The extant literature of the time makes it quite clear that there was no belief in the truth of the mythology4. But it is doubtful whether there ever had been, and mythology was no part of religion. This was particularly true at Rome. For some thousands of years the inhabitants of central Italy had performed ceremonies in their fields in connection with their daily life. A great many of these ceremonies had become official and regulated in the city of Rome and many other Italic civic5 communities. It was the practice of educated Italians to devise aetiological stories for these practices and to bring them into connection with Greek myths. In this way a Roman mythology was created, but more even than in the case of the Greeks it was devoid6 of a folkloristic7 foundation.[252] For the masses these stories can scarcely be said to have existed. But the ceremonies 237did, and their punctilious8 performance and the anxious care with which extraordinary rites9 of purgation were performed satisfied the ordinary needs of ordinary men.
Mention has been made of the religious movement which from the seventh century B.C.E. spread over the Eastern Mediterranean10, and which was concerned with the demand for personal salvation11 and its corollary, a belief in personal immortality12. In the Greek-speaking world the carriers of that movement were the Orphic and Dionysiac mysteries. In the non-Greek East there was abundant occasion for beliefs of this kind to gain ground. The great world monarchies13 introduced such cataclysms14 in the smaller nations that a violent readjustment of relations with the divinity was frequently necessitated15, since the god’s claim to worship was purely16 national. No such profound political upheavals17 occurred in Greece. Here, however, a fertile field for the spread of mysteries and extra-national means of divine relations was found in the rapid economic degeneration caused by the slave system. Attachment18 to the state was confined to those who had a stake in it. The maxim19 that a man’s fatherland was where his fortune brought him seemed less a bold and cynical20 aphorism21 than the veriest commonplace for all but a few idealists.[253] To save the personality that individual misfortunes threatened to overwhelm, recourse was had to every means and especially to the vague and widespread doctrine23 of other and fuller existences beyond the confines of mortality.
238In Rome the obvious hinge in the destinies of the people from almost every point of view was the Hannibalic war. For a short time disaster seemed imminent24, and the desperate reaching out to the ends of the earth for divine support could not fail to make a deep impression upon thousands of men. In that moment of dreadful stress, it was not the Etruscan Triad on the Capitol nor Father Mars, but the mystic Ma, the Ancient Mother of Phrygia with her diadem26 of towers, her lion-chariot and her bloody27 orgies, that stayed the rush of the Carthaginian. It is true that the city’s ultimate triumph caused a reaction. An increased national self-consciousness made Romans somewhat ashamed of their weakness, but they could not blot28 out the memory of the fact.
The city’s increase in total well-being29 went on with tremendous strides, but the disintegrating30 forces of a vicious economic system were present here too. Besides, the special circumstances that tended to choke the city with people of diverse origin were intensified31. In the next few generations we hear of the threatening character of foreign mysteries, of surreptitious association with the Cybele worshipers, of Isis devotees gaining ground. Shortly after the Second Punic War occurs the episode of the Bacchic suppression. One can scarcely help noticing how strikingly similar were the accusations32 directed against the Bacchanales and those later brought against the Christians33, and wondering whether they were any truer in the one case than in the other. The whole incident can 239easily be construed34 as an act of governmental persecution35, which, it may be noted36, was as futile37 as such persecution generally is. The orgiastic Dionysus was not kept from Italy, though he always remained an uncomfortable god for Romans of the old type. One reason has already been referred to; viz., the constant recruiting of the infima plebs from enfranchised38 foreign slaves. The lower classes were becoming orientalized. The great Sicilian slave revolt of 134 B.C.E. was almost a Syrian insurrection, and was under the direct instigation of the Syrian goddess Atargatis.[254]
During the civil wars and the periods of uncertainty39 that lay between them, all political and social life seemed as though conducted on the edge of a smouldering volcano. Innumerable men resorted to magic, either in its na?ve form or in its astrological or mathematical refinements40. Newer and more terrific rites, stranger and more outlandish ceremonials, found a demand constantly increasing. And the Augustan monarchy41 brought only a temporary subsidence of this excitement. Order and peace returned, but Augustus could not cure the fundamentally unsound conditions that vitiated Roman life, nor did he make any real attempt to prevent Roman society from being dissolved by the steady inpour of foreign blood, traditions, and non-Roman habits of mind. The need of recourse to foreign mysteries was as apparent as ever.
In this way the internal conditions of Roman society impelled42 men to the alien forms of religion. And external impulses were not lacking. There were present 240professional and well-equipped missionaries43. Our information about them is fullest with reference to the philosophic44 schools, which consciously bid for the support of educated Romans. These groups of philosophers were nearly all completely organized, and formed an international fraternity as real as the great International Actors Association and the similar Athletic45 union.[255] It was scarcely feasible to stand neutral. A man was either an Academic, or Stoic46, or Epicurean, or Neopythagorean, and so on. So skilful47 a trimmer as Cicero’s friend, the astoundingly shrewd Atticus, was enrolled48 as an Epicurean.[256] Even skepticism classified a man as an Academic, as Cicero himself was classed despite occasional exhibitions of sympathy for the Stoa. And the combat was as intense and as dogmatic as that between competing religious sects49. That is precisely50 what they were, and they bandied their shibboleths51 with the utmost zeal52 and unction.
Some of these philosophic sects, the Cynics and Stoics53, reached classes of lower intellectual level. And there they came in conflict with astrologer and thaumaturg, with Isis and with Atthis devotees, and with Jews. The popular sermon, the diatribe54, was an institution of the Cynics, and was directed to the crowd. Indeed the chief object of Cynic jibes55 was the pretension56 of philosophers to possess a wisdom that was in any way superior to the mother-wit of the rudest boor57.[257] The Stoics too used the diatribe with success. It must not, however, be supposed that either Stoic or Cynic 241was a serious rival of the dramatic and sensationally58 attractive rites of the Eastern cults59. The latter counted their adherents62 by the hundreds where the preaching philosopher might pick up an occasional adherent61. The importance of the philosophers for the spread of non-Roman beliefs lies chiefly in the fact that they reached all classes of society, and, different as they seem from the cult60-associations of the various foreign deities63, they really represented the same emotional need as the latter.
These had literary support as well. We have recently had restored to us some astrological pamphlets, such as that of Vettius Valens,[258] and we can only guess from what arsenal64 Isiac or Mithraist drew those arguments with which he boasted of confuting even Stoics and Epicureans. But we may safely assume that tracts65 existed of this sort.
As far as the Jews are concerned, their propaganda may have begun with their first settlement in Rome. Cicero does not mention it, but Cicero was not interested in what went on among the strata66 of society in which the Jews then moved. In the next generation their propaganda was so wide and successful that it must have been established for a considerable time.
Further, from what has been said it is clear that this propaganda must have been directed primarily to the plebs, to the same classes, that is, as those who received Isis and Cybele, Mithra and the Cabiri. At first it practically did not reach the intellectually cultivated at all. But the Jews possessed67 an extensive literature, which in Egypt and the East generally had assumed the form 242of “most philosophic” treatises68. Indeed, it is quite clear that the Wisdom of Solomon could be enjoyed by none but cultured men.[259] Books of this sort, as well as the Bible, were accessible, and were read by some. The synagogue service was an exposition of Jewish doctrine upon topics that ranked as philosophic. While therefore it was mainly from among the masses that Jewish converts came, here and there men of education must have found the Jewish preachers as convincing as the philosophic revivalists, who boasted of no more respectable credentials69.
The Roman state had found itself obliged to take cognizance of the foreign religious movements at an early date. The official acceptance of Cybele had promptly70 been surrounded by restrictions71. Cybele was always to remain a foreign goddess. Romans were stringently72 forbidden to take part in her ceremonies.[260] Toward the forms of worship themselves, the Roman attitude was tolerant enough. As long as they were confined to Egyptians, Syrians, Cappadocians, the participants would be secure from molestation73. But that the foreign rites might displace the ancestral forms was a well-grounded fear, and drastic precautions were taken against that. The Bacchanalian74 incident of 186 B.C.E. is the first of these instances.
In the same way the Roman police found it necessary at various times to proceed against astrologers, Isis-worshipers, and philosophers. The statement frequently occurring, that these groups were banished75, is constantly misunderstood. It can apply only to 243foreigners in these classes, not to Roman citizens affected76 by these strange beliefs; but it implies that the Roman citizens so affected were sufficiently77 numerous to make the desertion of the national religion a probable contingency78. Of course Roman citizens could not violate the laws that regulated religious observances with impunity79. These laws, however, were ostensibly never directed against the religious observances, but against abuses and acts that were connected with them. That was true even in the case of the Bacchanalia, when the decree of the senate expressly permitted the celebration of the rites under proper restrictions.
Whether honestly or not, the Roman government aimed its measures solely80 at certain indubitably criminal acts, which, it was alleged81, were associated with the practice of the foreign cults. These acts were often offenses82 against public morality. Conditions of high religious excitement often sought a physical outlet83 in dancing or shouting, and no doubt often enough, when the stimulation84 of wine or drugs or flagellation was added, in sexual excesses. Instances that were perhaps isolated85 and exceptional were treated as characteristic, and made the basis for repressive legislation.[261]
Another and better founded objection to many of the forms of foreign religion was the opportunities they offered for swindlers. As early as 139 B.C.E. the astrologers were banished from Rome, not because of the feeling that the astrological system was baseless, but because of the readiness with which professed86 astrologers defrauded87 the simple by portentous88 horoscopes, 244which they alone could interpret or avert89.[262] The “Chaldeans” or mathematici included many men who were neither the one nor the other. It was obviously easier for a Syrian or Oriental generally to make these claims than for either Greek or Italian. Syrians in the city accordingly found the profession of quack90 tempting91 and profitable, and doubtless many Jews as well entered it.
We have evidence too that many of the mushroom political associations were grouped about some of these foreign deities. The possession of common sacra was, in a sense, the distinguishing mark of any organized body of men, and organization of the masses in all forms was the commonest device of the agitators92 of the revolutionary period. Clodius had his mobs grouped in decuries and curiae.[263] It is likely enough that in some of these groups, consisting largely of freedmen of foreign birth, various foreign deities were worshiped in the communal93 sacra, so that the various police measures restricting or forbidding these rites may have had strong political motives94 as well.
When Caesar reconstituted the state after Pharsalia, he knew from direct experience the danger that lay in unrestricted association ostensibly for religious purposes. The θ?ασοι, “cult-associations,” which he dissolved were undoubtedly95 grouped about some Greek or Oriental deity96. The Jews were specially22 exempted97, for reasons easy to guess at, but which we cannot exactly determine.[264] This striking favor cannot but have immensely increased their influence. We need not suppose 245that Caesar’s orders were any more effective than previous decrees of this character had been. But even a temporary clearing of the field gave the active propagandists among the Jews an opportunity which they fully98 utilized99.
We have sketches100 of Jewish activities in Rome during the following years drawn101 by master hands. In every instance, of course, the picture is drawn with distinct lack of sympathy, but it is none the less valuable on that account. Easily of first importance is the information furnished us by the cleverest of Roman poets, Horace.
Quintus Horatius Flaccus was the son of a former slave. His racial origin accordingly may have been found in any corner of the Mediterranean in which we choose to look for it. That fact, however, is of little importance, except that the consciousness of servile ancestry102 must have largely influenced his personal intercourse103, and his patriotism104 must have been somewhat qualified105, despite some vigorously Roman sentiments. Suave106, obese107, witty108, a thoroughly109 polished gentleman of wide reading and perfect manners, both sensual and shrewdly practical, Horace had early reached the point at which one descants110 on the merits of frugality111 and simplicity112 at the end of a seven-course dinner. His star was in the ascendant. His patron Maecenas was the trusted minister of Augustus; and to Augustus, and not Antony, fell the task of rebuilding the shattered framework of the state. Secure in the possession of every creature comfort, the freedman’s son could loaf and invite his soul.
246That he did so in exquisite113 verses is our good fortune, and that he chose to put his shrewd philosophy and criticism of life into the form of sketches that are medleys114 of scenes, lively chat, satirical attacks, and portraits of types and individuals, makes the period in which he lived and the society in which he moved almost as vivid to us as that depicted115 in the letters of Cicero.
In one of his Satires—“Chats,” as he called them—he tells the story of his encounter with a pushing gentleman, of a type familiar to every age. Horace cannot escape from the infliction117 of his presence, and miserably118 succumbing119 to the inane120 chatter121 of the bore, he comes upon his friend Titus Aristius Fuscus. But his hopes in that quarter are doomed122 to disappointment.
“Surely,” says Horace, nudging Fuscus, “you said you had something you wanted to speak to me about in private.”
“Yes, yes, I remember,” answers Fuscus, “but we’ll let that go for some more suitable time. To-day’s the thirtieth Sabbath. Why, man, would you want to offend the circumcised Jews?”
“I can’t say that I feel any scruples123 on that score.”
“But I do. I haven’t your strength of mind. I’m only a humble124 citizen. You’ll excuse me. I shall talk over our business at some other time.”
The little scene is so significant that we shall have to dwell on it. One unescapable inference is that the Jews in Rome were numerous, and that a great many non-Jews participated wholly or partially125 in their observances. Fuscus need not be taken seriously about his 247own beliefs, but his excuse would be extravagant126 in the highest degree if the situation of the Jews were not such as has been suggested. Indeed, the terms of intentional127 offensiveness which Fuscus uses indicate the serious annoyance128 of either himself or Horace that that should be the case.
The “thirtieth Sabbath” will probably remain an unsolved riddle129.[265] And whatever the day was, the extreme veneration130 expressed by Fuscus in declining even to discuss profane131 affairs is of course absurdly out of keeping with the words he uses. Fuscus is simply assuming the tone of a demi-proselyte, a metuens Sabbata, whose superstitious132 dread25 of the rites he has half embraced would make him carry his devotion to an excess. Horace thus obtains an opportunity of sketching133 a new type of absurdity134, in the very act of girding at the one which is the subject of the sermo.
And Horace makes still another reference to the proselytizing135 activities of the Jews. “You must allow me my scribbling,” he writes to Maecenas in another Satire116. “If you don’t, a great crowd of poets will come to help me. We far outnumber you, and, like the Jews, will compel you to join our rout136.”[266]
This is explicit137 enough in all conscience, and gives a very vivid picture of the public preaching that must have brought the Jews to the unwelcome notice of every saunterer in the Roman streets. Horace, despite his slave grandfather, is a gentleman, the associate of Rome’s aristocracy, a member of the most select circle of the city’s society. The Jewish proselytes, whether 248fully converted or “righteous strangers,” must have been very numerous indeed, if he was forced to take such relatively138 frequent notice of them. Horace has no pictures, like those of Juvenal, of presumptuous139 Syrians, Egyptians, or Greeks swaggering about the city. It is only these Syrian Iudaei whom he finds irritating, and wholly because of their successful hunt for souls.
It is true that all this may be due to personal circumstances in his own surroundings. Some of his acquaintances, or men whom he occasionally encountered, may have been proselytes; others may have been impressed by certain Jewish forms or ideas. Horace is taking his fling at them in his usual light manner. There is something ludicrous to a detached philosopher in the eager striving to save one’s soul, and still more absurd in the earnest attempt to gain adherents for an association that promises salvation.
Once he takes a more serious tone. In the famous journey he made with Maecenas to Brundisium Horace is told of an altar-miracle at Egnatia. The incense140 melts of itself, it seems, in the local temple. “Tell it to the Jew Apella,” says Horace, “not to me. I have always been taught that the gods live free from every care, and if anything wonderful occurs in nature, it is not because it has been sent down from heaven by meddlesome141 divinities.”[267]
This Jew Apella—a dialect-form of Apollas or Apollonius[268]—is no doubt a real person, who may perhaps have recounted to Horace some of the miracles 249of the Bible. Horace’s raillery is directed plainly enough at the credulity that will accept these stories, and equally at the troublesome theology which makes the god a factor in daily life. Life was much simpler if no such incalculable quantity were injected into it. And to keep life free from harassing142 and unnecessary complications was the essence of his philosophy.[269]
At about the same time another writer, the geographer143 Strabo, of Amasea in Cappadocia, makes a statement of special interest. As quoted by Josephus (Ant. XIV. vii. 2) he says: “These people have already reached every city, and it would be difficult to find a place in the whole world that has not received this tribe and succumbed144 to it.”
Obviously the statement is a gross exaggeration, and at most applicable to the cities of Egypt and Cyrene, in connection with which it is made. But that such a statement could be made at all is excellent evidence that it was at least partially true, and that there were Jewish communities practically everywhere, although it can hardly be the case that they were everywhere dominant145. However, the sketches by Horace are an eloquent146 commentary upon the statement of Strabo. Not merely the East or Africa, but the capital itself, was overrun with Jews, and their number was constantly increasing.
Horace, it has been said, wrote of and for a cultured aristocracy. So did the other poets of the age, Propertius, Tibullus, Ovid. But all of them were more than ordinarily familiar with the bas-lieux where disreputable passions might be gratified. The voluptuary 250Ovid was especially prone147 to go down into the sewer148 for new sensations, and just as Horace met Jews in the boulevards, so Ovid knew them in the slums.
In his salad-days Ovid had written a manual of debauchery, which he called the “Art of Love.” He was destined149 to regret bitterly the facility of verse and of conscience that gave birth to this bold composition. But written it was, and in his advice to the dissolute young Romans he enumerates150 the time and place for their amours.
Rome [he says in Ars Amatoria, i. 55 seq.] is the place for beauties. Venus has her fixed151 abode152 in the city of her Aeneas. Whatever you desire you may find. All you have to do is to take a walk in the Porticus of Pompey or of Livia,... Do not pass by the place where Venus mourns Adonis, or where the Syrian Jew performs his rites each seventh day. Nor overlook the temples of the linen-clad heifer from Memphis. She makes many what Jove made her. Even the fora favor Love, ... those where the Appian aqueduct gushes153 forth154 near the marble temple of Venus.... But above all stalk your game in the theaters.
In these instances Ovid refers to place, not to time, and it is only as part of the passages as a whole that the individual references can be understood. It will be seen that all the localities, beginning with the Porticus of Pompey in the Campus Martius, are merely casual. It is at the theater and circus where Ovid’s pupils are chiefly to pick out the ladies of their light loves. For that reason the other places specified155 are also, to a certain extent, show places. The mention of the law-courts is especially noteworthy in this connection.
251We must therefore assume that in the Jewish proseucha and in the temple of the Egyptian Isis there were to be found a certain number of curious onlookers156, particularly women, and while many of them became ardent157 converts, a certain number were innocent of any intentions except to while away an idle hour, and were easy game for the professional “mashers” for whom Ovid writes. Isis and Judaism were the two Oriental cults which at this time had the greatest success in Rome. And we can easily imagine how the unoccupied of all classes thronged158 to every new fashion in religious stimulation as in others.
Ovid is as explicit in the selection of time as of place.
Do not disregard time,... Avoid the first of April. Then the rainy season begins, and storms are frequent. But begin the day of the defeat at the Allia, or the day on which the Sabbath feast comes again, which the Syrian from Palestine celebrates. That’s a day on which other business ought not to be done. (Ars. Am. i. 413 seq.)
Again, in his palinode, with which he vainly hoped to regain159 his shattered reputation, “The Cure for Love” (vv. 214 seq.), he brings the same things together:
Off with you; take a long journey to some distant land.... The less you want to go, the more you must; remember that! Be firm and make your unwilling160 feet run. Do not pray for rain. Let no imported Sabbaths hinder you, nor the day on which we remember the disaster on the Allia.[270]
As far as Ovid is concerned, and we must assume he is speaking for Fuscus’ multi, a certain Jewish feast, whether it is the Sabbath or some special holiday, such as the Day of Atonement, is ranked with the Dies 252Alliensis, the fifteenth of July, the day on which, in 390 B.C.E., the Romans suffered their great defeat at the hands of the Gauls, and which was in consequence an ill-omened day from that time forth. Again, the Sabbath is classed with the rainy season as a day that might ordinarily incline a man to put off serious business.
As stated in the Notes, it is a common error to suppose that the generally ill-omened character of these days makes them eminently161 proper for flirtation162. No Roman, however cynical, could flout163 superstition164 to that extent. The advice is given for purely practical considerations. The rainy season at the time of the equinoxes is an inauspicious time to begin a courtship, which, as we have seen in the previous passage, must be carried on almost wholly in the open air. Social gatherings165 in the houses of friends in the society of ladies were not common. There was nothing among the Romans to correspond to modern five-o’clock’s or receptions, at which court might be paid to anyone who had caught the fancy of the Roman man about town. It is in the porticoes166, in the idle crowds at the theater or circus, where the steps of ingratiating are to be carried out, and for these the rising of the Pleiades (Ars. Am. i. 409) is distinctly unpromising.
This is especially borne out by the passage immediately following the one quoted from the “Art of Love” (Ars. Am. i. 417 seq.). The most inauspicious day to attempt the beginning of an intrigue167 is the lady’s birthday. Gifts are in order then, and they undoubtedly deplete168 one’s pocket-book. Ovid is jocose169 here, but the 253point is the same throughout. The hints and suggestions are as practical and direct as the formula of Ovid’s face-powder, which he also sets forth in the unfinished verses called Medicamina Faciei Femineae.
That which makes the Dies Alliensis and the Jewish Sabbath desirable is the fact that the former is in mid-July and the latter in the early fall, the most delightful170 of Italian seasons. Then an unbroken series of cloudless skies is almost assured; and the Roman fop could count on meeting his fair one day after day in one of the places of assignation so conveniently enumerated171 by Ovid.
The phrase rebus172 minus apta gerendis, “unsuitable for transacting173 business,” is best taken as given in the translation (above, p. 251). Ovid knows that undertakings174 are rare on that day, and that causes its insertion. If it were merely that cessation of ordinary business made it easier for idlers to pursue their amours, it must be remembered that the jeunesse dorée had no other ordinary business than falling in love.
The reference in the “Cure for Love” (above, p. 251) is of quite a different character. It will be noted that pluviae, “the rainy season,” which in the first case is particularly contrasted with the Sabbath and the Allia day, is here associated with them. “Let nothing hinder you,” says Ovid, “neither a good excuse nor a bad one; neither the weather nor superstition.” The point of the reference in the two cases is accordingly not at all the same. In the first instance the accidental fact that the Allia day and a certain Jewish festival 254occur during pleasant weather singles them out for mention. In the second it is the religious association of the day that Ovid has in mind.
As far as Ovid is personally concerned, there is no more than in Horace a trace of sympathy for the Jewish cult. We have seen that in every instance this cult is only one of several illustrations. The adjective peregrina, “foreign,” applied175 to the Sabbath, gives the tone of all the passages. Ovid is a collector of light emotions. Of serious beliefs he has no vestige176. But the presence of these Syrians in the city interests him as anything else picturesque177 would. He takes cognizance of the part they play in the life of the city, and is a valuable witness on that point.
The same inference may be drawn from the letter of Augustus to Tiberius (Suet. Aug. 76): “There is no Jew, my dear Tiberius, who keeps his fast on the Sabbath as I kept it to-day.” If the considerations advanced in Note 269 are valid178, the Sabbath here is the Day of Atonement. But the significant fact is the use of the illustration at all. It confirms Strabo’s statement of the extent and success of the propaganda of the Jews that all these writers in some way mention their presence.
That the preaching of the Jews was vigorous and aggressive is almost a necessary inference. We know no less than three of their synagogues by name, Augustenses, Volumnienses, Agrippenses,[271] and we have no reason to assume that these three exhausted179 the list. To many Romans the ardor180 of their proselytizing 255was offensive. It seemed a systematic181 attempt to transform the ancestral faith of the state. A casual reference in Valerius Maximus, a contemporary of Tiberius, charges the Jews with having attempted “to contaminate Roman beliefs by foisting182 upon them the worship of Jupiter Sabazios.”[272] Valerius goes on to say that the praetor Hispalus expelled the Jews for that reason as early as 139 B.C.E. If such a thing took place, it was undoubtedly an act similar to an expulsion under Tiberius (below, p. 306), and was based on definite infractions of law, perhaps the law against unlicensed fortune-telling. The Jews in both cases were associated with the Chaldeans, a fact that makes the supposition more likely. But Valerius has in mind the conditions of his own day, when the success of the Jewish propaganda was bitterly resented, as we have seen, by Horace and Fuscus, and, as we shall later see, by Seneca and his associates generally.
If we try to imagine what the Jewish Roman communities of that day were like, we shall have to think of them as a proletariat. Freedmen in the second or third generation must have constituted a large part of them, and later references make it likely that many earned their livelihood183 by the proscribed184 arts of divination185 and fortune-telling. As in Alexandria, the bulk were probably artisans. Some were physicians, a profession then ranking in social degree with the manual trades, and usually exercised by slaves or freedmen.[273] The Roman encyclopedist Celsus mentions two Jewish medical authorities (De Med. V. xix. 11; xxii. 4). But the 256majority must have formed part of the pauperized city mob, turbulent and ignorant, and no doubt only moderately acquainted with their own laws and literature, so that we cannot be surprised to find indications of many things among them that were regarded as sacrilege in Jerusalem, such as carved animal figures on tombstones.[274]
However, there must at least have been some of a different type, whose command of their controversial literature enabled them to meet the competing philosophies upon their own ground and impress themselves upon some of the men of Augustus’ own circle.
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| vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷 | |
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actively
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inadequate
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mythology
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civic
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devoid
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folkloristic
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punctilious
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rites
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salvation
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immortality
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monarchies
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cataclysms
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necessitated
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upheavals
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attachment
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19
maxim
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| n.格言，箴言 | |
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20
cynical
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| adj.(对人性或动机)怀疑的，不信世道向善的 | |
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21
aphorism
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| n.格言，警语 | |
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22
specially
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| adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地 | |
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23
doctrine
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| n.教义；主义；学说 | |
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24
imminent
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| adj.即将发生的，临近的，逼近的 | |
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25
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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26
diadem
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| n.王冠，冕 | |
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27
bloody
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| adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染 | |
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28
blot
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| vt.弄脏（用吸墨纸）吸干；n.污点，污渍 | |
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29
well-being
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| n.安康，安乐，幸福 | |
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30
disintegrating
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| v.（使）破裂[分裂，粉碎]，（使）崩溃( disintegrate的现在分词 ) | |
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31
intensified
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| v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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32
accusations
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| n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名 | |
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33
Christians
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| n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 ) | |
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34
construed
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| v.解释（陈述、行为等）( construe的过去式和过去分词 )；翻译，作句法分析 | |
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35
persecution
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| n. 迫害,烦扰 | |
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36
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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37
futile
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| adj.无效的，无用的，无希望的 | |
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38
enfranchised
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| v.给予选举权( enfranchise的过去式和过去分词 )；（从奴隶制中）解放 | |
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39
uncertainty
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| n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物 | |
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40
refinements
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| n.（生活）风雅；精炼( refinement的名词复数 )；改良品；细微的改良；优雅或高贵的动作 | |
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41
monarchy
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| n.君主，最高统治者；君主政体，君主国 | |
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42
impelled
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| v.推动、推进或敦促某人做某事( impel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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43
missionaries
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| n.传教士( missionary的名词复数 ) | |
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44
philosophic
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| adj.哲学的，贤明的 | |
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45
athletic
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| adj.擅长运动的，强健的；活跃的，体格健壮的 | |
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46
stoic
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| n.坚忍克己之人，禁欲主义者 | |
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47
skilful
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| (=skillful)adj.灵巧的，熟练的 | |
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48
enrolled
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| adj.入学登记了的v.[亦作enrol]( enroll的过去式和过去分词 )；登记，招收，使入伍（或入会、入学等），参加，成为成员；记入名册；卷起，包起 | |
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49
sects
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| n.宗派，教派( sect的名词复数 ) | |
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50
precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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51
shibboleths
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| n.（党派、集团等的）准则( shibboleth的名词复数 )；教条；用语；行话 | |
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52
zeal
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| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
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53
stoics
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| 禁欲主义者，恬淡寡欲的人，不以苦乐为意的人( stoic的名词复数 ) | |
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54
diatribe
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| n.抨击，抨击性演说 | |
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55
jibes
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| n.与…一致( jibe的名词复数 )；（与…）相符；相匹配v.与…一致( jibe的第三人称单数 )；（与…）相符；相匹配 | |
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56
pretension
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| n.要求；自命，自称；自负 | |
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57
boor
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| n.举止粗野的人；乡下佬 | |
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58
sensationally
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59
cults
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| n.迷信( cult的名词复数 )；狂热的崇拜；（有极端宗教信仰的）异教团体 | |
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60
cult
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| n.异教，邪教；时尚，狂热的崇拜 | |
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61
adherent
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| n.信徒，追随者，拥护者 | |
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62
adherents
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| n.支持者，拥护者( adherent的名词复数 )；党羽；徒子徒孙 | |
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63
deities
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| n.神，女神( deity的名词复数 )；神祗；神灵；神明 | |
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64
arsenal
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| n.兵工厂，军械库 | |
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65
tracts
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| 大片土地( tract的名词复数 )； 地带； （体内的）道； （尤指宣扬宗教、伦理或政治的）短文 | |
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66
strata
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| n.地层（复数）；社会阶层 | |
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67
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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68
treatises
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| n.专题著作，专题论文，专著( treatise的名词复数 ) | |
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69
credentials
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| n.证明，资格，证明书，证件 | |
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70
promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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71
restrictions
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|
| 约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则） | |
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72
stringently
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| adv.严格地，严厉地 | |
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73
molestation
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| n.骚扰，干扰，调戏；折磨 | |
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74
bacchanalian
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| adj.闹酒狂饮的；n.发酒疯的人 | |
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75
banished
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| v.放逐，驱逐( banish的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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76
affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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77
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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78
contingency
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| n.意外事件，可能性 | |
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79
impunity
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| n.(惩罚、损失、伤害等的)免除 | |
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80
solely
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|
| adv.仅仅，唯一地 | |
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81
alleged
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| a.被指控的，嫌疑的 | |
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82
offenses
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| n.进攻( offense的名词复数 )；（球队的）前锋；进攻方法；攻势 | |
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83
outlet
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|
| n.出口/路；销路；批发商店；通风口；发泄 | |
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84
stimulation
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| n.刺激，激励，鼓舞 | |
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85
isolated
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| adj.与世隔绝的 | |
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86
professed
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| 公开声称的，伪称的，已立誓信教的 | |
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87
defrauded
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|
| v.诈取，骗取( defraud的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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88
portentous
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|
| adj.不祥的，可怕的，装腔作势的 | |
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89
avert
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| v.防止，避免；转移(目光、注意力等) | |
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90
quack
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| n.庸医；江湖医生；冒充内行的人；骗子 | |
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91
tempting
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| a.诱人的, 吸引人的 | |
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92
agitators
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| n.（尤指政治变革的）鼓动者( agitator的名词复数 )；煽动者；搅拌器；搅拌机 | |
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93
communal
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| adj.公有的，公共的，公社的，公社制的 | |
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94
motives
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| n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
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95
undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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96
deity
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|
| n.神，神性；被奉若神明的人(或物) | |
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97
exempted
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| 使免除[豁免]( exempt的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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98
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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99
utilized
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| v.利用，使用( utilize的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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100
sketches
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| n.草图( sketch的名词复数 )；素描；速写；梗概 | |
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101
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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102
ancestry
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| n.祖先，家世 | |
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103
intercourse
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| n.性交；交流，交往，交际 | |
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104
patriotism
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| n.爱国精神，爱国心，爱国主义 | |
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105
qualified
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| adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的 | |
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106
suave
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| adj.温和的；柔和的；文雅的 | |
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107
obese
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| adj.过度肥胖的，肥大的 | |
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108
witty
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| adj.机智的，风趣的 | |
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109
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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110
descants
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| n.多声部音乐中的上方声部( descant的名词复数 ) | |
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111
frugality
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| n.节约，节俭 | |
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112
simplicity
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| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
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113
exquisite
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| adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的 | |
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114
medleys
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| n.混杂物( medley的名词复数 )；混合物；混杂的人群；混成曲（多首声乐曲或器乐曲串联在一起） | |
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115
depicted
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| 描绘，描画( depict的过去式和过去分词 )； 描述 | |
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116
satire
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| n.讽刺，讽刺文学，讽刺作品 | |
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117
infliction
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| n.（强加于人身的）痛苦，刑罚 | |
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118
miserably
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| adv.痛苦地；悲惨地；糟糕地；极度地 | |
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119
succumbing
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| 不再抵抗（诱惑、疾病、攻击等）( succumb的现在分词 )； 屈从； 被压垮； 死 | |
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120
inane
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| adj.空虚的，愚蠢的，空洞的 | |
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121
chatter
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| vi.／n.喋喋不休；短促尖叫；(牙齿)打战 | |
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122
doomed
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| 命定的 | |
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123
scruples
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| n.良心上的不安( scruple的名词复数 )；顾虑，顾忌v.感到于心不安，有顾忌( scruple的第三人称单数 ) | |
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124
humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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125
partially
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| adv.部分地，从某些方面讲 | |
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126
extravagant
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| adj.奢侈的；过分的；(言行等)放肆的 | |
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127
intentional
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| adj.故意的，有意（识）的 | |
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128
annoyance
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| n.恼怒，生气，烦恼 | |
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129
riddle
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|
| n.谜，谜语，粗筛；vt.解谜，给…出谜，筛，检查，鉴定，非难，充满于；vi.出谜 | |
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130
veneration
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| n.尊敬，崇拜 | |
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131
profane
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| adj.亵神的，亵渎的；vt.亵渎，玷污 | |
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132
superstitious
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| adj.迷信的 | |
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133
sketching
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| n.草图 | |
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134
absurdity
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| n.荒谬，愚蠢；谬论 | |
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135
proselytizing
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| v.（使）改变宗教信仰[政治信仰、意见等]，使变节( proselytize的现在分词 ) | |
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136
rout
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| n.溃退，溃败；v.击溃，打垮 | |
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137
explicit
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| adj.详述的，明确的；坦率的；显然的 | |
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138
relatively
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| adv.比较...地，相对地 | |
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139
presumptuous
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| adj.胆大妄为的，放肆的，冒昧的，冒失的 | |
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140
incense
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| v.激怒；n.香，焚香时的烟，香气 | |
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141
meddlesome
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| adj.爱管闲事的 | |
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142
harassing
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| v.侵扰，骚扰( harass的现在分词 )；不断攻击（敌人） | |
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143
geographer
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| n.地理学者 | |
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144
succumbed
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| 不再抵抗（诱惑、疾病、攻击等）( succumb的过去式和过去分词 )； 屈从； 被压垮； 死 | |
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145
dominant
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| adj.支配的，统治的；占优势的；显性的；n.主因，要素，主要的人(或物)；显性基因 | |
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eloquent
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| adj.雄辩的，口才流利的；明白显示出的 | |
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prone
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| adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的 | |
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sewer
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| n.排水沟，下水道 | |
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destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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enumerates
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| v.列举，枚举，数( enumerate的第三人称单数 ) | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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abode
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| n.住处，住所 | |
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gushes
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| n.涌出，迸发( gush的名词复数 )v.喷，涌( gush的第三人称单数 )；滔滔不绝地说话 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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specified
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| adj.特定的 | |
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onlookers
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| n.旁观者，观看者( onlooker的名词复数 ) | |
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ardent
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，强烈的，烈性的 | |
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thronged
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| v.成群，挤满( throng的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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regain
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| vt.重新获得，收复，恢复 | |
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unwilling
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| adj.不情愿的 | |
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eminently
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| adv.突出地；显著地；不寻常地 | |
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flirtation
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| n.调情，调戏，挑逗 | |
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flout
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| v./n.嘲弄，愚弄，轻视 | |
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superstition
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| n.迷信，迷信行为 | |
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gatherings
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| 聚集( gathering的名词复数 )； 收集； 采集； 搜集 | |
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porticoes
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| n.柱廊，（有圆柱的）门廊( portico的名词复数 ) | |
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intrigue
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| vt.激起兴趣，迷住；vi.耍阴谋；n.阴谋，密谋 | |
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deplete
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| v.弄空，排除，减轻，减少...体液，放去...的血 | |
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jocose
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| adj.开玩笑的，滑稽的 | |
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delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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171
enumerated
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| v.列举，枚举，数( enumerate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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rebus
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| n.谜,画谜 | |
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transacting
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| v.办理（业务等）( transact的现在分词 )；交易，谈判 | |
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undertakings
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| 企业( undertaking的名词复数 )； 保证； 殡仪业； 任务 | |
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applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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vestige
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| n.痕迹，遗迹，残余 | |
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picturesque
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| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
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valid
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| adj.有确实根据的；有效的；正当的，合法的 | |
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exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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ardor
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| n.热情，狂热 | |
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181
systematic
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| adj.有系统的，有计划的，有方法的 | |
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182
foisting
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| 强迫接受，把…强加于( foist的现在分词 ) | |
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183
livelihood
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| n.生计，谋生之道 | |
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184
proscribed
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| v.正式宣布（某事物）有危险或被禁止( proscribe的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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divination
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| n.占卜，预测 | |
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