, in his Fourth Satire.
The Speakers in this Dialogue upon Prayer, are
Socrates
and
Alcibiades
; and the Substance of it (when drawn together out of the Intricacies and Digressions) as follows.
Socrates
meeting his Pupil
Alcibiades
, as he was going to his Devotions, and observing his Eyes to be fixed upon the Earth with great Seriousness and Attention, tells him, that he had reason to be thoughtful on that Occasion, since it was possible for a Man to bring down Evils upon himself by his own Prayers, and that those things, which the Gods send him in Answer to his Petitions, might turn to his Destruction: This, says he, may not only happen when a Man prays for what he knows is mischievous in its own Nature, as