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On the Vanity of Idols

Cyprian of Carthage

Section 4

About this work

Author: Cyprian of Carthage

4. But why do you think that the gods can avail

‹ Section 3 Section 5 ›

on

behalf

of

the

Romans

,

when

you

see

that

they

can

do

nothing

for

their

own

worshipers

in

opposition

to

the

Roman

arms

?

For

we

know

that

the

gods

of

the

Romans

are

indigenous

.

Romulus

was

made

a

god

by

the

perjury

of

Proculus

,

and

Picus

,

and

Tiberinus

,

and

Pilumnus

,

and

Consus

,

whom

as

a

god

of

treachery

Romulus

would

have

to

be

worshipped

,

just

as

if

he

had

been

a

god

of

counsels

,

when

his

perfidy

resulted

in

the

rape

of

the

Sabines

.

Tatius

also

both

invented

and

worshipped

the

goddess

Cloacina

;

Hostilius

,

Fear

and

Paleness

.

By

and

by

,

I

know

not

by

whom

,

Fever

was

dedicated

,

and

Acca

and

Flora

the

harlots

.

These

are

the

Roman

gods

.

But

Mars

is

a

Thracian

,

and

Jupiter

a

Cretan

,

and

Juno

either

Argive

or

Samian

or

Carthaginian

,

and

Diana

of

Taurus

,

and

the

mother

of

the

gods

of

Ida

;

and

there

are

Egyptian

monsters

,

not

deities

,

who

assuredly

,

if

they

had

any

power

,

would

have

preserved

their

own

and

their

people’s

kingdoms

.

Certainly

there

are

also

among

the

Romans

the

conquered

Penates

whom

the

fugitive

Æneas

introduced

thither

.

There

is

also

Venus

the

bald

,

—

far

more

dishonoured

by

the

fact

of

her

baldness

in

Rome

than

by

her

having

been

wounded

in

Homer

.

Notes

8
The following passage, accepted in some editions, is of doubtful authenticity: “To such an extent, indeed, were feigned the names of gods among the Romans, that there is even among them a god, Viduus, who widows the body from the soul—who, as being sad and funereal, is not kept within the walls, but placed outside; but who nevertheless, in that he is excluded, is rather condemned by the Roman religion than worshipped. There is also Scansus, so called from ascents, and Forculus from doors, and Limentinus from thresholds, and Cardea from hinges, and Orbona from bereavement.”