Iuvenalis[1] Gallos Gallinaceos Laribus etiam sacros habitos [257] esse his versibus nos admonet.

Et {laribus} <Laribus> cristam promittere Galli

Non audent

De Termini sacrificio Prudentius[2] ita canit.

Et lapis illic

Si stetit[3] antiquus, quem cingere {sueverit} <sueverat> error

Fasceolis[4], vel Gallinae pulmone[5] rogare,

Frangitur, et nullis violatur {terminus} <Terminus> extis.[6]

Juvenal reminds us that the roosters were held sacred also to the Lares by these verses:

And they do not dare to promise the comb of a rooster to the Lares.

Prudentius sings thus concerning the sacrifice of Terminus - the god of boundaries:

And if an ancient stone stood there, which the error was accustomed to surround with bands, or to supplicate with a hen’s lung, it is broken and Terminus is violated with no entrails of victims.

{Methonae} <Methanae> urbis in Troezeniorum agro incolas legimus[7] Gallum pro vinearum incolumitate mactare solitos, ut Africi venti, qui {eos} <eas>[8] plurimum infesta<n>t, incursionem vel averterent, vel saltem emollirent: {Cum} <cum> enim flare institeri<n>t, vitium oculos exuri, spemque vindemiae falli. Moniti igitur ab aruspicibus, sacri genus hoc instituere, ut viri duo Gallum unum, eumque album, manibus apprehenderent, et in diversa abeuntes trahendo discerperent, partemque uterque suam manu praeferentes vineta loci omnia perlustrarent, donec ita omnibus expiatis, in eundem convenirent locum, ubi Gallum dissecuissent, ibique partibus utriusque humi defossis, nullum eius anni incommodum se passuros persuasum habeant: iuvitque sors, ut quandiu sacrum hoc celebravere, res illis ex voto succederet.

We have read that the inhabitants of the town of Methana, in the region of Troezen's inhabitants, are accustomed to sacrifice a rooster for the safety of vineyards, so that the African winds, which damage them greatly, either were addressing their attack somewhere else, or at least to soften it: for if they go on with blowing, the buds of vines are burned and the hope of grape harvest vanishes. Advised therefore by haruspices, they established this kind of rite, that two men caught with their hands only a cock, and white, and moving in opposite directions, they tore it by traction, and each one, carrying in hand before himself his own portion, had to go through all the vineyards of the place, until, after they were all purified, they had to meet each other in the same place where they tore the rooster, and here, after they buried their own parts, they were persuaded that they would suffer no damage during that year: fate willed that as long as they celebrated this rite, the thing was successful because of the votive offering.

Vetus etiam {Pithagorae} <Pythagorae> symbolum Gallo albo abstinendum esse admonet. Diogenes Laërtius[9] ideo eum interdixisse scribit, quod mensi sacer, et supplex. Quod autem mensi sacer haberetur etiam Aelianus meminit, inquiens: Gallum album mensi sacrum, utpote horarum nuncium credidit Pythagoras. Iamblic<h>us tamen Pythagoram sectatoribus suis, qui civiles, id est, politici dicti sunt, permisisse author est, ut Gallum, agnum, et alia quaedam ante nata praeter vitulum rite sacrificarent. Et Plutarchus[10] discipulorum nonnullos eum accusare memorat, ut qui in commentario de iustitia scripsisset de Gallis Gallinaceis utiliter eos esitasse, quod et somno nos excitent, et scorpios conquirent, et in pugna nobis studium, aemulationemque fortitudinis quandam ingenerent. Unde non sacrificasse tantum Gallos solitum, sed esum eorum permisisse videmus. Quod ad sacrificia attinet, Suidas etiam sacrificasse illum Gallos testis est, quin vero et ipse Diogenes[11] sacrificiis, inquit, utebatur Pythagoras inanimis; sunt qui dicunt, Gallis Gallinaceis, et hoedis, etiam lecteolis, quos teneros dicunt: agnis autem minime.

Also an ancient symbol of Pythagoras advises that we must abstain from white rooster. Diogenes Laertius writes that he forbade it because it is sacred to the month and is a suppliant. Aelian also mentions that it was regarded as sacred to the month, saying: A white rooster is sacred to the month since Pythagoras believed him to be a messenger of the hours. Iamblichus reports that however Pythagoras allowed his followers, who were called civilians, that is, politicians, to sacrifice in proper fashion the rooster, the lamb, and certain other animals before they were born, except the calf. And Plutarch mentions that he upbraided some of his disciples because one of them in a commentary on justice had written about roosters that they had often eaten them with benefit because they wake us from sleep and search around for scorpions and by their fighting they engender in us both zeal and a certain emulation of bravery. Hence we see that not only he was accustomed to sacrifice roosters but also allowed them to be eaten. As far as sacrifices is concerned, also the lexicon Suidas testifies that he sacrificed roosters, or better still Diogenes Laertius himself says: Pythagoras used sacrifices of inanimate beings; there are some who say that he did make use of roosters, and kids, even suckling, which they say be tender: but almost not at all of lambs.

Quod vero ad eorum {eusm} <esum>, Aristoxenus apud Gellium[12] cuncta illum animata in cibum permisisse ait, bove aratore, et ariete exceptis. Alii contra Pythagoram, licet praeter sua instituta, immolasse tamen quandoque Musis bovem, Iovi vero Gallum album[13]. Alii tradunt Gallum album adeo ab eo[14] amatum, ut si quando videret, fratris Germani loco salutaret, et apud se haberet. Unde aperte constare arbitror Pythagorae praecepta vel perperam posteritati tradita, vel ipsum in determinatione illorum inconstantem extitisse. Nihil aliud hoc loco quidam Pythagoram intellexisse volunt, quam Gallum ipsum. Si quis tamen altius hoc considerare voluerit, ad reliquorum symbolorum rationem, modumque interpretari poterit, ut scilicet nos philosophus moneat Gallos nutrire, ut divinam animae nostrae partem divinarum rerum cognitione quasi solido cibo, et caelesti ambrosia pascamus.

As far as eating them is concerned, Aristoxenus in Aulus Gellius says he - Pythagoras - allowed as food all living creatures with the exception of plowing ox and ram. Others, on the contrary, say that Pythagoras, although against his own prescriptions, sometimes nevertheless sacrificed an ox to the Muses and a white rooster to Jove. Others report that he loved the white rooster to such an extent that if he casually saw one, he greeted it like a blood brother and kept it near him. Hence I think it is clearly evident that either the precepts of Pythagoras have been handed down to posterity in a mistaken form or he was an inconstant in marking their boundaries. Someone at this point are of the opinion that Pythagoras meant nothing other than the rooster itself. However, if anyone wished to consider this more thoroughly, he could interpret the matter according to the motivation and the unit of measurement of the other symbols, that is, since the philosopher is urging us to raise roosters in order to nourish the divine part of our soul with the knowledge of divine things as they were complete food and heavenly ambrosia.

Verum ut ad recentiorum superstitionem, seu idolatriam potius sermonem nostrum divertamus. Petrus Bellonius[15], interprete Carolo Clusio, amoenam nefarii illius Mahumeti{s}, Turcarum pseudoprophetae in paradisum profectionem, quam nocturno tempore hic se confecisse splendidissime mentitur, describens insignes de Turcarum paradiso nugas recenset, inter alias vero, illum comminisci, se in coelo variae formae angelos vidisse, ut boum, hominum, equorum, avium, inter quas Gallus fuerit, pedibus primum coelum premens, et capite secundum attingens: interrogantique Mahumeto, quid ista sibi vellent, angelum, a quo se eo conductum finxerat, respondisse, angelos esse, qui pro iis, qui in mundo sunt, Deum orent, humanaeque formae angelos pro hominibus orare, bubulae pro bubus, equinae pro equis, Gallinaceae pro Gallis, atque cum ingens ille Gallus caneret, reliquos Gallos cum caelestes, tum terrestres canere.

So, let me turn my discourse to the superstition or rather to the idolatry of more recent fellows. Pierre Belon, as translated by Charles de L’Écluse, when describing the funny departure for Paradise of that iniquitous Mohammed the false prophet of Turks, which very wonderfully he makes up to have done at night, passes in review the outstanding trifles regarding Turkish Paradise, and among other ones, that he concocts to have seen angels of various appearance in heaven, for example of oxen, humans, horses, birds, among which there would have been a rooster treading the first heaven with his feet and reaching the second with his head: when Mohammed asked what these things meant, an angel, by whom he invented to have been led there, replied that they were angels praying God for those who are on earth, and that angels with human appearance pray for humans, those with shape of ox for oxen, those in the shape of horse for horses, those in the shape of rooster for roosters; and when that huge rooster crowed, the other roosters, both heavenly and terrestrial, crowed also.

Author est Ludovicus Romanus <Patritius>[16] Calecu{t}tenses[17] cacodaemonis sacerdotes sanguine Gallinacei cultello argenteo iugulati carbonibus ignitis aspersi, ei sacrum peragere. Abaculum, inquit, habent vice altaris, quem variis floribus, ac flagrantibus pulvisculis sternunt. Tunc sanguinem Galli in vas argenteum ignitis carbonibus oppletum, imponunt, additis variis suffumentis. Gallum dein mactant cultro argenteo, {cruentunque} <cruentumque> cultellum nonnunquam igni admovere solent. Sanguis Galli totus accensis funalibus crematur circa altare.

Lodovico de Varthema tells that the priests of an evil demon of Calicut carry out in its honor a sacred ceremony with the blood of a rooster after having cut its throat with a silver knife and sprinkled it with burning coals. Instead of the altar, he says, they have a tablet which they cover with various flowers and fragrant powders. Then they place the blood of the rooster in a silver vase filled with burning coals, adding various kinds of aromatic herbs. Then they sacrifice the rooster with a silver knife and sometimes place the bloody knife near the fire. All the blood of the rooster is burned on torches lighted around the altar.