15. Wherefore there is no reason that that 3516 should mislead us, should hold out vain hopes to us, which is said by some men till now unheard of, 3517 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. 3518 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. 3519 3516     So the ms. and LB., followed by Oehler; in the edd. id is omitted. 3517     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! 3518     Lit., “not touchable by any contact of body,” neque ulla corporis attrectatione contiguas. 3519     Arnobius considers the reductio ad absurdum so very plain that he does not trouble himself to state his argument more directly.