[4151] Lit., "given to us an abridging," i.e., an opportunity of abridging.
14. Your theologians, then, and authors on unknown antiquity, say that in the universe there are three Joves, one of whom has Æther for his father; another, Coelus; the third, Saturn, born and buried [4152] in the island of Crete. They speak of five Suns and five Mercuries,--of whom, as they relate, the first Sun is called the son of Jupiter, and is regarded as grandson of Æther; the second is also Jupiter's son, and the mother who bore him Hyperiona; [4153] the third the son of Vulcan, not Vulcan of Lemnos, but the son of the Nile; the fourth, whom Acantho bore at Rhodes in the heroic age, was the father of Ialysus; while the fifth is regarded as the son of a Scythian king and subtle Circe. Again, the first Mercury, who is said to have lusted after Proserpina, [4154] is son of Coelus, who is above all. Under the earth is the second, who boasts that he is Trophonius. The third was born of Maia, his mother, and the third Jove; [4155] the fourth is the offspring of the Nile, whose name the people of Egypt dread and fear to utter. The fifth is the slayer of Argus, a fugitive and exile, and the inventor of letters in Egypt. But there are five Minervas also, they say, just as there are five Suns and Mercuries; the first of whom is no virgin but the mother of Apollo by Vulcan; the second, the offspring of the Nile, who is asserted to be the Egyptian Sais; the third is descended from Saturn, and is the one who devised the use of arms; the fourth is sprung from Jove, and the Messenians name her Coryphasia; and the fifth is she who slew her lustful [4156] father, Pallas.
[4152] Lit., "committed to sepulture and born in," etc.
[4153] Arnobius repeats this statement in ch. 22, or the name would have been regarded as corrupt, no other author making mention of such a goddess; while Cicero speaks of one Sun as born of Hyperion. It would appear, therefore, to be very probable that Arnobius, in writing from memory or otherwise, has been here in some confusion as to what Cicero did say, and thus wrote the name as we have it. It has also been proposed to read "born of Regina" (or, with Gelenius, Rhea), "and his father Hyperion," because Cybele is termed basileia; for which reading there seems no good reason.--Immediately below, Ialysus is made the son, instead of, as in Cicero, the grandson of the fourth; and again, Circe is said to be mother, while Cicero speaks of her as the daughter of the fifth Sun. These variations, viewed along with the general adherence to Cicero's statements (de N. D., iii. 21 sqq.), seem to give good grounds for adopting the explanation given above.
[4154] i.e., in Proserpinam genitalibus adhinnivisse subrectis.
[4155] Lit., "of Jupiter, but the third."
[4156] i.e., incestorum appetitorem.
15. And lest it should seem tedious and prolix to wish to consider each person singly, the same theologians say that there are four Vulcans and three Dianas, as many Æsculapii and five Dionysi, six Hercules and four Venuses, three sets of Castors and the same number of Muses, three winged Cupids, and four named Apollo; [4157] whose fathers they mention in like manner, in like manner their mothers, and the places where they were born, and point out the origin and family of each. But if it is true and certain, and is told in earnest as a well-known matter, either they are not all gods, inasmuch as there cannot be several under the same name, as we have been taught; or if there is one of them, he will not be known and recognised, because he is obscured by the confusion of very similar names. And thus it results from your own action, however unwilling you may be that it should be so, that religion is brought into difficulty and confusion, and has no fixed end to which it can turn itself, without being made the sport of equivocal illusions.
[4157] So Cicero (iii. 23); but Clemens [vol. ii. p. 179] speaks of five, and notes that a sixth had been mentioned.
16. For suppose that it had occurred to us, moved either by suitable influence or violent fear of you, [4158] to worship Minerva, for example, with the rights you deem sacred, and the usual ceremony: if, when we prepare sacrifices, and approach to make the offerings appointed for her on the flaming altars, all the Minervas shall fly thither, and striving for the right to that name, each demand that the offerings prepared be given to herself; what drawn-out animal shall we place among them, or to whom shall we direct the sacred offices which are our duty? [4159] For the first one of whom we spoke will perhaps say: "The name Minerva is mine, mine [4160] the divine majesty, who bore Apollo and Diana, and by the fruit of my womb enriched heaven with deities, and multiplied the number of the gods." "Nay, Minerva," the fifth will say, "are you speaking, [4161] who, being a wife, and so often a mother, have lost the sanctity of spotless purity? Do you not see that in all temples [4162] the images of Minervas are those of virgins, and that all artists refrain from giving to them the figures of matrons? [4163] Cease, therefore, to appropriate to yourself a name not rightfully [4164] yours. For that I am Minerva, begotten of father Pallas, the whole band of poets bear witness, who call me Pallas, the surname being derived from my father." The second will cry on hearing this: "What say you? Do you, then, bear the name of Minerva, an impudent parricide, and one defiled by the pollution of lewd lust, who, decking yourself with rouge and a harlot's arts, roused upon yourself even your father's passions, full of maddening desires? Go further, then, seek for yourself another name; for this belongs to me, whom the Nile, greatest of rivers, begot from among his flowing waters, and brought to a maiden's estate from the condensing of moisture. [4165] But if you inquire into the credibility of the matter, I too will bring as witnesses the Egyptians, in whose language I am called Neith, as Plato's Timæus [4166] attests." What, then, do we suppose will be the result? Will she indeed cease to say that she is Minerva, who is named Coryphasia, either to mark her mother, or because she sprung forth from the top of Jove's head, bearing a shield, and girt with the terror of arms? Or are we to suppose that she who is third will quietly surrender the name? and not argue [4167] and resist the assumption of the first two with such words as these: "Do you thus dare to assume the honour of my name, O Sais, [4168] sprung from the mud and eddies of a stream, and formed in miry places? Or do you usurp [4169] another's rank, who falsely say that you were born a goddess from the head of Jupiter, and persuade very silly men that you are reason? Does he conceive and bring forth children from his head? That the arms you bear might be forged and formed, was there even in the hollow of his head a smith's workshop? were there anvils, hammers, furnaces, bellows, coals, and pincers? Or if, as you maintain, it is true that you are reason, cease to claim for yourself the name which is mine; for reason, of which you speak, is not a certain form of deity, but the understanding of difficult questions." If, then, as we have said, five Minervas should meet us when we essay to sacrifice, [4170] and contending as to whose this name is, each demand that either fumigations of incense be offered to her, or sacrificial wines poured out from golden cups; by what arbiter, by what judge, shall we dispose of so great a dispute? or what examiner will there be, what umpire of so great boldness as to attempt, with such personages, either to give a just decision, or to declare their causes not founded on right? Will he not rather go home, and, keeping himself apart from such matters, think it safer to have nothing to do with them, lest he should either make enemies of the rest, by giving to one what belongs to all, or be charged with folly for yielding [4171] to all what should be the property of one?
[4158] Lit., "by the violence of your terror." The preceding words are read in the ms. ideo motos--"so moved by authority," and were emended idonea, as in the text, by Gelenius.
[4159] Lit., "to what parts shall we transfer the duties of pious service."
[4160] The ms. reads cum numen; Rigaltius, followed by Oehler emending, as above, meum; the first four edd., with Oberthür, tum--"then the deity is mine;" while the rest read cum numine--"with the deity."
[4161] So LB., Orelli, and Oehler, reading tu tinnisfor the ms. tutunis.
[4162] Capitoliis. In the Capitol were three shrines,--to Jove, Juno, and Minerva; and Roman colonies followed the mother-state's example. Hence the present general application of the term, which is found elsewhere in ecclesiastical Latin.
[4163] Lit., "Nor are the forms of married persons given to these by all artists;" nec read in all edd. for the ms. et--"and of married," etc., which is opposed to the context.
[4164] Lit., "not of your own right."
[4165] Concretione roris--a strange phrase. Cf. Her., iv. 180: "They say that Minerva is the daughter of Poseidon and the Tritonian lake."
[4166] St. p. 21. The ms. reads quorum Nili lingua latonis; the two Roman edd. merely insert p., Plat.; Gelenius and Canterus adding dicor--"in whose language I am called the Nile's," Nili being changed into Neith by Elmenhorst and later edd.
[4167] Lit., "take account of herself."
[4168] So Ursinus suggested in the margin for the ms. si verum.
[4169] The third Minerva now addresses the fourth.
[4170] Lit., "approaching the duties of religion."
[4171] According to the ms. sic--"for so (i.e., as you do) yielding," etc.
17. We may say the very same things of the Mercuries, the Suns,--indeed of all the others whose numbers you increase and multiply. But it is sufficient to know from one case that the same principle applies to the rest; and, lest our prolixity should chance to weary our audience, we shall cease to deal with individuals, lest, while we accuse you of excess, we also should ourselves be exposed to the charge of excessive loquacity. What do you say, you who, by the fear of bodily tortures, urge us to worship the gods, and constrain us to undertake the service of your deities? We can be easily won, if only something befitting the conception of so great a race be shown to us. Show us Mercury, but only one; give us Bacchus, but only one; one Venus, and in like manner one Diana. For you will never make us believe that there are four Apollos, or three Jupiters, not even if you were to call Jove himself as witness, or make the Pythian god your authority.
18. But some one on the opposite side says, How do we know whether the theologians have written what is certain and well known, or set forth a wanton fiction, [4172] as they thought and judged? That has nothing to do with the matter; nor does the reasonableness of your argument depend upon this,--whether the facts are as the writings of the theologians state, or are otherwise and markedly different. For to us it is enough to speak of things which come before the public; and we need not inquire what is true, but only confute and disprove that which lies open to all, and which men's thoughts have generally received. But if they are liars, declare yourselves what is the truth, and disclose the unassailable mystery. And how can it be done when the services of men of letters are set aside? For what is there which can be said about the immortal gods that has not reached men's thoughts from what has been written by men on these subjects? [4173] Or can you relate anything yourselves about their rights and ceremonies, which has not been recorded in books, and made known by what authors have written? Or if you think these of no importance, let all the books be destroyed which have been composed about the gods for you by theologians, pontiffs, and even some devoted to the study of philosophy; nay, let us rather suppose that from the foundation of the world no man ever wrote [4174] anything about the gods: we wish to find out, and desire to know, whether you can mutter or murmur in mentioning the gods, [4175] or conceive those in thought to whom no idea [4176] from any book gave shape in your minds. But when it is clear that you have been informed of their names and powers by the suggestions of books, [4177] it is unjust to deny the reliableness of these books by whose testimony and authority you establish what you say.