[113]
Then, I suppose you are going to force me to believe
[p. 499]
in myths? Let them be as charming as you please
and as finished as possible in language, thought,
rhythm, and melody, still we ought not to give
credence to fictitious incidents or to quote them as
authority. On that principle no reliance, in my
opinion, should be placed in the prophecies of your
Publicius1 —whoever he may have been—or in those
of the Marcian bards2 or in those of the hazy oracles
of Apollo3 : some were obviously false and others
mere senseless chatter and none of them were ever
believed in by any man of ordinary sense, much less
by any person of wisdom.
Cicero: De Senectute De Amicitia De Divinatione. With An English Translation. William Armistead Falconer. Cambridge. Harvard University Press; Cambridge, Mass., London, England. 1923.
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