55. The great Church pillaged.
After this, that they might fully execute the orders they had received (for this was what they earnestly desired, and what the Count and the Receiver-General instructed them to do), they seized upon the seats, the throne, and P. 291 the table which was of wood 1, and the curtains 2 of the Church, and whatever else they were able, and carrying them out burnt them before the doors in the great street, and cast frankincense upon the flame. Alas! who will not weep to hear of these things, and, it may be, close his ears, that he may not have to endure the recital, esteeming it hurtful merely to listen to the account of such enormities? Moreover they sang the praises of their idols, and said, ‘Constantius hath become a heathen, and the Arians have acknowledged our customs;’ for indeed they scruple not even to pretend heathenism, if only their heresy may be established. They even were ready to sacrifice a heifer which drew the water for the gardens in the Cæsareum 3; and would have sacrificed it, had it not been a female 4; for they said that it was unlawful for such to be offered among them.
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Vid. Fleury’sChurch History,xxii. 7. p. 129, note k. [Oxf. tr. 1843.] By specifying the material, Athan. implies that altars were sometimes not of wood. [cf. D.C.A. 61sq.] ↩
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Curtains were at the entrance, and before the chancel. vid. Bingh.Antiqu.viii. 6. §8. Hofman.Lex. in voc. velum.also Chrysost.Hom.iii. in Eph. ↩
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The royal quarter in Alexandria, vid.Apol. Const.15. In other Palatia an aqueduct was necessary, e.g. vid. Cod.Theod.xv. 2. even at Daphne, though it abounded in springs, ibid. 1, 2. ↩
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Vid.Herodot.ii. 41. who says that cows and heifers were sacred to Isis. vid. Jablonski PantheonÆg.i. 1. §15. who says that Isis was worshipped in the shape of a cow, and therefore the cows received divine honours. Yet bulls were sacrificed to Apis, ibid. iv. 2. §9. vid. also Schweighæuserin loc.Herod. ↩
