§7Proinde coronarii isti agnoscant interim naturae auctoritatem communis sapientiae nomine, qua homines, et propriae religionis pignora, qua deum naturae de proximo colentes, atque ita velut ex abundanti ceteras quoque rationes dispiciant quae nostro privatim capiti coronamentis et quidem omnibus interdicunt.
, let those wearers of crowns in the meantime acknowledge the authority of nature in the name of common wisdom, as men, and by the pledges of their own religion, as those who worship the God of nature from nearby, and thus, as if from superabundance, let them also discern the other reasons which privately forbid our head from crowns, and indeed from all of them.
Nam et urgemur a communione naturalis disciplinae converti ad proprietatem Christianae totam iam defendendam per ceteras quoque species coronarum, quae aliis usibus prospectae videntur, ut aliis substantiis structae, ne, quia non ex floribus constant, quorum usum natura signavit, ut ipsa haec laurea militaris, non credantur admittere sectae interdictionem, quia evaserint naturae praescriptionem.
For we are also urged to turn from the commonality of natural discipline to the ownership of the Christian, which is now to be defended as a whole through the other kinds of crowns too, which seem to be provided for other uses, as they are constructed from other substances, lest, because they do not consist of flowers, whose use nature has marked out—as is this very military laurel—they should be believed not to admit the prohibition of our sect because they have escaped the prescription of nature.
Video igitur et curiosius et plenius agendum ab originibus usque ad profectus et excessus rei.
I see therefore that we must act both more carefully and more fully, from the origins to the progress and excesses of the matter.
Litterae ad hoc saeculares necessariae.
Secular literature is necessary for this.
De suis enim instrumentis saecularia probari necesse est.
For it is necessary that secular things be proved from their own instruments.
Quantulas attigi, credo sufficient.
What little I have touched upon will, I believe, suffice.
Si fuit aliqua Pandora, quam primam feminarum memorat Hesiodus, hoc primum caput coronatum est a Charitibus, cum ab omnibus muneraretur, unde Pandora.
If there was any Pandora, whom Hesiod mentions as the first of women, this head was first crowned by the Graces, when she was gifted by all, whence Pandora.
Nobis vero Moyses, propheticus, non poeticus pastor, principem feminam Evam facilius pudenda foliis quam tempora floribus incinctam describit.
But to us, Moses, a prophetic, not a poetic shepherd, describes Eve, the first woman, as girt about her shameful parts with leaves rather than her temples with flowers.
Nulla ergo Pandora.
Therefore, there is no Pandora.
Sed et de mendacio erubescenda est coronae origo.
But also, from falsehood, the origin of the crown is to be blushed at.
Iam nunc et de veritatibus suis.
Now indeed, let us also speak of their truths.
Certe enim certos fuisse constat auctores rei vel illuminatores.
For indeed it is agreed that there were certain authors of the matter, or its expanders.
Saturnum Pherecydes ante omnes refert coronatum, Iovem Diodorus post devictos Titanas hoc munere a ceteris honoratum.
Pherecydes reports that Saturn was crowned before all; Diodorus reports that Jupiter, after defeating the Titans, was honored with this gift by the others.
Dat et Priapo taenias idem, et Ariadnae sertum ex auro et Indicis gemmis, Vulcani ac post Liberi munus, postea sidus Iunoni vitem Callimachus induxit.
The same author also gives fillets to Priapus, and to Ariadne a garland of gold and Indian gems, the gift of Vulcan and afterwards of Liber, which afterwards became a constellation; Callimachus introduced a vine-garland for Juno.
Ita et Argis signum eius palmite redimitum subiecto pedibus corio leonino insultantem ostentat novercam de exuviis utriusque privigni Hercules nunc populum capite praefert, nunc oleastrum, nunc apium.
So also at Argos her statue, crowned with a vine shoot, with a lion's skin placed under her feet, displays the stepmother insulting over the spoils of both her stepsons; Hercules now displays poplar on his head, now wild olive, now parsley.
Habes tragoediam Cerberi. habes Pindarum atque Callimachum, qui et Apollinem memorat interfecto Delphyne dracone lauream induisse, qua supplicem.
You have the tragedy of Cerberus; you have Pindar and Callimachus, who also mentions that Apollo, after killing the dragon Delphyne, put on a laurel crown, as a suppliant.
Erant enim supplices coronati apud veteres.
For suppliants were crowned among the ancients.
Liberum, eundem apud Aegyptios Osirin, Harpocration industria hederatum argumentatur, quod hederae natura sit cerebrum ab heluco defensare.
Harpocration argues that Liber, the same as Osiris among the Egyptians, was intentionally crowned with ivy, because the nature of ivy is to protect the brain from hangover.
Sed et alias Liberum principem coronae plane laureae, in qua ex Indis triumphavit, etiam vulgus agnoscit, cum dies in illum sollemnes Magnam appellat Coronam. Si et Leonis Aegyptii scripta volvas, prima Isis repertas spicas capite cir cumtulit, rem magis ventris.
But also on other grounds, even the common people acknowledge Liber as the chief of the crown, specifically the laurel one, in which he triumphed over the Indians, when they call his solemn days "the Great Crown." If you also turn over the writings of Leo the Egyptian, Isis was the first to carry around her head the discovered ears of corn, a matter rather of the belly.
Plura quaerentibus omnia exhibebit praestantissimus in hac quoque materia commentator Claudius Saturninus.
To those seeking more, Claudius Saturninus, a most outstanding commentator in this matter also, will exhibit everything.
Nam est illius de coronis liber et origines et origines et causas et species et sollemnitates earum ita edisserens, ut nullam gratiam floris, nullam laetitiam frondis, nullum cespitem aut palmitem non alicuius capiti invenias consecratum; quo satis instruatur, quam alienum iudicare debeamus coronati capitis institutionem ab eis prolatam et in eorum deinceps honorem dispensatam quos saeculum deos credidit.
For there is his book on crowns, so discussing both their origins and causes and kinds and solemnities, that you will find no beauty of a flower, no joy of a leaf, no turf or vine-shoot not consecrated to someone's head; by which it may be sufficiently taught how alien we ought to judge the institution of the crowned head, brought forward by those and thenceforth dispensed in honor of those whom the world believed to be gods.
Si enim mendacium divinitatis diabolus operatur in hac etiam specie, a primordio mendax, sine dubio et eos ipse prospexerat in quibus mendacium divinitatis ageretur.
For if the devil, a liar from the beginning, works the falsehood of divinity also in this kind, without doubt he had himself foreseen those in whom the falsehood of divinity would be acted out.
Quale igitur habendum est apud homines dei veri quod a gentibus candidatis diaboli introductum et ipsis a primordio dicatum est, quodque iam tunc idololatriae initiabatur ab idolis et in idolis adhuc vivis? non quasi aliquid sit idolum, sed quoniam quae idolis alii faciunt ad daemones pertinent? Porro si quae alii idolis faciunt ad daemones pertinent, quanto magis quod ipsa sibi idola fecerunt cum adviverent? Ipsi scilicet sibi procuraverant daemones per eos in quibus esurierant ante quod procuraverant.
What sort of thing, then, must that be held among the men of the true God which was introduced by the candidate gentiles of the devil and dedicated to themselves from the beginning, and which even then was initiated into idolatry by idols, and that too in idols still living? Not as if an idol is anything, but because the things which others do to idols belong to demons. Furthermore, if the things which others do to idols belong to demons, how much more that which the idols themselves did for themselves when they were alive? Indeed, the demons had procured these things for themselves through those in whom they had hungered before for what they procured.