LETTER--To Eusebius of Caesarea (Concerning the gods of the heathen)



Touching the Gods of the Heathen, most reverend Father, thou art not
ignorant that even now, as in the time of thy probation on earth,
there is great dissension. That these feigned Deities and idols,
the work of men's hands, are no longer worshipped thou knowest;
neither do men eat meat offered to idols. Even as spake that last
Oracle which murmured forth, the latest and the only true voice from
Delphi, even so "the fair-wrought court divine hath fallen; no more
hath Phoebus his home, no more his laurel-bough, nor the singing
well of water; nay, the sweet-voiced water is silent." The fane is
ruinous, and the images of men's idolatry are dust.

Nevertheless, most worshipful, men do still dispute about the
beginnings of those sinful Gods: such as Zeus, Athene, and
Dionysus: and marvel how first they won their dominion over the
souls of the foolish peoples. Now, concerning these things there is
not one belief, but many; howbeit, there are two main kinds of
opinion. One sect of philosophers believes--as thyself, with
heavenly learning, didst not vainly persuade--that the Gods were the
inventions of wild and bestial folk, who, long before cities were
builded or life was honourably ordained, fashioned forth evil
spirits in their own savage likeness; ay, or in the likeness of the
very beasts that perish. To this judgment, as it is set forth in
thy Book of the Preparation for the Gospel, I, humble as I am, do
give my consent. But on the other side are many and learned men,
chiefly of the tribes of the Alemanni, who have almost conquered the
whole inhabited world. These, being unwilling to suppose that the