silence wee know them both this by a the eare and that by the eye but not by any formes of theirs but priuation of formes Let none then seeke to know that of mee which I know not my selfe vnlesse hee will learne not to know what hee must know that hee cannot know for the things that we know by priuation and not by forme are rather if you can conceit mee knowne by not knowing and in knowing them are still vnknowne For the bodyes eye coursing ouer bodyly obiects sees no darkenesse but when it ceaseth to see And so it belongs to the eare and to no other sence to know silence which notwithstanding is not knowne but by not hearing So our intellect doth speculate the intelligible formes but where they faile it learneth by not learning for who can vnderstand his faults This I know that Gods nature can neuer faile in time nor in part but all things that are made of nothing may decay which doe not-with-standing more good as they are more essentiall for then doe they some-thing when they haue efficient causes but in that they faile and fall off and doe euill they haue deficient causes and what doe they then but vanity L. VIVES BY the a eare Contraries are knowne both by one methode say the Philosophers and the primatiue is knowne onely by seperation of the knowledge of the Positiue Of the peruerse loue whereby the soule goeth from the vnchangeable to the changeable good CHAP. 8. I Know besides that wherein the vicious will is resident therein is that done which if the will would not should not bee done and therefore the punishment falls iustly vpon those acts which are wills and not necesâ—…ities It is not the a thing to which wee fall but our fall that is euill that is wee fall to no euill natures but against natures order from the highest to the lower and therefore euill Couetise is no vice in the gold but in him that peruersly leaueth iustice to loue gold whereas iustice ought alwayes to bee preferred before ritches Nor is lust the fault of sweete bautious bodies but the soules that runnes peruersly to bodily delights neglecting temperance which scornes all company with those prepares vs vnto far more excellent and spirituall pleasures Vaine-glory is not a vice proper to humaine praise but the soules that peruersely affecteth praise of men not respecting the consciences testimonie Nor is pride his vice that giueth the power but the soules peruersly louing that power contemning the iustice of the most mighty By this then he that peruersly affected a good of nature though he attaine it is euill himselfe in this good and wretched being depriued of a better L. VIVES THE a thing It is not the action but the quality and manner thereof that is vicious said Plato Whether he that made the Angels natures made their wills good also by the infusion of his loue into them through his holy spirit CHAP. 9. SEeing therefore there is no naturall nor a essentiall cause effecting the euill of will but that euill of mutability of spirit which depraueth the good of nature ariseth from it selfe being effected no way but by falling from God which falling also hath no cause If we say also that good wills haue no efficient cause we must beware least they bee not held vncreated and coeternall with God But seeing that the Angels them-selues were created how can their wills but bee so also Besides being created whether were they created with them or without them first if with them then doubtlesse hee that made one made both and b as soone as they were created they were ioyned to him in that loue wherein they were created And therein were they seuered from the other because they kept their good-wills still and the other were changed by falling in their euill will from that which was good whence they needed not haue fallen vnlesse they had listed But if the good Angels were at first with-out good wills and made those wills in them-selues without Gods working were they therefore made better of them-selues then by his creation God forbid For what were they without good wills but euill Or if they were not euill because they had no euill wills neither nor fell from that which they had not how-so-euer they were not as yet so good as when they had gotten good wills But now if they could not make them-selues better then God the best workeman of the world had made them then verily could they neuer haue had good wills but by the operation of the creator in them And these good wills effecting their conuersion not to them-selues who were inferiours but to the supreme God to adhere vnto him and bee blessed by fruition of him what doe they else but shew that the best will should haue remained poore in desire onely but that he who made a good nature of nothing capable of himselfe e made it better by perfecting it of himselfe first hauing made it more desirous of perfection for this must bee examined whether the good Angels created good will in them-selues by a good will or a badde or none if by none then none they created If by a badde how can a badde will produce a good if by a good then had they good wills already And who gaue them those but he that created them by a good will that is in that chast loue of their adherence to him both forming them nature and giuing them grace Beleeue it therefore the Angelles were neuer without good will that is Gods loue But those that were created good and yet became euill by their proper will which no good nature can do but in a voluntary defect from good that and not the good being the cause of euill either d receiued lesse grace from the diuine loue then they that persisted therein or if the had equall good at their creation the one fell by the euill wills and the other hauing further helpe attained that blisse from which they were sure neuer to fal as we shewed in our last booke Therefore to gods due praise wee must confesse that the diffusion of Gods loue is beâ—…owed as well vpon the Angells as the Saints by his holy spirit bestowed vpon them and that that Scripture It is good for me to adhere vnto God was peculiar at first to the holy Angells before man was made This good they all participate with him to whome they adhere and are a holy citty a liuing sacrifice and a liuing temple vnto that God Part whereof namely that which the Angells shall gather and take vp from this earthly pilgrimage vnto that society being now in the flesh vpon earth or dead and resting in the e secret receptacles of soules how it had first original must I now explaine as I did before of the Angels For of Gods worke The first man came all man kind as the scripture saith whose authority is iustly admired throughout the earth and those
inspire and transforme them The later of the latine verses in the text dotâ—… not expresse Homers mind But I suspect it to be wronged in copying Of Gods fore-knowledge and mans freedome of election againâ—…t the opinion of Cicero CHAP. 9. AGainst those men Tully thinketh he cannot hold argument vnlesse hee ouerthrow diuination therefore he laboureth to proue that there is no praescience nor fore-knowledge of things to come a either in God or man there is directly no such matter Thus denieth he Gods fore-knowledge idely seeketh to subuert the radiant lustre of true prophecies by propounding a sort of ambiguous and fallible oracles whose truth not-withstanding he doth not confute But those coniectures of the Mathematiques he layeth flat for indeed they are the ordinance to batter them-selues But for al that their opinion is more tollerable yâ— ascribe a fate b vnto the stars then his that reiects al fore-knowledge of things to come For to acknowledge a God yet to deny that is monstrous madnes which he obseruing went about to proue euen that with the foole hath said in his heart there is no God Mary not in his own person he saw the danger of mallice too well and therfore making Cotta dispute hand-smooth against the Stoikes vpon this theame in his books De natura Deorum there he seemes more willing to hold with c Lucilius Balbus that stood for the Stoikes then with Cotta that argued against the diuine essence But in his bookes Of diuination hee directly opposeth the fore-knowledge of thinges d of him-selfe and in his owne person all which it seemeth hee didde least hee should yeelde vnto fate and so loose the freedome of election For hee supposed that in yeelding to this fore-know-ledge fate would follow necessarily there-vpon without all deniall But how-soeuer the Phylosophers winde them-selues in webbes of disputations wee as wee confesse the great and true GOD so do we acknowledge his high will power and fore-knowledge Nor lette vs feare that wee doe not performe all our actions by our owne will because he whose fore-knowledge cannot erre knew before that we should do thus or thus which Tully feared and therfore denied fore-knowledge and the Stoiks that held not al things to be done by necessity thought that they were done by fate What then did Tully fe re in this praescience that he framed such detestable arguments against it Verily this that if all euents were knowne ere they came to passe they should come to passe according to that fore-knowledge And if they come so to passe then God knoweth the certain order of things before hand and consequently the certaine order of the causes and if he know a certaine order of causes in all euents then aâ—…e all euents disposed by fate which if it be so wee haue nothing left in our power nothing in our will which granted saith he the whole course of humanity is ouerturned law correction praise disgrace exhortation prohibition al are to no end nor is ther any iustice in punishing the bad and rewarding the good For auoiding of which inconueniences so absurd and so pernitious he vtterly reiecteâ—…h this fore-knowledge of things and draweth the religious minde into this strait that either there must be som-what in the power of our will or else that there is a fore-knowledge of things to come but the granting of the one is the subuersioÌ„ of the other choosing of the fore-knowledge we must loose the freedome of election and choosing this we must deny the other Now this learned and prouident man of the two maketh choyse of freedome of election and to confirme it denieth the fore-knowledge vtterly And so instead of making men free maketh them blasphemous But the religious mind chooseth them both confesseth confirmeth them both How saith he For granting this fore-knowledge there followeth so many consequents that they quite subuert all power of our will and holding thus by the same degrees we ascend till we find there is no praescience of future things at all for thus we retire through them If there be any freedome of the will all things do not follow destiny If all thinges follow not destiny then is there no set order in the causes of things Now if there bee 〈◊〉 set order in the causes of all things then is there no set order of the things them-selues in Gods fore-knowledge since they come from their causes If there bee not a sette order of all thinges in GODS fore-knowledge then all things fall not out according to the sayd knowledge Now if all thinges fall not out as hee hadde his fore-knowledge of them then is there in God no fore-knowledge of thinges to come To these sacriligious and wicked opposers thus wee reply GOD doth both know all thinges ere they come to passe and wee doe all thinges willingly which wee doe not feele our selues and knowe our selues directly inforced to Wee hold not that all thinges but rather that nothing followeth fate and whereas Fate vseth to be taken for a position of the stars in natiuities and conceptions we hold this a vaine and friuolous assumption wee neither deny an order of causes wherein the will of God is all in all nether do we cal it by the name of Fate g vnles Fate be deriued of fari to speak for we cannot deny that the scripture saith God spake oncâ—… these two things I haue heard that power belongeth vnto God to thee O Lord mercy for thou wilt reward euery man according to his workes For whereas hee saith God spake once it is meant that hee spake vnmooueably and vnchangeably that all thinges should fall out as hee spake and meant to haue them In this respect wee may deriue fate from fari to speake but we must needes say withall that it is vsed in another sence then we would haue men to thinke vppon But it doth not follow that nothing should bee left free to our will because God knoweth the certaine and sette order of all euents For Our very wills are in that order of causes which God knoweth so surely and hath in his praescience humain wils beeing the cause of humaine actions So that hee that keepeth a knowledge of the causes of all thinges cannot leaue mens wills out of that knowledge knowing them to bee the causes of their actions g For Tullies owne wordes Nothing commeth to passe without an efficient cause is sufficient alone to sway downe this matter quite against him-selfe for what auailes the subsequence Nothing is without a cause but euery cause is not fatall because there are causes of chance nature and will It is sufficient that nothing is done but by precedent cause For those causes that are casuall giuing originall to the name of Fortune wee deny them not wee say they are secret and ascribe them either to the will of the true God or of any other spirit The h naturall causes wee doe neuer diuide from his will who is natures
Creator But the causes voluntary God Angels Men and diuers other creatures haue often in their wil and power i If we may call that power a will by which the brute beastes flye their owne hurt and desire their good by Natures instinct That there is a will in Angels I doe absolutely affirme be they good whom we call Gods Angells or euill whome we call the diuels Angels fiends or diuels them-selues So men good and bad haue all their wills and hereby it is apparant that the efficient causes of all effects are nothing but the decrees of that nature which is The spirit of life Aire or wind is called a Spirit But because it is a body it is not the spirit of life But the spirit of life that quickneth all things is the Creator of all bodies and all created spirits this is God a spirit from eternity vncreated in his wil there is that height of power which assisteth the wills of the good spirits iudgeth the bad disposeth of al giuing power to whom he pleaseth and holding it from whome he list For as he is a Creator of all natures so is hee of all powers but not the giuer of all wills for wicked wills are not of him beeing against that nature which is of him So the bodyes are all subiect vnto diuers wills some to our owne wills that is the wills rather of men then of beasts som to the Angels but all to the will of God vnto whom al wills are subiect because they haue no power but what hee giueth them The cause then that maketh all and is not made it selfe is God The other causes do both effect and are effected such are all created spirits chiefly the reasonable ones The corporal causes which are rather effects then otherwise are not to be counted as efficient causes because they came but to do that which the will of the spirit within them doth inioine thē how then can that set order of causes in Gods foreknowledge depriue our wils of power seeing they bear such a sway amongst the very causes them-selues But k let Cicero rangle his fellowes that say this order is fatall or rather fate it selfe which we abhor because of the word chieflly being vsed in a false beliefe but wheras he denieth that God knoweth assuredly the set order of those causes we detest his assertion worse then the Stoiks do for he either denieth God which he indeuoreth vnder a false person in his bookes De n◅t de Or if he do acknowledge him yet in denying him this fore-knowledge he saith but as the foole said in his heart There is no God for if God want the praescience of all future euents hee is not God And therefore l our wills are of as much power as God would haue them and knew before that they should be and the power that they haue is theirs free to do what they shall do truly and freely because he fore-knew that they should haue this power and do these acts whose fore-knowledge cannot be deceiued wherefore if I list to vse the m word fate in any thing I would rather say that it belonged to the weaker and that will belonged to the higher who hath the other in his power rather then grant that our liberty of will were taken away by that sette order which the Stoikes after a peculiar phraze of their owne call fate L. VIVES EIther a in God De diuinat lib 2. where in a disputation with his brother Quintus he indeauoureth to ouerthrow diuination for which Q. had stood in the booke before For he saith that There is nothing so contrary to reason and constancy as fortune is so that mee thinkes God him-selfe should haue no fore-knowledge of those casuall euents For if he haue it must come so to passe as he knoweth and then it is not casuall but casuall euents there are and therefore there is no fore-knowledge of them This in the said place and much more pertaining to the explaining of this chapter which it sufficeth vs to haue pointed out b A fate to the Stars They all doe so but some giue fate the originall from them excluding God c Lucilius Balbus In the end of the book thus he concludeth This said we departed Velleius holding Cotta's disputation for the truer and I being rather inclined to Balbus suit d Of him-selfe For in his 2. booke hee speaketh him-selfe and confuteth his brothers assertions for diuination e Stoikes Of this in the next chapter f Vnlesse fate Var. de Ling. lat l. 8. The destinies giue a fortune to the childe at the birth and this is called fate of fari to speake Lucan lib. 9. Non vocibus vllis Numen eget dixitquesem◅l nascentibus auctor Quicquid scire licet The Deities neuer need Much language fate but once no more doth read The fortune of each birth It seemes hee borrowed this out of the Psalme heere cited or out of Iob. chap. 33. v. 14. Hee hath spoke once and hath not repeated it againe Both which places demonstrat the constancy of Gods reuealed knowledge by that his once speaking as the common interpretation is the which followeth in the Psalme these two things c. some refer to them which followeth That power belongeth c. Others to the two testaments The Thargum of the Chaldees commeth neere this later opinion saying God hath spoken one law and wee haue heard it twise out of the mouth of Moyses the great scribe vertue is before our God and thou Lord that thou wouldst be bountifull vnto the iust g For Tullies In his booke de fato following Carneades he setteth down three kinds of causes naturall arising from nature as for a stone to fal downward for the fire to burne Voluntary consisting in the free wills of men wherein it is necessary there be no precedent causes but that they be left free and Casuall which are hidden and vnknown in diuers euents Herein he is of the N◅turalists opinion that will haue nothing come to passe without a cause h Naturall Fire hath no other cause of heate a stone of heauynesse a man of reason procreation of like c. then the will of natures Creator who had hee pleased might haue made the fire coole the stone mount vpwards the man a brute beast or dead or vnable to beget his like i If we may cal Arist de anima l. 3. Putteth will only in reasonable creatures and appetite being that instinct wherby they desire or refuse any thing in beastes Will in creatures of reason is led by reason and accompanied by election or rather is election it selfe k But Cicero With the Stoikes l Our wills are God created our wils free and that because it was his will so they may make choyce of contraries yet cannot go against Gods predestination not questionlesse euer would although they could for sure it is that much might bee done which neuer shal so
that the euents of things to come proceed not from Gods knowledge but this from them with not-withstanding in him are not to come but already present wherein a great many are deceiued wherfore he is not rightly said to fore-know but only in respect of ouâ—… actions but already to knowe see and discerne them But is it seen vnfit that this eternall knowledge should deriue from so transitory an obiect then we may say that Gods knowledge ariseth from his prouidence and will that his will decreeth what shall bee and his knowledge conceiueth what his will hath appointed That which is to come saith Origen vppon Genesis is the cause that God knoweth it shall come so it commeth not to passe because God knoweth it shall come so to passe but God fore-knoweth it because it shal come so to passe m Vse the word So do most of the latines Poets Chroniclers and Orators referring fate to men and will to God and the same difference that is here betweene fate will Boethius puts betweene fate and prouidence Apuleius saith that prouidence is the diuine thought preseruing hiâ—… for whose cause such a thing is vndertaken that fate is a diuine law fulfilling the vnchangable decrees of the great God so that if ought be done by prouidence it is done also by fate and if Fate performe ought Prouidence worketh with it But Fortuâ—… hath something to doe about vs whose causes we vtterly are ignorant of for the euents runne so vncertaine that they mixing them-selues with that which is premeditated and we thinke well consulted of neuer let it come to our expected end and when it endeth beyond our expectation so well and yet these impediments haue intermedled that wee call happynesse But when they peâ—…uert it vnto the worst it is called misfortune or vnhappynesse In Dogmata Platonis Whether necessity haue any dominion ouer the will of man CHAP. X. NOr need we feare that a Necessity which the Stoikes were so affraid off that in their distinctions of causes they put some vnder Necessity and some not vnder it and in those that did not subiect vnto it they gâ—… our wils also that they might bee free though they were vrged by necessity But if that bee necessity in vs which is not in our power but will be done do what wee can against it as the necessity of death then is it plaine that our wills are subiect to no such necessity vse we them howsoeuer well or badly For we do many things which wee could not do against our wils And first of all to will it selfe if we will a thing there is our will If we will not it is not For we cannot will against our wills Now if necessity be defined to be that whereby such a thing musts needes fall out thus or thus I see no reason we should feare that it could hinder the freedome of our wills in any thing b For we neither subiect Gods being nor his praesciences vnto necessity when wee say God must needes liue eternally and God must needes fore-know all thinges no more then his honour is diminished in saying hee cannot erre hee cannot die He cannot do this why because his power were lesse if he could doe it then now it is in that he cannot Iustly is he called almighty yet may hee not dye nor erre He is called almighty because he can do all that is in his will not because he can suffer what is not his will which if he could he were not almighty So that he cannot do some things because he can do all things So when wee say that if we will any thing of necessity we must will it with a freedome of will tisâ—… true yet put we not our wil vnder any such necessity as depriues it of the freedome So that our wils are ours willing whatâ—…vve will and if we will it not neither do they will it and if any man suffer any thing by the will of another against his own will his will hath the own power still his sufferance commeth rather froÌ„ the power of God then from his own will for if hee vvilled that it should be other wise and yet could not haue it so his will must needes bee hindered by a greater power yet his will should be free still not in any others power but his that willed it though he could not haue his will performeds wherfore what-soeuer a man suffereth against his wil he ought not attribute it vnto the wils of Angels Men or any other created spirits but euen to his who gaue their wils this power So then c our wils are not vse-les because that God fore-seeth what wil be in them he that fore-saw it what-euer it be fore-saw somwhat and if he did fore know somewhat then by his fore-knowledge there is som-thing in our vvils Wherfore vve are neither compelled to leaue our freedom of will by retayning Gods fore-knowledge nor by holding our willes freedome to denie GODS fore-knowledge GOD forbid vvee should vve beleeue and affirme them both constantly and truly the later as a part of our good faith the former as a rule for our good life and badly doth hee liue that beleeueth not aright of GOD. So God-forbid that wee should deny his fore-knowledge to be free by whose helpe wee either are or shall bee free d Therefore law correction praise disgrace exhortation and prohibition are not in vaine because hee fore-knew that there should bee such They haue that power which hee fore-knew they should haue and prayers are powerfulâ—…â—…o attaine those thinges which hee fore-knoweth that hee will giue to such as pray for them Good deedes hath hee predestinated to reward and euil to punishment e Nor doth man sinne because God fore-knew that he would sin nay therfore it is doubtlesse that he sinneth when he doth sin because that God whose knowledge cannot be mistaken fore-saw that neither fate nor fortune nor any thing else but the man himselfe would sin who if he had not bin willing he had not sinned but whether he should be vnwilling to sinne or no that also did God fore-know L. VIVES THaâ—… a a necessitie Me thinketh saith Tully that in the two opinions of the Philosophers thâ—… 〈◊〉 holding faâ—…e the doer of all things by a very law of necessity of which opinion Democritus Heraclitus Empedocles and Aristotle were and the other exempting the motions of the wil from this law Chrysippus professing to step into a meane as an honorable arbitrator betweene them inclineth rather to those that stand for the minds freedom De fato lib. Therfore did Oenomaus yâ— Cynike say that Democritus had made our mindes slaues and Chrysippus halfe slaues Euseb. de praep Euang. l. 6. Therin is a great disputation about Fate The Stoikes bringing all vnder fate yet binde not our mindes to any necessity nor let them compel vs to any action For all things come to passe in fate by causes precedent and subsequent
eldest holds them resolued into most pure ayre which S. Thomas dislikes for such bodies could neuer penetrate the fire nor the heauens But he is too Aristotelique thinking to binde incomprehensible effectes to the lawes of nature as if this were a worke of nature strictly taken and not at the liberty of GODS omnipotent power or that they had forced through fire and heauen by their condensed violence Some disliked the placing of an element aboue heauen and therefore held the Christalline heauens composed of waters of the same shew but of a farre other nature then the Elementary Both of them are transparent both cold but that is light and ours heauy Basill sayth those waters doe coole the heate of the heauens Our Astronomicall diuines say that Saturnes frigidity proceedeth from those waters ridiculous as though all the starres of the eighth spere are not cooler then Saturne These waters sayth Rede are lower then the spirituall heauens but higher then all corporeall creatures kept as some say to threaten a second deluge But as others hold better to coole the heate of the starres De nat◅rer But this is a weake coniecture Let vs conclude as Augustine doth vpon Genesis How or what they are we know not there they are we are sure for the scriptures authority weigheth downe mans witte c In stead of Another question tossed like the first How the elements are in our bodies In parcels and Atomes peculiar to each of the foure saith Anaxagoras Democritus Empedocles Plato Cicero and most of the Peripatetiques Arabians Auerroes and Auicen parcels enter not the bodies composition sayth another but natures only This is the schoole opinion with the leaders Scotus and Occam Aristole is doubtfull as hee is generally yet holdes the ingresse of elements into compoundes Of the Atomists some confound all making bodies of coherent remaynders Others destroy all substances Howsoeuer it is wee feele the Elementary powers heate and drought in our gall or choller of the fire heate and moysture ayry in the blood colde and moyst watery in the fleame Colde and dry earthly in the melancholly and in our bones solydity is earth in our brayne and marrow water in our blood ayre in our spirits cheefely of the heart fire And though wee haue lesse of one then another yet haue some of each f But there And thence is all our troublesome fleame deriued Fitly it is seated in the brayne whether all the heate aspyreth For were it belowe whither heate descendeth not so it would quickly growe dull and congeale Whereas now the heate keepes it in continuall acte vigor and vegetation Finis lib. II. THE CONTENTS OF THE twelfth booke of the Citty of God 1. Of the nature of good and euil Angells 2. That no essence is contrary to God though al the worlds frailty seeme to bee opposite vnto this immutable eternity 3. Of gods enemies not by nature but will which hurting them hurteth their good nature because there is no vice but hurteth nature 4. Of vselesse and reason-lesse natures whose order differeth not from the Decorum held in the whole vniuerse 5. That the Creator hath deserued praise in euery forme and kind of Nature 6. The cause of the good Angels blisse and the euills misery 7. That wee ought not to seeke out the cause of the vicious will 8. Of the peruerse loue wherby the soule goeth from the vnchangeable to the changeable good 9. Whether he that made the Angels natures made their wils good also by the infusion of his loue into them through his holy Spirit 10. Of the falsenes of that History that saith the world hath continued many thousand years 11. Of those that hold not the Eternity of the world but either a dissolution and generation of innumerable worlds or of this one at the expiration of certaine yeares 12. Of such as held Mans Creation too lately effected 13. Of the reuolution of Tymes at whose expiration some Phylosophers held that the Vniuerse should returne to the state it was in at first 14. Of Mans temporall estate made by God out of no newnesse or change of will 15. Whether to preserue Gods eternall domination we must suppose that he hath alwaies had creatures to rule ouer and how it may bee held alwaies created which is not coeternall with God 16. How wee must vnderstand that God promised Man life eternall before all eternity 17. The defence of Gods vnchanging will against those that fetch Gods works about frō eternity in circles from state to state 18. Against such as say thinges infinite are aboue Gods knowledge 19. Of the worlds without end or Ages of Ages 20. Of that impious assertion that soules truly blessed shall haue diuer s reuolutions into misery againe 21. Of the state of the first Man and Man-kinde in him 22. That God fore-knew that the first Man should sin and how many people he was to translate out of his kind into the Angels society 23. Of the nature of Mans soule being created according to the Image of God 24. Whether the Angels may bee called Creators of any the least creature 25. That no nature or forme of any thing liuing hath any other Creator but God 26. The Platonists opinion that held the Angels Gods creatures Man the Angels 27. That the fulnesse of Man-kind was created in the first Man in whome God fore-saw both who should bee saued and who should bee damned FINIS THE TVVELFTH BOOKE OF THE CITTIE OF GOD Written by Saint Augustine Bishop of Hippo vnto Marcellinus Of the nature of good and euill Angels CHAP. 1. BEfore I speake of the creation of man wherein in respect of mortall reasonable creatures the two Citties had their originall as we shewed in the last booke of the Angels to shew as well as wee can the congruity and conuenience of the society of Men with Angels and that there are not foure but rather two societies of Men and Angels qualitied alike and combined in eyther the one consisting both of good Angels and Men and the other of euill that the contrariety of desires betweene the Angels good and euill arose from their diuers natures and beginnings wee may at no hand beleeue God hauing beene alike good in both their creations and in all things beside them But this diuersity ariseth from their wils some of them persisting in God their common good and in his truth loue and eternity and other some delighting more in their owne power as though it were from them-selues fell from that common al-blessing good to dote vppon their owne and taking pride for eternity vayne deceit for firme truth and factious enuy for perfect loue became proud deceiptfull and enuious The cause of their beatitude was their adherence with GOD their must their miseries cause bee the direct contrary namely their not adherence with GOD. Wherefore if when wee are asked why they are blessed and wee answere well because they stucke fast vnto GOD and beeing asked why they
that end which the order of the vniuerse requireth so that that corruption which bringeth all natures mortall vnto dissolution cannot so dissolue that which was but it may become that afterwards which it was before or that which it should be which being so then God the highest being who made all things that are not him-selfe no creature being fitte for that equalitie being made of â—…othing and consequently being not able to haue beene but by him is not to be discommended through the taking offence at some faults but to bee honored vpon the due consideration of the perfection of all natures L. VIVES A a certaine Euery thing keeping harmonious agreement both with it selfe and others without corrupting discorde which made some ancient writers affirme that the world 〈◊〉 vpon loue The cause of the good Angells blisse and the euills misery CHAP. 6. THE true cause therefore of the good Angells blisse is their adherence to that most high essence and the iust cause of the bad Angels misery is their departure from that high essence to reside vpon them-selues that were not such which vice what is it else but a pride For pride is the roote of all sinne These would not therefore stick vnto him their strength and hauing power to bee more b perfect by adherence to this highest good they preferred them-selues that were his inferiours before him This was the first fall misery and vice of this nature which all were it not created to haue the highest being yet might it haue beatitude by fruition of the highest being but falling from him not bee â—…de nothing but yet lesse then it was and consequently miserable Seeke the câ—…e of this euill will and you shall finde iust none For what can cause the wills 〈◊〉 the will being sole cause of all euill The euill will therefore causeth euill workes but nothing causeth the euill will If there be then either it hath a will or â—…one If it haue it is either a good one or a bad if good what foole will say a good will is cause of an euill will It should if it caused sinne but this were extreame absurditie to affirme But if that it haue an euill will then I aâ—…ke what caused this euill will in it and to limite my questions I aske the cause of the first euill will For not that which an other euill will hath caused is the first euill will but that which none hath caused for still that which causeth is before the other caused If I bee answered that nothing caused it but it was from the beginning I aske then wheâ—…er it were in any nature If it were in none it had no being if it were in any it corrupted it hurt it and depriued it of all good and therefore this Vice could not be in an euill nature but in a good where it might doe hurt for if it could not hurt it was no vice and therefore no bad will and if it did hurt it was by priuation of good or diminishing of it Therfore a bad will could be from eternity in that wherein a good nature had beene before which the euill will destroied by hurt Well if it were not eternall who made it It must be answered something that had no euill will what was this inferior superior or equall vnto it If it were the superior it was better and why then had it not a will nay a better will This may also bee said of the equall for two good wills neuer make the one the other bad It remaines then that some inferior thing that had no will was cause of that vicious will in the Angels I but all things below them euen to the lowest earth being naturall is also good and hath the goodnesse of forme and kinde in all order how then can a good thing produce an euill will how can good be cause of euill for the will turning from the superior to the inferior becomes bad not because the thing where-vnto it turneth is bad but because the diuision is bad and peruerse No inferior thing then doth depraue the will but the will depraues it selfe by following inferior things inordinately For if two of like affect in body and minde should beholde one beautious personage and the one of them be stirred with a lustfull desire towards it and the others thoughts stand chaste what shall wee thinke was cause of the euill will in the one and not in the other Not the seene beauty for it transformed not the will in both and yet both saw it alike not the flesh of the beholders face why not both nor the minde we presupposed them both alike before in body and minde Shall we say the deuill secretly suggested it into one of them as though hee consented not to it in his owne proper will This consent therefore the cause of this assent of the will to vicious desire is that wee seeke For to take away one let more in the question if both were tempted and the one yeelded and the other did not why was this but because the one would continue chaste and the other would not whence then was this secret fall but from the proper will where there was such parity in body and minde a like sight and a like temptation So then hee that desires to know the cause of the vicious will in the one of them if hee maâ—…ke iâ—… well shall finde nothing For if wee say that hee caused it what was hee ere his vicious will but a creature of a good nature the worke of GOD that vnchangeable good Wherefore hee that saith that hee that consented to this lustfull desire which the other with-stood both beeing before alike affected and beholding the beautifull obiect alike was cause of his owne euill will whereas he was good before this vice of will Let him aske why he caused this whether from his nature or for that hee was made of nothing and he shall finde that his euill will arose not from his naâ—…ure but from his nothing for if wee shall make his nature the effecter of his vicious will what shall wee doe but affirme that good is the efficient cause of euill But how can it bee that nature though it bee mutable before it haue a vicious will should doe viciously namely in making the will vicious L. VIVES BVt a pride Scotus holds that the Angels offence was not pride I thinke onely because hee will oppose Saint Thomas who held with the Fathers the contrary b Perfect in essence and exellence That we ought not to seeke out the cause of the vicious will CHAP. 7. LEt none therefore seeke the efficient cause of an euill will for it is not efficient but deficient nor is there effect but defect namely falling from that highest essence vnto a lower this is to haue an euill will The causes whereof beeing not efficient but deficient if one endeuour to seeke it is as if hee should seeke to see the darknesse or to heare
of Heroes and demi-gods but euen of the gods them-selues their adulteries rapines tyranies chasings out of parents and marriages of bretheren and sisters truly I thought all these things both lawfull and lawdable and affected them very zealously For I thought the gods would neuer haue bin lechers nor haue gone together by th' eares amongst them-selues vnlee they had allowed al these for good and decent Thus far Lucian We haue rehersed it in the words of Thomas Moore whome to praise negligently or as if wee were otherwise imployed were grosenes His due commendations are sufficient to exceed great volumes For what is hee that can worthily limme forth his sharpnes of wit his depth of Iudgement his excellence and variety of learning his eloquence of Phrase his plausibility and integrity of manners his iudicious fore-sight his exact execution his gentle modesty and vprightnes and his vnmoued loyaltie vnles in one word he wil say they are al perfect intirely absolute exact in al their ful proportions vnles he wil cal them as they are indeed the patterns and lusters each of his kinde I speake much and many that haue not known Moore will wonder at me but such as haue wil know I speak but truth so wil such as shal either read his works or but heare or looke vpon his actions but another time shal be more fit to spred our sailes in this mans praises as in a spacious Ocean wherin we wil take this ful and prosperous wind write both much in substance and much in value of his worthy honours and that vnto fauourable readers g As Persius saith Satyrd 3. Cum dirâ—… 〈◊〉 bids Mouâ—… ingenâ—… ferâ—…ti â—…cta 〈◊〉 When the blacke lust of sinne Dipt in hot poison burnes the minde within It is meant indeed of any gaules which is hotte poyson But Augustine vseth it heare for the generatiue sperme which some call Virus h Here-vppon it is that Terence bringes In his Eunuchus Chaerea who was carried disguised for an Eunuch by Parmeno vnto Thais beeing enamourd on a wench that Thraso the soldior had giuen to her and telling his fellow Antipho how he had inioyed her reâ—…ates it thus While they prepare to wash the wench satte in the Parlour looking vpon a picture wherein was painted how 〈◊〉 sent downe the showre of gold into Danaes lappe I fell a looking at it with her and because hee hadde plaid the same play before me my mind gaue me greater cause of ioy seeing a God hadde turned him-selfe into a man and stolne vnto a woman through another mans chimney and what God Euen hee that shaketh Temples with his thunder should I beeing but a wretch to him make bones of it No I didde it euen withall my heart Thus farre Terence Danae beeing a faire Virgin her father Acrisius kept her in a Tower that no man should haue accesse vnto her Now Iupiter being in loue with her in a showre of gold dropt through the chimney into the Tower and so inioyed â—…er that is with golden guifts against which no locke no guard is strong ynough hee corrupted both the keepers and the maid her-selfe Of the Romaâ—…s Stage plaies wherein the publishing of their gods foulest imparities did not any way offend but rather delight them CHAP. 8. I But wil some say these things are not taught in the institutions of the gods but in the inuentions of the Poets I will not say that the gods misteries are more obicaene then the Theaters presentations but this I say wil bring history sufficient to conuince all those that shal denie it that those playes which are formed according to these poeticall fictions were not exhibited by the Romaines vnto their goddes in their sollemnities through any ignorant deuotion of their owne but onely by reason that the goddes them selues didde so strictly commaund yea and euen in some sort extort from them the publike presenting and dedication of those plaies vnto their honours This I handled briefly in the first booke For a when the citty was first of al infected with the pestilence then were stages first ordained at Rome by the authorization of the chiefe Priest And what is he that in ordering of his courses will not rather choose to follow the rudiments which are to be fetched out of plaies or whatsoeuer being instituted by his gods rather then the weaker ordinances of mortall men If the Poets didde falsely record Iupiter for an adulterer then these gods being so chast should be the more offended and punish the world for thrusting such a deale of villany into their ceremonies and not for omitting them b Of these stage-plaies the best and most tollerable are Tragedy and Comedy being Poetical fables made to be acted at these shewes wherein notwithstanding was much dishonest matter in actions but none at al of wordes and these the old men do cause to be taught to their children amongst their most honest and liberal studies L. VIVES FOr a when the citty was Because in this booke and in the other following Saint Augustine doth often make mention of Stage-plaies it seemeth a fit place here to speake somewhat thereof and what should haue beene seattered abroad vpon many chapters I will here lay all into one for the better vnderstanding of the rest And first of their Originall amongst the Greekes first and the Romaines afterwards for imitation brought them from Greece to Rome The old husbandmen of Greece vsing euery yeare to sacrifice to Liber Pater for their fruites first vsed to sing something at the putting of the fire on the altars in stead of prayers and then to please him the better they sung ouer all his victories warres conquests triumphs and his captiuation of Kings For reward of which paines of theirs a Goat was first appointed or the Skin of an offered Goat full of wine So these rewards partly and partly oftentation set many good wits work amongst these plaine countrimen to make verses of this theame meane and few at first but as al thinges else in processe of time they grew more elegant and conceited and because the Kings that Liber had conquered afforded not matter ynough for their yearely songs they fell in hand with the calamities of other Kings like to the former and sung much of them And this song was called a tragedy either of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Goate the reward of the conqueror in this contention or of the wine-leese wherwith they anoynted their faces called by the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now some wil haue the Comedy to haue had the Originall from these sacrifices also others froÌ„ the sollemnities of Apollo Nomius that is the guardian of sheapheards and villages some say that both these sacrifices were celebrated at once I wil set down the most common opinion When the Athenians liued as yet in dispersed cotages Theseus hauing not yet reduced them to a Citty The husbandmen vsed after their sacrifices to breake iests
Citie shew which precept of the gods b Marius or c Cinna or d Carbo violated in their giuing action vnto the ciuill warres which they began e vpon such vniust causes followed with such crueltie and iniuries and ended in more iniurious cruelties or what diuine authorities f Sylla himselfe broke whose life deeds and conditions to heare Salust describe and other true Historians whose haire would not stand vp right What is he now that will not confesse that g then the weale publike fell absolutely What is he now that will dare to produce that sentence of Virgill for this corruption of manners in the defence of their gods h Discéssere omnes adytis arisque relictis Dij quibus imperium hoc steterat Aen 2. The gods by whom this Empire stood left all The temples and the Altars bare But admit that this were true then haue they no reason to raile vpon Christianitie or to say that the gods being offended at that did forsake them because it was their predecessors manners that long agoe chaced all their great multitude of little gods from the cittie altars like so many flyes But where was all this nest of Deities when the i Galles sacked the cittie long before the ancient manners were contaminate were they present and yet fast a sleepe the whole cittie was all subdued at that time onely the Capitoll remained and that had beene surprized too if k the Geese had not shewen themselues better then the gods and waked when they were all a sleepe And here-vpon did Rome fall almost into the l superstition of the Aegiptians that worship birds and beasts for they henceforth kept a holy day which they called the m gooses feast But this is but by the way I come not yet to dispute of those accidental euils which are rather corporall then mentall and inflicted by foes or misfortunes I am now in discourse of the staines of the minde and manners and how they first decayed by degrees and afterward fell head-long into perdition so that thence ensued so great a destruction to the weale-publike though their cittie walles stood still vnbattered that their chiefest authors doubted not to proclaime it lost and gone Good reason was it that the gods should abandon their Temples and Altars and leaue the towne to iust destruction if it had contemned their aduices of reformation But what might one thinke I pray yee of those gods that would abide with the people that worshipped them and yet would they neuer teach them any meanes to leaue their vices and follow what was good L. VIVES THE a Gracchi These were sonnes vnto Titus Gracchus who was twise Consul triumphed twise and held the offices of Censor and Augur and Cornelia yonger daughter to African the elder they were yong men of great and admirable towardnesse both which defending the Agrarian lawe concerning the diuision of lands were murdered by the offended Senate in their Tribuneships Tiberius by Nasica a priuate man Caius by L. Opimius the Consul nine yeares after the first with clubs and stooles feete the latter with swords and this was the first ciuill dissension that euer came to weapons Anno P. R. C. DCXXVII b Marius Arpinas was his place of birth a man ignoble by descent but came to be seauen times Consull Hee first conquered Iugurth then the Cymbrians and Teutishmen and triumphed of all these at last enuying and hating Sylla who was his legate in the warre of Iugurthe he fell to ciuill warres with him wherein Marius was put to the worst and forced to flie into Africa c Cinna Marius being ouercome Sylla going to warre vpon Mithridates left C. Cornelius Cynna and Octauius Consuls in the cittie Cynna desirous of innouation seuered himselfe from his fellow and was chased out of the Citty by him and the good faction which iniurie Cynna endeuouring by all meanes possible to reuenge calleth back Marius out of Africa and so made warre vpon his countrie and entring it with mightie powers he butchered vp numbers and made himselfe the second time and Marius the seuenth time Consull without the voyces of the people in which Magistracie Marius dyed after many bloudy massacres and foule actes committed d Carbo There were many of the Carbo's as Tully writes to Papyrius Paetus of the Papyrian family but not of that of the Patriotts This of whom Saint Augustine speaketh was Cneus Papyrius Carbo one of Marius his faction who being ouer-come by Sylla fled into Sicily there at Lylibaeum was slaine by Pompey the great e Uniust cause L. Sylla and Q. Pompeyus being Consuls the Prouince of Asia and the warre of Mitrhidates fell vnto Sylla This Marius stomocked because of his olde grudge at P. Sulpitius Tribune a most seditious and wicked fellow to gette the people to make election of him for the warre against Mithridates The people though in a huge tumult yet tooke notice of what the Tribune propounded and commanded it should be so Sylla not brooking this disgrace demanded helpe of his armie and offered force to Marius his Ambassadors who went to take vp legions at Capua and so brought his angry powers to the Citty with intent to wreake this iniurie by fraude or force Hence arose the seedes of all the ciuill warres for Marius with his faction mette him in the Cittie at Port Esquiline and there fought a deadly sette battaile with him f Sylla This man was a Patriot of the Cornelian familie and hauing done worthy seruice in armes hee was made Consull In which Magistracie hauing conquered Mithridates chased out the ciuill warres ouer-throwne Marius the yonger Carbo Norbanus Sertorius Domitius Scipio and the rest of the Marian faction hee tooke vpon him perpetuall Dictatorship by the lawe Valerian wherein hee proscribed many thousands of the Romaine Citizens with outragious crueltie He was a most bloudy fellow and giuen ouer vnto all kinde of lust and intemperance g Then the weale publike Lucane by the mouth of Cato Olim vera fidei Sylla Marioque receptis Libertatis obijt Whilom when Marius and feirce Sylla stroue True liberty fell dead h Discessere omnes adytis The verse is in the second booke of Uirgils Aeneads which Seruius and Macrobius doe thinke belongeth vnto the calling out of the gods for when as a citty was besieged the enemy had an intent to raze it to the ground least they should seeme to fight against the gods and force them from their habitations against their wils which they held as a wicked deed they vsed to call them out of the besieged citty by the generall that did besiege it that they would please to come and dwell amongst the conquerors So did Camillus at the Veii Scipio at Carthage and Numance Mummius at Corinth i The Galls sacked The Transalpine Galls burst often into Italy in huge multitudes The last of them were the Senones who first sacked Clusium afterwards Rome Anno P. R. C. CCCLX whether
it from these there is no cause of despaire Who knowes the will of God herein L. VIVES THe a Medians By Arbaces praefect of Media who killed Sardanapalus as scorning that so many thousand men should obey a beast Iustin. Oros. Plutar. Euseb. c. b From them The Monarchy of Asia remained with the Medians from Arbaces to Cyrus Cambyses sonne CCCL yeares Astyages was the last King whose daughter Mandane Cambyses wife was mother to Cyrus Cyrus being borne his grand-sire through a dreame he had caused him to be cast out to the wild beasts in the woods But by chance he was saued And beeing become a lusty youth entring into Persepolis hee commanded the people to make ready their axes and cut downe a great wood next day he made them a delicate banquet and in the midst thereof asked them whether they liked this day better then the other They all replied this day well saith hee as long as you serue the Medians the world shal be as yesterday to you but bee your owne Lords your selues and it wil be this day Herevpon leauying an army he ouer-threw his vncle and transferred the Monarchy vnto Persia. c Persians Their Kingdome continued from Cyrus to Alexander Philips sonne CCXXX yeares Alexander ruled Asia VI. yeares his successors after him vnto Seleucus and Antiochus the two brethren that is from the 104 Olympiade vnto the 134. at which time Arsaces a meane but a valorous fellow set his country free by meanes of the two brethrens discord and raigned King himselfe Thence arose the Parthian Kingdome lasting vnto Alex. Seuerus Caesars time at which time Xerxes the Persian subdued them and annexed them to the Persian crowne and this Kingdome was during in Augustines time Whereof read Herodian in Antoninus d After those The text of some copies followes Eusebius but the old bookes doe leaue out et quadraginta So that Augustine did not set downe his opinion amongst this diuersity of accounts but onely the ouerplus to shew onely that it was more then MCC yeares but how much more he knoweth not surely it was not an C. e Though The name of it remaineth as yet in the ancient dignity but with no powre What precious gods those were by whose power the Romaines hela their Empire to bee enlarged and preserued seeing that they durst not trust them with the defence of meane and perticular matters CHAP. 8. LEt vs now make inquiry if you will which God or gods of all this swarme that Rome worshipped was it that did enlarge and protect this their Empire In a world of such worth and dignity they durst not secretly commit any dealing to the goddesse Cloacina a nor to the goddesse b Volupia the lady of pleasure nor to c Libentina the goddesse of lust nor to d Vaticanus the god of childrens crying nor to e Cunina the goddesse of their cradles But how can this one little booke possibly haue roome to containe the names of all their gods and goddesses when as their great volumes will not doe it seeing they haue a seuerall god to see to euery perticular act they take in hand Durst they trust one god with their lands thinke you No Rusina must looke to the country Iugatinus to the hill-toppes Collatina to the whole hills besides and Vallonia to the vallies Nor could f Segetia alone bee sufficient to protect the corne but while it was in the ground Seia must looke to it when it was vp and ready to mow Segetia when it was mowne and laid vp then g Tutilina tooke charge of it who did not like that Segetia alone should haue charge of it all the while before it came dried vnto her hand nor was it sufficient for those wretches that their poore seduced soules that scorned to embrace one true god should become prostitute vnto this meaner multitude of deuills they must haue more so they made h Proserpina goddesse of the cornes first leaues and buddes the i knots Nodotus looked vnto Volutina to the blades and when the eare began to looke out it was Patelena's charge when the eare began to be euen bearded because k Hostire was taken of old for to make euen Hostilinas worke came in when the flowres bloomed l Flora was called forth when they grew m white Lacturtia beeing ripe n Matuca beeing cut downe o Runcina O let them passe that which they shame not at I loath at These few I haue reckoned to shew that they durst at no hand affirme that these gods were the ordainers adorners augmenters or preseruers of the Empire of Rome hauing each one such peculiar charges assigned them as they had no leasure in the world to deale in any other matter How should Segetia guard the Empire that must not meddle but with the corne or Cunina looke to the warres that must deale with nought but childrens cradles or Nodotus giue his aide in the battaile that cannot helpe so much as the blade of the corne but is bound to looke to the knot onely Euery p house hath a porter to the dore and though he be but a single man yet hee is sufficient for that office but they must haue their three gods Forculus for the dore q Cardea for the hinge and Limentius for the threa-shold Be-like Forculus could not possibly keepe both dore hinges and threa-shold L. VIVES CLoacina a Some reade Cluacina and some Lauacina but Cloacina is the best her statue was found by Tatius who raigned with Romulus in a great Priuy or Iakes of Rome and knowing not whose it was named it after the place Cloacina of Cloaca Lactant. Cipriaâ—… calles it Cluacina but it is faulty I thinke There was Uenus surnamed Cluacina or the fighter for Cluo is to fight Her statue stood where the Romaines and Sabines agreed and ended the fight for the women Plin. lib. 15. b Uolupia She had a chappell at the Theater Nauall neare the gate Romanula Varro de Ling. Lat. lib. 3. Macrob. Saturn The 12. Cal. of Ianuary is Angeronia's feast kept by the Priests in Volupia's chappell Verrius Flaccus saith shee was so called for easing the angers and troubles of the minde Masurius saith her statue stood on Volupia's alter with the mouth sealed vp to shew that by the pacient suppressing of griefe is pleasure attained c Libentina Varro lib. 3. of Libet it lusteth there was Venus Libentina and Venus Libitina but Libithina is another d Vaticanus Not Uagitarius as some reade Gell. lib. 16. out of Varro As vnder whome saith hee the childes first cry is which is va the firstsyllable of Vaticanus whence Vagire also is deriued and in old bookes it is Uatiganus not Uagitanus e Cunina The cradle-keeper and wich-chaser f Segetia Or Segesta Plin. lib. 18. for those gods were then best knowne Seia to bee the goddesse of Sowing and Segetia of the corne their statues were in the Theater g Tutilina And Tutanus hee and she guarders
king domes to good and to bad not rashly nor casually but as the time is appointed which is well knowne to him though hidden for vs vnto which appointment not-with-standing hee doth not serue but as a Lord swayeth it neuer giuing true felicitie but to the good For this both a subiects and Kings may eyther haue or wante and yet bee as they are seruants and gouernours The fulnesse indeed of it shall bee in that life where b no man shall serue And therefore here on earth hee giueth kingdomes to the bad as well as to the good least his seruants that are but yet proselites should affect them as great maâ—…ters And this is the mysterie of his olde Testament wherein the new was included that c there all the gifts and promises were of this world and of the world to come also to those that vnderstood them though the eternall good that was meant by those temporall ones were not as yet manifested nor in whâ—… gifts of God the true felicitie was resident L. VIVES SUbiects a and Stoicisme A slaue wise is a free man a King foolish a 〈◊〉 b No man shall serue Some bookes wante the whole sentence which followeâ—… And therefore c. c There all The rewards promised to the kâ—…pers of the law in the old Testament were all temporall how be it they were misticall types of the Celestiall Of the Iewes kingdome which one God alone kept vnmoued as long as they kept the truth of religion CHAP. 34. TO shew therefore that all those temporall goods which those men gape after that can dreame of no better are in Gods hands alone and in none of their Idolls therefore multiplied he his people in Aegipt from a a very few and then deliuered them from thence by miraculous wounders Their women neuer called vpon Lucina when their children multiplied vpon them incredibly and when he preserued them from the b Aegiptians that persecuted them and would haue killed all their children They suckt without Ruminas helpe slept without Cunina eate and dranke without Educa and Potica and were brought vp without any of these puppy-gods helpes married without the Nuptiall gods begot children without Priapus crossed through the diuided sea without calling vpon Neptune and left al their foes drowned behind them They dedicated no Goddesse Mannia when heauen had rained Manna for them nor worshipped the Nymphes when the rocke was cleft and the waters flowed out they vsed no Mars nor Bellona in their warres and conquered not without Victory but without making Victory a goddesse They had corne oxen hony apples without Segetia Bobona Mella or Pomona And to conclude all things that the Romaines begged of so many false gods they receiued of one true God in far happier measure had they not persisted 〈◊〉 their impious curiosity in running after strange gods as if they had beene enchaunted and lastly in killing of Christ in the same kingdome had they liued happily still if not in a larger And that they are now dispersed ouer the whole earth is gods especiall prouidence that what Alters Groues Woods and Temples of the false gods he reproueth and what sacrifices he forbiddeth might all be discerned by their bookes as their fall it selfe was foretold them by their pâ—…phets And this least the Pagans reading them with ours might thinke wee had fâ—…igned them But now to our next booke to make an end of this tedious one L. VIVES FRom a very few The Sonnes of Israell that went into Aegipt were 70. Gen. 49. b Aegiptians Here is a diuersity of reading but all one sence and so is there often else-where which I forbeare to particularize or to note all such occurences Finis lib. 4. THE CONTENTS OF THE fifth booke of the City of God 1. That neither the Romaine Empire nor any other Kingdome had any establishment from the powre of Fortune nor from the starres chapter 1. 2. Of the mutuall Sympathie and dssimillitude of the health of body and many other accidents in twinnes of one birth 3. Of Nigidius the astrologians argument in this question of the twinnes drawne from the potters wheele 4. Of Esau and Iacob two twinnes and of the diuersity of their conditions and quallities 5. How the Mathematicians may bee conuicted of professing direct vanity 6. Of twinnes of different sexes 7. Of the election of daies of marriage of planting and of sowing 8. Of their opinion that giue not the name of Fate the position of the starres but vnto the dependance of causes vpon the will of God 9. Of Gods fore-knowledge and mans freedome of election against the opinon of Cicero 10. Whether Necessity haue any dominion ouer the will of man 11. Of Gods vniuersall prouidence ruling all and comprising all 12. How the ancient Romaines obtained this encrease of their Kingdome at the true Gods hand beeing that they neuer worshipped him 13. Of ambition which beeing a vice is notwithstanding herein held a vertue that it doth restraine vices of worse natures 14. That we are to auoide this desire of humaine honour the glory of the righteous beeing wholy in God 15. Of the tempor all rewardes that God bestowed vpon the Romaines vertues and good conditions 16. Of the reward of the eternall Cittizens of heauen to whome the examples of the Romaines vertues were of good vse 17. The fruites of the Romaines warres both to themselues and to those with whom they warred 18. How farre the Christians should bee from boasting of their deedes for their eternall country the Romaines hauing done so much for their temporall city and for humaine glory 19. The difference betweene the desire of glory and the desire of rule 20. That vertue is as much disgraced in seruing humaine glory as in obeying the pleasures of the body 21. That the true God in whose hand and prouidence all the state of the world consisteth did order and dispose of the Monarchy of the Romaines 22. That the Originalls and conclusions of warres are all at Gods dispose 23. Of the battaile wherein Radagaisus an idolatrous King of the Gothes was slaine with all his army 24. The state and truth of a christian Emperors felicity 25. Of the prosperous estate that God bestowed vpon Constantine a christian Emperor 26. Of the faith and deuotion of Theodosius Emperor 27. Augustines invectiue against such as wrote against the bookes already published FINIS THE FIFTH BOOKE OF THE CITTIE OF GOD Written by Saint Augustine Bishop of Hippo vnto Marcellinus That neither the Romaine Empire nor any other Kingdome had any establishment from the power of fortune or from the starres CHAP. 1. WHereas it is apparant to all mens discretion that felicity is the hope of al humane desires and that she is no goddesse but merely the gift of a god and consequently that there is no god worthy of worshippe but he in whose power it lieth to bestow this felicity vpon men so that if shee were a goddesse herselfe the worship of al the
rest should be intirely hers now let vs looke in to the reasons why that God that can giue those earthly goods aswel to the good as the euill and consequently to such as are not happy should vouchsafe the Romaine empire so large a dilatation and so long a contiunance for we haue already partly proued and hereafter in conuenient place will proue more fully that it was not their rable of false gods that kept it in the state it was in wherefore the cause of this was neither a Fortune nor Fate as they call them holding Fortune to be an euent of things beyond al reason and cause and Fate an euent from some necessity of order excluding the will of god and man But the god of Heauen by his onely prouidence disposeth of the kingdomes of Earth which if any man will say is swayd by fate and meane by that fate b the will of God he may hold his opinion still but yet he must amend his phrase of speach for why did hee not learne this of him that taught him what fate was The ordinary custome of this hath made men imagine fate to bee c a power of the starres so or so placed in natiuities or conceptions which d some do seperate from the determination of God and other some do affirme to depend wholy therevpon But those that hold that the starres do manage our actions or our passions good or ill without gods appointment are to be silenced and not to be heard be they of the true religion or bee they bondslaues to Idolatry of what sort soeuer for what doth this opinion but flattly exclude alll deity Against this error we professe not any disputation but onely against those that calumniat Christian religion in defence of their imaginary goddes As for those that make these operations of the starres in good or bad to depend vpon Gods will if they say that they haue this power giuen them from him to vse according to their owne wills they do Heauen much wronge in imagining that any wicked acts or iniuries are decreed in so glorious a senate and such as if any earthly city had but instituted the whole generation of man would haue conspired the subuersion of it And what part hath GOD left him in this disposing of humaine affaires if they be swayed by a necessity from the starres whereas he is Lord both of starres and men If they do not say that the starres are causes of these wicked arts through a power that god hath giuen them but that they effect them by his expresse commaund is this fit to be imagined for true of God that is vnworthy to be held true of the starres e But if the starres bee said to portend this onely And not to procure it and that their positions be but signes not causes of such effects for so hold many great schollers though the Astrologians vse not to say f Mars in such an house signifieth this or that no but maketh the child-borne an homicide to g grant them this error of speech which they must learâ—…e to reforme of the Philosophers in all their presages deriued from the starres positions how commeth it to passe that they could neuer shew the reason of that diuersity of life actions fortune profession arte honour and such humaine accidentes that hath befallne two twinnes nor of such a great difference both in those afore-said courses and in their death that in this case many strangers haue come nearer them in their courses of life then the one hath done the other beeing notwithstanding borne both within a little space of time the one of the other and conceiued both in one instant and from one acte of generation L. VIVES FOrtune a Nor fate Seeing Augustine disputeth at large in this place concerning fate will diue a littlle deeper into the diuersity of olde opinions herein to make the â—…est more plaine Plato affirmed there was one GOD the Prince and Father of all the rest at whose becke all the gods and the whole world were obedient that al the other gods celestial vertues were but ministers to this Creator of the vniuerse and that they gouerned the whole world in places and orders by his appointment that the lawes of this great God were vnalterable and ineuitable and called by the name of Necessities No force arte or reason can stoppe oâ—… hinder any of their effectes whereof the prouerbe ariseth The gods themselues must serue necessity But for the starres some of their effects may be auoided by wisdome labour or industry wherein fortune consisteth which if they followed certaine causes and were vnchangeable should bee called fate and yet inferre no necessity of election For it is in our powre to choose beginne or wish what wee will but hauing begunne fate manageth the rest that followeth It was free for Laius saith Euripides to haue begotten a sonne or not but hauing begotten him then Apollo's Oracle must haue the euents prooue true which it presaged Thâ—… and much more doth Plato dispute obscurely vpon in his last de repub For there hee puttes the three fatall sisters Necessities daughters in heauen and saith that Lachesis telleth the soules that are to come to liue on earth that the deuill shall not possesse them but they shal rather possesse the deuill But the blame lieth wholy vpon the choise if the choise bee naught GOD is acquit of all blame and then Lachesis casteth the lottes Epicurus derideth all this and affirmes all to bee casuall without any cause at all why it should bee thus or thus or if there bee any causes they are as easie to bee auoided as a mothe is to bee swept by The Platonists place Fortune in things ambiguous and such as may fall out diuersely also in obscure things whose true causes why they are so oâ—… otherwise are vnknowne so that Fortune dealeth not in things that follow their efficient cause but either such as may bee changed or are vndiscouered Now Aristotle Phys. 2. and all the Peripatetikes after him Alex. Aphrodisiensis beeing one is more plaine Those things saith hee are casuall whose acte is not premeditated by any agent as if any man digge his ground vppe to make it fatte finde a deale of treasure hidden this is Fortune for hee came not to digge for that treasure but to fatten his earth and in this the casuall euent followed the not casuáll intent So in things of fortune the agent intendeth not the end that they obtaine but it falleth out beyond expectation The vulgar call fortune blinde rash vncertaine madde and brutish as Pacuuius saith and ioyne Fate and Necessity together holding it to haue 〈◊〉 powre both ouer all the other gods and Ioue their King himselfe Which is verified by the Poet that said What must bee passeth Ioue to hold from beeing Quod fore paratum 〈◊〉 id summum exuperat Iouem For in Homer Ioue lamenteth that hee could not saue his sonne
Sarpedon from death the fates constrayning him to die and Neptune greeues that hee coulâ—… not hinder Vlisses his returne home and reuenge the blindnesse of his sonne Ciclops Fate hauing decreede the contrary and Iupiter in Ouid saith Tu sola insuperabile satum Nate mouere putas Daughter'tis onely thou Canst mooue relentlesse fate Saith he And a little after Quae â—…que conâ—…ursum caeli nec fulminiâ—… iram Nec â—…tuunt vllas tuta atque aeterna ruinas Which feare nor thunders gods nor powers infernall But stand vnaw'd vnmooued and eternall There were some that held nothing casuall but all fixed certaine and immutable Democritus Empedocles and Heraclitus were all of this opinion which many others maintained after them as others did the positions of Epicurus Lucane Phars lib. 2. declareth both the opinions in these words Siue parens rerum primùm informia regna Materiamque rudem flammâ cedente recepit Fiâ—…xit in aeternum causas quà cuncta coâ—… cet Se quoque lege tenens secula iussa â—…rentem Fatorum immoto diuisit limite mundum Siue nihil positum est sed sors incerta vagatur Fértque refertque vices habent mortalia casum c. Or natures God when first he bound the fire And wrought this maâ—…e into one forme intire Forged eternall causes all effecting Himâ—…elfe and all the worlds estate subiecting To destenies inchangeable directing Oâ—… bene our states in fortunes gouernance To rise or fall and all by onely chance Fortune is often vsed for destenie and the euents of things which when they fall out as wee desire that we call Felicitie if contrary Infelicitie Thus much here more else-where b The will of God Of this by and by c A power of the starrrs wherein the Stoickes Plato and almost all the other Philosophers do place Fate following the Chaldees and Aegiptians to whom all the Mathematitians also doe giue their voyces d Some do seperate Some say the operation of the starres is a distinct power from the will of God and in attributing this vniuersall power to them exclude Gods prouidence from humaine affaires Besides there are that affirme that although God doe looke to the state of the world yet the starres haue their peculiar dominion in vs neuerthelesse So hold Manilius and Firmicus and the Poets most commonly Others subiect them all vnto the will of GOD omnipotent as Plato and the Stoikes doe affirming all their operations to bee but the praescript lawes of him e But if the starres Origen vpon that place of Genesis Let them be for signes Chapt. 1. vers 14. Saith that the starres doe signifie but effect nothing They are saith he as a booke opened wherein may bee read all things to come which may bee prooued by this that they haue often signified things past But this booke cannot bee read by any witte of man Plotine was of Origens opinion also denying the starres any acte in those things but onely signification Seneca speaking of the Starres saith they either cause or signifie the effects of all things but if they doe cause them what auaileth it vs to know that we cannot alter and if they but signifie them what good doth it thee to fore-see that thou canst not auoide f Mars in such Mars is a starre bloudie fiery and violent Being in the seuenth house saith Firmicus lib. 3. in a partise aspect with the Horoscope that is in the West hee portendeth huge mischieues stayning the natiuities with murthers and many other villanies g To grant them Hee alludeth vnto Tullies Chrysippus de Fato that would teach the Mathematicians how to speake in their art Of the mutuall simpathie and dissimilitude of health of body and many other accidents in twins of one birth CHAP. 2. CIcero a saith that Hippocrates that excellent Phisitian wrote that two children that were brethren falling sicke and the sicknesse waxing and waning in both alike were here-vpon suspected to be twinnes b And Posidonius a Stoike and one much affected to Astrologie laboureth to prooue them to haue bin borne both vnder one constellation and c conceiued both vnder one So that which the Phisitian ascribeth to the similitude of their temperatures of body the Astrologian attributes to the power and position of the starrs in their natiuities But truly in this question the Phisitians coniecture standeth vpon more probabilitie because their parents temperature might bee easily transfused into them both alike at their conception and their first growth might participate equally of their mothers disposition of body then being nourished both in one house with one nourishment in one ayre countrie and other things correspondent this now might haue much power in the proportionating of both their natures alike as Physicke will testifie Besides vse of one exercise equally in both might forme their bodies into a similitude which might very well admit all alterations of health alike and equally in both But to drawe the figure of heauen and the starres vnto this purity of passions it being likely that a great companie of the greatest diuersitie of affects that could bee might haue originall in diuerse parts of the world at one and the same time were a presumption vnpardonable For d we haue knowne two twinnes that haue had both diuerse fortunes and different sicknesses both in time and nature whereof mee thinkes Hipocrates giueth a very good reason from the e diuersitie of nourishment and exercise which might bee cause of different health in them yet that diuersitie was effected by their wills and elections at first and not by their temperature of body But neither Posidonius nor any patron of this fate in the starres can tell what to say in this case and doe not illude the single and ignorant with a discourse of that they know not for that they talke of the space of time between that point which they call the f Horoscope in both the twinnes natiuities it is either not so significant as the diuersitie of will acte manners and fortune of the twinnes borne doth require or else it is more significant then their difference of honors state nobilitie or meannesse will permit both which diuersities they place onely in the figure of the natiuitie But if they should be both borne ere the Horoscope were fully varied then would I require an vnitie in each particular of their fortunes which g cannot be found in any two twinnes that euer yet were borne But if the Horoscope be changed ere both bee borne then for this diuersitie I will require a h difference of parents which twins cannot possibly haue L. VIVES CIcero a saith I cannot remember where I beleeue in his booke De fato which is wonderfully mutilate and defectiue as we haue it now and so shall any one finde that will obserue it b Whom Posidonius A Rhodian and a teacher of Rhodes Hee was also at Rome a follower of Panaetius Cicero c conceiued both for the conception is of as
destenies of dogs and giue answeres breeding great admiration Nay men are now growne to that grosenesse of braine that they thinke when a man is borne creation is tyed to such an order that not so much as a fly is brought forth in that region at that time for if they giue vs but birth-rome for a fly we will draw them by gradation till we come to an elephant Nor haue they wit to consider this that in their selected day of sowing corne it springeth and groweth vp altogether and being growne to the height iâ—…ipens altogether and yet the canker spoyleth one peece and the birds another and men cut vp the third of al this corne that neuerthelesse grew vp altogether How will they doe with the constellation of this that hath partaken so many kindes of ending Or doth it not repent them of electing daies for these things denying them to belong to heauens disposing and putting onely men vnder the starres to whome onely of all the creatures vpon earth God hath giuing free and vnconstrained wills These being considered it is no euill beleefe to thinke that the Astrologers d do presage many things wonderfully and truly but that is by a e secret instinct of euill spirits whose care it is to infect nousle and confirme mens minds in this false and dangerous opinion of fate in the starres and not by any art of discerning of the Horoscope for such is there none L. VIVES WHo can a endure The Astrologers Haly Abenragel Messahalach and others write of these elections Haly Ptolomies interpretor as Picus Mirandula writeth saith this part of Astrology is friuolous and fruitlesse b Where then If your natiuities destinie be against your enterprise it shall neuer haue good end as Ptolomy holdeth Picus writeth much against Astrologers lib. 2. and of this matter also But Augustine hath the summe of all here c Choose daies Hesiod was the first that distinguished the daies of the moone and the yeare for country businesses and him did all the writers of husbandry follow Greekes Latines and others Democritus and Virgill Cato Senior Uarro Columella Palladius Plinie c. d Do presage He that often shooteth must needes hit some-times few of the Mathematicians false answeres are obserued but all their true ones are as miraculous e Secret instinct The presages from the starres saith Augustine else where are as by bargaine from the deuills and instincts of theirs which the minds of men feele but perceiue not and he presageth best that is in greatest credit with his diuel Of their opinion that giue not the name of Fate the position of the starres but vnto the dependance of causes vpon the will of God CHAP. 8. AS for those that do not giue the position of the starres in natiuities and conceptions the name of fate but reserue it onely to that connexion of a causes whereby all things come to passe wee neede not vse many words to them because they conforme this coherence of causes to the will of God who is well and iustly beleeued both to fore-know al things before the euent and to leaue no euent vndisposed of ere it be an euent from whome are all powers though from him arise not all wills for that it is the will of that great and all-disposing God which they call Fate these verses b of Anneus Senecas I thinke will proue Duâ—… mâ—…summe pater â—…ltique dominator poli 〈◊〉 placuerit nulla parenda mora est 〈◊〉 impiger 〈◊〉 â—…olle comitabâ—…r gemens Malusque patiar facere quod licuit bono 〈◊〉 volâ—…ntem fatâ—… uolentem trâ—…unt Leâ—…d me Great Lord King of eternity Euen where thou wilt I le not resist thees Chang thou my will yet still I vow subiection Being led to that thaâ—…'s in the good election Fate leads the willing hales the obstinate Thus in the last verse hee directly calleth that Fate which in the former hee called the will of the great Lord to whome hee promiseth obedience and to be leâ—… willingly least hee bee drawne on by force because Fate leads the willing hales the obstinâ—…te And c Homers verses translated into Latine by Tully are as these are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hominum 〈◊〉 qualis â—…ater ipsâ—… â—…upiter aâ—…fferas 〈◊〉 lumâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are the mindes of men as louâ—… the great Vouchsafe that fils the earth wiâ—…h light and 〈◊〉 Wee would not bring Poetique sentences for confirmation of this question but because that Tully saith that the Stoikes standing for this power of Fate vse to quote this place of Homer wee now alledge them not as his opinion but as theirs who by these verses of Fate shewed in their disputations what they thought of Fate because they call vppon Ioue whome they held to be that great God vppon whose directions these causes did depend L. VIVES COnnexion a of causes Cic. de diuin lib. 2. Reason therefore compels vs to confes that all things come to passe by fate by fate I mean the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is an order or course of things canses arising one from another that is the euerlasting truth flowing froÌ„ aâ—…eternity Chrysippus in Gellius saith that Fate is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. A natural composition of causes and things arising one from another from aeleternity being an immutable combination of them all b Anneas Senecas Epist. lib. 18. The verses were Cleanthes his Seneca but translated them they are all Senarian But the first of them is not perfectly read it were better to read it Duc me parens celsique dominator Poli Coleyne copy hath it Duc summe Pater altique dominator Poli. Indifferent well The said thing hath Seneca in his book de beneficijs speaking of God if you call him Fate saith he it is not amisse for he is the first cause whence all the rest haue originall and fate is nothing but a coherence of causes This is the common opinion of the Stoiâ—…s to hold one God calling him Fate and Mens and Iupiter and many other names These are the foure ancient opinions of Fate which Picus Contra Astrolog lib. 4. rehearseth The firstheld Fate to be nature so that the things which fell out by election or chance they excluded from Fate as Virgill saith of Dido that killed her-selfe and dyed not by Fate and Cicero If any thing had befalne me as many things hung ouer mans head besides nature and besides fate This opinion is Phsiologicall and imbraced by Alexander one of Aristotles interpreters The second held fate to be an eternall order and forme of causes as aforesaid Third put all in the stars The fourth held fate to be onely the execution of the will of God c Homers Odyss 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Such are the mindes of men c Vlisses speaketh them to Phemius affirming a mutablity of mens mindes and that they are not of power to keepe them-selues fixt but alter continually as it pleaseth the great Iupiter to
for what pride those wicked fiendes had their fall Hence arose those routes of gods whereof partly wee haue spoken and others of other nations as well as those wee now are in hand with the Senate of selected gods selected indeed but for villany not for vertue Whose rites Varro seeking by reason to reduce to nature and to couer turpitude with an honest cloake can by no meanes make them square together because indeed the causes that hee held or would haue others hold for their worship are no such as he takes them nor causes of their worship For if they or their like were so though they should not concerne the true God nor life eternall which true religion must affoord yet their colour of reason would be some mitigation for the absurd actes of Ignorance which Varro did endeuour to bring about in diuers their theater-fables or temple-mysteries wherein hee freed not the theaters for their correspondence with the temples but condemned the temples for their correspondence with the theaters yet endeuouring with naturall reasons to wipe away the filthy shapes that those presentments imprinted in the sences Of Numa his bookes which the Senate for keeping their mysteries in secret did command should be burned CHAP. 34. BVt contrarywise we do finde as Varro himselfe said of Numa his bookes that these naturall reasons giuen for these ceremonies could no way be allowed of nor worthy of their priests reading no not so much as their secret reseruing For now I will tell yee what I promised in my third booke to relate in conuenient place One a Terentius as Varro hath it in his booke de Cultu deorum had some ground neare to mount Ianiculus and his seruants plowing neare to Nâ—… his tombe the plough turned vp some bookes conteining the ceremonies institutions b Terentius brought them into the citty to the Praetor who hauing looked in them brought this so weighty an affaire before the Senate where hauing read some of the first causes why hee had instituted this and that in their religion The Senate agreed with dead Numa and like c religious fathers gaue order to the Praetor for the burning of them Euery one here may beleeue as he list nay let any contentious mad patron of absurd vanity say here what he list Sufficeth it I shew that the causes that Nâ—… their King gaue for his owne institutions ought neither to bee shewed to people senate no nor to the Priests them-selues and that Numa by his vnlawfull 〈◊〉 came to the knowledge of such deuillish secrets as he was worthy to be 〈◊〉 â—…ded for writing of Yet though hee were a King that feared no man hee duâ—… for all that either publish them or abolish them publish them he would noâ—…â—…are of teaching wickednesse burne them he durst not for feare of offendiâ—… deuils so he buried them where he thought they would be safe d not 〈◊〉 â—…he turning vp of his graue by a plough But the Senate fearing to reâ—… their ancestors religion and so agreeing with Numa's doctrine yet held 〈◊〉 â—…kes too pernicious either to bee buried againe least mens madder cuâ—… should seeke them out or to bee put to any vse but burning to the end 〈◊〉 seeiâ—…g they must needs stick to their old superstition they might doe it with â—…ame by concealing the causes of it whose knowledge would haue disturâ—… whole cittie L. VIVES 〈◊〉 Terentius The storie is written by Liuy Ualerius Plutarch and Lactantius Liuy 〈◊〉 â—…erius his ordinary follower say that Q. Petilius found the bookes Pliny out of 〈◊〉 that Gn. Terentius found them in one chest not two Liuy calles that yeares 〈◊〉 C. Bebius Pamphilus and M. Amilius Lepidus for whom Hemina putteth P. Corâ—…â—…gus after Numa his reigne DXXXV of the bookes the seuerall opinions are 〈◊〉 13. cap. 13. b Terentius Petilius they sayd some say he desired the Pretor they 〈◊〉 â—…ead others that he brought a Scriuener to read them The historie in Liuy lib. 40. 〈◊〉 and Plinie lib. 1. 'T is sufficient to shew the places He saith he brought them inâ—… for though Numa's tombe were in the cittie namely in the foureteenth region 〈◊〉 yet being beyond Tyber such as came to the Senate house seemed to come out 〈◊〉 â—…bes or countrie c Religious fathers as touched with feare that religion should 〈◊〉 by the publication of those bookes Some read religious in reference vnto bookes 〈◊〉 â—…ng scruples of religion in mens mindes for that is the signification of the Latine 〈◊〉 any man will read it irreligious d Not fearing It was a great and religious 〈◊〉 â—…as had ouer Sepulchers of old none might violate or pull them downe it was a 〈◊〉 twelue tables and also one of Solons and Numa's of most old law-giuers Greekes â—…es belonging rather to their religion then their ciuill law for they held Sepulchers 〈◊〉 â—…les of th' Infernall gods and therefore they wrote vpon them these letters D. M. S. 〈◊〉 â—…anibus sacrum A place sacred to the gods of Hell and their sollemnities were 〈◊〉 â—…cia Cicero de legib lib. 2. Of Hydromancie whereby Numa was mocked with apparitions CHAP. 35. 〈◊〉 Nâ—…ma him-selfe being not instructed by any Prophet or Angell of God 〈◊〉 faine to fall to d Hydromancie making his gods or rather his deuills to 〈◊〉 in water and instruct him in his religious institutions Which kinde of 〈◊〉 â—…n saith Varro came from Persia and was vsed by Numa and afterwards 〈◊〉 â—…thagoras wherein they vsed bloud also and called forth spirits infernall 〈◊〉 â—…ncie the greekes call it but Necromancie or Hydromancie whether ye like 〈◊〉 it is that the dead seeme to speake How they doe these things looke they 〈◊〉 for I will not say that their lawes prohibited the vse of such things in 〈◊〉 cities before the comming of our Sauiour I doe not say so perhaps they 〈◊〉 allowed it But hence did Numa learne his ordinances which he published 〈◊〉 publishing their causes so afraide was he of that which he had learned 〈◊〉 which afterward the Senate burned But why then doth Varro giue them such a sort of other naturall reasons which had they beene in Numa's bookes they had 〈◊〉 beene burned or else Varro's that were dedicated to c Caesar the priest should haue beene burned for company So that Numa's hauing nymph a â—…ia to his wife was as Varro saith nothing but his vse of water in Hydromâ—…cy For so vse actions to bee spiced with falshood and turned into fables So by that Hydromancy did this curious King learne his religious lawes that hee gaue the Romaines and which the Priests haue in their bookes marry for their causes them hee learned also but kept to himselfe and after a sort entoumbed them in death with himselfe such was his desire to conceale them from the world So then either were these bookes filled with the deuills best all desires and thereby all the politique Theology that presenteth them such filthynesses made
likewise in artificiall things as a table a booke or so euery leafe is not a booke nor euery part of the table a table These parts are called Heterogenea or Of diuers kindes multigenae Agricola calles them The Symilar partes Anaxagoras held to bee in all things infinite either different as of wood bloud ayre fire bone and such or congruent as of water infinite parcells all of one nature and so of fire c for though bodies bee generate by this separation yet cannot these parts bee so distinguished but infinite will still remaine that euermore is best meanes for one thing to bee progenerate of another and nourished so that this communication continueth euerlastingly of nature place and nutriment But of the Heterogeneall parts hee did not put infinite in nature for hee did not hold that there were infinite men in the fire nor infinite bones in a man t Diogenes There were many of this name one of Synope called the Cynike one of Sicyon an Historiographer one a stoike fellow Embassador to Rome which Carneades borne at Seleucia but called the Babilonian or Tharsian one that writ of poeticall questions and Diogenes Laertius from whom wee haue this our Philosophy elder then them all one also called Apolloniata mentioned here by Augustine Our commentator like a good plaisterer daubed the Cynike and this into one as hee made one Thomas of Thomas Valois and Thomas Aquinas in his Commentaries vpon Boethius u Ayre Cic. de nat de What is that ayre that Diogenes Apolloniata calles God He affirmed also inumerable worlds in infinite spaces and that the ayre thickning it selfe into a globous body produceth a world x Archelaus Some say of Myletus some of Athens He first brought Physiologie from Ionia to Athens and therefore was called Physicus also because his scholler Socrates brought in the Morality y He also Plutarch saith he put the infinite ayre for the worlds generall principle and that the r◅ity and density thereof made fire and water z Consonance Eternity say the manuscripts a Socrates This is hee that none can sufficiently commend the wisest Pagan that euer was An Athenian begot by Sophroniscus a stone-cutter and Phanareta a mid-wife A man temperare chaste iust modest pacient scorning wealth pleasure and glory for he neuer wrote any thing he was the first that when others said he knew all affirmed himselfe hee knew nothing Of the Socratical◅ discipline CHAP. 3. SOcrates therefore was a the first that reduced Philosophy to the refor◅tion of manres for al before him aymed at naturall speculation rather then practise morality I cannot surely tel whether the tediousnesse b of these obscurities moued Socrates to apply his minde vnto some more set and certaine inuention for an assistance vnto beatitude which was the scope of all the other Phylosophers intents and labours or as some doe fauorably surmise hee c was vnwilling that mens mindes being suppressed with corrupt and earthly affects should ofter to crowd vnto the height of these Physicall causes whose totall and whose originall relyed soly as he held vpon the will of God omnipotent only and true wherefore he held that d no mind but a purified one could comprehend them and therfore first vrged a reformed course of life which effected the mind vnladen of terrestriall distractions might towre vp to eternity with the owne intelectuall purity sticke firme in contemplation of the nature of that incorporeal vnchanged and incomprehensible light which e conteyneth the causes of all creation Yet sure it is that in his morall disputations f he did with most elegant and acute vrbanity taxe and detect the ignorance of these ouer-weening fellowes that build Castles on their owne knowledge eyther in this confessing his owne ignorance or dissembling his vnderstanding g wher-vpon enuy taking hold he was wrackt by a h callumnious accusation and so put to death i Yet did Athens that condemned him afterward publikely lament for him and the wrath of the commonty fell so sore vpō his two accusers that one of them was troden to death by the multitude and another forced to auoid the like by a voluntary banishment This Socrates so famous in his life and death left many of his schollers behind him whose l study and emulation was about moralyty euer and that summum bonum that greatest good which no man wanting can attain beatitude m VVhich being not euident in Socrates his controuersiall questions each man followed his own opiniō and made that the finall good n The finall good is that which attained maketh man happy But Socrates his schollers were so diuided strange hauing all onemaister that some o Aristippus made pleasure this finall good others p Antisthenes vertue So q each of the rest had his choice too long to particularize L. VIVES WAs the a first Cicero Acad. Quest. I thinke and so do all that Socrates first called Phylosophy out of the mists of naturall speculations wherein all the Phylosophers before had beene busied and apllyed it to the institution of life and manners making it y◠meane to inquire out vertue and vice good and euill holding things celestiall too abstruse for natural powers to investigate far seperate from things natural which if they could be known were not vsefull in the reformation of life b Tediousnesse Xenophon Comment rer Socratic 1. writeth that Socrates was wont to wonder that these dayly and nightly inuestigators could neuer finde that their labour was stil rewarded with vncertainties and this he explaneth at large c Was vnwilling Lactantius his wordes in his first booke are these I deny not but that Socrates hath more witte then the rest that thought they could comprehend all natures courses wherein I thinke them not onely vnwise but impious also to dare to aduance their curious eyes to view the altitude of the diuine prouidence And after Much guiltter are they that lay their impious disputation vpon quest of the worlds secrets prophaning the celestial temple therby then either they that enter the Temples of Ceres Bona Dea Vesta d No minde Socrates disputeth this at large in Plato's P◅adon at his death Shewing that none can bee a true Phylosopher that is not abstracted in spirit from all the affects of the body which then is affected when in this life the soule is looseed from all perturbations and so truly contemplated the true good that is the true God And therefore Phylosophy is defined a meditation of death that is there is a seperation or diuorce betweene soule and body the soule auoyding the bodies impurities and so becomming pure of it selfe For it is sin for any impure thought to be present at the speculation of that most pure essence and therefore hee thought men attoned unto God haue far more knowledge then the impure that know him not In Plato's Cratylus hee saith good men are onely wise and that none can be skilfull in matters celestiall without Gods assistance In Epinomede There may
be other beginnings found eyther knowne to God or his fâ—…es saith Apulcius out of Plato e Which conteyneth This is Plato's opinion related by Augustine not his owne This I adde because our truth-hunter sets it as Augustines and then comes in with his realityes and formalities such as Augustine neuer dreamed of For Plato saith God is the mindes light like as the sunne wee see is the light of the body whereby we see So is God the cause of our vnderstanding whose sacred light infuseth things and the knowledge of truth into vs. De Rep. 6. The sunne is the light of the world visible and God of the inuisible Nazanz f He did with most Plato Xenophon Aeschines Xenocrates and other reduced Socrates his wordes into Dialogues wherein hee most elegantly reprehendeth their ignorance that perswaded both them-selues and the multitude that they knew all things Such were Protogoras Gorgias Euthydemus Dionysodorus and others g Wher-vpon His disputation saith Plato ouerthrew him Three saith Laertius accused him Anytus Melitus Lycon an Orator in Anytus his defence of the trades-mens tumultuous crew and the other Cittizens whome Socrates had often derided Melitus defended the Poets whom Socrates would haue expelled the Citty Of these thinges read Plato and Xenophon in their Apologies for Socrates But the playnest of all is Laertius in his life of Socartes He was condemned by two hundred eighty one sentences h Callumnious My accusers saith Socrates nor my crymes can kill me but enuy onely which both hath destroyed and will destroy the worthyest euer i Yet did Athens They did so greeue for his death that they shut vp all the schooles and made a sad vacation all ouer the Citty put Melitus to death banished Anitus and erected Socrates a brazen statue of Lysippus his workemanship k Many All the sects almost deriued from Socrates the Platonists Academikes Cyrenaikes Cynikes Peripatetiques Megarians and Stoikes t Study and emulation This onely question made all the sects m Which being not For his disputations rather were confutations of others then doctrines of his owne For professing himselfe to know nothing hee thought it vnfit to affirme any thing Plato's Thaeatetus n The finall good To which all things haue reference Cic. de finib For this saith hee lib. 3. beeing the vtmost you knowe I interprete the greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so Wee may call it the last or the end for which all thinges are desired and it selfe onely for it selfe as Plato Aristotle and the rest affirme o Aristippus A Cyrenian the first Socratist that taught for money as hee would haue also paid for his learning But Socrates neuer tooke pay saying his Genius forbad him Hee suffered also Dionysius of Syracusa the younger to deride him and flattered him for gayne Hee made bodily pleasure the greatest good Diog. Laert. Of them the Cyrenaikes Phylosophers had their originall An end of this with a briefe note out of Hierome vppon Ecclesiastes speaking of pleasure Let this quoth he Be affirmed by some Epicurus or Aristippus or the Cynikes or such Phylosophicall cattell it must bee the Cyrenaikes for what had the Cynikes to doe with bodily pleasures p Antisthenes The author of the Cynikes or Dogsect maister to Diogines of Synope the Cynike hee held vertue the greatest good q Each of The diuersity of opinions herein you may read in Cicero his 2. de finibus And wee haue toucht them briefely in the preface to his worke de legibus Of Plato the cheefe of Socrates his schollers who diuided Phylosophy into three kindes CHAP. 4. BVt of all Socrates his schollers there was one whose glory worthily obscured all the rest Plato a Hee was an Athenian borne of honest parentage and endowed with perfection of vnderstanding farre more then all his fellowes So hee thinking that his inuention and b Socrates his instructions were all too short of the true ayme of Phylosophy and therefore would needes goe trauell to any place where Fame tolde him he might drinke of the fount of noble sapience So went hee into c Aegipt and there learnt all that hee held worth learning and from thence into d Italy where the Pythagoreans were famous and there didde he drayne from the most eminent teachers all the Phylosophy of Italy And because hee dearely affected his maister Socratâ—…s hee maketh him in all his Dialogues to temperate that which a either he had learned of others or inuented of him-selfe with his delicate vrbanity and motality So whereas the study of f wisedome is eyther concerning action or contemplation and thence assumeth two seuerall names actiue and contemplatiue the actiue consisting in the practise of morality in ones life and the contemplatiue in penetrating into the abstruse causes of nature and the nature of Diuinity g Socrates is said to excell in the actiue Pythagoras in the contemplatiue But Plato conioyned them into one perfect kinde which h hee subdiuided into three sorts The Morall consisting chiefly in action The Naturall in contemplation The Rationall in i distinction of true and false k which though it bee vsefull in both the other yet it pertaineth more particularly to contemplation And therefore this Trichotomy or triple diuision doth not contradict the other Dichotomy that includeth all in action and contemplation But as for Plato's opinion herein what should be the end of all actions the cause of all natures and the light of all reasons is both tedious to follow and may not bee rashly affirmed For l delighting in his maister Socrates his dissembling of his knowledge whome hee maketh disputant in all his dialogues and affecting that he left his owne opinions in these great questions as ambiguous very neare as his maisters yet do we intend out of his owne discourses and his relations m from others to repeat some of his positions eyther such as do square with truth of that religion which our faith professeth and defendeth or such as oppose it as farre as shall concerne the singularity or multititude of goddes whome the Catholike religion sayth we must worship for the obtayning of eternall felicity in the life to come For it may be that such as knew Plato to excell al the other Phlosophers of al nations and vnderstood him far bettter then others do think that in God is the cause of natures the light of reason and the rule of life which haue reference to the three Phylosophies Naturall Rationall and Morall n For if a man were created by his excelling part to aspire to that which excelleth all that is the One True almighty God without whome nothing hath being no reason instructeth and no vse assisteth o then let him be searched out in whom we haue all security let him be beheld in whom is al our certainty let him bee beloued in whome is all our morality L. VIVES PLato a His parents were Aristo and Perictione Hee came from Codrus by the father the last King of Athens by the mother
otâ—… iâ—…â—…uffeth vp that is filleth one with vaine glory So then In the diuels is thâ—…â—…owledge without charity and thence they are puffed so big so proud that thâ—… 〈◊〉 honours which they well know to be Gods due they haue euer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—…em-selues and as far as they can doe so still Now what power the 〈◊〉 oâ—… Câ—…â—…hat came in forme of a seruant hath against this diuels pride as men deserued â—…ered in their hearts mens wretched minds beeing diueleshly as yet puffed vppe can by no meanes because of their proud tumor compâ—…hend or conceiue L. VIVES GReeke a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the old greeke was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to know Thence came 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the author of the great Etymology All knowing And 〈◊〉 of the same minde for their knowledge In Cratylo Capella followeth him and so â—…ers Lactantius also lib. 2. giues them this name for their vnderstanding And so doth â—…lcidius vpon Plato his Timaeus In what manner the Lord would make him-selfe knowne to the Diuells CHAP. 21. FOâ—… the diuels hadde this knowledge they could say to the Lord in the flesh 〈◊〉 haue we to do with thee O Iesus of Nazareth Art thou come to destroy vs 〈◊〉 time Here is a plaine knowledge without charity they feare to be plaâ—…y him but loued not the iustice in him Their knowledge was bounded â—…is will and his will with conuenience But they knew him not as the Angels 〈◊〉 him that participate of his Deity in all eternity but vnto their terror out of 〈◊〉 clutches he quit those yâ— he had predestinated to his Kingdom of true eterâ—…y and eternall glorious truth The diuels therefore knew him not as hee 〈◊〉 life eternall the vnchangeable light illuminating all the godly who reâ—…hat light to the purification of their hearts by faith but they knew him by â—…mporall effects of his presence and secret signes of his vertue which the diâ—… angelicall sences might easilier obserue then mans naturall infirmity â—…gnes when he suppressed the Prince of diuels made question of his Deiâ—…empted him for the b tryall of his Deity trying how farre hee would â—…m-selfe to bee tempted in c adapting his humanity vnto our imitatiâ—… d after his temptation when the good and glorious Angels whome â—…els extremely feared came and ministred vnto him then the diuels gotte â—…nd more knowledge of him and not one of them durst resist his command 〈◊〉 hee seemed infirme and e contemptible in the flesh L. VIVES ANgelicall a sences Christs miracles were more admired of the Angells and Diuels then of men because they knowing the causes of thinges saw natures power conâ—… and transcended Now men though they saw them strange yet wanted there not 〈◊〉 to say hee cast out diuels by Beelzebub their Prince not so much beleeuing this indeed â—…g that the simple multitude should beleeue it And others of later time haue falseâ—…ged him with art Magicke against whome by GODS helpe I will deale at large 〈◊〉 bookes De sapientia Christiana b For tryall The Diuell generally tempts man to 〈◊〉 but here he aymed not so much at sinne for he knew his sanctity at least neare inexâ—…ble but his fetch was to see whether the Deity were in this humaine forme c Aâ—…g Because he would not seeme exempted by passing vntempted from humaine conâ—… Nor should his seruants after him thinke much to be tempted seeing that old 〈◊〉 â—…nemy of man didde not spare CHRIST him-selfe d After temptation This â—…mplary also For as none shall passe vntempted so if none yeeld to the temptation 〈◊〉 shall all inioy the solace and ministery of Angels as Hierome saith e Contemptible 〈◊〉 needy of meane birth and place farre from ostentation and hauing his society of such like as hee was The difference of the holy Angels knowledge and the Diuels CHAP. 22. VNto the good Angels the knowledge of all temporall things that puffes vp the Diuels is vile not that they want it but in that they wholy respect the loue of that God that sanctifieth them in comparison of which ineffable and vnchangeable glory with the a loue of with they are inflamed they contemne al that is vnder it that is b not it yea and euen them-selues that al their good may be imployed in inioying that onely good And so came they to a more sure knowledge of the world viewing in God the principall causes of the worlds creation which causes do confirme this frustrate that and dispose of all now the c diuels are fat from beholding those eternall and fundamentall causes in the wisedome of God only they can extract a notion from certaine secret signes which man is ignorant in haue more experience and therefore may oftener presage euents But they are often deceiued mary the Angels neuer For it is one thing to presage changes euents from changeable and casuall grounds and to confound them by as changeable a will as the diuels are permitted to do another thing to fore-see the changes of times and the wil of God in his eternall vnalterable decrees most d certain most powerful by the participatioÌ„ of his diuine spirit as the Angels ar vouchsafed by due gradation to do So are they eternal and blessed He is their God that made them for his participation and contemplation they do e continually inioy L. VIVES THe a loue Loue alwayes worketh on beauteous obiects Socrates in Plato's Phado saith that if corporall eyes could behold the face of honesty and wisedome they would hold it most deer and amiable What then if we could see Gods face whose fayrenesse saith the booke of wisedom appeares euen in this that our fayrest obiects are of his making Diotina in Plato's Conui as wee said aboue holds but one pulchritude worthy the loue of an honest man that desires beatitude b Is not all that is not God being vile in respect of God the Angels contemne both all and them-selues in respect of him which cogitation fastneth them so firme in Vnion with God that his beatitude sufficeth without all other appendances to make them eternally blessed c The diuels For they cannot behold the pole or foundation where-vpon all causes are grounded and turned nor the fount whence they arise but only by their pregnancy and wit surmounting ours as also by experence more then ours beeing immortall they haue a quicke conceipt of things present and a surer presage in things to come then we haue Whereby coniecturing euents not from the proper cause but their owne coniectures they are oftentimes deceiued ly when they think they speak most true boasting that they know al things Nor do the vnpure diuels faile herein onely but euen the gods them-selues saith Porphyry d Most certaine Gods will hath this certainty it effecteth what it pleaseth else were it not certaine as not being in his power but all effects
beeing in his hand it is most certaine That is nothing can fall out but he willeth it because he willeth nothing but must fall so out And therefore they that obserue his will obserue the sure cause of all effectes because all effects haue production from his will so that rightly doth Augustine call his will most certaine and most powerfull his power being the cause of his wils certainty This will the Angels and Saints beholding know as much as the proportion of their beatitude permitteth For al of them haue noâ—… the same knowledge but gradually as they haue beatitude as hee saith e Continually Continual is their speculation of God least the least intermission should make them wretched yet doth not the feare of that cause them continue the other but that beatitude doth wholly transport them from the cogitation and desire of all other thinges they inioying all goodnesse in him that is the fountaine of them all That the Pagan Idols are falsely called goddes yet the scripture allowes it to Saints and Angels CHAP. 23. NOw if the Platonists had rather cal these gods theÌ„ Daemones and roâ—…on them amongst those whome the father created as their Maister Platâ—… writâ—…ch let theÌ„ do so we wil haue no verball controuersie with them If they call them immortall and yet Gods creatures made immortall by adherence with him not by themselues they hold with vs call them what they will And the best Platonists if not all haue left records that thus they beleeued for whereas they call such an immortall creature a god wee b contend not with them our scriptures saying The God of gods euen the Lord hath spoken againe Praise yea the God of Gods Againe A great King aboue all gods And in that it is written He is to be feared aboue al gods The sequell explaines it For all the gods of the people are Idols but the Lord made the beaâ—…ens He calleth him ouer al gods to wit the peoples those that the Nations called their gods being Idols therfore is he to be feared aboue them all and in this feare they cryed Art thou come to destroy vs before our time But whereas it is written The God of gods this is not to be vnderstood the God of Idols or diuels and God forbid we should say A great King aboue all Gods in reference to his kingdome ouer diuels but the scripture calleth the men of Gods familie gods I haue said you are gods and al children of the most High of these must the God of gods be vnderstood and ouer these gods is King The great King aboue al gods But now one question If men being of Gods family whom he speaketh vnto by men or Angels be called gods how much more are they to be so called that are immortall inioy that beatitude which men by Gods seruice do aime at We answer that the scripture rather calleth men by the name of gods then those immortall blessed creatures whose likenesse was promised after death because our vnfaithfull infirmity should not be seduced by reason of their super eminence to make vs gods of them which inconuenience in man is soon auoyded And yâ— men of Gods family are the rather called gods to assure them that he is their God that is the God of gods for though the blessed Angels bee called goddes yet they are not called the Gods of Gods yâ— is of those seruants of God of whom it is said You are gods al children of the most High Here-vpon the Apostle saith though ther be that are called gods whether in heauen or in earth as there be many gods and many Lords yet vnto vs there is but one God which is the father of whome are all things and we in him and one Lord Iesus Christ by whome are al things and we by him No matter for the name theÌ„ the matter being thus past all scruple But whereas we say from those immortall quires Angels are sent with Gods command vnto men this they dislike as beleeuing that this businesse belongs not to those blessed creatures whom they cal goddes but vnto the Daemones whome they dare not affirme blessed but only immortall or so immortall and blessed as good Daemones are but not as those high gods whom they place so high and so farre from mans infection But though this seeme a verball controuersie the name of a Daemon is so detestable that we may by no meanes attribute it vnto our blessed Angels Thus then let vs end this book Know al that those blessed immortals how euer called yâ— are creatures are no meanes to bring miserable man to beatitude being from them c doubly different Secondly those that pertake immortality with them and miserable for reward of their mallice with vs can rather enuy vs this happines then obtaine it vs therfore the fautors of those Daemones can bring no proofe why wee should honour them as God but rather that we must auoyd them as deceiuers As for those whome they say are good immmortall and blessed calling them goddes and allotâ—…ing them sacrifices for the attainment of beatitude eternall In the next booke by Gods helpe wee will proue that their desire was to giue this honour not to them but vnto that one God through whose power they were created and in whose participation they are blessed LVIVES And a recken Plato saith that that great God the father created all the rest In Timaeo b VVe contend not No man denieth saith Cypryan that there are many gods by participations Boethius calles euery happy man a god but one onely so by nature 〈◊〉 the rest by participation And to vs hath Christ giuen power to be made the sons of God 〈◊〉 Doubtly By from our misery and mortality which two wordes some copies adde vnto the tâ—…xt The sence is all one implied in the one and expressed in the other Finis lib. 9. THE CONTENTS OF THE tenth booke of the City of God 1 That the Platonists themselues held that One oâ—…ly God was the giuer of all beatitude â—…to Men and Angels but the controuersie is whether they that they hold are to be worshipped for this end would haue sacrifices offered to them-selues or resigne all vnto God 2. The opinion of Plotine the Platonist concerâ—…ing the supernaturall illumination 3. Of the true worship of God wherein the Platoâ—…ts failed in worshipping good or euill Angels though they knew the worlds Creator 4. That sacrifice is due onely to the true God 5. Of the sacrifices which God requireth â—…ot and what be requireth in their signification 6. Of the true and perfect sacrifice 7. That the good Angels doe so loue vs that thy desire wee should worship God onely and â—…ot them 8. Of the miracles whereby God hath confirâ—…d his promises in the mindes of the faithfull by the ministry of his holy Angels 9. Of vnlawfull Arts concerning the Deuils worship whereof Porphery approoueth some and dâ—…eth others 10. Of Theurgy that falsely
them as deceitfull deuills both in their good words and in their bad But seeing this God this goddesse cannot agree about Christ truly men haue no reason to beleeue or obey them in forbidding christianity Truly either Porphyry or Hecate in these commendations of Christ affirming that he destinied the christians to error yet goeth about to shew the causes of this error which before I relate I will aske him this one question If Christ did predestinate all christians vnto error whether did hee this wittingly or against his will If hee did it wittingly how then can hee bee iust if it were against his will how can hee then bee happy But now to the causes of this errour There are some spirits of the earth saith hee which are vnder the rule of the euill Daemones These the Hebrewes wise men whereof IESVS was one as the diuine Oracle declared before doth testifie forbad the religious persons to meddle with-all aduising them to attend the celestiall powers and especially God the Father with all the reuerence they possibly could And this saith hee the Gods also doe command vs as wee haue already shewen how they admonish vs to reuerence GOD in all places But the ignorant and wicked hauing no diuine guift nor any knowledge of that great and immortall Ioue nor following the precepts of the gods or good men haue cast all the deities at their heeles choosing not onely to respect but euen to reuerence those depraued Daemones And where-as they professe the seruice of GOD they doe nothing belonging to his seruice For GOD is the father of all things and stands not in neede of anything and it is well for vs to exhibite him his worship in chastitie iustice and the other vertues making our whole life a continuall prayer vnto him by our search and imitation of him c For our search of him quoth hee purifieth vs and our imitation of him deifieth the effects in our selues Thus well hath hee taught God the Father vnto vs and vs how to offer our seruice vnto him The Hebrew Prophets are full of such holy precepts concerning both the commendation and reformation of the Saints liues But as concerning Christianity there hee erreth and slandereth as farre as his deuills pleasure is whome hee holdeth deities as though it were so hard a matter out of the obscenities practised and published in their Temples and the true worship and doctrine presented be fore GOD in our Churches to discerne where manners were reformed and where they were ruined Who but the deuill him-selfe could inspire him with so shamelesse a falsification as to say that the Christians doe rather honour then detest the Deuills whose adoration was forbidden by the Hebrewes No that God whome the Hebrewes adored will not allow any sacrifice vnto his holiest Angels whome wee that are pilgrims on earth doe not-with-standing loue and reuerence as most sanctified members of the Citty of heauen but forbiddeth it directly in this thundring threate Hee that sacrificeth vnto Gods shall be rooted 〈◊〉 and least it should be thought hee meant onely of the earthly spirits whome this fellow calles the lesser powers d and whome the scripture also calleth gods not of the Hebrews but the Heathens as is euident in that one place Psal. 96. verse 5. For all the Gods of the Heathen are Diuels least any should imagine that the fore-said prohibition extended no further then these deuills or that it concerned not the offring to the celestiall spirits he addeth but vnto the Lord alone but vnto one God onely Some may take the words nisi domino soli to bee vnto the Lord the sunne and so vnderstand the place to bee meant of Apollo but the oriâ—…â—…nd the e Greeke translations doe subuert all such misprision So then the Hebrew God so highly commended by this Philosopher gaue the Hebrewes a â—…awe in their owne language not obscure or vncertaine but already dispersed through-out all the world wherein this clause was literally conteined Hee that sacrificeth vnto Gods shall bee rooted out but vnto the Lord alone What neede wee make any further search into the law and the Prophets concerning this nay what need wee search at all they are so plaine and so manifold that what neede I stand aggrauating my disputation with any multitudes of those places that exclude all powers of heauen and earth from perticipating of the honors due vnto God alone Behold this one place spoaken in briefe but in powerfull manner by the mouth of that GOD whome the wisest Ethnicks doe so highly extoll let vs marke it feare it and obserue it least our eradication ensue Hee that sacrificeth vnto more gods then that true and onely LORD shall bee rooted out yet God him-selfe is farre from needing any of our seruices but f all that wee doe herein is for the good of our owne soules Here-vpon the Hebrewes say in their holy Psalmes I haue sayd vnto the Lord thou art my GOD my well-dooing â—…th not vnto thee No wee our selues are the best and most excellent sacrifice that hee can haue offered him It is his Citty whose mystery wee celebrate 〈◊〉 â—…ch oblations as the faithfull doe full well vnderstand as I sayd once already For the ceasing of all the typicall offrings that were exhibited by the Iewes aâ—…d the ordeyning of one sacrifice to bee offered through the whole world from East to West as now wee see it is was prophecied long before from GOD by the mouthes of holy Hebrewes whome wee haue cited as much as needed in conuenient places of this our worke Therefore to conclude where there is not this iustice that GOD ruleth all alone ouer the society that obeyeth him by grace and yeeldeth to his proâ—…tion of sacrifice vnto all but him-selfe and where in euery member belongâ—… to this heauenly society the soule is lord ouer the body and all the bad afâ—… thereof in the obedience of GOD and an orderly forme so that all the 〈◊〉 as well as one liue according to faith g which worketh by loue in â—…ch a man loueth GOD as hee should and his neighbour as him-selfe 〈◊〉 this iustice is not is no societie of men combined in one vniformity of 〈◊〉 and profite consequently no true state popular if that definition holde â—…ch and finally no common-wealth for where the people haue no certaine 〈◊〉 the generall hath no exact forme L. VIVES 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is of Oraculous Phisosophy in which worke hee recites Apollos Orracles and others part whereof wee haue cited before b Photinus Hee was condemned by the counsell of Syrmium being confuted by Sabinus Bishoppe of Ancyra Cassiod Hist tripart He followed the positions of Samosatenus so that many accompted of both these heresies all as one c For our search Search is here a mentall inquisition whereby the mind is illustrate and purged from darke ignorance and after it hath found God studieth how to grow purâ—… and diuine like him d And whome the scripture
alwaies good but Fortune not so Fortune Plutus lame and sound Fortunes Image did speake by the diuels meanes Fortuna Muliebris Faith Vertues Parts Habuc 3. Vertues Temple Mens a Goddesse Faith Scaeuola Curtius Decius Chastities Chappels Virtue what it is Vertue Hee louanists like not this but leaue it Arte whence Cato Mens her temple The nuptiall gods Peitho Hymenaeus Siluer when first coined Gold coine first Rubigo The sorts of the Nymphes Pittie The Capitol Summanus Lucullus Picus Faunuâ—… Tiberinus â—…la Feares and Pallors temple Pieties chappell Terminus Batylus Iuuentas Thunders of how many sorts Honours temple Ioues adulteries Titus Latinus history Mercurie The reâ—…all of the Romain Empires 〈◊〉 Rom. 1. Hadrian Iulian. Iouian Tullies dislike of images and fables of the gods The gods warâ—…es An accadeâ—… The Titanâ—… Religious Superstitioâ—… God no soule but the soules maker The Teletâ—… Who first brought Images to Rome Gen 46. The dipeâ—…sion of the Iewes Fortune Fate what What the vulger hold fate The Astrologianâ—… necessity of the starres Fate what it is The destenies 3. Epicurus Fortunes Casualties what they are as Aphrodyseâ—… thinketh The Starrs dominion Plotine Seneca Mars a Staâ—… Possidonius Horoscope what Nigidius Figulus The stars out run ouâ—… slacke thoughtes Gen. 25. Hipocrates his guesse The Angles of heauen Man is not conceiued after the first conception vntill the birth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Creatures superfaetanâ—… that is breediâ—…g vpon blood Twinnes both be gotten and borne The tide of the sea What male female is Astrologers how true presagers Hesiod â—…riters of husbandry Sup Gen ad lit et 2. de doct Chr. Godâ—… fore-knowledge The Stoiks fate Foure opinions of Fate God the changer of the Will Psal. 14. 1 Fâ—…te of no fâ—…rce Voluntary causes Genes 1. Spirit of life Euill willes not from God Our wills causes Deny gods praeâ—…cience and deny God 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 kindâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God 〈◊〉 God almighty indeed â—…raescience freedom of will also How man sâ—…neth Democritus Chrysippus Pluto Goâ—… pâ—…science no câ—… oâ—… 〈◊〉 Loue of glory Kings Consuls Vertues and honors temples Glory 2. Cor. 1. Galat. 6. True vertue Lib. 2. Cap. 18. Consulls 〈◊〉 Phthia Larissa Micaenae Argos Glory Cato of vtica Epist lib. 〈◊〉 Car. lib. 2 Glory a Princes nourishment Philosophy to be well read The loue of iustice should excell the loue of glory â—…o 5. 43. â—…o 12. 43. Mâ—…t 10. 33 Luc. 12. 9 Mat. 6. 1. Mat. 5. 16. True pietie Latria The eternall city Rom. 8. Mat. 5. 2. Cor. 5. Remission of sinnes Romulus his sanctuary All the Romaine subiects made free of the citty Barbarians who they are Rhines bankes God the mindeâ—…â—…rue wealth Torquatus Camillus Scaenola Curtius Mat. 10. 28 The Decii Reguluâ—… The praise of voluntary pouerty Valerius Poplicola Q. â—…incinatus Fabricius Act 4 Rom. 8. veâ—… 18. The dictatorship Fabricius a scorner of ritches Corn. Silla Desire of rule without loue of glory Desire of rule vvithout loue of glory Contempt of glory Gods prouidence is it that raisâ—…h the vvicked Pro. 8 15. Iob 34. True vertue serueth not glory Tyrannus Aneaâ—… The picture of pleasure Zoroafter Two kinds of soules in Plato's world Pythagoras his numbers The Manichees Vespasian Domitian Iulian. Warres soone ended Warres hardly ended Euentus Christian Emperors dying vnfortunately Constantine Pyzance Constantinople The Romaine world Iouinian Gratian. Pompey Theodosiuâ—… Iohn an Hermit and a Prophet A great wind ayded Theodosius 〈◊〉 hâ—…s humiâ—…y Iohn the Anchorite Claudian Fooâ—… Valens The massacrâ—… 〈◊〉 Thessalonica Thâ—…odosius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more 〈◊〉 â—…hen truth In prâ—…at hâ—…stor nat Psam 40. 4. Life eternal in vaiâ—… asked of the gods Varro while he liued had his Seaâ—…e â—…p Terentianus Laurentina Hercules whoâ—…e deified Euemerus Adonis his death Venus her statue on mount Libanus Gingâ—…e what it iâ—… Thiâ—…le wiâ—… to â—…atinus a Mimike actor Saturne a deuourer of his sons * It signifies the enabling of the woman to bring â—…th a childe Bacchus Maenades Pilumnus Para 〈◊〉 Priapus Nâ—… Seneca's reprehension of the gods altars Iohannes and â—…eas Scraneus Strato 〈◊〉 Eternall life Diuinity wherefore to bee sought Mergarides perhaps our English potatoes A good minde better then memory Ianus Aeneas would haue Saturnia called Aeneopolis Berosus the Chaldean The nimph Crane Iohn 10. Sacrifices of men Falshood ouerthrowes it selfe Saturne The golden age Proserpina Ceres sacrifices Triptolemus The filthinesse of the 〈◊〉 sacirfices Perephatte 〈◊〉 Orgieâ—… Cerealia Politian Bacchus his sacrifices Phallus Philagogia Ithyphallâ—… Plostelum Lauinium Venilia Salacia Hel. Varro his degrees of soules The intellect The soules two parts Dis Proserpina Romulus called Altellus Earths surnames Libers sacriâ—…ces Cybeles sacrifyces Scapus Why the Gallâ—… geld themselues Plato hiâ—…â—…iddle The Louanists omit this Ganimede The Samothracian gods Cabeiri Platos Idea Pluto The workes of the â—…ue God Angels All things fulfilled in Christ. How the Prophets vnderstood the prophecy both Heathen others Who were the Gntiles gods Numa founder of the Romaine religion The reâ—…rence of Sepulchers Hydrâ—…mancie Necromancie Gods proâ—…dence Tâ—… religiâ—… 〈◊〉 the deâ—… Thâ—… kinds of Dâ—… Wisdome 7. 10. Heb. 1. Philosophy The Italian Philosophy The IoÌ„nike Philosophy Ionia Phythagoras Thales of Miletus The 7. Greeke Sages Anaximaâ—…der Anaximenes Anaxagoras Diogenes Archelâ—… the Naturalist The final good The Socratists of diuers opinions Socrates The true Phylosopher The Louanists leaue this Socrates his statue Aristippus Antisthenes The stuâ—…y of wisedom and what â—…t concernes Plato Effecting disciplines Plato This note the Louanists haue left out wholy Plato And this also for company All the phylosophers short ofâ—…lato The Stoikes sire The corporcal world The gods of the higher house Scoikes Epâ—…s Pyâ—… God onely hath true essence al the rest depend vppon him Things sensible and intelligible Mutable what Rom 1. 19. 20. God is no body Dieâ—…s the Diuine Cieâ—…r Acad Quest. lib. 1. The Phylosophers coÌ„â—…tion about the greatest good Knowledge of the truth Platosâ—… Phylosopher a louer of God Coloâ—… 28. Rom. 1. 19. 20. Act. 17. 18. Rom. 1. 21. 22. 23. Plato's opinion of the greatest good Valla. Loue. Delight Toenioy Atlantikes Atlas Egiptians Brachmans Persians Chaldees Scithians Druides Spaine Psal. 19. 1. This is no good doctrine inthe Louanists opinion for it is left out as distastefull to the schoolemen though not to the direct truth Plato heard not Hieremy Gen 1. 1. 2 Platos growndâ—… out of diuinity Exod. 3. 14. Rom. 1. 19 20. Hiâ—…emy Plato an Attike Moyses Plato held heauen fire One God Epicharmus Plaâ—…onists Aristotle Plato and Aristotle compared Speusippus Xenocrates Academy what and â—…ence The schâ—…les of Athens Plotine Iamblichus Porphyry Desires Labeo Why the euill gods are worshipped The supernall gods haue no creatures liuing offered to them The deuills community with gods and men The orders of the gods Mans hope aboue the deuils despaire The deuills bodies The serpents renouation Lib. 8. Apul de Doâ—… Socratis Olympus Plato's deuills Immortality worse then mortality Mat.