Book V.
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1.
Admitting that all these
things which do the
immortal gods dishonour, have been
put forth by
poets merely in
sport, what of those found in
grave,
serious, and
careful histories, and
handed down by you in
hidden mysteries? have they been
invented by the
licentious fancy of the
poets? Now if they seemed to you
stories of such
absurdity, some of them you would neither
retain in their
constant use, nor
celebrate as
solemn festivals from
year to
year, nor would you
maintain them among your
sacred rites as
shadows of
real events. With
strict moderation, I shall
adduce only one of these
stories which are so
numerous; that in which
Jupiter himself is
brought on the
stage as
stupid and
inconsiderate,
being tricked by the
ambiguity of
words. In the
second hook of
Antias-lest any one should
think,
perchance, that we are
fabricating charges calumniously-the following story is
written:-
The
famous king Numa, not
knowing how to
avert evil portended by
thunder, and
being eager to
learn, by
advice of
Egeria concealed beside a
fountain twelve chaste youths provided with
chains; so that when
Faunus and
Martius Picus came to this
place to
drink,-for
hither they were
wont to
come to
draw water,-they might
rush on them,
seize and
bind them. But, that this might be done more
speedily, the
king filled many
cups with
wine and with
mead, and
placed them about the
approaches to the
fountain, where they would be
seen-a crafty snare for those who should
come. They, as was their
usual custom, when
overcome by
thirst,
came to their
well-known haunts. But when they had
perceived cups with
sweetly smelling liquors, they
preferred the
new to the
old;
rushed eagerly upon them;
charmed with the
sweetness of the
draught,
drank too much; and becoming
drunk,
fell fast asleep. Then the
twelve youths threw themselves upon the
sleepers, and
cast chains round them,
lying soaked with
wine; and they, when
roused,
immediately taught the
king by what
methods and
sacrifices Jupiter could be
called down to
earth. With this
knowledge the
king performed the
sacred ceremony on the
Aventine,
drew down
Jupiter to the
earth, and
asked from him the
due Form of
expiation.
Jupiter having long hesitated,
said, "Thou shalt
avert what is
portended by
thunder with a
head." The
king answered. "With an
onion."
Jupiter again, "With a
man's." The
king returned, "But with
hair." The
deity in
turn, "With the
life. With a
fish,"
rejoined Pompilius. Then
Jupiter,
being ensnared by the
ambiguous terms used,
uttered these
words: "Thou hast
overreached me,
Numa; for I had
determined that
evils portended by
thunder should be
averted with
sacrifices of
human heads, not with
hair and an
onion. Since, however, your
craft has
outwitted me, have the
mode which you
wished; and always
undertake the
expiation of
thunder-portents with those
things which you have
bargained for."
2. What the
mind should
take up first, what last, or what it should
pass by
silently, it is not
easy to
say, nor is it made
clear by any
amount of
reflection; for all have been so
devised and
fitted to be
laughed at, that you should
strive that they
may be
believed to be
false-even if they are
true-rather than
pass current as
true, and
suggest as it were something
extraordinary, and
bring contempt upon
deity itself. What, then, do you
say,
O you -? Are we to
believe that that
Faunus and
Martius Picus-if they are of the
number of the
gods, and of that
everlasting and
immortal substance-were once
parched with
thirst, and
sought the
gushing fountains, that they might be
able to
cool with
water their
heated veins? Are we to
believe that,
ensnared by
wine, and
beguiled by the
sweetness of
mead, they
dipped so
long into the
treacherous cups, that they even
got into
danger of becoming
drunk? Are we to
believe that,
being fast asleep, and
plunged in the
forgetfulness of most
profound slumbers, they
gave to
creatures of
earth an
opportunity to
bind them? On what
parts, then, were those
bonds and
chains flung? Did they have any
solid substance, or had their
hands been
formed of
hard bones, so that it might be
possible to
bind them with
halters and
hold them
fast by
tightly drawn knots? For I do not
ask, I do not
inquire whether they could have
said anything when
swaying to and
fro in their
drunken maunderings; or whether, while
Jupiter was
unwilling, or rather
unwitting, any one could have
marie known the
way to
bring him down to
earth. This only do I
wish to
hear, why, if
Faunus and
Picus are of
divine origin and
power, they did not rather themselves
declare to
Numa, as he
questioned them, that which he
desired to
learn from
Jove himself at a
greater risk? Or did
Jupiter alone have
knowledge of
this-for from him the
thunderbolts fall-how training in some
kind of
knowledge should
avert impending dangers? Or, while he himself
hurls these
fiery bolts, is it the
business of others to
know in what
way it is
fitting to
allay his
wrath and
indignation? For
truly it would be most
absurd to
suppose that he himself
appoints the
means by which
may be
averted that which he has
determined should
befall men through the
hurling of his
thunderbolts. For this is to
say, By such
ceremonies you will
turn aside my
wrath; and if I shall at any
time have
foreshown by
flashes of
lightning that some
evil is
close at
hand, do this and that, so that what I have
determined should be done
may be done
altogether in
vain, and
may pass away
idly through the
force of these
rites.
3. But let us
admit that, as is
said,
Jupiter has himself
appointed against himself
ways and
means by which his own
declared purposes might
fittingly be
opposed: are we also to
believe that a
deity of so
great majesty was
dragged down to
earth, and,
standing on a
petty hillock with a
mannikin,
entered into a
wrangling dispute? And what, I
ask, was the
charm which
forced Jupiter to
leave the
all-important direction of the
universe, and
appear at the
bidding of
mortals? the
sacrificial meal,
incense,
blood, the
scent of
burning laurel-boughs, and
muttering of
spells? And were all these more
powerful than
Jupiter, so that they
compelled him to do
unwillingly what was
enjoined, or to
give himself up of his own
accord to their
crafty tricks? What! will what
follows be
believed, that the
son of
Saturn had so
little foresight, that he either
proposed terms by the
ambiguity of which he was himself
ensnared, or did not
know what was
going to
happen, how the
craft and
cunning of a
mortal would
overreach him? You shall make
expiation, he
says, with a
head when
thunderbolts have
fallen. The
phrase is still
incomplete, and the
meaning is not
fully expressed and
defined; for it was
necessarily right to
know whether
Diespiter ordains that this
expiation be
effected with the
head of a
wether, a
sow, an
ox, or any other
animal. Now, as he had not yet
fixed this
specifically, and his
decision was still
uncertain and not yet
determined, how could
Numa know that
Jupiter would
say the
head of a
man, so as to
anticipate and
prevent him, and
turn his
uncertain and
ambiguous words into "an
onion's
head? "
4. But you will perhaps
say that the
king was a
diviner. Could he be more so than
Jupiter himself? But for a
mortal's
anticipating what
Jupiter-whom he
overreached-was going to
say, could the
god not
know in what
ways a
man was
preparing to
overreach him? Is it not, then,
clear and
manifest that these are
puerile and
fanciful inventions, by which, while a
lively wit is
assigned to
Numa, the
greatest want of
foresight is
imputed to
Jupiter? For what
shows so
little foresight as to
confess that you have been
ensnared by the
subtlety of a
man's
intellect, and while you are
vexed at
being deceived, to
give way to the
wishes of him who has
overcome you, and to
lay aside the
means which you had
proposed? For if there was
reason and some
natural fitness that
expiatory sacrifice for that which was
struck with
lightning should have been made with a
man's
head, I do not
see why the
proposal of an
onion's was made by the
king; but if it could be
performed with an
onion also, there was a
greedy lust for
human blood. And both
parts are made to
contradict themselves: so that, on the one
hand,
Numa is
shown not to have
wished to
know what he did
wish; and, on the other,
Jupiter is
shown to have been
merciless, because he
said that he
wished expiation to be made with the
heads of
men, which could have been done by
Numa with an
onion's
head.
5. In
Timotheus, who was no
mean mythologist, and also in others
equally well
informed, the
birth of the
Great Mother of the
gods, and the
origin of her
rites, are thus
detailed,
being de-rived-as he himself
writes and
suggests-from learned books of
antiquities, and from his
acquaintance with the most
secret mysteries:-Within the
confines of
Phrygia, he
says, there is a
rock of
unheard-of wildness in every
respect, the
name of which is
Agdus, so
named by the
natives of that
district.
Stones taken from it, as
Themis by her
oracle had
enjoined,
Deucalion and
Pyrrha threw upon the
earth, at that
time emptied of
men; from which this
Great Mother, too, as she is
called, was
fashioned along with the others, and
animated by the
deity. Her,
given over to
rest and
sleep on the very
summit of the
rock,
Jupiter assailed with
lewdest desires. But when, after
long strife, he could no
accomplish what he had
proposed to himself, he,
baffled,
spent his
lust on the
stone. This the
rock received, and with many
groanings Acdestis is
born in the
tenth month,
being named from his
mother rock. In him there had been
resistless might, and a
fierceness of
disposition beyond
control, a
lust made
furious, and
derived from both
sexes. He
violently plundered and
laid waste; he
scattered destruction wherever the
ferocity of his
disposition had
led him; he
regarded not
gods nor
men, nor did he
think anything more
powerful than himself; he
contemned earth,
heaven, and the
stars.
6. Now, when it had been often
considered in the
councils of the
gods, by what
means it might be
possible either to
weaken or to
curb his
audacity,
Liber, the
rest hanging back,
takes upon himself this
task. With the
strongest wine he
drugs a
spring much
resorted to by
Acdestis where he had been
wont to
assuage the
heat and
burning thirst roused in him by
sport and
hunting.
Hither runs Acdestis to
drink when he
felt the
need; he
gulps down the
draught too
greedily into his
gaping veins.
Overcome by what he is
quite unaccustomed to, he is in
consequence sent fast asleep.
Liber is
near the
snare which he had
set; over his
foot he
throws one end of a
halter formed of
hairs,
woven together very
skilfully; with the other end he
lays hold of his
privy members. When the
fumes of the
wine passed off,
Acdestis starts up
furiously, and his
foot dragging the
noose, by his own
strength he
robs himself of his
sex; with the
tearing asunder of these
parts there is an
immense flow of
blood; both are
carried off and
swallowed up by the
earth; from them there
suddenly springs up,
covered with
fruit, a
pomegranate tree,
seeing the
beauty of which, with
admiration,
Nana,
daughter of the
king or
river Sangarius,
gathers and
places in her
bosom some of the
fruit. By this she becomes
pregnant; her
father shuts her up,
supposing that she had been
debauched, and
seeks to have her
starved to
death; she is
kept alive by the
mother of the
gods with
apples, and other
food, and
brings forth a
child, but
Sangarius orders it to be
exposed. One
Phorbas having found the
child,
takes it
home,
brings it up on
goats'
milk; and as
handsome fellows are so
named in
Lydia, or because the
Phrygians in their own
way of
speaking call their
goats attagi, it
happened in
consequence that the
boy obtained the
name Attis. Him the
mother of the
gods loved exceedingly, because he was of most
surpassing beauty; and
Acdestis, who was his
companion, as he
grew up
fondling him, and
bound to him by
wicked compliance with his
lust in the only
way now
possible,
leading him through the
wooded glades, and
presenting him with the
spoils of many
wild beasts, which the
boy Attis at first
said boastfully were
won by his own
toil and
labour. Afterwards, under the
influence of
wine, he
admits that he is both
loved by
Acdestis, and
honoured by him with the
gifts brought from the
forest; whence it is
unlawful for those
polluted by
drinking wine to
enter into his
sanctuary, because it
discovered his
secret.
7. Then
Midas,
king of
Pessinus,
wishing to
withdraw the
youth from so
disgraceful an
intimacy,
resolves to
give him his own
daughter in
marriage, and
caused the
gates of the
town to be
closed, that no one of
evil omen might
disturb their
marriage joys. But the
mother of the
gods,
knowing the
fate of the
youth, and that he would
live among
men in
safety only so
long as he was
free from the
ties of
marriage, that no
disaster might
occur,
enters the
closed city,
raising its
walls with her
head, which
began to be
crowned with
towers in
consequence.
Acdestis,
bursting with
rage because of the
boy's
being torn from himself, and
brought to
seek a
wife,
fills all the
guests with
frenzied madness: the
Phrygians shriek aloud,
panic-stricken at the
appearance of the
gods; a
daughter of
adulterous Gallus cuts off her
breasts;
Attis snatches the
pipe borne by him who was
goading them to
frenzy; and he, too, now
filled with
furious passion,
raving frantically and
tossed about,
throws himself down at last, and under a
pine tree mutilates himself,
saying, "
Take these,
Acdestis, for which you have
stirred up so
great and
terribly perilous commotions." With the
streaming blood his
life flies; but the
Great Mother of the
gods gathers the
parts which had been
cut off, and
throws earth on them,
having first
covered them, and
wrapped them in the
garment of the
dead. From the
blood which had
flowed springs a
flower, the
violet, and with this the
tree is
girt. Thence the
custom began and
arose, whereby you even now
veil and
wreath with
flowers the
sacred pine. The
virgin who had been the
bride, whose
name, as
Valerius the
pontifex relates, was
Ia,
veils the
breast of the
lifeless youth with
soft wool,
sheds tears with
Acdestis, and
slays herself After her
death her
blood is
changed into
purple violets. The
mother of the
gods sheds tears also, from which
springs an
almond tree,
signifying the
bitterness of
death. Then she
bears away to her
cave the
pine tree,
beneath which
Attis had
unmanned himself; and
Acdestis joining in her
wailings, she
beats and
wounds her
breast,
pacing round the
trunk of the
tree now at
rest.
Jupiter is
begged by
Acdestis that
Attis may be
restored to
life: he does not
permit it. What, however,
fate allowed, he
readily grants, that his
body should not
decay, that his
hairs should always
grow, that the least of his
fingers should
live, and should be
kept ever in
motion;
content with which
favours, it is
said that
Acdestis consecrated the
body in
Pessinus, and
honoured it with
yearly rites and
priestly services.
8. If some one,
despising the
deities, and
furious with a
savagely sacrilegious spirit, had
set himself to
blaspheme your
gods, would he
dare to
say against them anything more
severe than this
tale relates, which you have
reduced to
form, as though it were some
wonderful narrative, and have
honoured without
ceasing,
lest the
power of
time and the
remoteness of
antiquity should
cause it to be
forgotten? For what is there
asserted in it, or what
written about the
gods, which, if
said with
regard to a
man brought up with
bad habits and a
pretty rough training, would not make you
liable to be
accused of
wronging and
insulting him, and
expose you to
hatred and
dislike,
accompanied by
implacable resentment? From the
stones, you
say, which
Deucalion and
Pyrrha threw, was
produced the
mother of the
gods. What do you
say,
O theologians? what, ye
priests of the
heavenly powers? Did the
mother of the
gods, then, not
exist at all for the
sake of the
deluge? and would there be no
cause or beginning of her
birth, had not
violent storms of
rain swept away the whole
race of
men? It is through
man, then, that she
feels herself to
exist, and she
owes it to
Pyrrha's
kindness that she
sees herself
addressed as a
real being; but if that is indeed
true, this too will of
necessity not be
false, that she was
human, not
divine. For if it is
certain that
men are
sprung originally from the
casting of
stones, it must be
believed that she too was one of us, since she was
produced by
means of the same
causes. For it cannot be, for
nature would not
suffer it, that from one
kind of
stones, and from the same
mode of
throwing them, some should be
formed to
rank among the
immortals, others with the
condition of
men.
Varro, that
famous Roman,
distinguished by the
diversity of his
learning, and
unwearied in his
researches into
ancient times, in the first of
four books which he has
left in
writing on the
race of the
Roman people,
shows by
careful calculations, that from the
time of the
deluge, which we
mentioned before, down to the
consulship of
Hirtius and
Pansa, there are not
quite two thousand years; and if he is to be
believed, the
Great Mother, too, must be
said to have her whole
life bounded by the
limits of this
number. And thus the
matter is
brought to this
issue, that she who is
said to be
parent of all the
deities is not their
mother, but their
daughter;
nay, rather a
mere child, a
little girl, since we
admit that in the
never-ending series of
ages neither beginning nor end has been
ascribed to the
gods.
9. But why do we
speak of your
having bemired the
Great Mother of the
gods with the
filth of
earth, when you have not been
able for but a
little time even to
keep from
speaking evil of
Jupiter himself? While the
mother of the
gods was then
sleeping on the
highest peak of
Agdus, her
son, you
say,
tried stealthily to
surprise her
chastity while she
slept. After
robbing of their
chastity virgins and
matrons without
number, did
Jupiter hope to
gratify his
detestable passion upon his
mother? and could he not be
turned from his
fierce desire by the
horror which
nature itself has
excited not only in
men, but in some other
animals also, and by
common feeling? Was he then
regardless of
piety and
honour, who is
chief in the
temples? and could he neither
reconsider nor
perceive how
wicked was his
desire, his
mind being madly agitated? But, as it is,
forgetting his
majesty and
dignity, he
crept forward to
steal those
vile pleasures,
trembling and
quaking with
fear,
holding his
breath,
walking in
terror on
tiptoe, and, between
hope and
fear,
touched her
secret parts,
trying how
soundly his
mother slept, and what she would
suffer.
Oh,
shameful representation!
oh,
disgraceful plight of
Jupiter,
prepared to
attempt a
filthy contest! Did the
ruler of the
world, then,
turn to
force, when, in his
heedlessness and
haste, he was
prevented from
stealing on by
surprise; and when he was
unable to
snatch his
pleasure by
cunning craft, did he
assail his
mother with
violence, and begin without any
concealment to
destroy the
chastity which he should have
revered? Then,
having striven for a very
long time when she is
unwilling, did he
go off
conquered,
vanquished, and
overcome? and did his
spent lust part him whom
piety was
unable to
hold back from
execrable lust after his
mother?
10. But you will perhaps
say the
human race shuns and
execrates such
unions; among the
gods there is no
incest. And why, then, did his
mother resist with the
greatest vehemence her
son when he
offered her
violence? Why did she
flee from his
embraces, as if she were
avoiding unlawful approaches? For if there was nothing
wrong in so
doing, she should have
gratified him without any
reluctance,
just as he
eagerly wished to
satisfy the
cravings of his
lust. And here, indeed, very
thrifty men, and
frugal even about
shameful works, that that
sacred seed may not seem to have been
poured forth in
vain-the rock, one
says,
drank up
Jupiter's
foul incontinence. What
followed next, I
ask?
Tell. In the very
heart of the
rock, and in that
flinty hardness, a
child was
formed and
quickened to be the
offspring of
great Jupiter. It is not
easy to
object to
conceptions so
unnatural and so
wonderful. For as the
human race is
said by you to have
sprung and
proceeded from
stones, it must be
believed that the
stones both had
genital parts, and
drank in the
seed cast on them, and when their
time was
full were
pregnant, and at last
brought forth,
travailing in
distress as
women do. That
impels our
curiosity to
inquire, since you
say that the
birth occurred after
ten months, in what
womb of the
rock was he
enclosed at that
time? with what
food, with what
juices, was he
supplied? or what could he have
drawn to
support him from the
hard stone, as
unborn infants usually receive from their
mothers! He had not yet
reached the
light, my
informant says; and already
bellowing and
imitating his
father's
thunderings, he
reproduced their
sound. And after it was
given him to
see the
sky and the
light of
day,
attacking all
things which
lay in his
way, he made
havoc of them, and
assured himself that he was
able to
thrust down from
heaven the
gods themselves.
O cautious and
foreseeing mother of the
gods, who, that she might not
undergo the
ill-will of so
arrogant a
son, or that his
bellowing while still
unborn might not
disturb her
slumbers or
break her
repose,
withdrew herself, and
sent far from her that most
hurtful seed, and
gave it to the
rough rock.
11. There was
doubt in the
councils of the
gods how that
unyielding and
fierce violence was to be
subdued; and when there was no other
way, they had
recourse to one
means, that he should be
soaked with much
wine, and
bereft of his
members, by their
being cut off. As if, indeed, those who have
suffered the
loss of these
parts become less
arrogant, and as if we do not
daily see those who have
cut them away from themselves become more
wanton, and,
neglecting all the
restraints of
chastity and
modesty,
throw themselves
headlong into
filthy vileness,
making known abroad their
shameful deeds. I should like, however, to
see-were it
granted me to be
born at those
times-father Liber, who
overcame the
fierceness of
Acdestis,
having glided down from the
peaks of
heaven after the very
venerable meetings of the
gods,
cropping the
tails of
horses,
plaiting pliant halters,
drugging the
waters harmless while
pure with much
strong wine, and after that
drunkenness sprung from
drinking, to have
carefully introduced his
hands,
handled the
members of the
sleeper, and
directed his
care skilfully to the
parts which were to
perish, so that the
hold of the
nooses placed round them might
surround them all.
12. Would any one
say this about the
gods who had even a very
low opinion of them? or, if they were
taken up with such
affairs,
considerations,
cares, would any
man of
wisdom either
believe that they are
gods, or
reckon them among
men even? Was that
Acdestis,
pray, the
lopping off of whose
lewd members was to
give a
sense of
security to the
immortals, was he one of the
creatures of
earth, or one of the
gods, and
possessed of
immortality? For if he was
thought to be of our
lot and in the
condition of
men, why did he
cause the
deities so much
terror? But if he was a
god, how could he be
deceived, or how could anything be
cut off from a
divine body? But we
raise no
issue on this
point: he
may have been of
divine birth, or one of us, if you
think it more
correct to
say so. Did a
pomegranate tree, also,
spring from the
blood which
flowed and from the
parts which were
cut off? or at the
time when that
member was
concealed in the
bosom of the
earth, did it
lay hold of the
ground with a
root, and
spring up into a
mighty tree,
put forth branches loaded with
blossoms, and in a
moment bare mellow fruit perfectly and
completely ripe? And because these
sprang from
red blood, is their
colour therefore
bright purple, with a
dash of
yellow?
Say further that they are
juicy also, that they have the
taste of
wine, because they
spring from the
blood of one
filled with it, and you have
finished your
story consistently.
O Abdera,
Abdera, what
occasions for
mocking you would
give to
men, if such a
tale had been
devised by you! All
fathers relate it, and
haughty states peruse it; and you are
considered foolish, and
utterly dull and
stupid.
13. Through her
bosom, we are
told,
Nana conceived a
son by an
apple. The
opinion is
self-consistent; for where
rocks and
hard stones bring forth, there
apples must have their
time of
generating. The
Berecyntian goddess fed the
imprisoned maiden with
nuts and
figs,
fitly and
rightly; for it was
right that she should
live on
apples who had been made a
mother by an
apple. After her
offspring was
born, it was
ordered by
Sangarius to be
cast far away: that which he
believed to be
divinely conceived long before, he would not have
called the
offspring of his
child. The
infant was
brought up on
he-goats'
milk.
O story ever
opposed and most
inimical to the
male sex, in which not only do
men lay aside their
virile powers, but
beasts even which were
males become
mothers! He was
famous for his
beauty, and
distinguished by his
remarkable comeliness. It is
wonderful enough that the
noisome stench of
goats did not
cause him to be
avoided and
fled from. The
Great Mother loved him-if as a
grandmother her
grandson, there is nothing
wrong; but if as the
theatres tell, her
love is
infamous and
disgraceful.
Acdestis, too,
loved him above all,
enriching him with a
hunter's
gifts. There could be no
danger to his
purity from one
emasculated, you
say; but it is not
easy to
guess what
Midas dreaded? The
Mother entered bearing the very
walls. Here we
wondered, indeed, at the might and
strength of the
deity; but again we
blame her
carelessness, because when she
remembered the
decree of
fate, she
heedlessly laid open the
city to its
enemies.
Acdestis cites to
fury and
madness those
celebrating the
nuptial vows. If
King Midas had
displeased him who was
binding the
youth to a
wife, of what had
Gallus been
guilty, and his
concubine's
daughter, that he should
rob himself of his
manhood, she herself of her
breasts? "
Take and
keep these,"
says he, "because of which you have
excited such
commotions to the
overwhelming of our
minds with
fear." We should none of us yet
know what the
frenzied Acdestis had
desired in his
paramour's
body, had not the
boy thrown to him, to
appease his
wrath, the
parts cut off.
14. What
say you,
O races and
nations,
given up to such
beliefs? When these
things are
brought forward, are you not
ashamed and
confounded to
say things so
indecent? We
wish to
hear or
learn from you something
befitting the
gods; but you, on the
contrary,
bring forward to us the
cutting off of
breasts, the
lopping off of
men's
members,
ragings,
blood,
frenzies, the
self-destruction of
maidens, and
flowers and
trees begotten from the
blood of the
dead.
Say, again, did the
mother of the
gods, then, with
careful diligence herself
gather in her
grief the
scattered genitals with the
shed blood? With her own
sacred, her own
divine hands, did she
touch and
lift up the
instruments of a
disgraceful and
indecent office? Did she also
commit them to the
earth to be
hid from
sight; and
lest in this
case they should,
being uncovered, be
dispersed in the
bosom of the
earth, did she indeed
wash and
anoint them with
fragrant gums before
wrapping and
covering them with his
dress? For whence could the
violet's
sweet scent have
come had not the
addition of those
ointments modified the
putrefying smell of the
member?
Pray, when you
read such
tales, do you not seem to yourselves to
hear either
girls at the
loom wiling away their
tedious working hours, or
old women seeking diversions for
credulous children, and to be
declaring manifold fictions under the
guise of
truth?
Acdestis appealed to
Jupiter to
restore life to his
paramour:
Jupiter would not
consent, because he was
hindered by the
fates more
powerful than himself; and that he might not be in every
respect very
hard-hearted, he
granted one
favour-that the
body should not
decay through any
corruption; that the
hair should always
grow; that the least of his
fingers alone in his
body should
live, alone
keep always in
motion. Would any one
grant this, or
support it with an
unhesitating assent, that
hair grows on a
dead body,-that
part perished, and that the
rest of his
mortal body,
free from the
law of
corruption,
remains even still?
15. We might
long ago have
urged you to
ponder this, were it not
foolish to
ask proofs of such
things, as well as to
say them. But this
story is
false, and is
wholly untrue. It is no
mat ter to us, indeed, because of whom you
maintain that the
gods have been
driven from the
earth, whether it is
consistent and
rests on a
sure foundation, or is, on the
contrary,
framed and
devised in
utter falsehood. For to us it is
enough-who have
proposed this
day to make it
plain-that those
deities whom you
bring for
ward, if they are anywhere on
earth, and
glow with the
fires of
anger, are not more
excited to
furious hatred by us than by you; and that that
story, has been
classed as an
event and
committed to
writing by you, and is
willingly read over by you every
day, and
handed down in
order for the
edifying of later
times. Now, if this
story is indeed
true, we
see that there is no
reason in it why the
celestial gods should be
asserted to he
angry with us, since we have neither
declared things so much to their
disgrace, nor
committed them to
writing at all, nor
brought them
publicly to
light by the
celebration of
sacred rites; but if, as you
think, it is
untrue, and made up of
delusive falsehoods, no
man can
doubt that you are the
cause of
offence, who have either
allowed certain persons to
write such
stories, or have
suffered them, when
written, to
abide in the
memory of
ages.
16. And yet how can you
assert the
falsehood of this
story, when the very
rites which you
celebrate throughout the
year testify that you
believe these
things to be
true, and
consider them
perfectly trustworthy? For what is the
meaning of that
pine which on
fixed days you always
bring into the
sanctuary of the
mother of the
gods? Is it not in
imitation of that
tree,
beneath which the
raging and
ill-fated youth laid hands upon himself, and which the
parent of the
gods consecrated to
relieve her
sorrow? What
mean the
fleeces of
wool with which you
bind and
surround the
trunk of the
tree? Is it not to
recall the
wools with which
la covered the
dying youth, and
thought that she could
procure some
warmth for his
limbs fast stiffening with
cold? What
mean the
branches of the
tree girt round and
decked with
wreaths of
violets? Do they not
mark this, how the
Mother adorned with
early flowers the
pine which
indicates and
bears witness to the
sad mishap? What
mean the
Galli with
dishevelled hair beating their
breasts with their
palms? Do they not
recall to
memory those
lamentations with which the
tower-bearing Mother, along with the
weeping Acdestis,
wailing aloud,
followed the
boy? What
means the
abstinence from
eating bread which you have
named castus? Is it not in
imitation of the
time when the
goddess abstained from
Ceres'
fruit in her
vehement sorrow?
17. Or if the
things which we
say are not so
declare,
say yourselves-those effeminate and
delicate men whom we
see among you in the
sacred rites of this
deity-what business, what
care, what
concern have they there; and why do they like
mourners wound their
arms and
breasts, and
act as those
dolefully circumstanced? What
mean the
wreaths, what the
violets, what the
swathings, the
coverings of
soft wools? Why,
finally, is the very
pine, but a
little before
swaying to and
fro among the
shrubs, an
utterly inert log,
set up in the
temple of the
Mother of the
gods next, like some
propitious and very
venerable deity? For either this is the
cause which we have found in your
writings and
treatises, and in that
case it is
clear that you do not
celebrate divine rites, but
give a
representation of
sad events; or if there is any other
reason which the
darkness of the
mystery has
withheld from us, even it also must be
involved in the
infamy of some
shameful deed. For who would
believe that there is any
honour in that which the
worthless Galli begin,
effeminate debauchees complete?
18. The
greatness of the
subject, and our
duty to those on their
defence also,
demand that we should in like
manner hunt up the other
forms of
baseness, whether those which the
histories of
antiquity record, or those
contained in the
sacred mysteries named initia, and not
divulged openly to all, but to the
silence of a few; but your
innumerable sacred rites, and the
loathsomeness of them all, will not
allow us to
go through them all
bodily:
nay, more, to
tell the
truth, we
turn aside ourselves from some
purposely and
intentionally,
lest, in
striving to
unfold all
things, we should be
defiled by
contamination in the very
exposition. Let us
pass by
Fauna Fatua, therefore, who is
called Bona Dea, whom
Sextus Clodius, in his
sixth book in
Greek on the
gods,
declares to have been
scourged to
death with
rods of
myrtle, because she
drank a whole
jar of
wine without her
husband's
knowledge; and this is a
proof, that when
women show her
divine honour a
jar of
wine is
placed there, but
covered from
sight, and that it is not
lawful to
bring in
twigs of
myrtle, as
Butas mentions in his
Causalia. But let us
pass by with
similar neglect the
dii conserentes, whom
Flaccus and others
relate to have
buried themselves,
changed in
humani penis similitudinem in the
cinders Under a
pot of
exta. And when
Tanaquil,
skilled in the
arts of
Etruria,
disturbed these, the
gods erected themselves, and became
rigid. She then
commanded a
captive woman from
Corniculum to
learn and
understand what was the
meaning of this:
Ocrisia, a
woman of the
greatest wisdom divos inseruisse genitali,
explicuisse motus certos. Then the
holy and
burning deities poured forth the
power of
Lucilius, and thus
Servius king of
Rome was
born.
19. We shall
pass by the
wild Bacchanalia also, which are
named in
Greek Omophagia, in which with seeming
frenzy and the
loss of your
senses you
twine snakes about you; and, to
show yourselves
full of the
divinity and
majesty of the
god,
tear in
pieces with
gory mouths the
flesh of
loudly-bleating goats. Those
hidden mysteries of
Cyprian Venus we
pass by also, whose
founder is
said to have been
King Cinyras, in which
being initiated, they
bring stated fees as to a
harlot, and
carry away
phalli,
given as
signs of the
propitious deity. Let the
rites of the
Corybantes also be
consigned to
oblivion, in which is
revealed that
sacred mystery, a
brother slain by his
brothers,
parsley sprung from the
blood of the
murdered one, that
vegetable forbidden to be
placed on
tables,
test the
manes of the
dead should be
unappeasably offended. But those other
Bacchanalia also we
refuse to
proclaim, in which there is
revealed and
taught to the
initiated a
secret not to be
spoken; how
Liber, when
taken up with
boyish sports, was
torn asunder by the
Titans; how he was
cut up
limb by
limb by them also, and
thrown into
pots that he might be
cooked; how
Jupiter,
allured by the
sweet savour,
rushed unbidden to the
meal, and
discovering what had been done,
overwhelmed the
revellers with his
terrible thunder, and
hurled them to the
lowest part of
Tartarus. As
evidence and
proof of which, the
Thracian bard handed down in his
poems the
dice,
mirror,
tops,
hoops, and
smooth balls, and
golden apples taken from the
virgin Hesperides.
20. It was our
purpose to
leave unnoticed those
mysteries also into which
Phrygia is
initiated, and all that
race, were it not that the
name of
Jupiter, which has been
introduced by them, would not
suffer us to
pass cursorily by the
wrongs and
insults offered to him; not that we
feel any
pleasure in
discussing mysteries so
filthy, but that it
may be made
clear to you again and again what
wrong you
heap upon those whose
guardians,
champions,
worshippers, you
profess to be. Once upon a
time, they
say,
Diespiter,
burning after his
mother Ceres with
evil passions and
forbidden desires, for she is
said by the
natives of that
district to be
Jupiter's
mother, and yet not
daring to
seek by
open force that for which he had
conceived a
shameless longing,
hits upon a
clever trick by which to
rob of her
chastity his
mother, who
feared nothing of the
sort. Instead of a
god, he becomes a
bull; and
concealing his
purpose and
daring under the
appearance of a
beast lying in
wait, he
rushes madly with
sudden violence upon her,
thoughtless and
unwitting,
obtains his
incestuous desires; and the
fraud being disclosed by his
lust,
flies off
known and
discovered. His
mother burns,
foams,
gasps,
boils with
fury and
indignation; and
being unable to
repress the
storm and
tempest of her
wrath,
received the
name Brimo thereafter from her
ever-raging passion: nor has she any other
wish than to
punish as she
may her
son's
audacity.
21.
Jupiter is
troubled enough,
being overwhelmed with
fear, and cannot
find means to
soothe the
rage of his
violated mother. He
pours forth prayers, and makes
supplication; her
ears are
closed by
grief. The whole
order of the
gods is
sent to
seek his
pardon; no one has
weight enough to
win a
hearing. At last, the
son seeking how to make
satisfaction,
devises this
means:
Arietem nobilem bene grandibus cum testiculis deligit,
exsecat hos ipse et lanato exuit ex folliculi tegmine.
Approaching his
mother sadly and with
downcast looks, and as if by his own
decision he had
condemned himself, he
casts and
throws these into her
bosom. When she
saw what his
pledge was, she is
somewhat softened, and
allows herself to be
recalled to the
care of the
offspring which she had
conceived. After the
tenth month she
bears a
daughter, of
beautiful form, whom later
ages have
called now
Libera, now
Proserpine; whom when
Jupiter Verveceus saw to be
strong,
plump, and
blooming,
forgetting what
evils and what
wickedness, and how
great recklessness, he had a
little before
fallen into, he
returns to his former
practices; and because it seemed too
wicked that a
father openly be
joined as in
marriage with his
daughter, he
passes into the
terrible form of a
dragon: he
winds his
huge coils round the
terrified maiden, and under a
fierce appearance sports and
caresses her in
softest embraces. She, too, is in
consequence filled with the
seed of the most
powerful Jupiter, but not as her
mother was, for she
bore a
daughter like herself; but from the
maiden was
born something like a
bull, to
testify to her
seduction by
Jupiter. If any one
asks who
narrates this, then we shall
quote the
well-known senarian verse of a
Tarentine poet which
antiquity sings,
saying: "The
bull begot a
dragon, and the
dragon a
bull."
Lastly, the
sacred rites themselves, and the
ceremony of
initiation even,
named Sebadia, might
attest the
truth; for in them a
golden snake is let down into the
bosom of the
initiated, and
taken away again from the
lower parts.
22. I do not
think it
necessary here also with many
words to
go through each
part, and
show how many
base and
unseemly things there are in each
particular. For what
mortal is there, with but
little sense even of what becomes a
man, who does not himself
see clearly the
character of all these
things, how
wicked they are, how
vile, and what
disgrace is
brought upon the
gods by the very
ceremonies of their
mysteries, and by the
unseemly origin of their
rites?
Jupiter, it is
said,
lusted after
Ceres. Why, I
ask, has
Jupiter deserved so
ill of you, that there is no
kind of
disgrace, no
infamous adultery, which you do not
heap upon his
head, as if on some
vile and
worthless person?
Leda was
unfaithful to her
nuptial vow;
Jupiter is
said to be the
cause of the
fault.
Danae could not
keep her
virginity; the
theft is
said to have been
Jupiter's.
Europa hastened to the
name of
woman; he is again
declared to have been the
assailant of her
chastity.
Alcmena,
Electra,
Latona,
Laodamia, a
thousand other
virgins, and a
thousand matrons, and with them the
boy Catamitus, were
robbed of their
honour and
chastity. It is the same
story everywhere-Jupiter. Nor is there any
kind of
baseness in which you do not
join and
associate his
name with
passionate lusts; so that the
wretched being seems to have been
born for no other
reason at all except that he might be a
field fertile in
crimes, an
occasion of
evil-speaking, a
kind of
open place into which should
gather all
filthiness from the
impurities of the
stage. And yet if you were to
say that he had
intercourse with
strange women, it would indeed be
impious, but the
wrong done in
slandering him might be
bearable. Did he
lust after his
mother also, after his
daughter too, with
furious desires; and could no
sacredness in his
parent, no
reverence for her, no
shrinking even from the
child which had
sprung from himself,
withhold him from
conceiving so
detestable a
plan?
23. I should
wish, therefore, to
see Jupiter, the
father of the
gods, who ever
controls the
world and
men,
adorned with the
horns of an
ox,
shaking his
hairy ears, with his
feet contracted into
hoofs,
chewing green grass, and
having behind him a
tail,
hams, and
ankles smeared over with
soft excrement, and
bedaubed with the
filth cast forth. I should
wish, I
say,-for it must be
said over and over again,-to
see him who
turns the
stars in their
courses, and who
terrifies and
overthrows nations pale with
fear,
pursuing the
flocks of
wethers,
inspicientem testiculos aretinos,
snatching these away with that
severe and
divine hand with which he was
wont to
launch the
gleaming lightnings and to
hurl in his
rage the
thunderbolt. Then, indeed, I should like to
see him
ransacking their
inmost parts with
glowing knife; and all
witnesses being removed,
tearing away the
membranes circumjectas prolibus, and
bringing them to his
mother, still
hot with
rage, as a
kind of
fillet to
draw forth her
pity, with
downcast countenance,
pale,
wounded,
pretending to be in
agony; and to make this
believed,
defiled with the
blood of the
rain, and
covering his
pretended wound with
bands of
wool and
linen. Is it
possible that this can be
heard and
read in this
world, and that those who
discuss these
things wish themselves to be
thought pious,
holy, and
defenders of
religion? Is there any
greater sacrilege than this, or can any
mind be found so
imbued with
impious ideas as to
believe such
stories, or
receive them, or
hand them down in the most
secret mysteries of the
sacred rites? If that
Jupiter of whom you
speak, whoever he is,
really existed, or was
affected by any
sense of
wrong, would it not be
fitting that,
roused to
anger, be should
remove the
earth from under our
feet,
extinguish the
light of the
sun and
moon;
nay more, that he should
throw all
things into one
mass, as of
old?
24. But, my
opponent says, these are not the
rites of our
state. Who,
pray,
says this, or who
repeats it? is he
Roman,
Gaul,
Spaniard,
African,
German, or
Sicilian? And what does it
avail your
cause if these
stories are not yours, while those who
compose them are on your
side? Or of what
importance is it whether you
approve of them or not, since what you yourselves
say are found to be either
just as
foul, or of even
greater baseness? For do you
wish that we should
consider the
mysteries and those
ceremonies which are
named by the
Greeks Thesmophoria, in which those
holy vigils and
solemn watchings were
consecrated to the
goddess by the
Athenians? Do you
wish us, I
say, to
see what
beginnings they have, what
causes, that we
may prove that
Athens itself also,
distinguished in the
arts and
pursuits of
civilization,
says things as
insulting to the
gods as others, and that
stories are there
publicly related under the
mask of
religion just as
disgraceful as are
thrown in our
way by the
rest of you? Once, they
say, when
Proserpine, not yet a
woman and still a
maiden, was
gathering purple flowers in the
meadows of
Sicily, and when her
eagerness to
gather them was
leading her
hither and
thither in all
directions, the
king of the
shades,
springing forth through an
opening of
unknown depth,
seizes and
bears away with him the
maiden, and
conceals himself again in the
bowels of the
earth. Now when
Ceres did not
know what had
happened, and had no
idea where in the
world her
daughter was, she
set herself to
seek the
lost one all over the
world. She
snatches up
two torches lit at the
fires of
Aetna; and
giving herself
light by
means of these,
goes on her
quest in all
parts of the
earth.
25. In her
wanderings on that
quest, she
reaches the
confines of
Eleusis as well as other
countries -that is the
name of a
canton in
Attica. At that
time these
parts were
inhabited by
aborigines named Baubo,
Triptolemus,
Eubuleus,
Eumolpus,
Dysaules:
Triptolemus, who
yoked oxen;
Dysaules, a
keeper of
goats;
Eubuleus, of
swine;
Eumolpus, of
sheep, from whom also
flows the
race of
Eumolpidae, and from whom is
derived that
name famous among the
Athenians, and those who afterwards
flourished as
caduceatores,
hierophants, and
criers. So, then, that
Baubo who, we have
said,
dwelt in the
canton of
Eleusis,
receives hospitably Ceres,
worn out with
ills of many
kinds,
hangs about her with
pleasing attentions,
beseeches her not to
neglect to
refresh her
body,
brings to
quench her
thirst wine thickened with
spelt, which the
Greeks term cyceon. The
goddess in her
sorrow turns away from the
kindly offered services, and
rejects them; nor does her
misfortune suffer her to
remember what the
body always
requires.
Baubo, on the other
hand,
begs and
exhorts her-as is
usual in such
calamities-not to
despise her
humanity;
Ceres remains utterly immoveable, and
tenaciously maintains an
invincible austerity. But when this was done several
times, and her
fixed purpose could not be
worn out by any
attentions,
Baubo changes her
plans, and
determines to make
merry by
strange jests her whom she could not
win by
earnestness. That
part of the
body by which
women both
bear children and
obtain the
name of
mothers, this she
frees from
longer neglect: she makes it
assume a
purer appearance, and become
smooth like a
child, not yet
hard and
rough with
hair. In this
wise she
returns to the
sorrowing goddess; and while
trying the
common expedients by which it is
usual to
break the
force of
grief, and
moderate it, she
uncovers herself, and
baring her
groins,
displays all the
parts which
decency hides; and then the
goddess fixes her
eyes upon these, and is
pleased with the
strange form of
consolation. Then becoming more
cheerful after
laughing, she
takes and
drinks off the
drought spurned before, and the
indecency of a
shameless action forced that which
Baubo's
modest conduct was
long unable to
win.
26. If any one
perchance thinks that we are
speaking wicked calumnies, let him
take the
hooks of the
Thracian soothsayer, which you
speak of as of
divine antiquity; and he will
find that we are neither
cunningly inventing anything, nor
seeking means to
bring the
holiness of the
gods into
ridicule, and
doing so: for we shall
bring forward the very
verses which the
son of
Calliope uttered in
Greek, and
published abroad in his
songs to the
human race throughout all
ages:-
"With these
words she at the same
time drew up her
garments from the
lowest hem,
And
exposed to
view formatas inguinibus res,
Which
Baubo grasping with
hollow hand, for
Their
appearance was
infantile,
strikes,
touches gently.
Then the
goddess,
fixing her
orbs of
august light,
Being softened,
lays aside for a
little the
sadness of her
mind;
Thereafter she
takes the
cup in her
hand, and
laughing,
Drinks off the whole
draught of
cyceon with
gladness."
What
say you,
O wise sons of
Erectheus? what, you
citizens of
Minerva? The
mind is
eager to
know with what
words you will
defend what it is so
dangerous to
maintain, or what
arts you have by which to
give safety to
personages and
causes wounded so
mortally. This is no
false mistrust, nor are you
assailed with
lying accusations: the
infamy of your
Eleusinia is
declared both by their
base beginnings and by the
records of
ancient literature, by the very
signs, in
fine, which you
use when
questioned in
receiving the
sacred things,-" I have
fasted, and
drunk the
draught; I have
taken out of the
mystic cist, and
put into the
wicker-basket; I have
received again, and
transferred to the
little chest."
27. Are then your
deities carried off by
force, and do they
seize by
violence, as their
holy and
hidden mysteries relate? do they
enter into
marriages sought stealthily and by
fraud? is their
honour snatched from
virgins resisting and
unwilling? have they no
knowledge of
impending injury, no
acquaintance with what has
happened to those
carried off by
force? Are they, when
lost,
sought for as
men are? and do they
traverse the
earth's
vast extent with
lamps and
torches when the
sun is
shining most
brightly? Are they
afflicted? are they
troubled? do they
assume the
squalid garments of
mourners, and the
signs of
misery? and that they
may be
able to
turn their
mind to
victuals and the taking of
food, is
use made not of
reason, not of the
right time, not of some
weighty words or
pressing courtesy, but is a
display made of the
shameful and
indecent parts of the
body? and are those
members exposed which the
shame felt by all, and the
natural law of
modesty,
bid us
conceal, which it is not
permissible to
name among
pure ears without
permission, and
saying, "by your
leave? " What, I
ask you, was there in such a
sight, what in the
privy parts of
Baubo, to
move to
wonder and
laughter a
goddess of the same
sex, and
formed with
similar parts? what was there such that, when
presented to the
divine eyes and
sight, it should at the same
time enable her to
forget her
miseries, and
bring her with
sudden cheerfulness to a
happier state of
mind?
Oh, what have we had it in our
power to
bring forward with
scoffing and
jeering, were it not for
respect for the
reader, and the
dignity of
literature!
28. I
confess that I have
long been
hesitating,
looking on every
side,
shuffling,
doubling Tellene perplexities; while I am
ashamed to
mention those
Alimontian mysteries in which
Greece erects phalli in
honour of
father Bacchus, and the whole
district is
covered with
images of
men's
fascina. The
meaning of this is
obscure perhaps, and it is
asked why it is done. Whoever is
ignorant of this, let him
learn, and,
wondering at what is so
important, ever
keep it with
reverent care in a
pure heart. While
Liber,
born at
Nysa, and
son of
Semele, was still among
men, the
story goes, he
wished to become
acquainted with the
shades below, and to
inquire into what
went on in
Tartarus; but this
wish was
hindered by some
difficulties, because, from
ignorance of the
route, he did not
know by what
way to
go and
proceed. One
Prosumnus starts up, a
base lover of the
god, and a
fellow too
prone to
wicked lusts, who
promises to
point out the
gate of
Dis, and the
approaches to
Acheron, if the
god will
gratify him, and
suffer uxorias voluptates ex se carpi. The
god, without
reluctance,
swears to
put himself in his
power and at his
disposal, but only
immediately on his
return from the
lower regions,
having obtained his
wish and
desire.
Prostmmus politely tells him the
way, and
sets him on the very
threshold of the
lower regions. In the meantime, while
Liber is
inspecting and
examining carefully Styx,
Cerberus, the
Furies, and all other
things, the
informer passed from the
number of the
living, and was
buried according to the
manner of
men.
Evius comes up
froth the
lower regions, and
learns that his
guide is
dead. But that he might
fulfil his
promise, and
free himself from the
obligation of his
oath, he
goes to the
place of the
funeral, and -"
ficorum ex arbore ramum validissimum praesecans dolat,
runcinat,
levigat et humani speciem fabricatur in
penis,
figit super aggerem tumuli,
et postica ex parte nudatus accedit,
subsidit,
insidit.
Lascivia deinde surientis assumptâ,
huc atque illuc clunes torquet et meditatur ab ligno pati quod jamdudum in
veritate promiserat."
29. Now, to
prevent any one from
thinking that we have
devised what is so
impious, we do not
call upon him to
believe Heraclitus as a
witness, nor to
receive from his
account what he
felt about such
mysteries. Let him
ask the whole of
Greece what is the
meaning of these
phalli which
ancient custom erects and
worships throughout the
country, throughout the
towns: he will
find that the
causes are those which we
say; or if they are
ashamed to
declare the
truth honestly, of what
avail will it be to
obscure, to
conceal the
cause and
origin of the
rite, while the
accusation holds good against the very
act of
worship? What
say you,
O peoples? what, ye
nations busied with the
services of the
temples, and
given up to them? Is it to these
rites you
drive us by
flames,
banishment,
slaughter, and any other
kind of
punishments, and by
fear of
cruel torture? Are these the
gods whom you
bring to us, whom you
thrust and
impose upon us, like whom you would neither
wish yourselves to be, nor any one
related to you by
blood and
friendship? Can you
declare to your
beardless sons, still
wearing the
dress of
boys, the
agreements which
Liber formed with his
lovers? Can you
urge your
daughters-in-law,
nay, even your own
wives, to
show the
modesty of
Baubo, and
enjoy the
chaste pleasures of
Ceres? Do you
wish your
young men to
know,
hear, and
learn what even
Jupiter showed himself to more
matrons than one? Would you
wish your
grown-up maidens and still
lusty fathers to
learn how the same
deity sported with his
daughter? Do you
wish full brothers, already
hot with
passion, and
sisters sprung from the same
parents, to
hear that he again did not
spurn the
embraces, the
couch of his
sister? Should we not then
flee far from such
gods; and should not our
ears be
stopped altogether, that the
filthiness of so
pure a
religion may not
creep into the
mind? For what
man is there who has been
reared with
morals so
pure, that the
example of the
godsdoes not
excite him to
similar madness? or who can
keep back his
desires from his
kinsfolk, and those of whom he should
stand in
awe, when he
sees that among the
gods above nothing is
held sacred in the
confusion caused by their
lusts? For when it is
certain that the first and
perfect nature has not been
able to
restrain its
passion within
right limits, why should not
man give himself up to his
desires without
distinction,
being both
borne on
headlong by his
innate frailty, and
aided by the
teaching of the
holy deities?
30. I
confess that, in
reflecting on such
monstrous stories in my own
mind, I have
long been
accustomed to
wonder that you
dare to
speak of those as
atheists,
impious,
sacrilegious, who either
deny that there are any
gods at all, or
doubt their
existence, or
assert that they were
men, and have been
numbered among the
gods for the
sake of some
power and
good desert; since, if a
true examination be made, it is
fitting that none should be
called by such
names, more than yourselves, who, under the
pretence of
showing them
reverence,
heap up in so
doing more
abuse and
accusation, than if you had
conceived the
idea of
doing this
openly with
avowed abuse. He who
doubts the
existence of the
gods, or
denies it
altogether, although he
may seem to
adopt monstrous opinions from the
audacity of his
conjectures, yet
refuses to
credit what is
obscure without
insulting any one; and he who
asserts that they were
mortals, although he
brings them down from the
exalted place of
inhabitants of
heaven, yet
heaps upon them other
honours, since he
supposes that they have been
raised to the
rank of the
gods for their
services, and from
admiration of their
virtues.
31. But you who
assert that you are the
defenders and
propagators of their
immortality, have you
passed by, have you
left untouched, any one of them, without
assailing him with your
abuse? or is there any
kind of
insult so
damnable in the
eyes of all, that you have been
afraid to
use it upon them, even though
hindered by the
dignity of their
name? Who
declared that the
gods loved frail and
mortal bodies? was it not you? Who that they
perpetrated those most
charming thefts on the
couches of others? was it not you? Who that
children had
intercourse with their
mothers; and on the other
hand,
fathers with their
virgin daughters? was it not you? Who that
pretty boys, and even
grown-up men of very
fine appearance, were
wrongfully lusted after? was it not you? Who
declared that they were
mutilated,
debauched,
skilled in
dissimulation,
thieves,
held in
bonds and
chains,
finally assailed with
thunderbolts, and
wounded, that they
died, and even found
graves on
earth? was it not you? While, then, so many and
grievous charges have been
raised by you to the
injury of the
gods, do you
dare to
assert that the
gods have been
displeased because of us, while it has
long been
clear that you are the
guilty causes of such
anger, and the
occasion of the
divine wrath?
32. But you
err,
says my
opponent, and are
mistaken, and
show, even in
criticising these
things, that you are rather
ignorant,
unlearned, and
boorish. For all those
stories which seem to you
disgraceful, and
tending to the
discredit of the
gods,
contain in them
holy mysteries,
theories wonderful and
profound, and not such as any one can
easily become
acquainted with by
force of
understanding. For that is not
meant and
said which has been
written and
placed on the
surface of the
story; but all these
things are
understood in
allegorical senses, and by
means of
secret explanations privately supplied. Therefore he who
says Jupiter lay with his
mother, does not
mean the
incestuous or
shameful embraces of
Venus, but
names Jupiter instead of
rain, and
Ceres instead of the
earth. And he, again, who
says that he
dealt lasciviously with his
daughter,
speaks of no
filthy pleasures, but
puts Jupiter for the
name of a
shower, and by his
daughter means the
crop sown. So, too, he who
says that
Proserpina was
carried off by
father Dis, does not
say, as you
suppose, that the
maiden was
carried off to
gratify the
basest desires; but because we
cover the
seed with
clods, he
signifies that the
goddess has
sunk under the
earth, and
unites with
Orcus to
bring forth fruit. In like
manner in the other
stories also one
thing indeed is
said, but something else is
understood; and under a
commonplace openness of
expression there
lurks a
secret doctrine, and a
dark profundity of
mystery.
33. These are all
quirks, as is
evident, and
quibbles with which they are
wont to
bolster up
weak cases before a
jury;
nay, rather, to
speak more
truly, they are
pretences, such as are used in
sophistical reasonings, by which not the
truth is
sought after, but always the
image, and
appearance, and
shadow of the
truth. For because it is
shameful and
unbecoming to
receive as
true the
correct accounts, you have had
recourse to this
expedient, that one
thing should be
substituted for another, and that what was in itself
shameful should, in
being explained, be
forced into the
semblance of
decency. But what is it to us whether other
senses and other
meanings underlie these
vain stories? For we who
assert that the
gods are
treated by you
wickedly and
impiously,
need only
receive what is
written, what is
said, and
need not
care as to what is
kept secret, since the
insult to the
deities consists not in the
idea hidden in its
meanings, but in what is
signified by the
words as they
stand out. And yet, that we
may not seem
unwilling to
examine what you
say, we
ask this first of you, if only you will
bear with us, from whom have you
learned, or by whom has it been made
known, either that these
things were
written allegorically, or that they should be
understood in the same
way? Did the
writers summon you to
take counsel with them? or did you
lie hid in their
bosoms at the
time when they
put one
thing for another, without
regard to
truth? Then, if they
chose, from
religions awe and
fear on any
account, to
wrap those
mysteries in
dark obscurity, what
audacity it
shows in you to
wish to
understand what they did not
wish, to
know yourselves and make all
acquainted with that which they
vainly attempted to
conceal by
words which did not
suggest the
truth!
34. But,
agreeing with you that in all these
stories stags are
spoken of instead of
Iphigenias, yet, how are you
sure, when you either
explain or
unfold these
allegories, that you
give the same
explanations or have the same
ideas which were
entertained by the
writers themselves in the
silence of their
thoughts, but
expressed by
words not
adapted to what was
meant, but to something else? You
say that the
falling of
rain into the
bosom of the
earth was
spoken of as the
union of
Jupiter and
Ceres; another
may both
devise with
greater subtlety, and
conjecture with some
probability, something else; a
third, a
fourth may do the same; and as the
characteristics of the
minds of the
thinkers show themselves, so each
thing may be
explained in an
infinite number of
ways. For since all that
allegory, as it is
called, is
taken from
narratives expressly made
obscure, and has no
certain limit within which the
meaning of the
story, as it is
called, should be
firmly fixed and
unchangeable, it is
open to every one to
put the
meaning into it which he
pleases, and to
assert that that has been
adopted to which his
thoughts and
surmises led him. But this
being the
case, how can you
obtain certainty from what is
doubtful, and
attach one
sense only to an
expression which you
see to be
explained in
innumerable different ways?
35.
Finally, if you
think it
right,
returning to our
inquiry, we
ask this of you, whether you
think that all
stories about the
gods, that is, without any
exception, have been
written throughout with a
double meaning and
sense, and in a
way admitting of several
interpretations; or that some
parts of them are not
ambiguous at all, while, on the
contrary, others have many
meanings, and are
enveloped in the
veil of
allegory which has been
thrown round them? For if the whole
structure and
arrangement of the
narrative have been
surrounded with a
veil of
allegory from beginning to end,
explain to us,
tell us, what we should
put and
substitute for each
thing which every
story says, and to what other
things and
meanings we should
refer each. For as, to
take an
example, you
wish Jupiter to be
said instead of the
rain,
Ceres for the
earth, and for
Libera and
father Dis the
sinking and
casting of
seed into the
earth, so you
ought to
say what we should
understand for the
bull, what for the
wrath and
anger of
Ceres; what the
word Brimo means; what the
anxious prayer of
Jupiter what the
gods sent to make
intercession for him, but not
listened to; what the
castrated ram; what the
parts of the
castrated ram; what the
satisfaction made with these; what the further
dealings with his
daughter, still more
unseemly in their
lustfulness; so, in the other
story also, what the
grove and
flowers of
Henna are; what the
fire taken from
Aetna, and the
torches lit with it; what the
travelling through the
world with these; what the
Attic country, the
canton of
Eleusin, the but of
Baubo, and her
rustic hospitality; what the
drought of
cyceon means, the
refusal of it, the
shaving and
disclosure of the
privy parts, the
shameful charm of the
sight, and the
forgetfulness of her
bereavement produced by such
means. Now, if you
point out what should be
put in the
place of all these,
changing the one for the other, we shall
admit your
assertion; but if you can neither
present another
supposition in each
case, nor
appeal to the
context as a whole, why do you make that
obscure, by
means of
fair-seeming allegories, which has been
spoken plainly, and
disclosed to the
understanding of all?
36. But you will perhaps
say that these
allegories are not found in the whole
body of the
story, but that some
parts are
written so as to be
understood by all, while others have a
double meaning, and are
veiled in
ambiguity. That is
refined subtlety, and can be
seen through by the
dullest. For because it is very
difficult for you to
transpose,
reverse, and
divert to other
meanings all that has been
said, you
choose out some
things which
suit your
purpose, and by
means of these you
strive to
maintain that
false and
spurious versions were
thrown about the
truth which is under them. But yet,
supposing that we should
grant to you that it is
just as you
say, how do you
know, or whence do you
learn, which
part of the
story is
written without any
double meaning, which, on the other
hand, has been
covered with
jarring and
alien senses? For it
may be that what you
believe to be so is otherwise, that what you
believe to be otherwise has been
produced with
different, and even
opposite modes of
expression. For where, in a
consistent whole, one
part is
said to be
written allegorically, the other in
plain and
trustworthy language, while there is no
sign in the
thing itself to
point out the
difference between what is
said ambiguously and what is
said simply, that which is
simple may as well be
thought to have a
double meaning, as what has been
written ambiguously be
believed to be
wrapt in
obscurity. But, indeed, we
confess that we do not
understand at all by whom this is either done, or can be
believed to be
possible.
37. Let us
examine, then, what is
said in this
way. In the
grove of
Henna, my
opponent says, the
maiden Proserpine was once
gathering flowers: this is as yet
uncorrupted, and has been
told in a
straightforward manner, for all
know without any
doubt what a
grove and
flowers are, what
Proserpine is, and a
maiden.
Summanus sprung forth from the
earth,
borne along in a
four-horse chariot: this, too, is
just as
simple, for a
team of
four horses, a
chariot, and
Summanus need no
interpreter.
Suddenly he
carried off
Proserpine, and
bore her with himself under the
earth: the
burying of the
seed, my
opponent says, is
meant by the
rape of
Proserpine.What has
happened,
pray, that the
story should be
suddenly turned to something else? that
Proserpine should be
called the
seed? that she who was for a
long time held to be a
maiden gathering flowers, after that she was
taken away and
carried off by
violence, should begin to
signify the
seed sown?
Jupiter, my
opponent says,
having turned himself into a
bull,
longed to have
intercourse with his
mother Ceres: as was
explained before, under these
names the
earth and
falling rain are
spoken of I
see the
law of
allegory expressed in the
dark and
ambiguous terms.
Ceres was
enraged and
angry, and
received the
parts of a
ram as the
penalty demanded by
vengeance: this again I
see to be
expressed in
common language, for both
anger and (
testes and)
satisfaction are
spoken of in their
usual circumstances. What, then,
happened here,-that from
Jupiter, who was
named for the
rain, and
Ceres, who was
named for the
earth, the
story passed to the
true Jove, and to a most
straightforward account of
events?
38. Either, then, they must all have been
written and
put forward allegorically, and the whole should be
pointed out to us; or nothing has been so
written, since what is
supposed to be
allegorical does not seem as if it were
part of the
narrative. These are all
written allegorically, you
say. This seems by no
means certain. Do you
ask for what
reason, for what
cause? Because, I
answer, all that has
taken place and has been
set down
distinctly in any
book cannot be
turned into an
allegory, for neither can that be
undone which has been done, nor can the
character of an
event change into one which is
utterly different. Can the
Trojan war be
turned into the
condemnation of
Socrates? or the
battle of
Cannae become the
cruel proscription of
Sulla? A
proscription may indeed, as
Tullius says in
jest, be
spoken of as a
battle, and be
called that of
Cannae; but what has already
taken place, cannot be at the same
time a
battle and a
proscription; for neither, as I have
said, can that which has
taken place be anything else than what has
taken place; nor can that
pass over into a
substance foreign to it which has been
fixed down
firmly in its own
nature and
peculiar condition.
39. Whence, then, do we
prove that all these
narratives are
records of
events?
Froth the
solemn rites and
mysteries of
initiation, it is
clear, whether those which are
celebrated at
fixed times and on
set days, or those which are
taught secretly by the
heathen without
allowing the
observance of their
usages to be
interrupted. For it is not to be
believed that these have no
origin,
arc practised without
reason or
meaning, and have no
causes connected with their first
beginnings. That
pine which is
regularly born into the
sanctuary of the
Great Mother, is it not in
imitation of that
tree beneath which
Attis mutilated and
unmanned himself, which also, they
relate, the
goddess consecrated to
relieve her
grief? That
erecting of
phalli and
fascina, which
Greece worships and
celebrates in
rites every
year, does it not
recall the
deed by which
Liber paid his
debt? Of what do those
Eleusinian mysteries and
secret rites contain a
narrative? Is it not of that
wandering in which
Ceres,
worn out in
seeking for her
daughter, when she
came to the
confines of
Attica,
brought wheat with her,
graced with a
hind's
skin the
family of the
Nebridae and
laughed at that most
wonderful sight in
Baubo's
groins? Or if there is another
cause, that is nothing to us, so
long as they are all
produced by some
cause. For it is not
credible that these
things were
set on
foot without
being preceded by any
causes, or the
inhabitants of
Attica must be
considered mad to have
received a
religious ceremony got up without any
reason. But if this is
clear and
certain, that is, if the
causes and
origins of the
mysteries are
traceable to
past events, by no
change can they be
turned into the
figures of
allegory; for that which has been done, which has
taken place, cannot, in the
nature of
things, be
undone.
40. And yet, even if we
grant you that this is the
case, that is, even if the
narratives give utterance to one
thing in
words, but
mean something else, after the
manner of
raving seers, do you not
observe in this
case, do you not
see how
dishonouring, how
insulting to the
gods, this is which is
said to be done? or can any
greater wrong be
devised than to
term and
call the
earth and
rain, or anything else,-for it does not
matter what
change is made in the
interpretation,-the
intercourse of
Jupiter and
Ceres? and to
signify the
descent of
rain from the
sky, and the
moistening of the
earth, by
charges against the
gods? Can anything be either
thought or
believed more
impious than that the
rape of
Proserpine speaks of
seeds buried in the
earth, or anything else,-for in like
manner it is of no
importance,-and that it
speaks of the
pursuit of
agriculture to the
dishonour of
father Dis? Is it not a
thousand times more
desirable to become
mute and
speechless, and to
lose that
flow of
words and
noisy and
unseemly loquacity, than to
call the
basest things by the
names of the
gods;
nay, more, to
signify commonplace things by the
base actions of the
gods?
41. It was once
usual, in
speaking allegorically, to
conceal under
perfectly decent ideas, and
clothe with the
respectability of
decency, what was
base and
horrible to
speak of
openly; but now
venerable things are at your
instance;
vilely spoken of, and what is
quite pure is
related in
filthy language, so that that which
vice formerly
concealed from
shame, is now
meanly and
basely spoken of, the
mode of
speech which was
fitting being changed. In
speaking of
Mars and
Venus as
having been
taken in
adultery by
Vulcan's
art, we
speak of
lust,
says my
opponent, and
anger, as
restrained by the
force and
purpose of
reason. What, then,
hindered, what
prevented you from
expressing each
thing by the
words and
terms proper to it?
nay, more, what
necessity was there, when you had
resolved to
declare something or other, by
means of
treatises and
writings, to
resolve that that should not be the
meaning to which you
point, and in one
narrative to
take up at the same
time opposite positions-the eagerness of one
wishing to
teach, the
niggardliness of one
reluctant to make
public? Was there no
risk in
speaking of the
gods as
unchaste? The
mention of
lust and
anger, my
opponent says, was likely to
defile the
tongue and
mouth with
foul contagion. But,
assuredly, if this were done, and the
veil of
allegorical obscurity were
removed, the
matter would be
easily understood, and by the same the
dignity of the
gods would be
maintained unimpaired. But now, indeed, when the
restraining of
vices is
said to be
signified by the
binding of
Mars and
Venus,
two most
inconsistent things are done at the very same
time; so that, on the one
hand, a
description of something
vile suggests an
honourable meaning, and on the other, the
baseness occupies the
mind before any
regard for
religion can do so.
42. But you will perhaps
say, for this only is
left which you
may think can be
brought forward by you, that the
gods do not
wish their
mysteries to be
known by
men, and that the
narratives were therefore
written with
allegorical ambiguity. And whence have you
learned that the
gods above do not
wish their
mysteries to be made
public? whence have you become
acquainted with these? or why are you
anxious to
unravel them by
explaining them as
allegories?
Lastly, and
finally, what do the
gods mean, that while they do not
wish honourable, they
allow unseemly, even the
basest things, to be
said about them? When we
name Attis,
says my
opponent, we
mean and
speak of the
sun; but if
Attis is the
sun, as you
reckon him and
say, who will that
Attis be whom your
books record and
declare to have been
born in
Phrygia, to have
suffered certain things, to have done
certain things also, whom all the
theatres know in the
scenic shows, to whom every
year we
see divine honours paid expressly by
name amongst the other
religious ceremonies? Whether was this
name made to
pass from the
sun to a
man, or from a
man to the
sun? For if that
name is
derived in the first
instance from the
sun, what,
pray, has the
golden sun done to you, that you should make that
name to
belong to him in
common with an
emasculated person? But if it is
derived from a
goat, and is
Phrygian, of what has the
sire of
Phaethon, the
father of this
light and
brightness, been
guilty, that he should seem
worthy to be
named from a
mutilated man, and should become more
venerable when
designated by the
name of an
emasculated body?
43. But what the
meaning of this is, is already
clear to all. For because you are
ashamed of such
writers and
histories, and do not
see that these
things can be
got rid of which have once been
committed to
writing in
filthy language, you
strive to make
base things honourable, and by every
kind of
subtlety you
pervert and
corrupt the
real senses of
words for the
sake of
spurious interpretations; and, as
oft times happens to the
sick, whose
senses and
understanding have been
put to
flight by the
distempered force of
disease, you
toss about
confused and
uncertain conjectures, and
rave in
empty fictions.
Let it be
granted that the
irrigation of the
earth was
meant by the
union of
Jupiter and
Ceres, the
burying of the
seed by the
ravishing of
Proserpine by
father Dis,
wines scattered over the
earth by the
limbs of
Liber torn asunder by the
Titans, that the
restraining of
lust and
rashness has been
spoken of as the
binding of the
adulterous Venus and
Mars.
44. But if you
come to the
conclusion that these
fables have been
written allegorically, what is to be done with the
rest, which we
see cannot be
forced into such
changes of
sense? For what are we to
substitute for the
wrigglings into which the
lustful heat of
Semele's
offspring forced him upon the
sepulchral mound? and what for those
Ganymedes who were
carried off and
set to
preside over
lustful practices? what for that
conversion of an
ant into which
Jupiter, the
greatest of the
gods,
contracted the
outlines of his
huge body? what for
swans and
satyrs? what for
golden showers, which the same
seductive god put on with
perfidious guile,
amusing himself by
changes of
form? :that we
may not seem to
speak of
Jupiter only, what
allegories can there be in the
loves of the other
deities? what in their
circumstances as
hired servants and
slaves? what in their
bonds,
bereavements,
lamentations? what in their
agonies,
wounds,
sepulchres? Now, while in this you might be
held guilty in one
respect for
writing in such
wise about the
gods, you have
added to your
guilt beyond
measure in
calling base things by the
names of
deities, and again in
defaming the
gods by
giving to them the
names of
infamous things. But if you
believed without any
doubt that they were here
close at
hand, or anywhere at all,
fear would
check you in
making mention of them, and your
beliefs and
unchanged thoughts should have been
exactly as if they were
listening to you and
heard your
words. For among
men devoted to the
services of
religion, not only the
gods themselves, but even the
names of the
gods should be
reverenced, and there should
De quite as much
grandeur in their
names as there is in those even who are
thought of under these
names.
45.
Judge fairly, and you are
deserving of
censure in this, that in your
Common conversation you
name Mars when you
mean fighting,
Neptune when you
mean the
seas,
Ceres when you
mean bread,
Minerva when you
mean weaving,
Venus when you
mean filthy lusts. For what
reason is there, that, when
things can be
classed under their own
names, they should be
called by the
names of the
gods. and that such an
insult should be
offered to the
deities as not even we
men endure, if any one
applies and
turns our
haines to
trifling objects? But
language, you
say, is
contemptible, if
defiled with such
words.
O modesty,
worthy of
praise! you
blush to
name bread and
wine, and are not
afraid to
speak of
Venus instead of
carnal intercourse!