Mihi e contrario Gallus eam ob causam illi Deo sacer habitus videtur, vel quod pugnans summo studio victor e praelio discedere conetur, alteriusque servitium omni conamine pati [255] nolit, et ad necem usque pro eo dimicet, avis scilicet ad dimicandum nata, et a natura ad id instrumentis aptis, rostro nempe robustissimo, calcaribusque instructa, ut rhetor quidam, teste Eustathio scriptum reliquit his verbis {ἀλλὰ τοῦτο τις ὕστερον μυθοποιητικῆς οὐσεμνον ἐστί λάλημα} < ἀλλὰ τοῦτο τῆς ὕστερον μυθοποιητικῆς οὐ σεμνόν ἐστι λάλημα>[1], vel quod Gallos, id est, milites, ac bellatores homines in urbibus habendos esse significarent, et in contubernio retinendos, non tamen rei sacrae causa, seu urbis vigiles, et custodes intelligas, quando ii per Gallos significari videntur.[2]

To me, on the contrary, the rooster seems to have been regarded as sacred to that god - Mars - for this reason, that is, because fighting with the greatest zeal he goes all out to come off victor from the combat and with much effort he does not wish to suffer servitude to anyone else, and because of this he fights till death, he is certainly a bird born for fighting and has been endowed by nature with suited tools for this purpose, that is, with a very strong beak and spurs, as a certain rhetor, according to Eustathius of Thessalonica, left written in these words allà toûto tês hústeron mythopoiëtikês ou semnón esti lálëma - but this following content of the fable is not faithful -, that is, since they want to say that roosters are to be kept in towns, that is, soldiers, and pugnacious men, and that they are to be retained in the same tent, not, however, for religious purposes, but you must understand as sentries and city-guards, since they - the soldiers - seem to be meant as the roosters.

Hinc Romanos, ut milites suos vigilantiae admonerent, Marti Gallum appinxisse[3] historia docet, et apud Plutarchum[4] traditum est, Laced<a>emonios, cum hostes aperto Marte profligassent, Gallum Marti solitos sacrificare, sin aliquo {stratagemate} <strategemate> victoria potiti essent, bovem: id quod ab eis non sine ratione fiebat, quod pluris aestimabant incruentam victoriam, quam cruentam. Soli, et Lunae dicatum fuisse id indicat, quod tempori hoc avium genus inservit, quod per Lunam, et Solem intelligitur, vel quod nos Gallus cantu suo admoneat, quare magi cognatum Soli faciunt, ac inde fieri, ut eius cursus inflexiones sentiat, et cantu mortalibus annunciet.

History teaches that hence Romans, in order to exhort their soldiers to vigilance, added a rooster to Mars, and in Plutarch it is recorded that Lacedaemonians, if they defeated enemies at open battle, were accustomed to sacrifice a rooster to Mars, but an ox if they won a victory by some subterfuge: they did this not without reason, for they valued a bloodless victory more highly than a bloody one. This indicates that the rooster has been dedicated to Sun and Moon, because this genus of birds is in attendance on the time, and this is meant for Sun and Moon, that is, since the rooster warns us with his crowing, thus the priests regard him as relative of the Sun, and thence it happens that he perceives its changes of course and announces them to mortals by his crowing.

Insitum autem est Gallis, inquit Proclus, numen Apollinis velut propriis canticis advocare. Nos vero sacris hymnis canimus Gallicinio Luciferum venturae lucis praenuncium excitari, obductum caligine caelum aperiri, dari copiam, ut patefacta iam via errores ambagesque omnes declinemus, canente Gallo valetudinariis, aliquam salutis, aut saltem allevationis spem affulgere, meticulosos trepidatione liberari, et multa, quae per insidias parabantur, dissipari, quae omnia advenientis lucis beneficia sunt.

Proclus says that it is inborn in roosters to invoke the favor of Apollo as if by their canticles. In truth in our sacred hymns at cockcrow we exhort Lucifer the messenger of coming light to hasten, to rend the sky covered by darkness, that abundance is given, so that being the road by then opened we can avoid all errors and uncertainties, that with roosters’ song some hope of health or at least of relief can smile on those who are ill, that fearful persons are set free from uncertainty, and many things prepared by snare to be dissipated, all things being benefits of coming light.

Aelianus[5], Gallum Latonae quoque sacrum fuisse his verbis docet: Latonae in amore esse aiunt, et quod ei adfuerit parienti, et quod etiam nunc parientibus adsit, et felices[6] partus efficiat: eo quod Solis ad h{a}emisph<a>erium nostrum regressu, calor naturalis augeatur, partum vi sua promovens: quem quia nunciat Gallus Latonae merito gratus est. Maiae, quam et Proserpinam, et Cererem vocant, etiam Gallinaceum consecrarunt, Porphyrio[7] teste, quamobrem initiati huic Deae avibus cortalibus abstinebant. Nam et Eleusine abstinentia ex his alitibus, et piscibus fabisque praecipitur. Romanos quoque nocti Gallos mactasse Ovidius[8] docet, quia cantu suo diem nocti contrariam praenuncia<n>t, atque, ut inquit Plinius[9], Solis ortum non {patitur} <patiuntur> incautis obrepere.

Nocte Deae {noctis} <Nocti> cristatus caeditur ales

Quod tepidum vigili provocet ore diem.

Aelian lets us know by these words that the rooster had been sacred also to Latona: They say he is cherished by Latona, both because he was beside her when she was giving birth, and because also now he is beside those who give birth, and induces happy childbirths: since with the return of the sun to our hemisphere the natural warmth increases, promoting childbirth by its force: and since he announces it, the rooster is deservedly welcome to Latona. Porphyrius relates that they sacred the rooster also to Maia, whom they call both Proserpine and Ceres, that’s why the initiates of this goddess abstained from barnyard fowls. For also by Eleusis - Eleusis Mysteries - is prescribed abstinence from these birds, fishes and broad-beans. Ovid tells that Romans sacrificed roosters also to the night because with his crowing they announce the day, contrary to night, and, as Pliny says, They do not permit the sunrise to creep upon us unnoticed:

At night the crested bird is slaughtered for Nyx goddess,

because with his vigilant voice he calls forth the tepid day.

Mercurio item datus est ob diligentiam nunciationis, et vigilem eius curam, vel ob ipsammet mercatorum vigilantiam, quod omnis {negociator} <negotiator> lucro semper diligentissime invigilet, sive quod ab eius cantu surgant ad peragenda {negocia} <negotia>. Erat autem Mercurii forma homo sedens in throno gale{r}atus, cristatusque et pedibus Aquilinis, sinistra Gallum tenens, aut ignem.

He was also dedicated to Mercury because of his diligent heralding and watchful attention, or because of merchants’ vigilance itself, since every merchant always watches most diligently for his gain, or because of its crow they get up to carry on their business. For the statue of Mercury was a man sitting on a throne, helmeted and crested and with eagle feet, having at left side a rooster or a fire.

Erat item Gallus Aesculapio dicatus, haud aliam ob causam, quam quod medico vigilantiam, sedulamque curam necessariam esse indicarent. Adde, si placet, quod ab hoc avium genere (nam, ut dicemus, Gallinas illi etiam vovebant) cum alimenta, tum medicamenta omnibus ferme corporis affectibus convenientia depromi queant, etsi interim minime inscius sim Plutarchum[10] alibi solius vigilantiae significandae causa id factum esse innuere, ubi ait: Sicut autem qui Gallum super manu Aesculapii pinxit, matutinum tempus voluit significare, et Solis ortum appetentem.

Likewise the rooster was sacred to Aesculapius for no other reason than to indicate that watchfulness and solicitous attention are necessary for a physician. Add, if you like, that from this genus of birds (for, as I will say, they consecrated to him also hens) can be drawn both nourishments and medications suitable for almost every body’s illnesses, although in the meantime I am by no means ignorant of the fact that Plutarch in another work points out that this happened only for signifying the vigilance: Like he who depicted the rooster upon the hand of Aesculapius wished to signify the morning time and that the former is longing for sunrise.

{Socracem} <Socratem> Tertullianus, et Lactantius Firmianus ceu nimis superstitiosum redarguunt, quod moriens {Praedonem} <Critonem>[11] admonuisset, ut voto se liberans Aesculapio Gallum persolveret. Sane, inquit Tertullianus[12], Socrates facilius diverso spiritu agebatur. Siquidem aiunt daemonium illi a puero adhaesisse, pessimum revera pedagogum, etsi post Deos, et cum Deis daemonia deputantur penes poetas, et philosophos. Nondum enim Christianae potestatis documenta {praecesserant} <processerant>, quae vim istam {pernitiosissimam} <perniciosissimam>, nec unquam bonam, {antiqui} <atquin> <omnis> erroris artificem, omnis veritatis avocatricem sola traducit. Quod si idcirco sapientissimus Socrates secundum Pythii quoque daemonis suffragium, scilicet {negocium} <negotium> navantis socio suo quanto dignior {constantiae} <atque constantior> Christianae{, atque} sapientiae assertio, cuius afflatui tota vis daemonum cedit? Haec sapientia de schola caeli Deos quidem saeculi negare liberior, quae nullum Aesculapio Gallinaceum reddi iubens praevaricetur, nec nova inferens daemonia, sed vetera depellens, nec adolescentiam vitians, sed omni bono pudoris informans, ideoque non unius {verbis} <urbis>, sed universi orbis iniquam sententiam sustinens pro nomine veritatis, tanto scilicet perosioris, quanto plenioris, ut et mortem non de poculo per habitum iucunditatis absorbeat, sed de patibulo, et vivicomburio per omne ingenium crudelitatis exhauriat, interea in isto tenebrosiore carcere saeculi inter suos Cebetas, et suos Phaedonas, si quid de anima examinandum [256] est, ad Dei regulas diriget, etc.

Tertullian and Lactantius Firmianus charge Socrates with too much superstition because when he was dying he reminded Criton that in order to become free from a vow had to pay off the debt of a cock to Aesculapius. Tertullian says: Undoubtedly Socrates was more easily driven by a different spirit. For they say that since he was child a demon clung to him, which really is a very bad pedagogue, although among poets and philosophers the demons are taken into consideration after gods and along with gods. For the proofs of the Christian force had not yet been placed at disposal which alone can lead away this most evil power, and never good, but which is the maker of any error and which is able to take away from any truth. Thence if Socrates was very wise according also to the affirmation of the Pythian demon which surely was solicitous towards its partner, how much more suitable and firm is the affirmation of the Christian learning, at whose breath all power of demons vanishes? This wisdom from heaven’s school is indeed more free to deny the paganism’s gods, which does not would act dishonestly towards anybody in ordering a cock to be given to Aesculapius, nor bringing in new demons but driving out the old ones, neither corrupting the adolescence but educating any honest person to the modesty, and therefore burdening itself with the unjust judgment not of one city only, but of all the world in the name of truth, that is, the more it is hated the more it is full, so that he does not swallow also the death from a cup by an attitude of joy, but does bring it to an end by scaffold and stake through any kind of cruelty, and meanwhile in this more obscure prison of the paganism if there is something to be examined regarding the soul let him turn to the rules of God remaining among his Cebeses, and his Phaedos, etc.