f
those days religion may be laid altogether on one side. I remember no
passage in Livy or Tacitus indicating a religious belief.

But with Cicero my mind is full of such; and they are of a nature to
make me feel that had he lived a hundred years later I should have
suspected him of some hidden knowledge of Christ's teachings. M. Renan
has reminded us of Cicero's dislike to the Jews. He could not learn from
the Jews--though the Jew, indeed, had much that he could teach him. The
religion which he required was far from the selfishness of either Jew or
Roman. He believed in eternity, in the immortality of the soul, in
virtue for the sake of its reward hereafter, in the omnipotence of God,
the performance of his duty to his neighbors, in conscience, and in
honesty. "Certum esse in caelo definitum locum, ubi beati aevo sempiterno
fruantur."[330] "There is certainly a place in heaven where the blessed
shall enjoy eternal life." Can St. Paul have expressed with more
clearness his belief as to a heaven? Earlier in his career he expresses
in language less definite, but still sufficiently clear, his ideas as to
another world: "An vero tam parvi animi videamur esse omnes, qui in
republica, atque in his vitae periculis laboribusque versamur, ut, quum,
usque ad extremum spatium, nullum tranquillum atque otiosum spiritum
duxerimus, vobiscum simul moritura omnia arbitremur?"[331] "Are we all
of us so poor in spirit as to think that after toiling for our country
and ourselves--though we have not had one moment of ease here upon
earth--when we die all things shall die with us?" And when he did go it
should be to that glory for which virtue shall have trained him. "Neque
te sermonibus vulgi dederis, nec in praemis humanis spem posueris rerum
tuarum; suis te oportet illecebris ipsa virtus trahat ad verum
decus."[332] "You shall put your hope neither in man's opinion nor in
human rewards; but Virtue itself by her own charms shall lead you the
way to true glory." He thus tells us his idea of God's omnipotence:
"Quam vim animum esse dicunt mundi, eamdemque esse mentem sapientiamque
perfectam; quem Deum appellant."[333] "This force they call the soul of
the world, and, looking on it as perfect in intelligence and wisdom,
they name it their God." And again he says, speaking of God's care,
"Quis enim potest--quam existimet a deo se curari--non et dies, et
noctes divinum numen horrere?"[334] "Who is there, when he thinks that a
God is taking car