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Three days before the Nones of December is an inactive day, on which Euctemon says the Dog sets and winter begins. And a horse race was held, during which abominable..... 4.157 The *dipoundii* are, as it were, new recruits, whom the Italians also call *tirones* from their serving in the army for lack of food. And they called them *dipoundii* from those recently enrolled in a campaign; for not..... and they called them *dipoundii* from the fact that they endured serving in the army, being content with only two coins; for it is the custom for Romans to call the two-obol coin a *dipoundius*. 4.158 It was a custom for the Romans to arrange their state into three parts and to set apart those suitable for arms, others for agriculture, and others for hunting. But the winter season brings an end to these things; for in it they neither take up arms nor do they farm, because of the cold of the season and the shortness of the day; whence they also named it *bruma* in their ancestral tongue, as if "short day"; and *Brumalia* are, as it were, winter festivals. The Romans, therefore, being idle at that time until the *Auxiphotia*, greeted and wished each other well during the nights, saying in their ancestral tongue, "*bibes annos*," that is, "Live for years." And the farmers, for the worship of Cronus and Demeter, used to slaughter swine; whence even now the slaughter of swine is observed during December. And the vinedressers used to slaughter goats in honor of Dionysus; for the goat is an enemy of the vine; and skinning them, they would fill the skins with air and leap upon them. And the citizens, also the first-fruits of the stored harvests—wine and oil, grain and honey, and all things from trees which last and are preserved—they would make loaves without water and these they would bring to the priests of the Mother; and such a custom is still observed even now, and during November and December until the *auxiphotia* they offer them to the priests. For greeting by name during the Brumalia is more recent; but more truly, for which reason the Church also shuns them, they call them festivals of Cronus. And they happen at night, because Cronus is in darkness, as having been cast into Tartarus by Zeus, and they signify the grain from its having been sown in the earth and for the rest not being visible. But this is more true, as has been said, that the activity concerning them is night-wandering, so that for the rest, in truth, the Brumalia are festivals of the chthonic daemons. 4.159 That the natural philosophers say that this universe was once formless matter before its ordering, whence those who have philosophized also say that matter is Hades and Tartarus, as being disturbed and not naturally at rest because of its formlessness. And it is timeless but not without beginning, but nevertheless created and caused, from eternity awaiting the activity of the Father himself, having received its being altogether timeless from his will; whence the Chaldean in the oracles names matter "father-begotten." And how Iamblichus says in the first of the *Chaldaica*, it is worthy to hear: "Matter is eternal, since it co-exists with the first causes from eternity, and it has its being with them and along with them; and it never departs from itself, because according to the homonymous and unitary power it is established in the common things; but it is not incomplete and limitless, but it partakes of a certain perfection, since nothing proceeds incomplete from the paternal triad, but is led forth from it to perfection and limit. The elements therefore having been thus produced after it, but nevertheless being mixed together, the Demiurge, having received everything, which was disordered, not keeping quiet but moving discordantly, brought it into order, according to the *Timaeus*. And as the elements were being separated, and fire appearing upward on account of its natural lightness, and water falling to the depth on account of its natural heaviness, the myth-makers cast Cronus down into Tartarus, as if, with the fire running upward, the water by the

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πρὸ τριῶν Νωνῶν ∆εκεμβρίων ἡμέρα ἄπρακτος, καθ' ἣν ὁ Εὐκτήμων τὸν κύνα δύεσθαι καὶ τὸν χειμῶνα ἐνάρχεσθαι λέγει. καὶ ἤγετο ἱπποδρομία, καθ' ἣν ἀπευκ..... 4.157 Οἱ διπούνδιοι οἱονεὶ νεοστράτευτοι, οὓς καὶ τίρωνας ἀπὸ τοῦ στρατεύεσθαι δι' ἔνδειαν τροφῆς Ἰταλοὶ καλοῦσι. διπουνδίους δὲ αὐτοὺς ἐκάλουν ἀπὸ τῶν ἄρτι παραγγελέντων ἐν στρατείᾳ· οὐ γὰρ ..... διπουνδίους δὲ αὐτοὺς ἐκάλουν ἐκ τοῦ δύο μόνοις νομίσμασιν ἀρκουμένους ὑπομένειν στρατεύεσθαι· διπούνδιον γὰρ τὸ διόβολον Ῥωμαίοις ἔθος καλεῖν. 4.158 Ἔθος ἦν τοῖς Ῥωμαίοις εἰς τρία διατάττειν αὐτῶν τὴν πολιτείαν καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἐπιτηδείους τοῖς ὅπλοις ἀφορίζειν, τοὺς δὲ τῇ γεωργίᾳ, τοὺς δὲ τοῖς κυνηγεσίοις. τούτων δὲ πέρας ἄγει ἡ τοῦ χειμῶνος ὥρα· ἐν αὐτῇ γὰρ οὔτε ἐνοπλίζονται οὔτε γεωργοῦσι διὰ τὸ τῆς ὥρας ψῦχος καὶ τὸ τῆς ἡμέρας βραχύ· ὅθεν καὶ βροῦμαν αὐτὴν πατρίως ὠνόμασαν, οἱονεὶ βραχὺ ἦμαρ· Βρουμάλια δὲ οἱονεὶ χειμεριναὶ ἑορταί. ἀργοῦντες οὖν τὸ τηνικάδε οἱ Ῥωμαῖοι μέχρι τῶν Αὐξιφωτίων ἐπὶ τῶν νυκτῶν χαιρετίζοντες ἐπευφήμουν ἀλλήλους, τῇ πατρίῳ φωνῇ λέγοντες «βίβες ἄννους» οἷον «ζῆθι εἰς χρόνους.» οἱ δὲ γεωργικοὶ πρὸς θεράπειαν Κρόνου καὶ ∆ήμητρος ἔσφαττον χοίρους· ὅθεν καὶ νῦν φυλάττεται κατὰ τὸν ∆εκέμβριον ἡ χοιροσφαγία. ἔσφαζον δὲ οἱ ἀμπελουργοὶ τράγους εἰς τιμὴν τοῦ ∆ιονύσου· ὁ γὰρ τράγος πολέμιος τῆς ἀμπέλου· καὶ ἐκδέροντες αὐτοὺς τοὺς ἀσκοὺς πληροῦντες πνεύματος ἐφήλλοντο αὐτοῖς. οἱ δὲ πολιτικοὶ καὶ τὰς ἀπαρχὰς τῶν συγκλεισθέντων καρπῶν, οἶνον καὶ ἔλαιον, σῖτον καὶ μέλι καὶ πάντα τὰ ἀπὸ δένδρων ὅσα διαμένουσι καὶ σώζονται, ἐποίουν ἄρτους ἄνευ ὕδατος καὶ ταῦτα προσῆγον τοῖς ἱερεῦσι τῆς Μητρός· φυλάττεται δὲ ἡ τοιαύτη συνήθεια ἔτι καὶ νῦν καὶ κατὰ τὸν Νοέμβριον καὶ ∆εκέμβριον ἄχρι τῶν αὐξιφωτίων προσφέρουσιν αὐτὰ τοῖς ἱερεῦσιν. τὸ γὰρ κατ' ὄνομα χαιρετίζειν ἐν τοῖς Βρουμαλίοις νεωτερόν ἐστι· τὸ δὲ ἀληθέστερον, ἐξ οὗ καὶ ἡ ἐκκλησία ἀποτρέπεται αὐτά, Κρονίας ἑορτὰς αὐτὰς λέγουσιν. ἐν νυκτὶ δὲ γίνονται, ὅτι ἐν σκότει ἐστὶν ὁ Κρόνος ὡς ταρταρωθεὶς ὑπὸ τοῦ ∆ιός, αἰνίττονται δὲ τὸν σῖτον ἀπὸ τοῦ ἐν τῇ γῇ σπαρῆναι καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν μὴ φαινομένου. τοῦτο δέ ἐστιν ἀληθέστερον ὡς εἴρηται, ὅτι νυκτιπόρος ἡ περὶ αὐτὰ σπουδή, ὥστε λοιπὸν κατὰ τὸ ἀληθὲς τῶν καταχθονίων δαιμόνων εἰσὶν ἑορταὶ τὰ Βρουμάλια. 4.159 Ὅτι οἱ φυσικοί φασι τόδε τὸ πᾶν ὕλην ἀνείδεον πρὸ τῆς διακοσμήσεως γενέσθαι ποτέ, ὅθεν καὶ τὴν ὕλην Ἅιδην οἱ φιλοσοφήσαντές φασι καὶ Τάρταρον, ὡς ταραττομένην καὶ οὐκ ἠρεμοῦσαν κατὰ φύσιν διὰ τὸ ἀνείδεον αὐτῆς. ἄχρονον δὲ αὐτὴν ἀλλ' οὐκ ἄναρχον, γενητὴν δὲ ὅμως καὶ αἰτιατήν, ἐξ ἀϊδίου τὴν ἐνέργειαν αὐτοῦ τοῦ πατρὸς ἀναμένουσαν, τὸ εἶναι ὅλως ἄχρονον ἐκ τῆς ἐκείνου λαβοῦσαν βουλῆς· ὅθεν ὁ Χαλδαῖος ἐν τοῖς λογίοις πατρογενῆ τὴν ὕλην ὀνομάζει. καὶ ὅπως ὁ Ἰάμβλιχος ἐν τῇ πρώτῃ τῶν Χαλδαϊκῶν φησι, ἀκοῦσαι ἄξιον· «ἀΐδιον μέν ἐστιν ἡ ὕλη, ἐπείπερ συνυφίσταται μετὰ τῶν πρωτίστων αἰτίων ἐξ ἀϊδίου, μετ' αὐτῶν τε καὶ σὺν αὐτοῖς ἔχει τὸ εἶναι· οὐδέποτε δὲ ἐξίσταται ἀφ' ἑαυτῆς, διότι κατὰ τὴν ὁμώνυμον καὶ ἑνιαίαν δύναμιν ἐνεστήρικται τοῖς κοινοῖς· ἀτελὴς δὲ οὔκ ἐστι καὶ ἀπέραντος, ἀλλὰ μεταλαμβάνει τελειότητός τινος, ἐπειδὴ οὐδὲν ἀπὸ τῆς πατρικῆς τριάδος προχωρεῖ ἀτελές, εἰς δὲ τελειότητα καὶ πέρας ἀπ' αὐτῆς προάγεται. τῶν τοίνυν στοιχείων οὕτω μετ' αὐτὴν παραχθέντων συγκεχυμένων δὲ ὅμως, παραλαβὼν ὁ δημιουργὸς πᾶν, ὅπερ ἦν ἄτακτον ἡσυχίαν οὐκ ἄγον ἀλλὰ κινούμενον πλημμελῶς εἰς τάξιν ἤγαγε κατὰ τὸν Τίμαιον. διαστελλομένων δὲ τῶν στοιχείων, καὶ τοῦ μὲν πυρὸς τὴν ἄνω διὰ τὴν φύσει κουφότητα φαίνοντος, τοῦ δὲ ὕδατος εἰς βάθος διὰ τὴν κατὰ φύσιν βαρύτητα πίπτοντος, οἱ μυθικοὶ τὸν Κρόνον καταταρταροῦσιν, οἷον τοῦ πυρὸς ἀνατρέχοντος τὸ ὕδωρ τοῖς