7.

It will be observed that adversus Gentes is the title of this work in all editions except those of Hildebrand and Oehler, in which it is adversus Nationes. The difference is very slight, but it may be well to mention that neither can be said with certainty to be correct. The first is the form used by Jerome in two passages of his writings; ¹ and as he must have seen earlier mss. than that now extant, he is supposed to give the title which he found in them. In the Paris ms., however, at the end of the second book, the subscription is, "The second book of Arnobius adversus Nationes ends;" and it has been argued that, as the copyist would hardly have gone so far astray, while it is quite possible that Jerome did not attempt to do more than indicate generally the purpose of the book without quoting its titlepage, this must be the true title. The first page of the existing ms. is torn away, and the question remains therefore undecided: fortunately its decision is not of the slightest importance.