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482 Lit., "of the intestines"-extorum.
483 In both Roman edd., Theutatem, i.e., Theutas. Cf. Plato, Phoedrus, st. p. 274.
486 Lit., "Castors," i.e., Castor and Pollux.
487 i.e., sine ullius seminis jactu.
488 Lit., "forms of bodily circumscription."
491 Lit., "how many steps are there of race."
493 The ms. reads genitor...Latinus cujus, some letters having been erased. The reading followed above-genitor is cujus-was suggested to Canterus by his friend Gifanius, and is found in the margin of Ursinus and Orelli.
494 Cf. above, "four hundred years ago," etc., and i. ch. 13. It is of importance to note that Arnobius is inconsistent in these statements. [In the Edinburgh edition we have here "fifteen hundred years;" etc., but it was changed, in the Errata, to ten hundred and fifty.]
495 Lit., "be nursed with the breasts and dropt milk."
498 So the ms. according to Crusius and Livineius, reading ac; all edd. except Oehler read aut-"head (i.e., source) or fountain."
499 The ms. reads unintelligibly vertitur solae; for which LB., followed by the later edd. reads, as above, vertimur soli.
500 Dr. Schmitz (Smith's Dict., 3. v. Isis) speaks of these consuls as heading the revolt against the decree of the senate, that the statues of Isis and Serapis should be removed from the Capitol. The words of Tertullian (quoting Varro as his authority) are very distinct: "The consul Gabinius...gave more weight to the decision of the senate than the popular impulse, and forbade their altars (i.e., those of Serapis, Isis, Arpocrates, and Anubis) to be set up" (ad Nationes, i. 10, cf. Apol., 6).
506 So Gelenius emended the ms., reading potens-"being able," which he changed into potest, as above, followed by later edd.
508 The ms. and first edd. read et potestatibus potestatum-"and by powers of powers;" the other edd. merely omit potestatibus, as above, except Oehler, who, retaining it, changes potesttum into protestata-"being witnessed to by," etc.; but there is no instance adduced in which the participle of this verb is used passively.
509 These words having been omitted by Oberthür, are omitted by Orelli also, as in previous instances.
510 The ms. and first ed. read etiam moderata continuatio; corrected, et immod. con. by Gelenius.
511 So the edd., reading infantes stentoreos, except Oehler, who retains the ms. reading centenarios, which he explains as "having a hundred" heads or hands, as the case might be, e.g., Typhon, Briareus, etc.
514 Lit., "can be changed with no novelty."
515 Lit., "provide," conficiatis, which, however, some would understand "consume."
516 Lit., "slaveries, their free births being taken away."
518 So the ms. first five edd., Hild. and Oehler, reading adscribere infortunio voluptatem, which is omitted in the other edd. as a gloss which may have crept in from the margin.
520 The ms. and both Roman edd. read in carcerem natum inegressum; LB. and later edd. have received from the margin of Ursinus the reading translated above, datum, omitting the last word altogether, which Oehler, however, would retain as equivalent to "not to be passed from."
521 Lit., "than an august thing."
522 Orelli refers to Arrh., i. 12; but the doctrine there insisted on is the necessity of submission to what is unavoidable. Oehler, in addition, refers to Epict., xxxii. 3, where, however, it is merely attempted to show that when anything is withheld from us, it is just as goods are unless paid for, and that we have therefore no reason to complain. Neither passage can be referred to here, and it seems as though Arnobius has made a very loose reference which cannot be specially identified.
1 The ms., followed by Oehler, reads neque enim res stare...non potest, Christiana religio aut-"for neither can a thing not stand,...nor will the Christian religion," etc., while L.B. merely changes aut into et-"for neither can a thing, i. e., the Christian religion,...nor will it," etc. All other edd. read as above, omitting et.
2 According to Crusius and others, the ms. reads finem; but, according to Hild., fidem, as above.
3 Deus primus, according to Nourry, in relation to Christ; but manifestly from the scope of the chapter, God as the fountain and source of all things.
4 Lit., " propitiate with venerations."
5 So the ms., reading ducitur; for which Oberthür, followed by Orelli, reads dicitur-" is said."
6 Lit., "whatever belongs to them feels itself to be comprehended with a tacit rendering also of honour in," etc., tacita et se sentit honorificentia, read by later edd. for the ms. ut se sentit-"but as whatever," retained by Hild. and Oehler; while the first four edd. read vi-"feels itself with a silent force comprehended in the honour in," etc.
7 So LB. and Orelli, reading alia etiamnum capita for the ms. alienum capita, read in the first five edd., alia non capita-"are others not chiefs;" Hild., followed by Oehler, proposes alia deûm capita-"other gods."
8 According to Orelli's punctuation, "whether there are these gods in heaven whom," etc.
9 So LB. and later edd., from a conj. of Meursius, reading diebus lustricis for the ms. ludibriis; read by some, and understood by others, as ludicris, i.e., festal days.
10 The ms. followed by Hild. and Oehler, reads neque...in ulla cognatione-"in no relationship," for which the other edd. give cognitione, as above.
11 So all edd., reading populares, except Hild. and Oehler, who receive the conj. of Rigaltius, populatim-"among all nations;" the ms. reading popularem.
12 Censeri, i.e, "written in the list of gods."
13 Otherwise, "how many make up the list of this name."
14 So Orelli, receiving the emendation of Barth, incogniti nomine, for the ms. in cognitione, -one being an abbreviation for nomine. Examples of such deities are the Novensiles, Consentes, etc., cc. 38-41.
15 Lit., "who, except a few gods, do not engage in the services of the rest."
16 Orelli would explain pro parte consimili as equivalent to pro uno vero Deo-"for the one true God."
17 Lit., "take the oaths of allegiance" or military oaths, using a very common metaphor applied to Christians in the preceding book, c. 5.
18 Lit., "suppliant hands." It has been thought that the word supplices is a gloss, and that the idea originally was that of a band of soldiers holding out their hands as they swore to be true to their country and leaders; but there is no want of simplicity and congruity in the sentence as it stands, to warrant us in rejecting the word.
19 i.e., than the inventors of such fables had shown.
20 Lit., "from us infants;" i.e., as compared with such a man as Cicero.
21 Secundas actiones. The reference is evidently to a second speaker, who makes good his predecessor's defects.
22 Lit., "are unwilling to admit into their ear the reading of opinions," etc.
23 Both Christians and heathen, it is probable, were concerned in the mutilation of de Nat. Deorum.
24 So Gelenius, reading dicta for the ms. dictitare. The last verb is comprobate, read reprobate-"condemn," by all edd. except Hild. and Oehler.
25 Lit., "with familiarity of speech."
26 A formula used when they sought to propitiate the author of some event which could not be traced to a particular deity; referring also to the cases in which there were different Opinions as to the sex of a deity.
27 Lit., "even of mean understanding."
28 Lit., "by the renewing of perpetual succession."
29 Lit., "that gods are born."
30 Lit, "recurring," "arising again."
31 Lit., "make trial of themselves by these laws of sex."
33 Lit., "if the impurity of sexual union is wanting to the gods."
35 Lit., "the other arrangement of members."