The Conflict of Religions in the Early Roman Empire

de frat. am. 7, 481 D.

278

de E. 1, 385 B.

279

v. Them. 32, end.

280

Zeller, Eclectics, 334.

281

de E. 17, 391 E. Imagine the joys of a Euclid, says Plutarch, in non suaviter, 11, 1093 E.

282

Symp. ix, 15.

283

Symp. viii, 3, I.

284

Pericles 13.

285

Dio Chr. Rhodiaca, Or. 31, 117.

286

Cf. the Nigrinus.

287

Gellius, N.A. ii, 21, 1, vos opici, says Gellius to his friends – Philistines.

288

Symp. v, 5, 1.

289

Polit. præc. 20, 816 D.

290

de curiositate, 15.

291

Demosthenes, 2.

292

See Volkmann, i, 35, 36; Rom. Qu. 103; Lucullus, 37, end.

293

Demosthenes, 2.

294

de sera, 15, 559 A.

295

de Stoic. rep. 2, 1033 B, C.

296

Pol. Præc. 15, 811 C.

297

Symp. ii, 10, 1; vi, 8, 1.

298

Reference to Polemo's hand-book to them, Symp. v, 2, 675 B.

299

de E. 384 F.

300

Demosthenes, 2; and 1.

301

Timoleon, pref.

302

Alexander, 1.

303

de tranqu. animi, i, 464 F, ouk akroáseôs héneka therôménês kalligraphían– a profession often made, but in Plutarch's case true enough as a rule.

304

See, e. g., variety of possible explanations of the E at Delphi, in tract upon it.

305

Stapfer, Shakespeare and Classical Antiquity (tr.), p. 299. "It may be safely said he followed Plutarch far more closely than he did even the old English chroniclers."

306

Cons. ad Ux. 2-3, 608 C, D.

307

Cons. ad Ux. 11, 612 A, B. Cf. non suaviter, 26, 1104 C, on the loss of a child or a parent.

308

de coh. ira. 11, 459 C; cf. Progress in Virtue, 80 B, 81 C, on epieíkeia and praotês as signs of moral progress.

309

Cf. Sen. Ep. 47; Clem. Alex. Pæd. iii, 92.

310

A curious parallel to this in Tert. de Patientia, 15, where Tertullian draws the portrait of Patience – perhaps from life, as Dean Robinson suggests – after Perpetua the martyr.

311

Gellius, N.A. i, 26.

312

Solon, 32.

313

Artemidorus, Oneirocritica, iv, 72. On this author see chapter vii.

314

See non suaviter, 17, 1098 D, on the unspeakably rich joy of such a life of friendly relations with gods and men.

315

Progress in Virtue, 4, 77 C, Love of Philosophy compared to a lover's passion, to "hunger and thirst."

316

Plato, Apology, 38 A, ho dè anexétastos bíos ou biôtos anthrópô.

317

Pensées, Art. xxiv, 5.

318

Adv. Coloten (foe Epicurean), 31, 1125 D, E. For this argument from consensus, see Seneca, Ep. 117, 6, Multum dare solemus præsumptioni omnium hominum et apud nos veritatis argumentum est aliquid omnibus videri: tanquam deos esse inter alia hoc colligimus, quod omnibus insita de dis opinio est, nee ulla gens usquam est adeo extra leges moresque projecta ut non aliquos deos credat. This consensus rests (with the Stoics) on the common preconceptions of the mind, which are natural. For ridicule of the doctrine of consensus, see Lucian, Zeus Tragædus, 42.

319

Amatorius, 18, 763 C. Cf. view of Celsus ap. Orig. c. Cels. vii, 41.

320

Consol. ad Apoll. 34, 120 B.

321

Quomodo Poetas, 1, 15 E, F, poetry a preliminary study to philosophy, prophilosophêtéon toîs poiémasin.

322

de Pyth. orac. 29, 408 F. Cf. the pagan's speech in Minucius Felix, 7, 6, pleni et mixti deo vates futura præcerpunt … etiam per guietem deos videmus…

323

So Volkmann, Plutarch, ii, 290 n. Cf. a passage of Celsus, Orig. c. Cels. viii, 45.

324

de def. or. 14, 417 C, empháseis and diapháseis.

325

Tertullian sums up the pagan line of argument and adds a telling criticism in his book adversus Nationes, ii, 1: adversus hæc igitur nobis negotium est, adversus institutiones maiorum, auctoritates receptorum, leges dominantium, argumentationes prudentium, adversus vetustatem consuetudinem necessitatem, adversus exempla prodigia miracula, quæ omnia adulterinam istam divinitatem corroboraverint… Maior in huiusmodi penes vos auctoritas litterarum quam rerum est.

326

de Iside, 67, 377 F-378 A

327

Oakesmith, Religion of Plutarch, p. 88 – a book which I have found of great use.

328

de E. 18-20. Cf. Clem. Alex. Protr. 84. The true To-day of God is eternity. Also Tert. ad Natt. ii, 6, on the axiom of no change in God.

329

de E. 21.

330

Cf. Plato, Timæus, 55 D.

331

Plutarch, de. def. orac. 29, 425 F-426 A. Celsus has the same view; (Origen, c. Cels. v, 25; vii, 68): the world's regions are severally allotted to epoptai under Providence; so that local usages may well be maintained in such form as pleases them; to alter these would be impious, while to worship the dæmons is to honour God, who is not jealous of them. Cf. Plutarch, de fortuna Romanorum, 11, 324 B, ho Rômaiôn mégas daímôn … tê pólei synebésas kaì synauxetheis, kthe– the tract is a poor and rhetorical one, and the phrase may be merely a synonym for "luck." See also Celsus (Orig. c. Cels. viii, 58) on the Egyptian attribution of the human body to thirty-six "dæmons or gods of æther," so that by prayer to the right one disease in any part of the body may be cured; Celsus gives some of their names. The Christians assumed a somewhat similar scheme with a rather different development. Athenagoras, an apologist of the second century, gives the following account in his Presbeia, 24-27. A system of angels under Providence existed, some good and some bad, enjoying free-will as men also do; "the ruler of matter and of the forms in it" lusted after virgins and succumbed to flesh, and neglected the administration entrusted to him; others fell with him; they cannot regain heaven but meantime occupy the air; their children by mortal women were giants and the souls of these are the dæmons; the ruler of matter directs all things against God; with matter are connected the soul's worse impulses. See also Clem. Alex. Strom. vi, 157, on angelic governance of individual nations and cities; and Lactantius, Instit. ii, 8, 14, whose account fairly resembles that of Athenagoras. Tertullian, however, suggests (Apol. 11) that the Creator had no need of ancillary gods to complete his work.

332

For a summary of Stoic teaching here, see Cicero, N.D. ii, 60-70.

333

de def. orac. 29, 426 B. Cf. de Iside, 66, 377 D, E. "You might as well give the name of steersman to sails, ropes or anchor."

334

de def. orac. 30, 246 D, E.

335

This triple government of the Universe is worked out in de fato (a tract whose authorship is questioned), but from one passage and another of Plutarch's undoubted works it can be established, though every statement has a little fringe of uncertainties.

336

de Iside, 25, 360 E.

337

de def. orac. 12, 416 C.

338

Cf. Athenagoras, Presb. 24 (quoted in note 1 on p. 95); and Apuleius, de deo Socr. 6, 132, cited on p. 232.

339

de def. orac. 13, 416 F.

340

de def. orac. 9, 414 F.

341

See de comm. not. adv. Stoicos, 33, and de Stoicorum repugn. 33, 34 – three very interesting chapters. Clement of Alexandria has the same tone in criticizing this idea —ouk oid hópôs anexethí tis epaiôn toútou theòn egnôkòs apidôn eis tòn bìon tòn hymeteron en hósois phyrómetha kakoîs. eín gar àn oútôs, hò med eipeîn thémis, merikôs hamartanôn ho those, kthe. Strom. ii, 74.

342

de Iside, 26, 361 C. Cf. Plato, Sympos. 202 E, 203 A (referred to above), for the functions of tò daimónion, which is métaxu theoû te kaì thnetou … hermeneûon kaì diamorthmeûon theoîs tà par anthrôpon kaì anthrópois tà parà theôn kthè … theòs de anthrópô ou mignutai … oû toi dè daímones polloì kaì pantodapoí eisin, eîs dè toutôn estì kaì ho Éros.

343

de def. orac. 10, 414 F-415 A.

344

de Iside, 27, 361 E; de def. orac. 10, 415 C; cf. Tert. ad Natt. ii, 2.

345

Romulus, 28; de def. orac. 10, 415 B.

346

Hesiod, Works and Days, 121. "But," asks Tatian (c. 16), "why should they get drastikôteras dynameôs after death?" See the reply given by Plutarch, de def. orac. 39, 431 E. Compare also views of Apuleius (de deo Socr. 15) cited on p. 233.

347

de genio Socratis, 24, 593 D-F. He is thinking of the series of rebirths.

348

On such places and on necromancy in general see Tertullian, de anima, 57, who puts it down to illusion of the evil one —nec magnum illi exteriores oculos circumscribere cui interiorem mentis aciem excæcare perfacile est.

349

Cf. p. 15 on the genius and the fravashi.

350

de tranqu. animi, 15, 474 B.

351

Cf. the story of the appearance to Brutus of his evil genius —ho sós, ô broute, daímôn kakós, Brutus, 36. Basilides the Gnostic (the father of Isidore) is credited with describing Man as a sort of Wooden Horse with a whole army of different spirits in him (Clem. Alex. Strom, ii, 113). Plutarch makes a similar jibe at the Stoic account of arts, virtues, vices, etc., as corporeal or even animate and rational beings – making a man "a Paradise, or a cattle-pen, or a Wooden Horse," de commun. notit. adv. Stoicos, 45, 1084 B. There was a tendency in contemporary psychology to attribute all feelings, etc., to dæmonic influence; cf. Clem. Alex. Strom. ii, 110, who suggests that all páthe are imprints (as of a seal) made on the soul by the spiritual powers against which we have to wrestle. Cf. Tert. de Anima, 41, the evil of soul in part due to evil spirit.

352

Clement says (Strom. vi, 53) that Isidore the Gnostic "in the first book of the expositions of Parchor the Prophet" dealt with the dæmon of Socrates and quoted Aristotle's authority for such tutelary spirits. For the book of Apuleius, see ch. vii.

353

Porphyry, v. Plotini, 10. Cf. Origen, c. Cels. vii, 35, for Celsus' views on the visibility of dæmons, e. g. in the cave of Trophonius.

354

Life of Numa, 4 – a most interesting chapter, when it is remembered what other works were being written contemporaneously.

355

de genio Socr. 20, 588 D, 589 D.

356

de gen. Socr. 24, 593 D.

357

de def. orac. 38, 431 C, phantasías toû mellontos.

358

Cf. Clem. Alex. Strom. vi, 46, on preaching of Christ in Hades, where souls, rid of the flesh, see more clearly.

359

de dif. orac. 40, 432 C-E, thermóteti gàr kaì diachysei pórous tinàs anoígein phantastikoùs toû méllontos eikós estin.

For these póroi cf. Clem. Alex. Strom, vii, 36, with J. B. Mayor's note.

360

de def. orac. 46-48, 435 A-437 A (referring to Phædo, 97 D). The curious mixture of metaphors, the double suggestion of krâsis, the parallel from music, and the ambiguity of tò enthousiastikòn (characteristic of the confusion of spiritual and material then prevalent) make a curious sentence in English. On the relation of dæmons to oracles, see also de facie in orbe lunæ, 30, 944 D; also Tertullian, de Anima, 46, who gives a lucid account of dæmons as the explanation of oracles, and Apol. 22 – dæmons inhabiting the atmosphere have early knowledge of the weather, and by their incredible speed can pass miraculously quickly from one end of the earth to the other, and so bring information – strange, he adds (c. 25), that Cybele took a week to inform her priest of the death of Marcus Aurelius —o somniculosa diplomata! ("sleepy post").

361

de Iside, 80, 383 E. Clem. Alex. Strom. i, 135, says Greek prophets of old were "stirred up by dæmons, or disordered by waters, fragrances or some quality of the air," but the Hebrews spoke "by the power and mind of God."

362

Præc. Conj. 19. Cf. Plato, Laws, 906 A, symmachoi dè hemîn theoí te áma kaì daímones, hemeîs d' aû ktêma theôn kaì daimónôn.

363

de repugn. Stoic. 38, 1051 E.

364

non suaviter, 20, 1101 B.

365

non suaviter 21, 1101 C. Clem. Alex. Pæd. ii, 1, says it is "peculiar to man to cleanse the eye of the soul."

366

non suaviter, 22, 1102 F.

367

de Iside, 1, 351 D.

368

de Iside, 2, 352 A.

369

de Iside, 9, 354 C, empháseis kaì diapháseis.

370

de Iside, 9, 354 C.

371

de Iside, 53, 372 E, Myriónumos.

372

de ser. num. vind. 18, 560 F.

373

de ser. num. vind. 17, 560 B-D. Justin, Apology, 1, 18, appeals to the belief in the continuance of the soul, which pagans derive from necromancy, dreams, oracles and persons "dæmoniolept."

374

In de sera numinum vindicta and de genio Socratis. Cf. also the account of the souls of the dead given in de facie in orbe lunæ, c. 28 ff.

375

de def. orac. 18, 419 E. Another curious tale of these remote islands is in Clem. Alex. Strom. vi, 33.

376

Cumont, Mysteries of Mithra (tr.), p. 35. Mithraism began to spread under the Flavians, but (p. 33) "remained for ever excluded from the Hellenic world."

377

de Iside, 20, 358 F.

378

de Iside, 11, 355 C.

379

de Iside, 20, 358 E. Cf. the language of Clement in dealing with expressions in the Bible that seem to imply an anthropomorphic conception of God. See p. 291.

380

de Iside, 23, 360 A.

381

de Iside, 8, 353 E.

382

de def. orac. 14, 15, 417 B-F. Cf. Clem. Alex. Protr. 42, apanthropoi kai misánthrôpoi daímones enjoying anthrôpoktonías.

383

So Tertullian urges, ad Natt. ii, 7.

384

This man, or somebody very like him, appears as a Christian hermit in Sulpicius Severus, Dial. i, 17; only there he is reported to consort with angels.

385

de def. orac. 21, 421 A-E. Cf. Tert. de Spect. 10. The names of the dead and their images are nothing, but we know qui sub istis nominibus institute simulacris operentur et gaudeant et divinitatem mentiantur, nequam spiritus scilicet, dæmones. He holds the gods to have been men, long deceased, but agrees in believing in dæmonic operations in shrines, etc.

386

de Iside, 70, 71, 379 B-E.

387

de Iside, 76, 382 A.

388

See discussion in Oakesmith, Religion of Plutarch, p. 185. Gréard, de la Morale de Plutarque, p. 269, ranks it with the best works that have come down to us from Antiquity.

389

Tertullian on pagan baptisms – Isis and Mithras, de Baptismo, 5; de Præscr. Hær. 40.

390

Cf. Tert. Apol. 9, on these sacrifices, in Africa, and elsewhere, and see p. 26.

391

Conjug. Præc. 19.

392

Cf. de Iside, 55, 373 C; 18, 358 B; the image of Osiris, 36, 365 B. Origen (c. Cels. v, 39) remarks that Celsus is quite pleased with those who worship crocodiles "in the ancestral way."

393

If the legend is mere fable, he asks, cur rapitur sacerdos Cereris, si non tale Ceres passet est? cur Saturno alieni liberi immolantur … cur Idæae masculus amputatur? ad Natt. ii, 8.

394

Justin, Apology, i, 66.

395

Quoted by Origen, contra Celsum, ii, 26, 27.

396

Cf. Mr F. C. Conybeare's article on the remodelling of the baptismal formula in Matthew xxviii after the Council of Nicæa, Hibbert Journal, Oct. 1902.

397

Origen, c. Cels. vii, 58, agroikóteron.

398

Xen. Mem, i, 2, 37. Cf. Plato, Symp. 221 E. Gorgias, 491 A. See Forbes, Socrates, 128; Adam, Religious Teachers of Greece, i, 338.

399

Plato, Philebus, 50 B.

400

On "playfulness" in the words of Jesus, see Burkitt, the Gospel History, p. 142. See also Life of Abp Temple, ii. 681 (letter to his son 18 Dec. 1896), on the "beam in the eye" and the "eye of the needle" – "that faint touch of fun which all Oriental teachers delight in."

401

Luke iv, 22, ethaúmazon epì toîs lógois tês charitos.

402

George Adam Smith, Historical Geography of the Holy Land, ad loc.

403

Matthew xiii, 56 says pâsai, and Mark uses a plural.

404

Luke xi, 5.

405

Mark ix, 36, enagkalisámenos.

406

Gospel History, p. 285.

407

I believe that the allusion to dogs has been thrown back into Jesus' words from the woman's reply, and that she was the first to mention them. Note Mark's emphatic phrase dià toûton tòn lógon; vii, 29.

408

Gospel History, p. 93 f. (with map).

409

The steady gaze and the pause are mentioned by the Gospels, in more than one place, as preceding utterance. There are of course great variations in the accounts of the last supper.

410

xxii, 28.

411

The author of Rab and his Friends.

412

ix, 36.

413

Cf. ad Diognetum, cited on p. 177.

414

I quote this from a friend to whom a Jew said as much; of course every general statement requires modification. Still the predominantly tribal character of Judaism implies contempt for the spiritual life of the Gentile Christian and pagan. If the knowledge of God was or is of value to the Jew, he has made little effort to share it.

415

e. g. Mark x, 24.

416

Titus iii, 4.

417

Second Clement (so-called), 6, 7.

418

Tert. de Or. 1 (end). Cf. also c. 4, on the prayer in the Garden; and de fuga, 8.

419

See Burkitt's Early Eastern Christianity.

420

See Justin, Apology, i, 14, a vivid passage on the change of character that has been wrought in men by the Gospel. Cf. Tert. ad Scap. 2, nec aliunde noscibiles quam de emendatione vitiorum pristinorum.

421

Ephesians iv, 4.

422

1 Peter ii, 7.

423

Tertullian, ad Nationes, i, 8, Plane, tertium genus dicimur … verum recogitate ne quos tertium genus dicitis principem locum obtineant, siquidem non ulla gens non Christiana.

424

Cf. Jeremiah xxxi, 31 – a favourite passage with Christian apologists.

425

Professor Percy Gardner (Growth of Christianity, p. 49) illustrates this by comparison of earlier and later stages in Christian Art. On some early Christian sarcophagi Jesus is represented with markedly Jewish features; soon however he is idealized into a type of the highest humanity.

426

Tatian, 42.

427

Id. 35.

428

Tatian, 29. Cf. the account Theophilus gives of the influence upon him of the study of the prophets, i, 14.

429

26.

430