Million Book Collection - The Fishers of Men Ministries

iSo THE FORMATION OF CHRISTENDOMspecimen of that compound society which the greatEmperor Trajan ruled. The contrast in them betweenthe Greek and Latin mind is striking. CertainlyTacitus is the ablest and most original of the seven :but his religious and philosophic standing-ground isperhaps the most obscure. Indeed, religion and philosophyfor him belong to the policy of the empireThey have no deep place in his heart. It is not thedestiny of man but the destiny of Rome which moveshim. And if he does ever make a remark upon providenceor human life in general, doubt and gloom seemto invade his clear practical intellect, and despondencyto quench his feeling as a patriot. Pliny is the carefuladministrator, the polished man of letters, who isready for any philosophic discussion with his friends,and worships his country's gods without hesitation.These are the Latin friends and servants of the emperor,while in Trajan himself we see the embodimentof the valour, the statesmanship, the practical governingqualities which sustained the Roman world, andwhich met with entire homage O from such men asTacitusPand Plinv.»But it is to the Greeks that wemust look for any theory as to the deeper problemswhich surround human life. It was the provincialswho thought for the humanity which Rome governed.Now Epictetus, Dio, and Plutarch were likewise valuedand honoured by Trajan. They represent the learningand intellectual activity of the Greek portionof his empire. In them we find a very definitestanding-ground taken up as to the relation betweenphilosophy and the existing belief and worship. Fromtheir time we may say that philosophy, as disseminatedby Greek teachers to the cultured classes, containedtwo main elements. The first is the entertainment of