Ammianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae, John C. Rolfe (Translator), 17.7.10

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[10] Hence in the books of ritual¹ and in those which are in conformity with the pontifical priesthood,² nothing is said about the god that causes earthquakes, and this with due caution, for fear that by naming one deity instead of another,³ since it is not clear which of them thus shakes the earth, impieties may be perpetrated.

Res Gestae. Ammianus Marcellinus. John C. Rolfe (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1935-1940.

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Funding provided by Tufts University.

Current edition Perseus

History (English) (Ammianus Marcellinus. Ammianus Marcellinus, with an English translation, Vols. I-III. Rolfe, John C., translator. Cambridge, MA; London: Harvard University Press; W. Heinemann, 1935-1940 (printing).)

Editions (1)

Res Gestae Perseus (Ammianus Marcellinus. Ammianus Marcellinus, with an English translation, Vols. I-III. Rolfe, John C., editor. Cambridge, MA; London: Harvard University Press; W. Heinemann, 1935-1940 (printing).) — 17.7.10 focus

[10] Unde et in ritualibus et pontificio¹ sacerdotio obtemperantibus libris super auctore motus terrae nihil dicitur caute, ne alio deo pro alio nominato, cum qui eorum terram concutiat, sit in abstruse, piacula committantur.

Notes on the current edition

History

1. See Cic., De Div. i. 33, 72; Festus, p. 285 M.

2. The pontificales libri of Seneca, Epist. 108, 31.

3. The Roman ritual required that in addressing a god, the identity of the god must be made sure and he must be called by his proper name; cf. for example, Horace, Sat. ii. 6, 20,

Matutine pater, seu lane libentius audis

, and the altar at the foot of the Palatine,

sei deo sei deivae sacrum.

Ammianus Marcellinus Res Gestae 17.7.10

John C. Rolfe (Translator)

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