Grecian art was unknown at Rome, so long too did the Grecian mythology with its poisoning influence remain unknown; but after the destruction of Carthage and Corinth, the national character generally, and the Roman religion along with it, underwent by degrees a great alteration for the worse. The riches which flowed into the city, the knowledge of Asiatic luxuries, and the mode of instruction followed by Greek masters, led to licentiousness and excesses; while the Grecian mythology, incorporated with Grecian art, was diffused by the poets, and entirely extinguished the old Roman character with its rigid virtue.3 § 12. RELIGIOUS TOLERATION OF THE ROMANS. It was an universal principle among the ancients, that the gods themselves had arranged the peculiar form of their worship in every country. Hence all polytheistic religions were tolerant towards each other, as long as every worship confined itself to its own people and country. This toleration was also observed by the Romans.1 On the other hand, to introduce strange gods and modes of worship, without the sanction of the state, was tantamount to the introduction of a superstition prejudicial to the interests of the community.2 When, therefore, after the extended conquests of the Romans, foreign modes of worship were more and more introduced into the city, partly 1 Polyb. Hist. vi. c. 54. Dionys. Halicarn. Antiquitt. Roman. ii. c. 67, 69. Hartung, i. 244. J. A. Ambrosch Studien u. Andeutungen in Gebiete des altrömischen Bodens and Cultus, Heft. i. (Breslau 1839,) S. 63. 2 Hartung, i. 249. Ambrosch, S. 69. 3 Compare Terentii Eunuch. Act. iii. Scen. 5, v. 35. Ovid. Tristium ii. v. 287 ss. Martialis, lib. xi. Epigr. 44. Seneca de brevit. vitae, c. 16 Quid aliud est vitia nostra incendere, quam auctores illis inscribere deos, et dare morbo, exemplo divinitatis, excusatam licentiam ? Compare De vita beata, c. 26. C. Meiner's Gesch. des Verfalls der Sitten und der Staatsverfassung der Römer, Leipz. 1782, 8. 1 Hartung, i. 231. Dr K. Hoeck's röm. Geschichte vom Verfalle d. Republik bis zur Vollendung der Monarchie unter Constantin, (Braunschweig 1842 ff.) Bd. 1. Bd. 1. Abth. 2. S. 216 u. 371. 2 Cicero de leg. ii. c. 8: Separatim nemo habessit deos; neve novos, sed ne advenas, nisi publice adscitos, privatim colunto. lessening, by that means, attachment to the national religion, and partly promoting even immoral practices, the laws against the sacra peregrina were frequently renewed.3 Religious societies of foreign origin could not easily hold out against such prohibitions, since they fell, besides, under the cognizance of the laws respecting collegia, and were in direct opposition to them,5 3 Compare, in particular, the extirpation of the Bacchanalian rites in the year 185 B. C. Livius xxxix. c. 8 ss. and the Senatusconsultum de tollendis Bacchanalibus, in the treatise about to be quoted of Bynkershoek. Valerius Maximus, i. 3, de peregrina religione rejecta. Cf. Corn. van Bynkershoek de cultu religionis peregrinae apud veteres Romanos (in ejusd. opp. omn. ed. Ph. Vicat, Colon. Allobr. 1761, fol. Tom. i. p. 343 ss). Chr. G. F. Walch de Romanorum in tolerandis diversis religionibus disciplina publica (in novis commentariis Soc. Reg. Scient. Goettingensis, Tom. iii. 1773.) De Burigny Mémoire sur le respect, que les Romains avoient pour la religion, dans lequel on examine, jusqu'à quel degré de licence la tolérance étoit portée à Rome. (Mémoires de l'Acad. des Inscript. T. 34, hist. p. 48 ss.) Hartung, i. 232. * Collegia, sodalitia, sodalitates, éTaipeîai. The Greeks and Romans were fond of such connections, which had their basis partly in relationship (comp. the Roman gentes and curiae, the Athenian pparpiai), partly in similarity of profession (so the collegia tibicinum, aurificum, architectorum, &c. at Rome). They had both their own sacred rites and a common fund, secret meetings and feasts (paro). Thus the priests of the same deities not only formed collegia of this nature (comp. sodales Augustales, Aureliani, &c.), but unions for the worship of certain deities were also reckoned collegia (for example, for the solemnisation of the rites of Bacchus, see note 3). So Cato says in Cicero de senectut. c. 13: Sodalitates me quaestore constitutae sunt sacris Idaeis Magnae Matris acceptis. So speaks Philo in Flaccum of the εταιρείαις καὶ συνόδοις in Alexandria, αἳ ἀεὶ προφάσει θυσιῶν εἰστιῶντο τοῖς πράγμασιν ἐμπαροινοῦσαι. Cf. Salmassii observatt. ad. jus Rom. et Atticum, c. 3 u. 4. J. G. Stuckii antiquitatum convivialium, lib. i. c. 31. Opp. tom. i. Lugd. Bat. et Amstel. 1695, fol. p. 173 ss.) H. E. Dirksen histor. Bemerkungen über den Zustand der juristischen Personen nach röm. Recht, in his civilist. Abhandlungen (Berlin 1820), Bd. 1, S. 1 ff. 5 Besides the prohibitions in the time of the Republic, compare that of Julius Caesar (Sueton. Caesar, c. 42), Augustus (Sueton. Octavian. c. 32), &c. Compare the later jurists in the Pandects: Gajus (about 160), lib. iii. (Digest. lib. iii. tit. 4, 1. 1): Neque societas, neque collegium, neque hujusmodi corpus passim omnibus habere conceditur: nam et legibus et Senatusconsultis, et Principalibus constitutionibus ea res cöercetur, &c. Particularly Dig. lib. xlvii. Tit. 22, de collegiis et corporibus illicitis, Lexi. (Marcianus about 222): Mandatis Principalibus praecipitur Praesidibus Provinciarum, ne patiantur esse collegia sodalitia. § 1. Sed religionis causa coire non prohibentur: dum tamen per hoc non fiat contra Senatusconsultum, quo illicita collegia arcentur. Lex 2, (Ulpianus 228: Quisquis illicitum collegium usurpaverit, ea poena tenetur, and since all nocturnal associations were forbidden under pain of death. On the other hand, the private worship of strange gods was not so easily eradicated. § 13. RELATION OF PHILOSOPHY TO THE POPULAR RELIGIONS. As soon as philosophy was cultivated in Greece, the unity of God was expressed in most of the schools, while morality was placed on a more becoming and a religious foundation.2 But while philosophy could not fail of producing a high religious feeling in the narrow circle of the initiated, it occasioned a crude scepticism among the more numerous class of the half instructed. Although Plato and Aristotle directly expressed their sentiments regarding the popular religion in a reserved and cautious manner, and even conformed externally to its requirements,3 yet their theology afforded a standard by which, when many parts of the popular faith were judged, they must necessarily vanish into nothing. The Stoic pantheism endeavoured to preserve the current mythology by considering the deities as the fundamen qua tenentur, qui hominibus armatis loca publica vel templa occupasse judicati sunt (consequently according to Dig. xlviii. tit. 4, 1. 1, like those convicted of high treason). Lex 3 (Marcianus), § 1: In summa autem, nisi ex Senatusconsulti auctoritate, vel Caesaris, collegium, vel quodcunque tale corpus coïerit, contra Senatusconsultum, et Mandata, et Constitutiones collegium celebratur. Cf. Jac. Cujacii Observationum, lib. vii. Observ. 30. Barn. Brissonii antiquitatum ex jure civili selectarum, lib. i. c. 14. 6 Tab. ix. lex 6: Sei quei endo urbe coitus nocturnos agitasit, capital estod. This determination was renewed by the lex Gabinia (Leges xii. Tabularum restitutae et illustratae a J. N. Funccio, Rintelii 1744, 4. p. 400). 1 Cf. Cicero de nat. Deorum, i. c. 10 ss. Rad. Cudworthi systema intellectuale, vertit et illustr. J. L. Moshemius, (Jenae 1733, fol.) p. 730 ss. [Ralph Cudworth's Intellectual System of the Universe, London, folio, 1678.] Chr. Meiners hist. doctrinae de vero Deo, Lemgov. 1780. P. ii. 2 Stäudlin's Gesch. der Moralphilosophie, Hannover 1822, in many passages. Limburg Brouwer's work already quoted in § 10. 3 F. A. Carus hist. antiquior sententiarum Ecclesiae graecae de accommodatione Christo imprimis et Apostolis tributa, diss. Lips. 1793, 4. p. 13 ss. For the manner in which the Grecian states judged of every departure from the public religion, see F. W. Tittmann's Darstellung der griech. Staatsverfassungen, Leipz. 1822, S. 27 ff. tal powers of the universe, and explaining the myths allegorically; but it destroyed, at the same time, all religious feeling by its spirit of pride. The Epicurean philosophy, as far as it removed all connection between the gods and the world, making the latter originate in chance, destroyed all religion and morality; and though this was not its tendency in the eyes of the founder, it was certainly the aim of his latter disciples. The scepticism of the middle and new academy exerted no better influence, at least in the larger circles. Soon after Greek literature had been introduced at Rome after the time of Livius Andronicus (about 260 B. C.), sceptical doubts manifested themselves there also. Subsequently the academy, the porch, and epicureanism, finding a more general reception, from the time of the famous Athenian embassy (Carneades, Diogenes, Critolaus, 155 B. C.), the flourishing philosophy tended not only to weaken the popular religion, but to destroy the religious faith of many. But although scepti For example, Seneca epist. 73: Jupiter quo antecedit virum bonum? diutius bonus est. Sapiens nihilo se minoris aestimat, quod virtutes ejus spatio breviori clauduntur. Sapiens tam aequo animo omnia apud alios videt, contemnitque quam Jupiter: et hoc se magis suspicit, quod Jupiter uti illis non potest, sapiens non vult. Schwabe über das Verhältniss der stoischen Moral zum Christenthum, in the Zeitschrift für Moral, by C. F. Böhme and G. Ch. Müller, Bd. 1, St. 3, S. 38 ff. G. H. Klippel comm. exhibens doctrinae Stoicorum ethicae atque christianae expositionem et comparationem, Goetting. 1823, 8. 5 They appeared first of all in Ennius (239-168 B. C.) Cf. Cicero de Nat. Deor. i. 42: Euhemerum noster et interpretatus et secutus est praeter caeteros Ennius. Ab Euhemero autem mortes et sepulturae demonstrantur deorum. Besides Ennius translated Epicharmus's representation of the Pythagorean doctrine respecting God, nature, and the soul; comp. Dr L. Krahner's Grundlinien zur Gesch. des Verfalls d. röm. Staatsreligion bis auf die Zeit des August (a school-programme). Halle 1837, 4. S. 20 ff. Ennius's own religious views are given in Cic. de Divin. ii. c. 50: Ego Deum genus esse semper dixi, et dicam caelitum : Cic. de invent. i. 29: in eo autem, quod in opinione positum est, hujusmodi sunt probabilia :-eos, qui philosophiae dent operam, non arbitrari Deos esse. Idem pro Cluentio, c. 61. De nat. Deor. ii. c. 2. Tuscul. Quæst. i. c. 5, 6. And 7 In Sallustius in Catilina, c. 51, Cæsar says: in luctu atque miseriis mortem aerumnarum requiem, non cruciatum esse: eam cuncta mortalium mala dissolvere : ultra neque curae neque gaudio locum esse. Cato says, in reference to Cæsar's speech, c. 52: Bene et composite C. Caesar paulo ante in hoc ordine de vita et morte disseruit; falsa, credo, cism spread more and more, yet the unbelieving politicians and philosophers themselves agreed, that the native religion must be upheld with all their powers, as the support of the state, and of all the relations of life. The religious motives which lay in the popular religion could supply no philosophy for the multitude; and of foreign religious rites the opinion was, that they destroyed national feeling, and produced an inclination to foreign customs and laws.10 Hence, even Scaevola (about 100 B. C.) wished to confirm anew the religion of the state by separating it from philosophy and mythology, whence proceeded its corruption; and M. Terentius Varro, abiding by that separation, (about 50 B. C.), endeavoured to prepare for it a new basis out of the doctrine of the Stoics.42 existimans, quae de inferis memorantur: diverso itinere malos a bonis loca tetra, inculta, foeda atque formidolosa habere. 8 Cicero de leg. ii. 7. See above § 9, note 4, de Divin. ii. 33: Non sumus ii nos augures, qui avium reliquorumve signorum observatione futura dicamus. Erravit enim multis in rebus antiquitas, quas vel usu jam, vel doctrina, vel vetustate immutatas videmus. Retinetur autem et ad opinionem vulgi, et ad magnas utilitates reipublicae mos, religio, disciplina, jus augurum, collegii auctoritas. 9 Strabo in geograph. i. c. 2, page 19: Où yàp öxλov тe yvvaikŵv, kal παντὸς χυδαίου πλήθους ἐπαγαγεῖν λόλῳ δυνατὸν φιλοσόφῷ, καὶ προσκαλέσασθαι πρὸς εὐσέβειαν, καὶ ὁσιότητα καὶ πίστιν, ἀλλὰ δεῖ καὶ διὰ δεισιδαιμομίας· τοῦτο δ ̓ οὐκ ἄνευ μυθοποιΐας, καὶ τερατείας. 10 Comp. the advice of Maecenas to Augustus, according to Dio Cassius, lib. lii: τὸ μὲν θεῖον πάντη πάντως αὐτός τε σέβου κατὰ τὰ πάτρια, καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους τιμᾷν ἀνάγκαξε· τοὺς δὲ δὴ ξενίξοντάς τι περὶ αὐτὸ καὶ μίσει καὶ κόλαξε, μὴ μόνων τῶν θεῶν ἕνεκα, ὧν καταφροντήσας οὐδ ̓ ἄλλον ἄν τινος προτιμήσειεν, ἀλλ' ὅτι καινά τινα δαιμόνια οἱ τοιοῦτοι ἀντεισφέροντες, πολλοὺς ἀνατείθουσιν ἀλλοτριονομεῖν· κἀκ τούτου καὶ συνωμοσίαι καὶ συστάσεις ἑταιρεῖαί τε γίγνονται, ἅπερ ἥκιστα μοναρχίᾳ συμφέρει μήτ' οὖν ἀθέῳ τινὶ, μήτε γόητι συγχωρήσῃς εἶναι. 11 Augustin. de civit. dei, iv. 27: Relatum est in literis, doctissimum pontificem Scaevolam disputasse tria genera tradita deorum; unum a poëtis, alterum a philosophis, tertium a principibus civitatis. Primum genus nugatorium dicit esse, quod multa de diis fingantur indigna: secundum non congruere civitatibus, quod habeat aliqua supervacua, aliqua etiam quae obsit populis nosse (namely, non esse deos Herculem, Aesculapium, &c. eorum, qui sint dii, non habere civitates vera simulacraverum Deum nec sexum habere, nec aetatem, nec definita corporis membra). Haec pontifex nosse populos non vult, nam falsa esse non putat. Comp. Krahner, S. 45. 12 According to Augustinus de civ. Dei, vi. 2, Varro said in his Rerum Divinarum, lib. xvi., the second part of his Antiquitates: se timere, ne (dii) pereant, non incursu hostili, sed civium negligentia: de qua |