39. Whence, then, do we
prove that all these narratives are records of events? From the
solemn rites and mysteries of initiation, it is clear, whether those
which are celebrated at fixed times and on set days, or those which are
taught secretly by the heathen without allowing the observance of their
usages to be interrupted. For it is not to be believed that these
have no origin, are practised without reason or meaning, and have no
causes connected with their first beginnings. That pine which is
regularly born into the sanctuary of the Great Mother,4522
| 4522
The ms. and edd. read matris
deæ—“of the mother goddess;” for which
Meursius proposed deûm—“mother of the
gods,” the usual form of the title. Cf. cc. 7 and 16.
[See Elucidation V.; also note the reference to St. Augustine.] |
is it not in
imitation of that
tree beneath which Attis mutilated and unmanned
himself, which also, they relate, the
goddess consecrated to relieve
her
grief? That erecting of
phalli and
fascina,
which Greece worships and celebrates in rites every year, does it not
recall the
deed by which Liber
4523
| 4523
The name is wanting in the ms. Cf.
c. 28. |
paid his
debt? Of what do those
Eleusinian
mysteries and
secret rites contain a narrative? Is it
not of that wandering in which Ceres, worn out in seeking for her
daughter, when she came to the confines of Attica, brought
wheat
with her, graced with a hind’s
skin the
family of the
Nebridæ
4524
| 4524 No
Attic family of this name is mentioned anywhere; but in Cos the
Nebridæ were famous as descendants of Æsculapius through
Nebros. In Attica, on the other hand, the initiated were robed in
fawn-skins (νεβρίδες), and
were on this account spoken of as νεβρίζοντες.
Salmasius has therefore suggested (ad Solinum, p. 864, E) that
Arnobius, or the author on whom he relied, transferred the family to
Attica on account of the similarity of sound. |
and
laughed at
that most wonderful sight in Baubo’s groins? Or if there is
another cause, that is nothing to us, so long as they are all produced
by
some cause. For it is not credible that these things
were set on
foot without being preceded by any causes, or the
inhabitants of Attica must be considered
mad to have received
4525
| 4525
Lit., “who have attached to themselves.” |
a religious
ceremony got up without any reason. But if this is clear and
certain, that is, if the causes and origins of the mysteries are
traceable to past events, by no change can they be turned into the
figures of allegory; for that which has been done,
which has
taken place, cannot, in the nature of things, be undone.
4526
| 4526
Arnobius would seem to have been partial to this phrase, which occurs
in the middle of c. 38. |
E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
