[*]Milman, Translator.

So run the lines of a poet whose name is forgotten, but who spoke well the thought of his countrymen.

True there has been a contradiction of this gloomy theory.  The “Orphic Mysteries,” those secret religious rites which have gained such a hold in many parts of Greece, including Athens, probably hold out an earnest promise to the “initiates” of a blessed state for them hereafter.  The doctrine of a real elysium for the good and a realm of torment for the evil has been expounded by many sages.  Pindar, the great bard of Thebes, has set forth the doctrine in a glowing ode.[*] Socrates, if we may trust the report Plato gives of him, has spent his last hours ere drinking the hemlock, in adducing cogent, philosophic reasons for the immortality of the soul.  All this is true,—­and it is also true that these ideas have made no impression upon the general Greek consciousness.  They are accepted half-heartedly by a relatively few exceptional thinkers.  Men go through life and face death with no real expectation of future reward or punishment, or of reunion with the dear departed.  If the gods are angry, you escape them at the grave; if the gods are friendly, all they can give is wealth, health, honor, a hale old age, and prosperity for your children.  The instant after death the righteous man and the robber are equal.  This fundamental deduction from the Greek religion must usually, therefore, be made—­it is a religion for this world only.  Let us see what are its usual outward operations.

[*]Quoted in “Readings in Ancient History,” vol.  I, pp. 261-262, and in many works in Greek literature.

185.  The Multitude of Images of the Gods.—­Gods are everywhere in Athens.  You cannot take the briefest walk without being reminded that the world is full of deities.  There is a “Herm"[*] by the main door of every house, as well as a row of them across the Agora.  At many of the street crossings there are little shrines to Hecate; or statues of Apollo Agyieus, the street guardian; or else a bay tree stands there, a graceful reminder of this same god, to which it is sacred.  In every house there is the small alter whereon garlands and fruit offerings are daily laid to Zeus Herkeios, and another altar to Hestia.  On one or both of these altars a little food and a little wine are cast at every meal.  All public meetings or court sessions open with sacrifice; in short, to attempt any semi-important public or private act without inviting the friendly attention of the deity is unthinkable.  To a well-bred Athenian this is second instinct; he considers it as inevitable as the common courtesies of speech among gentlemen.  Plato sums up the current opinion well, “All men who have any decency, in the attempting of matters great or small, always invoke divine aid."[+]

[*]A stone post about shoulder high, surmounted by a bearded head.  Contrary to modern impression, the average Greek did not conceive of Hermes as a beautiful youth.  He was a grave, bearded man.  The youthful aspect came through the manipulation of the Hermes myths by the master sculptors—­e.g.  Praxiteles.