Pagans said that now there would be no inundation, but it A. D. 391. was greater than it was known to have ever been before. When Theodosius heard of what had taken place at Alexandria, particularly with respect to the Nilometer, he raised his hands to heaven, and said exultingly, "Thanks be unto "Thee, O CHRIST, that this ancient error has been destroyed "and without the ruin of Alexandria." Some years after this, the Nile rose later than usual'. The Pagans imputed it to1 Soz. 7. 20. the law which forbade sacrificing to the river after the ancient custom. When the governor saw the ferment in which the people were he wrote to the Emperor, who replied, " Piety "must be preferred before the waters of the Nile and the "abundance which they produce. May that river never flow, "if there be need of incantations to induce it, and if it take "delight in sacrifices of blood." Soon after it rose to such a height as to continue to rise after it had reached the highest measurement. Then it was feared that all Alexandria would be flooded, and the Pagans cried out scoffingly in the theatres that the Nile was grown so old, he could no longer contain his water. Many were converted to the Faith on this occasion.

20.

On the site of the temple of Serapis', when it had been Ruff. 11. cleared of its heathen pollutions, were built two churches. 27, 28. In one were deposited the relics of St. John the Baptist, which had been sent to St. Athanasius, in the reign of Julian, some thirty years before. A learned man named Sophronius, is Supra, 15. said by St. Jerome to have composed a considerable work on the destruction of Serapis. With Sophronius, who translated several of St. Jerome's writings into Greek, the latter concludes his Catalogue of Ecclesiastical Writers, drawn up, as he tells us himself, in the fourteenth year of Theodosius, c.134.tom. A. D. 392'.

4. ps. 2. P. 128.

Overthrow

The destruction of Serapis was the prelude to that of all Xxx. the temples and idols, not only in Alexandria, but throughout of Idolatry Egypt; none could be expected to stand after Serapis had in Egypt. fallen. Each Bishop procured their demolition in the cities, the towns, the country, on the banks of the Nile, even in

B Egyptian Serapis has been made "Christian." (S. Hier. Ep. 57. ad Læt.) "The Serapeium was changed into a

"Church, and called after the prince
"Arcadius." Soz. 7. 15.

A. D. 391. the deserts. During the progress of the destruction of the temples at Alexandria the bloody mysteries of Mithras were 1 Soc. 5.16. brought to light'. There were found in the secret chambers, which were called Adyta, the heads of infants with their lips gilded, as those of sacrificial victims, and pictures, representing a number of cruel ways of inflicting death. They used to butcher infants, and particularly young girls, to inspect their entrails. At the sight of these horrors, the Pagans, amazed and confounded, were converted in crowds.

22.

The artifices too, which the priests of the false gods used to deceive the people, were exposed. They had hollow idols of wood or brass, set against the wall, which could be entered Theod. 5. by concealed passages'. The priests ascended into the idols from the chambers underground and made them seem to command just what they pleased. By this means, a priest of Saturn, named Tyrannus, insulted many of the noble ladies of the city; he told the husband, that Saturn required that his wife should pass the night in his temple. The husband, proud of the honour paid him by the, god, would send his wife decked with her choicest ornaments and loaded with oblations. The doors of the temple were closed upon her publicly, Tyrannus gave up the keys and retired. During the night he returned and entered the idol by the subterraneous passage. The temple was illuminated, and the miserable woman, intent on her prayers, seeing no one, but hearing all at once a voice issue from the idol, would be filled with awe mingled with joy. After Tyrannus had, in the person of Saturn, said what he thought proper, suddenly,

either to amaze her more or to render her more disposed to obey him, he extinguished all the lights by drawing over them cloths arranged for that purpose. He then came down, and, under cover of darkness, abused his wretched victim. Many had been thus insulted when at last one of them, whose modesty was shocked at the crime, listened attentively to the voice of Tyrannus and recognised it. On her return home, she disclosed the fraud to her husband. He became his accuser, and Tyrannus, put to the torture, was convicted by his own confession, which covered with infamy many Pagan families in Alexandria; so many matrons were adulteresses, so many husbands wronged, so many children of

doubtful birth. The exposure of these crimes contributed A. D. 391. much to the destruction of the idols and the temples.

Marcell.an. 389. [Ron

270.]

The idols of metal were, by order of Theophilus, melted down into cauldrons and other vessels for the use of the Church of Alexandria, for they had been given him by the Emperor to supply the wants of the poor. This gave occasion to the Pagans to charge the Bishop with interested conduct in exciting this contest'. He reserved one of the most ridi- 'Eunap. in Ædes. p.74, culous idols, probably that of an ape, and exposed it publicly, 78. that the Pagans might not be able afterwards to deny their having worshipped such gods. Though the destruction of the temples is dated A.D. 389', at which time it may have Chron. begun, it continued two or three years, as appears by a law of Theodosius, addressed to the officers who were concerned call. 2. p. in it, namely, Evagrius the Augustal Præfect, and the Count Romanus, and dated from Aquileia, on the 15th or 16th of the calends of July, under the Consulship of Tatian and Symmachus, i. e. June 16th or 17th A.D. 391. This law forbids any to sacrifice, to go in procession round the temples, or even to visit them and pay any worship to the gods. Any judge who during his time of office should enter these profane places, was to be fined fifteen pounds weight of gold, and his officers as much. This clause proves that many offices were still filled by Pagans, which circumstance occasioned the law. Notwithstanding the zeal of Theodosius, several famous temples in many cities in the East remained standing owing to the resistance offered by the people. This was the case in Arabia, at Petra and Areopolis3, the ancient S. Hier.de capital of the Moabites; in Palestine, at Raphia and Gaza, t. 2. p. 407. where, however, the temple of Marnas' was closed.

loc. Hebr.

'Ep.2. [57.] ad Læt.

[Script. circ. 398.] m

16.

The city of Canopus was one of the most famous in Egypt. It was situated in a healthy and delightful spot, near one of the mouths of the Nile, in an island, about twelve miles Marc. 22. from Alexandria. It was a great resort for foreigners, and had several temples. Crimes, without number, were committed there, and under pretence of instruction in the sacerdotal letters of the Egyptians, a school of magic was held there, almost publicly. A sophist, named Antonine, and his mother Sosipatra, had been distinguished there a little before; but Antonine, through fear of the Emperor, con- Eunap.

6

Edes.p.71.

['tom. 6. p. 505.]

2 Ruff. 11. 26.

A. D. 391. cealed his art. It was said that he had foretold both the overthrow of the temples and the ruin of the Serapeium, and the notoriety which this prediction had gained among the Pagans, led St. Augustine to write his book, On the Divination of Evil Spirits'. The particular god of Canopus was a ridiculous idol composed of an immense paunch, surmounted by a head, and supported on two feet, but with no other limbs, neither arms nor legs. The following story is related about it. The Chaldæans used to boast that the fire, which they carried about with them, wherever they went, was the conqueror of all other gods; there was no idol which could resist it, without being burnt, melted, or reduced to powder. The Egyptians, in order to filter the muddy water of the Nile, had some large earthen vessels pierced at the bottom with small holes. One of these, the priest of Canopus took, and having covered the lower part, filled it with water; he then cut off the head of an old statue and fixed it on the top. The Chaldæans brought their fire; it melted the wax, was thereupon itself extinguished by the water, and Canopus remained

XXXI.

Monaste

nopus.

27.

In Edes.

p. 73, 75.

victorious.

All the temples of Canopus, with their caverns, used for ries of Ca- wicked superstitions, were destroyed by Theophilus. Churches and monasteries, with the images and relics of Saints, rose in Ruff. 11. their place. It is thus that Eunapius, one of the zealous supporters of Paganism, speaks. After deploring the fall of Serapis' temple, and comparing the Bishop Theophilus to Eurymedon, the King of the Giants, who attacked the gods, he goes on; "There were brought into the sacred places "men they call Monks, who though they look like men, "lead the life of swine'." He speaks thus of the Monks (for none really lived with more sobriety) in consequence of their poverty and their abstaining from the bath, so unlike the Egyptian Priests, who bathed three times a-day, and anointed themselves with perfumed oils. He notices that they were clad in black, and adds: "These Monks were "fixed even at Canopus, and men were engaged to serve, "instead of gods, the most wretched slaves. For they col"lected the heads of those who had been executed by the "law for their crimes, and recognised them as gods; they "prostrated themselves before them and fancied they grew

[44.]

"better, by defiling themselves at their tombs.

"after living in a wretched slavery had died bastinado, and whose images still bore the marks of their punishments, were called Martyrs and Deacons, and Media"tors with the gods'; and the world bears with such gods." ['peσ Beis These are the words of Eunapius. They prove the custom of Tv airdepositing relics' in places which were to be consecrated to Tv Bev.] [2 bk. 18. GOD, and of placing Monks there to take care of them. ch. 47. Saints too, especially Martyrs, are regarded as intercessorsi note q.] with God, and so honoured, that to Pagans, who saw things only from without, Divine honourk seemed to be paid to them;