[Footnote 34: Donatus, Roma Antiqua et Nova, l. iv. c. 4, p. 468. This
consecration was performed by Pope Boniface IV. I am ignorant of the
favorable circumstances which had preserved the Pantheon above two
hundred years after the reign of Theodosius.]

In this wide and various prospect of devastation, the spectator may
distinguish the ruins of the temple of Serapis, at Alexandria. [35]
Serapis does not appear to have been one of the native gods, or
monsters, who sprung from the fruitful soil of superstitious Egypt. [36]
The first of the Ptolemies had been commanded, by a dream, to import
the mysterious stranger from the coast of Pontus, where he had been long
adored by the inhabitants of Sinope; but his attributes and his reign
were so imperfectly understood, that it became a subject of dispute,
whether he represented the bright orb of day, or the gloomy monarch
of the subterraneous regions. [37] The Egyptians, who were obstinately
devoted to the religion of their fathers, refused to admit this foreign
deity within the walls of their cities. [38] But the obsequious priests,
who were seduced by the liberality of the Ptolemies, submitted, without
resistance, to the power of the god of Pontus: an honorable and domestic
genealogy was provided; and this fortunate usurper was introduced
into the throne and bed of Osiris, [39] 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, [40]
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. [41] 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 inundat