On the God of Socrates

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126 ...through the neglect of noble discipline they have so steeped themselves in every error and shameful crime The Latin 'piacularibus' refers to crimes so grave they require a religious sacrifice or atonement. and have so nearly exhausted the natural gentleness of their race with savage cruelty, that it might seem that no animal on earth is lower than man. But for now, we are not discussing the correction of errors, but rather the 19 IV distribution of nature. Therefore, men—rejoicing in reason, powerful in speech, possessed of immortal souls but dying limbs, fickle and anxious minds, dull and vulnerable bodies, 5 vastly different characters but similar errors, with stubborn audacity and persistent hope, with vain labor and 127 fleeting fortune, individually mortal yet as a whole race perpetual, changeable through the offspring that must be supplied in turn, with winged time, slow wisdom, and swift death—inhabit the lands in a life of complaint.

20 You have, then, two types of living beings: the gods, who differ immensely from men in the loftiness of their station, the eternity of their lives, and the perfection of their nature, with no close communication between them; 10 since such a great gap of height separates the highest dwellings from the lowest, and since life there is eternal and unfailing, while here it is fleeting and fragmented; and since those minds there are raised up to blessedness, while these here are 21 cast down to miseries. What then? Has nature bound herself with no connection, but allowed herself to be 128 || divided || and interrupted into a divine and a human part, and as if made weak? For, as the same Plato says, no god mixes with men original: "θεὸς δὲ ἀνθρώπῳ οὐ μίγνυται" from Plato’s Symposium 203A. This concept of "divine transcendence" argues that pure spirit cannot touch material humanity directly., but this is the chief proof of their loftiness: 15 that they are not contaminated by any contact with us. A portion of them are seen only with a dull gaze, such as the stars, about whose size and colors men still disagree; the others, however, are known only by 22 the intellect, and not an easy one at that. Indeed, it is not at all fitting to wonder at this regarding the immortal gods, since even among men, one who is wealthy by the gift of fortune and raised up even to 129 the unstable platform of a kingdom and a precarious tribunal, grants access but rarely... 20

Line 4 Therefore men—inhabit the lands: Augustine, City of God IX, 8. individually—perpetual: ibid. XII, 10. men—swift death: Vincent of Beauvais, Speculum Doctrinale VI, 105 and Speculum Historiale IV, 7. Line 9 you have—cast down: Augustine, City of God IX, 12. cf. 13. Line 10 since such—separates: Priscian X, 3, 17. Line 14: Plato, Symposium 203 A no god mixes with man. Augustine, City of God IX, 16: For it is not true, as that same Platonist says Plato said: "no god mixes with man," and he says this is the chief proof of their loftiness, that they are not contaminated by contact with men. — no god—to man: Augustine, City of God VIII, 18 and 20.

Line 1 noble [bellae]: Vulcanius; to want [velle]: Manuscript M, omitted in Manuscript F; depraved [depraverint]: I have excluded this, following Oudendorp. Line 2 it might [possit]: n M (u erased in M²). Line 3 examination [dispunctione]: Lipsius; discussion [disputatione]: Original manuscripts [O]. Line 4 we are discussing [disserimus]: Mercerus; we shall discuss [disseremus]: O; rejoicing [gaudentes]: Augustine’s Corbie manuscript, 7th century. Line 6 different [dissimilibus]: Augustine and Vincent of Beauvais; very similar [simillimis]: F. Line 7 individually [singulatim]: F; mortal, altogether [mortales, cunctim]: Lipsius; or "individually mortal, [yet as a whole race] perpetual"? [gere]: not M¹; supplied [suffienda]: M. Line 9 meanwhile [interim]: (m written over an erasure in M²) M. Line 10 near [propinquos]: Stewechius; near [propinquo]: O; and dwellings [et habitacula]: Augustine and Priscian; those dwellings [ea habitacula]: O. Line 11 from [ab]: omitted in M; lowest [infimis]: M; separates by a gap of height: Priscian. Line 12 fragmented [subsiciva]: O; subsequent [subseciva]: M²; they are [sint]: omitted by Augustine. Line 13 cast down [infimata]: Augustine; weakened [infirmata]: O; no connection [nullone conexu]: M (nec over an erasure in M²); connection [cōnexu]: (mark added in F²) F; lived [vixit]: not M¹. Line 14 divided [partitam se]: I have written this; [cāse]: M; [campse]: F; [tāse]: M²; empty [cassam se]: Mercerus; cut [sectam se]: Bosscha. Line 15 man [homini]: Augustine; contact [attrectatione]: F. Line 16 are contaminated [contaminantur]: Vaticanus 3385; is contaminated [contaminatur]: O; dull [ebeti]: F; stars [sydera]: F. Line 17 whose [curum]: M; whose [qu°rum]: M²; others [caeleri]: M (ae corrected to e in M²); by intellect alone [solo intellectu]: Vaticanus 3385; by intellects alone [sola intellecta]: O. Line 18 not [nequi]: M; easily [prompte]: I have written this; [propt]: M; easily [prompto]: F; are born [nascuntur]: O. Line 19 otherwise [alioqui]: O; some [aliqui]: M²; wealthy [opulenti]: O; wealthy [opulento]: M². Line 20 unstable [mutabilem]: M; grants rare access [raros aditus det]: I have written this, following Oudendorp; rarely access and [raro aditus et]: O; it is by rare access [raro aditu sit]: Goldbacherus.