2. It is a notable fact that astrology scarcely penetrated at all into the
rural districts (_supra_, ch. VII, n. 9), where the ancient devotions
maintained themselves; see the _Vita S. Eligii_, Migne, _P. L._, XL, col.
1172 f.--In the same way the cult of the menhirs in Gaul persisted in the
Middle Ages; see d'Arbois de Jubainville, _Comptes Rendus Acad. Inscr._,
1906, pp. 146 ff.; S. Reinach, _Mythes, cultes_, III, 1908, pp. 365 ff.
3. Aug., _Civ. Dei_, IV, 21 _et passim_. Arnobius and Lactantius had
previously developed this theme.
4. On the use made of mythology during the fourth century, cf. Burckhardt,
_Zeit Contantins_, 2d ed., 1880, pp. 145-147; Boissier, _La fin du
paganisme_, II, pp. 276 ff. and _passim_. {282}
5. It is well known that the poems of Prudentius (348-410), especially the
Peristephanon, contain numerous attacks on paganism and the pagans.
6. Cf. _La polémique de l'Ambrosiaster contre les païens_ (_Rev. hist. et
litt. relig._, VIII, 1903, pp. 418 ff.). On the personality of the author
(probably the converted Jew Isaac), cf. Souter, _A Study of Ambrosiaster_,
Cambridge, 1905 (_Texts and Studies_, VII) and his edition of the
_Quaestiones_, (Vienna, 1908), intr. p. xxiv.
7. The identity of Firmicus Maternus, the author of _De errore profanarum
religionum_, and that of the writer of the eight books _Matheseos_ appears
to have been definitely established.
8. Maximus was Bishop of Turin about 458-465 A. D. We possess as yet only a
very defective edition of the treatises _Contra Paganos_ and _Contra
Judaeos_ (Migne, _Patr. lat._, LVII, col. 781 ff.).
9. Particularly the _Carmen adversus paganos_ written after Eugene's
attempt at restoration in 394 A. D. (Riese, _Anthol. lat._, I, 20) and the
_Carmen ad senatorem ad idolorum servitutem conversum_, attributed to St.
Cyprian (Hartel. ed., III, p. 302), which is probably contemporaneous with
the former.
10. On this point see the judicious reflections of Paul Allard, _Julien
l'Apostat_, I, 1900, p. 35.
11. Hera was the goddess of the air after the time of the Stoics ([Greek:
Hêra] = [Greek: aêr]).
12. Cf. _supra_, pp. 51, 75, 99, 120, 148. Besides the Oriental gods the
only ones to retain their authority were those of the Grecian mysteries,
Bacchus and Hecate, and even these were transformed by their neighbors.
13. The wife of Praetextatus, after praising his career and talents in his
epitaph, adds: "Sed ista parva: tu pius mystes sacris | teletis reperta
mentis arcano premis, | divumque numen multiplex doctus colis" (_CIL_, 1779
= Dessau, _Inscr. sel._, 1259).
14. Pseudo-August. [Ambrosiaster], _Quaest. Vet. et Nov. Test._, (p. 139,
9-11, Souter ed.): "Paganos elementis esse {283} subiectos nulli dubium
est.... Paganos elementa colere omnibus cognitum est"; cf. 103 (p. 304, 4
Souter ed.): "Solent (pagani) ad elementa confugere dicentes haec se colere
quibus gubernaculis regitur vita humana" (cf. _Rev. hist. lit. rel._, VIII,
1903, p. 426, n. 3).--Maximus of Turin (Migne, _P. L._, LVII, 783): "Dicunt
pagani: nos solem, lunam et stellas et universa elementa colimus et
veneramur." Cf. _Mon myst. Mithra_, I, p. 103, n. 4, p. 108.
15. Firmicus Maternus, _Mathes._, VII prooem: "(Deus) qui ad fabricationem
omnium elementorum diversitate composita ex contrariis et repugnantibus
cuncta perfecit."
16. _Elementum_ is the translation of [Greek: stoicheion], which has had
the same meaning in Greek at least ever since the first century (see Diels,
_Elementum_, 1899, pp. 44 ff., and the Septuagint, Sap. Sal., 7, 18; 19,
17.) Pfister, "_Die [Greek: stoicheia tou kosmou] in den Briefen des
Paulus_," _Philologus_, LXIX, 1910, p. 410.--In the fourth century this
meaning was generally accepted: Macrobius, _Somn. Scipionis_, I, 12, § 16:
"Caeli dico et siderum, aliorumque elementorum"; cf. I, 11, § 7 ff.
Martianus Capella, II, 209; Ambrosiaster, _loc. cit._; Maximus of Turin,
_loc. cit._; Lactantius, II, 13, 2: "Elementa mundi, caelum, solem, terram,
mare."--Cf. Diels, _op. cit._, pp. 78 ff.
17. Cf. _Rev. hist. litt. rel._, VIII, 1903, pp. 429 ff.--Until the end of
the fifth century higher education in the Orient remained in the hands of
the pagans. The life of Severus of Antioch, by Zachariah the Scholastic,
preserved in a Syrian translation [_supra_, ch. VII, n. 81], is
particularly instructive in this regard. The Christians, who were opposed
to paganism and astrology, consequently manifested an aversion to the
profane sciences in general, and in that way they became responsible to a
serious extent for the gradual extinction of the knowledge of the past (cf.
_Rev. hist. litt. rel._, _ibid._, p. 431; Royer, _L'enseignement d'Ausone à
Alcuin_, 1906, p. 130 ff.). But it must be said in their behalf that before
them Greek philosophy had taught the vanity of every science that did not
have the moral culture of the ego for its purpose, see Geffcken, _Aus der
Werdezeit des Christentums_, p. 7, p. 111.