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CErealis Anicius, the Consul E∣lect, pronounc'd as his peculi∣ar Sentence, that a Temple should be erected with all the speed imagina∣ble, at the Public Charge, to Divine NERO. Which he decreed him, as having surmounted Human Gran∣deur, and deserving now the Ado∣ration
of Men. Which was after∣wards number'd among inauspicious Omens of his Death; for the Ho¦nours due to the Gods, were never attributed to the Prince, till he ceas'd to live among Men.
Says D'Ablancourt; Anicius Cerealis propounded the building him a Temple at the Publick Charge, and in his Proposal gave him the Title of a God, meaning thereby, that he was exalted above Human Frailty, and deserv'd to be ador'd by Men. But that was afterwards taken as an ill Omen of his Death, for that the Emperors were never honour'd with that Title, till they were departed out of this World.
Nero having escap'd a Conspiracy, wherein were engag'd almost all the chief Nobility of Rome, and with them, Persons of all sorts and conditions, and many Women among the rest, the Senate de∣creed Thanksgivings and Offerings to the Gods, and particular Honours to the Sun, who had discover'd the Enterprize, just as it was ready to have been put in execution; and to Salus or Safety, out of whose Temple the Senator Sevinus
had taken the Dagger, with which he was to have given the first stroke: All this was done in Honour to the Gods, and had been highly commendable, had not Nero been so wicked a Prince. But that there might be nothing wanting of addition to the Public Misfortune, (for to use the words of Tacitus, the Gods, in preserving Nero, plainly shew'd, that they design'd their Vengeance, not their Saving Fa∣vour to the Roman People) one of the Consuls propos'd the Consecrating of a Temple to NERO THE GOD, as if he meant the World should under∣stand, that the Emperor was beholden for his Deliverance to his Deify'd condi∣tion, which exalted him above all Acci∣dents of Fortune, and render'd him Im∣mortal. Certainly this was the utmost extent of human Adulation, above which it was impossible for human Wit to soar a Higher strain. And if 'twere Fear which made the Gods, a Pagan might have been excus'd to Deifie a Prince, who after he had murther'd his Brother Britannicus, his Mother, his Wife, his Tutor, seem'd only born to exterminate the Race of Hu∣man kind. But how shall we excuse those Christians, who make profession of Ver∣tue in its purity, and particularly of
Evangelic Simplicity, who abandon themselves to that degree of Flattery, as to compare a Temporal Prince to the True God, ascribing to him those Attri∣butes which the Sacred Scripture only gives to the Majesty of Heaven. As if among so many Famous and Renowned Actions with which the Universe rings, they could not have found Matter for the most Noble Panegyric in the World, without robbing God of that which in∣communicably belongs to Him, to give it to Caesar.