nveyed in a whisper.]

The name of Cyril of Alexandria is famous in controversial story,
and the title of saint is a mark that his opinions and his party have
finally prevailed. In the house of his uncle, the archbishop Theophilus,
he imbibed the orthodox lessons of zeal and dominion, and five years of
his youth were profitably spent in the adjacent monasteries of
Nitria. Under the tuition of the abbot Serapion, he applied himself
to ecclesiastical studies, with such indefatigable ardor, that in the
course of one sleepless night, he has perused the four Gospels, the
Catholic Epistles, and the Epistle to the Romans. Origen he detested;
but the writings of Clemens and Dionysius, of Athanasius and Basil, were
continually in his hands: by the theory and practice of dispute, his
faith was confirmed and his wit was sharpened; he extended round his
cell the cobwebs of scholastic theology, and meditated the works of
allegory and metaphysics, whose remains, in seven verbose folios, now
peaceably slumber by the side of their rivals. [20] Cyril prayed and
fasted in the desert, but his thoughts (it is the reproach of a friend)
[21] were still fixed on the world; and the call of Theophilus, who
summoned him to the tumult of cities and synods, was too readily obeyed
by the aspiring hermit. With the approbation of his uncle, he assumed
the office, and acquired the fame, of a popular preacher. His comely
person adorned the pulpit; the harmony of his voice resounded in the
cathedral; his friends were stationed to lead or second the applause of
the congregation; [22] and the hasty notes of the scribes preserved
his discourses, which in their effect, though not in their composition,
might be compared with those of the Athenian orators. The death of
Theophilus expanded and realized the hopes of his nephew. The clergy
of Alexandria was divided; the soldiers and their general supported the
claims of the archdeacon; but a resistless multitude, with voices and
with hands, asserted the cause of their favorite; and after a period of
thirty-nine years, Cyril was seated on the throne of Athanasius. [23]

[Footnote 20: La Croze (Hist. du Christianisme des Indes, tom. i. p. 24)
avows his contempt for the genius and writings of Cyril. De tous les on
vrages des anciens, il y en a peu qu'on lise avec moins d'utilite: and
Dupin, (Bibliotheque Ecclesiastique, tom. iv. p. 42--52,) in words of
respect, teaches us to despise them.]

[Footnote 21: Of Isido