§3Idolum aliquamdiu retro non erat.
For a long time in the past there was no idol.
priusquam huius moustri artifices ebullissent, sola templa et uacuae aedes eraut, sicut in hodiernum quibusdam locis uetustatis uestigia permanent.
Before the craftsmen of this monster had swarmed forth, there were only temples and empty shrines, just as down to the present day in certain places traces of antiquity remain.
tamen idololatria agebatur, non in isto nomine, sed in isto opere.
Nevertheless, idolatry was practiced, not under that name, but in that deed.
nam et hodie extra templum et sine idolo agi potest.
For even today it can be practiced outside a temple and without an idol.
at ubi artifices statuarum et imaginum et omnis generis simulacrorum diabolus saeculo intulit, rude illud negotium humanae calamitatis et nomen de idolis consecutum est et profectum.
But when the devil introduced into the world the craftsmen of statues and images and of every kind of likenesses, that rude business of human calamity both obtained its name and made progress from idols.
exinde iam caput facta est idololatriae ars omnis quae idolum quoquomodo edit.
Thenceforward, every art that produces an idol in any way became the head of idolatry.
neque enim interest, an plastes effingat, an caelator exculpat, an phrygio detegat, quia nec de materia refert, an gypso, an coloribus, an lapide, an aere, an argento, an filo formetur idolum.
For it makes no difference whether a clay-modeler shapes it, or a carver carves it, or an embroiderer reveals it, because it is of no importance regarding the material whether the idol is formed of plaster, or colors, or stone, or bronze, or silver, or thread.
quando enim et sine idolo idololatria fiat, utique, cum adest idolum, nihil interest, quale sit, qua de materia, qua de effigie, ne qui putet id solum idolum habendum, quod humana effigie sit consecratum.
For since idolatry may occur even without an idol, surely when an idol is present, it makes no difference what kind it is, of what material, or of what shape, lest anyone should think that only that is to be considered an idol which is consecrated in a human likeness.
ad hoc necessaria est uocabuli interpretatio.
For this, an interpretation of the word is necessary.
εί̉δοςGraece formam sonat; ab eo per diminutionem εἵδωλον deductum; aeque apud nos forma formulam fecit.
Eidos in Greek sounds as form; from it, by diminutive, eidolon was derived; likewise among us, forma made formula.
igitur omnis forma uel formula idolum se dici exposcit.
Therefore, every form or formula demands to be called an idol.
inde idololatria omnis circa omne idolum famulatus et seruitus.
Thence all idolatry is the service and bondage about every idol.
inde et omnis idoli artifex eiusdem et unius est criminis, nisi parum idololatrian populus admisit, quia simulacrum uituli et non hominis sibi consecrauit.
Thence also every craftsman of an idol is guilty of the selfsame and single crime, unless indeed the people committed too little idolatry because they consecrated to themselves the likeness of a calf and not of a man.
§4Idolum tam fieri quam coli deus prohibet.
God forbids an idol to be made as much as to be worshiped.
quanto praecedit, ut fiat quod coli possit, tanto prius est, ne fiat, si coli non licet.
By how much it precedes that what can be worshiped is made, by so much is it a prior duty that it not be made, if it is not permitted to be worshiped.
propter hanc causam, ad eradicandam scilicet materiam idololatriae, lex diuina proclamat, ne feceris idolum, et coniungens, neque similitudinem eorum quae in caelo sunt et quae in terra et quae in mari, toto mundo eiusmodi artibus interdixit seruis dei.
For this cause, namely to eradicate the material of idolatry, the divine law proclaims, “You shall not make an idol,” and adding, “nor the likeness of those things which are in heaven, and which are on earth, and which are in the sea,” it interdicted the servants of God throughout the whole world from arts of this kind.
antecesserat Enoch praedicens omnia elementa, omnem mundi censum, quae caelo, quae mari, quae terra continentur, in idololatrian uersuros daemonas et spiritus desertorum angelorum, ut pro deo aduerlus deum consecrarentur.
Enoch had gone before, predicting that demons and the spirits of the abandoned angels would turn all elements, all the wealth of the world, whatever are contained in heaven, in the sea, in the earth, into idolatry, so that they might be consecrated instead of God and against God.
omnia igitur colit humanus error praeter ipsum omnium conditorem.
Human error, therefore, worships all things except the very Creator of all things.
eorum imagines idola, imaginum consecratio idololatria.
The images of them are idols, and the consecration of images is idolatry.
quicquid idololatria committit, in artificem quemcumque et cuiuscumque idoli deputetur necesse est.
Whatever idolatry commits must of necessity be imputed to any craftsman of any idol whatsoever.
denique idem Enoch simul et cultores idoi et fabricatores in comminatione praedamnat.
Finally, the same Enoch pre-condemns both the worshipers and the makers of an idol together in a threat.
et rursus: iuro uobis peccatores, quod in diem sanguinis perditionis tristitia parata est.
And again: “I swear to you, sinners, that grief is prepared for the day of blood of destruction.
qui seruitis lapidibus et qui imagines facitis aureas et argenteas et ligneas et lapideas et fictiles et seruitis phantasmatibus et daemoniis et spiritibus infernis et omnibus erroribus non secundum scientiam, nullum ab iis inuenietis auxilium. Esaias uero, testes, ait, uos estis, si est deus absque me. et non erant tunc qui fingunt et exculpunt, omnes uani, qui faciunt libita sibi, quae illis non proderunt.
You who serve stones, and who make images of gold, and silver, and wood, and stone, and clay, and who serve phantoms and demons and infernal spirits and all errors not according to knowledge, you shall find no help from them.” But Isaiah says, “You are witnesses if there is a God besides me.” And there were not then those who mold and carve; all are vain, who make what is pleasing to themselves, which will not profit them.
et deinceps tota illa pronuntiatio quam artifices, quam cultores detestatur.
And thereafter that whole pronouncement detests both the craftsmen and the worshipers.
cuius clausula est: cognoscite, quod cinis sit cor illorum et terra, et nemo animam suam liberare possit. † ubi aeque Dauid et factores. tales fiant, inquit, qui faciunt ea.
Its conclusion is: “Know that their heart is ashes and earth, and no one can deliver his soul.” Where likewise David says of the makers: “Let those who make them become like them.” And why should I, a man of modest memory, suggest anything further?
et quid ego, modicae memoriae homo, ultra quid suggeram? quid recolam de scripturis? quasi aut non sufficiat uox spiritus sancti aut ultra deliberandum sit, an maledixerit atque damnauerit dominus ipsos prius artifices eorum, quorum cultores maledicit et damnat?
What should I recall from the Scriptures? As if either the voice of the Holy Spirit were not sufficient, or it had to be deliberated further whether the Lord cursed and condemned those very craftsmen first, whose worshipers He curses and condemns.