MINUCIUS FELIX. 509 merit. Then he thoroughlydemonstratesthatthemorals of Christiansarefar more holythan thoseof theGentiles. " And yetmen areadmonished in the books and poems of the most learnedpoetsof thatfieryriver,and of the heatflowing in manifold turns from the Stygian marsh,— thingswhich, prepared for eternaltorments,and known to them by the informationof demons and from theoraclesof theirprophets, they have deliveredto us. And thereforeamong them also even king Jupiterhimselfswearsreligiouslyby the parching banks and the black abyss; for,with foreknowledge of the punishment destinedtohim,withhisworshippers,he shudders. Nor isthereeithermeasure or terminationto thesetorments. There the intelligentfire1 burns the limbsand restoresthem, feeds on them and nourishesthem. As the firesof the thunderboltsstrikeupon the bodies,and do not consume them ; as the firesof Mount Etna and of Mount Vesuvius, and of burning landseverywhere,glow,but are not wasted ; so thatpenal fireis not fed by the waste of thosewho burn, but is nourishedby the unexhausted eating away of their bodies. But that they who know not God are deservedly tormented as impious,as unrighteouspersons,no one except a profaneman hesitatesto believe,sinceitisnot lesswricked to be ignorantof,than to offendthe Parent of all,and the Lord of all. And although ignorance of God is sufficient for punishment,even as knowledge of Ilim is of availfor pardon,yet ifwe Christiansbe compared with you, although in some thingsour disciplineisinferior,yetwe shallbe found much betterthan you. For you forbid,and yetcommit,adul teries;we areborn 1 men onlyforour own wives: you punish crimes when committed; with us,even to thinkof crimesis to sin: you are afraidof thosewho are aware of what you do ; we are even afraidof our own consciencealone,without which we cannot exist:finally,from your numbers theprison 1 suf <ru<ppo»oviiisan expressionof ClemensAlexandrinus,so that thereisno needfortheemendationof" rapiens"insteadof " sapiens,.' thatissuggestedby oneeditor. 3 " Are known as"isanotherreading.