§5De originibus quidem ut secretioribus et ignotis penes plures nostrorum † artis nec aliunde inuestigandum fuit quam de instrumentis ethnicalium litterarum.
Indeed, regarding the origins, as they are more secret and unknown to the majority of our people, we had to investigate from no other source than from the instruments of pagan literature.
extaut auctores multi, qui super ista re commentarios ediderunt.
There exist many authors who have published commentaries on this matter.
ab his ludorum origo sic traditur: Lydos ex Asia transuenas in Etruria consedisse Timaeus refert duce Tyrreno, qui fratri suo cesserat regni contentione.
By these, the origin of the games is thus handed down: Timaeus reports that the Lydians, immigrants from Asia, settled in Etruria under the leadership of Tyrrenus, who had yielded to his brother in a contest for the kingdom.
igitur in Etruria inter ceteros ritus supers titionum suarum spectacula quoque religionis nomine instituunt.
Therefore, in Etruria, among the other rites of their superstitions, they also instituted spectacles under the name of religion.
inde Romani arcessitos artifices mutuantur, tempus, enuntiationem, ut ludii a Lydis uocarentur.
From there, the Romans borrowed the summoned performers, the timing, and the name, so that the actors (ludii) were called after the Lydians (Lydi).
sed etsi Varro ludios a ludo id est a lusu interpretatur, sicut et Lupercos ludios appellabant quod ludendo discurrant tamen eum lusum iuuenum et die,. bus festis et templis et religionibus reputat.
But even if Varro interprets the actors (ludii) from the game (ludus), that is, from play (lusus)—just as they also called the Luperci "ludii" because they run about in play (ludendo)—yet he attributes that play of youth both to feast days and temples and religious rites.
nihil iam de caussa uocabuli, cum! rei caussa idololatria sit.
No more now of the cause of the name, since the cause of the thing itself is idolatry.
nam et cum promiscue ludi Liberalia uocarentur, honorem Liberi patris manifeste sonabant.
For even when the games were promiscuously called Liberalia, they manifestly sounded the honor of Father Liber.
Libero enim a rusticis primo fiebant ob beneficium quod ei adscribunt demonstrati gratia uini.
For they were first made to Liber by rustics on account of the benefit they ascribe to him for the discovery of wine.
exinde ludi Consualia dicti, qui initio Neptunum honorabant. eundem enim et Consum uocant.
Thereafter the games were called Consualia, which in the beginning honored Neptune; for they also call the same god Consus.
| dehinc Ecurria ab equis Marti Romulus dixit; quamquam et Consualia Romulo defendunt, quod ea Conso dicauerit deo, ut uolunt, consilii, eius scilicet, quo tunc Sabinarum uirginum rapinam militibus suis in matrimonia excogitauit.
Next, Romulus named the Ecurria after horses (equi) for Mars; although they also claim the Consualia for Romulus, because he dedicated them to Consus, the god, as they wish, of counsel—namely, of that counsel by which he then devised the rape of the Sabine virgins for marriages for his soldiers.
probum plane consilium et nunc quoque inter ipsos Romanos iustum et licitum, ne dixerim penes deum.
A clearly noble counsel, and even now considered just and lawful among the Romans themselves, not to say in the eyes of God!
facit enim et hoc ad originis maculam, ne bonum existimes quod initium a malo accepit, ab impudentia a uiolentia ab odio, a fratricida institutore, a filio Martis.
For this also contributes to the stain of its origin, lest you should think that good which took its beginning from evil, from impudence, from violence, from hatred, from a fratricidal founder, from a son of Mars.
et nunc ara Conso illi in circo demersa est ad primas metas sub terra cum inscriptione eiusmodi: CONSUS CONSILIO MARS DUELLO LARES † COILLO POtentes.
And even now, that altar to Consus is buried in the circus near the first turning-posts (metae) underground, with an inscription of this kind: CONSUS CONSILIO MARS DUELLO LARES COILLO POtentes.
sacrificant apud eam nonis Iuliis sacerdotes publici, XII. Kalend. Septembres flamen Quirinalis et uirgines.
The public priests sacrifice at it on the Nones of July, and the flamen of Quirinus and the virgins on the twelfth day before the Kalends of September.
dehinc idem ROmulus Ioui Feretrio ludos instituit in Tarpeio, quos Tarpeios dictos et Capitolinos Piso tradit; post hunc Numa Pompilius Marti et Robigini fecit (nam et robiginis deam finxerunt); dehinc Tullus Hostilius, dehinc Ancus Martius et ceteri.
Then, the same Romulus instituted games to Jupiter Feretrius on the Tarpeian hill, which Piso hands down as being called Tarpeian and Capitoline; after him, Numa Pompilius made them for Mars and Robigo (for they even invented a goddess of mildew); then Tullus Hostilius, then Ancus Marcius and the rest.
qui quos quem per ordinem et quibus idolis ludos instituerint, positumum est apud Suetonium Tranquillum uel a quibus Tranquillus accepit.
Who instituted which games, in what order, and for which idols, is set down in Suetonius Tranquillus, or in those from whom Tranquillus received his information.
sed haec satis erunt ad originis de idololatria reatum.
But these will be sufficient for the guilt of its origin regarding idolatry.
§6Accedit ad testimonium antiquitatis subsecuta posteritas formam originis de titulis huius quoque temporis praeferens, per quos signatum est, cui idolo et cui superstitioni utriusque generis ludi notarentur.
To the testimony of antiquity is added the subsequent posterity, bearing the form of its origin from the titles even of this present time, through which it is marked to which idol and to which superstition the games of either kind are designated.
Megalenses enim et Apollinares, item Cereales et Neptunales et Latiares et Florales in commune celebrantur; reliqui ludorum de natalibus et sollemnibus regum et publicis prosperitatibus et municipalibus festis superstitionis causas habent.
For the Megalensian and Apollonarian, likewise the Cerealian, Neptunalian, Latiarian, and Floralian games are celebrated in common; the rest of the games have their causes of superstition in the birthdays and solemnities of kings, in public successes, and municipal feasts.
inter quos etiam priuatorum memoriis legatariae editiones parentant, id quoque secundum institutionis antiquitatem.
Among these, also, legacy exhibitions perform funeral rites to the memories of private persons, this too according to the antiquity of the institution.
nam et a primordio bifariam ludi censebantur, sacri et funebres id est deis nationum et mortuis.
For even from the beginning, games were reckoned in two ways: sacred and funereal; that is, for the gods of the nations and for the dead.
sed de idololatria nihil differt apud nos, sub quo nomine et titulo, dum ad eosdem spiritus perueniat, quibus renuntiamus.
But as for idolatry, it makes no difference to us under what name and title, so long as it reaches those same spirits whom we renounce.
licebit mortuis, licebit deis suis faciant, perinde mortuis suis ut diis faciunt;
They may make them for their dead, they may make them for their gods; they do just the same for their dead as for their gods.
una condicio partis utriusque est, una idololatria, una renuntiatio nostra aduersus idololatrian.
The condition of both parts is one: one idolatry, one renunciation of ours against idolatry.