Beholding himself thus secure of the distinction for which he had
laboured, the aspiring priest found leisure, at length, to look forth
upon the affairs of the passing day. From every side desolation
darkened the prospect that he beheld. Already, throughout many
provinces of the Empire, the temples of the gods had been overthrown by
the destructive zeal of the triumphant Christians. Already hosts of the
terrified people, fearing that the fate of their idols might ultimately
be their own, finding themselves deserted by their disbanded priests,
and surrounded by the implacable enemies of the ancient faith, had
renounced their worship for the sake of saving their lives and securing
their property. On the wide field of Pagan ruin there now rose but one
structure entirely unimpaired. The Temple of Serapis still reared its
head--unshaken, unbending, unpolluted. Here the sacrifice still
prospered and the people still bowed in worship. Before this monument of
the religious glories of ages, even the rising power of Christian
supremacy quailed in dismay.
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