I know that the stories of heathen gods and goddesses are somewhat out of date — that recent poetry derives its greatest power from sentiment, from delineations of the human heart, from external nature, and from genuine history. […] Instruction directly from God is Revelation. […] An oracle signifies a truth from God. […] I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. […] They were held so sacred by the Romans, that the expression of driving a man from his Penates, signified that he was expelled from his home, his country, and from all that he loved.