Click to View

Early Church Fathers
Click to ViewMaster Index
Click to ViewPower Search

 Click to View

30 No mention is made of this deity by any other author.

31 Lit., "that he may do what."

32 Lit., "good condition," habitudinem.

33 Lit., "a disreputable act."

34 So the ms. reading flagitiis, followed by all edd. except LB. and Orelli, who read plagiis-"kidnapping."

35 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 perfica, i.e., "perfecting," or making all things complete. [The learned translator forgets Tertullian, who introduces us to this name in the work Arnobius imitates throughout. See vol. iii. p. 140.]

36 i.e., in cubiculis praesto est virginalem scrobem effodientibus maritis.

37 The first five edd. read Mutunus. Cf. ch. 11. [I think it a mistake to make Mutubus = Priapus. Their horrible deformities are diverse, as I have noted in European collections of antiquities. The specialty of Mutunus is noted by our author, and is unspeakably abominable. All this illustrates, therefore, the Christian scruples about marriage-feasts, of which see vol. v. note 1, p. 435.]

38 Lit., the "fancies" or "imaginations" of false gods. Meursius proposed 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.

39 Of these three deities no other mention is made.

40 The ms., LB., Hild., and Oehler read qui-"who brings;" the other edd., as above, quia.

41 So the ms. (cf. ch. 11), first five edd., Oberth., Hild., and Oehler; the other edd., read Nodutim Ter.

42 So the ms., both Roman edd., and Oehler; the other edd. reading Vibilia, except Hild., Viabilia.

43 The ms. reads nam-"for," followed by all edd. except Orelli, who reads jam as above, and Oehler, who reads etiam-"also."

44 Orelli omits non, following Oberthür.

45 Both in this and the preceding chapter the ms. reads Melonia.

46 Lit., "obtained by lot the wardships."

47 Lit., "signs."

48 So the ms. both Roman edd., Hild., and Oehler; the others reading Liburnum, except Elm, who reads -am, while Meursius conjectured Liberum-"Bacchus."

49 Lit., "shameful impurity seeks after;" expetit read by Gelenius, Canterus, and Oberthür, for the unintelligible ms. reading expeditur, retained in both Roman edd.; the others reading experitur- "tries."

50 The ms. reads Lemons; Hild. and Oehler, Limones; the others, Limos, as above.

51 The ms. LB., Hild., and Oehler read Murcidam; the others, Murciam, as above.

52 i.e., equestrian rank.

53 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, followed 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, as above, si habere insistitis suos.

54 i.e., deities. So LB. and Orelli, reading quid potestatum?-"what, O fathers of powers." The ms. gives qui-"what say you, O 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 discovered, and introduced, unknown deities and forms of worship.

55 The ms. reads pertus quae- (marked as spurious) dam; and, according to Hild., naeniam is written over the latter word.

56 So the ms. Cf. ch. 7 [note 10, p. 478, supra].

57 The ms. is here very corrupt and imperfect,-supplices hoc est uno procumbimus 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. [See p. 478, note 6, supra]

58 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.

59 Contendis, not found in the ms.

60 i.e., the predictions.

61 Lit., "will you make the same belief."

62 Lit., "adapt themselves to the significations of the things which."

63 Lit., "brothers of."

64 i.e., demons.

65 Perhaps "abilities"-materiis.

66 The ms. reads cum- "with similar reason we may believe," instead of cur, as above.

67 Lit., "novelty of the thing."

68 Lit., "of places and divisions," i.e., places separated from each other.

69 Lit., "affords to you the appearance of."

70 Lit., "a severity of stern manner"-moris for the ms. mares.

71 Orelli here introduces the sentence, "For it cannot be," etc., with which this book is concluded in the ms. Cf. ch. 37, n. 4, infra.

72 There can be no doubt that Arnobius here refers to Clemens Alexandrinus (Lo/goj Protreptiko\j pro\j 9Ellh=naj), 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. [Compare Clement, vol. ii. pp. 305-13, and Tertullian, vol. iii. p. 34.]

73 Lit., "given to us an abridging," i.e., an opportunity of abridging.

74 Lit., "committed to sepulture and born in," etc.

75 Arnobius repeats this statement in ch. 22, 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, Rhea), "and his father Hyperion," because Cybele is termed basi/leia; for which reading there seems no good reason.-Immediately below, Ialysus 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.

76 i.e.,

77 Lit., "of Jupiter, but the third."

78 i.e., incestorum appetitorem.

79 So Cicero (iii. 23); but Clemens [vol. ii. p. 179] speaks of five, and notes that a sixth had been mentioned.

80 Lit., "by the violence of your terror." The preceding words are read in the ms. ideo motos-"so moved by authority," and were emended idonea, as in the text, by Gelenius.

81 Lit., "to what parts shall we transfer the duties of pious service."

82 The ms. reads cum numen; Rigaltius, followed by Oehler emending, as above, meum; the first four edd., with Oberthür, tum-"then the deity is mine;" while the rest read cum numine-"with the deity."

83 So LB., Orelli, and Oehler, reading tu tinnis for the ms. tutunis.

84 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 elsewhere in ecclesiastical Latin.

85 Lit., "Nor are the forms of married persons given to these by all artists;" nec read in all edd. for the ms. et-"and of married," etc., which is opposed to the context.

86 Lit., "not of your own right."

87 Concretione roris-a strange phrase. Cf. Her., iv. 180: "They say that Minerva is the daughter of Poseidon and the Tritonian lake."

88 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.

89 Lit., "take account of herself."

90 So Ursinus suggested in the margin for the ms. si verum.

91 The third Minerva now addresses the fourth.

92 Lit., "approaching the duties of religion."

93 According to the ms. sic-"for so (i.e., as you do) yielding,"etc.

94 So all the edd., though Orelli approves of fictione (edd.-em), which is, he says, the ms. reading, "set forth with wanton fiction."

95 The ms. and earlier edd., with Hild. and Oehler, read ex hominum de scriptis; LB. and Orelli inserting his after de, as above.

96 The ms. and both Roman edd. read esse, which is clearly corrupt; for which LB. gives scripsisse (misprinted scripse), as above.

97 i.e., "speak of them at all."

98 Lit., "an idea of no writing."

99 Lit., "been informed by books suggesting to you," etc.

100 Lit., "does it not touch the feeling of your mind."

101 Ursinus would supply eos-"that they are so."

102 Atque ex seminis, actu, or jactu, as the edd. except Hild. read it.

103 The ms. reads dignitati-s aut; corrected, as above, d. sane, in the first five edd., Oberthür, and Orelli. [John x. 35.]

104 Quaesit foeditas ista coeundi.

105 Lit., "as far as to themselves, their first generation being completed."

106 Lit., "forgetting the so great majesty and sublimity."

107 Both plural.

108 Both plural.

109 The ms., first four edd., and Oberthür read conducunt-"unite;" for which the rest read condic-unt, as above.

110 i.e., usu, farre, coemptione.

111 The word here translated mistresses, speratas, is used of maidens loved, but not yet asked in marriage.

112 Lit., "dangers of destructions."

113 Instead of "occasioned," sevisse, which the later editions give, the ms. and first four edd. read saevisse-"that danger and destruction raged against," etc.

Click Your Choice

WWW.Bible.ca