And if—what will never take place, yet I will state the supposition—
You will give satisfaction to men for your adulteries,
You, Poseidon, and you, Zeus, the ruler of heaven,—
You will, in order to make recompense for your misdeeds,
Have to empty your temples.”[72]
CHAPTER VIII.
THE TRUE DOCTRINE IS TO BE SOUGHT IN THE PROPHETS.
It is now time, as we have despatched in order the other points, to go to the prophetic Scriptures; for the oracles present us with the appliances necessary for the attainment of piety, and so establish the truth. The divine Scriptures and institutions of wisdom form the short road to salvation. Devoid of embellishment, of outward beauty of diction, of wordiness and seductiveness, they raise up humanity strangled by wickedness, teaching men to despise the casualties of life; and with one and the same voice remedying many evils, they at once dissuade us from pernicious deceit, and clearly exhort us to the attainment of the salvation set before us. Let the Sibyl prophetess, then, be the first to sing to us the song of salvation:
“So He is all sure and unerring:
Come, follow no longer darkness and gloom;