Politics of Obedience

abble. When Vespasian, returning from Assyria, passes through
Alexandria on his way to Rome to take possession of the empire,
he performs wonders: he makes the crippled straight, restores
sight to the blind, and does many other fine things, concerning
which the credulous and undiscriminating were, in my opinion,
more blind than those cured. Tyrants themselves have wondered
that men could endure the persecution of a single man; they have
insisted on using religion for their own protection and, where
possible, have borrowed a stray bit of divinity to bolster up their
evil ways. If we are to believe the Sybil of Virgil, Salmoneus, in
torment for having paraded as Jupiter in order to deceive the
populace, now atones in nethermost Hell:
He suffered endless torment for having dared to
imitate
The thunderbolts of heaven and the flames of
Jupiter.
Upon a chariot drawn by four chargers he went,
unsteadily
Riding aloft, in his fist a great shining torch.
Among the Greeks and into the market-place
In the heart of the city of Elis he had ridden
boldly:
And displaying thus his vainglory he assumed
An honor which undeniably belongs to the gods
alone.
This fool who imitated storm and the inimitable
thunderbolt
By clash of brass and with his dizzying charge
On horn-hoofed steeds, the all-powerful Father
beheld,
Hurled not a torch, nor the feeble light
From a waxen taper with its smoky fumes,
But by the furious blast of thunder and lightning
68