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| Argument: Christians Abstain from Things Connected with Idol Sacrifices, Lest Any One Should Think Either that They Yield to Demons, or that They are Ashamed of Their Religion. They Do Not Indeed Despise All the Colour and Scent of Flowers, for They are Accustomed to Use Them Scattered About Loosely and Negligently, as Well as to Entwine Their Necks with Garlands; But to Crown the Head of a Corpse They Think Superfluous and Useless. Moreover, with the Same Tranquillity with Which They Live They Bury Their Dead, Waiting with a Very Certain Hope the Crown of Eternal Felicity. Therefore Their Religion, Rejecting All the Superstitions of the Gentiles, Should Be Adopted as True by All Men. PREVIOUS SECTION - NEXT SECTION - HELP
Chapter
XXXVIII.—Argument: Christians Abstain from Things Connected
with Idol Sacrifices, Lest Any One Should Think Either that They Yield
to Demons, or that They are Ashamed of Their Religion. They Do
Not Indeed Despise All the Colour and Scent of Flowers, for They are
Accustomed to Use Them Scattered About Loosely and Negligently, as Well
as to Entwine Their Necks with Garlands; But to Crown the Head of a
Corpse They Think Superfluous and Useless. Moreover, with the
Same Tranquillity with Which They Live They Bury Their Dead, Waiting
with a Very Certain Hope the Crown of Eternal Felicity. Therefore
Their Religion, Rejecting All the Superstitions of the Gentiles, Should
Be Adopted as True by All Men.
“But that we despise the leavings of
sacrifices, and the cups out of which libations have been poured, is
not a confession of fear, but an assertion of our true liberty.
For although nothing which comes into existence as an inviolable gift
of God is corrupted by any agency, yet we abstain, lest any should
think either that we are submitting to demons, to whom libation has
been made, or that we are ashamed of our religion. But who is he
who doubts of our indulging ourselves in spring flowers, when we gather
both the rose of spring and the lily, and whatever else is of agreeable
colour and odour among the flowers? For these we both use
scattered loose and free, and we twine our necks with them in
garlands. Pardon us, forsooth, that we do not crown our heads; we
are accustomed to receive the scent of a sweet flower in our nostrils,
not to inhale it with the back of our head or with our hair. Nor
do we crown the dead. And in this respect I the more wonder at
you, in the way in which you apply to a lifeless person, or to one who
does not feel, a torch; or a garland1837
1837 The probable reading
here is, “You apply to a lifeless person, either if he has
feeling, a torch; or, if he feels not, a garland.” | to one who
does not smell it, when either as blessed he does not want, or, being
miserable, he has no pleasure in, flowers. Still we adorn our
obsequies with the same tranquillity with which we live; and we do not
bind to us a withering garland, but we wear one living with eternal
flowers from God, since we, being both moderate and secure in the
liberality of our God, are animated to the hope of future felicity by
the confidence of His present majesty. Thus we both rise again in
blessedness, and are already living in contemplation of the
future. Then let Socrates the Athenian buffoon see to it,
confessing that he knew nothing, although boastful in the testimony of
a most deceitful demon; let Arcesilaus also, and Carneades, and Pyrrho,
and all the multitude of the Academic philosophers, deliberate; let
Simonides also for ever put off the decision of his opinion. We
despise the bent brows of the philosophers, whom we know to be
corrupters, and adulterers, and tyrants, and ever eloquent against
their own vices. We who1838
1838 “We who do
not,” etc., is a conjectural reading, omitting the subsequent
“we.” | bear wisdom not in
our dress, but in our mind, we do not speak great things, but we live
them; we boast that we have attained what they have sought for with the
utmost eagerness, and have not been able to find. Why are we
ungrateful? why do we grudge if the truth of divinity has ripened in
the age of our time? Let us enjoy our benefits, and let us in
rectitude moderate our judgments; let superstition be restrained; let
impiety be expiated; let true religion be preserved.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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