ets of Sybaris and Petilia (Diels, {232} _Vorsokratiker_, II^2,
p. 480) must have prepared the way for it. These tablets possess many
points in common with the eschatological beliefs of Egypt, but, as their
latest commentator justly remarks (Harrison, _Prolegomena to the Study of
Greek Religion_, p. 624), these new ideas are fairly overwhelmed in the old
mythology. The mysteries of Isis and Serapis seemed to offer a revelation
that had been a presentiment for a long time, and the affirmation of a
truth foreshadowed by early symbols.

23. _CIL_, X, 1781, I, 15-6.

24. Apul., _Metam._, XI, 30.

25. Wissowa, _op. cit._, p. 292-3; cf. Seeck, _Hermes_, XLIII, 1908, p.
642.

26. Manicheism was later persecuted on a similar pretext, see _Collat. Mos.
et Rom. leg._, 15, 3, Sec. 4: "De Persica adversaria nobis gente progressa."

27. A full list of the inscriptions and monuments discovered in the various
cities is given by Drexler in Roscher, _Lexikon_, s. v. "Isis," II, col.
409 ff.

28. Hirschfeld, _CIL_, XII, p. 382, and _Wiener Studien_, V, 1883, pp.
319-322.

29. Cf. Wissowa, _op. cit._, pp. 294 ff.

30. Minuc. Fel., _Octav._ 22, 2: "Haec AEgyptia quondam nunc et sacra Romana
sunt."

31. _Carmen contra paganos_ (_Anthol. lat._, ed. Riese, I, 20 ff.) v. 91,
95 ff.; cf. Ps. Aug., _Quaest. Vet. Test._, CXIV, 11 (p. 308, 10 Souter),
and _Rev. hist. litt. relig._, VIII, 1903, p. 422, n. 1.

32. Rufin, II, 24: "_Caput ipsum idolatriae._" A miniature from an
Alexandrian chronicle shows the patriarch Theophilus, crowned with a halo,
stamping the Serapeum under foot, see Bauer and Strzygowski, _Eine
alexandrinische Weltchronik_ (_Denkschr. Akad. Wien_, LI), 1905, to the
year 391, pp. 70 ff., 122, and pl. VI.

33. Cf. Drexler in Roscher, s. v. "Isis," II, p. 425; Harnack, _Ausbreitung
des Christentums_, II, pp. 147 ff.--Some curious details showing the
persistence of the Isis cult among the professors and students of
Alexandria during the last years of the {233} fifth century are given in
the life of Severus of Antioch by Zachariah the Scholastic (_Patrol.
orient._, I, ed. Kugener), pp. 17 ff., 27 ff.

34. Ps.-Apul., 34. Compare with a similar prophecy in the Sibylline
oracles, V, 184 f. (p. 127, Geffcken ed.).

35. Iseum of Beneventum; cf. _Notizie debgli scavi di ant._, 1904, pp. 107
ff. Iseum of the Campus Martius: see Lanciani, _Bollet. communale di Roma_,
1883, pp. 33 ff.; Marucchi, _ibid._, 1890, pp. 307 f.--The