...Maximus, or Chief Priest, which he claimed as the recognized head of the national religion. "Thecommon worship was regarded," says Gibbon, "by the people...pleasing to the gods, but as commanded by the laws. Wo shall so adore all that ignoble crowd of gods which long superstition has heaped together in a long...

...astrologers, exorcists, and every impostor and quack. Gibbon says : " The common worship was regarded by the people as equally true, by the philosophers...false, and by the magistrates as equally useful." Religion became a pretense and a mockery. Never were luxury and extravagance carried to a higher pitch....

...primitive historic nations. Gibbon says that it came to pass in Rome that "all religions were regarded by the people as equally true, by the philosophers...false, and by the magistrates as equally useful." The religion of the Hebrews, to which Mr. Spencer refers, was indisputably a purely monotheistic religion....

...Empire, in loco. 1 "The various forms of worship which prevailed in the Boman world were all considered by the people as equally true ; by the philosophers...and by the magistrates as equally useful. And this toleration produced not only mutual indulgence, but even religious concord. . . The devout polytheist,...

...Rome during the decadence is almost true of the Rome of Leo's day : "The common worship was regarded by the people as equally true, by the philosophers...false, and by the magistrates as equally useful." Leo was not, perhaps, "philosopher" enough to consider Christianity false, but he was surrounded by...

...famous sentence, " The various forms of worship which prevailed in the Roman world were considered by the people as equally true ; by the philosophers...false ; and by the magistrates as equally useful." poor and the outcast.1 The religion he taught addressed itself to the f reedmen, to slaves, to the...

...summed up in Gibbon's words concerning the old Roman Empire, " The various religions were regarded by the people as equally true, by the philosophers as equally false, by the government as equally profitable." William Wilberforce In the midst of the material selfishness...

...by Gibbon? "The various modes of worship which had prevailed in the Roman world were all considered by the people as equally true, by the philosophers as equally false, and by the magistrate as equally useful. And thus toleration produced not only mental indulgence, but even religious...

...now, save the common people." " ' All religions,' " quoted Petronius, " ' are regarded by the common people as equally true, by the philosophers as equally false, and by the statesmen as equally useful.' " " I do not find that statement of a man being fathered by a divinity...

...minds and hearts of men. Another expression of the patriotic and religious world were all considered by the people as equally true; by the philosophers...false; and by the magistrates as equally useful." In this assertion, Gibbon has, as usual, largely sacrificed the truth for the sake of a striking sentence....