OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume VI/Gregory Thaumaturgus/Dubious or Spurious Writings/On the Subject of the Soul/Section VI

VI. Whether Our Soul is Immortal.
It follows, in my opinion, as a necessary consequence, that what is simple is immortal. And as to how that follows, hear my explanation: Nothing that exists is its own corrupter, else it could never have had any thorough consistency, even from the beginning. For things that are subject to corruption are corrupted by contraries: wherefore everything that is corrupted is subject to dissolution; and what is subject to dissolution is compound; and what is compound is of many parts; and what is made up of parts manifestly is made up of diverse parts; and the diverse is not the identical: consequently the soul, being simple, and not being made up of diverse parts, but being uncompound and indissoluble, must be, in virtue of that, incorruptible and immortal.
Besides, everything that is put in action by something else, and does not possess the principle of life in itself, but gets it from that which puts it in action, endures just so long as it is held by the power that operates in it; and whenever the operative power ceases, that also comes to a stand which has its capacity of action from it. But the soul, being self-acting, has no cessation of its being. For it follows, that what is self-acting is ever-acting; and what is ever-acting is unceasing; and what is unceasing is without end; and what is without end is incorruptible; and what is incorruptible is immortal. Consequently, if the soul is self-acting, as has been shown above, it follows that it is incorruptible and immortal, in accordance with the mode of reasoning already expressed.
And further, everything that is not corrupted by the evil proper to itself, is incorruptible; and the evil is opposed to the good, and is consequently its corrupter. For the evil of the body is nothing else than suffering, and disease, and death; just as, on the other hand, its excellency is beauty, life, health, and vigour. If, therefore, the soul is not corrupted by the evil proper to itself, and the evil of the soul is cowardice, intemperance, envy, and the like, and all these things do not despoil it of its powers of life and action, it follows that it is immortal.

## Footnotes

* ↑ φθαρτικόν.
# Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume VI/Arnobius/Adversus Gentes/Book II/Chapter XLVI

46. But, to say the same things again and again, let this belief, so monstrous and impious, be put far from us, that God, who preserves all things, the origin of the virtues and chief in benevolence, and, to exalt Him with human praise, most wise, just, making all things perfect, and that permanently, either made anything which was imperfect and not quite correct, or was the cause of misery or danger to any being, or arranged, commanded, and enjoined the very acts in which man’s life is passed and employed to flow from His arrangement. These things are unworthy of Him, and weaken the force of His greatness; and so far from His being believed to be their author, whoever imagines that man is sprung from Him is guilty of blasphemous impiety, man, a being miserable and wretched, who is sorry that he exists, hates and laments his state, and understands that he was produced for no other reason than lest evils should not have something through which to spread themselves, and that there might always be wretched ones by whose agonies some unseen and cruel power, adverse to men, should be gratified.

## Footnotes

* ↑ Lit., “again and more frequently.”
* ↑ Lit., “the salvation of.”
* ↑ Lit., “height of.”
* ↑ Lit., “things perfect, and preserving the measure of their completeness;” i.e., continuing so.
* ↑ So the ms., LB., Oberthür and Oehler, reading claudum et quod minus esset a recto. All other edd. read eminus—“at a distance from the right.”
* ↑ Lit., “less than.”
* ↑ Lit., “material.”
* ↑ Lit., “some power latent and cruelty.”
# Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume VI/Arnobius/Adversus Gentes/Book II/Chapter XLVII

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, admit that we are ignorant of this, do not know it; 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 means follows necessarily; for if we were to deny that flies, beetles, and bugs, dormice, weevils, and moths, 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 Supreme Deity were creatures produced so useless, so needless, so purposeless, nay more, at times even hurtful, and causing unavoidable injuries.

## Footnotes

* ↑ 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.
* ↑ Nescire Hildebrand, with good reason, considers a gloss.
* ↑ Nihilfor the ms. mihi which makes nonsense of the sentence.
* ↑ 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.
* ↑ Lit., “superior.”
* ↑ Lit., “tending to no reasons.”
# Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume VI/Arnobius/Adversus Gentes/Book II/Chapter XLI

41. Was it for this He sent souls, that they which shortly before had been gentle and ignorant of what it is to be moved by fierce passions, should build for themselves markets and amphitheatres, places of blood and open wickedness, in the one of which they should see men devoured and torn in pieces by wild beasts, and themselves slay others for no demerit but to please and gratify the spectators, and should spend those very days on which such wicked deeds were done in general enjoyment, and keep holiday with festive gaiety; while in the other, again, they should tear asunder the flesh of wretched animals, some snatch one part, others another, as dogs and vultures do, should grind them with their teeth, and give to their utterly insatiable maw, and that, surrounded by faces so fierce and savage, those should bewail their lot whom the straits of poverty withheld from such repasts; that their life should be happy and prosperous while such barbarous doings defiled their mouths and face? Was it for this He sent souls, that, forgetting their importance and dignity as divine, they should acquire gems, precious stones, pearls, at the expense of their purity; should entwine their necks with these, pierce the tips of their ears, bind their foreheads with fillets, seek for cosmetics to deck their bodies, darken their eyes with henna; nor, though in the forms of men, blush to curl their hair with crisping-pins, to make the skin of the body smooth, to walk with bare knees, and with every other kind of wantonness, both to lay aside the strength of their manhood, and to grow in effeminacy to a woman’s habits and luxury?

## Footnotes

* ↑ So restored by Cujacius, followed by LB. and Orelli, reading in grat-i-am (ms. wants i) voluptatemque, while the first five edd. merely drop -que—“to the grateful pleasure,” etc.
* ↑ Lit., “most cruel.”
* ↑ Lit., “among,” in oris, the ms. reading, and that of the first four edd., for which the others have received from the margin of Ursinus moribus—“(indulging) in so fierce and savage customs.”
* ↑ Lit., “tables.”
* ↑ Lit., “they should live.”
* ↑ Lit., “lessen.”
* ↑ In the ms. this clause follows the words “loss of their purity,” where it is very much in the way. Orelli has followed Heraldus in disposing of it as above, while LB. inserts it after “tips of their ears.” The rest adhere to the arrangement of the ms., Ursinus suggesting instead of his—“with these,” catenis—“with chains;” Heraldus, linis—“with strings (of pearls);” Stewechius, tæniis—“with fillets.”
* ↑ So LB. and Orelli reading, con-fic-iendis corporibus for the ms. con-sp-iendis, for which the others read -spic-, “to win attention.” A conjecture by Oudendorp, brought forward by Orelli, is worthy of notice—con-spu-endis, “to cover,” i.e., so as to hide defects.
# Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume VI/Arnobius/Adversus Gentes/Book II/Chapter XLIII

43. What say you, O offspring and descendants of the Supreme Deity? Did these souls, then, wise, and sprung from the first causes, become acquainted with such forms of baseness, crime, and bad feeling? and were they ordered to dwell here, and be clothed with the garment of the human body, in order that they might engage in, might practise these evil deeds, and that very frequently? And is there a man with any sense of reason who thinks that the world was established because of them, and not rather that it was set up as a seat and home, in which every kind of wickedness should be committed daily, all evil deeds be done, plots, impostures, frauds, covetousness, robberies, violence, impiety, all that is presumptuous, indecent, base, disgraceful, and all the other evil deeds which men devise over all the earth with guilty purpose, and contrive for each other’s ruin?

## Footnotes

* ↑ The ms. reads, habitare atque habitare juss-e-r-unt. All edd. omit the first two words, the first ed. without further change; but the active verb is clearly out of place, and therefore all other edd. read jussæ sunt, as above. Oehler, however, from habitare omitted by the others, would emend aditare, “to approach,”—a conjecture with very little to recommend it.
* ↑ These are all substantives in the original.
# Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume VI/Arnobius/Adversus Gentes/Book II/Chapter XLIV

44. But, you say, they came of their own accord, not sent by their lord. And where was the Almighty Creator, where the authority of His royal and exalted place, to prevent their departure, and not suffer them to fall into dangerous pleasures? For if He knew that by change of place they would become base—and, as the arranger of all things, He must have known—or that anything would reach them from without which would make them forget their greatness and moral dignity,—a thousand times would I beg of Him to pardon my words,—the cause of all is no other than Himself, since He allowed them to have freedom to wander who He foresaw would not abide by their state of innocence; and thus it is brought about that it does not matter whether they came of their own accord, or obeyed His command, since in not preventing what should have been prevented, by His inaction He made the guilt His own, and permitted it before it was done by neglecting to withhold them from action.

## Footnotes

* ↑ So the ms., reading non missione—“not by the sending;” but, unaccountably enough, all edd. except Hildebrand and Oehler read, jussione—“not by the command.”
* ↑ So the ms..
* ↑ Lit., “royal sublimity.”
* ↑ Lit., “causes.”
* ↑ The ms. and both Roman edd. read abscondere—“to hide,” for which the other edd. read, as above, abscedere, from the margin of Ursinus.
# Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume VI/Arnobius/Adversus Gentes/Book II/Chapter XLIX

49. But, you will say, there are good men also in the world,—wise, upright, of faultless and purest morals. We raise no question as to whether there ever were any such, in whom this very integrity which is spoken of was in nothing imperfect. Even if they are very honourable men, and have been worthy of praise, have reached the utmost height of perfection, and their life has never wavered and sunk into sin, yet we would have you tell us how many there are, or have been, that we may judge from their number whether a comparison has been made which is just and evenly balanced. One, two, three, four, ten, twenty, a hundred, yet are they at least limited in number, and it may be within the reach of names. But it is fitting that the human race should be rated and weighed, not by a very few good men, but by all the rest as well. For the part is in the whole, not the whole in a part; and that which is the whole should draw to it its parts, not the whole be brought to its parts. For what if you were to say that a man, robbed of the use of all his limbs, and shrieking in bitter agony, was quite well, because in one little nail he suffered no pain? or that the earth is made of gold, because in one hillock there are a few small grains from which, when dissolved, gold is produced, and wonder excited at it when formed into a lump? The whole mass shows the nature of an element, not particles fine as air; nor does the sea become forthwith sweet, if you cast or throw into it a few drops of less bitter water, for that small quantity is swallowed up in its immense mass; and it must be esteemed, not merely of little importance, but even of none, because, being scattered throughout all, it is lost and cut off in the immensity of the vast body of water.

## Footnotes

* ↑ Lit., “opposition;” i.e., “the setting of one party against the other.”
* ↑ Lit., “weighed with balancing of equality.”
* ↑ Lit., “bounded by the comprehensions of names;” i.e., possibly, “the good are certainly few enough to be numbered, perhaps even to be named.”
* ↑ So LB., reading ex cruciatibusfor the ms. scruc.
* ↑ Lit., “of.”
* ↑ Lit., “admiration is sought for by the putting together”—congregatione.
# Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume VI/Arnobius/Adversus Gentes/Book II/Chapter XL

40. Was it for this He sent souls hither, that while the other creatures are fed by what springs up spontaneously, and is produced without being sown, and do not seek for themselves the protection or covering of houses or garments, they should be under the sad necessity of building houses for themselves at very great expense and with never-ending toils, preparing coverings for their limbs, making different kinds of furniture for the wants of daily life, borrowing help for their weakness from the dumb creatures; using violence to the earth that it might not give forth its own herbs, but might send up the fruits required; and when they had put forth all their strength in subduing the earth, should be compelled to lose the hope with which they had laboured through blight, hail, drought; and at last forced by hunger to throw themselves on human bodies; and when set free, to be parted from their human forms by a wasting sickness? Was it for this that they which, while they abode with Him, had never had any longing for property, should have become exceedingly covetous, and with insatiable craving be inflamed to an eager desire of possessing; that they should dig up lofty mountains, and turn the unknown bowels of the earth into materials, and to purposes of a different kind; should force their way to remote nations at the risk of life, and, in exchanging goods always catch at a high price for what they sell, and a low one for what they buy, take interest at greedy and excessive rates, and add to the number of their sleepless nights spent in reckoning up thousands wrung from the life-blood of wretched men; should be ever extending the limits of their possessions, and, though they were to make whole provinces one estate, should weary the forum with suits for one tree, for one furrow; should hate rancorously their friends and brethren?

## Footnotes

* ↑ Lit., “the sad necessity should be laid upon them, that,” etc.
* ↑ Lit., “for the want of daily things,” diurnorun egestati, for which Stewechius would read diurna egestate—“from daily necessity.”
* ↑ Lit., “of.”
* ↑ Lit., “poured forth all their blood.”
* ↑ Lit., “of their labour.”
* ↑ Lit., “at last by force of.”
* ↑ So the ms. and edd., reading vilitatem, for which Meursius proposed very needlessly utilitatem—“and at an advantage.”
* ↑ So, adhering very closely to the ms., which gives e-t sanguine supputandis augere-t insomnia milibus, the t of e-t being omitted and n inserted by all. The first five edd. read, -tandi se angerent insania: millibus—“harass themselves with the madness of reckoning; by miles should extend,” etc.,—the only change in Heraldus and Orelli being a return to insomnia—“harass with sleeplessness,” etc.
# Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume VI/Arnobius/Adversus Gentes/Book II/Chapter XLV

45. But let this monstrous and impious fancy be put far from us, that Almighty God, the creator and framer, the author of things great and invisible, should be believed to have begotten souls so fickle, with no seriousness, firmness, and steadiness, prone to vice, inclining to all kinds of sins; and while He knew that they were such and of this character, to have bid them enter into bodies, imprisoned in which, they should live exposed to the storms and tempests of fortune every day, and now do mean things, now submit to lewd treatment; that they might perish by shipwreck, accidents, destructive conflagrations; that poverty might oppress some, beggary, others; that some might be torn in pieces by wild beasts, others perish by the venom of flies; that some might limp in walking, others lose their sight, others be stiff with cramped joints; in fine, that they should be exposed to all the diseases which the wretched and pitiable human race endures with agony caused by different sufferings; then that, forgetting that they have one origin, one father and head, they should shake to their foundations and violate the rights of kinship, should overthrow their cities, lay waste their lands as enemies, enslave the free, do violence to maidens and to other men’s wives, hate each other, envy the joys and good fortune of others; and further, all malign, carp at, and tear each other to pieces with fiercely biting teeth.

## Footnotes

* ↑ Lit., “go.”
* ↑ By Hildebrand and Oehler, procreator is with reason regarded as a gloss.
* ↑ The ms., both Roman edd., and Hildebrand read jussisset; but this would throw the sentence into confusion, and the other edd. therefore drop t.
* ↑ LB., Hildebrand, and Oehler read quorum indu-c-tæ carceribus—“led into the prisons of which,” all other edd. omitting c as above. According to Oehler, the ms. has the former reading.
* ↑ The ms. and both Roman edd. read in-f-ernarum paterentut aliæ laniatus muscularum, which has no meaning, and is little improved by Galenius changing ut into ur, as no one knows what “infernal flies” are. LB. and Orelli, adopting a reading in the margin of Ursinus, change intern. into ferarum, and join musc. with the words which follow as above. Another reading, also suggested by Ursinus, seems preferable, however, internorum…musculorum—“suffer rendings (i.e., spasms) of the inner muscles.”
* ↑ Lit., “bound.”
* ↑ Lit., “dilaceration of.”
# Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume VI/Arnobius/Adversus Gentes/Book II/Chapter XLVIII

48. Here, too, in like manner, when we deny that souls are the offspring of God Supreme, it does not necessarily follow that we are bound to declare from what parent they have sprung, and by what causes they have been produced. For who prevents us from being either ignorant of the source from which they issued and came, or aware that they are not God’s descendants? By what method, you say, in what way? Because it is most true and certain that, as has been pretty frequently said, nothing is effected, made, determined by the Supreme, except that which it is right and fitting should be done; except that which is complete and entire, and wholly perfect in its integrity. But further, we see that men, that is, these very souls—for what are men but souls bound to bodies?—themselves show by perversely falling into vice, times without number, that they belong to no patrician race, but have sprung from insignificant families. For we see some harsh, vicious, presumptuous, rash, reckless, blinded, false, dissemblers, liars, proud, overbearing, covetous, greedy, lustful, fickle, weak, and unable to observe their own precepts; but they would assuredly not be so, if their original goodness defended them, and they traced their honourable descent from the head of the universe.

## Footnotes

* ↑ Omni vero verissimum est certoque certissimum—the superlative for the comparative.
* ↑ Lit., “finished with the perfection of.”
* ↑ Lit., “by perversity”—s-c-ævitate, the reading of the ms., LB., Orelli, Hild., and Oehler, all others omitting c—“by the rage;” except Stewechius, who reads servitute—“slavery.”
* ↑ Or, perhaps, “the goodness of the Supreme planted”—generositas eos adsereret principalis.
# Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Conway, William A.

Edition of 1900.
​CONWAY, William A., actor, b. in London; drowned himself off Charleston bar in 1828. He was educated for the bar, but appeared on the stage at the Haymarket theatre, in London, terminated a three years' engagement in 1816, starred till 1821, and came to the United States in 1823. He appeared as Hamlet and other tragic parts in New York and Philadelphia, visited the western and southern cities, took passage early in 1828 for Savannah, and threw himself into the sea while on the voyage. He won the affections of Mrs. Piozzi, whose letters to him were published in 1843. As Coriolanus he was excelled by Kemble alone. — His son, Frederick B., actor, b. in Clifton, England, 10 Feb., 1819; d. in Manchester, Mass., 6 Sept., 1874. He early developed a taste for the stage, and had won a fair position in his profession in England, when he came to the United States in August, 1850. Here he formed an association with Edwin Forrest, and played Iago to his Othello, De Mauprat to his Richelieu, and other companion parts. After the death of his first wife, Mr. Conway married, in May, 1852, Miss Crocker, a leading actress, and the two thenceforward acted together. In 1859 they opened Pike's opera-house in Cincinnati with a first-class company, but the engagement was not profitable, and they returned to the east. In 1861 they visited England, and filled a short engagement at Sadler's Wells theatre, London. After their return they became star-actors, and made an extensive and ​profitable tour. Though somewhat pompous in manner, Mr. Conway was a good actor, with a fine personal appearance and a commanding delivery. — Sarah Crocker, wife of Frederick, b. in Ridgefield, Conn., in 1834; d. in Brooklyn, N. Y., in April, 1875, was a sister of Mrs. D. P. Bowers. (See Bowers). She made her début in Baltimore in 1849, playing Parthenia and other leading parts. She possessed a tall and graceful figure and an expressive countenance, and was a versatile actress and a popular manager. In 1864 she leased the Park theatre in Brooklyn, and subsequently the new Brooklyn theatre, in which for nine years Mr. Conway played leading parts.