You have said that the general assent of men of all nations and all degrees is an argument strong enough to induce us to acknowledge the being of the Gods.

This is not only a weak, but a false, argument; for, first of all, how do you know the opinions of all nations?
I really believe there are many people so savage that they have no thoughts of a Deity.

What think you of Diagoras, who was called the atheist; and of Theodorus after him?
Did not they plainly deny the very essence of a Deity?
Protagoras of Abdera, whom you just now mentioned, the greatest sophist of his age, was banished by order of the Athenians from their city and territories, and his books were publicly burned, because these words were in the beginning of his treatise concerning the Gods: "I am unable to arrive at any knowledge whether there are, or are not, any Gods." This treatment of him, I imagine, restrained many from professing their disbelief of a Deity, since the doubt of it only could not escape punishment.

What shall we say of the sacrilegious, the impious, and the perjured?
If Tubulus Lucius, Lupus, or Carbo the son of Neptune, as Lucilius says, had believed that there were Gods, would either of them have carried his perjuries and impieties to such excess?
Your reasoning, therefore, to confirm your assertion is not so conclusive as you think it is.

But as this is the manner in which other philosophers have argued on the same subject, I will take no further notice of it at present; I rather choose to proceed to what is properly your own.
I allow that there are Gods.