Page:The Ancient City- A Study on the Religion, Laws, and Institutions of Greece and Rome.djvu/47

 CUA.P. IV. DOMESTIC RELIGION. 41 minds of this race that the brilliant religion of the Greek Olympus could not extirpate it ; only Christianity could do this. We shall see presently what a power- ful influence this religion exercised upon the domestic and social institutions of the ancients. It was con- ceived and established in that distant age when this race was just forming its institutions, and determined the direction of their progress. CHAPTER IV. The Domestic Eeligion. We are not to suppose that this ancient religion resembled those founded when men became more en- lightened. For a great number of centuries the human race has admitted no religious doctrine except on twa conditions: first, that it proclaimed but one god; and,^ second, that it was addressed to all men, and was accessible to all, systematically rejecting no class or race. But this primitive religion fulfilled neither of these conditions. Not only did it not offer or.e only god to the adoration of men, but its gods did not ac- cept the adoration of all men. They did not offer themselves as the gods of the human race. They did not even resemble Brahma, who was at least the god of one whole great caste, nor the Fanhelienian Zeus, who was the god of an entire nation. In this primitive religion each god could be adored only by one family. Religion was purely domestic. We must illustrate this important point; otherwise the intimate relation that existed between this ancient