igio_.

Thus while _religio_ continues to express the feeling only or the cult
only, if called on to do so, it gains in the age of Cicero a more
comprehensive connotation, as the result of the contemplation of
religion by philosophy as a thing apart from itself; and this enabled
the early Christian writers, who knew their Cicero well, to give it a
meaning in which it is still in use among all European nations.

But there was yet to be a real change in the meaning of the word, one
that was inevitable, as the contrast between Christianity and other
religions called for emphasis. The second century A.D. was that in which
the competition was keenest between various religious creeds and forms,
each with its own vitality, and each clearly marked off from the others.
It is no longer a question of religion as a whole, contemplated by a
critical or a sympathetic philosophy; the question is, which creed or
form is to be the true and the victorious religion. Our wonderful word
again adapts itself to the situation. Each separate religious system can
now be called a _religio_. The old polytheistic system can now be called
_religio Deorum_ by the Christian, while his own creed is _religio Dei_.
In the _Octavius_ of Minucius Felix, written about the end of the second
century, the word is already used in this sense. _Nostra religio, vera
religio_,[972] is for him the whole Christian faith and practice as it
stood then--the depth of feeling and the acts which gave it outward
form. The one true religion can thus be now expressed by the word. In
Lactantius, Arnobius, Tertullian, in the third century A.D., this new
sense is to be found on almost every page, but a single noble passage of
Lactantius must suffice to illustrate it. "The heathen sacrifice," he
says, "and leave all their religion in the temple; thus it is that such
_religiones_ cannot make men good or firm in their faith. But 'nostra
_religio_ eo firma est et solida et immutabilis, quia mentem ipsam pro
sacrificio habet, quia tota in animo colentis est.'"[973]

Here at last we come upon a force of meaning which the word had never
before attained. _Religio_ here is not awe only or cult only, but _a
mental devotion capable of building up character_. "The kingdom of God
is within you." Surely this is a valuable legacy to the Christian faith
from our hard, dry, old Roman religion.

Another legacy in words is that of _pius_. Our English word "pious" has
suffered some damage from t