37. But if souls were, as is
said, the Lord’s children, and begotten by3659
| 3659
Lit., “a generation of.” |
the
Supreme Power, nothing would have
been wanting to make them
perfect,
as they would have been born
with the most
perfect excellence: they would all have had one
mind, and
been of one
accord; they would always dwell in the
royal palace; and would not, passing by the seats of bliss in which
they had
learned and kept in
mind the noblest teachings, rashly
seek
these
regions of
earth, that
3660
| 3660
Canterus, Elmenhorst, Oberthür, and Orelli omit ut, which
is retained as above by the rest. |
they might
live enclosed in gloomy bodies amid phlegm and
blood, among
these
bags of
filth and most disgusting
3661
vessels of urine. But,
an
opponent will say, it was necessary that these parts too should be
peopled, and therefore
Almighty God sent
souls hither to
form
some
colonies, as it were. And of what use are men to the
world,
and on account of what are they necessary,
3662
| 3662
Elmenhorst endeavours to show that Arnobius coincides in this
argument with the Epicureans, by quoting Lucr. v. 165 sqq. and Lact.
vii. 5, where the Epicurean argument is brought forward, What profit
has God in man, that He should have created him? In doing this,
it seems not to have been observed that the question asked by Arnobius
is a very different one: What place has man in the world,
that God should be supposed to have sent him to fill it? |
so that they may not be believed to
have been destined to
live here and be the tenants of an earthly body
for no purpose? They have a share,
my opponent says, in
perfecting the completeness of this immense mass, and without their
addition this whole universe is incomplete and imperfect. What
then? If there were not men, would the
world cease to discharge
its functions? would the
stars not go through their changes? would
there not be summers and winters? would the blasts of the
winds be
lulled? and from the
clouds gathered and hanging
overhead would
not the showers come down upon the
earth to temper droughts? But
now
3663
| 3663
i.e., so far from this being the case. |
all things
must go on in their own courses, and not give up following the
arrangement established by
nature, even if there should be no name of
man heard in the
world, and this
earth should be still with the
silence
of an unpeopled
desert. How then is it alleged that it was
necessary that an inhabitant should be given to these regions, since it
is clear that by man comes nothing to
aid in perfecting the
world, and that all his exertions regard his private convenience
always, and never cease to aim at his own advantage?
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