66 



The scenes that were exhibited in the temples at the cele- 

 bration of some of the festivals, and the orgies of Bacchus, 

 are instances of the same kind, that cannot be thought of 

 without horror. 



It is remarkable that the Roman people were eminent for 

 their virtue and chastity, until the time that Greece was sub- 

 dued by their arms. Five hundred years had elapsed, from 

 the foundation of their city, before a divorce was known at 

 Rome ; but as soon as this event took place, which was about 

 the time the Romans began to have intercourse with the 

 Greeks, the change in their manners is apparent, and this 

 change may be very well referred, at least in a considerable 

 degree, to the introduction of the fictions of the Grecian My- 

 thology, so that in this respect, as much as in the arts, may 

 it be said, " Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit." 



Those law-givers, who annexed such severe punishments 

 to the breach of the conjugal vow, certainly adopted at the 

 same time the most effectual method of preventing it, by 

 erecting temples to chastity. Agreeabl}^ to this, we find 

 Numa, in order to make his people honest, transforming 

 Bona Fides into a goddess, and building a temple to her wor- 

 ship ; and perhaps it was owing to the want of such a device, 

 in the Grecian law-givers, that Greek knavery forms such a 

 contrast to Roman honesty ; and if we enquire into the 

 causes that made the Romans excel every other nation in the 

 ert and practice of war, we cannot avoid ascribing much im- 



