could
delight in doubt or surrender to it; the masses wanted certainties. There
was nothing to revive confidence in the power of a decrepit and threadbare
science. No great discovery transformed the conception of the universe.
Nature no longer betrayed her secrets, the earth remained unexplored and
the past inscrutable. Every branch of knowledge was forgotten. The world
cursed with sterility, could but repeat itself; it had the poignant
appreciation of its own decay and impotence. Tired of fruitless researches,
the mind surrendered to the necessity of believing. Since the intellect was
unable to formulate a consistent rule of life faith alone could supply it,
and the multitudes gravitated toward the temples, where the truths taught
to man in earlier days by the Oriental gods were revealed. The stanch
adherence of past generations to beliefs and rites of unlimited antiquity
seemed to guarantee their truth and efficacy. This current was so strong
that philosophy itself was swept toward mysticism and the neo-Platonist
school became a theurgy.

The Oriental mysteries, then, could stir the soul by arousing admiration
and terror, pity and enthusiasm in turn. They gave the intellect the
illusion of learned depth and absolute certainty and finally--our third
{35} point--they satisfied conscience as well as passion and reason. Among
the complex causes that guaranteed their domination, this was without doubt
the most effective.

In every period of their history the Romans, unlike the Greeks in this
respect, judged theories and institutions especially by their practical
results. They always had a soldier's and business man's contempt for
metaphysicians. It is a matter of frequent observation that the philosophy
of the Latin world neglected metaphysical speculations and concentrated its
attention on morals, just as later the Roman church left to the subtle
Hellenes the interminable controversies over the essence of the divine
logos and the double nature of Christ. Questions that could rouse and
divide her were those having a direct application to life, like the
doctrine of grace.

The old religion of the Romans had to respond to this demand of their
genius. Its poverty was honest.[17] Its mythology did not possess the
poetic charm of that of Greece, nor did its gods have the imperishable
beauty of the Olympians, but they were more moral, or at least pretended to
be. A large number were simply personified qualities, like chastity