CYPRIAN. Granted; but that god ought not,
For the gods are not malicious,
To have promised victory;--
It would have been quite sufficient,
Without this most false assurance,
The defeat to have permitted.
Then if God must be all sight,
Every god should see distinctly
With clear vision to the end;
Seeing THAT, he erred in fixing
On a false conclusion; then
Though the deity may with fitness
Be divided into persons,
Yet His essence must be single
In the smallest circumstance.
DEMON. It was needful for this business,
That the oracle should rouse
The two hosts alike.
CYPRIAN. If fitting,
There were genii that could rouse them
(Good and bad, as they're distinguished
By the learned), who are, in fact,
Spirits who among us mingle,
And who good and evil acts,
Evil thoughts, suggest and whisper,
A convincing argument
For the immortal soul's existence:
Of these ministers could God
Have made use, nor thus exhibit
He was capable of a lie
To effect his ends?
DEMON. Consider,
That these seeming contradictions
Cannot our firm faith diminish
In the oneness of the gods,
If in things of higher import
They know naught of dissonance.
Take man's wondrous frame, for instance,
Surely that majestic structure
Once conception doth exhibit.
CYPRIAN. If man's maker then were one
He some vantage must have given him
O'er the others; and if they
All are equal,--'tis admitted
That they are so, from the fact
Of their mutual opposition
To each other,-- when the thought
Of creating man was hinted
By one god, another could
Say, "No, no, I do not wish it.
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