rom which issuing forth they seized whatever Christians they
could, compelled them to offer sacrifice, and then killed them on the
altar. The dispute was referred to the emperor, in the meantime the
pagans maintaining themselves in the temple-fortress. In the dead of
night, Olympius, it is said, was awe-stricken by the sound of a clear
voice chanting among the arches and pillars the Christian Alleluia.
Either accepting, like a heathen, the omen, or fearing a secret
assassin, he escaped from the temple and fled for his life. On the
arrival of the rescript of Theodosius the pagans laid down their arms,
little expecting the orders of the emperor. He enjoined that the
building should forthwith be destroyed, intrusting the task to the swift
hands of Theophilus. His work was commenced by the pillage and dispersal
of the library. He entered the sanctuary of the god--that sanctuary
which was the visible sign of the Pantheism of the East, the memento of
the alliance between hoary primeval Egypt and free-thinking Greece, the
relic of the statesmanship of Alexander's captains. In gloomy silence
the image of Serapis confronted its assailants. It is in such a moment
that the value of a religion is tried; the god who cannot defend himself
is a convicted sham. Theophilus, undaunted, commands a veteran to strike
the image with his battle-axe. The helpless statue offers no resistance.
Another blow rolls the head of the idol on the floor. It is said that a
colony of frightened rats ran forth from its interior. The kingcraft,
and priestcraft, and solemn swindle of seven hundred years are exploded
in a shout of laughter; the god is broken to pieces, his members dragged
through the streets. The recesses of the Serapion are explored.
Posterity is edified by discoveries of frauds by which the priests
maintain their power. Among other wonders, a car with four horses is
seen suspended near the ceiling by means of a magnet laid on the roof,
which being removed by the hand of a Christian, the imposture fell to
the pavement. The historian of these events, noticing the physical
impossibility of such things, has wisely said that it is more easy to
invent a fictitious story than to support a practical fraud. But the
gold and silver contained in the temple were carefully collected, the
baser articles being broken in pieces or cast into the fire. Nor did the
holy zeal of Theophilus rest until the structure was demolished to its
very foundations--a work o