The Temples Destroyed Throughout the Empire

Now the deeply faithful emperor turned his energies to resisting paganism, and he published edicts ordering the shrines of the idols to be destroyed. Constantine the Great, most worthy of all praise, was indeed the first to adorn his empire with true religion. When he saw the world still given over to folly, he issued a general ban on offering sacrifices to the idols. He had not, however, destroyed the temples, though he ordered them to be kept shut. His sons followed in their father’s footsteps. Julian restored the false faith and rekindled the flame of the ancient fraud. When Jovian came to the throne, he once more forbade the worship of idols, and Valentinian the Great governed Europe with the same laws. Valens, however, let everyone else worship however they wished and honor whatever they each adored. Only against the champions of the apostolic decrees did he keep on waging war. So throughout his reign the altar fire was lit, drink offerings and sacrifices were offered to idols, and public feasts were held in the forum. Those initiated into the rites of Dionysus ran about in goatskins, tearing dogs apart in their Bacchic frenzy, and in general behaved in a way that showed how wicked their master was. When the deeply faithful Theodosius found all these evils, he pulled them up by the roots and buried them in oblivion. [a]