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The same beliefs occurred at or near the time Rome transmuted into an empire from a republic. The rise of witchcraft is one more symptom of a collapsing order.

Er...now wait a second. Maybe I'm missing something here, but weren't the Romans pagans to begin with, and then their progress from Republicanism into Imperial rule seems to chart along with the rise of Christianity?

Certainly I'm not blaming Christianity for that, but it seems just as silly to blame "paganism" on the fall of Rome, as it was around for hundreds of years before hand.

I think it had more to do with the fact that Democracies and Republics have a nasty tendancy to start turning into dictatorships "when people learn they can elect themselves someone who will give them access to the public treasury".

I forgot who wrote it, but I remember someone posting up a quote from an ancient Greek who stated the above, and even pegged the lifespan of a democracy at about 200 years....freaky.