Caius Marcius Coriolanus

For when some great and unusual deed is to be done, that poet declares in his stately manner:—

1. He then was inspired by the goddess, flashing-eyed Athene;[*](Odyssey, xviii. 158 = xxi. i. (τῇ δ’ ἄρα).)

1. But some immortal turned his mind by lodging in his heart
2. A fear of what the folk would say;[*](Not to be found now in Homer.)

1. Either through some suspicion, or else a god so bade him do;[*](Odyssey, ix. 339.)

This, however, is not what Homer does, but those acts which are natural, customary, and the result of reasoning, he attributes to our own volition, and he certainly says frequently:—

1. But I formed a plan within my lordly heart;[*](Odyssey, ix. 299.)

1. So he spake, and Peleus’ son was sore distressed, and his heart
2. Within his shaggy breast between two courses was divided;[*](Iliad, i. 188 f.)

1. But him no whit
2. Could she persuade from his integrity, the fiery hearted Bellerophon;[*](Iliad, vi. 161 f.)

while in exploits of a strange and extraordinary nature, requiring some rush of inspiration, and desperate courage, he does not represent the god as taking a way, but as prompting, a man’s choice of action; nor yet as creating impulses in a man, but rather conceptions which lead to impulses, and by these his action is not made involuntary, but his will is set in motion, while courage and hope are added to sustain him.

For either the influence of the gods must be wholly excluded from all initiating power over our actions, or in what other way can they assist and co-operate with men? They certainly do not mould our bodies by their direct agency, nor give the requisite change to the action of our hands and feet, but rather, by certain motives, conceptions, and purposes, they rouse the active and elective powers of our spirits, or, on the other hand, divert and check them.

Now in Rome, at the time of which I speak, various groups of women visited the various temples, but the greater part of them, and those of highest station, carried their supplications to the altar of Jupiter Capitolinus. Among these was Valeria, a sister of that Publicola who had done the Romans so many eminent services both as warrior and statesman. Publicola, indeed, had died some time before, as I have related in his Life;[*](Chapter xxiii.) but Valeria was still enjoying her repute and honour in the city, where her life was thought to adorn her lineage.