Single Idea 2635

[catalogued under 28. God / C. Attitudes to God / 4. God Reflects Humanity]

Full Idea

We agree the gods are happy, and no happiness is possible without virtue: there is no virtue without reason: and reason is associated only with the human form: then it must follow that the gods themselves have human shape.

Gist of Idea

The gods are happy, so virtuous, so rational, so must have human shape

Source

M. Tullius Cicero (On the Nature of the Gods ('De natura deorum') [c.44 BCE], I.48)

Book Reference

Cicero: 'The Nature of the Gods', ed/tr. McGregor,Horace [Penguin 1972], p.89