CHAPTER Valentinian was less attentive to the religion of his son; since he intrusted the education of Gratian to Ausonius, a professed Pagan. (Mem. de l’Academie des Inscriptions, tom. xv. p. 125 - 138. The poetical fame of Ausonius condemns the taste of his age. Ausonius was successively promoted to the Praetorian praefecture of Italy, (A.D. 377,) and of Gaul, (A.D. 378;) and was at length invested with the consulship, (A.D. 379.) He expressed his gratitude in a servile and insipid piece of flattery, (Actio Gratiarum, p. 699 - 736,) which has survived more worthy productions. Disputare de principali judicio non oportet. Sacrilegii enim instar est dubitare, an is dignus sit, quem elegerit imperator. Codex Justinian, l. ix. tit. xxix. leg. 3. This convenient law was revived and promulgated, after the death of Gratian, by the feeble court of Milan. Ambrose composed, for his instruction, a theological treatise on the faith of the Trinity: and Tillemont, (Hist. des Empereurs, tom. v. p. 158, 169,) ascribes to the archbishop the merit of Gratian’s intolerant laws. Qui divinae legis sanctitatem nesciendo omittunt, aut negligende violant, et offendunt, sacrilegium committunt. Codex Justinian. l. ix. tit. xxix. leg. 1. Theodosius indeed may claim his share in the merit of this comprehensive law. Ammianus (xxxi. 10) and the younger Victor acknowledge the virtues of Gratian; and accuse, or rather lament, his degenerate taste. The odious parallel of Commodus is saved by “licet incruentus;” and perhaps Philostorgius (l. x. c. 10, and Godefroy, p. 41) had guarded with some similar reserve, the comparison of Nero. Zosimus (l. iv. p. 247) and the younger Victor ascribe the revolution to the favor of the Alani, and the discontent of the Roman troops Dum exercitum negligeret, et paucos ex Alanis, quos ingenti auro ad sa transtulerat, anteferret veteri ac Romano militi. Britannia fertilis provincia tyrannorum, is a memorable expression, used by Jerom in the Pelagian controversy, and variously tortured in the disputes of our national antiquaries.

The revolutions of the last age appeared to justify the image of the sublime Bossuet, “sette ile, plus orageuse que les mers qui l’environment.” Zosimus says of the British soldiers. Tw~n a]llwn aJpa>ntwn ple>on aujqadei>a| kai< qumw~| nikwme>nouv. Helena, the daughter of Eudda. Her chapel may still be seen at Caer-segont, now Caer-narvon. (Carte’s Hist. of England, vol. i. p. 168, from Rowland’s Mona Antiqua.) The prudent reader may not perhaps be satisfied with such Welsh evidence. Camden (vol. i. introduct. p. ci.) appoints him governor at Britain; and the father of our antiquities is followed, as usual, by his blind progeny. Pacatus and Zosimus had taken some pains to prevent this error, or fable; and I shall protect myself by their decisive testimonies. Regali habitu exulem suum, illi exules orbis induerunt, (in Panegyr. Vet. xii. 23,) and the Greek historian still less equivocally, (Maximus) de< oujde< eijv ajrchn (l. iv. p. 248.) Sulpicius Severus, Dialog. ii. 7. Orosius, l. vii. c. 34. p. 556.

They both acknowledge (Sulpicius had been his subject) his innocence and merit. It is singular enough, that Maximus should be less favorably treated by Zosimus, the partial adversary of his rival. Archbishop Usher (Antiquat. Britan. Eccles. p. 107, 108) has diligently collected the legends of the island, and the continent.

The whole emigration consisted of 30,000 soldiers, and 100,000 plebeians, who settled in Bretagne. Their destined brides, St. Ursula with 11,000 noble, and 60,000 plebeian, virgins, mistook their way; landed at Cologne, and were all most cruelly murdered by the Huns. But the plebeian sisters have been defrauded of their equal honors; and what is still harder, John Trithemius presumes to mention the children of these British virgins. Zosimus (l. iv. p. 248, 249) has transported the death of Gratian from Lugdunum in Gaul (Lyons) to Singidunum in Moesia.

Some hints may be extracted from the Chronicles; some lies may be detected in Sozomen (l. vii. c. 13) and Socrates, (l. v. c. 11.) Ambrose is our most authentic evidence, (tom. i. Enarrat. in Psalm lxi. p. 961, tom ii. epist. xxiv. p. 888 etc., and de Obitu Valentinian Consolat. Ner. 28, p. 1182.) Pacatus (xii. 28) celebrates his fidelity; while his treachery is marked in Prosper’s Chronicle, as the cause of the ruin of Gratian. Le Beau contests the reading in the chronicle of Prosper upon which this charge rests. Le Beau, iv. 232. - M.

Ambrose, who has occasion to exculpate himself, only condemns the death of Vallio, a faithful servant of Gratian, (tom. ii. epist. xxiv. p. 891, edit. Benedict.) According to Pacatus, the Count Vallio, who commanded the army, was carried to Chalons to be burnt alive; but Maximus, dreading the imputation of cruelty, caused him to be secretly strangled by his Bretons. Macedonius also, master of the offices, suffered the death which he merited. Le Beau, iv. 244. - M. He protested, nullum ex adversariis nisi in acissie occubu. Sulp.

Jeverus in Vit. B. Martin, c. 23. The orator Theodosius bestows reluctant, and therefore weighty, praise on his clemency. Si cui ille, pro ceteris sceleribus suis, minus crudelis fuisse videtur, (Panegyr. Vet. xii. 28.) Ambrose mentions the laws of Gratian, quas non abrogavit hostia (tom. ii epist. xvii. p. 827.) Zosimus, l. iv. p. 251, 252. We may disclaim his odious suspicions; but we cannot reject the treaty of peace which the friends of Theodosius have absolutely forgotten, or slightly mentioned. Their oracle, the archbishop of Milan, assigns to his pupil Gratian, a high and respectable place in heaven, (tom. ii. de Obit. Val. Consol p. 1193.) For the baptism of Theodosius, see Sozomen, (l. vii. c. 4,) Socrates, (l. v. c. 6,) and Tillemont, (Hist. des Empereurs, tom. v. p. 728.) Ascolius, or Acholius, was honored by the friendship, and the praises, of Ambrose; who styles him murus fidei atque sanctitatis, (tom. ii. epist. xv. p. 820;) and afterwards celebrates his speed and diligence in running to Constantinople, Italy, etc., (epist. xvi. p. 822.) a virtue which does not appertain either to a wall, or a bishop. Codex Theodos. l. xvi. tit. i. leg. 2, with Godefroy’s Commentary, tom. vi. p. 5 - 9. Such an edict deserved the warmest praises of Baronius, auream sanctionem, edictum pium et salutare. - Sic itua ad astra. Sozomen, l. vii. c. 6. Theodoret, l. v. c. 16. Tillemont is displeased (Mem. Eccles. tom. vi. p. 627, 628) with the terms of “rustic bishop,” “obscure city.” Yet I must take leave to think, that both Amphilochius and Iconium were objects of inconsiderable magnitude in the Roman empire. Sozomen, l. vii. c. v. Socrates, l. v. c. 7. Marcellin. in Chron.

The account of forty years must be dated from the election or intrusion of Eusebius, who wisely exchanged the bishopric of Nicomedia for the throne of Constantinople. See Jortin’s Remarks on Ecclesiastical History, vol. iv. p. 71.

The thirty-third Oration of Gregory Nazianzen affords indeed some similar ideas, even some still more ridiculous; but I have not yet found the words of this remarkable passage, which I allege on the faith of a correct and liberal scholar. See the thirty-second Oration of Gregory Nazianzen, and the account of his own life, which he has composed in iambics. Yet every physician is prone to exaggerate the inveterate nature of the disease which he has cured. I confess myself deeply indebted to the two lives of Gregory Nazianzen, composed, with very different views, by Tillemont (Mem. Eccles. tom. ix. p. 305 - 560, 692 - 731) and Le Clerc, (Bibliotheque Universelle, tom. xviii. p. 1 - 128.) Unless Gregory Nazianzen mistook thirty years in his own age, he was born, as well as his friend Basil, about the year 329. The preposterous chronology of Suidas has been graciously received, because it removes the scandal of Gregory’s father, a saint likewise, begetting children after he became a bishop, (Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. ix. p. 693 - 697.) Gregory’s Poem on his own Life contains some beautiful lines, (tom. ii. p. 8,) which burst from the heart, and speak the pangs of injured and lost friendship.

Po>noi koinoi< lo>gov /Omo>stego>v te kai< sune>stiov bi>ov Nou~v ei+v ejn ajmfoi~n Dieske>dastai pa>nta ka]rJViptai camai< Au+rai fe>rousi tadav In the Midsummer Night's Dream, Helena addresses the same pathetic complaint to her friend Hermia: - Is all the counsel that we two have shared.

The sister's vows, &c.

Shakspeare had never read the poems of Gregory Nazianzen; he was ignorant of the Greek language; but his mother tongue, the language of Nature, is the same in Cappadocia and in Britain. This unfavorable portrait of Sasimae is drawn by Gregory Nazianzen, (tom. ii. de Vita sua, p. 7, 8.) Its precise situation, forty- nine miles from Archelais, and thirty-two from Tyana, is fixed in the Itinerary of Antoninus, (p. 144, edit. Wesseling.) The name of Nazianzus has been immortalized by Gregory; but his native town, under the Greek or Roman title of Diocaesarea, (Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. ix. p. 692,) is mentioned by Pliny, (vi. 3,) Ptolemy, and Hierocles, (Itinerar. Wesseling, p. 709). It appears to have been situate on the edge of Isauria. See Ducange, Constant. Christiana, l. iv. p. 141, 142. The qei>a du>namiv of Sozomen (l. vii. c. 5) is interpreted to mean the Virgin Mary. Tillemont (Mem. Eccles. tom. ix. p. 432, etc.) diligently collects, enlarges, and explains, the oratorical and poetical hints of Gregory himself. He pronounced an oration (tom. i. Orat. xxiii. p. 409) in his praise; but after their quarrel, the name of Maximus was changed into that of Heron, (see Jerom, tom. i. in Catalog.

Script. Eccles. p. 301). I touch slightly on these obscure and personal squabbles. Under the modest emblem of a dream, Gregory (tom. ii. Carmen ix. p. 78) describes his own success with some human complacency. Yet it should seem, from his familiar conversation with his auditor St. Jerom, (tom. i. Epist. ad Nepotian. p. 14,) that the preacher understood the true value of popular applause. Lachrymae auditorum laudes tuae sint, is the lively and judicious advice of St. Jerom. Socrates (l. v. c. 7) and Sozomen (l. vii. c. 5) relate the evangelical words and actions of Damophilus without a word of approbation. He considered, says Socrates, that it is difficult to resist the powerful, but it was easy, and would have been profitable, to submit. See Gregory Nazianzen, tom. ii. de Vita sua, p. 21, 22. For the sake of posterity, the bishop of Constantinople records a stupendous prodigy. In the month of November, it was a cloudy morning, but the sun broke forth when the procession entered the church. Of the three ecclesiastical historians, Theodoret alone (l. v. c. 2) has mentioned this important commission of Sapor, which Tillemont (Hist. des Empereurs, tom. v. p. 728) judiciously removes from the reign of Gratian to that of Theodosius. I do not reckon Philostorgius, though he mentions (l. ix. c. 19) the explosion of Damophilus. The Eunomian historian has been carefully strained through an orthodox sieve. Le Clerc has given a curious extract (Bibliotheque Universelle, tom. xviii. p. 91 - 105) of the theological sermons which Gregory Nazianzen pronounced at Constantinople against the Arians, Eunomians, Macedonians, etc. He tells the Macedonians, who deified the Father and the Son without the Holy Ghost, that they might as well be styled Tritheists as Ditheists. Gregory himself was almost a Tritheist; and his monarchy of heaven resembles a well-regulated aristocracy. The first general council of Constantinople now triumphs in the Vatican; but the popes had long hesitated, and their hesitation perplexes, and almost staggers, the humble Tillemont, (Mem.

Eccles. tom. ix. p. 499, 500.) Before the death of Meletius, six or eight of his most popular ecclesiastics, among whom was Flavian, had abjured, for the sake of peace, the bishopric of Antioch, (Sozomen, l. vii. c. 3, 11. Socrates, l. v. c. v.) Tillemont thinks it his duty to disbelieve the story; but he owns that there are many circumstances in the life of Flavian which seem inconsistent with the praises of Chrysostom, and the character of a saint, (Mem. Eccles. tom. x. p. 541.) Consult Gregory Nazianzen, de Vita sua, tom. ii. p. 25 - 28. His general and particular opinion of the clergy and their assemblies may be seen in verse and prose, (tom. i. Orat. i. p. 33. Epist. lv. p. 814, tom. ii. Carmen x. p. 81.) Such passages are faintly marked by Tillemont, and fairly produced by Le Clerc. See Gregory, tom. ii. de Vita sua, p. 28 - 31. The fourteenth, twenty-seventh, and thirty-second Orations were pronounced in the several stages of this business. The peroration of the last, (tom. i. p. 528,) in which he takes a solemn leave of men and angels, the city and the emperor, the East and the West, etc., is pathetic, and almost sublime. The whimsical ordination of Nectarius is attested by Sozomen, (l. vii. c. 8;) but Tillemont observes, (Mem. Eccles. tom. ix. p. 719,) Apres tout, ce narre de Sozomene est si honteux, pour tous ceux qu’il y mele, et surtout pour Theodose, qu’il vaut mieux travailler a le detruire, qu’a le soutenir; an admirable canon of criticism! I can only be understood to mean, that such was his natural temper when it was not hardened, or inflamed, by religious zeal.

From his retirement, he exhorts Nectarius to prosecute the heretics of Constantinople. See the Theodosian Code, l. xvi. tit. v. leg. 6 - 23, with Godefroy’s commentary on each law, and his general summary, or Paratitlon, tom vi. p. 104 - 110. They always kept their Easter, like the Jewish Passover, on the fourteenth day of the first moon after the vernal equinox; and thus pertinaciously opposed the Roman Church and Nicene synod, which had fixed Easter to a Sunday. Bingham’s Antiquities, l. xx. c. 5, vol. ii. p. 309, fol. edit. Sozomen, l. vii. c. 12. See the Sacred History of Sulpicius Severus, (l. ii. p. 437 - 452, edit. Ludg. Bat. 1647,) a correct and original writer. Dr.

Lardner (Credibility, etc., part ii. vol. ix. p. 256 - 350) has labored this article with pure learning, good sense, and moderation. Tillemont (Mem. Eccles. tom. viii. p. 491 - 527) has raked together all the dirt of the fathers; a useful scavenger! Severus Sulpicius mentions the arch-heretic with esteem and pity Faelix profecto, si non pravo studio corrupisset optimum ingenium prorsus multa in eo animi et corporis bona cerneres. (Hist. Sacra, l ii. p. 439.) Even Jerom (tom. i. in Script. Eccles. p. 302) speaks with temper of Priscillian and Latronian. ft52a The bishopric (in Old Castile) is now worth 20,000 ducats a year, (Busching’s Geography, vol. ii. p. 308,) and is therefore much less likely to produce the author of a new heresy. Exprobrabatur mulieri viduae nimia religio, et diligentius culta divinitas, (Pacat. in Panegyr. Vet. xii. 29.) Such was the idea of a humane, though ignorant, polytheist. One of them was sent in Sillinam insulam quae ultra Britannianest. What must have been the ancient condition of the rocks of Scilly? (Camden’s Britannia, vol. ii. p. 1519.) The scandalous calumnies of Augustin, Pope Leo, etc., which Tillemont swallows like a child, and Lardner refutes like a man, may suggest some candid suspicions in favor of the older Gnostics. Ambros. tom. ii. Epist. xxiv. p. 891. In the Sacred History, and the Life of St. Martin, Sulpicius Severus uses some caution; but he declares himself more freely in the Dialogues, (iii. 15.) Martin was reproved, however, by his own conscience, and by an angel; nor could he afterwards perform miracles with so much ease. The Catholic Presbyter (Sulp. Sever. l. ii. p. 448) and the Pagan Orator (Pacat. in Panegyr. Vet. xii. 29) reprobate, with equal indignation, the character and conduct of Ithacius. The Life of St. Martin, and the Dialogues concerning his miracles contain facts adapted to the grossest barbarism, in a style not unworthy of the Augustan age. So natural is the alliance between good taste and good sense, that I am always astonished by this contrast. The short and superficial Life of St. Ambrose, by his deacon Paulinus, (Appendix ad edit. Benedict. p. i. - xv.,) has the merit of original evidence. Tillemont (Mem. Eccles. tom. x. p. 78 - 306) and the Benedictine editors (p. xxxi. - lxiii.) have labored with their usual diligence. Ambrose himself (tom. ii. Epist. xxiv. p. 888 - 891) gives the emperor a very spirited account of his own embassy. His own representation of his principles and conduct (tom. ii.

Epist. xx xxi. xxii. p. 852 - 880) is one of the curious monuments of ecclesiastical antiquity. It contains two letters to his sister Marcellina, with a petition to Valentinian and the sermon de Basilicis non madendis. Retz had a similar message from the queen, to request that he would appease the tumult of Paris. It was no longer in his power, etc. A quoi j’ajoutai tout ce que vous pouvez vous imaginer de respect de douleur, de regret, et de soumission, etc. (Memoires, tom. i. p. 140.) Certainly I do not compare either the causes or the men yet the coadjutor himself had some idea (p. 84) of imitating St. Ambrose Sozomen alone (l. vii. c. 13) throws this luminous fact into a dark and perplexed narrative. Excubabat pia plebs in ecclesia, mori parata cum episcopo suo .... Nos, adhuc frigidi, excitabamur tamen civitate attonita atque curbata. Augustin. Confession. l. ix. c. Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. ii. p. 78, 498. Many churches in Italy, Gaul, etc., were dedicated to these unknown martyrs, of whom St. Gervaise seems to have been more fortunate than his companion. Invenimus mirae magnitudinis viros duos, ut prisca aetas ferebat, tom. ii. Epist. xxii. p. 875. The size of these skeletons was fortunately, or skillfully, suited to the popular prejudice of the gradual decrease of the human stature, which has prevailed in every age since the time of Homer. Grandiaque effossis mirabitur ossa sepulchris. Ambros. tom. ii. Epist. xxii. p. 875. Augustin. Confes, l. ix. c. 7, de Civitat. Dei, l. xxii. c. 8. Paulin. in Vita St. Ambros. c. 14, in Append. Benedict. p. 4. The blind man’s name was Severus; he touched the holy garment, recovered his sight, and devoted the rest of his life (at least twenty-five years) to the service of the church. I should recommend this miracle to our divines, if it did not prove the worship of relics, as well as the Nicene creed. Paulin, in Tit. St. Ambros. c. 5, in Append. Benedict. p. 5. Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. x. p. 190, 750. He partially allow the mediation of Theodosius, and capriciously rejects that of Maximus, though it is attested by Prosper, Sozomen, and Theodoret. The modest censure of Sulpicius (Dialog. iii. 15) inflicts a much deeper wound than the declamation of Pacatus, (xii. 25, 26.) Esto tutior adversus hominem, pacis involurco tegentem, was the wise caution of Ambrose (tom. ii. p. 891) after his return from his second embassy. Baronius (A.D. 387, No. 63) applies to this season of public distress some of the penitential sermons of the archbishop. The flight of Valentinian, and the love of Theodosius for his sister, are related by Zosimus, (l. iv. p. 263, 264.) Tillemont produces some weak and ambiguous evidence to antedate the second marriage of Theodosius, (Hist. des Empereurs, to. v. p. 740,) and consequently to refute ces contes de Zosime, qui seroient trop contraires a la piete de Theodose. Aemonah, Laybach. Siscia Sciszek. - M. See Godefroy’s Chronology of the Laws, Cod. Theodos, tom l. p. cxix. Besides the hints which may be gathered from chronicles and ecclesiastical history, Zosimus (l. iv. p. 259 - 267,) Orosius, (l. vii. c. 35,) and Pacatus, (in Panegyr. Vet. xii. 30 - 47,) supply the loose and scanty materials of this civil war. Ambrose (tom. ii. Epist. xl. p. 952, 953) darkly alludes to the well-known events of a magazine surprised, an action at Petovio, a Sicilian, perhaps a naval, victory, etc., Ausonius (p. 256, edit. Toll.) applauds the peculiar merit and good fortune of Aquileia. Quam promptum laudare principem, tam tutum siluisse de principe, (Pacat. in Panegyr. Vet. xii. 2.) Latinus Pacatus Drepanius, a native of Gaul, pronounced this oration at Rome, (A.D. 388.) He was afterwards proconsul of Africa; and his friend Ausonius praises him as a poet second only to Virgil. See Tillemont, Hist. des Empereurs, tom. v. p. 303. See the fair portrait of Theodosius, by the younger Victor; the strokes are distinct, and the colors are mixed. The praise of Pacatus is too vague; and Claudian always seems afraid of exalting the father above the son. Ambros. tom. ii. Epist. xl. p. 55. Pacatus, from the want of skill or of courage, omits this glorious circumstance. Pacat. in Panegyr. Vet. xii. 20. Zosimus, l. iv. p. 271, 272. His partial evidence is marked by an air of candor and truth. He observes these vicissitudes of sloth and activity, not as a vice, but as a singularity in the character of Theodosius. This choleric temper is acknowledged and excused by Victor Sed habes (says Ambrose, in decent and many language, to his sovereign) nature impetum, quem si quis lenire velit, cito vertes ad misericordiam: si quis stimulet, in magis exsuscitas, ut eum revocare vix possis, (tom. ii. Epist. li. p. 998.) Theodosius (Claud. in iv. Hon. 266, etc.) exhorts his son to moderate his anger. The Christians and Pagans agreed in believing that the sedition of Antioch was excited by the daemons. A gigantic woman (says Sozomen, l. vii. c. 23) paraded the streets with a scourge in her hand. An old man, says Libanius, (Orat. xii. p. 396,) transformed himself into a youth, then a boy, etc. Zosimus, in his short and disingenuous account, (l. iv. p. 258, 259,) is certainly mistaken in sending Libanius himself to Constantinople. His own orations fix him at Antioch. Libanius (Orat. i. p. 6, edit. Venet.) declares, that under such a reign the fear of a massacre was groundless and absurd, especially in the emperor’s absence, for his presence, according to the eloquent slave, might have given a sanction to the most bloody acts. Laodicea, on the sea-coast, sixty-five miles from Antioch, (see Noris Epoch. Syro-Maced. Dissert. iii. p. 230.) The Antiochians were offended, that the dependent city of Seleucia should presume to intercede for them. As the days of the tumult depend on the movable festival of Easter, they can only be determined by the previous determination of the year. The year 387 has been preferred, after a laborious inquiry, by Tillemont (Hist. des. Emp. tom. v. p. 741 - 744) and Montfaucon, (Chrysostom, tom. xiii. p. 105 - 110.) Chrysostom opposes their courage, which was not attended with much risk, to the cowardly flight of the Cynics. The sedition of Antioch is represented in a lively, and almost dramatic, manner by two orators, who had their respective shares of interest and merit. See Libanius (Orat. xiv. xv. p. - 420, edit. Morel. Orat. i. p. 1 - 14, Venet. 1754) and the twenty orations of St. John Chrysostom, de Statuis, (tom. ii. p. 1 - 225, edit. Montfaucon.) I do not pretend to much personal acquaintance with Chrysostom but Tillemont (Hist. des.

Empereurs, tom. v. p. 263 - 283) and Hermant (Vie de St.

Chrysostome, tom. i. p. 137 - 224) had read him with pious curiosity and diligence. The original evidence of Ambrose, (tom. ii. Epist. li. p. 998.)

Augustin, (de Civitat. Dei, v. 26,) and Paulinus, (in Vit.

Ambros. c. 24,) is delivered in vague expressions of horror and pity. It is illustrated by the subsequent and unequal testimonies of Sozomen, (l. vii. c. 25,) Theodoret, (l. v. c. 17,) Theophanes, (Chronograph. p. 62,) Cedrenus, (p. 317,) and Zonaras, (tom. ii. l. xiii. p. 34.) Zosimus alone, the partial enemy of Theodosius, most unaccountably passes over in silence the worst of his actions. Raeca, on the Euphrates - M. See the whole transaction in Ambrose, (tom. ii. Epist. xl. xli. p. 950 - 956,) and his biographer Paulinus, (c. 23.) Bayle and Barbeyrac (Morales des Peres, c. xvii. p. 325, etc.) have justly condemned the archbishop. His sermon is a strange allegory of Jeremiah’s rod, of an almond tree, of the woman who washed and anointed the feet of Christ.

But the peroration is direct and personal. Hodie, Episcope, de me proposuisti. Ambrose modestly confessed it; but he sternly reprimanded Timasius, general of the horse and foot, who had presumed to say that the monks of Callinicum deserved punishment. Yet, five years afterwards, when Theodosius was absent from his spiritual guide, he tolerated the Jews, and condemned the destruction of their synagogues. Cod. Theodos. l. xvi. tit. viii. leg. 9, with Godefroy’s Commentary, tom. vi. p. 225. Ambros. tom. ii. Epist. li. p. 997 - 1001. His epistle is a miserable rhapsody on a noble subject. Ambrose could act better than he could write. His compositions are destitute of taste, or genius; without the spirit of Tertullian, the copious elegance of Lactantius the lively wit of Jerom, or the grave energy of Augustin. According to the discipline of St. Basil, (Canon lvi.,) the voluntary homicide was four years a mourner; five a hearer; seven in a prostrate state; and four in a standing posture. I have the original (Beveridge, Pandect. tom. ii. p. 47 - 151) and a translation (Chardon, Hist. des Sacremens, tom. iv. p. 219 - 277) of the Canonical Epistles of St. Basil. The penance of Theodosius is authenticated by Ambrose, (tom. vi. de Obit. Theodos. c. 34, p. 1207,) Augustin, (de Civitat.

Dei, v. 26,) and Paulinus, (in Vit. Ambros. c. 24.) Socrates is ignorant; Sozomen (l. vii. c. 25) concise; and the copious narrative of Theodoret (l. v. c. 18) must be used with precaution. Codex Theodos. l. ix. tit. xl. leg. 13. The date and circumstances of this law are perplexed with difficulties; but I feel myself inclined to favor the honest efforts of Tillemont (Hist. des Emp. tom. v. p. 721) and Pagi, (Critica, tom. i. p. 578.) Un prince qui aime la religion, et qui la craint, est un lion qui cede a la main qui le flatte, ou a la voix qui l’appaise. Esprit des Loix, l. xxiv. c. 2. Tou~to peri< toutav kaqh~kon e]doxen ei+nai It is the niggard praise of Zosimus himself, (l. iv. p. 267.) Augustin says, with some happiness of expression, Valentinianum .... misericordissima veneratione restituit. Sozomen, l. vii. c. 14. His chronology is very irregular. See Ambrose, (tom. ii. de Obit. Valentinian. c. 15, etc. p. 1178. c. 36, etc. p. 1184.) When the young emperor gave an entertainment, he fasted himself; he refused to see a handsome actress, etc. Since he ordered his wild beasts to to be killed, it is ungenerous in Philostor (l. xi. c. 1) to reproach him with the love of that amusement. Zosimus (l. iv. p. 275) praises the enemy of Theodosius. But he is detested by Socrates (l. v. c. 25) and Orosius, (l. vii. c. 35.) Gregory of Tours (l. ii. c. 9, p. 165, in the second volume of the Historians of France) has preserved a curious fragment of Sulpicius Alexander, an historian far more valuable than himself. Godefroy (Dissertat. ad. Philostorg. p. 429 - 434) has diligently collected all the circumstances of the death of Valentinian II.

The variations, and the ignorance, of contemporary writers, prove that it was secret. De Obitu Valentinian. tom. ii. p. 1173 - 1196. He is forced to speak a discreet and obscure language: yet he is much bolder than any layman, or perhaps any other ecclesiastic, would have dared to be. See c. 51, p. 1188, c. 75, p. 1193. Dom Chardon, (Hist. des Sacramens, tom. i. p. 86,) who owns that St. Ambrose most strenuously maintains the indispensable necessity of baptism, labors to reconcile the contradiction. Quem sibi Germanus famulam delegerat exul, is the contemptuous expression of Claudian, (iv. Cons. Hon. 74.) Eugenius professed Christianity; but his secret attachment to Paganism (Sozomen, l. vii. c. 22, Philostorg. l. xi. c. 2) is probable in a grammarian, and would secure the friendship of Zosimus, (l. iv. p. 276, 277.) Zosimus (l. iv. p. 278) mentions this embassy; but he is diverted by another story from relating the event. Suneta>raxen hJ tou>tou Ga>lla ta< basi>leia tonh. Zosim. l. iv. p. 277. He afterwards says (p. 280) that Galla died in childbed; and intimates, that the affliction of her husband was extreme but short. Lycopolis is the modern Siut, or Osiot, a town of Said, about the size of St. Denys, which drives a profitable trade with the kingdom of Senaar, and has a very convenient fountain, “cujus potu signa virgini tatis eripiuntur.” See D’Anville, Description de l’Egypte, p. 181 Abulfeda, Descript. Egypt. p. 14, and the curious Annotations, p. 25, 92, of his editor Michaelis. The Life of John of Lycopolis is described by his two friends, Rufinus (l. ii. c. i. p. 449) and Palladius, (Hist. Lausiac. c. 43, p. 738,) in Rosweyde’s great Collection of the Vitae Patrum.

Tillemont (Mem. Eccles. tom. x. p. 718, 720) has settled the chronology. Sozomen, l. vii. c. 22. Claudian (in Eutrop. l. i. 312) mentions the eunuch’s journey; but he most contemptuously derides the Egyptian dreams, and the oracles of the Nile. Gibbon has embodied the picturesque verses of Claudian: Nec tantis dissona linguis Turba, nec armorum cultu diversion unquam Zosimus, l. iv. p. 280. Socrates, l. vii. 10. Alaric himself (de Bell. Getico, 524) dwells with more complacency on his early exploits against the Romans. Tot Augustos Hebro qui teste fugavi.

Yet his vanity could scarcely have proved this plurality of flying emperors. Claudian (in iv. Cons. Honor. 77, etc.) contrasts the military plans of the two usurpers: - —Novitas audere priorem Suadebat; cautumque dabant exempla sequentem Hic nova moliri praeceps: hic quaerere tuta Providus. Hic fusis; colectis viribus ille.

Hic vagus excurrens; hic intra claustra reductus Dissimiles, sed morte pares— The Frigidus, a small, though memorable, stream in the country of Goretz, now called the Vipao, falls into the Sontius, or Lisonzo, above Aquileia, some miles from the Adriatic. See D’Anville’s ancient and modern maps, and the Italia Antiqua of Cluverius, (tom. i. c. 188.) Claudian’s wit is intolerable: the snow was dyed red; the cold ver smoked; and the channel must have been choked with carcasses the current had not been swelled with blood.

Confluxit populus: totam pater undique secum Moverat Aurorem; mixtis hic Colchus Iberis, Hic mitra velatus Arabs, hic crine decoro Armenius, hic picta Saces, fucataque Medus, Hic gemmata tiger tentoria fixerat Indus. - De Laud. Stil. l. 145. - M. Theodoret affirms, that St. John, and St. Philip, appeared to the waking, or sleeping, emperor, on horseback, etc. This is the first instance of apostolic chivalry, which afterwards became so popular in Spain, and in the Crusades. Te propter, gelidis Aquilo de monte procellis Obruit adversas acies; revolutaque tela Vertit in auctores, et turbine reppulit hastas O nimium dilecte Deo, cui fundit ab antris Aeolus armatas hyemes; cui militat Aether, Et conjurati veniunt ad classica venti.

These famous lines of Claudian (in iii. Cons. Honor. 93, etc.

A.D. 396) are alleged by his contemporaries, Augustin and Orosius; who suppress the Pagan deity of Aeolus, and add some circumstances from the information of eye-witnesses. Within four months after the victory, it was compared by Ambrose to the miraculous victories of Moses and Joshua. Arbogastes and his emperor had openly espoused the Pagan party, according to Ambrose and Augustin. See Le Beau, v. 40.

Beugnot (Histoire de la Destruction du Paganisme) is more full, and perhaps somewhat fanciful, on this remarkable reaction in favor of Paganism, but compare p 116. - M. The events of this civil war are gathered from Ambrose, (tom. ii. Epist. lxii. p. 1022,) Paulinus, (in Vit. Ambros. c. 26 - 34,) Augustin, (de Civitat. Dei, v. 26,) Orosius, (l. vii. c. 35,) Sozomen, (l. vii. c. 24,) Theodoret, (l. v. c. 24,) Zosimus, (l. iv. p. 281, 282,) Claudian, (in iii. Cons. Hon. 63 - 105, in iv. Cons.

Hon. 70 - 117,) and the Chronicles published by Scaliger. This disease, ascribed by Socrates (l. v. c. 26) to the fatigues of war, is represented by Philostorgius (l. xi. c. 2) as the effect of sloth and intemperance; for which Photius calls him an impudent liar, (Godefroy, Dissert. p. 438.) Zosimus supposes, that the boy Honorius accompanied his father, (l. iv. p. 280.) Yet the quanto flagrabrant pectora voto is all that flattery would allow to a contemporary poet; who clearly describes the emperor’s refusal, and the journey of Honorius, after the victory (Claudian in iii. Cons. 78 - 125.) Zosimus, l. iv. p. 244. Vegetius, de Re Militari, l. i. c. 10. The series of calamities which he marks, compel us to believe, that the Hero, to whom he dedicates his book, is the last and most inglorious of the Valentinians.

CHAPTER - St. Ambrose (tom. ii. de Obit. Theodos. p. 1208) expressly praises and recommends the zeal of Josiah in the destruction of idolatry The language of Julius Firmicus Maternus on the same subject (de Errore Profan. Relig. p. 467, edit. Gronov.) is piously inhuman. Nec filio jubet (the Mosaic Law) parci, nec fratri, et per amatam conjugera gladium vindicem ducit, etc. Bayle (tom. ii. p. 406, in his Commentaire Philosophique) justifies, and limits, these intolerant laws by the temporal reign of Jehovah over the Jews. The attempt is laudable. See the outlines of the Roman hierarchy in Cicero, (de Legibus, ii. 7, 8,) Livy, (i. 20,) Dionysius Halicarnassensis, (l. ii. p. 119 - 129, edit. Hudson,) Beaufort, (Republique Romaine, tom. i. p. 1 - 90,) and Moyle, (vol. i. p. 10 - 55.) The last is the work of an English whig, as well as of a Roman antiquary. These mystic, and perhaps imaginary, symbols have given birth to various fables and conjectures. It seems probable, that the Palladium was a small statue (three cubits and a half high) of Minerva, with a lance and distaff; that it was usually enclosed in a seria, or barrel; and that a similar barrel was placed by its side to disconcert curiosity, or sacrilege. See Mezeriac (Comment. sur les Epitres d’Ovide, tom i. p. 60 - 66) and Lipsius, (tom. iii. p. 610 de Vesta, etc. c 10.) Cicero frankly (ad Atticum, l. ii. Epist. 5) or indirectly (ad Familiar. l. xv. Epist. 4) confesses that the Augurate is the supreme object of his wishes. Pliny is proud to tread in the footsteps of Cicero, (l. iv. Epist. 8,) and the chain of tradition might be continued from history and marbles. Zosimus, l. iv. p. 249, 250. I have suppressed the foolish pun about Pontifex and Maximus. This statue was transported from Tarentum to Rome, placed in the Curia Julia by Caesar, and decorated by Augustus with the spoils of Egypt. Prudentius (l. ii. in initio) has drawn a very awkward portrait of Victory; but the curious reader will obtain more satisfaction from Montfaucon’s Antiquities, (tom. i. p. 341.) ft136a See Suetonius (in August. c. 35) and the Exordium of Pliny’s Panegyric. These facts are mutually allowed by the two advocates, Symmachus and Ambrose. The Notitia Urbis, more recent than Constantine, does not find one Christian church worthy to be named among the edifices of the city. Ambrose (tom. ii. Epist. xvii. p. 825) deplores the public scandals of Rome, which continually offended the eyes, the ears, and the nostrils of the faithful. Ambrose repeatedly affirms, in contradiction to common sense (Moyle’s Works, vol. ii. p. 147,) that the Christians had a majority in the senate. The first (A.D. 382) to Gratian, who refused them audience; the second (A.D. 384) to Valentinian, when the field was disputed by Symmachus and Ambrose; the third (A.D. 388) to Theodosius; and the fourth (A.D. 392) to Valentinian. Lardner (Heathen Testimonies, vol. iv. p. 372 - 399) fairly represents the whole transaction. Symmachus, who was invested with all the civil and sacerdotal honors, represented the emperor under the two characters of Pontifex Maximus, and Princeps Senatus. See the proud inscription at the head of his works. Mr. Beugnot has made it doubtful whether Symmachus was more than Pontifex Major.

Destruction du Paganisme, vol. i. p. 459. - M. As if any one, says Prudentius (in Symmach. i. 639) should dig in the mud with an instrument of gold and ivory. Even saints, and polemic saints, treat this adversary with respect and civility. See the fifty-fourth Epistle of the tenth book of Symmachus. In the form and disposition of his ten books of Epistles, he imitated the younger Pliny; whose rich and florid style he was supposed, by his friends, to equal or excel, (Macrob. Saturnal. l. v. c. i.) But the luxcriancy of Symmachus consists of barren leaves, without fruits, and even without flowers. Few facts, and few sentiments, can be extracted from his verbose correspondence. See Ambrose, (tom. ii. Epist. xvii. xviii. p. 825 - 833.) The former of these epistles is a short caution; the latter is a formal reply of the petition or libel of Symmachus. The same ideas are more copiously expressed in the poetry, if it may deserve that name, of Prudentius; who composed his two books against Symmachus (A.D. 404) while that senator was still alive. It is whimsical enough that Montesquieu (Considerations, etc. c. xix. tom. iii. p. 487) should overlook the two professed antagonists of Symmachus, and amuse himself with descanting on the more remote and indirect confutations of Orosius, St.

Augustin, and Salvian. See Prudentius (in Symmach. l. i. 545, etc.) The Christian agrees with the Pagan Zosimus (l. iv. p. 283) in placing this visit of Theodosius after the second civil war, gemini bis victor caede Tyranni, (l. i. 410.) But the time and circumstances are better suited to his first triumph. M. Beugnot (in his Histoire de la Destruction du Paganisme en Occident, i. p. 483 - 488) questions, altogether, the truth of this statement. It is very remarkable that Zosimus and Prudentius concur in asserting the fact of the question being solemnly deliberated by the senate, though with directly opposite results.

Zosimus declares that the majority of the assembly adhered to the ancient religion of Rome; Gibbon has adopted the authority of Prudentius, who, as a Latin writer, though a poet, deserves more credit than the Greek historian. Both concur in placing this scene after the second triumph of Theodosius; but it has been almost demonstrated (and Gibbon - see the preceding note - seems to have acknowledged this) by Pagi and Tillemont, that Theodosius did not visit Rome after the defeat of Eugenius. M.

Beugnot urges, with much force, the improbability that the Christian emperor would submit such a question to the senate, whose authority was nearly obsolete, except on one occasion, which was almost hailed as an epoch in the restoration of her ancient privileges. The silence of Ambrose and of Jerom on an event so striking, and redounding so much to the honor of Christianity, is of considerable weight. M. Beugnot would ascribe the whole scene to the poetic imagination of Prudentius; but I must observe, that, however Prudentius is sometimes elevated by the grandeur of his subject to vivid and eloquent language, this flight of invention would be so much bolder and more vigorous than usual with this poet, that I cannot but suppose there must have been some foundation for the story, though it may have been exaggerated by the poet, or misrepresented by the historian. - M 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, cum pedibus, tum corde, frequentia transit.

Zosimus ascribes to the conscript feathers a heathenish courage, which few of them are found to possess. Jerom specifies the pontiff Albinus, who was surrounded with such a believing family of children and grandchildren, as would have been sufficient to convert even Jupiter himself; an extraordinary proselyted (tom. i. ad Laetam, p. 54.) Exultare Patres videas, pulcherrima mundi Lumina; Conciliumque senum gestire Catonum Candidiore toga niveum pietatis amictum Sumere; et exuvias deponere pontificales.

The fancy of Prudentius is warmed and elevated by victory Prudentius, after he has described the conversion of the senate and people, asks, with some truth and confidence, Et dubitamus adhuc Romam, tibi, Christe, dicatam In leges transisse tuas? Jerom exults in the desolation of the Capitol, and the other temples of Rome, (tom. i. p. 54, tom. ii. p. 95.) M. Beugnot is more correct in his general estimate of the measures enforced by Theodosius for the abolition of Paganism.

He seized (according to Zosimus) the funds bestowed by the public for the expense of sacrifices. The public sacrifices ceased, not because they were positively prohibited, but because the public treasury would no longer bear the expense.

The public and the private sacrifices in the provinces, which were not under the same regulations with those of the capital, continued to take place. In Rome itself, many pagan ceremonies, which were without sacrifice, remained in full force. The gods, therefore, were invoked, the temples were frequented, the pontificates inscribed, according to ancient usage, among the family titles of honor; and it cannot be asserted that idolatry was completely destroyed by Theodosius.

See Beugnot, p. 491. - M. Libanius (Orat. pro Templis, p. 10, Genev. 1634, published by James Godefroy, and now extremely scarce) accuses Valentinian and Valens of prohibiting sacrifices. Some partial order may have been issued by the Eastern emperor; but the idea of any general law is contradicted by the silence of the Code, and the evidence of ecclesiastical history. See in Reiske’s edition of Libanius, tom. ii. p. 155. Sacrific was prohibited by Valens, but not the offering of incense. - M. See his laws in the Theodosian Code, l. xvi. tit. x. leg. 7 - 11. Homer’s sacrifices are not accompanied with any inquisition of entrails, (see Feithius, Antiquitat. Homer. l. i. c. 10, 16.) The Tuscans, who produced the first Haruspices, subdued both the Greeks and the Romans, (Cicero de Divinatione, ii. 23.) Zosimus, l. iv. p. 245, 249. Theodoret. l. v. c. 21. Idatius in Chron. Prosper. Aquitan. l. iii. c. 38, apud Baronium, Annal.

Eccles. A.D. 389, No. 52. Libanius (pro Templis, p. 10) labors to prove that the commands of Theodosius were not direct and positive. Libanius appears to be the best authority for the East, where, under Theodosius, the work of devastation was carried on with very different degrees of violence, according to the temper of the local authorities and of the clergy; and more especially the neighborhood of the more fanatican monks.

Neander well observes, that the prohibition of sacrifice would be easily misinterpreted into an authority for the destruction of the buildings in which sacrifices were performed. (Geschichte der Christlichen religion ii. p. 156.) An abuse of this kind led to this remarkable oration of Libanius. Neander, however, justly doubts whether this bold vindication or at least exculpation, of Paganism was ever delivered before, or even placed in the hands of the Christian emperor. - M. Cod. Theodos, l. xvi. tit. x. leg. 8, 18. There is room to believe, that this temple of Edessa, which Theodosius wished to save for civil uses, was soon afterwards a heap of ruins, (Libanius pro Templis, p. 26, 27, and Godefroy’s notes, p. 59.) See this curious oration of Libanius pro Templis, pronounced, or rather composed, about the year 390. I have consulted, with advantage, Dr. Lardner’s version and remarks, (Heathen Testimonies, vol. iv. p. 135 - 163.) See the Life of Martin by Sulpicius Severus, c. 9 - 14. The saint once mistook (as Don Quixote might have done) a harmless funeral for an idolatrous procession, and imprudently committed a miracle. Compare Sozomen, (l. vii. c. 15) with Theodoret, (l. v. c. 21.)

Between them, they relate the crusade and death of Marcellus. Libanius, pro Templis, p. 10 - 13. He rails at these blackgarbed men, the Christian monks, who eat more than elephants.

Poor elephants! they are temperate animals. Prosper. Aquitan. l. iii. c. 38, apud Baronium; Annal. Eccles.

A.D. 389, No. 58, etc. The temple had been shut some time, and the access to it was overgrown with brambles. Donatus, Roma Antiqua et Nova, l. iv. c. 4, p. 468. This consecration was performed by Pope Boniface IV. I am ignorant of the favorable circumstances which had preserved the Pantheon above two hundred years after the reign of Theodosius. Sophronius composed a recent and separate history, (Jerom, in Script. Eccles. tom. i. p. 303,) which has furnished materials to Socrates, (l. v. c. 16.) Theodoret, (l. v. c. 22,) and Rufinus, (l. ii. c. 22.) Yet the last, who had been at Alexandria before and after the event, may deserve the credit of an original witness. Gerard Vossius (Opera, tom. v. p. 80, and de Idoloaltria, l. i. c. 29) strives to support the strange notion of the Fathers; that the patriarch Joseph was adored in Egypt, as the bull Apis, and the god Serapis. Consult du Dieu Serapis et son Origine, par J D.

Guigniaut, (the translator of Creuzer’s Symbolique,) Paris, 1828; and in the fifth volume of Bournouf’s translation of Tacitus. - M. Origo dei nondum nostris celebrata. Aegyptiorum antistites sic memorant, etc., Tacit. Hist. iv. 83. The Greeks, who had travelled into Egypt, were alike ignorant of this new deity. Macrobius, Saturnal, l. i. c. 7. Such a living fact decisively proves his foreign extraction. At Rome, Isis and Serapis were united in the same temple. The precedency which the queen assumed, may seem to betray her unequal alliance with the stranger of Pontus. But the superiority of the female sex was established in Egypt as a civil and religious institution, (Diodor. Sicul. tom. i. l. i. p. 31, edit.

Wesseling,) and the same order is observed in Plutarch’s Treatise of Isis and Osiris; whom he identifies with Serapis. Ammianus, (xxii. 16.) The Expositio totius Mundi, (p. 8, in Hudson’s Geograph. Minor. tom. iii.,) and Rufinus, (l. ii. c. 22,) celebrate the Serapeum, as one of the wonders of the world. See Memoires de l’Acad. des Inscriptions, tom. ix. p. 397 - 416. The old library of the Ptolemies was totally consumed in Caesar’s Alexandrian war. Marc Antony gave the whole collection of Pergamus (200,000 volumes) to Cleopatra, as the foundation of the new library of Alexandria. Libanius (pro Templis, p. 21) indiscreetly provokes his Christian masters by this insulting remark. We may choose between the date of Marcellinus (A.D. 389) or that of Prosper, ( A.D. 391.) Tillemont (Hist. des Emp. tom. v. p. 310, 756) prefers the former, and Pagi the latter. Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. xi. p. 441 - 500. The ambiguous situation of Theophilus - a saint, as the friend of Jerom a devil, as the enemy of Chrysostom - produces a sort of impartiality; yet, upon the whole, the balance is justly inclined against him. No doubt a temple of Osiris. St. Martin, iv 398 - M. Lardner (Heathen Testimonies, vol. iv. p. 411) has alleged beautiful passage from Suidas, or rather from Damascius, which show the devout and virtuous Olympius, not in the light of a warrior, but of a prophet. Nos vidimus armaria librorum, quibus direptis, exinanita ea a nostris hominibus, nostris temporibus memorant. Orosius, l. vi. c. 15, p. 421, edit. Havercamp. Though a bigot, and a controversial writer. Orosius seems to blush. Eunapius, in the Lives of Antoninus and Aedesius, execrates the sacrilegious rapine of Theophilus. Tillemont (Mem. Eccles. tom. xiii. p. 453) quotes an epistle of Isidore of Pelusium, which reproaches the primate with the idolatrous worship of gold, the auri sacra fames. An English traveller, Mr. Wilkinson, has discovered the secret of the vocal Memnon. There was a cavity in which a person was concealed, and struck a stone, which gave a ringing sound like brass. The Arabs, who stood below when Mr. Wilkinson performed the miracle, described sound just as the author of the epigram. WJv ca>lkoio tu>pentov - M. Rufinus names the priest of Saturn, who, in the character of the god, familiarly conversed with many pious ladies of quality, till he betrayed himself, in a moment of transport, when he could not disguise the tone of his voice. The authentic and impartial narrative of Aeschines, (see Bayle, Dictionnaire Critique, Scamandre,) and the adventure of Mudus, (Joseph. Antiquitat.

Judaic. l. xviii. c. 3, p. 877 edit. Havercamp,) may prove that such amorous frauds have been practised with success. See the images of Serapis, in Montfaucon, (tom. ii. p. 297:) but the description of Macrobius (Saturnal. l. i. c. 20) is much more picturesque and satisfactory. Sed fortes tremuere manus, motique verenda Majestate loci, si robora sacra ferirent In sua credebant redituras membra secures. (Lucan. iii. 429.) “Is it true,” (said Augustus to a veteran of Italy, at whose house he supped) “that the man who gave the first blow to the golden statue of Anaitis, was instantly deprived of his eyes, and of his life?” - “I was that man, (replied the clear-sighted veteran,) and you now sup on one of the legs of the goddess.” (Plin. Hist. Natur. xxxiii. 24) The history of the reformation affords frequent examples of the sudden change from superstition to contempt. Sozomen, l. vii. c. 20. I have supplied the measure. The same standard, of the inundation, and consequently of the cubit, has uniformly subsisted since the time of Herodotus. See Freret, in the Mem. de l’Academie des Inscriptions, tom. xvi. p. 344 - 353. Greaves’s Miscellaneous Works, vol. i. p. 233. The Egyptian cubit is about twenty- two inches of the English measure. Compare Wilkinson’s Thebes and Egypt, p. 313. - M. Libanius (pro Templis, p. 15, 16, 17) pleads their cause with gentle and insinuating rhetoric. From the earliest age, such feasts had enlivened the country: and those of Bacchus (Georgic. ii. 380) had produced the theatre of Athens. See Godefroy, ad loc. Liban. and Codex Theodos. tom. vi. p. 284. Honorius tolerated these rustic festivals, (A.D. 399.) “Absque ullo sacrificio, atque ulla superstitione damnabili.” But nine years afterwards he found it necessary to reiterate and enforce the same proviso, (Codex Theodos. l. xvi. tit. x. leg. 17, 19.) Cod. Theodos. l. xvi. tit. x. leg. 12. Jortin (Remarks on Eccles.

History, vol. iv. p. 134) censures, with becoming asperity, the style and sentiments of this intolerant law. Paganism maintained its ground for a considerable time in the rural districts. Endelechius, a poet who lived at the beginning of the fifth century, speaks of the cross as Signum quod perhibent esse crucis Dei, Magnis qui colitur solus inurbibus.

In the middle of the same century, Maximus, bishop of Turin, writes against the heathen deities as if their worship was still in full vigor in the neighborhood of his city. Augustine complains of the encouragement of the Pagan rites by heathen landowners; and Zeno of Verona, still later, reproves the apathy of the Christian proprietors in conniving at this abuse. (Compare Neander, ii. p. 169.) M. Beugnot shows that this was the case throughout the north and centre of Italy and in Sicily. But neither of these authors has adverted to one fact, which must have tended greatly to retard the progress of Christianity in these quarters. It was still chiefly a slave population which cultivated the soil; and however, in the towns, the better class of Christians might be eager to communicate “the blessed liberty of the gospel” to this class of mankind; however their condition could not but be silently ameliorated by the humanizing influence of Christianity; yet, on the whole, no doubt the servile class would be the least fitted to receive the gospel; and its general propagation among them would be embarrassed by many peculiar difficulties. The rural population was probably not entirely converted before the general establishment of the monastic institutions. Compare Quarterly Review of Beugnot. vol lvii. p. 52 - M. Such a charge should not be lightly made; but it may surely be justified by the authority of St. Augustin, who thus addresses the Donatists: “Quis nostrum, quis vestrum non laudat leges ab Imperatoribus datas adversus sacrificia Paganorum? Et certe longe ibi poera severior constituta est; illius quippe impietatis capitale supplicium est.” Epist. xciii. No. 10, quoted by Le Clerc, (Bibliotheque Choisie, tom. viii. p. 277,) who adds some judicious reflections on the intolerance of the victorious Christians. Yet Augustine, with laudable inconsistency, disapproved of the forcible demolition of the temples. “Let us first extirpate the idolatry of the hearts of the heathen, and they will either themselves invite us or anticipate us in the execution of this good work,” tom. v. p. 62. Compare Neander, ii. 169, and, in p. 155, a beautiful passage from Chrysostom against all violent means of propagating Christianity. - M. Orosius, l. vii. c. 28, p. 537. Augustin (Enarrat. in Psalm cxl apud Lardner, Heathen Testimonies, vol. iv. p. 458) insults their cowardice. “Quis eorum comprehensus est in sacrificio (cum his legibus sta prohiberentur) et non negavit?” Libanius (pro Templis, p. 17, 18) mentions, without censure the occasional conformity, and as it were theatrical play, of these hypocrites. Libanius concludes his apology (p. 32) by declaring to the emperor, that unless he expressly warrants the destruction of the temples, i]sqi tou>v tw~n ajgrw~n despo>tav kai> tw~| no>mw| bohqh>sontav the proprietors will defend themselves and the laws. Paulinus, in Vit. Ambros. c. 26. Augustin de Civitat. Dei, l. v. c. 26. Theodoret, l. v. c. 24. Libanius suggests the form of a persecuting edict, which Theodosius might enact, (pro Templis, p. 32;) a rash joke, and a dangerous experiment. Some princes would have taken his advice. The most remarkable instance of this, at a much later period, occurs in the person of Merobaudes, a general and a poet, who flourished in the first half of the fifth century. A statue in honor of Merobaudes was placed in the Forum of Trajan, of which the inscription is still extant. Fragments of his poems have been recovered by the industry and sagacity of Niebuhr. In one passage, Merobaudes, in the genuine heathen spirit, attributes the ruin of the empire to the abolition of Paganism, and almost renews the old accusation of Atheism against Christianity. He impersonates some deity, probably Discord, who summons Bellona to take arms for the destruction of Rome; and in a strain of fierce irony recommends to her other fatal measures, to extirpate the gods of Rome: - Roma, ipsique tremant furialia murmura reges.

Jam superos terris atque hospita numina pelle.

Romanos populare Deos, et nullus in aris Vestoe exoratoe fotus strue palleat ignis.

Ilis instructa dolis palatia celsa subibo; Majorum mores, et pectora prisca fugabo Funditus; atque simul, nullo discrimine rerum, Spernantur fortes, nec sic reverentia justis.

Attica neglecto pereat facundia Phoebo:

Indignis contingat honos, et pondera rerum; Non virtus sed casus agat; tristique cupido, Pectoribus saevi demens furor aestuet aevi; Omniaque hoec sine mente Jovis, sine numine sumimo.

Merobaudes in Niebuhr’s edit. of the Byzantines, p. 14. - M. Denique pro meritis terrestribus aequa rependens Munera, sacricolis summos impertit honores..

Dux bonus, et certare sinit cum laude suorum, Nec pago implicitos per debita culmina mundi Ire viros prohibet.

Ipse magistratum tibi consulis, ipse tribunal Contulit. — Prudent. in Symmach. i. 617, etc.

I have inserted some lines omitted by Gibbon. - M. Libanius (pro Templis, p. 32) is proud that Theodosius should thus distinguish a man, who even in his presence would swear by Jupiter. Yet this presence seems to be no more than a figure of rhetoric. Zosimus, who styles himself Count and Ex-advocate of the Treasury, reviles, with partial and indecent bigotry, the Christian princes, and even the father of his sovereign. His work must have been privately circulated, since it escaped the invectives of the ecclesiastical historians prior to Evagrius, (l. iii. c. 40 - 42,) who lived towards the end of the sixth century.

Heyne in his Disquisitio in Zosimum Ejusque Fidem. places Zosimum towards the close of the fifth century. Zosim. Heynii, p. xvii. - M. Yet the Pagans of Africa complained, that the times would not allow them to answer with freedom the City of God; nor does St. Augustin (v. 26) deny the charge. The Moors of Spain, who secretly preserved the Mahometan religion above a century, under the tyranny of the Inquisition, possessed the Koran, with the peculiar use of the Arabic tongue. See the curious and honest story of their expulsion in Geddes, (Miscellanies, vol. i. p. 1 - 198.) Paganos qui supersunt, quanquam jam nullos esse credamus, etc. Cod. Theodos. l. xvi. tit. x. leg. 22, A.D. 423. The younger Theodosius was afterwards satisfied, that his judgment had been somewhat premature. The statement of Gibbon is much too strongly worded. M. Beugnot has traced the vestiges of Paganism in the West, after this period, in monuments and inscriptions with curious industry. Compare likewise note, p. 112, on the more tardy progress of Christianity in the rural districts. - M. See Eunapius, in the Life of the sophist Aedesius; in that of Eustathius he foretells the ruin of Paganism. Kai< ti muqw~dev kai> ajeidetov turannh>sei ta> ejpi< gh~v ka>llista. Caius, (apud Euseb. Hist. Eccles. l. ii. c. 25,) a Roman presbyter, who lived in the time of Zephyrinus, (A.D. 202 - 219,) is an early witness of this superstitious practice. Chrysostom. Quod Christus sit Deus. Tom. i. nov. edit. No. 9. I am indebted for this quotation to Benedict the XIVth’s pastoral letter on the Jubilee of the year 1759. See the curious and entertaining letters of M. Chais, tom. iii. Male facit ergo Romanus episcopus? qui, super mortuorum hominum, Petri & Pauli, secundum nos, ossa veneranda ... offeri Domino sacrificia, et tumulos eorum, Christi arbitratur altaria. Jerom. tom. ii. advers. Vigilant. p. 183. Jerom (tom. ii. p. 122) bears witness to these translations, which are neglected by the ecclesiastical historians. The passion of St. Andrew at Patrae is described in an epistle from the clergy of Achaia, which Baronius (Annal. Eccles. A.D. 60, No. 34) wishes to believe, and Tillemont is forced to reject. St.

Andrew was adopted as the spiritual founder of Constantinople, (Mem. Eccles. tom. i. p. 317 - 323, 588 - 594.) Jerom (tom. ii. p. 122) pompously describes the translation of Samuel, which is noticed in all the chronicles of the times. The presbyter Vigilantius, the Protestant of his age, firmly, though ineffectually, withstood the superstition of monks, relics, saints, fasts, etc., for which Jerom compares him to the Hydra, Cerberus, the Centaurs, etc., and considers him only as the organ of the Daemon, (tom. ii. p. 120 - 126.) Whoever will peruse the controversy of St. Jerom and Vigilantius, and St.

Augustin’s account of the miracles of St. Stephen, may speedily gain some idea of the spirit of the Fathers. M. de Beausobre (Hist. du Manicheisme, tom. ii. p. 648) has applied a worldly sense to the pious observation of the clergy of Smyrna, who carefully preserved the relics of St. Polycarp the martyr. Martin of Tours (see his Life, c. 8, by Sulpicius Severus) extorted this confession from the mouth of the dead man. The error is allowed to be natural; the discovery is supposed to be miraculous. Which of the two was likely to happen most frequently? Lucian composed in Greek his original narrative, which has been translated by Avitus, and published by Baronius, (Annal.

Eccles. A.D. 415, No. 7 - 16.) The Benedictine editors of St.

Augustin have given (at the end of the work de Civitate Dei) two several copies, with many various readings. It is the character of falsehood to be loose and inconsistent. The most incredible parts of the legend are smoothed and softened by Tillemont, (Mem. Eccles. tom. ii. p. 9, etc.) A phial of St. Stephen’s blood was annually liquefied at Naples, till he was superseded by St. Jamarius, (Ruinart. Hist. Persecut.

Vandal p. 529.) Augustin composed the two-and-twenty books de Civitate Dei in the space of thirteen years, A.D. 413 - 426. (Tillemont, (Mem. Eccles. tom. xiv. p. 608, etc.) His learning is too often borrowed, and his arguments are too often his own; but the whole work claims the merit of a magnificent design, vigorously, and not unskilfully, executed. See Augustin de Civitat. Dei, l. xxii. c. 22, and the Appendix, which contains two books of St. Stephen’s miracles, by Evodius, bishop of Uzalis. Freculphus (apud Basnage, Hist. des Juifs, tom. vii. p. 249) has preserved a Gallic or a Spanish proverb, “Whoever pretends to have read all the miracles of St.

Stephen, he lies.” Burnet (de Statu Mortuorum, p. 56 - 84) collects the opinions of the Fathers, as far as they assert the sleep, or repose, of human souls till the day of judgment. He afterwards exposes (p. 91, etc.) the inconveniences which must arise, if they possessed a more active and sensible existence. Vigilantius placed the souls of the prophets and martyrs, either in the bosom of Abraham, (in loco refrigerii,) or else under the altar of God. Nec posse suis tumulis et ubi voluerunt adesse praesentes. But Jerom (tom. ii. p. 122) sternly refutes this blasphemy. Tu Deo leges pones? Tu apostolis vincula injicies, ut usque ad diem judicii teneantur custodia, nec sint cum Domino suo; de quibus scriptum est, Sequuntur Agnum quocunque vadit. Si Agnus ubique, ergo, et hi, qui cum Agno sunt, ubique esse credendi sunt. Et cum diabolus et daemones tote vagentur in orbe, etc. Fleury Discours sur l’Hist. Ecclesiastique, iii p. 80. At Minorca, the relics of St. Stephen converted, in eight days, 540 Jews; with the help, indeed, of some wholesome severities, such as burning the synagogue, driving the obstinate infidels to starve among the rocks, etc. See the original letter of Severus, bishop of Minorca (ad calcem St. Augustin. de Civ. Dei,) and the judicious remarks of Basnage, (tom. viii. p. 245 - 251.) Mr. Hume (Essays, vol. ii. p. 434) observes, like a philosopher, the natural flux and reflux of polytheism and theism. D’Aubigne (see his own Memoires, p. 156 - 160) frankly offered, with the consent of the Huguenot ministers, to allow the first 400 years as the rule of faith. The Cardinal du Perron haggled for forty years more, which were indiscreetly given.

Yet neither party would have found their account in this foolish bargain. The worship practised and inculcated by Tertullian, Lactantius Arnobius, etc., is so extremely pure and spiritual, that their declamations against the Pagan sometimes glance against the Jewish, ceremonies. Faustus the Manichaean accuses the Catholics of idolatry.

Vertitis idola in martyres .... quos votis similibus colitis. M. de Beausobre, (Hist. Critique du Manicheisme, tom. ii. p. 629 - 700,) a Protestant, but a philosopher, has represented, with candor and learning, the introduction of Christian idolatry in the fourth and fifth centuries. The resemblance of superstition, which could not be imitated, might be traced from Japan to Mexico. Warburton has seized this idea, which he distorts, by rendering it too general and absolute, (Divine Legation, vol. iv. p. 126, etc.) The imitation of Paganism is the subject of Dr. Middleton’s agreeable letter from Rome. Warburton’s animadversions obliged him to connect (vol. iii. p. 120 - 132,) the history of the two religions, and to prove the antiquity of the Christian copy. But there was always this important difference between Christian and heathen Polytheism. In Paganism this was the whole religion; in the darkest ages of Christianity, some, however obscure and vague, Christian notions of future retribution, of the life after death, lurked at the bottom, and operated, to a certain extent, on the thoughts and feelings, sometimes on the actions. - M.

CHAPTER - Alecto, envious of the public felicity, convenes an infernal synod Megaera recommends her pupil Rufinus, and excites him to deeds of mischief, etc. But there is as much difference between Claudian’s fury and that of Virgil, as between the characters of Turnus and Rufinus. It is evident, (Tillemont, Hist. des Emp. tom. v. p. 770,) though De Marca is ashamed of his countryman, that Rufinus was born at Elusa, the metropolis of Novempopulania, now a small village of Gassony, (D’Anville, Notice de l’Ancienne Gaule, p. 289.) Philostorgius, l. xi c. 3, with Godefroy’s Dissert. p. 440. A passage of Suidas is expressive of his profound dissimulation.

Baqugnw>mwn e]nqrwpov kai< kruyi>nouv. Zosimus, l. iv. p. 272, 273. Zosimus, who describes the fall of Tatian and his son, (l. iv. p. 273, 274,) asserts their innocence; and even his testimony may outweigh the charges of their enemies, (Cod. Theod. tom. iv. p. 489,) who accuse them of oppressing the Curiae. The connection of Tatian with the Arians, while he was praefect of Egypt, (A.D. 373,) inclines Tillemont to believe that he was guilty of every crime, (Hist. des Emp. tom. v. p. 360. Mem.

Eccles. tom vi. p. 589.) —Juvenum rorantia colla Ante patrum vultus stricta cecidere securi.

Ibat grandaevus nato moriente superstes Post trabeas exsul. — In Rufin. i. 248.

The facts of Zosimus explain the allusions of Claudian; but his classic interpreters were ignorant of the fourth century. The fatal cord, I found, with the help of Tillemont, in a sermon of St. Asterius of Amasea. This odious law is recited and repealed by Arcadius, (A.D. 296,) on the Theodosian Code, l. ix. tit. xxxviii. leg. 9. The sense as it is explained by Claudian, (in Rufin. i. 234,) and Godefroy, (tom. iii. p. 279,) is perfectly clear. — Exscindere cives Funditus; et nomen gentis delere laborat.

The scruples of Pagi and Tillemont can arise only from their zeal for the glory of Theodosius. Ammonius .... Rufinum propriis manibus suscepit sacro fonte mundatum. See Rosweyde’s Vitae Patrum, p. 947. Sozomen (l. viii. c. 17) mentions the church and monastery; and Tillemont (Mem. Eccles. tom. ix. p. 593) records this synod, in which St.

Gregory of Nyssa performed a conspicuous part. Montesquieu (Esprit des Loix, l. xii. c. 12) praises one of the laws of Theodosius addressed to the praefect Rufinus, (l. ix. tit. iv. leg. unic.,) to discourage the prosecution of treasonable, or sacrilegious, words. A tyrannical statute always proves the existence of tyranny; but a laudable edict may only contain the specious professions, or ineffectual wishes, of the prince, or his ministers. This, I am afraid, is a just, though mortifying, canon of criticism. — fluctibus auri Expleri sitis ista nequit — Congestae cumulantur opes; orbisque ruinas Accipit una domus.

This character (Claudian, in. Rufin. i. 184 - 220) is confirmed by Jerom, a disinterested witness, (dedecus insatiabilis avaritiae, tom. i. ad Heliodor. p. 26,) by Zosimus, (l. v. p. 286,) and by Suidas, who copied the history of Eunapius. Caetera segnis; Ad facinus velox; penitus regione remotas Impiger ire vias.

This allusion of Claudian (in Rufin. i. 241) is again explained by the circumstantial narrative of Zosimus, (l. v. p. 288, 289.) Zosimus (l. iv. p. 243) praises the valor, prudence, and integrity of Bauto the Frank. See Tillemont, Hist. des Empereurs, tom. v. p. 771. Arsenius escaped from the palace of Constantinople, and passed fifty-five years in rigid penance in the monasteries of Egypt. See Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. xiv. p. 676 - 702; and Fleury, Hist Eccles. tom. v. p. 1, etc.; but the latter, for want of authentic materials, has given too much credit to the legend of Metaphrastes. This story (Zosimus, l. v. p. 290) proves that the hymeneal rites of antiquity were still practised, without idolatry, by the Christians of the East; and the bride was forcibly conducted from the house of her parents to that of her husband. Our form of marriage requires, with less delicacy, the express and public consent of a virgin. Zosimus, (l. v. p. 290,) Orosius, (l. vii. c. 37,) and the Chronicle of Marcellinus. Claudian (in Rufin. ii. 7 - 100) paints, in lively colors, the distress and guilt of the praefect. Stilicho, directly or indirectly, is the perpetual theme of Claudian. The youth and private life of the hero are vaguely expressed in the poem on his first consulship, 35 - 140. Vandalorum, imbellis, avarae, perfidae, et dolosae, gentis, genere editus. Orosius, l. vii. c. 38. Jerom (tom. i. ad Gerontiam, p. 93) call him a Semi-Barbarian. Claudian, in an imperfect poem, has drawn a fair, perhaps a flattering, portrait of Serena. That favorite niece of Theodosius was born, as well as here sister Thermantia, in Spain; from whence, in their earliest youth, they were honorably conducted to the palace of Constantinople. Some doubt may be entertained, whether this adoption was legal or only metaphorical, (see Ducange, Fam. Byzant. p. 75.)

An old inscription gives Stilicho the singular title of Pro-gener Divi Theodosius Claudian (Laus Serenae, 190, 193) expresses, in poetic language “the dilectus equorum,” and the “gemino mox idem culmine duxit agmina.” The inscription adds, “count of the domestics,” an important command, which Stilicho, in the height of his grandeur, might prudently retain. The beautiful lines of Claudian (in i. Cons. Stilich. ii. 113) displays his genius; but the integrity of Stilicho (in the military administration) is much more firmly established by the unwilling evidence of Zosimus, (l. v. p. 345.) — Si bellica moles Ingrueret, quamvis annis et jure minori, Cedere grandaevos equitum peditumque magistros Adspiceres. — Claudian, Laus Seren. p. 196, etc.

A modern general would deem their submission either heroic patriotism or abject servility. Compare the poem on the first consulship (i. 95 - 115) with the Laus Serenoe (227 - 237, where it unfortunately breaks off.)

We may perceive the deep, inveterate malice of Rufinus. — Quem fratribus ipse Discedens, clypeum defensoremque dedisti.

Yet the nomination (iv. Cons. Hon. 432) was private, (iii. Cons.

Hon. 142,) cunctos discedere ... jubet; and may therefore be suspected. Zosimus and Suidas apply to Stilicho and Rufinus the same equal title of /Epi>tropoi guardians, or procurators. The Roman law distinguishes two sorts of minority, which expired at the age of fourteen, and of twenty-five. The one was subject to the tutor, or guardian, of the person; the other, to the curator, or trustee, of the estate, (Heineccius, Antiquitat. Rom. ad Jurisprudent. pertinent. l. i. tit. xxii. xxiii. p. 218 - 232.) But these legal ideas were never accurately transferred into the constitution of an elective monarchy. See Claudian, (i. Cons. Stilich. i. 188 - 242;) but he must allow more than fifteen days for the journey and return between Milan and Leyden. I. Cons. Stilich. ii. 88 - 94. Not only the robes and diadems of the deceased emperor, but even the helmets, sword-hilts, belts, rasses, etc., were enriched with pearls, emeralds, and diamonds. Tantoque remoto Principe, mutatas orbis non sensit habenas.

This high commendation (i. Cons. Stil. i. 149) may be justified by the fears of the dying emperor, (de Bell. Gildon. 292 - 301;) and the peace and good order which were enjoyed after his death, (i. Cons. Stil i. 150 - 168.) Stilicho’s march, and the death of Rufinus, are described by Claudian, (in Rufin. l. ii. 101 - 453,) Zosimus, l. v. p. 296, 297,) Sozomen (l. viii. c. 1,) Socrates, (l. vi. c. 1,) Philostorgius, (l. xi c. 3, with Godefory, p. 441,) and the Chronicle of Marcellinus. The dissection of Rufinus, which Claudian performs with the savage coolness of an anatomist, (in Rufin. ii. 405 - 415,) is likewise specified by Zosimus and Jerom, (tom. i. p. 26.) The Pagan Zosimus mentions their sanctuary and pilgrimage.

The sister of Rufinus, Sylvania, who passed her life at Jerusalem, is famous in monastic history. 1. The studious virgin had diligently, and even repeatedly, perused the commentators on the Bible, Origen, Gregory, Basil, etc., to the amount of five millions of lines. 2. At the age of threescore, she could boast, that she had never washed her hands, face, or any part of her whole body, except the tips of her fingers to receive the communion. See the Vitae Patrum, p. 779, 977. See the beautiful exordium of his invective against Rufinus, which is curiously discussed by the sceptic Bayle, Dictionnaire Critique, Rufin. Not. E. See the Theodosian Code, l. ix. tit. xlii. leg. 14, 15. The new ministers attempted, with inconsistent avarice, to seize the spoils of their predecessor, and to provide for their own future security. See Claudian, (i. Cons. Stilich, l. i. 275, 292, 296, l. ii. 83,) and Zosimus, (l. v. p. 302.) Claudian turns the consulship of the eunuch Eutropius into a national reflection, (l. ii. 134): - — Plaudentem cerne senatum, Et Byzantinos proceres Graiosque Quirites:

O patribus plebes, O digni consule patres.

It is curious to observe the first symptoms of jealousy and schism between old and new Rome, between the Greeks and Latins. Claudian may have exaggerated the vices of Gildo; but his Moorish extraction, his notorious actions, and the complaints of St. Augustin, may justify the poet’s invectives. Baronius (Annal. Eccles. A.D. 398, No. 35 - 56) has treated the African rebellion with skill and learning. Instat terribilis vivis, morientibus haeres, Virginibus raptor, thalamis obscoenus adulter.

Nulla quies: oritur praeda cessante libido, Divitibusque dies, et nox metuenda maritis.

Mauris clarissima quaeque, Fastidita datur. — De Bello Gildonico, 165, 189.

Baronius condemns, still more severely, the l