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Next let us ask, if they please, out of so great a crowd of gods
which the Romans worship, whom in especial, or what gods they believe
to have extended and preserved that empire. Now, surely of this
work, which is so excellent and so very full of the highest dignity,
they dare not ascribe any part to the goddess Cloacina; or to
Volupia, who has her appellation from voluptuousness; or to
Libentina, who has her name from lust; or to Vaticanus, who
presides over the screaming of infants; or to Cunina, who rules over
their cradles. But how is it possible to recount in one part of this
book all the names of gods or goddesses, which they could scarcely
comprise in great volumes, distributing among these divinities their
peculiar offices about single things? They have not even thought that
the charge of their lands should be committed to any one god: but they
have entrusted their farms to Rusina; the ridges of the mountains to
Jugatinus; over the downs they have set the goddess Collatina; over
the valleys, Vallonia. Nor could they even find one Segetia so
competent, that they could commend to her care all their corn crops at
once; but so long as their seed-corn was still under the ground, they
would have the goddess Seia set over it; then, whenever it was above
ground and formed straw, they set over it the goddess Segetia; and
when the grain was collected and stored, they set over it the goddess
Tutilina, that it might be kept safe. Who would not have thought
that goddess Segetia sufficient to take care of the standing corn until
it had passed from the first green blades to the dry ears? Yet she was
not enough for men, who loved a multitude of gods, that the miserable
soul, despising the chaste embrace of the one true God, should be
prostituted to a crowd of demons. Therefore they set Proserpina over
the germinating seeds; over the joints and knots of the stems, the god
Nodotus; over the sheaths enfolding the ears, the goddess
Voluntina; when the sheaths opened that the spike might shoot forth,
it was ascribed to the goddess Patelana; when the stems stood all
equal with new ears, because the ancients described this equalizing by
the term hostire, it was ascribed to the goddess Hostilina; when the
grain was in flower, it was dedicated to the goddess Flora; when full
of milk, to the god Lacturnus; when maturing, to the goddess
Matuta; when the crop was runcated, that is, removed from the soil,
to the goddess Runcina. Nor do I yet recount them all, for I am
sick of all this, though it gives them no shame. Only, I have said
these very few things, in order that it may be understood they dare by
no means say that the Roman empire has been established, increased,
and preserved by their deities, who had all their own functions
assigned to them in such a way, that no general oversight was entrusted
to any one of them. When, therefore, could Segetia take care of the
empire, who was not allowed to take care of the corn and the trees?
When could Cunina take thought about war, whose oversight was not
allowed to go beyond the cradles of the babies? When could Nodotus
give help in battle, who had nothing to do even with the sheath of the
ear, but only with the knots of the joints? Every one sets a porter
at the door of his house, and because he is a man, he is quite
sufficient; but these people have set three gods, Forculus to the
doors, Cardea to the hinge, Limentinus to the threshold. Thus
Forculus could not at the same time take care also of the hinge and the
threshold.
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