On the Crown

​Thus, when you bring forward the ornaments of the secular gods as being found also with God, in order to claim the crown of the head as well for common use, you already prescribe for yourself that what is not found in the things of God must not be admitted into the communion of use among us. For what is so unworthy of God as that which is worthy of an idol? And what is so worthy of an idol as that which is also worthy of a dead person? For it is also the custom of the dead to be thus crowned; or because they themselves also immediately become idols by the very garb and worship of consecration, which among us is a second idolatry. Therefore, as for those who lack sense, it will be the same for them to use that thing of which they lack sense, as if they wished to abuse it, if they did not lack sense. But there is indeed no difference of abusing, when the truth of using ceases. When the faculty of feeling ceases, how could anyone abuse it as they wish, since they do not have the means by which to use it? But to us, according to the apostle, it is not permitted to abuse, who rather teaches us not to use; except that those who feel nothing do not even abuse. But the whole thing is vain and is itself also a dead work, as far as idols are concerned; but clearly alive, as far as demons are concerned, to which the superstition belongs. The idols of the nations, says David, are silver and gold. They have eyes, and see not; noses, and smell not; hands, and they shall not handle. For it is through these that one enjoys flowers. And if he declares that those who make idols will become like them, those are already such who use anything according to the ornament of idols. To the pure all things are pure, and likewise to the defiled all things are defiled; but nothing is more defiled than idols. Otherwise, substances are pure, as they are God’s creations, and by this condition of theirs they are open to common use. But there is a difference in the administration of the use itself. For I too slaughter a cock for myself, no less than Socrates did for Aesculapius; and if the smell of any place offends me, I burn something of Arabia, but not with the same rite, nor in the same garb, nor with the same apparatus with which it is done among idols. For if by a mere word the condition is polluted, as the apostle teaches, ‘But if anyone should say, This is offered to an idol, do not touch it,’ much more is it contaminated by the garb and rite and apparatus of things offered to idols. Thus also the crown becomes a thing offered to idols. For by this rite, garb, and apparatus, it is immolated to the idols who are its authors, whose use of it is so especially proper to them, so that what is not found in the things of God cannot be admitted into common use. Therefore the apostle cries out, ‘Flee from idolatry!’—indeed, all of it and entirely. Think of the forest and how many thorns lie hidden there. Nothing must be given to an idol, and likewise nothing taken from an idol. If to recline in an idol’s temple is alien to faith, what is it to be seen in the garb of an idol? What communion has Christ with Belial? And therefore flee. For he commands a long divorce from idolatry, not to be acted in any close proximity. Even the earthly dragon sucks in men with its breath from a distance. John says more deeply, ‘Little children, keep yourselves from idols!’—no longer now from idolatry as a duty, but from idols, that is, from the very image of them. For it is unworthy that you, the image of the living God, should become the image of an idol and of a dead thing. Up to this point we claim the propriety of this garb for idols, both from the assessment of its origin and from its superstitious use, and furthermore from this, that while it is not recorded in the things of God, it is more and more assigned to those in whose antiquities, solemnities, and offices it is met with. In short, their very doors, and their very victims and altars, and their ministers and priests themselves are crowned. You have the crowns of all the priestly colleges in Claudius. But we have also inserted that distinction between rational and irrational things, meeting those who defend the common use of all things on the occasion of certain examples. Therefore, as for this part, it remains to inspect the very causes of crowning, so that, while we show them to be foreign, indeed even contrary to our discipline, we may prove that none of them is supported by the patronage of reason, which might otherwise claim this kind of garb also for common use, as is done with certain things whose examples are objected to us.