History of Rome, and of the Roman people, from its origin to the invasion of the barbarians . s well as againstthose which attempted tofill their places, he wascertainly an echo of pub-lic sentiment, and weknow that his books wereeagerly read. His is notthe cold and inexorablecriticism of Kant, whichrespectfully destroys sys-tems and dethrones belongs to thatfamily of bold and alertspirits who laugh whilethey destroy. Listen towhat he makes Timonsay to Jupiter:2 Nobody now sacrifices to you, or offers yougarlands, except perhaps some person at the Olympic games, andhe does it, not b
History of Rome, and of the Roman people, from its origin to the invasion of the barbarians . s well as againstthose which attempted tofill their places, he wascertainly an echo of pub-lic sentiment, and weknow that his books wereeagerly read. His is notthe cold and inexorablecriticism of Kant, whichrespectfully destroys sys-tems and dethrones belongs to thatfamily of bold and alertspirits who laugh whilethey destroy. Listen towhat he makes Timonsay to Jupiter:2 Nobody now sacrifices to you, or offers yougarlands, except perhaps some person at the Olympic games, andhe does it, not because he thinks it duty, but merely because it isan old custom. In a little time, most generous of deities as youare, you will let them dethrone you as Saturn was dethroned. Iforbear mentioning their sacrilegious attacks on your temple, ortheir laying hands even upon yourself at Olympia, when you, thegreat Thunderer, never so much as set on the dogs, nor called inyour neighbors to help you take the thieves when they ran noble giant-queller and conqueror of the Titans sat quietly. 1 Marble bust in the Museum of the Louvre. 3 Timon, 4. VOL. VI. 25 386 THE EMPIRE AND ROMAN SOCIETY. with his thunderbolt of ten cubits length in his hand, and let thempull the hair off his head. Rabelais, Ariosto, Cervantes thus by their ridicule gave thedeath-blow to the expiring Middle Ages; Voltaire and Beaumarchaisthus made an end of the ancien regime, which was at the point ofdeath. Had they appeared too soon, these merciless scoffers wouldhave met no sympathy, and would have been pilloried or burned ; butcoining at the right time, they performed in society the functionwhich Nature intrusts to those processes of fermentation whichhasten decomposition. But life comes forth from death ; the Dia-logues of Lucian, fatal to paganism, helped to clear the ground fora new It was in fact impossible that this audacious mockery of popularbeliefs should not have done much to shat
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