It is easy to think that pagan religion was essentially tolerant of other forms of religious activity. The evidence we have just considered seems at first sight to support just such an interpretation. If the Romans could accept a steady flow of new cults into their city over such a long period of time, that must surely imply that their attitudes were basically tolerant. There are, however, qualifications to be made before reaching such a conclusion. It is clear that, if there was tolerance, it was not tolerance born of principle. So far as we know, there was no fixed belief that a state or an individual ought to tolerate different forms of religion; that is the idea of far later periods of history. The truth seems to be that the Romans tolerated what seemed to them harmless and drew the line whenever there seemed to be a threat of possible harm; only, they saw no great harm in many cults of their contemporary world, where many individuals and cities worshipped gods and goddesses much like their own.