Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 2.djvu/238

 220 THE DECLINE AND FALL CHAP, could the christians of the east place any confidence in the character of their sovereign. Cruelty and supersti- renew the tion were the ruling passions of the soul ofMaximin. peisecution. ^^■^Q fonner suggested the means, the latter pointed out the objects, of persecution. The emperor was devoted to the woi'ship of the gods, to the study of magic, and to the belief of oracles. The prophets or philosophers, whom he revered as the favourites of heaven, were frequently raised to the government of provinces, and admitted into his most secret councils. They easily convinced him, that the christians had been indebted for their victories to their regular disci- pline, and that the weakness of polytheism had princi- pally flowed from a want of union and subordination among the ministers of religion. A system of govern^ ment was therefore instituted, which was evidently copied from the policy of the church. In all the great cities of the empire, the temples were repaired and beautified by the order of Maximin ; and the officiating priests of the various deities were subjected to the au- thority of a superior pontiff, destined to oppose the bishop, and to promote the cause of paganism. These pontiffs acknowledged, in their turn, the supreme juris- diction of the metropolitans or high priests of the pro- vince, who acted as the immediate vicegerents of the emperor himself. A white robe was the ensign of their dignity ; and these new prelates were carefully selected from the most noble and opulent families. By the in- fluence of the magistrates, and of the sacerdotal order, a great number of dutiful addresses were obtained, par- ticularly from the cities of Nicomedia, Antioch, and Tyre, which artfully represented the well known inten- tions of the court as the general sense of the people ; solicited the emperor to consult the laws of justice rather than the dictates of his clemency ; expressed their abhorrence of the christians, and humbly prayed that those impious sectaries might at least be excluded from the limits of their respective territories. The an- swer of Maximin to the address which he obtained