Everything, then, from which any great utility proceeded was deified; and, indeed, the names I have just now mentioned are declaratory of the particular virtue of each Deity.
XXIV.

It has been a general custom likewise, that men who have done important service to the public should be exalted to heaven by fame and universal consent.

Thus Hercules, Castor and Pollux, AEsculapius, and Liber became Gods (I mean Liber[137] the son of Semele, and not him[138] whom our ancestors consecrated in such state and solemnity with Ceres and Libera; the difference in which may be seen in our Mysteries.[139] But because the offsprings of our bodies are called "Liberi" (children), therefore the offsprings of Ceres are called Liber and Libera (Libera[140] is the feminine, and Liber the masculine); thus likewise Romulus, or Quirinus--for they are thought to be the same--became a God.
They are justly esteemed as Deities, since their souls subsist and enjoy eternity, from whence they are perfect and immortal beings.
There is another reason, too, and that founded on natural philosophy, which has greatly contributed to the number of Deities; namely, the custom of representing in human form a crowd of Gods who have supplied the poets with fables, and filled mankind with all sorts of superstition.

Zeno has treated of this subject, but it has been discussed more at length by Cleanthes and Chrysippus.

All Greece was of opinion that Coelum was castrated by his son Saturn,[141] and that Saturn was chained by his son Jupiter.