Drought Conditions

Photo by Mose Buchele for KUT News

You may have noticed that my output has been as fruitful as a Texas drought.  It is not that I have given up on gleanings from Arnobius of Sicca but lack appropriate material to post here.  In Book V of his work, the apologist reviews the sordid tales found in the histories of the Roman gods.  Oh, my!  These deities were a vile lot: kidnap, murder, drunkenness, adultery, incest, same-sex relations, bargaining information for sexual favors.  (A typical day in the District of Columbia, I suppose, but still difficult to absorb.)  What really caught my attention came in chapter 27, where he states:

Oh, what have we had it in our power to bring forward with scoffing and jeering, were it not for respect for the reader, and the dignity of literature!

It gets worse?!  He is sparing our sensitivities?!  I found it disturbing as is and struggled to properly summarize his sanitized content without being too graphic.  The editors of the two English translations I own leave one section in Latin because of the content.  Good for them.

I am approximately 75% completed with this book.  There may be something useful before the end, but I doubt it.  Book VI should have something worthwhile.  Be patient.