[6] Blas Valera, quoted by Garcilasso de la Vega, First Part of the Royal Commentaries of the Yncas, i. 124 sq.
But men not only select as their gods such supernatural beings as may be most useful to them in their struggle for life, they also magnify their good qualities in worshipping them. Praise and exaggerating eulogy are common in the mouth of a devout worshipper. In ancient Egypt the god of each petty state was within it held to be the ruler of the gods, the creator of the world, and the giver of all good things.[7] So also in Chaldea the god of a town was addressed by its inhabitants with the most exalted epithets, as the master or king of all the gods.[8] The Vedic poets were engrossed in the praise of the particular deity they happened to be invoking, exaggerating his attributes to the point of inconsistency.[9] “Every virtue, every excellence,” says Hume, “must be ascribed to the divinity, and no exaggeration will be deemed sufficient to reach those perfections with which he is endowed.”[10] The tendency of the worshipper to extol his god beyond all measure is largely due to the idea that the god is fond of praise,[11] but it may also be rooted in a sincere will to believe or in genuine admiration. That nations of a higher culture have especially a strong faith in the power and benevolence of their gods is easy to understand when we consider that these are exactly the peoples who have been most successful in their national endeavours.[12] As the Greeks attributed their victory over the Persians to the assistance of Zeus,[13] so the Romans maintained that the grandeur of their city was the work of the gods whom they had propitiated by sacrifices.[14]
[7] Wiedemann, Religion of the Ancient Egyptians, p. 11.
[8] Mürdter-Delitzsch, Geschichte Babyloniens und Assyriens, p. 24.
[9] Macdonell, Vedic Mythology, p. 16 sq. Barth, Religions of India, p. 26. Hopkins, Religions of India, p. 139.
[10] Hume, Philosophical Works, iv. 353.
[11] See supra, [ii. 653 sq.]
[12] Cf. Oldenberg, Die Religion des Veda, p. 281; Macdonell, op. cit. p. 18.
[14] Cicero, De natura deorum, iii. 2.