On the Belly-Speaker against Origen · §1 · Eustathius of Antioch

Against the Belly-Myth

I always praise your illustrious zeal for the divine citizenship, O most distinguished preacher of orthodoxy, Eutropius; and being much astonished by your knowledge of piety, I have not even wondered at this part, that you wish to investigate accurately how I might form an opinion concerning the belly-myth, which is told in the history of the first of kingdoms.

For you say that you are not satisfied with those things which Origen has put forward for this hypothesis. Not only myself, but I know that I would find others whom many have been reproached for those things he decided hastily; indeed, those whose souls are troubled are frequent, being unsettled without restraint.

There are also those who submit to those things which he wrote there, easily casting themselves upon the preceding presumption, attending more to the names rather than to the matters as they ought.

So that I might not seem to introduce a contest of my own that is unjust, I thought it not to open all at once by joining his explanation to the dictation of this letter, but to make the clear thing known through the other, lest some should think that we are slandering, having been praised in any way, or again that the opinions of each side are divided.

But it is necessary to arrange the contending matters against the opposites, so that the superior one may be distinguished from the one of the two. Thus, the original things must be set in order first, and it is necessary to examine with special care the opposing mind through those same things.

Let us indeed consider the very letter of the history as far as is possible; from this, something may be drawn. Saul, he says, was an excellent protector of the people's bravery, having excised all the belly-talkers and those called by that name as experts, who were actually enemies defiling the people. But, since having been turned away from the best things toward the predator, he was bitterly driven by a demon, he rushed again toward the forms of their divination, building up what he had destroyed a little while before, and thereby even convicting himself as a transgressor.

For as the foreign neighbors were announcing the coming of war with unanimous zeal, gathering their phalanxes to be most numerous and setting them in opposition, and having stripped their weapons, they went out broadly for battle, Saul, however, showed himself a scoundrel; seeing the very barrier of the intrusion being fortified, he said in short, 'he is struck with madness,' as the divine forbids, as the writing says. After this, he says, he inquired through the Lord to know the things to be done, licking his lips; but the Lord did not answer him directly because of the excesses of his injustice, neither 'in dreams' nor 'in manifestations' nor 'through the prophets,' but indeed that divine power did not make use of him at all, since he acted unrighteously.

What, then, does he do after these things, having been stripped of the highest help? Instead of rather appeasing God more frequently with prayer and patient service, on the contrary, leaping away, he increases the opportunities for rebellion, and he commanded his servants to seek out a belly-talker for him, so that he might reach her, inquiring as if in an oracle. When his most skilled servants had immediately become greatly angry at the infestation, Saul immediately transformed himself and...

Greek

De engastrimytho contra Origenem ΤΟΥ ΑΓΙΟΥ ΕΥΣΤΑΘΙΟΥ ΑΡΧΙΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΟΥ ΑΝΤΙΟΧΕΙΑΣ ΚΑΤΑ ΩΡΙΓΕΝΟΥΣ ∆ΙΑΓΝΩΣΤΙΚΟΣ ΕΙΣ ΤΟ ΤΗΣ ΕΓΓΑΣΤΡΙΜΥΘΟΥ ΘΕΩΡΗΜΑ} 1.1 Ἀεὶ μὲν ἄγαμαι τὸν ἀξιοφανῆ τῆς ἐνθέου πολιτείας σου ζῆλον, ὦ διαπρεπέστατε τῆς ὀρθοδοξίας ἱεροκήρυξ Εὐτρόπιε· τὸ δὲ τῆς εὐσεβείας σου γνώρισμα πολλαχῶς ἐκπληττόμενος, οὐχ ἥκιστα καὶ περὶ τόδε μάλιστα τεθαύμακα τὸ μέρος, ὅτι σαφῶς ἀκριβῶσαι βούλῃ πῶς ἂν ἔχοιμι γνώμης ἕνεκα τῆς ἐγγαστριμύθου τῆς ἐν τῇ πρώτῃ τῶν Βασιλειῶν ἱστορουμένης· 1.2 οὐ γὰρ ἀρέσκεσθαι φὴς οἷς ἐξέδωκεν Ὠριγένης εἰς τήνδε τὴν ὑπόθεσιν. οὐ μὴν ἀλλ' ἔγωγε καὶ ἄλλους εὗ οἶδ' ὅτι μεμφομένους οὐκ ὀλίγους ἐφ' οἷς ὡρίσατο προχείρως, ἀλλὰ συχνοὶ μέν εἰσιν οἱ δακνόμενοι τὰς ψυχάς, ἀσχάλλοντες οὐ μετρίως· 1.3 ἔσθ' ὅτε δέ τινες οἷς ἔγραψεν ἐκεῖνος ὑπάγονται, τῇ προλαβούσῃ δοξοκοπίᾳ ῥᾷον ἀνατιθέμενοι, καὶ τοῖς ὀνόμασι μᾶλλον, ἀλλ' οὐ τοῖς πράγμασι προσέχοντες ὡς δέον. 1.4 ἵν' οὖν μὴ δόξαιμι κατ' ἐμαυτὸν ἀγῶνα δικανικὸν εἰσάγειν, οὐκ ἀνοίκειον ἡγοῦμαι πᾶσαν μὲν ὁμοῦ συζεῦξαι τὴν ἐξήγησιν αὐτοῦ τῇδε τοῦ γράμματος ὑπαγορίᾳ, δι' ἑκατέρου δὲ τρανῶσαι τὸ σαφές, ὡς ἂν μήτε τινὲς οἴοιντο συκοφαντεῖν ἡμᾶς τοὺς ὁπωσδήποτε δοξάσαι προαχθέντας, μήτ' αὖ πάλιν ἀμφηρίστους εἶναι τὰς δόξας ἑκατέρων· 1.5 οἷόν τε γὰρ ἐκ τῆς παραλλήλου συγκρίσεως ἀντεξετάζειν μὲν ὅπως ἔχῃ δόξης ἑκάτερα τὰ μέρη, τὴν ἀμείνονα δὲ γνώμην ἐξ ἀμφοῖν αἱρεῖσθαι τοὺς φιλολόγους. 1.6 οὔτε γοῦν ἵππος ἀγωνιστὴς εἷναι κρίνεται δόκιμος, ἑαυτῷ τρέχων εὐσκελῶς, οὐδ' εἰ σφόδρα κοῦφος ὢν ὥσπερ ὑποπτέρους ἐπιδείκνυται κινήσεις, οὔτ' αὖ τις ἀθλητῶν ὠκύτατα τρέχειν ἐν σταδίῳ δυνάμενος οὔτε ἄλλος οὐδείς, οὔτε παλαίων ὑγρῶς, οὔτε τραχύτατα παγκρατιάζων ἢ πυγμαχῶν, ἢ τὸν ἀέρα δέρων ἐωροκοπίαις ὑποκένοις· 1.7 ἀλλὰ συσταδὸν ἁρμόττει τὰ μαχόμενα τοῖς ἐναντίοις ἀντιστατεῖν, ἵν' ἐξ ἑνὸς ὁποτέρου διαγινώσκηται τὸ προὖχον. ὥστε τὰ μὲν Ὠριγένεια προτακτέον ἐν πρώτοις, ἰδίᾳ δὲ τάξει καὶ τὸν ἀντιπίπτοντα νοῦν ἐκείνοις ἐξετάσαι σπουδαστέον. 2.1 Φέρε γοῦν αὐτὸ τὸ τῆς ἱστορίας γράμμα θεωρήσωμεν ὡς οἷόν τε κατὰ τὸ ἐφικτόν· ἐνθένδε ποθὲν ἀρκτέον. ὁπηνίκα μὲν ὁ Σαοὺλ ἄριστα προΐστατο τῆς τοῦ λαοῦ πολυανδρίας, ἐξῆρε πάντας τοὺς ἐγγαστριμύθους, ἔφη, καὶ τοὺς οὕτω καλουμένους ὀνόματι γνώστας, ἅτε δὴ λυμεῶνας ἐμφωλεύοντας ἐχθίστους. 2.2 ἐπειδὴ δὲ τραπεὶς ἐπὶ τὰ χείριστα πρὸς τοῦ ἀλιτηρίου πικρῶς ἠλαύνετο δαίμονος, ᾤχετο πάλιν ἐπὶ τὰ φάσματα τῆς μαντείας αὐτῶν, οἰκοδομῶν μὲν ὅσα κατέλυσεν ὀλίγῳ 20πρόσθεν, ἑαυτὸν δὲ καὶ διὰ τούτου παραβάτην20 ἐλέγχων. 2.3 ὡς γὰρ οἱ πέριξ ἀλλογενεῖς ὁμοθύμῳ σπουδῇ πολέμου γένεσιν ἀνεκήρυττον, ἀθροισθέντες μὲν ὡς ἔνι μάλιστα παμπληθεὶ τὰς φάλαγγας ἀντιπαρέταττον, ὅπλα δὲ γυμνώσαντες εἰς μάχην ἐξῄεσαν εὐρώστως. ὁ μέντοιγε σχέτλιος ἔδεισε Σαούλ, αὐτὸ τὸ τῆς παρεμβολῆς ἐπιτείχισμα πεφραγμένον ἰδὼν αὐτοψεί, καὶ τὸ σύμπαν εἰπεῖν «ἐξέστη» καταπλαγείς, ὡς ἡ θεία διαγορεύει γραφή. 2.4 μετὰ δὲ τοῦτο, φησίν, ἠρώτα διὰ τοῦ κυρίου, γνῶναι δηλαδὴ τὰ πρακτέα γλιχόμενος· ὁ δὲ κύριος οὐκ ἀπεκρίνατο τὸ παράπαν αὐτῷ διὰ τὰς τῆς ἀδικίας ὑπερβολάς, οὔτε «ἐν ἐνυπνίοις» οὔτε «ἐν δήλοις» οὔτε «ἐν τοῖς προφήταις», ἀλλὰ μὴν ἐκείνῳ γε τὸ θεῖον οὐκ ἐχρημάτιζεν οὐδαμῶς, ἀθέμιτα δράσαντι. 2.5 τί δὲ μετὰ ταῦτα πράττει, τῆς ἀνωτάτω γυμνωθεὶς ἐπικουρίας; ἀντὶ τοῦ μᾶλλον ἐξιλεώσασθαι συχνοτέρᾳ δεήσει καὶ καρτερᾷ ψυχολατρείᾳ, τοὐναντίον ἀποπηδήσας αὔξει μὲν τὰ τῆς ἀποστασίας ἐπιτηδεύματα, τοῖς δὲ παισὶν αὐτοῦ προσέταττεν γυναῖκα ζητήσειν ἐγγαστρίμυθον, ἵνα ἀφίκοιτο πρὸς αὐτὴν πευσόμενος ὡς ἐν μαντείῳ. 2.6 τῶν δὲ δὴ χειρίστων ὑπηρετῶν αὐτίκα δὴ μάλα καταμηνυσάντων τὴν ἔμπληκτον, ὁ μὲν Σαοὺλ ἀμελλητὶ μετασχηματίσας ἑαυτὸν καὶ