a), Kybele y from her ht to Rome ith acclaim g a temple ught relief the orgias he conduct he streets, y Oriental cially the noralizing when the troduced, aucheries nally disseverely Jer heavy ed. Any ar in the between diviniastrolo driven from the city and Italy by order of the Senate (Valerius Maximus, I, iii, 3). In 155 в.с. philosophers came to Rome on a peaceful mission, and Stoicism, which though sceptic laid strong emphasis on ethics, appealed as the best among philosophies, with the result that it became the national philosophy. Nevertheless, it came too late; the ancient virtues and conservative traits of the Romans, which had caused them to keep a jealous supervision over their native religion, were enfeebled; and their ideals were becoming antiquated; while, under the influence of Greek religions and philosophies, the people generally were lacking in duty to their gods. The definite spiritual conquest of Rome had begun during the third century в.с.; and during the second century, the State religion had difficulty in holding its own against these adverse influences. The Chaldæans and philosophers had never lacked defenders and patrons; and when they returned to the city, their teachings attracted more and more the attention of the serious-minded. Greek art and literature filtered through many agencies; but after the victory over Macedonia, the Hellenization of Rome proceeded more rapidly and without effective resistance. Decline of native religion. Greek influences. The old Roman religion was disintegrating, and all the influences of Hellas combined for a comparison between her deities and the Roman gods, thus leading to a confusion of the two pantheons. It was assumed that parallels existed between the deities of the two States; and as these were ascertained, their divinities were fused or adjustments were made, so that a blending was effected. Roman gods for whom no similarities were found and for whom no compromises were possible were displaced and forgotten, both as to name and function, unless they were recorded on the old calendars. Temples to divinities under Roman titles were actually shrines of Greek deities, this process of syncretism being fostered by Hellenic art and mythology, and the substitution continued during the last two centuries of the Republic until all the Roman gods had been supplanted except Vesta (a symbol of the State's vitality), who appears throughout to have retained her original character and name. Little of the Roman religion remained except the old household cult. By the end of the first century B.c., the identification of the old Roman deities was all but impossible, and Varro was obliged to include in his list many di incerti, or divinities for whom no function was known. The gods of Rome who had risen above the class of numina and indigitamenta, who always "remained in the amorphous twilight of religious perception, had now acquired a personality, and many had become anthropomorphic, so that Greek craftsmen represented them in art, though always after the Greek pattern. Similarly, Greek myths were adapted to Roman deities, and, as used by poets and other writers, formed the basis of Roman mythology, while Greece furnished Rome with her philosophers and physicians, and her teachers educated the Roman youth. en, and ploiting counsel. e alien d faith tizen's 73 в.с. ophers were 14 Carter, op. cit., pp. 123 ff. 15 Ib., pp. 112 ff. Emotional cults. The many Oriental cults coming to Rome from Phrygia, Persia, Syria, and Egypt contributed very largely to the religious unrest. Semitic deities with their followers, priests, slaves, and merchants, and the closely related Chaldæans with their Oriental lore, had long been resident in Rome; while sailors and soldiers returning from the wars in the East brought with them other cults 16 Wissowa, Religion, p. 72. 17 Farnell, in ERE vi, 404. of the Orient with which they had come in contact, notably those of Mithras of Persia and the goddess Komana of Pontus, originally Mâ of Cappadocia, who was equated with Atargatis and Kybele, and who was assimilated to the ancient war-deity, Bellona, whom she supplanted and whose name she assumed, though distinguished as MâBellona.18 About the same time, the partially Hellenized Egyptian divinities, Isis and Serapis, came from Southern Italy. These Eastern religions had encouraged a taste for the sensational, and the people came to care more for Bellona and Isis than for all the gods of Numa." The devotees of the various Oriental cults were inclined to give expression to their exuberant enthusiasm for these emotional religions; but as they became aggressive and gave offense, sharp measures were taken to suppress them. The altars of Isis were repeatedly destroyed by orders of the Senate and as often restored by the zeal of her followers, until finally the Triumviri adopted a pliant attitude. The doctrines brought in by these cults were strange to the Occident and made a strong appeal to the imagination, especially those of the Asianic cults. Underlying the orgiastic features, emphasized by fanatical followers, was a serious content that appealed to the conscience, gratified the cravings of the heart, and possessed an irresistible personal charm for those who penetrated their mysteries."1 Further decline of the Roman religion. The emotional attractions and demoralizing influences of these Oriental religions, as well as the scepticism of Greek philosophies, had weakened the State religion, subjected as it was to politics and debauched conditions, and hastened its decline as an effective agency of government. The people had grown indifferent toward it, and those who had supervision over it were themselves doubters, fast losing faith in its efficacy. The priesthoods, no longer avenues of advancement, fell into partial, and some into complete, neglect. The administration of the temples had grown lax; the priests shirked their duties; and many flaminia became vacant and were not refilled. Sacrilege and thefts of statues and other sacred objects occurred; many temples were neglected and in ruins; the cults losing their vitality, failed to uphold their obligations to State and people. Without standards for uprightness and incentives for accord, came a general lowering of personal morality. Corruption was cultivated as a science, wickedness in high places was unashamed, and a strong proletariat was drifting into turbulence. 23 Religious tolerance. Although scepticism was rife among the educated and influential classes of Roman citizens, the various peoples of the city, gathered at their several altars, worshipped their own gods in their own fashion, or as it has been expressed by a Christian controversialist (Minucius, Octavius, vi, 1): "Other cities worshipped their own gods, but the Romans worshipped everybody's.''24 Gibbon states,25 in a well-known passage, that The various modes of worship, which prevailed in the Roman world, were all considered by the people as equally true; by the 22 Carter, op. cit., pp. 124 ff. 23 Fowler, in ERE x, 838-839; also Carter, The Religious Life of Ancient Rome, pp. 53-56. 24 Moore, The History of Religions, p. 576. 25 The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, i, 30-32; cf. Toutain, Les Cultes paiëns dans l'empire romain, i, 232. philosopher, as equally false; and by the magistrate, as equally useful. Thus toleration produced not only mutual indulgence, but even religious concord. The superstition of the people was not embittered by any mixture of theological rancor; nor was it confined by the chains of any speculative system. The devout polytheist, though fondly attached to his national rites, admitted with implicit faith the different religions of the earth. . . . The deities of a thousand groves and a thousand streams possessed, in peace, their local and respective influence; nor could the Roman who deprecated the wrath of the Tiber, deride the Egyptian 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. . 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 regular form, to the polytheism of the ancient world. Religious reforms. The reforms in religion and politics which were urgently demanded (Horace, Oda, iii, 6; Epodæ, xvi), were planned by Iulius Cæsar, but the task of guiding the disordered State fell upon Augustus. He at once endeavored to reëstablish the authority of the State religion; he solicited and received the aid of historians and poets (Horace, Oda, iii, 6); he drew the attention of the people to their old familiar deities and sought to restore their sense of religio and pietas," to renew the appreciation of 26 Wissowa, op. cit., p. 235; Fowler, Religious Experience, pp. 8-9, |