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,3568
| 3568
Founded on Plato’s words (Phædrus, st. p.
247), τῷ
δ᾽ (i.e., Zeus) ἕπεται
στρατιὰ θεῶν
τε καὶ
δαιμόνων, the doctrine
became prevalent that under the supreme God were lesser gods made by
Him, beneath whom again were dæmons, while men stood next.
To this Orelli supposes that Arnobius here refers. |
and proceeding from the
fountains of
life?
3569
| 3569
The vessels in which according to Plato (Timæus, st.
p. 41), the Supreme Being mixed the vital essence of all being.
Cf. c. 52. |
This is
that precious
being man, endowed
3570
| 3570 Lit.,
“and endowed.” |
with the loftiest powers of reason, who
is said
to be a microcosm, 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 although he were
rich,
3571
| 3571 The
text and meaning are both rather doubtful, and the edd. vary
exceedingly. The reading of Orelli, demoretur iners, valeat in
ære quamvis, has been translated as most akin to the
ms., with which, according to Oehler, it
agrees, although Orelli himself gives the ms.
reading as ær-io. |
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;
3572
| 3572
Lit., “acknowledge turnings in the course.” |
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.
E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
