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Of
the Manichaeans
Alexander of Lycopolis
Chapter
I.-The Excellence of the Christian Philosophy; The Origin of Heresies Amongst
Christians.
The philosophy of the Christians is termed simple.
But it bestows very great attention to the formation of manners, enigmatically
insinuating words of more certain truth respecting God; the principal of
which, so far as any earnest serious purpose in those matters is concerned,
all will have received when they assume an efficient cause, very noble
and very ancient, as the originator of all things that have existence.
For Christians leaving to ethical students matters more toilsome and difficult,
as, for instance, what is virtue, moral and intellectual; and to those
who employ their time in forming hypotheses respecting morals, and the
passions and affections, without marking out any element by which each
virtue is to be attained, and heaping up, as it were, at random precepts
less subtle-the common people, hearing these, even as we learn by experience,
make great progress in modesty, and a character of piety is imprinted on
their manners, quickening the moral disposition which from such usages
is formed, and leading them by degrees to the desire of what is honourable
and good.2
But this being divided into many questions
by the number of those who come after, there arise many, just as is the
case with those who are devoted to dialectics,3 some more skilful
than others, and, so to speak, more sagacious in handling nice and subtle
questions; so that now they come forward as parents and originators of
sects and heresies. And by these the formation of morals is hindered and
rendered obscure; for those do not attain unto certain verity of discourse
who wish to become the heads of the sects, and the common people is to
a greater degree excited to strife and contention. And there being no rule
nor law by which a solution may be obtained of the things which are called
in question, but, as in other matters, this ambitious rivalry running out
into excess, there is nothing to which it does not cause damage and injury.
Chapter
II.-The Age of Manicaeus, or Manes; His First Disciples; The Two Principles;
Manichaean Matter.
So in these matters also, whilst in novelty of
opinion each endeavours to show himself first and superior, they brought
this philosophy, which is simple, almost to a nullity. Such was he whom
they call Manichaeus,4 a Persian by race, my instructor in whose
doctrine was one Papus by name, and after him Thomas, and some others followed
them. They say that the man lived when Valerian was emperor, and that he
served under Sapor, the king of the Persians, and having offended him in
some way, was put to death. Some such report of his character and reputation
has come to hie from those who were intimately acquainted with him. He
laid down two principles, God and Matter. God he called good, and matter
he affirmed to be evil. But God excelled more in good than matter in evil.
But he calls matter not that which Plato calls it,5 which becomes
everything when it has received quality and figure, whence he terms it
all-embracing-the mother and nurse of all things; nor what Aristotle6
calls an element, with which form and privation have to do, but something
beside these. For the motion which in individual things is incomposite,
this he calls matter, On the side of God are ranged powers, like handmaids,
all good; and likewise, on the side of matter are ranged other powers,
all evil. Moreover, the bright shining, the light, and the superior, all
these are with God; while the obscure, and the darkness, and the inferior
are with matter. God, too, has desires, but they are all good; and matter,
likewise, which are all evil.
Chapter
III.-The Fancies of Manichaeus Concerning Matter.
It came to pass on a time that matter conceived
a desire to attain to the superior region; and when it had arrived there,
it admired the brightness and the light which was with God. And, indeed,
it wished to seize on for itself the place of pre-eminence, and to remove
God from His position. God, moreover, deliberated how to avenge Himself
upon matter, but was destitute of the evil necessary to do so, for evil
does not exist in the house and abode of God. He sent, therefore, the power
which we call the soul into matter, to permeate it entirely. For it will
be the death of matter, when at length hereafter this power is separated
from it. So, therefore, by the providence of God, the soul was commingled
with matter, an unlike thing with an unlike. Now by this commingling the
soul has contracted evil, and labours under the same infirmity as matter.
For, just as in a corrupted vessel, the contents are oftentimes vitiated
in quality, so, also the soul that is in matter suffers some such change,
and is deteriorated from its own nature so as to participate in the evil
of matter. But God had compassion upon the soul, and sent forth another
power, which we call Demiurge7 that is, the Creator of
all things; and when this power had arrived, and taken in hand the creation
of the world, it separated from matter as much power as from the commingling
had contracted no vice and stain, and hence the sun and moon were first
formed; but that which had contracted some slight and moderate stain, this
became the J stars and the expanse of heaven. Of the matter from which
the sun and the moon was separated, part was cast entirely out of the world,
and is that fire in which, indeed, there is the power of burning, although
in itself it is dark and void of light, being closely similar to night.
But in the rest of the elements, both animal and vegetable, in those the
divine power is unequally mingled. And therefore the world was made, and
in it the sun and moon who preside over the birth and death of things,
by separating the divine virtue from matter, and transmitting it to God.
Chapter
IV.-The Moon's Increase and Wane; The Manichaean Trifling Respecting It;
Their Dreams About Man and Christ; Their Foolish System of Abstinence.
He ordained this, forsooth, to supply to the Demiurge,8
or Creator, another power which might attract to the splendour of the sun;
and the thing is manifest, as one might say, even to a blind person. For
the moon in its increase receives the virtue which is separated from matter,
and during the time of its augmentation comes forth full of it. But when
it is full, in its wanings, it remits it to the sun, and the sun goes back
to God. And when it has done this, it waits again to receive from another
full moon a migration of the soul to itself, and receiving this in the
same way, it suffers it to pass on to God. And this is its work continually,
and in every age. And in the sun some such image is seen, as is the form
of man. And matter ambitiously strove to make man from itself by mingling
together all its virtue, so that it might have some portion of soul. But
his form contributed much to man's obtaining a greater share, and one beyond
all other animals, in the divine virtue. For he is the image of the divine
virtue, but Christ is the intelligence. Who, when He had at length come
from the superior region, dismissed a very great part of this virtue to
God. And at length being crucified, in this way He furnished knowledge,
and fitted the divine virtue to be crucified in matter. Because, therefore,
it is the Divine will and decree that matter should perish, they abstain
from those things which have life, and feed upon vegetables, and everything
which is void of sense. They abstain also from marriage and the rites of
Venus, and the procreation of children, that virtue may not strike its
root deeper in matter by the succession of race; nor do they go abroad,
seeking to purify themselves from the stain which virtue has contracted
froth its admixture with matter.
Chapter
V.-The Worship of the Sun and Moon Under God; Support Sought for the Manichaeans
in the Grecian Fables; The Authority of the Scriptures and Faith Despised
by the Manichaeans.
These things are the principal of what they say
and think. And they honour very especially the sun and moon, not as gods,
but as the way by which it is possible to attain unto God. But when the
divine virtue has been entirely separated off, they say that the exterior
fire will fall, and burn up both itself and all else that is left of matter.
Those of them who are better educated, and not unacquainted with Greek
literature, instruct us from their own resources. From the ceremonies and
mysteries, for instance: by Bacchus, who was cut out from the womb, is
signified that the divine virtue is divided into matter by the Titans,
as they say; from the poet's fable of the battle with the Giants, is indicated
that not even they were ignorant of the rebellion of matter against God.
I indeed will not deny, that these things are not sufficient to lead away
the minds of those who receive words without examining them, since the
deception caused by discourse of this sort has drawn over to itself some
of those who have pursued the study of philosophy with me; but in what
manner I should approach the thing to examine into it, I am at a loss indeed.
For their hypotheses do not proceed by any legitimate method, so that one
might institute an examination in accordance with these; neither are there
any principles of demonstrations, so that we may see what follows on these;
but theirs is the rare discovery of those who are simply said to philosophize.
These men, taking to themselves the Old and New Scriptures, though they
lay it down that these are divinely inspired, draw their own opinions from
thence; and then only think they are refuted, when it happens that anything
not in accordance with these is said or done by them. And what to those
who philosophize after the manner of the Greeks, as respects principles
of demonstration, are intermediate propositions; this, with them, is the
voice of the prophets. But here, all these things being eliminated, and
since those matters, which I before mentioned, are put forward without
any demonstration, and since it is necessary to give an answer in a rational
way, and not to put forward other things more plausible, and which might
prove more enticing, my attempt is rather troublesome, and on this account
the more arduous, because it is necessary to bring forward arguments of
a varied nature. For the more accurate arguments will escape the observation
of those who have been convinced beforehand by these men without proof,
if, when it comes to persuasion, they fall into the same hands. For they
imagine that they proceed from like sources. There is, therefore, need
of much and great diligence, and truly of God, to be the guide of our argument.
Chapter
VI.-The Two Principles of the Manichaeans; Themselves Controverted; The
Pythagorean Opinion Respecting First Principles; Good and Evil Contrary;
The Victory on the Side of Good.
They lay down two principles, God and Matter.
If he (Manes) separates that which comes into being from that which really
exists, the supposition is not so faulty in this, that neither does matter
create itself, nor does it admit two contrary qualities, in being both
active and passive; nor, again, are other such theories proposed concerning
the creative cause as it is not lawful to speak of. And yet God does not
stand in need of matter in order to make things, since in His mind all
things substantially exist, so far as the possibility of their coming into
being is concerned. But if, as he seems rather to mean, the unordered motion
of things really existent under Him is matter, first, then, he unconsciously
sets up another creative cause (and yet an evil one), nor does he perceive
what follows from this, namely, that if it is necessary that God and matter
should be supposed, some other matter must be supposed to God; so that
to each of the creative causes there should be the subject matter. Therefore,
instead of two, he will be shown to give us four first principles. Wonderful,
too, is the distinction. For if he thinks this to be God, which is good,
and wishes to conceive of something opposite to Him, why does he not, as
some of the Pythagoreans, set evil over against Him? It is more tolerable,
indeed, that two principles should be spoken of by them, the good and the
evil, and that these are continually striving, but the good prevails. For
if the evil were to prevail, all things would perish. Wherefore matter,
by itself, is neither body, nor is it exactly incorporeal, nor simply any
particular thing; but it is something indefinite, which, by the addition
of form, comes to be defined; as, for instance, fire is a pyramid, air
an octahedron, water an eikosahedron, and earth a cube; how, then, is matter
the unordered motion of the elements? By itself, indeed, it does not subsist,
for if it is motion, it is in that which is moved; but matter does not
seem to be of such a nature, but rather the first subject, and unorganized,
from which other things proceed. Since, therefore, matter is unordered
motion, was it always conjoined with that which is moved, or was it ever
separate from it? For, if it were ever by itself, it would not be in existence;
for there is no motion without something moved. But if it was always in
that which is moved, then, again, there will be two principles-that which
moves, and that which is moved. To which of these two, then, will it be
granted that it subsists as a primary cause along with God?
Chapter
VII.-Motion Vindicated from the Charge of Irregularity; Circular; Straight;
Of Generation and Corruption; Of Alteration, and Quality Affecting Sense.
There is added to the discourse an appendix quite
foreign to it.9 For you may reasonably speak of motion not existing.
And what, also, is the matter of motion? Is it straight or circular? Or
does it take place by a process of change, or by a process of generation
and corruption? The circular motion, indeed, is so orderly and composite,
that it is ascribed to the order of all created things; nor does this,
in the Manichaean system, appear worthy to be impugned, in which move the
sun and the moon, whom alone, of the gods, they say that they venerate.
But as regards that which is straight: to this, also, there is a bound
when it reaches its own place. For that which is earthly ceases entirely
from motion, as soon as it has touched the earth. And every animal and
vegetable makes an end of increasing when it has reached its limit. Therefore
the stoppage of these things would be more properly the death of matter,
than that endless death, which is, as it were, woven for it by them. But
the motion which arises by a process of generation and corruption it is
impossible to think of as in harmony with this hypothesis, for, according
to them, matter is unbegotten. But if they ascribe to it the motion of
alteration, as they term it, and that by which we suffer change by a quality
affecting the sense, it is worth while to consider how they come to say
this. For this seems to be the principal thing that they assert, since
by matter it comes to pass, as they say, that manners are changed, and
that vice arises in the soul. For in altering, it will always begin from
the beginning; and, proceeding onwards, it will reach the middle, and thus
will it attain unto the end. But when it has reached the end, it will not
stand still, at least if alteration is its essence. But it will again,
by the same route, return to the beginning, and from thence in like manner
to the end; nor will it ever cease from doing this. As, for instance, if
a
and g suffer alteration, and the middle is
b,
a by being changed, will arrive at b, and from
thence will go on to g. Again returning from
the extreme
g to b,
it will at some time or other arrive at a;
and this goes on continuously. As in the change from black, the middle
is dun, and the extreme, white. Again, in the contrary direction, from
white to dun, and in like manner to black; and again from white the change
begins, and goes the same round.
Chapter
VIII.-Is Matter Wicked? of God and Matter.
Is matter, in respect of alteration, an evil cause?
It is thus proved that it is not more evil than good. For let the beginning
of the, change be from evil. Thus the change is from this to good through
that
which is indifferent. But let the alteration be from good. Again the beginning
goes on through that which is indifferent. Whether the motion be to one
extreme or to the other, the method is the same, and this is abundantly
set Forth. All motion has to do with quantity; but quality is the guide
in virtue and vice. Now we know that these two are generically distinguished.
But are God and matter alone principles, or floes there remain anything
else which is the mean between these two? For it there is nothing, these
things remain unintermingled one with another. And it is well said that
if the extremes are intermingled, there is a necessity for some thing intermediate
to connect them. But if something else exists, it is necessary that that
something be either body or incorporeal, and thus a third adventitious
principle makes its appearance. First, therefore, if we suppose God and
matter to be both entirely incorporeal, so that neither is in the other,
except as the science of grammar is in the soul; to understand this of
God and matter is absurd. But if, as in a vacuum, as some say, the vacuum
is [surrounded by this universe; the other, again, is without substance,
for the substance of a vacuum is nothing. But if as accidents, first, indeed,
this is impossible; for the thing that wants sub stance cannot be in any
place; for substance is, as it were, the vehicle underlying the accident.
But if both are bodies, it is necessary for both to be either heavy or
light, or middle; or one heavy, and another light, or intermediate. If,
then, both are heavy, it is plainly necessary that these should be the
same, both among light things and those things which are of the middle
sort; or if they alternate, the one will be altogether separate from the
other. For that which is heavy has one place, and that which is middle
another, and the light another. To one belongs the superior, to the other
the inferior, and to the third the middle. Now in every spherical figure
the inferior part is the middle; for from this to all the higher parts,
even to the topmost superficies, the distance is every way equal, and,
again, all heavy bodies are borne from all sides to it. Wherefore, also,
it occurs to me to laugh when I hear that matter moving without order,-for
this belongs to it by nature,-came to the region of God, or to light and
brightness, and such-like. But if one be body, and the other incorporeal,
first, indeed, that which is body is alone capable of motion And then if
they are not intermingled, each is separate from the other according to
its proper nature. But if one be mixed up with the other, they will be
either mind or soul or accident. For so only it happens that things incorporeal
are mixed up with bodies.
Chapter
IX.-The Ridiculous Fancies of the Manichaeans About the Motion of Matter
Towards God; God the Author of the Rebellion of Matter in the Manichaean
Sense; The Longing of Matter for Light and Brightness Good; Divine Good
None the Less for Being Communicated.
But in what manner, and from what cause, was matter
brought to the region of God? for to it by nature belong the lower place
and darkness, as they say; and the upper region and light are contrary
to its nature. Wherefore there is then attributed to it a supernatural
motion; and something of the same sort happens to it, as if a man were
to throw a stone or a lump of earth upwards; in this way, the thing being
raised a little by the force of the person throwing, when it has reached
the upper regions, falls back again into the same place. Who, then, hath
raised matter to the upper region? Of itself, indeed, and from itself,
it would not be moved by that motion which belongs to it. It is necessary,
then, that some force should be applied to it for it to be borne aloft,
as with the stone and the lump of earth. But they leave nothing else to
it but God. It is manifest, therefore, what follows from their argument.
That God, according to them, by force and necessity, raised matter aloft
to Himself. But if matter be evil, its desires are altogether evil. Now
the desire of evil is evil, but the desire of good is altogether good.
Since, then, matter has desired brightness and light, its desire is not
a bad one; just as it is not bad for a man living in vice, afterwards to
come to desire virtue. On the contrary, he is not guiltless who, being
good, coupes to desire what is evil. As if any one should say that God
desires the evils which are attaching to matter. For the good things of
God are not to be so esteemed as great wealth and large estates, and a
large quantity of gold, a lesser portion of which remain with the owner,
if one effect a transfer of them to another. But if an image of these things
must be formed in the mind, I think one would adduce as examples wisdom
and the sciences. As, therefore, neither wisdom suffers diminution nor
science, and he who is endowed with these experiences no loss if another
lie made partaker of them; so, in the same way, it is contrary to reason
to think that God grudges matter the desire of what is good; if, indeed,
with them we allow that it desires it.
Chapter
X.-The Mythology Respecting the Gods; The Dogmas of the Manchaeans Resemble
This: the Homeric Allegory of the Battle of the Gods; Envy and Emulation
Existing; In God According to the Manichaean Opinion; These Vices are to
Be Found in No Good Man, and are to Be Accounted Disgraceful.
Moreover, they far surpass the mythologists in
fables, those, namely, who either make Coelus suffer mutilation, or idly
tell of the plots laid for Saturn by his son, in order that that son might
attain the sovereignty; or those again who make Saturn devour his sons
and to have been cheated of his purpose by the image of a stone that was
presented to him. For how are these things which they put forward dissimilar
to those? When they speak openly of the war between God and matter, and
say not these things either in a mythological sense, as Homer in the Iliad;10
when he makes Jupiter to rejoice in the strife and war of the gods with
each other, thus obscurely signifying that the world is formed of unequal
elements, fitted one into another, and either conquering or submitting
to a conqueror. And this has been advanced by me, because I know that people
of this sort, when they are at a loss for demonstration, bring together
from all sides passages from poems, and seek from them a support for their
own opinions. Which would not be the case with them if they had only read
what they fell in with some reflection. But, when all evil is banished
from the company of the gods, surely emulation and envy ought especially
to have been got rid of. Yet these men leave these things with God, when
they say that God formed designs against matter, because it felt a desire
for good. But with which of those things which God possessed could He have
swished to take vengeance on matter? In truth, I think it to be more accurate
doctrine to say that God is of a simple nature, than what they advance.
Nor, indeed, as in the other things, is the enunciation of this fancy easy.
For neither is it possible to demonstrate it simply and with words merely,
but with much instruction and labour. But we all know this, that anger
and rage, and the desire of revenge upon matter, are passions in him who
is so agitated. And of such a sort, indeed, as it could never happen to
a good man to be harassed by them, much less then can it be that they are
connected with the Absolute Good.
Chapter
XI.-The Transmitted Virtue of the Manichaens; The Virtues of Matter Mixed
with Equal or Less Amount of Evil.
To other things, therefore, our discourse has
come round about again. For, because they say that God sent virtue into
matter, it is worth our while to consider whether this virtue, so far as
it pertains to good, in respect of God is less, or whether it is on equal
terms with Him. For if it is less, what is the cause? For the things which
are with God admit of no fellowship with matter. But good alone is the
characteristic of God, and evil alone of matter. But if it is on equal
terms with Him, what is the reason that He, as a king, issues His commands,
and it involuntarily undertakes this labour? Moreover, with regard to matter,
it shall be inquired whether, with respect to evil, the virtues are alike
or less. For if they are less, they are altogether of less evil. By, fellowship
therefore with the good it is that they become so. For there being two
evils, the less has plainly by its fellowship with the good attained to
be what it is. But they leave nothing good around matter. Again, therefore.
another question arises. For if some other virtue, in respect of evil,
excels the matter which is prevailing, it becomes itself the presiding
principle. For that which is more evil will hold the sway in its own dominion.
Chapter
XII.-The Destruction of Evil by the Immission of Virtue Rejected; Because
from It Arises No Diminution of Evil; Zeno's Opinion Discarded, that the
World Will Be Burnt Up by Fire from the Sun.
But that God sent virtue into matter is asserted
without any proof, and it altogether wants probability. Yet it is right
that this should have its own explanation. The reason of this they assert,
indeed, to be that there might be no more evil, but that all things should
become good. It was necessary for virtue to be intermingled with evil,
after the manner of the athletes, who, clasped in a firm embrace, overcome
their adversaries, in order that, by conquering evil, it might make it
to cease to exist. But I think it far more dignified and worthy of the
excellence of God, at the first conception of things existent, to have
abolished matter. But I think they could not allow this, because that something
evil is found existing, which they call matter. But it is not any the more
possible that things should cease to be such as they are, in order that
one should admit that some things are changed into that which is worse.
And it is necessary that there should be some perception of this, because
these present things have in some manner or other suffered diminution,
in order that we might have better hopes for the future. For well has it
been answered to the opinion of Zeno of Citium, who thus argued that the
world would be destroyed by fire: "Everything which has anything to burn
will not cease from burning until it has consumed the whole; and the sun
is a fire, and will it not burn what it has? "Whence he made out, as he
imagined, that the universe would be destroyed by fire. But to him a facetious
fellow is reported to have said, "But I indeed yesterday, and the year
before, and a long time ago, have seen, and now in like manner do I see,
that no injury has been experienced by the sun; and it is reasonable that
this should happen in time and by degrees, so that we may believe that
at some time or other the whole will be burnt up. And to the doctrine of
Manichaeus, although it rests upon no proof, I think that the same answer
is apposite, namely, that there has been no diminution in the present condition
of things, but what was before in the time of the first man, when brother
killed brother, even now continues to be; the same wars, and more diverse
desires. Now it would be reasonable that these things, if they did not
altogether cease, should at least be diminished, if we are to imagine that
they are at some time to cease. But while the same things come from them,
what is our expectation of them for the future?
Chapter
XIII.-Evil by No Means Found in the Stars and Constellations; All the Evils
of Life Vain in the Manichaean Opinion, Which Bring on the Extinction of
Life; Their Fancy Having Been Above Explained Concerning the Transportation
of Souls from the Moon to the Sun.
But what things does he call evil? As for the
sun and moon, indeed, there is nothing lacking; but with respect to the
heavens and the stars, whether he says that there is some such thing, and
what it is, it is right that we should next in order examine. But irregularity
is according to them evil, and unordered motion, but these things are always
the same, and in the same manner; nor will any one have to blame any of
the planets for venturing to delay at any time in the zodiac beyond the
fixed period; nor again any of the fixed stars, as if it did not abide
in the same seat and position, and did not by circumvolution revolve equally
around the world, moving as it were one step backward in a hundred years.
But on the earth, if he accuses the roughness of some spots, or if pilots
are offended at the storms on the sea; first, indeed, as they think, these
things have a share of good in them. For should nothing germinate upon
earth, all the animals must presently perish. But this result will send
on much of the virtue which is intermingled with matter to God, and there
will be a necessity for many moons, to accommodate the great multitude
that suddenly approaches. And the same language they hold with respect
to the sea. For it is a piece of unlooked-for luck to perish, in order
that those things which perish may pursue the road which leads most quickly
to God. And the wars which are upon the earth, and the famines, and everything
which tends to the destruction of life, are held in very great honour by
them. For everything which is the cause of good is to be had in honour.
But these things are the cause of good, because of the destruction which
accompanies them, if they transmit to God the virtue which is separated
from those who perish.
Chapter
XIV.-Noxious Animals Worshipped by the Egyptians; Man by Arts an Evil-Doer;
Lust and Injustice Corrected by Laws and Discipline; Contingent and Necessary
Things in Which There is No Stain.
And, as it seems, we have been ignorant that the
Egyptians rightly worship the crocodile and the lion and the wolf, because
these animals being stronger than the others devour their prey, and entirely
destroy it; the eagle also and the hawk, because they slaughter the weaker
animals both in the air and upon the earth. But perhaps also, according
to them, man is for this reason held in especial honour, because most of
all, by his subtle inventions and arts, he is wont to subdue most of the
animals. And lest he himself should have no portion in this good, he becomes
the food of others. Again, therefore, those generations are, in their opinion,
absurd, which from a small and common seed produce what is great; and it
is much more becoming, as they think, that these should be destroyed by
God, in order that the divine virtue may be quickly liberated from the
troubles incident to living in this world. But what shall we say with respect
to lust, and injustice, and things of this sort, Manichaeus will ask. Surely
against these things discipline and law come to the rescue. Discipline,
indeed, using careful forethought that nothing of this sort may have place
amongst men; but law inflicting punishment upon any one who has been caught
in the commission of anything unjust. But, then, why should it be imputed
to the earth as a fault, if the husbandman has neglected to subdue it?
because the sovereignty of God, which is according to right, suffers diminution,
when some parts of it are productive of fruits, and others not so; or when
it has happened that when the winds are sweeping, according to another
cause, some derive benefit therefrom, whilst others against their will
have to sustain injuries? Surely they must necessarily be ignorant of the
character of the things that are contingent, and of those that are necessary.
For they would not else thus account such things as prodigies.
Chapter
XV.-The Lust and Desire of Sentient Things; Demons; Animals Sentient; So
Also the Sun and the Moon and Stars; The Platonic Doctrine, Not the Christian.
Whence, then, come pleasure and desire? For these
are the principal evils that they talk of and hate. Nor does matter
appear to be anything else. That these things, indeed, only belong
to animals which are endowed with sense, and that nothing else but that
which has sense perceives desire and pleasure, is manifest. For what perception
of pleasure and pain is there in a plant? What in the earth, water, or
air? And the demons, if indeed they are living beings endowed with sense,
for this reason, perhaps, are delighted with what has been instituted in;
regard to sacrifices, and take it ill when these are wanting to them; but
nothing of this sort can be imagined with respect to God. Therefore those
who say, "Why are animals affected by pleasure and pain? "should first
make the complaint, "Why are these animals endowed with sense, or why do
they stand in need of food? "For if animals were immortal, they would have
been set free from corruption and increase; such as the sun and moon and
stars, although they are endowed with sense. They are, however, beyond
the power of these, and of such a complaint. But man, being able to perceive
and to judge, and being potentially wise,-for he has the power to become
so,-when he has received what is peculiar to himself, treads it under foot.
Chapter
XVI.-Because Some are Wise, Nothing Prevents Others from Being So; Virtue
is to Be Acquired by Diligence and Study; By a Sounder Philosophy Men are
to Be Carried Onwards to the Good; The Common Study of Virtue Has by Christ
Been Opened Up to All.
In general, it is worth while to inquire of these
men, "Is it possible for no man to become good, or is it in the power of
any one? "For if no man is wise, what of Manichaeus himself? I pass over
the fact that he not only calls others good, but he also says that they
are able to make others such. But if one individual is entirely good, what
prevents all from becoming good? For what is possible for one is possible
also for all. I And by the means by which one has become virtuous, by the
same all may become so, unless they assert that the larger share of this
virtue is intercepted by such. Again, therefore, first, What necessity
is there for labour in submitting to discipline (for even whilst sleeping
we may become virtuous), or what cause is there for these men rousing their
hearers to hopes of good? For even though wallowing in the mire with harlots,
they can obtain their proper good. But if discipline, and better instruction
and diligence in acquiring virtue, make a man to become virtuous, let all
become so, and that oft-repeated phrase of theirs, the unordered motion
of matter, is made void. But it would be much better for them to say that
wisdom is an instrument given by God to man, in order that by bringing
round by degrees to good that which arises to them, from the fact of their
being endowed with sense, out of desire or pleasure, it might remove from
them the absurdities that flow from them. For thus they themselves who
profess to be teachers of virtue would be objects of emulation for their
purpose. and for their mode of life, and there would be great hopes that
one day evils will cease, when all men have become wise. And this it seems
to me that Jesus took into consideration; add in order that husbandmen,
carpenters, builders, and other artisans, might Bet be driven away from
good, He convened a common council of them altogether, and by simple and
easy conversations He both raised them to a sense of God, and brought them
to desire what was good.
Chapter
XVII.-The Manichaean Idea of Virtue in Matter Scouted; If One Virtue Has
Been Created Immaterial, the Rest are Also Immaterial; Material Virtue
an Exploded Notion.
Moreover, how do they say, did God send divine
virtue into matter? For if it always was, and neither is God to be understood
as existing prior to it, nor matter either, then again, according to Manichaeus,
there are three first principles. Perhaps also, a little further on, there
will appear to be many more. But if it be adventitious, and something which
has come into existence afterwards, how is it void of matter? And if they
make it to be a part of God, first, indeed, by this conception, they, assert
that God is composite and corporeal. But this is absurd, and impossible.
And if He fashioned it, and is without matter, I wonder that they have
not considered, neither the man himself, nor his disciples, that if (as
the orthodox say, the things that come next in order subsist while God
remains) God created this virtue of His own free-will, how is it that He
is not the author of all oilier things that are made without the necessity
of any pre-existent matter? The consequences, in truth, of this opinion
are evidently absurd; but what does follow is put down next in order. Was
it, then, the nature of this virtue to diffuse itself into matter? If it
was contrary to its nature, in what manner is it intermingled with it?
But if this was in accordance with its nature, it was altogether surely
and always with matter. But if this be so, how is it that they call matter
evil, which, from the beginning, was intermingled with the divine virtue?
In what manner, too, will it be destroyed, the divine virtue which was
mingled with it at some thee or other seceding to itself? For that it preserves
safely what is good, and likely to be productive of some other good to
those to whom it is present, is more reasonable than that it should bring
destruction or some other evil upon them.
Chapter
XVIII.-Dissolution and Inherence According to the Manichaeans; This is
Well Put, a.d. Hominem, with Respect to Manes, Who is Himself in Matter.
This then is the wise assertion which is made
by them-namely, that as we see that the body perishes when the soul is
separated from it, so also, when virtue has left matter, that which is
left, which is matter, will be dissolved and perish. First, indeed, they
do not perceive that nothing existent can be destroyed into a nonexistent.
For that which is non-existent does not exist. But when bodies are disintegrated,
and experience a change, a dissolution of them takes place; so that a part
of them goes to earth, a part to air, and a part to something else. Besides,
they do not remember that their doctrine is, that matter is unordered motion.
But that which moves of itself, and of which motion is the essence, and
not a thing accidentally belonging to it-how is it reasonable to say that
when virtue departs, that which was, even before virtue descended into
it, should cease to be? Nor do they see the difference, that every body
which is devoid of soul is immoveable. For plants also have a vegetable
soul. But motion tin the assert to itself, and yet unordered motion they
be the essence of matter. But it were better, that just as in a lyre which
sounds out of tune, by the addition of harmony, everything is brought into
concord; so the divine virtue when intermixed with that unordered motion,
which, according to them, is matter, should add a certain order to it in
the place of its innate disorder, land should always add it suitably to
the divine thee. For I ask, how was it that Manichaeus himself became fitted
to treat of these matters, and when at length did he enunciate them? For
they allow that he himself was an admixture of matter, and of the virtue
received into it. Whether therefore being so, he said these things in unordered
motion, surely the opinion is faulty; or whether he said them by means
of the divine virtue, the dogma is dubious and uncertain; for on the one
side, that of the divine virtue, he participates in the truth; whilst on
the side of unordered motion, he is a partaker in the other part, and changes
to falsehood.
Chapter
XIX.-The Second Virtue of the Manichaeans Beset with the Former, and with
New Absurdities; Virtue, Active and Passive, the Fashioner of Matter, and
Concrete with It; Bodies Divided by Manichaeus into Three Parts.
But if it had been said that divine virtue both
hath adorned and does adorn matter, it would have been far more wisely
said, and in a manner more conducing to conciliate faith in the doctrine
and discourses of Manichaeus. But God hath sent down another virtue. What
has been already said with respect to the former virtue, may be equally
said with respect to this, and all the absurdities which follow on the
teaching about their first virtue, the same may be brought forward in the
present case. But another, who will tolerate? For why did not God send
some one virtue which could effect everything? If the human mind is so
various towards all things, so that the same man is endowed with a knowledge
of geometry, of astronomy, of the carpenter's art, and the like, is it
then impossible for God to find one such virtue which should be sufficient
for him in all respects, so as not to stand in need of a first and second?
And why has one virtue the force rather of a creator, and another that
of the patient and recipient, so as to be well fitted for admixture with
matter. For I do not again see here the cause of good order, and of that
excess which is contrary to it. If it was evil, it was not in the house
of God. For since God is the only good, and matter the only evil, we must
necessarily say that the other things are of a middle nature, and placed
as it were in the middle. But there is found to be a different framer of
those things which are of a middle nature, when they say that one cause
is creative, and another admixed with matter? Perhaps, therefore, it is
that primary antecedent cause which more recent writers speak of in the
book peri\ tw=n diaforw=n. But when the creative
virtue took in hand the making of the world, then they say that there was
separated from matter that which, even in the admixture, remained in its
own virtue, and from this the sire and the moon had their beginning. But
that which to a moderate and slight degree had contracted vice and evil,
this formed the heaven and the constellations. Lastly came the rest encompassed
within these, just as they might happen, which are admixtures of the divine
virtue and of matter.
Chapter
XX.-The Divine Virtue in the View of the Same Manichaeus Corporeal and
Divisible; The Divine Virtue Itself Matter Which Becomes Everything; This
is Not Fitting.
I, indeed, besides all these things, wonder that
they do not perceive that they are making the divine virtue to be corporeal,
and dividing it, as it were, into parts. For why, as in the case of matter,
is not the divine virtue also passible and divisible throughout, and from
one of its parts the sun made, and from another the moon? For clearly this
is what they assert to belong to the divine virtue; and this is what we
said was the property of matter, which by itself is nothing, but when it
has received form and qualities, everything is made which is divided and
distinct. If, therefore, as from one subject, the divine virtue, only the
sun and the moon have their beginning, and these things are different,
why was anything else made? But if all things are made, what follows is
manifest, that divine virtue is matter, and that, too, such as is made
into forms. But if nothing else but the sun and moon are what was created
by the divine virtue, then what is intermixed with all things is the sun
and moon; and each of the stars is the sun and moon, and each individual
animal of. those who live on land, and of fowls, and of creatures amphibious.
But this, not even those who exhibit juggling tricks would admit, as, I
think, is evident to every one.
Chap
XXI.-Some Portions of the Virtue Have Good in Them, Others More Good; In
the Sun and the Moon It is Incorrupt, in Other Things Depraved; An Improbable
Opinion.
But if any one were to apply his mind to what
follows, the road would not appear to be plain and straightforward, but
more arduous even than that which has been passed. For they say that the
sun and moon have contracted no stain from their admixture with matter.
And now they cannot say how other things have become deteriorated contrary
to their own proper nature. For if, when it was absolute and by itself,
the divine virtue was so constituted that one portion of it was good, and
another had a greater amount of goodness in it, according to the old tale
of the centaurs, who as far as the breast were men, and in the lower part
horses, which are both good animals, but the man is the better of the two;
so also, in the divine virtue, it is to be understood that the one portion
of it is the better and the more excellent, and the other will occupy the
second and inferior place. And in the same way, with respect to matter,
the one portion possesses, as it were, an excess of evil; while others
again are different, and about that other the language will be different.11
For it is possible to conceive that from the beginning the sun and moon,
by a more skilful and prudent judgment, chose for themselves the parts
of matter that were less evil for the purposes of add mixture, that they
might remain in their own perfection and virtue; but in the lapse of thee,
when the evils lost their force and became old, they brought out so much
of the excess in the good, while the rest of its parts fell away, not,
indeed, without foresight, and yet not with the same foresight, did each
object share according to its quantity in the evil that was in matter.
But since, with respect to this virtue, nothing of a different kind is
asserted by them, but it is to be understood throughout to be alike and
of the same nature, their argument is improbable; because in the admixture
part remains pure and incorrupt, while the other has contracted some share
of evil.
Chapter
XXII.-The Light of the Moon from the Sun; The Inconvenience of the Opinion
that Souls are Received in It; The Two Deluges of the Greeks.
Now, they say that the sun and the moon having
by degrees separated the divine virtue from matter, transmit it to God.
But if they had only to a slight degree frequented the schools of the astronomers,
it would not have happened to them to fall into these fancies, nor would
they have been ignorant that the moon, which, according to the opinion
of some, is itself without light, receives its light from the sun, and
that its configurations are just in proportion to its distance from the
sun, and that it is then full moon when it is distant from the sun one
hundred and eighty degrees. It is in conjunction when it is in the same
degree with the sun. Then, is it not wonderful how it comes to pass that
there should be so many souls, and from such diverse creatures? For there
is the soul of the world itself, and of the animals, of plants, of nymphs,
and demons, and amongst these are distinguished by appearance those of
fowls, of land animals, and animals amphibious; but in the moon one like
body is always seen by us. And what of the continuity of this body? When
the moon is half-full, it appears a semicircle, and when it is in its third
quarter, the same again. How then, and with what figure, are they assumed
into the moon? For if it be light as fire, it is probable that they would
not only ascend as far as the moon, but even higher, continually; but if
it be heavy, it would not be possible for them at all to reach the moon.
And what is the reason that that which first arrives at the moon is not
immediately transmitted to the sun, but waits for the full moon until the
rest of the souls arrive? When then the moon, from having been full, decreases,
where does the virtue remain during that thee? until the moon, which has
been emptied of the former souls, just as a desolated city, shall receive
again a fresh colony. For a treasure-house should have been marked out
in some part of the earth, or of the clouds, or in some other place, where
the congregated souls might stand ready for emigration to the moon. But,
again, a second question arises. What then is the cause that it is not
full immediately? or why does it again wait fifteen days? Nor is this less
to be wondered at than that which has been said, that never within the
memory of man has the moon become full after the fifteen days. Nay, not
even-in the thee of the deluge of Deucalion, nor in that of Phoroneus,
when all things, so to speak, which were upon the face of the earth perished,
and it happened that a great quantity of virtue was separated from matter.
And, besides these things, one must consider the productiveness of generations,
and their barrenness, and also the destruction of them; and since these
things do not happen in order, neither ought the order of the full moon,
nor the these of the waning moon, to be so carefully observed.
Chapter
XXIII.-The Image of Matter in the Sun, After Which Man is Formed; Trifling
Fancies; It is a Mere Fancy, Too, that Man. Is Formed from Matter; Man
is Either a. Composite Being, or a Soul, or Mind and Understanding.
Neither is this to be regarded with slight attention.
For if the divine virtue which is in matter be infinite, those things cannot
diminish it which the sun and moon fashion. For that which remains from
that finite thing which has been assumed is infinite. But if it is finite,
it would be perceived by the senses in intervals proportionate to the amount
of its virtue that had been subtracted from the world. But all things remain
as they were. Now what understanding do these things not transcend in their
incredibleness, when they assert that man was created and formed after
the image of matter that is seen in the sun? For images are the forms of
their archetypes. But if they include man's image in the sun, where is
the exemplar after which his image is formed? For, indeed, they are not
going to say that man is really man, or divine virtue; for this, indeed,
they mix up with matter, And they say that the image is seen in the sun,
which, as they think, was formed afterwards from the secretion of matter.
Neither can they bring forward the creative cause of all things, for this
they say was sent to preserve safety to the divine virtue: so that, in
their opinion, this must be altogether ascribed to the sun; for this reason,
doubtless, that it happens by his arrival and presence that the sun and
moon are separated from matter.
Moreover, they assert that the image is seen
in the star; but they say that matter fashioned man. In what manner, and
by what means? For it is not possible that this should fashion him. For
besides that, thus according to them, man is the empty form of an empty
form, and having no real existence, it has not as yet been possible to
conceive how man can be the product of matter. For the use of reason and
sense belongs not to that matter which they assume. Now what, according
to them, is man? Is he a mixture of soul and body? Or another thing, or
that which is superior to the entire soul, the mind? But if he is mind,
how can the more perfect and the better part be the product of that which
is worse; or if he be soul (for this they say is divine virtue), how can
they, when they have taken away from God the divine virtue, subject this
to the creating workmanship of matter? Put if they leave to him body alone,
let them remember again that it is by itself immovable, and that they say
that the essence of matter is motion. Neither do they think that anything
of itself, and its own genius, is attracted to matter. Nor is it reasonable
to lay it down, that what is composed of these things is the product of
this. To think, indeed, that that which is fashioned by any one is inferior
to its fashioner seems to be beyond controversy. For thus the world is
inferior to its Creator or Fashioner, and the works of art inferior to
the artificer. If then than be the product of matter, he must surely be
inferior to it. Now, men leave nothing inferior to matter; and it is not
reasonable that the divine virtue should be commingled with matter, and
with that which is inferior to it. But the things which they assert out
of indulgence, as it were, and by way of dispensation, these they do not
seem to understand. For what is the reason of their thinking that matter
has bound the image of God to the substance of man? Or, why is not the
image sufficient, as in a mirror, that than should appear? Or, as the sun
himself is sufficient for the origination and destruction of all things
that are made, hath he imitated an image in the work of their creation?
With which of those things which he possessed? Was it with the divine virtue
which was mingled with it, so that the divine virtue should have the office
of an instrument in respect of matter? Is it by unordered motion that he
will thus give matter a form? But all like things, in exquisite and accurate
order, by imitating, attain their end. For they do not suppose that a house,
or a ship, or any other product of art, is effected by disorder; nor a
statue which art has fashioned to imitate man.
Chapter
XXIV.-Christ is Mind, According to the Manichaeans; What is He in the View
of the Church? Incongruity in Their Idea of Christ; That He Suffered Only
in Appearance, a Dream of the Manichaeans; Nothing is Attributed to the
Word by Way of Fiction.
Christ, too, they do not acknowledge; yet they
speak of Christ, but they take some other element, and giving to the Word,
designating His sacred person, some other signification than that in which
it is rightly received, they say that He is mind. But if, when they speak
of Him as that which is known, and that which knows, and wisdom as having
the same meaning, they are found to agree with those things which the Church
doctors say of Him, how comes it then that they reject all that is called
ancient history? But let us see whether they make Him to be something adventitious
and new, and which has come on from without, and by accident, as the opinion
of some is. For they who hold this opinion say, as seems very plausible,
that the seventh year, when the powers of perception became distinct, He
made His entrance into the body. But if Christ be mind, as they imagine,
then will He be both Christ and not Christ. For before that mind and sense
entered, He was not. But if Christ, as they will have it, be mind, then
into Him already existing does the mind make its entrance, and thus, again,
according to their opinion, will it be mind. Christ, therefore, is and
is not at the same time. But if, according to the more approved sect of
them, mind is all things which are, since they assume matter to be not
produced, and coeval so to speak with God, this first mind and matter they
hold to be Christ; if, indeed, Christ be the mind, which is all things,
and matter is one of those things which are, and is itself not produced.
They say it was by way of appearance, and in
this manner, that the divine virtue in matter was affixed to the cross;
and that He Himself did not undergo this punishment, since it was impossible
that He should suffer this; which assertion Manichaeus himself has taken
in hand to teach in a book written upon the subject, that the divine virtue
was enclosed in matter, and again departs from it. the mode of this they
invent. That it should be said, indeed, in the doctrine of the Church,
that He gave Himself up for the remission of sins, obtains credit from
the vulgar, and appears likewise in the Greek histories, which say that
some "surrendered themselves to death in order to ensure safety to their
countrymen." And of this doctrine the Jewish history has an example, which
prepares the son of Abraham as a sacrifice to God.12 But to
subject Christ to His passion merely for the sake of display, betrays great
ignorance, for the Word is God's representative, to teach and inform us
of actual verities.
Chapter
XXV.-The Manichaean Abstinence from Living Things Ridiculous; Their Madness
in Abhorring Marriage; The Mythology of the Giants; Too Allegorical an
Exposition.
They abstain also from living things. If, indeed,
the reason of their abstinence were other than it is, it ought not to be
too curiously investigated. But if they do so for this reason, that the
divine virtue is more or less absent or present to them, this their meaning
is ridiculous. For if plants be more material, how is it in accordance
with reason to use that which is inferior for food and sustenance? or,
if there be more of the divine virtue in them, how are things of this sort
useful as food, when the soul's faculty of nourishing and making increase
is more corporeal? Now in that they abstain from marriage and the rites
of Venus, fearing lest by the succession of the race the divine virtue
should dwell more in matter. I wonder how in thinking so they allow of
themselves? For if neither the providence of God suffices, both by generations
and by those things which are always and in the same manner existent, to
separate off the divine virtue from matter, what can the cunning and subtlety
of Manichaeus effect for that purpose? For assuredly by no giant's co-operation
does assistance come to God, in order by the removal of generations to
make the retreat of the divine virtue from matter quick and speedy. But
what the poets say about the giants is manifestly a fable. For those who
lay it down about these, bring forward such matters in allegories, by a
species of fable hiding the majesty of their discourse; as, for instance,
when the Jewish history relates that angels came down to hold13
intercourse with the daughters of men; for this saying signifies that the
nutritive powers of the soul descended from heaven to earth. But the poets
who say that they, when they had emerged in full armour from the earth,
perished immediately after they stirred up rebellion against the gods,
in order that they might insinuate the frail and quickly-perishing constitution
of the body, adorn their poetry in this way for the sake of refreshing
the soul by the strangeness of the occurrence. But these, understanding
nothing of all this, wheresoever they can get hold of a paralogism from
whatsoever quarter it comes, greedily seize on it as a God-send, and strive
with all their arts to overturn truth by any means.
Chapter
XXVI.-The Much-Talked-of Fire of the Manichaeans; That Fire Matter Itself.
That fire, endowed indeed with the power of burning,
yet possessing no light, which is outside the world, in what region has
it place? For if it is in the world, why does the world hitherto continue
safe? For if at some thee or other it is to destroy it, by approaching
it, now also it is conjoined with it. But if it be apart from it, as it
were on high in its own region, what will hereafter happen to make it descend
upon the world? Or in what way will it leave its own place, and by what
necessity and violence? And what substance of fire can be conceived without
fuel, and how can what is moist serve as fuel to it, unless what is rather
physiologically said about this does not fall within the province of our
present disquisition? But this is quite manifest from what has been said.
For the fire existing outside the world is just that which they call matter,
since the sun and the moon, being the purest of the pure, by their divine
virtue, are separate and distinct from that fire, no part of them being
left in it. This fire is matter itself, absolutely and per se, entirely
removed from all admixture with the divine virtue. Wherefore when the world
has been emptied of all the divine virtue which is opposed to it, and again
a fire of this sort shall be left remaining, how then shall the fire either
destroy anything, or be consumed by it? For, from that which is like, I
do not see in what way corruption is to take place. For what matter will
become when the divine virtue has been separated from it, this it was before
that the divine virtue was corn-mingled with it. If indeed matter is to
perish when it is bereft of the divine virtue, why did it not perish before
it came in contact with the divine virtue, or any creative energy? Was
it in order that matter might successively perish, and do this ad infinitum?
And what is the use of this? For that which had not place from the first
volition, how shall this have place from one following? or what reason
is there for God to put off things which, not even in the case of a man,
appears to be well? For as regards those who deliberate about what is impossible,
this is said to happen to them, that they do not wish for that which is
possible. But if nothing else, they speak of God transcending substance,
and bring Him forward as some new material, and that not such as intelligent
men always think to be joined with Him, but that which investigation discovers
either to be not existing at all, or to be the extreme of all things, and
which can with difficulty be conceived of by the human mind. For this fire,
devoid of light, is it of more force than matter, which is to be left desolate
by divine virtue, or is it of less? And if it is of less, how will it overcome
that which is of more? but if it is of more, it will be able to bring it
back to itself, being of the same nature; yet will it not destroy it, as
neither does the Nile swallow up the streams that are divided off from
it. |
