who presented his offering to the beneficent genius of the Nile. The visible powers of Nature, the planets, and the elements were the same throughout the universe. The invisible governors of the moral world were inevitably cast in a similar mould of fiction and allegory. Every virtue, and even vice, acquired its divine representative; every art and profession its patron, whose attributes, in the most distant ages and countries, were uniformly derived from the character of their peculiar votaries. A republic of gods of such opposite tempers and interests required, in every system, the moderating hand of a supreme magistrate, who, by the progress of knowledge and flattery, was gradually invested with the sublime perfections of an Eternal Parent and an Omnipotent Monarch. Such was the mild spirit of antiquity, that the nations were less attentive to the difference than to the resemblance of their religious worship. The Greek, the Roman, and the Barbarian, as they met before their respective altars, easily persuaded themselves that, under various names and with various ceremonies, they adored the same deities. The elegant mythology of Homer gave a beautiful and almost a regular form to the polytheism of the ancient world." The philosophers of Greece deduced their morals from the nature of man, rather than from that of God. They meditated, however, on the Divine Nature as a very curious and important speculation; and in the profound inquiry they displayed the strength and weakness of the human understanding. Of the four most celebrated

Of philosophers.

4 The rights, powers, and pretensions of the sovereign of Olympus are very clearly described in the fifteenth book of the Iliad: in the Greek original, I mean; for Mr. Pope, without perceiving it, has improved the theology of Homer.

5 See, for instance, Cæsar, De Bell. Gall. vi. 17. Within a century or two the Gauls themselves applied to their gods the names of Mercury, Mars, Apollo, etc. 6 The admirable work of Cicero, De Naturâ Deorum, is the best clue we have to guide us through the dark and profound abyss. He represents with candor, and confutes with subtlety, the opinions of the philosophers.

a There is a curious coincidence between Gibbon's expressions and those of the newly recovered "De Republicâ" of Cicero, though the argument is rather the converse, lib. i. c. 36. "Sive hæc ad utilitatem vitæ constituta sint a principibus rerum publicarum, ut rex putaretur unus esse in cœlo, qui nutu, ut ait Homerus, totum Olympum converteret, idemque et rex et pater haberetur omnium."-M.

schools, the Stoics and the Platonists endeavored to reconcile the jarring interests of reason and piety. They have left us the most sublime proofs of the existence and perfections of the first cause; but, as it was impossible for them to conceive the creation of matter, the workman in the Stoic philosophy was not sufficiently distinguished from the work; whilst, on the contrary, the Spiritual God of Plato and his disciples resembled an idea rather than a substance. The opinions of the Academics and Epicureans were of a less religious cast; but whilst the modest science of the former induced them to doubt, the positive ignorance of the latter urged them to deny, the providence of a Supreme Ruler. The spirit of inquiry, prompted by emulation and supported by freedom, had divided the public teachers of philosophy into a variety of contending sects; but the ingenuous youth, who, from every part, resorted to Athens and the other seats of learning in the Roman empire, were alike instructed in every school to reject and to despise the religion of the multitude. How, indeed, was it possible that a philosopher should accept as divine truths the idle tales of the poets, and the incoherent traditions of antiquity, or that he should adore as gods those imperfect beings whom he must have despised as men? Against such unworthy adversaries Cicero condescended to employ the arms of reason and eloquence; but the satire of Lucian was a much more adequate, as well as more efficacious weapon. We may be well assured that a writer conversant with the world would never have ventured to expose the gods of his country. to public ridicule, had they not already been the objects of secret contempt among the polished and enlightened orders of society."

Notwithstanding the fashionable irreligion which prevailed in the age of the Antonines, both the interest of the priests and the credulity of the people were sufficiently respected. In their writings and conversation the philosophers of antiquity asserted the independent dignity of reason; but they re

I do not pretend to assert that, in this irreligious age, the natural terrors of superstition, dreams, omens, apparitions, etc., had lost their efficacy.

signed their actions to the commands of law and of custom. Viewing with a smile of pity and indulgence the various errors of the vulgar, they diligently practised the ceremonies of their fathers, devoutly frequented the temples of the gods, and, sometimes condescending to act a part on the theatre of superstition, they concealed the sentiments of an Atheist under the sacerdotal robes. Reasoners of such a temper were scarcely inclined to wrangle about their respective modes of faith or of worship. It was indifferent to them what shape the folly of the multitude might choose to assume; and they approached, with the same inward contempt and the same external reverence, the altars of the Libyan, the Olympian, or the Capitoline Jupiter."

Of the magistrate.

It is not easy to conceive from what motives a spirit of persecution could introduce itself into the Roman councils. The magistrates could not be actuated by a blind though honest bigotry, since the magistrates were themselves philosophers; and the schools of Athens had given laws to the senate. They could not be impelled by ambition or avarice, as the temporal and ecclesiastical powers were united in the same hands. The pontiffs were chosen among the most illustrious of the senators; and the office of Supreme Pontiff was constantly exercised by the emperors themselves. They knew and valued the advantages of religion, as it is connected with civil government. They encouraged the public festivals which humanize the manners of the people. They managed the arts of divination as a convenient instrument of policy; and they respected, as the firmest bond of society, the

8 Socrates, Epicurus, Cicero, and Plutarch always inculcated a decent reverence for the religion of their own country and of mankind. The devotion of Epicurus was assiduous and exemplary. Diogen. Laert. x. 10.a

* Gibbon seems here to have followed the Latin version, but the words of Laertius are: τῆς μὲν γὰρ πρὸς θεοὺς ὀσιότητος, καὶ πρὸς πατρίδα φιλίας, ἄλεκτος ἡ διάθεσις. Υπερβολῇ γὰρ ἐπιεικείας, οὐδὲ πολιτείας ἥψατο; this is, as regards piety towards the gods and affection towards his country, his disposition cannot be told. Laertius first relates several circumstances by which his filial and fraternal love and his kindness towards his slaves may be known, and then proceeds to say that nothing is known about his piety towards the gods or his patriotism, adding, as a reason for the latter, that he never took part in politics.-S.

useful persuasion that, either in this or in a future life, the crime of perjury is most assuredly punished by the avenging gods. But, whilst they acknowledged the general advantages of religion, they were convinced that the various modes of worship contributed alike to the same salutary purposes; and that, in every country, the form of superstition which had received the sanction of time and experience was the best adapted to the climate and to its inhabitants. Avarice and taste very frequently despoiled the vanquished nations of the elegant statues of their gods and the rich ornainces. ments of their temples; but, in the exercise of the religion which they derived from their ancestors, they uniformly experienced the indulgence, and even protection, of the Roman conquerors. The province of Gaul seems, and indeed only seems, an exception to this universal toleration. Under the specious pretext of abolishing human sacrifices, the emperors Tiberius and Claudius suppressed the dangerous power of the Druids:" but the priests themselves, their gods, and their altars, subsisted in peaceful obscurity till the final destruction of paganism."

In the prov

At Rome.

Rome, the capital of a great monarchy, was incessantly filled with subjects and strangers from every part of the world," who all introduced and enjoyed the favorite superstitions of their native country." Every city in the empire was justified in maintaining the purity of its ancient ceremonies; and the Roman senate, using the common privilege, sometimes interposed to check this inundation of foreign rites. The Egyptian superstition, of all the most contemptible and abject, was frequently prohibited; the temples of Serapis and Isis demolished, and their worshippers banish

9 Polybius, 1. vi. c. 56. Juvenal, Sat. xiii., laments that in his time this apprehension had lost much of its effect.

10 See the fate of Syracuse, Tarentum, Ambracia, Corinth, etc., the conduct of Verres, in Cicero (Actio ii. Orat. 4), and the usual practice of governors, in the eighth satire of Juvenal.

11 Sueton. in Claud. [25]-Plin. Hist. Nat. xxx. 1 [4].

12 Pelloutier, Histoire des Celtes, tom. vi. p. 230-252.

13 Seneca, Consolat. ad Helviam [c. 6], p. 74, edit. Lips.

14 Dionysius Halicarn. Antiquitat. Roman. 1. ii. [vol. i. p. 275, edit. Reiske].

ed from Rome and Italy." But the zeal of fanaticism prevailed over the cold and feeble efforts of policy. The exiles returned, the proselytes multiplied, the temples were restored with increasing splendor, and Isis and Serapis at length assumed their place among the Roman deities." Nor was this indulgence a departure from the old maxims of government. In the purest ages of the commonwealth, Cybele and Esculapius had been invited by solemu embassies ;" and it was customary to tempt the protectors of besieged cities by the promise of more distinguished honors than they possessed in their native country." Rome gradually became the common temple of her subjects; and the freedom of the city was bestowed on all the gods of mankind."

II. The narrow policy of preserving, without any foreign mixture, the pure blood of the ancient citizens, had checked the fortune and hastened the ruin of Athens and

Freedom of Rome.

Sparta. The aspiring genius of Rome sacrificed vanity to ambition, and deemed it more prudent, as well as honorable, to adopt virtue and merit for her own whereso

a

15 In the year of Rome 701 the Temple of Isis and Serapis was demolished by the order of the senate (Dion Cassius, 1. xl. [c. 47] p. 252), and even by the hands of the consul (Valerius Maximus, 1, 3). After the death of Cæsar, it was restored at the public expense (Dion, 1. xlvii. [c. 15] p. 501). When Augustus was in Egypt he revered the majesty of Serapis (Dion, Il. li. [c. 16] p. 647); but in the Pomorium of Rome, and a mile round it, he prohibited the worship of the Egyptian gods (Dion, 1. liii. [c. 2] p. 697, 1. liv. [c. 6] p. 735). They remained, however, very fashionable under his reign (Ovid. de Art. Amand. 1. i. [v. 77]) and that of his successor, till the justice of Tiberius was provoked to some acts of severity. (See Tacit. Annal. ii. 85; Joseph. Antiquit. 1. xviii. c. 3.)

16 Tertullian, in Apologetic. c. 6, p. 74, edit. Havercamp. I am inclined to attribute their establishment to the devotion of the Flavian family.

17 See Livy, 1. xi. [12] [Suppl.] and xxix. [11].

18 Macrob. Saturnalia, 1. iii. c. 9. He gives us a form of evocation.

19 Minucius Felix, in Octavio, p. 54 [p. 52, Leyden ed. 1672]. Arnobius, 1. vi. p. 115.

a Gibbon here blends into one, two events, distant a hundred and sixty-six years from each other. It was in the year of Rome 535 that the senate, having ordered the destruction of the temples of Isis and Serapis, no workman would lend his hand; and the consul, L. Æmilius Paulus, himself (Valer. Max. 1, 3) seized the axe, to give the first blow. Gibbon attributes this circumstance to the second demolition, which took place in the year 701, and which he considers as the first.-W.