About the third century before Christ
Euhemerus, a Greek, had written a book to prove that there were no
gods; the gods, he said, were only men of ancient times who had been
deified; Jupiter himself had been a king of Crete. This book had a
great success and was translated into Latin by the poet Ennius. The
nobles of Rome were accustomed to mock at their gods, maintaining only
the cult of the old religion. The higher Roman society was for a
century at once superstitious and sceptical.
CHANGES IN MANNERS
=The Old Customs.=--The old Romans had for centuries been diligent and
rude husbandmen, engaged in cultivating their fields, in fighting, and
in fulfilling the ceremonies of their religion. Their ideal was the
_grave_ man. Cincinnatus, they said, was pushing his plough when the
deputies of the Senate came to offer him the dictatorship. Fabricius
had of plate only a cup and a salt-cellar of silver. Curius Dentatus,
the conqueror of the Samnites, was sitting on a bench eating some
beans in a wooden bowl when the envoys of the Samnites presented
themselves before him to offer him a bribe.
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