ANTE-NICENE 
 CHRISTIAN LIBRARY: 
 
 TRANSLATIONS OF 
 THE WRITINGS OF THE FATHERS 
 
 DOWN TO A.D. 325. 
 
 EDITED BY THE 
 
 REV. ALEXANDER ROBERTS, D.D. 
 
 AND 
 
 JAMES DONALDSON, LL.D. 
 
 VOL. XIX. 
 
 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF AKNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES, 
 
 EDINBURGH: 
 T. & T. CLARK, 38, GEORGE STREET. 
 
 1895.
 
 PRINTED BY MORRISON AND OIBB, 
 
 T. & T. CLARK, EDINBURGH. 
 
 LONDON : SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT, AND CO. LIMITED 
 
 NEW YORK : CHARLES 8CRIBXER S SONS. 
 TORONTO : THE WILLARD TRACT DEPOSITORV.
 
 THE SEVEN BOOKS 
 
 c? 
 
 ARNOBIDS ADYERSUS GENTES, 
 
 br 
 ARCIP HAMILTON BRYCE, LL.D. D.C.L. 
 
 AND 
 
 HUGH CAMPBELL, M.A. 
 
 EDINBURGH: 
 T. & T. CLAHK, 38, GEOEGE STEEET. 
 
 1895.
 
 BT 
 1130 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PACB 
 
 PREFACE, .... . . . vii 
 
 INTRODUCTION, ....... ix 
 
 1. Account of Arnobius given by Jerome, . . . ix 
 
 2. Facts derived from Arnobius himself, . . . x 
 
 3. Result, xii 
 
 4. His Work : its Style and Character, . . . xiv 
 5. Knowledge of Scriptures, and References to other Writ- 
 ings, ....... xv 
 
 6. MS. and Editions of the Seven Books ailrersus Gentes, . xvii 
 
 7. Title, xviii 
 
 BOOK I., ...... .1 
 
 H., 58 
 
 HI., . 148 
 
 IV., ... . 183 
 
 V., . . 221 
 
 VI., . . . . . . . .269 
 
 VII., . . 304 
 
 APPENDIX, .... . 365 
 
 INDEX OF AUTHORS QUOTED, . . . . .369 
 
 INDEX OF SUBJECTS, . . . . . . . 370
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 I HE translation of Arnobius was begun in the 
 hope that it would be possible to adhere through- 
 out to the text of Orelli, and that very little 
 attention to the various readings would be found neces- 
 sary. This was, however, found to be impossible, not 
 merely because Hildebrand's collation of the Paris MS. 
 showed how frequently liberties had been taken with the 
 text, but on account of the corrupt state of the text itself. 
 
 It has therefore been thought advisable to lay before the 
 reader a close translation founded on the MS., so far as 
 known. A conjectural reading has in no case been adopted 
 without notice. 
 
 Throughout the Work use has been made of four editions, 
 Oehler's, Orelli's, Hildebrand's, and that of Leyden ; 
 other editions being consulted only for special reasons. 
 
 It is to be regretted that our knowledge of the single 
 MS. of Arnobius is still incomplete ; but it is hoped that 
 this will soon be remedied, by the publication of a revised 
 text, based upon a fresh collation of the MS., with a com- 
 plete apparatus and a carefully digested body of notes.
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 JIRNOBIUS has been most unjustly neglected 
 in modern times ; but some excuse for this 
 may be found in the fact that even less 
 attention seems to have been paid to him in 
 the ages immediately succeeding his own. We find no men- 
 tion of him in any author except Jerome ; and even Jerome 
 has left only a few lines about him, which convey very little 
 information. 
 
 In his list of ecclesiastical writers he says, 1 " During the 
 reign of Diocletian, Arnobius taught rhetoric with the great- 
 est success, at Sicca, in Africa, and wrote against the heathen 
 the books extant ;" and again speaks of this work more par- 
 ticularly when he says, 2 " Arnobius published seven books 
 against the heathen." In his Chronicon, however, he writes 
 under the year 2342 (i.e. A.D. 326), " Arnobius is considered 
 a distinguished rhetorician in Africa, who, while engaged at 
 Sicca in teaching young men rhetoric, was led by visions to 
 the faith ; and not being received by the bishop as hitherto 
 a persistent enemy to Christ, composed very excellent books 
 against his former belief." It must at once be seen that there 
 is here a mistake, for Arnobius is put some twenty-three 
 years later than in the former passage. Jerome himself 
 shows us that the former date is the one he meant, for else- 
 where 3 he speaks of Lactantius as the disciple of Arnobius. 
 Lactantius, in extreme old age, 4 was appointed tutor of Con- 
 
 1 Cat. Script. Eccl. Ixxix. f. 121, Bened. ed. toin. iv. 
 
 2 Ep. Ixxxiii. f. 656. 
 
 8 Cat. Script. Eccl. Ixxx. f. 121, ep. Ixxxiii. 
 * Cat. Script. Eccl. Ixxx.
 
 x INTRODUCTION. 
 
 stantine's son Crispus; and this, we are told in the Chronicon, 1 
 was in the year 317. No one will suppose that if the dis- 
 ciple was a very old man in 317, his master could have been 
 in his prime in 326. It is certain, therefore, that this date 
 is not correct ; and it seems very probable that Oehler's con- 
 jecture is true, who supposes that Jerome accidentally trans- 
 posed his words from the year 303 to the place where we 
 find them, misled by noticing the vicenalia of Constantino 
 when he was looking for those of Diocletian. 
 
 It is with some difficulty that we can believe that Arnobius 
 was led to embrace Christianity by dreams, as he speaks of 
 these with little respect as " vain," which he could hardly 
 have done if by them the whole course of his life had been 
 changed; but in our utter ignorance we cannot say that this 
 may not have been to some extent the case. The further 
 statement, that his apology for Christianity was submitted 
 as a proof of his sincerity to the bishop of Sicca, is even less 
 credible, for these two reasons, that it is evidently the fruit 
 not of a few weeks' but of protracted labour, and that it is 
 hardly likely that any bishop would have allowed some parts 
 of it to pass into circulation. It is just possible that the first 
 or third books may have been so presented ; but it is not 
 credible that any pledge would be required of a man seek- 
 ing to cast in his lot with the persecuted and terrified Church 
 referred to in the fourth. 
 
 2. If we learn but little from external sources as to the 
 life of Arnobius, we are not more fortunate when we turn 
 to his own writings. One or two facts, however, are made 
 clear ; and these are of some importance. " But lately," he 
 says, " O blindness, I worshipped images just brought from 
 the furnaces, gods made on anvils and forged with hammers : 
 now, led by so great a teacher into the ways of truth, I know 
 what all these things are." 2 We have thus his own assur- 
 ance of his conversion from heathenism. He speaks of him- 
 self, however, as actually a Christian, not as a waverer, not 
 as one purposing to forsake the ancient superstitious and 
 1 Anno 2333. 2 i. 39, p. 31.
 
 INTRODUCTION. xi 
 
 embrace the new religion, but as a firm believer, whose 
 faith is already established, and whose side has been taken 
 and stedfastly maintained. In a word, he refers to himself 
 as once lost in error, but now a true Christian. 
 
 Again, in different passages he marks pretty accurately 
 the time or times at which he wrote. Thus, in the first 
 book l he speaks of about three hundred years as the time 
 during which Christianity had existed ; and in the second,' 2 
 of a thousand and fifty, or not many less, having elapsed 
 since the foundation of Home. There has been much dis- 
 cussion as to what era is here referred to ; and it has been 
 pretty generally assumed that the Fabian must be intended, 
 in which case 303 would be the year meant. If it is ob- 
 served, however, that Arnobius shows an intimate acquaint- 
 ance with Varro, and great admiration for him, it will pro- 
 bably be admitted that it is most likely that the Varronian, 
 or common, era was adopted by him ; and in this case the 
 year referred to will be 297 A.D. This coincides sufficiently 
 with the passage in the first book, and is in harmony with 
 the idea which is there predominant, the thought, that is, 
 of the accusation so frequently on the lips of the heathen, 
 that Christianity was the cause of the many and terrible 
 afflictions with which the empire was visited. These accusa- 
 tions, ever becoming more bitter and threatening, would 
 naturally be observed with care and attention by thoughtful 
 Christians towards the close of the third century ; and 
 accordingly we find that the words with which Arnobius 
 begins his apology, express the feeling of awakening anxiety 
 with which he viewed the growth of this fear and hatred 
 in the minds of the heathen. He declares, in effect, that 
 one great object indeed the main object which he had 
 proposed to himself, was to show that it was not because of 
 the Christians that fresh evils and terrible calamities were 
 continually assailing the state. And it must be remembered 
 that we cannot refer such a proposal to a later period than 
 that assigned. It would certainly net have occurred to a 
 Christian in the midst of persecution, with death overhang- 
 1 i. 13, p. 13. 2 ii. 71, p. 111.
 
 xii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ing him, and danger on every side, to come forward and 
 attempt calmly to show the heathen that there was no reason 
 for their complaints against the Christians. In the later 
 books there is a change in tone, upon which we cannot 
 now dwell, although it is marked. In one passage he asks 
 indignantly, 1 " Why should our writings be given to the 
 flames, our meetings be cruelly broken up, in which prayer is 
 offered to the supreme God, peace and pardon are asked for 
 all in authority, for soldiers, kings, friends, enemies?" In 
 the calm tranquillity of the last half of the third century 
 these words could hardly have been written, but they are a 
 striking testimony to the terms of the imperial edict issued 
 in the year 303 A.D. So, too, the expression of anger and 
 disgust at the anti-pagan character of some of Cicero's 
 works, noticed in iii. 7, belongs to the incipient stages of 
 persecution. 
 
 Nor must it be supposed that the whole work may be 
 referred to the era which ensued after the abdication of 
 Diocletian, in 305. From this time an apology for Chris- 
 tianity with such a design would have been an anachronism, 
 for it was no longer necessary to disarm the fears of the 
 heathen by showing that the gods could not be enraged at 
 the Christians. It has further to be noticed, that although 
 it is perfectly clear that Arnobius spent much time on his 
 apology, it has never been thoroughly revised, and does not 
 seem to have been ever finished. 2 
 
 We surely have in all this sufficient reason to assign the 
 composition of these books adversus Gentes to the end of the 
 third and beginning of the fourth centuries. Beyond this we 
 cannot go, for we have no data from which to derive further 
 inferences. 
 
 3. We have seen that the facts transmitted to us are 
 very few and scanty indeed ; but, few as they are, they sug- 
 gest an interesting picture. Arnobius comes before us in 
 Sicca; we are made spectators of two scenes of his life there, 
 and the rest the beginning and the end are shrouded in 
 1 iv. 36, p. 218. 2 Cf> pp- 347> Di 3j and 364> n g>
 
 INTRODUCTION. xiii 
 
 darkness. Sicca Veneria was an important town, lying on 
 the Numiclian border, to the south-west of Carthage. As its 
 name signifies, it was a seat of that vile worship of the 
 goddess of lust, which was dear to the Phoenician race. The 
 same cultus was found there which disgraced Corinth ; and 
 in the temple of the goddess the maidens of the town were 
 wont to procure for themselves, by the sacrifice of their 
 chastity, the dowries which the poverty of their parents 
 could not provide. 
 
 In the midst of traditions of such bestial foulness Arno- 
 bius found himself, whether as a native, or as one who had 
 been led to settle there. He has told us himself how true 
 an idolater he was, how thoroughly he complied with the 
 ceremonial demands of superstition ; but the frequency and 
 the vehemence of language with which his abhorrence of the 
 sensuality of heathenism is expressed, tell us as plainly that 
 practices so horrible had much to do in preparing his mind 
 to receive another faith. 
 
 In strong contrast to the filthy indulgences with which 
 paganism gratified its adherents, must have appeared the 
 strict purity of life which was enjoined by Christianity and 
 aimed at by its followers ; and perhaps it was in such a place 
 as Sicca that considerations of this nature would have most 
 influence. There, too, the story of Cyprian's martyrdom 
 must have been well known, may indeed have been told in 
 the nursery of the young Arnobius, and many traditions 
 must have been handed down about the persistency with 
 which those of the new religion had held fast their faith, in 
 spite of exile, torture, and death. However distorted such 
 tales might be, there would always remain in them the evi- 
 dence of so exalted nobility of spirit, that every disclosure 
 of the meanness and baseness of the old superstition must 
 have induced an uneasy feeling as to whether that could be 
 impiety which ennobled men, that piety which degraded 
 them lower than the brutes. 
 
 For some time all went well with Arnobius. He was not 
 too pure for the world, and his learning and eloquence won 
 him fame and success in his profession. But in some way,
 
 xiv INTRODUCTION. 
 
 we know not how, a higher learning was communicated to 
 him, and the admired rhetorician became first a suspected, 
 then a persecuted Christian. He has left us in no doubt as 
 to the reason of the change. Upon his darkness, he says, 
 there shone out a heavenly light, a great teacher appeared to 
 him and pointed out the way of truth ; and he who had been 
 an earnest worshipper of images, of stones, of unknown gods, 
 was now as earnest, as zealous in his service of the true God. 
 Of the trials which he must have endured we know nothing. 
 A terrible persecution swept over the world, and many a 
 Christian perished in it. Such a man as Arnobius must 
 have been among the first to be assailed, but we hear of him 
 no more. With his learning and talents he could not have 
 failed to make himself a name in the church, or outside its 
 pale, if he had lived. The conclusion seems inevitable, that 
 he was one of the victims of that last fiery trial to which 
 Christians under the Roman empire were exposed. 
 
 4. The vast range of learning shown in this apology has 
 been admitted on all sides. Even Jerome says that it should 
 at times be read on account of the learning displayed in it. 1 
 In another passage Jerome says, 2 " Arnobius is unequal and 
 prolix, confused from want of arrangement." This may be 
 admitted to a certain extent ; but although such defects are 
 to be found in his work, they are certainly not character- 
 istic of Arnobius. So, too, many passages may be found 
 strangely involved and mystical, and it is at times hard to 
 understand what is really meant. Solecisms and barbarisms 
 are also met with, as Nourry has objected, so that it cannot 
 be said that Arnobius writes pure Latin. Still we must not 
 be misled into supposing that by enumerating these defects 
 we have a fair idea of his style. 
 
 If we remember that no man can wholly escape the influ- 
 ences of his age, and that Arnobius was so warm an admirer 
 of Varro and Lucretius that he imitated their style and 
 adopted their vocabulary, we shall be able to understand in 
 what way he may be fairly spoken of as a good writer, 
 1 Ep. Ixii. ad Tranquill. 2 Ep. xlix. ad Paulimtm.
 
 INTRODUCTION. xv 
 
 although not free from defects. His style is, in point of 
 fact, clear and lucid, rising at times into genuine eloquence ; 
 and its obscurity and harshness are generally caused by an 
 attempt to express a vague and indefinite idea. Indeed 
 very considerable power of expression is manifested in the 
 philosophical reasonings of the second book, the keen satire 
 of the fourth and fifth, and the vigorous argument of the 
 sixth and seventh. 
 
 Jerome's last stricture is scarcely applicable. Arnobius 
 wrote adversus Gentes ; he addressed himself to meet the 
 taunts and accusations of the heathen, and in so doing he 
 retorts upon them the charges which they preferred against 
 the Christians. His work must therefore be criticised from 
 this standpoint, not as a systematic exposition or vindication 
 of Christianity. Christianity is indeed defended, but it is 
 by attacking heathenism. We must consider, also, that evi- 
 dently the work was not revised as a whole, and that the last 
 book would have been considerably altered had Arnobius 
 lived or found opportunity to correct it. 1 If we remember 
 these things, we shall find little to object to in the arrange- 
 ment. 
 
 After making all deductions, it may be said fairly that in 
 Arnobius the African church found no unfitting champion. 
 Living amidst impurity and corruption, and seeing on every 
 side the effects of a superstitious and sensual faith, he stands 
 forward to proclaim that man has a nobler ideal set before 
 him than the worship of the foul imaginations of his de- 
 praved fancy, to call his fellows to a purer life, and to point 
 out that the Leader who claims that men should follow Him 
 is both worthy and able to guide. This he does with enthu- 
 siasm, vigour, and effect ; and in doing this he accomplishes 
 his end. 
 
 5. Various opinions have been entertained as to the posi- 
 tion which Arnobius occupied with regard to the Bible. We 
 cannot here enter into a discussion of these, and shall merely 
 present a brief statement of facts. 
 
 1 Cf. pp. 347, n. 3, and 364, n. 3, with the Appendix.
 
 xvi INTRODUCTION. 
 
 It is evident that with regard to the Jews and the Old 
 Testament Arnobius was in a state of perfect ignorance ; for 
 he confounds the Sadducees with the Pharisees, 1 makes no 
 allusion to the history of the Israelites, and shows that he 
 was not acquainted with their forms of sacrifice. 2 
 
 He was evidently well acquainted with the life of Christ 
 and the history of the church, and alludes at times to well- 
 known Christian sayings ; but how far in so doing he 
 quotes the Gospels and Epistles, is not easily determined. 
 Thus it has been supposed, and with some probability, that 
 in referring to the miracles of Christ he must allude to the 
 Gospels as recording them. But it must be observed that he 
 ascribes to Christ a miracle of which the New Testament 
 makes no mention, of being understood by men of different 
 nations, as though He spoke in several languages at the same 
 moment. 3 So, too, his account 4 of the passion differs from 
 that of the New Testament. On the other hand, we find 
 that he speaks of Christ as having taught men " not to 
 return evil for evil," 5 as " the way of salvation, the door of 
 life, by whom alone there is access to the light," 6 and as 
 having been seen by " countless numbers of men " after His 
 resurrection. 7 Still further, he makes frequent references 
 to accounts of Christ written by the apostles and handed 
 down to their followers, 8 and asks why their writings should 
 be burned. 9 In one place, 10 also, he asks, " Have the well- 
 known words never rung in your ears, that the wisdom of 
 man is foolishness with God?" where the reference seems to 
 be very distinct ; n but he nowhere says that he is quoting, or 
 mentions any books. 
 
 This is, however, less remarkable when we take into 
 account his mode of dealing with Clemens Alexandrinus and 
 
 1 P. 158, n. 2. 2 Cf. B. vii., on sacrifices generally. 
 
 3 P. 37, n. 2. 4 P. 45, n. 1. 
 
 5 P. 9, n. 1. P. 135, n. 6. 
 
 7 P. 37 ; cf. 1 Cor. xv. 6. 
 
 8 i. 55, p. 45 ; 56, p. 46 ; 58, p. 47 ; 59, p. 48. 
 
 9 iv. 36, p. 218. 10 ii. 6, p. 68, n. 5. 
 11 Cf. 1 Cor. iii. 19.
 
 INTRODUCTION. xvii 
 
 Cicero. The fourth, fifth, and sixth books are based on these 
 two authors, and from Clement, in particular, whole sentences 
 are taken unchanged. Yet the only reference made to either 
 is the very general allusion in the third and fourth books. 1 
 
 On the other hand, he quotes frequently and refers dis- 
 tinctly to many authors, and is especially careful to show 
 that he has good authority for his statements, as will be seen 
 by observing the number of books to which he refers on the 
 mysteries and temples. If we bear this in mind, the prin- 
 ciple which guided him seems to have been, mat when he 
 has occasion to quote an author once or twice, he does so 
 by name, but that he takes it for granted that every one 
 knows what are the great sources of information, and that 
 it is therefore unnecessary to specify in each case what is 
 the particular authority. 
 
 There are many interesting questions connected with this 
 subject, but these we must for the present leave untouched. 
 
 6. No other works by Arnobius have been preserved, 
 and only two MSS. are known to exist. Of these, the one 
 in Brussels is merely a transcript of that preserved in the 
 public library at Paris, on which all editions have been 
 based. This is a MS. of the ninth or tenth century, and 
 contains the Octavius of Minucius Felix immediately after 
 the seventh book adcersus Gentes, in consequence of which 
 that treatise was at first printed as the eighth book of 
 Arnobius. Although it has been collated several times, we 
 are still in doubt as to its true readings, Hildebrand, who 
 last examined it, having done so with too little care. 
 
 The first 2 edition was printed at Rome in 1542, and 
 was followed by that of Gelenius, 3 in which much was 
 done for the emendation of the text; but arbitrary con- 
 jectures were too frequently admitted. Next in order 
 follow those of Canterus, 4 who did especial service by 
 
 1 Pp. 154 and 195, n. 3. 
 
 2 Arnobii Disputationum adversus Gentes, libri octo, nunc pritnum in 
 lucem editi Romse, apud Franc. Prisciauum Florentirmm. 
 
 3 Basilcse 1546. Autverpiaj 1582. 
 ARNOB. b
 
 xviii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 pointing out what use Arnobius has made of Clement, 
 Ursinus, 1 Elmenhorst, 2 Stewechius, 3 Heraldus, 4 and the 
 Leyden 5 variorum edition, based on a recension of the text 
 by Salmasius. 6 The later editions are those of Oberthur, 7 
 whose text is adopted by Orelli, 8 Hildebrand, 9 and Oehler. 10 
 Oberthur's edition is of little importance, and that of Orelli 
 is valuable solely as a collection of notes gathered from many 
 sources into a crude and undigested mass. Hildebrand 
 seems to have taken too little pains with his work ; and 
 Oehler, whose critical sagacity and industry might have 
 given us a most satisfactory edition, was unfortunately ham- 
 pered by want of space, 
 
 No edition of Arnobius has been published in England ; 
 and the one Englishman who has taken any pains with this 
 author seerns to be John Jones, who, under the pseudonym 
 of Leander de St. Martino, prepared summaries, which 
 were added to a reprint of Stewechius at Douay 1G34. As 
 this edition has not come into our hands, we are unable to 
 speak of it more particularly. 
 
 7. It will be observed that adverms Gentcs is the title of 
 this work in all editions except those of Hildebrand and 
 Oehler, in which it is <xdversm Nationes. The difference is 
 very slight, but it may be well to men.tion that neither can 
 be said with certainty to be correct. The first is the form 
 used by Jerome in two passages of his writings ; u and as he 
 
 1 Ronree 1583, This is the second Roman d., and restores the 
 Octavius to Minucius Felix. 
 
 2 Hanovise 1603 ; dedicated to Joseph Scaliger. 3 Antwerpise 1604. 
 
 4 Paris 1605. This edition, which is of great value, and shows great 
 learning and ability, was completed ia two months, as Heraldus him- 
 self teils us. 
 
 5 Lugduni Batavoram 1C51, containing the notes of Canterus, 
 Elmenhorst, Stewechius, and Heraldus. 
 
 6 Salmasius purposed writing commentaries for this edition, but died 
 without doing more than beginning them. 
 
 1 Wirceburgi 1783, 8vo, preceded by a rambling introductory epistle. 
 8 Lipsise 1816-17, 8vo. Halis Saxonum 1844, 8vo. 
 
 J0 Lipsise 1846, 8vo. " Cf. 1, notes 1 and 2.
 
 INTRODUCTION. xix 
 
 must have seen earlier MSS. than that now extant, he is 
 supposed to give the title which he found in them. In 
 the Paris MS., however, at the end of the second book, the 
 subscription is, " The second book of Arnobius adcersus 
 Nationes ends ;" and it has been argued that, as the copyist 
 would hardly have gone so far astray, while it is quite pos- 
 sible that Jerome did not attempt to do more than indicate 
 generally the purpose of the book without quoting its title- 
 page, this must be the true title. The first page of the 
 existing MS. is torn away, and the question remains there- 
 fore undecided : fortunately its decision is not of the slightest 
 importance.
 
 ERRATA. 
 
 Page 7, n. 1, for Hist. Nat. xx. 24, read ii. 38. 
 28, 1. 5, for Opis, read Ops. 
 141, 1. 24, for 1500, readWSQ. 
 173, n. 2, /or i. 7, raid i. 5.
 
 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF 
 
 ARNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 THE enemies of Christianity were wont to say that, since its appearance 
 on earth, the gods had shown their hatred of it by sending upon men all 
 manner of calamities, and that, owing to the neglect of sacred rites, the 
 divine care no longer guarded the world. Arnobius begins by showing 
 how baseless this opinion is (1), for the laws and course of nature re- 
 main unchanged (2) ; and though the heathen said that since Chris- 
 tianity came into the world there had been wars, famines, pestilences, 
 and many other similar calamities, these were not new evils, for history 
 tells of terrible misery and destruction resulting from such causes in 
 past ages (3-5) ; while it should also be noticed, that through the gentle 
 and peaceful spirit of Christianity, the world is already relieved in part, 
 aud that war would be unknown, and men live peacefully together, if it 
 prevailed universally (6). If asked, "What are, then, the causes of human 
 misery ? Arnobius answers that this is no part of his subject (7), but 
 suggests that all evil results necessarily from the very nature of things, 
 is, indeed, perhaps not evil at all, but, however opposed to the plea- 
 sures or even interests of individuals, tends to general good (8-11) ; and 
 that it is therefore somewhat presumptuous in man, a creature so igno- 
 rant of himself, to seek to impose conditions on the superior powers (12). 
 He further shows the futility of blaming the Christians for all these ills, 
 by reminding his opponents that there had been no unvarying series of 
 calamities since Christianity came to earth, but that success had counter- 
 balanced defeat, and abundance scarcity; so that arguments such as these 
 would prove that the gods were angry at times, at times forgot their 
 anger (13-16). But, Arnobius asks, if the gods can be enraged, does 
 not this argue mortality and imperfection in them (17, 18), and even 
 injustice (19), or weakness, if they need the aid of men in punishing their 
 ARNOB. A
 
 2 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [Boon i. 
 
 enemies (20) ? As, however, all alike suffer, it is absurd to say that 
 Christians are specially aimed at; and, indeed, this is a cry raised by those 
 interested in upholding the superstitious rites of antiquity (21-24). But 
 assuming that the gods could be enraged, why should they be angry at 
 Christians more than others? Because, the heathen said, Christianity 
 introduced new and impious forms of religion. In reply to this, Arnobius 
 points out that Christians are nothing but worshippers of the supreme 
 God, under Christ's teaching and guidance (25-27) ; and shows how ab- 
 surd it is to accuse those of impiety who worship the Creator and supreme 
 Euler, while those who serve the lesser gods even foul and loathsome 
 
 deities are called religious (28-30) ; and then turns to God Himself, 
 
 beseeching pardon for these ignorant worshippers of His creatures, who 
 had neglected Himself (31). He merely notices but refuses to discuss 
 the position of those who deny that God exists, holding it impious even 
 to reason about this, as though it were questionable, while there is an 
 instinctive belief and reverence implanted in our breasts (31-33). But, 
 his opponents said, we worship Jupiter as the supreme God. Jupiter, 
 however, Arnobius points out, cannot claim this rank, for he is ad- 
 mittedly not self -existent (34) ; or if, as some said, Jupiter is only 
 another name for the Supreme Being, then, as all alike worship Him, 
 all must be regarded by Hun alike (35). But, his opponents urged, 
 you are guilty not in worshipping God, but in worshipping a mere man 
 who died on the cross ; to which Arnobius replies, in the first place, by 
 retorting the charge as bearing much more forcibly on the heathen them- 
 selves (36, 37) ; and then argues that Christ has sufficiently vindicated 
 his claims to divinity by leading the blind and erring and lost into the 
 ways of truth and salvation, and by his revelation of things previously 
 unknown (38, 39) ; while, again, his death on the cross does not affect 
 his teaching and miracles, any more than the loss of life deprived of 
 fame Pythagoras, Socrates, Aquilius, Trebonius, or Eegulus (40), and 
 contrasts favourably with the stories told about Bacchus, ^Esculapius, 
 Hercules, Attis, and Romulus (41) ; and, finally, asserts Christ's divinity 
 as proved by his miracles (42), which are compared with those of the 
 Magi both as to their end and the manner in which they were wrought 
 (43, 44) ; and the chief features of the miracles of his life on earth and 
 his resurrection, of the power of his name, and the spread of his church 
 are summarily noticed (45-47). Arnobius next remarks that the heathen 
 did not even pretend that their gods had healed the sick without using 
 medicines, merely by a word or touch, as Christ did (48) ; and, recalling 
 the thousands who had in vain sought divine aid at temple or shrine, 
 says that Christ sent none away unhelped (49), and that he gave this 
 same power to his followers also (50), which neither priest nor magian 
 is found to possess (51, 52). His divinity was shown also by the won- 
 ders which attended his death (53). Eye-witnesses and these most 
 trustworthy testified to Christ's miracles (54) ; aud the acceptance by
 
 BOOK i.] ARNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 3 
 
 the whole world, in so short a time, of his religion attests its truth 
 (55). It might be said, however, that the Christian writers were not 
 trustworthy, and exaggerated the number and importance of Christ's 
 miracles (56) : in reply to which, Arnobius shows that their writings rest 
 on as good authority as those of the heathen (57), and that their greater 
 novelty and literary rudeness are in their favour rather than otherwise, 
 and are certainly of no weight against them (57-59). But, said the 
 heathen, if Christ was God, why did he live and die as a man ? Be- 
 cause, it is replied, God's own nature could not be made manifest to 
 men (60), and His reasons for choosing so to manifest Himself, and not 
 otherwise, though they may be within our reach, are certainly coucealed 
 in much obscurity (61) ; while as to Christ's death, that was but the dis- 
 solution of his human frame (62). Hurrying, it would seem, to con- 
 clude this part of the discussion, Arnobius hastily points out the great 
 powers which Christ might have wielded in his own defence, if he had 
 refused to submit to the violence offered him, which however were un- 
 used, because he rather chose to do for his disciples all that he had led 
 them to look for (63). If, then, kings and tyrants and others who lived 
 most wickedly, are honoured and deified, why should Christ, even if he 
 asserted falsely that he was a heaven-sent Saviour, be so hated and as- 
 sailed (64) ? If one came from distant and unknown regions, promising 
 to deliver all from bodily sickness, how gladly would men flock to do 
 him honour, and strive for his favour ! How extraordinary, then, is the 
 conduct of those who revile and abuse, and would destroy, if they could, 
 him who has come to deliver us from spiritual evils, and work out our 
 salvation (65) ! 
 
 JINCE I have found some who deem them- 
 selves very wise in their opinions, acting as if 
 they were inspired, 1 and announcing with all 
 the authority of an oracle, 2 that from the time 
 when the Christian people began to exist in the world the 
 universe has gone to ruin, that the human race has been 
 visited with ills of many kinds, that even the very gods, 
 abandoning their accustomed charge, in virtue of which they 
 
 1 The words insanire, baccJiari, refer to the appearance of the ancient 
 seers when under the influence of the deity. So Virgil says, Imanam 
 vatem aspicies (jEn. iii. 443), and, BaccJiatur votes (SEn. vi. 78). The 
 meaning is, that they make their asseverations with all the confidence 
 of a seer when filled, as he pretended, with the influence of the god. 
 
 8 Et velut quiddam promptum ex oraculo dicere, i.e. to declare a matter 
 with boldness and majesty, as if most certain and undoubted.
 
 4 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK i. 
 
 were wont in former days to regard with interest our affairs, 
 have been driven from the regions of earth, I have resolved, 
 so far as my capacity and my humble power of language will 
 allow, to oppose public prejudice, and to refute calumnious 
 accusations ; lest, on the one hand, those persons should ima- 
 gine that they are declaring some weighty matter, when they 
 are merely retailing vulgar rumours ; x and on the other, lest, 
 if we refrain from such a contest, they should suppose that 
 they have gained a cause, lost by its own inherent demerits, 
 not abandoned by the silence of its advocates. For I should 
 not deny that that charge is a most serious one, and that we 
 fully deserve the hatred attaching to public enemies, 2 if it 
 should appear that to us are attributable causes by reason of 
 which the universe has deviated from its laws, the gods have 
 been driven far away, and such swarms of miseries have been 
 inflicted on the generations of men. 
 
 2. Let us therefore examine carefully the real significance 
 of that opinion, and what is the nature of the allegation ; 
 and laying aside all desire for wrangling, 3 by which the calm 
 view of subjects is wont to be dimmed, and [even] inter- 
 cepted, let us test, by fairly balancing the considerations on 
 both sides, whether that which is alleged be true. For it 
 will assuredly be proved by an array of convincing arguments, 
 not that we are discovered to be more impious, but that 
 they themselves are convicted of that charge who profess to 
 be worshippers of the deities, and devotees of an antiquated 
 superstition. And, in the first place, we ask this of them in 
 friendly and calm language : Since the name of the Christian 
 religion began to be used on the earth, what phenomenon, 
 unseen before, 4 unheard of before, what event contrary to the 
 laws established in the beginning, has the so-called " Nature 
 of Things" felt or suffered I Have these first elements, 
 from which it is agreed that all things were compacted, been 
 
 1 Popularia t-eria, i.e. rumours arising from the ignorance of the 
 common people. 
 
 2 The Christians were regarded as " public enemies," and were so called. 
 8 Or, " all party zeal." 
 
 4 So Meursius, the MS. reading is inusitatum, " extraordinary."
 
 BOOK i.] AENOBIUS ADVEESUS GENTES. 5 
 
 altered into elements of an opposite character? Has the 
 fabric of this machine and mass [of the universe], by which 
 we are all covered, and in which we are held enclosed, re- 
 laxed in any part, or broken up ? Has the revolution of the 
 globe, to which we are accustomed, departing from the rate 
 of its primal motion, begun either to move too slowly, or to 
 be hurried onward in headlong rotation ? Have the stars 
 begun to rise in the west, and the setting of the constellations 
 to take place in the east ? Has the sun himself, the chief 
 of the heavenly bodies, with whose light all things are 
 clothed, and by whose heat all things are vivified, blazed 
 forth with increased vehemence? has he become less warm, 
 and has he altered for the worse into opposite conditions that 
 well-regulated temperature by which he is wont to act upon 
 the earth ? Has the moon ceased to shape herself anew, and 
 to change into former phases by the constant recurrence of 
 fresh ones ? Has the cold of winter, has the heat of summer, 
 has the moderate warmth of spring and autumn, been modi- 
 fied by reason of the intermixture of ill-assorted seasons? Has 
 the winter begun to have long days ? has the night begun to 
 recall the very tardy twilights of summer ? Have the winds 
 at all exhausted their violence? Is the sky not collected 1 
 into clouds by reason of the blasts having lost their force, 
 and do the fields when moistened by the showers not prosper? 
 Does the earth refuse to receive the seed committed to it, or 
 will not the trees assume their foliage ? Has the flavour of 
 excellent fruits altered, or has the vine changed in its juice ? 
 Is foul blood pressed forth from the olive berries, and is [oil] 
 no longer supplied to the lamp, now extinguished ? Have 
 animals of the land and of the sea no sexual desires, and do 
 they not conceive young ? Do they not guard, according to 
 their own habits and their own instinct, the offspring gene- 
 rated in their wombs ? In fine, do men themselves, whom an 
 active energy with its first impulses has scattered over habit- 
 able lands, not form marriages with due rites ? Do they not 
 beget dear children? do they not attend to public, to individual, 
 and to family concerns ? Do they not apply their talents, as 
 1 So Gelenius ; MS., coartatur, " pressed together."
 
 8 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK i. 
 
 each one pleases, to varied occupations, to different kinds of 
 learning ? and do they not reap the fruit of diligent applica- 
 tion ? Do those to whom it has been so allotted, not exercise 
 kingly power or military authority? Are men not every 
 day advanced in posts of honour, in offices of power? Do 
 they not preside in the discussions of the law courts ? Do 
 they not explain the code of law ? do they not expound the 
 principles of equity ? All other things with which the life 
 of man is surrounded, in which it consists, do not all men in 
 their own tribes practise, according to the established order 
 of their country's manners ? 
 
 3. Since this is so, and since no strange influence has 
 suddenly manifested itself to break the continuous course of 
 events by interrupting their succession, what is the ground 
 of the allegation, that a plague was brought upon the earth 
 after the Christian religion came into the world, and after 
 it revealed the mysteries of hidden truth ? But pestilences, 
 say my opponents, and droughts, wars, famines, locusts, mice, 
 and hailstones, and other hurtful things, by which the pro- 
 perty of men is assailed, the gods bring upon us, incensed as 
 they are by your wrong-doings and by your transgressions. 
 If it were not a mark of stupidity to linger on matters 
 which are already clear, and which require no defence, I 
 should certainly show, by unfolding the history of past ages, 
 that those ills which you speak of were not unknown, were 
 not sudden in their visitation ; and that the plagues did not 
 burst upon us, and the affairs of men begin to be attacked 
 by a variety of dangers, from the time that our sect 1 won 
 the honour 2 of this appellation. For if we are to blame, and 
 if these plagues have been devised against our sin, whence 
 did antiquity know these names for misfortunes ? Whence 
 did she give a designation to wars ? By what conception 
 
 1 Or, " race," gens, i.e. the Christian people. 
 
 2 The verb mereri, used in this passage, has in Koman writers the 
 idea of merit or excellence of some kind in a person, in virtue of which 
 he is deemed worthy of some favour or advantage ; but in ecclesiastical 
 Latin it means, as here, to gain something by the mere favour of God, 
 without any merit of one's own.
 
 BOOK i.] AENOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 7 
 
 could she indicate pestilence and hailstorms, or how could 
 she introduce these terms among her words, by which speecli 
 was rendered plain ? For if these ills are entirely new, and 
 if they derive their origin from recent transgressions, how 
 could it be that the ancients coined terms for these things, 
 which, on the one hand, they knew that they themselves had 
 never experienced, and which, on the other, they had not heard 
 of as occurring in the time of their ancestors ? Scarcity of 
 produce, say my opponents, and short supplies of grain, press 
 more heavily on us. For [I would ask] were the former gene- 
 rations, even the most ancient, at any period wholly free from 
 such an inevitable calamity? Do not the very words by which 
 these ills are characterized bear evidence and proclaim loudly 
 that no mortal ever escaped from them with entire immu- 
 nity? But if the matter were difficult of belief, we might 
 urge, on the testimony of authors, how great nations, and 
 what individual nations, and how often [such nations] expe- 
 rienced dreadful famine, and perished by accumulated devas- 
 tation. Very many hailstorms fall upon and assail all things. 
 For do we not find it contained and deliberately stated in 
 ancient literature, that even showers of stones 1 often ruined 
 entire districts ? Violent rains cause the crops to perish, 
 and proclaim barrenness to countries: were the ancients, in- 
 deed, free from these ills, when we have known of 2 mighty 
 rivers even being dried up, and the mud of their channels 
 parched ? The contagious influences of pestilence consume 
 the human race : ransack the records of history written 
 in various languages, and you will find that all countries 
 have often been desolated and deprived of their inhabitants. 
 Every kind of crop is consumed, and devoured by locusts and 
 by mice : go through your own annals, and you will be 
 taught by these plagues how often former ages were visited 
 by them, and how often they were brought to the wretched- 
 ness of poverty. Cities shaken by powerful earthquakes 
 totter to their destruction : what ! did not bygone days wit- 
 
 1 See Livy, i. 31, etc. ; and Pliny, Nat. Hist. xx. 24. 
 
 2 The MS. reads, flumina cognoverimus ingentia lim-in-is ingentia sic- 
 catis, " that mighty rivers shrunk up, leaving the mud," etc.
 
 8 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK r. 
 
 ness cities with their populations engulphed by huge rents of 
 the earth? 1 or did they enjoy a condition exempt from such 
 disasters? 
 
 4. When was the human race destroyed by a flood ? was 
 it not before us 1 When was the world set on fire, 2 and re- 
 duced to coals and ashes? was it not before us? When 
 were the greatest cities engulphed in the billows of the sea ? 
 was it not before us ? When were wars waged with wild 
 beasts, and battles fought with lions ? 3 was it not before 
 us ? When was ruin brought on whole communities by 
 poisonous serpents ? 4 was it not before us ? For, inasmuch 
 as you are wont to lay to our blame the cause of frequent 
 wars, the devastation of cities, the irruptions of the Germans 
 and the Scythians, allow me, with your leave, to say, In 
 your eagerness to calumniate us, you do not perceive the real 
 nature of that which is alleged. 
 
 5. Did we bring it about, that ten thousand years ago a vast 
 number of men burst forth from the island which is called 
 the Atlantis of Neptune, 6 as Plato tells us, and utterly ruined 
 and blotted out countless tribes ? Did this form a prejudice 
 against us, that between the Assyrians and Bactrians, under 
 the leadership of Ninus and Zoroaster of old, a struggle was 
 maintained not only by the sword and by physical power, 
 but also by magicians, and by the mysterious learning of the 
 Chaldeans ? Is it to be laid to the charge of our religion, 
 
 1 So Tertullian, Apologet. 40, says, "We have read that the islands 
 Hiera, Anaphe, Delos, Ehodes, and Cos were destroyed, together with 
 many human beings." 
 
 2 Arnobius, no doubt, speaks of the story of Phaethon, as told by 
 Ovid ; on which, cf. Plato, Tim. st. p. 22. 
 
 8 Nourry thinks that reference is here made to the contests of gladiators 
 and athletes with lions and other beasts in the circus. But it is more 
 likely that the author is thinking of African tribes who were harassed 
 by lions. Thus .ZElian (de Nat. Anim. xvii. 24) tells of a Libyan people, 
 the Nomsei, who were entirely destroyed by lions. 
 
 4 The city of Amycte in Italy is referred to, which was destroyed by 
 serpents. 
 
 6 In the Timseiis of Plato, c. vi. st. p. 24, an old priest of Sais, in 
 Egypt, is represented as telling Solon that in times long gone by the 
 Athenians were a very peaceful and very brave people, and that 9000
 
 BOOK i.] ARNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 9 
 
 that Helen was carried off under the guidance and at the 
 instigation of the gods, and that she became a direful destiny 
 to her own and to after times ? Was it because of our name, 
 that that mad-cap Xerxes let the ocean in upon the land, 
 and that he marched over the sea on foot? Did we pro- 
 duce and stir into action the causes, by reason of which one 
 youth, starting from Macedonia, subjected the kingdoms and 
 peoples of the East to captivity and to bondage? Did we, 
 forsooth, urge the deities into frenzy, so that the Romans 
 lately, like some swollen torrent, overthrew all nations, and 
 swept them beneath the flood ? But if there is no man who 
 would dare to attribute to our times those things which took 
 place long ago, how can we be the causes of the present 
 misfortunes, when nothing new is occurring, but all things 
 are old, and were unknown to none of the ancients'? 
 
 6. Although you allege that those wars which you speak 
 of were excited through hatred of our religion, it would 
 not be difficult to prove, that after the name of Christ was 
 heard in the world, not only were they not increased, but 
 they were even in great measure diminished by the restrain- 
 ing of furious passions. For since we, a numerous band of 
 men as we are, have learned from his teaching and his laws 
 that evil ought not to be requited with evil, 1 that it is better 
 to suffer wrong than to inflict it, that we should rather shed 
 our own blood than stain our hands and our conscience with 
 
 years before that time they had overcome a mighty host which came 
 rushing from the Atlantic Sea, and which threatened to subjugate all 
 Europe and Asia. The sea was then navigable, and in front of the 
 pillars of Hercules (Strait of Gibraltar) lay an island larger than Africa 
 and Asia together : from it travellers could pass to other islands, and 
 from these again to the opposite continent. In this island great kings 
 arose, who made themselves masters of the whole island, as well as of 
 other islands, and parts of the continent. Having already possessions in 
 Libya and Europe, which they wished to increase, they gathered an im- 
 mense host ; but it was repelled by the Athenians. Great earthquakes 
 and storms ensued, in which the island of Atlantis was submerged, and 
 the sea ever after rendered impassable by shoals of mud produced by the 
 sunken island. For other forms of this legend, and explanations of it, 
 see Smith's Dictionary of Geography, under Atlantis. 
 i Cf. Matt. v. 39.
 
 10 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK i. 
 
 that of another, an ungrateful world is now for a long period 
 enjoying a benefit from Christ, inasmuch as by his means 
 the rage of savage ferocity has been softened, and has begun 
 to withhold hostile hands from the blood of a fellow-creature. 
 But if all without exception, who feel that they are men not 
 in form of body but in power of reason, would lend an ear 
 for a little to his salutary and peaceful rules, and would not, 
 in the pride and arrogance of enlightenment, trust to their 
 own senses rather than to his admonitions, the whole world, 
 having turned the use of steel into more peaceful occupations, 
 would now be living in the most placid tranquillity, and 
 would unite in blessed harmony, maintaining inviolate the 
 sanctity of treaties. 
 
 7. But if, say my opponents, no damage is done to human 
 affairs by you, whence arise those evils by which wretched 
 mortals are now oppressed and overwhelmed ? You ask of 
 me a decided statement, 1 which is by no means necessary 
 to this cause. For no immediate and prepared discussion 
 regarding it has been undertaken by me, for the purpose of 
 showing or proving from what causes and for what reasons 
 each event took place ; but in order to demonstrate that the 
 reproaches of so grave a charge are far removed from our 
 door. And if I prove this, if by examples and 2 by powerful 
 arguments the truth of the matter is "made clear, I care not 
 whence these evils come, or from what sources and first be- 
 ginnings they flow. 
 
 8. And yet, that I may not seem to have no opinion on 
 subjects of this kind, that I may not appear when asked to 
 have nothing to offer, I may say, What if the primal matter 
 which has been diffused through the four elements of the 
 universe, contains the causes of all miseries inherent in its 
 own constitution I What if the movements of the heavenly 
 bodies produce these evils in certain signs, regions, seasons, 
 and tracts, and impose upon things placed under them the 
 necessity of various dangers *? What if, at stated intervals, 
 
 1 The MS. here inserts a mark of interrogation. 
 
 2 So the MS., si facto et, corrected, however, by a later copyist, si 
 facio ui, " if I cause that," etc.
 
 BOOK i.] ARNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 11 
 
 changes take place in the universe, and, as in the tides of the 
 sea, prosperity at one time flows, at another time ebbs, evils 
 alternating with it? What if those impurities of matter 
 which we tread under our feet have this condition imposed 
 upon them, that they give forth the most noxious exhalations, 
 by means of which this our atmosphere is corrupted, and 
 brings pestilence on our bodies, and weakens the human race? 
 What if and this seems nearest the truth whatever appears 
 to us adverse, is in reality not an evil to the world itself ? 
 And what if, measuring by our own advantages all things 
 which take place, we blame the results of nature through ill- 
 formed judgments ? Plato, that sublime head and pillar of 
 philosophers, has declared in his writings, that those cruel 
 floods and those conflagrations of the world are a purification 
 of the earth ; nor did that wise man dread to call the over- 
 throw of the human race, its destruction, ruin, and death, a 
 renewal of things, and to affirm that a youthfulness, as it 
 were, was secured by this renewed strength. 1 
 
 9. It rains not from heaven, my opponent says, and we 
 are in distress from some extraordinary deficiency of grain 
 crops. What then, do you demand that the elements should 
 be the slaves of your wants ? and that you may be able to 
 live more softly and more delicately, ought the compliant 
 seasons to minister to your convenience ? What if, in this 
 way, one who is intent on voyaging complains that now for a 
 long time there are no winds, and that the blasts of heaven 
 have for ever lulled ? Is it therefore to be said that that 
 peacefulness of the universe is pernicious, because it interferes 
 with the wishes of traders ? What if one, accustomed to bask 
 himself in the sun, and thus to acquire dryness of body, simi- 
 larly complains that by the clouds the pleasure of serene 
 weather is taken away ? Should the clouds, therefore, be 
 said to hang over with an injurious veil, because idle lust is 
 not permitted to scorch itself in the burning heat, and to 
 devise excuses for drinking? All these events which are 
 brought to pass, and which happen under this mass of the 
 universe, are not to be regarded as sent for our petty advan- 
 1 Plato, Tim. st. p. 22.
 
 12 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [Boon i. 
 
 tages, but as consistent with the plans and arrangements of 
 Nature herself. 
 
 10. And if anything happens which does not foster our- 
 selves or our affairs with joyous success, it is not to be set 
 down forthwith as an evil, and as a pernicious thing. The 
 world rains or does not rain : for itself it rains or does not 
 rain ; and, though you perhaps are ignorant of it, it either 
 diminishes excessive moisture by a burning drought, or by the 
 outpouring of rain moderates the dryness extending over a 
 very long period. It raises pestilences, diseases, famines, and 
 other baneful forms of plagues : how can you tell whether it 
 does not thus remove that which is in excess, and whether, 
 through loss to themselves, it does not fix a limit to things 
 prone to luxuriance ? 
 
 11. Would you venture to say that, in this universe, this 
 thing or the other thing is an evil, whose origin and cause 
 you are unable to explain and to analyze ? l And because 
 it interferes with your lawful, perhaps even your unlawful 
 pleasures, would you say that it is pernicious and adverse ? 
 What, then, because cold is disagreeable to your members, 
 and is wont to chill 2 the warmth of your blood, ought not 
 winter on that account to exist in the world ? And because 
 you are unable 3 to endure the hottest rays of the sun, is 
 summer to be removed from the year, and a different course 
 of nature to be instituted under different laws? Hellebore is 
 poison to men ; should it therefore not grow ? The wolf lies 
 in wait by the sheepfolds ; is nature at all in fault, because 
 she has produced a beast most dangerous to sheep ? The 
 serpent by his bite takes away life ; a reproach, forsooth, to 
 creation, because it has added to animals monsters so cruel. 
 
 12. It is rather presumptuous, when you are not your own 
 master, even when you are the property of another, to dictate 
 terms to those more powerful ; to wish that that should hap- 
 pen which you desire, not that which you have found fixed 
 
 1 " To analyze " dissolvere is in the MS. marked as spurious. 
 
 2 In the MS. we find " to chill and numb " conyelare, constringcre ; 
 but the last word, too, is marked as spurious. 
 
 8 MS. sustinere (marked as a gloss), "to sustain;" perferre, "to endure."
 
 BOOK i.J AENOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 13 
 
 in things by their original constitution. Wherefore, if you 
 wish that your complaints should have a basis, you must first 
 inform us whence you are, or who you are ; whether the 
 world was created and fashioned for you, or whether you 
 came into it as sojourners from other regions. And since it 
 is not in your power to say or to explain for what purpose 
 you live beneath this vault of heaven, cease to believe that 
 anything belongs to you ; since those things which take place 
 are not brought about in favour of a part, but have regard 
 to the interest of the whole. 
 
 13. Because of the Christians, my opponents say, the gods 
 inflict upon us all calamities, and ruin is brought on our 
 crops by the heavenly deities. I ask, when you say these 
 things, do you not see that you are accusing us with bare- 
 faced effrontery, with palpable and clearly proved falsehoods? 
 It is almost three hundred years ; something less or more 
 since we Christians began to exist, and to be taken account 
 of in the world. During all these years, have wars been 
 incessant, has there been a yearly failure of the crops, has 
 there been no peace on earth, has there been no season of 
 cheapness and abundance of all things ? For this must first 
 be proved by him who accuses us, that these calamities have 
 been endless and incessant, that men have never had a 
 breathing time at all, and that without any relaxation 2 they 
 have undergone dangers of many forms. 
 
 14. And yet do we not see that, in these years and seasons 
 that have intervened, victories innumerable have been gained 
 from the conquered enemy, that the boundaries of the 
 empire have been extended, and that nations whose names 
 we had not previously heard, have been brought under our 
 power, that very often there have been the most plentiful 
 yields of grain, seasons of cheapness, and such abundance 
 of commodities, that all commerce was paralyzed, being pros- 
 trated by the standard of prices? For in what manner could 
 affairs be carried on, and how could the human race have 
 
 1 See Introduction. 
 
 2 Sine vllisferiis, a proverbial expression, " without any holidays," i.e. 
 without any intermixture of good.
 
 14 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK L 
 
 existed 1 even to this time, had not the productiveness of 
 nature continued to supply all things which use demanded ? 
 
 15. Sometimes, however, there were seasons of scarcity ; 
 yet they were relieved by times of plenty. Again, certain 
 wars were carried on contrary to our wishes. 2 But they were 
 afterwards compensated by victories and successes. What 
 shall we say, then ? that the gods at one time bore in mind 
 our acts of wrong-doing, at another time again forgot them ? 
 If, when there is a famine, the gods are said to be enraged 
 at us, it follows that in time of plenty they are not wroth, 
 and ill-to-be-appeased ; and so the matter comes to this, that 
 they both lay aside and resume anger with sportive whim, 
 and always renew their wrath afresh by the recollection of 
 the causes of offence. 
 
 16. Yet one cannot discover by any rational process of 
 reasoning, what is the meaning of these statements. If the 
 gods willed that the Alemanni 3 and the Persians should be 
 overcome because Christians dwelt among their tribes, how 
 did they grant victory to the Romans when Christians dwelt 
 among their peoples also? If they willed that mice and 
 locusts should swarm forth in prodigious numbers in Asia 
 and in Syria because Christians dwelt among their tribes too, 
 why was there at the same time no such phenomenon in 
 Spain and in Gaul, although innumerable Christians lived in 
 those provinces also"? If among the Gaetuli and the Tingui- 
 tani 4 they sent dryness and aridity on the crops on account 
 of this circumstance, why did they in that very year give 
 the most bountiful harvest to the Moors and to the Nomads, 
 when a similar religion had its abode in these regions as 
 well ? If in any one state whatever they have caused many 
 
 1 For qui durare Ursinus would read quiret durare ; but this seems 
 to have no MS. authority, though giving better sense and an easier con- 
 struction. 
 
 2 That is, unsuccessfully. 
 
 3 Alemanni, i.e. the Germans ; hence the French Allemagne. The MS. 
 has Alamanni. 
 
 4 The Gsetuli and Tinguitani were African tribes. For Tinguitanos, 
 another reading is tune Aquilanos; but Tinguitanos is much to be pre- 
 ferred on every ground.
 
 BOCK i.] AENOBIUS AD VERSUS GENTES. 15 
 
 to die with hunger, through disgust at our name, why have 
 they in the same state made wealthier, ay, very rich, by the 
 high price of corn, not only men not of our body, but even 
 Christians themselves ? Accordingly, either all should have 
 had no blessing if we are the cause of the evils, for we are in 
 all nations; or when you see blessings mixed with misfortunes, 
 cease to attribute to us that which damages your interests, 
 when we in no respect interfere with your blessings and pros- 
 perity. For if I cause it to be ill with you, why do I not 
 prevent it from being well with you ? If my name is the 
 cause of a great dearth, why am I powerless to prevent the 
 greatest productiveness ? If I am said to bring the [ill] luck 
 of a wound being received in war, why, when the enemy are 
 slain, am I not an evil augury ; and why am I not set forth 
 against good hopes, through the ill luck of a bad omen ? 
 
 17. And yet, O ye great worshippers and priests of the 
 deities, why, as you assert that those most holy gods are en- 
 raged at Christian communities, do you not likewise perceive, 
 do you not see what base feelings, what unseemly frenzies, 
 you attribute to your deities ? For, to be angry, what else is 
 it than to be insane, to rave, to be urged to the lust of ven- 
 geance, and to revel in the troubles of another's grief, through 
 the madness of a savage disposition ? Your great gods, then, 
 know, are subject to and feel that which wild beasts, which 
 monstrous brutes experience, which the deadly plant natrix 
 contains in its poisoned roots. That nature which is superior 
 to others, and which is based on the firm foundation of 
 unwavering virtue, experiences, as you allege, the instability 
 which is in man, the faults which are in the animals of earth. 
 And what therefore follows of necessity, but that from their 
 eyes flashes dart, flames burst forth, a panting breast emits a 
 hurried breathing from their mouth, and by reason of their 
 burning words their parched lips become pale ? 
 
 18. But if this that you say is true, if it has been tested 
 and thoroughly ascertained both that the gods boil with rage, 
 and that an impulse of this kind agitates the divinities with 
 excitement, on the one hand they are not immortal, and on 
 the other they are not to be reckoned as at all partaking of
 
 16 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK i. 
 
 divinity. For wherever, as the philosophers hold, there is any 
 agitation, there of necessity passion must exist. Where pas- 
 sion is situated, it is reasonable that mental excitement follow. 
 Where there is mental excitement, there grief and sorrow 
 exist. Where grief and sorrow exist, there is already room 
 for weakening and decay; and if these two harass them, 
 extinction is at hand, viz. death, which ends all things, and 
 takes away life from every sentient being. 
 
 19. Moreover, in this way you represent them as not only 
 unstable and excitable, but, what all agree is far removed 
 from the character of deity, as unfair in their dealings, as 
 wrong-doers, and, in fine, as possessing positively no amount 
 of even moderate fairness. For what is a greater wrong than 
 to be angry with some, and to injure others, to complain 
 of human beings, and to ravage the harmless corn crops, to 
 hate the Christian name, and to ruin the worshippers of Christ 
 with every kind of loss ? 
 
 20. *Do they on this account wreak their wrath on you too, 
 in order that, roused by your own private wounds, you may 
 rise up for their vengeance ? It seems, then, that the gods 
 seek the help of mortals ; and were they not protected by 
 your strenuous advocacy, they are not able of themselves to 
 repel and to avenge 2 the insults offered them. Nay rather, 
 if it be true that they burn with anger, give them an oppor- 
 tunity of defending themselves, and let them put forth and 
 make trial of their innate powers, to take vengeance for their 
 offended dignity. By heat, by hurtful cold, by noxious winds, 
 by the most occult diseases, they can slay us, they can con- 
 sume 3 us, and they can drive us entirely from all intercourse 
 with men ; or if it is impolitic to assail us by violence, let 
 them give forth some token of their indignation, 4 by which it 
 may be clear to all that we live under heaven subject to their 
 strong displeasure. 
 
 21. To you let them give good health, to .us bad, ay, the 
 
 1 The MS. reads at, " but." 
 
 2 Defendere is added in the MS., but marked as a gloss. 
 8 Consumere is in like manner marked as a gloss. 
 
 4 So Orelli, for the MS. judicationis, " judgment."
 
 BOOK i.] AENOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 17 
 
 very worst. Let them water your farms with seasonable 
 showers ; from our little fields let them drive away all those 
 rains which are gentle. Let them see to it that your sheep 
 are multiplied by a numerous progeny; on our flocks let 
 them bring luckless barrenness. From your olive-trees and 
 vineyards let them bring the full harvest ; but let them see 
 to it that from not one shoot of ours one drop be expressed. 
 Finally, and as their worst, let them give orders that in your 
 mouth the products of the earth retain their natural quali- 
 ties ; but, on the contrary, that in ours the honey become 
 bitter, the flowing oil grow rancid, and that the wine when 
 sipped, be in the very lips suddenly changed into disappoint- 
 ing vinegar. 
 
 22. And since facts themselves testify that this result 
 never occurs, and since it is plain that to us no less share 
 of the bounties of life accrues, and to you no greater, what 
 inordinate desire is there to assert that the gods are unfa- 
 vourable, nay, inimical to the Christians, who, in the greatest 
 adversity, just as in prosperity, differ from you in no respect? 
 If you allow the truth to be told you, and that, too, without 
 reserve, these allegations are but words, words, I say ; nay, 
 matters believed on calumnious reports not proved by any 
 certain evidence. 
 
 23. But the true 1 gods, and those who are worthy to have 
 and to wear the dignity of this name, neither conceive anger 
 nor indulge a grudge, nor do they contrive by insidious de- 
 vices what may be hurtful to another party. For verily it 
 is profane, and surpasses all acts of sacrilege, to believe that 
 that wise and most blessed nature is uplifted in mind if one 
 prostrates himself before it in humble adoration ; and if this 
 adoration be not paid, that it deems itself despised, and re- 
 gards itself as fallen from the pinnacle of its glory. It is 
 childish, weak, and petty, and scarcely becoming for those 
 whom the experience of learned men has for a long time 
 called demigods and heroes, 2 not to be versed in heavenly 
 
 1 The carelessness of some copyist makes the MS. read ve-st-ri, '"your," 
 corrected as above by Ursinus. 
 
 2 So Ursinus, followed by Heraldus, LB., and Orelli, for the MS, 
 ABNOB. B
 
 18 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [Booic i. 
 
 things, and, divesting themselves of their own proper state, 
 to be busied with the coarser matter of earth. 
 
 24. These are your ideas, these are your sentiments, im- 
 piously conceived, and more impiously believed. Nay, rather, 
 to speak out more truly, the augurs, the dream interpreters, 
 the soothsayers, the prophets, and the priestlings, ever vain, 
 have devised these fables ; for they, fearing that their own 
 arts be brought to nought, and that they may extort but 
 scanty contributions from the devotees, now few and infre- 
 quent, whenever they have found you to be willing 1 that their 
 craft should come into disrepute, cry aloud, The gods are 
 neglected, and in the temples there is now a very thin attend- 
 ance. Former ceremonies are exposed to derision, and the 
 time-honoured rites of institutions once sacred have sunk be- 
 fore the superstitions of new religions. Justly is the human 
 race afflicted by so many pressing calamities, justly is it racked 
 by the hardships of so many toils. And men a senseless race 
 being unable, from their inborn blindness, to see even that 
 which is placed in open light, dare to assert in their frenzy 
 what you in your sane mind do not blush to believe. 
 
 25. And lest any one should suppose that we, through 
 distrust in our reply, invest the gods with the gifts of serenity, 
 that we assign to them minds free from resentment, and far 
 removed from all excitement, let us allow, since it is pleasing 
 to you, that they put forth their passion upon us, that they 
 thirst for our blood, and that now for a long time they are 
 eager to remove us from the generations of men. But if it 
 is not troublesome to you, if it is not offensive, if it is a 
 matter of common duty to discuss the points of this argument 
 
 errores, which Stewechius would change into errones " vagrants " re- 
 ferring to the spirits wandering over the earth : most other edd., fol- 
 lowing Gelenius, read, " called demigods, that these indeed " ds&monas 
 appellat, et Aos, etc. 
 
 1 So the MS., which is corrected in the first ed. " us to be willing " 
 nos velle: Stewechius reads, " us to be making good progress, are en- 
 vious, enraged, and cry aloud," etc. nos belle provenire compererunt, 
 invident, indignantur, declamitantque, etc. ; to both of which it is suffi- 
 cient objection that they do not improve the passage by their departure 
 from the us.
 
 BOOK L] AENOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 19 
 
 not on grounds of partiality, but on those of truth, we de- 
 mand to hear from you what is the explanation of this, what 
 the cause, why, on the one hand, the gods exercise cruelty 
 on us alone, and why, on the other, men burn against us 
 with exasperation. You follow, our opponents say, profane 
 religious systems, and you practise rites unheard of through- 
 out the entire world. What do you, O men, endowed with 
 reason, dare to assert? What do you dare to prate of? 
 What do you try to bring forward in the recklessness of 
 unguarded speech? To adore God as the highest existence, 
 as the Lord of all things that be, as occupying the highest 
 place among all exalted ones, to pray to Him with respectful 
 submission in our distresses, to cling to Him with all our 
 senses, so to speak, to love Him, to look up to Him with 
 faith, is this an execrable and unhallowed religion, full of 
 impiety and of sacrilege, polluting by the superstition of its 
 own novelty ceremonies instituted of old ? 
 
 26. Is this, I pray, that daring and heinous iniquity on 
 account of which the mighty powers of heaven whet against 
 us the stings of passionate indignation, on account of which 
 you yourselves, whenever the savage desire has seized you, 
 spoil us of our goods, drive us from the homes of our fathers, 
 inflict upon us capital punishment, tortiire, mangle, burn us, 
 and at the last expose us to wild beasts, and give us to be 
 torn by monsters ? Whosoever condemns that in us, or 
 considers that it should be laid against us as a charge, is he 
 deserving either to be called by the name of man, though he 
 seem so to himself ? or is he to be believed a god, although 
 he declare himself to be so by the mouth of a thousand 1 pro- 
 phets ? Does Trophonius, 2 or Jupiter of Dodona, pronounce 
 us to be wicked ? And will he himself be called god, and be 
 reckoned among the number of the deities, who either fixes 
 the charge of impiety on those who serve the King Supreme, 
 or is racked with envy because His majesty and His worship 
 are preferred to his own ? 
 
 1 So LB. and Orelli ; but the MS. reads, " himself to be like [a god] 
 by [liis] prophets," etc. se esse similem profiteatur in vatibus. 
 
 2 So corrected by Pithceus for the MS. profanus.
 
 20 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK i. 
 
 Is Apollo, whether called Delian or Clarian, Didymean, 
 Philesian, or Pythian, to be reckoned divine, who either 
 knows not the Supreme Ruler, or who is not aware that He 
 is entreated by us in daily prayers ? And although he knew 
 not the secrets of our hearts, and though he did not discover 
 what we hold in our inmost thoughts, yet he might either 
 know by his ear, or might perceive by the very tone of voice 
 which we use in prayer, that we invoke God Supreme, and 
 that we beg from Him what we require. 
 
 27. This is not the place to examine all our traducers, who 
 they are, or whence they are, what is their power, what their 
 knowledge, why they tremble at the mention of Christ, why 
 they regard his disciples as enemies and as hateful persons ; 
 but [with regard to ourselves] to state expressly to those who 
 will exercise common reason, in terms applicable to all of us 
 alike, We Christians are nothing else than worshippers of 
 the Supreme King and Head, under our Master, Christ. If 
 you examine carefully, you will find that nothing else is 
 implied in that religion. This is the sum of all that we do ; 
 this is the proposed end and limit of sacred duties. Before 
 Him we all prostrate ourselves, according to our custom ; 
 Him we adore in joint prayers ; from Him we beg things 
 just and honourable, and worthy of his ear. Not that He 
 needs our supplications, or loves to see the homage of so 
 many thousands laid at his feet. This is our benefit, and 
 has a regard to our advantage. For since we are prone to 
 err, and to yield to various lusts and appetites through the 
 fault of our innate weakness, He allows Himself at all times 
 to be comprehended in our thoughts, that whilst we entreat 
 Him and strive to merit his bounties, we may receive a 
 desire for purity, and may free ourselves from every stain 
 by the removal of all our shortcomings. 
 
 28. What say ye, O interpreters of sacred and of divine 
 law? 1 Are they attached to a better cause who adore 
 
 1 So Gelenius, followed by Orelli and others, for the MS., reading 
 divini interpretes viri (instead of juris) " men, interpreters of the 
 sacred and divine," which is retained by the 1st ed., Hildebrand, and 
 Oehler.
 
 BOOK i. J AENOBIUS AD VERSUS GENTES. 21 
 
 the Lares Grundules, the Ail Locutii, 1 and the Limen- 
 tini, 2 than we who worship God the Father of all things, and 
 demand of Him protection in danger and distress ? They, 
 too, seem to you wary, wise, most sagacious, and not worthy 
 of any blame, who revere Fauni and Fatuse, and the genii 
 of states, 3 who worship Pausi and Bellonae : we are pro- 
 nounced dull, doltish, fatuous, stupid, and senseless, who 
 have given ourselves up to God, at whose nod and pleasure 
 everything which exists has its being, and remains immoveable 
 by his eternal decree. Do you put forth this opinion ? Have 
 you ordained this law? Do you publish this decree, that he 
 be crowned with the highest honours who shall worship your 
 slaves ? that he merit the extreme penalty of the cross who 
 shall offer prayers to you yourselves, his masters ? In the 
 greatest states, and in the most powerful nations, sacred rites 
 are performed in the public name to harlots, who in old days 
 earned the wages of impurity, and prostituted themselves to 
 the lust of all ; 4 [and yet for this] there are no swellings of 
 indignation on the part of the deities. Temples have been 
 erected with lofty roofs to cats, to beetles, and to heifers : 5 
 the powers of the deities thus insulted are silent; nor are 
 they affected with any feeling of envy because they see the 
 sacred attributes of vile animals put in rivalry with them. 
 Are the deities inimical to us alone ? To us are they most 
 
 1 Aii Locutii. Shortly before the Gallic invasion, B.C. 390, a voice 
 was heard at the dead of night announcing the approach of the Gauls, 
 but the warning was unheeded. After the departure of the Gauls, the 
 Eomans dedicated an altar and sacred enclosure to Aius Locutius, or 
 Loquens, i.e. " The Announcing Speaker," at a spot on the Via Nova, 
 where the voice was heard. The MS. reads aiaceos boetios, which Gelenius 
 emended Aios Locutios. 
 
 2 So emended by Ursinus for the MS. libentinos, which is retained in 
 the 1st ed., and by Gelenius, Canterus, and others. Cf. iv. 9, where 
 Libentina is spoken of as presiding over lusts. 
 
 3 As a soul was assigned to each individual at his birth, so a genius 
 was attributed to a state. The genius of the Roman people was often 
 represented on ancient coins. 
 
 4 Thus the Athenians paid honours to Lesena, the Romans to Acca 
 Laurentia and Flora. 
 
 5 The superstitions of the Egyptians are here specially referred to.
 
 22 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK i. 
 
 unrelenting, because we worship their Author, by whom, if 
 they do exist, they began to be, and to have the essence 
 of their power and their majesty, from whom, having ob- 
 tained their very divinity, so to speak, they feel that they 
 exist, and realize that they are reckoned among things 
 that be, at whose will and at whose behest they are able 
 both to perish and be dissolved, and not to be dissolved and 
 not to perish ? l For if we all grant that there is only one 
 great Being, whom in the long lapse of time nought else 
 precedes, it necessarily follows that after Him all things 
 were generated and put forth, and that they burst into an 
 existence each of its kind. But if this is unchallenged and 
 sure, you 2 will be compelled as a consequence to confess, on 
 the one hand, that the deities are created, 3 and on the other, 
 that they derive the spring of their existence from the great 
 source of things. And if they are created and brought 
 forth, they are also doubtless liable to annihilation and to 
 dangers ; but yet they are believed to be immortal, ever- 
 existent, and subject to no extinction. This is also a gift 
 from God their Author, that they have been privileged to 
 remain the same through countless ages, though by nature 
 they are fleeting, and liable to dissolution. 
 
 29. And would that it were allowed me to deliver this 
 argument with the whole world formed, as it were, into one 
 assembly, and to be placed in the hearing of all the human 
 race ! Are we therefore charged before you with an impious 
 religion? and because we approach the Head and Pillar 4 
 of the universe with worshipful service, are we to be con- 
 sidered (to use the terms employed by you in reproaching us) 
 as persons to be shunned, and as godless ones ? And who 
 would more properly bear the odium of these names than he 
 
 1 That is, by whose pleasure and at whose command they are pre- 
 served from annihilation. 
 
 2 So Orelli, adopting a conjecture of Meursius, for the MS. noUs. 
 
 3 That is, not self -existent, but sprung from something previously in 
 being. 
 
 4 Columen is here regarded by some as equal to culmen ; but the term 
 " pillar" makes a good sense likewise.
 
 BOOK i.J ARNOBIUS AD VERSUS GENTES. 23 
 
 who either knows, or inquires after, or believes any other 
 god rather than this of ours ? To Him do we not owe this 
 first, that we exist, that we are said to be men, that, being 
 either sent forth from Him, or having fallen from Him, we 
 are confined in the darkness of this body ? l Does it not come 
 from Him that we walk, that we breathe and live 1 and by 
 the very power of living, does He not cause us to exist and 
 to move with the activity of animated being ? From this do 
 not causes emanate, through which our health is sustained by 
 the bountiful supply of various pleasures ? Whose is that 
 world in which you live? or who hath authorized you to 
 retain its produce and its possession ? Who hath given that 
 common light, enabling us to see distinctly all things lying 
 beneath it, to handle them, and to examine them ? Who 
 has ordained that the fires of the sun should exist for the 
 growth of things, lest elements pregnant with life should be 
 numbed by settling down in the torpor of inactivity ? When 
 you believe that the sun is a deity, do you not ask who is his 
 founder, who has fashioned him "I Since the moon is a god- 
 dess in your estimation, do you in like manner care to know 
 who is her author and framer ? 
 
 30. Does it not occur to you to reflect and to examine in 
 whose domain you live ? on whose property you are ? whose 
 is that earth which you till ? 2 whose is that air which you 
 inhale, and return again in breathing ? whose fountains do 
 you abundantly enjoy? whose water? who has regulated 
 the blasts of the wind? who has contrived the watery 
 clouds? who has discriminated the productive powers of 
 seeds by special characteristics ? Does Apollo give you rain ? 
 Does Mercury send you water from heaven ? Has ^Escu- 
 lapius, Hercules, or Diana devised the plan of showers and 
 
 1 This is according to the doctrine of Pythagoras, Plato, Origen, and 
 others, who taught that the souls of men first existed in heavenly beings, 
 and that on account of sins of long standing they were transferred to 
 earthly bodies to suffer punishment. Cf. Clem. Alex. Strom, iii. p. 433. 
 
 2 The Peripatetics called God the locus rerum, r&Vo? wiiyTuy, the 
 " locality and the area of all things," that is, the being in whom all 
 else was contained.
 
 24 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK i. 
 
 of storms ? And how can this be, when you give forth that 
 they were born on earth, and that at a fixed period they 
 received vital perceptions ? For if the world preceded them 
 in the long lapse of time, and if before they were born 
 nature already experienced rains and storms, those who were 
 born later have no right of rain-giving, nor can they mix 
 themselves up with those methods which they found to be 
 in operation here, and to be derived from a greater Author. 
 
 31. O greatest, O supreme Creator of things invisible ! 
 O thou who art thyself unseen, and who art incomprehen- 
 sible ! Thou art worthy, thou art verily worthy if only 
 mortal tongue may speak of thee that all breathing and 
 intelligent nature should never cease to feel and to return 
 thanks ; that it should throughout the whole of life fall on 
 bended knee, and offer supplication with never-ceasing prayers. 
 For thou art the first cause; in thee created things exist, 
 and thou art the space in which rest the foundations of all 
 things, whatever they be. Thou art illimitable, unbegotten, 
 immortal, enduring for aye, God thyself alone, whom no 
 bodily shape may represent, no outline delineate ; of virtues 
 inexpressible, of greatness indefinable ; unrestricted as to 
 locality, movement, and condition, concerning whom nothing 
 can be clearly expressed by the significance of man's words. 
 That thou mayest be understood, we must be silent; and 
 that erring conjecture may track thee through the shady 
 cloud, no word must be uttered. Grant pardon, O King 
 Supreme, to those who persecute thy servants ; and in virtue 
 of thy benign nature, forgive those who fiy from the worship 
 of thy name and the observance of thy religion. It is not to 
 be wondered at if thou art unknown ; it is a cause of greater 
 astonishment if thou art clearly comprehended. But per- 
 chance some one dares for this remains for frantic mad- 
 ness to do to be uncertain, and to express doubt whether 
 that God exists or not ; whether He is believed in on the 
 proved truth of reliable evidence, or on the imaginings of 
 empty rumour. For of those who have given themselves to 
 philosophizing, we have heard that some 1 deny the existence 
 1 Diagoras of Melos and Theodoras of Gyrene, called the Atheists.
 
 BOOK i.] AENOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 25 
 
 of any divine power, that others 1 inquire daily whether there 
 be or not; that others 2 construct the whole fabric of the 
 universe by chance accidents and by random collision, and 
 fashion it by the concourse of atoms of different shapes ; with 
 whom we by no means intend to enter at this time on a dis- 
 cussion of such perverse convictions. 3 For those who think 
 wisely say, that to argue against things palpably foolish, is a 
 mark of greater folly. 
 
 32. Our discussion deals with those who, acknowledging 
 that there is a divine race of beings, doubt about those of 
 greater rank and power, whilst they admit that there are 
 deities inferior and more humble. What then? Do we 
 strive and toil to obtain such results by arguments ? Far 
 hence be such madness ; and, as the phrase is, let the folly, 
 say I, be averted from us. For it is as dangerous to attempt 
 to prove by arguments that God is the highest being, as it is 
 to wish to discover by reasoning of this kind that He exists. 
 It is a matter of indifference whether you deny that He exists, 
 or affirm it and admit it ; since equally culpable are both the 
 assertion of such a thing, and the denial of an unbelieving 
 opponent. 
 
 33. Is there any human being who has not entered on the 
 first day of his life with an idea of that Great Head ? In 
 whom has it not been implanted by nature, on whom has it 
 not been impressed, aye, stamped almost in his mother's womb 
 even, in whom is there not a native instinct, that He is King 
 and Lord, the ruler of all things that be ? In fine, if the 
 dumb animals even could stammer forth their thoughts, if 
 they were able to use our languages ; nay, if trees, if the clods 
 of the earth, if stones animated by vital perceptions were able 
 to produce vocal sounds, and to utter articulate speech, would 
 they not in that case, with nature as their guide and teacher, 
 
 The former flourished about B.C. 430, the latter about B.C. 310. See 
 Cic. Nat. Dear. i. 2. 
 
 1 Protagoras of Abdera, b. B.C. 480, d. 411. 
 
 2 Democritus of Abdera, b. B.C. 460, and Epicurus, b. B.C. 342, d. 270. 
 
 3 Obstinatione, literally "stubbornness;" Walker conjectures opinativne, 
 "imaginings," which Orelli approves.
 
 26 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK i. 
 
 in the faith of uncorrupted innocence, both feel that there is 
 a God, and proclaim that He alone is Lord of all ? 
 
 34. But in vain, says one, do you assail us with a ground- 
 less and calumnious charge, as if we deny that there is a deity 
 of a higher kind, since Jupiter is by us both called and esteemed 
 the best and the greatest ; and since we have dedicated to 
 him the most sacred abodes, and have raised huge Capitols. 
 You are endeavouring to connect together things which are 
 dissimilar, and to force them into one class, [thereby] intro- 
 ducing confusion. For by the unanimous judgment of all, and 
 by the common consent of the human race, the omnipotent 
 God is regarded as having never been born, as having never 
 been brought forth to new light, and as not having begun 
 to exist at any time or century. For He Himself is the 
 source of all things, the Father of ages and of seasons. For 
 they do not exist of themselves, but from His everlasting 
 perpetuity they move on in unbroken and ever endless flow. 
 Yet Jupiter indeed, as you allege, has both father and 
 mother, grandfathers, grandmothers, and brothers : now 
 lately conceived in the womb of his mother, being completely 
 formed and perfected in ten months, he burst with vital sensa- 
 tions into light unknown to him before. If, then, this is so, 
 how can Jupiter be God [supreme], when it is evident that 
 He is everlasting, and the former is represented by you as 
 having had a natal day, and as having uttered a mournful 
 cry, through terror at the strange scene ? 
 
 35. But suppose they be one, as you wish, and not different 
 in any power of deity and in majesty, do you therefore per- 
 secute us with undeserved hatred ? Why do you shudder 
 at the mention of our name as of the worst omen, if we too 
 worship the deity whom you worship ? or why do you con- 
 tend that the gods are friendly to you, but inimical, aye, 
 most hostile to us, though our relations to them are the same ? 
 For if one religion is common to us and to you, the anger of 
 the gods is stayed j 1 but if they are hostile to us alone, it is 
 
 1 So the MS. ; for which Meursius would read, nobis iwbisque, corn- 
 munis esset (for cessat) " is to us and to you, the anger of the gods 
 would be [shared in] common."
 
 BOOK i.] A RNOBI US AD VEES US GENTES. 2 7 
 
 plain that both you and they have no knowledge of God. 
 And that that God is not Jove, is evident by the very wrath 
 of the deities. 
 
 36. But, says my opponent, the deities are not inimical to 
 you, because you worship the omnipotent God ; but because 
 you both allege that one born as men are, and put to death 
 on the cross, which is a disgraceful punishment even for 
 worthless men, was God, and because you believe that he 
 still lives, and because you worship him in daily supplica- 
 tions. If it is agreeable to you, my friends, state clearly 
 what deities those are who believe that the worship of Christ 
 by us has a tendency to injure them? Is it Janus, the 
 founder of the Janiculum, and Saturn, the author of the 
 Saturnian state I Is it Fauna Fatua, 1 the wife of Faunus, 
 who is called the Good Goddess, but who is better and more 
 deserving of praise in the drinking of wine ? Is it those 
 gods [Indigetes] who swim in the river, and live in the 
 channels of the Numicius, in company with frogs and little 
 fishes ? Is it JEsculapius and father Bacchus, the former 
 born of Coronis, and the other dashed by lightning from his 
 mother's womb ? Is it Mercury, son of Maia, and what is 
 more divine, [Maia] the beautiful ? Is it the bow-bearing 
 deities Diana and Apollo, who were companions of their 
 mother's wanderings, and who were scarcely safe in float- 
 ing islands ? Is it Venus, daughter of Dione, paramour of 
 a man of Trojan family, and the prostituter of her secret 
 charms 1 Is it Ceres, born in Sicilian territory, and Proser- 
 pine, surprised while gathering flowers ? Is it the Tlieban 
 or the Phoenician Hercules, the latter buried in Spanish 
 territory, the other burned by fire on Mount CEta? Is it 
 the brothers Castor and Pollux, sons of Tyndareus, the 
 one accustomed to tame horses, the other an excellent boxer, 
 and unconquerable with the untanned gauntlet ? Is it the 
 Titans and the Bocchores of the Moors, and the Syrian 2 
 
 1 So Ursinus, followed by most edd., for the reading of the us. 
 Feitta Fatua, cf. v. 18. A later writer has corrected the MS. Fanda, 
 which, Rigaltius says, an old gloss renders " mother." 
 
 8 So restored by Salmasius for Dioscuri, and understood by him aa
 
 28 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK i. 
 
 deities, the offspring of eggs ? Is it Apis, born in the 
 Peloponnese, and in Egypt called Serapis? Is it Isis, 
 tanned by Ethiopian suns, lamenting her lost son and 
 husband torn limb from limb? Passing on, we omit the 
 royal offspring of Opis, which your writers have in their 
 books set forth for your instruction, telling you both who 
 they are, and of what character. Do these, then, hear with 
 offended ears that Christ is worshipped, and that he is 
 accepted by us and regarded as a divine person ? And 
 being forgetful of the grade and state in which they re- 
 cently were, are they unwilling to share with another that 
 which has been granted to themselves ? Is this the justice 
 of the heavenly deities ? Is this the righteous judgment of 
 the gods ? Is not this a kind of malice and of greed ? is it 
 not a species of base envy, to wish their own fortunes only 
 to rise, those of others to be lowered, and to be trodden 
 down in despised lowliness ? 
 
 37. We worship one who was born a man. What then ? 
 do you worship no one who was born a man ? Do you not 
 worship one and another, aye, deities innumerable ? Nay, 
 have you not taken from the number of mortals all those 
 whom you now have in your temples; and have you not 
 set them in heaven, and among the constellations "I For 
 if, perchance, it has escaped you that they once partook of 
 human destiny, and of the state common to all men, search 
 the most ancient literature, and range through the writings 
 of those who, living nearest to the days of antiquity, set 
 forth all things with undisguised truth and without flattery : 
 you will learn in detail from what fathers, from what 
 mothers they were each sprung, in what district they were 
 
 meaning Dea Syria, i.e. Venus, because it is said that a large egg hav- 
 ing been found by the fish in the Euphrates, was pushed up by them to 
 the dry land, when a dove came down, and sat upon it until the goddess 
 came forth. Such was the form of the legend according to Nigidius ; 
 but Eratosthenes spoke of both Venus and Cupid as being produced in 
 this manner. The Syrian deities were therefore Venus, Cupid, and 
 perhaps Adonis. It should be remembered, however, that the Syrians 
 paid reverence to pigeons and fish as gods (Xen. Anab. i. 4, 9), and that 
 these may therefore be meant.
 
 BOOK i.] ARNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 29 
 
 born, of what tribe ; what they made, what they did, what 
 they endured, how they employed themselves, what fortunes 
 they experienced of an adverse or of a favourable kind in 
 discharging their functions. But if, while you know that 
 they were borne in the womb, and that they lived on the 
 produce of the earth, you nevertheless upbraid us with the 
 worship of one born like ourselves, you act with great in- 
 justice, in regarding that as worthy of condemnation in us 
 which you yourselves habitually do ; or what you allow to 
 be lawful for you, you are unwilling to be in like manner 
 lawful for others. 
 
 38. But in the meantime let us grant, in submission to 
 your ideas, that Christ was one of us similar in mind, soul, 
 body, weakness, and condition ; is he not worthy to be called 
 and to be esteemed God by us, in consideration of his 
 bounties, so numerous as they are ? For if you have placed 
 in the assembly 1 of the gods Liber, because he discovered 
 the use of wine ; Ceres, because she discovered the use of 
 bread ; ^Esculapius, because he discovered the use of herbs ; 
 Minerva, because she produced the olive ; Triptolemus, be- 
 cause he invented the plough ; Hercules, because he over- 
 powered and restrained wild beasts and robbers, and water- 
 serpents of many heads, with how great distinctions is he 
 to be honoured by us, who, by instilling his truth into our 
 hearts, has freed us from great errors ; who, when we were 
 straying everywhere, as if blind and without a guide, with- 
 drew us from precipitous and devious paths, and set our feet 
 on more smooth places ; who has pointed out what is espe- 
 cially profitable and salutary for the human race ; who has 
 shown us what God is, 2 who he is, how great and how good ; 
 who has permitted and taught us to conceive and to under- 
 stand, as far as our limited capacity can, his profound and 
 inexpressible depths ; who, in his great kindness, has caused 
 it to be known by what founder, by what creator this world 
 was established and made ; who has explained the nature of 
 
 1 So all edd., except those of Hildebrand and Oehler, for the MS. cen- 
 tum "list." 
 
 2 That is, that God is a Spirit.
 
 30 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK i. 
 
 its origin l and essential substance, never before imagined in 
 the conceptions of any ; whence generative warmth is added 
 to the rays of the sun ; why the moon, always uninjured 2 in 
 her motions, is believed to alternate her light and her obscu- 
 rity from intelligent causes; 3 what is the origin of animals, 
 what rules regulate seeds; who designed man himself, who 
 fashioned him, or from what kind of material did he com- 
 pact the very build of bodies ; what the perceptions are ; 
 what the soul, and whether it flew to us of its own ac- 
 cord, or whether it was generated and brought into exist- 
 ence with our bodies themselves ; whether it sojourns with 
 us, partaking of death, or whether it is gifted with an end- 
 less immortality ; what condition awaits us when we shall 
 have separated from our bodies relaxed in death ; whether 
 we shall retain our perceptions, 4 or have no recollection of 
 our former sensations or of past memories; 5 who has re- 
 strained 6 our arrogance, and has caused our necks, uplifted 
 with pride, to acknowledge the measure of their weakness ; 
 who hath shown that we are creatures imperfectly formed, 
 that we trust in vain expectations, that we understand 
 
 1 Orelli would refer these words to God ; he thinks that with those 
 immediately following they may be understood of God's spiritual nature, 
 an idea which he therefore supposes Arnobius to assert had never 
 been grasped by the heathen. 
 
 2 So Gelenius, followed by Orelli and others, for the corrupt reading 
 of the MS., idem ne quis ; but possibly both this and the preceding clause 
 have crept into the text from the margin, as in construction they differ 
 from the rest of the sentence, both that which precedes, and that which 
 follows. 
 
 3 The phrase animalibus causis is regarded by commentators as equal 
 to animatis causis, and refers to the doctrine of the Stoics, that in the 
 sun, moon, stars, etc., there was an intelligent nature, or a certain 
 impulse of mind, which directed their movements. 
 
 4 Lit. " shall see" visuri, the reading of the MS. ; changed in the first 
 ed. and others to victuri " shall live." 
 
 8 Some have suggested a different construction of these words memo- 
 riam nuUam nostri sensus et recordationis habituri, thus " have no memory 
 of ourselves and senses of recollection ;" but that adopted above is sim- 
 pler, and does not force the words as this seems to do. 
 
 6 The MS. and 1st and 2d Roman edd. read, qui constringit " who 
 restrains."
 
 BOOK i.] ARNOBIUS ADVEESUS GENTES. 31 
 
 nothing thoroughly, that we know nothing, and that we 
 do not see those things which are placed before our eyes ; 
 who has guided us from false superstitions to the true reli- 
 gion, a blessing which exceeds and transcends all his other 
 gifts ; who has raised our thoughts to heaven from brutish 
 statues formed of the vilest clay, and has caused us to hold 
 converse in thanksgiving and prayer with the Lord of the 
 universe. 
 
 39. But lately, O blindness, I worshipped images produced 
 from the furnace, gods made on anvils and by hammers, the 
 bones of elephants, paintings, wreaths on aged trees; 1 when- 
 ever I espied an anointed stone and one bedaubed with olive 
 oil, as if some power resided in it I worshipped it, I addressed 
 myself to it and begged blessings from a senseless stock. 
 And these very gods of whose existence I had convinced my- 
 self, I treated with gross insults, when I believed them to be 
 wood, stone, and bones, or imagined that they dwelt in the 
 substance of such objects. Now, having been led into the 
 paths of truth by so great a teacher, I know what all these 
 things are, I entertain honourable thoughts concerning those 
 which are worthy, I offer no insult to any divine name ; and 
 what is due to each, whether inferior 2 or superior, I assign 
 with clearly-defined gradations, and on distinct authority. Is 
 Christ, then, not to be regarded by us as God? and is he, 
 who in other respects may be deemed the very greatest, not 
 to be honoured with divine worship, from whom we have 
 already received while alive so great gifts, and from whom, 
 when the day comes, we expect greater ones ? 
 
 40. But he died nailed to the cross. What is that to the 
 argument 1 For neither does the kind and disgrace of the 
 death change his words or deeds, nor will the weight of his 
 
 1 It was a common practice with the Romans to hang the spoils of an 
 enemy on a tree, which was thus consecrated to some deity. Hence 
 such trees were sacred, and remained unhurt even to old age. Some 
 have supposed that the epithet " old " is applied from the fact that the 
 heathen used to offer to their gods objects no longer of use to them- 
 selves ; thus it was only old trees, past bearing fruit, which were gene- 
 rally selected to hang the xjtolia upon. 
 
 8 Vel personx vel capiti.
 
 32 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK i. 
 
 teaching appear less ; because he freed himself from the 
 shackles of the body, not by a natural separation, but de- 
 parted by reason of violence offered to him. Pythagoras 
 of Samos was burned to death in a temple, under an unjust 
 suspicion of aiming at sovereign power. Did his doctrines 
 lose their peculiar influence, because he breathed forth his 
 life not willingly, but in consequence of a savage assault ? 
 In like manner Socrates, condemned by the decision of his 
 fellow-citizens, suffered capital punishment : have his discus- 
 sions on morals, on virtues, and on duties been rendered vain, 
 because he was unjustly hurried from life ? Others without 
 number, conspicuous by their renown, their merit, and their 
 public character, have experienced the most cruel forms of 
 death, as Aquilius, Trebonius, and Regulus : were they on 
 that account adjudged base after death, because they perished 
 not by the common law of the fates, but after being mangled 
 and tortured in the most cruel kind of death ? No inno- 
 cent person foully slain is ever disgraced thereby; nor is 
 he stained by the mark of any baseness, who suffers severe 
 punishment, not from his own deserts, but by reason of the 
 savage nature of his persecutor. 1 
 
 41. And yet, O ye who laugh because we worship one 
 who died an ignominious death, do not ye too, by conse- 
 crating shrines to him, honour father Liber, who was torn 
 limb from limb by the Titans ? Have you not, after his 
 punishment and his death by lightning, named ^Esculapius, 
 the discoverer of medicines, as the guardian and protector 
 of health, of strength, and of safety ? Do you not invoke 
 the great Hercules himself by offerings, by victims, and by 
 kindled frankincense, whom you yourselves allege to have 
 been burned alive after his punishment, 2 and to have been 
 
 1 So all the later edd. ; but in the MS., 1st and 2d Roman edd., and in 
 those of Gelenius and Canterus, this clause reads, cruciatoris perpelitur 
 sssvitatem " but suffers the cruelty of his persecutor." 
 
 2 The words post pcenas in the text are regarded as spurious by Orelli, 
 who supposes them to have crept in from the preceding sentence ; but 
 they may be defended as sufficiently expressing the agonies which Her- 
 cules suffered through the fatal shirt of Nessus.
 
 BOOK i.] ARNOBIUS AD VERSUS GENTES. 33 
 
 consumed on the fatal pyres ? Do you not, with the unani- 
 mous approbation of the Gauls, invoke as a propitious l and 
 as a holy god, in the temples of the Great Mother, 2 that 
 Phrygian Atys 3 who was mangled and deprived of his viri- 
 lity"? Father Romulus himself, who was torn in pieces by 
 the hands of a hundred senators, do you not call Quirinus 
 Marti us, and do you not honour him with priests and with 
 gorgeous couches, 4 and do you not worship him in most 
 spacious temples ; and in addition to all this, do you not affirm 
 that he has ascended into heaven? Either, therefore, you 
 too are to be laughed at, who regard as gods men slain by 
 the most cruel tortures ; or if there is a sure ground for your 
 thinking that you should do so, allow us too to feel assured 
 for what causes and on what grounds we do this. 
 
 42. You worship one who was born a human being, [say 
 my opponents]. Even if that were true, as has been already 
 said in former passages, yet, in consideration of the many 
 liberal gifts which he has bestowed on us, he ought to be 
 called and be addressed as God. Since he is a God in reality 
 and without any shadow of doubt, do you think that we will 
 deny that he is worshipped by us with all the fervour we are 
 capable of, and assumed as the guardian of our body ? Is 
 that Christ of yours a god, then ? some raving, wrathful, and 
 excited man will say. A god, we will reply, and a god of the 
 inner powers; 5 and what may still further torture unbelievers 
 
 1 The words deum propitium are indeed found in the MS., but accord- 
 ing to Rigaltius are not in the same handwriting as the rest of the work. 
 
 2 Cybele, whose worship was conjoined with that of Atys. 
 8 So Orelli, but the MS. Attis. 
 
 4 This refers to the practice of placing the images of the gods on pil- 
 lows at feasts. In the temples there were pulvinaria, or couches, specially 
 for the purpose. 
 
 5 The phrase j)otentiarum interiorum is not easily understood. Orelli 
 is of opinion that it means those powers which in the Bible are called 
 the " powers of heaven," the "army of heaven," i.e. the angels. The 
 Jews and the early fathers of the church divided the heaven into 
 circles or zones, each inhabited by its peculiar powers or intelligent 
 natures, differing in dignity and in might. The central place was 
 assigned to God himself, and to Christ, who sat on his right hand, and 
 who is called by the fathers of the church the " Angel of the Church," 
 
 C
 
 34 TT7E SEVEN BOOKS OF [Booic i. 
 
 with the most bitter pains he was sent to us by the King 
 Supreme for a purpose of the very highest moment. My 
 opponent, becoming more mad and more frantic, will per- 
 haps ask whether the matter can be proved, as we allege. 
 There is no greater proof than the credibility of the acts 
 done by him, than the unwonted excellence of the virtues 
 [he exhibited], than the conquest and the abrogation of all 
 those deadly ordinances which peoples and tribes saw exe- 
 cuted in the light of day, 1 with no objecting voice ; and even 
 they whose ancient laws or whose country's laws he shows 
 to be full of vanity and of the most senseless superstition, 
 (even they) dare not allege these things to be false. 
 
 43. My opponent will perhaps meet me with many other 
 slanderous and childish charges which are commonly urged. 
 Jesus was a Magian ; 2 he effected all these things by 
 secret arts. From the shrines of the Egyptians he stole the 
 names of angels of might, 3 and the religious system of a 
 remote country. Why, O witlings, do you speak of things 
 which you have not examined, and which are unknown to 
 you, prating with the garrulity of a rash tongue I Were, 
 then, those things which were done, the freaks of demons, and 
 
 and the " Angel of the New Covenant." Next in order came " Thrones," 
 " Archangels," " Cherubim and Seraphim," and most remote from God's 
 throne, the " Chorus of Angels," the tutelar genii of men. The system 
 of zones and powers seems to have been derived from the Chaldeans, 
 who made a similar division of the heavens. According to this idea, 
 Arnobius speaks of Christ as nearest to the Father, and God of the 
 " inner powers," who enjoyed God's immediate presence. Eeference is 
 perhaps made to some recondite doctrine of the Gnostics. It may mean, 
 however, the more subtile powers of nature, as affecting both the souls of 
 men and the physical universe. 
 
 1 So Orelli with most edd., following Ursinus, for the US. suo ge-ne- 
 ri-s sub limine, which might, however, be retained, as if the sense were 
 that these ordinances were coeval with man's origin, and translated, 
 " tribes saw at the beginning of their race." 
 
 2 Magus, almost equivalent to sorcerer. 
 
 3 Arnobius uses nomina, " names," with special significance, because 
 the Magi in their incantations used barbarous and fearful names of angels 
 and of powers, by whose influence they thought strange and unusual 
 things were brought to pass.
 
 BOOK i.] ARNOBIUS AD VERSUS GENTES. 35 
 
 the tricks of magical arts ? Can you specify and point out 
 to me any one of all those magicians who have ever existed 
 in past ages, that did anything similar, in the thousandth 
 degree, to Christ ? Who has done this without any power 
 of incantations, without the juice of herbs and of grasses, 
 without any anxious watching of sacrifices, of libations, or 
 of seasons ? For we do not press it, and inquire what they 
 profess to do, nor in what kind of acts all their learning and 
 experience are wont to be comprised. For who is not aware 
 that these men either study to know beforehand things im- 
 pending, which, whether they will or not, come of necessity 
 as they have been ordained ? or to inflict a deadly and 
 wasting disease on whom they choose ; or to sever the affec- 
 tions of relatives ; or to open without keys places which are 
 locked ; or to seal the mouth in silence ; or in the chariot race 
 to weaken, urge on, or retard horses ; or to inspire in wives, 
 and in the children of strangers, whether they be males or 
 females, the flames and mad desires of illicit love ? l Or if 
 they seem to attempt anything useful, to be able to do it 
 not by their own power, but by the might of those deities 
 whom they invoke. 
 
 44. And yet it is agreed on that Christ performed all those 
 miracles which he wrought without any aid from external 
 things, without the observance of any ceremonial, without 
 any definite mode of procedure, [but solely] by the inherent 
 might of his authority ; and as was the proper duty of a true 
 God, as was consistent with his nature, as was worthy of 
 him, in the generosity of his bounteous power he bestowed 
 nothing hurtful or injurious, but [only that which is] helpful, 
 beneficial, and full of blessings good 2 for men. 
 
 1 All these different effects the magicians of old attempted to produce : 
 to break family ties by bringing plagues into houses, or by poisons ; open 
 doors and unbind chains by charms (Orig. contra Cels. ii.) ; affect horses 
 in the race (of which Hieronymus in his Life of Hilarion gives an 
 example) ; and use philters and love potions to kindle excessive and 
 unlawful desires. 
 
 2 So Orelli and most edd., following a marginal reading of Ursinus, 
 auxiliaribus plenum lonis (for the MS. nobis).
 
 36 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [Boon i. 
 
 45. What do you say again, oh you 1 ? Is he then 
 
 a man, is he one of us, at whose command, at whose voice, 
 raised in the utterance of audible and intelligible words, 2 in- 
 firmities, diseases, fevers, and other ailments of the body fled 
 away t Was he one of us, whose presence, whose very sight, 
 that race of demons which took possession of men was unable 
 to bear, and terrified by the strange power, fled away ? Was 
 he one of us, to whose order the foul leprosy, at once checked, 
 was obedient, and left sameness of colour to bodies formerly 
 spotted ? Was he one of us, at whose light touch the issues 
 of blood were stanched, and stopped their excessive flow 1 3 
 Was he one of us, whose hands the waters of the lethargic 
 dropsy fled from, and that searching 4 fluid avoided; and did 
 the swelling body, assuming a healthy dryness, find relief ? 
 Was he one of us, who bade the lame run "? Was it his 
 work, too, that the maimed stretched forth their hands, and 
 the joints relaxed the rigidity 5 acquired even at birth; that 
 the paralytic rose to their feet, and persons now carried home 
 their beds who a little before were borne on the shoulders of 
 others ; the blind were restored to sight, and men born with- 
 out eyes now looked on the heaven and the day ? 
 
 46. Was he one of us, I say, who by one act of inter- 
 vention at once healed a hundred or more afflicted with 
 various infirmities and diseases; at whose word only the 
 raging and maddened seas were still, the whirlwinds and 
 tempests were lulled ; who walked over the deepest pools 
 
 1 In the height of his indignation and contempt, the writer stops short 
 and does not apply to his opponents any new epithet. 
 
 2 This is contrasted with the mutterings and strange words used by 
 the magicians. 
 
 8 So the MS. according to Oehler, and seemingly Heraldus ; but ac- 
 cording to Orelli, the MS. reads immoderati (instead of os) coJiibelant 
 fluores, which Meursius received as equivalent to " the excessive flow- 
 stayed itself." 
 
 4 Penetrabilis, " searching," i.e. finding its way to all parts of the 
 body. 
 
 * So Orelli, LB., Elmenhorst, and Stewechius, adopting a marginal 
 reading of Ursinus, which prefixes im to the MS. mobilitates " loose- 
 ness" retained by the other edd.
 
 BOOK i.] ARNOBIUS AD VERSUS GENTES. 37 
 
 with unwet foot; who trod the ridges of the deep, the very 
 waves being astonished, and nature coming under bondage ; 
 who with five loaves satisfied five thousand of his followers ; 
 and who, lest it might appear to the unbelieving and hard of 
 heart to be an illusion, filled twelve capacious baskets with 
 the fragments that remained? Was he one of us, who 
 ordered the breath that had departed to return to the body, 
 persons buried to come forth from the tomb, and after 
 three days to be loosed from the swathings of the under- 
 taker? Was he one of us, who saw clearly in the hearts 
 of the silent what each was pondering, 1 what each had in 
 his secret thoughts ? Was he one of us, who, when he 
 uttered a single word, was thought by nations far removed 
 from one another and of different speech to be using well- 
 known sounds, and the peculiar language of each? 2 Was 
 he one of us, who, when he was teaching his followers the 
 duties of a religion that could not be gainsaid, suddenly filled 
 the whole world, and showed how great he was and who he 
 Avas, by unveiling the boundlessness of his authority ? Was 
 he one of us, who, after his body had been laid in the tomb, 
 manifested himself in open day to countless numbers of 
 men; who spoke to them, and listened to them; who taught 
 them, reproved and admonished them ; who, lest they should 
 imagine that they were deceived by unsubstantial fancies, 
 showed himself once, a second time, aye frequently, in familial- 
 conversation ; who appears even now to righteous men of 
 unpolluted mind who love him, not in airy dreams, but in a 
 form of pure simplicity; 3 whose name, when heard, puts to 
 flight evil spirits, imposes silence on soothsayers, prevents 
 men from consulting the augurs, causes the efforts of arro- 
 gant magicians to be frustrated, not by the dread of his name, 
 as you allege, but by the free exercise of a greater power ? 
 
 1 Cf. John ii. 25. 
 
 2 No such miracle is recorded of Christ, and Oehler suggests with 
 some probability that Arnobius may have here fallen into confusion as 
 to what is recorded of the apostles on the day of Pentecost. 
 
 3 The Latin is, per purge speciem simplicitatis, which is not easily under- 
 stood, and is less easily expressed.
 
 38 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK i. 
 
 47. These facts set forth in summary we have put for- 
 ward, not on the supposition that the greatness of the agent 
 was to be seen in these virtues alone. For however great 
 these things be, how excessively petty and trifling will they 
 be found to be, if it shall be revealed from what realms 
 he has come, of what God he is the minister! But with 
 regard to the acts which were done by him, they were per- 
 formed, indeed, not that he might boast himself in empty 
 ostentation, but that hardened and unbelieving men might be 
 assured that what was professed was not deceptive, and that 
 they might now learn to imagine, from the beneficence of 
 his works, what a true god was. At the same time we 
 wish this also to be known, 1 when, as was said, an enumera- 
 tion of his acts has been given in summary, that Christ was 
 able to do not only those things which he did, but that he 
 could even overcome the decrees of fate. For if, as is evi- 
 dent, and as is agreed by all, infirmities and bodily sufferings, 
 if deafness, deformity, and dumbness, if shrivelling of the 
 sinews and the loss of sight happen to us, and are brought on 
 us by the decrees of fate, and if Christ alone has corrected 
 this, has restored and cured man, it is clearer than the sun 
 himself that he was more powerful than the fates are when he 
 has loosened and overpowered those things which were bound 
 with everlasting knots, and fixed by unalterable necessity. 
 
 48. But, says some one, you in vain claim so much for 
 Christ, when we now know, and have in past times known, 
 of other gods both giving remedies to many who were sick, 
 and healing the diseases and the infirmities of many men. I 
 do not inquire, I do not demand, what god did so, or at what 
 time ; whom he relieved, or what shattered frame he restored 
 to sound health : this only I long to hear, whether, without 
 the addition of any substance that is, of any medical appli- 
 cation he ordered diseases to fly away from men at a touch ; 
 whether he commanded and compelled the cause of ill health 
 to be eradicated, and the bodies of the weak to return to 
 their natural strength. For it is known that Christ, either 
 
 1 So almost all edd. ; but tr.e MS. and 1st and 2d Roman edd. read 
 scire " to know," etc.
 
 BOOK i.] ARNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 39 
 
 by applying his hand to the parts affected, or by the com- 
 mand of his voice only, opened the ears of the deaf, drove 
 away blindness from the eyes, gave speech to the dumb, 
 loosened the rigidity of the joints, gave the power of walking 
 to the shrivelled, was wont to heal by a word and by an 
 order, leprosies, agues, dropsies, and all other kinds of ail- 
 ments, which some fell power 1 has willed that the bodies 
 of men should endure. What act like these have all 
 those gods done, by whom you allege that help has been 
 brought to the sick and the imperilled ? for if they have 
 at any time ordered, as is reported, either that medicine 
 or a special diet be given to some, 2 or that a draught 
 be drunk off, or that the juices of plants and of blades 
 be placed 3 on that which causes uneasiness, or [have or- 
 dered] that persons should walk, remain at rest, or abstain 
 from something hurtful, and that this is no great matter, 
 and deserves no great admiration, is evident, if you will 
 attentively examine it a similar mode of treatment is fol- 
 lowed by physicians also, a creature earth-born and not 
 relying on true science, but founding on a system of conjec- 
 ture, and wavering in estimating probabilities. Now there 
 is no [special] merit in removing by remedies those ailments 
 which affect men : the healing qualities belong to the drugs 
 not virtues inherent in him who applies them ; and though it 
 is praiseworthy to know by what medicine or by what method 
 it may be suitable for persons to be treated, there is room, for 
 this credit being assigned to man, but not to the deity. For 
 it is [at least] no discredit that he 4 should have improved the 
 health of man by things taken from without: it is a disgrace to 
 a god that he is not able to effect it of himself, but that he 
 gives soundness and safety [only] by the aid of external objects. 
 49. And since you compare Christ and the other deities as 
 
 1 See Bk. ii. chap. 36. 
 
 2 The gods in whose temples the sick lay ordered remedies through 
 the priests. 
 
 8 So all edd. except LB., which reads with the MS. superponere 
 *' that [one] place the juices," etc. 
 * That is, the physician.
 
 40 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK i. 
 
 to the blessings of health bestowed, how many thousands of 
 infirm persons do you wish to be shown to you by us ; how 
 many persons affected with wasting diseases, whom no appli- 
 ances whatever restored, although they went as suppliants 
 through all the temples, although they prostrated themselves 
 before the gods, and swept the very thresholds with their 
 lips though, as long as life remained, they wearied with 
 prayers, and importuned with most piteous vows YEsculapius 
 himself, the health-giver, as they call him? Do we not know 
 that some died of their ailments ? that others grew old by the 
 torturing pain of their diseases ? that others began to live a 
 more abandoned life after they had wasted their days 1 and 
 nights in incessant prayers, and in expectation of mercy ? 2 
 Of what avail is it, then, to point to one or another who 
 may have been healed, when so many thousands have been 
 left unaided, and the shrines are full of all the wretched and 
 the unfortunate ? Unless, perchance, you say that the gods 
 help the good, but that the miseries of the wicked are over- 
 looked. And yet Christ assisted the good and the bad alike ; 
 nor was there any one rejected by him, who in adversity 
 sought help against violence and the ills of fortune. For 
 this is the mark of a true god and of kingly power, to deny 
 his bounty to none, and not to consider who merits it or 
 who does not ; since natural infirmity and not the choice of 
 his desire, or of his sober judgment, makes a sinner. To 
 say, moreover, that aid is given by the gods to the deserving 
 when in distress, is to leave undecided and render doubtful 
 what you assert : so that both he who has been made whole 
 may seem to have been preserved by chance, and he who is 
 not may appear to have been unable to banish infirmity, not be- 
 cause of his demerit, but by reason of a heaven-sent weakness. 3 
 
 1 So the edd., reading tri-v-erunt, for the MS. tri-lu-erunt " given 
 up," which is retained in the first ed. 
 
 2 Pietatis, " of mercy," in which sense the word is often used in late 
 writers. Thus it was from his clemency that Antoninus, the Koman 
 emperor, received the title of Pitts. 
 
 3 So most edd., following a marginal reading of Ursinus, which pre- 
 fixes in to the MS. firmitate.
 
 BOOK i.] ARNOB1US ADVERSUS GENTES. 41 
 
 50. Moreover, by his own power he not only performed 
 those miraculous deeds which have been detailed by us in sum- 
 mary, and not as the importance of the matter demanded ; 
 but, what was more sublime, he has permitted many others 
 to attempt them, and to perform them by the use of his 
 name. For when he foresaw that you were to be the de- 
 tractors of his deeds and of his divine work, in order that 
 no lurking suspicion might remain of his having lavished 
 these gifts and bounties by magic arts, from the immense 
 multitude of people, which with admiring wonder strove to 
 gain his favour, he chose fishermen, artisans, rustics, and 
 unskilled persons of a similar kind, that they being sent 
 through various nations should perform all those miracles with- 
 out any deceit and without any material aids. By a word he 
 assuaged the racking pains of the aching members ; and by 
 a word they checked the writhings of maddening sufferings. 
 By one command he drove demons from the body, and re- 
 stored their senses to the lifeless; they, too, by no different 
 command, restored to health and to soundness of mind those 
 labouring under the inflictions of these [demons]. 1 By the 
 application of his hand he removed the marks of leprosy; 
 they, too, restored to the body its natural skin by a touch 
 not dissimilar. He ordered the dropsical and swollen flesh 
 to recover its natural dryness ; and his servants in the same 
 manner stayed the wandering waters, and ordered them to 
 glide through their own channels, avoiding injury to the 
 frame. Sores of immense size, refusing to admit of healing, 
 he restrained from further feeding on the flesh, by the inter- 
 position of one word ; and they in like manner, by restricting 
 its ravages, compelled the obstinate and merciless cancer to 
 confine itself to a scar. To the larne he gave the power of 
 walking, to the dark eyes sight, the dead he recalled to 
 
 1 " They, too, . . . those labouring under the inflictions of these :" sa 
 LB., with the warm approval of Orelli (who, however, with previous 
 cdd., retains the MS. reading in his text) and others, reading sub eorum 
 t-ortantes (for MS. p ) et illi se casibus ; Heraldus having suggested 
 rutantes. This simple and elegant emendation makes it unnecessary to 
 notice the harsh and forced readings of earlier edd.
 
 42 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [Booic i. 
 
 life ; and not less surely did they, too, relax the tightened 
 nerves, fill the eyes with light already lost, and order the 
 dead to return from the tombs, reversing the ceremonies of 
 the funeral rites. Nor was anything calling forth the be- 
 wildered admiration of all done by him, which he did not 
 freely allow to be performed by those humble and rustic 
 men, and which he did not put in their power. 
 
 51. What say ye, O minds incredulous, stubborn, har- 
 dened? Did that great Jupiter Capitolinus of yours give 
 to any human being power of this kind ? Did he endow 
 with this right any priest of a curia, the Pontifex Maxi- 
 mus, nay, even the Dialis, in whose name he is [revealed 
 as] the god of life? 1 I shall not say, [did he impart power] 
 to raise the dead, to give light to the blind, restore the 
 normal condition of their members to the weakened and 
 the paralyzed, but [did he even enable any one] to check 
 a pustule, a hangnail, a pimple, either by the word of his 
 mouth or the touch of his hand ? Was this, then, a power 
 natural to man, or could such a right be granted, could such 
 a licence be given by the mouth of one reared on the vulgar 
 produce of earth ; and was it not a divine and sacred gift? or 
 if the matter admits of any hyperbole, was it not more than 
 divine and sacred ? For if you do that which you are able 
 to do, and what is compatible with your strength and your 
 ability, there is no ground for the expression of astonishment ; 
 for you will have done that which you were able, and which 
 your power was bound to accomplish, in order that there 
 should be a perfect correspondence 2 between the deed and 
 the doer. To be able to transfer to a man your own power, 
 
 1 So understood by Orelli, who reads quo Dius est, adopting the ex- 
 planation of Dialis given by Festus. The MS., however, according to 
 Crusius, reads, Dialem, quod ejus est, flaminem isto jure donavit ; in which 
 case, from the position of the quod, the meaning might be, " which 
 [term] is his," or possibly, "because he (i.e. the priest) is his," only that 
 in the latter case a pronoun would be expected: the commentators gene- 
 rally refer it to the succeeding jure, with this "right," which is his. 
 Canterus reads, quod majus est, i.e. than the Pontifex Maximus. 
 
 2 So the MS. reading tequalitas, which is retained by Hild. and Oehler ; all 
 other editions drop " that the quality of deed and doer might be one."
 
 BOOK i. J A RNOB1 US AD VERS US GENTES. 43 
 
 share with the frailest being the ability to perform that which 
 you alone are able to do, is a proof of power supreme over 
 all, and holding in subjection the causes of all things, and the 
 natural laws of methods and of means. 
 
 52. Come, then, let some Magian Zoroaster 1 arrive from 
 a remote part of the globe, crossing over the fiery zone, 2 if we 
 believe Hermippus as an authority. Let these join him too 
 that Bactrian, whose deeds Ctesias sets forth in the first 
 book of his History; the Armenian, grandson of Hosthanes; 3 
 and Pamphilus, the intimate friend of Cyrus ; Apollonius, 
 Damigero, and Dardanus ; Velus, Julianus, and Basbulus ; 
 and if there be any other one who is supposed to have especial 
 powers and reputation in such magic arts. Let them grant 
 to one of the people to adapt the mouths of the dumb for the 
 purposes of speech, to unseal the ears of the deaf, to give the 
 natural powers of the eye to those born without sight, and 
 to restore feeling and life to bodies long cold in death. Or 
 if that is [too] difficult, and if they cannot impart to others 
 
 1 This passage has furnished occasion for much discussion as to text 
 and interpretation. In the text Orelli's punctuation has been follower!, 
 who regards Arnobius as mentioning four Zoroasters the Assyrian or 
 Chaldaean, the Bactrian (cf. c. 5 of this book), the Armenian, and 
 finally the Pamphylian, or Pamphilos, who, according to Clem. Alex. 
 (Strom, v. p. 598), is referred to in Plato's Republic, Bk. x., under tlie 
 name Er ; Meursius and Salmasius, however, regarding the whole as 
 one sentence, consider that only three persons are so referred to, the 
 first being either Libyan or Bactrian, and the others as with Orelli. 
 To seek to determine which view is most plausible even, would be a 
 fruitless task, as will be evident on considering what is said in the index 
 under Zoroaster. 
 
 2 So Orelli, reading veniat qu-is su-per igneam zonam. LB. reads for 
 the second and third words, quse-so per " let there come, I pray you, 
 through," etc., from the MS. quse super ; while Heraldus would change 
 the last three words into Azonaces, the name of the supposed teacher of 
 Zoroaster. By the " fiery zone" Salmasius would understand Libya ; but 
 the legends should be borne in mind which spoke of Zoroaster as having 
 shown himself to a wondering multitude from a hill blazing with fire, 
 that he might teach them new ceremonies of worship, or as being other- 
 wise distinguished in connection with fire. 
 
 3 So Stewechius, Orelli, and others, for the MS. Zostriani" grandson 
 of Zostrianus," retained in the 1st ed. and LB.
 
 44 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK i. 
 
 the power to do such acts, let themselves perform them, and 
 with their own rites. Whatever noxious herbs the earth 
 brings forth from its bosom, whatever powers those muttered 
 words and accompanying spells contain these let them add, 
 we envy them not ; [those] let them collect, we forbid them 
 not. We wish to make trial and to discover whether they 
 can effect, with the aid of their gods, what has often been 
 accomplished by unlearned Christians with a word only. 
 
 53. Cease in your ignorance to receive such great deeds 
 with abusive language, which will in no wise injure him who 
 did them, but which will bring danger to yourselves danger, 
 I say, by no means small, but one dealing with matters of 
 great, 1 aye, even the greatest importance, since beyond a doubt 
 the soul is a precious thing, and nothing can be found dearer 
 to a man than himself. There was nothing magical, as you 
 suppose, nothing human, delusive, or crafty in Christ ; no 
 deceit lurked in him, 2 although you smile in derision, as your 
 wont is, and though you split with roars of laughter. He 
 was God on high, God in his inmost nature, God from 
 unknown realms, and was sent by the Ruler of all as a 
 Saviour God ; whom neither the sun himself, nor any stars, 
 if they have powers of perception, not the rulers and princes 
 of the world, nor, in fine, the great gods, or those who, 
 feigning themselves so, terrify the whole human race, were 
 able to know or to guess whence and who he was and 
 naturally so. But 3 when, freed from the body, which he 
 carried about as but a very small part of himself, he allowed 
 himself to be seen, and [let it be known] how great he was, 
 all the elements of the universe bewildered by the strange 
 events were thrown into confusion. An earthquake shook 
 
 1 So the edd., reading in rebus eximiis for the MS. exi-gu-is, which 
 would, of course, give an opposite and wholly unsuitable meaning. 
 
 2 So generally, Heraldus having restored aditu-it in Cliristo from the 
 MS., which had omitted -it, for the reading of Gelenius, Canterus, and 
 Ursinus, delicti "no deceit, no sin [was]," etc. 
 
 8 So emended by Salmasius, followed by most later edd. In the 
 earlier edd. the reading is et merito exutus a corpore (Salm. reading at 
 instead of a, and inserting a period after mer.*) " and when rightly 
 freed from the body," etc.
 
 BOOK i.] ARNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 45 
 
 the world, the sea was heaved up from its depths, the heaven 
 was shrouded in darkness, the sun's fiery blaze was checked, 
 and his heat became moderate \ for what else could occur 
 when he was discovered to be God who heretofore was 
 reckoned one of us ? 
 
 54. But you do not believe these things ; yet those who 
 witnessed their occurrence, and who saw them done before 
 their eyes the very best vouchers and the most reliable 
 authorities both believed them themselves, and transmitted 
 them to us who follow them to be believed with no scanty 
 measure of confidence. Who are these? you perhaps ask. 
 Tribes, peoples, nations, and that incredulous human race ; 
 but 2 if the matter were not plain, and, as the saying is, 
 clearer than day itself, they would never grant their assent 
 with so ready belief to events of such a kind. But shall we 
 say that the men of that time were untrustworthy, false, 
 stupid, and brutish to such a degree that they pretended to 
 have seen what they never had seen, and that they put forth 
 under false evidence, or alleged with childish asseveration 
 things which never took place, and that when they were 
 able to live in harmony and to maintain friendly relations 
 with you, they wantonly incurred hatred, and were held in 
 execration ? 
 
 55. But if this record of events is false, as you say, how 
 comes it that in so short a time the whole world has been 
 filled with such a religion ? or how could nations dwelling 
 widely apart, and separated by climate and by the con- 
 vexities of heaven, 3 unite in one conclusion? They have 
 been prevailed upon [say my opponents] by mere assertions, 
 been led into vain hopes ; and in their reckless madness 
 have chosen to incur voluntarily the risks of death, although 
 they had hitherto seen nothing of such a kind as could by 
 
 1 It may be instructive to notice how the simpler narrative of the 
 Gospels is amplified. Matthew (xxvii. 51) says that the earth trembled, 
 and Luke (xxiii. 45) that the sun was darkened; but they go no 
 further. 
 
 2 Or, " which if ... itself, would never," etc. 
 
 8 That is, by the climate and the inclination of the earth's surface.
 
 46 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK i. 
 
 its wonderful and strange character induce them to adopt 
 this manner of worship. Nay, because they saw all these 
 things to be done by [Christ] himself and by his apostles, 
 who being sent throughout the whole world carried with 
 them the blessings of the Father, which they dispensed in 
 benefiting 1 as well the minds as the bodies of men ; over- 
 come by the force of the very truth itself they both devoted 
 themselves to God, and reckoned it as but a small sacrifice 
 to surrender their bodies to you and to give their flesh to 
 be mangled. 
 
 56. But our writers [we shall be told] have put forth 
 these statements with false effrontery; they have extolled 2 
 small matters to an inordinate degree, and have magnified 
 trivial affairs with most pretentious boastfulness. And 3 
 would that all things could have been reduced to writing, 
 both those which were done by himself, and those which were 
 accomplished by his apostles with equal authority and power. 
 Such an assemblage of miracles, however, would make you 
 more incredulous ; and perhaps you might be able to discover 
 a passage from which* it would seem very probable, both that 
 additions were made to facts, and that falsehoods were inserted 
 in writings and commentaries. But in nations which were 
 unknown to the writers, and which themselves knew not the 
 use of letters, all that was done could not have been embraced 
 in the records or even have reached the ears of all men ; or, 
 if any were committed to written and connected narrative, 
 some insertions and additions would have been made by the 
 malevolence of the demons and of men like to them, whose 
 
 1 So the 1st ed., Ursinus, Elmenhorst, Orelli, and Hildebrand, read- 
 ing munerandis, which is found in the MS. in a later handwriting, for 
 the original reading of the MS. munera dis. 
 
 2 According to Rigaltius the MS. reads ista promiserunt in immensum 
 " have put forth (i.e. exaggerated) these things to an immense degree 
 falsely, small matters and trivial affairs have magnified," etc.; while 
 by a later hand has been superscribed over in immensum, in ink of a 
 different colour, extulere " have extolled." 
 
 3 So the MS., 1st ed., and Hildebrand, while all others read atqu-i 
 " but." 
 
 4 So I.E., reading quo for the iis. quod.
 
 BOOK i.] AENOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 47 
 
 care and study it is to obstruct l the progress of this truth : 
 there would have been some changes and mutilations of words 
 and of syllables, at once to mar the faith of the cautious and 
 to impair the moral effect of the deeds. But it will never avail 
 them that it be gathered from written testimony [only] who 
 and what Christ was ; for his cause has been put on such a 
 basis, that if what we say be admitted to be true, he is by 
 the confession of all proved to have been God. 
 
 57. You do not believe our writings, and we do not believe 
 yours. We devise falsehoods concerning Christ [you say] ; 
 and you put forth baseless and false statements concerning 
 your gods : for no god has descended from heaven, or in his 
 own person and life has sketched out your system, or in a 
 similar way thrown discredit on our system and our cere- 
 monies. These were written by men ; those, too, were 
 written by men set forth in human speech ; and whatever 
 you seek to say concerning our writers, remember that about 
 yours, too, you will find these things said with equal force. 
 What is contained in your writings you wish to be treated 
 as true ; those things, also, which are attested in our books, 
 you must of necessity confess to be true. You accuse our 
 system of falsehood ; we, too, accuse yours of falsehood. But 
 ours is more ancient, say you, therefore most credible and 
 trustworthy ; as if, indeed, antiquity were not the most fertile 
 source of errors, and did not herself put forth those things 
 which in discreditable fables have attached the utmost infamy 
 to the gods. For could not falsehoods have been both spoken 
 and believed ten thousand years ago, or is it not most pro- 
 bable that that which is near to our own time should be more 
 credible than that which is separated by a long term of 
 years ? For these of ours are brought forward on the faith 
 of witnesses, those of yours on the ground of opinions ; and 
 it is much more natural that there should be less invention 
 in matters of recent occurrence, than in those far removed 
 in the darkness of antiquity. 
 
 58. But they were written by unlearned and ignorant 
 
 1 So most edd., reading intercip-ere for the MS. intercipi "it is that 
 the progress be obstructed," etc.
 
 48 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK i. 
 
 men, and should not therefore be readily believed. See that 
 this be not rather a stronger reason for believing that they 
 have not been adulterated by any false statements, but were 
 put forth by men of simple mind, who knew not how to 
 trick out their tales with meretricious ornaments. But the 
 language is mean and vulgar. For truth never seeks de- 
 ceitful polish, nor in that which is well ascertained and 
 certain does it allow itself to be led away into excessive pro- 
 lixity. Syllogisms, enthymemes, definitions, and all those 
 ornaments by which men seek to establish their statements, 
 aid those groping for the truth, but do not clearly mark its 
 great features. But he who really knows the subject under 
 discussion, neither defines, nor deduces, nor seeks the other 
 tricks of words by which an audience is wont to be taken in, 
 and to be beguiled into a forced assent to a proposition. 
 
 59. Your narratives, my opponent says, are overrun with 
 barbarisms and solecisms, and disfigured by monstrous blun- 
 ders. A censure, truly, which shows a childish and petty 
 spirit ; for if we allow that it is reasonable, let us cease to 
 use certain kinds of fruit because they grow with prickles on 
 them, and other growths useless for food, which on the one 
 hand cannot support us, and yet do- not on the other binder 
 us from enjoying that which specially excels, and which 
 nature has designed to be most wholesome for us. For how, 
 I pray you, does it interfere with or retard the compre- 
 hension [of a statement], whether anything be pronounced 
 smoothly 1 or with uncouth roughness ? whether that have the 
 grave accent which ought to have the acute, or that have 
 the acute which ought to have the grave ? Or how is the 
 truth of a statement diminished, if an error is made in 
 number or case, in preposition, participle, or conjunction ? 
 Let that pomposity of style and strictly regulated diction be 
 reserved for public assemblies, for lawsuits, for the forum 
 and the courts of justice, and by all means be handed over 
 to those who, striving after the soothing influences of pleasant 
 sensations, bestow all their care upon splendour of language. 
 
 1 So Orelli and Hildcbrand, reading glabre from a conjecture of Gro- 
 tius, for the MS. grave.
 
 BOOK i.] ARNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 49 
 
 [But] when we are discussing matters far removed from 
 mere display, we should consider what is said, not with what 
 charm it is said nor how it tickles the ears, but what benefits 
 it confers on the hearers, especially since we know that some 
 even who devoted themselves to philosophy, not only disre- 
 garded refinement of style, but also purposely adopted a 
 vulgar meanness when they might have spoken with greater 
 elegance and richness, lest forsooth they might impair the 
 stern gravity of speech and revel rather in the pretentious 
 show of the Sophists. For indeed it evidences a worthless 
 heart to seek enjoyment in matters of importance ; and when 
 you have to deal with those who are sick and diseased, to 
 pour into their ears dulcet sounds, not to apply a remedy to 
 their wounds. Yet, if you consider the true state of the 
 case, no language is naturally perfect, and in like manner 
 none is faulty. For what natural reason is there, or what 
 law written in the constitution of the world, that paries 
 should be called hie 1 and sella hcec? since neither have 
 they sex distinguished by male and female, nor can the most 
 learned man tell me what hie and hcec are, or why one of 
 them denotes the male sex while the other is applied to the 
 female. These conventionalities are man's, and certainly 
 are not indispensable to all persons for the use of forming 
 their language ; for panes might perhaps have been called 
 hcec, and sella hie, without any fault being found, if it had 
 been agreed upon at first that they should be so called, and 
 if this practice had been maintained by following generations 
 in their daily conversation. And yet, O you who charge 
 our writings with disgraceful blemishes, have you not these 
 solecisms in those most perfect and wonderful books of yours ? 
 Does not one of you make the plur. of uter, utria ? another 
 utres? 2 [and do you not write] ccelus and ccelum, filus and 
 jilum, crocus and crocum, fretus and frelum ? Do you not 
 also say hoc pane and hie panis, hie sanguis and hoc sanguen ? 
 Are not candelabrum and jugulum in like manner written 
 jugulus and candelaber? For if each noun cannot have 
 
 1 i.e. that the one should be masculine, the other feminine. 
 
 8 i.e. does not one of you make the plural of uter masc., another neut. ? 
 
 ARNOB. D
 
 50 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK i. 
 
 more than one gender, and if the same word cannot be of 
 this gender and of that (for one gender cannot pass into 
 the other), he commits as great a blunder who utters mas- 
 culine genders under the laws of feminines, as he who 
 applies masculine articles to feminine genders. And yet we 
 see you using masculines as feminines, and feminines as mas- 
 culines, and those which you call neuter both in this way 
 and in that, without any distinction. Either, therefore, it is 
 no blunder to employ them indifferently, and [in that case] 
 it is vain for you to say that our works are disfigured with 
 monstrous solecisms ; or if the way in which each ought to 
 be employed is unalterably fixed, you also are involved in 
 similar errors, although you have on your side all the Epi- 
 cadi, Caesellii, Verrii, Scauri, and Nisi. 
 
 60. But, say my opponents, if Christ was God, why did 
 he appear in human shape, and why was he cut off by death 
 after the manner of men ? Could that power which is in- 
 visible, and which has no bodily substance, have come upon 
 earth and adapted itself to the world and mixed in human 
 society, otherwise than by taking to itself some covering of a 
 more solid substance, which might bear the gaze of the eyes, 
 and on which the look of the least observant might fix it- 
 self ? For what mortal is there who could have seen him, 
 who could have distinguished him, if he had decreed to come 
 upon the earth such as he is in his own primitive nature, 
 and such as he has chosen to be in his own proper character 
 and divinity? He took upon him, therefore, the form of 
 man; and under the guise of our race he imprisoned his 
 power, so that he could be seen and carefully regarded, 
 might speak and teach, and without encroaching on the 
 sovereignty and government of the King Supreme, might 
 carry out all those objects for the accomplishment of which 
 he had come into the world. 
 
 61. What, then, says [my opponent], could not the Supreme 
 Ruler have brought about those things which he had ordained 
 to be done in the world, without feigning himself a man ? If 
 it were necessary to do as you say, he perhaps would have 
 done so ; because it was not necessary, he acted otherwise.
 
 BOOK i.] ARNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 51 
 
 The reasons why he chose to do it in this way, and did 
 not choose to do it in that, are unknown, being involved 
 in so great obscurity, and comprehensible by scarcely any ; 
 but these you might perhaps have understood if you were 
 not already prepared not to understand, and were not shaping 
 your course to brave unbelief, before that was explained to 
 you which you sought to know and to hear. 
 
 62. But [you will say] he was cut off by death as men 
 are. Not [Christ] himself ; for it is impossible either that 
 death should befall what is divine, or that that should waste 
 away and disappear in death which is one [in its substance], 
 and not compounded, nor formed by bringing together any 
 parts. Who, then [you ask], was seen hanging on the cross ? 
 Who dead? The human form, 1 [I reply], which he had 
 put on, 2 and which he bore about with him. It is a tale 
 passing belief, [you say], and wrapt in dark obscurity ; if 
 you will, it is not dark, and [is] established by a very close 
 analogy. 3 If the Sibyl, when she was uttering and pouring 
 forth her prophecies and oracular responses, was filled, as you 
 say, with Apollo's power, had been cut down and slain by 
 impious robbers, 4 would Apollo be said to have been slain in 
 her ? If Bacis, 6 if Helenus, Marcius, 6 and other soothsayers, 
 had been in like manner robbed of life and light when raving 
 as inspired, would any one say that those who, speaking by 
 
 1 So the MS., followed by Hildebrand and Oehler, reads and punctu- 
 ates quis mortuusf homo, for which all edd. read mortuus est? "Who 
 died?" 
 
 2 Here, as in the whole discussion in the second book on the origin 
 and nature of the soul, the opinions expressed are Gnostic, Cerinthus 
 saying more precisely that Christ having descended from heaven in the 
 form of a dove, dwelt in the body of Jesus during his life, but removed 
 from it before the crucifixion. 
 
 8 So the MS. by changing a single letter, with LB. and others, simili- 
 tudine proxim-a (MS. o) constitutum; while the first ed., Gelenius, Can- 
 terus, Ursinus, Orelli, and others, read -dini proxinie " settled very 
 closely to analogy." 
 
 4 In the original latronibus; here, as in the next chapter, used loosely 
 to denote lawless men. 
 
 5 So emended by Mercerus for the MS. vatis. 
 
 6 So read in the MS. not -tius, as in LB. and Orelli
 
 03 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK i. 
 
 their mouths, declared to inquirers what should be done, 1 had 
 perished according to the conditions of human life? The 
 death of which you speak was [that] of the human body 
 which he had assumed, 2 not his own of that which was borne, 
 not of the bearer ; and not even this [death] would he 8 have 
 stooped to suffer, were it not that a matter of such import- 
 ance was to be dealt with, and the inscrutable plan of fate 4 
 brought to light in hidden mysteries. 
 
 63. What are these hidden and unseen mysteries, you will 
 say, which neither men can know, nor those even who are 
 called gods of the world can in any wise reach by fancy and 
 conjecture ; [which] none [can discover], 5 except those whom 
 [Christ] himself has thought fit to bestow the blessing of so 
 great knowledge upon, and to lead into the secret recesses of 
 the inner treasury [of wisdom] ? Do you then see that if 
 he had determined that none should do him violence, he 
 should have striven to the utmost to keep off from him his 
 enemies, even by directing his power against them ? 6 Could 
 not he [then], who had restored their sight to the blind, make 
 [his enemies] blind if it were necessary ? Was it hard or 
 troublesome for him to make them weak, who [had given] 
 strength to the feeble ? Did he who bade 7 the lame walk, 
 
 1 Lit., " the ways of things" vias rerum. 
 
 2 The MS. reads unintelligibly assumpti-o hominis fuit, which was, 
 however, retained in both Roman edd., although Ursinus suggested 
 the dropping of the o, which has been done by all later edd. 
 
 3 The MS. reads, quam nee ipsam perpeti succuluisset vis " would his 
 might," i.e. "would he with his great power have stooped." Orelli 
 simply omits vis as Canterus, and seemingly the other later edd. do. 
 
 4 The MS. and 1st ed. read sati-s, which has clearly arisen from/ being 
 confounded with the old form of s. 
 
 5 The construction is a little involved, qu.se, nulli nee homines scire nee 
 ipsi qui appellantur dii mundi queunt " which none, neither men can 
 know, nor those .... of the world can reach, except those whom," etc. 
 
 6 In the Latin, vel potestate inversa, which according to Oehler is the 
 US. reading, while Orelli speaks of it as an emendation of LB. (where 
 it is certainly found, but without any indication of its source), and with 
 most edd. reads universa " by his universal power." 
 
 7 So the MS. according to Hildebrand, reading prsecipi-'bat. Most edd., 
 however, following Gelenius, read faciebat "made them lame."
 
 BOOK i.] ARNOBIUS AD VERSUS GENTES. 53 
 
 not know how to take from them all power to move their 
 limbs, 1 by making their sinews stiff ? 2 Would it have been 
 difficult for him who drew the dead from their tombs to in- 
 flict death on whom he would ? But because reason required 
 that those things which had been resolved on should be done 
 here also in the world itself, and in no other fashion than was 
 done, he, with gentleness passing understanding and belief, 
 regarding as but childish trifles the wrongs which men did 
 him, submitted to the violence of savage and most hardened 
 robbers; 3 nor did he think it worth while to take account 
 of what their daring had aimed at, if he only showed to his 
 [disciples] what they were in duty bound to look for from 
 him. For when many things about the perils of souls, 
 many evils about their . . . . ; on the other hand, the intro- 
 ducer, 4 the master and teacher directed his laws and ordi- 
 nances, that they might find their end in fitting duties ; 5 did 
 he not destroy the arrogance of the proud? Did he not 
 quench the fires of lust ? Did he not check the craving of 
 greed 1 Did he not wrest the weapons from their hands, 
 and rend from them all the sources 6 of every [form of] 
 corruption ? To conclude, was he not himself gentle, peace- 
 
 1 Lit., " to bind fast the motions of the members," adopting the read- 
 ing of most edd., molus alligare merribrorum (MS. c-al-igare). 
 
 2 The MS. reads nervorum duritia-m, for which Ursinus, with most edd., 
 reads as above, merely dropping m ; Hildebrand and Oehler insert in, 
 and read, from a conjecture of Ursinus adopted by Elmenhorst, c-ol-ligare 
 " to bind into stiffness." 
 
 3 Ursinus suggested di- (" most terrible ") for the MS. durissimis. 
 
 4 So the MS. reading, multa mala de illarum contra insinuator (mala is 
 perhaps in the abl., agreeing with a lost word), which has been regarded 
 by Heraldus and Stewechius, followed by Orelli, as mutilated, and is so 
 read in the first ed., and by Ursinus and LB. The passage is in all 
 cases left obscure and doubtful, and we may therefore be excused dis- 
 cussing its meaning here. 
 
 5 Lit., " to the ends of fitting duties." 
 
 6 In the original, seminaria abscidit, the former word used of nur- 
 series for plants, while the latter may be either as above (from abscindo), 
 or may mean "cut off" (from dbscido) ;.but in both cases the gene- 
 ral meaning is the same, and the metaphor is in either slightly con- 
 fused.
 
 54 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK i. 
 
 ful, easily approached, friendly when addressed ? l Did he 
 not, grieving at men's miseries, pitying with his unexampled 
 benevolence all in any wise afflicted with troubles and bodily 
 ills, 2 bring them back and restore them to soundness ? 
 
 64. What, then, constrains you, what excites you to revile, 
 to rail at, to hate implacably him whom no man 3 can accuse 
 of any crime ? 4 Tyrants and your kings, who, putting away 
 [all] fear of the gods, plunder and pillage the treasuries of 
 temples; who by proscription, banishment, 5 and slaughter, 
 strip the state of its nobles ; who, with licentious violence, 
 undermine and wrest away the chastity of matrons and 
 maidens, [these men] you name indigites and divi; and 
 you worship with couches, altars, temples, and other ser- 
 eice, and by celebrating their games and birthdays, those 
 whom it was fitting that you should assail with keenest 6 
 hatred. And all those, too, who by writing books assail in 
 many forms with biting reproaches public manners ; who 
 censure, brand, and tear in pieces your luxurious habits and 
 lives ; who carry down to posterity evil reports of their own 
 times 7 in their enduring writings; who [seek to] persuade 
 [men] that the rights of marriage should be held in common ; 8 
 who lie with boys, beautiful, lustful-, naked ; who declare that 
 
 1 Lit., "familiar to be accosted," the supine, as in the preceding clause. 
 
 * So the edd., reading corporalibus affectos malis, but the MS. inserts 
 after mails the word morbis (" with evil bodily diseases") ; but accord- 
 ing to Hildebrand this word is marked as spurious. 
 
 3 So the edd., reading nemo h-om-i-n-um, except Hildebrand and 
 Oehler, who retain the MS. om-n-i-um " no one of aU." 
 
 4 John viii. 46 :" Which of you convinceth me of sin ? " 
 
 fi So Heraldus and LB., followed by later edd., reading exiliis for the 
 MS. ex-uis, for which Gelenius, Canterus, and Ursinus read et suis 
 " and by their slaughters." 
 
 6 Here, as frequently in Arnobius, the comparative is used instead of 
 the superlative. 
 
 7 " To posterity evil reports of their own time " SMI temporis posteris 
 notas so emended by Ursinus, followed by Orelli and Hildebrand, for 
 the MS. in temporis posteri-s, retained by LB., and with the omission of s in 
 the first ed. ; but this requires our looking on the passage as defective. 
 
 8 The reference is clearly to the well-known passage in Plato's Republic^ 
 st. p. 457.
 
 BOOK i.] ARNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 55 
 
 you are beasts, runaways, exiles, and mad and frantic slaves 
 of the most worthless character, [all these] with wonder and 
 applause you exalt to the stars of heaven, you place in the 
 shrines of your libraries, you present with chariots and statues, 
 and as much as in you lies, gift with a kind of immortality, 
 as it were, by the witness which immortal titles bear to them. 
 Christ alone you would tear in pieces, 1 you would rend asunder, 
 if you could [do so to] a god ; nay, [him alone] you would, 
 were it allowed, gnaw with bloody mouths, and break his bones 
 in pieces, and devour him like beasts of the field. For what 
 that he has done, tell, I pray you, for what crime? 2 What 
 has he done to turn aside the course of justice, and rouse 
 you to hatred made fierce by maddening torments ? [Is it] 
 because he declared that he was sent by the only [true] King 
 [to be] your soul's guardian, and to bring to you the immor- 
 tality which you believe that you [already] possess, relying 
 on the assertions of a few men ? But [even] if you were 
 assured that he spoke falsely, that he even held out hopes 
 without the slightest foundation, not even in this case do I 
 see [any] reason that you should hate [and] condemn him 
 with bitter reproaches. Nay, if you were kind and gentle in 
 spirit, you ought to esteem him even for this alone, that he 
 promised to you things which you might well wish and hope 
 for ; that he was the bearer of good news ; that his message 
 was such as to trouble no one's mind, nay, rather to fill [all] 
 with less anxious expectation. 8 
 
 65. Oh ungrateful and impious age, prepared* for its own 
 
 1 So Gelenius, LB., and Orelli, reading con-v-dl-e-re for the MS. con- 
 p-ell-a-re, " to accost " or " abuse," which is out of place here. Canterus 
 suggested com-p-il-are, " to plunder," which also occurs in the sense 
 " to cudgel." 
 
 2 Supply, "do you pursue him so fiercely?" 
 
 3 These words are followed in the edition of Gelenius by ch. 2-5 of 
 the second book, seemingly without any mark to denote transposition ; 
 while Ursinus inserted the same chapters beginning, however, with the 
 last sentence of the first chapter (read as mentioned in the note on it) 
 but prefixed an asterisk, to mark a departure from the order of the MS. 
 The later editors have not adopted either change. 
 
 * So Ursinus suggested in the margin, followed by LB. and Orelli,
 
 56 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK i. 
 
 destruction by its extraordinary obstinacy! If there had 
 come to you a physician from lands far distant and unknown 
 to you before, offering some medicine to keep off from you 
 altogether every kind of disease and sickness, would you not 
 all eagerly hasten to [him]? Would you not with every 
 kind of flattery and honour receive him into your houses, and 
 treat him kindly ? Would you not wish that that kind of 
 medicine should be quite reliable, should be genuine, which 
 promised that even to the utmost limits of life you should be 
 free from such countless bodily distresses ? And though it 
 were a doubtful matter, you would yet entrust yourselves [to 
 him] ; nor would you hesitate to drink the unknown draught, 
 incited by the hope of health set before you and by the 
 love of safety. 1 Christ shone out and appeared to tell us 
 news of the utmost importance, bringing an omen of pro- 
 sperity, and a message of safety to those who believe. What, 
 I pray you, means 2 this cruelty, what such barbarity, nay 
 rather, to speak more truly, scornful 3 pride, not only to 
 harass the messenger and bearer of so great a gift with 
 taunting words ; but even to assail him with fierce hostility, 
 and with all the weapons which can be showered upon him, 
 and [with all modes of] destruction.? Are his words displeas- 
 ing, and are you offended when you hear them ? Count them 
 as [but] a soothsayer's empty tales. Does he speak very 
 stupidly, and promise foolish gifts? Laugh with scorn as 
 wise men, and leave [him in] his folly* to be tossed about 
 among his errors. What means this fierceness (to repeat 
 what has been said more than once) ; what a passion, so 
 murderous? to declare implacable hostility towards one who 
 
 reading in privatam perniciem p-a-r-atum for the MS. p-r-iv-atum, which 
 is clearly derived from the preceding privatam, but is, though unintel- 
 ligible also, retained in the two Roman edd. The conclusion of the 
 sentence is, literally, "obstinacy of spirit." 
 
 1 In the original, ?pe salutis proposita atque amore incolumitatis. 
 
 2 Lit., " is "est. 
 
 3 So all the edd., reading fastidi-os-um supercilium, which Crusius says 
 the MS. reads with os omitted, i.e. " pride, scorn." 
 
 4 So the edd., reading fatuito-tem, for the MS. fatuita-n-tem, which 
 may, however, point to a verb not found elsewhere.
 
 BOOK i.] AENOBIUS AD VERSUS GENTES. 57 
 
 has done nothing to deserve it at your hands ; to wish, if it 
 were allowed you, to tear him limb from limb, who not only did 
 no man any harm, but with uniform kindness 1 told his enemies 
 what salvation was being brought to them from God Supreme, 
 what must be done that they might escape destruction and 
 obtain an immortality which they knew not of ? And when 
 the strange and unheard-of things which were held out 
 staggered the minds of those who heard him, and made them 
 hesitate to believe, [though] master of every power and 
 destroyer of death itself he suffered his human form to be 
 slain, that from the result 2 they might know that the hopes 
 were safe which they had long entertained about the soul's 
 salvation, and that in no other way could they avoid the 
 danger of death. 
 
 1 i.e. to friends and foes alike. The MS. reads sequaliter benignus hosti- 
 bus dicere, which is retained by Orelli, supposing an ellipsis offuerit, i.e. 
 " [he was] kind to say," which might be received ; but it is more natural 
 to suppose that -t has dropped off, and read diceret. as above, with 
 the two Roman editions and LB. Gelenius, followed by Ursinus, 
 emended omnibus docuerit " with uniform kindness taught to all." It 
 may be well to give here an instance of the very insufficient grounds on 
 which supposed references to Scripture are sometimes based. Orelli 
 considers that Arnobius here refers (yidetur respexisse, he says) to Col. i. 
 21, 22, " You, that were sometimes alienated and enemies in mind by 
 wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh 
 through death," to which, though the words which follow might indeed 
 be thought to have a very distant resemblance, they can in no way be 
 shown to refer. 
 
 2 i.e. from his resurrection, which showed that death's power v;as 
 broken by him.
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 THE question is again asked, Why is Christ so bitterly hated, while it 
 cannot be said that he ever injured any one (1) ? Because, an opponent 
 is supposed to reply, he drove religion from the earth by withholding 
 men from worshipping the gods. In this, however, it is shown that he 
 did not assail, but built up religion, as he taught men to worship the 
 creator and source of all things, God supreme, the worship of whom is 
 surely the truest religion (2, 3). It is declared to be mere folly in the 
 heathen to disbelieve Christ's message, for the future alone can prove or 
 disprove the truth of what is foretold; but when there are the two 
 prospects, that if Christ's words are false, his followers lose nothing 
 more than others, but that, on the other hand, if he spoke truly, those 
 who refuse to believe in him suffer an infinite loss, it is more rational 
 to choose the course which tends to no evil and may lead to blessing, 
 rather than that which it is certain leads to no good, and may bring us 
 to terrible woe (4, 5). Is the truth of Christianity not manifested, he 
 goes on to ask, in the readiness with which it has been received by men 
 of every class in all parts of the world, and by the noble constancy 
 with which so many have endured suffering even to death, rather than 
 abandon or dishonour it (5) ? And if, as was often the case, any one 
 should say that there were indeed many who received Christ's gospel, but 
 that these were silly and stupid people, Arnobius reminds him that learn- 
 ing and grammatical knowledge alone do not fit a man to decide between 
 truth and falsehood, to say what may and what cannot take place (6) ; 
 and this is shown by the uncertainty and confusion which surround even 
 those matters which force themselves on our notice every day, such as 
 the nature and origin of man, the end of his being, the mode in which he 
 was quickened into life, and many other similar questions (7). Moreover, 
 the heathen laughed at the faith of the Christians ; but in doing so, 
 Arnobius asks, did they not expose themselves to ridicule ? For does not 
 the whole conduct of life depend on the belief that the end will corre- 
 spond to our aims and actions (8) ? Again, most men put faith in one 
 or other of the leading philosophers (9) ; and these, in turn, trust their 
 own fancies, and put faith in their own theories, so that faith is common 
 to all men alike (10). And if the heathen put faith in the philosophers, 
 the Christians have no less reason to put faith in Christ ; while, if a 
 comparison be entered into, no other can point to such wonderful powers 
 and such marvellous deeds as are recorded of him (11). Not by such
 
 BOOK ii.] ARNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 59 
 
 subtle quibbling as men brought against it did the new religion make its 
 way, but by the marvellous and unheard-of miracles which attested its 
 truth, so that it won followers among all tribes on the face of the earth; 
 and if any man was ignorant of these facts, it was because he had not 
 chosen to know them, and had suffered the truth to be obscured by 
 those interested in upholding error (12). Arnobius goes on to show 
 that many Christian doctrines which were ridiculed as such by the 
 heathen, were held by the philosophers also ; referring more particularly 
 to the worship of one God, the resurrection of the dead (13), and the 
 quenchless fires of punishment, from which he takes occasion to point 
 out that man's true death comes not at, but after the soul's separation 
 from the body, and to discuss the nature of the soul (14). The soul is 
 not, he maintains, immortal in itself, or of divine origin if it were born 
 of God, men would be pure and holy, and of one opinion (15) but has 
 been made vicious and sinful by causes to be found in the world ; while, 
 if it had been made by the supreme God, how could his work have been 
 marred by that which was less powerful (16) ? Arnobius next en- 
 deavours to show that we are in nothing distinguished from the brutes : 
 so far as body, the maintenance of life, and the reproduction of the race 
 are concerned, we are found to be alike, while the heathen are reminded 
 of the doctrine of the transmigration of souls (16) ; and if stress is laid 
 on man's reason and intelligence as a distinctive characteristic, it is first 
 suggested that all men do not act rationally, and the question is then 
 asked, What is the reason which man possesses, and not the beasts (17)? 
 Man's practical skill is no proof of superior reason, for its exercise is 
 necessitated by his excessive poverty ; and it is, moreover, not a faculty 
 native in the soul, but one acquired only after long years under the 
 pressure of necessity (18). The arts, grammar, music, oratory, and 
 geometry are similarly noticed, and the doctrine of reminiscence re- 
 jected (19). Arnobius next supposes a boy to be brought up wholly 
 apart from human society, and seeks to establish his position by the 
 supposed results of imaginary questions put to this hypothetical being 
 (20-23) ; and then goes on to attack the contrary opinions which Plato 
 had sought to establish in a somewhat similar way, by challenging him 
 to question the boy just imagined, who is, of course, found to be exactly 
 what was intended (24) ; and thus gives his creator a triumph, by show- 
 ing conclusively that man untaught is ignorant as a stock or stone, while 
 on being taught other creatures can learn also the ox and ass to grind 
 and plough, the horse to run in harness, and the like (25). Pursuing 
 the same subject, it is argued that if the soul loses its former knowledge 
 on uniting with the body, it cannot be incorporeal, and cannot therefore 
 be immortal (26, 27) ; and further, that if the soul's former knowledge 
 were lost through the influence of the body, the knowledge acquired in 
 this life should in like manner be lost (28). Those who assert the soul's 
 immortality are accused of teaching that which will add to the wicked
 
 60 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK IT. 
 
 ness of men : for how shall any one be restrained even by the fear of a 
 higher power, who is persuaded that his life cannot be cut short by any 
 power (29)? while if he is threatened with the punishments of the 
 infernal regions, he will laugh them to scorn, knowing that what is in- 
 corruptible cannot be affected by mere bodily ills. If the soul is im- 
 mortal, Arnobius affirms there is no need or ground for philosophy, that 
 is, ethics, whose purpose is to raise man above the brutish pleasures of 
 sense to a virtuous life : for why should not a soul which cannot perish 
 give itself up to any pleasures ? while if the soul is mortal, philosophy is 
 in precisely the same position, aiming to do for man what will not profit 
 him if done (30). The soul, he concludes, is neither mortal nor im- 
 mortal (31) ; and there is therefore good reason that those who have no 
 confidence in their power to help themselves, should welcome a saviour 
 in one more powerful (32, 33). Christians and heathen alike, then, 
 look for the deliverance of their souk from death ; and neither party, 
 therefore, has any reason to mock the other in this (33, 34). Such, too, 
 is the condition of all spirits which are supposed to exist (35) ; and it 
 is only through God's goodness that any spirit becomes immortal (36). 
 It is next argued at great length, and with some prolixity, that the soul 
 is not sprung from God, on the ground of its vicious and imperfect 
 nature (37-46) ; and it is then shown that, in denying the soul's divine 
 origin on this ground, we are acting most reasonably, although we cannot 
 say what its real origin is (47, 48) ; while if any one attempts to show 
 that the soul is not imperfect and polluted by sin by pointing to good 
 and upright men, he is reminded that the whole race cannot taVe its 
 character from a few individual members, and that these men were not 
 so naturally (49, 50). There is nothing ridiculous, Arnobius goes on to 
 say, in confessing ignorance of such matters ; and the preceding state- 
 ments are to a certain extent supported by Plato's authority, in so far as 
 he separates the formation of man's soul from the divine acts (51, 52). 
 But if this belief be mistaken, what harm does it do to others (53) ? 
 From this there naturally follows a discussion of the origin of evil, the 
 existence of which cannot be denied, though its cause is beyond our 
 knowledge ; it is enough to know that all God does is good (54, 55). 
 How idle a task it would be to attempt the solution of such problems, is 
 seen when we consider how diverse are the results already arrived at, 
 and that each is supported on plausible grounds (56, 57) ; which clearly 
 shows that man's curiosity cannot be certainly satisfied, and that one 
 man cannot hope to win general assent to his opinions (57). Arnobius 
 now proposes to his opponents a series of questions as to men and things, 
 after answering which they may with more reason taunt him with his 
 ignorance of the soul's origin (58, 59) ; and says that, because of the 
 vanity of all these inquiries, Christ had commanded them to be laid 
 aside, and men to strive after the knowledge of God (60), and the 
 deliverance of their souls from the evils which otherwise await them
 
 BOOK ii.] A EN OBI US AD VERS US GENTES. 6 1 
 
 (61), a task to be accomplished only through the aid of Him who is 
 all-powerful (62). The condition of those who lived before Christ 
 came to earth is to be learned from his teaching (63) ; and his bounty 
 extends to all, though all do not accept it (64) ; for to compel those to 
 turn to him who will not come, would be to use violence, not to show 
 mercy (65). No purity therefore, or holiness, can save the man who 
 refuses to accept Christ as his Saviour (66). Arnobius next deals with 
 the objection that Christianity is a thing of yesterday, for which it 
 would be absurd to give up the more ancient religions, by asking if 
 it is thus that we look upon the various improvements which have been 
 suggested from time to time by the increase of knowledge and wisdom 
 (66-68). All things, moreover, have had a beginning philosophy, 
 medicine, music, and the rest (69), even the gods themselves (70) ; but 
 all this is wholly beside the mark, for the truth of a religion depends 
 not on its age, but on its divine origin. And if, a few hundred years 
 before, there was no Christianity, the gods were in like manner unknown 
 at a still earlier period (71). But Christianity worships that which was 
 before all, the eternal God, although late in its worship, because there 
 was not the needed revelation sooner (72). Arnobius again asserts 
 that Christianity does not stand alone, for it was at a comparatively late 
 time that the worship of Serapis and Isis, and of others, was introduced ; 
 and so Christianity too had sprung up but lately, because it was only 
 then that its teacher had appeared (73) : and having considered why 
 Christ was so late in appearing among men (74, 75), and why Christians 
 are allowed to undergo such suffering and trial on earth (76, 77), he 
 earnestly exhorts all to see to the safety of their souls, and flee for 
 salvation to God, seeing that such terrible dangers threaten us, lest 
 the last day come upon us, and we be found in the jaws of death (78). 1 
 
 SERE, if any means could be found, I should 
 wish to converse thus with all those who 
 hate the name of Christ, turning aside for 
 a little from the defence primarily set up: 
 If you think it no dishonour to answer when asked a ques- 
 
 1 There has been much confusion in dealing with the first seven 
 chapters of this book, owing to the leaves of the MS. having been 
 arranged in wrong order, as was pointed out at an early period by some 
 one who noted on the margin that there was some transposition. To this 
 circumstance, however, Oehler alone seems to have called attention ; but 
 the corruption was so manifest, that the various editors gave themselves 
 full liberty to re-arrange and dispose the text more correctly. The first 
 leaf of the MS. concludes with the words sine ullius personal discriminibus 
 inrogavit, " without any distinction of person," and is followed by one
 
 62 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [Boos IL 
 
 tion, explain to us and say what is the cause, what the 
 reason, that you pursue Christ with so bitter hostility? or 
 what offences you remember which he did, that at the 
 mention of his name you are roused to bursts of mad and 
 savage fury ? l Did he ever, in claiming for himself power as 
 king, fill the whole world with bands of the fiercest soldiers ; 
 and of nations at peace from the beginning, did he destroy 
 and put an end to some, [and] compel others to submit to his 
 yoke and serve him ? Did he ever, excited by grasping 2 
 avarice, claim as his own by right all that wealth to have 
 abundance of which men strive eagerly? Did he ever, 
 transported with lustful passions, break down by force the 
 barriers of purity, or stealthily lie in wait for other men's 
 wives? Did he ever, puffed up with haughty arrogance, in- 
 flict at random injuries and insults, without any distinction of 
 persons? (B) And if he was not worthy that you should listen 
 to and believe [him, yet] he should not have been despised 
 by you even on this account, that he showed to you things 
 concerning your salvation, that he prepared for you a path 3 to 
 
 which begins with the words (A, end of c. 5) et non omnium virtutum, 
 "and (not) by an eager longing," and ends tanta experiatur examina, 
 " undergoes such countless ills " (middle of c. 7). The third and fourth 
 leaves begin with the words (B, end of'c. 1) utrum in cunctos . . . 
 amoverit f qui si dignos, " Now if he was not worthy " (see notes), and 
 run on to end of c. 5, quadam dulcedine, " by some charm ; " while the 
 fifth (C, middle of c. 7) begins atque ne (or utrumne) ilium, " whether 
 the earth," and there is no further difficulty. This order is retained in 
 the first ed., and also by Hildebrand, who supposes three lacunae at A, 
 B, and C, to account for the abruptness and want of connection ; but it 
 is at once seen that, on changing the order of the leaves, so that they 
 shall run BAG, the argument and sense are perfectly restored. This 
 arrangement seems to have been first adopted in LB., and is followed 
 by the later editors, with the exception of Hildebrand. 
 
 1 Lit., "boil up with the ardours of furious spirits." 
 
 2 Lit., " by the heats of." 
 
 8 So Meursius, reading a- for the MS. o-ptaret, which is retained by 
 LB., Orelli, and others. The MS. reading is explained, along with the 
 next words vota immortalitatis, by Orelli as meaning " sought by his 
 prayers," with reference to John xvii. 24, in which he is clearly mis- 
 taken. Heraldus conjectures p-o-r-ta-s a-p-er-taret, "opened paths . . . 
 and the gates of immortality."
 
 BooKn.] ARNOB1US ADVERSUS GENTES. 63 
 
 heaven, and the immortality for which you long; although 1 he 
 neither extended the light of life to all, nor delivered [all] from 
 the danger which threatens them through their ignorance. 2 
 
 2. But indeed, [some one will say], he deserved our hatred 
 because he has driven religion 3 from the world, because he 
 has kept men back from seeking to honour the gods. 4 
 Is he then denounced as the destroyer of religion and pro- 
 moter of impiety, who brought true religion into the world, 
 who opened the gates of piety to men blind and verily 
 living in impiety, and pointed out to whom they should bow 
 themselves? Or is there any truer religion [one] more 
 serviceable, 5 powerful, [and] right than to have learned to 
 know the supreme God, to know [how] to pray to God 
 supreme, who alone is the source and fountain of all good, 
 the creator, 6 founder, and framer of all that endures, by whom 
 
 1 The words which follow, ut non in cunctos, etc., have been thus trans- 
 posed by Heraldus, followed by later editors ; but formerly they pre- 
 ceded the rest of the sentence, and, according to Oehler, the MS. gives 
 utrum, thus : " [You ask] whether he has both extended to all ... 
 ignorance ? who, if he was not," etc. Cf. p. 55, note 3. 
 
 2 So the MS., reading periculum i-g-n-ora-tionis, for which Meursius 
 suggests i-n-teri-tionis " danger of destruction." 
 
 8 PL 
 
 4 This seems the true rationale of the sentence, viewed in relation to 
 the context. Immediately before, Arnobius suggests that the hatred of 
 Christ by the heathen is unjustifiable, because they had suffered nothing 
 at his hands ; now an opponent is supposed to rejoin, " But he has de- 
 served our hatred by assailing our religion." The introductory particles 
 at enim fully bear this out, from their being regularly used to introduce 
 a rejoinder. Still, by Orelli and other editors the sentence is regarded 
 as interrogative, and in that case would be, " Has he indeed merited our 
 hatred by driving out," etc., which, however, not merely breaks away 
 from what precedes, but also makes the next sentence somewhat lame. 
 The older editors, too, read it without any mark of interrogation. 
 
 5 i.e., according to Orelli, to the wants of men ; but possibly it may 
 here have the subjective meaning of " more full of service," i.e. to God. 
 
 6 So the MS., reading perpetuarum pater, fun dator, conditor rerum, but 
 all the editions pa-ri-ter, " alike," which has helped to lead Orelli astray. 
 He suggests etfons est perpetu-us pariter, etc., " perpetual fountain, . . . 
 of all things alike the founder and framer." It has been also proposed 
 by Oehler (to get rid of the difficulty felt here) to transfer per metathesin, 
 the idea of " enduring" to God ; but the reference is surely quite clear,
 
 64 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK n. 
 
 all things on earth and all in heaven are quickened, and filled 
 with the stir of life, and without whom there would assuredly 
 be nothing to bear any name, and [have any] substance ? But 
 perhaps you doubt whether there is that ruler of whom we speak, 
 and rather [incline to] believe in the existence of Apollo, Diana, 
 Mercury, Mars. Give a true judgment; 1 and, looking round 
 on all these things which we see, [any one] will rather doubt 
 whether [all] the other gods exist, than hesitate with regard to 
 the God whom we all know by nature, whether when we cry 
 out, O God, or when we make God the witness of wicked 
 [deeds], 2 and raise our face to heaven as though he saw us. 
 
 3. But he did not permit men to make supplication to the 
 lesser gods. Do you, then, know who are, or where are the 
 lesser gods ? Has mistrust of them, or the way in which they 
 were mentioned, ever touched you, so that you are justly indig- 
 nant that their worship has been done away with and deprived 
 of all honour ? 3 But if haughtiness of mind and arrogance, 4 
 as it is called by the Greeks, did not stand in your way and 
 hinder you, you might long ago have been able to understand 
 what he forbade to be done, or wherefore; within what limits 
 he would have true religion lie; 5 what danger arose to you from 
 that which you thought obedience; or from what evils you 
 would escape if you broke away from your dangerous delusion. 
 
 viewed as a distinction between the results of God's working and that 
 of all other beings. 
 
 1 So the MS. and almost all edd., reading da verum judicium, for which 
 Heraldus suggested da naturse, or verum animas judicium, " give the 
 judgment of nature," or " the true judgment of the soul," as if appeal 
 were made to the inner sense ; but in his later observations he pro- 
 posed da puerum judicem, " give a boy as judge," which is adopted by 
 Orelli. Meursius, merely transposing d-a, reads much more naturally ad 
 " at a true judgment." 
 
 2 The MS. reading is ilium testem d-e-um constituimus improb-arum, 
 retained in the edd. with the change of -arum into -orum. Perhaps for 
 deum should be read r-e-r-um, " make him witness of wicked things." 
 With this passage compare iii. 31-33. 
 
 8 It seems necessary for the sake of the argument to read this inter- 
 rogatively, but in all the edd. the sentence ends without any mark of 
 interrogation. 
 
 4 Typhus Tvtfsos. 6 Lit., " he chose ... to stand."
 
 BOOK ii.] AENOBIUS AD VERSUS GENTES. 65 
 
 4. But all these things will be more clearly and distinctly 
 noticed when we have proceeded further. For we shall 
 show that Christ did not teach the nations impiety, but 
 delivered ignorant and wretched men from those who most 
 wickedly wronged them. 1 We do not believe, you say, that 
 what he says is true. What, then ? Have you no doubt as 
 to the things which 2 you say are not true, while, as they are 
 [only] at hand, and not yet disclosed, 3 they can by no means 
 be disproved? But he, too, does not prove what he pro- 
 mises. It is so; for, as I said, there can be no proof of 
 [things still in] the future. Since, then, the nature of the 
 future is such that it cannot be grasped and comprehended 
 by any anticipation, 4 is it not more rational, 5 of two things 
 uncertain and hanging in doubtful suspense, rather to believe 
 that which carries [with it] some hopes, than that which 
 [brings] none at all? For in the one case there is no 
 danger, if that which is said to be at hand should prove 
 vain and groundless ; in the other there is the greatest loss, 
 even 6 the loss of salvation, if, when the time has come, it 
 be shown that there was nothing false [in what was de- 
 clared]. 7 
 
 5. What say you, O ignorant ones, for whom we might 
 well weep and be sad ? 8 Are you so void of fear that these 
 
 1 Lit., " the ignorance of wretched men from the worst robbers," 
 i.e. the false prophets and teachers, who made a prey of the ignorant 
 and credulous. Cf. p. 51, n. 4. 
 
 3 Lit., " Are [the things] clear with you which," etc. 
 
 3 So the MS., followed by both Roman edd., Hildebrand and Oehler, 
 reading passa, which Cujacius (referring it to patior, as the editors seem 
 to have done generally) would explain as meaning " past," while in all 
 other editions cassa, " vain," is read. 
 
 4 Lit., " the touching of no anticipation." 
 6 Lit., " purer reasoning." 
 
 6 Lit., " that is." This clause Meursius rejects as a gloss. 
 
 7 i.e. If you believe Christ's promises, your belief makes you lose 
 nothing should it prove groundless ; but if you disbelieve them, then 
 the consequences to you will be terrible if they are sure. This would 
 seem too clear to need remark, were it not for the confusion of Orelli 
 in particular as to the meaning of the passage. 
 
 8 Lit., " most worthy even of weeping and pity." 
 
 A KNOB. E
 
 66 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK n. 
 
 things may be true which are despised by you and turned to 
 ridicule ? and do you not consider with yourselves at least, 
 in your secret thoughts, lest that which to-day with perverse 
 obstinacy you refuse to believe, time may too late show to 
 be true, 1 and ceaseless remorse punish [you]? Do not even 
 these proofs at least give you faith to believe, 2 [viz.] that 
 already, in so short and brief a time, the oaths of this vast 
 army have spread abroad over all the earth? that already 
 there is no nation so rude and fierce that it has not, changed 
 by his love, subdued its fierceness, and, with tranquillity 
 hitherto unknown, become mild in disposition ? 8 that [men] 
 endowed with so great abilities, orators, critics, rhetoricians, 
 lawyers, and physicians, those, too, who pry into the myste- 
 ries of philosophy, seek to learn these things, despising those 
 in which but now they trusted ? that slaves choose to be tor- 
 tured by their masters as they please, wives to be divorced, 
 children to be disinherited by their parents, rather than be 
 unfaithful to Christ and cast off the oaths of the warfare of 
 salvation ? that although so terrible punishments have been 
 denounced by you against those who follow the precepts of 
 this religion, it 4 increases [even] more, and a great host 
 strives more boldly against all threats and the terrors which 
 would keep it back, and is roused to zealous faith by the 
 very attempt to hinder it? Do you indeed believe that 
 these things happen idly and at random ? that these feelings 
 are adopted on being met with by chance ? 5 Is not this, then, 
 sacred and divine ? Or [do you believe] that, without God['s 
 grace], their minds are so changed, that although murderous 
 hooks and other tortures without number threaten, as we said, 
 those who shall believe, they receive the grounds of faith 
 
 1 Redarguat. This sense is not recognised by Riddle and White, and 
 would therefore seem to be, if not unique, at least extremely rare. The 
 derivative redargutio, however, is in late Latin used for " demonstra- 
 tion," and this is evidently the meaning here. 
 
 2 Fidem vdbis faciunt argumenta credendi. Heraldus, joining the two 
 last words, naturally regards them as a gloss from the margin ; but read 
 as above, joining the first and last, there is nothing out of place. 
 
 3 Lit., " tranquillity being assumed, passed to placid feelings." 
 
 4 Res, " the thing." Lit., " on chance encounters."
 
 BOOK IL] A KNOB1 US AD VERS US GENTES. 67 
 
 with which they have become acquainted, 1 as if carried away 
 (A) by some charm, and by an eager longing for all the virtues, 2 
 and prefer the friendship of Christ to all that is in the world ? 3 
 6. But perhaps those seem to you weak-minded and silly, 
 who even now are uniting all over the world, and joining 
 together to assent with that readiness of belief [at which 
 you mock]. 4 What, then? Do you alone, imbued 5 with 
 the true power of wisdom and understanding, see something 
 wholly different 6 and profound? Do you alone perceive 
 that all these things are trifles ? you alone, that those things 
 are mere words and childish absurdities which we declare 
 [are] about to come to us from the supreme Ruler ? Whence, 
 pray, has so much wisdom been given to you ? whence so 
 
 1 Rationes cognitas. There is some difficulty as to the meaning of 
 these words, but it seems best to refer them to the argumenta credendi 
 (beginning of chapter, " do not even these proofs "), and render as above. 
 Hildebrand, however, reads tortwnes, " they accept the tortures which 
 they know will befall them." 
 
 2 The MS. reads et non omnium, " and by a love not of all the virtues," 
 changed in most edd. as above into atque omnium, while Oehler pro- 
 poses et novo omnium, " and by fresh love of all," etc. It will be remem- 
 bered that the transposition of leaves in the MS. (note on ii. 1) occurs 
 here, and this seems to account for the arbitrary reading of Gelenius, 
 which has no MS. authority whatever, but was added by himself when 
 transposing these chapters to the first book (cf . p. 55, n. 4), atque nectare 
 ebrii cuncta contemnant " As if intoxicated with a certain sweetness and 
 nectar, they despise all things." The same circumstance has made the 
 restoration of the passage by Canterus a connecting of fragments of 
 widely separated sentences and arguments. 
 
 8 Lit., " all the things of the world." Here the argument breaks off, 
 and passes into a new phase, but Orelli includes the next sentence also 
 in the fifth chapter. 
 
 4 Lit., " to the assent of that credulity." 
 
 6 So the MS., reading conditi vi meru, for which Orelli would read 
 with Oudendorp, conditas "by the pure force of recondite wisdom." 
 The MS., however, is supported by the similar phrase in the beginning 
 of c. 8, where tincti is used. 
 
 6 So the MS., reading aliud, for which Stewechius, adopting a sugges- 
 tion of Canterus, conjectures, altius et profnndius " something deeper 
 and more profound." Others propose readings further removed from 
 the text; while Obbarius, retaining the MS. reading, explains it as "not 
 common."
 
 68 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK n. 
 
 much subtlety and wit? Or from what scientific training 
 have you been able to gain so much wisdom, to derive so much 
 foresight ? Because you are skilled in declining verbs and 
 nouns by cases and tenses, [and] 1 in avoiding barbarous 
 words and expressions ; because you have learned either to 
 express yourselves in 2 harmonious, and orderly, and fitly- 
 disposed language, or to know when it is rude and unpolished ; 3 
 because you have stamped on your memory the Fornix of 
 Lucilius, 4 and Marsyas of Pomponius ; because [you know] 
 what the issues to be proposed in lawsuits are, how many 
 kinds of cases there are, how many ways of pleading, what 
 the genus is, what the species, by what methods an opposite 
 is distinguished from a contrary, do you therefore think 
 that you know what is false, what true, what can or cannot 
 be done, what is the nature of the lowest and highest ? Have 
 the well-known words never rung in 5 your ears, that the 
 wisdom of man is foolishness with God ? 
 
 7. In the first place, you yourselves, too, 6 see clearly that, 
 
 1 Lit., " because [you are," etc.]. 
 
 2 Lit., " either yourselves to utter," etc. 
 
 8 Incomptus, for which Heraldus would read inconditus, as in opposi- 
 tion to " harmonious." This is, however,, unnecessary, as the clause is 
 evidently opposed to the whole of the preceding one. 
 
 4 No trace of either of these works has coine down to us, and there- 
 fore, though there has been abundance of conjecture, we can reach no 
 satisfactory conclusion about them. It seems most natural to suppose 
 the former to be probably part of the lost satires of Lucilius, which had 
 dealt with obscene matters, and the author of the latter to be the Atel- 
 lane poet of Bononia. As to this there has been some discussion ; but, 
 in our utter ignorance of the work itself, it is as well to allow that we 
 must remain ignorant of its author also. The scope of both works is 
 suggested clearly enough by their titles the statue of Marsyas in the 
 forum overlooking nightly licentious orgies; and their mention seems 
 intended to suggest a covert argument against the heathen, in the im- 
 plied indecency of the knowledge on which they prided themselves. For 
 Fornicem Lucilianum (MS. Lucialinuni) Meursius reads decilianum. 
 
 6 Lit., " Has that [thing] published never struck," etc. There is 
 clearly a reference to 1 Cor. iii. 19, " the wisdom of this world." The 
 argument breaks off here, and is taken up from a different point in the 
 next sentence, which is included, however, in this chapter by Orelli. 
 
 ' So Gelenius, followed by Canterus and Orelli, reading primum el
 
 BOOK n.] ARNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 69 
 
 if you ever discuss obscure subjects, and seek to lay bare the 
 mysteries of nature, on the one hand you do not know the 
 very things which you speak of, which you affirm, which 
 you uphold very often with especial zeal, and that each one 
 defends with obstinate resistance his own suppositions as 
 though they were proved and ascertained [truths]. For how 
 can we of ourselves know whether we 1 perceive the truth, 
 even if all ages be employed in seeking out knowledge [we] 
 whom some envious power 2 brought forth, and formed so 
 ignorant and proud, that, although we know nothing at all, 
 we yet deceive ourselves, and are uplifted by pride and 
 arrogance so as to suppose ourselves possessed of knowledge ? 
 For, to pass by divine things, and those plunged in natural 
 obscurity, can any man explain that which in the Phsedrus 3 
 the well-known Socrates cannot comprehend what man is, 
 or whence he is, uncertain, changeable, deceitful, manifold, 
 of many kinds ? for what purposes he was produced? by 
 whose ingenuity he was devised ? what he does in the world ? 
 (C) why he undergoes such countless ills ? whether the earth 
 gave life to him as to worms and mice, being affected with 
 decay through the action of some moisture ; 4 or whether he 
 
 ipsi, by rejecting one word of the MS. (et <7?<#). Canterus plausibly 
 combines both words into itaque '' therefore." LB. reads ecquid " do 
 you at all," etc., with which Orelli so far agrees, that he makes the 
 whole sentence interrogative. 
 
 1 So restored by Stewechius ; in the first ed. perspiciam (instead of 
 am-us) " if I perceive the truth," etc. 
 
 2 So the sis. very intelligibly and forcibly, res . . . invida, but the 
 common reading is invid-i-a " whom something . . . with envy." The 
 train of thought which is merely started here is pursued at some length 
 a little later. 
 
 * The MS. gives fedro, but all editions, except the first, Hildebrand, 
 and Oehler, read Phsedone, referring, however, to a passage in the first 
 Alcibiades (st. p. 129), which is manifestly absurd, as in it, while Alci- 
 biades "cannot tell what man is," Socrates at once proceeds to lead him 
 to the required knowledge by the usual dialectic. Nourry thinks that 
 there is a general reference to Phzedr. st. p. 230, a passage in which 
 Socrates says that he disregards mythological questions that he may 
 etudy himself. 
 
 4 Lit., " changed with the rottenness of some moisture." The refer-
 
 70 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [Boos n. 
 
 received 1 these outlines of body, and [this] cast of face, from 
 the hand of some maker and framer 1 Can he, I say, know 
 these things, which lie open to all, and are recognisable by 2 
 the senses common [to all], by what causes we are plunged 
 into sleep, by what we awake 1 in what ways dreams are 
 produced, in what they are seen ? nay rather as to which 
 Plato in the Thea>tetm* is in doubt whether we are ever 
 awake, or whether that very state which is called waking is 
 part of an unbroken slumber? and what we seem to do when 
 we say that we see a dream ? whether we see by means of 
 rays of light proceeding towards the object, 4 or images of 
 the objects fly to and alight on the pupils of our eyes ? 
 whether the flavour is in the things [tasted], or arises from 
 their touching the palate 1 from what causes hairs lay aside 
 their natural darkness, and do not become gray all at once, 
 but by adding little by little ? why it is that all fluids, on 
 mingling, form one whole ; [that] oil, [on the contrary], does 
 not suffer the others to be poured into it, 5 but is ever brought 
 together clearly into its own impenetrable 6 substance ? finally, 
 why the soul also, which is said by you to be immortal and 
 divine, 7 is sick in [men who are] sick, senseless in children, 
 
 ence is probably to the statement by Socrates (Phtedo, st. p. 96) of the 
 questions with regard to the origin of life, its progress and development, 
 which interested him as a young man. 
 
 1 So the MS., LB., and Oehler, but the other edd. make the verb 
 plural, and thus break the connection. 
 
 2 Lit, "established in the common senses." 
 
 3 Arnobius overstates the fact here. In the passage referred to (Tli. 
 st. p. 158), Socrates is represented as developing the Protagorean theory 
 from its author's standpoint, not as stating his own opinions. 
 
 4 Lit., " by the stretching out of rays and of light." This, the doc- 
 trine of the Stoics, is naturally contrasted in the next clause with that 
 of Epicurus. 
 
 5 Lit., " oil refuses to suffer immersion into itself," i.e. of other 
 fluids. 
 
 6 So LB., followed by Orelli, reading impenetrabil-em for the MS. 
 impeiietrabil-is, which is corrected in both Roman edd. by Gclenius, 
 Canterus, and Elmenhorst -e, to agree with the subject oleum" being 
 impenetrable is ever," etc. 
 
 7 Lit, "a god."
 
 BOOK ii.] ARNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 71 
 
 worn out in doting, silly, 1 and crazy old age ? Now the weak- 
 ness and wretched ignorance of these [theories] is greater on 
 this account, that while it may happen that we at times say 
 something which is true, 2 we cannot be sure even of this 
 very thing, whether we have spoken the truth at all. 
 
 8. And since you have been wont to laugh at our faith, 
 and with droll jests to pull to pieces [our] readiness of belief 
 too, say, O wits, soaked and filled with wisdom's pure draught, 
 is there in life any kind of business demanding diligence and 
 activity, which the doers 3 undertake, engage in, and essay, 
 without believing [that it can be done] ? Do you travel 
 about, do you sail on the sea without believing that you will 
 return home when your business is done ? Do you break 
 up the earth with the plough, and fill it with different kinds 
 of seeds without believing that you will gather in the fruit 
 with the changes of the seasons ? Do you unite with part- 
 ners in marriage, 4 without believing that it will be pure, and 
 a union serviceable to the husband ? Do you beget children 
 without believing that they will pass 5 safely through the 
 [different] stages of life to the goal of age I Do you commit 
 your sick bodies to the hands of physicians, without believing 
 that diseases can be relieved by their severity being lessened? 
 Do you wage wars with your enemies, without believing that 
 you will carry off the victory by success in battles? 6 Do 
 you worship and serve the gods without believing that they 
 are, and that they listen graciously to your prayers ? 
 
 9. What, have you seen with your eyes, and handled 7 
 with your hands, those things which you write yourselves, 
 
 1 So the edd., generally reading fatua for the MS. futura, which is 
 clearly corrupt. Hildebrand turns the three adjectives into correspond- 
 ing verbs, and Heinsius emends deliret (MS. -ra) et fatue et insane 
 " dotes both sillily and crazily." Arnobius here follows Lucr. iii. 445 sqq. 
 
 2 Lit., " something of truth." 
 
 3 The MS. has a-t-tor-o-s, corrected by a later writer a-c-tor-e-s, which 
 is received in LB. and by Meursius and Orelli. 
 
 4 Lit., " unite marriage partnerships." 
 
 5 Lit., "be safe and come." 
 
 9 Or, " in successive battles "prceliorum successioniliis. 
 7 Lit., " with ocular inspection, and held touched."
 
 72 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK 11. 
 
 which you read from time to time on subjects placed beyond 
 human knowledge ? Does not each one trust this author or 
 that? That which any one has persuaded himself is said 
 with truth by another, does he not defend with a kind of 
 assent, as it were, [like that] of faith ? Does not he who 
 says that fire 1 or water is the origin of all things, pin his 
 faith to Thales or Heraclitus I he who places the cause [of 
 all] in numbers, to Pythagoras of Samos, [and] to Archytas ? 
 he who divides the soul, and sets up bodiless forms, to Plato, 
 the disciple of Socrates'? he who adds a fifth element 2 to the 
 primary causes, to Aristotle, the father of the Peripatetics ? 
 he who threatens the world with [destruction by] fire, and 
 says that when the time comes it will be [set] on fire, to 
 Panaetius, Chrysippus, Zeno? he who is always fashioning 
 worlds from atoms, 3 and destroying [them], to Epicurus, 
 Democritus, Metrodorus? he who [says] that nothing is com- 
 prehended by man, and that all things are wrapt in dark 
 obscurity, 4 to Archesilas, 5 to Carneades? to some teacher, 
 in fine, of the old and later Academy ? 
 
 10. Finally, do not even the leaders and founders of the 
 schools 6 already mentioned, say those very things 7 which 
 
 1 " Fire" is wanting in the MS. 
 
 2 Arnobius here allows himself to be misled by Cicero (Tusc. i. 10), 
 who explains \vrthk-^.i as a kind of perpetual motion, evidently con- 
 fusing it with iv&tKkfcitx. (cf. Donaldson, New Crat. 339 sqq.), and re- 
 presents Aristotle as making it a fifth primary cause. The word has no 
 such meaning, and Aristotle invariably enumerates only four primary 
 causes: the material from which, the form in which, the power by which, 
 and the end for which anything exists (Physics, ii. 3 ; MetapJi. iv. 2, etc.). 
 
 3 Lit., " with indivisible bodies." 4 PL 
 
 5 So the MS., LB., and Hildebrand, reading Archesilas, while the 
 others read Archesilao, forgetting that Arcesilas is the regular Latin 
 form, although Archesilaus is found. 
 
 6 Sententiarum is read in the first ed. by Gelenius, Canterus, and 
 Ursinus, and seems from Crusius to be the MS. reading. The other 
 edd., however, have received from the margin of Ursinus the reading of 
 the text, sectarum. 
 
 7 In the first ed., and that of Ursinus, the reading is, nonne apud ea, 
 " in those things which they say, do they not say," etc., which Geleniua 
 emended as in the text, nonne ipsa ea.
 
 BOOK n.] A RN OBI US AD VERSUS GENTES. 73 
 
 they do say through belief in their own ideas? For, did 
 Heraclitus see things produced by the changes of fires? 
 Thales, by the condensing of water 1 l [Did] Pythagoras [see 
 them] spring from number? 2 [Did] Plato [see] the bodiless 
 forms ? Democritus, the meeting together of the atoms ? Or 
 do those who assert that nothing at all can be comprehended 
 by man, know whether what they say is true, so as to 3 
 understand that the very proposition which they lay down 
 is a declaration of truth ? 4 Since, then, you have discovered 
 and learned nothing, and are led by credulity to assert all 
 those things which you write, and comprise in thousands of 
 books ; what kind of judgment, pray, is this, so unjust that 
 you mock at faith in us, while you see that you have it 
 in common with our readiness of belief ? 5 But [you say] 
 you believe wise men, well versed in all kinds of learning! 
 those, forsooth, who know nothing, and agree in nothing 
 which they say; who join battle with their opponents on 
 behalf of their own opinions, and are always contending 
 fiercely with obstinate hostility ; who, overthrowing, refuting, 
 
 1 Cf. Diog. Laert. ix. 9, where Heraclitus is said to have taught that 
 fire the first principle condensing becomes water, water earth, and 
 conversely ; and on Thales, Arist. Met. A, 3, where, however, as in 
 other places, Thales is merely said to have referred the generation and 
 maintenance of all things to moisture, although by others he is repre- 
 sented as teaching the doctrine ascribed to him above. Cf. Cic. de Nat. 
 Deor. i. 10, and Heraclides, Alleg. Horn. c. 22, where water evaporating 
 is said to become air, and settling, to become mud. 
 
 2 There is some difficulty as to the reading : the MS., first ed., and 
 Ursinus give numero s-c-ire, explained by Canterus as meaning " that 
 numbers have understanding," i.e. so as to be the cause of all. Gelenius, 
 followed by Canterus, reads -os scit " does Pyth. know numbers," 
 which is absurdly out of place. Heraldus approved of a reading in the 
 margin of Ursinus (merely inserting o after c), " that numbers unite," 
 which seems very plausible. The text follows an emendation of Gro- 
 novius adopted by Orelli, -o ex-ire. 
 
 3 So the MS., reading ut ; but Orelli, and all edd. before him, out " or 
 do they." 
 
 4 i.e. that truth knowable by man exists. 
 
 8 So the MS. reading nostra in-credulitate, for which Ursinus, followed 
 by Stewechius, reads nostra cum. Heraldus conjectured vestra, i.e. " in 
 your readiness of belief," you are just as much exposed to such ridicule.
 
 74 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK ir. 
 
 and bringing to nought the one the other's doctrines, have 
 made all things doubtful, and have shown from their very 
 want of agreement that nothing can be known. 
 
 11. But, [supposing that] these things do not at all hinder 
 or prevent your being bound to believe and hearken to them 
 in great measure ; l and what [reason] is there either that you 
 should have more [liberty] in this respect, or that we [should 
 have] less ? You believe Plato, 2 Cronius, 3 Numenius, or any 
 one you please ; we believe and confide in Christ. How un- 
 reasonable it is, that when we both abide 4 by teachers, and 
 have one and the same thing, belief, in common, you should 
 wish it to be granted to you to receive what is so 5 said by them, 
 [but] should be unwilling to hear and see what is brought for- 
 ward by Christ ! And yet, if we chose to compare cause with 
 cause, we are better able to point out what we have followed 
 in Christ, than [you to point out] what you [have followed] 
 in the philosophers. And we, indeed, have followed in him 
 these things those glorious works and most potent virtues 
 which he manifested and displayed in diverse miracles, by 
 which any one might be led to [feel] the necessity of believing, 
 and [might] decide with confidence that they were not such as 
 might be regarded as man's, but [such as showed] some divine 
 and unknown power. What virtues did you follow in the 
 
 1 Heraldus has well suggested that plurimum is a gloss arising out of 
 its being met with in the next clause. 
 
 2 So the MS. and edd., reading Platoni; but Ursinus suggested Plotino, 
 which Heraldus thinks most probably correct. There is, indeed, an 
 evident suitableness in introducing here the later rather than the earlier 
 philosopher, which has great weight in dealing with the next name, 
 and should therefore, perhaps, have some in this case also. 
 
 3 The MS. and both Eoman edd. give Crotonio, rejected by the others 
 because no Crotonius is known (it has been referred, however, to Pytha- 
 goras, on the ground of his having taught in Croton). In the margin 
 of Ursinus Cronius was suggested, received by LB. and Orelli, who is 
 mentioned by Eusebius (Hist. Eccl. vi. 19, 3) with Numenius and others 
 as an eminent Pythagorean, and by Porphyry (de Ant. Nymph, xxi.), 
 as a friend of Numenius, and one of those who treated the Homeric 
 poems as allegories. Gelenius substitutes Plotinus, followed by most edd. 
 
 4 Stemus, the admirable correction of Gelenius for the MS. tem-p-us. 
 s Orelli, following Stewecluus, would omit ita.
 
 BOOK ii.] ARNOBIUS ADVEESUS GENTES. 75 
 
 philosophers, that it was more reasonable for you [to believe] 
 them than for us to believe Christ ? Was any one of them 
 ever able by one word, or by a single command, I will not 
 say to restrain, to check 1 the madness of the sea or the f ury 
 of the storm ; to restore their sight to the blind, or give it to 
 men blind from their birth ; to call the dead back to life ; to 
 put an end to the sufferings of years ; but and this is much 
 easier 2 to heal by one rebuke a boil, a scab, or a thorn fixed 
 in the skin ? Not that we deny either that they are worthy 
 of praise for the soundness of their morals, or that they are 
 skilled in all kinds of studies and learning: for we know 
 that they both speak in the most elegant language, and [that 
 their words] flow in polished periods ; that they reason in 
 syllogisms with the utmost acuteness ; that they arrange their 
 inferences in due order ; 3 that they express, divide, distinguish 
 principles by definitions ; that they say many things about 
 the [different] kinds of numbers, many things about music ; 
 that by their maxims and precepts 4 they settle the problems 
 of geometry also. But what [has] that to [do with] the 
 case? Do enthymemes, syllogisms, and other such things, 
 assure us that these [men] know what is true ? or are they 
 therefore such that credence should necessarily be given to 
 them with regard to very obscure subjects ? A comparison 
 of persons must be decided, not by vigour of eloquence, but 
 by the excellence of the works [which they have] done. 
 He must not 5 be called a good teacher who has expressed 
 himself clearly, 6 but he who accompanies his promises with 
 the guarantee of divine works. 
 
 12. You bring forward arguments against us, and specu- 
 
 1 Hildebrand thinks compescere here a gloss, but it must be remem- 
 bered that redundancy is a characteristic of Arnobius. 
 
 2 The superlative is here, as elsewhere, used by Arnobius instead of 
 the comparative. 
 
 3 i.e. so as to show the relations existing between them. 
 
 4 Perhaps " axioms and postulates." 
 
 5 According to Crusius, non is not found in the MS. 
 
 6 White and Riddle translate candidule, " sincerely," but give no 
 other instance of its use, and here the reference is plainly to the pre- 
 vious statement of the literary excellence of the philosophers. Heraldua
 
 76 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [Boon H. 
 
 lative quibblings, 1 which may I say this without displeasing 
 him if Christ himself were to use in the gatherings of the 
 nations, who would assent ? who would listen ? who would 
 say that he decided 2 anything clearly? or who, though he 
 were rash and utterly 3 credulous, would follow him when 
 pouring forth vain and baseless statements? His virtues 
 [have been] made manifest to you, and that unheard-of 
 power over things, whether that which was openly exercised 
 by him, or that which was used 4 over the whole world by 
 those who proclaimed him : it has subdued the fires of pas- 
 sion, and caused races, and peoples, and nations most diverse 
 in character to hasten with one accord to accept the same 
 faith. For the [deeds] can be reckoned up and numbered 
 which have been done in India, 5 among the Seres, Per- 
 sians, and Medes ; in Arabia, Egypt, in Asia, Syria ; 
 among the Galatians, Parthian s, Phrygians ; in Achaia, 
 Macedonia, Epirus ; in all islands and provinces on which 
 the rising and setting sun shines ; in Rome herself, finally, 
 the mistress [of the world], in which, although men are 6 
 
 suggests callidule, " cunningly," of which Orelli approves; but by re- 
 ferring the adv. to this well-known meaning of its primitive, all necessity 
 for emendation is obviated. 
 
 1 Lit., " subtleties of suspicions." This passage is certainly doubtful. 
 The reading translated, et suspicionum argutias profer-tis, is that of LB., 
 Orelli, and the later edd. generally ; while the MS. reads -atis " Bring 
 forward arguments to us, and" (for which Heraldus conjectures very 
 plausibly, nee, " and not ") " subtleties," etc., which, by changing a 
 single letter, reads in the earlier edd. profer-etis " Will you," or, " You 
 will bring forward," etc. 
 
 2 Meursius conjectures in- (for sis. /-) dicare " pointed out," of 
 which Orelli approves. 
 
 3 So the sis. and both Roman edd., supported by Heraldus, reading 
 solid & facilitatis, changed by the edd. into stolidse " stupid." 
 
 4 So all the edd. except Oehler ; but as the first verb is plural in the 
 MS., while the second is singular, it is at least as probable that the second 
 was plural originally also, and that therefore the relative should be made 
 to refer both to " virtues" and " power." 
 
 c Orelli notes that by India is here meant Ethiopia. If so, it may bo 
 well to remember that Lucan (x. 29 sq.) makes the Seres neighbours of 
 the Ethiopians, and dwellers at the sources of the Nile. 
 
 6 Instead of slnt, Stewechius would read essent " were."
 
 BOOK ii.] A RNOB1 US AD VERSUS GENTES. 77 
 
 busied with the practices introduced by king 1 Numa, and the 
 superstitious observances of antiquity, they have nevertheless 
 hastened to give up their fathers' mode of life, 2 and attach 
 themselves to Christian truth. For they had seen the chariot 3 
 of Simon Magus, and his fiery car, blown into pieces by the 
 mouth of Peter, and vanish when Christ was named. They 
 had seen [him], I say, trusting in false gods, and abandoned 
 by them in their terror, borne down headlong by his own 
 weight, lie prostrate with his legs broken ; [and] then, when 
 he had been carried to Brunda, 4 worn out with anguish and 
 shame, again cast himself down from the roof of a very lofty 
 house. But all these deeds you neither know nor have 
 wished to know, nor did you ever consider that they were 
 of the utmost importance to you ; and while you trust your 
 own judgments, and term [that] wisdom which is overweening 
 conceit, you have given to deceivers to those guilty [ones], 
 I say, whose interest it is that the Christian name be de- 
 graded an opportunity of raising clouds of darkness, and 
 concealing truths of so much importance ; of robbing you of 
 faith, and putting scorn in its place, in order that, as they 
 already feel that an end such as they deserve threatens them, 
 they might excite in you also a feeling through which you 
 should run into danger, and be deprived of the divine mercy. 
 13. Meantime, however, O you who wonder and are aston- 
 ished at the doctrines of the learned, and of philosophy, 
 
 1 Instead of the MS. reading, Numss regis artibus et antiquis supersti- 
 tionibus, Stewechius, followed by Heraldus, would read ritibus " with 
 the rites of Numa," etc. 
 
 2 So the MS., reading res patrias, for which Heraldus, ritus patrios 
 " rites." 
 
 3 So the SIS., although the first five edd., by changing r into s, read 
 cur-s-um " course." This story is of frequent occurrence in the later 
 fathers, but is never referred to by the earlier, or by any except Christian 
 writers, and is derived solely from the Apostolic Constitutions. In the 
 Greek version of the Apost. Const, the sixth book opens with a disserta- 
 tion on schisms and heresies, in which the story of Simon and others is 
 told ; but that this was interpolated by some compiler seems clear from 
 the arguments brought forward by Bunsen (Hippolytus and his Age, more 
 particularly vol. ii. Pt. 2, 2, and the second appendix). 
 
 4 Brunda or Brenda, i.e. Brundisium.
 
 78 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK IL 
 
 do you not then think it most unjust to scoff, to jeer at 
 us as though we say foolish and senseless things, when you 
 too are found to say either these or just such things which 
 you laugh at when said and uttered by us ? Nor do I address 
 those who, scattered through various bypaths of the schools, 
 have formed this and that [insignificant] party through 
 diversity of opinion. You, you I address, who zealously 
 follow Mercury, 1 Plato, and Pythagoras, and the rest of you 
 who are of one mind, and walk in unity in the same paths of 
 doctrine. Do you dare to laugh at us because we 2 revere 
 and worship the Creator and Lord 3 of the universe, and 
 because we commit and entrust our hopes to Him ? What 
 [does] your Plato [say] in the T/iecetetus, to mention him 
 especially ? Does he not exhort the soul to flee from the earth, 
 and, as much as in it lies, to be continually engaged in 
 thought and meditation about Him? 4 Do you dare to laugh 
 at us, because we say that there will be a resurrection of the 
 dead? And this indeed we confess that we say, but [main- 
 tain] that it is understood by you otherwise than we hold it. 
 What [says] the same Plato in the Politicus ? Does he not 
 say that, when the world has begun to rise out of the west 
 and tend towards the east, 5 men will again burst forth from 
 the bosom of the earth, aged, grey-haired, bowed down with 
 
 1 Hermes Trismegistus. See index. 
 
 2 So the MS., Elmenh., LB., Hildebrand, and Oehler, reading quod, for 
 which the other edd. read qui " who." 
 
 3 This seems to be the reading intended by the MS., which according 
 to Hild. gives dom, i.e. probably dominum, which Oehler adopts, but all 
 other edd. read deum " god." 
 
 4 Arnobius rather exaggerates the force of the passage referred to (st. 
 p. 173), which occurs in the beautiful digression on philosophers. Plato 
 there says that only the philosopher's body is here on earth, while his 
 mind, holding politics and the ordinary business and amusements of 
 life unworthy of attention, is occupied with what is above and beneath 
 the earth, just as Thales, when he fell into a ditch, was looking at the 
 stars, and not at his steps. 
 
 5 In cardinem verrjere fjui orientis est solis seems to be the reading 
 of all edd. ; but according to Crusius the MS. reads vertere " to 
 turn." Hildebrand, on the contrary, affirms that instead of /, the MS. 
 gives c.
 
 BOOK it.] ARNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 79 
 
 years ; and that when the remoter l years begin to draw near, 
 they will gradually sink down 2 to the cradles of their infancy, 
 through the same steps by which they now grow to man- 
 hood ? 3 Do you dare to laugh at us because we see to 
 the salvation of our souls 1 that is, ourselves [care] for our- 
 selves : for what are we men, but souls shut up in bodies ? 
 (You, indeed, do not take every pains for their safety, 4 in that 
 you do not refrain from all vice and passion ; about this you 
 are anxious, that you may cleave to [your] bodies as though 
 inseparably bound to them. 6 ) What mean those mystic 
 rites, 6 in which you beseech some [unknown] powers to be 
 favourable to you, and not put any hindrance in your way 
 to impede you when returning to your native seats ? 
 
 14. Do you dare to laugh at us when we speak of hell, 7 
 and fires 8 which cannot be quenched, into which we have 
 
 1 i.e. originally earlier. 
 
 2 So most edd., reading desituros, for which Stewechius suggests de- 
 sulturos " leap down ; " LB. exituros " go out." 
 
 3 Reference is here made to one of the most extraordinary of the 
 Platonic myths (Pol. 269-274), in which the world is represented as not 
 merely material, but as being further possessed of intelligence. It is 
 ever in motion, but not always in the same way. For at one time its 
 motion is directed by a divine governor (rov 7rvTo; d plv xvfapvviTYi;) ; but 
 this does not continue, for he withdraws from his task, and thereupon 
 the world loses, or rather gives up its previous bias, and begins to re- 
 volve in the opposite direction, causing among other results a reverse 
 development of the phenomena which occurred before, such as Arnobius 
 describes. Arnobius, however, gives too much weight to the myth, as in 
 the introduction it is more than hinted that it may be addressed to the 
 young Socrates, as boys like such stories, and he is not much more than 
 a boy. With it should be contrasted the " great year " of the Stoics, 
 in which the universe fulfilled its course, and then began afresh to pass 
 through the same experience as before (Nemesius, de Nat. Horn. c. 38). 
 
 4 LB. makes these words interrogative, but the above arrangement is 
 clearly vindicated by the tenor of the argument : You laugh at our 
 care for our souls' salvation ; and truly you do not see to their safety by 
 such precautions as a virtuous life, but do you not seek that which you 
 think salvation by mystic rites? 
 
 5 Lit., "fastened with beam" (i.e. large and strong) "nails." 
 
 6 Cf. on the intercessory prayers of the Magi, c. 6'2. 
 
 1 PI. Cf. Milman's note on Gibbon, vol. 2, c. xi. p. ','. 
 8 Lit., " certain fires."
 
 80 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK n. 
 
 learned that souls are cast by their foes and enemies ? What, 
 does not your Plato also, in the book which he wrote on the 
 immortality of the soul, name the rivers Acheron, Styx, 1 
 Cocytus, and Pyriphlegethon, and assert that in them souls 
 are rolled along, engulfed, and burned up? But [though] 
 a man of no little wisdom, 2 and of accurate judgment and 
 discernment, he essays a problem which cannot be solved ; so 
 that, while he says that the soul is immortal, everlasting, 
 and without bodily substance, he yet says that they are 
 punished, and makes them suffer pain. 3 But what man does 
 not see that that which is immortal, which [is] simple, 4 cannot 
 be subject to any pain ; that that, on the contrary, cannot 
 be immortal which does suffer pain ? And yet his opinion 
 is not very far from the truth. For although the gentle and 
 kindly disposed man thought it inhuman cruelty to condemn 
 souls to death, he yet not unreasonably 6 supposed that they 
 are cast into rivers blazing with masses of flame, and loath- 
 some from their foul abysses. For they are cast in, and 
 being annihilated, pass away vainly in 6 everlasting destruc- 
 tion. For theirs is an intermediate 7 state, as has been 
 learned from Christ's teaching ; and [they are] such that they 
 may on the one hand perish if they have not known God, 
 and on the other be delivered from death if they have given 
 heed to his threats 8 and [proffered] favours. And to make 
 
 1 Plato, in the passage referred to (Phiedo, st. p. 113, 61), speaks 
 of the Styx not as a river, but as the lake into which the Cocytus 
 falls. The fourth river which he mentions in addition to the Acheron, 
 Pyriphlegethon, and Cocytus, which he calls Stygian, is the Ocean 
 stream. 
 
 2 So the MS., according to Hild., reading parvie; but ace. to Rigaltius 
 and Crusius, it gives pravx " of no mean." 
 
 3 So LB., Hild., and Oehler, reading doloris official sensu, by merely 
 dropping m from the MS. sensu-m; while all the other edd. read doloribus 
 sensuum " affects with the pains of the senses." 
 
 4 i.e. not compounded of soul and body. 
 
 5 Or, " not unsuitably," absone. 
 
 6 Lit., " im the failure (or ' disappointment') of," etc. 
 
 7 i.e. neither immortal nor necessarily mortal. 
 
 8 So Gelenius emended the unintelligible MS. reading se-mina by 
 merely adding s, followed by all edd., although Ursinus in the margin
 
 BOOK ii.] ARNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 81 
 
 manifest 1 what is unknown, this is man's real death, this 
 which leaves nothing behind. For that which is seen by 
 the eyes is [only] a separation of soul from body, not 
 the last end annihilation : 2 this, I say, is man's real death, 
 when souls which know not God shall 3 be consumed in 
 long-protracted torment with raging fire, into which certain 
 fiercely cruel [beings] shall 3 cast them, who were unknown 4 
 before Christ, and brought to light only by his wisdom. 
 
 15. Wherefore there is no reason that that 5 should mis- 
 lead us, should hold out vain hopes to us, which is said by 
 some men till now unheard of, 6 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. 7 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 
 
 suggests se rnlam, i.e. mi-sericordiam " pity ;" and Heraldus conjectures 
 munia " gifts." 
 
 1 So almost all edd., from a conjecture of Gelenius, supplying ut, which 
 is wanting in the MS., first ed., and Oehler. 
 
 2 It is worth while to contrast Augustine's words : " The death which 
 men fear is the separation of the soul from the body. The true death, 
 which men do not fear, is the separation of the soul from God " (Aug. 
 in Ps. xlviii., quoted by Elmenhorst). 
 
 3 In the first ed., Gelenius, Canterus, Ursinus, and Orelli, both verbs 
 are made present, but all other edd. follow the MS. as above. 
 
 4 Lit., " and unknown." Here Arnobius shows himself ignorant of 
 Jewish teaching, as in iii. 12. 
 
 5 So the MS. and LB., followed by Oehler ; in the edd. id is omitted. 
 
 8 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 ! 
 
 7 Lit., " not touchable by any contact of body," neque utta corporis 
 attrectatione contiguas. 
 
 AKNOB. F
 
 82 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK n. 
 
 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. 1 
 
 16. But, [they say], while we are moving swiftly down 
 towards our mortal bodies, 2 causes pursue us from the world's 
 circles, 3 through the working of which we become bad, ay, 
 most wicked ; burn with lust and anger, spend our life in 
 shameful deeds, and are given over to the lust of all by the 
 prostitution of our bodies for hire. And how can the material 
 unite with the immaterial ? or how can that which God has 
 made, be led by weaker causes to degrade itself through the 
 practice of vice? Will you lay aside your habitual arrogance, 4 
 O men, who claim God as your Father, and maintain that 
 you are immortal, just as he is? Will you inquire, examine, 
 search what you are yourselves, whose you are, of what 
 parentage you are supposed [to be], what you do in the 
 world, in what way you are born, how you leap to life ? 
 Will you, laying aside [all] partiality, consider in the silence 
 of your thoughts that we are creatures either quite like the 
 rest, or separated by no great difference ? For what is there 
 to show that we do not resemble them ? or what excellence 
 is in us, such that we scorn to be ranked as creatures ? 
 Their bodies are built up on bones, and bound closely together 
 by sinews ; and our bodies are in like manner built up on 
 
 1 Arnobius considers the reductio ad absurdum so very plain, that he 
 does not trouble himself to state his argument more directly. 
 
 2 There has been much confusion as to the meaning of Arnobius 
 throughout this discussion, which would have been obviated if it had 
 been remembered that his main purpose in it is to show how unsatis- 
 factory and unstable are the theories of the philosophers, and that he 
 is not therefore to be identified with the views brought forward, but 
 rather with the objections raised to them. 
 
 3 Of. c. 28, p. 95. 
 
 4 So the MS., followed by Orelli and others, reading institution super- 
 ciliumque " habit and arrogance," for the first word of which LB. reads 
 istum ti/phum " that pride of yours ; " Meursius, isti typhum " Lay aside 
 pride, ye."
 
 BOOK ii.] ARNOBIUS AD VERSUS GENTES. 83 
 
 bones, and bound closely together by sinews. They inspire 
 the air through nostrils, and in breathing expire it again ; 
 and we in like manner draw in the air, and breathe it out 
 with frequent respirations. They have been arranged in 
 classes, female and male; we, too, have been fashioned by our 
 Creator into the same sexes. 1 Their young are born from 
 the womb, and are begotten through union of the sexes ; 
 and we are born from sexual embraces, and are brought 
 forth and sent into life from our mothers' wombs. They 
 are supported by eating and drinking, and get rid of the 
 filth which remains by the lower parts; and we are sup- 
 ported by eating and drinking, and that which nature refuses 
 we deal with in the same way. Their care is to ward off 
 death-bringing famine, and of necessity to be on the watch 
 for food. What else is our aim in the business of life, which 
 presses so much upon us, 2 but to seek the means by which 
 the danger of starvation may be avoided, and carking anxiety 
 put away ? They are exposed to disease and hunger, and at 
 last lose their strength by reason of age. What, then ? are 
 we not exposed to these evils, and are we not in like manner 
 weakened by noxious diseases, destroyed by wasting age ? 
 But if that, too, which is said in the more hidden mysteries 
 is true, that the souls of wicked men, on leaving their human 
 bodies, pass into cattle and other creatures, 3 it is [even] more 
 clearly shown that we are allied to them, and not separated by 
 any great interval, since it is on the same ground that both 
 we and they are said to be living creatures, and to act as such. 
 17. But we have reason, [one will say], and excel the 
 whole race of dumb animals in understanding. I might 
 believe that this was quite true, if all men lived rationally 
 and wisely, never swerved aside from their duty, abstained 
 from what is forbidden, and withheld themselves from base- 
 ness, and [if] no one through folly and the blindness of 
 ignorance demanded what is injurious and dangerous to 
 
 1 So the edd., reading in totidem sexus for the MS. sexu " into so many 
 kinds in sex." 
 
 2 Lit., " in so great occupations of life." 
 8 Of. Plato, Phiedo, st. p. 81.
 
 84 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK n. 
 
 himself. I should wish, however, to know what this reason 
 is, through which we are more excellent than all the tribes 
 of animals. [Is it] because we have made for ourselves 
 houses, by which we can avoid the cold of winter and heat 
 of summer ? What ! do not the other animals show fore- 
 thought in this respect ? Do we not see some build nests as 
 dwellings for themselves in the most convenient situations ; 
 others shelter and secure [themselves] in rocks and lofty 
 crags ; others burrow in the ground, and prepare for them- 
 selves strongholds and lairs in the pits which they have dug 
 out ? But if nature, which gave them life, had chosen to 
 give to them also hands to help them, they too would, with- 
 out doubt, raise lofty buildings and strike out new works 
 of art. 1 Yet, even in those things which they make with 
 beaks and claws, we see that there are many appearances of 
 reason and wisdom which we men are unable to copy, how- 
 ever much we ponder them, although we have hands to serve 
 us dexterously in every kind of work. 
 
 18. They have not learned, [I will be told], to make cloth- 
 ing, seats, ships, and ploughs, nor, in fine, the other furniture 
 which family life requires. These are not the gifts of science, 
 but the suggestions of most pressing necessity ; nor did the 
 arts descend with [men's] souls from the inmost heavens, but 
 here on earth have they all been painfully sought out and 
 brought to light, 2 and gradually acquired in process of time 
 by careful thought. But if the soul 3 had [in itself] the 
 knowledge which it is fitting that a race should have indeed 
 [which is] divine and immortal, all men would from the first 
 know everything; nor would there be an age unacquainted 
 with any art, or not furnished with practical knowledge. 
 But now a life of want and in need of many things, 
 
 1 So, by a later writer in the margin of the MS., who gives artificiosa-s 
 novitates, adopted by Stewechius and Oehler, the s being omitted in the 
 text of the MS. itself, as in the edd., which drop the final s in the next 
 word also "would raise and with unknown art strike out lofty 
 buildings." 
 
 3 Lit., "born." 
 
 3 Throughout this discussion, Arnobius generally uses the plural, 
 animse " souls.'
 
 BOOK ii.] ARNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 85 
 
 noticing some things happen accidentally to its advantage, 
 while it imitates, experiments, and tries, while it fails, re- 
 moulds, changes, from continual failure has procured for 
 itself 1 and wrought out some slight acquaintance with the 
 arts, and brought to one issue the advances of many ages. 
 
 19. But if men either knew themselves thoroughly, or had 
 the slightest knowledge of God, 2 they would never claim as 
 their own a divine and immortal nature ; nor would they 
 think themselves something great because they have made 
 for themselves gridirons, basins, and bowls, 3 because [they 
 have made] under-shirts, outer-shirts, cloaks, plaids, robes of 
 state, knives, cuirasses and swords, mattocks, hatchets, 
 ploughs. Never, I say, carried away by pride and arrogance, 
 would they believe themselves to be deities of the first rank, 
 and fellows of the highest in his exaltation, 4 because they 5 had 
 devised the arts of grammar, music, oratory, and geometry. 
 For we do not see what is [so] wonderful in these arts, that 
 because of their discovery the soul should be believed to be 
 above the sun as well as all the stars, to surpass both in 
 grandeur and essence the whole universe, of which these are 
 parts. For what else do these assert that they can either 
 declare or teach, than that we may learn to know the rules 
 and differences of nouns, the intervals in the sounds of [dif- 
 ferent] tones, that we may speak persuasively in lawsuits, 
 that we may measure the confines of the earth ? Now, if 
 the soul had brought these arts with it from the celestial 
 regions, and it were impossible not to know them, all men 
 
 1 So Elmenhorst, Oberthuer, and Orelli, reading par-a-v-it sibi et for 
 the MS. parv-as et, " from continual failure has wrought out indeed 
 slight smattering of the arts," etc., which is retained in both Roman 
 edd., LB., and Hild. ; while Gelenius and Canterus merely substitute 
 sibi for et, " wrought out for itself slight," etc. 
 
 2 Lit., " or received understanding of God by the breath of any sus- 
 picion." 
 
 3 The MS. gives c-etera-que, " and the rest," which is retained in both 
 Roman edd., and by Gelenius and Canterus, though rather out of place, 
 as the enumeration goes on. 
 
 4 Lit., " equal to the highness (summitati) of the prince." 
 
 * So LB. and Orelli, reading qui-ti ; the rest, qui " who."
 
 86 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK IL 
 
 would long before this be busied with them over all the 
 earth, nor would any race of men be found which would not 
 be equally and similarly instructed in them all. But now 
 how few musicians, logicians, and geometricians are there in 
 the world ! how few orators, poets, critics ! From which it 
 is clear, as has been said pretty frequently, that these things 
 were discovered under the pressure of time and circum- 
 stances, and that the soul did not fly hither divinely l taught, 
 because neither are all learned, nor can all learn; and 2 there 
 are very many among them somewhat deficient in shrewdness, 
 and stupid, and they are constrained to apply themselves to 
 learning [only] by fear of stripes. But if it were a fact 
 that the things which we learn are but reminiscences 3 as 
 has been maintained in the systems of the ancients as we 
 start from the same truth, we should all have learned alike, 
 and remember alike not have diverse, very numerous, and 
 inconsistent opinions. Now, however, seeing that we each 
 assert different things, it is clear and manifest that we have 
 brought nothing from heaven, but become acquainted with 
 what has arisen here, and maintain what has taken firm root 
 in our thoughts. 
 
 20. And, that we may show you more clearly and distinctly 
 what is the worth of man, whom you believe to be very like 
 the higher power, conceive this idea ; and because it can be 
 done if we come into direct contact with it, let us conceive 
 it just as if we came into contact. Let us then imagine a 
 place dug out in the earth, fit for dwelling in, formed into a 
 chamber, enclosed by a roof and walls, not cold in winter, 
 not too warm in summer, but so regulated and equable that 
 we suffer neither cold 4 nor the violent heat of summer. To 
 this let there not come any sound or cry whatever, 5 of bird, 
 of beast, of storm, of man of any noise, in fine, or of the 
 
 1 So Gelenius, reading divinitus for the MS. divinas, i.e. " with a divine 
 nature and origin," which is retained in the first ed. and Orelli. 
 
 2 The MS., both Roman edd., Hild., and Oehler, read ut, " so that there 
 are." 
 
 8 Of. on this Platonic doctrine, ch. 24. 
 
 4 Lit., " a feeling of cold." 6 Lit., " sound of voice at all."
 
 BOOK ii.] ARNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 87 
 
 thunder's l terrible crash. Let us next devise a way in which 
 it may be lighted not by the introduction of fire, nor by the 
 sight of the sun, but let there be some counterfeit 2 to imi- 
 tate sunlight, darkness being interposed. 3 Let there not be 
 one door, nor a direct entrance, [but] let it be approached 
 by tortuous windings, and let it never be thrown open unless 
 when it is absolutely necessary. 
 
 21. Now, as we have prepared a place for our idea, let us 
 next receive some one born to dwell there, where there is 
 nothing but an empty void, 4 one of the race of Plato, namely, 
 or Pythagoras, or some one of those who are regarded as of 
 superhuman wit, or have been declared most wise by the 
 oracles of the gods. And when this has been done, he must 
 then be nourished and brought up on suitable food. Let 
 us therefore provide a nurse also, who shall come to him 
 always naked, ever silent, uttering not a word, and shall not 
 open her mouth and lips to speak at all, but after suckling 
 him, and doing what else is necessary, shall leave him fast 
 asleep, and remain day and night before the closed doors ; 
 for it is usually necessary that the nurse's care should be 
 near at hand, and that [she] should watch his varying motions. 
 But when the child begins to need to be supported by more 
 substantial food, let it be borne in by the same nurse, still 
 undressed, and maintaining the same unbroken silence. Let 
 the food, too, which is carried in be always precisely the 
 same, with no difference in the material, and without being 
 re-cooked by means of different flavours ; but let it be either 
 pottage of millet, or bread of spelt, or, in imitation of the 
 ancients, chestnuts roasted in the hot ashes, or berries plucked 
 
 1 Lit., " of heaven terribly crashing." 
 
 2 So the later edd., adopting the emendation of Scaliger, nothum 
 " spurious," which here seems to approach in meaning to its use by 
 Lucretius (v. 574 sq.), of the moon's light as borrowed from the sun. 
 The MS. and first four edd. read notum, " known." 
 
 8 According to Huet (quoted by Oehler), " between that spurious and 
 the true light;" but perhaps the idea is that of darkness interposed at 
 intervals to resemble the recurrence of night. 
 
 4 Lit., " born, and that, too (et wanting in almost all edd.), into the 
 hospice of that place which has nothing, and is inane and empty."
 
 88 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK n. 
 
 from forest trees. Let him, moreover, never learn to drink 
 wine, and let nothing else be used to quench his thirst than 
 pure cold water from the spring, and [that] if possible raised 
 to his lips in the hollow of his hands. For habit, growing 
 into [second] nature, will become familiar from custom ; nor 
 will his desire extend l further, not knowing that there is 
 [anything] more to be sought after. 
 
 22. To what, then, [you ask], do these things tend ? 
 [We have brought them forward] in order that as it has 
 been believed that the souls [of men] are divine, and there- 
 fore immortal, and that they come to their human bodies 
 with all knowledge we may make trial from this [child], 
 whom we have supposed to be brought up in this way, 
 whether this is credible, or has been rashly believed and 
 taken for granted, in consequence of deceitful anticipation. 
 Let us suppose, then, that he grows up, reared in a secluded, 
 lonely spot, spending as many years as you choose, twenty or 
 thirty, nay, let him be brought into the assemblies of men 
 when he has lived through forty years ; and if it is true that 
 he is a part of the divine essence, and 2 lives here sprung 
 from the fountains of life, before he makes acquaintance 
 with anything, or is made familiar .with human speech, let 
 him be questioned and answer who he is, or from what 
 father ; in what regions he was born, how or in what way 
 brought up ; with what work or business he has been en- 
 gaged during the former part of his life. Will he not, then, 
 stand [speechless], with less wit and sense than any beast, 
 block, stone? Will he not, when brought into contact with 3 
 strange and previously unknown things, be above all ignorant 
 of himself? If you ask, will he be able to say what the 
 sun is, the earth, seas, stars, clouds, mist, showers, thunder, 
 
 1 So most edd., reading porrigetur for the MS. corrigetur ' ' be corrected," 
 i.e. need to be corrected, which is retained in the first ed. 
 
 2 So Gelenius, followed by Canterus, Elmenh., and Oberthur, reading 
 portione-m et, while the words tarn Isetam, " that he is so joyous a part," 
 are inserted before et by Stewechius and the rest, except both Koman 
 edd., which retain the MS. portionejam Iteta. 
 
 * Lit., " sent to."
 
 BOOK ii. ] ARNOBIUS ADVERSVS GENTES. 89 
 
 snow, hail ? Will he be able to know what trees are, herbs, 
 or grasses, a bull, a horse, or ram, a camel, elephant, or kite ? l 
 23. If you give a grape to him when hungry, a must- 
 cake, an onion, a thistle, 2 a cucumber, a fig, will he know 
 that his hunger can be appeased by all these, or of what 
 kind each should be [to be fit] for eating? 3 If you made a 
 very great fire, or surrounded him with venomous creatures, 
 will he not go through the midst of flames, vipers, taran- 
 tulas, 4 without knowing that they are dangerous, and ignorant 
 even of fear? But again, if you set before him garments 
 and furniture, both for city and country life, will he indeed 
 be able to distinguish 5 for what each is fitted ? to discharge 
 what service they are adapted? Will he declare for what 
 purposes of dress the stragula 6 was made, the coif, 7 zone, 8 
 fillet, cushion, handkerchief, cloak, veil, napkin, furs, 9 shoe, 
 sandal, boot? What, if you go on to ask what a wheel is, or 
 a sledge, 10 a winnowing-fan, jar, tub, an oil-mill, plough- 
 share, or sieve, a mill-stone, plough-tail, or light hoe ; a 
 curved seat, a needle, a strigil, a laver, an open seat, a ladle, 
 a platter, a candlestick, a goblet, a broom, a cup, a bag ; a 
 lyre, pipe, silver, brass, gold, 11 a book, a rod, a roll, 12 and 
 the rest of the equipment by which the life of man is sur- 
 
 1 So the MS., reading milvus, for which all edd. (except Oberthuer) 
 since Stewechius read mulus, " a mule." 
 
 2 Carduus, no doubt the esculent thistle, a kind of artichoke. 
 
 3 So, according to an emendation in LB., esui, adopted by Orelli and 
 others, instead of the MS. reading et sui. 
 
 4 There has been much discussion as to whether the solifuga or soli- 
 puga here spoken of is an ant or spider. 
 
 5 The MS. reads discriminare, discernere, with the latter word, how- 
 ever, marked as spurious. 
 
 6 A kind of rug. 7 Mitra. 
 
 8 Strophium, passing round the breast, by some regarded as a kind of 
 corset. 
 
 9 Mastruca, a garment made of the skins of the mujlone, a Sardinian 
 wild sheep. 
 
 10 Tribula, for rubbing out the corn. 
 
 11 Aurum is omitted in all edd., except those of LB., Hild., and Oehler. 
 
 12 Liber, a roll of parchment or papyrus, as opposed to the preceding 
 codex, a book of pages.
 
 90 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [Boo* n. 
 
 rounded and maintained? Will he not in such circum- 
 stances, as we said, like an ox l or an ass, a pig, or any beast 
 more senseless, look 2 at these indeed, observing their various 
 shapes, but 3 not knowing what they all are, and ignorant of 
 the purpose for which they are kept? If he were in any 
 way compelled to utter a sound, would he not with gaping 
 mouth shout something indistinctly, as the dumb usually 
 do? 
 
 24. Why, O Plato, do you in the Meno 4 put to a young 
 slave certain questions relating to the doctrines of number, 
 and strive to prove by his answers that what we learn we do 
 not learn, but that we [merely] call back to memory those 
 things which we knew in former times ? Now, if he answers 
 you correctly (for it would not be becoming that we should re- 
 fuse credit to what you say), he is led [to do so] not by his real 
 knowledge, 5 but by his intelligence ; and it results from his 
 having some acquaintance with numbers, through using them 
 every day, that when questioned he follows [your meaning], 
 and that the very process of multiplication always prompts 
 him. But if you are really assured that the souls [of men 
 are] immortal and endowed with knowledge [when they] fly 
 hither, cease to question that youth whom you see to be 
 ignorant G and accustomed to the ways of men : 7 call to you 
 that man of forty years, and ask of him, not anything out 
 of the way or obscure about triangles, about squares, [not] 
 
 1 The MS. reads volis unintelligibly, corrected by Meursius lovis. 
 
 2 So Orelli and modern edd. ; but Crusius gives as the MS. reading 
 conspici-etur (not -ef), as given by Ursinus, and commonly received 
 "Will he not... be seen?" 
 
 3 The MS. and first five edd. read et " and," changed in LB. to sed. 
 
 * In this dialogue (st. p. 81) Socrates brings forward the doctrine of 
 reminiscence as giving a reasonable ground for the pursuit of know- 
 ledge, and then proceeds to give a practical illustration of it by leading 
 an uneducated slave to solve a mathematical problem by means of 
 question and answer. 
 
 6 Lit., "his knowledge of things." 
 
 6 So the MS. and edd., reading i-gnarum rerum, except LB., which by 
 merely omitting the i gives the more natural meaning, "acquainted 
 with the things," etc. 
 
 7 Lit., " established in the limits of humanity."
 
 BOOK ii.] AENOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 91 
 
 what a cube is, or a second power, 1 the ratio of nine to eight, 
 or finally, of four to three ; but ask him that with which all 
 are acquainted what twice two are, or twice three. We 
 wish to see, we wish to know, what answer he gives when 
 questioned whether he solves the desired problem. In such 
 a case will he perceive, although his ears are open, whether 
 you are saying anything, or asking anything, or requiring 
 some answer from him? and will he not stand like a stock, 
 or the Marpesian rock, 2 as the saying is, dumb and speech- 
 less, not understanding or knowing even this whether you 
 are talking with him or with another, conversing with an- 
 other or with him; 3 whether that is intelligible speech which 
 you utter, or [merely] a cry having no meaning, but drawn 
 out and protracted to no purpose? 
 
 25. What say you, O men, who assign to yourselves too 
 much of an excellence not your own ? Is this the learned 
 soul which you describe, immortal, perfect, divine, holding 
 the fourth place under God the Lord of the universe, and 
 under the kindred spirits, 4 and proceeding from the fountains 
 of life? 5 This is that precious [being] man, endowed 6 with 
 the loftiest powers of reason, who is said [to be] a micro- 
 cosm, and [to be] made and formed after the fashion of the 
 whole [universe], superior, as has been seen, to no brute, 
 more senseless than stock [or] stone ; for he is unacquainted 
 with men, and always lives, loiters idly in the still deserts 
 
 1 i.e. a square numerically or algebraically. The MS., both Koman 
 edd., and Canterus read di-bus out dynam-us, the former word being 
 defended by Meursius as equivalent to binio, " a doubling," a sense, 
 however, in which it does not occur. In the other edd., cubus out 
 dynamis has been received from the margin of Ursinus. 
 
 2 sEneid, vi. 472. 
 
 8 This clause is with reason rejected by Meursius as a gloss. 
 
 4 Founded on Plato's words (Phxdrus, si. p. 247), ru S' (i.e. Zeus) 
 f^srcti orpatTici 6tuv re xxl j>xip6vutt, the doctrine became prevalent that 
 under the supreme God were lesser gods made by him, beneath whom 
 again were daemons, while men stood next. To this Orelli supposes that 
 Arnobius here refers. 
 
 5 The vessels in which, according to Plato (Timieus, st. p. 41), the 
 Supreme Being mixed the vital essence of all being. Cf. c. 52. 
 
 6 Lit., " and endowed."
 
 92 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK 11. 
 
 although he were rich, 1 lived years without number, and 
 never escaped from the bonds of the body. But when he 
 goes to school, [you say], and is instructed by the teaching 
 of masters, he is made wise, learned, and lays aside the 
 ignorance which till now clung to him. And an ass, and an 
 ox as well, if compelled by constant practice, learn to plough 
 and grind ; a horse, to submit to the yoke, and obey the 
 reins in running ; 2 a camel, to kneel down when being either 
 loaded or unloaded ; a dove, when set free, to fly back to its 
 master's house ; a dog, on finding game, to check and repress 
 its barking ; a parrot, too, to articulate words ; and a crow 
 to utter names. 
 
 26. But when I hear the soul spoken of as something ex- 
 traordinary, as akin and very nigh to God, [and] as coining 
 hither knowing all about past times, I would have it teach, 
 not learn ; and not go back to the rudiments, as the say- 
 ing is, after being advanced in knowledge, but hold fast 
 the truths it has learned when it enters its earthly body. 3 
 For unless it were so, how could it be discerned whether [the 
 soul] recalls to memory or learns [for the first time] that 
 which it hears ; seeing that it is much easier to believe that 
 it learns what it is unacquainted with, than that it has for- 
 got what it knew [but] a little before, and that its power of 
 recalling former things is lost through the interposition of 
 the body? And what becomes of the doctrine that souls, 
 [being] bodiless, do not have substance ? For that which is 
 not connected with 4 any bodily form is not hampered by the 
 opposition of another, nor can anything be led 5 to destroy 
 that which cannot be touched by what is set against it. For 
 
 1 The text and meaning are both rather doubtful, and the edd. vary 
 exceedingly. The reading of Orelli, demoretur iners, valeat in aere 
 quamvis, has been translated as most akin to the MS., with which, ac- 
 cording to Oehler, it agrees, although Orelli himself gives the MS. 
 reading as aer-io. 
 
 2 Lit., " acknowledge turnings in the course." 
 
 3 Lit., "but retaining its own things, bind itself in earthly bodies." 
 * Lit., " of." 
 
 5 So the MS. and edd., reading siia-de-ri, for which Oehler reads very 
 neatly sua de vi "can anything of its own power destroy," ete.
 
 BOOK n. J ARNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 93 
 
 as a proportion established in bodies remains unaffected and 
 secure, though it be lost to sight in a thousand cases ; so 
 must souls, if they are not material, as is asserted, retain 
 their knowledge l of the past, however thoroughly they may 
 have been enclosed in bodies. 2 Moreover, the same reason- 
 ing not only shows that they are not incorporeal, but deprives 
 them of all 3 immortality even, and refers them to the limits 
 within which life is usually closed. For whatever is led by 
 some inducement to change and alter itself, so that it cannot 
 retain its natural state, must of necessity be considered 
 essentially passive. But that which is liable and exposed to 
 suffering, is declared to be corruptible by that very capacity 
 of suffering. 
 
 27. So then, if souls lose all their knowledge on being 
 fettered with the body, they must experience something of 
 such a nature that it makes them become blindly forgetful. 4 
 For they cannot, without becoming subject to anything what- 
 ever, either lay aside their knowledge while they maintain 
 their natural state, or without change in themselves pass into 
 a different state. Nay, we rather think that what is one, im- 
 mortal, simple, in whatever it may be, must always retain its 
 own nature, and that it neither should nor could be subject 
 to anything, if indeed it purposes to endure and abide within 
 the limits of true immortality. For all suffering is a passage 
 for death and destruction, a way leading to the grave, and 
 bringing an end of life which may not be escaped from ; 
 and if souls are liable to it, and yield to its influence and 
 assaults, they indeed have life given to them only for present 
 use, not as a secured possession, 5 although some come to 
 other conclusions, and put faith in their own arguments 
 with regard to so important a matter. 
 
 28. And yet, that we may not be as ignorant when we 
 
 1 Lit, " not suffer forgetfulness." 
 
 2 Lit., " however the most solid unions of bodies may have bound 
 them round." 
 
 3 So the edd., reading privat immortalilate has omni, for which, according 
 to Hildebrand, the MS. reads -tatem has omnis "all these of immortality." 
 
 4 Lit., "put on the blindness of oblivion." 
 
 6 Cf. Lucretius, iii. 969, where life is thus spoken of.
 
 94 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK n. 
 
 leave you [as before], let us hear from you l how you say 
 that the soul, on being enwrapt in an earthly body, has no 
 recollection of the past ; while, after being actually placed 
 in the body itself, and rendered almost senseless by union 
 with it, it holds tenaciously and faithfully the things which 
 many years before, eighty if you choose to say [so], or even 
 more, it either did, or suffered, or said, or heard. For if, 
 through being hampered by the body, it does not remember 
 those things which it knew long ago, and before it came into 
 this world, 2 there is more reason that it should forget those 
 things which it has done from time to time since being shut 
 up in the body, than those which [it did] before entering it, 3 
 while not yet connected with men. For the same body which 4 
 deprives of memory the soul which enters it, 5 should cause 
 what is done within itself also to be wholly forgotten ; for one 
 cause cannot bring about two results, and [these] opposed to 
 each other, so as to make some things to be forgotten, [and] 
 allow others to be remembered by him who did them. But 
 if souls, as you call them, are prevented and hindered by 
 their [fleshly] members from recalling their former know- 
 ledge, 6 how do they remember what has been arranged 7 in 
 [these] very bodies, and know that -they are spirits, and have 
 
 1 The MS. reads ne videamu-s, changed in both Roman edd. into -amur 
 "that we may not be seen by yon [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." 
 
 2 Lit., " before man." 8 Lit, " placed outside." 
 4 Quod enim. 5 Rebus ingressis. 
 
 6 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." Oberthlir would supply 
 res "its own arts and ancient things." 
 
 7 So the MS., reading constitut-a, followed by all edd. except those of 
 Ursinus, Hildebrand, and Oehler, who read -#, " how do they remem- 
 ber when established in the bodies," which is certainly more in accord- 
 ance with the context.
 
 BOOK ii.] ARNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 95 
 
 no bodily substance, being exalted by their condition as im- 
 mortal beings ? l [how do they know] what rank they hold 
 in the universe, in what order they have been set apart 
 [from other beings] ? how they have come to these, the 
 lowest parts of the universe ? what properties they acquired, 
 and from what circles, 2 in gliding along towards these 
 regions ? How, I say, do they know that they were very 
 learned, and have lost their knowledge by the hindrance 
 which their bodies afford them ? For of this very thing 
 also they should have been ignorant, whether their union 
 with the body had brought any stain upon them; for to 
 know what you were, and what to-day you are not, is no 
 sign that you have lost your memory, 3 but a proof and evi- 
 dence that it is quite sound. 4 
 
 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, 5 that he is needy, poverty-stricken in his 
 house and dwelling, 6 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 arro- 
 gance, by the evils 7 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, 8 would not throw himself headlong into all kinds of 
 
 1 Lit., " of immortality." 2 Cf. ch. xvi. p. 82. 
 
 3 Lit., " of a lost memory." * Lit., " of [a memory] preserved." 
 
 6 Capite cum censeatur. 
 
 6 Lit., " poor in hearth, and of a poor hut." 
 
 7 So the MS., reading mails, for which Ursinus suggested alis, "on the 
 wings of which." 
 
 8 i.e. to death.
 
 96 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK n. 
 
 vice, [and] fearlessly 1 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 ? 2 
 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 ? 3 
 
 30. But [will he not be terrified by]* the punishments in 
 Hades, of which we have heard, assuming also [as they do] 
 many forms of torture ? And who 5 will be so senseless and 
 ignorant of consequences, 6 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, 7 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, 
 
 1 The MS. reads securus, intrepidus "heedless, fearless;" the former 
 word, however, being marked as a gloss. It is rejected in all edd., 
 except LB. 
 
 2 Lit., " by the freedom of impunity." 
 
 8 Lit., " the one [immortality] ... in respect of the equality of con- 
 dition of the other " nee in alterius [immortalitatis] altera [immortali- 
 tatas] possit tequalitate 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, XTTO 
 TOV xoivov, as he puts it, of which nothing need be said. Meursius, with 
 customary boldness, emends nee vi alterius altera, "nor by the power of 
 one can the other," etc. 
 
 4 So the ellipse is usually supplied, but it seems simpler and is more 
 natural thus : "But punishments [have been] spoken of" (memoratie), etc. 
 
 " So MS. and Oehler, for which the edd. read ec quis, " will any one." 
 
 6 Lit., " the consequences of things." 
 
 7 Lit., "the moving of wheels whirling."
 
 BOOK IT.] ARNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 97 
 
 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 1 advancing with all gene- 
 rations, 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 bound- 
 less lust to range eagerly and unchecked through 2 all kinds 
 of debauchery? [Is it the danger] of being worn out by 
 such pleasures, and corrupted by vicious effeminacy f And 
 how can that be corrupted which is immortal, which 
 always exists, and [is] subject to no suffering 1 ? [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, 3 
 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 4 souls are 
 cleansed and made pure from all uncleanness. 5 For if 
 
 1 Lit., " in the unbroken course of ages"perpetuitate asvorum. 
 
 2 Lit., " and to scatter the unbridled eagerness of boundless lust 
 through," etc. 
 
 3 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 igno- 
 rance 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. 
 
 4 The MS. and first four edd. read has, "that these souls," etc. ; in the 
 other edd., hoc is received as above from the margin of Ursinus. 
 
 5 Cf. Plato. Phsedo (st. p. 64 sq.), where death is spoken of as only a 
 ARNOB. U
 
 98 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [Boon 11. 
 
 they all 1 die, and even in the body 2 the feeling characte- 
 ristic of life perishes, and is lost ; 3 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 de- 
 manded 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. 
 
 31. A certain neutral character, then, and undecided 
 and doubtful nature of the soul, has made room for philo- 
 sophy, and found out a reason for its being sought after : 
 while, that is, that fellow 4 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 5 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. 6 But this is brought about by 
 the law of [the soul's] neutral character : 7 because, on the 
 one hand, arguments present themselves to the one party by 
 which it is found that the soul 8 is capable of suffering, and 
 perishable ; and, on the other hand, are not wanting to their 
 
 carrying further of that separation of the soul from the pleasures and im- 
 perfections of the body which the philosopher strives to effect in this life. 
 1 Lit., " in common." 2 PL 
 
 3 This refers to the second argument of Lucretius noticed above. 
 
 4 i.e. the abandoned and dissolute immortal spoken of in last chapter. 
 
 5 Lit., "with." 6 Lit., " degenerate into mortal nature." 
 
 7 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. Horn. 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. Eel. 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 daemons and demigods (Diog. Laert. 
 vii. 157 and 151). 
 
 8 Lit., "they" eas.
 
 BOOK ii.] ARNOBIUS ADVERS US GENTES. 99 
 
 opponents, by which it is shown that the soul is divine and 
 immortal. 
 
 32. Since these things are so, and we have been taught 
 by the greatest teacher that souls are set not far from the 
 gaping 1 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 2 and cement 
 to bind together that which would otherwise fly apart), let 
 them, 3 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. 4 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 5 sold by Psylli 6 or 
 Marsi, and other hucksters 7 and impostors ; and that we 
 may not be inconvenienced by cold or intense heat, 8 we 
 provide with anxious and careful diligence coverings in 9 
 houses and clothing. 
 
 1 Lit., " from the gapings and," etc. 
 
 2 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. 
 
 3 i.e. souls. 
 
 4 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. 
 
 5 These "thin plates," landnse, Orelli has suggested, were amulets 
 worn as a charm against serpents. 
 
 6 us. Phyllis. 
 
 7 So the edd., reading instit-oribus for the MS. instit-ut-orilus, 
 " makers." 
 
 8 Lit., " that colds and violent suns may not," etc, 
 Lit., " of."
 
 100 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [Boo* n. 
 
 33. Seeing that the fear of death, that is, the ruin of our 
 souls, menaces 1 us, in what are we not acting, as we all are 
 wont, from a sense of what will be to our advantage, 2 in that 
 we hold him fast who assures us that he will be our de- 
 liverer from such danger, embrace [him], and entrust our 
 souls to his care, 3 if only that 4 interchange is right ? You 
 rest the salvation of your souls on yourselves, and are assured 
 that by your own exertions alone 5 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. 6 
 You think that, as soon as you pass away, freed from the 
 bonds of your fleshly members, you will find wings 7 with 
 which you may rise to heaven and soar to the stars. We shun 
 such presumption, and do not think 8 that it is in our power 
 to reach the abodes 9 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 10 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. 
 
 34. Since this is the case, what, pray, is so unfair as that 
 we should be looked on by you as silly in that readiness 
 of belief [at which you scoff], while we see that you both 
 
 1 Lit., " is set before." 
 
 2 So the MS., first ed., Gelenius, Canterus, Hildebrand, reading ex corn- 
 modi sensu, for which all the other edd., following Ursinus and Meursius, 
 read ex communi " from common sense," i.e. wisely. 
 
 3 Perhaps, as Orelli evidently understands it, " prefer him to our own 
 souls " animis prseponimus. 
 
 4 So Oehler, reading ea for the MS. ut, omitted in all edd. 
 
 5 Lit., " by your own and internal exertion." 
 
 6 Lit., " of things." 7 Lit., " wings will be at hand." 
 
 8 The MS. reads di-cimus, "say; " corrected du, as above. 
 
 9 The first four edd. read res, " things above," for which Stewechius 
 reads, as above, sedes. 
 
 10 Sponte.
 
 BOOK ii.] ARNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 101 
 
 have like beliefs, and entertain the same hopes ? If we are 
 thought deserving of ridicule because we hold out to our- 
 selves such a hope, the same ridicule awaits you too, who 
 claim for yourselves the hope of immortality. If you hold 
 and follow a rational course, grant to us also a share in it. 
 If Plato in the Phwdrus* or another of this band [of philo- 
 sophers], had promised these joys to us that is, a way to 
 escape death, or were able to provide it and bring [us] to the 
 end which he had promised, 2 it would have been fitting that 
 we should seek to honour him from whom we look for so 
 great a gift and favour. Now, since Christ has not only pro- 
 mised it, but also shown by his virtues, [which were] so great, 
 that it can be made good, what strange thing do we do, and 
 on what grounds are we charged with folly, if we bow down 
 and worship his name 3 and majesty from whom we expect [to 
 receive] both [these blessings], that we may at once escape 
 a death of suffering, and be enriched with eternal life ? 4 
 
 35. But, say [my opponents], if souls are mortal and 5 of 
 neutral character, how can they from their neutral pro- 
 perties become immortal ? If we should say that we do not 
 know this, and only believe it because said by 6 [one] mightier 
 [than we], when will our readiness of belief seem mistaken 
 if we believe 7 that to the almighty King nothing is hard, 
 
 1 Here, as in c. 7, n. 3, p. 69, the edd. read Phsedone, with the excep- 
 tion of the first ed. LB., Hildebrand, and Oehler, who follow the MS. as 
 above. 
 
 2 Lit., "to the end of promising." 
 
 3 Meursius suggests mtmini, "deity," on which it may be well to 
 remark once for all, that nomen and numen are in innumerable places 
 interchanged in one or other of the edd. The change, however, is 
 usually of so little moment, that no further notice will be taken of it. 
 
 4 So the MS., according to Rigaltius and Hildebrand, reading vitae 
 ssternitate, while Crusius asserts that the MS. gives vita et " with life 
 and eternity." 
 
 5 The MS. reading is, mvrtalis est qualitatis. The first five edd. merely 
 drop est"oi mortal, of neutral," etc.; LB. and the others read, es et, 
 as above. 
 
 6 Lit., "heard from." 
 
 7 So the MS., according to Crusius, the edd. reading cred-id-imus 
 " have believed."
 
 102 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK IL 
 
 nothing difficult, and that 1 what is impossible to us is pos- 
 sible to him and at his command ? 2 For is there [anything] 
 which may withstand his will, or does it not follow 8 of 
 necessity that what he has willed [must] be done ? Are we 
 to infer from our distinctions what either can or cannot be 
 done ; and are we not to consider that our reason is as mortal 
 as we ourselves are, and is of no importance with the Supreme? 
 And yet, O ye who do not believe that the soul is of a 
 neutral character, and that it is held on the line midway 
 between life and death, are not all whatever whom fancy 
 supposes to exist, gods, angels, daemons, or whatever else is 
 their name, themselves too of a neutral character, and liable 
 to change 4 in the uncertainty of their future? 5 For if we 
 all agree that there is one Father of all, [who] alone [is] im- 
 mortal and unbegotten, and [if] nothing at all is found before 
 him which could be named, 6 it follows as a consequence that 
 all these whom the imagination of men believes to be gods, 
 have been either begotten by him or produced at his bidding. 
 Are they 7 produced and begotten? they are also later in 
 order and time : if later in order and time, they must have an 
 origin, and beginning of birth and life ; but that which has 
 an entrance [into] and beginning of life in its first stages, it 
 of necessity follows, should have an end also. 
 
 36. But the gods are said to be immortal. Not by nature, 
 then, but by the goodwill and favour of God their father. 
 In the same way, then, in which the boon 8 of immortality is 
 
 1 Lit., " if [we believe] that." 
 
 2 So the MS., reading ad modum obsecutionis paratum " prepared to 
 the mode of compliance ;" for which the edd. read adm. executioni 
 " quite prepared for performing," except Hildebrand, who gives adm. 
 obsecutioni " for obedience." 
 
 3 So the MS., according to Crusius, but all edd. read sequ-a-tur (for i) 
 " Is there anything which he has willed which it does not follow," etc. 
 
 4 So all edd., reading mutabiles, except the two Roman edd. and Oehler, 
 who gives, as the reading of the MS. nu. " tottering." 
 
 6 Lit., " in the doubtful condition of their lot." 
 
 6 Lit., " which may have been of a name." 
 
 7 LB., followed by the later edd., inserted si, "if they are," which is 
 certainly more consistent with the rest of the sentence. 
 
 8 The MS. reading is utterly corrupt and meaningless immortal itatis
 
 BOOK ii.J AENOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 103 
 
 God's gift to [these who were] assuredly produced, 1 will lie 
 deign to confer eternal life upon souls also, although fell 
 death seems able to cut them off and blot them out of exist- 
 ence in utter annihilation. 2 The divine Plato, many of 
 whose thoughts are worthy of God, and not such as the 
 vulgar hold, in that discussion and treatise entitled the 
 Timceus, says that the gods and the world are corruptible 
 by nature, and in no wise beyond the reach of death, but 
 that their being is ever maintained 3 by the will of God, [their] 
 king and prince : 4 for that that [even] which has been duly 
 clasped and bound together by the surest bands is preserved 
 [only] by God's goodness ; and that by no other than 5 by 
 him who bound [their elements] together can they both be 
 dissolved if necessary, and have the command given which pre- 
 serves their being." If this is the case, then, and it is not fitting 
 to think or believe otherwise, why do you wonder that we 
 speak of the soul as neutral in its character, when Plato says 
 that it is so even with the deities, 7 but that their life is kept 
 
 largiter est donum del certa prolatis. Gelenius, followed by Canterus, 
 Oberthiir, and Orelli, emended largi-tio . . . certe, as above. The two 
 Roman edd. read, -tatem largitus . . . certam " bestowed, assured im- 
 mortality as God's gift on," etc. 
 
 1 i.e., who must therefore have received it if they have it at all. 
 
 2 Lit., " out, reduced to nothing with annihilation, not to be returned 
 from." 
 
 3 Lit., " they are held in a lasting bond," i.e. of being. 
 
 * Plato makes the supreme God, creator of the inferior deities, assure 
 these lesser gods that their created nature being in itself subject to 
 dissolution, his will is a surer ground on which to rely for immortality, 
 than the substance or mode of their own being (Timseus, st. p. 41 ; trans- 
 lated by Cicero, de Univ. xi., and criticised de Nat. Dear. i. 8 and iii. 12). 
 
 5 The MS. and both Roman edd. read neque ullo ab-olitio-nis unintel- 
 ligibly, for which Gelenius proposed nexusque dbolitione " and by the 
 destruction of the bond ;" but the much more suitable reading in the 
 margin of Ursinus, translated above, ullo ab alia nis-i, has been adopted 
 by later edd. 
 
 6 Lit., " be gifted with a saving order." So the MS., reading salutari 
 iussione, followed by both Roman edd. ; LB. and Orelli read vinctione 
 "bond;" Gelenius, Canterus, Elmenh., and Oberthuer, m-issione 
 " dismissal." 
 
 7 Lit., " that to the gods themselves the natures are intermediate."
 
 104 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK ir. 
 
 up by God's 1 grace, without break or end ? For if by chance 
 you knew it not, and because of its novelty it was unknown 
 to you before, [now, though] late, receive and learn from him 
 who knows and has made it known, Christ, that souls are 
 not the children of the supreme ruler, and did not begin to 
 be self-conscious, and to be spoken of in their own special 
 character after being created by him ; 2 but that some other is 
 their parent, far enough removed from the chief in rank and 
 power, of his court, however, and distinguished by his high 
 and exalted birthright. 
 
 37. But if souls were, as is said, the Lord's children, and 
 begotten by 3 the supreme power, nothing would have been 
 wanting to make them perfect, [as they would have been] 
 born with the most perfect excellence : they would all have 
 had one mind, and [been of] one accord ; they would always 
 dwell in the royal palace ; and would not, passing by the 
 seats of bliss in which they had learned and kept in mind the 
 noblest teachings, rashly seek these regions of earth, that * 
 they might live enclosed in gloomy bodies amid phlegm and 
 blood, among these bags of filth and most disgusting 5 vessels 
 of urine. But, [an opponent will say], it was necessary that 
 these parts too should be peopled, and therefore Almighty 
 God sent souls hither to [form] some colonies, as it were. 
 And of what use are men to the world, and on account of 
 what are they necessary, 6 so that they may not be believed to 
 
 1 Lit., " supreme " principali. 
 
 2 Cf. i. 48. On this passage Orelli quotes Irenseus, i. 21, where are 
 enumerated several gnostic theories of the creation of the world and men 
 by angels, who are themselves created by the "one unknown Father." 
 Aruobius is thought, both by Orelli and others, to share in these opinions, 
 and in this discussion to hint at them, but obscurely, lest his cosmology 
 should be confounded by the Gentiles with their own polytheistic system. 
 It seems much more natural to suppose that we have here the indefinite 
 statement of opinions not thoroughly digested. 
 
 3 Lit., " a generation of." 
 
 4 Canterus, Ehnenhorst, Oberthuer, and Orelli omit ut, which is re- 
 tained as above by the rest. 
 
 5 Lit., " obscene." 
 
 6 Elmenhorst endeavours to show that Arnobius coincides in this argu- 
 ment with the Epicureans, by quoting Lucr. v. 165 sqq. andLact. vii. 5,
 
 BOOK ii.] A RNOBIUS A D VERS US GENTES. 1 05 
 
 have been destined to live here and be the tenants of an 
 earthly body for no purpose ? They have a share, [my oppo- 
 nent says,] in perfecting the completeness of this immense 
 mass, and without their addition this whole universe is in- 
 complete and imperfect. What then? If there were not 
 men, would the world cease to discharge its functions ? would 
 the stars not go through their changes'? would there not 
 be summers and winters? would the blasts of the winds be 
 lulled? and from the clouds gathered and hanging [over- 
 head] would not the showers come down upon the earth to 
 temper droughts ? But now 1 all things must go on in their 
 own courses, and not give up following the arrangement 
 established by nature, even if there should be no name of 
 man heard in the world, and this earth should be still with 
 the silence of an unpeopled desert. How then is it alleged 
 that it was necessary that an inhabitant should be given to 
 these regions, since it is clear that by man comes nothing 
 to [aid in] perfecting the world, and that all his exertions 
 regard his private convenience always, and never cease to 
 aim at his own advantage ? 
 
 38. For, to begin with what is important, what advantage 
 is it to the world that the mightiest kings are here ? What, 
 that there are tyrants, lords, [and] other innumerable and 
 very illustrious powers'? What, that there are generals of 
 the greatest experience in war, skilled in taking cities ; 
 soldiers steady and utterly invincible in battles of cavalry, 
 or in fighting hand to hand on foot ? What, that there 
 are orators, grammarians, poets, writers, logicians, musi- 
 cians, ballet-dancers, mimics, actors, singers, trumpeters, flute 
 and reed players? What, that there are runners, boxers, 
 charioteers, vaulters, 2 walkers on stilts, rope-dancers, jugglers ? 
 
 where the Epicurean argument is brought forward, What profit has God 
 in man, that he should have created him ? In doing this, it seems not 
 to have been observed that the question asked by Arnobius is a very 
 different one : What place has man in the world, that God should be 
 supposed to have sent him to fill it ? 
 
 1 i.e. so far from this being the case. 
 
 a i.e. from one horse to another desultores.
 
 10G THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK ir. 
 
 What, that there are dealers in salt fish, salters, fishmongers, 
 perfumers, goldsmiths, bird-catchers, weavers of winnowing 
 fans and baskets of rushes ? What, that there are fullers, 
 workers in wool, embroiderers, cooks, confectioners, dealers 
 in mules, pimps, butchers, harlots ? What, that there are 
 other kinds of dealers? What do [the other kinds] of pro- 
 fessors and arts (for the enumeration of which all life would 
 be [too] short) contribute to the plan and constitution 1 of the 
 world, that we should believe 2 that it could not have been 
 founded without men, and would not attain its complete- 
 ness without the addition of 3 a wretched and useless being's 
 exertion ? 4 
 
 39. But perhaps, [some one will urge,] the Ruler of the 
 world sent hither souls sprung from himself for this purpose 
 a very rash thing for a man to say 5 that they which had 
 been divine 6 with him, not coming into contact with the body 
 and earthly limits, 7 should be buried in the germs of men, 
 spring from the womb, burst into and keep up the silliest 
 wailings, draw the breasts in sucking, besmear and bedaub 
 themselves with their own filth, then be hushed by the sway- 
 ing 8 of the frightened nurse and by the sound of rattles. 9 
 Did he send souls [hither] for this reason, that they which 
 had been but now sincere and of blameless virtue should learn 
 
 1 Rationibus et constitutionibus. 
 
 2 Lit., " it should be believed." 
 
 8 Lit., " unless there were joined." 
 
 4 So the the MS., reading contentio, which Orelli would understand as 
 meaning " contents," which may be correct. LB. reads conditio 
 "condition," ineptly; and Ursinus in the margin, completio "the fill- 
 ing up." 
 
 5 So the later edd., from the margin of Ursinus, reading quod temeri- 
 tatis est maximal for the MS. quern " whom it shows the greatest rashness 
 to speak of." 
 
 6 Lit., " goddesses." 
 
 7 So Gelenius (ace. to Orelli), reading as in the margin of Ursinus, 
 terrense circumscriptionis, for the unintelligible reading of the MS., teme- 
 rariae, retained in both Roman edd., Canterus, and (ace. to Oehler) 
 Gelenius. LB. reads metctrise "a limiting by boundaries." 
 
 8 Lit., " motions." 
 
 6 Of. Lucr. v. 229 sq. The same idea comes up again in iv. 21.
 
 BOOK ii.] AENOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 107 
 
 as 1 men to feign, to dissemble, to lie, to cheat, 2 to deceive, to 
 entrap with a flatterer's abjectness ; to conceal one thing in 
 the heart, 3 express another in the countenance ; to ensnare, to 
 beguile 4 the ignorant with crafty devices, to seek out poisons 
 by means of numberless arts [suggested] by bad feelings, 
 and to be fashioned 5 with deceitful changeableness to suit 
 circumstances ? Was it for this he sent souls, that, living 
 [till then] in calm and undisturbed tranquillity, they might 
 find in 6 their bodies causes by which to become fierce and 
 savage, cherish hatred and enmity, make war upon each other, 
 subdue and overthrow states ; load themselves with, and give 
 themselves up to the yoke of slavery ; and finally, be put the 
 one in the other's power, having changed the condition 7 in 
 which they were born ? Was it for this he sent souls, that, 
 being made unmindful of the truth, and forgetful of what 
 God was, they should make supplication to images which 
 cannot move ; address as superhuman deities pieces of wood, 
 brass, and stones ; ask aid of them 8 with the blood of slain 
 animals; make no mention of Himself: nay more, that some 
 of them should doubt their own existence, or deny altogether 
 that anything exists? Was it for this he sent souls, that 
 they which in their own abodes had been of one mind, 
 equals in intellect and knowledge, after that they put on 
 mortal forms, should be divided by differences of opinion ; 
 should have different views as to what is just, useful, and 
 right ; should contend about the objects of desire and aver- 
 
 1 Lit., " in." 
 
 2 According to Hildebrand, the MS. reads dissimular-ent circumscribere, 
 so that, by merely dropping nt, he reads, " to dissemble and cheat ;" but 
 according to Crusius, iri is found in the MS. between these two words, 
 so that by prefixing m Sabseus in the first ed. read m-ent-iri as above, 
 followed by all other edd. 
 
 3 Lit, "to roll ... in the mind." 
 
 4 Rigaltius and Hildebrand regard decipere as a gloss. 
 
 5 So the MS., reading formari, followed by Hildebrand and Oehler; but 
 all the other edd. give the active form, -are. 
 
 6 Lit, "from." 7 The condition, i.e., of freedom. 
 
 8 LB., seemingly received by Orelli, though not inserted into his 
 text, reads poscerent eos for the MS. -entur, which Hildebrand modifies 
 -ent ea as above.
 
 108 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [Boos n. 
 
 sion ; should define the highest good and greatest evil diffe- 
 rently ; that, in seeking to know the truth of things, they 
 should be hindered by their obscurity ; and, as if bereft of 
 eyesight, should see nothing clearly, 1 and, wandering from 
 the truth, 2 should be led through uncertain bypaths of 
 fancy ? 
 
 40. Was it for this he sent souls [hither], that while the 
 other creatures are fed by what springs up spontaneously, 
 and is produced without being sown, and do not seek for 
 themselves the protection or covering of houses or garments, 
 they should be under the sad necessity 3 of building houses 
 for themselves at very great expense and with never-ending 
 toils, preparing coverings for their limbs, making different 
 [kinds of] furniture for the wants 4 of daily life, borrowing 
 help for 5 their weakness from the dumb creatures ; using vio- 
 lence to the earth that it might not give forth its own herbs, 
 but might send up the fruits required ; and when they had 
 put forth all their strength 6 in subduing the earth, should 
 be compelled to lose the hope with which they had laboured 7 
 through blight, hail, drought; and at last forced by 8 hunger 
 to throw themselves on human bodies ; and when set free, to 
 be parted from their human forms by a wasting sickness ? 
 Was it for this that they which, while they abode with him, 
 had never had any longing for property, should have become 
 exceedingly covetous, and with insatiable craving be inflamed 
 to an eager desire of possessing; that they should dig up 
 lofty mountains, and turn the unknown bowels of the earth 
 into materials, and [to] purposes of a different kind ; should 
 force their way to remote nations at the risk of life, and, in 
 exchanging goods, always catch at a high price [for what 
 they sell], and a low one 9 [for what they buy], take interest 
 
 1 Lit., " certain." 2 Lit, "by error." 
 
 3 Lit., " the sad necessity should be laid upoii them, that," etc. 
 
 4 Lit., " for the want of daily things," diurnorum egestati, for which 
 Stewechius would read diurna egestate "from daily necessity." 
 
 5 Lit., " of." 6 Lit., " poured forth all their blood." 
 7 Lit., " of their labour." 8 Lit, " at last by force of." 
 
 9 So the MS. and edd., reading vilitatem, for which Meursius proposed 
 very needlessly utilitatem "aud at an advantage."
 
 BOOK n.] AENOBIUS AD VERSUS GENTES. 109 
 
 at greedy and excessive rates, and add to the number of 
 their sleepless nights [spent] in reckoning up thousands 1 
 wrung from the life-blood of wretched men ; should be ever 
 extending the limits of their possessions, and, though they 
 were to make whole provinces one estate, should weary the 
 forum with suits for one tree, for [one] furrow ; should hate 
 rancorously their friends and brethren ? 
 
 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, 2 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 3 maw, and 
 that, surrounded by 4 faces so fierce and savage, those should 
 bewail their lot whom the straits of poverty withheld from 
 such repasts ; 6 that their life should be 6 happy and prosperous 
 while such barbarous doings defiled their mouths and face ? 
 "Was it for this he sent souls, that, forgetting their import- 
 ance and dignity [as] divine, they should acquire gems, 
 
 1 So, adhering very closely to the MS., which gives e-t sanguine suppu- 
 tandis augere-t insomnia milibus, the t of e-t being omitted and n inserted 
 by all. The first five edd. read, -tandi se angerent insania : millibus 
 "harass themselves with the madness of reckoning; by miles should 
 extend," etc., the only change in Heraldus and Orelli being a return 
 to insomnia '' harass with sleeplessness," etc. 
 
 8 So restored by Cujacius, followed by LB. and Orelli, reading in 
 r/rat-i-am (MS. wants t) voluptatemque, while the first five edd. merely 
 drop -que " to the grateful pleasure," etc. 
 
 3 Lit., " most cruel." 
 
 4 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." 
 
 6 Lit.. " tables." Lit., " they should live."
 
 110 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK n. 
 
 precious stones, pearls, at the expense of their purity ; should 
 entwine their necks with these, pierce the tips of their ears, 
 bind l their foreheads with fillets, seek for cosmetics 2 to deck 
 their bodies, 3 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? 
 
 42. Was it for this he sent souls, that some should infest 
 the highways and roads, 4 others ensnare the unwary, forge 5 
 false wills, prepare poisoned draughts ; that they should 
 break open houses by night, tamper [with slaves], steal and 
 drive away, not act uprightly, and betray [their trust] per- 
 fidiously; that they should strike out delicate dainties for 
 the palate ; that in cooking fowls they should know how 
 to catch the fat as it drips ; that they should make crack- 
 nels and sausages, 6 force-meats, tit-bits, Lucanian sausages, 
 with these 7 a sow's udder and iced 8 haggises ? Was it 
 for this he sent souls, that beings 9 of a sacred and august 
 race should here practise singing and piping ; that they 
 
 1 Lit., " lessen." 
 
 2 In the y.s. 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, teeniis "with fillets." 
 
 3 So LB. and Orelli, reading con-fa-iendis corporibvs 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. 
 
 * Lit., " passages of ways." 6 Lit., " substitute." 
 
 6 So the later edd., reading lotulos; the MS. and early edd. give 
 loletos " mushrooms." 
 
 7 For his, Heinsius proposes hiris " with the intestines." 
 
 8 Lit., "in a frozen condition." As to the meaning of this there is 
 difference of opinion : some supposing that it means, as above, preserved 
 by means of ice, or at least frozen ; while others interpret figuratively, 
 " as hard as ice." 
 
 8 Lit, " things " res.
 
 BOOK n. J A RNOBIUS A D VERS US GENTES. 1 1 1 
 
 should swell out their cheeks in blowing the flute ; that they 
 should take the lead in singing impure songs, and raising 
 the loud din of the castanets, 1 by which another crowd of 
 souls should be led in their wantonness to abandon them- 
 selves to clumsy motions, to dance and sing, form rings of 
 dancers, and finally, raising their haunches and hips, float 
 along with a tremulous motion of the loins ? 
 
 Was it for this he sent souls, that in men they should 
 become impure, in women harlots, players on the triangle 2 
 and psaltery; that they should prostitute their bodies for 
 hire, should abandon themselves to the lust of all, 3 ready in 
 the brothels, to be met with in the stews, 4 ready to submit to 
 anything, prepared to do violence to their mouth even ? 5 
 
 43. What say you, O offspring and descendants of the 
 Supreme Deity ? Did these souls, then, wise, and sprung 
 from the first causes, become acquainted with such forms of 
 baseness, crime, and bad feeling ? and were they ordered to 
 dwell here, 6 and be clothed with the garment of the human 
 body, in order that they might engage in, might practise 
 these evil [deeds], and that very frequently ? And is there a 
 man with any sense of reason who thinks that the world was 
 
 1 Scdbilla were a kind of rattles or castanets moved by the feet. 
 
 2 Sambuca, not corresponding to the modern triangle, but a stringed 
 instrument of that shape. Its notes were shrill and disagreeable, and 
 those who played on it of indifferent character. 
 
 3 So the MS. and first four edd., reading virilitatem sui populo publi- 
 carent. Meursius emended utilitatem "made common the use," etc. ; 
 and Orelli, from the margin of Ursinus, vilitatem " their vileness." 
 
 4 The MS. reads infornicibus obvi-t-as, which, dropping t, is the read- 
 ing translated, and was received by Elmenhorst, LB., and Hildebrand, 
 from the margin of Ursinus. The other edd. insert nc before t " bound." 
 
 5 The translation does not attempt to bring out the force of the words 
 ad oris stuprum paratte, which are read by Orelli after Ursinus and 
 Gelenius. The text is so corrupt, and the subject so obscene, that a 
 bare reference to the practice may be sufficient. 
 
 6 The MS. reads, habitare atque habitare juss-e-r-unL 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 jussss sunt, 
 as above. Oehler, however, from habitare omitted by the others, would 
 emend aditare, " to approach," a conjecture with very little to recom- 
 mend it.
 
 112 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK rr. 
 
 established because of them, and not rather that it was set 
 up as a seat and home, in which every [kind of] wickedness 
 should be committed daily, all evil deeds be done, plots, im- 
 postures, frauds, covetousness, robberies, violence, impiety, 
 [all that is] presumptuous, indecent, base, disgraceful, 1 [and] 
 all the other evil deeds which men devise over all the earth 
 with guilty purpose, and contrive for each other's ruin ? 
 
 44. But, you say, they came of their own accord, not 
 sent 2 by their lord. And 3 where was the Almighty Creator, 
 where the authority of his royal and exalted place, 4 to pre- 
 vent their departure, and not suffer them to fall into dan- 
 gerous pleasures ? For if he knew that by change of place 
 they would become base and, as the arranger of all things, 5 
 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 him- 
 self, since he allowed them to have freedom to wander 6 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]. 
 
 45. But let this monstrous and impious fancy be put 7 far 
 [from us], that Almighty God, the creator and framer, the 
 author 8 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 ; 
 
 1 These are all substantives in the original. 
 
 2 So the us., reading non missione "not by the sending;" but, unac- 
 countably enough, all edd. except Hildebrand and Oehler read jussior.e 
 " not by the command." 
 
 8 So the MS. * Lit., "royal sublimity." 6 Lit., "causes." 
 
 6 The MS. and both Roman edd. read abscondere " to hide," for which 
 the other edd. read, as above, abscedere, from the margin of Ursinus. 
 
 7 Lit., " go." 
 
 8 By Hildebrand and Oehler, procreator is with reason regarded as a 
 gloes.
 
 -J AENOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 113 
 
 and while he knew that they were such and of this character, 
 to have bid 1 them enter into bodies, imprisoned in which, 2 
 they should live exposed to the storms and tempests of for- 
 tune 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; 3 that some might 
 limp in walking, others lose their sight, others be stiff with 
 cramped 4 joints ; in fine, that they should be exposed to all 
 the diseases which the wretched and pitiable human race en- 
 dures with agony caused by 5 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. 
 
 46. But, to say the same things again and again, 6 let this 
 belief, so monstrous and impious, be put far [from us], that 
 God, who preserves 7 all things, the origin of the virtues and 
 chief in 8 benevolence, and, to exalt him with human praise, 
 
 1 The MS., both Roman edd., and Hildebrand read jussisset ; but this 
 would throw the sentence into confusion, and the other edd. therefore 
 drop t. 
 
 2 LB., Hildebrand, and Oehler read quorum indu-c-tx carceribus 
 "led into the prisons of which," all other edd. omitting c as above. 
 According to Oehler, the sis. has the former reading. 
 
 8 The MS. and both Roman edd. read in-f-ernarum paterentut alias 
 laniatus muscularum, which has no meaning, and is little improved by 
 Gelenius changing ut into Mr, 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 muse, 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." 
 
 4 Lit., "bound." 5 Lit., " dilaceration of." 
 
 6 Lit., "again and more frequently." '' Lit., "the salvation of." 
 
 8 Lit, " height of." 
 
 A KNOB. H
 
 114 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK n. 
 
 most wise, just, making all things perfect, and that perma- 
 nently, 1 either made anything which was imperfect and not 
 quite correct, 2 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 3 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 4 through which to spread themselves, and 
 that there might always be wretched ones by whose agonies 
 some unseen and cruel power, 5 adverse to men, should be 
 gratified. 
 
 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, 6 admit that we are ignorant of this, do not know it ; 7 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 8 follows necessarily ; for if 
 
 1 Lit., "things perfect, and preserving the measure of their complete- 
 ness," i.e. continuing so. 
 
 2 So the MS., LB., Oberthuer, and Oehler, reading claudum et quod 
 minus esset a recto. All other edd. read eminus " at a distance from 
 the right." 
 
 3 Lit., " less than." 4 Lit, " material." 
 
 5 Lit., "some power latent and cruelty." 
 
 6 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 oppo- 
 nents for the simple truth. 
 
 7 Nescire Hildebrand, with good reason, considers a gloss. 
 
 Nihil for the MS. mihi, which makes nonsense of the sentence.
 
 BOOK IL] ARNOBWS AD VERSUS GENTES. 115 
 
 we were to deny that flies, beetles, and bugs, dormice, 
 weevils, and moths, 1 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 2 Deity were [creatures] produced so 
 useless, so needless, so purposeless, 3 nay more, at times even 
 hurtful, and causing unavoidable injuries. 
 
 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 4 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 6 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 fall- 
 ing into 6 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, covet- 
 ous, greedy, lustful, fickle, weak, and unable to observe their 
 own precepts ; but they would assuredly not be [so], if their 
 
 1 This somewhat wide-spread opinion found an amusing counterpart 
 in the doctrines of Rorarius (mentioned by Bayle, Diet. Phil.), who 
 affirmed that the lower animals are gifted with reason and speech, as 
 we are. 
 
 2 Lit., "superior." 3 Lit., " tending to no reasons." 
 
 4 Omni vero verissimum est certoque certissimum the superlative for 
 the comparative. 
 
 5 Lit., "finished with the perfection of." 
 
 6 Lit., "by perversity" s-c-zevitate, the reading of the MS., LB., 
 Orelli, Hild., and Oehler, all others omitting c u by the rage;" except 
 Stewechius, who reads servitute " slavery."
 
 11G THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK ir. 
 
 original goodness defended 1 them, and they traced their 
 honourable descent from the head of the universe. 
 
 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 2 has been made [which is] just and evenly 
 balanced. 3 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. 4 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, 5 was 
 quite well, because in 6 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 1 ? 7 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 
 
 1 Or, perhaps, "the goodness of the Supreme planted" generositas 
 eos adsereret principalis. 
 
 2 Lit., "opposition," i.e. "the setting of one party against the other." 
 8 Lit., " weighed with balancing of equality." 
 
 4 Lit., " bounded by the comprehensions of names ;" i.e. possibly, 
 "the good are certainly few enough to be numbered, perhaps even to 
 be named." 
 
 5 So LB., reading ex cruciatibus for the MS. scruc. 6 Lit., " of." 
 
 7 Lit., "admiration is sought for by the putting together" COM - 
 gregatione.
 
 BOOK ii.] AENOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. Ill 
 
 mass ; and it must be esteemed, not merely of little import- 
 ance, but [even] of none, because, being scattered through- 
 out all, it is lost and cut off in the immensity of the vast 
 body [of water]. 
 
 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 * to believe that there are. Who are they, pray? 
 Tell [us]. The philosophers, I suppose, who 2 assert that 
 they alone are most wise, and who have been uplifted 
 with pride from the meaning attached to this name, 3 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 4 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 5 from them- 
 selves 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; 6 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 con- 
 traries be implanted in each other, nor can equality be con- 
 tained in inequality, nor sweetness in bitterness. He, then, 
 
 1 Lit., " a comparison of the worst may effect that we," etc. 
 
 2 So all edd. except Hildebrand, who gives as the reading of the MS., 
 qni-d " what! do they assert." 
 
 8 Lit., "by the force of," vi, an emendation of Heraldus for the MS. in. 
 
 4 So most edd., reading pertinaci for the MS. -ium " by the opposition 
 of persistent virtues," which is retained in both Roman edd., Gelenius, 
 Canterus, Hildebrand, and Oehler. 
 
 5 So Stewechius and later edd., reading ut . . . avferant, except Hilde- 
 brand, who gives as the MS. reading, et . . . -unt " shun . . . and re- 
 move," etc. The first four edd. read ne . . . afferant "that they may 
 not bring upon themselves," etc. 
 
 6 So the MS. and first four edd., Orelli (who, however, seems to have 
 meant to give the other reading), and Oehler, reading corri-p-i, for which 
 the others read -iyi "corrected," except Hildebrand, who without due 
 reason gives -rumpi "corrupted."
 
 118 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK n. 
 
 who struggles to amend the inborn depravity of his inclina- 
 tions, shows most clearly that he is imperfect, 1 blameable, 
 although he may strive with all zeal and stedfastness. 
 
 51. But you laugh at our reply, because, while we deny 
 that souls are of royal descent, we do not, on the other hand, 
 say in turn from what causes and beginnings they have 
 sprung. But what kind of crime is it either to be ignorant 
 of anything, or to confess quite openly that you do not know 
 that of which you are ignorant ? or whether does he rather 
 seem to you most deserving of ridicule who assumes to him- 
 self no knowledge of some dark subject ; or he who thinks 
 that he 2 knows most clearly that which transcends human 
 knowledge, and which has been involved in dark obscurity ? 
 If the nature of everything were thoroughly considered, you 
 too are in a position like that which you censure in our case. 
 For you do not say anything [which has been] ascertained 
 and set most clearly in the light of truth, because you say 
 that souls descend from the Supreme Ruler himself, and 
 enter into the forms of men. For you conjecture, do not 
 perceive 3 [this] ; surmise, do not actually know [it] ; for if 
 to know is to retain in the mind that which you have your- 
 self seen or known, not one of those- things which you affirm 
 can you say that you have ever seen that is, that souls 
 descend from the abodes and regions above. You are there- 
 fore making use of conjecture, not trusting clear information. 
 But what is conjecture, except a doubtful imagining of things, 
 and directing of the mind upon nothing accessible ? He, 
 then, who conjectures, does not comprehend, 4 nor does he 
 walk in the 5 light of knowledge. But if this is true and 
 
 1 In the MS. imperfectum is marked as a gloss, but is retained in all 
 edd., while improbabilem is omitted, except in LB., when im is omitted, 
 and probabilem joined to the next clause " however he may strive to be 
 acceptable," in order to provide an object for " strive ; " and with a simi- 
 lar purpose Orelli thrusts in contrarium, although it is quite clear that 
 the verb refers to the preceding clause, " struggles to amend." 
 
 2 The MS. reads se esse, without meaning, from which LB., followed by 
 Hildebrand, and Oehler derived se ex sc "himself of himself." The 
 rest simply omit esse as above. 
 
 3 Lit., " hold." * Lit., " hold." Lit., " set in the."
 
 BOOK ii.] ARNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 119 
 
 certain in the opinion of proper and very wise judges, your 
 conjectures, too, in which you trust, must be regarded as 
 [showing your] ignorance. 
 
 52. And yet, lest you should suppose that none but your- 
 selves can make use of conjectures and surmises, we too are 
 able to bring them forward as well, 1 as your question is appro- 
 priate to either side. 2 Whence, you say, are men ; and what 
 or whence are the souls of these men ? Whence, [we will 
 ask,] are elephants, bulls, stags, mules, 3 asses ? Whence 
 lions, horses, dogs, wolves, panthers ; and what or whence 
 are the souls of these creatures ? For it is not credible that 
 from that Platonic cup, 4 which Timaeus prepares and mixes, 
 either their souls came, or [that] the locust, 6 mouse, shrew, 
 cockroach, frog, centipede, should be believed to have been 
 quickened and to live, because 6 they have a cause and origin 
 of birth in 7 the elements themselves, if there are [in these] 
 secret and very little known means 8 for producing the crea- 
 tures which live in each of them. For we see that some of 
 the wise say that the earth is mother of men, that others join 
 with it water, 9 that others add to these breath of air, but that 
 some [say] that the sun is their framer, and that, having 
 been quickened by his rays, they are filled with the stir of 
 life. 10 What if it is not these, and is something else, another 
 cause, another method, another power, in fine, unheard of 
 
 1 Lit, " utter the same [conjectures]," easdem, the reading of LB. and 
 Hildebrand, who says that it is so in the MS. ; while Crusius asserts that 
 the MS. has idem, which, with Orelli's punctuation, gives "we have the 
 same power ; since it is common (i.e. a general right) to bring forth 
 what you ask," i.e. to put similar questions. 
 
 2 i.e. may be retorted upon you. 
 
 8 Here, as elsewhere, instead of muli, the MS. reads milvi " kites.* 1 
 
 4 Of. Plato, Timteus, st. p. 41, already referred to. 
 
 5 Or, perhaps, " cray-fish," locusta. 
 
 6 The MS. reads quidem "indeed," retained by the first four edd., but 
 changed into quid " because," by Elmenhorst, LB., and Orelli, while 
 Oehler suggests very happily si quidem "if indeed," i.e. because. 
 
 7 Lit., "from." 8 Rationes. 9 Cf. chs. ix. and x. 
 
 10 Orelli, retaining this as a distinct sentence, would yet enclose it in 
 brackets, for what purpose does not appear ; more especially as the next 
 sentence follows directly from this in logical sequence.
 
 120 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK IT. 
 
 and unknown to us by name, which may have fashioned the 
 human race, and connected it with things as established ; l 
 may it not be that men sprang up in this way, and that the 
 cause of their birth does not go back to the Supreme God ? 
 For what reason do we suppose that the great Plato had 
 [a man] reverent and scrupulous in his wisdom when he 
 withdrew the fashioning of man from the highest God, and 
 transferred it to some lesser [deities], and when he would not 
 have the souls of men formed 2 of that pure mixture of which 
 he had made the soul of the universe, except that he thought 
 the forming of man unworthy of God, and the fashioning of 
 a feeble being not beseeming His greatness and excellence ? 
 53. Since this, then, is the case, we do nothing out of place 
 or foolish in believing that the souls of men are of a neutral 
 character, inasmuch as they have been produced by secondary 
 beings, 3 made subject to the law of death, [and are] of little 
 strength, [and that] perishable ; and that they are gifted with 
 immortality, if 4 they rest their hope of so great a gift on 
 God Supreme, who alone has power to grant such [blessings], 
 by putting away corruption. But this, [you say,] we are 
 stupid in believing. What [is that] to you? [In so be- 
 
 1 Lit., "the constitutions of things." 
 
 2 Lit., "did not choose the souls of the human race to be mixtures of 
 the same purity," noluit, received from the margin of Ursinus by all 
 except the first four edd., which retain the MS. voluit "did choose," 
 which is absurd. Arnobius here refers again to the passage in the 
 Timasus, p. 41 sq., but to a different part, with a different purpose. He 
 now refers to the conclusion of the speech of the Supreme God, the first 
 part of which is noticed in ch. xxxvi. (cf. p. 103, n. 4). There the Creator 
 assures the gods he has made of immortality through his grace ; now 
 his further invitation that they in turn should form men is alluded to. 
 That they might accomplish this task, the dregs still left in the cup, in 
 which had been mixed the elements of the world's soul, are diluted and 
 given to form the souls of men, to which they attach mortal bodies. 
 
 3 Lit., " things not principal." Orelli here quotes from Tertullian, 
 de Anim. xxiii., a brief summary of Gnostic doctrines on these points, 
 which he considers Arnobius to have followed throughout this dis- 
 cussion. 
 
 4 Si was first inserted in LB., not being found in the MS., though 
 demanded by the context.
 
 BOOK ii.] ARNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 121 
 
 lieving, we act] most absurdly, sillily. In what do we injure 
 you, or what wrong do we do or inflict upon you, if we trust 
 that Almighty God will take care of us when we leave 1 our 
 bodies, and from the jaws of hell, as is said, deliver us ? 
 
 54. Can, then, anything be made, some one will say, 
 without God's will? We 2 must consider carefully, and 
 examine with no little pains, lest, while we think that we are 
 honouring God 3 by such a question, we fall into the opposite 
 sin, doing despite to his supreme majesty. In what way, 
 [you ask,] on what ground ? Because, if all things are 
 brought about by his will, and nothing in the world can 
 either succeed or fail contrary to his pleasure, it follows of 
 necessity that it should be understood that 4 all evils, too, 
 arise by his will. But if, on the contrary, we chose to say 
 that he is privy to and produces no evil, not referring to him 
 the causes of very wicked deeds, the worst things will begin 
 to seem to be done either against his will, or, a monstrous 
 thing to say, while he knows it not, [but] is ignorant and 
 unaware of them. But, again, if we choose to say that 
 there are no evils, as we find some have believed and held, 
 all races will cry out against [us] and all nations together, 
 showing us their sufferings, and the various kinds of dangers 
 with which the human race is every moment 5 distressed and 
 afflicted. Then they will ask of us, Why, if there are no 
 evils, do you refrain from certain deeds and actions ? Why 
 do you not do all that eager lust has required or demanded ? 
 Why, finally, do you establish punishments by terrible laws 
 for the guilty ? For what more monstrous 6 act of folly can 
 be found than to assert that there are no evils, and [at the 
 
 1 Lit., " have begun to leave." 
 
 2 The MS. and first three edd. read vobis " you," corrected nobis, as 
 above, by Ursinus. 
 
 3 So the MS. ; but most edd., following the Brussels transcript, read 
 dominum " Lord." 
 
 4 Ut is omitted in the MS., first four edd., and Hild. 
 
 5 So LB., reading p-uncta for the MS. c-uncta. 
 
 6 So the MS., Hild., and Oehler, reading imman-ior ; LB., from the 
 margin of Ursinus, major "greater;" the rest, inaiiior "more 
 foolish."
 
 122 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [Boon ir. 
 
 same time] to kill and condemn the erring as though they 
 were evil ? 1 
 
 55. But when, overcome, we agree that there are these 
 things, 2 and expressly allow that all human affairs are full of 
 them, they will next ask, Why, then, the Almighty God does 
 not take away these evils, but suffers them to exist and to 
 go on without ceasing through all the ages ? 3 If we have 
 learned of God the Supreme Ruler, and have resolved not to 
 wander in a maze of impious and mad conjectures, we must 
 answer that we do not know these things, and have never 
 sought and striven to know things which could be grasped 
 by no powers [which we have], and that we, even thinking 
 it 4 preferable, rather remain in ignorance and want of know- 
 ledge than say that without God nothing is made, so that it 
 should be understood that by his will 5 he is at once both 
 the source of evil 6 and the occasion of countless miseries. 
 Whence then, you will say, are all these evils ? From the 
 elements, say the wise, and from their dissimilarity ; but how 
 it is possible that things which have not feeling and judgment 
 should be held to be wicked or criminal ; or that he should 
 
 1 The difficulty felt by Arnobius as to the origin of evil perplexed 
 others also ; and, as Elmenhorst has observed, some of the fathers 
 attempted to get rid of it by a distinction between the evil of guilt and 
 of punishment, God being author of the latter, the devil of the former 
 (Tertullian, adv. Marcionem, ii. 14). It would have been simpler and 
 truer to have distinguished deeds, which can be done only if God will, 
 from wickedness, which is in the sinful purpose of man's heart. 
 
 2 i.e. ills. 
 
 8 Lit., " with all the ages, in steady continuance." 
 
 4 The MS., followed by Oehler alone, reads ducetis " and you will 
 think ;" while all the other edd. read, as above, ducentes. 
 
 5 Here, too, there has been much unnecessary labour. These words 
 per voluntatem as they immediately follow sine deo dicere nihil Jleri 
 " to say that without God nothing is made" were connected with the 
 preceding clause. To get rid of the nonsense thus created, LB. emended 
 del . . . voluntate "without God's will ;" while Heraldus regards them 
 as an explanation of sine deo, and therefore interprets the sentence much 
 as LB. Orelli gets rid of the difficulty by calling them a gloss, and 
 bracketing them. They are, however, perfectly in place, as will be seen 
 above. 
 
 6 PL
 
 BOOK ii.] ARNOBIUS AD VERSUS GENTES. 123 
 
 not rather be wicked and criminal, who, to bring about some 
 result, took what was afterwards to become very bad and 
 hurtful, 1 is for them to consider, who make the assertion. 
 What, then, do we say? whence? There is no necessity 
 that we should answer, for whether we are able to say 
 [whence evil springs], or our power fails us, and we are 
 unable, in either case it is a small matter in our opinion ; 
 nor do we hold it of much importance either to know or to 
 be ignorant of it, being content to have laid down but one 
 thing, that nothing proceeds from God Supreme which is 
 hurtful and pernicious. This we are assured of, this we 
 know, on this one truth of knowledge and science we take 
 our stand, that nothing is made by him except that which 
 is for the well-being of all, which is agreeable, which is very 
 full of love and joy and gladness, which has unbounded and 
 imperishable pleasures, which every one may ask in all his 
 prayers to befall him, and think that otherwise 2 life is per- 
 nicious and fatal. 
 
 56. As for all the other things which are usually dwelt 
 upon in inquiries and discussions from what parents they 
 have sprung, or by whom they are produced we neither 
 strive to know, 3 nor care to inquire or examine : we leave all 
 things to their own causes, and do not consider that they 
 have been connected and associated with that which we desire 
 should befall us. 4 For what is there which men of ability do 
 
 1 It would not be easy to understand why Orelli omitted these words, 
 if we did not know that they had been accidentally omitted by Ober- 
 thiir also. 
 
 2 Lit., " that apart from these it is pernicious." 
 
 8 It must be observed that this sentence is very closely connected with 
 the last words of the preceding chapter, or the meaning may be ob- 
 scured. The connection may be shown thus : This one thing that God 
 is author of no evil we are assured of ; but as for all other questions, 
 we neither know, nor care to know, about them, 
 
 4 This seems the most natural arrangement ; but the edd. punctuate 
 thus : " have been connected and associated with us for that which we 
 desire." The last part of the sentence is decidedly obscure ; but the 
 meaning may perhaps be, that the circumstances of man's life which 
 absorb so much attention and cause such strife, have no bearing, after 
 all, upon his salvation.
 
 124 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK n. 
 
 not dare to overthrow, to destroy, 1 from love of contradiction, 
 although that which they attempt to invalidate is unobjection- 
 able 2 and manifest, and evidently bears the stamp of truth? 
 Or what, again, can they not maintain with plausible argu- 
 ments, although it may be very manifestly untrue, although 
 it may be a plain and evident falsehood ? For when a man 
 has persuaded himself that there is or is not something, he 
 likes to affirm what he thinks, and to show greater subtlety 
 than others, especially if the subject discussed is out of the 
 ordinary track, and by nature abstruse and obscure. 3 Some 
 of the wise think that the world was not created, and will 
 never perish ;* some that it is immortal, although they say 
 that it was created and made ; 5 while a third party have 
 chosen to say that it both was created and made, and will 
 perish as other things must. 6 And while of these three 
 opinions one only must be true, they nevertheless all find 
 arguments by which at once to uphold their own doctrines, 
 and undermine and overthrow the dogmas of others. Some 
 teach and declare that this same [world] is composed of four 
 elements, others of two, 7 a third party of one ; some say that 
 
 1 So the MS., reading labefactare dissoluere ; the latter word, however, 
 being marked as spurious. 
 
 2 Lit., "pure." 
 
 3 Lit., " hidden and enwrapt in darkness of nature," abdita et caligine 
 involuta naturse, the reading of all edd. except Hild. and Oehler, who 
 follow the MS. abditK cal. " enwrapt in darkness of hidden nature." 
 
 4 This has been supposed to refer to Heraclitus, as quoted by Clem. 
 Alex. Stromafa, v. p. 599 B., where his words are, "Neither God nor 
 man made the world ; but there was always, and is, and will be, an 
 undying flame laying hold of its limits, and destroying them ;" on which 
 cf. p. 73, n. 1. Here, of course, fire does not mean that perceived by 
 the senses, but a subtle, all-penetrating energy. 
 
 5 Cf. ch. 52, n. 2, p. 120. 
 
 6 Lit., u by ordinary necessity." The Stoics (Diog. Laert. vii. 134) 
 said that the world was made by God working on uncreated matter, and 
 that it was perishable ( 141), because made through that of which 
 perception could take cognizance. Cf. ch. 31, n. 7, p. 98. 
 
 7 Orelli thinks that there is here a confusion of the parts of the world 
 with its elements, because he can nowhere find that any philosopher 
 has fixed the number of the elements either above or below four. The 
 Stoics, however (Diog. Laert. vii. 134), said " that the elements (dp%x$)
 
 BOOK ii.] AENOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 125 
 
 [it is composed of] none of these, and that atoms are that 
 from which it is formed, 1 and its primary origin. And since 
 of these opinions only one is true, but 2 not one of them cer- 
 tain, here too, in like manner, arguments present themselves 
 to all with which they may both establish the truth of what 
 they say, and show that there are some things false 8 in the 
 others' opinions. So, too, some utterly deny the existence of 
 the gods ; others say that they are lost in doubt as to whether 
 they exist anywhere ; others, however, [say] that they do 
 exist, but do not trouble themselves about human things ; 
 nay, others maintain that they both take part in the affairs 
 of men, and guide the course of earthly events. 4 
 
 57. While, then, this is the case, and it cannot but be that 
 only one of all these opinions is true, they all nevertheless 
 make use of arguments in striving with each other, and not 
 one of them is without something plausible to say, whether 
 in affirming his own views, or objecting to the opinions of 
 others. In exactly the same way is the condition of souls 
 discussed. For this one thinks that they both are immortal, 
 and survive the end of our earthly life ; that one believes 
 that they do not survive, but perish with the bodies them- 
 selves : the opinion of another, however, is that they suffer 
 nothing immediately, but that, after the [form of] man has 
 been laid aside, they are allowed to live a little longer, 5 [and] 
 then come under the power of death. And while all these 
 opinions cannot be alike true, yet all [who hold them] so 
 support their case by strong and very weighty arguments, 
 
 of the world are two the active and passive ;" while, of course, the 
 cosmic theories of the early philosophers affirm that the world sprang 
 from one, and it seems clear enough that Arnobius here uses the word 
 element in this sense. 
 
 1 Lit., " its material." 
 
 2 A conjecture of Mearsios adopted by Oehler, merely dropping 
 from out " or," which is read in the sis. and edd. 
 
 3 Lit., " refute falsities placed." 
 
 4 Cf. Cicero, de Nat. Dear. i. 1, 12, 19, 23, etc. 
 
 5 Lit., "something is given to them to life." So the Stoics taught, 
 although Chrysippus (cf. n. 7, ch. 31, p. 98) held that only the souls of 
 the wiso remained at all after death
 
 126 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK n. 
 
 that you cannot find out anything which seems false to you, 
 although on every side you see that things are being said 
 altogether at variance with each other, and inconsistent from 
 their opposition to each other; 1 which assuredly would not 
 happen, if man's curiosity could reach any certainty, or if 
 that which seemed [to one] to have been really discovered, 
 was attested by the approval of all the others. It is there- 
 fore wholly 2 vain, a useless task, to bring forward something 
 as though you knew it, or to wish to assert that you know 
 that which, although it should be true, you see can be refuted ; 
 or to receive that as true which it may be is not, and is 
 brought forward as if by men raving. And it is rightly so, 
 for we do not weigh and guess at 3 divine things by divine, 
 but by human methods ; and just as we think that anything 
 should have been made, so we assert that it must be. 
 
 58. What, then, are we alone ignorant ? do we alone not 
 know who is the creator, who the former of souls, what cause 
 fashioned man, whence ills have broken forth, or why the 
 Supreme Ruler allows them both to exist and be perpetrated, 
 and does not drive them from the world ? have you, indeed, 
 ascertained and learned any of these things with certainty ? 
 If you chose to lay aside audacious 4 conjectures, can you 
 unfold and disclose whether this world in which we dwell 6 
 was created or founded at some time ? if it was founded and 
 made, by what kind of work, pray, or for what purpose? 
 Can you bring forward and disclose the reason why it does 
 not remain fixed and immoveable, but is ever being carried 
 round in a circular motion ? whether it revolves of its own 
 will and choice, or is turned by the influence of some power ? 
 
 1 The MS., first four edd., and Oehler read et rerun contrarietatibus dis- 
 sonare " and that they disagree from the oppositions of things." Hild. 
 reads dissonora, a word not met with elsewhere, while the other edd. 
 merely drop the last two letters, -re, as above ; a reading suggested in 
 the margin of Ursinus. 
 
 2 Lit., " a most vain thing," etc. 
 
 3 So the MS., LB., Elmenh., Hild., and Oehler, reading conjectamus, the 
 other edd. reading commetamur or -imur " measure," except Gelenius 
 and Canterus, who read commentamur "muse upon." 
 
 4 Lit., " audacity of." 6 Lit., " world which holds us."
 
 BOOK ii.] ARNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 127 
 
 what the place, too, and space is in which it is set and re- 
 volves, boundless, bounded, hollow, or 1 solid? whether it is 
 supported by an axis resting on sockets at its extremities, 
 or rather itself sustains by its own power, and by the spirit 
 within it upholds itself? Can you, if asked, make it clear, 
 and show most skilfully, 2 what opens out the snow into 
 feathery flakes'? what was the reason and cause that day did 
 not, in dawning, arise in the west, and veil its light in the 
 east? how the sun, too, by one and the same influence, 3 pro- 
 duces results so different, nay, even so opposite ? what the 
 moon is, what the stars? why, on the one hand, it does not 
 remain of the same shape, or why it was right and necessary 
 that these particles of fire should be set all over the world ? 
 why some 4 of them are small, others larger and greater, 
 these have a dim light, those a more vivid and shining 
 brightness ? 
 
 59. If that which it has pleased us to know is within 
 reach, and if such knowledge is open to all, declare to us, 5 and 
 say how and by what means showers of rain are produced, 
 so that water is held suspended in the regions above and in 
 mid-air, although by nature it is apt to glide away, and so 
 ready to flow and run downwards. Explain, I say, and tell 
 what it is which sends the hail whirling [through the air], 
 which makes the rain fall drop by drop, which has spread 
 out rain and feathery flakes of snow and sheets of light- 
 ning; 6 whence the wind rises, and what it is; why the changes 
 of the seasons were established, when it might have been 
 ordained that there should be only one, and one kind of cli- 
 mate, so that there should be nothing wanting to the world's 
 
 1 The first five edd. insert the mark of interrogation after "hollow :" 
 " Whether does a solid axis," etc. 
 
 2 So the edd. except. Hild., who retains the MS. reading in-scienlissime 
 " most unskilfully " (the others omitting in-), and Oehler, who 
 changes e into i " and being most witless show," etc. 
 
 3 Lit., " touch." 
 
 4 So the later edd., reading from the margin of Ursinus figi f cur alia, 
 for the MS. figuralia, except LB., which reads ^zgwrcm "be formed." 
 
 5 So the us. ; but all edd. except Hild. and Oehler omit nobis. 
 So the MS., reading folgora dilatarit, followed by LB.
 
 128 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK ir. 
 
 completeness. What is the cause, what the reason, that the 
 waters of the sea are salt ; l or that, of those ou land, some are 
 sweet, others bitter or cold? From what kind of material 
 have the inner parts of men's bodies been formed and built 
 up into firmness 1 From what have their bones been made 
 solid ? what made the intestines and veins shaped like pipes, 
 and easily passed through ? Why, when it would be better 
 to give us light by several eyes, to [guard against] the risk of 
 blindness, are we restricted to two ? For what purpose have 
 so infinite and innumerable kinds of monsters and serpents 
 been either formed or brought forth ? what purpose do owls 
 serve in the world, falcons, hawks ? what other birds 2 and 
 winged creatures ? what the [different] kinds of ants and 
 worms springing up to be a bane and pest in various ways ? 
 what fleas, obtrusive flies, spiders, shrew, and other mice, 
 leeches, water-spinners ? what thorns, briers, wild-oats, tares ? 
 what the seeds of herbs or shrubs, either sweet to the nostrils, 
 or disagreeable in smell ? Nay more, if you think that any- 
 thing can be known or comprehended, say what wheat is, 
 spelt, barley, millet, the chick-pea, bean, lentil, melon, cumin, 
 scallion, leek, onion "? For [even] if they are useful to you, 
 and are ranked among the different- kinds of food, it is not a 
 light or easy thing to know what each is, why they have been 
 formed with such shapes ; [whether] there was any necessity 
 that they should not have had other tastes, smells, and colours 
 than those which each has, or whether they could have taken 
 others also ; further, what these very things are, taste, I 
 mean, 3 and the rest ; [and] from what relations they derive 
 their differences of quality. From the elements, you say, 
 and from the first beginnings of things. Are the elements, 
 then, bitter or sweet I have they any odour or 4 stench, that 
 
 1 Salsa, corrected from the MS. sola. 
 
 * Alites et volucres ; i.e., according to Orelli, the birds from whose 
 flight auguries were drawn, as opposed to the others. 
 
 3 So Herald us, whose punctuation also is here followed, omitting id 
 est sapor "that is, taste," which Meursius and LB., followed by Orelli, 
 amend, ut est " as taste is" [in each thing]. 
 
 4 Vel is here inserted in all edd., most of which read, as above, oloris,
 
 BOOK ii.] ARNOBWS ADVERSUS GENTES. 12& 
 
 we should believe that, from their uniting, qualities were 
 implanted in their products by which sweetness is produced, 
 or something prepared offensive to the senses ? 
 
 60. Seeing, then, that the origin, the cause, the reason of 
 so many and so important things, escapes you yourselves also, 
 and that you can neither say nor explain what has been 
 made, nor why and wherefore it should not have been [other- 
 wise], do you assail and attack our timidity, who confess that 
 we do not know that which cannot be known, and who do 
 not care to seek out and inquire into those things which it is 
 quite clear cannot be understood, although human conjecture 
 should extend and spread itself through a thousand hearts V 
 And therefore Christ the divine, although you are unwill- 
 ing to allow it, Clirist the divine, I repeat (for this must be 
 said often, that the ears of unbelievers mny burst and be 
 rent asunder), speaking in the form of man by command of 
 the Supreme God, because he knew that men are naturally 1 
 blind, and cannot grasp the truth at all, or regard as sure 
 and certain what they might have persuaded themselves as to 
 things set before their eyes, and do not hesitate, for the sake 
 of their 2 conjectures, to raise and bring up questions that 
 cause much strife, bade us abandon and disregard all these 
 things of which you speak, and not waste our thoughts upon 
 things which have been removed far from our knowledge, 
 but, as much as possible, seek the Lord of the universe with 
 the whole mind and spirit ; be raised above these subjects, 
 and give over to him our hearts, as yet hesitating whither 
 to turn; 3 be ever mindful of him; and although no imagi- 
 nation can set him forth as he is, 4 yet form some faint con- 
 
 which is found in the MS., in later writing, for the original, color is 
 "colour," retained by Ursinus, LB., and Oehler. 
 
 1 Lit., " that the nature of man is." 
 
 2 So the MS., according to Crusius, reading nee pro suis; while, 
 according to Hild., the reading is prorsus " and are utterly without 
 hesitation," adopted in the edd. with the substitution of et for nee 
 " and that they altogether hesitate," which, besides departing from the 
 MS., runs counter to the sense. 
 
 3 Lit., " transfer to him the undecided conversions of the breast." 
 
 4 Lit., " he can be formed by no imagination." 
 
 AKNOB. I
 
 130 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK IL 
 
 ception of him. For [Christ said] that, of all who are com- 
 prehended in the vague notion of what is sacred and divine, 1 
 he alone is beyond the reach of doubt, alone true, and one 
 about whom only a raving and reckless madman can be in 
 doubt ; to know whom is enough, although you have learned 
 nothing besides ; and if by knowledge you have indeed been 
 related to 2 God, the head of the world, you have gained the 
 true and most important knowledge. 
 
 61. What business of yours is it, he 3 says, to examine, to 
 inquire who made man; what is the origin of souls; who 
 devised the causes of ills ; whether the sun is larger than the 
 earth, or measures only a foot in breadth ; 4 whether the moon 
 shines with borrowed light, or from her own brightness, 
 things which there is neither profit in knowing, nor loss in 
 not knowing ? Leave these things to God, and allow him 
 to know what is, wherefore, or whence ; whether it must 
 have been or not; whether something always existed, 5 or 
 whether it was produced at the first ; whether it should be 
 annihilated or preserved, consumed, destroyed, or restored 
 in fresh vigour. Your reason is not permitted to involve 
 you in such questions, and to be busied to no purpose about 
 things so much out of reach. Your- interests are in jeopardy, 
 the salvation, I mean, 6 of your souls ; and unless you give 
 yourselves to seek to know the Supreme God, a cruel death 
 awaits you when freed from the bonds of body, not bringing 
 sudden annihilation, but destroying by the bitterness of its 
 grievous and long-protracted punishment. 
 
 62. And be not deceived or deluded with vain hopes by 
 that which is said by some ignorant and most presumptuous 
 
 1 Lit., "which the obscurity of sacred divinity eon tains;" which Orelli 
 interprets, " the most exalted being holds concealed from mortals." 
 
 2 Lit., " and being fixed on." 
 
 3 i.e. Christ. 
 
 4 As Heraclitus is reported to have said. 
 
 6 The MS., first five edd., and Oehler read snpernatum, for which the 
 other edd. read, as above, semper natum, from the margin of Ursinus. 
 The soul is referred to. 
 
 6 So the later edd., following Elmenhorst, who emended dico for the 
 MS. dici, omitted by the first four edd.
 
 BOOK n. J A RNOBIUS AD VERS US GENTES. 1 3 1 
 
 pretenders, 1 that they are born of God, and are not subject 
 to the decrees of fate ; that his palace lies open to them if 
 they lead a life of temperance, and that after death as men, 
 they are restored without hindrance, as if to their father's 
 abode ; nor [by that] which the Magi 2 assert, that they have 
 intercessory prayers, won over by which some powers make 
 the way easy to those who are striving to mount to heaven ; 
 nor [by that] which Etruria holds out in the Acheron tic 
 books, 3 that souls become divine, and are freed from the law 4 
 of death, if the blood of certain animals is offered to certain 
 deities. These are empty delusions, and excite vain desires. 
 None but the Almighty God can preserve souls ; nor is there 
 any one besides who can give them length of days, and grant 
 to them also a spirit which shall never die, 5 except he who 
 alone is immortal and everlasting, and restricted by no limit 
 of time. For since all the gods, whether those who are real, 
 or those who are merely said to be from hearsay and con- 
 jecture, are immortal and everlasting by his good-will and 
 free gift, how can it be that others 6 are able to give that 
 which they themselves have, 7 while they have it as the gift 
 of another, bestowed by a greater power? Let Etruria 
 sacrifice what victims it may, let the wise deny themselves 
 all the pleasures of life, 8 let the Magi soften and soothe all 
 [lesser] powers, [yet,] unless souls have received from the 
 Lord of all things that which reason demands, and [does so] 
 by [his] command, it 9 will hereafter deeply repent having 
 
 1 So most edd., reading sciolis, from the emendation of Gelenius ; but 
 the MS., first five edd., Hild., and Oehler read scJiolis " by some schools, 
 and [these] arrogating very much to themselves." 
 
 2 Cf. ch. xiii. p. 79 ; Plato, Rep. ii. st. p. 364, where Glaucon speaks 
 of certain fortune-telling vagrant seers, who persuade the rich that 
 they have power with the gods, by means of charms and sacrifices, to 
 cleanse from guilt ; and also Origen, contra Cels. i. 69, where the Magi 
 are spoken of as being on familiar terms with evil powers, and thus 
 able to accomplish whatever is within these spirits' power. 
 
 3 Mentioned by Servius (on JEn. viii. 399) as composed by Tages 
 (ch. Ixix.), and seemingly containing directions as to expiatory sacrifices. 
 
 4 PI. 6 Lit., " a spirit of perpetuity." 
 6 i.e. than the Supreme God. 7 Lit., " are." 
 
 8 Lit., " all human things." 9 i.e. reason.
 
 132 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK n. 
 
 made itself a laughing-stock, 1 when it begins to feel the 
 approach 2 of death. 
 
 63. But if, my opponents say, Christ was sent by God for 
 this end, that he might deliver unhappy souls from ruin and 
 destruction, of what crime were former ages guilty which 
 were cut off in their mortal state before he came ? Can you, 
 then, know what has become of these souls 3 of men who lived 
 long ago? 4 whether they, too, have [not] been aided, pro- 
 vided, and cared for in some way? Can you, I say, know 
 that which could have been learned through Christ's teaching; 
 whether the ages are unlimited in number or not since the 
 human race began to be on the earth ; when souls were first 
 bound to bodies; who contrived that binding, 5 nay, rather, 
 who formed man himself; whither the souls of men who 
 lived before us have gone ; in what parts or regions of the 
 world they were ; whether they were corruptible or not ; 
 whether they could have encountered the danger of death, if 
 Christ had not come forward as their preserver at their time 
 of need ? Lay aside these cares, and abandon questions to 
 which you can find no answer. 6 The Lord's compassion 
 has been shown to them, too, and the divine kindness 7 has 
 been extended to 8 all alike ; they have been preserved, have 
 been delivered, and have laid aside the lot and condition of 
 mortality. Of what kind, [my opponents ask,] what, when t 
 If you were free from presumption, arrogance, and conceit, 
 you might have learned long ago from this teacher. 
 
 64. But, [my opponents ask,] if Christ came as the Saviour 
 
 1 The MS. reads fuisse me risui, which has no meaning ; corrected, fuisse 
 irrisui in most edd., and derisui by Meursius, Hild., and Oehler, the 
 sense being in either case as above. 
 
 2 Lit., " when it begins to approach to the feeling," cum ad sensum ; 
 so read by Gelenius for the unintelligible MS. cum absens cum. 
 
 3 So the edd., reading quid sit cum eis animis actum for the MS. cum 
 ejtis nimis. 
 
 4 Lit., " of ancient and very old men." 
 
 5 So the MS., LB., Hild., and Oehler, reading vinctionis ; the other 
 edd. junctionis " union." 
 
 6 Lit., " unknown questions." 7 PL, 
 8 Lit., " has run over."
 
 BOOK IL] ARNOB1US ADVERSUS GENTES. 133 
 
 of men, as 1 you say, why 2 does he not, with uniform bene- 
 volence, free all without exception? [I reply,] does not he 
 free all alike who invites all alike? or does he thrust back 
 or repel any one from the kindness of the Supreme who 
 gives to all alike the power of coining to him, to men of 
 high rank, to the meanest slaves, to women, to boys? To 
 all, he says, the fountain of life is open, 3 and no one is 
 hindered or kept back from drinking. 4 If you are so fas- 
 tidious as to spurn the kindly 5 offered gift, nay, more, if 
 your wisdom is so great that you term those things which 
 are offered by Christ ridiculous and absurd, why should he 
 keep on inviting 6 [you], while his only duty is to make the 
 enjoyment of his bounty depend upon your own free choice? 7 
 God, Plato says, does not cause any one to choose his lot in 
 life; 8 nor can another's choice be rightly attributed to any 
 one, since freedom of choice was put in his power who made 
 it. Must you be even implored to deign to accept the gift 
 of salvation from God ; and must God's gracious rnercy be 
 poured into your bosom while you reject it with disdain, and 
 
 1 So the sis. and Oehler, reading ut, which is omitted in all other edd. ; 
 in this case, the words in brackets are unnecessary. 
 
 " So Orelli, reading cur (quur in most edd.) for the MS. quos. Instead 
 of non "not," which follows, the MS., according to Oehler, reads nos, 
 and he therefore changes quos into quseso " I ask, does he free all of us 
 altogether?" 
 
 3 There is clearly no reference here to a particular passage of Scrip- 
 ture, but to the general tone of Christ's teaching : " Him that cometh 
 unto me, I will in nowise cast out." Orelli, however, with his usual 
 infelicity, wishes to see a direct reference, either to Christ's words to 
 the woman of Samaria (John iv. 13-15), or, which is rather extra- 
 ordinary, to John vi. 35-37: "I am the bread of life," etc. Cf. 
 n. 6, p. 135. 
 
 4 Lit., "the right of drinking." 5 Lit, " the kindness of." 
 
 6 Lit., " what waits he for, inviting,'' quid invitans expectat ; the read- 
 ing of the MS., both Roman edd., and Oehler. Gelenius, followed by 
 Canterus and Elmenhorst, changed the last word into peccat " in what 
 does he sin," adopted by the other edd., with the addition of in te 
 " against you." 
 
 7 Lit., "exposes under decision of your own right." 
 
 8 Cf. Plato, Rep. ii. st. p. 379 : " of a few things God would be the 
 cause, but of many he would not ; " and x. st. p. 617 fin.
 
 134 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK n. 
 
 flee very far from it ? Do you choose to take what is offered, 
 and turn it to your own advantage ? You will [in that case] 
 have consulted your own interests. Do you reject with 
 disdain, lightly esteem, and despise it? You will [in this 
 case] have robbed yourself of the benefit of the gift. 1 God 
 compels no one, terrifies no one with overpowering fear. 
 For our salvation is not necessary to him, so that he would 
 gain anything or suffer any loss, if he either made us 
 divine, 2 or allowed us to be annihilated and destroyed by 
 corruption. 
 
 65. Nay, [my opponent] says, if God is powerful, merciful, 
 willing to save us, let him change our dispositions, and compel 
 us to trust in his promises. This, then, is violence, not kind- 
 ness nor the bounty of the Supreme God, but a childish and 
 vain 3 strife in seeking to get the mastery. For what is so 
 unjust as to force men who are reluctant and unwilling, to 
 reverse their inclinations ; to impress forcibly on their minds 
 what they are unwilling [to receive] and shrink from ; to 
 injure before benefiting, and to bring to another way of 
 thinking and feeling, by taking away the former? You who 
 wish yourself to be changed, 4 and to suffer violence, that you 
 may do and may be compelled to take to yourself that which 
 you do not wish, why do you refuse of your own accord to 
 select that which you wish to do, when changed and trans- 
 formed ? I am unwilling, he says, and have no wish. What, 
 then, do you blame God as though he failed you? do you 
 wish [him] to bring you help, 5 whose gifts and bounties you 
 
 1 So LB., Orelli, Oehler, adopting the emendation of Ursinus, tu te 
 muneris commoditate privaveris, for the unintelligible reading of the sis., 
 luti m. c. probaveris. 
 
 2 i.e. immortal, deos, so corrected by Gelenius for the MS. Jews" if 
 either God made us." 
 
 8 So most edd., reading inanis for the MS. animi; retained, though not 
 very intelligible, in LB., while Hild. reads anilis "foolish." 
 
 * So the MS. now reads verti; but this word, according to Pithoeus, is 
 in a later handwriting, and some letters have been erased. 
 
 5 So the edd., reading tibi desit ? opem desideras tibi, except Hild. and 
 Oehler, who retain the MS. reading, t. d. o. desideranli " as though be 
 failed you desiring [him] to bring help."
 
 BOOK ii.] ABNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 135 
 
 not only reject and shun, but term empty 1 words, and 
 assail with jocose witticisms? Unless, then, [my opponent 
 says,] I shall be a Christian, I cannot hope for salvation. 
 It is just as you yourself say. For, to bring salvation and 
 impart to souls what should be bestowed and must be added, 
 [Christ] alone has had given into his charge and entrusted 2 
 to him by God the Father, the remote and more secret 
 causes being so disposed. For, as with you, certain gods have 
 fixed offices, privileges, powers, and you do not ask from any 
 of them what is not in his power and permitted to him, so it 
 is the right of 3 Christ alone to give salvation to souls, and 
 assign them everlasting life. For if you believe that father 
 Bacchus can give a good vintage, [but] cannot give relief 
 from sickness ; if [you believe] that Ceres [can give] good 
 crops, ^Esculapius health, Neptune one thing, Juno 4 another, 
 that Fortune, Mercury, Vulcan, are each the giver of a fixed 
 and particular thing, this, too, you must needs receive from 
 us, 5 that souls can receive from no one life and salvation, 
 except from him to whom the Supreme Ruler gave this 
 charge and duty. The Almighty Master of the world has 
 determined that this should be the way of salvation, this the 
 door, so to say, of life ; by him 6 alone is there access to the 
 light : nor may men either creep in or enter elsewhere, all 
 other [ways] being shut up and secured by an impenetrable 
 barrier. 
 
 66. So, then, even if you are pure, and have been cleansed 
 
 1 So Ursinus, reading in ania cognomines for the MS. in alia, which 
 Orelli would interpret, " call the reverse of the truth." 
 
 2 Lit., " For the parts of bringing ... has enjoined and given over," 
 partes . . . injunction habet et traditum, where it will be important to 
 notice that Arnobius, writing rapidly, had carried with him only the 
 general idea, and forgotten the mode in which this was expressed. 
 
 3 Pont/Jicium. 
 
 * Here, too, according to Pithceus, there are signs of erasure. 
 
 * i.e. admit. 
 
 6 This passage at once suggests John x. 9 and xiv. 6, and it is there- 
 fore the more necessary to notice the way in which Arnobius speaks 
 (" so to say "), which is certainly not the tone of one quoting a passage 
 with which he is well acquainted.
 
 136 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK n. 
 
 from every stain of vice, have won over and charmed l those 
 powers not to shut the ways against you and bar your pas- 
 sage when returning to heaven, by no efforts will you be 
 able to reach the prize of immortality, unless by Christ's gift 
 you have perceived what constitutes this very immortality, 
 and have been allowed to enter on the true life. For as to 
 that with which you have been in the habit of taunting us, 
 that our religion is new, 2 and arose a few days ago, almost, 
 and that you could not abandon the ancient faith which you 
 had inherited from your fathers, and pass over to barbarous 
 and foreign rites, this is urged wholly without reason. For 
 what if in this way we chose to blame the preceding, even 
 the most ancient ages, because when they discovered how to 
 raise crops, 3 they despised acorns, and rejected with scorn 
 the wild strawberry ; because they ceased to be covered with 
 the bark of trees and clad in the hides of wild beasts, after 
 that garments of cloth were devised, more useful and con- 
 venient in wearing ; or because, when houses were built, and 
 more comfortable dwellings erected, they did not cling to 
 their ancient huts, and did not prefer to remain under rocks 
 and caves like the beasts of the field ? It is a disposition 
 possessed by all, and impressed on us almost from our cradles 
 even, to prefer good things to bad, useful to useless things, 
 and to pursue and seek that with more pleasure which has 
 been generally regarded 4 as more [than usually] precious, 
 and to set on that our hopes for prosperity and favourable 
 circumstances. 
 
 67. Therefore, when you urge against us that we turn 
 away from the religion 5 of past [ages], it is fitting that you 
 should examine why it is done, not what is done, and not set 
 before you what we have left, but observe especially what we 
 
 1 Lit., " bent." 2 Cf. i. 13 and 58. 
 
 8 Lit., " crops being invented." 
 
 4 So the later edd., reading constiterit from the margin of ITrsinus; but 
 in the MS. and first four edd. the reading is constituent "has estab- 
 lished," for which there is no subject. 
 
 6 So the later edd., reading aversionem ex (LB., and preceding edd. a) 
 religione for the MS. et religionem " against us the hatred and religion 
 of past ages."
 
 BOOK ii.] ARNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 137 
 
 have followed. For if it is a fault or crime to change an 
 opinion, and pass from ancient customs to new conditions 
 and desires, this accusation holds against you too, who have 
 so often changed your habits and mode of life, who have 
 gone over to other customs and ceremonies, so that you are 
 condemned by 1 past ages [as well as we]. Do you indeed 
 have the people distributed into five 2 classes, as your ances- 
 tors once had ? Do you ever elect magistrates by vote of 
 the people ? Do you know what military, urban, and com- 
 mon 3 comitia are ? Do you watch the sky, or put an end to 
 public business because evil omens are announced ? When 
 you are preparing for war, 4 do you hang out, a flag from 
 the citadel, or practise the forms of the Fetiales, solemnly 5 
 demanding the return of what has been carried off? or, 
 when encountering the dangers of war, do you begin to hope 
 also, because of favourable omens from the points of the 
 spears ? 6 In entering on office, do you still observe the laws 
 fixing the proper times? with regard to gifts and presents [to 
 advocates, do you observe] the Cincian and the sumptuary 
 laws in restricting your expenses ? Do you maintain fires, 
 ever burning, in gloomy sanctuaries ? 7 Do you consecrate 
 tables by putting on them salt-cellars and images of the gods? 
 When you marry, do you spread the couch with a toga, and 
 
 1 Lit., " with the condemnation of." 
 
 2 This shows that the division of the people into classes was obsolete 
 in the time of Arnobius. 
 
 3 Turnebus has explained this as merely another way of saying the 
 comitia centuriata, curiata, and tributa. 
 
 4 So the edd., reading cum paratis bella (Oehler reads reparantes) for 
 the MS. reparatis. 
 
 5 i.e. per clarigationem, the solemn declaration of war, if restitution 
 was not made within thirty-three days. 
 
 6 This seems the most natural way to deal with the clause et ex acit- 
 minibus auspicatis, looking on the last word as an adjective, not a verb, 
 as most edd. seem to hold it. There is great diversity of opinion as to 
 what this omen was. 
 
 7 The MS. reads in penetralibus et coliginis. LB., followed by Orelli, 
 merely omits et, as above, while the first five edd. read in pen. Vestse 
 ignis " do you maintain the hearths of Vesta's fire." Many other read- 
 ings and many explanations of the passage are also proposed.
 
 138 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK n. 
 
 invoke the genii of husbands ? do you arrange the hair of 
 brides with the hasta cselibaris? do you bear the maidens' 
 garments to the temple of Fortuna Virginalis ? Do your 
 matrons work in the halls of your houses, showing their 
 industry openly ? do they refrain from drinking wine ? are 
 their friends and relations allowed to kiss them, in order that 
 they may show that they are sober and temperate ? 
 
 68. On the Alban hill, it was not allowed in ancient times 
 to sacrifice any but snow-white bulls : have you not changed 
 that custom and religious observance, and [has it not been] 
 enacted by decree of the senate, that reddish ones may be 
 offered ? While during the reigns of Romulus and Pom- 
 pilius the inner parts, having been quite thoroughly cooked 
 and softened, were burnt up [in sacrificing] to the gods, did 
 you not begin, under king Tullius, 1 to hold them out half-raw 
 and slightly warm, paying no regard to the former usage ? 
 While before the arrival of Hercules in Italy supplication 
 was made to father Dis and Saturn with the heads of men 
 by Apollo's advice ; have you not, in like manner, changed 
 this custom too, by means of cunning deceit and ambiguous 
 names? 2 Since, then, you yourselves also have followed at 
 one time these customs, at another different laws, and have 
 repudiated and rejected many things on either perceiving 
 your mistakes or seeing something better, what have we done 
 contrary to common sense and the discretion all men have, if 
 we have chosen what is greater and more certain, and have 
 not suffered ourselves to be held back by unreasoning respect 
 for impostures ? 
 
 69. But our name is new, [we are told,] and the religion 
 which we follow arose but a few days ago. Granting for the 
 present that what you urge against us is not untrue, what is 
 there, [I would ask,] among the affairs of men that is either 
 done by bodily exertion and manual labour, or attained by 
 the mind's learning and knowledge, which did not begin 
 at some time, and pass into general use and practice since 
 
 1 i.e. Serviug Tullius. The first four edd. read Tullo, i.e. Tullus 
 Hostilius. 
 8 Ct. v. c. 1.
 
 BOOK ii. J ARNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 139 
 
 then ? Medicine, 1 philosophy, music, and all the other arts 
 by which social life has been built up and refined, were 
 these born with men, and did they not rather begin to be 
 pursued, understood, and practised lately, nay, rather, but a 
 short time since? Before the Etruscan Tages saw the 2 
 light, did any one know or trouble himself to know and learn 
 what meaning there was in the fall of thunderbolts, or in 
 the veins of the victims sacrificed ? 3 When did the motion 
 of the stars or the art of calculating nativities begin to be 
 known ? Was it not after Theutis 4 the Egyptian ; or after 
 Atlas, as some say, the bearer, supporter, stay, [and] prop of 
 the skies? 
 
 70. But why do I [speak of] these trivial things? The im- 
 mortal gods themselves, whose temples you now enter [with 
 reverence], whose deity you suppliantly adore, did they not at 
 certain times, as is handed down by your writings and tradi- 
 tions, begin to be, to be known and to be invoked by names 
 and titles which were given to them? For if it is true that 
 Jupiter with his brothers was born of Saturn and his wife, 
 before Ops was married and bore children Jupiter had not 
 existed both the Supreme and the Stygian, 5 no, nor the lord 
 of the sea, nor Juno, nay more, no one inhabited the heavenly 
 seats except the two parents ; but from their union [the other 
 gods] were conceived and born, and breathed the breath of 
 life. So, then, at a certain time the god Jupiter began to 
 be, at a certain time to merit worship and sacrifices, at a 
 certain time to be set above his brothers in power. 6 But, 
 again, if Liber, Venus, Diana, Mercury, Apollo, Hercules, 
 the Muses, the Tyndarian brothers, 7 and Vulcan the lord of 
 
 3 The MS. reads edi inJilosopJiia ; the first four edd., Philos. ; Elmenh. 
 and Orelli, Etenim phil. "For were phil. ;" LB., Ede an pltil. "say 
 whether phil.," which is, however, faulty in construction, as the indi- 
 cative follows. Rigaltius, followed by Oehler, emended as above, Medi- 
 cina phil. 
 
 2 Lit., " reached the coasts of." 
 
 8 Lit., " of the intestines" extorum. 
 
 4 In both Roman edd., Theutatem, i.e. Theutas. Cf. Plato, Phsedriis, 
 st. p. 274. 
 
 3 t.e. Pluto. 6 PL J Lit., " Castors," i.e. Castor and Pollux.
 
 140 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK n. 
 
 fire, were begotten by father Jupiter, and born of a parent 
 sprung from Saturn, before that Memory, Alcmena, Maia, 
 Juno, Latona, Leda, Dione, and Semele also bore children 
 to Diespiter ; these [deities], too, were nowhere in the world, 
 nor in any part of the universe, but by Jupiter's embraces 
 they were begotten and born, and began to have some sense 
 of their own existence. So then, these, too, began to be at 
 a certain time, and to be summoned among the gods to the 
 sacred rites. This we say, in like manner, of Minerva. For 
 if, as you assert, she burst forth from Jupiter's head un- 
 generated, 1 before Jupiter was begotten, and received in his 
 mother's womb the shape and outline of his body, 2 it is quite 
 certain that Minerva did not exist, and was not reckoned 
 among things or as existing at all ; but from Jove's head 
 she was born, and began to have a real existence. She 
 therefore has an origin at the first, and began to be called a 
 goddess at a certain time, to be set up in temples, and to be 
 consecrated by the inviolable obligations of religion. Now 
 as this is the case, when you talk of the novelty of our reli- 
 gion, does your own not come into your thoughts, and do 
 you not take care to examine when your gods sprung up, 
 what origins, what causes they have,- or from what stocks 
 they have burst forth and sprung? But how shameful, 
 how shameless it is to censure that in another which you see 
 that you do yourself, to take occasion to revile and accuse 
 [others] for things which can be retorted upon you in turn ! 
 
 71. But our rites are 3 new; yours are ancient, and of 
 excessive antiquity, [we are told.] And what help does that 
 give you, or how does it damage our cause and argument ? 
 The belief 4 which we hold is new ; some day even it, too, 
 will become old : yours is old ; but when it arose, it was new 
 and unheard of. The credibility of a religion, however, 
 must riot be determined by its age, but by its divinity ; and 
 you should consider not when, but what you began to wor- 
 ship. Four hundred years ago, my opponent says, your 
 religion did not exist. And two thousand years ago, [I 
 
 1 i.e. sine ullius seminisjactu. 2 Lit., "forms of bodily circumscription." 
 8 Lit., " what we do is." * Lit., " thing."
 
 BOOK ii.] ARNOB1US ADVERSUS GENTES. 141 
 
 reply,] your gods did not exist. By what reckoning, [you 
 ask,] or by what calculations, can that be inferred ? They 
 are not difficult, not intricate, but can be seen by any one 
 who will take them in hand even, as the saying is. Who 
 begot Jupiter and his brothers? Saturn with Ops, as you 
 relate, sprung from Ccelus and Hecate. Who begot Picus, 
 the father of Faunus and grandfather of Latinus? Saturn, 
 as you again hand down by your books and teachers ? 
 Therefore, if this is the case, Picus and Jupiter are in con- 
 sequence united by the bond of kinship, inasmuch as they 
 are sprung from one stock and race. It is clear, then, that 
 what we say is true. How many steps are there in coming 
 down 1 from Jupiter and Picus to Latinus? Three, as the 
 line of succession shows. Will you suppose Faunus, Lati- 
 nus, and Picus to have each lived a hundred and twenty 
 years, for beyond this it is affirmed that man's life cannot 
 be prolonged ? The estimation is well grounded and clear. 
 There are, then, three hundred and sixty years after these? 2 
 It is just as the calculation shows. Whose father-in-law 
 was Latinus ? ^Eneas'. Whose father [was] he ? 3 [He 
 was father] of the founder of the town Alba. How many 
 years did kings reign in Alba ? Four hundred and twenty 
 almost. Of what age is the city Rome shown to be in the 
 annals? It reckons fifteen 4 hundred years, or not much 
 less. So, then, from Jupiter, who is the brother of Picus 
 and father of the other and lesser gods, down to the present 
 time, there are nearly, or to add a little to the time, alto- 
 gether, two thousand years. Now since this cannot be con- 
 tradicted, not only is the religion to which you adhere shown 
 to have sprung up lately ; but [it is also shown] that the 
 gods themselves, to whom you heap up bulls and other vic- 
 
 1 Lit., " how many steps are there of race." 
 
 2 i.e. Jupiter and Picus. 
 
 8 The MS. reads genitor . . . Latinus ciijus, some letters having been 
 erased. The reading followed above genitor is cujus was suggested 
 to Canterus by his friend Gifanius, and is found in the margin of Ur- 
 sinus and Orelli. 
 
 4 Cf. above, " four hundred years ago," etc., and i. ch. 13. It is of 
 importance to note that Arnobius is inconsistent in these statements.
 
 142 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [Boos 11. 
 
 tims at the risk of bringing on disease, are young and little 
 children, who should still be fed with their mothers' milk. 1 
 
 72. But your religion precedes ours by many years, and 
 is therefore, [you say,] truer, because it has been supported 
 by the authority of antiquity. And of what avail is it that 
 it should precede [ours] as many years as you please, since 
 it began at a certain time I or what 2 are two thousand years, 
 compared with so many thousands of ages ? And yet, lest 
 we should seem to betray [our] cause by so long neglect, say, 
 if it does not annoy you, does the Almighty and Supreme 
 God seem to you to be something new ; and do those who 
 adore and worship him [seem to you] to support and intro- 
 duce an unheard-of, unknown, and upstart religion? Is 
 there anything older than him ? or can anything be found 
 preceding him in being, 3 time, name? Is not he alone 
 uncreated, immortal, and everlasting? Who is the head 4 and 
 fountain of things ? is not he ? To whom does eternity owe 
 its name ? is it not to him ? Is it not because he is ever- 
 lasting, that the ages go on without end? This is beyond 
 doubt, and true : [the religion] which we follow is not new, 
 then, but we have been late in learning what we should 
 follow and revere, or where we should both fix our hope of 
 salvation, and employ the aid [given] to save us. For he 
 had not yet shone forth who was to point out the way to 
 those wandering [from it], and give the light of knowledge to 
 those who were lying in the deepest darkness, and dispel the 
 blindness of their ignorance. 
 
 73. But are we alone in this position ? 5 What ! have you 
 not introduced into the number of your gods the Egyptian 
 deities named Serapis and Isis, since the consulship of Piso 
 and Gabinius? 6 What! did you not begin both to know 
 
 1 Lit., " be nursed with the breasts and dropt milk." 
 
 2 Lit., " of what space." 3 i.e. re. 
 
 4 So the MS., according to Crusius and Livineius, reading ac; all edd. 
 except Oehler read aut " head (i.e. source) or fountain." 
 
 5 The MS. reads unintelligibly vertitur solst ; for which LB., followed 
 l>y the later edd, reads, as above, vertimur soli. 
 
 6 Dr. Schmitz (Smith's Diet., s. v. Isis) speaks of these consuls as head-
 
 BOOK ii.] ARNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 143 
 
 and be acquainted with, and to worship with remarkable 
 honours, the Phrygian mother who, it is said, was first set 
 up as a goddess by Midas or Dardanus when Hannibal, 
 the Carthaginian, was plundering Italy and aiming at the 
 empire of the world ? l Are not the sacred rites of mother 
 Ceres, which were adopted but a little while ago, called 
 Grseca because they were unknown to you, their name 
 bearing witness to their novelty? Is it not said 2 in the 
 writings of the learned, that the rituals of Numa Pompilius 
 do not contain the name of Apollo ? Now it is clear and 
 manifest from this, that he, too, was unknown to you, but 
 that at some time afterwards he began to be known also. If 
 any one, therefore, should ask you why you have so lately 
 begun to worship those deities whom we mentioned just 
 now, it is certain that you will reply, either because we were 
 [till] lately not aware that they were gods, or because we 
 have now been warned by the seers, or because, in very 
 trying circumstances, we have been preserved by their favour 
 and help. But if you think that this is well said by you, 
 you must consider that, on our part, a similar reply has been 
 made. Our religion has sprung up just now ; for now he 
 has arrived who was sent to declare it to us, to bring [us] to 
 its truth ; to show what God is ; to summon us from mere 
 conjectures, to his worship. 
 
 74. And why, [my opponent] says, did God, the ruler 
 and lord [of the universe], determine that a Saviour, Christ, 
 should be sent to you from the heights of heaven a few 
 hours ago, as it is said? We ask you too, on the other 
 hand, what cause, what reason is there that the seasons 
 sometimes do not recur at their own months, but that winter, 
 
 ing the popular revolt against the decree of the senate, that the statues 
 of Isis and Serapis should be removed from the Capitol. The words of 
 Tertullian (quoting Varro as his authority) are very distinct: "The 
 consul Gabinius . . . gave more weight to the decision of the senate 
 than to the popular impulse, and forbade their altars (i.e. those of Sera- 
 pis, Isis, Arpocrates, and Anubis) to be set up " (ad Nationes, i. 10, cf. 
 Apol. 6). 
 
 1 Cf. vii. 49. 2 Lit., " contained."
 
 144 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK ir. 
 
 summer, and autumn come too late? why, after the crops 
 have been dried up and the corn 1 has perished, showers some- 
 times fall which should have dropped on them while yet 
 uninjured, and made provision for the wants of the time? 
 Nay, this we rather ask, why, if it were fitting that Hercules 
 should be born, JEsculapius, Mercury, Liber, and some 
 others, that they might be both added to the assemblies of 
 the gods, and might do men some service, why they were 
 produced so late by Jupiter, that only later ages should know 
 them, while the past ages 2 of those who went before knew 
 them not ? You will say that there was some reason. There 
 was then some reason here also that the Saviour of our race 
 came not lately, but to-day. What, then, [you ask,] is the 
 reason ? We do not deny that we do not know. For it is 
 not within the power of any one to see the mind of God, or 
 the way in which he has arranged his plans. 3 Man, a blind 
 creature, and not knowing himself even, can* in no way 
 learn what should happen, when, or what its nature is : the 
 Father himself, the Governor and Lord of all, alone knows. 
 Nor, if I have been unable to disclose to you the causes why 
 something is done in this way or that, does it straightway 
 follow, that what has been done becomes not done, and that 
 a thing becomes incredible, which has been shown to be 
 beyond doubt by such 5 virtues and 6 powers. 
 
 75. You may object and rejoin, Why was the Saviour 
 sent forth so late? In unbounded, eternal ages, [we reply,] 
 nothing whatever should be spoken of as late. For where 
 there is no end and no beginning, nothing is too soon, 7 
 
 1 PI. 2 Lit, "antiquity." 3 Lit., "things." 
 
 4 So Gelenius emended the MS., reading potens " being able," which 
 he changed into potest, as above, followed by later edd. 
 
 5 Lit., " by such kinds of." 
 
 6 The MS. and first edd. read et potestatibus potestatum "and by 
 powers of powers;" the other edd. merely omit potestatibus, as above, 
 except Oehler, who, retaining it, changes potestatum into protestata 
 " being witnessed to by," etc. ; but there is no instance adduced in which 
 the participle of this verb is used passively. 
 
 7 These words having been omitted by Oberthiir, are omitted by 
 Orelli also, as in previous instances.
 
 BOOK n.] ARNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 145 
 
 nothing too late. For time is perceived from its beginnings 
 and endings, which an unbroken line and endless 1 succession 
 of ages cannot have. For what if the things themselves to 
 which it was necessary to bring help, required that as a 
 fitting time? For what if the condition of antiquity was 
 different from that of later times? What if it was necessary 
 to give help to the men of old in one way, to provide for 
 their descendants in another ? Do you not hear your own 
 writings read, telling that there were once men [who were] 
 demi-gods, heroes with immense and huge bodies ? Do you 
 not read that infants on their mothers' breasts shrieked like 
 Stentors, 2 whose bones, when dug up in different parts of the 
 earth, have made the discoverers almost doubt that they were 
 the remains of human limbs? So, then, it may be that 
 Almighty God, the only God, sent forth Christ then indeed, 
 after that the human race, [becoming] feebler, weaker, began 
 to be such as we are. If that which has been done no\v 
 could have been done thousands of years ago, the Supreme 
 Ruler would have done it ; or if it had been proper, that what 
 has been done now should be accomplished as many thousands 
 after this, nothing compelled God to anticipate the necessary 
 lapse 3 of time. His plans 4 are executed in fixed ways; and 
 that which has been once decided on, can in no wise be 
 changed again. 5 
 
 76. Inasmuch then, you say, as you serve the Almighty 
 God, and trust that He cares for your safety and salva- 
 tion, why does He suffer you to be exposed to such storms 
 of persecution, and to undergo all kinds of punishments 
 and tortures ? Let us, too, ask in reply, why, seeing that 
 you worship so great and so innumerable gods, and build 
 temples to them, fashion images of gold, sacrifice herds 
 
 1 The MS. and first ed. read etiam moderata continuatio ; corrected, et 
 immod. con. by Gelenius. 
 
 2 So the edd., reading infantes stentoreos, except Oehler, who retains 
 the MS. reading centenaries, which he explains as "having a hundred" 
 heads or hands, as the case might be, e.g. Typhon, Briareus, etc. 
 
 3 Lit., "measure." 4 Lit., "things." 
 5 Lit., " can be changed with no novelty." 
 
 ARNOB. 1
 
 146 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [Boos n 
 
 of animals, [and] all heap up 1 boxfuls of incense on the 
 already loaded altars, why you live subject to so many 
 dangers and storms [of calamity], with which many fatal 
 misfortunes vex you every day ? Why, I say, do your gods 
 neglect to avert from you so many kinds of disease and 
 sickness, shipwrecks, downfalls, conflagrations, pestilences, 
 barrenness, loss of children, and confiscation of goods, dis- 
 cords, wars, enmities, captures of cities, and the slavery of 
 those who are robbed of their rights of free birth ? 2 But, 
 [my opponent says,] in such mischances we, too, are in no 
 wise helped by God. The cause is plain and manifest. For 
 no hope has been held out to us with respect to this life, nor 
 has any help been promised or 3 aid decreed us for what 
 belongs to the husk of this flesh, nay, more, we have been 
 taught to esteem and value lightly all the threats of fortune, 
 whatever they be ; and if ever any very grievous calamity 
 has assailed [us], to count as pleasant in [that] misfortune* 
 the end which must follow, and not to fear or flee from it, 
 that we may be the more easily released from the bonds of 
 the body, and escape from our darkness and 5 blindness. 
 
 77. Therefore that bitterness of persecution of which you 
 speak is our deliverance and not persecution, and our ill- 
 treatment will not bring evil upon us, but will lead us to 
 the light of liberty. As if some senseless and stupid fellow 
 were to think that he never punished a man who had been 
 put into prison 6 with severity and cruelty, unless he were to 
 rage against the very prison, break its stones in pieces, and 
 
 1 Lit., " provide," conficiatis, which, however, some would under- 
 stand " consume." 
 
 2 Lit., " slaveries, their free births being taken away." 
 
 3 Lit, " and." 
 
 4 So the MS., first five edd., Hild., and Oehler, reading adscribere in- 
 fortunio voluptatem, which is omitted in the other edd. as a gloss which 
 may have crept in from the margin. 
 
 5 Lit., " our dark." 
 
 6 The MS. and both Roman edd. read in carcerem natum inegressum ; 
 LB. and later edd. have received from the margin of Ursinus the reading 
 translated above, datum, omitting the last word altogether, which Oehler, 
 however, would retain as equivalent to " not to be passed from."
 
 BOOK ii. J ARNOBIUS ADVERS US GENTES. 147 
 
 burn its roof, its wall, its doors ; and strip, overthrow, and 
 dash to the ground its other parts, not knowing that thus 
 he was giving light to him whom he seemed to be injuring, 
 and was taking from him the accursed darkness: in like 
 manner, you too, by the flames, banishments, tortures, and 
 monsters with which you tear in pieces and rend asunder 
 our bodies, do not rob us of life, but relieve us of our skins, 
 not knowing that, as far as you assault and seek to rage 
 against these our shadows and forms, so far you free us 
 from pressing and heavy chains, and cutting our bonds, 
 make us fly up to the light. 
 
 78. Wherefore, O men, refrain from obstructing what 
 you hope for by vain questions ; nor should you, if anything 
 is otherwise than you think, trust your own opinions rather 
 than that which should be reverenced. 1 The times, full of 
 dangers, urge us, and fatal penalties threaten us ; let us flee 
 for safety to God our Saviour, without demanding the reason 
 of the offered gift. When that at stake is our souls' salva- 
 tion and our own interests, something must be done even 
 without reason, as Arrhianus approves of Epictetus having 
 said. 2 We doubt, we hesitate, and suspect the credibility of 
 what is said ; let us commit ourselves to God, and let not 
 our incredulity prevail more with us than the greatness of 
 His name and power, lest, while we are seeking out argu- 
 ments for ourselves, through which that may seem false 
 which we do not wish and deny to be true, the last day steal 
 upon us, and we be found in the jaws of our enemy, death. 
 
 1 Lit., " than an august thing." 
 
 2 Orelli refers to Arrh. i. 12 ; but the doctrine there insisted on is the 
 necessity of submission to what is unavoidable. Oehler, in addition, 
 refers to Epict. xxxii. 3, where, however, it is merely attempted to 
 show that when anything is withheld from us, it is just as goods are 
 unless paid for, and that we have therefore no reason to complain. 
 Neither passage can be referred to here, and it seems as though Arno- 
 bius has made a very loose reference which cannot be specially identified.
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 IN the two preceding books, Arnobius endeavoured to repel the ob- 
 jections raised against Christianity ; but already, he says, it had found 
 able defenders, though strong enough in its own might to need none 
 (1) ; and therefore, having replied to the charge of neglecting the 
 worship of the gods, by asserting that in worshipping the Supreme God, 
 the Creator of the universe, any other gods, if there are such, receive 
 honour, inasmuch as they are sprung from him (2, 3), he goes on to at- 
 tack heathenism itself, pointing out that the other gods cannot be proved 
 to exist, their names and number being alike unknown (4, 5). These 
 gods, moreover, are spoken of as male and female, but the divine cannot 
 be liable to such distinctions, as Cicero showed (6) ; whom it would be 
 well, therefore, for the heathen to refute, instead of merely raising an 
 unreasoning clamour against his writings (7). The use by Christians of 
 a masculine term to denote the Deity, is merely a necessity of speech ; 
 but the heathen expressly attributed sex to their deities (8), who would 
 therefore, being immortal, be innumerable ; or if the gods did not beget 
 children, why had they sex (9) ? Arnobius then inveighs against this 
 opinion as degrading and dishonouring the gods (10), and says that it is 
 far more likely that they would afflict men to punish such insults, than 
 to take vengeance on Christians, who did them no dishonour (11). He 
 then goes on to speak of bodily form, denying that it is attributed to 
 the Deity by Christians (12), while the heathen boldly asserted that their 
 gods had human bodies, which, Arnobius shows, makes it necessary to 
 ascribe to some gods the basest offices (13-15). It might, however, be 
 said that the gods were not really supposed to have such bodies, but 
 were so spoken of out of respect. This, Arnobius shows, is not honour- 
 ing, but insulting, them as much as possible (16). If the Deity has any 
 mortal shape, we do not know it (17) ; he may hear, see, and speak in 
 his own, but not in our way (18) ; and it is unbecoming to ascribe even 
 our virtues to God, we can only say that his nature cannot be de- 
 clared by man (19). 
 
 The offices ascribed to the gods are next derisively commented on 
 (20, 21) ; and as to the suggestion that the gods impart a knowledge of 
 the arts over which they preside, without being practically acquainted 
 with them, it is asked why the gods should seek this knowledge, when 
 they had no opportunity of turning it to account (22). It might, how- 
 148
 
 BOOK in. I ARNOBIVS ADVEESUS GENTES. 149 
 
 ever, be said that it belonged to the gods to secure a prosperous issue to 
 human undertakings. Why, then, failure, ruin, and destruction (23)? 
 Because, it would be answered, of neglected rites, and sacrifices withheld. 
 Is, then, Arnobius asks, the favour of the gods to be purchased? is it not 
 theirs to give to those utterly destitute (24) ? Unxia, Cinxia, Vita, and 
 Potua are held up as foul parodies on Deity (25). Mars and Venus being 
 taken as fair examples (26, 27), the conclusion is reached, that such 
 gods, presiding over lust, discord, and war, cannot be believed in (28). 
 The inconsistent and mutually destructive opinions entertained with 
 regard to Janus, Saturn (29), Jupiter, Juno (30), and other gods, render 
 belief in them impossible (ol-34) ; while if, as some believe, the world is 
 a living being, the deities cannot exist which are said to be parts of it, 
 as the sun, moon, etc., for the whole will have life, not its members (35). 
 Thus the heathen plainly subvert all faith in their religion, however 
 zealous against Christian innovations (36). They do so still further, by 
 the ridiculous inconsistency of their opinions as to the origin and num- 
 bers of their gods, in particular of the Muses (37, 38) ; the Novensiles 
 (38, 39) ; the Penates (40) ; and the Lares (41). 
 
 Arnobius, having thus shown that the heathen are hi doubt and igno- 
 rance as to all their gods, a circumstance giving rise to confusion in 
 seeking to celebrate their rites (42, 43), calls upon them to decide on 
 their creed, and abide by it (44). 
 
 jjLL these charges, then, which might truly be 
 better termed abuse, have been long answered 
 with sufficient fulness and accuracy by men 
 of distinction in this respect, and worthy to 
 have learned the truth ; and not one point of any inquiry has 
 been passed over, without being determined in a thousand 
 ways, and on the strongest grounds. We need not, therefore, 
 linger further on this part of the case. For neither is the 
 Christian religion unable to stand though it found no advo- 
 cates, nor will it be therefore proved true if it found many 
 to agree with it, and gained weight through its adherents. 1 
 Its own strength is sufficient for it, and it rests on the foun- 
 dations of its own truth, without losing its power, though 
 there were none to defend it, nay, though all voices assailed 
 
 1 The MS., followed by Oehler, reads neque enim res stare . . . non 
 pvtest, Christiana religio aut "for neither can a thing not stand, . . . 
 nor will the Christian religion," etc., while LB. merely changes aut 
 into et "for neither can a thing, i.e. the Christian religion, . . . nor will 
 it," etc. All other edd. read as above, omitting et.
 
 150 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK in. 
 
 and opposed it, and united with common rancour to destroy 
 all faith l in it. 
 
 2. Let us now return to the order from which we were a 
 little ago compelled to diverge, that our defence may not, 
 through its being too long broken off, be said to have given 
 our detractors cause to triumph in the establishing of their 
 charge. For they propose these questions : If you are in 
 earnest about religion, why do you not serve and worship 
 the other gods with us, or share your sacred rites with your 
 fellows, and put the ceremonies of the [different] religions on 
 an equality ? We may say for the present : In essaying to 
 approach the divine, the Supreme Deity 2 suffices us, the 
 Deity, I say, who is supreme, the Creator and Lord of the 
 universe, who orders and rules all things : in him we serve 
 all that requires our service ; [in him] we worship all that 
 should be adored, venerate 3 that which demands the homage 
 of our reverence. For as we lay hold of the source of the 
 divine itself, from which the very divinity of all gods what- 
 ever is derived, 4 we think it an idle task to approach each 
 personally, since we neither know who they are, nor the 
 names by which they are called ; and are further unable to 
 learn, and discover, and establish their number. 
 
 3. And as in the kingdoms of earth we are in no wise 
 constrained expressly to do reverence to those who form the 
 royal family as well as to the sovereigns, but whatever honour 
 belongs to them is found to be tacitly 5 implied in the homage 
 
 1 According to Crusius and others, the MS. reads jinem ; but, accord- 
 ing to Hild., Jidem, as above. 
 
 2 Deus primus, according to Nourry, in relation to Christ ; but mani- 
 festly from the scope of the chapter, God as the fountain and source of 
 all things. 
 
 3 Lit., " propitiate with venerations." 
 
 4 So the MS., reading ducitur; for which Oberthur, followed by Orelli, 
 reads dicitur " is said." 
 
 5 Lit., " whatever belongs to them feels itself to be comprehended with 
 a tacit rendering also of honour in," etc., tacita et se sentit honorificentia, 
 read by later edd. for the MS. ut se sentit " but as whatever," retained 
 by Hild. and Oehler ; while the first four edd. read vi " feels itself with 
 a silent force comprehended in the honour in," etc.
 
 BOOK in.] ARNOBIUS ADVEESUS GENTES. 151 
 
 offered to the kings themselves ; in just the same way, these 
 gods, whoever they be, for whose existence you vouch, if 
 they are a royal race, and spring from the Supreme Ruler, 
 even though we do not expressly do them reverence, yet feel 
 that they are honoured in common with their Lord, and share 
 in the reverence shown to him. Now [it must be remem- 
 bered that] we have made this statement, on the hypothesis 
 only that it is clear and undeniable, that besides the Ruler 
 and Lord himself, there are still other beings, 1 who, when 
 arranged and disposed in order, form, as it were, a kind of 
 plebeian mass. But do not seek to point out to us pictures 
 instead of gods in your temples, and the images [which you 
 set up], for you too know, but are unwilling and refuse to 
 admit, that these are formed of most worthless clay, and are 
 childish figures made by mechanics. And when we converse 
 with you on religion, we ask you to prove this, that there are 
 other gods [than the one Supreme Deity] in nature, power, 
 name, not as we see them manifested in images, but in such 
 a substance as it might fittingly be supposed that perfection 
 of so great dignity should reside. 
 
 4. But we do not purpose delaying further on this part 
 of the subject, lest we seem desirous to stir up most violent 
 strife, and engage in agitating contests. 
 
 Let there be, as you affirm, that crowd of deities, let there 
 be numberless families of gods ; we assent, agree, [and] do 
 not examine [too] closely, nor in any part of the subject 
 do we assail the doubtful and uncertain positions you hold. 
 This, however, we demand, and ask you to tell us, whence 
 you have discovered, or how you have learned, whether there 
 are these gods, 2 whom you believe to be in heaven and serve, 
 or some others unknown by reputation and name ? For it 
 may be that beings exist whom you do not believe to do so ; 
 
 1 So LB. and Orelli, reading alia etiamnum capita for the MS. alienum 
 capita, read in the first five edd., alia non capita "are others not 
 chiefs;" Hild., followed by Oehler, proposes alia deum capita "other 
 gods." 
 
 2 According to Orelli's punctuation, " whether there are these gods in 
 heaven whom," etc.
 
 152 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [Boon in. 
 
 and that those of whose existence you feel assured, are found 
 nowhere in the universe. For you have at no time been 
 borne aloft to the stars of heaven, [at no time] have seen the 
 face and countenance of each ; and [then] established here 
 the worship of the same gods, whom you remembered to be 
 there, as having been known and seen [by you]. But this, 
 too, we again would learn from you, whether they have re- 
 ceived these names by which you call them, or assumed 
 them themselves on the days of purification. 1 If these are 
 divine and celestial names, who reported them to you ? But 
 if, on the other hand, these names have been applied to them 
 by you, how could you give names to those whom you never 
 saw, and whose character or circumstances you in no wise 3 
 knew? 
 
 5. But [let it be assumed] that there are these gods, as 
 you wish and believe, and are persuaded ; let them be called 
 also by those names by which the common people suppose 
 that those meaner [gods] 3 are known. 4 Whence, however, 
 have you learned who make up the list [of gods] under these 
 names? 5 have any ever become familiar and kno\rn [to 
 others] with whose names you were not acquainted ? 6 For 
 it cannot be easily known whether their numerous body is 
 settled and fixed [in number] ; or whether their multitude 
 cannot be summed up and limited by the numbers of any 
 computation. For let us suppose that you do reverence to 
 a thousand, or rather five thousand gods ; but in the uni- 
 
 1 So LB. and later edd., from a conj. of Meursius, reading diebus lus- 
 tricis for the MS. ludibriis ; read by some, and understood by others, as 
 ludicris, i.e. festal days. 
 
 2 The MS., followed by Hild. and Oehler, reads neque . . . in uUa cog- 
 natione "in no relationship," for which the other edd. give cognitione, 
 as above. 
 
 3 So all edd., reading populares, except, Hild. and Oehler, who receive 
 the conj. of Rigaltius, populatim "among all nations;" the MS. reading 
 popularem. 
 
 4 Censeri, i.e. " written in the list of gods." 
 
 5 Otherwise, " how many make up the list of this name." 
 
 6 So Orelli, receiving the emendation of Barth, incogniti nomine, for 
 the MS. in cognitione, -one being an abbreviation for nomine. Examples 
 of such deities are the Novensiles, Consentes, etc., cc, 38-41.
 
 BOOK in.] ARNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 153 
 
 verse it may perhaps be that there are a hundred thousands ; 
 there may be even more than this, nay, as we said a little 
 before, it may not be possible to compute the number of the 
 gods, or limit them by a definite number. Either, then, you 
 are yourselves impious who serve a few gods, but disregard 
 the duties which you owe to the rest ; l or if you claim that 
 your ignorance of the rest should be pardoned, you will pro- 
 cure for us also a similar pardon, if in just the same way a 
 we refuse to worship those of whose existence we are wholly 
 ignorant. 
 
 6. And yet let no one think that we are perversely deter- 
 mined not to submit to 3 the other deities, whoever they are ! 
 For we [lift up] pious minds, and stretch forth our hands in 
 prayer, 4 and do not refuse to draw near whithersoever you 
 may have summoned us ; if only we learn who those divine 
 beings are whom you press upon us, and with whom it may 
 be right to share the reverence which we show to the king 
 and prince who is over all. It is Saturn, [my opponent] says, 
 and Janus, Minerva, Juno, Apollo, Venus, Triptolemus, Her- 
 cules, JEsculapius, and all the others, to whom the reverence 
 of antiquity dedicated magnificent temples in almost every 
 city. You might, perhaps, have been able to attract us to 
 the worship of these deities you mention, had you not been 
 yourselves the first, with foul and unseemly fancies, to de- 
 vise such tales about them as not merely to stain their 
 honour, but, by the natures assigned to them, to prove that 
 they did not exist at all. For, in the first place, we cannot 
 be led to believe this, that that immortal and supreme 
 
 1 Lit., " who, except a few gods, do not engage in the services of the 
 rest." 
 
 2 Orelli would explain pro parte consimili as equivalent to pro uno 
 vero Deo " for the one true God." 
 
 3 Lit., "take the oaths of allegiance," or military oaths, using a very 
 common metaphor applied to Christians in the preceding book, c. 5. 
 
 * Lit., "suppliant hands." It has been thought that the word sup- 
 plices is a gloss, and that the idea originally was that of a band of sol- 
 diers holding out their hands as they swore to be true to their country 
 and leaders ; but there is no want of simplicity and congruity in the 
 sentence as it stands, to warrant us in rejecting the word.
 
 154 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK nr. 
 
 nature has been divided by sexes, and that there are some 
 male, others female. But this point, indeed, has been long 
 ago fully treated of by men of ardent genius, both in Latin 
 and Greek ; and Tullius, the most eloquent among the 
 Romans, without dreading the vexatiousness of a charge of 
 impiety, has above all, with greater piety, 1 declared boldly, 
 firmly, and frankly what he thought of such a fancy ; and 
 if you would proceed to receive from him opinions written 
 with true discernment, instead of [merely] brilliant sen- 
 tences, this case would have been concluded ; nor would it 
 require at our weak hands 2 a second pleading, 3 as it is 
 termed. 
 
 7. But why should I say that men seek from him subtle- 
 ties of expression and splendour of diction, when I know 
 that there are many who avoid and flee from his books on 
 this subject, and will not hear his opinions read, 4 overthrow- 
 ing their prejudices ; and when I hear others muttering 
 angrily, and saying that the senate should decree the de- 
 struction 5 of these writings by which the Christian religion 
 is maintained, and the weight of antiquity overborne ? But, 
 indeed, if you are convinced that anything you say regard- 
 ing your gods is beyond doubt, point out Cicero's error, 
 refute, rebut his rash and impious words, 6 [and] show [that 
 they are so]. For when you would carry off writings, and 
 suppress a book given forth to the public, you are not de- 
 fending the gods, but dreading the evidence of the truth. 
 
 8. And yet, that no thoughtless person may raise a false 
 
 1 i.e. than the inventors of such fables had shown. 
 
 2 Lit., " from us infants," i.e. as compared with such a man as 
 Cicero. 
 
 3 Secundas actiones. The reference is evidently to a second speaker, 
 who makes good his predecessor's defects. 
 
 4 Lit., "are unwilling to admit into their ear the reading of opinions," 
 etc. 
 
 5 Both Christians and heathen, it is probable, were concerned in the 
 mutilation of de Nat. Deorum. 
 
 6 So Gelenius, reading dicta for the MS. dictitare. The last verb is 
 compmbate, read reprobate " condemn," by all edd. except Hild. and 
 Oehler.
 
 BOOK m. j AENOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 155 
 
 accusation against us, as though we believe God whom we 
 worship to be male, for this reason, that is, that when we 
 speak of him we use a masculine word, let him understand 
 that it is not sex which is expressed, but his name, and its 
 meaning according to custom, and the way in which we are 
 in the habit of using words. 1 For the Deity is not male, but 
 his name is of the masculine gender : but in your ceremonies 
 you cannot say the same ; for in your prayers you have been 
 wont to say whether thou art god or goddess^ and this uncer- 
 tain description shows, even by their opposition, that you 
 attribute sex to the gods. We cannot, then, be prevailed on 
 to believe that the divine is embodied ; for bodies must needs 
 be distinguished by difference of sex, if they are male and 
 female. For who, however mean his capacity, 3 does not 
 know that the sexes of different gender have been ordained 
 and formed by the Creator of the creatures of earth, only that, 
 by intercourse and union of bodies, that which is fleeting and 
 transient may endure being ever renewed and maintained ? 4 
 9. What, then, shall we say ? That gods beget and are 
 begotten? 5 and that therefore they have received organs of 
 generation, that they might be able to raise up offspring, and 
 that, as each new race springs up, a substitution, regularly 
 occurring, 6 should make up for all which had been swept 
 away by the preceding age ? If, then, it is so, that is, if the 
 gods above beget [other gods], and are subject to these condi- 
 tions of sex, 7 and are immortal, and are not worn out by the 
 chills of age, it follows, as a consequence, that the world 8 
 should be full of gods, and that countless heavens could not 
 contain their multitude, inasmuch as they are both them- 
 
 1 Lit, " with familiarity of speech." 
 
 2 A formula used when they sought to propitiate the author of some 
 event which could not be traced to a particular deity ; referring also to 
 the cases in which there were different opinions as to the sex of a deity. 
 
 3 Lit., " even of mean understanding." 
 
 4 Lit., " by the renewing of perpetual succession." 
 8 Lit., " that gods are born." 
 
 6 Lit., " recurring," " arising again." 
 
 7 Lit., " make trial of themselves by these laws of sex." 
 
 " Lit., " all things," etc. , .
 
 156 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [Boou m. 
 
 selves ever begetting, and the countless multitude of their 
 descendants, always being increased, is augmented by means 
 of their offspring ; or if, as is fitting, the gods are not de- 
 graded by being subjected to sexual impulses, 1 what cause 
 or reason will be pointed out for their being distinguished 
 by those members by which the sexes are wont to recognise 
 each other at the suggestion of their own desires ? For it is 
 not likely that they have these [members] without a purpose, 
 or that nature had wished in them to make sport of its own 
 improvidence, 2 in providing them with members for which 
 there would be no use. For as the hands, feet, eyes, and 
 other members which form our body, 3 have been arranged 
 for certain uses, each for its own end, so we may well 4 be- 
 lieve that these members have been provided to discharge 
 their office ; or it must be confessed that there is something 
 without a purpose in the bodies of the gods, which has been 
 made uselessly and in vain. 
 
 10. What say you, ye holy and pure guardians of religion f 
 Have the gods, then, sexes ; and are they disfigured by those 
 parts, the very mention of whose names by modest lips is 
 disgraceful? What, then, now remains, but to believe that 
 they, as unclean beasts, are transported with violent passions, 
 rush with maddened desires into mutual embraces, and at 
 last, with shattered and ruined bodies, are enfeebled by their 
 sensuality 1 And since some things are peculiar to the female 
 sex, we must believe that the goddesses, too, submit to these 
 conditions at the proper time, conceive and become pregnant 
 with loathing, miscarry, carry the full time, and sometimes 
 are prematurely delivered. O divinity, pure, holy, free from 
 and unstained by any dishonourable blot! The mind longs 5 
 and burns to see, in the great halls and palaces of heaven, 
 
 1 Lit., " if the impurity of sexual union is wanting to the gods." 
 
 2 So the first five edd. 
 
 3 Lit., " the other arrangement of members." 
 
 4 Lit., " it is fitting to believe." 
 
 8 The MS., followed by Hild., reads habet et animunt " has it a mind to, 
 and does it," etc. ; for which Gelenius, followed by later edd., reads, as 
 above, avet animus
 
 BOOK m.j AENOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 157 
 
 gods and goddesses, with bodies uncovered and bare, the full- 
 breasted Ceres nursing laccus, 1 as the muse of Lucretius 
 sings, the Hellespontian Priapus bearing about among the 
 goddesses, virgin and matron, those parts 2 ever prepared for 
 encounter. It longs, I say, to see goddesses pregnant, god- 
 desses with child, and, as they daily increase in size, faltering 
 in their steps, through the irksomeness of the burden they 
 bear about with them ; others, after long delay, bringing to 
 birth, and seeking the midwife's aid; others, shrieking as 
 they are attacked by keen pangs and grievous pains, tor- 
 mented, 3 and, under all these influences, imploring the aid of 
 Juno Lucina. Is it not much better to abuse, revile, and 
 otherwise insult the gods, than, with pious pretence, un- 
 worthily to entertain such monstrous beliefs about them? 
 
 11. And you dare to charge us with offending the gods, 
 although, on examination, it is found that the ground of 
 offence is most clearly in yourselves, and that it is not occa- 
 sioned by the insult which you think 4 [we offer them]. 
 For if the gods are, as you say, moyed by anger, and burn 
 with rage in their minds, why should we not suppose that 
 they take it amiss, even in the highest degree, that you 
 attribute to them sexes, as dogs and swine have been cre- 
 ated, and that, since this is your belief, they are so repre- 
 sented, and openly exposed in a disgraceful manner? This, 
 then, being the case, you are the cause of all troubles 
 you lead the gods, you rouse them to harass the earth 
 with every ill, and every day to devise all kinds of fresh 
 misfortunes, that so they may avenge themselves, being 
 irritated at suffering so many wrongs and insults from you. 
 By your insults and affronts, I say, partly in the vile stories, 
 partly in the shameful beliefs which your theologians, your 
 
 1 Cererem ah laccho, either as above, or "loved by lacchus." Cf. 
 Lucret. iv. 1160 : At tumida et mammosa Ceres est ipsa ab laccho. 
 
 2 Sensu obscceno. 
 
 8 The first five edd. read hortari" exhorted," for which LB., followed 
 by later edd., received tortari, as above, a conjecture of Canterus. 
 
 4 So Orelli, reading r.ec in contiimelia quam opinamini stare for the MS. 
 et, which is retained by all other edd. ; Oehler, however, inserts alia 
 before quam " and that it is found in an insult other than you think."
 
 158 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [Boon in. 
 
 poets, you yourselves too, celebrate in disgraceful ceremonies, 
 you will find that the affairs of men have been ruined, and 
 that the gods have thrown away the helm, if indeed it is by 
 their care that the fortunes of men are guided and arranged. 
 For with us, indeed, they have no reason to be angry, whom 
 they see and perceive neither to mock, as it is said, nor 
 worship them, and to think, 1 to believe much more worthily 
 than you with regard to the dignity of their name. 
 
 12. Thus far of sex. Now let us come to the appear- 
 ance and shapes by which you believe that the gods above 
 have been represented, with which, indeed, you fashion, and 
 set them up in their most splendid abodes, your temples. 
 And let no one here bring up against us Jewish fables 
 and those of the sect of the Sadducees, 2 as though we, too, 
 attribute to the Deity forms 3 (for this is supposed to be 
 taught in their writings, and asserted as if with assurance 
 and authority) ; for these stories either do not concern 
 us, and have nothing at all in common with us, or if they 
 are shared in [by us], as you believe, you must seek out 
 teachers of greater wisdom, through whom you may be able 
 to learn how best to overcome the dark and recondite sayings 
 of those writings. Our opinion on the subject is as follows : 
 that the whole divine nature, since it neither came into 
 existence at any time, nor will ever come to an end of life, is 
 devoid of bodily features, and does not have anything like 
 the forms with which the termination of the several members 
 usually completes the union of parts. 4 For whatever is of 
 this character, we think mortal and perishable; nor do we 
 believe that that can endure for ever which an inevitable end 
 shuts in, though the boundaries enclosing it be the remotest. 
 
 13. But it is not enough that you limit the gods by forms : 
 
 1 So later edd., omitting quam, which is read in the MS., both Roman 
 edd., Hild., and Oehler, "to think much more . . . than you believe." 
 
 2 It is evident that Arnobius here confuses the sceptical Sadducees 
 with their opponents the Pharisees, and the Talmudists. 
 
 3 The MS. reads tribuant et nos unintelligibly, for which LB. and Hild. 
 read et os "as though they attribute form and face;" the other edd., 
 as above, tribuamus et nos. 
 
 4 lit., " the joinings of the members."
 
 BOOK in 1 A RNOB1 US AD VEES US GENTES. 159 
 
 you even confine them to the human figure, and with even 
 less decency enclose them in earthly bodies. What shall we 
 say then ? that the gods have a head modelled with perfect 
 symmetry, 1 bound fast by sinews to the back and breast, and 
 that, to allow the necessary bending of the neck, it is sup- 
 ported by combinations of vertebrae, and by an osseous foun- 
 dation ? But if we believe this to be true, it follows that they 
 have ears also, pierced by crooked windings ; rolling eyeballs, 
 overshadowed by the edges of the eyebrows ; a nose, placed 
 as a channel, 2 through which waste fluids and a current of 
 air might easily pass ; teeth to masticate food, of three kinds, 
 and adapted to three services; hands to do their work, moving 
 easily by means of joints, fingers, and flexible elbows ; feet 
 to support their bodies, regulate their steps, and prompt the 
 first motions in walking. But if [the gods bear] these things 
 which are seen, it is fitting that they should bear those also 
 which the skin conceals under the framework of the ribs, and 
 the membranes enclosing the viscera ; windpipes, stomachs, 
 spleens, lungs, bladders, livers, the long-entwined intestines, 
 and the veins of purple blood, joined with the air-passages, 3 
 coursing through the whole viscera. 
 
 14. Are, then, the divine bodies free from these defor- 
 mities ? and since they do not eat the food of men, are we to 
 believe that, like children, they are toothless, and, having no 
 internal parts, as if they were inflated bladders, are without 
 strength, owing to the hollowness of their swollen bodies ? 
 Further, if this is the case, you must see whether the gods 
 are all alike, or are marked by a difference in the contour of 
 their forms. For if each and all have one and the same 
 likeness of shape, there is nothing ridiculous in believing that 
 they err, and are deceived in recognising each other. 4 But 
 
 1 Lit., " with smooth roundness." 
 
 2 Lit., "the raised gutter of the nose, easily passed by," etc. 
 
 3 The veins were supposed to be for the most part filled with blood, 
 mixed with a little air ; while in the arteries air was supposed to be in 
 excess. Cf. Cicero, de Nat. Deor. ii. 55 : " Through the veins blood is 
 poured forth to the whole body, and air through the arteries. '' 
 
 4 Lit., " in the apprehension of mutual knowledge."
 
 ICO THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK in. 
 
 if, on the other hand, they are distinguished by their counte- 
 nances, we should, consequently, understand that these differ- 
 ences have been implanted for no other reason than that they 
 might individually be able to recognise themselves by the 
 peculiarities of the different marks. We should therefore 
 say that some have big heads, prominent brows, broad brows, 
 thick lips ; that others of them have long chins, moles, and 
 high noses; that these have dilated nostrils, those are snub- 
 nosed ; some chubby from a swelling of their jaws or growth 
 of their cheeks, dwarfed, tall, of middle size, lean, sleek, fat ; 
 some with crisped and curled hair, others shaven, with bald 
 and smooth heads. Now your workshops show and point 
 out that our opinions are not false, inasmuch as, when you 
 form and fashion gods, you represent some with long hair, 
 others smooth and bare, as old, as youths, as boys, swarthy, 
 grey-eyed, yellow, half-naked, bare ; or, that cold may not 
 annoy them, covered with flowing garments thrown over 
 them. 
 
 15. Does any man at all possessed of judgment, believe 
 that hairs and down grow on the bodies of the gods 1 that 
 among them age is distinguished? and that they go about 
 clad in dresses and garments of various shapes, and shield 
 themselves from heat and cold ? But if any one believes 
 that, he must receive this also as true, that [some] gods are 
 fullers, some barbers ; the former to cleanse the sacred gar- 
 ments, the latter to thin their locks when matted with a thick 
 growth of hair. Is not this really degrading, most impious, 
 and insulting, to attribute to the gods the features of a frail 
 and perishing animal? to furnish them with those members 
 which no modest person would dare to recount, and describe, 
 or represent in his own imagination, without shuddering at 
 the excessive indecency? Is this the contempt you entertain, 
 this the proud wisdom with which you spurn us as ignorant, 
 and think that all knowledge of religion is yours? You 
 mock the mysteries of the Egyptians, because they ingrafted 
 the forms of dumb animals upon their divine causes, and 
 because they worship these very images with much incense, 
 and whatever else is used in such rites : you yourselves adore
 
 BOOK in.] ARNOB1US ADVERSUS GENTES. 161 
 
 images of men, as though they were powerful gods, and are 
 not ashamed to give to these the countenance of an earthly 
 creature, to blame others for their mistaken folly, and to be 
 detected in a similarly vicious error. 
 
 16. But you will, perhaps, say that the gods have indeed 
 other forms, and that you have given the appearance of men 
 to them [merely] by way of honour, and for form's sake j 1 
 which is much more insulting than to have fallen into any 
 error through ignorance. For if you confessed that you had 
 ascribed to the divine forms that which you had supposed 
 and believed, your error, originating in prejudice, would not 
 be so blameable. But now, when you believe one thing 
 and fashion another, you both dishonour those to whom you 
 ascribe that which you confess does not belong to them, and 
 show your impiety in adoring that which you fashion, not that 
 which you think really is, and which is in very truth. If 
 asses, dogs, pigs 2 had any human wisdom and skill in con- 
 trivance, and wished to do us honour also by some kind of 
 worship, and to show respect by dedicating statues [to us], with 
 what rage would they inflame us, what a tempest of passion 
 would they excite, if they determined that our images should 
 bear and assume the fashion of their own bodies ? How 
 would they, I repeat, fill us with rage, and rouse our passions, 
 if the founder of Rome, Romulus, were to be set up with an 
 ass's face, the revered Pompilius with that of a dog, if under 
 the image of a pig were written Cato's or Marcus Cicero's 
 name ? So, then, do you think that your stupidity is not 
 laughed at by your deities, if they laugh [at all]? or, since 
 you believe that they may be enraged, [do you think] that 
 they are not roused, maddened to fury, and that they do not 
 wish to be revenged for so great wrongs and insults, and to 
 hurl on you the punishments usually dictated by chagrin, 
 and devised by bitter hatred 1 How much better it had been 
 
 1 The MS. and first four edd. read dolis causa "for the sake of a 
 dowry ; " corrected as above, dicis causa in the later edd. 
 
 2 This argument seems to have been suggested by the saying of Xeno- 
 phanes, that the ox or lion, if possessed of man's power, would have repre- 
 sented, after the fashion of their own bodies, the gods they would worship. 
 
 AUNOB. L
 
 162 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [Boos m. 
 
 to give to them the forms of elephants, panthers, or tigers, 
 bulls, and horses ! For what is there beautiful in man, 
 what, I pray you, worthy of admiration, or comely, unless 
 that which, some poet 1 has maintained, he possesses in com- 
 mon with the ape ? 
 
 17. But, they say, if you are not satisfied with our opinion, 
 do you point out, tell us yourselves, what is the Deity's form. 
 If you wish to hear the truth, either the Deity has no form ; 
 or if he is embodied in one, we indeed know not what it is. 
 Moreover, we think it no disgrace to be ignorant of that 
 which we never saw ; nor are we therefore prevented from 
 disproving the opinions of others, because on this we have 
 no opinion of our own to bring forward. For as, if the 
 earth be said to be of glass, silver, iron, or gathered together 
 and made from brittle clay, we cannot hesitate to maintain 
 that this is untrue, although we do not know of what it is 
 made ; so, when the form of God is discussed, we show that 
 it is not what you maintain, even if we are [still] less able to 
 explain what it is. 
 
 18. What, then, some one will say, does the Deity not 
 hear ? does he not speak ? does he not see what is put before 
 him ? has he not sight ? He may in "his own, but not in our 
 way. But in so great a matter we cannot know the truth 
 at all, or reach it by speculations ; for these are, it is clear, 
 in our case, baseless, deceitful, and like vain dreams. For 
 if we said that he sees in the same way as ourselves, it 
 follows that it should be understood that he has eyelids 
 placed as coverings on the pupils of the eyes, that he closes 
 them, winks, sees by rays or images, or, as is the case in all 
 eyes, can see nothing at all without the presence of other 
 light. So we must in like manner say of hearing, and 
 form of speech, and utterance of words. If he hears by 
 means of ears, these, too, [we must say,] he has, penetrated 
 by winding paths, through which the sound may steal, 
 bearing the meaning of the discourse ; or if his words are 
 poured forth from a mouth, that he has lips and teeth, by 
 
 1 Ennius (Cic. de Nat. Deor. i. 35) : Simla quam similis, turpissima 
 be&tia, nobis.
 
 BOOK IIL] ABNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 163 
 
 the contact and various movement of which his tongue 
 utters sounds distinctly, and forms his voice to words. 
 
 19. If you are willing to hear our conclusions, [then learn 
 that] we are so far from attributing bodily shape to the Deity, 
 that we fear to ascribe to so great a being even mental graces, 
 and the very excellences by which a few have been allowed 
 with difficulty to distinguish themselves. For who will say 
 that God is brave, firm, good, wise? who [will say] that he 
 has integrity, is temperate, even that he has knowledge, 
 understanding, forethought? that he directs towards fixed 
 moral ends the actions on which he determines? These 
 things are good in man; and being opposed to vices, have 
 deserved the great reputation which they have gained. But 
 who is so foolish, so senseless, as to say that God is great by 
 [merely] human excellences ? or that he is above all in the 
 greatness of his name, because he is not disgraced by vice ? 
 Whatever you say, whatever in unspoken thought you ima- 
 gine concerning God, passes and is corrupted into a human 
 sense, and does not carry its own meaning, because it is 
 spoken in the words which we use, and which are suited 
 [only] to human affairs. There is but one thing man can 
 be assured of regarding God's nature, to know and perceive 
 that nothing can be revealed in human language concerning 
 God. 
 
 20. This, then, this matter of forms and sexes, is the 
 first affront which you, noble advocates in sooth, and pious 
 writers, offer to your deities. But what is the next, that you 
 represent to us 1 the gods, some as artificers, some physicians, 
 others working in wool, as sailors, 2 players on the harp and 
 flute, hunters, shepherds, and, as there was nothing more, 
 rustics ? And that god, he says, is a musician, and this other 
 can divine; for the other gods cannot, 3 and do not know 
 
 1 So the MS., followed by Oehler, reading nobis, for which all other 
 edd. give vobis "to you." 
 
 2 Meursius would read naccas "fullers," for nautas; but the latter 
 term may, properly enough, be applied to the gods who watch over 
 seamen. 
 
 8 Or, " for the others are not gods," i.e. cannot be gods, as they do
 
 1G4 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK in. 
 
 how to foretell what will come to pass, owing to their want 
 of skill and ignorance of the future. One is instructed in 
 obstetric arts, another trained up in the science of medicine. 
 Is each, then, powerful in his own department ; and can 
 they give no assistance, if their aid is asked, in what belongs 
 to another? This one is eloquent in speech, and ready in 
 linking words together; for the others are stupid, and can 
 say nothing skilfully, if they must speak. 
 
 21. And, I ask, what reason is there, what unavoidable 
 necessity, what occasion for the gods knowing and being 
 acquainted with these handicrafts as though they were worth- 
 less mechanics? For, are songs sung and music played in 
 heaven, that the nine sisters may gracefully combine and 
 harmonize pauses and rhythms of tones ? Are there on the 
 mountains 1 of the stars, forests, woods, groves, that 2 Diana 
 may be esteemed very mighty in hunting expeditions ? Are 
 the gods ignorant of the immediate future; and do they 
 live and pass the time according to the lots assigned them 
 by fate, that the inspired son of Latona may explain and 
 declare what the morrow or the next hour bears to each? 
 Is he himself inspired by another god, and is he urged and 
 roused by the power of a greater divinity, so that he may be 
 rightly said and esteemed to be divinely inspired? Are the 
 gods liable to be seized by diseases ; and is there anything 
 by which they may be wounded and hurt, so that, when there 
 is occasion, he 3 of Epidaurus may come to their assistance ? 
 Do they labour, do they bring forth, that Juno may soothe, 
 and Lucina abridge the terrible pangs of childbirth? Do 
 they engage in agriculture, or are they concerned with the 
 duties of war, that Vulcan, the lord of fire, may form for 
 
 not possess the power of divination. Cf. Lact. i. 11 : Sin autem divinus 
 non sit, ne deus quidem sit. 
 
 1 The MS., followed by LB. and Hild., reads sidereis motibus " in 
 the motions of the stars ;" i.e. can these be in the stars, owing to their 
 motion? Oehler conjectures molibus " in the masses of the stars ;" tho 
 other edd. read montibus, as above. 
 
 2 The MS., both Roman edd., and Oehler read habctur Diana " is 
 Diana esteemed ; " the other edd., ut habeatur, &s above. 
 
 * i.e. .rfEsculapius.
 
 BOOR in.] ARNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 165 
 
 them swords, or forge their rustic implements? Do they 
 need to be covered with garments, that the Tritonian 1 maid 
 may, with nice skill, 2 spin, weave cloth for them, and make 3 
 them tunics to suit the season, either triple-twilled, or of 
 silken fabric 1 Do they make accusations and refute them, 
 that the descendant 4 of Atlas may carry off the prize for 
 eloquence, attained by assiduous practice? 
 
 22. You err, my opponent says, and are deceived ; for the 
 gods are not themselves artificers, but suggest these arts to 
 ingenious men, and teach mortals what they should know, 
 that their mode of life may be more civilised. But he who 
 gives any instruction to the ignorant and unwilling, and 
 strives to make him intelligently expert in some kind of 
 work, must himself first know that which he sets the other 
 to practise. For no one can be capable of teaching a science 
 without knowing the rules of that which he teaches, and 
 having grasped its method most thoroughly. The gods are, 
 then, the first artificers ; whether because they inform the 
 minds [of men] with knowledge, as you say yourselves, or 
 because, being immortal and unbegotten, they surpass the 
 whole race of earth by their length of life. 6 This, then, is 
 the question ; there being no occasion for these arts among 
 the gods, neither their necessities nor nature requiring in 
 them any ingenuity or mechanical skill, why you should say 
 that they are skilled, 6 one in one craft, another in another, 
 and that individuals are pre-eminently expert 7 in particular 
 departments in which they are distinguished by acquaintance 
 with the several branches of science ? 
 
 1 i.e. Minerva. 
 
 2 "With nice skill ... for them," curiose Us; for which the MS. and 
 first five edd. read curiosius "rather skilfully." 
 
 3 The MS. reads unintelligibly et imponere, for which Meursius emended 
 componat, as above. 
 
 4 Mercury, grandson of Atlas by Maia. 
 
 5 Lit., " by the long duration of time." 
 
 6 Lit., "skilled in notions" perceptionibus ; for which prseceptionibus, 
 i.e. " the precepts of the different arts," has been suggested in the mar- 
 gin of Ursinus. 
 
 7 Lit., " and have skill (soUertias) in which individuals excel."
 
 106 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK m. 
 
 23. But you will, perhaps, say that the gods are not arti- 
 ficers, but that they preside over these arts, [and] have their 
 oversight ; nay, that under their care all things have been 
 placed, which we manage and conduct, and that their pro- 
 vidence sees to the happy and fortunate issue of these. Now 
 this would certainly appear to be said justly, and with some 
 probability, if all we engage in, all we do, or all we attempt 
 in human affairs, sped as we wished and purposed. But since 
 every day the reverse is the case, and the results of actions 
 do not correspond to the purpose of the will, it is trifling to 
 say that we have, set as guardians over us, gods invented by 
 our superstitious fancy, not grasped with assured certainty. 
 Portunus 1 gives to the sailor perfect safety in traversing the 
 seas; but why has the raging sea cast up so many cruelly- 
 shattered wrecks ? Census suggests to our minds courses 
 safe and serviceable ; and why does an unexpected change 
 perpetually issue in results other than were looked for? 
 Pales and Inuus 2 are set as guardians over the flocks and 
 herds ; why do they, with hurtful laziness, 3 not take care to 
 avert from the herds in their summer pastures, cruel, infec- 
 tious, and destructive diseases ? The harlot Flora, 4 vene- 
 rated in lewd sports, sees well to it that the fields blossom ; 
 and why are buds and tender plants daily nipt and destroyed 
 by most hurtful frost 1 Juno presides over childbirth, and 
 aids travailing mothers ; and why are a thousand mothers 
 every day cut off in murderous throes ? Fire is under Vul- 
 can's care, and its source is placed under his control ; and why 
 does he, very often, suffer temples and parts of cities to fall 
 into ashes devoured by flames ? The soothsayers receive the 
 knowledge of their art from the Pythian god ; and why does 
 
 1 According to Oehler, Portunus (Portumnus or Palsemon " the god 
 who protects harbours") does not occur in the MS., which, he says, reads 
 per maria priestant " through the seas they afford ;" emended as above 
 by TJrsinus, prsestat Portunus. Oehler himself proposes permarini 
 u the sea gods afford." 
 
 2 Pales, i.e. the feeding one ; Inuus, otherwise Faunus and Pan. 
 
 3 Otherwise, " from the absence of rain." 
 
 4 So the margin of Ursinus, reading meretrix ; but in the first four 
 edd., LB., and Oberthur, genetrix " mother," is retained from the MS.
 
 BOOK in.] ARNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 167 
 
 he so often give and afford answers equivocal, doubtful, 
 steeped in darkness and obscurity? .^Esculapius presides 
 over the duties and arts of medicine ; and why cannot [men 
 in] more kinds of disease and sickness be restored to health 
 and soundness of body ? while, on the contrary, they become 
 worse under the hands of the physician. Mercury is occu- 
 pied with l combats, and presides over boxing and wrestling 
 matches ; and why does he not make all invincible who are 
 in his charge ? why, when appointed to one office, does he 
 enable some to win the victory, while he suffers others to be 
 ridiculed for their disgraceful weakness ? 
 
 24. No one, says my opponent, makes supplication to 
 the tutelar deities, and they therefore withhold their usual 
 favours and help. Cannot the gods, then, do good, except 
 they receive incense and consecrated offerings? 2 and do they 
 quit and renounce their posts, unless they see their altars 
 anointed with the blood of cattle ? And yet I thought but 
 now that the kindness of the gods was of their own free will, 
 and that the unlooked-for gifts of benevolence flowed un- 
 sought from them. Is, then, the King of the universe soli- 
 cited by any libation or sacrifice to grant to the races of men 
 all the comforts of life ? Does the Deity not impart the sun's 
 fertilizing warmth, and the season of night, the winds, the rains, 
 the fruits, to all alike, the good and the bad, the unjust and 
 the just, 3 the free-born and the slave, the poor and the rich ? 
 For this belongs to the true and mighty God, to show kind- 
 ness, unasked, to that which is weary and feeble, and always 
 encompassed by misery of many kinds. For to grant your 
 prayers on the offering of sacrifices, is not to bring help to 
 those who ask it, but to sell the riches of their beneficence. 
 We men trifle, and are foolish in so great a matter; and, 
 forgetting what 4 God is, and the majesty of his name, asso- 
 
 1 So LB., reading citra-t, the sis. omitting the last letter. 
 
 2 Lit, " salted fruits," the grits mixed with salt, strewed on the 
 victim. 
 
 3 Supplied by Ursinus. 
 
 4 So the edd. reading quid, except Hild. and Oehler, who retain the 
 MS. qui " who."
 
 168 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK HI. 
 
 ciate with the tutelar deities whatever meanness or baseness 
 our morbid credulity can invent. 
 
 25. Unxia, my opponent says, presides over the anointing 
 [of door-posts] ; Cinxia over the loosening of the zone ; the 
 most venerable Victa 1 and Potua attend to eating and 
 drinking. O rare and admirable interpretation of the divine 
 powers ! would gods not have names if brides did not be- 
 smear their husbands' door-posts with greasy ointment; 
 were it not that husbands, when now eagerly drawing near, 
 unbind the maiden-girdle ; if men did not eat and drink ? 
 Moreover, not satisfied to have subjected and involved the 
 gods in cares so unseemly, you also ascribe to them disposi- 
 tions fierce, cruel, savage, ever rejoicing in the ills and de- 
 struction of mankind. 
 
 26. We shall not here mention Laverna, goddess of thieves, 
 the Bellonse, Discordise, Furise ; and we pass by in utter 
 silence the unpropitious deities whom you have set up. We 
 shall bring forward Mars himself, and the fair mother of 
 the Desires ; to one of whom you commit wars, to the other 
 love and passionate desire. My opponent says that Mars has 
 power over wars ; whether to quell those which are raging, 
 or to revive them when interrupted, and kindle them in time 
 of peace ? For if he calms the madness of war, why do wars 
 rage every day ? but if he is their author, we shall then say 
 that the god, to satisfy his own inclination, involves the 
 whole world in strife ; sows the seeds of discord and variance 
 between far-distant peoples ; gathers so many thousand men 
 from different quarters, and speedily heaps up the field with 
 dead bodies; makes the streams flow with blood, sweeps away 
 the most firmly-founded empires, lays cities in the dust, robs 
 the free of their liberty, and makes them slaves ; rejoices in 
 civil strife, in the bloody death of brothers who die in con- 
 flict, and, in fine, in the dire, murderous contest of children 
 with their fathers. 
 
 27. Now we may apply this very argument to Venus in 
 exactly the same way. For if, as you maintain and believe, 
 she fills men's minds with lustful thoughts, it must be held 
 
 1 The MS. reads Vita.
 
 BOOK in.] ARNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 169 
 
 in consequence that any disgrace and misdeed arising from 
 such madness should be ascribed to the instigation of Venus. 
 Is it, then, under compulsion of the goddess that even the 
 noble too often betray their own reputation into the hands 
 of worthless harlots; that the firm bonds of marriage are 
 broken ; that near relations burn with incestuous lust ; that 
 mothers have their passions madly kindled towards their 
 children ; that fathers turn to themselves their daughters' 
 desires ; that old men, bringing shame upon their grey hairs, 
 sigh with the ardour of youth for the gratification of filthy 
 desires ; that wise and brave 1 men, losing in effeminacy the 
 strength of their manhood, disregard the biddings of con- 
 stancy ; that the noose is twisted about their necks ; that 
 blazing pyres are ascended; 2 and that in different places 
 men, leaping voluntarily, cast themselves headlong over very 
 high and huge precipices? 3 
 
 28. Can any man, who has accepted the first principles 
 even of reason, be found to mar or dishonour the unchanging 
 nature of Deity with morals so vile ? to credit the gods with 
 natures such as human kindness has often charmed away 
 and moderated in the beasts of the field ? How, 4 I ask, can 
 it be said that the gods are far removed from any feeling of 
 passion ? that they are gentle, lovers of peace, mild ? that in 
 the completeness of their excellence they reach 5 the height 
 of perfection, and the highest wisdom also? or, why should 
 we pray them to avert from us misfortunes and calamities, 
 if we find that they are themselves the authors of all the ills 
 by which we are daily harassed ? Call us impious as much 
 as you please, contemners of religion, or atheists, you will 
 never make us believe in gods of love and war, that there are 
 gods to sow strife, and to disturb the mind by the stings of 
 
 1 i.e. those who subdue their own spirits. " Constancy " is the ti/Tci- 
 6nct of the Stoics. 
 
 2 Referring to Dido. 
 
 3 As despairing lovers are said to have sought relief in death, by leap- 
 ing from the Leucadian rock into the sea. 
 
 * Lit., " where, I ask, is the [assertion] that," etc. 
 
 Lit., " hold."
 
 170 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK in. 
 
 the furies. For either they are gods in very truth, and do 
 not do what you have related ; or if l they do the things 
 which you say, they are doubtless no gods [at all]. 
 
 29. We might, however, even yet be able to receive from 
 you these thoughts, most full of wicked falsehoods, if it were 
 not that you yourselves, in bringing forward many things 
 about the gods so inconsistent and mutually destructive, 
 compel us to withhold our minds from assenting. For when 
 you strive individually to excel each other in reputation for 
 more recondite knowledge, you both overthrow the very 
 gods in whom you believe, and replace them by others who 
 have clearly no existence ; and different men give different 
 opinions on the same subjects, 2 and you write that those 
 whom general consent has ever received as single persons 
 are infinite in number. Let us, too, begin duly, then, with 
 father Janus, whom certain of you have declared to be the 
 world, others the year, some the sun. But if we are to be- 
 lieve that this is true, it follows as a consequence, that it 
 should be understood that there never was any Janus, who, 
 they say, being sprung from Ccelus and Hecate, reigned 
 first in Italy, founded the town Janiculum, was the father of 
 Fons, 3 the son-in-law of Vulturnus, the husband of Juturna; 
 and thus you erase the name of the god to whom in all 
 prayers you give the first place, and whom you believe to 
 procure for you a hearing from the gods. But, again, if 
 Janus be the year, neither thus can he be a god. For who 
 does not know that the year is a fixed space 4 of time, and 
 that there is nothing divine in that which is formed 5 by the 
 duration of months and lapse of days ? Now this very [argu- 
 ment] may, in like manner, be applied to Saturn. For if 
 time is meant under this title, as the expounders of Grecian 
 ideas think, so that that is regarded as Kronos, 6 which is 
 chronos, 7 there is no such deity as Saturn. For who is so 
 
 1 In the MS. these words, aut si, are wanting. 
 
 2 Stewechius and Orelli would omit rebus, and interpret " about the 
 same gods." Instead of de "about," the MS. has deos. 
 
 3 The MS. reads fonti, corrected by Meursius Fontis, as above. 
 
 4 Lit. "circuit." 5 Lit., " finished." 6 i.e. the god. 7 i.e. time.
 
 BOOK in.] AENOB1US AD VERSUS G ENTES. 171 
 
 senseless as to say that time is a god, when it is but a certain 
 space measured off l in the unending succession of eternity ? 
 And thus will be removed from the rank of the immortals 
 that deity too, whom the men of old declared, and handed 
 down to their posterity, to be born of father Coelus, the pro- 
 genitor of the dii magnif the planter of the vine, the bearer 
 of the pruning-knife. 2 
 
 30. But what shall we say of Jove himself, whom the 
 wise have repeatedly asserted to be the sun, driving a 
 winged chariot, followed by a crowd of deities; 3 some, the 
 ether, blazing with mighty flames, and wasting fire which 
 cannot be extinguished ? Now if this is clear and certain, 
 there is, then, according to you, no Jupiter at all ; who, 
 born of Saturn his father and Ops his mother, is reported 
 to have been concealed in the Cretan territory, that he might 
 escape his father's rage. But now, does not a similar mode 
 of thought remove Juno from the list of gods ? For if she 
 is the air, as you have been wont to jest and say, repeating 
 in reversed order the [syllables] of the Greek name, 4 there 
 will be found no sister and spouse of almighty Jupiter, no 
 Fluonia, 5 no Pomona, no Ossipagina, no Februtis, Popu- 
 lonia, Cinxia, Caprotina ; and thus the invention of that 
 name, spread abroad with a frequent but vain 6 belief, will 
 be found to be wholly 7 useless. 
 
 31. Aristotle, a man of most powerful intellect, and dis- 
 tinguished for learning, as Granius tells, shows by plausible 
 arguments that Minerva is the moon, and proves it by the 
 authority of learned men. Others have said that this very 
 goddess is the depth of ether, and utmost height ; some 
 [have maintained] that she is memory, whence her name 
 even, Minerva, has arisen, as if she were some goddess of 
 
 1 Lit., " the measuring of a certain space included in," etc. 
 
 2 Cf. vl 12. 8 Cf. Plato, Phsedr. st. p. 246. 
 
 4 Lit., " the reversed order of the Greek name being repeated," i.e. 
 instead of y-px, d-y,p. 
 
 5 The MS. gives Fluvionia. 
 
 6 Lit., " with the frequency (or fame) of vain," etc. 
 
 7 Lit., u very."
 
 172 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK m. 
 
 memory. But if this is credited, it follows that there is no 
 daughter of Metis, no daughter of Victory, no discoverer of 
 the Olive, born from the head of Jupiter, no [goddess] skilled 
 in the knowledge of the arts, and in different branches of 
 learning. Neptune, they say, has received his name and 
 title because he covers the earth with water. If, then, by 
 the use of this name is meant the outspread water, there is 
 no god Neptune at all ; and thus is put away, and removed 
 [from us], the full brother of Pluto and Jupiter, armed with 
 the iron trident, lord of the fish, great and small, king of the 
 depths of the sea, and shaker of the trembling earth. 1 
 
 32. Mercury, also, has been named as though he were a 
 kind of go-between ; and because conversation passes be- 
 tween two speakers, and is exchanged by them, that which 
 is expressed by this name has been produced. 2 If this, then, 
 is the case, Mercury is not the name of a god, but of speech 
 and words exchanged [by two persons] ; and in this way is 
 blotted out and annihilated the noted Cylleuian bearer of the 
 caduceus, born on the cold mountain top, 3 contriver of words 
 and names, [the god] who presides over markets, and over 
 the exchange of goods and commercial intercourse. Some 
 of you have said that the earth is the Great Mother, 4 because 
 it provides all things living with food ; others declare that 
 the same [earth] is Ceres, because it brings forth crops of 
 useful fruits; 5 while some maintain that it is Vesta, because 
 it alone in the universe is at rest, its other members being, 
 by their constitution, ever in motion. Now if this is pro- 
 pounded and maintained on sure grounds, in like manner, on 
 your interpretation, three deities have no existence : neither 
 Ceres nor Vesta are to be reckoned in the number 6 of the 
 gods ; nor, in fine, can the mother of the gods herself, whom 
 Nigidius thinks to have been married to Saturn, be rightly 
 
 1 So Meursius emended the sis. sail " sea." 
 
 2 Lit., " the quality of this name has been adjusted." 
 
 3 So Orelli, reading monte vertice; the last word, according to Oehler, 
 not being found in the MS. 
 
 4 i.e. Cybele. Of. Lucr. ii. 991 sqq. c Lit., " seeds." 
 * Fasti "list," " register."
 
 BOOK in.] AENOBIUS AD VERSUS GENTES. 173 
 
 declared a goddess, if indeed these are all names of the one 
 earth, and it alone is signified by these titles. 
 
 33. We here leave Vulcan unnoticed, to avoid prolixity ; 
 whom you all declare to be fire, with one consenting voice. 
 [We pass by] Venus, named because [love] assails all, and 
 Proserpina, named because plants steal gradually forth into 
 the light, where, again, you do away with three deities ; if 
 indeed the first is the name of an element, and does not 
 signify a living power ; the second, of a desire common to 
 all living creatures; while the third refers to seeds rising 
 above ground, and the upward movements 1 of growing 
 crops. What! when you maintain that Bacchus, Apollo, 
 the Sun, are one deity, [seemingly] increased in number 
 by the use of three names, is not the number of the gods 
 lessened, and their vaunted reputation overthrown, by your 
 opinions'? For if it is true that the sun is also Bacchus 
 and Apollo, there can consequently be in the universe no 
 Apollo or Bacchus; and thus, by yourselves, the son of 
 Semele [and] the Pythian god are blotted out [and] set 
 aside, one the giver of drunken merriment, the other the 
 destroyer of Sminthian mice. 
 
 34. Some of your learned men 2 men, too, who do not 
 chatter [merely] because their humour leads them maintain 
 that Diana, Ceres, Luna, are but one deity in triple union; 3 
 and that there are not three distinct persons, as there are 
 three different names ; that in all these Luna is invoked, 
 and that the others are a series of surnames added to her 
 name. But if this is sure, if this is certain, and the facts 
 of the case show it to be so, again is Ceres but an empty 
 name, and Diana : and thus the discussion is brought to 
 this issue, that you lead and advise us to believe that she 
 whom you maintain to be the discoverer of the earth's fruits 
 has no existence, and Apollo is robbed of his sister, whom 
 
 1 Lit., "motions." 
 
 8 Cf. Servius ad Virg. Georg, i. 7 : " The Stoics say that Luna, Diana, 
 Ceres, Juno, and Proserpina are one ; following whom, Virgil invoked 
 Liber and Ceres for Sol and Luna." 
 
 8 Triviali " common," "vulgar," seems to be here used for triplici.
 
 174 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK m. 
 
 once the horned hunter 1 gazed upon as she washed her limbs 
 from [sweat and] impurity in a pool, and paid the penalty of 
 his curiosity. 
 
 35. Men worthy to be remembered in the study of 
 philosophy, who have been raised by your praises to its 
 highest place, declare, with commendable earnestness, as 
 their conclusion, that the whole mass of the world, by whose 
 folds we all are encompassed, covered, and upheld, is one 
 animal 2 possessed of wisdom and reason ; yet if this is a 
 true, sure, and certain opinion, 3 they also will forthwith 
 cease to be gods whom you set up a little ago in its parts 
 without change of name. 4 For as one man cannot, while 
 his body remains entire, be divided into many men ; nor can 
 many men, while they continue to be distinct and separate 
 from each other, 5 be fused into one sentient individual : so, 
 if the world is a single animal, and moves from the impulse 
 of one mind, neither can it be dispersed in several deities , 
 nor, if the gods are parts of it, can they be brought together 
 and changed into one living creature, with unity of feeling 
 throughout all its parts. The moon, the sun, the earth, the 
 ether, the stars, are members and parts of the world ; but 
 if they are parts and members, they "are certainly not them- 
 selves 6 living creatures; for in no thing can parts be the 
 very thing which the whole is, or think and feel for them- 
 selves, for this cannot be effected by their own actions, 
 without the whole creature's joining in ; and this being 
 established and settled, the whole matter comes back to 
 this, that neither Sol, nor Luna, nor ^Ether, Tellus, and the 
 rest, are gods. For they are parts of the world, not the 
 proper names of deities ; and thus it is brought about that, 
 
 1 Actseon. 2 Plato, Timaeus, st. p. 30. 
 
 8 Lit., "of which things, however, if the opinion," etc. 
 
 4 i.e. deifying parts of the universe, and giving them, as deities, the 
 same names as before. 
 
 5 Lit., "the difference of their disjunction being preserved" multi 
 disjunclionis differentia conservata, suggested in the margin of Ursinus 
 for the MS. multitudinis junctionis d. c., retained in the first five edd. 
 
 6 Lit., " of their own name."
 
 BOOK in.] ARNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 175 
 
 by your disturbing and confusing all divine things, the world 
 is set up as the sole god in the universe, while all the rest 
 are cast aside, and that [as] having been set up vainly, use- 
 lessly, and without any reality. 
 
 36. If we sought to subvert the belief in your gods in so 
 many ways, by so many arguments, no one would doubt 
 that, mad with rage and fury, you would demand for us 
 the stake, the beasts, and swords, with the other kinds of 
 torture by which you usually appease your thirst in its in- 
 tense craving for our blood. But while you yourselves put 
 away almost the whole race of deities with a pretence of 
 cleverness and wisdom, you do not hesitate to assert that, 
 because of us, men suffer ill at the hands of the gods ; x 
 although, indeed, if it is true that they anywhere exist, and 
 burn with anger and 2 rage, there can be no better reason for 
 their showing anger against you, 3 than that you deny their 
 existence, and [say] that they are not [found] in any part of 
 the universe. 
 
 37. We are told by Mnaseas that the Muses are the 
 daughters of Tellus and Coelus ; others declare [that they 
 are] Jove's by his wife Memory, or Mens ; some relate that 
 they were virgins, others that they were matrons. For now 
 we wish to touch briefly on the points where you are shown, 
 from the difference of your opinions, to make different state- 
 ments about the same thing. Ephorus, then, says that they 
 are three* in number; Mnaseas, whom we mentioned, [that 
 they are] four; 5 Myrtilus 6 brings forward seven; Crates 
 
 1 Lit., "for the sake of our name, men's affairs are made harass- 
 ing." 
 
 2 Lit., " with flames of," etc. 
 
 3 The MS., according to Crusius, reads no* " us." 
 
 4 Three was the most ancient number ; and the names preserved by 
 Pausanias, are MfXsrw, 'Ao/Bjj, My^>j. 
 
 5 Cicero (de Nat. Deor. iii. 21, a passage where there is some doubt 
 as to the reading) enumerates as the four muses, Thelxiope, Aoede, 
 Arche, Melete. 
 
 6 The MS. reads Murtylus. Seven are said to have been mentioned 
 by Epicharmus, Neilous, Tritone, Asopous, Heptapolis, Achelois, Tipo- 
 plous, and Rhodia.
 
 176 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [Boos m. 
 
 asserts that there are eight ; finally Hesiod, enriching heaven 
 and the stars with gods, comes forward with nine names. 1 
 
 If we are not mistaken, such want of agreement marks 
 those who are wholly ignorant of the truth, and does not 
 spring from the real state of the case. For if their number 
 were clearly known, the voice of all would be the same, and 
 the agreement of all would tend to and find issue in the same 
 conclusion. 2 
 
 38. How, then, can you give to religion its whole power, 
 when you fall into error about the gods themselves ? or 
 summon us to their solemn worship, while you give us no 
 definite information how to conceive of the deities them- 
 selves ? For, to take no notice of the other 3 authors, either 
 the first 4 makes away with and destroys six divine Muses, if 
 they are certainly nine ; or the last 5 adds six who have no 
 existence to the three who alone really are ; so that it cannot 
 be known or understood what should be added, what taken 
 away ; and iu the performance of religious rites we are in 
 danger 6 of either worshipping that which does not exist, or 
 passing that by which, it may be, does exist. Piso believes 
 that the Novensiles are nine gods, set up among the Sabines 
 at Trebia. 7 Granius thinks that they are the Muses, agree- 
 ing with ^Elius ; Varro teaches that they are nine, 8 because, 
 in doing anything, [that number] is always reputed most 
 powerful and greatest; Cornificius, 9 that they watch over 
 the renewing of things, 10 because, by their care, all things are 
 afresh renewed in strength, and endure ; Manilius, that they 
 
 1 The nine are Clio, Euterpe, Thalia, Melpomene, Terpsichore, Erato, 
 Polymnia, Ourania, and Calliope (Theog. 77-79). 
 
 2 Lit., " into the end of the same opinion." 
 8 Lit, "in the middle," "intermediate." 
 
 * i.e. Ephorus. s i.e. Hesiod. 
 
 6 Lit., " the undertaking of religion itself is brought into the danger," 
 etc. 
 
 7 An TJmbrian village. 
 
 8 Lit., " that the number is nine." 
 
 9 A grammarian who lived in the time of Augustus, not to be con- 
 founded with Cicero's correspondent. 
 
 10 Novitatum.
 
 BOOK in.] ARNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. '177 
 
 are the nine gods to whom alone Jupiter gave power to wield 
 his thunder. 1 Cincius declares them to be deities brought 
 from abroad, named from their very newness, because the 
 Romans were in the habit of sometimes individually intro- 
 ducing into their families the rites 2 of conquered cities, while 
 some they publicly consecrated ; and lest, from their great 
 number, or in ignorance, any god should be passed by, all 
 alike were briefly and compendiously invoked under one 
 name Novensiles. 
 
 39. There are some, besides, who assert that those who 
 from being men became gods, are denoted by this name, as 
 Hercules, Romulus, ^Esculapius, Liber, ^Eneas. These are 
 all, as is clear, different opinions ; and it cannot be, in the 
 nature of things, that those who differ in opinion can be 
 regarded as teachers of one truth. For if Piso's opinion is 
 true, ^Elius and Granius say what is false ; if what they say 
 is certain, Varro, with all his skill, 3 is mistaken, who substi- 
 tutes things most frivolous and vain for those which really 
 exist. If they are named Novensiles because their number 
 is nine, 4 Cornificius is shown to stumble, who, giving them 
 might and power not their own, makes them the divine over- 
 seers of renovation. 5 But if Cornificius is right in his belief, 
 Cincius is found [to be] not wise, who connects with the 
 power of the dii Novensiles the gods of conquered cities. 
 But if they are those whom Cincius asserts [them to be], 
 Manilius will be found to speak falsely, who comprehends 
 those who wield another's thunder under this name. 6 But 
 if that which Manilius holds is true and certain, they are 
 utterly mistaken who suppose that those raised to divine 
 honours, and deified mortals, are [thus] named because of 
 
 1 The Etruscans held (Pliny, H. N. ii. 52) that nine gods could 
 thunder, the bolts being of different kinds : the Romans so far main- 
 tained this distinction as to regard thunder during the day as sent by 
 Jupiter, at night by Summanus. 
 
 2 So LB., reading rehg- for the MS. reg-iones. 
 
 3 Lit, " the very skilful." 
 
 4 Lit., " if the number nine bring on the name of," etc. 
 
 6 Lit., " gives another's might and power to gods presiding." 
 
 6 Lit., " the title of this name." 
 
 ARNOB. M
 
 178 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK m. 
 
 the novelty of their rank. But if the Novensiles are those 
 who have deserved to be raised to the stars after passing 
 through the life of men, 1 there are no dii Novensiles at all. 
 For as slaves, soldiers, masters, are not names of persons 
 comprehended under them, 2 but of offices, ranks, and duties, 
 so, when we say that Novensiles is the name 3 of gods who 
 by their virtues have become 4 gods from being men, it is 
 clear and evident that no individual persons are marked out 
 particularly, but that newness itself is named by the title 
 Novensiles. 
 
 40. Nigidius taught that the dii Penates were Neptune 
 and Apollo, who once, on fixed terms, girt Ilium 5 with walls. 
 He himself again, in his sixteenth book, following Etruscan 
 teaching, shows that there are four kinds of Penates ; and 
 that one of these pertains to Jupiter, another to Neptune, 
 the third to the shades below, the fourth to mortal men, 
 making some unintelligible assertion. Ca3sius himself, also, 
 following this [teaching], thinks that they are Fortune, and 
 Ceres, the genius Jovialis, 6 and Pales, but not the female 
 [deity] commonly received, 7 but some male attendant and 
 steward of Jupiter. Varro thinks that they are the gods of 
 whom we speak who are within, and in" the inmost recesses of 
 heaven, and that neither their number nor names are known. 
 The Etruscans say that these are the Consentes and Com- 
 plices, 8 and name them because they rise and fall together, 
 
 1 Lit., " after they have finished the mortality of life," i.e. either as 
 above, or " having endured its perishableness." 
 
 2 Lit., " lying under." 
 
 8 So most edd., following Gelenius, who reads esse nomen for the MS. 
 si omnes istud. 
 
 * Lit., " who have deserved to," etc. 
 
 5 The MS. reads immortalium, corrected in the edd. urbern Ilium. 
 
 6 Supposed to be either the genius attending Jupiter ; the family god 
 as sent by him ; or the chief among the genii, sometimes mentioned 
 simply as Genius. 
 
 7 Lit., " whom the commonalty receives." 
 
 6 Consentes (those who are together, or agree together, i.e. coun- 
 cillors) and Complices (confederate, or agreeing) are said by some to be 
 the twelve gods who composed the great council of heaven; and, in
 
 BOOK m.] ARNOBIUS AD VERSUS GENTES. 179 
 
 six of them being male, and as many female, with unknown 
 names and pitiless dispositions, 1 but they are considered the 
 counsellors and princes of Jove supreme. There were some, 
 too, who said that Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva were the dii 
 Penates, without whom we cannot live and be wise, and by 
 whom we are ruled within in reason, passion, and thought. 
 As you see, even here, too, nothing is said harmoniously, 
 nothing is settled with the consent of all, nor is there any- 
 thing reliable on which the mind can take its stand, drawing 
 by conjecture very near to the truth. For their opinions are 
 so doubtful, and one supposition so discredited 2 by another, 
 that there is either no truth in them all, or if it is uttered 
 by any, it is not recognised amid so many different state- 
 ments. 
 
 41. We can, if it is thought proper, speak briefly of the 
 Lares also, whom the mass think to be the gods of streets 
 and ways, because the Greeks name streets laurce. In dif- 
 ferent parts of his writings, Nigidius [speaks of them] now 
 as the guardians of houses and dwellings ; now as the Curetes, 
 who are said to have once concealed, by the clashing of cym- 
 bals, 3 the infantile cries of Jupiter; now the five Digiti 
 Samothracii, who, the Greeks tell [us], were named Idaei 
 Dactyli. Varro, with like hesitation, says at one time that 
 
 accordance with this, the words una oriantur et occidant una might be 
 translated " rise and sit down together," i.e. at the council table. But 
 then, the names and number of these are known ; while Arnobius says, 
 immediately after, that the names of the dii Consentes are not known, 
 and has already quoted Varro, to the effect that neither names nor 
 number are known. Schelling (iiber die Gotth. v. Samoihr., quoted by 
 Orelli) adopts the reading (see following note), " of whom very little 
 mention is made," i.e. in prayers or rites, because they are merely Jove's 
 councillors, and exercise no power over men, and identifies them with 
 the Samothracian Cabiri KdBnoot and Consentes being merely Greek 
 and Latin renderings of the name. 
 
 1 So the MS. and all edd. reading miserationis parcissimas, except 
 Gelenius, who reads nationis barbarissimss " of a most barbarous 
 nation ;" while Ursinus suggested memorationis pare. " of whom very 
 little mention is made," the reading approved by Schelling. 
 
 2 Lit., " shaken to its foundations." 
 8 &ribus. Cf. Lucretius, ii. 633-6.
 
 180 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF BOOK m.] 
 
 they are the Manes, 1 and therefore the mother of the Lares 
 was named Mania ; at another time, again, he maintains 
 that they are gods of the air, and are termed heroes ; at 
 another, following the opinion of the ancients, he says that 
 the Lares are ghosts, as it were a kind of tutelary demon, 
 spirits of dead 2 men. 
 
 42. It is a vast and endless task to examine each kind 
 separately, and make it evident even from your religious 
 books that you neither hold nor believe that there is any god 
 concerning whom you have not 3 brought forward doubtful 
 and inconsistent statements, expressing a thousand different 
 beliefs. But, to be brief, and avoid prolixity, 4 it is enough 
 to have said what has been said ; it is, further, too trouble- 
 some to gather together many things into one mass, since 
 it is made manifest and evident in different ways that you 
 waver, and say nothing with certainty of these things which 
 you assert. But you will perhaps say, Even if we have no 
 personal knowledge of the Lares, Novensiles, Penates, still 
 the very agreement of our authors proves their existence, 
 and that such a race 5 takes rank among the celestial gods. 
 And how can it be known whether there is any god, if what 
 he is shall be wholly unknown? 6 or "how can it avail even 
 to ask for benefits, if it is not settled and determined who 
 should be invoked at each inquiry? 7 For every one who 
 seeks to obtain an answer from any deity, should of neces- 
 sity know to whom he makes supplication, on whom he 
 calls, from whom he asks help for the affairs and occasions 
 of human life ; especially as you yourselves declare that all 
 the gods do not have all power, and 8 that the wrath and 
 anger of each are appeased by different rites. 
 
 1 The MS. reads manas, corrected as above by all edd. except Hild., 
 who reads Manias. 
 
 2 The MS. reads effunctorum ; LB. et funct., from the correction of 
 Stewechius ; Gelenius, with most of the other edd., def. 
 
 3 The MS. and first ed. omit non. 4 Lit., "because of aversion." 
 5 Lit., " the form of their race." 6 i.e. ignorabitur et nescietur. 
 
 7 The MS. reads consolationem " for each consolation," i.e. to comfort 
 iu every distress. 
 
 8 The MS. omits et.
 
 BOOK m.] ARNOBWS ADVERSUS GENTES. 181 
 
 43. For if this [deity] l requires a black, that 2 a white 
 skin ; [if] sacrifice must be made to this one with veiled, to 
 that with uncovered head ; 3 this one is consulted about mar- 
 riages, 4 the other relieves distresses, may it not be of some 
 importance whether the one or the other is Novensilis, since 
 ignorance of the facts and confusion of persons displeases 
 the gods, and leads necessarily to the contraction of guilt ? 
 For suppose that I myself, to avoid some inconvenience and 
 peril, make supplication to any one of these deities, saying, 
 Be present, be near, divine Penates, thou Apollo, and thou, 
 
 Neptune, and in your divine clemency turn away all 
 these evils, by which I am annoyed, 5 troubled, and tor- 
 mented : will there be any hope that I shall receive help 
 from them, if Ceres, Pales, Fortune, or the genius Jovialis, 6 
 not Neptune and Apollo, shall be the dii Penates ? Or if 
 
 1 invoked the Curetes instead of the Lares, whom some of 
 your writers maintain to be the Digiti Samothracii, how 
 shall I enjoy their help and favour, when I have not given 
 them their own names, and have given to the others names 
 not their own ? Thus does our interest demand that we 
 should rightly know the gods, and not hesitate or doubt 
 about the power, the name of each ; lest, 7 if they be invoked 
 with rites and titles not their own, they have at once their 
 ears stopped [against our prayers], and hold us involved in 
 guilt which may not be forgiven. 
 
 44. Wherefore, if you are assured that in the lofty palaces 
 of heaven there dwells, there is, that multitude of deities 
 
 1 The dii inferi. 2 The dii superi. 
 
 3 Saturn and Hercules were so worshipped. * Apollo. 
 
 6 The MS., first five edd., and Oehler read terreor " terrified ;" the 
 others tor., as above, from the conjecture of Gifanius. 
 
 6 Cf. ch. 40, note 6. It may further be observed that the Etruscans 
 held that the superior and inferior gods and men were linked together 
 by a kind of intermediate beings, through whom the gods took cog- 
 nizance of human affairs, without themselves descending to earth. 
 These were divided into four classes, assigned to Tina (Jupiter), Nep- 
 tune, the gods of the nether world, and men respectively. 
 
 7 So LB., Hild., and Oehler, reading nomine ne . all others ul, the MS 
 having no conjunction.
 
 182 AENOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. BooK HI. 
 
 whom you specify, you should make your stand on one 
 proposition, 1 and not, divided by different and inconsistent 
 opinions, destroy belief in the very things which you seek to 
 establish. If there is a Janus, let Janus be ; if a Bacchus, 
 let Bacchus be ; if a Summanus, 2 let Summanus be : for 
 this is to confide, this to hold, to be settled in the knowledge 
 of something ascertained, not to say after the manner of the 
 blind and erring, The Novensiles are the Muses, in truth 
 they are the Trebian gods, nay, their number is nine, or 
 rather, they are the protectors of cities which have been over- 
 thrown ; and bring so important matters into this danger, 
 that while you remove some, and put others in their place, 
 it may well be doubted of them all if they anywhere exist. 
 
 1 Lit., " it is fitting that you stand in the limits of," etc. 
 * i.e. Summus Manium, Pluto,
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 ARXOBIUS now attacks the heathen mythology, pointing out that such 
 deities as Piety, Concord, Safety, and the like, could only be mere 
 abstractions (1, 2) ; while, as to many others, it would be difficult to 
 suppose especially when facts are compared with theories that they 
 were seriously spoken of as deities, e.g. Luperca, Praestana, Pantica (3), 
 and Pellonia (4) ; the sinister deities (5) ; Lateranus, a god degraded 
 to the kitchen (6) ; and others to whom were assigned obscene and 
 trifling offices (7) ; and asking whether the existence of these deities 
 depended on the things for which they cared, or the performance of 
 the offices over which they were set, and how, if they were first in 
 the order of existence, they could be named from things which did 
 not then exist, and how their names were known (8). Common-sense 
 will not allow us to believe in gods of Gain, Lust, Money, and the rest 
 (9) ; and besides, we could not stop here, for if there were gods to pre- 
 side over bones, honey, thresholds, we should find it impossible to deny 
 that everywhere and for everything there are special gods (10). What 
 proof, it is asked, do the gods give of their existence ? do they appear 
 when invoked? do they give true oracles (11)? how were they made 
 known to men, and how could it be certain that some one did not take 
 the place of all those supposed to be present at different rites (12)? 
 Arnobius next goes on to point out that several deities were spoken of 
 under one name, while, on the contrary, several names were sometimes 
 applied to one deity (13) ; e.g. there were three Jupiters, five Suns and 
 Mercuries, five Minervas (14), four Vulcans, three Dianas and .JSsculapii, 
 six called Hercules, and four called Venus, and others, in like manner, 
 from which would arise much confusion (15) ; for if Minerva were in- 
 Toked, the five might be supposed to appear, each claiming the honour 
 of deity as her own, in which case the position of the worshipper would 
 be one of danger and perplexity (16). The others might be similarly 
 referred to, and this alone would make it impossible to believe in these 
 deities (17). And if it should be said that these writings are false, it 
 might be answered that it is only of such published statements that 
 notice could be taken ; and that, if they were discredited, this fact 
 should be made evident ; and, finally, that from them all the religious 
 ideas of the heathen were drawn (18). In saying that a god was 
 183
 
 184 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK iv. 
 
 sprung from such a father and mother, the thought might have sug- 
 gested itself, that in this there was something human, something not 
 befitting deity (19) ; but, so far from this, they had added everything 
 degrading and horrible (20). Jupiter had such an origin, they said, 
 and the Thunderer was once a helpless infant tended by his nurse (21) ; 
 and which was even more degrading and unseemly in turn he, too, 
 was subject to lust and passion, even descending to intercourse with 
 mortals (22, 23). Here, Arnobius says, would be found the cause of all 
 the miseries of which they complained, and these, therefore, were to be 
 laid to the account, not of the Christians, but of the heathen, for it was 
 they who devised such hideous, absurd, and blasphemous tales about 
 the deities, which are either utterly false, or conclusively disprove the 
 existence of such gods (24-28). Here it might have been shown that 
 all the gods were originally men, by referring to various historians (29) ; 
 but this is not done, because the purpose of Arnobius was merely to 
 show that it was the heathen, not the Christians, who did the gods dis- 
 honour. True worship is not ritual observance, but right thoughts ; and 
 therefore the resentment of the gods would be excited rather by the 
 infamous tales of the heathen, than by the neglect of the Christians 
 (30, 31) ; and whoever might have invented them, the great body of 
 the people were to blame, in that they allowed it to be done, and even 
 took pleasure in reading or hearing such stories, although they had 
 secured not merely the great, but even private persons from libels and 
 calumnies by the strictest laws (32-34). But not merely did they 
 suffer things to be written with impunity which dishonoured the gods, 
 similar plays were also acted on the stage (35) ; and in these the gods 
 were even made a laughing-stock, to the" great delight of crowded 
 audiences (35, 36). And yet, though they were so open and unblush- 
 ing in the insults which they offered the gods, they did not hesitate to 
 accuse the Christians of impiety, who were not guilty in this respect at 
 all (37). If, therefore, the gods are angry, it is not because of the 
 Christians, but because of their own worshippers (38). 
 
 would ask you, and you above all, O Romans, 
 lords and princes of the world, whether you 
 think that Piety, Concord, Safety, Honour, 
 Virtue, Happiness, and other such names, to 
 which we see you rear 1 altars and splendid temples, have 
 divine power, and live in heaven? 2 or, as is usual, have you 
 classed them with the deities merely for form's sake, because 
 we desire and wish these blessings to fall to our lot? For 
 
 1 Lit., " see altars built." 
 
 8 Lit., " in the regions of heaven."
 
 BOOK iv.] ARNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 185 
 
 if, while you think them empty names without any sub- 
 stance, you yet deify them with divine honours, 1 you will have 
 to consider whether that is a childish frolic, or tends to bring 
 your deities into contempt, 2 when you make equal, and add 
 to their number vain and feigned names. But if you have 
 loaded them with temples and couches, holding with more 
 assurance that these, too, are deities, we pray you to teach 
 [us in] our ignorance, by what course, in what way, Victory, 
 Peace, Equity, and the others mentioned among the gods, 
 can be understood to be gods, to belong to the assembly of 
 the immortals? 
 
 2. For we (but, perhaps, you [would] rob and deprive 
 us of common-sense) feel and perceive that none of these 
 has divine power, or possesses a form of its own ; 3 but that, 
 [on the contrary,] they are the excellence of manhood, 4 the 
 safety of the safe, the honour of the respected, the victory 
 of the conqueror, the harmony of the allied, the piety of the 
 pious, the recollection of the observant, the good fortune, 
 indeed, of him who lives happily and without exciting any 
 ill-feeling. Now it is easy to perceive that, in speaking 
 thus, we speak most reasonably when we observe 6 the con- 
 trary qualities opposed [to them], misfortune, discord, forget- 
 f ulness, injustice, impiety, baseness of spirit, and unfortunate 6 
 weakness of body. For as these things happen accidentally, 
 and 7 depend on human acts [and] chance moods, so their 
 contraries, named 8 after more agreeable qualities, must be 
 
 1 The MS. reads tarn (corrected by the first four edd. tamen) in 
 regionibus" in the divine seats ; " corrected, religionibus, as above, by 
 Ursinus. 
 
 2 Lit., " to the deluding of your deities." 
 
 3 Lit., " is contained in a form of its own kind." 
 
 4 i.e. manliness. 
 
 5 Lit., "which it is easy to perceive to be said by us with the greatest 
 truth from," etc., so most edd. reading nobis; but the MS., according 
 to Crusius, gives vobis " you," as in Orelli and Oberthiir. 
 
 6 Lit., " less auspicious." 
 
 7 The MS., first four edd., and Elmenhorst, read quie " which ; " the 
 rest, as above, que. 
 
 8 Lit., "what is opposed to them named," nominatum ; a correction 
 by Oehler for the MS. nominatur " is named."
 
 186 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK iv. 
 
 found in others; and from these, originating in this wise, 
 have arisen those invented names. 
 
 3. With regard, indeed, to your bringing forward to us 
 other bands of unknown 1 gods, we cannot determine whether 
 you do that seriously, and from a belief in its certainty ; or, 
 [merely] playing with empty fictions, abandon yourselves to 
 an unbridled imagination. The goddess Luperca, you tell 
 us on the authority of Varro, was named because the fierce 
 wolf spared the exposed children. Was that goddess, then, 
 disclosed, not by her own power, [but] by the course of 
 events ? and was it [only] after the wild beast restrained its 
 cruel teeth, that she both began to be herself and was marked 
 by 2 her name ? or if she was already a goddess long before 
 the birth of Romulus and his brother, show us what was her 
 name and title. Prsestana was named, according to you, 
 because, in throwing the javelin, Quirinus excelled all in 
 strength; 3 and the goddess Panda, or Pantica, was named 
 because Titus Tatius was allowed to open up and make 
 passable a road, that he might take the Capitoline. Before 
 these events, then, had the deities never existed? and if 
 Romulus had not held the first place in casting the javelin, 
 and if the Sabine king had been unable to take the Tarpeian 
 rock, would there be no Pantica, no Praestana? And if you 
 say that they 4 existed before that which gave rise to their 
 name, a question which has been discussed in a preceding 
 section, 5 tell us also what they were called. 
 
 4. Pellonia is a goddess mighty to drive back enemies. 
 Whose enemies, say, if it is convenient ? Opposing armies 
 meet, and fighting together, hand to hand, decide the battle ; 
 and to one this side, to another that, is hostile. Whom, then, 
 will Pellonia turn to flight, since on both sides there will be 
 
 1 The MS. and both Koman edd. read signatorum " sealed ; " the 
 others, except Hild., ignotorum, as above. 
 
 2 Lit., " drew the meaning of her name." 
 
 3 Lit., "excelled the might of all." 
 
 4 MS., " that these, too," i.e. as well as Luperca. 
 
 6 No such discussion occurs in the preceding part of the work, but 
 the subject is brought forward in the end of ch. viii.
 
 BOOK iv.] AENOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 187 
 
 fightincr ? or in favour of whom will she incline, seeing that 
 
 o D 7 o 
 
 she should afford to both sides the might and services of her 
 name? But if she indeed 1 did so, that is, if she gave her 
 good-will and favour to both sides, she would destroy the 
 meaning of her name, which was formed with regard to the 
 beating back of one side. But you will perhaps say, She 
 is goddess of the Romans only, and, being on the side of 
 the Quirites alone, is ever ready graciously to help them. 2 
 We wish, indeed, that it were so, for we like the name ; but 
 it is a very doubtful matter. What ! do the Romans have 
 gods to themselves, who do not help 3 other nations? and 
 how can they be gods, if they do not exercise their divine 
 power impartially towards all nations everywhere ? and where, 
 I pray you, was this goddess Pellonia long ago, when the 
 national honour was brought under the yoke at the Caudine 
 Forks? when at the Trasimene lake the streams ran with 
 blood? when the plains of Diomede 4 were heaped up with 
 dead Romans ? when a thousand other blows were sustained 
 in countless disastrous battles ? Was she snoring and sleep- 
 ing ; or, as the base often do, had she deserted to the enemies' 
 camp? 
 
 5. The sinister deities preside over the regions on the left 
 hand only, and are opposed to those 5 on the right. But with 
 what reason this is said, or with what meaning, we do not 
 understand ourselves ; and we are sure that you cannot in 
 any degree cause it to be clearly and generally understood. 6 
 For in the first place, indeed, the world itself has in itself 
 neither right nor left, neither upper nor under regions, neither 
 fore nor after [parts]. For whatever is round, and bounded 
 on every side by the circumference 7 of a solid sphere, has 
 no beginning, no end ; where there is no end and begin- 
 
 1 In the first sentence the MS. reads utrique, and in the second utique, 
 which is reversed in most edd., as above. 
 
 2 Lit., "ever at hand with gracious assistances." 
 
 3 Lit., " are not of." 4 i.e. the field of Canasc. 
 
 5 Lit., " the parts." 
 
 6 Lit., " it cannot be brought into any light of general understanding 
 by you." 
 
 7 Lit, " convexity."
 
 188 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [Boos iv. 
 
 ning, no part can have 1 its own name and form the begin- 
 ning. Therefore, when we say, This is the right, and that 
 the left side, we do not refer to anything 2 in the world, 
 which is everywhere very much the same, but to our own 
 place and position, we being 3 so formed that we speak of 
 some things as on our right hand, of others as on our left ; 
 and yet these very things which we name left, and the others 
 [which we name] right, have in us no continuance, no fixed- 
 ness, but take their forms from our sides, just as chance, 
 and the accident of the moment, may have placed us. If I 
 look towards the rising sun, the north pole and the north are 
 on my left hand; and if I turn my face thither, the west 
 will be on my left, for it will be regarded as behind the sun's 
 back. But, again, if I turn my eyes to the region of the 
 west, the wind and country of the south are now said to be 
 on 4 my left ; and if I am turned to this side by the necessary 
 business of the moment, the result is, that the east is said 
 [to be] on the left, owing to a further change of position, 5 
 from which it can be very easily seen that nothing is either 
 on our right or on our left by nature, but from position, time, 
 and according as our bodily position with regard to surround- 
 ing objects has been taken up. But in this case, by what 
 means, in what way, will there be gods of the regions of the 
 left, when it is clear that the same regions are at one time on 
 the right, at another on the left ? or what have the regions 
 of the right done to the immortal gods, to deserve that they 
 should be without any to care for them, while they have 
 ordained that these should be fortunate, and ever [accom- 
 panied] by lucky omens ? 
 
 1 Lit,, " be of." 2 Lit., " to the state of the world." 
 
 3 Lit., " who have been so formed, that some things are said by us," 
 nobis, the reading of Oberthiir and Orelli for the MS. in nos " with re- 
 gard to us," which is retained by the first four edd., Elm., Hild., and 
 Oehler. 
 
 4 i.e. transit in vocdbulum sinistri; in being omitted in the MS. and both 
 Roman edd. 
 
 5 Lit., " the turning round of the body being changed." 
 
 6 So Oehler, reading positione, sed tempore sed, for the MS. positions ei 
 lentporis et.
 
 BOOK iv.] AENOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 189 
 
 6. Lateranus, 1 as you say, is the god and genius of hearths, 
 and received this name because men build that kind of fire- 
 place of unbaked bricks. What then? if hearths were made 
 of baked clay, or any other material whatever, will they have 
 no genii? and will Lateranus, whoever he is, abandon his 
 duty as guardian, because the kingdom which he possesses 
 lias not been formed of bricks of clay ? And for what pur- 
 pose, 2 I ask, has that god received the charge of hearths ? 
 He runs about the kitchens of men, examining and discover- 
 ing with what kinds of wood the heat in their fires is pro- 
 duced ; he gives strength 3 to earthen vessels, that they may 
 not fly in pieces, overcome by the violence of the flames ; 
 he sees that the flavour of unspoilt dainties reaches the taste 
 of the palate with their own pleasantness, and acts the part 
 of a taster, and tries whether the sauces have been rightly 
 prepared. Is not this unseemly, nay to speak with more 
 truth disgraceful, impious, to introduce some pretended 
 deities for this only, not to do them reverence with fitting 
 honours, but to appoint them over base things, and disre- 
 putable actions ? 4 
 
 7. Does Venus Militaris, also, preside over the evil-doing 5 
 of camps, and the debaucheries of young men? Is there 
 one Perfica, 6 also, of the crowd of deities, who causes those 
 base and filthy delights to reach their end with uninterrupted 
 pleasure? Is there also Pertunda, who presides over the 
 marriage 7 couch? Is there also Tutunus, on whose huge 
 members 8 and horrent fascinus you think it auspicious, and 
 desire, that your matrons should be borne? But if facts 
 
 1 No mention is made of this deity by any other author. 
 
 2 Lit., " that he may do what." 
 
 3 Lit., " [good] condition," habitudinem. 
 
 4 Lit., " a disreputable act." 
 
 6 So the MS. reading Jlagitiis, followed by all edd. except LB. and 
 Orelli, who read plagiis " kidnapping." 
 
 6 Of this goddess, also, no other author makes mention, but the germ 
 may be perhaps found in Lucretius (ii. 1116-7), where nature is termed 
 psrfica, i.e. "perfecting," or making all things complete. 
 
 7 i.e. in cubiculis prsesto est virginalem scrobem effodientibus marilis^ 
 
 8 The first five edd. read Mutunus. Cf. ch. 11.
 
 190 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK iv 
 
 themselves have very little effect in suggesting to you a right 
 understanding of the truth, are you not able, even from the 
 very names, to understand that these are the inventions of a 
 most meaningless superstition, and the false gods of fancy ? l 
 Puta, you say, presides over the pruning of trees, Peta over 
 prayers ; Nemestrinus 2 is the god of groves ; Patellana is a 
 deity, and Patella, of whom the one has been set over things 
 brought to light, the other over those yet to be disclosed. 
 Nodutis is spoken of as a god, because he 3 brings that which 
 has been sown to the knots ; and she who presides over the 
 treading out of grain, Noduterensis ; 4 the goddess Upibilia 5 
 delivers from straying from the [right] paths ; parents be- 
 reaved of their children are under the care of Orbona, those 
 very near to death, under that of Naenia. Again, 6 Ossilago 
 herself is mentioned [as she] who gives firmness and solidity 
 to the bones of young children. Mellonia is a goddess, strong 
 and powerful in regard to bees, caring for and guarding the 
 sweetness of their honey. 
 
 8. Say, I pray you (that Peta, Puta, Patella may gra- 
 ciously favour you), if there were no 7 bees at all on the earth 
 then, or if we men were born without bones, like some worms, 
 would there be no goddess Mellonia ; 8 or would Ossilago, who 
 gives bones their solidity, be without a name of her own ? 
 I ask truly, and eagerly inquire whether you think that 
 gods, or men, or bees, fruits, twigs, and the rest, are the more 
 
 1 Lit., the "fancies" or " imaginations of false gods." Meursius pro- 
 posed to transpose the whole of this sentence to the end of the chapter, 
 which would give a more strictly logical arrangement ; but it must be 
 remembered that Arnobius allows himself much liberty in this respect. 
 
 2 Of these three deities no other mention is made. 
 
 3 The MS., LB., Hild., and Oehler read qui " who brings ; " the other 
 edd., as above, quia. 
 
 4 So the MS. (cf. ch. 11), first five edd., Oberth., Hild., and Oehler ; the 
 other edd. read Nodutim Ter. 
 
 5 So the MS., both Roman edd., and Oehler; the other edd. reading 
 Vililia, except Hild., Viabilia. 
 
 6 The MS. reads nam "for," followed by all edd. except Orelli, who 
 reads jam as above, and Oehler, who reads etiam " also." 
 
 7 Orelli omits non, following Oberthiir. 
 
 8 Both in this and the preceding chapter the MS. reads Melonia.
 
 BOOE iv.] AENOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 191 
 
 ancient in nature, time, long duration ? No man will doubt 
 that you say that the gods precede all things whatever by 
 countless ages and generations. But if it is so, how, in the 
 nature of things, can it be that, from things produced after- 
 wards, they received those names which are earlier in point 
 of time? or that the gods were charged with the care 1 of 
 those things which were not yet produced, and assigned to 
 be of use to men? Or were the gods long without names; 
 and was it only after things began to spring up, and be on 
 the earth, that you thought it right that they should be called 
 by these names 2 and titles? And whence could you have 
 known what name to give to each, since you were wholly 
 ignorant of their existence ; or that they possessed [any] fixed 
 powers, seeing that you were equally unaware which of them 
 had any power, and over what he should be placed to suit 
 his divine might? 
 
 9. What then ? you say ; do you declare that these gods 
 exist nowhere in the world, and have been created by unreal 
 fancies ? Not we alone, but truth itself, and reason, say so, 
 and that common-sense in which all men share. For who 
 is there who believes that there are gods of gain, and that 
 they preside over the getting of it, seeing that it springs very 
 often from the basest employments, and is always at the 
 expense of others ? Who believes that Libentina, who that 
 Burnus, 3 is set over [those] lusts which wisdom bids us avoid, 
 and which, in a thousand ways, vile and filthy wretches 4 
 attempt and practise? Who that Limentinus and Lima 
 have the care of thresholds, and do the duties of their keepers, 
 when every day we see [the thresholds] of temples and 
 private houses destroyed and overthrown, and that the in- 
 
 1 Lit., " obtained by lot the wardships." 
 
 2 Lit., " signs." 
 
 3 So the MS., both Koman edd., Hild., and Oehler; the others reading 
 Liburnum, except Elm., who reads -am, while Meursius conjectured 
 Liberum " Bacchus." 
 
 4 Lit., "shameful impurity seeks after;" expetit read by Gelenius, 
 Canterus, and OberthUr, for the unintelligible MS. reading expeditur, 
 retained in both Komau edd. ; the others reading experltur " tries."
 
 192 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK iv. 
 
 famous approaches to stews are not without them ? Who 
 believes that the Limi l watch over obliquities ? who that 
 Saturnus presides over the sown crops? who that Mon- 
 tinus is the guardian of mountains ; Murcia, 2 of the slothful ? 
 Who, finally, would believe that Money is a goddess, whom 
 your writings declare (as though [she were] the greatest 
 deity) to give golden rings, 3 the front seats at games and 
 shows, honours in the greatest number, the dignity of the 
 magistracy, and that which the indolent love most of all, 
 an undisturbed ease, by means of riches. 
 
 10. But if you urge that the bones, [different kinds of] 
 honey, thresholds, and all the other things which we have 
 either run over rapidly, or, to avoid prolixity, passed by alto- 
 gether, have 4 their own peculiar guardians, we may in like 
 manner introduce a thousand other gods, who should care 
 for and guard innumerable things. For why should a god 
 have charge of honey only, and not of gourds, rape, cunila, 
 cress, figs, beets, cabbages ? Why should the bones alone 
 have found protection, and not the nails, hair, and all the 
 other things which are placed in the hidden parts and mem- 
 bers of which we feel ashamed, and are exposed to very many 
 accidents, and stand more in need of the care and attention 
 of the gods ? Or if you say that these parts, too, act under 
 the care of their own tutelar deities, there will begin to be as 
 many gods as there are things ; nor will the cause be stated 
 why the divine care does not protect all things, if you say 
 that there are certain things over which the deities preside, 
 and for which they care. 
 
 1 The MS. reads Lemons; Hild. and Oehler, Limones; the others, Limos, 
 as above. 
 
 2 The MS., LB., Hild., and Oehler read M urcidam ; the others, Murciam, 
 as above. 
 
 8 i.e. equestrian rank. 
 
 4 The MS. reading is quid si haberet in sedibus suos, retained by the first 
 five edd., with the change of -ret into -rent " what if in their seats the 
 bones had their own peculiar guardians ; " Ursinus in the margin, fol- 
 lowed by Hild. and Oehler, reads in se divos suos " if for themselves the 
 bones had gods as their own peculiar," etc. ; the other edd. reading, aa 
 above, si habere insistitis suos.
 
 BOOK iv.] ARNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 193 
 
 11. What say you, O fathers of new religions, and 
 powers? 1 Do you cry out, and complain that these gods 
 are dishonoured by us, and neglected with profane contempt, 
 viz., Lateranus, the genius of hearths; Limentinus, who 
 presides over thresholds ; Pertunda, 2 Perfica, Noduterensis ? 3 
 and do you say that things have sunk into ruin, and that 
 the world itself has changed its laws and constitution, be- 
 cause we do not bow humbly in supplication to Mutunus 4 
 and Tutunus? But now look and see, lest while you ima- 
 gine such monstrous things, and form such conceptions, you 
 may have offended the gods who most assuredly exist, if 
 only there are any who are worthy to bear and hold that 
 most exalted title ; and it be for no other reason that those 
 evils, of which you speak, rage, and increase by accessions 
 eveiy day. 5 Why, then, some one of you will perhaps 
 say, do you maintain 6 that it is not true that these gods 
 exist? And, when invoked by the diviners, do they obey the 
 call, and come when summoned by their own names, and 
 give answers which may be relied on, to those who consult 
 them ? We can show that what is said is false, either be- 
 cause in the whole matter there is the greatest room for 
 distrust, or because we, every day, see many of their pre- 
 
 1 i.e. deities. So LB. and Orelli, reading quid potestalum? "what, 
 [0 fathers] of powers." The MS. gives qui "what say you, fathers 
 of new religions, who cry out, and complain that gods of powers are 
 indecently dishonoured by us, and neglected with impious contempt," 
 etc. Heraldus emends thus: "... fathers of great religions and 
 powers? Do you, then, cry out," etc. "Fathers," i.e. those who dis- 
 covered, and introduced, unknown deities and forms of worship. 
 
 2 The MS. reads pertusqux- (marked as spurious) dam; and, according 
 to Hild., naeniam is written over the latter word. 
 
 3 So the MS. Cf. ch. 7. 
 
 4 The MS. is here very corrupt and imperfect, supplices hoc est uno 
 procwribimus atque est utuno (Orelli omits ut-}, emended by Gelenius, 
 with most edd., supp. Mut-uno proc. atque Tutuno, as above ; Elm. and 
 LB. merely insert humi " on the ground," after supp. 
 
 5 Meursius is of opinion that some words have slipped out of the text 
 here, and that some arguments had been introduced about augury and 
 divination. 
 
 6 Contendis, not found in the MS. 
 
 ARNOB. N
 
 194 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [Boon iv. 
 
 dictions either prove untrue, or wrested with baffled expecta- 
 tion [to suit] the opposite issues. 
 
 12. But let them 1 be true, as you maintain, yet will you 
 have us also believe 2 that Mellonia, for example, introduces 
 herself into the entrails, or Limentinus, and that they set 
 themselves to make known 3 what you seek to learn ? Did 
 you ever see their face, their deportment, their countenance I 
 or can even these be seen in lungs or livers? May it not 
 happen, may it not come to pass, although you craftily con- 
 ceal it, that the one should take the other's place, deluding, 
 mocking, deceiving, and presenting the appearance of the 
 [deity] invoked? If the magi, [who are] so much akin to 4 
 soothsayers, relate that, in their incantations, pretended gods 5 
 steal in frequently instead of those invoked ; that some of 
 these, moreover, are spirits of grosser substance, 6 who pre- 
 tend that they are gods, and delude the ignorant by their 
 lies and deceit, why 7 should we not similarly believe that 
 here, too, others substitute themselves for those who are not, 
 that they may both strengthen your superstitious beliefs, 
 and rejoice that victims are slain in sacrifice to them under 
 names not their own ? 
 
 13. Or if you refuse to believe" this on account of its 
 novelty, 8 how can you know whether there is not some one, 
 who comes in place of all whom you invoke, and substituting 
 himself in all parts of the world, 9 shows to you what appear 
 to be 10 many gods and powers? Who is that one? some one 
 will ask. We may perhaps, being instructed by truthful 
 authors, be able to say ; but, lest you should be unwilling to 
 
 1 i.e. the predictions. 
 
 8 Lit., " will you make the same belief." 
 
 8 Lit., "adapt themselves to the significations of the things which." 
 
 4 Lit., " brothers of." 5 i.e. demons. 
 
 6 Perhaps "abilities" materiis. 
 
 7 The MS. reads cum " with similar reason we may believe," instead 
 of cur, as above. 
 
 8 Lit., "novelty of the thing." 
 
 9 Lit., " of places and divisions," i.e. places separated from each 
 other. 
 
 10 Lit., " affords to you the appearance of."
 
 BOOK iv.] ARNOB1US ADVERSUS GENTES. 195 
 
 believe us, let my opponent ask the Egyptians, Persians, 
 Indians, Chaldaeans, Armenians, and all the others who 
 have seen and become acquainted with these things in the 
 more recondite arts. Then, indeed, you will learn who is 
 the one god, or who the very many under him are, who 
 pretend to be gods, and make sport of men's ignorance. 
 
 Even now we are ashamed to come to the point at which 
 not only boys, young and pert, but grave men also, cannot 
 restrain their laughter, and [men who have been] hardened 
 into a strict and stern humour. 1 For while we have all 
 heard it inculcated and taught by our teachers, that in de- 
 clining [the names] of the gods there was no plural number, 
 because the gods were individuals, and the ownership of 
 each name could not be common to a great many; 2 you in 
 forgetfulness, and putting away the memory of your early 
 lessons, both give to several gods the same names, and, 
 although you are elsewhere more moderate as to their num- 
 ber, have multiplied them, again, by community of names ; 
 which subject, indeed, men of keen discernment and acute 
 intellect have before now treated both in Latin and Greek. 3 
 And that might have lessened [our labour, 4 ] if it were not 
 that at the same time we see that some know nothing of 
 these books; and, also, that the discussion which we have 
 begun, compels us to bring forward something on these 
 subjects, although [it has been already] laid hold of, and 
 related by those [writers]. 
 
 14. Your theologians, then, and authors on unknown 
 antiquity, say that in the universe there are three Joves, 
 one of whom has ^Ether for his father ; another, Coelus ; 
 
 1 Lit., "a severity of stern manner" moris for the MS. mares. 
 8 Orelli here introduces the sentence, " For it cannot be," etc., with 
 which this book is concluded in the us. Cf. ch. 37, n. 
 
 3 There can be no doubt that Arnobius here refers to Clemens Alex- 
 andrinus (A&'yoj nporpivrmos irpo; 'EAAjjvaj), and Cicero (de Nat. 
 .Deor.), from whom he borrows most freely in the following chapters, 
 quoting them at times very closely. We shall not indicate particular 
 references without some special reason, as it must be understood these 
 references would be required with every statement. 
 
 4 Lit., " given to us an abridging," i.e. an opportunity of abridging.
 
 196 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK iv 
 
 the third, Saturn, born and buried 1 in the island of Crete. 
 [They speak of] five Suns and five Mercuries, of whom, as 
 they relate, the first Sun is called the son of Jupiter, and is 
 regarded as grandson of JEther ; the second [is] also Jupiter's 
 son, and the mother who bore him Hyperiona; 2 the third 
 the son of Vulcan, not [Vulcan] of Lemnos, but the son of 
 the Nile; the fourth, whom Acantho bore at Rhodes in the 
 heroic age, [was] the father of lalysus; [while] the fifth is 
 regarded as the son of a Scythian king and subtle Circe. 
 Again, the first Mercury, who is said to have lusted after 
 Proserpina, 3 is son of Coelus, [who is] above all. Under the 
 earth is the second, who boasts that he is Trophonius. The 
 third [was] born of Mai a, his mother, and the third Jove; 4 
 the fourth is the offspring of the Nile, whose name the 
 people of Egypt dread and fear to utter. The fifth is the 
 slayer of Argus, a fugitive and exile, and the inventor of 
 letters in Egypt. But there are five Minervas also, they 
 say, just as [there are five] Suns and Mercuries ; the first 
 of whom is no virgin, but the mother of Apollo by Vulcan ; 
 the second, the offspring of the Nile, who is asserted to be 
 the Egyptian Sais ; the third is descended from Saturn, 
 and is the one who devised the use of arms; the fourth 
 is sprung from Jove, and the Messenians name her Cory- 
 
 1 Lit., "committed to sepulture and born in," etc. 
 
 2 Arnobius repeats this statement in ch. xxii., or the name would have 
 been regarded as corrupt, no other author making mention of such a 
 goddess ; while Cicero speaks of one Sun as born of Hyperion. It 
 would appear, therefore, to be very probable that Arnobius, in writing 
 from memory or otherwise, has been here in some confusion as to what 
 Cicero did say, and thus wrote the name as we have it. It has also 
 been proposed to read "born of Regina" (or, with Gelenius, Khea), 
 "and his father Hyperion," because Cybele is termed /3a/X/; for 
 which reading there seems no good reason. Immediately below, lalysus 
 is made the son, instead of, as in Cicero, the grandson of the fourth ; 
 and again, Circe is said to be mother, while Cicero speaks of her as the 
 daughter of the fifth Sun. These variations, viewed along with the 
 general adherence to Cicero's statements (de N. D. iii. 21 sqq.), seem 
 to give good grounds for adopting the explanation given above 
 
 8 i.e. in Proserpinam genitalibus adhinnivisse subrectis. 
 4 Lit., " of Jupiter, but the third."
 
 BOOK iv.] ARNOB1US AD VERSUS GENTES. 197 
 
 phasia; and the fifth is she who slew her lustful 1 father, 
 Pallas. 
 
 15. And lest it should seem tedious and prolix to wish 
 to consider each person singly, the same theologians say 
 that there are four Vulcans and three Dianas, as many 
 JEsculapii and five Dionysi, six Hercules and four Venuses, 
 three sets of Castors and the same number of Muses, three 
 winged Cupids, and four named Apollo; 2 whose fathers 
 they mention in like manner, in like manner their mothers, 
 [and] the places where they were born, and point out the 
 origin and family of each. But if it is true and certain, 
 and is told in earnest as a [well] known matter, either they 
 are not all gods, inasmuch as there cannot be several under 
 the same name, as we have been taught ; or if there is one 
 of them, he will not be known and recognised, because he 
 is obscured by the confusion of very similar names. And 
 thus it results from your own action, however unwilling you 
 may be that it should be so, that religion is brought into diffi- 
 culty and confusion, and has no fixed end to which it can turn 
 itself, without being made the sport of equivocal illusions. 
 
 16. For suppose that it had occurred to us, moved either 
 by suitable influence or violent fear of you, 3 to worship 
 Minerva, for example, with the rites you deem sacred, and 
 the usual ceremony : if, when we prepare sacrifices, and 
 approach to make [the offerings] appointed for her on the 
 flaming altars, all the Minervas shall fly thither, and striv- 
 ing for the right to that name, each demand that the offer- 
 ings prepared be given to herself ; what drawn-out animal 
 shall we place among them, or to whom shall we direct the 
 sacred offices which are our duty ? 4 For the first one of 
 whom we spoke will perhaps say, The name Minerva is mine, 
 
 1 i.e. incestorum appetitorem. 
 
 2 So Cicero (iii. 23) ; but Clemens (p. 24) speaks of five, and notes 
 that a sixth had been mentioned. 
 
 3 Lit., " by the violence of your terror." The preceding words are 
 read in the MS. ideo motos " so moved by authority," and were emended 
 iclonea, as in the text, by Gelenius. 
 
 * Lit., " to what parts shall we transfer the duties of pious service."
 
 198 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK iv. 
 
 mine 1 the divine majesty, who bore Apollo and Diana, and by 
 the fruit of my womb enriched heaven ivith deities, and mul- 
 tiplied the number of the gods. Nay, Minerva, the fifth will 
 say, are you speaking? who, being a wife, and so often a mother, 
 have lost the sanctity of spotless purity ? Do you not see that 
 in all temples 3 the images of Minervas are those of virgins, 
 and that all artists refrain from giving to them the figures 
 of matrons ? 4 Cease, therefore, to appropriate to yourself a 
 name not rightfully 5 yours. for that I am Minerva, be- 
 gotten of father Pallas, the whole band of poets bear witness, 
 who call me Pallas, the surname being derived from my 
 father. What say you, the second will cry on hearing this ; 
 do you, then, bear the name of Minerva, an impudent parri- 
 cide, and one defiled by the pollution of lewd lust, who, decking 
 yourself with rouge and a harlot's arts, roused upon yourself 
 even your father s passions, full of maddening desires ? Go 
 further, then, seek for yourself another name ; for this belongs 
 to me, whom the Nile, greatest of rivers, begot from among his 
 flowing waters, and brought to a maiden's state from the con- 
 densing of moisture. 6 But if you inquire into the credibility 
 of the matter, 1 too will bring as witnesses the Egyptians, 
 in whose language I am called Neith, as Plato's Tima3us 7 
 
 1 The MS. reads cum numen ; Rigaltius, followed by Oehler, emending, 
 as above, meum ; the first four edd., with Oberthiir, turn " then the 
 deity [is mine] ;" while the rest read cum numine " with the deity." 
 
 2 So LB., Orelli, and Oehler, reading tu tinnis for the MS. tutunis. 
 
 8 Capitoliis. In the Capitol were three shrines, to Jove, Juno, and 
 Minerva ; and Roman colonies followed the mother-state's example. 
 Hence the present general application of the term, which is found else- 
 where in ecclesiastical Latin. 
 
 4 Lit., " Nor are the forms of married persons given to these by all 
 artists ;" nee read in all edd. for the MS. et " and of married," etc. 
 which is opposed to the context. 
 
 5 Lit., "not of your own right." 
 
 6 Concretione roris a strange phrase. Cf. Her. iv. 180 : " They say 
 that Minerva is the daughter of Poseidon and the Tritonian lake." 
 
 7 St. p. 21. The MS. reads quorum Nili lingua latonis; the two Roman 
 edd. merely insert p., Plat.; Gelenius and Canterus adding dicor "in 
 whose language I am called the Nile's," Nili being changed into Neith 
 by Elmenhorst and later edd.
 
 BOOK iv.j ARNOB1US AD VERSUS GENTES. 199 
 
 attests. What, then, do we suppose will be the result? 
 Will she indeed cease to say that she is Minerva, who is 
 named Coryphasia, either to mark her mother, or because she 
 sprung forth from the top of Jove's head, bearing a shield, 
 and girt with the terrors of arms ? Or [are we to suppose] 
 that she who is third will quietly surrender the name ? and 
 not argue l and resist the assumption of the first [two] with 
 such words as these, Do you thus dare to assume the honour 
 of my name, /Saw, 2 sprung from the mud and eddies of 
 a stream, and formed in miry places ? Or do you usurp 3 
 another's rank, who falsely say that you were born a goddess 
 from the head of Jupiter, and persuade very silly men that 
 you are reason ? Does he conceive and bring forth children 
 from his head ? That the arms you bear might be forged and 
 formed, icas there even in the liollow of his head a smitlis 
 workshop ? [were there] anvils, hammers, furnaces, belloius, 
 coals, and pincers? Or if, as you maintain, it is true that you 
 are reason, cease to claim for yourself the name which is mine ; 
 for reason, of which you speak, is not a certain form of deify, 
 but the understanding of difficult questions. If, then, as we 
 have said, five Minervas should meet us when we essay to 
 sacrifice, 4 and contending as to whose this name is, each 
 demand that either fumigations of incense be offered to her, 
 or sacrificial wines poured out from golden cups; by what 
 arbiter, by what judge, shall we dispose of so great a dis- 
 pute ? or what examiner will there be, what umpire of so 
 great boldness as to attempt, with such personages, either 
 to give a just decision, or to declare their causes not founded 
 on right ? Will he not rather go home, and, keeping him- 
 self apart from such matters, think it safer to have nothing to 
 do with them, lest he should either make enemies of the rest, 
 by giving to one what belongs to all, or be charged with 
 folly for yielding 5 to all what should be the property of one? 
 
 1 Lit., " take account of herself." 
 
 2 So Ursinus suggested in the margin for the MS. si verum. 
 5 The third Minerva now addresses the fourth. 
 
 4 Lit., "approaching the duties of religion." 
 
 * According to the MS. sic "for so (i.e. as you do) yielding," etc.
 
 200 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK iv. 
 
 17. "We may say the very same things of the Mercuries, 
 the Suns, indeed of all the others whose numbers you in- 
 crease and multiply. But it is sufficient to know from one 
 case that the same principle applies to the rest ; and, lest 
 our prolixity should chance to weary our audience, we shall 
 cease to deal with individuals, lest, while we accuse you of 
 excess, we also should ourselves be exposed to the charge of 
 excessive loquacity. What do you say, you who, by [the 
 fear of] bodily tortures, urge us to worship the gods, and 
 constrain us to undertake the service of your deities ? We 
 can be easily won, if only something befitting the conception 
 of so great a race be shown to us. Show us Mercury, but 
 [only] one ; give us Bacchus, but [only] one ; one Venus, 
 and in like manner one Diana. For you will never make 
 us believe that there are four Apollos, or three Jupiters, not 
 even if you were to call Jove himself as witness, or make the 
 Pythian [god] your authority. 
 
 18. But some one on the opposite side says, How do we 
 know whether the theologians have written what is certain 
 and well known, or set forth a wanton fiction, 1 as they thought 
 and judged? That has nothing to do with the matter; nor 
 does the reasonableness of your argument depend upon this, 
 whether the facts are as the writings of the theologians 
 state, or are otherwise and markedly different. For to us it 
 is enough to speak of things which come before the public ; 
 and [we need] not inquire what is true, but [only] confute 
 and disprove that which lies open to all, and [which] men's 
 thoughts have generally received. But if they are liars, 
 declare yourselves what is the truth, and disclose the un- 
 assailable mystery. And how can it be done when the 
 services of men of letters are set aside ? For what is there 
 which can be said about the immortal gods that has not 
 reached men's thoughts from what has been written by men 
 on these subjects? 2 Or can you relate anything yourselves 
 
 1 So all the edd., though Orelli approves of fictione (edd. -e?n), which 
 is, he says, the MS. reading, " set forth with wanton fiction." 
 
 2 The MS. and earlier edd., with Hild. and Oehler, read ex hominiun 
 de scriptis; LB. and Orelli inserting his after de, as above.
 
 BOOK iv.] ARNOBIUS ADVEKSUS GENTES. 201 
 
 about their rites and ceremonies, which lias not been recorded 
 in books, and made known by what authors have written ? 
 Or if you think these of no importance, let all the books 
 be destroyed which have been composed about the gods for 
 you by theologians, pontiffs, [and] even some devoted to the 
 study of philosophy; nay, let us rather suppose that from 
 the foundation of the world no man ever wrote 1 anything 
 about the gods: we wish to find out, and desire to know, 
 whether you can mutter or murmur in mentioning the gods, 2 
 or conceive those in thought to whom no idea 3 from any 
 book gave shape in your minds. But when it is clear that 
 you have been informed of their names and powers by the 
 suggestions of books, 4 it is unjust to deny the reliableness of 
 these books by whose testimony and authority you establish 
 what you say. 
 
 19. But perhaps these things will turn out to be false, 
 and what you say to be true. By what proof, by what 
 evidence [will it be shown] ? For since both parties are 
 men, both those who have said the one thing and those who 
 have said the other, and on both sides the discussion was of 
 doubtful matters, it is arrogant to say that that is true which 
 seems so to you, but that that which offends your feelings 
 manifests wantonness and falsehood. By the laws of the 
 human race, and the associations of mortality itself, when 
 you read and hear, That god was born of this [father] and 
 of that mother, do you not feel in your mind 5 that something 
 is said which belongs to man, and relates to the meanness of 
 our earthly race? Or, while you think that it is so, 6 do 
 you conceive no anxiety lest you should in something offend 
 the gods themselves, whoever they are, because you believe 
 that it is owing to filthy intercourse . . . 7 that they have 
 
 1 The MS. and both Roman edd. read essc, which is clearly corrupt ; 
 for which LB. gives scripsisse (misprinted scripse), as above. 
 
 2 i.e. " speak of them at all." 8 Lit., " an idea of no writing." 
 
 4 Lit., " been informed by books suggesting to you," etc. 
 
 5 Lit., "does it not touch the feeling of your mind." 
 
 6 Ursinus would supply eos "that they are so." 
 
 7 Atque ex seminis actu, orjactu, as the edd. except Hild. read it
 
 202 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK iv. 
 
 reached the light they knew not of, thanks to lewdness? 
 For we, lest any one should chance to think that we are 
 ignorant of, do not know, what befits the majesty of that 
 name, assuredly 1 think that the gods should not know birth ; 
 or if they are born at all, we hold and esteem that the Lord 
 and Prince of the universe, by ways which he knew himself, 
 sent them forth spotless, most pure, undefiled, ignorant of 
 sexual pollution, 2 and brought to the full perfection of their 
 natures as soon as they were begotten. 3 
 
 20. But you, on the contrary, forgetting how great 4 their 
 dignity and grandeur are, associate with them a birth, 6 and 
 impute [to them] a descent, 5 which men of at all refined 
 feelings regard as at once execrable and terrible. From 
 Ops, you say, his mother, and from his father Saturn, 
 Diespiter was born with his brothers. Do the gods, then, 
 have wives ; and, the matches having been previously planned, 
 do they become subject to the bonds of marriage ? Do they 
 take upon themselves 6 the engagements of the bridal couch 
 by prescription, by the cake of spelt, and by a pretended 
 sale? 7 Have they their mistresses, 8 their promised wives, 
 their betrothed brides, on settled conditions? And what 
 do we say about their marriages, too, when indeed you say 
 that some celebrated their nuptials, and entertained joyous 
 throngs, and that the goddesses sported at these ; and that 
 [some] threw all things into utter confusion with dissensions 
 because they had no share in [singing] the Fesceimine 
 
 1 The MS. reads dignitati-s out; corrected, as above, d. sane, in the first 
 five edd., Oberthur, and Orelli. 
 
 2 Quse sitfceditas ista coeundi. 
 
 s Lit., " as far as to themselves, their first generation being com- 
 pleted." 
 
 4 Lit., "forgetting the so great majesty and sublimity." 
 
 5 Both plural. 
 
 6 The MS., first four edd., and Oberthur read conducunt "unite;" 
 for which the rest read condic-unt, as above. 
 
 7 i.e. WSM, farre, coemptione. 
 
 8 The word here translated mistresses, speratas, is used of maidens 
 loved, but not yet asked in marriage.
 
 BOOK iv.] AENOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 203 
 
 verses, and occasioned danger and destruction 1 to the next 
 generation of men? 2 
 
 21. But perhaps this foul pollution may be less apparent 
 in the rest. Did, then, the ruler of the heavens, the father 
 of gods and men, who, by the motion of his eyebrow, and by 
 his nod, shakes the whole heavens and makes them tremble, 
 did he find his origin in man and woman ? And unless 
 both sexes abandoned [themselves] to degrading pleasures 
 in sensual embraces, 3 would there be no Jupiter, greatest of 
 all ; and even to this time would the divinities have no king, 
 and heaven stand without its lord 1 And why do we marvel 
 that you say Jove sprang from a woman's womb, seeing 
 that your authors relate that he both had a nurse, and in 
 the next place maintained the life given to him by nourish- 
 ment [drawn from] a foreign 4 breast? What say you, O 
 men ? Did, then, shall I repeat, [the god] who makes the 
 thunder crash, lightens and hurls the thunderbolt, and 
 draws together terrible clouds, drink in the streams of the 
 breast, wail as an infant, creep about, and, that he might 
 [be persuaded to] cease his crying most foolishly protracted, 
 was he made silent by the noise of rattles, 5 and put to 
 sleep lying in a very soft cradle, and lulled with broken 
 words? O devout assertion [of the existence] of gods, 
 pointing out and declaring the venerable majesty of their 
 awful grandeur ! Is it thus in your opinion, I ask, that the 
 exalted powers 6 of heaven are produced? do your gods come 
 forth to the light by modes of birth such as these, by which 
 asses, pigs, dogs, by which the whole of this unclean herd 7 
 of earthly beasts is conceived and begotten ? 
 
 22. And, not content to have ascribed these carnal unions 
 to the venerable Saturn, 8 you affirm that the king of the 
 
 1 Lit., "dangers of destructions." 
 
 2 Instead of " occasioned," sevisse, which the later editions give, the 
 MS. and first four edd. read ssevisse " that danger and destruction raged 
 against," etc. 
 
 8 Copulatis corporibus. 
 
 4 i.e. not his mother's, but the dug of the goat Amalthea. 
 
 5 Lit., " rattles heard." 6 Lit., "the eminence of the powers." 
 T Lit., " inundation." 8 Lit, " Saturnian gravity."
 
 204 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOR iv. 
 
 world himself begot children even more shamefully than he 
 was himself born and begotten. Of Hyperions, 1 as his 
 mother, you say, and Jupiter, who wields the thunderbolt, 
 was born the golden and blazing Sun ; of Latona and the 
 same, the Delian archer, and Diana, 2 who rouses the woods ; 
 of Leda and the same, 3 those named in Greek Dioscori; of 
 Alcmena and the same, the Theban Hercules, whom his club 
 and hide defended ; of him and Semele, Liber, who is named 
 Bromius, and was born a second time from his father's thigh ; 
 of him, again, and Maia, Mercury, eloquent in speech, and 
 bearer of the harmless snakes. Can any greater insult be 
 put upon your Jupiter, or is there anything else which will 
 destroy and ruin the reputation of the chief of the gods, 
 further than that you believe him to have been at times 
 overcome by vicious pleasures, and to have glowed with the 
 passion of a heart roused to lust after women ? And what 
 had the Saturnian king to do with strange nuptials? Did 
 Juno not suffice him ; and could he not stay the force of his 
 desires on the queen of the deities, although so great excel- 
 lence graced her, [such] beauty, majesty of countenance, 
 and snowy and marble whiteness of arms? Or did he, not 
 content with one wife, taking pleasure in concubines, mis- 
 tresses, and courtezans, a lustful god, show 4 his incontinence 
 in all directions, as is the custom with dissolute 5 youths; and 
 in old age, after intercourse with numberless persons, did 
 
 1 Cf. ch. 14, note 2. 
 
 2 It is worth while to compare this passage with ch. 16. Here Arno- 
 bius makes Latona the mother of Apollo and Diana, in accordance with 
 the common legend ; but there he represents the first Minerva as claim- 
 ing them as her children. 
 
 3 In the MS. there is here an evident blunder on the part of the copyist, 
 who has inserted the preceding line ("the archer Apollo, and of the 
 Avoods") after "the same." Omitting these words, the MS. reading is lite- 
 rally, " the name in Greek is to the Dioscori." Before " the name " some 
 word is pretty generally supposed to have been lost, some conjecturing 
 "to whom;" others (among them Orelli, following Salmasius) "Gas- 
 tores." But it is evidently not really necessary to supplement the text. 
 
 4 Lit., " scatter." 
 
 5 Orelli reads, with the MS., LB., and Hild., babecali, which he inter- 
 prets belli, i.e. "handsome."
 
 BOOK iv. J ARNOBIUS ADVEESUS GENTES. 205 
 
 he renew his eagerness for pleasures [now] losing their zest ? 
 What say you, profane ones ; or what vile thoughts do you 
 fashion about your Jove ? Do you not, then, observe, do you 
 not see with what disgrace you brand him ? of what wrong- 
 doing you make him the author ? or what stains of vice, 
 how great infamy you heap upon him? 
 
 23. Men, though prone to lust, and inclined, through weak- 
 ness of character, to [yield to] the allurements of sensual 
 pleasures, still punish adultery by the laws, and visit with 
 the penalty of death those whom they find to have possessed 
 themselves of others' rights by forcing the marriage-bed. 
 The greatest of kings, [however, you tell us,] did not know 
 how vile, how infamous the person of the seducer and adul- 
 terer was ; and he who, as is said, examines our merits and 
 demerits, did not, owing to the reasonings of his abandoned 
 heart, see what was the fitting course [for him] to resolve on. 
 But this misconduct might perhaps be endured, if you were 
 to conjoin him with persons at least his equals, and [if] he 
 were made by you the paramour of the immortal goddesses. 
 But what beauty, what grace was there, I ask you, in human 
 bodies, which could move, which could turn to it x the eyes of 
 Jupiter? Skin, entrails, phlegm, and all that filthy mass 
 placed under the coverings of the intestines, which not Lyn- 
 ceus only with his searching gaze can shudder at, but any 
 other also can [be made to] turn from even by merely think- 
 ing. O wonderful reward of guilt, O fitting and precious 
 joy, for which Jupiter, the greatest, should become a swan, 
 and a bull, and beget white eggs ! 
 
 24. If you will open your minds' eyes, and see the real 2 
 truth without gratifying any private end, you will find that 
 the causes of all the miseries by which, as you say, the human 
 race has long been afflicted, flow from such beliefs which 
 you held in former times about your gods ; and which you 
 have refused to amend, although the truth was placed before 
 your eyes. For what about them, pray, have we indeed 
 
 1 MS. and first five edd. read inde" thence ;" the others in se, as above. 
 
 2 Orelli, without receiving into the text, approves of the reading of 
 Stewechius. promptam, "evident," for the MS. propriam.
 
 206 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK iv. 
 
 ever either imagined which was unbecoming, or put forth in 
 shameful writings that the troubles which assail men and 
 the loss of the blessings of life 1 should be used to excite a 
 prejudice against us? Do we say that certain gods were 
 produced from eggs, 2 like storks and pigeons ? [Do we say] 
 that the radiant Cytherean Venus grew up, having taken 
 form from the sea's foam and the severed genitals of Coelus? 
 that Saturn was thrown into chains for parricide, and re- 
 lieved from their weight only on his own days ? 3 that Jupiter 
 was saved from death 4 by the services of the Curetes? that 
 he drove his father from the seat of power, and by force 
 and fraud possessed a sovereignty not his own ? Do we say 
 that his aged sire, when driven out, concealed himself in the 
 territories of the Itali, and gave his name as a gift to Latium, 5 
 because he had been [there] protected from his son ? Do 
 we say that Jupiter himself incestuously married his sister ? 
 or, instead of pork, breakfasted in ignorance upon the son of 
 Lycaon, when invited to his table ? that Vulcan, limping on 
 one foot, wrought as a smith in the island of Lemnos ? that 
 JEsculapius was transfixed by a thunderbolt because of his 
 greed and avarice, as the Boeotian Pindar 6 sings ? that 
 Apollo, having become rich, by his ambiguous responses, 
 deceived the very kings by whose treasures and gifts he had 
 been enriched? Did we declare that Mercury was a thief? 
 that Laverna is [so] also, and along with him presides over 
 secret frauds ? Is the writer Myrtilus one of us, who de- 
 clares that the Muses were the handmaids of Megalcon, 7 
 daughter of Macarus ? 8 
 
 1 Lit., " the benefits diminished by which it is lived." 
 
 2 The MS. reads ex Jovis; the first five edd. Jove " from Jove," which 
 is altogether out of place ; the others, as above, ex ovis. Cf. i. 36. 
 
 3 The MS. reads et ablui diebus tantis . . . elevari; LB., Hild., and Oehler, 
 status or statutis . . . et levari "and was loosed and released on fixed 
 days ; " Elm., Oberthiir, and Orelli receive the conjecture of Ursinus, et 
 suis diebus tantum . . . rel., as above. 
 
 4 Cf. iii. 41. 
 
 5 i.e. hiding-place. Virg. JEn. viii. 322 : Quoniam latuisset tutus in oris. 
 
 6 Pyth. iii. 102 sq. 7 MS. Meglac. 
 
 * The MS. and most edd. give jilias, making the Muses daughters of
 
 BOOK iv.] ARNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 207 
 
 25. Did we say l that Venus was a courtezan, deified by a 
 Cyprian king named Cinyras ? Who reported that the 
 palladium was formed from the remains of Pelops? Was 
 it not you? Who that Mars was Spartanus? was it not 
 your writer Epicharmus? Who that he was born within 
 the confines of Thrace? was it not Sophocles the Athenian, 
 with the assent of all his spectators ? Who [that he was 
 born] in Arcadia ? was it not you ? Who that he was kept 
 a prisoner for thirteen months? 2 was it not the son of the 
 river Meles ? Who [said] that dogs were sacrificed to him 
 by the Carians, asses by the Scythians ? was it not Apollo- 
 dorus especially, along with the rest ? Who that in wronging 
 another's marriage couch, he was caught entangled in snares ? 
 was it not your writings, your tragedies ? Did we ever write 
 that the gods for hire endured slavery, as Hercules at Sardis 3 
 for lust and wantonness ; as the Delian Apollo, [who served] 
 Admetus, as Jove's brother, [who served] the Trojan Lao- 
 medon, whom the Pythian also [served], but with his uncle ; 
 as Minerva, who gives light, and trims the lamps to secret 
 lovers ? Is not he one of your poets, who represented Mars 
 and Venus as wounded by men's hands ? Is not Panyassis 
 
 Macarus; but Orelli, Hild., and Oehler adopt, as above, the reading of 
 Canterus, filise, in accordance with Clem. Alex. 
 
 1 So the MS. reading numquid dictatum, which would refer this sen- 
 tence to the end of the last chapter. Gelenius, with Canth., Oberth., 
 and Orelli, reads quis ditatam, and joins with the following sentence 
 thus: "Who related that Venus, a courtezan enriched by C., was 
 deified . . . ? who that the palladium," etc. Cf. v. 19. 
 
 2 The MS. reads quis mensibus in Arcadia tribus et decem vinctum 
 "Who that he was bound thirteen months in Arcadia? was it not the 
 son," etc. To which there are these two objections, that Homer never 
 says so ; and that Clemens Alexandrinus (Protrept. p. 25), from whom 
 Arnobius here seems to draw, speaks of Homer as saying only that Mars 
 was so bound, without referring to Arcadia. The MS. reading may have 
 arisen from carelessness on the part of Arnobius in quoting (cf. ch. 14, 
 n. 2), or may be a corruption of the copyists. The reading translated 
 is an emendation by Jortin, adopted by Orelli. 
 
 3 Sardibus, a conjecture of Ursinus, adopted by LB., Hild., and 
 Oehler for the MS. sordibus; for which the others read sordidi" for the 
 sake of base lust."
 
 208 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK iv. 
 
 one of you, who relates that father Dis and queenly Juno 
 were wounded by Hercules ? Do not the writings of your 
 Polemo say that Pallas l was slain, 2 covered with her own 
 blood, overwhelmed by Ornytus ? Does not Sosibius declare 
 that Hercules himself was afflicted by the wound and pain 
 he suffered at the hands of Hipocoon's children ? Is it re- 
 lated at our instance that Jupiter was committed to the grave 
 in the island of Crete ? Do we say that the brothers, 3 who 
 were united in their cradle, were buried in the territories 
 of Sparta and Lacedgsmon ? Is the author of our number, 
 who is termed Patrocles the Thurian in the titles of his 
 writings, who relates that the tomb and remains of Saturn 
 are found 4 in Sicily? Is Plutarch of Cliaeronea 5 esteemed 
 one of us, who said that Hercules was reduced to ashes on 
 the top of Mount CEta, after his loss of strength through 
 epilepsy ? 
 
 26. But what shall I say of the desires with which it is 
 written in your books, and contained in your writers, that 
 the holy immortals lusted after women? For is it by us 
 that the king of the sea is asserted in the heat of maddened 
 passion to have robbed of their virgin purity Amphitrite,* 
 Hippothoe, Amymone, Menalippe, Alope? 7 that the spotless 
 Apollo, Latona's son, most chaste and pure, with the passions 
 of a breast not governed by reason, desired Arsinoe, ^Ethusa, 
 Hypsipyle, Marpessa, Zeuxippe, and Prothoe, Daphne, and 
 Sterope? 6 Is it shown in our poems that the aged Saturn, 
 already long covered with grey hair, and now cooled by 
 weight of years, being taken by his wife in adultery, put on 
 the form of one of the lower animals, and neighing [loudly], 
 escaped in the shape of a beast ? Do you not accuse Jupiter 
 
 1 Lit, " the masculine one." 
 
 2 As this seems rather extravagant when said of one of the immortals, 
 Isesam, " hurt," has been proposed by Meumus. 
 
 3 Castor and Pollux. 4 Lit., "contained." 
 
 6 The MS. reads Hieronymus PL 11 is Hier., is PI.," while Clem. Alex, 
 mentions only "Hieronymus the philosopher." 
 
 6 These names are all in the plural in the original. 
 
 7 So LB. and Orelli, reading Alopas, from Clem. Alex., for the MS. 
 Alcyonas.
 
 BOOK iv.] ARNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 209 
 
 himself of having assumed countless forms, and concealed 
 by mean deceptions the ardour of his wanton lust? Have 
 we ever written that he obtained his desires by deceit, at one 
 time changing into gold, at another into a sportive satyr; 
 into a serpent, a bird, a bull ; and, to pass beyond all limits 
 of disgrace, into a little ant, that he might, forsooth, make 
 Clitor's daughter the mother of Myrmidon, in Thessaly? 
 Who represented him as having watched over Alcmena for 
 nine nights without ceasing? was it not you? that he indo- 
 lently abandoned himself to his lusts, forsaking his post in 
 heaven? was it not you? And, indeed, you ascribe 1 [to 
 him] no mean favours; since, in your opinion, the god 
 Hercules was born to exceed and surpass in such matters 
 his father's powers. He in nine nights begot 2 with diffi- 
 culty one son ; but Hercules, a holy god, in one night taught 
 the fifty daughters of Thestius at once to lay aside their 
 virginal title, and to bear a mother's burden. Moreover, 
 not content to have ascribed to the gods love of women, do 
 you also say that they lusted after men ? Some one loves 
 Hylas ; another is engaged with Hyacinthus ; that one burns 
 with desire for Pelops; this one sighs more ardently for 
 Chrysippus ; Catamitus is carried off to be a favourite and 
 cup-bearer; and Fabius, that he may be called Jove's darling, 
 is branded on the soft parts, and marked in the hinder. 
 
 27. But among you, is it only the males who love; and 
 has the female sex preserved its purity? 3 Is it not proved 
 in your books that Tithonus was loved by Aurora; that 
 Luna lusted after Endymion ; the Nereid after JEacus ; 
 Thetis after Achilles' father ; Proserpina after Adonis ; her 
 mother, Ceres, after some rustic Jasion, and afterwards 
 Vulcan, Phaeton, 4 Mars; Venus herself, the mother of ^Eneas, 
 and founder of the Roman power, to marry Anchises 1 
 
 1 Lit., " you add." 
 
 2 In the original, somewhat at large unam potuit prolem extundere, 
 concinnare, compingere. 
 
 3 All edd. read this without mark of interrogation. 
 
 4 The MS. reads Phxtontem : for which, both here and in Clem., Potter 
 proposed Phaoiicm, because no such amour is mentioned elsewhere. 
 
 AIINOU. O
 
 210 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK iv. 
 
 While, therefore, you accuse, without making [any] excep- 
 tion, not one only by name, but the whole of the gods alike, 
 in whose existence you believe, of such acts of extraordinary 
 shamefulness and baseness, do you dare, without violation of 
 modesty, to say either that we are impious, or that you are 
 pious, although they receive from you much greater occasion 
 for offence on account of all the shameful acts which you 
 heap up to their reproach, than in connection with the 
 service and duties required by their majesty, honour, and 
 worship? For either all these things are false which you 
 bring forward about them individually, lessening their credit 
 and reputation ; and it is [in that case] a matter quite de- 
 serving, that the gods should utterly destroy the race of men ; 
 or if they are true and certain, and perceived without any 
 reasons for doubt, it comes to this issue, that, however un- 
 willing you may be, we believe them to be not of heavenly, 
 but of earthly birth. 
 
 28. For where there are weddings, marriages, births, 
 nurses, arts, 1 and weaknesses ; where there is liberty and 
 slavery; where there are wounds, slaughter, and [shedding 
 of] blood ; where there are lusts, desires, sensual pleasures ; 
 where there is every mental passion arising from disgusting 
 emotions, there must of necessity be nothing godlike there ; 
 nor can that cleave to a superior nature which belongs to 
 a fleeting race, and to the frailty of earth. For who, if only 
 he recognises and perceives what the nature of that power is, 
 can believe either that a deity had the generative members, 
 and was deprived of them by a very base operation ; or that 
 he at one time cut off the children sprung from himself, and 
 was punished by suffering imprisonment ; or that he, in a 
 way, made civil war upon his father, and deprived him of 
 the right of governing ; or that he, filled with fear of one 
 younger when overcome, turned to flight, and hid in remote 
 solitudes, like a fugitive and exile ? Who, I say, can believe 
 
 1 i.e. either the arts which belong to each god (cf. the words in 
 ii. 18: "these [arts] are not the gifts of science, but the discoveries of 
 necessity "), or, referring to the words immediately preceding, obstetric 
 arts.
 
 BOOK i v. J A RNOB1 US AD VERS US GENTES. 2 1 1 
 
 that the deity reclined at men's tables, was troubled on 
 account of his avarice, deceived his suppliants by an ambigu- 
 ous reply, excelled in the tricks of thieves, committed adultery, 
 acted as a slave, was wounded, and in love, and submitted 
 to the seduction of impure desires in all the forms of lust ? 
 But yet you declare all these things both were, and are, in 
 your gods ; and you pass by no form of vice, wickedness, 
 error, without bringing it forward, in the wantonness of 
 your fancies, to the reproach of the gods. You must, 
 therefore, either seek out other gods, to whom all these 
 [reproaches] shall not apply, for they are a human and 
 earthly race to whom they apply; or if there are only 
 these whose names and character you have declared, by 
 your beliefs you do away with them : for all the things of 
 which you speak relate to men. 
 
 29. And here, indeed, we can show that all those whom 
 you represent to us as and call gods, were [but] men, by 
 quoting either Euhemerus of Acragas, 1 whose books were 
 translated by Ennius into Latin that all might be thoroughly 
 acquainted [with them] ; or Nicanor 2 the Cyprian ; or the 
 Pellaean Leon ; or Theodoras of Gyrene ; or Hippo and 
 Diagoras of Melos ; or a thousand other writers, who have 
 minutely, industriously, and carefully 3 brought secret things 
 to light with noble candour. We may, I repeat, at pleasure, 
 declare both the acts of Jupiter, and the wars of Minerva 
 and the virgin 4 Diana; by what stratagems Liber strove to 
 make himself master of the Indian empire; what was the condi- 
 tion, the duty, the gain 5 of Venus ; to whom the great mother 
 was bound in marriage ; what hope, what joy was aroused in 
 her by the comely Attis ; whence [came] the Egyptian Serapis 
 and Isis, or for what reasons their very names 6 were formed. 
 
 1 Lit., " Euhemerus being opened." 
 
 2 So Elm. and Orelli, reading Nicanore for the MS. Nicayora, retained 
 by all other edd. 
 
 3 Lit., " with the care of scrupulous diligence." 
 
 4 Meursius would join virginis to Minerva, thinking it an allusion to 
 her title TLotpdivo;. 
 
 5 These terms are employed of hetjcrrc. 
 
 6 Lit., " the title itself of their names was."
 
 212 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK iv. 
 
 30. But in the discussion which we at present maintain, 
 we do not undertake this trouble or service, to show and de- 
 clare who all these were. [But] this is what we proposed to 
 ourselves, that as you call us impious and irreligious, [and,] 
 on the other hand, maintain that you are pious and serve the 
 gods, we should prove and make manifest that by no men 
 are they treated with less respect than by you. But if it is 
 proved by the very insults that it is so, it must, as a conse- 
 quence, be understood that it is you who rouse the gods to 
 fierce and terrible rage, because you either listen to or believe, 
 or yourselves invent about them, stories so degrading. For 
 it is not he who is anxiously thinking of religious rites, 1 and 
 slays spotless victims, who gives piles of incense to be burned 
 with fire, not he must be thought to worship the deities, or 
 alone discharge the duties of religion. True worship is in 
 the heart, and a belief worthy of the gods ; nor does it at 
 all avail to bring blood and gore, if you believe about them 
 things which are not only far remote from and unlike their 
 nature, but even to some extent stain and disgrace both 
 their dignity and virtue. 
 
 31. We wish, then, to question you, and invite you to 
 answer a short question, Whether you think it a greater offence 
 to sacrifice to them no victims, because you think that so 
 great a being neither wishes nor desires these ; or, with foul 
 beliefs, to hold opinions about them so degrading, that they 
 might rouse any one's spirit to a mad desire for revenge ? 
 If the relative importance of the matters be weighed, you 
 will find no judge so prejudiced as not to believe it a greater 
 crime to defame by manifest insults any one's reputation, 
 than to treat it with silent neglect. For this, perhaps, may 
 be held and believed from deference to reason ; [but] the 
 other course manifests an impious spirit, and a blindness 
 despaired of in fiction. If in your ceremonies and rites 
 neglected sacrifices and expiatory offerings may be demanded, 
 guilt is said to have been contracted ; if by a momentary 
 
 1 Qui sollicite rcleyit. Releyit is here used by Arnobius to denote the 
 root of religio, and has therefore some such meaning as that given above. 
 Cf. Cicero, de Nat. Deorum, ii. 28
 
 BOOK iv.] A UN OBI US AD VERS US GENTES. 2 1 3 
 
 forgetfulness l any one has erred either in speaking or in 
 pouring wine ; 2 or again, 3 if at the solemn games and sacred 
 races the dancer has halted, or the musician suddenly become 
 silent, you all cry out immediately that something has been 
 done contrary to the sacredness of the ceremonies ; or if the 
 boy termed patrimus let go the thong in ignorance, 4 or could 
 not hold [to] the earth : 5 and [yet] do you dare to deny that 
 the gods are ever being wronged by you in sins so grievous, 
 while you confess yourselves that, in less matters, they are 
 often angry, to the national ruin I 
 
 32. But all these things, they say, are the fictions of poets, 
 and games arranged for pleasure. It is not credible, indeed, 
 that men by no means thoughtless, who sought to trace out 
 the character of the remotest antiquity, either did not 6 insert 
 in their poems the fables which survived in men's minds 7 
 and common conversation ; 8 or that they would have assumed 
 to themselves so great licence as to foolishly feign what was 
 almost sheer madness, and might give them reason to be 
 afraid of the gods, and bring them into danger with men. 
 But let us grant that the poets are, as you say, the inventors 
 and authors of tales so disgraceful ; you are not, however, 
 even thus free from the guilt of dishonouring the gods, who 
 either are remiss in punishing such offences, or have not, by 
 passing laws, and by severity of punishments, opposed such 
 
 1 Lit., "an error of inadvertence." 
 
 2 Lit., " with the sacrificial bowl." 
 
 3 So the MS., both Roman edd., Elm., Hild., and Oehler, reading rnr- 
 sus; the others in cursu " in the course." 
 
 4 Patrimus, i.e. one whose father is alive, is probably used loosely for 
 patrimus et matrimus, to denote one both of whose parents were alive, 
 who was therefore eligible for certain religious services. 
 
 5 So the MS. reading terrain tenere, for which Hild. would read ten- 
 sam, denoting the car on which were borne the images of the gods, the 
 thongs or reins of which were held by the patrimus et matrimus; Lipsius, 
 siserram, the sacrificial victim. The reading of the text has been ex- 
 plained as meaning to touch the ground with one's hands ; but the general 
 meaning is clear enough, that it was unlucky if the boy made a slip, 
 cither with hands or feet. 
 
 6 Oberthur and Orelli omit non. T Lit., "notions." 
 8 Lit., "placed in their ears."
 
 214 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK iv. 
 
 indiscretion, and determined 1 that no man should henceforth 
 say that which tended to the dishonour, 2 or was unworthy of 
 the glory of the gods. 3 For whoever allows the wrongdoer 
 to sin, strengthens his audacity ; and it is more insulting to 
 brand and mark any one with false accusations, than to bring 
 forward and upbraid their real offences. For to be called 
 what you are, and what you feel yourself to be, is less offen- 
 sive, because [your resentment] is checked by the evidence 
 supplied against you on privately reviewing your life ; 4 but 
 that wounds very keenly which brands the innocent, and 
 defames a man's honourable name and reputation. 
 
 33. Your gods, it is recorded, dine on celestial couches, 
 and in golden chambers, drink, and are at last soothed by 
 the music of the lyre, and singing. You fit them with ears 
 not easily wearied ; 5 and do not think it unseemly to assign 
 to the gods the pleasures by which earthly bodies are sup- 
 ported, and which are sought after by ears enervated by the 
 frivolity of an unmanly spirit. Some of them are brought 
 forward in the character of lovers, destroyers of purity, to 
 commit shameful and degrading deeds not only with women, 
 but with men also. You take no care as to what is said 
 about matters of so much importance, nor do you check, 
 by any fear of chastisement at least, the recklessness of your 
 wanton literature ; others, through madness and frenzy, be- 
 reave themselves, and by the slaughter of their own relatives 
 cover themselves with blood, just as though it were that of 
 an enemy. You wonder at these loftily expressed impieties ; 
 and that which it was fitting should be subjected to all pun- 
 ishments, you extol with praise that spurs them on, so as to 
 rouse their recklessness to greater vehemence. They mourn 
 over the wounds of their bereavement, and with unseemly 
 
 1 Lit., " and it has [not] been established by you," a very abrupt 
 transition in the structure of the sentence. 
 
 2 Lit., " which was very near to disgrace." 
 
 3 So the margin of Ursinus, followed by later edd., prefixing d before 
 the MS. -eorum. 
 
 4 Lit., " has less bite, being weakened by the testimony of silent re- 
 viewing," recognitionis. 
 
 5 Lit., " most enduring."
 
 BOOK iv.] AENOBWS ADVEESUS GENTES. 215 
 
 waitings accuse the cruel fates; you are astonished at the 
 force of their eloquence, carefully study [and] commit to 
 memory that which should have been wholly put away from 
 human society, 1 and are solicitous that it should not perish 
 through any forgetfulness. They are spoken of as being 
 wounded, maltreated, making war upon each other with hot 
 and furious contests; you enjoy the description; and, to 
 enable you to defend so great daring in the writers, pretend 
 that these things are allegories, and contain the principles of 
 natural science. 
 
 34. But why do I complain that you have disregarded the 
 insults 2 offered to the other deities? That very Jupiter, 
 whose name you should not have spoken without fear and 
 trembling over your whole body, is described as confess- 
 ing his faults when overcome by love 3 of his wife, and, 
 hardened in shamelessness, making known, as if he were 
 mad and ignorant, 4 the mistresses he preferred to his spouse, 
 the concubines he preferred to his wife ; you say that those 
 who have uttered so marvellous things, are chiefs and kings 
 among poets endowed with godlike genius, that they are 
 persons most holy ; and so utterly have you lost sight of your 
 duty in the matters of religion which you bring forward, 
 that words are of more importance, in your opinion, than 
 the profaned majesty of the immortals. So then, if only 
 you felt any fear of the gods, or believed with confident and 
 unhesitating assurance that they existed at all, should you 
 not, by bills, by popular votes, by fear of the senate's decrees, 
 have hindered, prevented, [and] forbidden any one to speak 
 at random of the gods otherwise than in a pious manner ? 5 
 Nor have they obtained this honour even at your hands, that 
 you should repel insults offered to them by the same laws by 
 
 1 Coetu. The MS. and most edd. read coalitu, a word not occurring 
 elsewhere ; which Gesner would explain, " put away that it may not 
 be established among men," the sense being the same in either case. 
 
 2 Lit., " complain of the neglected insults of the other gods." 
 
 3 Lit., u as a lover by." Cf. Homer, II 14, 312. 
 
 4 i.e. of himself. 
 
 6 Lit.. " exceot that which was full of religion."
 
 216 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK iv. 
 
 which you ward them off from yourselves. They are ac- 
 cused of treason among you who have whispered anv evil 
 about your kings. To degrade a magistrate, or use insulting 
 language to a senator, you have made by decree [a crime], 
 followed by the severest punishment. To write a satirical 
 poem, by which a slur is cast upon the reputation and 
 character of another, you determined, by the decrees of the 
 decemvirs, should not go unpunished ; and that no one 
 might assail your ears with too wanton abuse, you estab- 
 lished formulae 1 for severe affronts. With you only the 
 gods are unhonoured, contemptible, vile ; against whom you 
 allow any one liberty to say what he will, to accuse them 
 of the deeds of baseness which his lust has invented and 
 devised. And [yet] you do not blush to raise against us the 
 charge of want of regard for deities so infamous, although 
 it is much better to disbelieve the existence of the gods than 
 to think that they are such, and of such repute. 
 
 35. But is it only poets whom you have thought proper 2 
 to allow to invent unseemly tales about the gods, and to turn 
 them shamefully into sport? What do your pantomimists, 
 the actors, that crowd of mimics and adulterers? 3 Do they 4 
 not abuse your gods to make to themselves gain, and [do not 
 the others] 5 find enticing pleasures in 6 the wrongs and insults 
 offered to the gods ? At the public games, too, the colleges 
 of all the priests and magistrates take their places, the chief 
 Pontiffs, and the chief priests of the curias ; the Quindecem- 
 viri take their places, [crowned] with wreaths of laurel, and 
 the flamines diales with their mitres ; the augurs take their 
 places, who disclose the divine mind and will ; and the chaste 
 maidens also, who cherish and guard the ever burning 
 fire ; the whole people and the senate take their places ; the 
 
 1 i.e. according to which such offences should be punished. 
 
 2 Lit., " have willed." 
 
 8 Lit., " full-grown race," exoleti, a word frequently used, as here, 
 gensu obscceno. 
 
 4 i.e. the actors, etc. 
 
 6 i.e. the crowd of adulterers, as Orelli suggests. 
 
 6 Lit., " draw enticements of pleasures from."
 
 BOOK iv.] ARNOBIUS AD VERSUS GENTES. 217 
 
 fathers who have done service as consuls, princes next to the 
 gods, and most worthy of reverence ; and, shameful to say, 
 Venus, the mother of the race of Mars, and parent of the 
 imperial people, is represented by gestures as in love, 1 and is 
 delineated with shameless mimicry as raving like a Bacchanal, 
 with all the passions of a vile harlot. 2 The Great Mother, 
 too, adorned with her sacred fillets, is represented by dancing ; 
 and that Pessinuntic Dindymene 3 is, to the dishonour of her 
 age, represented as with shameful desire using passionate 
 gestures in the embrace of a herdsman ; and also in the 
 Trachinise of Sophocles, 4 that son of Jupiter, Hercules, en- 
 tangled in the toils of a death-fraught garment, is exhibited 
 uttering piteous cries, overcome by his violent suffering, and 
 at last wasting away and being consumed, as his intestines 
 soften and are dissolved. 5 But in [these] tales even the 
 Supreme Ruler of the heavens himself is brought forward, 
 without any reverence for his name and majesty, as acting 
 the part of an adulterer, and changing his countenance for 
 purposes of seduction, in order that he might by guile rob 
 of their chastity matrons, who were the wives of others, 
 and putting on the appearance of their husbands, by assum- 
 ing the form of another. 
 
 36. But this crime is not enough : the persons of the most 
 sacred gods are mixed up with farces also, and scurrilous plays. 
 And that the idle onlookers may be excited to laughter and 
 jollity, the deities are hit at in jocular quips, the spectators 
 shout and rise up, the whole pit resounds with the clapping 
 of hands and applause. And to the debauched scoffers 6 at 
 the gods gifts and presents are ordained, ease, freedom from 
 public burdens, exemption and relief, together with triumphal 
 
 1 Or, " Venus, the mother . . . and loving parent," etc. 
 
 2 Lit., " of meretricious vileness." 
 
 3 i.e. Cybele, to whom Mount Dindymus in Mysia \vas sacred, whose 
 rites, however, were celebrated at Pessinus also, a very ancient city of 
 Galatia. 
 
 4 MS. Sofocks, corrected in LB. Sophocles. Cf. Trach. 1022 sqq. 
 
 5 Lit., "towards (in) the last [of the] wasting consumed by the 
 softening of his bowels flowing apart." 
 
 6 Lit., " debauched and scoffers."
 
 218 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK iv. 
 
 garlands, a crime for which no amends can be made by any 
 apologies. And after this do you dare to wonder whence these 
 ills come with which the human race is deluged and over- 
 whelmed without any interval, while you daily both repeat 
 and learn by heart all these things, with which are mixed up 
 libels upon the gods and slanderous sayings; and when 1 
 you wish your inactive minds to be occupied with useless 
 dreamings, demand that da}'S be given to you, and exhibition 
 made without any interval"? But if you felt any real indig- 
 nation on behalf of your religious beliefs, you should rather 
 long ago have burned these writings, destroyed those books 
 of yours, and overthrown these theatres, in which evil reports 
 of your deities are daily made public in shameful tales. 
 For why, indeed, have our writings deserved to be given to 
 the flames'? our meetings to be cruelly broken up, 2 in which 
 prayer is made to the Supreme God, peace and pardon are 
 asked for all in authority, for soldiers, kings, friends, enemies, 
 for those still in life, and those freed from the bondage of 
 the flesh ; 3 in which all that is said is such as to make [men] 
 humane, 4 gentle, modest, virtuous, chaste, generous in dealing 
 
 1 So Orelli, reading et quando; MS. and -other edd. et si "and if 
 ever." 
 
 2 Arnobius is generally thought to refer here to the persecution under 
 Diocletian mentioned by Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. viii. 2. 
 
 3 The service in which these prayers were offered was presided over 
 by the bishop, to whom the dead body was brought : hymns were then 
 sung of thanksgiving to God, the giver of victory, by whose help and 
 grace the departed brother had been victorious. The priest next gave 
 thanks to God, and some chapters of the Scriptures were read ; after- 
 wards the catechumens were dismissed ; the names of those at rest were 
 then read in a clear voice, to remind the survivors of the success with 
 which others had combated the temptations of the world. The priest 
 again prayed for the departed, at the close beseeching God to grant 
 him pardon, and admission among the undying. Thereafter the body 
 was kissed, anointed, and buried. (Dionysius, Eccl. Piter., last chapter 
 quoted by Heraldus. Cf. Const. Apost. viii. 41.) With the church's 
 advance in power there was an accession of pomp to these rites. 
 
 4 Cf. the younger Pliny, Epist. x. 97 : " They affirmed that they 
 bound themselves by oath not for any wicked purpose, but to pledge 
 themselves not to commit theft, robbery, or adultery, nor break faith, 
 or prove false to a trust."
 
 BOOK iv.] AENOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 219 
 
 with their substance, and inseparably united to all embraced 
 in our brotherhood ? l 
 
 37. But this is the state of the case, that as you are ex- 
 ceedingly strong in war and in military power, you think you 
 excel in knowledge of the truth also, and are pious before 
 the gods, 2 whose might you have been the first to besmirch 
 with foul imaginings. Here, if your fierceness allows, and 
 madness suffers, we ask you to answer us this : Whether you 
 tjiink that anger finds a place in the divine nature, or that 
 the divine blessedness is far removed from such passions ? 
 For if they are subject to passions so furious, 3 and are excited 
 by feelings of rage as your imaginings suggest (for you say 
 that they have often shaken the earth with their roaring, 4 
 and bringing woful misery on men, corrupted with pestilen- 
 tial contagion the character of the times, 5 both because their 
 games had been celebrated with too little care, and because 
 their priests were not received with favour, and because some 
 small spaces were desecrated, and because their rites were 
 not duly performed), it must consequently be understood 
 that they feel no little wrath on account of the opinions 
 which have been mentioned. But if, as follows of necessity, 
 it is admitted that all these miseries with which men have 
 long been overwhelmed flow from such fictions, if the anger 
 of the deities is excited by these causes, you are the occasion 
 of so terrible misfortunes, because you never cease to jar 
 upon the feelings of the gods, and excite them to a fierce 
 desire for vengeance. But if, on the other hand, the gods 
 are not subject to such passions, and do not know at all 
 what it is to be enraged, then indeed there is no ground for 
 saying that they who know not what anger is are angry 
 with us, and they are free from its presence? and the dis- 
 
 1 Lit., " whom [our] society joins together," quos solidet germanitas. 
 
 2 i.e. in their sight or estimation. 3 Lit., " conceive these torches." 
 
 4 Lit, " have roared with tremblings of the earth." 
 
 5 The us. reads conru-isse auras temporum, all except the first four 
 edd. inserting p as above. Meursius would also change temp, into ven- 
 torum " the breezes of the winds." 
 
 6 So the MS., reading comptu tie, according to Hild., followed by 
 LB. and Orelli.
 
 220 ARNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. [BOOK iv. 
 
 order 1 [it causes]. For it cannot be, in the nature of things, 
 that what is one should become two ; and that unity, which is 
 naturally uncompounded, should divide and go apart into sepa- 
 rate things? 
 
 1 Lit., " mixture." 
 
 8 The words in italics are bracketed in LB. as spurious or corrupt, or 
 at least as here out of place. Orelli transposes them to ch. 13, as was 
 noticed there, although he regards them as an interpolation. The clause 
 is certainly a very strange one, and has a kind of affected abstractness, 
 which makes it seem out of place ; but it must be remembered that simi- 
 larly confused and perplexing sentences are by no means rare in Arno- 
 bius. If the clause is to be retained, as good sense can be made from it 
 here as anywhere else. The general meaning would be : The gods, if 
 angry, are angry with the pagans; but if they are not subject to passion, 
 it would be idle to speak of them as angry with the Christians, seeing 
 that they cannot possibly at once be incapable of feeling anger, and yet 
 at the same time be angry with them.
 
 BOOK V. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 IT might be said that these charges were founded by Arnobius on the 
 writings of poets and actions of stage-players, and that the heathen 
 generally could not therefore be held guilty. Such a defence, however, 
 would not avail those who in their histories and religious rites were not 
 less impious and insulting to the deities. Arnobius proceeds, therefore, 
 to narrate the story, told by Antias, of Jupiter's being tricked by 
 Numa (1), and criticises it minutely, showing the manifest absurdity 
 and impiety of representing man as overcoming and deluding the gods 
 (2-4). He next relates from Timotheus the origin of Acdestis (5) ; the 
 base and degrading expedients which the gods were compelled to adopt 
 in order that they might rid themselves of his audacity ; and the extra- 
 ordinary birth (6) and death of Attis, and institution of the rites of the 
 Great Mother in memory of him (7). This story also is criticised at 
 great length, its absurdity, indecency, and silliness being brought pro- 
 minently forward (8-14) ; while it is pointed out that the truth or 
 falsehood of the story is of no consequence to the argument, as all that 
 Arnobius wishes to prove is, that any deities which exist are more 
 grossly insulted by their own worshippers than by Christians (15). But, 
 he says, how can you maintain that this story is false, when the cere- 
 monies you are ever observing always refer to the events of which it 
 speaks (16, 17) ? 
 
 Neglecting many similar stories as too numerous to be related, he 
 merely mentions Fenta Fauna, the birth of Servius Tullius (18), the 
 Omophagia, rites of Venus, Corybantia, and the Bacchanalia which 
 relate the dismembering of Bacchus (19). The story is next related of 
 Jupiter's amours with Ceres as a bull, and with Proserpine as a serpent 
 (20, 21), in which, Aruobius says, it might be thought that it was 
 wished to make Jupiter an embodiment of all the vices (22) ; and then 
 notes, with bitter irony, how the Supreme Ruler is belittled by their 
 trivial and degrading tales (23). Passing now to the other deities, 
 Arnobius narrates the wanderings of Ceres, and the origin, in conse- 
 quence, of the Thesmophoria and Eleusinia (24-27). So, too, the 
 obscene Alimontia are shown to have an origin as shameful (28) ; and 
 Arnobius indignantly asks, whether such a tale does not strike at the 
 foundation of all morality? and whether Christians are to be forced, by 
 fear of torment and death, to worship such deities (29), for disbelief in 
 whom he cannot bat wonder that men are called atheists V (30). Since, 
 221
 
 222 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK v. 
 
 then, it is the heathon who so insult their own deities, the wrath of the 
 gods must be against their worshippers, not against Christians (31). 
 
 The suggestion that these stories are allegories (32) he scouts as 
 utterly absurd, pointing out the impossibility of finding any meaning in 
 some parts of the fables, insisting that as every detail is not allegorical, 
 no part can be, and supposing that lie thus shows that these must be 
 accounts of actual events (33-39). If, however, these tales are alle- 
 gories, do they not, Arnobius asks, do the gods wrong by imputing to 
 them as crimes what are merely natural phenomena (40) ? that is, do 
 they not turn into obscenity that which is pure and honourable in itself, 
 while allegory is rather used to hide under a cloak of decency what is 
 indecent (41) ? There is but one other pretext, that the gods them- 
 selves would have their mysteries made allegories, not choosing that they 
 .should be generally understood. But how was this ascertained? and 
 why would they not allow the truth to be told, against which no objec- 
 tion could be taken, preferring indecent and shameful allegory (42)? 
 These explanations, then, are merely attempts to get rid of difficulties 
 (43); attempts, too, which could not be very successful, for many 
 shameful tales do not admit of explanation as allegories (44). What 
 remarkable modesty is this, to blush at the mention of bread and wine, 
 and to say fearlessly Venus for a shameful act ! (45.) 
 
 JDMITTING that all these things which do 
 the immortal gods dishonour, have been put 
 forth by poets merely in sport, what [are we 
 to say of] those found in grave, serious, and 
 careful histories, and handed down by you in hidden mys- 
 teries ? have they been invented by the licentious fancy 
 of the poets ? Now if they seemed l to you stories of 
 such absurdity, some of them you would neither retain in 
 their constant use, nor celebrate as solemn festivals from 
 year to year, nor would you maintain them among your 
 sacred rites as shadows of real events. With strict modera- 
 tion, I shall adduce only one of these stories which are so 
 numerous; that in which Jupiter himself is brought on the 
 stage as stupid and inconsiderate, being tricked by the ambi- 
 guity of words. In the second book of Antias lest any one 
 should think, perchance, that we are fabricating charges 
 calumniously the following story is written : The famous 
 king Numa, not knowing how to avert evil portended by 
 thunder, and being eager to learn, by advice of Egeria coii- 
 1 So most edd., inserting er; in MS. and Oehler, vid-entur.
 
 BOOKV.J ARNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 223 
 
 coaled beside a fountain twelve chaste youths provided with 
 chains ; so that when Faunus and Martins l Picus came to 
 this place 2 to drink (for hither they were wont to come 3 to 
 draw water), they might rush on them, seize and bind them. 
 But, that this might be done more speedily, the king filled 
 many 4 cnps with wine and with mead, 5 and placed them 
 about the approaches to the fountain, where they would be 
 seen a crafty snare for those who should come. They, as 
 was their usual custom, when overcome by thirst, came to 
 their well-known haunts. But when they had perceived cups 
 with sweetly smelling liquors, they preferred the new to the 
 old ; rushed eagerly upon them ; charmed with the sweetness 
 of the draught, drank too much ; and becoming drunk, fell 
 fast asleep. Then the twelve [youths] threw themselves 
 upon the sleepers, [and] cast chains round them, lying soaked 
 with wine ; and they, 6 when roused, immediately taught the 
 king by what methods and sacrifices Jupiter could be called 
 down to earth. With this knowledge the king performed 
 the sacred ceremony on the Aventine, drew down Jupiter to 
 the earth, and asked from him the due form of expiation. 
 Jupiter having long hesitated, said, Thou shalt avert what is 
 portended by thunder icith a head. 1 The king answered, With 
 an onion. 8 Jupiter again, With a man's. The king returned, 
 But with hair. 9 The deity in turn, With the life. 10 With a 
 
 1 So named either because he was said to have made use of the bird 
 of Mars, i.e. a woodpecker (/H'CHS), in augury, or because according to 
 the legend he was changed into one by Circe. 
 
 2 i.e. the Aventine. The story is told by Plutarch in his Life of Numa, 
 c. 15, and by Ovid, Fasti, iii. 291 sqq. 
 
 3 The MS. reads, soltemniter hsec, corrected, as above, solenne iter hue by 
 all edd. except Hild. 
 
 4 So the MS. and most edd., reading pocula non parvi numeri, for which 
 Elm. and Orelli have received from the margin of Ursinus, poc. non parva 
 mero " cups of great size, with pure wine." 
 
 6 i.e. mulsum. 6 i.e. Faunus and Picus. 
 
 7 Capite. 8 C&pitio. 
 
 9 Jupiter is supposed to say humano, meaning capite, to be understood, 
 i.e. " with a man's head," while the king supplies capillo " with a man's 
 hair." 
 
 10 Anima (MS. lia).
 
 224 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [Boo* v. 
 
 fish, 1 rejoined Pompilius. Then Jupiter, being ensnared by 
 the ambiguous terms used, uttered these words : Thou hast 
 overreached me, Numa ; for I had determined that evils por- 
 tended by thunder should be averted toith [sacrifices of] human 
 heads, not 2 with hair [and] an onion. Since, however, your 
 craft has outwitted me, have the mode which you wished ; and 
 always undertake the expiation of thunder-portents with those 
 things which you have bargained for. 
 
 2. What the inind should take up first, what last, or what 
 it should pass by silently, it is not easy to say, nor is it made 
 clear by any amount of reflection ; for all have been so 
 devised and fitted to be laughed at, that you should strive 
 that they may be believed to be false even if they are true 
 rather than pass current as true, and suggest as it were 
 something extraordinary, and bring contempt upon deitv 
 itself. What, then, do you say, O you ? Are we to believe 3 
 that that Faunus and Martins Picus (if they are of the 
 number of the gods, and of that everlasting and immortal 
 substance) were once parched with thirst, and sought the 
 gushing fountains, that they might be able to cool with 
 water their heated veins? Are we .to believe that, ensnared 
 by wine, and beguiled by the sweetness of mead, they dipped 
 so long into the treacherous cups, that they even got into 
 danger of becoming drunk ? Are we to believe that, being 
 fast asleep, arid plunged in the forgetfulness of most profound 
 slumbers, they gave to creatures of earth an opportunity to 
 bind them ? On what parts, then, were those bonds and 
 chains flung? Did they have any solid substance, or had 
 their hands been formed of hard bones, so that it might be 
 possible to bind them with halters and hold them fast by 
 tightly drawn knots ? For I do not ask, I do not inquire 
 
 1 Msena. There is here a lacuna in the text ; but there can be no 
 difficulty in filling it up as above, with Heraldus from Plutarch, or with 
 Gelenius from Ovid, piscis " [with the life] of a fish." 
 
 2 The MS. and both Roman edd. read Numa, corrected by Geleuius, as 
 above, non. 
 
 8 The MS. and edd. read cred-i-musne " do we believe," for which 
 Meursius suggests -e- as above.
 
 BOOK v.] ARNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 225 
 
 whether they could have said anything when swaying to and 
 fro in their drunken maunderings ; or whether, while Jupiter 
 was unwilling, or rather unwitting, any one could have made 
 known the way to bring him down to earth. This only do I 
 wish to hear, why, if Faunus and Picus are of divine origin 
 and power, they did not rather themselves declare to Numa, 
 as he questioned them, that which he desired to learn from 
 Jove himself at a greater risk ? Or l did Jupiter alone have 
 knowledge of this for from him the thunderbolts fall how 
 training in some kind of knowledge should avert impending 
 dangers ? Or, while he himself hurls these fiery bolts, is it 
 the business of others to know in what way it is fitting to 
 allay his wrath and indignation? For truly it would be 
 most absurd to suppose that he himself appoints 2 the means 
 by which may be averted that which he has determined 
 should befall men through the hurling of his thunderbolts. 
 For this is to say, By such ceremonies you will turn aside my 
 wrath ; and if I shall at any time have foreshown by flashes 
 of lightning that some evil is close at hand, do this and 
 that, so that 3 what I have determined should be done may 
 be done altogether in vain, and may pass away idly through 
 the force 4 of these rites. 
 
 3. But let us admit that, as is said, Jupiter has himself 
 appointed against himself ways and means by which his own 
 declared purposes might fittingly be opposed : are we also to 
 believe that a deity of so great majesty was dragged down to 
 earth, and, standing on a petty hillock with a mannikin, entered 
 into a wrangling dispute 1 And what, I ask, was the charm 
 which forced Jupiter to leave the all-important 5 direction of 
 the universe, and appear at the bidding of mortals ? the 
 sacrificial meal, incense, blood, the scent of burning laurel- 
 
 1 Lit., " or whether." Below the MS. reads corruptly ad ipsum " to 
 him." 
 
 2 The MS. reads scire, but " knows " would hardly suit the context. 
 Instead of adopting any conjecture, however, it is sufficient to observe, 
 with Oehler, that scire is elsewhere used as a contraction for sciscere. 
 
 3 The MS. omits ut. 
 
 4 So Cujacius, inserting vi t omitted by the MS. 
 * Lit., " so great." 
 
 AIlNOli. f
 
 226 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK v. 
 
 boughs, 1 and muttering of spells ? And were all these more 
 powerful than Jupiter, so that they compelled him to do 
 unwillingly what was enjoined, or to give himself up of his 
 own accord to their crafty tricks ? What ! will what follows 
 be believed, that the son of Saturn had so little foresight, 
 that he either proposed terms by the ambiguity of which he 
 was himself ensnared, or did not know what was going to 
 happen, how the craft and cunning of a mortal would over- 
 reach him f You shall make expiation, he says, with a head 
 when thunderbolts have fallen. The phrase is still incomplete, 
 and the meaning is not fully expressed and defined ; for it 
 was necessarily right to know whether Diespiter ordains 
 that this expiation be effected with the head of a wether, a 
 sow, an ox, or any other animal. Now, as he had not yet 
 fixed this specifically, and his decision was still uncertain 
 and not yet determined, how could Numa know that Jupiter 
 would say the head of a man, so as to 2 anticipate [and] pre- 
 vent [him], and turn his uncertain and ambiguous words 3 
 into " an onion's head ? " 
 
 4. But you will perhaps say that the king was a diviner. 
 Could he be more so than Jupiter himself? But for a 
 mortal's anticipating 4 what Jupiter (whom 5 he overreached) 
 was going to say, could the god not know in what ways a 
 man was preparing to overreach him ? Is it not, then, clear 
 and manifest that these are puerile and fanciful inventions, by 
 which, while a lively wit is assigned 6 to Numa, the greatest 
 want of foresight is imputed to Jupiter? For what shows 
 so little foresight as to confess that you have been ensnared 
 by the subtlety of a man's intellect, and while you are vexed 
 at being deceived, to give way to the wishes of him who has 
 overcome you, and to lay aside the means which you had 
 
 1 Lit., "the fumigation of verbena;," Le. of boughs of the laurel, olive, 
 or myrtle. 
 
 2 The MS. omits ut. 
 
 3 Lit., " the uncertain [things] of that ambiguity." 
 
 4 Lit, " unless a mortal anticipated " prsesumeret, the MS. reading. 
 6 So Oehler, supplying quern. 
 
 * Lit, u liveliness of heart is procured."
 
 BOOKV.] AENOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 227 
 
 proposed ? For if there was reason and some natural fitness 
 that 1 expiatory sacrifice for that which was struck with light- 
 ning should have been made with a man's head, I do not see 
 why the proposal of an onion's was made by the king; but if 
 it could be performed with an onion also, there was a greedy 
 lust for human blood. And both parts are made to contradict 
 themselves : so that, on the one hand, Numa is shown not 
 to have wished to know what he did wish ; and, on the other, 
 Jupiter is shown to have been merciless, because he said that 
 he wished expiation to be made with the heads of men, which 
 could have been done by Numa with an onion's head. 
 
 5. In Timotheus, who was no mean mythologist, and also 
 in others equally well informed, the birth of the Great 
 Mother of the gods, and the origin of her rites, are thus de- 
 tailed, being derived (as he himself writes and suggests) from 
 learned books of antiquities, and from [his acquaintance with] 
 the most secret mysteries : Within the confines of Phrygia, 
 he says, there is a rock of unheard-of wildness in every re- 
 spect, the name of which is Agdus, so named by the natives 
 of that district. Stones taken from it, as Themis by her 
 oracle 2 had enjoined, Deucalion and Pyrrha threw upon the 
 earth, at that time emptied of men ; from which this Great 
 Mother, too, as she is called, was fashioned along with the 
 others, and animated by the Deity. Her, given over to rest 
 and sleep on the very summit of the rock, Jupiter assailed 
 with lewdest 3 desires. But when, after long strife, he could 
 not accomplish what he had proposed to himself, he, baffled, 
 spent his lust on the stone. This the rock received, and with 
 many groanings Acdestis 4 is born in the tenth month, being 
 named from his mother rock. In him there had been resist- 
 less might, and a fierceness of disposition beyond control, a lust 
 
 1 Lit., " why." 
 
 * So Ovid also (Metam. i. 321), and others, speak of Themis as the first 
 to give oracular responses. 
 
 8 So the MS. and edd., reading quam incestis, except Orelli, who adopts 
 the conjecture of Barthius, nequam " lustful Jupiter with lewd desires." 
 
 4 So the MS. and edd., except Hildebrand and Oehler, who throughout 
 Bpell Agdestis, following the Greek writers, and the derivation of the 
 word from Agdus.
 
 228 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [Boon r. 
 
 made furious, and [derived] from both sexes. 1 He violently 
 plundered and laid waste ; he scattered destruction wherever 
 the ferocity of his disposition had led him ; he regarded not 
 gods or men, nor did he think anything more powerful than 
 himself ; he contemned earth, heaven, and the stars. 
 
 6. Now, when it had been often considered in the councils 
 of the gods, by what means it might be possible either to 
 weaken or to curb his audacity, Liber, the rest hanging back, 
 takes upon himself this task. With the strongest wine he 
 drugs a spring much resorted to by Acdestis, 2 where he had 
 been wont to assuage the heat and burning thirst 3 roused [in 
 him] by sport and hunting. Hither runs Acdestis to drink 
 when he felt the need ; 4 he gulps down the draught too 
 greedily into his gaping veins. Overcome by what he is 
 quite unaccustomed to, he is in consequence sent fast asleep. 
 Liber is near the snare [which he had set] ; over his foot he 
 throws one end of a halter 5 formed of hairs, woven together 
 very skilfully ; with the other end he lays hold of his privy 
 members. When the fumes of the wine passed off, Acdestis 
 starts up furiously, and his foot dragging the noose, by his 
 own strength he robs himself of his 6 sex ; with the tearing 
 asunder of [these] parts there is an immense flow of blood ; 
 both 7 are carried off and swallowed up by the earth ; from 
 them there suddenly springs up, covered with fruit, a pome- 
 granate tree, seeing the beauty of which, with admiration, 
 Nana, 8 daughter of the king or river Sangarius, gathers and 
 places in her bosom [some of the fruit]. By this she becomes 
 
 1 So Ursinus suggested, followed by later edd., ex utroqne (MS. iitrci.} 
 sexu; for which Meursius would read ex utroque sexus " and a sex of 
 both," i.e. that he was a hermaphrodite, which is related by other writers. 
 
 2 Lit, " him." 3 Lit., " of thirsting." 4 Lit., " in time of need." 
 
 5 So the reading of the MS. and edd., unwn laqueum, may be rendered ; 
 for which Canterus conjectured imum " the lowest part of the noose." 
 
 6 So the edd., reading eo quo (MS. quod) fuerat privat sexu ; for which 
 Hild. and Oehler read fu-tu-erat " of the sex with which he had been a 
 fornicator." 
 
 7 Lit., " these (i.e. the parts and the blood) are," etc. 
 
 8 The MS. here reads Nata, but in c. 13 the spelling is Nana, as in other 
 writers.
 
 BOOKV.] ARNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 229 : 
 
 pregnant ; her father shuts her up, supposing that she had 
 been 1 debauched, and seeks to have her starved to death; 
 she is kept alive by the mother of the gods with apples, and 
 other food, 2 [and] brings forth a child, but Sangarius 3 orders 
 it to be exposed. One Phorbas having found the child, takes 
 it home, 4 brings it up on goats' milk ; and as handsome 
 fellows are so named in Lydia, or because the Phrygians in 
 their own way of speaking call their goats attagi, it happened 
 in consequence that [the boy] obtained the name Attis. Him 
 the mother of the gods loved exceedingly, because he was of 
 most surpassing beauty ; and Acdestis, [who was] his com- 
 panion, as he grew up fondling him, and bound [to him] by 
 wicked compliance with his lust in the only way now possible, 
 leading him through the wooded glades, and presenting him 
 with the spoils of many wild beasts, which the boy Attis at 
 first said boastfully were won by his own toil and labour. 
 Afterwards, under the influence of wine, he admits that he 
 is both loved by Acdestis, and honoured by him with the 
 gifts brought from the forest; whence it is unlawful for those 
 polluted by [drinking] wine to enter into his sanctuary, be- 
 cause it discovered his secret. 5 
 
 7. Then Midas, king of Pessinus, wishing to withdraw the 
 youth from so disgraceful an intimacy, resolves to give him 
 his own daughter in marriage, and caused the [gates of the] 
 town to be closed, that no one of evil omen might disturb 
 their marriage joys. But the mother of the gods, knowing 
 the fate of the youth, and that he would live among men in 
 safety [only] so long as he was free from the ties of marriage, 
 that no disaster might occur, enters the closed city, raising its 
 
 1 Lit., " as if." 
 
 2 The MS. reads t-alulis, corrected as above p- by Jos. Scaliger, followed 
 by Hild. and Oehler. The other edd. read bacculis "berries." 
 
 3 So all the edd., except Hild. and Oehler, who retain the MS. reading 
 tanguinarius " bloodthirsty." 
 
 * So Salmasius, Orelli, and Hild., reading repertum rtescio quis sumit 
 Phorlas, lacte ; but no mention of any Phorbas is made elsewhere in con- 
 nection with this story, and Oehler has therefore proposed forma ac lacte 
 " some one takes [the child] found, nourishes it with sweet pottage of 
 millet (forma) and milk," etc. * Lit., ' his silence."
 
 230 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK v. 
 
 walls with her head, which began to be crowned with towers 
 in consequence. Acdestis, bursting with rage because of the 
 boy's being torn from himself, and brought to seek a wife, 
 fills all the guests with frenzied madness : l the Phrygians 
 shriek aloud, panic-stricken at the appearance of the gods ; 2 
 a daughter of adulterous 3 Gallus cuts off her breasts ; Attis 
 snatches the pipe borne by him who was goading them to 
 frenzy ; and he, too, now filled with furious passion, raving 
 franticly [and] tossed about, throws himself down at last, 
 and under a pine tree mutilates himself, saying, Take these* 
 Acdestis, for which you have stirred up so great and terribly 
 perilous commotions. 5 With the streaming blood his life flies ; 
 but the Great Mother of the gods gathers the parts which had 
 been cut off, and throws earth on them, having first covered 
 them, and wrapped 6 them in the garment of the dead. From 
 the blood which had flowed springs a flower, the violet, and 
 with 7 this the tree 8 is girt. Thence the custom began and 
 arose, whereby you even now veil and wreath with flowers the 
 sacred pine. The virgin who had been the bride (whose name, 
 as Valerius 9 the pontifex relates, was la) veils the breast of 
 the lifeless [youth] with soft wool, sheds tears with Acdestis, 
 and slays herself. After her death her blood is changed 
 
 1 Lit., " fury and madness." 
 
 2 The MS., first five edd., and Oberthiir, read exterriti adorandorum 
 Phryges ; for which Ursinus suggested ad ora deorum " at the faces of 
 gods," adopted by Oehler ; the other edd. reading ad horam " at the 
 hour, i.e. thereupon." 
 
 8 It seems probable that part of this chapter has been lost, as we 
 have no explanation of this epithet ; and, moreover (as Oehler has well 
 remarked), in c. 13 this Gallus is spoken of as though it had been pre- 
 viously mentioned that he too had mutilated himself, of which we have 
 not the slightest hint. 
 
 4 i.e. genitalia. 'Lit., " so great motions of furious hazards." 
 
 6 So most edd., reading veste prius tectis atque involutes for the MS. 
 reading, retained by Hild. and Oehler, tecta atque involuta "his vest 
 being fir^t drawn over and wrapt about them ; " the former verb being 
 found with this meaning in no other passage, and the second very rarely. 
 
 7 Lit., " from." 8 i.e. the pine. 
 
 9 Nouny supposes that this may refer to M. Valerius Messala, a frag- 
 ment from whom on auspices has been preserved by Gellius (xiii. 15) ; 
 while Hild. thinks that Antias is meant, who is mentioned in c 1.
 
 BOOK v.] ARNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 231 
 
 into purple violets. The mother of the gods shed tears also, 1 
 from which springs an almond tree, signifying the bitterness 
 of death. 2 Then she bears away to her cave the pine tree, 
 beneath which Attis had unmanned himself ; and Acdestis 
 joining in her wailings, she beats and wounds her breast, 
 [pacing] round the trunk of the tree now at rest. 3 Jupiter 
 is begged by Acdestis that Attis may be restored to life : he 
 does not permit it. What, however, fate allowed, 4 he readily 
 grants, that his body should not decay, that his hairs should 
 always grow, that the least of his fingers should live, and 
 should be kept ever in motion ; content with which favours, 
 [it is said] that Acdestis consecrated the body in Pessinus, 
 [and] honoured it with yearly rites and priestly services. 5 
 
 8. If some one, despising the deities, and furious with a 
 savagely sacrilegious spirit, had set himself to blaspheme your 
 gods, would he dare to say against them anything more severe 
 than this tale relates, which you have reduced to form, as 
 though [it were] some wonderful narrative, and have honoured 
 without ceasing, 6 lest the power of time and the remoteness 7 of 
 antiquity should cause it to be forgotten ? For what is there 
 asserted in it, or what written about the gods, which, if said 
 with regard to a man brought up with bad habits and a pretty 
 rough training, would not make you liable to be accused of 
 wronging and insulting him, and expose you to hatred and 
 
 1 So Orelli punctuates and explains ; but it is doubtful whether, even 
 if this reading be retained, it should not be translated, " bedewed these 
 [violets]." The sis. reads, suffodit et as (probably has) " digs under 
 these," emended as above in LB., suffudit et has. 
 
 2 Lit., " burial." 
 
 3 So it has been attempted to render the MS., reading pausatx circum 
 arloris ro&wr, which has perplexed the different edd. Heraldus proposed 
 pausate " at intervals round the trunk of the tree ; " LB. reads -ata 
 '' round . . . tree having rested." Reading as above, the reference 
 might be either to the rest from motion after being set up in the cave, 
 or to the absence of wind there. 
 
 4 Lit., " could be done through (i.e. as far as concerns) fate." 
 
 6 So Oehler, reading sacerdotum antistitiis for the MS. anti-stibus, changed 
 in both Roman edd. and Hild. to -stitibus " with priests (or overseers) 
 of priests." Salmasius proposed intestibus " with castrated priests." 
 
 6 i.e. in the ever recurring festival of Cybele. 7 Lit., " length."
 
 232 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [Boos v. 
 
 dislike, accompanied by implacable resentment ? From the 
 stones, you say, which Deucalion and Pyrrha threw, was 
 produced the mother of the gods. What do you say, O 
 theologians ? what, ye priests of the heavenly powers ? Did 
 the mother of the gods, then, not exist at all for the sake of 
 the deluge ? and would there be no cause or beginning of her 
 birth, had not violent storms of rain swept away the whole 
 race of men ? It is through man, then, that she feels herself 
 to exist, and she owes it to Pyrrha' s kindness that she sees 
 herself addressed as a real being; 1 but if that is indeed true, 
 this too will of necessity not be false, that she was human, 
 not divine. For if it is certain that men are sprung origin- 
 ally from the casting of stones, it must be believed that she 
 too was one of us, since she was produced by means of the 
 same causes. For it cannot be, for nature would not suffer 
 it, 2 that from one kind of stones, and from the same mode of 
 throwing [them], some should be formed to rank among the 
 immortals, others with the condition of men. Varro, that 
 famous Roman, distinguished by the diversity of his learning, 
 and unwearied in his researches into ancient times, in the 
 first of four books which he has left in writing on the race of 
 the Roman people, shows by careful calculations, that from 
 the time of the deluge, which we mentioned before, down to 
 the consulship of Hirtius and Pansa, 3 there are not quite two 
 thousand years ; and if he is to be believed, the Great Mother, 
 too, must be said to have her whole life bounded by the 
 limits of this number. And thus the matter is brought to this 
 issue, that she who is said to be parent of all the deities is 
 not their mother, but their daughter ; nay, rather a [mere] 
 child, a little girl, since we admit that in the never-ending 
 series of ages neither beginning nor end has been ascribed to 
 the gods. 
 
 9. But why do we speak of your having bemired the great 
 mother of the gods with the filth of earth, when you have not 
 
 1 So the edd., reading orariin alicujus substantix qualitate for the MS. 
 erari restored by Oehler, num-erari " numbered in the quality of some 
 substance," from the reading of an old copy adopted by Livineius. 
 
 8 Lit., " through the resistance of nature." 3 B.C. 43.
 
 BOOKV.] ARNOBIUS ADVEESUS GENTES. 233 
 
 been able for but a little time even to keep from speaking evil 
 of Jupiter himself ? While the mother of the gods was then 
 sleeping on the highest peak of Agclus, her son, you say, 
 tried stealthily to surprise her chastity while she slept. 
 After robbing of their chastity virgins and matrons without 
 number, did Jupiter hope to gratify his detestable passion 
 upon his mother? and could he not be turned from his 
 fierce desire by the horror which nature itself has excited 
 not only in men, but in some [other] animals also, and by 
 common l feeling ? Was he then regardless of piety 2 and 
 honour, who is chief in the temples ? and could he neither 
 reconsider nor perceive how wicked was his desire, his mind 
 being madly agitated ? But, as it is, forgetting his majesty 
 and dignit} r , he crept forward to steal those vile pleasures, 
 trembling and quaking with fear, holding his breath, walk- 
 ing in terror on tiptoe, and, between hope and fear, touched 
 her secret parts, trying how soundly his mother slept, and 
 what she would suffer. 3 Oh, shameful representation ! oh, 
 disgraceful plight of Jupiter, prepared to attempt a filthy 
 contest \ Did the ruler of the world, then, turn to force, 
 when, in his heedlessness and haste, he was prevented from 
 stealing on by surprise ; 4 and when he was unable to snatch 
 his pleasure by cunning craft, did he assail his mother with 
 violence, and begin without any concealment to destroy the 
 chastity which he should have revered? Then, having striven 
 for a very long time when she is unwilling, did he go off 
 conquered, vanquished, and overcome? and did his spent 
 lust part him whom piety was unable to hold back from 
 execrable lust after his mother? 
 
 10. But you will perhaps say the human race shuns and 
 execrates such unions; 5 among the gods there is 110 incest. 
 
 1 Lit., " the feeling commonly implanted." 
 
 2 Lit., "was regard of piety -wanting" defuit, an emendation of 
 Salmasius (according to Orelli) for the MS. depuit. 
 
 3 Lit, " the depth and patience of his sleeping mother." 
 
 4 Lit., " from the theft of taking by surprise " obreptionis, for which 
 the MS., first fouredd., Oberth., Hild., and Oehlerread object. "of what 
 he proposed." 
 
 8 So Heraldus, reading conventionis Jinjusmodi ccetum for the MS. cceptwn.
 
 234 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK v. 
 
 And why, [then,] did his mother resist with the greatest vehe- 
 mence her son when he offered her violence ? Why did she 
 flee from his embraces, as if she were avoiding unlawful 
 approaches ? For if there was nothing wrong in so doing, 
 she should have gratified him without any reluctance, just 
 as he eagerly wished to satisfy the cravings of his lust. And 
 here, indeed, very thrifty men, and frugal even about shame- 
 ful works, that that sacred seed may not seem to have been 
 poured forth in vain the rock, one says, drank up Jupiter's 
 foul incontinence. What followed next, I ask? Tell. In the 
 very heart of the rock, and in that flinty hardness, a child was 
 formed and quickened to be the offspring of great Jupiter. It 
 is not easy to object to conceptions so unnatural and so won- 
 derful. For as the human race is said by you to have sprung 
 and proceeded from stones, it must be believed that the stones 
 both had genital parts, and drank in the seed cast on them, and 
 when their time was full were pregnant, 1 and at last brought 
 forth, travailing in distress as women do. That impels our 
 curiosity to inquire, since you say that the birth occurred 
 after ten months, in what womb of the rock was he enclosed 
 at that time? with what food, with what juices, was he sup- 
 plied ? or what could he have drawn to support him from the 
 hard stone, as unborn infants usually [receive] from their 
 mothers'? He had not yet reached the light, [my informant] 
 says; and already bellowing and imitating his father's thun- 
 derings, he reproduced [their sound]. 2 And after it was given 
 him to see the sky and the light of day, attacking all things 
 which lay in his way, he made havoc of them, and assured 
 himself that he was able to thrust down from heaven the 
 gods themselves. O cautious and foreseeing mother of the 
 gods, who, that she might not undergo the ill-will of so 3 arro- 
 gant a son, or that his bellowing while still unborn might 
 not disturb her slumbers or break her repose, withdrew her- 
 self, and sent far from her that most hurtful seed, and gave 
 it to the rough rock. 
 
 1 Sustulisse alvos graves. 2 Most edd. read as an interrogation. 
 
 8 Perhaps, " that she might not be subject to ill-will for having borne 
 
 BO.' 1
 
 BOOK v.] ARNOBIUS AD VERSUS GENTES. 235 
 
 11. There was doubt in the councils of the gods how that 
 unyielding and fierce violence was to be subdued ; and when 
 there was no other way, they had recourse to one means, 
 that he should be soaked with much wine, and bereft of his 
 members, by their being cut off. As if, indeed, those who 
 have suffered the loss of these parts become less arrogant, 
 and [as if] we do not daily see those who have cut them 
 away from themselves become more wanton, and, neglecting 
 all the restraints of chastity and modesty, throw themselves 
 headlong into filthy vileness, making known abroad their 
 shameful deeds. I should like, however, to see were it 
 granted me to be born at those times father Liber, who 
 overcame the fierceness of Acdestis, having glided down from 
 the peaks of heaven after the very venerable meetings of the 
 gods, cropping the tails of horses, 1 plaiting pliant halters, 
 drugging the waters harmless while pure with much strong 
 wine, and after that drunkenness sprung from drinking, to 
 have carefully introduced his hands, handled the members of 
 the sleeper, and directed his care skilfully 2 to the parts which 
 were to perish, so that the hold of the nooses placed round 
 [them] might surround them all. 
 
 12. Would any one say this about the gods who had even a 
 very low opinion of them ? or, if they were taken up with such 
 affairs, considerations, cares, would any man of wisdom either 
 believe that they are gods, or reckon them among men even ? 
 Was that Acdestis, pray, the lopping off of whose lewd mem- 
 bers was to give a sense of security to the immortals, [was 
 he] one of the creatures of earth, or one of the gods, and 
 possessed of 3 immortality? For if he was thought [to be] 
 of our lot and in the condition of men, why did he cause 
 the deities so much terror? But if he was a god, how could 
 he be deceived, or [how] could anything be cut off from a 
 
 1 i.e. to form nooses with. The reading translated is an emendation 
 of Jos. Scaliger, adopted by Orelli, peniculamenta decurtantem cantheri- 
 orum, for the MS. peniculantem decurtam tarn cantJierios, emended by each 
 ed. as he has thought fit. 
 
 2 Lit., "the cares of art." 
 
 a Lit., " endowed with the honour of."
 
 236 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF fBoos v. 
 
 divine body ? 1 But we raise no issue on this point : he may 
 have been of divine birth, or one of us, if you think it more 
 correct to say so. Did a pomegranate tree, also, spring from 
 the blood which flowed and from the parts which were cut 
 off ? or at the time when 2 that member was concealed in the 
 bosom of the earth, did it lay hold of the ground with a root, 
 and spring up into a mighty tree, put forth branches loaded 
 with blossoms, 3 and in a moment bare mellow fruit perfectly 
 and completely ripe? And because these sprang from red 
 blood, is their colour therefore bright purple, with a dash 
 of yellow? Say further that they are juicy also, that they 
 have the taste of wine, because they spring from the blood 
 of one filled with it, and you have finished your story consis- 
 tently. O Abdera, Abdera, what occasions for mocking [you 
 would give 4 ] to men, if such a tale had been devised by you! 
 All fathers relate it, and haughty states peruse it; and you 
 are considered foolish, and utterly dull and stupid. 
 
 13. Through her bosom, we are told, 5 Nana conceived a 
 son by an apple. The opinion is self-consistent ; for where 
 rocks and hard stones bring forth, there apples must have 
 their time of generating. 6 The Berecyntian goddess fed the 
 imprisoned maiden with nuts 7 and figs, fitly and rightly; for 
 it was right that she should live on apples who had been 
 made a mother by an apple. After her offspring was born, 
 it was ordered by Sangarius to be cast far away : that which 
 he believed to be divinely conceived long before, he would 
 not have 8 called the offspring of his child. The infant was 
 brought up on he-goats' milk. O story ever opposed and 
 most inimical to the male sex, in which not only do men lay 
 aside their virile powers, but beasts even which were males 
 
 1 The MS. here inserts de " from the body from a divine [being]." 
 
 2 So the edd. (except Oehler), reading turn cum for the MS. turn quie quod. 
 
 3 JBalaustiis, the flowers of the wild pomegranate. 
 
 4 Dares supplied by Salmasius. 5 Lit., " he says." 
 
 6 Lit., "must rut" suriant, as deer. The MS., first four edd., and Elm. 
 road surgant " rise," corrected as above in the margin of Ursiuus. 
 
 1 Lit., "acorns" glandibus. 
 
 * The MS. reads des-, emended as above ded-ignatus by Stewechius, 
 followed by Heraldus and Orelli.
 
 BOOKV.] AENOB1US ADVEUSUS GENTES. 237 
 
 become mothers! 1 He was famous for his beauty, and dis- 
 tinguished by his remarkable 2 comeliness. It is wonderful 
 enough that the noisome stench of goats did not cause him 
 to be avoided and fled from. The Great Mother loved him 
 if as a grandmother her grandson, there is nothing wrong ; 
 but if as the theatres tell, her love is infamous and disgrace- 
 ful. Acdestis, too, loved him above all, enriching him with a 
 hunter's gifts. There could be no danger to his purity from 
 one emasculated, [you say] ; but is it not easy to guess what 
 Midas dreaded? The Mother entered bearing 3 the very 
 walls. Here we wondered, indeed, at the might and strength 
 of the deity; but again 4 we blame her carelessness, because 
 when she remembered the decree of fate, 5 she heedlessly laid 
 open the city to its enemies. Acdestis excites to fury and 
 madness those celebrating the nuptial vows. If King Midas 
 had displeased [dim] who was binding the youth to a wife, 
 of what had Gallus been guilty, and his concubine's daughter, 
 that he should rob himself of his manhood, she herself of 
 her breasts ? Take and keep these, says he, 6 because of which 
 you have excited such commotions to the overwhelming of [owr] 
 minds with fear. We should none of us yet know what the 
 frenzied Acdestis had desired in his paramour's body, had 
 not the boy thrown to him, to appease his wrath, 7 the parts 
 cut off. 
 
 14. What say you, O races and nations, given up to such 
 beliefs ? When these things are brought forward, are you 
 not ashamed and confounded to say things so indecent? 
 We wish to hear or learn from you something befitting the 
 gods ; but you, on the contrary, bring forward to us the 
 cutting off of breasts, the lopping off of men's members, 
 
 J i.e. he-goats are made to yield milk. 
 
 2 Lit, " praiseworthy." 8 Lit., " with." 
 
 4 So the MS., both Roman edd., LB., Hild., and Oehler, reading rt/r, 
 for which the others receive the emendation of Gelenius, regis "the 
 king's carelessness." 
 
 5 Lit., " the law and fate." 6 i.e. Attis. 
 
 7 The MS. reads satietati-s objecisset offensi, corrected as above by Hild. 
 (omitting s), followed by Oehler. The conjectures of previous edd. ate 
 very harsh and forced.
 
 238 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [Boos v. 
 
 ragings, blood, frenzies, the self-destruction of maidens, and 
 flowers and trees begotten from the blood of the dead. Say, 
 again, did the mother of the gods, then, with careful dili- 
 gence herself gather in her grief the scattered genitals with 
 the shed blood? 1 With her own sacred, her own divine 2 
 hands, did she touch and lift up the instruments of a dis- 
 graceful and indecent office ? Did she also commit them to 
 the earth to be hid from sight ; and lest in this case they 
 should, being uncovered, be dispersed in the bosom of the 
 earth, did she indeed wash and anoint them with fragrant 
 gums before wrapping and covering them with his dress? 
 For whence could the violet's sweet scent have come had not 
 the addition of those ointments modified the putrefying smell 
 of the member ? Pray, when you read such tales, do you 
 not seem to yourselves to hear either girls at the loom wiling 
 away their tedious working hours, or old women seeking 
 diversions for credulous children, and to be declaring mani- 
 fold fictions under the guise of truth? Acdestis appealed to 3 
 Jupiter to restore life to his paramour : Jupiter would not 
 consent, because he was hindered by the fates more power- 
 ful [than himself] ; and that he might not be in every 
 respect very hard-hearted, he granted one favour that the 
 body should not decay through any corruption ; that the hair 
 should always grow ; that the least of his fingers alone in his 
 body should live, alone keep always in motion. Would any 
 one grant this, or support it with an unhesitating assent, that 
 hair grows on a dead body, that part* perished, and that 
 the [rest of his] mortal body, free from the law of corrup- 
 tion, remains even still? 
 
 15. We might long ago have urged you to ponder this, were 
 it not foolish to ask proofs of such things, as well as to say 5 
 them. But this story is false, and is wholly untrue. It is 
 
 1 Lit, "flows." 
 
 2 Lit., " herself with sacred, herself with divine." 
 8 Lit., "spoke with." 
 
 4 i.e. the part cut off and buried separately. 
 
 5 So the MS., according to Crusius, the edd. inserting s, rfj'-s-ccrc 
 " to learn."
 
 BOOK v.] AENOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 239 
 
 no matter to us, indeed, because of whom you maintain that 
 the gods have been driven from the earth, whether it is con- 
 sistent and rests on a sure foundation, 1 or is, on the con- 
 trary, framed and devised in utter falsehood. For to us it is 
 enough who have proposed this day to make it plain that 
 those deities whom you bring forward, if they are anywhere 
 on earth, and glow with the fires of anger, are not more 
 excited to furious hatred by us than by you ; and that that 
 [story] has been classed as an event and committed to 
 writing by you, and is willingly read over by you every day, 
 and handed down in order for the edifying of later times. 
 Now, if this [story] is indeed true, we see that there is no 
 reason in it why the celestial gods should be asserted to be 
 angry with us, since we have neither declared things so much 
 to their disgrace, nor committed them to writing at all, nor 
 brought them publicly to light 2 by the celebration of sacred 
 rites ; but if, as you think, it is untrue, and made up of 
 delusive falsehoods, no man can doubt that you are the cause 
 of offence, who have either allowed certain persons to write 
 such stories, or have suffered [them], when written, to abide 
 in the memory of ages. 
 
 16. And yet how can you assert the falsehood of this story, 
 when the very rites which you celebrate throughout the year 
 testify that you believe [these things] to be true, and consider 
 them perfectly trustworthy? For what is the meaning of 
 that pine 3 which on fixed days you always bring into the 
 sanctuary of the mother of the gods ? Is it not in imitation 
 of that tree, beneath which the raging and ill-fated youth 
 laid hands upon himself, and [which] the parent of the gods 
 consecrated to relieve her sorrow ? 4 What mean the fleeces 
 of wool with which you bind and surround the trunk of the 
 
 1 Lit., "on firmness of faith." 
 
 2 Lit., " sent to public testifying." 
 
 3 The festival of Cybele began on the 22d of March, when a pine tree 
 was introduced into the mysteries, and continued until the 27th, which 
 was marked by a general purification (lai-atio'), as Salmasius observed 
 from a calendar of Constantine the Great. 
 
 4 Lit., " for solace of so great a wound."
 
 240 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK v. 
 
 tree ? Is it not to recall the wools with which la 1 covered 
 the dying [youth], and thought that she could procure some 
 warmth for his limbs [fast] stiffening with cold ? What 
 [mean] the branches of the tree girt round and decked with 
 wreaths of violets ? Do they not mark this, how the Mother 
 adorned with early flowers the pine which indicates and bears 
 witness to the sad mishap I What [mean] the Gall? with 
 dishevelled hair beating their breasts with their palms ? Do 
 they not recall to memory those lamentations with which the 
 tower - bearing Mother, along with the weeping Acdestis, 
 wailing aloud, 3 followed the boy ? What [means] the ab- 
 stinence from eating bread which you have named castus ? 
 Is it not in imitation of the time when the goddess abstained 
 from Ceres' fruit in her vehement sorrow? 
 
 17. Or if the things which we say are not so, declare, say 
 yourselves those effeminate and delicate [men] whom we see 
 among you in the sacred rites of this deity what business, 
 [what] care, [what] concern have they there ; and why do 
 they like mourners wound their arms and 4 breasts, and act 
 as those dolefully circumstanced ? What [mean] the wreaths, 
 what the violets, what the swathings, the coverings of soft 
 wools ? Why, finally, is the very pine, but a little before 
 swaying to and fro among the shrubs, an utterly inert log, 
 set up in the temple of the mother of the gods next, like some 
 propitious and very venerable deity ? For either this is the 
 cause which we have found in your writings and treatises, 
 and [in that case] it is clear that you do not celebrate divine 
 rites, but give a representation of sad events ; or if there is 
 any other reason which the darkness of the mystery has with- 
 
 1 So Stewechius, followed by Orelli and Oehler, reading quibus la for 
 the MS. jam, which would refer the action to Cybele, whereas Arnobius 
 expressly says (c. 7) that it was the newly wedded wife who covered 
 the breast of Attis with wools. Jam is, however, received from the MS. 
 by the other edd., except Hild., who asserts that the MS. reads lam, and 
 Elmenh., who reads Ion. 
 
 2 i.e. priests of Cybele, their name being derived from the Phrygian 
 river Gallus, whose waters were supposed to bring on frenzy ending iu 
 self-mutilation. 
 
 8 Lit., " with wailing." * Lit., " with."
 
 BOOKV.] ARNOB1US AD VERSUS GENTES. 241 
 
 held from us, even it also must be involved in the infamy of 
 some shameful deed. For who would believe that there is 
 any honour in that which the worthless Galli begin, effeminate 
 debauchees complete ? 
 
 18. The greatness of the subject, and our duty to those on 
 tliL-ir defence also, 1 demand that we should in like manner 
 hunt up the other forms of baseness, whether those whicli 
 the histories of antiquity record, or those contained in the 
 sacred mysteries named initia? and not divulged 3 openly to 
 all, but to the silence of a few ; but your innumerable sacred 
 rites, and the loathsomeness of them all, 4 will not allow us to 
 go through them all bodily : nay, more, to tell the truth, we 
 turn aside ourselves from some purposely and intentionally, 
 lest, in striving to unfold all things, we should be defiled 
 by contamination in the very exposition. Let us pass by 
 Fauna 5 Fatua, therefore, who is called Bona Dea, whom 
 Scxtus Clodius, in his sixth book in Greek on the gods, de- 
 clares to have been scourged to death with rods of myrtle, 
 because she drank a whole jar of wine without her husband's 
 knowledge ; and this is a proof, that when women show her 
 divine honour a jar of wine is placed [there, but] covered 
 from sight, and that it is not lawful to bring in twigs of 
 myrtle, as Butas 6 mentions in his Causalia. But let us pass 
 by with similar neglect 7 the dii conserentes, whom Flaccus 
 and others relate to have buried themselves, changed in 
 humani penis similitudinem in the cinders under a pot of 
 exta? And when Tanaquil, skilled in the arts of Etruria, 9 
 disturbed these, the gods erected themselves, and became 
 rigid. She then commanded a captive woman from Corni- 
 
 1 Lit., " and the duty of defence itself." 
 
 2 i.e. secret rites, to which only the initiated were admitted. 
 
 3 Lit., " which you deliver" tradiiis; so Elmenh., LB., and latter edd., 
 for the unintelligible MS. tradidisse, retained in both Roman edd. 
 
 4 Lit., " deformity affixed to all." 6 MS. fetamf. Cf. i. 36, n. 1. 
 
 6 So Heraldus, from Plutarch, Rom. 21, where Butas is said to have 
 written on this subject (etltteti) in elegiacs, for the MS. Putas. 
 
 7 Lit., " in like manner and with dissimulation." 
 
 8 i.e. heart, lungs, and liver, probably of a sacrifice. 
 i.e. " divination, augury," etc. 
 
 ARNOB. Q
 
 242 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK v. 
 
 culum to learn and understand what was the meaning of 
 this : Ocrisia, a woman of the greatest wisdom divos inseruisse 
 genitali, expUcuisse motus certos. Then the holy and burning 
 deities poured forth the power of Lucilius, 1 and [thus] Servius 
 king of Rome was born, 
 
 19. We shall pass by the wild Bacchanalia also, which are 
 named in Greek Omophagia, in which with seeming frenzy 
 and the loss of your senses you twine snakes about you ; 
 and, to show yourselves full of the divinity and majesty of 
 the god, tear in pieces with gory mouths the flesh of loudly- 
 bleating goats. Those hidden mysteries of Cyprian Venus 
 we pass by also, whose founder is said to have been King 
 Cinyras, 2 in which being initiated, they bring stated fees as to 
 a harlot, and carry away plialli, given as signs of the pro- 
 pitious deity. Let the rites of the Corybantes also be con- 
 signed to oblivion, in which is revealed that sacred mystery, 
 a brother slain by his brothers, parsley sprung from the blood 
 of the murdered one, that vegetable forbidden to be placed 
 on tables, lest the manes of the dead should be unappeasably 
 offended. But those other Bacchanalia also we refuse to pro- 
 claim, in which there is revealed and taught to the initiated 
 a secret not to be spoken ; how Liber, when taken up with 
 boyish sports, was torn asunder by the Titans ; how he was 
 cut up limb by limb by them also, and thrown into pots 
 that he might be cooked ; how Jupiter, allured by the sweet 
 savour, i*ushed unbidden to the meal, and discovering what 
 had been done, overwhelmed the revellers with his terrible 
 thunder, and hurled them to the lowest part of Tartarus. 
 As evidence and proof of which, the Thracian [bard] handed 
 down in his poems the dice, mirror, tops, hoops, and smooth 
 balls, and golden apples taken from the virgin Hesperides. 
 
 20. It was our purpose to leave unnoticed those mysteries 
 also into which Phrygia is initiated, and all that 3 race, were 
 it not that the name of Jupiter, [which has been] introduced 
 by them, would not suffer us to pass cursorily by the wrongs 
 
 1 Vis Lucilii, i.e. semen. 2 Cf. iv. 24. 
 
 8 So the MS. and edd., reading gens ilia, for which Memmius proposed 
 Ilia *' and all the Trojan race."
 
 BOOKV.] AENOBIUS AD VERSUS GENTES. 2-13 
 
 and insults offered to him ; not that we feel any pleasure in 
 discussing 1 mysteries so filthy, but that it may be made clear 
 to you again and again what wrong you heap upon those 
 whose guardians, champions, worshippers, you profess to be. 
 Once upon a time, they say, Diespiter, burning after his 
 mother Ceres with evil passions and forbidden desires (for 
 she is said by the natives of that district [to be] Jupiter's 
 mother), and yet not daring to seek by open 2 force that for 
 which he had conceived a shameless longing, hits upon a 
 clever trick by which to rob of her chastity his mother, who 
 feared nothing of the sort. Instead of a god, he becomes a 
 bull ; and concealing his purpose and daring under the appear- 
 ance of a beast lying in wait, 3 he rushes madly with sudden 
 violence upon her, thoughtless and unwitting, obtains his in- 
 cestuous desires ; and the fraud being disclosed by his lust, 
 flies off known and discovered. His mother burns, foams, 
 gasps, boils with fury and indignation ; and being unable to 
 repress the storm 4 and tempest of her wrath, received the 
 name Brimo 5 thereafter from her ever-raging passion : nor 
 has she any other wish than to punish as she may her son's 
 audacity. 
 
 21. Jupiter is troubled enough, being overwhelmed with 
 fear, and cannot find means to soothe the rage of his violated 
 [mother]. He pours forth prayers, and makes supplication ; 
 her ears are closed by grief. The whole order of the gods 
 is sent [to seek his pardon] ; no one has weight enough to 
 win a hearing. At last, the son seeking how to make satis- 
 faction, devises this means: Arietem nobilem bene grandibus 
 cum testiculis deligit, exsecat hos ipse et lanato exuit ex folliculi 
 tegmine. Approaching his mother sadly and with downcast 
 looks, and as if by his own decision he had condemned himself, 
 lie casts and throws these 6 into her bosom. When she saw 
 \\hat his pledge was, 7 she is somewhat softened, and allows 
 
 1 Lit., "riding upon" ineqiutare. 2 Lit, " most open." 
 
 3 Stibsessoris. 4 Lit., " growling" -/remit um. 
 
 5 The MS. reads primo, emended as above by the brother of Canterus, 
 followed by later edd. 
 
 6 i.e. testiculi. 7 Virililate pignoris visa.
 
 244 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK v. 
 
 herself to be recalled to the care of the offspring which she 
 had conceived. 1 After the tenth month she bears a daughter, 
 of beautiful form, whom later ages have called now Libera, 
 now Proserpine ; whom when Jupiter Verveceus 2 saw to be 
 strong, plump, and blooming, forgetting what evils and what 
 wickedness, and how great recklessness, he had a little before 
 fallen into, 3 he returns to his former practices ; and because 
 it seemed too 4 wicked that a father openly be joined as in 
 marriage with his daughter, he passes into the terrible form 
 of a dragon : he winds his huge coils round the terrified 
 maiden, and under a fierce appearance sports and caresses 
 [her] in softest embraces. She, too, is in consequence filled 
 with the seed of the most powerful Jupiter, but not as her 
 mother [was], for she 5 bore a daughter like herself ; but from 
 the maiden was born something like a bull, to testify to her 
 seduction by Jupiter. If any one asks 6 who narrates this, 
 then we shall quote the well-known senarian verse of a 
 Tarentine poet which antiquity sings, 7 saying : The bull begot 
 a dragon, and the dragon a bull. Lastly, the sacred rites them- 
 selves, and the ceremony of initiation even, named Sebadia, 8 
 might attest the truth ; for in them a golden snake is let down 
 into the bosom of the initiated, and taken away again from 
 the lower parts. 
 
 1 So Ursinus suggested, followed by Stewechius and later edd., con- 
 cepti foetus revocatur ad curam; the MS. reads coiicepit "is softened 
 and conceived," etc. 
 
 2 Jupiter may be here called Verveceus, either as an epithet of Jupiter 
 Atntnon " like a wether," or (and this seems most probable from the 
 context), " dealing with wethers," referring to the mode in which he had 
 extricated himself from his former difficulty, or "stupid." The MS. 
 reads virviriccus. 
 
 3 Lit., " encountered " agyressus. 4 Lit., " sufficiently." 
 
 5 i.e. Ceres. 6 Lit., " will any one want." 
 
 7 i.e. handed down by antiquity. 
 
 8 These seem to have been celebrated in honour of Dionysius as well 
 as Zeus, though, in so far as they are described by Arnobius, they refer 
 to the intrigue of the latter only. Macrobius, however (Saturn, i. 18), 
 mentions that in Thrace, Liber and Sol were identified and worshipped 
 us Sebadius ; and this suggests that we have to take but one more step 
 to explain the use of the title to Jupiter also.
 
 BOOK v.] ARNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 245 
 
 22. I do not think it necessary here also with many words 
 to go through each part, and show how many base and un- 
 seemly things there are in each particular. For what mortal 
 is there, with but little sense even of what becomes a man, 
 who does not himself see clearly the character of all these 
 things, how wicked [they are], how vile, and what disgrace 
 is brought upon the gods by the very ceremonies of their 
 mysteries, and by the unseemly origin of their rites? 
 Jupiter, it is said, lusted after Ceres. Why, I ask, has 
 Jupiter deserved so ill of you, that there is no kind of 
 disgrace, no infamous adultery, which you do not heap upon 
 his head, as if on some vile and worthless person ? Leda 
 was unfaithful to her nuptial vow; Jupiter is said to be the 
 cause of the fault. Danae could not keep her virginity; the 
 theft is said [to have been] Jupiter's. Europa hastened to 
 the name of woman ; he is again declared [to have been] 
 the assailant of her chastity. Alcmena, Electra, Lutoria, 
 Laodamia, a thousand other virgins, and a thousand matrons, 
 and with them the boy Catamitus, were robbed of their 
 honour and 1 chastity. It is the same story everywhere 
 Jupiter. Nor is there any kind of baseness in which you do 
 not join and associate his name with passionate lusts ; so that 
 the wretched being seems to have been born for no other 
 reason at all except that he might be a field fertile in 2 crimes, 
 an occasion of evil-speaking, a kind of open place into which 
 should gather all filthiness from the impurities of the stage. 3 
 And yet if you were to say that he had intercourse with 
 strange women, it would indeed be impious, but the wrong 
 done in slandering him might be bearable. [But] did he 
 lust 4 after his mother also, after his daughter too, with 
 furious desires; and could no sacredness in his parent, no 
 
 1 Lit., "of." 
 
 2 Lit., " that he might be a crop oi"seges, a correction in the margin 
 of Ursinus for the MS. sedes " a seat." 
 
 3 So all edd., reading scenarum (MS. wr-, but r marked as spurious), 
 except LB., followed by Orelli, who gives sentinarum " of the dregs." 
 Oliler supplies e, which the sense seems to require. 
 
 4 JJt., "neigh with appetites of an enraged breast."
 
 246 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [Booic v. 
 
 reverence for her, [no] shrinking even from the child which 
 had sprung from himself, withhold him from conceiving so 
 detestable a plan ? 
 
 23. I should wish, therefore, to see Jupiter, the father of 
 the gods, who ever controls the world and men, 1 adorned 
 with the horns of an ox, shaking his hairy ears, with his feet 
 contracted into hoofs, chewing green grass, and [having] be- 
 hind him 2 a tail, hams, 3 and ankles smeared over with soft 
 excrement, 4 and bedaubed with the filth cast forth. I should 
 wish, I say (for it must be said over and over again), to see 
 him who turns the stars [in their courses], and who terrifies 
 and overthrows nations pale with fear, pursuing the flocks of 
 wethers, inspicientem testiculos aretinos, snatching these away 
 with that severe 5 and divine hand with which he was wont 
 to launch the gleaming lightnings and to hurl in his rage 
 the thunderbolt. 6 Then, indeed, [I should like to see him] 
 ransacking their inmost parts with glowing knife ; 7 and all 
 witnesses being removed, tearing away the membranes cir- 
 cumjectas prolibus, and bringing them to his mother, still hot 
 with rage, as a kind of fillet 8 to draw forth her pity, with 
 downcast countenance, pale, wounded, 9 pretending to be in 
 agony ; and to make this believed, defiled with the blood of 
 the ram, and covering his pretended wound with bands of 
 wool and linen. [Is it possible] that this can be heard and 
 read in this world, 10 and that those who discuss these things 
 wish themselves to be thought pious, holy, and defenders of 
 religion? Is there any greater sacrilege than this, or can 
 
 1 This clearly refers to the ^Eneid, x. 18. 
 
 2 Lit., " on the rear part." s Sufragines. 
 
 4 So the margin of Ursinus, Elmenh., LB., Oberth., Orelli, and Oehler, 
 reading mollijimo for the sis. molissimo. 
 
 6 Lit, " censorial." 6 Lit., " rage with thunders." 
 
 7 So Gelenius, followed by Stewechius arid Orelli, reading smila for 
 the corrupt and unintelligible MS. nullas. 
 
 8 Infulx, besides being worn by the priest, adorned the victim, and 
 were borne by the suppliant. Perhaps a combination of the two last 
 ideas is meant to be suggested here. 
 
 9 i.e. seemingly so. 
 
 10 Lit., " under this axis of the world."
 
 BOOKV.] ARNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 247 
 
 any mind l be found so imbued with impious ideas as to be- 
 lieve such stories, or receive them, or hand them down in the 
 most secret mysteries of the sacred rites ? If that Jupiter 
 [of whom you speak], whoever he is, really 2 existed, or 
 was affected by any sense of wrong, would it not be fitting 
 that, 3 roused to anger, he should remove the earth from 
 under our feet, extinguish the light of the sun and moon ; 
 nay more, that he should throw all things into one mass, as 
 of old? 4 
 
 24. But, [my opponent] says, these are not the rites of 
 our state. Who, pray, says this, or who repeats it? [Is he] 
 Roman, Gaul, Spaniard, African, German, or Sicilian ? And 
 what does it avail your cause if these stories are not yours, 
 while those who compose them are on your side? Or of what 
 importance is it whether you approve of them or not, since 
 what you yourselves say 5 are found to be either just as foul, 
 or of even greater baseness ? For do you wish that we should 
 consider the mysteries and those ceremonies which are named 
 by the Greeks Thesmophoria, 6 in which those holy vigils and 
 solemn watchings were consecrated [to the goddess] by the 
 Athenians ? Do you wish us, I say, to see what beginnings 
 they have, what causes, that we may prove that Athens 
 
 1 So the MS., followed by Hild. and Oehler ; the other edd. reading 
 gens for mens. 
 
 2 Lit,, " felt himself to be." 
 
 8 Lit., " would the thing not be worthy that angry and roused." 
 
 4 i.e. reduce to chaos, in which one thing would not be distinguished 
 from another, but all be mixed up confusedly. 
 
 6 Lit., "what are your proper things." 
 
 6 Every one since Salmasius (ad Solinum, p. 750) has supposed Arno- 
 bius to have here fallen into a gross error, by confounding the Eleusinian 
 mysteries with the Thesmophoria ; an error the less accountable, because 
 they are carefully distinguished by Clemens Alexandrinus, whom Arno- 
 bius evidently had before him, as usual. There seems to be no sufficient 
 reason, however, for charging Arnobius with such a blunder, although 
 in the end of ch. 26 he refers to the story just related, as showing the 
 base character of the Eleusinia (Eleusinionim vestrorum notas) ; as he 
 here speaks of mysteria (i.e. Eleusinia, cf. Nepos, Ale. 3, 16) et ilia 
 divina quas Thesmophoria nominantur a Griecis. It should be re- 
 membered also that there was much in common between these mys-
 
 248 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [Booic v. 
 
 itself also, distinguished in the arts and pursuits of civilisa- 
 tion, says things as insulting to the gods as others, and that 
 stories are there publicly related under the mask of religion 
 just as disgraceful as are thrown in [our] way by the rest of 
 you? Once, they say, when Proserpine, not yet a woman 
 and still a maiden, was gathering purple flowers in the 
 meadows of Sicily, and when her eagerness to gather them 
 was leading her hither and thither in all directions, the king 
 of the shades, springing forth through an opening of unknown 
 depth, seizes and bears away with him the maiden, and con- 
 ceals himself again in the bowels l of the earth. Now when 
 Ceres did not know what had happened, and had no idea 
 where in the world her daughter was, she set herself to seek 
 the lost one all over the 2 world. She snatches up two 
 torches lit at the fires of JEtna ; 3 and giving herself light by 
 means of these, goes on her quest in all parts of the earth. 
 
 25. In her wanderings on that quest, she reaches the 
 confines of Eleusis as well as other countries 4 that is the 
 name of a canton in Attica. At that time these parts were 
 inhabited by aborigines 5 named Baubo, Triptolemus, Eubu- 
 leus, Eumolpus, 6 Dysaules : Triptolemus, who yoked oxen ; 
 
 teries : the story of Ceres' wanderings was the subject of both ; in 
 both there was a season of fasting to recall her sadness ; both had 
 indecent allusions to the way in which that sadness was dispelled ; and 
 both celebrated with some freedom the recovery of cheerfulness by the 
 goddess, the great distinguishing feature of the Thesmophoria being that 
 only women could take part in its rites. Now, as it is to the points in 
 which the two sets of mysteries were at one that allusion is made in the 
 passage which follows, it was only natural that Arnobius should not be 
 very careful to distinguish the one from the other, seeing that he was 
 concerned not with their differences, but with their coincidence. It seems 
 difficult, therefore, to maintain that Arnobius has here convicted him- 
 self of so utter ignorance and so gross carelessness as his critics have 
 imngined. 
 
 1 Lit., "caverns." 2 Lit., "in the whole." 
 
 3 The MS. is utterly corrupt flammis onere pressas etneis, corrected as 
 above by Gelenius from c. 35, f. comprehensas. JEii,. 
 
 4 Lit., " also." c Lit., " [they were] earth-born who inhabited." 
 6 The MS. wants this name; but it has evidently been omitted by acci- 
 dent, as it occurs in the next line.
 
 BOOKV.] ARNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 249 
 
 Dysaules, a keeper of goats ; Eubuleus, of swine ; Eumolpus, 
 of sheep, 1 from whom also flows the race of Eumolpidae, and 
 [from whom] is derived that name famous among the Athe- 
 nians, 2 and those who afterwards flourished as caduceatores* 
 hierophants, and criers. So, then, that Baubo who, we have 
 said, dwelt in the canton of Eleusis, receives hospitably 
 Ceres, worn out with ills of many kinds, hangs about her 
 with pleasing attentions, beseeches her not to neglect to re- 
 fresh her body, brings to quench her thirst wine thickened 
 with spelt, 4 which the Greeks term cyceon. The goddess in 
 her sorrow turns away from the kindly offered services, 5 and 
 rejects [them] ; nor does her misfortune suffer her to remem- 
 ber what the body always requires. 6 Baubo, on the other 
 hand, begs and exhorts her as is usual in such calamities 
 not to despise her humanity ; Ceres remains utterly immove- 
 able, and tenaciously maintains an invincible austerity. But 
 when this was done several times, and her fixed purpose 
 could not be worn out by any attentions, Baubo changes her 
 plans, and determines to make merry by strange jests her 
 whom she could not win by earnestness. That part of the 
 body by which women both bear children and obtain the 
 name of mothers, 7 this she frees from longer neglect : she 
 makes it assume a purer appearance, and become smooth 
 like a child, not yet hard and rough with hair. In this wise 
 she returns 8 to the sorrowing goddess ; and while trying the 
 common expedients by which it is usual to break the force of 
 grief, and moderate it, she uncovers herself, and baring her 
 
 1 Lit., "of woolly flock." 2 Cecropios et qui. 
 
 3 i.e. staff-bearers. 
 
 4 Cinnus, the chief ingredients, according to Hesychius (quoted by 
 Oehler), being wine, honey, water, and spelt or barley. 
 
 5 Lit., "offices of humanity." 
 
 c Lit., " common health." Arnobius is here utterly forgetful of Ceres' 
 divinity, and subjects her to the invariable requirements of nature, from 
 winch the divine might be supposed to be exempt. 
 
 7 So the conjecture of Liviueius, adopted by Oehler, gene-t-ricum for 
 the MS. genericum. 
 
 8 So Stewechius, followed by Oehler, reading redit ita for the MS. red' 
 ita , the other edd. merely drop a.
 
 250 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK v 
 
 groins, displays all the parts which decency hides j 1 and then 
 the goddess fixes her eyes upon these, 2 and is pleased with 
 the strange form of consolation. Then becoming more cheer- 
 ful after laughing, she takes and drinks off the draught 
 spurned [before], and the indecency of a shameless action 
 forced that which Baubo's modest conduct was long unable 
 to win. 
 
 26. If any one perchance thinks that we are speaking 
 wicked calumnies, let him take the books of the Thracian 
 soothsayer, 3 which you speak of as of divine antiquity ; and 
 he will find that we are neither cunningly inventing any- 
 thing, nor seeking means to bring the holiness of the gods 
 into ridicule, and doing so : for we shall bring forward the 
 very verses which the son of Calliope uttered in Greek, 4 and 
 published abroad in his songs to the human race throughout 
 all ages : 
 
 " With these words she at the same time drew up her garments from 
 
 the lowest [hem], 
 
 And exposed to \\ewformatas inguinilus res, 
 Which Baubo grasping 5 with hollow hand, for 
 Their appearance was infantile, strikes, touches gently. 
 Then the goddess, fixing her orbs of august light, 
 Being softened, lays aside for a little the sadness of her mind ; 
 Thereafter she takes the cup in her hand, and laughing, 
 Drinks off the whole draught of cyceon with gladness." 
 
 1 Omnia ilia pudoris loca. 2 Piibi. 
 
 8 Orpheus, under whose name there was current in the time of 
 Arnobius an immense mass of literature freely used, and it is probable 
 sometimes supplemented, by Christian writers. Cf. c. 19. 
 
 4 Lit., "put forth with Greek mouth." 5 Lit., "tossing." 
 
 6 It may be well to observe that Arnobius differs from the Greek ver- 
 sions of these lines found in Clem. Alex. (Protrept. p. 17) and Eusebiua 
 (Prtepar. Ecang. ii. 3), omitting all mention of lacchus, who is made 
 very prominent by them ; and that he does not adhere strictly to 
 metrical rules, probably, as Heraldus pointed out, because, like the poets 
 of that age, he paid little heed to questions of quantity. Whether 
 Arnobius has merely paraphrased the original as found in Clement and 
 Eusebius, or had a different version of them before him, is a question 
 which can only be discussed by means of a careful comparison between 
 the Greek and Latin forms of the verses with the context in both cases.
 
 BOOKV.] AENOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 2nl 
 
 What say yon, O wise sons of Erectheus ? l what, you citizen? 
 of Minerva ? 2 The mind is eager to know with what words 
 you will defend what it is so dangerous to maintain, or what 
 arts you have by which to give safety to personages and 
 causes wounded so mortally. This 3 is no false mistrust, nor 
 are you assailed with lying accusations : 4 the infamy of your 
 Eleusinia is declared both by their base beginnings and by 
 the records of ancient literature, by the very signs, in fine, 
 which you use when questioned in receiving the sacred 
 things, 7 have fasted, and drunk the draught; 5 I have taken 
 out of the [mystic] cist, & and put into the wicker-basket ; I 
 have received again, and transferred to the little chest. 
 
 27. Are then your deities carried off by force, and do they 
 seize by violence, as their holy and hidden mysteries relate ? 
 do they enter into marriages sought stealthily and by fraud? 7 
 is their honour snatched from virgins 8 resisting and unwill- 
 ing? have they no knowledge of impending injury, no ac- 
 quaintance with what has happened to those carried off by 
 force ? Are they, when lost, sought for as men are ? and do 
 they traverse the earth's vast extent with lamps and torches 
 when the sun is shining most brightly ? Are they afflicted ? 
 are they troubled? do they assume the squalid garments of 
 mourners, and the signs of misery ? and that they may be able 
 to turn their mind to victuals and the taking of food, is use 
 made not of reason, not of the right time, not of some weighty 
 words or pressing courtesy, but is a display made of the 
 shameful and indecent parts of the body? and are those 
 members exposed which the shame felt by all, and the natural 
 law of modesty, bid us conceal, which it is not permissible to 
 
 1 So LB., Hild., and Oehler, reading Erechthidse (inserted by Hild.) 
 for the MS. erithideo. 
 
 2 i.e. Athenians. 
 
 8 The MS., 1st ed., Hild., and Oehler read ita " It is thus not," etc. ; 
 the others as above, ista. 
 
 * Delatione calumniosa. 5 Cyceon. 
 
 6 The MS. reads exci-la, corrected as above, ex cista, in the margin of 
 Ursinus. 
 
 7 Lit., " by stealthy frauds." 
 
 8 Lit., " is the honour of virginity snatched from them '?''*
 
 252 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK v. 
 
 name among pure ears without permission, and saying, " by 
 your leave ? " l What, I ask you, was there in such a sight, 2 
 what in the privy parts of Baubo, to move to wonder and 
 laughter a goddess of the same sex, and formed with similar 
 parts ? what was there such that, when presented to the 
 divine eyes 3 and sight, it should at the same time enable her 
 to forget her miseries, and bring her with sudden cheerfulness 
 to a happier state of mind ? Oh, what have we had it in our 
 power to bring forward with scoffing and jeering, were it not 
 for respect for the reader, 4 and the dignity of literature ! 
 
 28. I confess that I have long been hesitating, looking on 
 every side, shuffling, doubling Tellene perplexities; while I 
 am ashamed to mention those Alimontian 6 mysteries in which 
 Greece erects phalli in honour of father Bacchus, and the 
 whole district is covered with images of men's fascina. The 
 meaning of this is obscure perhaps, and it is asked why it is 
 done. Whoever is ignorant of this, let him learn, and, 
 wondering at what is so important, ever keep it with reverent 
 care in a pure heart. 7 While Liber, born at Nysa, 8 and son 
 of Semele, was still among men, the story goes, he wished to 
 become acquainted with the shades below, and to inquire into 
 what went on in Tartarus; but this wish was hindered by some 
 difficulties, because, from ignorance of the route, he did not 
 
 1 Sine venid ac sine honoribus prssfatis. 
 
 2 So Stewechius, LB., and Orelli, reading spec-t-u in t-ali for the MS. 
 in specu ali. 
 
 3 Lit., " light." 4 So the sis., Hild., and Oehler, reading nosccntis. 
 
 5 This allusion is somewhat obscure. Heraldus regards tricas Telknas 
 as akin in sense to t. Atellanas, i.e. " comic trifles ; " in which case the 
 sense would be, that Arnobius had been heaping up any trifles which 
 would keep him back from the disagreeable subject. Ausonius Popma 
 (quoted by Orelli) explains the phrase with reference to the capture of 
 Tellense by Ancus Martins as meaning " something hard to get through." 
 
 6 The MS. reads alimonise, corrected from Clem. Alex, by Salmasius, 
 Alhuontia, i.e. celebrated at Halimus in Attica. 
 
 7 Lit., " in pure senses." 
 
 8 Cicero (de Nat. Deor. iii. 23) speaks of five Dionysi. the father of 
 the fifth being Nisus. Arnobius had this passage before him in writing 
 the fourth book (cf. c. 15, and n. 2), so that he may here mean to speak 
 of Liber similarly.
 
 BOOK v.] ARNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 253 
 
 know by wliat way to go and proceed. One Prosumnus starts 
 up, a base lover of the god, and [a fellow] too prone to wicked 
 lusts, who promises to point out the gate of Dis, and the ap- 
 proaches to Acheron, if the god will gratify him, and suffer 
 uxorias voluptates ex se carpi. The tjod, without reluctance, 
 swears to put himself l in his power and at his disposal, but 
 [only] immediately on his return from the lower regions, 
 having obtained his wish and desire. 2 Prosumnus politely 
 tells him the way, and sets him on the very threshold of the 
 lower regions. In the meantime, while Liber is inspecting 3 
 and examining carefully Styx, Cerberus, the Furies, and all 
 other things, the informer passed from the number of the 
 living, and was buried according to the manner of men. 
 Evius 4 comes up from the lower regions, and learns that his 
 guide is dead. But that he might fulfil his promise, and 
 free himself from the obligation of his oath, he goes to the 
 place of the funeral, and Jicorum ex arbore ramum validis- 
 simum prcesecans dolat, funcinat, levigat et humani speciem 
 fabricatur in penis, figit super aggerem tumuli, et posticd ex 
 parte nudatus accedit, subsidit, insidit. Lascivia deinde 
 surientis assumptd, hue atque illuc dunes torquet et meditatur 
 ab ligno pati quod jamdudum in veritate promiserat. 
 
 29. Now, to prevent any one from thinking that we have 
 devised what is so impious, we do not call upon him to 
 believe Heraclitus as a witness, nor to receive from his 
 account what he felt about such mysteries. Let him 5 ask 
 the whole of Greece what is the meaning of these phalli 
 which ancient custom erects and worships throughout the 
 country, throughout the towns : he will find that the causes 
 are those which we say ; or if they are ashamed to declare 
 the truth honestly, of what avail will it be to obscure, to 
 conceal the cause and origin of the rite, while 6 the accusa- 
 tion holds good against the very act of worship ? What say 
 
 1 Lit., " that he will bo." 
 
 8 So the MS., ace. to Hild., reading expe-titionis ; ace. to Crusius, the 
 MS. gives -ditionis " [having accomplished] his expedition." 
 
 3 Lit., " is surveying with all careful examination." 
 
 4 MS. cuius. 5 i.e. the sceptic. 6 Cum wanting in the us.
 
 254 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK v. 
 
 you, peoples ? what, ye nations busied with the services of 
 the temples, and given up [to them] ? Is it to these rites 
 you drive us by flames, banishment, slaughter, and any 
 other kind of punishments, and by fear of cruel torture ? 
 Are these the gods whom you bring to us, whom you thrust 
 and impose upon us, like whom you would neither wish your- 
 selves to be, nor any one related to you by blood and friend- 
 ship? l Can you declare to your beardless sons, still wearing 
 the dress of boys, the agreements which Liber formed with 
 his lovers ? Can you urge your daughters-in-law, nay, even 
 your own wives, to [show] the modesty of Baubo, and [enjoy] 
 the chaste pleasures of Ceres? Do you wish your young 
 men to know, hear, [and] learn what even Jupiter showed 
 himself to more matrons than one ? Would you wish your 
 grown-up maidens and still lusty fathers to learn how the same 
 deity sported with his daughter ? Do you wish full brothers, 
 already hot with passion, and sisters sprung from the same 
 parents, to hear that he again did not spurn the embraces, 
 the couch of his sister? Should we not then flee far from 
 such gods; and should not our ears be stopped altogether, 
 that the filthiness of so impure a religion may not creep into 
 the mind? For what man is there who has been reared 
 with morals so pure, that the example of the gods does 
 not excite him to similar madness ? or who can keep back 
 his desires from his kinsfolk, and those of whom he should 
 stand in awe, when he sees that among the gods above 
 nothing is held sacred in the confusion caused by 2 their 
 lusts'? For when it is certain that the first and perfect 
 nature has not been able to restrain its passion within right 
 limits, why should not man give himself up to his desires 
 without distinction, being both borne on headlong by his 
 innate frailty, and aided by the teaching of the holy deities? 3 
 
 1 Lit., " by right of friendship." 2 Lit., " of." 
 
 3 Lit., " of holy divinity." Orelli thinks, and with reason, that 
 Arnobius refers to the words which Terence puts into the mouth of 
 Chaerea (Eun. iii. v. vv. 36-43), who encourages himself to give way 
 to lust by asking, " Shall I, a man, not do this ? " when Jove had done 
 as much.
 
 BOOKV.] ARNOBIUS AD VERSUS GENTES. 255 
 
 30. I confess that, in reflecting on such monstrous stories 
 in my own mind, I have long been accustomed to wonder 
 that you dare to speak of those as atheists, 1 impious, sacri- 
 legious, who either deny that there are [any] gods at all, or 
 doubt [their existence], or assert that they were men, and 
 have been numbered among the gods for the sake of some 
 power and good desert ; since, if a true examination be made, 
 it is fitting that none should be called by such names, more 
 than yourselves, who, under the pretence of showing them 
 reverence, heap up in so doing 2 more abuse and accusation, 
 than if you had conceived the idea of doing this openly with 
 avowed abuse. He who doubts the existence of the gods, or 
 denies it altogether, although he may seem to adopt monstrous 
 opinions from the audacity of his conjectures, yet refuses to 
 credit what is obscure without insulting any one ; and he 
 who asserts that they were mortals, although he brings them 
 down from the exalted place of inhabitants of heaven, yet 
 heaps upon them other 3 honours, since he supposes that they 
 have been raised to the rank of the gods 4 for their services, 
 and from admiration of their virtues. 
 
 31. But you who assert that you are the defenders and 
 propagators of their immortality, have you passed by, have you 
 left untouched, any one of them, without assailing him 5 with 
 your abuse ? or is there any kind of insult so damnable in the 
 eyes of all, that you have been afraid to use it upon them, 
 even though hindered 6 by the dignity of their name ? Who 
 declared that the gods loved frail and mortal bodies ? [was it] 
 not you? Who that they perpetrated those most charming 
 thefts on the couches of others ? [was it] not you ? Who 
 that children had intercourse with their mothers; [and] on 
 the other hand, fathers with their virgin daughters? [was it] 
 
 1 Lit., " to speak of any one as atheist ... of those who," etc. 
 
 2 So the MS. and edd., reading in o, for which we should perhaps read 
 f eos " heap upon them." 
 
 3 Subsicivis laudibus. 
 
 4 Lit., " to the reward (merituni) of divinity." 
 6 Lit., "un wounded." 
 
 6 So the edd., reading tardati for the MS. tradatis, except Hild., who 
 reads tardatis.
 
 256 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK v. 
 
 not you ? Who that pretty boys, and even grown-up [men] 
 of very fine appearance, were wrongfully lusted after? [was 
 it] not you? Who [declared that they 1 were] mutilated, 
 debauched, 2 skilled in dissimulation, thieves, held in bonds 
 and chains, finally assailed with thunderbolts, [and] wounded, 
 that they died, [and] even found graves on earth ? [was it] 
 not you ? While, then, so many and grievous charges have 
 been raised by you to the injury of the gods, do you dare to 
 assert that the gods have been displeased because of us, while 
 it has long been clear that you are the guilty causes of such 
 anger, and the occasion of the divine wrath ? 
 
 32. But you err, says [my opponent], and are mistaken, 
 and show, even in criticising [these] things, that you are 
 rather ignorant, unlearned, and boorish. For all those 
 stories which seem to you disgraceful, and tending to the 
 discredit of the gods, contain in them holy mysteries, theories 
 wonderful and profound, and not such as any one can easily 
 become acquainted with by force of understanding. For 
 that is not meant and said which has been written and placed 
 on the surface of the story ; but all these things are under- 
 stood in allegorical senses, and by means of secret explana- 
 tions privately supplied. 3 Therefore he who says 4 Jupiter lay 
 with his mother, does not mean the incestuous or shameful 
 embraces of Venus, but names Jupiter instead of rain, and 
 Ceres instead of the earth. And he, again, who says that 
 he 5 dealt lasciviously with his daughter, speaks of no filthy 
 pleasures, but puts Jupiter for the name of a shower, and by 
 his daughter means 6 the crop sown. So, too, he who says 
 that Proserpina was carried off by father Dis, does not 
 say (as you suppose 7 ) that the maiden was carried off to 
 [gratify] the basest desires ; but because we cover the seed 
 with clods, he signifies that the goddess has sunk under the 
 
 1 i.e. the gods. 2 Exoktos. Cf. iv. c. 35, n. 3. 
 
 3 Subditivis secretis. 
 
 4 Both Romaii edd. and MS. read dicet "shall say;" all others as 
 above dicit. 
 
 5 i.e. Jupiter. 6 Lit., " in the signification of his daughter." 
 7 So the margin of Ursinus ut reris for the us. ut ce-reris.
 
 BOOKV.J ARNOBIUS AD VERSUS GENTES. 257 
 
 earth, and unites with Orcus to bring forth fruit. In like 
 manner in the other stories also one thing indeed is said, but 
 something else is understood ; and under a commonplace 
 openness of expression there lurks a secret doctrine, and a 
 dark profundity of mystery. 
 
 33. These are all quirks, as is evident, and quibbles with 
 which they are wont to bolster up weak cases before a jury ; 
 nay, rather, to speak more truly, they are pretences, such as 
 are used in J sophistical reasonings, by which not the truth 
 is sought after, but always the image, and appearance, and 
 shadow of the truth. For because it is shameful and unbe- 
 coming to receive as true the correct accounts, you have had 
 recourse 2 to this expedient, that one thing should be substi- 
 tuted for another, and that what was in itself shameful should, 
 in being explained, be forced into the semblance of decency. 
 But what is it to us whether other senses and other meanings 
 underlie [these] vain stories ? For we who assert that the 
 gods are treated by you wickedly and impiously, need only 3 
 receive what is written, what is said, 4 and need not care as to 
 what is kept secret, since the insult to the deities consists not 
 in the idea hidden in its meanings, 5 but in what is signified 
 by the words as they stand out. And yet, that we may not 
 seem unwilling to examine what you say, we ask this first of 
 you, if only you will bear with us, from whom have you 
 learned, or by whom has it been made known, either that 
 these things were written allegorically, or that they should 
 be understood in the same way 1 Did the writers summon 
 you to [take] counsel [with them] ? or did you lie hid in 
 their bosoms at the time 6 when they put one thing for 
 another, without regard to truth ? Then, if they chose, from 
 
 1 Lit., " colours of." 
 
 2 The us. and both Roman edd. read indecorum est, which leaves the 
 sentence incomplete. LB., followed by later edd., proposed decursum 
 est, as above (Oehler, inde d. "from these recourse has been had"), 
 the other conjectures tending to the same meaning. 
 
 8 " We need only ; " lit., " it is enough for us to." 
 
 4 Lit., " heard." 
 
 5 Lit., " in the obscure mind of senses." 
 
 * u Or at the time," out turn, the correction of LB. for the MS. sutum. 
 ARNOB. K
 
 258 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK v. 
 
 religious awe 1 and fear on any account, to wrap those 
 mysteries in dark obscurity, what audacity it shows in you 
 to wish to understand what they did not wish, to know your- 
 selves and make all acquainted with that which they vainly 
 attempted to conceal by words which did not suggest the truth ! 
 
 34. But, agreeing with you that in all these stories stags 
 are spoken of instead of Iphigenias, yet, how are you sure, 
 when you either explain or unfold these allegories, that you 
 give the same explanations or have the same ideas which 
 were entertained by the writers themselves in the silence of 
 their thoughts, but expressed by words not adapted 2 to what 
 was meant, but to something else ? You say that the falling 
 of rain into the bosom of the earth was spoken of as the 
 union of Jupiter and Ceres ; another may both devise with 
 greater subtlety, and conjecture with some probability, some- 
 thing else ; a third, a fourth may [do the same] ; and as the 
 characteristics of the minds of the thinkers show themselves, 
 so each thing may be explained in an infinite number of 
 ways. For since all that allegory, as it is called, is taken 
 from narratives expressly made obscure, 3 and has no certain 
 limit within which the meaning of 'the story, 4 as it is called, 
 should be firmly fixed and unchangeable, it is open to every 
 one to put the meaning into it which he pleases, and to assert 
 that that has been adopted 5 to which his thoughts and 
 surmises 6 led him. But this being the case, how can you 
 obtain certainty from what is doubtful, and attach one sense 
 only to an expression which you see to be explained in in- 
 numerable different ways ? 7 
 
 35. Finally, if you think it right, returning to our inquiry, 
 we ask this of you, whether you think that all stories about 
 the gods, 8 that is, without any exception, 9 have been written 
 
 1 Lit., " fear of any reason and of religion." 2 Lit., "proper." 
 
 3 Lit., " from shut up things." * Rei. 6 Lit., " placed." 
 
 6 Lit., "his suspicion and conjectural (perhaps "probable") inference." 
 
 7 Lit., "to be deduced with variety of expositions through numberless 
 ways." 
 
 8 The MS., first four edd., and Hild. read de his" about these," cor- 
 rected in the others dis or diis, as above. 
 
 *Lit., "each."
 
 BOOKV.] AENOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 259 
 
 throughout with a double meaning and sense, and in a way 1 
 admitting of several interpretations; or that some parts of 
 them are not ambiguous at all, [while], on the contrary, 
 others have many meanings, and are enveloped in the veil of 
 allegory which has been thrown round them f For if the 
 whole structure and arrangement of the narrative have been 
 surrounded with a veil of allegory from beginning to end, 
 explain [to us], tell [us] what we should put and substitute 
 for each thing which every story says, and to what other 
 things and meanings we should refer 2 each. For as, to take 
 an example, you wish Jupiter to be said instead of the rain, 
 Ceres for the earth, and for Libera 3 and father Dis the sink- 
 ing and casting of seed [into the earth], so you ought to say 
 what we should understand for the bull, what for the wratli 
 and anger of Ceres; what the word Brimo* means; what 
 the anxious prayer of Jupiter ; what the gods sent to make 
 intercession for him, but not listened to ; what the castrated 
 ram ; what the parts 5 of the castrated ram ; what the satis- 
 faction made with these ; what the further dealings with his 
 daughter, still more unseemly in their lustfulness ; so, in the 
 other story also, what the grove and flowers of Henna are ; 
 what the fire taken from ^Etna, and the torches lit with 
 it ; what the travelling through the world with these ; what 
 the Attic country, the canton of Eleusin, the hut of Baubo, 
 and her rustic hospitality ; what the draught of cyceon 
 means, the refusal of it, the shaving and disclosure of the 
 jjrivy parts, the shameful charm of the sight, and the forget- 
 fulness of her bereavement produced by such means. Now, 
 if you point out what should be put in the place of all these, 
 changing the one for the other, 6 we shall admit your assertion ; 
 
 i PI. 2 Lit., " call." 
 
 3 i.e. Proserpine. The readiness with which Arnobius breaks the form 
 of the sentence should be noted. At first the gods represent physical 
 phenomena, but immediately after natural events are put for the gods. 
 In the MS. two copyists have been at work, the earlier giving Libero, which 
 is rather out of place, and is accordingly corrected by the later, Libera, 
 followed by LB., Oberthur, Orelli, Hild., and Oehler. 
 
 4 The MS. reads primo. Cf. c. 20. * Proles. 
 Lit., " by change of things."
 
 260 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK v. 
 
 but if you can neither present another supposition in each 
 case, nor appeal to 1 the context as a whole, why do you make 
 that obscure, 2 by means of fair-seeming allegories, which has 
 been spoken plainly, and disclosed to the understanding of all ? 
 36. But you will perhaps say that these allegories are not 
 [found] in the whole body of the story, but that some parts 
 are written so as to be understood by all, while others have 
 a double meaning, and are veiled in ambiguity. That is 
 refined subtlety, and can be seen through by the dullest. 
 For because it is very difficult for you to transpose, reverse, 
 and divert [to other meanings] all that has been said, you 
 choose out some things which suit your purpose, and by 
 means of these you strive to maintain that false and spuri- 
 ous versions were thrown about the truth which is under 
 them. 3 But yet, supposing that we should grant to you that 
 it is just as you say, how do you know, or whence do you 
 learn, which part of the story is written without any double 
 meaning, 4 which, on the other hand, has been covered with 
 jarring and alien senses ? For it may be that what you 
 believe to be so 5 is otherwise, that what you believe to be 
 otherwise 6 has been produced with different, and [even] 
 opposite modes of expression. For where, in a consistent 
 whole, one part is said to be written allegorically, the other 
 in plain and trustworthy language, while there is no sign 
 in the thing itself to point out the difference between what 
 is said ambiguously and what is said simply, that which is 
 simple may as well be thought to have a double meaning, 
 as what has been written ambiguously be believed to be 
 wrapt in obscurity. 7 But, indeed, we confess that we do 
 not understand at all by whom this 8 is either done, or can 
 be believed to be possible. 
 
 1 The MS. omits orf, supplied by Ursinus. 
 
 2 So all edd., except Hild. and Oehler, reading dbscur-atis for the MS. 
 -itatibus. 
 
 3 Lit., " were placed above the interior truth." 
 
 4 Lit., " with simple senses." 5 i.e. involved in obscurity. 
 
 6 i.e, free from ambiguity. 7 Lit., " of shut off obscurities." 
 
 8 The reference is to the words in the middle of the chapter, " how do
 
 BOOK v.] AENOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 261 
 
 37. Let us examine, then, what is said in this way. In 
 the grove of Henna, my opponent says, the maiden Proser- 
 pine was once gathering flowers : this is as yet uncorrupted, 
 and has been told in a straightforward manner, for all know 
 without any doubt what a grove and flowers are, what Pro- 
 serpine is, and a maiden. Summanus sprung forth from 
 the earth, borne along in a four-horse chariot : this, too, 
 is just as simple, for a team of four horses, a chariot, and 
 Summanus need no interpreter. Suddenly he carried off 
 Proserpine, and bore her with himself under the earth : the 
 burying of the seed, my opponent says, is meant by the 
 rape of Proserpine. What has happened, pray, that the story 
 should be suddenly turned to something else ? that Proserpine 
 should be called the seed ? that she who was for a long 
 time held to be a maiden gathering flowers, after that she 
 was taken away and carried off by violence, should begin to 
 signify the seed sown ? Jupiter, my opponent says, having 
 turned himself into a bull, longed to have intercourse with his 
 mother Ceres : as was explained before, under these names 
 the earth and falling rain are spoken of. I see the law of 
 allegory expressed in the dark and ambiguous terms. Ceres 
 was enraged and angry, and received the parts 1 of a ram 
 as the penalty demanded by 2 vengeance : this again I see 
 to be expressed in common language, for both anger and 
 testes [and] satisfaction are spoken of in their usual circum- 
 stances. 3 What, then, happened here, that from Jupiter, 
 who was named [for] the rain, and Ceres, who was named 
 [for] the earth, the story passed to the true Jove, and to a 
 most straightforward account of events ? 
 
 38. Either, then, they must all have been written and put 
 forward allegorically, and the whole should be pointed out to 
 us ; or nothing has been so written, since what is supposed 
 to be [allegorical] does not seem as if it were part of the nar- 
 
 you know which part is simple? " etc. ; Arnobius now saying that he 
 does not see how this can be known. 
 
 1 Proks. 
 
 2 Lit., " for penalty and." 
 
 8 Lit., " in their customs and conditions.**
 
 2G2 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [Boor; v. 
 
 rative. 1 These are all written allegorically, [you say]. This 
 seems by no means certain. Do you ask for what reason, 
 for what cause ? Because [I answer] all that has taken 
 place and has been set down distinctly in any book cannot 
 be turned into an allegory, for neither can that be undone 
 which has been done, nor can the character of an event 
 change into one which is utterly different. Can the Trojan 
 war be turned into the condemnation of Socrates ? or the 
 battle of Cannse become the cruel proscription of Sulla? A 
 proscription may indeed, as Tullius says 2 in jest, be spoken 
 of as a battle, and be called that of Cannae ; but what has 
 already taken place, cannot be at the same time a battle and 
 a proscription ; for neither, as I have said, can that which 
 lias taken place be anything else than what has taken 
 place ; nor can that pass over into a substance foreign to it 
 which has been fixed down firmly in its own nature and 
 peculiar condition. 
 
 39. Whence, then, do we prove that all these narratives 
 are records of events ? From the solemn rites and mysteries 
 of initiation, it is clear, whether those which are celebrated 
 at fixed times and on set days, or those which are taught 
 secretly by the heathen without allowing the observance of 
 their usages to be interrupted. For it is not to be believed 
 that these have no origin, are practised without reason or 
 meaning, and have no causes connected with their first be- 
 ginnings. That pine which is regularly borne into the 
 sanctuary of the Great Mother, 3 is it not in imitation of that 
 tree beneath which Attis mutilated and unmanned himself, 
 which also, they relate, the goddess consecrated to relieve 
 her grief ? That erecting of phalli and/asa'na, which Greece 
 worships and celebrates in rites every year, does it not recall 
 the deed by which Liber 4 paid his debt ? Of what do those 
 
 1 i.e. if historical, the whole must be so, as bits of allegory would not fi t in. 
 
 2 Cicero, pro Rose. Am. c. 32. 
 
 3 The MS. and edd. read matris deae " of the mother goddess ;" for 
 which Meursius proposed deurn " mother of the gods," the usual form 
 of the title. Cf. cc. 7 and 16. 
 
 1 The name is wanting in the MS. Cf. c. 28.
 
 BOOK v.J ARNOB1US ADVERSUS GENTES. 263 
 
 Eleusinian mysteries and secret rites contain a narrative? 
 Is it not of that wandering in which Ceres, worn out in 
 seeking for her daughter, when she came to the confines of 
 Attica, brought wheat [with her], graced with a hind's skin 
 the family of the Nebridas, 1 and laughed at that most won- 
 derful sight in Baubo's groins ? Or if there is another cause, 
 that is nothing to us, so long as they are all produced 
 by [some] cause. For it is not credible that these things 
 were set on foot without being preceded by any causes, or 
 the inhabitants of Attica must be considered mad to have 
 received 2 a religious ceremony got up without any reason. 
 But if this is clear and certain, that is, if the causes and 
 origins of the mysteries are traceable to past events, by no 
 change can they be turned into the figures of allegory ; for 
 that which has been done, [which] has taken place, cannot, 
 in the nature of things, be undone. 8 
 
 40. And yet, even if we grant you that this is the case, 
 that is, even if the narratives give utterance to one thing in 
 words, [but] mean 4 something else, after the manner of 
 raving seers, do you not observe in this case, do you not see 
 how dishonouring, how insulting to the gods, this is which is 
 said to be done ? 5 or can any greater wrong be devised than 
 to term and call the earth and rain, or anything else (for it 
 does not matter what change is made in the interpretation), 
 the intercourse of Jupiter and Ceres ? and to signify the 
 descent of rain from the sky, and the moistening of the 
 earth, by charges against the gods 1 Can anything be either 
 
 1 No Attic family of this name is mentioned anywhere ; but in Cos 
 the Nebridse were famous as descendants of ^Esculapius through Nebros. 
 In Attica, on the other hand, the initiated were robed in fawn-skins 
 (j//3jS/<$f), and were on this account spoken of as vefipifyires. Sal- 
 masius has therefore suggested (ad Solinum, p. 864, E) that Arnobius, 
 or the author on whom he relied, transferred the family to Attica oil 
 account of the similarity of sound. 
 
 2 Lit, " who have attached to themselves." 
 
 8 Arnobius would seem to have been partial to this phrase, which 
 occurs in the middle of c. 38. 
 4 Lit., " say." 
 6 Lit., " with what shame and insult of the gods this is said to be done."
 
 264 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK v. 
 
 thought or believed more impious than that the rape of 
 Proserpine speaks of seeds buried in the earth, or anything 
 else (for in like manner it is of no importance), and that it 
 speaks of the pursuit of agriculture to 1 the dishonour of 
 father Dis ? Is it not a thousand times more desirable to 
 become mute and speechless, and to lose that flow of words 
 and noisy and 2 unseemly loquacity, than to call the basest 
 things by the names of the gods; nay, more, to signify 
 commonplace things by the base actions of the gods ? 
 
 41. It was once usual, in speaking allegorically, to conceal 
 under perfectly decent ideas, and clothe 3 with the respect- 
 ability of decency, what was base and horrible to speak of 
 openly ; but now venerable things are at your instance 
 vilely spoken of, and what is quite pure 4 is related 5 in filthy 
 language, so that that which vice 6 formerly concealed from 
 shame, is now meanly and basely spoken of, the mode of speech 
 which was fitting 7 being changed. In speaking of Mars 
 and Venus as having been taken in adultery by Vulcan's art, 
 we speak of lust, says [my opponent], and anger, as restrained 
 by the force and purpose of reason. What, then, hindered, 
 what prevented you from expressing each thing by the words 
 and terms proper to it? nay, more, what necessity was there, 
 when you had resolved 8 to declare something or other, by 
 means of treatises and writings, to resolve that that should 
 not be the meaning to which you point, and in one narrative 
 to take up at the same time opposite positions the eagerness 
 of one wishing to teach, the niggardliness of one reluctant to 
 make public 1 9 Was there no risk in speaking of the gods 
 
 1 Lit., " with." " Lit., din of." 
 
 8 Passive. * Lit., " strong in chastity." 
 
 6 The MS., first three edd., Elm., and Oehler read commorantur 
 "lingers," i.e. "continues to be spoken of;" the other edd. receive 
 commemorantur, as above, from the errata in the 1st ed. 
 
 6 The MS., first four edd., and Oehler read gravitas seriousness ; cor- 
 rected pr. as above, in all edd. after Stewechius. 
 
 7 So, perhaps, the unintelligible MS. diynorum should be emended 
 digna rerum. 
 
 8 So all edd. since Stewechius, adding s to the MS. voluisse. 
 
 9 i.e. the mere fact that the stories were published, showed a wish to
 
 BOOKV.] ARNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 265 
 
 as unchaste ? The mention of lust and anger, [my opponent 
 says], was likely to defile the tongue and mouth with foul 
 contagion. 1 But, assuredly, if this were done, 2 and the veil 
 of allegorical obscurity were removed, the matter would be 
 easily understood, and at the same the dignity of the gods 
 would be maintained unimpaired. But now, indeed, when 
 the restraining of vices is said to be signified by the binding 
 of Mars and Venus, two most inconsistent 3 things are done 
 at the very same time ; so that, on the one hand, a description 
 of something vile suggests an honourable meaning, and on 
 the other, the baseness occupies the mind before any regard 
 for religion can do so. 
 
 42. But you will perhaps say (for this only is left which 
 you may think 4 can be brought forward by you) that the 
 gods do not wish their mysteries to be known by men, and 
 that the narratives were therefore written with allegorical 
 ambiguity. And whence have you learned 5 that the gods 
 above do not wish their mysteries to be made public"? whence 
 have you become acquainted with these? or why are you 
 anxious to unravel them by explaining them as allegories ? 
 Lastly, and finally, what do the gods mean, that while they 
 do not wish honourable, they allow unseemly, even the basest 
 things, to be said about them ? When we name Attis, says 
 [my opponent], we mean and speak of the sun ; but if Attis 
 is the sun, as you reckon [him] and say, who will that Attis 
 be whom your books record and declare to have been born 
 in Phrygia, to have suffered certain things, to have done 
 certain things also, whom all the theatres know in the scenic 
 shows, to whom every year we see divine honours paid 
 expressly byname amongst the [other] religious ceremonies? 
 Whether was this name made to pass from the sun to a man, 
 
 teach ; but their being allegories, showed a reluctance to allow them to 
 be understood. 
 
 1 The edd. read this sentence interrogatively. 
 
 2 i.e. " if you said exactly what you mean." The reference is not to 
 the immediately preceding words, but to the question on which thtj 
 chapter is based " what prevented you from expressing," etc. 
 
 3 Lit., " perverse." * Passive. 6 Lit., u is it clear to you."
 
 266 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK v. 
 
 or from a man to the sun ? For if that name is derived 
 in the first instance from the sun, what, pray, has the golden 
 sun done to you, that you should make that name to belong 
 to him in common with an emasculated person ? But if 
 it is [derived] from a goat, and is Phrygian, of what has 
 the sire of Phaethon, the father of this light and bright- 
 ness, been guilty, that he should seem worthy to be 
 named from a mutilated man, and should become more 
 venerable when designated by the name of an emasculated 
 body ? 
 
 43. But what the meaning of this is, is already clear to 
 all. For because you are ashamed of such writers and 
 histories, and do not see that these things can be got rid of 
 which have once been committed to writing in filthy lan- 
 guage, you strive to make base things honourable, and by 
 every kind of subtlety you pervert and corrupt the real 
 senses l of words for the sake of spurious interpretations ; 2 
 and, as ofttimes happens to the sick, whose senses and under- 
 standing have been put to flight by the distempered force 
 of disease, you toss about confused and uncertain [con- 
 jectures], and rave in empty fictions. 
 
 Let it be [granted] that the irrigation of the earth was 
 meant by the union of Jupiter and Ceres, the burying of 
 the seed 3 by the ravishing [of Proserpine] by father Dis, 
 wines scattered over the earth by the limbs of Liber torn 
 asunder [by the Titans], that the restraining 4 of lust and 
 rashness has been spoken of as the binding of the adulterous 
 Venus and Mars. 
 
 44. But if you come to the conclusion that these fables 
 have been written allegorically, what is to be done with the 
 rest, which we see cannot be forced into such changes [of 
 sense] ? For what are we to substitute for the wrigglings 5 
 
 1 Lit., " natures." 2 Lit,, " things." 
 
 8 So most edd., reading occullatio for the MS. occupatio. 
 
 4 So all edd., reading com-, except Hild. and Oehler, who retain the 
 MS. reading, im-pressio " the assault of," i.e. " on." 
 
 5 Lit., " waves "fluctibus, the reading of the MS., LB., Hild., and 
 Ochlcr ; the other edd. reading fustibus " stakes."
 
 BOOKV.] ARNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 267 
 
 into which the lustful heat 1 of Semele's offspring forced him 
 upon the sepulchral mound? and what for those Gany- 
 medes who were carried off 2 and set to preside over lustful 
 practices ? what for that conversion of an ant into which 
 Jupiter, the greatest [of the gods], contracted the outlines 
 of his huge body ? 3 what for swans and satyrs ? what for 
 golden showers, which the same seductive [god] put on with 
 perfidious guile, amusing himself by changes of form ? 
 And, that we may not seem to speak of Jupiter only, what 
 allegories can there be in the loves of the other deities? 
 what in their circumstances as hired servants and slaves ? 
 what in their bonds, bereavements, lamentations? what in 
 their agonies, wounds, sepulchres ? Now, while in this you 
 might be held guilty in one respect for writing in such wise 
 about the gods, you have added to your guilt beyond 
 measure 4 in calling base things by the names of deities, and 
 again in defaming the gods by [giving to them] the names 
 of infamous things. But if you believed without any doubt 5 
 that they were here close at hand, or anywhere at all, fear 
 would check you in making mention of them, and your 
 beliefs and unchanged thoughts should have been exactly 6 
 as if they were listening to you and heard your words. 
 For among men devoted to the services of religion, not only 
 the gods themselves, but even the names of the gods, should 
 be reverenced, and there should be quite as much grandeur 
 in their names as there is in those even who are thought of 
 under these names. 
 
 1 So Meursius, changing the MS. o- into u-rigo. 
 
 2 The first four edd. retain the MS., reading par/is " brought forth ;" 
 the others adopt a suggestion of Canterus, raptis, as above. 
 
 3 Lit., " vastness." 
 
 4 Addere garo gerrem, a proverb ridiculing a worthless addition, which 
 nullifies something in itself precious, garum being a highly esteemed 
 sauce (or perhaps soup), which would be thrown away upon gerres, a 
 worthless kind of salt fish. Arnobius merely means, however, that 
 while such stories are wrong, what follows is unspeakably worse. 
 
 5 Lit., " with indubitable knowledge." 
 
 6 Lit., " it ought to have been so believed, and to be held fixed in 
 thought just," etc.
 
 2G8 AENOBIUS ADVEPSUS GENTES. [BOOK v. 
 
 45. Judge fairly, and you are deserving of censure in 
 this, 1 that in your common conversation you name Mars 
 when you mean 2 fighting, Neptune when you mean the seas, 
 Ceres when you mean bread, Minerva when you mean 
 weaving, 3 Venus when you mean filthy lusts. For what 
 reason is there, that, when things can be classed under their 
 own names, they should be called by the names of the gods, 
 and that such an insult should be offered to the deities as not 
 even we men endure, if any one applies and turns our names 
 to trifling objects? But language, [you say], is contemptible, 
 if defiled with such words. 4 O modesty, 5 worthy of praise ! 
 you blush to name bread and wine, and are not afraid to 
 speak of Venus instead of carnal intercourse ! 
 
 1 Lit., " are in this part of censure." 2 Lit., " for." 
 
 3 Lit., " the warp," stamine. 
 
 4 i.e. if things are spoken of under their proper names. 
 
 5 The MS. reads ac unintelligibly.
 
 BOOK VI, 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 HAVING shown how impious were the opinions entertained by the heathen 
 about their own gods, Aruobius next meets the charge of impiety made 
 against Christians because they neither built temples, nor set up statues, 
 nor offered sacrifices. This, however, he asserts was not the fruit of im- 
 piety, but of nobler beliefs (1). For, admitting that they are gods, they 
 must be free from all imperfection, and therefore self-sufficient, not de- 
 pendent on aid from without, nor afflicted with the desires and passions 
 of mortals. To think thus, he adds, is not to hold the gods in con- 
 tempt (2). But if they are such, of what use would temples be to them ? 
 Is it not sheer madness to think that you honour your superiors when you 
 judge of them by your own necessities ? Do the gods need shelter from 
 cold and heat, from rain or storm ? And although to men temples may 
 seem magnificent, to the gods of heaven they can be only mean cells (3). 
 But, it might be said, temples are built not to shelter the gods, but that 
 we may address them face to face, as it were. Then, if prayers were 
 offered to the gods under the open heaven, they would not be heard. 
 But the true God must hear prayers wherever offered, nay, must be 
 present even in the silent recesses of the heart, to know what is thought, 
 what is desired, even though it be not expressed, for it is his to fill all 
 things with his power, and not to be present in one place only (4). 
 Otherwise there could be no hope of help ; for if prayers were made to 
 one deity from different parts of the earth, while he could be present 
 only in one, then either all would be alike neglected, or one only would 
 be heard and answered (5). 
 
 These temples, however, which were said to have been built in honour 
 of the gods, were in reality places of sepulture. Thus Cecrops was 
 buried in the temple of Minerva at Athens, and others, both men and 
 women, in various well-known shrines (6), even the Capitol being only 
 the sepulchre of Olus ; and thus the heathens are shown to have been 
 guilty either of worshipping the dead as gods, or of dishonouring the 
 gods by making tombs their temples (7). 
 
 As to images, if there are really gods in heaven to whom supplication 
 
 can be made, why, Arnobius asks, should figures of them be made on 
 
 earth? and if they are not believed to be in heaven, it is still more 
 
 difficult to say of what use these images are (8Y We worship the gods, 
 
 2G9
 
 270 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK vi. 
 
 the heathen said, by means of their images. Can the gods, therefore, 
 Arnobius asks, receive homage only when offered to statues? What 
 can be more insulting than to believe in a god, and pray to a statue, 
 to hope for aid from a deity, but to ask it from his image (9) ? More- 
 over, how could it be known that those figures were indeed images of 
 the gods ? The moon is ever in motion ; how could the figure of a woman 
 which never stirred be her likeness ? But if the gods were not such as 
 their statues which no one supposed what audacity was shown in 
 giving to them whatever figures men pleased (10) ! Little occasion had 
 they to laugh at the superstitious worship of rivers, stones, sabres, and 
 pieces of wood by ancient and barbarous peoples, while they themselves 
 prayed to little figures of men. Did they, then, believe that the gods 
 were like men ? No, Arnobius says ; only they found themselves com- 
 mitted to a false position, and would rather maintain it with violence 
 and cruelty than admit that they were in error (11). Hence it was that 
 such extraordinary forms and equipments were given to the gods. But 
 if the images were secretly removed from their proper places, and the 
 insignia of one given to another, it would be impossible to say which 
 was Jupiter, which Mars. How absurd to form images of the gods, 
 which depend for their individuality on the dresses put upon them (12) ! 
 It was a small thing, however, to distinguish the gods by means of reap- 
 ing-hooks, tridents, horns, or hammers ; but it was no light matter that 
 the gods should be fashioned like lewd men and women, and that thus 
 divine honours should be paid to harlots (13). Arnobius next insists that 
 images are but dead matter, moulded, cut,- filed, and hewn into form by 
 men ; and that it is therefore absurd for a man to worship what he has 
 himself made (14). No one would worship, he says, a mass of metal or a 
 heap of stones, or even fragments of images ; but why, while the parts 
 are thus regarded as merely dead matter, should they, when formed into 
 an image, become divine (15) ? Still men asked blessings from earthen- 
 ware, copper, and ivory, and supposed that their prayers were heard by 
 senseless figures, forgetting how and from what they were formed ; that 
 it was man's skill which gave them all their grandeur, for within them 
 there was only hideous emptiness ; and that they were destroyed by 
 time, used as coverts by mean and loathsome creatures, and bemired by 
 birds, the dumb animals thus teaching their master, man, that the images 
 which he \vorshipped were beneath his notice (16). But, was the reply 
 of the heathen, we worship not the images, but the deities, which are 
 brought into them by their consecration. Do the gods, then, quit heaven 
 to give dignity to what is base? And if so, do they enter these images 
 willingly or unwillingly ? If unwillingly, is their majesty not lessened ? 
 If willingly, what can they find there to entice them from their starry 
 seats (17)? It is further asked, Do the gods always remain in these 
 images, or come and go at will ? If the former, how wretched is their 
 case 1 If the latter, how is it to be known when the god is in the image
 
 BOOK vi.] AENOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 271 
 
 so that he should be worshipped, and when he has quitted it so that it 
 may be safely neglected ? Moreover, in small figures, do the gods be- 
 come small? in those represented as sitting, do they sit? and do they 
 thus conform in all respects to their images (18) ? But there are either 
 as many gods as statues, or no statue can be tenanted by a god, because 
 one god cannot occupy different images (19). But if the gods dwell 
 in their own images, why do they not themselves defend these, instead of 
 leaving it to dogs and geese and watchers to protect their effigies from 
 fire or thieves (20) ? Nay, more, why do they allow themselves to be 
 robbed and insulted by the stripping from their images of what is 
 valuable (21) ? It might be said that the gods despised such trifles ; 
 but if so, that showed that they despised the images as well. Arnobius 
 then relates the stories of men falling in love with statues of Venus, and 
 asks, where was the goddess, that she did not repel and punish such 
 insulting wantonness, or at least recall the frenzied youths to their 
 senses (22) ? If any explanation could be found for this, there was none, 
 however, for the fact that so many temples had been destroyed by 
 fire and spoiled by robbers, without the interference of their presiding 
 deities (23). Finally, if it were said that images had been devised in 
 ancient times to terrify men from their wickedness by the belief that gods 
 were at hand to see and punish their crimes, Arnobius admits that 
 there would be some reason in this, if temples and images caused peace, 
 justice, and purity to prevail on the earth ; but points out that this 
 had not been the result, for crime and wickedness abound everywhere ; 
 and temples, and even the images which were to force men to be just, are 
 plundered without fear (24). He then asks what power Saturn's sickle, 
 the winged shoes of Mercury, or any of the other insignia of the gods 
 possess, to move men's minds to fear (25) ; and whether it had ever 
 been thought that men could be frightened by a hideous face, as children 
 by some bugbear. The enactment of laws, however, shows clearly that 
 images or temples have no such power (26). He next proceeds to meet 
 the charge, that Christians are atheists because they offer none of the 
 usual divine honours to God. The fact he admits, but asserts that in so 
 doing Christians really comply with God's will (27). 
 
 1AVJNG shown briefly how impious and in- 
 famous [are the] opinions [which] you have 
 formed about your gods, we have now to 1 
 speak of their temples, their images also, and 
 sacrifices, and of the other things which are 2 united and 
 closely related to them. For you are here in the habit of 
 fastening upon us a very serious charge of impiety because we 
 do not rear temples for the ceremonies of worship, do not set 
 1 Lit., " it remains tnat we." 2 Lit., " series which is," etc.
 
 272 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOR vi. 
 
 up statues and images 1 of any god, do not build altars, 2 do 
 not offer the blood of creatures slain [in sacrifices], incense, 
 nor sacrificial meal, and finally, do not bring wine flowing 
 in libations from sacred bowls ; which, indeed, we neglect to 
 build and do, not as though we cherish impious and wicked 
 dispositions, or have conceived any madly desperate feeling 
 of contempt for the gods, but because we think and believe 
 that they 3 (if only they are true gods, and are called by this 
 exalted name 4 ) either scorn such honours, if they give way 
 to scorn, or endure [them] with anger, if they are roused by 
 feelings of rage. 
 
 2. For that you may learn what are our sentiments and 
 opinions about that race we think that they (if only they 
 are true gods, that the same things may be said again till you 
 are wearied hearing them 5 ) should have all the virtues in 
 perfection, should be wise, upright, venerable (if only our 
 heaping upon them human honours is not a crime), strong in 
 excellences within themselves, and should not give themselves 6 
 up to external props, because the completeness of -their un- 
 broken bliss is made perfect ; [should be] free from all agi- 
 tating and disturbing passions ; should not burn with anger, 
 should not be excited by any desires ; should send misfortune 
 to none, should not find a cruel pleasure in the ills of men ; 
 should not terrify by portents, should not show prodigies to 
 cause fear ; should not hold [men] responsible and liable to 
 be punished for the vows which they owe, nor demand ex- 
 piatory sacrifices by threatening omens ; should not bring on 
 pestilences [and] diseases by corrupting the air, should not 
 burn up the fruits with droughts ; should take no part in the 
 slaughter of war and devastation of cities ; should not wish 
 ill to one party, and be favourable to the success of another ; 
 but, as becomes great minds, should weigh all in a just 
 
 1 Singular. 
 
 2 Non altaria, non aras, i.e. neither to the superior nor inferior deities. 
 Of. Virgil, Eel. v. 66. 
 
 3 The earlier edd. prefix d to the MS. eos " that the gods," etc. 
 
 4 Lit., "endowed with the eminence of this name.' 1 
 
 5 Lit., " and to satiety." 
 
 6 The MS. wants ae, which was supplied by Stewechius.
 
 BOOK vi.] ARNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 273 
 
 balance, and show kindness impartially to all. For it belongs 
 to a mortal race and human weakness to act otherwise j 1 and 
 the maxims and declarations of wise men state distinctly, that 
 those who are touched by passion live a life of suffering, 2 
 [and] are weakened by grief, 3 and that it cannot be but that 
 those who have been given over to disquieting feelings, have 
 been bound by the laws of mortality. Now, since this is the 
 case, how can we be supposed to hold the gods in contempt, 
 who we say are not gods, and cannot be connected with the 
 powers of heaven, unless they are just and worthy of the 
 admiration which great minds excite ? 
 
 3. But, [we are told], we rear no temples to them, and 
 do not worship their images ; we do not slay victims in sacri- 
 fice, we do not offer incense and libations of wine. And what 
 greater honour or dignity can we ascribe to them, than that 
 we put them in the same position as the Head and Lord of 
 the universe, to whom the gods owe it in common with us, 4 
 that they are conscious that they exist, and have a living 
 being ? 5 For do we honour Him with shrines, and by build- 
 ing temples ? 6 Do we even slay victims [to Him] ? Do we 
 give [to Him] the other things, to take which and pour them 
 
 1 i.e. not act impartially and benevolently, which may possibly be the 
 meaning of contrariis agere, or, as Oehler suggests, " to assail [men] 
 with contrary, i.e. injurious things." All edd. read egere, except Oehler, 
 who can see no meaning in it ; but if translated, " to wish for contrary 
 things," it suits the next clause very well. 
 
 2 Lit., u whom passion touches, suffer." 
 
 3 So the MS., Stewechius, Hild., and Oehler, while the first four edd. 
 and Oberthiir merely add m to dolore, and join with the preceding pati 
 " suffer pain, are weakened." 
 
 4 The MS. and most edd. read di-vina nobiscum " the divine things 
 along with us;" Heraldus rejects div. as a gloss, while Meursius, 
 followed by Orelli, corrects dii una, and Oehler divi una, as above. 
 
 6 Lit., " are contained in vital substance." 
 
 6 Arnobius here expressly denies that the Christians had any temples. 
 There has been some controversy on the subject (Mosheim, B. i. cent. 1, 
 ch. 4, sec. 5, Soames' ed.), surely as needless as controversy could be ; for 
 as the Christians must at all times have had stated places of meeting (al- 
 though in time of persecution these might be changed frequently), it is 
 clear that, in speaking thus, the meaning must be only, that their buildings 
 had no architectural pretensions, and their service no splendour of ritual. 
 
 AUNOB. S
 
 274 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK vr. 
 
 forth in libation shows not a careful regard to reason, but 
 heed to a practice maintained l [merely] by usage ? For it 
 is perfect folly to measure greater powers by your necessities, 
 and to give the things useful to yourself to the gods who 
 give [all things], and to think this an honour, not an insult. 
 We ask, therefore, to do what service to the gods, or to meet 
 what want, do you say that temples have been reared, 2 and 
 think that they should be again built? Do they feel the 
 cold of 8 winter, or are they scorched by summer suns ? Do 
 storms of rain flow over them, or whirlwinds shake them 1 
 Are they in danger of being exposed to the onset of enemies, 
 or the furious attacks of wild beasts, so that it is right and 
 becoming to shut them up in places of security, 4 or guard 
 them by throwing up a rampart of stones ? For what are 
 these temples? If you ask human weakness 5 something 
 vast and spacious ; if you consider the power of the gods 
 small caves, as it were, 6 and even, to speak more truly, the 
 narrowest kind of caverns formed and contrived with sorry 
 judgment. 7 Now, if you ask to be told who was their first 
 founder 8 and builder, either Phoroneus or the Egyptian 
 Merops 9 will be mentioned to you, or, as Varro relates in his 
 [treatise, de] Admirandis, ^Eacus the offspring of Jupiter. 
 Though these, then, should be built of heaps of marble, or 
 shine resplendent with ceilings fretted with gold, [though] 
 precious stones sparkle here, and gleam like stars set at vary- 
 ing intervals, all these things are made up of earth, and of the 
 
 1 Lit., " drawn out." 
 
 2 So the edd., reading constructa for the corrupt MS. conscripta 
 " written." 
 
 3 i.e. to suppose that temples are necessary to the gods, is to make them 
 subject to human weakness. 
 
 4 Lit., " with fortifications of roofs." 
 
 5 i.e. if you have regard merely to the weakness of men, a temple may 
 be something wonderful. 
 
 6 Lit., " some." 7 Lit., " formed by contrivance of a poor heart." 
 
 8 Institutor, wanting in all edd., except Hild. and Oehler. 
 
 9 Arnobius here agrees with Clemens Alexandrinus, but Jos. Scaliger 
 has pointed out that the name should be Cecrops. It is possible that 
 Arnobius may have been misled by what was merely a slip of Clement'a 
 pen.
 
 BOOK vi.] AENOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 275 
 
 lowest dregs of [even] baser matter. For not even, if you 
 value these more highly, is it to be believed that the gods 
 take pleasure in them, or that they do not refuse and scorn 
 to shut themselves up, and be confined within these barriers. 
 This, [my opponent] says, is the temple of Mars, this [that] 
 of Juno and of Venus, this [that] of Hercules, of Apollo, 
 of Dis. What is this but to say this is the house of 
 Mars, this of Juno and Venus, 1 Apollo dwells here, in this 
 [house] abides Hercules, in that Summanus? Is it not, 
 then, the very 2 greatest affront to hold the gods kept fast 3 
 in habitations, to give to them little huts, to build lockfast 
 places and cells, and to think that the things are 4 necessary 
 to them which are needed by men, cats, emrnets, and lizards, 
 by quaking, timorous, and little mice ? 
 
 4. But, says [my opponent], it is not for this reason that 
 we assign temples to the gods as though we [wished to] ward 
 off from them drenching storms of rain, winds, showers, or 
 the rays of the sun ; but in order that we may be able to 
 see them in person and close at hand, to come near and 
 address them, and impart to them, when in a measure present, 
 the expressions of our reverent feelings. For if they are in- 
 voked under the open heaven, and the canopy of ether, they 
 hear nothing [I suppose] ; and unless prayers are addressed to 
 them [by those] near at hand, they will stand deaf and immove- 
 able as if nothing were said. And yet we think that every 
 god whatever if only he has the power of this name should 
 hear what every one said from every part of the world, just 
 as if he were present ; nay, more, should foresee, without wait- 
 ing to be told, 6 what every one conceived in his secret and 
 silent 6 thoughts. And as the stars, the sun, the moon, while 
 
 1 The preceding words, from " this of Hercules," are omitted by the 
 first four edd. and Elmenh., and were first restored from the MS. by 
 Stewechius. 
 
 2 Lit., " first and." 
 
 3 So the edd., reading Jiabere districtos for the MS. destructos. 
 
 4 Lit., " that the things be thought to be." 
 
 5 Lit., " knowledge being anticipated." 
 
 6 These words, et tacitis, omitted by Oberthiir, are similarly omitted 
 by Orelli without remark.
 
 276 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK vi 
 
 they wander above the earth, are steadily and everywhere in 
 sight of all those who gaze at them without any exception ; 
 so, too, 1 it is fitting that the ears of the gods should be closed 
 against no tongue, and should be ever within reach, although 
 voices should flow together to them from widely separated 
 regions. For this [it is that] belongs specially to the gods, 
 to fill all things with their power, to be not partly at any 
 place, but all everywhere, not to go to dine with the ^Ethio- 
 pians, and return after twelve days to their own dwellings. 2 
 
 5. Now, if this be not the case, all hope of help is taken 
 away, and it will be doubtful whether you are heard 3 by the 
 gods or not, if ever you perform the sacred rites with due 
 ceremonies. For, to make it clear, 4 let us suppose that there 
 is a temple of some deity in the Canary Islands, [another] 
 of the same [deity] in remotest Thyle, also among the Seres, 
 among the tawny Garamantes, and any others 5 who are de- 
 barred from knowing each other by seas, mountains, forests, 
 and the four quarters of the world. If they all at one time 
 beg of the deity with sacrifices what their wants compel 
 each one to think about, 6 what hope, pray, will there be 
 to all of obtaining the benefit, if the god does not hear the 
 cry sent up to him everywhere, and [if] there shall be any 
 distance to which the words of the suppliant for help cannot 
 penetrate ? For either he will be nowhere present, if he 
 may at times not be anywhere, 7 or he will be at one place 
 
 1 So the edd., inserting quo- into the MS. reading ita-que "it is there- 
 fore fitting," which is absurd, as making the connection between the 
 members of the sentence one not of analogy, but of logical sequence. 
 
 2 Of. the speech of Thetis, Iliad, i. 423-5. 
 
 8 So the margin of Ursinus, Elm., LB., and Orelli, with Meursius, read- 
 ing audiamini for the MS. audiamur " we are heard," which does not 
 harmonize with the next clause. 
 
 4 Lit., " for the purpose of coming to know the thing." 
 
 5 Lit., " if there are any others." 
 
 6 So the MS., reading c-ogitare, corrected r " to beg," in the margin 
 
 of Ursinus and Elm. For the preceding words the MS. reads, poscantque 
 de numine. The edd. omit que as above, except Oehler, who reads qu& 
 " what hope will there be, what, pray, to all," etc. 
 
 7 So the MS., reading si uspiam poterit aliquando non esse, which may be 
 understood in two senses, either not limited by space, or not in space, i.e.
 
 BOOK vi.] ARNOBIUS AD VERSUS GENTES. 277 
 
 only, since he cannot give his attention generally, and with- 
 out making any distinction. And thus it is brought about, 
 that either the god helps none at all, if being busy with 
 something he has been unable to hasten to give ear to their 
 cries, or one only goes away with his prayers heard, [while] 
 the rest have effected nothing. 
 
 6. What [can you say] as to this, that it is attested by the 
 writings of authors, that many of these temples which have 
 been raised with golden domes and lofty roofs cover bones 
 and ashes, and are sepulchres of the dead ? Is it not plain 
 and manifest, either that you worship dead men for immortal 
 gods, or that an inexpiable affront is cast upon the deities, 
 whose shrines and temples have been built over the tombs of 
 the dead ? Antiochus, 1 in the ninth [book] of his Histories, 
 relates that Cecrops was buried in the temple of Minerva, 2 
 at Athens ; again, in the temple of the same goddess, which 
 is in the citadel of Larissa, 3 it is related and declared that 
 Acrisius was laid, [and] in the sanctuary of Polias, 4 Erich- 
 thonius ; [while] the brothers Dairas and Immarnachus [were 
 buried] in the enclosure of Eleusin, which lies near the city. 
 What say you as to the virgin daughters of Celeus ? are they 
 not said to be buried 5 in the temple of Ceres at Eleusin ? 
 [and] in the shrine of Diana, which was set up in the temple 
 of the Delian Apollo, are not Hyperoche and Laodice buried, 
 who are said to have been brought thither from the country of 
 
 not existing ; but the reading and meaning must be regarded as alike 
 doubtful. 
 
 1 A Syracusan historian. The rest of the chapter is almost literally 
 translated from Clement (p. 39), who is followed by Eusebius also 
 (Prop. Evang. ii. 6). 
 
 2 i.e. the Acropolis. 
 
 3 In Thessaly, whither (ace. to Pausanias) he had fled in vain, to avoid 
 the fulfilment of the oracle that he should be killed by his daughter's 
 son. 
 
 4 i.e. Athena Polias, or guardian of cities. Immediately below, the MS. 
 roads Immarnachus, corrected in LB. and Orelli Immarus from Clem., 
 who speaks of " Immarus, son of Eumolpus and Daeira." 
 
 5 So the unintelligible reading of the MS., humation-ibus officia, was 
 emended by Heraldus, followed by LB. and Orelli, -is haluisse.
 
 278 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK vr. 
 
 the Hyperboreans ? In the Milesian Didymaeon, 1 Leanclrius 
 says that Cleochus had the last honours of burial paid to 
 him. Zeno of Myndus openly relates that the monument of 
 Leucophryne is in the sanctuary of Diana at Magnesia. 
 Under the altar of Apollo, which is seen in the city of 
 Telmessus, is it not invariably declared by writings that the 
 prophet Telmessus lies buried ? Ptolemseus, the son of 
 Agesarchus, in the first book of the History of Philopator^ 
 which he published, affirms, on the authority of literature, 
 that Cinyras, king of Paphos, was interred in the temple of 
 Venus with all his family, nay, more, with all his stock. It 
 would be 3 an endless and boundless task to describe in what 
 sanctuaries they all are throughout the world ; nor is anxious 
 care required, although 4 the Egyptians fixed a penalty for any 
 one who should have revealed the places in which Apis lay 
 hid, as to those Polyandria 5 of Varro, 6 by what temples they 
 are covered, and what heavy masses they have laid upon them. 
 7. But why [do] I [speak] of these trifles ? What man is 
 there who is ignorant that in the Capitol of the imperial 
 people is the sepulchre of Tolus 7 Vulcentanus ? Who is 
 there, I say, who does not know that from beneath 8 its 
 
 1 i.e. the temple near Didyma, sacred to Apollo, who was worshipped 
 then under the name Didymus. 
 
 2 i.e. " lover of his father," the name given ironically to the fourth 
 Ptolemy, because he murdered his father. 
 
 3 Lit., " is." 
 
 4 So the MS., both Rom. edd., Hild., and Oehler, reading quamvispcevam; 
 Gelenius, Canterus, Elm., and Oberthiir omit tn's, and the other edd. v, 
 i.e. " as to what punishment the Egyptian," etc. This must refer to the 
 cases in which the sacred bull, having outlived the term of twenty-five 
 years, was secretly killed by the priests, while the people were taught 
 that it had thrown itself into the water. 
 
 5 i.e. " burial-places." By this Oehler has attempted to show is meant 
 the Hebdomades vel de Imaginibus of Varro, a series of biographical 
 sketches illustrated with portraits, executed in some way which cannot 
 be clearly ascertained. 
 
 MS. Barronis. 
 
 7 So the MS., first four edd., and Oberthiir, reading ToK, corrected OH 
 in the others, from Servius (ad. jEn. viii. 345). Arnobius himself gives 
 the form Aulus, i.e. Olus, immediately below, so that it is probably correct. 
 
 8 Lit., "the seats of."
 
 BOOK vi.] ARNOBIUS AD VERSUS GENTES. 279 
 
 foundations there was rolled a man's head, buried for no very 
 long time before, either by itself without the other parts [of 
 the body] (for some relate this), or with all its members'? 
 Now, if you require this to be made clear by the testimonies 
 of authors, Sammonicus, Granius, Valerianus, 1 and Fabius 
 will declare to you whose son Aulus 2 was, of what race and 
 nation, how 3 he was bereft of life and light by the slave of 
 his brother, of what crime he was guilty against his fellow- 
 citizens, that he was denied burial in his father 4 land. You 
 will learn also although they pretend to be unwilling to 
 make this public what was done with his head when cut off, 
 or in what place it was shut up, and the whole affair carefully 
 concealed, in order that the omen which the gods had attested 
 might stand without interruption, 5 unalterable, and sure. 
 Now, while it was proper that this [story] should .be sup- 
 pressed, and concealed, and forgotten in the lapse of time, 
 the composition of the name published it, and, by a testimony 
 which could not be got rid of, caused it to remain [in men's 
 minds], together with its causes, so long as it endured itself ; 6 
 and the state [which is] greatest [of all], and worships all 
 deities, did not blush in giving a name to the temple, to name 
 it from the head of Olus 7 Capitolium rather than from the 
 name of Jupiter. 
 
 8. We have therefore as I suppose shown sufficiently, 
 that to the immortal gods temples have been either reared 
 in vain, or built in consequence of insulting opinions [held] 
 
 1 Ursinus suggested Valerius Antias, mentioned in the first chapter of 
 the fifth book ; a conjecture adopted by Hild. 
 
 2 The MS., LB., Hild., and Oehler read Aulus, and, ace. to Oehler, all 
 other edd. Tolus. Orelli, however, reads Olus, as above. 
 
 3 The MS. and both Roman edd. read germani servuli vita without 
 meaning, corrected as above by Gelenius, Canterus, Elm., and Oberthiir, 
 ut a g. servulo, and ut a g. servulis "by the slaves," in the others, except 
 Oehler who reads as above, g. servulo ut. 
 
 4 The MS. and both Roman edd. read unintelligibly patientix, corrected 
 j>aternx hi Hild. and Oehler, patriie in the rest. 
 
 5 Lit., " the perpetuity of the omen sealed might stand." 
 Lit., " through the times given to itself." 
 
 7 The MS. reads s-oli, changed into Toli by the first four edd., Elm., 
 and Oberthiir. The others omit s.
 
 280 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [Soos vr. 
 
 to their dishonour and to the belittling of the power believed 
 [to be in their hands]. We have next to say something about 
 statues and images, which you form with much skill, and 
 tend with religious care, wherein if there is any credibility, 
 we can by no amount of consideration settle in our own 
 minds whether you do this in earnest and with a serious pur- 
 pose, or amuse yourselves in childish dreams by mocking at 
 these very things. 1 For if you are assured that the gods exist 
 whom you suppose, and that they live in the highest regions 
 of heaven, what cause, what reason, is there that those images 
 should be fashioned by you, when you have true beings to 
 whom you may pour forth prayers, and [from whom you 
 may] ask help in trying circumstances ? But if, on the 
 contrary, you do not believe, or, to speak with moderation, 
 are in doubt, in this case, also, what reason is there, pray, to 
 fashion and set up images of doubtful [beings], and to form 2 
 with vain imitation what you do not believe to exist ? Do 
 you perchance say, that under these images of deities there 
 is displayed to you their presence, as it were, and that, be- 
 cause it has not been given you to see the gods, they are 
 worshipped in this fashion, 3 and the duties owed [to them] 
 paid ? He who says and asserts this, does not believe that 
 the gods exist ; and he is proved not to put faith in his own 
 religion, to whom it is necessary to see what he may hold, lest 
 that which [being] obscure is not seen, may happen to be vain. 
 9. We worship the gods, you say, by means of images. 
 What then ? Without these, do the gods not know that they 
 are worshipped, and will they not think that any honour is 
 shown to them by you ? Through by-paths, as it were, then, 
 and by assignments to a third party, 4 as they are called, they 
 receive and accept your services ; and before those to whom 
 
 1 i.e. " which you pretend to worship." 
 
 2 So the edd., reading formar-e, except Hild. and Oehler, who retain 
 the MS. reading i " that images be formed." 
 
 3 The MS. and both Roman edd. read corruptly insolidi, corrected ita 
 or sic coli, as above, in all except the last two edd. 
 
 4 i.e. you do not seek access to the gods directly, and seek to do 
 them honour by giving that honour to the idols instead.
 
 BOOK vi.] AENOBIUS ADVEESUS GENTES. 281 
 
 that service is owed experience it, you first sacrifice to images, 
 and transmit, as it were, some remnants to them at the 
 pleasure of others. 1 And what greater wrong, disgrace, hard- 
 ship, can be inflicted than to acknowledge one god, and [yet] 
 make supplication to something else to hope for help from a 
 deity, and pray to an image without feeling ? Is not this, I 
 pray you, that which is said in the common proverbs : to cut 
 down the smith when you strike at the fuller; 2 and when you 
 seek a man's advice^ to require of asses and pigs their opinions 
 as to ichat should be done ? 
 
 10. And whence, finally, do you know whether all these 
 images which you form and put in the place of 3 the immortal 
 gods reproduce and bear a resemblance to the gods ? For it 
 may happen that in heaven one has a beard who by you is 
 represented 4 with smooth cheeks ; that [another] is rather ad- 
 vanced in years to whom you give the appearance of a youth ; 6 
 that here he is fair, [with blue eyes], 6 who really has grey ones ; 
 that he has distended nostrils whom you make and form with 
 a high nose. For it is not right to call or name that an image 
 which does not derive from the face of the original features 
 like [it] ; which 7 can be recognised to be clear and certain from 
 things which are manifest. For while all we men see that 
 the sun is perfectly round by our eyesight, which cannot be 
 doubted, you have given 8 to him the features of a man, and 
 
 1 i.e. the transmission of the sacrifice to the gods is made dependent 
 on idols. 
 
 2 This corresponds exactly to the English, *'to shoot afc the pigeon 
 and hit the crow." 
 
 3 Lit., "with vicarious substitution for." 
 
 4 The MS. reads effi-gitur, corrected as above, (ffin., in all edd. except 
 Hild., who reads efficitur "is made," and Stewechius, effujiatur " is 
 formed." 
 
 5 Lit., " boy's age." 
 
 6 Flavus, so invariably associated with blue eyes, that though these 
 are the feature brought into contrast, they are only suggested in this 
 way, and not directly mentioned a mode of speech very characteristic 
 of Arnobius. 
 
 7 i.e. a fact which can be seen to be true by appealing to analogy. 
 
 8 So the MS., LB., Hild., and Oehler, reading donastis, the others 
 donatis "you give."
 
 282 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK vi. 
 
 of mortal bodies. The moon is always in motion, and in its 
 restoration every month puts on thirty faces : l with you, as 
 leaders and designers, that is [represented as] a woman, and 
 has one countenance, which passes through a thousand dif- 
 ferent states, changing each day. 2 We understand that all 
 the winds are [only] a flow of air driven and impelled in 
 mundane ways : in your hands they take 3 the forms of men 
 filling with breath twisted trumpets by blasts from out their 
 breasts. 4 Among [the representations of] your gods we see 
 [that there is] the very stern face of a lion c smeared with 
 pure vermilion, and that it is named Frugifer. If all these 
 images are likenesses of the gods above, there must then be 
 said to dwell in heaven also a god such as the image which 
 has been made to represent his form and appearance ; 6 and, of 
 course, as here that [figure] of yours, so there the deity him- 
 self 7 is a mere mask and face, without the rest of the body, 
 growling with fiercely gaping jaws, terrible, red as blood, 8 
 
 1 As the appearance of the moon is the same in some of its phases as 
 in others, it is clear that Arnobius cannot mean that it has thirty dis- 
 tinct forms. We must therefore suppose that he is either speaking very 
 loosely of change upon change day after day, or that he is referring to 
 some of the lunar theories of the ancients, such as that a new moon is 
 created each day, and that its form is thus ever new (Lucr. v. 729-748). 
 
 2 Lit., "is changed through a thousand states with daily instability." 
 
 3 Lit., "are." * Lit., "intestine and domestic." 
 
 5 The MS. reads leon-e-s torvissimam faciem, emended, as above, leonis 
 t.f., in LB., Orelli, Hild., and Oehler, and I. torvissima facie " lions of 
 very stern face," in the others. Nourry supposes that the reference is 
 to the use of lions, or lion-headed figures, as architectural ornaments on 
 temples (cf. the two lions rampant surmounting the gate of Mycenae), 
 but partially coincides in the view of Elm., that mixed figures are meant, 
 such as are described by Tertullian and Minucius Felix (ch. 28 : " You 
 deify gods made up of a goat and a lion, and with the faces of lions and 
 of dogs "). The epithet frugifer, however, which was applied to the 
 Egyptian Osiris, the Persian Mithras, and Bacchus, who were also repre- 
 sented as lions, makes it probable that the reference is to symbolic 
 statues of the sun. 
 
 6 Lit., " such a god to whose form and appearance the likeness of this 
 image has been directed." 
 
 7 Lit., "that." 
 
 8 The MS. and both Roman edd. read unintelligibly sanguineo decotoro,
 
 BOOK vi.] ARNOBIUS AD VERSUS GENTES. 283 
 
 holding an apple fast with his teeth, and at times, as dogs [do] 
 when wearied, putting his tongue out of his gaping mouth. 1 
 But if, 2 indeed, this is not the case, as we all think that it is 
 not, what, pray, is the meaning of so great audacity to fashion 
 to yourself whatever form you please, and to say 3 that it is 
 an image of a god whom you cannot prove to exist at all ? 
 
 11. You laugh because in ancient times the Persians wor- 
 shipped rivers, as is told in the writings which hand down 
 [these things] to memory ; the Arabians an unshapen stone ; 4 
 the Scythian nations a sabre ; the Thespians a branch instead 
 of Cinxia ; 5 the Icarians 6 an unhewn log instead of Diana ; 
 the people of Pessinus a flint instead of the mother of the 
 gods ; the Romans a spear instead of Mars, as the muses of 
 Varro point out ; and, before they were acquainted with the 
 statuary's art, the Samians a plank 7 instead of Juno, as 
 Aethlius 8 relates : and you do not laugh when, instead of the 
 
 for which s. de colore, as above, has been suggested by Canterus, with 
 the approval of Heraldus. 
 
 1 The MS. here inserts puetuitate, for which no satisfactory emendation 
 has been proposed. The early edd. read pituitate, a word for which there 
 is no authority, while LB. gives potus aviditate " drunk with avidity " 
 both being equally hopeless. 
 
 * MS. sic, corrected by Gelenius si. 
 
 3 So Meursius, ac dicere, for MS. -cidere. 
 
 * It is worthy of notice that although in this passage, as often else- 
 where, Arnobius adheres pretty closely to the argument proposed by 
 Clemens Alexandrinus, he even in such passages sometimes differs from 
 it, and not at random. Thus Clement speaks merely of a " stone," and 
 Arnobius of an " unshaped stone." The former expression harmonizes 
 with the words of Maximus Tyrius (Serm. xxxviii. p. 225, Steph.), " The 
 Arabians worship I know not whom, but the image which I saw was a 
 square stone ;" while Suidas (Kuster's ed., s. v. &i>? *Apvi) agrees with 
 Arnobius in calling it a " stone, black, square, unfashioned" (etTvisruTo:). 
 This is the more noteworthy, as at times Arnobius would almost seem 
 to be following Clement blindly. 
 
 * So Arnobius renders Clement's Ciihseronian Hera. 
 
 6 So corrected in the notes of Canterus from Clem, for the MS. reading 
 Carios, retained by the first four edd. and Elmenh. In Icaria there was 
 a temple of Diana called Tetvpoirfaiov. 
 
 7 The MS. and first four edd. read p-uteum " a well," corrected plut. % 
 as above, by Gifanius, and in the notes of Canterus. 
 
 8 The MS. reads ethedius, corrected in the notes of Canterua.
 
 284 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [Booic VL 
 
 immortal gods, you make supplication to little images of men 
 and human forms nay, you even suppose that these very 
 little images are gods, and besides these you do not believe 
 
 that anything has divine power. What say you, O ye ! 
 
 Do the gods of heaven have ears, then, and temples, an 
 occiput, spine, loins, sides, hams, buttocks, houghs, 1 ankles, 
 and the rest of the other members with which we have been 
 formed, which were also mentioned in the first part [of this 
 book] 2 a little more fully, and cited with greater copiousness 
 of language ? Would that it were possible 3 to look into the 
 sentiments and very recesses of your mind, in which you 
 revolve various and enter into the most obscure considera- 
 tions : we should find that you yourselves even feel as we do, 
 and have no other opinions as to the form of the deities. 
 But what can we do with obstinate prejudices? what with 
 those who are menacing [us] with swords, and devising new 
 punishments [against us]? In your rage 4 you maintain a 
 bad cause, [and that although you are] perfectly aware [of 
 it] ; and that which you have once done without reason, you 
 defend lest you should seem to have ever been in ignorance ; 
 and you think it better not to be conquered, than to yield and 
 bow to acknowledged truth. 
 
 12. From such causes as these this also has followed, with 
 your connivance, that the wanton fancy of artists has found 
 full scope in [representing] the bodies of the gods, and 
 giving forms to them, at which even the sternest might 
 laugh. And so Hammon is even now formed and repre- 
 sented with a ram's horns ; Saturn with his crooked sickle, 
 like some guardian of the fields, [and] pruner of too luxu- 
 riant branches ; the son of Maia with a broad - brimmed 
 travelling cap, as if he were preparing to take the road, and 
 avoiding the sun's rays and the dust; Liber with tender 
 limbs, and with a woman's perfectly free and easily flowing 
 
 1 So all edd., except both Roman edd., which retain the MS. reading 
 in the singular, sujfraginem. 
 
 2 i.e. iii. 6. 8 Lit., " it was allowed." 
 
 4 So Meursius suggested amentes for the MS. reading animantis, for 
 which Heraldus proposed aryumentis " by argument*."
 
 BOOK vi.] ARNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 285 
 
 lines of body ; 1 Venus, naked and unclothed, just as if you 
 said that she exposed publicly, and sold to all comers, 2 the 
 beauty of her prostituted body; Vulcan with his cap and 
 hammer, but with his right hand free, and with his dress girt 
 up as a workman prepares 3 for his work ; the Delian god 
 with a plectrum and lyre, gesticulating like a player on the 
 cithern and an actor about to sing ; the king of the sea 
 with his trident, just as if he had to fight in the gladiatorial 
 contest: nor can any figure of any deity be found 4 which 
 does not have certain characteristics 5 bestowed [on it] by the 
 generosity of its makers. Lo, if some witty and cunning 
 king were to remove the Sun from [his place before] the 
 gate 6 and transfer him to that of Mercury, [and] again were 
 to carry off Mercury and make him migrate to the shrine of 
 the Sun (for both are made beardless by you, and with smooth 
 faces), and to give to this one rays [of light], to place a little 
 cap 7 on the Sun's head, how will you be able to distinguish 
 between them, whether this is the Sun, or that Mercury, since 
 dress, not the peculiar appearance of the face, usually points 
 out the gods to you ? Again, if, having transported them in 
 like manner, he were to take away his horns from the unclad 
 Jupiter, and fix them upon the temples of Mars, and to strip 
 Mars of his arms, and, on the other hand, invest Hammon 
 with them, what distinction can there be between them, since 
 he who had been Jupiter can be also supposed to be Mars, 
 and he who had been Mavors can assume the appearance of 
 Jupiter Hammon ? To such an extent in there wantonness 
 in fashioning those images and consecrating names, as if 
 [they were] peculiar to them ; since, if you take away their 
 dress, the [means of] recognising each is put an end to, god 
 may be believed to be god, one may seem to be the other, 
 nay, more, both may be considered both ! 
 
 1 Lit., " and most dissolved with the laxity of feminine liquidity." 
 
 2 Divendere. s Lit., " with a workman's preparing." 
 4 Lit., "is there any figure to find." 5 Habitus. 
 
 6 Exforibus. Cf. Tertull. de Idol. ch. 15: " In Greek writers we also 
 read that Apollo &vpxto; and the dsemones Anlelii watch over doors." 
 
 7 So the edd., reading petas- un-culum for the MS. -io:
 
 286 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [Boos vi. 
 
 13. But why do I laugh at the sickles and tridents which 
 have been given to the gods ? why at the horns, hammers, 
 and caps, when I know that certain images have 1 the forms 
 of certain men, and the features of notorious courtezans? 
 For who is there that does not know that the Athenians 
 formed the Hermce in the likeness of Alcibiades ? Who does 
 not know if he read Posidippus over again that Praxiteles, 
 putting forth his utmost skill, 2 fashioned the face of the 
 Cnidian Venus on the model of the courtezan Gratina, whom 
 the unhappy man loved desperately ? But is this the only 
 Venus to whom there has been given beauty taken from a 
 harlot's face ? Phryne, 3 the well-known native of Thespia 
 as those who have written [on] Thespian affairs relate when 
 she was at the height of her beauty, comeliness, and youthful 
 vigour, is said to have been the model of all the Venuses 
 which are [held] in esteem, whether throughout the cities of 
 Greece or here, 4 whither has flowed the longing and eager 
 desire for such figures. All the artists, therefore, who lived 
 at that time, and to whom truth gave the greatest ability to 
 portray likenesses, vied in transferring with all painstaking 
 and zeal the outline of a prostitute to the images of the 
 Cytherean. The beautiful [thoughts] 5 of the artists were 
 full of fire; and they strove each to excel the other with 
 emulous rivalry, not that Venus might become more august, 
 but that Phryne 3 might stand for Venus. And so it was 
 brought to this, that sacred honours were offered to courte- 
 zans instead of the immortal gods, and an unhappy system 
 of worship was led astray by the making of statues. That 
 well-known and 6 most distinguished statuary, Phidias, when 
 he had raised the form of Olympian Jupiter with immense 
 
 1 Lit., " are." 2 Lit., " with strife of skills." 
 
 8 MS. Phyrna, but below Phryna, which is read in both instances by 
 Hild. and Oehler. 
 
 * So Meursius, followed by Orelli, reading istic for the MS. iste. 
 
 5 i.e. either the conceptions in their minds, or realized in their works. 
 Orelli, followed by the German translator Besnard, adopting the former 
 view, translates " the ideas of the artists (die Ideale der KUnstler) were 
 full of fire and life." 
 
 6 So Gelenius and Canterus, reading et for MS. est.
 
 BOOK vi.] AENOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 237 
 
 labour and exertion, 1 inscribed on the finger of the god PAN- 
 TARCES 2 [is] BEAUTIFUL ([this], moreover, was the name 
 of a boy loved by him, and that with lewd desire), and was 
 not moved by any fear or religious dread to call the god 
 by the name of a prostitute ; nay, rather, to consecrate the 
 divinity and image of Jupiter to a debauchee. To such an 
 extent is there wantonness and childish feeling in forming 
 those little images, adoring them as gods, heaping upon them 
 the divine virtues, when we see that the artists themselves 
 find amusement in fashioning them, and set them up as 
 monuments of their own lusts ! For what [reason] is there, 
 if you should inquire, why Phidias should hesitate to amuse 
 himself, and be wanton when he knew that, but a little before, 
 the very Jupiter which he had made was gold, stones, and 
 ivory, 3 formless, separated, confused, and that it was he him- 
 self who brought all these together and bound them fast, that 
 their appearance 4 had been given to them by himself in the 
 imitation 6 of limbs [which he had] carved ; and, which is 
 more than 6 all, that it was his own free gift, that [Jupiter] 
 had been produced and was adored among men ? 7 
 
 14. We would here, as if all nations on the earth were 
 present, make one speech, and pour into the ears of them all, 
 words which should be heard in common : Why, pray, is this, 
 O men ! that of your own accord you cheat and deceive your- 
 selves by voluntary blindness ? Dispel the darkness now, and, 
 returning to the light of the mind, look more closely and see 
 what that is which is going on, if only you retain your right, 8 
 and are not beyond the reach 9 of the reason and prudence 
 
 1 Lit., " with exertion of immense strength." 
 
 2 MS. Pantarches. This was a very common mode of expressing love 
 among the ancients, the name of the loved one being carved on the bark 
 of trees (as if the Loves or the mountain nymphs had done it), on walls, 
 doors, or, as in this case, on statues, with the addition "beautiful" 
 (Suidas, s. v. KAo/ and 'Pa.coovff/a Ni/asaif, with Kiister's notes). 
 
 3 Lit., " bones." 4 Lit., " conditions," habitus. 
 5 Lit., " similitude." 6 Lit., " first among." 
 
 T Lit., " human things." 
 
 8 i.e. the faculty of discernment, which is properly man'*. 
 
 Lit., " are in the limits of." _, -s
 
 288 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK vr. 
 
 given to you. 1 Those images which fill you with terror, and 
 which you adore prostrate upon the ground 2 in all the temples, 
 are bones, stones, brass, silver, gold, clay, wood taken from a 
 tree, or glue mixed with gypsum. Having been heaped to- 
 gether, it may be, from a harlot's gauds or from a woman's 8 
 ornaments, from camels' bones or from the tooth of the Indian 
 beast, 4 from cooking-pots [and] little jars, from candlesticks 
 and lamps, or from other less cleanly vessels, [and] having 
 been melted down, they were cast into these shapes and came 
 out into the forms which you see, baked in potters' furnaces, 
 produced by anvils and hammers, scraped with the silver- 
 smith's, and filed down with [ordinary] files, cleft [and] hewn 
 with saws, with augers, 6 with axes, dug [and] hollowed out 
 by the turning of borers, [and] smoothed with planes. Is 
 not this, then, an error? Is it not, to speak accurately, folly 
 to believe [that] a god which you yourself made with care, to 
 kneel down trembling in supplication to that which has been 
 formed by you, and while you know, and are assured that it 
 is the product 6 of the labour of your hands, 7 to cast [your- 
 self] down upon your face, beg aid suppliantly, arid, in ad- 
 versity and time of distress, [ask it] to succour 8 [you] with 
 gracious and divine favour ? 
 
 15. Lo, if some one were to place before you copper in 
 the lump, and not formed 9 into any works [of art], masses 
 of unwrought silver, and gold not fashioned into shape, wood, 
 stones, and bones, with all the other materials of which statues 
 
 1 The MS. reads Jits " these," emended, as above, volis in the margin 
 of Ursinus, Elm., and LB. 
 
 2 Lit., " and humble." 3 i.e. a respectable woman. 
 * i.e. the elephant's tusk. 
 
 6 So Salmasius, followed by Orelli, Hild., and Oehler, reading furfar- 
 aculis, and LB., reading perforaculis for the MS. furfiire aculeis. 
 
 6 So the margin of Ursinus, Meursius (according to Orelli), Hild., and 
 Oehler, reading part-u-m for the MS. -e " is a part of your labour," etc. 
 
 7 Lit., " of thy work and fingers." 
 
 8 So the MS., both Roman edd., Elm., and Orelli, reading numinin 
 favore, for which LB. reads favorem " the favour of the propitious deity 
 to succour [you]." 
 
 9 Lit., "thrown together."
 
 BOOK vi.] ARNOBIUS AD VERSUS GENTES. 289 
 
 and images of deities usually consist, nay, more, if some one 
 were to place before you the faces of battered gods, images 
 melted down 1 and broken, and were also to bid you slay victims 
 to the bits and fragments, and give sacred and divine honours 
 to masses without form, we ask you to say to us, whether 
 you would do this, or refuse to obey. Perhaps you will say, 
 why ? Because there is no man so stupidly blind that he will 
 class among the gods silver, copper, gold, gypsum, ivory, 
 potter's clay, and say that these very things have, and possess 
 in themselves, divine power. What reason is there, then, that 
 all these bodies should want the power of deity and the rank 
 of celestials if they remain untouched and unwrought, [but] 
 should forthwith become gods, and be classed and numbered 
 among the inhabitants of heaven if they receive the forms of 
 men, ears, noses, cheeks, lips, eyes, and eyebrows'? Does the 
 fashioning add any newness to these bodies, so that from 
 this addition you are compelled 2 to believe that something 
 divine and majestic has been united to them ? Does it 
 change copper into gold, or compel worthless earthenware to 
 become silver ? Does it cause things which but a little before 
 were without feeling, to live and breathe? 3 If they had any 
 natural properties previously, 4 all these they retain 6 when 
 built up in the bodily forms of statues. What stupidity it is 
 for I refuse to call it blindness to suppose that the 
 natures of things are changed by the kind of form [into 
 which they are forced], and that that receives divinity from 
 the appearance given to it, which in its original body has 
 been inert, and unreasoning, and unmoved by feeling! 6 
 
 16. And so unmindful and forgetful of what the sub- 
 stance and origin of the images are, you, men, rational 
 
 1 Rigaltius suggested confracta " shattered," for MS. -flata. 
 
 2 So the edd., reading cog- for the MS. cogit-amini. 
 9 Lit., " be moved with agitation of breathing." 
 
 4 Lit., " outside," i.e. before being in bodily forms. 
 
 5 So Ursinus and LB., reading retin-e-nt for the MS. --, which can 
 hardly be correct. There may possibly be an ellipsis of si before this 
 clause, so that the sentence would run : "If they had any natural pro- 
 perties, [if] they retain all these, what stupidity," etc. 
 
 6 Lit., " deprived of moveableness of feeling." 
 
 ARNOB. T
 
 290 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK vi. 
 
 beings 1 and endowed with the gift of wisdom and discretion, 
 sink down before pieces of baked earthenware, adore plates of 
 copper, beg from the teeth of elephants good health, magis- 
 tracies, sovereignties, power, victories, acquisitions, gains, 
 very good harvests, and very rich vintages ; and while it is 
 plain [and] clear that you are speaking to senseless things, 
 you think that you are heard, and bring yourselves into dis- 
 grace of your own accord, by vainly and credulously deceiving 
 yourselves. 2 Oh, would that you might enter into some statue ! 
 rather, would that you might separate 3 and break up into 
 parts 4 those Olympian and Capitoline Jupiters, and behold 
 all those part* alone and by themselves which make up the 
 whole of their bodies ! You would at once see that these gods 
 of yours, to whom the smoothness [of their] exterior gives a 
 majestic appearance by its alluring 5 brightness, are [only] a 
 framework of flexible 6 plates, particles without shape joined 
 together ; that they are kept from falling into ruin and fear 
 of destruction, by dove-tails and clamps and brace-irons ; and 
 that lead is run into the midst of all the hollows and where 
 the joints meet, and causes delay 7 useful in preserving them. 
 You would see, I say, at once [that they have] faces only 
 without the rest of the head, 8 imperfect hands without arms, 
 bellies and sides in halves, incomplete feet, 9 and, which is 
 most ridiculous, [that they] have been put together without 
 
 1 Lit, " a rational animal." 
 
 2 Lit., " with deceit of vain credulity." The edd. read this as an in- 
 terrogation : " Do you, therefore, sink down, adore, and bring your- 
 selves into disgrace ? " 
 
 3 So Orelli, Hild., and Oehler, adopting a conjecture of Grsevius, <&-, 
 for the MS. de-ducere " to lead down." 
 
 * Lit., "resolved into members." 
 
 5 Lit., " by the charm of." 
 
 6 The MS. reads fev-ilium, for which Hild. suggests /ear-, as above, 
 
 previous edd. leading flat " of cast plates ;" which cannot, however, 
 
 be correct, as Arnobius has just said that the images were in part made 
 of ivory. 
 
 7 Lit, " delays salutary for lastingnesses." The sense is, that the lead 
 prevents the joints from giving way, and so gives permanence to the 
 statue. 
 
 * Occipitiis. * Plantarum vestigia.
 
 BOOK vi.] AENOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 291 
 
 uniformity in the construction of their bodies, being in one 
 part made of wood, but in the other of stone. Now, indeed, 
 if these things could not be seen through the skill with which 
 they were kept out of sight, 1 even those at least which lie 
 open to all should have taught and instructed you that you 
 are effecting nothing, and giving your services in vain to 
 dead things. For, in this case, 2 do you not see that these 
 images, which seem to breathe, 3 whose feet and knees you 
 touch and handle when praying, at times fall into ruins from 
 the constant dropping of rain, at other times lose the firm 
 union of their parts from their decaying and becoming 
 rotten, 4 how they grow black, being fumigated and dis- 
 coloured by the steam [of sacrifices], and by smoke, how 
 with continued neglect they lose their position 5 [and] ap- 
 pearance, and are eaten away with rust? In this case, I 
 say, do you not see that newts, shrews, mice, and cock- 
 roaches, which shun the light, build their nests and live 
 under the hollow parts of these statues'? that they gather 
 carefully into these all kinds of filth, and other things 
 suited to their wants, hard and half-gnawed bread, bones 
 dragged [thither] in view of [probable] scarcity, 6 rags, down, 
 [and] pieces of paper to make their nests soft, and keep 
 their young warm ? Do you not see sometimes over the face 
 of an image cobwebs and treacherous nets spun by spiders, 
 that they may be able to entangle in them buzzing and im- 
 prudent flies while on the wing ? Do you not see, finally, 
 that swallows full of filth, flying within the very domes of the 
 temples, toss [themselves] about, and bedaub now the very 
 
 1 Lit., " from the art of obscurity." 
 
 2 i.e. if the nature of the images is really concealed by the skill dis- 
 played in their construction. 
 
 3 Lit., " breathing." 
 
 4 Lit., " are relaxed from decay of rottenness." 
 
 6 i.e. fall from their pedestals. For the MS. reading situs (retained in 
 LB., as above), the margin of Ursinus, followed by the other edd. except 
 the first four, and Oberthiir, read situ "lose their appearance from 
 mould." 
 
 6 So LB. and Oehler, reading famis in spem for the MS. pannis, omitted 
 in other edd. All prefix p, as above, to the next word, annos.
 
 292 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK vi. 
 
 faces, now the mouths of the deities, the beard, eyes, noses, 
 and all the other parts on which their excrements 1 fall? 
 Blush, then, even [though it is] late, and accept true methods 
 and views from dumb creatures, and let these teach you that 
 there is nothing divine in images, into which they do not fear 
 or scruple to cast unclean things in obedience to the laws of 
 their being, and led by their unerring instincts. 2 
 
 17. But you err, [says my opponent], and are mistaken, for 
 we do not consider either copper, or gold and silver, or those 
 other materials of which statues are made, to be in themselves 
 gods and sacred deities ; but in them we worship and venerate 
 those whom their 3 dedication as sacred introduces and causes 
 to dwell in statues made by workmen. The reasoning [is] 
 not vicious nor despicable by which any one the dull, 
 and also the most intelligent can believe that the gods, for- 
 saking their proper seats that is, heaven do not shrink 
 back and avoid entering earthly habitations ; nay, more, that 
 impelled by the rite of dedication, they are joined to images ! 
 Do your gods, then, dwell in gypsum and in figures of 
 earthenware ? Nay, rather, are the gods the minds, spirits, 
 and souls of figures of earthenware and of gypsum? and, 
 that the meanest things may be able to become of greater 
 importance, do they suffer themselves to be shut up and con- 
 cealed and confined in 4 an obscure abode ? Here, then, in 
 the first place, we wish and ask to be told this by you : do 
 they do this against their will that is, do they enter the 
 images as dwellings, dragged to [them] by the rite of dedica- 
 tion or are they ready and willing? and do you not summon 
 them by any considerations of necessity ? Do they do this 
 unwillingly? 5 and how can it be possible that they should be 
 compelled [to submit] to any necessity without their dignity 
 
 1 Deonerati proluvies podicis. 
 
 2 Lit., " incited by the truth of nature." The MS. and both Eonian 
 edd. read rf-, all others instincta, as above. 
 
 3 Lit, " the sacred dedication." 
 
 4 Lit., " concealed in the restraint of." 
 
 5 The MS. reads inrogati (the next letter being erased, having probably 
 been s redundant) si inviti, corrected in the margin of Ursinus and Oehler, 
 an above, -tin in.
 
 BOOK vi.] ARNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 293 
 
 being impaired? With ready assent? 1 And what do the 
 gods seek for in figures of earthenware that they should 
 prefer these prisons 2 to their starry seats, that, having been 
 all but fastened to them, they should ennoble 3 earthenware 
 and the other substances of which images are made ? 
 
 18. What then ? Do the gods remain always in such 
 substances, and do they not go away to any place, even 
 though summoned by the most momentous affairs? or do 
 they have free passage, when they please to go any whither, 
 and to leave their own seats and images ? If they are under 
 the necessity of remaining, what can be more wretched than 
 they, what more unfortunate than if hooks and leaden bonds 
 hold them fast in this wise on their pedestals ? but [if] we 
 allow that they prefer [these images] to heaven and the starry 
 seats, they have lost their divine power. 4 But if, on the con- 
 trary, when they choose, they fly forth, and are perfectly 
 free to leave the statues empty, the images will then at 
 some time cease to be gods, and it will be doubtful when 
 sacrifices should be offered, when it is right and fitting to 
 withhold them. Oftentimes we see that by artists these 
 images are at one time made small, and reduced to the size 
 of the hand, at another raised to an immense height, and 
 
 1 Lit., " with the assent of voluntary compliance." " Do you say," or 
 some such expression, must be understood, as Arnobius is asking his 
 opponent to choose on which horn of the dilemma he wishes to be im- 
 paled. 
 
 2 Lit, "bindings." 
 
 8 So Geleuius, Canterus, Elm., Oberth., and Orelli, reading nobilitent. 
 No satisfactory emendation has been proposed, and contradictory accounts 
 are given as to the reading of the MS. Immediately after this sentence, 
 LB., followed by Orelli, inserts a clause from the next chapter. Cf. 
 the following note. 
 
 4 It will be seen that these words fit into the indirect argument of 
 Arnobius very well, although transposed in LB. to the end of last chap- 
 ter, and considered a gloss by Orelli and Hildebrand. " See the conse- 
 quences," Arnobius says, " of supposing that the gods do not quit these 
 images : not merely are they in a wretched case, but they must further 
 lose their power as divinities." Meursius, with more reason, transposes 
 the clause to the end of the next sentence, which would be justifiable if 
 accessary.
 
 294 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK vi. 
 
 built up to a wonderful size. In this way, then, it follows 
 that we should understand that the gods contract themselves 
 in 1 little statuettes, and are compressed till they become 
 like 2 a strange body; or, again, [that they] stretch them- 
 selves out to a great length, and extend to immensity in 
 images of vast bulk. So, then, if this is the case, in sitting 
 statues also the gods should be said to be seated, and in 
 standing ones to stand, to be running in those stretching 
 forward to run, to be hurling javelins in those [represented 
 as] casting [them], to fit and fashion themselves to their coun- 
 tenances, and to make themselves like 8 the other character- 
 istics of the body formed by the [artist]. 
 
 19. The gods dwell in images each wholly in one, or 
 divided into parts, and into members? For neither is it 
 possible that there can be at one time one god in several 
 images, nor, again, divided into parts by his being cut up. 4 
 For let us suppose that there are ten thousand images of 
 Vulcan in the whole world : is it possible at all, as I said, 
 that at one time one [deity] can be in all the ten thousand? 
 I do not think [so]. [Do you ask] wherefore? Because 
 things which are naturally single and unique, cannot become 
 many while the integrity of their simplicity 5 is maintained. 
 And this they are further unable [to become] if the gods 
 have the forms of men, as your belief declares ; for either a 
 hand separated from the head, or a foot divided from the 
 body, cannot manifest the perfection of the whole, or it 
 must be said that parts can be the same as the whole, while 
 the whole cannot exist unless it has been made by gathering 
 together its parts. Moreover, if the same [deity] shall be 
 said to be in all [the statues], all reasonableness and sound- 
 
 1 Perhaps " into," as Arnobius sometimes uses the abl. after in in- 
 stead of the ace. 
 
 2 Lit., " compressed to the similitude of." 
 
 3 Lit., " to adapt their similitude to." 
 
 4 Lit., " a cutting taking place." 
 
 5 i.e. of their character as independent and not compounded. This 
 is precisely such an expression as that which closes the fourth book, 
 and its occurrence is therefore an additional ground for regarding the 
 earlier passage as genuine.
 
 BOOK vi.] ARNOBIUS ADVEESUS GENTES. 205 
 
 ness is lost to the truth, if this is assumed that at one time 
 one can remain in [them] all ; or each of the gods must be 
 said to divide himself from himself, so that he is both himself 
 and another, not separated by any distinction, but himself 
 the same as another. But as nature rejects and spurns and 
 scorns this, it must either be said and confessed that there 
 are Vulcans without number, if we decide that he exists 
 and is in all the images ; or he will be in none, because he is 
 prevented by nature from being divided among several. 
 
 20. And yet, O you if it is plain and clear to you that 
 the gods live, and that the inhabitants of heaven dwell in the 
 inner parts of the images, why do you guard, protect, and 
 keep them shut up under the strongest keys, and under fasten- 
 ings of immense size, under iron bars, bolts, 1 and other such 
 things, and defend them with a thousand men and a thousand 
 women to keep guard, lest by chance some thief or noc- 
 turnal robber should creep in ? Why do you feed dogs in 
 the capitols ? 2 Why do you give food and nourishment to 
 geese ? Rather, if you are assured that the gods are there, 
 and that they do not depart to any place from their figures 
 and images, leave to them the care of themselves, let their 
 shrines be always unlocked and open ; and if anything is 
 secretly carried off by any one with reckless fraud, let them 
 show the might of divinity, and subject the sacrilegious 
 robbers to fitting punishments at the moment 3 of their theft 
 and [wicked] deed. For it is unseemly, and subversive of 
 their power and majesty, to entrust the guardianship of the 
 highest deities to the care of dogs, and when you are seeking 
 for some means of frightening thieves so as to keep them 
 away, not to beg it from [the gods] themselves, but to set 
 and place it in the cackling of geese. 
 
 21. They say that Antiochus of Cyzicum took from its 
 
 1 Claustrls repagulis pessulis. 
 
 2 Cf. p. 198, n. 3. Geese as wells as dogs guarded the Capitol, 
 having been once, as the \vell-kiiown legend tells, its only guards 
 against the Gauls. 
 
 3 The MS., first four edd., and Elm. read nomine "under the narca 
 of," corrected momine by Meursius and the rest.
 
 296 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF BooK vi. 
 
 shrine a statue of Jupiter made of gold ten 1 cubits [high], 
 and set up in its place one made of copper covered with thin 
 plates of gold. If the gods are present, and dwell in their 
 own images, with what business, with what cares, had Jupiter 
 been entangled that he could not punish the wrong done to 
 himself, arid avenge his being substituted in baser metal? 
 When the famous Dionysius (but [it was] the younger) 2 
 despoiled Jupiter of his golden vestment, and put instead of 
 it one of wool, [and], when mocking [him] with pleasantries 
 also, he said that that [which he was taking away] was cold 
 in the frosts of winter, this warm, that that one was cumbrous 
 in summer, that this, again, was airy in hot weather, where 
 was the king of the world that he did not show his presence 
 by some terrible deed, and recall the jocose buffoon to sober- 
 ness by bitter torments'? For why should I mention that 
 the dignity of ^Esculapius was mocked by him ? For when 
 Dionysius was spoiling him of his very ample beard, [which 
 was] of great weight and philosophic thickness, 3 he said that 
 it was not right that a son sprung from Apollo, a father 
 smooth and beardless, and very like a mere boy, 4 should be 
 formed with such a beard that it was left uncertain which 
 of them was father, which son, or rather whether they were 
 of the same 6 race and family. Now, when all these things 
 were being done, and the robber was speaking with impious 
 
 1 So the MS., reading decem ; but as Clement says KevTixccfiizet wxuv, 
 we must either suppose that Arnobius mistook the Greek, or transcribed 
 it carelessly, or, with the margin of Ursinus, read quindecim " fifteen." 
 
 2 Stewechius and Heraldus regard these words as spurious, and as 
 having originated in a gloss on the margin, scz. junior " to wit, the 
 younger." Heraldus, however, changed his opinion, because Clement, 
 too, says, " Dionysius the younger." The words mean more than this, 
 however, referring probably to the fact that Cicero (de Nat. Dear. iii. 
 33, 34, 35) tells these and other stories of the elder Diouysius. To 
 this Arnobius calls attention as an error, by adding to Clement's phrase 
 " but." 
 
 3 Only rustics, old-fashioned people, and philosophers wore the beard 
 untrimmed ; the last class wearing it as a kind of distinctive mark, 
 just as Juvenal (iii. 15) speaks of a thick woollen cloak as marking a 
 philosopher. 
 
 * Impuberi. * Lit., " oue."
 
 BOOK vi.] AENOB1US ADVERSUS GENTES. 297 
 
 mockery, if the deity was concealed in the statue consecrated 
 to his name and majesty, why did he not punish with just 
 and merited vengeance the affront of stripping his face of its 
 beard and disfiguring his countenance, and show by this, 
 both that he was himself present, and that he kept watch 
 over his temples and images without ceasing? 
 
 22. But you will perhaps say that the gods do not trouble 
 themselves about these losses, and do not think that there is 
 sufficient cause for them to come forth and inflict punish- 
 ment upon the offenders for their impious sacrilege. 1 Neither, 
 then, if this is the case, do they wish to have these images, 
 which they allow to be plucked up and torn away with 
 impunity ; nay, on the contrary, they tell [us] plainly that 
 they despise these [statues], in which they do not care to 
 show that they were contemned, by taking any revenge. 
 Philostephanus relates in his Cypriaca, that Pygmalion, 
 king 2 of Cyprus, loved as a woman an image of Venus, 
 which was held by the Cyprians holy and venerable from 
 ancient times, 3 his mind, spirit, the light of his reason, and 
 his judgment being darkened ; and that he was wont in 
 his madness, just as if he were dealing with his wife, having 
 raised the deity to his couch, to be joined with it in embraces 
 and [face to] face, and to do other vain things, [carried away] 
 by a foolishly lustful imagination. 4 Similarly, Posidippus, 5 
 in the book which he mentions [to have been] written about 
 Gnidus and about its affairs, 6 relates that a young man, of 
 noble birth (but he conceals his name), carried away with 
 love of the Venus because of which Gnidus is famous, joined 
 himself also in amorous lewdness to the image of the same 
 deity, stretched on the genial couch, and enjoying 7 the plea- 
 sures which ensue. To ask, again, in like manner : If the 
 powers of the gods above lurk in copper and the other sub- 
 
 1 Lit., " punishment of violated religion." 
 
 2 Clemens says merely " the Cyprian Pygmalion." 
 
 3 Lit., " of ancient sanctity and religion." 
 
 4 Lit., "imagination of empty lust." 5 Cf. ch. 13. 
 
 6 So Gelenius, reading rebus for the MS. and first ed. re a (MS. ab) se. 
 ; Lit., " in the limits of."
 
 298 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK vi. 
 
 stances of which images have been formed, where in the world 
 was the one Venus and the other to drive far away from 
 them the lewd wantonness of the youths, and punish their 
 impious touch with terrible suffering? 1 Or, as the goddesses 
 are gentle and of calmer dispositions, what would it have 
 been for them to assuage the furious joys of 2 the wretched 
 men, and to bring back their insane minds again to their 
 
 23. But perhaps, as you say, the goddesses took the greatest 
 pleasure in these lewd and lustful insults, and did not think 
 that an action requiring vengeance to be taken, which soothed 
 their minds, and which they knew was suggested to human 
 desires by themselves. But if the goddesses, the Venuses, 
 being endowed with rather calm dispositions, considered that 
 favour should be 'shown to the misfortunes of the blinded 
 [youths]; when the greedy flames so often consumed the 
 Capitol, and had destroyed the Capitoline Jupiter himself 
 with his wife and his daughter, 3 where was the Thunderer at 
 that time to avert that calamitous fire, and preserve from de- 
 struction his property, and himself, and all his family 1 Where 
 was the queenly Juno when a violent fire destroyed her famous 
 shrine, and her priestess 4 Chrysis in Argos? Where the 
 Egyptian Serapis, when by a similar disaster [his temple] 
 fell, burned to ashes, with all the mysteries, and Isis? Where 
 Liber Eleutherius, when [his temple fell] at Athens? Where 
 Diana, when [hers fell] at Ephesus ? Where Jupiter of 
 Dodona, when [his fell] at Dodona? Where, finally, the 
 prophetic Apollo, when by pirates and sea robbers he was 
 both plundered and set on fire, 5 so that out of so many pounds 
 
 1 Lit., " agonizing restraint." 2 Lit, " to." 
 
 3 Cf. p. 198, n. 3. 
 
 4 So Clemens narrates ; but Thucydides (iv. 133) says that " straight- 
 way Chrysis flees by night for refuge to Phlious, fearing the Argives ;" 
 while Pausanius (ii. 59) says that she fled to Tegea, taking refuge there 
 at the altar of Minerva Alea. 
 
 5 From Varro's being mentioned, Oehler thinks that Arnobius must 
 refer to various marauding expeditions against the temples of Apollo on 
 the coasts and islands of the ^Egean, made at the time of the piratical 
 war. Clemens, however, speaks distinctly of the destruction of the
 
 BOOK vi. I ARNOB1US ADVERSUS GENTES. 293 
 
 of gold, which ages without number had heaped up, he did 
 not have one scruple even to show to the swallows which 
 built under his eaves, 1 as Varro says in his Saturce Menippece? 2 
 It would be an endless task to write down what shrines have 
 been destroyed throughout the whole world by earthquakes 
 and tempests what have been set on fire by enemies, and 
 by kings and tyrants what have been stript bare by the 
 overseers and priests themselves, even though they have 
 turned suspicion away from them 8 finally, what [have 
 been robbed] by thieves and Canacheni, 4 opening [them] up, 
 though barred by unknown means; 5 which, indeed, would 
 remain safe and exposed to no mischances, if the gods were 
 present to defend them, or had any care for their temples, as 
 is said. But now because they are empty, and protected by 
 no indwellers, Fortune has power over them, and they are 
 exposed to all accidents just as much as are all other things 
 which have not life. 6 
 
 24. Here also the advocates of images are wont to say this 
 also, that the ancients knew well that images have no divine 
 nature, and that there is no sense in them, but that they 
 formed them profitably and wisely, for the sake of the un- 
 manageable and ignorant mob, which is the majority in 
 nations and in states, in order that a kind of appearance, as 
 it were, of deities being presented to them, from fear they 
 might shake off their rude natures, and, supposing that they 
 
 temple at Delphi (p. 46), and it is therefore probable that this is re- 
 ferred to, if not solely, at least along with those which Varro mentions. 
 
 1 Lit., " his visitors," hospitis. 
 
 8 Varro Menippeus, an emendation of Carrio, adopted in LB. and 
 Orelli for the MS. se thenipeus. 
 
 3 Lit., " suspicion being averted." 
 
 4 It has been generally supposed that reference is thus made to some 
 kind of thieves, which is probable enough, as Arnobius (end of next 
 chapter) classes all these plunderers as "tyrants, kings, robbers, and 
 nocturnal thieves ; " but it is impossible to say precisely what is meant. 
 Heraldus would read Saraceni u Saracens." 
 
 5 Lit., "with obscurity of means." The phrase may refer either to 
 the defence or to the assault of temples by means of magic arts. 
 
 6 Lit., "interior motion."
 
 300 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK vi. 
 
 were acting in the presence of the gods, put * av> T their im- 
 pious deeds, and, changing their manners, lean* o act as 
 men ; 2 and that august forms of gold and silver were sought 
 for them, for no other reason than that some po\v:r was 
 believed to reside in their splendour, such as not only to 
 dazzle the eyes, but even to strike terror into the mind itself 
 at the majestic beaming lustre. Now this might perhaps 
 seem to be said with some reason, if, after the temples of the 
 gods were founded, and their images set up, there were no 
 wicked man in the world, no villany at all, [if] justice, 
 peace, good faith, possessed the hearts of men, and no one 
 on earth were called guilty and guiltless, all being ignorant 
 of wicked deeds. But now when, on the contrary, all things 
 are full of wicked [men], the name of innocence has almost 
 perished, [and] every moment, every second, evil deeds, 
 till now unheard of, spring to light in myriads from the 
 wickedness of wrongdoers, how is it right to say that images 
 have been set up for the purpose of striking terror into the 
 mob, while, besides innumerable forms of crime and wicked- 
 ness, 8 we see that even the temples .themselves are attacked 
 by tyrants, by kings, by robbers, and by nocturnal thieves, 
 and that these very gods whom antiquity fashioned and con- 
 secrated to cause terror, are carried away 4 into the caves of 
 robbers, in spite even of the terrible splendour of the gold 1 5 
 25. For what grandeur if you look at the truth without 
 any prejudice 6 is there in these images 7 of which they 
 speak, that the men of old should have had reason to hope 
 and think that, by beholding them, the vices of men could 
 be subdued, and their morals and wicked ways brought under 
 restraint? 8 The reaping-hook, for example, which was 
 
 1 Lit., "lop away," deputarent, the reading of the MS., Hild., and 
 Oehler ; the rest reading deponerent "lay aside." 
 
 2 Lit, " pass to human offices." 
 
 8 Lit., " crimes and wickednesses." 4 Lit., " go," vadere. 
 
 6 Lit., "with their golden and to-be-feared splendours themselves." 
 
 6 Lit., " and without any favour," gratificatione. 
 
 7 Lit., " what great [thing] have these images in them." 
 
 So the sis., first four edd., Elir Jild., and Oehler, reading mores et
 
 BOOK vi. 1 AKNOBWS ADVERSUS GENTES. 301 
 
 assigned to Saturn, 1 was it to inspire mortals with fear, that 
 they should be willing to live peacefully, and to abandon 
 their malicious inclinations ? Janus, with double face, or 
 that spiked key by which he has been distinguished ; Jupiter, 
 cloaked and bearded, and holding in his right hand a piece of 
 wood shaped like a thunderbolt ; the cestus of Juno, 2 or the 
 maiden lurking under a soldier's helmet; the mother of the 
 gods, with her timbrel ; the Muses, with their pipes and 
 psalteries ; Mercury, the winged slayer of Argus ; 2Escula- 
 pius, with his staff ; Ceres, with huge breasts, or the drinking 
 cup swinging in Liber's right hand ; Mulciber, with his work- 
 man's dress ; or Fortune, with her horn full of apples, figs, 
 or autumnal fruits; Diana, with half-covered thighs, or Venus 
 [perfectly] naked, exciting to lustful desire ; Anubis, with 
 his dog's face; or Priapus, of less importance 3 than his own 
 genitals [were these expected to make men afraid] ? 
 
 26. O dreadful forms of terror and 4 frightful bugbears 5 
 on account of which the human race was to be benumbed 
 for ever, to attempt nothing in its utter amazement, and to 
 restrain itself from every wicked and shameful act little 
 sickles, keys, caps, pieces of wood, winged sandals, staves, 
 little timbrels, pipes, psalteries, breasts protruding and of 
 great size, little drinking cups, pincers, and horns filled with 
 fruit, the naked bodies of women, and huge veretra openly 
 exposed ! Would it not have been better to dance [and] to 
 sing, than calling it gravity and pretending to be serious, to 
 relate what is so insipid and so silly, that images 6 were 
 formed by the ancients to check wrongdoing, and to [arouse] 
 the fears of the wicked and impious? Were the men of 
 that age and time, in understanding, so void of reason and 
 good sense, that they were kept back from, wicked actions, 
 
 mafe/cz'a, corrected in the others a maleficio " morals withheld from 
 wickedness." 
 
 1 Cf. ch. xii. 
 
 2 The reference is probably to some statue or picture of Juno repre- 
 sented as girt with the girdle of Venus (//. xiv. 214). 
 
 3 Lit., "inferior." * Formidinum. 6 Terrores. 
 6 Or, perhaps, " relate that images so frigid and so awkward."
 
 302 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK vi. 
 
 just as if they were little boys, by the preternatural 1 savage- 
 ness of masks, by grimaces also, and bugbears? 2 And how 
 has this been so entirely changed, that though there are so 
 many temples in your states filled with images of all the 
 gods, the multitude of criminals cannot be resisted [even] 
 with so many laws and so terrible punishments, and their 
 audacity cannot be overcome 3 by any means, and wicked 
 deeds, repeated again and again, multiply the more it is 
 striven by laws and [severe] judgments to lessen the number 
 of cruel deeds, and to quell them by the check [given by 
 means] of punishments ? But if images caused any fear to 
 men, the passing of laws would cease, nor would so many 
 kinds of tortures be established against the daring of the 
 guilty : now, however, because it has been proved and estab- 
 lished that the supposed 4 terror which is said to flow 
 out from the images is in reality vain, recourse has been 
 had to the ordinances of laws, by which there might be a 
 dread [of punishment which should be] most certain fixed 
 in men's minds also, and a condemnation settled ; to which 
 these very images also owe it that they yet stand safe, and 
 secured by some respect being yielded to them. 
 
 27. Since it has been sufficiently shown, as far as there 
 has been opportunity, how vain it is to form images, the 
 course of our argument requires that we should next speak as 
 briefly as possible, and without any periphrasis, about sacri- 
 fices, about the slaughter and immolation of victims, about 
 pure wine, about incense, and about all the other things which 
 are provided on such occasions. 6 For with respect to this 
 you have been in the habit of exciting against us the most 
 
 1 The MS. and both Roman edd. read monstruosissima-s torvitate-s annis; 
 corrected by Gelenius and later edd. monstruosissima torvitate animos, 
 and by Salmasius, Orelli, Hild., and Oehler, as above, m. t. sannis. 
 
 2 The MS., first four edd., Elm., and Oberthiir read manus, which, with 
 animos read in most (cf. preceding note), would run, "that they were 
 even kept back, as to (i.e. in) minds and hands, from wicked actions by 
 the preternatural savageness of masks." The other edd. read with Sal- 
 masius, as above, maniis. 
 
 8 Lit., " cut away." * Lit, " opinion of." 
 
 * Lit., " in that part of years."
 
 BOOK vi.] ARNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 303 
 
 violent ill-will, of calling us atheists, and inflicting upon us 
 the punishment of death, even by savagely tearing us to 
 pieces with wild beasts, on the ground that we pay very little 
 respect 1 to the gods ; which, indeed, we admit that we do, 
 not from contempt or scorn of the divine, 2 but because we 
 think that such powers require nothing of the kind, and are 
 not possessed by desires for such things. 
 
 1 Lit., " attribute least" 8 Lit., " divine spurning.**
 
 BOOK VII. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 To vindicate the Christians from any charge of impiety because they 
 offered no sacrifices, Arnobius quotes Varro's opinion, that the true gods 
 could npt wish for these, whilst the images could care for nothing (1). 
 The true gods, though unknown because unseen, must be, so far as 
 then* divinity is concerned, exactly alike, so as never to have been be- 
 gotten, or be dependent on anything external to themselves (2). But if 
 this is the case, on what ground ought sacrifices to be offered as food 
 for the gods ? but whatever needs help from without, must be liable to 
 perish if this is withheld. Moreover, unless the gods feed on the steam 
 and vapour of the sacrifices, it is plain that they receive nothing, as the 
 fire on the altar destroys what is placed on it ; whilst, finally, if the 
 gods are incorporeal, it is difficult to see how they can be supported by 
 corporeal substances (3). It might indeed be supposed that the gods 
 took some pleasure in having victims slain to them ; but this is exposed 
 to two objections, that to feel pleasure necessitates the capacity of 
 feeling pain, whilst these two states are becoming only in the weakness 
 of mortals, and require the possession of the senses, which can only 
 accompany a bodily form, from which the gods are supposed to be free ; 
 and that, secondly, to feel pleasure in the sufferings of animals, is hardly 
 consistent with the divine character (4). It was commonly held that 
 sacrifices propitiated the deities, and appeased their wrath. Against this 
 Arnobius protests as utterly inconsistent with the view of the divine 
 nature, which he conceives it necessary to maintain so persistently (5). 
 But conceding this point, for the sake of argument, two alternatives 
 are proposed : such sacrifices should be offered either before or after the 
 divine wrath is excited. If the former is chosen, this is to represent the 
 gods as wild beasts to be won from their savageness by throwing to them 
 sops, or that on which to vent their rage ; if the latter, without waiting 
 to discuss whether the divine greatness would be offended by a creature 
 so ignorant and unimportant as man (6), or what laws the gods have 
 established on earth by the violation of which they might be enraged 
 (7), it is asked why the death of a pig, a chicken, or an ox should 
 change the disposition of a god, and whether the gods can be bribed into 
 a gracious mood. Moreover, if the divine pardon is not given freely, it 
 would be better to withhold it, as men sin more readily when they be- 
 3C4
 
 BOOK vii.] AENOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 305 
 
 lieve that they can purchase pardon for themselves (8). A protest is 
 put into the mouth of an ox against the injustice of compelling cattle 
 to pay the penalty of men's offences (9). Arnobius then points out 
 that the doctrine of fate, that all things proceed from causes, and that 
 therefore the course of events cannot be changed, does away with all 
 need to appeal to the gods to render services which are not in their 
 power (10). Finally, the miseries of men are a conclusive proof that 
 the gods cannot avert evil (11), otherwise they are ungrateful in allow- 
 ing misfortunes to overwhelm their worshippers. A brief resume is 
 given of the preceding arguments, illustrated by the cases of two men, 
 of whom one has but little to give, whilst the other loads the altars with 
 his offerings ; and of two nations at war with each other whose gifts 
 are equal, which show how untenable the hypothesis is, that sacrifices 
 purchase the favour of the gods (12). 
 
 Another pretext urged was, that the gods were honoured by the 
 offering of sacrifices. How could this be ? Honour consists in some- 
 thing yielded and something received (13). But what could the gods 
 receive from men ? how could their greatness be increased by men's 
 actions (14) ? The true deities should indeed be honoured by enter- 
 taining thoughts worthy of them ; but what kind of honour is it to slay 
 animals before them, to offer them blood, and send up wreaths of smoke 
 into the air (15) ? Still, if such horrid sights and smells were thought 
 pleasing to the gods, why were certain animals and certain things 
 chosen to be sacrificed, and not others (16) ? The absurdity of offering 
 to the gods the food used by us, is shown by supposing that pigs, dogs, 
 asses, swallows, and other birds and beasts, were to sacrifice to men, in 
 like manner, flies, ants, hay, bones, and the filth even which some of 
 them eat (17). It is then asked why to one god bulls were sacrificed, 
 to another kids, to a third sheep ; to some white, to others black, to 
 some male, to others female animals (18). The usual answer was, that 
 to the gods male victims, to the goddesses females, were sacrificed, which 
 brings up again the question as to sex amongst the deities. But pass- 
 ing this by, what is there in difference of colour to make the gods 
 pleased or displeased as the victim might be white or black ? The gods 
 of heaven, it might be said, delight in cheerful colours, those of Hades in 
 gloomy ones. In the time of Arnobius, however, few beh'eved that there 
 was any such place as Hades ; and if this were so, there could be no gods 
 there (19). But conceding this point also, and admitting that to their 
 savage dispositions gloomy colours might be pleasing, Arnobius suggests 
 that only the skins of animals are black, and that therefore the flesh, 
 bones, etc. should not be offered, nor the wine, milk, oil, and other 
 things used in sacrifices which are not black (20). It is next asked 
 why certain animals were sacrificed to certain gods, and not to others ; 
 to which the only answer is, that it had been so determined by the men 
 of former times (21). Or if it be suggested that a reason is seen in the 
 
 ARNOB. U
 
 306 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [Boon vn. 
 
 sacrificing of fruitful and barren victims to mother earth and the virgin 
 Minerva, such reasoning requires that musicians should be sacrificed to 
 Apollo, physicians to .^Esculapius, and orators to Mercury (22). Ee- 
 turning to the argument, that sacrifices should be offered to the gods to 
 win favours from the good, to avert the malice of the bad, Arnobius 
 points out, first, that it is impossible that there should be evil deities ; 
 and, secondly, that to suppose that the sacrifices were effectual, is to 
 suppose that by them an evil deity could be changed into a good, and 
 that, through their being withheld, a beneficent deity might become 
 malevolent ; which is as absurd as if one were to expect, on caressing a 
 viper or scorpion, that he would escape being stung (23). He proceeds 
 to call attention to various kinds of puddings, cakes, pottages, and 
 other delicacies used in ceremonies, asking with scorn for what end 
 they were employed (24, 25). It is next pointed out, that no reason 
 can be offered for the use of incense, which was certainly unknown in 
 the heroic ages, and unused even in Etruria, the mother of superstition, 
 and could not have been burned on the altar until after the time of 
 Numa. If, therefore, the ancients were not guilty in neglecting to burn 
 incense, it could not be necessary to do so (26). Moreover, of what 
 service was incense to the gods ? If they were honoured by its being 
 burned, why should not any gum be so used (27) ? If incense is pre- 
 ferred because of its sweet smell, the gods must have noses, and share 
 man's nature. Further, they may not be affected as we are by odours, 
 and what is pleasant to us may be disagreeable to them ; and vice versa. 
 But such considerations are inadmissible" with regard to the gods, for 
 reason demands that they should be immaterial, and that therefore they 
 should not be affected by odours (28). Arnobius next shows that the 
 use of wine in ceremonies was as little based on reason as that of 
 incense, for deities cannot be affected by thirst (29) ; and how could 
 they be honoured with that which excites to vice and impairs man's 
 reason (30) ? The formula with which libations were made is ridiculed 
 as niggardly and stingy (31) ; and the wreaths and garlands worn by 
 the celebrants, and the noise and clangour of their musical instruments, 
 are also turned into mockery (32) ; whilst it is shown that, to speak of 
 the gods being honoured by the games dedicated to them, is to say that 
 they were honoured by being publicly insulted in the ribald plays which 
 were acted at these times, and by licentious and lustful conduct (33). 
 Ah 1 these detestable opinions originated in man's inability to under- 
 stand what the deity really is, and in his therefore attributing to the 
 divine nature what belongs to himself alone (34). In the three chap- 
 ters which follow, he contrasts the opinions of heathen and Christians 
 as to the divine nature, showing that to the former nothing seemed too 
 bad to be attributed to their gods ; while the latter, not professing to 
 worship the gods, insulted them less by not holding such opinions 
 (35-37).
 
 BOOK vii.] AENOBIUS ADVEESUS GENTES. 307 
 
 The pestilences and other calamities are next discussed, which were 
 supposed to have been sent by the gods as punishments for sacrifices 
 or other honours withheld from them (38). Thus it was related that, 
 the ludi Circenses having been violated, a pestilence ensued until they 
 were once more celebrated in due form (39). Other pestilences also were 
 got rid of, and enemies overcome, when gods had been brought across 
 the seas and established at Home ; while, on the Capitol's being struck by 
 lightning, evil was averted only by rearing towards the east an image 
 of Jupiter in a higher place (40). But how can the story of the ludi 
 Circenses be believed, which represents Jupiter as delighting in childish 
 amusements, angry without cause, and punishing those who had done 
 no wrong (41, 42), and going so far astray in making choice of a man 
 to declare the cause of his anger (43) ? In like manner Arnobius dis- 
 cusses the transportation of JCsculapius, in the form of a serpent, from 
 Epidaurus to the island in the Tiber, after which it was said the people 
 were restored to health (44-46). In reply to the question how it was 
 that the plague ceased if the god did not really come to Rome, Arno- 
 bius asks how it was that, if the god did come to Rome, he did not 
 preserve the city from all disease and pestilence thereafter (47) ; and as 
 to the argument, that this did not happen because in later ages wicked- 
 ness and impiety prevailed, reminds his opponent that at no epoch was 
 Rome a city of the good and pious (48). So, too, the Great Mother 
 was said to have been brought from Phrygia to enable the Romans to 
 overcome Hannibal. But all that was brought was a stone (49) ; and 
 are we to suppose that Hannibal was overcome by a stone, and not by 
 the energy, resolution, and courage of the Romans ? But if the Great 
 Mother really drove Hannibal from Italy, why did she delay doing so 
 until carried over the seas to Rome (50) ? But without insisting on 
 these objections, who will call her a goddess who is perfectly capri- 
 cious, abandons her worshippers to settle amongst those who are more 
 powerful, and loves to be in the midst of slaughter and bloodshed, 
 whilst the true gods must be perfectly just and equally well disposed to 
 all men (51)? 
 
 1 HAT, then, 1 some one will say, do you think 
 that no sacrifices at all should be offered ? 
 To answer you not with our own, but with 
 your Varro's opinion none. Why so ? Be- 
 cause, he says, the true gods neither wish nor demand these ; 
 
 1 If this seems rather an abrupt beginning, it must be remembered 
 that by some accident the introduction to the seventh book has been 
 tacked on as a last chapter to the sixth, where it is just as out of place 
 as here it would be in keeping.
 
 303 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK vn. 
 
 while those 1 which are made of copper, earthenware, gyp- 
 sum, or marble, care much less for these things, for they 
 have no feeling; and you are not blamed 2 if you do not offer 
 them, nor do you win favour if you do. No sounder opinion 
 can be found, [none] truer, and [one] which any one may 
 adopt, although he may be stupid and very hard [to con- 
 vince]. For who is so obtuse as either to slay victims in 
 sacrifice to those who have no sense, or to think that they 
 should be given to those who are removed far from them in 
 their nature and blessed state ? 
 
 2. Who are the true gods ? you say. To answer you in 
 common and simple language, we do not know; 8 for how 
 can we know who those are whom we have never seen ? 
 We have been accustomed to hear from you that an infinite 
 number 4 are gods, and are reckoned among 5 the deities; 
 but if these exist 6 anywhere, and [are] true gods, as Teren- 
 tius 7 believes, it follows as a consequence, that they corre- 
 spond to their name ; that is, that they are such as we all 
 see that they should be, [and that they are] worthy to be 
 called by this name ; nay, more (to make an end without 
 many words), [that they are such] as is the Lord of the uni- 
 verse, and [the King] omnipotent Himself, whom we have 
 knowledge and understanding [enough] to speak of as the 
 true God when we are led to mention His name. For one 
 
 1 Lit., " those, moreover." 
 
 2 Lit., " nor is any blame contracted." 
 
 3 On this Heraldus remarks, that it shows conclusively how slight 
 was the acquaintance with Christianity possessed by Arnobius, when he 
 could not say who were the true gods. This, however, is to forget that 
 Arnobius is not declaring his own opinions here, but meeting his adver- 
 saries on their own ground. He knows who the true God is the source 
 and fountain of all being, and framer of the universe (ii. 2), and if there 
 are any lesser powers called gods, what their relation to Him must be 
 (iii. 2, 3) ; but he does not know any such gods himself (cf. the next 
 sentence even), and is continually reminding the heathen that they 
 know these gods just as little. 
 
 4 Lit., " as many as possible." 
 6 Lit., " in the series of." 
 
 6 Lit., " are." 
 
 1 i.e. M. Terentius Varro, mentioned in the last chapter.
 
 BOOK vn.] AENOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 309 
 
 god differs from another in nothing as respects his divinity ;* 
 nor can that which is one in kind be less or more in its parts 
 while its own qualities remain unchanged. 2 Now, as this 
 is certain, it follows that they should never have been be- 
 gotten, but should be immortal, seeking nothing from with- 
 out, and not drawing any earthly pleasures from the re- 
 sources of matter. 
 
 3. So, then, if these things are so, we desire to learn this, 
 first, from you what is the cause, what the reason, that you 
 offer them sacrifices ; [and] then, what gain comes to the 
 gods themselves from, this, and remains to their advantage. 
 For whatever is done should have a cause, and should not 
 be disjoined from reason, so as to be lost 3 among useless 
 works, and tossed about among vain and idle uncertainties. 4 
 Do the gods of heaven 5 live on these sacrifices, and must 
 materials be supplied to maintain the union of their parts ? 
 And what man is there so ignorant of what a god is, cer- 
 tainly, as to think that they are maintained by any kind of 
 nourishment, and that it is the food given to them 6 which 
 causes them to live and endure throughout their endless 
 immortality ? For whatever is upheld by causes and things 
 external to itself, must be mortal and on the way to destruc- 
 tion, when anything on which it lives begins to be wanting. 
 Again, [it is impossible to suppose that any one believes this], 
 because we see that of these things which are brought to 
 their altars, nothing is added to and reaches the substance of 
 the deities ; for either incense is given, and is lost melting on 
 the coals, or the life only of the victim is offered to the gods, 7 
 
 1 Lit., " in that in which he is a god." 
 
 2 Lit., " uniformity of quality being preserved." 
 
 3 The MS. and edd. read ut in operibus feratur cassis "so as to be 
 borne among," emended by Hild. and Oehler teratur "worn away 
 among." 
 
 4 Lit., " in vain errors of inanity." 
 
 5 The MS. and edd. have here forte "perchance." 
 
 6 Lit., " gift of food." 
 
 7 Or perhaps, simply, " the sacrifice is a living one," animalis est 
 Tiostia. Macrobius, however (Sat. iii. 5), quotes Trebatius as saying 
 that there were two kinds of sacrifices, in one of which the entrails were
 
 310 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK vn. 
 
 and its blood is licked up by dogs ; or if any flesh is placed 
 upon the altars, it is set on fire in like manner, and [is] de- 
 stroyed, [and] falls into ashes, unless perchance the god 
 seizes upon the souls of the victims, or snuffs up eagerly the 
 fumes and smoke [which rise] from the blazing altars, and 
 feeds upon the odours which the burning flesh gives forth, 
 still wet with blood, and damp with its former juices. 1 But 
 if a god, as is said, has no body, and cannot be touched at 
 all, how is it possible that that which has no body should be 
 nourished by things pertaining to the body, that what is 
 mortal should support what is immortal, and assist and give 
 vitality to that which it cannot touch ? This reason for sacri- 
 fices is not valid, therefore, as it seems ; nor can it be said by 
 any one that sacrifices are kept up for this reason, that the 
 deities are nourished by them, and supported by feeding on 
 them. 
 
 4. If perchance it is not this, 2 are victims not slain in sac- 
 rifice to the gods, and cast upon their flaming altars to give 
 them 3 some pleasure and delight ? And can any man per- 
 suade himself that the gods become mild as they are exhila- 
 rated by pleasures, that they long for sensual enjoyment, and, 
 like some base creatures, are affected by agreeable sensations, 
 and charmed and tickled for the moment by 4 a pleasant- 
 ness which soon passes away? For that which is overcome 
 by pleasure must be harassed by its opposite, sorrow ; nor 
 [can that be] free from the anxiety of grief, which trembles 
 
 examined that they might disclose the divine will, while in the other the 
 life only was consecrated to the deity. This is more precisely stated by 
 Servius (^n. iii. 231), who says that the Jiostia animalis was only slain, 
 that in other cases the blood was poured on the altars, that in others 
 part of the victim, and in others the whole animal, was burned. It is 
 probable, therefore, that Arnobius uses the words here in their technical 
 meaning, as the next clause shows that none of the flesh was offered, 
 while the blood was allowed to fall to the ground. 
 
 1 i.e. the juices which formerly flowed through the living body. 
 
 2 The heathen opponent is supposed to give up his first reason, that 
 the sacrifices provided food for the gods, and to advance this new sug- 
 gestion, that they were intended for their gratification merely 
 
 3 Lit, " for the sake of." 
 
 4 Lit., " with the fleeting tickling of "
 
 BOOK VIL] AENOBIUS AD VERSUS GENTES. 311 
 
 with joy, and is elated capriciously with gladness. 1 But the 
 gods should be free from both passions, if we would have 
 them to be everlasting, and freed from the weakness of 
 mortals. Moreover, every pleasure is, as it were, a kind of 
 flattery of the body, and is addressed to the five well-known 
 senses ; but if the gods above feel it, 2 they must partake also 
 of those bodies through which there is a way to the senses, 
 and a door [by which] to receive pleasures. Lastly, what 
 pleasure is it to take delight in the slaughter of harmless 
 creatures, to have the ears ringing often with their piteous 
 bellowings, to see rivers of blood, the life fleeing away with 
 the blood, and the secret parts having been laid open, not 
 only the intestines to protrude with the excrements, but 
 also the heart still bounding with the life left in it, and the 
 trembling, palpitating veins in the viscera ? We half-savage 
 men, nay rather (to say with more candour what it is truer 
 and more candid to say), we savages, whom unhappy necessity 
 and bad habit have trained to take these as food, are some- 
 times moved with pity for them ; we ourselves accuse and 
 condemn ourselves when the thing is seen and looked into 
 thoroughly, because, neglecting the law which is binding on 
 men, we have broken through the bonds which naturally 
 united us at the beginning. 3 Will 4 any one believe that the 
 gods, [who are] kind, beneficent, gentle, are delighted and 
 filled with joy by the slaughter of cattle, if ever they fall and 
 expire pitiably before their altars ? 5 And there is no cause, 
 then, for pleasure in sacrifices, as we see, nor is there a 
 reason why they should be offered, since there is no pleasure 
 [afforded by them] ; and if perchance there is some, 6 it has 
 been shown that it cannot in any way belong to the gods. 
 5. We have next to examine the argument which we hear 
 
 1 Lit., "with the levities of gladnesses." 2 i.e. pleasure. 
 
 5 Naturalis mitii coitsoriia. 
 
 4 So the MS. and first ed., according to Oehler, reading cred-e-t, the 
 others -i " does." 
 
 5 Lit., " these." 
 
 6 Arnobius says tbat the sacrifices give no pleasure to any being, or 
 at least, if that is not strictly true, that they give none to the gods.
 
 312 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK vn. 
 
 continually coming from the lips of the common people, 
 and [find] embedded in popular conviction, that sacrifices are 
 offered to the gods of heaven for this purpose, that they may 
 lay aside their anger and passions, and may be restored to a 
 calm and placid tranquillity, the indignation of their fiery 
 spirits being assuaged. And if we remember the definition 
 which we should always bear steadily in mind, that all agi- 
 tating feelings are unknown to the gods, the consequence is, 
 a belief 1 that the gods are never angry ; nay, rather, that no 
 passion is further from them than that which, approaching 
 most nearly to [the spirit of] wild beasts and savage creatures, 
 agitates those who suffer it with tempestuous feelings, and 
 brings them into danger of destruction. For whatever is 
 harassed by any kind of disturbance, 2 is, it is clear, capable 
 of suffering, and frail ; that which has been subjected to 
 suffering and frailty must be mortal; but anger harasses 
 and destroys 8 those who are subject to it: therefore that 
 should be called mortal which has been made subject to the 
 emotions of anger. But yet we know that the gods should 
 be never-dying, and should possess an immortal nature ; and 
 if this is clear and certain, anger has 'been separated far from 
 them and from their state. On no ground, then, is it fitting 
 to wish to appease that in the gods above which you see 
 cannot suit their blessed state. 
 
 6. But let us allow, as you wish, that the gods are accus- 
 tomed to such disturbance, and that sacrifices are offered 
 arid sacred solemnities performed to calm it, when, then, is 
 it fitting that these offices should be made use of, or at what 
 time should they be given ? before they are angry and 
 roused, or when they have been moved and displeased 
 even? 4 If we must meet them [with sacrifices] before 
 [their anger is roused], lest they become enraged, you are 
 bringing forward wild beasts to us, not gods, to which it is 
 
 1 So the MS., LB., Oberthiir, Orelli, Hild., and Oehler, reading consec-, 
 for which the rest read consen-taneum est credere " it is fitting to be- 
 lieve." 
 
 2 Lit., " motion of anything." * Cf. i. 18. 
 4 Lit, " set in indignations."
 
 BOOK vii.] ARNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 313 
 
 customary to toss food, upon which they may rage madly, 
 and turn their desire to do harm, lest, having been roused, 
 they should rage and burst the barriers of their dens. But 
 if these sacrifices are offered to satisfy 1 the gods when 
 already fired and burning with rage, I do not inquire, I do 
 not consider, whether that happy 2 and sublime greatness of 
 spirit which belongs to the deities is disturbed by the offences 
 of little men, and wounded if a creature, blind and ever 
 treading among clouds of ignorance, has committed any 
 blunder, said [anything] by which their dignity is impaired. 
 
 7. But neither do I demand that this should be said, or 
 that I should be told what causes the gods have for their 
 anger against men, that having taken offence they must be 
 soothed. [I do ask, however,] Did they ever ordain any laws 
 for mortals ? and was it ever settled by them what it was 
 fitting for them to do, or what it was not ? what they should 
 pursue, what avoid ; or even by what means they wished 
 themselves to be worshipped, so that they might pursue with 
 the vengeance of their wrath what was done otherwise than 
 they had commanded, and might be disposed, if treated con- 
 temptuously, to avenge themselves on the presumptuous and 
 transgressors ? As I think, nothing was ever either settled 
 or ordained by them, since neither have they been seen, nor 
 has it been possible for it to be discerned very clearly 
 whether there are any. 3 What justice is there, then, in the 
 gods of heaven being angry for any reason with those to 
 whom they have neither deigned at any time to show that 
 they existed, nor given nor imposed any laws which they 
 wished to be honoured by them and perfectly observed 1 4 
 
 8. But this, as I said, I do not mention, but allow it to pass 
 
 1 Lit., " if this satisfaction of sacrifices is offered to." 
 
 2 So the MS. and most edd., reading laeta, for which Ursinus suggested 
 lauta "splendid," and Heraldus elata " exalted." 
 
 3 It is perhaps possible so to translate the MS. neque si sunt ulli aper- 
 tissima potuit cognilione dignosci, retained by Orelli, Hild., and Oehler, 
 in which case si sunt ulli must be taken as the subject of the clause. 
 The other edd., from regard to the construction, read visi " nor, if they 
 have been seen, has it been possible." 
 
 4 Lit., " kept with inviolable observance."
 
 314 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK VIL 
 
 away in silence. This one thing I ask, above all, What reason 
 is there if I kill a pig, that a god changes his state of mind, 
 and lays aside his angry feelings and frenzy ; that if I con- 
 sume a pullet, a calf under his eyes and on his altars, he 
 forgets the wrong [which I did to him], and abandons com- 
 pletely all sense of displeasure? What passes from this act 1 
 to [modify] his resentment ? Or of what service 2 is a goose, 
 a goat, or a peacock, that from its blood relief is brought to 
 the angry [god] ? Do the gods, then, make insulting them 
 a matter of payment ? and as little boys, to [induce them to] 
 give up their fits of passion 3 and desist from their wailings, 
 get little sparrows, dolls, ponies, puppets, 3 with which they 
 may be able to divert themselves, do the immortal gods in 
 such wise receive these gifts from you, that for them they 
 may lay aside their resentment, and be reconciled to those 
 who offended them ? And yet I thought that the gods if 
 only it is right to believe that they are really moved by 
 anger lay aside their anger and resentment, and forgive 
 the sins of the guilty, without any price or reward. For 
 this belongs specially to deities, to be generous in forgiving, 
 and to seek no return for their gifts. 4 But if this cannot be, 
 it would be much wiser that they should continue obstinately 
 offended, than that they should be softened by being cor- 
 rupted with bribes. For the multitude increases of those 
 who sin, when there is hope given of paying for their sin ; 
 and there is little hesitation to do wrong, when the favour of 
 those who pardon [offences] may be bought. 
 
 9. So, if some ox, or any animal you please, which is 
 slain to mitigate and appease the fury of the deities, were to 
 take a man's voice and speak these 6 words : Is this, then, O 
 Jupiter, or whatever god thou art, humane or right, or 
 should it be considered at all just, that when another has 
 
 1 Lit., " work." 2 Lit., " remedy." 
 
 3 So Panes seems to be generally understood, i.e. images of Pan used 
 as playthings by boys, and very much the same thing as the puppets 
 ptipuli already mentioned. 
 
 4 Lit., " to have liberal pardons and free concessions." 
 * Lit., " in these."
 
 BOOK vi!.] AENOBIUS AD VERSUS GENTES. 315 
 
 sinned I should be killed, and that you should allow satis- 
 faction to be made to you with my blood, although I never 
 did you wrong, never wittingly or unwittingly did violence 
 to your divinity and majesty, being, as thou knowest, a dumb 
 creature, not departing from x the simplicity of my nature, 
 nor inclined to be fickle in my 2 manners ? Did I ever cele- 
 brate your games with too little reverence and care ? did I 
 drag forward a dancer so that thy deity was offended ? did 
 I swear falsely by thee ? did I sacrilegiously steal your pro- 
 perty and plunder your temples ? did I uproot the most 
 sacred groves, or pollute and profane some hallowed places 
 by founding private houses ? What, then, is the reason 
 that the crime of another is atoned for with my blood, and 
 that my life and innocence are made to pay for wickedness 
 with which I have nothing to do 1 Is it because I am a base 
 creature, and am not possessed of reason and wisdom, as 
 these declare who call themselves men, and by their ferocity 
 make themselves beasts ? 3 Did not the same nature both 
 beget and form me from the same beginnings ? Is it not 
 one breath of life which sways both them and me ? Do I 
 not respire and see, and am I not affected by the other 
 senses just as they are ? They have livers, lungs, hearts, 
 intestines, bellies; and do not I have as many members'? 
 They love their young, and come together to beget children ; 
 and do not I both take care to procure offspring, and delight 
 in it when it has been begotten ? But they have reason, 
 and utter articulate sounds ; and how do they know whether 
 I do what I do for my own reasons, and whether that sound 
 which I give forth is my kind of words, and is understood 
 by us alone? Ask piety whether it is more just that I 
 should be slain, that I should be killed, or that man should 
 be pardoned and be safe from punishment for what he has 
 done I Who formed iron into a sword ? was it not man ? 
 Who [brought] disaster upon races ; who imposed slavery 
 upon nations'? was it not man? Who mixed deadly draughts, 
 and gave them to his parents, brothers, wives, friends ? was 
 
 1 Lit., " following." 2 Lit., " to varieties of manifold." 
 
 8 Lit., " leap into."
 
 31 G THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK vn. 
 
 it not man ? Who found out or devised so many forms of 
 wickedness, that they can hardly be related in ten thousand 
 chronicles of years, or [even] of days ? was it not man ? Is 
 not this, then, cruel, monstrous, and savage ? Does it not 
 seem to you, O Jupiter, unjust and barbarous that I should 
 be killed, that I should be slain, that you may be soothed, 
 and the guilty find impunity ? 
 
 It has been established that sacrifices are offered in vain 
 for this purpose then, viz. that the angry deities may be 
 soothed ; since reason has taught us that the gods are not 
 angry at any time, and that they do not wish one thing to be 
 destroyed, to be slain for another, or offences against them- 
 selves to be annulled by the blood of an innocent creature. 
 
 10. But perhaps some one will say, We give to the gods 
 sacrifices and other gifts, that, being made willing in a measure 
 to grant our prayers, they may give us prosperity and avert 
 from us evil, cause us to live always happily, drive away 
 grief truly, [and any evils] which threaten us from acci- 
 dental circumstances. This point demands great care ; nor 
 is it usual either to hear or to believe what is so easily said. 
 For the whole company of the learned will straightway 
 swoop upon [us], who, asserting and proving that whatever 
 happens, happens according to [the decrees of] fate, snatch 
 out of our 1 hands that opinion, and assert that we are putting 
 our trust in vain beliefs. Whatever, they will say, has been 
 done in the world, is being done, and shall be done, has 
 been settled and fixed in time past, and has causes which 
 cannot be moved, by means of which events have been 
 linked together, and form an unassailable chain of unalter- 
 able necessity between the past and the future. If it has 
 been determined and fixed what evil or good should befall 
 each person, it is already certain ; but if this is certain and 
 fixed, there is no room for all the help given by the gods, 
 their hatred, [and] favours. For they are just as unable to do 
 for you that which cannot be done, as to prevent that from 
 
 1 Lit., "from the hands to us," nobis, the reading of the MS., both 
 Roman edd., Gelenius, LB., and Oehler ; for which the rest give volis 
 " out of your hands."
 
 BOOK vii.] AENOBIUS ADVEESUS GENTES. 317 
 
 being done which must happen, except that they will be able, 
 if they choose, to depreciate somewhat powerfully that belief 
 which you entertain, so that they l say that even the gods 
 themselves are worshipped by you in vain, and that the sup- 
 plications with which you address them are superfluous. For 
 as they are unable to turn aside the course [of events], and 
 change what has been appointed by fate, what reason, what 
 cause, is there to wish to weary and deafen the ears of those 
 in whose help you cannot trust at your utmost need ? 
 
 11. Lastly, if the gods drive away sorrow and grief, if 
 they bestow joy and pleasure, how 2 are there in the world 
 so many 3 and so wretched men, whence [come] so many un- 
 happy ones, who lead a life of tears in the meanest condition? 
 Why are not those free from calamity who every moment, 
 every instant, load and heap up the altars with sacrifices ? 
 Do we not see that some of them (say [the learned]) are the 
 seats of diseases, the light of their eyes quenched, and their 
 ears stopped, that they cannot move with their feet, that 
 they live [mere] trunks without [the use of] their hands, 
 that they are swallowed up, overwhelmed, [and] destroyed 
 by conflagrations, shipwrecks, and disasters; 4 that, having 
 been stripped of immense fortunes, they support themselves 
 by labouring for hire, [and] beg for alms at last ; that they 
 are exiled, proscribed, always in the midst of sorrow, over- 
 come by the loss of children, [and] harassed by other mis- 
 fortunes, the kinds and forms of which no enumeration can 
 comprehend ? But assuredly this would not occur if the 
 gods, who had been laid under obligation, were able to ward 
 off, to turn aside, those evils from those who merited [this 
 favour]. But now, because in these mishaps there is no 
 room [for the interference of the gods], but all things are 
 brought about 5 by inevitable necessity, the appointed course 
 of events goes on and accomplishes that which has been once 
 determined. 
 
 12. Or the gods of heaven should be said to be ungrate- 
 
 1 i.e. the learned men referred to above. 2 Lit., " whence." 
 8 Lit., " so innumerable." 4 Lit., "ruins." 
 6 So Canterus suggests conf-iunt for the MS. confic "bring about."
 
 318 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK vn. 
 
 ful if, while they have power to prevent it, they suffer an 
 unhappy race to be involved in so many hardships and disas- 
 ters. But perhaps they may say something of importance 
 [in answer to this], and not such as should be received by 
 deceitful, fickle, and scornful ears. This point, however, 
 because it would require too tedious and prolix discussion, 1 
 we hurry past unexplained and untouched, content to have 
 stated this alone, that you give to your gods dishonourable 
 reputations if you assert that on no other condition do they 
 bestow blessings and turn away what is injurious, except 
 they have been first bought over with the blood of she-goats 
 and sheep, and with the other things which are put upon 
 their altars. For it is not fitting, in the first place, that the 
 power of the deities and the surpassing eminence of the 
 celestials should be believed to keep their favours on sale, 
 first to receive [a price], and then to bestow [them] ; [and] 
 then, which is much more unseemly, that they aid no one 
 unless they receive [their demands], and that they suffer the 
 most wretched to undergo whatever perils may befall them, 2 
 while they could ward [these] off, and come to their aid. If 
 of two who are sacrificing, one is a scoundrel, 3 and rich, the 
 other of small fortune, but worthy of praise for his integrity 
 and goodness, if the former should slay a hundred oxen, 
 and as many ewes with their lambkins, the poor man burn a 
 little incense, and a small piece of some odorous substance, 
 will it not follow that it should be believed that, if only the 
 deities bestow nothing except when rewards are first offered, 
 they will give their favour 4 to the rich man, turn their eyes 
 away from the poor, whose gifts were restricted not by his 
 
 1 Lit., " it is a thing of long and much speech." 
 
 2 Lit., "the fortunes of perils." 
 
 3 The MS. reading is hoc est unus, corrected honestus " honourable " 
 (which makes the comparison pointless, because there is no reason why 
 a rich man, if good, should not be succoured as well as a poor), in all 
 edd., except Oehler, who reads seclestus, which departs too far from the 
 MS. Perhaps we should read, as above, inhonestus. 
 
 4 So the MS., LB., Hild., and Oehler, and the other edd., adding et 
 aux'dlum " and help."
 
 BOOK vii. J ARNOBIUS ADVEBSUS GENTES. 319 
 
 spirit, but by the scantiness of his means'? 1 For where the 
 giver is venal and mercenary, there it must needs be that 
 favour is granted according to the greatness of the gift [by 
 which it is purchased], and that a favourable decision is 
 given to him from whom 2 far the greater reward and bribe, 
 [though this be] shameful, flows to him who gives it. 3 What 
 if two nations, on the other hand, arrayed against each other 
 in war, enriched the altars of the gods with equal sacrifices, 
 and were to demand that their power and help should be 
 given to them, the one against the other: must it not, again, 
 be believed that, if they are persuaded to be of service by 
 rewards, they are at a loss between both sides, are struck 
 motionless, and do not perceive what to do, since they under- 
 stand that their favour has been pledged by the acceptance 
 of the sacrifices ? For either they will give assistance to 
 this side and to that, which is impossible, for [in that case] 
 they will fight themselves against themselves, strive against 
 their own favour and wishes ; or they will do nothing to aid 
 either nation 4 after the price [of their aid] has been paid 
 and received, which is very wicked. All this infamy, there- 
 fore, should be removed far from the gods ; nor should it be 
 said at all that they are won over by rewards and payments 
 to confer blessings, and remove what is disagreeable, if only 
 they are true gods, and worthy to be ranked under this name. 
 For either whatever happens, happens inevitably, and there 
 is no place in the gods for ambition and favour ; or if fate 
 is excluded and got rid of, it does not belong to the celestial 
 dignity to sell the boon of its services, 5 and the conferring of 
 its bounties. 
 
 13. We have shown sufficiently, as I suppose, that victims, 
 and the things which go along with them, are offered in vain 
 
 1 Lit., " whom not his mind, but the necessity of his property, made 
 restricted." 
 
 2 Lit., " inclines thither whence." 3 i.e. the decision. 
 4 Lit., " both nations." 
 
 6 Lit., " the favours of good work," boni operisfavor-es et, the reading 
 of Hild. and Oehler (other edd. -em "the favour of its service") for 
 MS. jabore sed.
 
 320 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK vir. 
 
 to the immortal gods, because they are neither nourished by 
 them, nor feel any pleasure, nor lay aside their auger and 
 resentment, so as either to give good fortune, or to drive 
 away and avert the opposite. We have now to examine 
 that point also which has been usually asserted by some, and 
 applied to forms of ceremony. For they say that these 
 sacred rites were instituted to do honour to the gods of 
 heaven, and that these things which they do, they do to 
 show [them] honour, and to magnify the powers of the 
 deities by them. What if they were to say, in like manner, 
 that they keep awake and sleep, walk about, stand still, write 
 something, and read, to give honour to the gods, and make 
 them more glorious in majesty? For what substance is there 
 added to them from the blood of cattle, and from the other 
 things which are prepared in sacrificing? what power is 
 given and added to them? For all honour, which is said 
 lo be offered by any one, and to be yielded to reverence for 
 a greater being, is of a kind having reference to the other ; 
 and consists of two parts, of the concession of the giver, and 
 the increase of honour of the receiver. As, if any one, on 
 seeing a man famed for his very great power 1 and authority, 
 were to make way for him, to stand up, to uncover his head, 
 and leap down from his carriage, then, bending forward to 
 salute him with slavish servility and 2 trembling agitation, I 
 see what is aimed at in showing such respect : by the bow- 
 ing down of the one, very great [honour] is given to the 
 other, and he is made to appear great whom the respect of 
 an inferior exalts and places above his own rank. 3 
 
 14. But all this conceding and ascribing of honour about 
 which we are speaking are met with among men alone, 
 whom their natural weakness and love of standing above 
 their fellows 4 teach to delight in arrogance, and in being 
 preferred above others. But, I ask, where is there room 
 
 1 Lit., " of most powerful name." 
 
 2 Lit., " imitating a slave's servility " ancillatnm, the emendation 
 of Hemsterhuis, adopted by Orelli, Hild., and Oehler for the unin- 
 telligible MS. ancillarum. 
 
 3 Lit., " things." * Lit., " in higher [places]."
 
 BOOK vn. J ARNOBIUS ADVERSOS GENTES. 321 
 
 for honour among the gods, or what greater exaltation is 
 found to be given 1 to them by piling up 2 sacrifices? Do 
 they become more venerable, more powerful, when cattle are 
 sacrificed [to them] ? is there anything added to them from 
 this ? or do they begin to be more [truly] gods, their divinity 
 being increased ? And yet I consider it almost an insult, nay, 
 an insult altogether, when it is said that a god is honoured 
 by a man, and exalted by the offering of some gift. For if 
 honour increases and augments the grandeur of him to whom 
 it is given, it follows that a deity becomes greater by means 
 of the man from whom he has received the gift, and the 
 honour conferred on him ; and thus the matter is brought 
 to this issue, that the god who is exalted by human honours 
 is the inferior, while, on the other hand, the man who in- 
 creases the power of a deity [is] his superior. 3 
 
 15. What then ! some one will say, do you think that no 
 honour should be given to the gods at all ? If you propose 
 to us gods such as they should be if they do exist, and such 
 as 4 we feel that we all mean when we mention 6 that name, 
 how can we but give them even the greatest honour, since 
 we have been taught by the commands which have especial 
 power over us, 6 to pay honour to all men even, of whatever 
 rank, of whatever condition they may be ? What, pray, 
 [you ask], is this very great honour ? One much more in 
 
 1 Lit., " what eminences is it found to be added," addier. So Hild. 
 and Oehler for the reading of MS., first four edd., and Oberthiir addere 
 '' to add," emended in rest from margin of Ursinus accedere, much as 
 above. 
 
 2 So the MS., reading conjectionibus, which is retained in no edd., 
 although its primary meaning is exactly what the sense here requires. 
 
 8 The last clause was omitted in first four edd. and Elm., and was 
 inserted from the MS. by Meursius. 
 
 4 Lit., "whom." 
 
 5 Lit., " say in the proclamation of." 
 
 6 Lit., " more powerful commands," i.e. by Christ's injunctions. It 
 seems hardly possible that any one should suppose that there is here any 
 reference to Christ's command to his disciples not to exercise lordship 
 over each other, yet Orelli thinks that there is perhaps a reference to 
 Mark x. 42, 43. If a particular reference were intended, we might with 
 more reason find it in 1 Pet. ii. 17, " Honour all men." 
 
 AKNOB. X
 
 822 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK vn. 
 
 accordance with duty than is paid by you, and directed to 1 a 
 more powerful race, [we reply]. Tell us, you say, in the first 
 place, what is an opinion worthy of the gods, right and honour- 
 able, and not blameworthy from its being made unseemly by 
 something infamous ? [We reply, one such], that you be- 
 lieve that they neither have any likeness to man, nor look for 
 anything which is outside of them and comes from without ; 
 then and this has been said pretty frequently that they do 
 not burn with the fires of anger, that they do not give them- 
 selves up passionately to sensual pleasure, that they are not 
 bribed to be of service, that they are not tempted to injure 
 [our enemies], that they do not sell their kindness and favour, 
 that they do not rejoice in having honour heaped on them, 
 that they are not indignant and vexed if it is not given ; 
 but and this belongs to the divine that by their own power 
 they know themselves, and that they do not rate themselves 
 by the obsequiousness of others. And yet, that we may see 
 the nature of what is said, what kind of honour is this, to 
 bind a wether, a ram, a bull before the face of a god, and 
 slay them in his sight ? What kind of honour is it to invite 
 a god to [a banquet of] blood, which you see him take and 
 share in with dogs ? What kind of honour is it, having set 
 on fire piles of wood, to hide the heavens with smoke, and 
 darken with gloomy blackness the images of the gods ? But 
 if it seems good to you that these actions should be con- 
 sidered in themselves, 2 not judged of according to your pre- 
 judices, [you will find that] those altars of which you speak, 
 and even those beautiful ones which you dedicate to the 
 superior gods, 3 are places for burning the unhappy race of 
 animals, funeral pyres, and mounds built for a most un- 
 seemly office, and formed to be filled with corruption. 
 
 16. What say you, O you ! is that foul smell, then, 
 
 which is given forth and emitted by burning hides, by bones, 
 by bristles, by the fleeces of lambs, and the feathers of fowls, 
 [is that] a favour and an honour to the deity ? and are 
 
 1 Lit., " established in." 
 
 2 Lit., "weighed by their own force," vi. 
 * i.e. altariaque haec pulchra.
 
 BOOK vii.] AENOBIUS AD VERSUS GENTES. 323 
 
 the deities honoured by this, to whose temples, when you 
 arrange to go, you come 1 cleansed from all pollution, washed, 
 and perfectly 2 pure ? And what can be more polluted than 
 these, more unhappy, 3 more debased, than if their senses are 
 naturally such that they are fond of what is so cruel, and 
 take delight in foul smells which, when inhaled with the 
 breath, even those who sacrifice cannot bear, and [certainly] 
 not a delicate 4 nose? But if you think that the gods of 
 heaven are honoured by the blood of living creatures [being 
 offered to them], why do you not 5 sacrifice to them both 
 mules, and elephants, and asses ? why not dogs also, bears, 
 and foxes, camels, and hyenas, and lions? And as birds 
 also are counted victims by you, why do you not [sacrifice] 
 vultures, eagles, storks, falcons, hawks, ravens, sparrow- 
 hawks, owls, and, along with them, salamanders, water- 
 snakes, vipers, tarantula?? For indeed there is both blood 
 in these, and they are in like manner moved by the breath 
 of life. What is there more artistic in the former kind [of 
 sacrifices], or less ingenious in the latter, that these do not 
 add to and increase the grandeur of the gods ? Because, says 
 my opponent, it is right to honour the gods of heaven with 
 those things by which we are ourselves nourished and sus- 
 tained, and live ; which also they have, in their divine benevo- 
 lence, deigned to give to us for food. But the same gods 
 have given to you both cumin, cress, turnips, onions, parsley, 
 esculent thistles, radishes, gourds, rue, mint, basil, flea-bane, 
 
 1 Lit., " you show yourselves," prsestatis. 
 
 2 Lit., "most." So Tibullus (Eleg. ii. 1, 13) : "Pure things please 
 the gods. Come (i.e. to the sacrifice) with clean garments, and with 
 clean hands take water from the fountain," perfect cleanliness being 
 scrupulously insisted on. 
 
 3 This Heraldus explains as " of worse omen," and Oehler as " more 
 unclean." 
 
 4 Ingenue, i.e. such as any respectable person has. 
 
 5 To this the commentators have replied, that mules, asses, and dogs 
 were sacrificed to certain deities. "We must either admit that Arnobius 
 has here fallen into error, or suppose that he refers merely to the animals 
 which were usually slain, or find a reason for his neglecting it in the 
 circumstances of each sacrifice.
 
 324 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK vn. 
 
 and chives, and commanded them to be used by you as part 
 of your food ; why, then, do you not put these too upon the 
 altars, and scatter wild-marjoram, with which oxen are fed, 
 over them all, and mix amongst [them] onions with their 
 pungent flavour ? 
 
 17. Lo, if dogs for a case must be imagined, in order that 
 things may be seen more clearly if dogs, I say, and asses, 
 and along with them water-wagtails, if the twittering swallows, 
 and pigs also, having acquired some of the feelings of men, 
 were to think and suppose that you were gods, and to pro- 
 pose to offer sacrifices in your honour, not of other things 
 and substances, but [of those] with which they are wont to 
 be nourished and supported, according to their natural incli- 
 nation, we ask you to say whether you would consider this 
 an honour, or rather a most outrageous affront, when the 
 swallows slew and consecrated flies to you, the water-wagtails 
 ants ; when the asses put hay upon your altars, and poured 
 out libations of chaff; when the dogs placed bones, and 
 burned human excrements [at your shrines] ; when, lastly, 
 the pigs poured out before you a horrid mess, taken from 
 their frightful hog-pools and filthy maws ? Would you not 
 in this case, then, be inflamed with rage that your greatness 
 was treated with contumely, and account it an atrocious 
 wrong that you were greeted with filth ? But, [you reply], 
 you honour the gods with the carcasses of bulls, and by slay- 
 ing 1 other living creatures. And in what respect does this 
 differ from that, since these [sacrifices], also, if they are not 
 yet, will nevertheless soon be, dung, and will become rotten 
 after a very short time has passed ? Finally, cease to place 
 fire upon 2 your altars, then indeed you will 3 see that con- 
 secrated flesh of bulls, with which you magnify the honour 
 of the gods, swelling and heaving with worms, tainting and 
 corrupting the atmosphere, and infecting the neighbouring 
 districts with unwholesome smells. Now, if the gods were 
 
 1 Lit., " by slaughters of," cxdilus. 
 
 2 Lit., " under," i.e. under the sacrifices on your altars. 
 
 3 So all edd., reading cerne-, except both Roman edd., Hikl., and 
 Oehler, who retain the MS. cerni-tis " YOU see."
 
 BOOK vii.] AKNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 325 
 
 to enjoin yon to turn these tilings 1 to your own account, 
 to make your meals from them 2 in the usual way, you would 
 flee to a distance, and, execrating the smell, would beg par- 
 don from the gods, and bind yourselves by oath never [again] 
 to offer such sacrifices to them. Is not this conduct of yours 
 mockery, then ? is it not to confess, to make known that you 
 do not know what a deity is, nor to what power the meaning 
 and title of this name should be given and applied ? Do you 
 give new dignity to the gods by new kinds of food ? do you 
 honour them with savours and juices, and because those things 
 which nourish you are pleasing and grateful to you? do you 
 believe that the gods also flock up to [enjoy] their pleasant 
 taste, and, just as barking dogs, lay aside their fierceness 
 for mouthfuls, and pretty often fawn upon those who hold 
 [these] out? 
 
 18. And as we are now speaking of the animals sacri- 
 ficed, what cause, what reason is there, that while the im- 
 mortal gods (for, so far as we are concerned, they may all 
 be [gods] who are believed to be so) are of one mind, or 
 should be of one nature, kind, and character, all are not 
 appeased with all the victims, but certain [deities] with 
 certain [animals], according to the sacrificial laws ? For 
 what cause is there (to repeat the same question) that that 
 deity should be honoured with bulls, another with kids or 
 sheep, this one with sucking pigs, the other with unshorn 
 lambs, this one with virgin heifers, that one with horned 
 goats, this with barren cows, but that with teeming 3 swine, 
 this with white, that with dusky 4 [victims], one with female, 
 
 1 Tn translating thus, it has been attempted to adhere as closely as 
 possible to the MS. reading (according to Crusius) qua si corrected, as 
 above, qitx in LB. ; but it is by no means certain that further changes 
 should not be made. 
 
 2 Lit., "prepare luncheons and dinners thence," i.e. from the putre- 
 fying carcasses. 
 
 3 The MS. and first four edd. read ingentibus scrojift" with huge 
 breeding swine," changed by rest, as above, indent-, from the margin of 
 Ursinus. 
 
 4 Or "gloomy," tetris, the reading of MS. and all edd. since LB., for 
 which earlier edd. give atris u black."
 
 326 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK vn. 
 
 the other, on the contrary, with male animals? For if vic- 
 tims are slain in sacrifice to the gods, to do them honour and 
 show reverence for them, what does it matter, or what differ- 
 ence is there with the life of what animal this debt is paid, 
 their anger and resentment put away ? Or is the blood of 
 one victim less grateful and pleasing to one god, while the 
 other's fills him with pleasure and joy ? or, as is usually done, 
 does that [deity] abstain from the flesh of goats because of 
 some reverential and religious scruple, another turn with 
 disgust from pork, while to this mutton stinks ? and does this 
 one avoid tough ox-beef that he may not overtax his weak 
 stomach, and choose tender 1 sucklings that he may digest 
 them more speedily ? 
 
 19. But you err, says [my opponent], and fall into mis- 
 takes ; for in sacrificing female victims to the female deities, 
 males to the male [deities], there is a hidden and very 2 
 secret reason, and one beyond the reach of the mass. I do 
 not inquire, I do not demand, what the sacrificial laws teach 
 or contain ; but if reason has demonstrated, 3 and truth de- 
 clared, that among the gods there is no difference of species, 
 and that they are not distinguished by any sexes, must not 
 all these reasonings be set at naught, and be proved, be 
 found to have been believed under the most foolish halluci- 
 nations ? I will not bring forward the opinions of wise 
 men, who cannot restrain their laughter when they hear 
 distinctions of sex attributed to the immortal gods : I ask 
 of each man whether he himself believes in his own mind, 
 and persuades himself that the race of the gods is [so] dis- 
 tinguished that they are male and female, and have been 
 formed with members arranged suitably for the begetting of 
 young ? 
 
 But if the laws of the sacrifices enjoin that like sexes 
 should be sacrificed to like, that is, female [victims] to the 
 female [gods], male victims, on the contrary, to the male 
 gods, what relation is there in the colours, so that it is right 
 
 1 Lit., " the tenderness of." 2 Lit., " more." 
 
 3 So the MS., Elm., LB., Orelli, Hild., and Oehler, reading vicerit, for 
 which the others read jusserit " has bidden."
 
 BOOK vii.] ARNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 327 
 
 and fitting that to these white, to those dark, even the blackest 
 victims are slain? Because, says [my opponent], to the 
 gods above, and [those] who have power to give favourable 
 omens, 1 the cheerful colour is acceptable and propitious from 
 the pleasant appearance of pure white; while, on the con- 
 trary, to the sinister deities, and those who inhabit the in- 
 fernal seats, a dusky colour is more pleasing, and [one] 
 tinged with gloomy hues. But if, again, the reasoning holds 
 good, that the infernal regions are an utterly vain and empty 
 name, 2 and that underneath the earth there are no Plutonian 
 realms and abodes, this, too, must nullify your ideas about 
 black cattle and gods under the ground. Because, if there 
 are no infernal regions, of necessity there are no dii Manlum 
 also. For how is it possible that, while there are no regions, 
 there should be said to be any who inhabit them ? 
 
 20. But let us agree, as you wish, that there are both 
 infernal regions and Manes, and that some gods or other 
 dwell in these by no means favourable to men, and presid- 
 ing over misfortunes ; and what cause, what reason is there, 
 that black victims, even 3 of the darkest hue, should be 
 brought to their altars ? Because dark things suit dark, 
 and gloomy things are pleasing to similar beings. What 
 then 1 Do you not see (that we, too, may joke with you 
 stupidly, and just as you do yourselves 4 ) that the flesh of 
 the victims is not black, 5 [nor] their bones, teeth, fat, the 
 bowels, with 6 the brains, and the soft marrow in the bones ? 
 But the fleeces are jet-black, and the bristles of the creatures 
 
 1 Lit., " prevailing with favourableness of onieris," ominum, for which 
 the MS. and first four edd. read A " of men." 
 
 2 That Arnobius had good reason to appeal to this scepticism as a fact, 
 is evident from the lines of Juvenal (ii. 149-152) : "Not even children 
 believe that there are any Manes and subterranean realms." 
 
 3 Lit., " and." Immediately after, the us. is corrected in later writing 
 color-es (for -z's) " and the darkest colours." 
 
 4 Similiter. This is certainly a suspicious reading, but Arnobius in- 
 dulges occasionally in similar vague expressions. 
 
 fi Lit., " is white." 
 
 6 Or, very probably, " the membranes with (i.e. enclosing) the brains," 
 omenta cum cerelris.
 
 328 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK vn. 
 
 are jet-black. Do yon, then, sacrifice to the gods only wool 
 and little bristles torn from the victims ? Do you leave the 
 wretched creatures, despoiled it may be, and shorn, to draw the 
 breath of heaven, and rest in perfect innocence upon their feed- 
 ing-grounds ? But if you think that those things are pleasing 
 to the infernal gods which are black and of a gloomy colour, 
 why do you not take care that all the other things which it 
 is customary to place upon their sacrifices should be black, 
 nnd smoked, and horrible in colour? Dye the incense if it 
 is offered, the salted grits, and all the libations without ex- 
 ception. Into the milk, oil, blood, pour soot and ashes, that 
 this may lose its purple hue, that the others may become 
 ghastly. But if you have no scruple in introducing some 
 things which are white and retain their brightness, you 
 yourselves do away with your own religious scruples and 
 reasonings, while you do not maintain any single and uni- 
 versal rule in performing the sacred rites. 
 
 21. But this, too, it is fitting that we should here learn 
 from you : If a goat be slain to Jupiter, which is usually 
 sacrificed to father Liber and Mercury, 1 or if the barren 
 heifer be sacrificed to Unxia, which you give to Proserpine, 
 by what usage and rule is it determined what crime there is 
 in this, what wickedness or guilt has been contracted, since 
 it makes no difference to the worship [offered to the deity] 
 what animal it is with whose head the honour is paid which 
 you owe ? It is not lawful, says [my opponent], that these 
 things should be confounded, and it is no small crime to 
 throw the ceremonies of the rites and the mode of expiation 
 into confusion. Explain the reason, I beg. Because it is 
 right to consecrate victims of a certain kind to certain 
 deities, and that certain forms of supplication should be also 
 adopted. And what, again, is the reason that it is right to 
 consecrate victims of a certain kind to certain deities, and 
 that certain forms of supplication should be also adopted, 
 for this very rightfulness should have its own cause, and 
 spring, be derived from certain reasons'? Are you going 
 
 1 Goats were sacrificed to Bacchus, but not, so far as is known, to 
 Mercury. Cf. c. 16, p. 323, n. 5.
 
 BOOK vii.] ARNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 329 
 
 to speak about antiquity and custom? [If so], you relate 
 to me merely the opinions of men, and the inventions of a 
 blind creature : but I, when I request a reason to be brought 
 forward to me, wish to hear either that something has fallen 
 from heaven, or (which the subject rather requires) what 
 relation Jupiter has to a bull's blood that it should be offered 
 in sacrifice to him, not to Mercury [or] Liber. Or what are 
 the natural properties of a goat, that they again should be 
 suited to these gods, should not be adapted to the sacrifices 
 of Jupiter? Has a partition of the animals been made 
 amongst the gods? Has some contract been made and 
 agreed to, so that * it is fitting that this one should hold 
 himself back from the victim which belongs to that, that the 
 other should cease 2 to claim as his own the blood which 
 belongs to another ? Or, as envious boys, are they unwilling 
 to allow others to have a share in enjoying the cattle pre- 
 sented to them ? or, as is reported to be done by races which 
 differ greatly in manners, are the same things which by one 
 party are considered fit for eating, rejected as food by others ? 
 22. If, then, these things are vain, and are not supported 
 by any reason, the very offering 3 of sacrifices also is idle. 
 For how can that which follows have a suitable cause, when 
 that very first [statement] from which the second flows is 
 found to be utterly idle and vain, and established on no 
 solid basis ? To mother Earth, they say, is sacrificed a 
 teeming 4 and pregnant sow; but to the virgin Minerva is 
 slain a virgin calf, never forced 5 by the goad to attempt 
 any labour. But yet we think that neither should a virgin 
 have been sacrificed to a virgin, that the virginity might not 
 be violated in the brute, for which the goddess is especially 
 
 1 Lit., " by the paction of some transaction is it," etc. 
 
 2 So all except both Roman edd., which retain the MS. reading desi-d- 
 eret (corrected -n- by Gelenius) " wish." 
 
 8 So the MS., Hild., and Oehler, reading d-atio, approved of by 
 Stewechius also. The others read r " reasoning on behalf." 
 
 4 Inci-ens, so corrected in the margin of Ursiuus for MS. ing 
 
 " huge." Cf. ch. 18, p. 325, n. 3. 
 
 5 The MS. reads excitata conatus (according to Hild.) ; corrected, as 
 above, by the insertion of ad.
 
 330 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK vn. 
 
 esteemed; nor [should] gravid and pregnant [victims have 
 been sacrificed] to the Earth from respect for its fruitf ulness, 
 which 1 we all desire and wish to go on always in irrepressible 
 fertility. 2 For if because the Tritonian [goddess] is a virgin 
 it is therefore fitting that virgin victims be sacrificed to her, 
 and [if] because the Earth is a mother she is in like manner 
 to be entertained with gravid swine, then also Apollo [should 
 be honoured] by the sacrifice of musicians because he is a 
 musician ; -ZEsculapius, because he is a physician, by the 
 sacrifice of physicians ; and because he is an artificer, Vulcan 
 by the sacrifice of artificers; and because Mercury is elo- 
 quent, sacrifice should be made to him with the eloquent 
 and most fluent. But if it is madness to say this, or, to 
 speak with moderation, nonsense, that shows much greater 
 madness to slaughter pregnant [swine] to the Earth be- 
 cause she is even more prolific ; pure and virgin [heifers] to 
 Minerva because she is pure, of unviolated virginity. 
 
 23. For as to that which we hear said by you, that some 
 of the gods are good, that others, on the contrary, are bad, 
 and rather inclined to indulge in wanton mischief, 3 and that 
 the usual rites are paid to the one party that they may show 
 favour, but to the others that they may not do you harm, 
 with what reason this is said, we confess that we cannot 
 understand. For to say that the gods are most benevolent, 
 and have gentle dispositions, is not only pious and religious, 
 but also true ; but that they are evil and sinister, should by 
 no means be listened to, inasmuch as that divine power has 
 been far removed and separated from the disposition which 
 does harm. 4 But whatever can occasion calamity, it must 
 first be seen what it is, and [then] it should be removed very 
 far from the name of deity. 
 
 1 Quam, i.e. the earth. 
 
 2 Singularly enough, for fecunditate Oberthiir reads virginitate "in- 
 extinguishable virginity," which is by no means universally desired in 
 the earth. Orelli, as usual, copies without remark the mistake of his 
 predecessor. 
 
 8 Lit., " more prompt to lust of hurting." 
 4 Lit., " nature of hurting."
 
 BOOK vii.] ARNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 331 
 
 Then, [supposing] that we should agree with you that the 
 gods promote good fortune and calamity, not even in this 
 case is there any reason why you should allure some of them 
 to grant you prosperity, and, on the other hand, coax others 
 with sacrifices and rewards not to do you harm. First, 
 because the good gods cannot act badly, even if they have 
 been worshipped with no honour, for whatever is mild and 
 placid by nature, is separated widely from the practice and 
 devising of mischief ; while the bad knows not to restrain 
 his ferocity, although he should be enticed [to do so] with a 
 thousand flocks and a thousand altars. For neither can 
 bitterness change itself into sweetness, dryness into moisture, 
 the heat of fire into cold, or what is contrary to anything 
 take and change into its own nature that which is its 
 opposite. So that, if you should stroke a viper with your 
 hand, or caress a poisonous scorpion, the former will attack 
 you with its fangs, the latter, drawing itself together, will 
 fix its sting [in you] ; and your caressing will be of no avail, 
 since both creatures are excited to do mischief, not by the 
 stings of rage, but by a certain peculiarity of their nature. 
 It is thus of no avail to wish to deserve well of the sinister 
 deities by means of sacrifices, since, whether you do this, or 
 on the contrary do not, they follow their own nature, and 
 by inborn laws and a kind of necessity are led to those 
 things, [to do] which 1 they were made. Moreover, in this 
 way f both [kinds of] gods cease to possess their own powers, 
 and to retain their own characters. For if the good are 
 worshipped that they may be favourable, and supplication 
 is made in the same way to the others, on the contrary, 
 that they may not be injurious, it follows that it should 
 be understood that the propitious [deities] will show no 
 favour if they receive no gifts, and become bad instead of 
 
 1 The MS. reads ad ea quxfacti sunt, understood seemingly as above by 
 the edd., by supplying ad before qitx. Oehler, however, proposes quia 
 " because they were made [for them]." The reading must be regarded 
 as doubtful. 
 
 2 i.e. if sacrifices avail to counteract the malevolent dispositions of the 
 gods.
 
 332 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [Boon vn. 
 
 good ; l while, on the contrary, the bad, if they receive [offer- 
 ings], will lay aside their mischievous disposition, and become 
 thereafter good : and thus it is brought to this issue, that 
 neither are these propitious, nor are those sinister; or, which 
 is impossible, both are propitious, and both again sinister. 
 
 24. Be it so ; let it be conceded that [these] most unfor- 
 tunate cattle are not sacrificed in the temples of the gods 
 without some religious obligation, and that what has been 
 done in accordance with usage and custom possesses some 
 rational ground : but if it seems a great and grand thing to 
 slay bulls to the gods, and to burn in [sacrifice] the flesh of 
 animals whole and entire, what is the meaning of these 
 relics connected with the arts of the Magi which the ponti- 
 fical mysteries have restored to a place among the secret laws 
 of the sacred rites, and have mixed up with religious affairs? 
 What, I say, is the meaning of these things, apexaones, hircue, 
 silicernia, longavi, which are names and kinds of sausages, 2 
 some stuffed with goats' blood, 3 others with minced liver I 
 What [is the meaning of] tcedce, ncenice, offce, not those used 
 by the common people, but those named and called offw 
 penitce? of which the first 4 is fat cut into very small pieces, 
 as dainties 6 are ; that which has been placed second is the 
 extension of the gut by which the excrements are given off 
 after being drained of all their nourishing juices ; while the 
 offa penita is a beast's tail cut off with a morsel of flesh. 
 What [is the meaning of] polimina, omenta, palasea, or, as 
 some call it, plaseaf of which that named omentum is a 
 certain part enclosed by which the reservoirs of the belly are 
 
 1 Lit., "these." This clause, omitted by Oberthiir, is also omitted 
 without remark by Orelli. 
 
 2 So the edd., reading farciminum for the MS. facinorum, corrected by 
 Hild. fartorum " of stuffings." Throughout this passage hardly one 
 of the iiarnes of these sacrificial dainties is generally agreed upon ; as 
 many are met with nowhere else, the MS. has been adhered to strictly. 
 
 3 i.e. probably the hircize: of the others, silicernia seem to have been 
 put on the table at funerals. 
 
 4 i.e. tsecla. 
 
 & So Salmasius and Meursius corrected the MS. catiUaminu-a-m by 
 omitting a.
 
 BOOK vn. J A RN OBI US AD VERSUS GENTES. 833 
 
 kept within bounds; the plasea is an ox's tail 1 besmeared 
 with flour and blood ; the polimina, again, are those parts 
 which we with more decency call proles, by the vulgar, how- 
 ever, they are usually termed testes. What [is the meaning 
 of] fttilla, frumen, africia, gratilla, catumeum, cumspolium, 
 cubula ? of which the first two are names of species of pot- 
 tage, but differing in kind and quality; while the series [of 
 names] which follows denotes consecrated cakes, for they 
 are not shaped in one and the same way. For we do not 
 choose to mention the caro strebula which is taken from the 
 haunches of bulls, the roasted pieces of meat which are 
 spitted, the intestines first heated, and baked on glowing 
 coals, nor, finally, the pickles, 2 which are made by mixing 
 four kinds of fruit. In like manner, [we do not choose to 
 mention] the fendicce, which also are the kiraf which the lan- 
 guage of the mob, when it speaks, usually terms ilia ; 4 nor, 
 in the same way, the cerumncef which are the first part of the 
 gullet, 6 where ruminating animals are accustomed to send 
 down their food and bring it back again ; nor the magmenta, 7 
 angmina, and thousand other kinds of sausages or pottages 
 which you have given unintelligible names to, and have 
 caused to be more revered by common people. 
 
 25. For if whatever is done by men, and especially in re- 
 ligion, should have its causes, and nothing should be done 
 without a reason in all that men do and perform, tell us 
 and say what is the cause, what the reason, that these things 
 
 1 i.e. tail-piece. 
 
 2 Salsamina, by which is perhaps meant the grits and salt cast on the 
 victim ; but if so, Arnobius is at variance with Servius (Virgil, Eel. viii. 
 81), who expressly states that these were of spelt mixed only with salt ; 
 while there is no trace elsewhere of a different usage. 
 
 3 The first four edd. retain the unintelligible MS. dirge. 
 
 4 i.e. the entrails. The MS., first four edd., and Elm. read ilia. 
 
 5 So the MS., LB., Oberthiir, Orelli, Hild., and Oehler ; but serumnse ia 
 found ia no other passage with this meaning. 
 
 6 Lit., " first heads in gullets." 
 
 7 By this, and the word which follows, we know from the etymology 
 that " offerings " to the gods must be meant, but we know nothing 
 more.
 
 334 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK VH. 
 
 also are given to the gods and burned upon their sacred 
 altars? For here we delay, [constrained] most urgently [to 
 wait] for this cause, we pause, we stand fast, desiring to 
 learn what a god has to do with pottage, with cakes, with 
 different [kinds of] stuffing prepared in manifold ways, and 
 with different ingredients? Are the deities affected by 
 splendid dinners or luncheons, so that it is fitting to devise 
 for them feasts without number ? Are they troubled by the 
 loathings of their stomachs, and is variety of flavours sought 
 for to get rid of their aversion, so that there is set before 
 them meat at one time roasted, at another raw, and at an- 
 other half cooked and half raw 1 But if the gods like to 
 receive all these parts which you term prcesicice^ and if these 
 gratify them with any sense of pleasure or delight, what pre- 
 vents, what hinders you from laying all these upon [their 
 altars] at once with the whole animals? What cause, what 
 reason is there that the haunch-piece 2 by itself, the gullet, 
 the tail, and the tail-piece 3 separately, the entrails only, and 
 the membrane 4 alone, should be brought to do them honour? 
 Are the gods of heaven moved by various condiments? 
 After stuffing themselves with sumptuous and ample din- 
 ners, do they, as is usually done, take these little bits as 
 sweet dainties, not to appease their hunger, but to rouse their 
 wearied palates, 5 and excite in themselves a perfectly voracious 
 appetite? O wonderful greatness of the gods, comprehended 
 by no men, understood by no creatures! if indeed their 
 favours are bought with the testicles and gullets of beasts, 
 and if they do not lay aside their anger and resentment, 
 unless they see the entrails 6 prepared and offce bought and 
 burned upon their altars. 
 
 26. We have now to say a few words about incense and 
 wine, for these, too, are connected and mixed up with your 
 
 1 i.e. cut off for sacrifice. 2 Caro strebula. 3 Plasea. 
 
 4 The MS. reads unintelligibly nomen quas, corrected by Gelenius omen' 
 turn, as above. 
 
 6 Lit., " admonish the ease of the palate ; " a correction of Salmasius, 
 by omitting a from the MS. palati -a admoneant. 
 
 6 Nasnix.
 
 BOOK vii.] AENOBIUS ADVEESUS GENTES. 335 
 
 ceremonies, 1 and are used largely in your religious acts. And, 
 first, with respect to that very incense which you use, we ask 
 this of you particularly, whence or at what time you have 
 been able to become acquainted with it, and to know it, so 
 that you have just reason to think that it is either worthy to 
 be given to the gods, or most agreeable to their desires. For 
 it is almost a novelty ; and there is no endless succession of 
 years since it began to be known in these parts, and won its 
 way into the shrines of the gods. For neither in the heroic 
 ages, as it is believed and declared, was it known what in- 
 cense was, as is proved by the ancient writers, in whose 
 books is found no mention 2 of it ; nor was Etruria, the 
 parent and mother of superstition, acquainted with its fame 
 and renown, as the rites of the chapels prove ; nor was it 
 used by any one in offering sacrifice during the four hundred 
 years in which Alba flourished ; nor did even Romulus or 
 Numa, [who was] skilful in devising new ceremonies, know 
 either of its existence or growth, as the sacred grits 3 show 
 with which it was customary that the usual sacrifices should 
 be performed. Whence, therefore, did its use begin to be 
 adopted ? or what [desire of] novelty assailed the old and 
 ancient custom, so that that which was not needed for so 
 many ages took the first place in the ceremonies? For if 
 without incense the performance of a religious service is im- 
 perfect, and if a quantity of it is necessary to make the celes- 
 tials gentle and propitious to men, the ancients fell into sin, 
 nay rather, their whole life was full of guilt, for they care- 
 lessly neglected to offer that which was most fitted to give 
 pleasure to the gods. But if in ancient times neither men 
 nor gods sought for this incense, it is proved that to-day 
 also that is offered uselessly and in vain which antiquity did 
 not believe necessary, but modern times desired without any 
 reason. 
 
 1 Lit., " these kinds of ceremonies, too, were coupled and mixed," etc. 
 
 2 On this Oehler remarks, that the books of Moses show that it was 
 certainly used in the East in the most ancient times. But Arnobius has 
 expressly restricted his statement to the use of incense " in these parts." 
 
 3 Piumfar.
 
 336 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK vir. 
 
 27. Finally, that we may always abide by the rule and 
 definition by which it has been shown and determined that 
 whatever is done by man must have its causes, we will hold 
 it fast here also, so as to demand of you what is the cause, 
 what the reason, that incense is put on the altars before the 
 very images of the deities, and that, from its being burned, 
 they are supposed to become friendly and gentle. What do 
 they acquire from this being done, or what reaches their 
 minds, so that we should be right in judging that these 
 things are well expended, and are not consumed uselessly 
 and in vain? For as you should show why you give in- 
 cense to the gods, so, too, it follows that you should manifest 
 that the gods have some reason for not rejecting it with dis- 
 dain, nay more, for desiring it so fondly. We honour the gods 
 with this, some one will perhaps say. But we are not inquir- 
 ing what your feeling is, but the gods' ; nor do we ask what is 
 done by you, but how much they value what is done to pur- 
 chase their favour. But yet, O piety, what or how great is 
 this honour which is caused by the odour of a fire, and pro- 
 duced from the gum of a tree ? For, lest you should happen 
 not to know what this incense is. or what is its origin, it is 
 a gum flowing from the bark of trees, [just] as from the 
 almond-tree, the cherry-tree, solidifying as it exudes in drops. 
 Does this, then, honour and magnify the celestial dignities ? 
 or, if their displeasure has been at any time excited, is it 
 melted away before the smoke of incense and lulled to 
 sleep, their anger being moderated ? Why, then, do you not 
 burn indiscriminately the juice of any tree whatever, without 
 making any distinction ? For if the deities are honoured by 
 this, and are not displeased that Panchaan gums are burned 
 to them, what does it matter from what the smoke proceeds 
 on your sacred altars, or from what kind of gum the clouds 
 of fumigation arise ? 
 
 28. Will any one say that incense is given to the celestials, 
 for this reason, that it has a sweet smell, and imparts a plea- 
 sant sensation to the nose, while the rest are disagreeable, 
 and have been set aside because of their offensiveness ? Do 
 the gods, then, have nostrils with which to breathe? do
 
 BOOK vii.] AENOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 837 
 
 they inhale and respire currents of air so that the qualities 
 of different smells can penetrate them? But if we allow 
 that this is the case, we make them subject to the conditions 
 of humanity, and shut them out from the limits of deity ; for 
 whatever breathes and draws in draughts of air, to be sent 
 back in the same way, must be mortal, because it is sustained 
 by feeding on the atmosphere. But whatever is sustained by 
 feeding on the atmosphere, if you take away the means by 
 which communication is kept up, 1 its life must be crushed out, 
 and its vital principle must be destroyed and lost. So then, if 
 the gods also breathe and inhale odours enwrapt in the air 
 that accompanies them, it is not untrue to say that they live 
 upon what is received from others, 2 and that they might 
 perish if their air-holes were blocked up. And whence, 
 lastly, do you know whether, if they are charmed by the 
 sweetness of smells, the same things are pleasant to them 
 which [are pleasant] to you, and charm and affect your 
 [different] natures with a similar feeling ? May it not be 
 possible that the things which give pleasure to you, seem, on 
 the contrary, harsh and disagreeable to them? For since 
 the opinions of the gods are not the same, and their sub- 
 stance not one, by what methods can it be brought about 
 that that which is unlike in quality should have the same 
 feeling and perception as to that which touches it? 3 Do we 
 not every day see that, even among the creatures sprung 
 from the earth, the same things are either bitter or sweet to 
 different species, that to some things are fatal which are not 
 pernicious to others, so that the same things which charm 
 some with their delightful odours, give forth exhalations 
 deadly to the bodies of others ? But the cause of this is not 
 in the things which cannot be at one and the same time 
 deadly and wholesome, sweet and bitter ; but just as each 
 one has been formed to receive impressions from what is ex- 
 
 1 Lit., "the returns "by which the vital alternation is restored and 
 withdrawn." 
 
 2 So the MS., Hild., and Oehler, reading suffec-tionibus alienis, for 
 which the rest read suffi "the fumigations of others." 
 
 3 Lit., " feel and receive one contact." 
 
 ARNOB. T
 
 338 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK vn. 
 
 ternal, 1 so he is affected : 2 his condition is not caused by the 
 influences of the things, but springs from the nature of his 
 own senses, and connection with the external. But all this 
 is set far from the gods, and is separated from them by no 
 small interval. For if it is true, as is believed by the wise, 
 that they are incorporeal, and not supported by any excel- 
 lence of [bodily] strength, an odour is of no effect upon them, 
 nor can reeking fumes move them by their senses, not [even] 
 if you were to set on fire a thousand pounds of the finest in- 
 cense, and the whole sky were clouded v/ith the darkness of 
 the abundant vapours. For that which does not have [bodily] 
 strength and corporeal substance, cannot be touched by cor- 
 poreal substance ; but an odour is corporeal, as is shown by 
 the nose when touched [by one] : therefore it cannot, accord- 
 ing to reason, be felt by a deity, who has no body, and is 
 without any feeling and thought. 3 
 
 29. Wine is used along with incense ; and of this, in like 
 manner, we ask an explanation why it is poured upon it 
 when burning. For if a reason is not 4 shown for doing this, 
 and its cause is not 6 set forth, this action of yours must not 
 now be attributed to a ridiculous error, but, to speak more 
 plainly, to madness, foolishness, blindness. For, as has been 
 already said pretty frequently, everything which is done 
 should have its cause manifest, and not involved in any 
 dark obscurity. If, therefore, you have confidence in what 
 is done, disclose, point out why that liquor is offered ; that is, 
 [why] wine is poured on the altars. For do the bodies of 
 
 1 Lit., " as each has been made for the touching of a thing coming 
 from without." 
 
 2 So Gelenius and later edd., reading afficitur for the unintelligible 
 reading of MS. and Roman edd., efficit "effects." 
 
 3 So all edd., without remark, reading cog-it-alione, although "medi- 
 tation " has nothing to do with the sense of smell, and has not been pre- 
 viously mentioned. We should probably read cog-n-atione " relation," 
 i.e. to such objects. 
 
 4 So LB. and Oehler, reading ni-si (MS. si), and other edd. inserting 
 non, the negative being absolutely necessary to the sense, and supplied 
 in the next clause. 
 
 * Lit., " nor will it have its cause."
 
 BOOK viz.] ARNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 339 
 
 the deities feel parching thirst, and is it necessary that their 
 dryness be tempered by some moisture ? Are they accus- 
 tomed, as men are, to combine eating and drinking? In like 
 manner, also, after the solid 1 food of cakes and pottages, and 
 victims slain [in honour of them], do they drench themselves, 
 and make themselves merry with very frequent [cups of] wine, 
 that their food may be more easily softened, and thoroughly 
 digested ? Give, I beg, to the immortal gods to drink ; bring 
 forth goblets, bowls, 2 ladles, and cups ; and as they stuff 
 themselves with bulls, and luxurious feasts, and rich food, 
 lest some piece of flesh hastily 8 gulped down should stick 
 in passing through the stomach, run up, hasten, give pure 
 wine to Jupiter, the most excellent, the supreme, lest he be 
 choked. He desires to break wind, and is unable ; and unless 
 that hindrance passes away and is dissolved, there is very 
 great danger that his breathing will be stopped and 4 inter- 
 rupted, and heaven be left desolate without its rulers. 
 
 30. But, says [my opponent], you are insulting us without 
 reason, for we do not pour forth wine to the gods of heaven 
 for these reasons, as if we supposed that they either thirsted, 
 or drank, or were made glad by tasting its sweetness. It is 
 given to them to do them honour ; that their eminence may 
 become more exalted, more illustrious, we pour libations on 
 their altars, and with the [half] extinguished embers we raise 
 sweet smells, 5 which show our reverence. And what greater 
 insult can be inflicted upon the gods than if you believe that 
 they become propitious on receiving wine, or, if you suppose 
 that great honour is done to them, if you only throw and drop 
 on the live coals a few drops of wine I We are not speaking 
 to men void of reason, or not possessed of common under- 
 
 1 Although this is clearly the meaning, Stewechius explained solidos 
 by referring to the ancient belief that such offerings should be wholly 
 consumed, and no fragment left. 
 
 2 Briie, drinking- cups, but of their peculiar shape or purpose we know- 
 nothing. 
 
 3 Lit., "badly." 4 Lit., "being strangled, may be." 
 6 So LB., Orelli, and Oehler, reading with Salmasius m-u-scos (us. 
 
 -i-). Gelenius proposed cnissas, which would refer to the steam of the 
 sacrifices.
 
 340 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK VIL 
 
 standing : in you, too, there is wisdom, there is perception, 
 and in your hearts you know, by your own l judgment, that 
 we are speaking truly. But what can we do with those 
 who are utterly unwilling to consider things as they are, to 
 converse themselves with themselves? For you do what 
 you see to be done, not that which you are assured should 
 be done, inasmuch 2 as with you a custom without reason 
 prevails, more than a perception of the nature of circum- 
 stances based on a careful examination of the truth. For 
 what has a god to do with wine? or what or how great is 
 the power in it, that, on its being poured out, his eminence 
 becomes greater, and his dignity is supposed [to be] honoured? 
 What, I say, has a god to do with wine, which is most closely 
 connected with the pursuits of Venus, which weakens the 
 strength of all virtues, [and] is hostile to the decency of 
 modesty and chastity, which has often excited [men's] minds, 
 and urged them to madness and frenzy, and compelled the 
 gods to destroy their own authority by raving [and] foul 
 language ? Is not this, then, impious, and perfectly sacri- 
 legious, to give that as an honour which, if you take too 
 eagerly, you know not what you are doing, you are igno- 
 rant of what you are saying, [and] at last are reviled, and 
 become infamous as a drunkard, a luxurious and abandoned 
 fellow? 
 
 31. It is worth while to bring forward the words them- 
 selves also, which, when wine is offered, it is customary to 
 use and make supplication with : Let [the deity] be worshipped 
 with this wine which we bring. 3 The words which we bring, 
 says Trebatius, are added for this purpose, and put forth for 
 this reason, that all the wine whatever which has been laid 
 up in closets and storerooms, from which was taken that 
 which is poured out, may not begin to be sacred, and be reft 
 
 1 Lit., "interior." 
 
 2 So most edd., reading nimirum quid plus valet, for which the MS., fol- 
 lowed by both Roman edd., Hild., and Oehler, read primum q. v., which 
 Hild. would explain, "because it prevails above all [rather] than;" but 
 this is at least very doubtful. 
 
 ' Vino inferio.
 
 BOOK vii.] ARNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 341 
 
 from the use of men. This word, then, being added, that 
 alone will be sacred which is brought to [the place], and the 
 rest will not be consecrated. 1 What kind of honour, then, is 
 this, in which there is imposed on the deity a condition, 2 as it 
 were, not to ask more than has been given ? or what is the 
 greed of the god, who, if he were not verbally interdicted, 
 would extend his desires too far, and rob his suppliant of his 
 stores ? Let [the deity] be worshipped with this wine which 
 we bring : this is a wrong, not an honour. For what if the 
 deity shall wish for more, and shall not be content with what 
 is brought ! Must he not be said to be signally wronged who 
 is compelled to receive honour conditionally? For if all 
 wine in cellars whatever must become consecrated were a 
 limitation not added, it is manifest both that the god is in- 
 sulted to whom a limit is prescribed against his wishes, and 
 that in sacrificing you yourselves violate the obligations of 
 the sacred rites, who do not give as much wine as you see the 
 god wishes to be given to himself. Let [the deity\ be wor- 
 shipped icith this wine which we bring : what is this but 
 saying, Be icorsldpped as much as I choose ; receive as much 
 dignity as J prescribe^ as much honour as I decide and deter- 
 mine by a strict engagement 3 that you should have ? O sub- 
 limity of the gods, excelling in power, which thou shouldst 
 venerate and worship with all ceremonial observances, but on 
 which the worshipper imposes conditions, which he adores 
 with stipulations and contracts, which, through fear of one 
 word, is kept from excessive desire of wine ! 
 
 32. But let there be, as you wish, honour in wine and in 
 incense, let the anger and displeasure of the deities be ap- 
 peased by the immolation and slaughter of victims : are the 
 gods moved by garlands also, wreaths and flowers, by the 
 jingling of brass also, and the shaking of cymbals, by timbrels 
 
 1 Lit., "bound by religion." 
 
 2 This is admirably illustrated in an inscription quoted by Heraldus : 
 " Jupiter most excellent, supreme, when this day I give and dedicate to 
 thee this altar, I give and dedicate it with these conditions and limits 
 which I say openly to-day." 
 
 3 Circumscrijptione verborum.
 
 1842 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [Boon vn. 
 
 also, [and] also by symphonies ? l What effect has the clatter- 
 ing of castanets, that when the deities have heard them, they 
 think that honour has been shown to them, and lay aside 
 their fiery spirit of resentment in forgetf ulness ? Or, as little 
 boys are frightened into giving over their silly wailings by 
 hearing [the sound of] rattles, are the almighty deities also 
 soothed in the same way by the whistling of pipes ? and do 
 they become mild, [is] their indignation softened, at the 
 musical sound of cymbals? What is the meaning of those 
 calls 2 which you sing in the morning, joining [your] voices 
 to the [music of the] pipe? Do the gods of heaven fall 
 asleep, so that they should return to their posts ? What [is 
 the meaning of] those slumbers 2 to which you commend 
 them with auspicious salutations that they may be in good 
 health ? Are they awakened from sleep ; and that they may 
 be able to be overcome by it, must soothing lullabies be 
 heard ? The purification, says [my opponent], of the mother 
 of the gods is to-day. 3 Do the gods, then, become dirty ; and 
 to get rid of the filth, do those who wash [them] need water, 
 and even some cinders to rub them with? 4 The feast of 
 Jupiter is to-morrow. Jupiter, I suppose, dines, and must 
 be satiated with great banquets, and long filled with eager 
 cravings [for food] by fasting, and hungry after the usual 5 
 interval. The vintage festival of -ZEsculapius is being cele- 
 brated. The gods, then, cultivate vineyards, and, having 
 collected gatherers, press the wine for their own uses. 6 The 
 
 1 Evidently musical instruments ; but while Isidore speaks of them as 
 a kind of drum, other writers call them trumpets and pipes. 
 
 2 At daybreak on opening, and at night on closing the temple, the 
 priests of Isis sang hymns in praise of the goddess (cf. Jos. Scaliger, Cas- 
 tigationes ad Cat., etc., p. 132) ; and to these Aruobius refers sarcastically, 
 as though they had been calls to awake, and lullabies to sing her asleep. 
 
 3 i.e. March 27th, marked Lavatio in a calendar prepared during the 
 reign of Constantius. 
 
 4 Lit., " and some rubbing of cinders added," aliqua frictione dneris; 
 au emendation of Ursinus for the possibly correct MS. antiquaf. c. " the 
 ancient rubbing," i.e. that practised in early times. 
 
 6 Lit., " anniversary." 
 
 6 So the later edd., adopting the emendation of ad suas usiones for the 
 corrupt MS. ad (or a 6) suasionibus.
 
 BOOK vii.] ARNOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 343 
 
 lectisternium of Ceres l will be on the next Ides, for the gods 
 have couches ; and that they may be able to lie on softer 
 cushions, the pillows are shaken up when they have been 
 pressed down. 2 It is the birthday of Tellus ; 8 for the gods 
 are born, and have festal days on which it has been settled 
 that they began to breathe. 
 
 33. But the games which you celebrate, called Floralia 
 and Megalensia? and all the rest which you wish to be sacred, 
 and to be considered religious duties, what reason have they, 
 what cause, that it was necessary that they should be insti- 
 tuted and founded and designated by the names 5 of deities? 
 The gods are honoured by these, says [my opponent] ; and if 
 they have any recollection of offences committed 6 by men, 
 they lay it aside, get rid of it, and show themselves gracious 
 to us again, their friendship being renewed. And what is the 
 cause, again, that they are made quite calm and gentle, if 
 absurd things are done, and idle fellows sport before the eyes 
 of the multitude? Does Jupiter lay aside his resentment 
 if the Amphitryon of Plautus is acted and declaimed? or if 
 Europa, Leda, Ganymede, or Danae is represented by danc- 
 ing, does he restrain his passionate impulses ? Is the Great 
 Mother rendered more calm, more gentle, if she beholds the 
 old story of Attis furbished up by the players ? Will Venus 
 forget her displeasure if she sees mimics act the part of Adonis 
 also in a ballet ? 7 Does the anger of Alcides die away if the 
 
 1 i.e. feast at which the image of Ceres was placed on a couch, probably 
 the Cerealia, celebrated in April. This passage flatly contradicts Prof. 
 Ramsay's assertion (Ant. p. 345) that lectisternium is not applied to a 
 banquet offered to a goddess ; while it corroborates his statement that 
 such feasts were ordinary events, not extraordinary solemnities, as Mr. 
 Yates says (Smith's Ant. s. v.). 
 
 2 Lit., "the impression of the cushions is lifted up and raised," i.e. 
 smoothed. 
 
 3 Thus the 25th of January is marked as the birthday of the Graces, 
 the 1st of February as that of Hercules, the 1st of March as that of 
 Mars, in the calendar already mentioned. 
 
 4 The former dedicated to Flora (cf. iii. 25), the latter to Cybele. 
 8 Singular. 
 
 fi So the margin of Ursiuus, Elm., LB., Orelli, Hild., and Oehler; the 
 iis. reading not being known. 7 Lit., " in dancing motions."
 
 344 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF ^BOOK V1! - 
 
 tragedy of Sophocles named TracJiinice, or the Hercules of 
 Euripides, is acted? or does Flora think 1 that honour is 
 shown to her if at her games she sees that shameful actions 
 are done, and the stews abandoned for the theatres I Is not 
 this, then, to lessen the dignity of the gods, to dedicate and 
 consecrate to them the basest things which a rigidly virtuous 
 mind will turn from with disgust, the performers of which 
 your law has decided to be dishonoured and to be considered 
 infamous? The gods, forsooth, delight in mimics; and that 
 surpassing excellence which has not been comprehended by 
 any human faculty, opens 2 its ears most willingly to hear 
 these [plays], with most of which they know they are mixed 
 up to be turned to derision ; they are delighted, as it is, with 
 the shaved heads of the fools, by the sound of flaps, and by 
 the [noise of] applause, by shameful actions and words, by 
 huge red fascina. But further, if they see men weakening 
 themselves to the effeminacy of women, some vociferating 
 uselessly, others running about without cause, 3 others, while 
 their friendship is unbroken, bruising and maiming each 
 with the bloody cestus, these contending in [speaking with- 
 out drawing] breath, 4 swelling out their cheeks with wind, and 
 shouting out noisily empty vows, do they lift up their hands 
 to heaven [in their admiration], start up moved by [such] 
 wonders, burst into exclamations, again become gracious to 
 men ? If these things cause the gods to forget their resent- 
 ment, if they derive the highest pleasure from comedies, 
 Atellane farces, [and] pantomimes, why do you delay, why 
 do you hesitate, to say that the gods themselves also play, 
 act lasciviously, dance, compose obscene songs, and undulate 
 with trembling haunches? For what difference is there, 
 or what does it matter, whether they do these things them- 
 
 1 So Meursius, Orelli, and Oehler, reading ezistimat-ve, all the others 
 retaining the MS. -ur " Is Flora thought to be treated," etc. 
 
 2 Lit., " adapts." 
 
 3 Here also there is doubt as to what the reading of the MS. is. The 
 1st ed. reads sine culpa " without blame," which is hardly in keeping 
 with the context, emended causa, as above, by Gelenius. 
 
 4 So Orelli explains certare hos spiritu as referring to a contest in 
 which each strove to speak or sing with one breath longer than the rest.
 
 BOOK vii.] ARNOB1US ADVERSUS GENTES. 345 
 
 solves, or are pleased and delighted to see them done by 
 others? 
 
 34. Whence, therefore, have these vicious opinions flowed, 
 or from what causes have they sprung? From this it is 
 clear, in great measure, that men [are] unable to know what 
 God is, what is His essence, nature, substance, quality; 
 whether He has a form, or is limited by no bodily outline, 
 does anything or not, is ever watchful, or is at times sunk in 
 slumbers, runs, sits, walks, or is free from such motions and 
 inactivity. Being, as I have said, unable to know all these 
 things, or to discern them by any power of reason, they fell 
 into these fanciful beliefs, so that they fashioned gods after 
 themselves, and gave to these such a nature as they have 
 themselves, in actions, circumstances, and desires. But if 
 they were to perceive that they are worthless creatures, 1 and 
 that there is no great difference between themselves and a 
 little ant, they would cease, indeed, to think that they have 
 anything in common with the gods of heaven, and would 
 confine their unassuming insignificance 2 within its propel 
 limits. But now, because they see that they themselves have 
 faces, eyes, heads, cheeks, ears, noses, and all the other parts 
 of [our] limbs and muscles, they think that the gods also 
 have been formed in the same way, that the divine nature 
 is embodied in a human frame; 3 and because they perceive 
 that they themselves rejoice [and] are glad, and [again] are 
 made sad by what is too disagreeable, they think that the 
 deities also on joyous occasions are glad, and on less pleasant 
 ones become dejected. [They see] that they are affected by 
 the games, and think that the minds of the celestials are 
 soothed by enjoying games ; and because they have pleasure 
 in refreshing themselves with warm baths, they think that 
 the cleanness produced by 4 bathing is pleasing to the gods 
 above. We men gather our vintages, and they think and 
 believe that the gods gather and bring in their grapes; we 
 
 1 Lit., " an animal of no value." 
 
 2 Lit., " the modesty of their humility." 
 
 8 Lit., " they contain their nature in a corporeal forta." 
 
 4 Lit., " of." &*
 
 346 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK vn. 
 
 have birthdays, and they affirm that the powers of heaven 
 have birthdays. 1 But if they could ascribe to the gods ill- 
 health, sickness, and bodily disease, they would not hesitate 
 to say that they were splenetic, blear-eyed, and ruptured, 
 because they are themselves both splenetic, and often blear- 
 eyed, and weighed down by huge hernice. 
 
 35. Come now : as the discussion has been prolonged and 
 led to these points, let us, bringing forward what each has to 
 say, 2 decide by a brief comparison whether your ideas of the 
 gods above are the better, or our thoughts preferable, and 
 much more honourable and just, and such as to give and 
 assign its own dignity to the divine nature. And, first, you 
 declare that the gods, whom you either think or believe to 
 exist, of whom you have set up images and statues in all the 
 temples, were born and produced from the germs of males 
 and females, under the necessary condition of sexual embraces. 
 But we, on the contrary, if they are indeed true gods, and have 
 the authority, power, dignity of this name, consider that they 
 must either be unbegotten (for it is pious to believe this), or, 
 if they have a beginning in 3 birth, it belongs to the supreme 
 God to know by what methods He made them, or how many 
 ages there are since He granted to them to enter upon the 
 eternal being of His own divine nature. You consider that 
 the deities have sexes, and that some of them are male, 
 others female ; we utterly deny that the powers of heaven 
 have been distinguished by sexes, since this distinction has 
 been given to the creatures of earth which the Author of the 
 universe willed should embrace and generate, to provide, by 
 their carnal desires, one generation of offspring after an- 
 
 1 Cf. p. 343, n. 3. 
 
 2 Lit., "by opposition of the parts of each." Considerable difficulty 
 has been felt as to the abrupt way in which the book ends as it is 
 arranged in the MS. Orelli has therefore adopted the suggestion of an 
 anonymous critic, and transposed cc. 35, 36, 37 to the end. This does 
 not, however, meet the difficulty ; for the same objection still holds good, 
 that there is a want of connection and harmony in these concluding 
 chapters, and that, even when thus arranged, they do not form a fitting 
 conclusion to the whole work. 
 
 3 Lit., "of."
 
 BOOK VIL] AENOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 347 
 
 other. You think that they are like men, and have been 
 fashioned with the countenances of mortals ; we think that 
 the images of them are wide of the mark, 1 as form belongs 
 to a mortal body ; and if they have any, we swear with the 
 utmost earnestness and confidence that no man can compre- 
 hend it. By you they are said to have each his trade, like 
 artisans ; we laugh when we hear you say such things, as 
 we hold and think that professions are not necessary to gods, 
 and it is certain and evident that these have been provided to 
 assist poverty. 
 
 36. 2 You say that some of them [cause] dissensions, that 
 there are others who inflict pestilences, others who [excite] 
 love [and] madness, others, even, who preside over wars, and 
 are delighted by the shedding of blood ; but we, indeed, on 
 the contrary, judge that [these things] are remote 3 from the 
 dispositions of the deities; or if there are any who inflict 
 and bring these ills on miserable mortals, we maintain that 
 they are far from the nature of the gods, and should not 
 be spoken of under this name. You judge that the deities 
 are angry and perturbed, and given over and subject to the 
 other mental affections ; we think that such emotions are alien 
 from them, for [these] suit savage beings, and those who die 
 as mortals. 4 You think that they rejoice, are made glad, 
 
 1 Lit., " that effigies have been far removed from them." This may be 
 understood, either as meaning that the gods had not visible form at all, 
 or, as above, that their likenesses made by men showed no resemblance. 
 
 2 50 in Orelli. 
 
 3 It is important to notice the evidence in this one sentence of haste 
 and want of revision. In the first line we find a genitive (discordiarum 
 "dissensions "), but not the noun on which it depends ; and in the apo- 
 dosis a verb (disjunctas esse " have been removed," i.e. " are remote") 
 has no subject, although its gender imperatively requires that has res, 
 or some such words, be supplied. One omission might have been easily 
 ascribed to a slip on the part of the copyist ; but two omissions such as 
 these occurring so closely, must, it would seem, be assigned to the im- 
 petuous disregard of minutiae with which Arnobius blocked out a con- 
 clusion which was never carefully revised. (Cf. Appendix, note 1, and 
 p. 364, n. 3.) The importance of such indications is manifest in forming 
 an opinion on the controversy as to this part of the work. 
 
 4 Lit., "are of ... those meeting the functions of mortality," obe-
 
 348 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK vn. 
 
 and are reconciled to men, their offended feelings being 
 soothed by the blood of beasts and the slaughter of victims ; 
 we hold that there is in the celestials no love of blood, and 
 that they are not so stern as to lay aside their resentment 
 only when glutted with the slaughter of animals. You think 
 that, by wine and incense, honour is given to the gods, and 
 their dignity increased ; we judge it marvellous and monstrous 
 that any man thinks that the deity either becomes more 
 venerable by reason of smoke, or thinks himself supplicated 
 by men with sufficient awe and respect when they offer l a 
 few drops of wine. You are persuaded that, by the crash 
 of cymbals and the sound of pipes, by horse-races and the- 
 atrical plays, the gods are both delighted and affected, and 
 that their resentful feelings conceived before 2 are mollified 
 by the satisfaction which these things give ; we hold it [to 
 be] out of place, nay more, we judge it incredible, that those 
 who have surpassed by a thousand degrees every kind of 
 excellence in the height of their perfection, should be pleased 
 and delighted with those things which a wise man laughs at, 
 and which do not seem to have any charm except to little 
 children, coarsely and vulgarly educated. 
 
 37. Since these things are so, and since there is so great 
 difference between l our opinions and yours, where are we, 
 on the one hand, impious, or you pious, since the decision as 
 to * piety and impiety must be founded on the opinions of 
 the [two] parties ? For he who makes himself an image 
 which he may worship for a god, or slaughters an innocent 
 beast, and burns it on consecrated altars, must not be held 
 to be devoted to religion. 3 Opinion constitutes religion, and 
 a right way of thinking about the gods, so that you do not 
 think that they desire anything contrary to what becomes 
 their exalted position, [which is] manifest. 4 For since we 
 
 unti-um, corrected by Gelenius (according to Orelli) for the MS. -bus, 
 retained, though unintelligible, by Canterus, Oberth., and Hild. 
 1 Lit., " of." 2 Lit., " some time." 
 
 3 Lit., " divine things." 
 
 4 So the MS., both lioman edd., Hild., and Oehler, reading promptx; 
 corrected prsesumptx " taken for granted," in the rest.
 
 BOOK vii. ] ARNOBIUS ADVEESUS GENTES. 349 
 
 see all the things which are offered to them consumed here 
 under our eyes, what else can be said to reach them from us 
 than opinions worthy of the gods, and most appropriate to 
 their name? These are the surest gifts, these true sacri- 
 fices ; for gruel, incense, and flesh feed the devouring flames, 
 and agree very well with the parentalia 1 of the dead. 
 
 38. 2 If the immortal gods cannot be angry, says [my 
 opponent], and their nature is not agitated or troubled by 
 any passions, what do the histories, the annals mean, in 
 which we find it written 3 that the gods, moved by some 
 annoyances, occasioned pestilences, sterility, 4 failure of crops, 
 and other dangers, to states and nations; and that they 
 again, being appeased and satisfied by means of 6 sacrifices, 
 laid aside their burning anger, and changed the state of the 
 atmosphere and times into a happier one? What [is the 
 meaning of] the earth's roarings, the earthquakes, which we 
 have been told occurred because the games had been cele- 
 brated carelessly, and their nature and circumstances [had] 
 not been attended to, and yet, on their being celebrated 
 afresh, and repeated with assiduous care, the terrors of the 
 gods were stilled, and [they] were recalled to care and friend- 
 ship for men ? How often, after that in obedience to the 
 commands of the seers and the responses of the diviners 
 sacrifice has been offered, and certain gods have been sum- 
 moned from nations dwelling beyond the sea, and shrines 
 erected to them, and certain images and statues set on loftier 
 pillars, have fears of impending dangers been diverted, and 
 the most troublesome enemies beaten, and the republic ex- 
 tended both by repeated joyous victories, and by gaining 
 possession of several provinces ! Now, certainly this would 
 not happen if the gods despised sacrifices, games, and other 
 acts of worship, and did not consider themselves honoured 
 by expiatory offerings. If, then, all the rage and indignation 
 of the deities are cooled when these things are offered, and 
 
 1 i.e. offerings to parents, as the name implies, and other relatives who 
 were dead. 
 
 * 35 in Orelli. 3 Lit., " in the writings of which we read." 
 
 * PJ. * Lit., " by satisfaction of."
 
 350 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK VH. 
 
 [if] those things become favourable which seemed fraught 
 with terrors, it is clear that all these things are not done 
 without the gods wishing them, arid that it is vain, and shows 
 utter ignorance, to blame us for giving them. 
 
 39. 1 We have come, then, in speaking, to the very point 
 of the case, to that on which the question hinges, to the real 
 and most intimate [part of the] discussion, which it is fitting 
 that, laying aside superstitious dread, and putting away par- 
 tiality, we should examine whether these are gods whom you 
 assert to be furious when offended, and to be rendered mild 
 by sacrifices; or whether they are something far different, 
 and should be separated from the notion of this name and 
 power. For we do not deny that all these things are to be 
 found in the writings of the annalists which have been 
 brought forward by you in opposition ; for we ourselves also, 
 according to the measure and capacity of our abilities, have 
 read, and know, that it has been recorded that once at the 
 ludi circenses, celebrated in honour of Jupiter the supreme, 
 a master dragged across the middle of the arena, and after- 
 wards, according to custom, punished with the cross, a very 
 worthless slave [whom he had] beaten with rods. Then, 
 when the games were ended, and the races not long finished, 
 a pestilence began to distress the state ; and when each day 
 brought fresh ill worse than what was before, 2 and the people 
 were perishing in crowds, in a dream Jupiter said to a certain 
 rustic, obscure from the lowliness of his lot, that he should 
 go 3 to the consuls, point out that the dancer 4 had displeased 
 him, that it might be better for the state if the respect due 
 to the games were paid to them, and they were again cele- 
 brated afresh with assiduous care. And when he had utterly 
 neglected to do this, either because he supposed it was an 
 empty dream, and would find no credence with those to whom 
 he should tell it, or because, remembering his natural insig- 
 nificance, he avoided and dreaded approaching those who 
 
 1 36 in Orelli. 2 Lit., " added evil heavier than evil." 
 
 3 So later edd., reading vaderet from the margin of Ursinus, while 
 the first three retain the MS. reading suaderet" persuade." 
 
 4 i.e. the slave writhing under the scourge.
 
 BOOK vn.] ARNOBIUS AD VERSUS GENTES. 351 
 
 were so powerful, 1 Jupiter was rendered hostile to the lin- 
 gerer, and imposed as punishment [on him] the death of his 
 sons. Afterwards, when he 2 threatened the man himself 
 with death unless he went to announce his disapproval of the 
 dancer, overcome by fear of dying, since he was already him- 
 self also burning with the fever of the plague, having been 
 infected, he was carried to the senate-house, as his neighbours 
 wished, and, when his vision had been declared, the con- 
 tagious fever passed away. The repetition of the games being 
 then decreed, great care was, on the one hand, given to the 
 shows, and its former good health was restored to the people. 
 40. 3 But neither shall we deny that we know this as well, 
 that once on a time, when the state and republic were in 
 difficulties, caused either by 4 a terrible plague continually 
 infecting the people and carrying them off, or by enemies 
 powerful, and at that time almost threatening to rob it of 
 its liberty 5 because of their success in battle, by order 
 and advice of the seers, certain gods 6 were summoned from 
 among nations dwelling beyond the sea, and honoured 
 with magnificent temples ; and that the violence of the 
 plague abated, and very frequent triumphs were gained, the 
 power of the enemy being broken, and the territory of the 
 empire was increased, and provinces without number fell 
 under your sway. But neither does this escape our know- 
 ledge, that we have seen it asserted that, when the Capitol 
 was struck by a thunderbolt, and many other things in it, 
 the image of Jupiter also, which stood on a lofty pillar, was 
 hurled from its place. Thereafter a response was given by 
 the soothsayers, that cruel and very sad mischances were por- 
 tended from fire and slaughter, from the destruction of the 
 laws, and the overthrow of justice, especially, however, from 
 enemies themselves belonging to the nation, and from an im- 
 pious band of conspirators ; but that these things could not be 
 averted, nay, that the accursed designs could not be revealed, 
 
 1 Lit., " of so great power." 2 i.e. Jupiter. 3 37 in Orelli. 
 
 4 Lit., " which either a ... made," etc. 
 
 5 Lit., " very near to danger of carrying off liberty." 
 Cf . ii. 73.
 
 352 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK vn. 
 
 unless Jupiter were again set up firmly on a higher pillar, 
 turned towards the east, and facing the rays of the [rising] 
 sun. Their words were trustworthy, for, when the pillar was 
 raised, and the statue turned towards the sun, the secrets 
 were revealed, and the offences made known were punished. 
 4 1. 1 All these things which have been mentioned, have 
 indeed a miraculous appearance (rather, they are believed 
 to have it), if they come to men's ears just as they have 
 been brought forward ; and we do not deny that there is in 
 them something which, being placed in the fore front, as the 
 saying is, may stun the ears, and deceive by its resemblance 
 to truth. But if you will look closely at what was done, 
 the personages and their pleasures, 2 you will find that there 
 is nothing worthy of the gods, and (as has already been said 
 often) [nothing worthy] to be referred to the splendour and 
 majesty of this race. For, first, who is there who will believe 
 that he was a god who was pleased with horses running to 
 no purpose, 3 and considered it most delightful that he should 
 be summoned 4 by such sports? Rather, who is there who 
 will agree that that was Jupiter (whom you call the supreme 
 god, and the creator of all things which are) who set out 
 from heaven to behold geldings vieing [with each other] in 
 speed, and running 6 the seven rounds of the course; and 
 that, although he had himself determined that they should 
 not be equally nimble, he nevertheless rejoiced to see them 
 pass each other, and be passed, some in their haste falling 
 forward upon their heads, [and] overturned upon their backs 
 along with their chariots, others dragged along and lamed, 
 their legs being broken; and that he considered as the highest 
 pleasures fooleries mixed with trifles and cruelties, which any 
 
 1 38 in Orelli. 
 
 2 So the MS., LB., Hild., and Oehler, reading volu-p-tates, i.e. the 
 
 games and feasts spoken of previously ; the other edd. read -n 
 
 " wishes." 
 
 3 Oehler explains frustra by otiose " who was leisurely delighted ; " 
 but there is no reason why it should not have its usual meaning, as above. 
 
 4 i.e. from heaven. Instead of e-vocari, however, Heraldus has pro- 
 posed a " be diverted." 
 
 5 Lit., " unfolding."
 
 BOOK vii.] AENOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 353 
 
 man, [even though] fond of pleasure, and not trained to 
 strive after seriousness and dignity, would consider childish, 
 and spurn as ridiculous ? Who is there, I say, who will be- 
 lieve (to repeat this word assiduously) that he was divine 
 who, being irritated because [a slave] was led across the 
 circus, about to suffer and be punished as he deserved, was 
 inflamed with anger, and prepared himself to take vengeance ? 
 For if the slave was guilty, and deserved to be punished with 
 that chastisement, why should Jupiter have been moved with 
 any indignation when nothing was being done unjustly, nay, 
 when a guilty fellow was being punished, as was right ? But 
 if he was free from guilt, and not worthy of punishment at 
 all, [Jupiter] himself was the cause of the dancer's vitiating 
 the games, 1 for when he might have helped him, he did him 
 no service nay, sought both to allow what he disapproved, 
 and to exact from others the penalty for what he had per- 
 mitted. And why, then, did he complain and declare that 
 he was wronged in the case of that dancer because he was 
 led through the midst of the circus to suffer the cross, with 
 his back torn by rods and scourges ? 
 
 42. 2 And what pollution or abomination could have flowed 
 from this, either to make the circus less pure, or to defile 
 Jupiter, seeing that in a few moments, in [a few] seconds, 
 he beheld so many thousands throughout the world perish 
 by different kinds of death, and with various forms of tor- 
 ture ? He was led across, says [my opponent], before the 
 games began to be celebrated. If from a sacrilegious spirit 
 and contempt 8 for religion, we have reason to excuse Jupiter 
 for being indignant that he was contemned, and that more 
 anxious care was not given to his games. But if from 
 mistake or accident that secret fault was not observed and 
 known, would it not have been right and befitting Jupiter to 
 pardon human failings, and grant forgiveness to the blind- 
 ness of ignorance ? But it was necessary that it should be 
 punished. And after this, will any one believe that he was 
 a god who avenged and punished neglect of a childish show 
 
 1 Lit., " was in the cause of the vicious dancer." 
 3 39 in Orelli. 3 So all edd., rejecting s from MS. contemptu-s. 
 
 ARNOB. Z
 
 354 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK vn. 
 
 by the destruction of a state ? that he had any seriousness 
 and dignity, or any steady constancy, who, that he might 
 speedily enjoy pleasure afresh, turned the air men breathed l 
 into a baneful poison, and ordered the destruction of mortals 
 by plague and pestilence ? If the magistrate who presided 
 over the games was too careless in learning who on that day 
 had been led across the circus, and blame was therefore con- 
 tracted, what had the unhappy people done that they should 
 in their own persons suffer the penalty of another's offences, 
 and should be forced to hurry out of life by contagious pesti- 
 lences? Nay, what had the women, whose weakness did 
 not allow them to take part in public business, the grown- 
 up 2 maidens, the little boys, finally the young children, 
 yet dependent for food on their nurses, what had these 
 done that they should be assailed with equal, with the same 
 severity, and that before [they tasted] the joy of life 3 they 
 should feel the bitterness of death ? 
 
 43. 4 If Jupiter sought to have his games celebrated, and 
 that afresh, 6 with greater care ; if he honestly [sought] to 
 restore e the people to health, and that the evil which he had 
 caused should go no further and not be increased, would it 
 not have been better that he should come to the consul him- 
 self, to some one of the public priests, the pontifex maximus, 
 or to his own flamen Dialis, and in a vision reveal to him 
 the defect [in the games] occasioned by the dancer, and the 
 cause of the sadness of the times ? What reason had there 
 been that he should choose, to announce his wishes and pro- 
 cure the satisfaction desired, a man accustomed to [live in] 
 the country, unknown from the obscurity of his name, not 
 acquainted with city matters, [and] perhaps not knowing 
 what a dancer is ? And if he indeed knew, [as he must 
 
 1 Lit., " draughts of air." 
 
 2 So, by omitting two letters, all edd. except 1st and Ursinus, which 
 retain MS. adult-er-se " adulterous." 
 
 3 Lit., " light." 
 
 4 40 in Orelli. The sis., 1st edd., and Ursinus want si. 
 6 Lit., "and restored." 
 
 6 The MS. and Ursinus read reddere-t " if he was to restore ; " cor- 
 rected, as above, by omission of t.
 
 BOOK vii.] A ENOBI US AD VERSUS GENTES. 355 
 
 have known] if he was a diviner, 1 that this fellow would 
 refuse to obey, would it not have been more natural and 
 befitting a god, to change the man's mind, and constrain him 
 to be willing to obey, than to try more cruel methods, and 
 vent his rage indiscriminately, without any reason, as robbers 
 do ? For if the old rustic, not being quick in entering upon 
 anything, delayed in [doing] what was commanded, being 
 kept back by stronger motives, of what had his unhappy 
 children been guilty, that [Jupiter's] anger and indignation 
 should be turned upon them, and that they should pay for 
 another's offences by being robbed of their lives ? And can 
 any man believe that he [is] a god [who is] so unjust, so 
 impious, and who does not observe even the laws of men, 
 among whom it would be held a great crime to punish one 
 for another, and to avenge one man's offences upon others ? 2 
 But, [I am told], he caused the man himself to be seized by 
 the cruel pestilence. Would it not then have been better, 
 nay rather, juster, if it seemed that this should be done, 
 that dread of punishment should be first excited by the father, 
 who 3 had been the cause of such passion by 4 his disobedient 
 delay, than to do violence to the children, and to consume 
 and destroy innocent persons to make him sorrowful 1 5 
 What, pray, was [the meaning of] this fierceness, this cruelty, 
 which [was] so great that, his offspring being dead, it after- 
 wards terrified the father by his own danger ! But if he 
 had chosen to do this long before, that is, in the first place, 
 not only would not the innocent brothers have been cut off, 
 but the indignant purpose of the deity also would have been 
 known. But certainly, [it will be said], when he had done 
 his duty by announcing the vision, the disease immediately 
 left him, and the man was forthwith restored to health. 
 And what is there to admire in this if he removed 6 the 
 evil which he had himself breathed [into the man], and 
 
 i Le. if he is a god. Cf. iii. 20. 2 Lit., " the necks of." 
 
 3 Lit., "the terror of coercion should begin from the father with whom.' 1 
 
 4 Lit., " even," et. B Lit., " to his grief." 
 
 6 The MS. reads relt-ulit, emended ret- " gave back," i.e. got rid of, 
 by 1st ed. and Ursinius ; and rep-, as above, by Gelenius and others.
 
 356 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK vn. 
 
 vaunted himself with false pretence? But if you weigh the 
 circumstances thoroughly, there was greater cruelty than 
 kindness in his deliverance, for [Jupiter] did not preserve 
 him to the joys of life [who was] miserable and wishing to 
 perish after his children, but to learn his solitariness and the 
 agonies of bereavement. 
 
 44. 1 In like manner we might go through the other narra- 
 tives, and show that in these also, and in expositions of these, 
 [something] far different from what the gods should be is 
 said and declared about them, as in this very [story] which 
 I shall nest relate, one or two [only] being added to it, that 
 disgust may not be produced by excess. 2 After certain gods 
 were brought from among nations dwelling beyond the sea, 
 you say, and after temples were built to them, after their 
 altars were heaped with sacrifices, the plague-stricken people 
 grew strong [and] recovered, and the pestilence fled before 
 the soundness of health which arose. What gods, say, I 
 beseech? ^Isculapius, you say, the god of health, from 
 Epidaurus, and [now] settled in the island in the middle of 
 the Tiber. If we were disposed to be very scrupulous in 
 dealing with your assertions, we might prove by your own 
 authority that he was by no means divine who had been 
 conceived and born from a woman's womb, who had by 
 yearly stages reached that term of life at which, as is related 
 in your books, a thunderbolt drove him at once from life and 
 light. But we leave this question : let the son of Coronis be, 
 as you wish, one of the immortals, and possessed of the ever- 
 lasting blessedness 3 of heaven. From Epidaurus, however, 
 what was brought except an enormous serpent? If we 
 trust the annals, and ascribe to them well-ascertained truth, 
 nothing else, as it has been recorded. What shall we say 
 then ? That JEsculapius, whom you extol, an excellent, a 
 
 1 41 in Orelli. 
 
 2 In the MS. and both Roman edd. the section translated on p. 365 is 
 inserted here. Ursinus, however (pp. 210-11), followed by Heraldus 
 (312-13), enclosed it in brackets, and marked it with asterisks. In all 
 other edd. it is either given as an appendix, or wholly rejected. 
 
 3 Lit., " sublimity."
 
 BOOK vii.] AENOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 357 
 
 venerable god, the giver of health, the averter, preventer, 
 destroyer of sickness, is contained within the form and out- 
 line of a serpent, crawling along the earth as worms are 
 wont to do, which spring from mud; he rubs the ground 
 with his chin and breast, dragging himself in sinuous coils ; 
 and that he may be able to go forward, he draws on the last 
 part of his body by the efforts of the first. 
 
 45. 1 And as we read that he used food also, by which 
 bodily existence is kept up, he has a large gullet, that he 
 may gulp down the food sought for with gaping mouth ; he 
 has a belly to receive it, and 2 a place where he may digest 
 the flesh which he has eaten and devoured, that blood may 
 be given to his body, and his strength recruited; 3 he has 
 also a draught, by which the filth is got rid of, freeing his 
 body from a disagreeable burden. Whenever he changes 
 his place, and prepares to pass from one region to another, 
 he does not as a god fly secretly through the stars of heaven, 
 and stand in a moment where something requires his pre- 
 sence, but, just as a dull animal [of earth], he seeks a convey- 
 ance on which he may be borne ; he avoids the waves of the 
 sea ; and that he may be safe and sound, he goes on board 
 ship along with men ; and that god of the common safety 
 trusts himself to weak planks and to sheets of wood joined 
 together. We do not think that you can prove and show 
 that that serpent was ^Esculapius, unless you choose to bring 
 forward this pretext, that you should say that the god changed 
 himself into a snake, in order that he might be able 4 to deceive 
 [men as to] himself, who he was, or to see what men were. 
 But if you say this, the inconsistency of your own statements 
 will show how weak and feeble such a defence is. 5 For if the 
 god shunned being seen by men, he should not have chosen to 
 be seen in the form of a serpent, since in any form whatever 
 
 1 42 in Orelli. 
 
 2 So the edd., reading et for MS. tit (according to Crusius). 
 
 3 Lit., " restoration be supplied to his strength." 
 
 4 So Gelenius, merely adding t to the MS. posse. The passage is, how- 
 ever, very doubtful. 
 
 5 Lit., " how weakly and feebly it is said."
 
 358 THE SEVEN BOORS OF [Boos vir. 
 
 he was not to be other than himself, but [always] himself. 
 But if, on the other hand, he had been intent on allowing 
 himself to be seen he should not have refused to allow men's 
 eyes to look on him * why did he not show himself such as he 
 knew that he was in his own divine power? 2 For this was pre- 
 ferable, and much better, and more befittinghis august majesty, 
 than to become a beast, and be changed into the likeness of a 
 terrible animal, and afford room for objections, which cannot 
 be decided, 3 as to whether he was a true god, or something 
 different and far removed from the exalted nature of deity. 
 
 46. 4 But, says [my opponent], if he was not a god, why, 
 after he left the ship, [and] crawled to the island in the 
 Tiber, did he immediately become invisible, and cease to be 
 seen as before? Can we indeed know whether there was 
 anything in the way under cover of which he hid himself, 
 or any opening [in the earth] ? Do you declare, say your- 
 selves, what that was, or to what race of beings it should be 
 referred, if your service of certain personages is [in itself] 
 certain. 6 Since the case is thus, and the discussion deals 
 with your deity, and your religion also, it is your part to 
 teach, and yours to show what that was, rather than to wish 
 to hear our opinions and to await our decisions. For we, 
 indeed, what else can we say than that which took place and 
 was seen, which has been handed down in all the narratives, 
 and has been observed by means of the eyes ? This, how- 
 ever, undoubtedly we say [was] a colubra 6 of very power- 
 ful frame and immense length, or, if the name is despicable, 
 [we say it was] a snake, 7 we call it a serpent, 8 or any other 
 
 1 These words, non debuit oculorum negare conspectui, should, Orelli 
 thinks, be omitted ; and certainly their connection with the rest of the 
 sentence is not very apparent. 
 
 2 Lit., " he was, and such as he had learned that he was, contained 
 in the power of his divinity." 
 
 3 Lit., "to ambiguous contradictions." * 43 in Orelli. 
 
 5 Lit., " if your services of certain persons are certain," i.e. if these 
 facts on which your worship is built are well ascertained. 
 
 6 What species of snake this was, is not known ; the Latin is therefore 
 retained, as the sentence insists on the distinction. 
 
 7 Aligner*. 6 Serpenlem.
 
 BOOK vii.] ARNOBIUS AD VERSUS GENTES. 359 
 
 name which usage has afforded to us, or the development of 
 language devised. For if it crawled as a serpent, not sup- 
 porting itself and walking on feet, 1 but resting upon its belly 
 and breast; if, being made of fleshly substance, it [lay] 
 stretched out in 2 slippery length ; if it had a head and tail, 
 a back covered with scales, diversified by spots of various 
 colours ; if it had a mouth bristling with fangs, and ready to 
 bite, what else can we say than that it was of earthly origin, 
 although of immense and excessive size, although it exceeded 
 in length of body and [greatness] of might that which was 
 slain by Regulus by the assault of his army ? But [if] we 
 think otherwise, we subvert 3 and overthrow the truth. It 
 is yours, then, to explain what that was, or what was its 
 origin, its name, and nature. For how could it have been a 
 god, seeing that it had those things which we have mentioned, 
 which gods should not have if they intend to be gods, and 
 to possess this exalted title ? After it. crawled to the island 
 in the Tiber, forthwith it was nowhere to be seen, by which 
 it is shown that it was a deity. Can we, then, know whether 
 there was there anything in the way under cover of which it 
 hid itself, 4 or some opening [in the earth], or some caverns and 
 vaults, caused by huge masses being heaped up irregularly, 
 into which it hurried, evading the gaze of the beholders? 
 For what if it leaped across the river? what if it swam 
 across it ? what if it hid itself in the dense forests ? It 
 is weak reasoning from this, 5 to suppose that that serpent 
 was a god because with all speed it withdrew itself from the 
 eyes [of the beholders], since, by the same reasoning, it can 
 be proved, on the other hand, that it was not a god. 
 
 47. 6 But if that snake was not a present deity, [says my 
 
 1 Lit., " bearing himself on feet, nor unfolding below his own goings." 
 
 2 Lit., " to a." 
 
 3 So Hild. and Oehler, reading labefac-t-amus for the sis. -i-. 
 
 4 This sentence alone is sufficient to prove that these chapters were 
 never carefully revised by their author, as otherwise so glaring repeti- 
 tions would certainly have been avoided. 
 
 5 Here the MS. and both Roman edd. insert the last clause, " what 
 . . . forests." 
 
 44 in Orelli.
 
 860 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK vn. 
 
 opponent], why, after its arrival, was the violence of the 
 plague overcome, and health restored to the Roman people ? 
 We, too, on the other hand, bring forward [the question], 
 If, according to the books of the fates and the responses of 
 the seers, the god JEsculapius was ordered to be invited to 
 the city, that he might cause it to be safe and sound from 
 the contagion of the plague and of pestilential diseases, and 
 came without spurning [the proposal] contemptuously, as 
 you say, changed into the form of serpents, why has the 
 Roman state been so often afflicted with such disasters, so 
 often at one time and another torn, harassed, and diminished 
 by thousands, through the destruction of its citizens times 
 without number? For since the god is said to have been 
 summoned for this purpose, that he might drive away utterly 
 all the causes by which pestilence was excited, it followed that 
 the state should be safe, and should be always maintained 
 free from pestilential blasts, and unharmed. But yet we see, 
 as was said before, that it has over and over again had seasons 
 made mournful by these diseases, and that the manly vigour 
 of its people has been shattered and weakened by no slight 
 losses. Where, then, was JEsculapius ? where that [deliverer] 
 promised by venerable oracles? Why, after temples were 
 built, and shrines reared to him, did he allow a state deserv- 
 ing his favour to be any longer plague- stricken, when he had 
 been summoned for this purpose, that he should cure the 
 diseases which were raging, and not allow anything of the 
 sort which might be dreaded to steal on [them afterwards] ? 
 48. 1 But some one will perhaps say that the care of such 
 a god has been denied 2 to later and following ages, because 
 the ways in which men now live are impious and objec- 
 tionable ; that it brought help to our ancestors, on the con- 
 trary, because they were blameless and guiltless. Now this 
 might perhaps have been listened to, and said with some 
 reasonableness, either if in ancient times all were good with- 
 out exception, or if later times produced 3 only wicked people, 
 
 1 45 in Orelli. 2 Lit., " wanting." 
 
 8 The MS., 1st ed., Hild., and Oehler read gener-ent, corrected in the 
 rest, as above, -arenl.
 
 BOOK vii.] ARNOBIUS AD VERSUS GENTES. 361 
 
 and no others. 1 But since this is the case that in great peoples, 
 in nations, nay, in all cities even, men have been of mixed 2 
 natures, wishes, manners, and the good and bad have been 
 able to exist at the same time in former ages, as well as in 
 modern times, it is rather stupid to say that mortals of a 
 later day have not obtained the aid of the deities on account 
 of their wickedness. For if on account of the wicked of 
 later generations the good men of modern times have not 
 been protected, on account of the ancient evil-doers also the 
 good of former times should in like manner not have gained 
 the favour of the deities. But if on account of the good of 
 ancient times the wicked of ancient times were preserved 
 also, the following age, too, should have been protected, 
 although it was faulty on account of the good of later times. 
 So, then, either that snake gained the reputation of [being] 
 a saviour while he had been of no service at all, through his 
 being brought [to the city] when the violence of the disease 3 
 was already weakened and impaired, or the hymns of the 
 fates must be said to have been far from giving 4 true indi- 
 cations, since the remedy given by them is found to have 
 been useful, not to all in succession, but to one age only. 
 
 49. 5 But the Great Mother, also, says [my opponent], 
 being summoned from Phrygian Pessinus in precisely the 
 same way by command of the seers, was a cause of safety 
 and great joy to the people. For, on the one hand, a long- 
 powerful enemy was thrust out from the position he had 
 gained in 6 Italy ; and, on the other, its ancient glory was 
 restored to the city by glorious and illustrious victories, and 
 the boundaries of the empire were extended far and wide, 
 and their rights as freemen were torn from races, states, 
 peoples without number, and the yoke of slavery imposed on 
 
 1 Lit., "all wicked and distinguished by no diversity." 
 
 2 Lit., "the human race has been mixed in," etc. 
 
 3 So all edd., reading m morbi, except Hild., who retains the MS. vi 
 urbi, in which case the brackets should enclose "of the disease," instead 
 of " to the city." The construction, however, seems to make it impos- 
 sible to adhere to the MS. 
 
 4 Lit., " to have erred much from." 
 
 5 46 in Orelli. 6 Lit., " from the possession of Italy."
 
 362 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF [BOOK vn. 
 
 them, and many other things accomplished at home and 
 abroad established the renown and dignity of the race with 
 irresistible power. If the histories tell the truth, and do not 
 insert what is false in their accounts of events, nothing else 
 truly l is said to have been brought from Phrygia, sent by 
 King Attalus, than a stone, not large, which could be carried 
 in a man's hand without any pressure of a dusky and black 
 colour not smooth, but having little corners standing out, 
 and which to-day we all see put in that image instead of a 
 face, rough and unhewn, giving to the figure a countenance 
 by no means lifelike. 2 
 
 50. 3 What shall we say then? Was Hannibal, that 
 famous Carthaginian, an enemy strong arid powerful, be- 
 fore whom the fortunes of Rome trembled in doubt and 
 uncertainty, and its greatness shook was he driven from 
 Italy by a stone? 4 was he subdued by a stone? was he made 
 fearful, and timid, and unlike himself by a stone? And 
 with regard to Rome's again springing to the height of 
 power and royal supremacy, was nothing done by wisdom, 
 nothing by the strength of men ; and, in returning to its 
 former eminence, was no assistance given by so many and 
 so great leaders by their military skill, or by their acquaint- 
 ance with affairs? Did the stone give strength to some, 
 feebleness to others ? Did it hurl these down from success, 
 raise the fortunes of others [which seemed] hopelessly over- 
 thrown ? And what man will believe that a stone taken 
 from the earth, having 5 no feeling, of sooty colour and 
 dark 6 body, was the mother of the gods? or who, again, 
 would listen to this (for this is the only alternative), that 
 the power 7 of any deity dwelt in pieces of flint, within 8 its 
 
 1 So all edd. to Orelli, adding -em to the MS. quid. 
 
 2 Lit., " a face too little expressed with imitation." 
 
 3 47 in Orelli. 4 Lit., " did a stone drive," etc. 
 
 5 Lit., " moved by." 
 
 6 So the MS. and edd.; but, on account of the unnecessary repetition, 
 Ursinus proposed to delete atri. Unger (Anal. Propert. p. 87) has sug- 
 gested very happily arti " of confined, i.e. small body." 
 
 7 Vim, suggested by Orelli, and adopted by Hild. and Oehler. 
 
 8 Lit., "subjected to."
 
 BOOK vii.] AENOBIUS ADVERSUS GENTES. 363 
 
 mass, 1 and hidden in its veins? And how was the victory 
 procured if there was no deity in the Pessinuntine stone ? 
 We may say, by the zeal and valour of the soldiers, by prac- 
 tice, time, wisdom, reason ; we may [say], by fate also, and 
 the alternating fickleness of fortune. But if the state of 
 affairs was improved, and success and victory were regained, 
 by the stone's assistance, where was the Phrygian mother at 
 the time when the commonwealth was bowed down by the 
 slaughter of so many and so great armies, and was in danger 
 of utter ruin ? Why did she not thrust herself before the 
 threatening, the strong [enemy] ? Why did she not crush 
 and repel assaults 2 so terrible before these awful blows fell, 
 by which all the blood was shed, and the life even failed, 
 the vitals being almost exhausted? She had not been 
 brought yet, [says my opponent], nor asked to show favour. 
 Be it so ; 3 but a kind helper never requires to be asked, 
 always offering assistance of his own accord. She was 
 not able, [you say], to expel the enemy and put him to 
 flight, while still separated from Italy 4 by much sea and 
 land. But to a deity, if really one, 5 nothing whatever is 
 remote, to whom the earth is a point, and by whose nod all 
 things have been established. 
 
 51. 6 But suppose that the deity was present in that very 
 stone, as you demand should be believed : and what mortal 
 is there, although he may be credulous and very ready to 
 listen to any fictions you please, who would consider that 
 she either was a goddess at that time, or should be now so 
 spoken of and named, who at one time desires these things, 
 at another requires those, abandons and despises her worship- 
 pers, leaves the humbler provinces, and allies herself with more 
 
 1 So Hild. and Oehler, reading moli for the unintelligible MS. more. 
 
 2 Lit., " so great assaults of war." 
 
 3 So Oehler, adding -o to the MS. est. The word immediately preced- 
 ing is in the MS. pavorem " panic," which is of course utterly out of 
 place, and is therefore corrected, as above, /- in all edd., except 1st, 
 Ursinus, and Hild. 
 
 4 So a& Italia Oehler has admirably emended the MS. habitdbilia. 
 6 Lit., " if he is." 6 48 in Orelli.
 
 364 THE SEVEN BOOKS OF ARNOBIUS. [BOOK VH. 
 
 powerful and richer peoples, truly l loves warfare, and wishes 
 to be in the midst of battles, slaughter, death, and blood ? 
 If it is characteristic of the gods (if only they are true gods, 
 and those who it is fitting should be named according to 
 the meaning of this word and the power of divinity) to do a 
 nothing wickedly, nothing unjustly, to show 2 themselves 
 equally gracious to all men without any partiality, [would] 
 any man [believe] that she was of divine origin, or showed 3 
 kindness worthy of the gods, who, mixing herself up with 
 the dissensions of men, destroyed the power of some, gave 
 and showed favour to others, bereft some of their liberty, 
 raised others to the height of power, who, that one state 
 might be pre-eminent, having been born to be the bane of 
 the human race, subjugated the guiltless world? 
 
 1 All edd., except Hild. and Oehler, begin a new sentence here, 
 and change the construction, seemingly following the mistake of the 
 1st ed. 
 
 2 " To do ... to show;" so the edd., dropping -nt from the MS. 
 facere-nt . . . prasbere-nt. 
 
 8 Lit., " showed." Ursinus and Heraldus supposed that some para- 
 graphs are now wanting which were originally found here. It should 
 be noticed that in the MS. the usual subscription is found denoting 
 the end of a book. " The seventh book of Arnovius (sic) ends, the 
 eighth (i.e Octavius of Minucius Felix) begins," so that the present 
 arrangement is not due to the binder, nor clearly to the copyist who 
 wrote these words. Nothing can be more certain than that we do 
 not have these chapters as Arnobius intended to leave them; but 
 there is not the slightest reason to suppose that he actually left 
 them otherwise than they have come down to us. Remembering this, 
 we may well suppose that we have only the first draught of them. 
 If so, the difficulties vanish, for nothing would be more natural than 
 that, when Arnobius was drawing near the close of his work, the 
 ideas of the conclusion in which the discussion was to be fairly summed 
 up should force themselves upon his attention, and that he should 
 therefore turn aside at once to give them expression roughly, without 
 seeking completeness and elaboration, and should then hastily resume 
 his argument, of course with the intention of afterwards revising and 
 rearranging the whole. We may infer that the rearrangement was 
 never effected, as there are sufficient proofs that the revision was never 
 accomplished, whatever may have been the reason.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 [This section, which is found in the us. after the first sentence of ch. 
 44, was retained in the text of both Eoman editions, marked off, 
 however, by asterisks in that of Ursinus, but was rejected by 
 Gelenius and later editors as the useless addition of some copyist. 
 Oehler alone has seen that it is not " a collection of words gathered 
 carelessly and thoughtlessly" (Hildebrand), and maintained that 
 we have in it the corrections of Arnobius himself. If the three 
 paragraphs are read carefully, it will be observed that the first is a 
 transposition and reconstruction of the first two sentences of ch. 
 89 ; the second a revision of the interrogations in ch. 41, but with 
 the sentence which there precedes placed after them here, whilst the 
 third is made up of the same sentences in a revised and enlarged 
 form. Now this must be regarded as conclusive evidence against 
 the hypothesis that these sentences were originally scribbled care- 
 lessly on the margin, and afterwards accidentally incorporated ia 
 the text. Cf. p. 347, n. 3.] 
 
 |E do not deny that all these things which have been 
 brought forward by you in opposition are con- 
 tained in the writings of the annalists. For we 
 have ourselves also, according to the measure 
 and capacity of our powers, read these same things, and 
 know that they have been alleged ; but the whole discussion 
 hinges upon this : whether these are gods who you assert 
 are furious when displeased, and are soothed by games and 
 sacrifices, or are something far different, and should be 
 separated from the notion even of this, and from its power. 
 
 For who, in the first place, thinks or believes that those 
 are gods who are lost in joyful pleasure at theatrical shows l 
 and ballets, at horses running to no purpose; who set out 
 from heaven to behold silly and insipid acting, and grieve 
 that they are injured, and that the honours due to them are 
 1 Lit., " motions."
 
 866 APPENDIX. 
 
 withheld if the pantomimist halts for a little, or the player, 
 being wearied, rests a little ; who declare that the dancer 
 has displeased them if some guilty [fellow] passes through 
 the middle of the circus to suffer the penalty and punish- 
 ment of his deeds? All which things, if they be sifted 
 thoroughly and without any partiality, will be found to be 
 alien not only to the gods, but to any man of refinement, 
 even if he has not been trained to the utmost gravity and 
 self-control. 1 
 
 For, in the first place, who is there who would suppose 
 that those had been, or believe that they are, gods, who have 
 a nature which tends to 2 mischief and fury, and lay these 3 
 aside again, being moved by a cup of blood and fumigation 
 with incense; who spend days of festivity, and [find] the 
 liveliest pleasure in theatrical shows 4 and ballets; who set 
 out from heaven to see geldings running in vain, and with- 
 out any reason, and rejoice that some of them pass [the rest], 
 that others are passed, 5 rush on, leaning forward, and, with 
 their heads towards the ground, are overturned on their 
 backs with the chariots [to which they are yoked], are 
 dragged along crippled, and limp with broken legs; who 
 declare that the dancer has displeased them if some wicked 
 fellow passes through the middle of the circus to suffer the 
 punishment and penalty of his deeds; who grieve that they 
 are injured, and that the honours due to them are withheld 
 if the pantomimist halts for a little, the player, being wearied, 
 rests a little, that puer matnmus happens to fall, stumbling 
 through some 6 unsteadiness ? Now, if all these things are 
 
 1 Lit., "to the heights (apices) of gravity and weight," i.e. of that 
 constancy of mind which is not moved by trifles. 
 
 2 Lit., " of hurting and raging." 
 8 i.e. evil dispositions. 
 
 4 Lit., "motions." 
 
 5 So the MS., according to Crusius, inserting transiri, which is omitted 
 by Hild., either because it is not in the Jis., or because he neglected 
 to notice that Orelli's text was deficient. If omitted, we should trans- 
 late, "that some pass, leaning forward, and rush with their heads 
 towards the ground." 
 
 * Lit., " of something."
 
 APPENDIX. 367 
 
 considered thoroughly and without any partiality, they are 
 found to be perfectly l alien not only to the [character of 
 the] gods, but to that of any man of common sense, even 
 although he has not been trained to zealous pursuit of truth 
 by becoming acquainted with what is rational. 
 1 Lit., "far aad far."
 
 INDICES. 
 
 I. AUTHORS REFERRED TO BY ARNOBIUS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Acherontic books, . . .131 
 
 
 r*<i* 
 211 
 
 JEVms, . . 176 
 
 Homer II i 43 
 
 
 Aethlius, .... 283 
 Antias 222 
 Antiochus, Histories, ix., . 277 
 Apollodorus 207 
 
 xiv. 312, 
 Od. 296 sqq., . 
 
 215 
 
 207 
 
 7S 
 
 Aristotle, . . . .171 
 
 Leo Pellaeus, . . 
 
 211 
 131 
 
 Butas, Causalla of, . . 241 
 
 Ciesius 178 
 Cicero, de Nat. Dear. i. 35, . 162 
 iii., . . . 154, 195 
 
 ,, Fatales, .... 
 Lucilius, the Fornix of, 68, 
 Lucretius, iv. 1160, 
 
 Manilius, .... 
 
 360 
 242 
 157 
 
 176 
 175 
 
 iii. 21, . . . 196 
 iii. 33 sqq., . . 296 
 pro Hose. Am. c. 32, . 262 
 Tusc. i. 10, . . . 72 
 
 Myrtilus, . . . 175, 
 
 Nicanor, .... 
 Nigidius, . . 172, 178, 
 
 206 
 
 211 
 
 179 
 143 
 
 Cleraeus Alexandrinus, Ae-yos 
 iifOTfivT 154, 195 
 
 Orpheus, . . . 242, 
 
 250 
 
 Clodius, Sextus, de Diis, lib. vi., 241 
 Cornificius, . . . .176 
 
 Panyassis, .... 
 
 207 
 
 Ctesias, Hist, i., . . .43 
 Dia<*oras . . . 24 211 
 
 Philostephanus, Cypriaca of, . 
 Pindar, Pyth. iii. 102 sqq., . 
 Piso 
 
 297 
 206 
 
 17fi 
 
 Ennius, .... 162, 211 
 Ephorus, . . . .175 
 Epicharmus, . . . .207 
 Epictetus, . . . .147 
 Euhemerus 211 
 Euripides, Hercules, . . 344 
 
 Fabius 279 
 
 Plato, Meno, st. p. 81, 
 Phcedo, 64, . 
 81, . 
 113, . 
 Phiulrus, 
 230, 
 246, 
 274, 
 Politicus, 269-274 
 
 90 
 97 
 83 
 80 
 101 
 69 
 171 
 139 
 79 
 
 Flaccus . 241 
 
 Republic, 379, 
 
 133 
 
 Granius, . .171, 176, 279 
 Heraclitus, . . . 124, 253 
 
 457, 
 ThecEtetus, 158, 
 173, 
 Timceus, 21, . 
 
 54 
 70 
 78 
 198 
 
 Hermippus, .... 43 
 Hesiod, Theog. 77-79, . . 176 
 Hieronymus 208 
 AKNOB. 
 
 22, . 8 
 41 ; 91, 103, 119, 
 Plautus 
 i! A 
 
 ,11 
 
 120 
 343
 
 370 
 
 INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 
 
 Plutarch, 
 Polemo, . . 
 
 PAGE 
 
 . 208 
 . 208 
 
 FAOH 
 
 Timotheus, .... 227 
 Trebatius, . . . 340 
 
 Pomponius, Marsyas of, 
 Posidippus, 
 Ptolemaeus, History of 
 pator, lib. i., 
 
 Sammonicus, . 
 Sophocles, Trachinice, 
 Sosibius, 
 
 Tarentine poet, 
 Theodorus, 
 
 . 68 
 286, 297 
 Pldlo- 
 . 278 
 
 . 279 
 217, 344 
 . 208 
 
 . 244 
 . 211 
 
 Valerianus 279 
 Valerius, .... 230 
 Varro, 176, 178, 179, 18C, 283, 307 
 depopulo Romano, i., . 232 
 de Admirandis, . . 274 
 Polyandria, . . . 278 
 Saturce Memppenc, . 299 
 Virgil, Mn. vi. 472, . .91 
 
 Zeno, . 270 
 
 IL INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 
 
 ABDERA, proverbial for stupidity, 
 236. 
 
 Abusive language, punished by law, 
 216. 
 
 Acantho, mother of the fourth Sun, 
 196. 
 
 Acdestis, birth of, 227 ; a herma- 
 phrodite, 227 ; self-mutilated by 
 the craft of Bacchus, 228 ; love of 
 Attis, 229 ; fatal consequences of 
 his fury, 230. 
 
 Achaia, Christianity attested by 
 miracles in, 76. 
 
 Acheron, 80, 253. 
 
 Achilles, 209. 
 
 Aoorns and chestnuts, the food of 
 primitive men, 87, 136. 
 
 Acrisius, buried in temple of Minerva 
 at Larissa, 277. 
 
 Actseon, the horned hunter, 174. 
 
 Actors, freed from taxes, 217. 
 
 Admetus, served by Apollo, 207. 
 
 Adonis, loved by Proserpine, 209. 
 
 Adulterers, punished with death, 
 205. 
 
 JSacus, son of Jupiter, first builder 
 of temples, 274 ; loved by the Ne- 
 reid, 209. 
 
 ^Elius, held that the Novensiles were 
 the Muses, 176, 177. 
 
 yEneas, son-in-law of Latinus, 141 ; 
 son of Venus, 209 ; deified, 177. 
 
 ^seulapius, son of Coronis, 27 ; 
 killed by lightning, 32, 206 ; dei- 
 fied because he discovered use of 
 herbs, 29, 32, 177 ; giver of health, 
 135, 167 ; distinguished by his 
 staff, 301 ; golden beard torn from 
 a statue of, 296 ; three gods named, 
 
 197 ; vintage festival of, 342 ; 
 brought to Rome in form of a ser- 
 pent, 356. 
 
 ^ther, father of Jupiter, 195 ; shown 
 not to be a god, 174. 
 
 ^Ethusa, loved by Apollo, 208. 
 
 ;Etna, torches of Ceres lit at, 248, 
 259. 
 
 Agdus, Mount, 227. 
 
 Agesarchus, 278. 
 
 Aii Loeutii, 21. 
 
 Alba, founded by Ascanius, 141 ; 
 flourished for 400 years, 335 ; in- 
 cense unknown in, 335. 
 
 Alban Hill, white bulls sacrificed 
 on, 138. 
 
 Alcibiades, the Hermse modelled 
 after, 286. 
 
 Alcmena, seduced by Jupiter, 140, 
 245 ; mother of the Theban Her- 
 cules, 203. 
 
 Alcyone, 208. 
 
 Alemanni, said to have been over- 
 come because Christians were to 
 be found amongst them, 14. 
 
 Alimontian mysteries, 252. 
 
 Allegorical explanation of myths, 
 150, 179 : rejected by Aruobius, 
 ISO. 
 
 Alope, loved by Neptune, 208. 
 
 Ambiguity of words, Jupiter en- 
 snared by, 222. 
 
 Amphitheatres places of bloodshed 
 and wickedness, 72. 
 
 Amphitrite, loved by Neptune, 208. 
 
 Amymone, loved by Neptune, 208. 
 
 Anchises, loved by Venus, 27, 209. 
 
 Angels' names, used as incantations, 
 34.
 
 INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 
 
 371 
 
 Animals, man closely allied to the 
 other, 82, S3, 84, 92 ; man not 
 morally superior to the other, 315 ; 
 deified and worshipped, 21. 
 
 Ant, Jupiter's conversion into an, 
 267. 
 
 Antiochus of Cyzicum, sacrilege of, 
 295. 
 
 Antiquity, the most fertile source of 
 errors, 47. 
 
 Ancient customs, not adhered to by 
 heathens as well as by Christians, 
 137. 
 
 Auubis, dog-faced, 301. 
 
 Apis, born in the Peloponnese, 28 ; 
 called Serapis by the Egyptians, 
 28 ; those punished who revealed 
 the abode of, 278. 
 
 Apollo, son of Jupiter and Latona, 
 140, 204, 208 ; son of Minerva and 
 Vulcan, 196, 198 ; accompanied 
 his mother in her wanderings, 27 ; 
 found refuge on a floating island, 
 27 ;' called Clarian, Deliau, Dirty- 
 inean, Philesian, Pythian, 20 ; 
 bow-bearing, 27, 204 ; Sminthian, 
 173 ; deceived those who enriched 
 his temples, 206 ; served Admetus 
 and Laomedon, 207 ; pirates plun- 
 dered and burned temples of, 298 ; 
 identified with Bacchus and the 
 sun, 173 ; Eituals of Numa did 
 not contain name of, 143 ; four 
 gods named, 197 ; human heads 
 offered to Dis and Saturn by ad- 
 vice of, 138 ; and Neptune, the 
 Penates, 181 ; Hyperoche and 
 Laodice buried in temple of De- 
 lian, 277 ; Telmessus buried under 
 the altar of, 278; god of music, 
 330 ; mistresses of, 208 ; repre- 
 sented with lyre and plectrum, 
 285. 
 
 Apollonius, the Magian, 43. 
 
 Aquilius, 32. 
 
 Arabia, Christianity tested by 
 miracles in, 76. 
 
 Arabians, worshipped an unshaped 
 stone, 283. 
 
 Arcadia, Mars born in, 207. 
 
 Archesilas, affirms that man knows 
 nothing, 72. 
 
 Archytas, assigns all things to num- 
 bers, 72. 
 
 Aristotle, adds a fifth element to the 
 primary causes, 72 ; affirmed that 
 Minerva was the moon, 171. 
 
 Arpros, destruction by fire of temple 
 of Juno at, 298. 
 
 Argus, slain by Mercury, 193, 301. 
 
 Armenians, believed that one god 
 was cause of all divine manifesta- 
 tions, 195. 
 
 Armenian, Zoroaster an, 43. 
 
 Arnobius, date of, 13, 141 ; zeal as 
 a heathen, 31. 
 
 Arsinoe, loved by Apollo, 208. 
 
 Asia, afflicted with mice and locusts 
 because of the Christians, 14 ; 
 Christianity attested by miracles 
 in, 76. 
 
 Asses, sacrificed to Mars by the 
 Scythians, 207. 
 
 Assyrians, war of Bactrians with, 8. 
 
 Atellane farces, 344. 
 
 Athenians, made their Hermae like 
 Alcibiades, 286. 
 
 Athens, fall of temple of Bacchus 
 at, 298 ; Cecrops buried in temple 
 of Minerva at, 277. 
 
 Atlantis, the fabled island, 8. 
 
 Atlas, prop of the skies, 139 ; grand- 
 father ot Mercury, 165. 
 
 Attalus, sent from Phrvgia to Rome 
 a stone as the Great Mother, 362. 
 
 Attaci, Phrygian name of goats, 
 229. 
 
 Att\.-a, visited by Ceres, 263. 
 
 Atiis, worshipped in the temples of 
 Cybele, 33; son of Nana, 229; 
 loved by Cybele, 211, 229; self- 
 mutilation and death of, 230 ; 
 rites established in honour of, 
 231 ; explained as the sun, 265. 
 
 Aulus, Capitol named from, 279. 
 
 Aurora's love of Tithonus, 209. 
 
 Aventine, Jupiter drawn down to 
 the, 223. 
 
 BACCHANALIA, two kinds of, 242. 
 
 Bacchus, son of Semele, 173, 204; 
 dashed by lightning from his 
 mother's womb, 27 ; born again 
 from his father's thigh, 204 ; giver 
 of a good vintage, 135 ; represented 
 as effeminate, 284 ; and as bearing 
 a drinking-cup, 301 ; phalli dis- 
 played at rites of, 252 ; identified 
 with the sun, 173 ; goats sacrificed 
 to, 328 ; called Evius, 253 ; Ny- 
 sius, 252 ; Zagreus, 242 ; Brotnius, 
 204 ; torn in pieces by Titans, 
 32, 242 ; destruction of temple at 
 Athens of, 298. 
 
 Bacis, the soothsayer, 51. 
 
 Bactrian, Zoroaster a, 43. 
 
 Bactrians, war of Assyrians with, 8. 
 
 Baebulus, the Marian, 43.
 
 372 
 
 INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 
 
 Banquets of the gods, 342. 
 
 Bark, used in ancieiit times for 
 clothing, 136. 
 
 Baubo, entertainer of Cerea at 
 Eleusis, 248. 
 
 Beetles, temples erected to, 21. 
 
 Bellonse, 21, 168. 
 
 Berecyntiaii goddess, 236. 
 
 Binding of Mars and Venus, explained 
 allegorically, 265. 
 
 Birthdays of the gods, 343. 
 
 Bocchores, 27. 
 
 Bon a Dea, story of, 241 ; original 
 name, 27. 
 
 Branch, a, worshipped by the Thes- 
 pians, 283. 
 
 Brides, hair of, arranged with hasta 
 ccelibaris, 138. 
 
 Brimo, Ceres named, 243. 
 
 Bromius, name of Bacchus, 204. 
 
 Brunda, Simon Magus threw him- 
 self from house-top at, 77. 
 
 Burnus, god of lust, 191. 
 
 Cculibaris hasta, used in arranging 
 hair of brides, 138. 
 
 Cseselii, 54. 
 
 Csesius' enumeration of the Penates, 
 178. 
 
 Calamities, common to all ages, not 
 caused by Christians, 6. 
 
 Calliope's son, Orpheus, 250. 
 
 Canacheni, 299. 
 
 Canary Islands, 276. 
 
 Cannas, proscription of Sulla com- 
 pared to the battle of, 262. 
 
 Capitol, Tolus Vulcentanus buried 
 in the, 278 ; named from Olus, 
 279 ; destroyed by fire, 298 ; struck 
 by lightning, 351. 
 
 Capitoline Jupiter burned along 
 with the temple, 298. 
 
 Capitoline Hill, taken by Titus 
 Tatius, 186. 
 
 Caprotina, name of Juno. 171. 
 
 Carians, the, sacrificed dogs to Mars, 
 207. 
 
 Carueades, affirmed man's ignorance 
 of all things, 72. 
 
 Castor and Pollux, called Tyndarian 
 brothers, 139 ; Dioscori, 204; sons 
 of Jupiter and Leda, 140, 204 ; 
 sons of Tyndareus, 27 ; buried in 
 Lacedaemonia, 208 ; three sets of 
 gods named, 197. 
 
 Castor, famed for his skill in ma- 
 naging horses, 27. 
 
 Castus, a fasting, 240. 
 
 Catitnitus, carried off to be a cup- 
 
 bearer, 209 ; object of Jupiter's 
 lust, 245. 
 
 Cato, 161. 
 
 Cats, temples built to, 21. 
 
 Caudine Forks, Romans sent under 
 the yoke at, 187. 
 
 Cecrops, buried in the temple of 
 Minerva at Athens, 277. 
 
 Celeus, daughters of, buried in temple 
 at Eleusis, 277. 
 
 Cerberus, 253. 
 
 Ceres, born in Sicily, 27 ; deified 
 because she discovered use of 
 bread, 29 ; gives good crops, 135 ; 
 lusted after Jasion, 209 ; mother 
 of Jupiter, according to Phry- 
 gians, 242 ; violated by him, 243 ; 
 wanderings of, 248 ; her sacred 
 rites called Grceca, 143 ; identified 
 with Diana and Luna, 173 ; said 
 by Csesiua to be one of the Pen- 
 ates, 178 ; represented with pro- 
 truding breasts, 157, 301 ; her 
 temple at Eleusis, 277 ; falling of 
 rain upon the earth denoted by 
 union of Jupiter and, 256, 266; 
 bread denoted by, 268 ; feast iu. 
 honour of, 343. 
 
 Cestus, Juno's, 301. 
 
 Chseronea, Plutarch of, 208. 
 
 Chaldeans, mysterious learning of, 
 8 ; believed that one God appeared 
 in all divine manifestations, 195. 
 
 Cbildbirth, Juno set over, 166. 
 
 C barms, used to appease unknown 
 powers, 79. 
 
 Christ, recalled men from their 
 errors, 29 ; revealed God's nature, 
 29 ; and man's condition and pro- 
 spects, 30 ; was sent as a Saviour, 
 44, 55 ; His authority established 
 by His mighty works, 36, 37, 39, 
 40, 74; and by His transmitting 
 this power to His followers, 41, 
 42 ; said to have been a sorcerer, 
 34 ; but in Him there was nothing 
 magical, nothing delusive, 44 ; 
 helped all who came to Him, 40 ; 
 access to the light only by, 135 ; 
 invites all alike, 133 ; did harm 
 to no one, but declared even to 
 His enemies the way of salvation, 
 57 ; divine, 33, 44 ; the universe 
 thrown into confusion at cruci- 
 fixion of, 44 ; did not die, but His 
 human form, 51 ; became incar- 
 nate, that He might mix with men, 
 50 ; was crucified for reasons be- 
 yond humjui comprehension, 52 ;
 
 INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 
 
 873 
 
 the reason for the time of His ap- 
 pearance with God, 144 ; but an 
 explanation may be found, 144, 
 145 ; the divine compassion ex- 
 tended to those who died before, 
 132 ; demons put to flight by the 
 name of, 37 ; the secret thoughts 
 of men known to, 37. 
 
 Christians, worship the supreme 
 God, 20 ; worship Christ as giver 
 of eternal life, 31, 101 ; prefer 
 Christ's friendship to all that is 
 in the world, 67 ; laughed at for 
 their faith, 71 ; had more reason 
 to follow Christ than the heathen 
 to trust the philosophers, 74 ; 
 called atheists, 169 ; said to be 
 stupid and senseless, 21, 78, 160 ; 
 exiled, tortured, given to the 
 beasts, burned, 19, 218 ; have 
 learned not to requite evil with 
 evil, 9 ; no hope of aid as to this 
 life held out to, 146 ; death brings 
 release to, 147 ; accused of being 
 the cause of all calamities, 3, 6 ; 
 built no temples, and offered no 
 sacriaces, 271, 272. 
 
 Christianity, novelty of, no real ob- 
 jection, 136, 138, 140, 142; the 
 way of salvation, 135. 
 
 Chrysippus, object of Jupiter's lust, 
 209. 
 
 Chrysippus, asserted that the world 
 would be destroyed by fire, 72. 
 
 Cbrysis, Juno's priestess, burned at 
 Argos, 298. 
 
 Cicero, the most eloquent of the 
 Romans, 154. 
 
 Cincian law against gifts to advo- 
 cates, 137. 
 
 Cincius, regards the Novensiles as 
 the gods of conquered states, 
 deities brought from abroad, 177. 
 
 Cinxia, a name of Juno, 171 ; pre- 
 sides over the loosening of the 
 zone, 168 ; the Thespians worship 
 a branch as, 283. 
 
 Cinyras, king of Cyprus, 207; king of 
 Paphos, 278; deified Venus, a cour- 
 tezan, 207; was buried in temple 
 of Veuus, 278 ; founder of the 
 mysteries of Cyprian Venus, 242. 
 
 Circe, mother of the fifth Sun, 196. 
 
 Circus, story of re-celebration of the 
 games of the, 35. 
 
 Cleochus (or Clearchus), buried in 
 the Diclymseon at Miletus, 278. 
 
 Clitor, daughter of, seduced by 
 Jupiter, 209. 
 
 Cnidian Venus, copied from a courte- 
 zan, 286. 
 
 Cocytus, river in Hades, 80. 
 
 Ccelus, father of Saturn and Ops by 
 Hecate, 141, 171 ; of the second 
 Jupiter, 195 ; of the first Mercury, 
 196 ; of the Muses, 175 ; of Janus 
 by Hecate, 170 ; Venus produced 
 from the genitals of, 206. 
 
 Complices and C'onsentes, said to be 
 the Penates, 178. 
 
 Concord, temples built to, 184, 185. 
 
 Conserentes dii, parents of Servius 
 Tullius, 241. 
 
 Census, god of devices, 166. 
 
 Corniculum, Ocrisia brought to Rome 
 from, 241. 
 
 Cornificius, maintains that Noven- 
 siles preside over renovation, 177. 
 
 Coronis, mother of ^Esculapius, 27. 
 
 Corybantes, rites of the, 242. 
 
 Coryphasia, epithet of the fourth 
 Minerva, 197, 199. 
 
 Crates, affirms that there are eight 
 Muses, 175. 
 
 Crete, Jupiter born and buried in, 
 196, 208. 
 
 Croniu?, 74. 
 
 Cupids, three sets of winged, 197. 
 
 Curetes, drowned the criesof Jupiter, 
 179 ; saved him from death, 206. 
 
 Cyceon, the draught offered to Ceres 
 by Baubo, 249. 
 
 Cyllenian, bearer of the caduceus, 
 172. 
 
 Cyprian Venus, statue of, loved by 
 Pygmalion, 297. 
 
 Cyrus, 43. 
 
 Cytherean, the, i.e. Venus, 286. 
 
 Cyzicum, sacrilege of Antiochus of, 
 295. 
 
 DACTYLI Idrei identified with the 
 
 Digiti Samothracii, 179. 
 Dairas, buried in the enclosure at 
 
 Eleusis, 277. 
 Damigero, a Magian, 43. 
 Danae, loved by Jupiter, 245. 
 Dancer stops, expiation required if 
 
 the, 213. 
 
 Daphne, loved by Apollo, 208. 
 Dardanus, the Magian, 43 ; Dar- 
 
 danus first celebrated rites of the 
 
 Phrygian Mother, 143. 
 Dead, prayers for the, 218. 
 Decemvirs, decrees of the, 216. 
 Deluge, Varro's computation of the 
 
 time of the, 232 ; human race de- 
 stroyed by, 8.
 
 374 
 
 INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 
 
 Democritus' atomic theory, 72. 
 
 Desires, Venus the mother of the, 
 168. 
 
 Deucalion and Pyrrha, re-peopled 
 the earth, 227. 
 
 Diagoras of Melos, denies that there 
 are gods, 25, 211. 
 
 Dialis, flamen, mitred, 42, 216. 
 
 Diana, daughter of Jupiter and 
 Latona, 139, 204 ; daughter of the 
 first Minerva, 198; bow-bearing, 
 found refuge on floating islands, 
 27; mighty in hunting, 164, 204; 
 wars of the virgin, 211 ; repre- 
 sented with thighs half covered, 
 301 ; an unhewn log worshipped 
 by the Icarians for, 283 ; fall of 
 temple at Ephesus of, 298; Leuco- 
 phryue buried in temple of, 278 ; 
 shrine in Delian Apollo's temple 
 of, 277 ; theologians mention three 
 goddesses named, 197 ; identified 
 with Ceres and Luna, 173. 
 
 Didymseon, Cleochus buried in the 
 Milesian, 278. 
 
 Diespiter, son of Saturn and Ops, 
 202 ; lusted after his mother Ceres, 
 243 ; names of some who bore 
 children to, 140. 
 
 Digiti Samothracii, said to be the 
 Lares, 179, 181. 
 
 Dindymene, Pessinuntie, i.e. Cybele 
 worshipped at Pessinus, 217. 
 
 Diomede, plains of, i.e. Cannae, 187. 
 
 Dione, bore Venus to Jupiter, 27, 
 140. 
 
 Dionysius, robbed Jupiter and uEscu- 
 lapius of their beards, 296. 
 
 Dionysus (see Bacchus), five gods 
 named, 197. 
 
 Dioscori, sons of Leda and Jupiter, 
 202. 
 
 Dis, identified with Summanus, 275; 
 human heads offered to, 138 ; 
 wounded by Hercules, 208 ; alle- 
 gorical explanation of rape of 
 Proserpine by, 266, 276 ; gate of, 
 i.e. Hades, 253. 
 
 Discordise, 168. 
 
 Dodona, Jupiter of, 26, 298 ; fall of 
 Jupiter's temple at, 298. 
 
 Dogs, employed to guard the capitols, 
 295. 
 
 Dysaules, a goatherd in Attica, 248. 
 
 EARTH, the, identified with the Great 
 Mother, Ceres, and Vesta, 172 ; 
 a pregnant sow sacrificed to, 329 ; 
 birthday of, 343. 
 
 Egeria, Numa advised by, 223. 
 
 Egypt, Christianity attested by 
 mighty works in, 76 ; Apis called 
 Serapis in, 27 ; letters invented by 
 the fifth Mercury in, 196. 
 
 Egyptians, dumb animals worshipped 
 by, 160; Christ said to have stolen 
 the secrets of His power and teach- 
 ing from, the, 34 ; punished those 
 who revealed the dwelling-place of 
 Apis, 278 ; called the second Mi- 
 nerva Neith, 198 ; were afraid to 
 utter the fourth Mercury's name, 
 196 ; believed that one deity was 
 manifested under the various di- 
 vine manifestations, 195. 
 
 Electra, seduced by Jupiter, 245. 
 
 Elements, number of the primary, 
 124 ; mistake as to Aristotle's 
 conception of the elements, 72. 
 
 Eleusinia, origin of the, 249, 250; 
 signs used in the, 251. 
 
 Eleusis, Ceres' visit to, 248 ; Dairas 
 and Immarnachus buried in the 
 enclosure of, 277 ; temple of Ceres 
 at, 277. 
 
 Eleutherius, temple at Athens of 
 Liber, 298. 
 
 Endymion, loved by Luna, 209. 
 
 Ennius, translated works of Euhe- 
 merus", 211. 
 
 Ephesus, fall of Diana's temple at, 
 298. 
 
 Epicadi, 54. 
 
 Epicurus, atomic theory of, 72 ; 
 teaches that the soul is mortal, 97. 
 
 Epidaurus, ^Esculapius brought 
 from, 355; he of, i.e. ^Esculapius, 
 164. 
 
 Epirus, Christianity attested by 
 mighty works in, 76. 
 
 Equity, deified, 185. 
 
 EJ echthidse, i.e. Athenians, 251. 
 
 Ericthonius, buried in shrine of 
 Minerva, 277. 
 
 Ethiopian sun, Isis tanned by, 27. 
 
 Ethiopians, visited by the gods, 276. 
 
 Etruria, mother of superstition, 335; 
 arts of, i.e. charms and sacred 
 rites, 241. 
 
 Etruscans, the, identified Penates, 
 andConsentes, and Complices, 179. 
 
 Eubuleus, a swineherd in Attica, 
 248. 
 
 Eumolpidse, origin of, 248. 
 
 Eumolpus, keeper of sheep in Attica, 
 248. 
 
 Europa, seduced by Jupiter, 245 ; 
 represented on the stage, 343.
 
 INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 
 
 375 
 
 Evius, perform ance of his shameful 
 promise by, 253. 
 
 FABIUS, a favourite of Jupiter, 209. 
 
 Fate, all things happen according to, 
 317. 
 
 Fatua Fauna, i.e. Bona Dea, wife 
 of Faunus, 27, 241 ; unlawful to 
 bring in myrtle twigs to the rites 
 of, 241 ; account of her death and 
 rites, 241. 
 
 Fatuse, 21. 
 
 Fauni, 21. 
 
 Faunus, son of Picus, and father of 
 Latinus, 71 ; ensnared and bound 
 by Nutna's craft, 223 ; made the 
 Aventine his haunt, 223. 
 
 Fawn's skin, worn by the initiated, 
 263. 
 
 Februtis, a name of Juno, 171. 
 
 Fescennine verses, sung at marriages, 
 202. 
 
 Fetiales, the forms of the, neglected, 
 137. 
 
 Fillets, worn by suppliants, 246. 
 
 Fire, the origin of all things, 72. 
 
 Flint, people of Pessinus worship a, 
 283. 
 
 Flora, watches over the blossoming 
 of plants, 166 ; a harlot, 166 ; 
 shameful actions done openly at 
 games of, 344. 
 
 Floralia, the, 343. 
 
 Fluonia (or Fluvionia), a name of 
 Juna, 171. 
 
 Fons, son of Janus, 170. 
 
 Fortune, a deity, 135 ; one of the 
 Penates, according to Caesius, 
 178, 181 ; represented with a horn 
 filled with fruit, 301. 
 
 Fortuna Virginalis, maidens' gar- 
 ments offered to, 138. 
 
 Frugifer, a god with lion's face 
 called, 282. 
 
 Furies, the, 168, 253. 
 
 Forks, Caudine, overthrow of Ro- 
 mans at, 187. 
 
 GABINIUS, the consul, 142. 
 
 Goetuli, afflicted with droughts be- 
 cause of the Christians, 14. 
 
 Gain, gods of, 191. 
 
 Galatians, Christianity attested by 
 mighty works among the, 76. 
 
 Callus, mutilation of a daughter of, 
 230, 237. 
 
 Galli, priests of the Great Mother, 
 33 ; beat their breasts, wailing for 
 Attis, 240, 241. 
 
 Ganymede, carried off to satisfy 
 Jupiter's lust, 267 ; represented 
 on the stage in ballets, 343. 
 
 Garamantes, the tawny, 276. 
 
 Gaul, innumerable Christians in, 14. 
 
 Geese, the guardians of the Capitol, 
 295. 
 
 Genii of husbands, invoked at mar- 
 riages, 138. 
 snii of states, 21. 
 
 Genius Jovialis, said to be one of 
 the Penates, 178, 181. 
 
 Germans, irruptions of the, regarded 
 as special calamities caused by 
 the Christians, 8. 
 
 Ghosts, the Lares said to be, 180. 
 
 Gnidus, statue of Venus at, loved 
 by a young man, 297. 
 
 Goats, sacrificed to Bacchus and 
 Mercury, 328 ; torn in pieces by 
 bacchanals, 242. 
 
 God, the Lord of all things, the 
 highest existence, 19, 20, 24, 25, 
 63, 150 ; before all things, 22, 24, 
 142 ; without form, 24, 158, 346 ; 
 devoid of sex, 155, 346 ; uncreated, 
 immortal, everlasting, 24, 102, 
 142 ; all agree that there is one 
 supreme, 102 ; cannot be known 
 by men, 345 ; all-powerful, 101 ; 
 the creator of all things, 24, 150 ; 
 the preserver of all things, 113 ; 
 and the only one who can preserve 
 souls, 131 ; nothing hurtful or 
 pernicious proceeds from, 123 ; 
 all, without exception, have ex- 
 perienced the compassion of, 132 ; 
 all men know, by nature, 64 ; and 
 no one doubts the existence of, 25, 
 130 ; although some deny it, 125 ; 
 is not Jupiter, 27. 
 
 Gods, the, corruptible by nature, 
 according to Plato, 103 ; born at 
 some time, 24, 139, 346 ; of both 
 sexes, 154, 346 ; have mistresses, 
 brides, wives, 202 ; are hushed to 
 sleep and awakened by their wor- 
 shippers' hymns, 214, 342 ; are 
 parched with thirst, 339 ; eat and 
 drink, delighting in splendid ban- 
 quets, 214, 334; are exposed to 
 attacks of disease, etc., 164 ; can- 
 not defend themselves, 16, 296, 
 302 ; make war upon each other, 
 and are wounded, 215 ; take plea- 
 sure in shameful sights, 343, 344 ; 
 and still more shameful acts, 209, 
 214 ; accuse the cruel fates, 215 ; 
 are ignorant of the future, 163 ;
 
 376 
 
 INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 
 
 are artificers like mortals, 163 ; 
 even act the part of slaves, 207, 
 211 ; are washed to make them 
 clean, 342 ; were supposed to he 
 angry at the Christians, 3, 18, 
 347 ; but had greater reason to be 
 enraged at their worshippers, 21, 
 157, 161, 212, 219 ; were immor- 
 tal, not in themselves, but through 
 God's gift, 103 ; each set over 
 some one thing, 135, 166 ; the 
 true, do not wish for sacrifices, 
 307, 348 ; and are not soothed by 
 them, 316 ; are free from pas- 
 sions, 272, 311 ; were supposed to 
 dwell in their images, 294 ; al- 
 though these were made of vile 
 materials, 288 ; lay aside their 
 anger when they receive sacrifices, 
 314, 318 ; accuse and make de- 
 fences, 165 ; sinister, 187, 330 ; 
 lesser, 64 ; Syrian, sprung from 
 eggs, 28 ; of conquered states in- 
 troduced by Romans into their 
 families, 177 ; suppliants to some 
 veiled, to others uncovered the 
 head, 181. 
 
 Graeca, rites of Ceres, 143. 
 
 Gratiua, loved by Praxiteles, and 
 taken as model of Cnidian Venus, 
 286. 
 
 Grits mixed with salt, or sacrificial 
 meal offered to the gods, 167, 225. 
 
 Grundules Lares, 21. 
 
 Guardian deities, favour of, with- 
 held, 167. 
 
 Guilt, contracted if the dancer 
 halted or musician was silent, 213. 
 
 HADES, punishment in, 96 ; exist- 
 ence of, denied, 327. 
 
 Hammon, represented with a ram's 
 horns, 284. 
 
 Hannibal's invasion of Italy, Phry- 
 gian mother's worship introduced 
 at the time of, 142, 361 ; driven 
 out of Italy by the goddess, 362. 
 
 Happiness, deified and worshipped, 
 184, 185. 
 
 Hasta caelibaris, hair of brides ar- 
 ranged with, 138. 
 
 Hearths, presided over by the god 
 Lateranus, 189. 
 
 Heathen, the, hatred of the Chris- 
 tians by, 26, 147, 218; reviled 
 Christians as illiterate, 48 ; dis- 
 honoured their own gods, 153, 
 157, 255 ; dishonoured their gods 
 in sacrificing to them, 324, 340. 
 
 Hecate, mother of Saturn and Ops, 
 141 ; mother of Janus, 170. 
 
 Helenus, the soothsayer, 51. 
 
 Hellespontian Priapu?, 157. 
 
 Henna, grove of, whence Proserpine 
 was carried off, 259. 
 
 Heraclitus, referred the origin of all 
 things to fire, 72. 
 
 Hercules, burned alive after pun- 
 ishment, 27, 32 ; son of Jupiter 
 and Alcmena, 140, 209 ; this the 
 Theban defended by his club and 
 hide, 204 ; worshipped as divine, 
 144, 153 ; a mortal, deified, 177 ; 
 wounded by Hippocoon's children, 
 208 ; entangled in robe of Nessus, 
 217 ; violated the fifty daughters 
 of Thestius, 209; wounded Dis 
 and Juno, 208 ; put an end to 
 human sacrifices in Italy, 138 ; 
 was a slave at Sardis, 207 ; burned 
 on Mount (Eta after an attack of 
 epilepsy, 208; the Theban, burned 
 on Mount (Eta, 27; the Phoenician, 
 buried in Spain, 27; six gods 
 named, 197 ; deified because he 
 subdued robbers, wild beasts, and 
 serpents, 29. 
 
 Herrnse at Athens like Alcibiades, 
 286. 
 
 Heroes, of immense and huge bodies, 
 145. 
 
 Heroic ages, incense unknown in 
 the, 335. 
 
 Hesperides, golden apples of the, 242. 
 
 Hippo of Melos, 211. 
 
 Hippocoon's children, Hercules 
 wounded by, 208. 
 
 Hippothoe, seduced by Neptune, 20S. 
 
 Hirtius and Pansa, deluge not quite 
 two thousand years before the 
 consulship of, 232. 
 
 Honour, deified and worshipped, 
 184, 185. 
 
 Hosthanes, grandfather of the Ar- 
 menian Zoroaster, 43. 
 
 Human sacrifices, offered to Dis and 
 Saturn, 138. 
 
 Hyacinthus, 209. 
 
 Hylas, 209. 
 
 Hyperboreans, 278. 
 
 Hyperiona, mother by Jupiter of the 
 second Sun, 196, 204. 
 
 Hyperoche, buried in the shrine of 
 Diana, 277. 
 
 Hypsipyle, loved by Apollo, 208. 
 
 IA, bride of Attis, 230 ; her blood 
 turued into violets, 230.
 
 INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 
 
 377 
 
 laclms nursed (or loved) by Ceres, 
 157. 
 
 lalysus, son of the fourth Sun, 19G. 
 
 Icarians, the, worship an unhewn 
 log, 283. 
 
 Idaci Dactyli, Greek name of Digit! 
 Samothracii, 179. 
 
 Ignorance the Jot of man, 72. 
 
 Ilium, girt with walls by Apollo and 
 Neptune, 178. 
 
 Immarnachus, buried in the enclo- 
 sure at Eleusis, 277. 
 
 Incense, unknown in the heroic age, 
 335 ; not used by the Etruscans 
 in their rites, 335 ; nor at Alba, 
 335 ; nor by Romulus and Numa, 
 335 ; termed Panchaean gum, 33G. 
 
 India, Christianity attested by 
 mighty works in, 76 ; Liber 
 sought to make himself master 
 of, 211. 
 
 Indians, the, believed that one god 
 showed himself in all the mani- 
 festations of the divine, 195. 
 
 Indigetes, deified mortals, 54. 
 
 Indigetes, living in the Nunricius, 
 27. 
 
 Inferium vinum, phrase used in 
 libations, 340. 
 
 Inuus, guardian of flocks and herds, 
 166. 
 
 Iphigenia, stags spoken of instead 
 of, 258. 
 
 Isis, Ethiopian, 27 ; Egyptian, 211 ; 
 lamenting her lost child and hus- 
 band torn in pieces, 27 ; worship 
 of, introduced after consulship of 
 Piso and Gabinius, 142 ; statue 
 of, burned, 298. 
 
 Itali, Saturn concealed in the terri- 
 tories of the, 206. 
 
 Images, Christ raised men's thoughts 
 from senseless, 31; formed of clay, 
 31, 150, 292; bones, stones, brass, 
 silver, gold, wood, and other ma- 
 terials, 288; made like infamous 
 men and women, 286, 287 ; the 
 gods said to be worshipped 
 through, 280; fanciful shape of 
 some, 282 ; disregarded by birds 
 and beasts, 291 ; the gods caused 
 to dwell in, 292 ; must be defend- 
 ed by men, notwithstanding the 
 indwelling divinity, 295; despoiled 
 by Antiochus and Dionysius, 296; 
 used lewdly, 297 ; and even 
 utterly consumed by fire, 298 ; 
 set up to strike evil-doers with 
 terror, 300. 
 
 Italy, visit of Hercules to, 138. 
 
 JANTCUHTM, founded by Janus, 27. 
 170. 
 
 Janus, 153 ; son of Ccelus and 
 Hecate, 170; husband of Ju- 
 turna and father of Fons, 170 ; 
 first king in Italy, 170 ; repre- 
 sented as double-faced, and carry- 
 ing a spiked key, 301 ; said to be 
 the world, the year, the sun, 170; 
 supposed to procure a hearing for 
 suppliants, 170 ; and therefore 
 mentioned first in all prayers, 170. 
 
 Jasion, loved by Ceres, 209. 
 
 Jovialis, genius, one of the Penates, 
 178, 181. 
 
 Julian, a magian, 43. 
 
 Juno, 135, 153, 204, 140 ; daughter 
 of Saturn and Ops, 139 ; queen of 
 the gods, 204 ; wounded by Her- 
 cules, 208 ; named Lucina, and 
 aiding women in childbirth, 157, 
 166 ; said to be the air, 171 ; 
 destruction of the temple, and 
 priestess of, 298; and in the Capi- 
 tol of the statue of, 298; named 
 Caprotina, Cinxia, Februtis, Flu- 
 onia, 171 ; Ossipagina, Pomona, 
 Populonia, 171 ; the cestus of, 
 301 ; as Cinxia, a branch wor- 
 shipped for, 283 ; Samians wor- 
 ship a plank instead of, 283 ; one 
 of the Penates, 179. 
 
 Jupiter, the greatest and best, 26 ; 
 is not God, 27 ; had father and 
 mother, 26 ; the Saturnian king, 
 204 ; son of ^Ether, 195 ; son of 
 Coalus, 195 ; son of Saturn, 196 ; 
 of Saturn and Ops, 139, 141, 171, 
 202 ; born in Crete, 196 ; con- 
 cealed in Crete, 171 ; buried in 
 Crete, 196, 208 ; his cries con- 
 cealed, 179 ; and his life saved 
 by the Curetes, 206 ; overthrew 
 his father, 206 ; the acts of, 211 ; 
 made a meal unwittingly on 
 Lycaon's son, 206 ; married his 
 sister, 206 ; attempted to violate 
 the mother of the gods, 227; lusted 
 after Alcmena, Danae, Electra, Eu- 
 ropa, and matrons and maidens 
 without number, 245, 140 ; even 
 after the boys Catamitus, 209, 
 245, and Fabius, 209; ravished 
 his daughter Proserpine, 244 ; for 
 lustful purposes became an ant, 
 a golden shower, a satyr, 267 ; a, 
 swan, 205, 27; and a 'bull, 205,
 
 378 
 
 INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 
 
 243 ; spoken of as recounting his 
 amours to his wife, 215 ; said to 
 be the sun, 171 ; and by others 
 to be the ether, 171 ; three gods 
 named, 195; father of Apollo, 
 Diana, Castor and Pollux, Her- 
 cules, Liber, Mercury, 139, 204 ; 
 of the Muses, 139, 175 ; of the 
 Sun, 196 ; of Hercules, 209, 217 ; 
 Diespiter, 140, 202; fall at Do- 
 dona of the temple of, 298; destruc- 
 tion of the statue of Capitoline, 
 298, 351 ; termed Capitoline, 42, 
 298 ; the Thunderer, 298 ; the 
 Olympian, 286; the Supreme, 
 139; the Stygian, i.e. Pluto, 139; 
 Verveceus, 244; of Dodona, 19, 
 298 ; bulls sacrificed to, 329 ; re- 
 presented with a thunderbolt in 
 his right hand, 301 ; and as driv- 
 ing in a winged chariot, 171 ; 
 gave power to the Novensiles to 
 wield his thunder, 177; Pales the 
 steward of, 178 ; the counsellors 
 of, 178, 179 ; one of the Penates, 
 179; represented as an adulterer, 
 217 ; and as easily overreached, 
 222, 224 ; forced to leave heaven 
 by Numa, 223 ; statues of, dis- 
 honoured, 296 ; descent of rain 
 signified by the embraces of Ceres, 
 256, 266 ; the feast of, 342 ; ludi 
 circenses celebrated in honour of, 
 350. 
 Juturna, wife of Janus, 170. 
 
 KINGS, speaking against, considered 
 treason, 216. 
 
 Kronos, explained as chronos, i.e. 
 time, 170 ; son of Ccalus and pro- 
 genitor of the d'd magni, 171. 
 
 Knees of images touched by sup- 
 pliants, 291. 
 
 LACED^EMON, Castor and Pollux 
 buried in, 208. 
 
 Laodamia, seduced by Jupiter, 245. 
 
 Laodice, buried in the shrine of 
 Diana, 277. 
 
 Laomedon, served by Neptune, 207. 
 
 Lares, commonly said to be gods of 
 streets and ways, from the sup- 
 posed etymology, 179 ; guardians 
 of houses, 179 : identified some- 
 times with the Curetes, some- 
 times with the Digiti Samotbracii, 
 179 ; identified with the Manes, 
 180 ; said to be gods of the air, 
 and also to be ghosts, 180. 
 
 Lares Grundules, 21. 
 
 Larissa, Acrisius buried in Minerva's 
 temple at, 277. 
 
 Lateranus, the genius of hearths, 
 189, 193. 
 
 Latinus, grandson of Picus, and 
 son of Faunus, 141 ; father-in- 
 law of ^neas, 141. 
 
 Latium, Saturn concealed in, 206. 
 
 Latona, seduced by Jupiter, 245 ; 
 mother of Apollo and Diana, 27, 
 139, 164, 204 ; wanderings of, 27. 
 
 Laverna, goddess of thieves, 168. 
 
 Laurse, Lares said to be derived 
 from, 179. 
 
 Lectisternium of Ceres, 343. 
 
 Leda, seduced by Jupiter, 140, 245 ; 
 mother of the Dioscori, 204 ; re- 
 presented on the stage, 343. 
 
 Left and right, merely relative terms, 
 187, 188 ; lucky, 188. 
 
 Lemnos, Vulcan wrought as a smith 
 at, 19G, 206. 
 
 Leucophryne, buried in Diana's sanc- 
 tuary, 278. 
 
 Libations, in honour of the gods, 
 338, 339 ; formula used in, 340. 
 
 Libels, severely punished, 216. 
 
 Libentina, goddess of lust, 191. 
 
 Libentini (?), 21. 
 
 Liber, a deified mortal, 143, 177; 
 deified because he taught men to 
 use wine, 29 ; son of Jupiter and 
 Semele, 139, 204, 252 ; Indian 
 campaign of, 211 ; torn in pieces 
 by the Titans, 32, 242 ; called 
 Eleutherius, 298 ; Nysius, 252 ; 
 visit to Tartarus of, 252 ; filthy 
 practices of, 253 ; allegorical ex- 
 planation of the tearing in pieces 
 
 Libera, i.e. Proserpine, daughter of 
 
 Jupiter and Ceres, 244. 
 Lima, goddess of thresholds, 191. 
 Limentinus, god of thresholds, 191, 
 
 193 ; gives omens in entrails of 
 
 the victims, 194. 
 
 Limi, preside over obliquities, 192. 
 Lion, images with face of, 282. 
 Locusts, destruction of crops by, said 
 
 to be caused by Christians, 7, 14. 
 Locutii, Aii, 21. 
 Log, worshipped by the Icarians 
 
 for Diana, 283. 
 Lucina, aiding women in childbirth, 
 
 164. 
 
 1 Lullabies, sung to the gods, 342. 
 \ Luna, lusted after Endymion, 209 ; 
 I identified with Diana and Ceres,
 
 INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 
 
 379 
 
 173 ; cannot be a deity if a part 
 
 of the world, 174. 
 Luperca, a goddess named, because 
 
 the she-wolf did not rend Romulus 
 
 and Remus, 186. 
 Lust, unnatural, attributed to the 
 
 gods, 209. 
 Lycaon, Jupiter ate part cf the son 
 
 of, 206. 
 Lydia, 229. 
 Lynceus, piercing gaze of, 205. 
 
 MACARUS, father of Megalcon, 206. 
 
 Macedonia, Christianity attested by 
 mighty works in, 76 ; starting- 
 point of Alexander the Great, 9. 
 
 Magi, in heathen ceremonials, relics 
 of the arts of the, 332; arts of 
 the, had no good purpose, 35 ; 
 demons won over by the charms 
 of the, 131 ; said to raise by their 
 incantations other gods than those 
 invoked, 194; enumeration of fa- 
 mous, 43 ; used herbs and mut- 
 tered spells in their incantations, 
 44. 
 
 Magian, used as equivalent to sor- 
 cerer, 34. 
 
 Magistrate, insults to a, severely 
 punished, 216. 
 
 Magnesia, Diana's sanctuary at, 
 278. 
 
 Magus, Simon, overthrown by Peter, 
 77. 
 
 Maia, the beautiful, 27 ; mother of 
 the third Mercury, 27, 140, 196, 
 204, 284. 
 
 Man, ignorant of his own nature, 
 69 ; such as the lower creatures, 
 82 ; possessed of reason, 83 ; not 
 immortal, 95 ; wretchedness of 
 the life of, 107, 108, 109, 317 ; a 
 microcosm, 91 ; not necessary in 
 the universe, 105 ; utmost extent 
 of life of, 141 ; depraved in coming 
 into life, 82. 
 
 Manes, the Lares said to be the, 
 180; inhabitants of infernal re- 
 gions, 327. 
 
 Mania, mother of the Lares, ISO. 
 
 Manium, dii, 327. 
 
 Marcius, a soothsayer, 51. 
 
 Marcus Cicero, 161. 
 
 Marpesian rock, proverbial com- 
 parison, 90. 
 
 Marpessa, loved by Apollo, 208. 
 
 Mars, born in Arcadia (?), 207 ; born 
 in Thrace, 207 ; said to be Spar- 
 tanus, 207; set over war, 168; 
 
 held prisoner for thirteen months, 
 207 ; loved by Ceres, 209 ; en- 
 snared by Vulcan, 207 ; wounded 
 by men, 207 ; a spear worshipped 
 by the Romans as, 283 ; dogs and 
 asses sacrificed to, 207 ; otherwise 
 Mavors, 285 ; fighting signified 
 by, 268 ; allegorical explanation 
 of the binding of Venus and, 265, 
 266 ; the Romans sooken of as the 
 race of, 217. 
 
 Marriage, forms observed in, 137, 
 138 ; three modes of contracting, 
 202 ; advocacy of promiscuous, 54. 
 
 Marriages, Fescennine verses sung 
 at, 202. 
 
 Marsi, sold charms against serpent 
 bites, 99. 
 
 Martins Pious, entrapped by Numa's 
 craft, 223. 
 
 Mavors, i.e. Mars, 285. 
 
 Medes, Christianity attested by 
 mighty works amongst, 76. 
 
 Megalcon, daughter of Macarus, and 
 mistress of the Muses, 206. 
 
 Megalensia, mode of celebration of, 
 343. 
 
 Meles, son of the river, i.e. Homer, 
 207. 
 
 Mellonia, goddess presiding over 
 bees and honey, 190 ; supposed to 
 introduce herself into the entrails 
 of the victim to give omens, 194. 
 
 Memory, wife of Jupiter, 140 ; 
 mother of the Muses, 175. 
 
 Men, sprung from the stones cast 
 by Deucalion and Pyrrha, 227 ; 
 in early times of immense size, 
 145 ; deified because of benefits 
 conferred on the race, 28, 29 ; 
 souls shut up in bodies, 79. 
 
 Menalippe, seduced by Neptune, 
 208. 
 
 Mens, wife of Jupiter, and mother 
 of the Muses, 175 ; mother of 
 Minerva, 172. 
 
 Mercury, of service to men, 135, 
 143 ; son of Jupiter, 139, 204, 196 ; 
 son of Maia, 27, 140, 196, 204, 
 284 ; grandson of Atlas, 165 ; five 
 gods named, 196; lusted after 
 Proserpina, 196 ; eloquent in 
 speech, 165, 204 ; bearer of the 
 caduceus, 172; of the harmless 
 snakes, 204 ; born on the cold 
 mountain top, 172 ; presides over 
 boxing and wrestling, 167 ; and 
 commercial intercourse and mar- 
 kets, 172 ; contriver of words,
 
 380 
 
 INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 
 
 and named from the interchange 
 of speech, 172 ; represented with 
 wings, 301 ; and wearing a broad- 
 brimmed cap, 284, 285 ; beard- 
 less, 285 ; slayer of Argus, 196, 
 301 ; a thief, 206 ; termed Cyl- 
 lenian, 172 ; the second, named 
 Trophonius, under the earth, 196 ; 
 the first, son of Coelus, and the 
 fourth, of the Nile, 196 ; the fifth, 
 slayer of Argus, and inventor of 
 letters, 196 ; goats sacrificed to, 
 328, 329. 
 
 Mercury, i.e. Hermes Trismegistus, 
 78. 
 
 Merops, the first builder of temples, 
 274. 
 
 Metrodorus, held the atomic theory, 
 72. 
 
 Midas, first to establish worship of 
 the Phrygian mother, 143 ; king 
 of Pessinus, 229 ; wished to give 
 his daughter in marriage to Attis, 
 229, 230. 
 
 MilesianDidymaeon, Cleochus buried 
 in the, 278. 
 
 Militaria Venus, presiding over the 
 debauchery of camps, 189. 
 
 Mind, the, affected by ailments of 
 the body, 70. 
 
 Minerva, 153; sprung from Jupiter's 
 head, 140, 172 ; daughter of Mens, 
 172 ; daughter of Victory, 172 ; 
 five goddesses named, 196 ; the 
 first, mother of Apollo by Vulcan, 
 196 ; the second, identified with 
 Sais, daughter of the Nile, 190 ; 
 the fourth, named Coryphasia by 
 the Messenians, 197; the fifth, 
 daughter and slayer of Pallas, 
 197 ; said by some to be one of 
 the Penates, 179; the wars of, 
 211 ; worshipped because she dis- 
 covered the olive, 29 ; gives light 
 to secret lovers, 207 ; temples of, 
 used as places of burial, 277 ; 
 image of, burned, 298 ; a heifer 
 sacrificed to, 329 ; termed Trito- 
 nian, 165, 330 ; represented with 
 a helmet, 301 ; said by Aristotle 
 to be the moon, 171 ; said to be 
 depth of ether, and memory, 171 ; 
 spins and weaves, 165 ; used to 
 denote weaving, 268 ; citizens of, 
 i.e. Athenians, 251 ; called Polias, 
 277. 
 
 Money, a goddess, 192. 
 Montiuus. guardian of mountains, 
 182. 
 
 Moors, 14 ; worshipped the Titans 
 and Bocchores, 27. 
 
 Morning, hymns sung to the deities 
 in the, 342. 
 
 Mother of the gods, married to 
 Saturn, 172 ; fed Nana with apples, 
 229 ; a pine brought into the 
 sanctuary of, 239, 262 ; a flint 
 worshipped by the people of Pes- 
 sinus for, 283 ; represented as 
 bearing a timbrel, 301. 
 
 Mother, Great, said to be the earth, 
 172 ; Attis worshipped in the 
 temples of, 33 ; represented with 
 fillets, 217 ; termed Pessinuntic 
 Dindymene, 217 ; birth and origin 
 of rites of, 227; did not exist more 
 than two thousand years before 
 Christ, 232; brought from Pes- 
 sinus to repel Hauuibal, 361 ; a 
 black stone worshipped instead of, 
 362 ; why represented as crowutd 
 with towers, 229, 240. 
 
 Mother, the Phrygian, first set up 
 as a goddess, 143. 
 
 Mulciber, dressed as a workman, 
 301. 
 
 Murcia, guardianof theslothful, 192. 
 
 Muses, the, daughters of Jupiter and 
 Memory, 139, 175; of Ccelus and 
 Tellus, 175 ; three sets of Muses, 
 197; nine in number, 164, 176; 
 number of, stated differently as 
 three, four, seven, 175; and eight, 
 176 ; said by some to be virgins, 
 by others matrons, 175; identified 
 with the Novensiles, 176 ; repre- 
 sented with pipes and psalteries, 
 301 ; handmaids of Megalcon, 206. 
 
 Musician, guilt contracted at the 
 games by the silence of the, 213. 
 
 Mutunus, a deity, 193. 
 
 Myndus, Zeno of, 278. 
 
 Myrmidon, son of Clitor's daughter, 
 209. 
 
 Mysteries, the pontifical, 332; named 
 initia, 241 ; of Venus, 242 ; Phry- 
 gian, 242, 244; of Ceres, 247; 
 Alimontian, 252, 262. 
 
 NJSNIA, goddess of those near death, 
 190. 
 
 Nana, daughter of king Sangarius, 
 228 ; debauched by an apple, 228, 
 236 ; kept alive by the mother of 
 the gods, 229 ; mother of Attis, 
 229, 236. 
 
 Nativities, art of calculating, 139. 
 
 Natrix, the deadly, 15.
 
 INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 
 
 381 
 
 Nebridffi, family of the, 2G3. 
 
 Neith, name of the second Minerva 
 in Egypt, 198. 
 
 Neinestrinus, god of groves, 190. 
 
 Neptune, believed to be serviceable 
 to men, 135 ; king of the sea, 
 208, 172, 285 ^brother of Pluto 
 and Jupiter, 172 ; mistresses of, 
 2U8 ; girt Ilium with walls, 178 ; 
 served the Trojan Laomedon, 207; 
 lord of the fish and shaker of the 
 earth, 172 ; one kind of Penates 
 said by the Etruscans to belong 
 to, 178 ; the Atlantis of, 8 ; armed 
 with the trident, 172, 285; said 
 to have been one of the Penates, 
 178, 181 ; means the outspread 
 water, 172, 268. 
 
 Nereid, loved ^Eacus, 209. 
 
 Nile, father of the second Minerva, 
 196, 198; father of the fourth 
 Mercury and of Vulcan, 196. 
 
 Ninus, leader of the Assyrians 
 against the Bactrians, 8. 
 
 Nisi, 54. 
 
 Noduterensis, a goddess presiding 
 over the treading out of grain, 
 190, 193. 
 
 Nodutis, a god presiding over the 
 shooting corn, 190. 
 
 Novensiles, nine Sabine gods, or the 
 Muses, 176, 182 ; presiding over 
 renovation, 176 ; the nine gods 
 who can thunder, 177 ; foreign 
 deities received by the Romans, 
 177; dei tied mortals, 177. 
 
 Nomads, 14. 
 
 Numa, established forma of wor- 
 ship and sacrifice, 76, 335 ; un- 
 acquainted with incense, 335 ; ad- 
 vised by Egeria how to learn the 
 way to draw Jupiter to earth, 223; 
 overreached Jupiter by his readi 
 ness, 223, 226. 
 
 Numa PompOius, name of Apollo 
 
 not found in the rituals of, 143. 
 Numenius, 74. 
 Numicius, frequented by the in 
 
 dlrjetes, 27. 
 Nysius, Liber, 252. 
 
 OCRISIA, brought as a captive from 
 
 Corniculum, 241 ; mother of Ser- 
 
 vius, 242. 
 (Eta, the Phoanician Hercules burnec 
 
 on mount, 27, 208. 
 Olive, Minerva the discoverer o! 
 
 the, 172. 
 Olus, Capitol named from, 279. 
 
 Olympian Jupiter, 290. 
 
 Omens derived from points of spears, 
 
 137 ; from the entrails o victims, 
 
 139, 194; no longer observed in 
 
 public business, 137. 
 )mophagia, i.e. Bacchanalia, 242. 
 Onion, thunder - portents averted 
 
 with an, 224, 226. 
 Ops, sprung from Ccelus and Hecate, 
 
 141 ; mother of Jupiter and his 
 
 brothers, 27, 139, 141, 171, 202. 
 Orbona, guardian deity of bereaved 
 
 parents, 190. 
 Orcus, union of Proserpine with, 
 
 257. 
 Origin of things, Christ commanded 
 
 men not to inquire into, 129. 
 Ornytus, Pallas slain by, 208. 
 Orpheus, the Thracian bard, 242; 
 
 the Thracian soothsayer, 250. 
 Osiris, husband of Isis, torn limb 
 
 from limb, 27. 
 Dssilago, a deity giving firmness to 
 
 the bones of children, 190. 
 Ossipagina, a name given to Juno, 
 
 PALES, guardian of the flocks and 
 herds, 166 ; not a female, but a 
 male steward of Jupiter, 178 ; one 
 of the Penates, 178, 181. 
 
 Palladium, the, formed from the re- 
 mains of Pelops, 207. 
 
 Pallas, father of the fifth Minerva, 
 and slain by her, 197, 198. 
 
 Pallas, surname of Minerva, 198; 
 overcome and slain by Ornytus, 
 208. 
 
 Pamphilus, a magian and friend of 
 Cyrus, 43. 
 
 Panastius, a Stoic philosopher, 72. 
 
 Panchsean gums burned to the gods, 
 336. 
 
 Panda, origin of the name, 186. 
 
 Pansa, consulship of, 232. 
 
 Pantarces, a name inscribed on the 
 finger of the statue of Olympian 
 Jupiter, 287. 
 
 Pantica, i.e. Panda, 186. 
 
 Paphos, Cinyras king of, 278. 
 
 Parthians, Christianity attested by 
 mighty works amongst the, 76. 
 
 Patella, goddess of things to be 
 brought to light, 190. 
 
 Patellana, goddess of things already 
 brought to light, 190. 
 
 Patrimus, place in the ceremonies of 
 the boy called, 213. 
 
 Pausi, 21.
 
 382 
 
 INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 
 
 Peace deified, 185. 
 
 Peleus, father of Achilles, loved by 
 Thetis, 209. 
 
 Pellonia, a goddess who repels 
 enemies, 186, 187. 
 
 Peloponnese, Apis born in the, 28. 
 
 Pelops, 209 ; the Palladium formed 
 from the remains of, 207. 
 
 Penates, said to be Neptune and 
 Apollo, 178, 181 ; gods of the re- 
 cesses of heaven, 178; said to be 
 of four kinds, 178; said to be 
 Fortune, Ceres, the genius Jovi- 
 alis, and Pales, 178, 181 ; and by 
 the Etruscans to be the Consentes 
 and Complices, 178. 
 
 Perfica, goddess of filthy pleasures, 
 189. 
 
 Peripatetics, Aristotle the father 
 of the, 72. 
 
 Persians, the, overcome because of 
 the Christians, 14 ; Christianity 
 attested by mighty works among, 
 76; worshipped rivers, 283; skilled 
 in secret arts, 195. 
 
 Pertunda, a goddess presiding over 
 the marriage couch, 189. 
 
 Pessinuntic Dindymene, 217. 
 
 Pessinus, people of, worshipped a 
 flint for the mother of the gods, 
 283 ; Great Mother brought from, 
 361 ; Midas king of, 229. 
 
 Pestilence, sent to punish pollution 
 of the circus, 350 ; abated when 
 deities were brought from abroad, 
 351 ; put to flight by ^Esculapius, 
 356. 
 
 Peta, presiding over prayers, 190. 
 
 Peter's victory over Simon Magus, 77. 
 
 Phaethon, the sun the father of, 266; 
 loved by Ceres, 209. 
 
 Phalli displayed in honour of Bac- 
 chus, 252 ; given in the mysteries 
 of Venus, 242. 
 
 Phidias, sculptor of the image of 
 Olympian Jupiter, 286 ; carved on 
 it the name of a boy loved by him, 
 287. 
 
 Philopator, i.e. Ptolemy iv., 278. 
 
 Philosophers, pride of, 117; by their 
 disagreement show that nothing 
 can be known, 74. 
 
 Phoenician Hercules, 27. 
 
 Phoroneus, the first builder of 
 temples, 274. 
 
 Phorbas, Attis found and brought 
 up by, 229. 
 
 Phrygia, the rook Agdus in, 227 ; 
 mysteries celebrated in, 242. 
 
 Phrygian mother, the, i.e. Cybele, 
 143. 
 
 Phrygians, the, overcome with fear 
 at the sight of the Great Mother 
 and Acdestis, 230; Christianity 
 attested by mighty works among, 
 76 ; call their goats attagi, 229. 
 
 Phryne, native of Thespia, used as 
 model for the statues of Venus, 
 286. 
 
 Picus, son of Saturn, and father of 
 Faunus, 141 ; drugged and made 
 prisoner by Numa, 223 ; surnamed 
 Martius, 223. 
 
 Piety, altars and temples built to, 
 184, 185. 
 
 Pindar, the Boeotian, 206. 
 
 Pine, Attis self -mutilated under a, 
 230; borne to her cave by the 
 Great Mother, 231 ; carried into 
 the sanctuary of the Great Mother 
 on certain days, 239, 262; wreathed 
 with flowers, 230, 240; bound 
 with wool, 239. 
 
 Pipe, a (tibia), borne by Acdestis 
 when he burst in upon the Phry- 
 gians, 230. 
 
 Piso, consulship of, 142. 
 
 Plank, a, worshipped by the Samians 
 for Juno, 283. 
 
 Plafo, head of philosophers, 11 ; the 
 disciple of Socrates, 72 ; the di- 
 vine, has many thoughts worthy 
 of God, 103. 
 
 Plato's doctrine of reminiscence 
 criticised, 90; bodiless forms, i.e. 
 ideas, 72. 
 
 Plutarch of Chaeronea, 208. 
 
 Pluto, brother of Jupiter and Nep- 
 tune, 172; kiug of the shades, 
 248. 
 
 Plutonian realms, i.e. infernal re- 
 gions, 327. 
 
 Polias, Erichthonius buried in the 
 sanctuary of, 277. 
 
 Pollux, son of Tyndareus, distin- 
 guished as a boxer, 27 ; buried in 
 Sparta, 208. 
 
 Pomegranate tree, a, springs from 
 the severed members of Acdestis, 
 228. 
 
 Pomona, a name given to Juno, 171. 
 
 Pompilius, the revered, 161; sacri- 
 fices thoroughly cooked and con- 
 sumed in time of, 138. 
 
 Pontifex Maximus, 42, 216, 354. 
 
 Populonia, a name given to Juno, 
 171. 
 
 Portents, thunder, how averted, 223.
 
 INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 
 
 383 
 
 Porrtraua, gives safety to sailors, 
 166. 
 
 Potua, presiding over drinking, 168. 
 
 Praestana, named because Romulus 
 excelled all with the javelin, 186. 
 
 Praxiteles, in the Cnidian Venus, 
 copied the courtezan Gratina, 286. 
 
 Prayers for the dead, and for all 
 men, 218. 
 
 Priapus, the Hellespont! an god of 
 lust, 157 ; represented with im- 
 mense pudenda, 301. 
 
 Proserpine, daughter of Ceres and 
 Jupiter, 244; violated by her 
 father, 244 ; carried off by Pluto 
 from Sicily, 248, 27 ; called Libera, 
 244 ; named because plants rise 
 slowly, 173; lusted after by the 
 first Mercury, 196 ; loved Adonis, 
 209 ; allegorical explanation of the 
 rape of, 256, 257, 261 ; barren 
 heifers sacrificed to, 329, 328. 
 
 Prosumnus, a vile lover of Bacchus, 
 253 ; the god's compliance with 
 his request, 253. 
 
 Protagoras, doubts as to existence 
 of a deity, 25. 
 
 Prothce loved by Apollo, 208. 
 
 Psylli, sellers of charms against ser- 
 pents, 99. 
 
 Purification of the mother of the 
 gods, 342. 
 
 Puta, a goddess presiding over the 
 pruning of trees, 190. 
 
 Pygmalion, king of Cyprus, 297 ; 
 an image of Venus loved by, 297. 
 
 Pyriphlegethon, a river in Hades, 
 80. 
 
 Pyrrha, women formed from stones 
 cast by, 227. 
 
 Pythagoras of Samos, 72, 78 ; placed 
 the cause of things in numbers, 
 72 ; burned to death in a temple, 
 32. 
 
 Pythian god, the, identifiel with 
 the sun and Bacchus, 173 ; served 
 Laomedon, 207; soothsayers are 
 taught by, 166. 
 
 QUINDECEMVIRI, the, wore wreaths 
 
 of laurel, 216. 
 Quirinus, excelled all in throwing 
 
 the javelin, 186. 
 Quirinus Martins, Romulus torn in 
 
 pieces by the senators, called, 33. 
 Quirites, 187. 
 
 RACES, guilt contracted if the music 
 stopped at the, 213 ; in the games 
 
 of Jupiter, 352 ; seven rounds of 
 the course in, 352. 
 
 Regulus, cruel death of, 32 ; a huge 
 serpent killed by the army of, 359. 
 
 Religion, credibility of, not depend- 
 ent on antiquity, 140, 142; opinion 
 constitutes, not ceremony, 348. 
 
 Reminiscence, the Platonic doctrine 
 of, 86, 90. 
 
 Renovation, the Novensiles gods of, 
 177. 
 
 Rhodes, the fourth Sun born at, 
 196. 
 
 Right and left merely relative terms, 
 187, 188. 
 
 Rites of the mother of the gods, 
 239, 240 ; of Bona Dea, 241 ; of 
 Bacchus, Cyprian Venus, and the 
 Corybantes, 242 ; of Ceres in 
 Phrygia, 242, 243. 
 
 Rituals of Numa, Apollo's name not 
 found in, 143. 
 
 Rivers, worshipped in ancient times 
 by the Persians, 283. 
 
 Roman matrons, not allowed to drink 
 wine, 138 ; kissed to test their 
 sobriety, 138. 
 
 Romans, the race of Mars, the im- 
 perial people, 217 ; had changed 
 their customs and ceremonies, 
 137 ; Pellonia goddess only of, 
 187 ; worshipped a spear for Mars, 
 283. 
 
 Rome, age in time of Arnobius of 
 the city, 141 ; Christianity at- 
 tested by miracles in, 76, 77. 
 
 Romulus, founder of Rome, 1G1 ; 
 sacrifices consumed in time of, 
 138 ; and his brother, 186 ; a dei- 
 fied mortal, 177 ; torn in pieces 
 by the senators, 33 ; unacquainted 
 with incense, 335 ; called Quirinus 
 Martius, 33. 
 
 SABINE gods, the Novensiles, nine, 
 176. 
 
 Sabre, worshipped by the Scythians, 
 283. 
 
 Sacrifices, Christians offered no, 
 273 ; Varro's denial of any occa- 
 sion for, 308 ; cannot feed gods, 
 309 ; cannot give pleasure to the 
 gods, 310, 311 ; can neither pre- 
 vent their anger, 312 ; nor satisfy 
 their rage, 313 ; no reason can be 
 found for, 329; purity and clean- 
 liness required at, 323. 
 
 Sarklucees, attributing form to God, 
 158.
 
 384 
 
 INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 
 
 Salt-cellars, tables consecrated by 
 placing, 137. 
 
 Safety, temples and altars erected 
 to, 184. 
 
 Sais, the Egyptian, offspring of tbe 
 Nile, 196, 199; identified with the 
 second Minerva, 196. 
 
 Samians, the, worshipped a plank 
 for Juno, 283. 
 
 Samothracii Digiti, named Idaei 
 Dactyli, 179; said to be the Lares, 
 179, 181. 
 
 Sangarius, a king or river, father of 
 Nana, 228; attempted to starve 
 his daughter to death, 228 ; ex- 
 posed her child, 229. 
 
 Sard is, Hercules a slave at, 207. 
 
 Satirical poems punished by law, 
 216. 
 
 Saturn, son of Ccelus and Hecate, 
 141 ; overthrew his father, 210 ; 
 attempted to destroy his children, 
 210 ; was driven from power by 
 Jupiter, 206, 210 ; hid himself in 
 Latium, 206 ; was thrown into 
 chains for parricide, 206 ; father 
 by Ops of Jupiter, 139, 141, 171, 
 202; of the third Jupiter, 196; 
 mother of the gods married to, 
 172 ; founder of the Saturnian 
 state, 27 ; father of the third 
 Minerva, 196 ; when aged, taken 
 in adultery by his wife, 208 ; 
 tomb and remains of, in Sicily, 
 208 ; identified with Kronos, and 
 explained as chronos, 170; pro- 
 genitor of the dii magni, 171 ; 
 planter of the vine, 171 ; bearer 
 of the pruning-knife, 171, 284, 
 300 ; presides over sown crops, 
 192 ; before Hercules' visit to 
 Italy, human sacritices offered to, 
 138. 
 
 Saturnian king, the, i.e. Jupiter, 
 204. 
 
 Satyr, Jupiter assumed the form of, 
 209, 267. 
 
 Scauri, 54 
 
 Scythian king and Circe, the fifth 
 Sun the son of a, 196. 
 
 Scythians, irruptions of the, laid to 
 the charge of the Christians, S ; 
 sacrificed asses to Mars, 207. 
 
 Sebadia, 244. 
 
 Semele, mother of Liber by Jupiter, 
 140, 202, 173, 252, 267. 
 
 Senators, Romulus torn in pieces 
 by, 33 ; abuse of, punished by 
 law, 216. 
 
 Serapis, Apis in Egypt called, 28 ; 
 the Egyptian, 211 ; introduction 
 of the worship of, 142 ; temple of, 
 burned to ashes, 298. 
 
 Seres, the, 276; Christianity at- 
 tested by miracles among, 76. 
 
 Serpent, Jupiter assumed the form 
 of a, 209, 244. 
 
 Serpent-bites, charms against, 99. 
 
 Servius Tullus, birth of, 242. 
 
 Shrine of Juno at Argos, 298. 
 
 Shrines, the Christians built no, 273. 
 
 Sibyl, the, 51. 
 
 Sicily, tomb and .remains of Saturn 
 in, 208 ; Proserpine carried off 
 from, 248. 
 
 Sickle, borne by Saturn, 284. 
 
 Simon Magus, fiery car of, 77 ; over- 
 throw and death of, 77. 
 
 Sinister deities, presiding over the 
 left, 187, 188. 
 
 Sleep, what produces, 70. 
 
 Slumber, is life anything but, 70. 
 
 Sminthian mice. Apollo the destroyer 
 of, 173. 
 
 Socrates, condemnation of, spoken 
 of as the Trojan war, 262; not 
 made infamous by his condemna- 
 tion, 32; Plato the disciple of, 72. 
 
 Solecisms and barbarisms objected 
 to Christianity, 48. 
 
 Sophists, pretentious show of the, 
 49. 
 
 Soul, nature, origin, and condition 
 of the, taught by Christ, 30 ; in 
 an intermediate state, 80, 101, 
 98, 120; immortal, and holding 
 the fourth place in the universe, 
 91, 81 ; corporeal and mortal, 93 ; 
 may become immortal through 
 Christ, 100 ; death is the ruin of 
 the, 100 ; does not come into this 
 world divinely taught, 86, 81 ; 
 cast into rivers of fire, 80 ; should 
 flee from earth, according to 
 Plato, 78 ; not begotten by God, 
 112; man's, not formed from the 
 same pure mixture as the world's, 
 120; cast into fire by fiercely 
 cruel beings, 81. 
 
 Souls said to pass into cattle, 83. 
 
 Spain, 14 ; Hercules buried in, 27. 
 
 Sparta and Lacedsemon, Castor and 
 Pollux buried in, 208. 
 
 Spartanus, Mars identified with, 
 207. 
 
 Spear, a, worshipped by the Romans 
 for Mars, 283. 
 
 Stage, gods brought on, 216, 217.
 
 1KDEX CF SUBJECTS. 
 
 883 
 
 States, genii of, 21. 
 
 Stentors, 145. 
 
 Sterope, loved by Apollo, 20S. 
 
 Stoic theory, of the world, 124; that 
 
 souls survived death for a little, 
 
 125. 
 Stone, the Arabians worshipped an 
 
 unhewn, 283. 
 Stones, after the deluge men sprung 
 
 from, 227 ; anointed with oil, and 
 
 worst ipped, 31. 
 Stone, a, sent from Phrygia as the 
 
 Great Mother, 3G2. 
 Stygian Jupiter, i.e. Pluto, 139. 
 Styx, a river in the infernal regions, 
 
 80, 253. 
 Sulla, the proscription of, spoken of 
 
 as the battle of Canuaj, 262. 
 Summanus, i.e. Pluto, 182, 261. 
 Sumptuary laws, not observed in 
 
 time of Arnobius, 137. 
 Supreme Jupiter, the, in opposition 
 
 to the Stygian, 139. 
 Sun, the, all things vivified by the 
 
 heat of, 5 ; said to be only a foot 
 
 in breadth, 130 ; identified with 
 
 Bacchus and Apollo, 173; and 
 
 with Attis, 2G5; five gods said 
 
 to be, 190 ; represented with rays 
 
 of light, 285 ; father of Phaethon, 
 
 266. 
 Swan, Jupiter changed into a, 205, 
 
 267. 
 Syria, plagued with locusts because 
 
 of the Christians, 14. 
 
 TAGES, the Etruscan, 139. 
 Tanaquil and the dii comerentes, 241. 
 Tarpeian rock, the, taken by Titus 
 
 Tatius, 186. 
 Tartarus, the darkness of, has no 
 
 terrors to the immortal, 96; visited 
 
 by Liber, 252. 
 Tellene perplexities, proverbial 
 
 phrase, 252. 
 Tellus, mother of the Muses, 175. 
 
 See also under Earth. 
 Telmessus, city in Asia Minor, 278. 
 Telmessus, the prophet buried under 
 
 Apollo's altar, 278. 
 Temples, in many cases tombs, 277, 
 
 278 ; destroyed with their images, 
 
 and plundered, 298 ; built to cats, 
 
 beetles, and heifers, 21 : built 
 
 that men might come near and 
 
 invoke the gods, 275 ; not raised 
 
 by the Christians, 273. 
 Thales, attributed all tilings to 
 
 water, 72. 
 ABKOB. 
 
 Theatres, the gods exposed to insult 
 
 and mockery in the, 217, 218. 
 Theban Hercules, the, 27, 204. 
 Themis, the oracle of, 227. 
 Theodoras of Cyrene, 211. 
 Thesmophoiia, origin of the, 247. 
 Thespia, Phryue a native of, 286. 
 Thespians, the, worshipped a branch 
 
 for Juno, 283. 
 Thessaly, home of the Myrmidons, 
 
 209. 
 
 Thestius' fifty daughters, and Her- 
 cules, 209. 
 
 Thetis, loved Peleus, 209. 
 Theutis, the Egyptian, founder of 
 
 astrology, 139. 
 Thieves, Laverua the goddess of, 
 
 168. 
 
 Thrace, Mars born in, 207. 
 Tnracian, the, bard, i.e. Orpheus, 
 
 242 ; soothsayer, son of Calliope, 
 
 250. 
 Thrasimene lake, Roman defeat at 
 
 the, 187. 
 
 Thunderer, the, i.e. Jupiter, 298. 
 Thunder, evil portented by, how 
 
 averted, 223, 224. 
 Thyle, remotest, 276. 
 Tiber, /Esculapius brought to the 
 
 island in the, 356. 
 Tinguitani, the, afflicted with 
 
 droughts because of the Chris- 
 tians, 14. 
 Titans, the, worshipped by the 
 
 Moors, 27 ; Liber torn in pieces 
 
 by, 32, 242. 
 
 Tithonus, loved by Aurora, 209. 
 Titus Tatius, the Capitoline taken 
 
 by, 186. 
 Tolus Vulccntanus, Capitol named 
 
 from, 278. 
 
 Transmigration of souls, 83. 
 Treason to speak evil of kings, 
 
 216. 
 Trebia, Novensiles worshipped at, 
 
 176. 
 Trebian gods, i.e. the Novensiles, 
 
 182. 
 
 Trebonius, cruelly put to death, 32. 
 Tree wreathed with flowers in 
 
 memory of Attis, 230. 
 Triptolemus, deified because he in- 
 vented the plough, 29 ; native of 
 
 Attica, first to yoke oxen, 248. 
 Tritonian maid, the, 165, 330. 
 Trojan wars, the condemnation of 
 
 Socrates spoken of as the, 262. 
 Trophonius, the second Mercury, 
 
 26, 196, 
 
 2B
 
 33G 
 
 1XDEX OF SUBJECTS. 
 
 Tullius (M. Cicero), 262 ; the most 
 eloquent of the Ilomans, 154. 
 
 Tullius (Servius), king, half-raw 
 sacrifices offered under, 138. 
 
 Tutelary demons, the Lares, 180. 
 
 Tutunus, 189, 193. 
 
 Tyndareus, father of Castor and 
 Pollux, 27. 
 
 Tyndarian brothers, the, 139. 
 
 UNXIA, presiding over anointing, 
 
 168. 
 Upibilia, keeps from wandering, 190. 
 
 VARRO, distinguished by the di- 
 versity of his learning. 232; denies 
 that sacrifices are acceptable to 
 the gods, 307. 
 
 Velus, a magian, 43. 
 
 Venus, the Cytherean, sprung from 
 the sea-foam and the genitals of 
 Ccelus, 206 ; daughter of Dione, 
 27 ; lusted after Ancbises, 27, 
 209; a courtezan, 207, 211; dei- 
 fied by Cinyras, 207 ; mother of 
 the Desires, 168 ; of the imperial 
 people, 217 ; wounded by a mor- 
 tal, 207 ; represented on the stage 
 by lustful gestures, 217; in statues 
 and paintings nude, 285, 301; used 
 to denote lust, 268 ; allegorical 
 explanation of the binding of, 265, 
 266 ; named because love comes 
 to al), 173; four goddesses named, 
 137 ; Cinyras buried in the temple 
 of, 278; the courtezan Gratina the 
 model of the Cniclian, 286; Phryne 
 of more than one, 286; Pygmalion's 
 love for the Cyprian, 297; a youth's 
 love for the Cnidian, 297 ; mys- 
 teries of Cyprian, 242. 
 
 Venus Militaris, presiding over the 
 debauchery of camps, 189. 
 
 Vesta, the earth said to be, 172 ; 
 ever-burning fire of, 137. 
 
 Vestals, guarding the sacred fire, 
 216. 
 
 Vermilion, the images of the gods 
 smeared with, 282. 
 
 Verrii, 54. 
 
 Victa, presiding over eatin?, 108. 
 
 Victims, Christians slew no, 273. 
 
 Vicf-ory, Minerva the daughter of, 
 
 Vigils in the Thesmophoria, 247. 
 
 Vintage festival of rEsmlapius, 342. 
 
 Violets, sprung from blood of Attis, 
 230. 
 
 Virtue, altars and temples reared to, 
 184. 
 
 Virginalis, Fortuna, 138. 
 
 Vulcan, explained as fire, 173; lame, 
 206 ; wrought as a smith in Lem- 
 nos, 196, 206 ; son of the Nile, 
 196 ; loved by Ceres, 209 ; father 
 of the third Sun, 196 ; and of 
 Apollo, by the first Minerva, 196; 
 four gods named, 197 ; lord of 
 fire, 139, 166, Io4 ; represented 
 in workman's dress, 301 ; with 
 cap and hammer, 285. 
 
 Vulturnus, the father-in-law of 
 Janus, 170. 
 
 WHEAT, introduced into Attica by 
 Ceres, 212. 
 
 Will, free, in salvation, 133. 
 
 Wicked, souls of, pass into beasts, S3 
 
 World, the, uncreated and ever 
 lasting, 124 ; created, but ever 
 lasting, 124 ; created and perish 
 able, 124; theories of, 25, 73, 125, 
 destruction by fire of, 72. 
 
 Worship, true, in the heart, 212. 
 
 Winds, the, represented as blurting 
 trumpets, 282. 
 
 Within, the Penates said to be 
 those, 178. 
 
 Wine, in the rites of Bona Dea, 241; 
 sanctuary of Attis not entered 
 by those who had drunk, 229 ; 
 Pioman matrons not allowed to 
 drink, 138. 
 
 XERXES, the bridge and canal made 
 by, 9. 
 
 ZENO, the Stoic, 72; of Mynclus>, 
 278. 
 
 Zeuxippe, loved by Apollo, 208. 
 
 Zoroaster, Bactrians led against the 
 Assyrians by, 8 ; assigned by tra- 
 dition to different countries and 
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