ynods, and even at
the councils of the divine Constantine, can if you wish, satisfy our
curiosity by revealing to us the philosophic truths which are wrapped up
in the Christian fables. Is not the first of these truths the existence
of an only God--in whom, for my part, I fervently believe?"

MARCUS. Yes, venerable brethren, I believe in an only God, not
begotten--the only Eternal, the origin of all things.

NICIAS. We know, Marcus, that your God created the world. That must
certainly have been a great crisis in His existence. He had already
existed an eternity before He could make up His mind to it. But I must,
in justice, confess that His situation was a most difficult one. He must
continue inactive if He would remain perfect, and must act if He would
prove to Himself His own existence. You assure me that He decided
to act. I am willing to believe you, although it was an unpardonable
imprudence on the part of a perfect God. But tell us, Marcus, how He set
about making the world.

MARCUS. Those who, without being Christians, possess, like Hermodorus
and Zenothemis, the principles of knowledge, are aware that God did not
create the world personally without an intermediary. He gave birth to an
only Son, by whom all things were made.

HERMODORUS. That is quite true, Marcus; and this Son is worshipped under
the various names of Hermes, Mithra, Adonis, Apollo, and Jesus.

MARCUS. I should not be a Christian if I gave Him any other names than
those of Jesus Christ, and Saviour. He is the true Son of God. But He
is not eternal, since He had a beginning; as to thinking that He existed
before He was begotten, we must leave that absurdity to the Nicaean
mules, and the obstinate ass who too long governed the Church of
Alexandria under the accursed name of Athanasius.

At these words Paphnutius, white with horror and his face bedewed with
the sweat of agony made the sign of the cross, but maintained a sublime
silence.

Marcus continued--

"It is clear that the foolish Nicene Creed is a treason against the
majesty of the only God, by compelling Him to share His indivisible
attributes with His own emanation--the Mediator by whom all things were
made. Cease jesting at the true God of the Christians, Nicias, and learn
that, like the lilies of the field, He toils not, neither does He spin.
It was not He who was the worker, it was His only Son, Jesus, who,
having created the world, came afterwards to repair His handiwork. For