Pliny the Elder on the Sun as God par excellence

From Book 2 of his Naturalis historia, in Latin, German, and English:

eorum medius sol fertur, amplissima magnitudine ac potestate nec temporum modo terrarumque, sed siderum etiam ipsorum caelique rector.

In ihrer Mitte läuft der Sonnenball mit seiner umfassenden Größe und Macht, der Herr nicht nur der Zeiten und Länder, sondern auch der Sterne selber und des Himmels.

In the midst of these the sun carries on, of great magnitude and power, the ruler, not only of the seasons and different climates, but of the stars themselves and heaven.

hunc esse mundi totius animum ac planius mentem, hunc principale naturae regimen ac numen credere decet opera eius aestimantes.

Daß die Sonne der ganzen Welt Seele und, deutlicher, ihr Geist sei, daß sie die oberste Herrschaft der Natur und eine Gottheit sei, ziemt sich zu glauben, wenn man ihre Werke in Betracht zieht.

That it is the animating force of the universe and, clearly, its intelligence, that it is the chief regulator of nature and a divinity, it is becoming to believe, when one evaluates its works.

 . . . praeclarus, eximius, omnia intuens, omnia etiam exaudiens, ut principi litterarum Homero placuisse in uno eo video.

. . . hervorleuchtend, hervorragend, alles schauend, alles auch hörend, wie, soviel ich sehe, der Erste in der Dichtung, Homer, nur an ihr es so befunden hat.

. . illustrious, extraordinary, observing all things, hearing all things as well, which the prince of poets, Homer, ascribed to it alone, so far as I can see.

Quapropter effigiem dei formamque quaerer inbecillitatis humanae reor.

Ich halte es deshalb für ein Zeichen menschlicher Schwäche, nach dem Bild und der Gestalt der Gottheit zu suchen.

Therefore I consider inquiry into the figure and form of God an indication of human weakness.

quisquis est deus, si modo est alius, et quacumque in parte, totus est sensus, totus visus, totus auditus, totus animae, totus animi, totus sui.

Wer auch Gott sei, wenn es überhaupt einen anderen gibt (als die Sonne) und in welchem Teile [des Alls] er auch sein mag, er ist ganz Gefühl, ganz Gesicht, ganz Gehör, ganz Seele, ganz Geist, ganz er selbst.

Whoever God is, if there is another [besides the sun], and in whichever part, he is all sense, all sight, all hearing, all life, all intelligence, and all within himself.

innumeros quidem credere atque etiam ex vitiis hominum, ut Pudicitiam, Concordiam, Mentem, Spem, Honorem, Clementiam, Fidem, aut, ut Democrito placuit, duos omnino, Poenam et Beneficium, maiorem ad socordiam accedit.

Unzählige Götter anzunehmen - und sogar entsprechend den Lastern der Menschen -, wie etwa eine Gottheit der Keuschheit, der Eintracht, des Geistes, der Hoffnung, der Ehre, der Milde, der Treue, oder, wie es Demokritos für richtig gehalten hat, nur zwei, Strafe und Belohnung, grenzt an noch größere Leichtfertigkeit.

To believe that there are innumerable ones, derived from the imperfections of man, such as modesty, consensus, understanding, hope, honor, clemency, and loyalty, or, as was becoming to Democritus, only two, punishment and reward, amounts to greater folly.

fragilis et laboriosa mortalitas in partes ita digessit infirmitatis suae memor, ut portionibus coleret quisque quo maxime indigeret.

Die gebrechlichen und mühebeladenen Sterblichen haben, ihrer Schwäche bewußt, die Gottheit in Teile zerlegt, damit jeder in seinem Anteil das verehre, dessen er am meisten bedürfe.

Frail and burdened mortals, mindful of their infirmity, have thus metabolized the whole into parts, so that every one might venerate a portion, what he is most in need of.

itaque nomina alia aliis gentibus et numina in iisdem innumerabilia invenimus, inferis quoque in genera discriptis morbisque et multis etiam pestibus, dum esse placatas trepido metu cupimus.

Deshalb finden wir bei verschiedenen Völkern verschiedene Götternamen und bei jeweils denselben zahllose Gottheiten; sogar die unterirdischen Mächte, Krankheiten und auch viele böse Seuchen wurden in Arten geteilt, während wir in banger Furcht sie besänftigt wissen möchten.

Hence we find different names employed by different nations; and among the same, innumerable ones; even the infernal powers, diseases and a host of plagues, are arrayed in classes, since we with fearful trepidation wish to propitiate them.

Notes on the Translation

The translation by John Bostock (1855) of Pliny’s Natural History available in Perseus online is far from satisfactory at several points. Entire phrases occasionally go missing, and the translation is freer than necessary at several points. The older translation of Philemon Holland (1601), as older translations often are, is better. A sad introduction to the Natural History here. In the above, I cite the Latin text and the German translation as found in Gaius Plinius Secundus, Naturkunde (Naturalis Historiae libri XXXVII). Lateinisch-deutsch (Roderich König, tr. and ed., Gerhard Winkler . . . Joachim Hopp und Wolfgang Glöckner, collaborators; Munich: Heimeram, 1973-2004) 2:14-23. The English translation is my own.

Comments

[Looney]

Gibbons when writing about the opinions of the pagan emperor Julian says that he associated the sun with the logos (363AD). Julian was also favorable to the Jews, so I suppose one could could connect the dots, but that would be a wild stretch, especially since his reign was so short.

[JohnFH]

It is a thesis of Jan Assmann, an Egyptologist, that sun-monotheism goes back to Egypt and provides a context for Mosaic monotheism. Since he also sees monotheism as a negative, it makes for a very interesting debate.

The book by Mark S. Smith I've been referencing interacts with Assmann's theories with considerable aplomb. I would point out, since you may be used to reading the Bible in all of its parts as straight history, that all of these scholars make historiographical assumptions you may not feel comfortable with. But that is how it is. Those of us who do this, or at least some of us, mean no harm by it. It's just where we think the evidence leads.

[Looney]

Interesting. My 1930's history books claim that Jewish monotheism was derived from Zoroastrianism.

What does Assmann's thesis say about Jeremiah's condemnation of sun worship, and Joel's statement that the sun will be darkened in the day of the Lord?

[JohnFH]

I don't know offhand, Looney, but you are asking excellent questions. My guess is that Assmann would say, sure, Israelite monotheism went on to deny its own origins.

A Zoroastrian paternity for Jewish monotheism still has a few adherents. There is precious little to *no* hard evidence in favor of it. But I suppose that fact turns out to be a feature of the theory, not a bug, if one's goals include that of having a bullet-proof theory.

As you know, since you are a scientist, a feature of an excellent theory is its vulnerability to being falsified based on empirical testing.

[Looney]

Just a note on the falsification:

From what I have seen, before a theory can be a candidate for the falsification test, it must be precisely defined and single faceted. Otherwise, the notion of falsification becomes very poorly defined and extremely slippery.

Assmann's theory seems simple enough to qualify. I am still pondering to what degree historical theories are comparable to theories of physics, but that can wait.