Rome's gods proved present by favors and punishments
Caecilius is still arguing for traditional Roman religion, now claiming that Rome's ancestors did not adopt rites rashly and that the gods' presence is proven by historical rewards and disasters.
And yet our ancestors did not devote their effort rashly to observing auguries, consulting entrails, instituting sacred rites, or dedicating shrines. For I would venture for now to concede this myself, and so to err on the better side.
Look at the record in the books. You will find that they initiated the rites of all religions, either so that divine indulgence might be rewarded, or to avert impending wrath, or to appease wrath already swelling and raging.
The Idaean Mother is a witness. By her arrival she both proved the chastity of a matron and freed the city from enemy fear. The statues of the equestrian brothers, consecrated in the lake just as they had shown themselves, are witnesses. Panting, with horses foaming and smoking, they announced the victory over Perses on the same day they had won it. The repetition of the games of offended Jupiter because of a plebeian man's dream is a witness, and the ratified devotion of the Decii is a witness. Curtius too is a witness, who by the bulk or the honor of his horse made level the gulf of the deep chasm.
Even more often than we wanted, despised auspices attested the presence of the gods. Thus the Allia got its unlucky name. Thus Claudius and Junius met not a battle against the Carthaginians but a deadly shipwreck. And so that Trasymene might be greater and discolored with Roman blood, Flaminius despised the auguries. And so that we might demand the standards back from the Parthians, Crassus both deserved and mocked the curses of the dire omens.
I pass over the many ancient stories, and I ignore the poets' songs about the births, gifts, and offerings of the gods. I also skip the fates predicted by oracles, lest antiquity seem too fabulous to you. Turn your attention to the temples and shrines of the gods, by which the Roman state is both protected and adorned. They are more august because of the deities who inhabit them, present as tenants, than they are wealthy because of worship, insignia, and gifts.
From there, prophets full of and mixed with god foretell the future. They give caution against dangers, healing for diseases, hope for the afflicted, help for the wretched, solace in calamities, relief from labors. Even in sleep we see, hear, and recognize the gods whom during the day we impiously deny, reject, and forswear.
Latin
Nec tamen temere (ausim enim interim et ipse concedere et sic melius errare) maiores nostri aut obseruandis auguriis aut extis consulendis aut instituendis sacris aut delubris dedicandis operam nauauerunt.
specta de libris memoriam: iam eos deprehendes initiasse ritus omnium religionum, uel ut remuneraretur diuina indulgentia, uel ut auerteretur imminens ira aut iam tumens et saeuiens placaretur.
testis mater Idaea, quae aduentu suo et probauit matronae castitatem et urbem metu hostili liberauit: testes equestrium fratrum in lacu, sicut se ostenderant, statuae consecratae, qui anheli spumantibus equis atque fumantibus de Perse uictoriam eadem die qua fecerant nuntiauerunt: testis ludorum offensi Ionis de somnio plebei hominis iteratio; et Deciorum deuotio rata testis est: testis et Curtius, qui equitis sui uel mole uel honore hiatum profundae uoraginis coaequauit.
frequentius etiam quam uolebamus deorum praesentiam contempta auspicia contestata sunt. sic Allia nomen infaustum, sic Claudi et Iuni non proelium in Poenos, sed ferale naufragium est, et ut Trasymenus Romanorum sanguine et maior esset et decolor, spreuit auguria Flaminius, et ut Parthos signa repeteremus, dirarum inprecationes Crassus et meruit et inrisit.
omitto uetera quae multa sunt, et de deorum natalibus, donis, muneribus neglego carmina poetarum, praedicta etiam de oraculis fata transilio, ne uobis antiquitas nimium fabulosa uideatur. intende tem- , plis ac delubris deorum, quibus Romana ciuitas et protegitur et ornatur: magis sunt augusta numinibus incolis, praesentibus, inquilinis quam cultu, insignibus et muneribus opulenta.
inde adeo pleni et mixti deo uates futura praecerpunt, dant cautelam periculis, morbis medellam, spem adflictis, opem miseris, solacium calamitatibus, laboribus leuamentum. etiam per quietem deos uidemus, audimus, agnoscimus, quos impie per diem negamus, nolumus, peieramus.