Thus the S/TOICS\ join a philosophical enthusiasm
to a religious superstition. The force of their mind, being all
turned to the side of morals, unbent itself in that of religion.[79]
P/LATO\[80] introduces S/OCRATES\ affirming, that the
accusation of impiety raised against him was owing entirely to his
rejecting such fables, as those of S/ATURN'S\ castrating his father
U/RANUS\, and J/UPITER'S\ dethroning S/ATURN\: Yet in a subsequent
dialogue,[81] S/OCRATES\ confesses, that the doctrine of the
mortality of the soul was the received opinion of the people. Is
there here any contradiction? Yes, surely: But the contradiction is
not in P/LATO\; it is in the people, whose religious principles in
general are always composed of the most discordant parts; especially
in an age, when superstition sate so easy and light upon them.[82]
The same C/ICERO\, who affected, in his own family, to appear a
devout religionist, makes no scruple, in a public court of
judicature, of treating the doctrine of a future state as a
ridiculous fable, to which no body could give any attention.[83]
S/ALLUST\[84] represents C/AESAR\ as speaking the same language in
the open senate.
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