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Tertullian

Book 2 · Chapter 6

About this work

Author: Tertullian

Chapter VI.—The Changes of the Heavenly Bodies, Proof that They are Not Divine. Transition from the Physical to the Mythic Class of Gods.

Come now, do you allow that the Divine Being not only

‹ Book 2 · Chapter 5 Book 2 · Chapter 7 ›

has

nothing

servile

in

His

course

,

but

exists

in

unimpaired

integrity

,

and

ought

not

to

be

diminished

,

or

suspended

,

or

destroyed

?

Well

,

then

,

all

His

blessedness

would

disappear

,

if

He

were

ever

subject

to

change

.

Look

,

however

,

at

the

stellar

bodies

;

they

both

undergo

change

,

and

give

clear

evidence

of

the

fact

.

The

moon

tells

us

how

great

has

been

its

loss

,

as

it

recovers

its

full

form

;

its

greater

losses

you

are

already

accustomed

to

measure

in

a

mirror

of

water

;

so

that

I

need

not

any

longer

believe

in

any

wise

what

magians

have

asserted

.

The

sun

,

too

,

is

frequently

put

to

the

trial

of

an

eclipse

.

Explain

as

best

you

may

the

modes

of

these

celestial

casualties

,

it

is

impossible

for

God

either

to

become

less

or

to

cease

to

exist

.

Vain

,

therefore

,

are

those

supports

of

human

learning

,

which

,

by

their

artful

method

of

weaving

conjectures

,

belie

both

wisdom

and

truth

.

Besides

,

it

so

happens

,

indeed

,

according

to

your

natural

way

of

thinking

,

that

he

who

has

spoken

the

best

is

supposed

to

have

spoken

most

truly

,

instead

of

him

who

has

spoken

the

truth

being

held

to

have

spoken

the

best

.

Now

the

man

who

shall

carefully

look

into

things

,

will

surely

allow

it

to

be

a

greater

probability

that

those

elements

which

we

have

been

discussing

are

under

some

rule

and

direction

,

than

that

they

have

a

motion

of

their

own

,

and

that

being

under

government

they

cannot

be

gods

.

If

,

however

,

one

is

in

error

in

this

matter

,

it

is

better

to

err

simply

than

speculatively

,

like

your

physical

philosophers

.

But

,

at

the

same

time

,

if

you

consider

the

character

of

the

mythic

school

,

(

and

compare

it

with

the

physical

,

)

the

error

which

we

have

already

seen

frail

men

making

in

the

latter

is

really

the

more

respectable

one

,

since

it

ascribes

a

divine

nature

to

those

things

which

it

supposes

to

be

superhuman

in

their

sensibility

,

whether

in

respect

of

their

position

,

their

power

,

their

magnitude

,

or

their

divinity

.

For

that

which

you

suppose

to

be

higher

than

man

,

you

believe

to

be

very

near

to

God

.

Notes

1
Felicitas.
2
These are the moon’s monthly changes.
3
Tertullian refers to the Magian method of watching eclipses, the ἐνοπτρομαντεία.
4
Instead of “non valet,” there is the reading “non volet,” “God would not consent,” etc.
5
Viderint igitur “Let them look to themselves,” “never mind them.”
6
Alias.
7
Ista.
8
Sedenim.
9
Mortalitas.