3. But, we are told,
we rear no temples to them, and do not worship their images; we do not
slay victims in sacrifice, we do not offer incense4571
| 4571
[See note 5, book. vi. p. 506.] |
and libations of
wine. And what
greater honour or
dignity can we ascribe to them, than that we put them
in the same position as the Head and
Lord of the universe, to whom the
gods owe it in common with us,
4572
| 4572
The ms. and most edd. read
di-vina nobiscum—“the divine things along with
us;” Heraldus rejects div. as a gloss, while Meursius,
followed by Orelli, corrects dii una, and Oehler divi
una, as above. |
that they are conscious that they
exist, and have a living being?
4573
| 4573
Lit., “are contained in vital substance.” |
For do we honour Him with
shrines, and by
building temples?
4574
| 4574
Arnobius here expressly denies that the Christians had any
temples. There has been some controversy on the subject (Mosheim,
book i. cent. 1, ch. 4, sec. 5, Soames’ ed.), surely as needless
as controversy could be; for as the Christians must at all times have
had stated places of meeting (although in time of persecution these
might be changed frequently), it is clear that, in speaking thus, the
meaning must be only, that their buildings had no architectural
pretensions, and their service no splendour of ritual.
[Diocletian’s mild beginning suffered Christians to build costly
temples in many places. These he subsequently destroyed with
great severity.] |
Do we even
slay victims
to
Him? Do we give
Him the other things, to take which
and pour them forth in libation shows not a careful regard to reason,
but heed to a
practice maintained
4575
merely by usage? For it is
perfect folly to measure greater powers by your necessities, and to
give the things useful to yourself to the gods who give
all
things, and to think this an honour, not an insult. We ask,
therefore, to do what service to the gods, or to meet what want, do you
say that
temples have been reared,
4576
| 4576 So
the edd., reading constructafor the corrupt ms.
conscripta—“written.” |
and think that they should be again
built? Do they feel the cold of
4577
| 4577
i.e., to suppose that temples are necessary to the gods, is to make
them subject to human weakness. |
winter, or are they
scorched by
summer suns? Do
storms of rain flow over them, or whirlwinds
shake them? Are they in
danger of being exposed to the onset of
enemies, or the furious attacks of
wild beasts, so that it is right and
becoming to shut them up in places of
security,
4578
| 4578
Lit. “with fortifications of roofs.” |
or
guard them by throwing up a
rampart of
stones? For what are these
temples? If you ask
human
weakness4579
| 4579
i.e., if you have regard merely to the weakness of men, a temple may be
something wonderful. |
—something vast and spacious; if
you consider the
power of the gods—
small caves, as it
were,
4580
and even, to
speak more truly, the narrowest
kind of caverns formed and contrived
with sorry
judgment.
4581
| 4581
Lit., “formed by contrivance of a poor heart.” |
Now, if you ask to be told who
was their first founder
4582
| 4582
Institutor, wanting in all edd., except Hild. and Oehler. |
and builder, either Phoroneus or the
Egyptian Merops
4583
| 4583
Arnobius here agrees with Clemens Alexandrinus, but Jos. Scaliger has
pointed out that the name should be Cecrops. It is possible that
Arnobius may have been misled by what was merely a slip of
Clement’s pen. [See the passage here referred to, vol. ii.
p. 184, this series.] |
will be
mentioned to you, or, as Varro relates in his
treatise
“
de Admirandis,” Æacus the
offspring of
Jupiter. Though these, then, should be built of heaps of
marble,
or shine resplendent with ceilings fretted with
gold,
though
precious
stones sparkle here, and gleam like
stars set at varying
intervals, all these things are made up of
earth, and of the lowest
dregs of
even baser matter. For not even, if you value
these more highly, is it to be believed that the gods take
pleasure in
them, or that they do not refuse and
scorn to shut themselves up, and
be confined within these barriers. This,
my opponent says,
is the
temple of Mars, this
that of Juno and of Venus, this
that of Hercules, of Apollo, of Dis. What is this but to
say this is the house of Mars, this of Juno and Venus,
4584
| 4584
The preceding words, from “this of Hercules,” are
omitted by the first four edd. and Elmenh., and were first restored
from the ms. by Stewechius. |
Apollo
dwells here, in this abides Hercules, in that Summanus? Is it
not, then, the very
4585
greatest affront to hold the
gods kept fast
4586
| 4586
So the edd., reading habere districtos for the
ms. destructos. |
in
habitations, to give to them little huts, to build lockfast places and
cells, and to think that the things are
4587
| 4587
Lit., “that the things be thought to be.” |
necessary to them which are needed
by men, cats, emmets, and lizards, by quaking, timorous, and little
mice?
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