cause of all. So far was it from being efteemed profane in those days to account for the origin of things without a Deity, that THALES, ANAXIMENES HERACLITUS, and others, who embraced that fyftem of cofmogony, paft unqueftioned; while ANAXAGORAS, the firft undoubted theift among the philofophers, was perhaps the firft that ever was accufed of atheifm*.

We are told by SEXTUS EMPIRICUS†, that EPICURUS, when a boy, reading with his preceptor these veries of HESIOD,

Eldest of beings chaos firft arose;

Next earth, wide-ftretch'd, the feat of all: the young feholar firft betrayed his inquifitive genius, by afking, And chaos whence? But was told by his preceptor, that he must have recourfe to the philofophers for a folution of fuch queftions. And from this hint EPICURUS left philology and all other studies, in order to betake himself to that fcience, whence alone he expected fatisfaction with regard to these fublime fubjects.

The common people were never likely to push their refearches fo far, or derive from reafoning their fyftems of religion; when philologers and mythologifts, we fee, fcarcely ever difcovered fo much penetration. And even the philosophers who difcourfed of fuch topics, readily affented to the groffeft theory, and admitted the joint origin of gods and men from night and chaos, from fire, water, air, or whatever they established to be the ruling element.

Nor was it only on their first origin that the gods were fuppofed dependent on the powers of nature. Throughout the whole period of their existence they were fubjected to the dominion of fate or destiny. "Think of the force of neceffity," fays AGRIPPA to the Roman people; "that force to which even the gods

* See NOTE [ZZ].

+ Adverfus MATHEM. lib. ix.

66

gods muft fubmit*." And the younger PLINYt, agreeably to this way of thinking, tells us, that amidst the darkness, horror, and confufion, which enfued upon the firft eruption of VESUVIUS, feveral concluded, that all nature was going to wreck, and that gods and men were perishing in one common

ruin.

It is great complaifance, indeed, if we dignify with the name of religion fuch an imperfect fyftem of theology, and put it on a level with later systems which are founded on principles more juft and more fublime. For my part, I can fcarcely allow the principles even of MARCUS AURELIUS, PLUTARCH, and fome other Stoics and Academics, though much more refined than the pagan fuperftition, to be worthy of the honourable appellation of theifm. For if the mythology of the heathens refemble the ancient EuROPEAN fyftem of fpiritual beings, excluding God and angels, and leaving only fairies and fprights; the creed of thefe philofophers may juftly be faid to exclude a deity, and to leave only angels and fairies.

SECT. V. Various Forms of Polytheifm: Allegory, Hero-Worship.

BUT it is chiefly our prefent bufinefs to confider the grofs polytheifin of the vulgar, and to trace all its various appearances, in the principles of human nature, whence they are derived.

Whoever learns by argument the existence of invisible intelligent power, muft reason from the admirable contrivance of natural objects, and must fuppofe the world to be the workmanship of that divine being, the original caufe of all things. But the vulgar polytheift fo far from admitting that idea, deifies every part of the univerfe, and conceives all the confpicuous productions of nature, to be themfelves fo many real di

* DIONYS. HALIC. lib. vi.

+ Epift. lib. vi.

divinities. The fun, moon, and ftars, are all gods according to his fyftem: Fountains are inhabited by nymphs, and trees by hamadryads: Even monkies, dogs, cats, and other animals, often become facred in his eyes, and ftrike him with a religious veneration. And thus, however ftrong mens propensity to believe invifible, intelligent power in nature, their propenfity is equally ftrong to reft their attention on fenfible, vifible objects; and in order to reconcile thefe oppofite inclinations, they are led to unite the invifible power with fome vifible object.

The diftribution alfo of diftinct provinces to the feveral deities is apt to caufe fome allegory, both phyfical and moral, to enter into the vulgar fyftems of polytheifm. The god of war will naturally be reprefented as furious, cruel, and impetuous: The god of poetry as elegant, polite, and amiable: The god of merchandise, especially in early times, as thievish and deceitful. The allegories, fuppofed in HOMER and other mythologists, I allow have often .been fo ftrained, that men of fenfe are apt entirely to reject them, and to confider them as the production merely of the fancy and conceit of critics and commentators. But that allegory really has place in the heathen mythology is undeniable even on the leaft reflection. CUPID the fon of VENUS; the Mufes the daughters of Memory; PROMETHEUS, the wife brother, and EPIMETHEUS the foolish; HrGIEIA, or the goddess of health, defcended from ESCULAPIUS or the god of phyfic: Who fees not, in these, and in many other inftances, the plain traces of allegory? When a god is fuppofed to prefide over any paffion, event, or fyftem of actions, it is almoft unavoidable to give him a genealogy, attributes, and adventures, fuitable to his fuppofed powers and influence; and to carry on that fimilitude and comparison, which is naturally fo agreeable to the mind of man.

Allegories, indeed, entirely perfect, we ought not

to

to expect as the productions of ignorance and superftition; there being no work of genius that requires a nicer hand, or has been more rarely executed with fuccefs. That Fear and Terror are the fons of MARS is just; but why by VENUS*? That Harmony is the daughter of VENUS is regular; but why by MARS †? That Sleep is the brother of Death is suitable; but why defcribe him as enamoured of one of the Graces ? And fince the ancient mythologists fall into. mistakes fo grofs and palpable, we have no reafon furely to expect fuch refined and long-spun allegories, as fome have endeavoured to deduce from their · fictions.

LUCRETIUS was plainly feduced by the ftrong appearance of allegory, which is obfervable in the pagan fictions. He first addresses himself to VENUS, as to that generating power which animates, renews, and beautifies the universe: but is foon betrayed by the mythology into incoherencies, while he prays to that allegorical perfonage to appease the furies of her lover MARS: An idea not drawn from allegory, but from the popular religion, and which LUCRETIUS, as an EPICUREAN, could not confiftently admit of.

The deities of the vulgar are fo little fuperior to human creatures, that, where men are affected with ftrong fentiments of veneration or gratitude for any hero or public benefactor, nothing can be more natural than to convert him into a god, and fill the heavens, after this manner, with continual recruits from among mankind. Most of the divinities of the ancient world are fuppofed to have once been men, and to have been beholden for their apotheofis to the admiration and affection of the people. The real history of their adventures, corrupted by tradition, and elevated by the marvellous, became a plentiful fource of fable; efpecially in paffing through the hands of poets, allegorifts, and priefts, who fucceffively

* HESIOD. Theog. 1. 935.

† Id. ibid. et PLUT. in vita PELOP.

ILIAD, Xiv, 267.

fively improved upon the wonder and aftonifhment of the ignorant multitude.

Painters too and fculptors came in for their share of profit in the facred myfteries; and furnishing men with fenfible reprefentations of their divinities, whom they cloathed in human figures, gave great encrease to the public devotion, and determined its object. It was probably for want of thefe arts in rude and barbarous ages, that men deified plants, animals, and even brute, unorganized matter; and rather than be without a fenfible object of worship, affixed divinity to fuch ungainly forms. Could any ftatuary of SYRIA, in early times, have formed a juft figure of APOLLO, the conic ftone, HELIOGABALUS, had never become the object of fuch profound adoration, and been received as the reprefentation of the folar deity *.

STILPO was banished by the council of AREOPAGUS, for affirming that the MINERVA in the citadel was no divinity, but the workmanship of PHIDIAS the fculptor t. What degree of reafon must we expect in the religious belief of the vulgar in other nations, when ATHENIANS and AREOPAGITES could entertain fuch grofs conceptions?

These then are the general principles of polytheifm, founded in human nature, and little or nothing dependent on caprice and accident. As the caufes, which beftow happiness or mifery, are in general very little known and very uncertain, our anxious concern endeavours to attain a determinate idea of them; and finds no better expedient than to reprefent them as intelligent voluntary agents, like ourfelves; only fomewhat fuperior in power and wifdom. The limited influence of thefe agents, and their

2

HERODIAN. lib. v. JUPITER AMMON is reprefented by CURTIUS as a deity of the fame kind, lib. iv. cap. 7. The ARABIANS and PERSINUNTIANS adored alfo fhapeless unformed ftones as their deity. ARNOB. lib. vi. So much did their folly exceed that of the EGYPTIANS.

+ DIOD. LAERT. lib. ii.