§5Dictum contra est concedendum esse nunc ista recte non fieri, immo ideo prorsus iam non fieri, quod omnipotenti nunc displicent, uerumtamen placuisse, cum fierent; nos enim nescire, unde tunc placuerint, nunc autem unde displiceant, ++ dum tamen certum sit nec tunc fieri potuisse, nisi placuissent omnipotenti. nec nunc cessasse, nisi displicuissent omnipotenti.
It was argued in reply that it must be conceded that those things are not done rightly now, or rather that they are no longer done at all precisely because they now displease the Almighty, but nevertheless that they did please Him when they were being done; for we do not know why they pleased Him then, but now why they displease Him, while yet it is certain that they could not have been done then unless they had pleased the Almighty, nor could they have ceased now unless they had displeased the Almighty.
. ad hoc ego, cur ergo, inquam, et nunc talia clanculo fiunt, quae uel perpetuo delitiscunt uel deprehensa puniuntur, si nihil horum fieri sinit omnipotens, nisi quod ei iusto placet, cum iusto quod iniustum est placere non possit? contra hoc dictum est nunc omnino talia non fieri.
To this I said: "Why then are such things done secretly even now, which either remain hidden forever or are punished when detected, if the Almighty permits nothing of these things to happen except what pleases Him in His justice, since what is unjust cannot please the just One?" Against this it was said that such things are not done at all now.
sacra enim illa, inquit, non fiunt, quae pontificalibus conscripta sunt libris; ea quippe tunc recte fiebant, ea tunc deo placere demonstrabantur eo ipso, quod ab omnipotente ac iusto fieri sinebantur; si quid autem nunc prohibitorum sacrificiorum fit occulte atque inlicite, non est illi pontificali sacrificiorum generi conparandum, sed in eodem deputandum, quod etiam nocturno fit tempore, cum haec omnia inlicita ipsis pontificalibus libris certum sit prohiberi atque damnari. hic respondi: cur ergo uel talia permittit deus fieri, si nihil eorum malefactorum contemnit, quae contra religionem fiunt, cum praesertim haec eum curare hinc etiam cogantur concedere, qui pontificales libros magni aestimant, quod ea, quae his libris prohibentur.
"For those sacred rites," he said, "are not performed which were written down in the pontifical books; they indeed were done rightly then, and they were shown to please God then by the very fact that they were permitted to be done by the Almighty and just One; but if any of the forbidden sacrifices is now performed secretly and unlawfully, it is not to be compared to that pontifical class of sacrifices, but is to be classified in the same category as what is done even at night, since it is certain that all these unlawful things are forbidden and condemned by those very pontifical books." Here I replied: "Why then does God permit even such things to be done, if He neglects none of those evil deeds which are committed against religion, especially since those who highly value the pontifical books are forced to concede from this very fact that He cares for these things, because they assert that the things forbidden by these books are indeed forbidden by divine authority?
utique diuinitus prohiberi asserunt? quomodo ergo diuinitus prohibentur, nisi quia displicent deo, quae utique prohibendo non solum sibi displicere, uerum etiam curare se ostendit neque omnino contemnere? unde colligitur, quod deus aliquid et improbet iustus et tamen permittat omnipotens. §6Haec cum dicta essent, concessum est non ideo putandum aliquid iuste ac bene fieri, quia id deus, cum haec prohibenda curet, fieri tamen sinit, fatendumque esse etiam illa mala, quae contra religionem, qua deus colitur, fiunt, et dis-. plicere deo iusto et ratione iudicii eius ab omnipotente permitti; sed aliud iam esse tractandum, unde sint diuinationes uel daemonum uel quilibet illi sint, quos deos pagani uocant; uidendum enim esse, ne forte non quidem propterea haec bona putanda sint, quia ea fieri permittit omnipotens, sed ideo, quia tam magna sunt, ut nonnisi dei potentiae, tribuenda esse uideantur.
How then are they forbidden by divine authority, except because they displease God? And by forbidding them, He shows not only that they displease Him, but also that He cares for them and by no means neglects them. From this it is concluded that God, being just, disapproves of something, and yet, being almighty, permits it." When these things had been said, it was conceded that something is not to be thought to be done justly and well for the reason that God, although He cares to forbid these things, nevertheless permits them to be done; and it must be confessed that even those evils which are committed against the religion by which God is worshiped both displease the just God and are permitted by the Almighty by the reason of His judgment; but that another matter must now be treated, namely, whence are the divinations either of demons or of whoever those are whom the pagans call gods; for we must see lest perhaps these things are to be thought good, not indeed because the Almighty permits them to be done, but because they are so great that they seem to be attributable to nothing but the power of a god.
ad hoc me postea responsurum esse promisi, quoniam tunc hora prodeundi ad populum iam nos urguebat, nec distuli, cum spatium datum est scribendo, et illa retexere et ista subtexere.
I promised that I would answer this later, because at that time the hour of going out to the people was already pressing upon us, nor did I delay, when time was given for writing, both to unravel those matters and to weave these in.