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Arnobius
6. What can you say as to this, that it is attested by the writings of authors, that many of these temples which have been raised with golden domes and lofty roofs cover bones and ashes, and are sepulchres of the dead? Is it not plain and manifest, either that you worship dead men for immortal gods, or that an inexpiable affront is cast upon the deities, whose shrines and temples have been built over the tombs of the dead? Antiochus,[4597] in the ninth book of his Histories, relates that Cecrops was buried in the temple of Minerva,[4598] at Athens; again, in the temple of the same goddess, which is in the citadel of Larissa,[4599] it is related and declared that Acrisius was laid, and in the sanctuary of Polias,[4600] Erichthonius; while the brothers Dairas and Immarnachus were buried in the enclosure of Eleusin, which lies near the city. What say you as to the virgin daughters of Celeus? are they not said to be buried[4601] in the temple of Ceres at Eleusin? and in the shrine of Diana, which was set up in the temple of the Delian Apollo, are not Hyperoche and Laodice buried, who are said to have been brought thither from the country of the Hyperboreans? In the Milesian Didymæon,[4602] Leandrius says that Cleochus had the last honours of burial paid to him. Zeno of Myndus openly relates that the monument of Leucophryne is in the sanctuary of Diana at Magnesia. Under the altar of Apollo, which is seen in the city of Telmessus, is it not invariably declared by writings that the prophet Telmessus lies buried? Ptolemæus, the son of Agesarchus, in the first book of the History of Philopator[4603] which he published, affirms, on the authority of literature, that Cinyras, king of Paphos, was interred in the temple of Venus with all his family, nay, more, with all his stock. It would be[4604] an endless and boundless task to describe in what sanctuaries they all are throughout the world; nor is anxious care required, although[4605] the Egyptians fixed a penalty for any one who should have revealed the places in which Apis lay hid, as to those Polyandria[4606] of Varro,[4607] by what temples they are covered, and what heavy masses they have laid upon them.
7. But why do I speak of these trifles? What man is there who is ignorant that in the Capitol of the imperial people is the sepulchre of Tolus[4608] Vulcentanus? Who is there, I say, who does not know that from beneath[4609] its foundations there was rolled a man’s head, buried for no very long time before, either by itself without the other parts of the body,—for some relate this,—or with all its members? Now, if you require this to be made clear by the testimonies of authors, Sammonicus, Granius, Valerianus,[4610] and Fabius will declare to you whose son Aulus[4611] was, of what race and nation, how[4612] he was bereft of life and light by the slave of his brother, of what crime he was guilty against his fellow-citizens, that he was denied burial in his father[4613] land. You will learn also—although they pretend to be unwilling to make this public—what was done with his head when cut off, or in what place it was shut up, and the whole affair carefully concealed, in order that the omen which the gods had attested might stand without interruption,[4614] unalterable, and sure. Now, while it was proper that this story should be suppressed, and concealed, and forgotten in the lapse of time, the composition of the name published it, and, by a testimony which could not be got rid of, caused it to remain in men’s minds, together with its causes, so long as it endured itself;[4615] and the state which is greatest of all, and worships all deities, did not blush in giving a name to the temple, to name it from the head of Olus[4616] Capitolium rather than from the name of Jupiter.
8. We have therefore—as I suppose—shown sufficiently, that to the immortal gods temples have been either reared in vain, or built in consequence of insulting opinions held to their dishonour and to the belittling[4617] of the power believed to be in their hands. We have next to say something about statues and images, which you form with much skill, and tend with religious care,—wherein if there is any credibility, we can by no amount of consideration settle in our own minds whether you do this in earnest and with a serious purpose, or amuse yourselves in childish dreams by mocking at these very things.[4618] For if you are assured that the gods exist whom you suppose, and that they live in the highest regions of heaven, what cause, what reason, is there that those images should be fashioned by you, when you have true beings to whom you may pour forth prayers, and from whom you may ask help in trying circumstances? But if, on the contrary, you do not believe, or, to speak with moderation, are in doubt, in this case, also, what reason is there, pray, to fashion and set up images of doubtful beings, and to form[4619] with vain imitation what you do not believe to exist? Do you perchance say, that under these images of deities there is displayed to you their presence, as it were, and that, because it has not been given you to see the gods, they are worshipped in this fashion,[4620] and the duties owed to them paid? He who says and asserts this, does not believe that the gods exist; and he is proved not to put faith in his own religion, to whom it is necessary to see what he may hold, lest that which being obscure is not seen, may happen to be vain.
9. We worship the gods, you say, by means of images.[4621] What then? Without these, do the gods not know that they are worshipped, and will they not think that any honour is shown to them by you? Through bypaths, as it were, then, and by assignments to a third party,[4622] as they are called, they receive and accept your services; and before those to whom that service is owed experience it, you first sacrifice to images, and transmit, as it were, some remnants to them at the pleasure of others.[4623] And what greater wrong, disgrace, hardship, can be inflicted than to acknowledge one god, and yet make supplication to something else—to hope for help from a deity, and pray to an image without feeling? Is not this, I pray you, that which is said in the common proverbs: “to cut down the smith when you strike at the fuller;”[4624] “and when you seek a man’s advice, to require of asses and pigs their opinions as to what should be done?”
10. And whence, finally, do you know whether all these images which you form and put in the place of[4625] the immortal gods reproduce and bear a resemblance to the gods? For it may happen that in heaven one has a beard who by you is represented[4626] with smooth cheeks; that another is rather advanced in years to whom you give the appearance of a youth;[4627] that here he is fair, with blue eyes,[4628] who really has grey ones; that he has distended nostrils whom you make and form with a high nose. For it is not right to call or name that an image which does not derive from the face of the original features like it; which[4629] can be recognised to be clear and certain from things which are manifest. For while all we men see that the sun is perfectly round by our eyesight, which cannot be doubted, you have given[4630] to him the features of a man, and of mortal bodies. The moon is always in motion, and in its restoration every month puts on thirty faces:[4631] with you, as leaders and designers, that is represented as a woman, and has one countenance, which passes through a thousand different states, changing each day.[4632] We understand that all the winds are only a flow of air driven and impelled in mundane ways: in your hands they take[4633] the forms of men filling with breath twisted trumpets by blasts from out their breasts.[4634] Among the representations of your gods we see that there is the very stern face of a lion[4635] smeared with pure vermilion, and that it is named Frugifer. If all these images are likenesses of the gods above, there must then be said to dwell in heaven also a god such as the image which has been made to represent his form and appearance;[4636] and, of course, as here that figure of yours, so there the deity himself[4637] is a mere mask and face, without the rest of the body, growling with fiercely gaping jaws, terrible, red as blood,[4638] holding an apple fast with his teeth, and at times, as dogs do when wearied, putting his tongue out of his gaping mouth.[4639] But if,[4640] indeed, this is not the case, as we all think that it is not, what, pray, is the meaning of so great audacity to fashion to yourself whatever form you please, and to say[4641] that it is an image of a god whom you cannot prove to exist at all?
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