16. What say you, O
you—! is that foul smell, then, which is given forth and emitted
by burning hides, by bones, by bristles, by the fleeces of lambs, and
the feathers of fowls,—is that a favour and an honour to
the deity? and are the deities honoured by this, to whose temples, when
you arrange to go, you come4840
| 4840
Lit., “you show yourselves,” præstatis. |
cleansed from all
pollution,
washed,
and perfectly
4841
pure?
And what can be more polluted than these, more unhappy,
4842
| 4842
This Heraldus explains as “of worse omen,” and Oehler as
“more unclean.” |
more
debased, than if their senses are naturally such that they are fond of
what is so cruel, and take
delight in foul smells which, when inhaled
with the
breath, even those who
sacrifice cannot bear, and
certainly not a delicate
4843
| 4843
Ingenuæ, i.e., such as any respectable person has. |
nose? But if you think that
the gods of
heaven are honoured by the
blood of living creatures
being offered to them, why do you not
4844
| 4844
To this the commentators have replied, that mules, asses, and dogs were
sacrificed to certain deities. We must either admit that Arnobius
has here fallen into error, or suppose that he refers merely to the
animals which were usually slain, or find a reason for his neglecting
it in the circumstances of each sacrifice. |
sacrifice to them both mules, and
elephants, and asses? why not
dogs also, bears, and
foxes,
camels, and
hyænas, and
lions? And as
birds also are
counted victims by
you, why do you not
sacrifice vultures,
eagles, storks, falcons,
hawks,
ravens,
sparrow-hawks, owls, and, along with them, salamanders,
water-snakes,
vipers, tarantulæ? For indeed there is both
blood in these, and they are in like manner moved by the
breath of
life. What is there more artistic in the former
kind of
sacrifices, or less ingenious in the latter, that these do not add
to and increase the grandeur of the gods? Because, says
my
opponent, it is right to honour the gods of
heaven with those
things by which we are ourselves nourished and sustained, and
live;
which also they have, in their
divine benevolence, deigned to give to
us for
food. But the same gods have given to you both cumin,
cress, turnips, onions, parsley, esculent
thistles, radishes, gourds,
rue,
mint, basil, flea-bane, and chives, and commanded them to be used
by you as part of your food; why, then, do you not put these too upon
the altars, and scatter wild-marjoram, with which oxen are fed, over
them all, and mix amongst
them onions with their pungent
flavour?
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