Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume VI/Arnobius/Adversus Gentes/Book II/Chapter XLI

by Arnobius

41. Was it for this He sent souls, that they which shortly before had been gentle and ignorant of what it is to be moved by fierce passions, should build for themselves markets and amphitheatres, places of blood and open wickedness, in the one of which they should see men devoured and torn in pieces by wild beasts, and themselves slay others for no demerit but to please and gratify the spectators,^[1] and should spend those very days on which such wicked deeds were done in general enjoyment, and keep holiday with festive gaiety; while in the other, again, they should tear asunder the flesh of wretched animals, some snatch one part, others another, as dogs and vultures do, should grind them with their teeth, and give to their utterly insatiable^[2] maw, and that, surrounded by^[3] faces so fierce and savage, those should bewail their lot whom the straits of poverty withheld from such repasts;^[4] that their life should be^[5] happy and prosperous while such barbarous doings defiled their mouths and face? Was it for this He sent souls, that, forgetting their importance and dignity as divine, they should acquire gems, precious stones, pearls, at the expense of their purity; should entwine their necks with these, pierce the tips of their ears, bind^[6] their foreheads with fillets, seek for cosmetics^[7] to deck their bodies,^[8] darken their eyes with henna; nor, though in the forms of men, blush to curl their hair with crisping-pins, to make the skin of the body smooth, to walk with bare knees, and with every other kind of wantonness, both to lay aside the strength of their manhood, and to grow in effeminacy to a woman’s habits and luxury?

Footnotes

1. So restored by Cujacius, followed by LB. and Orelli, reading in grat-i-am (ms. wants i) voluptatemque, while the first five edd. merely drop -que—“to the grateful pleasure,” etc.
2. Lit., “most cruel.”
3. Lit., “among,” in oris, the ms. reading, and that of the first four edd., for which the others have received from the margin of Ursinus moribus—“(indulging) in so fierce and savage customs.”
4. Lit., “tables.”
5. Lit., “they should live.”
6. Lit., “lessen.”
7. In the ms. this clause follows the words “loss of their purity,” where it is very much in the way. Orelli has followed Heraldus in disposing of it as above, while LB. inserts it after “tips of their ears.” The rest adhere to the arrangement of the ms., Ursinus suggesting instead of his—“with these,” catenis—“with chains;” Heraldus, linis—“with strings (of pearls);” Stewechius, tæniis—“with fillets.”
8. So LB. and Orelli reading, con-fic-iendis corporibus for the ms. con-sp-iendis, for which the others read -spic-, “to win attention.” A conjecture by Oudendorp, brought forward by Orelli, is worthy of notice—con-spu-endis, “to cover,” i.e., so as to hide defects.