St. Augustine, Of the citie of God vvith the learned comments of Io. Lod. Viues. Englished by I.H.

That Varro him-selfe held his opinions of the Gods to be ambiguous. CHAP. 17.

BVt euen as these cited examples do, so all the rest, rather make the matte•…•… intricate then plaine: and following the force of opiniatiue error, sway this way, and that way, that Varro himselfe liketh better to doubt of them, then to de∣liuer this or that positiuely, for of his three last bookes hauing first ended that of the certaine gods, then hee came into that of the (a) vncertaine ones, and there hee saith: If I set downe ambiguities of these gods, I am not blame worthy. Hee that thinketh I ought to iudge of them, or might, let him iudge when he readeth them. I had rather call all my former assertions into question then propound all that I am to handle in this booke, positiuely. Thus doth hee make doubts of his doctrine of the certaine gods aswell as the rest. Besides in his booke of the select ones hauing made his preface out of naturall theology, entring into these politique fooleries, and mad fictions, where truth both opposed him, & antiquity oppressed him, here (qd he) I wil write of the gods to whom the Romaines haue built temples, & diuersity of statues, b•…•… I wil write so as xenophanes (b) Colophonus writeth: what I thinke, not what I wil de∣fend, for man may thinke but God is he that knoweth. Thus timerously he promiseth to speake of things not knowne nor firmely beleeued, but only opinatiue, & doub∣ted of being to speake of mens institutions. He knew that ther was the world, hea∣uen, and earth, stars, & al those together with the whole vniuerse subiect vnto one powerfull and inuisible king: this he firmely beleeued, but hee durst not say that Ianus was the world, or that Saturne was Ioues father and yet his subiect, nor of the rest of this nature durst he affirme any thing confidently.

L. VIVES.

THe (a) Vncertaine.] Of these I haue spoken before: now a little of the vnknowne, for it is an error to hold them both one: The territories of Athens had altars to many

vokowne gods: Actes. 17. and Pausanias in Attic. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, the altars of the vn∣•…•… gods: These Epimenides of Creete found: for the pestilence, being sore in that country, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 •…•…d them to expiate their fields, yet not declaring what god they should invo∣•…•…, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 〈◊〉〈◊〉 expiation, Epimenides beeing then at Athens, bad them turne the cattell that they would off•…•… into the fields, and the priests to follow them, and where they staied, there kill them and •…•…er them to the vnknowne propiciatory God. Therevpon arose the erection of 〈◊〉〈◊〉 〈◊〉〈◊〉 which continued euen vnto Laertius his time. This I haue beene the willinger to 〈◊〉〈◊〉, •…•…cause of that in the Actes. (b) Xenophanes] Sonne to Orthomenes of Ionia where 〈◊〉〈◊〉 the Poet was borne. Apolodorus, out of Colophon. Hee held all things incompre∣•…•…, •…•…nst the opinion of Laërtius Sotion. Eusebius following Sotion, saith hee did hold 〈◊〉〈◊〉 〈◊〉〈◊〉 sences salfe and our reason, for company: he wrote of the gods against Homer, and He∣•…•…. There was another Zenophanes, a lesbian, and a Poet.