The Epistles of Lucius Annaeus Seneca

“...from another by travel, death, or sickness; but there is no dividing us from ourselves. It is to no purpose to creep into a corner where nobody shall see us. Ridiculous madness! Suppose no mortal eye could find us out; he who has a conscience gives evidence against himself.” Ibid., Chapter 14.

It is truly and excellently spoken by Seneca: “Consider,” he says, “the majesty, the goodness, and the venerable mercies of the Almighty; a friend who is always at hand. What delight can the slaughter of innocent creatures or the worship of bloody sacrifices be to him? Let us purge our minds and lead virtuous and honest lives. His pleasure lies not in the magnificence of temples made with stones, but in the piety and devotion of consecrated hearts.” Ibid., Chapter 25.

“When Seneca comes to reflect,” says Augustine, “upon the practices which he himself had seen in the capitol, he criticizes them with liberty and resolution; and no man would believe that such things would be done unless in mockery and frenzy. What lamentation is there in Egyptian sacrifices for the loss of Osiris! And then what joy for the finding of him again! Which he makes sport of; for in truth it is all a fiction. And yet these people, who neither lost nor found anything, must express their sorrows and their rejoicings in the highest degree.” “But there is only a certain time,” he says, “for this treat, and once a year people may be allowed to be mad. I came into the capitol,” says Seneca, “where the several deities had their several servants and attendants—their lictors, their dressers—all in posture and action, as if they were executing their offices; some to hold the glass, others to comb out Juno’s and Minerva’s hair; one to tell Jupiter what o’clock it is. There are some girls there who sit gazing upon the image and fancy Jupiter has a kindness for them. All these things,” says Seneca, “a wise man will observe for the law's sake, more than for the gods: and all this rabble of deities, which the superstition of many ages has gathered together, we are in such manner to adore, as to consider the worship rather to be a matter of custom than of conscience.” Whereupon Augustine observes that “this illustrious Senator worshipped what he reproved, acted what he disliked, and adored what he condemned.”