388 NOVATIAN THE ROMAN PRESBYTER
unclean do neither,or onlyone of the two. All thesethings
were made by one Workman, and He who made themHim
selfblessedthem. ThereforeI regard the creationofboth
as clean,because both He who createdthem is holy,and
those things which were createdare not in faultin being
thatwhich theywere made. For ithas neverbeen customary
for nature,but for a pervertedwill,to bear the blameof
guilt. What, then, is the case? In the animalsitisthe
characters,and doings,and willsof men thatare depicted.
They are clean if they chew the cud ; that is,if theyever
have in theirmouth as food the divine precepts.They
dividethe hoof,ifwith the firmstepof innocencytheytread
the ways of righteousness,and of everyvirtueof life.Forof
thosecreatureswhich dividethe footintotwo hoofsthewalk
isalwaysvigorous;thetendencytoslipof one partofthehoof
being sustainedby the firmnessof the other,and soretained
in the substantialfootstep.Thus they who do neitherare
unclean,whose walk is neitherfirmin virtues; nor do they
digestthe food of the divinepreceptsafterthe mannerof
that chewing of the cud. And they,too,who do one ofthese
things are not themselves clean either,inasmuch asthey
are maimed of the other,and not perfectin both. And these
are they who eitherdo both,as believers,and are clean:or
one of the two, as Jews and heretics,and are blemished;or
neither,as the Gentiles,and areconsequentlyunclean. Thus
in the animals,by the law, as it were,a certainmirrorof
human lifeis established,wherein men may considerthe
images ofpenalties;sothateverythingwhich isviciousinmen,
as committed againstnature,may be the more condemned,
when even thosethings,althoughnaturallyordainedinbrutes,
are in them blamed. For thatinfishestheroughnessofscales
isregardedasconstitutingtheircleanness;rough,and rugged,
and unpolished,and substantial,and grave manners areap
proved in men ; whilethose that are withoutscalesareun
clean; because trifling,and fickle,and faithless,and effemi
nate manners are disapproved. Moreover,what doesthelaw
mean when it says,"Thou shaltnot eat the camel?"1—
1Lev.xi.4.