[3711] The ms. reads, habitare atque habitare juss-e-r-unt. All edd. omit the first two words, the first ed. without further change; but the active verb is clearly out of place, and therefore all other edd. read jussæ sunt, as above. Oehler, however, from habitare omitted by the others, would emend aditare, "to approach,"--a conjecture with very little to recommend it.
[3712] These are all substantives in the original.
44. But, you say, they came of their own accord, not sent [3713] by their lord. And [3714] where was the Almighty Creator, where the authority of His royal and exalted place, [3715] to prevent their departure, and not suffer them to fall into dangerous pleasures? For if He knew that by change of place they would become base--and, as the arranger of all things, [3716] He must have known--or that anything would reach them from without which would make them forget their greatness and moral dignity,--a thousand times would I beg of Him to pardon my words,--the cause of all is no other than Himself, since He allowed them to have freedom to wander [3717] who He foresaw would not abide by their state of innocence; and thus it is brought about that it does not matter whether they came of their own accord, or obeyed His command, since in not preventing what should have been prevented, by His inaction He made the guilt His own, and permitted it before it was done by neglecting to withhold them from action.
[3713] So the ms., reading non missione--"not by the sending;" but, unaccountably enough, all edd. except Hildebrand and Oehler read, jussione--"not by the command."
[3714] So the ms..
[3715] Lit., "royal sublimity."
[3716] Lit., "causes."
[3717] The ms. and both Roman edd. read abscondere--"to hide," for which the other edd. read, as above, abscedere, from the margin of Ursinus.
45. But let this monstrous and impious fancy be put [3718] far from us, that Almighty God, the creator and framer, the author [3719] of things great and invisible, should be believed to have begotten souls so fickle, with no seriousness, firmness, and steadiness, prone to vice, inclining to all kinds of sins; and while He knew that they were such and of this character, to have bid [3720] them enter into bodies, imprisoned in which, [3721] they should live exposed to the storms and tempests of fortune every day, and now do mean things, now submit to lewd treatment; that they might perish by shipwreck, accidents, destructive conflagrations; that poverty might oppress some, beggary, others; that some might be torn in pieces by wild beasts, others perish by the venom of flies; [3722] that some might limp in walking, others lose their sight, others be stiff with cramped [3723] joints; in fine, that they should be exposed to all the diseases which the wretched and pitiable human race endures with agony caused by [3724] different sufferings; then that, forgetting that they have one origin, one father and head, they should shake to their foundations and violate the rights of kinship, should overthrow their cities, lay waste their lands as enemies, enslave the free, do violence to maidens and to other men's wives, hate each other, envy the joys and good fortune of others; and further, all malign, carp at, and tear each other to pieces with fiercely biting teeth.
[3718] Lit., "go."
[3719] By Hildebrand and Oehler, procreator is with reason regarded as a gloss.
[3720] The ms., both Roman edd., and Hildebrand read jussisset; but this would throw the sentence into confusion, and the other edd. therefore drop t.
[3721] LB., Hildebrand, and Oehler read quorum indu-c-tæ carceribus--"led into the prisons of which," all other edd. omitting c as above. According to Oehler, the ms. has the former reading.
[3722] The ms. and both Roman edd. read in-f-ernarum paterentut aliæ laniatus muscularum, which has no meaning, and is little improved by Galenius changing ut into ur, as no one knows what "infernal flies" are. LB. and Orelli, adopting a reading in the margin of Ursinus, change intern. into ferarum, and join musc. with the words which follow as above. Another reading, also suggested by Ursinus, seems preferable, however, internorum...musculorum--"suffer rendings (i.e., spasms) of the inner muscles."
[3723] Lit., "bound."
[3724] Lit., "dilaceration of."
46. But, to say the same things again and again, [3725] let this belief, so monstrous and impious, be put far from us, that God, who preserves [3726] all things, the origin of the virtues and chief in [3727] benevolence, and, to exalt Him with human praise, most wise, just, making all things perfect, and that permanently, [3728] either made anything which was imperfect and not quite correct, [3729] or was the cause of misery or danger to any being, or arranged, commanded, and enjoined the very acts in which man's life is passed and employed to flow from His arrangement. These things are unworthy of [3730] Him, and weaken the force of His greatness; and so far from His being believed to be their author, whoever imagines that man is sprung from Him is guilty of blasphemous impiety, man, a being miserable and wretched, who is sorry that he exists, hates and laments his state, and understands that he was produced for no other reason than lest evils should not have something [3731] through which to spread themselves, and that there might always be wretched ones by whose agonies some unseen and cruel power, [3732] adverse to men, should be gratified.
[3725] Lit., "again and more frequently."
[3726] Lit., "the salvation of."
[3727] Lit., "height of."
[3728] Lit., "things perfect, and preserving the measure of their completeness;" i.e., continuing so.
[3729] So the ms., LB., Oberthür and Oehler, reading claudum et quod minus esset a recto. All other edd. read eminus--"at a distance from the right."
[3730] Lit., "less than."
[3731] Lit., "material."
[3732] Lit., "some power latent and cruelty."
47. But, you say, if God is not the parent and father of souls, by what sire have they been begotten, and how have they been produced? If you wish to hear unvarnished statements not spun out with vain ostentation of words, we, too, [3733] admit that we are ignorant of this, do not know it; [3734] and we hold that, to know so great a matter, is not only beyond the reach of our weakness and frailty, but beyond that also of all the powers which are in the world, and which have usurped the place of deities in men's belief. But are we bound to show whose they are, because we deny that they are God's? That by no means [3735] follows necessarily; for if we were to deny that flies, beetles, and bugs, dormice, weevils, and moths, [3736] are made by the Almighty King, we should not be required in consequence to say who made and formed them; for without incurring any censure, we may not know who, indeed, gave them being, and yet assert that not by the Supreme [3737] Deity were creatures produced so useless, so needless, so purposeless, [3738] nay more, at times even hurtful, and causing unavoidable injuries.
[3733] So the ms. and all edd.; but Orelli would change item into iterum, not seeing that the reference is to the indicated preference of his opponents for the simple truth.
[3734] Nescire Hildebrand, with good reason, considers a gloss.
[3735] Nihilfor the ms. mihi which makes nonsense of the sentence.
[3736] This somewhat wide-spread opinion found an amusing counterpart in the doctrines of Rorarius (mentioned by Bayle, Dict. Phil.), who affirmed that the lower animals are gifted with reason and speech, as we are.
[3737] Lit., "superior."
[3738] Lit., "tending to no reasons."
48. Here, too, in like manner, when we deny that souls are the offspring of God Supreme, it does not necessarily follow that we are bound to declare from what parent they have sprung, and by what causes they have been produced. For who prevents us from being either ignorant of the source from which they issued and came, or aware that they are not God's descendants? By what method, you say, in what way? Because it is most true and certain [3739] that, as has been pretty frequently said, nothing is effected, made, determined by the Supreme, except that which it is right and fitting should be done; except that which is complete and entire, and wholly perfect in its [3740] integrity. But further, we see that men, that is, these very souls--for what are men but souls bound to bodies?--themselves show by perversely falling into [3741] vice, times without number, that they belong to no patrician race, but have sprung from insignificant families. For we see some harsh, vicious, presumptuous, rash, reckless, blinded, false, dissemblers, liars, proud, overbearing, covetous, greedy, lustful, fickle, weak, and unable to observe their own precepts; but they would assuredly not be so, if their original goodness defended [3742] them, and they traced their honourable descent from the head of the universe.
[3739] Omni vero verissimum est certoque certissimum--the superlative for the comparative.
[3740] Lit., "finished with the perfection of."
[3741] Lit., "by perversity"--s-c-ævitate, the reading of the ms., LB., Orelli, Hild., and Oehler, all others omitting c--"by the rage;" except Stewechius, who reads servitute--"slavery."
[3742] Or, perhaps, "the goodness of the Supreme planted"--generositas eos adsereret principalis.
49. But, you will say, there are good men also in the world,--wise, upright, of faultless and purest morals. We raise no question as to whether there ever were any such, in whom this very integrity which is spoken of was in nothing imperfect. Even if they are very honourable men, and have been worthy of praise, have reached the utmost height of perfection, and their life has never wavered and sunk into sin, yet we would have you tell us how many there are, or have been, that we may judge from their number whether a comparison [3743] has been made which is just and evenly balanced. [3744] One, two, three, four, ten, twenty, a hundred, yet are they at least limited in number, and it may be within the reach of names. [3745] But it is fitting that the human race should be rated and weighed, not by a very few good men, but by all the rest as well. For the part is in the whole, not the whole in a part; and that which is the whole should draw to it its parts, not the whole be brought to its parts. For what if you were to say that a man, robbed of the use of all his limbs, and shrieking in bitter agony, [3746] was quite well, because in [3747] one little nail he suffered no pain? or that the earth is made of gold, because in one hillock there are a few small grains from which, when dissolved, gold is produced, and wonder excited at it when formed into a lump? [3748] The whole mass shows the nature of an element, not particles fine as air; nor does the sea become forthwith sweet, if you cast or throw into it a few drops of less bitter water, for that small quantity is swallowed up in its immense mass; and it must be esteemed, not merely of little importance, but even of none, because, being scattered throughout all, it is lost and cut off in the immensity of the vast body of water.
[3743] Lit., "opposition;" i.e., "the setting of one party against the other."
[3744] Lit., "weighed with balancing of equality."
[3745] Lit., "bounded by the comprehensions of names;" i.e., possibly, "the good are certainly few enough to be numbered, perhaps even to be named."
[3746] So LB., reading ex cruciatibusfor the ms. scruc.
[3747] Lit., "of."
[3748] Lit., "admiration is sought for by the putting together"--congregatione.
50. You say that there are good men in the human race; and perhaps, if we compare them with the very wicked, we may be led [3749] to believe that there are. Who are they, pray? Tell us. The philosophers, I suppose, who [3750] assert that they alone are most wise, and who have been uplifted with pride from the meaning attached to this name, [3751] --those, forsooth, who are striving with their passions every day, and struggling to drive out, to expel deeply-rooted passions from their minds by the persistent [3752] opposition of their better qualities; who, that it may be impossible for them to be led into wickedness at the suggestion of some opportunity, shun riches and inheritances, that they may remove [3753] from themselves occasions of stumbling; but in doing this, and being solicitous about it, they show very clearly that their souls are, through their weakness, ready and prone to fall into vice. In our opinion, however, that which is good naturally, does not require to be either corrected or reproved; [3754] nay more, it should not know what evil is, if the nature of each kind would abide in its own integrity, for neither can two contraries be implanted in each other, nor can equality be contained in inequality, nor sweetness in bitterness. He, then, who struggles to amend the inborn depravity of his inclinations, shows most clearly that he is imperfect, [3755] blameable, although he may strive with all zeal and stedfastness.