execution of it, inftantly threw themselves at Timoleon's feet, and confeffed the whole affair, This ftranger, upon examination, was found to have known nothing of their defign; but hav ing feveral years before had a brother killed by the confpirator he had now dispatched, and having long waited for an opportunity of revenge, he at last discovered him in the temple, where he had planted himfelf for the villainous purpofe above-mentioned. Plutarch, from whence, we have borrowed this relation, has concluded it by remarking, with a kind of rapture, on the watchful care of Providence; which, in this inftance, had fo contrived it, that the ftranger fhould, for many years, be debarred, the means of doing justice to his brother, till, by the fame blow that revenged the death of one innocent man, he preferved the life of another. For my own part, I cannot be furprized that a man of Timoleon's piety fhould be diftinguished by fuch a remarkable deliverance.

(3.) The illuftrious Scipio Africanus, who was afterwards the conqueror of the dreadful Hannibal, and the inftrument of faving his country from ruin, never entered upon any thing of confequence, till he had first retired into Jupiter's chapel, most probably to implore from the deity fuch notices and intimations as would be moft ferviceable to the fate. For this purpofe, he ufed frequently to vifit, the Capitol

before

before day-light. It is likewife recorded, to his honour, that he afcribed all his victories and fucceffes to the favourable interpofition of Provi dence: [A. GELLIUS.

(4.) We are informed by Xenophon, that the -great Cyrus, who founded the Perfian empire, made the worship of the gods the first object of his cares. For this purpofe he established a number of Magi (or learned priests) whose bu-finefs it was to offer facrifices, and fing a hymn of praife to the deity every morning, as foon as the fun appeared in the horizon. The prince's disposition, as usually happens, foon communicated itfelf to the people; and his 'glorious example became the rule of their conduct. As the "natural reward of his piety, he enjoyed a long and profperous reign, which was never difturbed by any tumult or infurrection; and had the happiness of experiencing, during a course of many years, that thofe fubjects who fincerely reverence and worship their God, will be inviolaibly faithful to their fovereign, and preferve the warmest attachment to his perfon, and to the welfare and fecurity of the ftate.

(5.) When the Gauls, after making them-felves mafters of Rome, were befieging the Capitol, and taking every precaution to prevent a fingle citizen from efcaping, a pious young Roman attracted the universal admiration both of

his fellow-citizens and of the enemy. It was the stated custom, it seems, of the Fabii (one of the most illustrious families in Rome) to offer an annual facrifice upon the hill Quirinalis. For this purpose, Caius Fabius Dorfo (for that was the young hero's name) defcended from the Capitol with the facred utenfils in his hands, marched through the midst of the enemy, regardless of the threats and menaces of thofe he met with, and reached the hill in fafety. After he had fr nished the facrifice, he returned by the fame road he went, and with the fame intrepidity in his air and countenance; not doubting but the gods, whose honours he had thus been celebrating at the hazard of his life, would be his guardians and protectors. Nor were his hopes disappointed; for he paffed unhurt through the enemy's camp, and rejoined his countrymen in the Capitol without having received the least injury; the Gauls, it is fuppofed, being either stupified with aftonishment at fuch a prodigy of youthful valour, or difarmed by the force of religion; to which, at that time, they were remarkably addicted. [LIVY,

(6.) Some time before the astonishing adventure above mentioned; when the Gauls were advancing with the most rapid fury to destroy the city of Rome, and there were no hopes of defending it against such a numerous body of invaders; many of the Romans ftole off through

the fields, and many others retired with their most valuable effects among the neighbouring ftates. In this univerfal hurry and confusion, the veftal nuns, neglecting the care of their own private concerns, confulted together which of the facred images and utenfils they should carry with them, and which should be left be- . hind; they not having ftrength enough to carry them all. Such as they found it neceffary to leave, they concealed in cafks, which they buried very carefully in the ground; and equally dividing the reft, they took them up in their arms, and entered the road which leads to the Janiculum. Albinus, a worthy plebeian, who was at the fame time carrying off his wife and children in a cart, happening to discover them as they paffed, thought it impious to fuffer the : veftals to walk a-foot, with the Roman deities in their arms, while he and his family were riding at their eafe in a carriage. Wherefore, immediately stopping his horfes, he ordered his wife and children to alight, and placing the veftals and facred utenfils in their room, carried them chearfully to Cære, whither they intended to retreat. So much, fays Livy, was the religion of their country revered by our ancestors, that, even in the most dangerous extremities, they gave it the preference to every private connection [LIVY. (7.) When

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B. 5:

(7.) When Camillus was upon his march to Veii, he vowed a tenth part of the plunder to Apollo. After the place was taken and facked, the Roman fenate, to fulfil his vow, fent three ambaffadors by fea with a large cup of gold, which they were carrying to Delphos as an offering to the god above mentioned; but the ship being afterwards taken by a Liparenfian corfair, not far from the Straits of Sicily, was towed into the harbour of Lipara. It was the cuftom of that piratical flate to fhare their captures among the whole community, as being fo many prizes taken in the name, and under the fanction of the public. That year the chief magiftracy happened, by good fortune, to be in the hands of Timafitheus, a man, who more refembled the Romans than his rapacious coun-trymen; for he not only himself refpected the character of the ambaffadois, and the honour of the deity for whom the offering was intended, but inspired the people in general with the fame. religious fentiments; and, after entertaining the ambaffadors in the moft fplendid manner, at the public expence, attended them in perfon to Delphos with a strong convoy, and from thence conducted them to Rome. The Roman, fenate were fo much charmed with his behaviour, that they received him into an alliance of hofpitality; and confiderable prefents were made to

him