anus, Carthaginensis, artis oratoriae professione clarus,
magnam sibi gloriam, opes, honores acquisivit, epularibus caenis et
largis dapibus assuetus, pretiosa veste conspicuus, auro atque purpura
fulgens, fascibus oblectatus et honoribus, stipatus clientium cuneis,
frequentiore comitatu officii agminis honestatus, ut ipse de se loquitur
in Epistola ad Donatum. See De Cave, Hist. Liter. b. i. p. 87.--G.
Cave has rather embellished Cyprian's language.--M.]

In the course of this important, though perhaps tedious inquiry, I have
attempted to display the secondary causes which so efficaciously
assisted the truth of the Christian religion. If among these causes we
have discovered any artificial ornaments, any accidental circumstances,
or any mixture of error and passion, it cannot appear surprising that
mankind should be the most sensibly affected by such motives as were
suited to their imperfect nature. It was by the aid of these causes,
exclusive zeal, the immediate expectation of another world, the claim of
miracles, the practice of rigid virtue, and the constitution of the
primitive church, that Christianity spread itself with so much success
in the Roman empire. To the first of these the Christians were indebted
for their invincible valor, which disdained to capitulate with the enemy
whom they were resolved to vanquish. The three succeeding causes
supplied their valor with the most formidable arms. The last of these
causes united their courage, directed their arms, and gave their efforts
that irresistible weight, which even a small band of well-trained and
intrepid volunteers has so often possessed over an undisciplined
multitude, ignorant of the subject, and careless of the event of the
war. In the various religions of Polytheism, some wandering fanatics of
Egypt and Syria, who addressed themselves to the credulous superstition
of the populace, were perhaps the only order of priests [150] that
derived their whole support and credit from their sacerdotal profession,
and were very deeply affected by a personal concern for the safety or
prosperity of their tutelar deities. The ministers of Polytheism, both
in Rome and in the provinces, were, for the most part, men of a noble
birth, and of an affluent fortune, who received, as an honorable
distinction, the care of a celebrated temple, or of a public sacrifice,
exhibited, very frequently at their own expense, the sacred games, [151]
and with cold indifference performed the