Part 31 (2/2)

”As to the Son of G.o.d, called Jesus, should we allow him to be nothing more than man, yet the t.i.tle of 'the Son of G.o.d' is very justifiable, upon the account of his wisdom, considering that you (Pagans) have your Mercury in wors.h.i.+p under the t.i.tle of the Word, a messenger of G.o.d. . . .

”As to his (Jesus Christ's) being born of a virgin, _you have your Perseus to balance that_.”[125:1]

_Mercury_ was the son of Jupiter and a mortal mother, Maia, daughter of Atlas. Cyllene, in Arcadia, is said to have been the scene of his birth and education, and a magnificent temple was erected to him there.[125:2]

_aeolus_, king of the Lipari Islands, near Sicily, was the son of Jupiter and a mortal mother, Acasta.[125:3]

_Apollo_ was the son of Jupiter and a mortal mother, Latona.[125:4] Like Buddha and Lao-Kiun, Apollo, so the Ephesians said, was born under a tree; Latona, taking shelter under an olive-tree, was delivered there.[125:5] Then there was joy among the undying G.o.ds in Olympus, and the Earth laughed beneath the smile of Heaven.[125:6]

_Aethlius_, who is said to have been one of the inst.i.tutors of the Orphic games, was the son of Jupiter by a mortal mother, Protogenia.[125:7]

_Arcas_ was the son of Jupiter and a mortal mother.[125:8]

_Aroclus_ was the son of Jupiter and a mortal mother.[125:9]

We might continue and give the names of many more sons of Jove, but sufficient has been seen, we believe, to show, in the words of Justin, that Jove had a great ”parcel of sons.” ”The images of self-restraint, of power used for the good of others, are prominent in the lives of all or almost all the Zeus-born heroes.”[125:10]

This Jupiter, who begat so many sons, was the supreme G.o.d of the Pagans.

In the words of _Orpheus_:

”Jupiter is omnipotent; the first and the last, the head and the midst; Jupiter, the giver of all things, the foundation of the earth, and the starry heavens.”[125:11]

The ancient Romans were in the habit of deifying their living and departed emperors, and gave to them the t.i.tle of DIVUS, or the Divine One. It was required throughout the whole empire that divine honors should be paid to the emperors.[125:12] They had a ceremony called _Apotheosis_, or deification. After this ceremony, temples, altars, and images, with attributes of divinity, were erected to the new deity. It is related by Eusebius, Tertullian, and Chrysostom, that Tiberius proposed to the Roman Senate the Apotheosis or deification of Jesus Christ.[126:1] aelius Lampridius, in his Life of Alexander Severus (who reigned A. D. 222-235), says:

”This emperor had two private chapels, one more honorable than the other; and in the former were placed the deified emperors, and also some _eminent good men_, among them Abraham, Christ, and Orpheus.”[126:2]

_Romulus_, who is said to have been the founder of Rome, was believed to have been the son of G.o.d by a pure virgin, Rhea-Sylvia.[126:3] One Julius Proculus took a solemn oath, that Romulus himself appeared to him and ordered him to inform the Senate of his being called up to the a.s.sembly of the G.o.ds, under the name of Quirinus.[126:4]

_Julius Caesar_ was supposed to have had a G.o.d for a father.[126:5]

_Augustus Caesar_ was also believed to have been of celestial origin, and had all the honors paid to him as to a divine person.[126:6] His divinity is expressed by Virgil, in the following lines:

”----Turn, turn thine eyes, see here thy race divine, Behold thy own imperial Roman Sine: Caesar, with all the Julian name survey; See where the glorious ranks ascend to-day!-- This--this is he--_the chief so long foretold_, To bless the land where Saturn ruled of old, And give the Learnean realms a second eye of gold!

The promised prince, _Augustus the divine_, Of Caesar's race, and Jove's immortal line.”[126:7]

”The honors due to the G.o.ds,” says Tacitus, ”were no longer sacred: _Augustus_ claimed equal wors.h.i.+p. Temples were built, and statues were erected, to him; a mortal man was adored, and priests and pontiffs were appointed to pay him impious homage.”[126:8]

Divine honors were declared to the memory of Claudius, after his death, and he was added to the number of the G.o.ds. The t.i.tles ”Our Lord,” ”Our Master,” and ”Our G.o.d,” were given to the Emperors of Rome, even while living.[126:9]

In the deification of the Caesars, a testimony upon oath, of an eagle's flying out of the funeral pile, toward heaven, which was supposed to convey the soul of the deceased, was the established proof of their divinity.[127:1]

_Alexander the Great_, King of Macedonia (born 356 B. C.), whom genius and uncommon success had raised above ordinary men, was believed to have been a G.o.d upon earth.[127:2] He was believed to have been the son of Jupiter by a mortal mother, Olympias.

Alexander at one time visited the temple of Jupiter Ammon, which was situated in an oasis in the Libyan desert, and the _Oracle_ there declared him to be a son of the G.o.d. He afterwards issued his orders, letters, decrees, &c., styling himself ”_Alexander, son of Jupiter Ammon_.”[127:3]

The words of the oracle which declared him to be divine were as follows, says Socrates:

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