ABSTRACT
In generations preceding our own, classical study has, to a large extent, attended to form rather than to matter, to expression rather than to content. In this direction the problems of Roman life the problems of Western life to-day; and the methods by which they were approached in the Roman world deserve more than ever to be studied by us. All Latin literature is thickly strewn with allusions to Stoicism and the systems which were its rivals, and thus bears witness to the widespread interest which they excited. The era of philosophy is the era of the world-religions. The oldest of these philosophical or religious systems is that of the Chaldaeans. This system we shall here call 'Persism', in order to free ourselves of the popular associations. Full of this doctrine, Zarathustra enters the court of King Vishtaspa, and converts him and his court. Druidism, like Stoicism, seems to have prepared its adherents for a specially ready acceptance of Christianity.
