dered by the Pagans of the earlier time as a matter of course, the
justice of which was not contested, and the procedure of the government
was in principle the same under humane and conscientious rulers like
Trajan and Marcus Aurelius as under tyrants like Nero and Domitian. Here
again it is evident how firmly rooted in the mind of antiquity was the
conviction that denial of the gods was a capital offence.

To resume what has here been set forth concerning the attitude of ancient
society to atheism: it is, in the first place, evident that the frequently
mentioned tolerance of polytheism was not extended to those who denied its
gods; in fact, it was applied only to those who acknowledged them even if
they worshipped others besides. But the assertion of this principle of
intolerance varied greatly in practice according to whether it was a
question of theoretical denial of the gods--atheism in our sense--or
practical refusal to worship the Pagan gods. Against atheism the community
took action only during a comparatively short period, and, as far as we
know, only in a single place. The latter limitation is probably explained
not only by the defectiveness of tradition, but also by the fact that in
Athens free-thinking made its appearance about the year 400 as a general
phenomenon and therefore attracted the attention of the community. Apart
from this case, the philosophical denier of God was left in peace all
through antiquity, in the same way as the individual citizen was not
interfered with, as a rule, when he, for one reason or another, refrained
from taking part in the worship of the deities. On the other hand, as soon
as practical refusal to believe in the gods, apostasy from the established
religion, assumed dangerous proportions, ruthless severity was exercised
against it.

The discrimination, however, made in the treatment of the theoretical and
practical denial of the gods is certainly not due merely to consideration
of the more or less isolated occurrence of the phenomenon; it is rooted at
the same time in the very nature of ancient religion. The essence of
ancient polytheism is the worship of the gods, that is, cultus; of a
doctrine of divinity properly speaking, of theology, there were only
slight rudiments, and there was no idea of any elaborate dogmatic system.
Quite different attitudes were accordingly assumed towards the
philosopher, who held his own opinions of the gods, but took part in the
public worship l