Note 1291 — AN ESSAY ON MAN, IN FOUR EPISTLES (continued 3)
Reading edition
Several of the ancients, and many of the Orientals since, esteemed those who were struck by lightning as sacred persons, and the particular favourites of heaven.—Pope.
Plutarch mentions that persons struck with lightning were held in honour, which did not accord with the concurrent belief that lightning was the instrument of Jove's vengeance. Superstitions often clash.