teaching him to reject some particular
set of superstitions. There is an infinite supply of other superstitions
always at hand; and the mind that desires such things--that is, the mind
that has not trained itself to the hard discipline of reasonableness and
honesty, will, as soon as its devils are cast out, proceed to fill
itself with their relations.

* * * * *

Let us first consider the result of the mere denial of the Olympian
religion. The essential postulate of that religion was that the world is
governed by a number of definite personal gods, possessed of a human
sense of justice and fairness and capable of being influenced by normal
human motives. In general, they helped the good and punished the bad,
though doubtless they tended too much to regard as good those who paid
them proper attention and as bad those who did not.

Speaking broadly, what was left when this conception proved inadequate?
If it was not these personal gods who made things happen, what was it?
If the Tower of Siloam was not deliberately thrown down by the gods so
as to kill and hurt a carefully collected number of wicked people, while
letting the good escape, what was the explanation of its falling? The
answer is obvious, but it can be put in two ways. You can either say:
'It was just chance that the Tower fell at that particular moment when
So-and-so was under it.' Or you can say, with rather more reflection but
not any more common sense: 'It fell because of a definite chain of
causes, a certain degree of progressive decay in the building, a certain
definite pressure, &c. It was bound to fall.'

There is no real difference in these statements, at least in the meaning
of those who ordinarily utter them. Both are compatible with a
reasonable and scientific view of the world. But in the Hellenistic Age,
when Greek thought was spreading rapidly and superficially over vast
semi-barbarous populations whose minds were not ripe for it, both views
turned back instinctively into a theology as personal as that of the
Olympians. It was not, of course, Zeus or Apollo who willed this; every
one knew so much: it happened by Chance. That is, Chance or Fortune
willed it. And +Tyche+ became a goddess like the rest. The great
catastrophes, the great transformations of the mediterranean world
which marked the Hellenistic period, had a strong influence here. If
Alexander and his generals had practised some severely orthodox
Mac