Page:The religion of Plutarch, a pagan creed of apostolic times; an essay (IA religionofplutar00oakeiala).pdf/108

 honour," and he congratulates himself on the zealous and useful part he has taken in aiding the work of this revival. He mentions two friends as co-workers in the sacred task, and appears also to felicitate a certain Roman Governor of Achaia on similar grounds. But he reverently proceeds to make it quite clear that it is the god himself who is the ultimate cause of these returning blessings. "But it is not possible that so great a transformation should have taken place in so short a time through human activity, unless the god were present and continuing to inspire his oracle," and he concludes by censuring those who, in their inability to discern the motive actuating the divine methods with mankind, "depart condemning the god, instead of blaming us or themselves, that they cannot, by reason, discover the intention of the god."

Plutarch's attitude of more than tolerance to the "ancient and hereditary Faith," an attitude which is, of course, not inconsistent with his desire to place that Faith on a rational basis, is partly explicable in the light of his emphatic gratitude to the existing political constitution of the Græco-Roman world. He would have been an admirable co-worker with Mæcenas—[Greek: prothymos kai chrêsimos] —in carrying out the religious reforms of