78. The _druj Nasu_ of the Mazdeans; cf. Darmesteter, _Zend-Avesta_, II, p. xi and 146 ff. 79. Cf. Lucan, _Phars._, VI, 520 ff. 80. Mommsen, _Strafrecht_, pp. 639 ff. There is no doubt that the legislation of Augustus was directed against magic, cf. Dion, LII, 34, 3.--Manilius (II, 108) opposes to astrology the {281} _artes quorum haud permissa facultas_. Cf. also Suet., _Aug._, 31. 81. Zachariah the Scholastic, _Vie de Severe d'Antioche_, Kugener ed. (_Patrol. orientalis_, II), 1903, pp. 57 ff. 82. Magic at Rome in the fifth century: Wuensch, _Sethianische Verfluchungstafeln aus Rom_, Leipsic, 1898 (magical leads dated from 390 to 420); _Revue hist. litt. relig._, VIII, 1903, p. 435, and Burchardt, _Die Zeit Constantin's_, 2d ed., 1880, pp. 236 ff. VIII. THE TRANSFORMATION OF PAGANISM. BIBLIOGRAPHY: The history of the destruction of paganism is a subject that has tempted many historians. Beugnot (1835), Lasaulx (1854), Schulze (Jena, 1887-1892) have tried it with varying success (see Wissowa, _Religion der Roemer_, pp. 84 ff.). But hardly any one has been interested in the reconstruction of the theology of the last pagans, although material is not lacking. The meritorious studies of Gaston Boissier (_La fin du Paganisme_, Paris, 1891) treat especially the literary and moral aspects of that great transformation. Allard (_Julien l'Apostat_, I, 1900, p. 39 ff.) has furnished a summary of the religious evolution during the fourth century. 1. Socrates, _Hist. Eccl._, IV, 32. 2. It is a notable fact that astrology scarcely penetrated at all into the rural districts (_supra_, ch. VII, n. 9), where the ancient devotions maintained themselves; see the _Vita S. Eligii_, Migne, _P. L._, XL, col. 1172 f.--In the same way the cult of the menhirs in Gaul persisted in the Middle Ages; see d'Arbois de Jubainville, _Comptes Rendus Acad. Inscr._, 1906, pp. 146 ff.; S. Reinach, _Mythes, cultes_, III, 1908, pp. 365 ff. 3. Aug., _Civ. Dei_, IV, 21 _et passim_. Arnobius and Lactantius had previously developed this theme. 4. On the use made of mythology during the fourth century, cf. Burckhardt, _Zeit Contantins_, 2d ed., 1880, pp. 145-147; Boissier, _La fin du paganisme_, II, pp. 276 ff. and _passim_. {282} 5. It is well known that the poems of Prudentius (348-410), especially the Peristephanon, contain numerous attacks on paganism and the pagans. 6. Cf. _La polemique de l'Ambrosiaster contre les paiens_ (_Rev. hist. et litt. relig._, VIII, 1903, pp. 418 ff.). On the personality of the author (probably the converted Jew Isaac), cf. Souter, _A Study of Ambrosiaster_, Cambridge, 1905 (_Texts and Studies_, VII) and his edition of the _Quaestiones_, (Vienna, 1908), intr. p. xxiv. 7. The identity of Firmicus Maternus, the author of _De errore profanarum religionum_, and that of the writer of the eight books _Matheseos_ appears to have been definitely established.