3. From this the religion of the gods is variously changed among individual nations and provinces, inasmuch as no one god is worshipped by all, but by each one the worship of its own ancestors is kept peculiar. Proving that this is so, Alexander the Great writes in the remarkable volume addressed to his mother, that through fear of his power the doctrine of the gods being men, which was kept secret,5    The readings here vary much. The first part of the sentence is found in Minucius Felix, c. 21. [Vol. iv. p. 185.] had been disclosed to him by a priest, that it was the memory of ancestors and kings that was (really) kept up, and that from this the rites of worship and sacrifice have grown up. But if gods were born at any time, why are they not born in these days also?—unless, indeed, Jupiter possibly has grown too old, or the faculty of bearing has failed Juno.

III. Inde per gentes et provincias singulas varia deorum religio mutatur, dum non unus ab omnibus deus colitur, sed propria cuique majorum suorum cultura servatur. Hoc ita Alexander Magnus insigni volumine ad matrem suam scribit metu suae potestatis proditum sibi de diis hominibus a sacerdote secretum, 0569A quod majorum et regum memoria servata sit, inde colendi et sacrificandi ritus inoleverit. Si autem aliquando dii nati sunt, cur non hodieque nascuntur? nisi si forte Jupiter senuit, aut partus in Junone defecit.