Quorum ritus si percenseas, ridenda quam multa, quam multa etiam miseranda sunt! Nudi cruda hieme discurrunt, alii incedunt pilleati, scuta vetera circumferunt, pelles caedunt, mendicantes vicatim deos ducunt: quaedam fana semel anno adire permittunt, quaedam in totum nefas visere: est quo viro non licet et nonnulla absque feminis sacra sunt, etiam servo quibusdam caerimoniis interesse piaculare flagitium est: alia sacra coronat univira, alia multivira, et magna religione conquiritur quae plura possit adulteria numerare.
Examine into their attendant rites, how ridiculous, how pitiable even they appear! Men running about naked in mid-winter; others marching about in felt caps, or parading old shields; drumming on skins, and dragging their gods to beg from street to street. Some temples may only be entered once a year, some never visited at all. There are rites which a man may not attend, others which may be held only in the absence of women; others where the mere presence of a slave is an outrage needing expiation. For some rites the wreath is laid by a woman with one husband, for others by a woman with several, or ceremonial hue and cry is made for one still more promiscuous in her attachments.
final_alignments\Minucius_Felix_Octavius.json