Juno, Mercury, Ceres;
those who are mischievous the Dirae, Furies, and Mars. These, which
threaten dangers and violence, men endeavor to appease and conciliate
by sacred rites. The fourth and the fifth order of gods they assign to
things and passions; to passions, Love, Venus, and Desire; the deities
that preside over things, Hope, Justice, and Eunomia.

The sixth order of deities are the ones made by the poets; Hesiod,
willing to find out a father for those gods that acknowledge an
original, invented their progenitors,--

Hyperion, Coeus, and Iapetus,
With Creius:
(Hesiod, "Theogony," 134.)

upon which account this is called the fabulous. The seventh rank of
the deities added to the rest are those which, by their beneficence to
mankind, were honored with a divine worship, though they were born of
mortal race; of this sort were Hercules, Castor and Pollux, and Bacchus.
These are reputed to be of a human species; for of all beings that which
is divine is most excellent, and man amongst all animals is adorned with
the greatest beauty, is also the best, being adorned by virtue above
the rest because of the gift of intellect: therefore it was thought that
those who were admirable for excellence should resemble that which is
the best and most beautiful.

CHAPTER VII. WHAT IS GOD?

Some of the philosophers, such as Diagoras the Melian, Theodorus the
Cyrenean, and Euemerus the Tegeatan, did deny unanimously that there
were any gods; and Callimachus the Cyrenean discovered his mind
concerning Euemerus in these Iambic verses, thus writing:--

To th' ante-mural temple flock apace,
Where he that long ago composed of brass
Great Jupiter, Thrasonic old bald pate,
Now scribbles impious books,--a boastful ass!

meaning books which prove there are no gods. Euripides the tragedian
durst not openly declare his sentiment; the court of Areopagus terrified
him. Yet he sufficiently manifested his thoughts by this method. He
presented in his tragedy Sisyphus, the first and great patron of this
opinion, and introduced himself as one agreeing with him:--

Disorder in those days did domineer,
And brutal power kept the world in fear.

Afterwards by the sanction of laws wickedness was suppressed; but by
reason that laws could prohibit only public villanies, yet could not
hinder many persons from acting secret impieties, some wise persons
gave this advice, that we ought to blind truth w