De Magicis Rotatibus (Epigr. XX)
The Silence of Truth
The author invites divine judgment upon the accusations of magical practices in his rites.
What kind of spinning, what kind of murmuring are you listening for in our rites? I hear nothing. Come on, let's appeal to the angels themselves and to the ears above: let them be the judges of this dispute, to decide whether our sacred rites are performed with a steady, consistent tone or not.
The Sting of Slander
The author confronts the poet's false accusations and biting insults regarding the nature of his prayers.
What kind of stinging nettle of slander has provoked you to attribute to us what is characteristic of the 'Papicolis,' and to prefer croaking out falsehoods in your verse? Yet you keep on clamoring; and so that your poem might swell with importance for you—you, a fine poet, not a mystic—you mark out magical spinning and terrifying hags with biting insults, and you shout that these things don't fit with divine prayers. O savage enemy! How fiercely you fight! Should we make no reply to you?
A Humble Admission
The author concludes with a brief, enigmatic admission.
We admit it.
Read the original Latin
Quos tu rotatus, quale murmur auscultas In ritibus nostris? Ego audio nullum. Age, provocemus usque ad angelos ipsos Auresque superas: arbitri ipsi sint litis, Utrum tenore sacra nostra sint, nec ne Aequabili facta. Ecquid ergo te tanta Calumniandi concitavit urtica, Ut quae Papicolis propria, assuas nobis, Falsumque potius, quam crepes versu? Tu perstrepis tamen; utque turgeat carmen Tuum tibi, poeta belle non mystes Magicos rotatus, et perhorridas striges, Dicteriis mordacibus notans, clamas Non convenire precibus ista Divinis. O saevus hostis! quam ferociter pugnas! Nihilne respondebimus tibi?
Fatemur.
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