"Two kinds there are, of animated beings," he exclaimed: "Gods,
entirely differing from men in the infinite distance of their abode,
since one part of them only is seen by our blunted vision--those
mysterious stars!--in the eternity of their existence, in the
perfection of their nature, infected by no contact with ourselves:
and men, dwelling on the earth, with frivolous and anxious minds,
with infirm and mortal members, with variable fortunes; labouring in
vain; taken altogether and in their whole species perhaps, eternal;
but, severally, quitting the scene in irresistible succession.

"What then? Has nature connected itself together by no bond, allowed
itself to be thus crippled, and split into the divine and human
elements? And you will say to me: If so it be, that man is thus
entirely exiled from the immortal gods, that all communication is
denied [89] him, that not one of them occasionally visits us, as a
shepherd his sheep--to whom shall I address my prayers? Whom, shall
I invoke as the helper of the unfortunate, the protector of the good?

"Well! there are certain divine powers of a middle nature, through
whom our aspirations are conveyed to the gods, and theirs to us.
Passing between the inhabitants of earth and heaven, they carry from
one to the other prayers and bounties, supplication and assistance,
being a kind of interpreters. This interval of the air is full of
them! Through them, all revelations, miracles, magic processes, are
effected. For, specially appointed members of this order have their
special provinces, with a ministry according to the disposition of
each. They go to and fro without fixed habitation: or dwell in men's
houses"--

Just then a companion's hand laid in the darkness on the shoulder of