21. And, I ask, what reason
is there, what unavoidable necessity, what occasion for the gods
knowing and being acquainted with these handicrafts as though they were
worthless mechanics? For, are songs sung and music played in
heaven, that the nine sisters may gracefully combine and harmonize
pauses and rhythms of tones? Are there on the mountains
3975
of the stars,
forests, woods, groves, that
3976
Diana may be esteemed very mighty in
hunting expeditions? Are the gods ignorant of the immediate
future; and do they live and pass the time according to the lots
assigned them by fate, that the inspired son of Latona may explain and
declare what the morrow or the next hour bears to each? Is he
himself inspired by another god, and is he urged and roused by the
power of a greater divinity, so that he may be rightly said and
esteemed to be divinely inspired? Are the gods liable to be
seized by diseases; and is there anything by which they may be wounded
and hurt, so that, when there is occasion, he
3977
of Epidaurus may come to their
assistance? Do they labour, do they bring forth, that Juno may
soothe, and Lucina abridge the terrible pangs of childbirth? Do
they engage in agriculture, or are they concerned with the duties of
war, that Vulcan, the lord of fire, may form for them swords, or forge
their rustic implements? Do they need to be covered with
garments, that the Tritonian
3978
maid may, with nice skill,
3979
spin, weave
cloth for them, and make
3980
them tunics to suit the season, either
triple-twilled, or of silken fabric? Do they make accusations and
refute them, that the descendant
3981
of Atlas may carry off the prize for
eloquence, attained by assiduous practice?
3975
The
ms.
, followed by LB. and Hild.,
reads
sidereis motibus
—“in the motions of the
stars;” i.e., can these be in the stars, owing to their
motion? Oehler conjectures
molibus
—“in the
masses of the stars;” the other edd. read
montibus
, as
above.
3976
The
ms.
, both Roman edd., and Oehler
read
habetur Diana
—“is Diana esteemed;”
the other edd.,
ut habeatur
, as above.
3977
i.e., Æsculapius.
3978
i.e., Minerva. [Elucidation II. Conf. n. 4, p. 467,
supra
.]
3979
“With nice skill…for them,”
curiose iis
;
for which the
ms.
and first five edd.
read
curiosius
—“rather skilfully.”
3980
The
ms.
reads unintelligibly
et
imponere
, for which Meursius emended
componat
, as above.
3981
Mercury, grandson of Atlas by Maia.