16. And so unmindful and
forgetful of what the substance and origin of the images are, you, men,
rational beings4691
| 4691
Lit., “a rational animal.” |
and endowed
with the
gift of
wisdom and discretion, sink down before pieces of
baked earthenware, adore plates of copper, beg from the teeth of
elephants good
health, magistracies, sovereignties,
power,
victories,
acquisitions,
gains, very good harvests, and very
rich vintages; and
while it is plain
and clear that you are speaking to senseless
things, you think that you are heard, and bring yourselves into
disgrace of your own
accord, by vainly and credulously deceiving
yourselves.
4692
| 4692
Lit., “with deceit of vain credulity.” The edd. read
this as an interrogation: “Do you, therefore, sink down,
adore, and bring yourselves into disgrace?” |
Oh,
would that you might enter into some statue! rather, would that you
might separate
4693
| 4693
So Orelli, Hild., and Oehler, adopting a conjecture of Grævius,
di-, for the ms.
de-ducere—“to lead down.” |
and
break
up into parts
4694
those
Olympian and Capitoline Jupiters, and behold all those parts alone and
by themselves which make up the whole of their bodies! You would
at once see that these gods of yours, to whom the smoothness
of
their exterior gives a
majestic appearance by its alluring
4695
| 4695
Lit., “by the charm of.” |
brightness,
are
only a framework of flexible
4696
| 4696
The ms. reads flev-ilium,
for which Hild. suggests flex-, as above, previous edd. reading
flat-—“of cast plates;” which cannot, however,
be correct, as Arnobius has just said that the images were in part made
of ivory. |
plates, particles without shape joined
together; that they are kept from falling into
ruin and
fear of
destruction, by
dove-tails and clamps and brace-irons; and that lead is
run into the midst of all the hollows and where the joints meet, and
causes delay
4697
| 4697
Lit., “delays salutary for lastingnesses.” The sense
is, that the lead prevents the joints from giving way, and so gives
permanence to the statue. |
useful in
preserving them. You would see, I say, at once
that they
have faces only without the
rest of the head,
4698
imperfect
hands without arms,
bellies and sides in halves, incomplete
feet,
4699
and, which is most ridiculous,
that
they have been put together without uniformity in the construction
of their bodies, being in one part made of
wood, but in the other of
stone. Now, indeed, if these things could not be seen through the
skill with which they were kept out of sight,
4700
| 4700 Lit.,
“from the art of obscurity.” |
even those at least which
lie open to all
should have taught and
instructed you that you are effecting nothing,
and giving your services in
vain to dead things. For, in this
case,
4701
| 4701
i.e., if the nature of the images is really concealed by the skill
displayed in their construction. |
do you not see
that these images, which seem to breathe,
4702
whose
feet and
knees you touch and
handle when praying, at times fall into ruins from the constant
dropping of rain, at other times lose the firm union of their parts
from their decaying and becoming rotten,
4703
| 4703
Lit., “are relaxed from decay of rottenness.” |
—how they grow black, being
fumigated and discoloured by the steam
of sacrifices, and by
smoke,—how with continued neglect they lose their
position
4704
| 4704
i.e., fall from their pedestals. For the ms. reading situs (retained in LB., as
above), the margin of Ursinus, followed by the other edd. except the
first four and Oberthür, read situ-—“lose their
appearance from mould.” |
and
appearance, and are eaten away with rust? In this case, I say, do
you not see that newts, shrews, mice, and cockroaches, which
shun the
light, build their
nests and
live under the hollow parts of these
statues? that they
gather carefully into these all kinds of
filth, and
other things suited to their wants, hard and half-gnawed
bread,
bones
dragged
thither in view of
probable scarcity,
4705
| 4705 So
LB. and Oehler, reading famis in spemfor the ms. pannis, omitted in other edd. All
prefix p, as above, to the next word, annos. |
rags, down,
and pieces of paper to make their
nests soft, and keep their
young
warm? Do you not see sometimes over the face of an image
cobwebs and treacherous nets spun by spiders, that they may be able to
entangle in them buzzing and imprudent
flies while on the
wing?
Do you not see, finally, that swallows full of
filth, flying within the
very domes of the
temples, toss
themselves about, and bedaub now
the very faces, now the mouths of the deities, the beard,
eyes, noses, and
all the other parts on which their excrements
4706
| 4706
Deonerati proluvies podicis. [So Clement, vol. ii. p. 186,
at note 1, this series.] |
fall? Blush, then, even
though
it is late, and accept true methods and views from
dumb creatures,
and let these
teach you that there is nothing
divine in images, into
which they do not
fear or scruple to cast
unclean things in obedience
to the laws of their being, and led by their unerring
instincts.
4707
| 4707
Lit., “incited by the truth of nature.” The
ms. and both Roman edd. read d-,
all others instincta, as above. |
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