er the Great.(78) The Athenians, who were then upon the
point of celebrating the great mysteries, were so much affected with the
ruin of that city, that they could not resolve, in so general an
affliction, to solemnize a festival which breathed nothing but merriment
and rejoicing. It was continued down to the time of the Christian
emperors.(79) Valentinian would have abolished it, if Praetextatus, the
proconsul of Greece, had not represented, in the most lively and affecting
terms, the universal sorrow which the abrogation of that feast would
occasion among the people; upon which it was suffered to subsist. It is
supposed to have been finally suppressed by Theodosius the Great; as were
all the rest of the Pagan solemnities.

Of Auguries, Oracles, &c.

Nothing is more frequently mentioned in ancient history, than oracles,
auguries, and divinations. No war was made, or colony settled; nothing of
consequence was undertaken, either public or private, without having first
consulted the gods. This was a custom universally established amongst the
Egyptian, Assyrian, Grecian, and Roman nations; which is no doubt a proof,
as has been already observed, that it was derived from ancient tradition,
and that it had its origin in the religion and worship of the true God. It
is not indeed to be questioned, but that God, before the deluge, did
manifest his will to mankind in different methods, as he has since done to
his people, sometimes in his own person and _viva voce_, sometimes by the
ministry of angels or of prophets inspired by himself, and at other times
by apparitions or in dreams. When the descendants of Noah dispersed
themselves into different regions, they carried this tradition along with
them, which was every where retained, though altered and corrupted by the
darkness and ignorance of idolatry. None of the ancients have insisted
more upon the necessity of consulting the gods on all occasions by
auguries and oracles than Xenophon; and he founds that necessity, as I
have more than once observed elsewhere, upon a principle deduced from the
most refined reason and discernment. He represents, in several places,
that man of himself is very frequently ignorant of what is advantageous or
pernicious to him; that, far from being capable of penetrating the future,
the present itself escapes him; so narrow and short-sighted is he in all
his views, that the slightest obstacles can frustrate his greatest
designs; that the Divinit