And when in another place he says that Genius is the rational soul of every one, and therefore exists separately in each individual, but that the corresponding soul of the world is God, he just comes back to this same thing, --namely, that the soul of the world itself is to be held to be, as it were, the universal genius.
This, therefore, is what he calls Jupiter.For if every genius is a god, and the soul of every man a genius, it follows that the soul of every man is a god.But if very absurdity compels even these theologists themselves to shrink from this, it remains that they call that genius god by special and pre-eminent distinction, whom they call the soul of the world, and therefore Jupiter.
CHAP.14.--CONCERNING THE OFFICES OF MERCURY AND MARS.
But they have not found how to refer Mercury and Mars to any parts of the world, and to the works of God which are in the elements; and therefore they have set them at least over human works, making them assistants in speaking and in carrying on wars.Now Mercury, if he has also the power of the speech of the gods, rules also over the king of the gods himself, if Jupiter, as he receives from him the faculty of speech, also speaks according as it is his pleasure to permit him --which surely is absurd;but if it is only the power over human speech which is held to be attributed to him, then we say it is incredible that Jupiter should have condescended to give the pap not only to children, but also to beasts--from which he has been surnamed Ruminus--and yet should have been unwilling that the care of our speech, by which we excel the beasts, should pertain to him.
And thus speech itself both belongs to Jupiter, and is Mercury.But if speech itself is said to be Mercury, as those things which are said concerning him by way of interpretation show it to be;--for he is said to have been called Mercury, that is, he who runs between,[2] because speech runs between men: they say also that the Greeks call him 'E<greek>rmhs</greek>, because speech, or interpretation, which certainly belongs to speech, is called by them <greek>e?rmhnei?a</greek>: also he is said to preside over payments, because speech passes between sellers and buyers:
the wings, too, which he has on his head and on his feet, they say mean that speech passes winged through the air: he is also said to have been called the messenger,[3] because by means of speech all our thoughts are expressed;[4]--if, therefore, speech itself is Mercury, then, even by their own confession, he is not a god.But when they make to themselves gods of such as are not even demons, by praying to unclean spirits, they are possessed by such as are not gods, but demons.In like manner, because they have not been able to find for Mars any element or part of the world in which he might perform some works of nature of whatever kind, they have said that he is the god of war, which is a work of men, and that not one which is considered desirable by them.If, therefore, Felicitas should give perpetual peace, Mars would have nothing to do.But if war itself is Mars, as speech is Mercury, I wish it were as true that there were no war to be falsely called a god, as it is true that it is not a god.
CHAP.15.--CONCERNING CERTAIN STARS WHICH THE PAGANS HAVE CALLED BYTHE NAMES OF
THEIR GODS.
But possibly these stars which have been called by their names are these gods.For they call a certain star Mercury, and likewise a certain other star Mars.But among those stars which are called by the names of gods, is that one which they call Jupiter, and yet with them Jupiter is the world.There also is that one they call Saturn, and yet they give to him no small property besides,--namely, all seeds.There also is that brightest of them all which is called by them Venus, and yet they will have this same Venus to be also the moon:--not to mention how Venus and Juno are said by them to contend about that most brilliant star, as though about another golden apple.For some say that Lucifer belongs to Venus, and some to Juno.But, as usual, Venus conquers.For by far the greatest number assign that star to Venus, so much so that there is scarcely found one of them who thinks otherwise.But since they call Jupiter the king of all, who will not laugh to see his star so far surpassed in brilliancy by the star of Venus? For it ought to have been as much more brilliant than the rest, as he himself is more powerful.
They answer that it it only appears so because it is higher up, and very much farther away from the earth.If, therefore, its greater dignity has deserved a higher place, why is Saturn higher in the heavens than Jupiter? was the vanity of the fable which made Jupiter king not able to reach the stars? And has Saturn been permitted to obtain at least in the heavens, what he could not obtain in his own kingdom nor in the Capitol?
But why has Janus received no star? If it is because he is the world, and they are all in him, the world is also Jupiter's, and yet he has one.Did Janus compromise his case as best he could, and instead of the one star which he does not have among the heavenly bodies, accept so many faces on earth? Again, if they think that on account of the stars alone Mercury and Mars are parts of the world, in order that they may be able to have them for gods, since speech and war are not parts of the world, but acts of men, how is it that they have made no altars, established no rites, built no temples for Aries, and Taurus, and Cancer, and Scorpio, and the rest which they number as the celestial signs, and which consist not of single stars, but each of them of many stars, which also they say are situated above those already mentioned in the highest part of the heavens, where a more constant motion causes the stars to follow an undeviating course? And why have they not reckoned them as gods, I do not say among those select gods, but not even among those, as it were, plebeian gods?
CHAP.16.--CONCERNING APOLLO AND DIANA, AND THE OTHER SELECT GODS WHOMTHEY
WOULD HAVE TO BE PARTS OF THE WORLD.
