We have been told that the word ''Vatican'' is applied to the hill, and the deity who presides over it, from the ''vaticinia'', or prophecies, which took place there by the power and inspiration of the god; but Marcus Varro, in his book on ''Divine Things'', gives another reason for this name. "As Aius," says he, "was called a deity, and an altar was built to his honour in the lowest part of the new road, because in that place a voice from heaven was heard, so this deity was called ''Vaticanus'', because he presided over the principles of the human voice; for infants, as soon as they are born, make the sound which forms the first syllable in ''Vaticanus'', and are therefore said ''vagire'' (to cry) which word expresses the noise which an infant first makes.〔Aulus Gellius, ''Attic Nights'' 16.17: ''Et agrum Vaticanum et eiusdem agri deum praesidem appellatum acceperamus a vaticiniis, quae vi atque instinctu eius dei in eo agro fieri solita essent. Sed praeter hanc causam M. Varro in libris divinarum aliam esse tradit istius nominis rationem: "Nam sicut Aius" inquit "deus appellatus araque ei statuta est, quae est infima nova via, quod eo in loco divinitus vox edita erat, ita Vaticanus deus nominatus, penes quem essent vocis humanae initia, quoniam pueri, simul atque parti sunt, eam primam vocem edunt, quae prima in Vaticano syllabast idcircoque "vagire" dicitur exprimente verbo sonum vocis recentis''. English translation by William Beloe, ''The Attic Nights of Aulus Gellius'' (London, 1795), vol. 3, pp. 247–248 (online. )〕