vidence of Libanius. Epist. 730, p. 350,
351. Edit. Wolf. Amstel. 1738.]

[Footnote 101: Certatim eum sibi (Christiani) vindicant. It is thus that
La Croze and Wolfius (ad loc.) have explained a Greek word, whose true
signification had been mistaken by former interpreters, and even by
Le Clerc, (Bibliotheque Ancienne et Moderne, tom. iii. p. 371.) Yet
Tillemont is strangely puzzled to understand (Mem. Eccles. tom. vii. p.
1390) how Gregory and Theodoret could mistake a Semi-Arian bishop for a
saint.]

[Footnote 102: See the probable advice of Sallust, (Greg. Nazianzen,
Orat. iii. p. 90, 91.) Libanius intercedes for a similar offender, lest
they should find many Marks; yet he allows, that if Orion had secreted
the consecrated wealth, he deserved to suffer the punishment of Marsyas;
to be flayed alive, (Epist. 730, p. 349-351.)]

[Footnote 103: Gregory (Orat. iii. p. 90) is satisfied that, by saving
the apostate, Mark had deserved still more than he had suffered.]

At the distance of five miles from Antioch, the Macedonian kings of
Syria had consecrated to Apollo one of the most elegant places of
devotion in the Pagan world. [104] A magnificent temple rose in honor
of the god of light; and his colossal figure [105] almost filled the
capacious sanctuary, which was enriched with gold and gems, and adorned
by the skill of the Grecian artists. The deity was represented in a
bending attitude, with a golden cup in his hand, pouring out a libation
on the earth; as if he supplicated the venerable mother to give to
his arms the cold and beauteous Daphne: for the spot was ennobled by
fiction; and the fancy of the Syrian poets had transported the amorous
tale from the banks of the Peneus to those of the Orontes. The ancient
rites of Greece were imitated by the royal colony of Antioch. A stream
of prophecy, which rivalled the truth and reputation of the Delphic
oracle, flowed from the Castalian fountain of Daphne. [106] In the
adjacent fields a stadium was built by a special privilege, [107] which
had been purchased from Elis; the Olympic games were celebrated at the
expense of the city; and a revenue of thirty thousand pounds sterling
was annually applied to the public pleasures. [108] The perpetual resort
of pilgrims and spectators insensibly formed, in the neighborhood of the
temple, the stately and populous village of Daphne, which emulated the
splendor, without acquiring the title, of a provincial city. The temple
and the vi