20. On hearing these
argumentations, the multitudes who were present were exceedingly
delighted; so much so, indeed, that they were almost laying hands on
Manes; and it was with difficulty that Archelaus restrained them, and
kept them back, and made them quiet again. The judges
said: Archelaus has given us proof sufficient of the fact
that the body and soul of man are the works of one hand; because an
object cannot subsist in any proper consonance and unison as the work
of one hand, if there is any want of harmony in the design and
plan. But if it is alleged that one could not possibly have
sufficed to develop both these objects, namely, body and soul,
this is simply to exhibit the incapacity of the artificer. For
thus, even though one should grant that the soul is the creation of a
good deity, it will be found to be but an idle work so far as the man
is concerned, unless it also takes to itself the body. And if,
again, the body is held to be the formation of an evil deity, the work
will also none the less be idle unless it receives the soul; and, in
truth, unless the soul be in unison with the body by commixture and due
introduction, so that
the two are in mutual connections, the man will not exist, neither can
we speak of him. Hence we are of opinion that Archelaus
has proved by a variety of illustrations that there is but one and the
same maker for the whole man. Archelaus said: I
doubt not, Manes, that you understand this, namely, that one who is
born and created1615
| 1615 Reading
“natus est et creatus.” The Codex Casinensis has
“natus est creatus.” |
is called the
son of him who begets or
creates. But if the
wicked one made man,
then he ought to be his
father, according to
nature. And to whom,
then, did the
Lord Jesus address Himself, when in these terms He taught
men to
pray: “When ye
pray, say, Our
Father which art in
heaven;”
1616
and again,
“
Pray to your
Father which is in
secret?”
1617
But it was of
Satan that He spoke
when He said, that He “beheld him as
lightning fall from
heaven;”
1618
so that no
one
dare say that He taught us to
pray to him. And surely
Jesus
did not come down from
heaven with the purpose of bringing men
together, and reconciling them to
Satan; but, on the contrary, He gave
him over to be
bruised beneath the
feet of His
faithful ones.
However, for my part, I would say that those Gentiles are the more
blessed who do indeed bring in a multitude of deities, but at least
hold them all to be of one
mind, and in amity with each other; whereas
this man, though he brings in but two gods, does not blush to posit
enmities and discordant sentiments between them. And, in sooth,
if these
Gentiles were to bring in
1619
| 1619 Codex
Casinensis gives introduceret; but, retaining the reference to
the Gentiles we read introducerent. |
their counterfeit deities under conditions
of that kind, we would verily have it in our power to witness something
like a gladiatorial contest proceeding between them, with their
innumerable natures and diverse sentiments.
E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
