f heroes, and of men; and
every being which derived its existence immediately from the First
Cause, received the inherent gift of immortality. That so precious
an advantage might be lavished upon unworthy objects, the Creator had
intrusted to the skill and power of the inferior gods the office of
forming the human body, and of arranging the beautiful harmony of the
animal, the vegetable, and the mineral kingdoms. To the conduct of these
divine ministers he delegated the temporal government of this lower
world; but their imperfect administration is not exempt from discord
or error. The earth and its inhabitants are divided among them, and the
characters of Mars or Minerva, of Mercury or Venus, may be distinctly
traced in the laws and manners of their peculiar votaries. As long as
our immortal souls are confined in a mortal prison, it is our interest,
as well as our duty, to solicit the favor, and to deprecate the wrath,
of the powers of heaven; whose pride is gratified by the devotion
of mankind; and whose grosser parts may be supposed to derive some
nourishment from the fumes of sacrifice. [20] The inferior gods might
sometimes condescend to animate the statues, and to inhabit the temples,
which were dedicated to their honor. They might occasionally visit the
earth, but the heavens were the proper throne and symbol of their glory.
The invariable order of the sun, moon, and stars, was hastily admitted
by Julian, as a proof of their eternal duration; and their eternity was
a sufficient evidence that they were the workmanship, not of an inferior
deity, but of the Omnipotent King. In the system of Platonists, the
visible was a type of the invisible world. The celestial bodies, as they
were informed by a divine spirit, might be considered as the objects
the most worthy of religious worship. The Sun, whose genial influence
pervades and sustains the universe, justly claimed the adoration of
mankind, as the bright representative of the Logos, the lively, the
rational, the beneficent image of the intellectual Father. [21]

[Footnote 19: The true religion of Julian may be deduced from the
Caesars, p. 308, with Spanheim's notes and illustrations, from
the fragments in Cyril, l. ii. p. 57, 58, and especially from the
theological oration in Solem Regem, p. 130-158, addressed in the
confidence of friendship, to the praefect Sallust.]

[Footnote 20: Julian adopts this gross conception by ascribing to his
favorite Marcus Antoninus, (C