eath of Constantius, was vigorously resumed,
and finally accomplished, by the zeal of Theodosius. Whilst that warlike
prince yet struggled with the Goths, not for the glory, but for the
safety, of the republic, he ventured to offend a considerable party of
his subjects, by some acts which might perhaps secure the protection of
Heaven, but which must seem rash and unseasonable in the eye of human
prudence. The success of his first experiments against the Pagans
encouraged the pious emperor to reiterate and enforce his edicts of
proscription: the same laws which had been originally published in the
provinces of the East, were applied, after the defeat of Maximus, to the
whole extent of the Western empire; and every victory of the orthodox
Theodosius contributed to the triumph of the Christian and Catholic
faith. He attacked superstition in her most vital part, by prohibiting
the use of sacrifices, which he declared to be criminal as well as
infamous; and if the terms of his edicts more strictly condemned the
impious curiosity which examined the entrails of the victim, every
subsequent explanation tended to involve in the same guilt the general
practice of _immolation_, which essentially constituted the religion
of the Pagans. As the temples had been erected for the purpose of
sacrifice, it was the duty of a benevolent prince to remove from his
subjects the dangerous temptation of offending against the laws which he
had enacted. A special commission was granted to Cynegius, the Praetorian
praefect of the East, and afterwards to the counts Jovius and Gaudentius,
two officers of distinguished rank in the West; by which they were
directed to shut the temples, to seize or destroy the instruments of
idolatry, to abolish the privileges of the priests, and to confiscate
the consecrated property for the benefit of the emperor, of the church,
or of the army. Here the desolation might have stopped: and the naked
edifices, which were no longer employed in the service of idolatry,
might have been protected from the destructive rage of fanaticism.
Many of those temples were the most splendid and beautiful monuments
of Grecian architecture; and the emperor himself was interested not to
deface the splendor of his own cities, or to diminish the value of his
own possessions. Those stately edifices might be suffered to remain, as
so many lasting trophies of the victory of Christ. In the decline of the
arts they might be usefully converted int