to judge the misdeeds and to impose the penalties. This
circumstance gave the clergy a very different character from the one it had
at Rome. The priest was no longer simply the guardian of sacred traditions,
the intermediary between man or the state and the gods, but also a
spiritual guide. He taught his flock the long series of obligations and
restrictions for shielding their weakness from the attacks of evil spirits.
He knew how to quiet remorse and scruples, and to restore the sinner to
spiritual calm. Being versed in sacred knowledge, he had the power of
reconciling the gods. Frequent sacred repasts maintained a spirit of
fellowship among the mystics of Cybele, Mithra or the Baals,[33] and a
daily service unceasingly revived the faith of the Isis worshipers. In
consequence, the clergy were entirely absorbed in their holy office and
lived only for and by their temples. Unlike the sacerdotal colleges of Rome
in which the secular and religious functions were not yet clearly
differentiated,[34] they were not an {42} administrative commission ruling
the sacred affairs of the state under the supervision of the senate; they
formed what might almost be called a caste of recluses distinguished from
ordinary men by their insignia, garb, habits and food, and constituting an
independent body with a hierarchy, formulary and even councils of their
own.[35] They did not return to every-day duties as private citizens or to
the direction of public affairs as magistrates as the ancient pontiffs had
done after the solemn festival service.

We can readily understand that these beliefs and institutions were bound to
establish the Oriental religions and their priests on a strong basis. Their
influence must have been especially powerful at the time of the Caesars. The
laxity of morals at the beginning of our era has been exaggerated but it
was real. Many unhealthy symptoms told of a profound moral anarchy weighing
on a weakened and irresolute society. The farther we go toward the end of
the empire the more its energy seems to fail and the character of men to
weaken. The number of strong healthy minds incapable of a lasting
aberration and without need of guidance or comfort was growing ever
smaller. We note the spread of that feeling of exhaustion and debility
which follows the aberrations of passion, and the same weakness that led to
crime impelled men to seek absolution in the formal practices of
asceticism. They applied to the Oriental pr