- Of the scenic plays, the celebration of which the gods have exacted from their worshippers.
"But," says Cicero, "Homer invented these things, and transferred things human to the gods: I would rather transfer things divine to us."152 The poet, by ascribing such crimes to the gods, has justly displeased the grave man. Why, then, are the scenic plays, where these crimes are habitually spoken of, acted, exhibited, in honour of the gods, reckoned among things divine by the most learned men? Cicero should exclaim, not against the inventions of the poets, but against the customs of the ancients. Would not they have exclaimed in reply, What have we done? The gods themselves have loudly demanded that these plays should be