ion
in this reaction. In continuity with earlier Greek thought on religion, it
proceeded from the absolute definitions of the divine offered by popular
belief, but when criticising anthropomorphism on this basis it did not
after all avoid falling out with popular belief. How far each philosopher
went in his antagonism was a matter of discretion, as also was the means
chosen to reconcile the philosophical with the popular view. The theology
of the Socratic schools thus suffered from a certain half-heartedness; in
the main it has the character of a compromise. It would not give up the
popular notions of the gods, and yet they were continually getting in the
way. This dualism governs the whole of the succeeding Greek philosophy.

CHAPTER VI

During the three or four centuries which passed between the downfall of
free Hellas and the beginning of the Roman Empire, great social and
political changes took place in the ancient world, involving also vital
changes in religion. The chief phenomenon in this field, the invasion of
foreign, especially oriental, religions into Hellas, does not come within
the scope of this investigation. On the one hand, it is an expression of
dissatisfaction with the old gods; on the other, the intrusion of new gods
would contribute to the ousting of the old ones. There is no question of
atheism here; it is only a change within polytheism. But apart from this
change there is evidence that the old faith had lost its hold on men's
minds to no inconsiderable extent. Here, too, there is hardly any question
of atheism properly speaking, but as a background to the--not very
numerous--evidences of such atheism in our period, we cannot well ignore
the decline of the popular faith. Our investigation is rendered difficult
on this point, and generally within this period, by the lack of direct
evidence. Of the rich Hellenistic literature almost everything has been
lost, and we are restricted to reports and fragments.

In order to gain a concrete starting-point we will begin with a quotation
from the historian Polybius--so to speak the only Greek prose author of the
earlier Hellenistic period of whose works considerable and connected
portions are preserved. Polybius wrote in the latter half of the second
century a history of the world in which Rome took the dominant place. Here
he gave, among other things, a detailed description of the Roman
constitution and thus came to touch upon the state of religio