§11Quid ergo mirum, si iam inminente templorum et simulacrorum euersione, quam prophetae dei summi tanto ante praedixerant, Serapis daemon alicui cultorum suorum hoc de proximo prodidit, ut suam quasi diuinitatem recedens uel fugiens commendaret?
Fugantur enim isti uel etiam iussis superioribus conligati abstrahuntur et alienantur a locis suis, ut de rebus, quibus dominabantur quibusque colebantur, fiat uoluntas dei, qui hoc tanto ante per omnes gentes futurum esse praedixit et, ut per suos fideles fieret, imperauit.
What wonder is it, then, if, when the destruction of the temples and idols was already imminent, which the prophets of the supreme God had foretold so long before, the demon Serapis betrayed this to one of his worshippers as close at hand, so that, in departing or fleeing, he might commend his pretended divinity? For these are put to flight, or even, bound by superior commands, are dragged away and alienated from their places, so that, concerning the things which they ruled and in which they were worshipped, the will of God may be done, who foretold so long before that this would happen through all nations, and commanded that it should be done through his faithful.
cur autem hoc non sineretur daemon praedicere. cum sibi iam praenosceret inminere, cum haec praedictio et prophetis adtestaretur, a quibus sunt ista conscripta, et prudentibus daretur intellegi, quam uigilanter esset daemonum cauenda fallacia cultusque fugiendus? qui cum ante per tam longum tempus in templis suis haec futura tacuissent, quae per prophetas praedicta ignorare non possent, posteaquam adpropinquare coeperunt, uoluerunt ea quasi praedicere, ne ignari uictique putarentur.
But why should a demon not be permitted to predict this, since he already foreknew it was imminent for him, since this prediction both bore witness to the prophets, by whom these things were written, and was given to the prudent to understand how vigilantly the deceit of demons was to be guarded against and their worship avoided? Who, when they had for so long a time previously kept silent in their temples about these future things, which they could not be ignorant of as foretold by the prophets, after they began to draw near, wished to predict them, as it were, lest they should be thought ignorant and conquered.
cum igitur tam longe ante praedictum esset atque conscriptum, ut alia interim taceam, illud, quod Sophonias propheta dicit: praeualebit dominus aduersus eos et exterminabit omnes deos gentium terrae, et adorabunt eum unusquisque de loco suo, omnes insulae gentium, aut non credebant ista sibi euentura, qui in templis gentium colebantur, et haec ideo per suos uates ac fanaticos frequentare noluerunt — sicut eorum poeta Iunonem inducit non omni modo credentem, quae de Turni morte Iuppiter dixerat: Iuno autem ab istis potestas aeria praedicatur, quae apud Virgilium sic loquitur:
"
nunc manet insontem grauis exitus, aut ego ueri
uana feror.
Since, therefore, it had been foretold and written so long before—to say nothing of other things for the moment—that which the prophet Zephaniah says: "The Lord will prevail against them, and will exterminate all the gods of the nations of the earth, and they shall adore him, every one from his own place, all the islands of the nations," either those who were worshipped in the temples of the gentiles did not believe that these things would happen to them, and therefore did not want to make these things frequent through their prophets and fanatics—just as their poet introduces Juno not altogether believing what Jupiter had said about the death of Turnus: now Juno is proclaimed by them as an airy power, who in Virgil speaks thus: "Now a heavy end awaits the innocent, or I am borne vain of truth.
quod ut o potius formidine falsa
ludar et in Melius tua, qui potes, orsa reflectas! —
"
aut ergo ista sibi, quae per prophetas praedicta nouerant, posse accidere daemones, hoc est potestates aeriae, dubitabant et propterea praedicationem eorum celebrare noluerunt — et hinc intellegendum est quales sint — aut, cum ea uentura certissime scirent, ideo per sua templa tacuerunt, ne iam tunc inciperent ab hominibus intellegentibus deseri atque contemni, quod de templorum et simulacrorum suorum futura euersione eis prophetis adtestarentur, qui eos coli prohibebant.
Oh, that I may rather be mocked by false fear, and that you, who can, may bend your begun designs into a better course!— "or therefore the demons, that is, the airy powers, doubted that these things, which they knew had been foretold by the prophets, could happen to them, and for that reason did not want to celebrate their prediction—and from this it must be understood what kind of beings they are—or, when they knew most certainly that they would come, they therefore kept silent in their temples, lest they should even then begin to be deserted and despised by intelligent men, because they would bear witness, concerning the future destruction of their temples and idols, to those prophets who forbade them to be worshipped.
nunc uero, posteaquam tempus aduenit, quo conplerentur uaticinia prophetarum dei unius, qui istos falsos deos dicit et. ne colantur, uehementissime praecipit, cur non hoc etiam ipsi completum praedicere sinerentur, unde clarius adpareret eos haec antea uel minime credidisse uel suis cultoribus enuntiare timuisse, in fine autem, tamquam nihil amplius habentes quod agerent, etiam ibi uoluisse suam ostendere diuinationem, ubi iam produntur diu simulasse diuinitatem?
But now, after the time has come for the prophecies of the one God to be fulfilled, who calls these false gods and most vehemently commands that they should not be worshipped, why should they not be permitted to predict even this as fulfilled, whence it would more clearly appear that they had previously either not believed these things at all or had feared to announce them to their worshippers, but at the end, as if having nothing more to do, wished to show their divination even there where they are already betrayed to have long simulated divinity?