[3581] The ms. reads ne videamu-s, changed in both Roman edd. into -amur--"that we may not be seen by you (as ignorant), how say you," etc. Gelenius proposed the reading of the text, audiamus, which has been received by Canterus and Orelli. It is clear from the next words--quemadmodum dicitis--that in this case the verb must be treated as a kind of interjection, "How say you, let us hear." LB. reads, to much the same purpose, scire avemus, "we desire to know."
[3582] Lit., "before man."
[3583] Lit., "placed outside."
[3584] Quod enim.
[3585] Rebus ingressis.
[3586] So read by Orelli, artes suas antiquas, omitting atque, which he says, follows in the ms. It is read after suas, however, in the first ed., and those of Gelenius, Canterus, Hildebrand; and according to Oehler, it is so given in the ms., "its own and ancient." Oberthür would supply res--"its own arts and ancient things."
[3587] So the ms., reading constitut-a, followed by all edd. except those of Ursinus, Hildebrand, and Oehler, who read -æ, "how do they remember when established in the bodies," which is certainly more in accordance with the context.
[3588] Lit., "of immortality."
[3589] Cf. ch. 16, p. 440.
[3590] Lit., "of a lost memory."
[3591] Lit., "of (a memory) preserved."
29. Now, since it is so, cease, I pray you, cease to rate trifling and unimportant things at immense values. Cease to place man in the upper ranks, since he is of the lowest; and in the highest orders, seeing that his person only is taken account of, [3592] that he is needy, poverty-stricken in his house and dwelling, [3593] and was never entitled to be declared of illustrious descent. For while, as just men and upholders of righteousness, you should have subdued pride and arrogance, by the evils [3594] of which we are all uplifted and puffed up with empty vanity; you not only hold that these evils arise naturally, but--and this is much worse--you have also added causes by which vice should increase, and wickedness remain incorrigible. For what man is there, although of a disposition which ever shuns what is of bad repute and shameful, who, when he hears it said by very wise men that the soul is immortal, and not subject to the decrees of the fates, [3595] would not throw himself headlong into all kinds of vice, and fearlessly [3596] engage in and set about unlawful things? who would not, in short, gratify his desires in all things demanded by his unbridled lust, strengthened even further by its security and freedom from punishment? [3597] For what will hinder him from doing so? The fear of a power above and divine judgment? And how shall he be overcome by any fear or dread who has been persuaded that he is immortal, just as the supreme God Himself, and that no sentence can be pronounced upon him by God, seeing that there is the same immortality in both, and that the one immortal being cannot be troubled by the other, which is only its equal? [3598]
[3592] Capite cum censeatur.
[3593] Lit., "poor in hearth, and of a poor hut."
[3594] So the ms., reading malis, for which Ursinus suggested alis, "on the wings of which."
[3595] i.e., to death.
[3596] The ms. reads securus, intrepidus--"heedless, fearless;" the former word, however, being marked as a gloss. It is rejected in all edd., except LB.
[3597] Lit., "by the freedom of impunity."
[3598] Lit., "the one (immortality)...in respect of the equality of condition of the other"--nec in alterius (immortalitatis) altera (immortalitatas) possit æqualitate conditionis vexari; the reference being clearly to the immediately preceding clause, with which it is so closely connected logically and grammatically. Orelli, however, would supply anima, apo tou koinou, as he puts it, of which nothing need be said. Meursius, with customary boldness, emends nec vi alterius altera, "nor by the power of one can the other," etc.
30. But will he not be terrified by [3599] the punishments in Hades, of which we have heard, assuming also, as they do, many forms of torture? And who [3600] will be so senseless and ignorant of consequences, [3601] as to believe that to imperishable spirits either the darkness of Tartarus, or rivers of fire, or marshes with miry abysses, or wheels sent whirling through the air, [3602] can in any wise do harm? For that which is beyond reach, and not subject to the laws of destruction, though it be surrounded by all the flames of the raging streams, be rolled in the mire, overwhelmed by the fall of overhanging rocks and by the overthrow of huge mountains, must remain safe and untouched without suffering any deadly harm.
Moreover, that conviction not only leads on to wickedness, from the very freedom to sin which it suggests, but even takes away the ground of philosophy itself, and asserts that it is vain to undertake its study, because of the difficulty of the work, which leads to no result. For if it is true that souls know no end, and are ever [3603] advancing with all generations, what danger is there in giving themselves up to the pleasures of sense--despising and neglecting the virtues by regard to which life is more stinted in its pleasures, and becomes less attractive--and in letting loose their boundless lust to range eagerly and unchecked through [3604] all kinds of debauchery? Is it the danger of being worn out by such pleasures, and corrupted by vicious effeminacy? And how can that be corrupted which is immortal, which always exists, and is subject to no suffering? Is it the danger of being polluted by foul and base deeds? And how can that be defiled which has no corporeal substance; or where can corruption seat itself, where there is no place on which the mark of this very corruption should fasten?
But again, if souls draw near to the gates of death, [3605] as is laid down in the doctrine of Epicurus, in this case, too, there is no sufficient reason why philosophy should be sought out, even if it is true that by it [3606] souls are cleansed and made pure from all uncleanness. [3607] For if they all [3608] die, and even in the body [3609] the feeling characteristic of life perishes, and is lost; [3610] it is not only a very great mistake, but shows stupid blindness, to curb innate desires, to restrict your mode of life within narrow limits, not yield to your inclinations, and do what our passions have demanded and urged, since no rewards await you for so great toil when the day of death comes, and you shall be freed from the bonds of the body.
[3599] So the ellipse is usually supplied, but it seems simpler and is more natural thus: "But punishments (have been) spoken of" (memoratæ), etc.
[3600] So ms. and Oehler, for which the edd. read ec quis, "will any one."
[3601] Lit., "the consequences of things."
[3602] Lit., "the moving of wheels whirling."
[3603] Lit., "in the unbroken course of ages"--perpetuitate ævorum.
[3604] Lit., "and to scatter the unbridled eagerness of boundless lust through," etc.
[3605] Lucretius (iii. 417 sqq.) teaches at great length that the soul and mind are mortal, on the ground that they consist of atoms smaller than those of vapour, so that, like it, on the breaking of their case, they will be scattered abroad; next, on the ground of the analogy between them and the body in regard to disease, suffering, etc.; of their ignorance of the past, and want of developed qualities; and finally, on the ground of the adaptation of the soul to the body, as of a fish to the sea, so that life under other conditions would be impossible.
[3606] The ms. and first four edd. read has, "that these souls," etc.; in the other edd., hac is received as above from the margin of Ursinus.
[3607] Cf. Plato, Phædo (st. p. 64 sq.), where death is spoken of as only a carrying further of that separation of the soul from the pleasures and imperfections of the body which the philosopher strives to effect in this life.
[3608] Lit., "in common."
[3609] Pl.
[3610] This refers to the second argument of Lucretius noticed above.
31. A certain neutral character, then, and undecided and doubtful nature of the soul, has made room for philosophy, and found out a reason for its being sought after: while, that is, that fellow [3611] is full of dread because of evil deeds of which he is guilty; another conceives great hopes if he shall do no evil, and pass his life in obedience to [3612] duty and justice. Thence it is that among learned men, and men endowed with excellent abilities, there is strife as to the nature of the soul, and some say that it is subject to death, and cannot take upon itself the divine substance; while others maintain that it is immortal, and cannot sink under the power of death. [3613] But this is brought about by the law ofthe soul's neutral character: [3614] because, on the one hand, arguments present themselves to the one party by which it is found that the soul [3615] is capable of suffering, and perishable; and, on the other hand, are not wanting to their opponents, by which it is shown that the soul is divine and immortal.
[3611] i.e., the abandoned and dissolute immortal spoken of in last chapter.
[3612] Lit., "with."
[3613] Lit., "degenerate into mortal nature."
[3614] Arnobius seems in this chapter to refer to the doctrine of the Stoics, that the soul must be material, because, unless body and soul were of one substance, there could be no common feeling or mutual affection (so Cleanthes in Nemes. de Nat. Hom., ii. p. 33); and to that held by some of them, that only the souls of the wise remained after death, and these only till the conflagration (Stob., Ecl. Phys., p. 372) which awaits the world, and ends the Stoic great year or cycle. Others, however, held that the souls of the wise became dæmons and demigods (Diog., Lært., vii. 157 and 151).
[3615] Lit., "they"--eas.
32. Since these things are so, and we have been taught by the greatest teacher that souls are set not far from the gaping [3616] jaws of death; that they can, nevertheless, have their lives prolonged by the favour and kindness of the Supreme Ruler if only they try and study to know Him,--for the knowledge of Him is a kind of vital leaven [3617] and cement to bind together that which would otherwise fly apart,--let them, [3618] then, laying aside their savage and barbarous nature, return to gentler ways, that they may be able to be ready for that which shall be given. [3619] What reason is there that we should be considered by you brutish, as it were, and stupid, if we have yielded and given ourselves up to God our deliverer, because of these fears? We often seek out remedies for wounds and the poisoned bites of serpents, and defend ourselves by means of thin plates [3620] sold by Psylli [3621] or Marsi, and other hucksters [3622] and impostors; and that we may not be inconvenienced by cold or intense heat, [3623] we provide with anxious and careful diligence coverings in [3624] houses and clothing.
[3616] Lit., "from the gapings and," etc.
[3617] There may be here some echo of the words (John xvii. 3), "This is eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God," etc.; but there is certainly not sufficient similarity to found a direct reference on, as has been done by Orelli and others.
[3618] i.e., souls.
[3619] This passage presents no difficulty in itself, its sense being obviously that, as by God's grace life is given to those who serve Him, we must strive to fit ourselves to receive His blessing. The last words, however, have seemed to some fraught with mystery, and have been explained by Heraldus at some length as a veiled or confused reference to the Lord's Supper, as following upon baptism and baptismal regeneration, which, he supposes, are referred to in the preceding words, "laying aside," etc. [It is not, however, the language of a mere catechumen.]
[3620] These "thin plates," laminæ, Orelli has suggested, were amulets worn as a charm against serpents.
[3621] ms. Phyllis.
[3622] So the edd., reading instit-oribusfor the ms. instit-ut-oribus, "makers."
[3623] Lit., "that colds and violent suns may not," etc.
[3624] Lit., "of."
33. Seeing that the fear of death, that is, the ruin of our souls, menaces [3625] us, in what are we not acting, as we all are wont, from a sense of what will be to our advantage, [3626] in that we hold Him fast who assures us that He will be our deliverer from such danger, embrace Him, and entrust our souls to His care, [3627] if only that [3628] interchange is right? You rest the salvation of your souls on yourselves, and are assured that by your own exertions alone [3629] you become gods; but we, on the contrary hold out no hope to ourselves from our own weakness, for we see that our nature has no strength, and is overcome by its own passions in every strife for anything. [3630] You think that, as soon as you pass away, freed from the bonds of your fleshly members, you will find wings [3631] with which you may rise to heaven and soar to the stars. We shun such presumption. and do not think [3632] that it is in our power to reach the abodes [3633] above, since we have no certainty as to this even, whether we deserve to receive life and be freed from the law of death. You suppose that without the aid of others [3634] you will return to the master's palace as if to your own home, no one hindering you; but we, on the contrary, neither have any expectation that this can be unless by the will of the Lord of all, nor think that so much power and licence are given to any man.