Page:Juvenal and Persius by G. G. Ramsay.djvu/423

 Come now, answer me this question; it is a very little thing that I want to know; What is your opinion of Jupiter? Would you rank him above—"Above whom?"—Above whom, you ask? Well, shall we say Staius? or do you stick at that? Could you name a more upright judge than Staius; or one more fitted to be a guardian to an orphan family? Well then, just whisper to Staius the prayer with which you would impress the ear of Jupiter:—"O gracious Jupiter!" he would cry, "O Jupiter!" And will not Jupiter call upon himself, think you? Do you imagine that he has condoned everything because, when it thunders, the sacred fire rends an oak-tree in twain sooner than you and your house? Or because you are not lying in a grove, at the bidding of Ergenna and a sheep's liver, an accursed and abhorred object, will Jupiter therefore offer you his foolish beard to pluck? And what is the price by which you have purchased a kindly hearing from the gods? Is it a dish of lights and greasy entrails?

See how a granny, or an auntie who fears the gods, takes baby out of his cradle: skilled in averting the evil eye, she first, with her middle finger, applies the charm of lustrous spittle to his forehead and slobbering lips; she then dandles the wizened Hopeful in her arms, and destines him in 337