33. But the games which you
celebrate, called Floralia and Megalensia,4926
| 4926
The former dedicated to Flora (cf. iii. 25), the latter to Cybele. |
and all the
rest which you wish to be
sacred, and to be considered
religious
duties, what reason have they, what cause, that it was necessary that
they should be instituted and founded and designated by the
names
4927
of
deities? The gods are honoured by these, says
my opponent;
and if they have any recollection of offences
committed4928
| 4928
So the margin of Ursinus, Elm., LB., Orelli, Hild., and Oehler;
the ms. reading not being known. |
by men,
they lay it aside, get rid of it, and show themselves gracious to us
again, their
friendship being
renewed. And what is the cause,
again, that they are made quite calm and
gentle, if absurd things are
done, and idle fellows sport before the
eyes of the multitude?
Does
Jupiter lay aside his resentment if the
Amphitryon of
Plautus is acted and declaimed? or if Europa, Leda, Ganymede, or
Danæ is represented by
dancing does he restrain his passionate
impulses? Is the Great Mother rendered more calm, more
gentle, if
she beholds the old
story of Attis furbished up by the players?
Will Venus
forget her displeasure if she sees mimics act the part of
Adonis also in a ballet?
4929
Does the
anger of Alcides
die
away if the tragedy of Sophocles named
Trachiniæ, or the
Hercules of Euripides, is acted? or does Flora think
4930
| 4930 So
Meursius, Orelli, and Oehler, reading existimat-ve, all
the others retaining the ms.
-ur-—“Is Flora thought to be treated,”
etc. |
that honour is
shown to her if at her games she sees that shameful actions are done,
and the stews abandoned for the theatres? Is not this, then, to
lessen the
dignity of the gods, to
dedicate and
consecrate to them the
basest things which a rigidly virtuous
mind will turn from with
disgust, the performers of which your
law has decided to be dishonoured
and to be considered infamous? The gods, forsooth,
delight in
mimics; and that surpassing excellence which has not been comprehended
by any human faculty, opens
4931
its
ears most willingly to hear these
plays, with most of which they know they are mixed up to be
turned to derision; they are
delighted, as it is, with the shaved heads
of the
fools, by the sound of flaps, and by the
noise of
applause, by shameful actions and words, by huge
red
fascina. But further, if they see men weakening themselves
to the effeminacy of
women, some vociferating uselessly, others running
about without cause,
4932
| 4932
Here also there is doubt as to what the reading of the
ms. is. The 1st ed. reads sine
culpa—“without blame,” which is hardly in keeping
with the context, emended causa, as above, by Gelenius. |
others, while their
friendship is
unbroken, bruising and maiming each with the bloody
cestus,
these
contending in
speaking without drawing breath,
4933
| 4933
So Orelli explains certare hos spiritu as referring to a contest
in which each strove to speak or sing with one breath longer than the
rest. |
swelling
out their cheeks with
wind, and shouting out noisily empty
vows, do
they lift up their
hands to
heaven in their admiration, start up
moved by
such wonders,
burst into exclamations, again become
gracious to men? If these things cause the gods to
forget their
resentment, if they derive the highest pleasure from comedies, Atellane
farces,
and pantomimes, why do you delay, why do you hesitate,
to say that the gods themselves also play, act lasciviously, dance,
compose obscene songs, and undulate with trembling
haunches? For what
difference is there, or what does it matter, whether they do these
things themselves, or are pleased and delighted to see them done by
others?
E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
