e god of Pontus: an honorable and domestic
genealogy was provided; and this fortunate usurper was introduced into
the throne and bed of Osiris, the husband of Isis, and the celestial
monarch of Egypt. Alexandria, which claimed his peculiar protection,
gloried in the name of the city of Serapis. His temple, which rivalled
the pride and magnificence of the Capitol, was erected on the spacious
summit of an artificial mount, raised one hundred steps above the level
of the adjacent parts of the city; and the interior cavity was strongly
supported by arches, and distributed into vaults and subterraneous
apartments. The consecrated buildings were surrounded by a quadrangular
portico; the stately halls, and exquisite statues, displayed the triumph
of the arts; and the treasures of ancient learning were preserved in the
famous Alexandrian library, which had arisen with new splendor from
its ashes. After the edicts of Theodosius had severely prohibited the
sacrifices of the Pagans, they were still tolerated in the city and
temple of Serapis; and this singular indulgence was imprudently ascribed
to the superstitious terrors of the Christians themselves; as if they
had feared to abolish those ancient rites, which could alone secure the
inundations of the Nile, the harvests of Egypt, and the subsistence of
Constantinople.

At that time the archiepiscopal throne of Alexandria was filled by
Theophilus, the perpetual enemy of peace and virtue; a bold, bad man,
whose hands were alternately polluted with gold and with blood. His
pious indignation was excited by the honors of Serapis; and the insults
which he offered to an ancient temple of Bacchus, convinced the Pagans
that he meditated a more important and dangerous enterprise. In the
tumultuous capital of Egypt, the slightest provocation was sufficient to
inflame a civil war. The votaries of Serapis, whose strength and numbers
were much inferior to those of their antagonists, rose in arms at the
instigation of the philosopher Olympius, who exhorted them to die in
the defence of the altars of the gods. These Pagan fanatics fortified
themselves in the temple, or rather fortress, of Serapis; repelled the
besiegers by daring sallies, and a resolute defence; and, by the inhuman
cruelties which they exercised on their Christian prisoners, obtained
the last consolation of despair. The efforts of the prudent magistrate
were usefully exerted for the establishment of a truce, till the answer
of