ines of the deities that he served.
While the Temple of Serapis stood uninjured, to give encouragement to
his labours and refuge to his persecuted brethren, there existed for
him such an earnest of success as would spur him to any exertion, and
nerve him against any peril.

And now, to the astonishment of priests and congregations, the silent,
thoughtful, solitary Ulpius suddenly started from his long repose, and
stood forth the fiery advocate of the rights of his invaded worship.
In a few days the fame of his addresses to the Pagans who still
attended the rites of Serapis spread throughout the whole city. The
boldest among the Christians, as they passed the temple walls,
involuntarily trembled when they heard the vehemence of the applause
which arose from the audience of the inspired priest. Addressed to all
varieties of age and character, these harangues woke an echo in every
breast they reached. To the young they were clothed in all the poetry
of the worship for which they pleaded. They dwelt on the altars of
Venus that the Christians would lay waste; on the woodlands that the
Christians would disenchant of their Dryads; on the hallowed Arts that
the Christians would arise and destroy. To the aged they called up
remembrances of the glories of the past achieved through the favour of
the gods; of ancestors who had died in their service; of old forgotten
loves, and joys, and successes that had grown and prospered under the
gentle guardianship of the deities of old--while the unvarying burden
of their conclusion to all was the reiterated assertion that the
illustrious Macrinus had died a victim to the toleration of the
Christian sect.

But the efforts of Ulpius were not confined to the delivery of
orations. Every moment of his leisure time was dedicated to secret
pilgrimages into Alexandria. Careless of peril, regardless of threats,
the undaunted enthusiast penetrated into the most private
meeting-places of the Christians; reclaiming on every side apostates to
the Pagan creed, and defying the hostility of half the city from the
stronghold of the temple walls. Day after day fresh recruits arrived
to swell the ranks of the worshippers of Serapis. The few members of
the scattered congregations of the provinces who still remained
faithful to the ancient worship were gathered together in Alexandria by
the private messengers of the unwearied Ulpius. Already tumults began
to take place between the Pagans and the Ch