The same Jerome likewise, in Epist. ci., ad Pam-machium, testifies, that Porphyry accuses the history of the Evangelists of falsehood, and says** that Christ, after he had told his brethren that he should * Vid. lib. iv. Comment, in 24 Cap. Matth. ** Lib. ii. adversus Pelagianos. {45} not go up to the feast of tabernacles, yet afterwards went up to it (John vii.). Hence Porphyry accuses him of inconstancy and mutability. Jerome's observation on this is curious, viz. "Nesciens omnia scandala ad carnem esse referenda." Jerome adds (in Lib. Quasst. Hebraic, in Genesin) "that Porphyry calumniates the Evangelists for making a miracle to the ignorant, by asserting that Christ walked on the sea, calling the lake Genezareth the sea." He likewise says, that Porphyry called the miracles which were performed at the sepulchres of the martyrs, "the delusions of evil demons." The following remarkable passage from one of the lost writings of Porphyry relative to the Christians, is preserved by Augustin in his Treatise De Civit. lib. xix. cap. 23. "Sunt spiritus terreni minimi loco terreno quodam malorum daemonum potestati subjecti. Ab his sapientes Hebraeorum, quorum unus iste etiam Jesus fuit, sicut audivisti divina Apollonis oracula quae superius dicta sunt. Ab his ergo _Hebaei_ dsemonibus pessimis et minoribus spiritibus vetabant religiosos, et ipsis vacare prohibebant: venerari autem magis coelestes Deos, amplius autem venerari Deum patrem. Hoc autem et Dii praecipiunt, et in {40} superioibus ostendimus, quemadmodum animadvertere ad Deum monent, et ilium colere ubique imperant. Verum indocti et impiae naturae, quibus vere Fatum non concessit a Dius dona obtinere, neque habere Jovis immortalis notitiam, non audientes Deos et divinos viros; Deos quidem omnes recusaverunt, prohibitos autem daemones non solum nullis odiis insequi, sed etiam revereri delegerunt. Deum autem simulantes se colere, ea sola per quae Deus adoratur, non agunt. Nam Deus quidem utpote omnium pater nullius indiget: sed nobis est bene, cum eum per justitiam et castitatem, aliasque virtutes adoramus, ipsam vitam precem ad ipsum fa-cientes, per imitationem et inquisitionem de ipso. Inquisitio enim purgat, imitatio deificat affectionem ad ipsum operando." i. e. "There are terrene spirits of the lowest order, who in a certain terrene place are subject to the power of evil demons. From these were derived the wise men of the Hebrews, of whom Jesus also was one; as you have heard the divine oracles of Apollo above mentioned assert. From these worst of demons therefore, and lesser spirits of the _Hebrew_, the oracles forbid the religious, and prohibit from paying attention to them, but exhort them rather to venerate the celestial gods, and still more the father of the gods. And we have above {47}