Chapter 24.—How Hermes Openly
Confessed the Error of His Forefathers, the Coming Destruction of
Which He Nevertheless Bewailed.
After a long interval, Hermes again
comes back to the subject of the gods which men have made, saying
as follows: “But enough on this subject. Let us return to man
and to reason, that divine gift on account of which man has been
called a rational animal. For the things which have been said
concerning man, wonderful though they are, are less wonderful than
those which have been said concerning reason. For man to discover
the divine nature, and to make it, surpasses the wonder of all
other wonderful things. Because, therefore, our forefathers erred
very far with respect to the knowledge of the gods, through
incredulity and through want of attention to their worship and
service, they invented this art of making gods; and this art once
invented, they associated with it a suitable virtue borrowed from
universal nature, and being incapable of making souls, they evoked
those of demons or of angels, and united them with these holy
images and divine mysteries, in order that through these souls the
images might have power to do good or harm to men.” I know not
whether the demons themselves could have been made, even by
adjuration, to confess as he has confessed in these words: “Because our forefathers erred very far with respect to the knowledge of the gods, through incredulity and through want of attention to their worship and service, they invented the art of making gods.” Does he say that it was a moderate degree of error which resulted in their discovery of the art of making gods, or was he content to say “they erred?” No; he must needs add “very far,” and say, “They erred very far.” It was this great error and incredulity, then, of their forefathers who did not attend to the worship and service of the gods, which was the origin of the art of making gods. And yet this wise man grieves over the ruin of this art at some future time, as if it were a divine religion. Is he not verily compelled by divine influence, on the one hand, to reveal the past error of his forefathers, and by a diabolical influence, on the other hand, to bewail the future punishment of demons? For if their forefathers, by erring very far with respect to the knowledge of the gods, through incredulity and aversion of mind from their worship and service, invented the art of making gods, what wonder is it that all that is done by this detestable art, which is opposed to the divine religion, should be taken away by that religion, when truth corrects error, faith refutes incredulity, and conversion rectifies aversion?
For if he had only said, without
mentioning the cause, that his forefathers had discovered the art
of making gods, it would have been our duty, if we paid any regard
to what is right and pious, to consider and to see that they could
never have attained to this art if they had not erred from the
truth, if they had believed those things which are worthy of God, if they had attended to divine worship and service. However, if we alone should say that the causes of this art were to be found in the great error and incredulity of men, and aversion of the mind erring from and unfaithful to divine religion, the impudence of those who resist the truth were in some way to be borne with; but when he who admires in man, above all other things, this power which it has been granted him to practise, and sorrows because a time is coming when all those figments of gods invented by men shall even be commanded by the laws to be taken away,—when even this man confesses nevertheless, and explains the causes which led to the discovery of this art, saying that their ancestors, through great error and incredulity, and through not attending to the worship and service of the gods, invented this art of making gods,—what ought we to say, or rather to do, but to give to the Lord our God all the thanks we are able, because He has taken