But finally came Greek philosophy ; for it was from Greece that Rome leaned, not only re ligious and theological, but also philosophical, speculation. From the time that Greek philos ophy the rationalism of Euheinerus, the skep ticism of Euripides and the Pyrrhonists, the ag nosticism of Protagoras and the atheism of Diag oras and Theodorus—began to affect the im pressible Roman mind, the old religion began visibly to fail. The pure theism and perfect vir tue of the Stoics had no attractions for the ordi nary Roman. The state and its patriots, like Cato, Aelius Stilo and Varro, tried to save the old forms and usages in the interest of the Re public, but their reforms failed, because the re formers themselves did not believe in the truth of what they tried to preach. Varro himself said that the worship was ill-planned, and that, if it could be made over, it could be made better. So reformers confined themselves to urging the observance of the time-honored practices; as to personal conviction—the law said nothing about that, and all had equal freedom of thought.
The comic poets, Plautus especially and Lucil ius, made all manner of fun of the religious notions of their contemporaries, and their au diences no doubt laughed. Polybius not only ig nores Providence and Fate in the affair- of men, but even goes so far as to declare that the Roman religion was a clever invention of shrewd poli ticians, and he congratulates them upon their success in discovering so excellent a scheme for holding them together.
Scipio, Laelius, Lucilius, and Polybius might well as Roman citizens defend that which as men they did not scruple to attack. Those times saw no hypocrisy in such a course. Cato, himself an augur, is notorious for having "wondered how one soothsayer could meet another without smil ing." And Cotta, as the great High Priest of Rome, believed in the gods ; but, as a philosopher, he was an atheist or an agnostic. A magistrate, in the function of his office, should show a proper attitude toward the existing laws ; he must to a certain extent put down his own likes and dislikes and beliefs and perform what the law dictates.
The masses did not lose their religion so soon as the educated Romans, but they did early lose everything but the forms, and to those they clung out of patriotic motives only. They sacrificed to gods in whom they did not believe ; they went through archaic formulas that had no longer any meaning; their rites had lost significance ; the very science of taking the auspices was forgotten in Cicero's day, except for purposes of political in trigue ; their temples fell into ruins ; the con tents were plundered and the lands appropriated for private ends ; they had forgotten who many of their gods were—Veiovis, and the Lares even— and the divine names became a subject for arch aeological study instead of worship. W. M.