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| Bardesan. The Book of the Laws of Divers Countries.
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Ancient Syriac Documents.
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Bardesan.3355
| 3355 Lit.
“Son of Daisan,” from a river so called near
Edessa.—Hahn. [Elucidation I.
“The Laws of Countries” is the title. For
“Various Countries” I have used
“Divers.”] |
The Book of the Laws of Divers
Countries.3356
| 3356 Called by
Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., iv. 30, The Discourse on Fate
(῾Ο περὶ
εἱμαρμένης
διάλογος). This
is more correct than the title above given: the
“Laws” are adduced only as illustrations of the argument of
the piece. The subject would, however, be more properly given as
“The Freedom of the Will.” |
Some days since we were
calling3357
| 3357 Lit.
“going in.” Cureton renders, “we went
up.” | to pay a
visit to our brother Shemashgram, and Bardesan came and found us
there. And when he had made inquiries after his health,3358
and ascertained that he was well, he
asked us, “What were you talking about? for I heard your voice
outside as I was coming in.” For it was his habit, whenever
he found us talking about anything before he came,3359
| 3359 Lit.
“before him.” Merx: “ehe er
kam.” | to ask us, “What were you
saying?” that he might talk with us about it.
“Avida here,” said we to him, “was
saying to us, ‘If God is one, as ye say, and if He is the creator
of men, and if it is His will that you should do that which you are
commanded, why did He not so create men that they should not be able to
do wrong, but should constantly be doing that which is right? for in
this way His will would have been accomplished.’”
“Tell me, my son Avida,” said Bardesan to
him, “why it has come into thy mind that the God of all is not
One; or that He is One, but doth not will that men should behave
themselves justly and uprightly?”
“I, sir,” said Avida, “have
asked these brethren, persons of my own age, in order that
‘they’ may return me an answer.”
“If,” said Bardesan to him,
“thou wishest to learn, it were for thy advantage to learn from
some one who is older than they; but if to teach, it is not requisite
for ‘thee’ to ask ‘them,’ but rather
that thou shouldst induce ‘them’ to ask ‘thee’
what they wish. For teachers are ‘asked’ questions,
and do not themselves ask them; or, if they ever do ask a question, it
is to direct the mind of the questioner, so that he may ask properly,
and they may know what his desire is. For it is a good thing that
a man should know how to ask questions.”
“For my part,” said Avida, “I wish to
learn; but I began first of all to question my brethren here, because I
was too bashful to ask thee.”
“Thou speakest becomingly,”3360
| 3360 The word used is
formed from the Greek εὐσχημόνως. [Here observe what is said (in Elucidation I.) by Nöldke
on the Hellenization theory of Mommsen, with reference to this very
work; p. 742, infra.] | said Bardesan. “But know,
nevertheless, that he who asks questions properly, and wishes to be
convinced, and approaches the way of truth without contentiousness, has
no need to be bashful; because he is sure by means of the things I have
mentioned to please him to whom his questions are addressed. If
so be, therefore, my son, thou hast any opinion of thy own3361
| 3361 Lit. “hast
anything in thy mind.” | respecting this matter about which thou
hast asked, tell it to us all; and, if we too approve of it, we shall
express our agreement with thee; and, if we do not approve of it, we
shall be under obligation to show thee why we do not approve of
it. But if thou wast simply desirous of becoming acquainted with
this subject, and hast no opinion of thy own about it, as a man who has
but lately joined the disciples and is a recent inquirer, I will tell
thee respecting it; so that thou mayest not go from us empty
away. If, moreover, thou art pleased with those things which I
shall say to thee, we have other things besides to tell thee3362
| 3362 Lit.
“there are for thee other things also.” | concerning this matter; but, if thou
art not pleased, we on our part shall have stated our views without any
personal feeling.”
“I too,” said Avida, “shall be
much gratified3363
| 3363 *** is here
substituted for the *** of the text, which yields no sense. | to hear and
to be convinced: because it is not from another that I have heard
of this subject, but I have spoken of it to my brethren here out of my
own mind; and they have not cared to convince me; but they say,
‘Only believe, and thou wilt then be able to know
everything.’ But for my part, I cannot believe unless I be
convinced.”
“Not only,” said Bardesan, “is
Avida unwilling to believe, but there are many others also who,
because there is no faith in them, are not even capable of being
convinced; but they are always pulling down and building up, and
so are found destitute of all knowledge of the truth. But
notwithstanding, since Avida is not willing to believe, lo! I will
speak to you who do believe, concerning this matter about which he
asks; and thus he too will hear something further about
it.”
He began accordingly to address us as
follows: “Many men are there who have not faith, and
have not received knowledge from the True Wisdom.3364
In consequence of this, they are
not competent to speak and give instruction to others, nor are
they readily inclined themselves to hear. For they have not the
foundation of faith to build upon, nor have they any confidence on
which to rest their hope. Moreover, because they are accustomed
to doubt even concerning God, they likewise have not in them the fear
of Him, which would of itself deliver them from all other
fears: for he in whom there is no fear of God is the slave of all
sorts of fears. For even with regard to those things of
various kinds which they disbelieve, they are not certain that they
disbelieve them rightly, but they are unsettled in their opinions, and
have no fixed belief,3365
| 3365 Lit. “are
not able to stand.” | and the taste
of their thoughts is insipid in their own mouth; and they are
always haunted with fear, and flushed with excitement, and
reckless.
“But with regard to what Avida has
said: ‘How is it that God did not so make us that we should
not sin and incur condemnation?’—if man had been made so,
he would not have belonged to himself, but would have been the
instrument of him that moved him; and it is evident also, that he who
moves an instrument as he pleases, moves it either for good or
for evil. And how, in that case, would a man differ from a harp,
on which another plays; or from a ship, which another guides:
where the praise and the blame reside in the hand of the performer or
the steersman,3366
| 3366 Or, “in
the hand of the operator;” but it is better to employ two
words. | and the harp
itself knows not what is played on it, nor the ship itself whether it
be well steered and guided or ill, they being only instruments
made for the use of him in whom is the requisite skill?
But God in His benignity chose not so to make man; but by freedom He
exalted him above many of His creatures, and even made
him equal with the angels. For look at the sun, and the moon, and
the signs of the zodiac,3367
| 3367 Or, “and
the sphere.” | and all the
other creatures which are greater than we in some points, and
see how individual freedom has been denied them, and how they are
all fixed in their course by decree, so that they may do that
only which is decreed for them, and nothing else. For the sun
never says, I will not rise at my appointed time; nor the moon, I will
not change, nor wane, nor wax; nor does any one of the stars say, I
will not rise nor set; nor the sea, I will not bear up the ships, nor
stay within my boundaries; nor the mountains, We will not continue in
the places in which we are set; nor do the winds say, We will not blow;
nor the earth, I will not bear up and sustain whatsoever is upon
me. But all these things are servants, and are subject to one
decree: for they are the instruments of the wisdom of God, which
erreth not.
“Not so, however, with man:
for, if everything ministered, who would be he that is ministered
to? And, if everything were ministered to, who would be he that
ministered? In that case, too, there would not be one
thing diverse from another: yet that which is one, and in which
there is no diversity of parts, is a being3368
| 3368 The word
***, here used, occurs subsequently as a designation of the Gnostic
Æons. Here, as Merx observes, it can hardly go beyond its
original meaning of ens, entia, Wesen, that
which is. It evidently refers, however, in this passage to a
system of things, a world. | which up to this time has not been
fashioned. But those things which are destined3369
| 3369 Lit.
“required.” [It is a phenomenon to find this
early specimen of “anthropology” emanating from the far
East, and anticipating the Augustinian controversies on “fixed
fate, free-will, foreknowledge absolute.” Yet the West did
not originate the discussion. See vol. iv. p. 320. See the
ethical or metaphysical side of free-will discussed in Eaton’s
Bampton Lectures for 1872, p. 79, ed. Pott, Young, & Co.,
New York, 1873. On St. Augustine, see Wordsworth’s valuable
remarks in his Bampton Lectures for 1881.] | for ministering have been fixed in the
power of man: because in the image of Elohim3370
| 3370 Gen. i. 27. The Hebrew itself, סיהלא
סלעבֶ is given in Syriac
characters, without translation. | was he made. Therefore have these
things, in the benignity of God, been given to him, that they
may minister to him for a season. It has also been given to him
to be guided by his own will; so that whatever he is able to do, if he
will he may do it, and if he do not will he may not do it, and that
so he may justify himself or condemn. For, had he been made
so as not to be able to do evil and thereby incur condemnation, in like
manner also the good which he did would not have been his own, and he
could not have been justified by it. For, if any one should not
of his own will do that which is good or that which is evil, his
justification and his condemnation would rest simply with that Fortune
to which he is subjected.3371
| 3371 Cureton renders,
“for which he is created.” Merx has, “das ihn
gemacht hat.” |
“It will therefore be manifest to you, that the
goodness of God is great toward man, and that freedom has been given to him in greater
measure than to any of those elemental bodies3372
of which we have spoken, in order
that by this freedom he may justify himself, and order his conduct in a
godlike manner, and be copartner with angels, who are likewise
possessed of personal freedom. For we are sure that, if the
angels likewise had not been possessed of personal freedom, they would
not have consorted with the daughters of men, and sinned, and fallen
from their places. In like manner, too, those other
angels, who did the will of their Lord, were, by reason of their
self-control, raised to higher rank, and sanctified, and received noble
gifts. For every being in existence is in need of the Lord of
all; of His gifts also there is no end.
Know ye, however, notwithstanding what I have
said, that even those things of which I have spoken as subsisting
by decree are not absolutely destitute of all freedom; and on this
account, at the last day, they will all be made subject to
judgment.”
“But how,” said I to him,
“should those things which are fixed and regulated by
decree be judged?”
“Not inasmuch as they are fixed, O
Philip,” said he, “will the elements be judged, but
inasmuch as they are endowed with power. For beings3373
| 3373 ***, that
which exists, especially that which has an independent existence, is
used here of the Gnostic Æons. They were so called in
respect of their pre-existence, their existence independent of time or
creation. When they came to be “created,” or more
properly “fashioned,” they were called
“emanations.” | are not deprived of their natural
properties3374
when they
come to be fashioned, but only of the full exercise of their
strength,3375
| 3375 Lit.
“the strength of their exactness,” i.e., their exact (or
complete) strength. Cureton has, “their force of
energy.” | suffering a
decrease3376
| 3376 “being
lessened,” or “lowered.” | of
power through their intermingling one with another, and being kept
in subjection by the power of their Maker; and in so far as they are in
subjection they will not be judged, but in respect of that only
which is under their own control.”
“Those things,” said Avida to him,
“which thou hast said, are very good; but, lo! the commands which
have been given to men are severe, and they cannot perform
them.”
“This,” said Bardesan, “is the
saying of one who has not the will to do that which is right; nay,
more, of him who has already yielded obedience and submission to
his foe. For men have not been commanded to do anything but that
which they are able to do. For the commandments set before us are
only two, and they are such as are compatible with freedom and
consistent with equity: one, that we refrain from everything
which is wrong, and which we should not like to have done to ourselves;
and the other, that we should do that which is right, and which we love
and are pleased to have done to us likewise. Who, then, is the
man that is too weak to avoid stealing, or to avoid lying, or to avoid
acts of profligacy, or to avoid hatred and deception? For, lo!
all these things are under the control of the mind of man; and
are not dependent on3377
| 3377 Lit. “do
not take place by.” | the
strength of the body, but on the will of the soul. For even if a
man be poor, and sick, and old, and disabled in his limbs, he is able
to avoid doing all these things. And, as he is able to avoid
doing these things, so is he able to love, and to bless, and to speak
the truth, and to pray for what is good for every one with whom he is
acquainted; and if he be in health, and capable of
working,3378
| 3378 Cureton
renders, “have the use of his hands:” Merx gives
“etwas erwirbt.” | he is able
also to give of that which he has; moreover, to support with strength
of body him that is sick and enfeebled—this also he can
do.
“Who, then, it is that is not capable of
doing that which men destitute of faith complain of, I know not.
For my part, I think that it is precisely in respect to these
commandments that man has more power than in anything
else. For they are easy, and there are no circumstances
that can hinder their performance. For we are not commanded to
carry heavy loads of stones, or of timber, or of anything else, which
those only who have great bodily strength can do; nor to build
fortresses3379
and found
cities, which kings only can do; nor to steer a ship, which mariners
only have the skill to steer; nor to measure and divide land, which
land-measurers only know how to do; nor to practise any
one of those arts which are possessed by some, while the rest are
destitute of them. But there have been given to us, in accordance
with the benignity of God, commandments having no harshness in
them3380
| 3380 Lit.
“without ill-will.” | —such as any living man
whatsoever3381
| 3381 Lit.
“every man in whom there is a soul.” | may rejoice
to do.3382
| 3382 Lit.
“can do rejoicing.” | For
there is no man that does not rejoice when he does that which is right,
nor any one that is not gladdened within himself if he abstains from
things that are bad—except those who were not created for this
good thing, and are called tares.3383
For would not the judge be unjust who should censure a man with regard
to any such thing as he has not the ability to do?”
“Sayest thou of these deeds, O Bardesan,”
said Avida to him, “that they are easy to do?”
“To him that hath the will,” said
Bardesan, “I have said, and do still say, that they are
easy. For this obedience I contend for is the proper
behaviour of a free mind,3384
| 3384 Lit. “a
mind the son of the free.” | and of the
soul which has not revolted
against its governors. As for the action of the body, there are
many things which hinder it: especially old age, and sickness,
and poverty.”
“Possibly,” said Avida, “a man
may be able to abstain from the things that are bad; but as for doing
the things that are good, what man is capable of
this?”
“It is easier,” said Bardesan,
“to do good than to abstain from evil. For the good comes
from the man himself,3385
| 3385 Lit. “is
the man’s own.” | and
therefore he rejoices whenever he does good; but the evil is the work
of the Enemy, and therefore it is that, only when a man is
excited by some evil passion, and is not in his sound natural
condition,3386
| 3386 Lit. “is
not sound in his nature.” | he does the
things that are bad. For know, my son, that for a man to praise
and bless his friend is an easy thing; but for a man to refrain from
taunting and reviling one whom he hates is not easy:
nevertheless, it is possible. When, too, a man does that which is
right, his mind is gladdened, and his conscience at ease, and he is
pleased for every one to see what he does. But, when a man
behaves amiss and commits wrong, he is troubled and excited, and full
of anger and rage, and distressed in his soul and in his body; and,
when he is in this state of mind, he does not like to be seen by
any one; and even those things in which he rejoices, and which are
accompanied with praise and blessing from others, are spurned
from his thoughts, while those things by which he is agitated and
disturbed are rendered more distressing to him because
accompanied by the curse of conscious guilt.
“Perhaps, however, some one will say that
fools also are pleased when they do abominable things.
Undoubtedly: but not because they do them as such,
nor because they receive any conmendation for them, nor because
they do them with a good hope;3387
nor does the pleasure itself stay
long with them. For the pleasure which is experienced in a
healthy state of the soul, with a good hope, is one thing; and
the pleasure of a diseased state of the soul, with a bad hope,
is another. For lust is one thing, and love is another; and
friendship is one thing, and good-fellowship another; and we ought
without any difficulty to understand that the false counterfeit of
affection which is called lust, even though there be in it the
enjoyment of the moment, is nevertheless widely different from true
affection, whose enjoyment is for ever, incorruptible and
indestructible.”
“Avida here,” said I to him, “has also
been speaking thus: ‘It is from his nature that man does
wrong; for, were he not naturally formed to do wrong, he would not do
it.’”
“If all men,” said Bardesan,
“acted alike,3388
| 3388 Lit.
“did one deed.” | and
followed one bias,3389
| 3389 Lit.
“used one mind.” | it would
then be manifest that it was their nature that guided them, and
that they had not that freedom of which I have been speaking to
you. That you may understand, however, what is nature and what is
freedom, I will proceed to inform you.
“The nature of man is, that he should be
born, and grow up, and rise to his full stature, and produce children,
and grow old, eating and drinking, and sleeping and waking, and that
then he should die. These things, because they are of
nature, belong to all men; and not to all men only, but also to all
animals whatsoever,3390
| 3390 Lit. “in
whom there is a soul.” | and some of
them also to trees. For this is the work of physical
nature,3391
which makes
and produces and regulates everything just as it has been
commanded. Nature, I say, is found to be maintained among animals
also in their actions. For the lion eats flesh, in accordance
with his nature; and therefore all lions are eaters of flesh. The
sheep eats grass; and therefore all sheep are eaters of grass.
The bee makes honey, by which it is sustained; therefore all bees are
makers of honey. The ant collects for herself a store in summer,
from which to sustain herself in winter; and therefore do all ants act
likewise. The scorpion strikes with its sting him who has not
hurt it; and thus do all scorpions strike. Thus all animals
preserve their nature: the eaters of flesh do not eat herbage;
nor do the eaters of herbage eat flesh.
“Men, on the contrary, are not governed
thus; but, whilst in the matters pertaining to their bodies they
preserve their nature like animals, in the matters pertaining to their
minds they do that which they choose, as those who are free,3392
and endowed with power, and as made
in the likeness of God. For there are some of them that eat
flesh, and do not touch bread; and there are some of them that make a
distinction between the several kinds of flesh-food; and there
are some of them that do not eat the flesh of any animal
whatever.3393
| 3393 Lit. “in
which there is a soul.” | There
are some of them that become the husbands of their mothers, and of
their sisters, and of their daughters; and there are some who do not
consort with women at all. There are those who take it upon
themselves to inflict vengeance, like lions and leopards; and
there are those who strike him that has not done them any wrong, like
scorpions; and there are those that are led like sheep, and do not harm
their conductors. There are some that behave themselves with
kindness, and some with
justice, and some with wickedness.
“If any one should say that each one of them
has a nature so to do, let him be assured3394
that it is not so. For there are
those who once were profligates and drunkards; and, when the
admonition of good counsels reached them, they became pure and
sober,3395
| 3395 Lit.
“patient,” i.e., tolerant of the craving which seeks
gratification. | and spurned
their bodily appetites. And there are those who once
behaved with purity and sobriety; and when they turned away from right
admonition, and dared to set themselves against the commands of Deity
and of their teachers, they fell from the way of truth, and became
profligates and revellers. And there are those who after their
fall repented again, and fear came and abode upon them, and they
turned themselves afresh towards the truth which they had
before held.3396
| 3396 Lit. “in
which they had stood.” |
“What, therefore, is the nature of
man? For, lo! all men differ one from another in their conduct
and in their aims,3397
and such
only as are of3398
| 3398 Lit.
“have stood in.” | one mind
and of one purpose resemble one another. But those men who, up to
the present moment, have been enticed by their appetites and governed
by their anger, are resolved to ascribe any wrong they do to their
Maker, that they themselves may be found faultless, and that He who
made them may, in the idle talk of men,3399
| 3399 So Merx,
“in either Rede.” Cureton, “by a vain
plea.” | bear the blame. They do not
consider that nature is amenable to no law. For a man is not
found fault with for being tall or short in his stature, or white or
black, or because his eyes are large or small, or for any bodily defect
whatsoever; but he is found fault with if he steal, or lie, or practise
deceit, or poison another, or be abusive, or do any other
such-like things.
“From hence, lo! it will be evident, that
for those things which are not in our own hands, but which we have from
nature, we are in no wise condemned, nor are we in any wise justified;
but by those things which we do in the exercise of our personal
freedom, if they be right we are justified and entitled to praise, and
if they be wrong we are condemned and subjected to
blame.”
Again we questioned him, and said to him:
“There are others who say that men are governed by the decree of
Fate, so as to act at one time wickedly, and at another time
well.”
“I too am aware, O Philip and
Baryama,” said he to us, “that there are such
men: those who are called Chaldæans, and also others who are
fond of this subtle knowledge,3400
| 3400 Lit. “this
knowledge of art (or skill).” | as I myself also
once was. For it has been said by me in another place,3401
| 3401 To what other work
of his he refers is not known. | that the soul of man longs3402
| 3402 Cureton,
“is capable.” Dr. Payne Smith (Thes. Syr.,
s.v.) says, referring to *** as used in this passage:
“eget, cupit, significare
videtur.” | to know that which the many are ignorant
of, and those men make it their aim to do this;3403
| 3403 So Dr. Payne
Smith. Merx renders, “Even that which men desire to
do.” Cureton has, “and the same men meditate to
do.” | and that all the wrong which
men commit, and all that they do aright, and all those things
which happen to them, as regards riches and poverty, and sickness and
health, and blemishes of the body, come to them through the governance
of those stars which are called the Seven;3404
| 3404 Lit. “the
sevenths.” |
and that they are, in fact, governed by them. But there
are others who affirm the opposite of these things,—how that this
art is a lying invention of the astrologers;3405
or that Fate has no existence whatever, but is an empty name; that,
on the contrary, all things, great and small, are placed in the
hands of man; and that bodily blemishes and faults simply befall and
happen to him by chance. But others, again, say that
whatsoever a man does he does of his own will, in the exercise
of the freedom which has been given to him, and that the faults and
blemishes and other untoward things which befall him he receives
as punishment from God.
“For myself, however according to my weak
judgment,3406
the matter
appears to stand thus: that these three opinions3407
| 3407 Or
“sects” (αἱρέσεις). | are partly to be accepted as true, and
partly to be rejected as false;—accepted as true, because men
speak after the appearances which they see, and also because these men
see how things come upon them as if accidentally; to be set
aside as fallacious, because the wisdom of God is too profound3408
for them—that wisdom which
founded the world, and created man, and ordained Governors, and gave to
all things the degree of pre-eminence which is suited to every
one of them. What I mean is, that this power is possessed by God,
and the Angels, and the Potentates,3409
| 3409 ***,
Shlitâne. [Of Angels, see vol. i. p. 269.] | and the
Governors,3410
| 3410 ***,
Medabhrâne. Merx, p. 74, referring to the Peshito of Gen. i.
16, thinks that by the Potentates are meant the sun and moon, and by
the Governors the five planets. | and the Elements,
and men, and animals; but that this power has not been given to
all these orders of beings of which I have spoken in respect to
everything (for He that has power over everything is One); but over
some things they have power, and over some things they have not power,
as I have been saying: in order that in those things over which
they have power the goodness
of God may be seen, and in those over which they have no power they may
know that they have a Superior.
“There is, then, such a thing as
Fate, as the astrologers say. That everything, moreover, is not
under the control of our will, is apparent from this—that the
majority of men have had the will to be rich, and to exercise dominion
over their fellows, and to be healthy in their bodies, and to have
things in subjection to them as they please; but that wealth is not
found except with a few, nor dominion except with one here and another
there, nor health of body with all men; and that even those who
are rich do not have complete possession of their riches, nor do those
who are in power have things in subjection to them as they wish, but
that sometimes things are disobedient to them as they do not
wish; and that at one time the rich are rich as they desire, and at
another time they become poor as they do not desire; and that those who
are thoroughly poor have dwellings such as they do not wish, and pass
their lives in the world as they do not like, and covet many
things which only flee from them. Many have children, and
do not rear them; others rear them, and do not retain possession of
them; others retain possession of them, and they become a disgrace and
a sorrow to their parents. Some are rich, as they wish,
and are afflicted with ill-health, as they do not wish; others are
blessed with good health, as they wish, and afflicted with poverty, as
they do not wish. There are those who have in abundance the
things they wish for, and but few of those things for which they do not
wish; and there are others who have in abundance the things they do not
wish for, and but few of those for which they do wish.3411
| 3411 [The book of
Job and the Book of Ecclesiastes, with the eloquent and pathetic
remonstrance (chap. iii. 18–22) “concerning the estate of
the sons of men,” are proofs that God foresaw the struggles of
faith against the apparently unequal ways and rulings of
Providence. For popular answers see Parnell’s
Hermit, and Addison, Spectator, No. 237. But a
valuable comment may be found in Wordsworth’s Bampton
Lectures (for 1881) on the one Religion, p. 5, Oxford,
Parker, 1881.] |
“And so the matter is found to stand
thus: that wealth, and honours, and health, and sickness, and
children, and all the other various objects of desire, are
placed under the control of Fate, and are not in our own power;
but that, on the contrary, while we are pleased and delighted
with such things as are in accordance with our wishes, towards such as
we do not wish for we are drawn by force; and, from those things which
happen to us when we are not pleased, it is evident that those things
also with which we are pleased do not happen to us because we desire
them; but that things happen as they do happen, and with some of them
we are pleased, and with others not.
“And thus we men are found to be
governed by Nature all alike, and by Fate variously, and by our freedom
each as he chooses.
“But let us now proceed to show with respect
to Fate that it has not power over everything. Clearly
not: because that which is called Fate is itself nothing
more than a certain order of procession,3412
| 3412 Merx renders
*** by “emanation,” quoting two passages from Eph. Syr.
where the root *** is used of the issuing of water from a
fountain. Dr. Payne Smith says: “The word seems to
mean no more than cursus: cf. Eusb., Theoph., i.
31. 5, 55. 1, 83, 22, where it is used of the stars; and i. 74. 13,
where it means the course of nature.” | which has been given to the Potentates
and Elements by God; and, in conformity with this said procession and
order, intelligences3413
undergo change
when they descend3414
| 3414 Lit. “in
their descents.” | to be
with the soul, and souls undergo change when they descend3415
| 3415 Lit. “in
their descents.” | to be with bodies; and this
order, under the name of Fate and γένεσις,3416
| 3416 Or
“nativity,” “natal hour” (*** = place of birth,
“Geburtshaus:” Merx). | is the agent of the changes3417
| 3417 Lit. “this
agent of change.” Cureton, “this
alternation.” “Das diese Veränderung bewirkende
Agens” is the rendering of Merx. | that take place in this assemblage
of parts of which man consists,3418
| 3418 Dr. Payne Smith
thinks the reference to be to the Gnostic νοῦς, ψυχή, and σῶμα, which seem to be spoken of
just before. This difficult passage is rendered by Cureton:
“And this alternation itself is called the Fortune, and the
Nativity of this assemblage, which is being sifted and purified for the
assistance of that which,” etc. Merx has,
“…zur Unterstützung des Dinges,
welches…unterstützt worden ist und unterstützt bleibt
bis zur Vernichtung des Weltalls.” | which is being sifted and purified
for the benefit of whatsoever by the grace of God and by goodness
has been benefited, and is being and will continue to be
benefited until the close of all things.
“The body, then, is governed by Nature, the
soul also sharing in its experiences and sensations; and the body is
neither hindered nor helped by Fate in the several acts it
performs. For a man does not become a father before the age of
fifteen, nor does a woman become a mother before the age of
thirteen. In like manner, too, there is a law for old age:
for women then become incapable of bearing, and men cease to
possess the natural power of begetting children; while other animals,
which are likewise governed by their nature, do, even before
those ages I have mentioned, not only produce offspring, but also
become too old to do so, just as the bodies of men also, when they are
grown old, cease to propagate: nor is Fate able to give them
offspring at a time when the body has not the natural power to give
them. Neither, again, is Fate able to preserve the body of man in
life without meat and drink; nor yet, even when it has meat and drink,
to grant it exemption from death: for these and many other things
belong exclusively to Nature.3419
“But, when the times and methods of Nature
have had their full scope,
then does Fate come and make its appearance among them, and produce
effects of various kinds: at one time helping Nature and
augmenting its power, and at another crippling and baffling
it. Thus, from Nature comes the growth and perfecting of the
body; but apart from Nature, that is by Fate, come diseases and
blemishes in the body. From Nature comes the union of male and
female, and the unalloyed happiness of them both; but from Fate comes
hatred and the dissolution of the union, and, moreover, all that
impurity and lasciviousness which by reason of the natural
propensity to intercourse men practise in their lust. From
Nature comes birth and children; and from Fate, that sometimes the
children are deformed, and sometimes are cast away, and sometimes die
before their time. From Nature comes a supply of
nourishment sufficient for the bodies of all
creatures;3420
| 3420 Lit. “a
sufficiency in measure for all bodies.” | and from Fate
comes the want of sustenance, and consequent suffering in those
bodies; and so, again, from the same Fate comes gluttony and
unnecessary luxury. Nature ordains that the aged shall be judges
for the young, and the wise for the foolish, and that the strong shall
be set over3421
the weak, and
the brave over the timid; but Fate brings it to pass that striplings
are set over the aged, and the foolish over the wise, and that in time
of war the weak command the strong, and the timid the brave.
“You must distinctly understand3422
| 3422 Lit. “know
ye distinctly.” | that, in all cases in which Nature is
disturbed from its direct course, its disturbance comes by reason of
Fate; and this happens because the Chiefs3423
and Governors, with whom rests that
agency of change3424
| 3424 Lit. “agent
of change,” as above. Merx: “das
Veränderungs-princip.” | which is
called Nativity, are opposed to one another. Some of them, which
are called Dexter, are those which help Nature, and add to its
predominance,3425
whenever the
procession is favourable to them, and they stand in those regions of
the zodiac which are in the ascendant, in their own portions.3426
| 3426 i.e., zones
of the earth. See p. 732, note 2, infra. | Those, on the contrary, which are
called Sinister are evil, and whenever they in their turn are in
possession of the ascendant they act in opposition to Nature; and not
on men only do they inflict harm, but at times on animals also, and
trees, and fruits, and the produce of the year, and fountains of water,
and, in short, on everything that is comprised within Nature,
which is under their government.
“And in consequence of
this,—namely, the divisions and parties which exist among
the Potentates,—some men have thought that the world is governed
by these contending powers without any superintendence from
above. But that is because they do not understand that
this very thing—I mean the parties and divisions
subsisting among them,—and the justification and
condemnation consequent on their behaviour, belong to that
constitution of things founded in freedom which has been given by God,
to the end that these agents likewise, by reason of their
self-determining power,3427
| 3427 Or, “power
as to themselves.” | may be either
justified or condemned. Just as we see that Fate crushes Nature,
so can we also see the freedom of man defeating and crushing Fate
itself,—not, however, in everything,—just as also Fate
itself does not in everything defeat Nature. For it is proper
that the three things, Nature, and Fate, and Freedom, should be
continued in existence until the procession of which I before
spoke be completed, and the appointed measure and number
of its evolutions be accomplished, even as it seemed good to Him
who ordains of what kind shall be the mode of life and the end of all
creatures, and the condition of all beings and
natures.”
“I am convinced,” said Avida,
“by the arguments thou hast brought forward, that it is not from
his nature that a man does wrong, and also that all men are not
governed alike. If thou canst further prove also that it is not
from Fate and Destiny that those who do wrong so act, then will it be
incumbent on us to believe that man possesses personal freedom, and by
his nature has the power both to follow that which is right and
to avoid that which is wrong, and will therefore also justly be judged
at the last day.”
“Art thou,” said Bardesan, “by
the fact that all men are not governed alike, convinced that it is not
from their nature that they do wrong? Why, then, thou canst not
possibly escape the conviction3428
| 3428 Lit. “the
matter compels thee to be convinced.” | that neither
also from Fate exclusively do they do wrong, if we are able to show
thee that the sentence of the Fates and Potentates does not influence
all men alike, but that we have freedom in our own selves, so that we
can avoid serving physical nature and being influenced by the control
of the Potentates.”
“Prove me this,” said Avida, “and I
will be convinced by thee, and whatsoever thou shalt enjoin upon me I
will do.”
“Hast thou,” said Bardesan,
“read the books of the astrologers3429
who are in Babylon, in which is
described what effects the stars have in their various
combinations at the Nativities of men; and the books of the Egyptians,
in which are described all the various characters which men
happen to have?”
“I have
read books of astrology,”3430
said
Avida, “but I do not know which are those of the Babylonians and
which those of the Egyptians.”
“The teaching of both countries,” said
Bardesan, “is the same.”
“It is well known to be so,” said Avida.
“Listen, then,” said Bardesan,
“and observe, that that which the stars decree by their Fate and
their portions is not practised by all men alike who are in all
parts of the earth. For men have made laws for
themselves in various countries, in the exercise of that
freedom which was given them by God: forasmuch as this gift is in
its very nature opposed to that Fate emanating from the Potentates, who
assume to themselves that which was not given them. I will begin
my enumeration of these laws, so far as I can remember
them, from the East, the beginning of the whole
world:—
“Laws of the Seres.—The Seres
have laws forbidding to kill, or to commit impurity, or to worship
idols; and in the whole of Serica there are no idols, and no harlots,
nor any one that kills a man, nor any that is killed: although
they, like other men, are born at all hours and on all days. Thus
the fierce Mars, whensoever he is ‘posited’ in the zenith,
does not overpower the freedom of the Seres, and compel a man to shed
the blood of his fellow with an iron weapon; nor does Venus, when
posited with Mars, compel any man whatever among the Seres to consort
with his neighbour’s wife, or with any other woman.
Rich and poor, however, and sick people and healthy, and rulers and
subjects, are there: because such matters are given into the
power of the Governors.
“Laws of the Brahmans who are in
India.—Again, among the Hindoos, the Brahmans, of whom there
are many thousands and tens of thousands, have a law forbidding to kill
at all, or to pay reverence to idols, or to commit impurity, or to eat
flesh, or to drink wine; and among these people not one of these things
ever takes place. Thousands of years, too, have elapsed,
during which these men, lo! have been governed by this law which they
made for themselves.
“Another Law which is in
India.—There is also another law in India, and in the same
zone,3431
| 3431 The Greek
κλίμα,
denoting one of the seven belts (see p. 732, below) into which the
earth’s latitude was said to be divided. The Arabs also
borrowed the word. | prevailing among those who are not of
the caste3432
of the
Brahmans, and do not embrace their teaching, bidding them serve idols,
and commit impurity, and kill, and do other bad things, which by the
Brahmans are disapproved. In the same zone of India, too, there
are men who are in the habit of eating the flesh of men, just as all
other nations eat the flesh of animals. Thus the evil stars have
not compelled the Brahmans to do evil and impure things; nor have the
good stars prevailed on the rest of the Hindoos to abstain from doing
evil things; nor have those stars which are well ‘located’
in the regions which properly belong to them,3433
| 3433 That is, their
own “houses,” as below. Each house had one of the
heavenly bodies as its “lord,” who was stronger, or better
“located” in his own house than in any other. Also,
of two planets equally strong in other respects, that which was in the
strongest house was the stronger. The strength of the houses was
determined by the order in which they rose, the strongest being that
about to rise, which was called the ascendant. | and in the signs of the zodiac
favourable to a humane disposition,3434
prevailed on those who eat the flesh of men to abstain from using this
foul and abominable food.
“Laws of the Persians.—The
Persians, again, have made themselves laws permitting them to take as
wives their sisters, and their daughters, and their daughters’
daughters; and there are some who go yet further, and take even their
mothers. Some of these said Persians are scattered abroad,
away from their country, and are found in Media, and in
the country of the Parthians,3435
and in Egypt,
and in Phrygia (they are called Magi); and in all the countries and
zones in which they are found, they are governed by this law
which was made for their fathers. Yet we cannot say that for all
the Magi, and for the rest of the Persians, Venus was posited with the
Moon and with Saturn in the house of Saturn in her portions, while the
aspect of Mars was toward them.3436
| 3436 Lit.
“while Mars was witness to them.” |
There are many places, too, in the kingdom of the Parthians, where men
kill their wives, and their brothers, and their children, and incur no
penalty; while among the Romans and the Greeks, he that kills one of
these incurs capital punishment, the severest of penalties.
“Laws of the Geli.—Among the
Geli the women sow and reap, and build, and perform all the tasks of
labourers, and wear no raiment of colours, and put on no shoes, and use
no pleasant ointments; nor does any one find fault with them when they
consort with strangers, or cultivate intimacies with their household
slaves. But the husbands of these Gelæ are dressed in
garments of colours, and ornamented with gold and jewels, and anoint
themselves with pleasant ointments. Nor is it on account of any
effeminacy on their part that they act in this manner, but on account
of the law which has been made for them: in fact, all the men are
fond of hunting and addicted to war. But we cannot say that for
all the women of the Geli Venus was posited in Capricorn or in
Aquarius, in a position of ill luck; nor can we possibly say that for
all the Geli Mars and Venus were posited in Aries, where it is written that brave and
wanton3437
| 3437 The
difficult word *** is not found in the lexicons. Dr. Payne Smith
remarks that it could only come from ***, which verb, however, throws
away its ***, so that the form would be ***. He suggests,
doubtfully, that the right reading is ***, from ***, which is used
occasionally for appetite, and forms such an adjective in the
sense of animosus, animâ præditus; and that if
so, it may, like *** in Jude 19 and 1 Cor.
xv. 44, 46, be = ψυχικοί,
having an animal nature, sensual. Eusebius and
Cæsarius have σπατάλους,
a word of similar force. | men are
born.
“Laws of the Bactrians.—Among
the Bactrians, who are called Cashani, the women adorn themselves with
the goodly raiment of men, and with much gold, and with costly jewels;
and the slaves and handmaids minister to them more than to their
husbands; and they ride on horses decked out with trapping of gold and
with precious stones.3438
| 3438
Cureton’s rendering, “and some adorn themselves,”
etc., is not so good, as being a repetition of what has already been
said. It is also doubtful whether the words can be so
construed. The Greek of Eusebius gives the sense as in the
text: κοσμοῦσαι
πολλῷ χρυσῷ
καὶ λίθοις
βαρυτίμοις
τοὺς
ἵππους. If ***,
horses, be masc., or masc. only, as Bernstein gives it, the
participle should be altered to the same gender. But Dr. Payne
Smith remarks that Amira in his Grammar makes it fem. Possibly
the word takes both genders; possibly, too, the women of Bactria rode
on mares. | These
women, moreover, do not practise continency, but have intimacies with
their slaves, and with strangers who go to that country; and their
husbands do not find fault with them, nor have the women themselves any
fear of punishment, because the Cashani look upon3439
their wives only as
mistresses. Yet we cannot say that for all the Bactrian women
Venus and Mars and Jupiter are posited in the house of Mars in the
middle of the heavens,3440
the place where
women are born that are rich and adulterous, and that make their
husbands subservient to them in everything.
“Laws of the Racami, and of the
Edessæans, and of the Arabians.—Among the Racami, and
the Edessæans, and the Arabians, not only is she that commits
adultery put to death, but she also upon whom rests the
suspicion3441
| 3441 Lit.
“name,” or “report.” | of adultery
suffers capital punishment.
“Laws in Hatra.—There is a law
in force3442
in Hatra, that
whosoever steals any little thing, even though it were worthless as
water, shall be stoned. Among the Cashani, on the
contrary, if any one commits such a theft as this, they
merely spit in his face. Among the Romans, too, he
that commits a small theft is scourged and sent about his
business. On the other side of the Euphrates, and as you
go eastward, he that is stigmatized as either a thief or a murderer
does not much resent it;3443
| 3443 Lit. “is
not very angry.” | but, if a man
be stigmatized as an arsenocœte, he will avenge himself even to
the extent of killing his accuser.
“Laws.…—Among3444
| 3444 Eusebius has,
Παρ᾽
῞Ελλησι δὲ
καὶ οἱ σοφοὶ
ἐρωμένους
ἔχοντες οὐ
ψέγονται. | …boys…to us, and are
not…Again, in all the region of the East, if any persons are
thus stigmatized, and are known to be guilty, their
own fathers and brothers put them to death; and very
often3445
| 3445 Lit. “how
many times.” | they do not even make known the graves
where they are buried.
“Such are the laws of the people of
the East. But in the North, and in the country of the
Gauls3446
| 3446 The text of
Eusebius and the Recognitions is followed, which agrees better
with the context. The Syriac reads
“Germans.” | and their
neighbours, such youths among them as are handsome the men take as
wives, and they even have feasts on the occasion; and it is not
considered by them as a disgrace, nor as a reproach, because of the law
which prevails among them. But it is a thing impossible that all
those in Gaul who are branded with this disgrace should at their
Nativities have had Mercury posited with Venus in the house of Saturn,
and within the limits of Mars, and in the signs of the zodiac to the
west. For, concerning such men as are born under these
conditions, it is written that they are branded with infamy, as
being like women.
“Laws of the Britons.—Among the
Britons many men take one and the same wife.
“Laws of the Parthians.—Among
the Parthians, on the other hand, one man takes many wives, and
all of them keep to him only, because of the law which has been made
there in that country.
“Laws of the Amazons.—As
regards the Amazons, they, all of them, the entire nation, have no
husbands; but like animals, once a year, in the spring-time, they issue
forth from their territories and cross the river; and, having crossed
it, they hold a great festival on a mountain, and the men from those
parts come and stay with them fourteen days, and associate with them,
and they become pregnant by them, and pass over again to their own
country; and, when they are delivered, such of the children as
are males they cast away, and the females they bring up. Now it
is evident that, according to the ordinance of Nature, since they all
became pregnant in one month, they also in one month are all
delivered, a little sooner or a little later; and, as we have heard,
all of them are robust and warlike; but not one of the stars is able to
help any of those males who are born so as to prevent their being cast
away.
“The Book of the
Astrologers.—It is written in the book of the astrologers,
that, when Mercury is posited with Venus in the house of Mercury, he
produces painters, sculptors, and bankers; but that, when they are in
the house of Venus, they produce perfumers, and dancers,
and singers, and poets.
And yet, in all the country of the Tayites and of the Saracens,
and in Upper Libya and among the Mauritanians, and in the country of
the Nomades, which is at the mouth of the Ocean, and in outer Germany,
and in Upper Sarmatia, and in Spain, and in all the countries to the
north of Pontus, and in all the country of the Alanians, and among the
Albanians, and among the Zazi, and in Brusa, which is beyond the Douro,
one sees neither sculptors, nor painters, nor perfumers, nor bankers,
nor poets; but, on the contrary, this decree of Mercury and
Venus is prevented from influencing the entire circumference of
the world. In the whole of Media, all men when they die, and
even while life is still remaining in them, are cast to the dogs,
and the dogs eat the dead of the whole of Media. Yet we cannot
say that all the Medians are born having the Moon posited with Mars in
Cancer in the day-time beneath the earth: for it is written that
those whom dogs eat are so born. The Hindoos, when they die, are
all of them burnt with fire, and many of their wives are burnt along
with them alive. But we cannot say that all those women of the
Hindoos who are burnt had at their Nativity Mars and the Sun posited in
Leo in the night-time beneath the earth, as those persons are born who
are burnt with fire. All the Germans die by
strangulation,3447
| 3447 So
Eusebius: ἀγχονιμαίῳ
μόρῳ. Otherwise
“suffocation.” | except those
who are killed in battle. But it is a thing impossible, that, at
the Nativity of all the Germans the Moon and Hora should have been
posited between Mars and Saturn. The truth is, that in all
countries, every day, and at all hours, men are born under Nativities
diverse from one another, and the laws of men prevail over the decree
of the stars, and they are governed by their customs. Fate
does not compel the Seres to commit murder against their wish, nor the
Brahmans to eat flesh; nor does it hinder the Persians from taking
as wives their daughters and their sisters, nor the Hindoos from
being burnt, nor the Medes from being devoured by dogs, nor the
Parthians from taking many wives, nor among the Britons many men from
taking one and the same wife, nor the Edessæans from
cultivating chastity, nor the Greeks from practising
gymnastics,…, nor the Romans from perpetually seizing upon
other countries, nor the men of the Gauls from marrying
one another; nor does it compel the Amazons to rear the males;
nor does his Nativity compel any man within the circumference of the
whole world to cultivate the art of the Muses; but, as I have
already said, in every country and in every nation all men avail
themselves of the freedom of their nature in any way they choose, and,
by reason of the body with which they are clothed, do service to Fate
and to Nature, sometimes as they wish, and at other times as they do
not wish. For in every country and in every nation there are rich
and poor, and rulers and subjects, and people in health and those who
are sick—each one according as Fate and his Nativity have
affected him.”
“Of these things, Father Bardesan,”
said I to him, “thou hast convinced us, and we know that they are
true. But knowest thou that the astrologers say that the earth is
divided into seven portions, which are called Zones; and that over the
said portions those seven stars have authority, each of them
over one; and that in each one of the said portions the will of
its own Potentate prevails; and that this is called its
law?”
“First of all, know thou, my son
Philip,” said he to me, “that the astrologers have invented
this statement as a device for the promotion of error.
For, although the earth be divided into seven portions, yet in every
one of the seven portions many laws are to be found differing from one
another. For there are not seven kinds of laws only
found in the world, according to the number of the seven stars; nor yet
twelve, according to the number of the signs of the zodiac; nor yet
thirty-six, according to the number of the Decani.3448
| 3448 So called
from containing each ten of the parts or degrees into which the
zodiacal circle is divided. Cf. Hahn, Bardesanes
Gnosticus, p. 72. | But there are many kinds
of laws to be seen as you go from kingdom to kingdom, from
country to country, from district to district, and in every abode of
man, differing one from another. For ye remember what I said
to you—that in one zone, that of the Hindoos, there are
many men that do not eat the flesh of animals, and there are others
that even eat the flesh of men. And again, I told you,
in speaking of the Persians and the Magi, that it is not in the
zone of Persia only that they have taken for wives their
daughters and their sisters, but that in every country to which they
have gone they have followed the law of their fathers, and have
preserved the mystic arts contained in that teaching which they
delivered to them. And again, remember that I told you of many
nations spread abroad over the entire circuit of the world,3449
| 3449 Lit. “who
surround the whole world.” | who have not been confined to any one
zone, but have dwelt in every quarter from which the wind
blows,3450
| 3450 Lit. “have
been in all the winds.” | and in all the
zones, and who have not the arts which Mercury and Venus are said
to have given when in conjunction with each other. Yet, if
laws were regulated by zones, this could not be; but they clearly are
not: because those men I have spoken of are at a wide
remove from having anything in common with many other men in
their habits of life.
“Then, again, how many wise
men, think ye, have abolished from their countries laws which appeared
to them not well made? How many laws, also, are there which have
been set aside through necessity? And how many kings are there
who, when they have got possession of countries which did not belong to
them, have abolished their established laws, and made such other
laws as they chose? And, whenever these things occurred, no one
of the stars was able to preserve the law. Here is an instance at
hand for you to see for yourselves: it is but as yesterday
since the Romans took possession of Arabia, and they abolished all the
laws previously existing there, and especially the circumcision
which they practised. The truth is,3451
that he who is his own master is sometimes compelled to obey the
law imposed on him by another, who himself in turn becomes
possessed of the power to do as he pleases.
“But let me mention to you a fact which more
than anything else is likely3452
to
convince the foolish, and such as are wanting in faith. All the
Jews, who received the law through Moses, circumcise their male
children on the eighth day, without waiting for the coming of the
proper stars, or standing in fear of the law of the country
where they are living. Nor does the star which has
authority over the zone govern them by force; but, whether they be in
Edom, or in Arabia, or in Greece, or in Persia, or in the north, or in
the south, they carry out this law which was made for them by their
fathers. It is evident that what they do is not from Nativity:
for it is impossible that for all the Jews, on the eighth day, on which
they are circumcised, Mars should ‘be in the ascendant,’ so
that steel should pass upon them, and their blood be shed.
Moreover, all of them, wherever they are, abstain from paying reverence
to idols. One day in seven, also, they and their children cease
from all work, from all building, and from all travelling, and from all
buying and selling; nor do they kill an animal on the Sabbath-day, nor
kindle a fire, nor administer justice; and there is not found among
them any one whom Fate compels,3453
either to
go to law on the Sabbath-day and gain his cause, or to go to law and
lose it, or to pull down, or to build up, or to do any one of those
things which are done by all those men who have not received this
law. They have also other things in respect to which they do not
on the Sabbath conduct themselves like the rest of mankind,
though on this same day they both bring forth and are born, and fall
sick and die: for these things do not pertain to the power of
man.
“In Syria and in Edessa men used to part
with their manhood in honour of Tharatha; but, when King Abgar3454
| 3454 According to
Neander, General Church History, i. 109, this was the Abgar Bar
Manu with whom Bardesan is said to have stood very high. His
conversion is placed between 160 and 170 a.d. | became a believer he commanded that
every one that did so should have his hand cut off, and from that day
until now no one does so in the country of Edessa.
“And what shall we say of the new race of us
Christians, whom Christ at His advent planted in every country and in
every region? for, lo! wherever we are, we are all called after the one
name of Christ—Christians. On one day, the first of the
week, we assemble ourselves together, and on the days of the
readings3455
| 3455 For ***,
Merx, by omitting one ***, gives ***, “readings.” But
what is meant is not clear. Ephraem Syrus ascribes certain
compositions of this name to Bardesanes. Cf. Hahn, Bard.
Gnost., p. 28. | we abstain from
taking sustenance. The brethren who are in Gaul do not
take males for wives, nor those who are in Parthia two wives;
nor do those who are in Judæa circumcise themselves; nor do our
sisters who are among the Geli consort with strangers; nor do those
brethren who are in Persia take their daughters for
wives; nor do those who are in Media abandon their dead, or bury
them alive, or give them as food to the dogs; nor do those who are in
Edessa kill their wives or their sisters when they commit impurity, but
they withdraw from them, and give them over to the judgment of God; nor
do those who are in Hatra3456
stone thieves
to death; but, wherever they are, and in whatever place they are
found, the laws of the several countries do not hinder
them from obeying the law of their Sovereign, Christ; nor does
the Fate of the celestial Governors compel them to make use of
things which they regard as impure.
“On the other hand, sickness and health, and
riches and poverty, things which are not within the scope of their
freedom, befall them wherever they are. For although the freedom
of man is not influenced by the compulsion of the Seven, or, if at any
time it is influenced, it is able to withstand the influences exerted
upon it, yet, on the other hand, this same man,
externally regarded,3457
| 3457 Lit. “this
man who is seen.” | cannot on the
instant liberate himself from the command of his Governors: for
he is a slave and in subjection. For, if we were able to do
everything, we should ourselves be everything; and, if we had not the
power to do anything, we should be the tools of others.
“But, when God wills them, all things
are possible, and they may take place without hindrance:
for there is nothing that can stay that Great and Holy Will. For
even those who think that they successfully withstand it, do not
withstand it by
strength, but by wickedness and error. And this may go on for a
little while, because He is kind and forbearing towards all beings that
exist,3458
so as to let
them remain as they are, and be governed by their own will, whilst
notwithstanding they are held in check by the works which have been
done and by the arrangements which have been made for their help.
For this well-ordered constitution of things3459
and this government which have
been instituted, and the intermingling of one with another, serve to
repress the violence of these beings,3460
so that they should not inflict harm on one another to the full,
nor yet to the full suffer harm, as was the case with them before the
creation of the world. A time is also coming when this
propensity to inflict harm which still remains in them shall be
brought to an end, through the teaching which shall be given
them amidst intercourse of another kind. And at the
establishment of that new world all evil commotions shall cease, and
all rebellions terminate, and the foolish shall be convinced, and all
deficiencies shall be filled up, and there shall be quietness and
peace, through the gift of the Lord of all existing
beings.”
Here endeth the Book of the Laws of
Countries.
————————————
Bardesan, therefore, an aged man, and one
celebrated for his knowledge of events, wrote, in a certain work
which was composed by him, concerning the synchronisms3461
with one another of the luminaries of
heaven, speaking as follows:—
Two revolutions of Saturn,3462
| 3462 The five planets
are called by their Greek names, Κρόνος,
κ.τ.λ. | 60 years;
5 revolutions of Jupiter, 60 years;
40 revolutions of Mars, 60 years;
60 revolutions of the Sun, 60 years;
72 revolutions of Venus, 60 years;
150 revolutions of Mercury, 60 years;
720 revolutions of the Moon, 60 years.
And this,” says he, “is one synchronism of them
all; that is, the time of one such synchronism of them. So
that from hence it appears that to complete 100 such
synchronisms there will be required six thousands of
years. Thus:—
200 revolutions of Saturn, six thousands of years;
500 revolutions of Jupiter, 6 thousands of years;
4 thousand revolutions of Mars, 6 thousands of
years;
Six thousand revolutions of the Sun, 6 thousands of
years;
7 thousand and 200 revolutions of Venus, 6 thousands of
years;
12 thousand revolutions of Mercury, 6 thousands of
years;
72 thousand revolutions of the Moon, 6 thousands of
years.”
These things did Bardesan thus compute when desiring to
show that this world would stand only six thousands of
years.
E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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