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“The elements, though they can be changed, cannot be destroyed. Again, everything destructible is changed by time and grows old. But the world through all these years has remained utterly unchanged.”

Sallustius

XVII. That the World is by nature Eternal.
On the Gods and the Cosmos

World , Change , Time

“It is not unlikely, too, that the rejection of God is a kind of punishment: we may well believe that those who knew the Gods and neglected them in one life may in another life be deprived of the knowledge of them altogether. Also those who have worshipped their own kings as gods have deserved as their punishment to lose all knowledge of God.”

Sallustius

XVIII. Why there are rejections of God, and that God is not injured.
On the Gods and the Cosmos

Life , God , Knowledge

“Of the bodies in the cosmos, some imitate mind and move in orbits; some imitate soul and move in a straight line, fire and air upward, earth and water downward.”

Sallustius

VII. On the Nature of the World and its Eternity.
On the Gods and the Cosmos

Soul , Water

“Again, if the world is destroyed, it must needs either be destroyed according to nature or against nature. Against nature is impossible, for that which is against nature is not stronger than nature. If according to nature, there must be another nature which changes the nature of the world: which does not appear.”

Sallustius

XVII. That the World is by nature Eternal.
On the Gods and the Cosmos

World , Nature , Appearance , Change

“The fact that the stars predict high or low rank for the father of the person whose horoscope is taken, teaches that they do not always make things happen but sometimes only indicate things. For how could things which preceded the birth depend upon the birth?”

Sallustius

IX. On Providence, Fate, and Fortune.
On the Gods and the Cosmos

Star , Birth , Dependency , Personality

“Is not that perhaps a thing worthy of admiration… that by means of the visible absurdity the soul may immediately feel that the words are veils and believe the truth to be a mystery?”

Sallustius

III. Concerning myths; that they are divine, and why.
On the Gods and the Cosmos

Truth , Feeling , Soul

“Theological myths suit philosophers, physical and psychic suit poets, mixed suit religious initiations, since every initiation aims at uniting us with the world and the Gods.”

Sallustius

IV. That the species of myth are five, with examples of each.
On the Gods and the Cosmos

God , World

“Suppose it is said that there are evil spirits: — if they have their power from the Gods, they cannot be evil; if from elsewhere, the Gods do not make all things. If they do not make all things, then either they wish to or cannot, or they can and do not wish; neither of which is consistent with the idea of god. We may see, therefore, from these arguments, that there is no positive evil in the world.
It is in the activities of men that the evils appear, and that not of all men nor always.”

Sallustius

XII. The origin of evil things; and that there is no positive evil.
On the Gods and the Cosmos

Men , God , World , Idea

“The Gods being good and making all things, there is no positive evil, it only comes by absence of good; just as darkness itself does not exist, but only comes about by absence of light.”

Sallustius

XII. The origin of evil things; and that there is no positive evil.
On the Gods and the Cosmos

God , Light , Evil

“That power of the Gods which orders for the good things which are not uniform, and which happen contrary to expectation, is commonly called Fortune, and it is for this reason that the Goddess is especially worshipped in public by cities; for every city consists of elements which are not uniform.”

Sallustius

IX. On Providence, Fate, and Fortune.
On the Gods and the Cosmos

God

“Since we have received everything from the Gods, and it is right to pay the giver some tithe of his gifts, we pay such a tithe of possessions in votive offering, of bodies in gifts of (hair and) adornment, and of life in sacrifices.”

Sallustius

XVI. Concerning sacrifices and other worships, that we benefit man by them, but not the Gods.
On the Gods and the Cosmos

Life , God

“Souls are punished when they have gone forth from the body, some wandering among us, some going to hot or cold places of the earth, some harassed by spirits. Under all circumstances they suffer with the irrational part of their nature, with which they also sinned. For its sake there subsists that shadowy body which is seen about graves, especially the graves of evil livers.”

Sallustius

XIX. Why sinners are not punished at once.
On the Gods and the Cosmos

Soul , Nature , Suffering , Evil

“Nor need the fact that rejections of god have taken place in certain parts of the earth and will often take place hereafter, disturb the mind of the wise: both because these things do not affect the Gods, just as we saw that worship did not benefit them; and because the soul, being of middle essence, cannot be always right; and because the whole world cannot enjoy the providence of the Gods equally, but some parts may partake of it eternally, some at certain times, some in the primal manner, some in the secondary.”

Sallustius

XVIII. Why there are rejections of God, and that God is not injured.
On the Gods and the Cosmos

God , World , Soul , Time

“If when matter is destroyed other matter takes its place, the new matter must come either from something that is or from something that is not. If from that-which-is, as long as that-which-is always remains, matter always remains. But if that-which-is is destroyed, such a theory means that not the world only but everything in the universe is destroyed.
If again matter comes from that-which-is-not: in the first place, it is impossible for anything to come from that which is not; but suppose it to happen, and that matter did arise from that which is not; then, as long as there are things which are not, matter will exist. For I presume there can never be an end of things which are not.”

Sallustius

XVII. That the World is by nature Eternal.
On the Gods and the Cosmos

World , Universe

“The essences of the Gods never came into existence (for that which always is never comes into existence; and that exists for ever which possesses primary force and by nature suffers nothing): neither do they consist of bodies; for even in bodies the powers are incorporeal. Neither are they contained by space; for that is a property of bodies. Neither are they separate from the first cause nor from one another, just as thoughts are not separate from mind nor acts of knowledge from the soul.”

Sallustius

II. That God is unchanging, unbegotten, eternal, incorporeal, and not in space.
Variant translation:
The essences of the gods are neither generated; for eternal natures are without generation; and those beings are eternal who possess a first power, and are naturally void of passivity. Nor are their essences composed from bodies; for even the powers of bodies are incorporeal: nor are they comprehended in place; for this is the property of bodies: nor are they separated from the first cause, or from each other; in the same manner as intellections are not separated from intellect, nor sciences from the soul.
II. That a God is immutable, without Generation, eternal, incorporeal, and has no Subsistence in Place, as translated by Thomas Taylor
On the Gods and the Cosmos

God , Soul , Nature , Knowledge

“Now the myths represent the Gods themselves and the goodness of the Gods — subject always to the distinction of the speakable and the unspeakable, the revealed and the unrevealed, that which is clear and that which is hidden: since, just as the Gods have made the goods of sense common to all, but those of intellect only to the wise, so the myths state the existence of Gods to all, but who and what they are only to those who can understand.”

Sallustius

III. Concerning myths; that they are divine, and why.
On the Gods and the Cosmos

God , Understanding , Sense