falsehoods. Nevertheless, I believe that virtuous men attain an immortality of which they are fully cognisant. Let it be clearly understood that they achieve it by their own efforts, and not as a recompense conferred by the gods. By what right should the immortal gods degrade a virtuous man to the extent of rewarding him? The leading of a blameless life is its own reward, and no prize is there worthy of virtue, which is its own reward. Let us leave to vulgar souls, that they may thereby sustain their wretched fortitude, the dread of punishment, and the hope of a reward. Let us love virtue for its own sake. Gallio, if what the poets tell of the infernal regions be true, if after your death you are arraigned before the tribunal of Minos, you may say to him: "Minos shall not judge me. By my actions have I been judged."
"How," inquired Apollodorus the philosopher, "can the gods give to men an immortality they themselves do not enjoy?"
Apollodorus, indeed, did not believe in the immortality of the gods, or rather that their sway over the world should be exercised for all time.
He proceeded to develop the reasons for his belief.
"The reign of Jupiter," he said, "began after the Golden Age. We know through the traditions
