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It is not only spirits who punish the evil, the soul brings itself to judgment: and also it is not right for those who endure for ever to attain everything in a short time: and also, there is need of human virtue. If punishment followed instantly upon sin, men would act justly from fear and have no virtue.

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One may call the world a myth, in which bodies and things are visible, but souls and minds hidden.

Those who wish to hear about the Gods should have been well guided from childhood, and not habituated to foolish beliefs.

To say that God turns away from the evil is like saying that the sun hides himself from the blind.

May these explanations of the myths find favour in the eyes of the Gods themselves and the souls of those who wrote the myths.

The divine itself is without needs, and the worship is paid for our own benefit. The providence of the Gods reaches everywhere and needs only some congruity for its reception.

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Sallustius (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.