On the Mysteries (Thomas Taylor trans.)

was altogether as good a shift A "shift" here refers to a clever trick or a deceptive maneuver. In this context, it refers to an anecdote where the Greek ambassador Ismenias dropped his ring and, by bending down to pick it up, appeared to be prostrating himself before the Persian king without actually intending the religious gesture. as the Jesuits The Society of Jesus, a Catholic religious order. This refers to the "Chinese Rites controversy," where Jesuits were accused of allowing Chinese converts to continue traditional ancestral rites by interpreting them as civil rather than religious honors. advising the crucifix to be held in the mandarin’s hands while they made their adorations in the Heathen temples in China.

Conon* Conon (c. 444–394 BC) was a prominent Athenian general at the end of the Peloponnesian War. also refused to make his adoration, as a disgrace to his city; and Isocrates† Isocrates (436–338 BC) was one of the ten Attic orators and a teacher of rhetoric in Athens. accuses the Persians for doing it, because herein they showed that they despised the Gods rather than men, by prostituting their honours to their princes. Herodotus Herodotus (c. 484–425 BC), known as the "Father of History," wrote 'The Histories' concerning the Greco-Persian Wars. mentions Sperchies and Bulis, who could not with the greatest violence be brought to give adoration to Xerxes Xerxes I (r. 486–465 BC), the King of Persia who led the massive invasion of Greece., because it was against the law of their country to give divine honour to men.‡ And Valerius Maximus§ Valerius Maximus was a 1st-century Roman author who compiled a collection of historical anecdotes for orators. says, “the Athenians put Timagoras to death for doing it; so strong an apprehension had possessed them, that the manner of worship which they used to their Gods, should be preserved sacred and inviolable.” The philosopher Sallust Likely Sallustius, a 4th-century Neoplatonist philosopher and friend of the Emperor Julian, who wrote 'On the Gods and the World.' also, in his Treatise on the Gods and the World, says, “It is not unreasonable to suppose that impiety is a species of punishment, and that those who have had a know-