n
were spoken to the people from the front of the Royal Gates. The
pavement was of rich marble, and the ceiling, which was generally
vaulted, was inlaid with coloured stones, making pictures in what is
called Mosaic, because thus the stones were set by Moses in the High
Priest's vestment. The clergy wore robes like those of the priests, and
generally had flowing hair and beards, though in front the hair was cut
in a circlet, in memory of our Lord's crown of thorns.

Now that everyone had become Christian, and bad or worldly people were
not afraid to belong to the Church for fear of persecution, there was
often sin and evil among them. Many who grieved at this shut themselves
up from the world in the most lonely places they could find--little
islands, deep woods, mountain tops, or rocks, and the like. When they
lived alone they were called hermits, when there were many together they
were called monks, and the women who thus lived were nuns. Many such
monasteries there were in Greece, especially one upon Mount Athos--that
peninsula that Xerxes tried to cut off--and most of these have continued
even to our own time.

The emperor Theodosius, who reigned at the end of this fourth century
over both East and West, was a very good and great man, and during his
reign the Greek lands were kept from the marauders. In his time,
however, the Thessalonians brought a most dreadful punishment on
themselves. For want of public business, or any real and noble interest,
the people had come to care for nothing but games and races, and they
loved these sports with a sort of passionate fury. There was a
chariot-driver at Thessalonica who was a wicked man, but whose racing was
so much admired that when, for some crime, Botheric, the governor, put
him in prison and hindered his performance, the mob rose, when they
missed him in the amphitheatre, and threw stones at the governor and his
officers, so that several were killed, and Botheric among them. The news
was taken to the emperor, and in great wrath he ordered that the
Thessalonians should be punished. The order was given to a cruel, savage
man, who hurried off at once, lest the emperor should relent and stop
him. He invited the Thessalonians to meet him in the amphitheatre, and
when they were there, expecting to hear some message, he had all the
doors closed, and sent in his soldiers, who killed them all, innocent as
well as guilty, even strangers who had only just come to the p