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| Chapter XVIII.—The Gods Themselves Have Been Created, as the Poets Confess.
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Chapter XVIII.—The Gods Themselves Have Been Created, as the Poets Confess.
But, since it is affirmed by some that, although these
are only images, yet there exist gods in honour of whom they are made;
and that the supplications and sacrifices presented to the images are
to be referred to the gods, and are in fact made to the gods;752
and that there is not any
other way of coming to them, for
“’Tis hard for man
To meet in presence visible a God;”753
and whereas, in proof that such is
the fact, they adduce the energies possessed by certain images, let us
examine into the power attached to their names. And I would beseech you,
greatest of emperors, before I enter on this discussion, to be indulgent
to me while I bring forward true considerations; for it is not my design
to show the fallacy of idols, but, by disproving the calumnies vented
against us, to offer a reason for the course of life we follow. May you,
by considering yourselves, be able to discover the heavenly kingdom
also! For as all things are subservient to you, father and son,754
| 754 [See Kaye’s very important
note, refuting Gibbon’s cavil, and illustrating the purpose
of Bishop Bull, in his quotation. On the περιχώρησις,
see Bull, Fid. Nicænæ, iv. cap. 4.] | who
have received the kingdom from above (for “the king’s soul
is in the hand of God,”755
saith the prophetic Spirit), so to the one
God and the Logos proceeding from Him, the Son, apprehended by us as
inseparable from Him, all things are in like manner subjected. This then
especially I beg you carefully to consider. The gods, as they affirm, were
not from the beginning, but every one of them has come into existence just
like ourselves. And in this opinion they all agree. Homer speaks of
“Old Oceanus,
The sire of gods, and Tethys;”756
| 756 Hom., Il., xiv. 201, 302. |
and Orpheus (who, moreover, was the
first to invent their names, and recounted their births, and narrated
the exploits of each, and is believed by them to treat with greater
truth than others of divine things, whom Homer himself follows in most
matters, especially in reference to the gods)—he, too, has fixed
their first origin to be from water:—
“Oceanus, the origin of all.”
For, according to him, water
was the beginning of all things, and from water mud was formed,
and from both was produced an animal, a dragon with the head of a
lion growing to it, and between the two heads there was the face
of a god, named Heracles and Kronos. This Heracles generated
an egg of enormous size, which, on becoming full, was, by the
powerful friction of its generator, burst into two, the part at
the top receiving the form of heaven (οὐρανός),
and the lower part that of earth (γῆ). The goddess Gê moreover,
came forth with a body; and Ouranos, by his union with Gê, begat
females, Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos; and males, the hundred-handed
Cottys, Gyges, Briareus, and the Cyclopes Brontes, and Steropes, and
Argos, whom also he bound and hurled down to Tartarus, having learnt
that he was to be ejected from his government by his children; whereupon
Gê, being enraged, brought forth the Titans.757
“The godlike Gaia bore to Ouranos
Sons who are by the name of Titans known,
Because they vengeance758
took on Ouranos,
Majestic, glitt’ring with his starry crown.”759
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