New-York tribune., 1869-06-22


1t is refreshing to IN from the philosophical por-
ions of Air. Leckys book to the parts more strictly
historical. 1t is IN these chapters that his strength
appears Her he succeeds in setting old facts ia
new lights. and in reducing chaotic elements "
sometime like an ineligible order. The scT"! III
'hapte' treats of the moral tendencies at Wo[t- IN
the Pagan Empire, of the influence eHcrtou ny
re- gion, politics. military and clyic dis'p" ho 'u
erstition and philosophy, custom ana cn"i' c'ei,
ewes picture of the TIVE great schoos Vi CUNTS
the Tpicurean and the stole. 1T analYzes inc ehec'
nroduced ON the Roman mind by the genfIer sweeter
broader spirit of the Greek genius ~ no'eS ,io
tbo lo+et and best type of moral teaching that
illustrated by Plutarch, the Montaigne Oh an
tiopitv whose writings resembled the strains OF 1ho
ar+o to which the ancients attributed the power Oh
calming the passions, charming away inc cIouuS VI
sorrov. and drawing men by gentle suaslon INTO
tbe paths of virtue;" and, more beautifully stI Dy
tLo Fmneror Marcus Aurelius the last and most per-
feet representative of Roman stoicsm, whose PM
Iosopbv made him, perhaps, as nearly perfectly
yirtuous man as has ever appeared upon our world
in whom the asperity and arrogance of the sect had
altogether disappeared the man without fanatlclsm,
superstition or Illusion whose whole life was reg
ulated by q simple and unwayerng sense OF duty
the man who deeply honored the virtues OF the
hero but in whom gentleness and tenderness had ac
uuired a new prominence; the man whose counte-
nance was never known TO betray either elation or
despondency the man who said, 1t Is right TO love
those who have offended us, remembering that all
men are one kindred, that it is through ignorance
and unwttinmess that they SIM and that we must
all die so soon;" the man who wrote, There is but
one thing of real value to cultivate truth and justice
and to live without anger in the midst OF
lying and unjust men, This same chapter describes
the popular corruption and its causes the dedication
of the Emperors; slavery the prevalence OF deness
and sensuaty: the decline of public spirit OF agri-
cultural pursuits, of military virtue; the origin,
meaning, and moral tendency of the gladatoral
shows. 1t portrays truthfully and touchngly the
efforts of the Stoics to stem the flood of debasement
the gradual extinction Of Stocism itself; the influx
of a new spirit of pietism and mystic longing from
the East; the rise of the Pythagoreans and Neo-
Patonists reviving the feeling of religious rever-
ence, intoxicating prayerfulncss and purity of
thought and aecustoming men TO associate their
moral ideals with Deity
The third chapter explains with simplicity very
remarkable in the treatment of this hackneyed and
abused theme the conversion of the Roman Empire
TO Christianity, what that conversion was what led
to it, and what it involved No portion of Mr..
Lecky's work will be read more eagerly than this;
no portion, we think will be read with much sat
isfacton. The author avoids, and without apparent
effort, double danger and mistake: First, the old
one into which fell the Christian apologsts who by
painting the degradation of the Pagan world in the
blackest coors, and the glory Of the young Christian
Church in the most heavenly hues. endeavored to
persuade their readers that the conversion was
total change such as nothing less than the miracu-
ous interpositon of God could have effected second,
the new one into which fall writers of the senti-
mental school, like Mr.. Ernest Renan, who by doing
something more than justice to the Pagan world and
something less than justice to the young Church,
reduce the moral distance between the Empire and
the Faith to such slender line Of separation that
the ordinary march Of historical events steps it
without the necessity for making a stride and the
two oceans join without a ripple or a murmur
Mr. Lecky discusses the question more satisfac-
torily. Avoiding all reference to theological cnets,
making aluSion to the origin of Christianity the
validites Of it's evidences, the early history Of its
apostles he succeeds in conveying distinct impress
sion of the moral changes it introduced into the Ro
man Empire, and of the causes that produced them
The similarity between the ethics of StOics and the
ethics of Christianity has led to the persua-
sion that the loftiest Of the Socs borrowed nspra-
! ton from the new Faith. This belief Mr.. Lecky
entirely rejects The differences between Stoicsm
and Christianity numerous and more sig
nifcant than the resemblauces Reverence and hu'
miity constant sense Of the supreme majesty of
God and of the weakness and sinfuness of man, and
perpetual reference to another world, the
sential characteristics of Christianity. OF all these
the teaching of Seneca IS the direct antthesis; and
Marcus Aurelius, who, of all the Pagan world, if we
argued by internal evidence alone, we should have
most readily identified with Christianity was per-
secutor of the faith, and has left on record in his
Meditations' his contempt for the Christian mar
tvrc Tbp of nri into
miracle in the conquest which Christianity achieved
is utterly gratuitous Never was religious trans
formation so manifestly inevitable, No other re-
lgon ever combined so many forms of attraction az
Christianity. both from its intrinsic excellence and
from its manifest adaptation 10 the special
wants of the time.' 1t had prOdigies for those
who liked them; it had ideas for those who
could appreciate them; it had heroic
examples for those who could admire them it had
ideals for the aspiring heavenly prospect for the
longing pity for the suffering, compassion for the
eTieEing. 1t was an institution, closely organized
assailing disorgauized society. 1t was rgdly ex-
elusive, claiming all the heavens of glory for its
friends threatening all the hells of gloom upon its
foes and in this there lay terrible power TO fasc-
nate 1t wac fercely aggressive toward other faiths;
its adherents were a phalanx, bound together as a
single man. a body of stern earnest, disciplined, en-
thusiastic men and women, who were completely de-
lvered from fear because they were completely void
of misgiying. The Romans, Of all the races on the
planet were most capable of doing Justice to that
1t met the growing hunger for Immortality in an
other world, not by teaching alone, but by the de-
mOnstration of conviction stronger than the fear of
death by showing men and women who were actu-
ally in love with death. who painted for the day
" when they should be ground by the teeth of wild
beasts into the pure bread of Christ" and so share
his eternal bessedness 1t met the growing thirst