Summary (part 2 of 2)

39. There are some, besides, who assert that those who from being men became gods, are denoted by this name,—as Hercules, Romulus, Æsculapius, Liber, Æneas. These are all, as is clear, different opinions; and it cannot be, in the nature of things, that those who differ in opinion can be regarded as teachers of one truth. For if Piso's opinion is true, Ælius and Granius say what is false; if what they say is certain, Varro, with all his skill,⁴⁰⁴⁷ is mistaken, who substitutes things most frivolous and vain for those which really exist. If they are named Novensiles because their number is nine,⁴⁰⁴⁸ Cornificius is shown to stumble, who, giving them might and power not their own, makes them the divine overseers of renovation.⁴⁰⁴⁹ But if Cornificius is right in his belief, Cincius is found to be not wise, who connects with the power of the dii Novensiles the gods of conquered cities. But if they are those whom Cincius asserts them to be, Manilius will be found to speak falsely, who comprehends those who wield another's thunder under this name.⁴⁰⁵⁰ But if that which Manilius holds is true and certain, they are utterly mistaken who suppose that those raised to divine honours, and deified mortals, are thus named because of the novelty of their rank. But if the Novensiles are those who have deserved to be raised to the stars after passing through the life of men,⁴⁰⁵¹ there are no dii Novensiles at all. For as slaves, soldiers, masters, are not names of persons comprehended under them,⁴⁰⁵² but of officers, ranks, and duties, so, when we say that Novensiles is the name⁴⁰⁵³ of gods who by their virtues have become⁴⁰⁵⁴ gods from being men, it is clear and evident that no individual persons are marked out particularly, but that newness itself is named by the title Novensiles.

40. Nigidius taught that the dii Penates were Neptune and Apollo, who once, on fixed terms, girt Ilium⁴⁰⁵⁵ with walls. He himself again, in his sixteenth book, following Etruscan teaching, shows that there are four kinds of Penates; and that one of these pertains to Jupiter, another to Neptune, the third to the shades below, the fourth to mortal men, making some unintelligible assertion. Cæsius himself, also, following this teaching, thinks that they are Fortune, and Ceres, the genius Jovialis,⁴⁰⁵⁶ and Pales, but not the female deity commonly received,⁴⁰⁵⁷ but some male attendant and steward of Jupiter. Varro thinks that they are the gods of whom we speak who are within, and in the inmost recesses of heaven, and that neither their number nor names are known. The Etruscans say that these are the Consentes and Complices,⁴⁰⁵⁸ and name them because they rise and fall together, six of them being male, and as many female, with unknown names and pitiless dispositions,⁴⁰⁵⁹ but they are considered the counsellors and princes of Jove supreme. There were some, too, who said that Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva were the dii Penates, without whom we cannot live and be wise, and by whom we are ruled within in reason, passion, and thought. As you see, even here, too, nothing is said harmoniously, nothing is settled with the consent of all, nor is there anything reliable on which the mind can take its stand, drawing by conjecture very near to the truth. For their opinions are so doubtful, and one supposition so discredited⁴⁰⁶⁰ by another, that there is either no truth in them all, or if it is uttered by any, it is not recognised amid so many different statements.

41. We can, if it is thought proper, speak briefly of the Lares also, whom the mass think to be the gods of streets and ways, because the Greeks name streets lauræ. In different parts of his writings, Nigidius speaks of them now as the guardians of houses and dwellings; now as the Curetes, who are said to have once concealed, by the clashing of cymbals,⁴⁰⁶¹ the infantile cries of Jupiter; now the five Digiti Samothracii, who, the Greeks tell us, were named Idæi Dactyli. Varro, with like hesitation, says at one time that they are the Manes,⁴⁰⁶² and therefore the mother of the Lares was named Mania; at another time, again, he maintains that they are gods of the air, and are termed heroes; at another, following the opinion of the ancients, he says that the Lares are ghosts, as it were a kind of tutelary demon, spirits of dead⁴⁰⁶³ men.

42. It is a vast and endless task to examine each kind separately, and make it evident even from your religious books that you neither hold nor believe that there is any god concerning whom you have not⁴⁰⁶⁴ brought forward doubtful and inconsistent statements, expressing a thousand different beliefs. But, to be brief, and avoid prolixity,⁴⁰⁶⁵ it is enough to have said what has been said; it is, further, too troublesome to gather together many things into one mass, since it is made manifest and evident in different ways that you waver, and say nothing with certainty of these things which you assert. But you will perhaps say, Even if we have no personal knowledge of the Lares, Novensiles, Penates, still the very agreement of our authors proves their existence, and that such a race⁴⁰⁶⁶ takes rank among the celestial gods. And how can it be known whether there is any god, if what he is shall be wholly unknown?⁴⁰⁶⁷ or how can it avail even to ask for benefits, if it is not settled and determined who should be invoked at each inquiry?⁴⁰⁶⁸ For every one who seeks to obtain an answer from any deity, should of necessity know to whom he makes supplication, on whom he calls, from whom he asks help for the affairs and occasions of human life; especially as you yourselves declare that all the gods do not have all power, and⁴⁰⁶⁹ that the wrath and anger of each are appeased by different rites.

43. For if this deity⁴⁰⁷⁰ requires a black, that⁴⁰⁷¹ a white skin; if sacrifice must be made to this one with veiled, to that with uncovered head;⁴⁰⁷² this one is consulted about marriages,⁴⁰⁷³ the other relieves distresses,—may it not be of some importance whether the one or the other is Novensilis, since ignorance of the facts and confusion of persons displeases the gods, and leads necessarily to the contraction of guilt? For suppose that I myself, to avoid some inconvenience and peril, make supplication to any one of these deities, saying, Be present, be near, divine Penates, thou Apollo, and thou, O Neptune, and in your divine clemency turn away all these evils, by which I am annoyed,⁴⁰⁷⁴ troubled, and tormented: will there be any hope that I shall receive help from them, if Ceres, Pales, Fortune, or the genius Jovialis,⁴⁰⁷⁵ not Neptune and Apollo, shall be the dii Penates? Or if I invoked the Curetes instead of the Lares, whom some of your writers maintain to be the Digiti Samothracii, how shall I enjoy their help and favour, when I have not given them their own names, and have given to the others names not their own? Thus does our interest demand that we should rightly know the gods, and not hesitate or doubt about the power, the name of each; lest,⁴⁰⁷⁶ if they be invoked with rites and titles not their own, they have at once their ears stopped against our prayers, and hold us involved in guilt which may not be forgiven.

44. Wherefore, if you are assured that in the lofty palaces of heaven there dwells, there is, that multitude of deities whom you specify, you should make your stand on one proposition,⁴⁰⁷⁷ and not, divided by different and inconsistent opinions, destroy belief in the very things which you seek to establish. If there is a Janus, let Janus be; if a Bacchus, let Bacchus be; if a Summanus,⁴⁰⁷⁸ let Summanus be: for this is to confide, this to hold, to be settled in the knowledge of something ascertained, not to say after the manner of the blind and erring, The Novensiles are the Muses, in truth they are the Trebian gods, nay, their number is nine, or rather, they are the protectors of cities which have been overthrown; and bring so important matters into this danger, that while you remove some, and put others in their place, it may well be doubted of them all if they anywhere exist.