[8,0] Book VIII. The Church and sects (De ecclesia et sectis).

[8,1] I. The Church and the Synagogue (De ecclesia et synagoga) 1. '`Church' (ecclesia) is a 
Greek word that is translated into Latin as "convocation" (convocatio), because 
it calls (vocare) everyone to itself. '`Catholic' (catholicus) 
is translated as "universal" (universalis), after the term 
g-kath' g-holon, that is, `'with respect to the whole', for it is 
not restricted to some part of a territory, like a small 
association of heretics, but is spread widely throughout 
the entire world. 2. And the apostle Paul assents to this 
when he says to the Romans (1:8): "I give thanks to my 
God for all of you, because your faith is spoken of in the 
whole world." Hence the Church is given the name `the 
universal entity' (universitas) from `'one' (unus), because 
it is gathered into a unity (unitas). Whence the Lord says, 
in the Gospel according to Luke (11:23): "He that gathereth not with me, scatters." 3. 
But why is the Church 
described by John (Apoc. 1:4) as seven, when it is one, 
unless a single and universal church, filled with a sevenfold Spirit, is meant? We 
know Solomon spoke of the 
Lord like this (Proverbs 9:1): "Wisdom bath built herself 
a bouse, she bath hewn her out seven pillars." There is no 
doubt that wisdom, although it is seven, is also one, as 
the Apostle says (I Timothy 3:15): "The church of the living God, which is the pillar 
and ground of truth." 4. And 
the Church began from the place where the Holy Spirit 
came from heaven, and filled those who were sitting in 
one (unus) place (Acts 2:1–4).
5. In accordance with its present-day wandering the 
Church is called Zion, because from the imposed distance of this wandering one may 
`watch for' (speculari) the promise of celestial things, and for that reason it takes the 
name '`Zion' (Sion), that is, watching 
(speculatio). 6. And in accordance with the future peace 
of the homeland it is called Jerusalem, for `Jerusalem' 
(Hierusalem) is translated as "vision of peace." There, 
when all hostility has been overwhelmed, one will possess peace, which is Christ, by 
gazing upon him face 
to face. 7. The Greek word `'synagogue' (synagoga cf. 
g-synagein, "gather together"), which the Jewish people 
have taken as their own term, means "congregation"
(congregatio). Their gathering is properly called a synagogue, although it may also 
be called a church. 8. The 
apostles, on the other hand, never said "our synagogue," 
but always "our church," either so as to make a distinction between the two, or 
because there is some difference 
between `'congregation,' from which synagogue takes its 
narre, and 'convocation,' from which church takes its 
narre: no doubt because cattle, which we properly speak 
of in `'herds' (grex, gen. gregis), are accustomed to 'congregate' (congregare); and it is 
more fitting for those who use reason, such as humans, to be `'convoked'.

[8,2] II. Religion and faith (De religione et fide) 1. Philosophera have named dogma 
(dogma) from `thinking' (cf. 
g-dokein, "think, suppose, believe"), that is, "I think this 
is good," "I think this is true." 2. Religion (religio) is 
so called because through it we bind (religare) by the 
chain of service our souls to the one God for the purpose of divine worship. The 
word is composed from 
relegere ("pick out"), that is, eligere ("select"), so that the 
Latin word religio may seem to be like eligio ("selection" ). 
3. There are three things that are required of people for 
worshipping God in the practice of religion, that is, faith, 
hope, and charity. In faith, what is to be believed; in hope, 
what is to be hoped for; in charity, what is to be loved. 4. 
Faith is that by which we truly believe what we are not 
able to see at all, for we cannot '`believe' what we actually 
see. The term '`faith' (fides) is correctly used therefore, if 
what was said or promised all 'comes to pass' (fieri). It is 
called fides because what has been agreed between two 
parties – that is, between God and the human being – 
is '`brought about' (fieri, 3rd person fit). From fides also 
comes the word foedus ("pact").
5. Hope (spes) is so called because it is a foot for someone going forward, as if it were 
est pes ("there is a foot"). 
Desperation (desperatio) is its contrary, for in that terra 
the `'foot is lacking' (deest ... pes), and there is no ability to go forward, because as 
long as someone loves sin, 
he does not hope for future glory. 6. `'Charity' (caritas) 
is a Greek word, and is translated into Latin as '`love'
(dilectio), because it binds (ligare) two (duo) in itself. 
Indeed, love begins from two things, because it is the 
love of God and the neighbor. Concerning this the apostle Paul says (Romans 13:10): 
"Love is the fulfilling of the 
law." 7. It is greater than the other two, because he who 
loves also believes and hopes. But he who does not love, 
although he may do many good things, labors in vain. 
Moreover every carnal love (dilectio carnalis) is customarily called not love (dilectio) 
but` 'desire' (amor). We usually
use the term dilectio only with regard to better things.

[8,3] III. Heresy and schism (De haeresi et schismate) 
1. Heresy (haeresis) is so called in Greek from `'choice' 
(electio, cf. g-hairein, "choose"), doubtless because each person chooses (eligere) for 
himself that which seems best 
to him, as did the Peripatetic, Academic, Epicurean, and 
Stoic philosophers – or just as others who, pondering 
perverse teachings, have withdrawn from the Church by 
their own will. 2. Hence, therefore, `'heresy,' named with 
a Greek word, takes its meaning from `'choice,' by which 
each person, according to his own judgment, chooses 
for himself whatever he pleases to institute and adopt. 
But we are permitted to introduce nothing based on our 
own judgment, nor to choose what someone else has 
introduced from his own judgment. 3. We have the apostles of God as authorities, 
who did not choose anything 
themselves to introduce from their own judgment, but 
faithfully bestowed on the world the teaching received 
from Christ. And if even an angel from heaven preaches 
otherwise, he will be termed anathema.
4. A sect (secta) is named from `'following' (sequi, 
ppl. secutus) and `'holding' (tenere), for we use the term 
`'sects' of attitudes of mind and institutions associated 
with a precept or premise which people hold and follow 
when in the practice of religion they believe things that 
are quite different from what others believe. 5. Schism 
(schisma) is so called from the division (scissura) of opinions, for schismatics believe 
with the same worship, the 
same rite, as the rest; they delight in mere dissension (discidium) in the congregation. 
And schism occurs when 
people say "we are the righteous ones," "we are the ones 
who sanctify the unclean," and other similar things. 6. 
Superstition (superstitio) is so calledbecause it is a superfluous or superimposed 
(superinstituere) observance. 
Others say it is from the aged, because those who have 
lived (superstites) for many years are senile with age and 
go astray in some superstition through not being aware
of which ancient practices they are observing or which 
they are adding in through ignorance of the old ones. 
7. And Lucretius says superstition concerns things 'standing above' (superstare), that 
is, the heavens and divinities 
that stand over us, but he is speaking wrongly. So that 
the teachings of heretics can be recognized easily, it is 
appropriate to point out their motives and names.

[8,4] IV. Heresies of the Jews (De haeresibus Iudaeorum)
1. The name '`Jew' (Iudaeus) can be translated as "confessor" (confessor), for 
confession (confessio) catches up 
with many of those whom wrong belief possessed earlier.
2. Hebrews (Hebraeus) are called journeyers (transitor). 
With this name they are reminded that they are to journey (transire) from worse to 
better, and abandon their 
original errors. 3. The Pharisees (Pharisaeus) {deny that 
the Christ came, nor do they have any share in prophesied events}. {Pharisees and 
Sadducees (Saducaeus) are 
opposites, for '`Pharisee' is translated from Hebrew into 
Latin as "divided" (divisus), because they give precedence to the righteousness of 
traditions and observances, 
which they call g-deuterehseis (i.e. the "secondary obligations"). Hence they are 
called `'divided' from the people, as if by their righteousness.} 4. Sadducees {deny the 
resurrection, noting that it is said in Genesis (cf. 3:19) 
"But now earth thou art, into earth thou shalt return"}. 
{'Sadducee' means "righteous," and they claim to be 
righteous, which they are not – they deny the resurrection of the body, and they 
preach that the soul perishes with the body. They accept only the five books of 
the Law (i.e. Torah), and reject the predictions of the 
Prophets.} 5. The Essenes (Esseus) say that it is Christ 
himself who taught them complete abstinence. {The 
Galileans (Galilaeus) say that Christ came and taught 
them that they should not call Caesar `Lord,' or heed his 
commands.}
6. The Masbothei say that it was Christ himself who 
taught them to keep the Sabbath in every aspect. 7. The 
Genistae {presume that they are of the family (genus) 
of Abraham}; {and they are so called because they are 
proud to be of the family of Abraham. When the people 
of God came into Babylon, many of them abandoned 
their wives and took up with Babylonian women; but 
some were content with Israelite wives only, or they were
born (genitus) from these, and when they returned from 
Babylon, they separated themselves from the population as a whole and claimed for 
themselves this boastful 
name.} 8. The Meristae are so called because they separate (separare; cf. pars, "part") 
the Scriptures, not having 
faith in all the Prophets and saying that they prophesied by means of one sort of 
spirit or another. {For 
meris is from the Greek (cf. g-meros, "part").} 9. Samaritans (Samarita) {who were 
transported to that place, 
when Israel was captive and led off to Babylon, coming 
to the land of the region of Samaria, kept the customs 
of the Israelites in part, which they had learned from a 
priest who had been brought back, and in part they kept 
the pagan custom that they had possessed in the land 
of their birth. They differ entirely from the Jews in their 
observances, and their superstition is doubtless known 
to all} . {They are called Samaritan because they `'preserve' 
(custodire; see IX.II.54) only the Law (i.e Torah), for they 
do not accept the Prophets.} 10. {The Herodians (Herodianus). This heresy arose in 
the time of the Savior. They 
glorified Herod, saying that he was the Christ.} 11. The 
Hemerobaptistae {who wash their bodies and home and 
domestic utensils daily,} {so called because they wash 
their clothes and body daily (cf. g-hehmera, "day," and (g-baptizein, "to wash")}.

[8,5] V. Christian heresies (De haeresibus Christianorum) 
1. Some heretics, who have withdrawn from the Church, 
are named from the name of their founder, and some 
from the positions that they have selected and established. 2. The Simonians 
(Simonianus) are so called 
from Simon, skilled in the discipline of magic, whom 
Peter condemned in the Acts of the Apostles, because 
he wished to purchase the grace of the Holy Spirit from 
the Apostles with money (Acts 8:18—23). His followers 
say that the creation was created, not by God, but by a 
certain celestial power. 3. The Menandrians (Menandrianus) are named from the 
magician Menander, a student of Simon; they assert that the world was made not 
by God but by angels. 4. The Basilidians (Basilidianus) 
are named from Basilides; among other blasphemies, 
they deny the Passion of Jesus. 5. The Nicolaites (Nicolaita) are so called from 
Nicolas, deacon of the church 
of Jerusalem, who, along with Stephen and the others, 
was ordained by Peter. He abandoned his wife because of 
her beauty, so that whoever wanted to might enjoy her; 
the practice turned into debauchery, with partners being
exchanged in turn. John condemns them in the Apocalypse, saying (2:6): "But this 
thou hast, that thou hatest 
the deeds of the Nicolaites." 6. The Gnostics (Gnosticus) 
wish to call themselves thus because of the superiority 
of their knowledge (cf. g-gnohsis, "knowledge"). They say 
Soul is the nature of God, and they fashion a god that is 
both good and evil in their doctrine. 7. The Carpocratians (Carpocratianus) are 
named from a certain Carpocrates, who said that Christ was only a human being, 
and born from a man and a woman.
8. The Cerinthians (Cerinthianus) are named from 
a certain Cerinthus. Among other things, they practice circumcision; they say there 
will be one thousand 
(mille) years of enjoyment of the flesh alter resurrection, whence they are also called 
Chiliasts (Chiliasta; cf. g-chilias, "thousand") in Greek and Miliasts (Miliastus) in 
Latin. 9. There are ones called Nazarenes (Nazaraeus) 
who, while they acknowledge Christ, who is called the 
Nazarene from his village, as the Son of God, nevertheless preserve everything of the 
Old Law. 10. Ophites 
(Ophita) are so called from the serpent, for the Greek 
word g-ophis means "serpent." They worship the serpent, 
saying that it introduced the knowledge of virtue into 
paradise. 11. The Valentinians ( Valentinianus) are named 
from a certain Valentinus, a follower of Plato, who introduced g-aiohnai ("the Aeons"), 
that is, certain kinds of ages, 
into the origin of God the creator; he also asserted that 
Christ took on nothing corporeal from the Virgin, but 
passed through her as if through a pipe. 12. There are 
the Apellites (Apellita), of whom Apelles was the leader; 
he imagined that the creator was some sort of glorious 
angel of the supreme God, and claimed that this fiery 
being is the God of the Law of Israel, and said that Christ 
was not God in truth, but appeared as a human being 
in fantasy. 13. The Archontics (Archontiacus; cf. g-archohn, 
"ruler") are named from `Principalities' (i.e. one of the 
angelic orders) — they claim that the universe, which God 
made, is the work of archangels.
14. The Adamites (Adamianus) are so named because 
they imitate the nakedness of Adam; hence they pray 
naked, and men and women meet with each other 
naked. 15. In a like manner the Cainites (Caianus) are 
so named because they worship Cain. 16. The Sethians (Sethianus) take their name 
from the son of Adam 
who was called Seth, saying that he was the Christ. 17. 
The Melchizedechians (Melchisedechianus) are so called 
because they reckon that Melchizedech, the priest of
God, was not a human being, buta Virtue (i.e. a member 
of the angelic order of Virtues) of God. 18. The Angelics 
(Angelicus) are so called because they worship angels. 
19. The Apostolics (Apostolicus) claimed that name for 
themselves because they possess nothing of their own, 
and they do not accept those who possess anything in 
this world. 20. The Cerdonians (Cerdonianus) are named 
from a certain Cerdo; they assert that there are two 
opposing Principles. 21. The Marcionites (Marcionista) 
are named from the Stoic philosopher Marcion, who 
followed the teaching of Cerdo, and asserted that one 
God was good and the other just, as if there were two 
Principles: that of the creator and that of goodness.
22. The Artotyrites (Artotyrita) are so called from 
`offering,' for they make an offering of bread and cheese 
(cf. g-artos "bread"; g-tyros "cheese"), saying that the offering celebrated by the first 
humans was of the products 
of the earth and of sheep. 23. The Aquarians (Aquarius) are so called because they 
offer only water (aqua) in 
the sacramental chalice. 24. The Severians (Severianus), 
who originated from Severus, do not drink wine; they 
do not accept the Old Testament or resurrection. 25. The 
Tatianites (Tatianus) are named from a certain Tatian; 
they are also called the Encratites (Encratita), because 
they abhor meat (cf. g-egkrateia, "self-control"). 26. The 
Alogi (Alogius) are named as if it were `without the Word' 
– 'word' is g-logos in Greek – for they do not believe that 
God is the Word, rejecting John the Evangelist and the 
Apocalypse. 27. The province Phrygia gave its name to the 
Cataphrygians (Cataphrygius), because they lived there. 
Their founders were Montanus, Prisca, and Maximilla. 
They assert that the Holy Spirit was passed on, not to 
the apostles, but to them. 28. The Cathars (Catharus)' 
call themselves so because of `'cleanliness' (cf. g-katharos, 
"clean"), for, boasting of their merits, they deny forgiveness of sins to penitents; they 
condemn widows, if they 
remarry, as adulterers; they preach that they are cleaner 
than the rest. If they wished to know their proper name, 
they would call themselves 'worldly' (mundanus) rather 
than `'clean' (mundus).
29. The Paulians (Paulianus) originated from Paul of 
Samosata, who said that Christ did not always exist, but 
took his origin from Mary. 30. The Hermogenians (Hermogenianus) are so called 
from a certain Hermogenes, 
who, maintaining that matter was not born, compared 
it to God, who was not born, and asserted that there is 
a goddess and mother of the elements. The apostle Paul
condemns them (cf. II Tim.1:15) as being devoted to the 
elements. 31. The Manichees (Manicheus) originate from 
a certain Persian who was called Manes. He maintained 
that there are two natures and substances, that is, good 
and evil, and asserted that souls flow from God as if from 
some fountain. They reject the Old Testament, and they 
accept the New Testament only in part. 32. The Anthropomorphites 
(Anthropomorphita) are so called because, 
with rustic simple-mindedness, they think that God has 
human limbs, which are mentioned in divine Scripture, 
for g-anthrohpos in Greek is translated as 'human being' 
in Latin. They disregard the word of the Lord who says 
(John 4:24): "God is a Spirit." Indeed, God is incorporeal, and not characterized by 
limbs, and is not to be 
thought of with the weight of a body. 33. The Heraclites (Heraclita) originate from 
the founder Heracleon. 
They accept only monks, reject marriage, and do not 
believe that children possess the kingdom of heaven. 
34. The Novatians (Novatianus) originated from Novatus, priest of the city of Rome, 
who, in opposition to 
Cornelius, dared to usurp the priestly chair. He established his heresy, being 
unwilling to receive apostates 
and rebaptizing the baptized.
35. The Montanist (Montanus) heretics are so called 
because during the time of persecution they hid in the 
mountains (mons, gen. montis); for this reason theyseparated themselves from the 
body of the Catholic Church. 
36. The Ebionites (Ebionita) are named from Ebion.  
They are semi-Jewish and so theyaccept the Gospel while 
they follow a physical observance of the Law (i.e. Torah). 
The Apostle turns out to be writing in criticism of them 
in his letter to the Galatians. 37. The Photinians (Photinianus) are named from 
Photinus, the bishop of Sirmium 
in Gallograecia, who encouraged the heresy of the Ebionites and asserted that Christ 
was conceived by Mary with 
Joseph in conjugal union. 38. The Aerians (Aerianus) 
are named from a certain Aerius. They scorn to offer a 
sacrament for the deceased. 39. The Aetians (Aetianus) 
are called from Aetius. They are also called Eunomians 
(Eunomianus) from a certain dialectician Eunomius, a 
disciple of Aetius, by whose name they are better known:
they assert that the Son is not like the Father and the Holy 
Spirit not like the Son. And they say no sin should be 
imputed to those who remain in the faith. 40. The Origenians (Origenianus) began 
with their founder, Origen; 
they say that the Son cannot see the Father, nor the Holy 
Spirit see the Son. They also say that souls sinned at 
the beginning of the world and went from heaven to 
earth, where they earned a variety of bodies, like shackles, according to the variety of 
their sins – and the world 
was created for this very reason.
41. The Noetians (Noetianus) are named from a certain Noetus, who used to say that 
Christ and the Father 
and the Holy Spirit were the same; they accept the Trinity 
itself as the names of functions, but not as persons. 
Whence they are also called Patripassians (Patripassianus), because they say that the 
Father (Pater) suffered 
(pati, ppl. passus). 42. The Sabellians (Sabellianus) are 
said to have sprouted from this same Noetus, whose disciple, they say, was Sabellius, 
by whose name they are 
chiefly known – hence they are called Sabellians. They 
attribute a single person to the Father, Son, and Holy 
Spirit. 43. The Arians (Arianus) originated from Arius, 
an Alexandrian priest, who did not recognize the Son 
as co-eternal with the Father and asserted that there 
are distinct substances in the Trinity, in contradiction 
to which the Lord said (John 10:30): "I and the Father 
are one." 44. The Macedonians (Macedonianus) are so 
called from Macedonius, the bishop of Constantinople; 
they deny that the Holy Spirit is God. 45. The Apollinarists (Apollinarista) are so 
called from Apollinaris; they 
say that Christ took on merely a body, without a soul. 
46. The Antidicomarites (Antidicomarita; lit. "litigant 
against Mary") are so called because they deny the virginity of Mary, asserting that 
she had intercourse with 
her husband after Christ was born.
47. The Metangismonites (Metangismonita) receive 
such a name, because `vessel' is calledyyos in Greek, for 
they assert that the Son is within the Father, as a smaller 
vessel within a larger. 48. Patricians (Patricianus) have 
their name from a certain Patricius; they say the substance of the human body was 
made by the devil. 49. 
The Coluthians (Coluthianus) are named from a certain 
Coluthus; they say God did not create evil, contrary to 
that which is written (cf. Isaiah 45:7): "I am God, creating evil." 50. The Florians 
(Florianus), from Florinus; 
they say, on the contrary, that God created badly, contrary to that which is written 
(cf. Genesis 1:31): "God
made all things good." 51. The Donatists (Donatista) are 
named from a certain African, Donatus, who, coming 
from Numidia, deceived nearly all Africa with his persuasiveness, asserting that the 
Son was less than the Father, 
and the Holy Spirit less than the Son, and rebaptizing 
Catholics. 52. The Bonosiacs (Bonosiacus) are reported 
to have originated from a certain bishop Bonosus; they 
assert that Christ is the adoptive son of God, not the true 
son. 53. The Circumcellians (Circumcellia, lit. "around 
the chambers") are so called because they live out in the 
open; people call them Cotopitae, and they possess a doctrine of heresy named 
above. They kill themselves out 
of their desire for martyrdom, so that in dying a violent 
death they may be called martyrs.
54. The Priscillianists (Priscillianista) are named from 
Priscillian, who created a dogma in Spain, combined 
from the errors of the Gnostics and Manicheans. 55. 
The Luciferians (Luciferianus) originated from Lucifer, 
bishop of Syrmia (i.e. Sardinia); they condemn the 
Catholic bishops who, under the persecution of Constantius, consented to the 
faithlessness of the Arians 
and later, after this, repented and chose to return to the 
Catholic Church. They condemn these bishops either 
because they believed in Arianism, or because they pretended to believe. The 
Catholic Church received these 
in her maternal bosom, just as she did Peter after he 
lamented his denial of Christ. The Luciferians, proudly 
accepting this maternal love, but not willing to accept 
those who had repented, withdrew from the communion 
of the Church and they deserved to fall, along with their 
founder, a Lucifer indeed, who would rise in the morning (i.e. as if he were Lucifer, 
the morning star and a name 
for the devil). 56. Jovinianists (Iovinianista) are so called 
from a certain monk Jovinian; they assert that there is no 
difference between wives and virgins, and no distinction 
between those who are abstinent and those who blatantly 
carouse. 57. The Elvidians (Elvidianus) are named from 
Elvidius; they say that after Christ was born, Mary had 
other sons by her husband Joseph. 58. The Paternians 
(Paternianus) originated from a certain Paternus; they 
believe that the lower parts of the body were made by the 
devil. 59. The Arabics (Arabicus) are so named because 
they originated in Arabia; they say that the soul dies with 
the body, and each one will rise again in the last age.
6o. The Tertullianists (Tertullianista) are so called 
from Tertullian, a priest of the African province, of the 
city of Carthage; they preach that the soul is immortal,
but corporeal, and they believe the souls of human 
sinners are turned into demons after death. 61. The 
Tessarescaedecatites (Tessarescaidecatita) are so called 
because they contend that Easter should be observed 
with the Jewish Passover, on the fourteenth of the lunar 
month, for g-tessares means "four" and g-deka, "ten". 62. 
The Nyctages (Nyctages) are named from sleep (cf. g-nyx, 
gen. g-nyktos, "night"), because they reject night vigils, 
saying that it is a superstition to violate divine law, 
which assigns night to resting. 63. The Pelagians originated with the monk Pelagius. 
They put free will before 
divine grace, saying that will is sufficient to fulfill the 
divine commands. 64. The Nestorians (Nestorianus) are 
named from Nestorius, bishop of Constantinople, who 
asserted that the blessed Virgin Mary was the mother 
not of God, but of a mere human, so that he would 
make one person of the flesh and the other of the godhead. He did not believe that 
one and the same Christ 
existed in the Word of God and in the flesh, but he 
preached that there was one separate and distinct Son 
of God and another of humankind. 65. The Eutychians (Eutychianus) are so called 
from Eutyches, abbot of 
Constantinople, who denied that Christ consisted of two 
natures after his human incarnation, but asserted that 
the divine nature alone was in him. 66. The Acephalites 
(Acephalus) are so called (cf. g-akephalos 'headless'), that 
is, without a head (i.e. a leader) whom these heretics 
follow – for their founder, from whom they originated, 
is not known. Opposing the three tenets (capitulum, cf. 
caput, 'head') of the Council of Chalcedon, they deny the 
individuality of the two substances in Christ and preach 
that there is a single nature in his person.
67. The Theodosians (Theodosianus) and the Gaianites (Gaianita) are named from 
Theodosius and Gaianus, 
who were ordained as bishops on a single daybythe selection of a perverse populace 
in Alexandria during the time 
of the ruler Justinian. Following the errors of Eutyches 
and Dioscorus, they rejected the Council of Chalcedon. 
They asserted that there is in Christ one nature from two, 
which nature the Theodosians contend is corrupt and 
the Gaianites incorrupt. 68. The Agnoites (Agnoita) and 
Tritheites (Tritheita) originated from the Theodosians; 
of these, the Agnoites are so called from ignorance (cf. 
g-agnoia, "ignorance"), because to that perversity from 
which they arise they add this: that the divinity of Christ 
is ignorant of the things to come, which are written 
concerning the last day and hour – they do not recall
the person of Christ speaking in Isaiah (cf. 63:4): "The 
day of judgment is in my heart." And the Tritheites (cf. 
g-tri-, "three"; g-theos, "god") are so called because they add 
that just as there are three persons in the Trinity, so also 
there are three gods, contrary to that which is written (cf. 
Deuteronomy 6:4): "Hear, O Israel, the Lord thy.God is 
one God."
69. There are also other heresies without a founder 
and without names. Of these some believe that God is 
triform, others say that the divinity of Christ was capable of suffering, others assign 
the beginning of time to 
Christ's nativity from the Father, others {do not} believe 
that the liberation of the people in hell was accomplished 
by the descent of Christ,' others deny that the soul is the 
image of God, others suppose that souls are turned into 
demons and all sorts of animals. Others disagree concerning the state of the world: 
some believe in countless 
worlds, some assert that water is co-eternal with God. 
Some walk barefoot, others do not eat with other people.
70. These are heresies that have arisen in opposition 
to the catholic faith, and have been condemned by the 
apostles and Holy Fathers, or by the Councils. These 
heresies, although they disagree with each other, differing among themselves in 
many errors, nevertheless 
conspire with a common narre against the Church of 
God. But also, whoever understands the Holy Scriptures 
otherwise than the meaning of the Holy Spirit, by whom 
they were written, requires, even if he does not depart 
from the Church, nevertheless can be called a heretic.

[8,6] VI. Pagan philosophers (De philosophis gentium). 
1. Philosophers are called by a Greek name that is translated in Latin as "lovers of 
wisdom" (amator sapientiae). Indeed, a philosopher is one who has knowledge 
of divine and human matters, and follows every path 
of living well. 2. The term 'philosopher' (philosophus) is 
reported to have originated from Pythagoras. Although 
earlier the ancient Greeks would quite boastfully name 
themselves sophists (sophista), that is, `'wise ones' or 
'teachers of wisdom,' when Pythagoras was asked what 
he professed, he responded with a modest term, saying 
that he was a 'philosopher,' that is, a lover of wisdom – 
for to claim that one was wise seemed very arrogant.
3. So henceforth it was pleasing to later generations that, 
however much someone might seem, to himself or to 
others, to excel in his teaching about matters pertaining to wisdom, he would not be 
called anything but 
`'philosopher.' Philosophers are divided into three kinds: 
they are natural philosophers, ethicists, or logicians. 4. 
`'Natural philosophers' (physicus) are so called because 
they treat of nature, for in Greek `'nature' is called g-physis. 
5. The ethicists (ethicus), because they discuss morals, for 
morals are called g-ehtheh by the Greeks. 6. And the logicians 
(logicus), because they bring reasoning to the treatment 
of both nature and morals, for in Greek 'reason' (ratio) 
is called g-logos.
They are divided into their own schools, some having names from their founders, 
such as the Platonists, 
the Epicureans, and the Pythagoreans. Others take their 
names from the site of their meetings and their abodes, 
such as the Peripatetics, the Stoics, and the Academics. 7. 
The Platonists (Platonicus) are named from the philosopher Plato. They assert that 
God is the creator of souls, 
and angels the creators of bodies; they say that souls 
return in different bodies through many cycles of years. 
8. The Stoics (Stoicus) are so called from a place. There 
was a portico in Athens that they called the g-poikileh g-stoa 
("painted portico") in which were painted the deeds of 
wise people and the histories of great men. In this portico, wise people used to 
philosophize, and consequently 
they were called Stoics, for in Greek, a portico is called 
g-stoa. Zeno first established this sect. 9. They deny that 
anyone may be made happy without virtue. They assert 
that all sin is uniform, saying, "He who has stolen chaff 
will be as culpable as one who has stolen gold; he who 
kills a diver-bird as much as one who kills a horse — for it 
is not the nature of the animal (animal), but the intention (animus), that constitutes 
the crime." 10. They also 
say that the soul perishes with the body, the soul also.`
They deny the virtue of temperance. They aspire to eternal glory, although they say 
that they are not eternal. 11. 
The Academics are so called from the villa of Plato, the
Academy of Athens, where this same Plato used to teach. 
They believe that everything is doubtful, but, just as it 
must be said that many things are doubtful and hidden, 
which God has wished to be beyond the intelligence of 
humans, nevertheless there are many things that can be 
grasped by the senses and understood by reason. 12, The 
philosopher Arcesilaus of Cyrene founded this school; 
his follower was Democritus, who said that truth lies 
hidden, as if in a well so deep that it has no bottom.
13. The Peripatetics (Peripateticus) are so called from 
`'walking about' (cf. g-peripatehtikos), because Aristotle, 
their founder, was accustomed to engage in disputation 
while walking about. They say that a certain small part of 
the soul is eternal; concerning the rest, it is in large part 
mortal. 14. The Cynics (Cynicus) are named from the 
foulness of their shamelessness. For, contrary to human 
modesty, it was their custom to copulate publicly with 
their wives, insisting that it is lawful and decent to lie 
openly with one's wife, because it is a lawful union; they 
preach that this should be done publicly in the streets or 
avenues like dogs. Whence they drew their epithet and 
name from the dogs (cf. g-kyohn, "dog") whose life they 
imitated. 15. The Epicureans (Epicureus) are so called 
from a certain philosopher Epicurus, a lover of vanity, not of wisdom, whom the 
philosophers themselves 
named `'the pig,' wallowing in carnal filth, as it were, 
and asserting that bodily pleasure is the highest good. 
He also said that the world was not constructed or regulated by any divine 
forethought. i6. But he assigned the 
origin of things to atoms, that is, to solid and indivisible 
bodies, from whose chance collisions all things originate and have originated. And 
they assert that God does 
nothing; everything consists of bodies; the soul is nothing other than the body. 
Whence also he said, "I will not 
exist after I have died." 17. The Gymnosophists (Gymnosophista) are said to 
philosophize naked (cf. g-gymnos, 
"naked") in the shady solitudes of India, wearing garments only over their genitals. 
Thus a 'gymnasium' is 
so called because on a field, young men exercise naked, 
covering only their private parts. The Gymnosophists 
also restrain themselves from procreation.
18. There are Deists (Theologus) who are the same as 
natural philosophers. They are called '`Deists' because 
they spoke of God in their writings. In their investigations there are various ideas 
about the nature of God. 
Thus some, like Dionysius the Stoic, said that God is this 
world of the four elements visible to the bodily sense.
Others, like Thales of Miletus, understood spiritually 
that God is mind. 19. Some, like Pythagoras, said God 
is a lucid consciousness immanent in everything. Some, 
like Plato, that God is unchangeable and timeless. Some, 
like Cicero, that he is unfettered mind. Some, like Maro 
(i.e. Vergil), that he is both spirit and mind. Indeed, they 
explained only the God that they found, not how they 
found him, because they have come to nothing in their 
cogitations. By saying they were wise, they became fools.
20. {Again,} the Platonists at any rate assert that God is 
guardian and ruler and judge. The Epicureans, that God 
is uninvolved and inactive. Concerning the world, the 
Platonists affirm that it is incorporeal, the Stoics that it is 
corporeal, Epicurus that it is made of atoms, Pythagoras 
that it is made from numbers, Heraclitus, from fire. 21. 
Whence also Varro says that fire is the soul of the world; 
just as fire governs all things in the world, so the soul 
governs all things in us. As he says most vainly, "When it 
is in us, we exist; when it leaves us, we perish." Thus also 
when fire departs from the world through lightning, the 
world perishes.
22. These errors of the philosophers also introduced 
heresies within the Church. Hence the g-aiohnes (see 
above) and certain 'forms,' hence the `Trinity of the 
narre' of Arius, and the Platonic madness of Valentinus. 23. Hence the God of 
Marcion, `'better with regard to 
tranquillity,' which came from the Stoics. That the soul is 
said to die is the influence of Epicurus. The denial of the 
resurrection of the flesh is taken from the empty teaching of all the philosophers. 
Where matter is equated with 
God, it is the teaching of Zeno, and where we read about a 
fiery God, Heraclitus has intervened. The same material 
is rolled about among the heretics and the philosophers, 
and the same repeated statements are involved.

[8,7] VII. Poets (De poetis). 1. Whence poets (poeta) are so 
called, thus says Tranquillus (i.e. Suetonius, On Poets 2) 
"When people first began to possess a rational way of life, 
having shaken off their wildness, and to come to know 
themselves and their gods, they devised for themselves a 
humble culture and the speech required for their ideas, 
and devised a greater expression of both for the worship 
of their gods. 2. Therefore, just as they made temples 
more beautiful than their homes, and idols larger than 
their bodies, so they thought the gods should be honored by speech that was, as it 
were, loftier, and they 
raised up their praires with more brilliant words and
more pleasing rhythms. This kind of thing was given 
the narre 'poem' (poema) because it is fashioned with a 
certain beauty known as g-poiotehs (i.e. "quality"), and its 
makers were called 'poets' (poeta)." 3. Varro is the originator of the idea that `'seers' 
(vates) are so called from the 
force (vis) of the mind, or from plaiting (viere) songs, 
that is, from `turning' or modulating them; accordingly 
the poets in Latin were once called vates, and their writings called `prophetic' 
(vaticinius), because they were 
inspired to write by a certain force (vis), a madness (vesania), as it were; or because 
they `link' words in rhythms, 
with the ancients using the term viere instead of vincire 
("bind"). Indeed, through madness the prophets had 
this same name, because they themselves proclaimed 
many things in verse.
4. Lyric (lyricus) poets are named after the Greek term 
g-lehrein (lit. "speak trifles") that is, from the variety of 
their songs. Hence also the lyre (lyra) is named. 5. Tragedians (tragoedus) are so 
called, because at first the prize 
for singers was a goat, which the Greeks call g-tragos. 
Hence also Horace (Art of Poetry 220):
Who with a tragic long vied for a paltry goat.
Now the tragedians following thereafter attained great 
honor, excelling in the plots of their stories, composed 
in the image of truth. 6. `'Writers of comedies' (comoedus) are so called either from 
the place, because people 
performed them in rural districts, which the Greeks call 
g-kohmas, or from revelry (comissatio), for people used to 
come to hear them after a meal. Writers of comedies proclaim the deeds of private 
people, but tragedians, public 
matters and stories of kings. Again, the plots of tragedians are of sorrowful subjects; 
those of the writers of 
comedies, cheerful ones. 7. There are two types of writers 
of comedies, that is, the Old and the New. The Old, who 
would amuse by means of a j oke, such as Plautus, Accius, 
Terence. The New, who are also called satiriste (satiricus), 
by whom vices are generally flayed, such as Flaccus (i.e. 
Horace), Persius, Juvenal, and others. These latter seize 
upon the transgressions of everyone, and they do not 
refrain from describing any very wicked person, or from 
censuring the wrongdoings and morals of anyone. They 
are pictured naked because by them individual faults are 
laid bare.
8. Satirists (saturicus) are so called either because they 
are filled with all eloquence, or from fullness (saturitas) 
and abundance – for they speak about many things at
the same time — or from the platter (i.e. satura) with 
various kinds of fruit and produce that people used to 
offer at the temples of the pagans, or the name is taken 
from 'satyr plays' (satyrus), which contain things that are 
said in drunkenness, and go unpunished. 9. And some 
poets are called theological (theologicus), because they 
composed songs about the gods.
10. The function of poets is this, to transform things 
that have actually taken place into other forms, modified 
with some grace by means of indirect representations. 
Whence Lucan on that account is not placed among the 
number of poets, because he is seen to have composed 
histories, not a poem. 11. Moreover, among the poets 
there are three modes of speaking: one, in which the 
poet alone speaks, as in Vergil's books of the Georgics; the 
second mode is dramatic, in which the poet never speaks, 
as in comedies and tragedies; the third is mixed, as in the 
Aeneid, for there both the poet and the characters who 
are represented speak.

[8,8] VIII. Sibyls (De Sibyllis). 1. In the Greek language all 
female seers are generally called Sibyls (sibylla), for in 
the Aeolian dialect the Greeks called God g-sios, and mind 
g-bouleh; the mind of God, as it were. Hence, because these 
seers would interpret the divine will for humans, they 
were named Sibyls. 2. And just as every man who prophesies is called either a seer 
(vates) or a prophet (propheta), 
so every woman who prophesies is called a Sibyl, because 
it is the name of a function, not a proper noun.
3. It is reported by the most learned authors that there 
were ten Sibyls. The first of these was from Persia; the 
second is the Libyan Sibyl; the third, the Delphic, born 
in the temple of Apollo at Delphi. She prophesied before 
the Trojan Wars, and Homer inserted many of her verses 
into his own work. 4. The fourth was the Cimmerian, in 
Italy; the fifth, the Erythraean, Herophila by name, who 
came from Babylon — she foretold to the Greeks attacking 
Troy that it would perish and that Homer would write 
lies. She is called Erythraean because in that saure island 
her songs were found. The sixth is the Samian Sibyl, who 
is called Phemonoe, from the island of Samos — hence 
she was so named.
5. The seventh is the Cumanan Sibyl, Amalthea by 
name, who delivered to the Tarquin Priscus the vine 
books in which the Roman decrees were drawn up. She 
is also the Cumaean Sibyl of whom Vergil wrote (Ecl. 4.4):
She is called Cumana (cumana) after the city Cumae, 
which is in Campania; her sepulcher remains in Sicily to 
this day. 6. The eighth, the Hellespontian, was born on 
the Trojan plain; it is written that she lived in the time 
of Solon and Cyrus. The ninth is the Phrygian, who 
prophesied in Ancyra; the tenth the Tiburtinan, with 
the name Albunea. 7. Songs by all of them are published 
in which they are attested to have written many things 
most clearly even for the pagans about God and Christ. 
The Erythraean Sibyl is considered more honored and 
noble than the rest.

[8,9] IX. Magicians (De magis) 1. The first of the magicians 
was Zoroaster (Zoroastres), king of the Bactrians, whom 
Ninus, king of the Assyrians, killed in battle. About him 
Aristotle writes that the two million verses composed by 
him are made evident by the catalogues of his volumes.
2. Democritus expanded this art after many centuries, 
when Hippocrates also flourished with the discipline 
of medicine. Among the Assyrians the magic arts are 
abundant, as Lucan bears witness (cf. Civil War 6.427):
"Who could know of deeds by means of entrails, who 
interpret the birds, who might observe the lightning of 
the sky, and examine the constellations with Assyrian skill?"
3. Consequently, this foolery of the magic arts held sway 
over the entire world for many centuries through the 
instruction of the evil angels. By a certain knowledge 
of things to come and of things below, and by invoking them, divinations 
(aruspicium) were invented, and 
auguries (auguratio), and those things that are called 
oracles (oraculum) and necromancy (necromantium).
4. There is nothing surprising about the trickery of the 
magicians, since their skills in magic advanced to such a 
point that they even countered Moses with very similar 
signs, turning staffs into serpents and water into blood.
5. A certain sorceress (maga) is also reported, the very 
famous Circe, who turned the companions of Ulysses 
into beasts.
We also read about the sacrifice that the Arcadians 
burnt in offering to their god Lycaeus; whoever consumed this was turned into the 
shape of a beast. 6. This 
does not appear to have been completely doubtful, 
because the noble poet writes of a certain woman who 
excelled in the magic arts (Vergil, Aen. 4.487):
"She promises with her spells to soothe whichever minds 
she wishes, but to bring hard cares to others; to make the 
water of rivers stand still, to turn the stars back, and to 
raise night ghosts; you will see the earth groan 
underfoot, and wild mountain-ashes descend from the 
hills".
7. Further, if one may credit it, what of the Pythoness 
(I Kings 28:7–19 Vulgate), when she called up the spirit 
of the prophet Samuel from the recesses of the lower 
region and presented him to the view of the living – if, 
however, we believe that this was the spirit of the prophet 
and not some fantastic illusion created by the deception 
of Satan? 8. Prudentius also spoke thus about Mercury 
(Against the Oration of Symmachus 1.90):
"It is told that he recalled perished souls to the light by 
the power of a wand that he held, but condemned others 
to death",
and a little later he adds,
"For with a magic murmur you know how to summon 
faint shapes and enchant sepulchral ashes. In the same 
way the malicious art knows how to despoil others of life".
9. There are magicians who are commonly called `'evildoers' (maleficus) by the 
crowd because of the magnitude 
of their crimes. They agitate the elements, disturb the 
minds of people, and slay without any drinking of poison, using the violence of 
spells alone. 10. Hence also 
Lucan (Civil War 6.457):
"The mind, polluted by no poison of swallowed venom, 
yet perishes under a spell".
With their summoning of demons, they dare to flaunt 
how one may slay his enemies with evil arts. They make 
use of blood and victims, and often handle the bodies of the dead. 11. Necromancers 
(necromantius) are 
those by whose incantations the dead, brought back to 
life, seem to prophesy, and to answer what is asked, for 
g-nekros means "dead" in Greek, and divination is called 
g-manteia. The blood of a corpse is applied for the crossquestioning, for demons are 
said to love blood. And for 
this reason, whenever necromancy is practiced, gore is 
mixed with water, so that they are called more easily by 
the gore of the blood. 12. Hydromancers (hydromantius) 
are so called from water, for hydromancy is calling up the 
shades of demons by gazing into water, and watching 
their images or illusions, and hearing something from 
them, when they are said to consult the lower beings by
use of blood. 13. This type of divination is said to have 
been brought from Persia.
Varro says that there are four kinds of divination: 
earth, water, air, and fire. Hence are named geomancy 
(geomantia), hydromancy (hydromantia), aeromancy 
(aeromantia), and pyromancy (pyromantia). 14. Diviners (divinus) are so named, as if 
the term were 'filled 
with god' (deo plenus), for they pretend to be filled with 
divine inspiration, and with a certain deceitful cunning 
they forecast what is to come for people. There are two 
kinds of divination: craft and madness. 15. Those who 
accomplish their craft with words are called enchanters 
(incantator). 16. Arioli are so called because they utter 
abominable prayers around the `'altars of idols' (ara idolorum), and offer pernicious 
sacrifices, and in these rites 
receive the answers of demons. 17. Haruspices are so 
named as if the expression were 'observers (inspector) 
of the hours (hora)'; they watch over the days and hours 
for doing business and other works, and they attend to 
what a person ought to watch out for at any particular time. They also examine the 
entrails of animals and 
predict the future from them. 18. Augurs (augur) are 
those who give attention to the flight and calls of birds 
(avis), and to other signs of things or unforeseen observations that impinge on 
people. These are the same as 
`'observers of auspices' (auspex). 19. For auspicious signs 
are what those who are making a journey take heed of. 
They are called 'auspicious signs' (auspicium) as if it were 
'observations of birds' (avium aspicium), and `'auguries' 
(augurium), as if it were 'bird calls' (avium garria), that 
is, the sounds and languages of birds. Again, augurium 
as if the word were avigerium, that is, how 'birds behave' 
(avis gerit). 20. There are two types of auspicious signs, 
one pertaining to the eyes and the other to the cars. To 
the eyes, as the flight of birds; to the ears as the voice of 
birds.
21. Pythonesses (Pythonissae) are named from Pythian 
Apollo, because he was the inventor of divination. 22. 
Astrologers (astrologus) are so called, because they perform augury from the stars. 
23. Genethliaci are so called 
on account of their examinations of nativities, for they 
describe the nativities (genesis) of people according to 
the twelve signs of the heavens, and attempt to predict 
the characters, actions, and circumstances of people by 
the course of the stars at their birth, that is, who was 
born under what star, or what outcome of life the person who is born would have. 
24. These are commonly
called astrologers (mathematicus); the Romans call this 
kind of superstition `'constellations' ( constellatio), that is, 
observation of the stars – how they relate to each other 
when each person is born. 25. The first interpreters of 
the stars were called Magi (magus), as we read of those 
who made known the birth of Christ in the Gospels; 
afterwards they only had the name mathematicus. 26. 
Knowledge of this skill was permitted only up until the 
time of the Gospel, so that once Christ was born no one 
thereafter would interpret the birth of anyone from the 
heavens. 27. 'Drawers of horoscopes' (horoscopus) are so 
called because they examine (speculari) the times (hora) 
of people's nativities with regard to their dissimilar and 
varied destiny.
28. 'Interpreters of lots' (sortilegus) are those who profess the knowledge of 
divination under the name of a 
false religion, using what they call `'lots (sors, gen. sortis) of the saints,' or those who 
foretell the future by 
examining one passage of scripture or another." 29. The 
salisatores are so called because whenever any part of 
their limbs leaps (salire), they proclaim that this means 
something fortunate or something unfortunate for them 
thereafter. 30. Associated with all these arts are amulets 
consisting of curse-charms. The art of physicians condemns these, whether used with 
incantations, or magical characters, or whatever is hung on or bound to a 
person. 31. In all these the craft of demons has issued 
from a certain pestilential alliance of humans and evil 
angels. Hence all these things are to be avoided by a 
Christian, and entirely repudiated and condemned with 
every curse. 32. The Phrygians were the first to discover 
the auguries of birds, but Mercury is said to have first 
invented illusions. 33. They are called illusions (praestigium) because they dull 
(praestringere) the sharpness 
of one's eyes. 34. A certain Tages is said to have first 
given the art of aruspicina (i.e. divination by inspection 
of entrails; see 17 above) to the Etruscans. He pronounced 
divinations orally, and after that did not show himself. 35. 
It is said in fable that when a certain rustic was plowing, 
he suddenly leapt up from the clods and pronounced a
divination, and on that day he died. The Romans translated these books from the 
Etruscan language into their own.

[8,10] X. Pagans (De paganis). 1. Pagans (paganus) are named 
from the districts (pagus) of the Athenians, where they 
originated, for there, in rural places and districts, the 
pagans established sacred groves and idols, and from 
such a beginning pagans received their name. 2. Gentiles 
are those who are without the Law, and have not yet 
believed." And they are called 'gentiles' (gentilis) because 
they remain just as they were born (gignere, ppl. genitus), 
that is, just as they descended into the body governed 
by sin, in other words, worshipping idols and not yet 
reborn. 3. Accordingly, they were first named gentiles. In 
Greek they are called ethnici. The Latin word gentiles is 
translated as ethnici in Greek, for the Greek g-ethnos means 
"tribe" (gens). 4. But after their conversion, those from 
the tribes who believe ought not to be called gentes or 
gentiles, just as after conversion a Jew can no longer be 
called a Jew, as the apostle Paul testifies when he says 
to the Christians (I Corinthians 12:2): "That when you 
were heathens (gentes)," that is, infidels. 5. Those people 
are called apostates (apostata) who, after the baptism of 
Christ has been received, return to the worship of idols 
and pollution of sacrifices. And this is a Greek term.

[8,11a] XI. Gods of the heathens (De diis gentium). 1. Those 
who the pagans assert are gods are revealed to have once 
been humans, and after their death they began to be 
worshipped among their people because of the life and 
merit of each of them, as Isis in Egypt, Jupiter in Crete, 
Iuba among the Moors, Faunus among the Latins, and 
Quirinus among the Romans. 2. It was the same with 
Minerva in Athens, Juno in Samos, Venus in Paphos, 
Vulcan in Lemnos, Liber in Naxos and Apollo in Delos. 
Poets joined in their praises of these, and by the songs 
they composed carried them up to the sky. 3. In the case of 
some of them people are said to have brought about the 
discoveryof arts through their cults: there is medicine for 
Aesculapius, forging for Vulcan. Further, they are named 
from their activities, as Mercury (Mercurius), because 
he excels at commerce (merx), Liber (Liber) from liberty 
(libertas). 4. Again, there were certain powerful men, or 
founders of cities, for whom, after they had died, the 
people who had been fond of them made likenesses, so 
that they might have some solace from contemplating
these images. However, at the urging of demons, this 
error gradually crept into later generations in such a 
way that those, whom people had honored only for the 
memory of their name, their successors deemed as gods 
and worshipped.
5. The use of likenesses arose when, out of grief for the 
dead, images or effigies were set up, as if in place of those 
who had been received into heaven demons substituted 
themselves to be worshipped on earth, and persuaded 
deceived and lost people to make sacrifices to themselves. 6. And 'likenesses' 
(simulacrum) are named from 
`'similarity' (similitudo), because, through the hand of an 
artisan, the faces of those in whose honor the likenesses 
are constructed are imitated in stone or some other material. Therefore they are 
called likenesses either because 
they are similar (similis), or because they are feigned 
(simulare) or invented, whence they are false. 7. And it 
should be noted that the Latin word also exists among the 
Hebrews, for by them an idol or likeness is called 'Semel.' 
The Jews say that Ishmael first made a likeness from clay. 
8. The pagans assert that Prometheus first made a likeness of humans from clay and 
that from him the art of 
making likenesses and statues was born. Whence also 
the poets supposed that human beings were first created 
by him – figuratively, because of these effigies. 9. Among 
the Greeks was Cecrops, during whose reign the olive 
tree first appeared on the citadel, and the city of Athens 
received its name from the name of Minerva. 10. He was 
the first of all to call on Jupiter, devise likenesses, set up 
altars, and sacrifice offerings, things of this kind having 
never before been seen in Greece.
10. Idolatry (idolatria) means the service or worship of 
idols, for g-latreia in Greek is translated in Latin as servitude (servitus), which as far 
as true religion is concerned 
is owed only to the one and only God. 12. Just as impious pride in humans or 
demons commands or wishes 
for this service to be offered to itself, so pious humility 
in humans or holy angels declines it if it is offered, and 
indicates to whom it is due. 13. An idol (idolum) is a 
likeness made in the form of a human and consecrated, 
according to the meaning of the word, for the Greek 
term g-eidos means "form" (forma), and the diminutive 
idolum derived from it gives us the equivalent diminutive formula ("replica," i.e. an 
image made in a mold). 14. 
Therefore every form or replica ought to be called idol. 
Therefore idolatry is any instance of servility and subservience to any idol. Certain 
Latin speakers, however,
not knowing Greek, ignorantly say that 'idol' takes its 
narre from 'deception' (dolus), because the devil introduced to creation worship of a 
divine name. 15. They 
say demons (daemon) are so called by the Greeks as if 
the word were g-daehmohn, that is, experienced and knowledgeable in matters, for 
they foretell many things to 
come, whence they are also accustomed to give some 
answers. 16. Indeed, they have more knowledge of things 
than does human weakness, partly through a more subtle acuity of sense, partly 
through the experience of an 
extremely long life, and partly through angelic revelation at God's command. They 
flourish in accordance 
with the nature of aerial bodies. 17. Indeed, before their 
fall they had celestial bodies. Now that they have fallen, 
they have turned into an aerial quality; and they are not 
allowed to occupy the purer expanses of the air, but only 
the murky regions, which are like a prison for them, until 
the Day of Judgment. They are the prevaricator angels, 
of whom the Devil is the ruler. 18. Devil (diabolus) in 
Hebrew is translated as "sinking downwards," because 
he disdained to stand quiet in the height of the heavens, but, due to the weight of his 
pride, sinking down he 
fell. In fact, in Greek an accuser is called diabolus, either 
because he brings before God the crimes into which he 
himself lures people, or because he accuses the innocence of the elect with fabricated 
crimes – whence also 
in the Apocalypse (12:10) it is said by the voice of an 
angel: "The accuser of our brethren is cast forth, who 
accused them before our God day and night."
19. Satan (Satanas) means "adversary," or "transgressor" in Latin. He is indeed the 
adversary who is the 
enemy of truth, and he always strives to go against the 
virtues of the holy. He is also the transgressor, because 
as a complete prevaricator, he did not continue in the 
truth in which he was created. Also he is the tempter, 
because he claims that the innocence of the righteous 
must be tempted, as it is written in Job. 20. He is called the 
Antichrist (Antichristus), because he is to come against 
Christ. He is not, as certain simpletons suppose, called 
the Antichrist because he is to come before (ante) Christ, 
that is, that Christ would come alter him. This is not the 
case, but rather he is called Antichrist in Greek, which 
is 'against Christ' (contrarius Christo) in Latin, for g-anti
in Greek means 'against' in Latin. 21. When he comes he
will pretend that he is Christ, and there will be a struggle 
against him, and he will oppose the sacraments of Christ 
in order to destroy the gospel of his truth. 22. For he will 
attempt to rebuild the temple at Jerusalem and restore 
all the rites of the old Law. But Antichrist is also one who 
denies that Christ is God, for he is the opposite of Christ. 
So all those who depart from the Church and are cut off 
from the unity of faith are themselves Antichrists.
23. Bel is a Babylonian idol whose name means "old." 
He was Belus, the father of Ninus, the first king of the 
Assyrians, whom some call Saturn. His name was worshipped among both the 
Assyrians and the Africans; 
hence in the Punic language 'god' is called Bal. And 
among the Assyrians, Bel is also called Saturn and Sol in 
a certain aspect of his rites. 24. Belphegor is translated 
as "likeness of ignominy," for Moab, with the cognomen 
Baal, was an idol on Mount Phegor; Latin speakers call 
him Priapus, the god of gardens. 25. He was from Lampsacus, a city on the 
Hellespont, whence he was banished, 
and on account of the size of his male member the Greeks 
translated him to the roster of their gods and held him 
sacred as the deity of gardens. Accordingly, he is said 
to preside over gardens for the sake of their fertility. 26. 
Belzebub was the idol of Accaron, and the word is translated as "man of flies," for a 
fly is called zebub. The most 
impure idol, therefore, was called `man of flics' because 
of the filth of idolatry, or its uncleanness. Belial - - -. 27. 
Behemoth, from the Hebrew language, means `animal' 
in Latin, because he fell from the heights to the earth, 
and for his offense was made brutish, like an animal. 
He is also Leviathan, that is, a `'serpent from the seas,' 
because in the undulating sea of this world he winds his 
way with cunning. 28. Leviathan means 'their additional 
factor.' Whose, indeed, if not the 'additional factor' of 
human beings, to whom he once introduced the sin of 
deceit in Paradise, and in whom by persuasion he daily 
adds to or extends this deceit up to the point of eternal 
death?
29. By empty stories the pagans attempt to connect 
some of the names of their gods to physical causes, and 
they interpret these names as involved in the origins of 
the elements. But this has been entirely made up by poets, 
with the intention of enhancing their gods with certain 
figures of speech, while histories reveal these gods to have 
been lost and full of the infamy of shame. Indeed, when 
truth leaves off, room for fiction is wide open. 30. Saturn 
(Saturnus) is designated by the pagans as the origin of
the gods and of all posterity. Latin speakers declare that 
he is named from sowing (satus), as though the sowing 
of all things pertains to him, or from the length of time, 
because he is filled (saturare) with years. 31. Whence the 
Greeks say he has the name Cronos, that is, "time" (cf. 
xpτvoη), because he is said to have devoured his sons: 
that is, he rolls back into himself the years that time has 
brought forth; or it is because seeds return again to the 
place from where they arose. 32. They say that he cut 
off the genitals of his father, the Sky (Caelus), because 
nothing in the sky is born of seed. He grasps a scythe, they 
say, in order to signify agriculture, or to signify the years 
and seasons, because scythes turn back on themselves; or 
to signify knowledge because it is sharp on the inside. 33. 
In some cities the pagans used to sacrifice their children 
to Saturn, because the poets reported that Saturn was 
accustomed to devour his own children.
34. Jove (Iovis) is said to be named from 'helping' 
(iuvare), and Jupiter (luppiter) is as if the name were 
iuvans pater ("helping father"), that is, providing for all. 
They also called him, with a special title, `Jupiter the Best' 
(Iuppiter Optimus), although he was incestuous among 
his own family, and shameless among others. 35. They 
imagine that he was at orie time a bull on account of 
the rape of Europa, for he was in a ship whose standard 
was a bull. At another time he sought to lie with Danae 
by means of a shower of gold, where it is understood 
that the modesty of a woman was corrupted by gold. 
At another time he appeared in the likeness of an eagle 
because he carried off a boy for defilement; at another 
time a serpent, because he crawled, and a swan, because 
he sang. 36. And therefore these are not figures of speech, 
but crimes in plain truth. Whence it was shameful that 
gods should be believed to be such as humans ought 
not to be. 37. They call Janus (lanus) the door (ianua), 
as it were, of the world or the sky or the months. They 
imagine two faces for Janus, standing for the east and 
the west. And when they make him with four faces and 
call him the double Janus, they refer to the four corners 
of the world or to the four elements or to the seasons. 
But when they imagine this, they make him a monster, 
not a god.
38. They proclaim that Neptune is the waters of the 
world, and Neptune (Neptunus) is named by them as 
if it were 'roaring in the mist' (nube tonans). 39. They 
would have it that Vulcan is fire, and he is named Vulcan 
(Vulcanus), as `'flying radiance' (volans candor), or as if
the word were volicanus, because he flies through the air — 
for fire is born from clouds. 40. Whence also Homer 
says that he fell headlong clown from the air to the earth, 
because all lightning falls from the air. For that reason 
Vulcan is imagined to have been born from Juno's thigh, 
because lightning bolts originate in the lower parts of the 
air. 41. Vulcan is also called lame, because fire by nature 
is never straight, but has an appearance and motion as if 
it were lame. So also they say that this same Vulcan is the 
originator of the smithy, because without fire no kind of 
metal can be cast and beaten out. 42. Pluto in Greek is 
Diespiter or 'Father of Dis' (Ditis Pater) in Latin. Some 
call him Orcus, receiver of the dead, as it were — whence 
the vessel that receives water is called orca. He is also 
Charon in Greek.
43. Theyhold that Liber (Liber) is named from 'release' 
(liberamentum), because it is as if males were released 
(liberare) by his favor when their seed is ejaculated in 
copulation, since this same Liber is depicted with a delicate feminine body. Indeed, 
they say that women are 
assigned to him, and also wine, for the sake of arousing desire. 44. Whence his brow 
is wreathed with vines. 
But he holds a crown of vines and a horn, because when 
wine is drunk in moderation and acceptably it confers 
happiness, but when it is drunk immoderately it stirs up 
quarrels — that is, it is as if it gives horns. And he is also 
called Lyaeus after the term g-lyein ("loosen") because the 
limbs are loosened by a great deal of wine. And in Greek 
he is called g-Dionysos from the mountain Nysa in India, 
where he is said to have been brought up. Otherwise 
there is also the city Nysa, in which Liber is worshipped, 
from which he is called Nysaeus.
45. Mercury (Mercurius) is translated as "speech," 
for Mercury is said to be named as if the word were 
medius currens ("go-between"), because speech is the gobetween for people. In Greek 
he is called g-Hermehs, because 
'speech' or 'interpretation,' which pertains especially to 
speech, is called g-hermehneia. 46. He is also said to preside 
over commerce (merx, gen. mercis), because the medium 
between dealers and buyers is speech. So he is imagined 
to have wings, because words run to and fro quickly. 
Whence also he is represented as rapid and roving; the 
wings on his head and feet signify speech taking flight 
through the air. 47. He is called the messenger, because 
all thoughts are expressed by speech. They also say he is 
the master of trickery, because speech deceives the minds 
of those who listen. He holds a staff with which he separates serpents, that is, 
poisons.` 48. Thus, opponents 
and antagonists may be calmed by the speech of mediators, whence, according to 
Livy, legates of peace are called 
caduceatores (lit. "bearers of the herald's caduceus"). Just 
as wars were declared through fetiales,"" so peace was 
made through caduceatores. 49. Hermes is named after 
the Greek term g-hermehneia ("interpretation") in Greek, in 
Latin 'interpreter'; on account of his power and knowledge of many arts he is called 
Trimegistus (i.e. Trismegistus), that is, thrice great ( ter maximus). And they imagine 
him with a dog's head, they say, because among all animals the dog is held to be the 
most intelligent and acute species.
50. They call the god of war Mars, and he is called 
Mars because he fights using men, as if Mars were 'male' 
(mas, gen. maris). However, there are three practices customary in war: that of the 
Scythians, where both men 
and women go into battle; of the Amazons, where only 
women go; and of the Romans and other peoples, where 
only men go. 51. He is also called Mars as the author 
of deaths, for death (mors) is named after Mars. They 
also call him the adulterer, because he is fickle towards 
warriors. 52. And in fact he stands bare-chested, so that 
each person may expose himself to war without fear 
in his heart. Mars is also called Gradivus among the 
Thracians, because those who fight direct their step 
(gradus) into battle, or because they advance (gradi) readily.

[8,11b] 53. Although they considered Apollo a diviner and 
physician, they also called him Sun (Sol), as if `atone' 
(solus). They called him Titan, as if he were that one 
of the Titans who did not oppose Jupiter. 54. And they 
called him Phoebus, a youth (ephebus), as it were, that 
is, an adolescent. Whence the sun is also pictured as a 
youth, because it rises daily and is born with a new light. 
They say that this same Apollo is called Pythius from 
the Python, a serpent of immense size, whose size was as 
terrifying as its venom. 55. Apollo, overpowering it with 
arrow shots, took its narre as booty, so that he is called
Pythius. Whence also he established the Pythian rites to 
be celebrated as a sign of victory.
56. They also say that Diana, his twin, in a similar way 
is the moon, and guardian of roads – whence they consider her a virgin, because a 
road gives birth to nothing. 
They are both imagined to have arrows, because the two 
celestial bodies cast rays to the earth. Diana (Diana) is 
so called, is if the word were Duana (cf. duo, "both"), 
because the moon may appear both during the day (dies) 
and at night. 57. They also maintain that she is Lucina, 
because she gives light ( lucere) . And they say she is Trivia, 
because she takes on three (tres) appearances. Concerning her, Vergil says 
(Aen. 4.511): "Three faces of the virgin Diana",
because this same goddess is called Luna, Diana, and 
Proserpina. 58. But when Luna is imagined (Prudentius, 
Against the Oration of Symmachus 1.365):
"She shines with a glimmering cloak. When, girded up, 
she shoots her arrows, she is the virgin Latonia. When 
seated resting on her throne, she is Pluto's wife".
And Diana is Latonia, because she was the daughter of 
Latona.
59. They maintain that Ceres, that is, the earth, is so 
called from the creating (creare) of crops, and they call 
her by many names. They also say she is Ops (i.e `'plenty'), 
because the earth is made better by her work (opus). 6o. 
Proserpina, because from her the fruits `spread forth' 
(proserpere). 61. Vesta, because she is clothed (vestire) 
with plants and various things, or from 'enduring by 
her own power' (vi sua stare). They imagine this same 
one as both Earth (Tellus) and the Great Mother (Mater 
Magna), turret-crowned with drum and cock and clash 
ofcymbals. She is called 'Mother' because she bears many 
offspring; `'Great' because she produces food; `'the Bountiful' (Alma) because she 
nourishes all animals with her 
produce – for earth is the nursery of food. 62. Her image 
is imagined with a key because the earth is locked up in 
the winter, and is opened in the spring so that crops are 
born. She holds a drum because they wish to signify the 
orb of the earth. 63. She is said to be drawn in a wagon 
because she is the earth, and earth hangs in the air. She 
is carried on wheels because the world rotates and spins.
They furnish her with tame lions below to show that no 
kind of beast is so wild that it cannot be subjugated and 
ruled by her.
64. That she wears a turreted crown on her head shows 
the cities set upon the earth, characterized, as it were, 
by their towers. Seats are imagined around her because 
while everything moves she herself does not move. 65. 
The Corybantes, her servants, are imagined with swords 
to signify that everyone ought to fight for his own land. 
They depicted cocks as serving this goddess to signify 
that whoever lacks seed should follow the earth; in her 
depth they may find all things. 66. That people are shown 
flinging themselves about before her is a warning, they 
say, that those who till the earth should not rest, for 
there is always something for them to do. The clashing 
of bronze cymbals is the clattering of iron implements 
in tilling a field – but they are of bronze because the 
ancients used to till the earth with bronze before iron 
had been discovered. 67. They call this same one both 
Vesta and fire, because there is no doubt that the earth 
possesses fire, as can be seen from Etna and Vulcanus. 
And they thought she was a virgin because fire is an 
inviolable element, and nothing can be born from it; 
indeed it consumes all that it seizes. 68. Ovid in the
Fasti (6.291):
"Understand Vesta as no other than living flame — you 
see no bodies born from flame".
Furthermore, virgins are said to wait on her, because just 
as nothing is born from a virgin, so nothing is born from 
fire.
69. They say Juno (Luno), as if the name were Iano, that 
is, `'door' (ianua), with regard to the menstrual discharge 
of women, because, as it were, she lays open the doors 
of mothers for their children, and of wives for their husbands. But this is what the 
philosophers say. The poets 
claim that Juno is the sister and wife of Jupiter; for they 
explain Jupiter as fire and air, and Juno as water and 
earth. By the mixture of these two, all things came into 
being. 70. And they say she is the sister because she is 
part of the world, and the wife because when united with 
him she brings harmony. Whence Vergil (Geo. 2.325):
"Then the omnipotent father, the air, descends with 
fertile showers into the lap of his wife".
71. Among the Greeks Minerva is called g-Athehneh, that
is, woman. Among the Romans she is called Minerva
(Minerva), as the goddess and gift (munus, gen. muneris) 
of various crafts. They claim she was an inventor of 
many skills, and thus they explain her as art and reason, 
because nothing can be comprehended without reason. 
72. Because this reason is born from the mind alone, 
and because they think the mind is in the head and 
brain, therefore they say she was born from the head 
of Jove, because the sense of a wise person, who discovers all things, is in his head. 
73. On her chest the head of 
the Gorgon is pictured, because all prudence is in that 
spot – prudence that dazzles other people, and confirms 
them as ignorant and stone-like. We also see this in the 
ancient statues of the emperors, in the middle of their 
breastplates, in order to imply wisdom and strength. 74. 
She is called both Minerva and Tritonia, for Triton is a 
swamp in Africa, around which it is reported that she 
appeared at a maidenly age, on account of which she is 
called Tritonia. Thus the less her origin is known, the 
more readily is she believed to be a goddess. 75. She is 
called Pallas either from the island Pallene in Thrace, on 
which she was raised, or after the Greek term g-pallein
g-to g-doru ("brandishing a spear"), that is, from striking 
with a spear, or because she slew the giant Pallas.
76. They say Venus (Venus) is so named because a 
woman does not leave off being a virgin without force 
(vis). The Greeks call her g-Aphroditeh on account of the 
generating foam of blood, for foam is called g-aphros in 
Greek. 77. They imagine that Saturn cut off the genitals of 
his father, the Sky (Caelus), so that the blood flowed into 
the sea, and that Venus was born from it as the foam of the 
sea solidified. They say this because the substance of a salt 
humor comes into being through coition, whence Venus 
is called g-Aphroditeh, because in coition there is a foam of 
blood that consists of a liquid and salt secretion of the 
internal parts. 78. They call Venus the wife of Vulcan 
because the act of Venus does not take place without 
heat, whence (Vergil, Geo. 3.97):
"Grown older, he is cold in love".
79. Now, it is said that Saturn cut off the male organs of 
his father, the Sky, and that these created Venus when 
they fell into the sea; this is imagined because, unless 
moisture descends from the sky to the land, nothing is created.
80. They say that Cupid is so called because of love 
(amor, cf. cupido, "desire"), for he is the demon of fornication. He is pictured with 
wings because nothing more
fleeting, nothing more changeable is found than loyers. 
He is pictured as a youth because love is foolish and 
irrational. He is imagined to hold an arrow and a torch; 
an arrow because love wounds the heart, and a torch 
because it inflames. 81. The Greeks call the god of country 
people, whom they fashioned in the likeness of nature, 
Pan; Latin speakers call him Silvanus. He is called Pan, 
that is, `'everything' (cf. g-pan, `'everything'), for they fashion him out of every sort of 
element. 82. He has horns 
in the likeness of the rays of the sun and moon. He has a 
pelt marked by spots, on account of the stars of the sky. 
His face is ruddy in likeness to the ether. He holds a pipe 
of seven reeds, on account of the harmony of heaven, in 
which there are seven tones and seven intervals of Sound. 
83. He is hairy, because the earth is clothed and agitated 
by the winds. His lower half is bestial, representing 
trees and brutes like livestock. He has goat's hooves, so 
as to show the solidity of the earth. They claim he is the 
god of things and of all nature, whence they say Pan, 
`everything' as it were.
84. In the language of the Egyptians, the earth is called 
Isis, and they mean by this the person Isis. Now Isis, 
daughter of king Inachis, was a queen of the Egyptians; 
when she came from Greece she taught the Egyptians literacy and established 
cultivation of the land, on account 
of which they called the land by her name. 85. Serapis is 
the greatest of all the Egyptian gods. He is that Apis, king 
of the Argives, who traveled to Egypt by ship. When he 
died there he was called Serapis because the box in which 
the deceased is placed, which they call a sarcophagus, is 
called a-opτs in Greek. They began to venerate him there 
where he was buried before his temple had been built. It 
is as if at first the name were g-soros plus 'Apis' – Sorapis –
and then, when one of the letters had been changed, 
it was pronounced Serapis. 86. Among the Egyptians 
Apis was the bull dedicated to Serapis, and from this 
he received his cognomen. Egypt worshipped him like a 
god, because he would give certain clear signs of things to 
conne. He would appear in Memphis, and one hundred 
high priests would follow after him and chant suddenly 
as if frantic. The Jews made the image of his head for 
themselves in the wilderness.
87. Fauns (faunus) were so called from `'speaking' 
(fando, gerund of fari) or alter the terra g-phohneh ("vocal 
sound") because by voice, not by signs, they seemed to 
show what was to come – for they were consulted by 
pagans in sacred groves, and gave responses to them not 
with signs, but with their voices. 88. They name Genius 
(Genius) thus because he possesses the force, as it were, 
of generating (gignere, ppl. genitus) all things, or from 
generating children; whence beds that were prepared for 
newlyweds were called `'nuptial' (geniales) by the pagans.
89. These and others are the fabulous fictions of the 
pagans, which they interpret and regard in such a way 
that they worship what they do not even understand, and 
are damned thereby. 90. And they saythat Fate (Fatum) is 
whatever the gods say, or whatever Jupiter says. Therefore the narre fatum is from 
'saying' (fari, 3`d person fatur), that is, from speaking. Except for the fact that 
this word is now usually understood in another context, 
toward which I do not wish to incline people's hearts, 
we can with reason speak of 'fate' as from 'saying'. 91. 
For we cannot deny that it is written in Sacred Scripture 
(Psalm 61:12 Vulgate): "God has spoken once, two things 
have I heard," and so on. Now what is said, "has spoken once," is understood as "has 
spoken immovably" 
or "immutably," since he knows immutably everything 
that is to happen, and which he himself is to bring about. 
92. Pagans imagine that there are three Fates – with the 
distaff, with the spindle, and with fingers spinning a 
thread from the wool – on account of the three tenses: 
the past, which is already spun and wound onto the 
spindle; the present, which is drawn between the fingers of the spinner; and the 
future, in the wool which 
is twisted onto the distaff, and which is yet to be drawn 
through the fingers of the spinner to the spindle, just as 
the present is yet to be drawn over to the past. 93. They 
were called Parcae (Parca) g-kat' g-antiphrasin ("by opposition of sense"), because they 
scarcely spare (parcere) anyone. People claimed there were three: one who would lay 
the initial warp of a person's life; the second, who would 
weave it; and the third, who would cut it short – for we 
begin when we are born, we exist while we live, and we 
are gone when we die.
94. People say that Fortune (Fortuna) has its narre 
from `chance things' (fortuitus), as if it were a certain
goddess sporting with human affairs through various 
accidents and chances. Thus they also call her blind, 
because she bears down upon people at random, without any consideration of 
merits, and comes to both good 
people and bad. They distinguish Fate from Fortune: 
Fortune, as it were, exists in what comes by chance 
with no obvious cause; but they say Fate is fixed and 
assigned for each person individually. 95. They also say 
that the three Furies are women with serpents for hair, 
on account of the three passions that give rise to many 
disturbances in people's spirits, and they sometimes so 
drive a person to do wrong that they allow him to give 
no consideration to his reputation or his own danger. 
These passions are Anger, which desires revenge, Desire, 
which wishes for wealth, and Lust, which seeks pleasure. 
They are called the Furies (Furiae) because they strike 
(ferire) the mind with their goads, and do not allow it to 
be tranquil.
96. They consider the nymphs (nympha) to be goddesses of the waters, so called 
from clouds (nubes), for 
waters are from clouds, whence this narre is derived. 
They call the nymphs goddesses of the waters as though 
they were `'spirits of the springs' (numina lympharum. 
And they call these Muses as well as nymphs, not without 
reason, because the movement of water makes music. 97. 
The pagans have various terms for nymphs. Indeed they 
call nymphs of the mountains oreads (oreas), those of the 
forest dryads (dryas), those of the springs hamadryads 
(hamadryas), those of the fields naiads (naias), and those 
of the seas nereids (nereis). 98. They say that heroes 
(heros) take their narre from Juno, for Juno is called 
g-Hehra in Greek. Thus a son of hers, I don't know which, 
was called g-hehrohs ("the hero"), according to the legend 
of the Greeks. The legend evidently signifies in a mystical sense that the air (aer), 
where they claim that heroes 
live, is assigned to Juno. They name the souls of deceased 
people of some importance with this term, as if it were 
βripcoas, that is, men of the air (aerius) and worthy of 
heaven on account of their wisdom and strength.
99. The pagans called all the gods whom they worshiped at home Penates (Penates). 
And they were called 
Penates because they were in 'inner rooms' (penetralis), 
that is, in recesses. How these gods were addressed, or 
what names they had, is not known. 100. They called 
the gods of the dead Manes, whose power they claim is 
between the moon and the earth. From this they suppose 'morning' (urane) is named. 
They think these gods
are named Manes after the term for air, which is g-manos, 
that is "sparse," or because they spread (manare) widely 
through the heavens — or they are called by this name 
because they are mild, the opposite of monstrous (immanis). Apuleius says (cf. The 
God of Socrates 153) that it is 
g-kat' g-antiphrasin ("by opposition of sense") that they 
are called Manes, that is, mild and modest, when they 
are terrible and monstrous, named in the same way as 
the Parcae (see section 93 above) and Eumenides (i.e. the 
Furies; lit. "the Gracious Ones"). 101. Ghosts (larva), they 
say, are demons made from people who were deserving 
of evil. It is said that their nature is to frighten small 
children and chatter in shadowy corners. 102. Witches 
(lamia), whom stories report would snatch children and
tear them apart, are particularly named from `tearing 
apart' (laniare). 103. 'Hairy ones' (Pilosus, i.e. a satyr) 
are called Panitae in Greek, and 'incubuses' (incubus) 
in Latin, or Inui, from copulating (inire) indiscriminately with animals. Hence also 
incubi are so called from 
'lying upon' (incumbere, ppl. incubitus), that is, violating, for often they are 
shameless towards women, and 
manage to lie with them. The Gauls cati these demons 
Dusii, because they carry out this foulness continually 
(adsidue). 104. Common people call one demon Incubo, 
and the Romans called him `'Faunus of the figs.' About 
him Horace says (Odes 3.18.1):
"Faunus, lover of fleeing nymphs, may you pass lightly 
through my borders and sunny fields".