espectable deputations
were successively voted to the Imperial court, to represent the
grievances of the priesthood and the senate, and to solicit the
restoration of the altar of Victory. The conduct of this important
business was intrusted to the eloquent Symmachus, a wealthy and noble
senator, who united the sacred characters of pontiff and augur with
the civil dignities of proconsul of Africa and praefect of the city. The
breast of Symmachus was animated by the warmest zeal for the cause of
expiring Paganism; and his religious antagonists lamented the abuse of
his genius, and the inefficacy of his moral virtues. The orator, whose
petition is extant to the emperor Valentinian, was conscious of the
difficulty and danger of the office which he had assumed. He cautiously
avoids every topic which might appear to reflect on the religion of his
sovereign; humbly declares, that prayers and entreaties are his only
arms; and artfully draws his arguments from the schools of rhetoric,
rather than from those of philosophy. Symmachus endeavors to seduce
the imagination of a young prince, by displaying the attributes of
the goddess of victory; he insinuates, that the confiscation of the
revenues, which were consecrated to the service of the gods, was a
measure unworthy of his liberal and disinterested character; and he
maintains, that the Roman sacrifices would be deprived of their force
and energy, if they were no longer celebrated at the expense, as well
as in the name, of the republic. Even scepticism is made to supply an
apology for superstition. The great and incomprehensible _secret_ of the
universe eludes the inquiry of man. Where reason cannot instruct,
custom may be permitted to guide; and every nation seems to consult
the dictates of prudence, by a faithful attachment to those rites and
opinions, which have received the sanction of ages. If those ages
have been crowned with glory and prosperity, if the devout people have
frequently obtained the blessings which they have solicited at the
altars of the gods, it must appear still more advisable to persist in
the same salutary practice; and not to risk the unknown perils that
may attend any rash innovations. The test of antiquity and success
was applied with singular advantage to the religion of Numa; and Rome
herself, the celestial genius that presided over the fates of the city,
is introduced by the orator to plead her own cause before the tribunal
of the emperors. "Most exc