On the Divination of Demons · §8 · Augustine of Hippo

Demons' wonders do not make them better than good humans

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Augustine is continuing his argument that demonic abilities, whether predictions or wonders, do not make demons superior to good people.

But as for the fact that demons not only predict certain future events but also do certain wonders—on account of the very excellence of their body, why should a wise person not despise this, when many wicked and depraved people so train their bodies and can do such things by various skills that those who do not know these things and have never seen them believe them even when they are merely described? How many wonders have tightrope walkers and other theatrical performers done? How many have craftsmen done, and especially engineers? Are they for that reason better than good people endowed with holy piety? I have mentioned these things so that whoever considers them without obstinacy and without a vain eagerness to resist may at the same time reflect: if from the underlying denser matter of their own bodies or of earth and water, of stones and wood and various metals, certain people can do such things that those who cannot do them often call them divine in amazement by comparison with themselves—though some of the former are more powerful in their skills, and some of the latter are better in their character—how much greater and more wonderful are the things demons can do by the capacity and ease of their most subtle body, that is, their airy body, even though they are unclean and perverse spirits in the depravity of their will, and especially in the arrogance of their pride and the malice of their envy! How much power the element of air, in which their bodies excel, has for invisibly undertaking, moving, changing, and turning many visible things would take long to demonstrate now, and I think it readily occurs to anyone who considers it even moderately.

Latin

Quod uero non solum quaedam daemones futura praedicunt, uerum etiam quaedam mira faciunt, pro ipsa utique sui corporis excellentia, cur non contemnatur a prudentibus, cum plerique iniqui ac perditi homines ita exerceant corpora sua tantaque diuersis artibus possint, ut ea qui haec nesciunt nec aliquando uiderunt, etiam narrata ut credant? quam multa funiambuli ceterique theatrici artifices, quam multa opifices maximeque mechanici miranda fecerunt? num ideo meliores sunt bonis et sancta pietate praeditis hominibus? quae ideo commemoraui, ut qui haec sine peruicacia et sine uana resistendi animositate considerat, simul cogitet, si de subiacenti crassiore materia uel sui quisque corporis uel terrae et aquae, lapidum atque lignorum metallorumque uariorum tanta quidam homines possunt, ut eos illi, qui haec non possunt, plerumque stupendo in sui comparatione diuinos uocent, cum quidam illorum sint artibus potentiores, quidam istorum moribus meliores. quanto maiora et mirabiliora pro subtilissimi corporis, hoc est aerii facultate ac facilitate daemones possint, cum tamen sint prauitate uoluntatis maximeque superbiae fastu et inuidentiae malitia spiritus inmundi atque peruersi! quantum autem ualeat aeris elementum, quo eorum corpora praeualent, ad multa uisibilia inuisibiliter molienda, mouenda, mutanda atque uersanda longum est nunc demonstrare et puto quod uel mediocriter consideranti facile occurrat.

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.