Ten days after, arrived Cynegius, having with him a duke, or general, with a strong guard of soldiers, and the civil magistrates of the country. He assembled the citizens, and read to them the emperor's edict, commanding their idols and temples to be destroyed. This was accordingly done, and no less than eight public temples in the city were burnt; viz., those of the Sun, Venus, Apollo, Proserpine, Hecate, the Hierion, the temple of fortune, and that of Marnas. The Marnion, in which men had been often sacrificed, burned for many days. After this, the private houses and courts were all searched; the idols were every where burned or thrown into the common sewers, and all books of magic and superstition were cast into the flames. Many idolators desired baptism; but the saint gave them a long probation, and prepared them for that sacrament by daily instructions. On the spot where the temple of Marnas had stood, was built the church of Eudoxia, in the figure of a cross. The empress sent for this purpose, precious pillars and rich marble from Constantinople. Of the marble taken out of the Marnion, S. Porphyrius made steps and a road to the church, that it might be trampled upon. Before he would suffer the church to be begun, he proclaimed a fast, and the next morning, attended by his clergy and all the Christians in the city, they went in a body to the place, from the church Irene, singing the _Venite exultemus Domino_, and other psalms, and answering to every verse, Allelulia; the procession being led by a cross. They all set to work, carrying stones and other materials, and digging the foundations, according to the plan marked out and directed by Rufinus, a celebrated architect, singing psalms and saying prayers during their work. The church was begun in 403, when thirty high pillars arrived from Constantinople, two of which, called Carostiæ, shone like emeralds, when placed in the church. It took five years to build, and, when finished in 408, the bishop performed the consecration of it on Easter-day, with the greatest pomp and solemnity. His alms to the poor on that occasion seemed boundless. The good bishop spent the remainder of his life in zealously instructing his flock in the doctrine of God, and in all virtuous living.