'Fast by the threshold of Jove's court are placed
Two casks--one stored with evil, one with good:'placed
and that he for whom the Thunderer mingles both--
'He leads a life checkered with good and ill.'
But as for the man to whom he gives the bitter cup unmixed--
'He walks
The blessed earth unbless'd, go where he will.'
And if any one asserts that the violation of oaths and treaties by the act of Pandarus was brought about by Athené and Zeus (Iliad, ii. 60), we should refuse our approbation. Nor can we allow it to be said that the strife and trial of strength between the gods (Iliad, xx.) was instigated by Themis and Zeus.... Such language can not be used without irreverence; it is both injurious to us, and contradictory in itself. [146]
Inasmuch as God is perfect to the utmost in beauty and goodness, he abides ever the same, and without any variation in his form. Then let no poet tell us that (Odyss. xvii. 582)
'In similitude of strangers oft