Cicero, Marcus Tullius, de Natura Deorum

Non pudet igitur physicum id est speculatorem venatoremque naturae ab animis consuetudine inbutis petere testimonium veritatis? isto enim modo dicere licebit Iovem semper barbatum, Apollinem semper inberbem, caesios oculos Minervae, caeruleos esse Neptuni. et quidem laudamus esse Athenis Volcanum eum quem fecit Alcamenes, in quo stante atque vestito leviter apparet claudicatio non deformis: claudum igitur habebimus deum, quoniam de Volcano sic accepimus. Age et his vocabulis esse deos facimus quibus a nobis nominantur?

Is it not shameful, then, for a natural philosopher, that is, an observer and hunter of nature, to seek evidence of the truth from minds steeped in habit? For in that way it will be permissible to say that Jupiter is always bearded, Apollo always beardless, that Minerva's eyes are grey and Neptune's sea-blue. And indeed we admire the Vulcan at Athens made by Alcamenes, in which, as he stands clothed, a slight lameness appears that is not unsightly: so we shall regard the god as lame, since that is what we have been told about Vulcan. Come now, do we also make out that the gods have the names by which we call them?

Itaque et in nostro populo et in ceteris deorum cultus religionumque sanctitates existunt in dies maiores atque meliores; idque evenit non temere nec casu, sed quod et praesentes saepe di vim suam declarant, ut et apud Regillum bello Latinorum, cum A. Postumius dictator cum Octavio Mamillio Tusculano proelio dimicaret, in nostra acie Castor et Pollux ex equis pugnare visi sunt, et recentiore memoria idem Tyndaridae Persem victum nuntiaverunt. P. enim Vatinius avus huius adulescentis, cum e praefectura Reatina Romam venienti noctu duo iuvenes cum equis albis dixissent regem Persem illo die captum, cum senatui nuntiavisset, primo quasi temere de re publica locutus in carcerem coniectus est, post a Paulo litteris allatis cum idem dies constitisset, et agro a senatu et vacatione donatus est. atque etiam cum ad fluvium Sagram Crotoniatas Locri maximo proelio devicissent, eo ipso die auditam esse eam pugnam ludis Olympiae memoriae proditum est. saepe Faunorum voces exauditae, saepe visae formae deorum quemvis aut non hebetem aut impium deos praesentes esse confiteri coegerunt.

And so, both among our people and among others, the worship of the gods and the sanctity of religious rites grow greater and better day by day; and this happens not at random or by chance, but because the gods often show their power in person, as at Regillus in the war with the Latins, when Aulus Postumius the dictator was fighting a battle against Octavius Mamilius of Tusculum, Castor and Pollux were seen fighting on horseback in our battle line, and, in more recent memory, the same sons of Tyndareus announced the defeat of Perseus. For Publius Vatinius, the grandfather of this young man, when two young men with white horses had told him at night, as he was coming to Rome from the prefecture of Reate, that King Perseus had been captured that day, reported it to the senate, and at first was thrown into prison for having spoken rashly about public affairs; afterwards, when a letter had been brought from Paulus and the same day was established, he was presented by the senate with both land and exemption. And it has also been recorded that when the Locrians had defeated the people of Croton in a very great battle at the river Sagra, the news of that battle was heard at the games at Olympia on that very day. Often the voices of Fauns have been heard, often the forms of gods have been seen, and they have compelled anyone who is not dull-witted or impious to admit that the gods are present.

at vero apud maiores tanta religionis vis fuit, ut quidam imperatores etiam se ipsos dis inmortalibus capite velato verbis certis pro re publica devoverent. Multa ex Sibyllinis vaticinationibus, multa ex haruspicum responsis commemorare possum quibus ea confirmentur quae dubia nemini debent esse. Atqui et nostrorum augurum et Etruscorum haruspicum disciplinam P. Scipione C. Figulo consulibus res ipsa probavit. quos cum Ti. Gracchus consul iterum crearet, primus rogator, ut eos rettulit, ibidem est repente mortuus. Gracchus cum comitia nihilo minus peregisset remque illam in religionem populo venisse sentiret, ad senatum rettulit. senatus quos ad soleret referendum censuit. haruspices introducti responderunt non fuisse iustum comitiorum rogatorem. tum Gracchus, ut e patre audiebam, incensus ira:

But among our ancestors the power of religion was so great that certain commanders even devoted themselves to the immortal gods for the commonwealth, with veiled head and in set words. I could recall many things from the Sibylline prophecies, many from the responses of the haruspices, by which those things are confirmed that ought to be doubtful to no one. And indeed the discipline both of our augurs and of the Etruscan haruspices was proved by the event itself in the consulship of Publius Scipio and Gaius Figulus. When Tiberius Gracchus, consul for the second time, was holding their election, the first rogator [collector of votes], just as he was reporting them [elected], suddenly died on the spot. When Gracchus had nevertheless completed the elections and perceived that the matter had become a religious scruple for the people, he referred it to the senate. The senate decided that it should be referred to those to whom [such matters] were usually referred. The haruspices were brought in and replied that the rogator [presiding officer] of the elections had not been lawful. Then Gracchus, as I used to hear from my father, blazing with anger:

Suscepit autem vita hominum consuetudoque communis ut beneficiis excellentis viros in caelum fama ac voluntate tollerent. hinc Hercules hinc Castor et Pollux hinc Aesculapius hinc Liber etiam (hunc dico Liberum Semela natum, non eum quem nostri maiores auguste sancteque Liberum cum Cerere et Libera consecraverunt, quod quale sit ex mysteriis intellegi potest; sed quod ex nobis natos liberos appellamus, idcirco Cerere nati nominati sunt Liber et Libera, quod in Libera servant, in Libero non item)—hinc etiam Romulum, quem quidam eundem esse Quirinum putant. quorum cum remanerent animi atque aeternitate fruerentur, rite di sunt habiti, cum et optimi essent et aeterni.

Human life and common custom, moreover, have taken up [the practice] of raising to heaven, by fame and goodwill, men outstanding for their benefactions. Hence Hercules, hence Castor and Pollux, hence Aesculapius, hence also Liber (I mean the Liber born of Semele, not the one whom our ancestors solemnly and devoutly consecrated as Liber together with Ceres and Libera, the nature of which can be understood from the mysteries; but because we call those born of us liberi, 'children', for that reason the offspring of Ceres were named Liber and Libera, which they keep in Libera, but not likewise in Liber)—hence also Romulus, whom some think to be the same as Quirinus. And since their souls survived and enjoyed eternity, they have rightly been held to be gods, since they were both the best and eternal.

physica ratio non inelegans inclusa est in impias fabulas. caelestem enim altissimam aetheriamque naturam id est igneam, quae per sese omnia gigneret, vacare voluerunt ea parte corporis quae coniunctione alterius egeret ad procreandum. Saturnum autem eum esse voluerunt qui cursum et conversionem spatiorum ac temporum contineret. qui deus Graece id ipsum nomen habet: Κρόνος enim dicitur, qui est idem χρόνος id est spatium temporis. Saturnus autem est appellatus quod saturaretur annis; ex se enim natos comesse fingitur solitus, quia consumit aetas temporum spatia annisque praeteritis insaturabiliter expletur. vinctus autem a Iove, ne inmoderatos cursus haberet, atque ut eum siderum vinclis alligaret. sed ipse Iuppiter, id est iuvans pater, quem conversis casibus appellamus a iuvando Iovem, a poetis pater divomque hominumque dicitur, a maioribus autem nostris optumus maxumus, et quidem ante optimus id est beneficentissimus quam maximus, quia maius est certeque gratius prodesse omnibus quam opes mag-

A physical explanation, and not an inelegant one, is enclosed in these impious myths. For they meant that the heavenly, highest, ethereal, that is fiery, nature, which generates all things by itself, lacks that part of the body which needs union with another for procreation. And they meant Saturn to be the one who maintains the course and revolution of periods and seasons. This god has that very name in Greek: for he is called Kronos, which is the same as chronos, that is, a span of time. And he was called Saturn because he was sated (saturaretur) with years; for he is imagined to have been in the habit of devouring his own children, because age consumes the spans of time and is insatiably filled with the years that have passed. He was bound by Jupiter, so that he should not have unrestrained courses, and so that [Jupiter] might tie him with the bonds of the stars. But Jupiter himself, that is, 'helping father' (iuvans pater), whom in the other cases we call Iovem, from helping (iuvando), is called by the poets 'father of gods and men', and by our ancestors 'best and greatest', and indeed 'best', that is, most beneficent, before 'greatest', because it is a greater thing, and certainly more pleasing, to benefit everyone than great wealth—

Aer autem, ut Stoici disputant, interiectus inter mare et caelum Iunonis nomine consecratur, quae est soror et coniux Iovis, quod ei et similitudo est aetheris et cum eo summa coniunctio. effeminarunt autem eum Iunonique tribuerunt, quod nihil est eo mollius. sed Iunonem a iuvando credo nominatam. Aqua restabat et terra, ut essent ex fabulis tria regna divisa. datum est igitur Neptuno alterum, Iovis ut volumus fratri, maritimum omne regnum, nomenque productum ut Portunus a porta sic Neptunus a nando, paulum primis litteris immutatis. Terrena autem vis omnis atque natura Diti patri dedicata est, qui dives ut apud Graecos Πλού- των, quia et recidunt omnia in terras et oriuntur e terris. †Cui Proserpinam (quod Graecorum nomen est, ea enim est quae Περσεφόνη Graece nominatur)—quam frugum semen esse volunt absconditamque quaeri a matre fingunt.

The air, moreover, lying between the sea and the sky, is, as the Stoics argue, deified under the name of Juno, who is the sister and wife of Jupiter, because it has both a likeness to the aether and the closest union with it. They made it feminine and assigned it to Juno because nothing is softer than it. But I believe Juno (Iuno) was named from helping (iuvando). Water and earth remained, so that, as in the myths, there should be three kingdoms divided. So one of them, the whole realm of the sea, was given to Neptune, Jupiter's brother as we would have it, and his name was formed—as Portunus from porta, 'gate', so Neptunus from nando, 'swimming'—with the first letters slightly changed. All the power and nature of the earth, however, was dedicated to Father Dis, who is 'rich' (dives), as among the Greeks [he is] Ploutōn, because all things both fall back into the earth and arise from the earth. †To him [they join] Proserpina (which is a Greek name, for she is the one called Persephonē in Greek)—whom they hold to be the seed of crops, and imagine to have been hidden away and sought by her mother.

Mater autem est a gerendis frugibus Ceres tamquam geres, casuque prima littera itidem immutata ut a Graecis; nam ab illis quoque Δημήτηρ quasi γῆ μήτηρ nominata est. Iam qui magna verteret Mavors, Minerva autem quae vel minueret vel minaretur. Cumque in omnibus rebus vim haberent maxumam prima et extrema, principem in sacrificando Ianum esse voluerunt, quod ab eundo nomen est ductum, ex quo transitiones perviae iani foresque in liminibus profanarum aedium ianuae nominantur. Nam Vestae nomen a Graecis (ea est enim quae ab illis Ἑστία dicitur); vis autem eius ad aras et focos pertinet, itaque in ea dea, quod est rerum custos intumarum, omnis et precatio et sacrificatio extrema est.

The mother, Ceres, is [named] from bearing (gerendis) crops, as if Geres, the first letter having been changed by chance, just as by the Greeks; for by them too she was named Dēmētēr, as if gē mētēr, 'earth mother'. Next, he who overturns great things (magna verteret) [is] Mavors [Mars], and Minerva she who either diminishes (minueret) or threatens (minaretur). And since in all things the first and the last have the greatest force, they wanted Janus to be foremost in sacrificing; his name was derived from going (eundo), from which open passageways are called iani, and the doors at the thresholds of secular buildings ianuae. For the name of Vesta [comes] from the Greeks (she is the one whom they call Hestia); her power extends to altars and hearths, and so with that goddess, because she is the guardian of the innermost things, every prayer and every sacrifice ends.

Nec longe absunt ab hac vi di Penates, sive a penu ducto nomine (est enim omne quo vescuntur homines penus) sive ab eo quod penitus insident; ex quo etiam penetrales a poetis vocantur. Iam Apollinis nomen est Graecum. quem solem esse volunt, Dianam autem et lunam eandem esse putant, cum sol dictus sit vel quia solus ex omnibus sideribus est tantus vel quia cum est exortus obscuratis omnibus solus apparet, luna a lucendo nominata sit; eadem est enim Lucina, itaque ut apud Graecos Dianam eamque Luciferam sic apud nostros Iunonem Lucinam in pariendo invocant. quae eadem Diana Omnivaga dicitur non a venando sed quod in septem numeratur tamquam vagantibus;

Not far removed from this power are the gods Penates, their name derived either from penus (for penus is everything on which people feed) or from the fact that they dwell deep within (penitus); hence they are also called penetrales by the poets. Next, the name of Apollo is Greek. They hold him to be the sun, and they think Diana is the same as the moon; the sun (sol) was so called either because it alone (solus) of all the heavenly bodies is so great, or because when it has risen all [the others] are darkened and it alone appears; the moon (luna) was named from shining (lucendo); for she is the same as Lucina, and so, as among the Greeks [they invoke] Diana, and her as Lucifera [Light-bringer], so among our people they invoke Juno Lucina in childbirth. This same Diana is called Omnivaga, 'all-wandering', not from hunting but because she is counted among the seven [bodies] that are, as it were, wandering;

Diana dicta quia noctu quasi diem efficeret. adhibetur autem ad partus, quod i maturescunt aut septem non numquam aut ut plerumque novem lunae cursibus, qui quia mensa spatia conficiunt menses nominantur; concinneque ut multa Timaeus, qui cum in historia dixisset qua nocte natus Alexander esset eadem Dianae Ephesiae templum deflagravisse, adiunxit minime id esse mirandum, quod Diana quom in partu Olympiadis adesse voluisset afuisset domo. Quae autem dea ad res omnes veniret Venerem nostri nominaverunt, atque ex ea potius venustas quam Venus ex venustate.

she was called Diana because by night she made, as it were, day (diem). She is called upon at births, because these come to maturity in sometimes seven or, as usually, nine courses of the moon, which are called months (menses) because they complete measured (mensa) spaces; and Timaeus [put it] neatly, as [he did] many things: having said in his history that on the same night on which Alexander was born the temple of Diana of Ephesus burned down, he added that this was not at all to be wondered at, because Diana, since she had wanted to be present at the delivery of Olympias, had been away from home. The goddess, however, who came (veniret) to all things our people named Venus, and from her [comes] venustas, 'charm', rather than Venus from venustas.

Tum Cotta Optime inquit; quam ob rem sic agamus ut nos ipsa ducit oratio. Sed ante quam de re, pauca de me. non enim mediocriter moveor auctoritate tua Balbe orationeque ea quae me in perorando cohortabatur ut meminissem me et Cottam esse et pontificem; quod eo credo valebat, ut opiniones, quas a maioribus accepimus de dis immortalibus, sacra caerimonias religionesque defenderem. ego vero eas defendam semper semperque defendi, nec me ex ea opinione, quam a maioribus accepi de cultu deorum inmortalium, ullius umquam oratio aut docti aut indocti movebit. sed cum de religione agitur, Ti. Coruncanium P. Scipionem P. Scaevolam pontifices maximos, non Zenonem aut Cleanthen aut Chrysippum sequor, habeoque C. Laelium augurem eundemque sapientem quem potius audiam dicentem de religione in illa oratione nobili quam quemquam principem Stoicorum. cumque omnis populi Romani religio in sacra et in auspicia divisa sit, tertium adiunctum sit si quid praedictionis causa ex portentis et monstris Sibyllae interpretes haruspicesve monuerunt, harum ego religionum nullam umquam contemnendam putavi mihique ita persuasi, Romulum auspiciis Numam sacris constitutis fundamenta iecisse nostrae civitatis, quae numquam profecto sine summa placatione deorum inmortalium tanta esse potuisset.

Then Cotta said, 'Excellent. So let us proceed as the argument itself leads us. But before [I speak] about the matter, a few words about myself. For I am moved not a little by your authority, Balbus, and by that speech of yours which in its peroration urged me to remember that I am both Cotta and a pontiff; which, I believe, was meant to have me defend the beliefs about the immortal gods which we have received from our ancestors, [and] the rites, ceremonies and religious observances. I for my part will always defend them and always have defended them, and no one's speech, learned or unlearned, will ever move me from the belief about the worship of the immortal gods which I received from my ancestors. But when religion is in question, I follow Tiberius Coruncanius, Publius Scipio and Publius Scaevola, chief pontiffs, not Zeno or Cleanthes or Chrysippus; and I have Gaius Laelius, augur and also wise man, whom I would rather hear speaking about religion in that famous speech than any leader of the Stoics. And since the whole religion of the Roman people is divided into rites and auspices, with a third [element] added—whatever warnings the interpreters of the Sibyl or the haruspices have given for the purpose of prediction from portents and prodigies—I have never thought any of these observances to be despised, and I have persuaded myself that Romulus by founding the auspices and Numa by founding the rites laid the foundations of our state, which surely could never have become so great without the utmost appeasement of the immortal gods.

Nec vero volgi atque imperitorum inscitiam despicere possum, cum ea considero quae dicuntur a Stoicis. sunt enim illa imperitorum: piscem Syri venerantur, omne fere genus bestiarum Aegyptii consecraverunt; iam vero in Graecia multos habent ex hominibus deos, Alabandum Alabandis, Tenedi Tenen, Leucotheam quae fuit Ino et eius Palaemonem filium cuncta Graecia— Herculem Aesculapium Tyndaridas Romulum nostrum aliosque compluris, quos quasi novos et adscripticios cives in caelum receptos putant.

Nor indeed can I despise the ignorance of the common people and the unlearned when I consider the things said by the Stoics. For these are [the beliefs] of the unlearned: the Syrians worship a fish; the Egyptians have deified almost every kind of beast; in Greece, moreover, they have many gods from among human beings: Alabandus at Alabanda, Tenes on Tenedos, Leucothea, who was Ino, and her son Palaemon throughout all Greece— Hercules, Aesculapius, the sons of Tyndareus, our own Romulus, and many others, who they think were received into heaven like new and newly enrolled citizens.

Mercurius unus Caelo patre Die matre natus, cuius obscenius excitata natura traditur quod aspectu Proserpinae commotus sit, alter Valentis et Phoronidis filius is qui sub terris habetur idem Trophonius, tertius Iove tertio natus et Maia, ex quo et Penelopa Pana natum ferunt, quartus Nilo patre, quem Aegyptii nefas habent nominare, quintus quem colunt Pheneatae, qui Argum dicitur interemisse ob eamque causam Aegyptum profugisse atque Aegyptiis leges et litteras tradidisse: hunc Aegyptii Theyt appellant, eodemque nomine anni primus mensis apud eos vocatur.

One Mercury was born of Caelus [Sky] as father and Dies [Day] as mother; his member is reported to have been indecently aroused because he was excited by the sight of Proserpina; a second, the son of Valens and Phoronis, is the one who is held to be under the earth, and is the same as Trophonius; a third, born of the third Jupiter and Maia, from whom and Penelope they say Pan was born; a fourth, with the Nile as father, whom the Egyptians consider it sacrilege to name; a fifth, whom the people of Pheneus worship, who is said to have killed Argus and for that reason to have fled to Egypt and given the Egyptians laws and letters: him the Egyptians call Theyt [Thoth], and the first month of the year among them is called by the same name.

At non numquam bonos exitus habent boni. Eos quidem arripimus adtribuimusque sine ulla ratione dis inmortalibus. at Diagoras cum Samothracam venisset Atheus ille qui dicitur, atque ei quidam amicus tu, qui deos putas humana neglegere, nonne animadvertis ex tot tabulis pictis, quam multi votis vim tempestatis effugerint in portumque salvi pervenerint, ita fit inquit, illi enim nusquam picti sunt qui naufragia fecerunt in marique perierunt. idemque, cum ei naviganti vectores adversa tempestate timidi et perterriti dicerent non iniuria sibi illud accidere qui illum in eandem navem recepissent, ostendit eis in eodem cursu multas alias laborantis quaesivitque num etiam in is navibus Diagoram vehi crederent. Sic enim res se habet, ut ad prosperam adversamve fortunam qualis sis aut quem ad modum vixeris nihil intersit.

But sometimes good men do have good outcomes. Those, indeed, we seize upon and attribute without any reason to the immortal gods. But Diagoras, the one called 'the Atheist', when he had come to Samothrace and a certain friend said to him, 'You who think the gods neglect human affairs, do you not notice from so many painted tablets how many people escaped the violence of the storm by their vows and reached harbour safe?'—'That is how it is,' he said, 'for those who were shipwrecked and perished at sea are nowhere painted.' And the same man, when on a voyage the passengers, frightened and terrified by a contrary storm, told him that it was not undeservedly that this was happening to them, since they had taken him aboard the same ship, pointed out to them many other [ships] on the same course in distress, and asked whether they believed that Diagoras was being carried in those ships too. For that is how things stand: what sort of person you are, or how you have lived, makes no difference to good or bad fortune.