[34] Why is it that while the other Romans make libations and offerings to the dead in the month of February, Decimus Brutus, as Cicero[79] has recorded, used to do so in the month of December? This was the Brutus who invaded Lusitania, and was the first to visit those remote places, and cross the river Lethê with an army.[80]
Since most peoples are accustomed to make offerings to the dead at the close of the day and at the end of the month, is it not reasonable also to honour the dead in the last month[81] at the turn of the year? And December is the last month.
Or do these honours belong to deities beneath the earth, and is it the proper season to honour these deities when all the crops have attained consummation?
Or is it most fitting to remember those below when men are stirring the earth at the beginning of seed-time?
Or is it because this month has been consecrated to Saturn by the Romans, and they regard Saturn as an infernal, not a celestial god?
Or is it that then their greatest festival, the Saturnalia, is set: and it is reputed to contain the most numerous social gatherings and enjoyments, and therefore Brutus deemed it proper to bestow upon the dead first-fruits, as it were, of this festival also?
Or is this statement, that Brutus alone sacrificed to the dead in this month, altogether a falsehood? For it is in December that they make offerings to Larentia and bring libations to her sepulchre.