Much pains must we expend on one alone, And even then attain it not;-but you DEMON. And with truth. For in the country whence I come, sciences CYPRIAN. Oh, would I were of that bright country! for in this DEMON. It is so true that I Had so much arrogance as to oppose And obtained many votes, and though I lost, The attempt was still more glorious, than the failure. Could be dishonourable: if you believe not, That which you know best, and although I CYPRIAN. The offer gives me pleasure. I am now Of Plinius, and my mind is racked with doubt Of whom he speaks. DEMON. It is a passage, if I recollect it right, couched in these words: "God is one supreme goodness, one pure essence, One substance, and one sense, all sight, all hands." CYPRIAN. 'Tis true. DÆMON. What difficulty find you here? CYPRIAN. I do not recognise among the Gods Tainted with mortal weakness; in what manner The passions of humanity? DEMON. The wisdom Of the old world masked with the names of Gods, The attributes of Nature and of Man; CYPRIAN. This reply will not satisfy me, for And you may not say that I allege Consider the ambiguous responses Of their oracular statues; from two shrines But supreme goodness fails among the gods DÆMON. I deny your major. These responses are means towards some end Than victory advantage those who win. CYPRIAN. That I admit, and yet that God should not (Falsehood is incompatible with deity) 2 B Assure the victory; it would be enough Be all sight,-God, who beheld the truth, DÆMON. To attain the end The affections of the actors in the scene Must have been thus influenced by his voice. CYPRIAN. But for a purpose thus subordinate He might have employed genii, good or evil,- DEMON. These trifling contradictions Do not suffice to impugn the unity Of the high gods; in things of great importance They still appear unanimous; consider That glorious fabric-man, his workmanship, Is stamped with one conception. CYPRIAN. Who made man Must have, methinks, the advantage of the others. All hands, according to our author here, DÆMON. On impossible And false hypothesis there can be built CYPRIAN. That there must be a mighty God Of supreme goodness and of highest grace, Without an equal and without a rival; The cause of all things and the effect of nothing, One power, one will, one substance, and one essence. His attributes may be distinguished, one Sovereign power, one solitary essence, One cause of all cause. DEMON. How can I impugn So clear a consequence? CYPRIAN. Do you regret [They rise. My victory? |