THE DECLINE AND FALL

1 n

chap, stition, of which he might be the object ; 1 but

_ lUl _he contented himself with being revered by the

senate and people in his human character, andwisely left to his successor, the care of his pub-lic deification. A regular custom was introdu-ced, that on the decease of every emperor whohad neither lived nor died like a tyrant, the se-nate by a solemn decree should place him in thenumber of the gods; and the ceremonies of hisapotheosis were blended with those of his fune-ral. This legal, and, as it should seem, inju-dicious profanation, so abhorrent to our stricterprinciples, was received with a very faint mur-mur , 1 by the easy nature of polytheism; but itwas received as an institution, not of religionbut of policy. We should disgrace the virtuesof the Antonines, by comparing them with thevices of Hercules or Jupiter. Even the charac-ters of Caesar or Augustus were far superior tothose of the popular deities. But it was themisfortune of the former to live in an enlighten-ed age, and their actions were too faithfully re-corded to admit of such a mixture of fable andmystery, as the devotion of the vulgar requires.As soon as their divinity was established bylaw, it sunk into oblivion, without contributingeither to their own fame, or to the dignity ofsucceeding princes.

* Jurandasquc tmim per nomen ponimus arns, says Horace to theemperor himself 5 and Horace was well acquainted with the court ofAugustus .

a See Cicero in Philippic, i, 6. Julian in Caesaribus. Inque Deftmtemplis jurabit Roma per umbras, is the indignant expression of Lucan;but it is a patriotic, rather than a devout indignation.