x.leg.22, A.D.423.

The younger Theodosius was afterwards satisfied, that his judgment had been somewhat premature.

Note: The statement of Gibbon is much too strongly worded.
M.Beugnot has traced the vestiges of Paganism in the West, after this period, in monuments and inscriptions with curious industry.

Compare likewise note, p.

112, on the more tardy progress of Christianity in the rural districts .-- M.] The ruin of the Pagan religion is described by the sophists as a dreadful and amazing prodigy, which covered the earth with darkness, and restored the ancient dominion of chaos and of night.