46.4998
But, says
my opponent,
if he was not a
god, why, after he left the
ship,
and crawled to
the
island in the Tiber, did he immediately become
invisible, and cease
to be seen as before? Can we indeed know whether there was
anything in the way under cover of which he hid himself, or any opening
in the earth? Do you declare, say yourselves, what that
was, or to what race of beings it should be referred, if your service
of certain personages is
in itself certain.
4999
| 4999
Lit., “if your services of certain persons are certain,”
i.e., if these facts on which your worship is built are well
ascertained. |
Since the case is thus, and the
discussion deals with your
deity, and your
religion also, it is your
part to
teach, and yours to show what that was, rather than to wish to
hear our opinions and to await our decisions. For we, indeed,
what else can we say than that which took place and was seen, which has
been handed down in all the narratives, and has been observed by means
of the
eyes? This, however, undoubtedly we say
was a
colubra5000
| 5000 What
species of snake this was, is not known; the Latin is therefore
retained, as the sentence insists on the distinction. |
of very
powerful frame and immense length, or, if the name is despicable,
we
say it was a snake,
5001
we call it a
serpent,
5002
or any other name which usage has afforded to us, or the development of
language devised. For if it crawled as a
serpent, not supporting
itself and walking on
feet,
5003
| 5003
Lit., “bearing himself on feet, nor unfolding below his own
goings.” |
but resting upon its
belly and
breast;
if, being made of fleshly substance, it
lay stretched out
in
5004
slippery length;
if it had a head and tail, a back covered with scales, diversified by
spots of various colours; if it had a mouth bristling with fangs, and
ready to
bite, what else can we say than that it was of earthly origin,
although of immense and excessive size, although it exceeded in length
of body and
greatness of might that which was slain by Regulus
by the
assault of his
army? But
if we think otherwise, we
subvert5005
| 5005 So
Hild. and Oehler, reading labefac-t-amusfor the
ms. -i-. |
and
overthrow the
truth. It is yours, then, to explain what that was, or what was
its origin, its name, and
nature. For how could it have been a
god, seeing that it had those things which we have mentioned, which
gods should not have if they intend to be gods, and to possess this
exalted title? After it crawled to the
island in the Tiber,
forthwith it was nowhere to be seen, by which it is shown that it was a
deity. Can we, then, know whether there was there anything in the
way under cover of which it hid itself,
5006
| 5006 This
sentence alone is sufficient to prove that these chapters were never
carefully revised by their author, as otherwise so glaring repetitions
would certainly have been avoided. |
or some opening
in the earth, or
some caverns and vaults, caused by huge masses being heaped up
irregularly, into which it hurried, evading the
gaze of the
beholders? For what if it
leaped across the
river? what if it
swam across it? what if it hid itself in the dense forests? It is
weak reasoning from this,
5007
| 5007
Here the ms. and both Roman edd. insert
the last clause, “what…forests.” |
to suppose that that
serpent was a
god
because with all
speed it withdrew itself from the eyes
of the
beholders, since, by the same reasoning, it can be proved, on the
other hand, that it was not a god.
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