登陆注册
5214200000157

第157章

According to the Platonists, then, the gods, who occupy the highest place, enjoy eternal blessedness, or blessed eternity; men, who occupy the lowest, a mortal misery, or a miserable mortality; and the demons, who occupy the mean, a miserable eternity, or an eternal misery.As to those five things which Apuleius included in his definition of demons, he did not show, as he promised, that the demons are mediate.For three of them, that their nature is animal, their mind rational, their soul subject to passions, he said that they have in common with men; one thing, their eternity, in common with the gods; and one proper to themselves, their aerial body.How, then, are they intermediate, when they have three things in common with the lowest, and only one in common with the highest? Who does not see that the intermediate position is abandoned in proportion as they tend to, and are depressed towards, the lowest extreme? But perhaps we are to accept them as intermediate because of their one property of an aerial body, as the two extremes have each their proper body, the gods an ethereal men a terrestrial body, and because two of the qualities they possess in common with man they possess also in common with the gods, namely, their animal nature and rational mind.For Apuleius himself, in speaking of gods and men, said, "You have two animal natures." And Platonists are wont to ascribe a rational mind to the gods.Two qualities remain, their liability to passion, and their eternity,--the first of which they have in common with men, the second with the gods;so that they are neither wafted to the highest nor depressed to the lowest extreme, but perfectly poised in their intermediate position.But then, this is the very circumstance which constitutes the eternal misery, or miserable eternity, of the demons.For he who says that their soul is subject to passions would also have said that they are miserable, had he not blushed for their worshippers.Moreover, as the world is governed, not by fortuitous hap-hazard, but, as the Platonists themselves avow, by the providence of the supreme God, the misery of the demons would not be eternal unless their wickedness were great.

If, then, the blessed are rightly styled eudemons, the demons intermediate between gods and men are not eudemons.What, then, is the local position of those good demons, who, above men but beneath the gods, afford assistance to the former, minister to the latter? For if they are good and eternal, they are doubtless blessed.But eternal blessedness destroys their intermediate character, giving them a close resemblance to the gods, and widely separating them from men.And therefore the Platonists will in vain strive to show how the good demons, if they are both immortal and blessed, can justly be said to hold a middle place between the gods, who are immortal and blessed, and men, who are mortal and miserable.For if they have both immortality and blessedness in common with the gods, and neither of these in common with men, who are both miserable and mortal, are they not rather remote from men and united with the gods, than intermediate between them.They would be intermediate if they held one of their qualities in common with the one party, and the other with the other, as man is a kind of mean between angels and beasts,--the beast being an irrational and mortal animal, the angel a rational and immortal one, while man, inferior to the angel and superior to the beast, and having in common with the one mortality, and with the other reason, is a rational and mortal animal.So, when we seek for an intermediate between the blessed immortals and miserable mortals, we should find a being which is either mortal and blessed, or immortal and miserable.

CHAP.14.--WHETHER MEN, THOUGH MORTAL, CAN ENJOY TRUE BLESSEDNESS.

It is a great question among men, whether man can be mortal and blessed.

Some, taking the humbler view of his condition, have denied that he is capable of blessedness so long as he continues in this mortal life; others, again, have spurned this idea, and have been bold enough to maintain that, even though mortal, men may be blessed by attaining wisdom.But if this be the case, why are not these wise men constituted mediators between miserable mortals and the blessed immortals, since they have blessedness in common with the latter, and mortality in common with the former? Certainly, if they are blessed, they envy no one (for what more miserable than envy?), but seek with all their might to help miserable mortals on to blessedness, so that after death they may become immortal, and be associated with the blessed and immortal angels.

CHAP.15.--OF THE MAN CHRIST JESUS, THE MEDIATOR BETWEEN GOD AND MEN.

同类推荐
  • 历代蒙求

    历代蒙求

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 长安亲故

    长安亲故

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 保婴撮要

    保婴撮要

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 送客偶作

    送客偶作

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 上清黄庭养神经

    上清黄庭养神经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 黑客间谍

    黑客间谍

    斯诺登不过揭开了美国情报战略的冰山一角,世界便因此而起巨大骚动。本书全面剖析斯诺登背后的故事,特别是围绕“棱镜”主谋——美国国安局展开对美国网络战、情报战布局与战略的分析和追索,揭秘美国众多情报特务机构的不为人知的运作方式,敲响未来必将爆发信息网络大战的警钟。
  • 艺术类专业高考应试必备·文艺常识

    艺术类专业高考应试必备·文艺常识

    真正的文化艺术和哲学总是一方面保持着它与自身历史和社会的联系,另一方面也保持着它自我反省和自我批判的本质。只要在这一脉络中继续努力,我们就有充分的理由期待一个“文化艺术哲学”王国的出现。为了帮助广大青年朋友提高艺术修养,特别是为了帮助广大文艺爱好者报考各类艺术院校,或者参与各类电视选秀活动(包括全国青年歌手电视大奖赛、主持人大奖赛等),我们组织全国部分艺术院校、媒体及文艺团体的相关专家、学者和教授共同编写了这本《艺术类专业高考应试必备·文艺常识》。
  • 大唐神丐

    大唐神丐

    亚洲黑拳总冠军范天华,冷血无情,杀人无数,偶然机会穿越到唐朝一名乞丐义子-孤儿身上,恰逢安史之乱的战争年代,于是,他摇身一变,成为时代骄子。为了生存,他单臂托千斤石狮子,堵大户!为了救民水火,他创立丐帮!当次之时,大唐王朝爆发了安史之乱,生灵涂炭,百姓民不聊生,叛军一时之间,攻城夺地,势如破竹。众多江湖败类依附安史叛军,刺杀唐朝名将高官;范天华带领丐帮,少林等正义武林势力,与叛军展开一场生死较量----
  • The Gathering of Brother Hilarius

    The Gathering of Brother Hilarius

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 经义考

    经义考

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 十不二门枢要

    十不二门枢要

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 孤战封神

    孤战封神

    神秘出现的虚拟游戏,一份神秘的礼物,是穿越,还是。《封神》开售前,竟然提前收到了游戏设备,来到一座特殊的村庄,无法下线,没有其他人,是重生?还是系统?修仙封神,竟能影响到现实生活,是游戏,还是什么?特殊的规则,不一样的开局,主角究竟如何后来追上?
  • 蔷薇上的晨星

    蔷薇上的晨星

    顾凌薇在前三年里一直在寻找,可是她不知道她兜兜转转一直在寻找的人就在身边看着自己喜欢的人为了寻找自己,傅晨的心既惊喜又愧疚《仅供参考(?ω?)hiahiahia》
  • 极品横扫系统

    极品横扫系统

    “谁那么大的胆子?”
  • 神奇宝贝之red

    神奇宝贝之red

    喷火龙,喷射火焰。上啊。没有人等朱当我们成为冠军的阻碍。如若有则会成为我们的垫脚石