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

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Ante-Nicene Fathers Vol. VI, Adversus Gentes, Book II
by Arnobius, translated by Hamilton Bryce and Hugh Campbell

Chapter XV

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158744Ante-Nicene Fathers Vol. VI, Adversus Gentes, Book II — Chapter XVHamilton Bryce and Hugh CampbellArnobius

15. Wherefore there is no reason that that^[1] should mislead us, should hold out vain hopes to us, which is said by some men till now unheard of,^[2] and carried away by an extravagant opinion of themselves, that souls are immortal, next in point of rank to the God and ruler of the world, descended from that parent and sire, divine, wise, learned, and not within reach of the body by contact.^[3] Now, because this is true and certain, and because we have been produced by Him who is perfect without flaw, we live unblameably, I suppose, and therefore without blame; are good, just, and upright, in nothing depraved; no passion overpowers, no lust degrades us; we maintain vigorously the unremitting practice of all the virtues. And because all our souls have one origin, we therefore think exactly alike; we do not differ in manners, we do not differ in beliefs; we all know God; and there are not as many opinions as there are men in the world, nor are these divided in infinite variety.^[4]

Footnotes

↑ So the ms. and LB., followed by Oehler; in the edd. id is omitted.
↑ The ms. reading is a no-b-is quibusdam, for which LB. reads nobis a qu.—“to us,” and Hild. a notis—“by certain known;” but all others, as above, from a conjecture of Gelenius, a no-v-is, although Orelli shows his critical sagacity by preferring an emendation in the margin of Ursinus, a bonis—“by certain good men,” in which he sees a happy irony!
↑ Lit., “not touchable by any contact of body,” neque ulla corporis attrectatione contiguas.
↑ Arnobius considers the reductio ad absurdum so very plain that he does not trouble himself to state his argument more directly.

[1] So the ms. and LB., followed by Oehler; in the edd. id is omitted.

[2] The ms. reading is a no-b-is quibusdam, for which LB. reads nobis a qu.—“to us,” and Hild. a notis—“by certain known;” but all others, as above, from a conjecture of Gelenius, a no-v-is, although Orelli shows his critical sagacity by preferring an emendation in the margin of Ursinus, a bonis—“by certain good men,” in which he sees a happy irony!

[3] Lit., “not touchable by any contact of body,” neque ulla corporis attrectatione contiguas.

[4] Arnobius considers the reductio ad absurdum so very plain that he does not trouble himself to state his argument more directly.

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