Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1912-10-01
LESSONS FROM THE
SUICIDE OF GENERAL NOGI


pie as was Julius Caesar sank be-
meath the daggers of his enemies,
there Immediately sprang up the cultus
of the DIVUS JULIUS, affairs were
erected to him and divine honours
were paid him. To Augustus Caesar
affairs were dedicated even during
his life time; for it is the way of
adulation OF the mighty that it runs
rapidly to it's utmost extreme. Juve-
nal sneered at the divine honours
paid to Claudius, but his sneers did
not avail 70 restrain such alteration.
Rich freedmen. whose mercantile in
terests were affected by the Empe-
rors, were especially Jealous in wor-
ship of this kind; they praised for
profit and adored for gain. When
Claudius died and was deified, the
great Seneca delivered an address in
which he extolled him as a god, al
though soon afterwards this same
Seneca published a satire upon the
emperor's dedication under the title,
THE translation of Claudius into
the society Of the pumpkins, allud-
ing to his poisoning by mushrooms,
and besmirching his memory by sorry
witticisms. Nero himself said with
forced wit that mushrooms must be
a divine food since Claudius by eat
ing them had become a god.
Uhlhorn says I'm a certain sense
it can be said that the religious de-
velopment of the ancient world Gull
minated in this imperial worship. It
gave to heathenism a center of re-
ligious unity, and to this extent in
vigorated it. Thus was created a
formal universal State religion in
which 1t was the duty of the citizen
to participate, and which he could
not violate without committing at the
same time a crime against the State.
However intolerant one might be
elsewhere, there could be, on, conces7
sion here. Here. therefore, was
the point where the growing Christi
anity necessarily came into sharpest
conflict with heathenism. 1t could
be tolerated that Christians wor-
SHIPPED neither this god nor that; the
heather themselves adored different
gods; but that they scrupled to pay
the Emperor the divine honour which
was his due. was not to be endured.
Not their abandonment of other re-
ligious rites of paganism. but their
refusal to strew incense to the EN-
peror, was what decided the fate of
most of the martyrs
The motive which impelled men of
intelligence t. insist upon this wor-
ship of thu Emperors was largely a
political one; it was the piety of pa
triotism, as is the case with the
alteration of the Emperor of Japan
by such men as Gen. Nogi. In
their hearts they know better. but
how else shall the ancient traditions,
so hlllowed by time, be preserved,
and how else shall't the unity and well
fare of the nation lbe promoted?
The alteration of the Emperor by
the common people of Japan is
doubtless entirely sincere, but their
leaders know better, just as the
inhabitants Of the provinces in the
Roman Empire worshipped such
men as Claudius in perfect sin
certify, while men like Juvenal and
Seneca alternately submitted to
and sneered at such worship. Ne
cessity is the mother Of the wor-
ship of some men. There are men
among us, who for commercial ne
cessity would go a long way in
opposition to Christianity, and if
they had lived in the days Of the
Roman Emperors they would have
adored the civil ruler with the ut
most fervor. And they would have
joined in the persecution of the
non-conforming Christians, just as
they now censure Christian people
for their temperance sentiments or
for other moral convictions which
are likely to interfere with trade
as they suppose, when such senti-