These small illustrations show how unsecured and unattractive was the life of the citizens of this class, in spite of the outward veil of seeming lightness and carelessness.

If we descend the social ladder still lower, into the slave class, we will find only continuous suffering and hopeless sorrow. A slave was not even considered a human. It was just a tool, a thing, a household belonging. The master could kill or mutilate a slave: he was not responsible for this to anyone, just as he was not responsible for a broken shovel or a broken pot.

The life of slaves was terrible. If we could walk in the streets of Rome at that time in the evening, we would probably hear heavy groans, weeping and dull blows coming from the cellars of rich houses where slaves were kept, where the usual evening execution of slaves for daytime offenses took place. For the slightest mistake, they were punished severely: they were beaten with whips or chains until they lost consciousness. They clamped their necks in a split log and left them in this position for whole days. The legs were hammered into the stocks. Once, during the reception of Emperor Augustus in the house of a famous rich man of that time, Maecenas, a slave accidentally broke an expensive vase. The patron ordered to throw him alive into the pool to be eaten by moray eels. At night, the slaves were tied in pairs and put on a chain, tightly riveted to a ring screwed into the wall. And during the day they were waiting for endless, stupefying, exhausting work under the whip of the overseer, almost without rest. If the desperate slaves rebelled against their master, they were crucified on crosses - an execution considered the most shameful and painful. When a slave became old or exhausted and could no longer work, he was taken to a small uninhabited island in the Tiber, where he was thrown like carrion to the mercy of fate.

Thus, in all classes of Roman society, life was hard, joyless, oppressive: satiety with life, boredom, disappointment in the upper nobility, lack of rights, oppression, suffering in the lower strata. There was nowhere to look for joy, comfort, consolation. The pagan religion did not give man any relief. She did not have that grace-filled mysterious power that alone can calm, encourage and strengthen a suffering heart and a languishing spirit. In addition, the Roman religion of the time of the coming of Christ the Savior borrowed a great deal from the Eastern cults, full of voluptuousness and debauchery. In the mad, dissolute of the East, one could find intoxication, temporary oblivion, but after that the sorrow became even more acute, the despair even deeper.

Pagan philosophy also could not satisfy man, since it taught only about earthly happiness and did not free the restless spirit from the fetters of the world and matter. Two trends dominated the philosophy of that time: Epicureanism and Stoicism. The Epicureans said: the science of being happy consists in creating pleasant sensations for yourself; every excess entails painful sensations, therefore it is necessary to be moderate in everything, even in pleasures, but this moderation, as well as virtue itself, is not the goal for man, but serves only as the best means to enjoyment. The Stoics took the best sides in man. You are free, they said, so you are your only master. Your will must fully belong to you; Happiness consists in dominating oneself. Sorrows, persecutions and death do not exist for you: you belong entirely to yourself and no one will take you away from you, and this is all that a wise man needs.

What philosophy lacked was the divine element. The god whom they called nature has no advantage over the gods proclaimed by pagan religion and mythological legends. The God of the philosophers is not a living, personal God, but fate, implacable and blind, under the blows of which man falls into despair and dies.

In addition, philosophy was completely inaccessible to popular understanding and was the lot of only a small number of selected sages. Therefore, the masses could not seek consolation in her.

One might have expected that the indications of a new way and a means of regenerating life would be found in the Jewish people, the only people who preserved the true religion and the lofty concepts of God and life. But Judaism itself was experiencing a severe crisis. It is unlikely that in the history of the Jewish people there are darker pages of religious and moral decline than in the period preceding the appearance of Christ the Savior. When one reads the prophetic books and the stern speeches of the prophets denouncing Jewish life, a heavy, gloomy picture is drawn.

Here are a number of excerpts from the books of the prophet Isaiah, depicting the cheerless moral and religious state of the people of Israel at that time, their ingratitude and betrayal of God, their unbelief, their depravity, their cruelty and blatant injustice.

Hear, O heavens, and hearken, O earth, for the Lord says, I have brought up and exalted sons, and they have rebelled against me. The ox knoweth his master, and the ass his master's manger; but Israel does not know me, my people do not understand. Alas, sinful people, a people burdened with iniquity, a tribe of evildoers, sons of perdition! They have forsaken the Lord, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they have turned back. (I, 2-4). How did the faithful capital, full of justice, become a harlot? The truth dwelt in it, and now there were murderers. ... Thy princes are transgressors of the law, and accomplices of thieves; they all love gifts and chase after bribes; the orphans are not protected, and the widow's work does not reach them (I, 21, 23).

And among the people one shall be oppressed by another, and each one by his neighbor... Their tongue and their deeds are against the Lord, insulting to the eyes of His glory... My people! thy leaders deceive thee, and have corrupted the way of thy paths (III, 5, 8, 12).

The heart of this people is hardened, and with their ears they can hardly hear, and their eyes are closed, lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn back, that I may heal them (VI, 10).

... The Lord will not rejoice in his youths, nor will he have mercy on his fatherless, nor will he have mercy on his fatherless, nor will he have mercy on his widows: for they are all hypocrites and evildoers, and the mouths of all speak wickedly (IX, 17). ... The priest and the prophet stumble over strong drinks; they are overcome by wine, they are mad with strong drink, they err in vision, they stumble in judgment. For all the tables are filled with disgusting vomit, there is no clean place (XXVIII, 7, 8).

... They are a rebellious people, deceitful children, children who will not listen to the law of the Lord (XXX, 9). Your iniquities have made a division between you and your God, and your sins hide his face from you, that they may not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your mouth speaketh falsehood, and your tongue speaketh unrighteousness. No one raises his voice for the truth, and no one stands up for the truth; they hope for vain things and tell lies, they conceive evil and give birth to evil... Their deeds are unrighteous deeds, and violence is in their hands. Their feet run to evil, and they hasten to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are ungodly thoughts; desolation and destruction in their paths. They know not the way of peace, and there is no judgment in their paths; their ways are crooked, and no one who walks in them knows the world. For this reason judgment is far from us, and justice does not reach us; we wait for light, here is darkness, illumination, and we walk in darkness... For our transgressions are numerous before Thee, and our sins bear witness against us; for our transgressions are with us, and our iniquities we know. We have changed and lied before the Lord, and have departed from our God; they spoke slander and treason, conceived and gave birth to false words from their hearts. ... And honesty can't come in. And the truth was gone, and he who shunned evil was insulted (LIX, 2-4, 6-9, 12-15).