15. What then! some one will
say, do you think that no honour should be given to the gods at
all? If you propose to us gods such as they should be if they do
exist, and such as4834
we feel that we all mean when we
mention
4835
| 4835
Lit., “say in the proclamation of.” |
that name,
how can we but give them even the greatest honour, since we have been
taught by the commands which have especial
power over us,
4836
| 4836
Lit., “more powerful commands,” i.e., by Christ’s
injunctions. It seems hardly possible that any one should suppose
that there is here any reference to Christ’s command to His
disciples not to exercise lordship over each other, yet Orelli thinks
that there is perhaps a reference to Mark x. 42, 43. If a particular reference were
intended, we might with more reason find it in 1 Pet. ii. 17, “Honour all men.” |
to pay
honour to all men even, of whatever rank, of whatever condition they
may be? What,
pray,
you ask, is this very great
honour? One much more in accordance with
duty than is paid by
you, and directed to
4837
| 4837 Lit., “established
in.” |
a more
powerful race,
we
reply. Tell, us, you say, in the first place, what is an
opinion worthy of the gods, right and honourable, and not blameworthy
from its being made unseemly by something infamous?
We reply,
one such that you believe that they neither have any likeness to
man, nor look for anything which is outside of them and comes from
without; then—and this has been said pretty frequently—that
they do not
burn with the
fires of
anger, that they do not give
themselves up passionately to
sensual pleasure, that they are not
bribed to be of service, that they are not tempted to
injure our
enemies, that they do not sell their
kindness and favour, that they
do not
rejoice in having honour heaped on them, that they are not
indignant and
vexed if it is not given; but—and this
belongs to
the
divine—that by their own
power they know themselves, and that
they do not rate themselves by the obsequiousness of others. And
yet, that we may see the
nature of what is said, what
kind of honour is
this, to
bind a wether, a ram, a bull before the face of a
god, and
slay them in his sight? What
kind of honour is it to invite a
god
to
a banquet of blood, which you see him take and share in with
dogs? What
kind of honour is it, having set on
fire piles of
wood, to
hide the heavens with
smoke, and darken with gloomy
blackness
the images of the gods? But if it seems good to you that these
actions should be considered in themselves,
4838
| 4838 Lit., “weighed by their own
force,” vi. |
not judged of according to your
prejudices,
you will find that those
altars of which you speak,
and even those
beautiful ones which you dedicate to the superior
gods,
4839
| 4839
i.e., altariaque hæc pulchra. |
are places
for burning the unhappy race of animals, funeral pyres, and mounds
built for a most unseemly office, and formed to be filled with
corruption.
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