31. They ask to have her altar erected in the
Senate House of the city of Rome, that is where the majority who meet
together are Christians! There are altars in all the temples, and
an altar also in the temple of Victories. Since they take
pleasure in numbers they celebrate their sacrifices everywhere.
To claim a sacrifice on this one altar, what is it but to insult the
Faith? Is it to be borne that a heathen should sacrifice and a
Christian be present? Let them imbibe, he says, let them imbibe,
even against their will, the smoke with their eyes, the music with
their ears, the ashes with their throats, the incense with their
nostrils, and let the dust stirred up from our hearths cover their
faces though they detest it. Are not the baths, the colonnades,
the streets filled with images sufficient for them? Shall there
not be a common lot in that common assembly? The faithful portion
of the senate will be bound by the voices of those that call upon the
gods, by the oaths of those that swear by them. If they oppose
they will seem to exhibit their falsehood, if they acquiesce, to
acknowledge what is sacrilege.