The antiquity of our former worship is still venerable in my
eyes. The prayers of the priests of our new religion have wrought no
miraculous interference in our behalf: let us therefore imitate the
example of the inhabitants of Neveia, and by the force of our
invocations hurl the thunders of Jupiter on the barbarian camp! Let us
trust for deliverance to the potent interposition of the gods whom our
fathers worshipped--those gods who now, perhaps, avenge themselves for
our desertion of their temples by our present calamities. I go without
delay to propose to the Bishop Innocentius and to the Senate, the public
performance of solemn ceremonies of sacrifice at the Capitol! I leave
you in the joyful assurance that the gods, appeased by our returning
fidelity to our altars, will not refuse the supernatural protection
which they accorded to the people of a provincial town to the citizens
of Rome!'
No sounds either of applause or disapprobation followed the Prefect's
notable proposal for delivering the city from the besiegers by the
public apostasy of the besieged.
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