S. Austin Allibone, comp. Prose Quotations from Socrates to Macaulay. 1880.
Paganism
The poetic legend, the gleaming marble, the pillared temple, the speaking statue,—the graceful robe, the mystic fillet, the tragic cothurnus, the symbolic procession, the bearded pontiff, the mighty orator, the crowned monarch, the visioned sage,—the charm of the scenery, the clearness of the atmosphere, the beauty of the climate, the imagination of the multitude,—dome bending itself to the azure concave above it, pediment sculptured with the dreams of the classic antiquity,—the intermixture of all with the institutions of education and policy,—its ever-present recollection in gymnasium as well as sanctuary,—the romance and pageant,—the exhaustion of taste, genius, and splendour upon its fables and ceremonies,—even to our times constitute the ancient Paganism a marvel of all that was attractive and magnificent.