Page:The Ancient City- A Study on the Religion, Laws, and Institutions of Greece and Rome.djvu/274

 268 THE CITY. BOOR III. CHAPTER XIV. The Municipal Spirit, What we have already seen of ancient institntions, and above all of ancient beliefs, has enabled us to obtain an idea of the profound gulf which always separated two cities. However near they might be to each other, they always formed two completely separate societies. Between them there was much more than the distance which separates two cities to-day, much more than the frontier which separates two states; their gods were not the same, or their ceremonies, or their prayers. The worship of one city was forbidden to men of a neighboring city. The belief was, that the gods of one city rejected the homage and prayers of any one who was not their own citizen. These ancient beliefs, it is true, were modified and softened in the course of time; but they had been in their full vigor at the time when these societies were formed, and these societies always preserved the im- pression of them. Two facts we can easily understand : first, that this religion, peculiar to each city, must have established the city in a very strong and almost unchangeable manner; it is, indeed, marvellous how long this social organization lasted, in spite of all its faults and all its chances of ruin ; second, that the effect of this religion, during long ages, must have been to render it impossi- ble to establish any other social form than the city. Eveiy city, even by the requirements of its religion, was independent. It was necessary that each should