Concerning the Truth of Christian Religion, Chapter 22
The xxij. Chapter.
That the Gods worshipped by the heathen, were men consecrated or canonyzed to posteritie.
I HaueHave sufficiently shewed heretofore in the second and third Chapters, that there is but one God; That both Angels and Féendes are but Creatures, the one seruāts, & the other slaues; That Nature and Philosophie consent together therein, notwithstanding that ouerrooted custome hauehave like a waterstreame caryed folke away, and that the wise of the world hauehave loued better to followe the course of the streame, than to rowe against it. Yet for all that, it shall not be superfluous to see what they themselues hauehave written of their owne Gods, both generally of them all, and particulerly of eueryevery of them.Hermes in his Esculapius, translated by Apulcius. Therefore to begin with Hermes, whome we hauehave heard so highly commending the onelyonly one GOD; He writeth of them in these words Lyke as the Lord God (sayth he) is the maker of the Gods in Heauen, so is man the maker of the Gods that are content to dwell in Temples, that they might be neer vntounto men. Austin de Ciuitate Dei. lib. 8. cap. 23. The Gods of the Egiptians.Man then maketh Images after his owne likenes, whereunto hee calleth Spirites by Arte Magick, or els they come into them of their owne accord, and foretell vntounto men things to come. But the tyme wil come, that all this kynd of Religion of the AEgiptians shalbe abolished, and that all their worshippings shall vanish away. And in very deede (sayth he) Esculapius the Graundfather of Asclepius, and Mercurie myne owne Graundfather, which are worshipped at Hermopolis in AEgipt, were Men, whose worldly men, that is to say their bodyes) lye the one in Lybia and the other in Hermopilis, and vnderunder their names are worshipped certeine Diuels, whome I allured and drue into their Images. What more substantiall witnesse now could we produce against the Gods of AEgipt, than the very partie himselfe that made them?Cyprian concerning the vanity of Idols And what els were they then, than either men, or Diuels shrowded in the Images or in the dead Carkeses of men? But I procéede with these two partes the one after the other.
The great Highpriest of AEgipt called Leon, beeing asked secretly by Alexander, concerning the originall of their Gods, and fearing more his power than their wrath; bewrayed vntounto him, that all the greate Gods, yea euen those whome the Romanes termed The Gods of the greater Nations, were al of them men. But he prayed Alexander that he would not tell it to any body, sauing his Moother Olimpias, and that she should burne his Letter as soone as she had read it.Plutarke in his treatise of Isis and Osyris. For as for the Beasts which the AEgiptians worshipped, Plutark sayth that some of them were worshipped as Planets and signes celestiall; and othersome because that when Osyris led his people to Battell, hee had diuers Antesignes according to the diuersities of the Countries, as in one a Dog, in another an Oxe, and so foorth: which afterward through emulation were turned into Superstition. As touching the Phenicians, The Gods of the Phoenicians.their next neighbours, Sanchoniation their owne Chronacler wryteth, that they honored such men for Gods as had bene greate among thē,Sanchoniation traslated by Iosephus. or had inuēted any thing profitable for the life of man: and that as they were long time Lords of the Sea, and conueyed many companyes of their owne countrifolke into Libya & Spaine to inhabit there:The Gods of the Greekes. Herodotus, lib. 2. so they peopled them with their Gods also. Concerning the Gods of the Greekes, wee reade that Orphey, Homer, and Hesiodus were the first bringers of them in, and did set downe their Pedegrees in writing, giuing them names and Surnames, and appoynting them honours at their pleasures.Aulus Gelliu… lib. 3. cap. 11. & li. 17. ca. 21. Of whō Pythagoras sayth, that their Soules were hanged vponupon a Trée in Hell, & there pinched with Serpents on all sides for their so damnable deuices.Pophirius in the lyfe of Pythagoras. And what hée himselfe déemed of those Gods, wee may sée in his lyfe written by Porphirius. For he wrote verses vppon the Tumb of Apollo at Delphos, declaring him to hauehave bin the Sonne of Silenus that was slayne by Pithon, and buryed in a place called Tripos, because the three daughters of Triopus came thither to moorne. Afterward again, comming into a Caue of Ida, where he found a Throne set vp vntounto Iupiter, hee wrote this inscription vponupon it:Apuleius and Aulus Gelins. Pythagoras to Iupiter. Heere lyeth the great Zeus whom men call Iupiter. Socrates in despite of those Gods did sweare by an Oke, by a Gote, and by a Dogge; and was condemned to drinke poyson, because he taught that there was but only one God. Which is as much to say, as that he déemed lesse godhead to be in those Gods, than in the least creatures. Yet notwithstanding, he was the onelyonly man whom Apollo auowed to bee the wysest man of all Greece: wherein he had shewed himself to hauehave had lesse wit than those beastes, if he had deemed such a one to bee wisest as had condemned the Godhead. But it is the propertie of the Deuill, both to abuse men and also to mocke them for their labour. They cryed out against Socrates that he was a blasphemer, and made him to drinke his owne death. But within a while after, the Athenians did set vp an Image of him in one of their Temples, and in a rage did put his accusers to death: [which deede of theirs made notably against themselues:] for surely they could not better hauehave condemned their Gods, than by their iustifying and honoring of the partie that condemned them. As for his Disciple Plato, this saying of his shall suffice. When I write vntounto you in good earnest, I speake but of one God; and when I meane otherwise, I speake of many. He imployed his Gods about vanitie, because the estéemed them to be but vayn. To be short, one saies, If they be Gods, why mourne ye for them? and if they be liuelesse, why worship ye them? Another sayes, be of good chéere my Countreymen, men liued afore the Gods, and the Gods dye afore men. And the Poets themselues, who made the Gods to be such as they be, take as great pleasure in the vnmaking of them, as little Children doe in playing with their Puppets: insomuch that there is no Tragedie good, which doth not baffle some one of the Gods, as Euripides (among the rest) doth in these verses.
Thou Neptune and thou Iupiter, and all you other Gods,
So wicked are you euerychone, so fell, so farre at oddes,
That if due iustice for your deedes were iustly on you doone,
Ye should be banisht out of Heauen and from all Temples soone.
The Gods of the Romanes.You will say perchaunce that the Romanes may possibly hauehave some better stuffe. By the originall of them which they themselues describe, we may iudge what they were. And let vsus note that the writers of these things were no Greekes, which might hauehave bred some suspicion; but they were Romanes, euen ye Idolaters themselues. The first that ordeyned Religion among them, was King Numa; who to authorize it the more, feyned himselfe to hauehave had conference with a Goddesse called Egeria which was a witch: and vnderunder that gay pretence,Titus Liuius, Decad: 4 libro …kimo. he bewitched the ignorant people with a thousand superstitions. A long tyme after, in the Consulship of Cornelius and Bebius, Valerius Ma…mus lib. 1.it happened that in the ground of a certein Scriuener named Petilius, néere to the place called Ianiculum, there were found two Coffins, in one of the which was the body of Numa, Plinius lib. 13. cap 13.and in the other were seuen bookes in Latin concerning the Lawes of their Priesthod, that is to say, their Ceremonies and Churchseruices;Austin lib. 7. cap. 14. and other seauen Bookes in Greeke concerning the studie of Wisedome;Lactantius. lib. 1. whereby hee ouerthrewe, not onelyonly the Gods of other Nations, but also the very selfe same whome hee himselfe had instituted. The Senate hearing thereof, caused the Bookes to be burnt openly before the people; which was as much to say as that they condemned all the Gods and all their Seruices to the Fyre. Among many other Stories, Varro reporteth the same too: and hee concealeth not that Numa vsed Waterspelling, and had communication with Diuels. And as touching the Gods whom the Latins worshipped before the time of this Numa Pompilius; Varro and Caius Bassus say, that Faunus ordeined Sacrifices to his Graundfather Saturne, to his father Picus, and to his Suffer and Wife Fauna, whom the good huzwiues call Fatua of Fate, that is to say Destinie, because she was woont to reade their Fortunes; and afterward the people worshipped her by the name of Good Dame or Goddesse. And surely of no better value were those whome AEneas brought thither, whome Virgill termeth vanquished Gods, and after a sort putteth them and little Babes both togither in one Basket. Sceuola the Highpriest of the Romanes (as I hauehave sayd afore) made thrée sortes of Gods: Poetical, worse than the worst men, Philosophical, whom they taught to hauehave bin men, howbeit yt it was not good for the people to know it; and Ciuill, made by Princes to hold their people in awe with; for the which purpose also Varro addeth, that it is good for Capteynes and Gouerners to be perswaded that they bee descended of Gods, that they may the more boldly vndertake and the more happely performe their enterprizes. But who could answere better to the matter, than the Highpriest himselfe? And which are these better Gods, which are no Gods at all furtherforth than it pleaseth men? Varro sayth likewise, that his writing of humane things afore diuine things, is because there were Cities afore there were Gods made by them, as the Paynter is afore his Picture. How much more reasonable had it bene that the Gods should hauehave committed themselues to the custodie of the Cities, than that the Cities should hauehave committed themselues to ye custodie of the Gods?Austin de Ciuitate Dei, lib. 7. cap. 17. Also he deuideth his Gods into certeynes and vncerteynes. The certeyne (sayth he in his second booke) are as much or more subiect to vncerteyntie than the vncerteyne. What certeyntie will he report of the Gods, if they themselues be vncerteyn? But behold the godlinesse of the man. Hée sayth he will make a Register and an Inuentorie of them: and wherefore? for feare (sayth he) least they should be lost, not so much by some sacking of the Citie, as by the negligence of the Citizens, which began sore at that time to make no account of them. Soothly the Romanes had bene the more excusable, if they had deified this Varro that had such a care to saue and preserue their Gods. But ye wise Senate thought themselues to hauehave prouided well for the matter, by making this ordinance, That no GOD should be admitted into Rome without their aduice. As who would say, that to bee a God it was méete that a bill of petition should first bee exhibited vntounto them, and men were to be sewed vntounto for the obteynement of their voyces. By which one argument of theirs they declared themselues to bee more diuine than their Gods. And therevpon it came to passe, that they receyued into their Citie all the Deuilles, all the Tyrants, and all the filthie Rakehelles of the world for Gods. As for the onelyonly one true God the Creator of men, the founder of Cities, & the remouer of Empyres; he had no name at al among them.Cicero concerning the Nature of the Goddes, the first of his Tusculane questions. Concerning the nature of the Gods, Cicero hath written thrée bookes; which to speake properly, are made to ouerthrowe all the Gods of the Romanes. For he reckoneth vp their ages, their garments, their deckings, their ofsprings, their auncetors, and their alliances. He sayth that their Temples are their Tombes; their Sacrifizes and Ceremonies, representations of their liues; and that from the least of them to the greatest, they were all men, and all their Religious Superstitions and olde wiues tales. As touching the true God, he speaketh farre otherwise. For he sayth that he made al things, that he made man, that he made the very Gods themselues, and to bee short, that it is much easier for him to woonder at God, than to vtter what he is; and to declare what he is not, than what he is. And whereas sometymes after the maner of the Stoikes, he goeth about to drawe naturall things out of the fables of the Gods; he doth it but onelyonly to kéepe the people in ignorance, and according to his owne saying in the selfesame bookes, where hauing condemned his owne Gods, he sayth that yet for all that, those things are not to bee vttered to the people; and his allegories are so cold, that it is to bee thought that euen he himselfe laughed at them. As touching the Birdgazers he himselfe being a Birdgazer doth flatly skorne them, that is to say euen his owne profession, yea and all such as sought counsell at Crowes and Rauens, that is to wit, the whole Senate of Rome. Likewise wee reade that Caesar held still the Prouince of Affricke against the forwarnings of the Birdgazers; and that Cato wondered how two Birdgazers could méete one another or looke one vponupon another without laughing.Seneca. lib. 2. cap. 4. and 42. And Seneca sayth in his booke of Questions, that the Bowelgazers were inuented for nothing els but to hold the people in awe. So little did the Wisemen beléeue the things which they themselues did to be wondered at and woorshipped of the common people. And thus much concerning their Gods in generall.
But if wee come to the particulars, the matter will bee yet more cléere, wherein I will bee as briefe as I can, because it is a matter that is treated of expressely by others. Among the innumerable rable of Gods,The Goddes of Greater Nations. they hauehave twelue of principall renowme, whose names are comprehended in these two verses of Ennius.
Iuno, Vesta, Minerua, Ceres, Diana, Venus, Mars,
Mercurius, Iupiter, Neptune, Vulcanus, Apollo.
And vntounto these some added Bacchus and Saturne; Eusebius de prepar. euangelica, lib. 4.this latter, because he might seeme to hauehave wrong, if he should not be counted a God as well as his sonne: and the other, because it might come to passe, that (being a firie fellowe) he would els make some fray, seeing that Ceres is a Goddesse. To dispatch the chiefe of them quite and cleane of that doubt, Euhemere of Messene will alone suffice; who gathering the historie of Iupiter and the rest, setteth downe their tytles, Epitaphs & Inscriptions which were in their Temples, & namely in the Temple of Iupiter Triphillian, where was a piller set vp by Iupiter himself, whereon the notablest of his doings were ingrauen. And this historie being called holy, was translated by Ennius, the words whereof are these.Euhemere as he is cited by Lactantius. Saturne (sayth he) tooke Ops to his wife, and Tytan being his elder brother claymed the kingdome; but Vesta their mother, & Ceres and Ops their Sisters, counseled Saturne to keepe his possession. Which thing when Tytan perceyued; finding himselfe to bee the weaker, he compounded with Saturne, vponupon conditiō that if Saturne had any Sonnes, he should not suffer them to liue, that the kingdom might reuert again vntounto his Children. According to which composition, the first child that was borne to Saturne was killed. Afterward were borne Iupiter & Iuno twinnes both at one birth: of whome they shewed but Iuno, and deliuered Iupiter to Vesta to be brought vp in secret. After them came Neptune, who was serued likewise. And last of all came Pluto and Glauca; of whom only Glauca (who dyed within a while) was shewed, and Pluto was nurced secretly as Iupiter was. Now this came to Tytans hearing, who assembling his Sonnes to him, took Saturne and Ops and put them in prison. But assoone as Iupiter came to age, he gaue battell to the Tytans; and getting the vpper hand of them, deliuered his father & mother out of prison. At length perceyuing that his father, whom he had set vp againe, was iealous ouer him and sought his life; he deposed him from his estate and droue him into Italy. In this only one historie we sée what Saturne, Iupiter, Iuno, Vesta, Ops, Neptune and Ceres were, that is to wit, men and women; yea surely euen men, and among men, but onelyonly mere men. And yet were they the fathers and mothers of the rest of the Gods, and reigned in the Iles of the chiefe Midland Sea; and in Candy, a litle afore the warres of Thebes and of Troy. And by that meanes wee see also, from whence the Poets hauehave fetched their fables; which are not (as some thinke) mere fancies or imaginations without ground, but disguising of the trueth, and of the Historie: True in that they report déedes rightly beseeming men; vntrue in that they attribute them as to Gods, and not as to men. Saturne is taken for the father of them al. And looke what is found of the father, is to bee verified of his ofspring. The Historiographers therefore hauehave sayd, that his wife did hide his children from him: and the Poets hauehave sayd that hee did eate them vp, because a Soothsayer had told him that one of them should depose him. To auoyde the absurditie of the word Krouos which is Saturne, the Stoikes hauehave turned it to Chronos, (that is to say tyme,) which deuoureth all things. But how will they applye all the rest of the Allegorie vntounto the Historie? Who shall bee the daies lost, and who the daies saued? What shall Ops be, and Iupiter, and Pluto? who shall be this sonne of tyme, that perisheth not with the tyme nor afore it?Hermes in his Aselepius. But Hermes (whatsoeuer he be) who knewe this pedegree well enough, holdeth himselfe to the letter, accounting Vranus, Saturne, and Mercurie among the rare men that were in tyme past. And Ennius sayth that this Varnus was the father of Saturne and reigned afore him. Now, because Vranus in Greeke signifieth Heauen; the Stoikes more fabulous (as sayth Plutarke) than the Poets, hauehave called his sonne, Time; and his graundsonne Iupiter, the Welkin or highest region of the ayre; whom Euhemere reporteth to hauehave ordeyned Sacrifices vntounto Vranus. And Ennius his translator reporteth, that he ordeyned them vntounto his Graundfather Heauen, who dyed in the Ocean, and lyes buryed in Aulatie. To be short, of all these writers of antiquities, such as Theodore the Gréeke, Thallus, Cassius, Seuerus, Cornelius Nepos and others were; none describeth him otherwise than a man: insomuch that euen Orpheus himselfe who canonized him for a God, speaketh of him after the same maner. What reade we of Iupiter? Iupiter (sayth the Historie) deposed his owne father, held his assemblies in Mount Olympus, stole away Europa in a ship named the Bull, and caryed away Ganymed in another ship called the Eagle: but he forbare Thetis, because an Achilles (which should be a man of greater might than his father) was to be borne of her. Finally, after he had made certeyne Lawes, and parted the offices of his estate among his friends, he dyed and was buryed in the Towne of Gnosus. What a life is this, but the life of a man? yea and of a most wicked man, vnworthie, not to reigne in heauen, but euen to goe vponupon the earth? Neuerthelesse, because his successors inforced men to worship him as well as his Graundfather, yea and he himselfe in his life tyme had caused his Subiects, Uassalles and Confederates to dedicate Temples vntounto him; by reason whereof wee see he was called by the names of Labradie, Ataburie, Tryphill, and diuers other: all things were fayne to be applied and referred vntounto him: insomuch that of a man, the Poets made him a God; of the Mountayne Olympus, they made Heauen; of a Shippe, and Eagle; and of Thetis, a Goddesse. Yet for all this, his buryall place putteth al out of doubt, and so doth the Epitaph that Pythagoras wrate thereon. For, to hauehave a Temple in one place, and a Tombe in another; and to be worshipped with prayer in the one, and to be eaten with wormes in the other, are things farre differing. Callimachus will needes taunt the Cretanes for shewing his Tombe with this inscription, foreign that is to say, Iupiter the sonne of Saturne: and yet hee considereth not, that in saying that Rhea was deliuered of him among the Parrhasians, he himselfe maketh him to dye. For what is birth but a beginning of death? And therefore Sibill speaketh of the Gods in these words.
The fond vaynglory which the Cretanes vse
About their Goddes doth many a man abuse.
They be but gastly Ghostes and feendes of hel,
Or graues of men in whom no soule doth dwell.
To be short, Amalthea, and hir Goate that nurced Iupiter, which were honored in the Capitoll, and all his other misteries, represented nothing els but the trauells of his Childhod and of his lyfe; as, how he was stolen away, how he was hidden, and how he was nurced: all which things are a manifest derogation of his Godhead. Seneca in his Moralles.And Seneca taketh it to be a matter so woorthie to be laughed at, that he forgetteth his owne grauitie to giuegive a mock…vntounto it. Seeing (sayth he) that this Iupiter was so lecherous, why begetteth he not Children still, if he be yet aliue? Is it bycause he is threescore yeeres old? Or hath the Lawe of Papie restreyned him? Or hath he obteyned the priuiledge of three Children? The Lawe of three children.Or finally, is it come into his mynd to looke for the same measure at other folks hands, which he hath measured vntounto others, so as he is afrayd least some Sonne of his should deale with him, as he himself delt with Saturne? After that manner did this greate Philosopher mocke at his great God; wherein he was so much the lesse to be excused, bycause he woorshipped him, knowing so much as he did.
As touching Iuno, I wilnot stand so much vppon the Poets. Varro himself saieth that she was brought vp in Samos, and there maryed to hir brother Iupiter, by whom shee could not concey…e, in respect whereof, that Iland was called Parthenie, that is to say Maydenland. There also was hir famousest Temple, where shee stoode in wedding attyre; and hir yeerly feastes are in verie deede but playes ordeyned after the fashion of old tyme, to represent hir lyfe, that is to wit, hir mariage, hir iealosie, and hir incest.
And as concerning Minerua Iupiters daughter, wee reade that shee was deffowred by consent of hir father, who had made a promise to Vulcane, not to deny him whatsoeuer he should aske: so monstruouse and Lawlesse was the whole race of them. For as for Venus, whose aduoutries are mo than hir Children; Euhemere reporteth her too hauehave bin the first bringer vp of Stewes in the world, and that hir woorshippers to honor her withall, did call her foreign and such other, which names euen a womā that were very farre past shame would take in greate disdeyne. To be short, in the Temple where Cinaras King of Ciprus was buried, who was the first that interteyned her; surely I am ashamed that the Heathen were not ashamed of such shamefulnes; but yet much more, that such as beare the name of Christians, are not ashamed too make songs thereof in their books.
Let vsus procéede to the rest. Neptune (as their holy Historie reporteth) had the Seacoast for his share, or (as othersome affirme) he was Iupiters Admiral, in respect wher of the Poets of our time call Admiralls, Neptunes. Pluto had the gouernement of lowe Countries, which they disguysing turned into Hell. Mars had the Leading of Souldiers in the warres, and should hauehave bin hanged at Athens for a murther. What maner of Godds (I pray you) be these, which stand at mens courtesie for their grace? And what is the Lawe of that Heauen, which receyueth those for Godds, whom men would hauehave hanged on the galowes vponupon earth? Also Apollo became a Shepeherd for louelove, and of a Shepeherd, hee became Laomedons Mason. He playd a feawe Iuggling tricks to deceiue folk withall; but in the end (as Porphyrius telleth vsus) hee was killed by Python, mourned for by the daughters of Triopus, and buryed at Delphos. Who euer sawe a thing more ageinst reason, than the transforming of him into the Sonne, which is as much as to shet vp the Sonne into the earth? But yet such are the Godds of the Greeks and Romanes; that is to wit deadfolks, euen kings and Quéenes whom louelove or feare hath made to be taken for Gods. And in good sooth, they did not any thing to their Godds, which men do not at this day to their dead & to such as are of reputation. They make them Temples, Chappells, and altars; they apparell them after their age; they set them vp Pensils and Penons according to their degree or trade of liuing; they make them a funerall feast; they celebrate Anniuersaries or Yeermynds all of one sort. Insomuch that (as Tertullian saieth) the Obitfeast differeth not frō Iupiters feast, nor the wodden Canne from his Drinkingcup, nor the Cearer of deadfolks from the Birdgasers; for the Birdgasers also had to deale with the dead. And therefore wee must not think it straunge, that Alexander would néeds be a God, sith he knew that men woorshipped such:Scipio Affrican in Ennius. or that Scipio Affricane thought that the greate gate of Heauen ought to bee set open for him: for his argument concluded the lyke; saying.
If men for slaughters made, to heauen admitted be;
Then should the greatest gate of Heauen be opened vntounto me.
Or that the gentle Ladies Larentia and Flora were Canonized at Roome, for they deemed themselues to hauehave deserued as much by their professiō, as Venus had deserued at the hands of ye Cyprians: Or that Caligula tooke vponupon him to hauehave Altars erected and sacrifise offered vntounto him; for he was both more myghtie and also more mischeuous than those whome he worshipped. Let this suffice for the Greate ones. And for the Little ones, we will content ourselues with Esculapius alone,Esculapius. Iulian ageinst the Galilaeans. whom the Emperour Iulian, that greate enemies of Christians, commendeth as his sauior aboue all the rest. He is (sayeth he) the Sonne of Iupiter. Then (say I) he is a man: for men begot not Goddes. But he came downe intoo the World by the Sonne, and from the Sonne vntounto the Earth, for the health and welfare of men. What Author, eyther in earnest or in iest, did euer say so? No, but he was (sayeth the Historie) the sonne of the fayre Coronis renowmed in these verses;
A goodlyer Lady was not to be found,
In all Emonia going on the ground.
This Coronis being with Chyld by Apollos preest, gaue it forth, for the sauing of hir honor, that she was gotten with Chyld by Apollo himself; whereby it appeareth that hir sonne Esculapius, was not the Chyld of Heauen as Iulian reporteth, but (as men sayd in old tyme) a Chyld of the Earth, that is to say a bastard. And Tarquilius a Roman wryteth, that he was a Chyld found in Messine, and learned the vertues of some herbes at the hand of Chyron the Centaure, and playd the Pedlar a whyle at Epidaure; and that afterward being striken to death (as Cicero saith) with Thunder, he was buried at Cyuosures. To be short, what miracle reade wee to hauehave bin done by him, more than that he shewed men the herbs called Scordion and Asclepiodotes? By which reason we may as well Deifie the bird Ibis for the Clisters, or the Stag for the herb Ditanie. But to conclude, what a beastlynes were it to leaue the Creator of all things, and to worship a man for his knowing of some two or three of them?
Among other Nations of the world, the AEgiptians hauehave vponupon the lyke reasons Deified their King Apis; forbidding all men vppon peyne of death, to say he was a man: and I am euen ready to shudder at the remembrance of his misteries. Likewise the Babylonians deified their Bele; the Mawres their Iuda; the Macedonians their Cabyrus; the Latines their Faunus; the Sabines their Sa…cus; and the Romanes their Quirinus; that is to wit the first founders of their Townes and Citties, or the leaders of them to inhabite in forrein Countries; and the eldest of these their Gods, that is to say their auncientest Princes, they called Saturnes, their Sonnes, Iupiters, their Graundsonnes,Xenophon in his Equiuocations. Herculeses; and so foorth; wherevpon it came to passe, that in diuers Nations there were diuers Saturnes, Iupiters, and Herculeses. Afterward the Emperours deified themselues, and their fréends, and some, their Mynions, as Alexander did Ephestion, and as Arian did Antinous, and some their Children, and some their wiues. Cicero béeing but a Citizen of Arpie; was so prwd that he would néedes Deifie his daughter Tullia, & he sticked not to say to Atticus, that he would make her to be worshipped as another Iuno or Minerua, considering that she was not inferiour to them in any thing. But he came in too rough a time to make Gods. What more? Euen in one man were a thousand Gods to be found. For they made Gods of faithfulnes, of constancie, of wisedome, and of all the other vertues; and likewise of LoueLove, of Pleasure, of the instruments of pleasure, and of all other vices; Also of feare, palenesse, gastfulnes, and all passions; Lykewise of Agewes, of the Hemerodes, of the Falling siknesse, and of maladies and diseases; Also of Dounghils, of Snow, of Blastings, and of the very Winds, insomuch that the greate Emperour Augustus did sacrifice to the winde Circius, which trobled him in Gall. The cause of these absurdities is in two things, the one is Gods iust striking of men with blindnes for their turning away from him vntounto man, insomuch that whereas they will néedes become equall with God, they fall by degrees from poynt to poynt, euen to the casting of themselues downe vntounto Beastes and Wormes, that is to say, they become inferiour to beastes. The other is, that Princes vnlightened by GOD are so desirous of vainglorie, and their Seruants are such flatterers, that the Princes perceiuing themselues to hauehave men at their commaundement, thinke themselues to be more than men, and their seruants, to bée made Idols themselues, doe willingly make Idols of their Princes. Hereof wee reade in the very Lawes of the Christian Emperours, that their answers are called Oracles, their persons Godheads; and their countenances diuine brightnesse. Who reading this can doubt, but that if such Lawiers had come in the first ages, they would hauehave made vsus good store of Gods? Nay, would God we sawe not still among vsus, greate nombers of lyuely and plainespeaking examples, of mans inclined disposition to the worshipping of creatures, notwithstanding that our Lawe in eueryevery lyne thereof doe reproue vsus for it, and after a sort twich vsus eueryevery howre by the Cote, to pull vsus from it. Now therefore, let the premisses be a president vntounto vsus, both of the vanitie of the Godds, and of the blockishnes of men, which hauehave both worshipped them and made them.Cicero concerning the Nature of the Godds, in his booke of Lawes, and in his Tusculane Questions. And so let vsus commit the knitting vp of this matter to Cicero himself, who saith thus. The conuersation and custome of men (sayth he) hath allowed the aduanuncing of those men into heauen, both in reputation & in good will, by whom they had receiued any greate benefite. Of that sort are Hercules, Castor, Pollux, Esculapius Liber, and such other; so as Heauen is peopled with mankind. And if I listed to search & ransacke the Antiquities and Registers of the Greekes, I should find that the same Gods whom we take for the greatest, hauehave had their originall from among vsus. And for the verifying thereof, Inquire whose the Tumbes are that are shewed in Greece, and consider with thy selfe what their mysteries and Ceremonies are, and thou hauing accesse thither, shalt vnderstand without doubt, that my saying reacheth very farre.