On the Divination of Demons · §3 · Augustine of Hippo

If God permitted pagan rites, they pleased Him; but now He overthrows them, so they displease Him

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Augustine is answering the interlocutors' objection that God must care about offenses against His worship, so pagan rites that He permitted must have pleased Him and therefore been good.

But then someone argued the other side: there is no doubt that God is the Almighty and the righteous God, but these human sins—the ones committed against human society—he does not care about while they are happening. That is why they can happen. They certainly could not happen if the Almighty had not allowed them. But the things that pertain to the worship of religion itself—those we must not believe he despises in any way. Therefore they could not have happened unless they had pleased him, and so they should not be considered evil.

To this I also replied: so now they displease him, when temples and idols are overthrown and the sacrifices of the nations, if they have been performed, are punished. For just as it is said that those things could not have happened unless they had pleased God, and therefore they should be considered good because they please the righteous God, so it can be said that they could not have been forbidden, overthrown, and punished unless they displeased God. And so if they were rightly done back then because they were shown to please the righteous God by the fact that he allowed them to happen, then now they are wrongly done, because they are shown to displease God by the fact that he either commands or permits them to be overthrown.

Latin

Et cum e contrario diceretur non quidem esse dubitandum, quod omnipotens et iustus sit deus, sed haec humana peccata, quae contra societatem hominum fierent, non eum curare, dum fierent ■— propterea posse fieri: quae utique fieri non possent, si omnipotens non siuisset; illa uero, quae ad ipsum religionis cultum pertineant, nullo modo ab eo credendum esse contemni. ac per hoc fieri non potuisse, nisi ei placuissent. et ideo mala ea putari non oportere — ad hoc quoque respondi: nunc ergo ei displicent, cum templa et simulacra euertuntur et illa gentium sacrificia, si facta fuerint. puniuntur. sicut enim dicitur non ea fieri potuisse, nisi deo placuissent, et ideo bona putanda, quoniam iusto placent, ita dici potest non ea prohiberi, euerti, puniri potuisse, nisi deo displicerent; ac per hoc si tunc ideo recte fiebant, quia iusto deo placere hinc ostendebantur, quod ab illo fieri sinebantur, ideo nunc inique fiunt, quia deo displicere hinc ostenduntur, quod ea uel iubet uel permittit euerti.

About this text

Augustine of Hippo (354–430) wrote this treatise for Christian laymen and for pagan critics of the Christian religion.

The specific question was why a demon had successfully predicted the destruction of the temple of Serapis in Alexandria, which had been destroyed in 391.

Augustine argues that God permits unjust acts such as murders and thefts not because they please him but for the damnation of those who do them. He explains that demons predict the future not by divine power but by the keen senses and swiftness of their airy bodies and by long experience, and that they are often deceived. A reader will meet the pagan god Serapis, whose temple was destroyed, and will hear quotations from the Roman poet Virgil, from the prophet Zephaniah, from the Psalms, and from the apostle Paul. The Psalms are cited according to the Septuagint numbering, which differs from the Hebrew numbering used in most modern English Bibles.

New English from the Latin base text; no published English used as wording.

Printed text used

Translated from CSEL 41 (1900) (Latin)

This work has passed this project's source check. This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Latin on each section (or the Latin source witness link) for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.