BASILIC is also used, in ecclesiastical writers, for a church. In which sense, this name frequently occurs in St. Ambrose, St. Austin, St. Jerome, Sidonius Apollinaris, and other writers of the fourth and fifth centuries. It is thought that the name was thus applied, from many of the ancient churches having been formed of the Roman halls mentioned in the preceding article. In reality, on the conversion of Constantine, many of the ancient basilicæ were given to the church, and turned to another use, viz. for Christian assemblies to meet in, as may be collected from that passage in Ausonius, where speaking to the emperor Gratian, he tells
him, the basilicæ, which heretofore were wont to be filled with men of business, were now thronged with votaries praying for his safety. By which he must needs mean, that the Roman halls or courts were turned into Christian churches: and hence, we conceive, the name basilicæ came to be a general name for churches in after ages.