Page:The religion of Plutarch, a pagan creed of apostolic times; an essay (IA religionofplutar00oakeiala).pdf/163

 as one may regard it, His benevolent will towards all creatures, in accordance with which all divine things universally received the most admirable and perfect order; (2) the second Providence is that of the second gods, who move through the sky, by which human affairs are duly ordered, including those relating to the permanence and preservation of the various species; (3) the third Providence may properly be regarded as the superintendence of the Dæmons who are situated near the earth, observing and directing the actions of men. But, as we have already noted, this formal distinction between (2) and (3) is not maintained in practice. Cleombrotus, who knows more about these things than most people, insists that it is not possible that the gods could have been pleased with festivals and sacrifices, "at which there are banquets of raw flesh and victims torn in pieces, as well as fastings and loud lamentations, and often 'foul language, mad shrieks, and tossing of dishevelled hair,'" but that all such dread observances must have had the object of pacifying the anger of the mischievous Dæmons. It was not to the gods that human sacrifices were welcome; it was not Artemis who demanded the slaughter of Iphigenia; these were the deeds of "fierce and violent Dæmons," who also perpetrated those many rapes, and inflicted those pestilences and famines which are anciently attributed to the gods. "All the rapes here, and the wanderings there, that are celebrated in legends