igidly mathematical,"[53] and the
picture of the man one gets from his writings is that of a cold,
unemotional philosopher, dealing only with facts and caring nothing for
idealism. But the real Marx was a very different sort of man. His life
was itself a splendid example of noble idealism, and underlying all his
materialism there was a great religious spirit, using the word
"religious" in its noblest and best sense, quite independent of dogmatic
theology. All his life he was a deep student of Dante, the _Divine
Comedy_ being his constant companion, so that he knew it almost
completely by heart. Some of his attacks upon Christianity are very
bitter, and have been much quoted against Socialism, but they are not
one whit more bitter than the superb thunderbolts of invective which
the ancient Hebrew prophets hurled against an unfaithful Church and
priesthood. For the most part, they are attacks upon religious hypocrisy
rather than upon Christianity. Marx was, of course, an agnostic, even an
atheist, but he was full of sympathy with the underlying ethical
principles of all the great religions. Always tolerant of the religious
opinions of others, he had nothing but scorn and contempt for the
blatant dogmatic atheism of his time, and vigorously opposed committing
the Socialist movement to atheism as part of its programme.[54] In
short, he was a man of fine spiritual instincts, splendidly religious in
his irreligion.

This spiritual side of Marx must be considered if we would understand
the man. It is not necessary, however, to ascribe the influence of
Saint-Simonian thought upon him to a predisposing spiritual temperament.
Marx, with his usual penetration, saw in Saint-Simonism the hidden germ
of a great truth, the embryo of a profound social theory. Saint-Simon,
as we have seen, had vaguely indicated the two ideas which were
afterward to be cardinal doctrines of the Marx-Engels _Manifesto_--the
antagonism of classes, and the economic foundation of political
institutions. Not only so, but Saint-Simon's grasp of political
questions, instanced by his advocacy, in 1815, of a triple alliance
between England, France, and Germany,[55] appealed to Marx, and
impressed him alike by its fine perspicacity and its splendid courage.
Engels, in whom, as stated, the working-class spirit of Chartism and
the ideals of Owenism were blended, found in Marx a twin spirit. They
were, indeed,--

"Two souls with but a single thought,
T