§5.52.1haec culti neglectique numinis tanta momenta in rebus humanis cernentes ecquid sentitis, Quirites, quantum vixdum e naufragiis prioris culpae cladisque emergentes paremus nefas? §5.52.2urbem auspicato inauguratoque conditam habemus; nullus locus in ea non religionum deorumque est plenus; sacrificiis sollemnibus non dies magis stati quam loca sunt, in quibus fiant.
"Seeing these so great consequences of worshiping and neglecting the divine power in human affairs, do you feel at all, Quirites, how great an impiety we are preparing, we who are scarcely yet emerging from the shipwreck of our former guilt and disaster? We possess a city founded after taking auspices and inaugurations; there is no place in it that is not full of religious rites and gods; for solemn sacrifices, the days are no more fixed than are the places in which they are to be performed. Are you going to desert all these gods, public and private, Quirites?
§5.52.3hos omnes deos publicos privatosque, Quirites, deserturi estis? quam par vestrum factum ei est, quod in obsidione nuper in egregio adulescente C. Fabio non minore hostium admiratione quam vestra conspectum est, cum inter Gallica tela degressus ex arce sollemne Fabiae gentis in colle Quirinali obiit? §5.52.4an gentilicia sacra ne in bello quidem intermitti, publica sacra et Romanos deos etiam in pace deseri placet et pontifices flaminesque neglegentiores publicarum religionum esse, quam privatus in sollemni gentis fuerit? §5.52.5forsitan aliquis dicat aut Veis ea nos facturos aut huc inde missuros sacerdotes nostros, qui faciant; quorum neutrum fieri salvis caerimoniis potest. §5.52.6et ne omnia generatim sacra omnesque percenseam deos, in Iovis epulo num alibi quam in Capitolio pulvinar suscipi potest?
How fitting is your conduct compared to that which, during the recent siege, was observed in that excellent youth Gaius Fabius, to the admiration of the enemy no less than yours, when he came down from the citadel through the midst of Gallic weapons and performed the solemn rite of the Fabian clan on the Quirinal hill! Or does it please you that clan sacrifices should not be interrupted even in war, while public sacrifices and Roman gods are deserted even in peace, and that pontiffs and flamens should be more negligent of public religions than a private citizen was in the solemn rite of his clan? Perhaps someone may say that we will either perform them at Veii, or send our priests from there to here to perform them; but neither of these can be done without violating the ceremonies. And so as not to run through all the ceremonies class by class and all the gods, can the sacred couch in the feast of Jupiter be set up anywhere else than on the Capitol? What shall I say of the eternal fires of Vesta and the image which is kept in the custody of her temple as a pledge of empire?
§5.52.7quid de aeternis Vestae ignibus signoque, quod imperii pignus custodia eius templi tenetur, loquar? quid de ancilibus vestris, Mars Gradive tuque, Quirine pater? haec omnia in profano deseri placet sacra aequalia urbi, quaedam vetustiora origine urbis? et videte, quid inter nos ac maiores intersit.
What of your sacred shields, Mars Gradivus, and you, father Quirinus? Is it pleased that all these sacred things, coeval with the city, and some even older than the origin of the city, should be abandoned in a profane place?
§5.52.8illi sacra quaedam in monte Albano Laviniique nobis facienda tradiderunt.
And see what a difference there is between us and our ancestors. They handed down to us certain sacrifices to be performed on the Alban Mount and at Lavinium.
an ex hostium urbibus Romam ad nos transferri sacra religiosum fuit, hinc sine piaculo in hostium urbem Veios transferemus? Recordamini,
Was it a religious duty for sacred rites to be transferred from the cities of enemies to us at Rome, and shall we transfer them from here to Veii, the city of our enemies, without incurring guilt?
§5.52.9agite dum, quotiens sacra instaurentur, quia aliquid ex patrio ritu neglegentia casuve praetermissum est.
Remember, come now, how often our sacred rites are performed anew because something from the ancestral ritual was omitted through negligence or chance.
modo quae res post prodigium Albani lacus nisi instauratio sacrorum auspiciorumque renovatio adfectae Veienti bello rei publicae remedio fuit? §5.52.10at etiam, tamquam veterum religionum memores, et peregrinos deos transtulimus Romam et instituimus novos.
Just recently, after the prodigy of the Alban lake, what other thing than the renewal of the rites and the restoration of the auspices brought remedy to the state afflicted by the Veientine war? But furthermore, as if mindful of ancient religions, we have both transferred foreign gods to Rome and established new ones.
Iuno regina transvecta a Veis nuper in Aventino quam insigni ob excellens matronarum studium celebrique dedicata est die! §5.52.11Aio Locutio templum propter caelestem vocem exauditam in Nova via iussimus fieri; §5.52.12Capitolinos ludos sollemnibus aliis addidimus collegiumque ad id novum auctore senatu condidimus; quid horum opus fuit suscipi, si una cum Gallis urbem Romanam relicturi fuimus, si non voluntate mansimus in Capitolio per tot menses obsidionis, sed ab hostibus metu retenti sumus? de sacris loquimur et de templis; §5.52.13quid tandem de sacerdotibus? nonne in mentem venit, quantum piaculi comittatur? Vestalibus nempe una illa sedes est, ex qua eas nihil umquam praeterquam urbs capta movit; flamini Diali noctem unam manere extra urbem nefas est; §5.52.14hos Veientis pro Romanis facturi estis sacerdotes, et Vestales tuae te deserent, Vesta, et flamen peregre habitando in singulas noctes tantum sibi reique publicae piaculi contrahet? quid? §5.52.15alia, quae auspicato agimus omnia fere intra pomerium, cui oblivioni aut cui neglegentiae damus? comitia curiata,
How distinguished and crowded was the day on which Queen Juno, recently transported from Veii, was dedicated on the Aventine because of the outstanding devotion of our matrons! We ordered a temple to be built for Aius Locutius on the New Street on account of the heavenly voice heard there; We added the Capitoline Games to our other solemnities, and for that purpose established a new college on the authority of the senate; what of these things was there need to be undertaken, if we were going to abandon the Roman city together with the Gauls, if we did not remain on the Capitol through so many months of siege of our own free will, but were kept back by fear of the enemy? We are speaking of sacred things and of temples; what of the priests, after all? Does it not come to your mind how great a sacrilege is committed? Surely, the Vestals have that single seat of theirs, from which nothing ever moved them except the capture of the city; for the Flamen Dialis, it is a sin to remain outside the city for a single night; are you going to make these priests Veientine instead of Roman, and will your Vestals desert you, Vesta, and will the flamen, by dwelling abroad, contract so great a guilt upon himself and the state night after night? What else? Other matters which we conduct after taking the auspices, almost all of them within the pomerium, to what forgetfulness or to what negligence do we consign them?
§5.52.16quae rem militarem continent, comitia centuriata, quibus consules tribunosque militaris creatis, ubi auspicato, nisi ubi adsolent, fieri possunt? Veiosne haec transferemus?
The curiate assembly, which regulates military affairs, and the centuriate assembly, by which you elect consuls and military tribunes—where can they be held under auspices, except where they are accustomed to be?
§5.52.17an comitiorum causa populus tanto incommodo in desertam hanc ab dis hominibusque urbem conveniet?
Shall we transfer these to Veii? Or will the people, for the sake of the assemblies, assemble with so great inconvenience in this city, deserted by gods and men?"