that made Rome skeptical. The excesses of religion itself sapped
the foundations of faith.

Not with equal rapidity did all classes of the population adopt
monotheistic views. The merchants and lawyers and soldiers, who
by the nature of their pursuits are more familiar with the
vicissitudes of life, and have larger intellectual views, were
the first to be affected, the land laborers and farmers the last.

THE RISE OF CHRISTIANITY When the empire in a military and
political sense had reached its culmination, in a religious and
social aspect it had attained its height of immorality. It had
become thoroughly epicurean; its maxim was, that life should be
made a feast, that virtue is only the seasoning of pleasure, and
temperance the means of prolonging it. Dining-rooms glittering
with gold and incrusted with gems, slaves in superb apparel, the
fascinations of female society where all the women were
dissolute, magnificent baths, theatres, gladiators, such were the
objects of Roman desire. The conquerors of the world had
discovered that the only thing worth worshiping is Force. By it
all things might be secured, all that toil and trade had
laboriously obtained. The confiscation of goods and lands, the
taxation of provinces, were the reward of successful warfare; and
the emperor was the symbol of force. There was a social splendor,
but it was the phosphorescent corruption of the ancient
Mediterranean world.

In one of the Eastern provinces, Syria, some persons in very
humble life had associated themselves together for benevolent and
religious purposes. The doctrines they held were in harmony with