Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 2.djvu/95

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 77 and of lieretics, that the demons were the authors, the CHAP, patrons, and the objects of idolatry "'. Those re])el- ^^ • Hous spirits who had been degraded from the rank of angels, and cast down into the infernal ])it, were still permitted to roam upon earth, to torment the bodies, and to seduce the minds, of sinful men. The demons soon discovered and abused the natural propensity of the human heart towards devotion; and, artfully with- drawing the adoration of mankind from their creator, they usurped the place and honours of the Supreme Deity. By the success of their malicious contrivances, they at once gratified their own vanity and revenge, and obtained the only comfort of which they were yet susceptible, the hope of involving the human species in the participation of their guilt and misery. It was con- fessed, or at least it was imagined, that they had distri- buted among themselves the most important characters of polytheism, one demon assuming the name and attri- butes of Jupiter, another of i^sculapius, a third of Venus, and a fourth perhaps of Apollo''; and that, by the advantage of their long experience and aerial na- ture, they were enabled to execute, with sufficient skill and dignity, the parts which they had undertaken. They lurked in the temples, instituted festivals and sa- crifices, invented fables, pronounced oracles, and were frequently allowed to perform miracles. The chris- tians, who, by the interposition of evil spirits, could so readily explain every preternatural appearance, were disposed and even desirous to admit the most extrava- gant fictions of the pagan mythology. But the belief of the christian was accompanied with horror. The most trifling mark of respect to the national worship he considered as a direct homage yielded to the demon, and as an act of rel:)ellion against the majesty of God. In consequence of this opinion, it was the first but P The unanimous sentiment of the primitive cliurch is very clearly ex- plained by Justin ]Martyr. Apolocr. Major, by Athenagoras, Legal, c. 22, etc. and by Lactantius, Institut. Divin. ii. 14 — 19. 'I Tertullian (Apolog. c. 23.) alleges the confession of the demons them- selves as often as they were tormented by the christian exorcists.