§5Regna autem non merito accidunt, sed sorte uariantur.
But kingdoms do not happen by merit, but vary by lot.
ceterum imperium ante tenuerunt Syri et Persae: et Graecos et Aegyptios regnasse cognouimus.
Moreover, the Syrians and Persians held empire before; and we know that both Greeks and Egyptians have reigned.
ita uicibus potestatum Romanis quoque ut et ceteris imperandi tempus obuenit.
Thus, by the vicissitudes of power, the time of ruling has come to the Romans also, as to the rest.
ceterum si ad originem redeas, erubescas.
Moreover, if you should return to the origin, you would blush.
populus de sceleratis et nocentibus congregatur et asylo constituto facit numerum inpunitas criminum: nunc ut rex ipse principatum habeat ad crimina, fit Romulus parricida, adque ut matrimonium faciat, rem concordiae per discordias auspicatur.
A people is gathered from the wicked and guilty, and when an asylum is established, the impunity of crimes makes up the number. Now, so that the king himself may hold the leadership in crimes, Romulus becomes a parricide; and that he may make a marriage, he initiates a matter of concord through discords.
rapiunt, ferociunt, fallunt ad copiam ciuitatis augendam: nuptiae sunt illis rupta hospitii foedera et cum soceris bella crudelia.
They ravish, they rage, they deceive to increase the abundance of the state; marriages to them are broken treaties of hospitality and cruel wars with fathers-in-law.
est et gradus. summus in Romanis honoribus consulatus.
There is also a highest grade in Roman honors, the consulship.
sic consulatum coepisse uidemus at regnum: filios interficit Brutus, ut crescat de suffragio sceleris commendatio dignitatis.
Thus we see that the consulship began, as did the kingship: Brutus kills his sons, so that the recommendation of his dignity may grow from the vote of crime.
non ergo de religionibus sanctis nec de auspiciis aut auguriis Romana regna creuerunt, sed acceptum tempus certo fine custodiunt.
Therefore, the Roman kingdoms did not grow from holy religions, nor from auspices or auguries, but they preserve their accepted time to a certain end.
ceterum et Regulus auspicia seruauit et captus est, et Mancinus religionem tenuit et sub iugum missus est: pullos edaces habuit Paulus et apud Cannas tamen caesus est, Gaius Caesar, ne ante brumam in Africam nauigia transmitteret, auguriis et auspiciis retinentibus spreuit: eo facilius et nauigauit et uicit.
Moreover, Regulus both observed auspices and was captured, and Mancinus maintained religion and was sent under the yoke. Paulus had greedy chicks, yet he was slain at Cannae. Gaius Caesar, lest he should transport his ships to Africa before the winter solstice when auguries and auspices were holding him back, despised them; thereby he both sailed and conquered more easily.
§6Horam autem omnium ratio est illa, quae fallit et decipit et praestigiis caecantibus ueritatem stultum et prodigum uulgus inducit.
But the reason for all these things is that one, which deceives and misleads and by blinding prestiges induces the foolish and prodigal multitude to disregard the truth.
spiritus sunt insinceri et uagi, qui posteaquam terrenis uitiis inmersi sunt et a uigore caelesti terreno contagio recesserunt, non desinunt perditi perdere et deprauati errorem prauitatis infundere.
They are insincere and wandering spirits, who, after they have been immersed in earthly vices and have departed from heavenly vigor through earthly contagion, do not cease, being ruined themselves, to ruin others, and being depraved, to infuse the error of depravity.
hos et poetae daemonas norunt et Socrates instrui se et regi ad arbitrium daemonii praedicabat, et magis inde est ad perniciosa uel ludicra potentatus: quorum tamen praecipuus Ostanes et formam ueri Dei negat conspici posse et angelos ueros sedi eius dicit adsistere.
These also the poets know as demons, and Socrates proclaimed that he was instructed and ruled by the will of a demon, and from that source comes the power of magicians for harmful or playful acts. Yet the chief of these, Ostanes, both denies that the form of the true God can be seen, and says that true angels stand by His seat.
in quo et Plato pari ratione consentit et unum Deum seruans ceteros angelos uel daemonas dicit.
In this Plato also agrees by a similar reasoning, and while maintaining one God, calls the rest angels or demons.
Hermes quoque Trismegistus unum Deum loquitur eumque inconprehensibilem adque inaestimabilem confitetur.
Hermes Trismegistus also speaks of one God and confesses Him to be incomprehensible and inestimable.
§7Hi ergo spiritus sub statuis adque imaginibus consecratis delitescunt, hi adflatu suo uatum pectora inspirant, extorum fibras animant, auium uolatus gubernant, sortes regunt, oracula efficiunt, falsa ueris semper inuoluunt, nam et falluntur et fallunt, uitam turbant, somnos inquietant, inrepentes etiam spiritus in corporibus occulte mentes terrent, membra distorquent, ualitudinem frangunt, morbos lacessunt, ut ad cultum sui cogant, ut nidore altarium et rogis pecorum saginati remissis, quae constrinxerant, curasse uideantur.
Therefore these spirits lurk under consecrated statues and images; these inspire the breasts of prophets with their breath, animate the fibers of entrails, govern the flights of birds, rule lots, produce oracles, always wrapping false things with true ones, for they both are deceived and they deceive. They disturb life, disquiet sleep, and as creeping spirits in bodies, secretly terrify minds, distort limbs, break health, and provoke diseases, so that they may force people to their worship; so that being fattened by the steam of altars and the pyres of cattle, they may seem to have cured by relaxing what they had bound.
haec est de illis medella, cultorum cessat iniuria: nec aliud studium est quam a Deo homines auocare et ad superstitionem sui ab intellectu uerae religionis auertere, cum sint ipsi poenales, quaerere sibi ad poenam comites, quos ad crimen suum fecerint errore participes.
This is the healing concerning them, the injury of their worshippers ceases. Nor is there any other study than to call men away from God and to turn them aside from the understanding of true religion to the superstition of themselves, since being themselves under punishment, they seek companions for themselves in punishment, whom they have made sharers of their crime through error.
hi tamen adiurati per Deum uerum nobis statim cedunt et fatentur et de obsessis corporibus exire coguntur: uideas illos nostra uoce et oratione maiestatis occultae flagris caedi, igne torreri, incremento poenae progagantis extendi, eiulare, gemere, deprecari, unde ueniant et quando discedant ipsis etiam, qui se colunt, audientibus confiteri, ut uel exiliant statim uel euanescant gradatim, prout fides patientis adiuuat aut gratia curantis adspirat.
Yet these, when adjured by the true God, immediately yield to us and confess, and are forced to go out from the possessed bodies. You may see them by our voice and the prayer of hidden majesty beaten with whips, scorched with fire, stretched by the increase of a multiplying punishment, howling, groaning, deprecating, confessing whence they come and when they depart, even while those who worship them are listening, so that they either leap out immediately or vanish by degrees, according as the faith of the patient helps or the grace of the healer breathes upon them.
hinc uulgus in odium nostri nominis cogunt, ut nos odisse incipiant homines antequam nosse, ne cognitos aut imitari possint aut damnare non possint.
Hence they force the multitude into hatred of our name, so that men begin to hate us before they know us, lest, having known us, they should either be able to imitate us or be unable to condemn us.