15. We might long ago have
urged you to ponder this, were it not foolish to ask proofs of such
things, as well as to say4372
| 4372
So the ms., according to Crusius, the
edd. inserting s, di-s-cere—“to
learn.” |
them. But this
story is false,
and is wholly untrue. It is no matter to us, indeed, because of
whom you maintain that the gods have been driven from the
earth,
whether it is consistent and rests on a sure
foundation,
4373
| 4373
Lit., “on firmness of faith.” |
or is, on
the contrary, framed and devised in utter
falsehood. For to us it
is enough—who have proposed this day to make it plain—that
those deities whom you bring for ward, if they are anywhere on
earth,
and glow with the
fires of
anger, are not more excited to furious
hatred by us than by you; and that that
story, has been classed
as an event and
committed to writing by you, and is willingly read over
by you every day, and handed down in order for the edifying of later
times. Now, if this
story is indeed true, we see that
there is no reason in it why the celestial gods should be asserted to
be
angry with us, since we have neither declared things so much to
their disgrace, nor
committed them to writing at all, nor brought them
publicly to
light4374
| 4374
Lit., “sent to public testifying.” |
by the
celebration of
sacred rites; but if, as you think, it is untrue, and
made up of delusive falsehoods, no man can doubt that you are the cause
of
offence, who have either allowed certain persons to write such
stories, or have suffered
them, when written, to abide in the
memory of ages.
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