Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume VI/Arnobius/Adversus Gentes/Book VII/Chapter XXXII

by Arnobius

32. But let there be, as you wish, honour in wine and in incense, let the auger and displeasure of the deities be appeased by the immolation and slaughter of victims: are the gods moved by garlands also, wreaths and flowers, by the jingling of brass also, and the shaking of cymbals, by timbrels also, and also by symphonious pipes?^[1] What effect has the clattering of castanets, that when the deities have heard them, they think that honour has been shown to them, and lay aside their fiery spirit of resentment in forgetfulness? Or, as little boys are frightened into giving over their silly wailings by hearing the sound ofrattles, are the almighty deities also soothed in the same way by the whistling of pipes? and do they become mild, is their indignation softened, at the musical sound of cymbals? What is the meaning of those calls^[2] which you sing in the morning, joining your voices to the music of the pipe? Do the gods of heaven fall asleep, so that they should return to their posts? What is the meaning of those slumbers^[3] to which you commend them with auspicious salutations that they may be in good health? Are they awakened from sleep; and that they may be able to be overcome by it, must soothing lullabies be heard? The purification, says my opponent, of the mother of the gods is to-day.^[4] Do the gods, then, become dirty; and to get rid of the filth, do those who wash them need water, and even some cinders to rub them with?^[5] The feast of Jupiter is to-morrow. Jupiter, I suppose, dines, and must be satiated with great banquets, and long filled with eager cravings for food by fasting, and hungry after the usual^[6] interval. The vintage festival of Æsculapius is being celebrated. The gods, then, cultivate vineyards, and, having collected gatherers, press the wine for their own uses.^[7] The lectisternium of Ceres^[8] will be on the next Ides, for the gods have couches; and that they may be able to lie on softer cushions, the pillows are shaken up when they have been pressed down.^[9] It is the birthday of Tellus;^[10] for the gods are born, and have festal days on which it has been settled that they began to breathe

Footnotes

1. Symphoniæ. Evidently musical instruments; but while Isidore speaks of them as a kind of drum, other writers call them trumpets and pipes.
2. At daybreak on opening, and at night on closing the temple, the priests of Isis sang hymns in praise of the goddess (cf. Jos. Scaliger, Castigationes ad Cat., etc., p. 132); and to these Arnobius refers sarcastically, as though they had been calls to awake, and lullabies to sing her asleep.
3. At daybreak on opening, and at night on closing the temple, the priests of Isis sang hymns in praise of the goddess (cf. Jos. Scaliger, Castigationes ad Cat., etc., p. 132); and to these Arnobius refers sarcastically, as though they had been calls to awake, and lullabies to sing her asleep.
4. i.e., March 27th, marked Lavatio in a calendar prepared during the reign of Constantius.
5. Lit., “and some rubbing of cinders added,” aliqua frictione cineris; an emendation of Ursinus for the possibly correct ms. antiqua f. c.—“the ancient rubbing,” i.e., that practiced in early times.
6. Lit., “anniversary.”
7. So the later edd., adopting the emendation of ad suas usionesfor the corrupt ms. ad (or ab) suasionibus.
8. i.e., feast at which the image of Ceres was placed on a couch, probably the Cerealia, celebrated in April. This passage flatly contradicts Prof. Ramsay’s assertion (Ant., p. 345) that lectisternium is not applied to a banquet offered to a goddess; while it corroborates his statement that such feasts were ordinary events, not extraordinary solemnities, as Mr. Yates says (Smith’s Ant., s.v.). See p. 519, n. 2.
9. Lit., “the impression of the cushions is lifted up and raised,” i.e., smoothed.
10. Thus the 25th of January is marked as the birthday of the Graces, the 1st of February as that of Hercules, the 1st of March as that of Mars, in the calendar already mentioned.