P. [127]. I have met with no comprehensive treatment of Jewish and Christian polemic against Paganism; Geffcken, Zwei griech. Apologeten (Leipzig, 1907), is chiefly concerned with investigations into the sources. I shall therefore indicate the principal passages on which my treatment is based.—Polemic against images in the Old Testament: Isaiah 44.10 etc.; in later literature: Epistle of Jeremiah; Wisdom of Solomon 13 foll.; Philo, de decal. 65 foll., etc.—Euhemerism: Wisdom of Solomon 14.15; Epistle of Aristeas, 135; Sibyll. iii. 547, 554, 723.—Elements and celestial bodies: Wisdom of Solomon 13; Philo, de decal. 52 foll.—The tenacity of tradition is apparent from the fact that even Maimonides in his treatise of idolatry deals only with star-worship and image-worship. I know the treatise only from the Latin translation by D. Voss (in G. I. Voss's Opera, vol. v.).—Demons: Deuteron. 32.17; Psalms 106.37; add (according to LXX.) Isaiah 65.11; Psalms 96.5. Later writers: Enoch 19.99, 7; Baruch 4.7. Such passages as Jub. 22, 17 or Sibyll. prooem. 22 are possibly Euhemeristic.—Fallen angels: Enoch, 19.—Philo's demonology: de gig. 6-18, etc.
P. [128]. St. Paul: 1 Cor. 10.20; comp. 8.4 and Rom. 1.23.
P. [129]. Image-worship and demon-worship not conciliated: e.g. Tertull. Apologet. 10-15 and 22-23, comp. 27.—Jewish demonology: Bousset, Religion d. Judentums, p. 326 (1st ed.).—Fallen angels: e.g. Athenag. 24 foll.; Augustine, Enchir. 9, 28 foll.; de civ. Dei, viii. 22.
P. [130]. Euhemerism in the Apologists: e.g. Augustine, de civ. Dei, ii. 10; vi. 7; vii. 18 and 33; viii. 26.—Euhemerism and demonology combined: e.g. Augustine, de civ. Dei, ii. 10; vii. 35; [pg 162] comp. vii. 28 fin.—Worship of the heavenly bodies: e.g. Aristid. 3 foll.; Augustine, de civ. Dei, vii. 29 foll.
P. [131]. Paganism a delusion caused by demons: Thomas Aq. Summa theol. P. ii. 2, Q. 94, art. 4; comp. below, note on p. 135.
P. [133]. For the following sketch I have found valuable material in Gedike's essay, Ueber die mannigfaltigen Hypothesen z. Erklärung d. Mythologie (Verm. Schriften, Berlin, 1801, p. 61).
P. [134]. Milton: Paradise Lost, i. 506. The theory that the pagan oracles fell mute at the rise of Christianity is also found in Milton, Hymn on the Morning of Christ's Nativity, st. xviii. foll.
P. [135]. G. I. Voss; De Theologia Gentili, lib. i. (published, 1642)—Voss's view is in the main that idolatry as a whole is the work of the Devil. What is worshipped is partly the heavenly bodies, partly demons, partly (and principally) dead men; most of the ancient gods are identified with persons from the Old Testament. Demon-worship is dealt with in ch. 6; it is proved among other things by the true predictions of the oracles. Individual Greek deities are identified with demons in ch. 7, in a context where oracles are dealt with. On older works of the same tendency, see below, note on p. 140; on Natalis Comes, ibid. A fuller treatment of Voss's theories is found in Gruppe's work, § 25.—Thomas Aquinas: Summa theol. P. ii. 2, Q. 94, art. 4; comp. also Q. 122, art. 2.—Dante: Sommo Giove for God, Purg. vi. 118; his devils: Charon, Inf. iii. 82 (109 expressly designated as “dimonio”); Minos, Inf. v. 4; Geryon, Inf. xviii. (there are more of the same kind).—“Dei falsi e bugiardi”: Inf. i. 72. (Plutus, who appears as a devil in Inf. vii. was probably taken by Dante for an antique god; but the name may also be a classicising translation of Mammon.)
P. [136]. Mediaeval epic poets: Nyrop, Den oldfranske Heltedigtning, p. 255 and 260; Dernedde, Ueber die den altfranzös. Dichtern bekannten Stoffe aus dem Altertum (Diss. Götting. 1887).—Confusion of ancient and Christian elements: Dernedde, p. 10; the gods are devils: Dernedde, pp. 85, 88.—Euhemerism: Dernedde, p. 4.—I have tried to get a first-hand impression of the way the gods are treated by the old French epic poets, but the material is too large, and indexes suited to the purpose are wanting. The paganism of the original is taken over naïvely, e.g., by Veldeke, Eneidt, i. 45, 169.—On magic I have consulted Horst's Dämonomagie (Frankf. 1818); and his Zauber-Bibliothek (Mainz, 1821-26); Schindler, Der Aberglaube des Mittelalters (Breslau, 1858); Maury, La magie et l'astrologie dans l'antiquité et au moyen âge (Paris, 1860). These authors all agree that mediaeval magic is dependent on antiquity, but that the pagan gods are superseded by devils (or the Devil). The connexion in substance with antiquity, on which Maury specially insists, is certain enough, but does not concern us here, where the question is about the theory. In the Zauber-Bibl. i. p. 137 (in the treatise Pneumatologia vera et occulta), the snake Python is put down among the demons, with the remark that Apollo was called after it.—Magic formulae with antique gods: Heim, Incantamenta magica (in the Neue Jahrbb. f. Philologie, Suppl. xix. 1893, p. 557; I owe this reference to the kindness of my colleague, Prof. Groenbeck). Pradel, Religionsgesch. Vers. u. [pg 163] Vorarb. iii., has collected prayers and magic formulae from Italy and Greece; they do not contain names of antique gods.
P. [137]. Acosta: Joseph de Acosta, Historia naturale e morale delle Indie, Venice, 1596. I have used this Italian translation; the original work appeared in 1590.—Demons at work in oracles: bk. v. ch. 9; in magic: ch. 25.