9. What, then, shall we say? That gods beget and are begotten?710    Lit., “that gods are born.” and that therefore they have received organs of generation, that they might be able to raise up offspring, and that, as each new race springs up, a substitution, regularly occurring,711    Lit, “recurring,” “arising again.” should make up for all which had been swept away by the preceding age? If, then, it is so,—that is, if the gods above beget other gods, and are subject to these conditions of sex,712    Lit., “make trial of themselves by these laws of sex.” and are immortal, and are not worn out, by the chills of age,—it follows, as a consequence, that the world713    Lit., “all things,” etc. should be full of gods, and that countless heavens could not contain their multitude, inasmuch as they are both themselves ever begetting, and the countless multitude of their descendants, always being increased, is augmented by means of their offspring; or if, as is fitting, the gods are not degraded by being subjected to sexual impulses,714    Lit., “if the impurity of sexual union is wanting to the gods.” what cause or reason will be pointed out for their being distinguished by those members by which the sexes are wont to recognise each other at the suggestion of their own desires? For it is not likely that they have these members without a purpose, or that nature had wished in them to make sport of its own improvidence,715    So the first five edd. in providing them with members for which there would be no use. For as the hands, feet, eyes, and other members which form our body,716    Lit., “the other arrangement of members.” have been arranged for certain uses, each for its own end, so we may well717    Lit., “it is fitting to believe.” believe that these members have been provided to discharge their office; or it must be confessed that there is something without a purpose in the bodies of the gods, which has been made uselessly and in vain.

IX. Quid ergo dicemus? deos procreare? deos nasci? et idcirco additas genitalium membrorum partes, ut sufficere prolem possent, et nova quaque suboriente foetura, quidquid prior aetas abstulisset, recidiva substitutio subrogaret? Ergo si haec ita sunt, id est, si dii procreant superi, et si per has leges experiuntur se sexus, suntque immortales, nec frigoribus fiunt senectutis effoeti, sequitur ut debeant plena esse diis omnia: neque innumeros coelos eorum capere 0947B multitudinem posse: siquidem et ipsi perpetuo generant, et per soboles sobolum multiplicata semper 0948A innumerabilitas ampliatur; aut si obscoenitas coeundi, ita ut decet, ab diis abest, quae causa ratioque monstrabitur, cur insigniti sint his locis, quibus sexus se solent libidinum propriarum admonitionibus recognoscere? Neque enim veri est simile haberi haec frustra, aut improvidam in illis suave ludere voluisse naturam, ut eos his partibus aggeraret quibus utendum non est. Sic ut enim ad usus certos, manus, pedes, oculi, caeteraque constructio membrorum sua quaeque in officia constituta est, ita convenit credere in sui muneris functionem comparatas esse has partes: aut confitendum est in deorum corporibus esse aliquid vacuum, quod sit frustra atque inaniter fabricatum.