From the temple-shadowed streets of Sicca Veneria, stained by the licentious cult of Venus, emerged a man whose life turned from the defense of paganism to the ardent proclamation of Christianity. Arnobius, once a master of rhetoric and a foe of the Church, became one of its boldest apologists, wielding the weapons of classical learning against the idols he had formerly served. His conversion was no gradual shift but a dramatic reversal, and his writings preserve both the zeal of the new believer and the keen wit of the seasoned orator.
Life and Conversion
Arnobius lived in Sicca, on the Numidian frontier southwest of Carthage, during the late third and early fourth centuries. A successful rhetorician with many pupils—Lactantius among them—he embraced Christianity in adult life, like Tertullian and Cyprian before him. He vividly described his former superstition: praying to newly forged images, venerating oiled stones as divine, and addressing carved wood or bone as if it contained living power. The contrast was heightened by the moral degradation of his city, famed for the temple of Venus where maidens were required to sacrifice their chastity. Against such a background, his denunciation of the sexual crimes attributed to the pagan gods—especially Jupiter’s catalogue of seductions—takes on a personal urgency.
Jerome, our principal ancient source, claims that Arnobius’ conversion was prompted by visions or dreams, and that the bishop of Sicca at first doubted his sincerity, prompting him to write his great apology. Whether or not this detail is accurate, the work breathes the conviction of one who had been rescued from error and compelled to bear witness.
The Adversus Nationes
Arnobius’ sole surviving work is a seven-book apology, Adversus Nationes (“Against the Nations”), composed about A.D. 303 at the outset of the Diocletian persecution. He refers to the destruction of Christian Scriptures, the burning of meeting-houses, and the tortures inflicted on believers. The work survives in a single ninth- or tenth-century manuscript, bound with Minucius Felix’s Octavius.
The first two books are apologetic, defending Christianity against charges that it provoked the wrath of the gods and brought calamities upon the empire. The remaining five are polemical, demolishing the pagan pantheon with a mixture of moral outrage and learned ridicule. Arnobius draws deeply on Greek and Roman mythology, citing Homer, Plato, Cicero, and Varro, and exposing the vices and absurdities of the deities worshipped by Rome. While he regards these gods as real, he sees them as evil spirits, unworthy of worship.
Theological Content
The positive exposition of Christian doctrine is thin and at times imprecise. Arnobius’ biblical knowledge appears limited: he never cites the Old Testament and refers to the New Testament only once. He confuses Jewish sects and knows little of Israel’s history or worship. Yet he portrays Christ in exalted terms: as supreme teacher, revealer of God, giver of eternal life, Saviour, and true God “in his inmost nature.” Only Christ’s followers can be saved, yet even his enemies are offered mercy. Arnobius appeals to Christ’s miracles as evidence of divine mission, emphasizing their beneficence, simplicity, and public nature—healing multitudes at once, calming storms, walking on the sea, feeding thousands, raising the dead, and appearing openly after his resurrection.
His doctrine of God is lofty and monotheistic: God is uncreated, infinite, spiritual, omnipresent, passionless, dwelling in light, the source of all good, and the sender of the Saviour. Regarding humanity, he affirms free will but also human ignorance and sinfulness. He denies the natural immortality of the soul, teaching that it survives death only if granted eternal life by God. The wicked are consigned to Gehenna’s fire, where they will ultimately be consumed. He affirms the resurrection of the body, though in somewhat obscure terms.
Orthodoxy and Reception
Arnobius does not fully align with the doctrinal precision of ante-Nicene orthodoxy. His late conversion and limited scriptural acquaintance explain much of this. Jerome alternately praises and censures him for an uneven, prolix, and at times confused style. In the fifth century, Pope Gelasius relegated his work to the apocryphal index, and it languished in obscurity until rediscovered in the sixteenth century. Modern critics judge him more effective in refuting error than in expounding truth.
Moral Vision
Whatever his theological limitations, Arnobius grasped and proclaimed the moral ethos of the Gospel. He extols Christ’s command to repay evil with good, to prefer suffering wrong to inflicting it, and to shed one’s own blood rather than another’s. He sees in Christ’s teaching the power to tame human savagery and turn instruments of war to peaceful use. He defends Christian assemblies as gatherings for prayer to the supreme God, for invoking peace on rulers, soldiers, friends, and foes alike, for fostering virtue, chastity, generosity, and brotherhood.
Legacy
Arnobius’ Adversus Nationes is a treasury of mythological lore, a mirror of late paganism, and a specimen of African Latin style. It preserves the ardor of a convert who, in the face of the empire’s last and fiercest persecution, bore fearless testimony to the faith that had delivered him from the worship of stone and wood to the adoration of the living God. It is possible that he sealed that testimony with his life.
