History as past ethics; an introduction to the history of morals

by P. V. N. Myers

[612] Ep. lxx; quoted by Lecky, History of European Morals, 3d ed., vol. i, p. 218.

[613] De Prov. i. 2.

[614] Zeno, the founder of the school, and Cato, its exemplifier in active life, both committed suicide.

[615] Compare the views on this subject of the ancient classical peoples with those of the modern Japanese (see [p. 85] and [p. 86] [n. 1].).

[616] Glover, The Conflict of Religions in the Early Roman Empire, 3d ed. (1909), p. 67.

[617] History of European Morals, 3d ed., vol. i, p. 324.

[618] Paulsen, A System of Ethics, tr. Thilly (1906), pp. 111 f.

[619] The cult of Isis when introduced into the Western lands favored illicit love, but by the second century of our era it had, in its new environment, become so far transformed as to be a true moral force in society. “Sacrament and mystery lent their aid to fortify the worshiper [of Isis] in the face of death, but, to derive their full virtue, he must exercise himself in temperance, abjure the pleasures of the senses, and purify himself for the vision of God” (Dill, Roman Society from Nero to Marcus Aurelius (1904), p. 583).

[620] On this subject see Franz Cumont, Les Mystères de Mithra (1892); English ed., The Mysteries of Mithra, tr. McCormack.

[621] “It [Mithraism] is perhaps the highest and most striking example of the last efforts of paganism to reconcile itself to the great moral and spiritual movement which was settling steadily, and with growing momentum, toward purer conceptions of God, of man’s relations to Him, and of the life to come.”—Dill, Roman Society from Nero to Marcus Aurelius, p. 585.