re MDDM 35 Christ and History

[Terrance]

Thomas Eckhardt wrote:
> 
> Nasty perhaps was the wrong word. And the association Christ/prey or
> history/hunt is certainly not a surprising one in a novel by Mr. P - but
> it is an unusual metaphor to use for a Reverend, no?

I don't think so. At some time, can't remember when, but I do recall
reading up on this stuff while reading Chaucer, Clerics were forbidden
to Hunt, keep Hunting dogs, and so on, (see the Monk), but as a boy I
was fascinated by the Lives of Saints, Acts, Ecclesiastical histories,
see Theodoret for example, and I remember admiring the glossy pictures
of men and woman being hunted and I recall that God (not unlike Saturn)
was a very hungry god sometimes and he hunted men, and that the metaphor
of the Hunt or the simile, the spirit of the Lord is as a Hunter and so
on, was very exciting and sometimes used with men hunting or preying on
Christ. 

Moreover the wind is obedient to God, and fire to the angels; the waters
also to the demons and the earth to the sons of men.  

So how can these be gods? 


Greeks? 

Artemis, a huntress and has a bow with a quiver; and she
roams alone upon the hills with the dogs to hunt the stag or the wild
boar. How then should such a woman, who hunts and roams with her dogs,
be a divine being? 

Aphrodite herself they affirm to be a goddess who is adulterous. For at
one time she had Ares as a paramour, and at another time Anchises and
again Adonis, whose death she also laments, feeling the want of her
lover. And they say that she even went down to Hades to purchase back
Adonis from Persephone. Did you ever see, O King, greater folly than
this, to bring forward as a goddess one who is adulterous and given to
weeping and wailing? 

And they represent that Adonis is a hunter god, who came to a violent
end, being wounded by a wild boar and having no power to help himself in
his distress. How then will one who is adulterous and a hunter and
mortal give himself any concern for mankind? 

All this and much more of a like nature, and even far more disgraceful
and offensive details, have the Greeks narrated, O King, concerning
their gods;--details which it is not proper either to state or for a
moment to remember. And hence mankind, taking an impulse from their
gods, practised all lawlessness and brutality and impiety, polluting
both earth and air by their awful deeds. 



XII. The Egyptians, again, being SYRIAC. 

And after him they bring forward as a goddess Artemis, the sister of
Apollo; and they say that she was a huntress and that she herself used
to carry a bow and bolts, and to roam about upon the mountains, leading
the hounds to hunt stags or wild bears of the field. But it is
disgraceful that a virgin maid should roam alone upon the hills or hunt
in the chase for animals. Wherefore it is impossible that Artemis should
be a goddess. 

Again they say of Aphrodite that she indeed is a goddess. And at times
she dwells with their gods, but at other times she is a neighbour to
men. And once she had Ares as a lover, and again Adonis who is Tammuz.
Once also, Aphrodite was wailing and weeping for the death of Tammuz,
and they my that she went down to Sheol that she might redeem Adonis
from Persephone, who is the daughter of Sheol (Hades). If then Aphrodite
is a goddess and was unable to help her lover at his death, how will she
find it possible to help others? And this cannot be listened to, that a
divine nature should come to weeping and wailing and adultery. 



And again they say of Tammuz that he is a god. And he is, forsooth! a
hunter and an adulterer. And they say that he was killed by a wound from
a wild boar, without being able to help himself. And if he could not
help himself, how can he take thought for the human race? But that a god
should be an adulterer or a hunter or should die by violence is
impossible. 

Again they say of Rhea that she is the mother of their gods. And they
say that she had once a lover Atys, and that she used to delight in
depraved men. And at last she raised a lamentation and mourned for Atys
her lover. If then the mother of their gods was unable to help her lover
and deliver him from death, how can she help others? So it is
disgraceful that a goddess should lament and weep and take delight in
depraved men. 

Again they introduce Kore and say that she is a goddess, and she was
stolen away by Pluto, and could not help herself. If then she is a
goddess and was unable to help herself how will she find means to help
others? For a god who is stolen away is very powerless. 

All this, then, O King, have the Greeks brought forward concerning their
gods, and they have invented and declared it concerning them. And hence
all men received an impulse to work all profanity and all defilements;
and hereby the whole earth was corrupted. 

XII. The Egyptians, moreover, because they are 
more stupid and witless than these have gone further astray than all the
nations. they
were not content with the objects of worship of the Chaldaeans and the
Greeks, but in addition to these brought forward also brute creatures as
gods, both land and water animals, and plants and herbs; and they were
defiled with all madness and brutality more deeply than all the nations
on the earth. 

For originally they worshipped Isis, who had Osiris as brother and
husband. He was slain by his own brother Typhon; and therefore Isis with
Horos her son fled for refuge to Byblus in Syria, mourning for Osiris
with bitter lamentation, until Horos grew up and slew Typhon. So that
neither had Isis power to help her own brother and husband; nor could
Osiris defend himself when he was being slain by Typhon; nor did
Ty-phon, the slayer of his brother, when he was perishing at the hands
of Horos and Isis, find means to rescue himself from death. And though
they were revealed in their true character
by such mishaps, they were believed to be very gods by the simple
Egyptians, who were not satisfied even with these or the other deities
of the nations, but brought forward also brute creatures as gods.
For some of them worshipped the sheep, and some the goat; another tribe
(worshipped) the bull and the pig; others again, the raven and the hawk,
and the vulture and the eagle; and others the crocodile; and some the
cat and the dog, and the wolf and the ape, and the dragon and the asp;
and others the onion and the garlic and thorns and other created things.
And the poor creatures do not perceive about all these that they are
utterly helpless. For though they see their gods eaten by men of other
tribes, and burnt as offerings and SYRIAC. more base and stupid than
every people that is on the
earth, have themselves erred more than all. For the deities (or
religion) of the Barbarians and the Greeks did not suffice for them, but
they introduced some also of the nature of the animals, and said thereof
that they were gods, and likewise of creeping things which are found on
the dry land and in the waters. And of plants and herbs they said that
some of them were gods. And they were corrupted by every kind of
delusion and defilement more than every people that is on the earth. For
from ancient times they worshipped Isis, and they say that she is a
goddess whose husband was Osiris her brother. And when Osiris was killed
by Typhon his brother, Isis fled with Horos her son to Byblus in Syria,
and was there for a certain time till her son was grown. And he
contended with Typhon his uncle, and killed him. And then Isis returned
and went about with Horos her son and sought for the dead body of Osiris
her lord, bitterly lamenting his death. If then Isis be a goddess, and
could not help Osiris her brother and lord, how can she help another?
But it is impossible that a divine nature should be afraid, and flee for
safety, or should weep and wail; or else it is very miserable. 

And of Osiris also they say that he is a serviceable god. And he was
killed by Typhon and was unable to help himself. But it is well known
that this cannot be asserted of divinity. And further, they say of his
brother Typhon that he is a god, who killed his brother and was killed
by his brother's son and by his bride, being unable to help himself. And
how, pray, is he a god who does not save himself? 

As the Egyptians, then, were more stupid than the rest of the nations,
these and such like gods did not suffice for them. Nay, but they even
apply the name of gods to animals in which there is no soul at all. For
some of them worship the sheep and others the calf; and some the pig and
others the shad fish; and some the crocodile and the hawk and the fish
and the ibis and the vulture and the eagle and the raven. Some of them
worship the cat, and others the turbot-fish, some the dog, some the
adder, and some the asp, and others the lion; and others the garlic and
onions and thorns, and others the tiger and other such things. And the
poor creatures do not see that all these things are nothing,
although they daily witness their gods being eaten and consumed by men
and also by their fellows; while some of them are cremated,  slain as
victims and mouldering in decay, they have not perceived that they are
not gods. 

 So the Egyptians and the Chaldaeans and the Greeks made a great error
in bringing forward such beings as gods, and in making images of them,
and in deifying dumb and senseless idols. 

And I wonder how they saw their gods sawn out and hacked and docked by
the......



You get the idea, I suppose. Sounds like RC, a Catholic of sorts,
traveling about and  around with outlaws and  outcasts, jesuits and the
like, has just the right metaphor.