cations that the gods were displeased, and that expiations were
necessary.[14] The superstition, as is the fate of all superstitions,
had frequently been used for most ungodlike purposes. If a man had a
political enemy, what could do him better service than to make the
populace believe that a house had been crushed by a thunder-bolt, or
that a woman had given birth to a pig instead of a child, because
Jupiter had been offended by that enemy's devices? By using such a plea
the Grecians got into Troy, together with the wooden horse, many years
ago. The Scotch worshippers of the Sabbath declared the other day, when
the bridge over the Tay was blown away, that the Lord had interposed to
prevent travelling on Sunday!

Cicero had not been long back from his exile when the gods began to show
their anger. A statue of Juno twisted itself half round; a wolf had been
seen in the city; three citizens were struck with lightning; arms were
heard to clang, and then wide subterranean noises. Nothing was easier
than the preparation and continuing of such portents. For many years
past the heavens above and the earth beneath had been put into
requisition for prodigies.[15] The soothsayers were always well pleased
to declare that there had been some neglect of the gods. It is in the
nature of things that the superstitious tendencies of mankind shall fall
a prey to priestcraft. The quarrels between Cicero and Clodius were as
full of life as ever. In this year, Clodius being AEdile, there had come
on debates as to a law passed by Caesar as Consul, in opposition to
Bibulus, for the distribution of lands among the citizens. There was a
question as to a certain tax which was to be levied on these lands. The
tax-gatherers were supported by Cicero, and denounced by Clodius. Then
Clodius and his friends found out that the gods were showering their
anger down upon the city because the ground on which Cicero's house had
once stood was being desecrated by its re-erection. An appeal was made
to the soothsayers. They reported, and Cicero rejoined. The soothsayers
had of course been mysterious and doubtful. Cicero first shows that the
devotion of his ground to sacred purposes had been an absurdity, and
then he declares that the gods are angry, not with him but with Clodius.
To say that the gods were not angry at all was more than Cicero dared.
The piece, taken as a morsel of declamatory art, is full of vigor, is
powerful in invective, and carries us alon