Note 65 — Chapter I · ON HEBREW MYTHOLOGY.
R. (Russell) Martineau translation
Even old Plutarch observed in reference to the then favourite explanation of the myths ex ratione physica: Δεῖ δὲ μὴ νομίζειν ἁπλῶς εἰκόνας ἐκείνων (i.e. of the sun and moon) τούτους (Zeus and Hera), ἀλλ’ αὐτὸν ἐν ὕλη Δία τὸν ἥλιον καὶ αὐτὴν τὴν Ἥραν ἐν ὕλῃ τὴν σελήνην (Quaestiones Romanae, 77). See Cicero, De Nat. Deorum, III. 24: Longe aliter rem se habere, atque hominum opinio sit: eos enim, qui dii appellantur, rerum naturas esse, non figuras deorum.