OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume IV/Commodianus/The Instructions of Commodianus/Chapter 76

LXXVI.—Of Those Who Gossip, and of Silence.
When a thing appears to anybody of no consequence, and is not shunned, and it rushes forth, as if easy, whilst thou abusest it. Fables assist it when thou comest to pour out prayers, or to beat thy breast for thy daily sin. The trumpet of the heralds sounds forth, while the reader is reading, that the ears may be open, and thou rather impedest them. Thou art luxurious with thy lips, with which thou oughtest to groan. Shut up thy breast to evils, or loose them in thy breast. But since the possession of money gives barefacedness to the wealthy, thence every one perishes when they are most trusting to themselves. Thus, moreover, the women assemble, as if they would enter the bath. They press closely, and make of God’s house as if it were a fair. Certainly the Lord frightened the house of prayer. The Lord’s priest commanded with “sursum corda,” when prayer was to be made, that your silence should be made. Thou answerest fluently, and moreover abstainest not from promises. He entreats the Highest on behalf of a devoted people, lest any one should perish, and thou turnest thyself to fables. Thou mockest at him, or detractest from thy neighbour’s reputation. Thou speakest in an undisciplined manner, as if God were absent—as if He who made all things neither hears nor sees.
# Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume VI/Arnobius/Adversus Gentes/Book II/Chapter XVII

17. But we have reason, one will say, and excel the whole race of dumb animals in understanding. I might believe that this was quite true, if all men lived rationally and wisely, never swerved aside from their duty, abstained from what is forbidden, and withheld themselves from baseness, and if no one through folly and the blindness of ignorance demanded what is injurious and dangerous to himself. I should wish, however, to know what this reason is, through which we are more excellent than all the tribes of animals. Is it because we have made for ourselves houses, by which we can avoid the cold of winter and heat of summer? What! do not the other animals show forethought in this respect? Do we not see some build nests as dwellings for themselves in the most convenient situations; others shelter and secure themselves in rocks and lofty crags; others burrow in the ground, and prepare for themselves strongholds and lairs in the pits which they have dug out? But if nature, which gave them life, had chosen to give to them also hands to help them, they too would, without doubt, raise lofty buildings and strike out new works of art. Yet, even in those things which they make with beaks and claws, we see that there are many appearances of reason and wisdom which we men are unable to copy, however much we ponder them, although we have hands to serve us dexterously in every kind of work.

## Footnotes

* ↑ So, by a later writer in the margin of the ms., who gives artificiosa-s novitates, adopted by Stewechius and Oehler, the s being omitted in the text of the ms. itself, as in the edd., which drop the final s in the next word also—“would raise and with unknown art strike out lofty buildings.”
# Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume VI/Arnobius/Adversus Gentes/Book II/Chapter XXII

22. To what, then, you ask, do these things tend? We have brought them forward in order that—as it has been believed that the souls of men are divine, and therefore immortal, and that they come to their human bodies with all knowledge—we may make trial from this child, whom we have supposed to be brought up in this way, whether this is credible, or has been rashly believed and taken for granted, in consequence of deceitful anticipation. Let us suppose, then, that he grows up, reared in a secluded, lonely spot, spending as many years as you choose, twenty or thirty,—nay, let him be brought into the assemblies of men when he has lived through forty years; and if it is true that he is a part of the divine essence, and lives here sprung from the fountains of life, before he makes acquaintance with anything, or is made familiar with human speech, let him be questioned and answer who he is, or from what father in what regions he was born, how or in what way brought up; with what work or business he has been engaged during the former part of his life. Will he not, then, stand speechless, with less wit and sense than any beast, block, stone? Will he not, when brought into contact with strange and previously unknown things, be above all ignorant of himself? If you ask, will he be able to say what the sun is, the earth, seas, stars, clouds, mist, showers, thunder, snow, hail? Will he be able to know what trees are, herbs, or grasses, a bull, a horse, or ram, a camel, elephant, or kite?

## Footnotes

* ↑ So Gelenius, followed by Canterus, Elmenh., and Oberthür, reading portione-m et, while the words tam lætam, “that he is so joyous a part” are inserted before et by Stewechius and the rest, except both Roman edd. which retain the ms. portione jam læta.
* ↑ Lit., “sent to.”
* ↑ So the ms., reading milvus, for which all edd. (except Oberthuer) since Stewechius read mulus, “a mule.”
# Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume VI/Arnobius/Adversus Gentes/Book II/Chapter XV

15. Wherefore there is no reason that that should mislead us, should hold out vain hopes to us, which is said by some men till now unheard of, and carried away by an extravagant opinion of themselves, that souls are immortal, next in point of rank to the God and ruler of the world, descended from that parent and sire, divine, wise, learned, and not within reach of the body by contact. Now, because this is true and certain, and because we have been produced by Him who is perfect without flaw, we live unblameably, I suppose, and therefore without blame; are good, just, and upright, in nothing depraved; no passion overpowers, no lust degrades us; we maintain vigorously the unremitting practice of all the virtues. And because all our souls have one origin, we therefore think exactly alike; we do not differ in manners, we do not differ in beliefs; we all know God; and there are not as many opinions as there are men in the world, nor are these divided in infinite variety.

## Footnotes

* ↑ So the ms. and LB., followed by Oehler; in the edd. id is omitted.
* ↑ The ms. reading is a no-b-is quibusdam, for which LB. reads nobis a qu.—“to us,” and Hild. a notis—“by certain known;” but all others, as above, from a conjecture of Gelenius, a no-v-is, although Orelli shows his critical sagacity by preferring an emendation in the margin of Ursinus, a bonis—“by certain good men,” in which he sees a happy irony!
* ↑ Lit., “not touchable by any contact of body,” neque ulla corporis attrectatione contiguas.
* ↑ Arnobius considers the reductio ad absurdum so very plain that he does not trouble himself to state his argument more directly.
# Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume VI/Arnobius/Adversus Gentes/Book II/Chapter XVIII

18. They have not learned, I will be told, to make clothing, seats, ships, and ploughs, nor, in fine, the other furniture which family life requires. These are not the gifts of science, but the suggestions of most pressing necessity; nor did the arts descend with men’s souls from the inmost heavens, but here on earth have they all been painfully sought out and brought to light, and gradually acquired in process of time by careful thought. But if the soul had in itself the knowledge which it is fitting that a race should have indeed which is divine and immortal, all men would from the first know everything; nor would there be an age unacquainted with any art, or not furnished with practical knowledge. But now a life of want and in need of many things, noticing some things happen accidentally to its advantage, while it imitates, experiments, and tries, while it fails, remoulds, changes, from continual failure has procured for itself and wrought out some slight acquaintance with the arts, and brought to one issue the advances of many ages.

## Footnotes

* ↑ Lit., “born.”
* ↑ Throughout this discussion, Arnobius generally uses the plural, animæ—“souls.”
* ↑ So Elmenhorst, Oberthür, and Orelli, reading par-a-v-it sibi et for the ms. parv-as et, “from continual failure has wrought out indeed slight smattering of the arts,” etc., which is retained in both Roman edd., LB., and Hild.; while Gelenius and Canterus merely substitute sibi for et, “wrought out for itself slight,” etc.
# Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume VI/Arnobius/Adversus Gentes/Book II/Chapter XX

20. And, that we may show you more clearly and distinctly what is the worth of man, whom you believe to be very like the higher power, conceive this idea; and because it can be done if we come into direct contact with it, let us conceive it just as if we came into contact. Let us then imagine a place dug out in the earth, fit for dwelling in, formed into a chamber, enclosed by a roof and walls, not cold in winter, not too warm in summer, but so regulated and equable that we suffer neither cold nor the violent heat of summer. To this let there not come any sound or cry whatever, of bird, of beast, of storm, of man—of any noise, in fine, or of the thunder’s terrible crash. Let us next devise a way in which it may be lighted not by the introduction of fire, nor by the sight of the sun, but let there be some counterfeit to imitate sunlight, darkness being interposed. Let there not be one door, nor a direct entrance, but let it be approached by tortuous windings, and let it never be thrown open unless when it is absolutely necessary.

## Footnotes

* ↑ Lit., “a feeling of cold.”
* ↑ Lit., “sound of voice at all.”
* ↑ Lit., “of heaven terribly crashing.”
* ↑ So the later edd., adopting the emendation of Scaliger, nothum—“spurious,” which here seems to approach in meaning to its use by Lucretius (v. 574 sq.), of the moon’s light as borrowed from the sun. The ms. and first four edd. read notum, “known.”
* ↑ According to Huet (quoted by Oehler), “between that spurious and the true light;” but perhaps the idea is that of darkness interposed at intervals to resemble the recurrence of night.
# Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume VI/Arnobius/Adversus Gentes/Book II/Chapter XXIV

24. Why, O Plato, do you in the Meno put to a young slave certain questions relating to the doctrines of number, and strive to prove by his answers that what we learn we do not learn, but that we merely call back to memory those things which we knew in former times? Now, if he answers you correctly,—for it would not be becoming that we should refuse credit to what you say,—he is led to do so not by his real knowledge, but by his intelligence; and it results from his having some acquaintance with numbers, through using them every day, that when questioned he follows your meaning, and that the very process of multiplication always prompts him. But if you are really assured that the souls of men are immortal and endowed with knowledge when they fly hither, cease to question that youth whom you see to be ignorant and accustomed to the ways of men; call to you that man of forty years, and ask of him, not anything out of the way or obscure about triangles, about squares, not what a cube is, or a second power, the ratio of nine to eight, or finally, of four to three; but ask him that with which all are acquainted—what twice two are, or twice three. We wish to see, we wish to know, what answer he gives when questioned—whether he solves the desired problem. In such a case will he perceive, although his ears are open, whether you are saying anything, or asking anything, or requiring some answer from him? and will he not stand like a stock, or the Marpesian rock, as the saying is, dumb and speechless, not understanding or knowing even this—whether you are talking with him or with another, conversing with another or with him; whether that is intelligible speech which you utter, or merely a cry having no meaning, but drawn out and protracted to no purpose?

## Footnotes

* ↑ In this dialogue (st. p. 81) Socrates brings forward the doctrine of reminiscence as giving a reasonable ground for the pursuit of knowledge, and then proceeds to give a practical illustration of it by leading an uneducated slave to solve a mathematical problem by means of question and answer.
* ↑ Lit., “his knowledge of things.”
* ↑ So the ms. and edd., reading i-gnarum rerum, except LB., which by merely omitting the i gives the more natural meaning, “acquainted with the things,” etc.
* ↑ Lit., “established in the limits of humanity.”
* ↑ i.e., a square numerically or algebraically. The ms., both Roman edd., and Canterus read di-bus aut dynam-us, the former word being defended by Meursius as equivalent to binio, “a doubling,”—a sense, however, in which it does not occur. In the other edd., cubus aut dynamis has been received from the margin of Ursinus.
* ↑ Æneid, vi. 472.
* ↑ This clause is with reason rejected by Meursius as a gloss.
# Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume VI/Arnobius/Adversus Gentes/Book II/Chapter XXIX

29. Now, since it is so, cease, I pray you, cease to rate trifling and unimportant things at immense values. Cease to place man in the upper ranks, since he is of the lowest; and in the highest orders, seeing that his person only is taken account of, that he is needy, poverty-stricken in his house and dwelling, and was never entitled to be declared of illustrious descent. For while, as just men and upholders of righteousness, you should have subdued pride and arrogance, by the evils of which we are all uplifted and puffed up with empty vanity; you not only hold that these evils arise naturally, but—and this is much worse—you have also added causes by which vice should increase, and wickedness remain incorrigible. For what man is there, although of a disposition which ever shuns what is of bad repute and shameful, who, when he hears it said by very wise men that the soul is immortal, and not subject to the decrees of the fates, would not throw himself headlong into all kinds of vice, and fearlessly engage in and set about unlawful things? who would not, in short, gratify his desires in all things demanded by his unbridled lust, strengthened even further by its security and freedom from punishment? For what will hinder him from doing so? The fear of a power above and divine judgment? And how shall he be overcome by any fear or dread who has been persuaded that he is immortal, just as the supreme God Himself, and that no sentence can be pronounced upon him by God, seeing that there is the same immortality in both, and that the one immortal being cannot be troubled by the other, which is only its equal?

## Footnotes

* ↑ Capite cum censeatur.
* ↑ Lit., “poor in hearth, and of a poor hut.”
* ↑ So the ms., reading malis, for which Ursinus suggested alis, “on the wings of which.”
* ↑ i.e., to death.
* ↑ The ms. reads securus, intrepidus—“heedless, fearless;” the former word, however, being marked as a gloss. It is rejected in all edd., except LB.
* ↑ Lit., “by the freedom of impunity.”
* ↑ Lit., “the one (immortality)…in respect of the equality of condition of the other”—nec in alterius (immortalitatis) altera (immortalitatas) possit æqualitate conditionis vexari; the reference being clearly to the immediately preceding clause, with which it is so closely connected logically and grammatically. Orelli, however, would supply anima, ἀπὸ τοῦ κοινοῦ, as he puts it, of which nothing need be said. Meursius, with customary boldness, emends nec vi alterius altera, “nor by the power of one can the other,” etc.
# Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume VI/Arnobius/Adversus Gentes/Book II/Chapter XXI

21. Now, as we have prepared a place for our idea, let us next receive some one born to dwell there, where there is nothing but an empty void,—one of the race of Plato, namely, or Pythagoras, or some one of those who are regarded as of superhuman wit, or have been declared most wise by the oracles of the gods. And when this has been done, he must then be nourished and brought up on suitable food. Let us therefore provide a nurse also, who shall come to him always naked, ever silent, uttering not a word, and shall not open her mouth and lips to speak at all, but after suckling him, and doing what else is necessary, shall leave him fast asleep, and remain day and night before the closed doors; for it is usually necessary that the nurse’s care should be near at hand, and that she should watch his varying motions. But when the child begins to need to be supported by more substantial food, let it be borne in by the same nurse, still undressed, and maintaining the same unbroken silence. Let the food, too, which is carried in be always precisely the same, with no difference in the material, and without being re-cooked by means of different flavours; but let it be either pottage of millet, or bread of spelt, or, in imitation of the ancients, chestnuts roasted in the hot ashes, or berries plucked from forest trees. Let him moreover, never learn to drink wine, and let nothing else be used to quench his thirst than pure cold water from the spring, and that if possible raised to his lips in the hollow of his hands. For habit, growing into second nature, will become familiar from custom; nor will his desire extend further, not knowing that there is anything more to be sought after.

## Footnotes

* ↑ Lit., “born, and that, too (et wanting in almost all edd.), into the hospice of that place which has nothing, and is inane and empty.”
* ↑ So most edd. reading porrigeturfor the ms. corrigetur—“be corrected,” i.e., need to be corrected, which is retained in the first ed.
# Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume VI/Arnobius/Adversus Gentes/Book II/Chapter XXIII

23. If you give a grape to him when hungry, a must-cake, an onion, a thistle, a cucumber, a fig, will he know that his hunger can be appeased by all these, or of what kind each should be to be fit for eating? If you made a very great fire, or surrounded him with venomous creatures, will he not go through the midst of flames, vipers, tarantulæ, without knowing that they are dangerous, and ignorant even of fear? But again, if you set before him garments and furniture, both for city and country life, will he indeed be able to distinguish for what each is fitted? to discharge what service they are adapted? Will he declare for what purposes of dress the stragula was made, the coif, zone, fillet, cushion, handkerchief, cloak, veil, napkin, furs, shoe, sandal, boot? What, if you go on to ask what a wheel is, or a sledge, a winnowing-fan, jar, tub, an oil-mill, ploughshare, or sieve, a mill-stone, ploughtail, or light hoe; a carved seat, a needle, a strigil, a laver, an open seat, a ladle, a platter, a candlestick, a goblet, a broom, a cup, a bag; a lyre, pipe, silver, brass, gold, a book, a rod, a roll, and the rest of the equipment by which the life of man is surrounded and maintained? Will he not in such circumstances, as we said, like an ox or an ass, a pig, or any beast more senseless, look at these indeed, observing their various shapes, but not knowing what they all are, and ignorant of the purpose for which they are kept? If he were in any way compelled to utter a sound, would he not with gaping mouth shout something indistinctly, as the dumb usually do?

## Footnotes

* ↑ Carduus, no doubt the esculent thistle, a kind of artichoke.
* ↑ So, according to an emendation in LB., esui, adopted by Orelli and others, instead of the ms. reading et sui.
* ↑ There has been much discussion as to whether the solifuga or solipuga here spoken of is an ant or spider.
* ↑ The ms. reads discriminare, discernere, with the latter word, however, marked as spurious.
* ↑ A kind of rug.
* ↑ Mitra.
* ↑ Strophium, passing round the breast, by some regarded as a kind of corset.
* ↑ Mastruca, a garment made of the skins of the muflone, a Sardinian wild sheep.
* ↑ Tribula, for rubbing out the corn.
* ↑ Aurum is omitted in all edd., except those of LB., Hild., and Oehler.
* ↑ Liber, a roll of parchment or papyrus, as opposed to the preceding codex, a book of pages.
* ↑ The ms. reads vobis unintelligibly, corrected by Meursius bovis.
* ↑ So Orelli and modern edd.; but Crusius gives as the ms. reading conspici-etur (not -et), as given by Ursinus, and commonly received—“Will he not…be seen?”
* ↑ The ms. and first five edd. read et—“and,” changed in LB. to sed.
# Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Boardman, George Dana

Edition of 1900.
​BOARDMAN, George Dana, missionary, b. in Livermore, Me., 8 Feb., 1801; d. in Burmah, 11 Feb., 1831. He was the son of a clergyman, was graduated at Waterville in 1822, studied at Andover theological seminary, and was ordained in the Baptist church, with the intention of becoming a missionary, at West Yarmouth, Me., 16 Feb., 1825. He married Sarah Hall, 4 July, and on the 16th sailed for Calcutta, where he arrived 2 Dec., ​1825. After acquiring the Burman language, he entered upon his labors at Maulmain in May, 1827, and planted a mission, which became the central point of all the Baptist missions in Burmah. In April, 1828, he established a mission at Tavoy, where he soon afterward baptized Ko-mah-byn, a Karen convert, whose labors were very successful among his countrymen. On 5 Feb., 1828, he set out on a tour among the Karen villages, and met with such success that he determined on a systematic course of itinerary labor. On these trips he was usually accompanied by Ko-mah-byn or some other convert. His exertions occasioned the loss of his health and brought on his early death by consumption. His widow married the Rev. Adoniram Judson, the missionary. See “Memoir of George Dana Boardman,” by the Rev. A. King (Boston), and “G. D. Boardman and the Burman Mission” (Boston, 1875). — His son, George Dana, clergyman, b. in Tavoy, Burmah, 18 Aug., 1828, was graduated at Brown in 1852, and at Newton theological institution in 1855, and in that year became pastor of the Baptist church in Barnwell, S. C. But his views on the slavery question impelled him to exchange his charge in 1856 for a church in the north. He was pastor of the 2d Baptist church in Rochester, N. Y., until 1864, and after that of the 1st church in Philadelphia. Besides review articles, sermons, and addresses, he has published “Studies in the Creative Week” (New York, 1878); “Studies in the Model Prayer” (1879); “Epiphanies of the Risen Lord” (1879); and “Studies in the Mountain Instruction” (1880).
# Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Bleecker, Harmanus

Edition of 1900.
​BLEECKER, Harmanus, lawyer, b. in Albany, N. Y., 19 Oct., 1779; d. there, 19 July, 1849. He studied at Union, but before the completion of his course was admitted to the bar in Albany, where he practised many years as a partner of Theodore Sedgwick. Afterward he was elected to congress as a federalist, serving from 4 Nov., 1811, till 3 ​March, 1813. His career in congress was memorable for his opposition to the war of 1812. From 1822 till 1834 he was a regent of the University of the State of New York. In 1839 he was appointed chargé d'affaires at the Plague, where he remained until 1842, when he returned to Albany, N. Y.
# Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Blitz, Antonio

Edition of 1900.
​BLITZ, Antonio, prestidigitateur, b. in Deal, Kent, England, 21 June, 1810; d. in Philadelphia, Pa., 28 Jan., 1877. At the age of thirteen years he began his career in Hamburg, Germany. After travelling for two years in northern Europe, he returned to England, appearing first in Dover in December, 1825. He then visited Ireland and Scotland. In 1834 he came to the United States, and, after performing in New York, travelled throughout the country. Later he visited Canada and the West Indies. On his return from the south he settled in Philadelphia, Pa., where he resided until his death. His experiences have been related in “Fifty Years in the Magic Circle” (Hartford, 1871), written by himself.