Ennius.583 Or was Cicero himself a poet, who, in counselling the person with whom he de-
bates in his Tusculan Disputations, addresses him as one possessing knowledge of things
secret, in the following terms: “If, indeed, I were to attempt to search into antiquity, and
produce from thence the subjects which the writers of Greece have given to the world, it
would be found that even those deities who are reckoned gods of the higher orders have
gone from us into heaven. Ask whose sepulchres are pointed out in Greece: call to mind,
since you have been initiated, the things which are delivered in the mysteries: then, doubtless,
you will comprehend how widely extended this belief is.”584 This author certainly makes
ample acknowledgment of the doctrine that those gods of theirs were originally men. He
does, indeed, benevolently surmise that they made their way into heaven. But he did not
hesitate to say in public, that even the honour thus given them in general repute585 was
conferred upon them by men, when he spoke of Romulus in these words: “By good will and
repute we have raised to the immortal gods that Romulus who founded this city.”586 How
should it be such a wonderful thing, therefore, to suppose that the more ancient men did
with respect to Jupiter and Saturn and the others what the Romans have done with respect
to Romulus, and what, in good truth, they have thought of doing even in these more recent
times also in the case of Cæsar? And to these same Virgil has addressed the additional flattery
of song, saying:
“Lo, the star of Cæsar, descendant of Dione, arose.”
—Eclogue, ix. ver. 47.
Let them see to it, then, that the truth of history do not turn out to exhibit to our view
sepulchres erected for their false gods here upon the earth!and let them take heed lest the
vanity of poetry, instead of fixing, may be but feigning587 stars for their deities there in
heaven. For, in reality, that one is not the star of Jupiter, neither is this one the star of Saturn;
but the simple fact is, that upon these stars, which were set from the foundation of the world,
the names of those persons were imposed after their death by men who were minded to
honour them as gods on their departure from this life. And with respect to these we may,
indeed, ask how there should be such ill desert in chastity, or such good desert in voluptu-
ousness, that Venus should have a star, and Minerva be denied one among those luminaries
which revolve along with the sun and moon?
583 The father of Roman literature, born B.C. 239 at Rudiæ in Calabria, both a poet and a man of learning,
and well versed, among other things, in Oscan, Latin, and Greek—linguistic accomplishments beyond his day.
Of his writings we now possess only fragments, preserved by Cicero, Macrobius, Aulus Gellius, and others.
584 Tusculan Disputations, Book i. 13.
585 Honorem opinionis.
586 From the Third Oration against Catiline, § 1.
587 Non figat sed fingat.
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Of the Follies Which the Pagans Have Indulged in Regarding Jupiter and …