MINUCIUS FELIX. 483 larnation venerateditsFounder, or illustriousLeader, or modest Queen braverthan her sex,or the discovererof any sortof facultyor art,as a citizenof worthy memory ; and thusa reward was given to the deceased,and an example to thosewho were to follow. CHAPTEE XXI. Abgument. — Octaviusatteststhefact thatmen were adopted as gods,by the testimonyof Euhemerus, Prodicus,Per- so3us,and Alexander theGreat,tchoenumeratethecountry, thebirthdays,and theburial-placesof thegods. Moreover he setsforththemournful endings,misfortunes,and deaths of thegods. And, in addition,he laughsat theridiculous and disgustingabsurditieswhich the heathenscontinually allegeabouttheform and appearanceof theirgods. " Read the writingsof the Stoics,1or the writingsof wise men, you willacknowledge thesefactswith me. On account of the merits of theirvirtueor of some gift,Euhemerus assertsthat they were esteemed gods ; and he enumerates theirbirthdays,theircountries,theirplacesof sepulture,and throughout variousprovincespointsout these circumstances of the DictaeanJupiter,and of the DelphicApollo,and of the Pharian Isis,and of the EleusinianCeres. Prodicusspeaks of men who were taken up among thegods,becausethey were helpfultotheusesof men intheirwanderings,by thediscovery of new kindsof produce. Persasusphilosophizesalsoto the same result; and he adds thereto,thatthe fruitsdiscovered, and the discoverersofthosesame fruits,were calledby thesame names ; as the passageof the comic writerruns,thatVenus freezeswithout Bacchus and Ceres. Alexander the Great, the celebratedMacedonian, wrotein a remarkabledocument2 1 Otherwise,accordingtosome," ofthehistorians." 3 Thistreatiseismentionedby Athenagoras,Legat.pro Christ,ch. xxiv.; and hy Augustine,de Civ.Dei,lib.viii.ch.iii.andxxvii.In the fifthchapterAugustinecallsthepriestby thename ofLeo.