which, although they indicate many properties, ought not to have
established the opinion that there is a corresponding number of
gods._
The one earth, then, on account of this fourfold virtue, ought to
have had four surnames, but not to have been considered as four
gods,--as Jupiter and Juno, though they have so many surnames, are
for all that only single deities,--for by all these surnames it
is signified that a manifold virtue belongs to one god or to one
goddess; but the multitude of surnames does not imply a multitude of
gods. But as sometimes even the vilest women themselves grow tired of
those crowds which they have sought after under the impulse of wicked
passion, so also the soul, become vile, and prostituted to impure
spirits, sometimes begins to loathe to multiply to itself gods to
whom to surrender itself to be polluted by them, as much as it once
delighted in so doing. For Varro himself, as if ashamed of that crowd
of gods, would make Tellus to be one goddess. "They say," says he,
"that whereas the one great mother has a tympanum, it is signified
that she is the orb of the earth; whereas she has towers on her head,
towns are signified; and whereas seats are fixed round about her, it
is signified that whilst all things move, she moves not. And their
having made the Galli to serve this goddess, signifies that they
who are in need of seed ought to follow the earth, for in it all
seeds are found. By their throwing themselves down before her, it is
taught," he says, "that they who cultivate the earth should not sit
idle, for there is always something for them to do. The sound of the
cymbals signifies the noise made by the throwing of iron utensils,
and by men's hands, and all other noises connected with agricultural
operations; and these cymbals are of brass, because the ancients used
brazen utensils in their agriculture before iron was discovered.
They place beside the goddess an unbound and tame lion, to show that
there is no kind of land so wild and so excessively barren as that it
would be profitless to attempt to bring it in and cultivate it." Then
he adds that, because they gave many names and surnames to mother
Tellus, it came to be thought that these signified many gods. "They
think," says he, "that Tellus is Ops, because the earth is improved
by labour; Mother, because it brings forth much; Great, because it
brings forth seed; Proserpine, because fruits creep forth from it;
Vesta, because it is invested with herbs. And thus," says he, "they
not at all absurdly identify other goddesses with the earth." If,
then, it is one goddess (though, if the truth were consulted, it is
not even that), why do they nevertheless separate it into many? Let
there be many names of one goddess, and let there not be as many
goddesses as there are names.
But the authority of the erring ancients weighs heavily on Varro, and
compels him, after having expressed this opinion, to show signs of
uneasiness; for he immediately adds, "With which things the opinion
of the ancients, who thought that there were really many goddesses,
does not conflict." How does it not conflict, when it is entirely a
different thing to say that one goddess has many names, and to say
that there are many goddesses? But it is possible, he says, that the
same thing may both be one, and yet have in it a plurality of things.
I grant that there are many things in one man; are there therefore in
him many men? In like manner, in one goddess there are many things;
are there therefore also many goddesses? But let them divide, unite,
multiply, reduplicate, and implicate as they like.
These are the famous mysteries of Tellus and the Great Mother, all of
which are shown to have reference to mortal seeds and to agriculture.
Do these things, then,--namely, the tympanum, the towers, the
Galli, the tossing to and fro of limbs, the noise of cymbals, the
images of lions,--do these things, having this reference and this
end, promise eternal life? Do the mutilated Galli, then, serve this
Great Mother in order to signify that they who are in need of seed
should follow the earth, as though it were not rather the case that
this very service caused them to want seed? For whether do they, by
following this goddess, acquire seed, being in want of it, or, by
following her, lose seed when they have it? Is this to interpret or
to deprecate? Nor is it considered to what a degree malign demons
have gained the upper hand, inasmuch as they have been able to exact
such cruel rites without having dared to promise any great things
in return for them. Had the earth not been a goddess, men would
have, by labouring, laid their hands on _it_ in order to obtain seed
through it, and would not have laid violent hands on themselves in
order to lose seed on account of it. Had it not been a goddess, it
would have become so fertile by the hands of others, that it would
not have compelled a man to be rendered barren by his own hands;
nor that in the festival of Liber an honourable matron put a wreath
on the private parts of a man in the sight of the multitude, where
perhaps her husband was standing by blushing and perspiring, if there
is any shame left in men; and that in the celebration of marriages
the newly-married bride was ordered to sit upon Priapus. These things
are bad enough, but they are small and contemptible in comparison
with that most cruel abomination, or most abominable cruelty, by
which either set is so deluded that neither perishes of its wound.
There the enchantment of fields is feared; here the amputation of
members is not feared. There the modesty of the bride is outraged,
but in such a manner as that neither her fruitfulness nor even her
virginity is taken away; here a man is so mutilated that he is
neither changed into a woman nor remains a man.