CHAPTER III.

THE ROMANS AND GREEKS.

One unfamiliar with the subject would naturally expect to find the Ancient Romans well advanced in the areas of philosophy, religion, and spiritual speculation, judging from the all-powerful influence they exerted over the affairs of the whole known world. Especially when one considers the relationship and connection between Rome and ancient Greece, it would seem that the two peoples must have had much in common in the world of thought. But such is not the case. Although the exoteric The public or outer layers of a religion, as opposed to its hidden or "esoteric" mysteries religions of the Romans resembled those of the Greeks, from whom they were borrowed or inherited, there was little or no original thought regarding metaphysics, religion, or philosophy among the Romans. This was probably due to the fact that the entire focus of Rome was toward material advancement and achievement, with little or no attention being given to matters concerning the soul, the future life, and similar topics.

A few of the philosophers of Rome original: "Ironic" proposed theories regarding the future state, but beyond a vague sort of ancestor worship, the masses of the people took very little interest in the subject. Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 BCE), a famous Roman statesman and philosopher, it is true, spoke words that indicate a belief in immortality when he said in "Scipio's Dream":

"Know that it is not you, but your body alone, which is mortal. The individual in his entirety resides in the soul, and not in the outward form. Learn, then, that you are a god; you, the original: "tho" immortal intelligence which gives movement to a perishable body, just as the eternal God animates an incorruptible body."

Pliny the Younger A Roman lawyer and author known for his letters, which included famous accounts of ghost stories left writings which seem to indicate his belief in the reality of ghosts, and Ovid has written verses indicating his recognition of a part of man that survives the death of the body. But, on the whole, Roman philosophy treated immortality as something that might possibly exist, but was not proven. It was viewed as a poetic expression of a longing, rather than as an established or well-grounded principle of philosophical thought. Indeed, Lucretius A Roman poet and philosopher who championed Epicureanism, which taught that the soul dies with the body and others of his time and country protested against the folly of the belief in the survival of the soul held by other nations. He said that:

"The fear of eternal life should be banished from the universe; it disturbs the peace of mankind, for it prevents the enjoyment of any security or pleasure."

And Virgil praised and commended the philosophical attitude which was able to see the real...