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-important1058    Lit., “so great.”    Lit., “and to satiety.”    Lit., “in that part of years.” direction of the universe, and appear at the bidding of mortals? the sacrificial meal, incense, blood, the scent of burning laurel-boughs,1059    Lit., “the fumigation of verbenæ,” i.e., of boughs of the laurel, olive, or myrtle.    The ms. wants se, which was supplied by Stewechius.    Lit., “attribute least.” 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 to1060    The ms. omits ut.    i.e., not act impartially and benevolently, which may possibly be the meaning of contrariis agere, or, as Oehler suggests, “to assail men with contrary, i.e., injurious things.” All edd. read egere, except Oehler, who can see no meaning in it; but if translated, “to wish for contrary things,” it suits the next clause very well.    Lit., “divine spurning.” anticipate and prevent him, and turn his uncertain and ambiguous words1061    Lit., “the uncertain things of that ambiguity.”    Lit., “whom passion touches, suffer.”    [When good old Dutch Boyens came to the pontificate as Hadrian VI., he was accounted a “barbarian” because he so little appreciated the art-treasures in the Vatican, on which Leo X. had lavished so much money and so much devotion. His pious spirit seemed oppressed to see so many heathen images in the Vatican: sunt idola ethnicorum was all he could say of them,—a most creditable anecdote of such a man in such times. See p. 504, n. 6, supra.] into “an onion’s head?”

III. Sed concedamus, ut dicitur, ipsum adversum se Jovem remedia scisse, atque artes, quibus iri obviam suis significationibus conveniret; etiamne credemus Deum numinis tanti tractum esse ad terras, et in verrucula collis unius cum homunculo stantem, altercabilem conseruisse sermonem? Et quaenam illa, quaeso, divina res fuit, quae ad imperio rerum tanto Jovem compulit a vocari, et mortalium sese denuntiationibus 1086B sistere? mola falsa, thus, sanguis, verbenarum sufficio, et nominum terribilium fremores? et 1087A potentiora quam Jupiter fuerunt haec omnia, ut eum compellerent invitum parere praeceptis, aut voluntarium sese circumventionibus tradere? Quid? quod sequitur, fidem sumet, tam improvidum fuisse Saturnium; ut aut ea proponeret, quorum ambagibus ipse caperetur, aut nesciret futurum quibus lusura se modis astutia esset calliditasque mortalis? Expiabis, inquit, capite fulgurita. Imperfecta adhuc vox est, neque plena proloquii, circumscriptaque sententia. Scire enim necessario convenit, utrumne capite vervecino, an suillo, an bubullo, an quolibet alio, expiationem istam sciscat Diespiter perpetrari. Quod cum nondum specialiter statuisset, essetque adhuc pendens, et nondum sententia terminata, qui potuit Numa scire hominis Jovem dicturum caput, ut anteverteret, 1087B anteiret, et in caput coepitium ambiguitatis illius incerta traduceret?