12. Would any one say this
about the gods who had even a very low opinion of them? or, if they
were taken up with such affairs, considerations, cares, would any man
of wisdom either believe that they are gods, or reckon them among men
even? Was that Acdestis, pray, the lopping off of whose lewd
members was to give a sense of security to the immortals, was he
one of the creatures of earth, or one of the gods, and possessed
of4350
| 4350
Lit., “endowed with the honour of.” |
immortality? For if he was thought
to be of our lot and in
the condition of men, why did he cause the deities so much
terror? But if he was a
god, how could he be
deceived, or
how could anything be
cut off from a
divine body?
4351
| 4351
The ms. here inserts
de—“from the body from a divine (being).” |
But we raise no issue on this point: he may have
been of
divine birth, or one of us, if you think it more correct to say
so. Did a pomegranate
tree, also, spring from the
blood which
flowed and from the parts which were
cut off? or at the time
when
4352
| 4352 So
the edd. (except Oehler), reading tum cum for the
ms. tum quæ quod. |
that member
was concealed in the
bosom of the
earth, did it lay hold of the ground
with a root, and spring up into a mighty
tree, put forth
branches
loaded with blossoms,
4353
and in a moment bare mellow fruit
perfectly and completely
ripe? And because these sprang from
red
blood, is their colour therefore bright
purple, with a
dash of
yellow? Say further that they are juicy also, that they have the
taste of
wine, because they spring from the
blood of one filled with
it, and you have finished your story consistently. O Abdera,
Abdera, what occasions for mocking
you would give4354
| 4354
Dares supplied by Salmasius. |
to men, if
such a tale had been devised by you! All fathers relate it, and
haughty states peruse it; and you are considered foolish, and utterly
dull and stupid.
4355
| 4355
[The Abderitans were proverbially such. “Hinc
Abdera, non tacente me.”—Cicero, Ep. ad Attic., iv. 16.] |
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