Of this class may be reckoned the appearance of
two suns;[131] the nights illuminated by rays of light; the views of
fighting armies; swords and spears darting through the air; showers of
milk, of blood, of stones, of ashes, or of fire; and the birth of
monsters, of children, or of beasts who had two heads; or of infants who
had some feature resembling those of the brute creation. These were all
dreadful prodigies which filled the people with inexpressible
astonishment, and the whole Roman empire with an extreme perplexity; and
whatever unhappy event followed, repentance was sure to be either caused
or predicted by them.
FOOTNOTES:
[122] Euseb. Praep. Evang. l. 6. c. 9.
[123] Legi in tabulis coeli quaecunque contingent vobis et Feliis
vestris.
[124] Nec corpora modo affecta tabo, sed animos quoque multiplex
religio, et pleraque externa invasit, novos ritus sacrificando
vaticinandoque, inferentibus in domos, quibus quaestui sunt capti
superstitione animi. L. 4, dec. 1.
[125] Tacit, Annal. lib. 1, et ib. 4, cap. 10.
[126] Plutarch in his life.
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