[20]
Wherefore, not to say any more about a doubtful matter, give, I pray you,
your thoughts and attention, and do not lend your ears alone to the language
of the soothsayers: “Because a noise and roaring has been heard in
the Latin district.” I say nothing of the soothsayers, I say
nothing of that ancient system, given, as men report, to Etruria by the
immortal gods themselves; but cannot we ourselves be soothsayers here?
“A certain obscure noise, and a horrible rattling of arms, has
been heard in a neighbouring and suburban district.” Who is there
of all those giants, whom the poets relate to have waged war against the
immortal gods, so impious as not to confess that by this novel and mighty
commotion the gods are foreshowing and predicting something important to the
Roman people? Concerning that matter it is written down that entreaties are
to be addressed to Jupiter, Saturn,
Neptune, Tellus, and the gods of heaven.
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M. Tullius Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, literally translated by C. D. Yonge, B. A. London. George Bell & Sons, York Street, Covent Garden. 1891.
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