Why should we
be ashamed of this? What could be meaner than the Origin of Ancient
_Rome_? Yet her own Historians, proud as they were, scrupled not to
mention it, after she was arrived at the Height of her Glory, and
become a Goddess, _Dea Roma_, to whom Divine Honours were paid
throughout the Empire, and a stately Temple was erected within her own
Walls.
Hor. I have often wonder'd at that _Dea Roma_, and her Statues
resembling those of _Pallas_. What could they pretend her Divinity to
consist in?
Cleo. In her vast Power, which every Freeman had the Privilege to
imagine, he had a Share in.
Hor. What a _Bizar_, what a monstrous Humour must it have been, that
could make a wife People suppose that to be a Goddess, which they knew
to be a City!
Cleo. Nothing in the Universe, but the Pride of the Citizens. But I
don't think, that the Humour, which you seem to be so much astonish'd
at, is altogether worn off yet. In Poetry, Painting and Sculpture, you
see Rivers, Towns, and Countries continue to be represented under the
Images of Men and Women as much as ever. Look upon the Marble Figures
about the Pedestal of Queen _Anne's_ Statue at St. _Paul's_.
Hor. But No body is so silly as to worship them.
Cleo. Not in outward Shew, because it is out of Fashion; but the
inward Veneration, which is paid by many to the Things represented by
those Images, is the very same as it was formerly, and owing to the
same Cause.
Hor. In what Part of the World is it, that you have observed this?
Cleo.
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