these people being, in all appearance, weary of this simplicity of religion, associated to the supreme God many of those Genii or subaltern divinities, who had been always subordinate to him. As these differed rather in degree of power, than in essence, the transition was very easy to a people, who were not very refined and subtle. To this another reason also contributed. As each of these inferior divinities governed with absolute power every thing within his respective sphere; fear, desire, all their wants, and passions inclined a rude people to have recourse to them, as to a more present, speedy and more accessible help in time of need, rather than to the supreme God, whose name alone imprinted so much respect and terror. It is an inevitable mistake of the human mind to carry the imperfections of its own nature into the idea it forms of the Deity. The deep conviction we have every moment of our own weakness, prevents us from conceiving how it is possible for one single being to move and support all parts of the universe. This is especially inconceivable to an ignorant
(whose religion seems originally to have differed but little from that of the Scythians and Celtes) when under the banners of Xerxes they entered Greece. See Cicero de legibus, L. 2.
