Religions assert that our laws are not the result of human caprice, but are ordained by an absolute and supreme authority. This helps place at least some fundamental laws beyond challenge, thereby ensuring social stability.

Là encore, la religion romaine offre l’un des exemples les mieux connus et étudiés d’une « religion publique » dépourvue des colifichets qui nous semblent indispensables aux institutions ou au sentiment religieux.

This practice, of identifying the gods worshipped in one land with those honoured in another, was a venerable one. For a millennium and more, diplomats had depended upon it to render practicable the very concept of international law. How, after all, were two powers to agree a treaty without invoking gods that both parties could acknowledge as valid