{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p class=\"c006\">But if you depreciate the littleness of man, not on account of\r\nhis body, but of his soul, regarding it as inferior to that of other\r\nrational beings, and especially of those who are virtuous; and\r\ninferior, because evil dwells in it,—why should those among\r\nChristians who are wicked, and those among the Jews who\r\nlead sinful lives, be termed a collection of bats, or ants, or\r\nworms, or frogs, rather than those individuals among other\r\nnations who are guilty of wickedness?—seeing, in this respect,\r\nany individual whatever, especially if carried away by the tide\r\nof evil, is, in comparison with the rest of mankind, a bat, and\r\nworm, and frog, and ant. And although a man may be an\r\norator like Demosthenes, yet, if stained with wickedness like\r\n<span class=\"pageno\" id=\"Page_185\">185</span>his,<a id=\"r561\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f561\"><sup>[561]</sup></a> and guilty of deeds proceeding, like his, from a wicked\r\nnature; or an Antiphon, who was also considered to be indeed\r\nan orator, yet who annihilated the doctrine of providence in his\r\nwritings, which were entitled <i>Concerning Truth</i>, like that discourse\r\nof Celsus,—such individuals are notwithstanding worms,\r\nrolling in a corner of the dung-heap of stupidity and ignorance.\r\nIndeed, whatever be the nature of the rational faculty, it could\r\nnot reasonably be compared to a worm, because it possesses\r\ncapabilities of virtue.<a id=\"r562\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f562\"><sup>[562]</sup></a> For these adumbrations<a id=\"r563\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f563\"><sup>[563]</sup></a> towards virtue\r\ndo not allow of those who possess the power of acquiring it,\r\nand who are incapable of wholly losing its seeds, to be likened\r\nto a worm. It appears, therefore, that neither can men in\r\ngeneral be deemed worms in comparison with God. For\r\nreason, having its beginning in the reason of God, cannot\r\nallow of the rational animal being considered wholly alien from\r\nDeity. Nor can those among Christians and Jews who are\r\nwicked, and who, in truth, are neither Christians nor Jews, be\r\ncompared, more than other wicked men, to worms rolling in a\r\ncorner of a dunghill. And if the nature of reason will not\r\npermit of such comparisons, it is manifest that we must not\r\ncalumniate human nature, which has been formed for virtue,\r\neven if it should sin through ignorance, nor liken it to animals\r\nof the kind described.</p>","headings":["The writings of Origen, Vol. 2 of 2","BOOK IV.","Chapter XXV."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg70693-paragraph-244"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"14cca82ed0ea6d9e15632b1d6052b1e0f412ed8590bcab409bfda43bf192d7db","edition_title":"The writings of Origen, Vol. 2 (of 2)","edition_translators":["Frederick Crombie","W. H. Cairns"],"edition_year":1872,"explicit_reference_candidates":[],"headings":[],"id":"pg70693-f562","license_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html","public_import_allowed":false,"record_kind":"original-editor-translator-note","review_required":["work and recension attribution","original-work chronology","Bible reference numbering and citation kind","English edition rights and attribution"],"review_status":"needs_review","rights_evidence":"Project Gutenberg metadata: Public domain in the USA. Existing 1872 English edition; listed translators died 1889 and 1872. Electronic transcription subject to Project Gutenberg reuse terms.","source_anchor":"f562","source_ebook":70693,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\" id=\"f562\">\n<p class=\"c007\"><span class=\"label\"><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#r562\">562</a>. </span><span lang=\"grc\">ἀφορμὰς ἔχον πρὸς ἀρετὴν.</span></p>\n</div>","source_sha256":"76ed9a9fd752c1d5095189e38fe3dcbbea0fd23d6be719db17360e4da14552fa","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/70693/pg70693-images.html#f562","text_sha256":"bde0e8cf3059496d66f621cc76ef26c81a96521deacf17f68b373030b7e12381","verified":false,"work_id":null}