om its historical antecedents,--from its political
system,--and from the peculiarities which predominate in the formation of
its intelligence. The Greek polytheism did not distinguish itself from
the Roman either in its theogony or its rites; but there is no doubt that
the former was more poetical, more artistic, and more scrupulous than the
latter. The Romans, being brought into close contact with all the
nations of the earth, and having become subjugated by the insolent
despotism of the Caesars, opened the doors of their Pantheon, not only to
the Goths of Egypt and of Gaul, but to monsters of cruelty, and to men
sunk in every class of those vices which had stained the throne of
Augustus. The Greeks, lovers of science, had placed their city of Athens
under the protection of Minerva; but Rome was too proud to humble herself
by playing the inferior part of the protected. In order to provide for
her own security, she declared herself a goddess, and erected her own
temples and altars. The Roman priests were warriors and magistrates;
those of Athens were philosophers and poets. The same observations apply
to Mahometanism. In India it has always shown itself more contemplative,
more tolerant, than in Arabia, Turkey, or on the northern coast of
Africa, and when it propagated itself in the southern regions of Europe,
its stern inflexibility was not able to resist even the influence of
clime; the perfumed breezes of the Betis and the Xenil despoiled it, in
part, of the austere physiognomy which had been impressed on its whole
structure by the sands of Arabia. Even the severe laws of the harem were
relaxed in the courts of Boabdil and of Almanzor, for the wives of those
two monarchs, openly, and without shame, took part in the pompous fetes
of the Alhambra and of the _serrania_ of Cordova.

Of all the religious systems hitherto known, none allows itself, with so
much docility, to be modified by external circumstances which constitute
the national character as does Roman Catholicism; and there are many
causes for this: Roman Catholicism exercises an infinitely greater
dominion over the senses than over the reason and intelligence; the
objects of its veneration, of its meditations, and of its devotional
practices, are infinitely more various and numerous than those of any
other sect of Christians; it introduces itself, so to speak, to all the
occupations of life, in all hours of the day, in the trades, professions,
amusemen