BOOK I CH. XLI § 114. 219

non vereatur—ne intereat. Klotz Adn. Cr. 119 has well defended this reading (supported by the quotation in Aug. /p. 118) against Madv.: and Ba. whose emendations are inconsistent with the general purport of, the argument, viz. to prove that the Epicurean God is not beatus, it having been already shown (§ 110) that he is not émmortalis.
pulsetur—sempiterna: cf. Or. c. Cels. IV 14 of rod ’Emtxovpov Geni, avvbetor €€ atopwv Tvyxavortes, kal TO Goov emi TH TVTTAGEL dvaduUTOL, TpaypLa- revovtar Tas POoporoiodrs dropous dzoceierOa, and my n. on § 49. The argument is fatal to the Gods of the intermundia (see Lucr. v 351 foll.), but there was in all probability a party among the Epicureans who had accepted a modification of the less vulnerable Democritian theology (§ 120). This latter is apparently the view propounded in § 49, but the criticism here is directed against the former.
ex ipso imagines affluant: cf. Lucr. v1 76 nec de corpore quae sancto simulacra feruntur | in mentes hominum divinae nuntia formae, &e.
C.f. The Epicurean principles, if accepted, are fatal to religion. What inducement is there to worship beings without activity and without benevo- lence? xuI § 115—x iv § 124.
§ 115. at etiam—everterit: ‘but (you reply) Ep. wrote a work on piety. Yes, but how? Ina manner entirely inconsistent with his general theory, so that you might fancy yourself listening to C. or 8.’ Diog. L. x 27 mentions a treatise of Ep. wept oovrnros, and Philod. often refers to his teaching on the subject, as in p. 104 dre pév dpxors Kai Oedy emippnoeoww eSoxivaloy xpioba, yeotov vroputpyicKev, dvayéeotov Tis mpaypyateias Ta ToLovTwy ovens, p. 118 mepi re yap éoprdv Kat Ovotdy kal mavTwv Kabodov ToovTav ws dxodovOws empakey ols eSoyparicev...ai Zyivoevr yevouévat cvva- yoyat dvacadpovow, p- 120 (Ep. laid down the plain rule) ote Set mavta meiecOa Trois vopows Kat Tois €Oropois ews av py Te TOY doeBav TpooTaTTwCL, p. 125—132 (writing to Phyrson he bids him to sacrifice according to the laws, as he himself observed the feast of Choes and the Mysteries, offering prayer, not only as a duty enjoined by law, but as a natural offering to beings surpassing in power and goodness).
Coruncanium: the first plebeian Pont. Max. 252 B.c. compared for his wisdom with Lycurgus, Solon, Cato, &c. (De Orat. 111 56), noticed as espe- cially beloved by the gods (NV. D. 11 165), as an authority in religious matters (111 5).
Scaevolam: P. Mucius Sc. (father of C.’s friend and patron the Pont. Max. Q. Mucius Sc.) was consul in B.c. 133, the year in which Tib, Gracchus lost his life, succeeded his brother Mucianus in the Pontificate B.c. 131, so famed for his knowledge of law that he is called one of the founders of the Jus Civile, cf. 11 5.
ut Xerxes: cf. Leg. 11 10 nec sequor Magos fae Ps quibus auctoribus