🔘 WHY MAY NOT THE PRIEST OF JUPITER TAKE AN OATH?
“Is it because an oath is a kind of test to prove that men are free-born, and neither the body nor the soul of the priest must be subjected to any test?
Or is it because it is unreasonable to distrust in trivial affairs him who is entrusted with holy matters of the greatest importance?
Or is it because every oath concludes with a curse on perjury, and a curse is an ill-omened and gloomy thing? This is the reason why priests may not even invoke curses upon others. At any rate the priestess at Athens who was unwilling to curse Alcibiades at the people's bidding won general approval, for she declared that she had been made a priestess of prayer, not of cursing. Or is it because the danger of perjury is a public danger if an impious and perjured man leads in prayer and sacrifice on behalf of the State?”
Plutarch, Roman Questions
