OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 201 and silent steps, and eluded, by their flight or obscurity, the resentment of their enemies. Theophilus proceeded to demolish the temple of Serapis, without any other difficulties than those which he found in the weight and solidity of the materials ; but these obstacles proved so insuperable that he was obliged to leave the foundations and to content himself with reducing the edifice itself to a heap of rubbish ; a part of which was soon afterwards cleared away, to make room for a church erected in honour of the Christian martyrs. The valuable library of Alex- andria was pillaged or destroyed ; and, near twenty years afterwards, the appearance of the empty shelves excited the regret and indignation of every spectator whose mind was not totally darkened by religious prejudice .^^ The compositions of ancient genius, so many of which have irretrievably perished, might surely have been excepted from the wreck of idolatry, for the amusement and instruction of succeeding ages ; and either the zeal or the avarice of the archbishop ^^ might have been satiated with the rich spoils which were the reward of his victory. While the images and vases of gold and silver were carefully melted, and those of a less valuable metal were con- temptuously broken and cast into the streets, Theophilus laboured to expose the frauds and vices of the ministers of the idols ; their dexterity in the management of the loadstone ; their secret methods of introducing an human actor into a hollow statue ; and their scandalous abuse of the confidence of devout husbands and unsuspecting females.^^ Charges like these may seem to deserve some degree of credit, as they are not repugnant to the crafty and interested spirit of superstition. But the same spirit is equally prone to the base practice of insulting and calumniating a fallen enemy ; and our belief is 53[Unde quamlibet hodieque in templis extent, quae et] nos vidimus, armaria librorum, quibus direptis exinanita ea a nostris hominibus nostris temporibus niemorant [memorent]. Orosius, 1. vi. c. 15, p. 421, edit. Havercamp [p. 216, ed. Zangemeister]. Though a bigot, and a controversial writer, Orosius seems to blush. [See Appendix 11.] ^ Eunapius, in the lives of Antonius [lejo; Antoninus] and /Edesius, execrates the sacrilegious rapine of Theophilus. Tillemont (Mdm. Eccl^s. torn. xiii. p. 453) quotes an epistle of Isidore of Pelusiuni, which reproaches the primate with the idolatrous worship of gold, the auri sacra fames. 55 Rufinus names the priest of Saturn, w'ho, in the character of the god, familiarly conversed with many pious ladies of quality ; till he betrayed himself, in a moment of transport, when he could not disguise the tone of his voice. The authentic and impartial narrative of ^schines (see Bayle, Dictionnaire Critique, Scamandke) and the adventure of Mundus (Joseph. Antiquitat. Judaic. 1. xviii. c. 3, p. 877, edit. Havercamp) may prove that such amorous frauds have been practised with success.
