bly dissolved the firmness of manly virtue. But
the groves of Daphne continued for many ages to enjoy the veneration of
natives and strangers; the privileges of the holy ground were enlarged
by the munificence of succeeding emperors; and every generation added
new ornaments to the splendor of the temple.

When Julian, on the day of the annual festival, hastened to adore
the Apollo of Daphne, his devotion was raised to the highest pitch
of eagerness and impatience. His lively imagination anticipated the
grateful pomp of victims, of libations and of incense; a long procession
of youths and virgins, clothed in white robes, the symbol of their
innocence; and the tumultuous concourse of an innumerable people. But
the zeal of Antioch was diverted, since the reign of Christianity, into
a different channel. Instead of hecatombs of fat oxen sacrificed by the
tribes of a wealthy city to their tutelar deity the emperor complains
that he found only a single goose, provided at the expense of a priest,
the pale and solitary in habitant of this decayed temple. The altar was
deserted, the oracle had been reduced to silence, and the holy ground
was profaned by the introduction of Christian and funereal rites. After
Babylas (a bishop of Antioch, who died in prison in the persecution of
Decius) had rested near a century in his grave, his body, by the order
of Caesar Gallus, was transported into the midst of the grove of Daphne.
A magnificent church was erected over his remains; a portion of the
sacred lands was usurped for the maintenance of the clergy, and for the
burial of the Christians at Antioch, who were ambitious of lying at
the feet of their bishop; and the priests of Apollo retired, with their
affrighted and indignant votaries. As soon as another revolution seemed
to restore the fortune of Paganism, the church of St. Babylas was
demolished, and new buildings were added to the mouldering edifice which
had been raised by the piety of Syrian kings. But the first and most
serious care of Julian was to deliver his oppressed deity from
the odious presence of the dead and living Christians, who had so
effectually suppressed the voice of fraud or enthusiasm. The scene of
infection was purified, according to the forms of ancient rituals;
the bodies were decently removed; and the ministers of the church
were permitted to convey the remains of St. Babylas to their former
habitation within the walls of Antioch. The modest behavior which might