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What is the cause, therefore, which has driven so many select gods to
these very small works, in which they are excelled by Vitumnus and
Sentinus, though little known and sunk in obscurity, inasmuch as they
confer the munificent gifts of life and sensation? For the select
Janus bestows an entrance, and, as it were, a door for the seed;
the select Saturn bestows the seed itself; the select Liber bestows
on men the emission of the same seed; Libera, who is Ceres or
Venus, confers the same on women; the select Juno confers (not
alone, but together with Mena, the daughter of Jupiter) the
menses, for the growth of that which has been conceived; and the
obscure and ignoble Vitumnus confers life, whilst the obscure and
ignoble Sentinus confers sensation;, which two last things are as
much more excellent than the others, as they themselves are excelled by
reason and intellect. For as those things which reason and understand
are preferable to those which, without intellect and reason, as in the
case of cattle, live and feel; so also those things which have been
endowed with life and sensation are deservedly preferred to those things
which neither live nor feel. Therefore Vitumnus the life-giver, and
Sentinus the sense-giver, ought to have been reckoned among the
select gods, rather than Janus the admitter of seed, and Saturn the
giver or sewer of seed, and Liber and Libera the movers and
liberators of seed; which seed is not worth a thought, unless it
attain to life and sensation. Yet these select gifts are not given by
select gods, but by certain unknown, and, considering their dignity,
neglected gods. But if it be replied that Janus has dominion over all
beginnings, and therefore the opening of the way for conception is not
without reason assigned to him; and that Saturn has dominion over all
seeds, and therefore the sowing of the seed whereby a human being is
generated cannot be excluded from his operation; that Liber and
Libera have power over the emission of all seeds, and therefore
preside over those seeds which pertain to the procreation of men; that
Juno presides over all purgations and births, and therefore she has
also charge of the purgations of women and the births of human
beings;, if they give this reply, let them find an answer to the
question concerning Vitumnus and Sentinus, whether they are willing
that these likewise should have dominion over all things which live and
feel. If they grant this, let them observe in how sublime a position
they are about to place them. For to spring from seeds is in the earth
and of the earth, but to live and feel are supposed to be properties
even of the sidereal gods. But if they say that only such things as
come to life in flesh, and are supported by senses, are assigned to
Sentinus, why does not that God who made all things live and feel,
bestow on flesh also life and sensation, in the universality of His
operation conferring also on foe-ruses this gift? And what, then,
is the use of Vitumnus and Sentinus? But if these, as it were,
extreme and lowest things have been committed by Him who presides
universally over life and sense to these gods as to servants, are these
select gods then so destitute of servants, that they could not find any
to whom even they might commit those things, but with all their
dignity, for which they are, it seems, deemed worthy to be selected,
were compelled to perform their work along with ignoble ones? Juno is
select queen of the gods, and the sister and wife of Jupiter;
nevertheless she is Iterduca, the conductor, to boys, and performs
this work along with a most ignoble pair, the goddesses Abeona and
Adeona. There they have also placed the goddess Mena, who gives to
boys a good mind, and she is not placed among the select gods; as if
anything greater could be bestowed on a man than a good mind. But
Juno is placed among the select because she is Iterduca and Domiduca
(she who conducts one on a journey, and who conducts him home
again); as if it is of any advantage for one to make a journey, and
to be conducted home again, if his mind is not good. And yet the
goddess who bestows that gift has not been placed by the selectors among
the select gods, though she ought indeed to have been preferred even to
Minerva, to whom, in this minute distribution of work, they have
allotted the memory of boys. For who will doubt that it is a far
better thing to have a good mind, than ever so great a memory? For no
one is bad who has a good mind; but some who are very bad are possessed
of an admirable memory, and are so much the worse, the less they are
able to forget the bad things which they think. And yet Minerva is
among the select gods, whilst the goddess Mena is hidden by a
worthless crowd. What shall I say concerning Virtus? What
concerning Felicitas?, concerning whom I have already spoken much in
the fourth book; to whom, though they held them to be goddesses, they
have not thought fit to assign a place among the select gods, among
whom they have given a place to Mars and Orcus, the one the causer of
death, the other the receiver of the dead.
Since, therefore, we see that even the select gods themselves work
together with the others, like a senate with the people, in all those
minute works which have been minutely portioned out among many gods;
and since we find that far greater and better things are administered by
certain gods who have not been reckoned worthy to be selected than by
those who are called select, it remains that we suppose that they were
called select and chief, not on account of their holding more exalted
offices in the world, but because it happened to them to become better
known to the people. And even Varro himself says, that in that way
obscurity had fallen to the lot of some father gods and mother
goddesses, as it fails to the lot of man. If, therefore, Felicity
ought not perhaps to have been put among the select gods, because they
did not attain to that noble position by merit, but by chance,
Fortune at least should have been placed among them, or rather before
them; for they say that that goddess distributes to every one the gifts
she receives, not according to any rational arrangement, but according
as chance may determine. She ought to have held the uppermost place
among the select gods, for among them chiefly it is that she shows what
power she has. For we see that they have been selected not on account
of some eminent virtue or rational happiness, but by that random power
of Fortune which the worshippers of these gods think that she exerts.
For that most eloquent man Sallust also may perhaps have the gods
themselves in view when he says: "But, in truth, fortune rules in
everything; it renders all things famous or obscure, according to
caprice rather than according to truth." For they cannot discover a
reason why Venus should have been made famous, whilst Virtus has been
made obscure, when the divinity of both of them has been solemnly
recognized by them, and their merits are not to be compared. Again,
if she has deserved a noble position on account of the fact that she is
much sought after, for there are more who seek after Venus than after
Virtus, why has Minerva been celebrated whilst Pecunia has been left
in obscurity, although throughout the whole human race avarice allures
a far greater number than skill? And even among those who are skilled
in the arts, you will rarely find a man who does not practise his own
art for the purpose of pecuniary gain; and that for the sake of which
anything is made, is always valued more than that which is made for the
sake of something else. If, then, this selection of s has been made
by the judgment of the foolish multitude, why has not the goddess
Pecunia been preferred to Minerva, since there are many artificers
for the sake of money? But if this distinction has been made by the
few. wise, why has Virtus been preferred to Venus, when reason by
far prefers the former? At all events, as I have already said,
Fortune herself, who, according to those who attribute most influence
to her, renders all things famous or obscure according to caprice
rather than according to the truth, since she has been able to exercise
so much power even over the gods, as, according to her capricious
judgment, to render those of them famous whom she would, and those
obscure whom she would; Fortune herself ought to occupy the place of
pre-eminence among the select gods, since over them also she has such
pre-eminent power. Or must we suppose that the reason why she is not
among the select is simply this, that even. Fortune herself has had
an adverse fortune? She was adverse, then, to herself, since,
whilst ennobling others, she herself has remained obscure.
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