f the sacred
mysteries, and all the hereditary prophets who watched the omens given
by the flight of birds, to go in procession to Marcius, dressed in their
sacred vestments, and beseech him to desist from the war, and then to
negotiate conditions of peace between his countrymen and the Volscians.
Marcius received the priests in his camp, but relaxed nothing of his
former harshness, bidding the Romans either accept his proposals or
continue the war.

When the priests returned, the Romans resolved in future to remain
within the city, repulse any assault which might be made on the walls,
and trust to time and fortune, as it was evident that they could not be
saved by anything that they could do. The city was full of confusion,
excitement, and panic terror, until there happened something like what
is mentioned in Homer, but which men as a rule are unwilling to believe.
He observes that on great and important occasions

"Athene placed a thought within his mind;"

and again--

"But some one of th' immortals changed my mind,
And made me think of what the folk would say;"

and--

"Because he thought it, or because the god
Commanded him to do so."

Men despise the poet, as if, in order to carry out his absurd
mythological scheme, he denied each man his liberty of will. Now Homer
does nothing of this kind, for whatever is reasonable and likely he
ascribes to the exercise of our own powers, as we see in the common
phrase--

"But I reflected in my mighty soul;"

and--

"Thus spoke he, but the son of Peleus raged,
Divided was his soul within his breast;"

and again--

"But she persuaded not
The wise Bellerophon, of noble mind."

But in strange and unlikely actions, where the actors must have been
under the influence of some supernatural impulse, he does speak of the
god not as destroying, but as directing the human will; nor does the god
directly produce any decision, but suggests ideas which influence that
decision. Thus the act is not an involuntary one, but opportunity is
given for a voluntary act, with confidence and good hope superadded. For
either we must admit that the gods have no dealings and influence at all
with men, or else it must be in this way that they act when they assist
and strengthen us, not of course by moving our hands and feet, but by
filling our minds with thoughts and ideas which either encourage us to
do what is right, or restrain us