How great, then, was the iniquity of the Gods that they could not be appeased but at the price of such noble blood! That was the stratagem of generals such as the Greeks call [Greek: strategema], and it was a stratagem worthy such illustrious leaders, who consulted the public good even at the expense of their lives: they conceived rightly, what indeed happened, that if the general rode furiously upon the enemy, the whole army would follow his example.

As to the voice of the Fauns, I never heard it.

If you assure me that you have, I shall believe you, though I really know not what a Faun is.
VII.

I do not, then, O Balbus, from anything that you have said, perceive as yet that it is proved that there are Gods.

I believe it, indeed, but not from any arguments of the Stoics.