1 Earliest Rome

13.2 Roman philosophical critique
was also characteristic of leading members of the ruling elite themselves. The
passage from which this excerpt comes is a comparison between Rome and
Carthage, intended to explain Rome's ultimate victory; but after the first sen­
tence, it is clear that Polybius slips into a comparison with the Greek world he
knew so much better.
See further: Vol. 1, 108-9; Walbank (1957-79) 1.741-3; Liebeschuetz
(1979) 4-5*.
Polybius, The His to riesVi.56.6-14
The respect in which the Roman constitution is most markedly superior is in their
behaviour towards the gods. It is, I think, the very thing that brings reproach amongst
other peoples that binds the Roman state together: I mean their superstitiousness. For
nothing could exceed the extent to which this aspect both of their private lives and of
their public occasions is dramatized and elaborated. Many would find this astonishing.
To me at least it seems clear that all this has been done for the sake of the common
people. For if you could form a state entirely out of wise men, then perhaps it would not
be necessary to adopt this course. But since the mass of every people is fickle and full of
lawless desires, irrational anger and violent impulses, it is essential that they should be
restrained by invisible terrors and suchlike melodramas. That is why I do not accept that
the ancients were acting irrationally or at random when they introduced the notion of the
gods or ideas about the terrors of Hades; it is rather our contemporaries who are being
rash and unreasonable in banishing these. The result apart from anything else is that
those in authority amongst the Greeks are unable to keep their faith, even if only
entrusted with a single talent , and given ten copyists, as many seals and
twice as many witnesses; whereas Roman magistrates and legates behave properly, even
when they are dealing with huge sums of money, simply because they have pledged their
faith by oath.
13.2 Roman philosophical critique
As Rome became more and more familiar with the traditions and arguments of
Greek philosophy, Roman thinkers came to examine their own religion from
an explicitly philosophical perspective. In his dialogue On Divination Cicero
presents arguments both in support of the principle of divination (from a Stoic
point of view) and against the practice (from a sceptical standpoint). Here the
omens Julius Caesar received from his sacrifices just before his murder are dis­
cussed from both sides: the question is bow it could be possible for the entrails
of a sacrificial animal to indicate future events (7.4).
See further: Vol. 1, 116-7, 149-51; Rawson (1975) 241-5*; Linderski
(1982); Momigliano (1984); Rawson (1985) 298-316; Denyer (1985); Beard
(1986); Schofield (1986); Timpanaro (1988); Brunt (1989). For other pas­
sages of Cicero's theological debate, see 2.3a; 2.4a and b.
351