r industry. Under a rule of this
material kind there can be no enthusiasm, no chivalry, no saintly
aspirations, no patriotism of the heroic type. It was not to last
forever. A new life was about to dawn for mankind. Poetry, and faith,
and devotion were to spring again out of the seeds which were sleeping
in the heart of humanity.

But the life which is to endure, grows slowly; and as the soil must be
prepared before the wheat can be sown, so before the kingdom of heaven
could throw up its shoots there was needed a kingdom of this world
where the nations were neither torn in pieces by violence nor were
rushing after false ideals and spurious ambitions. Such a kingdom was
the empire of the Caesars--a kingdom where peaceful men could work,
think, and speak as they pleased, and travel freely among provinces
ruled for the most part by Gallios who protected life and property,
and forbade fanatics to tear each other in pieces for their religious
opinions. "It is not lawful for us to put any man to death," was the
complaint of the Jewish priests to the Roman governor. Had Europe and
Asia been covered with independent nations, each with a local religion
represented in its ruling powers, Christianity must have been stifled
in its cradle. If St. Paul had escaped the Sanhedrim at Jerusalem, he
would have been torn to pieces by the silversmiths at Ephesus. The
appeal to Caesar's judgment-seat was the shield of his mission, and
alone made possible his success.

And this spirit, which confined government to its simple duties, while
it left opinion unfettered, was especially present in Julius Caesar
himself. From cant of all kinds he was totally free. He was a friend
of the people, but he indulged in no enthusiasm for liberty. He never
dilated on the beauties of virtue, or complimented, as Cicero did, a
Providence in which he did not believe. He was too sincere to stoop to
unreality. He held to the facts of this life and to his own
convictions; and as he found no reason for supposing that there was a
life beyond the grave he did not pretend to expect it. He respected
the religion of the Roman state as an institution established by the
laws. He encouraged or left unmolested the creeds and practises of the
uncounted sects or tribes who were gathered under the eagles. But his
own writings contain nothing to indicate that he himself had any
religious belief at all. He saw no evidence that the gods practically
interfered in human affairs.