ostratus, Jamblicus, and
some others, do not merit more consideration; therefore I quote them
only to refute them, or to show how far idle and ridiculous credulity
has been carried on these matters, which were laughed at by the most
sensible among the heathens themselves.

The consequences which I deduce from all these stories, and these
poetical fictions, and the manner in which I speak of them in the
course of this dissertation, sufficiently vouch that esteem, and give
as true and certain only what is so in fact; and that I do not wish to
impose on my reader, by relating many things which I myself regard as
false, or as doubtful, or even as fabulous. But that ought to be
prejudicial to the dogma of the immortality of the soul, and to that
of another life, not to the truth of certain apparitions related in
Scripture, or proved elsewhere by good testimony.

The first edition of this work having been printed in my absence, and
upon an incorrect copy, several misprints have occurred, and even
expressions and phrases displeasing and interrupted. I have tried to
remedy this in a second edition, and to cast light on those passages
which they noticed as demanding explanation, and correcting what might
offend scrupulous readers, and prevent the bad consequences which
might be derived from what I had said. I have even done more in this
third edition. I have retrenched several passages; others I have
suppressed; I have profited by the advice which has been given me; and
I have replied to the objections which have been made.

People have complained that I took no part, and did not come to a
decision on several difficulties which I propose, and that I leave my
reader in uncertainty.

I make but little defence against this reproach; I should require more
justification if I decided without a perfect knowledge of causes, for
one side of the question, at the risk of embracing an error, and of
falling into a still greater impropriety. There is wisdom in
suspending one's judgment till we have succeeded in finding the very
truth.

I have also been told, that certain persons have made a joke of some
facts which I have related. If I have related them as certain, and
they afford just cause for pleasantry, let the condemnation pass; but
if I cited them as fabulous and false, they present no subject for
pleasantry; _Falsum non est de ratione faceti._

There are certain persons who delight in jesting on the most serious
things, and who