It must be remembered that Hellenic poetry enshrined the religion of the race: this fact gave it an enormous influence. The characters in Aeschylus and Sophocles are divine or semi-divine; many of the audience in the theatre were wont to revere Agamemnon or Theseus; all paid worship to Athena and Apollo. The Athenian drama was sacred to a Hellene as is the play at Oberammergau to a Christian. Had Shakespeare dramatised the Bible, modern children might have recited his speeches and acted his plays with somewhat similar feelings to those with which Hellenic boys recited Homer or Aeschylus. Suppose Shakespeare had thus dramatised the story of Esau and Jacob, and an imaginative child was set to learn Jacob’s speeches and repeat them; suppose he was also in the habit of hearing them recited by a first-class actor who knew how to bring out the minuter traits of character.[698] Is it not, at any rate, quite rational to argue that the child would gradually absorb some of these traits of character, just as children often pick up the peculiarities of nurses and others with whom they have no hereditary connection? Might not underhand habits be reasonably attributed to frequent acting of the part of Jacob? Yet in ancient Hellas the influence was much stronger, for the people were more susceptible and the characters were believed to be half-divine. * * * * * Thus in ancient Hellas music, art, and poetry had an immense effect on the characters and morals of the race. This influence may well have been exaggerated by Hellenic thinkers. Damon the musician declared that every change in artistic standards produced a change in the tone and constitution of a State; and Plato agreed with him.[699] The danger of such innovations is a large part of the theme of the _Laws_, and, in a less degree, of the _Republic_. Sparta accepted this attitude and forbade all change. The opinion was certainly widely held, and must have rested on experience.