30. But what shall we say of
Jove himself, whom the wise have repeatedly asserted to be the sun,
driving a winged chariot, followed by a crowd of deities;4009
| 4009
Cf. Plato, Phædr., st. p. 246. |
some, the ether,
blazing with mighty
flames, and wasting
fire which cannot be
extinguished? Now if this is clear and certain, there is, then,
according to you, no
Jupiter at all; who,
born of Saturn his
father and
Ops his mother, is
reported to have been concealed in the Cretan
territory, that he might
escape his
father’s
rage. But now,
does not a similar mode of thought remove Juno from the list of
gods? For if she is the
air, as you have been wont to jest and
say, repeating in reversed order the
syllables of the
Greek
name,
4010
| 4010 Lit.,
“the reversed order of the Greek name being repeated,” i.
e., instead of ἥ-ρα, ἀ-ήρ. |
there will be
found no sister and spouse of
almighty Jupiter, no Fluonia,
4011
| 4011
The ms. gives Fluvionia. |
no Pomona, no
Ossipagina, no Februtis, Populonia, Cinxia, Caprotina; and thus the
invention of that name, spread abroad with a frequent but vain
4012
| 4012 Lit.,
“with the frequency (or fame) of vain,” etc. |
belief, will be
found to be wholly
4013
useless.
E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
