30. But what shall we say of Jove himself, whom the wise have repeatedly asserted to be the sun, driving a winged chariot, followed by a crowd of deities;771    Cf. Plato, Phædr., st. p. 246. some, the ether, blazing with mighty flames, and wasting fire which cannot be extinguished? Now if this is clear and certain, there is, then, according to you, no Jupiter at all; who, born of Saturn his father and Ops his mother, is reported to have been concealed in the Cretan territory, that he might escape his father’s rage. But now, does not a similar mode of thought remove Juno from the list of gods? For if she is the air, as you have been wont to jest and say, repeating in reversed order the syllables of the Greek name,772    Lit., “the reversed order of the Greek name being repeated,” i. e., instead of ἥ-ρα, ἀ-ήρ. there will be found no sister and spouse of almighty Jupiter, no Fluonia,773    The ms. gives Fluvionia. no Pomona, no Ossipagina, no Februtis, Populonia, Cinxia, Caprotina; and thus the invention of that name, spread abroad with a frequent but vain774    Lit., “with the frequency (or fame) of vain,” etc. belief, will be found to be wholly775    Lit., “very.” useless.

XXX. Nam quid de ipso dicemus Jove, quem solem esse dictitavere sapientes, agitantem pinnatos currus, turba consequente divorum? aethera nonnulli flagrantem vi flammea atque ardoris inextinguibili vastitate? Quod si liquet, et constat, nullus ergo omnino est vobis auctoribus Jupiter: qui patre editus Saturno, atque Ope matre, ut genitoris evaderet rabiem, in Cretensium finibus memoratur esse celatus. Jam vero Junonem opinatio nonne consimilis deorum tollit e censu? Nam si aer illa est, quemadmodum vos 0978B ludere ac dictitare consuestis, graeci nominis praeposteritate 0979A repetita, nulla soror et conjux omnipotentis reperietur Jovis, nulla Fluonia, nulla Pomona, nulla Ossipagina, nulla Februtis, Populonia , Cinxia, Caprotina: atque ita reperietur inanissima esse istius nominis fictio, opinionis vacuae celebritate vulgata.