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| Argument: Cæcilius Begins His Argument First of All by Reminding Them that in Human Affairs All Things are Doubtful and Uncertain, and that Therefore It is to Be Lamented that Christians, Who for the Most Part are Untrained and Illiterate Persons, Should Dare to Determine on Anything with Certainty Concerning the Chief of Things and the Divine Majesty: Hence He Argues that the World is Governed by No Providence, and Concludes that It is Better to Abide by the Received Forms of Religion. PREVIOUS SECTION - NEXT SECTION - HELP
Chapter
V.—Argument: Cæcilius Begins His Argument First of All
by Reminding Them that in Human Affairs All Things are Doubtful and
Uncertain, and that Therefore It is to Be Lamented that Christians, Who
for the Most Part are Untrained and Illiterate Persons, Should Dare to
Determine on Anything with Certainty Concerning the Chief of Things and
the Divine Majesty: Hence He Argues that the World is Governed by
No Providence, and Concludes that It is Better to Abide by the Received
Forms of Religion.
“Although to you, Marcus my brother, the subject
on which especially we are inquiring is not in doubt, inasmuch as,
being carefully informed in both kinds of life, you have rejected the
one and assented to the other, yet in the present case your mind must
be so fashioned that you may hold the balance of a most just judge, nor
lean with a disposition to one side (more than another), lest your
decision may seem not to arise so much from our arguments, as to be
originated from your own perceptions. Accordingly, if you sit in judgment on
me, as a person who is new, and as one ignorant of either side, there
is no difficulty in making plain that all things in human affairs are
doubtful, uncertain, and unsettled, and that all things are rather
probable than true. Wherefore it is the less1719
1719 The ms. and first edition read “more;” Ursinus
suggested minus instead of magis. | wonderful that some, from the weariness of
thoroughly investigating truth, should rashly succumb to any sort of
opinion rather than persevere in exploring it with persistent
diligence. And thus all men must be indignant, all men must feel
pain,1720
1720 This clause is
otherwise read: “Therefore we must be indignant, nay, must
be grieved.” | that certain persons—and these
unskilled in learning, strangers to literature, without knowledge
even1721
1721 Otherwise for
“even,” “except.” | of sordid arts—should dare to
determine on any certainty concerning the nature at large, and the
(divine) majesty, of which so many of the multitude of sects in all
ages (still doubt), and philosophy itself deliberates still. Nor
without reason; since the mediocrity of human intelligence is so far
from (the capacity of) divine investigation, that neither is it given
us to know, nor is it permitted to search, nor is it religious to
ravish,1722
1722 The reading of
the ms. is “stuprari,” as
above. “Scrutari,” “sciari,” or
“lustrare” and “suspicari,” are proposed
emendations. | the things that are
supported in suspense in the heaven above us, nor the things which are
deeply submerged below the earth; and we may rightly seem sufficiently
happy and sufficiently prudent, if, according to that ancient oracle of
the sage, we should know ourselves intimately. But even if we
indulge in a senseless and useless labour, and wander away beyond the
limits proper to our humility, and though, inclined towards the earth,
we transcend with daring ambition heaven itself, and the very stars,
let us at least not entangle this error with vain and fearful
opinions. Let the seeds of all things have been in the beginning
condensed by a nature combining them in itself—what God is the
author here? Let the members of the whole world be by fortuitous
concurrences united, digested, fashioned—what God is the
contriver? Although fire may have lit up the stars; although (the
lightness of) its own material may have suspended the heaven; although
its own material may have established the earth by its weight;1723
1723 Or, “although
its weight may have established the earth.” | and although the sea may have flowed in from
moisture,1724
1724 Or, “although
the moisture may have flowed into the sea.” | whence is this
religion? Whence this fear? What is this
superstition? Man, and every animal which is born, inspired with
life, and nourished,1725
1725 Variously read,
“is raised up,” or “and is raised up.”
The ms. has “attollitur,”
which by some is amended into “et alitur,” or “et
tollitur.” | is as a voluntary
concretion of the elements, into which again man and every animal is
divided, resolved, and dissipated. So all things flow back again
into their source, and are turned again into themselves, without any
artificer, or judge, or creator. Thus the seeds of fires, being
gathered together, cause other suns, and again others, always to shine
forth. Thus the vapours of the earth, being exhaled, cause the
mists always to grow, which being condensed and collected, cause the
clouds to rise higher; and when they fall, cause the rains to flow, the
winds to blow, the hail to rattle down; or when the clouds clash
together, they cause the thunder to bellow, the lightnings to grow red,
the thunderbolts to gleam forth. Therefore they fall everywhere,
they rush on the mountains, they strike the trees; without any
choice,1726
1726 Either
“delectu” or “dilectu.” | they blast places
sacred and profane; they smite mischievous men, and often, too,
religious men. Why should I speak of tempests, various and
uncertain, wherein the attack upon all things is tossed about without
any order or discrimination?—in shipwrecks, that the fates of
good and bad men are jumbled together, their deserts
confounded?—in conflagrations, that the destruction of innocent
and guilty is united?—and when with the plague-taint of the sky a
region is stained, that all perish without distinction?—and when
the heat of war is raging, that it is the better men who generally
fall? In peace also, not only is wickedness put on the same level
with (the lot of) those who are better, but it is also regarded in such
esteem,1727
1727 Or, “it is
extolled.” | that, in the case
of many people, you know not whether their depravity is most to be
detested, or their felicity to be desired. But if the world were
governed by divine providence and by the authority of any deity,
Phalaris and Dionysius would never have deserved to reign, Rutilius and
Camillus would never have merited banishment, Socrates would never have
merited the poison. Behold the fruit-bearing trees, behold the
harvest already white, the vintage, already dropping, is destroyed by
the rain, is beaten down by the hail. Thus either an uncertain
truth is hidden from us, and kept back; or, which is rather to be
believed, in these various and wayward chances, fortune, unrestrained
by laws, is ruling over us.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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