The thought of it did not occupy men's minds, or exercise any perceptible influence over their conduct.

It was a last home, whereto all must go, acquiesced in, but neither hoped for nor dreaded.

A Phoenician's feelings on the subject were probably very much those expressed by Job in his lament:--[11142] "Why died I not from the womb?
Why gave I not up the ghost at my birth?
Why did the knees prevent me?
or why the breasts that I should suck?
For now should I have lain still and been quiet; I should have slept, and then should I have been at rest; I should have been with the kings and councillors of the earth, Who rebuilt for themselves the cities that were desolate.
I should have been with the princes that had much gold, And that filled their houses with silver.

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There they that are wicked cease from troubling, There they that are weary sink to rest; There the prisoners are in quiet together, And hear no longer the voice of the oppressor: There are both the great and small, and the servant is freed from his master." Still their religion, such as it was, had a great hold upon the Phoenicians.