existence and manifestation of subordinate deities. Apotheosis came into
currency. The old state religion first attained its highest and most
powerful expression in the worship of the emperor, (the emperor
glorified as "dominus ac deus noster",[126] as "praesens et corporalis
deus", the Antinous cult, etc.)., and in many circles an incarnate ideal
in the present or the past was sought, which might be worshipped as
revealer of God and as God, and which might be an example of life and an
assurance of religious hope. Apotheosis became less offensive in
proportion as, in connection with the fuller recognition of the
spiritual dignity of man, the estimate of the soul, the spirit, as of
supramundane nature, and the hope of its eternal continuance in a form
of existence befitting it, became more general. That was the import of
the message preached by the Cynics and the Stoics, that the truly wise
man is Lord, Messenger of God, and God upon the earth. On the other
hand, the popular belief clung to the idea that the gods could appear
and be visible in human form, and this faith, though mocked by the
cultured, gained numerous adherents, even among them, in the age of the
Antonines.[127]

The new thing which was here developed, continued to be greatly obscured
by the old forms of worship which reasons of state and pious custom
maintained. And the new piety, dispensing with a fixed foundation,
groped uncertainly around, adapting the old rather than rejecting it.
The old religious practices of the Fathers asserted themselves in public
life generally, and the reception of new cults by the state, which was
certainly effected, though with many checks, did not disturb them. The
old religious customs stood out especially on state holidays, in the
games in honour of the Gods, frequently degenerating into shameless
immorality, but yet protecting the institutions of the state. The
patriot, the wise man, the sceptic, and the pious man compounded with
them, for they had not really at bottom outgrown them, and they knew of
nothing better to substitute for the services they still rendered to
society (see the [Greek: logos alethes] of Celsus).

2. The system of associations, naturalised centuries before among the
Greeks, was developed under the social and political pressure of the
empire, and was greatly extended by the change of moral and religious
ideas. The free unions, which, as a rule, had a religious element and
were established for mut