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Arnobius
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Introductory Notice to Arnobius.
[3608] Lit., “in common.”
[3609] Pl.
[3610] This refers to the second argument of Lucretius noticed above.
[3611] i.e., the abandoned and dissolute immortal spoken of in last chapter.
[3612] Lit., “with.”
[3613] Lit., “degenerate into mortal nature.”
[3614] Arnobius seems in this chapter to refer to the doctrine of the Stoics, that the soul must be material, because, unless body and soul were of one substance, there could be no common feeling or mutual affection (so Cleanthes in Nemes. de Nat. Hom., ii. p. 33); and to that held by some of them, that only the souls of the wise remained after death, and these only till the conflagration (Stob., Ecl. Phys., p. 372) which awaits the world, and ends the Stoic great year or cycle. Others, however, held that the souls of the wise became dæmons and demigods (Diog., Lært., vii. 157 and 151).
[3615] Lit., “they”—eas.
[3616] Lit., “from the gapings and,” etc.
[3617] There may be here some echo of the words (John xvii. 3), “This is eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God,” etc.; but there is certainly not sufficient similarity to found a direct reference on, as has been done by Orelli and others.
[3618] i.e., souls.
[3619] This passage presents no difficulty in itself, its sense being obviously that, as by God’s grace life is given to those who serve Him, we must strive to fit ourselves to receive His blessing. The last words, however, have seemed to some fraught with mystery, and have been explained by Heraldus at some length as a veiled or confused reference to the Lord’s Supper, as following upon baptism and baptismal regeneration, which, he supposes, are referred to in the preceding words, “laying aside,” etc. [It is not, however, the language of a mere catechumen.]
[3620] These “thin plates,” laminæ, Orelli has suggested, were amulets worn as a charm against serpents.
[3621] ms. Phyllis.
[3622] So the edd., reading instit-oribusfor the ms. instit-ut-oribus, “makers.”
[3623] Lit., “that colds and violent suns may not,” etc.
[3624] Lit., “of.”
[3625] Lit., “is set before.”
[3626] So the ms., first ed., Gelenius, Canterus, Hildebrand, reading ex commodi sensu, for which all the other edd., following Ursinus and Meursius, read ex communi—“from common sense,” i.e., wisely.
[3627] Perhaps, as Orelli evidently understands it, “prefer Him to our own souls”—animis præponimus.
[3628] So Oehler, reading ea for the ms. ut, omitted in all edd.
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