rdingly executed, and no less than eight public temples in
the city were burnt; namely, those of the Sun, Venus, Apollo,
Proserpine, Hecate, the Hierion, or of the priests, Tycheon, or of
Fortune, and Marnion of Marnas, their Jupiter. The Marnion, in which men
had been often sacrificed, burned for many days. After this, the private
houses and courts were all searched; the idols were everywhere burned or
thrown into the common sewers, and all books of magic and superstition
were cast into the flames. Many idolaters desired baptism; but the saint
took a long time to make trial of them, and to prepare them for that
sacrament by daily instructions. On the spot where the temple of Marnas
had stood, was built the church of Eudoxia in the figure of a cross. She
sent for this purpose precious pillars and rich marble from
Constantinople. Of the marble taken out of the Marnion, St. Porphyrius
made steps and a road to the church, that it might be trampled upon by
men, dogs, swine, and other beasts, whence many heathens would never
walk thereon. Before he would suffer the church to be begun, he
proclaimed a fast, and the next morning, being attended by his clergy
and all the Christians in the city, they went in a body to the place
from the church Irene, singing the Venite exultemus Domino, and other
psalms, and answering to every verse Alleluia, Barochas carrying a cross
before them. They all set to work, carrying stones and other materials,
and digging the foundations according to the plan marked out and
directed by Rufinus, a celebrated architect, singing psalms and saying
prayers during their work. It was begun in 403, when thirty high pillars
arrived from Constantinople, two of which, called Carostiae, shone like
emeralds when placed in the church. It was five years a building, and
when finished in 408, the holy bishop performed the consecration of it
on Easter-Day with the greatest pomp and solemnity. His alms to the poor
on that occasion seemed boundless, though they were always exceeding
great. The good bishop spent the remainder of his life in the zealous
discharge of all pastoral duties; and though he lived to see the city
clear for the most part of the remains of paganism, superstition, and
idolatry, he had always enough to suffer from such as continued
obstinate in their errors. Falling sick, he made his pious will, in
which he recommended all his dear flock to God. He died in 420, being
about sixty years of age, on the 26