Between Heathenism and Christianity - College of Stoic Philosophers

Seneca: His Character and Environment
straining influence exercised by public- opinion that
keeps the rich, who are inclined to a lax personal
morality, within reasonable bounds. But so far as we
can discover, the mhibitive force of public opinion in
Rome upon the individual in the matter of ethics
was very slight, especially under the empire. It is
plain then where a debauched public sentiment
placed no check upon any form of vice from without,
and but few individuals yielded to moral restraints
from within, the condition of society was such that it
could hardly have been worse.
We are sometimes inclined to wonder that so few
protests were made by enlightened Romans againsl
the deification of the emperors. The explanation
may be found in the prevailing rationalism of the
age. To the majority of those men one religion was
just as good as another, and all religions were but
forms of superstition. The persecutions directed
against the early Christians were urged on the
general ground that the failure to follow the multi
tude was a mark of treason against the government,
and for this reason the best men were naturally the
instigators. To perform the religious functions en
joined by the state was regarded as a mark of loyalty;
to refuse, the badge of disloyalty.
It is not necessary
to go back to ancient Rome and to heathen religions
to find parallels for treating the externals of worship
as matters of indifference, or for requiring
the sub
ject, under penalties, to conform to the creed of the
sovereign.
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