17. But you err, says my
opponent, and are mistaken, for we do not consider either copper,
or gold and silver, or those other materials of which statues are made,
to be in themselves gods and sacred deities; but in them we worship and
venerate those whom their4708
| 4708
Lit., “the sacred dedication.” |
dedication as
sacred introduces and
causes to dwell in statues made by workmen. The reasoning
is not vicious nor despicable by which any one—the dull,
and also the most intelligent—can believe that the gods,
forsaking their proper seats—that is,
heaven—do not shrink
back and
avoid entering earthly
habitations; nay, more, that impelled
by the rite of dedication, they are joined to images! Do your
gods, then, dwell in gypsum and in figures of earthenware? Nay,
rather, are the gods the minds, spirits, and
souls of figures of
earthenware and of gypsum? and, that the meanest things may be able to
become of greater importance, do they
suffer themselves to be shut up
and concealed and confined in
4709
| 4709
Lit., “concealed in the restraint of.” |
an obscure abode? Here, then, in
the first place, we wish and ask to be told this by you: do they
do this against their will—that is, do they enter the images as
dwellings, dragged to
them by the rite of dedication—or
are they ready and willing? and do you not summon them by any
considerations of necessity? Do they do this
unwillingly?
4710
| 4710
The ms. reads inrogati (the
next letter being erased, having probably been s redundant)
si inviti, corrected in the margin of Ursinus and Oehler, as
above, -tis in. |
and how can it
be possible that they should be compelled
to submit to any
necessity without their dignity being impaired? With ready
assent?
4711
| 4711
Lit., “with the assent of voluntary compliance.”
“Do you say,” or some such expression, must be understood,
as Arnobius is asking his opponent to choose on which horn of the
dilemma he wishes to be impaled. |
And what
do the gods seek for in figures of earthenware that they should prefer
these prisons
4712
to their
starry seats,—that, having been all but fastened to them, they
should ennoble
4713
| 4713
So Gelenius, Canterus, Elm., Oberth., and Orelli, reading
nobilitent. No satisfactory emendation has been
proposed, and contradictory accounts are given as to the reading of the
ms. Immediately after this sentence, LB.,
followed by Orelli, inserts a clause from the next chapter. Cf.
the following note. |
earthenware and the other substances of which images are
made?
E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
