nscrupulous manner in which Cyril made use of
this force, diverting it from its ostensible purpose, is indicated by
the fact that the emperor was obliged eventually to take the
appointments to it out of the archbishop's hands, and reduce the number
to five or six hundred. Some local circumstances had increased the
animosity between the Jews and the Christians, and riots had taken place
between them in the theatre. These were followed by more serious
conflicts in the streets; and the Jews, for the moment having the
advantage over their antagonists, outraged and massacred them. It was,
however, but for a moment; for, the Christians arousing themselves under
the inspirations of Cyril, a mob sacked the synagogues, pillaged the
houses of the Jews, and endeavoured to expel those offenders out of the
city. The prefect Orestes was compelled to interfere to stop the riot;
but the archbishop was not so easily disposed of. His old associates,
the Nitrian monks, now justified the prophetic forecast of Theophilus.
Five hundred of those fanatics swarmed into the town from the desert.
The prefect himself was assaulted, and wounded in the head by a stone
thrown by Ammonius, one of them. The more respectable citizens, alarmed
at the turn things were taking, interfered, and Ammonius, being seized,
suffered death at the hands of the lictor. Cyril, undismayed, caused his
body to be transported to the Caesareum, laid there in state, and buried
with unusual honours. He directed that the name of the fallen zealot
should be changed from Ammonius to Thaumasius, or "the Wonderful," and
the holy martyr received the honours of canonization.

[Sidenote: Hypatia.]

[Sidenote: The city of Alexandria.]

In these troubles there can be no doubt that the pagans sympathized with
the Jews, and therefore drew upon themselves the vengeance of Cyril.
Among the cultivators of Platonic philosophy whom the times had spared,
there was a beautiful young woman, Hypatia, the daughter of Theon the
mathematician, who not only distinguished herself by her expositions of
the Neo-Platonic and Peripatetic doctrines, but was also honoured for
the ability with which she commented on the writings of Apollonius and
other geometers. Every day before her door stood a long train of
chariots; her lecture-room was crowded with the wealth and fashion of
Alexandria. Her aristocratic audiences were more than a rival to those
attending upon the preaching of the archbishop, and perha