Syllabus rerum quae in hoc volumine continentur

Article IV. — How Arnobius shows that sacrifice is not to be offered to the gods, from the very things that were used in the sacrifices; where it is explained what are farcimen, apexabo, hirciae, silicernium, longavo, taedae, taeniae, polimina, plasea, siligo, fitilla, frumen, africia, gratilla, catumeum, conspolium, cubula, libum, caro strebula, pulpamenta, salsamina joined with four-year-old grain, far pium, feudicae, rumae or aerumnae, gurgulio, ruminatoria saecula, augmentum, magmentum, velamen sanguinum, praeciciae; and how our Author shows that these things are burnt in sacrifices in vain. 642

Chapter XXIV. — On the use of incense and wine in the sacrifices of the gentiles, and on some other absurd rites of theirs, and their feast days. 651

Article I. — By what weight of reasons Arnobius establishes that the superstitious use of incense, or Panchaean resin, in the rites and sacrifices of the gentiles is to be hissed off the stage, and that it was unknown in the heroic times and in the times of the Alban kings, and to the Etruscans as well, and that holy spelt was then used; where it is explained what male incense is, and concerning the use of incense in the funerals of the heathen. Ibid.

Article II. — That the custom of pouring libations in the rites and sacrifices of the heathen, the companion of incense, was no less perverse; and it is set out what are bria, simpuvium, venerable mosses, and "Be honoured with this offered wine." 654

Article III. — How rightly Arnobius assails and casts out the other senseless rites of the heathen, by which they adorned their gods with garlands and crowns, used cymbals, drums, consorts of music and foot-clappers, and greeted them in the morning; and how ridiculous and absurd were the washing of the Mother of the gods, the banquet of Jupiter, the vintage of Aesculapius, the couch-feasts of Ceres and others, and the birthday of Tellus and of others. 657

Chapter XXV. — How scant and meagre is the knowledge of men. 661

Article I. — How little man knows, and that it is unknown to him what he himself is, how and when dreams come about; how sight takes place, and taste is perceived; why hairs turn grey, and oil does not mix with liquids; why the mind is sick in the sick, dull or deranged in others; and what is the arrangement of the parts of our body; and to what end Arnobius said these things. Ibid.

Article II. — How rightly Arnobius proved that the knowledge of men is scant, both from the disagreements of the philosophers and from the various opinions of Thales, Heraclitus, Pythagoras, Archytas of Tarentum, Epicurus and Democritus on the first principles of things, of Plato on the soul, of Panaetius, Chrysippus and Zeno on the burning of the world; of Carneades, Arcesilas and the Academics, who affirmed that nothing can be known; and because nothing is yet held as ascertained, whence truth arises, or why the sea is salt; and whether these and other like questions are to be left aside. 664

Chapter XXVI. — On the famous men, seers and writers whom Arnobius cited, and on the barbarous, obsolete and obscure words which he used. 667

Article I. — On Pythagoras, who was burnt in a temple; on the cruel death of Socrates, Trebonius, Regulus and Aquilius; and on certain magi: Zoroaster, called forth through the fiery zone, the Armenian grandson of Zostrianus, Pamphilus the friend of Cyrus, Apollonius, Damigeron, Velus, Julian and Bebulus. Ibid.

Article II. — On the various seers, whether men, namely the Sibyl, Bacis, Helenus, Marcius, or gods, Jupiter of Dodona, Apollo of Claros, the Pythian, the Didymaean, the Philesian, whom Arnobius mentioned. 672

Article III. — On the various writers cited by Arnobius, whose names are set out in alphabetical order. 674

Article IV. — On the barbarous, obsolete, unusual or obscure words which Arnobius used. 690

THE SEVEN BOOKS OF DISPUTATIONS AGAINST THE GENTILES OF ARNOBIUS THE AFRICAN. 713

BOOK I. — INDEX OF CHAPTERS.

Arnobius declares that he undertook the work to repel the oft-repeated calumny by which the heathen falsely and rashly accused the Christians, because they had renounced the worship of false deities, of being the authors of all public calamities. Chap. 1, 2. — He therefore makes it plain that since the beginning of the Christian religion nothing in the nature of things, nothing in the private and public affairs of men, has been either changed or loosened and dissolved. Chap. 2, 3. — He refutes the heathen who object that the gods, offended by the impiety of the Christians, overwhelm the world with pestilence and other calamities; for from the very histories of the gentiles it is established that men were harassed by the same or even graver disasters before the name of Christians was ever heard. Chap. 3, 4. — He shows also that it is as certain that cruel wars were once waged by the Atlantians, Assyrians, Bactrians, Persians, Greeks, Trojans and Romans, by Ninus, Zoroaster, Xerxes, Alexander the Great and others, as it is established that they were lessened after the birth of Christ. Chap. 5, 6. — He inquires why, in the opinion of the heathen, by so many and such great evils

the world is weighed down. He teaches that these things are either to be referred to natural causes, or seem evils to men who measure everything by their own convenience, though they are certainly useful to the whole of nature and to the world. Chap. 7–12. — How preposterously the heathen clamoured that all evils were to be laid upon the Christians, who had arisen about three hundred years before, he skilfully refutes by various arguments. Chap. 13–16. — He shows that it is absurd to say that anger befalls the immortal gods, and that there is at the same time no equity in them, if for injuries done them by the Christians they exacted the penalty for them both from the Christians themselves and, as they said, from the innocent heathen without any distinction. And he concludes that these ridiculous charges were invented solely by the avarice of soothsayers, diviners and seers. Chap. 17–24. — He answers the heathen who object that the gods rage against men because the Christians had brought a new worship into the world. He shows them in what above all the sum of the whole Christian religion consists. Chap. 25, 26, 27. — Thence he argues that the cause of the Christians is better than that of those who revere false deities. For they adore that Father from Whom the very gods of the gentiles, if there are any, must have received whatever divinity and majesty they are believed to have. Chap. 28. — Arnobius proves from His effects that this true God is the maker of all things; older than Apollo, Mercury and all the other fictitious deities, infinite, unbegotten, immortal, eternal. Chap. 29, 30, 31. — He asserts that it is implanted by nature in everyone to acknowledge Him as the supreme King and ruler of all; indeed even animals and the very stones, if they could speak, would cry this out openly and plainly. In vain therefore do the heathen proclaim Jupiter as the supreme God, whom they know to have been born in the usual manner of men, whereas the supreme God is unbegotten and eternal. Chap. 31–35. — He meets the heathen who accuse the Christians, not because they worship the almighty God, but because they maintain that a man who was born and put to death by the infamous punishment of the cross is God. Chap. 36, 37. — But if, says Arnobius, it was lawful for the heathen to enrol certain men among the number of the gods for the benefits, as they thought, conferred on them, how much more is Christ to be held by men in divine honour, Who has bestowed on them many greater and infinite gifts most abundantly? Chap. 38, 39. — But He, said the heathen, perished fastened to the gibbet of the cross. What follows from that? For the death of Christ, just as that of Pythagoras or of Socrates, brought no harm to His teaching and His excellent deeds. And what of the fact that an innocent man, such as Aquilius, Trebonius and Regulus, can never be branded with any infamy of death? What, moreover, more deserves derision than this argument of the gentiles, who honoured with superstitious worship Liber torn apart by the Titans, Aesculapius struck by lightning, Hercules burnt alive, and others carried off by violent death? Chap. 40, 41. — Christ, further, sent to us from the supreme King, is proved to be true God, as certainly as evidently, by the countless miracles which He wrought. The miracles of Christ summarily set out, from which His divinity is established. Chap. 42–47. — Nor could there be set against these the infirm healths of some men cured by the gods of the heathen. For, granting this freely for the moment, it is certain that by no god of the gentiles was health ever restored, as it was by Christ to sick men, by the mere use of hand or voice. Chap. 48. — Nor does the author allow it to be objected to him that help is brought by the gods, not indeed to wicked, but to good and pious men. For Christ succours all the wicked equally with the good. Arnobius further shows that the miracles of Christ are true from that wholly wonderful power which He gave even to men of the lowest people, of working any wonders by His name alone. Chap. 49–52. — And truly, how great in magnitude and power Christ Himself is, God most high and from the inmost root, though once unknown to men, has been most evidently shown by the miracles alone which were done as He died. Chap. 53. — The truth of Christ's miracles is proved, first from most trustworthy witnesses, the disciples of Christ, who at the certain peril of their lives made them public and handed them down to posterity; and then from the fact that the Christian religion, established and confirmed by them, was received in the shortest time throughout the whole world. Chap. 54, 55. — Finally Arnobius proves that those miracles were neither written falsely nor greatly exaggerated by our writers. Nay rather, the things written of Christ in our Books are as true as the things the gentiles handed down about their gods are false. Chap. 56, 57. — Arnobius beats back the heathen who press that on their side their writings are older and therefore truer, while on the other ours were drafted by unlearned men in rude and unpolished speech. Chap. 58, 59. — The author answers the heathen who demanded of the Christians why Christ, if He is God, put on human form and was put to death in human fashion. Chap. 60, 61, 62. — He answers the same men when they rejoin that it is wholly incredible that Christ, God and man, seen in human nature alone and fastened to the gibbet, ended His life; and he shows that Christ, for the healing and instruction of men, suffered Himself to be killed by the impious with as much gentleness as freedom. Chap. 63. — Wherefore Arnobius sharply rebukes the heathen, who nevertheless would bestow divine honours on tyrants, and others defiled by every kind of impiety and crime

they would extol with the highest praises and present with statues, while they nevertheless persecuted with the most unjust and implacable hatred Christ alone, the true, the greatest and the most supremely salutary messenger. Ch. 64. — For what, he says, is more unjust and more cruel than to harass with most bitter war the Lord of all virtues and the extinguisher of death, Who, having permitted the death of the man whom He bore, gave to all a sure hope of the future salvation of our souls, if we live piously? Ch. 65. 718-810

BOOK II. — INDEX OF THE CHAPTERS.

Arnobius asks of the heathen why at last they so hate Christ, guilty of no sin against them, that even at the hearing of His name they at once blaze up in anger: Who nevertheless, even if He were not worthy to be believed by anyone, was at least not to be spurned on this account, that He showed to all the way to heaven. Ch. 1. — The author meets the gentiles when they answer that they pursue Him with the highest hatred for this reason, that He overturned all worship of the gods. Ch. 2, 3. — He shows that the heathen quite undeservedly refuse to believe Christ's sayings for this reason, that He does not convince us that He will ever in reality give the things which He promises. For indeed there are at hand very many proofs, by no means uncertain, from the things which Christ promised: and since these indeed are ready to hand, there is no reason to doubt the outcome of the other things also promised by Him. Ch. 4, 5. — He beats down the boasting of the heathen, inasmuch as they gloried that they alone were adorned with wisdom and knowledge, but held the others, who throughout the whole world of lands have given their name to Christ, though endowed even with great talent, to be dull, stupid and foolish. Ch. 6, 7. — By no reasoning, therefore, were the heathen, no more learned than others, finding fault with the Christians for believing their divine Master. For without prior faith no undertaking at all is entered upon. The gentiles themselves believed the opinions of the philosophers, who nevertheless on the first principles of things and on other matters put forward nothing certain and ascertained, and are forever fighting among themselves. Ch. 8, 9, 10. — From this Arnobius gathers that it is fairer to believe Christ, Who established His doctrine by such great miracles, than the philosophers, however praiseworthy for integrity of morals and wisdom, who were never able to do anything, even the least thing, like these. Ch. 11 — And certainly if Christ had used merely human arguments, no one would have given Him credence, which nevertheless very many were compelled to give on account of the miracles performed by Himself and His disciples; performed, I say, everywhere in the East and the West and above all at Rome, where Simon Magus is reported to have been thrown down by Peter from the high air onto the ground. Ch. 12. — Why say more? The faith of the Christians was certainly not to be harassed but, on this account, to be praised by the heathen, because they held in common with the leading philosophers opinions about God, about the resurrection of bodies, about the salvation of souls, and the future punishments of the impious, although these are explained by them otherwise than by the Christians. Ch. 13, 14. — From this Arnobius seizes the occasion to discuss of what nature our soul is, from what source it proceeds, and why it is subject to various passions and vices. Then he refutes those who were declaring that our soul shares the same immortality and nature as God. Ch. 14, 15, 16. — But the soul of man is divine, they were saying, since he surpasses the other animals in reason. Very well indeed, Arnobius replies, if man always used this reason of his well. Then, meeting certain objections, he sets out and dissolves the opinions of the crowd on the excellence of the human soul. Ch. 17, 18. — He goes on further to show that human souls are neither divine nor flew down from heaven into this world instructed in all knowledge, and from this falls that tenet of certain philosophers by which they dreamed that the things we learn are recollections. Ch. 19. — And he proves this conjecture false by still other weighty reasons: above all, by proposing the hypothesis of a boy born in a most deserted and inaccessible solitude and brought up there in the deepest silence by a mute nurse. Ch. 20, 21. — From this he clearly concludes that the human soul did not come into the world instructed in all knowledge. Ch. 22, 23. — Next Arnobius brilliantly dissolves the contrary argument of Plato, drawn from the boy questioned about numbers. Ch. 24, 25. — He dissolves the objection of those who say that the soul, when it is joined to the body, forgets its former things and, as they say, from learned becomes elementary. Ch. 26, 27. — He handles the same argument thoroughly. Ch. 28. — From what has been argued the author gathers that man, a proletarian and altogether needy, is not to be assigned to the first order, that is, the divine, nor is the same immortality as God's to be attributed to him. Ch. 29, 30. — By the same reasoning Arnobius attacks the contrary opinion of Epicurus, who babbled that the human soul is mortal. Then our author lays down that the soul is of a certain substance intermediate between the mortal and the divine nature. Ch. 30-34. — But when the heathen press him as to how the soul can become immortal if it is of that intermediate quality, Arnobius gives satisfaction. Ch. 35, 36. — Next he shows that our soul was indeed created by some lowest power, but is neither of divine offspring nor a daughter of the supreme God. Nor does the author allow it to be objected to him that the world without man is imperfect;

and that God therefore sent the soul of each one, begotten from Himself, into a human body. Ch. 36, 37, 38. — By a long induction, moreover, he tries to show that man was created not for the perfection of the world, which indeed could exist without him, but for the private advantage of man himself. And from this he concludes that the soul is not divine, which was afterwards sent by God into some body. Ch. 39-43. — But it came into the world, they say, by its own will, not by God's command. This objection too Arnobius meets. Ch. 44-46. — The heathen pressed him, asking whence then the soul was begotten or brought forth. To them Arnobius replies that this first is ascertained by us, that it is neither divine nor the offspring of God: for nothing could ever be made by the supreme God unless perfect in every respect. Then he adds that we know this for certain, that men are nothing other than souls bound to a body, which are corrupted by every kind of vice. Ch. 47, 48. — There are indeed some of excellent morals: though truly they are very few. But which men are perfect? The human soul, therefore, is not divine. Ch. 49, 50. — Nor is there reason for the heathen to laugh if we deny that we have ascertained how it was created. For if they think it rightly asserted by Plato that souls were created not by the supreme God but by certain lesser powers, why shall we not be permitted to assert far more certainly that they are of an intermediate quality, yet are endowed with immortality by God? Ch. 51, 52, 53. — Nor should you say that nothing at all happens without God's will, nor inquire too curiously whence evils arise and why God permits them. This one thing is to be held for certain, that nothing evil, vicious and harmful is made by the true God, and nothing that is not salutary to all and most full of love. Ch. 54, 55. — But our ignorance about so many other things ought to seem strange to no one. For who does not know that the disputes of men about any matter whatever are so great that nothing is asserted by anyone which cannot at once be demolished by another? Ch. 56, 57. — Although, therefore, the Christians did not know by whom and whence the human soul was created, the heathen could achieve nothing against them on that score, since far more things are unknown to them. Ch. 58, 59. — Rightly therefore Christ, true God, speaking in the form of a man, bids us, leaving aside all questions, to be lifted up with our whole mind to the Lord of all things; Who, although He cannot be comprehended, yet no one but a madman doubts that He alone is God. Cruel torments after death therefore await the heathen, who do not acknowledge Him. Ch. 60, 61, 62. — When the heathen press him as to what then has become of the souls of those who died before the coming of Christ, and why all souls have not been endowed with equal bounty, Arnobius replies first that the divine benefits have been poured out equally upon all; then, that God calls all equally and has given to all the power of coming to Him, but imposes necessity on none. Ch. 63, 64. — He teaches why God does not make men believe His promises against their will; then, that the Christians alone obtain salvation by the power and help of Christ, to Whom this faculty was granted by God the Father. Ch. 65. — He passes to the old complaint of the heathen, by which they protested that the Christian religion is new and that ancient and ancestral rites ought not to be changed for barbarous and foreign ones. Ch. 66, 67, 68. — Although the Christian religion was recently instituted, did not all human things, did not above all, as even the heathen themselves admit, their gods have a beginning? Ch. 69, 70. — If then the Christian religion did not exist four hundred years ago, neither could they deny that two thousand years ago they had no gods of theirs. But in the end the authority of a religion is to be judged not by time but by divinity. Ch. 71. — Arnobius next breaks down that objection by which the heathen pleaded that their religion was much older than the Christian and therefore truer. Ch. 72, 73. — He answers, at the demand of the heathen themselves, why Christ was sent by God so late. Ch. 74, 75. — He satisfies the same men when they ask why God, Whom the Christians served, allows them to be harassed and crushed by every kind of persecution and punishment. Ch. 76, 77, 78. 809-936.

BOOK III. — INDEX OF THE CHAPTERS.

The Christian religion has long since been defended more than enough by eminent men; yet it needs no champion at all, being by itself entirely unshaken. Ch. 1. — Resuming his interrupted defence, Arnobius answers the heathen as to why the Christians neither worshipped nor adored the gods. Whatever is to be worshipped and adored is worshipped and adored by the Christians in God, the creator of all things. If, then, there are any gods, they draw their origin from Him and are worshipped in Him. Ch. 2, 3. — But that those beings are truly gods could never be proved by the heathen, to whom it was always unknown either whence they received their names or how great their multitude is. Ch. 4, 5. — The author proceeds further and from the things which the heathen proclaimed about their gods demonstrates most plainly that there are none. For in the first place they venerated gods male and female, but the divine nature is proved to be capable of no sex. Moreover, if the gods of the gentiles could beget and be begotten, since they are imagined immortal, their number would by now be infinite. Ch. 6, 7, 8, 9. — To