The attempts of the Stoics at allegorical exegesis were very feeble.[17.82] Mysteries like those of Bacchus, in which the immortality of the soul was taught through graceful symbols,[17.83] were confined to certain localities and had no extended influence. Disbelief in the official religion was general in the enlightened class.[17.84] Those public men who made the greatest pretension of upholding it, expended their wit upon it freely in moments of leisure.[17.85] The immoral doctrine was openly propounded, that the religious fables were only of use in governing the people, and ought to be maintained for that purpose.[17.86] The precaution was useless, for the faith of the people themselves was shaken to the foundation.[17.87] After the accession of Tiberius, a religious reaction was perceptible. It would seem that society was shocked at the avowed infidelity of the Augustan age. The way was prepared for the unlucky attempt of Julian, and all the superstitions were reinstated for reasons of state-policy.[17.88] Valerius Maximus affords the first example of a writer of low rank coming to the relief of cornered theologians; of a dirty, venal pen put to the service of religion. But the foreign rites profited the most by this reaction. The serious movement in favor of the rehabilitation of the Greco-Roman worship did not develop itself until the second century. At first, the classes troubled by religious misgivings were attracted towards the Oriental forms.[17.89] Isis and Serapis were more in favor than ever.[17.90] Impostors of all sorts thaumaturgists and magicians, profited by the popular mood, and, as ordinarily takes place when the state-religion is enfeebled, swarmed on every side.[17.91] We need only refer to the real or fictitious systems of Apollonius of Tyana, Alexander of Abonoticus, Perigrinus, and Simon of Gitto.[17.92] Even these errors and chimeræ were the cry of a world in labor; were the fruitless essays of human society in search of the truth, and sometimes in its convulsive efforts unearthing monstrous deformities destined to speedy oblivion.