maintained. Small entertainments were still frequently given, but the
singers and actors had fallen off, and in that fine and spacious theatre
nothing was ever done at all worthy of its past glories. This Karnis
deeply regretted, and with his wonted energy and vigor he soon managed to
win the interest of those of his fellow-citizens who remained faithful to
the old gods and had still some feeling for the music and poetry of the
ancient Greeks, in his plans for their revival.

His purpose was to make the theatre the centre of a reaction against the
influence of the Christians, by vieing with the Church in its efforts to
win back the renegade heathen and confirming the faithful in their
adhesion. The Greeks of Tauromenium should be reminded from the stage-
boards of the might of the old gods and the glories of their past. To
this end it was needful to restore the ruined theatre, and Karnis, after
advancing the greater part of the money required, was entrusted with the
management. He devoted himself zealously to the task, and soon was so
successful that the plays at Tauromenium, and the musical performances in
its Odeum, attracted the citizens in crowds, and were talked of far and
wide. Such success was of course only purchased at a heavy cost, and in
spite of Herse's warnings, Karnis would never hesitate when the object in
view was the preservation or advancement of his great work.

Thus passed twenty years; then there came a day when his fine fortune
was exhausted, and a time when the Christian congregation strained every
nerve to deal a death-blow to the abomination of desolation in their
midst. Again and again, and with increasing frequency, there were
sanguinary riots between the Christians who forced their way into the
theatre and the heathen audience, till at last a decree of the Emperor
Theodosius prohibited the performance of heathen plays or music.