Chapter I.—Object of the author.
Although human nature at first received a union of intelligence and safety to discern
the truth, and the worship due to the one Lord of all, yet envy, insinuating the excellence
of human greatness, turned men away to the making of idols; and this superstitious custom,
after continuing for a long period, is handed down to the majority as if it were natural and
true. It is the part of a lover of man, or rather of a lover of God, to remind men who have
neglected it of that which they ought to know. For the truth is of itself sufficient to show
forth, by means of those things which are contained under the pole of heaven, the order
[instituted by] Him who has created them. But forgetfulness having taken possession of the
minds of men, through the long-suffering of God, has acted recklessly in transferring to
mortals the name which is applicable to the only true God; and from the few the infection
of sin spread to the many, who were blinded by popular usage to the knowledge of that
which was lasting and unchangeable. For the men of former generations, who instituted
private and public rites in honour of such as were more powerful, caused forgetfulness of
the Catholic831 faith to take possession of their posterity; but I, as I have just stated, along
with a God-loving mind, shall employ the speech of one who loves man, and set it before
those who have intelligence, which all ought to have who are privileged to observe the ad-
ministration of the universe, so that they should worship unchangeably Him who knows
all things. This I shall do, not by mere display of words, but by altogether using demonstration
drawn from the old poetry in Greek literature,832 and from writings very common amongst
all. For from these the famous men who have handed down idol-worship as law to the
multitudes, shall be taught and convicted by their own poets and literature of great ignorance.
831 i.e., the doctrine that God only is to be worshipped.
832 Literally, “history.”
Chapter I.—Object of the author.
777
Chapter I.—Object of the author.