Arnobius

“ To mother Earth, they say, is sacrificed a teeming [2] and pregnant sow; but to the virgin Minerva is slain a virgin calf, never forced [3] by the goad to attempt any labour. But yet we think that neither should a virgin have been sacrificed to a virgin, that the virginity might not be violated in the brute, for which the goddess is especially esteemed; nor should gravid and pregnant victims have been sacrificed to the Earth from respect for its fruitfulness, which [4] we all desire and wish to go on always in irrepressible fertility. ”

“ For if because the Tritonian goddess is a virgin it is therefore fitting that virgin victims be sacrificed to her, and if because the Earth is a mother she is in like manner to be entertained with gravid swine, then also Apollo should be honoured by the sacrifice of musicians because he is a musician ”