...thus summed up the Roman outlook: "The various modes of worship which prevailed in the Roman world, were all considered by the people, as equally true,...false, and by the magistrate, as equally useful." As in Rome, worldly politicians nowadays tend to treat the other-worldly as useful and pliable partners....

...Minerva. As Edward Gibbon wrote, "The various modes of worship, which prevailed in the Roman world, were all considered by the people, as equally true;...false; and by the magistrate, as equally useful." 13 Fifteen hundred miles from Rome, the Jews in the Roman province of Judea could worship the God of...