XIII. Mere calumny, however, would not have had such CHAP. horrible consequences as the evidence of the woman Hispala had in Rome. We must bear in mind that the Jealousy of foreign accusation was directed against a sect of religious inno- gods. vators, which appeared to threaten the ancestral religion, and with it the state. In spite of their usual toleration of foreign religions, the Romans now and then showed their attachment to the gods of their commonwealth in the shape of hostility to strange gods. The mystic and orgiastic Eastern forms of worship found a small number of enthusiastic followers but many bitter enemies among the great mass. The introduction of the worship of the great mother' must have offended the old religious sentiments of the nation. When the castrated, begging priests of the Phrygian goddess marched through the streets in fantastic attire to the sound of drums and flutes, the old Roman feeling of propriety even in religious ceremonies was necessarily shocked. No Roman citizen was allowed to join this despised class. Now another superstition had silently invaded Rome, as it might seem in consequence of the encouragement which the state had lately given to the new rites. Screened from public inspection it had gained numbers of proselytes, and was constantly spreading. It was above all the secrecy of the nocturnal worship that was displeasing to the Romans. They abhorred all kinds of secret societies from which they apprehended danger to the community. The result of this mixture of fear and antipathy was an outbreak of savage fury and a cruel persecution of a set of religious fanatics, who, however contemptible might be their practices, were probably not more dangerous to the community and to the established religion than other foreign teachers of superstition and fanaticism. ment of the wor We have, it is true, no direct evidence in favour of the Punishpersons condemned. The prosecution was carried on in the general spirit of religious zeal. Prosecutor, judge, and shippers of executioner were united in the same person. It is evident even from the dry report of Livy that the government Bacchus. BOOK VI. 2 were from the first convinced of the guilt of the accused, and bent upon punishing them.' But this one-sidedness of the narrative not only gives us the permission but imposes on us the duty of consulting all historical analogies from which inferences may be drawn in favour of the accused. We may be allowed to recall the charges brought against the first Christians in Rome; we should recollect that they were described, even by such an historian as Tacitus, as enemies of the human race,' and how they were exposed to the general hatred of an ignorant multitude, and persecuted without the chance of a fair trial. What could modern historians have had to say about the destructive superstition' of those fanatics 'detested for their villanies,' if Christian witnesses had not proved their innocence and purity, and if Christianity had not triumphed over Paganism? The accusations against the Jews, which have so often called forth the savage fanaticism of Christians, may in like manner be considered as standing on a line with the charges against the Bacchanalian fraternity in Rome. Under a bad judicial system these stupid and malignant accusations would not only expose the Jews to the rage of the populace, but would end in a solemn condemnation of innocent persons by thousands. What such a rage for persecution can rise to is proved above all by the history of the so-called popish plot in England in the reign of Charles II. In that instance vile informers invented the whole plot, and brought a multitude of innocent people to the scaffold. The English nation for a long time was possessed with a This is particularly apparent from the speech of the consul Postumius. Liv. xxxix. 15. ? Tacit. Annal. xv. 44: Nero subdidit reos et quæsitissimis pœnis affecit quos per flagitia invisos vulgus Christianos appellabat. Tacitus calls the religion of these Christians exitiabilis superstitio,' and ranks this evil (malum) among the atrocious and shameful practices (atrocia atque pudenda) which find their way to Rome from all parts of the empire. He seems to think that some of them were actually guilty of having caused or spread the great conflagration (correpti qui fatebantur), but he adds that great numbers were put to death because they were guilty not of this particular crime, but 'odio generis humani.' kind of desperate madness. Judges and jury, high and low, raged against the accused. A handful of Roman Catholics were charged with intending to set fire to London, to murder the king and all the protestants, and to overthrow the constitution and religion of the country. It occurred to nobody to doubt the reasonableness of such a plan or to ask for evidence. The unproved and contradictory reports of such wretches as Titus Oates and Bedloe were thought sufficient. People were in search of victims and found them. At last they recovered their reason, but it was not until the blood of many innocent persons had been shed. CHAP. XIII. Such events as these show that there are not only National delusions physical but also mental epidemics. From time to time and madwe see whole nations carried away by the current of some mess. maddening illusion, which seems altogether to change their natural disposition. Phenomena of this kind are very frequent. We have on previous occasions remarked a tendency of the Romans to yield without reserve to groundless apprehensions, which are so often the symptom of mental derangement. The numerous prosecutions of Roman matrons for alleged poisoning are probably mere outbreaks of mental aberration. But they are especially pernicious if they are in some way connected with religious fear, because man then feels himself placed within the reach of incalculable forces. It was doubtless an outburst of religious hatred of this kind that led to the persecution and suppression of the Bacchanalia. case. We have already remarked that it is impossible to Probable ascertain to what extent the Bacchanalia in Rome, besides facts of the favouring fanaticism and religious enthusiasın, were the cause of immoral and criminal practices. Perhaps we may take the indulgent view that the worship of Bacchus was not worse in this respect in Italy than in Greece, where it had existed for centuries without any more pernicious effect than other forms of religious and social immoralities. But supposing that the coarser and more 1 Above, p. 231 ff. BOOK VI. Magnifi cence of the re ligious games. sensual nature of the Romans and the novelty of the worship caused the element of licentiousness to be developed more strongly than in Greece, we should nevertheless be inclined to think that the real cause of the movement was a craving for a more spiritual form of religion, an honest and genuine religious excitement; in fact, something akin to what is called a religious revival. It would be taking a very unjust and superficial view of the matter were we to charge the participators in the Bacchanalian rites with hypocrisy, and with the cool design of hiding their licentiousness under the cover of religion. It is even in our day not an uncommon phenomenon that persons of great excitability and imagination feel dissatisfied with a monotonous worship consisting of stereotyped forms, and that individuals and whole congregations are convulsively seized and carried away by religious enthusiasm. Whoever has once seen and heard a community of excited worshippers will look upon their screaming, raging, rejoicing, and howling, their gesticulations and rolling of eyes, their praying and cursing, as nothing but a religious rage which, however revolting and unreasonable it may appear, is nevertheless at bottom of a spiritual and not a sensual nature. Hence we believe that the Bacchanalia in Rome were not, as they are usually represented, a horrible plot for the destruction of state and family, not a deliberate organization for licentiousness and murder, but an attempt, though a vain attempt, to escape from the desolation of a religion of unmeaning forms which offered no comfort to the heart, no peace to the conscience, no scope for higher religious aspirations, no means of rising to a religious life which exalts man from the mechanical formalism of wornout ceremonies to spiritual excitement, to enthusiasm, to a forgetfulness of self, and to a longing for a union with God. This movement was for the present suppressed by the relentless hand of the civil magistrate. The Roman religion continued to be a lifeless routine of set prayers and sacrifices, and to compensate by external pomp for RELIGION. the want of internal vigour. The religious festivals became more numerous and more magnificent, especially the games, which, although in their original corception they formed part of the divine worship, nevertheless so fully satisfied the love of pleasure that their connexion with religion could no longer be more than external and purely formal. To the oldest of the Roman games had been added in course of time the Plebeian games, those in honour of Ceres, of Apollo, of the mother of the gods, and of Flora.' The time of celebrating them was gradually extended to several days each, and on some pretext easily found whole sets of them were played a second, or even a third time.2 Simultaneously the magnificence and variety of the games increased.3 The sums of money supplied by the state no longer sufficed. The liberality of the magistrates had to come to the assistance of the public, and this, as we have seen, was the origin of that peculiarly Roman form of corruption, the expenditure of the magistrates silently establishing their claim to higher honours. 281 CHAP. XIII. spectacles. The Romans were a people excessively fond of public Roman shows. They felt a never-flagging delight in processions, pageants, triumphs, shows, and spectacles of all kinds. This taste was abundantly satisfied not only by the frequent festivals and games arranged by the state, but furthermore by extraordinary celebrations for the gratification of family pride or the ambition of individual nobles. A favourite way of attracting popular attention for generals was to promise games as a proof of gratitude for victories gained or not gained, as the case might be. If only the enjoyment was great, the people did not care to scrutinise the veracity of the rich man who declared that in exhibit 1 Vol. ii. p. 473. On the public games see Friedländer in Marquardt's Röm. Alterth. iv. 473 ff. 2 The instauratio generally took place on the ground or pretext of some informality in the first celebration. Comp. Ritschl. Parerga, p. 309. The year 191 B.C. was especially rich in public festivals. Liv. xxxvi. 36. In 186 B.C. the first fights of wild beasts (venationes) were introduced (Liv. xxxix. 22) by M. Fulvius at the celebration of his victory over the Ætolians. |