Chapter 2.—That It is Quite
Contrary to the Usage of War, that the Victors Should Spare the
Vanquished for the Sake of Their Gods.
There are histories of numberless
wars, both before the building of Rome and since its rise and the
extension of its dominion; let these be read, and let one instance
be cited in which, when a city had been taken by foreigners, the
victors spared those who were found to have fled for sanctuary to
the temples of their gods; or one instance in which a barbarian general gave orders that none should be put to the sword who had been found in this or that temple. Did not Æneas see
“Dying Priam at the
shrine,
Staining the hearth he made
divine?”
Did not Diomede and
Ulysses
“Drag with red hands, the sentry
slain,
Her fateful image from your
fane,
Her chaste locks touch, and stain
with gore
The virgin coronal she wore?”
Neither is that true which follows, that
“Thenceforth the tide of fortune
changed,
And Greece grew weak.”
For after this they conquered and destroyed
Troy with fire and sword; after this they beheaded Priam as he fled
to the altars. Neither did Troy perish because it lost Minerva. For what had Minerva herself first lost, that she should perish? Her guards perhaps? No doubt; just her guards. For as soon as they were slain, she could be stolen. It was not, in fact, the men who were preserved by the image, but the image by the men. How,
then, was she invoked to defend the city and the
citizens, she who could not defend her own defenders?