XXXVI. All men agree that external benefits, such as vineyards, corn, olives, plenty of fruit and grain, and, in short, every convenience and property of life, are derived from the Gods; and, indeed, with reason, since by our virtue we claim applause, and in virtue we justly glory, which we could have no right to do, if it was the gift of the Gods, and not a per- sonal merit. When we are honoured with new dignities, or blessed with increase of riches; when we are favoured by fortune beyond our expectation, or luckily delivered from any approaching evil, we return thanks for it to the Gods, and assume no praise to ourselves. But who ever thanked the _ Gods that he was a good man? We thank them, indeed, for riches, health, and honour. For these we invoke the all- good and all-powerful Jupiter; but not for wisdom, tem- perance, and justice. No one ever offered a tenth of his estate to Hercules to be made wise. It is reported, indeed, of Pythagoras, that he sacrificed an ox to the Muses, upon having made some new discovery in geometry;' but for my part, I cannot believe it, because he refused to sacrifice even to Apollo at Delos, lest he should defile the altar with blood, But to return. It is universally agreed that good. fortune we must ask of the Gods, but wisdom must arise from ourselves; and though temples have been consecrated to the Mind, to Virtue, and to Faith, yet that does not contradict their being inherent in us. In regard to hope, safety, assistance, and victory, we must rely upon the Gods for them; from whence it follows, as Diogenes said, that the prosperity of the wicked destroys the idea of a divine providence.
XXXVII. But good men have sometimes success. They have so; but we cannot, with any show of. reason, attribute that success to the Gods. Diagoras, who is called the atheist, being at Samothrace, one of his friends showed him several pictures” of people who had endured very dangerous storms; “See,” says he, “you who deny a providence, how many have been saved by their prayers to the Gods,” “Aye,” says 1 The forty-seventh proposition of the first book of Euclid is unani- mously ascribed to him by the ancients. Dr. Wotton, in his Reflections upon Ancient and Modern Learning, says, “it is indeed a very noble proposition, the foundation of trigonometry, of universal and various use in those curious speculations about incommensurable numbers.”
' # These votive tables, or pictures, were hung up in the temples, 138 OF THE NATURE OF THE GODS. — Diagoras, “TI see those who were saved, but where are those painted who were shipwrecked?” At another time, he him- self was in a storm, when the sailors, being greatly alarmed, told him they justly deserved ‘that misfortune for admitting him into their ship; when he, pointing to others under the like distress, asked them “if they believed Diagoras was also aboard those ships?” In short, with regard to good or bad _ fortune, it matters not what you are, or how you have lived. The Gods, like kings, regard not everything. What similitude is there between them? If kings neglect anything, want of knowledge may be pleaded in their defence; but ignorance eannot be brought as an excuse for the Gods.
XXXVIITI. Your manner of justifying them is somewhat extraordinary, when you say, that if a wicked man ‘dies without suffering for his crimes, the Gods inflict a punish- ment on his children, his children’s children, and all, his posterity. O wonderful equity of the Gods! What city would endure the maker of a law, which should condemn a son or a grandson for a crime committed by the father or the grandfather?
Shall Tantalus’ unhappy offspring know No end, no close, of this long scene of woe? When will the dire reward of guilt be o’er, And Myrtilus demand revenge no more??
Whether the poets have corrupted the Stoics, or the Stoics - given authority to the poets, I cannot easily determine. Both alike are to be condemned, If those persons whose names have been branded in the satires of Hipponax or Archilochus,? were driven to despair, it did not proceed from the Gods, but had its origin in their own minds. When we see Aigistus and Paris lost in the heat of an impure passion, why are we to attribute it to a Deity, when the crime, as it were, speaks — for itself? I believe that those who recover from illness are _ 1 This passage is a fragment from a tragedy of Attius, 2 Hipponax was a poet at Ephesus, and so deformed, that Bupalus drew a picture of him to provoke laughter; for which Hipponax is mi to have wratten such keen iambics on the painter, that he hanged imself.
Lycambes had promised Archilochus the poet, to marry his daughter to him, but afterwards retracted his promise, and refused her; upon which Archilochus is said to have Te a satire in iambic p64 that provoked him to-hang himself.
OF THE NATURE OF THE GODS. 139 more indebted to the care of Hippocrates than to the power of Aisculapius; that Sparta received he» laws from Lycurgus! rather than from Apollo; that those eyes of the maritime coast, Corinth and Carthage, were plucked out, the one by Critolaus, the other by Hasdrubal, without the assistance of any divine anger, since you yourselves confess, that a Deity cannot possibly be angry on any provocation.
XXXIX. But could not the Deity have assisted and pre- served those eminent cities?—Undoubtedly he could; for, according to your doctrine, his power is infinite, and without the least labour; and as nothing but the will is necessary to the motion of our bodies, so the divine will of the Gods, with the like ease, can create, move, and change all things. This you hold, not from a mere phantom of superstition, but on natural and settled principles of reason; for matter, you say, of which all things are composed and consist, is susceptible of all forms and changes, and there is nothing which cannot be, or cease to be, in an instant; and that divine providence has the command and disposal of this universal matter, and consequently can, in any part of the universe, do whatever she pleases: from whence I conclude, that this providence either knows not the extent of her power, or neglects human affairs, or cannot judge what is best for us. Providence, you say, does not extend her care to particular men; there is no wonder in that, since she does not extend it to cities, or even to nations, or people. If, therefore, she neglects whole nations, is it not very probable that she neglects all mankind? Buti how can you assert that the Gods do not enter into all the little circumstances of life, and yet hold that they distribute dreams among men? Since you believe in dreams, it is your part to solve this difficulty. Besides, you say we ought to call upon the Gods. Those who call upon the Gods are in- dividuals. Divine providence, therefore, regards individuals; which consequently proves that they are more at leisure than you, imagine. Let us suppose the divine providence to be greatly busied; that it causes the revolutions of the heavens, supports the earth, and rules the seas; why does it suffer so many Gods to be unemployed? Why is not the superin- " Cicero refers here to an oracle approving of his laws, and promising Sparta prosperity as long as they were obeyed, which Lycurgus pro- cured from Delphi.
140 OF THE NATURE OF THE GODS.
tendence of human affairs given to some of those idle Deities, which you say are innumerable!
This is the purport of what I had to say concerning “ the Nature of the Gods;” not with a design to destroy their existence, but merely to show what an obscure point it is, and with what difficulties an explanation of it is attended.
XL. Balbus, observing that Cotta had finished his dibconenas —You have been very severe, says he, against a divine pro- vidence, a doctrine established by the Stoics with piety and wisdom; but as it grows too late, I shall defer my answer to another day. Our argument is of the greatest importance; it concerns our altars,’ our hearths, our temples, nay, even — the walls of our city, which you priests hold sacred; you, who by religion defend Rome better than she is defended by her ramparts. This is a cause which, whilst I have life, i think I cannot abandon without impiety, There is nothing, replied Cotta, which I desire more than to be confuted. I have not pretended to decide this point, but to give you my private sentiments upon it; and am very sensible of your great superiority in argument. No doubt of it, says Velleius; we have much to fear from one who believes that our dreams are sent from J upiter, which, though they are of little weight, are yet of more importance than the discourse of the Stoics concerning the nature of-the Gods. The con- versation ended here, and we parted. Velleius judged that the arguments of Cotta were truest; but those of Balbus seemed to me to have the greater probability?
1 Pro aris et focis is a proverbial expression. The Romans, when they would say their all was at stake, could not express it stronger than by saying they contended pro aris et focis, for religion and their fire~ sides, or, as we express it, for religion and property.
a Cicero, who was an Academic, gives his opinion according to the manner of the Academics; who looked upon probability, and a resem- blanze of truth, as the utmost they could arrive at, ON DIVINATION, {Cicero composed this treatise immediately after that on the Nature of the Gods; the two subjects being indeed very closely connected. In the first book all kinds of Divination are represented as maintained by his brother Quintus, on the principles of the Stoics. } I. Ir is an old opinion, derived as far back as from the heroic times, and confirmed by the unanimous agreement of the ‘Roman people, and indeed of all nations, that there is a species of divination in existence among men, which the Greeks call payrixy, that is to say, a presentiment, and fore-— knowledge of future events. A truly splendid and service- able gift, if it only exists in reality; and one by which our mortal nature makes its nearest approach to the power of the Gods. Therefore, as we have done many other things better than the Greeks, so, most especially have we excelled them in giving a name to this most admirable endowment, since our nation derives the name which it gives to it, Divination, from the Gods (Divis), while the Greeks derived the title which they gave it, namely, povri«y, from madness (uavia). For that is Plato’s interpretation. of the word.
Now, as far as I know, there is no nation whatever, how- ever polished and learned, or however barbarous and un- eivilized, which does not believe it possible that future events may be indicated, and understood, and predicted by certain persons.
In the first place the Assyrians, that I may trace back the authority for this belief to the most remote ages and countries, as a natural consequence of the champaign country in which they lived, and of the vast extent of their territories, which led them to observe the heavens which lay open to their view -in every direction, began to take notice also of the paths and motions of the stars; and having taken these observations for some time, they handed down to their posterity informa- ‘tion as to what was indicated by their various positions and 142. ON DIVINATION, — revolutions. And among the Assyrians, the Chaldzeans, a tribe who had this name not from any art which they professed, but from the district which they inhabited, by a very long course of observation of the stars are considered to have \established a complete science, so that it became possible to predict what would happen to each individual, and with what ‘destiny each separate person was born. The Egyptians also are believed to have acquired the knowledge of the same art by a continued practice of it extending through countless ages. But the nature of the Cilicians and Pisidians, and the Pamphylians, who border on them, nations which we ourselves have had under our government,’ think that future events are pointed out by the flight and voices of birds as the surest — of all indications. And when was there ever an instance of Greece sending any colony into Atolia, Ionia, Asia, Sicily or Italy, without consulting the Pythian or Dodoneean oracle, or that of Jupiter Hammon? or when did that nation ever undertake a war without first asking counsel of the Gods? ~ IL. Nor is there only one kind of divination celebrated both in public and private. For, (to say nothing of the practice of other nations.) how many different kinds have been: adopted by our own people. In the first place, the founder of this city, Romulus, is said not only to have founded the city in obedience to the auspices; but also to have been himself an augur of the highest reputation. After him the other kings also had recourse to soothsayers; and after the kings were driven out, no public business was ever transacted, , either at home or in war, without reference to the auspices.
_ And as there appeared to be great power and usefulness in the system of’ the soothsayers (haruspzces),? in reference to the people’s succeeding in their objects, and consulting the - Gods, and arriving at an understanding of the meaning of prodigies and averting evil omens, they introduced the whole of their science from Etruria, to prevent the appearance 1 Cicero had been proconsul of Cilicia, and had gained a very high reputation by the integrity and energy which he displayed in that government. _ *% Aruspex is derived from the Greek word iepdy, and specio, to behold, because the Aruspex prophesied from the omens which he drew from an inspection of the entrails of the victims. Augur, from avis, and garrio, to chatter; because the omens were drawn from the noise made by the ‘birds in their flight. | ‘ ON DIVINATION. 143 of allowing any kind of divination to be neglected. And as men’s minds were often seen to be excited,in two manners, without any rules of reason or science, by their own mere uncontrolled and free motion, being sometimes under the influence of frenzy, and at others under that of dreams, our ancestors, thinking that the divination which proceeded from frenzy was contained chiefly in verses of the Sibyl, ordained that there should be ten citizens chosen as interpreters On © these compositions. And in the same spirit they have also, at times, thought the frantic predictions of conjurors and prophets worth, attending to; as they did in the Octavian’ war in the case of Cornelius Culleolus. Nor indeed have men of the greatest wisdom thought it beneath them to attend to the warnings of important dreams, if at any time -any such appeared to have reference to the interests of the republic. Moreover, even in our own time, Lucius Junius, who was consul, as colleague of Publius Rutilius, was ordered by a vote of the senate to erect a temple to Juno Sospita, in compliance with a dream seen by Cecilia, the daughter of Balearicus.? | III. And, as I apprehend, our ancestors were induced to establish this custom more because they had been warned, by the events which they saw, to do so, than from any previous conclusion of reason. But some exquisite arguments of philo- sophers have been collected to prove why divination may well be a true science. Now of these philosophers, to go back to the most ancient ones, Xenophanes the Colophonian appears to have been the only one who admitted the existence of Gods, and yet utterly denied the efficacy of divination. But every other philosopher except Epicurus, who talks so childishly about the nature of the Gods, has sanctioned a _ belief in divination; though they have not all spoken in the. same manner. For, though Socrates, and all his followers, and Zeno, and all those of his school, adhered to the opinion of the ancient philosophers, and the Old Academy and the 1' This was the civil war in the consulship of Cinna and Octavius, A.u.0. 666, which ended in Octavius being put to death by the orders of Cinna and Marius. 2 This was Quintus Ceecilius Metellus (the eldest son of Metellus Macedonicus), who was consul, B.c. 123, with T. Quinctius Flamininus; in which consulship he cleared the Balearic Isles of pirates, and founded several cities in the islands, 144 ON DIVINATION.
Peripatetics agreed with them; and though Pythagoras, who lived some time before these men, had added a great weight of authority to this belief—and indeed he himself wished to acquire the skill of an augur,—and though that most im- portant authority, Democritus, had in very many passages of his writings sanctioned a belief in the foreknowledge of future events; yet Diczarchus the Peripatetic, on the other hand, denied all other kinds of divination, and left none except thdse which proceed from frenzy or from dreams. And my own friend Cratippus, whom I consider equal to the most ancient among the Peripatetics, confined his belief to the same matters, and denied the correctness of any other kind of divination.
But as the Stoics defended nearly every kind, because Zeno im his Commentaries had scattered some seeds of such a belief, and Cleanthes had amplified and extended his predecessor's observations; Chrysippus succeeded them, a man of the most acute and vivid genius; who discussed the whole belief in, and question about divination in two books on that subject, and a third on oracles, and a fourth on dreams. And he was_ followed by Diogenes the Babylonian, a pupil of his own, who published one treatise on the same subject; by Antipater, who wrote two books, and our friend Posidonius, who wrote five. But Pansetius, the tutor of Posidonius and pupil of Antipater, has degenerated in some degree from the Stoics, or at least from the most eminent men of that school; and yet he did not dare absolutely to deny that there was a power of divina- tion, but said that he had doubts on the subject. Now if he, a Stoic, was allowed to express a doubt on a matter very much against the inclination of the rest of that school, shall we not obtain leave from the Stoics to behave in a similar manner with respect to other subjects? especially when that very question which is a matter of doubt to Panetius, is generally considered a thing as clear as day to the other philosophers of that sect. However, this praise of the Academy has been confirmed by the testimony and deliberate judgment of a most admirable philosopher.
IV. Indeed, since we are ourselves inquiring what we are to think of divination, because Carneades maintained a very long argument against the Stoics with great acuteness and variety of resource, and as we wish to be on our guard against * ON DIVINATION. 145 admitting rashly any assertion which is incorrect, or the truth of which is not sufficiently ascertained, it appears neces- sary for us to compare over and over again the arguments on one side with those on the other, as we have done in the three books which we have written on the Nature of the Gods. For, as in every discussion, rashness in assenting to propositions of others, and error in asserting such ourselves, is very discreditable, so above all is it in a discussion where the question for our decision is how much weight we are to attribute to auspices, and to divine ceremonies, and to religion. | For there is danger lest, if we neglect these things, we may- become involved in the guilt of blasphemous impiety, or if we embrace them, we may become liable to the reproach of. old women’s superstition.
VY. Now these topics I have often discussed, and I did so lately with more than usual minuteness, when I was with my brother Quintus, in my villa at Tusculum. For when, for the purpose of taking walking exercise, we had come into the Lyceum, (for that is the name of the upper Gymnasium)— I read, said he, a little while ago your third book on the Nature of the Gods; in which, although the arguments of Cotta have not wholly changed my previous opinions, they have undoubtedly a good deal shaken them. You are very ‘right to say so, I replied; for, indeed, Cotta himself argues rather with a view to confute the arguments of the Stoics, than to eradicate religion from men’s minds. Then, said Quintus, that is what Cotta himself says, and indeed he repeats it very often; I imagine, because he does not wish to seem to depart from the ordinary opinions; but still the zeal with which he argues against the Stoics seems to carry him on to the extent of wholly denying the existence of the Gods. I do not indeed think it necessary to reply to all he says, for religion has been sufficiently defended in your second book by Lucilius; whose arguments, as you say at the end of the third book, appear to you yourself to be much nearer to the. truth. But with reference to the point which has been passed over in those books, because, I presume, you con- sidered that the inquiry into it could be carried on, and an argument held upon it with more convenience if it were taken separately, I mean Divination—which is a foreknowledge and a. foretelling of those events which are usually considered DE NAT. ETO, L | 4 Lingf! ee il dewey be all the more glad to hear your sentiments on divination. © 146 ON DIVINATION.
fortuitous,—I should like very much at this moment, if you: please, to examine what power that science really has, and what its character is. For my own opinion is this; that if those kinds of divination which we have been in the habit of hearing of and respecting, are real, then: there are: Gods; and ‘ on the other hand that, if there really are Gods, then there * certainly are men who are possessed’ of the art of divination.
VI. You are defending, I reply, the very citadel of the Stoics, O Quintus, by asserting the reciprocal dependence of these two conditions on one another; so that if there be such an art as divination, then there are Gods; and if there be such beings as Gods, then there is such am art as divination: But neither of these points is admitted as easily as you imagine. For future events may possibly be indicated by nature without the intervention of any God; and, even although there may be such beings as Gods, still it is possible that no such art as divination may be given by them to the human race.
_ He replied,—But to me it is quite proof enough,. both that there are Gods and that they have a regard for the welfare of mankind, that I perceive that there are manifest. and undeni- able kinds of divination. With respect to which, I will, if you please, recount to you my own sentiments, provided at least. that you have leisure and inclination to hear me, and have nothing which you would like in preference to this discussion. But I, said I, my dear Quintus, have always leisure for philosophical discussion;. but at this moment, when { have actually nothing whatever which I wish to do, I shall You will hear, said he, nothing new from me, nor do I entertain any ideas on the subject different from. the rest of the world. For the opinion which I follow is not only the most ancient, but that which has been sanctioned by the unanimous consent of all nations and countries. For there are two methods of divining; one dependent on art, the other on nature. But what nation is there, or what state, which is not influenced by the omens derived from the entrails of victims, or by the predictions of those who interpret prodigies, or strange lights, or of augurs, or astrologers, or by.
those who expound lots (for these are about what come under ~ the head of art); or, again, by the prophecies derived from ~ ~~ ON DIVINATION: 147 dreams, or soothsayers (for these two are considered natural kinds of divination)? And I think it more desirable to examine into the results of these things than into the causes. For there isa certain power and nature, which, by means of indications which have been observed a long time, and also by some instinct and. divine inspiration, pronounces a judg; ment on future events. —, | ) VII. So that Carneades may well give up pressing what Pansetius used also’to insist upon, when he asked whether it was Jupiter who had ordained the crow to croak on the right- | | hand, or the raven on the left. For these occurrences have been observed for an immense series of time, and have been remarked and noted from: the signification given to them by subsequent events. But there is nothing which a great length of time may not effect and establish by the use of memory retaining the different. events, and handing them down. in durable monuments. We may wonder at the way in which the different kinds of herbs and roots have been observed by physicians as good for the bites of beasts, for complaints of the eyes, and for wounds, the power and nature of which reason has never explained, but yet both the art and inventor of these medicines have gained universal approval from their utility. Let us also look at those things which, though of another kind, still have a resemblance to: divination. - And often, too, the agitated sea: Gives certain tokens of impending storms, When through the deep with sudden rage it swells, And the fierce rocks, white with the briny foam, Vie with hoarse Neptune in their sullen roar, ~ While the sad whistling o’er the mountain’s brow Adds horror to the crash of the iron coast.. 2) VIII. And all your prognosties are full of presentiments derived from occurrences of this sort. Who, then, can trace back the causes of these presentiments? Though, indeed, I am aware that Boéthus the Stoic has endeavoured to do so. And indeed he has done some good to this extent, that he has explained the principle of those occurrences which take place in the sea, or in the heaven. But still, who has ever explained, with any appearance of probability, why they take place at all? And the white gull, uprising from the waves, With horrid scream foretells th’ impending storm, Straining its trembling throat in ceaseless ery. Oft, too, the woodlark va his chest pours forth L 148 ON DIVINATION.
Notes of unusual sadness, waking up The morn with grievous fear and endless plaint. When first Aurora routs the nightly dew, Sometimes the dusky crow runs o’er the shore, Dipping its head beneath the rising surf.
IX. And we see that these signs of the weather scarcely ever deceive us, though we certainly do not understand why they are so correct.
You too perceive the signs of future times, Children of sweetest waters; and prepare To utter warnings loud and salutary, Rousing the springs and marshes with your cries. Yet who could ever have suspected frogs of having such per- ception? However, there is in rivulets, and in frogs too, a certain nature indicating something which is clear enough by itself, but more obscure to the knowledge of men.
And cloven-footed oxen gazing up To heaven’s expense, have often inhaled the air Laden with moisture.
I do not inquire why all this takes place, since I am acquainted with the fact that it does take place— The mastic, ever green and ever laden With its rich fruit, which thrice in every year Doth swell to ripeness, by its triple crop Points out three times when men should till the earth.
Here too, again, I do not ask why this one tree should bloom, three times a year, or why it should adapt the proper season for ploughing the land to the token given by its bloom. I am | content with this, that, even if I do not know how everything is done, I nevertheless do know what is done. And so in respect of every kind of divination I will answer as I have done in the cases which I have already mentioned.
X. Now I know what effect the root of the scammony has as a purgative, and what the efficacy of the aristolochia is in the case of bites of serpents, (and this herb has derived its name from its discoverer, who discovered it in consequence of — a dream,) and that knowledge is quite enough. I do not know why these herbs are so efficacious; and in the same way I do not know on what principle the omens which we draw from the signs furnished to us by the winds and storms proceed; but I do know, and am certain of, and thankful for their power, and the results which flow from it. Again, in 1 All these predictions are translated by Cicero from Aratus, ON DIVINATION, _ ‘149 the same way I know what is indicated by a fissure in the entrails of a victim, or by the appearance of the fibres; but what the cause is that these appearances have this meaning I know not. And life is full of such things; for nearly every one has recourse to the entrails of animals. Need I say more? Is it possible for any one to doubt about the power of thunder-storms? Is not this too one of the most marvel- lous of marvellous things? When Summanus,' which was a figure made of clay, standing on the top of the temple of the all-powerful and all-good Jupiter, was struck by lightning, and the head of the statue could not be found anywhere, the soothsayers said that it had been thrown down into the Tiber, and it was found in that very place which had been pointed out by the soothsayers.
XI. But who is there to whom I may more fitly appeal as an authority and as a witness than you yourself? For I have learnt the verses, and that with great pleasure, which the muse Urania pronounces in the second book of your “ Con- sulship ”— See how almighty Jove, inflamed and bright, With heavenly fire fills the spacious world, And lights up heaven and earth with wondrous rays Of his divine intelligence and mind; Which pierces all the inmost sense of men, And vivifies their souls, held fast within The boundless caverns of eternal air.
And would you know the high sublimest paths And ever revolving orbits of the stars, And in what constellations they abide,— Stars which the Greeks erratic falsely call, For certain order and fixed laws direct Their onward course; then shall you learn that all Is by divinest wisdom fitly ruled.
For when you ruled the state, a consul wise, You noted, and with victims due approach’d, Propitiating the rapid stars, and strange Concurrence of the fiery constellations.
Then, when you purified the Alban? mount, And celebrated the great Latin feast, Bringing pure milk, meet offering for the gods, You saw fierce comets bright and quivering With light unheard of, In the sky you saw ? This is usually understood to have been a statue of Pluto. - # The new consuls used to celebrate the Feri Latina on the _ Albanus Mons, 150 ON DIVINATION.
Fierce wars and dread nocturnal massacre; That Latin feast on mournful days did fall, When the pale moon with dim and muffled light Conceal’d her head, and fled, and in the midst Of starry night became invisible.
Why should I say how Pheebus’ fiery beam, Sure herald of sad war, in mid-day set, Hastening at undue season to its rest, Or how a citizen struck with th’ awful bolt, Hurl’d by high Jove from out a cloudless sky, Left the glad light of life; or how the earth Quaked with affright and shook in every part? Then dreadful forms, strange visions stalk’d abroad, Scarce shrouded by the darkness of the night, And warn’d the nations and the land of war. Then many an oracle and augury, Pregnant with evil fate, the soothsayers Pour’d from their agitated breasts. And e’en The Father of the Gods fill’d heaven and earth With signs, and tokens, and presages sure Of all the things which have ‘befallen us since.
XII. So now the year when you are:at the helm, Coliects upon itself each omen dire, Which when Torquatus, with his colleague Cotta Sat in the.curule chairs, the Lydian seer Of Tuscan blood breathed to affrighted Rome. For the great Father of the Gods, whose home Is on Olympus’ height, with glowing hand Himself attack’d his sacred shrines and temples, And hurl’d his darts against the Capitol. _ Then fell the brazen statue, honour'd long, Of noble Natta; then fell down the laws Graved on the sacred tablets; while the bolts Spared not the images of the immortal gods. Here was that noble nurse o’ the Roman name, The Wolf of Mars, who from her kindly breast Fed the immortal children of her god: With the life-giving dew of sweetest milk.