32. But let there be, as you wish, honour in wine and in incense, let the auger and displeasure of the deities be appeased by the immolation and slaughter of victims: are the gods moved by garlands also, wreaths and flowers, by the jingling of brass also, and the shaking of cymbals, by timbrels also, and also by symphonious pipes ? 4916 What effect has the clattering of castanets, that when the deities have heard them, they think that honour has been shown to them, and lay aside their fiery spirit of resentment in forgetfulness? Or, as little boys are frightened into giving over their silly wailings by hearing the sound of rattles, are the almighty deities also soothed in the same way by the whistling of pipes? and do they become mild, is their indignation softened, at the musical sound of cymbals? What is the meaning of those calls 4917 which you sing in the morning, joining your voices to the music of the pipe? Do the gods of heaven fall asleep, so that they should return to their posts? What is the meaning of those slumbers 4918 to which you commend them with auspicious salutations that they may be in good health? Are they awakened from sleep; and that they may be able to be overcome by it, must soothing lullabies be heard? The purification, says my opponent , of the mother of the gods is to-day. 4919 Do the gods, then, become dirty; and to get rid of the filth, do those who wash them need water, and even some cinders to rub them with? 4920 The feast of Jupiter is to-morrow. Jupiter, I suppose, dines, and must be satiated with great banquets, and long filled with eager cravings for food by fasting, and hungry after the usual 4921 interval. The vintage festival of Æsculapius is being celebrated. The gods, then, cultivate vineyards, and, having collected gatherers, press the wine for their own uses. 4922 The lectisternium of Ceres 4923 will be on the next Ides, for the gods have couches; and that they may be able to lie on softer cushions, the pillows are shaken up when they have been pressed down. 4924 It is the birthday of Tellus ; 4925 for the gods are born, and have festal days on which it has been settled that they began to breathe 4916     Symphoniæ. Evidently musical instruments; but while Isidore speaks of them as a kind of drum, other writers call them trumpets and pipes. 4917     At daybreak on opening, and at night on closing the temple, the priests of Isis sang hymns in praise of the goddess (cf. Jos. Scaliger, Castigationes ad Cat. , etc., p. 132); and to these Arnobius refers sarcastically, as though they had been calls to awake, and lullabies to sing her asleep. 4918     At daybreak on opening, and at night on closing the temple, the priests of Isis sang hymns in praise of the goddess (cf. Jos. Scaliger, Castigationes ad Cat. , etc., p. 132); and to these Arnobius refers sarcastically, as though they had been calls to awake, and lullabies to sing her asleep. 4919     i.e., March 27th, marked Lavatio in a calendar prepared during the reign of Constantius. 4920     Lit., “and some rubbing of cinders added,” aliqua frictione cineris ; an emendation of Ursinus for the possibly correct ms. antiqua f. c. —“the ancient rubbing,” i.e., that practiced in early times. 4921     Lit., “anniversary.” 4922     So the later edd., adopting the emendation of ad suas usiones for the corrupt ms. ad (or ab ) suasionibus . 4923     i.e., feast at which the image of Ceres was placed on a couch, probably the Cerealia , celebrated in April. This passage flatly contradicts Prof. Ramsay’s assertion ( Ant. , p. 345) that lectisternium is not applied to a banquet offered to a goddess; while it corroborates his statement that such feasts were ordinary events, not extraordinary solemnities, as Mr. Yates says (Smith’s Ant. , s.v.). See p. 519, n. 2. 4924     Lit., “the impression of the cushions is lifted up and raised,” i.e., smoothed. 4925     Thus the 25th of January is marked as the birthday of the Graces, the 1st of February as that of Hercules, the 1st of March as that of Mars, in the calendar already mentioned.