MINUCIUS FELIX. 507 by it.1 For who of wise men doubts,who isignorant,thatall thingswhich have had a beginning perish,allthingswhich are made come to an end ? The heaven also,with allthings which are containedin heaven,willcease even as it began. The nourishment of the seas by the sweet waters of the springsshallpassaway into the power of fire.2The Stoics have a constantbeliefthat,the moisture being driedup, all thisworld willtakefire; and the Epicureans have the very same opinion concerning the conflagrationof the elements and the destructionof the world. Plato speaks,saying that partsof the world arenow inundated,and are now burnt up by alternatechanges; and although he saysthat the world itselfisconstructedperpetualand indissoluble,yet he adds thattoGod Himself,theonlyartificer,3itisboth dissolubleand mortal. Thus itisno wonder if that mass be destroyedby Him by whom itwas reared. You observethatphilosophers disputeof the same things thatwe are saying,not that we are followingup theirtracks,but thatthey,from the divine announcements of the prophets,imitatedthe shadow of the corruptedtruth. Thus alsothe most illustriousof the wise men, Pythagoras first,and Platochiefly,have deliveredthe doctrineof resurrectionwith a corrupt and dividedfaith; for they willhave it,that the bodies being dissolved,the souls alone both abide for ever,and very often pass into other new bodies. To these things they add alsothis,by way of misrepresentingthe truth,that the soulsof men return into cattle,birds,and beasts. Assuredly such an opinionas thatisnot worthy of a philosopher's inquiry,but of the ribaldryof a buffoon.4 But for our argument it is sufficient,thateven in thisyour wisemen do in some measure harmonize with us. But who isso foolishor so brutishas to 1 Thispassageisveryindefinite,and probablycorrupt; themeaning isanythingbutsatisfactory.The generalmeaningisgivenfreelythus: " Further,itisa vulgarerrorto doubtor disbelievea futureconflagra tionoftheworld." * Thispassageisveryvariouslyread,withoutsubstantialalterationof thesense. 3 Otherwise," toGod Himselfalone,theartificer." 4Thisisotherwiseread," theworkofthemimicorbuffoon."