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The old gods must be destroyed. For a short spell the emperor Julian, a lover of Greek wisdom, managed to save the pagan Gods from further destruction. But Julian died of his wounds during a campaign in Persia and his successor Jovian re-established the church in all its glory. One after the other the doors of the ancient temples were then closed. Then came the emperor Justinian (who built the church of Saint Sophia in Constantinople), who discontinued the school of philosophy at Athens which had been founded by Plato.
形形色色的舊神抵必須被摧毀，主宰世界的只能是基督教唯一的上帝。有一段時間，熱愛希臘智慧的朱利安皇帝在位，他努力拯救異教的神抵，使它們免于被損毀。不過他不久在征討波斯的戰役中受傷致死。繼任的朱維安皇帝重新樹立起基督教的絕對權威，古老的異教神廟一個接一個關門大吉。接下來是查士丁尼皇帝，他下令在君士坦丁堡修建著名的圣索非亞大教堂，把柏拉圖創建的歷史悠久的雅典學園徹底關閉。
That was the end of the old Greek world, in which man had been allowed to think his own thoughts and dream his own dreams according to his desires. The somewhat vague rules of conduct of the philosophers had proved a poor compass by which to steer the ship of life after a deluge of savagery and ignorance had swept away the established order of things. There was need of something more positive and more definite. This the Church provided.
這一歷史時刻是古希臘世界的終結。人們可以照自己的想法自由 思考，按自己的愿望夢想未來的時代黯然逝去了。當野蠻和愚昧的洪水橫掃大地，沖毀舊有的秩序，要指導生活之舟在驚濤駭浪中把握航向，古希臘哲學家的行為準則便顯得有些模糊而不可靠了。人們很難再依賴它們作為生活的向導人們需要一些更積極而明確的東西。這正是教會可以提供的。
During an age when nothing was certain, the church stood like a rock and never receded from those principles which it held to be true and sacred. This steadfast courage gained the admiration of the multitudes and carried the church of Rome safely through the difficulties which destroyed the Roman state.
在一個世界搖搖欲墜、萬事皆不確定的時代里，只有教會像巖石般堅強屹立，堅持真理和神圣準則，從不因危險和情勢的變遷而退縮。這種堅定的勇氣不僅贏得了群眾的愛慕，也同時讓羅馬教會安然度過了那些毀滅羅馬帝國的災難。
There was however, a certain element of luck in the final success of the Christian faith. After the disappearance of Theodoric's Roman-Gothic kingdom, in the fifth century, Italy was comparatively free from foreign invasion.
不過，基督教的最后勝利也有一絲幸運的成分。當公元5世紀，西奧多里克建立的羅馬--哥特王國覆滅之后，意大利受到的外來侵略相對減少。
