OPINION OF THE GREEKS AND ROMANS ON THE APPARITIONS OF GOOD GENII.
Jamblichus, a disciple of Porphyry,[69] has treated the matter of
genii and their apparition more profoundly than any other author of
antiquity. It would seem, to hear him discourse, that he knew both the
genii and their qualities, and that he had with them the most intimate
and continual converse. He affirms that our eyes are delighted by the
appearance of the gods, that the apparitions of the archangels are
terrible; those of angels are milder; but when demons and heroes
appear, they inspire terror; the archontes, who preside over this
world, cause at the same time an impression of grief and fear. The
apparition of souls is not quite so disagreeable as that of heroes. In
the appearance of the gods there is order and mildness, confusion and
disorder in that of demons, and tumult in that of the archontes.
When the gods show themselves, it seems as if the heavens, the sun and
moon, were all about to be annihilated; one would think that the earth
could not support their presence. On the appearance of an archangel,
there is an earthquake in every part of the world; it is preceded by a
stronger light than that which accompanies the apparition of the
angels; at the appearance of a demon it is less strong, and diminishes
still more when it is a hero who shows himself.
The apparitions of the gods are very luminous; those of angels and
archangels less so; those of demons are dark, but less dark than those
of heroes. The archontes, who preside over the brightest things in
this world, are luminous; but those which are occupied only with what
is material, are dark. When souls appear, they resemble a shade. He
continues his description of these apparitions, and enters into
tiresome details on the subject; one would say, to hear him, that that
there was a most intimate and habitual connection between the gods,
the angels, the demons, and the souls separated from the body, and
himself. But all this is only the work of his imagination; he knew no
more than any other concerning a matter which is above the reach of
man's understanding. He had never seen any apparitions of gods or
heroes, or archontes; unless we say that there are veritable demons
which sometimes appear to men. But to discern them one from the other,
as Jamblichus pretends to do, is mere illusion.
The Greeks and Romans, like the Hebrews and Christians, acknowledged
two sorts of genii, some good and beneficent, the others bad, and
causing evil. The ancients even believed that every one of us received
at our birth a good and an evil genius; the former procured us
happiness and prosperity, the latter engaged us in unfortunate
enterprises, inspired us with unruly desires, and cast us into the
worst misfortunes. They assigned genii, not only to every person, but
also to every house, every city, and every province.[70] These genii
are considered as good, beneficent,[71] and worthy of the worship of
those who invoke them. They were represented sometimes under the form
of a serpent, sometimes as a child or a youth. Flowers, incense,
cakes, and wine were offered to them.[72] Men swore by the names of
the genii.[73] It was a great crime to perjure one's self after having
sworn by the genius of the emperor, says Tertullian;[74] _Citius apud
vos per omnes Deos, quam per unicum Genium Caesaris perjuratur._
We often see on medals the inscription, GENIO POPULI ROMANI; and
when the Romans landed in a country, they failed not to salute and
adore its genius, and to offer him sacrifices.[75] In short, there was
neither kingdom, nor province, nor town, nor house, nor door, nor
edifice, whether public or private, which had not its genius.[76]
We have seen above what Jamblichus informs us concerning apparitions
of the gods, genii, good and bad angels, heroes, and the archontes who
preside over the government of the world.
Homer, the most ancient of Greek writers, and the most celebrated
theologian of Paganism, relates several apparitions both of gods and
heroes, and also of the dead. In the Odyssey,[77] he represents
Ulysses going to consult the sorcerer Tiresias; and this diviner
having prepared a grave or trench full of blood to evoke the manes,
Ulysses draws his sword to prevent them from coming to drink this
blood, for which they thirst; but which they were not allowed to taste
before they had answered the questions put to them. They believed also
that the souls of the dead could not rest, and that they wandered
around their dead bodies so long as the corpse remained uninhumed.
Even after they were interred, food was offered them; above everything
honey was given, as if leaving their tomb they came to taste what was
offered them.[78] They were persuaded that the demons loved the smoke
of sacrifices, melody, the blood of victims, and intercourse with
women; that they were attached for a time to certain spots and certain
edifices which they infested. They believed that souls separated from
the gross and terrestrial body, preserved after death one more subtile
and elastic, having the form of that they had quitted; that these
bodies were luminous, and like the stars; that they retained an
inclination for those things which they had loved during their life on
earth, and that often they appeared gliding around their tombs.
To bring back all this to the matter here treated of, that is to say,
to the appearance of good angels, we may note, that in the same manner
that we attach to the apparitions of good angels the idea of tutelary
spirits of kingdoms, provinces, and nations, and of each of us in
particular--as, for instance, the Prince of the kingdom of Persia, or
the angel of that nation, who resisted the archangel Gabriel during
twenty-one days, as we read in Daniel;[79] the angel of Macedonia, who
appeared to St. Paul,[80] and of whom we have spoken before; the
archangel St. Michael, who is considered as the chief of the people of
God and the armies of Israel;[81] and the guardian angels deputed by
God to guide us and guard us all the days of our life--so we may say
that the Greeks and Romans, being Gentiles, believed that certain
sorts of spirits, which they imagined were good and beneficent,
protected their kingdoms, provinces, towns, and private houses.
They paid them a superstitious and idolatrous worship, as to domestic
divinities; they invoked them, offered them a kind of sacrifice and
offerings of incense, cakes, honey, and wine, &c.--but not bloody
sacrifices.[82]
The Platonicians taught that carnal and voluptuous men could not see
their genii, because their mind was not sufficiently pure, nor enough
disengaged from sensual things; but that men who were wise, moderate,
and temperate, and who applied themselves to serious and sublime
subjects, could see them; as Socrates, for instance, who had his
familiar genius, whom he consulted, to whose advice he listened, and
whom he beheld, at least with the eyes of the mind.
If the oracles of Greece and other countries are reckoned in the
number of apparitions of bad spirits, we may also recollect the good
spirits who have announced things to come, and have assisted the
prophets and inspired persons, whether in the Old Testament or the
New. The angel Gabriel was sent to Daniel[83] to instruct him
concerning the vision of the four great monarchies, and the
accomplishment of the seventy weeks, which were to put an end to the
captivity. The prophet Zechariah says expressly that _the angel who
appeared unto him_[84] revealed to him what he must say--he repeats it
in five or six places; St. John, in the Apocalypse,[85] says the same
thing, that God had sent his angel to inspire him with what he was to
say to the Churches. Elsewhere[86] he again makes mention of the angel
who talked with him, and who took in his presence the dimensions of
the heavenly Jerusalem. And again, St. Paul in his Epistle to the
Hebrews,[87] "If what has been predicted by the angels may pass for
certain."
From all we have just said, it results that the apparitions of good
angels are not only possible, but also very real; that they have often
appeared, and under diverse forms; that the Hebrews, Christians,
Mahometans, Greeks, and Romans have believed in them; that when they
have not sensibly appeared, they have given proofs of their presence
in several different ways. We shall examine elsewhere how we can
explain the kind of apparition, whether of good or bad angels, or
souls separated from the body.
Footnotes:
[69] Jamblic. lib. ii. cap. 3 & 5.
[70]
"Quod te per Genium, dextramque Deosque Penates,
Obsecro et obtestor."--_Horat._ lib. i. Epist. 7. 94.
----"Dum cunctis supplex advolveris aris,
Ei mitem Genium Domini praesentis adoras."
_Stac._ lib. v. Syl. I. 73.
[71] Antiquitee expliquee, tom. i.
[72] Perseus, Satire ii.
[73] Senec. Epist. 12.
[74] Tertull. Apol. c. 23.
[75]
"Troja vale, rapimur, clamant; dant oscula terrae
Troades."--_Ovid. Metam._, lib. xiii. 421.
[76]
"Quamquam cur Genium Romae, mihi fingitis unum?
Cum portis, domibus; thermis, stabulis soleatis,
Assignare suos Genios?"--_Prudent. contra Symmach._
[77] Odyss. XI. sub. fin. _Vid._ Horat. lib. i. Satire 7, &c.
[78] Virgil. AEneid. I. 6. August. Serm. 15. de SS. et Quaest. 5. in
Deut. i. 5 c. 43. _Vide_ Spencer, de Leg. Hebraeor. Ritual.
[79] Dan. x. 13.
[80] Acts xvi. 9.
[81] Josh. v. 13. Dan. x. 13, 21; xii. 1. Judg. v. 6. Rev. xii. 7
[82] _Forsitan quis quaerat, quid causae sit, ut merum fundendum sit
genio_, non hostiam faciendam putaverint.... _Scilicet ut die natali
munus_ annale genio solverent, manum a coede ac sanguine
abstinerent.--Censorin. de Die Natali, c. 2. Vide Taffin de Anno
Saecul.
[83] Dan. viii. 16; ix. 21.
[84] Zech. i. 10, 13, 14, 19; ii. 3, 4; iv. 1, 4, 5; v. 5, 10.
[85] Rev. i. 1.
[86] Rev. x. 8, 9, &c.; xi. 1, 2, 3, &c.
[87] Heb. ii. 2.