Had not the emperor believed NEPTUNE to be a real being, and to have dominion over the sea, where had been the foundation of his anger? And if he believed it, what madness to provoke still farther that deity? The same observation may be made upon QUINTILIAN'S exclamation, on account of the death of his children. Institutio Oratoria, Bk. VI, Preface, Sect. 10.
74"The Lover of Lies," Sect. 3.
1
40.
76Cicero, "On Divination," Bk. I, Ch. 3, 7.
77Marcus Aurelius Antonius, Meditations, Bk.
I, Ch. 17, Sect. 8.
78Enchiridion, Sect. 18.
79The Stoics, I own, were not quite orthodox in the established religion; but one may see, from these instances, that they went a great way: And the people undoubtedly went every length.
80Plato, Euthyphro, 5d-6b.
81Plato, Phaedo, 80d-e.
82XENOPHON'S conduct, as related by himself, is, at once, an incontestable proof of the general credulity of mankind in those ages, and the incoherencies, in all ages, of men's opinions in religious matters. That great captain and philosopher, the disciple of SOCRATES, and one who has delivered some of the most refined sentiments with regard to a deity, gave all the following marks of vulgar, pagan superstition.
By SOCRATES'S advice, he consulted the oracle of DELPHI, before he would engage in the expedition of CYRUS(Anabasis, Bk. III, Ch. I, Sect. 5). Sees a dream the night after the generals were seized; which he pays great regard to, but thinks ambiguous (ibid., Sect. 11-14). He and the whole army regard sneezing as a very lucky omen (ibid., Ch.
2, Sect. 9). Has another dream, when he comes to the river CENTRITES, which his fellow-general, CHIROSOPHUS, also pays great regard to (ibid., Bk. IV, Ch. 3, Sect.
9). The GREEKS, suffering from a cold north wind, sacrifice to it;and the historian observes, that it immediately abated (ibid., Ch. 5, Sect. 3, 4). XENOPHON consults the sacrifices in secret, before he would form any resolution with himself about settling a colony (ibid., Bk. V, Ch. 6, Sect. 17). He was himself a very skilful augur (ibid., Sect. 29). Is determined by the victims to refuse the sole command of the army which was offered him (ibid., Bk. VI, Ch. 1, Sect.
22-24). CLEANDER, the SPARTAN, though very desirous of it, refuses it for the same reason (ibid., Ch. 6, Sect. 36).
XENOPHON mentions an old dream with the interpretation given him, when he first joined CYRUS (ibid., Ch. 1, Sect.
22-23). Mentions also the place of HERCULES'S descent into hell as believing it, and says the marks of it are still remaining (ibid., Ch. 2, Sect. 2). Had almost starved the army, rather than lead them to the field against the auspices (ibid., Ch. 4, Sect. 12-23). His friend, EUCLIDES, the augur, would not believe that he had brought no money from the expedition; till he (EUCLIDES) sacrificed, and then he saw the matter clearly in the Exta (ibid., Bk. 7, Ch. 8, Sect. 1-3).
The same philosopher, proposing a project of mines for the encrease of the ATHENIAN revenues, advises them first to consult the oracle ("Ways and Means," Ch. 6, Sect. 2). That all this devotion was not a farce, in order to serve a political purpose, appears both from the facts themselves, and from the genius of that age, when little or nothing could be gained by hypocrisy. Besides, XENOPHON, as appears from his Memorabilia, was a kind of heretic in those times, which no political devotee ever is. It is for the same reason, I maintain, that NEWTON, LOCKE, CLARKE, etc.
being Arians or Socinians, were very sincere in the creed they professed:
And I always oppose this argument to some libertines, who will needs have it, that it was impossible but that these philosophers must have been hypocrites.
83Cicero, "In Defense of Cluentius," Ch. 61, Sect. 171.
84The War with Catiline, Ch. 51, Sect. 16-20.
85CICERO (Tusculan Disputations, Bk. I, Ch.
5-6) and SENECA (Letter 24), as also Juvenal (Satire 2, Line 149ff.), maintain that there is no boy or old woman so ridiculous as to believe the poets in their accounts of a future state.
Why then does LUCRETIUS so highly exalt his master for freeing us from these terrors? Perhaps the generality of mankind were then in the disposition of CEPHALUS in PLATO (Republic, Bk. I, 330d-e) who while he was young and healthful could ridicule these stories; but as soon as he became old and infirm, began to entertain apprehensions of their truth. This we may observe not to be unusual even at present.
86Sextus Empiricus, Against the Physicists, Bk. I, Sect. 182-90.
87Xenophon, Memorabilia, Bk. I, Ch. 1, Sect.
19.
88It was considered among the ancients, as a very extraordinary, philosophical paradox, that the presence of the gods was not confined to the heavens, but were extended every where;as we learn from LUCIAN ("Hirmotimus,"
Sect. 81).
89Plutarch, Moralia, Bk. II, "Superstition,"Ch. 10, 170a-b.
90Lucian, "Menippus," Sect. 3.
91BACCHUS, a divine being, is represented by the heathen mythology as the inventor of dancing and the theatre. Plays were anciently even a part of public worship on the most solemn occasions, and often employed in times of pestilence, to appease the offended deities. But they have been zealously proscribed by the godly in later ages; and the playhouse, according to a learned divine, is the porch of hell.
