Res Gestae

Hence in the books of ritual[*](See Cic., De Div. i. 33, 72; Festus, p. 285 M.) and in those which are in

conformity with the pontifical priesthood,[*](The pontificales libri of Seneca, Epist. 108, 31.) nothing is said about the god that causes earthquakes, and this with due caution, for fear that by naming one deity instead of another,[*](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. ) since it is not clear which of them thus shakes the earth, impieties may be perpetrated.