[Illustration]
The ancients, following the inspirations of an undisciplined imagination,
deified alike Virtues, Vices, and Evil principles. These divinities, the
number of whom was constantly increasing, had both altars and temples
consecrated to them: and from this kind of god, poets, painters, and
sculptors have taken ideas, and have blended the deity and the virtue in
beautiful unison, giving to them new and delightful charms.