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Banquet of the Ten Virgins

Methodius of Olympus

Chapter 15

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 XV.—Arguments from the Novelty of Fate and Generation; That Golden Age, Early Men; Solid Arguments Against the Mathematicians.

If it were better, O wretched ones,

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that

man

should

be

subject

to

the

star

of

his

birth

,

than

that

he

should

not

,

why

was

not

his

generation

and

birth

from

the

very

time

when

the

race

of

man

began

to

be

?

And

if

it

was

,

what

is

the

need

of

those

which

had

lately

been

placed

among

the

stars

,

of

the

Lion

,

the

Crab

,

the

Twins

,

the

Virgin

,

the

Bull

,

the

Balance

,

the

Scorpion

,

the

Ram

,

the

Archer

,

the

Fishes

,

the

Goat

,

the

Watercarrier

,

Perseus

,

Cassiopeia

,

Cepheus

,

Pegasus

,

Hydra

,

the

Raven

,

the

Cup

,

the

Lyre

,

the

Dragon

,

and

others

,

from

which

you

introduce

,

by

your

instructions

,

many

to

the

knowledge

of

mathematics

,

or

,

rather

,

to

a

knowledge

which

is

anathema

?

Well

,

then

,

either

there

was

generation

among

those

before

,

and

the

removal

of

these

creatures

above

was

absurd

;

or

else

there

was

not

,

and

God

changed

human

life

into

a

better

state

and

government

than

that

of

those

who

before

that

lived

an

inferior

life

.

But

the

ancients

were

better

than

those

of

the

present

time

;

whence

theirs

was

called

the

golden

age

.

There

was

then

no

natal

destiny

.

If the sun, driving through the circles and passing along the signs of the Zodiac in his annual periods, accomplishes the changes and turnings of the seasons, how did those who were born before the signs of the Zodiac were placed among the stars, and the heaven was adorned with them, continue to exist, when summer, autumn, winter, and spring, were not as yet separated from each other, by means of which the body is increased and strengthened? But they did exist, and were longer lived and stronger than those who live now, since God then disposed the seasons in the same manner. The heaven was not then diversified by such shapes.

If the sun and the moon and the other stars were made for the division and protection of the members of the time, and for the adornment of the heaven, and the changes of the seasons, they are divine, and better than men; for these must needs pass a better life, and a blessed and peaceful one, and one which far exceeds our own life in righteousness and virtue, observing a motion which is well-ordered and happy. But if they are the causes of the calamities and mischief of mortals, and busy themselves in working the lasciviousness, and the changes and vicissitudes of life, then they are more miserable than men, looking upon the earth, and their weak and lawless actions, and doing nothing better than men, if at least our life depends upon their revolutions and movements.

Notes

1
We cannot preserve the play upon words of the original. There it is—μαθηματικὴν and καταθεματικήν .—Tr.
2
Gen. i. 14, etc.