[26] “Belief is a virtue, Doubt is a sin.”—Quoted by J. A. Froude, Short Studies, vol. i. p. 243.
[27] Certain emotional aspects of Greek Religion are dealt with in the subsequent analysis of Plutarch’s teaching.
[28] Horace: Epist. i. 6, 15, 16.
[29] Gaston Boissier: De la Religion Romaine, vol. i. p. 21. Cf. Cicero: De Natura Deorum, ii. 28.
[30] Cf. the remark of Seneca: Epistolæ ad Lucilium, i. 21.—“Quod fieri in senatu solet, faciendum ego in philosophia quoque existimo. Quum censuit aliquis, quod ex parte mihi placeat, jubeo illum dividere sententiam, et sequor.”—For a summary of interesting examples of the manner in which this spirit of compromise worked out in practical religious questions, see Boissier, pp. 22, sqq.
[31] Virgil: Georgics, 1. 268-272.—Cf. the note of Servius on this passage: “Scimus necessitati religionem cedere.” On the general character of Roman Religion, cf. Constant de Rebecque: Du Polythéisme Romain.—“On dirait que les dieux ont abjuré les erreurs d’une jeunesse fougueuse pour se livrer aux occupations de l’âge mûr. La religion de Rome est l’âge mûr des dieux, comme l’histoire de Rome est la maturité de l’espèce humaine.”
[32] Macrobius: Saturnalia, iii. 9.—“Si deus, si dea est, cui populus civitasque Carthaginiensis est in tutela, teque maxime ille,” etc.
[33] Plutarch: De Iside et Osiride. (Passages subsequently quoted.) Cf. Dion Chrysostom: De Cognitione Dei. (Vol. i. p. 225, Dindorf’s Text.)
[34] Dionysius of Halicarnassus: De Antiquitatibus Romanorum, ii. 18.—Though Livy’s account of the administrative measures of Numa is written in a totally different spirit from that of Dionysius, it may be noted that Numa is depicted as introducing religion as an aid to political stability.—“Ne luxuriarentur otio animi, quos metus hostium disciplinaque militaris continuerat, omnium primum, rem ad multitudinem imperitam et illis sæculis rudem efficacissimam Deorum metum injiciendum ratus est.” (Livy, i. 19.) Cicero confesses that the auspices had been retained for the same reason. (De Div., ii. 33.)
[35] The indignant phrases with which Horace scathes the degeneracy of his own times in this respect clearly indicate the religious aspect of the patriotic self-immolation of Regulus:—