aspirants were initiated, "so we have in truth found in them the seeds
of a new life. Nor have we received from them only the means of living
with satisfaction, but also of dying with a better hope as to the
future."[51]

Of what took place with Cicero and Atticus at their introduction to
the Eleusinian mysteries we know nothing. But it can hardly be that,
with such memories running in his mind after thirty years, expressed
in such language to the very friend who had then been his companion,
they should not have been accepted by him as indicating the
commencement of some great line of thought. The two doctrines which
seem to mark most clearly the difference between the men whom we
regard, the one as a pagan and the other as a Christian, are the
belief in a future life and the duty of doing well by our neighbors.
Here they are both indicated, the former in plain language, and
the latter in that assurance of the softening of the barbarity of
uncivilized life, "Quibus ex agresti immanique vita exculti ad
humanitatem et mitigati sumus."

Of the inner life of Cicero at this moment--how he ate, how he drank,
with what accompaniment of slaves he lived, how he was dressed, and
how lodged--we know very little; but we are told enough to be aware
that he could not have travelled, as he did in Greece and Asia,
without great expense. His brother Quintus was with him, so that cost,
if not double, was greatly increased. Antiochus, Demetrius Syrus,
Molo, Menippus, and the others did not give him their services for
nothing. These were gentlemen of whom we know that they were anxious
to carry their wares to the best market. And then he seems to have
been welcomed wherever he went, as though travelling in some sort "en
prince." No doubt he had brought with him the best introductions which