27. Now we may apply this
very argument to Venus in exactly the same way. For if, as you
maintain and believe, she fills men’s minds with lustful
thoughts, it must be held in consequence that any disgrace and misdeed
arising from such madness should be ascribed to the instigation of
Venus. Is it, then, under compulsion of the goddess that even the
noble too often betray their own reputation into the hands of worthless
harlots; that the firm bonds of marriage are broken; that near
relations burn with incestuous lust; that mothers have their passions
madly kindled towards their children; that fathers turn to themselves
their daughters’ desires; that old men, bringing shame upon their
grey hairs, sigh with the ardour of youth for the gratification of
filthy desires; that wise and brave
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men, losing in effeminacy the strength
of their manhood, disregard the biddings of constancy; that the noose
is twisted about their necks; that blazing pyres are ascended;
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and that in
different places men, leaping voluntarily, cast themselves headlong
over very high and huge precipices?
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i.e., those who subdue their own spirits. “Constancy”
is the
εὐπάθεια
of the
Stoics.
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Referring to Dido.
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As
despairing lovers are said to have sought relief in death, by leaping
from the Leucadian rock into the sea.