A source-book of ancient history - The Search For Mecca

—
Propertius ; Lucretius
457
fumes, and applying serpents to her veins, she died a
death-like sleep.
VII.
The Poetry of the Age
Tell My Sister
Soldier, that fliest from thy comrade's fall,
Though weak and wounded 'neath Perusia's wall;
Heed not my dying groan, nor weep for me.
For I am but a soldier like to thee.
But to my sister the sad tale deplore
So mayst thou glad thy parent's heart once more-
How Gallus 'scaped from Caesar's armed bands,
To fall unhonored here by felon's hands.
If o'er the Tuscan wold she haply see
Some scattered bones, 'tis all she'll find of me.
"I wish I
had died in
battle."
Propertius i.
21.
(Perusia,
Etruria, was
besieged by
Caesar
Octavianus,
41-40 B.C.)
The Origin of Belief in the Gods
And now what cause has spread over great nations the
worship of the divinities of the gods, and filled towns with
altars, and led to the performance of stated rites,—rites
now in fashion on solemn occasions and in solemn places,
from which even now is implanted in mortals a shuddering
awe which raises new temples of the gods over the whole
earth, and prompts men to crowd them on festive days, all
this is not so difficult to explain in words.
In sooth the races of mortal men would see in waking
mind glorious forms, would see them in sleep of yet more
marvellous size of body. To these forms they would attribute
sense, because they seemed to move their limbs and
to utter lofty words suitable to their glorious aspect and
surpassing powers. And men would attribute to them life
everlasting, because their face would ever appear and their
form abide; yes, and yet without all this reasoning, because
men would not believe that beings possessed of such powers
"Why buUd
altars and
temples? "
Lucretius,
On the iVature
of the
World, s-
"Our
religion
rests (i)
on
dreams.