§7.72.13μετὰ δὲ τοὺς χοροὺς τούτους κιθαρισταί τʼ ἀθρόοι καὶ αὐληταὶ πολλοὶ παρεξῄεσαν·
\nAfter these choruses, lyre-players in a body and many flute-players marched past.
καὶ μετʼ αὐτοὺς οἵ τε τὰ θυμιατήρια κομίζοντες, ἐφʼ ὧν ἀρώματα καὶ λιβανωτὸς παρʼ ὅλην ὁδὸν ἐθυμιᾶτο, καὶ οἱ τὰ πομπεῖα παραφέροντες ἀργυρίου καὶ χρυσίου πεποιημένα τά τε ἱερὰ καὶ τὰ δημόσια.
And after them came those who carried the censers, upon which incense and frankincense were burned along the whole way, and those who carried the sacred and public vessels of the procession, made of silver and gold.
τελευταῖα δὲ πάντων αἱ τῶν θεῶν εἰκόνες ἐπόμπευον ὤμοις ὑπʼ ἀνδρῶν φερόμεναι, μορφάς θʼ ὁμοίας παρέχουσαι ταῖς παρʼ Ἕλλησι πλαττομέναις καὶ σκευὰς καὶ σύμβολα καὶ δωρεάς, ὧν εὑρεταὶ καὶ δοτῆρες ἀνθρώποις ἕκαστοι παραδίδονται, οὐ μόνον Διὸς καὶ Ἥρας καὶ Ἀθηνᾶς καὶ Ποσειδῶνος καὶ τῶν ἄλλων, οὓς Ἕλληνες ἐν τοῖς δώδεκα θεοῖς καταριθμοῦσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν προγενεστέρων, ἐξ ὧν οἱ δώδεκα θεοὶ μυθολογοῦνται γενέσθαι, Κρόνου καὶ Ῥέας καὶ Θέμιδος καὶ Λητοῦς καὶ Μοιρῶν καὶ Μνημοσύνης καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων, ὅσων ἐστὶν ἱερὰ καὶ τεμένη παρʼ Ἕλλησι· καὶ τῶν ὕστερον, ἀφʼ οὗ τὴν ἀρχὴν Ζεὺς παρέλαβε, μυθολογουμένων γενέσθαι, Περσεφόνης Εἰλειθυίας Νυμφῶν Μουσῶν Ὡρῶν Χαρίτων Διονύσου, καὶ ὅσων ἡμιθέων γενομένων αἱ ψυχαὶ τὰ θνητὰ ἀπολιποῦσαι σώματα εἰς οὐρανὸν ἀνελθεῖν λέγονται, καὶ τιμὰς λαχεῖν ὁμοίας θεοῖς, Ἡρακλέους Ἀσκληπιοῦ Διοσκούρων Σελήνης Πανὸς ἄλλων μυρίων. §7.72.14καίτοι εἰ βάρβαροι ἦσαν οἱ τὴν Ῥώμην οἰκίσαντες καὶ τὴν ἑορτὴν ταύτην καταστησάμενοι, τί προσῆκεν αὐτοῖς τοὺς μὲν Ἑλληνικοὺς ἅπαντας σέβειν θεούς τε καὶ δαίμονας, τῶν δὲ πατρίων ὑπερορᾶν;
And last of all, the images of the gods marched in procession, carried on the shoulders of men, presenting forms similar to those fashioned among the Greeks, and costumes, symbols, and gifts, of which each is handed down to have been the inventor and giver to mankind, not only of Zeus, Hera, Athena, Poseidon, and the others whom the Greeks number among the twelve gods, but also of the earlier gods, from whom the twelve gods are mythologically said to have been born, Cronus, Rhea, Themis, Leto, the Fates, Mnemosyne, and all the others who have temples and sacred precincts among the Greeks; and of the later ones, from the time when Zeus took over the rule, mythologically said to have been born, Persephone, Eileithyia, the Nymphs, the Muses, the Seasons, the Graces, Dionysus, and all the demigods whose souls, having left their mortal bodies, are said to have ascended into heaven and to have obtained honors equal to the gods, Heracles, Asclepius, the Dioscuri, Selene, Pan, and ten thousand others.\n\nYet, if those who settled Rome and established this festival were barbarians, how did it belong to them to revere all the Greek gods and spirits, but to disregard their ancestral ones?
ἢ δειξάτω τις ἡμῖν ἔξω τοῦ Ἑλληνικοῦ φῦλον ἕτερον, ᾧ πάτριά ἐστι ταῦτα τὰ ἱερά, καὶ τότε διαβαλλέτω ταύτην τὴν ἀπόδειξιν ὡς οὐχ ὑγιῆ. §7.72.15συντελεσθείσης δὲ τῆς πομπῆς ἐβουθύτουν εὐθὺς οἵ θʼ ὕπατοι καὶ τῶν ἱερέων οἷς ὅσιον, καὶ ὁ τῶν θυηπολιῶν τρόπος ὁ αὐτὸς ἦν τῷ παρʼ ἡμῖν.
Or let someone show us another race outside the Greek stock to whom these sacred rites are ancestral, and only then let him slander this proof as unsound.\n\nAnd when the procession was completed, the consuls and those of the priests for whom it was lawful immediately sacrificed oxen, and the manner of the sacrifices was the same as among us.
χερνιψάμενοί τε γὰρ αὐτοὶ καὶ τὰ ἱερὰ καθαρῷ περιαγνίσαντες ὕδατι καὶ Δημητρίους καρποὺς ἐπιρράναντες αὐτῶν ταῖς κεφαλαῖς, ἔπειτα κατευξάμενοι, θύειν τότε τοῖς ὑπηρέταις αὐτὰ ἐκέλευον.
For having washed their hands and purified the victims with clean water, and having sprinkled Demetrian fruits on their heads, then, after praying, they ordered the assistants to sacrifice them.
τῶν δʼ οἱ μὲν ἑστῶτος ἔτι τοῦ θύματος σκυτάλῃ τοὺς κροτάφους ἔπαιον, οἱ δὲ πίπτοντος ὑπετίθεσαν τὰς σφαγίδας, καὶ μετὰ τοῦτο δείραντές τε καὶ μελίσαντες ἀπαρχὰς ἐλάμβανον ἐξ ἑκάστου σπλάγχνου καὶ παντὸς ἄλλου μέλους, ἃς ἀλφίτοις ζέας ἀναδεύσαντες προσέφερον τοῖς θύουσιν ἐπὶ κανῶν· οἱ δʼ ἐπὶ τοὺς βωμοὺς ἐπιθέντες ὑφῆπτον καὶ προσέσπενδον οἶνον κατὰ §7.72.16τῶν ἁγνιζομένων.
And of these, some, while the victim was still standing, struck its temples with a club, while others, as it fell, held the sacrificial knives beneath; and after this, having flayed and jointed it, they took first-fruits from each internal organ and every other limb, which, having mixed with spelt meal, they brought to the sacrificers on platters; and they, having placed them upon the altars, set fire to them and poured wine upon\n\nthe victims being purified.
ἕκαστον δʼ ὅτι κατὰ νόμους ἐγίνετο τοὺς ἀμφὶ θυσίαν ὑφʼ Ἑλλήνων κατασταθέντας, ἐκ τῆς Ὁμήρου ποιήσεως γνῶναι ῥᾴδιον.
And that each thing was done according to the laws established concerning sacrifice by the Greeks, is easy to know from Homer's poetry.
καὶ γὰρ χερνιπτομένους εἰσάγει τοὺς ἥρωας καὶ οὐλαῖς χρωμένους ἐν οἷς φησι· "χερνίψαντο δʼ ἔπειτα καὶ οὐλοχύτας ἀνέλοντο. "
τριχοτομοῦντάς τʼ ἀπὸ τῆς κεφαλῆς τὰς τρίχας καὶ τιθέντας ἐπὶ τὸ πῦρ ὧδε γράφων· "ἀλλʼ ὅ γʼ ἀπαρχόμενος κεφαλῆς τρίχας ἐν πυρὶ βάλλε. "
σκυτάλαις τε παίοντας τὰ μέτωπα τῶν ἱερείων καὶ τὰ πεσόντα θύοντας, ὡς ἐπὶ τῆς Εὐμαίου ποιεῖ θυσίας· "κόψε δʼ ἀπαρχόμενος σχίζῃ δρυός, ἣν λίπε κείων.
For he introduces the heroes washing their hands and using barley-meal, in the passage where he says:\n"Then they washed their hands and took up the barley-meal."\nAnd cutting the hair from the head and placing it on the fire, writing thus:\n"But he, beginning the offering, threw the hair of the head into the fire."\nAnd striking the foreheads of the victims with clubs and sacrificing them when fallen, as he does in the sacrifice of Eumaeus:\n"And beginning the offering, he struck with a split oak log, which he had left when cleaving.
τὸν δʼ ἔλιπε ψυχή· τοὶ δʼ ἔσφαξάν τε καὶ εὗσαν. " §7.72.17ἀπαρχάς τʼ ἀπὸ τῶν σπλάγχνων καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ἄλλων λαμβάνοντας μελῶν, καὶ ταύτας ἀλφίτοις δεύοντας καὶ καθαγίζοντας ἐπὶ τῶν βωμῶν, ὡς ἐπὶ τῆς αὐτῆς ποιεῖ θυσίας· "ὁ δʼ ὠμοθετεῖτο συβώτης, πάντοθεν ἀρχόμενος μελέων ἐς πίονα δημόν· καὶ τὰ μὲν πυρὶ βάλλε παλύνας ἀλφίτου ἀκτῇ. " §7.72.18ταῦτα δὲ Ῥωμαίους ἔτι καὶ εἰς ἐμὲ πράττοντας ἐπὶ ταῖς θυσίαις ἰδὼν ἐπίσταμαι·
And its life left it; and they slaughtered and singed it."\n\nAnd taking first-fruits from the entrails and from the other limbs, and wetting these with barley-meal and consecrating them upon the altars, as he does in the same sacrifice:\n"And the swineherd laid raw pieces, beginning from all the limbs, into the rich fat; and some he threw into the fire, having sprinkled them with barley-meal."\n\nAnd having seen the Romans still performing these things at their sacrifices even to my time, I know it; and satisfied with this single proof, I was convinced that the settlers of Rome were not barbarians, but Greeks who had come together from many places.
καὶ μιᾷ πίστει τῇδε ἀρκούμενος οὐ βαρβάρους ἐπείσθην εἶναι τοὺς οἰκιστὰς τῆς Ῥώμης, ἀλλʼ ἐκ πολλῶν τόπων συνεληλυθότας Ἕλληνας. ὀλίγα μὲν γὰρ ἐπιτηδεύματα περὶ θυσίας τε καὶ ἑορτὰς ὁμοίως Ἕλλησι καὶ βαρβάρους τινὰς ἐπιτελεῖν ἐνδέχεται, πάντα δὲ ταὐτὰ πράττειν ἀπίθανον.
For while it is possible for some barbarians to perform a few practices concerning sacrifices and festivals similarly to the Greeks, to do all the same things is incredible.