It were better to revert to Homer's gods than be devoted to these; for the heathen deities at least imaged human virtues, and were something to look up to.
As for institutions, however good in themselves, they will avail but little in maintaining the standard of national character.

It is the individual men, and the spirit which actuates them, that determine the moral standing and stability of nations.

Government, in the long run, is usually no better than the people governed.

Where the mass is sound in conscience, morals, and habit, the nation will be ruled honestly and nobly.

But where they are corrupt, self-seeking, and dishonest in heart, bound neither by truth nor by law, the rule of rogues and wirepullers becomes inevitable.
The only true barrier against the despotism of public opinion, whether it be of the many or of the few, is enlightened individual freedom and purity of personal character.