33. Seeing that the fear of
death, that is, the ruin of our souls, menaces3625
| 3625
Lit., “is set before.” |
us, in what are we not acting, as we all
are wont, from a sense of what will be to our
advantage,
3626
| 3626
So the ms., first ed., Gelenius,
Canterus, Hildebrand, reading ex commodi sensu, for which
all the other edd., following Ursinus and Meursius, read ex
communi—“from common sense,” i.e., wisely. |
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
| 3627
Perhaps, as Orelli evidently understands it, “prefer Him to our
own souls”—animis præponimus. |
if only
that
3628
| 3628
So Oehler, reading ea for the ms. ut, omitted in all edd. |
interchange
is right? You
rest the
salvation of your
souls on yourselves, and
are assured that by your own exertions alone
3629
| 3629
Lit., “by your own and internal exertion.” |
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
wings3631
with which you
may rise to
heaven and soar to the
stars. We
shun such
presumption. and do not think
3632
| 3632
The ms. reads di-cimus,
“say;” corrected du, as above. |
that it is in our
power to reach the
abodes
3633
| 3633
The first four edd. read res, “things above,” for
which Stewechius reads, as above, sedes. |
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.
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