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Understanding and Dealing with Evil and Suffering UNDERSTANDING AND DEALING WITH EVIL AND SUFFERING: A FOURTH CENTURY A.D. PAGAN PERSPECTIVE Susanne H. Wallis Thesis submitted for the degree of Masters by Research in Classical Studies School of European Studies and Languages University of Adelaide August 2008 TABLE OF CONTENTS TITLE PAGE TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT DECLARATION ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS INTRODUCTION.........................................................................................1-14 CHAPTER 1: THE ALTAR OF VICTORY...............................................15-26 Introduction 1. The pagan response Relatio 3 Pro templis Conclusion CHAPTER 2: HEALING THE BODY.......................................................27-60 Introduction 1. Understanding Illness and its Origins Blaming the supernatural The role of astrology: a guide to diagnosis and prognosis The philosopher’s way to good health In the event of plague Mental disturbance: physiological, psychological or philosophical 2. Seeking a cure A Matter of choice Being healthy, staying healthy Healing from the gods: temple medicine Magical protection Iatros: the healer Who will care for the sick? Conclusion CHAPTER 3: EASING THE ANXIOUS MIND........................................61-81 Introduction 1. The forces of fate Human suffering Unseen powers 2. Seeking peace of mind The workings of divination 3. Reading the Signs Astrology Oneiromancy Conclusion CHAPTER 4: PHYSICIAN OF THE SOUL............................................82-112 Introduction 1. Body and Soul Dualism The spiritual athlete Concupiscence of the flesh 2. The spiritual life: many paths to the Great Mystery Philosophical contemplation and theurgy The mystery religions: mystical union in this life Facing death in life 3. The pagan philosopher Physician of the soul Artistic evidence Piety also counts The presence of the holy-man Conclusion CONCLUSION........................................................................................113-116 BIBLIOGRAPHY....................................................................................117-131 ABSTRACT People of late antiquity were subjected to the universal and perennial human woes - injustice, affliction, adversity and pain - that cause suffering. The experience of suffering is subjective. There are however, common sources of and expressions of suffering in humans. The fourth century was a period of significant cultural and social changes which drew responses from pagans that not only reflected traditional knowledge but also engaged with new sets of ideas. This thesis examines the problem of evil and suffering as experienced by pagans of the fourth century of the Common Era. Having received imperial sanction from the emperor Constantine after his conversion in 312, Christianity was gaining momentum in both membership and strength. The Graeco- Roman world had become one where Christianity, it seemed to some, had effectively surpassed pagan state cult Against this backdrop of religious change, pagans had taken on a self-consciousness that engendered a rethinking of many traditional ways of coping with and explaining the evils of the world and the suffering that could result from them. Some rules and conditions had changed, so how and where could pagans seek explanation for, protection from or alleviation of their suffering? The study addresses this question by posing and responding to further questions. Firstly, how did pagans understand the presence of evil and suffering in the world? Secondly, from what sources, natural or supernatural, could they draw hope in the face of evil and suffering? And thirdly, what degree of autonomy could pagans claim in approaching the problem? Religion and philosophy might be perceived by pagans to contain the answers to why there was evil and suffering in the world. The addition of science and the occult to religion and philosophy offered further ways through which pagans might seek to deal with the problem. By drawing primarily on extant literary evidence from the period as well as selected material evidence (predominantly pagan, but including some Christian), the research will trace the evolution of ideas regarding evil and suffering that pagan thinkers were bringing to the contemporary debate. DECLARATION This thesis contains no material that has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in any university or other tertiary institution and, to the best of my knowledge and belief, contains no material previously published or written by another person, except where due reference has been made in the text of the thesis. I give consent to this copy of my thesis, when deposited in the University Library, being made available for photocopying and loan. SIGNED _______________________ DATE_______________ ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am extremely grateful for the committed supervision of Dr. Ron Newbold. I thank him for the unstinting support he has given me over the years that this research project has been evolving. His generosity of time and advice and his sharing of knowledge and resources have enriched and also smoothed the process of my research. To my ‘second’ supervisor, Dr. Han Baltussen, who has contributed insightful advice and on-going encouragement I also offer my sincere thanks. I am indebted to him for allowing me frequent access to his book collection. I value highly the regular discussions relating to the research project that have taken place between the two supervisors and me. I also acknowledge the support network offered by the Classics department as a whole. The opportunity to present for open discussion amongst both teaching staff members and fellow students, aspects of a work in process has been of considerable value. Access to the resources of the well-maintained department library has also facilitated the progress of the research. Thanks go to my fellow post-graduate candidates, Chris Cooper, Barbara Sidwell and Sariah Willoughby who have freely given assistance in different ways throughout the years of research. Through the mutual exchange of ideas and resources and with support and encouragement, they have all contributed to the project. Thanks in particular to Sariah for proofreading. To my family and friends, who have both encouraged my efforts and made allowance for the occasionally distractive nature of the project, my heartfelt thanks. Susanne Wallis 1 INTRODUCTION The over-arching argument of this study aims to show what was characteristic of pagan response to quite novel challenges, particularly from Christianity, that compounded traditional existential concerns. The argument aims to produce a better understanding of how pagans, in understanding and dealing with the problem of evil and suffering, could still feel they had reason to believe that a semblance of the role of ritual and tradition in their lives could be preserved. The purpose of the study is to explore an area of pagan thought of late Antiquity which, through preliminary readings, seems not to have been coherently studied - evil and suffering. The study aims to bring together evidence from discrete areas of Late Antique culture in order to offer an impression of how pagans of the period understood and dealt with the problem of evil and suffering Justification of the study The period of history referred to as Late Antiquity has gained a good deal of scholarly attention in recent decades. Two distinct themes emerge from writings on this broad topic. The first, of these is the ‘decline and fall’ (in the West) of the Roman Empire, the second is ‘continuity and change’. The model for ‘decline and fall’, according to Lenski is a modern invention deriving from the assumptions brought by Gibbon to his study of the Roman Empire. Modern scholarship has brought into question these assumptions about the superiority of ‘rationalism over mysticism, realism over idealism, moralism over relativism and classical civilisation over its medieval successors’. Modern treatment of the world of Late Antiquity has tended to avoid this earlier model of ‘decline and fall’ of the Roman Empire and instead, recent works ‘engage the late antique world on its own terms’.1 1 What is generally being rejected here is the set of assumptions brought to the study of the Roman Empire by Gibbon but more specifically in the fields of culture, society, religion, art and literature than in politics and warfare (Lenski, 369). See Ward-Perkins (9 ff) for the current state of debate on the new vocabulary used for discussion about the themes of ‘decline’ and ‘crisis’ amongst scholars in Europe and America (along with a temporal framework for ‘Late Antiquity’). 2 Murray’s use of the phrase ‘failure of nerve’ (1935, 123) to describe the mood of Late Antiquity and Dodds’ description of the period as an ‘age of anxiety’ (1970, 3) 2 have given way to the more positive term ‘continuity and change’ proposed by Liebeschuetz (1979).3 The growth of this approach has evolved from amongst others, Brown’s publication The World of Late Antiquity (1971) which was seminal in the change of direction for the study of the period that was taking place in the English-speaking world (below, 9). In the introduction Brown points to the disappearance of certain ancient institutions and the astounding new beginnings of the period where ‘we are caught between the regretful contemplation of ancient ruins and the excited acclamation of new growth’.4 Recent scholarship has also been revising judgements previously passed on some of the thinkers (particularly Neoplatonist) concerned in the evolution of Late Antique religious and philosophical
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