should suffice for the bodies, and do not abstain from the counsel present to you; indeed, considering those who are ill-disposed toward the city, and who dare to urge upon us such things, let us send guards to Callipolis, that they may provide for all things necessary to protect the city and act in such a way that its secure possession may remain for the city: and may it be our good fortune, with manly spirit, to succeed in defending our fatherland. I have said what I judge to be advantageous; do you choose that which will be for the common good.
DEMETRIUS CYDONIUS, MONODY ON THE SEDITION IN THESSALONICA, IN THE YEAR 1343.
(It exists among the *Scriptores post Theophanem*, volume CIX of this Patrology.)DEMETRIUS CYDONIUS, TRANSLATION OF THE BOOK OF FRIAR RICHARD, OF THE ORDER OF PREACHERS, AGAINST THE FOLLOWERS OF MAHOMET.
(Basel, 1545. Regarding this edition, see above, col. 371, note.)BARTHOLOMEW PICENUS OF MONTEARDUO, TO FERDINAND, KING OF ARAGON AND BOTH SICILIES, SENDS GREETINGS.
Since Demetrius Cydonius, a man most skilled in both languages, had translated the work of Friar Richard of the Order of Preachers from Latin into Greek, it did not seem unreasonable to me, most serene and Catholic King, to translate it back from Greek into Latin: not that I suppose that a work of this kind does not exist among the Latins, but because I had seen that Demetrius Cydonius had translated that small work from Latin into Greek with a more elegant style, I have therefore endeavored, according to my powers, to translate that booklet again into our language with that same elegance of expression in some way, and to render it into a more polished and lucid style according to my powers, and to dedicate it to you, most serene and Catholic King, who alone among the kings of the Christians in this our time have afflicted the Mahometan sect with the greatest disasters. For you have gained no small praise for yourself, when you brought the Baetic province, which for eight hundred years had worshipped the Mahometan faith, into the power of the Christians, B and now you intend to seize the whole of Africa: which you will be able to accomplish easily, since those tribes at this time are unwarlike, because they have not been accustomed to fighting with Christians for a long time. For it was more difficult for you to conquer the Baetic province than it is to assert the whole of Africa into your power. For there were in Baetica those most strenuous soldiers, always accustomed to warring with the Spanish soldier; but these, conversely, are slothful men, devoted to their belly and to sloth, having long since been unaccustomed to doing battle with the Christian name, nor are they practiced in war, such as those who once occupied Spain and Italy under Hannibal. Nor do they have that supply of arms which the Spanish soldier, most strenuous and most experienced in war, is said to have. Nor are great riches lacking there, by which the spirits of the soldiers are most greatly inflamed with the hope of booty. Everything will turn out prosperously for you if you pursue the remains of the begun war. There is no reason why you should fear that war is being stirred up against you in Spain by some, especially at this time, now that a new alliance has been initiated with the most Christian King of the French. Therefore, pursue the war you have begun, and transfer your forces into Africa. With God as your guide, you will easily subjugate it, and once it is subdued and brought into the power of the Christians, you will then easily recover Jerusalem, which is at this time subject to the Sultan of Babylon, a land so ample, so fertile, and so holy. But those who now protect that fatherland are merely slaves for sale, C
bought from different provinces, and these indeed do not amount to a sum of twenty thousand. Since these were compelled to depart from the Christian religion, they now follow the Mahometan sect. As for the remaining Saracens who are subject to them, we can conjecture how soft and effeminate they are from the fact that they are never allowed to bear arms, nor to ride a horse, nor to do anything manly, but they exercise themselves in agriculture, or commerce, or other base things of this kind. Since this is so, there is no doubt for anyone that you will most easily bring back a victory from that expedition with the greatest triumph, and you will liberate the holy city Jerusalem, in which our Savior the Lord Jesus Christ preached the Gospel and established the New Testament for us, from the most savage superstition of the Mahometans. How vain, how frivolous, and of how little moment this is, it is not necessary to say at present, since you will understand it then for the first time, when you have diligently read through this refutation of Brother Richard. Farewell.
Refutation of the law given to the Saracens by the cursed Mahomet, translated from the Latin language into Greek by a certain Demetrius, by Richard, A of the order of Brothers who are called Preachers among the Latins.
"How many are the days of Thy servant? When wilt Thou execute judgment on them that persecute me? The wicked have told me fables, but not as is Thy law, O Lord. All Thy commandments are truth. They have persecuted me unjustly" (Ps. CXVIII, 84, 85). These are the words of the Church militant, weeping and groaning, burdened by various miseries from which she trusts to be delivered by divine aid. But although the Church has suffered B innumerable passions and sorrows, nevertheless, all of them can universally be referred to three [types]. First, indeed, she manifestly underwent the frenzy of persecution brought upon her by impious tyrants. And this happened especially to her from the time when Christ suffered until the times of Constantine, that is to say, over three hundred and ten years, when the Romans, who held the monarchy of the world, and an infinite catalog of other impious men, slaughtered the innumerable holy martyrs of God throughout the whole world. For which time, sympathizing with the Church, David says: "How many are the days of Thy servant? When wilt Thou execute judgment on them that persecute me?" But when the blood of the saints cried out to God, and they shone with miracles, suddenly there was a change of the right hand of the Most High; and they who before were persecutors of the Christians built churches and became leaders of the war against the impious. But immediately C the second persecution of heretics arose. For suddenly appeared the bloodthirsty dragon, raging from his lair, and hissing forth various heresies, namely, those of Arius, and Sabellius, and Macedonius, and other heretics. For which time especially David said: "The wicked have told me fables, but not as is Thy law, O Lord." But then the light of doctrine was given and added to the Church, when many teachers appeared and opened the divine Scripture: this was Hilary, Augustine, Jerome, and Gregory; and there arose also a multitude of holy Fathers who were in the deserts, of perfect and most sincere life; so that even through them the mouth of the dragon was bound with a weak and common thread: and thus of the divine Scriptures ef
Aficiency, the mouth of those who speak iniquity has been stopped. But immediately after these things, a third corruption B sprouted up in the Churches, to wit, the danger from false brethren. Hence, even after the times of the blessed Gregory, tribulation immediately gained strength through men whose minds were corrupted, speaking lies in hypocrisy; and so many lies and inventions regarding life, doctrine, and justice arose, that there were many who sided with and strove alongside the wicked and tyrants, even as far as they themselves fell into stupidity and depravity; and conversely, they would bark at and disparage the most perfect men. And this corruption against the Church will remain until old age and end-time, so that no hope at all is left, save for divine aid and perseverance for the sake of the truth. Whence also for these times David says: “All thy commandments are truth; they have persecuted me unjustly: help me.” As if saying: Even if truth is for a time prostrate, yet it must needs rise most quickly and be known effectively, especially with divine assistance cooperating.
In this third state of condition, therefore, after the times of the blessed Gregory, to wit, in the times of Heraclius, a certain diabolical man C rose up against the truth and the Church of God, the firstborn of Satan, prone to lust, and given to fraud and machinations, by name Mahomet. And he, by the counsel and aid of him who is a liar and the father of lies, composed a law that is iniquitous and full of lies, as if it had been set forth from the divine mouth: which law he indeed named Alcoran, to wit, a collection of divine commandments. This Mahomet persecuted the Church of God above all who were or are to come. For he did not strike the Church in only one way, but in three very general ways: now indeed by savage tyranny, now by deception in the laws, and now by hypocrisy D subverting the simpler ones, so that he has already subjected a great part of the world to his deception, by the permission of God, who is terrible in his counsels over the sons of men. I therefore, the least in the order of Preachers, pitying such great calamity for those who have been deceived, considered my ways and turned my feet unto the testimonies of God. Whence, having crossed many seas and desert places, and having reached the renowned city of the Saracens, Babylon, where the greatest and most universal schools among them exist; and having there likewise learned the letters and the Arabic language, and having most diligently and continually disputed with the masters among them, I perceived more and more the perversion of the aforementioned law. And even beginning to translate this into the Latin language, I found so many fables, together with lies and blasphemies, and a continuous babbling and vain repetition through everything, so that I was filled with sadness; and I decided therefore to write certain epistles concerning such great blasphemies, to the triumphant Church; and I have complained as one in bitterness of soul. Now, however, it is my intention, confident in the highest truth, the heads and prin-
-Acipal lies of this iniquitous law to show, and to provide to the other brothers an opportunity by which they might more easily be able to recall the heretics of this impiety to God. And in order that this might be done with order, I have recognized that the whole treatise must be divided into determined chapters.
*Digest of the work into seventeen chapters.*
The first chapter contains the principal errors of this law. Second, what manner must be observed with them. Third, that this law is not the law of God, because it is witnessed to neither by the Old nor the New Testament; and that it is necessary for the Saracens to obey the sayings of the Old Testament and of the Gospel. Fourth, that it agrees with others neither in style nor in manner. Fifth, that it does not agree according to sentiments with any other. Sixth, that in many things it contradicts itself. Seventh, that it is confirmed by no miracle. Eighth, that it is not according to reason. Ninth, that it contains manifest lies. Decimum, that it is violent B even toward those who come to it. Eleventh, that it is disordered. Twelfth, that it is iniquitous. Thirteenth, concerning the institution of the Alcoran, and who was the artificer and inventor of this law. Fourteenth, concerning the fiction of the most base vision. Fifteenth, concerning certain six questions common in the Alcoran, and concerning the excellence of Christ over Mahomet. Sixteenth, concerning the excellence of the Gospel over the Alcoran. Seventeenth, concerning the response of the Saracens to the aforementioned.
I. Of the principal errors of this law.
Therefore, it is proper first to know the principal errors which the law of the Saracens posits, according to which it is most contrary to the divine law. Note, therefore, that every filth of the ancient heretics, which the devil scattered piecemeal in others, he vomited forth in its entirety upon Mahomet. For this man, with Sabellius, C denies the Trinity entirely; but he posits a certain duality in divine matters, which can demonstrate in itself nothing honorable or similar to the divine, since it is the principle of all otherness. For he posits both the divine essence itself and the soul of this. Whence, in the Alcoran, he introduces God as speaking in the plural, so that it may appear that the very soul of God, and Christ himself, are of another [substance] beside God, and of lesser...
state, and subject to Him; agreeing in these things with Arius and Eunomius, who hypothesize that Christ is a mere creature, albeit one surpassing all other creatures. This opinion seems to have sprung from the Platonists, who supposed the highest God to be the father of all and the creator, from whom they said a certain mind first flowed forth, in which were all the reasons of created things, and that this mind was higher than all, which they also named the paternal mind. After this, they said there was the soul of the world; and next to this, the remaining creatures. Those things, therefore, that are said in the Scriptures concerning the Son of God, they referred to that mind; especially because the divine Scripture B even calls the Son of God the wisdom of God and the Word of God. The opinion of Avicenna corresponds with this, for he supposes a first intelligence above the first heaven, which moves the first heaven, beyond which he says God is established in the highest place. Thus, therefore, the Arians supposed concerning the Son of God that he was a creature who exceeds all other creatures, through whom as a mediator God created all things. Whence also Mahomet supposes Christ to be a most holy man, endowed with virtue above all others. But it is clear that he says there is something in him above man. For he calls him the Word of God, and the Spirit of God, and the soul of God; but he thinks it entirely ridiculous that he should be called God in truth. And for the demonstration of this, he uses two things especially: first, that Christ himself never asserted or said C this about himself; and second, because he seems to have said the opposite. Whence Mahomet says that Christians claim Christ is God, and yet Christ himself said to the Jews, “Worship my God and your God, my Lord and your Lord.” I have set these things out at greater length, so that all may know that what the seducing devil could not accomplish in the world in the beginning through Arius, he has fulfilled through Mahomet after that [Arian] zeal had withered in the Church and malice had increased; and at length he will fortify it through the wickedness of the Antichrist. Who will persuade the world that Christ is neither the true God, nor the Son of God, nor even a good man. The principal intention of Mahomet, therefore, is to persuade [men] that Christ is neither God nor the Son of God, but a certain holy and wise man, and a most great prophet, born of a D virgin without a father. In which things he agrees with the heretic Carpocrates. Likewise, he affirms that it is impossible for God to have a son, for the reason that he does not have a wife. With the same heretic, he again agrees in this. And he adds that, if God had a son, all things would already be in danger, as there would necessarily be a schism between them. In which things he agrees with the Jews and the heretic Cerdo. And he subjoins that Christ was not killed by the Jews, nor crucified, but that another similar to him
A in which things he agrees with the Manichaeans. He adds that God called Christ to Himself, and that he will appear again at the end of the world and will slay the Antichrist, and that after this God will cause Christ to die. Whoever denies the passion of Christ denies all the mysteries of the Church, which possess their efficacy from the divine passion. In which things he agrees with the Donatist heretics. He says also that dæmons can be saved through the Koran, so that many of them, upon hearing this, became Saracens; following in this, in some measure, Origen, who says that dæmons are to be saved. He fables also that he ascended to God, because God sent Gabriel for this purpose, and that God laid His hand upon him; and that from God’s touching him, he felt such a sensation of coldness in his body that it penetrated even to the marrow of his spine. In B which things it is manifest that he communicates with the Anthropomorphites, who assert that God is corporeal. He says also that the Holy Spirit is a creature, agreeing with Macedonius. In saying that the angels became dæmons because they refused, at God's command, to adore Adam, he appears to imitate no one. He trifles also concerning the ultimate blessedness of man, saying it consists in licentiousness and luxury, and in sumptuous garments, and irrigated gardens—agreeing in this with the heretic Cerinthus and certain ancient infidels. He says also that one must observe circumcision, commending what belongs to the Ebionite heretics. He grants a multitude of wives in marriage, and concubines and handmaids, and as many as one could support after taking them in war, and to take the wives of others indifferently, in these things following the heretical Nicolaitans. He says that all who do not obey this law must be destroyed, unless they pay tribute. He appears also to allow Sodomitical C acts in men and women, in the chapter concerning the cow, although his successors cover these up with more honorable explanations. The entire intent of this man is to excise whatever was difficult to believe and arduous in practice; to grant everything to which they were inclined—those things which are grasped by those in the present life, and most of all by the other Arabs, namely gluttony, rapine, and intemperance. But concerning the virtues, such as humility, patience, peace, continence, or charity toward one’s neighbor, or about the ultimate end, he said nothing, so to speak, worthy of value. And in order that the lie he tells concerning these things might not be easily refuted by the Old or New Testament, or by those things which the philosophers wrote—in which they themselves also treated of virtue and vice and the ultimate end—he commanded that nothing D whatsoever should be read that was worthy of belief, if it were contrary to the law established by him. Meanwhile, he commanded that those who dared to say anything contrary to this should be punished with a more severe penalty. But he himself highly praised the Psalter and other prophets, and said that many things were prophesied about him by Christ in the Gospel to the children of Israel, with zeal indeed for the Christian faith, but not according to knowledge.
A And he further ordains it to be believed that whatever is contrary to the law given by him is to be rejected. And those who dare to speak anything contrary to this, he orders to be put away. He himself highly praises the Psalter and the other prophets, and says that Christ prophesied many things about him in the Gospel, having said to the children of Israel: "I bring you good news of the apostle of God, who will come after me; and his name is Mahomet." He insists that this name has been written from eternity on the throne of God, in the upper part, at the right hand. To make these things believed, he showed no miracle; but drawing his sword, he said that he was sent by God, not by the power of miracles, but by that of arms. These are the most ancient of the heresies which the Alcoran, which is the law of the Saracens, contains. The falsehoods contained therein are almost infinite, of which we shall treat in the ninth chapter.
II. In what manner one ought to associate with them.
It must be known that they are very curious to hear something of our faith, and especially regarding the divine Trinity and the incarnation. However, they do not wish to believe these things, nor are they able to understand them, as they surpass our reason and exceed the human intellect. For it is said in Isaiah: "Unless you believe, you shall not understand." B And because these things are contrary to the Alcoran, which they most firmly assume to be the word of God, they do not accept them for that reason, but deride them. For it is said in the Proverbs: "A foolish man does not accept the words of wisdom, unless you tell him what is pleasing to him." Hence, one ought not to propose divine things to them immediately from the beginning, nor to cast pearls before swine; but we must endeavor in the first place to show that their law is vain. For one ought not to graft virtues unless the passions are first uprooted. And it is necessary in all things to choose the short way. It is easier, however, to show their faith to be false than to demonstrate ours to be true. For faith, since it is of things not seen, is a gift of God. Whence our faith, being very true according to the commandments, does not appear so to more carnal men; while theirs, appearing only, does not seem to be such from the reality of things. C But even if we do not possess demonstrations demonstrating what belongs to the Trinity and other things that pertain to faith (for then faith would not be worthy of reward), we nevertheless have evangelical authority, to which the Alcoran itself bears witness; and furthermore, miracles, whereas they have neither authorities nor miracles. For even if the Alcoran says concerning God: "Do not say there are three gods," and immediately assigns the reason, saying that God is one; yet we do not say the contrary to this, but we simultaneously affirm these things, in which they say that God is one, whom we say is not only one, but also most simple. Nor do we give Him any companion or participant, as they do—the soul of the world, or the Word, or the Spirit, or some divine intellect as a servant—according to the things said to us above. D Moreover, one ought not to compare the divine majesty to the human intellect.
A nor to think that it does not exist, because they are unable to understand the distinction of persons without also distinguishing the essence. But not even in this do they possess such strong arguments against this point that we could not easily refute them. This, therefore, is sufficient for the defense of the faith. But that which one ought rather to demand of them is this: What does the Alcoran mean among them, when it so often introduces God speaking of Himself in the plural, even though He is simple and one? This, then, must be demanded of them, so that they may be forced to acknowledge a number in the persons.
Regarding the mystery of the incarnation, which they themselves deny entirely, but which we believe B by following evangelical sayings, one must ask them from whence they know that it is impossible for God to have become incarnate. For either it is because He could not—and this is false, for being omnipotent, He can do all things in which there is no contradiction—or because He did not know how to do this, and thus it is as the former; or because He did not wish to. And who was His counselor? Or, on the other hand, He could indeed—just as He could have made the sun smaller than it now is, or larger, yet He did not—but then one must ask them to provide a demonstration of this, that He did not do it. But to demonstrate this to them is impossible, because, clearly, He has become incarnate.
Regarding the divinity of Christ, Mahomet indeed uses as a demonstration the fact that not even Christ called Himself God. But even if before the resurrection He did not say this of Himself openly, C He nevertheless sufficiently hinted at it, saying: "I am the beginning, who also speak to you" (John viii, 25). And He commended Peter because he said this openly, saying: "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona, for flesh and blood has not revealed it to you, but my Father" (Matt. xvi, 17), and the rest. But He Himself did not wish to say this openly, because He came secretly, so that He might overcome by wisdom and humility, and not by force, him who overcame man by craftiness. For this reason, therefore, before the resurrection, Christ did not say openly of Himself, "I am God"—by which logic, neither does a fisherman reveal to the fish that under the food is the bait, and under the bait is the hook.
But after the resurrection, He manifested this clearly, giving the Holy Spirit and the authority to forgive D sins; whence He said: "Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose you shall retain, they are retained" (John xx, 22, 23). And Thomas also openly confessed this, saying: "My Lord and my God" (John xx, 28). Granted, however, that this was not said by Christ, because He utters humble words but shows forth magnificent works, it is sufficient that His disciples openly say this; those who said this performed the same signs as Christ. But since the Saracens deny both the miracles and the sayings of the apostles, for the reason that they are contrary to the Alcoran, one must insist upon the refutation of such a perfidious law, that it is not the law of God, and that the Saracens ought to accept the evangelical testimonies,
A as well as those of the Old Testament. This is capable of being demonstrated by the Alcoran itself, so that Ogoliath might be slain by his own sword.
III. That this law is not the law of God, because neither the Old nor the New Testament bears witness to it; and that the Saracens are under every necessity to obey the texts of the Old Testament and the Gospel.
Thirdly, one must know that the Alcoran is not the law of God. For neither the Old Testament nor the Gospel bears witness to it; yet the Alcoran itself bears witness to both of these, that they are truly the laws of God. But Mahomet alone constitutes himself and bears witness concerning himself. For the law of God is as it were a continuous chain, forged by the same craftsman, and each of the rings holds to the next, B and each of the prophets prophesies about the others and makes mention of them; and all prophesied of Christ. If, therefore, the law of the Saracens were the law of God, and the calling into this law were not a perversion but a conversion, as they themselves say, how is it that it so escaped the other prophets, such that no one said anything about it? For we find nothing—neither in Moses, nor in any other of the prophets, nor in Christ Himself—that says anything about Mahomet or the law according to him, except when He spoke of the need to beware of false prophets. And Christ also said that the Law and the prophets were until John, C so that the world might know that no prophet would come after that time, prophesying of someone who was about to come, upon whom all must set their hope. But Mahomet claimed that he was a universal prophet. We, however, do not know if he is a prophet at all; we do know, however, that there has never been such a seducer in the world as, in such a short time, to have made so many men and peoples his followers. To this, the Saracens answer, saying that Moses and the other prophets prophesied about Mahomet, and that Christ prophesied about him so much more clearly that He even stated his name. Whence He said to the children of Israel: "I announce to you the apostle of D God, who will come after me, and his name is Mahomet." But they claim that the Jews corrupted the law of Moses and the prophets, and that the Christians corrupted the Gospel, so that no remnant of the truth in the Law and the Gospels remained, except for what is in the Alcoran. I shall demonstrate that this is untenable, and first by the Alcoran itself. For it is said in the chapter concerning Jonah: "If you are in doubt concerning those things which we have revealed to you, ask those who read the book before you." Now those who read the book before the Saracens are the Christians and the Jews, who received the Pentateuch and the Gospel, as Mahomet himself admits. He therefore tells the Saracens to inquire of the Christians and Jews concerning ambiguous matters. How, then, does he again refer us
A to false testimonies, if indeed he were a true prophet, as they say? It was not, therefore, during the time of Mahomet that the books of the Christians and Jews were corrupted. But it is not possible to say even this, that they suffered corruption after those times. For it is said in the chapter *Elagar*, which means "the stone": "We (says the voice of God) have sent down the admonitions of God, and we ourselves will preserve them." By "admonitions" they mean, among them, the Gospel and the Law of Moses. Therefore, God has preserved the testimony of His own Scripture among the faithful both before Mahomet and will preserve it after him. Furthermore, in the chapter B *Elmaida*, which means "the table," it is said that Judge Empazoene said to Mahomet, when the Jews sought justice and judgment from him: "If they come to you, judge between them justly; for God loves those who do justice." Now how could these people seek justice from you, when they possess the Old Testament, in which is the justice of God? Furthermore, such a corruption and change of the Scriptures could not be universal and public; for then the other nations would have known of it. Nor could it be partial and secret; for then some of the books would have been left intact and without corruption. But in every language and province, the Law and the Gospel are found written in the same way. Moreover, the four Gospels were not published at the same time, nor in the same place, nor in the same C language, nor by the same author; but Matthew wrote in Hebrew in Judea, John in Greek in Asia, and similarly Luke in Achaia, and Mark in Latin in Italy. The translation of these into Latin was made by Jerome and others before the times of Mahomet, and the copies have remained in all dialects. It was not, therefore, possible for them to have been so debased by some corruptors as to be rendered unknown. Furthermore, there is nothing in the faith so necessary and great as the incarnation of the Word of God, that is, that that man is God. Regarding this, it was most difficult to persuade the world. For this reason, both the Romans and other impious people persecuted the Christians D continuously for three hundred years, and refused to accept the Gospel and the faith, because it was said that that man was God. Not that they had not beforehand accepted many men and women as gods and goddesses, but because Christ was called God without the permission of the Romans, which they—
A prohibited, so that no one might be called God, except by the votes of the senate; and because they did not accept this God as a sharer. For if they had accepted Him, they would have been compelled to abandon the other gods, which was something contrary to the customs of the provinces and the Roman laws. How, therefore, would the Christians be willing—and to their own detriment, to the ruin of the faith, and to the provocation of the Roman rulers themselves—to add to the Gospels a matter so great and incredible? For everyone knew this law to be most holy and most blessed, apart from this point that transcends all reason, I mean the fact that that human being was God. If, therefore, the Christians had needed to change anything in the Gospel, they would have changed it from the start and removed whatever was incredible, and they would have added things more believable, rather than the contrary. Furthermore, how could the Christians have been able to align themselves with the Jews, from whom they were separated by an ancient enmity, by corrupting the Scriptures and especially by adding that in which they in no way agree? For not even the Jews say that Christ is God, or a good man. Hence, insofar as this is concerned, the Christians agree more with the Saracens, who say that Christ is at least a most holy man. Furthermore, before the coming of Mahomet, the Christians, and especially those in the East, were divided into various sects, namely that of the Nestorians and the Jacobites. The Nestorians, however, agree most with the Saracens. For this reason, Mahomet specifically orders them to be honored. How, therefore, could the Jacobites have joined with the Nestorians for the corruption of the Gospel, they who were divided by such hatred for one another that they even killed each other? But nevertheless, I myself have found and read the Gospel among both, and it is the same as that which is among us in all respects. Furthermore, for what reason would the Christians have removed the name of Mahomet from the Gospels, when he so greatly praises Christ, and His mother, and the Gospel? Wherefore he says in the Alcoran that there is righteousness and perfection in the Gospel of Christ. But would they not have removed from there even more the name of the devil, or of Pilate, who scourged Christ, and no less also that of Judas, who betrayed Him? Further, how is it reasonable that the Christians added to the Gospel that Christ was both crucified and dead, when it seems more honorable to men not to have been crucified at all? And this is entirely inconsistent with His being God, as is said in the Gospel. What logical consistency can those two things, so distinct from one another, have in their own dogmas, to have supposed, namely, that the same being is both true God and truly dead? C Furthermore, supposing that the Christians had added this in all their books: who indeed could persuade all men of this, and fix it in their hearts? And yet the entire world has been persuaded, so much so that princes, tyrants, and philosophers have accepted this from unlearned and poor men. Wherefore D also, a Christian caliph died in Babylon, and a cross was found upon his neck, to testify that he, the prince of the Saracens himself, died a Christian. Whence it is also shown that this caliph was buried in a proper way, apart from the place where it was the custom to bury others. And this tomb I myself have seen at Babylon. It is fitting, therefore, in all ways, both by the testimony of the Alcoran and by strong demonstrations and manifest signs, that the Gospel is uncorrupted and unchanged. Since, therefore, Mahomet praises the Gospel above other Scriptures, and after it the Old Testament, the Saracens could be fittingly compelled to accept the things said in the Gospels.
and also in the Old Testament. For in the Alcoran in the chapter called Elmaida, which is interpreted as "the table," it is said that the “people of the book” are nothing at all unless they fulfill the Gospel and the law. He calls the Saracens the “people of the book,” just as he says therein; hence he says, “Unless they fulfill the Gospel and the law.” Similarly, he mentions also that which has been revealed to you—that is, the Alcoran—which, as they themselves say, has been revealed to the Saracens alone. B It is necessary, therefore, that they also have the Gospel and the law, just as they have the Alcoran, and moreover that they keep them. That the Saracens are called the “people of the book” according to Mahomet’s intent is shown in many places in the Alcoran. For it is said to the Saracens in the chapter called Elnesa, which is interpreted as “women,” toward the end, that they should not be negligent in their own law. Whence it is written there: “O people of the book, do not be negligent in your law, and do not say anything about God except the truth.” All the things that are in that chapter show that the Saracens are called the “people of the book.” This is also shown explicitly in the chapter called Telem near the end of the book. If, however, they wish to contend and say that the Gospel and the old law are entirely corrupted, let them themselves demonstrate them to be integral and uncorrupted, and we will accept it; but especially let them demonstrate a single form in all languages, just as we have produced it for them. It is clear, therefore, that the Alcoran is not the law of God, because neither the old law nor the Gospel (which even Mahomet confesses to be divine laws) testify for it, but rather they oppose it. C
IV.
That the Alcoran is not the law of God, since it does not have a style and manner consistent with others.
Fourth, one must know that the Alcoran is not the law of God, because it does not have a style similar to the divine law. For its style is rhythmic or metrical, and in its discourses it is full of flattery, and in its content it is fabulous. That it is rhythmic in style throughout the book is evident to those who read it. I cannot, however, provide an example of this, because the rhythm or verse cannot truly and in all respects be preserved when it is translated into Latin. Now the Saracens and the Arabs pride themselves most on this, that the speech which is among them has the loftiness and rhythm of the law, and in this they claim it is most clearly shown that the book was composed by God D and was revealed to Mahomet word for word. For Mahomet, being a layman, did not know such a manner and style, but its opposite is clearly evident. For we see in the divine Scripture God speaking with Moses and with the other holy prophets
and never speaking in these rhythms or verses. Indeed, A Mahomet says that the Law of Moses and the Gospel are from God, and that God gave those books to Moses and to Christ. But those are not metric or rhythmic. And none of the other prophets who heard the divine voice have ever said that God spoke in meter—a thing which wise men and philosophers among men despise.
Whence some B even brought this against Mahomet, as is told in the chapter *Elempis*, which is translated as "prophets," saying to him: "You are rather a dreamer, you are rather a dancer," and they taunted him with other things of this sort, concluding that such a manner of speech is not only not from God, but is not even prophetic at all. Furthermore, this law is full of sycophancy in its words, and more so than anyone could believe or say. For sometimes throughout an entire chapter it weaves together nothing worthy of note, save only that God is great and exalted, and wise and good, and that all things which are in heaven and which are on earth and which are in between are His, and that He judges justly. And at every word it doubles back, saying: "Let Him be praised." It doubles this for no reason at all, a hundred times and more, and after this says: "There is no God except God, and believe in God and in His apostle," designating himself as the apostle of God. And he says that all these things were spoken directly from the very mouth of God, and that Mahomet would not have known how to say these things, but that this is the custom in God, to speak of Himself as if of another, saying that "God is great and exalted" and other such things; a repetition that is truly absurd.
C Note also this, that this law uses most shameful and thoroughly carnal names, such as those of coitus and luxury, as is the custom of those who are depressed to the earth. Concerning its speech and its content, it is now firm and manifest to all readers that it is fabulous. But even if it is such throughout, I will nevertheless set forth a few things in it that seem more worthy of note. For it is said in the chapter *Emele*, which is translated as "the fly," that Solomon gathered a great army of angels, and of men, and of irrational animals. Departing, they found as it were a certain river of flies, and then indeed he said to the flies: "O flies, do you go into your habitations, lest Solomon and his army destroy you." And the fly smiled. D And a little later all the birds were found in the army, but the fly was absent. And Solomon said: "What is this, that I do not see the fly? I will punish her and amputate her head, or she will render me a reason for why she is absent and far away." And she said: "I have learned what you do not know, and I have come to you from Sheba with true news. For I have found a woman ruling over them, and I have compelled her and her people to worship the sun instead of God," and the rest.
Likewise in the chapter *Camar*, which is translated as "the moon," it is said: "The hour has approached and the moon has been shattered." Which their masters who interpret these things say refers to Mahomet having stood with his companions. Seeing the moon approaching its conjunction, they said to
him: "Show us some prodigy." And then he, with his two fingers, that is, the thumb and the middle finger, motioned to the moon A. Upon this being done, the moon was divided into two parts, and one part fell upon Mount Elices, which overlooks the city of Mecca on one side; while the remaining part fell upon another mountain, called Ruber, situated on the other side of the city. Having been thus divided, the moon entered into Mahomet’s tunic, and he himself put it back together again.
Also, in the chapter of *Sevi*, he says that a worm signified the death of Solomon to the demons. There he says in the explanation that Solomon, as he leaned upon his own staff, was suddenly seized by such great pain that he died immediately; yet, by a divine miracle, he did not fall. The demons who served him, seeing him standing, believed him to be asleep. And a certain worm was born from the earth, and it gnawed through the staff upon which he was leaning. When it was broken, Solomon fell. And then the B demons, rushing forward, realized that he was dead, and from that time they began to harm men as much as they were able.
Item, in the chapter of *Narrationum*, Mahomet himself gives the reason why wine is forbidden. For he says that God sent two angels down to earth so that they might rule well and judge justly. Now these holy angels were Arot and Maroth. But a certain woman who had a lawsuit came, invited them to a banquet, and set before them wine, which God had commanded them not to drink. Having become intoxicated, however, they sought to have carnal relations with her. She consented, but made a pact regarding these things: namely, that one of them should make her ascend into heaven, and the other should cause her to descend. She even ascended into heaven. God, however, seeing this, and hearing of the justice she had possessed, made her into Lucifer, so that she might be in heaven among the stars, as beautiful C as she had been on earth among women. But since the choice was given to the sinning angels as to where they wished to be punished—that is, whether in the present time or in the future—and because they chose to be punished in the present, He made them hang by their feet by an iron chain in a pit in Babylon until the day of judgment. These things and others similar to them are contained in the aforementioned law, through which any wise man could discern the fabrication, and that it is in no way a divine law. For God is not accustomed to speak with men through such fables.
V. That the Koran is not the law of God, since it does not agree in its judgment with any other.
It is manifest from this also that the Koran is not the law of God, because it agrees neither with the law of God nor with the philosophers who have discoursed upon the virtues and the ultimate end that exists in men. For the philosophers supposed that human happiness itself consists in the intellectual part of the soul, and that the intellect is the highest power in man D
A and that happiness is the reward of virtue, and that virtue resides in great and difficult things, and other such matters, even if they could not perfectly perceive such things. But Christ shows these very same things in the Gospel, saying that the way that leads to life is narrow, and that those who come through it are few; but the way that leads to destruction is broad, and so on. In this, he agrees with the opinion of Aristotle, who says that it is difficult to act according to virtue, just as it is to hit the center of a circle—a thing which few accomplish. Moreover, Christ also places human happiness in the contemplation of God, saying, “This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God.” B Now these things themselves are most well known even from the Old Testament. For to Abraham the promises were given, to whom God uniquely promised to give himself in the land of promise, and the blessing of his offspring. And Moses, to whom God granted such wonderful graces, he who, while contemplating God in an underlying creature, realizing himself worthily, did not consider this sufficient for him, and persistently asked to see the face of God and his glory. But Mahomet concerned himself with virtues as if with nothing at all, but rather, choosing for himself and his own followers—the sons of perdition and death—the broad way, he Busied himself with wars and plunder. Whence it profits them nothing for salvation to say: “There is no God but God, and Mahomet is the apostle of God.” C Regarding the final end, he agrees with no one, except for certain ancients who lived the life of irrational creatures and did not distinguish between intellect and sense. Whence they also posit happiness in certain sensible things—namely, in feasting and intemperance, and in gardens and sumptuous garments. These things we shall examine afterwards in the sixth chapter. And it is not possible for these things to be spoken of by them according to a certain similitude, just as in the Gospel there is mention of a table and food and such things in eternal life. But these things are shown in the Gospel to be spoken of according to a certain similitude, since many things are also said there openly concerning eternal happiness. But in the Alcoran, nothing at all is said manifestly concerning true happiness, but rather it is as one might expect from a man who understands nothing of this, but only depicts such happiness according to the letter, such as it is fitting for a carnal and intemperate man to desire. But even if he neither contemplated nor promised to men anything concerning true happiness, D he did, nevertheless, declare certain true and notable things concerning the final end of the Saracens, as if inspired by a divine Spirit. For Mahomet himself says to the Saracens: “You shall be divided after me into seventy-three parts, of which one will be saved, but all the rest will be destroyed by fire.” This sentence holds such power among them that neither the wise man nor the fool disregards it. Another similar sentence of his is in the Alcoran, in the chapter of Mary, which says that all the Saracens will go into hell.
I believe this verdict to be most true, even if it has been uttered by his mouth with an excess of lying. In this, the false prophet agrees with the Primal Truth, who says, "Wide is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat A." It is therefore manifest from what has been said that the law of the Saracens is wide, and that many Saracens are those who enter through it and go down into hell. And this is evident not only from the mouth of the Truth, but also from the mouth of the prophet who is among them. Furthermore, the Alcoran does not agree with the law of God, either in its commandments or in what it forbids. For the law of God forbids murder, robbery, and every lust, whereas the Alcoran either commands these things to be done or permits them. Furthermore, it does not agree in judicial matters. For the law of Moses and the Gospel say that no one should be condemned by the testimony of one person, but that in the mouth of two or three witnesses the whole word shall stand. Contrarieties to these are found, however, in the chapter Elmir, which is translated "Light," where it is forbidden to compel them to abandon their chastity, yet it says one may sleep securely with those who consent. The same is manifest in the chapter Elminim, where he permits one to have intercourse with his own wives and with those whom one might capture in war. It is manifest, therefore, that the law of the Alcoran is not the law of God, nor is it from God, unless perhaps by way of permission, as with other evils. For it differs from that [divine law] even in its intention, for God desires the salvation of men.
VI. That the Alcoran is not the law of God, because it contradicts itself in many things.
C Sixthly, one must consider that the law of the Alcoran not only departs from the divine law, but does not even agree with itself. And that it is evil, Mahomet himself declares. For he says in the chapter Elnesa, which is translated "Women": "If this Alcoran were not from God, many contrarieties and contradictions would be found in it." But indeed, many contrarieties and contradictions are found in it. For in many places he himself says that God does not guide the one who is wandering, and yet he himself teaches [men] to pray that they may be led from darkness into light and from crookedness into straightness. Furthermore, he says of himself that he was orphaned in error; for it was idolatry. And yet he himself says that God D made him such a prophet, because when God called him, he ascended to God as far as the seventh heaven, and he asked for pardon from a certain angel, who was a thousand times larger than the world, whom he found mourning his own sins. Furthermore, he says that he is a universal prophet, but yet he says that the Alcoran was given by God in Arabic letters, and that he knew no other language except the Arabic.
A Likewise, he says in the chapter Inpacara, which is interpreted as "Heifer," that the Jews, the Christians, and the Sabaeans will be saved. And in the chapter Abraham, he says after this that no one will be saved except those who are in the law of the Saracens. And he himself commands them not to dispute with harsh words with men of another sect, but with mild words; for it does not belong to man to lead them, but to God alone, and each one will give an account for himself alone, not for another. After this, however, he himself in many places orders that all those who do not believe should be killed and despoiled until they believe or pay tribute. Likewise, he says in the chapter Comem: "Of those who acknowledge another god besides God, you are not their guardian or overseer, but God has reserved this for Himself alone." This, however, is a contradiction worthy of note: on the one hand, to command so often that unbelievers be killed; on the other hand, again to command that no one should be the punisher of such a great crime, but that the punishment for these things is reserved for God alone. B Likewise, he himself in the chapter Elleminit, at the end, boasts that he is not of those who compel belief. But how is this true, when he himself commands that those who do not believe be killed and despoiled? For what greater compulsion is there than slaughter? Likewise, in the chapter of the Cow, he permits that which is against nature, to be mingled with males and women. For he says to the Saracens not to defile themselves with unbelievers before they believe. And concerning women he says: "Your women are your land; till them, as you wish." But yet, in the same chapter, he previously said that the Sodomites in the time of Lot committed an abominable sin, and one unnatural to peoples who were before. Likewise, he says regarding Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and his sons, that they were Saracens. But yet he himself says that it was revealed to him by God that he, namely, was the first Saracen in this faith. How, therefore, were they Saracens if Mahomet was the first of all the Saracens? C Likewise, it is not necessary that there be any Saracens before the law of the Saracens was promulgated; the law of the Saracens, however, is the Alcoran, which exists now, and was given after the law of Moses and the Gospel, as is contained in the Alcoran itself; indeed, it is a little more than seven hundred years since Mahomet lived. For he began in the year five hundred and ninety-eight from the nativity of our Lord; but Noah and Abraham and Isaac and Jacob were before the Gospel and Moses. If, however, he says they were Saracens because they foreknew what the laws were, then they could also have been all things whatsoever they had foreknown, since they were prophets. But if they say that the Alcoran was pleasing to them, this also is impossible. For in many things which have been decreed by the Alcoran, they did the opposite. Likewise, he says that he forbids auguries; and yet he says after this in the chapter Elaphar: "Take auguries, if you can do no otherwise, by the cleft of the finger, and he who does not do this, let him be anathema." Likewise, he himself says that he was sent to the Arabians on the grounds that they did not have any apostle from God. And the Alcoran says it is in only the language...
Arab, because they have no apostle from God. He also says that the Alcoran was given in the Arabic language alone; and he says that he himself knows no language other than Arabic. Hence, when a certain Jacobite, Mapyra, and Salonus the Persian, and Abdala from Persia, and he himself, and Selam the Jew, had attached themselves to Mahomet, and some were saying that he was being instructed by them, he fell upon his face, and his hands and feet were drawn together, and his companions covered him with their garments. And finally, recovering himself, he said: "God has sent me to rebuke you for the word you have spoken, as if such men as these were instructing me." And he read to them a passage which is at the end of the lesson of Elnael, which is interpreted as "the palm," saying thus: "We know that they will say that a man is teaching him," but the language in which they converse with him is Persian, whereas this Arabic is plain. B And from this he says: "How is it possible for those men to teach me, of whom one is a Persian, and the others are Hebrews?" When they said to him that it was possible to speak with you in their own language and explain it to you, and for you to compose everything in your own language, he found no answer to this. But if he could not be instructed by a Hebrew and a Persian, who are near, how could he instruct those further removed from his language? Yet after this he says that he himself was sent to all the nations. Hence in the chapter of the prophets he tells of God saying to him: "We have sent you to all the nations." But how could he have come to all nations, which are divided into seventy languages, when he did not know how to open his own word in any language other than Arabic? It is manifest, therefore, that it is a contradiction and an obvious lie that the same person was sent only to the Arabs, and to all the nations. It is not, therefore, the law of God, in which so many contradictions are to be found. D
VII. That the law of the Saracens is confirmed by no miracle.
It is seventhly to be considered that neither is the Alcoran the law of God, which is confirmed by miracles, nor is Mahomet the apostle of God; for no miracle bears witness to this. For when God sent Moses to Pharaoh, He showed great prodigies. Similarly, also, Elias and Eliseus and the other prophets performed great and unheard-of miracles, and especially those who were introducing something new into life. But Christ came specifically in the greatest miracles and signs, as even Mahomet himself says in the Alcoran. But if the Saracens say that Mahomet performed many and great miracles, such as putting the divided moon back together, and that a spring of water flowed from his fingers, this is a fable and contrary to the Alcoran itself. For Mahomet forbids believing anything of the sort about him except what is written in the Alcoran. Of all the prophets, he says, many have lied many things, so that some might not think this of me, let that alone be believed as true of me which is supported by the authority of the Alcoran. For he, when he did not
having performed no miracles, and wishing to show this, introduces God talking and saying: "The Lord said to me, 'For this reason I do not allow you to perform miracles, lest that which happened to other prophets happen to you because of the miracles.'" Thus, by his own testimony, he is convicted of having performed no sign. For Mahomet himself in the Alcoran says continually that when men said to him, "Show a sign, just as Moses and Christ and the other prophets performed," he replied that Moses came with signs, as did the other messengers of God, and especially Christ, who came amid very great prodigies, and yet the world did not believe those things, but called them poisoners and sorcerers. "For this reason," he says, "God did not permit me to perform miracles, for they would not have believed; but I came in the power of arms." B But this is shown most clearly to be a lie. For how would they not have believed this man if he had performed miracles, when they believed him without miracles, merely when he ordered them to kill and plunder, and to corrupt very many women, and to gouge out a tooth for a tooth and an eye for an eye? For those who live in the world are inclined toward such things, so that they can hardly be restrained by many judges and torturers and punishments. And the power of arms, which he introduces instead of a miracle, is a manifest lie. For he was not always victorious, as were Moses and Joshua son of Nun, and Elias, whom the angel of the Lord always protected and made victorious. But Mahomet sometimes conquered and sometimes was conquered, just like other tyrants; for his teeth were crushed in battle, and his face was bruised. C From which it is evident that what is asserted by them as a sign is not a miracle, namely, that a great part of the world suddenly adhered to him. For he established such a law and gave such commands, for which men without laws are inclined, as is manifest in the foregoing. "For the Lord commanded me," he said, "to conquer the nations with the sword until they confess that there is no God but God, and that I am the apostle of God." Those who confessed this preserved their silver and their blood. Hence the Saracens are also said to be "saved." For those who accepted Mahomet's commands were kept safe by him and by those who were under him; and they neither killed them nor despoiled them. D Whence the Saracens are not called Saracens, but Meselamin, which is interpreted as "the saved," and they mock the Christians, who say that they themselves are "saved." But since many accepted such salvation from Mahomet for the aforementioned reason, he commanded after these things that it be preached that whoever says "There is no God but God" shall enter paradise, even if he is an adulterer or a thief. Moreover, there came to him a certain man who was called Evordi, asking him if this was true. He answered, "Yes." And he added to the aforesaid: "Even if he drinks wine, or if he kills." And he added: "Even if he has mutilated the nose." To confirm all these things, he showed no sign, but bared his sword. Likewise, it is contained more clearly in the chapter of the prophets. For it is read there thus: "I have said regarding [...]
B Mahomet—that is, you have heard dreams, you have composed blasphemies, or perhaps you are reciting rhapsodies. Come to us with at least one miracle, in the way that those who were sent before were sent." He replied: "We have overthrown (said God) the cities before those who did not believe, and after these things those who were before you did not believe; but not even you would have believed, were it not for the sword." Yet he insisted firmly that Gabriel was sent to him by God, leading to him a certain animal, larger than an ass but smaller than a mule; the name of the animal was Elmaparac. The animal spoke, and in one hour would walk a path of fifty thousand years; and this he did in the night. And some other trivialities, concerning which it will be spoken after these things in the tenth chapter.
But the Christian faith, enjoining great things, is entirely founded upon manifest and useful miracles, which not only Christ performed, but also the apostles after him, and furthermore the teachers who expounded the Gospel and the Scriptures of the apostles; and even until present times miracles endure, with demons being driven out, the infirm being healed, and the dead being raised. These are the miracles that Christians have performed and still perform, saying that the crucified Christ is the true and only God. If the Saracens say they do not believe this, as if these things were not done, I will show them a greater miracle. For it is manifest that before Christ, almost the whole world rendered honor to idols, especially the Romans, who held the monarchy of the world; C but they received the faith of the Christians, and not only believed that the crucified Christ was the true God, but also spat upon all the other gods, who for so long a time had given them oracles through the idols. No heavy burden did they impose upon them of the Christian faith, though it had imposed such strange and difficult things upon the world, such as to despise the world, to despise one’s self, to love one’s enemies, to pray for those who persecute, to do good to those doing evil, not to seize the things of others, to give away one's own. All these things the whole world received, abandoning its former order; either, therefore, it was persuaded by sufficient miracles, or without miracles. But it is a greater miracle that even without miracles it was possible for this to come to pass through simple and unlearned men. And this the Christians did, not by killing others, but by patiently sustaining the death brought upon them by others. It is manifest, therefore, by all means that the Christian faith is founded upon stupendous miracles; but that the faith of Mahomet is supported by no miracle. For it was of such a kind that it did not even require a miracle, especially being addressed to carnal and worldly men. But those among them who are more prudent, and who have experience in letters, and men who lay claim to virtue, grant no faith to this. D
VIII. That the law of Mahomet is irrational.
Eighth, it should be considered that even without any miracle, it would be possible for Mahomet's law to be
A accepted and confirmed by the world as the word of God, if it had contained anything reasonable within itself, and with respect to him who gave the law, and in itself, and in its works, and in its end. First, therefore, it is manifest that it is irrational by reason of the lawgiver. For it is altogether irrational that such a holy law, as they claim it to be—to the extent that they even call the Koran the word of God—should have been given by such an unholy man, a plunderer, an adulterer, a murderer, and one subject to other sins, all of which are manifest to those who know his life. But the Saracens defend themselves against this by saying that even David fell into both adultery and murder, and that Moses was a murderer; yet both of these were legitimate prophets of God. So, they argue, it is possible to say the same regarding Mahomet, that he was a true prophet of God, even if he had been at some time in sin. But this has no force. For David and Moses corrected the sin itself by repentance, and this is to be found. B For David confessed his own sin and severely punished himself, for which reason he was deemed worthy of pardon. Whence, after he said, "I have sinned," Nathan said to him from the mouth of God, "The Lord has taken away your sin." But regarding Mahomet, it is not found at all that he either confessed his own sin or repented; rather, he added blasphemy to his sin, confirming it with an iniquitous law. For, as is known to all Saracens, Mahomet was perhaps captivated by the love of a certain woman named Mary, who was called a Jacobite, whom the king of the Jacobites, Machobaeus, had gifted to him. C When two of Mahomet's wives—one of whom was called Aiese, daughter of Empipe-cer, the most noble of the others, and the other Aasa, daughter of Omar—were moved by jealousy toward Mary, one day, coming to him, they found him sleeping with Mary and said: "Is this how a prophet ought to act?" He, having been put to shame, swore that he would never know Mary thenceforth. And they were appeased by this oath. However, a short time after, he could not restrain himself. Wherefore, he brought in a law as if from the mouth of God, who revealed it to him, and he inserted a sentence in the Koran in the chapter called *Elmetearem*, which is interpreted as "calling" or "anathema," where he says: "O prophet, why do you forbid what D God has granted to you? You seek to please your wives; already God has established a law for you, that it may be lawful for you to dissolve your oaths." Thus, having perjured himself, he knew her again, saying that God had dissolved the oath for him, with Michael and Gabriel witnessing to this. And one of his wives said to him: "O Mahomet, God is very zealous for your lust." By this she intended to say: "Perhaps God, being jealous for you, has joined himself with you in an unholy work." And she added: "Did God himself command you to do this, since you testify to this by your own mouth? Perhaps God seeks to gratify you by this, and to draw near to you." But he himself read to the two wives everything that follows in the chapter of the *Veiling*, and said as if from the person of God: "Repent before God, because
A your hearts have turned aside," speaking of the accusation for which they accused him regarding the unlawful marriage. It follows next: "If he casts you off, he will give him in your stead better than you, Saracen women, B faithful, wealthy, penitent, praying, nimble, and virgins." Hearing this, they said: "We repent." He acted similarly when he took the wife of Zeith, his foster son. Upon this, he gave a judgment in the chapter of *Elazeb*, that God has said to him: "You are jealous in your mind because God is revealing, and you fear human beings, but it is just rather to fear God." For when Zeith had despised her, "We have given her to you, O Mahomet." And Zeith said to him, "Did you not take her, apostle of God?" And he answered: "Woe to you, God has given her to me." Who, after this, broadcast this about himself, saying that God gave her to the prophet. Behold, how he hid a lesser sin through a greater one! For Mahomet himself says: "There is no greater sin than to impute a lie to God." Likewise, there is no sin so intolerable C among the prophets as to be at once in intemperance and impurity, since the Holy Spirit does not touch prophetic hearts in venereal acts, as Jerome says; and the philosopher too says that in such actions it is impossible for a man to contemplate. It is therefore entirely irrational for the minister and prophet of so salutary a law (as they say) to be a most carnal and unclean man, in which he himself boasts about himself, claiming to have such power and abundance of intemperance in his actions, as much as in forty men, even if God deprived him of the offspring of others; for he is said to have had only one daughter. For this law is irrational because of the legislator, both because he is wicked and carnal, and because he is ignorant and uncertain; just as he testifies about himself in the Alcoran, that he does not know what will be for him or for the Saracens; and that he is ignorant whether he himself, or they, are on the path of salvation, or not.
But neither is this law in itself according to reason, D as it has most shameful names, and in which it is just to be veiled, and which are most fitting to carnal passions; for in most places they use this most shameful word, *coeo*, which no other law does: a word which comedians themselves scarcely use—poets whose subject matter is carnal and shameful, and even they use it rarely; just as Aratus (a) impudently said: "I did not fear coitus." But he himself also says openly: "There is no man in the world who can understand the Alcoran." And how did God command this to be kept, if he did not grant that it be understood? But one must know that in the Gospel there is nothing which we are not able also to understand, aided by the light of faith. But neither is it according to reason on account of the doctrines contained in it. For he says in many places that God commanded the angels to adore Adam; and that those who were unwilling became demons, but those who adored remained angels. And how could God have commanded idolatry, and have attributed to the angels the honor which is owed only to God?
A Furthermore, this doctrine is also irrational in its discourse. For in that law, the thing most necessary—as they themselves say—is that it be proclaimed everywhere that there is no god except God, and that Mahomet is the apostle of God; and they add that God is great. But what kind of proclamation is this? For no one who uses reason could say that God is small. Furthermore, the proposition which says "There is no god except God" is true in itself, and is contradicted by no one, whether there be one God or many. Such a tautology is most true in all cases; for an angel is nothing but an angel, and a man is nothing but a man, and a donkey is nothing but a donkey; for an ox and a dog is not a donkey. But the statement "Mahomet is the apostle of God" is very ambiguous. What then is the reason for the connection of these two propositions, one being known by itself, and the other being unknown by itself? Or what virtue or what profit is there in confessing such things, such that it is necessary, and that he who confesses this is necessarily saved? B Furthermore, Mahomet says in the aforementioned law that all men were once one, and of one sect and one religion, but that God made them diverse by sending different prophets. But this cannot even appear to be true as far as it goes. For God, who is most one and who most loves unity and the salvation of men, would not have divided men into different sects and errors and perditions. But this has happened through the envy of the demon and the wickedness of men, though by the permission of God, who allows those who do not wish to believe in the truth to fall into diverse errors. Likewise, Mahomet in the aforementioned law commands, as if from the mouth of God, that infidels—that is, those who are not Saracens—be put to death. He also says of them that they are unable to think rightly, since they are not led by God; yet God does not lead them. But it is incongruous that they should be put to death because they cannot; and as for those who can, it is not fitting to compel them, because forced service does not please God. C But to be killed if they do not believe, or in some other way to be driven to believe, is judged even by Mahomet himself, who commands these things, to be incongruous and irrational. For he says in the chapter of Jonah: "If God had willed, all who are on the earth would already have believed." And do you force men to believe? And can no one be a believer unless this is granted to him by God? But we shall explain this more fully in what follows, in the ninth chapter. D This law is irrational also for the sake of the things it treats. For it makes a specific chapter about an ant, and another about a spider, and another about smoke; but for whose sake did God command such things concerning the ant and the smoke? Likewise, it says that God could never pardon one who shows his back to enemies, and the rest. But what sin is it for a man to flee in battle, seeing himself in danger? But Mahomet wished to make them either warlike or bold. Furthermore, the law which commands concerning washing is entirely irrational. For it commands that when they wish to pray, they must wash their hands...
and the face, and the posterior, and the genitals, and the soles of the feet, and the arms up to the elbow. And if they do not find water, they must dip their hands into dust, and after this, rubbing their dust-covered hands over the face, A sufficiently cover their own face with dust. But if washing is reasonable, it would have been more reasonable to wash the heart according to the fourth chapter of Jeremiah: “Wash thy heart from wickedness.” And what reason can there be for ordering dust to be put upon the face? Rather, just as washing is reasonable, so too is being covered in dust and disgrace absurd and irrational.
Most irrational of all seems to be this law concerning divorce. For a Saracen can cast out his own wife, and again be reconciled to her as often as it pleases or displeases him; provided, however, that after the third expulsion he cannot take her back B unless another man has carnally known her while she was not menstruating. And if he has known her with a not sufficiently extended testicle, it is necessary to go further and know her with a sufficiently extended member. Hence, when they wish to be reconciled to their own wives, they give a price to some blind man or other vile person, who is to be with such a wife, and after this will testify publicly and say that he wishes to repudiate her. Which having been done, the first man is able to reconcile her to himself. Sometimes, however, the second men please the wives so much that they say they cannot be separated from them; and then the first man, having lost both the price and the wife, falls from his own hope. The law of such men is suitable not so much for humans as for animals deprived of reason; nor is it suitable to God, who governs all things wisely. C
Furthermore, this law is most irrational according to the end and the rewards that it promises. For it says throughout the Alcoran that the blessedness of the Saracens is to possess irrigated gardens, and many young women and concubines, modest and beautiful, clad in purple garments, and golden and silver cups running along the tables, and most delicious foods. These things he enumerates especially in the chapter Elragman, which is interpreted as "the merciful." And in the book of the *Doctrine of Mahomet*, which is a book of great authority among them, he sets forth the order of the foods. And he says that the first course of those things to be set D there is the liver of the *almpeput* fish, a most delicious food, and after this, in succession, the fruits of trees. And proceeding in the same chapter, when some asked him if they also engage in lust there, he answered: "There would be no blessedness if some pleasure were not present there." Truly, therefore, all things would be in vain if pleasure according to lust did not follow. In this, however, is the whole intention of the Alcoran and of the entire Saracen sect, to constitute blessedness mainly in lust and the belly. And these do not follow according to any likeness
A or example, as the Sacred Scripture does in its mention of food and table in the blessed life. For of true blessedness—such as the contemplation of God, or human perfection according to the soul—Mahomet makes no mention at all, because he neither desires nor grasps it. For he promised only those things he himself desired. In this, he openly shows himself to be the adversary of Christ, of all the prophets and philosophers, and of all who use reason; for all these agree in common that the ultimate blessedness of man consists in the knowledge of God. As it is in the Gospel according to John: "This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God." B And Aristotle also says in the fourth book of the *Ethics*, and in the twelfth of the *Metaphysics*, that life according to the intellect is the best. Therefore, life concerned with the belly and with sexual pleasures is the worst, as it becomes an impediment to the goodness of the intellect. But since the Saracens accept neither the utterances of Holy Scripture nor those of the philosophers, for the reasons mentioned in the first chapter, we must now return to a certain line of reasoning which even they, irrational as they are, cannot entirely deny.
Let there be, therefore, a rational authority, without which no authority is valid, and let it be demonstrated that human happiness lies neither in the belly C nor in the works of intemperance, and that these will not be present there. For it is agreed that we take food for this purpose: that the corruption which might occur from the consumption of natural moisture may be avoided, and that growth may result. But these two things will not be there; for all will rise again in a proportionate quantity, and henceforth they will not be able to die, or to fail in any other way, just as Mahomet himself says in his doctrine: "God will put death to death, and after this they shall rise again immortal and whole." Therefore, the consumption of food is by no means necessary. Similarly, neither is the use of venereal things necessary, D since even now it is not necessary except to preserve by species that which cannot be preserved in the individual. Furthermore, men who rise again will either live forever or will be always nourished. And if they are always nourished, it follows that their bodies will either grow to infinity, or there will be excretions and other filthinesses there also, in such a way that as much will be resolved as is converted into food; both of which are absurd. To this, Mahomet responds in the book of his own doctrine, saying: "There will be no excretion of filth there, but a purification through sweat." And he brings forward the example of the child existing in the mother's womb, who is nourished (as he says) and does not excrete. But neither the example nor the argument of this man is sufficient, if one looks diligently at the solution. For there are some things pertaining to perfection in the imperfect, which, in a perfect thing, would be great imperfections. Also, if the use of venereal things is there, unless it were in vain, it would follow that
generation will be as it is even now. Many, therefore, will be born after the resurrection who did not exist before the resurrection. In vain, therefore, is the resurrection of the dead prolonged to such an extent, that all who possess the same nature might receive life at once. A Furthermore, if beatitude consists in lechery and in having many wives, those who will be born after the resurrection will not be able to be blessed unless they take many wives. They will not, however, be able to take them, being neither fortunate nor unfortunate; it will be necessary, therefore, to wait until more others are born. And thus it will be necessary for many women to be born, but few men; and so, in a short time, there will be the rule of women. Furthermore, if after the resurrection there is to be a generation of men, those who are born will either suffer corruption again, or they will be incorruptible and immortal. If they do not suffer corruption, many absurdities will follow: first, that there will be an infinite multiplication; and second, that while their generation is similar, the limit of their generation will not be similar. B Men, after all, through the generation which is from seed, now indeed have a corruptible life, but then they would have an incorruptible one. And besides these things: it is necessary that everything generated be corruptible, because generation and corruption are opposites, and pertain to the same thing. But if the men who are then born are to be corruptible, and will die, if they do not rise again, it follows that their souls will always remain separated from their bodies, which is absurd, since they are of the same species as the souls of those who have risen. But if those, too, are to rise, the resurrection of those others would also have to await yet more people, so that the gift of resurrection might be bestowed simultaneously upon all who share the same nature. C Furthermore, Mahomet himself posits only one day of resurrection, that is, at the end of the world, on the day of judgment; but concerning the resurrection of those others, or their birth, he makes no mention at all. Furthermore, there seems to be no reason why some should have to wait to rise together, if it is not required that all wait. But if anyone says that in those who rise there will indeed be use of food and of venereal things, yet not for the sake of the preservation or growth of the body, nor for the growth or persistence of the human species, but solely for the sake of the pleasure which accompanies such actions, so that no pleasure might be lacking to men in the final retribution of rewards, just as Mahomet plainly says in his book of doctrine: it is clear, therefore, that this is said in many ways inconsistently. D First, because the life of those who rise would be more orderly than this life which is present. In this life, however, it seems impossible and completely disorderly if someone should use food or venereal things for the sake of pleasure alone, and not for the necessity of preserving the body or procreating children. And this is reasonable. For pleasures in the aforementioned actions cannot be the ends of the actions. But, on the contrary, nature has rather ordained pleasures for this purpose in these actions, so that living beings might not shrink from these necessary works of nature because of the toil; which would happen if living beings
were not stimulated by pleasures. It is a A perverse and preposterous order, therefore, if these actions are performed solely for the sake of pleasure. B There is, then, by no means any use for such things among those who rise again, whose life is assumed to be most well-ordered; and much less will there be happiness in such things. Otherwise, what would prevent the remaining irrational animals, which share these actions with us, from being happy?
If, furthermore, man’s ultimate happiness consists in these acts, as Mahomet clearly seems to say, why is it necessary now to practice self-control regarding them, rather than eating and indulging in debauchery night and day, so that we may be happy here and now? But among all men, and even among the Saracens themselves, it is considered more honorable to abstain from these things. They do, moreover, have certain contemplative and self-controlled men, whom they praise most highly. But since it is foolish to converse very logically with a man entirely devoid of prudence, let it be permitted to join in the madness and say: If man’s ultimate happiness lies in such actions, what then will the separated soul do before the resurrection, which can neither eat nor indulge in debauchery? Nor, indeed, will the angels ever be able to be happy, being untasting of such pleasures.
If, furthermore, the ultimate happiness of men consists in having many wives and countless concubines, and younger ones at that, how could women be happy unless they had several husbands? But then, again, how is it possible for a man to be blessed whose wife has many other husbands? It is necessary, therefore, either for the woman to be happy and the man unhappy, or for the man to be happy and the women and their younger ones to be unhappy. How is it possible for anyone to be blessed whose entire household, which he loves, is wretched and unhappy? It is more reasonable, therefore, to say that both the men and the women are miserable and unhappy.
Let these things, spoken as it were by way of digression, suffice to demonstrate that the law is irrational according to the end and reward which it promises. It is irrational also according to many other things contained C within it, such as that which is frequently introduced, namely, that God swears by the faithful city, and by the fig-tree and the olive-tree: which is clearly apparent in the chapter of *Eltim*, which is interpreted as "fig." Men swear by their superiors, as by God or by the saints; but God, having no superior by whom He could swear, has been accustomed to swear by Himself, as He Himself swore to Abraham, as is recorded in the first book of Genesis. To swear by a fig-tree or an olive-tree, however, is vain and altogether irrational.
Furthermore, he himself forbids wine on account of the avoidance of drunkenness, as he says in several places. But since wine is not evil in itself, it would have been sufficient to avoid only the drunkenness. But he seems to suspect all Saracens, thinking that none of them is able to use wine even moderately or with temperance, D whence his discouragement arises out of necessity.
IX. That the law of the Saracens manifesty contains falsehoods.
Ninth, one must consider that this law is not the Law of God, since it contains manifest falsehoods. For God is the highest and primary Truth, from whom it is impossible for any lie to be spoken. In the Alcoran, in the chapter of Jonah, it says: "Who leads into the truth?" and answering, it says: "God directs the truth; and He who directs the truth is Truth, and it is fitting to imitate Him." And after this, it truly does not befit a divine law that anything be said without God, but a lie and a fabrication is said without God. For as Augustine says: B "If even one single lie were found in the Gospel, the whole Gospel would, by the same logic, be suspect and condemned as false." However, the Alcoran does contain many things that are true, which are contained in the Gospel and the Law of Moses and the prophets; but Mahomet himself inserted so many manifest lies of his own that the whole must truly be considered suspect and false, and the work of the liar and his father. The lies contained therein are reduced to ten principal categories. For he speaks lies about himself, about Christians, about Jews, about the apostles, about the patriarchs, about demons, about angels, about the Virgin Mary, about Christ, about God.
And concerning himself, he says C that he is the end, the seal, and the silence of all the prophets. And he orders that whoever asserts himself to be a prophet after him should be put to death. But the hand of the Lord is not so constrained that He cannot, after him, give the spirit of prophecy to another as well. And it is not only Christians and Jews who say that there were prophets among them after him who possessed the spirit of prophecy, but they themselves also accepted in Babylon a certain prophet named Solem, which is interpreted as "ladder," whom the Tartars killed, together with a not inconsiderable multitude of Saracens. Furthermore, about himself he says, exalting himself as if from the person of God, that "If all men were gathered together, and all spirits or angels, they would not be able to make such an Alcoran as this is." D Either, therefore, understand this as meaning that they could not do it without the help of God—and what is there to marvel at if they could not do this, which even he himself says he did not do without God?—or understand it as meaning that they could not have done it even if they had been helped by God. But this is a manifest blasphemy.
Concerning the Christians, he says that they give a companion to God, which is a manifest lie. For Christians of the whole world say that God is most truly one and most simple. After these things, he says in the chapter *Telteumpe*, which is interpreted as *penitence*, that Christians deify their own bishops and [priests...]
A monks, which is false. Mahomet said this as a man ignorant of the Christian language. For Christians, Chaldeans, and all Eastern Christians call their bishops and monks, honoring them, *Rampan*, which is interpreted as "master" or "my superior." But in the Arabic language, *rampa* is a name for God, which is interpreted as "Lord" absolutely, and is understood of God alone; just as among us when we say, "The Lord be with you." Therefore, Mahomet speaks falsely when he says that Christians call these men gods. B Item, the same man says of the Christians that they deify Mary. He introduces in the chapter *Elmeide*, which is interpreted as "table," that Christ excuses himself before God, saying that he did not tell the world that his mother was a goddess. And truly; nor do Christians say this—that the blessed Mary is God or a goddess—but they say that she was a most pure woman. For the Gospel does not call her a goddess, or a messenger, but a woman.
Item, he introduces in the same chapter, saying of Christians and Jews, that they are not sons of God or friends of God. He shows this from the fact that they are afflicted for their sins, as he himself says. But this demonstration is entirely false. For "Many are the tribulations of the just," and as the Apostle says to the Hebrews: "He scourges every son whom he receives." C Yet the just are scourged by God differently than the wicked. For the Tartars have brought many scourges upon the Saracens themselves, even if they do not have the Law.
Of the Jews, Mahomet says in the chapter *Telteumpe*, which is interpreted as *penitence*, that they deify Eleazar, and say that he is the Son of God. But this is clearly a lie. For the Jews make no man God, nor do they say that anyone is the Son of God. Item, in the chapter *Einasa*, which is interpreted as "women," he says that the Jews themselves say they killed Christ Jesus, the son of Mary, the apostle of God. But this is clearly a lie. For the Jews do not say that Jesus is Christ, nor that he was an apostle of God, D but an iniquitous man; and they say that they killed him on account of his blasphemy.
Of the apostles, he says in the chapter *Abraham*—whom they say was the father of Moses—that they testified and said to Christ that they were Saracens, and imitators and apostles of Mahomet. And this is a lie. For Christ and the apostles existed six hundred years before Mahomet. For Mahomet appeared in the times of Heraclius, who began to reign in the six hundred and tenth year from the incarnation of the Lord. Whence there are barely seven hundred years since Mahomet existed. But there are one thousand two hundred and more since Christ was born and the apostles.
And how could the apostles be Saracens and imitators of Mahomet, who had received a command from the person of God (as he himself says in the Alcoran, in the chapter Eleanimar) to be the first Saracen? Therefore, Saracenism began with Mahomet. Consequently, the apostles could neither be Saracens, nor imitators of him whom they preceded by six hundred years. Or, if they were Saracens, it is impossible that he was the first Saracen.
Regarding the patriarchs, he makes the same claim. For he says in many places of the Alcoran that Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and their sons were Saracens. He says the same B about Noah, that he was a Saracen, and that because of this the flood came upon the earth, because he preached to men that they should become Saracens, but they refused. But this is a complete falsehood. For how could Noah be a Saracen, who preceded Mahomet by two thousand five hundred years? Furthermore, Mahomet himself says that he was the first Saracen in the world. Moreover, it is impossible to say that Noah and Abraham were Saracens, on the grounds that they had begotten the Saracens. For this explanation is contrary to the Alcoran, where it is said that Abraham was not a Christian, nor a Jew, but a pure Saracen. It is necessary, therefore, that just as Saracens were born from Abraham, so too were Jews and Christians born from him and from Noah. And the Saracens also say that God promised Mahomet that no one would enter paradise before him. And after this, C God took him up and led him into paradise, and he saw there many men and women, and said: "What is this, Lord?" The Lord said to him: "Do not marvel; for these also are your imitators." But it is impossible to be Mahomet's imitators except through the Alcoran; but this was not revealed before the times of Mahomet, as is contained in many of its places, and especially in the beginning. Anyone who has understanding can well discern the falsehood of this fabrication, and for this reason one ought not to occupy oneself with such things.
Regarding the demons, there is a special chapter in the Alcoran where it is openly said that a great multitude of demons, hearing the Alcoran, rejoiced and testified that they could be saved through it. They even declared themselves to be Saracens, and were saved. But as for how much falsehood this contains, it is not necessary D to demonstrate by any argument.
Regarding the angels, he says that all worshipped Adam, except for the devil. He also says that when he went to God with Gabriel, he saw in heaven an angel a myriad times greater than the whole world, weeping for his own sins, for whom he himself sought mercy through his own prayers. And he says many other most false things, concerning which we shall treat more extensively toward the end of the present work, when we shall speak of the vision of Great Fiction,
which he asserts he himself saw. A He also seems to speak openly concerning the angels, that they are corporeal. For he says in the chapter Sad, in many places, that the angels were created from fire, but humans from earth. He says in other places that they are great in dimension, as will be mentioned in what follows.
Concerning the Virgin Mary, he says openly in the chapter Abraham that she was the daughter of Abraham, and Abraham was the father of Moses and Aaron. In the chapter Mariem, which is interpreted as Mary, it says openly that Mary, the mother of Christ, was the sister of Aaron, and that Moses and Aaron had a certain sister who was called Mary, and that these three were the children of Amram, which is manifest in the sixth book of Paralipomenon. B But between this Mary and the blessed Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, fifteen hundred years intervened. And the first Mary died in the desert, when Moses was leading the sons of Israel through the desert to the land of promise. At that time, however, Rome was not yet built, but was founded after this in the times of Hezekiah, king of Judah, who lived seven hundred and more years later. Jesus Christ, however, was born after King Hezekiah from the Virgin Mary, and was begotten in the times of the Emperor Octavian, seven hundred and more years after Hezekiah, at which time the Romans already held the monarchy of the world and had sent kings into Judea. Wherefore the Jews also testified that they had no king but Caesar. C And note that, as Augustine says, Rome was founded in the times of Ahaz, or according to some others, of Hezekiah. And at that time the people of Israel were dwelling in the land of promise, which was for seventy-five years: of which twenty-seven pertained to Joshua, the son of Nun. In the time of the Judges, there were three hundred and twenty-nine years, from which [period] kings began to be there for three hundred and sixty-two years. From the time when the foundations of the city were laid until the birth of Christ, seven hundred and fifty-two years passed, as the deacon Paul says in his Roman histories. The Holy Spirit therefore permitted Mahomet to embrace so manifest a lie, so that any man might easily discern the deception.
Concerning Christ, the same man says that He is neither God nor the Son of God; and that Christ Himself did not say this of Himself, but that He humbly excused Himself before God, and never said this to the world. D But this is manifestly a lie. For it is written in the Gospel of John that He Himself said He was the Son of God; and then the Jews wished to stone Him as if for blasphemy. He also said that He was equal to God, and the beginning, which
A is most especially and strictly proper to God alone; and He said, "If you do not want to believe My words, believe the works." It has already been demonstrated in the third chapter that it is impossible to say, as the Saracens do, that the Gospel has been corrupted, and that they are bound to accept the Gospel which is among us, as well as the Old Testament. But even Mahomet himself, in the chapter "Elacaph," asks for the authority to be shown to him of the book that was written before the Alcoran. After this, he speaks about Christ, claiming that He was neither crucified nor died, but that God will cause Him to die at the end of the world, along with other infinite falsehoods, the opposites of which are contained in the Gospels and the other Scriptures, which would be long to list.
Regarding God, he asserts simply that it is in no way possible for Him to have a Son, because He has no wife; and he constantly brings this back as if it were some other strong argument. B Yet this argument is as if someone were to say that God is not a substance because He has no accidents, or that He does not live because He does not eat or breathe. Such a fantasy is foolish, and belongs to a man deprived of reason and intellect. For Christians do not assign a Son to God as if from a woman, but as, for example, heat from fire, brightness from the sun, or a word from the one who speaks—all of which are truly said to be begotten, even if not from a woman. For the Son of God is the brightness and the Word of the eternal Father, co-eternal and consubstantial, and in the same equality. Just as heat and brightness are not separated from C the fire, yet the fire sometimes shares itself with us without the brightness, as in the light of a lamp, and sometimes without the heat, as in red-hot iron, so too the Son of God could be incarnate without the Father or the Holy Spirit being incarnate, even though the works of the Trinity are indivisible. Thus, in turn, the Son of God—the Word of God, the brightness of the Father—could be written in a sensible book, so that He might be read by men and His works seen sensibly, while being united to flesh. And indeed, the written book, that is, the flesh, could be torn apart, but "the Word of the Lord remains forever." D Just as a king’s command, when he sends his word in a book to the land that is under him, cannot itself be burned, though the book can be burned. Therefore, Christians say that Christ, while being the Word of God, is the Son of God. Mahomet himself also said this of Him, even if he neither knew nor understood it. For he says in the Alcoran in the chapter "Elnesa," which is interpreted as "women," that Christ Jesus, the son of Mary, is the word of God and the spirit of God. Why, therefore, did Mahomet not say that it is impossible for God to have a word or spirit, since He has no wife? It must be asked, therefore, of the Saracens, that they inquire of Mahomet himself, when he says that Christ is the word of God, and spirit from God, whether
he speaks of the spoken word and spirit, or of the essential, that is to say, of the created or the uncreated. If it is of the external, that is, the created, then not only is the word and spirit of God from God, but so also are the words and spirits of the other prophets and of other blessed men. And according to this, this is no great praise for Christ, whom Mahomet wishes to establish specifically and above all men. Nor does God, because of such a reason and such a spirit, speak of Himself in the plural, as He is introduced throughout the Alcoran. But if he speaks of the uncreated and essential Word of God and Spirit, then they agree with us regarding the incarnation and the mystery of the Trinity. B Furthermore, Mahomet says of God in the chapter *Elminim*, that if God had a son, the whole world would be in danger. For there would be a schism among them. But this supposition is very false. For he supposes that it is not possible for God to have a son, unless he were wicked, audacious, and disobedient. But we say that the Son of God is the Word of God, and the knowledge of the Father, through whom He works all things. Now, the word conceived in the mind and the skill of the craftsman are never, even in man, separated from the conceiving intellect, unless Mahomet, blaspheming, says that God disagrees with Himself and speaks contrary to His own intellect and thought. Again, Mahomet says in the chapter *Elezat* that God and His angels pray for Mahomet and the other Saracens. What the angels do may be passed over. But when does God pray for them? Whom does He pray to? To the angels, or to men, or to Himself? But this is a falsehood: to pray to Himself—and especially according to Mahomet, who denies the incarnation of the Word and posits no distinction of persons in the divine. He also posits other lies and impossibilities, just as in the chapter *Elasiar*, it is said as if from the person of God: "If we had sent this Alcoran down upon a mountain, you would have seen it rent asunder from the reverence and fear of God." And just as in the chapter *Elcaminar*, which is interpreted as "the moon," he says that the moon was crushed, and many other things which it would be long to recount. C D Hence it can be manifest to all wise men that this law is not from God, since it contains so many and such manifest falsehoods. For after these, other absurd things are found, which the Saracens assert as certain, translated from the Alcoran by way of exposition, and which are openly contained in Mahomet’s book of expositions; of which, since there are many, I shall mention a few here. One is that which he says, that the created heaven was made from smoke, and the smoke from the exhalation of the sea, and the sea from a certain mountain which is called Qaf, and this encompasses the whole orb of the earth and sustains the heaven.
the heaven. He says also that the sun and the moon were of equal light and power, and that there was no distinction between night and day. But it once happened, while Gabriel was flying, that his wing touched the moon, which then, even as we see now, became darkened. He also says that the wild boar was born from the dung of the elephant, the mouse from the dung of the pig, and the weasel from the forehead of the lion. He explains this in this way: When Noah was in the ark with his sons and the animals, when they went to relieve themselves, the ark tilted, especially when the elephant was present. Because of his great fear, Noah sought counsel from God. He said, "Go and worship his backside at the hole from which the dung comes forth." This having been done, the dung came out at once, and with it a very large pig, and as its snout was digging into the dung (as it is wont to do), the mouse was born, and it began to gnaw the planks of the ark. And then they were most afraid. B And Noah, having asked the Lord, struck the lion on the forehead, and the weasel came out through its nostrils. And they say that this is the reason why they claim that the meat of the pig is unclean. He says again in the same chapter that God, at the end of the world, will slay every creature, even the angels and archangels, and nothing will be left living except God and Death, which is a certain angel called Adriel. And then the Lord will command Adriel to slay himself. And when this is done, the Lord shall cry with a loud voice and shall say: "Where are the satraps of the world and the princes?" And after this, all things shall rise again. And Mahomet himself also made a book in which he wrote twelve thousand marvelous sayings. But when some wondered and asked if all those things were true, he answered that only three thousand held the truth, and that the rest were false. C When, therefore, some falsehood is detected in the aforementioned book, the Saracens say that Mahomet also said this, that not all things are true, and that this is among those; but the rest of it remains in its entirety. I believe the Saracens do the same thing regarding the Alcoran. For even if many lies are detected in it, yet on account of certain true things contained therein, it is valued among them as the word of God. But it was said to us above, that as Augustine says: If even one single false word were to be found in the Gospel, it would be just D that the whole Gospel should be considered frivolous, vain, and fabulous. But I have firmly felt that the most wise of the Saracens, and those who have experience in letters, place no faith in the words of the Alcoran, but reject the fabrication of its doctrine. A sign of this is that they refuse to dispute publicly with other wise men, as I myself have known through that very experience. And they do not want the Alcoran itself to be brought forward; for they are most vehemently distressed when it is read by others, and they do not at all wish for it to be translated into other languages. We know, however, that pure gold fears neither water nor fire. And for this reason, Chri-
Christians, A trusting in the truth of God, which is most powerful and remains for eternity, gladly discuss the Gospel with other nations and rejoice when it is read by others. They desire for it to be published to all and translated into other languages, and they manifest the passion of Christ not only in letters but also in public writings, which is considered a mockery and a disgrace by other nations.
Chapter X. That the law of the Saracens is violent.
Tenth B we must consider that the Alcoran is not the law of God, for it is violent. And to speak briefly, this law could properly be called a law of slaughter and death, not only because it sends us to eternal death, but because it forces men through corporal slaughter and death to believe those things which are said in it. Yet in the Alcoran itself, in the chapter called Emparaca, which is interpreted as "the cow," it is said that in the law of God there is no compulsion, and that what is just has already been defined from what is unjust. For what greater compulsion is there than slaughter? Therefore, the law that compels men by this means is not the law of God. The Saracens themselves call it by the derivative name Elesalem, C which is interpreted as "law of the salvation of God," [but it] ought properly to be called (as has been said) a law of slaughter and death. And this way became convenient for such a law and lawgiver, so that through the fear of corporal death they might consent to the law of eternal death—just as, conversely, Christians, by despising corporal death, attain eternal life. Therefore, when Mahomet, or rather his foster-father the devil, saw that this law differed entirely from the divine law and from that which is in the Old and New Testament, and that it disagreed with itself, and was devoid of all reason and miracle, and contained manifest D falsehoods, and when he supposed that because of these things there would be many who would contradict him, he gave to Mahomet himself a peculiar instrument, that is, a sword for killing. And he himself gave a command in the law that whoever might oppose this law and not believe should be killed. And for this reason, it is not said in one chapter only, but through the whole book, as a certain universal command: "Kill, kill." This way is manifestly contrary to Christ, who commands both to love enemies, and to pray for those who persecute us, and to do good to those who offend us. But Mahomet, being a precursor of the Antichrist, prepared a way in the world for the son of perdition. How irrational this way is, was manifest in the eighth chapter. For indeed, as Augustine says: "A man can indeed believe even if he is unwilling, he can even confess with his mouth while being compelled to believe, but to believe in his heart cannot be compelled at all," since the Lord Himself seeks the heart from man above all, according to that: "My son, give me your heart."* However, his uncle was brought before Mahomet, saying: "What is it to me, if I do not do this, son of my brother?" To whom Mahomet replied: "I will kill you, o uncle." But he said: "It is impos->
impossible for there to be anything else?" He said, "Nothing else." Then the uncle said: "I will follow you in whatever you wish, with my tongue only, but not with my heart, for fear of the sword." Omar, the son of Calempadi, being compelled, said: "Lord, you know that only for the fear of death do I become a Saracen." And the son of Empiascaa, because of the fear of the sword, became a Saracen. Whence he also sent letters to Mesce, which a certain woman hid under the hair of her head, announcing to those in the city the arrival of Mahomet, so that they might beware of the violence of his doctrine. B
It must be noted that there are four parts of those who retain the error of Mahomet. The first part is of those who entered into Saracenism through the sword, as has been said; who even now, recognizing their own error, would certainly repent, were they not afraid of the sword. Another part is of those who were deceived by the devil, believing lies to be true. The third part is of those who do not wish to depart from the error of their forefathers, but say that they maintain what their fathers held—from whom they depart the more, who instead of the idolatry which they previously held, undoubtedly chose the sect of Mahomet as being less evil. The fourth part is of those who, because of the remission of life, and the multitude of women, and other indulgences, have loved the impurity in these things more than the eternity of the future world. And in agreement with these are those who among them are called the wiser, and who possess knowledge of letters. For they do not believe their law to be true, or good simply; but the intensity of the passions calms the judgment of reason, as the wise man says. Just as many, though experienced in letters among the Christians, do not keep the law of the Gospel, even though they believe it to be true and good; rather, they imitate the way of the Alcoran, although they believe that he erred in truth. And there is a sign of this in both: for some Saracens are transformed into Christians, and some Christians become Saracens. A Christian, indeed, would never become a Saracen in death, but in life; a Saracen, however, becomes a Christian in death rather than in life. Each of these, therefore, prefers to die a Christian rather than a Saracen, unless he is in some way drawn away by the aforementioned violence. C D
There are three most manifest signs of the violence of the aforementioned law, apart from those things which have been said so often, which truly was that which he so often says and commands: to kill. The first sign is that Mahomet told them that his law would remain only so long as power in arms and temporal authority remained with them. But as Chrysostom says, such is the nature of truth, that even when it is attacked by many, it grows stronger; and conversely, a lie, when it is assisted by many, is weakened in itself. Truth, therefore, does not need aid from temporal power, and especially
the truth of the Lord, which remains forever. For the law of the Christians, A which endured continuously for three hundred and ten years during the time of persecution, grew most firmly, both in the number of the faithful and in the splendor of its miracles. And this is also a sign of the violence of the law among them [the Saracens]. For when they gather for instruction, so that the law may be taught to them, the teacher of the Saracens, the leader of the discourse, first unsheathing his sword, holds it naked in his hand as long as he is teaching, or places it in some elevated spot for the purpose of terror. But Christians, when teaching, do not carry a sword, but a cross, demonstrating not signs of violence, but of gentleness, as men sent by Christ like sheep into the midst of wolves. B A third sign of slaughter and violence is that the Assassins are nourished by the Saracens, destined to be the murderers of men, to whom they promise eternal life through the very act, active and passive, and send them throughout the world to kill the princes of the earth by treachery. These Assassins hold camps and fortresses around Mount Liltus [the Lebanon], and they obey the sultan of Babylon, who is the head of the Saracens. In their laws and order they are Saracens, and they are not called Assassins by the Saracens, but Ishmaelites, as if they were the root and tribe of the Saracens, and the primary defenders and preservers of the law of Muhammad. For they are specially trained and nourished for this purpose, so that they may commit these murders. This crime is abhorred not only by Christians, who have a most holy law, but also by the Tartars, who say they have no law for themselves beyond the natural one. C From these things, therefore, it appears manifestly that the law of the Saracens is a law of slaughter and violence. Now, that which is violent is that whose motion is from without, with the moved thing contributing no impulse of its own, as Aristotle says. From this it is evident that it is not the law of God.
XI. That the Alcoran is not the law of God; for it is unordered.
Eleventhly, it must be considered that the Alcoran is not the law of God; for it is unordered. For those things which are from God are ordered, as the Apostle says. D We see this, moreover, in the works of nature and in the holy Scriptures. For it is most firmly held, not only by Christians but even by the Saracens themselves, that the law of Moses, and the prophets, and the Gospel are from God. Now all these are ordered. For Moses, very orderly, begins from the creation of the world, and subsequently traverses the whole Pentateuch according to the order of time and history; and the other prophets also proceeded very orderly, showing, according to the order of time, when and under which kings, or according to the order of history, or at least according to the order of subject matter. The Gospel proceeds very well and very orderly, both in the order of time, and of history, and of subject matter. It begins indeed from the incarnation and nativity of Christ, and subsequently...
A of his life and his teaching and his miracles; and after these of his death, and his resurrection, and his ascension. But in the Alcoran there is absolutely no order, neither of time—for it does not state under which kings, or according to what time—nor order of history. For the first part, where it began, is called the inscription or opening of the book, in which it undoubtedly and properly began with prayer and the praise of God; and immediately after a short prayer it began its discourse. And the second chapter is about the yellow cow, which Moses sacrificed, the history of which is in Leviticus. The third chapter is about the house of Abraham, who became the father of Moses; in which he interjected much about Christ, and calls the Virgin Mary the sister of Moses and Aaron. B And thereafter follows the fourth chapter, about women. Likewise, it proceeds in this way, without order, with the rest, so that there is no man who could give a reason for the order of the history and of the chapters. And neither is there an order of subject matter. For he never goes through one subject matter well and orderly, but immediately moves from one subject to another totally irrelevant premise, just like a man deranged. But it has neither order of arguments nor of any demonstration. But all teaching proceeds from a supposition, and having supposed a certain proposition to be true in itself, from it he concludes some other thing, which has nothing in common with the first. Such is what is continuously said by him, that God is high and good, and that the Alcoran is a law of salvation, and God is God, and that there is no other God except God, and that Mahomet is a true prophet. C But what kind of conclusion is this, that Mahomet is the true servant of God, because God is God? And in the chapter Elmaiada, which is interpreted "the table," he says: "God established for us the house of Elaram," that is to say... this is the house of the table. The month is of the fast of the Saracen way of life. And know that God knows all things, those in heaven and those on earth, and God knows whatever is. But who is so foolish as to doubt whether God knows all things? And even if someone were to doubt, what kind of consequence is this, that the table and the fast of the month of the Saracen way of life should be the cause for knowing that God knows all things? And he seems to speak continuously as if D dreaming, and especially toward the end of the book, where words seem to fail him. As in the chapter of the Elcaferum, which is interpreted "heretics," he says word for word: "O execrable ones, I do not worship what you worship, nor do you worship what I worship. To you your law, and to me my law." But any heretic can say this, so as to cut off the subject matter which concerns the inquiry of truth. But I do not remember having found in the whole book one single argument which proceeds according to a correct supposition and convenient order. The order of names therein is grammatically and rhythmically best. For the whole book is almost metric and rhythmic. Hence the Saracens greatly boast in such a beautiful and ornate manner of Arabic locution, and from these arguments
they attempt to prove that Mahomet is a true prophet. For a man who was completely illiterate would not have known how to speak in such a refined manner. But as has been observed above in the fourth chapter, God is not accustomed to speak to the world, or to the prophets, through verses or rhythms. Thus, therefore, it is manifest that this law is not from God, since it has no order except for the rhythmic and grammatical, which does not befit God. B
XII. That the law of the Saracens is not of God; for it is iniquitous.
Twelfth, it must be considered that this law is not from God. For God is supremely good; and it belongs to the best to do the best things, according to Dionysius. C That the law of the Alcoran is iniquitous is manifest from the Alcoran itself. For it is said in the chapter *Elcaph*, and in the chapter *Elgem*, which is interpreted as "demons," that the Alcoran itself pleases the demons, and they delight in it. Now demons are wicked and perverse in their will, to whom nothing pleases except the wicked; therefore the Alcoran is evil. Also, the Alcoran is the cause of all evils, such as slaughter, robbery, perjury, and the like, which the Alcoran not only permits, but even commands (as was made manifest above), and especially slaughter. Nor is it a sufficient excuse that it commands infidels to be killed, but not the faithful. For it says clearly that a faithful person ought not to kill a faithful person; but it commands that the infidels themselves be killed, unless they pay tribute. Therefore, paying tribute is a sufficient cause to kill or not to kill. Why, then, is it not such in so far as they are infidels?
Item, as is said in many places of the Alcoran: There is no greater evil than to attribute a lie to God. But the Alcoran attributes many other lies to God besides those mentioned above in the ninth chapter concerning the lies contained in it, all of which reflect back upon God, if the Alcoran (as they say) is the law of God. We are able to show many other things as well. For in the chapter *Elemphaal*, which is interpreted as "gains," it says that there are certain gains of God and the apostle, and let them give to God the fifth part of that from which they gain. D But is God so iniquitous that He permits robbery so that He may take from it a fifth part? Or is God so poor that He does not have the means to feed His poor—that is, the widows and the orphans and the strangers, of whom it speaks there—unless He permits robbery? Wherefore, in order to gain from that, surely Mahomet makes God a partner with himself in evil, who cannot have a partner in good.
Item, even if the Alcoran sometimes prohibits robbery and perjury and certain other evils, nevertheless this prohibition is rather a kind of permission. For it says: Do not perform such and such evils, for they do not please God. But if you have done them, He Himself is merciful and compassionate, and will easily spare you. Concerning robbery, however, he never commanded that it be restored, nor do they themselves have such a custom, but it suffices in the end for a Saracen to say:
A “There is no god but God, and Muhammad is the apostle of God,” as was made clear above in the fifth chapter. Regarding perjury, he explicitly says in the chapter *Elmin*, which is interpreted as “the table”: “God will not hold against you the deception of an oath, but his invocation.” It is as if he were saying: Perjury does not obligate one to guilt, but to a penalty. And later he adds: “For its transgression, the feeding of ten poor persons suffices, or clothing for the same number, or the ransom of one captive.” And he who cannot do these things shall fast three times. From these things, all evils follow. For they do not fear to rob, or to deceive, or to perjure themselves; further, they do not keep the faith, whereas Christians believe that faith must be kept even towards enemies and infidels. The Saracens do, however, have a certain undoubtedly binding type of oath, which they would not easily violate, concerning which we shall reflect hereafter. But Muhammad says openly in the chapter *Elmetaare*, which is interpreted as... [the rest is unclear]... that God had dispensed him from keeping what he had lawfully sworn, namely, no longer to approach a certain Jacobite woman who was called Mary, and thus he perjured himself. As he says, the witnesses of this concession are Michael and Gabriel. That law, therefore, which all evils follow, is wicked. And it is wicked because it attributes so many and such great evils and lies to God.
B And besides the aforesaid things, he also adds many other lies and foolish things. For he says that God excuses himself for having sent the apostle Muhammad, who was a man and not an angel, because the latter would not have been able to pass through the world with security. But was Muhammad moving through the world more securely than the angels? And if, by “the angels,” he wishes us to understand good and peace-loving men, there is still no doubt that good and peace-loving men pass through the world more securely than the wicked. And he introduces God as speaking continuously, and saying that He did not create the world for the sake of a game. But who is so foolish as to think of God that He made the world as if playing? Furthermore, Muhammad, being a carnal man, and C continuously given to intemperance, in the chapter *Elinir Elacap* introduces God saying: “Do not enter the house of anyone unless you are invited and called, and unless they are making a clamor outside.” And he adds, as if from the person of God: “And after you have entered and eaten, leave, and do not stand around talking with the doorkeepers, because it is troublesome for the Prophet, and he is ashamed to speak.” Yet God is not ashamed to speak the truth. In short, whatever he wished to do, or that it should be done, he attributed the whole thing to God, as if it were He who commanded it to happen. And from this all evils have followed, as if by the authority of the law; that is, to kill, to rob, to commit adultery with the wife of Zeith, to commit incest, with the
A swearing of false oaths, and not to keep faith in promises made. Therefore this law is evil, pleasing to the devil, and inciting to wicked things. It is not, then, from God, who is supremely good, and from whom only good proceeds, but never evil.
XIII. Concerning the institution of the Alcoran, and who was the creator and inventor of this law.
Since, therefore, B it has been demonstrated that the Alcoran, which is to say the law of the Saracens, is not from God, it follows that we must inquire about the disciples of Mahomet and the constitution of the aforementioned Alcoran. One ought, therefore, to know that it is most firmly believed by the wise men among them, and shown by effective arguments, that the first author of the Alcoran was not a man, but the devil; who, by his own envy and by divine permission, on account of the sins of the people, prevailed in beginning, solemnly and effectively, the perfidy of the Antichrist. The devil, therefore, seeing the faith of Christ increasing especially in the Eastern parts, and idolatry failing, now that Chosroes, the king of the Persians and Medes, the idolater, had been overcome by the most Christian emperor Heraclius, who indeed destroyed the high tower which Chosroes himself had built of gold and silver and precious stones for the sake of idolatry; and seeing that the cross of Christ was even then exalted by Heraclius, and was to be further exalted, and since the devil could no longer defend a multitude of gods, nor entirely deny the law of Moses and the Gospel of Christ, because they were already spread throughout the whole C world, he devised, by the fiction of a certain law—as if a middle ground between the Old and New Testament—to deceive the world. And to bring this into effect, he assumed a certain diabolical man, by name Mahomet, an idolater in religion, poor in fortune, proud in mind, and notorious for sorcery. The devil would have more willingly assumed a man of good reputation, if this had been permitted to him; just as he would more willingly have tempted man through another animal, in which his evil deeds would have been more hidden, than through a serpent. But divine wisdom did not permit it, unless he should assume such an animal, and invade the world through such a man, so that the world itself could easily consider what kind of law that was which was given through such a legislator.
Chosroes, therefore, having been overcome by the aforementioned D Heraclius, and the holy cross having been translated into Jerusalem with triumph, in the six hundred and twentieth year from the incarnation of the Lord, and the fifteenth of the reign of Heraclius, a certain Mahomet, an Arab, appeared, who, having first become wealthy through a certain widow whom he took as his wife, and having afterward become a leader of robbers, broke out into such pride that he even wished to become king of the Arabs. But because they did not accept him, as he was vile in lineage and opinion, he feigned himself to be a prophet. And since he suffered from the falling sickness, so that no one might firmly believe him to be possessed by it, he was constantly falling, and saying that an angel was speaking with him. He gave, furthermore,
A a hearing like that of a bell ringing around his ears. And because he was an unlearned and illiterate man, the devil gave him other associates of his own, certain heretics and Jews, and likewise heretical Christians. For there adhered to him a certain Jacobite, by the name of Baira, and he remained with Mahomet almost until his death. But it appears that after this Mahomet killed him. But also certain Jews, namely Phinehas and Audia, by name Salon, and after this called Audalla, and Selem, who also became Saracens; and certain Nestorians, who especially agree with the Saracens by saying that God was not born of the Virgin Mary, but [instead] a human, Jesus Christ. And then Mahomet composed B some things in the manner of a law through his associates, taking some things from the Old, and some things from the New Testament. Yet the people did not have the Alcoran at that time. It is said, however, in their histories that Mahomet says: “The Alcoran descended to me in seven men, and whatever is much, is enough.” And they say these were Naphe, and Eon, Omar, Omra, Eleesar, Asir the son of Cethir, and the son of Amer. We will therefore say to them: “Did they ever read this in the presence of Mahomet?” And they all will say: “No, but in the presence of the elders, and thus up to Mahomet.” But it is certain that these did not agree with the former elders in the letter which they hold now. This is proven by the fact that the letter of the first part is contrary to the second part. For from the time of Mahomet, no one was an expert C of the Alcoran, except Audala the son of Mesetud, and Zeith the son of Tampeth, and Canan the son of Ophyn, and Enpe the son of Tap. Concerning Ali, however, the son of Abitalem, some say that he knew a part, and some that he did not. But each of these composed an Alcoran, most unlike the Alcoran of the others. They fought, moreover, against one another even unto death, not accepting the things of the others. After their death, the people disagreed about the Alcoran until the time of Mermpan the son of Elezen, who composed for them this Alcoran which they now have. And he burned the other Alcorans. And then also the seven prefects of the cities contradicted one another in grammar and in their own proper idioms. We find, moreover, in their histories, that the chapter of divorce exceeded the chapter of the cow, D which at first was in two hundred thirty sentences, but now the whole is constituted of twelve. But others say that even the chapter of the cow at one time contained a thousand sentences, today however [only] two hundred eighty-seven. It is related also concerning a certain powerful man, by name Elgas, that he took away eighty-five sentences from the Alcoran, and added as many others of a different meaning. How therefore is it true, what they say about the Alcoran, that God says: “We have made the admonition to descend, and we will preserve it”? They tell also certain histories, that Mahomet died by poison, and the people had no Alcoran. But when Empeumpecer undertook the leadership, he commanded that each one should collect what he could: and this which is in their hands is the Alcoran
A, for the rest was burned. But in the chapter of the Alcoran called Elamram, it is said that no one except God knows the exposition thereof; and those who have depth of wisdom say: We believe in it, for it is all entirely from our God. And in truth, in this book many things are so dark, so scattered, and so disordered, as has been made clear above, that they do not convey a single meaning, but rather serve to cover over madness and falsehoods. Indeed, it has come to pass that the teachers agree that this is the Alcoran which they now have in their hands, and they say that God revealed it to Mahomet and that it was written from the mouth of God. But the Elphina—that is, the great doctors and expositors—have never agreed on its exposition, nor will they ever agree for all eternity.
B And this is true not only of the Orientals toward the Occidentals, but also of the Orientals among themselves, and the Occidentals among themselves, and even within the same schools there are different sects, and they are so diverse that one condemns another. For some follow Mahomet, and these are more numerous; but others follow Hali, and these are fewer and less evil, and they say that Mahomet usurped for himself by tyrannical power that which belonged to Hali. But certain men skilled in philosophy rose up against both, and beginning to read in the books of Aristotle and Plato, they abandoned all the sects of the Saracens, and the Alcoran itself. C Understanding this, a certain caliph from Babylon, by name..., built an Academy and the Stanzarian school, which are very highly regarded, and he changed the instruction regarding the Alcoran. And he ordained that all who come to Babylon from the provinces, that they might learn the Alcoran, should have dwellings and necessary expenses provided from the public treasury. And he decreed that those who are engaged with the Alcoran should in no way apply themselves to philosophy; for this reason, they do not even consider those who apply themselves to philosophy to be true Saracens, because such men hold the Alcoran in contempt for the causes mentioned above in the eighth and ninth chapters.
D XIV. Concerning the invention of a most improper vision.
It is necessary to consider, fourteenthly, how Mahomet composed an invented vision, which is an exposition of a certain part of the Alcoran. For in the chapter of the children of Israel, he says: Praise be to him who made his servant pass in one night from the oratory of Elaram, which is the house of Mecca, to the farthest oratory, which is the holy house of Jerusalem, which we bless, and so forth. The exposition of this sentence is that one day Mahomet was chanting his morning hour; and when he had finished it, he said to the people: O you men, consider. Yesterday, after I departed from you, Gabriel came to me after the final evening psalmody, and said to me: Mahomet, God commands you to visit Him. I said to him: And where shall I visit Him? And Gabriel said: In
the place where He is. A And he brought to me a beast, larger than an ass, but smaller than a mule, and its name was Elmparac. And he said to me: Mount this, and ride to the holy house. And as I was preparing to mount, the beast fled. And he said to it: Stand firmly; for it is Mahomet who wishes to mount you. And the beast replied: Was I sent for his sake? Gabriel replied: Yes. And the beast said: I will not permit him to mount, unless he first prays to God for me. I then prayed to my God for the beast, and I mounted it, and it walked while I was seated upon it with a light gait, and it would set the hoof of its foot upon the horizon of its own sight. And thus I came to the holy house in a shorter space of time than an eye could blink. B And Gabriel was with me, and he led me to a rock in the holy house in Jerusalem, and Gabriel said to me: Descend, for from this rock you shall ascend to heaven. And I descended. And Gabriel secured the beast Elmparac to the rock with a tether, and carried me on his shoulders up to heaven. And when we had come to heaven, Gabriel knocked at the door. And it was said to him: Who are you? He answered: I am Gabriel. And it was said to him again: And who is with you? He answered: Mahomet. The gatekeeper then said: Was the mission for his sake? Yes. And he opened the gate for us. And I saw hosts of angels; and having twice bent my knees before them, I poured out a prayer. And after this, Gabriel took me and led me to the second heaven. C But the distance between these two heavens was a journey of five hundred years. And just as he had knocked at the first door, a response was given to him in all things the same, up to the seventh heaven. In this seventh heaven he describes seeing a people of angels. The stature of each one of the angels was many thousand times greater than the world; each one of them had seventy thousand heads, and in each head seven hundred thousand mouths, and in every mouth one thousand seven hundred tongues, praising God in seven hundred thousand dialects. And he observed one of the angels weeping. And he asked the cause of his weeping. And he answered that it was sin. But he himself prayed for him. And thus, he says, Gabriel commended me to another angel, and he to another, and D so on in succession, until I stood before God and His tribunal. And God touched me with His hand between the shoulders, to such an extent that the coldness of His hand passed through to the marrow of the spine of my back. And God said to me: I have laid prayers upon you and your people. But as I descended to the fourth heaven, Moses advised me to return to relieve the people, since they would not be able to bear so many prayers. And at the first return, I obtained a remission of ten [prayers] down to the fourth, and from the fourth return down to the seventh. And in the end, the number of prayers was so far reduced that a few remained. And when Moses said: Men will not be able to bear even this, I, out of confusion, was ashamed that I had ascended there, and I did not wish to ascend further, but returning to Elmparac, I rode descending into the house of Mecca. And the time of all these things was less than
the tenth part of the night. Of this vision, the author says that there is more that we have omitted than what we have related. When Mahomet had related this vision to all the people, thousands of men departed from his law. For they said to him: "Ascend by day into heaven, that we may see you, and that we may see the angels meeting you." He did not acknowledge his own mendacity, but said: "Praise be to my God. Am I anything other than one of men, and an apostle?" Thus in the chapter of the prophets he relates concerning those who sought signs to be performed A by him. I said to Mahomet: "You have heard dreams, you have gathered blasphemies, or perhaps you speak poetically. Come to us at least with one miracle, in the manner in which those prior were sent." He answers: "We have overthrown (said God) the cities before those who do not believe; will these believe? And how do they expect miracles from him?" He answers them that those before us did not believe in miracles, nor do you believe, unless by the sword.
*Refutation.* Hear then, O Mahometans, if you think the Alcoran is true. For Mahomet himself is the one who affirms that he performed no miracle. But there were far more whom the sword consumed than those who followed him freely, as has been shown above. This sole fiction of the aforementioned vision ought to suffice to refute whatever Mahomet has said and done. For, as it has been said many times before, the Holy Spirit B thus permitted him to lie, so that any man might easily recognize the figment. For now he says unheard-of miracles about himself, but at another time he says that he is only a messenger and a man; and at other times, that he is even more than the angels and stands above the angels. Why, then, did he need an ass or a beast of burden from Mecca to Jerusalem, he who ascended from Jerusalem to the highest heaven without an ass? How was he able to endure such splendors of angels in heaven, he who said that when one angel appeared to him, he always fell to the ground, and was agitated foaming, and his hands and feet were bent and contracted? And in the aforementioned vision, he does not posit that he was caught up, but says that he ascended with body C and soul together, the sign of which is that he says that God touched him with His hand between his shoulders, and he felt coldness even to the marrow of the spine of his back. Hence he supposes God and the angels to have a position in corporal space.
XV. On certain common questions in the Alcoran, and on the excellence of Christ over Mahomet.
Consequently, certain doubts and questions in the Alcoran must be raised, concerning which, when the Saracens cannot render a reason, they will not only be called so simply, but will also be compelled D
by demonstrations, forced to enter into the banquet of truth. A The first question is, what does the Alcoran mean when it so often introduces God speaking pluralistically about himself? For it says in the chapter Elimpaceram, in the person of God: "We said to the angels, Adore Adam," and the rest. And after this it keeps saying this throughout the whole book until the end, alternately speaking of God in the plural and then in the singular. For it is most certain to all Christians and Jews and to those of the Saracens who use their reason, that there is one God, and He is sole and simple, and can have no companion. Why, therefore, does He speak pluralistically about Himself? But they cannot say that God is speaking about Himself and the angels. For it is said there: "We said to the angels." This statement, therefore, belongs to God, not to the angels, but is addressed to the angels. B Since in the chapter Sad it is said that all the angels adored Adam, except the devil. Therefore God said to all the angels: "Adore Adam." Furthermore, in many places in the Alcoran such forms of speech are introduced pluralistically concerning God in such actions in which the angels do not in any way share with God, such as in the creation of the world and in the justification of the impious. For it is said in many places of the Alcoran: "We (it says) have created the heaven and the earth, and what is between them, not in vain; and we justified man; and we sent the Son of Mary, and we gave Him the Holy Spirit, and the Gospel, and miracles," and similar things in which the angels cannot in any way share with God. For the angels were created by God, but they do not co-create the heaven and the earth and what is between them with God. And the Saracens cannot say that that plural voice is the voice of God and of some other intellect that surpasses anything created, through which God made all things. For it is agreed that whatever is outside of God is a creature, and was created by God, and no creature can be a co-creator with God. Again, it is not possible to say that God speaks pluralistically because of the various qualities that are in Him, such as power, wisdom, justice, and such things which the Arabs call *Saphat*. For these are not accidents in God, nor are they distinctions, but they are the divine essence itself. Whence they create no composition nor plurality in God, such that through them God would speak pluralistically of Himself. C Nay, not even man nor angel, because of their differences, can speak in the plural about himself, even though these are accidents in man and angel, and create a certain composition in them. And truly, such a manner of speech—that God, being one, speaks pluralistically of Himself—is found introduced only once by Moses in Genesis. For at the formation of man, God spoke, saying: "Let us make man in our image" (Gen. 1, 26). This the Jews say is the voice of God to the angels. Which indeed is contrary to divine scripture, which never says that an angel was formed according to the image of man, but according to the ima
image of God. A And this Moses adds immediately after those words, saying: "And God created man according to his own image and likeness; according to the image of God he created him." That voice, therefore, is of the Father to the Son, or of the whole Trinity to itself; for God is one and simple in essence, yet threefold in persons. The Alcoran might have said this simply, had it not feared that there might be a distinction of persons derived from a distinction of essence. For this reason, it says in the chapter *Elnesan*: "O society of the book, do not stray in your law, and do not say anything about God other than the truth, that Christ Jesus is the son of Mary, and the apostle of God, and the Word of God, which he placed in her through the Holy Spirit." Behold, here he names God, and the Word of God, and the Holy Spirit; but fearing that on account of these the divine essence might be divided, or multiplied, or limited, it immediately adds: "And do not say three gods, since God is one God." Behold how close it approached that which is the most difficult thing in the faith, in a manner saying this [that is] of John: "The Father and the Word and the Spirit, and these three are one." B Therefore, Mahomet introduces in the Alcoran God speaking in the plural, being ignorant of the cause. From this, then, the first question is manifest, that we believe in common with them that God is one and alone and simple. They, however, have in the Alcoran [the claim that] God has both a Word and a Spirit: and thus we believe in the true and one and simple God. And properly, He speaks of Himself in the singular; but because He is threefold in persons, He sometimes speaks of Himself in the plural.
The second question is that the Alcoran makes very frequent mention of the Holy Spirit and of the Word of God. What, then, is this Holy Spirit, and who is the Word of God? Concerning the Holy Spirit, indeed, it says in the chapter *Elpaceram* from the person of God: "We gave to Jesus the son of Mary to perform signs and manifest miracles, and we perfected him through the Holy Spirit," and this same thing it repeats through the whole chapter. It also says in the chapter *Elempai* regarding Mary: "We breathed into her from our Holy Spirit." C And in many other places it speaks similar things about the Holy Spirit. And the Saracens cannot say that it is some creature, like some angel, namely a good one, since it speaks of it in the singular, as if of one holy [being]. But the holy angels are many, and all are of God. What, then, is the cause that it should speak of him in the singular, as "our" and "holy"? Furthermore, it would not be a great praise of Christ, whom the Alcoran intends to commend in a singular way, that God should have given him an angel as a guardian. For every one of men has a guardian angel. For indeed God makes angels spirits, and our apostles, as the Alcoran says in the chapter *Elmaice*. Furthermore, angels not
A sanctify men, but God immediately and alone; just as God alone forgives sins, as is said in the Alcoran. The aforementioned Spirit, therefore, is true God. And the one who discourses about the Spirit is also true God, he who says: "We gave him the holy Spirit, and we breathed into him of the holy Spirit." Since, therefore, the divine essence is one and simple, and cannot be distinguished or divided, and there is there a giver and a given—the giver being He who says, "We gave," and the given being the Spirit which is given and breathed forth—and since between the giver and the given a distinction is sought, it is necessary that the Giver and Breather, God, and the given and breathed Spirit be distinguished personally only, and not essentially. And thus they are distinguished only by relations; and this is the only distinction which Christians posit in the divine persons.
The same question, entirely, which we have asked concerning the Holy Spirit, we can ask also concerning the Word of God. For indeed, the Alcoran B continually mentions the Word of God. For it is said in the chapter *Abraham*: "The angels said to the blessed Mary: O Mary, God has set thee above all women." And after this the angels said: "O Mary, God announces to thee," or "announces to thee His Word, and his name is Christ Jesus, son of Mary." And in the chapter *Elega* it is said: "Do not say concerning God anything but the truth, that Christ Jesus, the son of Mary, is an apostle of God, and the Word of God, which He himself placed in her through the Holy Spirit." He asserts, therefore, entirely that Christ is the Word of God. It is asked, therefore: who could this Word of God be? Is it an accidental word, or rather personal C and real? If he says it is a vocal word only, and accidental, this cannot be said. For the Alcoran and the Gospel speak of God in the singular, and of one Word only; but a vocal and accidental word of God, which goes forth from God, is not one, but many. For all good, holy, and true words can be called words of God. Furthermore, it would not be an excellent commendation of Christ, whom the Alcoran intends to commend D singularly, if for this reason he be called the Word of God, as if speaking the words of God. For not only Christ, but also the other prophets announced the words of God, and yet none of them is called the Word of God. For of Christ alone does the Gospel and the Alcoran say that he is the Word of God. If, however, the Word be taken essentially, it is manifest that the Word of God would be eternal, and true God. For just as the word that proceeds from the mouth of a corruptible man is corruptible of necessity, so the Word which proceeds from the eternal mouth of God, by which He made heaven and earth and what is in between (that I may use the word of the Alcoran), is necessarily eternal and incorruptible. And whatever proceeds from God essentially is God, and in this way the Word of God is God. Whence, since the Word in some way differs from Him who says and contains the Word, and in the essence of God there cannot be a division or essential distinction, it is necessary that there should be a personal distinction: and that the Word be distinguished from the speaker by proper and sole relations.
A And this is the Word, by which God said all things that are, “He spoke and they were made,” as it is also said in the Koran, and in this respect the Koran agrees with the Gospel of John, which says, “All things were made by him.” Since, therefore, the Word is conceived by the speaker, and is born intellectually; and that which is generated from another according to the likeness of species and nature is called son, for this reason we call the Word of God the Son of God. B Just as if the sun were to generate from itself such a splendor that it were a sun, we would certainly call that sun and the splendor the son of the sun. In this, however, there is the difference, that in creatures, in whom existence and essence differ, subjects cannot be multiplied without the nature also being multiplied. Whence man generates another man; but God, in whom existence and essence are the same, generating the Word from himself, does not generate another God. For the divine essence is neither dissimilar nor is it capable of being multiplied in any way, on account of its supreme perfection and simplicity. Mahomet, therefore, hearing the Christians saying that God has a Son, failed to consider that it is possible for there to be a son without a woman. And on this account he brought forward no other argument that God cannot have a Son, than that he does not have a wife. And he did not think upon what David said, whom Mahomet commended so highly, who, besides the natural Son, said that God has many adoptive sons, saying: “I have said, ye are gods, and all of you are children of the Most High,” C and not by a woman. Yet it is permitted to understand Mahomet along with himself, who says that Mary could have a son without a man; but how, he did not conveniently consider, that God also could have been able to have a Son without a woman. Truth, therefore, Mahomet spoke, when he said that Christ Jesus is the son of Mary, and is the Word of God; but he did not understand. For if he had understood, he would have said: From that which he is the son of Mary, he is true man; from that which he is the Word of God, he is true God. For God is not composite or imperfect, like man, whose word and comprehension of mind, and art and action, is not man. But whatever is of God, is God. Whence also the Word of God is God, and the intellect of God is God, and the action of God is God. But the Koran took Christ to be only man. D And for this reason, after it said that he is the Word of God, it added that Jesus is thus before God, as Adam, whom he created from the slime of the earth; and he said to him, “Be.” And how does this agree with the preceding? For when he said that God infused the Word into Mary, and his Spirit, from whom Christ was born, and after these things again he opines that he is the same as the Adam whom he formed from the earth, it is therefore inconsistent that the Word of God and his Spirit should be earth. Unless in some way we suppose the nature of God to be earth, which God forbid. For his Word and his Spirit would be as a certain statue, which neither...
Spirit, from whom Christ was to be born; and thereafter, again, to honor him as if he were the Adam whom He fashioned from the earth? It is wholly inconsistent to hold that the Word of God and His Spirit are clay, unless perhaps we assume the nature of God to be clay—which heaven forbid! For then His Word and His Spirit would be like some statue, neither understanding nor breathing. But our God, who is blessed unto the ages, sees and hears all things, and He has the Word incarnate from the holy Virgin, and the Spirit that overshadowed the Virgin and fulfilled the humanity of the Word. If, however, they suppose that in Adam likewise there were both the Word of God and the Spirit, they will not escape a manifest lie. For if the Word of God had been united to the flesh and to that clay, and the Spirit of God had filled Adam, Satan would never have been able to deceive him or cast him down. But to His Word God said, “Be,” concerning Adam—the Word through whom He made all things, and who was with Him from eternity. B Therefore, Christ is true God, since He is also the Word of God. For the Word of God is not less than the whole of God. And He is also true man, born of the Virgin Mary; and insofar as He is man, He is also an apostle of God, and His prophet, and a servant. And insofar as this goes, the Alcoranum well says in the chapter *Elnesa* that neither Christ nor the faithful angels will deny that He is a servant of God—that is, in so far as He is man. Yet, it is not found in the whole Gospel that Christ Himself said of Himself that He is a servant of God, lest He should introduce error. But neither did He say plainly, “I am God,” nor “man,” but by true and manifest works He showed Himself to be both truly God and truly man. And for this reason He said, “If you do not wish to believe Me, believe the works” (Joan. x, 38). And this is a more powerful proof than if He had said this by words alone. It has been said above why He did not say this plainly before the Passion. The apostles and the evangelists, however, both before and after this, spoke and showed such manifest words and miracles that the whole world was compelled to believe this. C But Mahomet, after well saying that Christ is the Word of God, did not stand in the truth, but contradicted himself, saying that Christ Himself is not God. Yet he said that he excused himself before God—which was shown to be a manifest lie in the ninth chapter—this, namely, that he said that Christ himself said, “Adore my God and your God, my Lord and your Lord” (Joan. xx, 17). But this in no way stands against our argument. For insofar as He was true man, He was also a true servant of God, as was made clear above. It has happened, therefore, to Mahomet what he himself wrote concerning others in the chapter of Jonah, saying that there are some who reject what they do not understand and what they cannot explain. Just so, he himself rejected the mystery of the incarnation because he could not understand nor explain what was said in the Gospel about Christ. And according to the same reasoning, he did not accept the mystery of the Trinity; for he could not understand the distinction of Persons without the distinction that is according to essence. And what is the wonder if a carnal man does not perceive the most excellent mysteries of God? These things, then, may suffice concerning the third question. D
B The fourth question is that Mahomet very frequently praises in the Alcoran the law of Moses, and Job, and David, and says that the Psalter is a luminous book. Moreover, he praises the Gospel above all other books, in which he says there is salvation and guidance. It is asked, therefore, why the Saracens neither possess, nor read these books, nor interpret them in their schools? For when Christ had confirmed Moses and the other prophets, the Christians, not having them, received them from the Jews, and caused them to be translated into various languages, and they have authentic copies of those books, and read them in their schools. But the Saracens say that the Jews indeed corrupted the books of the Old Testament, and the Christians the Gospel and the books of the New Testament, and that no truth remained in the world except what is in the Alcoran. But it has been demonstrated before in the third chapter that this is false and contrary to the Alcoran. Furthermore, how would so great a prophet, as they imagine Mahomet to be, have so greatly praised corrupted copies, and said that in them there is salvation and guidance? Or how would he not have foretold that they were to be corrupted after this? Rather, he said the contrary. For if the Saracens were in any doubt about the Alcoran, they should seek from those who read the books before them, that is, from the Christians and the Jews. And this he says in the chapter of Jonas. But he ought rather to have said: Do not believe those who have corrupted books. Also in the chapter of Abraham, he teaches that the Saracens should seek the authority of the law of Moses, saying: "Bring the Pentateuch, if you are truthful, and read in it," and so forth.
The cause, however, why the Saracens do not read the aforementioned books is no other than that their wise men know that the lie of the Alcoran would be easily detected if they read the holy and truthful books. Whence the Alcoran also maliciously provided for itself, and prescribed four remedies so that its lie might not be made manifest. The first of these is to command the execution of those who might say anything contrary to the Alcoran, which was made clear above in the fourth chapter. The second is to say that one should not dispute with men of another sect. The third is to prohibit believing them. For he said in the chapter of Abraham: Do not believe anyone except those who follow our law; and that in the Gospel there is salvation and guidance. He also says that the Saracens are nothing unless they fulfill the law and the Gospel. Therefore, they ought to possess the Gospel. The fourth is to separate oneself entirely from them, and to say: To me my law, and to you yours, and so forth. And after this: You are free from what I do, and I from what you do. And this he says in the chapter of Jonas. If, therefore, the Saracens were to accept the counsel of the Alcoran well, they would undoubtedly be led; for they would have had the Gospel and the law of Moses, and other Scriptures: especially since the Alcoran itself continuously praises Moses, David, Solomon,
and other prophets, and very frequently says that it does not prefer one to another. And these things belong to the fourth question.
B The fifth question is: What does Mahomet mean in the Alcoran, when he so often repeats concerning himself, writing, "Believe in God and the apostle, obey God and the apostle, follow God and the apostle"? For we know that to God alone are due faith, the honor of divine worship, the act of obedience, and the following of the way. For He alone is the beginning and the end of all things. Whence no prophet ever dared to say these things, nor to associate himself with God in such matters, to whom it is never possible for any companion or participant to exist. For the Lord in the law of Moses said to the Jews, "Know that I am alone." For this reason also, Elijah says, "If the Lord is God, go after him; but if Baal, follow him." It seems, therefore, from such things that Mahomet not only gives himself as a participant to God, but makes himself His associate and fellow-consort. And thus it is said in the chapter *El-nesa*: "God will not spare if anyone gives him a participant." But Christ alone—neither a consort nor a participant of God, but true God and true man—was able to say, "Believe in God, and believe in me." Who, however, never said: "Believe in God and in me," or "Obey God and me," lest men might believe him to be a participant and consort of God.
C The sixth question is: Since the Alcoran says many and magnificent things about Christ, but on the contrary few and even lowly things about Mahomet, it is asked, therefore, why the Saracens do not follow Christ rather than Mahomet, and the Gospel rather than the Alcoran? And because contrary things placed side by side are more clearly revealed, let us see, by comparing one with the other, what the Alcoran relates about each. For the Alcoran says that Christ was announced to His mother by an angel, and was sanctified by the Holy Spirit, and conceived by the power of God, not by the operation of nature; and that He was born of a most holy Virgin, and one pure above all other women. But concerning Mahomet it says nothing of the sort, but that he was an orphan and a wanderer, gathered by God. Furthermore, it says concerning Christ that He is the Word of God, and according to this He could be ignorant of nothing. But Mahomet was an uncertain prophet. For he says that he is ignorant of what will happen to him or to his own. He himself said, "I know not whether I or you are in righteousness." Whence also it is reported that he said concerning his father and mother, "Would that I knew what their work is." It is also reported that he was tricked by the Jews, with needles inserted into his face by certain women and cast into a well. And they commonly affirm that this same Mahomet ended his life by poison, which he took when D
A he had bled a certain vein. Also, Christ himself descended from Abraham and Isaac, to whom the promise of blessing and of obtaining the inheritance was made. Mahomet, however, descended from Ishmael, to whom the promise did not come; but concerning him it is written that "He shall be a wild man, and his hand will be against all men," and the rest. Again, Christ never committed any sin; for the Spirit of God and the Word of God could not sin. But Mahomet became an idolater and a murderer, a libertine and a robber, and guilty of many other sins for which God (as they say) pardoned him. Again, Christ performed astonishing and useful miracles; for as it is said in the chapter Elmaida, at the end, Christ illuminated the blind, cleansed the lepers, and raised the dead. But Mahomet performed no miracle according to the Alcoran. And the things that are said about him are either unsuitable, or impossible and absurd—such as restoring the moon after it was divided—or useless, such as a camel speaking, or entirely hidden. For he said he did many things in secret and by night, which, when asked to show by day, he could not. Hence they said to him: "You say that you ascend into heaven to God by night; ascend by day, so that we may see, and we shall believe." But Christ performed the greatest and most magnificent miracles by day, and in public, and before many witnesses who saw them; wherefore his works are manifest. Moreover, Christ was an excellent teacher, as is said in the Alcoran. And in the chapter Elmaida, as if from the person of God: "O Christ, consider whom I gave to you the Holy Spirit, that you might speak." Also, "In the cradle I taught you the book, and wisdom, and the law of Moses, and the Gospel." Mahomet, however, was an ignorant teacher and an unlearned man, knowing no other language but his own, unaware even of the interpretation of his own law. For he says that only God knows the interpretation of the Alcoran. Again, Christ, according to the Gospel, was crucified, and died, and rose again truly, and ascended into the heavens, and sits at the right hand of God. But the Alcoran says that he did not die, but God took him up. Wherefore, according to the Gospel and according to the Alcoran and in any event, Christ lives. But Mahomet is entirely dead. C But a living helper is better than a dead one. I omit other excellences, according to each case, which the Gospel records concerning Christ. It is strange, therefore, why the Saracens do not follow Christ rather than Mahomet, and the Gospel rather than the Alcoran, since it is highly credible that by a better legislator a better law was given, and one better preserved by God as true and incorrupt, as was demonstrated above in the third chapter. D
XVI. Concerning the excellence of the Gospel over the Alcoran.
Now concerning the excellence of the Gospel over the Alcoran,
A we can easily know it from what was said above. For it was previously demonstrated that the Alcoran is not the law of God, because neither the Old nor the New Testament bears witness to it; and because it does not agree with others either in its style or in its decrees; and because it contradicts itself; and because it is confirmed by no miracle; and because it is irrational; and because it contains manifest lies; and because it is violent, and disorderly, and wicked, and ambiguous. For all these things were briefly demonstrated above by the Alcoran itself. Yet, to those reading the Alcoran itself, these things are shown better. So that we can confidently say: If you do not wish to believe us, read the Alcoran.
The opposites of these things appear clearly in the evangelical doctrine. B For Mahomet, just as he praised Christ in an exceptional way above all prophets who are or shall be, so also did he magnify the doctrine of the Gospel above all divine Scriptures. We know, however, that there is no testimony to a doctrine or a life as strong and as powerful as the praise given by those who attempt to introduce censure against them. Mahomet himself says in the Alcoran, in the chapter [c] *Elmeide*: "We have terminated the way of men through Jesus Christ the son of Mary, the most truthful prophet; and we have given him the Gospel, in which is guidance, and light, and manifest truth." But also in many places the Alcoran exceptionally praises the Gospel. But the Gospel itself also, in every land and dialect, manifests itself most excellently to the world. So that I could confidently say to the Saracens regarding it: If you wish or do not wish to believe your Mahomet regarding the Gospel, read the Gospel itself.
And since, as is said in the Alcoran in the chapter *Elemphal*, God, wishing the truth to be verified by His Word, and the government of heretics to be severed, and that truth might be verified and vanity might vanish, God provided and dispensed that the world should not perish through ignorance, so that that law which was generally necessary for all and alone necessary—that law which is of the Gospel—should be written not in one place, but in different provinces; and not in one idiom, but in different and universal dialects, Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, and thereafter be faithfully translated. Moreover, D at the end of the Gospel, Christ commanded His disciples to preach the Gospel effectively throughout the whole world. That they might be able to accomplish this, He gave them the grace of tongues and the power of miracles.
The Alcoran, however, says that it was given to itself by God in Arabic alone; and the Saracens firmly believe that no one can know it who is ignorant of the Arabic dialect. It follows, however, that not all know the Arabic language, nor can they learn it. But it is written in the Alcoran, as has also been demonstrated, that no one can be saved except those who are in the law of the Saracens. Wherefore it could appropriately be asked: If God wishes only the Saracens, and those who know the Arabic language, to be saved? The law of the Christians, however, which is written in all languages,
A says that God wishes all men to be saved. Therefore, let the Saracens, who are called saved only in name, as has been said before, and all others who wish to be saved in truth, learn that Christ is the Savior, and let them read the Gospel in whatever language they wish; they will find almost everything contrary to what has been aforementioned and demonstrated by the Alcoran. They will find that the law of Moses and the prophets bear witness to it, and that there is no contrariety in the Gospel, but rather that it is the fulfillment and perfection of all other Scriptures. They will also find in the Gospel a style that is not metrical or rhythmic, but simple and common—not because of the simplicity of the writers, but for the benefit of the readers, so that it could be conveniently understood by every simple and unlearned person. It has no flattering manner; nor does it use base or obsolete terms, but rather common and most honorable ones. The Gospel contains absolutely no fable, and if it sometimes sets forth certain parables, it is manifest from the very sequence of the words that it is speaking parabolically. It agrees in its teachings, not only with other holy Scriptures, as has been said, but also with the philosophers who have treated demonstratively or rationally of the virtues and of the ultimate end of man. It also adds certain most sublime things, to which natural human reason cannot attain. And it says nothing whatsoever to which anyone could demonstratively object, because since a demonstration contains the truth, nothing can be contrary to it except that which is false. B To those who examine it diligently, no contradiction is found in the Gospels. Therefore, not only does one Gospel agree with itself, but the four of them agree with one another simply in all matters necessary for the faith—that is, concerning the incarnation, the doctrine, the passion, the resurrection, and the ascension of Christ, and the mission of the Holy Spirit, even though the four Gospels were written from the beginning in different places and in different languages, and by different authors, as has been said before. Some simpler folk, however, have supposed that there is a contradiction in the Gospel, because that which is contained in one Gospel is not contained in another. But this is not a contradiction, but rather a dispensation of God, as if by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, so that what was omitted by one Evangelist, another might state; and what was written by one Evangelist, none of the other three denied, nor did they say anything contrary. But these four did not write down all the deeds or words of Christ, but only those things which are most necessary for salvation. C How the Christian doctrine is perfectly confirmed by miracles has been manifestly demonstrated before in the seventh chapter, wherefore it is not necessary to dwell on these things any longer. For there is no doctrine or law in the world which is so reasonable and perfect, just as—
the evangelical law, which has torn up all passions by the roots; it forbids not only disordered action or the outward word, but also the disordered movement of the mind or inward disposition, such as concupiscence, disordered anger, and the like, from which all external evils follow. A It planted and preserved all good things in the commandment of most perfect love, namely, of God and of one's neighbor; which is the fulfillment of the law. For when friendship and perfect love have been planted, which compels one to share one's own goods with others, it is no longer necessary to seek justice, which leads one to restore what belongs to another. The Gospel also contains the most natural and appropriate commandment: "Whatever you wish that men should do to you, do you also to them likewise." With this one commandment alone, nothing else is necessary regarding one's neighbor. Nor does the Gospel contain only truth, but, as the teachers of the Christians believe, if even one single falsehood were found in the Gospel, the whole Gospel would rightly be held in suspicion, as has been determined above in the ninth chapter. The Gospel permits no violence whatsoever; B rather, it says that one must patiently endure even violence and injury itself, saying: "If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also; and if anyone takes your mantle from you, do not forbid him, but give him your tunic as well." It teaches also to render benefit and love in return for injury and hatred, saying: "Love your enemies, do well to those who hate you, and pray for those who despitefully use you and persecute you." However, this is not contradicted if some wicked Christians do not keep all these things. For the perversion C of the wicked does not hinder the perfection and truth of the most holy law.
The doctrine of the Gospel is most well-ordered, as has been demonstrated before in the eleventh chapter, both by the order of time, and of place, and of doctrine, and of subject matter. For it begins from the incarnation of Christ, and defines matters pertinent to His birth. And after the birth, at the appropriate time, it shows His doctrine and His wisdom, and after these, His power and miracles; and then the passion and death; and lastly the resurrection and the D ascension into heaven. Indeed, no evil can be found in a doctrine of such perfection; even if the unstable and unlearned say that certain blasphemies are contained in the Gospel, as for instance concerning the incarnation of Christ and His passion, and furthermore concerning the mystery of the Trinity—notions about which, as has been said before, it is written in the Alcoran as things which they reject because they do not understand them. The evangelical law is most certain, because it is known most certainly at what time, in what place, and by what men the evangelical doctrine was written. It is also most certain that it is most conveniently and most easily intelligible, because the things to be believed are proposed through the revelation of God, as
one that is perfectly understood and in a proper manner; for it is proposed as something that must be believed by divine revelation, but not by inquiry or apprehension of human reasoning, so that even the simpler folk may A easily ascend to it. Moreover, it is necessary to know that there is nothing in the Gospel that is not possible to be understood by us, being helped by the light of faith. And if it is most certain in itself, yet it is not understood by all, but only by the humble, and those humble of heart. But the proud and carnal cannot understand it; whose intellect stands in relation to it as the eye of a bat to the sun. But the holy teachers of the Christian faith do not fly like bats in the night, but with attentive eyes, like eagles, contemplate the rays of truth within themselves; and to others who are ignorant and seek a reason, they interpret in a suitable way the mysteries of the faith and of the truth. But they do not say to them, as in the Alcoran, in the chapter of Jonah and in the chapter of Eleapherim, that it is fitting for the Saracens to say to other nations who do not believe and contradict the Alcoran: "To me my faith, and to you yours"; but they are prepared for a response to everyone who asks for an account concerning the faith and hope that is in them. B Now this is the mark of a wise man: to render a reason and cause for his own work. For otherwise any fool whatsoever could establish a law, and conclude whatever he wished, and say, "It is not necessary to believe anything contrary to those things which have been set down by me."
XVII. Concerning the Saracens' response to the aforementioned.
C To these things, certain superstitious and contentious Saracens attempt to respond, saying: We do not say that the Gospel is not from God, since the Alcoran manifests this, nor do we say that it is imperfect, since it is from God, but the Gospel contains things so arduous and perfect that the world does not suffice to fulfill them. For who can love God with his whole heart, and his neighbor as himself? Who can pray for those who persecute and calumniate him? Who can with his whole heart do good to those who do evil? And the Gospel commands certain other most perfect things. Therefore, since there was no law that could be kept, God provided for the world through a law of salvation, and made the commandments light, and gave the world the Alcoran, which by no means contains these difficult things, but is easy for the saving of men through it. Hence they say that the Alcoran is more common, D and fully suffices for the salvation of the world. And for this reason they call the Alcoran, antonomastically, the law of salvation. They say, therefore, that the Alcoran succeeded as it were in the place of the Gospel, and whatever good there was in the Gospel is wholly in the Alcoran, and that there is no longer any need for the Gospel. But this contains a manifest lie. For it is not possible to say that the Gospel was given for a certain time, as for instance up to the Alcoran, and that after these things the Alcoran itself succeeded for the salvation of men, since the Alcoran manifestly testifies that in the Gospel there is guidance and salvation. Furthermore, it is not po-
possible to say that after giving the Gospel, God perceived that the world would not be able to keep it, and that for this reason He corrected the interpretation and made the commandment lighter, as one who understands what is necessary from the things that come after. For God knew from the beginning what the Gospel contains and what men are able to bear. And even apart from these things, the Alcoran itself says that the Saracens are nothing unless they fulfill the Gospel, the law of Moses, and the Alcoran, as has been said above. But Christians are bound to fulfill only the Gospel. Furthermore, how could the Gospel be called perfect if it were not proportional to the strength of men, nor could it be kept in common? Furthermore, if the Gospel is perfect and contains the things necessary for salvation, what is remarkable if it also contains certain other lofty counsels B which are of great perfection, yet says that these are not necessary for salvation? Furthermore, the more a law is relaxed, the less it is in itself worthy of reward. If therefore the Alcoran is more relaxed than the Gospel, it is not, therefore, similarly effective for salvation. For God would not have given a law less effective for salvation and yet more laborious. And it is established in the Alcoran that even demons can be saved through it, as was manifest above in the seventh chapter, who cannot be saved through the Gospel. The Alcoran is therefore more salutary than the Gospel; therefore it is also more laborious and more difficult. Furthermore, if the Alcoran is an easier law, it will be more dangerous and worthy of greater censure not to observe it. But the Saracens do not keep it; therefore they sin more dangerously. And that they do not observe it, nor fulfill it, is manifest. For they drink wine and become drunk, and eat things that are forbidden among them; they do not keep the fast, nor the prayer, nor do they spend according to their means; and many other things, which he knows better who has had experience of these matters while living among them. Whether they call this path easy or difficult, they do not escape the danger. But in truth, Mahomet indeed attempted to give an easy law, yet it was not permitted to him to temper his reed in such a way that he did not interweave many difficult things. For that law contains much difficulty in its understanding. For it is said in the Alcoran that it is understood by God alone. How this is irrational was made manifest in the eighth chapter. C Furthermore, it also contains difficulty in believing. For it says that the Virgin Mary gave birth to Jesus, and that God has a Word and a Holy Spirit; things which are necessary for our faith, and yet confirmed by miracles. Furthermore, it is difficult to be fulfilled by works—such as circumcision, and not drinking wine, and avoiding drunkenness through fermented liquor, and other things which pertain to fasting and prayer, and to the contribution given to each by God according to their means, and many other things which few of the Saracens keep. As, therefore, it was necessary for the world that the precepts of the Gospel should be lightened and a lighter Alcoran be given: so it might be said by someone that it was necessary that another, even lighter law should be given, which could be observed by men, and just as the Gospel
strong drink and regarding drunkenness through other means, and regarding fasting and prayer, and regarding distribution according to the affluence granted by God to each; and many other things, which few of the Saracens keep. A Just as, therefore, it has become necessary for the world for the precepts of the Gospel to be lighter, and for the Alcoran to be given as something lighter, so also it was absolutely necessary for another, lighter law to be given that could be kept by men. Or, if there were few who were saved, blame would follow upon God for having given such a law, which men would not have been able to keep. But if this is absurd, one must therefore stand by the first position: that the Gospel is a law from God, most holy at once, and not exceeding the strength of men. B
CONFESSION OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH, MADE TO THE SARACENS, BY AN UNCERTAIN AUTHOR.
Whether it was Richard the Florentine, as the style and certain other circumstances suggest, or someone else who made this confession of the Christian faith, it is certainly pious and redolent of the apostolic spirit. Moreover, it exhibits a form of professing the Catholic and orthodox religion of Christ without petulance and curses, and again without any paint—designed rather as a renunciation than a confession. And if with ardent prayers we should obtain from the Lord of the harvest some workers of this kind, who are instructed in the expertise of the divine Scriptures and inflamed with divine love, and who would approach nations alienated from Christ, just as that excellent man approached Egypt and learned the Arabic language, and inspected the doctrine of that sect more closely, and then immediately expounded the Christian faith and refuted their dogmas while observing Christian moderation, we would see in a short time copious fruits gathered into the barns of the Lord our God.
We such and such, etc., C professors of the Christian faith, coming from distant parts, and existing by the grace of God of sound mind, today in the name of the most holy Trinity, Father and Son and Holy Spirit, of the one supreme and omnipotent God, the creator and governor of the universe, with a pure and sincere intention, and moved by no human passion, humbly present ourselves before your earthly and transitory power and that of your people, to do two things firmly and steadfastly: first, to profess the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the truth of his pure and immaculate faith, and of the holy Gospel; second, to announce to you the way, outside of which you cannot be saved. Regarding the first, the honor and love of God compel us. For it is indeed written in the law of God: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind” (Deut. vi, 5; Matth. xxii, 37). This love indeed pertains to divine honor and love, which honor and love are at last shown and declared in a free, spontaneous, and voluntary confession before men. Whence also the Lord Jesus says in His Gospel: “Everyone who confesses me before men, I also will confess him before my Father who is in heaven, and whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of man will be ashamed of him in his majesty and that of the Father, and
Aof the holy angels. To the second point, zeal and brotherly love incite us. Whence, to the aforementioned commandment concerning the love of God, there is immediately joined the commandment concerning the love of neighbor. For when it is said, “You shall love the Lord your God,” and so forth, it is immediately added, “and your neighbor as yourself,” that is, toward the same end, toward the same salvation and happiness toward which you love and direct yourself, you should love your neighbor and procure the same salvation for him.
Be it known to you, therefore, most beloved, that we are men who have for many years been dedicated to divine worship, though unworthy and sinners, and planted in the house of the Lord to meditate on his law day and night. In the diligent meditation and searching of this law, we have most truly learned that the faith of the Catholic Church of the Christians, of which we are professors, is most true, containing in itself no falsehood or lie. And the Gospel of Christ is the immaculate law of the Lord, converting souls; a faithful testimony of the Lord, imparting wisdom to the little ones. The Bjustices of the Lord are right, gladdening hearts; a bright commandment of the Lord, enlightening the eyes, in that it was dictated by God the Father himself through his Word, through his Wisdom, through his only-begotten Son himself, through whom he brought forth every creature from nothing; pre-signified by many patriarchs; predicted by the prophets through various enigmas and symbols; prefigured many centuries before among both peoples of God, namely those who were called Jews and the Gentiles. And at last, delivered to the world and made manifest by that same divine Wisdom that became man, confirmed by wondrous signs and portents, preached by the apostles: consecrated by the blood of the legislator himself, Jesus Christ, and of his own apostles, and of the innumerable martyrs following Cthem; declared in many ways and wondrously by the words and examples of the holy confessors and teachers of Christ; adorned by the holy widows and virgins through a continent and virginal purity that is divine rather than human; whitened more than snow by the wondrous purgation of their own repentance. In which law are preached all things that surpass human understanding; the pleasures of the flesh are restrained; all things that are in the world are taught to be spurned; and invisible, immaterial, spiritual, and eternal things—not such as flesh and blood suggest—are promised; and, to conclude with the Alcoran, in it is direction, and light, and manifest truth.
As far, therefore, as the first Dpoint is concerned, with the whole devotion of our mind, with all the desire and fervor of our heart
we proclaim and confess the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father. And each of us confesses this very faith concerning Him, together with the holy Catholic Church, with the utmost reverence: “I believe in God the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead. B I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen.” We believe, moreover, whatever the holy Mother Church believes along with these things: whether it pertains to the ministry of the faith, or to the divine precepts, or to the sacraments by which we are regenerated unto life, or to the evangelical law in any way whatsoever.
As for the second point, we announce, proclaim, and firmly profess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the true Son of God, true God and true man, is the way by which one goes to true salvation and ascends into heaven, He Himself saying in the Gospel: “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” C The way, that is, by which we are directed so that we may not err; the truth, by which we are enlightened so that we may not be deceived; the life, by which we are quickened so that we may not fail of our goal. Whence whoever is not in this way wanders; whoever does not gaze upon this truth is in darkness; whoever is not quickened by this life is dead. Whence also a certain great and excellent preacher of the evangelical law cries out, speaking of the name of Jesus: “There is no other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” This, therefore, is the way from which, if anyone turns aside to the right hand or to the left, he wanders, and does not reach the goal of salvation and eternal happiness. This is the way which our evangelical law shows and demonstrates. And that we may set forth something D summarily and healthfully: this our evangelical law shows the aforesaid way in three things. First, how we may see and know this way, and this is through faith. Second, how we may be placed and established in that way, and this is through the sacraments. Third, how, having already been placed in it, we may be directed so that we do not abandon it, and may reach the goal of salvation and happiness, and this is through the precepts and virtues. Whoever, therefore, wishes to be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholic faith, that is, of the Christian Catholic Church, as it is delivered to that same Church by the Gospel, to the end that he may be illuminated, and may see, and
know this path, outside of which there is no salvation. A Next, that he may reverently receive the sacraments of the Church, so that he may be placed upon the path by which it is necessary to travel toward salvation. Finally, that he may be able to reach the goal of salvation and happiness securely, it is necessary that he observe the evangelical and divine precepts, and that he order and live his life according to the theological and moral virtues alike.
It is necessary, therefore, most beloved, for the sake of your salvation, B both concerning God and concerning the aforementioned path, which is Christ, to think and understand more and differently than you have in your Alcoran, in which, although you have many true and clear things concerning God and our Lord Jesus Christ himself, which we also confess, nevertheless, because [you do] not [hold them] in the same way as the Truth itself has manifested in the Gospel, nor sufficiently, for this reason the law of the Alcoran itself does not suffice for salvation. For the Alcoran itself hands down concerning God that He is one, incorporeal, immaterial, invisible, incomprehensible; to whom there is neither participant nor associate, in whose hand is life and death; He is all-powerful above all things, blessed above all things; He is the creator, governor, and justifier of souls, and C many other things, which we also truly believe and preach. But in this, that it denies God the Father, not carnally from a woman, since He is spirit, but from His own substance intellectually from eternity having begotten a co-eternal Son to Himself, and having brought forth the Holy Spirit, it errs miserably, and fails from the truth of the Gospel: which firmly teaches that God is one in substance and nature, and trite in persons, namely the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit; and that neither the Son nor the Holy Spirit is a participant or associate of God, since both [are] God not by any participation or society, but substantially and naturally, having the same indivisible and inseparable nature of divinity with God the Father. Which incomprehensible height of divinity no one shall know, D unless one first through humility has believed the Gospel. Whence also one of the ancient prophets says: «Unless you believe, you shall not understand.» And our Lord Himself in the Gospel, speaking to the Father, says: «I confess to thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to little ones.» 1 And the Alcoran hands down many other true, bright, and magnificent things concerning our Lord Jesus Christ himself: such as that our Lord Jesus Christ is the son of the Virgin Mary, the best of all women; that He is the messenger of God, and His spirit, the Word sent from heaven to Mary; a most excellent man, wise, a prophet, who cured the man born blind and the leper, raised the dead, that He came with divine virtue, that He brought a law-giving book, and the skill of all teaching, which...
1 Matth. xi, 25.
A taught the Covenant and the Gospel and commandments to the children of Israel, confirmed the Old Testament, and numbered some things previously forbidden among things allowed. These things and many others clearly spoken in the Alcoran concerning our Lord Jesus Christ we also believe, and receive with all veneration. But because they are not said with the same intention as in the Gospel, and because the majority and the greater things beyond what has been said are omitted, and denied concerning Him, the book of the Alcoran is therefore not only insufficient for salvation, but is altogether contrary to salvation. B Therefore, it is necessary to understand the aforementioned things set down in the Alcoran concerning Christ in another way, and to believe other, greater, and higher things concerning Christ beyond them. For one must believe that Christ is not only of the Virgin Mary, but is also the only-begotten Son of God, consubstantial and coequal in all things to God the Father from eternity, and without time and beginning, as the Word of God, as wisdom, as virtue, begotten, through Whom all things were made. Who for us men, and for our salvation, descended from the heavens, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit and Mary the Virgin, and was made man. And that He was crucified, died, and was buried truly and in His own person. That on the third day He rose from the dead, and ascended C into heaven by His own power as God, from whence He came: not as a creature dragged up, as your Alcoran feigns, and now sits at the right hand of the Father. And that finally at the end of the age He will come with glory to judge the living and the dead: of whose kingdom there will be no end. It is necessary, therefore, to believe that Christ is true God and true man, the Savior and Redeemer of the world, a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek; and the spotless lamb, who takes away the sin of the world; having the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and all power in heaven and on earth: whose power is eternal, and His kingdom incorruptible. That He shall reign in the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end. That Christ is He in whom all nations shall be blessed, regarding whom the promise was made to Abraham in Isaac, the son of the free woman, and not in Ishmael, the son of the bondwoman, as the Scripture witnesses: D "Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for in Isaac shall thy seed be called." That He Himself is that Messiah, and the great prophet, of whom Moses and the prophets wrote in the Law. Whom Abraham awaited with the greatest desire to see, and at length saw, and rejoiced. Who is named by the prophets the Angel of the covenant, Emmanuel, the Savior, the Counselor, God, the mighty, the father of the world to come, the prince of peace. These and many other things the Gospel delivers concerning the way of salvation, which is Christ, that we may see it and know it through faith. But because it profits little to know and to see the way of salvation, unless a man be in it, and be placed
A in it, therefore, beyond faith, the evangelical sacraments are necessary.
Among these, the first, and the door to the others, is holy baptism; of which the Lord says in the Gospel of John to Nicodemus: "Amen, amen, I say to thee, unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." And after His resurrection, ascending into heaven, while delivering the form of this sacrament, He said to the disciples: "Going therefore, teach ye all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you." And again: "Go ye into the whole world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved."
This, therefore, is the sacrament by which we are regenerated unto life, and it is necessary for salvation; because "unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." Since, therefore, the Alcoran B altogether forbids this regeneration of baptism, it does not open, but rather closes the kingdom of God to those who follow it. It is necessary, therefore, that he who wishes to be saved and to enter into the kingdom of God—beyond right and orthodox faith in the name of the most holy Trinity, that is to say, of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit—be baptized, and subsequently be nourished with the heavenly food, that is, the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, He Himself saying in the Gospel: "He that eateth not my flesh, and drinketh not my blood, shall not have life everlasting"; and likewise regarding the others, in order, to partake of the sacraments of the Church.
Further, since it is C in vain, so far as salvation is concerned, to be and to be called a Christian by name, and yet not to stand by one's deeds in the way, and not to direct one's steps to the end; therefore, as a most perfect law, the holy Gospel not only shows us the way through faith, and places us therein through the sacraments, but also directs us rightly and easily to the end: rightly, indeed, by precepts and virtues; but easily, by counsels. For there is no law, nor has there ever been one, which so radically eradicates vices, so deeply implants virtues, so arduously carries out divine mandates, and so sweetly encourages to the fulfillment of the counsels of perfection, as does the evangelical law, which contains and shows every path of perfection.
For what law has there ever been D that taught us to honor God so piously, so devotedly, so magnificently, and so purely; to honor His name, to sanctify the Sabbaths and festivals, to love parents, to love one's neighbor, not to slay men fashioned in the image of God; to preserve modesty in all things, not only not to commit adultery, but not to fornicate, or be defiled in any way whatsoever; not to commit theft, not to rob, not to otherwise oppress one's neighbor, not to bear false witness against him; and what is more, not to scandalize him, nor
to be angry with him; not to covet his wife, nor his maidservant, nor any other thing whatsoever in this age. And not these things only, but also that which to carnal men seems impossible: to love one's enemies, to do good to those who hate us, to pray for those who persecute and malign us. A And that we may come to the virtues: by humility and meekness it casts down pride; by benevolence it conquers envy; by magnificence and liberality it overcomes avarice; by temperance and sobriety it mitigates gluttony; by patience it extinguishes anger; by solicitude and diligence it enervates sloth; while by chastity and purity it not only refrains from luxury and every impulse of lust, but renders very many persons, just like the heavenly and incorporeal spirits themselves, entirely impassible. What more? It itself turns away the sight, so that it may not behold vanity; it closes the hearing, so that it may not hear useless and scurrilous things; it restrains the taste, so that it may not desire prohibited things; it tempers the sense of smell, so that it may not slip into empty and deadly sweetnesses; it bridles and draws back the touch, so that it may not in any way touch or embrace what is forbidden. B It purges unclean thoughts, puts to flight harmful delights, entirely prohibits consent to illicit acts, restrains the tongue, orders discourse, composes manners, directs works, restores what has been omitted that ought to have been done, and, to sum up all things in one word, it teaches one to fear God, and to love Him with one's whole heart, to adhere to Him, and never to be separated from Him for all eternity; which is the highest happiness and immense joy, begun here, as far as is possible through a reflection, which will at length be completed and perfected in its entirety in the other life through the evidence of the reality. Which happiness and joy is the end and goal of the way through which the evangelical law leads and directs its followers, in the manner already spoken of. Which end and goal, which we call salvation and happiness, although like the incomprehensible it is also unexplainable, as the prophet Isaiah says: "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it ascended into the heart of man," the good, namely, "which God has prepared for those who love him" C (Isa. LXIV, 4; I Cor. II, 9); nevertheless, as we mortals are able, we will say something about it, and briefly, so that from the very desire for the reward, our souls may not recoil from the arduousness of the journey. For the happiness which the evangelical law promises to Christians does not consist in the possession of earthly goods, not in the eating of all kinds of meats and fruits, not in the drinking of wine, honey, and milk, not in the sweetness of the sound of running waters, of brooks, namely, and fountains, not in the embrace and carnal luxury of the most beautiful women and virgins, not in the other things to which carnal concupiscence and mortal dross incite one—such a paradise as your Alcoran promises you. But our happiness as Christians, which we call eternal life, consists substantially and essentially in itself, and without any created medium, in the vision of the divine essence and nature itself. Whence our Lord says in the Gospel: This is eternal life, that they may know thee
the only true God, and whom thou hast sent, Jesus Christ. A And because such an object of love will be in the beholder through love, which transforms the lover into the beloved, there will follow upon this very vision a certain transformation and tension, by which the lover will be rendered godlike and will hold the beloved; nay, and one will be in the other, as the Lord says: He who dwells in me, and I in him; and because God is love, and he who dwells in love dwells in God, and God in him; and because upon the union of the most highly conjoined there follows the highest love, there will follow upon that divine and eternal vision an ineffable sweetness and delight, which we call by its own name, fruition—and such a one as the mind of mortals can neither conceive nor the tongue express. B How admiringly did the prophet David cry out in the Spirit, saying: O how great is the multitude of thy sweetness, O Lord, which thou hast hidden for those who fear thee! Beyond the aforementioned beatitude of divine vision, by which our soul will be entirely made happy, we shall also have happiness in the body, in its own way. For the bodies of the blessed will be immortal, incorruptible, so as to be altogether impassible, and, finally, subtle and agile, and more splendid and refulgent than the sun now is. They will not eat or drink there bodily, being filled with the ineffable satiety of divine vision. C Similarly, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage, but will be as the angels of God, as our Lord Jesus Christ says in the Gospel: For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor can they die any more, but are as the angels of God in heaven, and are children of God. And again: Then the just will shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. And as regarding their fellowship, so also regarding their state, as far as concerns such acts of the body, they will rejoice. For there will be no desire for food there, no lasciviousness will be kindled there, nor any other passions, such as we now suffer in the body: no tears, D no mourning, no crying, nor finally any pain, no sicknesses, no weaknesses, no fear of poverty. No one there is harmed, no one is angered, no one will envy his neighbor. No ambition for honor or power will knock there. There will be no discord there then, but all things will be harmonious. There will be no fear of the devil there; no snares of demons; fear of hell will be far off: all things will be tranquil, and with eternal security there will be constant splendor. Truly he is degenerate who is not captivated by the love of this life, in which riches and delights and joys are so begun that they cannot be ended. He who is unwilling to be a lover of this, will both lose the present temporal life and will not find this eternal one of which we speak, and will be seized by eternal death. Of this eternal life and eternal happiness, long ago our great Paul, drawn by his desire for Jesus Christ, complaining of the exile of the present life, cried out thus: O unhappy man, who will deliver me from the body of this death? — I live, now not I, but Christ lives in me. I desire to be dissolved, and to be with Christ. For hidden
A is that life to mortals. For as long as we are in the world, we are away from the Lord. But then it shall be revealed and manifested, when the Lord Jesus shall begin, instead of earthly things, to give heavenly; instead of temporal, eternal; instead of small, great things; and to bring the saints with Himself into the vision of the Father's glory; and to cause them to sit with Him in the heavenly places, and to bestow upon them His own immortality, for which He prepared them by the life-giving power of His own blood. “How glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God! How beloved are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! My soul longeth and fainteth for the courts of the Lord,” said the prophet; “my heart and my flesh have exulted in the living God.”
B Such, in truth, is the happiness of the Christians; such is our hope; such is the end and goal of the holy Gospel. Not such as flesh and blood promise to us, but such as the heavenly and angelic spirits possess. For the obtaining of which, it is no wonder if our forefathers, kindled by the fire of charity, gladly and joyfully endured C various and numberless torments; if they voluntarily renounced parents, wives, children, and finally riches, the pleasures of the flesh, and all other goods of this world, that they might arrive at this more swiftly, more securely, and more freely. And because the charity of Christ (which, as much as in it lies, wills all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth) compelled us, having dismissed all the comforts of the present life, to come to you from distant regions and with great labors, D and to profess and announce what we ourselves have professed and announced, therefore we ask you and beseech you in Him, who created us all in His own image, as rational and intellectual beings, that you would patiently accept in these writings what we have announced; and that, as rational beings, created in the image and likeness of God, you would examine our writings with reason. If you find anything consonant with reason, accept that as rational creatures. But if anything seems to you to have been set forth otherwise, behold, we offer ourselves as ready, even until we render our spirit to God who made it, to do so in the aid and virtue of Him who said: “When you shall stand before kings and governors, do not think how or what you shall speak; for it shall be given to you in that hour what you shall speak.” To show that all things which we have written are in accordance with the holy Gospel and
reason together, how or what you shall speak; for it shall be given to you in that hour what you shall speak. This is to show that everything we have written is consistent with the holy Gospel and with the Word. But if you do not desire to examine A even the aforementioned matters with reason, nor to hear us any further—the order and circumstances having been duly observed—we excuse ourselves before God and all His angels and saints, and we call as witnesses heaven and earth and all creation, that according to our ability we have acted for your salvation, doing what we were able to do, laying down our souls for your salvation and love, according to the Gospel, which says: “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his soul for his friends” (John xv. 13), and for the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is God blessed unto the ages. Amen.
DEMETRIUS CYDONIUS, ON CONTEMNING DEATH, AN ORATION.
ARGUMENT.
Demetrius, to teach that death is not to be feared but to be contemned and disregarded, brings forward three classes of men who fear death: first, those who abhor death because of the loss of pleasures (c. 2–6); then, those who think that all things are destroyed by death (c. 7–20); finally, those who consider death the greatest and most burdensome of all evils because of eternal punishments (c. 7 [sic] – 25): so that he may disclose and demonstrate the vanity of the fear of each and its causes.CHAPTER I.
The departure of the soul from the body, which we are accustomed to call death, all tremble at, all hate, and all consider the worst of all evils. If one should ask them by what reason they are led to so greatly abhor it, they seem to themselves to have a cause, and B they easily persuade those who are similarly disposed toward them, just as cowards might advise the timid to abstain from wars; for they would easily persuade them in this way, since the likeness of the suffering makes them persuasive counselors to their hearers. But if they attempt to make their accusations before men of discernment, they have no reasonable argument to offer for their opinion, but only ignorance of the soul and the—A malady of their own mind—a condition from which they suffer—indicating that they are persuaded to fear things that are not to be feared and are struck with dismay by things that cause no harm. Come then, let us see for what reasons they think death surpasses all evils. For, as the proverb goes, all things are divided into three parts; so too does it happen that those who disparage death fall into three classes. For the most spontaneous—or rather, the most truthful—who do not know how to conceal their own disgrace, lament the deprivation of all manner of pleasures; and they consider that which destroys these to be, quite deservedly, the most troublesome and most formidable thing of all. But those more refined, who are ashamed to do or admit anything without cause, say that it is implanted in all by nature to desire to be and to live. Now, as for that which takes this away, which all desire, and brings it about that the things which exist, cease to exist, and brings destruction upon them, and casts a shadow of death upon things made by nature with such beauty—who would not shudder? Who would not hate it? Who, if he were even to hear it mentioned, would not reject it as an enemy to nature? And not only to nature, but far more so to God: not merely because He alone has been granted absolute immortality, but because it is most contradictory to His purpose; since that which He Himself strives to procreate and preserve, death extinguishes and dissipates. These are the arguments the more sober, who follow nature, use to justify their hatred. The remaining and third class, being somewhat more serious and decorous, and wishing to be thought more prudent than the others, do not think death should be blamed for the reasons we have mentioned, but because, immediately C after it, we are compelled to render an account of the life we have lived, and to pay most painful and bitter penalties for all eternity—penalties of which we would have had no experience, had not death torn the soul from the body and dispatched it to the laws and inquisitions of that place. With such words, then, some strike fear both into themselves and their listeners; and they themselves are both struck with dismay at the very name of death, and persuade others to share in their fear.
CAPUT II
Let us see, then, whether they say anything of substance, and whether it is honorable for a man who claims to be a man to surrender himself to such reasonings. It is no great task to compel the first group—since they are excessively pleasure-loving and soft, and therefore unskilled in manly warfare—to surrender, although they do have many allies and swarm upon us with a great multitude. For all who have enlisted with Epicurus think that a sweet and painless life is the end of human happiness; and they say it is difficult to find any man among humans who is willing to live entirely without pleasure, unless someone, because of insensibility, feels no aversion toward the common good. Nevertheless, we may rightly say to them: "O men—if it is appropriate to call you by this name, you who are so dissolute and unnerved and utterly foolish—how childishly you act in this regard, when you entrust the judgment of what is good to pleasures alone! If, however, anything with pain..."
could provide some benefit, you rebuke it and try in every way to flee from it, having nothing else to reproach it with than the sole fact that it does not soothe the senses. For what prevents us from also accusing physicians by these same arguments, who aid our bodies in no other way than by compelling the sick to eat, drink, and be touched in ways that are unpleasant, and to be treated in every possible manner? Because they are bothersome to us in this way, we pay them large fees, and both we ourselves and those for whom we are responsible profess that we are in their debt. If everything were to be referred solely to pleasure, who should more deservedly be called enemies? But in my opinion, good and evil things are to be judged not by pain and pleasure, but by utility and harm. If, however, we refer everything to pleasure, the physician will be detrimental, as I have said—most harmful—to the soul will be laws, educators, parents, and, in short, all the most precious and useful things. For all these persons, when they advise us on our duties and we do not listen, become most bothersome to those who are disobedient, visiting them with ignominy, casting them into prison, and afflicting them with long-lasting punishments; none of which would be of any benefit to us if we preferred that state of ease in every way. But we would judge the pathic, the pimp, the flatterer, and all those who themselves practice the most shameful things and provide the pleasures derived from them to others, to be useful to us ourselves, if pleasures were to be dominant everywhere. A
CHAPTER III
First, therefore, it must be considered a mark of levity to lament the deprivation of pleasures, like children from whom their teachers take away dice or some other toy. Next, we must inquire: by the removal of which pleasures is death so grievous? Since these too are divided into three parts—the one being the first, the most divine, and the only one that is purely human and to be sought for its own sake (I mean that which is engaged in the investigation of truth, and is situated in the mind, and those things of the same kind)—it is so far from being destroyed C or even in the least part diminished by death, that it is impossible in any other way for us to enjoy those pleasures purely and securely than after death. And this perhaps will seem unbelievable to those who live rashly, although it is truest of all to those who do not judge things without having subjected them to critical examination. And there will also be a defense of this opinion from us, as well, when we investigate it. D It remains, therefore, that those who are dying suffer the loss of bodily pleasures. But there is a great distinction even among these. For some are the work of nature and have been granted by God, who either preserves individual things through them, or contrives through common forms that they may last and remain, having the purpose that, through the succession of things that arise and perish, He might provide immortality through renewal—since things that are composed cannot endure for a long time. These, then, are those which are useful for generation and for the propagation of offspring.
A For no one would have approached the table, nor set his mind to the procreation of children, if he had to approach these things with hardship. But the nature of the stimulus, driving from within, does not allow the course of nature to be bypassed. These pleasures, therefore, as I said, having God and nature as their lawgiver, incur no just censure, provided they are managed by reason; and provided that, with the order undisturbed, they do not reject the reins of reason, cast the charioteer headlong, and drag him down into the habits of beasts.
CHAPTER IV
But there exists another class of pleasures in us, which should be attributed neither to God nor to nature, since it arises spontaneously within us, just like the race that sprang from the serpent's teeth, and is cultivated by our own ignorance or laziness, while we do not make use of nature as we ought. Where this, having spurned reason, has claimed the mastery for itself, and has forced the divine and wisdom-loving part of the soul to change; and, like some savage tyrant, has occupied the citadel of the soul, it fills the man and his inner polity with exile, sedition, and confusion, and no longer allows the one over whom it exercises tyranny to be a man, but turns him into a kind of multiform and monstrous beast, until it makes him, who has once been captured by the enticements of these pleasures, useless both to God, and to himself, and to those near to him: as one who sells his freedom and professes that he will serve these pleasures for his entire life. C Wise men declare that the former of these pleasures are necessary, especially those of food and drink, by which the body is nurtured and without which it cannot subsist. And they have also admitted those that consist in the union of bodies, as things that contribute to the preservation of the race, and which alone of all things provide this to human nature: so that it may always exist in one and the same way, admitting them into the fellowship of this necessity; thinking that what food is to the individual, this is what these pleasures provide to the species as a whole, while they consider the rest base, impure, and beastly. For why do all not call those things "vile" in which those who are caught are punished by the laws, and whose captives are followed by shame and reproach from everyone? D Which, then, of these pleasures does death remove, that everyone thinks of it as the most grievous of all the troubles that happen to men? For would death, on account of the latter, be justly accused? But why, seeing that it rids human life of such great corruption and assists nature, which is endowed with reason, and does not allow it to be insultingy vexed by a likeness to the brutes? For what is more shameful or more brutish than a man inclined toward pleasure alone, and who has utterly forgotten honest and precious things? A man who ought no longer even to be called a man, but a portentous beast, such as are described in the myths, who only in appearance feigns the human nature.
For by what reason or right is a man called so, if he cares only about what he shall eat and drink, but is entirely unconcerned about reasoning and knowing? For such a one would more rightly be compared to pigs, which we fatten by providing them with an abundance of fodder, and then slaughter—nay, they are to be considered even more useless than pigs. For we may often make use of the fat of pigs, but there is no use for a man who fattens himself with flesh; unless someone, wishing to discipline others, were to speak of him, and in him demonstrate the disgrace of luxury. Just as the Lacedaemonians are said to demonstrate [A] the excellence of sobriety to their children through the drunkenness of the Helots (for that is what they called their slaves). B And what shall we say about the endlessness of this vain labor, and the necessity of drawing water every day into a perforated jar—a punishment which the myth says certain people were condemned to, though I do not know for what sin committed against their own gods? Therefore, are we to blame death for taking away an eating man, and for freeing life from such uselessness, when one might more reasonably say that the man who appears to live has long been dead, being so unmoved toward the rational life, and through continuous drunkenness being deprived of all perception? But if for no other reason, for this one at least we must call death a benefactor, since it removes from our midst those who ought not to have been born in the first place. And I do not think that even those people themselves, if they were to sober up, would complain or say that they were treated unjustly by death, or that they were not allowed to wallow in this mire of lusts.
CHAPTER V.
C And what would you say about the other vices, which arise from luxury as if from a mother? For this provides the occasion for almost all shameful deeds, and causes men, by overstepping the limits set for us by nature, to fall into the precipice of impure pleasures—pleasures of which I believe that those who censure them blush at the mere mention. Shall we then be vexed if the adulterer is not immortal? And shall we join with the corrupter of boys in praying that his disease be extended infinitely? Or shall we wish that the plots laid for the sake of money, and the contentions, and the envies, and the wars undertaken for various wicked gains (and it is evident that gains are sought by men for the sake of pleasures) were also eternal? As if indeed there were no utility in life, unless we continually either do or suffer great evils, and abandon our affairs to the power of multifaceted wickedness. D But what else is this, in the end, than to attribute authority to evil, while punishing good with exile and ignominy? Either, then, it must be openly declared that pleasure is the human good, and that virtue, wisdom, and knowledge are only mentioned for the sake of words and outward appearance—and in that case, death must be blamed for taking away what we consider most beautiful and precious—or, if we consider some pleasures to be the manifest ruin of souls and utterly contrary to the common life of men, and that others are none the less able to harm us if the rule of right reason is not applied to them, then death should not be entirely defamed, nor should it be avoided as something harmful; but
it must be considered that there is some utility in this also for men. While it is best if one should pass through life free from sin and with virtue, yet it is not without any utility at all that those suffering from incurable ills be subjected to the due penalties, having become utterly useless—a situation to which death contributes A a great deal for the Ruler and Creator of the universe. By His own justice He punishes the wickedness of men and does not allow the world, which was brought into being by Him, to be carried along rashly and in disorder; but by the abundance of His goodness, He reduces even our wickedness into order through punishment, just as a physician, by means of incisions and cauterizations, does not allow a malignant flux to spread throughout the entire body. It is, therefore, the act of the same man both to find fault with justice and equity, and to accuse death, which does not allow evil to spread. But if those who are slaves to pleasures, and do not think life worth desiring without this slavery, B do not approve of these arguments, but consider everything that does not provide these for them to be an evil, their judgment will not detract from the truth (for it is not our intention now to confirm their opinion, but the truth, as it is in itself), nor is there anyone who would wish to cast a vote in support of the defendants' opinion, or to consider against the justice of the case what penalty they ought to undergo. It is enough that the judgment be legitimate. Let us not, therefore, like those in courts of law, be moved by the lamentations of those who are self-indulgent, who, bringing forward their own appetites as if they were wives and children, demand that, by that same reasoning, justice be perverted and pardon granted to them. C But until they are able to demonstrate that either the aforementioned pleasures are a good, or that which prevents evil things is itself an evil, we must nevertheless persist in our former judgments, which demonstrated that death is advantageous to those who have embraced such a way of life.
CHAPTER VI
But if anyone speaks ill of death because of the pleasures of procreation, in that it utterly destroys even these, I myself agree that they are not to be accused. For they are implanted in us by nature from God the Creator, and they are the cause of the immortality of the human race. And so, no one has ever judged those who use them temperately and modestly to be deserving of censure, nor declared that they ought to be handed over to death, as if to an executioner, D on account of their wantonness. Yet, just as I would not say that death is a good thing for them, since there is no wrongdoing in them for which they would rightly be punished by it—and so they would not be made better by being punished—so I also claim that it is not the cause of any loss to them, since it removes the permitted pleasures by death. For these were not implanted in men by nature as a peculiar good, nor for the sake of the men themselves, so that they might enjoy them as an end in themselves; but having regard for those who were to be born, He devised them in the parents, so that the succession of children might be more easily accomplished by humans, since pleasure induces forgetfulness of the hardships that follow upon generation; just as we see that this is even done by doctors for the sick, and sweet things...
mixed with the most bitter, so that through an appetite for pleasure they might receive the remedy. We also see those carrying burdens singing when they are pressed, thinking that by their songs they make the load lighter for themselves. If, therefore, for the sake of others and for a time this sort of pleasure has been allowed to humans, it is clear that when the function is finished, they themselves will sustain no loss, being left in their own goods; just as no one would say that those burden-bearers suffer loss when they cease both from the carrying and from the singing. Moreover, they ought rather to give thanks to death for this, because they are not allowed to be exhausted by it for the sake of others, while they enjoy only a phantom of pleasure; but rather A that it stops the deception and turns humans back toward themselves. This is what the poet Sophocles is said to have replied to Cephalus, who was asking him as if something excellent: "Are you still able to have relations with a woman in your old age?" "Use better words, man," he said, "for I have long since escaped from these as if from savage masters"—calling by this name those pleasures by which the human race is beguiled and remains with a willing soul, as if with a wicked master.
CHAPTER VII
B Those, therefore, who on account of the pleasures of the body—whatever they may be—dread death and think it to be the ultimate evil for humans, since it delivers them from these playful trifles, or rather from the madness and disgrace surrounding them, I think, once they have been instructed by these arguments and have cast off their childish way of thinking, will adopt a sober and manly one in its place; nor will they be hostile to fate for the sake of pleasures. But as for those who fear death on account of a very broad desire for living and the desire for this life implanted by nature—thinking that it takes away the best and most divine of the things we possess, while we see that life is also carefully preserved by nature even in the most trivial things—to such a person one might say, and perhaps aptly, that one ought to judge things not by taking heed of pleasures and their deception, C but by taking one's premise from our own goods, from the divine and natural good; and one should think that those things which accord with it are equally advantageous to us, while those which contend with it are to be held as among evils and therefore harmful to us. Indeed, this opinion ought to be very acceptable to us. For it is entirely the opinion of prudent men, who refer all things to where they ought. But if we lived without a soul, and the body were the only thing that we are—which, once perished, that which we were before would in no way or manner exist anywhere, and no hope or reason for the future would be left to us—or if, while using a soul for life, we had not received it from the Creator as immortal, nor as something that could endure by its own power, but one of such a condition that it only makes use of association with the body, and perishes at the same time as it passes away D; it would not be altogether irrational to fear, when we are about to be in danger in the universe, and, as if from some raft,
A falling off, we should slip into the sea of non-existence and chaos. But now, who is unaware that we also possess a soul, and one far superior to that of the irrational animals, inasmuch as it is governed by reason, by which it is able to rule the body and dispose it according to its own judgment, and is further able to both exist and remain immortal and indestructible by its own power throughout all eternity, and, when the body perishes, suffer no harm? Since, therefore, such is its nature, how could it not be folly to fear for it, lest it should happen to perish along with the body, and that which is immortal should undergo death, and that which is not subject to corruption should be nowhere?
CHAPTER VIII.
B That the things which are said concerning it are true, and that the soul is of an eternal and abiding nature, and that because of it man is the most divine and most long-lasting of the animals that dwell in the world, may be known if one employs a few arguments to examine this reasoning. We assert that man is an animal and that he lives. Furthermore, the sign of life is that the body moves from one place to another, not pushed or impelled by other things from outside, but that it has motion within itself, whithersoever it may urge itself. For all declare that those things which move in this way are alive. And indeed, nothing else affects the body in this way except the soul. For all things that move and live, move and live because of the presence of the soul. Now, touch, and sight, and hearing are an evident argument C for the essence of an animal. For all define animals by sense, and the more perfect this is, and the better and more accurate [a sense] that each animal has received, the more perfect a place it occupies in the order of animals. Now, man is destitute of no sense, and he also perceives all those things for the sake of which sense was fashioned. Thus, as far as these are concerned, he is inferior to none of the other animals; but his excellence lies in the fact that nature has bestowed reason upon him alone, the guide of the senses. Nor did it merely deliver man over to these senses, and permit him to be led at their pleasure; but it adorned him with the elegance of reason, and set this over his life as a sort of shepherd D and teacher, and through it distinguished him from the rest of his fellow-creatures, and separated him as a special mark of his kind; by which alone among animals man both knows and worships God, and consecrates temples to Him, and performs rites and vows, and seeks from Him good things for himself and for others. And he alone of those who inhabit the earth knows the truth, and is occupied in the search for it, and practices virtue. He also has enacted laws, and instituted states, and has defined a fixed measure of punishment for evildoers; he likewise has discovered arts, labored upon not so much for necessity as for ornament, and has contributed these to the common good, looking in all things to the divine exemplar, toward which he has been fashioned, and toward which he composes all his own things. None of the other living creatures participate in these things, since they do not even participate in the reason by which these are both discovered, and perfected, and made useful to the
users. For these look only to necessity, insofar as things contribute to food and procreation, being unconcerned with anything further. And since they exist under this necessity alone, they bring in no ambition, as if they dared not overstep certain boundaries of nature. So that in each of the species you might see the same things: the shapes of dwellings, the practices of feeding, the habits of sleeping, the care of offspring, and the anxious concern for avoiding or warding off dangers. B
CHAPTER IX
For regarding all these, by nature one law is laid upon all, which it is not possible for them to transgress, inasmuch as they are restricted by nature alone and by life endowed with mere sensation. But Reason did not allow man to live entangled in these spider-webs. Having released him from these, it granted him a free life, not only by ridding him of every master, but by removing all necessity from his actions; and it did not hem him in with the narrow limits of nature, nor did it allow only that he might possess the means for safety, but much more, that he might have a concern for happiness. Hence, he not only raises up a house to ward off rains and heat, nor does he build it in one single shape, nor does he construct it out of the same materials—which is the fate of the poverty of beasts—but he conceives of every kind of dwelling, and composes them in many ways. And he seeks his materials not only from nearby sources; rather, he quarries stones from abroad, and covers his walls with Thessalian or porphyry marble, and paints them with the flowers of the meadows, and adorns the floors, overlaying them with gold, C and in general, disdaining necessity and desiring only luxury. The same is devised by him regarding clothing, covering himself with garments not only against the changes of the seasons—for little care would be needed for this—but Reason has discovered for him great abundance even in clothing. For he has sought out a variety of materials, and found purple, and woven in gold, and depicted within them the forms of all kinds of animals and plants, and assigned different styles of garments to different people, according to the birth, dignity, or age each person happens to have. You might see the same extravagance in bedding, and footwear, and carriages, and vessels, and in the rest of the preparation with which human life is furnished. D Therefore, man takes no pleasure in any of his belongings being the same as those that others use, but in all things he conceives of a certain superfluous variety and elegance, contrary to the nature of the rest of the living creatures, which perform only small tasks and are content with little, and were taught by nature only one way of life.
CHAPTER X
But someone might say that these things also have something of necessity mixed in. For those who wish to live also have need of food, and a dwelling, and clothing, the care for which things nature has implanted even in some of the beasts, although it has granted to men the possession of these in a more luxurious and
A elaborate manner. But for the sake of what necessity of life did man undertake the study of philosophy? What does arithmetic, logic, and geometry contribute to flour? Or what worse state would life have had regarding the necessities, if there were no practice of rhetoric or dialectic? Or what does the elegance of speech contribute to warding off cold or heat? These things, since they were devised by men after those things which are necessary, clearly show that his counsels are not directed merely to the necessity of the body or of pleasures, but to something else, and to something greater.
That which most of all indicates the superiority of human nature, if it is compared to other things, is the zeal of providing for those who are inferior, and the consideration of the benefit of one's own kind. For to other creatures it is sufficient if they themselves are not hungry, nor cold, nor lacking in strength for generation; but they have no care for their own kind. You will not find republics of lions, or elephants, or of any other animals; but cities are the works of men alone, in which they deposit the inventions of their wisdom and mutual benefits, and B by these some prescribe laws, and others are obedient to what is said. And by the subjects, honors and tributes are paid to the princes: which are the rewards of excellence and of the care for the inferiors; but the princes provide constant concern and continuous providence for those who are under their hand, and they show such great care that a good and just prince provides safety for others at his own peril; and many have died for the defense of their country: which is far removed from the nature of beasts. For you will scarcely see them defending themselves or their own offspring. But the care for inferiors is the province of men alone, and the task of the human mind. For what more evident specimen could be brought forth, both to demonstrate human perfection and the poverty of the beasts? For these indeed busy themselves only with their own things. Among men, however, the perfection of reason undertakes the care of others as well, and fulfills their necessities. You might see one man who has not only turned the herds of other animals under his power, but who rules over many cities, many nations, and many lands; and some have even held the empire of the whole world, C demonstrating in themselves no obscure sign of divine dignity.
Already, that which is worthy of admiration is this: that a man, when he attempts to rule both over brute beasts and over men, himself refuses to bear this yoke, and prefers rather to suffer anything than to serve another—as if his nature from the beginning were a partner of liberty and an enemy of servitude.
CAPUT XI.
So varied and free is the mind of man, now undertaking to do this, now that; at one time arranging his actions in one way, at another in the opposite, and always according to his own judgment. This, however, it has from the opulence of reason, which reason, being alone free, is able both to do and to devise contrary things. Nature, however, being as it were beggarly and needy, is constrained within a certain singleA sphere, and renders the animals that serve it needy and servile, enclosed by petty laws. But man has from the beginning been prepared by God for ruling, in such a way that he wishes not only to be over others, but also exercises this authority over himself, especially when he preserves his own nature. Therefore, we deem those who are temperate and prudent worthy to be called self-controlled and rulers of themselves. And these indeed are most blessed, and are themselves the cause of blessedness to those who are ruled, as they know how to rule most rightly the irrationality that exists in men, just as one rules a mob. And before this rule, those who have understanding say it is not right for men to enter into public life, as they will do nothing worthy of note, but will ruin themselves along with others. B By this, the whole race of animals is entirely distinguished; for one would find none of them fighting against its own desires, but rather following without hindrance the impulses of nature. For nature does not prompt them to food, but they prefer fasting, nor does it lead them to drink, but they prefer to remain thirsty. Moreover, at times of mating, it becomes unbearable both to those who tend them and to themselves; and no force is so strong as to restrain that goad by which they are moved toward procreation. The reason is that their nature, being devoid of reason, has nothing to reproach the incitement of appetite; and therefore they strive in every way to satisfy their lust. Among men, however, there is a great war against the laws of nature; and every one who observes himself makes trial of this every day within himself. C How many oppose hunger with the desire for gluttony, whether by obeying physicians, or by keeping the flesh in check, or for other reasons renouncing the care of the body? And as for the desire for intercourse, which nature has implanted in all living creatures like a most violent law, some have so detested it that they have for this reason entirely shunned even the sight of women.
CHAPTER XII
One should feel that one ought to do the same against anger. For this arms one who has been wronged against those who have wronged him, and urges him to bring hands and swords against them; but deep inside, he who is thus incited feels a certain one rebuking and teaching him that anger must be restrained D and one must abstain from vengeance; and that one must take care not to become like lions, or bears, or boars, but must return to the human being and the standard of reason and to decorum itself. And this rebuke often avails so much that, once the heat is extinguished, one who has suffered harm is led to embrace with love him who wished to do violence and injury. And the condition of man can in a certain way be compared to a city. For he possesses reason and nature, just as a city possesses magistrates and the populace. And reason indeed rules, while nature obeys. And this law has been ordained by God for those who are to be happy, that they should undertake nothing at all unless it is in accordance with reason. There is no one, therefore, who, perceiving this distinction in himself,A understands that one thing in us is reason, another is the nature of the body; and that the former is as it were to prescribe laws and to lead, while the latter is as it were to obey and be led. If this follows where that points, it is cared for by reason, just as mules which provide us service in traversing a journey and carrying burdens. But if it resists and confuses its own duty with that of the former, then truly reason openly displays its mastery over the body and bodily things, and grasping the body as if it were a runaway slave, it first punishes it with hunger and thirst and other hardships. Then, if it does not desist from its stubbornness after this correction, then indeed reason takes anger as an ally against enemies and inflicts bitter punishment upon the madness of the body, thinking it should no longer spare one who dares to oppose it. Therefore, it either casts it down precipices, or hurls it into B fire, or brings a sword to it, compelling the man to lay hands upon himself. This would be a most evident proof that the rational soul is not only distinct from the body, but is also its mistress, and to such a degree that it even destroys it. For it would not take vengeance, nor would it kill out of anger, if it were not distinct. And if any of the bodily things in us were lord, it would not condemn the body to death whenever it seemed good. For nothing would destroy itself, since it does not have the power against itself. For everything strives to save itself in every possible way and wages irreconcilable war with those things that hinder its safety. Therefore, if man were nothing besides body and sense, all men would follow the appetites of the body, and would strive only that it should fare well, and there would be no war with its pleasures. C Nor would things which exceed sense be desired, but would be despised and held in contempt.
CHAPTER XIII
. But perhaps I may seem to some to have used so many words without necessary cause, since it is evident that man has something greater than the body and bodily things, and that this is reason, by which he considers all things, judges, performs, and refers each thing to its legitimate end; but that not even the nature of other animals is devoid of this. For those too are seen to perform what is appropriate to themselves according to reason, and there is a fixed end for each of their actions. They would not act thus if they were not led to the end by reason; for otherwise, it would be necessary to ascribe the things that they do to chance, and in that way there would be nothing D defined in their actions, but that which chance brought would happen to them: whereas the things that fall under our eyes testify to the contrary of this. For either always, or for the most part, all things that are performed by them turn out in the same way. I, however, maintain that even those things which are done by animals are done according to reason. For you may see some trace of reason not only in them, but in inanimate, things too, since they also both arise and act according to a certain order. But I deny that the things themselves which are occurring have reason in themselves, and that they govern themselves according to it and by their own will. But I assert that the author of the universe, according to the reason which he has in himself, urges each animal to the end appropriate to it,A and it is directed B toward the proper end; nor could anyone say that the arrow aims at anything, or that it possesses knowledge or desire for the end. Thus, in accordance with reason, animals too perform actions, yet they themselves do not know the reason for what they do; but they are moved and are led by Him who knows all things. And a proof of this is that they only attempt those things which contribute to the necessity of their existence, and do not touch upon anything further A from the beginning. For if their appetite possessed any reason and will, they would do something even outside of necessity, by employing the faculty of reason in all things, B which is cognisant of opposites and capable of accomplishment. Therefore, it should not be supposed that any animal other than man possesses a rational soul; but this is proper C to human nature alone.
CHAPTER XIV
. Therefore, man is not simply numbered among those that live by sense alone, conditioned in such a way as to be unable to pass to anything further; but he has sense, and, in regard to this, he has many things in common with other animals. But that which makes him truly a man, and distinguishes him from the rest, is reason and the intellect, D acting like some governor sitting in a high place, directing toward himself and his own uses all human affairs, as a master in a house, to whom both sons and slaves refer all their actions. Therefore, since the human soul has received a rational and intelligent nature from the Creator, it cannot be a body. For otherwise it would not move the body primarily, nor would it permeate the whole of it; but it would be as in vessels that are placed one inside another, A residing within the body, and because it would not penetrate throughout, it would of necessity leave many parts of the body, and especially all the exterior ones, soulless. The soul would also have a magnitude in accordance with the sizes of bodies, so that one could say that the soul of one Ajax, the Telamonian, was greater, and the soul of the Locrian was smaller, B and moreover it would share in the suffering when the body was cut; and each of the forms arising within it would be partial; for such are the things in matter and bodies. So that it would now know nothing universal, but would only have sense, where it now has knowledge. Thus, the argument that posits the soul as a body falls into many absurdities. C But since it is incorporeal, and rules over the body, and governs it according to its own will, what mechanism is there to deny that it is superior both to death and to corruption? For both the soul's authority over the body, and the fact that it is not completely submerged in it, but rises above it, and that the body, once separated D from it, is able to do nothing, while the soul itself, in its greatest and most noble activities and its own innate qualities, is completely freed from the body and the nonsense arising from it, is a clear proof that there is a certain substance of the soul in itself, which is in need of no body, and is able to exist and remain by itself; and furthermore, it is able to perform its own activities so much more perfectly andA purely, the more it has fled from the body and applied itself to acting with itself. For when it has freed itself from the body and the cares concerning it, or has abandoned the wandering concerning the visible world, and considers the invisible principles of beings, and verifies the truth by itself; then, becoming purely in itself, and touching what is incorporeal by means of what is incorporeal, and becoming as it were inside the inner sanctuaries, it leaves the body outside, as it is not permitted for it, while accompanying it, and while its own B folly, like some darkness pouring over it, hinders it from grasping the truth; but, having been delivered from such a burden, it passes over, light, toward the essence and the truth. And then it is permitted to call the man most perfect, and wisest, and the best of men, and all the names of virtue. But if it is mingled with the body, and hunts for learning by means of sense and imagination, you might liken him to a king who voluntarily puts aside his purple cloak and diadem, and mingles with his slaves, and descends to servile tasks. But if he also serves his pleasures, and is filled with the stains of the body, then he must be likened to one who thrusts himself into mud or mire, and obscures his beautiful and lovely appearance, and assumes a certain deformed and horrid countenance.
CHAPTER XV
C But if the soul attains its perfection by leaving the body, what person of sound mind would concede that it is mortal and perishes with the body? Especially since, before it is released by death, it withdraws from it to itself, and strives to separate itself from it, as if it were able by this means to derive the greatest fruit from itself. For if its life were placed in the body, and if it perished and was dissipated without it, how would it, having transcended every body, desire incorporeal things, and take sweet rest in their contemplation, and if someone drags it away from thence, be distressed and pained, as one being torn away from its own and most closely connected things? For the fact that it finds delight when it is D joined with things that are exempt from destruction, and again is pained when it is separated from the same, is a testimony that it has kindred and likeness to that which is immortal. But if those things are not subject to change, it is consistent that it too should not fall under destruction. And in what way, since it is immortal, and for that cause immovable (for movement belongs to bodies), could it sustain destruction, which cannot in any way happen to any thing without movement? Nor indeed will it fall, having been overcome by some contrary thing. For there is nothing that fights against it. But if someone says that by its own wickedness, like iron by rust, the soul can be consumed; yet certain most wicked persons, living no less than the good, overturn even this argument: that it is not possible for it to perish even by its own malice, through which alone it was likely to perish. But if it is also reasonable that the beginning should resemble the end—which, with God alone willing, has its generation without matter—it is likely that, with God alone willing its destruction, it would followthat what was well put together should one wish to dissolve, is not good, as a certain wise man said when discoursing on the world. Furthermore, it is impossible for a natural and most common appetite to be instilled in vain. The proof of this is that no one has ever desired what cannot happen. For who, being of sound mind, ever desired wings, or to rise above the clouds, or to walk upon the waves as upon solid ground? If anyone were to recount such things even in a dream, we would laugh. But nature has implanted a longing only for what is possible. Therefore, since all men by nature seek this, it is impossible that this should be against nature and in vain. Moreover, all agree in the desire for immortality. It is necessary, therefore, that this shall come to pass, and that it is impossible for the soul, united with eternity, to be frustrated in its vow. B
CHAPTER XVI
Therefore, it is a sign of those who have no sense to be troubled about the soul, lest it perish when the body does, and no longer exist anywhere. For not only does it remain safe when the body is destroyed, it cannot even perform its own functions purely unless it is freed from the impediments of the body. For to be wise, and to understand, and to be joined to divine and incorporeal things—which is in accordance with the nature of every soul, and toward which all things that we say and think tend, as toward the best and most divine thing within us—this completely avoids relationship with the body, and is the work of the soul alone, when it gathers itself away from the body, toward itself and the things that are comprehended by the intellect. Even if at times it uses the senses, and from them takes certain occasions for understanding, it does so only at the beginning of the matter, and when it is, as it were, unlearned and, as the saying goes, still bringing with it the first hair, it uses this manner of learning. C Just as those who, when sight is lacking to them, try to grasp things by touch; so too the soul, having just entered into life through birth, and having its eye covered by the great darkness of the body, and held as if by a deep sleep, needs the senses, which rouse it as though it were sleeping. Stirred and awakened by these at the beginning, it ceases to use the senses in the search for truth. Indeed, it sometimes even reproaches them for their ignorance when they force it to agree with what they themselves suppose, just as those who begin to learn need a certain conformation of diagrams, but once having attained knowledge, refuse to return to them. Thus also, while the soul is still in the body, there is nothing absurd in its questioning the senses about matters of knowledge. But when it has been loosed from the body, then the things that fall under D the intellect, being present through themselves, do not require the use of the senses, since they are by their own nature most clear and illuminate the eye of the soul through themselves; by these the soul is nourished and experiences the pleasure of the food and sweetness appropriate to it—to which, if anyone should wish to compare bodily pleasures, he would find them rather mere phantoms of pleasure.
A For their substances are in no way real; they are nothing but coming-to-be. The vessel that receives them is the leaky jar of the body, spilling out on every side and able to hold nothing.
CHAPTER XVII
Why, then, should you heap nothing upon nothing? Or what can stay in the fleeting for those who do not remain? In the soul, however, those things that are the causes of pleasure are truly existent, and the whole is substance; and that which receives them is sound and watertight, resembling those things and immortal. Therefore, it is natural that among those who find pleasure, those who pursue bodily pleasures are rather mocked by them, and are always found empty of them, never able to grasp what they pursue, as if they were chasing shadows—and the body, for which they provide these things, is by nature not sufficiently reliable nor does it contain what has been given to it. But those who prefer the pleasures of the soul are always being refreshed by something that exists in the True Being itself, and they live as pleasantly as possible. In this way, that which the soul experiences after the body is more beneficial, and sweeter, and, to say it all, divine and of a better portion. B Thus, according to both the first [sort of men], who are pained by death out of a desire for pleasures, and the second, to whom it seems that nothing remains after death, death—which comes by nature—should not only not be feared, but even its delay should be hard to bear; and when it is absent, it should be invited, since it cannot be otherwise that they might enjoy true pleasures, or exist and live more securely, being freed from the mortal, the irrational, and that which never truly exists. Let those, then, who lament bodily pleasures and those who think they will no longer exist after the body cease their mourning. For the best part remains for them—or rather, the whole, and that which alone, if they are wise, they are—in which the beauty of the divine image is stored away, exempt from destruction, impassible, and capable of partaking in virtue and prudence. Its only damage is to serve the flesh and to be entangled with it; but to be delivered from it is a return to life, to that which truly is, and to the fruit of sacred truth. So how could it be that it does not go better with us as the body retreats—which drags the soul down, preventing it from rising above the heavens?
CHAPTER XVIII
C For even with gold, when it is mixed with any other base material, what could be better or sweeter (if it only had any sense) than to be separated from those things that are inferior to it and which, by their admixture, do not allow its own beauty to appear as it really is? Thus, it would be folly to grieve at that purification by which it is entirely perfected and returns to its own nature. So, too, we ought not to be indignant because death snatches away some part of what we hold now; nor should we immediately think it inflicts a loss upon us, if we have shown that this subtraction is not harmful to us. For when we are freed from the inferior, and from that which can hinder us from a pure life, and that which weighs down the soul and drags it away departs, D
nothing to us, death would bring us no loss. For nothing is fearful to us, unless it be grave to the soul in the first place, and our happiness is nothing other than the soul being in a good state. For we are the soul and whatever pertains to it. And if this does not suffer the trial of death, there is nothing to prevent us from both being and being called immortal. For that which dies in us is small, and is not what we are, but is *ours*, nor can it, by its own change, bring the verdict of death upon us; just as no one would impute the faults of garments to the body, nor fancy that if those are torn or worn away, these things are sufferings of the body. Nevertheless, if, because this small thing perishes, anyone thinks the human being should therefore be called mortal, how much more just is it that, because of that which is greater, and which so much excels, and overcomes corruption, and remains—for this reason—that it be called immortal and impassible, not merely a clean human being, and the only thing in which deliberation and reasoning exist, by which the human being is distinguished from other animals? B Either, then, let those who say that the end of our life is total destruction prove the soul to be mortal and departing with the body, and let them think they have some reason for the fear of death; or, as long as God, and right reason, and philosophy, and the things that appear regarding it daily, demonstrate that its essence cannot perish, let them accept the soul, and let them not be so disposed towards fate as though they were about to fall into some chasm from which there is no return.
CAPUT XIX.
C But even if it were to turn out that the human being was altogether extinguished upon dying, not even in that case should one be worn down by the memory of death, but rather one should reflect upon how full of bodily discomforts life is, and how much lighter it is to be devoid of all sensation than to endure such a great storm as is stirred up against us daily by the body; D a storm which the soul can neither break nor bear, since our structure transmits the body's affections to it. For this is something the soul must necessarily endure while it serves the living being, and it must reluctantly receive into itself many things that pertain to the body, as it does not have total control over it. Therefore, it is necessary for us to labor endlessly, defending ourselves for a one who is never at peace: at one time soothing its hunger, at another quenching its thirst; and at one time fabricating shelters against the cold for it, at another devising hiding places against the heat. And I pass over in silence the journeys undertaken by land and sea for the sake of acquiring these things, and the flatteries and servile gestures often performed for a coin before detestable men. What thing is more burdensome than this to a human being who has, even in the smallest part, once known and considered himself, and who sees from what a height of truth and virtue he is forced to fall into such buffoonery and lowliness? And what could one say of the pains in all kinds of diseases, and of the body often being so eaten away that scarcely any remains of the wretched man exist? Therefore, the miserable are not only not able
A to make use of what remains, but they do not even have anything they can use in place of the parts of the body that have perished; nor can they hear any consolation from anyone, since all men flee from their discharge, and putrefaction, and the repulsiveness arising from them, which is even more painful to them than the pains themselves, so that the bitterness of the pain often compels them to desire nooses, or precipices, or swords. But if we were to grant that no disturbance arises in the soul from the body (which, if it were to happen, would be considered a monstrosity), who could sufficiently describe the tempest that is stirred up in the soul by the body in youth and in health? For, in truth, men at that time are not even permitted to be men, as they are cast down B by the swell of the mind’s agitation, as if by some waves, into the nature of brutes. For the servile part of the soul, which ought to be subject to the rule of reason, seizes an opportunity, and growing insolent through satiety, stirs up sedition against the mind, and no longer thinks it must obey it. But with the mind suppressed, it punishes sober and honest thoughts with exile and ignominy, and having seized the rule for itself, it is driven wherever chance leads. And when it despises all virtue as a kind of powerlessness, then it thinks that fortitude consists solely in wickedness; finally, it delivers the man over to constant drunkenness, and wantonness, and every iniquity, leaving him nothing of his former figure except the name. Thus, the body afflicts the soul no less through pleasures than through troubles; or rather, it does more harm through ease and relaxation. For a charioteer is also injured more C when his horses grow wanton because of abundant fodder and satiety, leaping about recklessly, than when they advance slowly on account of hunger and weakness.
CAPUT XX.
And let these things be said by us to those who opine that there is nothing left for men after death, but that all things perish; and who think that for this reason it is the worst of human affairs. And these same things seem to be sufficient to persuade those who are not of a very slow wit, that it is possible for us to live elsewhere, even outside this life, because that which is greatest and most divine in us is such that we both remain unharmed and continue to exist. Although I have passed over the greatest and most D powerful demonstrations, by which it could also have been shown that the sacred oracles agree with these things which we have brought forward—which promise such great joy and such sweetness to good men after this life, that they can in no way be explained in words—unless I had wished to bring to this discussion arguments that were simpler and more obvious to the senses. It remains, therefore, that we should also answer the third group, and declare that even their own thoughts are not free from an unbecoming timidity. That there is punishment in the underworld for those things which are committed here, and that the pleasures of this present time are repaid there with many bitternesses: that this opinion is firm, not only the consensus of learned men approves, but also the equality of divine justice, which all and
A even the most shameless concede, since they are constrained to keep this dogma unmoved in their souls. For it is not holy to think that anything good is lacking in the good and most perfect God. But justice is a good thing for all, and especially for those who have obtained the lot of ruling, without which they would fill their rule with much transgression. But God rules most of all, having the greatest and most perfect rule, because He has no one B before Him; nor is there anything He needs, so that need might drag Him toward servitude in any respect. Therefore, since He Himself presides over all and is the overseer of human works, He will of necessity make justice His assessor, by which He will define the rewards for the good and the punishments for the wicked; which is the work of justice alone. If, then, God is good, it is necessary that crowns be prepared for good men, and punishments for the wicked, even if they should not pay for them here; it is necessary that these be reserved for them after death. For it is not possible that justice should disregard desert.
CHAPTER XXI
If this is true, then death is not to be reckoned among the worst things. For if it were the cause of the evils that follow, C one would rightly shrink from it, as one who would become wretched and miserable because of it. But if, after death, some run to crowns, while others are thrust into tortures, why should we attribute what happens to death? Rather, it is for the sake of the things expected that one should reproach life. For punishments are not destined for the dying, but for those who have lived wickedly. So if these things are to be turned away from, it would be more just to transfer the hatred from death to life, from which those evils redound upon the souls, for which we are demanded to pay the penalty; but death is completely blameless, because it is not even the cause of the fears that follow. And if we attribute to it the hardships that come after it, why do we not also attribute the rewards of the righteous to it? For there are enjoyments for the good after it, so that from the things that follow D it is not permitted to describe it as a bad thing any more than a good one. Rather, if we look at the truth, we shall find it to be of the portion of good things. For as it conducts those who have lived righteously to the rewards of virtue, for the wicked it becomes the end of wickedness, or for those who have understanding, it is more grievous than any punishment.CHAPTER XXII
Therefore, the threats of impending calamities are not to be attributed to death, but to ourselves and to the slavery of pleasures, by which our souls are injured, and we make that tribunal fearful to ourselves. So if we were to guard against these, there would be nothing to prevent us from thinking that death also deserves well of us, as it transmits us more quickly to the rewards of the good. Therefore, that fear does not arise from death, but the horror arises from the conscience: just as it happens to those who are convicted of the most grievous crimes. For they too [fear the] deadline [set] by the laws, and perceiving it approaching...they are struck dumb, whereas they ought to have governed themselves in respect of those things for which they dared to act. They say: "The fifth, the fourth, the third, and then the one which I fear most of all, and shudder at, and abominate." Wretch, what is the evil of the day, because of which you so abominate it, when on it many sacrifice, and pour libations for victories, and wear crowns, and receive the rewards for good deeds? But you, given over to wantonness, fear just like those who await the day fixed by the laws. Yet for them it is not possible to escape, once they have been condemned. But for us, repentance and a more modest manner of life—if we ourselves condemn our own actions—make that cruel verdict void and provide hope for better things. If, therefore, the things which follow death are the true cause of fearing death, let the correction of life console that fear. That is within our own power, and the work requires only the will; and thus the fear will vanish, and a wondrous kind of tranquility will be substituted in the soul in place of the former storm. Why, then, is there need of words, when we have the deliverance from evils close at hand? But if anyone thinks a life possessed of virtue is grievous, and considers that the withdrawal from pleasures to such a life is not a task for every man, he is evidently blaming the weakness and softness of his own soul for this fear. For he himself would surely agree that for those who are willing to apply diligence, everything will be easy. Therefore, the fear does not arise from the thing itself, but from the folly of those who do not wish to discipline themselves; just as if a fraudulent debtor, when dragged before a tribunal, instead of making restitution for his debts, were to refuse to run to the judge and be a suppliant, but B instead were to complain that the path to him is long, and were to sit idly wishing to enjoy what he had taken by injury, and afterwards accuse those by whom he had been condemned, or even others unjustly. Madman, restore what you hold against the laws, and you will find the judges not merely not punishing you, but even wishing you well. But as long as you stir up lawsuits, you ascribe to yourself the blame for the things you are about to suffer.
CHAPTER XXIII
Thus, in place of those third ones, there return to us now the first men, who shudder at death for the sake of pleasures and their enjoyment. For we find that they blame nothing else but these pleasures. For because they are too closely wedded to them, they consider anything that removes that sweetness to be unendurable. And yet they surpass the former in this, that they cloak their immoderation with a certain semblance of decency. Nor indeed can they be refuted with difficulty, since they are easily vanquished by their own speech. For if, my good man, the suspicion of punishments makes death horrible for you, why do you not, by casting away pleasures for a little while, free your soul from the burden that presses it so hard; and exchange pleasures for pleasures? The dangerous for the safe, the small for the greatest, and the transitory for the eternal? For by serving the former, you will pass even this present life full of troubles, trembling D
and devoid of any perception of those things called pleasures; and in the future, experience itself will overtake you concerning the things now expected. But if you were to recover your senses a little and take hold of a sober life, you would both delight in good hopes in the present and pass the future with joy, not only with the difficulties removed but with all good things abundantly present to you. But, as it seems, becoming indifferent to immediate fear, you forget your freedom and endure to live in constant trembling; and wishing to free yourself from reproaches, you impute fear to death, when you ought to blame yourself, you who succumb to the basest things. They conclude, therefore, that two causes appear for why death is feared. For it happens either through a certain ignorance, when men think themselves to be nothing beyond the body, or if there is anything in them besides this, they believe it to be and to perish along with the body. And because of this, as the end approaches, they are troubled, as if there were nothing left for them after death, and B having surrendered themselves to pleasures, they grieve that they are about to be separated from them, hoping to find nowhere else any sweetness more pleasant and purer than the pleasures of the flesh. Therefore, not without reason do they depart to their fate with tears, as if both the good and their end were utterly perishing for them.
CHAPTER XXIV
But of these two, the one is born from the other. For the slavery of pleasures, having mixed the soul completely with the body, does not permit it to behold itself clearly; but the man, bound by the constant habit of that mixture and feeling that the whole soul is admixed with the whole body—just as a small amount of gold in a large mass of lesser metals, and due to a lack of knowledge, like an unskilled metalworker, being unable to separate these—adheres to what is visible; and he says that a man is he who is able to gorge himself on C as many pleasures as possible, counting as gain only this, what he might eat, and drink, and whatever he might spend on venereal acts. And that which Sardanapalus is said to have inscribed on his monument, that he himself inscribes on his soul in such a way that it cannot be erased, which would not have happened to him if he had restrained his pleasures with self-control, and had considered it a gain, not a loss, if he were to fall short in any of these. For if by thus gradually loosening himself from the body and accustoming himself to look at himself, he had not been ignorant of himself, but had become a beholder of truth and incorporeal things, and had understood that the body is of no use to him for that contemplation, he would have found his soul D released from the body there, and capable of existing by itself even before death, and that by so much the more beautiful and robust, the less it participated in the body.
CAPUT XXV.
And so, being accustomed to such a state, he would not grieve when his parts were being pulled asunder, nor would he fear for himself, being convinced, having been brought to this by the things he had experienced, that his soul would remain for him. Pleasures, however, by mixing the soul with the body, [the soul’s...]
A deprive it of its own sense, and fill it with timidity and ignorance. Because of this ignorance, furthermore, one is all the more entangled in pleasures and in the filth derived from them, so that no outlet from this misery is found for such a soul, which, on the one hand, is made wanton by pleasures, and on the other, is cast down into the abyss of pleasures by ignorance. And with good reason, for every human being yearns for the good, and for the sake of that, he says and thinks and does all things. For no one could become so ill-fated as to set a wicked end for himself and his pursuits. If, therefore, through knowledge and diligence one grasps the nature of the good, using the light from it as a guide, he sees clearly where he must hasten; and running his course without error, he attains what is desired, ceases from pain, and is of good courage, as one who will never be deprived of essence and life, having been joined to the cause of essence and life. But if, through some vice, he is ignorant of his own longing—like those who, having been long separated from their own kin B by ignorance, have served barbarians—yet the longing for the good does not even then desert him, since it is innate in him. But, seeking those things the grasp of which would appease his desire, through ignorance of the good he is carried toward the phantoms and likenesses of it; and, having fallen from truth and knowledge, he hastens toward opinions and falsehood, and greedily leaps upon bodies and the things that are achieved through the body, grasping the shadow instead of the truth. Thus, instead of the good, he honors the pleasant and is bound to it; and instead of the truth that exists from the good, he delights in falsehood. And so, he pledges his ignorance to impure pleasures, and acknowledges that he will serve them throughout his life, being thoroughly convinced that these are the C supreme good. And this is the ultimate misery, and the mire, and the darkness, in which, it is truly said, the uninitiated are to lie. This, therefore, must be avoided by every man who wishes to live truly happily; and one must strive to be, as much as possible, a friend to virtue and knowledge, but an enemy to the pleasures of the body, so that, wandering off through ignorance, he may not search for the good elsewhere—and, thinking he has found it, cultivate the pleasant in preference to it—nor spend his life in ignorance of true pleasures, with the eye of his soul suffocated by pleasures and blinded by folly. If he thus composes himself, and in this manner arranges his affairs so that they cannot be compared with anything more beautiful, he will discover his soul is immortal, and will know it; and D henceforth, he will not only not fear death, but will even be annoyed by its delay, and will pray to God for it, so that he may in this way enjoy a sweeter life.
DEMETRII CYDONII EPISTOLA AD MAGNUM PRIMICERIUM PHACRASEM
DEMETRIUS CYDONIUS EPISTOLA TO THE GREAT PRIMICERIUS PHACRASES
Thessalonica, written when in the year 1430 Amurath II was encircling the city with a siege, which he soon after destroyed, once captured, with iron and fire. — From this epistle we learn that Cydonius was by birth a Thessalonian, and not a Constantinopolitan or a Cretan, as Fabricius and others have thought.
A Never before have I been affected by such great pleasure and such great sorrow as has now befallen me from both these causes at once. The first was provided for us by the reading of your letters—or rather, by the contemplation of your character, which strongly moves the souls of your friends; the cause of the second is the calamities of my homeland, and the fact that the phantom of its supposed happiness was not maintained for long, but before it could breathe freely, it fell back into its previous malady with greater vehemence. For I heard of the army at the gates, and of the barbarian king, and of the plunder they drove away, and of those on the walls who, with nothing but tears, were watching such sights. And who would not be persuaded to mourn for the city as if it were already fallen, at the thought that neither those plundering from the outside, nor you yourselves suffering injustice, would ever find a respite? And there is added to this the fact that the loss to the city comes not only from enemies, but that even far worse things are expected B from the citizens themselves. For everywhere, sedition is the appendage of a siege; and the inability to defend themselves against the enemies persuades the citizens to turn, at last, against one another. Nor could you find any city that knows how to act wisely in such times. But who does not know that our city is a teacher of such evils? For in these things we surpass others, for the evils of the populace rob us of our freedom of speech. I fear, therefore, lest the Thessalonians, remembering themselves, may join forces with the enemies, and while they are attacking the walls, these others should slaughter from within those who are able to prevent these things, and once again taste of inner parts and revel in the days of misery.