ch was supported by the
opinions and habits of eleven hundred years. Paganism was still the
constitutional religion of the senate. The hall, or temple, in which
they assembled, was adorned by the statue and altar of Victory; [7] a
majestic female standing on a globe, with flowing garments, expanded
wings, and a crown of laurel in her outstretched hand. [8] The senators
were sworn on the altar of the goddess to observe the laws of the
emperor and of the empire: and a solemn offering of wine and incense was
the ordinary prelude of their public deliberations. The removal of this
ancient monument was the only injury which Constantius had offered to
the superstition of the Romans. The altar of Victory was again restored
by Julian, tolerated by Valentinian, and once more banished from the
senate by the zeal of Gratian. [10] But the emperor yet spared the
statues of the gods which were exposed to the public veneration: four
hundred and twenty-four temples, or chapels, still remained to satisfy
the devotion of the people; and in every quarter of Rome the delicacy of
the Christians was offended by the fumes of idolatrous sacrifice. [11]

[Footnote 3: See the outlines of the Roman hierarchy in Cicero, (de
Legibus, ii. 7, 8,) Livy, (i. 20,) Dionysius Halicarnassensis, (l. ii.
p. 119-129, edit. Hudson,) Beaufort, (Republique Romaine, tom. i. p.
1-90,) and Moyle, (vol. i. p. 10-55.) The last is the work of an English
whig, as well as of a Roman antiquary.]

[Footnote 4: These mystic, and perhaps imaginary, symbols have given
birth to various fables and conjectures. It seems probable, that the
Palladium was a small statue (three cubits and a half high) of Minerva,
with a lance and distaff; that it was usually enclosed in a seria, or
barrel; and that a similar barrel was placed by its side to disconcert
curiosity, or sacrilege. See Mezeriac (Comment. sur les Epitres d'Ovide,
tom i. p. 60--66) and Lipsius, (tom. iii. p. 610 de Vesta, &c. c 10.)]

[Footnote 5: Cicero frankly (ad Atticum, l. ii. Epist. 5) or indirectly
(ad Familiar. l. xv. Epist. 4) confesses that the Augurate is the
supreme object of his wishes. Pliny is proud to tread in the footsteps
of Cicero, (l. iv. Epist. 8,) and the chain of tradition might be
continued from history and marbles.]

[Footnote 6: Zosimus, l. iv. p. 249, 250. I have suppressed the foolish
pun about Pontifex and Maximus.]

[Footnote 7: This statue was transported from Tarentum to Rome, placed
in