Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 3 (1897).djvu/208

 188 THE DECLINE AND FALL CHAPTER XXVIII The destruc- tion of the Paffan reUglon. A.D. 378-393 Final Destruction of Paganism — Introduction of the Worship of Saints, and Relics, among the Christians. The ruin of Paganism/ in the age of Theodosius, is perhaps the only example of the total extirpation of any ancient and popular superstition ; and may therefore deserv^e to be considered as a singular event in the history of the human mind. The Christians, more especially the clergy, had impatiently sup- ported the prudent delays of Constantine and the equal toleration of the elder Valentinian ; nor could they deem their conquest perfect or secure, as long as their adversaries were permitted to exist. The influence which Ambrose and his brethren had acquired over the youth of Gratian and the piety of Theodosius was employed to infuse the maxims of per- secution into the breasts of their Imperial proselytes. Two specious principles of religious jurisprudence were established, from whence they deduced a direct and rigorous conclusion against the subjects of the empire who still adhered to the ceremonies of their ancestors : that the magistrate is, in some measure, guilty of the crimes which he neglects to prohibit or to punish ; and, that the idolatrous woi*ship of fabulous deities and real daemons is the most abominable crime against the supreme majesty of the Creator. The laws of Moses and the examples of Jewish history 2 were hastily, perhaps erroneously, applied by the clergy to the mild and universal reign of Christianity. 2 The zeal of the emperors was excited to 1 [Beugnot, Histoire de la destruction du paganisme, 1835 '< Chastel, Hist, de la d^str. du pag. dans I'empire d'orient, 1850; Lasaulx, Der Untergang des Hellenis- mus, 1854 ; G. Boissier, La fin du paganisme (2 vols.), 1891.] 2 St. Ambrose (torn. ii. de Obit. Theodos. p. 1208) erpressly praises and re- commends the zeal of Josiah in the destruction of idolatry. The language of Julius Firmicus Maternus on the same subject (de Errore Profan. Relig. p. 467, edit. Gronov.) is piously inhuman. Nee filio jubet (the Mosaic Law) parci, nee fratri, et per amatam conjugem gladium vindicem ducit, &c. 3 Bayle (tom. ii. p. 406, in his Commentaire Philosophique) justifies and limits these intolerant laws by the temporal reign of Jehovah over the Jews, The attempt is laudable.