Rufinus Aquileiensis, In Suam Et Eusebii Caesariensis Latinam Ab Eo Factam Historiam / Historia Ecclesiastica

Serapis apud Alexandriana templum auditum qui- dem omnibus puto, plerisque d vero ellam notum. Locus est non natura, sed manu et constructione per centum, aut eo amplius gradus, in sublime suspen- sus, quadratis et ingentibus spatiis omni ex parte distentus; cuncta vero, quo ad summum pavimen- torum evadatur, opere 294 forniceo constructa, quae immensis desuper luminaribus, et occultis adytibus invicem in semel distinctis, usum diversis ministe- riis et clandestinis officiis exhibebant. Jam vero in superioribus extrema totius ambitus spatia occupant exedrae et pastophoria (tabernacula), domusque in excelsum porrectae, in quibus vel aeditni, vel hi quos appellabant (??)«yvetiovw, id est, qui se castificant, commanere soliti erant. Porticus quoque post haec omnem ambitum quadratis ordinibus distinctae in- trinsecu(??) circumibant. In medio, totius spatii aedes erat, pretiosis edita columnis et marmoris saxo ex trinsecus ample magnificeque constructa. In hac si- mulachrum Serapis ita erat vastum, ut dextra unum parietem, alterum leva f perstringeret : quod mon- strum ex omnibus generibus metallorum lignorum- que compositum ferebatur. Interiores delubri parietes laminis primo aureis vestiti, super has argenteis, ad postremum aereis habebantur, quae munimento [Al. monimenta] pretiosioribus metallis forent. Erant etiam quaedam ad stuporem admirationemque viden- tium, dolis et arte composita. Fenestra perexigua ab ortu solis ita erat aptata, ut die qua fuerat institu- tum simulachrum Solis ad Serapio salutandum in- troferri, diligenter temporibus observatis, ingre- diente simuluchro radius solis per eandem fenes- tram g directus, os et la(??)ra Serapis illustraret, ita ut inspectante populo, osculo salutatus Serapis vide- retur a Sole. Erat et aliud fraudis genus hujusmodi : Natura h lapidis Magnetis hujus virtutis esse per- hibetur, ut ad se rapiat et attrahat ferrum. Signum. Solis ad hoc ipsum ex ferro subtilissimo manu arti- ficis fuerat fabricatum, ut lapis, cujus naturam fer- rum ad se trahere diximus, desuper in laquearibus fixus, cum temperate sub ipso radio ad libram fuisset positum simulachrum, et vi naturali ad se raperet ferrum, assurexisse populo simulachrum, et in acre pendere videretur. Et ne hoc lapsu 295 Pro- pero proderetur, ministri fallaciae, Surrexit [Al. Surrexerit], aiebant, Sol, ut valedicens Scrapi, discedat ad propria. Sed et multa alia deci- piendi caussa a veteribus in loco fuerant constru- cta quae nunc longum est enumerare per singula. Verum m dicere coeperamus, Rescripto recitato, pa- rati quidem erant nostrorum populi ad subverten- dum erroris auctorem : persuasio tamen quaedam ab ipsis Gentilibus fuerat dispersa, quod si humana manus simulachrum illud contigi set, terra dehi- scens illico solveretur in chaos, caelumque repente rueret in praeceps. Quae res paululum stuporem quendam populis dabat. Cum ecce [Al. esset] unus ex militibus fide quam armis magis munitus, corre- ptam bipennem, insurgens omni nisu, maxiliae vete- ratoris inlidit. Clamor attollitur utrorumque popu- lorum : neque tamen aut caelum ruit, aut terra a de- sedit. Inde iterum atque iterum 296 repetens, pu- tris ligni fumosum genium b caedit : quo c dejecto, Igni adhibito tam facile, quam lignum aridum con- flagravit. Post hoc revulsum cervicibus, et depresso modio, trahitur caput : tunc pedes, aliaque membra caesa securibus et rapta funibus d distrahuntur, ac per singula loca membratim in conspectu cultricis Alexandriae senex veternosus exuritur. Ad ultimum truncus, qui superfuerat, in amphitheatro concre- matur : vanaeque superstitionis et erroris antiqui Serapis hic finis fuit. De cujns origine diversa fertur opinio Paganorum. Alii Jovem putant : cujus ca- piti modius superpositus, vel quia cum mensura mo- doque cuncta indicet moderari, vel vitam mortali- bus frugum largitate praeberi [Al. praebere]. Alii vir- tutem Nili fluminis, cujns AEgyptus opibus et foecun- ditate pascatur. Quidam in honorem nostri Joseph formatum perhibent simulachrum, 297 dimen- sionem frumenti, qua famis tempore subvenit AEgy- ptiis. Alii repertum in historiis Graecorum veteribus ferunt, Apin quemdam patremfam(??)lias seu regem i(??) AEgypto Memphis positum, cum famis tempore fru- menta apud Alexandriam defecis ent, ex proprio af- fatim civibus alimenta praebuisse. Quo defuncto, in honorem ejus instituerint apud Memphis templum, in quo bos quasi indicium optimi agricolae nutritur. habens quaedam coloris insignia, a qui ex nomine ejus Apis appelletur : σο/ών vero, id est, sepulchrum, in quo corpus ejus inerat Alexandriana b deduxerint, et Soron Apis primo ex compositione Sorapin, post vero per e corruptionem Serapin nominarint. Quod an verum sit, aut nihil omnino, de his Deus viderit. Sed ud inceptum redeamus.

The temple of Serapis at Alexandria has, I think, been heard of by everyone, and is actually known to most. The site is raised on high not by nature but by hand and construction, up a hundred steps or more, and extends on every side in vast square spaces; and everything, up to where one comes out at the topmost floor, is built of vaulted work, which, with huge light-openings from above and hidden inner chambers divided off from one another, served the use of various ministries and secret rites. Further, in the upper parts the outermost spaces of the whole circuit are taken up by halls and pastophoria (chambers), and by buildings rising to a height, in which the temple-keepers used to live, or those whom they called hagneuontes, that is, those who keep themselves chaste. Behind these, too, colonnades set out in square rows ran round the whole circuit on the inside. In the middle of the whole space stood the shrine, raised on precious columns and built on the outside, amply and magnificently, of marble. In it the image of Serapis was so huge that with its right hand it touched one wall and with its left the other: a monster said to have been made of every kind of metal and wood. The inner walls of the sanctuary were clad first with plates of gold, over these with silver, and last with bronze, to serve as protection for the more precious metals. There were also certain things contrived by trickery and art for the astonishment and wonder of the beholders. A very small window on the side of the sunrise was so fitted that, on the day on which it had been ordained that the image of the Sun be carried in to greet Serapis, the timing having been carefully observed, as the image entered, a ray of the sun directed through that window lit up the mouth and lips of Serapis, so that, as the people looked on, Serapis seemed to be greeted with a kiss by the Sun. There was another kind of fraud too, of this sort. The nature of the magnet stone is said to have this power, that it snatches and draws iron to itself. An image of the Sun had been made by a craftsman's hand of the finest iron for this very purpose: that the stone, whose nature, as we said, is to draw iron to itself, being fixed above in the panelled ceiling, when the image had been set in careful balance directly beneath it, and the stone drew the iron to itself by natural force, the image should seem to the people to have risen up and to hang in the air. And so that this should not be betrayed by its quick fall, the ministers of the deception used to say: 'The Sun has risen, so that he may bid farewell to Serapis and depart to his own place.' But many other things too had been built in the place by the men of old for the sake of deception, which it would take too long to list one by one now. But, as we had begun to say, when the rescript had been read out, the crowds of our people were ready to overthrow the author of the error; yet a certain belief had been spread abroad by the pagans themselves, that if a human hand touched that image, the earth would gape open and at once dissolve into chaos, and the sky would suddenly come crashing down. This produced a kind of paralysis in the crowds for a little while. When, behold, one of the soldiers, armed more with faith than with weapons, seized a double axe and, rising up with all his strength, struck the old trickster's jaw. A shout goes up from both peoples; and yet neither did the sky fall nor the earth sink. Then, striking again and again, he hacks at the smoke-blackened godling of rotten wood; when it was thrown down and fire put to it, it burned up as easily as dry wood. After this the head is wrenched from the neck, the corn-measure pulled down, and it is dragged off; then the feet and other limbs, hewn with axes and hauled with ropes, are torn apart, and limb by limb, in place after place, in the sight of Alexandria his worshipper, the decrepit old man is burned. Finally the trunk that was left is burned up in the amphitheatre; and this was the end of Serapis, of empty superstition and ancient error. About his origin the pagans hold differing opinions. Some think him Jupiter, on whose head the corn-measure was placed either because it shows that he governs all things with measure and limit, or that life is supplied to mortals by the abundance of crops. Others think him the power of the river Nile, by whose wealth and fertility Egypt is fed. Some say the image was fashioned in honour of our Joseph, [and of] the measuring out of grain by which he came to the aid of the Egyptians in a time of famine. Others say it is found in the ancient histories of the Greeks that a certain Apis, a householder or a king established at Memphis in Egypt, when grain had run short at Alexandria in a time of famine, supplied the citizens with food in abundance from his own stores; that when he died, they set up a temple to him at Memphis, in which an ox is kept as a token of the excellent farmer, having certain marks of colour, and is called Apis after his name; and that they brought to Alexandria the soros, that is, the coffin, in which his body lay, and named it first, by joining Soros Apis, 'Sorapis', and later by corruption 'Serapis'. Whether this is true or nothing at all, God will see to these matters. But let us return to what we began.

Sacerdos erat apud eos Saturni, Tyrannus no- mine. Hic [Al. Is] quasi ex responso numinis, ado- rantibus in templo nobilibus quibusque et primariis viris, quorum sibi matronae ad libidinem placuissent, dicebat, Saturnum e sibi praecepisse, ut uxor sua pernoctaret in templo. Tum is qui audierat, gaudens quod uxor sua dignatione numinis vocaretur, exor- natam comptius insuper et donariis onustam, ne va- cua scilicet repudiaretur, conjugem mittebat ad templum. In conspectu omnium conclusa intrinsecus matrona, Tyrannus clausis januis, et f traditis clavi- bus discedebat. Deinde facto silentio, per occultos et subterraneos adytus, intra g ipsum Saturni simula- cbrum patulis erepebat cavernis. Erat autem simu- lachrum illud a tergo b exesum, et parieti diligenter annexum. Ardentibusque intra aedem luminibus, in- tentae supplicantique mulieri vocem subito per simulachrum aeris concavi proferebat, ita ut pa- vore et gaudio infelix mulier trepidaret, quod dignam se tanti numinis putaret alloquio. Post- ea quam vero quae libitum fuerat, vel ad con- sternationem majorem, vel ad libidinis incita- mentum, 299 disseruisset numen i impurum, arte quadam linteolis obductis, repente lumina extingue- bantur universa. Tum descendens obstupefactae et consternatae mulierculae adulteri fucum prophanis commentationibus inferebat. Haec cum per omnes miserorum matronas multo jam tempore gererentur, accidit quandam pudicae mentis foeminam horruisse facinus et attentius destgnantem, cognovisse vocem Tyranni, ac domum regressam, viro de fraude j sce- leris indicasse. Ille de injuria conjugis, imo potius sua, ardentius inflammatus, inseriptum Tyrannum ad tormenta deducit. Quo convicio atque confesso. caecisque fraudibus revelatis, pudor omnis et dedecus- Paganorum pervaserat domos, adulteris matribus, inceptis patribus, liberis spuriis deprehensis. Quibus divulgatis et proditis, raptim cum simulachris et aedi- bus excidebantur et crimina.

There was among them a priest of Saturn named Tyrannus. This man, as if from an answer of the god, used to tell various noble and leading men who were worshipping in the temple, and whose wives had taken his fancy for his lust, that Saturn had instructed him that the man's wife should spend the night in the temple. Then the man who had heard this, delighted that his wife was summoned by the god's favour, would send his wife to the temple, adorned more elegantly than usual and loaded with gifts besides, so that, of course, she would not be rejected for coming empty-handed. In the sight of all, the lady was shut inside; Tyrannus closed the doors, handed over the keys, and went away. Then, when all was silent, he would creep through hidden underground passages up into the very image of Saturn through its open cavities. Now that image was hollowed out from behind and carefully fixed to the wall. And while the lamps burned within the shrine, he would suddenly send forth a voice through the image of hollow bronze to the woman as she prayed intently, so that the unhappy woman trembled with fear and joy, thinking herself worthy to be addressed by so great a god. But after the impure deity had held forth with whatever he pleased, either to cause her greater dismay or to arouse her desire, by some contrivance linen cloths were drawn over the lamps and all of them were suddenly put out. Then he came down and practised upon the stupefied and terrified woman the deceit of an adulterer, with his profane devices. When this had been going on for a long time with all the wives of the wretched men, it happened that a woman of chaste mind shuddered at the deed and, marking things more attentively, recognised the voice of Tyrannus; and returning home she told her husband of the fraudulent crime. He, inflamed with burning anger at the wrong done to his wife, or rather to himself, brings Tyrannus, formally charged, to torture. When he had been convicted and had confessed, and the hidden frauds had been laid bare, every kind of shame and disgrace pervaded the houses of the pagans, as mothers were found to be adulteresses, fathers uncertain, and children bastards. When these things were spread abroad and exposed, the crimes too were swiftly cut down along with the images and the shrines.

Jam vero Canopi h quis enumeret superstitiosa fla- gitia? ubi praetextu sacerdotalium litterarum (ila etenim appellant antiquas AEgyptiorum litteras) ma- gicae artis erat pene publica schola. Quem locum velut fontem quendam atque originem daemomim in- tamum venerabantur Pagani, ut multo ibi major celebritas, quam apud Alexandriam haberetur. Sed de hujus quoque monstri errore, cujusmodi origi- nem tradant, absurdum non erit paucis exponere. Ferunt aliquando Chaldaeos Ignem Deum suum cir- cumferentes, cum omnium provinciarum diis habuisse conflictum, quo scilicet qui vicisset, hic esse Deus ab omnibus crederetur. 300 Reliquarum provinciarum Dii [Al. Dei], aeris aut auri, a argentive, aut ligni, vel lapidis, vel ex quacunque materia constabant, quae per ignem procul dubio corrumperetur. Ex quo fie- bat, ut Igufs locis omnibus obtineret. Haec cum au- disset Canopi sacerdos, callidum quiddam excogitavit. Hydriae fieri solent rn AEgypti partibus fictiles, undi- que crebris, et minutis admodum foraminibus pa- tulae, quibus turbida aqua desudans, defaecatior ac purior redditur [Al. redderetur]. Harum ille unam cera foraminibus obturatis, desuper etiam variis co- loribus pictam, aqua repletam statuit ut Deum. Et excisum veteris simulachri, quod Menelai guberna- toris b ferebatur, caput desuper positum diligenter aptavit. Adsunt post haec Chaldaei : itur in confli- ctum : circa hydriam ignis accenditur : cera qua fo- ramina fuerant obturata, resolvitur : sudante hydria ignis extinguitur. Sacerdotis fraude Canopus Chal- daeorum victor ostenditur. Unde ipsum Canopi simu- lachrum, pedibus perexiguis, attracto collo, et quasi c suggillato ventre tumido in modum hydriae cum dor- so aequaliter tereti formatur. Ex hac persuasione velut Deus victor omnium colebatur. Sed profece- rint haec fortasse aliquando Chaldaeis. Nunc vero adventante sacerdote Dei Theophilo, nullus profuit sudor, nec ceris fraus obtecta subvenit. Vastata sunt omnia, atque ad solum deducta.

And now who could recount the superstitious outrages of Canopus? There, under the pretext of priestly letters (for so they call the ancient letters of the Egyptians), there was an almost public school of the magic art. The pagans venerated this place as a kind of fountain and source of demons, so much so that it drew far greater crowds than Alexandria did. But about the error of this monster too, and what kind of origin they relate for it, it will not be out of place to explain in a few words. They say that once the Chaldaeans, carrying their god Fire around with them, held a contest with the gods of all the provinces, so that whichever won should be believed by all to be God. The gods of the other provinces were made of bronze or gold or silver, or of wood or stone, or of some material that would without doubt be destroyed by fire. And so it came about that Fire prevailed everywhere. When the priest of Canopus heard this, he thought up something cunning. In parts of Egypt earthenware water-jars are commonly made, pierced all over with many very small holes, through which muddy water sweats out and is made clearer and purer. He took one of these, stopped its holes with wax, painted it on the outside with various colours, filled it with water and set it up as a god. And he carefully fitted on top of it a head cut off from an old image, which was said to be of Menelaus's helmsman. After this the Chaldaeans arrive; the contest begins; fire is lit around the jar; the wax with which the holes had been stopped melts; the jar sweats and the fire is put out. By the priest's fraud Canopus is shown to be the victor over the Chaldaeans. Hence the image of Canopus itself is fashioned with tiny feet, a drawn-in neck, and a swollen belly, as if bruised, in the shape of a water-jar, with a back evenly rounded. From this belief he was worshipped as a god, victor over all. These things may perhaps once have prevailed against the Chaldaeans. But now, when Theophilus, priest of God, came, no sweating availed, nor did the fraud hidden under wax come to the rescue. Everything was laid waste and razed to the ground.