Quis ergo dubitat horum imagines consecratas vulgus orare et publice colere, dum opinio et mens imperitorum artis concinnitate decipitur, auri fulgore praestringitur, argenti nitore et candore eboris hebetatur? Quodsi in animum quis inducat, tormentis quibus et quibus machinis simulacrum omne formetur, erubescet timere se materiem ab artifice, ut deum faceret, inlusam.
Who can doubt that it is to their consecrated images that the common folk offer prayer and public worship, while the fancy and judgement of the uncritical is at the mercy of artistic finish, dazzled by the glitter of gold, lulled to rest by the sheen of silver, and the whiteness of ivory? But if anyone calls to mind the cranks and the machines that go to the shaping of an image, he would blush at the idea of fearing raw matter, which the play of the craftsmans fancy has transformed into a god.
final_alignments\Minucius_Felix_Octavius.json