But if you depreciate the littleness of man, not on account of his body,
but of his soul, regarding it as inferior to that of other rational
beings, and especially of those who are virtuous; and inferior, because
evil dwells in it,—why should those among Christians who are wicked, and
those among the Jews who lead sinful lives, be termed a collection of
bats, or ants, or worms, or frogs, rather than those individuals among
other nations who are guilty of wickedness?—seeing, in this respect, any
individual whatever, especially if carried away by the tide of evil, is,
in comparison with the rest of mankind, a bat, and worm, and frog, and
ant. And although a man may be an orator like Demosthenes, yet, if
stained with wickedness like his,[561] and guilty of deeds proceeding,
like his, from a wicked nature; or an Antiphon, who was also considered
to be indeed an orator, yet who annihilated the doctrine of providence
in his writings, which were entitled _Concerning Truth_, like that
discourse of Celsus,—such individuals are notwithstanding worms, rolling
in a corner of the dung-heap of stupidity and ignorance. Indeed,
whatever be the nature of the rational faculty, it could not reasonably
be compared to a worm, because it possesses capabilities of virtue.[562]
For these adumbrations[563] towards virtue do not allow of those who
possess the power of acquiring it, and who are incapable of wholly
losing its seeds, to be likened to a worm. It appears, therefore, that
neither can men in general be deemed worms in comparison with God. For
reason, having its beginning in the reason of God, cannot allow of the
rational animal being considered wholly alien from Deity. Nor can those
among Christians and Jews who are wicked, and who, in truth, are neither
Christians nor Jews, be compared, more than other wicked men, to worms
rolling in a corner of a dunghill. And if the nature of reason will not
permit of such comparisons, it is manifest that we must not calumniate
human nature, which has been formed for virtue, even if it should sin
through ignorance, nor liken it to animals of the kind described.
Footnote 561:
The allusion may possibly be to his flight from the field of Chæronea,
or to his avarice, or to the alleged impurity of his life, which is
referred to by Plutarch in his _Lives of the Ten Orators_.—SPENCER.
Footnote 562:
ἀφορμὰς ἔχον πρὸς ἀρετὴν.
Footnote 563:
ὑποτυπώσεις.