Between Heathenism and Christianity - College of Stoic Philosophers
Between Heathenism and Christianity - College of Stoic Philosophers
Between Heathenism and Christianity - College of Stoic Philosophers
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
Seneca: His Character <strong>and</strong> Environment<br />
The Roman gods were, in a far larger measure than<br />
those <strong>of</strong> the Greeks, personifications <strong>of</strong> abstract<br />
qualities. There was thus a wide scope for project<br />
ing<br />
into their character the salient traits <strong>of</strong> the<br />
.<br />
worshiper<br />
The gods, then, being an abstraction, <strong>and</strong> the state<br />
being the mightiest visible representation <strong>of</strong> human<br />
power, it required no great effort <strong>of</strong> the imagination<br />
to regard its head as divine, in the sense which the<br />
Romans attached to the term. The unthinking multi<br />
tude naturally fell in with the ideas<br />
<strong>of</strong> their leaders,<br />
<strong>and</strong> even the better class <strong>of</strong> men rarely protested<br />
because they considered the ceremony<br />
<strong>of</strong> little mo<br />
ment, or because protests would have been unavailing.<br />
Strangely, too, the belief in fate, in an inevitable<br />
destiny, did much to paralize the free action <strong>of</strong> many<br />
<strong>of</strong> the bravest men. The fate <strong>of</strong> the republic, the<br />
destiny <strong>of</strong> the Roman people, regarded as an immut<br />
able law <strong>of</strong> nature, the utter insignificance<br />
individual either expressed or implied, are<br />
<strong>of</strong> the<br />
ideas that<br />
figure prominently in the literature <strong>of</strong> ancient Rome.<br />
It has been truly said that Rome attained its great<br />
ness without great men. Almost from its remotest<br />
beginnings it was like an organism<br />
in which each<br />
separate cell, though incapable <strong>of</strong> life by itself, per<br />
forms its function as part <strong>of</strong> a whole <strong>and</strong> contributes<br />
to its life <strong>and</strong> growth. In this case the cell, as we<br />
may designate each individual moral entity, though<br />
conscious in a sense <strong>of</strong> a life apart, was powerless to<br />
modify the whole organism.<br />
50