The gods use us for games of tennis, knocking us about in numerous ways. Enimvero Dii nos homines quasi pilas habent. [To the gods we are indeed like balls to play with.]49 The stars fatally decreed that the Roman State should be the example of what they can achieve in this category,
This must be the source of John Webster's "We are merely the stars' tennis balls, struck and bandied which way please them." (Duchess of Malfi)
