wherein all the reason and philosophy of atheism is confuted, and

^^2'The Capitoline ]\.\^\tQT Book I.nation. Wherefore, as there could be no impiety at all in calling the fupremeGod Jew or Jovis, it being that very name, which God iiimfelf•,chofe to be called by fo neither is there any reafon, why the Latins Hiouldnot as well mean the fjpreme God thereby, as the Greeks did unqueftionablyby Zeus, which will be proved afterwards from irrefragable authority.Efpecially if we confider, that the Roman vulgar commonly beftowedthefe two epithets upon that Capitoline Jupiter (that is, not the fendefsilatue, but that God, who was there worfliipped in a material ftatue) ofOptimus and Maximus, the bed and the greatcft •, they thereby fignifyinghim to be a being infinitely good and powerful. Thus Cicero in his DeNat.Dcorum^, }u^\tftx a pcetis dicitur divum atque hominum pater, a majoribusauiem nojlrii optitnus maximus. That fame Jupiter, who is by the poetsJlyled the father of gods and men, is by our anceflors called the bejl, the grcaiejl.And in his Orat. fro S. Rofcio ^, Jupiter optimus maximus, cujus nutu & arbitriocwlum, terra, mariaque reguntur ; Jupiter the befi, the greatefi, bywhofe beck and command, the heaven, the earth, and the feas are governed.As alio the junior Pliny, in his panegyrick oration, parens hominum deorumque,optimi prius, deinde maximi nomine colilur ; The father of men and godsis worfhipped under the name, firft of the befh, and then of the greatefi. MoreoverServius Honoratus informs us, that the Pontifices in their publick facrificeswere wont to addrefs themfclves to Jupiter in this form of words ;Omnipotens Jupiter, feu quo alio nomine appellari volueris ; Omnipotent Jupiter,or by -Lvhat other name foever thou pleafefi to be called. From whence itis plain, that the Romans, under the name oi Jupiter, worfliipped the omnipotentGod. And, according to Seneca, the ancient Hetrurians, who are byj^at ^ Ihim diftinguifhed from philofophers, as a kind of illiterate fuperftitiousc.i^\y perfons (in^thefe words, H^ec adhuc Elrufcis i£ philofophis communia ' fu>.t,[P- 536- m illo diffentiunt) had this very fmie notion anfwering to the word Jupiter^Tom. I.namely, of the fupreme monarch of the univerfe. For firft he fets down^their tradition concerning thunderbolts in tliis manner ; Fulmina dicunt aJove mitti, & tres illi manubias dant. Prima {ut aiunt) monet i3 p'acataefi, l^ ipfius confilio Jovis mittitur. Secundam qtiidem mittit Jupiter, fed exconjilii fententid ; duodecim enitn deos advocat, id'c. Teriiam idem jupker mittit,fed adhibitis in conjilium diis, quos fuperiorcs i£ involutes vocant, quavaflat, i£c. The Hetrurians fay, that the thunderbolts are fcnt />c»2 Jupiter,and that there are three kinds of them \ the firfi gentle and monitory, and fent^_y Jupiter fl/o«e ; the fccond fent by ]n^\ltr, but not without the counfel andconfcnt of the twelve gods, which thunderbolt doth fame good, but not withoutharm alfo ; the third fcnt by Jupiter likewife, but not before he hath called acouncil of all the fuperior gods : and this utterly wajlcs and defrays both privateand publick Jlates. And then does he make a commentary upon this old Hetruriandoiftrine, that it was not to be taken literally, but only fo as ro imprefsan awe upon men, and to fignify, that Jupiter himfelf intended norhingbut good, he inflifting evil not alone, but in partnerfliip with others, andwhen the n -cetTity of the cafe required. Adding in the laft pla^e, Ne hocquidem crediderunt (Etrufa) Jovem qualem in Capitolio, is" in ceteris^edibus« Lib. II. Cap. XXV. p. 2992. Tom. IX. Oper. * Cap. XLV. p. 948. Tom. III. Oper.