[325] Senec., _Epist._, 88; Sext. Empir., _Adv. Math._, l. vii., c. 2; Arist., _Métaphys._, l. iii., c. 4. [326] Arist., _Physic._, l. vi., c. 9; _voyez_ Bayle, _Dict. crit._, art. ZENON, rem. F. [327] Cicér., _de Natur. Deor._, l. i., c. 15. [328] _Semel jussit, semper paret_, Seneca has said. “The laws which God has prescribed for Himself,” he adds, “He will never revoke, because they have been dictated by His own perfections; and that the same plan, the same design having pleased Him once, pleases Him eternally” (Senec., _Præf. ad Quæst. nat._). [329] Cicer., _De Fato_, cap. 17. [330] Cicer., _ibid._, c. 9. [331] Aul. Gell., l. vi., c. 2. [332] Cicer., _De Nat. Deor._, l. i., c. 9; Plutar., _De repug. Stoïc._; Diogenian. _Apud._; Euseb., _Præp. Evang._, l. vi., c. 8. [333] Herodot., _Euterp._, § 171; Julian Firm., _De Error, prof._, p. 45. [334] Meurs., _Græc. Feriat._, l. i.; Plutar., _In Alcibiad._; Porphyr., _De Abst._, l. ii., § 36; Euseb., _Præp. Evang._, l. i., c. 1; Schol. Apoll., l. i., v. 917; Pausan., _Corinth_, p. 73. [335] Porphyr., _Vitâ Pythag._, p. 10. [336] The doctrine of Krishna is found especially recorded in the _Bhaghavad Gita_, one of the Pouranas most esteemed by the Brahmans; in the _Zend-Avesta_ and in the _Boun-Dehesh_, that of Zoroaster. The Chinese have the _Tchun-Tsieou_ of Kong-Tse, historic monument raised to the glory of Providence; in the _Pœmander_ and _Æsculapius_, the ideas of Thoth. The book of Synesius upon Providence contains the dogmas of the Mysteries. Finally one can consult in the course of the _Edda_, the sublime discourse of Odin, entitled _Havamâl_. The basis of all these works is the same. [337] This, as I observed in my Second Examination, should be understood only by the vulgar. The savant and the initiate easily restored to Unity this infinity of gods, and understood or sought the origin of evil, without the knowledge of which, divine Unity is inexplicable. [338] Talès, cité par Platon, _De Republ._, l. x.; Aristot., _Metaph._, l. iii.; Cicer., _Acad. Quæst._, iv., c. 37. [339] Anaximandre, cité par Aristot., _Phys._, l. i.; Sext. Empir., _Pyrr._, iii. [340] Anaximène, cité par Arist., _Metaph._, l. i., c. 3; Plutar., _De Placit. Phil._, i., 3. [341] Héraclite, cité par Platon, _Theætet._; Arist., _Metaph._, l. i., c. 6; Sext. Empir., _Adv. Math._, l. vii. [342] De Gérando, _Hist. des Syst. de Phil._, t. iii., p. 283; Arist., _Metaph._, l. i., c. 6; Diog. Laërt., l. ix., c. 19. [343] Cicer., _De Nat. Deor._, l. i., c. 9. [344] Boët., _De Consol._, l. i., prosa 4. [345] Plutar., _Adv. Stoïc._, p. 1075. [346] Cicer., _De Fato_, c. 10; Lucret., l. ii., v. 216, 251, 284.