41.4967
All these things which have
been mentioned, have indeed a miraculous
appearance,—rather, they
are believed to have it,—if they come to men’s
ears just as
they have been brought forward; and we do not deny that there is in
them something which, being placed in the fore front, as the saying is,
may stun the
ears, and
deceive by its resemblance to
truth. But
if you will look closely at what was done, the personages and their
pleasures,
4968
| 4968
So the ms., LB., Hild., and Oehler,
reading volu-p-tates, i.e., the games and feasts spoken
of previously; the other edd. read
-n-—“wishes.” |
you will
find that there is nothing worthy of the gods, and, as has already been
said often,
nothing worthy to be referred to the splendour and
majesty of this race. For, first, who is there who will believe
that he was a
god who was pleased with
horses running to no
purpose,
4969
| 4969
Oehler explains frustra by otiose—“who was
leisurely delighted,” but there is no reason why it should not
have its usual meaning, as above. [See note 1, Appendix, p.
539.] |
and
considered it most delightful that he should be summoned
4970
| 4970
i.e., from heaven. Instead of e-vocari, however, Heraldus
has proposed a-—“be diverted.” |
by such
sports? Rather, who is there who will agree that that was
Jupiter—whom you call the
supreme god, and the creator of all
things which are—who set out from
heaven to behold geldings
vieing
with each other in
speed, and running
4971
the seven rounds of the course; and
that, although he had himself determined that they should not be
equally nimble, he nevertheless
rejoiced to see them pass
each other, and be passed,
some in their
haste falling forward upon their heads,
and
overturned upon their backs along with their
chariots, others dragged
along and lamed, their legs being broken; and that he considered as the
highest
pleasures fooleries mixed with trifles and cruelties, which any
man,
even though fond of
pleasure, and not trained to
strive
after seriousness and
dignity, would consider childish, and spurn as
ridiculous? Who is there, I say, who will believe—to repeat
this word assiduously—that he was
divine who, being irritated
because
a slave was led across the circus, about to
suffer and
be
punished as he deserved, was inflamed with
anger, and prepared
himself to take
vengeance? For if the
slave was
guilty, and
deserved to be
punished with that
chastisement, why should
Jupiter have
been moved with any indignation when nothing was being done unjustly,
nay, when a
guilty fellow was being
punished, as was right? But
if he was free from guilt, and not worthy of
punishment at all,
Jupiter himself was the cause of the dancer’s vitiating
the games,
4972
| 4972
Lit., “was in the cause of the vicious dancer.” |
for when he
might have helped him, he did him no service—nay, sought both to
allow what he disapproved, and to exact from others the penalty for
what he had permitted. And why, then, did he complain and declare
that he was wronged in the case of that dancer because he was led
through the midst of the circus to suffer the cross, with his back torn
by rods and scourges?
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