it may have been exaggerated by the poet, or
misrepresented by the historian.--M]

[Footnote 19: Prudentius, after proving that the sense of the senate is
declared by a legal majority, proceeds to say, (609, &c.)--

Adspice quam pleno subsellia nostra Senatu
Decernant infame Jovis pulvinar, et omne
Idolum longe purgata ex urbe fugandum,
Qua vocat egregii sententia Principis, illuc
Libera, cum pedibus, tum corde, frequentia transit.

Zosimus ascribes to the conscript feathers a heathenish courage, which
few of them are found to possess.]

[Footnote 20: Jerom specifies the pontiff Albinus, who was surrounded
with such a believing family of children and grandchildren, as would
have been sufficient to convert even Jupiter himself; an extraordinary
proselyted (tom. i. ad Laetam, p. 54.)]

[Footnote 21:

Exultare Patres videas, pulcherrima mundi
Lumina; Conciliumque senum gestire Catonum
Candidiore toga niveum pietatis amictum
Sumere; et exuvias deponere pontificales.

The fancy of Prudentius is warmed and elevated by victory]

[Footnote 22: Prudentius, after he has described the conversion of the
senate and people, asks, with some truth and confidence,

Et dubitamus adhuc Romam, tibi, Christe, dicatam
In leges transisse tuas?]

[Footnote 23: Jerom exults in the desolation of the Capitol, and the
other temples of Rome, (tom. i. p. 54, tom. ii. p. 95.)]

[Footnote 2311: M. Beugnot is more correct in his general estimate of
the measures enforced by Theodosius for the abolition of Paganism. He
seized (according to Zosimus) the funds bestowed by the public for the
expense of sacrifices. The public sacrifices ceased, not because they
were positively prohibited, but because the public treasury would no
longer bear the expense. The public and the private sacrifices in the
provinces, which were not under the same regulations with those of the
capital, continued to take place. In Rome itself, many pagan ceremonies,
which were without sacrifice, remained in full force. The gods,
therefore, were invoked, the temples were frequented, the pontificates
inscribed, according to ancient usage, among the family titles of honor;
and it cannot be asserted that idolatry was completely destroyed by
Theodosius. See Beugnot, p. 491.--M.]

Chapter XXVIII: Destruction Of Paganism.--Part II.

The filial piety of the emperors themselves engaged them to proceed,
with some cauti