We place law in
opposition to mythical belief when we say the poets 159
represent the gods as working adultery and sin, but among us the
law forbids those things. We place law in opposition to dogmatic
opinion when we say that the followers of Chrysippus hold 160
that it is a matter of indifference to marry one's mother or
sister, but the law forbids these things. We place a mythical
belief in opposition to a dogmatic opinion when we say that 161
the poets represent Jupiter as descending and holding
intercourse with mortal women, but the Dogmatics think this was
impossible; also that the poet says that Jupiter, on account 162
of his sorrow for Sarpedon, rained drops of blood upon the
earth, but it is a dogma of the philosophers that the divine is
exempt from suffering; and they deny the myth of the
horse-centaurs, giving us the horse-centaur as an example of
non-existence. Now we could give many other examples of each 163
of the antitheses mentioned above, but for a brief argument,
these are sufficient. Since, however, such anomaly of things is
shown by this Trope also, we shall not be able to say what
objects are by nature, but only what each thing appears to be
like, according to this or that school, or this or that law, or
this or that custom, or according to each of the other
conditions. Therefore, by this Trope also, we must suspend our
judgment in regard to the nature of external objects.
Pages:
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166