25. For if whatever is done by men, and especially in religion, should have its causes,—and nothing should be done without a reason in all that men do and perform,—tell us and say what is the cause, what the reason, that these things also are given to the gods and burned upon their sacred altars? For here we delay, constrained most urgently to wait for this cause, we pause, we stand fast, desiring to learn what a god has to do with pottage, with cakes, with different kinds of stuffing prepared in manifold ways, and with different ingredients? Are the deities affected by splendid dinners or luncheons, so that it is fitting to devise for them feasts without number? Are they troubled by the loathings of their stomachs, and is variety of flavours sought for to get rid of their aversion, so that there is set before them meat at one time roasted, at another raw, and at another half cooked and half raw? But if the gods like to receive all these parts which you term præsiciæ,1648    i.e., cut off for sacrifice. and if these gratify them with any sense of pleasure or delight, what prevents, what hinders you from laying all these upon their altars at once with the whole animals? What cause, what reason is there that the haunch-piece1649    Caro strebula. by itself, the gullet, the tail, and the tail-piece1650    Plasea. separately, the entrails only, and the membrane1651    The ms. reads unintelligibly nomen quæ, corrected by Gelenius omentum, as above. alone, should be brought to do them honour? Are the gods of heaven moved by various condiments? After stuffing themselves with sumptuous and ample dinners, do they, as is usually done, take these little bits as sweet dainties, not to appease their hunger, but to rouse their wearied palates,1652    Lit., “admonish the ease of the palate;” a correction of Salmasius, by omitting a from the ms. palati-a admoneant. and excite in themselves a perfectly voracious appetite? O wonderful greatness of the gods, comprehended by no men, understood by no creatures! if indeed their favours are bought with the testicles and gullets of beasts, and if they do not lay aside their anger and resentment, unless they see the entrails1653    Næniæ. prepared and offæ bought and burned upon their altars.

XXV. Si enim quaecumque ab hominibus fiunt, maximeque in re sacra, debent habere suas causas, nec sine ratione est quidquam in negotiis omnibus, atque in omni administratione faciendum; edissertate nobis, et dicite, quae sit causa, quae ratio, ut haec etiam diis dentur, sacrisque adoleantur altaribus? In hoc enim diutius loco huic causae vel maxime necessario immoramur, insistimus, inhaeremus, cupientes 1251B addiscere, quid cum pultibus Deo sit, quid cum 1252A libis, quid diversis cum fartibus, confectionis jure multiplici atque impensarum varietate conditis? Opiparis numina coenis afficiuntur, aut prandiis, ut innumeras conveniat excogitare his dapes? aversionibus stomachorum laborant, et ad expellenda fastidia saporum varietas quaeritur, ut modo his assa, modo cruda ponantur, semicocta modo et semicruda? Quod si omnes has partes, quas praesicias dicitis, accipere dii amant, suntque illis gratae, vel voluptatis alicujus vel dulcedinis sensu; quid intercedit, quid prohibet, ut non semel haec omnia totis cum animantibus inferatis? Quae causa, quae ratio est, ut caro strebula separatim, ruma, cauda et plassea separatim, hirae solae, omentum solum, augmentorum 1252B adjiciatur in causam? Pulmentorum varietatibus 1253A afficiuntur dii coelites, ut fieri mos est post coenarum ditium et locupletium saginas frustilla haec parvula pro suavibus mateolis sumunt, non quibus famem sedeant, sed ut palati admoneant otium, seque ipsos plenae appetitu voracitatis instigent? O deorum magnitudo mirabilis, o nullis hominum comprehensa, nullis intellecta naturis! siquidem ut prosint, testiculis pecudum redimuntur et rumis, neque prius iras atque animos ponunt, nisi sibi adoleri paratas conspexerint naenias, offasque redemptas.