Prudentius, after proving that the sense of the senate is declared by a legal majority, proceeds to say (609, etc.),
Adspice quam pleno subsellia nostra Senatu
Decernant infame Jovis pulvinar, et omne
Idolum longe purgata ex urbe fugandum.
Qua vocat egregii sententia Principis, illuc
Libera, tum pedibus, tum corde, frequentia transit.
Zosimus ascribes to the conscript fathers an heathenish courage which few of them are found to possess.