Chapter XXII.—Argument:  Moreover, These Fables, Which at First Were Invented by Ignorant Men, Were Afterwards Celebrated by Others, and Chiefly by Poets, Who Did No Little Mischief to the Truth by Their Authority.  By Fictions of This Kind, and by Falsehoods of a Yet More Attractive Nature, the Minds of Young People are Corrupted, and Thence They Miserably Grow Old in These Beliefs, Although, on the Other Hand, the Truth is Obvious to Them If They Will Only Seek After It.

“These fables and errors we both learn from ignorant parents, and, what is more serious still, we elaborate them in our very studies and instructions, especially in the verses of the poets, who as much as possible have prejudiced76    Some read, “and it is marvellous how these have prejudiced,” etc. the truth77    Some read, “the truth itself.” by their authority.  And for this reason Plato rightly expelled from the state which he had founded in his discourse, the illustrious Homer whom he had praised and crowned.78    Plat., de Rep., lib. iii.  For it was he especially who in the Trojan was allowed your gods, although he made jests of them, still to interfere in the affairs and doings of men:  he brought them together in contest; he wounded Venus; he bound, wounded, and drove away Mars.  He relates that Jupiter was set free by Briareus, so as not to be bound fast by the rest of the gods; and that he bewailed in showers of blood his son Sarpedon, because he could not snatch him from death; and that, enticed by the girdle of Venus, he lay more eagerly with his wife Juno than he was accustomed to do with his adulterous loves.  Elsewhere Hercules threw out dung, and Apollo is feeding cattle for Admetus.  Neptune, however, builds walls for Laomedon, and the unfortunate builder did not receive the wages for his work.  Then Jupiter’s thunderbolt is fabricated79    Otherwise, “Then Vulcan fabricates,” etc. on the anvil with the arms of Æneas, although there were heaven, and thunderbolts, and lightnings long before Jupiter was born in Crete; and neither could the Cyclops imitate, nor Jupiter himself help fearing, the flames of the real thunderbolt.  Why should I speak of the detected adultery of Mars and Venus, and of the violence of Jupiter against Ganymede,—a deed consecrated, (as you say,) in heaven?  And all these things have been put forward with this view, that a certain authority might be gained for the vices80    Otherwise, “judgments.” of men.  By these fictions, and such as these, and by lies of a more attractive kind, the minds of boys are corrupted; and with the same fables clinging to them, they grow up even to the strength of mature age; and, poor wretches, they grow old in the same beliefs, although the truth is plain, if they will only seek after it.  For all the writers of antiquity, both Greek and Roman, have set forth that Saturn, the beginner of this race and multitude, was a man.  Nepos knows this, and Cassius in his history; and Thallus and Diodorus speak the same thing.  This Saturn then, driven from Crete, by the fear of his raging son, had come to Italy, and, received by the hospitality of Janus, taught those unskilled and rustic men many things,—as, being something of a Greek, and polished,—to print letters for instance, to coin money, to make instruments.  Therefore he preferred that his hiding-place, because he had been safely hidden (latent) there, should be called Latium; and he gave a city, from his own name, the name of Saturnia, and Janus, Janiculum, so that each of them left their names to the memory of posterity.  Therefore it was certainly a man that fled, certainly a man who was concealed, and the father of a man, and sprung from a man.  He was declared, however, to be the son of earth or of heaven, because among the Italians he was of unknown parents; as even to this day we call those who appear unexpectedly, sent from heaven, those who are ignoble and unknown, sons of the earth.  His son Jupiter reigned at Crete after his father was driven out.  There he died, there he had sons.  To this day the cave of Jupiter is visited, and his sepulchre is shown, and he is convicted of being human by those very sacred rites of his.

CAPUT XXII.

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ARGUMENTUM.---Has porro fabulas, ab imperitis hominibus primum traditas, alii deinceps celebrarunt, ac poetae potissimum, qui haud parum veritati sua auctoritate nocuere; atque hujusmodi figmentis et mendaciis dulcioribus corrumpuntur ingenia puerorum, qui proinde in iis miseri consenescunt, quum alioquin sit obvia, sed requirentibus.

(XX) Has fabulas et errores et ab imperitis parentibus discimus, et, quod est gravius, ipsis studiis et disciplinis elaboramus, carminibus praecipue poetarum, qui 0307A plurimum quantum veritati ipsi sua auctoritate nocuere. Et Plato ideo praeclare Homerum illum inclytum, laudatum et coronatum, de civitate quam in sermone instituebat, ejecit. Hic enim praecipuus bello Troico deos vestros, etsi ludos facit, tamen in hominum rebus et actibus miscuit: hic eorum paria composuit, sauciavit Venerem, Martem vinxit, vulneravit, fugavit. Jovem narrat a Briareo liberatum, ne a diis caeteris ligaretur; et Sarpedonem filium, quoniam morti non poterat eripere, cruentis imbribus flevisse; et thoro [impr. loro] Veneris illectum, flagrantius quam in adulteras soleat, cum Junone uxore concumbere. Alibi Hercules stercora egerit, et Apollo Admetto pecus pascit; Laomedonti vero muros Neptunus instituit, nec mercedem operis infelix structor accipit: illic Jovis 0307B fulmen cum Aeneae armis in incude fabricatur, quum coelum et fulmina et fulgura longe ante fuerint quam Jupiter in Creta nasceretur, et flammas 0308A veri fulminis nec Cyclops potuerit imitari, nec ipse Jupiter non vereri. Quid loquar Martis et Veneris adulterium deprehensum? et in Ganymedem Jovis stuprum coelo consecratum? quae omnia in hoc prodita, ut vitiis hominum quaedam auctoritas pararetur. His atque hujusmodi figmentis et mendaciis dulcioribus corrumpuntur ingenia puerorum, et, hisdem fabulis inhaerentibus, ad usque summae aetatis robur adolescunt, et in iisdem opinionibus miseri consenescunt, quum sit veritas obvia, sed requirentibus. Saturnum enim principem hujus generis, et examinis omnes scriptores vetustatis, Graeci Romanique, hominem prodiderunt. Scit hoc Nepos et Cassius in historia, et Thallus ac Diodorus hoc loquuntur. Is itaque Saturnus, Creta profugus, Italiam, metu filii 0308B saevientis, accesserat, et, Jani susceptus hospitio, rudes illos homines et agrestes multa docuit, ut graeculus et politus, litteras imprimere, nummos signare, 0309A instrumenta conficere. Itaque latebram suam, quod tuto latuisset, vocari maluit Latium, et urbem Saturniam dedit de suo nomine, et Janiculum Janus ad memoriam uterque posteritatis reliquerunt. Homo igitur utique qui fugit, homo utique qui latuit, et pater hominis, et natus ex homine: terrae enim vel [impr. et] coeli filius, quod apud Italos esset ignotis parentibus, proditus; ut in hodiernum inopinato visos, coelo missos; ignobiles et ignotos, terrae filios nominamus Ejus filius Jupiter Cretae, excluso parente, regnavit, illic obiit, illic filios habuit; adhuc antrum Jovis visitur, et sepulchrum ejus ostenditur, et ipsis sacris suis humanitatis arguitur.