Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 3 (1897).djvu/215

OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 195 the skin of the old serpent ; to assume the snowy robes of baptismal innocence ; and to humble the pride of the consular fasces before the tombs of the martyrs ".2" The citizens, who subsisted by their own industry, and the populace, who were supported by the public liberality, filled the churches of the Lateran and Vatican with an incessant throng of devout pro- selytes. The decrees of the senate, which proscribed the worship of idols, were ratified by the general consent of the Romans ; ^s the splendour of the capitol was defaced, and the solitary temples were abandoned to ruin and contempt. ^^ Rome submitted to the yoke of the Gospel ; and the vanquished provinces had not yet lost their reverence for the name and authority of Rome. The filial piety of the emperors themselves engaged them to Destruction proceed, with some caution and tenderness, in the reformation in the of the eternal city. Those absolute monarchs acted with less a.d. ssi, *c regard to the prejudices of the provincials. The pious labour, which had been suspended near twenty years since the death of Constantius,^*^ 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 unseason- able 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 27 Exsultare Patres videas, pulcherrima mundi Lumina ; conciliumque senum gestire Catonum Candidiore togi niveum pietatis amictum Sumere, et exuvias deponere pontificales. The fancy of Prudentius is warmed and elevated by victory. 29 Prudentius, after he has described the conversion of the senate and people, asks, with some truth and confidence, Et dubitamus adhuc Romam, tibi, Christe, dicatam In leges transisse tuas ? 29 Jerom exults in the desolation of the capitol, and the other temples of Rome (tom. i. p. 54 [ep. 107], torn. ii. p. 95). 30 Libanius (Orat. pro Templis, p. 10, Genev. 1634, published by James Gode- froy, 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.