12. Or the gods of heaven
should be said to be ungrateful if, while they have power to prevent
it, they suffer an unhappy race to be involved in so many hardships and
disasters. But perhaps they may say something of importance in
answer to this, and not such as should be received by deceitful,
fickle, and scornful ears. This point, however, because it would
require too tedious and prolix discussion,4818
| 4818
Lit., “it is a thing of long and much speech.” |
we hurry past unexplained and
untouched, content to have stated this alone, that you give to your
gods dishonourable reputations if you assert that on no other condition
do they bestow blessings and turn away what is injurious, except they
have been first
bought over with the
blood of she-
goats and
sheep, and
with the other things which are put upon their
altars. For it is
not fitting, in the first place, that the
power of the deities and the
surpassing eminence of the celestials should be believed to keep their
favours on sale, first to receive a
price, and then to bestow
them; and then, which is much more unseemly, that they aid no
one unless they receive
their demands, and that they
suffer the
most
wretched to undergo whatever perils may
befall them,
4819
| 4819
Lit., “the fortunes of perils.” |
while they
could ward
these off, and come to their aid. If of two who
are sacrificing, one is a scoundrel,
4820
| 4820
The ms. reading is hoc est
unus, corrected honestus—“honourable”
(which makes the comparison pointless, because there is no reason why a
rich man, if good, should not be succored as well as a poor), in all
edd., except Oehler, who reads seclestus, which departs
too far from the ms. Perhaps we should
read, as above, inhonestus. |
and
rich, the other of
small fortune,
but worthy of
praise for his
integrity and
goodness,—if the
former should
slay a
hundred oxen, and as many ewes with their
lambkins, the
poor man
burn a little
incense, and a
small piece of some
odorous substance,—will it not follow that it should be believed
that, if only the deities bestow nothing except when
rewards are first
offered, they will give their favour
4821
| 4821
So the ms., LB., Hild., and Oehler, and
the other edd., adding et auxilium—“and
help.” |
to the
rich man, turn their
eyes away
from the
poor, whose
gifts were restricted not by his spirit, but by
the scantiness of his means?
4822
| 4822
Lit., “whom not his mind, but the necessity of his property, made
restricted.” |
For where the
giver is venal
and mercenary, there it must needs be that favour is granted according
to the greatness of the
gift by which it is purchased, and that
a favourable decision is given to him from whom
4823
| 4823
Lit., “inclines thither whence.” |
far the greater
reward and bribe,
though this be shameful, flows to him who gives it.
4824
What
if two
nations, on the other
hand, arrayed against each other in
war,
enriched the
altars of the gods with equal sacrifices, and were to
demand that their
power and help should be given to them, the one
against the other: must it not, again, be believed that, if they
are
persuaded to be of service by
rewards, they are at a loss between
both sides, are struck motionless, and do not perceive what to do,
since they understand that their favour has been pledged by the
acceptance of the sacrifices? For either they will give
assistance to this side and to that, which is
impossible, for
in
that case they will
fight themselves against themselves,
strive
against their own favour and wishes; or they will do nothing to aid
either
nation4825
after the
price of their aid has been paid and received, which is very
wicked. All this infamy, therefore, should be removed
far from
the gods; nor should it be said at all that they are won over by
rewards and payments to confer blessings, and remove what is
disagreeable, if only they are true gods, and worthy to be ranked under
this name. For either whatever happens, happens inevitably, and
there is no place in the gods for
ambition and favour; or if fate is
excluded and got rid of, it does not
belong to the celestial dignity to
sell the boon of its services,
4826
| 4826
Lit., “the favours of good work,” boni operis favor-es
et, the reading of Hild. and Oehler (other edd.
-em—“the favour of its service”) for
ms. fabore sed. |
and the conferring of its
bounties.
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