Interior of St. Peter's, Rome, Giovanni Paolo Panini

Arnobius of Sicca, Against the Heathen I.32

Giovanni Paolo Panini, Interior of St. Peter's, Rome, c. 1754 · Public domainGiovanni Paolo Panini, Interior of St. Peter's, Rome, c. 1754

SectionArnobius of SiccaPublic domainBook I

32. Our discussion deals with those who, acknowledging that there is a divine race of beings, doubt about those of greater rank and power, whilst they admit that there are deities inferior and more humble. What then? Do we strive and toil to obtain such results by arguments? Far hence be such madness; and, as the phrase is, let the folly, say I, be averted from us. For it is as dangerous to attempt to prove by arguments that God is the highest being, as it is to wish to discover by reasoning of this kind that He exists. It is a matter of indifference whether you deny that He exists, or affirm it and admit it; since equally culpable are both the assertion of such a thing, and the denial of an unbelieving opponent.

Reproduced in full. Translation: Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 6 (Roberts and Donaldson, 1886), public domain (Public domain).

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