matter, in what direction society
was drifting, they let things take their course, and no one lifted a
finger to guide. It may be said that the genius of Rome manifested
itself rather in physical than in intellectual operations; but in her
best days it was never the genius of Rome to abandon great events to
freedmen, eunuchs, and slaves. By such it was that the ancient gods were
politically cast aside, while the government was speciously yielding a
simulated obedience to them, and hence it was not at all surprizing
that, soon after the introduction of Christianity, its pure doctrines
were debased by a commingling with ceremonies of the departing creed. It
was not to be expected that the popular mind could spontaneously
extricate itself from the vicious circle in which it was involved.
Nothing but philosophy was competent to deliver it, and philosophy
failed of its duty at the critical moment. The classical scholar need
scarcely express his surprize that the Feriae Augusti were continued in
the Church as the Festival St. Petri in Vinculis; that even to our own
times an image of the holy Virgin was carried to the river in the same
manner as in the old times was that of Cybele, and that many pagan rites
still continue to be observed in Rome. Had it been in such incidental
particulars only that the vestiges of paganism were preserved, the thing
would have been of little moment; but, as all who have examined the
subject very well know, the evil was far more general, far more
profound. When it was announced to the Ephesians that the Council of
that place, headed by Cyril, had decreed that the Virgin should be
called "the Mother of God," with tears of joy they embraced the knees of
their bishop; it was the old instinct peeping out; their ancestors would
have done the same for Diana. If Trajan, after ten centuries, could have
revisited Rome, he would, without difficulty, have recognized the drama,
though the actors and scenery had all changed; he would have reflected
how great a mistake had been committed in the legislation of his reign,
and how much better it is, when the intellectual basis of a religion is
gone, for a wise government to abstain from all compulsion in behalf of
what has become untenable, and to throw itself into the new movement so
as to shape the career by assuming the lead. Philosophy is useless when
misapplied in support of things which common sense has begun to reject;
she shares in the discredit which is at