There existed, then, in time gone by (for if I
begin there it will be easier to see whether I have
done any wrong in my alterations and innovations
with regard to men) there existed, as I say, only the
divine, the heavenly race. The earth was a rude
and ugly thing all shaggy with woods, and wild
woods at that, and there were no divine altars or
temples—how could there be ?—or images or anything else of the sort, though they are now to be
seen in great numbers everywhere, honoured with
every form of observance. But as I am always
planning something for the common good and considering how the condition of the gods may be
improved and everything else may increase in order
and in beauty, it occurred to me that it would be a
good idea to take a little bit of clay and create a
few living things, making them like us in appearance; for I thought that divinity was not quite
complete in the absence of its counterpart, comparison with which would show divinity to be the