T H E D I V I N I T I E S O F F A B L E.
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The stars were the first recipients of the homage of mankind; and thus Heaven is the most ancient of the Gods. As the world increased they deified heroes.
The Gods of the ancients were divided into many classes. The principal, or Gods of the first order, amounted to twenty, viz:—Jupiter, Juno, Neptune, Ceres, Mercury, Minerva, Vesta, Apollo, Diana, Venus, Mars, Vulcan, Destiny, Saturn, Genius, Pluto, Bacchus, Love, Cybele, and Proserpine. Besides these more important ones, they had others, such as Chaos; which did not belong to any particular class, and which were not the object of any faith.
"Before the seas, and this terrestrial ball,
And Heaven's high canopy, that covers all,
One was the face of nature—if a face;
Rather a rude and indigested mass;
A lifeless lump, unfashioned and unframed,