is most of all,[1] you shall have of them that will suffer for atheism, and not recant; whereas if they did truly think that there were no such thing as God, why should they trouble themselves? Epicurus is charged that he did but dissemble for his credit's sake, when he affirmed there were blessed natures, but such as enjoyed themselves without having respect to the government of the world. Wherein they say he did temporize; though in secret he thought there was no God. But certainly he is traduced; for his words are noble and divine: Non Deos vulgi negare profanum; sed vulgi opiniones Diis applicare profanum.[2] Plato could have said no more. And although he had the confidence[3] to deny the administration, he had not the power to deny the nature. The Indians of the west have names for their particular gods, though they have no name for God: as if the heathens should have had the names Jupiter, Apollo, Mars, &c., but not the word Deus; which shews that even those barbarous people have the notion, though they have not the latitude and extent of it. So that against atheists the very savages take part with the very subtlest philosophers. The contemplative atheist is rare: a Diagoras,[4]
- ↑ The Latin text shows that the phrase most of all means most extraordinary of all.
- ↑ It is not profane to deny the gods of the common people; but it is profane to apply the opinions of the common people to the gods. Diogenes Laertius. X. 123.
- ↑ Confidence. Assurance, boldness, fearlessness, arising from reliance (on one's self, on circumstances, on divine support, etc.).
"Alas, my lord,
Your wisdom is consumed in confidence."
Shakspere. Julius Caesar. ii. 2. - ↑ Diagoras of Melos, surnamed 'the Atheist,' lived in the last half of the 5th century, B.C.
