2. What the mind should take
up first, what last, or what it should pass by silently, it is not easy
to say, nor is it made clear by any amount of reflection; for all have
been so devised and fitted to be laughed at, that you should strive
that they may be believed to be false—even if they are
true—rather than pass current as true, and suggest as it were
something extraordinary, and bring contempt upon deity itself.
What, then, do you say, O you—? Are we to believe4291
| 4291
The ms. and edd. read
cred-i-musne—“do we believe,” for which
Meursius suggests -e- as above. |
that that
Faunus and Martius Picus—if they are of the number of the gods,
and of that
everlasting and
immortal substance—were once parched
with
thirst, and sought the gushing
fountains, that they might be able
to cool with
water their heated veins? Are we to believe that,
ensnared by
wine, and
beguiled by the sweetness of mead, they dipped so
long into the treacherous
cups, that they even got into
danger of
becoming drunk? Are we to believe that, being fast
asleep, and
plunged in the forgetfulness of most profound
slumbers, they gave to
creatures of
earth an opportunity to
bind them? On what parts,
then, were those
bonds and
chains flung? Did they have any solid
substance, or had their
hands been formed of hard
bones, so that it
might be possible to
bind them with halters and hold them fast by
tightly drawn knots? For I do not ask, I do not inquire whether
they could have said anything when swaying to and fro in their
drunken
maunderings; or whether, while
Jupiter was
unwilling, or rather
unwitting, any one could have made known the way to bring him down to
earth. This only do I wish to hear, why, if Faunus and Picus are
of
divine origin and
power, they did not rather themselves declare to
Numa, as he questioned them, that which he desired to
learn from Jove
himself at a greater risk? Or
4292
| 4292
Lit., “or whether.” Below the ms. reads corruptly ad ipsum—“to
him.” |
did
Jupiter alone have
knowledge of
this—for from him the thunderbolts fall—how training in
some
kind of
knowledge should avert impending
dangers? Or, while
he himself hurls these
fiery bolts, is it the
business of others to
know in what way it is fitting to allay his
wrath and
indignation? For truly it would be most absurd to suppose that he
himself
appoints4293
| 4293
The ms. reads scire, but
“knows” would hardly suit the context. Instead of
adopting any conjecture, however, it is sufficient to observe, with
Oehler, that scire is elsewhere used as a contraction for
sciscere. |
the means
by which may be averted that which he has determined should
befall men
through the hurling of his thunderbolts. For this is to say, By
such ceremonies you will turn aside my
wrath; and if I shall at any
time have foreshown by flashes of lightning that some evil is close at
hand, do this and that, so that
4294
what I have determined should be done
may be done altogether in vain, and may pass away idly through the
force
4295
| 4295 So
Cujacius, inserting vi, omitted by the ms. |
of these
rites.
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