Wisdom of Solomon 14

Second, it treats of the detestation of idols in a fourfold manner. Again another thinking to sail etc. After he described the manifold errors of idol-worshippers, here he touches upon the detestation of idols, and first, from the uselessness of the idols themselves; second, from the offense to the Creator: But in like manner they are hateful; third, from the novelty and manner of their invention: For they were not etc.; fourth, from the effect of human corruption: And it was not enough to have erred.

First, he detests idols on account of their uselessness.

He shows the uselessness of idols in the first part by the example of those sailing on the sea, whom the idols, when invoked, cannot help. He shows that this impotence is to be detested, first from the fragility of the idol that has no power; second, from the power of God who saves even without a ship: But thy etc.; third, from the usefulness of the ship itself: But that they might not be; fourth, by the example of Noah's ark preserving the human race: But also from the beginning.

He says therefore: Again another etc., as if to say: not only do men uselessly seek help from idols on land, but again, on water, because another, namely a man, thinking to sail, namely by intention, and through fierce waves, that is, dangerous ones: whence in the Psalm: "Wonderful are the surges of the sea"; likewise Sirach forty-three: "They that sail the sea tell of the dangers thereof." Beginning to make a journey, namely by the execution of his intention, calls upon a wood more fragile than the wood that carries him: he calls upon, namely for help, a wood, namely an idol, more fragile than the wood carrying him, that is, the ship.

He likewise presents these things, just as the previous ones, as a reproach against idolaters, because it is the greatest folly that a man, created in the image of God, possessing a rational soul from Him, by which he was able to devise the art of how to have a way to travel on the waves, building a ship according to his skill in the craft, does not give honor to Him who gave him this knowledge, but rather invokes an idol which he himself has fashioned with similar skill but even greater vanity. For since he is greater and better by reason of nature than the insensible thing which he himself has shaped into some image, he ought not to have erred so that the greater worships the lesser, because the lesser ought to seek help from the greater, not the greater from the lesser. Moreover, by divine gift, just as the preparation of the ship, so also the course of sailing must be sought, because the Almighty Creator destroys whomever He abandons; but whoever is guided by Him exults in complete prosperity. But all heretics who, in their doctrines, establish various images of errors, are therefore engulfed in the waves of this world, because they have abandoned the ship of the Church and did not wish to have God as their guide.

For that, namely the wood of the idol, the desire of acquiring devised: whence in Ephesians five it is said "covetousness is the service of idols." And the craftsman fashioned it by his wisdom: his own, he says, as if to say: not divine, "but earthly, sensual, devilish," James three; Isaiah forty-five: "The makers of errors have gone into confusion"; and Job thirteen: "Showing you to be makers of lies"; the Gloss: "Since the maker is greater than what is made, to adore one's own handiwork is madness."

But thy, O Father, as if to say: there they invoke the idol in the governance of their journey: but, meaning however; thy, O Father, by creation; Isaiah sixty-four: "And now, O Lord, thou art our father, and we indeed are clay" etc.; likewise by provision; whence Matthew six: "Our Father etc., our bread" etc. Thou governest, namely all things, by providence, which, according to Damascene, "is the care of God for things"; concerning which Judith nine: "Thou hast placed thy judgments in thy providence."

From what has been said, it is clear that nothing in the world happens by chance and fortune, because, as Plato says, "nothing exists whose origin was not preceded by a legitimate cause." That the world is administered by providence, Cicero proves in the Rhetoric thus: "Things done by providence are better administered than those done by chance; but the world is administered in the best way; therefore," etc.

For etc., as if to say: this is clear, that you govern all things by providence; for you have given, namely to the children of Israel, a way in the sea, leading them out of Egypt through the midst of the dry sea, as is clear from Exodus fourteen: and among the waves, namely of the river Jordan, a most firm path, Joshua three. Of both it is said in the Psalm: "Your way is in the sea, and your paths in many waters"; the Gloss: "Divine power led the Israelites through the Red Sea with dry footstep and divided the waters of the Jordan."

Showing, namely by this, that you are powerful from all things, namely perils and misfortunes, to heal, or better according to another reading, to save, even if without a raft, that is, a ship, someone should go to sea: Isaiah forty-three: "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and the rivers shall not cover you"; whence "He raised up Peter walking on the waves, lest he be submerged," as is clear from Matthew fourteen: "He freed Paul, shipwrecked for the third time, from the depth of the sea," as is clear from Second Corinthians eleven.

Therefore, according to the history, the power of the Lord was demonstrated when He made the people of Israel cross the Red Sea on dry foot; likewise, when they left the desert, He led them through the bed of the Jordan, with the waters divided on either side, so as to instill terror in the nations of the Canaanites to be exterminated. But according to the allegory, the Lord Himself prepares for His faithful a path of faith and constancy amid the waves of the world and the torments of persecutors, through which they can pass unharmed from every scandal, nor will they need human comfort there, where the power of the Most High shows the marvelous effects of His virtue.

But that they might not be empty, but rather necessary for human use, the works of your wisdom, that is, devised through your wisdom; in the Psalm: "You have made all things in wisdom." For this reason also to a small piece of wood, namely a small ship, men entrust their souls, that is, their bodily life: and crossing the sea, in which nevertheless there are innumerable perils, they have been delivered by a raft: the Gloss: "The Creator gave to his creature knowledge by which it might provide for itself in the present and serve his will."

Allegorically, the small piece of wood can be called the cross of Christ on account of its abjection and lowliness; First Corinthians one: "We preach Christ crucified, to the Jews indeed a stumbling block, and to the Gentiles foolishness." To this men entrust their souls, namely by believing in Christ crucified and adoring him in whom they have believed. And thus crossing the sea of this world, namely by the power and imitation of the cross, by the raft they are delivered and arrive at the port of eternal salvation. Whence Damascene: "The cross is the resurrection of those who sleep, the staff of the infirm, the rod of pastors, the aid of those being converted, the perfection of those advancing, the salvation of soul and body, the aversion of all evils, the teacher of all good things, the destruction of sin, the tree of resurrection, the wood of eternal life." In these words, however, To a small piece of wood, etc., the humility of the cross is first intimated, when it says: By a small piece of wood; second, its veneration and dignity, when it says: Men trust their souls, rational men, that is, as blessed Andrew said: "Receive me from men"; third, necessity, when it says: And those crossing the sea, namely of this world, concerning which the Psalm says: "This great sea" etc.; fourth, its power and usefulness, when it says: They were delivered by a raft: First Corinthians 1: "We preach Christ" etc.; likewise: "The word of the cross to those who are perishing etc., but to us" etc.

The wondrous Creator gave knowledge to His creature, so that in the present age he might be able to attend to his own necessity, and serve the will of his Lord. Therefore also from the beginning, when the human race began to serve idolatry, and all evils were fashioned upon the earth by proud giants, the almighty Judge commanded His faithful servant Noah to build an ark, through which he and his offspring might be saved, and the species of all living creatures might be preserved for the future restoration of the world. The mystery of this, indeed, the Apostle Peter shows in his Epistle, saying: Christ once died for our sins, the just for the unjust, that He might offer us to God; put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit. In which also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, who had once been disobedient, when the patience of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being built, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water; which now saves you also, baptism of a like figure (1 Peter 3:18-21). They say that the form of baptism is likened to the ark and the waters of the flood, and rightly so, because the very construction of the ark from smoothed wood signifies the building of the Church, which is made from the gathering of the souls of the faithful by the architects of the Word. And that, when the whole world perished, only a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water, signifies that, in comparison to the perishing Gentiles, Jews, heretics, and false believers, the number of the elect is much smaller. Therefore, concerning the narrow gate and the strait way which leads to life, it is said: And few there are who find it (Matt. 7:13-14). And again: Fear not, little flock, for it has pleased your Father to give you the kingdom (Luke 12:32). Therefore, that the water of the flood did not save those outside the ark, but destroyed them, undoubtedly prefigured that every heretic, although having the sacrament of baptism, is not raised by the waters but is drowned by them into hell, while the ark is lifted up to heaven. Also, the very number eight of the souls who were saved through water signifies that the holy Church receives the washing of baptism as a sacrament of the Lord's resurrection, so that just as He rose from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we, cleansed from sins by the water of regeneration, may walk in newness of life.

But also from the beginning. Here the usefulness of Noah's ark is first shown; second, it is praised, at: For blessed is the wood etc.; third, the idol and its maker are condemned: But by the hands etc.

But also from the beginning etc., as if to say: it not only delivers from the peril of the sea, but also from the flood, and this is what it says: But also from the beginning, namely in the beginning of the second age, namely in the time of Noah, Genesis 6. When there perished, namely in the flood, the proud giants, concerning whom it is found in Genesis 6: the hope of the world, namely of the future world: the Gloss says: "The seedbed of the human race," namely the eight persons, concerning whom it is said in First Peter 3: "In which a few souls were saved through water"; fleeing to a raft, that is, an ark made in the manner of a raft, because its length was greater than its width, Genesis 6, bequeathed to the age, namely the future age after the flood, the seed of birth, namely of both men and animals, as is evident in Genesis 6. Which, namely the ark, by your hand: the Gloss says: "By power, or by the Son," according to that verse of the Psalm: "Send forth your hand from on high" etc.; was governed, because it had no helmsman except God or his Angel, since all men existing outside were dead, and those existing within were enclosed.

For blessed is the wood, namely of Noah's ark, through which justice is wrought, namely the deliverance of the just, while the wicked were drowned, which was just. Concerning this wood, above in chapter 10: "When water destroyed the earth, wisdom healed it again, governing the just man by a contemptible piece of wood."

Now this wood allegorically can be called the wood of the cross, of which it is said in First Peter, chapter two: "He bore our sins in His own body upon the tree." Through that wood justice was accomplished, because "to each was rendered what was his own." For through that wood sin was destroyed, according to that which the Church sings: "Death then died, when life died upon the wood"; Hosea, chapter thirteen: "O death, I will be your death," etc. Likewise, through it the devil was conquered, according to that saying of Gregory: "He who conquered through wood would also be conquered through wood." Likewise, through it man was reconciled; Colossians, chapter two: "Blotting out the handwriting of the decree that was against us, nailing it to the cross"; likewise Colossians, chapter one: "Making peace through the blood of the cross." Likewise, hell was despoiled; Colossians, chapter two: "Despoiling principalities and powers," etc. Likewise, heaven was opened: whence it was said to the thief: "Today you shall be with Me in paradise," Luke, chapter twenty-three; Isaiah, chapter twenty-two: "I will give the key of the house of David." Likewise, Christ was exalted: whence Philippians, chapter two: "Wherefore God also exalted Him," etc. This was the scepter of Ahasuerus shown or extended to man as a sign of clemency, Esther, chapter fifteen.

If the bones of the righteous are impure, how is it that the bones of Jacob and Joseph were carried out of Egypt with every honor? Or how is it that a dead man was raised after coming in contact with the bones of Elisha? If God works miracles through bones, it is clear that he can also do so through images, stones and many other things. This also happened with Elisha, who gave his staff to his servant and ordered him to go and raise the son of the Shunammite woman with it. Moses too, with a staff, not only punished Pharaoh but also divided the sea, sweetened waters and opened the rock and made water flow out. Solomon says, "Blessed is the wood from which salvation comes." Elisha made a piece of iron float after throwing a stick in the Jordan, and it is also written that "the tree of life" and "the plant of Sabek" lead to forgiveness. Moses lifted up the serpent on a stick, saving the lives of the people, and confirmed the priesthood in the tent with a blooming branch.

This comparison of the two trees is different, because one deserves blessing, while the other deserves a curse. For blessed is the wood of the cross, on which, through the blood of Christ, the world was restored, and the redemption of the human race was perfected. On the contrary, the idol is cursed, that is, the image and worship of false gods, whose destruction is certain, and eternal torment awaits its maker. For the Devil will rightly be punished for having persuaded and agreed to have divine honor offered to himself; and men who worshipped him as God will deservedly suffer torments, because they tried to venerate falsehood instead of truth, and the creature instead of the Creator. But since we often find in the Holy Scriptures that wood is set for man, according to the rule of figurative speech, blessed is the man who speaks words of truth and does works of righteousness. But the heretic who worships the inventions of his own error is cursed, and assigned to eternal destruction, he himself, indeed, and his work, that is, his doctrine, which he presumed to teach falsely as truth.

And rightly I said that blessed is the wood by which justice is done: now, standing for "but": the idol, which is made by hands, namely of craftsmen, is accursed, both it, namely the idol, and he who made it, namely the craftsman.

But the idol, since it is an inanimate thing, how is it accursed? Because this curse is understood either by reason of fault, which does not befall the idol, or by reason of punishment, which is to be inflicted by reason of fault.

It must be said that in the idol two things are to be considered, namely the presiding spirit and the figure of the wood. The malign spirit itself is accursed with the curse of fault and punishment; but the wood, with the curse of detestation and infamy, as a kind of punishment — not because it is a subject of fault, by reason of which punishment is to be inflicted, but because it is the matter or occasion of fault. Whence the Gloss: "For the devil will be punished because he usurps divine honor for himself; and man, who honors a creature in place of the Creator."

Because he indeed fashioned it, namely the idol, whence he is rightly accursed: Isaiah, chapter forty-four: "Behold, all its partakers shall be confounded." But that thing, namely the idol, since it was fragile, because made of fragile material, was named a god, namely by appellation alone, not by the truth of the thing: on account of which it is rightly accursed.

By the disposition of the universe you find an angel appointed for the earth and another appointed for the waters, another appointed for the air and a fourth appointed for fire. Arise, then—I beg of you—with your reason, and consider the disposition of the animals, the plants and the stars of heaven. There is an angel appointed for the sun, another of the moon and others of the stars. These angels, who accompany us during our time on earth, either rejoice or mourn over us when we sin. "Grieve," it says, "over the earth because of its inhabitants." It calls the angel for the earth using the same name as the earth itself, "earth," as when it says, "The work of human hands and the one who has done it are accursed." It is not that the inanimate thing itself is accursed, but what resides in the inanimate statue is indicated by the expression "human hands," and from this it receives its name. In this way I would say that the angel appointed for the earth is designated also by the name "earth," and the angel appointed for the water is designated by the name "water," as when it is said, "The waters saw you, O God, the waters saw you and feared. The abyss trembled, a great crash of waters, and the clouds sent out their voice. Behold, your arrows pass."

Secondly, he detests idols on account of the offense to the Creator.

But likewise etc. Here he touches on the second cause of the detestation of idols, taken from the offense against the Creator: and first he touches on the sign of the offense, namely the idol, and the punishment of the idolater; second, the irremissibility of the punishment: For this reason etc.; third, the cause on the part of the idol: Because creatures; fourth, the cause on the part of the idolater: For the beginning etc.

I have rightly said that both are accursed etc.: but, meaning because: likewise hateful to God is the ungodly one, namely the idolater, because he denies the piety of divine worship, and his ungodliness, that is, the matter of his ungodliness, namely the idol, that is, the demon presiding over the idol; Sirach 12: "The Most High hates sinners." And it should be noted that the hatred of God does not denote or signify an affection in Him, but an effect in the one whom He hates.

But perhaps you say: If God is my lover, why then do the lashes of my lover so grievously sadden me with severe wounds, and disturb me by hurting me? If He who loves me torments me with the embraces of scourges, then false love now exercises the parts of hatred: now it would be better for Him to hate, so that He would not torment. Rather, be careful that He does not hate; ask that He agrees to love. For love corrects, but hatred threatens punishment. Love is accustomed to bestow discipline, but hatred, when judgment dictates, recites the guilt. This hatred is propagated from God to man by the birth of the human race. And therefore, it is of man when God hates or is angry: He hates when He is offended, He is angry when, being offended, He is not entreated. For he who by hateful deeds makes himself hateful provokes the Lord to hatred of himself, and scorns to entreat the one he has offended. But God loves man as an artisan loves his work, but He hates evil deeds, by which the work is driven to ruin and forced into destruction. And He who hates evil deeds cannot love the doer of evil deeds: as the most holy Solomon declared: "The impious and his impiety are hateful to God" (Wis. 14:9).

Therefore, it is also said through Jeremiah: Every man has become foolish by his own knowledge, every maker of idols is confounded by his carved image, because his molten image is false, and there is no spirit in them; for their works are vain and worthy of ridicule; in the time of their visitation, they shall perish (Jer. 10:14-15).

For indeed that which was made, namely the idol, together with him who made it, that is, with the idolatrous craftsman, shall suffer torments.

Concerning the idolater this is clear: but concerning the idol, how can it be true, namely that it suffers torment, since it is an inanimate thing?

It must be said that he speaks of the idol by reason of the malign spirit presiding in it, not on the part of the figure or matter of the idol itself.

But to the contrary: The idolater does not make the malign spirit that presides.

It must be said that although he does not make it in itself, he nevertheless causes it to preside in the idol; just as we are said to exalt and magnify God, not in Himself, but in ourselves; in the Psalm: "Magnify the Lord with me" etc. Both therefore shall be punished: Sirach 14: "Every corruptible work shall fail in the end, and he who works it shall go with it"; and 27: "The offense shall be crushed together with the offender."

In the book of Wisdom, it is written thus: Therefore there shall be a regard even for the idols of the nations. For God did not look for a long time on the idols that were worshipped for a long time, and on the sacrifices made to idols. He who always sees, at some point condescends to look. He saw with patience, he regarded with vengeance. He says there shall be a regard for the idols of the nations, because they were made from God's creations to incite hatred. For they provoke God with the creations of God. How do they provoke God with the creations? For a craftsman made a god, but God made wood. A goldsmith made an idol, but God made gold. Why do you make out of his creation something that he would detest; out of God's creation, you shape something that he would detest? You should shape well what he would love. You want to put your own image in wood, take the image of God into yourself. Why do you erase inwardly and carve outwardly? He says, the creations of God were made to provoke hatred, and as trials for the souls of men, and as a snare for the feet of the foolish. For the beginning of fornication is the seeking of idols. If a woman having many husbands is praised, let also the soul worshipping many gods be praised. If a woman is an adulteress through true husbands, how much more is a soul through false gods? For the beginning of fornication is the seeking of idols, and their invention is the corruption of life.

For this reason, namely because they are hateful to God, and, that is also, upon the idols of the nations, that is, upon the demons presiding in the idols of the gentiles, of which it is said in the Psalm: "All the gods of the nations are demons" etc.; there shall be no regard, namely of clemency: which is against Origen, who said that Christ would suffer for the demons in the air at the end, and that thus they would be saved; against which it is said here and in Sirach 39: "There are spirits who were created for vengeance, and in their fury they have confirmed their torments." Because etc.: and deservedly, because creatures of God, that is, made by God, such as gold and silver: whence Hosea 2: "I multiplied silver and gold for them" etc.; were made into an object of hatred, namely of the irascible power, so that men might hate God, like the demons, concerning whom in the Psalm: "The pride of those who hate you ascends always." And into a temptation of the souls of men, that is, of the concupiscible power, so that men might freely subject themselves to whatever powers according to the will or suggestion of their gods. And into a snare, that is, a deception of the rational power, and a mousetrap is called an instrument by which mice are caught: for the feet, namely the interior ones, that is, of the soul, not the exterior ones, namely of the body: of the foolish, that is, of the unbelieving: Job 18: "His snare is hidden in the ground"; likewise Jeremiah 5: "Wicked men are found among my people, lying in wait like fowlers, setting snares and traps to catch men."

For the idols of the nations are not gods, and their inhabitants are, evidently, evil spirits, deserving of pardon, since men who were created in the image and honor of God were being led away from their Creator, and by casting them into the snare of their own error, were being overthrown. Likewise, if heretics persist in their wickedness, by which they lead men from truth into falsehood, and do not correct themselves and do penance, they will not escape the judgment of eternal fire.

For the beginning etc. I said well that the creatures of God etc.: for the beginning of fornication, namely spiritual fornication, which consists in withdrawing from God, is etc.; whence the Gloss: "The worst kind of fornication is that by which the soul withdraws from God and fornicates with idols"; whence Jeremiah 3: "She committed adultery with wood and stone." Such are destroyed or ruined by God, according to that word of the Psalm: "You have destroyed all who fornicate from you." For the beginning, I say, of fornication, the aforesaid, is the seeking out of idols.

But to the contrary: Ecclesiasticus 10: "The beginning of all sin is pride."

I respond: He does not speak here of fornication which consists in any withdrawal whatsoever from God, as occurs in any mortal sin, but of that by which one withdraws from God by a complete withdrawal, namely even to the subversion of faith, which is the foundation of the entire spiritual edifice; Hebrews 11: "Faith is the substance of things hoped for" etc.; likewise 1 Corinthians 3: "No one can lay another foundation" etc.

And the devising of them is the corruption of life, namely with respect to morals: Romans 1: "For which reason God delivered them over to the desires of their heart, to uncleanness"; in the Psalm: "Give them according to their works and according to the wickedness of their devices."

Condemn idols, openly denouncing their error. Indeed, do not even consider them to be dead, because they were never alive. Teach clearly everywhere and to all that these are vain and foolish things. Not existing and never having existed, there is no possibility of their being what they are said to be. They are the products of wicked demons and of the human mind full of impulses to pleasure, since each of us is led to make his own passion an an object of veneration. Thus in the beginning idolatry was born of the wicked work of demons and by human conception, through a commingling that was called "the first fornication." At first they designed the figures of the idols, then they began to give gods to their own children as objects of veneration, made of various materials according to the art that each one possessed for providing for his needs with his own hands: the potter with clay, the carpenter with wood, the goldsmith with gold, the silversmith with silver.

Although there are many kinds of fornication, the worst is that by which the soul fornicates, departing from God and worshipping idols. Similarly, that is also destructive which abandons the truth of divine doctrine and follows the falsehood of heretical opinion. For the Apostle Paul calls greed the service of idols (Eph. 5:5), from which it can be assumed that every evil desire may rightly be called fornication, when the soul, neglecting the higher law by which the lower is governed, is corrupted as if prostituted for a price to the base will of the natures. But all these things, just as they were not created from the beginning, so also they will not remain forever. For the Lord will destroy all deceitful lips, and will cut off all who speak lies (Ps. 12:3). Therefore, it is also said through Jeremiah: The gods who did not make the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth and from under these heavens. But the Lord is the true God, he is the living God and the eternal King (Jer. 10:10-11). Therefore idols first arose, the following sentence shows.

Third, he detests idols on account of the novelty and manner of their invention.

For they were not. Here the third reason for the detestation of those idols is touched upon, namely from the novelty and manner of their devising. He touches upon several causes of this devising and worship: first, the curious idleness of men; second, the affection of parents toward deceased children: For with bitter grief; third, the fear of tyrants: Then etc.; fourth, the reverence and honor toward princes: Those whom; fifth, the diligence and solicitude of artisans: Moreover it advanced etc.; sixth, he sets forth a recapitulation of the principal causes: And this was of life.

I have rightly said: The seeking out of idols and the invention etc.; for they were not from the beginning, namely idols, which is evident, because they are not the Creator: whence Jeremiah 10: "The gods who did not make heaven and earth shall perish from the earth"; nor even a creature, because every creature is from God, but idols are not from God, but are a fiction of men: on account of which it is said in 1 Corinthians 8: "An idol is nothing in the world," namely with respect to the divine being which is believed by idolaters to belong to it. Nor shall they exist forever, rather they shall be destroyed, when men are converted to the worship of the one God; Isaiah 19: "The Lord shall ascend upon a light cloud and shall enter Egypt, and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence."

For the vanity, that is, the idleness, of men devised these things etc.: Sirach 33: "Idleness has taught much wickedness," namely to the idle, who were unwilling to labor to seek the one true God and to worship Him worthily; upon the earth, for in heaven no such error ever existed. And therefore, namely because they did not always exist, a swift end for them was found, namely among the wise. For they were quickly abandoned by the children of Israel in the time of Moses and by the Christian people in the time of Christ or of the new law; Jeremiah 10: "Every craftsman is confounded by his graven image: their works are vain and worthy of ridicule; in the time of their visitation they shall perish."

However, Firmianus Lactantius, in the first book he wrote on the false religion of the gods, presents similar things regarding this passage, saying: It is not obscure by what reasoning men began to be called gods, for it was because of the depravity of men who lived a rural life without any ruler. There is no doubt that in those times they began to praise a man who was king, and his whole people, with the highest praises, so that they even called them gods, whether they truly believed this because of the miracle of virtue, being still rude and simple, or, as often happens, out of flattery for present power, or because of the benefits by which they were brought to civilization. Then, when these kings were dear to them, they also arranged their lives accordingly, and after their death left behind a great longing for themselves. Therefore, men fashioned images of them, so that they might have some consolation from the contemplation of their likenesses, and, going further out of love, they began to honor the memory of the deceased, so that they might seem both to repay gratitude to those who had deserved well, and to attract their successors to the desire of ruling well. Cicero teaches this about the nature of the gods, saying: But the common custom of men has taken up the practice that those who excel in benefits, men, are raised to heaven by fame and will. Therefore Hercules, later Castor, therefore Pollux, later Aesculapius, therefore Liber. And in another place: And in most cities it can be understood that, for the sake of sharpening virtue, or because they would more willingly face danger for the sake of the republic, the memory of the best and bravest men was consecrated in honor of the immortal gods. By this reasoning, of course, the Romans consecrated their Caesars, and the Moors their kings; therefore, little by little, religions began to exist, while those first who knew them in that rite filled their children and grandchildren, and then all their descendants; and yet these greatest kings, because of the fame of their name, were worshipped in all provinces. But privately, each people venerated with the highest reverence the founders of their race or city, or men notable for their bravery, or women remarkable for their chastity, as the Egyptians did Isis, the Carthaginians Urania, the Romans Quirinus, Samos Juno, Naxos Liber, the Moors Juba, the Latins Faunus; likewise, Paphos Venus, Delos Apollo, the Macedonians Scabrius, the Athenians Minerva, Lemnos Vulcan; therefore, throughout peoples and regions, various sacred rites were undertaken, while men desired to show gratitude to their rulers. And why they should bestow other honors on those who lack life, I cannot find: therefore, the devotion of those who succeeded contributed greatly to the error, who, so that they might seem born of divine stock, bestowed divine honors on their parents, and ordered them to be bestowed. Therefore, he says, the incommunicable name was placed upon stones and wood: because the incomprehensible name of the living and omnipotent God, who alone is, they wickedly ascribed to images treacherously composed of insensible and fragile matter, and, together with false religion, shamelessly destroyed themselves with all vices.

For a father, grieving with bitter mourning, namely over the death of his son, as David grieved over the death of Absalom, 2 Kings 18, or over the death of the child whom he first had from Bathsheba, 2 Kings 12, of a son swiftly snatched from him, that is, seized by the violence of death, made an image: The Gloss: "Men fashioned for themselves images of their deceased friends, in the contemplation of which they found some consolation." And him who then, namely recently, had died as a man, whose property it is to be mortal, according to that passage of 2 Kings 14: "We all die" etc.; now, that is, a little later, which is all the more inexcusable, he began to worship as God: The Gloss: "And advancing further, through love of the deceased they began to cultivate their memory." And he established among his servants, who obeyed him out of fear, not reason, sacred rites, namely offerings of incense and praises, and sacrifices, namely the immolation of animals. Moreover, the first to do this, as Isidore says on that passage of Luke 11: "By Beelzebub, the prince of demons" etc., was Ninus, king of the Assyrians, who made an image of his dead father Belus, which he honored with such great veneration that he even spared criminals who fled to it for refuge: on account of which unlearned men began to worship the statue of Belus as God and to multiply statues. Of whom some called that idol Bel, some Baal, some Baalim, some Beelzebub.

Then with the passage of time, that is, a delay of time, as the wicked custom grew strong, which ought rather to be uprooted than maintained, because length of time does not diminish sin, but rather increases it: this error, namely, of worshipping idols, as though it were a law, that is, under a precept, was observed: Jeremiah 10: "The laws of the peoples are vain"; likewise Isaiah 10: "Woe to those who enact wicked laws"! And by the command of tyrants, that is, of wicked rulers, figments were worshipped: whence Antiochus compelled the Jews to the worship of the nations, 1 Maccabees 1; and Nebuchadnezzar forced them to adore his statue, Daniel 3.

Those whom men could not honor openly, that is, in their presence, on this account, namely, because they were far away, from afar, namely, from a distant place, their likeness having been brought, namely, in a painting, a visible image, namely, a sculpted image, I say, of the king whom they wished to honor, they made, namely, bestowing divine honor upon men. Cicero: "Moreover, the life of men and common custom undertook to raise to the heavens by fame and goodwill men who excelled in benefits." So that him, namely, the king, who was absent, that is, he was away, yet still living, they might worship as though present through their devotion. The Gloss: "On account of the foolishness and depravity of men, who lived a rustic life without any ruler, they exalted the king himself and the whole nation with the highest praises, so that they even called them gods either for their distinguished virtue, or for their benefits, or out of flattery." Those whom etc. The text is to be construed thus: Men made a visible image which they wished to honor, their likeness having been brought from afar: those whom they could not honor openly, that is, in person, on this account, supply, because they were far away: they made, I say, so that him who was absent, etc.

Moreover, it advanced to the worship of these, namely, of idols, worship, and, that is, even, those who were ignorant, that is, the ignorant and unlearned, the extraordinary, that is, the greatest, diligence of the craftsman: of the craftsman, I say, diligently and elaborately fashioning the idol and adorning it, according to that passage in Jeremiah 10: "He adorned it with silver and gold"; likewise Isaiah 44: "He made the image of a man, like a beautiful man dwelling in a house."

For he, the craftsman, wishing to please him who engaged him, that is, hired him, namely, to make an idol; this is a wicked pleasing, of which it is said in the Psalm: "God has scattered the bones of those who please men"; likewise Galatians 1: "If I were pleasing men, I would not be a servant of Christ." He labored with his art, so that the likeness, that is, the image, he might fashion more finely, that is, in the best manner he could: Isaiah 44: "The ironsmith has wrought with a file"; Baruch 6: "As for a maiden who loves ornaments, so having received gold they are fashioned."

Human beings seek purification, but the devil, proud spirit, seeing that they sought this out of pride and boasted of it, anticipated them and presented himself as a mediator, capable of giving a semblance of purity to their souls. In this, hinting at his pride, he led people to think that he was necessary, that is, to show them that a soul desirous to reach God could purify itself through recourse to magic arts. He thus instituted in the temples those sacrilegious rites that assure purification to those who perform them. Many of those images were in fact suggested, as the Scripture says, by the desire to honor certain people held to be great, people not present or dead people.

But the multitude of men, namely of the foolish; Ecclesiastes 1: "The number of fools is infinite"; led astray, namely from the truth, by the appearance of the work, that is, by its beauty; Proverbs, last chapter: "Grace is deceitful, and beauty is vain"; Daniel 13: "Beauty has deceived you"; him who before a time, supply: a short time, had been honored as a man, namely with the honor of dulia; they now esteemed as a God, honoring him with the honor of latria.

And this was the deception of human life, that is, the cause of deception, a cause, I say, that is twofold, as it were a twofold gate of death, namely love and fear, according to the Gloss on that verse of the Psalm: "Set on fire and dug up," etc. For because to their affection, namely their own in the honoring of friends, or to kings, in the veneration of the powerful: the Gloss: "Thus through peoples and regions," namely out of flattery, or out of fear, "various sacred rites were taken up, while men desire to be pleasing to their princes"; serving, that is, devotedly serving, men, against that passage of 1 Corinthians 7: "Do not become slaves of men." The incommunicable name: the Gloss: "of God almighty," because namely the form from which that name God was imposed is incommunicable to creatures, yet communicable to the divine persons: they imposed upon stones and wood, against that precept, Exodus 20: "You shall not take the name of your God in vain."

But to the contrary: Exodus 7: "Behold, I have made you a god to Pharaoh"; likewise in the Psalm: "I said: you are gods," etc.: therefore the name of God is communicable to creatures.

It must be said that God is spoken of in three ways: by nature, by adoption, by appellation. In the first way it is incommunicable; in the second and third ways it is not.

But to the contrary: Because the divine name was communicated to Christ as man: whence Philippians 2: "He gave him the name which is above every name."

But it must be said that it was not communicated to one not having it before, but otherwise than before, because this name belongs to the person, not to the nature, namely the human nature, but nevertheless to one having a human nature.

To that which is objected: He gave him the name, etc.; it must be said that giving is taken there for manifestation. Or: he gave it to him in the human nature, who previously had it in the divine.

Fourth, he detests idols on account of the twofold effect of human corruption.

And it was not enough. Here is touched upon the last cause for the detestation of idols, taken from the effect of human corruption: and first is touched upon in idolaters the blinding of the mind; second, the corruption of works: For either sons; third, the reasonableness of the blinding and corruption: And all things; fourth, the cause of both: For of unspeakable things.

He says therefore: And it was not enough for them to have erred: The Gloss: "With false religion they subjected themselves to all vices"; to have erred, I say, namely concerning the knowledge of God, that is, faith; above in the thirteenth chapter: "Vain are all men in whom there is not the knowledge of God." But living also in a great war of ignorance, that is, of unbelief, war, through which unbelief, namely, they wage war against God: whence Job 24: "They were rebels against the light." So many, namely as to number, and so great, as to intensity, or as to the quantity of duration, evils, as to deformity: so many, I say, and so great evils, in which, namely, they live, they call peace, according to that passage in Job 30: "And they counted it a delight to be under thorns"; Jeremiah 6: "Saying: Peace, peace: and there was no peace"; the Gloss: "Under the reign of the devil, subjected to diverse vices, they could not have true peace."

For they exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of the image of corruptible man, and of birds and quadrupeds and serpents, and they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever; although they called themselves wise, they became fools: for they were given over to a reprobate mind, so that they dishonored their bodies among themselves, and those who refused to enter into a covenant with God through right faith and good works, being placed under the worship of the Devil, could in no way have true peace among themselves. Therefore they sacrificed their own children, as the pagans themselves did in the rites of Saturn, who sacrificed to Saturn out of hatred for Jupiter, and extinguished tender and innocent souls, which is the age most sweet to parents, without any regard for virtue. Others, indeed, offered human blood to the virtue they called Bellona; for the priests themselves sacrificed not with another's blood, but with their own, striking themselves with drawn swords. About this, Quintilian rightly says: "If God requires this, He is angry." Others, performing obscure rites, held vigils full of madness, as they were accustomed to do in the rites of Egyptian Isis and Eleusinian Ceres; for just as Osiris was sought there with the lamentation of his mother, so here Proserpina, abducted for the incestuous marriage of her uncle, was sought. Because Ceres is said to have searched for her in Sicily with torches lit from the summit of Etna, therefore her rites are celebrated with the tossing of burning torches. Likewise, in the rites of Father Liber, vigils full of madness were held; also in the festival of the Great Mother, where, following the example of their gods, who spent the night in feasting and games during her festival, these people consumed the whole night in useless play. Neither life nor marriage was kept pure by the pagans themselves, because they thought they could please their gods through lust and impurities of life; for all things were confused where reason and true religion held no place, but the more wicked someone was, the more he thought he pleased his god.

For either etc. Here he enumerates the evils by which they were corrupted in deed: first, the evil specially committed against God; second, specially committed against themselves and against the neighbor: Neither life.

He says therefore: For either sacrificing their own children, according to that passage of the Psalm: "And they sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons": Ezekiel 16: "Is your fornication a small thing? You have sacrificed my children and given them up, consecrating them to those," because, as the Gloss says, "in the rites of Saturn, on account of hatred of Jupiter, without regard for piety they sacrificed their little ones." Or performing obscure sacrifices, obscure, that is, nocturnal, as was done, according to the Gloss, "in the rites of Egyptian Isis and Ceres, which rites were celebrated with the brandishing of burning torches." Or keeping vigils full of madness, for in the rites of Bacchus and Cybele, mother of the gods, "after the example of the gods, who being sated at the festival spent the whole night in revelries, they themselves reveled," as the Gloss says. Against this it is said in the Psalm: "Blessed is the man whose hope is the name of the Lord, and who has not regarded vanities and false madnesses."

Neither do they keep life, namely their own life, pure, because "God gave them up to uncleanness," Romans 1. Nor do they any longer keep their marriages pure, against which Hebrews 13: "Marriage is honorable, and the bed undefiled"; any longer do they keep etc.; because, as the Gloss says, "they thought to please their gods through lust and uncleanness," and the more wicked anyone was, the more he thought he pleased his god. But also one kills another through envy, namely in his own person, as Cain killed Abel, Genesis 4; and the Jews killed Christ, Matthew 27. Or the adulterer grieves, namely in the person joined to him: he says grieves, because the violation of the marriage bed is a great cause of sorrow; whence also according to the civil laws the husband was given license to kill the adulterer and adulteress found in the very act of adultery.

And all things, namely vices, are mixed together: whence Hosea 4: "Cursing and lying and murder and theft and adultery have overflowed."

Blood. Here he touches first upon certain spiritual sins; second, upon certain carnal sins: Of souls etc. In the first, first certain evils of deed; second, certain evils of the heart: Corruption; third, certain evils of speech: And perjury. He touches upon four evils of deed, namely wounding, when he says: Blood; slaying, when he says: Murder; theft, when he says: Theft; fraud, when he says: And deceit.

Rightly I said: And all things are mixed together, namely blood, by mutual wounding; whence Isaiah 1: "Your hands are full of blood"; likewise Hosea 4: "Blood has touched blood." Murder: whence Micah 7: "A man hunts his brother to death." Theft, Isaiah 1: "Your princes are faithless, companions of thieves"; in the Psalm: "If you saw a thief, you ran with him." And deceit, that is, guile: "For guile is when one thing is done, and another is pretended or feigned."

Corruption. Here he touches upon the sins of the heart, namely of the concupiscible power; in the Psalm: "They are corrupt and have become abominable" etc. And unfaithfulness, namely of the rational power; whence Jeremiah 7: "Faith has perished and has been taken from their mouth." Disturbance, namely of the irascible power; whence Isaiah 57: "There is no peace for the wicked, says the Lord." These are the three evils of the heart.

Then he touches upon three evils of speech, saying: And perjury, namely either assertory, as occurs in false testimonies, or promissory, as in false promises, against which Leviticus 19 says: "You shall not swear falsely." Uproar, namely in contentions and discords; whence Isaiah 3: "The youth shall rise up tumultuously against the elder."

And forgetfulness of the good things of God, that is, ingratitude, because they do not praise God for his benefits; whence Luke 17: "There was none found who returned to give glory to God" etc.; in the Psalm: "I am forgotten as one dead from the heart." These are the three evils of speech: the first against God and neighbor; the second against the neighbor; the third against God, namely by omission.

The defilement of souls etc. Here he touches upon carnal sins, first, sins of interior lust; second, of unnatural intercourse, at: The changing of birth etc.; third, of bigamy: The inconstancy of marriages etc.; fourth, of adultery: The disorder etc.; fifth, of fornication: And immodesty etc.

He says therefore: The defilement of souls, namely through interior lust; whence Matthew 5: "He has already committed adultery in his heart"; Jeremiah 4: "Wash your heart from wickedness, O Jerusalem" etc.; Titus 1: "Both their mind and conscience are defiled." The changing of birth, that is, of nature or of natural use; Romans 1: "Their women changed the natural use" etc. The inconstancy of marriages, namely taking and repudiating wives at will, when nevertheless they ought to be "two in one flesh," Genesis 2; likewise Matthew 19: "What God has joined together, let not man separate." The disorder of unchastity, that is, of adultery, against the order of matrimony, against which Exodus 20: "You shall not commit adultery." And immodesty, that is, of fornication, against which Romans 13: "Not in debauchery and immodesty."

Of unspeakable things etc. Here it is shown that idolatry is the cause of this corruption: and first he shows how idolatry is the cause of all evils in idolaters; second, on account of what, namely on account of the hope of impunity: For while they trust etc.; third, he shows that this very thing is for them the cause of punishment: Both etc.; fourth, he shows what that punishment is, namely the fall and headlong rush into other sins: For not etc.

Of unspeakable things etc. Thus I have said that idolaters commit so many and such great evils; for of unspeakable idols, that is, of abominable ones, that is, of those unworthy of being named, according to that saying of the Psalm: "Nor will I be mindful of their names upon my lips." Of unspeakable, I say, idols, the worship is the cause of all evil, namely through the blinding of the intellect and the subversion of the will; and the beginning, namely through the inception of the work; and the end, through its completion, just as faith and the worship of God is the cause of all good, as the Apostle proves in Hebrews 11, where he says: "Faith is the substance of things hoped for."

But to the contrary: Ecclesiasticus 10: "The beginning of all sin is pride"; likewise 1 Timothy 6: "The root of all evils is covetousness"; therefore it is wrongly said here that the beginning of all evils is infidelity.

It must be said that it is not unfitting for there to be many beginnings of evils according to different respects, just as of one thing there are four causes, namely efficient, material, etc., and yet only one in each genus, because on the part of the rational power there is unbelief, on the part of the concupiscible power there is covetousness, on the part of the irascible power there is pride.

There is no greater madness than to abandon the living God and serve dead idols, and therefore the cause and beginning of all evil is the worship of idols, because after the human mind turns away from its creator, it becomes entangled in the errors of all crimes. For the beginning of all sin is pride (Eccles. 10:13). Likewise, the end, that is, the completion or fullness of all evil, is the same idolatry; for nothing is lacking in any wickedness to him who worships the Devil as divine power; therefore, everything is reckoned to him as evil and sin.

For either while they rejoice, they are mad: The Gloss: "In feasts and games," and this with respect to the evil in affection: they are mad, he says, because irrational joy is madness, like the laughter of the frenzied: Hosea 9: "Madness in the house of his God." Or indeed they prophesy falsehoods, namely by prophesying false things, and this with respect to the evil of thought: 3 Kings, last chapter: "I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all the prophets." Or they live unjustly, and this with respect to the evil of conduct: Ecclesiastes 7: "The impious man lives a long time in his wickedness." Or they commit perjury, or forswear themselves, and this with respect to the sin of speech: quickly, that is, easily, on account of their evil habit: on account of which Ecclesiasticus 23: "Let not your mouth become accustomed to swearing, for there are many falls therein."

Their whole life is established in errors; if they rejoice, either at festivals or in their games, they act madly, while they either commit murders or defile themselves obscenely with lust; while they prophesy, they deceive and lead their listeners astray; while they live unjustly, they are dead in soul; if they swear falsely, they are quickly led to hell; when they swear by idols, they pollute the name of God, who commands in the law, saying: You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain (Ex. 20:7). And again: By the name, he says, of foreign gods you shall not swear, but by the name of the Lord your God (Ex. 23:13). But when they think they can mock God, they cast themselves into eternal death. Allegorically, however, heretics, worshipping the images of their errors, are themselves the cause of their own destruction, whose doctrine is false, life unjust, joy insane, and death abominable. For when they swear unjustly by an idol and do not hope in the true God, despising justice, they will receive the just punishment of their deeds. This is also consequently implied.

For while they trust in idols, which are without soul, as regards life: swearing wickedly, namely on the part of the thing by which they swear, because by an idol, and on the part of the thing for which they swear, because it is false, against that saying of Jeremiah 4: "You shall swear: The Lord lives, in truth and in judgment and in justice." They do not expect to be harmed, that is, they do not fear.

But how do they not fear, since they believe them to be true gods?

It must be said that although they worship them as gods, they nevertheless do not think omnipotence to be in them; or they do not believe that they punish the sins of men. And in truth they cannot harm them, on account of which Jeremiah 10: "Do not fear them," namely the idols, "for they can do neither evil nor good"; but nevertheless they will be punished by God for the sin of perjury.

The following dissertation concerning the Trinity, as the reader ought to be informed, has been written in order to guard against the sophistries of those who disdain to begin with faith, and are deceived by a crude and perverse love of reason. Now one class of such men endeavor to transfer to things incorporeal and spiritual the ideas they have formed, whether through experience of the bodily senses, or by natural human wit and diligent quickness, or by the aid of art, from things corporeal; so as to seek to measure and conceive of the former by the latter. Others, again, frame whatever sentiments they may have concerning God according to the nature or affections of the human mind; and through this error they govern their discourse, in disputing concerning God, by distorted and fallacious rules. While yet a third class strive indeed to transcend the whole creation, which doubtless is changeable, in order to raise their thought to the unchangeable substance, which is God; but being weighed down by the burden of mortality, whilst they both would seem to know what they do not, and cannot know what they would, preclude themselves from entering the very path of understanding, by an over-bold affirmation of their own presumptuous judgments; choosing rather not to correct their own opinion when it is perverse, than to change that which they have once defended. And, indeed, this is the common disease of all the three classes which I have mentioned,-viz., both of those who frame their thoughts of God according to things corporeal, and of those who do so according to the spiritual creature, such as is the soul; and of those who neither regard the body nor the spiritual creature, and yet think falsely about God; and are indeed so much the further from the truth, that nothing can be found answering to their conceptions, either in the body, or in the made or created spirit, or in the Creator Himself.

Whence follows: Both things therefore will come upon them, namely the evil of guilt, because they are permitted to swear wickedly, and the evil of punishment, because they will be punished for this: they will come upon them, I say, deservedly, namely according to their merits: Apocalypse, last chapter: "He who is filthy, let him be filthy still." Because they thought wrongly of God by attending to idols, that is, by attributing divine worship to idols, while they swear by an idol. And they swore unjustly by an idol, despising justice, namely by swearing what is unlawful or what is false, and thus they err or sin in a twofold way, namely, because they swear by what they ought not, and because they swear that which they ought not: Exodus 23: "You shall not swear by the name of foreign gods."

By the just judgment of God, those who are condemned and repent too late recognize what, while living before, they refused to believe; therefore also the Psalmist bears witness, saying: The Lord will be known by executing judgments; the sinner is caught in the works of his own hands. The sinners shall be turned into Hades, all the nations that forget God (Ps. 9:16-18).

For not, as if to say: and truly they sin by swearing thus: for not of those who swear, namely in this way, is the virtue, that is, a virtuous or meritorious work; but the punishment of those who sin, that is, the sin itself, which is also the punishment of preceding sins and guilt in itself. It always walks about, namely from bad to worse, in the transgression of the just, that is, of just things, namely of God's commandments; Gregory: "For a sin which is not washed away through penance, by its own weight soon drags one to another": for in the Psalm: "Let their way be darkness and slippery" etc.