[105]
Behold, behold, O priests, this religious man, and if it seems good to you,
(and it is only the duty of virtuous priests,) warn him that there are some
fixed limits to religion that a man ought not to be too superstitious. Why
was it necessary for you, O fanatical man, with an old woman's superstition,
to go to see a sacred ceremony which was being performed at another person's
house? And how was it that you were possessed with such weakness of mind as
to think it not possible for the gods to be sufficiently propitiated, unless
you intruded yourself into the religious ceremonies of women? Whom of your
ancestors did you ever hear of, of those men who were attentive to their
private religious duties, and who presided over the public priesthoods, who
were present when a sacrifice was being offered to the Bona Dea? No one; not
even that great man who became blind: from which it may be easily seen that
in this life men form many erroneous opinions; when he, who had not
knowingly seen anything which it was impious to see, lost his eye-sight; but
in the case of that fellow, who has polluted the ceremonies, not only by his
presence, but also by his incestuous guilt and, adultery, all the punishment
due to his eyes has fallen on the blindness of his mind. Can you, O priests,
avoid being influenced by the authority of this man, so chaste, so
religious, so holy, so pious a man, when he says that he, with his own
hands, pulled down the house of a most virtuous citizen, and with the same
hands consecrated it to the gods?
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