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| Of the Passions Which, According to Apuleius, Agitate the Demons Who Are Supposed by Him to Mediate Between Gods and Men.
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Chapter 6.—Of the Passions Which,
According to Apuleius, Agitate the Demons Who Are Supposed by Him
to Mediate Between Gods and Men.
Deferring for the present the
question about the holy angels, let us examine the opinion of the
Platonists, that the demons who mediate between gods and men are
agitated by passions. For if their mind, though exposed to their
incursion, still remained free and superior to them, Apuleius could
not have said that their hearts are tossed with passions as the sea
by stormy winds.344
Their
mind, then,—that superior part of their soul whereby they are
rational beings, and which, if it actually exists in them, should
rule and bridle the turbulent passions of the inferior parts of the
soul,—this mind of theirs, I say, is, according to the Platonist
referred to, tossed with a hurricane of passions. The mind of the
demons, therefore, is subject to the emotions of fear, anger, lust,
and all similar affections. What part of them, then, is free, and
endued with wisdom, so that they are pleasing to the gods, and the
fit guides of men into purity of life, since their very highest
part, being the slave of passion and subject to vice, only makes
them more intent on deceiving and seducing, in proportion to the
mental force and energy of desire they possess?E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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