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They said, says Varro, that Saturn was wont to devour all that
sprang from him, because seeds returned to the earth from whence they
sprang. And when it is said that a lump of earth was put before
Saturn to be devoured instead of Jupiter, it is signified, he says,
that before the art of ploughing was discovered, seeds were buried in
the earth by the hands of men. The earth itself, then, and not
seeds, should have been called Saturn, because it in a manner devours
what it has brought forth, when the seeds which have sprung from it
return again into it. And what has Saturn's receiving of a lump of
earth instead of Jupiter to do with this, that the seeds were covered
in the soil by the hands of men? Was the seed kept from being
devoured, like other things, by being covered with the soil? For
what they say would imply that he who put on the soil took away the
seed, as Jupiter is said to have been taken away when the lump of soil
was offered to Saturn instead of him, and not rather that the soil,
by covering the seed, only caused it to be devoured the more eagerly.
Then, in that way, Jupiter is the seed, and not the cause of the
seed, as was said a little before.
But what shall men do who cannot find anything wise to say, because
they are interpreting foolish things? Saturn has a pruning-knife.
That, says Varro, is on account of agriculture. Certainly in
Saturn's reign there as yet existed no agriculture, and therefore the
former times of Saturn are spoken of, because, as the same Varro
interprets the fables, the primeval men lived on those seeds which the
earth produced spontaneously. Perhaps he received a pruning-knife
when he had lost his sceptre; that he who had been a king, and lived
at ease during the first part of his time, should become a laborious
workman whilst his son occupied the throne. Then he says that boys
were wont to be immolated to him by certain peoples, the Carthaginians
for instance; and also that adults were immolated by some nations, for
example the Gauls, because, of all seeds, the human race is the
best. What need we say more concerning this most cruel vanity. Let
us rather attend to and hold by this, that these interpretations are
not carried up to the true God, a living, incorporeal, unchangeable
nature, from whom a blessed life enduring for ever may be obtained,
but that they end in things which are corporeal, temporal, mutable,
and mortal. And whereas it is said in the fables that Saturn
castrated his father Coelus, this signifies, says Varro, that the
divine seed belongs to Saturn, and not to Coelus; for this reason,
as far as a reason can be discovered, namely, that in heaven nothing
is born from seed. But, lo! Saturn, if he is the son of Coelus,
is the son of Jupiter. For they affirm times without number, and
that emphatically, that the heavens are Jupiter. Thus those things
which come not of the truth, do very often, without being impelled by
any one, themselves overthrow one another. He says that Saturn was
called kronos, which in the Greek tongue signifies a space of time,
because, without that, seed cannot be productive. These and many
other things are said concerning Saturn, and they are all referred to
seed. But Saturn surely, with all that great power, might have
sufficed for seed. Why are other gods demanded for it, especially
Liber and Libera, that is, Ceres?, concerning whom again, as far
as seed is concerned, he says as many things as if he had said nothing
concerning Saturn.
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