ABSTRACT

IN spite of the efforts of the Emperors, we can see that ancient society became rigid and lifeless. That there was no longer any political life goes without saying, but there was scarcely any municipal life left either. Art was utterly retrograde, science stereotyped and literature insigni­ ficant. The Roman world had lost all power of conquest and was losing even its capacity for assimilating the barbarians. The peoples brought into the territory of the Empire remained the subjects of Rome, but seemed no longer to acquire a taste for Roman customs and the Latin language. The religious sphere alone was the field of a violent turmoil, because it attracted with a passionate force every faculty of heart and mind.