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ho who has feared, must plainly have Dared ono greater than himself. But ho who does this assuredly knows that ho is not
Parcae is so great, that they ars os more avail than ali thoheavenly gods, and their reser and lota himself, Why should
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a multitude os daris and arrows. Ho is said is have carried
acrom the sea. In the fame manner, it is related that he
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acrosa the sea, but salied over. There sors they Who appear tostemselves to be Wiso beeauso they underatand that there cannotbs a living and earthly boo in heaven, reject the Whole sto of Ganymedo as false, and perceive that tho occurrenco took place on earth, in much as the matter and tho lust iissis is earthly. The poets did not therelam invent these transactions, for ii they were to do so they Would bo most morthless; butthey added a certain colour to the transactions. For it was not sor the purposo os detraction that they said theso things, but hom a destre to embellish them. Hence men are deceived;
the busin s of the poet With some gracesuiness to change and transfer actuat occurrances into other reprmentations is oblique
poeis say are true. For What other conclusion does tho imago
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that the heaven seli to the aliare of Jupiter, the sea to Neptune, and the infernal regions to Pluto. Why mas not the earthrather ta n as the third portion, excepi that the transactiontook place on the earthi Thereforo it is true that they sodivided and portioned out the government of the morid, thattho empire os the east fell to Jupiter, a part of the west Wasallotted to Pluto, Who had the surname of Agesilaus; becausetho region of the east, hom which light is oven to mortat' seems to be higher, but the region os tho est lo er. Thus they so velled the truth under a fiction, that the truth itfeltdetracted nothing from the public persuasion. It is manifestconcerning the share of Neptune; for Wo say that his hingdom resembled that unlimited authority possessed by Marh Anton'to Whom the senato had decreed the pomer of the maritime coast, that he might punish the pirates, and tranquillige thewhole sea. Thus ali tho maritimo coasis, together With thoislands, seli to tho tot os Neptune. How can this be proved
Undoubtedly ancient stories attest it. Euhemerus, an ancient author, Who Was of the city of Messene, collected tho actions ofJupiter and of the others, Who ars esteemed god' and composed a history hom tho tities and sacred inscriptions Whichwere in tho most ancient temples, and Ospecialty in the san
tuary of the Triphylian Jupiter, Whoro an inscription indicated that a goiden column had Men placed by Jupiter himself, onmhicli column ho mrota an account of his exploiis, that posteritymight have a memorial of his actions. This history mas translated and sollowed is Ennius, whoso morda are these: μ Whera Jupiter oves in Neptune the goverament of Vino sea, that homight reim in ali tho istands and places bordering on the sea.'The accounts of the poeta, therefore, are true, but Velled With an out aes covering and sho.. It is possibio that Μοunt Olympus may have supplied tho posts with tho hint forsaying that Jupiter obtained the hin om of heaven, hecause olympus is ins common name both of tho mountain and of heaven. But the samo history insorma us stat Iupiter dWelton Mount Olympus, When it sus: μ At that timo Jupiter spent the greatest part os his life On Μοunt olympus; and they
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to their poems. But they Who do not underatand tho mannenor tho cause, or the nature of that Whicli is represented by figure, attach tho poets as salse and sacrilegio . Evon thephilosophere mero deceived by this error; sor because theso thingswhicli ars related about Jupiter appeared unsuited to tho character of a god, thv introduced tWo Jupiters, one naturat, theother fabulous. They sa , on tho ono hand, that which wastrue, that he, sorsοοth, concerning Whom the poeta speah, Masman; but in tho case of that natural Jupitor, ted by the common practice of superstition, they committed an error, inasmuch asthey transferred ius nams ot a man to God, Who as Wo have Hready said), bemuse He is one Only, has no need os a name. But it is undaniablo that ho is Jupiter Who Was bom hom ops and Saturn. It is thereiore an empty persuasion on this partos those Who givo the name of Jupiter to the supremo God. For soms ars in tho habit os defending their errors by this e cuso ; for, When convinced of the unity of God, since they can
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parages the excellency of the supreme poWer under the namo of Jupiter. Wherofore, is both from his actions and character me have prouod that Jupiter Was a man, and reigned on earth, it only remains that ws ahould also investigato his death. Ennius, in his sacred histo , having described ali tho actions whicli ho performed in his lite, at the clom thus speata : ThenJupiter, When he had sive times mada a circuit of the earth, and besto ed governments upon ali his Dionds and relatives, and leti laWs to men, provided them With a settiad modo os lita and cora, and given them many other benefiis, and having been honoured With immortat glory and remembrance, leti lastingmemorials to his friends, and when his age Was almost spent,
ho changed his life in Crete, and departia to the gods. Andilio Curetes, his sons, took charge of him, and honoured him; and his tomb is in Crete, in tho toWn of Cnossus, and Vesta issaid to havo latindod this city; and on his tomb is an inscription
in ancient Greeli charactere, se Zan Κronou,' Which is in Latin, Jupiter the son of Saturn.' This undoubtedly is not handeddoWn is poets, but by writers os ancient eventa; and theso thinga are so trus, that they are confirmed by some verses of the Sibyls, to this effeci:
Cicero, in his treatiso concerning the Natura of tho Gods,having mid that three Jupiters wero enumerared by theologians, adda that tho third was of Crete, tho son os Saturn, and that his lamb is stlown in that istand. ΗοW, therelam, can agod bo alius in one place, and deta in another; in one place
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hme a templo, and In another a tombi Let the Romans thenknow that thola Capitol, that is tho chios head of thoir objecta os public veneration, is nothing but an empty monument. t us noW como in his iacter Who reigned besors him, and who perhaps had mors power in himssis, becauso ho is salato bo bom fmm tho meoting of such great eisments. Lot usseo What thero mas in him Worthy os a god, especialty that heis related to havs had ius goiden age, becauso in his Dignthere Was justico in tho earth. I find something in him .hiclimas not in his son. For What is so befitting the character of agod, as a just goverument and an Us ot pie But When, ontho fame principie, I reflect that lis is a son, I cannot considerhim as tho supreme God; lax I ses that thero is somethini more ancient than himself, amely, the heaven and ths earth. But I am in search of a God beyond whom nothing has any existence, Who is the fource and origin os ali things. Hs mustos necessity exist Who framed the heaven iraeis, and laid thsfoundations of the earth. But it Saturn was bom fram these, as it is supposed, hoW can iis bo the clites God, since ho owes his origin in anotheri or Who presided ovex tho univeras bators tho blath of Saturn But this, as I recently said, is a fiction os tho poets. For it was impossibie that the sensetem elements, Whicli are separated by so long an interval, should meet together and give birth to a son, or that he who was bornshould not at ali resembis his parent' but aliould have a formWhicli his parenta did not possess. Let us therasore inquire What degres of truth lios hid undarthis figure. Minucius Felix, in his treatiso which has tho litteos Oetavius, alleged these proois: μ That Saturn, when ho hadbeen banished is his son, and had come into Italy, Was called
becauso it is evident that even during his relan he was so Memed. ΗΘ might have argued thus di That gaturn, beinga very poWerful hing, in Order that the memory of his paronismight be preserved, gave their names to the heaven and earth,
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tico among the ancients, and especialty among tho Greelis. Thus Wo havo heard that seas received the names of those Whohad fallen into them, as tho aegean, the Icarian, and the Hellesponi. In Latium, also, Aventinus gave his name to themountain on Whicli lie was buried; and Tiberinus, or Tiber, gavehis namo to tho river in Which lis Was dro ned. No Wonder, then, ii tho names of those Who had given birili to most poWe fui hings wers attributed to the heaven and earth. Ther fore it appears that Saturn mas not born hom heaven, Whichis impossibie, but hom that man who bore the namo os manus. And Trismegistus attesta tho truth of this; for Whon lis saidstat very had existed in Whom there mas perfeci learning, he mentioned by namo among these his relatives, Uranus, Saturn, and Mercu . And becauso he was ignorant of theso things, he gavo another account of the matter; hoW he mighthave argued, I have inomn. NoW I Will say in What manner, at What time, and by whom inis Was dono; sor it Was notSaturn who did this, but Jupiter. Ennius thus relatos in his sacred history: μ en Ρan leati him to ths mountain, whicli is called the pillis of heaven. Having ascended thither, lis suoved tho landa sar and wide, and thero on that mountain he bullds an altar to Coelus; and Jupiter Was tho fidit Whoostered sacrifice on that altari In that placo he looked up to heaven, by Which name Wo noW cali it, and that which wasabove the world which Was callod aether) the firmament, and ho gavo to the heaven ita name from tho namo of his grandiather; and Jupiter in prayer first gavo the name of heavento that whicli mas called aether) firmament, and he burnientire the victim Whicli ho there offered in. sacrifice.' Nor isit hero onlr that Jupiter is found to have offered sacrifice. Caesar alio, in Aratus, relates stat Aglaosthenes says that when he was setting out hom the istand of Naxos against Djsjtjgod by OO le
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tho Titans, and was offering sacrifico on the shore, an ea esseW to Jupiter as an omen, and that the victor received ii as agood totan, and placed it under his own protection. But thesacred history testifies that even be reliand an eagis hin satupon his head, and portended is him the hingdom. To whom, then, could Jupiter have offered sacrifice, excepi in his grand-father Coelus, Who, according to tho saying of Euhemerus, died in Oceania, and was buried in the town os Aulatia ΤCHAP. XII.-That the Stoica transfer the Aments of the poeta to a philosophical system. Sinoo mo have brought to light the mysteries of tho poeta, and havo found out the parenis of Saturn, let ua return to his viriues and actions. He Was they say) just in his rute. Firat, fram thia very circumstanco he is not noW a God, in much asho has coased to be. In the neri place, he Was not even just, but impious not onb toWarct his sons, Whom lis de ured, butalso toWarda his father, Whom he is sald in have mutilatod. And this may perhaps havs happened in truth. But men, having regata to the element Whicli is called the heaven, rejectino wholo fabio as most scolishly invented; though tho Stoles according to thela custom) endeavour to transfer it to a physical system, Whose opinion Cicero has laid down in his treatiso concerning the Nature of the Gods. They held, lis sus, thattho hi est and ethereat nature of heaven, that is, of fire, Whichby itseli produced ali things, was Without that part of thobody Whicli contained tho productive organs. Now this theorymight have been sultable to Vesta, it she wero called a male. For it is on this account that they esteem Vesta to be a virgin, in much as fire is an incorruptibio element; and nothing canbs bom hom it, since it consumes est things, Whataver it hasseiaed Mou. Ovid in tho Fasei sua: Nor do you ostsem
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This also might have been ascribed to Vulcan, Who indeedis supposed to bs sis, and yet the poets did not mutilato him.
It might also have been ascribed to the sun, in Whom is thonature and cause of the productivo poWers. For Without thosery heat of the sun nothing could bo bom, or have increase; so that no other element has greater need os productive organs than heat, is the nourishment of whicli ait things are conceived, produced, and supported. Lastly, even is tho caso mere asthey Would havo it, Why aliould Wo supposo that Coelus Wasmutilated, rather than that ho mas bom mithout productivo
organsi For ii he produces by himself, it is plain that he hadno need os productive organs, since ho gave birili to Saturn himself; but is ho had them, and sufferod mutilation from hisson, the origin os ali things and ali naturo mould have perished. Why should I say that they deprive Saturn himself not on lyos divine, but also os human intelligence, When they amrmiliat Saturn is he who comprises tho courso and change of thespaces and seasons, and that he has that very name in GreehΤFos hs is called Cronos, whicli is the fame as Chronos, that is, a space of time. But lie is called Satura, causo he is satiate lWith years. Thoso ars the words os Cicero, setting sorth thoopinion of the Stoica: The worthlessnem os these things any one may readily underatand. For is Satum is tho son of Ccelus, hoπ could Timo have beon bora hom Ccelus, or Ccelus havo been mutilated by Time, or aftermards could Time have been
CHAP. XIII.-mto vain and trising are the interpretations of
the Soles respeeting the soda, and in them concerning the origis of Iupiter, eonee ning Saturn and Ops. Is theresere these speculations os the philosophera are trifling, What remalias, excepi that Wo belleve it to be a matter of saetthat, being a man, he suffered mutilation Irom a mari Τ--lem