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IV. INFIDELITY II. ROMAN RENAISSANCE 129
for their acceptance. The human mind is not capable of more than a certain amount of admiration or reverence, and that which was given to Horace was withdrawn from David.* Religion is, of all subjects, that which will least endure a second place in the heart or thoughts, and a languid and occasional study of it was sure to lead to error or infidelity. On the other hand, what was heartily admired and unceasingly contemplated was soon brought high to being believed; and the systems of Pagan mythology began gradually to assume the places in the human mind from which the unwatched Christianity was wasting. Men did not indeed openly sacrifice to Jupiter, or build silver shrines for Diana, but the ideas of Paganism nevertheless became thoroughly vital and present with them at all times; and it did not matter in the least, as far as respected the power of true religion, whether the Pagan image was believed in or not, so long as it entirely occupied the thoughts. The scholar of the sixteenth century, if he saw the lightning shining from the east unto the west, thought forthwith of Jupiter, not of the coming of the Son of Man; if he saw the moon walking in brightness, he thought of Diana, not of the throne which was to be established for ever as a faithful witness in heaven; and though his heart was but secretly enticed, yet thus he denied the God that is above.†
And, truly,1 this double creed, of Christianity confessed and Paganism beloved, was worse than Paganism itself, in-asmuch as it refused effective and practical belief altogether. It would have been better to have worshipped Diana and Jupiter at once, than to have gone on through the whole of life naming one God, imagining another, and dreading none.
* True; but a good deal ought to be given to Horace, nevertheless.2 [1881.]
† Job xxxi. 26-28. Psalm lxxxix. 37.
1 [The “Travellers’ Edition” alters “indeed” to “truly.” A visitor who was at Brantwood when Ruskin was revising the chapter called his attention to the jingle “And, indeed, this double creed,” and he altered the word accordingly.]
2 [For Ruskin’s fondness for Horace, see note at Vol. II. p. 79.]
XI. I
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