ght to his people, instead of the sound faith which had
before been preached to them by Theophilus and others. But still,
although their Christianity was not of the right kind, it had good
effects on these rough people; and so it appeared when Rome was given
over by the conqueror Alaric to his soldiers. Although they destroyed
temples, they paid great respect to churches; and they did not commit
such terrible acts of cruelty and violence as had been usual when cities
were taken by heathen armies.

I need not say more about these sad times; but I must not forget to tell
what was done by a monk, named Telemachus, in the reign of Honorius. In
the year 403, one of the emperor's generals defeated Alaric in the north
of Italy; and the Romans, who in those days were not much used to
victories, made the most of this one, and held great games in honour of
it. Now the public games of the Romans were generally of a cruel kind.
We have seen how, in former days, they used to let wild beasts loose
against the Christian martyrs in their amphitheatres;[20] and another of
their favourite pastimes was to set men who were called gladiators (that
is, _swordsmen_) to fight and kill each other in those same places. The
love of these shows of gladiators was so strong in the people of Rome,
that Constantine had not ventured to do away with them there, although
he would not allow any such things in the new Christian capital which he
built. And the custom of setting men to slaughter one another for the
amusement of the lookers-on had lasted at Rome down to the time of
Honorius.

[20] Page 9.

Telemachus, then, who was an eastern monk, was greatly shocked that
Christians should take pleasure in these savage sports; and when he
heard of the great games which were preparing, he resolved to bear his
witness against them. For this purpose, therefore, he went all the way
to Rome, and got into the amphitheatre, close to the _arena_ (as the
place where the gladiators fought was called); and when the fight had
begun, he leaped over the barrier which separated him from the arena,
rushed in between the gladiators, and tried to part them. The people who
crowded the vast building grew furious at being baulked of their
amusement; they shouted out with rage, and threw stones, or whatever
else they could lay their hands on, at Telemachus, so that he was soon
pelted to death. But when they saw him lying dead, their anger suddenly
cooled, and they were struck