nd young shoots and small pebbles
from their hilltops into the sea, and there confine them in the
entrails of fish. And so whereas sorcerers at their rites used to call
on Mercury the giver of oracles, Venus that lures the soul, the moon
that knows the mystery of the night, and Trivia the mistress of the
shades, you will transfer Neptune, with Salacia and Portumnus and all
the company of Nereids from the cold tides of the sea to the burning
tides of love.

32. I have given my reasons for refusing to believe that magicians and
fish have anything to do with one another. But now, if it please you,
we will assume with Aemilianus that fish are useful for making magical
charms as well as for their usual purposes. But does that prove that
whoever acquires fish is _ipso facto_ a magician? On those lines it
might be urged that whoever acquires a sloop is a pirate, whoever
acquires a crowbar a burglar, whoever acquires a sword an assassin.
You will say that there is nothing in the world, however harmless,
that may not be put to some bad use, nothing so cheerful that it may
not be given a gloomy meaning. And yet we do not on that account put a
bad interpretation on everything, as though, for instance, you should
hold that incense, cassia, myrrh, and similar other scents are
purchased solely for the purpose of funerals; whereas they are also
used for sacrifice and medicine. But on the lines of your argument
you must believe that even the comrades of Menelaus were magicians;
for they, according to the great poet, averted starvation at the isle
of Pharos by their use of curved fish-hooks. Nay, you will class in
the same category of sorcerers seamews, dolphins, and the lobster;
_gourmands_ also, who sink whole fortunes[12] in the sums they pay to
fishermen; and fishermen themselves, who by their art capture all
manner of fish. 'But what do you want fish for?' you insist. I feel
myself under no necessity to tell you, and refuse to do so. But I
challenge you to prove unsupported that I bought them for the purpose
you assert; as though I had bought hellebore or hemlock or opium or
any other of those drugs, the moderate use of which is salutary,
although they are deadly when given with other substances or in too
large quantities. Who would endure it if you made this a ground for
accusing me of being a poisoner, merely because those drugs are
capable of killing a man?

[Footnote 12: _merguntur_ MSS.]

33. However, let us see what these