The five days debate at Cicero's house in Tusculum between master and sophister.

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Title
The five days debate at Cicero's house in Tusculum between master and sophister.
Author
Cicero, Marcus Tullius.
Publication
London :: Printed for Abel Swalle ...,
1683.
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Link to this Item
http://name.umdl.umich.edu/A33161.0001.001
Cite this Item
"The five days debate at Cicero's house in Tusculum between master and sophister." In the digital collection Early English Books Online. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/A33161.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed June 1, 2024.

Pages

SECT. XIII. From this that the Superior Gods are receiv'd to have been Men deceas'd.

BUT if I should go about to ransack old Monu∣ments, and discover out of them what the Greek Writers have disclos'd; those very Gods which are reputed of the higher Rank, will be found to have pass'd from us here to Heaven. En∣quire whose Sepulchers are shew'd in Greece. Call to mind, because you have been admitted to the Vision of the secret Ceremonies, what passages are deliver'd in those Mysteries; so will you come to

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understand of how large extent this Suggestion is. But those plain-hearted Ancients, who had never learn'd these Systems of natural Theology, which many years after came to be form'd, believ'd no more than the bare objects of their Senses, com∣prehended not the Reasons and Causes of them; were often mov'd by some Apparitions, and those most commonly in the night, to conceive that those who had departed this World, were still alive. Now allowing this to pass for a most con∣clusive Argument, why we should believe the be∣ing of a God, because there is no People so Savage, no Person so Barbarous, but hath some Notion of a Deity impress'd on his mind. Many have un∣worthy Conceptions of God, for that ariseth from corrupt Custom; yet all concur in this Faith, that there is a divine Nature and Power, nor is this opinion wrought by the Conferring or Combinati∣on of men together, nor is it built upon Customs or Laws. Now the consent of all Nations in any thing, is to be esteem'd the Law of Nature. Who there∣fore is there who doth not mourn for the loss of his Friends, upon the account that he thinks them depriv'd of the Comforts of Life? Take away this Opinion, and you will take away Mourning, for no body bemoans his own loss. Perhaps they grieve or are in anguish for it. That same pitiful La∣mentation, weeping and wailing, springeth from the Consideration, that we judge him whom we lov'd, despoil'd of the Conveniencies of Life, and sensible that he is so. And this judgment we bear from the Impressions of Nature, without any Con∣clusions of Reason, or Instructions of Learning.

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