Impia quam cæsis gens est epulata juvencis.
“Before
An impious world the labouring oxen slew.”—Georgics II.
[52] “The proclamation of the birth of Apollonius to his mother by Proteus, and the incarnation of Proteus himself—the chorus of swans which sang for joy on the occasion—the casting out of devils, raising the dead, and healing the sick—the sudden disappearances and reappearances of Apollonius—his adventures in the Cave of Trophonius, and the sacred Voice which called him at his death, to which may be added his claim as a teacher to reform the world—cannot fail to suggest the parallel passages in the Gospel history.... Still, it must be allowed that the resemblances are very general, and on the whole it seems probable that the life of Apollonius was not written with a controversial aim, as the resemblances, though real, only indicate that a few things were borrowed, and exhibit no trace of a systematic parallel.”—Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography. Edited by Wm. Smith, LL.D. So great was the estimation in which he was held, that the emperor Alexander Severus (one of the very few good Roman princes) placed his statue or bust in the imperial Larium or private Chapel, together with those of Orpheus and of Christ.
[53] Cf. Virgil, Georgics II.: “Fundit humo facilem victum justissima Tellus.”
[54] So greatly was he esteemed by the later and leading Fathers of the Church that Cyprian, the celebrated Bishop of Carthage, and “the doctor and guide of all the Western Churches,” was accustomed to say, whenever he applied himself to the study of his writings, “Da mihi magistrum” (“Give me my master”).—Jerome, De Viris Illustribus I., 284.
[55] On Fasting or Abstinence Against the Carnal-Minded. The style of Tertullian, we may remark, is, for the most part, obscure and abrupt.
[56] It is worth noting that neither the original (βρωμάτων) of the “Authorised Version,” nor the meats of the “A. V.” itself, says anything about flesh-eating in this favourite resort of its apologists. Both expressions merely signify foods of any kind; so that the passage in question of this Pastoral Letter—which is apparently post-Pauline—can be made to condemn absolute fasting only: nor does the context warrant any other interpretation. As to St. Paul, the great opponent of the earlier Christian belief and practice, it must be conceded that he seems not to have shared the abhorrence of the immediately accredited disciples of Jesus for the sanguinary diet, especially of St. Matthew, of St. James, and of St. Peter, who, as we are expressly assured by Clement of Alexandria, St. Augustine, and others, lived entirely on non-flesh meats. The apparent indifferentism of St. Paul upon the question of abstinence is best and most briefly explained by his avowed principle of action—from the missionary point of view useful, doubtless, but from the point of view of abstract ethics not always satisfactory—the being “all things to all men.”
[57] Compare Seneca, Epistles, cx., and Chrysostom, Homilies.
[58] Aquis sobrius, et cibis ebrius. This important truth we venture to commend to the earnest attention of those philanthropists, or hygeists, who are adherents of what may be termed the semi-temperance Clause—who abstain from alcoholic drinks but not from flesh.