gods. God is
but one.'

Aurelian, pale, as it seemed to me; with superstitious fear, again
strove to shake it off, giving it artfully and with violence the
appearance of offended dignity. His voice was a shriek rather than a
human utterance, as he cried out,

'This is but a Christian device; search the temple till the accursed
Nazarene be found, and hew him piecemeal--' More he would have said,
but, at the instant, a bolt of lightning shot from the heavens, and,
lighting upon a large sycamore which shaded a part of the temple court,
clove it in twain. The swollen cloud, at the same moment, burst, and a
deluge of rain poured upon the city, the temple, the gazing multitude,
and the just kindled altars. The sacred fires went out in hissing and
darkness; a tempest of wind whirled the limbs of the slaughtered victims
into the air, and abroad over the neighboring streets. All was
confusion, uproar, terror, and dismay. The crowds sought safety in the
houses of the nearest inhabitants, in the porches, and in the palaces.
Aurelian and the senators and those nearest him, fled to the interior of
the temple. The heavens blazed with the quick flashing of the lightning,
and the temple itself seemed to rock beneath the voice of the thunder. I
never knew in Rome so terrific a tempest. The stoutest trembled, for
life hung by a thread. Great numbers, it has now been found, in every
part of the capital, fell a prey to the fiery bolts. The capital itself
was struck, and the brass statue of Vespasian in the forum thrown down
and partly melted. The Tiber in a few hours overran its banks, and laid
much of the city on its borders under water.

But, ere long, the storm was over. The retreating clouds, but still
sullenly muttering in the distance as they rolled away, were again
lighted up by the sun, who again shone forth in his splendor. The
scattered limbs of the victims were collected and again laid upon the
altar. Dry wood being brought, the flames quickly shot upward and
consumed to the last joint and bone the sacred offerings. Fronto once
more stood before the altar, and now uninterrupted performed the last
office of the ceremony. Then, around the tables spread within the temple
to the honor of the gods, feasting upon the luxuries contributed by
every quarter of the earth, and filling high with wine, the adverse
omens of the day were by most forgotten. But not by Aurelian. No smile
was seen to light up his dark countenance. The jests of