lary attributes, and imposed on their
own authors. Then it was that the people, believing that they saw their
gods among them, could pray to them with more convenience: they demanded
from the ram of their flock the influences which might be expected from
the heavenly ram; they prayed the scorpion not to pour out his venom
upon nature; they revered the crab of the sea, the scarabeus of the
mud, the fish of the river; and by a series of corrupt but inseparable
analogies, they lost themselves in a labyrinth of well connected
absurdities.

"Such was the origin of that ancient whimsical worship of the animals;
such is the train of ideas by which the character of the divinity became
common to the vilest of brutes, and by which was formed that theological
system, extremely comprehensive, complicated, and learned, which,
rising on the borders of the Nile, propagated from country to country by
commerce, war, and conquest, overspread the whole of the ancient world;
and which, modified by time, circumstances and prejudices, is still seen
entire among a hundred nations, and remains as the essential and secret
basis of the theology of those even who despise and reject it."

Some murmurs at these words being heard from various groups: "Yes!"
continued the orator, "hence arose, for instance, among you, nations of
Africa, the adoration of your fetiches, plants, animals, pebbles, pieces
of wood, before which your ancestors would not have had the folly to
bow, if they had not seen in them talismans endowed with the virtue of
the stars.*

* The ancient astrologers, says the most learned of the Jews
(Maimonides), having sacredly assigned to each planet a
color, an animal, a tree, a metal, a fruit, a plant, formed
from them all a figure or representation of the star, taking
care to select for the purpose a proper moment, a fortunate
day, such as the conjunction of the star, or some other
favorable aspect. They conceived that by their magic
ceremonies they could introduce into those figures or idols
the influences of the superior beings after which they were
modeled. These were the idols that the Chaldean-Sabeans
adored; and in the performance of their worship they were
obliged to be dressed in the proper color. The astrologers,
by their practices, thus introduced idolatry, desirous of
being regarded as the dispensers of the favors of heaven;
and as agriculture