How,
then, with any rational prospect of success, could Decius attempt the
revival of an office depending so entirely on moral supports, in an age
when all those supports were withdrawn? The prevailing spirit of manners
was hardly fitted to sustain even a toleration of such an office; and as
to the traditionary veneration for the sacred character, from long disuse
of its practical functions, that probably was altogether extinct. If these
considerations are plain and intelligible even to us, by the men of that
day they must have been felt with a degree of force that could leave no
room for doubt or speculation on the matter. How was it, then, that the
emperor only should have been blind to such general light?
In the absence of all other, even plausible, solutions of this difficulty,
we shall state our own theory of the matter. Decius, as is evident from
his fierce persecution of the Christians, was not disposed to treat
Christianity with indifference, under any form which it might assume, or
however masked. Yet there were quarters in which it lurked not liable to
the ordinary modes of attack.
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