47. But, you say, if God is not the parent and father of souls, by what sire have they been begotten, and how have they been produced? If you wish to hear unvarnished statements not spun out with vain ostentation of words, we, too,3733 admit that we are ignorant of this, do not know it;3734 and we hold that, to know so great a matter, is not only beyond the reach of our weakness and frailty, but beyond that also of all the powers which are in the world, and which have usurped the place of deities in men’s belief. But are we bound to show whose they are, because we deny that they are God’s? That by no means3735 follows necessarily; for if we were to deny that flies, beetles, and bugs, dormice, weevils, and moths,3736 are made by the Almighty King, we should not be required in consequence to say who made and formed them; for without incurring any censure, we may not know who, indeed, gave them being, and yet assert that not by the Supreme3737 Deity were creatures produced so useless, so needless, so purposeless,3738 nay more, at times even hurtful, and causing unavoidable injuries.
Footnotes
- 3733
So the ms. and all edd.; but Orelli would change item into iterum, not seeing that the reference is to the indicated preference of his opponents for the simple truth.
- 3734
Nescire Hildebrand, with good reason, considers a gloss.
- 3735
Nihilfor the ms. mihi which makes nonsense of the sentence.
- 3736
This somewhat wide-spread opinion found an amusing counterpart in the doctrines of Rorarius (mentioned by Bayle, Dict. Phil.), who affirmed that the lower animals are gifted with reason and speech, as we are.
- 3737
Lit., “superior.”
- 3738
Lit., “tending to no reasons.”