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De civitate Dei (CCSL)

Caput XIX: De interpretationibus, quibus colendi Saturni ratio concinnatur.

Saturnum, inquit, dixerunt, quae nata ex eo essent, solitum deuorare, quod eo semina, unde nascerentur, redirent. et quod illi pro Ioue gleba obiecta est deuorando, significat, inquit, manibus humanis obrui coeptas serendo fruges, antequam utilitas arandi esset inuenta. Saturnus ergo dici debuit ipsa terra non semina; ipsa enim quodammodo deuorat quae genuerit, cum ex ea nata semina in eam rursus recipienda redierint. et quod pro Ioue accepisse dicitur glebam, quid hoc ad id ualet, quod manibus hominum semen gleba coopertum est? numquid ideo non est, ut cetera, deuoratum, quod gleba coopertum est? ita enim hoc dictum est, quasi qui glebam obposuit semen abstulerit, sicut Saturno perhibent oblata gleba ablatum Iouem, ac non potius gleba semen operiendo fecerit illud diligentius deuorari. deinde isto modo semen est Iuppiter, non seminis causa, quod paulo ante dicebatur. sed quid faciant homines, qui, cum res stultas interpretantur, non inueniunt quid sapienter dicatur ? falcem habet, inquit, propter agriculturam. certe illo regnante nondum erat agricultura, et ideo priora eius tempora perhibentur, sicut idem ipse fabellas interpretatur, quia primi homines ex his uiuebant seminibus, quae terra sponte gignebat. an falcem sceptro perdito accepit, ut, qui primis temporibus rex fuerat otiosus, filio regnante fieret operarius laboriosus? deinde ideo dicit a quibusdam pueros ei solitos immolari, sicut a Poenis, et a quibusdam etiam maiores, sicut a Gallis, quia omnium seminum optimum est genus humanum. de hac crudelissima uanitate quid opus est plura dicere? hoc potius aduertamus atque teneamus, has interpretationes non referri ad deum uerum, uiuam, incorpoream incommutabilemque naturam, a quo uita in aeternum beata poscenda est; sed earum esse fines in rebus corporalibus, temporalibus, mutabilibus atque mortalibus. quod Caelum, inquit, patrem Saturnus castrasse in fabulis dicitur, hoc significat penes Saturnum, non penes Caelum semen esse diuinum. hoc propterea, quantum intellegi datur, quia nihil in caelo de seminibus nascitur. sed ecce, Saturnus si Caeli est filius, Iouis est filius. Caelum enim esse Iouem innumerabiliter et diligenter adfirmant. ita ista, quae a ueritate non ueniunt, plerumque et nullo inpellente se ipsa subuertunt. Chronon appellatum dicit, quod Graeco uocabulo significat temporis spatium, sine quo semen, inquit, non potest esse fecundum. haec et alia de Saturno multa dicuntur, et ad semen omnia referuntur. sed saltem Saturnus seminibus cum tanta ista potestate sufficeret; quid ad haec di alii requiruntur, maxime Liber et Libera, id est Ceres? de quibus rursus, quod ad semen adtinet, tanta dicit, quasi de Saturno nihil dixerit.

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The City of God

Chapter 19.--Concerning the Interpretations Which Compose the Reason of the Worship of Saturn.

They said, says Varro, that Saturn was wont to devour all that sprang from him, because seeds returned to the earth from whence they sprang. And when it is said that a lump of earth was put before Saturn to be devoured instead of Jupiter, it is signified, he says, that before the art of ploughing was discovered, seeds were buried in the earth by the hands of men. The earth itself, then, and not seeds, should have been called Saturn, because it in a manner devours what it has brought forth, when the seeds which have sprung from it return again into it. And what has Saturn's receiving of a lump of earth instead of Jupiter to do with this, that the seeds were covered in the soil by the hands of men? Was the seed kept from being devoured, like other things, by being covered with the soil? For what they say would imply that he who put on the soil took away the seed, as Jupiter is said to have been taken away when the lump of soil was offered to Saturn instead of him, and not rather that the soil, by covering the seed, only caused it to be devoured the more eagerly. Then, in that way, Jupiter is the seed, and not the cause of the seed, as was said a little before.

But what shall men do who cannot find anything wise to say, because they are interpreting foolish things? Saturn has a pruning-knife. That, says Varro, is on account of agriculture. Certainly in Saturn's reign there as yet existed no agriculture, and therefore the former times of Saturn are spoken of, because, as the same Varro interprets the fables, the primeval men lived on those seeds which the earth produced spontaneously. Perhaps he received a pruning-knife when he had lost his sceptre; that he who had been a king, and lived at ease during the first part of his time, should become a laborious workman whilst his son occupied the throne. Then he says that boys were wont to be immolated to him by certain peoples, the Carthaginians for instance; and also that adults were immolated by some nations, for example the Gauls--because, of all seeds, the human race is the best. What need we say more concerning this most cruel vanity. Let us rather attend to and hold by this, that these interpretations are not carried up to the true God,--a living, incorporeal, unchangeable nature, from whom a blessed life enduring for ever may be obtained,--but that they end in things which are corporeal, temporal, mutable, and mortal. And whereas it is said in the fables that Saturn castrated his father Coelus, this signifies, says Varro, that the divine seed belongs to Saturn, and not to Coelus; for this reason, as far as a reason can be discovered, namely, that in heaven ¹ nothing is born from seed. But, lo! Saturn, if he is the son of Coelus, is the son of Jupiter. For they affirm times without number, and that emphatically, that the heavens ² are Jupiter. Thus those things which come not of the truth, do very often, without being impelled by any one, themselves overthrow one another. He says that Saturn was called Kronos, which in the Greek tongue signifies a space of time, ³ because, without that, seed cannot be productive. These and many other things are said concerning Saturn, and they are all referred to seed. But Saturn surely, with all that great power, might have sufficed for seed. Why are other gods demanded for it, especially Liber and Libera, that is, Ceres?--concerning whom again, as far as seed is concerned, he says as many things as if he had said nothing concerning Saturn.