35® OLYMPIC DIALOGUE. 



be very agreeable : but for the lofs of one of the flrfi: 

 thrones in the world it is but a poor recompence. 



Jupiter^] I ftiould have thought, friend Numa, 

 that thy abode in Olympus would have rectified thy 

 ideas on fuch matters. 



Numa.~] I know very well, that a decree of the fe- 

 nate of Rome cannot deprive thee of the influence thou 

 haft on the world below : but — 



Jupiter, fmiling.~\ Speak out in plain terms what thou 

 thinkeft ! — my ears have been for fome time paft ex- 

 tremely patient — but what f 



Numa^\ Yet this influence can be of no very parti- 

 cular confequence, or I do not comprehend how thou 

 canft fuffer thyfelf to be degraded from the divine 

 authority, and the high prerogatives thou haft enjoyed 

 for fuch a number of ages throughout the roman world, 

 without moving a finger to prevent it. 



Jupiier.~\ If my Flamen cannot comprehend any 

 thing of the matter, that may be endured. But thou, 

 Numa ! — 



Numa.'] To fpeak fincerely, Jupiter, — though I 

 may pafs in fome meafure for the founder of the old- 

 roman religion, yet it was never my deflgn to give more 

 nourilhment to the fuperftition of the rude Romans 

 than appeared indifpenfably nec diary to their civiliza- 

 tion, I altered indeed nothing effential in the fervice 

 of the deities whom an antiquated vulgar belief had 

 long put in poffeflion of public worfhip : at the fame 

 time my view was conftantly directed to keep open, if 

 I may fay fo, the way to a purer knowledge of the 

 Supreme Being ; and at leaft to prevent the grofTef 

 fpecies of idolatry, by not permitting the deity to be 



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