Chapter I: Græco-Roman Paganism (3)

An obscene couplet in Suetonius attributes this filthy habit to Julius Cæsar in the matter of an abominable relationship with the King of Bithynia.[173] "So strong was the influence of the prevalent epidemic on Plato, that he had lost all sense of the love of women, and in his descriptions of Eros, divine as well as human, his thoughts were centered only in his boy passion. The result in Greece confessedly was that the inclination for a woman was looked upon as low and dishonorable, while that for a youth was the only one worthy of a man of education."[174]

A moment's reflection will convince the most skeptical of the progress of morality and the advance of civilization. That which philosophers and emperors not only approved but practiced in the palmiest days of the commonwealths of Greece and Rome, is to-day penalized; and the person guilty of the offense is socially ostracized and branded with infamy and contempt.

The above is only one of many illustrations of the demoralizing influence of the myths. The Greeks looked to the gods as models of behavior, and could see nothing wrong in paiderastia, since both Zeus and Apollo had practiced it. Nearly every crime committed by the Greeks and Romans was sought to be excused on the ground that the gods had done the same thing. Euthyphro justified mistreatment of his own father on the ground that Zeus had chased Cronos, his father, from the skies.

Homer was not only the Bible, but the schoolbook of Grecian boys and girls throughout the world; and their minds were saturated at an early age with the escapades of the gods and goddesses as told by the immortal bard. Plato, in the "Republic," deprecates the influence of the Homeric myths upon the youth of Greece, when he says: "They are likely to have a bad effect on those who hear them; for everybody will begin to excuse his own vices when he is convinced that similar wickednesses are always being perpetrated by the kindred of the gods." And Seneca thus condemns the moral effect of the myth of Zeus and Alcmene: "What else is this appeal to the precedent of the gods for, but to inflame our lusts, and to furnish a free license and excuse for the corrupt act under shelter of its divine prototype?" "This," says the same author in another treatise, "has led to no other result than to deprive sin of its shame in man's eyes, when he saw that the gods were no better than himself."

We have seen that, in the matter of the multiplicity of the gods, there were deities of the baser as well as of the better passions, and of criminal as well as virtuous propensities. Pausanias tells us that in his day, on the road to Pellene, there were statues of Hermes Dolios (the cheat), and that the worshipers of this god believed that he was always ready to help them in their intrigues and adventures. The same writer also tells us that young maidens of Troezene dedicated their girdles to Athene Apaturia, the deceiver, for having cunningly betrayed Æthra into the hands of Neptune. The festivals of Bacchus were far-famed in ancient times for the drunken debauches and degrading ceremonies that accompanied them. The Attic feasts of Pan were celebrated with every circumstance of low buffoonery. The solemnities of the Aphrodisia were akin to the bacchanalian orgies in all the features of inebriety and lust. The name of the goddess of love and beauty was blazoned across the portal of more than one Greek and Roman brothel. The Aphrodite-Lamia at Athens and the Aphrodite-Stratonikis at Smyrna were the favorite resorts of the most famous courtesans of antiquity. Venus was the recognized goddess of the harlots. A thousand of them guarded her temple at Corinth; and, when an altar was erected to her at the Colline gate in Rome, in the year 183 A.U.C., they celebrated a great feast in her honor, and dedicated chaplets of myrtle and roses, as a means of obtaining her favor as the guardian divinity of their calling.

What more could be expected, then, of the morality of the Greeks and Romans, when we consider the nature of their religion and the character of their gods? Jupiter and Apollo were notorious rakes and libertines; Venus and Flora were brazen-faced courtesans; Harmonia was a Phrygian dancer, who had been seduced by Cadmus; Hercules was a gladiator; Pan was a buffoon; Bacchus was a drunkard, and Mercury was a highway robber. And not only in the poems of Homer and Hesiod did the Greek and Roman youth learn these things, but from the plays of the theaters and from plastic art as well. If we except the gladiatorial fights in the amphitheaters, nothing was more cruel and unchaste than Greek and Roman tragedy and comedy. At the time of Christ, the tastes and appetites of the multitude had grown so fierce and depraved that ordinary spectacles were regarded as commonplace and insipid. Lifelike realities were demanded from the actors on the stage; and accordingly, the hero who played the rôle of the robber chief, Laureolus, was actually crucified before the spectators, and was then torn to pieces by a hungry bear. The burning of Hercules on Mount Oeta and the emasculation of Atys were sought to be realized on the stage by the actual burning and emasculation of condemned criminals. Lustful as well as cruel appetites were inflamed and fed by theatrical representations of the intrigues and adventures of the gods and goddesses. Pantomimes and mimic dances, with flute accompaniment, were employed to reproduce the amours and passionate devotions of the inhabitants of Olympus. The guilty loves of Aphrodite with Mars and Adonis, the adventures of Jupiter and Apollo with the wives and daughters of mortals, were the plays most frequently presented and most wildly applauded. And the ignorant rabble were not the only witnesses of these spectacles. "The sacerdotal colleges and authorities," says Arnobius, "flamens, and augurs, and chaste vestals, all have seats at these public amusements. There are seated the collective people and senate, consuls and consulars, while Venus, the mother of the Roman race, is danced to the life, and in shameless mimicry is represented as reveling through all the phases of meretricious lust. The great mother, too, is danced; the Dindymene of Pessinus, in spite of her age, surrendering herself to disgusting passion in the embraces of a cowherd. The supreme ruler of the world is himself brought in, without respect to his name or majesty, to play the part of an adulterer, masking himself in order to deceive chaste wives, and take the place of their husbands in the nuptial bed."[175]

Not only gladiatorial games and theatrical shows, but painting and sculpture as well, served to corrupt and demoralize Roman and Greek manners. Nor is there any prudery in this statement. The masterpieces of the Greek artists have been the astonishment and despair of all succeeding ages; and the triumphs of modern art have been but poor imitations of the models of the first masters. But it is, nevertheless, true that the embodiment in marble of certain obscene myths was destructive of ancient morals. The paintings in the temples and houses of the cities of Greece and Italy were a constant menace to the mental purity of those who gazed upon them. The statue of Ganymede at the side of Zeus was a perpetual reminder to the youth of Athens of the originator of the loathsome custom of paiderastia. The paintings of Leda and the swan, of the courtship of Dionysus and Ariadne, of the naked Aphrodite ensnared and caught in the net with Ares that adorned the walls and ceilings of Greek and Roman homes, were not too well calculated to inspire pure and virtuous thoughts in the minds and hearts of tender youths and modest maidens who looked upon and contemplated them. At Athens, especially, was the corrupting influence of painting and plastic art most deeply felt. "At every step," says Döllinger, "which a Greek or Roman took, he was surrounded by images of his gods and memorials of their mythic history. Not the temples only, but streets and public squares, house walls, domestic implements and drinking vessels, were all covered and incrusted with ornaments of the kind. His eye could rest nowhere, not a piece of money could he take into his hand without confronting a god. And in this way, through the magical omnipresence of plastic art, the memory of his gods had sunk into his soul indelibly, grown up with every operation of his intellect, and inseparably blended with every picture of his imagination."[176]

It can thus be easily imagined how close the connection between the social depravity and the religion of the Greeks and Romans. What was right in the conduct of the gods, men could not deem sinful in their own behavior. Indeed, lewd and lascivious acts were frequently proclaimed not only right, but sacred, because they had been both sanctioned and committed by the gods themselves. "As impurity," says Döllinger, "formed a part of religion, people had no scruples in using the temple and its adjoining buildings for the satisfaction of their lust. The construction of many of the temples and the prevalent gloom favored this. 'It is a matter of general notoriety,' Tertullian says, 'that the temples are the very places where adulteries were arranged, and procuresses pursue their victims between the altars.' In the chambers of the priests and ministers of the temple, impurity was committed amid clouds of incense; and this, Minucius adds, more frequently than in the privileged haunts of this sin. The sanctuaries and priests of Isis at Rome were specially notorious in this respect. 'As this Isis was the concubine of Jove herself, she also makes prostitutes of others,' Ovid said. Still more shameful sin was practiced in the temples of the Pessinuntine mother of the gods, where men prostituted themselves and made a boast of their shame afterwards."[177]

_The Bacchanalian Orgies._--The most interesting passage of ancient literature dealing with social life in its relation to religious observances, is an extract from Livy, the most elegant of Roman historians. This passage describes the bacchanalian orgies, and gives exquisite touches to certain phases of ancient Roman social life. Its insertion here entire is excused on the ground of its direct bearing upon the subject matter of this chapter:

A Greek of mean condition came, first, into Etruria; not with one
of the many trades which his nation, of all others the most skilful
in the cultivation of the mind and body, has introduced among us,
but a low operator in sacrifices, and a soothsayer; nor was he one
who, by open religious rites, and by publicly professing his
calling and teaching, imbued the minds of his followers with
terror, but a priest of secret and nocturnal rites. These
mysterious rites were, at first, imparted to a few, but afterwards
communicated to great numbers, both men and women. To their
religious performances were added the pleasures of wine and
feasting, to allure a greater number of proselytes. When wine,
lascivious discourse, night, and the intercourse of the sexes had
extinguished every sentiment of modesty, then debaucheries of every
kind began to be practiced, as every person found at hand that sort
of enjoyment to which he was disposed by the passion predominant in
his nature. Nor were they confined to one species of vice--the
promiscuous intercourse of free-born men and women, but from this
store-house of villany proceeded false witnesses, counterfeit
seals, false evidences, and pretended discoveries. From the same
place, too, proceeded poison and secret murders, so that in some
cases, even the bodies could not be found for burial. Many of their
audacious deeds were brought about by treachery, but most of
them by force; it served to conceal the violence, that on account
of the loud shouting, and the noise of drums and cymbals, none of
the cries uttered by the persons suffering violation or murder
could be heard abroad.

The infection of this mischief, like that from the contagion of
disease, spread from Etruria to Rome; where, the size of the city
affording greater room for such evils, and more means of
concealment, cloaked it at first; but information of it was at
length brought to the consul, Postumius, principally in the
following manner. Publius Æbutius, whose father had held equestrian
rank in the army, was left an orphan, and his guardians dying, he
was educated under the eye of his mother Duronia, and his
stepfather Titus Sempronius Rutilus. Duronia was entirely devoted
to her husband; and Sempronius, having managed the guardianship in
such a manner that he could not give an account of the property,
wished that his ward should be either made away with, or bound to
compliance with his will by some strong tie. The Bacchanalian rites
were the only way to effect the ruin of the youth. His mother told
him, that, "During his sickness, she had made a vow for him, that
if he should recover, she would initiate him among the
Bacchanalians; that being, through the kindness of the gods, bound
by this vow, she wished now to fulfil it; that it was necessary he
should preserve chastity for ten days, and on the tenth, after he
should have supped and washed himself, she would conduct him into
the place of worship." There was a freedwoman called Hispala
Fecenia, a noted courtesan, but deserving of a better lot than the
mode of life to which she had been accustomed when very young, and
a slave, and by which she had maintained herself since her
manumission. As they lived in the same neighborhood, an intimacy
subsisted between her and Æbutius, which was far from being
injurious either to the young man's character or property; for he
had been loved and wooed by her unsolicited; and as his friends
supplied his wants illiberally, he was supported by the generosity
of this woman; nay, to such a length did she go under the influence
of her affection, that, on the death of her patron, because she
was under the protection of no one, having petitioned the tribunes
and prætors for a guardian, when she was making her will, she
constituted Æbutius her sole heir.

As such pledges of mutual love subsisted, and as neither kept
anything secret from the other, the young man jokingly bid her not
be surprised if he separated himself from her for a few nights, as,
"on account of a religious duty, to discharge a vow made for his
health, he intended to be initiated among the Bacchanalians." On
hearing this, the woman, greatly alarmed, cried out, "May the gods
will more favorably!" affirming that "It would be better, both for
him and her, to lose their lives than that he should do such a
thing:" she then imprecated curses, vengeance, and destruction on
the head of those who advised him to such a step. The young man,
surprised both at her expressions and at the violence of her alarm,
bid her refrain from curses, for "it was his mother who ordered him
to do so, with the approbation of his stepfather." "Then," said
she, "your stepfather (for perhaps it is not allowable to censure
your mother), is in haste to destroy, by that act, your chastity,
your character, your hopes and your life." To him, now surprised by
such language, and inquiring what was the matter, she said, (after
imploring the favor and pardon of the gods and goddesses, if,
compelled by her regard for him, she disclosed what ought not to be
revealed), that "when in service, she had gone into that place of
worship, as an attendant on her mistress, but that, since she had
obtained her liberty, she had never once gone near it: that she
knew it to be the receptacle of all kinds of debaucheries; that it
was well known that, for two years past, no one older than twenty
had been initiated there. When any person was introduced he was
delivered as a victim to the priests, who led him away to a place
resounding with shouts, the sound of music, and the beating of
cymbals and drums, lest his cries while suffering violation, should
be heard abroad." She then entreated and besought him to put an end
to that matter in some way or other, and not to plunge himself into
a situation, where he must first suffer, and afterwards commit,
everything that was abominable. Nor did she quit him until the
young man gave her his promise to keep himself clear of those
rites.

When he came home, and his mother made mention of such things
pertaining to the ceremony as were to be performed on that day, and
on the several following days, he told her that he would not
perform any of them, nor did he intend to be initiated. His
stepfather was present at this discourse. Immediately the woman
observed that "he could not deprive himself of the company of
Hispala for ten nights; that he was so fascinated by the caresses
and baneful influence of that serpent, that he retained no respect
for his mother or stepfather, or even the gods themselves." His
mother on one side and his stepfather on the other loading him with
reproaches, drove him out of the house, assisted by four slaves.
The youth on this repaired to his aunt Æbutia, told her the reason
of his being turned out by his mother, and the next day, by her
advice, gave information of the affair to the consul Postumius,
without any witnesses of the interview. The consul dismissed him,
with an order to come again on the third day following. In the
meantime, he inquired of his mother-in-law, Sulpicia, a woman of
respectable character, "whether she knew an old matron called
Æbutia, who lived on the Aventine hill?" When she had answered that
"she knew her well, and that Æbutia was a woman of virtue, and of
the ancient purity of morals;" he said that he required a
conference with her, and that a messenger should be sent for her to
come. Æbutia, on receiving the message, came to Sulpicia's house,
and the consul, soon after, coming in, as if by accident,
introduced a conversation about Æbutius, her brother's son. The
tears of the woman burst forth, and she began to lament the unhappy
lot of the youth: who after being robbed of his property by persons
whom it least of all became, was then residing with her, being
driven out of doors by his mother, because, being a good youth (may
the gods be propitious to him), he refused to be initiated in
ceremonies devoted to lewdness, as report goes.

The consul thinking that he had made sufficient inquiries
concerning Æbutius, and that his testimony was unquestionable,
having dismissed Æbutia, requested his mother-in-law to send again
to the Aventine, and bring from that quarter Hispala, a freedwoman,
not unknown in that neighborhood; for there were some queries which
he wished to make of her. Hispala being alarmed because she was
being sent for by a woman of such high rank and respectable
character, and being ignorant of the cause, after she saw the
lictors in the porch, the multitude attending to the consul and the
consul himself, was very near fainting. The consul led her into the
retired part of the house, and, in the presence of his
mother-in-law, told her, that she need not be uneasy, if she could
resolve to speak the truth. She might receive a promise of
protection either from Sulpicia, a matron of such dignified
character, or from himself. That she ought to tell him, what was
accustomed to be done at the Bacchanalia, in the nocturnal orgies
in the grove of Stimula. When the woman heard this, such terror and
trembling of all her limbs seized her, that for a long time she was
unable to speak; but recovering at length she said, that "when she
was very young, and a slave, she had been initiated, together with
her mistress; but for several years past, since she had obtained
her liberty, she knew nothing of what was done there." The consul
commended her so far, as not having denied that she was initiated,
but charged her to explain all the rest with the same sincerity;
and told her, affirming that she knew nothing further, that "there
would not be the same tenderness or pardon extended to her, if she
should be convicted by another person, and one who had made a
voluntary confession; that there was such a person, who had heard
the whole from her, and had given him a full account of it."

The woman, now thinking without a doubt that it must certainly be
Æbutius who had discovered the secret, threw herself at Sulpicia's
feet, and at first began to beseech her, "not to let the private
conversation of a freedwoman with her lover be turned not only into
a serious business, but even capital charge;" declaring that "she
had spoken of such things merely to frighten him, and not because
she knew anything of the kind." On this Postumius, growing angry,
said "she seemed to imagine that then too she was wrangling with
her gallant Æbutius, and not that she was speaking in the house of
a most respectable matron, and to a consul." Sulpicia raised her,
terrified, from the ground, and while she encouraged her to speak
out, at the same time pacified her son-in-law's anger. At length
she took courage, and, having censured severely the perfidy of
Æbutius, because he had made such a return for the extraordinary
kindness shown to him in that very instance, she declared that "she
stood in great dread of the gods, whose secret mysteries she was to
divulge; and in much greater dread of the men implicated, who would
tear her asunder with their hands if she became an informer.
Therefore she entreated this favor of Sulpicia, and likewise of the
consul, that they would send her away some place out of Italy,
where she might pass the remainder of her life in safety." The
consul desired her to be of good spirits, and said that it should
be his care that she might live securely in Rome.

Hispala then gave a full account of the origin of the mysteries.
"At first," she said, "those rites were performed by women. No man
used to be admitted. They had three stated days in the year on
which such persons were initiated among the Bacchanalians, in the
daytime. The matrons used to be appointed priestesses, in rotation.
Paculla Minia, a Campanian, when priestess, made an alteration in
every particular as if by the direction of the gods. For she first
introduced men, who were her own sons, Minucius and Herrenius, both
surnamed Cerrinius; changed the time of celebration, from day to
night; and, instead of three days in the year, appointed five days
of initiation in each month. From the time that the rites were thus
made common, and men were intermixed with women, and the licentious
freedom of the night was added, there was nothing wicked, nothing
flagitious, that had not been practiced among them. There were more
frequent pollution of men, with each other, than with women. If any
were less patient in submitting to dishonor, or more averse to the
commission of vice, they were sacrificed as victims. To think
nothing unlawful, was the grand maxim of their religion. The men,
as if bereft of reason, uttered predictions, with frantic
contortions of their bodies; the women, in the habit of
Bacchantes, with their hair dishevelled, and carrying blazing
torches, ran down to the Tiber; where, dipping their torches in the
water, they drew them up again with the flame unextinguished, being
composed of native sulphur and charcoal. They said that those men
were carried off by the gods, whom the machines laid hold of and
dragged from their view into secret caves. These were such as
refused to take the oath of the society or to associate in their
crimes, or to submit to defilement. Their number was exceedingly
great now, almost a second state in themselves and among them were
many men and women of noble families. During the last two years it
had been a rule, that no person above the age of twenty should be
initiated, for they sought for people of such age as made them more
liable to suffer deception and personal abuse." When she had
completed her information, she again fell at the consul's knees,
and repeated the same entreaties, that he might send her out of the
country. The consul requested his mother-in-law to clear some part
of the house, into which Hispala might remove; accordingly an
apartment was assigned her in the upper part of it, of which the
stairs, opening into the street, were stopped up, and the entrance
made from the inner court. Thither all Fecenia's effects were
immediately removed, and her domestics sent for. Æbutius, also, was
ordered to remove to the house of one of the consul's clients.

When both the informers were by these means in his power, Postumius
represented the affair to the senate, laying before them the whole
circumstance, in due order; the information given to him at first,
and the discoveries gained by his inquiries afterwards. Great
consternation seized on the senators; not only on the public
account, lest such conspiracies and nightly meetings might be
productive of secret treachery and mischief, but, likewise, on
account of their own particular families, lest some of their
relations might be involved in this infamous affair. The senate
voted, however, that thanks should be given to the consul because
he had investigated the matter with singular diligence, and without
exciting any alarm. They then commit to the consuls the holding an
inquiry, out of the common course, concerning the Bacchanals and
their nocturnal orgies. They ordered them to take care that the
informers, Æbutius and Fecenia, might suffer no injury on that
account; and to invite other informers in the matter, by offering
rewards. They ordered that the officials in those rites, whether
men or women, should be sought for, not only at Rome, but also
throughout all the market towns and places of assembly, and be
delivered over to the power of the consuls; and also that
proclamation should be made in the city of Rome, and published
through all Italy, that "no persons initiated in the Bacchanalian
rites should presume to come together or assemble on account of
those rites, or to perform any such kind of worship;" and above
all, that search should be made for those who had assembled or
conspired for personal abuse, or for any other flagitious
practices. The senate passed these decrees. The consuls directed
the curule ædiles to make strict inquiry after all the priests of
those mysteries, and to keep such as they could apprehend in
custody until their trial; they at the same time charged the
plebeian ædiles to take care that no religious ceremonies should be
performed in private. To the capital triumvirs the task was
assigned to post watches in proper places in the city, and to use
vigilance in preventing any meetings by night. In order likewise to
guard against fires, five assistants were joined to the triumvirs,
so that each might have the charge of the buildings in his own
separate district, on this side the Tiber.

After despatching these officers to their several employments, the
consuls mounted the rostrum; and, having summoned an assembly of
the people, one of the consuls, when he had finished the solemn
form of prayer which the magistrates are accustomed to pronounce
before they address the people, proceeded thus: "Romans, to no
former assembly was this solemn supplication to the gods more
suitable or even more necessary: as it serves to remind you, that
these are the deities whom your forefathers pointed out as the
objects of your worship, veneration and prayers: and not those
which infatuated men's minds with corrupt and foreign modes of
religion, and drove them, as if goaded by the furies, to every lust
and every vice. I am at a loss to know what I should conceal, or
how far I ought to speak out; for I dread lest, if I leave you
ignorant of any particular, I should give room for carelessness, or
if I disclose the whole, that I should too much awaken your fears.
Whatever I shall say, be assured that it is less than the magnitude
and atrociousness of the affair would justify: exertions will be
used by us that it may be sufficient to set us properly on our
guard. That the Bacchanalian rites have subsisted for some time
past in every country in Italy, and are at present performed in
many parts of this city also, I am sure you must have been
informed, not only by report, but by the nightly noises and the
horrid yells that resound through the whole city; but still you are
ignorant of the nature of that business. Part of you think it is
some kind of worship of the gods; others, some excusable sport and
amusement, and that whatever it may be, it concerns but a few. As
regards the number if I tell you that there are many thousands,
that you would be immediately terrified to excess is a necessary
consequence; unless I further acquaint you who and what sort of
persons they are. First, then, a great part of them are women, and
this was the source of the evil; the rest are males, but nearly
resembling women; actors and pathics in the vilest lewdness; night
revellers, driven frantic by wine, noise of instruments, and
clamors. The conspiracy, as yet, has no strength; but it has
abundant means of acquiring strength, for they are becoming more
numerous every day. Your ancestors would not allow that you should
ever assemble casually without some good reason; that is, either
when the standard was erected on the Janiculum, and the army led
out on occasion of elections; or when the tribunes proclaimed a
meeting of the commons, or some of the magistrates summoned you to
it. And they judged it necessary, that wherever a multitude was,
there should be a lawful governor of that multitude present. Of
what kind do you suppose are the meetings of these people? In the
first place, held in the night, and in the next, composed
promiscuously of men and women. If you knew at what ages the males
are initiated, you would feel not only pity, but also shame for
them. Romans, can you think youths initiated, under such oaths as
theirs, are fit to be made soldiers? That arms should be intrusted
with wretches brought out of that temple of obscenity? Shall these,
contaminated with their own foul debaucheries and those of others,
be champions for the chastity of your wives and children?

"But the mischief were less, if they were only effeminated by their
practices; or that the disgrace would chiefly affect themselves; if
they refrained their hands from outrage, and their thoughts from
fraud. But never was there in the state an evil of so great
magnitude, or one that extended to so many persons or so many acts
of wickedness. Whatever deeds of villany have, during late years
been committed through lust; whatever through fraud; whatever
through violence; they have all, be assured, proceeded from that
association alone. They have not yet perpetrated all the crimes for
which they combine. The impious assembly at present confines itself
to outrages on private citizens; because it has not yet acquired
force sufficient to crush the commonwealth: but the evil increases
and spreads daily; it is already too great for the private ranks of
life to contain it, and aims its views at the body of the state.
Unless you take timely precautions, Romans, their nightly assembly
may become as large as this, held in open day and legally summoned
by a consul. Now they one by one dread you collected together in
the assembly; presently, when you shall have separated and retired
to your several dwellings, in town and country, they will again
come together, and will hold a consultation on the means of their
own safety, and, at the same time, of your destruction. Thus
united, they will cause terror to every one of you. Each of you
therefore, ought to pray that his kindred may have behaved with
wisdom and prudence; and if lust, if madness, has dragged any of
them into that abyss, to consider such a person as the relation of
those with whom he has conspired for every disgraceful and reckless
act, and not as one of your own. I am not secure, lest some even of
yourselves may have erred through mistake; for nothing is more
deceptive in appearance than false religion. When the authority of
the gods is held out as a pretext to cover vice, fear enters our
minds, lest in punishing the crimes of men, we may violate some
divine right connected therewith. Numberless decisions of the
pontiffs, decrees of the senate, and even answers of the aruspices,
free you from religious scruples of this character. How often in
the ages of our fathers was it given in charge to the magistrates,
to prohibit the performances of any foreign religious rites; to
banish strolling sacrificers and soothsayers from the Forum, the
circus and the city; to search for and burn books of divination;
and to abolish every mode of sacrificing that was not conformable
to the Roman practice! For they, completely versed in every divine
and human law, maintained that nothing tended so strongly to the
subversion of religion as sacrifice, when we offered it not after
the institutions of our forefathers, but after foreign customs.
Thus much I thought necessary to mention to you beforehand, that no
vain scruple might disturb your minds when you should see us
demolishing the places resorted to by the Bacchanalians, and
dispersing their impious assemblies. We shall do all these things
with the favor and approbation of the gods; who, because they were
indignant that their divinity was dishonored by those people's lust
and crimes, have drawn forth their proceedings from hidden darkness
into the open light; and who have directed them to be exposed, not
that they may escape with impunity, but in order that they may be
punished and suppressed. The senate have committed to me and my
colleague, an inquisition extraordinary concerning that affair.
What is requisite to be done by ourselves, in person, we will do
with energy. The charge of posting watches through the city, during
the night, we have committed to the inferior magistrates; and, for
your parts, it is incumbent on you to execute vigorously whatever
duties are assigned you, and in the several places where each will
be placed, to perform whatever orders you shall receive, and to use
your best endeavors that no danger or tumult may arise from the
treachery of the party involved in the guilt."

They then ordered the decrees of the senate to be read, and
published a reward for any discoverer who should bring any of the
guilty before them, or give information against any of the absent,
adding, that "if any person accused should fly, they would limit a
certain day upon which, if he did not answer when summoned, he
would be condemned in his absence; and if anyone should be charged
who was out of Italy, they would not allow him any longer time, if
he should wish to come and make his defence." They then issued an
edict, that "no person whatever should presume to buy or sell
anything for the purpose of leaving the country; or to receive or
conceal, or by any means aid the fugitives." On the assembly being
dismissed, great terror spread throughout the city; nor was it
confined merely within the walls, or to the Roman territory, for
everywhere throughout the whole of Italy alarm began to be
felt--when the letters from the guest-friends were
received--concerning the decree of the senate, and what passed in
the assembly and the edict of the consuls. During the night, which
succeeded the day in which the affair was made public, great
numbers attempting to fly, were seized and bought back by the
triumvirs, who had posted guards at all the gates; and informations
were lodged against many, some of whom, both men and women, put
themselves to death. Above seven thousand men and women are said to
have taken the oath of the association. But it appeared that the
heads of the conspiracy were the two Catinii, Marcus and Caius,
Roman plebeians; Lucius Opiturnius, a Faliscian; and Minius
Cerrinius, a Campanian: that from these proceeded all their
criminal practices, and that these were the chief priests and
founders of the sect. Care was taken that they should be
apprehended as soon as possible. They were brought before the
consuls, and confessing their guilt, caused no delay to the ends of
justice.

But so great were the numbers that fled from the city, that because
the lawsuits and property of many persons were going to ruin, the
prætors, Titius Mænius and Marcus Licinius were obliged, under the
direction of the senate, to adjourn their courts for thirty days
until the inquiries should be finished by the consuls. The same
deserted state of the law courts, since the persons against whom
charges were brought did not appear to answer, nor could be found
in Rome, necessitated the consuls to make a circuit of the country
towns, and there to make their inquisitions and hold the trials.
Those who, as it appeared, had been only initiated, and had made
after the priest, and in the most solemn form, the prescribed
imprecations, in which the accursed conspiracy for the perpetration
of every crime and lust was contained, but who had not themselves
committed, or compelled others to commit, any of those acts to
which they were bound by the oath--all such they left in prison.
But those who had forcibly committed personal defilements or
murders, or were stained with the guilt of false evidence,
counterfeit seals, forged wills, or other frauds, all these they
punished with death. A greater number were executed than thrown
into prison; indeed the multitude of men and women who suffered in
both ways, was very considerable. The consuls delivered the women
who were condemned to their relations, or to those under whose
guardianship they were, that they might inflict the punishment in
private; but if there did not appear any proper person of the kind
to execute the sentence, the punishment was inflicted in public. A
charge was then given to demolish all the places where the
Bacchanalians had held their meetings; first, in Rome, and then
throughout all Italy; excepting those wherein should be found some
ancient altar, or consecrated statue. With regard to the future,
the senate passed a decree, "that no Bacchanalian rites should be
celebrated in Rome or in Italy:" and ordering that, "in case any
person should believe some such kind of worship incumbent upon him,
and necessary; and that he could not, without offence to religion,
and incurring guilt, omit it, he should represent this to the city
prætor, and the prætor should lay the business before the senate.
If permission were granted by the senate, when not less than one
hundred members were present, then he might perform those rites,
provided that no more than five persons should be present at the
sacrifice, and that they should have no common stock of money, nor
any president of the ceremonies, nor priest."

Another decree connected with this was then made, on a motion of
the consul, Quintus Marcius, that "the business respecting the
persons who had served the consuls as informers should be proposed
to the senate in its original form, when Spurius Postumius should
have finished his inquiries, and returned to Rome." They voted
that Minus Cerrinius, the Campanian, should be sent to Ardea, to be
kept in custody there; and that a caution should be given to the
magistrates of that city, to guard him with more than ordinary
care, so as to prevent not only his escaping, but his having an
opportunity of committing suicide.

Spurius Postumius some time after came to Rome and on his proposing
the question, concerning the reward to be given to Publius Æbutius
and Hispala Fecenia, because the Bacchanalian ceremonies were
discovered by their exertions, the senate passed a vote, that "the
city quæstors should give to each of them, out of the public
treasury, one hundred thousand asses; and that the consuls should
desire the plebeian tribunes to propose to the commons as soon as
convenient, that the campaigns of Publius Æbutius should be
considered as served, that he should not become a soldier against
his wishes, nor should any censor assign him a horse at the public
charge." They voted also, that "Hispala Fecenia should enjoy the
privileges of alienating her property by gift or deed; of marrying
out of her rank, and of choosing a guardian, as if a husband had
conferred them by will; that she should be at liberty to wed a man
of honorable birth, and that there should be no disgrace or
ignominy to him who should marry her; and that the consuls and
prætors then in office, and their successors, should take care that
no injury should be offered to that woman, and that she might live
in safety. That the senate wishes, and thought proper, that all
these things should be so ordered."--All these particulars were
proposed to the commons, and executed, according to the vote of the
senate; and full permission was given to the consuls to determine
respecting the impunity and rewards of the other informers.[178]

The bacchanalian orgies were first suppressed nearly two hundred years before Christ. The above extract from Livy reminds us that at that time the Romans were still strong and virtuous, and that a proposal of their Consul to eradicate a vicious evil that threatened the existence of both domestic life and the State, met with warm approval and hearty support from both the Senate and the people. But the insidious infection was never completely eradicated; and the work of the "Greek from Etruria" bore bitter fruit in the centuries that followed. And when we consider that not only bacchanalian orgies, but Greek literature, painting, sculpture, tragedy and comedy, were the chief causes of the pollution of Roman morals and the destruction of the Roman State, should we be surprised that Juvenal, in an outburst of patriotic wrath, should have declaimed against "a Grecian capital in Italy";[179] and that he should have hurled withering scorn at

The flattering, cringing, treacherous, artful race,
Of fluent tongue and never-blushing face,
A Protean tribe, one knows not what to call,
That shifts to every form, and shines in all.

And, when we consider the state of the Roman world at the time of Christ, should we be surprised that St. Paul should have described Romans as "Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful"?[180]

Suffice it to say, in closing the chapter on Græco-Roman paganism, that, at the beginning of the Christian era, the Roman empire had reached the limit of physical expansion. Roman military glory had culminated in the sublime achievements of Pompey and of Cæsar. Mountains, seas, and deserts, beyond which all was barbarous and desolate, were the natural barriers of Roman dominion. Roman arms could go no farther; and Roman ambition could be no longer gratified by conquest. The Roman religion had fallen into decay and contempt; and the Roman conscience was paralyzed and benumbed. Disgusted with this world, the average Roman did not believe in any other, and was utterly without hope of future happiness. A gloomy despondency filled the hearts of men and drove them into black despair. When approaching death, they wore no look of triumph, expressed no belief in immortality, but simply requested of those whom they were leaving behind, to scatter flowers on their graves, or to bewail their early end. An epigram of the Anthology is this: "Let us drink and be merry; for we shall have no more of kissing and dancing in the kingdom of Proserpine: soon shall we fall asleep to wake no more." The same sentiments are expressed in epitaphs on Roman sepulchral monuments of the period. One of them reads thus: "What I have eaten and drunk, that I take with me; what I have left behind me, that have I forfeited." This is the language of another: "Reader, enjoy thy life; for after death there is neither laughter nor play, nor any kind of enjoyment." Still another: "Friend, I advise, mix thee a goblet of wine, and drink, crowning thy head with flowers. Earth and fire consume all that remains after death." And, finally, one of them assures us that Greek mythology is false: "Pilgrim, stay thee, listen and learn. In Hades there is no ferryboat, nor ferryman Charon; no Æacus or Cerberus;--once dead, and we are all alike."[181]

Matthew Arnold has very graphically described the disgusting, sickening, overwhelming despair of the Roman people at the birth of Christ.

Ah! carry back thy ken,
What, some two thousand years! Survey
The world as it was then.

Like ours it looked, in outward air,
Its head was clear and true;
Sumptuous its clothing, rich its fare;
No pause its action knew.

Stout was its arm, each thew and bone
Seem'd puissant and alive--
But ah! its heart, its heart was stone
And so it could not thrive.

On that hard pagan world disgust
And secret loathing fell;
Deep weariness and sated lust
Made human life a hell.

In his goodly hall with haggard eyes,
The Roman noble lay;
He drove abroad in furious guise
Along the Appian Way.

He made a feast, drank fierce and fast,
And crowned his hair with flowers;
No easier, nor no quicker passed
The impracticable hours.[182]

But the "darkest hour is just before the dawn," and "the fulness of the time was come." Already the first faint glimmers of the breaking of a grander and better day were perceptible to the senses of the noblest and finest of Roman intellects. Already Cicero had pictured a glorious millennium that would follow if perfect virtue should ever enter into the flesh and come to dwell among men.[183] Already Virgil, deriving inspiration from the Erythræan Sibylline prophecies, had sung of the advent of a heaven-born child, whose coming would restore the Golden Age, and establish enduring peace and happiness on the earth.[184] Already a debauched, degraded and degenerate world was crying in the anguish of its soul: "I know that my Redeemer liveth!" And, even before the Baptist began to preach in the wilderness, the ways had been made straight for the coming of the Nazarene.

_APPENDICES_