Arnobius — Against the Nations 2.63
“But if,” they say, “Christ was sent by God for this — to free unhappy souls from the ruin of destruction — what did the earlier ages deserve, which before his coming were consumed under the condition of mortality?” Can you know what was done with those souls of the most ancient mortals of old — whether help was given them too by some reason, counsel taken and provision made? Can you, I say, know what could be known with Christ teaching: whether ages are infinite or finite from when the human race began to be on earth; when souls were first bound to bodies; who the author of that binding was; rather who the maker of man himself was; where the souls of earlier ones departed; in what parts or regions of the world they were; whether corruptible or the opposite; whether they could have come into the danger of dying unless in the necessary time the savior Christ had met them?
Lay out these worries and leave questions unknown to you: royal pity was imparted to them also, and divine benefits ran equally through all; they were kept, they were freed, and they laid aside mortality’s lot and condition. “By what kind, which, when?” If arrogance, if pride, if elation were absent from you, you could already have known these things from the Author.
Latin
63.1. ''Sed si, inquiunt, Christus in hoc missus a Deo est, ut infelices animas ab interitionis exitio liberaret, quid saecula commeruerunt priora, quae ante ipsius adventum mortalitatis condicione consumpta sunt?''. - Potestis enim scire, quid sit cum eis animis actum priscorum veterrimorum que mortalium, subventum et his an sit ratione aliqua, consultum atque provisum? 2. Potestis, inquam, scire id quod Christo potuit docente cognosci, infinita an finita sint saecula ex quo in terris esse genus hominum coepit, quando primum animae corporibus inligatae, quis auctor vinctionis istius, quinimmo ipsius quisnam hominis fabricator, quo priorum abscesserint animae, quibus in mundi partibus aut regionibus fuerint, corruptibiles an contra, potuerintne accedere ad periculum moriendi , nisi tempore necessario conservator occurrisset Christus?
3. Exponite has curas et incognitas vobis relinquite quaestiones: miseratio et illis impertita est regia et aequaliter per omnes divina beneficia cucurrerunt: conservatae sunt, liberatae sunt et mortalitatis sortem condicionem que posuerunt. ''Quo genere, quae, quando?''. - Si adrogantia, si typhus, si elatio abesset a vobis, iamdudum haeG scire <Christo> potuistis auctore.