LIBRARY OF THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY PRINCETON. N.J PRESENTED BY The Widow of George Dugan, '96. BR 165 .U55 1901 Kh0rn;,Gerhard' 1826-1901 TwurLf^Lfmchristiani- CopyT \ THE CONFLICT OF CHRISTIANITY, " And I saw, and behold, a white horse, and he that sat on him had a bow, and a crown was given unto him, and he went forth conquering and to conquer.''' — Rev. v:. 2. OCT 271923 THE CONFLICT OF CHRISTIANITY WITH HEATHENISM by Dr. GERHARD UHLHORN ABBOT OF LOCCUM, AND MEMBER OF THE SUPREME CONSISTORY IN HAM OVER E&ttrti anti ^Translates WITH THE AUTHOR'S SANCTION FROM THE THIRD GERMAN EDITION BY EGBERT C. SMYTH and C. J. H. ROPES REVISED EDITION NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 1901 COPYBIGHT, 1879, By CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS. PEEFACli. The woik of which a translation is now offered to the public has been highly commended by leading reviews in Germany, and has been received with much popular favor. It has also been translated into the Danish and Swedish languages. Its author's name is familiar to scholars through his contributions to the first edition of Herzog's Encyclo- paedia of Protestant Theology, as well as to the one now issuing ; through his work on the Clementine Homilies and Recognitions ; and through other historical and apologetic publications, one of which has been translated into English by the Rev. Charles E. Grinnell, and published under the title : " The Modern Representations of the Life of Jesus.' ' At home Dr. Uhlhorn is known also as an eminent preacher, and as one of the most prominent of the Lutheran clergy. Several volumes of sermons have lately appeared from hia pen, and also a collection of addresses on important topics of religious and social life. Gerhard Uhlhorn is the son of a shoemaker, and was born in Osnabriick, Feb. 17, 1826. From the gymnasium of his native city he went to the University of Gottingen, 5 C PREFACE. where he studied theology from 1845 to 1848. He then became a private instructor in the Universit}7, and served successively as a " Repetent" and as a " Privatdocent," until 1855. During this period, besides preparing and publishing a volume of sermons, he was engaged in a criti- cal and thorough study of the early Christian history. In 1855 he became assistant preacher at the royal Schloss- jjirche in Hanover, and subsequently First Treacher to the Court, and t member of the Supreme Consisto^ of Hanover. In 1878 he was installed as Abbot of Loccum, a mediaeval Cistercian Abbey which, toward the close of the sixteenth century, accepted the principles of the Lutheran Reforma- tion, and is now a Seminar}' for the education of evangelical preachers. Its abbot is ex officio president of the principal- ity of Kalenberg, and at the head (der erste Geistliche) of the Lutheran Church in Hanover. The subject which Dr. Uhlhorn has treated in the follow- ing work is fitted to call into exercise his best powers, — his quick and broad sj'mpathies with humanity, especially the poor and wretched, his ample and thorough learning, and his ability to clothe his thoughts in forms fitted to interest wide circles of readers. Dr. Channing, in his Essa}T on Fenelon, has recognized the grandeur and importance of thia theme, and its need of juster treatment. It is of permanent and universal interest. We are transported to an ancient battle-field, but the cause is our own. Christianity, from the beginning, had to encounter active, skilful foes. Judaism and Heathenism were no abstractions, but armed warriors. The struggle wo 3 a vital one, — not a question of mere organization, or subsidiary doctrine, but of the origin, PREFACE. 7 essence, authority, and power of the Gospel. The contest was also protracted. As it went on, all the forces which could be arrayed against the new religion had time to reach the field of conflict, and mingle in the strife. The victori- ous Roman, the acute and versatile Greek, the Oriental theo- eophist, the Jewish legalist, the power of the Empire, the learning of Alexandria, vested interests, wit, ridicule, sar- casm, reverence for the past, the pride of human reason, the cunning of covetousness, the accumulated resources of human wisdom and human depravity, were all marshalled ind taxed. A conflict so real, so strenuous, so continuous ind vital, deserves the careful attention of every student )f history and lover of truth. And it has special claims in an age like our own, when the question of the super- natural origin and power of Christianity is so widely dis- cussed.1 In its treatment of this subject Dr. Uhlhorn's book may be specially commended in the following particulars : (i.) its abundant use of the new materials which have been accumulated by the special investigations of Marquardt, Mommsen, Friedlander, Boissier, De Rossi, Keim, Overbeck, and others ; (ii.) the vmdness with which the principles and 1 The German edition of this volume bears the secondary title . Bilder aus dei Vergangenheit als Spiegelbilder fur die Gegenwart, Pictures from the Past as Illustrations for the Present. This resemblance of the ancient conflict to the modern has also been noticed, on its Apologetic Bide, by Dr. Shedd, Ilistory of Christian Doctrine, vol. i., p. 103; and by Mr. Bolton in the Introduction to his useful collection and classification of the arguments of " the Apologists down to Augustine." Mr. Bolton also sketches the peculiar characteristics of the earlier contest, — 1« some of which, in broader relations, I have alluded. 8 PREFACE. progress of the conflict are conceived, and the skill with which they are illustrated by apt citations from the writings of those engaged in it, and by the introduction of striking personal experiences and incidents of the period; (iii.) the success with which the author preserves the unity of his theme, and Lie consequent distinctness of impression which is produced. If these merits are justly attributable to the original work, Rnd are not seriously impaired in its translation, it invites the attention of a much larger number of readers than those who may be supposed to have a professional interest in its subject. I cannot but hope that it will prove adapted to the wants of such persons ; that intelligent laymen will deem it not without freshness and value, that pastors may find it helpful in their provision of reading for some who may con suit them, and that it may fill a useful place in town and village and parish libraries. I shall be especially gratified if any young persons who have not as yet been attracted to the study of Church History may be allured by this volume to these rich fields of thought and knowledge. Desiring also that it may promote the study of this History in its sources, special pains has been taken to make the references to au- thorities exact and copious. The latter half of the translation (from page 244) , with the corresponding notes, has been prepared and edited by the Rev. C. J. H. Ropes of Ellsworth, Me. The transla- tors have endeavored so far to assimilate their work that the unity of the original may not seem to have be on greatly impaired in its English form. E. C. S AjfDovsB Theological Seminary, October, 1879. CONTENTS. BOOK FIRST, ftfje pofoers in Conttfct. CHAPTER I. THE RELIGIOUS CONDITION OF TEE HEATHEN WORLD. plGJ 1. The Commingling of Nations in the Roman Empire .... 13 2. Decline of Religion 29 3. Foreign Rites, and the Longing for Redemption 62 4. Judaism 81 CHAPTER n. THE MORAL CONDITION OF THE HEATHEN WORLD. 1. Faith and Morals 92 2. Marriage and Family Life 97 3. Labor and Luxury 104 4. Public Games 119 5. Slavery 131 6. The Need of Moral Renewal 141 CHAPTER m. THE CHRISTIANS. \. The Preaching of the Gospel 150 \X2\ Worship and Church-Life 160 3. Conduct of the Christians 165 4. Benevolence of the Christians 191 5. Martyrdom 205 BOOK SECOND. &fje ConfUct. CHAPTER I. THE FIRST ENCOUNTER. 1. Preliminary Survey • • 817 2. The Persecution under Nero 241 lO contents. CHAPTER n. THE CHRISTIANS BEFORE THE TRIBUNALS. . PAGJ 1. Trajan's Legislation against the Christians 251 2. The Increasing Influence of Christianity 264 3. The Persecution under Marcus Aurelius 282 4. The First Signs of Victory ,297 CHAPTER IH. THE RE- ACTION, 1. The Internal Re-action in Heathenism 308 2. The Internal Re-action in Christianity 336 CHAPTER TV. THE GENERAL PERSECUTIONS. 1. From Marcus Aurelius to Decius 355 2. From Decius to Gallienus 365 BOOK THIRD. HL\)t Uutotg. CHAPTER I. THE DECISIVE STRUGGLE. 1. The Work of the Church among the Heathen 385 2. The Restoration of the Empire 393 3. The Persecution under Diocletian .......... 407 CHAPTER II. THE VICTORY. 420 CHAPTER III. TEE LAST EFFORT OF HEATHENISH. .... 445 Notes , 481 Index 501 BOOK FIRST. THE POWERS IN CONFLICT. 'Greater is He that is in you, than he that is in thewoi*ld." — Uohn iv.4. THE CONFLICT OF CHRISTIANITY WITH HEATHENISM, CHAPTER I. THE RELIGIOUS CONDITION OF THE HEATHEN WORLD. "But, when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman." — Gal. iv. 4. I. THE COMMINGLING OF NATIONS IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. Melito of Sardis, one of the earliest Apologists, calls attention to the fact that Christianity was born at the same time with the Roman Empire.1 Indeed the simple statement, in the story of onr Lord's birth, of the de- cree of taxation issued by the first Roman Emperor, affords one of the plainest indications that the fulness of the time had come. The name of the Emperor Augus- tus marks the meridian of the ancient world ; for the ancient world culminated in Rome, and Roman history in the rise of the Empire. And just at this culmina- tion of the old world, which was also the beginning of its decline, He appears whose coming was the point of transition from the ancient era to the new, the turning- point of the ages. As in Nature new shoots do not first start when the plant they are appointed to succeed is wholly dead, but while it is still outwardly vigorous put forth and grow, feeding upon the life whose disso- lution they hasten, so was it here. The Christian 13 14 COMMINGLING OF NATIONS. [book i. world did not first appear when the old world was already decayed. To human eyes at least, although destroying forces were secretly at work, it still stood in full splendor and bloom when the germ of the new life was implanted, and henceforth the progressive decline of the old life, and the aspiring growth of the new. went on in constant and reciprocal interaction. Tli ft t,n>pE of Rom ft was to unite, — to_ unite, we may say as confidently, for Christ. Born at the same tirae> the Roman Empire and the Christian Church were also providentially appointed for each other. The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of seed. If the seed is to be sown HEe field must be prepared. The Roman Empire was^the prepared field. The kingdom of heaven is like leaven. If the leaven is to be mixed with the meal, the meal must be shaken together. The Roman Empire was the shaken heap of meal appointed first of all to take up the leaven. All the peoples of the old world which hitherto had lived and labored apart, all their gains and achievements, their riches and treasures, their works of art and scientific results, their ancient traditions and legends, their gods and rites of worship, all existing elements of culture and forces of civilization, were now comprised in one Empire. Other empires have ex- ceeded this in territory and in population, but there has never been a second empire in the whole course of his- tory which so united in itself all the cultivated nations of its time. The establishment of this kingdom was the historical task of the Romans. Rome's geographical position gave her the expectation of becoming the head of such an Empire. Around the Mediterranean, the central sea of the ancient world, dwelt the cultivated nations. chap. ..J ROME'S TASK: CONQUEST OF THE WORLD. 15 Far into the midst of this sea projects the long penin- sula of Italy, and in the middle of this peninsula stood Rome, the centre of the centre. From this point the world was conquered and controlled. For this were the Romans endowed. They were not a people of peace but of war, not a nation of thinkers but of deeds, not rich in arts but great in bravery and politi- cal sagacity, equipped with a rare power of assimilation, a marvellous gift for organization, and a strong instinct for legislation and government. They produced no philosophical systems, but they carried law to its highest perfection ; they built no Parthenon, but they constructed roads and bridges to bind countries to- gether, and walls and castles to protect them. They were "the robbers of the globe," but in the divine counsel their robberies, unknown to them, had a higher purpose of union, and their Empire, brought together by reckless violence, was constrained by a superior will to serve the kingdom which Eternal Love has under- taken to establish in the world. When the Republic ended, the conquest of the world was at least substantially accomplished. Then it re- ceived, in the Emperor, one ruler. From this point began the fusion of the heterogeneous mass of countries and peoples which at first were only externally united. The first Emperor, Augustus, erected in the Forum at Rome a golden milestone. It stood as a symbol that there was the centre of the world. A net-work of ar- tificial highways, even then nearly completed, extend- ed from this point through the entire Empire. From Cadiz in Spain, through France, through Italy, away up to the Cataracts of the Nile, from the lands of the Danube even to the pillars of Hercules, the traveller 16 COMMINGLING OF NATIONS. Tbook u could journey over well-built roads, and find every- where, at certain distances, mutationes for change of horses, and mansiones for lodging at night. These roads were so many cords binding the conquered world to the centre, Rome, so many channels for the impulses which streamed forth from it. On these roads marched the legions to keep under control a subjugated world, and to protect the boundaries ; on these roads Pro- consids and Praetors went into the provinces to ad- minister law and justice, and swift couriers bore the edicts of the Emperor to the extreme circumference of the broad Empire ; over these highways commerce moved, and Romans of distinction journeyed to gain knowledge of the world; over these highways, too, went the messengers of the Gospel, bearing from city to city the joyful tidings of a manifested Redeemer. A vast interchange now began through the entire Empire. Hitherto War alone had brought men to- gether ; now for the first time this was accomplished by Peace. For after the fearful assaults and revolutions of the Civil Wars the Empire was really peace : " Now land and sea are safe, and cities flourish in concord and peace," exults an inscription in honor of Augustus. 44 All which has hitherto been concealed comes now into general use," says Pliny. And Philo : " The nox- ious elements are driven to the remotest distances, the salutary are gathered together from the ends of the earth into the Empire of the world." 2 To be sure, as compared with the commercial intercourse of to-da? that of the Roman world was but small. The imports, for example, from Asia into England from 1861 to 1869 amounted annually, on an average, to nearly seventy millions of dollars, while the entire Roman Era chap. i. J INTERCOURSE IN THE EMPIRE. 17 pire, according to an estimate found in Pliny, made use of only about five and a quarter million dollars' worth of merchandise from the East. Yet, in comparison with earlier times, traffic very largely increased during the age of the Emperors, and was of more importance in bringing the nations nearer together because mer- cantile intercourse was much more personal then than now. Like the great commercial cities of the East, — Alexandria, Antioch, Ephesus, Smyrna, Corinth, — Rome was a centre of traffic, as no city has been before or since. Every thing rushed to Rome. Whoever had any thing in art or science whose claims he wished to have recognized, whoever hoped to gain any thing by being near persons in power, whoever sought his rights in the highest tribunal of appeal, whoever expected through honest business, or even through adventure and fraud, to become rich, or whoever had obtained wealth and wished to see with his own eyes the wonders of the capital, and to share in the pleasures and luxu- ries which it afforded, went to Rome. On the streets of this matchless imperial city met the finely cultured Greek who sought here the sources for some history, and the half educated provincial who would gladly pass for a genuine Roman ; the Alexandrian merchant, brought here by the corn trade, and the half savage African who perchance had come with an invoice of lions for the next hunting-show ; the wily Syrian who hoped to propagate the worship of a new god, or sold amulets and charms, and the Gaul who, proud of the Roman citizenship recently presented to him, offered his homage to the eternal city ; the Jew who for the sake of seme pecuniary gain, or even to win proselytes, shunned not the long journey, and the Illyrian and Thracian who followed the Roman eagles. 18 COMMINGLING OF NATIONS. [book i The current toward Rome had a corresponding one outward into the provinces which, no less than the other, promoted the fusion of the nations. The admin- istrative officers who went forth to govern the con- quered lands in accordance with Roman laws, the knights who were drawn to the provinces by their financial operations, the armies and the colonies which Rome sent forth, all promoted that great process of assimilation which was now accomplishing with astonish- ing rapidity. In its numerous colonies Rome extended itself into the provinces. They were a part of Rome in the midst of Spain, Gaul, or Greece. The colonists carried with them their right of citizenship and their Roman law. Often foreigners were received into the colony, and even when they formed within it a separate community they still came under the constant influence of the Roman spirit. The stations of the legions on the Rhine and in Syria, in Britain and on the Danube, were so many points of support for this Romanizing process. And since the legions were obliged to recruit them- selves increasingly from the provinces, they were con- sequently all the more a school of civilization, especially as it was a principle never to station auxiliary troops in their native cantons. Separated from the soil of their birth by long years of military service, the stran- gers became Romans, and regarded Roman citizenship as their highest reward. How rapidly this transforma- tion was accomplished in the provinces can be seen in the case of Britain. This country was re-occupied in the year 43. Tacitus gives us a description of it in the year 61. How changed is every thing in these eighteen yea:*s ! A net-work of camps and castles stretches over the conquered Southern part, individual chieftains have 2HAP. i / PROGRESSIVE ASSIMILATION. 19 wholly adopted Roman manners, and govern as pre- fects; the bloody Druid worship is exterminated, Roman customs are diffused ; the colony of Camulodu- num (Colchester) has grown to an important city, in the midst of which rises a temple of Divus Claudius. We find circuses, theatres, marble goddesses of victory. Londinium is an influential commercial city, where the fabrications of Roman industry and the products of Gaul find a market, and the people are already accus- tomed to Italian pleasures. This assimilation to Rome would naturally advance more rapidly and powerfully in countries hitherto pos- sessed of little or no culture. Spain, Gaul, North Africa, soon became wholly Romanized. It was other- wise in the East. Rome met in Greece a higher culture than its own. Externally the conqueror, it became inwardly more and more subjugated by the Greek mind. What France once was to Europe, Greece was at that time to the world. As philosophers and rhetoricians, as schoo) -masters and physicians, as artists and artisans, even as men-servants and maid-servants, numerous Greeks came to Italy and Rome and diffused there the Greek language and philosophy, Greek morality and immorality. Conversely, it soon became a mark of ton ton to visit the seats of ancient Greek culture. As in the last century people went to Paris to receive the finest polish, so throngs of youths went to Athens, or even to Rhodes and Marseilles, to become acquainted with Hellenic science and art, often enough too with Hellenic excesses. Already gaining ground toward the end of the Republic, Hellenism made more and more rapid progress in the time of the Emperors, especially under Nero. 20 COMMINGLING OF NATIONS. [book h Thus Roman civilization, while it conquered the world, became itself more and more imbued with that of Greece. From this confluence of two streams issued a third, a new one, neither old Roman nor ancient Greek, but Graeco-Roman ; and it was this Graeco- Roman culture which, adjusting the old distinctions, filled the great Empire. Latin, indeed, was the popu- lar language only in the Western provinces, almost sup- planting there the old native tongues ; yet it was under- stood, as the speech of the dominant race, even in Palestine and on the Nile. More nearly even than Latin was Greek raised to the rank of a universal lan- guage. Whoever spoke it could count upon being able to make himself understood everywhere in the East and in the West. In the Common Law Rome gave the world another bond of union, whose influence became more powerful in proportion as it was developed. On this firm basis the world became more and more accus- tomed to the same forms of social life. The East, true to the stable character it still pre- serves, adhered most firmly to its peculiarities. And though the Hellenized cities, Antioch, Nicomedia, above all Alexandria, were influential supporters of the Graeco-Roman culture, still the transformation in these region? was far less complete than in the West. The Oriental indeed should be recognized as a third element with the Roman and the Grecian, especially in the sphere of religion, it being faintly discernible from the beginning of the time of the Emperors, and more and more clearly so in the second and third centuries. While the Roman spirit ruled in the domain of govern- ment and law, and the Greek in that of art and science, the Oriental impressed itself upon religious life. Thus chat, i.] RISE OF COSMOPOLITANISM. 21 this part of the mighty Empire had a share in its inter- nal growth, and one all the more important since the real and highest end for which this Empire existed must be sought for in religious development. It is hardly necessary to suggest what aids to religious progress, particularly to the extension of Christianity, these facts imply. A religious impulse given at one point now, was no longer in danger as it might have been centuries earlier, of perishing in the little circle of an isolated people. If it only had sufficient power it easily propagated itself through the entire Empire. It no longer found anywhere a limit. The abundant means of communication, the wide-spread understanding of the two leading languages, Latin and Greek, the community of interests, the common law, the greatly increased similarity of social customs and forms, all came to its aid. We need only glance at the life and labors of Paul to find this everywhere confirmed. A missionary activity like his was possible only in an Empire like the Roman. But none of these particulars, however important each may be, is of chief moment. Of infinitely more consequence is it that there was now developing in the Roman Empire a Universalism hitherto entirely un- known, the first step to the Universalism of Chris- tianity. At no point does the providential significance of the Roman Empire stand forth more strikingly than iiere. The human race develops as nations in the Christian era, as well as in the pre-Christian. " God hath de- termined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitation." With this word St. Paul, in his discourse at Athens, gives us a glimpse into the divine 22 COMMINGLING OF NATIONS. [mook i government and guidance of the nations of which they themselves are unconscious. But in the times before Christ, the significance of nationality was entirely unlike what it has been since. In the ancient era the nations were strictly separated from each other. Each nation lived for itself and labored for itself. There was no com ■ mon work of civilization in which the nations recipro cally supplemented each other, and together made prog ress in a common development ; but rather, one nation transmitted its work to another to be continued by it, the Oriental nations to the Greeks, and they to the Romans. In the modern era, on the contrary, nations are interdependent. No one is the sole possessor of culture, so that all the rest must repair to it. Each shares in the work of civilization, and all mutually give and receive. Though distinct as States, and though each preserves its own individuality, their culture is a common one. Nations which have a Christian civiliza- tion are united as members of a great whole. And their inner bond of union, however little inclination there may be in many quarters to-day to recognize this, is in reality their common Christianity. Rome is the connecting link between these two forms of national life, the transition from one to the other. In the ancient era we have only distinct nationalities, no unity; in the modern era distinct nationalities, yet above them a unity. In Rome, there were no longer distinct nation- alities, for all were outwardly comprised in one State ; yet a real inward unity, a common bond was still want- ing, — it had }Tet to be developed. In the Roman Empire the old nationalities declined more and more ; not merely those of conquered nations, but that of Rome as well. The old Roman families chap i.] DECLINE OF THE OLD NATIONALITIES. 23 died out; provincials took their places; and soon tLe Emperors, too, were from the provinces. Romans and non-Romans came to be regarded as equals, and the Roman right of citizenship was shared by provin- cials in an ever-widening circle. As ancient Roman art and morality, had degenerated, so also had the old Greek character. The Greek spirit in its purity with- drew ; Hellenism took its place. The Roman colony Corinth surpassed Athens, the Hellenized cities of Asia Minor were more important centres than the ancient seats of culture in Greece itself. More fully still did the subject nations of the West give up their nationality. Since all development took a purely national course, a certain narrowness adhered to ancient life. Modera- tion was the chief virtue of Antiquity. In it was rooted the artistic sense of the old Greek, as well as the strict virtue of the old Roman. This narrowness now disappeared. Through the magnificent intercourse and interchange of the universal Empire, national con- sciousness expanded into one winch was world-wide. In all departments of life there was manifested a free- dom from restraints which resulted in a disappear- ance of the old established forms, in a widening of view and of the entire circle of thought. The sharply dis- ci iminated philosophical systems lost their distinctive peculiarities. A practical philosophy was developed, which, far inferior in acuteness and logical consistency to the earlier, obtained for this very reason far wider acceptance. The styles of art commingled. Giecian finish and Oriental massiveness met in the colossal edifices of the Empire. But when purity of art was thus lost, and the Age could no longer rival the crea- 24 COMMINGLING OF NATIONS. [book i tions of classic time, art gained instead a diffusion never before attained. Never before nor since, has the world been so opulent in treasures of art. To say nothing of Rome, even provincial cities so abounded in lofty edi- iices, statues, and other works of sculpture, as greatly to exceed those of our capitals which are richest in such treasures. Never again has art so penetrated men's homes, adorning even all the utensils of daily life, and its entire environment. In the countries on the Danube, and on the Rhine, manufactories of earthen- ware copied Grecian patterns ; and the streets and pub- lic places of Roman colonial cities, in the midst of barbarous nations, were adorned with imitations of works of Grecian art whose originals, perchance, graced some place or palace in Rome. Culture, in a word, now tended to become universal. Numerous schools afforded to multitudes opportunities for knowledge hitherto available to only a few. The cheapness of books, and easily accessible public libra- ries, subserved the same end. Martial speaks of books which cost four or six sesterces, a trifle more than twenty or thirty cents.3 The equivalent of a page of print cost from about two to two and a half cents. The diffusion of books was also great. Pliny expresses pleasure that his works are sold by booksellers in Lyons. Already in Rome Caesar had projected the plan of establishing a library. Asinius Pollio carried it into effect, founding in the temple of Liberty the first public libraiy of Rome. Augustus established two others, to which a great number were afterwards added. Learn- ing became somewhat encyclopaedic ; an educated man was expected to be well-informed upon all subjects. Every branch of knowledge was cultivated, Grammar, chap, i.] EXTENSION OF CULTURE. 25 Antiquities, Agriculture, and the science of war. Char- acteristic of the times was the special attention paid to Universal History and Geography. The view became broader, and whereas the ancient Greek or Roman cared only for his own people and land, the Roman of the age of the Emperors was interested in every thing, in foreign nations and countries, in the plants and ani- mals of distant zones. In Rome unknown animals and other curiosities from far off lands were exhibited as shows to great throngs. Even the Emperors provided such sights. Successful attempts were made to acclima- tize foreign plants and animals. The natural products of different countries were also interchanged. South- ern fruits were transplanted to Rome, and still farther towards the North. In this way Gaul received the cultivation of the olive and vine. Journe}fs became the fashion. Whoever had not seen Greece, and visited the East, whoever had not been in Athens and Alexan- dria, hardly counted among persons of education ; and just as we have to-day our guide-books for Italy and Switzerland, so had the Roman tourist his guide-book which pointed out all the various sights and designated the temples, statues, pictures, antiquities, which were of spec;al interest. We see this fondness for travels, also, in the literature of romance ; whose appearance is itself a sign of the altered spirit of the age. It de- lighted in narrating fictitious journeys; and "the in- credible things beyond Thule," or the like, were eagerly read. It has been disputed whether this whole development ohould be considered a decline or an advance. Men even of that time had a clear presentiment that Rome then stood at the height of its prosperity, and so at 26 COMMINGLING OF NATIONS. (.boor i the beginning of its decline. "Heaven grt,nt that I may prove a false prophet, but I see Rome, proud Rome, fall a victim to its own prosperity," says Proper- tins,4 and Tacitus saw with a ken truly prophetic that the Germans would destroy Rome. Their freedom Seemed to him more dangerous than the power of the Parthians.5 Yet the controversy over the question of decline or progress is needless. Certainly that age, as compared with the palmy days of Greece and Rome, was one of decline. It was no longer productive as before. Feeling and reflection were stronger than energy of will. Nothing strictly new was produced. But must not the blossom fall before the fruit can ripen? Even if the commingling of nations, as of philosophical systems and of styles of art, which was accomplishing in the time of the Emperors, was a de- cline, it was also, as opposed to the earlier exclusive- ness, a salutary result of the mutual intercourse which was taking place. This widening of view, of thought, of interest, beyond the former narrowness, was no longer, it is true, the genuine ancient life, and neither a Sophocles nor a Phidias, neither a Pericles nor a Scipio, could then have arisen; yet who will deny that this expansion of knowledge, this general diffusion of art was also a progress? For do not Science and Art exist for this very purpose that as many as possible may enjoy their fruits? Least of all can it be denied that this entire Universalism then developing was the first step to the modern Christian era. Antiquity went beyond itself and reached out its hands to the new epoch. Itself passing out from the ancient narrowness into a world-wide breadth of thought and life, the old world became capable of accepting the Universalism of cKAe. i.J CHRISTIAN UNIVERSALIS!*. 21 Christianity. The thought of a religion not national but for all races would have recoiled from the rocky masses of the unbroken nationalities of an earlier age. Now, when the old nationalities were demolished, the thought of a kingdom of God embracing all nations could strike root, and the idea of a universal Church, which would have been entirely unintelligible to an ancient Greek or Roman, was to the Roman of the age of the Emperors, though still strange, no longer incom- prehensible now that in the Empire he had before his eyes a universal kingdom. All this, indeed, was nothing more than preparation. The old world was not able to produce from itself a Christian universalism. The result of that great pro- cess of comminution which was wrought out in the vast Roman Empire was only uniformity, not true unity. True unity presupposes diversity. \ It is a comprehen- sion of the manifold under a higher principle of organi- zation. Here we encounter a limitation which was insuperable to the old world. It lacked the thought of Humanity, and since it knew not the whole, it could not rightly appreciate the parts. The unity of man- kind, and the organization of the entire race in nations, — the great truths which Paul preached in Athens, the centre of ancient wisdom, — were hidden from it. Therefore the meaning of nationality was not rightly understood. At first it was exaggerated. There waa only national life, and nothing more. Afterwards it waa undervalued. In the Roman Empire the various nation- alities failed to obtain their just rights. They were completely lost in the great whole. The result was, not a living universalism but only a shadowy one, an abstract cosmopolitanism which did not know how to 28 COMMINGLING OF NATIONS. [boor i appreciate the meaning of nationality as a compact organism. The ultimate reason lies deeper. There was no reli- gious unity. That which to-day holds cultivated na- tions in unity, notwithstanding all their diversity, is their common Christianity. Were this taken away their development in culture would gradually di\ erge, and the nations would again, as in ancient times, confront each other as enemies, — unless, indeed, power were given to one of them to force them all into one empire. This, in many quarters to-day, will not be conceded. Appeal is made to the multiplied means of communication which now exist, and the consequent approximation of nations. Stress is laid on their com- mon culture, conceived of wholly apart from religion, — as if outward union could of itself create community of life ! as if the kernel of this entire common culture were not their Christianity! The thought of a hu- manity whose members are nations, is only possible where there is faith in one God and one Redeemer. As long as Polytheism rules, as long also as religion is purely national, humanity is split up into a multitude of nationalities rigidly secluded from each other. Even the Universalism of the Roman Empire was possible only because, in its religious development, a monotheis- tic tendency had already begun even within the limits of paganism, — a tendency to be sure which could not advance beyond a shadowy Monotheism. The abstract pantheistic Deity which was the result of this tendency corresponds exactly to the abstract, and pantheistically colored, cosmopolitanism which took the place of the earlier and vigorous consciousness of distinct nation- ality. When, instead of a dead deity, was preached chap, i.] RELIGIOUS LIFE OF ANr.riQUITr. 29 the living God, Maker of heaven and earth, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, then for the first time hu- manity was able to advance from this abstract cosmo- politanism into the true Universalism which rules the Christian era. This brings us to the religious condition of the Age of the Emperors.6 II. DECLINE OF RELIGION. After Paul had gone through Athens observing with attentive eye the life, and especially what was to him of deepest interest, the religious life of the renowned city, he summed up in the opening of his discourse the impression he had received in the phrase which Luther translates, somewhat inaccurately, " allzu aber- glaubig" (too superstitious), but which, no doubt, would be more correctly rendered, "too god-fearing" or "deity-fearing." A survey of the religious life of the Roman Empire must produce the same impression. What a host of gods and goddesses whom the nations serve, how countless the temples and holy places' adorned with vast wealth and the glory of art, how endlessly varied the rites and forms of worship ! In fact no reproach would be more unjust than to call the old world irreligious. On the contrary Christians, to the heathen, must have seemed irreligious; and often enough were they thus reproached, besause they had no religious ceremonies like those to wl ich the heathen were accustomed daily, and hourly, and at every step of life. The whole world was full of gods. Their temples rose in all places, — large and splendid edifices and little chapels, in cities and vi'lages, in field and forest, on the verge of the wilderness and on the sum- 30 DECLINE OF RELIGION. [book, i mil of the Great St. Bernard pass, where a temple of Jupiter7 invited the traveller who had come thus far to offer thanksgivings and vows for a safe return home. 44 Our country is so peopled with gods," Petronius makes a woman from Campania say, 44 that it is easiei to find a god there than a man."8 Or there were at least sacred trees, stones, rocks which were decked by heathen piety with garlands and ribbons, and which no one passed by without some sign of reverence. The entire life was permeated by religion. The State was founded upon religion. It was very well understood that there must be something which binds the conscience and disposes men freely to obey the laws. This was faith in the gods, in Providence, in retributive justice. 44 Sooner," says Plutarch,9 44 may a city exist without houses and ground, than a State without faith in the gods. This is the bond of union, the support of all legislation." Polybius praises the Romans especially for their piety. 44 Among them," he says, 44 the administration of public funds is more secure by means of the oath than elsewhere through the most extensive system of checks." 10 At every im- portant public transaction the gods were consulted, sacrifices offered, and religious rites observed ; every assembly of the people was opened with prayer. Au- gustus made an express decree that every senator, before he took his place, should go to the altar of the deity in whose temple the assembly was held, and offer a libation, and strew incense.11 Down even to the last days of the Republic it was the looking up to the ancestral deities which inspired the army. When, before a battle, Pompey spoke to his soldiers of the art of war they remained unmoved, but when Cato re* chap, l J LOCAL RITES. DOMESTIC DEITIES 31 minded them of the dii patrii (though himself without faith in them), he inflamed the whole army, and the battle was a victory. And as the entire State, so also every community, every city, every circle of cities, had its special cult, well-founded institutions, rich and dis- tinguished colleges for priests, and special feast-days and sacrifices. Every province, every city, every vil- lage, honored with local rites its protecting divinity, and everywhere the various religious observances were most intimately connected with the civil constitution of the community and sustained by local patriotism. In the same way all domestic and family life had a religious tone. Each period of life, every important event, was celebrated with religious services. Though the names of the numerous deities who are mentioned as presiding over domestic life designate rather functions of the deity than divine beings conceived of as hav- ing independent existence, yet these very names afford proof of what has just been stated. There was the goddess Lucina who watched over the birth of a child ; Candelifera in whose honor at such a time candles were lighted; Rumina who attended to its nursing; Nun- lina who was invoked on the ninth day when the name was given ; Potina and Educa who accustomed it to food and drink. The day when the child first stepped upon the ground was consecrated to Statina ; Abeona taught it to walk: Farinus to lisp; Locutinus to talk; Cunina averted from it the evil enchantments lying in the cradle. There was a god of the door (Forculns), a god of the threshold (Limentinus), a goddess of the hinges (Cardea). There was a god for the blind (Cseculus), a goddess for the childless (Orbana).12 "Even the biothels," exclaims Tertullian, "and cook-shops and 32 DECLINE OF RELIGION. [book i prisons have their gods." 13 Every household festival was at the same time a divine service ; each class had its gods whom it invoked, and from whom it expected help and protection in its work. From the niche of a rafter, Epona, the goddess of horses, looked down upon the stable ; on the ship stood the image of Neptune ; the merchants prayed to Mercury for successful bargains. All tillage of the soil began with prayer. Before har- vest a pig was sacrificed to Ceres, and the labor of fell- ing a forest was not commenced until pardon had been supplicated from the unknown gods who might inhabit it.14 This whole rich religious life of the ancient world makes at once an impression of the greatest variety. What diversity wherever we observe it, whether on the shores of the Nile or the Orontes, in the cities of Greece or at the Roman Capitol. How entirely different were the gods invoked by the Egyptian and Syrian, the Greek and the Roman. The Orient degraded the deity to the level of Nature A materialistic tendency pervaded the religions of Egypt and Anterior Asia. Therefore they found so many adherents in the materialistic age of the Emperors. Sexual life, procreation, and death, were attributed to deity, and consequently the service of these monstrous beings was on the one hand gloomy and stern, dark and cruel, as they themselves, and on the other full of in- toxicating pleasure. Moloch delighted in the agonized cries of the children burned in his honor, while in Melytta's temple prostitutes enticed to lewdness, and virgins sacrificed their chastity to the goddess. The Osiris myth in Egypt, the Adonis myth in Syria reflect the thoughts of death and resurrection which governed chap, i.] THE ORIENTAL AND GREEK RELIGIONS. 33 these religions. Adonis was killed in the hunt by a boar. The quickly withering little gardens planted at his festival were symbolic of his fate. By the side of the bier on which lay the image of Adonis with the open, bleeding wound, a cultus of mourning-rites was celebrated with expressions of the most frantic grief. Women wailed : Alas, Lord ! his glory is gone ! They tore their hair, and lacerated their breasts. Seven days the mourning lasted : then arose the cry, Adonis lives ! Adonis has ascended ! and festivals of wildest joy src- ceeded the mourning. The Greeks took the opposite course. They ideal ized Nature. An idealistic tendency ruled their cultus, as a materialistic tendency ruled the cultus of the Orient. The holy God was hidden from them also. Instead of holiness, beauty took the supreme place. Unlike the Orientals, the Greek revered his gods, not as monstrous beings, but as human types of perfect beauty. Their worship was bright and cheerful. It lacked the earnestness pervading Oriental worship, which, with all its distortions, was more profound, and contained unconscious presages of the Deity who has indeed in birth and death descended to redeem us, but it was free from the gross materialism, the cruelty and licentiousness, which offend us in the temples of Asia. Upon the Greek dawned the presentiment of a mora] order of the world. Is Baal, after all, only the sun who creates life, and then again parches and destroys "what he himself has created, Zeus is also the guardian of justice. jDoes Aschera represent only the sensuous impulse of nature, Here is the protectress of marriage and domestic life. All here is purer, for in respect to chastity the Japhetic nations were in advance of the 84 DECLINE OF RELIGION. [book l early corrupted descendants of Ham. This, their fair- est inheritance, the Greeks very early squandered ; and, as the result, exhibited a wanton frivolity which was the exact opposite of Oriental earnestness. To his humanized gods the Greek in his rich mythology im- puted human failings and vices, and Olympus, with its carousals and conflicts, its craft and violence, its amor- ous intrigues and ambitious striving, is but a picture of Greek national life itself. While the Oriental was sub- ject to his gods, the Greek knew himself to be lord of his. He had himself made them; their images were the workmanship of his artists, their legends the crea- tions of his poets. Greece was also the land from which proceeded unbelief. As the Greeks, and the Romans whom they infected, lost their faith in the Olympian gods, the monstrous Oriental deities became again more powerful. They were still believed in ; and therefore they gained a marvellous power of attraction for those who no longer had faith in Zeus and Here, in Jupiter and Juno. Still differently was the religious life of Rome formed and developed. In Rome the State was every thing, therefore religion was interwoven with public life to a degree never elsewhere realized. " Our ancestors," says Cicero,15 very significantly, "were never wiser, never more inspired by the gods, than when they de- termined that the same persons should preside over the rites and ceremonies of religion and the government of the State." The priest, who had so important an in- fluence in the East, was completely overshadowed in Rome by the statesman. The Consul offered sacrifices, and though he was surrounded by priests, they were mere masters of ceremonies who showed what was chap, i.] ROMAN STATE RELIGION. 35 to be done and what words were to be used.18 Il Rome the State, Home itself, was honored as the su- preme deity. In the times of the Republic the State was represented by the Capitoline Jupiter. The con- querors marched to his temple, and brought to him their thank-offerings. When, however, Monarchy, Csesarism, had supplanted the Republic, the Emperors became representatives of the State, and thus, to a certain ex- tent, took the place of the Capitoline god. With per- fect logical consistency the Emperors themselves became gods, and the official worship of these Emperor-gods became the proper State religion. The Roman religion, like the Roman character, was somewhat prosaic and abstract. It lacked imagination. The Roman gods, unlike the Greek, had no rich legend- ary endowment. Every thing was practical, and con- trolled by a strong juridical bias. A Roman's reli- gious duties were prescribed for him with the greatest exactness, and to the last detail. What god he was to invoke, in what way, with what words, all this was defi- nitely settled by ancient tradition. In these particulars he was excessively punctilious, whereas he was entirely unconcerned as to the state of his soul while perform- ing these ceremonies. He was deemed religious who best knew the ritual, and most exactly observed it. Such a man expected the divine blessing as his right. " Whom the gods like, they favor." And because hia religion was thus purely external ( Ceremonice Romance was the expressive name of the Roman religion), de- void of imagination and appeals to feeling, the genuine Roman had so profound a dread of all excess in religious matters. Superstition immoderate piety, was hated by him as much as impietas, impiety. He kept his accounts 38 DECLINE OF RELIGION. [boor l with the gods in order, would not remain in debt to them; but would only pay what he owed. It is im- portant to realize this character of the Roman religion, for the Romans were the ruling nation, and from this point of view can be judged how unintelligible, how resectable must have appeared to a genuine Roman that Christianity which in his eyes was only a repre- hensible super stitio. But however manifold, however variegated and rid a development Heathenism attained in the ancient world, it was still everywhere fundamentally the same. " They worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator," — this was always its essential character in all its forms. And because of this homogeneity these dissimilar forms could interchange, intermingle, and enter into new combinations. While the Mono- theist of necessity regarded all gods, save the one only God, as idols to be utterly rejected, the Polytheist readily acknowledged gods everywhere, even though they were not his own. Indeed he was disposed to find his own in foreign gods, and to recognize them in all places even in the strangest disguises. The Roman easily persuaded himself that the Olympian gods were identical with his own. Zeus was the same as Jupiter, Here as Juno ; even the grotesque deities of the Orient were not alien to him. Everywhere he sought and found his native gods, easily blended their forms with those of other deities, and transferred the symbols and names of the one to the other. Csesar17 found among the Gauls Mercury, Mars, Apollo ; indeed Pliny relates that the inhabitants of the distant island Tapobrane (Ceylon) worshipped Hercules.18 A combination of deities arose which led at last to a pantheistic divinity chap, i.] FOREIGN GODS INVITED TO ROME. 37 An abstract Monotheism hovered more or less disti nelly over Polytheism. As the commingling of nations gave rise to an abstract Universalism, the hrst step to a Christian universalism, so the blending of religions produced an abstract Monotheism, the first step to Christian monotheism. Here also appears the significance of Rome as the collecting or uniting power. Arnobius justly calls Rome " the worshipper of all divinities." 19 It was a maxim of the Roman State to tolerate all religions. Upon the conquest of a province, or city, its gods were invited with a solemn formula to come and take their seat in Rome. " If there be a god or goddess who has taken this people and city, N. u., under its protection, Deity, whosoever thou may est be, I pray thee, I adjure thee, to forsake this people and city, to withdraw from this city and its temples, and come to Rome to me and mine, that our city, our temples and sacrifices, may be acceptable to thee. If thou wilt do this, I vow to thy divinity temples and games."20 The gods were not taken away captive, and while the whole conquered na- tion and territory were regarded as at the free dispo- sal of the conqueror, Rome acknowledged their deities. The Athenians retained their Athene, the Syrians their Syrian goddess, the Jews their Jehovah. However rigidly Rome centralized, in the religious domain the cities preserved what was peculiar to them, their potir tifioes and flamines, their local rites and institutions, which could not easily be alienated from their original design. This was not mere political sagacity; it was founded on the idea that the gods of other nations were also gods who if badly treated might harm the Ro- mans. It was therefore held to be a duty even to 38 DECLINE OF RELIGION. [book i honoi them. Augustus declared to the Alexandrians that lie spared their city in honor of the great god Serapis.21 He also sent presents to the temple in Jerusalem, and had sacrifices offered there for himself.22 However foreign it would have been to the Romans to deprive subjugated nations of their religions, they nevertheless took their own gods into the provinces. The armies, the public officers, the colonies carried with them the Oapitoline Jupiter, the ceremonice Ro- mance, and required for them as friendly a recognition as they themselves extended to the local deities. This was all the more exacted because the official religion of Rome now culminated in the divine homage paid to the Emperor. In the adoration of the Divus Augustus, and the other Dm, a universal State religion was con- stituted which had more profound significance than is commonly supposed. In this way there was effected in the provinces a strange medley of Roman and local deities. The soldiers, especially, were largely instru- mental in bringing this about. Ordinarily they were very superstitious. If they remained a long time in a country, they worshipped its gods and took them with them on their return. Very often the Roman and the local deities were associated. A cavalry officer in an inscription between Syene and Phyl?e, gives thanks for his fortunate discovery of some new marble quarries to Jupiter Amnion Anubis and Juno Regina, the pro- tectress of mountains.23 Another, " zealous for all holy things," makes in Egypt a vow " for the welfare of his wife and children" to the great god Hermes Paytnu- phis.24 On the other hand the provincials were inclined to recognize and honor the Roman gods while they also retained their own. Thus under Tiberius a corporation chap. I THE MINGLING OF DEITIES. 39 of seamen in Paris erected to Jupiter Capitolinuh an altar on whose socle may be also seen the name* of the old Celtic deities Esus and Tarvus.25 Temples have been found which were consecrated jointly to A polio and the Gallic goddess Sirona, to Mercury and Ros- merta.26 Moreover the gods worshipped in the provinces mi- grated to Rome. Every thing worthless and disgrace- ful, says Tacitus,27 flows from all quarters into Romev and is there honored. The gods of the whole earth gathered together in the chief city of the world ; and however strenuously the genuine Roman spirit, as ex- pressed by Tacitus, at first rejected foreign rites, and numerous as were the edicts issued for their suppres- sion, or at least restriction, that commingling of deities which began as early as the decline of the Republic, and which characterized more than all else the period of the fall of Heathenism, went on uninterruptedly to its completion. As all nationalities dissolved and be- came fused in one mass, so there was also a dissolution of religions. A religious chaos unparalleled in history took the place of the national religions in order that out of this chaos a new world might be created. This entire process presupposes that the pagan faiih was in its decline. Had it still retained its fresh, youthful vigor, such agitation, such restless fluctuation, would not have been possible. On the other hand its should not be overlooked that this process sprang from a strong religious need, and in a certain sense con- tributed to the strengthening of the popular religiun. The multitudinous forms of Heathenism arrayed them- selves as a unit against Christianity their common foe. And since the Roman gods had borrowed somewha* 40 DECLINE OF RELIGION. [book i from the Oriental, they were better fitted to appease the religions need, and consequently better able to resist the new faith. f In general we must beware of the representation / that Christianity, at its advent, found the religious life I of the pagan world already dead, or even in complete J decay. Victory was not made so easy for it. The usual statements as to the decay of religion in the j earlier years of the period of the Emperors, are, I am convinced, greatly exaggerated, and need in more re- spects than one essential qualification. This much is true : the decline had already begun, but its completion went on very slowly, constantly retarded by mighty forces, and interrupted by seasons of new progress, such as for instance was the time of the Empire when compared with the last days of the Republic. If we would endeavor to trace a picture of the religious con- dition of that time we should do well first of all to realize how difficult it is to estimate the general state of faith in an age. This is one of the hardest of tasks even when copious contemporary materials are at com- mand. How much more difficult is it when we possess only fragments of its literature, isolated and as it were accidental remains, inscriptions, and the like. The literature of the time bears indeed a strongly marked acepticai and rationalistic (aufklarerischen) character but this Is no certain test since a people can have more faith than their literature indicates, for this always proceeds from a particular class; while, if we take into account inscriptions and similar memorials, we should always bear in mind that in public documents, in accordance with traditional custom, a faith is often confessed which in reality no longer exists. The two chap. I.] CONTINUED OBSERVANCE OF PAGAN RITES. 41 sources must be combined if we would obtain a correct insight into the religious life of Heathenism at that time. It would certainly be a mistake to suppose that Faganism was already in manifest outward decline. On the contrary there was as yet no visible sign of de- cay. The temples still stood in all their splendor, — those destroyed in the civil wars having been restored with great magnificence, — and were visited by thou- sands. Feasts and sacrifices were celebrated with great pomp. The altars were not without suppliants and seekers for aid. The oracles were still consulted ; and though they had lost their political importance, Pythia in Delphi, and many others, still responded to the in- quiries of persons in private life. How large was the number of sacrifices can be inferred from the fact that in Rome alone, on the accession of the Emperor Caligula, 100,000 animals were ^lain in sacrifice in three months. Countless inscriptions prove sufficiently that there were yet believers who bestowed rich gifts upon the temples and priests. Here an officer gives 100,000 sesterces (about $5,000) to build for a goddess a new chariot to be used in processions; there some one gives to Father Liber a golden necklace weighing three ounces, or another presents a silver statue to Felicitas. When we consider how few comparatively of such votive inscriptions have come down +o us, we can infer how great was th3 number of gifts, Imildings, institutions, bequests, daily bestowed for religious pur- poses. Heathenism had as yet by no means outlived itself. There was much which still assured to it for centuries a tenacious life. First, its union with the political and 4L2 DECLINE OF RELIGION. [book t public life of Rome. Everywhere religion was inti- mately interwoven with the organization of the State ; upon it rested outward morality, and even those advanced thinkers who personally no longer believed in the gods, but only in Nature, were of necessity pious after the Roman way as respected the whole mass of traditional usages, the national sanctuaries, the "fire of Vesta, the haruspices and auguries, memorial services for the dead, or whenever they were officially present at sacrifices, and perhaps themselves obliged to conduct them. The Emperors in person performed solemn lus- trations for the city. On special occasions, as under Nero after the Pisonian conspiracy, the gods were remembered with costly gifts. The Roman aristocracy, also, though at heart long estranged from the estab- lished cultus and disposed in private to smile at it, did not oppose it. On the contrary they deemed it of con- sequence officially to prove their Romanism by strict adherence to the State religion. They had moreover a personal interest in its maintenance beside that which arose from their membership in the many higher colleges of priests. As in Rome, so in all the cities religious life was most closely connected with the muni- cipal constitution. In the East there were a great many municipal associations (the Koinon) which rested wholly on a religious basis, and were designed to secure the observance of common religious festivals. Natur- ally those in authority had an interest, of which they were well aware, to preserve what was established. The general adherence of the people to the existing forms of religion cannot be doubted in view of the habitually conservative feeling in such matters of the masses. In the cities numerous associations formed so chap, i.] POPULAR BELIEF. FAMILY RELIGION. 43 many centres for the worship of this or that god. The burial-clubs, the guilds of artisans, merchants, work- men of various sorts, all of which gained increasing importance to society during the Empire, bore at the same time a religious character. Each had some god or other as a patron, and was instituted, in part, for his worship. His image and altar stood in their place of assembly, and every meeting began with a sacrifice. That the country-people adhered even more firmly to the ancient religion, need scarcely be mentioned. They still recited with simple faith the old legends, and dreaded to meet Pan at noon in the field, or to find on their return home a faun on the hearth. In accordance with ancient custom they still observed the feasts of the gods, the festival of Anna Perenna, or of Juno in Faleria, which Ovid describes for us from personal experience. In the darkness of an ancient wood stood the rude altar of the goddess, her image was carried thither in procession, sacrifices were offered, booths con- structed of branches, and then the day was spent in eating, drinking, merry-making, and dancing, with un- restrained joy.28 " The old religion was also still firmly supported by family customs and usages. These are chiefly deter- mined by the wife and mother, and the women at the time of which we speak were generally attached to the old faith. Cicero, who himself often enough ridicules the fables about the gods, deemed it perfectly natural that his wife should be pious, and did nothing to change her views. Plautus, in portraying the ideal wife, does not fail to mention, — together with gravitas, womanly dignity, respect for parents, obedience to her husband, — reverence for the gods.29 " She was pic as without 44 DECLINE OF RELIGION. [bock i superstition," is the highest praise which a husband pays to his deceased wife in a memorial inscription.30 An estimable matron was still one who faithfully ful- filled her religious duties, did not stay away from prayers and sacrifices, and diligently frequented the temples. Generally a man sooner cuts loose from his faith, than from established customs. Even where the father of a family belonged to the advanced thinkers the cus- tomary religious observances were never omitted at betrothals and marriages, at births and deaths. Lucre- tius is perhaps correct when he speaks of those who, so long as it went well with them, mocked at the gods, but at the first reverse of fortune hastened to the tem- ples for the sake of sacrificing ; 31 and to many would have applied the picture Plutarch draws of a man who inwardly estranged from religious ceremonies still out- wardly joined in them. " Through fear of the multi- tude he feigns prayers without feeling any need, and utters words which contradict his philosophy. When ho sacrifices he stands by the side of the slaying priest as by a butcher, and after the offering departs with the words of Menander : 4 1 have sacrificed to gods who do not care for me.' " 32 Finally there were the countless local rites in which the old faith lived on notwithstanding all enlighten- ment. The recently discovered registers of a Roman local worship, that of the Arvales, afford an interesting view of the tenacious life of these cults. It continued unaltered through all changes of the city and the State down to the later centuries. The same litany to which the kings of Rome had listened was still chanted by the Axval Brothers when Elagabalus, the priest of the sun coat, l] local cults. 45 from Syria, sat upon the throne of the Caesars. Still stood in their temples the antique jars, made without potters' wheels, which were used before bread was baked, and when corn was only pounded into meal. Rome from a village of peasants had become the inetiopolis of the world, its morning and its noon were past, its evening was already setting in, and still they sang, at every fresh return of Spring, in Latin which If spoken on the street no one could have understood, the primeval song : Help us, Lases ! help ! Mars I Mars I Suffer not Death and Destruction To rush in upon us : Be satisfied, dread Mars 1 ea The chants and prayers of the Salian priesthood had become so unintelligible in the classical age that com- mentaries were written upon them. Even the learned could no longer explain them. Yet they were retained unaltered, and Marcus Aurelius knew them by heart in his eighth year.34 The tough, conservative, spirit of the Romans showed itself, also, in religious things. So was it everywhere. Not to speak of the Orient, whose thoroughly stable character is evinced also in its worship, how many primeval images of the gods, how many cults observed without change from time im- memorial, had Greece. In Sparta was still shown tho image of Artemis which Orestes, according to the legend, had carried away from the Taurian temple^ and every year youths were found who were willing to be scourged before this image until their blood flowed, In Patrse, as had been the custom for centuries, the *6 DECLINE OF RELIGION. [book l priest still rode, in the procession at the annual festival, upon a car drawn by stags, in order to burn animals alive on the altar of the goddess, and in Arcadia the priestesses still chanted before the altar the old magic songs which Medea was said to have sung. While, however, there were few, if any, apparent traces of even an external decline of the old religion, something like the dusk of evening rested everywhere upon it. The times in which Pericles led processions up to the Parthenon, or the generals of the Republic brought as triumphers their thank-offerings to the Cap- itoline Jupiter, were irrecoverably gone. Doubtless there were even then devout souls, according to pagan standards, who with mystic fervor frequented the tem- ples, -brought thither their offerings, and repeated their prayers ; doubtless there were many more upon whom the intoxicating splendor of the worship made at least a momentary impression : but, in general, religion was unquestionably sustained more from custom than from faith ; and calm deliberation, cool calculation, regard for the masses, and the consideration that it had always been so, had more to do in securing its observance than mystic fervor. At least there was among the higher classes much open unbelief, which more and more found its way down to the lower strata of society ; and even amongst such persons doubt and superstition flourished and grew rank, testifying just as strongly as unbelief that the time of simple faith had gone by. More or less clearly the feeling was awakened that the old religion no longer sufficed. New ideas were stirring, and while some persons gradually cut loose from all the gods, others sought after new ones only to find quickly enough that the new could satisfy the deepest needs of the heart as little as the old. CHAi\ i.] UNBELIEF. 47 This unbelief was not of recent date. In Greece philosophy had long since undermined faith in the oid deities, and Aristophanes had already made sport of the Olympian gods on the stage. The fickle Greek at evening in the Comedy laughed at the same gods to whom the next morning in their temples he offered sacrifice. With Greek culture and philosophy unbelief had come to the Romans, as in the last century Ilium in- ism came to Germany from France. The first Roman writers who copied the Greek appropriated also their unbelief. Ennius thus expresses his sentiments: "I believe that there are gods in heaven, but I affirm that they do not concern themselves about the human race. If they did the good would prosper, the bad suffer. But now the reverse is true."35 This was a practical argument which was then employed as often against the heathen faith as it is to-day against the Christian. Cato and Caesar openly acknowledged their scepticism in the Senate, and numerous testimonies in the literature of the classic age prove unmistakably that amongst educated persons the majority were at heart more or less at variance with the old creed.36 With glowing hate had Lucretius already pursued every religious faith. Each was to him nought but a gigantic spectre rearing itself from earth to heaven, with heavy foot trampling the human race ignominiously to the dust, while with menacing look it gazed down from on high until the bold spirit of Epicurus bade it defiance. He opened the gates of nature, pressed far beyond the flaming walls of the universe into the infinite, and as a conqueror brought to man the knowledge of the ultimate grounds of all being. Thus did he vanquish faith and exalt us by his victory to heaven. Acceptance 48 DECLINE OF RELIGION. {300* i of this doctrine did not necessarily imply frivolity and ir religion. On the contrary faith itself had often led to impious and criminal deeds. Agamemnon sacrificed his own daughter to Diana, " To so much harm could faith impel." To Lucretius the gods are but the off- spring of fear, Providence a chimera, the world a resulL of the conjunction, mixture, and combination of atoms, life a product of primeval generation.07 Deeply as this fanaticism of unbelief moves us we are equally if not more affected by the calmness with which Pliny sets forth as an assured result of science that there are no gods ; for, he says, Nature alone is God, the mother of all things, the holy immeasurable universe; and with freezing unconcern he draws the comfortless conclusion inseparable from this view of the world : " There is nothing certain save that nothing is certain, and there is no more wretched and yet arrogant being than man. The best thing which has been given to man amid the many torments of this life is, that he can take his own life."38 Put now with the fanatic, and the man of science, the courtier, the consummate worldling, Pe- tronius, who was regarded at Nero's court as an arbiter in questions of taste, and who for a long time possessed the highest favor of the Emperor on account of his skill and inventive talent in the arrangement of sports, and we have three types of unbelief which doubtless were often enough repeated although with less clever- ness and brilliancy. A life without God, a life of prosperity and of most highly refined enjoyment : not coarsely material but finely cultured and art loving, yet without any deeper meaning, this it is which is mirrored in the life and in the works of Petronius. His death was in keeping with such a life. Implicated in the chat, i.] POSITION OP TACITUS AND OTHERS. 49 Pisonian conspiracy he determined to destroy himself. His veins were opened, and while the blood was flowing he conversed with his friends, not upon serious themes, upon immortality, like Pastus Thrasea, but on frivolous subjects. He caused ludicrous poems to be read to him, and when something especially laughable occurred he had his veins tied up again that lie might thorougnly enjoy it. Not all were so fanatical as Lucretius, so confident in their unbelief as Pliny, so frivolous as Petronius. We meet also men who strove to hold fast the old faith. Such was Tacitus, the great historian, who lived in the full conviction that the gods carry into effect the laws of nature, are active in the course of affairs, and by omens, — so many of which he himself relates, — fore- tell the future. Dionysius of Halicarnassus,39 who shortly before the birth of Christ wrote a Roman his- tory, admires in Romulus most of all that he held some- thing to be the basis of the State of which many states- men talk, but winch few seek to secure, the good will of the gods, which when it exists disposes all for the best good of men. Notwithstanding many ridicule the idea he holds fast to this, that the gods concern them- selves about men ; and he relates with entire confidence an instance of such care, in which, through the inter- vention of the gods, the innocence of a falsely accused Vestal was brought to light. Especially does Plutarch everywhere appear, in a pagan way, believing and pious. Yet in this very case we cannot avoid the impression ,fhat this believing disposition, with its forced character, its constant complaint of the unbelief of the present, and its looking back to better times, has in it something artificial ; while in the case of Tacitus, as his contempt 50 DECLINE OF RELIGION. L»ook l of Christianity and of all forms of religion shows, polit- ical motives doubtless co-operated. The majority were likely then, as at all times, to seek a middle way. Without wholly discarding the popular faith and openly breaking with it, they kept to them- selves the higher knowledge peculiar to men of culture. Personally they no longer believed in the gods, but found it useful and conducive to conservatism to have the people believe in them. So they were cautious about openly acknowledging their unbelief, and hypo- critically participated in the ceremonies, while at heart they imagined themselves to be wholly superior to all the old traditional rubbish. The irrational populace, Strabo40 thinks, is allured, like children, by the fables of the gods. " For it is not possible to impart intelli- gence to the crowds of women and common people, and lead them by philosophical teaching to piety, reverence, and conscientiousness. This must be done by super- stition which cannot exist without fables and marvel- lous tales. For, the thunderbolt, the trident, the drag- ons of the gods are myths, as is also all the old theology. Founders of states have approved such things as bug- bears for the simple." " All that ignoble crowd of gods which the superstition of ages has collected, we will adore," says Seneca,41 "in such a way as to remember that its worship belongs rather to usage than to reality. The wise man will unite in all these observances as commanded by the laws, not as pleasing to the gods." Varro42 formally systematized this view by distinguish- ing three kinds of religion, the mythical for poets, the physical (Natural Religion) for philosophers, and the popular for the masses. In a similar way most persons discriminated between an esoteric knowledge belonging chap, i.] ATTEMPTS TO FIND A MIDDLE WAY. 51 to the cultivated, and the exoteric religion possessed by the ignorant multitude. Sextus Empiricus was a com- plete sceptic. His entire doctrine amounts to this, that one can know nothing, that all is uncertain, even the existence of the gods ; and yet he adds : " Following the custom, we affirm that there are gods, and that they exercise a providence and we honor them."43 The Epicureans did not all share the hate of Lucretius ; on the contrary most of them were indifferent. They did not deny the existence of the gods per se, but only that they cared for this world. The people might be left in peace with their gods, but the educated man had a right not to trouble himself about them. A real medi- ating theology, however, appears first in the Stoic school, at that time the most widely diffused of all. It sought to reconcile faith and philosophy by accepting in addition to the one supreme Deity, whom it conceived of pantheistically, numerous subordinate gods, the gods of the popular religions. Accordingly the Stoic could accept these religions with their countless deities, sacri- fices, oracles, miracles, omens, and incantations, if neces- sary take part in them, and all the while hold fast to his esoteric knowledge of God. As regards the educated classes we may perhaps come to this conclusion : faith in the gods of the old religions had disappeared. In its place had come sheer Atheism - and Nihilism, though only, it may be among individuals (at least only such ventured openly to ex- press it). The majority substituted a kind of Mono- theism. They imagined something godlike above the gods, a divine first principle, or at least they had a presentiment of this without clearly discerning it, and especially without being able definitely to distinguish 52 DECLINE OF RELIGION. [boor l it from the world. This dissolving ] oly theism led naturally to Pantheism. As the many deities of the heathen were all Nature-gods, so must the One Deity in whom these all met be a Nature-god. Nature itself is God; and the conviction which Strabo utters as his own was doubtless that of many: "The one highest being is that which embraces us all, which we call heaven, world, and the nature of the universe." 44 Doubtless there was in this Monotheism a presage of the true God, a longing and reaching forth by Heathenism after something higher, a testimony of the soul by nature Christian, as Tertullian says.45 But the One was still only " the unknown God whom ye ignorantly worship." The heathen did not go beyond this. The Monotheism to which they came at last remained abstract, lifeless. The God vaguely conceived of as above the gods was no divine being who has talked with men, and who can be named and supplicated. Therefore this conviction, however widely it was diffused in cultivated circles, proved on the whole powerless. ' It gained no influence over public opinion and morals. The educated who shared it did not thereby attain to any higher worship, but remained continually in suspense between this their own better conviction and a hypocritical (we cannot otherwise term it) participation in the official rites. With this scepticism was often offensively combined a childish superstition. Caesar, who made no conceal- ment in the Senate of his unbelief, never stepped into a carriage without first uttering a magical formula as a preservative against accident.43 Augustus, of whom it was related that he had at a banquet openly scoffed at the gods, dreaded misfortune through ,the entire day when on rising in the morning he had put the left shoe chap, i.] UNBELIEF AMONG THE PEOPLE. 53 on the right foot. He would never begin a journey on the nundince* nor undertake any thing important on the nones.*1 Pliny had lost faith in every thing, yet he be- lieved in talismans. No one thought of bringing the great mass of the people to a better knowledge ; in the pride of an esoteric wisdom tins was regarded as plainly impossible. So far therefore as this wisdom, notwith- standing such an opinion, did affect the people, its in- (luence was only destructive. The exact limit of this process cannot be defined. It is true that a series of passages might be adduced from writers of the time which would lead us to conclude that literally no one any longer had faith in the gods. Indeed Juvenal contemptuously says that even the youngest children had ceased to believe every thing that was related of the lower world.48 But we are too familiar from our own experience with such forms of speech as, Nobody believes that to-day ! not to under- stand how little force they have as proof. Unbelief has had the skill in all ages to set forth its own views as alone valid, and universally diffused. All the facts are too strongly contradictory to allow the supposition that as early as the first century the mass of the people had. been inwardly estranged from the heathen faith. On the other hand, however, we have unimpeachable witnesses whose testimony leaves no doubt that un- belief had already penetrated beyond the cultivated circles, and begun to make its way among the masses. The historian Livy speaking of an earlier time, says- " That neglect of the gods which prevails in the present age had then not yet spread,"49 and Quinctilian, the renowned teacher of rhetoric, whose own convictions seem to have been very fluctuating, declares : " Even 54 DECLINE OF RELIGION. Tbook u among our country-people there are only a few who do not either know something of Nature or seek to acquire this knowledge."50 It was a bad sign, and indicative of a wide-spread indifference toward the old religion that so early as the time of Augustus there could no longer be found among free Roman families virgins who were willing to become Vestals. It became neces- sary to take freed persons, and Tiberius was constrained to increase the privileges and prerogatives of the Ves- tals in order to make attractive a service once so highly venerated. Even among the people confidence in the ancient deities had already much diminished and was daily decreasing. It could not be otherwise. The ex- ample of the higher classes is always determinative for the lower, and the endeavor to maintain amongst the ignorant a religion one has himself abandoned has never yet succeeded. \ On the other hand we may not underestimate what was done by the upper classes to foster the old religion/ Augustus consciously aimed at a restoration of the State-church. Much that had been destroyed in the turbulent times of the civil wars, was replaced. Tem- ples were repaired and built anew, the priesthoods filled up, the festivals and sacrifices re-established, ancient traditions sought out. Virgil's poems by their piety promoted this object, and Ovid suffered severely for not entering into the movement. Even the bad Emperors of the Julian line held firmly to the maxim that the State- religion should be supported by laws and their ( wn example. However indifferent Tiberius may have been personally, he still cared zealously for the official wor- ship, was well instructed in the ancient usages, and would not tolerate any changes in them.51 Claudius, at chap, i.] ATTEMPTS AT RESTORATION. 55 his triumph, ascended on his knees the steps to the Capi- tol.52 When one day a bird of evil omen sat on the tem- ple of Jupiter, all the people were summoned to make a solemn expiation, and the Emperor himself as Pontifex Maximus pronounced from a tribune the liturgical for- mulas which the people repeated after him.53 Even Nero, whose own devotions were limited to a little idol given him by one of the common people, rigidly adhered to this fundamental principle of the Julian house. When a temple on the Capitol had been damaged by lightning he instituted elaborate ceremonies to appease the anger of the god.54 Accustomed as we are to regard religion as an inward life which cannot be evoked by any imperial edicts, it is natural for us to condemn in advance such efforts at restoration as futile. They were not so much so as we might readily suppose. The Roman religion did not consist of articles of faith, but of ceremonies. Belief cannot be decreed by authority, but ceremonies may be restored ; and it is not to be questioned that in this respect the policy of the Julian house — which later Emperors, especially Vespasian,55 continued — was not without effect. It is well to notice that just at the time when Christianity was born the pagan religion received a new impulse. As compared with the last days of the Republic Religion began with the Monarchy to acquire new strength. A sure sign that the pagan religion was by no means as yet so devoid of life as is commonly supposed, is to be found in the new forms of worship which now appeared ; as for example, the worship of the goddess Annona, the provider of corn. When the supplying of Rome with corn assumed greater importance than iri 66 DECLINE OF RELIGION. [book i earlier times, the impulse among the Romans to give to every branch of life a special deity, led them to create this new goddess. The worship of the Emperors is especially significant in this connection. The deification of the Emperors seems to us, at first, like an effect of frenzy, and like boundless adulation. We are therefore inclined to regard it as of little importance, particularly as we find it hard to conceive that any one could have seriously believed in the divinity of the Emperor. But this is contradicted by the fact that the first apotheosis, that of Caesar, pro- ceeded from the people themselves, and though Augus- tus was, so to speak, regularly deified by a decree of the Senate, yet it was the conduct of the people which first gave the decree real validity. It would be a great misapprehension to regard the worship of the Emperors solely as an indication of the extent to which human folly can go, and as deserving only ridicule and scorn. In reality it exerted the greatest influence not only upon the religious, but also upon the social, life of that time ; and became of the greatest importance in the conflict of Christianity with Heathenism. The deification of the Emperors, which seems to us so strange, was deeply rooted in pagan modes of thought. The Orientals had long been accustomed to pay divine honors to princes. In Egypt, as an inscrip- tion attests,56 Ptolemy Epiphanes was revered as a god, the son of a god and goddess. His image stood in every temple, and was carried about in procession with those of other gods. The idea that a man by illustrious deeds can become divine was by no means foreign to the Greeks (recall their hero worship), and if among