51. What say ye, O minds
incredulous, stubborn, hardened? Did that great Jupiter
Capitolinus of yours give to any human being power of this kind?
Did he endow with this right any priest of a curia, the Pontifex
Maximus, nay, even the Dialis, in whose name he is revealed as
the god of life?3342
| 3342 So
understood by Orelli, who reads quo Dius est, adopting the
explanation of Dialis given by Festus. The ms., however, according to Crusius, reads,
Dialem, quod ejus est, flaminem isto jure donavit; in which
case, from the position of the quod, the meaning might be,
“which term is his,” or possibly, “because he
(i.e., the priest) is his,” only that in the latter case a
pronoun would be expected: the commentators generally refer it to
the succeeding jure, with this “right” which
is his. Canterus reads, quod majus est, i.e., than the
Pontifex Maximus. [Compare vol. iv. p. 74, note 7.] |
I
shall not say,
did he impart power to raise the dead, to give
light to the
blind, restore the normal condition of their members to
the weakened and the paralyzed, but
did he even enable any one
to check a pustule, a hang-
nail, a pimple, either by the word of his
mouth or the touch of his
hand? Was this, then, a
power natural
to man, or could such a right be granted, could such a licence be given
by the mouth of one reared on the vulgar produce of
earth; and was it
not a
divine and
sacred gift? or if the matter admits of any hyperbole,
was it not more than
divine and
sacred? For if you do that which you are able to do,
and what is compatible with your
strength and your ability, there is no
ground for the expression of astonishment; for you will have done that
which you were able, and which your
power was bound to accomplish, in
order that there should be a
perfect correspondence
3343
| 3343
So the ms. reading
æqualitas, which is retained by Hild.
and Oehler; all other editions drop æ—“that the
quality of deed and doer might be one.” |
between the
deed and the doer.
To be able to transfer to a man your own
power, share with the frailest
being the ability to perform that which you alone are able to do, is a
proof of power supreme over all, and holding in subjection the causes
of all things, and the natural laws of methods and of
means.
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