basely in
preferring
their
personal
existence
to the
interests
of their
country.
All this
was
changed by
the spread
of
Oriental
religions
which
inculcated
the
communion
of the
soul with
God and
its
eternal
salvation
as the
only
objects
worth
living
for,
objects in
comparison
with which
the
prosperity
and even
the
existence
of the
state sank
into
insignificance.
The
inevitable
result of
this
selfish
and
