ τοῦ ἀνωτάτω μορφὴν καὶ εἰκόνα φέρειν ἀποφήνασθαι; | 10.17 If, then, anyone were able to fashion a statue and shape of the soul in an image, he might also be capable of fashioning something higher; but if the human mind is shapeless, unseen, without form, neither visible to sight nor graspable in its essence by speech or hearing, who could be so mad as to declare that a human-like wooden image bears the form and image of God Most High? |
| 10.18 θεοῦ μὲν οὖν φύσις ἔξω πάσης θνητῆς ὕλης φαντάζεται, νῷ διαυγεῖ καὶ σιγῇ ψυχαῖς κεκαθαρμέναις ἐπινοουμένη· τὸ δέ γε τοῦ ὁρωμένου Διὸς ἐν τῷ δεικέλῳ σχῆμα εἴη ἂν θνητοῦ τὴν φύσιν ἀνδρὸς εἰκὼν, οὐδὲ τὸν ὅλον ἄνθρωπον, μέρος δέ τι τὸ χεῖρον αὐτοῦ μεμιμημένον, ὅτι μηδὲν ἴχνος ζωῆς καὶ ψυχῆς ἐπάγεται. | 10.18 For the nature of God is perceived far outside all mortal matter, conceived in a clear mind and in silence by purified souls; whereas the form of the visible Zeus in the image would be an image of the nature of a mortal man—imitating not even the whole man, but a certain inferior part of him, because it brings with it no trace of life and soul. |
| 10.19 πῶς οὖν ὁ ἐπὶ πάντων θεὸς καὶ νοῦς ὁ τῶν ὅλων δημιουργὸς εἴη ἂν ὁ αὐτὸς ὁ ἐν τῷ χαλκῷ ἢ τῷ νεκρῷ ἐλέφαντι Ζεύς; ὁ δὲ δὴ τῶν ὅλων δημιουργικὸς νοῦς πῶς ποτε αὐτὸς ἦν ἄρα ἐκεῖνος ὁ Ζεὺς ὁ τοῦ ἐξ Ἀλκμήνης Ἡρακλέους πατὴρ καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν ἐκ Διὸς μυθευομένων ἀνδρῶν, οἳ τὸν θνητὸν βίον κοινῶς ἅπασιν ἀνθρώποις καταστρέψαντες τῆς οἰκείας φύσεως ἀνεξάλειπτα τοῖς μετ’ αὐτοὺς μνημεῖα καταλελοίπασι; | 10.19 How, then, could the God over all and the creative mind of the universe be the very same as the Zeus in bronze or dead ivory? And how, indeed, could the creative mind of the universe ever be that famous Zeus who was the father of Heracles (born of Alcmene) and of the rest of the men mythologized as sons of Zeus—men who, having ended their mortal life in common with all humanity, left behind indelible monuments of their own nature to those who came after them? |
| 10.20 Φοινίκων μὲν οὖν οἱ πρῶτοι θεόλογοι, ὡς ἐν τῷ πρώτῳ συγγράμματι παρεστήσαμεν, τὸν Δία παῖδα Κρόνου θνητὸν ἀπὸ θνητοῦ γενόμενον, ἄνδρα Φοίνικα τὸ γένος, ἀπεμνημόνευον, Αἰγύπτιοι δὲ ἐξοικειούμενοι τὸν ἄνδρα θνητὸν πάλιν αὐτὸν ὡμολόγουν, κατὰ τοῦτό γε Φοίvιξιν ὁμοφωνοῦντες. | 10.20 Now, the earliest theologians of the Phoenicians, as we demonstrated in our first treatise, recorded that Zeus was the son of Cronus, a mortal born of a mortal, a Phoenician man by race; and the Egyptians, claiming the man for themselves, again confessed him to be mortal, agreeing in this respect with the Phoenicians. |
| 10.21 ἀλλὰ καὶ Κρῆτες τάφον τοῦ Διὸς παρ’ ἑαυτοῖς δεικνύντες τρίτοι ἂν εἶεν τοῦ αὐτοῦ μάρτυρες· καὶ Ἀτλάντειοι δὲ καὶ πάντες οἱ πρὸ τούτου δεδηλωμένοι κατ’ οἰκείαν ἱστορίαν ἐξοικειούμενοι τὸν Δία πάντες ὁμοῦ θνητὸν ἀπεφήναντο, πράξεις αὐτοῦ θνητὰς καὶ ἀνθρωπείους, ἀλλ’ οὐ σεμνάς τινας οὐδὲ φιλοσόφους, αἰσχρουργίας δὲ ἁπάσης καὶ ἀκολασίας ἔμπλεως ἀναγράψαντες. | 10.21 Furthermore, the Cretans, by pointing out the tomb of Zeus among themselves, would be third witnesses to the same fact; and the Atlantians, as well as all those mentioned before, claiming Zeus according to their own local history, all alike declared him to be mortal, recording his deeds as mortal and human—not noble or philosophical, but full of every kind of shameful conduct and licentiousness. |
| 10.22 τοῖς δὲ ἐπὶ τὸ σεμνότερον τοὺς μύθους τρέπειν ἐπηγγελμένοις τοτὲ μὲν ὁ Ζεὺς θερμή τις ἦν καὶ πυρώδης δύναμις, τοτὲ δὲ τὸ πνεῦμα· νῦν δ’ οὐκ οἶδ’ ὅπως αὐτοῖς ὁ τῶν ὅλων δημιουργὸς νοῦς ἀναπέφανται. | 10.22 As for those who promised to turn the myths into something more dignified: at one time Zeus was a certain hot and fiery power, at another time the wind/spirit; but now, I know not how, the creative mind of the universe has been revealed as Zeus to them! |
| 10.23 πευστέον τοιγαροῦν τίνα ἂν εἴποιεν τὸν τούτου πατέρα καὶ τοῦ πατρὸς τὸν προπάτορα· ἐπεὶ κατὰ πάντας τοὺς θεολόγους Ζεὺς Κρόνου παῖς ὁμολογεῖται, καὶ τά γε προκείμενα τοῦ Ὀρφέως ἔπη «ὑπερμένεος Κρονίωνος» ἐμνημόνευσε, Κρόνος δὲ Οὐρανοῦ. | 10.23 One must ask them, therefore: whom would they name as his father, and who as his father’s grandfather? Since according to all the theologians Zeus is agreed to be the son of Cronus, and the cited verses of Orpheus made mention of "the son of Cronus, exceedingly mighty," and Cronus is the son of Uranus. |
| 10.24 δεδόσθω τοίνυν αὐτοῖς εἶναι ὁ Ζεὺς ὁ ἐπὶ πάντων θεὸς καὶ νοῦς ὁ τὰ πάντα δημιουργήσας. τίς οὖν ὁ τούτου πατήρ; Κρόνος. τίς δ’ ὁ προπάτωρ; Οὐρανός. εἰ δὲ πρῶτος ὁ Ζεὺς ὡς ἂν δημιουργὸς ἁπάντων, χρῆν δή που δευτέρους καταλέγεσθαι καὶ μετ’ αὐτὸν τοὺς ὑπ’ αὐτοῦ πεποιημένους. | 10.24 Let it be granted to them, then, that Zeus is the God over all and the mind that created all things. Who, then, is his father? Cronus. And who is his grandfather? Uranus. But if Zeus is first, as the creator of all things, then surely those made by him ought to be listed second and after him. |
| 10.25 εἴτε γὰρ χρόνος τις εἴη ὁ Κρόνος Οὐρανοῦ πεφυκὼς γέννημα, εἴτε δὴ ἅμα οὐρανῷ συνυπέστη χρόνος, εἴη τε αὐτὸς ὁ Κρόνου πατὴρ Οὐρανὸς καὶ χρόνος μετὰ τοῦτον, ἀλλὰ πρό γε τούτων ὁ τῶν ὅλων αἴτιος καὶ οὐρανοῦ καὶ χρόνου δημιουργὸς θεός. εἰ δὲ τοῦτο, οὐκ ἂν γένοιτο ὁ Ζεὺς τρίτος ἐξ Οὐρανοῦ. | 10.25 For whether Cronus is a kind of Time (Chronos), brought forth as the offspring of Heaven (Uranus), or whether Time co-existed alongside Heaven, and Uranus himself was the father of Cronus, and Time after him—nevertheless, prior to these is God, the cause of all things and creator of both heaven and time. And if this is so, Zeus could not be third in descent from Uranus. |
| 10.26 πῶς οὖν παρὰ πᾶσιν Αἰγυπτίοις καὶ Φοίνιξιν Ἕλλησί τε καὶ φιλοσόφοις τρίτος ἐξ Οὐρανοῦ γενεαλογεῖται ὁ τῶν ὅλων δημιουργὸς νοῦς; πεφώραται δὴ τοῦ φιλοσόφου τὸ πλάσμα, καὶ ἔτι μᾶλλον φωραθήσεται ἐξ ὧν ἐπιφέρει λέγων ὧδε. | 10.26 How, then, among all Egyptians, Phoenicians, Greeks, and philosophers, is the creative mind of the universe genealogically placed third from Uranus? The philosopher’s fiction has been exposed, and it will be exposed even further from what he adds next, speaking as follows... |
Chapter 11
In this extensive chapter, Eusebius quotes and dismantles Porphyry's allegorical interpretations of Greek and Egyptian deities (Hera, Leto, Hestia, Rhea, Demeter, Kore, Pluto, Dionysus, Attis, Adonis, Silenus, Hephaestus, Apollo, Heracles, Asclepius, Artemis, Athena, Hecate, Hermes, Pan, Kneph, Isis, Osiris, etc.), exposing how physical/natural allegories reduce divine realities to material elements, seasonal changes, or human passions.
| 11.1 «Τὴν δὲ Ἥραν σύνοικον τῷ Διὶ πεποιήκασιν, τὴν αἰθέριον καὶ ἀέριον δύναμιν Ἥραν προσειπόντες. ἔστι γὰρ ὁ αἰθὴρ ἀὴρ ὁ λεπτομερέστατος.» | 11.1 "And Hera they have made the consort of Zeus, naming the ethereal and aerial power Hera. For the ether is air of the finest subtlety." |
| 11.2 Ἀνωτέρω μὲν ἐδήλου τὰ ἔπη τὸν νοῦν τοῦ Διὸς εἶναι τὸν αἰθέρα, νυνὶ δὲ ὁ λόγος τί ποτέ ἐστιν ὁ αἰθὴρ διορίζεται, ἀέρα λέγων εἶναι αὐτὸν λεπτομερέστατον· σῶμα δὲ ὁ ἀὴρ, καὶ πολὺ πρότερον ὁ αἰθήρ. | 11.2 Earlier, the verses showed that the mind of Zeus was the ether, but now the argument defines what ether actually is, saying that it is air of the finest subtlety; yet air is a body, and far prior to it, so is ether. |
| 11.3 ὁ δὴ νοῦς ἄρα τοῦ Διὸς ἐλήλεγκται σῶμα τυγχάνων, εἰ καὶ τὸ πάντων λεπτομερέστατον. καὶ πῶς ἂν ταὐτὸν ἐπινοηθείη σῶμα καὶ νοῦς κατὰ διάμετρον ταῖς φύσεσι διεστῶτα; | 11.3 The mind of Zeus, therefore, is proved to be a body—even if it be the finest subtlety of all. And how could body and mind be conceived as the same thing, when they stand diametrically opposed in their natures? |
| 11.4 εἶτ’ οὐκ οἶδ’ ὅπως τῶν ἐπῶν ἐπιλελησμένος διαρρήδην φησάντων· «Νοῦς δέ οἱ ἀψευδὴς, βασιλήιος ἄφθιτος αἰθὴρ, ᾧ δὴ πάντα κυκλεῖ καὶ φράζεται, οὐδέ τις ἐστὶν αὐδὴ, οὔτ’ ἐνοπὴ, οὔτε κτύπος, οὐδὲ μὲν ὅσσα, ἣ λήθει Διὸς οὖας ὑπερμενέος Κρονίωνος.» δι’ ὧν σαφῶς ὁ αἰθὴρ νοῦς ἀνείρηται ὢν τοῦ Διὸς. | 11.4 Then, I know not how, he forgets the verses which explicitly stated: "And his unerring mind is the imperishable, royal ether, by which he revolves and considers all things; nor is there any voice, nor cry, nor sound, nor any rumor at all, that escapes the ear of Zeus, the exceedingly mighty son of Cronus." By these words, ether is clearly declared to be the mind of Zeus. |
| 11.5 ὁ δὲ τὴν Ἥραν πάλιν τὴν αἰθέριον καὶ ἀέριον δύναμιν εἶναί φησιν. ἔπειτα διαιρῶν ἐπιλέγει· «Καὶ τοῦ μὲν παντὸς ἀέρος ἡ δύναμις Ἥρα τοὔνομα ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀέρος κεκλημένη· τοῦ δὲ ὑπὸ σελήνην φωτιζομένου καὶ σκοτιζομένου ἀέρος ἡ Λητὼ σύμβολον· λήθω γὰρ αὐτὴν εἶναι διὰ τὴν κατὰ τὸν ὕπνον ἀναισθησίαν, καὶ ὅτι ψυχαῖς ὑπὸ σελήνην γινομέναις λήθη ξυνομαρτεῖ τοῦ θείου· διὰ τοῦτο δὲ καὶ μήτηρ Ἀπόλλωνός τε καὶ Ἀρτέμιδος, τῶν αἰτίων φωτισμοῦ τῇ νυκτί.» | 11.5 Yet he, on the other hand, claims that Hera is the ethereal and aerial power. Then, dividing it further, he adds: "And the power of the whole air is named Hera, called after the word air (aēr); while Leto is the symbol of the air under the moon that is illuminated and darkened. For I think she is named Leto (lēthō, to lie hidden) because of the insensibility during sleep, and because forgetfulness (lēthē) of the divine accompanies souls that come to be under the moon. On this account she is also the mother of Apollo and Artemis, who are the causes of illumination at night." |
| 11.6 Καὶ ἐν τούτοις ἡλίου καὶ σελήνης μητέρα φησὶν εἶναι τὸν ὑπὸ σελήνην ἀέρα· τοῦτον γὰρ εἶναι τὴν Λητώ. καὶ πῶς ἂν ὁ ἀὴρ γένοιτο μήτηρ τῶν αἰτίων φωτισμοῦ, μᾶλλον αὐτὸς γενόμενος ἢ ποιῶν; ἥλιος γὰρ καὶ σελήνη ἄλλοτε ἄλλως τὸν ἀέρα μεταβάλλουσιν. | 11.6 And in these words he says that the air beneath the moon is the mother of the sun and moon, for he says this air is Leto. And how could the air become the mother of the causes of illumination, being itself affected rather than acting? For the sun and moon alter the air in different ways at different times. |
| 11.7 πάλιν δὲ προϊὼν ἑξῆς λέγει· «Καὶ τὸ μὲν ἡγεμονικὸν τῆς χθονίας δυνάμεως Ἑστία κέκληται, ἧς ἄγαλμα παρθενικὸν ἐφ’ ἑστίας πυρὸς ἱδρυμένον· καθὸ δὲ γόνιμος ἡ δύναμις, σημαίνουσιν αὐτὴν γυναικὸς εἴδει προμάστου. τὴν δὲ Ῥέαν προσεῖπον τὴν τῆς πετρώδους καὶ ὀρείου γῆς δύναμιν, τὴν δὲ Δήμητρα τὴν τῆς πεδινῆς καὶ γονίμου. ἡ Δημήτηρ δὲ τὰ μὲν ἄλλα κατὰ τὰ αὐτὰ ἔχει τῇ Ῥέᾳ, διενήνοχε δὲ, ὅτι αὐτὴ κυεῖ τὴν Κόρην ἐκ Διὸς, τουτέστι τὸν κόρον ἐκ τῶν φρυγανωδῶν σπερμάτων. διὸ καὶ κατέστεπται τὸ βρέτας αὐτῆς τοῖς στάχυσι, μήκωνές τε περὶ αὐτὴν τῆς πολυγονίας σύμβολον.» | 11.7 Proceeding further, he speaks in succession as follows: "And the ruling principle of the earthly power is called Hestia, of whom a virgin statue is established upon a hearth (hestia) of fire; but in so far as the power is fertile, they signify her in the form of a full-breasted woman. Rhea they called the power of the rocky and mountainous earth, and Demeter the power of the flat and fertile land. Demeter in other respects shares the same attributes as Rhea, but differs in that she herself conceives Kore by Zeus—that is, the shoot (koros) from brush-wood seeds. Wherefore her image is crowned with ears of corn, and poppies surround her as a symbol of productivity." |
| 11.8 Κἀνταῦθα πάλιν σκόπει τίνα τρόπον τὴν Ῥέαν μητέρα θεῶν λεγομένην καὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ Διὸς κάτω που περὶ πέτρας καὶ γῆν καταβέβληκε, καὶ πάντα φύρων τὴν αὐτὴν εἶναί φησι τῇ Δήμητρι, πλὴν ὅτι διενήνοχε, καθὸ, φησὶν, ἡ Δημήτηρ ἐκ Διὸς κυεῖ τὴν Κόρην, ὥσπερ οὖν ἡ πεδιὰς γῆ τὸν κόρον ἐκ τῶν φρυγανωδῶν σπερμάτων. ἰδού σοι πάλιν ὁ Ζεὺς εἰς τὰ φρυγανώδη σπέρματα μεταβέβληται. | 11.8 Here again, see in what manner he has cast down Rhea—who is called mother of the gods and of Zeus himself—somewhere below around rocks and earth; and confusing everything, he says she is the same as Demeter, except that she differs in so far as Demeter conceives Kore by Zeus, just as the flat land produces the shoot from brush-wood seeds. Look at how Zeus has again been converted for you into brush-wood seeds! |
| 11.9 τούτοις ἑξῆς ἐπισυνάπτει λέγων· «Ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ τῶν εἰς γῆν βαλλομένων σπερμάτων ἦν τις δύναμις, ἣν ἥλιος περὶ τὸ κάτω ἡμισφαίριον ἰὼν ἕλκει κατὰ τὰς χειμερινὰς τροπὰς, Κόρη μὲν ἡ δύναμις ἡ σπερματοῦχος, Πλούτων δὲ ὁ ὑπὸ γῆν ἰὼν ἥλιος καὶ τὸν ἀφανῆ περινοστῶν κόσμον κατὰ τὰς χειμερίους τροπάς· ὃς ἁρπάζειν λέγεται τὴν Κόρην, ἣν ποθεῖ ἡ Δημήτηρ κρυπτομένην ὑπὸ γῆν. | 11.9 Following these things, he joins next, saying: "And since there was a certain power in the seeds cast into the earth, which the sun draws during the winter solstice as it goes about the lower hemisphere, Kore is the seed-bearing power, while Pluto is the sun going beneath the earth and wandering around the invisible world during the winter solstice. He is said to abduct Kore, whom Demeter longs for while Kore is hidden beneath the earth. |
| 11.10 τῶν δὲ ἀκροδρύων καὶ ὅλως τῶν φυτευτικῶν ἡ δύναμις Διόνυσος ὀνομάζεται. ὅρα δὲ καὶ τούτων τὰς εἰκόνας. σύμβολα γὰρ ἡ Κόρη φέρει τῆς προβολῆς τῶν κατὰ τοὺς καρποὺς ὑπὲρ τὴν γῆν ἐκφύσεων, ὁ δὲ Διόνυσος κοινὰ μὲν πρὸς τὴν Κόρην ἔχει τὰ κέρατα, ἔστι δὲ θηλύμορφος, μηνύων τὴν περὶ τὴν γένεσιν τῶν ἀκροδρύων ἀρρενόθηλυν δύναμιν. | 11.10 The power of tree-fruits and generally of planted growth is named Dionysus. Look also at their images. For Kore bears symbols of the sprouting of fruit-crops above the earth; while Dionysus shares horns with Kore, but is female-shaped, signifying the hermaphroditic power surrounding the generation of tree-fruits. |
| 11.11 Πλούτων δὲ ὁ Κόρης ἅρπαξ κυνῆν μὲν ἔχει τοῦ ἀφανοῦς πόλου σύμβολον, τὸ δὲ σκῆπτρον τὸ κολοβὸν σημεῖον τῆς τῶν κάτω βασιλείας· ὁ δὲ κύων αὐτοῦ δηλοῖ τὴν κύησιν τῶν καρπῶν εἰς τρία διῃρημένην, εἰς τὴν καταβολὴν, εἰς τὴν ὑποδοχὴν, εἰς τὴν ἀνάδοσιν. οὐ γὰρ παρὰ τὸ τὰς κῆρας ἔχειν βορὰν, ὃ δηλοῖ τὰς ψυχὰς, κέκληται κύων, ἀλλὰ παρὰ τὸ κυεῖν, ᾗ χορηγὸς ὁ Πλούτων, ὅταν ἁρπάσῃ τὴν Κόρην. | 11.11 Pluto, the ravisher of Kore, wears a cap as a symbol of the invisible pole, and his blunt scepter is a sign of his kingship over the lower world; while his dog indicates the gestation of crops divided into three stages: casting down, reception, and output. For he is not called a dog (kyōn) because he holds the fates (kēres) as food (which signifies souls), but from conceiving (kyein), of which Pluto is the provider when he ravishes Kore. |
| 11.12 Ἄττις δὲ καὶ Ἄδωνις τῇ τῶν καρπῶν εἰσὶν ἀναλογίᾳ προσήκοντες. ἀλλ’ ὁ μὲν Ἄττις τῶν κατὰ τὸ ἔαρ προφαινομένων ἀνθέων καὶ πρὶν τελεσιγονῆσαι διαρρεόντων, — ἔνθεν καὶ τὴν τῶν αἰδοίων ἀποκοπὴν αὐτῷ προσανέθεσαν, μὴ φθασάντων ἐλθεῖν τῶν καρπῶν εἰς τὴν σπερματικὴν τελείωσιν — ὁ δὲ Ἄδωνις τῆς τῶν τελείων καρπῶν ἐκτομῆς σύμβολον. | 11.12 Attis and Adonis are connected to the analogy of fruits. But Attis belongs to the flowers appearing in spring that fall away before producing mature fruit—hence they ascribed to him the severed genitals, the fruits having failed to reach seminal perfection—whereas Adonis is the symbol of the cutting of ripe fruits. |
| 11.13 ὁ δὲ Σειληνὸς σύμβολον τῆς πνευματικῆς κινήσεως, οὐκ ὀλίγα συμβαλλομένης τῷ παντί. σύμβολα δέ ἐστι τὸ μὲν φάλανθον καὶ στιλπνὸν κατὰ τὴν κεφαλὴν τῆς οὐρανίου περιφορᾶς, ἡ δὲ περικειμένη κόμη τοῖς κάτω μέρεσιν αὐτοῦ ὑπόδειγμα τῆς προσγείου περὶ τὸν ἀέρα παχύτητος. | 11.13 Silenus is a symbol of spiritual movement, contributing not a little to the universe. His symbols are the bald and shining head representing the heavenly rotation, while the beard hanging around his lower parts is an emblem of terrestrial thickness around the air. |
| 11.14 ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ τῆς μαντικῆς δυνάμεως τίς μέτοχος ἦν δύναμις, Θέμις μὲν κέκληται ἡ δύναμις, τῷ τὰ τεθειμένα καὶ ἑκάστῳ κείμενα λέγειν. | 11.14 And since there was a certain power sharing in prophetic power, this power is called Themis, from speaking things established (tetheimena) and laid down for each. |
| 11.15 Διὰ δὴ πάντων τούτων ἡ περίγειος δύναμις ἐξηγήσεως τυχοῦσα θρησκεύεται, ὡς μὲν παρθένος καὶ Ἑστία ἡ κεντροφόρος, ὡς δὲ τοκὰς ἡ τροφὸς, ὡς δὲ Ῥέα ἡ πετροποιὸς καὶ ὄρειος, ὡς δὲ Δημήτηρ ἡ χλοηφόρος, ὡς δὲ Θέμις ἡ χρησμῳδὸς, τοῦ εἰς αὐτὴν κατιόντος σπερματικοῦ λόγου εἰς τὸν Πρίαπον ἐκτετυπωμένου· οὗ τὸ μὲν περὶ τοὺς ξηροὺς καρποὺς Κόρη τὸ δὲ κατὰ τοὺς ὑγροὺς καὶ τὰ ἀκρόδρυα Διόνυσος καλεῖται, τῆς μὲν Κόρης ὑπὸ Πλούτωνος τοῦ ὑπὸ γῆν ἰόντος ἡλίου ἁρπαζομένης κατὰ τὸν σπόρον, τοῦ δὲ Διονύσου τὰ πάθη τῆς δυνάμεως ὑπὸ γῆν μὲν νεωτέρας καὶ καλλιγόνου βλαστάνειν ἀρχομένου, ἐπιμάχου δὲ τῆς κατὰ τὴν ἄνθην δυνάμεως σύμβολον Ἄττιν ἐχούσης, τῆς δὲ κατὰ τὴν τελεσιουργίαν ἐκτομῆς τὸν Ἄδωνιν, | 11.15 Through all these symbols, then, the terrestrial power receives interpretation and is worshipped: as a virgin and Hestia carrying the center; as a mother and nurturer; as Rhea making rocks and mountains; as Demeter bringing forth green crops; as Themis chanting oracles—the seminal account descending into her being sculpted into Priapus. The dry fruits of this power are called Kore, while the moist fruits and tree-fruits are called Dionysus. Kore is abducted by Pluto (the sun going beneath the earth) during sowing; while Dionysus exhibits the passions of the power as it begins to sprout beneath the earth as a young and fair offspring—having Attis as a symbol of the power contending during flowering, and Adonis as the symbol of cutting during the completion of fruit. |
| 11.16 καὶ τῆς μὲν πνευματικῆς διὰ πάντων δυνάμεως εἰς Σειληνὸν ἀναπλαττομένης, τῆς δὲ εἰς ἔκτασιν ἀπ’ αὐτῶν παραγωγῆς εἰς Βάκχην, ὥσπερ αὖ τῆς εἰς τὰ ἀφροδίσια ἐρεθιζούσης ὁρμῆς διὰ τῶν Σατύρων. διὰ δὴ τούτων τῶν συμβόλων ἡ περίγειος ἐκκαλύπτεται δύναμις.» | 11.16 The spiritual power pervading all things is sculpted as Silenus, while the urge drawing them out into expansion is molded as a Bacchante, just as the impulse inciting them to sexual passions is shown through Satyrs. Through these symbols, then, the terrestrial power is unveiled." |
| 11.17 Τοσαῦτα μὲν οὖν καὶ τάδε, ἃ καὶ ἀναγκαίως ἐπιτεμόμενος παρατέθειμαι εἰς τὸ μὴ ἀγνοεῖν ἡμᾶς τὰ σεμνὰ τῶν φιλοσόφων. οὕτω τοιγαροῦν κατὰ τὰ ἀποδεδομένα Κόρη μὲν ἡ τῶν σπορίμων, Διόνυσος δὲ ἡ τῶν ἀκροδρύων δύναμις, καὶ τῶν μὲν ἐαρινῶν ἀνθέων ὁ Ἄττις, τῶν δὲ τελείων καρπῶν ὁ Ἄδωνις σύμβολον. | 11.17 Such are these details, which I have necessarily set down in concise form so that we might not be ignorant of the lofty claims of the philosophers. Thus, according to what has been rendered, Kore is the power of sown crops, Dionysus the power of tree-fruits, Attis the symbol of spring flowers, and Adonis the symbol of ripe fruits. |
| 11.18 τί δὴ οὖν ταῦτα χρὴ θεοποιεῖν εἰς τροφὰς σωμάτων τῶν ἐπὶ γῆς ζῴων πρὸς τοῦ τῶν ὅλων θεοῦ πεποιημένα; τί δὲ θρησκεύειν τὴν περίγειον δύναμιν προσῆκόν ἐστιν ἡμῖν, οἷς φύσις ἐστὶ ψυχῆς οὐρανία λογική τε καὶ ἀθάνατος παρὰ τοῦ παμβασιλέως τῶν ὅλων θεοῦ, διανοίας ὄμμασι κεκαθαρμένοις θεωρητική; | 11.18 Why, then, is it necessary to deify these things made by the God of all for the nourishment of the bodies of earthly living creatures? And why is it proper for us to worship the terrestrial power—we who possess a soul whose nature is heavenly, rational, and immortal from the All-King God of all, capable of contemplation with purified eyes of the mind? |
| 11.19 τὸν δὲ Σειληνὸν ἀκούων τὴν πνευματικὴν εἶναι κίνησιν, καὶ τὴν διήκουσαν διὰ πάντων δύναμιν, τοτὲ μὲν τὴν οὐράνιον περιφορὰν διὰ τῆς κεφαλῆς ἐπιδεικνύμενον, τοτὲ δὲ τὴν περὶ τὸν ἀέρα παχύτητα διὰ τῆς λασίας κόμης τοῦ γενείου, πῶς ἄν τις ἀνάσχοιτο τοῦτον μὲν ὁρῶν οὐδεμιᾶς ἠξιωμένον σεβασμίας τιμῆς, ὃν ἐχρῆν πρὸ τῶν πάντων θεοποιεῖν, Ἄδωνιν δὲ καὶ Διόνυσον, τοὺς καρποὺς δηλαδὴ καὶ τὰ ἀκρόδρυα, θεοποιουμένους; | 11.19 And hearing that Silenus is spiritual movement and the power pervading all things—at one time demonstrating the heavenly rotation by his head, and at another time the thickness around the air by the shaggy hair of his beard—how could anyone endure seeing him granted no sacred honor (when he ought to have been deified before all others), while Adonis and Dionysus, namely the crops and tree-fruits, are deified? |
| 11.20 τίς δ’ ἂν ὑπομείνειε σεμνολογουμένους ἀκούων Σατύρους καὶ Βάκχας, τὰ ἐν ἀνθρώποις αἰσχρὰ καὶ ἀκόλαστα πάθη, εἰ δὴ οἱ μὲν ἐδήλουν τὰς εἰς τὰ ἀφροδίσια ἐρεθιζούσας ὁρμὰς οἱ Σάτυροι, αἱ δὲ Βάκχαι τὰς εἰς ἔκτασιν τῶν περὶ ταῦτα συμβαινούσας παραγωγάς; | 11.20 And who could bear hearing Satyrs and Bacchantes spoken of with solemnity as human shameful and licentious passions—if indeed Satyrs indicated the impulses inciting to sexual lusts, and Bacchantes indicated the expansions taking place around these matters? |
| 11.21 καὶ τί δεῖ κατὰ μέρος ἕκαστον ἀπελέγχειν, ἐπιδραμεῖν δέον ὡς ἂν μηδὲν ἡμᾶς τῶν ἀπορρήτων λανθάνῃ, καὶ τὴν ἑξῆς ἐπιτεμέσθαι φυσιολογίαν, ἣν ἐκτέθειται ὁ δηλωθεὶς συγγραφεὺς, τόνδε ἐπεξιὼν τὸν τρόπον· | 11.21 And what need is there to refute each item in detail, when we ought to run through them so that none of their secrets escape us, summarizing the subsequent physical philosophy set forth by the stated author as he proceeds in this manner: |
| 11.22 «Τὴν δὲ ὑδροποιὸν ὅλην δύναμιν Ὠκεανὸν προσεῖπον, τὸ σύμβολον αὐτῆς Τηθὺν ὀνομάσαντες. τῆς δὲ ὅλης ἡ μὲν τῶν ποτίμων πεποιημένη Ἀχελῷος αὐτοῖς κέκληται, ἡ δὲ τῶν θαλαττίων Ποσειδῶν, πάλιν τῆς θαλαττοποιοῦ, καθὸ γεννητικὴ, Ἀμφιτρίτης οὔσης. καὶ αἱ μὲν τῶν γλυκέων ὑδάτων μερικαὶ δυνάμεις Νύμφαι, αἱ δὲ τῶν θαλαττίων Νηρηΐδες κέκληνται. | 11.22 "The entire water-producing power they called Ocean, naming its symbol Tethys. Of the whole, that made of drinkable waters is called Achelous by them, while that of sea-waters is Poseidon—the sea-producing power, in so far as it is generative, being Amphitrite. The particular powers of fresh waters are called Nymphs, and those of sea-waters Nereids. |
| 11.23 τοῦ δ’ αὖ πυρὸς τὴν δύναμιν προσειπόντες Ἥφαιστον ἀνθρωποειδὲς μὲν αὐτοῦ τὸ ἄγαλμα πεποιήκασι, πέλον δὲ περιέθεσαν κυάνεον τῆς οὐρανίου σύμβολον περιφορᾶς, ἔνθα τοῦ πυρός ἐστι τὸ ἀρχοειδές τε καὶ ἀκραιφνέστατον. τὸ δὲ εἰς γῆν κατενεχθὲν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ πῦρ ἀτονώτερον δεόμενόν τε στηρίγματος καὶ βάσεως τῆς ἐφ’ ὕλης· διὸ χωλεύει, ὕλης δεόμενον εἰς ὑπέρεισμα. | 11.23 Assigning the power of fire to Hephaestus, they made his statue human-like, but placed around him a dark blue cap as a symbol of the heavenly rotation, where the principal and purest form of fire exists. But the fire brought down to earth from heaven is weaker, needing a support and a base upon material; wherefore he limps, needing matter as a crutch. |
| 11.24 καὶ ἡλίου δὲ τὴν τοιάνδε δύναμιν ὑπολαβόντες Ἀπόλλωνα προσεῖπον, ἀπὸ τῆς τῶν ἀκτίνων αὐτοῦ πάλσεως. ἐννέα δὲ ἐπᾴδουσαι αὐτῷ Μοῦσαι, ἥ τε ὑποσελήνιος σφαῖρα καὶ ἑπτὰ πλανητῶν καὶ μία ἡ τῆς ἀπλανοῦς. περιέθεσαν δὲ αὐτῷ τὴν δάφνην, τοῦτο μὲν ὅτι πυρὸς πλῆρες τὸ φυτὸν καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἀπεχθὲς δαίμοσι, τοῦτο δὲ ὅτι λάλον καόμενον, εἰς παράστασιν τοῦ προφητεύειν τὸν θεόν. | 11.24 Conceiving such a power of the sun, they called it Apollo, from the vibration (palsis) of his rays. The nine Muses singing with him are the sublunary sphere, the seven planets, and the single sphere of the fixed stars. They placed the laurel around him, partly because the plant is full of fire and therefore hateful to demons, and partly because it crackles when burned, demonstrating that the god prophesies. |
| 11.25 καθὸ δὲ ἀπαλεξίκακός ἐστι τῶν ἐπιγείων ὁ ἥλιος, Ἡρακλέα προσεῖπον αὐτὸν, ἐκ τοῦ κλᾶσθαι αὐτὸν πρὸς τὸν ἀέρα ἀπ’ ἀνατολῆς εἰς δύσιν ἰόντα. δώδεκα δ’ ἄθλους ἐκμοχθεῖν ἐμυθολόγησαν, τῆς κατὰ τὸν οὐρανὸν διαιρέσεως τῶν ζωδίων τὸ σύμβολον ἐπιφημίσαντες· ῥόπαλον δὲ αὐτῷ καὶ λεοντῆν περιέθεσαν, τὸ μὲν τῆς ἀνωμαλίας μήνυμα, τὸ δὲ τῆς κατὰ τὸ ζῴδιον ἐμφανιστικὸν ἰσχύος. | 11.25 In so far as the sun wards off evil from earthly things, they named him Heracles, from his breaking (klasthai) against the air as he travels from east to west. They mythologized twelve labors, applying this as a symbol of the division of the zodiac in heaven; and they placed a club and a lion's skin around him—the former a manifestation of inequality, the latter revealing his strength according to the zodiac sign. |
| 11.26 τῆς δὲ σωστικῆς αὐτοῦ δυνάμεως Ἀσκληπιὸς τὸ σύμβολον· ᾧ τὸ μὲν βάκτρον δεδώκασι, τῆς τῶν καμνόντων ὑπερείσεως καὶ ἀναπαύσεως, ὁ δὲ ὄφις περισπειρᾶται, τῆς περὶ τὸ σῶμα καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν σωτηρίας φέρων σημεῖον· (καὶ μὴν ὑφιστάντες ἡμῖν τὸν κόσμον οἱ φυσικοὶ τὰ περὶ τὴν γῆν ἰλυσπώμενα τῶν ζῴων τῆς παχυτάτης καὶ γεώδους ᾐτιάσαντο οὐσίας·) πνευματικώτατον γὰρ τὸ ζῷόν ἐστι καὶ τὴν ἀσθένειαν τοῦ σώματος ἀποδύεται. δοκεῖ δὲ καὶ ἰατρικώτατον εἶναι· τῆς γὰρ ὀξυδορκίας εὗρε τὸ φάρμακον καὶ μυθεύεται τῆς ἀναβιώσεως εἰδέναι τινὰ βοτάνην. | 11.26 Asclepius is the symbol of his saving power; to whom they gave a staff, for the support and rest of the sick, and around which a serpent coils, bearing a sign of salvation concerning body and soul. (And indeed, the natural philosophers, in presenting the cosmos to us, attributed creatures that crawl upon the earth to the thickest and most earthy substance.) For the animal is most spirit-like and sheds the weakness of the body. It seems also to be most skilled in medicine; for it found the remedy for sharpness of vision, and is mythologized to know a certain herb for resurrection. |
| 11.27 τῆς δ’ αὖ χορευτικῆς τε καὶ ἐγκυκλίου κινήσεως, καθ’ ἣν τοὺς καρποὺς πεπαίνει ἡ πυρὸς δύναμις, Διόνυσος κέκληται ἑτέρως, ἡ τῶν ὑγροποιῶν καρπῶν δύναμις, ἢ παρὰ τὸ περιδινεῖν, ἢ διανύειν τὸν ἥλιον τὴν κατὰ τὸν οὐρανὸν περιφοράν. ᾗ δὲ περὶ τὰς ὥρας τοῦ κόσμου περιπολεῖ καὶ χρόνων ἐστὶ ποιητικὸς καὶ καιρῶν ὁ ἥλιος, Ὧρος κατὰ τοῦτο κέκληται. | 11.27 Of the choral and circular movement according to which the power of fire ripens fruits, Dionysus is named in another sense as the power of moistening fruits—either from whirling around (peridinein) or from the sun completing (dianyin) its circuit in heaven. And in so far as the sun travels around the seasons of the cosmos and produces times and seasons, he is called Horus according to this. |
| 11.28 τῆς δ’ αὖ γεωργικῆς αὐτοῦ δυνάμεως, καθ’ ἣν αἱ δόσεις τοῦ πλούτου, σύμβολον ὁ Πλούτων. ὁμοίως μέντοι καὶ τὴν φθαρτικὴν ἔχει δύναμιν, διὸ τῷ Πλούτωνι συνοικίζουσι τὸν Σάραπιν, τοῦ μὲν δεδυκότος ὑπὸ γῆν φωτὸς τὸν πορφυροῦν χιτῶνα ποιούμενοι σύμβολον, τὸ δὲ ἠκρωτηριασμένον σκῆπτρον τῆς κάτω δυνάμεως, τό τε σχῆμα τῆς χειρὸς τοῦ μεταχωρεῖν εἰς τὸ ἀφανές. | 11.28 Of his agricultural power, according to which wealth is granted, Pluto is the symbol. Likewise, however, he possesses destructive power, wherefore they associate Sarapis with Pluto—making his purple tunic a symbol of the light that has set beneath the earth, his truncated scepter a symbol of lower power, and the posture of his hand a symbol of departing into the invisible. |
| 11.29 ὁ δὲ Κέρβερος τρικέφαλος μὲν, ὅτι τρεῖς αἱ ἄνω χῶραι ἡλίου, ἀνατολὴ, μεσημβρία, δύσις. | 11.29 Cerberus is three-headed because the upper regions of the sun are three: sunrise, midday, and sunset. |
| 11.30 τὴν δὲ σελήνην, παρὰ τὸ σέλας ὑπολαβόντες, Ἄρτεμιν προσηγόρευσαν, οἷον ἀερότεμιν· λοχία τε ἡ Ἄρτεμις, καίπερ οὖσα παρθένος, ὅτι ἡ τῆς νουμηνίας δύναμις προσθετικὴ εἰς τὸ τίκτειν. | 11.30 Taking the moon from brightness (selas), they named her Artemis, as it were air-cutting (aerotemis); and Artemis presides over childbirth (lochia), although she is a virgin, because the power of the new moon contributes to childbearing. |
| 11.31 ὅπερ δὲ Ἀπόλλων ἐν ἡλίῳ, τοῦτο Ἀθηνᾶ ἐν σελήνῃ· ἔστι γὰρ τῆς φρονήσεως σύμβολον, Ἀθρηνᾶ τις οὖσα. | 11.31 What Apollo is in the sun, Athena is in the moon; for she is a symbol of prudence, being a kind of Athrena (thoughtful one). |
| 11.32 Ἑκάτη δὲ ἡ σελήνη πάλιν, τῆς περὶ αὐτὴν μετασχηματίσεως καὶ κατὰ τοὺς σχηματισμοὺς δυνάμεως· διὸ τρίμορφος ἡ δύναμις, τῆς μὲν νουμηνίας φέρουσα τὴν λευχείμονα καὶ χρυσοσάνδαλον καὶ τὰς λαμπάδας ἡμμένης· ὁ δὲ κάλαθος, ὃν ἐπὶ τοῖς μετεώροις φέρει, τῆς τῶν καρπῶν κατεργασίας, οὓς ἀνατρέφει κατὰ τὴν τοῦ φωτὸς παραύξησιν· τῆς δ’ αὖ πανσελήνου ἡ χαλκοσάνδαλος σύμβολον. | 11.32 Hecate, again, is the moon according to her change of form and her power corresponding to her phases. Wherefore the power is triple-formed: bearing at the new moon the white-robed, golden-sandaled form with lit torches; the basket which she carries on high being a symbol of the cultivation of fruits, which she nourishes during the increase of light; while the bronze sandal is the symbol of the full moon. |
| 11.33 ἢ καὶ ἐκ μὲν τοῦ κλάδου τῆς δάφνης λάβοι ἄν τις αὐτῆς τὸ ἔμπυρον, ἐκ δὲ τοῦ μήκωνος τὸ γόνιμον, καὶ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν εἰσοικιζομένων εἰς αὐτὴν ψυχῶν ὥσπερ εἰς πόλιν, ὅτι πόλεως ὁ μήκων σύμβολον. τόξα δὲ φέρει καθάπερ ἡ Ἄρτεμις διὰ τὴν τῶν ὠδίνων ὀξύτητα. | 11.33 Or from the laurel branch one might take her fiery nature, and from the poppy her fertility and the multitude of souls taking up residence in her as in a city, because the poppy is a symbol of a city. She bears a bow just like Artemis because of the sharpness of birth pangs. |
| 11.34 πάλιν δ’ αὖ αἱ Μοῖραι ἐπὶ τὰς δυνάμεις αὐτῆς ἀναφέρονται· ἡ μὲν Κλωθὼ ἐπὶ τὴν γεννητικὴν, Λάχεσις δὲ ἐπὶ τὴν θρεπτικὴν, Ἄτροπος δὲ ἡ κατὰ τὸ ἀπαραίτητον τοῦ θεοῦ. | 11.34 Again, the Fates are referred to her powers: Clotho to the generative power, Lachesis to the nourishing power, and Atropos to the unalterable will of God. |
| 11.35 συνοικίζουσι δὲ αὐτῇ καὶ τὴν τῶν καρπῶν γεννητικὴν δύναμιν, ἥπερ ἐστὶ Δημήτηρ, δύναμιν ἐμποιοῦσαν αὐτῇ. καὶ ἔστι συνεκτικὴ τῆς Κόρης ἡ σελήνη. προσοικίζουσι δὲ καὶ τὸν Διόνυσον διά τε τὴν τῶν κεράτων ἔκφυσιν καὶ διὰ τὸν τῶν νεφῶν τόπον τὸν ὑποκείμενον τοῖς κάτω μέρεσι. | 11.35 They also associate with her the generative power of fruits, which is Demeter, instilling power in her. And the moon holds Kore together. They also associate Dionysus with her both because of the growing of horns and because of the region of clouds lying below her lower parts. |
| 11.36 τὴν δὲ τοῦ Κρόνου δύναμιν νωχελῆ καὶ βραδεῖαν καὶ ψυχρὰν κατεῖδον, διὸ τὴν τοῦ χρόνου δύναμιν αὐτῷ προσανέθεσαν· ἀποτυποῦσί τε αὐτὸν ἑστῶτα πολιὸν, πρὸς ἔμφασιν τοῦ γηράσκειν τὸν χρόνον. | 11.36 They perceived the power of Cronus to be sluggish, slow, and cold, wherefore they assigned the power of time to him; and they portray him standing as an old man, to indicate that time grows old. |
| 11.37 τῶν δὲ καιρῶν σύμβολα οἱ Κουρῆτες, τὸν χρόνον βουκολοῦντες, ὅτι διὰ τῶν καιρῶν ὁ χρόνος παροδεύει. | 11.37 The Curetes are symbols of the seasons, tending time, because time passes through the seasons. |
| 11.38 τῶν δὲ Ὡρῶν αἱ μὲν Ὀλυμπιάδες εἰσὶ τοῦ ἡλίου, αἳ καὶ ἀνοίγουσι τὰς κατὰ τὸν ἀέρα πύλας, αἱ δὲ ἐπιχθόνιοι τῆς Δήμητρος· καὶ κάλαθον ἔχουσι τὸν μὲν τῶν ἀνθέων σύμβολον τοῦ ἔαρος, τὸν δὲ τῶν σταχύων τοῦ θέρους. | 11.38 Of the Hours, the Olympians belong to the sun, which also open the gates in the air; while the earthly Hours belong to Demeter, carrying a basket—the one a symbol of spring flowers, the other of summer ears of grain. |
| 11.39 τοῦ δὲ Ἄρεος τὴν δύναμιν καταλαβόντες διάπυρον, πολέμων ποιητικὴν καὶ αἱματουργὸν, βλάπτειν τε καὶ ὠφελεῖν δυναμένην ἐποίησαν. | 11.39 Perceiving the power of Mars to be fiery, productive of war, and blood-working, capable of both harming and benefiting, they crafted his image accordingly. |
| 11.40 τὸν δὲ τῆς Ἀφροδίτης ἀστέρα θεωρήσαντες γενεσιουργὸν, ἐπιθυμίας τε καὶ γονῆς αἴτιον, γυναῖκα μὲν ἀνέπλασαν διὰ τὴν γένεσιν, ὡραίαν δὲ, ὅτι καὶ Ἕσπερος, ὃς κάλλιστος ἐν οὐρανῷ ἵσταται ἀστήρ. | 11.40 Observing the star of Venus to be generative and the cause of desire and offspring, they modeled a woman on account of generation, and beautiful because Hesperus stands as the most beautiful star in heaven. |
| 11.41 καὶ Ἔρωτα μὲν παρέστησαν διὰ τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν. σκέπει δὲ μαστοὺς καὶ τὸ μόριον, ὅτι γονῆς αἰτία ἡ δύναμις καὶ ἐκθρέψεως. ἔστι δὲ ἀπὸ θαλάττης, στοιχείου διύγρου καὶ θερμοῦ, πολλὰ κινουμένου καὶ διὰ τὴν συγκίνησιν ἀφριῶντος, τὸ σπερματικὸν αἰνιττόμενος. | 11.41 And they placed Cupid beside her on account of desire. He covers breasts and genitals because the power is the cause of offspring and nurture. She comes from the sea, a moist and hot element, moving much and foaming through agitation, hinting at the seminal nature. |
| 11.42 τοῦ δὲ λόγου τοῦ πάντων ποιητικοῦ τε καὶ ἑρμηνευτικοῦ ὁ Ἑρμῆς παραστατικός. ὁ δὲ ἐντεταμένος Ἑρμῆς δηλοῖ τὴν εὐτονίαν, δείκνυσι δὲ καὶ τὸν σπερματικὸν λόγον τὸν διήκοντα διὰ πάντων. | 11.42 Hermes stands for the Word (Logos) that creates and interprets all things. The erect Hermes signifies vigor, and reveals the seminal Word that pervades all things. |
| 11.43 λοιπὸν δὲ σύνθετος λόγος, ὁ μὲν ἐν ἡλίῳ Ἑρμῆς, Ἑκάτη δὲ ὁ ἐν σελήνῃ, Ἑρμόπαν δὲ ὁ ἐν τῷ παντί· κατὰ πάντων γὰρ ὁ σπερματικὸς καὶ ποιητικός. σύνθετος δὲ καὶ οἷον μιξέλλην καὶ παρ’ Αἰγυπτίοις ὁ Ἑρμάνουβις. ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ τῆς ἐρώσης ἦν δυνάμεως ὁ λόγος, ταύτης ὁ Ἔρως παραστατικός. διὸ παῖς μὲν τοῦ Ἑρμοῦ ὁ Ἔρως, νήπιος δὲ διὰ τὰς αἰφνιδίους περὶ τὰς ἐπιθυμίας ἐμπτώσεις αὐτοῦ. | 11.43 Furthermore, the composite Logos is Hermes in the sun, Hecate in the moon, and Hermopan in the universe; for the seminal and creative Logos is over all. Hermanubis among the Egyptians is also composite and as it were half-Greek. And since the Logos belonged to loving power, Cupid stands for this. Wherefore Cupid is the child of Hermes, but an infant because of his sudden lapses into desires. |
| 11.44 τοῦ δὲ παντὸς τὸν Πάνα σύμβολον ἔθεντο, τὰ μὲν κέρατα σύμβολα δόντες ἡλίου καὶ σελήνης, τὴν δὲ νεβρίδα τῶν κατ’ οὐρανὸν ἀστέρων, ἢ τῆς τοῦ παντὸς ποικιλίας.» | 11.44 They established Pan as a symbol of the universe, giving him horns as symbols of sun and moon, and the fawn-skin as a symbol of the stars in heaven or the variety of the universe." |
| 11.45 Καὶ τὰ μὲν Ἑλληνικὰ τοιαῦτα· τὰ δὲ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων πάλιν τοιαῦτά φησιν ἔχειν σύμβολα· «Τὸν δημιουργὸν, ὃν Κνὴφ οἱ Αἰγύπτιοι προσαγορεύουσιν, ἀνθρωποειδῆ, τὴν δὲ χροιὰν ἐκ κυανοῦ μέλανος ἔχοντα, κρατοῦντα ζώνην καὶ σκῆπτρον, ἐπὶ δὲ τῆς κεφαλῆς πτερὸν βασίλειον περικείμενον, ὅτι λόγος δυσεύρετος καὶ ἐγκεκρυμμένος καὶ οὐ φανὸς, καὶ ὅτι ζωοποιὸς, καὶ ὅτι βασιλεὺς, καὶ ὅτι νοερῶς κινεῖται· διὸ ἡ τοῦ πτεροῦ φύσις ἐν τῇ κεφαλῇ κεῖται. | 11.45 Such are the Greek traditions; but he says the Egyptian traditions, on the other hand, have the following symbols: "The Creator, whom the Egyptians call Kneph, they represent as human-shaped, but having a color of dark blue, holding a belt and a scepter, and wearing a royal feather upon his head—because the Logos is hard to find, hidden, unmanifest, life-giving, kingly, and moves intellectually; wherefore the nature of the feather rests upon his head. |
| 11.46 τὸν δὲ θεὸν τοῦτον ἐκ τοῦ στόματος προΐεσθαί φασιν ᾠὸν, ἐξ οὗ γεννᾶσθαι θεὸν, ὃν αὐτοὶ προσαγορεύουσι Φθὰ, οἱ δὲ Ἔλληνες Ἥφαιστον· ἑρμηνεύειν δὲ τὸ ᾠὸν τὸν κόσμον. ἀφιέρωται δὲ τῷ θεῷ τούτῳ πρόβατον διὰ τὸ τοὺς παλαιοὺς γαλακτοποτεῖν. | 11.46 They say this god brings forth an egg from his mouth, from which is born a god whom they call Phtha, and the Greeks Hephaestus; and they interpret the egg as the cosmos. A sheep is dedicated to this god because the ancients drank milk. |
| 11.47 αὐτοῦ δὲ τοῦ κόσμου τὸ δείκελον τοιόνδε ἀνέπλασαν· ἀνθρωποειδές ἐστιν ἄγαλμα, τοὺς μὲν πόδας συμβεβηκότας ἔχον, ἄνωθεν δὲ μέχρι ποδῶν ποικίλον ἱμάτιον περιβεβλημένον· ἐπὶ δὲ τῆς κεφαλῆς σφαῖραν ἔχει χρυσῆν διὰ τὸ μὴ μεταβαίνειν, καὶ διὰ τὴν τῶν ἄστρων ποικίλην φύσιν, καὶ ὅτι σφαιροειδὴς ὁ κόσμος. | 11.47 The image of the cosmos itself they fashioned in this way: it is a human-shaped statue, having its feet brought together, wrapped from above down to the feet in a patterned garment; upon its head it has a golden sphere because it does not change, because of the varied nature of the stars, and because the cosmos is spherical. |
| 11.48 ἥλιον δὲ σημαίνουσι ποτὲ μὲν δι’ ἀνθρώπου ἐπιβεβηκότος πλοίου, τοῦ πλοίου ἐπὶ κροκοδείλου κειμένου. δηλοῖ δὲ τὸ μὲν πλοῖον τὴν ἐν ὑγρῷ κίνησιν, ὁ δὲ κροκόδειλος πότιμον ὕδωρ, ἐν ᾧ φέρεται ὁ ἥλιος. ἐσήμαινε τοίνυν ὁ ἥλιος δι’ ἀέρος ὑγροῦ καὶ γλυκέος τὴν περιπόλησιν ποιεῖσθαι. | 11.48 They indicate the sun sometimes by a man mounted upon a boat, the boat resting upon a crocodile. The boat reveals movement in moisture, while the crocodile reveals drinkable water in which the sun is borne. The sun, therefore, indicated making its circuit through moist and sweet air. |
| 11.49 τῆς δὲ οὐρανίας γῆς καὶ τῆς χθονίας τὴν δύναμιν ισιν προσεῖπον διὰ τὴν ἰσότητα, ἀφ’ ἧς τὸ δίκαιον· οὐρανίαν δὲ τὴν σελήνην, χθονίαν δὲ τὴν καρποφόρον, ἐν ᾗ κατοικοῦμεν, λέγουσι. | 11.49 The power of heavenly earth and earthly land they called Isis because of equality, from which comes justice; they call the moon heavenly earth, and the fruitful earth on which we dwell earthly land. |
| 11.50 τὸ δὲ αὐτὸ δύναται Δημήτηρ παρ’ Ἔλλησι καὶ ισις παρ’ Αἰγυπτίοις, καὶ πάλιν Κόρη παρ’ Ἔλλησι καὶ Διόνυσος, καὶ ισις καὶ Ὄσιρις παρ’ Αἰγυπτίοις. αὕτη δὲ τρέφουσα καὶ αἱροῦσα τὰ ἐπὶ γῆς· ὁ δὲ Ὄσιρις παρ’ Αἰγυπτίοις τὴν κάρπιμον παρίστησι δύναμιν, ἣν θρήνοις ἀπομειλίσσεσθαι εἰς γῆν ἀφανιζομένην ἐν τῷ σπόρῳ, καὶ ὑφ’ ἡμῶν καταναλισκομένην εἰς τροφάς· | 11.50 Demeter among the Greeks and Isis among the Egyptians have the same power; and again, Kore and Dionysus among the Greeks are Isis and Osiris among the Egyptians. She nourishes and raises things on earth; while Osiris among the Egyptians represents the fruitful power, which they appease with lamentations as it disappears into the earth during sowing, and is consumed by us for food. |
| 11.51 λαμβάνεται δὲ καὶ ἀντὶ τῆς ποταμίας τοῦ Νείλου δυνάμεως· ἀλλ’ ὅταν μὲν τὴν χθονίαν γῆν σημαίνωσιν, Ὄσιρις ἡ κάρπιμος λαμβάνεται δύναμις, ὅταν δὲ τὴν οὐρανίαν, Ὄσιρίς ἐστιν ὁ Νεῖλος, ὃν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ καταφέρεσθαι οἴονται· πενθοῦσι δὲ καὶ τοῦτον, ἀπομειλισσόμενοι τὴν δύναμιν λήγουσαν καὶ ἀναλισκομένην. ἡ δὲ ἐν τοῖς μύθοις μισγομένη τῷ Ὀσίριδι ισις ἡ Αἰγυπτία ἐστὶ γῆ· διόπερ ἰσοῦται καὶ κυεῖ καὶ ποιεῖ τοὺς καρπούς· διὸ ἀνὴρ τῆς ισιδος Ὄσιρις καὶ ἀδελφὸς καὶ υἱὸς παραδέδοται.» | 11.51 It is also taken for the river power of the Nile; but when they signify the earthly land, Osiris is taken as the fruitful power, and when they signify the heavenly land, Osiris is the Nile, which they think falls from heaven. And they mourn him too, appeasing the power as it ceases and is consumed. Isis, who in the myths is joined with Osiris, is the Egyptian earth; wherefore she is made equal, conceives, and produces crops. Wherefore Osiris is handed down as husband, brother, and son of Isis." |
Chapter 12
In this chapter, Eusebius continues quoting Porphyry's account of Egyptian symbolic statuary and religious customs (at Elephantine, Apollonopolis, and Eileithyia’s city), noting how celestial light, lunar phases, and natural phenomena were allegorized through composite statues and animal symbols—concluding with a note on the mysteries of Eleusis and human worship at Anabis.
| 12.1 «Καὶ κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἐλεφαντίνην πόλιν τετίμηται ἄγαλμα, πεπλασμένον μὲν, ἀλλ’ ἀνδρείκελον καὶ καθήμενον, κυανοῦν τε τὴν χροιὰν, κεφαλὴν δὲ κριοῦ κεκτημένον, καὶ βασίλειον, κέρατα τράγεια ἔχον, οἷς ἔπεστι κύκλος δισκοειδής. κάθηται δὲ, παρακειμένου κεραμέου ἀγγείου, ἐφ’ οὗ ἄνθρωπον ἀναπλάσσει. δηλοῖ δὲ ἀπὸ μὲν τοῦ κριοῦ πρόσωπον ἔχειν καὶ αἰγὸς κέρατα τὴν ἐν κριῷ σύνοδον ἡλίου καὶ σελήνης· τὸ δὲ ἐκ κυανοῦ χρῶμα, ὅτι ὑδραγωγὸς ἐν συνόδῳ ἡ σελήνη. | 12.1 "And at the city of Elephantine an image is honored, molded indeed in human form and seated, blue in color, possessing the head of a ram, and wearing a royal crown with goat’s horns, upon which rests a disk-shaped circle. It sits with a potter’s vessel placed beside it, upon which it shapes a human being. Now, its having the face of a ram and the horns of a goat signifies the conjunction of the sun and moon in the constellation of Aries; while the blue color indicates that the moon draws up water during conjunction. |
| 12.2 τὸ δὲ δεύτερον φῶς τῆς σελήνης ἐν Ἀπόλλωνος πόλει καθιέρωται· ἔστι δὲ τούτου σύμβολον ἱερακοπρόσωπος ἄνθρωπος σιβύνῃ χειρούμενος Τυφῶνα ἱπποποτάμῳ εἰκασμένον. λευκὸν δὲ τῇ χρόᾳ τὸ ἄγαλμα, τῆς μὲν λευκότητος τὸ φωτίζεσθαι τὴν σελήνην παραστησάσης, τοῦ δὲ ἱερακείου προσώπου τὸ ἀφ’ ἡλίου φωτίζεσθαι καὶ πνεῦμα λαμβάνειν. τὸν γὰρ ἱέρακα ἡλίῳ ἀφιεροῦσι· φωτὸς δὲ καὶ πνεύματος ἱέραξ αὐτοῖς σύμβολον διά τε τὴν ὀξυκινησίαν καὶ τὸ πρὸς ὕψος ἀνατρέχειν, ἔνθα τὸ φῶς· ὁ δὲ ἱπποπόταμος τὸν δυτικὸν δηλοῖ πόλον, παρὰ τὸ καταπίνειν εἰς ἑαυτὸν τοὺς περιπολοῦντας. | 12.2 The second light of the moon is consecrated in Apollonopolis; and the symbol of this is a hawk-faced man overpowering Typhon (who is represented as a hippopotamus) with a hunting spear. The image is white in color—its whiteness presenting the illumination of the moon, while its hawk-like face indicates that it is illuminated by the sun and receives breath. For they dedicate the hawk to the sun; and a hawk is to them a symbol of light and breath on account of its swift motion and its flying up to the height, where the light is. The hippopotamus signifies the western pole, because it swallows down into itself those bodies that circuit around it. |
| 12.3 θεὸς δὲ τιμᾶται ἐν τῇ πόλει ταύτῃ ὁ Ὦρος. ἡ δὲ τῆς Εἰληθυίας πόλις τὸ τρίτον φῶς θεραπεύει· τὸ δὲ ξόανον τετύπωται εἰς γῦπα πετομένην, ἧς τὸ πτέρωμα ἐκ σπουδαίων συνέστηκε λίθων. σημαίνει δὲ τὸ μὲν γυποειδὲς αὐτῆς τὴν γεννητικὴν πνευμάτων σελήνην· ἐκ γὰρ τοῦ πνεύματος οἴονται συλλαμβάνειν τὸν γῦπα, θηλείας πάσας ἀποφαινόμενοι. | 12.3 In this city Horus is honored as god. But the city of Eileithyia worships the third light; and its wooden statue is fashioned in the form of a flying vulture, whose plumage consists of precious stones. Its vulture-like shape signifies the moon as generating breaths/spirits; for they believe that the vulture conceives from the wind, declaring that all vultures are female. |
| 12.4 ἐν δὲ τοῖς κατ’ Ἐλευσῖνα μυστηρίοις ὁ μὲν ἱεροφάντης εἰς εἰκόνα τοῦ δημιουργοῦ ἐνσκευάζεται, δᾳδοῦχος δὲ εἰς τὴν ἡλίου· καὶ ὁ μὲν ἐπὶ βωμῷ εἰς τὴν σελήνην, ὁ δὲ ἱεροκῆρυξ Ἑρμοῦ. | 12.4 In the mysteries at Eleusis, the Hierophant is attired in the image of the Creator, the Torch-bearer in that of the sun, the Altar-priest in that of the moon, and the Sacred Herald in that of Hermes. |
| 12.5 καὶ ἄνθρωπος δὲ παρ’ Αἰγυπτίοις ἐν τοῖς ἱεροῖς παρείληπται. Ἄναβις γάρ ἐστι κώμη Αἰγύπτου, ἐν ᾗ θεραπεύεται ἄνθρωπος, καὶ θύεται τούτῳ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν βωμῶν τὰ ἱερεῖα καίεται· ὁ δὲ μετ’ ὀλίγον φάγοι ἂν τὰ ὡς ἂν ἀνθρώπῳ αὐτῷ παρεσκευασμένα. | 12.5 Furthermore, a human being is also included among Egyptian sacred rites. For Anabis is a village in Egypt in which a human being is worshipped, and sacrifices are offered to him, and the victims are burned upon the altars; and after a short while, he would eat the foods prepared for him as a human being. |
| 12.6 ὅτι δὲ οὐδὲ τὰ ζῷα θεοὺς ἡγοῦνται, εἰκόνας δὲ ἐποιοῦντο καὶ σύμβολα ταῦτα θεῶν, δηλοῖ τὸ πολλαχοῦ βοῦς ἀναχθέντας θεοῖς ἐν ταῖς ἱερομηνίαις καὶ ταῖς πρὸς θεοὺς θρησκείαις βουθυτεῖν. ἡλίῳ μὲν γὰρ καὶ σελήνῃ βοῦς ἀνιέρωσαν.» | 12.6 And that they do not regard even animals as gods, but made them images and symbols of gods, is made clear by the fact that in many places cattle brought to the gods are sacrificed as oxen during the new-moon festivals and religious observances toward the gods. For they consecrated cattle to the sun and moon." |
Chapter 13
In this chapter, Eusebius quotes and critiques Porphyry's allegorical/physical interpretations of Egyptian and Greek mythologies, arguing that allegorizing the gods into elements, nature, or invisible powers does not excuse the absurdity and idolatry of worshiping the creation rather than the Creator.
| 13.1 Ἀλλ' ὅ γε ἡλίῳ ἀνακείμενος ἐν Ἡλίου πόλει, καλούμενος Μνεῦις, βοῶν ἐστι μέγιστος, σφόδρα μέλας, μάλιστα ὅτι καὶ ὁ ἥλιος ὁ πολὺς μελαίνει τὰ ἀνθρώπεια σώματα. ἔχει δὲ τὴν οὐρὰν παρὰ τοὺς ἄλλους βοῦς καὶ τὸ πᾶν σῶμα ἀνάτριχον, καθάπερ ὁ ἥλιος τὸν ἐναντίον τῷ πόλῳ ποιεῖται δρόμον· τούς τε ὄρχεις μεγίστους, ἐπειδήπερ ὁ περὶ τὰ ἀφροδίσια ἵμερος γίνεται ὑπὸ θερμότητος, ὅ τε ἥλιος σπερμαίνειν λέγεται τὴν φύσιν. | 13.1 "Now the bull dedicated to the sun in Heliopolis, called Mnevis, is the largest of bulls, exceedingly black, chiefly because the intense sun darkens human bodies. And unlike other bulls, it has its tail and its whole body covered with reversed hair (anátrichon), just as the sun makes its course contrary to the pole; and its testicles are very large, since the desire for sexual passion is produced by heat, and the sun is said to generate life in nature. |
| 13.2 σελήνῃ δὲ ταῦρον ἀνέθεσαν, ὃν Ἆπιν ἐπονομάζουσι, μέλανα μὲν καὶ αὐτὸν ὑπὲρ τοὺς ἄλλους, φέροντα δὲ σημεῖα ἡλίου καὶ σελήνης, ὅτι καὶ τῆς σελήνης τὸ φῶς ἐξ ἡλίου· ἡλίου δὲ σημεῖον τὸ μέλαν τοῦ σώματος καὶ ὁ ὑπὸ τὴν γλῶτταν κάνθαρος· σελήνης δὲ σύμβολον τό τε διχότομον καὶ ἀμφίκυρτον." | 13.2 To the moon they dedicated a bull, which they call Apis, also black beyond the others, but bearing symbols of the sun and moon, because the light of the moon comes from the sun; and the symbol of the sun is the blackness of its body and the beetle (kantharos) beneath its tongue, while the symbol of the moon is both the half-moon (dichótomon) and the gibbous moon (amphíkyrton)." |
| 13.3 Ταῦτά μοι ἐκ τῆς τοῦ προειρημένου ἀνδρὸς γραφῆς ἐπιτετμήσθω, ὡς ἂν μηδὲν ἡμᾶς λάθῃ τῶν ἀπορρήτων τῆς Ἑλληνικῆς ὁμοῦ καὶ Αἰγυπτιακῆς θεολογίας, ἧς ἀποστάτας ἑαυτοὺς καὶ φυγάδας ὁμολογοῦμεν, κρίσει καὶ λογισμῷ σώφρονι καὶ τάδε παραιτησάμενοι. | 13.3 Let these extracts suffice from the writing of the aforementioned man [Porphyry], so that none of the secret things of Greek and Egyptian theology may escape us—a theology from which we confess ourselves to be apostates and fugitives, having rejected these things by deliberate judgment and sober reason. |
| 13.4 οὐ γάρ με ἡ ἀλαζὼν ἐκπλήξει φωνή, «φθέγξομαι οἷς θέμις ἐστί, θύρας δ' ἐπίθεσθε βέβηλοι» φήσασα. βέβηλοι γοῦν οὐχ ἡμεῖς, ἀλλ' οἵ γε τὰς τοιάσδε αἰσχρὰς καὶ ἀπρεπεῖς μυθολογίας κανθάρων πέρι καὶ θηρίων ἀλόγων σοφίας θεολόγου νοήματα εἶναι ἀποφηνάμενοι, οἵ, κατὰ τὸν θαυμάσιον ἀπόστολον, «φάσκοντες εἶναι σοφοὶ ἐμωράνθησαν, ὅτι δὴ ἤλλαξαν τὴν δόξαν τοῦ ἀφθάρτου θεοῦ ἐν ὁμοιώματι εἰκόνος φθαρτοῦ ἀνθρώπου, καὶ πετεινῶν καὶ τετραπόδων καὶ ἑρπετῶν.» | 13.4 For that boastful voice will not terrify me, which says: "I shall speak to those for whom it is lawful; but shut the doors, ye profane!" For we are certainly not the profane, but rather those who declare that such shameful and unseemly mythologies concerning beetles and irrational beasts are the thoughts of divine wisdom! They are those who, according to the wonderful Apostle, "claiming to be wise, became fools; because they exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image resembling corruptible man, and birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things." [Rom 1:22–23] |
| 13.5 ἀλλ' ἐπεὶ πάντα τὸν περὶ τούτων ἀπόρρητον δὴ καὶ μυστικώτερον λόγον εἰς ἀσωμάτους δυνάμεις μεταφορικῶς ἀνῆγον, ὥστε δοκεῖν μηκέτ' ἐπὶ τὰ ὁρώμενα μέρη τοῦ κόσμου τὴν θεοποιίαν αὐτῶν συντείνειν, ἀλλ' ἐπί τινας ἀοράτους καὶ ἀσωμάτους δυνάμεις, σκεψώμεθα εἰ μὴ καὶ οὕτως μίαν χρὴ τὴν θείαν δύναμιν ἀποθαυμάζειν, ἀλλ' οὐ πολλὰς ἡγεῖσθαι. | 13.5 But since they refer all this secret and more mystical account metaphorically to incorporeal powers, so that their deification no longer seems to apply to the visible parts of the world, but to certain invisible and incorporeal powers, let us consider whether, even so, one ought to marvel at the single divine power rather than suppose there are many. |
| 13.6 οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐπεὶ πολλὰ σχήματα καὶ μέρη καὶ μέλη ὑφ' ἑνὶ σώματι δεδημιούργηται, τοσαύτας χρῆν ἡμᾶς τὰς ψυχὰς ἔχειν ἡγεῖσθαι, οὐδὲ τοσούτους ποιητὰς καὶ δημιουργοὺς τοῦ σώματος νομίζειν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ψυχὴν μίαν τὸ πᾶν σῶμα κινεῖν, καὶ μίαν δημιουργὸν δύναμιν τὸ πᾶν ζῷον τεκτήνασθαι. | 13.6 For just because many forms, parts, and limbs have been created in a single body, we ought not to suppose that we have as many souls, nor imagine so many makers and creators of the body; rather, one soul moves the entire body, and one creative power fashioned the entire living creature. |
| 13.7 οὕτω δῆτα καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ σύμπαντος κόσμου, ἑνὸς μὲν ὄντος καὶ ἐκ μιᾶς τῆς σωματικῆς ὕλης συνεστῶτος, εἰς μέρη δὲ πλεῖστα διῃρημένου, καὶ μίαν τῶν ὅλων φυσικὴν συμπάθειαν ὑποφαίνοντος, κρᾶσίν τε καὶ μῖξιν τῶν ἐν αὐτῷ στοιχείων, ἀλλοιώσεις τε καὶ μεταβολὰς αὐτῶν εἰς ἑαυτά, ὅλον δὲ καὶ τὸ πᾶν ἕνα κόσμον καὶ μίαν ἁρμονίαν ἐπιδεικνυμένου, οὐ πολλὰς χρῆν ὑποτίθεσθαι δημιουργοὺς δυνάμεις, μόνην δὲ θεολογεῖν τὴν ὡς ἀληθῶς θεοῦ δύναμιν καὶ θεοῦ σοφίαν. | 13.7 So indeed in the case of the whole universe: being one and existing from a single bodily matter, divided into very many parts, displaying a single natural sympathy throughout all things, a blending and mixing of the elements within it, and their alterations and transformations into one another, while displaying the whole and everything as one universe and one harmony—it was not necessary to hypothesize many creative powers, but to acknowledge as divine only the power of God and the wisdom of God, which truly exists. |
| 13.8 ὁ δὲ καὶ τὰς Αἰγυπτιακὰς μυθολογίας πάλιν ἐπὶ ἀσωμάτους μεταφέρει δυνάμεις, λαθὼν ὁ σοφώτατος αὐτὸς ἑαυτόν. ἀκήκοας γὰρ ἐν τοῖς πρόσθεν ὅπως τὸν Χαιρήμονα καὶ πλείους ἄλλους ὡμολόγει μηδ' ἄλλο τι πρὸ τῶν ὁρωμένων κόσμων ἡγεῖσθαι, ἐν ἀρχῆς τε λόγῳ τίθεσθαι τοὺς Αἰγυπτίους· τούτους γὰρ πάντα εἰς τὰ φυσικὰ καὶ οὐδὲν εἰς ἀσωμάτους καὶ ζώσας οὐσίας ἐρμηνεύειν. | 13.8 Yet he [Porphyry], again transferring Egyptian mythologies to incorporeal powers, has unknowingly contradicted himself. For you heard earlier how he admitted that Chaeremon and many others believed in nothing else prior to the visible worlds, placing this at the head of the Egyptian account; for they interpret everything in terms of physical principles and nothing in terms of incorporeal and living substances. |
| 13.9 εἰ δὴ οὖν κατὰ τὴν αὐτῶν ὁμολογίαν Αἰγυπτίων ἦν τὸ μηδὲν ἀνάγειν εἰς ἀσωμάτους καὶ ζώσας οὐσίας, πάντα δὲ τὰ περὶ θεῶν αὐτοῖς μυθολογούμενα ἐπὶ τὰ φυσικὰ τοῦ κόσμου μέρη μεταφέρειν, τί δὴ ἐξ ὑπαρχῆς εὑρεσιλογοῦντες Αἰγυπτίοις τὰ μηδαμῶς αὐτῶν οἰκεῖα προσγράφετε, ἐπὶ δυνάμεις ἀσωμάτους φάσκοντες αὐτοὺς τὴν ἀναφορὰν τῆς θεολογίας αὐτῶν ποιεῖσθαι; καθόλου μὲν οὖν ταῦτα αἰτιατέον. | 13.9 If, then, according to the admission of the Egyptians themselves, it belonged to them to refer nothing to incorporeal and living substances, but to transfer all their myths about the gods to the physical parts of the world, why do you now invent subtle arguments from the start and attribute to Egyptians things that are by no means their own, asserting that they make the reference of their theology to incorporeal powers? Generally speaking, then, they must be accused on these grounds. |
| 13.10 Καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν κατὰ μέρος δὲ ἡγοῦμαι τὸν ἔλεγχον τῆς κατηναγκασμένης ἀποδόσεως αὐτῶν οὐ μακρᾶς ἀνασκευῆς δεῖσθαι. ἵνα γὰρ τὸν Αἰγυπτιακὸν παρελθών τις λῆρον καὶ τὴν πολλὴν αὐτῶν καὶ ἀδόλεσχον φλυαρίαν ἐπὶ τὰς τῶν σοφῶν Ἑλλήνων μετέλθοι φυσιολογίας, τίς οὐκ ἂν τῶν εὖ φρονούντων αὐτόθεν καταμέμψαιτο τοῖς τὰ τοιαῦτα παρεξηγεῖσθαι πειρωμένοις; | 13.10 And regarding the particulars, I consider that the refutation of their forced interpretation requires no lengthy demonstration. For passing over the Egyptian nonsense and their voluminous, loquacious chatter, if one should turn to the physical explanations of the wise Greeks, who among sensible people would not immediately condemn those who attempt to explain such matters in this way? |
| 13.11 ἔστω γὰρ ὁ Ζεὺς μηκέθ' ἡ πυρώδης καὶ αἰθέριος οὐσία, ὥσπερ οὖν τοῖς παλαιοῖς ἐνομίζετο κατὰ τὸν Πλούταρχον, ἀλλ' αὐτὸς ὁ ἀνωτάτω νοῦς, ὁ τῶν ὅλων δημιουργός, ὁ τὰ πάντα ζωογονῶν· πῶς οὖν ἔσται τούτου πατὴρ μὲν ὁ Κρόνος, ὅν φασιν εἶναι τὸν χρόνον, Ῥέα δὲ μήτηρ, ἣν ὁ ἑρμηνεὺς ἔφησεν εἶναι τὴν πετρώδη καὶ ὄρειον δύναμιν; τὴν γὰρ Ἥραν οὐκ οἶδ' ὅπως τὸν ἀέρα τὸν καὶ αἰθέρα προσειπὼν ἀδελφὴν ὁμοῦ καὶ γυναῖκά φησιν εἶναι τοῦ κοσμοποιοῦ καὶ ζωοποιοῦ πάντων νοῦ. | 13.11 For let Zeus no longer be the fiery and ethereal substance, as was believed by the ancients according to Plutarch, but the supreme Mind himself, the creator of all things, who gives life to all. How then will Cronus be his father (whom they say is Time), and Rhea his mother (whom the interpreter said is the rocky and mountainous power)? For Hera—having called her, I know not how, the air and the ether—he says is both sister and wife to the Mind that makes the world and gives life to all things! |
| 13.12 ἀλλὰ καὶ ἡ Λητὼ πάλιν λήθω τις καλείσθω, διὰ τὴν κατὰ τὸν ὕπνον, ὥς φασιν, ἀναισθησίαν, καὶ ὅτι λήθη ξυномаρτεῖ ταῖς ὑπὸ σελήνην γενομέναις ψυχαῖς. πῶς ἂν οὖν ἡ λήθη γένοιτ' ἂν ἡλίου καὶ σελήνης μήτηρ, Ἀπόλλωνος καὶ Ἀρτέμιδος τῶν Λητοῦς παίδων εἰς ἥλιον καὶ σελήνην μετενηνεγμένων; | 13.12 And again, let Leto be called a kind of forgetfulness (lēthē), because of the insensibility during sleep, as they say, and because forgetfulness accompanies the souls that come under the moon. How then could forgetfulness become the mother of the sun and moon, when Apollo and Artemis, the children of Leto, are transformed into the sun and moon? |
| 13.13 τί δὲ χρὴ σέβειν ὡς θεὸν τὴν Ῥέαν ἢ τὴν Δήμητρα, εἰ ἡ μὲν τῆς πετρώδους καὶ ὀρείου γῆς, ἡ δὲ τῆς πεδιάδος τὰ σύμβολα φέρειν ἐλέγετο; τὴν δὲ Κόρην τὸν κόρον ἀλληγοροῦντες τίνι λόγῳ καὶ ταύτην οἴονται δεῖν τῇ σεβασμίῳ προσηγορίᾳ τιμᾶν; | 13.13 And why must one worship Rhea or Demeter as a goddess, if the one is said to bear the symbols of the rocky and mountainous earth, and the other of the plains? And as for Korē [Persephone], whom they allegorize as satiety (koros), by what logic do they think she too ought to be honored with a sacred title? |
| 13.14 τί δὲ μᾶλλον τὴν σπερματοῦχον δύναμιν, καὶ τὴν τῶν ἀκροδρύων γένεσιν, ἢ τῶν κατὰ τὸ ἔαρ προφαινομένων ἀνθέων καὶ πρὶν τελεσιγονῆσαι διαρρεόντων, ἢ τῆς τῶν τελείων καρπῶν ἐκτομῆς τὰ σύμβολα, Διόνυσον καὶ Ἄττιν καὶ Ἄδωνιν ἐπονομάζοντας, ὡς θεοὺς χρῆναι σέβειν, οὐχὶ δὲ τούτων ἁπάντων τὸ ἀνθρώπειον γένος προτιμᾶν, ᾧ ταῦτα πρὸς χρῆσιν καὶ τροφὴν ὁ τῶν ὅλων δημιουργὸς θεὸς ὑπεστήσατο; | 13.14 And why should they call the seed-bearing power, and the growth of fruit trees, or the symbols of spring flowers that appear and wither before coming to maturity, or the cutting of mature fruits—naming them Dionysus, Attis, and Adonis—and claim that these ought to be worshiped as gods, rather than preferring above all these the human race, for whose use and nourishment God, the creator of all things, brought them into being? |
| 13.15 Μεταβὰς δὲ ἐκ τούτων καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ κατὰ τὸν ὅμοιο τρόπον τῆς γενναίας ἀπελέγξεις φυσιολογίας, εὐλόγως τῆς ἀναισχυντίας ἐπιμεμψάμενος τοῖς, φέρε, τὸν ἥλιον αὐτὸν εἶναι τὸν Ἀπόλλω, καὶ πάλιν τὸν Ἡρακλέα, καὶ αὖθις τὸν Διόνυσον, καὶ τὸν Ἀσκληπιὸν ὁμοίως ἀποφαινομένοις. | 13.15 Passing from these things, you will refute the remainder of their noble physical interpretations in a similar manner, rightly accusing of shamelessness those who declare, for instance, that the sun itself is Apollo, and again Heracles, and again Dionysus, and likewise Asclepius. |
| 13.16 πῶς γὰρ ὁ αὐτὸς πατὴρ ἂν γένοιτο καὶ υἱός, Ἀσκληπιὸς ὁμοῦ καὶ Ἀπόλλων; πῶς δ' ἂν πάλιν εἰς Ἡρακλέα μετενεχθείη, εἰ δὴ ἐκ θνητῆς γυναικὸς τῆς Ἀλκμήνης ὁ Ἡρακλῆς αὐτοῖς ὡμολόγηται; πῶς δ' ἂν ἐμμανὴς γένοιτο καὶ σφάξειε τοὺς ἑαυτοῦ παῖδας ὁ ἥλιος, ὅτι δὴ καὶ ταῦτα προσαναγέγραπται τῷ Ἡρακλεῖ; | 13.16 For how could the same person be both father and son—Asclepius and Apollo at the same time? And how could he be transformed again into Heracles, if Heracles is admitted by them to have been born of a mortal woman, Alcmene? And how could the sun become mad and slay his own children, given that these things are also recorded of Heracles? |
| 13.17 ἀλλὰ τοὺς ἄθλους ἐπιτελοῦντα τοὺς δώδεκα τὸν Ἡρακλέα τῆς κατ' οὐρανὸν διαιρέσεως τοῦ ζωδιακοῦ κύκλου, ὅν φασι τὸν ἥλιον περιπολεῖν, τὸ σύμβολον φέρειν. τίς οὖν ἔτι γένοιτ' ἂν Εὐρυσθεὺς ὁ τῷ ἡλίῳ, ὥσπερ οὖν τῷ Ἡρακλεῖ, τοὺς ἄθλους ἐκτελεῖν ἐπιτάττων; πῶς δ' ἂν ἐπὶ τὸν ἥλιον ἀναχθεῖεν αἱ πεντήκοντα Θεστίου θυγατέρες καὶ τὸ τῶν λοιπῶν αἰχμαλωτίδων πλῆθος, αἷς τὸν Ἡρακλέα λόγος ἔχει μιγῆναι, ἐξ ὧν καὶ θνητοὶ παῖδες αὐτῷ γενόμενοι ἐπὶ μήκιστον τὴν τῶν γενῶν παρέτειναν διαδοχήν; τίς δ' ἂν εἴη ὁ Κένταυρος, οὗ τῷ αἵματι τὸν χιτῶνα μολύνασα ἡ Δηϊάνειρα τὸν ἥλιον, ὥσπερ οὖν τὸν Ἡρακλέα, τῇ δεδηλωμένῃ περιβάλοι ἂν συμφορᾷ; | 13.17 "Ah, but Heracles performing his twelve labors bears the symbol of the division of the zodiacal circle in heaven, which they say the sun traverses!" Who then could Eurystheus still be—the one ordering the sun, just like Heracles, to perform his labors? And how could the fifty daughters of Thestius and the crowd of other captive women be referred to the sun, with whom story has it Heracles mated, generating mortal children who extended the succession of their lines to a great length? And who would the Centaur be, with whose blood Deianira stained the tunic, bringing upon the sun—just like Heracles—the famous calamity? |
| 13.18 ἀλλὰ γὰρ μηκέτ' ἔστω ὁ ἥλιος αὐτοῖς Ἡρακλῆς, ἔστω δ' ὁ Διόνυσος· καὶ τί ταῦτα πρὸς τὸν Διόνυσον; φαίη τις ἂν εἰκότως. τίς γὰρ ἡ τοῦτον γεννήσασα, εἴτε Σεμέλη τις λέγοιτο εἴτε Περσεφόνη; πῶς δ' ἂν εἴη ὁ Διόνυσος ὁμοῦ καὶ ἥλιος καὶ ἡ κατὰ τοὺς ὑγροὺς καρποὺς καὶ τὰ ἀκρόδρυα βλαστῶσα δύναμις; τί δ' ἂν γένοιτο τῶν συστρατευσαμένων αὐτῷ γυναικῶν τὸ πλῆθος; τίς δὲ καὶ ἡ τοῦ ἡλίου, ὥσπερ οὖν ἡ τοῦ Διονύσου, Ἀριάδνη; τί δὲ μᾶλλον οἴνου, οὐχὶ δὲ σίτου καὶ ὀσπρίων καὶ τῶν ἀπὸ γῆς ἁπάντων καρπῶν γένοιτ' ἂν χορηγὸς ὁ Διόνυσος ἐπὶ τὸν ἥλιον μεταγόμενος; | 13.18 "Well, let the sun no longer be Heracles for them, but let it be Dionysus!" And what have these things to do with Dionysus? one might reasonably ask. For who was the woman who bore him, whether she be called Semele or Persephone? And how could Dionysus be simultaneously the sun and the power that sprouts in moist fruits and fruit trees? And what would become of the host of women who campaigned with him? And who is the Ariadne of the sun, just like that of Dionysus? And why should Dionysus, when transferred to the sun, be the provider of wine rather than of wheat, legumes, and all fruits of the earth? |
| 13.19 εἰ δὲ καὶ Ἀσκληπιὸς αὐτοῖς πάλιν εἴη ὁ ἥλιος, πῶς οὗτος ὑπὸ τοῦ Διὸς κεραυνοῦται ῥυπαρᾶς ἕνεκεν αἰσχροκερδείας, κατὰ τὸν Βοιώτιον μελοποιὸν Πίνδαρον ὧδέ πως λέγοντα· «Ἔτραπεν κἀκεῖνον ἀγάνορι μισθῷ χρυσὸς ἐν χερσὶν φανείς, ... χερσὶ δ' ἄρα Κρονίων ῥίψαις δι' ἀμφοῖν ἀμπνοὰν στέρνων κάθελεν ὠκέως, αἴθων δὲ κεραυνὸς ἐνέσκηψεν μόρον.» | 13.19 And if Asclepius should again be the sun for them, how is he struck by Zeus's thunderbolt on account of filthy greed, according to the Boeotian lyric poet Pindar, who speaks somewhat like this: "Gold appearing in his hands turned even him by its splendid reward... and then the son of Cronus, throwing with his hands through both their chests, swiftly took away their breath, and the blazing thunderbolt struck down their fate." [Pindar, Pythian 3] |
| 13.20 τίνες δὲ καὶ οἱ ἐξ ἡλίου Ἀσκληπιάδαι, εἰς μακρὸν τοῦ βίου διαφυλαχθέντες καὶ θνητῶν ἀνδρῶν γένεσιν πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις παραπλησίαν ὑποστησάμενοι; πλὴν ἀλλὰ πάλιν αὐτοῖς, ὥσπερ διὰ μηχανῆς, τὰς αἰσχρὰς καὶ μυθικὰς περὶ θεῶν διηγήσεις ἀποφεύγουσιν, εἰς ἥλιον καὶ σελήνην καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ τοῦ κόσμου μέρη ἀνατρέχοι ἂν ὁ λόγος. | 13.20 And who are the Asclepiadae descended from the sun, who were preserved for a long life and had a human origin similar to all men? Except that again, as if by a stage-machine, when they flee from the shameful and mythical stories about the gods, their argument resorts to the sun, moon, and the remaining parts of the world. |
| 13.21 εἴ γε πῦρ μὲν ἦν αὐτοῖς ὁ Ἥφαιστος καὶ ἡ θερμὴ δύναμις, Ποσειδῶν δὲ ἡ ὑγρὰ οὐσία, Ἥρα δὲ ὁ ἀήρ, καὶ γῆ πάλιν, ἡ μὲν ὄρειος καὶ πετρώδης Ῥέα, ἡ δὲ πεδινὴ καὶ γόνιμος Δημήτηρ, καὶ Κόρη δὲ ἡ σπερματοῦχος, καὶ Διόνυσος ἡ φυτευτικὴ τῶν ἀκροδρύων δύναμις, καὶ ἥλιος Ἀπόλλων σὺν τοῖς κατειλεγμένοις, σελήνη δὲ ποτὲ μὲν Ἄρτεμις, ποτὲ δὲ Ἀθηνᾶ, καὶ πάλιν Ἑκάτη καὶ Εἰλήθυια, οὐκοῦν πάλιν τὴν κτίσιν παρὰ τὸν κτίστην, καὶ τὴν δημιουργίαν τοῦ παντός, ἀλλ' οὐ τὸν δημιουργὸν θεολογοῦντες ἀπελέγχονται, λίαν ἐπισφαλῶς καὶ ἐπικινδύνως καὶ ἐπὶ κακῷ τῆς ἰδίας αὐτῶν κεφαλῆς. | 13.21 If indeed Hephaestus was fire and heat for them, Poseidon the liquid substance, Hera the air, and earth again—Rhea being the mountainous and rocky earth, and Demeter the plain and fertile earth, Korē the seed-bearing power, and Dionysus the planting power of fruit trees, and the sun being Apollo along with those listed, while the moon is sometimes Artemis, sometimes Athena, and again Hecate and Eileithyia—are they not exposed as theologying creation instead of the Creator, and the product of all things instead of the Producer, doing so most precariously, dangerously, and to the injury of their own heads? |
| 13.22 εἰ δὲ μὴ τὰ ὁρώμενα σώματα ἡλίου καὶ σελήνης καὶ ἄστρων μηδέ γε τὰ αἰσθητὰ μέρη τοῦ κόσμου φήσουσι θεοποιεῖν, ἀλλὰ τὰς ἐν τούτοις ἀοράτους δυνάμεις αὐτοῦ δὴ τοῦ ἐπὶ πᾶσιν, (ἕνα γὰρ ὄντα θεὸν παντοίαις δυνάμεσι τὰ πάντα πληροῦν, καὶ διὰ πάντων διήκειν, καὶ τοῖς πᾶσιν ἐπιστατεῖν, ἀσωμάτως δὲ καὶ ἀφανῶς ἐν πᾶσιν ὄντα, καὶ διὰ πάντων διήκοντα, καὶ τοῦτον εἰκότως διὰ τῶν δεδηλωμένων σέβειν φασί) τί δῆτα τοιγαροῦν οὐχὶ τὰς αἰσχρὰς καὶ ἀπρεπεῖς περὶ θεῶν μυθολογίας ὡς ἂν ἀθέσμους καὶ ἀσεβεῖς παραιτησάμενοι, καὶ αὐτάς γε τὰς περὶ τούτων βίβλους, ὡς δυσσεβῆ καὶ ἀκόλαστα περιεχούσας, ἀφανεῖς ποιήσαντες, τὸν ἕνα καὶ μόνον καὶ ἀόρατον θεὸν γυμνῶς καὶ καθαρῶς καὶ ἄνευ τινὸς αἰσχρᾶς περιπλοκῆς ἀνυμνοῦσι; | 13.22 And if they say they do not deify the visible bodies of the sun, moon, and stars, nor the sensible parts of the world, but the invisible powers within them belonging to Him who is over all—(for they say that God, being one, fills all things with various powers, reaches through all, presides over all, and being incorporeally and invisibly in all and reaching through all, He is reasonably worshiped through these manifestation)—why then, having rejected the shameful and improper mythologies concerning the gods as unlawful and impious, and having done away with the books about them as containing impiety and licentiousness, do they not praise the one and only invisible God plainly, purely, and without any shameful entanglement? |
| 13.23 τοῦτο γὰρ δέον ἦν ποιεῖν τοῖς τἀληθὲς ἐπεγνωκόσι, μηδὲ κατάγειν καὶ καταβάλλειν εἰς αἰσχρὰς καὶ ἐμπαθεῖς ἀρρητολογίας τὴν σεβάσμιον τοῦ θεοῦ πρόσρησιν· ἀλλὰ μηδ' ἐν οἰκίσκοις καὶ σκότου μυχοῖς ἀνδρῶν τε οἰκοδομαῖς σφᾶς αὐτοὺς ἐναποκλείειν, ὡς ἔνδον εὑρήσοντας τὸν θεόν, μηδ' ἐν ξοάνοις ἐξ ἀψύχου πεποιημένοις ὕλης τὰς θείας τιμᾶν οἴεσθαι δυνάμεις, μηδὲ μὴν γεώδεσιν ἀτμοῖς αἱμάτων καὶ λύθρου καὶ νεκρῶν ζῴων αἵμασι κεχαρισμένα τῷ θεῷ πράττειν νομίζειν. | 13.23 For this is what those who have recognized the truth ought to do: not to degrade and cast down the venerable title of God into shameful and passionate obscenities, nor to shut themselves up in small rooms, dark nooks, and buildings made by men, as if they would find God within, nor to think they honor divine powers in wooden idols made of lifeless matter, nor indeed to imagine they do things pleasing to God with earthy vapors of blood, gore, and the blood of dead animals. |
| 13.24 τούτων δὲ ἁπάντων, ὡς ἂν πλάνης δεσμῶν ἀπολυθέντας, χρῆν δήπου τοὺς σοφοὺς καὶ μετεωρολέσχας πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις τῆς φυσικῆς θεωρίας ἀφθόνως κοινωνεῖν, μονονουχὶ γυμνῶς προκηρύττοντας ἅπασι μὴ τὰ φαινόμενα, τὸν δ' ἀφανῆ δημιουργὸν τῶν φαινομένων μόνον ἀποθαυμάζειν, καὶ τὰς ἀοράτους αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀσωμάτους δυνάμεις ἀοράτως καὶ ἀσωμάτως θρησκεύειν, οὐ πῦρ ἅψαντας, οὐδέ γε κριὸν καὶ ταῦρον θυσαμένους, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ στεφάνοις καὶ ξοάνοις καὶ ναῶν οἰκοδομαῖς τὸ θεῖον τιμᾶν οἰομένους, λογισμοῖς δὲ κεκαθαρμένοις καὶ δόγμασιν ὀρθοῖς καὶ ἀληθέσι τοῦτο πράττοντας, ἐν ἀπαθείᾳ ψυχῆς καὶ τῇ πρὸς αὐτὸν κατὰ τὸ δυνατὸν τῆς ἀρετῆς ὁμοιώσει. | 13.24 Delivered from all these things as if from the chains of error, the wise men and stargazers ought surely to share the contemplation of nature abundantly with all men, almost openly proclaiming to everyone not to marvel at visible things, but to marvel only at the invisible Creator of visible things, and to worship His invisible and incorporeal powers invisibly and incorporeally—not lighting fires, nor sacrificing rams and bulls, nor thinking to honor the Divine with garlands, idols, and temple buildings, but doing this with purified reasoning and right and true doctrines, in tranquility of soul and in likeness to Him according to virtue as far as possible. |
| 13.25 ἀλλ' οὐδείς γε πώποτε, οὐ βάρβαρος, οὐχ Ἕλλην, πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις ταύτης καῆρξε τῆς ἀληθείας ἢ μόνος ὁ ἡμέτερος σωτήρ· ὃς δὴ τῆς παλαιᾶς πλάνης πᾶσι τοῖς ἔθνεσιν ἀποφυγὴν προκηρύξας τοῖς πᾶσιν ἀφθόνως εὕρετο τὴν πρὸς τὸν ἀληθῆ καὶ μόνον τῶν ὅλων θεὸν ἐπιστροφήν τε καὶ εὐσέβειαν· οἱ δὲ τηνάλλως σοφοὶ τοῦ βίου τὴν ἀνωτάτω φιλοσοφίαν αὐχήσαντες, ᾗ φησιν ὁ θεῖος ἀπόστολος· «γνόντες θεὸν οὐχ ὡς θεὸν ἐδόξασαν, ἢ εὐχαρίστησαν, ἀλλ' ἐματαιώθησαν ἐν τοῖς διαλογισμοῖς αὐτῶν, καὶ ἐσκοτίσθη ἡ ἀσύνετος αὐτῶν καρδία. φήσαντες γοῦν εἶναι σοφοὶ ἐμωράνθησαν, καὶ ἐσεβάσθησαν καὶ ἐλάτρευσαν τῇ κτίσει παρὰ τὸν κτίσαντα, ὅς ἐστιν εὐλογητὸς εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας.» | 13.25 But no one ever—neither barbarian nor Greek—initiated all humanity into this truth except our Savior alone, who, having proclaimed to all nations a way of escape from ancient error, abundantly provided for all the turning toward and piety toward the true and only God of all things. But those who vainly boasted of the highest philosophy of life, as the divine Apostle says: "Although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor gave thanks, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and worshiped and served the creation rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever." [Rom 1:21–25] |
Chapter 14
Having addressed the philosophical allegories in Chapter 13, Eusebius now turns to the ORACLES themselves (as quoted by Porphyry in his Philosophy from Oracles) to demonstrate that the pagan gods explicitly self-identify using traditional, anthropomorphic myths—thereby undermining the attempts of philosophers to explain them away as abstract cosmic forces.
| 14.1 Μετὰ γοῦν τὴν μακρὰν καὶ πολλὴν φιλοσοφίαν καὶ μετὰ τὰς σεμνὰς μετεωρολογίας καὶ φυσιολογίας, ἄνωθέν ποθεν ὡς ἀφ' ὑψηλοτάτης ἀκρωρείας καταπίπτοντες σὺν τοῖς πλήθεσι κατεσύροντο καὶ τῇ τῶν παλαιῶν πολυθέῳ πλάνῃ συνεφύροντο, τὰ τοῖς πολλοῖς ὅμοια, διὰ τοῦ θύειν καὶ τοῖς ξοάνοις προσπίπτειν, δοξάζειν ὑποκρινόμενοι, αὔξοντές τε καὶ ἔτι μᾶλλον κρατύνοντες τὴν δημώδη τῶν μυθικῶν διηγημάτων περὶ θεῶν ὑπόληψιν. | 14.1 "After all their long and voluminous philosophy, and after their solemn treatises on meteorology and physical science, falling down from somewhere high as if from the loftiest mountain peak, they were swept away with the multitudes and mingled in the polytheistic error of the ancients. They feigned beliefs identical to the common crowd by offering sacrifices and falling down before wooden images, thereby increasing and still further strengthening the popular conception of mythical tales concerning the gods. |
| 14.2 πῶς οὖν οὐκ ἂν εἶεν τοῖς πᾶσι πρόδηλοι σεμνολογούμενοι μὲν ταῖς φυσιολογίαις, καὶ μέχρι λόγων τὰ αἰσχρὰ καλλωπίζοντες τῇ παρατροπῇ τῆς ἀληθείας, ἔργοις δ' αὐτοῖς τὴν μυθικὴν συνιστῶντες πλάνην καὶ τὴν πάνδημον δεισιδαιμονίαν; καὶ οὐδέπω τοῦτο θαυμαστόν, ὅτε καὶ αὐτοὺς ἀναγράφουσι τοὺς ἑαυτῶν θεοὺς ταῖς περὶ αὐτῶν συμφερομένους μυθολογίαις. | 14.2 How, then, could it fail to be obvious to everyone that while they speak solemnly in their physical interpretations, beautifying shameful things in word by perverting the truth, in their actual deeds they uphold mythical error and popular superstition? And this is not yet the most remarkable thing, since they even record that their own gods agree with the mythologies told about them! |
| 14.3 ἄκουε γοῦν ὅπως ὁ Ἀπόλλων αὐτὸς περὶ ἑαυτοῦ διδάσκει ὕμνον, ὃν εἰς ἑαυτὸν ἐξέδωκεν, ὁμολογῶν ἐν Δήλῳ τῇ νήσῳ ὑπὸ Λητοῦς γεγεννῆσθαι, καὶ πάλιν ὁ Ἀσκληπιὸς ἐν Τρίκκῃ, ὡς καὶ Ἑρμῆς τετέχθαι ὁμολογῶν ἀπὸ τῆς Μαίας. | 14.3 Listen, then, to how Apollo himself teaches a hymn concerning himself—which he issued in his own honor—confessing that he was born on the island of Delos to Leto; and again Asclepius in Tricca, just as Hermes also confesses that he was born to Maia. |
| 14.4 γράφει δὲ ὁ Πορφύριος καὶ ταῦτα ἐν οἷς ἐπέγραψε Περὶ τῆς ἐκ λογίων φιλοσοφίας, ἔνθα καὶ τῶν χρησμῶν ἐμνημόνευσεν ὧδέ πως ἐχόντων· "Ὦ μέγα πᾶσιν χάρμα βροτοῖσιν, ἀπὸ τῶν ἱερῶν ματέρος ἁγνᾶς προθορὼν τοκετῶν. | 14.4 And Porphyry also writes these things in the work he entitled On the Philosophy from Oracles, where he cited the oracles that run somewhat like this: 'O great joy to all mortals, leaping forth from the sacred birth-pangs of a pure mother!' |
| 14.5 οἷς ἐπιλέγει· ἀλλ' ὅτε Λατῷ ὠδὶς ἱερὰ λάζυτο πᾶσαν, ὀροθυνομένων διδύμων τοκετῶν ἔνδοθι σηκῶν, ἵστατο μὲν γαῖ', ἵστατο δ' ἀήρ, πάγνυτο νᾶσος, πάγνυτο κῦμα· ἀνὰ δ' ἐξέθορες, μάντι Λυκωρεῦ, τοξότα Φοῖβε, καὶ χρησμολάλων βασιλεῦ τριπόδων. | 14.5 To which he adds: 'When sacred birth-pangs seized all Leto, while twin offspring were aroused within her womb, the earth stood still, the air stood still, the island froze, the wave froze; and up you leaped, Lycorean prophet, archer Phoebus, king of oracle-uttering tripods!' |
| 14.6 καὶ ὁ Ἀσκληπιὸς πάλιν περὶ ἑαυτοῦ· Τρίκκης ἐξ ἱερῆς ἥκω θεός, ὅν ποτε μήτηρ Φοίβῳ ὑπευνηθεῖσα κύει σοφίης βασιλῆα, ἴδριν ἰητορίης Ἀσκληπιόν· ἀλλὰ τί πεύθῃ; | 14.6 And Asclepius again concerning himself: 'From sacred Tricca I come, a god, whom once a mother, having lain with Phoebus, bore as king of wisdom, skilled in healing, Asclepius—but why do you ask?' |
| 14.7 ὁ δ' Ἑρμῆς φησιν· ὧδ' ἐγώ, ὃν καλέεις, Ζηνὸς καὶ Μαιάδος υἱός, Ἑρμείης προβέβηκα, λιπὼν ἀστραῖον ἄνακτα. | 14.7 And Hermes says: 'Thus I, whom you call, son of Zeus and Maia, Hermes, have come forth, leaving the starry lord.' |
| 14.8 καὶ τὸ εἶδος δὲ ἑαυτῶν ὑπογράφουσι τοῦ σχήματος, ὥσπερ ὁ Πὰν καὶ αὐτὸς ἐν χρησμοῖς περὶ ἑαυτοῦ τάδε λέγει διδάσκων· Εὔχομαι βροτὸς γεγὼς Πανὶ συμφύτῳ θεῷ, δισσοκέρατι, δισσόποδι, τραγοσκελεῖ, τρυφῶντι." | 14.8 And they even depict the appearance of their own form, just as Pan himself says these things concerning himself in oracles, teaching: 'I, being a mortal, pray to Pan, a naturally united god, double-horned, double-footed, goat-legged, fond of luxury.' |
| 14.9 ταῦτα ἐν ἀπορρήτοις τῆς ἐκ λογίων φιλοσοφίας ὁ δηλωθεὶς ἀνὴρ τέθειται. οὐκέτ' ἄρα ὁ Πὰν σύμβολον ἦν τοῦ παντός, δαίμων δ' ἂν εἴη τις τοιοῦτος οἷος καὶ ὑπογέγραπται ὁ καὶ τὸν χρησμὸν ἐκδούς· οὐ γὰρ δὴ τὸ πᾶν καὶ ὁ σύμπας κόσμος ἔχρησε τὰ προκείμενα. τούτου τοιγαροῦν τοῦ δαίμονος, ἀλλ' οὐ τοῦ παντὸς τὴν εἰκόνα ἐκτυπώσαντες ἄνδρες τὸ προγεγραμμένον ἐμιμήσαντο σχῆμα. | 14.9 The aforementioned man [Porphyry] set down these things among the secrets in Philosophy from Oracles. So Pan was no longer a symbol of the universe (to pan), but would be some daemon of such a kind as he who issued the oracle was depicted to be; for surely the universe and the whole world did not utter these words! Therefore, men who fashioned an image modeled it after the form described above, representing this daemon, but not the universe. |
| 14.10 καὶ ὁ Ἑρμῆς δὲ πῶς ἂν νοοῖτο ὁ τῶν ἁπάντων ποιητικός τε καὶ ἑρμηνευτικὸς λόγος, μητέρα Μαῖαν τὴν Ἄτλαντος ὁμολογῶν ἐσχηκέναι, τήν γε περὶ αὐτοῦ λεγομένην μυθολογίαν, ἀλλ' οὐ φυσιολογίαν ἐγκρίνας; | 14.10 And as for Hermes, how could he be understood as the creative and interpretative Reason (logos) of all things, when he confesses that he had Maia, daughter of Atlas, as his mother—thus endorsing the mythology told about him, but not the physical allegorization? |
| 14.11 οὕτω καὶ ὁ Ἀσκληπιὸς πῶς ἂν μετάγοιτο εἰς ἥλιον, πατρίδα τὴν Τρίκκην ἐπιγραφόμενος καὶ ἀπὸ θνητῆς ὁμολογῶν γεγονέναι μητρός; πῶς δ' ἂν ἥλιος ὢν αὐτὸς τοῦ ἡλίου πάλιν υἱὸς ἀποφανθείη; ἐπεὶ καὶ τὸν αὐτοῦ πατέρα τὸν Φοῖβον οὐκ ἄλλον εἶναι τοῦ ἡλίου ἐφυσιολόγησαν. | 14.11 In the same way, how could Asclepius be transferred into the sun, when he registers Tricca as his homeland and confesses that he was born of a mortal mother? And how could he, if he were himself the sun, be declared to be the son of the sun again? For they allegorized his father Phoebus to be none other than the sun! |
| 14.12 ἐξ ἡλίου δὲ καὶ θνητῆς γυναικὸς φάναι αὐτὸν πῶς οὐ πάντων καταγελαστότατον; ἐπεὶ καὶ αὐτὸν τὸν πατέρα ἥλιον, ὃν δὴ Ἀπόλλωνά φασιν εἶναι, πῶς εἰκὸς ἐν Δήλῳ γεγεννῆσθαι τῇ νήσῳ ὑπὸ θνητῆς πάλιν μητρὸς τῆς Λητοῦς; | 14.12 And to say that he was born of the sun and a mortal woman—how is this not the most laughable thing of all? Furthermore, as for his father the sun himself, whom they say is Apollo, how is it plausible that he was born on the island of Delos, again by a mortal mother, Leto? |
| 14.13 ἐνταῦθά μοι τήρει ὁπόσους Ἕλληνες θεοὺς γεννητοὺς γυναικῶν ἐθεολόγησαν, εἰς παράθεσιν, εἴ ποτε πειρῷντο σκώπτειν τὴν τοῦ ἡμετέρου σωτῆρος γένεσιν, καὶ ὅτι οὐ ποιητῶν εἰσιν αἱ φωναί, ἀλλ' αὐτῶν τῶν θεῶν αἱ προκείμεναι σημειώσεις. | 14.13 Observe here for me how many gods the Greeks theologized as being born of women, for comparison whenever they might attempt to mock the birth of our Savior—and note that these preceding declarations are not the utterances of poets, but the disclosures of the gods themselves." |
Chapter 15
Having placed the philosophers' allegorical interpretations side-by-side with the actual statements made by the oracles, Eusebius now forces a logical dilemma: either the gods are lying in their own oracles, or the philosophers are inventing false theories to cover up the embarrassing anthropomorphism of pagan religion.
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15.1
Ποιητῶν μὲν οὖν, ὥς φασι, μύθους περὶ θεῶν πλαττομένων, φιλοσόφων δὲ φυσιολογούντων, χρῆν δήπου εἰκότως τῶν μὲν καταφρονεῖν, τοὺς δὲ θαυμάζειν ὡς φιλοσόφους, καὶ μᾶλλον τῶν ποιητικῶν λήρων τὰς τῶν κρειττόνων ἐκδέχεσθαι πιθανολογίας·
θεῶν δ’ αὖ πάλιν καὶ φιλοσόφων εἰς ἅμιλλαν κατιόντων, καὶ τῶν μὲν ἐν χρησμοῖς τὰ καθ’ ἑαυτοὺς, ὡς ἂν μᾶλλον εἰδότων, ἀκριβῶς διδασκόντων, τῶν δὲ εἰς ἀσυμφώνους καὶ ἀναποδείκτους εὑρεσιλογίας τὰς περὶ ὧν μὴ ἴσασιν ὑπονοίας ἐκτρεπόντων, τίσιν αἱρεῖ λόγος πείθεσθαι; ἢ τοῦτο οὐδ’ ἐρωτᾶν ἄξιον; |
15.1
"Now, while poets were fabricating myths about gods—as they say—and philosophers were offering physical interpretations, it was reasonably fitting to despise the former and admire the latter as philosophers, accepting the persuasive arguments of superior minds rather than poetic nonsense.
When, on the other hand, the gods and the philosophers enter into competition—the gods accurately teaching their own affairs in oracles as ones who naturally know better, while the philosophers divert their guesses about things they do not know into contradictory and unproven subtle inventions—which side does reason compel us to believe? Or is this something not even worth asking? |
| 15.2 εἰ δὴ οὖν ἀληθεύουσιν οἱ θεοὶ κυροῦντες τὰς περὶ αὐτῶν ἀνθρωποπαθείας, ψευδεῖς ἂν εἶεν οἱ ἀθετοῦντες αὐτάς· εἰ δὲ τῶν φιλοσόφων ἀληθεῖς αἱ φυσιολογίαι, ψευδεῖς γένοιντ’ ἂν αἱ τῶν θεῶν μαρτυρίαι. | 15.2 If, therefore, the gods speak the truth when confirming the human passions attributed to them, then those who reject these attributions must be lying; but if the physical explanations of the philosophers are true, then the testimonies of the gods must be false! |
| 15.3 ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτός, εἴποι τίς ἄν, ὁ Ἀπόλλων ἔφη που ἐν χρησμοῖς ἐρωτηθεὶς περὶ αὑτοῦ ὅστις εἴη· "Ἥλιος, Ὧρος, Ὄσιρις, ἄναξ, Διὸς υἱός, Ἀπόλλων, ὡρῶν καὶ καιρῶν ταμίης, ἀνέμων τε καὶ ὄμβρων, ἠοῦς καὶ νυκτὸς πολυαστέρου ἡνία νωμῶν, ζαφλεγέων ἄστρων βασιλεὺς ἠδ’ ἀθάνατον πῦρ." | 15.3 'Yet Apollo himself,' someone might say, 'stated somewhere in oracles when asked who he was: "Sun, Horus, Osiris, King, Son of Zeus, Apollo, dispenser of seasons and times, of winds and rains, guiding the reins of dawn and starry night, king of blazing stars and immortal fire." |
| 15.4 οὐκοῦν οἱ αὐτοὶ καὶ τοῖς τῶν ποιητῶν μύθοις καὶ ταῖς τῶν φιλοσόφων ὑπονοίαις συμφέρονται, μαχομένοις συνιστάμενοι. εἰ γὰρ μητέρας ἐπιγράφονται θνητὰς καὶ πατρίδας τὰς ἐπὶ γῆς ὁμολογοῦσι, πῶς ἂν εἶεν οἵους φυσιολογοῦσιν; | 15.4 Therefore, the same gods side with both the myths of the poets and the conjectural interpretations of the philosophers, taking both sides of a contradiction! For if they claim mortal mothers and confess to earthly homelands, how could they be such entities as the physical interpreters claim? |
| 15.5 ἔστω γὰρ ὁ Ἀπόλλων ἥλιος — πάλιν γὰρ ἄνω καὶ κάτω εἰς τὰ αὐτὰ περιτρέχων αὐτοῖς ἁλώσεται ὁ λόγος — πῶς οὖν ἡ Δῆλος, ἡ κατὰ θάλατταν εἰσέτι νῦν προφαινομένη νῆσος, γένοιτ’ ἂν τοῦ ἡλίου πατρίς, μήτηρ δὲ ἡ Λητώ; ταυτὶ γὰρ ἀρτίως ἐκύρουν ὡς ἀληθῆ γε ὄντα οἱ αὐτοῦ χρησμοί. πῶς δὲ καὶ τοῦ Ἀσκληπιοῦ, ἀνδρὸς θνητοῦ τὴν φύσιν, γένοιτ’ ἂν ὁ ἥλιος πατήρ, ἐκ θνητῆς αὐτὸν γυναικὸς πεποιημένος; ἀλλὰ παρείσθω ταῦτα. | 15.5 For grant that Apollo is the sun—for again, by running back and forth into the very same arguments, their reasoning will be caught in its own trap—how then could Delos, an island still visible in the sea today, become the birthplace of the sun, and Leto his mother? For his own oracles just recently confirmed these very details as true! And how could the sun become the father of Asclepius—a man mortal by nature—having begotten him by a mortal woman? But let these things pass." |
Chapter 16
In this chapter, Eusebius exposes the absurdity of claiming that heavenly bodies (like the sun, moon, or Hecate) or underworld deities (like Pluto and Serapis) physically descend to deliver oracles or serve human desires.
| 16.1 Τοῦ δὲ χρησμοῦ τὸ ψεῦδος καὶ ἄλλως ἔστιν ἀπελέγχειν. οὐ γὰρ δὴ ὁ ἥλιος οὐρανόθεν αὐτοῖς καταβὰς, ἔπειτα τὸν δοχέα πληρώσας, τὸν χρησμὸν ἀπεφοίβαζεν· ἐπεὶ οὔτε δυνατὸν οὔτε θέμις ἀνάγκαις ἀνθρώπων τὸν τηλικοῦτον ὑποτάττεσθαι φωστῆρα· ἀλλ’ οὐδ’ εἰ φαῖεν τὴν ἐν αὐτῷ θείαν καὶ νοερὰν δύναμιν, ὅτι μηδὲ ταύτης γένοιτ’ ἄν ποτε δεκτικὴ ἀνθρωπεία ψυχή. | 16.1 "Moreover, one can expose the falsehood of the oracle in yet another way. For surely the sun did not descend to them from heaven, fill the medium (dochēus), and then utter the oracle! Because it is neither possible nor lawful for so great a luminary to be subjected to the compulsions of human beings—nor even if they should claim it was the divine and intellectual power within it, since a human soul could never prove receptive to such a power. |
| 16.2 ὁ δ’ αὐτὸς ἂν εἴη λόγος καὶ ἐπὶ σελήνης. εἰ γὰρ τὴν Ἑκάτην αὐτὴν εἶναι φήσουσι καί πως ἀνάγκαις ἀνθρώπων καθέλκεσθαι, καὶ διὰ τοῦ δοχέως χρῆν, εἴς τε αἰσχρὰς καὶ ἐρωτικὰς διακονίας παραλαμβάνεσθαι αὐτὴν ἄρχουσαν τῶν πονηρῶν δαιμόνων, εἰκὸς ἂν εἴη τὴν Ἑκάτην ταῦτα πράττειν· ὃ καὶ ὁ αὐτὸς ὁμολογεῖ συγγραφεύς, ὡς κατὰ καιρὸν ἀπελέγξομεν. | 16.2 The very same argument would apply to the moon as well. For if they claim that Hecate is the moon herself, and that she is somehow dragged down by the compulsions of humans and delivers oracles through the medium, being enlisted for shameful and erotic services even though she rules over evil spirits—then it would be fitting for Hecate to do such things! Which indeed the writer himself admits, as we shall expose in due course. |
| 16.3 πῶς δὲ ὁ Πλούτων καὶ ὁ Σάραπις εἰς τὸν ἥλιον δυνατοὶ ἂν εἶεν φυσιολογεῖσθαι, ὅτε τὸν ἄρχοντα τῶν πονηρῶν δαιμόνων ὁ αὐτὸς πάλιν ἀποφαίνεται τὸν Σάραπιν εἶναι τὸν αὐτὸν τῷ Πλούτωνι; καὶ χρησμοὺς δὲ τοῦ Σαράπιδος ἐγγράφων, πῶς ἂν δύναιτο τοῦ ἡλίου αὐτοὺς λέγειν εἶναι; | 16.3 And how could Pluto and Serapis possibly be allegorized as the sun, when the very same author again declares Serapis—being the same as Pluto—to be the ruler of evil spirits? And since he records oracles of Serapis in writing, how could he claim that these belong to the sun? |
| 16.4 ἀλλὰ γὰρ ἐξ ἁπάντων τούτων λείπεται μηδὲν μὲν ἀληθὲς φέρειν ὁμολογεῖν τὰς δηλωθείσας φυσιολογίας, σοφίσματα δ’ εἶναι σοφιστῶν ἀνδρῶν καὶ εὑρεσιλογίας. | 16.4 For indeed, from all these considerations, the only remaining conclusion is to confess that the aforesaid physical interpretations convey nothing true, but are merely the sophisms and inventive subtilties of clever men." |
Chapter 17
In this chapter, Eusebius delivers his verdict on the pagan gods (identifying them as deceptive daemons playing both sides of the argument), and transitions into Section 17.2–17.3, which serves as the bridge/introduction to Book 4 where he shifts focus from natural/allegorical theology to the civic/political theology, specifically targeting oracles, divine healings, and miraculous manifestations that pagan societies relied upon to justify their cultic practices.
| 17.1 Τοὺς γέ τοι τῶν χρησμῶν ὑπηρέτας ἀληθεῖ λόγῳ φάσκειν δαίμονας εἶναι φαύλους, ἐπ’ ἀνθρώπων ἀπάτῃ τὰ ἀμφότερα παίζοντας, καὶ τοτὲ μὲν συντιθεμένους ταῖς μυθικωτέραις περὶ αὐτῶν ὑπολήψεσιν ἐπὶ τῇ πανδήμῳ πλάνῃ, τοτὲ δὲ τὰ τῆς φιλοσόφου γοητείας ἐπικυροῦντας ἐπὶ τῇ καὶ τούτων ἐπιτριβῇ καὶ φυσιώσει· ὥστε πανταχόθεν ἁλίσκεσθαι μηδὲν αὐτοὺς ἀληθεύειν. | 17.1 "So, to speak truly, one must declare that the ministers of these oracles are evil daemons, playing both sides of the game for the deception of human beings—at one time agreeing with the more mythical conceptions about themselves to foster popular error, and at another time confirming the conceits of philosophical wizardry to bring about the ruin and arrogance of these thinkers as well; so that from every angle they are caught telling not a word of truth. |
| 17.2 Τοσούτων ἡμῖν εἰρημένων καιρὸς ἤδη μεταβάντας τὸ τρίτον εἶδος ἐπελθεῖν τῆς Ἑλλήνων θεολογίας, ὃ δή φασιν εἶναι πολιτικόν τε καὶ νόμιμον. μάλιστα γὰρ ἱκανὸν τοῦτο πρὸς ἔκπληξιν τῶν πολλῶν εἶναι νενόμισται, διά τε τὰ θρυλούμενα μαντεῖα καὶ τὰς διὰ χρησμῶν ἀκέσεις τε καὶ θεραπείας τῶν πεπονθότων σωμάτων, τάς τε κατά τινων ἐπισκήψεις. | 17.2 Having said so much, it is now time for us to pass on and examine the third kind of Greek theology, which they say is the civic and legal kind. For this especially has been thought sufficient to astonish the common crowd, on account of the famous oracles, the cures and healings of afflicted bodies wrought through oracular responses, and the divine visitations brought against certain people. |
| 17.3 ὧν δὴ καὶ διὰ πείρας ἐλθεῖν φάσκοντες εὖ μάλα πεπείκασιν ἑαυτοὺς μὲν εὐσεβοῦντας εἰς τοὺς θεοὺς δίκαια πράττειν, ἡμᾶς δὲ τὰ μέγιστα ἀσεβεῖν, τὰς οὕτως ἐμφανεῖς καὶ εὐεργετικὰς δυνάμεις μὴ ταῖς προσηκούσαις θεραπείαις τιμῶντας. καὶ πρὸς ταῦτ' οὖν ἑτέραν λόγου ἀρχὴν ἀναλαβόντες ὑπαντήσωμεν. | 17.3 And claiming to have personal experience of these things, they have thoroughly convinced themselves that in being pious toward the gods they act justly, but that we commit the greatest impiety by failing to honor with fitting acts of worship powers so manifest and beneficent. Let us therefore meet them on these points by taking up a new starting point for our argument." |