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| That the Gods Could Not Be Offended by the Adultery of Paris, This Crime Being So Common Among Themselves.
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Chapter 3.—That the Gods Could
Not Be Offended by the Adultery of Paris, This Crime Being So
Common Among Themselves.
There is no ground, then, for
representing the gods (by whom, as they say, that empire stood,
though they are proved to have been conquered by the Greeks) as
being enraged at the Trojan perjury. Neither, as others again
plead in their defence, was it indignation at the adultery of Paris
that caused them to withdraw their protection from Troy. For
their habit is to be instigators and instructors in vice, not its
avengers. “The city of Rome,” says Sallust, “was first
built and inhabited, as I have heard, by the Trojans, who, flying
their country, under the conduct of Æneas, wandered about without
making any settlement.”126
If, then, the gods were of
opinion that the adultery of Paris should be punished, it was
chiefly the Romans, or at least the Romans also, who should have
suffered; for the adultery was brought about by Æneas’ mother.
But how could they hate in Paris a crime which they made no
objection to in their own sister Venus, who (not to mention any
other instance) committed adultery with Anchises, and so became the
mother of Æneas? Is it because in the one case Menelaus127
was
aggrieved, while in the other Vulcan128
connived at the crime? For the
gods, I fancy, are so little jealous of their wives, that they make
no scruple of sharing them with men. But perhaps I may be
suspected of turning the myths into ridicule, and not handling so
weighty a subject with sufficient gravity. Well, then, let us say
that Æneas is not the son of Venus. I am willing to admit it;
but is Romulus any more the son of Mars? For why not the one as
well as the other? Or is it lawful for gods to have intercourse
with women, unlawful for men to have intercourse with goddesses?
A hard, or rather an incredible condition, that what was allowed to
Mars by the law of Venus, should not be allowed to Venus herself by
her own law. However, both cases have the authority of Rome; for
Cæsar in modern times believed no less that he was descended from
Venus,129
| 129 Suetonius, in his Life of
Julius Cæsar (c. 6), relates that, in pronouncing a funeral
oration in praise of his aunt Julia, Cæsar claimed for the Julian
gens to which his family belonged a descent from Venus, through
Iulus, son of Eneas. | than the
ancient Romulus believed himself the son of Mars.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
|
