It was therefore idle in the antients to make a disquisition about the identity of any God, as compared with another; and to adjudge him to Jupiter rather than to Mars, to Venus rather than Diana. [[927]]Τον Οσιριν ὁι μεν Σεραπιν, ὁιδε Διονυσον, ὁιδε Πλουτωνα, τινες δε Δια, πολλοιδε Πανα νενομικασι. Some, says Diodorus, think that Osiris is Serapis; others that he is Dionusus; others still, that he is Pluto: many take him for Zeus, or Jupiter, and not a few for Pan. This was an unnecessary embarrassment: for they were all titles of the same God, there being originally by no means that diversity which is imagined, as Sir John Marsham has very justly observed. [[928]]Neque enim tanta πολυθεοτης Gentium, quanta fuit Deorum πολυωνυμια. It is said, above, that Osiris was by some thought to be Jupiter, and by others to be Pluto. But Pluto, among the best theologists, was esteemed the same as Jupiter; and indeed the same as Proserpine, Ceres, Hermes, Apollo, and every other Deity.
[[929]]Πλουτων, Περσεφονη, Δημητηρ, Κυπρις, Ερωτες,
Τριτωνες, Νηρευς, Τηθυς και Κυανοχαιτης,
Ἑρμης θ', Ἡφαιστος τε κλυτος, Παν, Ζευς τε, και Ἑρη,
Αρτεμις, ηδ' Ἑκαεργος Απολλων, ἑις Θεος εστιν.
There were to be sure a number of strange attributes, which by some of the poets were delegated to different personages; but there were other writers who went deeper in their researches, and made them all centre in one. They sometimes represented this sovereign Deity as Dionusus; who, according to Ausonius, was worshipped in various parts under different titles, and comprehended all the Gods under one character.
[[930]]Ogygia me Bacchum vocat;
Osyrin Ægyptus putat:
Mysi Phanacem nominant:
Dionyson Indi existimant: