And neither the
Christians
nor any other man were ever
hostile to this dogma.
hostile to this dogma.
Tacitus
How many,
lamenting their want of children, have through these obtained the object
of their wishes! How many have escaped the anger of dæmons! How many
mutilated bodies have been healed! And again, how many have immediately
suffered for insolent behaviour in
{38}
sacred concerns! some indeed becoming insane on the very spot; others
proclaiming their impious deeds, but others not proclaiming them before
they perished; some destroying themselves, and others becoming a prey
to incurable diseases. And sometimes a dreadful voice issuing from the
adyta has destroyed them*.
"In the next place, is it not absurd that you should desire and hope
for the resurrection of the body, as if nothing was more excellent or
more honourable to us than this; and yet again, that you should hurl
this same body into punishments, as a thing of a vile nature? To men,
however, who are persuaded that this is true, and who are conglutinated
to body, it is not worth while to speak of things of this kind. For
these are men who in other respects are rustic and impure, without
reason, and labouring under the disease of sedition. Indeed, those who
hope that the soul or intellect will exist eternally, whether they
are willing to call it pneumatic**, or an intellectual spirit holy and
blessed, or a living soul, or the supercelestial and
* See the scientific theory of Oracles unfolded in the Notes
to Taylor's translation of Pausanias, vol. iii. p. 259.
** This is said conformably to the opinion of the Stoics.
{39}
incorruptible progeny of a divine and incorporeal nature*, or whatever
other appellation they may think fit to give it; those who thus hope,
(but I say this in accordance with Divinity,) in this respect think
rightly, that those who have lived well in this life will be blessed,
but that those who have been entirely unjust, will be involved in
endless evils.
And neither the Christians nor any other man were ever
hostile to this dogma.
"Since men are bound to body, whether they are so for the sake of the
dispensation of the whole of things, or in order that they may suffer
the punishment of their offences, or in consequence of the soul through
certain passions becoming heavy and tending downwards, till through
certain orderly periods it becomes purified;--for according to
Empedocles, it is necessary that
'From the blest wandering thrice ten thousand times,
Through various mortal forms the soul should pass. '--
* This is asserted in accordance with the doctrine of the
Platonists.
** This 30,000 times must not be considered mathematically;
since it symbolically indicates a certain appropriate
measure of perfection. For in units S is a perfect number,
as having a beginning, middle, and end. And again, 10 is
perfect, because it comprehends all numbers in itself.
These numbers, however, were call-. . .
{40}
This being the case, it is requisite to believe that men are committed
to the care of certain inspective guardians of this prison the body.
"That to the least of things, however, are allotted guardian powers,
may be learnt from the Egyptians, who say that the human body is divided
into thirty-six parts, and that dæmons* or certain etherial gods who are
distributed into the same number of parts, are the guardians of these
divisions of the body. Some also assert, that there is a much greater
number of these presiding powers; different corporeal parts being under
the inspection of different powers. The names of these also in the
vernacular tongue of the Egyptians are Chnoumën, Chnachoumën, Knat,
Sicat, Biou, Erou, Erebiou, Ramanor, Reianoor. What, therefore, should
prevent him from making use of these and other powers, who wishes
rather to be well than to be ill, to be fortunate rather than to be
unfortunate, and to be liberated from such
. . .
lamenting their want of children, have through these obtained the object
of their wishes! How many have escaped the anger of dæmons! How many
mutilated bodies have been healed! And again, how many have immediately
suffered for insolent behaviour in
{38}
sacred concerns! some indeed becoming insane on the very spot; others
proclaiming their impious deeds, but others not proclaiming them before
they perished; some destroying themselves, and others becoming a prey
to incurable diseases. And sometimes a dreadful voice issuing from the
adyta has destroyed them*.
"In the next place, is it not absurd that you should desire and hope
for the resurrection of the body, as if nothing was more excellent or
more honourable to us than this; and yet again, that you should hurl
this same body into punishments, as a thing of a vile nature? To men,
however, who are persuaded that this is true, and who are conglutinated
to body, it is not worth while to speak of things of this kind. For
these are men who in other respects are rustic and impure, without
reason, and labouring under the disease of sedition. Indeed, those who
hope that the soul or intellect will exist eternally, whether they
are willing to call it pneumatic**, or an intellectual spirit holy and
blessed, or a living soul, or the supercelestial and
* See the scientific theory of Oracles unfolded in the Notes
to Taylor's translation of Pausanias, vol. iii. p. 259.
** This is said conformably to the opinion of the Stoics.
{39}
incorruptible progeny of a divine and incorporeal nature*, or whatever
other appellation they may think fit to give it; those who thus hope,
(but I say this in accordance with Divinity,) in this respect think
rightly, that those who have lived well in this life will be blessed,
but that those who have been entirely unjust, will be involved in
endless evils.
And neither the Christians nor any other man were ever
hostile to this dogma.
"Since men are bound to body, whether they are so for the sake of the
dispensation of the whole of things, or in order that they may suffer
the punishment of their offences, or in consequence of the soul through
certain passions becoming heavy and tending downwards, till through
certain orderly periods it becomes purified;--for according to
Empedocles, it is necessary that
'From the blest wandering thrice ten thousand times,
Through various mortal forms the soul should pass. '--
* This is asserted in accordance with the doctrine of the
Platonists.
** This 30,000 times must not be considered mathematically;
since it symbolically indicates a certain appropriate
measure of perfection. For in units S is a perfect number,
as having a beginning, middle, and end. And again, 10 is
perfect, because it comprehends all numbers in itself.
These numbers, however, were call-. . .
{40}
This being the case, it is requisite to believe that men are committed
to the care of certain inspective guardians of this prison the body.
"That to the least of things, however, are allotted guardian powers,
may be learnt from the Egyptians, who say that the human body is divided
into thirty-six parts, and that dæmons* or certain etherial gods who are
distributed into the same number of parts, are the guardians of these
divisions of the body. Some also assert, that there is a much greater
number of these presiding powers; different corporeal parts being under
the inspection of different powers. The names of these also in the
vernacular tongue of the Egyptians are Chnoumën, Chnachoumën, Knat,
Sicat, Biou, Erou, Erebiou, Ramanor, Reianoor. What, therefore, should
prevent him from making use of these and other powers, who wishes
rather to be well than to be ill, to be fortunate rather than to be
unfortunate, and to be liberated from such
. . .
