Against the Heathen, Book VI

Book VI

• Against the Heathen VI.1 — 1. Having shown briefly how impious and infamous are the opinions which you have formed about your gods, we have now to speak of their temples, their images also, and sacrifices, and of the other things which are…vatican.va
• Against the Heathen VI.2 — 2. For—that you may learn what are our sentiments and opinions about that race—we think that they—if only they are true gods, that the same things may be said again till you are wearied hearing them—should have all…vatican.va
• Against the Heathen VI.3 — 3. But, we are told, we rear no temples to them, and do not worship their images; we do not slay victims in sacrifice, we do not offer incense and libations of wine. And what greater honour or dignity can we ascribe…vatican.va
• Against the Heathen VI.4 — 4. But, says my opponent, it is not for this reason that we assign temples to the gods as though we wished to ward off from them drenching storms of rain, winds, showers, or the rays of the sun; but in order that we…vatican.va
• Against the Heathen VI.5 — 5. Now, if this be not the case, all hope of help is taken away, and it will be doubtful whether you are heard by the gods or not, if ever you perform the sacred rites with due ceremonies. For, to make it clear, let…vatican.va
• Against the Heathen VI.6 — 6. What can you say as to this, that it is attested by the writings of authors, that many of these temples which have been raised with golden domes and lofty roofs cover bones and ashes, and are sepulchres of the…vatican.va
• Against the Heathen VI.7 — 7. But why do I speak of these trifles? What man is there who is ignorant that in the Capitol of the imperial people is the sepulchre of Tolus Vulcentanus? Who is there, I say, who does not know that from beneath its…vatican.va
• Against the Heathen VI.8 — 8. We have therefore—as I suppose—shown sufficiently, that to the immortal gods temples have been either reared in vain, or built in consequence of insulting opinions held to their dishonour and to the belittling of…vatican.va
• Against the Heathen VI.9 — 9. We worship the gods, you say, by means of images. What then? Without these, do the gods not know that they are worshipped, and will they not think that any honour is shown to them by you? Through bypaths, as it…vatican.va
• Against the Heathen VI.10 — 10. And whence, finally, do you know whether all these images which you form and put in the place of the immortal gods reproduce and bear a resemblance to the gods? For it may happen that in heaven one has a beard…vatican.va
• Against the Heathen VI.11 — 11. You laugh because in ancient times the Persians worshipped rivers, as is told in the writings which hand down these things to memory; the Arabians an unshapen stone; the Scythian nations a sabre; the Thespians a…vatican.va
• Against the Heathen VI.12 — 12. From such causes as these this also has followed, with your connivance, that the wanton fancy of artists has found full scope in representing the bodies of the gods, and giving forms to them, at which even the…vatican.va
• Against the Heathen VI.13 — 13. But why do I laugh at the sickles and tridents which have been given to the gods? why at the horns, hammers, and caps, when I know that certain images have the forms of certain men, and the features of notorious…vatican.va
• Against the Heathen VI.14 — 14. We would here, as if all nations on the earth were present, make one speech, and pour into the ears of them all, words which should be heard in common: Why, pray, is this, O men! that of your own accord you cheat…vatican.va
• Against the Heathen VI.15 — 15. Lo, if some one were to place before you copper in the lump, and not formed into any works of art, masses of unwrought silver, and gold not fashioned into shape, wood, stones, and bones, with all the other…vatican.va
• Against the Heathen VI.16 — 16. And so unmindful and forgetful of what the substance and origin of the images are, you, men, rational beings and endowed with the gift of wisdom and discretion, sink down before pieces of baked earthenware, adore…vatican.va
• Against the Heathen VI.17 — 17. But you err, says my opponent, and are mistaken, for we do not consider either copper, or gold and silver, or those other materials of which statues are made, to be in themselves gods and sacred deities; but in…vatican.va
• Against the Heathen VI.18 — 18. What then? Do the gods remain always in such substances, and do they not go away to any place, even though summoned by the most momentous affairs? or do they have free passage, when they please to go any whither,…vatican.va
• Against the Heathen VI.19 — 19. The gods dwell in images—each wholly in one, or divided into parts, and into members? For neither is it possible that there can be at one time one god in several images, nor, again, divided into parts by his…vatican.va
• Against the Heathen VI.20 — 20. And yet, O you—if it is plain and clear to you that the gods live, and that the inhabitants of heaven dwell in the inner parts of the images, why do you guard, protect, and keep them shut up under the strongest…vatican.va
• Against the Heathen VI.21 — 21. They say that Antiochus of Cyzicum took from its shrine a statue of Jupiter made of gold ten cubits high, and set up in its place one made of copper covered with thin plates of gold. If the gods are present, and…vatican.va
• Against the Heathen VI.22 — 22. But you will perhaps say that the gods do not trouble themselves about these losses, and do not think that there is sufficient cause for them to come forth and inflict punishment upon the offenders for their…vatican.va
• Against the Heathen VI.23 — 23. But perhaps, as you say, the goddesses took the greatest pleasure in these lewd and lustful insults, and did not think that an action requiring vengeance to be taken, which soothed their minds, and which they…vatican.va
• Against the Heathen VI.24 — 24. Here also the advocates of images are wont to say this also, that the ancients knew well that images have no divine nature, and that there is no sense in them, but that they formed them profitably and wisely, for…vatican.va
• Against the Heathen VI.25 — 25. For what grandeur—if you look at the truth without any prejudice—is there in these images of which they speak, that the men of old should have had reason to hope and think that, by beholding them, the vices of…vatican.va
• Against the Heathen VI.26 — 26. O dreadful forms of terror and frightful bugbears on account of which the human race was to be benumbed for ever, to attempt nothing in its utter amazement, and to restrain itself from every wicked and shameful…vatican.va