Sallustius, De Deis et Mundo

Ἐκ δὲ τούτων καὶ ἡ περὶ θυσιῶν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν εἰς θεοὺς γινομένων λέλυται ζήτησις. Αὐτὸ μὲν γὰρ τὸ θεῖον ἀνενδεές· αἱ δὲ τιμαὶ τῆς ἡμετέρας ὠφελείας ἕνεκα γίνονται. Καὶ ἡ μὲν πρόνοια τῶν θεῶν διατείνει πανταχῆ, ἐπιτηδειότητος δὲ μόνον πρὸς ὑποδοχὴν δεῖται· πᾶσα δὲ ἐπιτηδειότης μιμήσει καὶ ὁμοιότητι γίνεται, διὸ οἱ μὲν ναοὶ τὸν οὐρανόν, οἱ δὲ βωμοὶ μιμοῦνται τὴν γῆν, τὰ δὲ ἀγάλματα τὴν ζωήν, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ζῴοις ἀπείκασται, αἱ δὲ εὐχαὶ τὸ νοερόν, οἱ δὲ χαρακτῆρες τὰς ἀῤῥήτους ἄνω δυνάμεις, βοτάναι δὲ καὶ λίθοι τὴν ὕλην, τὰ δὲ θυόμενα ζῷα τὴν ἐν ἡμῖν ἄλογον ζωήν. Ἐκ δὲ τούτων ἁπάντων τοῖς μὲν θεοῖς πλέον οὐδέν· τί γὰρ ἂν πλέον γένοιτο θεῷ; ἡμῖν δὲ πρὸς ἐκείνους γίνεται συναφή.

From these things the inquiry about sacrifices and the other things done for the gods has also been resolved. For the divine itself has no needs; the honours are paid for the sake of our benefit. And the providence of the gods reaches everywhere, and needs only fitness for its reception; and all fitness comes about by imitation and likeness. That is why temples imitate heaven, altars the earth, cult statues life (and for this reason they are made in the likeness of living beings), prayers the intellectual, the charaktēres [magical signs] the ineffable powers above, herbs and stones matter, and the animals that are sacrificed the irrational life in us. From all these things there is nothing more for the gods (for what more could come to a god?), but for us there comes about a connection with them.