20 
plikt's katxteal histoet. 
[Book 11. 
ing, altliougli, in reality, none are less so\ Tlie sun is carried 
along in the midst of these, a body of great size and power, 
tlie ruler, not only of the seasons and of the different climates, 
but also of the stars themselves and of the heavens^. When 
we consider his operations, we must regard him as the life, 
or rather the mind of the universe, the chief regulator and 
the God of nature ; he also lends his light to the other stars ^. 
He is most illustrious and excellent, beholding all things 
and hearing all things, which, I perceive, is ascribed to him 
exclusively by the prince of poets, Homer 
CHAP. 5. (7.) — OP aoD^ 
I consider it, therefore, an indication of human weakness 
to inquire into the figure and form of Grod. For whatever 
Grod be, if there be any other Grod^, and wherever he ex- 
ists, he is all sense, all sight, all hearing, all life, all mind'^, 
and all within himself. To believe that there are a number 
of Gods, derived from the virtues and vices of man^, as 
Chastity, Concord, Understanding, Hope, Honour, Clemency, 
1 Cicero remarks concerning them; "quae (stellse) falso vocantnr 
errantes ; " De Nat. Deor. ii. 51. 
2 "... . vices diermn alternat et noctimn, qnum sidera prsesens 
occult at, illustrat absens ; " Hard, in Lem. i. 230. 
3 " ceteris sideribus." According to Hardouin, uhi sujora, " nimium 
stellis errantibus." There is, however, nothing in the expression of our 
author which sanctions this hmitation. 
4 See Ihad, iii. 277, and Od. xii. 323. 
s It is remarked by Enfield, Hist, of Phil. ii. 131, that " with respect 
to philosophical opinions, Phny did not rigidly adhere to any sect. . . . 
He reprobates the Epicurean tenet of an infinity of worlds ; favours the 
Pythagorean notion of the harmony of the spheres ; speaks of the universe 
as Grod, after the manner of the Stoics, and sometimes seems to pass over 
into the field of the Sceptics. For the most part, however, he leans to 
the doctrine of Epicurus." 
6 " Si ahus est Deus quam sol," Alexandre in Lem. i. 230. Or rather, 
if there be hnj Grod distinct from the world ; for the latter part of the 
sentence can scarcely apply to the sun. Poinsinet and Ajasson, however, 
adopt the same opinion with M. Alexandre ; they translate the passage, 
" s']l en est autre que le soleil," i. 17 and u. 11. 
7 " totus animse, totus animi ; " " Anima est qua vivimus, animus quo 
sapimus." Hard, in Lem. i. 230, 231. The distinction between these two 
words is accurately pointed out by Lucretius, iii. 137 et seq, 
s " fecerunt (Athenienses) Contumelise fanum et Impudentise." Cicero, 
De Leg. ii. 28. See also Bossuet, Discours sur I'Histoire univ. i. 250. 
