On such occasions Moses by cunning policy confounded these free-thinkers and spared none who censured his government.
With such precautions, and cloaking his punishments under the name of Divine vengeance, he continued absolute, and to finish in the same way he began, that is to say by deceit and imposture, he chose an extraordinary death. He cast himself in an abyss in a lonely place where he retired from time to time under pretext of conferring with God, and which he had long designed for his tomb. His body never having been found, it was believed that his God had taken him, and that he had become like Him.
He knew that the memories of the patriarchs who preceded him were held in great veneration when their sepulchres were found, but that was not sufficient for an ambition like his. He must be revered as a God for whom death had no terrors, and to this end all his efforts were directed since the beginning of his reign when he said that he was established of God—to be the God of Pharaoh. Elijah[3] gave his example, also Romulus[4], Empedocles[5] and all those who from a desire to immortalize their names, have concealed the time and place of their death so that they would be deemed immortal.
[1] This word must not be taken in the ordinary sense, for what is called a magician among learned people means an adroit man, a skillful charlatan, and a subtle juggler whose entire art consists in dexterity and skill, and not in any compact with the devil as the common people believe. [↑]
[2] He remained from time to time in a solitary place under pretext of privately conferring with God, and by this pretended intercourse with the Divinity he taught them a respect and obedience which was, in the meanwhile, unlimited. [↑]
[3] See Book of Kings, Chapter II. [↑]
[4] Romulus drowned himself in the morass of Cherres, and his body not being found, it was believed that he was raised to heaven and deified.