Romans well advanced along the lines of philosophy, religion,
and spiritual speculation, judging from the all-powerful influence
exerted by them over the affairs of the whole known world. Particularly
when one considers the relationship with and connection of Rome with
ancient Greece, it would seem that the two peoples must have had much in
common in the world of thought. But such is not the case. Although the
exoteric religions of the Romans resembled that of the Greeks, from whom
it was borrowed or inherited, there was little or no original thought
along metaphysics, religion or philosophy among the Romans. This was
probably due to the fact that the whole tendency of Rome was toward
material advancement and attainment, little or no attention being given
to matters concerning the soul, future life, etc. Some few of the
philosophers of Rome advanced theories regarding the future state, but
beyond a vague sort of ancestor worship the masses of the people took
but little interest in the subject. Cicero, it is true, uttered words
which indicate a belief in immortality, when he said in "Scipio's
Dream": "Know that it is not thou, but thy body alone, which is mortal.
The individual in his entirety resides in the soul, and not in the
outward form. Learn, then, that thou art a god; thou, the immortal
intelligence which gives movements to a perishable body, just as the
eternal God animates an incorruptible body." Pliny the younger left
writings which seem to indicate his belief in the reality of phantoms,
and Ovid has written verses which would indicate his recognition of a
part of man which survived the death of the body. But, on the whole,
Roman philosophy treated immortality as a thing perchance existing, but
not proven, and to be viewed rather as a poetical expression of a
longing, rather than as an established, or at least a well grounded,
principle of philosophical thought. But Lucretius and others of his time
and country protested against the folly of belief in the survival of the
soul held by the other nations. He said that: "The fear of eternal life
should be banished from the universe; it disturbs the peace of mankind,
for it prevents the enjoyment of any security or pleasure." And Virgil
praised and commended the philosophical attitude which was able to see
the real cause of things, and was therefore able to reject the unworthy
fear of a world beyond and all fears arising from such belief. But even
many of the Roman p