But, although these secret horrors, which degraded the noblest family of the empire, were kept as still as private crimes, and men dared scarcely speak of them except in terrified whispers, the knowledge thereof spread abroad, until enough was known to fill the Christian world with detestation of the emperor; and he whose governing passion had been to rule mankind, and to command their respect and reverence at any cost, found himself to be held by the popular verdict as an outcast from virtue and decency. His iron soul was proof against every shaft except this, but the wound it inflicted upon his boundless self-love was bitter and incurable. Realizing that he had outraged the moral sentiment of Christendom by these atrocious crimes, the emperor determined to overthrow what he called Christianity, and re-establish the pagan religion, charging his crimes to the blinding influences of the superstition and strong magic of the Church, and thereby win for himself the love and confidence of that large portion of his subjects who still adhered to the ancient idolatries. In pursuance of this design, Constantine applied to the flamens at Rome for purification from his domestic crimes, as the first step toward the rehabilitation of his moral nakedness and deformity; but the priests, who knew his crafty, unscrupulous, cruel, and atheistic nature, and who already had in training the young and gifted Julian, seized this opportunity to gratify their theological hate, by boldly declaring that the ancient rituals of paganism did not know any form of expiation for such fearful and unnecessary crimes as his. Then Constantine turned away forever from heathenism, and sent for Hosius, Bishop of Cordova, who assured him that "in Christianity all sin, however great, may find forgiveness: for He saveth unto the uttermost all that come unto God by him." "And what method must I use to secure this forgiveness?" asked the emperor. "Only true repentance toward God, and humble, sincere faith in Jesus Christ," said the bishop. Then, with a singular smile, Constantine looked at the bishop and answered: "Bishop, thou dost forget that thou art not now talking to a woman taken in adultery, nor to a thief upon the cross. Farewell!" And with a wave of the hand the emperor contemptuously dismissed him.