Occulta fuisse fabricatio sigilli quod dicitis qui potest, cuius vos adeo artificem non ignorastis, ut ei praesto adesset denuntiaveritis? En adest Cornelius Saturninus artifex, vir inter suos et arte laudatus et moribus comprobatus, qui tibi, Maxime, paulo ante diligenter sciscitanti omnem ordinem gestae rei summa cum fide et veritate percensuit: me, cum apud eum multas geometricas formas e buxo vidissem subtiliter et adfabre factas, invitatum eius artificio quaedam mechanica ut mihi elaborasset petisse, simul et aliquod simulacrum cuiuscumque vellet dei, cui ex more meo supplicassem, quacumque materia, dummodo lignea, exculperet.
You say that the statue was made in secret, but how can that be? So far are you from not knowing who made it that you demanded his presence in court. Here indeed is the maker, Cornelius Saturninus, a man whom his acquaintances both praise for his skill and commend for his character. You questioned him closely not long ago, Maximus, and he went through the whole history of the affair with the utmost reliability and honesty. I had seen many geometrical figures in his shop, precisely and ingeniously made of boxwood. His skill was an inducement to ask him to make me certain mechanical devices, and at the same time to carve an image of any god he wished for me to worship in my usual way, using any material provided it was of wood.
final_alignments\Apuleius_Apologia.json