the field; condemned to suffer either the pain of wounds, or the
ignominy of flight, and always disposed to prefer the more shameful
alternative. The cavalry of the Goths, the Huns, and the Alani, had
felt the benefits, and adopted the use, of defensive armor; and, as they
excelled in the management of missile weapons, they easily overwhelmed
the naked and trembling legions, whose heads and breasts were exposed,
without defence, to the arrows of the Barbarians. The loss of armies,
the destruction of cities, and the dishonor of the Roman name,
ineffectually solicited the successors of Gratian to restore the helmets
and the cuirasses of the infantry. The enervated soldiers abandoned
their own and the public defence; and their pusillanimous indolence may
be considered as the immediate cause of the downfall of the empire.

Chapter XXVIII: Destruction Of Paganism.--Part I.

Final Destruction Of Paganism.--Introduction Of The
Worship Of Saints, And Relics, Among The Christians.

The ruin of Paganism, in the age of Theodosius, is perhaps the
only example of the total extirpation of any ancient and popular
superstition; and may therefore deserve to be considered as a singular
event in the history of the human mind. The Christians, more especially
the clergy, had impatiently supported the prudent delays of Constantine,
and the equal toleration of the elder Valentinian; nor could they deem
their conquest perfect or secure, as long as their adversaries were
permitted to exist. The influence which Ambrose and his brethren had
acquired over the youth of Gratian, and the piety of Theodosius, was
employed to infuse the maxims of persecution into the breasts of their
Imperial proselytes. Two specious principles of religious jurisprudence
were established, from whence they deduced a direct and rigorous
conclusion, against the subjects of the empire who still adhered to
the ceremonies of their ancestors: _that_ the magistrate is, in some
measure, guilty of the crimes which he neglects to prohibit, or to
punish; and, _that_ the idolatrous worship of fabulous deities, and real
daemons, is the most abominable crime against the supreme majesty of the
Creator. The laws of Moses, and the examples of Jewish history, were
hastily, perhaps erroneously, applied, by the clergy, to the mild and
universal reign of Christianity. The zeal of the emperors was excited to
vindicate their own honor, and that of the Deity: and the temples