“You shall honour God best by becoming godlike in your thoughts. Whoso giveth God honour as to one that needeth it, that man in his folly hath made himself greater than God. The wise man only is a priest, is a lover of God, is skilful to pray; ... for that man only knows how to worship, who begins by offering himself as the victim, fashions his own soul into a divine image, and furnishes his mind as a temple for the reception of the divine light.” The following extracts will serve as a specimen of the religious or moral character of the _Golden Verses_:-- “Let not sleep come upon thine eyelids till thou hast pondered thy deeds of the day. “Wherein have I sinned? What work have I done, what left undone that I ought to have done? “Beginning at the first, go through even unto the last, and then let thy heart smite thee for the evil deeds, but rejoice in the good work. “Work at these commandments and think upon them: these commandments shalt thou love. “They shall surely set thee in the way of divine righteousness: yea, by Him who gave into our soul the _Tetrad_,[18] well-spring of life everlasting. * * * * * “Know so far as is permitted thee, that Nature in all things is like unto herself: “That thou mayest not hope that of which there is no hope, nor be ignorant of that which may be. “Know thou also, that _the woes of men are the work of their own hands_. “Miserable are they, _because they see not and hear not the good that is very nigh them_: and the way of escape from evil few there be that understand it. * * * * * “Verily, Father Zeus, thou wouldst free all men from much evil, if thou wouldst teach all men what manner of spirit they are of. * * * * * “Keep from the meats aforesaid, using judgment both in cleansing and setting free the soul. “Give heed to every matter, and set reason on high, who best holdeth the reins of guidance.[19] “Then when thou leavest the body, and comest into the free æther, thou shalt be a god undying, everlasting, neither shall death have any more dominion over thee.” Referring to these verses, which inculcate that the human race is itself responsible for the evils which men, for the most part, prefer to regret than to remedy, Professor Clifford, to whom we are indebted for the above version of the _Golden Verses_, remarks on the merits of this teaching, that it reminds us that “men suffer from _preventible_ evils, that the people perish for lack of knowledge.”[20] Thus we find that the principal obstructions, in all ages, to human progress and perfectibility may be ever found in IGNORANCE and SELFISHNESS. IV. OVID. 43 B.C.--18 A.D.