SHEMITIC CIVILIZATION. 133 



people themselves. It was like an echo of 

 Nature — a sort of Nature's hymn, — in which 

 the idea of a single Cause appeared but 

 fleetingly and with great indistinctness. It 

 was a religion of childhood, full of simplicity 

 and poetry, but which was sure to crumble 

 away as thought became more active. Persia 

 first effected its reform, which is connected 

 with the name of Zoroaster, under influ- 

 ences, and at a period, of which we know 

 nothing. Greece, in the time of Pisistratus, 

 was even then dissatisfied with her religion, 

 and cast her look towards the East./ In / 

 the Eoman epoch, the old Pagan worship 

 had become altogether insufficient. It no 

 longer appealed to the imagination ; it ad- 

 dressed itself but feebly to the moral senti- 

 ment. The early embodiments of the powers 

 of Nature had become but legends, at times 

 amusing and pointed, but destitute of all 

 religious value. It was exactly at this 

 epoch that the civilised world found itself 

 face to face with the Jewish religion. 1 



1 M. Renan's views of Judaism and Christianity are peculiar. 



