24. If you will
open your minds’ eyes, and see the real4204
| 4204
Orelli, without receiving into the text, approves of the reading of
Stewechius, promptam, “evident,” for the
ms. propriam. |
truth without gratifying any private
end, you will find that the causes of all the miseries by which, as you
say, the human race has long been
afflicted, flow from such beliefs
which you held in former times about your gods; and which you have
refused to amend, although the
truth was placed before your
eyes.
For what about them,
pray, have we indeed ever either
imagined which
was unbecoming, or put forth in shameful writings that the
troubles
which assail men and the loss of the blessings of
life4205
| 4205 Lit.,
“the benefits diminished by which it is lived.” |
should be used
to excite a prejudice against us? Do we say that certain gods
were produced from eggs,
4206
| 4206
The ms. reads ex Jovis; the
first five edd. Jove—“from Jove,” which is
altogether out of place; the others, as above, ex ovis.
Cf. i. 36. |
like storks and pigeons?
Do we
say that the radiant Cytherean Venus grew up, having taken form
from the
sea’s foam and the severed genitals of Cœlus? that
Saturn was thrown into
chains for parricide, and relieved from their
weight only on his own days?
4207
| 4207
The ms. reads et ablui diebus
tantis…elevari; LB., Hild. and Oehler, statis or
statutis…et levari—“and was loosed and
released on fixed days;” Elm., Oberthür, and Orelli receive
the conjecture of Ursinus, et suis diebus tantum…rel., as
above. |
that
Jupiter was
saved from
death4208
| 4208
Cf. iii. [cap. 41, p. 475, and cap. 30, p. 472]. |
by the
services of the Curetes? that he drove his
father from the seat of
power, and by force and
fraud possessed a sovereignty not his
own? Do we say that his aged sire, when driven out, concealed
himself in the territories of the Itali, and gave his name as a
gift to
Latium,
4209
| 4209
i.e., hiding-place. Virg., Æn., viii.
322: Quoniam latuisset tutus in oris. |
because he had
been
there protected from his son? Do we say that
Jupiter
himself incestuously
married his sister? or, instead of pork,
breakfasted in ignorance upon the son of Lycaon, when invited to his
table? that Vulcan, limping on one
foot,
wrought as a smith in the
island of Lemnos? that Æsculapius was transfixed by a thunderbolt
because of his
greed and avarice, as the Bœotian Pindar
4210
sings? that
Apollo, having become
rich, by his ambiguous responses,
deceived the
very kings by whose
treasures and
gifts he had been enriched? Did
we declare that Mercury was a
thief? that Laverna is
so also,
and along with him presides over
secret frauds? Is the writer
Myrtilus one of us, who declares that the Muses were the handmaids of
Megalcon,
4211
daughter of
Macarus?
4212
| 4212
The ms. and most edd. give
filias, making the Muses daughters of Macarus; but Orelli,
Hild., and Oehler adopt, as above, the reading of Canterus,
filiæ, in accordance with Clem. Alex. |
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