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M. TULLIUS CICERO
or THE
NATURE OF THE GODS
IN THREE BOOKS.
/
PRINTED BY D. A. TAT.BOYS, OXFORD.
v/
M. TULLIUS CICERO
OF THE
NATURE OF THE GODS,
TRANSLATED,
WITH NOTES CRITICAL, PHILOSOPHICAL, AND
EXPLANATORY,
BY THOMAS FRANCKLIN, D.D.
— x
TO WHICH IS ADDED
AN INQUIRY INTO THE ASTRONOMY
AND
ANATOMY OF THE ANCIENTS,
LONDON:
WILLIAM PICKERING.
MDCCCXXIX.
■ ^
Q
PREFACE.
IN the following books the reader is presented
with the doctrines of three of the most con-
siderable sects among the ancients, concerning
one of the nicest subjects of human inquiry,
the nature of the divine essence; in which
three illustrious persons are introduced speak-
ing each in defence of his own favourite sect.
The dispute is carried on with a mixture of
gravity and raillery ; and though all the argu-
ments on either side will not bear the test of
unprejudiced reason, yet some of them are
strong and persuasive ; and even those passages
(and some such there are) which are almost
ridiculously weak, are not without their advan-
tages to the reader ; for the knowledge of many
ancient Roman customs, of great part of the
theology and mythology of the ancients, and
many curious pieces of history, are handed
down to us, though introduced with a super-
stitious regard to the traditions and religious
rites and ceremonies of their ancestors.
In this work we have no trivial specimen of
the astronomical and anatomical learning of the
ancients.
To say anything in commendation of our
great author, would be more a proof of my own
folly than of his extraordinary worth ; for num-
bers among the unlearned, in all nations where
ii PREFACE.
learning has any footing, have heard enough
of Cicero to be desirous of seeing what such an
exalted genius can say on any subject.
As we have in these kingdoms many specu-
lative persons who are strangers to the learned
languages, I have, on their account, left no
passage unexplained, which would otherwise
remain obscure to them. One design of my
notes is to guard the mind against superstition,
and to prepare it for a fair inquiry into truth,
without any partial attachment to principles
founded only on education and custom.
I have consulted all the various readings,
and chose those which seemed most rational to
me. I have endeavoured, in my translation, to
preserve Tully's manner of writing, not depart-
ing from it even in that particular, which has
been imputed to him by some as a fault, the
prolixity of his periods ; for there is generally
such a pressing occasion for that prolixity, that
the connection of the argument would be broke
without it ; and to depart from it would be
to depart from Cicero's manner of writing.
As I have in my notes prevented the neces-
sity of a long preface, I shall no longer detain
the reader from an entertainment prepared for
him, near two thousand years ago, by one of
the greatest of the ancient Romans, a person of
consular dignity, and the friend of Atticus and
Brutus.
CICERO
ON THE
NATURE OF THE GODS
book I.
AS there are many branches of philosophy not yet
sufficiently explained, the question concerning the na-
ture of the gods is, as you very well know, Brutus,
particularly difficult and obscure ; a subject most wor-
thy the inquiry of the mind, and necessary towards
modelling religion; concerning which the opinions of
the learned are so many, and so different from each
other, that a strong argument may be advanced
towards proving, that ignorance a is the cause, or ori-
tt Some read scientiam, and some inscientiam, the latter of which is pre-
ferred by some of the best editors and commentators ; and Cicero, in his first
book de Divinatione, makes ignorance the original of philosophy. I doubt
not but inscientiam is the right reading, for the reasons which I have al-
ready given, and because it is better than scientiam. To say that know-
ledge is the original of philosophy, is the same as to say that philosophy is
the original of philosophy ; for philosophy consists in knowledge; that is,
in knowing facts, and how to separate truth from falsehood. It is igno-
rance, therefore, that incites men (such men as are by nature formed and
inclined to philosophise) to inquire after those useful truths to which they
are strangers ; as other wants press men to procure what is necessary for
them.
B
2 OF THE NATURE book i.
ginal, of philosophy; and that the Academics b are
prudent in refusing, their assent to things uncertain ;
for what is more unbecoming a wise man than to judge
rashly ? or what rashness so unworthy the gravity and
stability of a philosopher as to conceive wrongly, or to
defend absolutely, what he has not thoroughly ex-
amined, and does not clearly comprehend ?
In this question many have maintained (which is
most likely, and to which opinion, if we follow nature,
we are all directed) that there are gods. Protagoras c
doubted there were any. Diagoras Melius d , and
Theodorus e of Cyrene, entirely believed there are
none.
b The followers of Plato were called Academics, from Academus, who
had a place of resort in a grove near Athens ; which was, from the possessor
of it, called the Academy ; and here Plato instructed his disciples in his
principles of philosophy. 'Amdrjfiia, — ciirb t'ivoq rjpwog bvofiaBiv ' AnaSt-
fiov. Diog. Laert. in his life of Plato.
c There were three philosophers of this name ; one, says Diogenes Laer-
tius, was an astrologer, and one a Stoic. The person whom Cicero here
speaks of, was neither the astrologer nor Stoic. He begun a treatise with these
words : Hspl fxtv Qedv ovk £%oj eLSsvai, (.'iff wg elaiv, eW wg ovk tioiv, 7ro\Xtt
yap ra KwiXvovra sidsvai, i)Ti adrjXoTrjg, icai fipaxvg ojv 6 jSt'oc tov av-
6pu)7rov. Concerning the gods, I am unable to arrive at any knowledge
whether there are any or not ; for there are many impediments to our know-
ledge, the uncertainty, in particular, and the shortness of human life. This
passage of Protagoras is quoted by Diogenes Laertius; and we are told by
the same author, that the Athenians banished Protagoras for this beginning
of his treatise, and burnt his books in the market-place ; from which we see
that restraint to freedom of debate is not peculiar to Christian countries ;
but wherever it is, it is equally an offence to truth, and an obstruction to the
discovery of it. Cicero speaks afterwards of Protagoras being banished,
and his books burnt.
d Diagoras is mentioned by Hesychius the Milesian, in his book of
learned men, as a disciple of Democritus, who bought him from slavery
because of the genius he discovered in him. He was called the impious,
says the same author. Democritus who bought Diagoras was not the
great Democritus the Milesian.
e Diogenes Laertius, in his life of Aiistippus, says that Theodorus was for
book r. OF THE GODS. 3
They who have affirmed that there are gods, have
such variety of sentiments and such dissensions amongst
them, that it would be tiresome to enumerate their
opinions ; for they give us many relations of the forms
of the gods, of their places of abode, and of the em-
ployment of their lives. These are the heads on which
philosophers chiefly differ. But the most considerable
part of the dispute is, whether they are wholly inactive;
that is, quite indolent, and free from all care and admi-
nistration of affairs ; or, on the contrary, whether all
things were made and constituted by them from the
beginning ; and whether they will continue to be actu-
ated and governed by them to eternity. Here is the
great point in debate ; and unless this be decided, man-
kind must necessarily remain in the greatest of errors,
and ignorant of what is most important to be known.
Some philosophers, both ancient and modern, con-
ceived that the gods take not the least cognizance of
human affairs. If their doctrine is true, of what avail
is piety, sanctity, or religion ? for these are pure and
chaste offices of devotion to the divinity of the gods,
admitting the gods take notice of them, and that man-
kind receives any benefit from the immortal beings.
But if the gods neither can nor will help us; if they
take no care of us, nor regard our actions ; and if man-
kind can receive no advantage from them ; why do we
pay any adoration, any honours, or prefer any prayers
to them f ? Piety, like the other virtues, cannot consist in
eradicating all the notions of gods. The reader must observe that they
were not only notions of a multiplicity of gods, which are here to be under-
stood, but of Deity itself.
f Cicero exerts more of the orator in this passage than the philosopher.
This is only declaiming, not reasoning, against the Epicureans. If they
B 2
4 OF THE NATURE book i.
dissimulation: and without piety, neither sanctity nor
religion ean be supported ; the destruction of which
must be attended with great confusion and a life of
trouble ; and I do not know g , if we cast off piety
towards the gods, but that faith h , society, and that
most excellent of all virtues, justice, may be likewise
destroyed.
There are other philosophers, and those truly great
and illustrious, who conceive the whole world to be
directed and governed by the will and wisdom of the
gods ; nor do they stop here, but conceive likewise that
the deities consult and provide for the preservation of
mankind. They think that the fruits, and other pro-
duce of the earth, the seasons, the variety of weather,
and the change of climates, by which all the produc-
were persuaded that mankind received advantage by prayers, or any offer-
ings to the gods, they would not have endeavoured to explode those offices.
Therefore our great author is here more lavish of his eloquence than the ar-
gument requires. The Epicureans were very irrational in their principles
of creation ; but they were not the only persons who thought prayer and
sacrifices unnecessary and absurd ; for many wise and good men in all ages
were, and some now are, of the same opinion. Thanksgivings, indeed,
for the benefits we received of his providence in this system of creation, are
necessary ; they are indications of a grateful mind, and preserve a purity of
manners in us, by keeping the Deity, who is all perfection, in our minds.
£ Faith, society, justice, (which are almost synonymous,) and all human
virtues, are immutable, abstracted from any consideration of a Deity. Cicero
therefore very well says, haud scio, for no man that thinks rightly of moral
truths, will say that justice would be destroyed, even if there was no such
being as God. Yet, so depraved are most men, I do not know, as Tully
says, whether the majority of mankind would pay any regard to justice, if
they were not awed by some penalty. But, however the weaker part of
mankind may be influenced by hopes and fears of futurity, right and wrong
exist in the nature of things, and are immutable ; as the earl of Shaftesbury
beautifully endeavours to demonstrate to mankind through his writings.
h The reader must observe, that by Jides, which I here translate^/a///i,
Cicero means that confidence or trust which one man reposes in another.
book r. OF THE GODS. 5
tions of the earth are brought to maturity, are designed
by the immortal gods for the use of man. They
instance many other things, which shall be related in
these books ; and which are of such a nature, that they
seem calculated by the divine beings for our benefit.
Against these opinions Carneades 1 has advanced
so much, that what he has said should excite a
desire in men, who are not naturally slothful, to search
after truth ; for there is nothing in which the learned,
as well as the unlearned, differ so strenuously as in
this; and since their opinions are so various, and so
repugnant one to another, it is possible that none of
them may be right, and absolutely impossible that
more than one should. In this case I may be able to
pacify well-meaning opposers, and to confute invidious
censurers ; that the latter may repent of their unrea-
sonable contradiction, and the former be glad to learn ;
for they who object as friends are to be instructed ;
they who pursue as enemies are to be repelled. I
observe that the several books which I have lately pub-
lished k have occasioned much noise, and various dis-
course about them ; some being surprised that I should
turn myself so suddenly to the study of philosophy,
and others desirous of knowing what I can discover on
such subjects. I likewise perceive that many wonder
* Diogenes Laertius tells us, that Carneades, who was of Cyrene, left
nothing behind him but some epistles to Ariarathes king of Cappadocia ;
what else were in his name, he says, were wrote by his scholars. Diogenes
gives him an extraordinary character, and says he was well read in the
writings of the Stoics. Tully mentions him afterwards as a reviver, or
rather assertor, of the Academic manner of disputing.
k Tully wrote his philosophical works in the last three years of his life.
When he wrote this piece he was in the sixty-third year of his age, in the
year of Rome 709.
6 OF THE NATURE book i.
at my fixing on that philosophy ' chiefly, which seems
to extinguish, or cloud things in a sort of night ; and
that I should so unexpectedly patronise a discipline
that has been long neglected and forsaken.
But I did not suddenly enter on this study. I have
applied myself to it from my youth, at no small ex-
pense of time and trouble ; and I then philosophised
most, when I least seemed to think about it ; of which
my orations are instances, containing sentences of phi-
losophers; and my conversation with the learned, who
remarkably frequented our house; particularly Dio-
dorus, Philo, Antiochus, and Posidonius m , under whom
I was bred ; and, if all the precepts of our philosophy
are to have reference to the conduct of life, I am in-
clined to think that what I have advanced, both in
public and private affairs, may be supported by reason
and authority. If any one should ask what induced
me, in the decline of life, to write on these subjects,
there is nothing I can so easily answer; for, being
entirely disengaged from business, and the common-
wealth reduced to the necessity of being governed by
the direction and care of one man 11 , 1 thought it neces-
sary, for the sake of the public, to instruct our coun-
trymen in philosophy: and that it would be of import-
ance, and much to the honour and commendation of
our city, to have such great and excellent subjects in-
troduced in the Latin tongue. I the less repent of my
1 The Academic. Our author soon answers these objections, as he does
the rumours, which he here mentions, concerning his writings.
m Diodorus and Posidonius were Stoics ; Philo and Antiochus were Aca-
demics; but the latter afterwards inclined to the doctrine of the Stoics.
n Julius Caesar, whose usurpation, after the defeat of Pompey, seems
never to have been absent from Cicero's mind. This is not the oDly work
in which he mentions it ; he speaks very feelingly of it in his Orhces.
book r. OF THE GODS. 7
undertaking, since I plainly see that I have excited in
many a desire not only of learning but of writing ; for
we had several Romans well grounded in the learning
of the Greeks, who were unable to communicate to
their countrymen what they had learned, because they
looked upon it as impossible to have that expressed in
Latin which they had received in Greek. In this
point I think I have succeeded so well, that what I
have done is not, even in copiousness of expression,
inferior to that language. Another inducement to it
was a melancholy disposition of mind °, and the great
and heavy oppression of fortune that was upon me ;
for which, if I could have found any surer remedy, I
would not have sought a refuge chiefly in this, I could
procure ease by no means better than by not only
applying myself to books, but by exploring the whole
body of philosophy. Every part and branch of it is
readily discovered, when every question is propounded
in writing ; for there is such an admirable continuation
and series of things, whose dependencies hang one on
another, that they seem all connected and linked toge-
ther. They who desire to know what I think on every
particular head, have more curiosity than is necessary.
The force of reason in disputation is rather to be
sought after than authority ; for the authority of the
teacher is often a disadvantage to those who are willing
to learn; as they refuse to use their own judgment,
and rely implicitly on him they make choice of for a
preceptor. Nor could I ever approye this custom of
To the usurpation of Julius C.-esar, and the change of fortune, Cicero
adds the death of his wife Tullia as an occasion of grief in him, which he
complains of in his Academical Questions.
8 OF THE NATURE book i.
the Pythagoreans, who, when they affirmed anything
in disputation, and were asked why it is so, used to
give this answer, ' he himself has said it ;' and in this
ease ' he himself was Pythagoras. Such was the pre-
judice of opinion, that authority served instead of
reason.
They who wonder at my being a follower of this sect p
in particular, may find a satisfactory answer in my four
books of Academical Questions ; and that I have not
undertaken the protection of what is neglected and for-
saken ; for the opinions of men do not die with them,
but may perhaps want the author's explanation. As
this manner of philosophising, of disputing all things
and affirming nothing certainly, was begun by Socrates,
revived by Arcesilaus, and confirmed by Carneades, so
it hath come in its full force to our present age ; but I
am informed that it is now almost exploded even in
Greece. However, I do not impute that to any fault
in the institution of the Academy, but to the negligence
of mankind. If it be difficult to know all the doctrines
of any one sect, how much more is it to know those of
every sect q ; which it must necessarily be to those who
solve, for the sake of discovering truth, to dispute for
or against all philosophers without partiality? I do
not profess myself master of this difficult and noble
faculty, but I value myself for pursuing it; and it is
impossible that they, who choose this manner of phi-
losophising, should meet nothing worthy their pursuit.
I have spoken more fully on this head in another
p The Academic.
i Cicero says this in commendation of the method of the Academics, who
in their disputations opposed one doctrine to another, to see which would
best bear examination.
book i. OF THE GODS. 9
place 1- . But as some are too slow of apprehension,
and some too heedless, they want frequently to be
cautioned ; therefore I assure them we do not as-
sert that nothing has the appearance of truth; but
we say that some falsehoods are so blended with all
truths s , and have so great a resemblance to them, that
there is no certain rule of judging and assenting; on
which is founded this tenet, that many things are prob-
able, which, though they are not evident, have so
persuasive and beautiful an aspect that a wise man
chooses to direct his conduct by them.
Now, to free myself from the reproach of partiality,
I will publish the sentiments of philosophers concern-
ing the nature of the gods, by which means all men
may judge which of them are consistent with truth;
and if all agree upon, or any one shall be found to have
discovered what is, truth, I will look upon the Academy
as arrogant. So I may cry out, in the words of the
poet* in his Twins ;
r In his Academical Questions, which are mutilated in many places.
But though they are not perfect, yet he has said a great deal on the method
of the Academics, which is still remaining in those books.
8 If our great author had said multis, instead of omnibus veris, he had
been right ; but all truths are not blended with falsehoods. The relations
in which we stand to one another, as constituted into any particular society,
or as rational creatures, and all moral truths, are as certain as arithmetical
truths ; and, if nothing but arithmetical truths were certain, it is wrong to
assert that all truths are blended with falsehoods.
1 In most editions, Statius is here named (ut Statins in Synephebis-').
Some read ut Plautus, and some ut Terentius. But neither Plautus nor
Terence wrote a comedy with that title; though the Menaechmi of Plautus
would admit of it. Dr. Davis rejects the poet's name in the text, on the
authority of the best manuscript copies. There are passages in Plautus
and Terence similar to this exclamation; but Cicero certainly quoted it
from Caecilius Statius, who wrote a comedy with that title, which is now
lost.
10 OF THE NATURE jbook i.
Ye gods, I call upon, require, pray, beseech, entreat, and implore
the attention of my countrymen all, both young and old ;
yet not on so trifling an occasion, as when the person
in the play complains that,
In this city we have discovered a most flagrant iniquity ; here is a
professed courtesan who refuses money from her gallant;
but that they may attend, know, and consider what
sentiments they ought to preserve concerning reli-
gion, piety, sanctity, ceremonies, faith, oaths, temples,
shrines, and solemn sacrifices; and what concerning
the auspices over which I preside ; for all these have
relation to the present question. The manifest dis-
agreement amongst the most learned on this subject
creates doubts in those who imagine they have some-
thing of certainty ; which, as I have often taken notice
of elsewhere, so I did more especially at the careful
and accurate dispute that was held at my friend
C Cotta's, concerning the immortal gods ; for coming
to him at the time of the Latin festivals", according to
his own invitation and message from him, I found him
sitting in his study x , and in a discourse with C. Vel-
leius the senator, who was then reputed by the Epi-
cureans the ablest of our countrymen. Q. Lucilius
Balbus was likewise there, a great proficient in the
doctrine of the Stoics, and esteemed equal to the most
eminent of the Greeks in that part of knowledge. As
soon as Cotta saw me, you are come, says he, very sea-
sonably ; for I have a dispute with Velleius on an im-
u The Feriae Latinae were celebrated on the last of March, on the hill
Albanus, where the Latins then offered sacrifices to Jupiter of Latium ; for
which reason they were called Feria; Latinae.
* Exhedra, the word here used by Cicero, means a study, or place wheie
disputes were held.
book i. OF THE GODS. li
portant subject, which, considering the nature of your
studies, is not improper for you to join in. Indeed,
says I, I think I am come very seasonably, as you say ;
for here are three chiefs of three principal sects met
together. If M. Piso y was present, no sect of philo-
sophy that is in any esteem would want an advocate.
If Antiochus's book, replies Cotta, which he lately sent
to Balbus, says true, you have no occasion to wish for
your friend Piso ; for Antiochus is of the opinion, that
the Stoics do not differ from the Peripatetics in fact,
though they do in words. I should be glad to know
what you think of that book, Balbus ? I ? says he.
I wonder that Antiochus, a man of the clearest appre-
hension, should not see what a vast difference there is
between the Stoics 2 , who distinguish the honest and
the profitable, not only in name but absolutely in kind ;
and the Peripatetics, who blend the honest with the
profitable in such a manner, that they differ only in
degrees and proportion, and not in kind. This is not
a little difference in words, but a great one in things :
but of this hereafter. Now, if you think fit, let us re-
y M. Piso was a Peripatetic. The four great sects were the Stoics, the
Peripatetics, the Academics, and the Epicureans.
z However Cicero makes Balbus represent the distinction which the
Stoics made between the honest and the profitable, virtue was always
esteemed by them the only good ; according to which the honest and the
profitable are inseparable. Cicero says, in the third book of his Offices,
quod summum bonum a Stoicis dicitur, convenienter naturae, vivere, id habet
banc, ut opinor, sententiam, cum virtute congruere semper. What the Stoics
call the chief good, which is to live agreeably to nature, has, I think, this
meaning in it, to act always consistent with virtue ; and this passage of
Cicero is almost a translation from Zeno's treatise on the Nature of Man;
the original of which is preserved in Diogenes Laertius. Tully, in the same
book of his Offices, says the Stoics make honestum the solum bonum, and that
the Peripatetics make it the summum bonum ; which difference is more in
words than in fact.
12 OF THE NATURE book i.
turn to what we began with. With all my heart, says
Cotta. But that this visiter, (looking at me,) who is
just come in, may not be ignorant of what we are upon,
I will inform him that we were discoursing on the na-
ture of the gods ; concerning which, as it is a subject
that always appeared very obscure to me, I prevailed
on Velleius to give us the sentiments of Epicurus.
Therefore, continues he, if it is not troublesome, Vel-
leius, repeat what you before delivered. I will, says
he ; though this person will be no advocate for me, but
for you ; for you have both, adds he with a smile,
learned from the same Philo to be certain of nothing'*.
What we have learned from him, replied I, Cotta will
discover ; but I would not have you think I am come
as an assistant to him, but as an auditor, with an im-
partial and unbiassed mind, and under no necessity to
defend any particular principle.
After this Velleius, with the confidence peculiar to
his sect, dreading nothing so much as to seem to doubt
of anything, began as if he had just then descended
from the council of the gods, and Epicurus's intervals b
of worlds. Attend, says he, to no idle and invented
tales ; not to the operator and builder of the world, the
god of Plato's Timaeus; nor to the old prophetic dame,
the Ilpwoia, of the Stoics, which the Latins call Provi-
a It was a prevailing tenet of the Academics, that- there is no certain
knowledge. Academic! novam induxerunt scientiaiii, nihil scire, says Seneca
in one of his epistles. The Academics have introduced a new science, to
know nothing. Novam scientiam, nihil scire, is not bad ridicule.
b The Epicureans maintained the doctrine of plurality of worlds with va-
cant spaces, intervals, between them. There is no doctrine more consistent
with reason than this, when we consider the infinity of space, the immense
quantity of matter in space, and the power of God. There is scarcely any-
thing more absurd than to imagine that there should be but one world.
BOOK I.
OF THE GODS. 13
dence ; nor to that round, that burning, voluble deity,
the world, endowed with sense and understanding ;
the prodigies and wonders, not of inquisitive philoso-
phers, but of dreamers ! For with what eyes of the
mind was your Plato able to see that workhouse of such
stupendous toil, in which he makes the world to be
modelled and built by God? What materials, what
tools, what bars, what machines, what servants, were
employed in so vast a work ? How could the air, fire,
water, and earth, pay obedience and submit to the will
of the architect ? From whence arose those five forms d ,
of which the rest were composed, so aptly contributing
to frame the mind, and produce the senses ? It is te-
dious to go through all, as they are of such a sort, that
they look more like things to be desired, than to be
discovered. But what is most remarkable, he gives us
a world not only made, but in a manner formed with
hands, and yet says it is eternal. Do you conceive him
to have the least skill in natural philosophy who is
capable of thinking anything to be everlasting that had
a beginning? For what is there in the composition that
is not dissoluble ? or what is there that had a begin-
ning which will not have an end ?
c This opinion of the world being endowed with understanding was ad-
vanced both by Plato and the Stoics.
d The five forms of Plato are whimsies unbecoming a philosopher. They
are these, oixria, tclvtov, srepov, ard '/5o$). Before the
rising of the sun it is called the morning-star, and after
the setting the evening-star. It has the same revolu-
tion through the zodiac, both as to latitude and longi-
tude, with the other planets, in a year, and is never
more than two r signs from the sun, whether it precedes
Here he endeavours to prove the necessity of a certain and definitive
conversion of the sun, moon, and five wandering stars, by which the great
year is completed.
p The zodiac.
the Snakeholder, is placed in the map by Flam-
steed as described here by Aratus ; and their heads almost meet. The
modern maps are not exactly answerable to this ancient description of the
twisting of the serpent round the man; but as these given figures, which
are chiefly derived from the ancients, are arbitrary, the science of astronomy
does not suffer by such a difference in the figure of a constellation.
126 OF THE NATURE book ii.
The Greeks him Ophiuchus call, renown'd
The name. He strongly grasps the Serpent round
With both his hands; himself the Serpent folds
Beneath his breast, and round his middle holds ;
Yet gravely he, bright shining in the skies,
Moves on, and treads on Nepa's" breast and eyes.
The Septentriones are followed by
Arctophylax p, that's said to be the same
Which we Bootes call, who has the name,
Because he drives the Greater Bear along
Yoked to a wain.
Besides, in Bootes
A star of glittering rays about his waist,
Arcturus call'd, a name renown'd, is placed i.
Beneath which is
The Virgin of illustrious form, whose hand
Holds a bright spike 1 ";
n The Scorpion. Ophiuchus, though a northern constellation, is not far
from that part of the zodiac where the Scorpion is, which is one of the six
southern signs.
° The wain of seven stars.
P The wain- driver. This northern constellation is, in our present maps,
figured with a club in his right hand, behind the Greater Bear.
7rd £wvy, under the
belt.
r Cicero says, cui (that is, Arcturd) subjectafertur
Spicum illustre tenens splendenti corpore Virgo.
Cicero has not justly translated his author here. Aratus says she is placed
beneath the feet of Bootes,
'ApoTEpoi(n Sk UoGGiv Boojtov, k. t. \.
and so the same constellation is placed in our modern maps. Bootes is a
book ir. OF THE GODS. 127
and truly these signs are so regularly disposed, that a
divine wisdom evidently appears in them ;
Beneath the Bear's s head have the Twins their seat,
Under his chest the Crab, beneath his feet
The mighty Lion darts a trembling flame 4 .
The Charioteer
On the left side of Gemini we see u ,
And at his head behold fierce Helice ;
On his left shoulder the bright Goat appears.
But, to proceed,
This is indeed a great and glorious star.
On th' other side the Kids, inferior far,
Yield but a slender light to mortal eyes.
*
Under his feet
The horned Bull x , with sturdy limbs, is placed;
his head is sprinkled with a number of stars ;
These by the Greeks are call'd the Hyades,
a pluendo, from raining, for few is pluere to rain ; there-
constellation of the northern hemisphere, not far from the zodiac; and the
Virgin is one of the six northern signs in the zodiac.
s Sub caput Arcti, under the head of the Greater Bear.
1 The Crab is, by the ancients and moderns, placed in the zodiac, as
here, betwixt the Twins and the Lion ; and they are all three northern
signs.
u The Twins are placed in the zodiac with the side of one to the northern
hemisphere, and the side of the other to the southern hemisphere. Auriga,
the Charioteer, is placed in the northern hemisphere, near the zodiac, by the
Twins ; and at the head of the Charioteer is Helice, the Greater Bear,
placed; and the Goat is a bright star of the first magnitude placed on the
left shoulder of this northern constellation, and called Capra, the Goat;
Haedi the Kids are two more stars of the same constellation.
x A constellation; one of the northern signs in the zodiac, in which the
Hyades are placed.
128 OF THE NATURE book ii.
fore they are injudiciously called Suculce by our people,
as if they had their name a suibus from sows, and not
from showers.
Behind the Lesser Bear, Cepheus y follows with ex-
tended hands,
For close behind the Lesser Bear he moves.
Before him goes
Cassiopea 2 with a faintish light;
But near her moves (fair and illustrious sight !)
Andromeda 1 , who, with an eager pace,
Seems to avoid her parent's mournful face b .
TV Horse c shakes his glitt'ring mane, and seems to tread,
So near he comes, on her refulgent head ;
With a star's help, that close to him appears
A double form d , and but one light he wears ;
By which he seems ambitious in the sky
An everlasting knot of stars to tie.
Near him the Ram, with wreathed horns, is placed e ;
y One of the feet of Cepheus, a northern constellation, is under the tail
of the Lesser Bear in the map in Flamsteed's Atlas Ccelestis. See farther
in my Inquiry into the Astronomy of the Ancients.
z Grotius, and after him Dr. Davis, and other learned men, read Cassiepea
after the Greek Kacraikrrua, and reject the common reading Cassiopea.
This is a ridiculous nicety ; for as Cassiopea is generally used by Latin
authors, and from the Latins by the moderns, it is proper the name should
be so written; and I doubt not but Cicero wrote it so himself. They
might with as much propriety have rejected Arctophylax and Procyon for
Arctophulax and Procuon, because the Greeks wrote them 'ApKTO6[iog, lex, a law.
i That is, of Jupiter Infernus, as Pluto is often called.
book in. OF THE GODS. 189
and of Latona. The third, whom the Greeks often
call by her father's name, is the daughter of Upis r and
Glauce.
There are many also of the Dionysi s . The first was
the son of Jupiter and Proserpine. The second, who
is said to have killed Nysa, was the son of Nilus. The
third, who reigned in Asia, and for whom the Sabazia*
were instituted, was the son of Caprius. The fourth,
for whom they celebrate the Orphic festivals u , sprung
from Jupiter and Luna. The fifth, who is supposed
to have instituted the Trieterides x , was the son of
Nysus and Thyone.
The first Venus, who has a temple at Elis y , was the
daughter of Ccelum and Dies. The second arose out
of the froth of the sea, and had by Mercury the
second Cupid. The third, the daughter of Jupiter
and Diona, was married to Vulcan, but is said to have
had Anteros 2 by Mars. The fourth was a Syrian,
r He is called y Q7rtg in some old Greek fragments, and Ovttlq by Calli-
machus, in his Hymn on Diana.
s Bacchus was called Dionysus.
1 2a/3a£io£ Sabazius, is one of the names used for Bacchus, as we see it
in the comedies of Aristophanes ; and in the beginning of his comedy called
20r)/cfc, Vespee, verse the ninth, it is used for wine, as the word Bacchus is
sometimes poetically used :
vttvoq fi f'x fl ri £ iK 2a/3a£tou.
" A drowsiness from Sabazius possesses me ;" that is, " wine has made me
sleepy."
" Sacred rites instituted to Bacchus by Orpheus.
x The Trieterides were rites so called, because they were performed
every three years. Davis.
y A city in Peloponnesus.
z Anteros is the name of one of the Cupids. "Epwc "Apmq /xvOoXoytiTat
mog, says the etymologist; that is, Eros (Cupid) is fabled to be the son of
Mars.
190 OF THE NATURE book hi.
born of Tyro a who is called Astarte, and is said to
have been married to Adonis.
I have already mentioned one Minerva, mother of
Apollo. Another, who is worshipped at Sais, a city of
Egypt, sprung from Nilus. The third, whom I have
also mentioned, was daughter of Jupiter. The fourth
sprung from Jupiter and Coryphe, the daughter of the
Ocean ; the Arcadians call her Coria, and make her the
inventress of chariots. A fifth, whom they paint with
wings at her heels, was daughter of Pallas, and is said
to have killed her father, for endeavouring to violate
her chastity.
The first Cupid is said to be the son of Mercury
and the first Diana. The second of Mercury and the
second Venus. The third, who is the same as Anteros,
of Mars and the third Venus.
All these opinions arise from old stories, that were
spread in Greece ; the course of which, Balbus, you
well know, ought to be stopped, lest religion should
suffer. You Stoics, so far from refuting, give them
authority, by the mysterious sense which you pretend
to find in them. Can you then think, after this plain
refutation, there is need to employ more subtle rea-
sonings b ?
But to return from this digression. We see that
the mind, faith, hope, virtue, honour, victory, health,
a There is in ancient authors the name of Tyro, a Thessalian, on whom
Neptune is said to have begot Neleus and Pelias.
b M. le P. Bouhier, in his remark on this passage, suspects that there is
a little hiatus here. The abbe d'Olivet thinks there is nothing wanting but
a transposition of the words. He reads it thus, Vestri autem man modo har
non refellunt, verum etiam confirmant, interpret a ndo, quorsum quidque perti-
neat. Num censes igitur subtiliore ratione opus esse ad ha:c refellendu ? Sed
eojam, unde hue digressi sunrus, revertamur. Nam mentem, fidem, etc.
book in. OF THE GODS. 191
concord, and things of such kind, are purely natural,
and have nothing of divinity in them ; for either they
are inherent in us, as the mind, faith, hope, virtue, and
concord ; or to be desired, as honour, health, and vic-
tory. I know indeed they are useful to us, and see
that statues have been religiously erected for them ;
but as to their divinity, I shall begin to believe it when
you have proved it. Of this kind I may particularly
mention fortune, ever inseparable from inconstancy and
temerity, which are certainly unworthy a divine being.
But what delight do you take in the explication of
fables, and in the etymology of names ! That Ccelum
was castrated by his son c , and that Saturn was bound
in chains by his son ! By your defence of these, and
such-like fictions, you would make the authors of them
appear not only to be no fools, but to be very wise
men. But the pains you take in your etymologies
deserve our pity. That Saturn is so called because,
se saturat annis, he is full of years ; Mavors, Mars,
because, magna vortit, he brings about mighty changes;
Minerva, because, minuit, she diminishes, or because,
minatur, she threatens ; Venus, because venit ad omnia,
she comes to all ; Ceres, a gerendo, from bearing. How
dangerous is this method ! for there are many names
would puzzle you. From what would you derive
Vejupiter d and Vulcan? Though, indeed, if you can
derive Neptune, a nando, from swimming, in which you
seem to me to swim yourself more than Neptune, you
may easily find the origin of all names, since it is
founded only upon the conformity of some one letter.
c Saturn.
d He was worshipped by the Romans that he might do them no harm,
not through any hopes of his doing good.
192 OF THE NATURE book hi.
Zeno is put to the unnecessary trouble first, and
after him Cleanthes and Chrysippus, of explaining-
mere fables, and giving reasons for the several appel-
lations of every deity ; which is really owning, that
those we call gods are not the representations of
deities, but natural things, and that to judge otherwise
is an error; yet this error has so much prevailed, that
pernicious things have not only the title of divinity
ascribed to them, but have even sacrifices offered to
them ; for Fever has a temple on the Palatine e hill,
and Orbona f another near that of the Lares (the house-
hold gods); and we see on the Exquiline g hill an altar
consecrated to Ill-fortune.
Let all such errors be banished from philosophy, if
we would advance in our dispute concerning the im-
mortal gods, nothing unworthy immortal beings. I
know myself what I ought to believe; which is far dif-
ferent from what you have said. You take Neptune
for an intelligence pervading the sea. You have the
same opinion of Ceres, with regard to the earth. I
cannot, I own, find out, or in the least conjecture, what
that intelligence of the sea or the earth is. To learn
therefore the existence of the gods, and what they are,
I must apply elsewhere, not to the Stoics.
Let us proceed to the two other parts of our dispute.
First, whether there is a divine providence which go-
verns the world ; and lastly, whether that providence
particularly regards mankind : for these are the re-
maining propositions of your discourse; and I think, if
e Palatium is one of the seven hills on which Rome was built.
f A goddess, who, according to the signification of her name, was said to
deprive them of their children.
8 Exquilia? is another of the seven hills.
book in. OF THE GODS. 193
you approve of it, we should examine these more ac-
curately. With all my heart, says Velleius, for I
readily agree to what you have hitherto said, and
expect still greater things from you.
I am unwilling to interrupt you, says Balbus to
Cotta, but we will take another opportunity, and I shall
effectually convince you. But
[Here is a wide chasm in the original. What is lost probably may
have contained great part of Cotta's arguments against the providence
of the Stoics. Some of his arguments against a providence over par-
ticulars seem unanswerable; but I cannot think that all his quota-
tions from the dramatic poets much illustrate what he advances
against the usefulness of reason. As reason is that which leads the
human mind to truth, that motion of the mind which does not lead
to truth cannot be called reason, though there may appear a chain of
thought in it.
Abbe d'Olivet, in his remarks upon this hiatus (which, for the
benefit of the English reader, I have translated), says, that " we are
unfortunately deprived of all the arguments of Cotta on the third
proposition of Balbus, and part of his answer to the fourth.
" I cannot see any justice in the accusation against the primitive
Christians, of having torn this passage out of all the manuscripts.
What appearance is there, that through a pious motive they should
erase this any more than many others in the same book, which they
must undoubtedly have looked upon as no less pernicious ?
" Arnobius, lib. 3, gives us room to suspect the pagans ; for he
informs us, that they were greatly incensed at some of Tully's books,
which could be no other than those concerning the Nature of the
Gods,, and Divination ; insomuch that they insisted on a solemn
edict from the senate h to suppress and forbid the reading them, as
favouring too much the Christian religion, and tending towards the
subversion of paganism.
"Arnobius did not care for saying that these books directly proved
the Christian religion, but only indirectly in the blow which they
h Oportere statui per senatum, aboleantur ut htzc scripta, quibus Christiana
religio comprobetur et vetustatis opprimatur auctorhas.
O
194 OF THE NATURE book in.
gave to idolatry ; and indeed what could attribute more to the open-
ing the eyes of the pagans, and bringing them to an acknowledgment
of their error, than what Tully here says in the person of Cotta?
Their false gods are attacked by a Roman, by an augur, by an
ancient and venerable consul. What could they say ? Who could
shut the mouth of one of their own priests ; one who had been
initiated into their sacred mysteries? For that reason, without
doubt, this work was sentenced to the flames, with the Holy Bible,
under the emperor Diocletian, according to a remark 1 of cardinal
Baronius.
" But it is of no great importance whether we should impute the
loss of this passage to Christian or pagan zeal ; perhaps we can in
justice accuse time only of this robbery, which has deprived us of so
many other valuable books ; however, it would not be amiss, on this
occasion, to look over the two passages of this work preserved by
Lactantius, and to endeavour, if possible, to supply the rest by our
conjectures.
"The first passage cited by Lactantius, Div. Inst. lib. ii. cap. 3,
runs thus : Intelligebat Cicero, falsa esse, qua homines adorarent ;
nam cum multa dixisset, qua ad eversionem religionum valerent, ait
tamen, non esse ilia vulgo disputanda, ne susceptas publice religiones
disputatio talis extinguat. Cicero imagined that the religion which
prevailed in the minds of men was erroneous; for though he said
many things which would tend to the subversion of religion, yet he
said that point should not be disputed by the vulgar, lest such dis-
putation should extinguish public received religions.
"The second passage cited by Lactantius, ibid. cap. 8, is as fol-
lows : Cicero de natura deorum disputans, sic ait ; primum igitur non
est probabile, earn materiam rerum, unde orta sunt omnia, esse divina
providentia effectam ; sed habere, et habuisse, vim et naturam suam.
Ut igitur faber, cum quid adificaturus est, non ipsefacit materiam, sed
ea utitur qua sit parata ; fictorque item cera ; sic isti providentia di-
vines materiam prcesto esse oportuit, non quam ipse faceret, sed quam
haberet paratam. Quod si non est a deo materia facta, ne terra qui-
dem, et aqua, et aer, et ignis, a deo f actus est. * Tully, disputing con-
cerning the nature of the gods, says, it is not probable that matter,
1 Ad annum 302. nvtn. 67.
book in. OF THE GODS. 195
whence all things spring, should be the work of a divine providence,
but a substance entirely depending on its own nature and strength.
As neither the builder when he builds, nor the potter when he
moulds, makes the materials himself, but uses those prepared for
him, so there must necessarily be a matter, not made by, but prepared
for the use of, divine providence. If therefore this matter is not the
work of god, so neither is the earth, water, air, or fire/
"As to the first of these passages, it is entirely clear; but the
second, in which this proposition is confuted, viz. that matter,
whence all things are formed, was made by divine providence, re-
quires some explanation, lest we might from thence infer, that Tully
had a true notion of the creation, properly so called.
"In order to judge of the reasonableness of this consequence, let
us remember that Tully here attacks a Stoic. The Stoics held that
fire, which they believed to be an intelligent being, was the sole
active principle which formed the water, the earth, and the air ; so
that the last three elements were, properly speaking, only different
modifications of the first. This we read in the second book.
" When therefore it is here said that matter, whence all things are
formed, was made by divine providence, we are not by this to under-
stand that the divine providence did in reality create, or draw out of
nothing, this matter, but only modified it, and by the arrangement of
its parts, which were before mixed and confounded, made the water,
the earth, the air, and that gross body which we call fire.
" It may perhaps be objected that, by these words, earn materia?}/
rerum esse divina providentia effectam, that matter is the work of
divine providence, we are to understand the creation, properly so
called, and that therefore my explanation is forced; to which I
answer first, that to persuade us that Cicero had an opinion so very
singular concerning the creation, an opinion which we meet with in
no other part of his works, there is need of greater authority than a
single passage, to which both the preceding and subsequent argu-
ments are wanting. Secondly, I answer, that if the dispute is about
the creation, properly so called, Cicero must forget against whom he
is disputing ; since, if the objection is about the creation, such an
objection, so far from having been made to him by Balbus, is directly
opposite to the principles of Balbus.
" Let us return then to the true sense of this passage, which may
o2
196 OF THE NATURE book hi.
probably help us to discover the method which Cicero took to refute
the Stoics. We ought not, says he, to attribute the modifications of
matter to a divine providence according to the Stoics, but to suppose
in matter an intrinsic natural power, which renders all its modifica-
tions possible and necessary. Primum igitur non est probabile, earn
materiam rerum, unde orta sunt omnia, esse divina providentia effectam ;
sed habere, et habuisse, vim et naturam suam.
" Such was Strato's system. No other principle of existence than
the mechanic laws of an inanimate nature. All things are matter,
and each particle of matter has a natural gravity, which, by its im-
pulse, causes its necessary motions, from whence all its different
modifications result. He himself (Strato) having studied every part
of the universe, asserts that whatever is, or will be, must exist by
motion and gravity. These are Cicero's words, Acad. Disp. 4. 38.
Ipse autem (Strato) singulas mundi partes per -sequens, quicquid aut sit,
autjiat, naturalibus fieri, aut factum esse docet ponder ibus et motibus.
» i Cor. xv. 10. Philip, iv. 13.
n Job, xxi. 7. Jer. xii.- 1. ° Psalm lxxi. 10.
p Rev. xviii. 7.
book in. OF THE GODS. 199
will be its consequences. If God permits him to suffer, he looks
upon it q as a happiness; he rejoices 1 *, he glories s in it. For what
proportion l have his present pains to the future glory with which he
shall be clothed ! I make use only of the holy scriptures that I may
anticipate the bad impressions which the discourse of Cotta might
make on a Christian who might not always have the maxims of our
faith in his memory. In matters of religion, when we have any doubt
to overcome, or any difficulties to resolve, the way of divine authority
is much better for us than that of reasoning. It is more sure, and
more short. Our reason by itself is commonly more ingenious at
leading us into snares, than at drawing us out of them.
" I am next to take notice, that Cicero, being willing to show how
men might abuse their wit, begins here with examples taken out of
some scraps of ancient tragedies ; but I must confess that these frag-
ments do not appear to me to be capable of a turn that would make
them relished in France."
The reader will here observe that the learned Frenchman draws up
his conclusion with knocking reason down, and setting up scripture
as the sole rule of faith and conduct; but, as he rejects reason, he
offers none for his great rule.]
Shall I adore, and bend the suppliant knee,
Who scorn their power, and doubt their deity u l
Does not Niobe here seem to reason, and by that
reasoning to bring all her misfortunes upon herself?
But what a subtle expression is the following !
On strength of will alone depends success ;
A maxim capable of leading us into all that is bad.
i Matth. v. 5. r James, i. 2.
8 Galat. vi. 14. l Rom. viii. 18.
u Niobe is in this passage persisting in her contention with Latona.
Niobe was wife to Amphion, king of Thebes, by whom she had seven sons
and seven daughters. She is said to have preferred herself to Latona, be-
cause of the number and beauty of her children. Latona had but two,
which were Apollo and Diana, whom, as the nonsensical story continues,
Latona spirited on to slay the children of Niobe ; and Niobe herself was
turned into a stone.
200 OP THE NATURE book iik
Though I'm confin'd, his malice x yet is vain,
His tortured heart shall answer pain for pain,
His ruin soothe my soul with soft content,
Lighten my chains, and welcome banishment !
This now is reason ; that reason, which you say the
divine goodness has denied to the brute creation,
kindly to bestow it on men alone. How great, how
immense the favour ! Observe the same Medea flying
from her father and her country ;
The guilty wretch from her pursuer flies.
By her own hands the young Absyrtus* slain,
His mangled limbs she scatters o'er the plain ;
That the fond sire might sink beneath his woe,
And she to parricide her safety owe.
Reflection, as well as wickedness, must have been
necessary to the perpetration of such a fact ; and did
he too 2 , who prepared that fatal repast for his brother,
do it without reflection ?
Revenge, as great as Atreus' injury,
Shall sink his soul and crown his misery*.
Did not Thyestes himself, not content with having
defiled his brother's bed (of which Atreus with great
justice thus inveighs,
When faithless consorts in the lewd embrace
With vile adultery stain a royal race,
x Medea speaking of her father iEetes.
y Her brother ; whose limbs she is said to have divided and scattered in
the way, when her father ^Eetes pursued her as she fled with Jason.
1 Atreus ; who invited his brother to a feast, and served up his brother's
children at the banquet, in revenge to Thyestes for having corrupted his
wife.
a Our author quotes these two verses in his third book de Oratore, and in
his Tusculan Disputations. They are taken, the learned say, from the
Atreus of Accius, as are those which follow.
book in. OF THE GODS. 201
The blood thus mix'd in fouler currents flows,
Taints the rich soil and breeds unnumber'd woes),
did he not, I say, by that adultery aim at the posses-
sion of the crown ? Atreus thus continues,
A lamb, fair gift of heav'n, with golden fleece b ,
Promis'd in vain to fix my crown in peace ;
But base Thyestes, eager for the prey,
Crept to my bed and stole the gem away.
Do you not perceive that Thyestes must have had a
share of reason proportionable to the greatness of his
crimes ; such crimes as are not only represented to us
on the stage, but such as we see committed, nay often
exceeded, in the common course of life ? Private houses,
public courts , the senate, the camp, allies, provinces,
all agree that reason is the author of all the ill as well
as all the good we do ; that it makes few act well, but
many ill ; and that, in short, the gods had shown
greater benevolence in denying us any reason at all
than in sending us that which is so pernicious ; for as
wine is seldom wholesome, but often hurtful in diseases,
we think it more prudent to deny it the patient, than
to run the risk of so uncertain a remedy, so I do not
know whether it would not be better for mankind to
be deprived of wit, thought, and penetration, or what
we call reason, a thing fatal to many and useful to few,
than to have it bestowed upon them with so much
liberality.
But if the divine will has really consulted the good
b This lamb is supposed to have been as the Palladium was to Troy,
whoever, it was said, possessed it, should have the kingdom.
c The word forum was used both for the market-place, and for the place
where courts were held for pleadings relating to the properties of men. It
is most likely used in the last sense here.
m OF THE NATURE book hi.
of man in this gift of reason, the good of those men
only was consulted, on whom a well-regulated one is
bestowed; how few those are, if any, is very apparent.
It is wrong to say that the gods consulted the good of
a few only; it is better to think that they consulted the
good of none.
You answer, that the ill use which a great part of
mankind make of reason, no more takes away the good-
ness of the gods, w r ho bestow it as a present of the
greatest benefit to them, than the ill use which chil-
dren make of their patrimony diminishes the obligation
which they have to their parents for it.
We grant you this ; but where is the similitude ? It
was far from Deianira's design to injure Hercules d ,
when she made him a present of the shirt dipped in
the blood of the centaurs. Nor was it a regard to the
welfare of Jason of Pheras, that induced the man who
with his sword opened his imposthume, which the phy-
sicians had in vain attempted to cure 6 .
Thus it often happens that an intended evil has
turned to advantage, and a designed good to disadvan- .
tage. So that the quality of the gift is by no means
a mark of the intention of the giver; neither does the
benefit which may accrue from it, prove that it came
d Though Hercules burnt himself, as it is sakl, to avoid the torment
which that shirt gave him, yet Deianira's good intentions were not defeated
by any imprudence or ill conduct of Hercules. Therefore there is no simi-
litude between this case and the gods giviDg reason to men. The case of
Jason, which follows, is as little to the purpose.
c The story of Jason of Pherae, a town in Thessaly, is this : he had an
imposthume, for which he could get no cure ; and the anguish of it was so
great that he threw himself into the heat of battle, with the hopes of being
slain, to be rid of his pain ; but he received, from the sword of one of the
enemy a stroke on the imposthume, which opened it, and the noxious
humour discharging itself, he perfectly recovered.
book in. OF THE GODS. 203
from the hands of a benefactor. For, in short, what
debauchery, what avarice, what crimes, amongst men
do not owe their birth to thought and reflection, that
is, to reason ? To right reason, if their thoughts are
conformable to truth ; to bad reason, if they are not f .
The gods only give us the mere faculty of reason, if we
have any ; the use or abuse of it depends entirely upon
ourselves 8 ; so that the comparison is not just between
the present of reason given us by the gods, and a
patrimony left to a son by his father ; for after all, if
the punishment of mankind had been the end proposed
by the gods, what could they have given them more
pernicious than this seed of all evil, reason ; this slave
of fear, injustice, and intemperance?
I mentioned just now Medea and Atreus, persons of
high rank, who had used this reason only in the study
of the most flagitious crimes ; but even the trifling cha-
racters which appear in comedies supply us with the
like instances of this reasoning faculty ; for example,
does not he, in the Eunuch, reason with some subtlety,
What then must I resolve upon h ?
She turn'd me out of doors ; she sends for me back again ;
Shall I go ; no, not if she were to beg it of me.
Another, in the Twins 1 , making no scruple of opposing
a received maxim, after the manner of the Academics,
f The meaning of this profound sentence is this ; if a man thinks right^
he is right; if wrong, he is wrong. The Academic does not talk as if he
conceived rightly of reason, which is that power of the mind by which we
are able to range and compare ideas, and to separate right from wrong.
s This sentiment of the Academic borders on the doctrine of freedom of
will.
b These lines are in the first speech of the Eunuch of Terence.
» Synepheli, the Twins ; a comedy of Cyecilius.
204 OF THE NATURE book hi.
asserts, that when a man is in love and in want, it is
pleasant
To have a father, covetous, crabbed, and passionate,
Who has no love or affection for his children.
This unaccountable opinion he strengthens thus:
You may defraud him of his profits, or forge letters in his name,
Or fright him by your servant into compliance ;
And what you take from such an old huncks,
How much more pleasantly do you spend it ?
On the contrary, he says that an easy, generous
father, is an inconvenience to a son in love ; for,
says he,
I cannot tell how to abuse so good, so prudent a parent,
Who always foreruns my desires, and meets me purse in hand
To support me in my pleasures : this easy goodness and generosity
Quite defeat all my frauds, tricks, and stratagems k .
k Here is one expression in the quotation from Caecilius, that is not com-
mon to be met with; which is prcestigias prcestrinxit ; the learned Lam-
binus gives prastinxit , for the sake, I suppose, of playing on words ;
because it might then be translated " he has deluded my delusions, or
stratagems;" but prastrinxit is certainly the right reading. Prcestigice are
things which seem to be what they are not ; preestringere is to confound
and to dazzle ; prastigias prcestrinxit is therefore elegant, " he has confounded
or defeated all my delusions, or stratagems," not deluded them, because the
father used no delusions, but showed an open generosity. Plautus, in the
first speech of his Miles Gloriosus, has this expression :
contra conserta manu
Oculorum. prcestringut aciem in acie hostibus.
Pyrgopolynices, the bragging soldier, orders Artotrogus, his parasite, to get
his shield ready and to make it bright, that it may dazzle the eyes of the
enemy and confound them in the midst of battle. Plautus here plays
with words, the one acies meaning the sharpness of sight, the other the
front of battle, or battle in array.
book in. OF THE GODS. 205
What are these frauds, tricks, and stratagems, but
the effect of reason ? O excellent gift of the gods !
Without this Phormio l could not have said :
Find me out the old man; I have got something hatching for him
in my head.
But let us pass from the stage to the bar. The
pretor m takes his seat. To judge whom? The man
who set fire to our archives. How secretly was that
villany conducted ! Q. Sosius, an illustrious Roman
knight of the Picene n field, confessed the fact. Who
else is to be tried ? He who forged the public regis-
ters ; Alenus, an artful fellow, who counterfeited the
handwriting of the six officers °. Let us call to mind
other processes; that of the gold of Tolosa p , the con-
spiracy of Jugurtha q . Let us trace back the informa-
tions laid against Tubulus 1 for bribery in his judicial
office ; and, since that, the proceedings of the tribune
Peduceus concerning the incest of the vestals. Let us
reflect upon the trials which daily happen for assas-
I In the first scene of the second act of the Phormio of Terence.
m The ancient Romans had a judicial as well as a military pretor, and
he sat, with inferior judges attending him, like one of our chief justices.
Sessum it pretor, which I douht not is the right reading, Lambinus restored
from an old copy. The common reading was sessum iteprecor.
II Picenum was a region of Italy.
The sexprimi were general receivers of all taxes and tributes ; and they
were obliged to make good, out of their own fortunes, whatever deficiencies
were in the public treasury.
p Which Q. Cffipio, when consul, seized at Tolosa, in France.
i.
Anaxagoras, his theology, 18, rt,
Anaxarchus, by whom destroyed,
211, n.
Anaximander, his theology 17
Anaximenes, his theology 17
Anteros, whose son he was 189
Antiochus, the Academic, 6 — his
opinion 11, 12
Antiopa, mother of the nine Muses
186
Antisthenes, his theology 21
Aoede, a muse 186
Apes, like men 53
Apis, an Egyptian god 45
Apollodorus, the philosopher 51
Apollodorus, the tyrant 210
ApolJo, represented beardless, 45,
212, n.— Taken for the sun, 105—
Fought with Hercules, 178 — Fa-
ther of Aristaeus, 181 — And of
iEsculapius, 188 — How many
Apollos there are, and their gene-
alogies, ibid.
Aquilius, Caius, what law he pro-
posed 206
Aratus, his Phcenomena, a Greek
poem, part of which Tully trans-
lated into Latin 123
Arcesilaus reestablishes the Aca-
demy, 8 — Degrades the senses, 38
Arche, a muse 186
Archilochus 59
Archimedes, his knowledge of the
globe 114
Ardaea, the fields of, to whom the
Romans used to sacrifice there
182
Argus, by whom killed 188
Aristaeus, son of Apollo, what art he
found out 181
236
INDEX.
Aristippus, the dangeT of his lec-
tures 208
Aristo, his theology, 23 — What he
said of Aristippus and Zeno 208
Aristotle, his theology, 21-— Denies
there was any such person as Or-
pheus the poet, 59 — Cited by
Cicero, 89, 90, 91. 113, 119. 138
Arsinoe, mother of the third iEscula-
pius 188
Arsippus, father of the third 4^ scu "
lapius - 188
Astarte, the fourth Venus 190
Asteria, sister of Latona, mother of
the fourth Hercules, 179 — and of
Hecate 181
Astypalsea, an isle where Achilles
was worshipped 181
Atheists ; Diagoras, Melius, and The-
odorus 2
Atoms, form the world, according to
the opinion of Epicurus, 31 — That
doctrine disputed, 38 — From whom
that opinion was derived, ibid. —
Their making a world compared to
the letters of the alphabet jumbled
together making the Annals of En-
nius 117, 118
Atreus, son of Pelops 186
Augurs, the difference between the
functions of them and the arus-
pices 77
Augury, why the discipline of it is
omitted 74
Auspices, the consequence of disre-
garding them to Junius, 72 —
What they are 74, n.
Bacchus, signifies wine, 100 — One
the son of Semele, and another the
son of Ceres, 101 — How many
there were, and from whom sprung
189
Balbus, Lucilius, his character, 11
— What he means by the constant
course of the stars 96, n.
Belus, the name of the fifth Hercules
Cadmus, who was his daughter, 182
Calchas, an augur 72
Camirus, grandson of Sol 187
Caprius, father of the third Bacchus
189
Carbo, his disbelief of the gods, 35, 36
Carneades, a great adversary of the
Stoics, 5. 155 — Confirms the Aca-
demy, 8 — His objections against
the gods of the Stoics 180, etc.
Carthago, daughter of the fourth Her-
cules 179
Castor, his apparition, 70 — Why
deified, 101 — Whose son he was,
71. 186. See Tyndaridse.
Cats, revered in Egypt 45. 56
Catullus, his epigram upon Roscius
the Roman actor, 44 — His death
210, n.
Centaurs, said to come from the
clouds 185
Cercops, a Pythagorean, said to have
invented the Orphic verse 59
Ceres, the earth meant, or an intelli-
gence pervading it, 25. 185. 192 —
Signifies corn, 100. 177— Mother
of Bacchus, 101 — Allegory of the
fable of Ceres 104
Chrysippus, his theology, 24 — Zeno's
buffoonery upon his name, 52 — A
remark upon it, ibid. n. — Quoted,
78. 87, 88— What he says of the
swine, 154 — His opinions refuted
167. 169
Cicero, what he says of piety, 4 —
Always studied philosophy, 6 —
His reasons for it, ibid. — Under
whom he was bred, ibid. — Why
he chose the sect of Academics, 8
— His opinion upon the several
arguments concerning the nature
of the gods 220
Circe, daughter of the sun 183
Claudius, his ridicule on the gods
72
Cleanthes, his theology, 24 — Cited
77. 88
Clouds, goddesses, one of which
brought forth the centaurs 185
Cocytus, a river in the infernal* re-
gions 180
Ccelius, the historian, his character
73
INDEX.
237
Ccelum, father of Saturn, 101. 180
— Father of the second Jupiter,
186— Of the first Mercury, 187 —
And of the first Venus 189
Concord, called a deity, 100. 182—
And why, 110. 117. 191— Tem-
ples erected to it 110
Constellations 123, etc.
Coronis, mother of the second Mer-
cury 18/
Corybas, father of the second Apollo
188
Coryphe, daughter of the ocean, and
mother of the fourth Minerva, 190
Cotta, Caius Aurelius, what charac-
ter Cicero gives of him 1 1
Cranes, Aristotle's observations upon
them 135
Creation, unknown to the ancient
philosophers 98- 193
Crocodiles, revered in Egypt, 45. 56
— How their young are hatched
139
Cupid, how many gods of that name,
and from whom sprung 190
Cuttle-fish, its manner of defence,
138 — The use of its blood amongst
the Romans, ibid. n.
Dactyli, Idaei, 179
Darkness, a deity 180
Death, a deity ibid.
Deianira 202, n.
Democritus, his theology, 20. 36.
€5 — His notion of atoms, 36 —
Author of Epicurus's Physics, 40
— And of the doctrine of images
59
Destiny, or the power of fate, ac-
knowledged a deity, 25. 180 —
Answered 31
Diagoras, the Atheist, 2. 35. 63. 215 '
Diana, by which the Greeks meant
the moon, 105. 184 — The number
of Dianas, and from whom they
sprung 188, 189
Diodorus, the Stoic 6
Diogenes of Apollonia, his deity, 20
Diogenes of Babylonia 25
Diogenes, the Cynic, his saying of
Harpalus 2 1 1
Diona, mother of the third Venus
189
Dionysius, the tyrant, his prosperity,
his impiety, and injustice, 210,
211
Dionysius, son of the first Jupiter
186
Discord, divinity ascribed to it 19
Dittany, an antidote against poison
138
Divination, how far it proves the ex-
istence of the gods, 73 — A proof
of the providence of the gods, 155
— The inutility of it 165
Duillius 157
Egyptians, their idolatry 45
Elements, all things composed of
of them, 19 — Called divine by
Empedocies, ibid. — Are formed
from each other 25. 112
Elephant, his prudence 54
Eleusina, Ceres 64
Eloquence, an eulogium upon it, 149
Emolus, son of Atreus 186
Empedocies, his theology 19
Ennius, his Annals 118
Envy, deified 180
Epicureans, read only the books of
their own party, 108 — Understand
not what the Stoics mean by provi-
dence, 109 — Raillery suits them
not ibid.
Epicurus, his book of the Rule and
Judgment, 27 — His idea of good,
61 — Had an expedient to avoid
necessity, 38 — Believes the senses
are infallible directors, 39 — Boasted
that he had no instructor, ibid. —
His physics proved to be taken
from Democritus, 40 — How he
used Aristotle and other philoso-
phers 51
Erebus, his offspring 180
Erectheus 184
Eubulus, son of the first Jupiter, 186
Euhemerus, his History of the Gods
64
Eumenides 181
Euphrates, what country it fertilizes
140
238
INDEX.
Euripides, quoted 103
Faith, a deity, 100 — By whom con-
secrated ibid.
Fauns 71.166
Fear, deified 180
Fever, a deity, 192 — Where she has
a temple ibid.
Figulus 75
Flaminius, loses a battle through the
neglect of religion, according to
Celius 73
Folly, the greatest misery, 17. 208
Forms, the five forms of Plato, 13 —
Whimsies ibid, n.
Fortune, no title to divinity, and
why, 191 — An altar consecrated to
Ill-fortune 192
Fountains, their title to divinity, 185
Fraud, a deity 180
Frogs, sea, how they procure their
food 137
Glauce, mother of the third Diana
189
Grace, a deity 180
Gracchus, T. resigns his office, etc.
75,76
Gods, the existence of them a general
opinion, 2 — Doubted and denied
by some men, 2, 3 — Protagoras
banished for doubting it, 35— An
impious custom to argue against
the gods, 158 — Their existence not
to be contested, but by the most
impious, 162 — Epicurus's proof of
it, 27, 28— Confuted, 34, etc.—
The Stoics' proof of it, 69, etc. —
Confuted, etc. 163
Harpalus, what Diogenes used to say
of him 211
Hartswort, a purgative herb 138
Hasdrubal, 218 — His cruelty to the
Roman soldiers ibid, n.
Hecate 181
Helenus 72
Heliopolis 187
Heraclides, his theology 22
Heraclitus, the difficulty of under-
standing him
174
Hercules, deified, 101. 177. 180—
How manv there have been of that
name, and from whom sprung, I78>
179
Hermachus, a disciple of Epicurus, 51
Hesiod, his theogony 23
Hesperides 180
Hiero the tyrant 34
Hippocrates 217
Hippolytus, how he lost his life, 207, n.
Hipponax 217, n.
Homer, 25 — J Oins his chief heroes to
the gods 157
Honour, the temple of, 100 — deified
182. 190
Hope, deified ibid.
Hyperion, father of the Sun 187
Jalysus, grandson of the Sun, 187
Janus 105
Jason, of Pherae 202
Ibis, revered by the Egyptians, 45 —
A description of it, 55 — How they
purge themselves 138
Ichneumons, revered in Egypt, 56
Idyia, mother of Medea -183
Indus, a river which sows the ground
140
Ino 177. 183
Isis 182
Jugurtha 205
Junius, his punishment for disregard-
ing the auspices 73
Juno, 23. 44— Mother of the third
Vulcan, 187 — Etymology of her
name 104
Jupiter, an allegorical name, 23. 25
— Etymology of it, 102 — Always
drawn with a beard, 45. 55 — Fa-
ther of the fourth Hercules, 178,
]79_Of the first Diana, 188— Of
the first Bacchus, 189 — Of the
third Venus, ibid. — Of the third
and the fourth Minerva, 190 — The
number of that name, and from
whom they sprung, 185, 186 —
The second, father of the four
muses, 186 — The third, father of
the sixth Hercules, 179— Of the
nine muses, 186 — Of the third
Vulcan, 187— Of the third Mer-
cury, ibid.— Of the third Apollo,
188. — Of the second Diana ibid.
INDEX.
239
Jupiter, the planet 96. 133
Laelius 157. 160. 179
Lares, household gods, 192
Latona, sister of Arteria, 179, 181
Mother of the second Diana ] 89
Leda, mother of Castor and Pollux
186
Lemnos, the isle, its mysteries, 64. —
Who was master of the forges
th^re 187
Leocorion, a ieu. K .~ . __, , .
x " * n trip
daughters of Leus 184
Leontium, the harlot, against whom
she wrote 51
Letters, ancient, how many there
were 117
Leucippus 36
Leucothea, (i. e. Ino,) a goddess,
177. — The story of her ibid, n.
Liberty, a temple dedicated to it 100
Lindus, grandson of Sol 187
Lucina, 106 — Why she presides over
the delivery of women ibid.
Lupus, his disbelief of the gods 35
Lutatius 157
Lysito, mother of the most ancient
Hercules 178
Magi, their prodigies 26
Maia, mother of the third Mercury
157
Mars, (Mavors,) why so called, 105
— Father of Anteros 189
Mars, the planet, 96 — The effect of it
133
Maso, a temple dedicated by him 185
Matter, divers opinions concerning it
218
Matuta 182
Medea 183.203
Melampus, son of A treus 1 86
Melete, one of the muses ibid.
Menalius, father of the fourth Vulcan
187
Mercury, father of the first and second
Cupid, 190 — How many of that
name, and from whom they sprung
189, 190
Mercury, the planet 96
Mesopotamia, what causes its fertility
140
Metrodorus 47, §2
Mind, temples erected to it 110
Minerva, a book written concerning
her, 25— The fable of her, ibid, n.
— The colour of her eyes, 45 —
Painted with a helmet on her head,
55 — How many there are of that
name, and from whom they sprung,
190 — Which invented war, 186
Misery, deified \qq
Mn if m ,° s J ne ' mother of the nine
Monkeys, like men 1 8(j
Months, endued with divine efficacy
23
Moon, in what time she completes
her course, 48 — Her bigness 122
Mopsus 72
Musasus 25
Muses, how many, and from whom
sprung 186
Naker, a sort of sea shell-fish 135
Nature, what it is, according to Zeno,
98 —Divers explanations of it
111, etc.
Navius, the augur, his staff 73. 166
Nausiphanes, follower of Democritus,
40 —Insulted by Epicurus 51
Neocles, father of Epicurus 40
Neptune, used for the sea, 25. 107.
185. 192. The colour of his eyes,
45 — From whence his name is de-
rived 104. 191
Nile, the river, fertilizes Egypt, 140
— Said to be father of the second
Hercules, 178 — Of the second Vul-
can, 187 — Of the fourth Mercury,
ibid. — Of the second Bacchus, 189
— Of the second Minerva 190
Niobe, 199 — Who was her husband,
ibid, n. — What number of children
she had ibid.
Nisus, father of the fifth Bacchus
189
Nodinus, a river, 185 — A temple
dedicated to it ibid.
Nomio, the name of the fourth Apollo,
and why 88
Numa, established sacrifices, 161 —
His urns or vessels 179
•240
Nymphs, whether they are goddesses
179
Nysa, killed by the second Bacchus
188
Ocean, deified under the name of
Neptune, 185— Father of Perseis,
183— And of Coryphe 190
Olympias, mother of Alexander 106
Orbona, a temple erected to her
192
-~* .viium tney cele-
190
Orpheus
^ brated them
Palasmon, by whom divine honours
were paid to him 177
Pallas, father of the fifth Minerva
190
Pamphilus, disciple of Plato 40
Pan, offspring of the third Mercury
187
Pans, whether they are gods 1 79
Panetius, his opinion of a general
conflagration 133
Panthers, their antidote against poison
138
Paris 217
Parmenides, his theology 19
Pasiphae, daughter of the sun 182
Paullus, Emilius 157. 209
Peduceus 205
Pelops, father of Atreus 186
Peripatetics, the difference between
them and the Stoics 1 1
Persaeus, his theology 24
Perseis, daughter of the ocean 183
Perses, king, notice given of his de-
feat 71
Phaedo, disciple of Socrates 54
Phaedrus, an Epicurean ibid.
Phaeton 207
Phalaris 211
Phoebus 207
Phceneum, a city where the fifth Mer-
cury was worshipped 188
Philo, an Academic 6. 12. 33. 62
Phthas, a name given to the second
Vulcan 187, n.
Pieridaa and Pieriae, names given to
the muses 186
Pierus, father of the muses 1 86
INDEX.
Pinna, the naker, a kind of sea shell-
fish 135, 136
Pisistratus 211
Piso, the Peripatetic 11
Planets, deified, 22— Their motion
worthy admiration 95, 96
Platalea, the shoveler, a sort of bird
136
Plato, his opinion of the formation of
the world censured, 14— Hi« &«*
, ^„ -. ^louiiguishes two sorts
of motions 85
Pluto, the etymology of his name 104
Pollux, 70— Why deified 101
Posidonius, one of Cicero's instruc-
tors, 6 — Believed Epicurus an
atheist 67
Prenotion of the gods, what 26
Prodicus, what he thought concerning
the gods 64
Proserpine, what is meant by it, 104
— Daughter of the first Jupiter, 185
— Mother of the first Bacchus, 189
•—And of the first Diana 188
Protagoras, his opinion concerning
the gods, 2. 20 — Banished Athens
for his disbelief, 35 — Not suspected
of superstition 63
Providence, the reasons of the Stoics
for it, 108, 109 — That it takes care
of man, 155, 156 — Epicurus's ar-
gument against it 218
Pythagoras, his theology, 18 — Not
communicative to those who were
not his disciples, 41 — Reasons for
not believing he sacrificed an ox to
the muses 215
Pythagoreans, their blind submission
to their master 8
Rainbow 184
Reason, how pernicious to man
199, etc.
Religion, etymology of the word 107
Rhesus, born of one of the muses 181
Rivers, deified 185
Rome, to whom its grandeur was
owing 161
Romulus, deified 101. 177
Roscius, the famous actor, beloved by
Q. Catullus, 43— Squint-eyed 44
INDEX.
241
Round, whether that is the most per-
fect figure 15.92,93.132
Rutilius 209
Sabazia, for whom those feasts were
instituted 189
Sagra, a great battle on that river
71. 165
Seasons, deified 23
Samothrace, mysteries of it 64
Saturn, chained by Jupiter, 101, 102
— Etymology of his name, 102 —
Worshipped throughout the west
180
Saturn, planet 96. 133
Satyrs, whether they are gods 179
Semele 101
Serapis 182
Seriphus, the isle of 48
Simonides, his answer upon the
question concerning the nature of
the gods 34
Socrates, founder of the Academy, 8
— Called by Zeno the buffoon of
Athens, 55 — His death 211
Sophist, Protagoras the greatest of his
time 35
Spino, a river, 185 — A temple dedi-
cated to it ibid.
Stars, deified 23
Stoics, their theology, 30 — Believe
in destiny, and in divination, 31 —
More difficult to confute than the
Epicureans 159
Strato 23
Superstition, etymology' of the word
107
Swine, what Chrisippus says of them
154
Syrians, what god they worshipped
176
Tenes, worshipped by the Greeks
177
Thales, his theology 17
Thaumas, father of the rainbow 184
Thelxiope, one of the muses 186
Theodorus, the atheist 2. 35. 63
Theogony of Hesiod, 23 — Of Par-
menides 19
Theophrastus, his theology, 22 — At-
tacked by Leontium 54
Theseus, asks the death of Hippolytus
207
Thoth, the fifth Mercury, so called
by the Egyptians 1 88
Thyestes 200
Thyone, mother of the fifth Bacchus
189
Tiber, a temple dedicated to that
river, and by whom 185
Tim