On Idolatry 3

For some time in the past there was no idol. Before the craftsmen of this monster had bubbled up, there were only temples and empty shrines, as traces of antiquity remain to this day in some places. Yet idolatry was practised, not under that name but in that work. For even today it can be practised outside a temple and without an idol. But when the devil brought into the world the makers of statues and images and likenesses of every kind, that crude business of human calamity obtained both its name and its growth from idols. From then on every art that produces an idol in any way became a source of idolatry. For it makes no difference whether a modeller shapes it, or an engraver carves it, or an embroiderer weaves it, because it does not matter of what material an idol is formed either, whether of plaster, of paints, of stone, of bronze, of silver, or of thread. For since idolatry takes place even without an idol, surely, when an idol is present, it makes no difference what kind it is, of what material, or of what shape, lest anyone think that only that is to be held an idol which is consecrated in human form. For this the meaning of the word is needed. Eidos in Greek means “form”; from it, by diminution, eidōlon is derived; likewise with us forma has produced formula. So every form or little form claims to be called an idol. Hence idolatry is every service and servitude paid to any idol. Hence too every maker of an idol is guilty of one and the same crime; unless the people committed too little idolatry because they consecrated for themselves the image of a calf and not of a man!