, and learning, as to secure us
against all delusion in themselves; of such undoubted integrity, as to
place them beyond all suspicion of any design to deceive others; of such
credit and reputation in the eyes of mankind, as to have a great deal to
lose in case of their being detected in any falsehood; and at the same
time attesting facts, performed in such a public manner, and in so
celebrated a part of the world, as to render the detection unavoidable;
all which circumstances are requisite to give us a full assurance of the
testimony of men.... One of the best attested miracles in all profane
history, is that which Tacitus reports of Vespasian, who cured a blind
man in Alexandria by means of his spittle, and a lame man by the mere
touch of his foot; in obedience to a vision of the god Seraphis, who had
enjoined them to have recourse to the emperor or for these miraculous
cures. The story may be seen in that fine historian; where every
circumstance seems to add weight to the testimony, and might be
displayed at large with all the force of argument and eloquence, if
any one were now concerned to enforce the evidence of that exploded and
idolatrous superstition. The gravity, solidity, age, and probity of so
great an emperor, who through the whole course of his life, conversed
in a familiar manner, with his friends and courtiers, and never affected
those extraordinary airs of divinity assumed by Alexander and Demetrius.
The historian, a contemporary writer, noted for candor and veracity,
and, withal, the greatest and most, penetrating genius, perhaps of all
antiquity; and so free from any tendency to credulity, that he even lies
under the contrary imputation of Atheism and profaneness. The persons,
from whose authority he related the miracle of established character
for judgment and veracity, as we may-well presume; eye-witnesses of
the fact, and confirming their testimony, after the Flavian family was
despoiled of the empire, and could no longer give any reward as the
price of a lie. _Utrumque, qui interfuere, nunc quoque memorant,
postquam nullum mendacio pretium_. To which, if we add the public nature
of the facts, as related, it will appear that no evidence can well be
supposed stronger for so gross and so palpable a falsehood."

These extracts will give some idea of the grace, and power, and
penetration of Hume. The society he kept, the abilities with which he
was justly credited, the reputation his works deservedly w