Chapter XXVIII: Destruction Of Paganism.—Part II

The filial piety of the emperors themselves engaged them to
proceed, with some caution and tenderness, in the reformation of
the eternal city. Those absolute monarchs acted with less regard
to the prejudices of the provincials. The pious labor which had
been suspended near twenty years since the death of Constantius,
24 was vigorously resumed, and finally accomplished, by the zeal
of Theodosius. Whilst that warlike prince yet struggled with the
Goths, not for the glory, but for the safety, of the republic, he
ventured to offend a considerable party of his subjects, by some
acts which might perhaps secure the protection of Heaven, but
which must seem rash and unseasonable in the eye of human
prudence. The success of his first experiments against the Pagans
encouraged the pious emperor to reiterate and enforce his edicts
of proscription: the same laws which had been originally
published in the provinces of the East, were applied, after the
defeat of Maximus, to the whole extent of the Western empire; and
every victory of the orthodox Theodosius contributed to the
triumph of the Christian and Catholic faith. 25 He attacked
superstition in her most vital part, by prohibiting the use of
sacrifices, which he declared to be criminal as well as infamous;
and if the terms of his edicts more strictly condemned the
impious curiosity which examined the entrails of the victim, 26
every subsequent explanation tended to involve in the same guilt
the general practice of immolation, which essentially constituted
the religion of the Pagans. As the temples had been erected for
the purpose of sacrifice, it was the duty of a benevolent prince
to remove from his subjects the dangerous temptation of offending
against the laws which he had enacted. A special commission was
granted to Cynegius, the Prætorian præfect of the East, and
afterwards to the counts Jovius and Gaudentius, two officers of
distinguished rank in the West; by which they were directed to
shut the temples, to seize or destroy the instruments of
idolatry, to abolish the privileges of the priests, and to
confiscate the consecrated property for the benefit of the
emperor, of the church, or of the army. 27 Here the desolation
might have stopped: and the naked edifices, which were no longer
employed in the service of idolatry, might have been protected
from the destructive rage of fanaticism. Many of those temples
were the most splendid and beautiful monuments of Grecian
architecture; and the emperor himself was interested not to
deface the splendor of his own cities, or to diminish the value
of his own possessions. Those stately edifices might be suffered
to remain, as so many lasting trophies of the victory of Christ.
In the decline of the arts they might be usefully converted into
magazines, manufactures, or places of public assembly: and
perhaps, when the walls of the temple had been sufficiently
purified by holy rites, the worship of the true Deity might be
allowed to expiate the ancient guilt of idolatry. But as long as
they subsisted, the Pagans fondly cherished the secret hope, that
an auspicious revolution, a second Julian, might again restore
the altars of the gods: and the earnestness with which they
addressed their unavailing prayers to the throne, 28 increased
the zeal of the Christian reformers to extirpate, without mercy,
the root of superstition. The laws of the emperors exhibit some
symptoms of a milder disposition: 29 but their cold and languid
efforts were insufficient to stem the torrent of enthusiasm and
rapine, which was conducted, or rather impelled, by the spiritual
rulers of the church. In Gaul, the holy Martin, bishop of Tours,
30 marched at the head of his faithful monks to destroy the
idols, the temples, and the consecrated trees of his extensive
diocese; and, in the execution of this arduous task, the prudent
reader will judge whether Martin was supported by the aid of
miraculous powers, or of carnal weapons. In Syria, the divine and
excellent Marcellus, 31 as he is styled by Theodoret, a bishop
animated with apostolic fervor, resolved to level with the ground
the stately temples within the diocese of Apamea. His attack was
resisted by the skill and solidity with which the temple of
Jupiter had been constructed. The building was seated on an
eminence: on each of the four sides, the lofty roof was supported
by fifteen massy columns, sixteen feet in circumference; and the
large stone, of which they were composed, were firmly cemented
with lead and iron. The force of the strongest and sharpest tools
had been tried without effect. It was found necessary to
undermine the foundations of the columns, which fell down as soon
as the temporary wooden props had been consumed with fire; and
the difficulties of the enterprise are described under the
allegory of a black daemon, who retarded, though he could not
defeat, the operations of the Christian engineers. Elated with
victory, Marcellus took the field in person against the powers of
darkness; a numerous troop of soldiers and gladiators marched
under the episcopal banner, and he successively attacked the
villages and country temples of the diocese of Apamea. Whenever
any resistance or danger was apprehended, the champion of the
faith, whose lameness would not allow him either to fight or fly,
placed himself at a convenient distance, beyond the reach of
darts. But this prudence was the occasion of his death: he was
surprised and slain by a body of exasperated rustics; and the
synod of the province pronounced, without hesitation, that the
holy Marcellus had sacrificed his life in the cause of God. In
the support of this cause, the monks, who rushed with tumultuous
fury from the desert, distinguished themselves by their zeal and
diligence. They deserved the enmity of the Pagans; and some of
them might deserve the reproaches of avarice and intemperance; of
avarice, which they gratified with holy plunder, and of
intemperance, which they indulged at the expense of the people,
who foolishly admired their tattered garments, loud psalmody, and
artificial paleness. 32 A small number of temples was protected
by the fears, the venality, the taste, or the prudence, of the
civil and ecclesiastical governors. The temple of the Celestial
Venus at Carthage, whose sacred precincts formed a circumference
of two miles, was judiciously converted into a Christian church;
33 and a similar consecration has preserved inviolate the
majestic dome of the Pantheon at Rome. 34 But in almost every
province of the Roman world, an army of fanatics, without
authority, and without discipline, invaded the peaceful
inhabitants; and the ruin of the fairest structures of antiquity
still displays the ravages of those Barbarians, who alone had
time and inclination to execute such laborious destruction.

24 (return) [ Libanius (Orat. pro Templis, p. 10, Genev. 1634,
published by James Godefroy, and now extremely scarce) accuses
Valentinian and Valens of prohibiting sacrifices. Some partial
order may have been issued by the Eastern emperor; but the idea
of any general law is contradicted by the silence of the Code,
and the evidence of ecclesiastical history. Note: See in Reiske’s
edition of Libanius, tom. ii. p. 155. Sacrific was prohibited by
Valens, but not the offering of incense.—M.]

25 (return) [ See his laws in the Theodosian Code, l. xvi. tit.
x. leg. 7-11.]

26 (return) [ Homer’s sacrifices are not accompanied with any
inquisition of entrails, (see Feithius, Antiquitat. Homer. l. i.
c. 10, 16.) The Tuscans, who produced the first Haruspices,
subdued both the Greeks and the Romans, (Cicero de Divinatione,
ii. 23.)]

27 (return) [ Zosimus, l. iv. p. 245, 249. Theodoret. l. v. c.
21. Idatius in Chron. Prosper. Aquitan. l. iii. c. 38, apud
Baronium, Annal. Eccles. A.D. 389, No. 52. Libanius (pro Templis,
p. 10) labors to prove that the commands of Theodosius were not
direct and positive. * Note: Libanius appears to be the best
authority for the East, where, under Theodosius, the work of
devastation was carried on with very different degrees of
violence, according to the temper of the local authorities and of
the clergy; and more especially the neighborhood of the more
fanatican monks. Neander well observes, that the prohibition of
sacrifice would be easily misinterpreted into an authority for
the destruction of the buildings in which sacrifices were
performed. (Geschichte der Christlichen religion ii. p. 156.) An
abuse of this kind led to this remarkable oration of Libanius.
Neander, however, justly doubts whether this bold vindication or
at least exculpation, of Paganism was ever delivered before, or
even placed in the hands of the Christian emperor.—M.]

28 (return) [ Cod. Theodos, l. xvi. tit. x. leg. 8, 18. There is
room to believe, that this temple of Edessa, which Theodosius
wished to save for civil uses, was soon afterwards a heap of
ruins, (Libanius pro Templis, p. 26, 27, and Godefroy’s notes, p.
59.)]

29 (return) [ See this curious oration of Libanius pro Templis,
pronounced, or rather composed, about the year 390. I have
consulted, with advantage, Dr. Lardner’s version and remarks,
(Heathen Testimonies, vol. iv. p. 135-163.)]

30 (return) [ See the Life of Martin by Sulpicius Severus, c.
9-14. The saint once mistook (as Don Quixote might have done) a
harmless funeral for an idolatrous procession, and imprudently
committed a miracle.]

31 (return) [ Compare Sozomen, (l. vii. c. 15) with Theodoret,
(l. v. c. 21.) Between them, they relate the crusade and death of
Marcellus.]

32 (return) [ Libanius, pro Templis, p. 10-13. He rails at these
black-garbed men, the Christian monks, who eat more than
elephants. Poor elephants! they are temperate animals.]

33 (return) [ Prosper. Aquitan. l. iii. c. 38, apud Baronium;
Annal. Eccles. A.D. 389, No. 58, &c. The temple had been shut
some time, and the access to it was overgrown with brambles.]

34 (return) [ Donatus, Roma Antiqua et Nova, l. iv. c. 4, p. 468.
This consecration was performed by Pope Boniface IV. I am
ignorant of the favorable circumstances which had preserved the
Pantheon above two hundred years after the reign of Theodosius.]

In this wide and various prospect of devastation, the spectator
may distinguish the ruins of the temple of Serapis, at
Alexandria. 35 Serapis does not appear to have been one of the
native gods, or monsters, who sprung from the fruitful soil of
superstitious Egypt. 36 The first of the Ptolemies had been
commanded, by a dream, to import the mysterious stranger from the
coast of Pontus, where he had been long adored by the inhabitants
of Sinope; but his attributes and his reign were so imperfectly
understood, that it became a subject of dispute, whether he
represented the bright orb of day, or the gloomy monarch of the
subterraneous regions. 37 The Egyptians, who were obstinately
devoted to the religion of their fathers, refused to admit this
foreign deity within the walls of their cities. 38 But the
obsequious priests, who were seduced by the liberality of the
Ptolemies, submitted, without resistance, to the power of the god
of Pontus: an honorable and domestic genealogy was provided; and
this fortunate usurper was introduced into the throne and bed of
Osiris, 39 the husband of Isis, and the celestial monarch of
Egypt. Alexandria, which claimed his peculiar protection, gloried
in the name of the city of Serapis. His temple, 40 which rivalled
the pride and magnificence of the Capitol, was erected on the
spacious summit of an artificial mount, raised one hundred steps
above the level of the adjacent parts of the city; and the
interior cavity was strongly supported by arches, and distributed
into vaults and subterraneous apartments. The consecrated
buildings were surrounded by a quadrangular portico; the stately
halls, and exquisite statues, displayed the triumph of the arts;
and the treasures of ancient learning were preserved in the
famous Alexandrian library, which had arisen with new splendor
from its ashes. 41 After the edicts of Theodosius had severely
prohibited the sacrifices of the Pagans, they were still
tolerated in the city and temple of Serapis; and this singular
indulgence was imprudently ascribed to the superstitious terrors
of the Christians themselves; as if they had feared to abolish
those ancient rites, which could alone secure the inundations of
the Nile, the harvests of Egypt, and the subsistence of
Constantinople. 42

35 (return) [ Sophronius composed a recent and separate history,
(Jerom, in Script. Eccles. tom. i. p. 303,) which has furnished
materials to Socrates, (l. v. c. 16.) Theodoret, (l. v. c. 22,)
and Rufinus, (l. ii. c. 22.) Yet the last, who had been at
Alexandria before and after the event, may deserve the credit of
an original witness.]

36 (return) [ Gerard Vossius (Opera, tom. v. p. 80, and de
Idoloaltria, l. i. c. 29) strives to support the strange notion
of the Fathers; that the patriarch Joseph was adored in Egypt, as
the bull Apis, and the god Serapis. * Note: Consult du Dieu
Serapis et son Origine, par J D. Guigniaut, (the translator of
Creuzer’s Symbolique,) Paris, 1828; and in the fifth volume of
Bournouf’s translation of Tacitus.—M.]

37 (return) [ Origo dei nondum nostris celebrata. Aegyptiorum
antistites sic memorant, &c., Tacit. Hist. iv. 83. The Greeks,
who had travelled into Egypt, were alike ignorant of this new
deity.]

38 (return) [ Macrobius, Saturnal, l. i. c. 7. Such a living fact
decisively proves his foreign extraction.]

39 (return) [ At Rome, Isis and Serapis were united in the same
temple. The precedency which the queen assumed, may seem to
betray her unequal alliance with the stranger of Pontus. But the
superiority of the female sex was established in Egypt as a civil
and religious institution, (Diodor. Sicul. tom. i. l. i. p. 31,
edit. Wesseling,) and the same order is observed in Plutarch’s
Treatise of Isis and Osiris; whom he identifies with Serapis.]

40 (return) [ Ammianus, (xxii. 16.) The Expositio totius Mundi,
(p. 8, in Hudson’s Geograph. Minor. tom. iii.,) and Rufinus, (l.
ii. c. 22,) celebrate the Serapeum, as one of the wonders of the
world.]

41 (return) [ See Mémoires de l’Acad. des Inscriptions, tom. ix.
p. 397-416. The old library of the Ptolemies was totally consumed
in Caesar’s Alexandrian war. Marc Antony gave the whole
collection of Pergamus (200,000 volumes) to Cleopatra, as the
foundation of the new library of Alexandria.]

42 (return) [ Libanius (pro Templis, p. 21) indiscreetly provokes
his Christian masters by this insulting remark.]

At that time 43 the archiepiscopal throne of Alexandria was
filled by Theophilus, 44 the perpetual enemy of peace and virtue;
a bold, bad man, whose hands were alternately polluted with gold
and with blood. His pious indignation was excited by the honors
of Serapis; and the insults which he offered to an ancient temple
of Bacchus, 4411 convinced the Pagans that he meditated a more
important and dangerous enterprise. In the tumultuous capital of
Egypt, the slightest provocation was sufficient to inflame a
civil war. The votaries of Serapis, whose strength and numbers
were much inferior to those of their antagonists, rose in arms at
the instigation of the philosopher Olympius, 45 who exhorted them
to die in the defence of the altars of the gods. These Pagan
fanatics fortified themselves in the temple, or rather fortress,
of Serapis; repelled the besiegers by daring sallies, and a
resolute defence; and, by the inhuman cruelties which they
exercised on their Christian prisoners, obtained the last
consolation of despair. The efforts of the prudent magistrate
were usefully exerted for the establishment of a truce, till the
answer of Theodosius should determine the fate of Serapis. The
two parties assembled, without arms, in the principal square; and
the Imperial rescript was publicly read. But when a sentence of
destruction against the idols of Alexandria was pronounced, the
Christians set up a shout of joy and exultation, whilst the
unfortunate Pagans, whose fury had given way to consternation,
retired with hasty and silent steps, and eluded, by their flight
or obscurity, the resentment of their enemies. Theophilus
proceeded to demolish the temple of Serapis, without any other
difficulties, than those which he found in the weight and
solidity of the materials: but these obstacles proved so
insuperable, that he was obliged to leave the foundations; and to
content himself with reducing the edifice itself to a heap of
rubbish, a part of which was soon afterwards cleared away, to
make room for a church, erected in honor of the Christian
martyrs. The valuable library of Alexandria was pillaged or
destroyed; and near twenty years afterwards, the appearance of
the empty shelves excited the regret and indignation of every
spectator, whose mind was not totally darkened by religious
prejudice. 46 The compositions of ancient genius, so many of
which have irretrievably perished, might surely have been
excepted from the wreck of idolatry, for the amusement and
instruction of succeeding ages; and either the zeal or the
avarice of the archbishop, 47 might have been satiated with the
rich spoils, which were the reward of his victory. While the
images and vases of gold and silver were carefully melted, and
those of a less valuable metal were contemptuously broken, and
cast into the streets, Theophilus labored to expose the frauds
and vices of the ministers of the idols; their dexterity in the
management of the loadstone; their secret methods of introducing
a human actor into a hollow statue; 4711 and their scandalous
abuse of the confidence of devout husbands and unsuspecting
females. 48 Charges like these may seem to deserve some degree of
credit, as they are not repugnant to the crafty and interested
spirit of superstition. But the same spirit is equally prone to
the base practice of insulting and calumniating a fallen enemy;
and our belief is naturally checked by the reflection, that it is
much less difficult to invent a fictitious story, than to support
a practical fraud. The colossal statue of Serapis 49 was involved
in the ruin of his temple and religion. A great number of plates
of different metals, artificially joined together, composed the
majestic figure of the deity, who touched on either side the
walls of the sanctuary. The aspect of Serapis, his sitting
posture, and the sceptre, which he bore in his left hand, were
extremely similar to the ordinary representations of Jupiter. He
was distinguished from Jupiter by the basket, or bushel, which
was placed on his head; and by the emblematic monster which he
held in his right hand; the head and body of a serpent branching
into three tails, which were again terminated by the triple heads
of a dog, a lion, and a wolf. It was confidently affirmed, that
if any impious hand should dare to violate the majesty of the
god, the heavens and the earth would instantly return to their
original chaos. An intrepid soldier, animated by zeal, and armed
with a weighty battle-axe, ascended the ladder; and even the
Christian multitude expected, with some anxiety, the event of the
combat. 50 He aimed a vigorous stroke against the cheek of
Serapis; the cheek fell to the ground; the thunder was still
silent, and both the heavens and the earth continued to preserve
their accustomed order and tranquillity. The victorious soldier
repeated his blows: the huge idol was overthrown, and broken in
pieces; and the limbs of Serapis were ignominiously dragged
through the streets of Alexandria. His mangled carcass was burnt
in the Amphitheatre, amidst the shouts of the populace; and many
persons attributed their conversion to this discovery of the
impotence of their tutelar deity. The popular modes of religion,
that propose any visible and material objects of worship, have
the advantage of adapting and familiarizing themselves to the
senses of mankind: but this advantage is counterbalanced by the
various and inevitable accidents to which the faith of the
idolater is exposed. It is scarcely possible, that, in every
disposition of mind, he should preserve his implicit reverence
for the idols, or the relics, which the naked eye, and the
profane hand, are unable to distinguish from the most common
productions of art or nature; and if, in the hour of danger,
their secret and miraculous virtue does not operate for their own
preservation, he scorns the vain apologies of his priests, and
justly derides the object, and the folly, of his superstitious
attachment. 51 After the fall of Serapis, some hopes were still
entertained by the Pagans, that the Nile would refuse his annual
supply to the impious masters of Egypt; and the extraordinary
delay of the inundation seemed to announce the displeasure of the
river-god. But this delay was soon compensated by the rapid swell
of the waters. They suddenly rose to such an unusual height, as
to comfort the discontented party with the pleasing expectation
of a deluge; till the peaceful river again subsided to the
well-known and fertilizing level of sixteen cubits, or about
thirty English feet. 52

43 (return) [ We may choose between the date of Marcellinus (A.D.
389) or that of Prosper, ( A.D. 391.) Tillemont (Hist. des Emp.
tom. v. p. 310, 756) prefers the former, and Pagi the latter.]

44 (return) [ Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. xi. p. 441-500. The
ambiguous situation of Theophilus—a saint, as the friend of Jerom
a devil, as the enemy of Chrysostom—produces a sort of
impartiality; yet, upon the whole, the balance is justly inclined
against him.]

4411 (return) [ No doubt a temple of Osiris. St. Martin, iv
398-M.]

45 (return) [ Lardner (Heathen Testimonies, vol. iv. p. 411) has
alleged beautiful passage from Suidas, or rather from Damascius,
which show the devout and virtuous Olympius, not in the light of
a warrior, but of a prophet.]

46 (return) [ Nos vidimus armaria librorum, quibus direptis,
exinanita ea a nostris hominibus, nostris temporibus memorant.
Orosius, l. vi. c. 15, p. 421, edit. Havercamp. Though a bigot,
and a controversial writer. Orosius seems to blush.]

47 (return) [ Eunapius, in the Lives of Antoninus and Aedesius,
execrates the sacrilegious rapine of Theophilus. Tillemont (Mem.
Eccles. tom. xiii. p. 453) quotes an epistle of Isidore of
Pelusium, which reproaches the primate with the idolatrous
worship of gold, the auri sacra fames.]

4711 (return) [ An English traveller, Mr. Wilkinson, has
discovered the secret of the vocal Memnon. There was a cavity in
which a person was concealed, and struck a stone, which gave a
ringing sound like brass. The Arabs, who stood below when Mr.
Wilkinson performed the miracle, described sound just as the
author of the epigram.—M.]

48 (return) [ Rufinus names the priest of Saturn, who, in the
character of the god, familiarly conversed with many pious ladies
of quality, till he betrayed himself, in a moment of transport,
when he could not disguise the tone of his voice. The authentic
and impartial narrative of Aeschines, (see Bayle, Dictionnaire
Critique, Scamandre,) and the adventure of Mudus, (Joseph.
Antiquitat. Judaic. l. xviii. c. 3, p. 877 edit. Havercamp,) may
prove that such amorous frauds have been practised with success.]

49 (return) [ See the images of Serapis, in Montfaucon, (tom. ii.
p. 297:) but the description of Macrobius (Saturnal. l. i. c. 20)
is much more picturesque and satisfactory.]

50 (return) [

Sed fortes tremuere manus, motique verenda Majestate loci, si
robora sacra ferirent In sua credebant redituras membra secures.

(Lucan. iii. 429.) “Is it true,” (said Augustus to a veteran of
Italy, at whose house he supped) “that the man who gave the first
blow to the golden statue of Anaitis, was instantly deprived of
his eyes, and of his life?”—“I was that man, (replied the
clear-sighted veteran,) and you now sup on one of the legs of the
goddess.” (Plin. Hist. Natur. xxxiii. 24)]

51 (return) [ The history of the reformation affords frequent
examples of the sudden change from superstition to contempt.]

52 (return) [ Sozomen, l. vii. c. 20. I have supplied the
measure. The same standard, of the inundation, and consequently
of the cubit, has uniformly subsisted since the time of
Herodotus. See Freret, in the Mem. de l’Academie des
Inscriptions, tom. xvi. p. 344-353. Greaves’s Miscellaneous
Works, vol. i. p. 233. The Egyptian cubit is about twenty-two
inches of the English measure. * Note: Compare Wilkinson’s Thebes
and Egypt, p. 313.—M.]

The temples of the Roman empire were deserted, or destroyed; but
the ingenious superstition of the Pagans still attempted to elude
the laws of Theodosius, by which all sacrifices had been severely
prohibited. The inhabitants of the country, whose conduct was
less opposed to the eye of malicious curiosity, disguised their
religious, under the appearance of convivial, meetings. On the
days of solemn festivals, they assembled in great numbers under
the spreading shade of some consecrated trees; sheep and oxen
were slaughtered and roasted; and this rural entertainment was
sanctified by the use of incense, and by the hymns which were
sung in honor of the gods. But it was alleged, that, as no part
of the animal was made a burnt-offering, as no altar was provided
to receive the blood, and as the previous oblation of salt cakes,
and the concluding ceremony of libations, were carefully omitted,
these festal meetings did not involve the guests in the guilt, or
penalty, of an illegal sacrifice. 53 Whatever might be the truth
of the facts, or the merit of the distinction, 54 these vain
pretences were swept away by the last edict of Theodosius, which
inflicted a deadly wound on the superstition of the Pagans. 55
5511 This prohibitory law is expressed in the most absolute and
comprehensive terms. “It is our will and pleasure,” says the
emperor, “that none of our subjects, whether magistrates or
private citizens, however exalted or however humble may be their
rank and condition, shall presume, in any city or in any place,
to worship an inanimate idol, by the sacrifice of a guiltless
victim.” The act of sacrificing, and the practice of divination
by the entrails of the victim, are declared (without any regard
to the object of the inquiry) a crime of high treason against the
state, which can be expiated only by the death of the guilty. The
rites of Pagan superstition, which might seem less bloody and
atrocious, are abolished, as highly injurious to the truth and
honor of religion; luminaries, garlands, frankincense, and
libations of wine, are specially enumerated and condemned; and
the harmless claims of the domestic genius, of the household
gods, are included in this rigorous proscription. The use of any
of these profane and illegal ceremonies, subjects the offender to
the forfeiture of the house or estate, where they have been
performed; and if he has artfully chosen the property of another
for the scene of his impiety, he is compelled to discharge,
without delay, a heavy fine of twenty-five pounds of gold, or
more than one thousand pounds sterling. A fine, not less
considerable, is imposed on the connivance of the secret enemies
of religion, who shall neglect the duty of their respective
stations, either to reveal, or to punish, the guilt of idolatry.
Such was the persecuting spirit of the laws of Theodosius, which
were repeatedly enforced by his sons and grandsons, with the loud
and unanimous applause of the Christian world. 56

53 (return) [ Libanius (pro Templis, p. 15, 16, 17) pleads their
cause with gentle and insinuating rhetoric. From the earliest
age, such feasts had enlivened the country: and those of Bacchus
(Georgic. ii. 380) had produced the theatre of Athens. See
Godefroy, ad loc. Liban. and Codex Theodos. tom. vi. p. 284.]

54 (return) [ Honorius tolerated these rustic festivals, (A.D.
399.) “Absque ullo sacrificio, atque ulla superstitione
damnabili.” But nine years afterwards he found it necessary to
reiterate and enforce the same proviso, (Codex Theodos. l. xvi.
tit. x. leg. 17, 19.)]

55 (return) [ Cod. Theodos. l. xvi. tit. x. leg. 12. Jortin
(Remarks on Eccles. History, vol. iv. p. 134) censures, with
becoming asperity, the style and sentiments of this intolerant
law.]

5511 (return) [ Paganism maintained its ground for a considerable
time in the rural districts. Endelechius, a poet who lived at the
beginning of the fifth century, speaks of the cross as Signum
quod perhibent esse crucis Dei, Magnis qui colitur solus
inurbibus. In the middle of the same century, Maximus, bishop of
Turin, writes against the heathen deities as if their worship was
still in full vigor in the neighborhood of his city. Augustine
complains of the encouragement of the Pagan rites by heathen
landowners; and Zeno of Verona, still later, reproves the apathy
of the Christian proprietors in conniving at this abuse. (Compare
Neander, ii. p. 169.) M. Beugnot shows that this was the case
throughout the north and centre of Italy and in Sicily. But
neither of these authors has adverted to one fact, which must
have tended greatly to retard the progress of Christianity in
these quarters. It was still chiefly a slave population which
cultivated the soil; and however, in the towns, the better class
of Christians might be eager to communicate “the blessed liberty
of the gospel” to this class of mankind; however their condition
could not but be silently ameliorated by the humanizing influence
of Christianity; yet, on the whole, no doubt the servile class
would be the least fitted to receive the gospel; and its general
propagation among them would be embarrassed by many peculiar
difficulties. The rural population was probably not entirely
converted before the general establishment of the monastic
institutions. Compare Quarterly Review of Beugnot. vol lvii. p.
52—M.]

56 (return) [ Such a charge should not be lightly made; but it
may surely be justified by the authority of St. Augustin, who
thus addresses the Donatists: “Quis nostrum, quis vestrum non
laudat leges ab Imperatoribus datas adversus sacrificia
Paganorum? Et certe longe ibi poera severior constituta est;
illius quippe impietatis capitale supplicium est.” Epist. xciii.
No. 10, quoted by Le Clerc, (Bibliothèque Choisie, tom. viii. p.
277,) who adds some judicious reflections on the intolerance of
the victorious Christians. * Note: Yet Augustine, with laudable
inconsistency, disapproved of the forcible demolition of the
temples. “Let us first extirpate the idolatry of the hearts of
the heathen, and they will either themselves invite us or
anticipate us in the execution of this good work,” tom. v. p. 62.
Compare Neander, ii. 169, and, in p. 155, a beautiful passage
from Chrysostom against all violent means of propagating
Christianity.—M.]