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Arnobius
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Introductory Notice to Arnobius.
[4772] Lit., “as many as possible.”
[4773] Lit., “in the series of.”
[4774] Lit., “are.”
[4775] i.e., M. Terentius Varro, mentioned in the last chapter.
[4776] Lit., “in that in which he is a god.”
[4777] Lit., “uniformity of quality being preserved.”
[4778] The ms. and edd. read ut in operibus feratur cassis—“so as to be borne among,” emended by Hild. and Oehler teratur—“worn away among.”
[4779] Lit., “in vain errors of inanity.”
[4780] The ms. and edd. have here forte—“perchance.’”
[4781] Lit., “gift of food.”
[4782] [It must have taken much time to overcome this distaste for the use of incense in Christian minds. Let us wait for the testimony of Lactantius.]
[4783] Or perhaps, simply, “the sacrifice is a living one,” animalis est hostia. Macrobius, however (Sat., iii. 5), quotes Trebatius as saying that there were two kinds of sacrifices, in one of which the entrails were examined that they might disclose the divine will, while in the other the life only was consecrated to the deity. This is more precisely stated by Servius (Æn., iii. 231), who says that the hostia animalis was only slain, that in other cases the blood was poured on the altars, that in others part of the victim, and in others the whole animal, was burned. It is probable, therefore that Arnobius uses the words here in their technical meaning, as the next clause shows that none of the flesh was offered, while the blood was allowed to fall to the ground. [I am convinced that classical antiquities must be more largely studied in the Fathers of the first five centuries.]
[4784] i.e., the juices which formerly flowed through the living body.
[4785] The heathen opponent is supposed to give up his first reason, that the sacrifices provided food for the gods, and to advance this new suggestion, that they were intended for their gratification merely.
[4786] Lit., “for the sake of.”
[4787] Lit., “with the fleeting tickling of.”
[4788] Lit., “with the levities of gladnesses.”
[4789] i.e., pleasure.
[4790] Naturalis initii consortia.
[4791] So the ms. and first ed., according to Oehler, reading cred-e-t, the others -i-—“does.”
[4792] Lit., “these.”
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