ceremonies. Every art and every trade that was in the least concerned in
the framing or adorning of idols was polluted by the stain of idolatry;
a severe sentence, since it devoted to eternal misery the far greater
part of the community, which is employed in the exercise of liberal or
mechanic professions. If we cast our eyes over the numerous remains of
antiquity, we shall perceive, that besides the immediate representations
of the gods, and the holy instruments of their worship, the elegant
forms and agreeable fictions consecrated by the imagination of the
Greeks, were introduced as the richest ornaments of the houses, the
dress, and the furniture of the Pagan. Even the arts of music and
painting, of eloquence and poetry, flowed from the same impure origin.
In the style of the fathers, Apollo and the Muses were the organs of the
infernal spirit; Homer and Virgil were the most eminent of his servants;
and the beautiful mythology which pervades and animates the compositions
of their genius, is destined to celebrate the glory of the daemons.
Even the common language of Greece and Rome abounded with familiar but
impious expressions, which the imprudent Christian might too carelessly
utter, or too patiently hear.

The dangerous temptations which on every side lurked in ambush to
surprise the unguarded believer, assailed him with redoubled violence on
the days of solemn festivals. So artfully were they framed and disposed
throughout the year, that superstition always wore the appearance of
pleasure, and often of virtue. Some of the most sacred festivals in the
Roman ritual were destined to salute the new calends of January with
vows of public and private felicity; to indulge the pious remembrance of
the dead and living; to ascertain the inviolable bounds of property;
to hail, on the return of spring, the genial powers of fecundity; to
perpetuate the two memorable areas of Rome, the foundation of the city
and that of the republic, and to restore, during the humane license
of the Saturnalia, the primitive equality of mankind. Some idea may
be conceived of the abhorrence of the Christians for such impious
ceremonies, by the scrupulous delicacy which they displayed on a much
less alarming occasion. On days of general festivity, it was the custom
of the ancients to adorn their doors with lamps and with branches
of laurel, and to crown their heads with a garland of flowers. This
innocent and elegant practice might perhaps have b