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Tiresias: The Ancient Mediterranean Religions Source Database



9561
Plutarch, On Superstition, 170e


nanthey assume that the gods are rash, faithless, fickle, vengeful, cruel, and easily offended; and, as a result, the superstitious man is bound to hate and fear the gods. Why not, since he thinks that the worst of his ills are due to them, and will be due to them in the future? As he hates and fears the gods, he is an enemy to them. And yet, though he dreads them, he worships them and sacrifices to them and besieges their shrines; and this is nothing surprising; for it is equally true that men give welcome to despots, and pay court to them, and erect golden statues in their honour, but in their hearts they hate them and "shake their head." Hermolaüs attended upon Alexander, Pausanias served as bodyguard for Philip, and Chaerea for Gaius Caligula


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dietary laws Neusner Green and Avery-Peck (2022) 161
plutarch Neusner Green and Avery-Peck (2022) 161
superstition' Neusner Green and Avery-Peck (2022) 161