21. They say that Antiochus
of Cyzicum took from its shrine a statue of Jupiter made of gold
ten4723
| 4723
So the ms., reading decem;
but as Clement says πεντεκαίδεκα
πηχῶν, we must either suppose that
Arnobius mistook the Greek, or transcribed it carelessly, or, with the
margin of Ursinus, read
quindecim—“fifteen.” |
cubits
high, and set up in its place one made of copper covered with
thin plates of
gold. If the gods are present, and dwell in their
own images, with what
business, with what cares, had
Jupiter been
entangled that he could not
punish the wrong done to himself, and
avenge his being substituted in baser metal? When the famous
Dionysius—but
it was the younger
4724
| 4724
Stewechius and Heraldus regard these words as spurious, and as
having originated in a gloss on the margin, scz.
junior—“to wit, the younger.” Heraldus,
however, changed his opinion, because Clement too, says,
“Dionysius the younger.” The words mean more than
this, however, referring probably to the fact that Cicero (de Nat.
Deor., iii. 33, 34, 35) tells these and other stories of the elder
Dionysius. To this Arnobius calls attention as an error, by
adding to Clement’s phrase “but.” |
—despoiled
Jupiter of his golden
vestment, and put instead of it one of
wool,
and, when mocking
him with pleasantries also, he said that that
which he was
taking away was cold in the frosts of
winter, this
warm, that that
one was cumbrous in
summer, that this, again, was airy in
hot
weather,—where was the king of the
world that he did not show his
presence by some
terrible deed, and recall the jocose buffoon to
soberness by
bitter torments? For why should I mention that the
dignity of Æsculapius was mocked by him? For when Dionysius
was spoiling him of his very ample beard,
which was of great
weight and philosophic thickness,
4725
| 4725
Only rustics, old-fashioned people, and philosophers wore the beard
untrimmed; the last class wearing it as a kind of distinctive mark,
just as Juvenal (iii. 15) speaks of a thick woolen cloak as marking a
philosopher. [Compare vol. i. p. 160; also ii. p. 321, n. 9.] |
he said that it was not right that a
son sprung from Apollo, a
father smooth and beardless, and very like a
mere
boy,
4726
should be
formed with such a beard that it was left uncertain which of them was
father, which son, or rather whether they were of the same
4727
race and
family. Now, when all these things were being done, and the
robber was speaking with impious mockery, if the
deity was concealed in
the statue
consecrated to his name and
majesty, why did he not punish
with just and merited vengeance the affront of stripping his face of
its beard and disfiguring his countenance, and show by this, both that
he was himself present, and that he kept watch over his temples and
images without ceasing?
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