A STEP BACKWARD IN ROME 



Franks, Allemanni, revolts in the provinces, and 

 the Christian proletariat, or to divide and rule. 



Naturally, Constantine grasped this last straw. 

 Thanks to 300 years of evolution under the Ro- 

 man constitution, which was but the political mir- 

 ror of the then existing mode of production, 

 economic distinctions and religious schisms had 

 arisen among the Christians. The primitive com- 

 munist practices had become distasteful to many 

 Christians who had acquired property enough to 

 feel more kin to the pagan rulers than to their 

 proletarian brethren. Under the influence of their 

 material interests, these wealthy Christians were 

 only too prone to enter into a protective alliance 

 with the pagan powers against the proletariat of 

 any and all creeds. The rulers, on the other 

 hand, had reached the stage, where their only 

 safety lay in the domination of the Christian 

 movement by the help of the wealthy Christians. 

 Under these circumstances, we see here a phe- 

 nomenon, which became quite common later on, 

 and which we noticed once before in Greece : 

 When scepticism, or materialism, became useless 

 for the ruling class, and a hitherto persecuted 

 philosophy or religion useful, the rulers changed 

 their religion as easily as if it were a shirt. The 

 same tendency is once more apparent in our own 



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