Seven Books of Arguments Against the Pagans, Vol. II

against the Greeks, Sermon V on the nature of man; Justin Martyr, Second Apology for the Christians. O.

Archesilao Arcesilaus] Leiden edition: Archesilae. Conf. Grotius on Martianus Capella, Book II, p. 46. This is the one whom Lactantius calls the master of ignorance, and whom Cicero says pulled down all philosophy to its foundations by his ἀκαταληψίᾳ incomprehensibility. O.

Chapter X. — Ipsi denique principes Finally the princes themselves] The manuscript code has Ipsi demus, whence Heraldus in his Curae Secundae against Salmasius conjectures Ipsi demum Finally at last. O.

Nonne ipsa ea Is it not those very things] Thus Gelenius. The Roman edition: Nonne apud ea Is it not among them, etc., whence Meursius made Nonne aut ea Is it not or those, etc. O.

Pythagoras numero exire Pythagoras [that] to depart by number] I have received into the text the masterly emendation of J. Fr. Gronovius brought forward in a letter to Salmasius 289, in Burmann's Sylloge Epistolarum, Vol. II, p. 529. Before, it was read: Pythagoras numeros scivit? Did Pythagoras know numbers? which is most false; for Pythagoras knew numbers entirely, but that the world does not depart by numbers. Heraldus: numeros coire numbers to come together. Meursius: numeros scitne? does he know numbers? Leiden edition: numeros ire numbers to go. But the only true reading is numero exire, i.e., things [to depart] by number. O.

nostra in credulitate communem common in our credulity] Stewechius thinks it should be read: nostra cum credulitate with our credulity. But the conjecture of Heraldus in his Curae Secundae is very pleasing, reading vestra in credulitate in your credulity, i.e., since you believe all those things, you hold a faith in common with us. O.

Chapter XI. — Sed officiant haec nihil nihilque impediant But let these things hinder nothing and let them impede nothing] This is the most truthful emendation of Jo. Meursius, deservedly received into the text by the Leiden editor. The manuscript code has: Sed efficiant haec nihilque impediant But let these things effect nothing and let them impede nothing, vitiously and without sense. Gelenius published: Sed facessant haec nihilque impediant But let these things depart and let them impede nothing. Heraldus conjectures: Sed efficiant haec nihil, nihilque impediant: explaining nihil efficiant as they are in vain, they lack effect (See C. Barth, Adversaria, Book XXVIII, Chapter IX; and Ruhnken on Rutilius Lupus, Book II, p. 120). Which conjecture, however, Heraldus himself retracts in his Curae Secundae. O.

vos Platoni, vos Cronio, vos Numenio you [turn] to Plato, you to Cronius, you to Numenius] Thus I have edited with the Leiden editor from the emendation of Fulvius Ursinus. The manuscript code has Crotonio, of which there is no mention among the ancients. Hugo Grotius, however, defends it on Martianus Capella, Book VI, p. 209, thinking it to be Krotonios, a gentile name from Croton, as Stephanus testifies, and that Arnobius intended Pythagoras. Cronius, however, a Platonic philosopher, an intimate of Numenius, is mentioned by Eusebius in his Ecclesiastical History, Book VI, Chapter XIX. Gelenius (whom most editors have followed) changed it thus: vos Platoni, vos Plotino, vos Numenio you to Plato, you to Plotinus, you to Numenius, and Theodoret also joins these three in his Sermon II on Principles, p. 33: "Immediately, therefore, unfolding the thought of Plato, both Plotinus and Numenius..." Plotinus, the prince of the Neoplatonists, is most known from his life by Porphyry.