Read City of God (Penguin Classics) Online
Authors: Saint Augustine
I must confess that nothing immediately occurs to me to the discredit of Janus; and perhaps he was that kind of a character, living in innocence and remote from crimes and sins. He gave a kind welcome to Saturn, the refugee; he divided his kingdom with his guest, so that they each founded a community, that of Janus being Janiculum, that of Saturn, Saturnia.
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But the pagans, whose aim is to introduce unpleasantness into the cult of the gods, finding nothing dishonourable in the life of Janus, have dishonoured him by images of monstrous deformity, representing him sometimes with two faces, sometimes with four – a kind of twin.
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Perhaps their intention was that since
the majority of the ‘select’ gods had lost face by the shameful acts they perpetrated, Janus should have an extra supply of face to match his innocence!
5.
Concerning the more esoteric teaching of the pagans and their naturalistic interpretations
But let us rather listen to the ‘natural’ interpretations given by the pagans themselves, the explanations by which they try to disguise the squalor of their wretched superstition under a pretentious show of profundity in doctrine.
To begin with, Varro supports those interpretations by saying that the men of antiquity invented images of gods, and their attributes and ornaments, so that those who had been initiated into the mysteries of the teaching could fix their eyes on them, and then apprehend with their mind the true gods, namely the Soul of the World and its manifestations. He explains that those who made images in human form seem to have followed the principle that the spirit of man, which is in the human body, most nearly resembles the Immortal Spirit. It is as if vessels were placed to signify gods, and in the temple of Libera a wine-jar were set up to signify wine, the contents being represented by the container. Thus, the rational soul is signified by the statue of human form, because that kind of ‘vessel’ generally contains that which they hold to be the constitutive nature of God, or the gods.
These are the mysteries of doctrine which that most learned of men had penetrated, so that he could bring them to light. But Varro, you are one of the shrewdest of mankind, and I would like to ask you a question. In treating of those ‘mysteries of doctrine’, have you by any chance lost that insight which enabled you to see, in sober truth, that those who first set up images for the people banished reverent fear from their fellow-citizens and introduced error, and that the Romans in the remote past offered a purer worship, without images? It was the evidence of the ancient Romans that gave you the courage to criticize the Romans of later times. For if the Romans in times long past had set up images you might well have kept a timid silence, and suppressed your conviction, well-grounded though it is, that images ought not to be erected; and on the subject of pernicious and futile inventions of this kind you would have held forth in a loftier strain, with a more copious flow, about those ‘mysteries of doctrine’. However, that soul of yours, for all your learning and your great talents (and this is why
we are so grieved for you) could never arrive, by way of those ‘mysteries of doctrine’, at its God; at the God, that is, by whom the soul was created, not
with
whom it was made – the God of whom it is a creature, not a part, who is not the ‘Soul of all things’, but the God who created every soul, the God by whose illumination the soul attains blessedness, if it is not ungrateful for his grace.
The subsequent discussion will reveal what these ‘mysteries of doctrine’ are, and what they are worth. Meanwhile, we observe that the learned Varro declares that the Soul of the World and its manifestations are the true gods. It follows that the whole of his theology, the ‘natural’ theology, that is, to which he attaches the highest importance, could extend only as far as to the nature of rational soul. Varro treats very briefly of ‘natural’ theology at the beginning of his last book, which is devoted to the ‘select’ gods. We shall see here whether, by means of ‘physiological’ explanations, he can bring ‘civil’ theology under this ‘natural’ theology. If so, then all theology will be ‘natural’; and what was the point of taking such trouble to distinguish ‘civil’ theology? While if the distinction was based on a real difference then, since ‘natural’ theology, which Varro approves, is not true (for it only reaches as far as the soul, and does not arrive at the true God, the maker of the soul) how much more worthless and false is ‘civil’ theology! For ‘civil’ theology is mainly concerned with material nature. This will be shown by the interpretations which Varro himself has worked out and clarified with the greatest industry. Some of those I shall have to quote.
6.
Concerning Varro’s notion, that God is the Soul of the World; but the world has many souls in its different parts, and their nature is divine
In Varro’s preliminary remarks about ‘natural’ theology he declares that, in his belief, God is the Soul of the World, or as the Greeks say, the
cosmos
, and that this world itself is God. But just as a wise man, although he consists of body and soul, is called ‘wise’ in virtue of his soul; so the world is called ‘God’ in virtue of its soul, although consisting both of soul and body. Here Varro seems in some manner to be acknowledging the unity of God. But in order to introduce a plurality of gods also, he adds that the world is divided into two parts, the sky and the earth, and the sky is subdivided into ether and air, and the earth into water and land, and of these ether is the highest element, next comes air, below that water, and at the bottom, earth. All these
four parts
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are full of souls, immortal souls in ether and air, mortal souls in water and earth. Between the highest circumference of the sky and the circle of the moon there are ethereal souls, the planets and stars; and they appear as gods not only to the mind but to the eyes. Between the moon’s sphere and the summits of the clouds and winds there are aerial souls, but these are visible only to the mind, not to the eyes; and they are called ‘Tieroes’,
lares
, and
genii
.
Such is the account, a brief account, to be sure, of ‘natural’ theology given in Varro’s prefatory remarks; and it is this theology which has commended itself not only to Varro, but to many philosophers. I shall have to discuss it in greater detail when, with God’s help, I have finished what remains to be said about ‘civil’ theology as far as it is concerned with the ‘select’ gods.
7.
Was it reasonable to separate Janus and Terminus as two divinities
?
Varro begins with Janus. I ask, ‘Who is Janus?’ I get the reply, ‘He is the world.’ A succinct answer, to be sure, and a plain one. Then why are we told that he has to do with the beginnings of things while their endings are looked after by someone else, called Terminus? For they inform us that because of beginnings and endings two months are dedicated to these two gods in addition to the ten months leading off with March and going on to December; January being sacred to Janus, February to Terminus. That, they assure us, is why the
Terminalia
are celebrated in the month of February,
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when the sacred purification, called
Februm
, takes place; and that gives the month its name. Are we to take it that the beginnings of things are the concern of the world (which is Janus), while their endings are not? And so another god has to be put in charge of them? But surely they admit that everything which begins in this world also has its ending in the world. What nonsense it is to give Janus a double face in his image, and to have his exercise of power!
Would it not give a far more intelligent interpretation of the two-faced god to identify Janus and Terminus, and assign one face to beginnings, the other to endings? For one who engages in an activity
ought to keep both beginning and end in view; anyone who does not look back to the beginning throughout a course of action, does not look forward to the end. Hence it necessarily follows that an intention which looks ahead depends on a recollection which looks back; and a man who forgets what he has begun will not discover how to finish. But if they had thought that the life of blessedness is begun in this world, yet is completed outside this world, and for that reason limited the power of Janus to beginnings, they surely they would have ranked Terminus above him and would not have excluded him from the ‘select’ gods. Yet, even as it is, when the beginnings and endings of merely temporal things are allotted to these two gods, greater honour ought to be paid to Terminus. For there is the greater joy when a matter is brought to a successful end; enterprises are beset with anxiety until they are carried to their conclusion. When anyone begins an undertaking, it is on the end that he fixes his desires, his thoughts, his hopes, and his prayers; and he only feels exultation when the enterprise is crowned with achievement.
8.
Why the worshippers of Janus invented a two-faced image of the god
We may now examine the interpretation of the two-faced image. It is said that the god has two faces, one in front and one behind, because when we open our mouth the cavity has a certain resemblance to the world; hence the Greeks call the palate
ouranos
, and several Latin poets, according to Varro, call the sky, ‘the palate’;
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and he points out that this oral cavity has two exits, one leading outwards, in the direction of the teeth, the other inwards, towards the throat. See to what a state the world has been reduced, on account of the Greek word for ‘palate’, or the poetical meaning of ‘palate’! What has this to do with the soul, or with eternal life? This god is to be worshipped because of salivation and for nothing else, for the provision of the two openings under the ‘sky of the palate’, one for swallowing, the other for spitting. But could anything be more absurd? It is impossible to find in the actual world two openings on opposite sides through which it can admit anything from outside or emit anything from in side; and yet we are asked to imagine, on the basis of our mouth and throat (which the world does not in the least resemble), a representation
of the world in the person of Janus, solely because of the palate (which Janus does not in the least resemble).
Now when they make Janus four-faced and call him the double Janus, this is interpreted in relation to the four parts of the world, as if the world looked at anything outside itself as Janus looks out with all his four faces. Then, if Janus is the world and the world consists of four parts, the image of two-faced Janus is false. Or if it is justified by the fact that the expression ‘the East and the West’ is generally understood as meaning ‘the whole world’, are we to take it that when we name the two other parts, North and South, someone is going to talk about a ‘double world’, in the same way as they call the four-faced god the ‘double Janus’? In the case of the two-faced Janus the interpreters found an explanation in reference to the human mouth, regarded as a representation of the world. They have no similar explanation of any kind to offer in the case of the four doors (
januae
) open for entrance and exit. Neptune, to be sure, might come to their aid and supply them with a fish, which has, besides the openings of mouth and throat, the two apertures of the gills on left and right. And yet no soul can escape from futility by any of those numerous doors except the soul that has heard the Truth saying, ‘I am the door.’
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9.
Concerning the power of Jupiter, and his relation to Janus
And now I should like our friends to explain what interpretation they want to be put on Jove, who is also called Jupiter.
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‘He is the god’, they say, ‘who has power over the causes which effect all that happens in the world.’ There is a famous line of Virgil which attests the importance of this responsibility,
I call him happy
Who could discern the causes of all things.
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But why is Janus placed in front of him? Let us have the reply of the learned and shrewd Varro: ‘The reason is that the start of things rests with Janus, but the fulfilment with Jupiter, who is therefore rightly
held to be the sovereign power. For the fulfilment surpasses the beginning; the beginning has precedence in time, but the fulfilment is superior in dignity.’ This would be a sound observation, if the beginnings of processes had been kept distinct from their fulfilment. To set out is a start; to arrive is a fulfilment. To begin a course of study is a start; to understand the teaching is the fulfilment. Similarly, in all spheres, the commencement is the start, the achievement is the fulfilment. We have already dealt with this matter in reference to Janus and Terminus. But the causes which are assigned to Jupiter are efficient causes, not effects; and, in the temporal order, it is utterly impossible that the effects or the start of the effects should precede the cause. What produces an effect always precedes the effect produced. It follows that if the start of processes belongs to Janus, that does not mean that the beginnings are prior to the efficient causes, which are attributed to Jupiter. In fact nothing happens, nothing begins to happen without a precedent efficient cause.
If it is this God – the God who controls all the causes of events, and of all substances, and of all things in nature – whom the people call Jupiter and whom they worship with all those insults and outrageous slanders, they are guilty of greater blasphemy than if they believed in no god at all. Hence it would have been much better for them to have given the name of Jupiter to some other person, someone deserving those degraded and scandalous honours, substituting an idle fiction to be the object of their blasphemies (as a stone, so it is said, was substituted as an offering to Saturn, for him to devour instead of his son). This would have been far better than to represent Jupiter as both the thunderer and an adulterer, the ruler of the universe and an abandoned debauchee, controlling the highest causes of all substances and all things in nature, but not having good motives for his own actions.
Next I ask what place among the gods they assign to this Jupiter, if Janus is the world. Varro has laid it down that the true gods are the Soul of the World and its parts or manifestations. According to this definition nothing else can be a genuine god, in the theory of this school of thinkers. Are they then ready to say that Jupiter is the Soul of the World while Janus is its body, that is, the visible world? If this is what they say, they cannot possibly claim that Janus is a god, since, in their thoughts, it is not the world that is a god, but the Soul of the World and its parts. Varro says quite explicitly that, for him, God is the Soul of the World, and the world itself is God: but just as a wise man, though constituted of body and soul, is called ‘wise’ in virtue of
his soul, so the world is called ‘God’ because of its soul, although it consists of body and soul. Thus the body of the world, by itself, is not God, but either its soul, or its body and soul taken together (bearing in mind that it is God in virtue of its mind, not of its body). Then if Janus is the world, and Janus is God, is it going to be said that Jupiter, so that he can be God, is some part of Janus? It is more usual to attribute the whole universe to Jupiter; hence the poet says,