Ante-Nicene Christian Library; Translations Of The Writings Of The Fathers Down To A.D. 325, Volume 20: The Writings Of Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius Of Alexandria, And Archelaus

발행: 1871년

분량: 630페이지

출처: archive.org

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marching the ostera, or falling out os rank, or obstructingine courae, or suffering himself to be distanced by his com- rades in the array, as is the case With that steady invance in regular file, as it Were, and with clom-set shields, whichis presented by this ferried and unbrohen and undisturbedand unobstructed progress of tho hosts of the staret Alboitis sido inclinations and flais movementi certain of theirrevolutions becoma lem clear. homeVer that may be, they assuredly HWays heep their appotnted perio , and again bear onWard determinately to tho positions frem Whichthey have severat ly risen, as it they mado that thela d

liberato study. ore oro tot these notable anatomigera ofaismS των ατομων τομεῖς , these dividere of the indivisibio, in e communders of tho uncompoundabie, these adepis intho apprehension of tho infinite, teli us Whenco comes this circular march and course of tho heavenly bodies, in Whichit is not any single combination os atoms that mereb chances

σφενδονισθεντος); but it is ono vast circular chola thalmoVes thus, ever equalty and concordantly, and whiris in these orbita. And wheneo comes it that this mighty multiatude os fello travellere, ali unmarshalled by any captain, ait unosted mith any determination of Wis, and ali unon- domed Qth any knowledge of each oster, have neverthelessheld their co se in perfeci harmony S ely, meli has the Prophet ranked .lhis matter among things Which are impo Bible and undemonstrabie,-namely, that two strangere should mala together. For ho sus, Shail two come to the same

is propor in themselves. For il any of tho leadem in this

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together the many atoms that mere to constitute Epicurus, and change some of them into skin and flesti for a covering, and mahe bone os others for ereciness and strength, and form sineWs of others for compaci contexturo' And ho. did it framo and adapt the many other members and paris -heari and bo eis, and organs of senso, some Within and

but also for the seasonable and beautisul. Thus tho hair isa hind of protection and covering for the whole head, and tho beard is a seemly ornament for the philosopher. It WasProvidence, then, that formed the constitution of the wholobody of man, in ali iis necessary paris, and imposed on ali iis members their duo connection mitti each other, and measuredout for them their liberal supplies from the universia r

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A INST THE EPICUREANS 181

Murces. And the most prominent of these shoW clearly, Even to the uninstructed, by the proos os personat experi- ence, the value and service attaching to them : tho head, sorexample, in the position os supremacy, and the senses set like a guard about the brain, as the ruter in the ciladel; and the advancing eyes, and the reporting ears; and the tastemhich, as it mere, is the tribute atherer syδωδ' oc περ φορολογουσα) ; and the smeli, Whicli trachs and searches out iis objecta; and the touch, Which manipulates ali put under it. For at present me stiali only run over in a Summary Waysomo sew of the works of an all-Wise Ρrovidenco ; and after alituo me shall, ii God grant ii, go over them more minutely, When mo direct our discourae toWard ono who has the re

the whole terrestriat creation is made to come under our pomer, the earth itseli is traversed therebri the sea is madenavigabie, the rivera are crossed, and intercourse is established for ali Mith ait things. The belly, too, is the store-house of meais, With ali iis paris arranged in their propercollocations, so that it apportions for itself the right me ureos aliment, and eiecis What is over and above that. And sola it with ait tho other things by Whicli manifestly the due administration of tho constitution of man is Misely secured.yos ali these, the intelligent and the unintelligent althe onjoy

o teri is, και τὰ ἀλλα ἴσων ἐμφανως ἡ διοίκησις της ἀνθοωπείου μεμηκώνηται διανομῆς. Viger proposes διαμονης lor διανομῆς, andrendera the wholo thua: ac caetera quorum vi humanae firmitatis et conservationis ratio continetur 'Dj0jtjgsd by OOOle

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the fame me; but they have not the fame comprehensionos them. For there are somo Who reser this Whole ore

and whicli they apprehend as at once the hi est intelliugenco in ali things, and the best benefactor in themselves, bellering that this oeconomy is ali the work of a Wisdomand a might Which are superior is every other, and in themselves truly divine. And there are othere Who iam-lessty attribute this Wholo structure of most marvellous beau to chance and sortuitous coincidence. And in addition to these, there are also certain physicians, Whο, haVingmade a more effective examination into ali these things, and haring investigated with ulmost accuracy the disposiation of the in ard paris in espectat, havo been struch Withastonishment at the resulis of their inquiry, and have been led to deisy nature itself. The notions of these men .eshali revieW after ards, as far as me may be able, thoughWe may only touch the sursace of the subjeci.' Meantime, to deat with this matter generalty and summarib, let me k who constructed this whole tabernacle os our' so tostriereet, graee fui, sensitive, mobile, active, and apt for allthingst Was it, as they say, the irrationat multitudo os atoms ' Nay, these, by thela conjunctions, could not mould even an imago of clay, nsither could they heu and polisti a

λ Tho texi is, - όμοίως τοῖς ἁφροσιν ἔχοντες OI σοφοὶ την κρίσιν, οὐκ Iσκουσι ειν γνωσιν. We adopi Viger's auggestion, and read κρησιν for

κρίσιν.

the righest intelligeneo in au thinga, and the beat benefactor, etc. Ortho aenae might be m There are somo Who reser this most intelligent and beneficent oeconomy to a pomer Which they deem in be no divini , though they bellevo the fame oeconomy to be tho Wore os a migdom,

etc.

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A INST TNE EPICUREANS 183

statue of stone; nor couid they casi and finish an idol of silvis or Mid; but aris and handicrasis calculated sor such operations have been discovered by men who fabricate theso objecta. d is, even in these, representations and modeis cannot be mado Without the aid of Wisdom, hoW can thogenuine and original patieres of these copies have come into existenco spontaneo ly Αnd whence have come the foui, and the intelligence, and the reason, which ara bora mith the philosopheri Has he gathered theso from thoas atoms Whichare destituto aliis os soni, and intelligence, and reason ' and has each of these atoms inspired his With some apprppriate

conception and notion ' And are Wo in supposo that the isdom of man was made up by these atoms, as the myth

Various species ot poetry, and music, and astronomy, and geometiri and est the other aris and sciences, as the inventions and instructions of tho gods, and shali have to allois that these atoma are the only muses With skill and wisdom for ali subjecis. For this theogony, constructed os atoms

The teri is, κειρουργιαι τουτων νος ἀνθρωπειν ευρηνται σωματουργων.

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To persons of this character, negligence and procrastination in the doing of What is good are a reproach, as the poet

And then ho adds this surthor sentence of threatening :

The laety procrastinator is ever Wreatling mith miserius. 3

are perfectly traiiaed in the ari, accomplisti eastly and auccesssully the objects of their labours, and haVe great pleasum in the worh, and would choose rather thus, in the dischargo of the pursutis to Whicli they are accustomed, to finisti and carry perfectly out What their efforis aim at, than to bo madomasters of ali those things Which are rechoned advantageo among men. Yea, Democritus himself, as it is reported, averred that he would preser the discovery of one true causeto being put in possession of the Lingdom os Persia. Andthat was tho declaration os a man who had only a vain and groundless conception of the causes of things, in much asho started with an uniounded principie, and an erroneo

hypothesis, and did not discern the real root and the common law of) necessity in the constitution os natural things, and hseld as the greatest Wisdom the apprehension of things that come about simply in an unintelligent and random Way, and

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universal, and even things divine, and endeavoured to d monstrate stat est things happen by the determination of thosame, although at the fame time he hept it ouiside the sphoro of the lde os men, and convicted those of sensetessness Who Worisipped it. At any rate, at the very beginning of his Praeepta υποθηκῶν) he s alis thus : Men have made auimage er λον) of chance, as a cover προφασιν) for theironn laek of knowledge. For intellect and chance are in

maintained that this greatest adversary to intelligetice is ita Soveret . rather, they completely subvexi and do a V Mith the one, While they estabiisti tho other in iis place. For they do not celebrate intelligence as the fori nato q), but they laud chance fortune, τύχην) as themost intelligent ἐμφρονεστάτην)I Moreover, those Whoattend to things conducing to the good of lite, talio specialpleasure in What serves the interesis of those of the samerace mitti themselves, and weh the recompense of praise and glory in retum for labours undertaen in bellati os thogenerat mod; While some exert themselves as purveyors of Ways and means τρέφοντες , others as magistrates, othersas physicians, others as statesmen; and even philosophers

pride themselves greatly in their estoris aster the educationos men. Wili, then, Epicurus or Democritus bo bold enoughto asseri that in the exertion Oi philosophiaing they only use distrem to themselves 8 Nay, rathes they wili rechontias a pleasure of mind second to notae. For even thoughthey maintain the opinion that the good is plemure, they Will hamed to deny that philosophiaing is the greater ple sum to them. But M to the gods, of whom the poeta among them sing that they are the besto ers of good gists, y these

φῶ-ει γαρ γνώμη τυχῆ μαυται. Viger refers to the parallel in Tullius, pro Marcello, sec. 7 : Nunquam temeritas cum sapientia commiscetur, nec ad consilium casus admittitur.' Tho teri oves, ἐψυ δε αὐτοῖς εDαι το φιλοσοφεῖν. Vigor suggesta μιον sor Mi, os.

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186-E WORU OF DIONYSIUS

philosophers scomngly celebrato them in strains like theser The gods are netther the besto ers nor the sharere in any good thing.V And in What manner, fors th, mn they d monstrate stat there are gods at all, When they neither pe ceive thela presence, nor discern them as the doers of augh Wherein, indeed, they resembis those Who, in their admirationand wonder at the sun and the moon and the stare, have

llimself alone, and thus obtained sight of the gods in thouoid and, deeming them blessed in their tali felici , and

then bocoming himself a passionale aspirant aster such ple fure, and an ardent scholar in that life Which they pursus in tho Void, dom he nom cali upon ali in participate in this felici , and urgo them thus to mahe themsolves lihoste god' preparing συγκροτῶν as their reus sympositi mos blessetaess neither heaven nor Olympus, as the poetsseim, but the sheer uoid, and seMing before them the --

drinh) mectar made of the fame' However, in mattere Which have no relation to us, he introduces into his books amyriad oaths and solemn asseverations, sWearing constantly

Whom he meela, and with Whom lie discusses his doctrines,

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uses it si ly as a Lind of accompaniment to his mords, justas ho might also clear his throat, or spit, or tWisi his face, ormovo his hand. So completely sensetess and empty a pre-tence Was inis Whole matter of the naming of the gods, in his estimation. But this is also a very patent sact, that, being

ith ves of truo intelligenco, so as to hear the clear Volcafrom above, Which another attentive spectator did hear, and

Pa. rix. I. Ps. xxxiii. b. Pa. Hiv. 1. ' Ecclus. xvi. 29, 30. - The texi is, ἐπὶ τὴ πάντων κρίσει. Viger suggesta κτίσει, at theereation os ali iniuga.

The quotation rana thus: καὶ πάντα κατὰ την αυτου πρόσταξιν πέφηνε

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188THE MORM OF DIONYSIUS.

On the notion that matter is ungenσateo These certainly are not to be decinod plous who hold that matter is ungeneraled, While they alio , indesid, stat it labrought under tho hand of God so sar as iis arrangementand regulation are concerned ; sor they do admit that, being

the alterations impressed upon it by God. It is for them, hoWever, to fho us plainly hoW it can possibly be that tholiko and tho unlike should be predicated as subsisting together in God and mattor. For it hecomes necessary thus to thinhos Gne as a superior to either, and that is a thought Whichcannot logitimately be entertained with regard to God. Foris thero is this defect of generation whicli is sald to bo thething like in both, and ii there is this potnt of dissoroncewhicli is coneeived of besides in the two, Whence has thisarison in thom Is, in deed, God is tho ungeneraled, andis this do feci os generation is, as We may SV, His VeryeSSenee, then matter cannot be ungeneratuit; for God and matter aro not One and the fame. But is cach subsisis

properly and independently-nam ely, God and matter andis the dosoci of goneration also bolongs to both, then it is ovident that thoro is something disterent from each, and olderand higher than both. But the disserence of their contrastinconstitutions is completely subversive of the idea that thesacan subsist on an equality together, and more, that this oneos the two-namely, matter-can subsist os iiseis. For thenthey will have to furnisti an explanation of the faci that, though both ars supposed to be ungeneraled, God is neve theless impassible, immutabie, imperturbabie, energetic ;λ Eusebius introduces this extraci thus: d I shan adduco thomorda of thogo Who have most thoroughly cxaminin the dogma besorous, and Mat os est Dionysius indoed, vlio, in tho sint book of his Mercitations against Sabellius, Writea in theae terms ou the a ject in

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