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Banquet of the Ten Virgins

Methodius of Olympus

Chapter 14

About this work

A literary symposium in which ten women offer speeches on virginity, creation, Scripture, virtue, and Christian perfection, consciously adapting the form of a classical philosophical banquet.

Author: Methodius of Olympus
Date: Late 3rd century
Origin: Eastern Mediterranean
Genre: Dialogue

Chapter XIV.—The Doctrine of Mathematicians Not Wholly to Be Despised, When They are Concerned About the Knowledge of the Stars; The Twelve Signs of the Zodiac Mythical Names.

Thekla. Resuming then, let us first lay

‹ Chapter 13 Chapter 15 ›

bare

,

in

speaking

of

those

things

according

to

our

power

,

the

imposture

of

those

who

boast

as

though

they

alone

had

comprehended

from

what

forms

the

heaven

is

arranged

,

in

accordance

with

the

hypothesis

of

the

Chaldeans

and

Egyptians

.

For

they

say

that

the

circumference

of

the

world

is

likened

to

the

turnings

of

a

well

-

rounded

globe

,

the

earth

having

a

central

point

.

For

its

outline

being

spherical

,

it

is

necessary

,

they

say

,

since

there

are

the

same

distances

of

the

parts

,

that

the

earth

should

be

the

centre

of

the

universe

,

around

which

,

as

being

older

,

the

heaven

is

whirling

.

For

if

a

circumference

is

described

from

the

central

point

,

which

seems

to

be

a

circle

,

—

for

it

is

impossible

for

a

circle

to

be

described

without

a

point

,

and

it

is

impossible

for

a

circle

to

be

without

a

point

,

—

surely

the

earth

consisted

before

all

,

they

say

,

in

a

state

of

chaos

and

disorganization

.

Now

certainly

the

wretched

ones

were

overwhelmed

in

the

chaos

of

error

,

“

because

that

,

when

they

knew

God

,

they

glorified

Him

not

as

God

,

neither

were

thankful

;

but

became

vain

in

their

imaginations

,

and

their

foolish

heart

was

darkened

;

”

and

their

wise

men

said

that

nothing

earth

-

born

was

more

honourable

or

more

ancient

than

the

Olympians

.

Whence

they

are

not

mere

children

who

know

Christ

,

like

the

Greeks

,

who

,

burying

the

truth

in

fairies

and

fictions

,

rather

than

in

artistic

words

,

ascribing

human

calamities

to

the

heavens

,

are

not

ashamed

to

describe

the

circumference

of

the

world

by

geometrical

theorems

and

figures

,

and

explain

that

the

heaven

is

adorned

with

the

images

of

birds

and

of

animals

that

live

in

water

and

on

dry

land

,

and

that

the

qualities

of

the

stars

were

made

from

the

calamities

of

the

men

of

old

,

so

that

the

movements

of

the

planets

,

in

their

opinion

,

depended

upon

the

same

kind

of

bodies

.

And

they

say

that

the

stars

revolve

around

the

nature

of

the

twelve

signs

of

the

Zodiac

,

being

drawn

along

by

the

passage

of

the

circle

of

the

Zodiac

,

so

that

through

their

intermingling

they

see

the

things

which

happen

to

many

,

according

to

their

conjunctions

and

departures

,

their

rising

and

setting

.

For the whole heaven being spherical, and having the earth for its central point, as they think, because all the straight lines from the circumference falling upon the earth are equal to one another, holds back from the circles which surround it, of which the meridian is the greatest; and the second, which divides it into two equal parts, is the horizon; and the third, which separates these, the equinoctial; and on each side of this the two tropics, the summer and the winter—the one on the north, and the other on the south. Beyond is that which is called the axis, around which are the greater and lesser Bears, and beyond them is the tropic. And the Bears, turning about themselves, and weighing upon the axis, which passes through the poles, produce the motion of the whole world, having their heads against each other’s loins, and being untouched by our horizon.

Then they say that the Zodiac touches all the circles, making its movements diagonally, and that there are in it a number of signs, which are called the twelve signs of the Zodiac, beginning with the Ram, and going on to the Fishes, which, they say, were so determined from mythical causes; saying that it was the Ram that conveyed Helle, the daughter of Athamas, and her brother Phryxos into Scythia; and that the head of the Ox is in honour of Zeus, who, in the form of a Bull, carried over Europe into Crete; and they say the circle called the Galaxy, or milky way, which reaches from the Fishes to the Ram, was poured forth for Herakles from the breasts of Hera, by the commands of Zeus. And thus, according to them, there was no natal destiny before Europe or Phryxos, and the Dioscuroi, and the other signs of the Zodiac, which were placed among the constellations, from men and beasts. But our ancestors lived without destiny. Let us endeavour now to crush falsehood, like physicians, taking its edge off, and quenching it with the healing medicine of words, here considering the truth.

Notes

1
Rom. i. 21.
2
[“As they think.” Had Methodius any leaning to Pythagoras and his school? To “science” the world owes its rejection of the true theory of the universe for two thousand years, till Copernicus, a Christian priest, broke that spell. Could the Christian Fathers know more than science taught them? Methodius hints it.]
3
Castor and Pollux.