This chapter talks about the hand of the state and about its role, whether active or passive, in the foundering of public polytheism. The reign of Constantius is peculiarly elusive for the historian of religion. Julian was a polytheist who believed firmly in individual gods who inhabited particular parts of the earth. Though there was some anti-polydieist reaction immediately after Julian's death, his successor Jovian (363-4) espoused a 'Constantinian' policy of broad toleration which permitted, according to Themistius, 'legal sacrifices'. About the year 386, for example, one finds bishop Marcellus of Apamea encompassing, in that famous centre of polytheist religion and philosophy, the destruction of the temple of Zeus. As a form of local and especially rural religion, polytheism showed remarkable powers of resistance. Although there is an obvious connection between the triumph of Christianity and the demise of polytheism, these were two distinct processes with independent timetables.