tary purposes; and that, in every
country, the form of superstition, which had received the sanction of
time and experience, was the best adapted to the climate, and to its
inhabitants. Avarice and taste very frequently despoiled the vanquished
nations of the elegant statues of their gods, and the rich ornaments of
their temples; but, in the exercise of the religion which they derived
from their ancestors, they uniformly experienced the indulgence, and
even protection, of the Roman conquerors. The province of Gaul seems,
and indeed only seems, an exception to this universal toleration.
Under the specious pretext of abolishing human sacrifices, the emperors
Tiberius and Claudius suppressed the dangerous power of the Druids:
but the priests themselves, their gods and their altars, subsisted in
peaceful obscurity till the final destruction of Paganism.

Rome, the capital of a great monarchy, was incessantly filled with
subjects and strangers from every part of the world, who all introduced
and enjoyed the favorite superstitions of their native country. Every
city in the empire was justified in maintaining the purity of its
ancient ceremonies; and the Roman senate, using the common privilege,
sometimes interposed, to check this inundation of foreign rites. * The
Egyptian superstition, of all the most contemptible and abject, was
frequently prohibited: the temples of Serapis and Isis demolished,
and their worshippers banished from Rome and Italy. But the zeal of
fanaticism prevailed over the cold and feeble efforts of policy. The
exiles returned, the proselytes multiplied, the temples were restored
with increasing splendor, and Isis and Serapis at length assumed their
place among the Roman Deities. Nor was this indulgence a departure from
the old maxims of government. In the purest ages of the commonwealth,
Cybele and AEsculapius had been invited by solemn embassies; and it was
customary to tempt the protectors of besieged cities, by the promise of
more distinguished honors than they possessed in their native country.
Rome gradually became the common temple of her subjects; and the freedom
of the city was bestowed on all the gods of mankind.

II. The narrow policy of preserving, without any foreign mixture,
the pure blood of the ancient citizens, had checked the fortune, and
hastened the ruin, of Athens and Sparta. The aspiring genius of Rome
sacrificed vanity to ambition, and deemed it more prudent, as well as
honorable, t