thy aspirations, no inspiration
for a noble life.

{270}

The character of worship of the Romans of their various gods led to a
non-religious attitude of mind. Religion, like everything else, had
become a commercial matter, to be used temporarily for the benefit of
all parties who indulged. While each separate nationality had its own
shrine in the temple, and while the emperor was deified, all worship
was carried on in a selfish manner. There was no reverence, no devout
attitude of worship, and consequently no real benefit derived from the
religious life. The Roman merchant went to the temple to offer
petitions for the safety of his ship on the seas, laden with
merchandise. After its safe entrance, the affair troubled him no more;
his religious emotion was satisfied. Moral degeneration could be the
only outcome of following a broken-down philosophy and an empty
religion. Men had no faith in one another, and consequently felt no
obligation to moral actions. Dishonesty in all business transactions
was the rule. Injustice in the administration of the law was worked by
the influence of factions and cliques. The Roman world was politically
corrupt. Men were struggling for office regardless of the effect of
their methods on the social welfare. The marriage relation became
indefinite and unholy. The home life lost its hallowed influence as a
support to general, social, and political life.

The result of a superficial religion, an empty philosophy, and a low
grade of morality, was to drive men to scepticism, to a doubt in all
things, or to a stoic indifference to all things, or perhaps in a
minority of cases to a search for light. To nearly all there was
nothing in the world to give permanent satisfaction to the sensual
nature, or nothing to call out the higher qualities of the soul. Men
turned with loathing from their own revels and immoral practices and
recognized nothing worthy of their thoughts in life. Those who held to
a moral plane at all found no inspiration in living, had no enthusiasm
for anything or any person. It were as well that man did not exist;
that there was no earth, no starry firmament, no heaven, no hell, no
present, no future. The few who sought for the {271} light did so from
their inner consciousness or through reflection. Desiring a better
life, they advocated higher aspirations of the soul and an elevated,
moral life, and sought consolation in the wisdom of the sages. Their
life