altars. But such obstinate zeal
was not congenial to the loose and careless temper of Polytheism. The
violent and repeated strokes of the orthodox princes were broken by the
soft and yielding substance against which they were directed; and
the ready obedience of the Pagans protected them from the pains and
penalties of the Theodosian Code. [57] Instead of asserting, that
the authority of the gods was superior to that of the emperor, they
desisted, with a plaintive murmur, from the use of those sacred rites
which their sovereign had condemned. If they were sometimes tempted by
a sally of passion, or by the hopes of concealment, to indulge their
favorite superstition, their humble repentance disarmed the severity
of the Christian magistrate, and they seldom refused to atone for their
rashness, by submitting, with some secret reluctance, to the yoke of the
Gospel. The churches were filled with the increasing multitude of these
unworthy proselytes, who had conformed, from temporal motives, to the
reigning religion; and whilst they devoutly imitated the postures, and
recited the prayers, of the faithful, they satisfied their conscience by
the silent and sincere invocation of the gods of antiquity. [58] If the
Pagans wanted patience to suffer they wanted spirit to resist; and
the scattered myriads, who deplored the ruin of the temples, yielded,
without a contest, to the fortune of their adversaries. The disorderly
opposition [59] of the peasants of Syria, and the populace of
Alexandria, to the rage of private fanaticism, was silenced by the
name and authority of the emperor. The Pagans of the West, without
contributing to the elevation of Eugenius, disgraced, by their
partial attachment, the cause and character of the usurper. The clergy
vehemently exclaimed, that he aggravated the crime of rebellion by the
guilt of apostasy; that, by his permission, the altar of victory was
again restored; and that the idolatrous symbols of Jupiter and Hercules
were displayed in the field, against the invincible standard of the
cross. But the vain hopes of the Pagans were soon annihilated by the
defeat of Eugenius; and they were left exposed to the resentment of the
conqueror, who labored to deserve the favor of Heaven by the extirpation
of idolatry. [60]

[Footnote 57: Orosius, l. vii. c. 28, p. 537. Augustin (Enarrat. in
Psalm cxl apud Lardner, Heathen Testimonies, vol. iv. p. 458) insults
their cowardice. "Quis eorum comprehensus est in