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The City of God

Chapter 7.--Whether It is Reasonable to Separate Janus and Terminus as Two Distinct Deities.

Who, then, is Janus, with whom Varro commences? He is the world. Certainly a very brief and unambiguous reply. Why, then, do they say that the beginnings of things pertain to him, but the ends to another whom they call Terminus? For they say that two months have been dedicated to these two gods, with reference to beginnings and ends--January to Janus, and February to Terminus--over and above those ten months which commence with March and end with December. And they say that that is the reason why the Terminalia are celebrated in the month of February, the same month in which the sacred purification is made which they call Februum, and from which the month derives its name. ¹ Do the beginnings of things, therefore, pertain to the world, which is Janus, and not also the ends, since another god has been placed over them? Do they not own that all things which they say begin in this world also come to an end in this world? What folly it is, to give him only half power in work, when in his image they give him two faces! Would it not be a far more elegant way of interpreting the two-faced image, to say that Janus and Terminus are the same, and that the one face has reference to beginnings, the other to ends? For one who works ought to have respect to both. For he who in every forthputting of activity does not look back on the beginning, does not look forward to the end. Wherefore it is necessary that prospective intention be connected with retrospective memory. For how shall one find how to finish anything, if he has forgotten what it was which he had begun? But if they thought that the blessed life is begun in this world, and perfected beyond the world, and for that reason attributed to Janus, that is, to the world, only the power of beginnings, they should certainly have preferred Terminus to him, and should not have shut him out from the number of the select gods. Yet even now, when the beginnings and ends of temporal things are represented by these two gods, more honor ought to have been given to Terminus. For the greater joy is that which is felt when anything is finished; but things begun are always cause of much anxiety until they are brought to an end, which end he who begins anything very greatly longs for, fixes his mind on, expects, desires; nor does any one ever rejoice over anything he has begun, unless it be brought to an end.

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De civitate Dei (CCSL)

Caput VII: An rationabile fuerit Ianum et Terminum in duo numina separari.

Ianus igitur, a quo sumpsit exordium, quaero quisnam sit. respondetur: mundus est. breuis haec plane est atque aperta responsio. cur ergo ad eum dicuntur rerum initia pertinere, fines uero ad alterum, quem Terminum uocant? nam propter initia et fines duobus istis dis duos menses perhibent dedicatos praeter illos decem, quibus usque ad Decembrem caput est Martius, Ianuarium Iano, Februarium Termino. ideo Terminalia eodem mense Februario celebrari dicunt, cum fit sacrum purgatorium, quod uocant Februm, unde mensis nomen accepit. numquid ergo ad mundum, qui Ianus est, initia rerum pertinent et fines non pertinent, ut alter illis deus praeficeretur? nonne omnia, quae in hoc mundo fieri dicunt, in hoc etiam mundo terminari fatentur? quae est ista uanitas, in opere illi dare potestatem dimidiam, in simulacro faciem duplam? nonne istum bifrontem multo elegantius interpretarentur, si eundem et Ianum et Terminum dicerent atque initiis unam faciem, finibus alteram darent? quoniam qui operatur utrumque debet intendere; in omni enim motu actionis suae qui non respicit initium non prospicit finem. unde necesse est a memoria respiciente prospiciens conectatur intentio; nam cui exciderit quod coeperit, quomodo finiat non inueniet. quodsi uitam beatam in hoc mundo inchoari putarent, extra mundum perfici, et ideo Iano, id est mundo, solam initiorum tribuerent potestatem: profecto ei praeponerent Terminum eumque ab dis selectis non alienarent. quamquam etiam nunc cum in istis duobus dis initia rerum temporalium finesque tractantur, Termino dari debuit plus honoris. maior enim laetitia est, cum res quaeque perficitur; sollicitudinis autem plena sunt coepta, donec perducantur ad finem, quem qui aliquid incipit maxime adpetit intendit, expectat exoptat, nec de re inchoata, nisi terminetur, exultat.