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Arnobius
31. A certain neutral character, then, and undecided and doubtful nature of the soul, has made room for philosophy, and found out a reason for its being sought after: while, that is, that fellow[3611] is full of dread because of evil deeds of which he is guilty; another conceives great hopes if he shall do no evil, and pass his life in obedience to[3612] duty and justice. Thence it is that among learned men, and men endowed with excellent abilities, there is strife as to the nature of the soul, and some say that it is subject to death, and cannot take upon itself the divine substance; while others maintain that it is immortal, and cannot sink under the power of death.[3613] But this is brought about by the law ofthe soul’s neutral character:[3614] because, on the one hand, arguments present themselves to the one party by which it is found that the soul[3615] is capable of suffering, and perishable; and, on the other hand, are not wanting to their opponents, by which it is shown that the soul is divine and immortal.
32. Since these things are so, and we have been taught by the greatest teacher that souls are set not far from the gaping[3616] jaws of death; that they can, nevertheless, have their lives prolonged by the favour and kindness of the Supreme Ruler if only they try and study to know Him,—for the knowledge of Him is a kind of vital leaven[3617] and cement to bind together that which would otherwise fly apart,—let them,[3618] then, laying aside their savage and barbarous nature, return to gentler ways, that they may be able to be ready for that which shall be given.[3619] What reason is there that we should be considered by you brutish, as it were, and stupid, if we have yielded and given ourselves up to God our deliverer, because of these fears? We often seek out remedies for wounds and the poisoned bites of serpents, and defend ourselves by means of thin plates[3620] sold by Psylli[3621] or Marsi, and other hucksters[3622] and impostors; and that we may not be inconvenienced by cold or intense heat,[3623] we provide with anxious and careful diligence coverings in[3624] houses and clothing.
33. Seeing that the fear of death, that is, the ruin of our souls, menaces[3625] us, in what are we not acting, as we all are wont, from a sense of what will be to our advantage,[3626] in that we hold Him fast who assures us that He will be our deliverer from such danger, embrace Him, and entrust our souls to His care,[3627] if only that[3628] interchange is right? You rest the salvation of your souls on yourselves, and are assured that by your own exertions alone[3629] you become gods; but we, on the contrary hold out no hope to ourselves from our own weakness, for we see that our nature has no strength, and is overcome by its own passions in every strife for anything.[3630] You think that, as soon as you pass away, freed from the bonds of your fleshly members, you will find wings[3631] with which you may rise to heaven and soar to the stars. We shun such presumption. and do not think[3632] that it is in our power to reach the abodes[3633] above, since we have no certainty as to this even, whether we deserve to receive life and be freed from the law of death. You suppose that without the aid of others[3634] you will return to the master’s palace as if to your own home, no one hindering you; but we, on the contrary, neither have any expectation that this can be unless by the will of the Lord of all, nor think that so much power and licence are given to any man.
34. Since this is the case, what, pray, is so unfair as that we should be looked on by you as silly in that readiness of belief at which you scoff, while we see that you both have like beliefs, and entertain the same hopes? If we are thought deserving of ridicule because we hold out to ourselves such a hope, the same ridicule awaits you too, who claim for yourselves the hope of immortality. If you hold and follow a rational course, grant to us also a share in it. If Plato in the Phædrus,[3635] or another of this band of philosophers, had promised these joys to us—that is, a way to escape death, or were able to provide it and bring us to the end which he had promised,[3636] it would have been fitting that we should seek to honour him from whom we look for so great a gift and favour. Now, since Christ has not only promised it, but also shown by His virtues, which were so great, that it can be made good, what strange thing do we do, and on what grounds are we charged with folly, if we bow down and worship His name[3637] and majesty from whom we expect to receive both these blessings, that we may at once escape a death of suffering, and be enriched with eternal life?[3638]
35. But, say my opponents, if souls are mortal and[3639] of neutral character, how can they from their neutral properties become immortal? If we should say that we do not know this, and only believe it because said by[3640] One mightier than we, when will our readiness of belief seem mistaken if we believe[3641] that to the almighty King nothing is hard, nothing difficult, and that[3642] what is impossible to us is possible to Him and at His command?[3643] For is there anything which may withstand His will, or does it not follow[3644] of necessity that what He has willed must be done? Are we to infer from our distinctions what either can or cannot be done; and are we not to consider that our reason is as mortal as we ourselves are, and is of no importance with the Supreme? And yet, O ye who do not believe that the soul is of a neutral character, and that it is held on the line midway between life and death, are not all whatever whom fancy supposes to exist, gods, angels, dæmons, or whatever else is their name, themselves too of a neutral character, and liable to change[3645] in the uncertainty of their future?[3646] For if we all agree that there is one Father of all, who alone is immortal and unbegotten, and if nothing at all is found before Him which could be named,[3647] it follows as a consequence that all these whom the imagination of men believes to be gods, have been either begotten by Him or produced at His bidding. Are they[3648] produced and begotten? they are also later in order and time: if later in order and time, they must have an origin, and beginning of birth and life; but that which has an entrance into and beginning of life in its first stages, it of necessity follows, should have an end also.
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