The ruined temples he had visited in his gloomy pilgrimages now became
revived by his fancy, as one by one they rose on his toiling memory.
Broken pillars soared from the ground; desecrated idols reoccupied their
vacant pedestals; and he, the exile and the mourner, stood forth once
again the ruler, the teacher, and the priest. The time of restitution
was come; though his understanding supplied him with no distinct
projects, his heart urged him to rush blindly on the execution of his
reform. The moment had arrived--Macrinus should yet be avenged; the
temple should at last be restored.
He descended into the city; he hurried--neither welcomed nor
recognised--through the crowded streets; he entered the house of a man
who had once been his friend and colleague in the days that were past,
and poured forth to him his wild determinations and disjointed plans,
entreating his assistance, and promising him a glorious success. But
his old companion had become, by a timely conversion to Christianity, a
man of property and reputation in Alexandria, and he turned from the
friendless enthusiast with indignation and contempt.
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