61. What business of yours
is it, He3823
says, to
examine, to inquire who made man; what is the origin of
souls; who
devised the causes of ills; whether the sun is larger than the
earth,
or measures only a
foot in breadth:
3824
| 3824
As Heraclitus is reported to have said. |
whether the
moon shines with
borrowed light, or from her own brightness,—things which there is
neither
profit in knowing, nor loss in not knowing? Leave these
things to
God, and allow Him to know what is, wherefore, or whence;
whether it must have been or not; whether something always
existed,
3825
| 3825
The ms., first five edd., and Oehler
read supernatum, for which the other edd. read, as above,
semper natum, from the margin of Ursinus. The soul is
referred to. |
or whether it
was produced at the first; whether it should be annihilated or
preserved, consumed,
destroyed, or restored in
fresh vigour. Your
reason is not permitted to involve you in such
questions, and to be
busied to no purpose about things so much out of reach. Your
interests are in
jeopardy,—the
salvation, I mean,
3826
| 3826
So the later edd., following Elmenhorst, who emended dico
for the ms. dici, omitted
by the first four edd. |
of your
souls; and unless you give yourselves to
seek to know the
Supreme God,
a cruel death awaits you when freed from the bonds of body, not
bringing sudden annihilation, but destroying by the bitterness of its
grievous and long-protracted punishment.
E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
