How many,
lamenting their want of children, have through these obtained the object
of their wishes!
lamenting their want of children, have through these obtained the object
of their wishes!
Tacitus
Do you assent to this principle?
For formerly it
appeared, and now still appears, to me to be true. ' Such, therefore,
was the opinion of Plato, and which also was the doctrine of divine men
prior to him. Concerning these, however, and other particulars which the
Christians have corrupted, enough has been said. For he who
{37}
desires to search further into them, may easily be satisfied.
"But why is it requisite to enumerate how many things have been
foretold with a divinely inspired voice, partly by prophetesses and
prophets, and partly by other men and women under the influence of
inspiration? What wonderful things they have heard from the adyta
themselves! How many things have been rendered manifest from victims and
sacrifices to those who have used them! How many from other prodigious
symbols! And to some persons, divinely luminous appearances have been
manifestly present. Of these things indeed the life of every one is
full. How many cities, likewise, have been raised from oracles, and
liberated from disease and pestilence! And how many, neglecting these,
or forgetting them, have perished miserably! How many colonies have been
founded from these, and by observing their mandates have been rendered
happy! How many potentates and private persons have, from attending to
or neglecting these, obtained a better or a worse condition!
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.
appeared, and now still appears, to me to be true. ' Such, therefore,
was the opinion of Plato, and which also was the doctrine of divine men
prior to him. Concerning these, however, and other particulars which the
Christians have corrupted, enough has been said. For he who
{37}
desires to search further into them, may easily be satisfied.
"But why is it requisite to enumerate how many things have been
foretold with a divinely inspired voice, partly by prophetesses and
prophets, and partly by other men and women under the influence of
inspiration? What wonderful things they have heard from the adyta
themselves! How many things have been rendered manifest from victims and
sacrifices to those who have used them! How many from other prodigious
symbols! And to some persons, divinely luminous appearances have been
manifestly present. Of these things indeed the life of every one is
full. How many cities, likewise, have been raised from oracles, and
liberated from disease and pestilence! And how many, neglecting these,
or forgetting them, have perished miserably! How many colonies have been
founded from these, and by observing their mandates have been rendered
happy! How many potentates and private persons have, from attending to
or neglecting these, obtained a better or a worse condition!
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.
