446 WISDOM OF THE ANCIENTS. 



ing, sanctity of manners, the weight of arguments, and examples, but 

 would spread or extirpate it by persecution, pains, penalties, tortures, 

 fire and sword, may perhaps be instigated hereto by Pallas, that is, by 

 a certain rigid, prudential consideration, and a severity of judgment, by 

 the vigour and efficacy whereof they sec thoroughly into the fallacies 

 and fictions of the delusions of this kind ; and through aversion to 

 depravity and a well-meant zeal, these men usually for a time acquire 

 great fame and glory, and are by the vulgar, to whom no moderate 

 measures can be acceptable, extolled and almost adored, as the only 

 patrons and protectors of truth and religion, men of any other disposi 

 tion seeming, in comparison with these, to be lukewarm, mean-spirited, 

 and cowardly. This fame and felicity, however, seldom endures to the 

 end ; but all violence, unless it escapes the reverses and changes oi 

 things by untimely death, is commonly unprospcrous in the issue ; and 

 if a change of affairs happens, and that sect of religion which was per 

 secuted and oppressed gains strength and rises again, then the zeal 

 and warm endeavours of this sort of men are condemned, their very 

 name becomes odious, and all their honours terminate in disgrace. 



As to the point that Diomed should be slain by his hospitable en 

 tertainer, this denotes that religious dissensions may cause treachery, 

 bloody animosities, and deceit, even between the nearest friends. 



That complaining or bewailing should not, in so enormous a case, 

 be permitted to friends affected by the catastrophe without punish 

 ment, includes this prudent admonition, that almost in all kinds of 

 wickedness and depravity men have still room left for commiseration, 

 so that they who hate the crime may yet pity the person and bewail 

 his calamity, from a principle of humanity and good nature ; and to 

 forbid the overflowings and intercourses of pity upon such occasions 

 were the extremest of evils ; yet in the cause of religion and impiety 

 the very commiserations of men are noted and suspected. On the 

 other hand, the lamentations and complainings of the followers and 

 attendants of Diomed, that is, of men of the same sect or persuasion, 

 are usually very sweet, agreeable, and moving, like the dying notes of 

 swans, or the birds of Diomed. This also is a noble and remarkable 

 part of the allegory, denoting that the last words of those who suffer 

 for the sake of religion strongly affect and sway men s minds, and 

 leave a lasting impression upon the sense and memory. 



XIX. THE FABLE OF ACTEON AND PENTHEUS. 



EXPLAINED OF CURIOSITY, OR PRYING INTO THE SECRETS OF 

 PRINCES AND DIVINE MYSTERIES. 



THE ancients afford us two examples for suppressing the imperti 

 nent curiosity of mankind, in diving into secrets, and imprudently 

 longing and endeavouring to discover them. The one of these is in 



