He makes no attempt to develop an internally consistent system in which the rituals of res divinae might be modified by “higher truths” of doctrine or revelation.
He concludes that even if the nature and existence of the gods cannot be proved beyond doubt, it is wise and pragmatic to honour them by piously offering the time-hallowed rites.
[6] The multivolume Antiquitates rerum humanarum et divinarum was one of the chief works of Varro (1st century BC), who was the major source on traditional Roman religion for the Church Fathers.
His emphasis is deliberate; he treats cult and ritual as human constructs,[7] and divides res divinae into three kinds: This schema is Stoic in origin, but Varro adapts it to the political and cultural concerns of his time.
[14][15] In approximately 155 CE, Aelius Aristides would remark that his own favourite gods, Asclepius, Isis and Serapis, were widely revered in the Empire because of the favour shown them by Rome.