Canft thou believe the vaft Eternal Mind, Was e'er to Syrts and Lybian Sands confin'd? That he would chufe this waste, this barren Ground,

To teach the thin Inhabitants around,

And leave his Truth in Wilds and Defarts drown'd?

Is there a place that God would chufe to love Beyond this Earth, the Seas, yon Heaven above, And virtuous Minds, the noblest Throne of JOVE?

Why feek we farther then? Behold around,
How all thou feeft does with the God abound,
JOVE is alike in all, and always to be found!
Let thofe weak Minds that live in Doubt and
Fear,

To juggling Priests for Oracles repair;
One certain Hour of Death to each decreed,
My fix'd, my certain Soul from Doubt has
freed:

The Coward and the Brave are doom'd to fall;
And when JOVE told this Truth, he told us all.
So fpoke the Hero; and to keep his word,
Nor AMMON, nor his Oracle explor'd;

But

Quicquid fcire licet: fteriles nec legit arenas,
Ut caneret paucis merfitque hoc pulvere verum:
Eftne Dei fedes, nifi terra, & pontus, & aer,
Et cœlum, & virtus? Superos quid quærimus ultra?
Jupiter eft quodcunque vides, quocunque moveris.
Sortilegis egeant dubii, femperque futuris
Cafibus ancipites: me non oracula certum,
Sed mors certa facit: pavido, fortique cadendum eft.
Hoc fatis eft dixiffe Jovem. Sic ille profatur :
K

Serva

But left the Croud at freedom to believe,
And take fuch Answers as the Priest should
give.

Foremost on foot he treads the burning Sand,
Bearing his Arms in his own patient Hand;
Scorning another's weary Neck to prefs,
Or in a lazy Chariot loll at eafe;

The panting Soldier to his Toil fucceeds,
Where no Command, but great Example leads.
Sparing of Sleep, ftill for the rest he wakes,
And at the Fountain laft his Thirst he flakes;
Whene'er by chance fome living Stream is found,
He stands and fees the cooling Draughts go
round,

Stays till the last and meanest Drudg be past,
And till his Slaves have drank, difdains to tafle.
If true good Men deferve immortal Fame,
If Virtue, tho diftrefs'd, be still the fame;
Whate'er our Fathers greatly dar'd to do,
Whate'er they bravely bore and wifely knew,
Their Virtues all are his, and all their Praife
his Due.

Wha

Servatâque fide templi difcedit ab aris,
Non exploratum populis Ammona relinquens.
Ipfe manu fua pila gerens, præcedit anheli
Militis ora pedes: monftrat tolerare labores,
Non jubet: & nullâ vehitur cervice fupinus,
Carpentove fedens. Somni parciffimus ipfe eft,
Ultimus hauftor aquæ. Cum tandem fonte reperto
Indiga cogatur latices potare juventus,
Stat, dum lixa bibat. Si veris magna paratur
Fama bonis, & fi fucceffu nuda remoto
Infpicitur virtus, quicquid laudamus in ullo.
Majorum, fortuna fuit. Quis Marte fecundo,

Quis

Who e'er with Battels fortunately fought? Who e'er with Roman Blood fuch Honours bought?

This Triumph, this on Lybia's utmost Bound,
With Death and Defolation compafs'd round,
To all thy Glorys, POMPEY, I prefer,
Thy Trophys and thy third triumphal Car,
To MARIUS mighty Name, and great
Jugurthine War.

His Country's Father here, O Rome, behold,
Worthy thy Temples, Priefts, and Shrines of

Gold:

If e'er thou break thy lordly Mafter's Chain,
If Liberty be e'er reftor'd again,

Him thou shalt place in thy Divine Abodes, Swear by his holy Name, and rank him with thy Gods.

(10.) SENECA, whofe excellent Morals are in moft Englishmens hands, and whofe Virtue and Learning are fo celebrated, has many Paffages in his Works which show that he was a great Free-Thinker, and particularly had a noble Notion of the Worship of the Gods for which fome of the modern

Quis tantum meruit populorum fanguine nomen!
Hunc ego per Syrtes, Libyæque extrema triumphum "
Ducere maluerim, quam ter Capitolia curru
Scandere Pompeii, quam frangere colla Jugurthæ.
Ecce parens verus patriæ, digniffimus aris
Roma tuis, per quem nunquam jurare pudebit,
Et quem, fi fteteris unquam cervice foluta,
Tunc olim factura Deum..

Priesthood would not only call a Man who
fhould talk so now a Free-Thinker, but an
Atheist. Says he, declaring how the Gods
are to be worship'd, * Let us forbid any
one to light Lamps to the Gods upon Sabbath-
days, because they want no Light, and Men are
not pleas'd with Soot. Let us forbid Men to
perform any Morning-Devotions, or to fit at
the doors of Temples. He worships God, who
knows him. Let us forbid Men to carry any
Linen or Combs to JUPITER, or hold a
Looking-Glafs to JUNO. God has no need of
Minifters or Servants. Why fo? Because he
himself ferves Mankind; and is ready to affift
every body and every where. Would
the Gods propitious to you? Be a good Man.
He honours them enough, who imitates them.

you

render

LIKEWISE he fays, † Superftition is a mad Error. It fears those who are to be lov'd, and it injures thofe it worships.

AGAIN, This Religious Man, like his Religious Brethren the Stoicks, deny'd the

* Accendere aliquem lucernam fabbatis prohibeamus, quoniam nec dii lumine egent, & ne homines quidem fuligine delectantur. Vetemus falutationibus matutinis fungi & foribus affidere templorum. Deum colit, qui novit. Vetemus lintea & ftrigiles Jovi ferre, & fpeculum tenere Junoni. Non quærit miniftros Deus. Quid ni? Ipfe humano generi miniftrat: ubique & omnibus præfto eft. Vis deos propitiare? Bonus efto. Satis illos coluit, quifquis imitatus eft. Epift. 95.

+ Superftitio infanus eft error. colit violat. Epift. 123.

Amandos timet, quos

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Immor

Immortality of the Soul. * You ought, fays he to MARCIA, in comforting her for the death of her Son, to think that he who is dead Suffers no Evil. All that is feign'd to be fo terrible in Hell, is but a Fable. We know well that the Dead are not fubject to Darkness, nor Prifons, nor burning Rivers, nor to Waters of Forgetfulness, nor to any Tribunals. The Poets have pleas'd themselves in feigning them, and have disturb'd us with vain Fears. Death puts an end to all our Mifery. Beyond that, our Misfortunes go not. That places us in the fame Tranquillity in which we were before we were born. If any one would grieve for those who are dead, he ought to grieve for thofe who are not yet born.

THIS Freedom of SENECA was fo far from leffening the juft Efteem which the primitive Chriftians had of his Learning and Virtue, that they thought to do confiderable Service to Chriftianity, by forging a Correspondence of † Letters between St. PAUL

1

* Cogita nullis defunctum malis affici. Illa quæ nobis inferos faciunt terribiles fabulam effe. Nullas imminere mortuis tenebras, nec carcerem, nec flumina flagrantia igne, nec oblivionis amnem, nec tribunalia. Luferunt ifta Poetæ & vanis nos agitavere terroribus. Mors omnium dolorum & folutio eft & finis: ultra quam mala nostra non exeunt, quæ nos in illam tranquillitatem in quâ antequam nafceremur jacuimus, reponit. Si mortuorum aliquis miferetur, & non natorum mifereatur. Conf. ad Marciam, c. 19.

Tet extant, and are printed in feveral of the old Editions of Seneca's Works, and very lately in Fabricius's Codex Apocryphus Novi Teft. p. 892. K 3

and