Page:Outlines of European History.djvu/357

 The RomcDi livipire to tJie TriiinipJi of CJtristiiDiity 299 a deep impression.^ It was believed that to witness these things and to submit to certain holy ceremonies of initiation would bring to the initiated deliverance from evil, the power to share in the endless life of the god, and to dwell with him forever. The old Roman faith had little to do with conduct and held Decline of out to the worshiper no such hopes as these. Litde wonder religion that the Roman multitude found the attraction of these oriental faiths and the blessed future insured by their "mysteries" irre- sistible. At the same time it was possible to learn the future Astrology of every individual, as all believed, by the use of Babylonian astrology (p. 84), and its mysterious practices were every- where. The orientals who practiced it were called Chaldeans (p. 84) or Magi.^ The Jews too, now that their temple in Jerusalem (p. 108) Judaism had been destroyed by the Romans, were to be found in in- creasing numbers in the larger cities. Strabo, a geographer of the early Empire, says of them, " This people has already made its way into every city, and it would be hard to find a place in the habitable world which has not admitted this race and been dominated by it." The Roman world was becoming accustomed to their synagogues ; but the Jews refused to acknowledge any other gods, and their exclusiveness brought them disfavor and trouble with the government. All subjects of the Empire were required to recognize the The Emperor divinity of the Emperor. He had now become a sun-god like ^ ^"" ^^ the kings of Egypt and he was known as the " Invincible Sun " (Fig. 117). As a god he stood for the majesty and glory of the The worship Roman dominion. The inhabitants of each province might Emperor revere their particular gods, undisturbed by the government, but all were obliged, as good citizens, to join in the official sacri- fices to the head of the State, as a god. His birthday was on the twenty-fifth of December. 1 See the account of the resurrection of Osiris, p. 27. 2 The Magi were originally an order of oriental priests. Our word " magic " is derived from this name.