The advantages found in history seem to be of three kinds， as they result either from the mere situation of the climate and country or from the form of government and of the character of the people， or from those finer principles and morals， which may be called the recommendations of philosophy.
No man knows, or ever will know, the truth about the gods and about everything I speak of; for even if one chanced to say the complete truth, yet one knows it not; but seeming is wrought over all things.
