De Agricultura

Was it not on this account that when Cain fancied that he had offered up a blameless sacrifice, an oracle came to him bidding him not to feel confidence as a man who had presented a well approved offering? for that he had not sacrificed with holy and perfect victims. And the oracle is as follows: "If thou dost not bring thy offering properly, and if thou dost not distribute it rightly." [*](Genesis iv. 7. )