The Instructions of Commodianus.

 The Instructions of Commodianus

 II.—God’s Indignation.

 III.—The Worship of Demons.

 IV.—Saturn.

 V.—Jupiter.

 VI.—Of the Same Jupiter’s Thunderbolt.

 VII.—Of the Septizonium and the Stars.

 VIII.—Of the Sun and Moon.

 IX.—Mercury.

 X.—Neptune.

 XI.—Apollo the Soothsaying and False.

 XII.—Father Liber—Bacchus.

 XIII.—The Unconquered One.

 XIV.—Sylvanus.

 XV.—Hercules.

 XVI.—Of the Gods and Goddesses.

 XVII.—Of Their Images.

 XVIII.—Of Ammydates and the Great God.

 XIX.—Of the Vain Nemesiaci.

 XX.—The Titans.

 XXI.—The Montesiani.

 XXII.—The Dulness of the Age.

 XXIII.—Of Those Who are Everywhere Ready.

 XXIV.—Of Those Who Live Between the Two.

 XXV.—They Who Fear and Will Not Believe.

 XXVI.—To Those Who Resist the Law of Christ the Living God.

 XXVII.—O Fool, Thou Dost Not Die to God.

 XXVIII.—The Righteous Rise Again.

 XXIX.—To the Wicked and Unbelieving Rich Man.

 XXX.—Rich Men, Be Humble.

 XXXI.—To Judges.

 XXXII.—To Self-Pleasers.

 XXXIII.—To the Gentiles.

 XXXIV.—Moreover, to Ignorant Gentiles.

 XXXV.—Of the Tree of Life and Death.

 XXXVI.—Of the Foolishness of the Cross.

 XXXVII.—The Fanatics Who Judaize.

 XXXVIII.—To the Jews.

 XXXIX.—Also to the Jews.

 XL.—Again to the Same.

 Isaiah said:  This is the man who moveth the world and so many kings, and under whom the land shall become desert.  Hear ye how the prophet foretold c

 XLII.—Of the Hidden and Holy People of the Almighty Christ, the Living God.

 XLIII.—Of the End of This Age.

 XLIV.—Of the First Resurrection.

 XLV.—Of the Day of Judgment.

 XLVI.—To Catechumens.

 XLVII.—To the Faithful.

 XLVIII.—O Faithful, Beware of Evil.

 XLIX.—To Penitents.

 L.—Who Have Apostatized from God.

 LI.—Of Infants.

 LII.—Deserters.

 LIII.—To the Soldiers of Christ.

 LIV.—Of Fugitives.

 LV.—Of the Seed of the Tares.

 LVI.—To the Dissembler.

 LVII.—That Worldly Things are Absolutely to Be Avoided.

 LVIII.—That the Christian Should Be Such.

 LIX.—To the Matrons of the Church of the Living God.

 LX.—To the Same Again.

 LXI.—In the Church to All the People of God.

 LXII.—To Him Who Wishes for Martyrdom.

 LXIII.—The Daily War.

 LXIV.—Of the Zeal of Concupiscence.

 LXV.—They Who Give from Evil.

 LXVI.—Of a Deceitful Peace.

 LXVII.—To Readers. I warn certain readers only to consider, and to give material to others by an example of life, to avoid strife, and to shun so many

 LXVIII.—To Ministers.

 LXIX.—To God’s Shepherds.

 LXX.—I Speak to the Elder-Born.

 LXXI.—To Visit the Sick.

 LXXII.—To the Poor in Health.

 LXXIII.—That Sons are Not to Be Bewailed.

 LXXIV.—Of Funeral Pomp.

 LXXV.—To the Clerks.

 LXXVI.—Of Those Who Gossip, and of Silence.

 LXXVII.—To the Drunkards.

 LXXVIII.—To the Pastors.

 LXXIX.—To the Petitioners.

 LXXX.—The Name of the Man of Gaza.

XI.—Apollo the Soothsaying and False.

Ye make Apollo a player on the cithara, and divine.  Born at first of Maia, in the isle of Delos, subsequently, for offered wages, a builder, obeying the king Laomedon, he reared the walls of the Trojans.  And he established himself, and ye are seduced into thinking him a god, in whose bones the love of Cassandra burned, whom the virgin craftily sported with, and, though a divine being, he is deceived.  By his office of augur he was able to know the double-hearted one.  Moreover rejected, he, though divine, departed thence.  Him the virgin burnt up with her beauty, whom he ought to have burnt up; while she ought first of all to have loved the god who thus lustfully began to love Daphne, and still follows her up, wishing to violate the maid.  The fool loves in vain.  Nor can he obtain her by running.  Surely, if he were a god, he would come up with her through the air.  She first came under the roof, and the divine being remained outside.  The race of men deceive you, for they were of a sad way of life.  Moreover, he is said to have fed the cattle of Admetus.  While in imposed sports he threw the quoit into the air, he could not restrain it as it fell, and it killed his friend.  That was the last day of his companion Hyacinthus.  Had he been divine, he would have foreknown the death of his friend.

XI.---APOLLO SORTILEGUS, FALSUS.

Apollinem facitis citharaedum atque divinum. Primum de Maia natus in insula Delo, Oblata mercede postmodum structor, obsecutus Laomedonti regi Trojanorum muros eduxit. Locavitque sese, quem deum seducti putatis: Ossibus cujus amor Cassandrae flagravit, Subdole quem lusit virgo, falliturque divinus. Officio vervecis potuit scire bicordem. 0209A Repudiatus enim discessit inde divinus. Terruit hunc virgo specie, quam ille deberet. Illa prior quae debuerat deum amavisse, Lasciviens qui Daphnem sic coepit amare: Et tamen insequitur, dum vult violare puellam; Gratis amat stultus, nec potuit consequi cursu. Vel, si deus erat, occurreret illi per auras. Sub tectis illa prior venit, remansit que divinus. Fallit vos gens hominum, nam victu tristi fuerunt. Admeti pecora quoque pavisse refertur. Lusibus impositis dum mitteret discum in altum, Sublapsum non potuit retinere: prostravit amicum: Ultimus ille dies fuit Hyacinthi sodalis. Si divinus erat, mortem praescisset amici.