[77] Rom. xi. 33.
[78] Ps. xlii. 10.
[79] Ps. xcvi. 4, 5.
[80] Originally the spectators had to stand, and now (according to Livy, Ep. xlviii.) the old custom was restored.
[81] Ps. xciv. 4.
[82] 2 Tim. iii. 7.
[83] "Pluvia defit, causa Christiani." Similar accusations and similar replies may be seen in the celebrated passage of Tertullian's Apol. c. 40, and in the eloquent exordium of Arnobius, C. Gentes.
[84] Augustine is supposed to refer to Symmachus, who similarly accused the Christians in his address to the Emperor Valentinianus in the year 384. At Augustine's request, Paulus Orosius wrote his history in confutation of Symmachus' charges.
[85] Tertullian (Apol. c. 24) mentions Cœlestis as specially worshipped in Africa. Augustine mentions her again in the 26th chapter of this book, and in other parts of his works.
[86] Berecynthia is one of the many names of Rhea or Cybele. Livy (xxix. 11) relates that the image of Cybele was brought to Rome the day before the ides of April, which was accordingly dedicated as her feast-day. The image, it seems, had to be washed in the stream Almon, a tributary of the Tiber, before being placed in the temple of Victory; and each year, as the festival returned, the washing was repeated with much pomp at the same spot. Hence Lucan's line (i. 600), 'Et lotam parvo revocant Almone Cybelen,' and the elegant verses of Ovid, Fast. iv. 337 et seq.