[65]<On the Nature of the Gods>, Bk. I, Ch. 29, Sect. 82.

     [66]Cicero, <Tusculan Disputations>, Bk. V, Ch. 27, Sect. 78.

     [67]Augustine, <City of God>, Bk. VII, Ch. 17.

     [68]Claudius Rutilius Namatianus, <A Voyage Home to Gaul>, Bk.
I, Lines 387-398.

     [69]Aelius Spartianus, "Life of Hadrian," Bk. XIV, Sect. 2.

     [70]Cicero, <Letters to his Friends>, Bk. XIV, Letter 7, Sect.
1.

     [71]Cicero, "On Divination," Bk. II, Ch. 24.

     [72]Suetonius, <Lives of the Caesars>, Bk. II, "The Deified
Augustus," Ch. 90-92. Pliny, <Natural History>, Bk. II, Ch. 5, Sect.
24-25.

     [73]Witness this remarkable passage of TACITUS: "Praeter
multiplices rerum humanarum casus, coelo terraque prodigia, et
fulminum monitus et futurorum praesagia, laeta, tristia, ambigua,
manifesta. Nec enim unquam atrocioribus populi Romani cladibus,
magique justis Judiciis approbatum est, non esse curae Diis
securitatem nostram, esse ultionem." , Bk. I, Ch. 3.
A/UGUSTUS'S\ quarrel with N/EPTUNE\ is an instance of the same kind.
Had not the emperor believed N/EPTUNE\ 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 Q/UINTILIAN'S\
exclamation, on account of the death of his children. <Institutio
Oratoria>, Bk. VI, Preface, Sect. 10.

     [74]"The Lover of Lies," Sect. 3.

     [75]<From the Founding of the City>, Bk. X, Ch. 40.

     [76]Cicero, "On Divination," Bk. I, Ch. 3, 7.

     [77]Marcus Aurelius Antonius, <Meditations>, Bk. I, Ch. 17,
Sect. 8.

     [78]<Enchiridion>, Sect. 18.

     [79]The 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.

     [80]Plato, , 5d-6b.

     [81]Plato, , 80d-e.

     [82]X/ENOPHON'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 S/OCRATES\, 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 S/OCRATES'S\ advice, he consulted the
oracle of D/ELPHI\, before he would engage in the expedition of
C/YRUS\ (, 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 C/ENTRITES\, which his
fellow-general, C/HIROSOPHUS\, also pays great regard to (ibid., Bk.
IV, Ch. 3, Sect. 9). The G/REEKS\, suffering from a cold north wind,
sacrifice to it; and the historian observes, that it immediately
abated (ibid., Ch. 5, Sect. 3, 4). X/ENOPHON\ 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). C/LEANDER\, the S/PARTAN\,
though very desirous of it, refuses it for the same reason (ibid.,
Ch. 6, Sect. 36). X/ENOPHON\ mentions an old dream with the
interpretation given him, when he first joined C/YRUS\ (ibid., Ch.
1, Sect. 22-23). Mentions also the place of H/ERCULES'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, E/UCLIDES\, the augur, would not
believe that he had brought no money from the expedition; till he
(E/UCLIDES\) 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 A/THENIAN\
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, X/ENOPHON\, 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 N/EWTON\, L/OCKE\, C/LARKE\, etc. being  or
, 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.