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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/32451-0.txt b/32451-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..71eb807 --- /dev/null +++ b/32451-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11036 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Women of Early Christianity, by +Alfred Brittain and Mitchell Carroll + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Women of Early Christianity + Woman: In all ages and in all countries, Vol. 3 (of 10) + +Author: Alfred Brittain + Mitchell Carroll + +Release Date: May 20, 2010 [EBook #32451] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WOMEN OF EARLY CHRISTIANITY *** + + + + +Produced by Rénald Lévesque + + + + + + +_WOMAN_ + +VOLUME III + +_WOMEN OF EARLY CHRISTIANITY_ + +BY + +Rev. ALFRED BRITTAIN and MITCHELL CARROLL, Ph.D. + +WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY +J. CULLEN AYER, Jr., Ph.D. +OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY + + + + + [Illustration 1: _SEEKING SHELTER After the painting by Luc + Oliver Merson + + Notwithstanding all that is said in these ancient writings in + the attempt to do her honor, we must conclude that the glory of + the halo which beautifies the head of the real Mary is derived + by reflection from the moral splendor of her Son.... We need + such a poetic creation as Mary; and her place at the head of all + the daughters of earth is the more secure and effective because + her figure in authentic history is but a shadowy outline. The + ideal woman whom all mankind loves and reverences as Virgin, + Mother, and Saint, is objectified by concentrating in Mary of + Nazareth all possible feminine grace, beauty, and purity._] + + + + +_Woman_ + +_In all ages and in all countries_ + + +_VOLUME III_ + + + +_WOMEN OF EARLY CHRISTIANITY_ + +BY + +Rev. ALFRED BRITTAIN +AND +MITCHELL CARROLL, Ph. D. + +WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY +J. CULLEN AYER, Jr., Ph. D. +_Of Harvard University_ + + +_ILLUSTRATED_ + + +_PHILADELPHIA +GEORGE BARRIE & SONS, Publishers_ + + + +COPYRIGHT, 1907, BY GEORGE BARRIE & SONS + +Entered at Stationers' Hall, London + + + + +INTRODUCTION + +WHEN the historian has described the rise and fall of empires and +dynasties, and has recounted with care and exactness the details of the +great political movements that have changed the map of continents, there +remains the question: What was the cause of these revolutions in human +society--what were the real motives that were operative in the hearts +and minds of the persons in the great drama of history that has been +displayed? The mere chain of events as they have passed before the eye +as it surveys the centuries does not give an explanation of itself. +There must be a cause that lies behind these events, and of which they +are but the effects. This cause, the true cause of history, lies in the +minds and hearts of the men and nations. The student of the past is +coming more and more to see that the only hope of making history a +science, and not a mere chronicle, is to be found in the clear +ascertainment and study of those psychological conditions which have +made actions what they were. Foremost among those conditions have been +the hopes, aspirations and ideals of men and women. These have been the +greatest motive forces in the history of the world. These, quite as much +as merely selfish considerations, have guided the conduct of the men who +have made history, not merely those who have been leaders in the great +movements of society, but the multitude of followers who have not +attracted the attention of historians, but have, nevertheless, given the +strength and force to the revolutions of the world. + +The deepest interest in the history of Christian women lies in the way +in which woman's status in society has been modified by the new +religion. The chronicle of saintly life and deeds is a part of that +history. But there are, also, women who have signally failed to attain +those virtues for which their religion called. These, too, have their +place, for both have either forwarded or retarded the realization of +woman's place in society. Often the heathen spirit is but half concealed +under the mask of Christianity. But the whole tone of society has been +changed, nevertheless, by the ideas and ideals which that religion +brought before men's minds in a new and vivid manner. + +The position of woman has been more influenced by Christianity than by +any other religion. This is not because there have not been noble +sentiments expressed by non-Christian writers; for among the rabbinical +writers, for instance, are many fine sentiments that could have come +only from men who clearly perceived the place of woman in an ideal human +society. Nor because in Christianity there have not been men whose +conception of woman was more suitable to the adherents of those faiths +that have regarded her as a thing unclean. But from the very nature of +the appeal which Christianity has made to the world, the place of woman +in society has been changed. The new faith appealed to all mankind in +the name of the humanity which the Son of God had assumed, and +consequently it was forced to treat men and women as on a spiritual +equality. It was forced by the natural desire for consistency to break +down any barriers that might keep one-half of the human race from the +full realization of the possibilities of their natures, which were made +in the image of God. It is in this relation of Christianity to the +world, quite as much as in the sayings and precepts of its Founder and +his Apostles, that has been found the ground for the great work of +Christianity in raising the position of women in the world. + +Christianity should in this respect be compared with the other religions +that have attained prominence. Among those that were national religions, +there has been no appeal to the world in general. They were bound up +with the race, and their adherents were those of the race or nation in +which they were to be found. Such religions have made no appeal to the +individual. They had no propaganda. They did not extend to other +nations. They were essentially national. In them there was no place for +women. The father of the household represented his family, and although +women had certain duties in connection with the household worship, it +was only because they were under the power of some men. This is true of +the religions of India, China, and the ancient religions of the Semitic +race. In two of the great world-religions, those centring on Mahomet and +Buddha, there has been no place for women as such. These religions are +primarily the religion of men. But in the case of Christianity, the +appeal has been to every human being, merely because of the human +element. If there were to be no distinction on account of race or social +condition, still less was there on account of sex. Male and female were +alike in Christ. The Christian must be a believer for himself--the faith +of no one else could serve for him. Marriage made no difference in the +religious position of anyone. Such sentiments applied day after day in +the course of the world's life could not remain without their effect, +and the change wrought by them has been profound and lasting. + +That there has not yet been the full realization of the ideal of +Christianity in the matter of the position of woman in society is no +stranger than the non-realization of the ideals of that or any other +faith. The eternal ideas of right are sometimes extremely slow in their +operation. The forces they have to overcome are strongly intrenched. But +slow as may seem the progress, the power of right steadily gains and the +temporary success of evil is soon past. The ways in which the triumph of +the Christian ideal has been brought nearer have been at times very +varied. At one time it may seem that the leaders in the cause of social +regeneration have been wholly blind to the full significance of the +faith they professed. Fantastic forms of asceticism have banished women +from the society of those who were trying to lead the perfect life. But +the more sympathetic study of the extravagances of religious enthusiasm +has been able to discover that even in ages in which ideals seemed to be +wholly opposed to those of latter ages, there has been the same +fundamental conception which has been constantly striving for +realization in the world. + +In the light of subsequent history, it appears fortunate that the +position of woman in the new society was not more fully and carefully +defined by the teachers of the new religion. If the early Christian +teachers had given their followers minute rules regulating their life +and conduct, there might easily have been a return to a legalism that +would have been disastrous for the new faith. Even the few regulations +that are to be found in connection with matters of order and discipline +in the Apostolic Church, so far as they have concerned women, have been +frequently misunderstood and misapplied. They have been made of lasting +obligation by many, rather than considered as the expression for the +times and circumstances in which the early Church was placed, of +principles of propriety which might be very different from, if not +indeed contrary to, the sentiments of another age. But by leaving the +whole question open, with but a very few exceptions, the great working +out of the freedom of the new faith was possible. Woman has been +recognized by the world as man's helpmate. She is not his toy or his +slave, but a sharer with him in the highest privileges of human nature. +An appreciation of the tremendous responsibilities that have been put +upon her by the fact of her womanhood has not separated her from man, +but both are seen standing side by side in the New Kingdom. + + JOSEPH CULLEN AYER, JR. + +_Episcopal Theological School, Cambridge._ + + + + +PREFACE + +Christianity introduced a new moral epoch in the course of human +history. Its effect was necessarily transforming upon those who came +under its sway. Being cosmopolitan in its nature, we have now to study +woman as being somewhat dissociated from racial type and national +manner, and we shall seek to ascertain how she met and was modified by +Christian conditions. These had a larger effect upon her life than upon +that of man; for, by its nature, Christianity gave an opening for the +higher possibilities of her being of which the old religions took little +account. In the realm of the spiritual, it, for the first time, assented +to her equality with man. That the women of the first Christian +centuries submitted themselves to the influence of that religion in a +varying degree, the following pages will abundantly show. And it will be +seen that in the many instances where the Christian doctrine was not +permitted to dominate the life, the dissimilarity of those women from +their prototypes in former heathendom is correspondingly lessened. While +it is not possible to treat this subject without illustrating the +above-mentioned fact, the authors beg to remind the reader that this is +distinctively a historical and not a religious work. Though, under other +circumstances, they would be very willing to state positive views in +regard to many questions herein suggested, it is not within the province +of this book to defend or refute any religious institution. The aim is +solely and impartially to represent the life of the Christian women of +the first ages. + +Though this is a work of collaboration, Mr. Brittain is solely +responsible for the part of the book treating of the women of the +Western Roman Empire, and Mr. Carroll is solely responsible for that +discussing the women of the Eastern Roman and Byzantine Empires. +Differences of personal characteristics, based upon dissimilarity of +national temperament, reveal themselves in these women of Rome and +Constantinople, but the Christian principle, through its transforming +and elevating influence on the lives of pagan women, gives unity to the +volume, and presents a type of womanhood far superior to any that had up +to this time been produced by the Orient or early Greece or ancient +Rome. + + ALFRED BRITTAIN, + MITCHELL CARROLL. + + + + +PART FIRST + +WOMEN OF THE WESTERN EMPIRE + + + + +I + +THE WOMEN OF THE GOSPEL NARRATIVE + + +The study of the early Christian women takes up a phase of the history +of woman which is peculiar to itself. It is, in a sense and to a degree, +out of historical sequence. It deals with a subject in which ideas and +spiritual forces, rather than the effect of racial development, are +brought into view. It presents difficulties all its own, for the reason +that not only historical facts about which there can be no contention +must be mentioned, but also theories of a more or less controversial +nature. We shall endeavor, however, as far as is possible, to confine +ourselves to the recapitulation of well-authenticated historical +developments and to a dispassionate portrayal of those feminine +characters who participated in and were influenced by the new doctrines +of early Christianity. + +In writing of the women who were the contemporaries and the +acquaintances of the Founder of Christianity the difficulty is very +greatly enhanced by the fact that everything related to the subject is +not only regarded as sacred, but is also enshrined in preconceptions +which are held by the majority of people with jealous partiality. Our +source of information is almost exclusively the Bible; and to deal with +Scriptural facts with the same impartiality with which one deals with +the narrative of common history is well-nigh impossible. There are few +persons who are exempt from a prejudicial leaning, either in favor of +the supernatural importance of every Scriptural detail or in opposition +to those claims which are commonly based upon the Gospel history. We +hear of the Bible being studied merely as literature, a method most +highly advantageous to a fair understanding of its meaning and purport, +but possible only to some imaginary, educated person, unacquainted with +the Christian religion and totally unequipped with theological +conceptions. That which is true of the Bible as literature is also +applicable to the Scripture considered as history. + +Yet we shall endeavor to bear in mind that we are not writing a +religious book, and that this is not a treatise on Church history; it is +ordinary history and must be written in ordinary methods. Consequently, +in order to do this subject justice and to treat it rightly, we must +endeavor to remove the women mentioned in the Gospels as far as possible +from the atmosphere of the supernatural and to see in them ordinary +persons of flesh and blood, typifying the times as well as the +circumstances to which they belonged. Though they played a part in an +event the most renowned and the most important in the world's history, +yet they were no more than women; in fact, they were women so +commonplace and naturally obscure, that they never would have been heard +of, were it not for the Character with whom they were adventitiously +connected. A memorial has been preserved, coeval, and coextensive with +the dissemination of the Gospel, of the woman who anointed Christ; but +solely on account of the greatness of the Object of her devotion. + +Our purpose in this chapter is to ascertain what manner of women they +were who took a part in the incomparable event of the life of Christ, +what their part was in that event, and how it affected their position +and their existence. + +The whole history of the Jewish race and all the circumstances relating +thereto abundantly justify the application to the Jews of the term "a +peculiar people." A branch of the great Semitic division, in many ways +they were yet most radically distinguished from every other part of the +human family. By many centuries of inspired introspection they had +developed a religion, a racial ideal, and national customs which +entirely differentiated them from all other Eastern peoples. The Jew is +one of the most remarkable figures in history. First there is his +magnificent contribution to religion and world-modifying influences, so +wonderfully disproportionate to his national importance; then there is +the marvellous persistency of his racial continuity. + +That which set apart the Jews from other nations was mainly their +religion. These peculiar people, inhabiting at the time of Christ a +small tract of country scarcely larger than Massachusetts, deprived of +national autonomy, being but a second-class province of the Roman +Empire, nevertheless presumed to hold all other races in contempt, as +being inferior to themselves. This religious arrogance, manifesting +itself in a vastly exaggerated conception of the superiority, both of +their origin and of their destiny, surrounded the Jews with an +impenetrable barrier of reserve. That national pride which in other +peoples is based on the memory of glorious achievements on the +battlefield, on artistic renown, or on commercial importance, found its +support among the Jews in their religious history, in their divinely +given pledges, and in laws of supernatural origin. And indeed they were +a race of religious geniuses; they were as superior in this respect as +were the Greeks in the realm of art and the Romans in that of +government. + +These facts, which are so universally acknowledged as to need no further +reference here, warrant a closer study of the manner of life of the +ancient Jewish women than that to which we can afford space. + +In the Gospel narrative women hold a large place. As is natural, a very +great deal of the grace and beauty of the record of Christ's life is +owing to the spirit and presence of the feminine characters. This the +Evangelists have ungrudgingly conceded. There does not seem to have been +the least inclination to minimize the part played by women; indeed, +their attitude toward Christ is by inference, and greatly to their +credit, contrasted with that of the men. The women were immediately and +entirely won to Christ's cause. They sat at His feet and listened with +gratitude to the gracious words which He spake; they brought their +children to be blessed by Him; they followed Him with lamentations when +He was led away to death. There were among their number no cavillers, no +disbelievers, none to deny or betray. When the enemies of Jesus were +clamoring for His death and His male disciples had fled, it was to the +women He turned and said: "Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but +weep for yourselves, and for your children." Well might the instincts of +the Daughters of Jerusalem incline them to sympathize with the work and +suffering of the Man of Nazareth, for it is incontrovertible that no +other influence seen in the world's history has done so much as +Christianity to raise the condition of woman. + +The position of woman in Palestine, though much inferior to that of man, +was far superior to that which she occupied in other Oriental nations. +Jewish law would not permit the wife to fall to the condition of a +slave, and Israelitish traditions contained too many memories of noble +and patriotic women for the sex to be held otherwise than in honor. A +nation whose most glorious records centred around such characters as +Sara, Miriam, Deborah, Esther, and Susanna could but recognize in their +sex the possibility of the sublimest traits of character. Moreover, +every Hebrew woman might be destined to become the mother of the long +hoped for Messiah, and the mere possibility of that event won for her a +high degree of reverence. + +At the same time, the Jewish women, like those of all other ancient +nations, were held in rigid subordination; nor was there any pretence +made of their equality with men before the law. A man might divorce his +wife for any cause: a woman could not put away her husband under any +circumstances. A Jewish woman could not insist on the performance of a +religious vow by which she had bound herself, if her husband or her +father made objection. Yet, from the earliest times, the property rights +of Israelitish women were very liberal. In the Book of Numbers it is +recorded how Moses decreed that "If a man die, and have no son, then ye +shall cause his inheritance to pass unto his daughter. And if he have no +daughter, then ye shall give his inheritance unto his brethren." But +tribal rights had to be considered. Possessions were not to be alienated +from one tribe to another. Hence it was also decreed that "Every +daughter that possesseth an inheritance in any tribe of the children of +Israel, shall be wife unto one of the family of the tribe of her father, +that the children of Israel may enjoy every man the inheritance of his +fathers." In the time of Christ, however, this restriction on marriage +was unnecessary, ten of the tribes not having returned from the +Captivity. The house at Bethany where Jesus was entertained belonged to +Martha; and we read of wealthy women following Him and providing for His +needs out of their own private fortunes. In the early days, among the +Hebrews, marriage by purchase from the father or brothers had been the +custom; but in the time of which we are writing a dowry was given with +the bride, and she also received a portion from the bridegroom. + +The inferior position of Jewish women is frequently referred to in the +rabbinical writings. A common prayer was: "O God, let not my offspring +be a girl: for very wretched is the life of women." It was said: "Happy +he whose children are boys, and woe unto him whose children are girls." +Public conversation between the sexes was interdicted by the rabbis. "No +one", says the Talmud, "is to speak with a woman, even if she be his +wife, in the public street." Even the disciples, accustomed as they were +to seeing the Master ignore rabbinical regulations, "marvelled" when +they found Him talking with the woman of Sychar. One of the chief things +which teachers of the Law were to avoid was multiplying speech with a +woman. The women themselves seem to have acquiesced in this degrading +injunction. There is a story of a learned lady who called the great +Rabbi Jose a "Galilean Ignoramus," because he had used two unnecessary +words in inquiring of her the way to Joppa. He had employed but four. + +By the Jews women were regarded as inferior not only in capacity but +also in nature. Their minds were supposed to be of an inferior order and +consequently incapable of appreciating the spiritual privileges which it +was an honor for a man to strive after. "Let the words of the Law be +burned," says Rabbi Eleazar, "rather than committed to women." The +Talmud says: "He who instructs his daughter in the Law, instructs her in +folly." In the synagogues women were obliged to sit in a gallery which +was separated from the main room by a lattice. + +Yet it is scarcely to be supposed that in everyday Jewish life the +pharisaical maxims quoted above were adhered to with any great degree of +strictness. Especially in Galilee, where there was much more freedom +than in the lower province, it may well be imagined that there existed a +wide difference between these arrogant "counsels of perfection" and the +common practice. There is no doubt that the rabbis and the scribes +observed the traditions to the minutest letter; but inasmuch as in these +days it would be misleading to delineate the common life of a people by +the enactments found on their statute books, we are justified in +concluding that ordinary existence in ancient Palestine was not nearly +such a burdensome absurdity as the rabbinical law sought to make it. +Human nature will not endure too great a strain. At any rate, we can but +believe that, subordinate as she may have been, the Jewish woman found +ample opportunity to assert herself. The rabbi may have scorned to +multiply speech with his wife on the street, but doubtless there were +occasions which compelled the husband to endure a multiplicity of speech +on the part of his wife at home. It was not without experience that the +wise man could say: "A continual dropping on a very rainy day and a +contentious woman are alike." + +The sayings of the scribes, which are derogatory to the female sex, are +abundantly offset by many injunctions of an opposite nature which are +found in the sacred and in the expository writings of the Jews. One of +the first things drilled into the mind of a young Hebrew was that his +prosperity in the land depended wholly upon his observance of the law +that he should "honor his father and his mother." The virtuous woman +portrayed by King Lemuel was still the ideal in the time of Christ: "Her +sons rise up and praise her; her husband also extols her." The +declaration in the book of Proverbs that "the price of a virtuous woman +is set far above that of rubies" is not to be understood in the sense of +irony. "Honor your wife, that you may be rich in the joy of your home," +says the Talmud; and there was a proverb: "Is thy wife little? then bow +down to her and speak." The Son of Sirach said: "He that honoreth his +mother is as one that layeth up treasure ... and he that angereth his +mother is cursed of God." + +As among all other Eastern peoples, the education of Jewish girls was +greatly neglected; but it can hardly be said that they were losers on +that account. They were simply saved a great deal of profitless labor +which fell upon their brothers. The learning of the Jews, so far as +higher education was concerned, did not add much either to the grace or +the enjoyment of life. It was pedantry of the driest and dreariest kind. +It consisted of interminable glosses upon the Law and of the "traditions +of the elders." It exercised no faculties of the mind excepting the +memory and such powers of reasoning as are employed in subtle casuistry. +There was in it nothing of art or science, or even of history, except +Jewish history. Greek learning was abhorred by the strictly orthodox. +They said the command was that a man's study should be on the Law day +and night; if anyone therefore could find time between day and night he +might apply it to Gentile literature. There were schools in abundance; +but they are spoken of only in relation to boys. In the fundamental +moral precepts, however, and in the highest national ideals, the Jewish +girls were no less thoroughly trained than were their brothers. Ozias +testified to Judith, who with feminine strategy and masculine courage +overthrew Holophernes: "This is not the first day wherein thy wisdom is +manifested; but from the beginning of thy days all the people have known +thy understanding, because the disposition of thy heart is good." Of the +chaste Susanna it was said that, her parents being righteous, they +taught their daughter according to the Law of Moses. Timothy owed his +early training to his mother Eunice and his grandmother Lois. The +Israelitish mother, in the dawn of her children's intelligence, +carefully taught them the lore of the ancient Scriptures and instructed +them in the principal tenets of the Jewish faith. There never existed +another nation that cared so thoroughly for the training of its young in +the doctrines of morality and in those national memories which are +efficacious in the perpetuation of an ardent patriotism. In all this the +girls were privileged equally with the boys. As Edersheim says: "What +Jewish fathers and mothers were; what they felt towards their children; +and with what reverence, affection, and care the latter returned what +they had received, is known to every reader of the Old Testament. The +relationship of father has its highest sanction and embodiment in that +of God towards Israel; the tenderness and care of a mother in that of +the watchfulness and pity of the Lord over his people." + +Religion was the breath of Jewish life. It is absolutely impossible to +touch on Hebrew history, customs, or ideals, in any period or to any +extent, and not to come into contact with Hebrew religion. This, as we +know, was full of burdensome ritual and formalities; the Law, with all +its elaborate ramifications, governed the minutiae of daily existence. +Yet it is again necessary to be careful not to judge too broadly of +Jewish life by the rules which the Talmud shows were laid down by the +rabbis. The Pharisees, who made the formalities of religion their one +business in life, could observe all the multitudinous feasts and fasts, +all the ritual of washings, and bear in mind the innumerable +possibilities of breaking the Sabbath--such, for example, as +accidentally treading on a ripe ear of grain, which would be the act of +threshing; but that the common people lived thus straitly is impossible +of belief, and for this reason they were held in contempt by the +strictest sect. How some of these troublesome laws related to the women +is suggested by Edersheim; "A woman (on the Sabbath) must not wear such +headgear as would require unloosing before taking a bath, nor go out +with such ornaments as could be taken off in the street, such as a +frontlet, unless it is attached to the cap, nor with a gold crown, nor +with a necklace or nose-ring, nor with rings, nor have a pin in her +dress. The reason for this prohibition of ornaments was, that in their +vanity women might take them off to show them to their companions, and +then, forgetful of the day, carry them, which would be a 'burden.' Women +were also forbidden to look in the glass on the Sabbath, because they +might discover a white hair and attempt to pull it out, which would be a +grievous sin; but men ought not to use looking-glasses even on weekdays, +because this was undignified. A woman may walk about her own court, but +not in the street, with false hair." + +These are only instances of regulations which were so numerous as +severely to tax the memory of those who did little else but study to +observe them. We are sure that they could not have characterized the +common Jewish life; yet there was not a man, however loose in conduct or +humble of birth, who was not well versed in the moral precepts of Moses +and in the exalted national ideals of the Prophets. In the cases--and +they were many--where this wisdom was not justified of her children, the +punctilious observance of outward forms, conjoined with the most extreme +arrogance of race, laid the Jew open to the contempt of both Greek and +Roman. Yet there was enough latent impetus and genuine religious life in +Israel to form the basis of that Christianity which was destined to +overreach Greek philosophy and to revolutionize Rome; and there are many +indications in the Gospels that the credit for the incalculable service +of preserving alive the smouldering embers of piety must, to a +predominant degree, be awarded to the mothers and daughters of Israel. +Elizabeth, no less than Zacharias her husband, was a type of many who +"walked in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord, blameless." +There was also one Anna whose devotion was so great that she seemed to +make the temple her constant home. Nevertheless, in religion, as in +other things, the Jewish women, as all of their sex in the ancient +world, were obliged to be content with an inferior position. In the +great temple at Jerusalem they were allowed to occupy only the second +court: to the Court of Israel, where their male relatives worshipped, +they could not penetrate. They had no occasion, however, to complain of +lack of space, for in this Court of the Women there was room for over +fifteen thousand persons; and, for their convenience, the priests had +very considerately placed therein the treasury chests. It was here that +the poor widow whom Christ eulogized cast in her "two mites." In this +court also was Solomon's Porch, where the Master, recognizing no +inequality, taught both sexes alike. In the synagogues, the women of +Palestine were obliged to occupy as inconspicuous a position as +possible, and on the way thither it was required of them that they +should take the back and less frequented streets, in order that the +minds of the men might not be diverted from sacred meditations by their +presence. This bit of hypocritical phariseeism not only indicates the +inferior plane which women were supposed to occupy, but also that, +however honored they may have been as wives and mothers, they enjoyed no +portent of that chivalry which afterward grew from and was fostered by +Christianity. + +The existence of the Jewish woman was by no means secluded. She was +allowed to mingle freely in outdoor life. She accompanied her family on +their journeys to the great festivals which were held in Jerusalem. +Indeed, we read of Galilean women following Jesus into Judæa, evidently +unescorted by male relatives. Females also entertained mixed companies +in their own homes. It is probable, however, that there was more freedom +of movement among the lower-class women than was enjoyed by their +sisters of high degree. While the former dwelt in mean and small houses, +in which there was little possibility of seclusion, the latter had large +and luxurious homes, with great interior courts and special apartments +for their own use. The luxuriousness of these wealthy women rivalled +that of Rome itself. We read of one Martha, the wife of a high priest, +who, when she went to the temple, had carpets laid from her house to the +door of the temple. Upon the poorer women were imposed the hardships of +labor: "two women grinding at the mill" was a common sight in every +home. + +In that momentous drama the leading figure of which was the Son of Man, +women of greatly varying character and position played a part. There +were Herodias, and Procla, the wife of Pilate: these were the highest +ladies in the land; there were Martha of Bethany, and Joanna, the wife +of Herod's steward, representing the middle class; Mary, the mother of +Jesus, from among the poor; and Mary of Magdala, from among a class of +women who were numerous in Palestine, one of whom the Gospel designates +as "a woman who was a sinner." + +Of the two first mentioned little may be said in this connection, as +they were far from being Christian women, though the wife of Pilate +earned for herself the respect of all succeeding generations by pleading +for the life of Jesus. + +Herodias is connected with this story only on account of the cruel +determination with which she sought and compassed the death of John the +Baptist. The grand-daughter of Herod the Great, she inherited not only +his impetuous ambition, but also his ferocity. She had been married to +Herod Philip, her uncle. This son of the first Herod was a wealthy +private resident of Jerusalem; but Herodias could not be content to +stand aside as a mere spectator of the brilliant game of governing. So +she seized the opportunity which the presence of Antipas in her house, +by her husband's hospitality, gave her to begin an intrigue, which ended +in her marital union with the tetrarch. By this conduct she trampled on +Jewish law and offended the people. Not that the severing of the +marriage bonds was a thing unusual among the Jews; indeed, the +facilities for divorce were exceedingly liberal. A man could put away +his wife for the most trifling cause. "If anyone," said the rabbis, "see +a woman handsomer than his wife, he may dismiss his wife and marry that +woman." It was considered ample cause for divorce if a wife went out +without her veil. The disciples of Hillel even went so far as to hold +that if a woman spoiled her husband's dinner, by burning or over salting +it, sufficient cause was given him, if he so chose, to put her away. +This is the point of the question with which the Pharisees came to try +Christ. "Is it lawful," said they, "for a man to put away his wife for +every cause?" So, then, that which shocked the Jews and caused them to +agree with John in his denunciation of Herod was not that the latter +divorced his first wife, the daughter of Aretas, but that he took +Herodias, she not having been put away by her husband, Philip. Here is +some very remarkable moral sophistry. It would have been right, in the +sight of Jewish law, for Herod and Philip to have exchanged wives, after +legally divorcing them for any cause which might have seemed to them +proper; but there was no law, nor was there any conceivable wrong, which +could give Herodias the right to leave her husband of her own free will. +Women could not gain divorce. So, according to the Jewish idea, the +fault of Herod consisted solely in the fact that Philip had not yet seen +fit to release Herodias. Whether or not John the Baptist concurred with +the ideas of his time on this subject we do not know; but the One who +came after him put marriage on a far higher basis and restricted divorce +to its essential cause. + +Herodias plotted and achieved John's destruction perhaps as much on +account of her fear of the effect of his influence upon Herod's +ambitious projects as because of her resentment at his charges against +herself. She was determined that Herod should be a king, like her +brother Agrippa; but the latter was a great favorite with Caligula, and +when his letters were presented to the emperor at the same time that +Herod appeared, in obedience to the importunities of his wife, to press +his suit, the husband of Herodias was deposed and exiled to Lyons. The +only praiseworthy thing that Herodias ever did, so far as is known, was +on this occasion. Caligula wished to allow her to retain her own +fortune, and told her that "it was her brother who prevented her being +put under the same calamity with her husband." This was her reply: +"Thou, indeed, O emperor, actest after a magnificent manner, and as +becomes thyself in what thou offerest me; but the kindness which I have +for my husband hinders me from partaking of the favor of thy gift; for +it is not just that I, who have been made a partner in his prosperity, +should forsake him in his misfortunes." Thereupon Caligula sent her into +banishment with Herod, and gave her estate to Agrippa. + +Our curiosity is greatly aroused, but in no degree satisfied, regarding +another woman who dwelt at Jerusalem in the time of Christ. Pilate, the +Roman procurator, had taken his wife with him to Judæa. Tradition has it +that she there became a proselyte to the Jewish faith. This is by no +means unlikely, for throughout the Roman world were found women who had +become converts to the religion of Zion; Josephus, by his own +experience, shows that at a later date even Poppæa, the wife of Nero, +was extremely partial to the Jews. The Greek Church even goes further, +and places Procla in its calendar of saints. Though there is no evidence +extant of her having become a Christian, it need not be considered a +thing impossible; indeed, it is extremely reasonable to suppose that, +having endeavored to save the life of Jesus, the wonderful religious +movement which succeeded His death could not have been unknown or +without interest to Procla. At any rate, certain it is that she had some +knowledge of Jesus, that she was to no small degree disposed in his +favor, and that Pilate's wish to balk the priests in their designs on +Christ's life was, in a large measure, the result of his wife's +influence. But Pilate was caught with the argument that to save the +Prisoner would be a sign of disloyalty to Cæsar. This incident is the +most prominent instance that history affords of the unwisdom of opposing +masculine ratiocinations to feminine moral intuitions. + +We now turn to those women of the Gospels who were the acknowledged +friends of Jesus and of the founders of Christianity. The central figure +is, of course, the Blessed Mother--Mary, honored by Christians above all +the daughters of the earth and adored by many millions as the Queen of +Heaven; and yet how inadequate, how meagre is the veritable knowledge we +possess of this immortal woman! Never has human imagination so +magnificently triumphed as in the evolution of the concept of the +Blessed Virgin; never has fond adoration built so marvellous an ideal +upon so scanty a foundation of assured reality. A moderate-sized page +would contain all that is vouchsafed regarding her in the Gospels, yet +who ever disputed the claim for Mary that she is the highest +representative of all that is purest and most beautiful in womanhood. +This much is not a dogma of any church, but a universal feeling. This +prevailing conception of the character of Mary has grown out of the +conviction of what must have been the moral worth of the one fitted to +bear and rear the Son of Man; and it has also resulted to a large degree +from that strong human love for motherhood which seeks a perfect example +on which to expend itself. The Blessed Virgin is womanhood idealized. +She is the personification of all feminine beauty, both of soul and +body; she is the perfect expression of the poet's highest inspiration +and the artist's noblest dream. We cannot help wishing, however, that +more were known of the home life of Mary; the desire to place the +beautiful figure of the Representative Mother in the varied settings of +common feminine life is irresistible, but this can only be done by means +of what little we know of the manners and customs of her people and +time. + +As has been said, the sources of information about the Mother of Jesus +are the four Gospels. In addition to these, there are the apocryphal +Christian writings; but these are of too late origin and contain too +many manifestly absurd accounts to warrant credence, except where they +are corroborated by the Evangelists. The latter say nothing whatever of +Mary's direct parentage. She was an offspring of the regal line, that of +David; for though it is most probable that the puzzling genealogies of +Matthew and Luke are those of her husband, Joseph, there are many +reasons for believing that he and Mary were blood relations. Their home +was at Nazareth, a beautiful hill town of Galilee, noted for the +comeliness of its women. At the end of the sixth century, Antoninus +Martyr remarked that the Jewish women of Nazareth were not only fairer +but also more affable to Gentiles than were the other women of +Palestine, and modern travellers inform us that both these +characteristics are still preserved. Geikie says: "The free air of their +mountain home seems to have had its effect on the people of Nazareth. +Its bright-eyed, happy children and comely women strike the traveller, +and even their dress differs from that of other parts.... That of the +women usually consists of nothing but a long blue garment tied in round +the waist, a bonnet of red cloth, decorated with an edging or roll of +silver coins, bordering the forehead and extending to the ears, +reminding one of the crescent-shaped female head-dress worn by some of +the Egyptian priestesses. Over this, a veil or shawl of coarse white +cotton is thrown, which hangs down to the waist, serving to cover the +mouth, while the bosom is left exposed, for Eastern and Western ideas of +decorum differ in some things.... In a country where nothing changes, +through age after age, the dress of to-day is very likely, in most +respects, the same as it was two thousand years ago, though the +prevailing color of the Hebrew dress, at least in the better classes, +was the natural white of the materials employed, which the fuller made +even whiter." + +We are not informed on the authority of the Gospels as to Mary's age +when she was espoused to Joseph the carpenter. The apocryphal _Gospel of +Mary_ states that she was fourteen, while the _Protevangelion_ places +her age at twelve, which is in accordance with the custom of the East, +where girls mature much earlier than with us. The betrothal consisted of +mutual promises and the exchange of gifts in the presence of chosen +witnesses, followed by the engaged couple ceremonially tasting of the +same cup of wine, and was ended with a benediction pronounced by a +priest or a rabbi. After these solemn espousals the relation between +Mary and Joseph was as sacred as though marriage had really taken place; +the only difference was that the couple did not yet live together. The +woman was not allowed to withdraw from the contract, and the man could +not fail to fulfil his promise unless he gave her a formal bill of +divorcement for cause, as in the case of marriage; the laws relating to +adultery were also applicable. Yet many months might intervene between +the date of the betrothal and that of the marriage. + +What took place during this interval in the life of the Virgin is a +mystery which it would be a vain attempt to investigate. If it be judged +of from a purely rationalistic standpoint, there are no historical and +no scientific data which will enable us to do otherwise than simply +discredit the accounts of the Nativity, as they are given by Matthew and +Luke. On the other hand, if the narrative of Christ's birth is accepted +with that reverent faith which has endured through nineteen centuries of +Christendom, and has been and still is held by men of unrivalled +intellect, there is nothing more to be said than the language of worship +and wonder. We may well regret that John and Mark, or at least one of +the epistolary writers, did not corroborate the testimony of the two +first-named Evangelists; the scant importance Mary seems to have +acquired in the Apostolic Church may appear inconsistent with the +stupendous nature of her experiences; yet here is no subject for vain +reasoning; we stand before a mystery which belongs wholly to the realm +of faith. The science of Christology demands the acceptance of this +supernatural event. But it is as little within the province of this book +to defend the faith as it is to apply the canons of Higher Criticism to +the writings of the New Testament. + +In the picture which the Scriptures give us of Mary there is no touch so +human as that which represents her, at the first intimation of the +coming of her Son, hastening southward to confer with her cousin +Elizabeth. To a woman must the news first be whispered, before it gains +the observation of the man to whom she is espoused; and not to the +gossips of Nazareth, but to her holy and sober-minded kinswoman alone +could Mary impart her hopes and her fears. Poetic expression was a +Jewish woman's birthright; Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, and Judith, each had +magnified the Lord with a song; let Mary also, in the assurance that her +Offspring is to be the Messiah long foretold, voice the exultation of +her soul in like manner. "Behold, from henceforth, all generations shall +call me blessed.... He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and +exalted them of low degree." + +Augustus Cæsar sent forth an edict that all the world should be taxed. +It was an act of which we should have known little and thought less, had +it not marked the occasion of the birth of Him to whom the world will +never cease to pay a tribute of homage. + +In the birth of Jesus, the mystery of motherhood is glorified, nay, +almost deified. Mankind needed that also. The pagan world had always +sought to satisfy feelings which are deep rooted in the human heart by +conceiving of maternity under the form of a divine personality. A +religion which does not, in some way, recognize in its object the loving +kindness and the painful solicitude of the mother heart cannot survive. +Mary is a symbol of that natural tender reverence and supreme confidence +which motherhood inspires. The shepherds knelt before her in the stable +which the necessities of poverty made the scene of her lying-in, for the +inestimable graces of the mother depend not upon wealth or earthly +splendor. The Wise Men from the East brought their gifts, for there is +no greater wisdom than that which pays its homage before the babe at its +mother's breast. + +In the one great experience of maternity Mary's greatness ends, so far +as the records show. Did she settle down to all appearances as an +ordinary Nazareth housewife? Did she bear to Joseph other children? To +many, the latter question seems like sacrilege; and yet there is nothing +of authority written to the contrary. + +Tradition has it that Joseph died early in their married life. Mary then +was dependent for her support upon her Son's labors. Did He refrain from +His chief calling until He was thirty years of age in order that He +might know not only common toil but also filial duty in the support of +the mother? Was it to consult on some family business that His mother +and His brethren stood outside the house where He was teaching, being +desirous to speak with Him? All these questions are to us unanswerable; +but it surely does not detract from the sacredness of the pictures to +infuse into it every possible element of human interest. + +The Gospels turn their light once more, and for the last time, on Mary. +It reveals her at the foot of the Cross. Each of the Synoptists tells us +that many women followed Him out of Galilee; by John alone is Mary +mentioned as being present at the Crucifixion. "When Jesus saw his +mother, and the disciple standing by whom he loved, he saith unto his +mother, 'Woman, behold thy son.' Then saith he to the disciple, 'Behold +thy mother.' And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own +home." Why was this so if Mary had other living sons? John, who it is +probable was her own sister's son, would immediately lead the Mother +away from the terrible scene, where a sword was also piercing her own +soul, to a place where she could await the announcement of the end. The +fact that there is no record of an appearance to Mary after the +Resurrection must be accounted for by the belief that her faith did not +need this, in its assurance that death could not conquer her divine Son. + +Nevertheless, the paucity of the reference to Mary in the New Testament, +after the Nativity, is perplexing. For the other legends concerning her +history and character, which have been cherished by a very large portion +of Christendom, we are wholly indebted to what are known as the +Apocryphal Gospels. These consist of writings which were extant, in some +cases, before the present New Testament books were selected as being +alone authentic, but were not deemed of sufficient worth to be included +in the canon. There is _The Gospel of the Birth of Mary_. In the very +early ages this book was supposed to be the work of Saint Matthew. Many +ancient Christians believed it to be authentic and genuine, and Jerome, +who lived in the fourth century, quotes it entire. Another book, of the +same description, known as the _Protevangelion_ of Saint James, is +mentioned by writers equally ancient. Then there is the _Gospel of the +Infancy_. This, we are told, was accepted by the Gnostic Christians as +early as the second century; but it is full of manifest absurdities, +outrageous even to the most compliant credulity. A fair sample of its +stories--not including the miraculous, which are exceedingly puerile--is +the one which relates that at the circumcision of Jesus an old Hebrew +woman took the part that was severed "and preserved it in an +alabaster-box of old oil of spikenard. And she had a son who was a +druggist, to whom she said, 'Take heed thou sell not this alabaster-box +of spikenard-ointment, although thou shouldst be offered three hundred +pence for it.' Now this is that alabaster-box which Mary the sinner +procured, and poured forth the ointment out of it upon the head and the +feet of our Lord Jesus Christ, and wiped it off with the hairs of her +head." + +The _Gospel of Mary_ has been made the basis of much serious belief in +regard to the Blessed Virgin, and especially have Christian artists +drawn from its pages suggestions for their subjects. We will summarize +the account it gives of the Mother of Jesus. "The blessed and ever +glorious Virgin Mary, sprung from the royal race and family of David, +was born in the city of Nazareth, and educated at Jerusalem, in the +temple of the Lord. Her father's name was Joachim, and her mother's +Anna. The family of her father was of Galilee and the city of Nazareth. +The family of her mother was of Bethlehem. Their lives were plain and +right in the sight of the Lord." Nevertheless, for twenty years they +suffered what, in the eyes of the Jews, was one of the greatest of +misfortunes: they were childless. Joachim is taunted with this fact by +Issachar, the high priest. The good man, being much confounded with the +shame of such reproach, retired to the shepherds who were with the +cattle in their pastures; for he was not inclined to return home, lest +his neighbors, who were present and heard all this from the high-priest, +should publicly reproach him in the same manner. Thereupon an angel +appears to him and informs him that his wife Anna shall bring forth a +daughter, and that they shall call her Mary. "She shall, according to +your vow, be devoted to the Lord from her infancy, and be filled with +the Holy Ghost from her mother's womb; she shall neither eat nor drink +anything that is unclean, nor shall her conversation be without among +the common people, but in the temple of the Lord; that so she may not +fall under any slander or suspicion of anything that is bad." The angel +also appears to Anna, giving her the like information. "So Anna +conceived, and brought forth a daughter, and, according to the angel's +command, the parents did call her name Mary." + +"And when three years were expired, and the time of her weaning +complete, they brought the Virgin to the temple of the Lord with +offerings. And there were about the temple, according to the fifteen +Psalms of degrees, fifteen stairs to ascend. For the temple being built +on a mountain, the altar of burnt-offering, which was without, could not +be come near but by stairs; the parents of the blessed Virgin and infant +Mary put her upon one of these stairs; but while they were putting off +their clothes, in which they had travelled, and according to custom +putting on some that were more neat and clean, in the mean time the +Virgin of the Lord in such a manner went up all the stairs one after +another, without the help of any to lead or lift her, that anyone would +have judged from hence that she was of perfect age. Thus the Lord did, +in the infancy of his Virgin, work this extraordinary work, and evidence +by this miracle how great she was like to be hereafter. But the parents +having offered up their sacrifice, according to the custom of the law, +and perfected their vow, left the Virgin, with other virgins in the +apartments of the temple, who were to be brought up there, and they +returned home." + +Mary, we are told, was ministered unto by angels until her fourteenth +year, and preserved from all suspicion of evil, so that "all good +persons, who were acquainted with her, admired her life and +conversation. At that time the high-priest made a public order, that all +the virgins who had public settlements in the temple, and were come to +this age, should return home; and as they were now of a proper maturity, +should, according to the custom of their country, endeavor to be +married." This, Mary refuses to do, she having vowed her virginity to +the Lord. Then the high priest convenes a meeting of the chief persons +of Jerusalem to seek counsel from Heaven in this matter. A voice from +the mercy-seat directs that all the men of the family of David who were +marriageable and not married should bring their staves to the altar, +"and out of whatsoever person's staff after it was brought, a flower +should bud forth, and on the top of it the Spirit of the Lord should sit +in the appearance of a dove, he should be the man to whom the Virgin +should be given and be betrothed." + +Among the rest there was a man named Joseph, of the house and family of +David, and a person very far advanced in years, who drew back his staff, +when everyone besides presented his. Joseph, however, was clearly +pointed out, in the manner described, as being the chosen man. +"Accordingly, the usual ceremonies of betrothing being over, he returned +to his own city of Bethlehem, to set his house in order, and make the +needful provisions for the marriage. But the Virgin Mary, with seven +other virgins of the same age, who had been weaned at the same time, and +who had been appointed to attend her by the priest, returned to her +parents' house in Galilee." Then follows an account of the Annunciation, +similar to that given by Saint Luke, but somewhat elaborated. "Then +Mary, stretching forth her hands, and lifting her eyes to heaven, said, +'Behold the handmaid of the Lord. Let it be unto me according to thy +word.'" + + [Illustration 2: _CHRIST AND THE DAUGHTER OF JAIRUS After the + painting by Albert Keller. + + The ready faith of the Gospel women is illustrated by many + narratives of miracles wrought in their behalf. The faith of + Martha and Mary was rewarded by the restoration to life of their + brother Lazarus. There was the woman whom physicians could not + cure, yet her faith led her to touch the hem of the Master's + garment, and she was made whole. To the widow of Nain, as she + accompanied the dead body of her son to its sepulchre, was given + that son restored to life. The despised Syrophenician woman + proved her humility and her faith, and her daughter was made + whole. Christ's commiseration was manifested notably to woman, + though not exclusively, as we see in the case of the raising of + the daughter of Jairus in answer to the father's faith._] + +In the _Protevangelion_ all this is recited, but at greater length. It +is there said of Mary that, while she lived in the temple, "all the +house of Israel loved her." It is related also of her that she was +chosen by the priests to weave the purple veil for the temple. In this +writing, Mary is described as having received the announcement of the +angel as she went to the spring to draw water. There is also a curious +passage in which Joseph is represented as telling the experiences which +came to him as he went to seek a midwife in the village of Bethlehem. +"As I was going," he says, "I looked up into the air, and I saw the +clouds astonished, and the fowls of the air stopping in the midst of +their flight. And I looked down toward the earth, and saw a table +spread, and working people sitting around it, but their hands were upon +the table, and they did not move to eat. They who had meat in their +mouths did not eat. They who lifted their hands up to their heads did +not draw them back; and they who lifted them up to their mouths did not +put anything in; but all their faces were fixed upwards. And I beheld +the sheep dispersed, and yet the sheep stood still. And the shepherd +lifted up his hand to smite them, and his hand continued up. And I +looked unto a river, and saw the kids with their mouths close to the +water, and touching it, but they did not drink." + +Notwithstanding all that is said in these ancient writings in the +attempt to do her honor, we must conclude that the glory of the halo +which beautifies the head of the real Mary is derived by reflection from +the moral splendor of her Son. Of what intrinsic greatness of soul she +was possessed it is difficult for us to surmise from the slight +attention given to her in the Gospels. Yet she rightly holds her +position as woman idealized. We need such a poetic creation as Mary; and +her place at the head of all the daughters of earth is the more secure +and effective because her figure in authentic history is but a shadowy +outline. The ideal woman whom all mankind loves and reverences as +Virgin, Mother, and Saint, is objectified by concentrating in Mary of +Nazareth all possible feminine grace, beauty, and purity. + +Let us turn now to another Mary who, in the Gospel history, achieved a +fame hardly less renowned than that of her great namesake: Mary of +Magdala, out of whom Christ cast seven devils. Magdala was a town on the +lake of Galilee, as notorious for its profligacy as it was famous for +its wealth, derived from the manufacture of dyes. Mary's affliction was +doubtless as much of a moral as of a mental nature; it may refer to the +abandonment of immoral excess into which she was driven by her +passionate nature. The Jews at the time of Christ were wont to ascribe +every form of evil, physical and also spiritual, to the agency of +demons, who were supposed to have the power of taking possession of +human beings as a habitation. The tradition of the Church has always +identified Mary Magdalene with the woman who, in Simon's house, anointed +Christ's feet with ointment, after washing them with her tears. Still, +it must be confessed that there is no certain foundation for this +belief. On this point, Archdeacon Farrar says: "The Talmudists have much +to say respecting her--her wealth, her extreme beauty, her braided +locks, her shameless profligacy, her husband Pappus, and her paramour +Pandera; but all that we really know of the Magdalene from Scripture is +that enthusiasm of devotion and gratitude which attached her, heart and +soul, to her Saviour's service. In the chapter of Saint Luke which +follows the account of her anointing the Lord's feet in the Pharisee's +house she is mentioned first among the women who accompanied Jesus in +his wanderings, and ministered to him of their substance; and it may be +that in the narrative of the incident at Simon's house her name was +suppressed, out of that delicate consideration which, in other passages, +makes the Evangelist suppress the original condition of Matthew." + + +Mary Magdalene's great part in the Gospel history was at the +Resurrection. To her ardent love and intense imagination, enabling her +to visualize Him who, though dead, she could not relinquish, +rationalists ascribe the inception of the doctrine of the Resurrection. +According to this theory, as Mary of Nazareth brought Jesus into the +world, so through Mary of Magdala His risen Spirit was born into the +Church. But this is not the faith of Christendom; nor can the testimony +of the Gospels be reasonably disposed of in this manner. To the +Magdalene was given the supreme honor of receiving the first greeting of +her risen Lord; and her testimony is the chief cornerstone of the most +comforting doctrine of Christianity. + +The gospel narrative gives a prominent place to woman,--as a believer in +Christ, as His devoted follower and constant ministrant, and also as a +faithful and unswerving witness to His wondrous works. The ready faith +of the Gospel women is illustrated by many narratives of miracles +wrought in their behalf. The faith of Martha and Mary was rewarded by +the restoration to life of their brother Lazarus. There was the woman +whom physicians could not cure, yet her faith led her to touch the hem +of the Master's garment and she was made whole. To the widow of Nain, as +she accompanied the dead body of her son to its sepulchre, was given +that son restored to life. The despised Syrophenician woman proved her +humility and her faith, and her daughter was made whole. Christ's +commiseration was manifested notably to woman, though not exclusively, +as we see in the case of the raising of the daughter of Jairus in answer +to the father's faith. In the life of Christ, the supernal event in the +world's history, woman's influence and activity were not less than +man's; but, unlike his, her part was marked by unalloyed purity, +magnanimity, and faithfulness. + + + + +II + +THE WOMEN OF THE APOSTOLIC AGE + + +THE leaven of Christianity worked speedily and powerfully in raising +woman to a position of greater honor in the estimation of the adherents +of the new religion. In regard to mental and spiritual relations, it put +her at once upon an equal footing with men, which was an entirely new +development in human thought. We have seen how, even in Judaism,--the +purest religion and the highest moral system known to the world previous +to the coming of Christ,--woman held an inferior position and was +debarred from many of its privileges, though not from its moral +responsibilities. According to the Levitical code, when a man made an +offering of any person of his family to the Lord, the value of a male +was estimated at fifty shekels, while that of the female was put at +thirty shekels; and, as in all cases where an arbitrary comparison is +instituted between men and women, this computation was independent of +the possession or lack of personal excellences. The mere undeveloped +manhood in an otherwise worthless individual gave him, in Jewish +estimation, a two-fifths superiority over the noblest woman. The very +stupidity of this is an indication that sex can hardly have been +designed by the Creator as a basis on which to found the right to the +majority either of the duties or the privileges of human life. Under the +new dispensation Paul says: "There can be neither Jew nor Greek; there +can be neither bond nor free; there can be no male and female: for ye +are all one man in Christ Jesus." That the Apostle forbade women from +taking part in the public ministrations in the congregation is still +regarded, by the majority of people, as being harmonious with the +natural fitness of things; and in those times at least, when the +education of women was so terribly neglected, it was a measure +absolutely necessary to the preservation of decency. + +Of the new life opened to women in Christianity, Renan truly says: "The +women were naturally drawn toward a community in which the weak were +surrounded by so many guarantees." Their position in the society was +then humble and precarious; the widow in particular, despite several +protective laws, was the most often abandoned to misery, and the least +respected. Many of the doctors advocated the not giving of any religious +education to women. The Talmud placed in the same category with the +pests of the world the gossiping and inquisitive widow, who passed her +life in chattering with her neighbors, and the virgin who wasted her +time in praying. The new religion created for these disinherited +unfortunates an honorable and sure asylum. Some women held most +important places in the Church, and their houses served as places of +meeting. As for those women who had no houses, they were formed into a +species of order, or feminine presbyterial body, which also comprised +virgins, who played so capital a role in the collection of alms. +Institutions which are regarded as the later fruit of +Christianity--congregations of women, nuns, and sisters of charity--were +its first creations, the basis of its official strength, the most +perfect expression of its spirit. + +The Christian Church is described, as it existed in the earliest germ, +in the fourteenth verse of the first chapter of Acts: "These (the eleven +Apostles) all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with +the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren." The +women referred to were those faithful ones who followed Jesus from +Galilee and ministered to him of their substance; those who went early +to the tomb on Easter morning, to perform the last offices of affection, +and found the sepulchre empty: Mary Magdalene, Salome the mother of John +and James, Joanna, and "the other Mary." But these are no more mentioned +by name in the New Testament; nor is even the mother of Jesus again +referred to, except in that impersonal manner in which Saint Paul speaks +of Christ as "born of a woman." A large and prominent place was held by +women in the life of Jesus, but those same women are not accorded a +corresponding importance in the history of the founding of the Church. +It is a new set of names that we encounter in Apostolic history; +converts from heathendom, and those who labored with the Apostle to the +Gentiles. The records allow the women of the Gospels to fall into +obscurity; but they will never pass out of human memory as a galaxy +which surrounded the Bright and Morning Star. + +As yet the Church had not developed an organization, except that the +Twelve--the place of Judas having been filled--were recognized as +leaders by virtue of their having been chosen by Christ. The rest, women +equally with men, were simply believers. Even the Apostles had no plan, +no foresight of future development. Officers were created only as +conditions arose which required them. At first the Church was simply a +communistic family, bound together in holy love by a common enthusiasm. +The ordinary conventions of society were for the time suspended; men and +women lived together in the free communion of a great family. Their time +was almost wholly spent in prayer and the work of conversion; the +ordinary avocations of life were almost entirely discontinued. The +community was supported out of a common stock, which was daily +replenished by the proceeds of the sale of the possessions of converts. +No one called his own anything that he had; they held all in common. +Their number was too great for a common table, but they met in large +parties at each other's houses, none suffering disparagement on account +of condition or sex. Each evening meal was a commemoration of the Last +Supper of Christ with his disciples. This briefly enduring prototype of +a perfect human society contained in itself the prophecy of all that +Christianity would do for woman through all the slow development of the +ages. In the community of the Jerusalem Christians she was neither a +slave nor a subordinate. The burden of the daily provision, which still +falls so heavily on the vast majority of women, was here rendered +extremely light, for all helped each and each helped all. Equal +fellowship also in the great spiritual possession caused all the marks +of woman's inferiority to vanish, and the sexes freely mingled in a pure +and noble companionship. + +But this perfect type of society was not destined long to endure. It +appeared only for a brief season, barely sufficient to intimate what +human life might be, if governed by the Spirit of Jesus; and then a +woman was accessory to a deed which showed that the ideal was as yet far +too high for a practical and prudent world. Sapphira and Ananias had +sold their possession and had laid a part of the price at the Apostles' +feet, under the pretence that they were devoting their all. "Tell me," +said Saint Peter, "did ye sell the land for so much?" "Yes," answered +Sapphira, faithful to the conspiracy she had entered into with her +husband, "that was the amount." "Ye have agreed together to lie unto +God," said the Apostle. "The feet of them who have buried thy husband +are at the door; they shall carry thee out also." And she immediately +"gave up the ghost." And the young men carried her out and buried her by +her husband. The description of the burying seems to indicate that it +was done as quietly as possible, probably so as not to attract the +attention of the people. But great fear of the power of the Apostles +seized those who heard the rumor of these happenings. It is not a +pleasant story, and it jars on a conscience in which the memory of the +Gospel teaching is fresh and vivid. Yet the Church was not so strong in +itself but that it needed to resort to drastic measures in order to +protect itself from covetous hypocrisy within, more to be feared than +violent persecution from without. As to the pathological cause of the +death of Sapphira and her husband, no explanation is given. In the +market place of a town in Wiltshire, England, there is a remarkable +stone monument, which was erected by the corporation to commemorate a +"judgment" which took place on the spot many years ago. According to the +lengthy inscription engraved upon the column, three women had agreed to +purchase a certain quantity of flour, each contributing her share of the +price. A dispute arose, owing to one having declared that she had paid +her part, though the amount could not be accounted for. Being accused of +trying to cheat, she exclaimed that she wished she might fall dead if +she were not telling the truth. She immediately fell to the ground and +expired, whereupon the money was found upon her person. Those who caused +the inscription to be written for the warning of future marketers +believed it to be a "judgment." Doubtless it was the effect of +excitement upon a pathological condition of the heart. The comparison +between this case and that of Sapphira and Ananias is weakened only by +the strange fact that husband and wife should, on the same day, meet +death in this remarkable manner. It is perhaps worthy of notice that +Herodias and Sapphira are the only women mentioned by name in the New +Testament against whom anything discreditable is charged. + +As the number of believers increased in Jerusalem, trouble was +encountered in regard to the daily provision. The communistic plan of +living was by no means rigidly insisted upon, as is shown by the fact +that Peter admits that Ananias was not obliged to make an offering of +the whole or even of a part of the price of his possession. Converts +were added too rapidly, and their organization was too loose for the +perfecting of any economical system. We see, however, the congregation +making careful provision for the indigent by a daily distribution. + +There were in Jerusalem many Hellenistic Jews; that is, those who were +reared in foreign countries or were born of parents so reared. The +Palestinian Jew affected a distinct superiority over these. This seems +to have been allowed to result in a slight showing of ill will between +the native and foreign-born Jews who accepted Christ. The latter found +cause to complain that their widows were neglected in the daily +distribution; this seems to indicate that the widows were supported out +of the revenues of the Church, a fact which quickly resulted in their +being considered in the service of the Church. We find the widows early +mentioned in a sort of corporate capacity. In the account of the raising +of Dorcas, who was probably herself of this condition of life, it is +said that Peter called "the saints and the widows." From this narrative +we are led to infer that the manufacture of garments for the poor was +recognized as the contribution of these women to the corporate activity +of the Church. It was the inception of a distinctly female order in the +Christian ministry. + +In order that there should be no cause for complaint on the ground +mentioned above, the Apostles instructed the whole body of believers to +select from their number seven men, to whom should be intrusted the +charitable work of the Church. These men were not deacons, in the sense +in which this term has come to be applied, nor are they thus termed +anywhere in the Acts of the Apostles. The office remained, but the +duties changed; after the breaking up of the Christian community in +Jerusalem by persecution, these "deacons" devoted themselves to the more +attractive work of preaching, and from this time the ministry of good +works fell naturally into the hands of the women. + +Very early in the history of the Church there came into existence an +order of female deacons, or deaconesses. It is more particularly in the +Gentile congregations planted by Paul that we find this institution. In +his Epistle to the Romans, among many other matters of a personal +interest, we find the Apostle saying: "I commend unto you Phoebe our +sister, who is a deaconess of the church that is at Cenchreas;" and he +requests them to receive her worthily of the saints and to assist her in +whatsoever matter she may have in hand, for that she "hath been a +succorer of many, and of mine own self." It is extremely probable that +Phoebe was the bearer of this letter to the Romans. She may have been +travelling to the city on affairs of her own, or it may be that Paul is +referring to some commission from the Church which had been imparted to +her by word of mouth. + +He also sends greeting to Tryphaena and Tryphosa, who, with Persis, were +probably deaconesses serving the church at Rome. Euodias and Syntyche, +who are mentioned in the Epistle to the Philippians, were, there is +every reason to believe, in this same order of the ministry. The Apostle +testifies to the earnest cooperation in his work for which he is +indebted to these two women; but from his exhortation that they "be of +the same mind," we may infer that there was some disagreement among +them. Absolute harmony was not always maintained, even among the saints +of the early Church. Saintliness has never yet been able entirely to +eradicate from human nature all that is unseemly; and it is more than +likely that if it were only possible for us to gain an intimate and +personal knowledge of the conditions which prevailed in the Apostolic +Church, we should not be greatly discouraged by a comparison of those +days with our own times. The glamour of extraordinary holiness which +succeeding centuries have thrown over that age was not perceptible to +Paul. The lapse of time is of itself sufficient to idealize, and even to +apotheosize, remarkable personages who in reality were not without their +weaknesses. + +What were the precise duties of these female servants we do not know. In +the uncrystallized organism of early Christianity it is likely that +their field of activity was not closely defined. From the Apostle's rule +we know that they did not take part in the public ministrations. "Let +the women," says he, "keep silence in the churches." In his idea of +Christianity, the family is the unit, with the man as the responsible +head. "If they would learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at +home; for it is shameful for a woman to speak in the church." And yet, +in what he says in the eleventh chapter of his first Epistle to the +Church at Corinth, he seems to admit that the women have the right both +to pray and prophesy in the congregation. But it may be the Apostle is +judging the question not as _per se_, but in accordance with the +prevailing ideas of his time. He who was "all things to all men," in +order to win them, concluded that it was the duty of women to keep +silent rather than to arouse prejudice by trampling on custom and thus +endangering the success of the Gospel. The women of the Corinthian +Church seem to have abandoned the traditions of their time and people in +this respect and were in the habit of praying and prophesying in the +congregation, and, moreover, without the customary veil. In regard to +this last-mentioned departure, Paul is emphatic: "Every woman praying or +prophesying with her head unveiled dishonoreth her head. Judge ye among +yourselves, is it seemly that a woman pray unto God unveiled?" On this +subject Dr. McGiffert comments as follows: "The practice, which was so +out of accord with the custom of the age, was evidently a result of the +desire to put into practice Paul's principle that in Christ all +differences of rank, station, sex, and age are done away. But Paul, in +spite of his principle, opposed the practice. His opposition in the +present case was doubtless due in part to traditional prejudice, in part +to fear that so radical a departure from the common custom might bring +disrepute upon the Church, and even promote disorder and licentiousness. +But he found a basis for his opposition in the fact that by creation the +woman was made subject to the man. Paul's use of such an argument from +the natural order of things, when it was a fundamental principle with +him that in the spiritual realm the natural is displaced and destroyed, +must have sounded strange to the Corinthians; and Paul himself evidently +felt the weakness of the argument and its inconsistency with his general +principles, for he closed with an appeal to the custom of the churches: +'We have no such custom, neither have the churches of God,' therefore +you have no right to adopt it. This was the most he could say. Evidently +he was on uncertain ground." + +Those same restrictive traditions, which prevented the deaconesses from +taking part in public instruction or ministering in the congregation, +rendered their service imperatively necessary in many of the private +activities of the Christian Church. They instructed female catechumens +in the first principles of the new religion; they prepared them for +baptism, and by their attendance disarmed inimical criticism when this +sacrament was administered to women. To their hands was committed the +ministry of mercy. They relieved the sick, instructed the orphans, +consoled their sisters when in trouble, encouraged those who were +condemned to martyrdom, and were the official embodiment of that +characteristic fraternalism in the early Church which induced even their +heathen enemies to exclaim: "How these Christians love." + +It was not essential that a woman appointed to the office of a deaconess +should be free to devote her whole time to the service of the Church. +The two slave girls whom Pliny examined by torture upon the rack, and of +whom he wrote to the Emperor Trajan, were very probably deaconesses. The +order was composed of virgins who were tried and trained by a life of +chastity and devotion and finally set apart to the office at the mature +age of forty; or--and this was more commonly the case--of devout and +sober-minded widows. In all probability Paul is referring to this order +in that which he says of widows in his first letter to Timothy. There he +writes: "Let none be enrolled as a widow under threescore years old, +having been the wife of one man, well reported of for good works; if she +hath brought up children, if she hath used hospitality to strangers, if +she hath washed the saints' feet, if she hath relieved the afflicted, if +she hath diligently followed every good work. But younger widows refuse: +for when they have waxed wanton against Christ, they desire to marry; +having condemnation, because they have rejected their first faith. And +withal they learn also to be idle, going about from house to house; and +not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which +they ought not. I desire therefore that the younger women marry, bear +children, rule the household, give none occasion to the adversary for +reviling." + +It is very remarkable that we seem to be left to infer from the above +that the Apostle's indictment as to idling, tattling, gadding, and +meddling is not to be charged against widows of over threescore. + +Some students have held that the passage quoted above refers, not to +deaconesses, but to a sort of female presbyters, like those who in the +age succeeding that of the Apostles had a certain oversight over the +widows and orphans of the congregations. On the other hand, Neander, the +ecclesiastical historian, considers that the widows referred to were +simply those who depended upon the Church for support and were +consequently expected to manifest their worthiness by an example of +special devoutness. But it is hardly believable that the Christian +conscience would have refused such assistance to widows under sixty +years of age or to those who had married the second time and had been +again widowed. The probabilities are in favor of the view that all +indigent and unfortunate Christian females were tenderly cared for by +the charity which abounded in the Apostolic Church; but from those +widows who had arrived at the age of sixty, and had shown themselves to +be fitted for such an office by especial devotion to good works and by +their approved trustworthiness, certain ones were enrolled for the +service of the Church in the order of deaconesses. + +Thus one of the earliest effects of Christianity was to introduce into +its own society, in every city, an order of women who were looked up to +with respect and veneration and intrusted with power and authority such +as no women had previously enjoyed, except in the almost unique +instances of the vestals at Rome and the prophetesses among the ancient +Germans. This could not fail to raise the whole sex in general respect, +as well as in its own estimation. + +As we have already noticed, the order of deaconesses did not consist +exclusively of widows; it was, however, confined to those females who +were free from all matrimonial obligations. + +In the early Church, celibacy was held in exceeding high regard. Other +qualifications being equal, virginity greatly increased a woman's +reputation for sanctity. It is true that it is not until post-apostolic +times that we find this condition of life exalted to the contradiction +both of the laws of nature and the dictates of reason; but the +foundation for the belief that the virgin life is superior to the +married state was unquestionably laid by Paul himself. While he readily +admits that marriage is honorable, he, at the same time, +enthusiastically recommends celibacy to those who are able to persevere +in continence. To the Corinthians he wrote: "He that giveth (a daughter) +in marriage doeth well; but he that giveth her not in marriage doeth +better." Whence arose this idea of the moral superiority of virginity? +Surely not from Judaism; for among the Jews an unmarried woman was +regarded as being to the greatest degree unblessed. Nor did it come from +paganism; for though there were vestal devotees of the deities, the +materialism which governed Greek and Roman religion entirely precluded +any belief in a moral inferiority as resulting from the rightful +intercourse of the sexes. In the rebound from the materialism of +paganism, Christianity swung the thought of its adherents to the +opposite extreme. The body was considered as hopelessly corrupt until +regenerated by the resurrection. It is a dead weight, retarding the +development and the triumph of the spirit; its natural functions are +tainted with evil and should be ignored and mortified so far as +necessity will permit. The contemplation of the terrible licentiousness +which characterized paganism gave a great bias to the views of the early +Christians on this subject. The asceticism of celibacy seemed to them an +easier way to escape the contamination of the world than that which led +through the honorable path of married life. + +In the seventh chapter of Paul's first letter to the Corinthians he is +wholly on the side of celibacy, though he was far too reasonable a man +not to recognize the possibility of purity in marriage. "I say to the +unmarried and to widows, it is good for them if they abide even as I. +But if they have not continency, let them marry." It is very probable +that the Apostle was a widower; for very few Jews of his time lived +without marrying to the age which we may reasonably suppose he had +attained before his conversion. He also says: "Now concerning virgins I +have no commandment of the Lord; but I give my judgment, as one that +hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful." We are to understand +this mercy of which he speaks, not as referring to any deliverance from +past marital encumbrances, but to the gift of faithfulness. Then he says +that in view of the present distress from persecution, while it is good +to be married, it is at least not less good to be single. "But and if +thou marry, thou hast not sinned; and if a virgin marry, she hath not +sinned. Yet such shall have tribulation in the flesh, and I would spare +you." The tribulation he speaks of refers to the double portion of the +"present distress" to which the married would be subject. His principal +argument in favor of the unwedded state is that those who remain in it +are enabled to devote themselves more completely to the service of God. + +But there was no sign in the Apostolic Church of that morbid enthusiasm +for virginity which fills the pages of the post-Nicene writers. We know +that Peter was married; and there is evidence that he took his wife with +him on his missionary journeys. "Have we not," says Paul, "power to lead +about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles, and the brothers of +the Lord, and Cephas?" Tradition also informs us that Peter had a +daughter whose name was Petronilla. The Apostle Philip had three +daughters. Eusebius quotes from a letter written by Polycrates, who was +bishop of the church at Ephesus, to Victor, Bishop of Rome, in which he +says: "Philip, one of the twelve Apostles, sleeps in Hierapolis, and his +two aged virgin daughters. Another of his daughters, who lived in the +Holy Spirit, rests at Ephesus." Eusebius also in the same passage +speaks, on the authority of Proculus, of "four prophesying daughters of +Philip;" but it is most likely that he here confounds the deacon Philip +with the apostle of the same name. From Acts we learn that the former +had four daughters who prophesied and labored with their father at +Cæsarea in Palestine. + +Paul, in his Epistles, gives the names of about eighty friends and +disciples; about twenty more are referred to in the Acts of the +Apostles. Quite a large proportion of these are women, to whom the +Apostle sends kindly greeting. His mention of them is always in the +terms of respectful regard, and never merely complimentary or carefully +polite. To many of these women he was deeply indebted for the care with +which they had ministered to his comfort as he journeyed to and fro on +his missionary tours; the names of some of them were treasured in his +memory as those of zealous and valued fellow laborers in the cause of +the Gospel. In both these relations, and also, perhaps, in that of his +dearest female friend, stood Priscilla, the wife of Aquila. She is the +most frequently mentioned of all the women of the Apostolic Church, but +always in conjunction with her husband. These people were Jews whose +home was at Rome, but owing to the edict by which Claudius banished from +the city all of their nationality they were living in Corinth when Paul +first met them. In the Acts of the Apostles we learn that he was drawn +to them because they were tent-makers like himself. "He abode with them +and they wrought.... And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath." In +this picture is seen the whole simple machinery of apostolic missions. +Paul's first inquiry in Corinth is for a man of his own trade. He hears +of Priscilla and Aquila, and at once finds with them a welcome both to +lodging and also employment. Their work was such as could be readily +carried on in the room which served for a lodging, and required but +little in the way of implements, so that they could freely and easily +move from one city to another. The work probably consisted in the making +of tent cloth. This material was of goats' hair, which was plaited into +strips, these being joined together. We see the three sitting together, +and, with hands busy at the monotonous toil, which was not exacting in +the matter of attention, reasoning of the things pertaining to the +kingdom of God. It was probably thus that the conversion of this husband +and wife was brought about. Then on the Sabbath they would repair to the +Jewish synagogue, where Paul would in public expound the new and strange +doctrine. We can imagine how Priscilla would prepare for that week-end +preaching. There would be no Jewess within her circle of acquaintances +but would receive notice, with the admonition not to fail to be present. +It is the inception of the "woman's auxiliary" in missionary work; but +how simple was this first propaganda! + +There was no board of managers either to hamper or advise; the workers +were responsible only to the spirit that moved within them. There were +no collections, nor any hindrance for lack of funds. Paul, Aquila, and +Priscilla labored with their own hands, and they were free and enabled +to go everywhere preaching the Gospel. The result of their work was that +in Corinth, the city devoted to a lustful worship and exemplifying the +worst corruptions of paganism, there was to be seen a band of men and +women whose lives were glorified and purified by devotion to the +teachings of Jesus. + +It is noteworthy that the name of Priscilla is placed in the book of +Acts, and also elsewhere, before that of her husband. Possibly this may +indicate that she was of a higher rank or a nobler family; but we prefer +to think that it is a tribute and a testimony to her zeal and greater +prominence in the Church. It is not unlikely that Aquila was known as +the husband of the successful female missionary Priscilla. + +When the Apostle left Corinth these two fellow workers accompanied him +as far as Ephesus. There he left them, with affectionate promises to +return. Priscilla and Aquila settled in Ephesus for a time, and an +opportunity was afforded them to perform a service for the Church, the +effect of which it is impossible for us now to estimate. Apollos was a +great name in the Apostolic Church. He came to have a large following +among the Corinthian Christians; and he was probably the author of the +Epistle to the Hebrews. This man, who is described as "eloquent and +mighty in the Scriptures," was by Priscilla and her husband brought to a +full knowledge of the Gospel. + +When Paul was writing his first letter to the Corinthians he included +greetings from Priscilla and Aquila, and also "from the church that is +in their house," indicating that the home of this couple was the meeting +place of the Christians of Ephesus. He again mentions them in his letter +to the Romans: "Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my helpers in Christ Jesus, +who for my life laid down their own necks; unto whom not only I give +thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles." It is impossible to +ascertain what was the instance here referred to of their devotion to +him; perhaps it relates to the experience of the Apostle when he "fought +with beasts at Ephesus." + +There dwelt in the Macedonian city of Philippi a woman named Lydia, who +had come there from Thyatira. She was engaged in the business of selling +purple, whether the color itself or garments so dyed cannot be +determined; but as women of that time were often employed in the +manufacture of drugs and chemicals, it is likely that she prepared that +dye which was so popular in the ancient Roman world. She had become a +convert to Judaism. There seem to have been few Jews in Philippi, for it +is evident that they had no synagogue, but were in the habit of meeting +in the open air, on the banks of the river Strymon. Lydia, like many of +the women of her time, was an earnest seeker after religious truth. When +Paul came to Philippi, on the first Sabbath he went to the place of +prayer, "and spake unto the women which resorted thither." This is a +remarkable expression, inasmuch as it seems to indicate that only women +were present, an extremely unusual congregation in the ancient world. +But Paul, unlike the Jewish rabbis, did not deem a gathering of women +unworthy of his most solicitous efforts. Lydia justified his exertions, +for she became a convert to Christianity and was baptized with her whole +household. She was a person of considerable means. The selling of purple +was a very remunerative business. In gratitude for the new light which +she had received, and desirous to learn more of the Gospel, Lydia +importuned the Apostle and his friends to take up their abode in her +house, which, at least for the time, became the gathering place of the +church in Philippi. + +There is no possibility of overestimating the debt that Christianity +owes to the fostering care of the early female converts. Its story has +never been written from the standpoint of the women; if it could be so +written, it would be seen that the labors of love which were +accomplished by the feminine nature were no less fruitful than those +which are recorded of the more public masculine activities. + +While Paul was in Philippi, he encountered another woman, of a station +and occupation very different from that of Lydia. She was a slave girl, +who was in all probability what is known nowadays as a clairvoyant. The +people believed that she was inspired by the Pythian Apollo. The +narrative in the Acts of the Apostles says that she "was possessed of a +spirit of divination," and that "she brought her masters much gain by +soothsaying." There seems to have been a company or syndicate which, by +means of the mysterious powers of this girl, traded upon the +superstitions of the people. But Christianity was in opposition to this +form of spiritualism. The girl, we are told, followed Paul and his +friends and gave loud testimony to their divine mission. Very likely she +heard the Apostle's preaching, and received an impression that resulted, +owing to the peculiar condition of her mind, in an acute perception of +the true character of the missionaries. Paul, however, had no desire to +be introduced by any such medium as this. He exorcised the evil spirit +which, according to Jewish notions, possessed the damsel; that is, by +the influence of suggestion probably, he freed the girl from the +thraldom of the abnormal condition of mind which had hitherto made her +doubly a slave. + +While we are engaged with the subject of Paul's female converts and +acquaintances, it ought not to seem out of place if we give a little +notice to that remarkable piece of literature which was popular in the +early Church, and is known as the _Acts of Paul and Thecla_. It is +certain that the main facts set forth in this legend were credited by +such prominent ancient writers and theologians as Cyprian, Eusebius, +Augustin, Gregory Nazianzin, Chrysostom, and Severus Sulpitius. +Chrysostom especially gives a very clear indication of his belief in the +story of Paul and Thecla. Basil of Seleucia wrote the history of Thecla +in verse. Baronius, Archbishop Wake, and also the learned Grabe consider +the facts as being authentic history. On the other hand, Tertullian says +that it was forged by a presbyter of Asia, who confessed that he +invented the account out of respect for Paul. And again, it is held that +The _Acts of Paul and Thecla_, as we have it, is not the original book +of the early Christians. + +At any rate, even though it be nothing more than an imaginative +creation, inasmuch as an account of Thecla and her companionship with +Paul was extant early as the second century, as is proved by its being +mentioned by Tertullian, it is surely worthy of attention for it shows, +at a time so contiguous, how the age of the Apostles was pictured. + +The scene is laid in the beginning at Iconium, whither Paul had fled +from Antioch in Pisidia, as is related in the thirteenth chapter of the +Acts of the Apostles. There he is received by Onesiphorus and Lectra his +wife. In their house the Apostle preaches. At a window in a nearby house +sits the young maiden Thecla. She hears Paul's words, and is so +captivated by his discourse that nothing can tear her away. As her +mother says, she is there continuously, "like a spider's web fastened to +the window." At this rather long range the Gospel teaching takes effect +in her heart, and she becomes a convert to Christianity. Her mother and +Thamyris, her lover, endeavor by various means to divert her mind from +these things; but it is all in vain. Thamyris, chagrined because the +maiden no longer loves him, procures the arrest and imprisonment of +Paul. Thecla, by bribing the jailers with her ear-rings and silver +looking-glass, procures admittance to the prison, where she is still +more firmly established in the faith. + +On being found by her relatives, and refusing to marry Thamyris, she is +ordered to be burned at the stake; but in a miraculous manner the fire +is extinguished and Thecla is preserved. In the meantime, Paul, being +banished from the city, takes refuge with Onesiphorus and his family, in +a cave. There Thecla finds him, and begs to be allowed to accompany him +in his travels. They go on to Antioch, where Alexander, a magistrate, +falls in love with Thecla's beauty, and because she resists his advances +she is condemned to be thrown to the wild beasts. + +While she is waiting for the day on which her sentence is to be +executed, Thecla implores the governor that she may be preserved from +the unchaste designs of Alexander. To this end the governor gives her +into the charge of Trifina, a noble matron of the city. The maiden gains +not only the affection of Trifina, but also the sympathy of all the +women who learn of her unfortunate fate. When the time comes for her to +be thrown to the beasts, they refuse to attack her; and even though she +is tied to wild bulls, she is miraculously saved. Alarmed by this +wonder, the magistrate releases her, and she is adopted by Trifina. + +"So Thecla went with Trifina, and was entertained there a few days, +teaching her the word of the Lord, whereby many young women were +converted; and there was great joy in the family of Trifina. But Thecla +longed to see Paul, and enquired and sent everywhere to find him; and +when at length she was informed that he was at Myra, in Lycia, she took +with her many young men and women; and putting on a girdle, and dressing +herself in the habit of a man, she went to him to Myra, and there found +Paul preaching the word of God. + +"Then Paul took her, and led her to the house of Hermes; and Thecla +related to Paul all that had befallen her in Antioch, insomuch that Paul +exceedingly wondered, and all who heard were confirmed in the faith, and +prayed for Trifina's happiness. Then Thecla arose, and said to Paul, 'I +am going to Iconium.' Paul replied to her, 'Go, and teach the word of +the Lord.' But Trifina had sent large sums of money to Paul, and also +clothing by the hands of Thecla, for the relief of the poor." + +After this no further mention is made of the Apostle. Thecla returns to +Iconium, where she endeavors to convert her mother, but with no success. +Taking up her abode in the cave where she first talked with Paul, she +lives a virgin life and attains to a great age, doing many marvellous +works and acquiring a great fame for sanctity. + +This is a brief summary of the story which, whether it be fact or fancy, +was devoutly believed by many of the earliest Fathers of the Church. + +The Apostle to the Gentiles wrote: "Not many wise after the flesh, not +many mighty, not many noble are called." The Gospel of the Galilean +Carpenter found an eager reception chiefly among the humble; the names +of Lydia and Priscilla are those of workingwomen. Some of the names of +women that Paul mentions in his Epistles are those of bondservants. His +acquaintances in the houses of the great were among the menials. But +Christianity ennobled those to whom it came. We know nothing of Chloe of +Corinth, of Claudia of Rome, of Euodias, of Syntyche, of Persis, of +Phoebe, or of Damaris, except that they were among the first workers, +the charter members of the Church; their names are engraved ineffaceably +upon the foundations of the Faith. In an especial manner these women +were working for the uplifting of their sex. They were pioneers who +first ventured in that movement which inevitably brings enlargement of +life for all womankind. + +Yet Christianity was not wholly without its witnesses among the women of +the higher ranks of society. If Acte, Nero's freedwoman, really were a +Christian,--and it is strange that such a tradition should have arisen +without a foundation in fact,--she could not have been without an +influence upon the noble ladies with whom she was thrown into contact. +Pomponia Græcina was brought to trial for embracing a foreign religion. +This, in after ages, was believed to be Christianity; and it is +certainly possible that Sienkievicz's splendid portrayal of her as a +Christian matron is not wholly beside the mark. + +A little later, in the time of Domitian, we know that Christianity +invaded the imperial household. Domatilla, the niece of the emperor and +the wife of the noble Flavius Clemens, was an avowed Christian, and for +the sake of her faith was banished to the island of Pandataria, which +had been made the prison of women of far different character. + + + + +III + +THE ERA OF PERSECUTION + + +PERSECUTION of the early Christians was preordained by some of the most +prominent and essential qualities of human nature. Every new habit of +thought is at first looked upon with dislike. Political and religious +innovations are especially regarded with disfavor, because their +promulgation necessarily involves the disadvantage of official adherents +of prevailing systems, as well as the causing of that most disagreeable +form of mental irritation which follows upon the breaking in upon the +inertia of long-established prejudices. + +Christianity was calculated to arouse determined opposition both from +the political and also the religious forces of the empire. It was looked +upon as a menace to the state and a dishonor to the gods. Rome was +extremely tolerant of new religions, and its policy was to allow the +people of its widely diversified conquests to retain their traditional +forms and objects of worship; but the Roman deities must not know +disrespect, and the most fair-minded emperors could comprehend no +reason, except a treasonable one, why subjects should scruple to render +obedience to the statutes commanding that divine honors should be paid +to their imperial selves. But the very genius of Christianity +necessitated absolute intolerance of other religious cults. The +worshippers of Cybele or Isis had not the least objection to paying +their devotions to Vesta on the way to their own favorite temple; the +women who besought Mars for the victory of their husbands, absent with +the legions, freely offered incense before the statue of the emperor who +sent forth those legions; but, for the Christians, to give Christ a +place among the national deities was to do Him the greatest dishonor and +to commit mortal sin, and to burn a handful of incense before the statue +of the emperor was wicked idolatry and entailed the forfeiture of +eternal salvation. Their missionary zeal compelled them to manifest the +contempt in which they held the pagan gods, and thus the Christians laid +themselves open to the charge of atheism as well as to that of treason. +As Gibbon says: "By embracing the faith of the Gospel the Christians +incurred the supposed guilt of an unnatural and unpardonable offence. +They dissolved the sacred ties of custom and education, violated the +religious institutions of their country, and presumptuously despised +whatever their fathers had believed as true, or had reverenced as +sacred." And inasmuch as the religion of the state was a part of the +constitution of the state, their resolute rejection of it marked them, +in the eyes of the rulers, as enemies of the state. + +As the history of martyrdom is in almost every instance written by the +friends of the sufferers, the motive of the persecutors is usually +represented as wanton cruelty, while in fact it frequently was the case +that the civil magistrate honestly deemed himself to be carrying out +necessary precautions for the welfare of society. This assertion, which +tends to the defence of the credit of human nature, can confidently be +made in regard to most cases of official persecution. "Revere the gods +in everyway according to ancestral laws," said Maecenas to Augustus, +"and compel others so to revere them. Those, however, who introduce +anything foreign in this respect, hate and punish, not only for the sake +of the gods,--want of reverence toward whom argues want of reverence +toward everything else,--but because such, in that they introduce new +divinities, mislead many also to adopt foreign laws. Thence come +conspiracies and secret leagues which are in the highest degree opposed +to monarchy." Julius Paulus laid down as a fundamental principle in +Roman law: "Such as introduce new religions, whose bearing and nature +are not understood, by which the minds of men are disquieted, should, if +they are of the higher ranks, be transported; if of the lower, be +punished with death." To a Roman the state was everything; individual +liberty could only run in such courses as were parallel with the policy +of the state. Those who retained a sincere belief in the ancient deities +worshipped them as the patrons and guardians of the imperial destinies; +the philosophical sceptics were no less inclined to insist upon that +worship as a thing of political necessity, a means of binding the +unintelligent in loyalty to the government. + +In view of this, it is not to be wondered at that the contemptuous +attitude which the Christians manifested to the ancient religions seemed +to some of the wisest Romans to be nothing other than a stubborn +fanaticism, concealing a hateful antagonism to society. Their meetings, +which persecution necessarily made secret, were believed to be +treasonable; their resolute isolation from the common amusements, which +were deeply tainted with vice, caused them to be stigmatized as haters +of mankind; the mystery which surrounded their worship provided a ready +acceptance for the popular slander that in their secret gatherings the +worst atrocities were perpetrated. To such men as Trajan and Marcus +Aurelius, all this seemed a spreading evil to be determinedly stamped +out. + +On the other hand, it is true that the persecution of the Christians was +taken advantage of to minister to the lust for spectacles of blood and +agony which degraded the ancient world. There were the lions waiting; +there were Christians who deserved death: why waste so good an +opportunity to make a characteristic "Roman holiday." + +We are appalled at the remembrance of civilized savagery which could +delight in the sight of helpless women and tender maidens torn by beasts +or writhing in the fire; and yet, almost equal cruelty, though not +perpetrated in the same spirit, has been witnessed at so recent a date, +and at the hands of "Christians," that we can hardly with a good grace +reproach paganism for its atrocities of this kind. The potential +"devilishness" which is in human nature is surely one of its prime +mysteries. + +In the literature of Christian martyrdom it is frequently assumed that +there were ten general persecutions; but, as Mosheim says, this number +is not verified by the ancient history of the Church. For if, by these +persecutions, such only are meant as were singularly severe and +universal throughout the Empire, then it is certain that these amount +not to the number above mentioned. And if we take the provincial and +less remarkable persecutions into the account, they far exceed it. The +idea that the Church was to suffer ten great calamities arose from an +interpretation of certain passages of Scripture, particularly one in +Revelations. + +In these days of gentler manners and easier faith, we are hardly more +amazed at the cruelties which were enacted to abolish Christianity than +we are astonished at the fortitude with which its adherents endured +them. Never did punishment so signally fail as a deterrent. The Church +grew most rapidly when to be a Christian almost certainly ensured +martyrdom. It is a marvellous history, that of the three hundred years +of struggle between Christianity and paganism, in which all earthly +considerations were abandoned for a conception of morality and for a +faith in the existence of a life beyond the grave. The same spirit has +always characterized Christianity, but never with such enduring +persistence or with such success as in the early days. + +In the records of this struggle it is abundantly shown that women were +not spared, nor did they bear their part with less honor or courage than +the men. It was in the Church as it has been in all history: while the +government and the superior fame are awarded to one sex, equality in the +opportunity and in the endurance of suffering are not denied to the +other. The weaker sex has never been inferior in the ability to bear +pain, or in the courage to go cheerfully to a martyr's death. It was no +more common for women under the stress of torture to relinquish their +faithfulness than for men. In the enthusiasm born of their hope in the +Gospel, it was as much the wont of young virgins to meet the lion's eye +without flinching as it was that of wise and venerable bishops. + +The first principal persecution took place under Nero. There is no sign +of any general edict by him against the Christians; so it is probable +that the severities in this reign were confined to Rome. It is even +doubtful if Nero cherished any purpose of suppressing Christianity. He +found the Christians the most convenient victims for a charge of burning +the city; so he satisfied the people by affixing the guilt to these +hated sectaries, and at the same time amused the idle Roman populace by +an unusual exhibition. + +There is no mention of the names of those who suffered under the +imperial actor; but there is no doubt there were many women in the +number. Doubtless, some of those women to whom Paul sent greeting and +gave other mention in his Epistle suffered at this time. Though their +names are not recorded in the chronicles of martyrdom, the blood of many +of the Apostle's feminine friends at Rome helped to cement the +foundation of the Church. Of all the tragedies witnessed by the City of +the Seven Hills, in which women had taken a part, none was so +significant as this. The wives and daughters of kings, consuls, and +emperors had met death in the pursuit of ambitious projects. To them the +fatal violence of tyrants meant hopeless failure; to these Christian +women, who belonged to the lowest walks of society, it meant glorious +success. When those died, their ambitions ended; when these perished, +the faith which they so bravely confessed was only made stronger by +their sufferings. + +It is not unlikely that Poppæa, the wife of Nero, may have played an +important part in this persecution. The Christians encountered as bitter +opposition from the Jews as from the heathen. The fellow countrymen of +Paul frequently succeeded in stirring up the animosity of the rulers +against him and the other teachers of the new religion. While, as a +rule, they themselves were extremely obnoxious to the Romans, it +happened that at this time they had a powerful friend in the wife of the +tyrant. Josephus relates how Poppæa befriended him, and he is +enthusiastic in his praise of her "religious nature." So it may very +likely have been--as the gifted author of _Quo Vadis?_ describes--that +the accusation of firing the city was fastened upon the Christians by +the instrumentality of the Jews, and that Nero found a readier access to +this welcome expedient through the counsel of Poppæa. + +No description could be more vivid, or more trustworthy,--seeing that +his prejudice is entirely against the Christians,--than that given by +Tacitus of the cruelties perpetrated by Nero upon the followers of +Christ. "He inflicted the most exquisite tortures on those men (we know +from other evidence that there was no discrimination in regard to sex in +these sufferings) who, under the vulgar appellation of Christians, were +already branded with deserved infamy. They derived their name and origin +from Christ, who in the reign of Tiberius had suffered death by the +sentence of Pontius Pilate. For a while this dire superstition was +checked; but it again burst forth; and not only spread itself over +Judæa, the first seat of this mischievous sect, but was even introduced +into Rome, the common asylum which receives and protects whatever is +impure, whatever is atrocious. The confessions of those who were seized +discovered a great multitude of their accomplices, and they were all +convicted, not so much for the crime of setting fire to the city as for +their hatred of human kind. They died in torments, and their torments +were embittered by insult and derision. Some were nailed on crosses; +others sewn up in skins of wild beasts, and exposed to the fury of dogs; +others again, smeared over with combustible materials, were used as +torches to illuminate the darkness of the night. The gardens of Nero +were destined for the melancholy spectacle, which was accompanied with a +horse-race, and honored with the presence of the emperor, who mingled +with the populace in the dress and attitude of a charioteer. The guilt +of the Christians deserved indeed the most exemplary punishment, but the +public abhorrence was changed into commiseration, from the opinion that +those unhappy wretches were sacrificed, not so much to the public +welfare as to the cruelty of a jealous tyrant." Gibbon, commenting on +this passage, adds the reflection that in the strange revolutions of +history those same gardens of Nero have become the site of the triumph +and abuse of the persecuted religion. Where the first Roman followers of +the Galilean Carpenter suffered for their confession, the successors of +Peter exert a world-embracing hierarchical sway and a power far +surpassing that of the greatest emperor. + +No nation besides Rome ever systematically turned the torture of +criminals into a popular pastime; but there the people had become so +accustomed to the butchery of human beings in the public games that +nothing was so welcome as a new device for heightening the effect of +agonized death throes, except a large supply of judicially condemned men +and women on whom to prove it. Nero had good reason to be well assured +that he would not incur the displeasure of the people by condemning the +Christians to the circus and the amphitheatre. + +They were arrested in great numbers and crowded into a prison the +loathsomeness of which was itself a horrible torture. A holiday was +appointed so that the whole populace might be regaled by the sufferings +of these men and women. The orgy of cruelty which ensued seems beyond +the power of human nature to witness, much less to inflict. It is with +great reason that the early Christians looked upon Nero as the +Antichrist, the one representing in his nature the infinity of +opposition to the Saviour. From none of those horrors were women exempt. +Like the men they were crucified; they were covered with the skins of +wild beasts and mangled by dogs; and, their garments being dipped in +pitch, they were converted into living torches to light the gardens at +night. Clement of Rome also tells us that many Christian women were made +to play the part of the Danaids and of Dirce. It was the custom to give +realistic representation to mythological subjects by compelling +criminals to take the part of the victim of the tragedy. Consequently, +the women who represented Dirce were tied to the horns of a wild bull +and dragged about the arena until they were dead. The well-known piece +of ancient sculpture known as the Farnese Bull is the original tragedy +pictured in stone. An inscription in Pompeii indicates that this +exhibition was a common sight in the arena, women who were condemned +being frequently put to death in this manner. No point likely to add to +the effect of the scene was sacrificed to decency. The shame at being +exposed naked, which would humiliate a Christian maiden even at the +moment of impending death, simply afforded an element of jocularity to +the tragedy in the eyes of that barbarous Roman multitude. + +Doubtless the imperial author of these scenes took more pleasure in them +than did any of his subjects. Renan thus pictures him: "As he was +nearsighted, he used to put to his eye on such occasions a concave lens +of 'emerald,' which served him as an eyeglass. He liked to exhibit his +connoisseurship in matters of sculpture; it is said that he made brutal +remarks on his mother's dead body, praising this point and criticising +that. Living flesh quivering in a wild beast's jaw, or a poor shrinking +girl, screening herself by a modest gesture, then tossed by a bull and +cast in lifeless fragments on the gravel of the arena, must exhibit a +play of form and color worthy of an artist-sense like his. Here he was, +in the front row, on a low balcony, in a group of vestals and curule +magistrates,--with his ill-favored countenance, his short sight, his +blue eyes, his curled light-brown hair, his cruel mouth, his air like a +big silly baby, at once cross and dull, open-mouthed, swollen with +vanity, while brazen music throbbed in the air, turned to a bloody mist. +He would, no doubt, inspect with a critic's eye the shrinking attitudes +of these new Dirces; and I imagine he found a charm he had never known +before in the air of resignation with which these pure-hearted girls +faced their hideous death." + +Were these poor women, as they awaited in prison their doom, comforted +and encouraged by the presence of the Apostle charged to "feed my +lambs"? We do not know. But the firmness and constancy with which they +endured trials so horrible even unto death bespeak the marvellous effect +of the early enthusiasm of the Christian faith. These women were in the +vanguard of the Christian army which first met the deadly force of +heathen opposition; and because they did not flinch, but bore the pains +of martyrdom for their faith, that faith ultimately triumphed and filled +the world with its light. For more than two hundred years, however, the +women who embraced this faith were to live in the daily dread of the +terrible cry: "The Christians to the lions." + +After the death of Nero, for a time the Church was, comparatively +speaking, unmolested; though as Christianity was increasing in strength, +it was regarded with greater hatred on the part of the general populace. +Ugly stories began to be set afloat referring to the practices of this +new sect. Later on it came to be believed that its adherents were in the +habit of feasting, in their secret gatherings, on the body of a newborn +child. This feast was said to be followed by an entertainment in which +men and women abandoned themselves to the most abominable and +promiscuous licentiousness. These charges, absurd as they were, served +to obliterate any ray of pity which otherwise might have visited the +minds of their persecutors. + +In the year 81, Domitian, whom Tertullian describes as "of Nero's type +in cruelty," succeeded Titus on the imperial throne. Influenced by his +suspicion of all organizations, and also by the refusal of the Jewish +people to pay the capitation tax which was designed to provide for the +finishing of the Capitol, he instituted a persecution of the Jews, +which, for want of better knowledge on the part of the Romans, could not +fail to involve the Christians. His own niece, Domitilla, who had been +married to his cousin Flavius Clemens, was an avowed Christian, though +up to this time the faith had made few converts among the high and +mighty. Domitian banished her to the Island of Pandataria, and put to +death her husband, probably on the same charge. They were accused rather +vaguely of atheism and Jewish manners; but it seems probable that the +Church has made no mistake in placing them among her first sufferers. +This persecution by Domitian is counted as the second in the list of +ten; but, though many besides Domitilla were put to death, it hardly +seems possible that the persecution could have become very general, for +only a few months after it began Domitian was assassinated by a freedman +belonging to Domitilla, who, as Gibbon remarks, surely had not embraced +the faith of his mistress. + +The reign of the Emperor Trajan was, in many respects, marked by the +greatest prosperity and the best administration that Rome ever enjoyed; +but his strict government and close supervision, combined with his +loyalty to the ancient traditions, made that reign an era of severity +for the Christians. Pliny was governor of Bithynia and Pontus, and +thence he wrote to the emperor informing him that the Christians were +gaining headway everywhere, so much so that the temples of the gods were +being forsaken by the people of all classes. He desired advice as to how +he should proceed. By the application of torture to two maidservants who +held the office of deaconesses in the local church he had elicited the +information--for the learning of which, doubtless, torture was entirely +unnecessary--that "the whole sum of their error consisted in this, that +they were wont, at certain times appointed, to meet before day, and to +sing hymns to one Christ their God. They also agreed among themselves to +abstain from all theft, murder, and adultery; to keep their faith, and +to defraud no man: which done, they departed for that time, and +afterwards resorted again to take a meal in companies together, both men +and women, and yet without any act of evil." + +To this Trajan replied that the Christians should not be sought after, +nor should anonymous accusations be received; but when they were brought +before the magistrate they should be punished. A most inconsistent +decision; for, as Tertullian pointed out, if they deserved to be +punished when caught, they ought also to be sought after as guilty. + +In the legends of the martyrs there is an account of a widow named +Symphrosa who, with her seven sons, suffered death by the command of +Trajan. They refused to sacrifice to the gods at his behest. First, the +mother was tortured by being hung up for some time in the temple of +Hercules by the hair of the head, and then drowned; afterward, her sons +were by various means tortured and put to death. + +We now come to the time of the philosophic emperor, Marcus Aurelius. +During the reign of his predecessor, Antoninus Pius, the Christians were +generally left to practise and propagate their religion in peace. +Consequently, the Gospel made rapid inroads upon paganism; so much so +that the latter was stirred to a more bitter opposition than had ever +before been instituted. At the first glance it appears a difficult +problem in moral philosophy to explain how so wise and righteous a ruler +as Marcus Aurelius could bring himself to persecute so cruelly an +inoffensive people like the Christians. But in the first place it must +be remembered that ecclesiastic history of that time, as we have it, is +very uncertain; in fact, it is greatly distorted and exaggerated. There +are good reasons for believing that what is called a general persecution +was confined largely to the one province of Gaul. Then it is very likely +that the emperor knew but little of the character of the Christians or +of the nature of their doctrines; that he held an unfavorable opinion of +them is shown by his own words. It also seems to be the fact that he +issued no new edict against them; but the rescript of Trajan was still +in force, which was to the effect that Christians, when accused in legal +form, and failing to recant, should be punished. Marcus Aurelius simply +allowed this rule to be enforced by the magistrates. He saw in the +Christians only stubborn recalcitrants against the established +government. Whatever may have been the amount of the emperor's direct +responsibility in the matter, during his reign the flame of persecution +again burst out; and among many others, some women won lasting fame by +the glorious constancy and courage of their martyrdom. + +One of the most illustrious was Felicitas, a Roman lady of good family +and the mother of seven sons. It was the policy of the magistrates not +to punish unnecessarily, but to endeavor to win those who were accused +to an acknowledged abandonment of their faith. In this case the judge +deemed it the more efficacious method to proceed against the mother +first, in the hope that in winning her to change her religion, he would +have less trouble with her sons; but neither promises of freedom nor +threats of total destruction of herself and her family could prevail. +Then he caused each son to be brought before him separately, and +endeavored both by menaces and persuasion to turn them from their +allegiance. Felicitas, however, had too thoroughly instilled into her +sons' minds the principles upon which her own faith and courage were +founded; they were unanimous in their steadfastness. The consequence was +that the mother was doomed to see her offspring executed one by one; and +at last, her resolution being invincible even before this terrible +trial, Felicitas herself was beheaded. + +The brunt of the persecution which took place in the reign of Marcus +Aurelius was borne by the Christians of Gaul, particularly those of +Lyons and Vienne. We possess a good description of these sufferings in a +letter which has been preserved by Eusebius, and which was sent by the +survivors of these devoted churches to their brethren in the other parts +of the empire. "The greatness of the tribulation in this region," says +the epistle, "and the fury of the heathen against the saints, and the +sufferings of the blessed witnesses, we cannot recount accurately, nor +indeed could they possibly be recorded. For with all his might the +adversary fell upon us, giving us a foretaste of his unbridled activity +at his future coming. He endeavored in every way to practise and +exercise his servants against the servants of God, not only shutting us +out from houses and baths and markets, but forbidding any of us to be +seen in any place whatever. But the grace of God led the conflict +against him, and delivered the weak, and set them as firm pillars, able +through patience to endure all the wrath of the Evil One." + +The letter goes on to relate how the heathen servants of many of the +Christians were arrested, and, through fear of suffering the same +dreadful tortures which they saw visited upon the believers, testified +falsely that the Christians were wont to indulge in the most atrocious +practices. This was believed by the common people, with the result that +all pity was extirpated from their breasts, and they hunted the +Christians with a rage which could only be likened to that of wild +beasts. + +One of the most renowned of the sufferers on this occasion was the slave +Blandina, "through whom Christ showed that things which appear mean and +obscure and despicable to men are with God of great glory.... For while +we all trembled, and her earthly mistress, who was herself also one of +the witnesses, feared that on account of the weakness of her body she +would be unable to make a bold confession, Blandina was filled with such +power as to be delivered and raised above those who were torturing her +by turns from morning until evening in every manner, so that they +acknowledged that they were conquered, and could do nothing more to her. +And they were astonished at her endurance, as her entire body was +mangled and broken; and they testified that one of these forms of +torture was sufficient to destroy life, not to speak of so many and so +great sufferings. But the blessed woman, like a noble athlete, renewed +her strength in her confession; and her comfort and recreation and +relief from the pain of her sufferings was in exclaiming, 'I am a +Christian, and there is nothing vile done by us.'" + +All this torture seems to have taken place in the examination of +Blandina before the tribunal; for we read how, later, she with others +was taken to the amphitheatre to be exposed to the wild beasts, a +spectacle having been arranged in order that the people might be regaled +with the sight of the Christians' sufferings. At this exhibition the +people themselves decided as to what forms of cruelties the victims +should endure, shouting out their demands for the fiery stake or the +beasts, as their horrible fancies dictated. + +Blandina was suspended on a cross, and there left to the mercy of any of +the numerous wild beasts prowling around the arena that might choose to +attack her. But on this occasion she was left unmolested; and the sight +of her, hanging from the stake and thus reminding them of the Master +they served, as well as the prayers she continually offered, so +heartened her comrades that they were the better enabled to meet their +death with a good courage. + +The memory of Blandina has justly been preserved through all these +centuries as one of the bravest and best in the noble "army of martyrs." +No doctor of theology ever bore more effective testimony to the faith; +no Christian soldier ever contended more earnestly for the cause; no +philosopher ever advanced a stronger argument in evidence of the truth +of religion than this poor slave woman who thus suffered in the bloody +arena where Christianity fought and conquered seventeen centuries ago. +Women were not allowed by the law of the Church to teach in the +assembly; but Blandina, from her rostrum of pain which was set up in the +amphitheatre at Lyons, by her faith which could enable her to forget her +own misery in the desire to cheer other sufferers, preached such a +sermon as sentences of polished eloquence can never emulate. + +We cannot better finish our account of this great martyr than by quoting +the description of her end as it is given in the letter mentioned above. +"On the last day of the contests, Blandina was again brought in, with +Ponticus, a boy about fifteen years old. They had been brought every day +to witness the sufferings of the others, and had been pressed to swear +by the idols. But because they remained steadfast and despised them, the +multitude became furious, so that they had no compassion for the youth +of the boy nor respect for the sex of the woman. Therefore, they exposed +them to all the terrible sufferings and took them through the entire +round of torture, repeatedly urging them to swear, but being unable to +effect this; for Ponticus, encouraged by his sister so that even the +heathen could see that she was confirming and strengthening him, having +nobly endured every torture, gave up the ghost. But the blessed +Blandina, last of all, having, as a noble mother, encouraged her +children and sent them before her victorious to the King, endured +herself all their conflicts and hastened after them, glad and rejoicing +in her departure as if called to a marriage supper; rather than cast to +wild beasts. And, after the scourging, after the wild beasts, after the +roasting seat, she was finally enclosed in a net, and thrown before a +bull. And after being tossed about by the animal, but feeling none of +the things which were happening to her, on account of her hope and firm +hold upon that which had been entrusted to her, and her communion with +Christ, she also was sacrificed. And the heathen themselves confessed +that never among them had a woman endured so many and such terrible +tortures." + +The horrible circumstances attending the persecution at Lyons seem to +have been largely instigated by the fury of the ungovernable mob; there +are indications that the trial of Christians was oftentimes carried on +in strict conformity with legal measures, and also with some show of +pity on the part of the judges. The punishments in cases like these were +no less severe; but there is some, comfort in thinking, inasmuch as the +persecutors were members of the human race like ourselves, that they +felt bound by their consciences to proceed to these extreme measures in +the endeavor to put down what they believed to be a dangerous +innovation. To understand persecution rightly, it is necessary not only +to sympathize with the sufferers, but also, so far as is possible, to +take the viewpoint of the persecutors. It is only in comparatively +recent times that barbarities in legal proceedings have been +discontinued. Age has not yet destroyed all the implements of torture +that were considered part of the necessary furniture of a European +prison. Far down in Christian times, the examination of a prisoner was +considered to be very properly and justly facilitated by the application +of thumbscrews and iron boots. Even our own memory is not entirely +lacking in incidents where water has been used to the great discomfort +of a prisoner, with the object of expediting his confession. Hence, it +would be absurd to expect to find a Roman magistrate of the second +century after Christ contenting himself with expostulating with those +whom the laws, the traditions, and the customs of his country condemned. +This failing, he would naturally try a stronger argument. + +This is illustrated in the cases of the renowned martyrs Perpetua and +Felicitas. These were ladies of Carthage, who suffered during the reign +of Severus. Perpetua was only a learner in the Christian faith, not yet +having been baptized. She was young, married, and possessed a still +stronger tie to existence in the young infant which she carried in her +arms. Her father, by whom she was greatly beloved, visited her in prison +and endeavored to persuade her to renounce Christianity. Failing in his +arguments and entreaties, he even exercised the parental right which the +law of his day gave him to chastise his daughter; but he could elicit no +word of decision from her other than: "God's will must be done." + +While in the prison she was baptized, and was thus still more strongly +fortified to meet the trial which was before her. At her examination we +have such a picture as is indicated above. The judge entreated her to +have compassion on her father's tears, on her infant's helplessness, as +well as on her own life. He pointed out to her the cruel position in +which she was placed by her religion, and used this as an argument +against it. But it all availed nothing. She was returned to the prison +to await the day of execution. Her companion in this direful +anticipation was Felicitas, a married woman who was about to become a +mother. This Christian woman also, on being brought before the +procurator, had been entreated by him to have pity upon herself and her +condition; but she had replied that his compassion was useless, since no +thought of self-preservation could induce her to be unfaithful to her +religion. While in the prison she gave birth to a girl, which was +adopted by a Christian woman who as yet was free. + +On the day of their execution, Perpetua and Felicitas were taken to the +amphitheatre and stripped of their clothing; but on this occasion, +however lacking the people may have been in the quality of mercy, they +at least showed some feelings of decency, for they requested that the +women might be allowed to have their garments. The two martyrs were then +exposed to the fury of an enraged bull. The animal attacked them both; +but as neither of them was mortally wounded, an officer despatched them +with his sword. + +The authorities doubtless congratulated themselves that by the death of +these poor women the hated religion was by so much reduced; but "the +blood of the martyrs was the seed of the church," and by the courage of +its martyrs more people were incited to investigate the new faith than +by their sufferings were deterred from following it. In fact, there are +instances on record that the constancy of the Christians in their +sufferings bore immediate fruit in the conversion of the spectators; +where those who came to revile shared in the end the death of those they +helped to persecute. The most noted example of this kind is that of +Potamiana, who suffered under the emperor Severus. Rufinus says that she +was a disciple of Origen. We are also informed by Palladius that she was +a slave, and that her condemnation originated in the passion of her +master. Angered by her steadfast refusal to submit to his desires, he +accused her to the judges as a Christian, and bribed them to endeavor to +break her resolution and afterward return her to himself; but their +tortures proved as ineffectual as his persuasions. At last, being +sentenced to death, she was given in charge of Basilides, an officer of +the army, to be led to the place of execution. On the way thither, when +the people sought to annoy her by insult and abuse, Basilides drove them +back, and, probably more by his actions than by words, manifested for +her much kindness and pity. Eusebius says that Potamiana, "perceiving +the man's sympathy for her, exhorted him to be of good courage, for she +would supplicate her Lord for him after her departure, and he would soon +receive a reward for the kindness he had shown her. Having said this, +she nobly sustained the issue, burning pitch being poured, little by +little, over various parts of her body, from the soles of her feet to +the crown of her head. Such was the conflict endured by this famous +maiden." + +Shortly after this, Basilides, being requested by his fellow soldiers to +take an oath, refused; and he gave it as his reason that it was not +lawful for him to swear, he being a Christian. At first they thought he +was jesting; but as he persistently affirmed it, they took him before +the judge, with the result that the next day he was beheaded. He was +reported to have said that for three days after her martyrdom Potamiana +stood by him night and day, and that she placed a crown upon his head, +telling him that she had besought the Lord for him and had obtained what +she asked, which was that he should soon be with her. + +In the year 250 the Emperor of Rome was Decius. During his brief reign +he instituted one of the severest persecutions that the Church was +called upon to endure. Yet there is reason to believe that this emperor +was a man of superior character and high principles. Alarmed at the +corruption that prevailed in the empire, he sought to restore the +ancient customs and to strengthen the primitive religion. As a means +deemed by him necessary to this end, he endeavored to extirpate +Christianity. This was the first persecution in which the attempt was +universally made to destroy the Church. This persecution was +consequently far more terrible than any which had preceded it. +Fortunately, the reign of Decius lasted only two years; but during that +time vast numbers of Christians were put to death, and the women were as +little spared as they had been on former occasions. There is no need of +recounting their individual sufferings, as it would simply be a +repetition of the horrors described above. + +In the meantime, the Church had greatly changed in its character. It had +grown sufficiently strong to compete with paganism even in point of +numbers. During the periods of peace there were taken into its fold a +great many who were not strongly grounded in the faith, nor had they the +mind to endure in the time of persecution. Consequently, when it came to +the trial, great numbers would return to a formal practice of heathen +worship, with the purpose in mind of returning to the Church after the +storm had passed over. These often obtained certificates from the +magistrates to the effect that they had made the required recantation. +The Church had also begun to define its creed with metaphysical nicety +of expression, with the consequence that many discussions arose and +numerous heretical sects came into being. The heathen, however, did not +discriminate; therefore, the heretical had their martyrs as well as the +orthodox; and there is no proof that the former were less ready to die +for their faith than the latter. But, to show the jealousy which variety +in religious opinion will engender, it is recorded that even when +members of the various sects of Christians were suffering martyrdom +together, they refused to recognize each other. + +By this time also the doctrine of the superior sanctity of virginity had +become firmly established in the Church. It was probably owing to this +that, in the later persecutions, we frequently find reference made to +women being threatened with unchaste attacks on their persons with the +sole purpose of driving them to the abjuring of their religion. Gibbon, +referring to this, speaks of it in the following manner: "It is related +that pious females, who were prepared to despise death, were sometimes +condemned to a more severe trial, and were called upon to determine +whether they set a higher value upon their religion or upon their +chastity. The youths to whose licentious embraces they were abandoned +received a solemn exhortation from the judge to exert their most +strenuous efforts to maintain the honor of Venus against the impious +virgin who refused to burn incense on her altars. Their violence, +however, was commonly disappointed, and the seasonable interposition of +some miraculous power preserved the chaste spouses of Christ from the +dishonor of even an involuntary defeat. We should not indeed neglect to +remark that the more ancient as well as authentic memorials of the +Church are seldom polluted with these extravagant and indecent +fictions." + +There is no doubt that the monks of later times did waste their leisure +in fabricating such miraculous interposition; but there surely is a +flippancy in the tone of what is above quoted, as indeed in Gibbon's +whole treatment of the persecution of the early Christians, which is not +worthy of the great historian. + + [Illustration 3: _CHRISTIANS IN THE ARENA After the painting by + L. P. de Laubadère. + + Were these poor women, as they awaited in prison their doom, + comforted and encouraged by the presence of the Apostle charged + to "feed my lambs"? We do not know. But the firmness and + constancy with which they endured trials so horrible even unto + death bespeak the marvellous effect of the early enthusiasm of + the Christian faith. These women were in the vanguard of the + Christian army which first met the deadly force of heathen + opposition; and because they did not flinch, but bore the pains + of martyrdom for their faith, that faith ultimately triumphed + and filled the world with its light. For more than two hundred + years, however, the women who embraced this faith were to live + in the daily dread of the terrible cry: "The Christians to the + lions."_] + +Eusebius informs us that "the women were no less manly than the men in +behalf of the teaching of the Divine Word, as they endured conflicts +with the men, and bore away equal prizes of virtue. And when they were +dragged away for corrupt purposes, they surrendered their lives to death +rather than their bodies to impurity." He instances the case of a woman +and her two daughters, whom Chrysostom, in an oration in their honor, +names as Domnina, Bernice, and Prosdose. These women, being as beautiful +in their persons as they were virtuous in their minds, were threatened +during the Diocletian persecution with violation. While the guard was +taking them back to the place from which they had fled to avoid this +danger, they took advantage of a moment in which they were not watched +to throw themselves into the river, where they found safety in death. +Another case was that of the wife of the prefect of Rome. Maxentius, the +emperor, being seized with a passionate desire for her, sent officers to +bring her to the palace. The lady begged time in which to adorn herself +for the occasion. This being granted, as soon as she found herself +alone, she stabbed herself, so that the messengers going to her room +found nothing but her dead body. These instances are recorded with great +admiration by both Eusebius and Chrysostom, showing that the leaders of +the early Church deemed it less prejudicial to a woman's salvation for +her to take her own life than to suffer even the involuntary defilement +of her body. + +The reign of Diocletian and his colleagues saw the final struggle +between Christianity and paganism. It was a bloody conflict for the +Christians; and yet, though they refrained from resisting evil with +material weapons, they conquered. Women in great numbers were again +faithful unto death. Some were for the time frightened from their +allegiance to Christ; for the pure precepts were becoming increasingly +diluted with worldliness as well as superstition. Among these women were +the wife and daughter of Diocletian, Prisca and Valeria. These had +become converts to the faith; but when the edict was published against +the Christians, they sacrificed to the traditional gods. It availed them +little, however; for they gained only a few years of most distressful +life at the cost of the martyr's crown. In the end the violent death +came to them without the honor, for in the year 314 Licinius caused them +to be beheaded and their bodies thrown into the sea. They had committed +no fault of which any evidence is left; and for several years they had +suffered from the loss of their property and from the hardships of +exile. Diocletian was still alive, but could render them no aid, as he +had abdicated the throne and was now busying himself solely in growing +vegetables. Licinius was mistakenly supposed to be a friend to +Christianity; Constantine had become its champion. But, as Victor Duruy +says: "Notwithstanding celestial visions and marvellous dreams, these +men were destitute of heart, and their faith, if they had any, was +without influence upon their conduct. Their cruelty was universally +commended; in reference to all these murders, the Christian preceptor of +a son of Constantine utters a cry of triumph. The inspiration of the +gentle Galilean Teacher was replaced by that of the implacable Jehovah +of the Mosaic law." The tables had turned; Christianity was now in +power; the heretofore persecuted soon set out on the way to become the +persecutors. + + + + +IV + +SAINT HELENA AND THE TIME OF CONSTANTINE + + +At last we see Christianity triumphant. What has been an obscure but +hated and persecuted sect now becomes the dominant religion in the +Empire; the people who had hidden underground in the Catacombs are now +the favorites of the palace. It had been a conflict between spiritual +forces and carnal weapons, between patient propagandism and vindictive +conservatism; on one side, invincible missionary zeal joined with +undefensive submission, on the other, senseless misrepresentation and +cruel persecution. But what can overcome the idea for which men and +women are ready to die? It was a conflict in which, on the Christian +part, women were as well fitted to engage as were men. The exalted +purity of Christian maidens was as effective in setting at naught the +counsels of the ungodly as were the elaborate arguments of the +apologists; the blood of believing matrons was as fertile for the +increase of the Church as was that of bishops and presbyters. The +followers of Christ clung to the Cross and conquered. + +At the same time, victory did not come without heavy loss to the Church. +In this loss, however, must not be reckoned the lives of the martyrs. +The men and women who sacrificed themselves to the Cause were considered +to have won thereby, not mere fame, but the enjoyment of celestial glory +in a conscious eternal life; and their death was always repaid to the +Church by an increase of a hundred-fold. But as the Church gained in +extension, it lost in intention. The organization, the religion, the +name won; but the spirit, the inner principles of Christianity lost. In +this sense the victory was much in the nature of a compromise. +Christianity became the faith of the Empire; but the Empire did not +adopt for its rule the pure precepts of Christ. Constantine's court +worshipped the Nazarene; but Constantine's conduct was not superior to +that of many of his heathen predecessors. The ancient religion was +superstitious, and it is not possible to contend that the religion of +Helena was free from that fault. The women of an older Rome were greatly +subject to frailties of the flesh, and like scandals were by no means +uncommon in the palaces of Christian emperors. It is not difficult to +match Agrippina and Poppæa in the history of Rome after the Council of +Nicæa. The religious revolution which took place in the world was much +more rapid in respect to theory than it was in practice. + +This is the history of all evolutions of the ideal. The first +missionaries are exalted by their enthusiasm above common nature; they +soar to the clouds. The martyrs are not restrained by any of the ties of +various sorts which bind humanity; they despise the flesh. But their +converts partake of their spirit in a lesser degree; as these increase, +a growing proportion of them realize that for them life must continue to +be very much what it always has been. It is not possible for all to +maintain themselves in an intense and eager quest for the ideal. The +heroic leaders may attain the empyrean, but the multitude must drag on +the ground, thankful if at the most they can keep their feet; for, be +our ideals what they may, in reality the chief business of life is +living. + +Again, as in all other movements, when the Church began to grow in +popularity, numbers came within her pale whose minds were more attracted +by her philosophy than their hearts were affected by her principles. +Consequently the Christians were early divided on matters of theological +opinion. There were all shades of variation in belief, and each +distinction of faith meant a sect more or less divided from the common +body of Christians. And it must be admitted that very quickly, even +before the fires of persecution had been quenched, there appeared that +bitterness which has always characterized and disgraced theological +differences in the Church. The leaders of orthodoxy began to deprecate +deviations from the common rule of faith with greater severity than they +did lapses from fundamental morality. The Church consequently lost much +of its pristine influence, which had been so successful in purifying the +lives of the Christians. Metaphysical dogmas were exalted at the expense +of holy deeds, and it became possible for corrupt rulers to be lauded as +defenders of the faith and for unchaste women to receive those +ecclesiastical privileges which formerly had been but grudgingly +restored to those who had done no more than burn a handful of incense on +the altar of Venus to save themselves from martyrdom. + +In the letter of the bishops against Paul of Samosata, who was +Metropolitan of Antioch about the year 290, he is charged with conniving +at the institution of the _subintroduçtæ_,--that is, women who were +pledged to virginity and who yet were so intrepid as to take up their +abode in the houses of clergy who also professed celibacy. The idea of +this proceeding seems to have been that the constant presence of +temptation, which the people were supposed to believe was always +overcome, enhanced the victory achieved by these champions of purity. +The leaders of the Church, however, looked with disfavor upon this +hazardous method of demonstrating the power of the new religion; but +Paul of Samosata seems not only to have allowed this practice, but to +have been himself far from careful to avoid suspicious appearances. The +bishops, in their letter referred to above, complain thus: "We are not +ignorant how many have fallen or incurred suspicion through the women +whom they have thus brought in. So that, even if we should allow that he +commits no sinful act, yet he ought to avoid the suspicion which arises +from such a thing, lest he scandalize some one, or lead others to +imitate him. For how can he reprove or admonish another not to be too +familiar with women ... when he has sent one away already, and now has +two with him, blooming and beautiful, and takes them with him wherever +he goes." Paul was probably not so black as he was thus painted by his +enemies; especially is this likely, seeing that his patroness was +Zenobia, the queen of Palmyra, who was remarkably careful in her +conduct. But the point we wish to establish is found in the admission +made by the bishops that, since Paul was a heretic, they had no concern +about his conduct. In a note on this, Dr. McGiffert remarks: "We get +here a glimpse of the relative importance of orthodoxy and morality in +the minds of the Fathers. Had Paul been orthodox, they would have asked +him to explain his course, and would have endeavored to persuade him to +reform his conduct; but since he was a heretic it was not worth while. +It is noticeable that he is not condemned because he is immoral, but +because he is heretical. The implication is that he might have been even +worse than he was in his morals and yet no decisive steps taken against +him, had he not deviated from the orthodox faith." All this goes to show +that, after Christianity was established as the dominant religion of the +empire, the life of women as well as of men was less changed by the +effect of their new devotions than those devotions were altered in their +form and direction. Though a new heaven was proclaimed, the new earth +had not yet come into being. "The sweet reasonableness" of the Gospel +was beclouded by speculation; the primitive holiness degenerated into a +sickly asceticism; for half-converted pagans, the early saints served in +the place of the old divinities; and human nature still remained capable +of most of the vices to which it had formerly been addicted. + +Yet the ideal is never without its witnesses. Very early there arose +within the Church the movement known as Montanism, which endeavored to +reproduce the ancient purity by an exaggerated rigidity of discipline +and the early simplicity of the Church by a stern opposition to +ecclesiasticism. This movement carries an interest relative to our +subject, inasmuch as two women held a prominent place as its founders. +The three original prophets of the sect were Montanus, Priscilla, and +Maximilla. The former of the two women was so influential in the +movement that its adherents are frequently spoken of as Priscillianists. +The two women were ladies of noble birth who left their husbands in +order to attach themselves to Montanus. They believed themselves to be +the mediums of the divine Comforter promised by Christ. It was their +habit to fall into ecstasies, in which condition they would prophesy. +They claimed that their teaching was divinely inspired and consequently +infallible. According to them, all gross offenders were to be +excommunicated, and never afterward readmitted to the fold of the +Church. Celibacy was encouraged by them, all worldly amusements were to +be eschewed, and they greatly increased the number of the fasts. + +Of Priscilla and Maximilla, Dr. McGiffert says: "They were regarded with +the most profound reverence by all Montanists. It was a characteristic +of this sect that they insisted upon the religious equality of men and +women; that they accorded just as high honor to the women as to the men, +and listened to their prophecies with the same reverence. The human +person was but an instrument of the Spirit, according to their view, and +hence a woman might be chosen by the Spirit as his instrument just as +well as a man, the ignorant as well as the learned. Tertullian, for +instance, cites, in support of his doctrine of the materiality of the +soul, a vision seen by one of the female members of his church, whom he +believed to be in the habit of receiving revelations from God." + +These people were reactionaries; they rebelled against the spirit of +laxity, worldliness, and officialdom which was fast taking hold of the +Church. Their prophesying women were simply a revival of what had been +common in Apostolic times, when the daughters of Philip were +prophetesses. But order had been evolved in the ecclesia. In fact, out +of the numerous forms of evangelical activity that existed in the +original unsettled condition of the Church, three orders had been +established, in none of which were women represented. Moreover, the +female friends of Montanus seem to have been rather unconvincing in +regard to their prophecies. Maximilla declared that after her there +would be no other prophet, intimating that the end of the world was +about to take place, a prediction as common among such enthusiasts as it +is hazardous in its nature. She also prophesied that wars and anarchy +were near at hand, which, as an anonymous writer quoted by Eusebius +found no difficulty in showing, was clearly false. With a jubilation +which, under the circumstances, was not unwarranted, he cries: "It is +to-day more than thirteen years since the woman died, and there has been +neither a partial nor general war in the world; but rather, through the +mercy of God, continued peace even to the Christians." From this time, +any attempt, on the part of women or men, to revive the gift of prophecy +after the apostolic manner was always classed with heresy, schism, and +other works of the devil, which it was the duty of the faithful +zealously to cast out. + +During the many and long intermissions during which the Christians were +not persecuted, the Church steadily grew in prominence and in social +standing. Before the time of Diocletian, large and handsome edifices had +been erected in many places for the use of Christian worship. The +doctrines therein taught were no longer unknown to the rulers and chief +men of paganism; the faith was no longer the possession almost solely of +bondservants and the lowly. Among its conquests were men and women of +high position; even the imperial family was now and again strongly +suspected of contributing friends to the new religion. Prisca and +Valeria, the wife and daughter of Diocletian, were certainly +catechumens, though they sacrificed to the heathen deities when the +emperor gave his edict for persecution. The world was not to see a Roman +empress playing the tragic part of a martyr to Christianity. + +Of the time immediately preceding the persecution of Diocletian, +Eusebius says: "It is beyond our ability to describe in a suitable +manner the extent and nature of the glory and freedom with which the +word of piety toward the God of the universe, proclaimed to the world +through Christ, was honored among all men, both Greeks and barbarians. +The favor shown our people by the rulers might be adduced as evidence; +as they committed to them the government of provinces, and on account of +the great friendship which they entertained toward their doctrine, +released them from anxiety in regard to sacrificing. Why need I speak of +those in the royal palaces, and of the rulers over all, who allowed the +members of their households, wives and children and servants, to speak +openly before them for the divine word and life, and suffered them +almost to boast of the freedom of their faith?" + +Thus it came to pass that Christianity grew to be a power which must be +reckoned with in the state; all the more so, since, as the historian +just quoted admits, many of the motives, influences and usages natural +to the world began to be adopted in the Church. It is really doubtful +whether the persecution under Diocletian was at all instigated by any +animosity on the part of the rulers toward Christian principles. The +Church was looked upon as a great party in the state, opposed to +traditional conditions, and, while not yet strong enough to be courted, +was too numerous to be tolerated. Constantine saw the futility of +endeavoring to extirpate the Church, even if his disposition could have +allowed him to resort to such cruel measures, and--it is not +uncharitable to his memory to say it--he shrewdly concluded to attach +this vigorously growing power to himself. + +Before we enter upon the study of the character and time of a woman to +whose influence the political triumph of Christianity was probably very +largely due, it will not be out of place to notice a little more closely +the unfortunate career of Valeria, the daughter of Diocletian. She has +previously been referred to as a Christian who, with Prisca, her mother, +saved herself from martyrdom by sacrificing, though very reluctantly, to +the pagan deities. By her father, Diocletian, she had been given in +marriage to Galerius, who at that time was made Cæsar and was afterward +to become emperor. In every way she proved herself a most estimable +wife; and although her courage was not equal to the endurance of +martyrdom, her Christian principles beautified her life with the graces +of virtue and charity. Having no children of her own, she adopted +Candidianus, the illegitimate son of her husband, and evinced toward him +all the affection of a real mother. After the death of Galerius, the +great fortune, no less than the personal attractions, of Valeria aroused +the desires of Maximin, his successor. This Maximin was the most +licentious man that ever disgraced the imperial throne, and to attain +preeminence among such competitors required a monster of sensuality. His +eunuchs catered to his passions by forcing from their homes wives and +virgins of the noblest families; any sign of unwillingness on the part +of these victims was regarded as treason and punished accordingly. +During his reign, the custom arose that no person should marry without +the emperor's consent, in order that he might in all nuptials act the +part of _prægustator_. + +The fate of Valeria is best described in the words of Gibbon: "He +(Maximin) had a wife still alive; but divorce was permitted by the Roman +law, and the fierce passions of the tyrant demanded an immediate +gratification. The answer of Valeria was such as became the daughter and +widow of emperors; but it was tempered by the prudence which her +defenceless condition compelled her to observe. She represented to the +persons whom Maximin had employed on this occasion, 'that, even if honor +could permit a woman of her character and dignity to entertain a thought +of second nuptials, decency at least must forbid her to listen to his +addresses at a time when the ashes of her husband and his benefactor +were still warm, and while the sorrows of her mind were still expressed +by her mourning garments. She ventured to declare that she could place +very little confidence in the professions of a man whose cruel +inconstancy was capable of repudiating a faithful and affectionate +wife.' On this repulse the love of Maximin was converted into fury; and +as witnesses and judges were always at his disposal, it was easy for him +to cover his fury with an appearance of legal proceedings, and to +assault the reputation as well as the happiness of Valeria. Her estates +were confiscated, her eunuchs and domestics devoted to the most inhuman +tortures, and several innocent and respectable matrons, who were honored +with her friendship, suffered death, on a false accusation of adultery. +The empress herself, together with her mother Prisca, was condemned to +exile; and as they were ignominiously hurried from place to place before +they were confined to a sequestered village in the deserts of Syria, +they exposed their shame and distress to the provinces of the East, +which, during thirty years, had respected their august dignity. +Diocletian (who before this had abdicated his throne and was therefore +powerless) made several ineffectual efforts to alleviate the misfortunes +of his daughter; and, as the last return that he expected for the +imperial purple, which he had conferred upon Maximin, he entreated that +Valeria might be permitted to share his retirement at Salona, and to +close the eyes of her afflicted father. He entreated; but as he could no +longer threaten, his prayers were received with coldness and disdain; +and the pride of Maximin was gratified in treating Diocletian as a +suppliant, and his daughter as a criminal. + +"The death of Maximin seemed to assure the empresses of a favorable +alteration in their fortune. The public disorders relaxed the vigilance +of their guard, and they easily found means to escape from the place of +their exile, and to repair, though with some precaution, and in +disguise, to the court of Licinius. His behavior, in the first days of +his reign, and the honorable reception which he gave to young +Candidianus, inspired Valeria with secret satisfaction, both on her own +account and on that of her adopted son. But these grateful prospects +were soon succeeded by horror and astonishment; and the bloody +executions which stained the palace of Nicomedia sufficiently convinced +her that the throne of Maximin was filled by a tyrant more inhuman than +himself. Valeria consulted her safety by a hasty flight, and, still +accompanied by her mother, Prisca, they wandered above fifteen months +through the provinces, concealed in the disguise of plebeian habits. +They were at length discovered at Thessalonica; and as the sentence of +their death was already pronounced, they were immediately beheaded, and +their bodies thrown into the sea. The people gazed on the melancholy +spectacle; but their grief and indignation were suppressed by the +terrors of a military guard. Such was the unworthy fate of the wife and +daughter of Diocletian. We lament their misfortunes, we cannot discover +their crimes." It is by no means unlikely, judging from the character of +these women, that if the true facts were known, though they were not +martyrs in the accepted sense of the word, it would be seen that they +suffered for their Christianity, being induced by its principles to +refuse their consent to such conduct as would have gained the favor of +their persecutors. There have been many more martyrs for the substance +of Christianity than there have been for its form; and doubtless there +were not a few women, in the times of which we are writing, who would +have sacrificed on pagan altars, but who would not have defiled their +consciences with acts which paganism excused. + +In the preceding pages of this chapter, we have attempted to indicate +the fact that, while Christianity was growing in numbers and influence, +its effect upon the moral conditions of the world was not so great as +might be expected by a student who confines his attention to its +doctrines, rather than to an investigation of the character of the men +and women who made the history of that time. As has already been said, +the material and political triumph of Christianity was in reality a +moral compromise with the world. If the faithful practice of the +teachings and the humble following of the example of Christ had been +rigidly insisted upon as the _sine qua non_ of membership in the Church, +it is doubtful if Constantine would have proved a better friend to the +Church than was Trajan. Nevertheless, the fact that Constantine did find +himself able to favor the Christian religion, without incurring any +mental discomfort in the pursuit of his own ideas, rendered it possible +for earnest believers in Christ to devote themselves to their faith in +perfect security. + +How large a share may be rightfully imputed to Helena of the honor of +influencing her son's mind to the support of Christianity it is +impossible to determine, but that some credit is due to her in this +respect the nature of the circumstances warrants us in believing. In any +case, Helena was so important a figure in early Church history that her +life and doings were a favorite theme for the chroniclers of her time +and a welcome opportunity for the legendists of the mediaeval age. These +latter have so glorified her ancestry and confused the place of her +birth that it is entirely impossible to harmonize their statements with +those of the former. As an example of the legends of the Middle Ages we +give the account of her as it is found in Hakluyt's _Voyages_ and quoted +by Dr. McGiffert in his Prolegomena to Eusebius's _Constantine the +Great_. "Helena Flavia Augusta, the heire and only daughter of Coelus, +sometime the most excellent king of Britaine, by reason of her singular +beautie, faith, religion, goodnesse, and godly Maiestie (according to +the testimonie of Eusebius) was famous in all the world. Amongst all the +women of her time there was none either in the liberall arts more +learned, or in the instruments of musike more skilfull, or in the divers +languages of nations more abundant than herselfe. She had a naturall +quicknesse of wit, eloquence of speech, and most notable grace in all +her behaviour. She was seen in the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin tongues. Her +father (as Virumnius reporteth) had no other childe, ... Constantius had +by her a sonne called Constantine the great, while hee remained in +Britaine ... peace was granted to the Christian churches by her good +meanes. After the light and knowledge of the Gospel, she grew so +skilfull in divinity that she wrote and composed divers bookes and +certaine Greek verses also, which (as Ponticus reporteth) are yet +extant... went to Jerusalem... lived to the age of fourscore yeeres, and +then died at Rome the fifteenth day of August, in the yeere of oure +redemption 337.... Her body is to this day very carefully preserved at +Venice." As the learned author of the Prolegomena says, this is "a +matter-of-fact account of things which are not so." + +There is another story, to the effect that Helena was the daughter of a +nobleman of Treves. While on a pilgrimage to Rome she was seen by +Emperor Constantius, and he, falling in love with her beauty, caused her +to be detained in the city until after her companions had returned home. +The result was disastrous to Helena's character as a virgin. To assuage +her grief, the emperor presented her with an ornament of precious stones +and his ring. She continued to remain in Rome with the son that was born +to her, allowing it to be understood that her husband was dead. +Constantine, her son, grew up to be a young man of remarkably fine +presence and unusual parts. These qualities in him attracted the +attention of some rich merchants, who conceived the project of palming +him off on the Emperor of the Greeks as the son of the Roman emperor, so +that the former might accept him as a son-in-law. + +This scheme was successful, and after a time the merchants reembarked +for Rome, taking with them the princess as Constantine's wife, and also +much treasure, which presumably was the object of the adventure. One +night they went ashore on a little island, and in the morning the young +people awoke to find that they were deserted. Constantine then confessed +to the princess the fraud that had been practised upon her; but she +magnanimously declared that she was satisfied with him as her husband, +whatever his family might be. After some days of privation, they were +rescued by passing voyagers and taken on to Rome. There, with the +treasure which the princess had managed to retain, they purchased an +inn, and, with Helena's assistance, supported themselves by its means. +Constantine became so famous through his prowess at tournaments that he +attracted the attention of the emperor, who refused to believe that he +was of low extraction. Helena was sent for, and, after much questioning, +she at last confessed as to who she and her son really were. The truth +of her statement was confirmed by the ring which Constantius had given +her. The emperor then caused the merchants to be put to death and their +property given to Constantine. A treaty was made with the Greek emperor, +and Constantine was recognized as the heir to the whole Empire. This +story may be regarded as a sort of Middle Age historical novel, the +history being metamorphosed without stint in order to enhance the +interest of the tale. + +The old chroniclers, such as Henry of Huntington, Geoffrey of Monmouth, +and Pierre de Langtoft, assert that Helena was the daughter of Duke Coel +of Colchester, who became King of Britain. She was the most beautiful +and cultivated woman of her time-the attribute of beauty is always +awarded to women who have been so fortunate as to become legendary. The +most interesting thing about this story is the fact that modern students +have identified Duke Coel, the alleged father of Helena, with "Old King +Cole," who was the "merry old soul" immortalized in the Mother Goose +rhymes. + +Let us now turn to what may be seriously regarded as history and therein +ascertain what may be known of the life and character of the +empress-mother Helena. It must be taken as a well-established fact that +her father, so far from being either a king or a duke of Britain, was +indeed an innkeeper at Drepanum, a town on the Gulf of Nicomedia. The +story suggested by this circumstance is the commonplace one of a soldier +in the service of the emperor Aurelian passing a brief sojourn at the +hostelry in Drepanum, and, with the proverbially quick susceptibility of +the men of his calling, falling in love with the daughter of his host. +The necessary negotiations were easy, for a man like Constantius was an +unusual catch for a girl in the position of Helena. No time was lost +over preliminaries; in fact, the marriage was so little noted that some +historians claim that it never took place at all. These hold that Helena +was never anything more than the concubine of Constantius; but the fact +that Diocletian insisted upon her divorce proves that she was legally +married. That, as is often stated, the birth of Constantine took place +before the marriage of Helena may not be untrue. Some have found a +support for this allegation in the fact that "he first established that +natural children should be made legitimate by the subsequent marriage of +their parents." From the fact that a number of places lay claim to the +honor of being the birthplace of Constantine, it would seem that Helena +accompanied her husband in the wanderings consequent to the profession +of a soldier. Gibbon thinks that the historians who award this +distinction to Naissus, in Dacia, are the best authorities, though later +writers think it rightly belongs to Drepanum, the home of Helena. This +place was afterward called Helenopolis by Constantine, in honor of his +mother. + +Theodoret seems to have thought that Helena gave her son a Christian +education, while, on the other hand, we are plainly told by Eusebius +that she was indebted to Constantine for her knowledge of Christianity. +It is very easy to entertain a doubt of both these theories. If Helena +was a Christian when Constantine was a child, and if she trained him in +that belief, his after conduct shows extremely unsatisfactory results of +a mother's teaching. Constantine certainly did not withdraw his support +and patronage from the ancient religion until he was past forty years of +age; and it is well known that he delayed his baptism until near the end +of his life, so as to enjoy the advantage of its purifying effect at the +latest possible moment. These cumulative circumstances render us +exceedingly sceptical of the possibility of so zealous a convert as was +Helena resulting from so indifferent a teacher as was Constantine. + +When his son was eighteen years old, Constantius was promoted to the +rank of Cæsar. This majesty, however, Helena was not allowed to share +with her husband. The innkeeper's daughter was displaced by a more +advantageous match with Theodora, the daughter of the Augustus Maximian. +Later on, Fausta, another daughter of Maximian, was married to +Constantine, and thus Theodora was made sister-in-law to her own +stepson. Such intricate matrimonial alliances were not uncommon among +rulers, where the main object is to conserve the family prestige. + +How Helena consoled herself in her humiliation, or in what way she +occupied herself during the interval between her divorce and the +accession of Constantine, we do not know. As is the wont with women in +such circumstances who are no longer young, she turned her thoughts to +religion. It was most probably at this time that Helena became a +Christian openly, though she may have been friendly to the Church while +she was still the wife of Constantius. + +In the year 306 Constantius died. He left three sons and three +daughters, who had been born to him by his second wife Theodora; but the +son of Helena, a mature man and an experienced soldier, was immediately +promoted by the army from the Cæsarship to the Empire of the West. It is +much to his credit that in that age when family ties were no safeguard +against inhuman treatment by close but stronger relatives, who sought to +secure themselves in the possession of a throne, Constantine nobly cared +for the children of the woman for whose sake his own mother had been +repudiated. Unfortunately for his reputation, he was not always so +humane. + +The three half-sisters of the emperor were Constantia, Anastasia, and +Eutropia. This is perhaps as good a place as any in which to glance at +the history of these women, who did not greatly affect the course of +events. Constantia married the Emperor Licinius. She was greatly beloved +by Constantine, and at times seemed to wield some influence over his +decisions, not sufficient, however, to save the life of her husband or +that of her young son. It was during the magnificent festivities +occasioned by her marriage at Milan that the two emperors made the first +proclamation of religious liberty that was ever heard in an imperial +edict by the subjects of Rome. "Religious liberty," they said, "should +not be denied, but it should be granted to every man to perform his +duties toward God according to his own judgment." Licinius, however, did +not live up to this decision, nor was he loyal to his brother-in-law in +other matters. Civil war followed, in which Constantine was victorious, +and through his victory he became sole emperor. Constantia pleaded for +the life of her husband, and gained from her brother the promise that he +should suffer no severer punishment than banishment; but, +notwithstanding this brotherly pledge of mercy, a motive was soon +discovered which seemed to justify the death of Licinius. Gibbon +remarks: "The behavior of Constantia, and her relation to the contending +parties, naturally recall the remembrance of that virtuous matron who +was the sister of Augustus and the wife of Antony." In later years, when +Constantine had become the arbiter of the theological disputes which +rent the newly established Church and had banished Arius for his heresy, +Constantia again acted the part of peacemaker and, on her deathbed, +warned the emperor to "consider well lest he should incur the wrath of +God and suffer great temporal calamities, since he had been induced to +condemn good men to perpetual banishment." It was probably largely owing +to these good offices that Arius was recalled. Notwithstanding her +indulgent attitude toward heretics, Constantia seems to have been a +woman of genuine Christian feeling, honoring her faith by the nobility +of her life, a comment which cannot justly be passed upon all the +Christian princesses of her time. + +Anastasia, the second sister of Constantine, was married to Bassianus, a +man of high position, who, on being favored with this imperial alliance, +was further promoted to the rank of Cæsar. He was later discovered in a +conspiracy against Constantine and put to death. Further than this there +is nothing noteworthy to be told of Anastasia. Eutropia was espoused to +Nepotianus. Of her history there is nothing remarkable recorded except +that after the death of her great brother she was slain with her son, +who in Rome had headed the rebellion against the usurpation of +Magnentius. + +We will return now to the court of Constantine, where we shall find his +mother installed in great honor and dignity and not without an influence +of her own. Whatever may have been the faults of her son, Helena had no +cause to complain of any lack of duty on his part toward herself. + +The court of Constantine, nominally Christian though it was, exhibited +the same characteristics of jealousy and intrigue as had the palaces of +the pagan emperors. Before his marriage with Fausta, the emperor had, +like his father, contracted a "left-handed" marriage, in his case with a +woman named Minervina, whom he repudiated for the sake of an alliance +which policy dictated. Some authors, seem to insinuate, as in the case +of Helena, that there was no marriage in the legal sense; but the +testimony rather points to the contrary. However this may have been, +Crispus, the son of Minervina, was retained by his father and brought up +as a legitimate heir to the purple. This naturally resulted, on the part +of Fausta, in jealousy for the rights of her own children. This whole +story is deeply shrouded in mystery, as is the wont with the domestic +affairs of court; but the few rays of historical light which do +penetrate the gloom reveal to us nothing but a horrible intricacy of +moral turpitude. The murder of Crispus by the order of his father was +the outcome. Some ancient writers accuse Fausta of indulging an unchaste +passion for her stepson and of bringing about his death in revenge for +his disappointing her desires. They represent her as charging the young +man with an attempt of which his innocence was in reality the cause of +her malice toward him; but it is more likely that her fear of his +standing in the way of her own sons was the motive for bringing about +his downfall. Whether innocent or guilty, Crispus perished, for +Constantine, whatever may have been his religion, was as implacably +cruel as Tiberius. He even put to death the twelve-year-old son of his +favorite sister Constantia, for no other reason than that the lad's +existence might prove an injury to his own sons. + +But, as Victor Duruy writes, "the tragedy was not yet ended. In the +imperial palace lived Helena, the aged mother of the emperor, a +rough-mannered, energetic woman, to whom the murder of Crispus was a +horrible crime. Repudiated by Constantius Chlorus, she had seen the +imperial title and honors pass to a rival; when policy expelled +Minervina, as it had driven out herself, from an emperor's dwelling, +this similarity in misfortune attached her to the son whom that +daughter-in-law had borne to Constantine, and who was to grow up with a +stepmother in his father's house. Helena watched over the boy with +anxiety, and toward the children of Fausta she felt the same aversion +that the latter manifested toward Crispus. Between these two women, no +doubt, a mutual hatred existed. How did Helena succeed in making Fausta +appear the author of abominable machinations? This we do not know; but +we have the fact that, by order of Constantine, the empress was seized +by her women, shut up in a hot bath, and smothered." + +It must be admitted, however, that all the information that we have on +this subject is very hazy. The treatment which the ancient authors gave +to the reputation of Fausta depended very considerably upon their +purpose of either eulogizing or denouncing Constantine. While some +justify him by declaring that the empress was discovered in the arms of +a slave of the stables,--a most incredible story as told of a +middle-aged empress,--others speak of her as the most divine and pious +of empresses. There is in existence a bronze medallion showing a +portrait of Fausta; the strongly marked Grecian features are those of a +woman who is evidently fully conscious of the dignity which pertained to +"the daughter, wife, sister, and mother of emperors." + +After these tragedies had taken place, it is not surprising that Helena +decided to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, this being considered, even +in times so early, as one of the most effective of moral purgatives. It +is asserted that she was directed by dreams to repair to Jerusalem and +there search for the Holy Sepulchre. The difficulty of this task was so +great that there need be no wonder that the ancient chroniclers believed +that she was divinely led. The place of the tomb had been covered with +earth, and a temple to Venus erected thereupon. This, Helena caused to +be destroyed; and, after much excavating, the sacred cave was found. +What emotion, what pious promptings she must have then felt as she stood +where, a little over three centuries earlier, the trembling feet of the +holy women of Galilee had halted as they fearfully wondered how they +should remove the great stone from the mouth of the Sepulchre, when lo! +the stone was removed, the entrance was open, and before them stood an +angel all in white who announced to them that the Lord had arisen! + +Some authorities assert that, believing the Jewish inhabitants possessed +definite knowledge that would solve her difficulties, she determined to +secure it by the means usually employed by Christians in dealing with +reluctant Jews. First, she commanded that all the Jewish rabbis should +be assembled. They came in great fear, suspecting that the object of her +visit was to find the Cross. The whereabouts of this precious relic they +knew; but they had pledged themselves not to reveal it, even under +torture. When they would not satisfactorily answer Helena's questions, +she commanded that they should all be burned. This sufficiently overcame +their resolution to induce them to deliver up Judas, their leader, +saying that he could give the desired information. At first he was +obstinate; but Helena gave him the choice of either telling what he knew +or of being starved to death. Six days of total abstinence was +sufficient to bring him to terms. He was conducted to the place which he +indicated; and after prayer by the Christians, there occurred an +earthquake, and a beautiful perfume filled the air, because of which +Judas was converted. Then he set to digging vigorously, and at a depth +of twenty feet came upon three crosses. But how to know which was the +cross of the Saviour was the next puzzle to be solved. Macarius, the +Bishop of Jerusalem, was equal to the occasion. According to Socrates: +"A certain woman of the neighborhood, who had long been afflicted with +disease, was now just at the point of death; the bishop therefore +arranged that each cross should be brought to the dying woman, believing +that she would be healed on touching the precious Cross. Nor was he +disappointed in his expectation: for the two crosses having been applied +which were not the Lord's, the woman still continued in a dying state; +but when the third, which was the true Cross, touched her, she was +immediately healed, and recovered her former strength." + +Helena then set Judas to work at searching for the nails. They were +found shining like gold. These, with the larger portion of the Cross, +she sent to Constantine. The nails he converted into bridle-bits, and +the wood of the Cross he secretly enclosed in his own statue, which was +set up in the forum at Constantinople. + +Helena erected a magnificent church on the site of the Holy Sepulchre, +calling it New Jerusalem. She also built a Christian temple at +Bethlehem, and still another on the Mount of the Ascension. + +Sozomen tells us that "during her residence at Jerusalem, she assembled +the sacred virgins at a feast, ministered to them at supper, presented +them with food, poured water on their hands, and performed other similar +services customary to those who wait upon guests." It is no wonder that +the Christian devotees of celibacy came to believe that virginity +conferred upon them a rank superior to that obtained from nobility of +birth. + +It is also recorded of Helena that she not only enriched churches, but +that she liberally supplied the necessities of the poor, and released +prisoners and those condemned to labor in the mines. Sozomen writes: "It +seems to me that so many holy actions demanded a recompense; and indeed, +even in this life, she was raised to the summit of magnificence and +splendor; she was proclaimed Augusta; her image was stamped on golden +coins, and she was invested by her son with authority over the imperial +treasury to give it according to her judgment. Her death, too, was +glorious; for when, at the age of eighty, she departed this life, she +left her son and her descendants masters of the Roman world. And if +there be any advantage in such fame--forgetfulness did not conceal her +though she was dead--the coming age has the pledge of her perpetual +memory; for two cities are named after her, the one in Bithynia, and the +other in Palestine. Such is the history of Helena." + +Of the fact that Helena is rightly regarded as a prominent character in +the history of women there can be no question; that she was the mother +of Constantine and the first avowed Christian empress is enough to +warrant this opinion. Her virtue and charity may also be regarded as +unimpeachable. Her canonization as a saint, however, is founded upon her +alleged discovery of the Cross. Apart from the other difficulties which +a sceptical mind may find in this story, there is the fact that +Eusebius, who in the lifetime of Constantine wrote the account of +Helena's journey to Jerusalem, makes no mention whatever of the Cross, +notwithstanding his recital of the appearing of the sacred sign to the +emperor and its adoption as the Roman ensign. But the legend, be it true +or false, has highly glorified the name of Helena in the religious +history of the world. + + + + +V + +POST-NICENE MOTHERS + + +It requires a considerable amount of imagination, coupled with a +facility for overlooking untoward historical facts, to enable one to +draw an honest and at the same time an entirely pleasing picture of the +Church in the fourth and fifth centuries. And yet this may rightly be +looked upon as the heroic age of Christianity; it was the period of the +Church's greatest victories. It is true that, emerging from the +sickening asceticism and rising above the theological squabbles of the +time, are mighty men and women of didactic and also of moral renown. +"There were giants in those days." Nevertheless, the average moral +character of the "Christian" Empire was raised such a slight degree +above that of the pagan regime that it is barely perceptible in the +records of history. Both Constantine and Constantius stained their +palaces with the blood of their innocent relatives. The populace still +gloated over gladiatorial combats. Courtesans were licensed in order +that their trade might help to replenish the imperial treasury. The +rigor of slavery was somewhat softened; yet if a man beat his +bondservant to death, he was considered to be acting within his right, +providing that he declared that the killing was not in his intention. +For offences which to-day are treated with great leniency, slave women +were then punished by having melted lead poured down their throats. +Moreover, it was during the first centuries of the Christian state that +the fetters of feudalism were forged, by which the poor were bound down +to their hopeless wretchedness. Of the artisans the law said: "Let them +not dare to aspire to any honor, even if they might deserve it, the men +who are covered with the filth of labor, and let them remain forever in +their own condition." + +The leaven of Christian morality was present in the lump of traditional +social conditions; but it had not yet begun to work extensively. +Nineteen centuries have produced only the immature results we see at +present. The evolution of human kindliness is slow, though, as we may +believe, inevitable. A learned and lively English writer of the +beginning of the last century, referring to those Church doctors who +would have the world venerate the Nicene period as the ideal age of +Christianity, says that if "they could but be blindfolded (if any such +precaution, in their case, were needed) and were fairly set down in the +midst of the pristine Church, at Carthage, or at Alexandria, or at Rome, +or at Antioch, they would be fain to make their escape, with all +possible celerity, toward their own times and country; and that +thenceforward we should never hear another word from them about +'venerable antiquity' or the holy Catholic Church of the first ages. The +effect of such a trip would, I think, resemble that produced sometimes +by crossing the Atlantic, upon those who have set out, westward, +excellent Liberals, and have returned, eastward, as excellent Tories." + +There never has come to the world an opportunity to make substantial and +unusual progress in its moral development, but that there have been +plenty to turn the newly-acquired wisdom into foolishness. The great +opportunity in the history of Christianity came in the century marked by +the Nicene Council and in that succeeding it. + +With the exception of the interlude during the reign of the reactionist +Julian, Christianity was the established religion of the Empire. It was +popular; the whole world was becoming Christian. Wealth poured into the +Church: kings and princes came into its pale bringing their presents. +The learned men of the world were the champions of the religion of +Jesus. But truly judging from its moral effect on the age, the Church +"knew not the day of her visitation." However much honor we may owe them +for settling the faith of Christianity, it must be acknowledged that the +Nicene and post-Nicene Fathers spent their strength in advocating and +glorifying an unnatural virginity--a pitiable substitute for a higher +social morality and purer morals for the ordinary individual. Without a +first-hand acquaintance with those ancient writers, it is impossible to +conceive to what a degree the idea of celibacy was exalted in their +teachings. It overshadowed everything else. It overturned every +establishment of reason. It vitiated all the pure springs of life. It +proceeded on the assumption that everything that is natural is +monstrously evil. Gibbon is too indulgent when, as it were with a smile +of careless contempt, he thus characterizes this maudlin asceticism: +"The chaste severity of the Fathers, in whatever related to the commerce +of the two sexes, flowed from the same principle: their abhorrence of +every enjoyment which might gratify the sensual, and degrade the +spiritual nature of man. It was their favorite opinion, that if Adam had +preserved his obedience to the Creator, he would have lived forever in a +state of virgin purity, and that some harmless mode of vegetation might +have peopled Paradise with a race of innocent and immortal beings. The +use of marriage was permitted only to his fallen posterity, as a +necessary expedient to continue the human species, and as a restraint, +however imperfect, on the natural licentiousness of desire. The +hesitation of the orthodox casuists on this interesting subject betrays +the perplexity of men unwilling to approve an institution which they +were compelled to tolerate." + +If it did not inspire sadness to discover that human minds, of +intelligence above the average, can be capable of such fatuity, it would +provoke one to laughter to read the Fathers as they gravely asseverate +that they do not consider marriage as being necessarily +sinful--providing that it were not committed more than once. Jerome, who +was the great advocate of monasticism in the early Church, says that +virginity is to marriage what the fruit is to the tree, or what the +grain is to the chaff. Seizing upon Christ's parable of the sower, he +asserts that the thirty-fold increase refers to marriage; the sixty-fold +applies to widows, for the greater the difficulty in resisting the +allurements of pleasure once enjoyed the greater the reward; but by the +hundred-fold the crown of virginity is expressed. Was there no one to +suggest to him that in the natural expectation of increase his order is +reversed? As a sample of the turgid rodomontade with which those Fathers +of the Church induced the women of their time to sacrifice, for the +glory of God, the duties of wifehood and motherhood which the Creator +ordained that they should perform, we will quote from Cyprian at length: +"We come now to contemplate the lily blossom; and see, O thou, the +virgin of Christ! see how much fairer is this thy flower, than any +other! look at the special grace which, beyond any other flower of the +earth, it hath obtained! Nay, listen to the commendation bestowed upon +it by the Spouse himself, when he saith--Consider the lilies of the +field (the virgins) how they grow, and yet I say unto you that Solomon +in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these! Read therefore, O +virgin, and read again, and often read again, this word of thy Spouse, +and understand how, in the commendation of this flower, he commends thy +glory. In the glory of Solomon you are to understand that, whatever is +rich and great on earth, and the choicest of all, is prefigured; and in +the bloom of thy lily, which is thy likeness, and that of all the +virgins of Christ, the glory of virginity is intended.... Virginity hath +indeed a twofold prerogative, a virtue which, in others, is single only; +for while all the Church is virgin in soul, having neither spot, nor +wrinkle; being incorrupt in faith, hope, and charity, on which account +it is called a virgin, and merits the praise of the Spouse, what praise, +think you, are our lilies worthy of, who possess this purity in body, as +well as in soul, which the Church at large has in soul only! In truth, +the virgins of Christ are, as we may say, the fat and marrow of the +Church, and by right of an excellence altogether peculiar to themselves, +they enjoy His most familiar embraces." + +The effect of this senseless exaltation of virginity, and of persuading +great numbers of maidens to forswear the pleasures and the duties of +matrimony, in the conviction that they thereby rendered themselves far +more pleasing to God than were their mothers and married sisters, was +unquestionably injurious to the morals of the time. The result was as +bad for the "lilies" themselves as it was for the women who elected to +abide on the natural, but despised, plane for which the Almighty +intended them. Too many of the former gave scandalous proof that their +ambition for virginal sanctity was unequalled by their steadfastness in +the contest. Nature has a way, when insulted, of making reprisals. The +writings of the Fathers are full of lamentations and exhortations which +indicate that the youthful female saints of their time found it one +thing to aspire to the glory of virginity and quite another to live +consistently with its character. All were not satisfied with the +indemnification provided by the joys of conscious holiness for the loss +of those pleasures which they denied themselves by their vows. Very +early there sprang up among the celibates of the Church a fashion of +choosing spiritual companions, the choice usually being made from among +the opposite sex. The canons of many of the first councils dealt with +the _agapetæ_ who professed to be the spiritual sisters of the unmarried +clergy. Even in the days of persecution this had become prevalent; +Cyprian wrote severe strictures on the custom, but did not succeed in +bringing about its abolishment. Jerome speaks of it in unrestrained +terms: "How comes this plague of the _agapetæ_ to be in the Church? +Whence come these unwedded wives, these novel concubines, these +prostitutes, so I will call them, though they cling to a single partner? +One house holds them, and one chamber. They often occupy the same couch, +and yet they call us suspicious if we fancy anything amiss. A brother +leaves his virgin sister; a virgin, slighting her unmarried brother, +seeks a brother in a stranger. Both alike profess to have but one +object, to find spiritual consolation from those not their kin.... It is +on such that Solomon in the Book of Proverbs heaps his scorn. 'Can a man +take fire in his bosom,'" he says, '"and his clothes not be burned?'" +These insurrections of nature continued until Church celibacy became a +fully organized system and the women devoted to perpetual virginity were +shut away in convents; even then, if all reports be true, the enemy, +though cast down, was not effectually destroyed. + +The effect of this laudation of virginity upon the women who chose to +remain in the world was equally detrimental to good morals. The natural +result of the system might have been easily imagined, if the good sense +of the teachers of that age had not been dulled by the conception of the +human body as being hopelessly evil. Out of a large family of girls, +one, "Priscilla," or "Agnes," has been induced, by the fervid +representations of some apostle of celibacy as to the glorious sanctity +of virginity, to devote herself to this "higher life." What will be the +effect upon the "Marthas" and the "Elizabeths" who decide to remain in +the world? Believing, as they also do, in the greater sanctity of +virginity, they will necessarily consider themselves less pure and +chaste than they would if such a comparison with their seraphic sister +had not been thrust upon them. A line of demarcation is drawn between +the once united band. On the one side stand chastity and angelic purity +personified in the professed virgin; on the other side is marriage, not +forbidden, but merely tolerated; a little lower down, according to the +Nicene scale, is concubinage, and lower still, but on the same side, is +prostitution. The "Marthas" and the "Elizabeths" were given the +alternative of either following the example of "Agnes"--- against which +their good sense rebelled--or of considering themselves only at the top +of a class at the bottom of which were the notoriously impure. No +greater injustice than this was ever done to womanhood. + +In a society where the chaste love of a wife for her husband and the +privileges and duties of a mother were regarded as placing a woman upon +an inferior moral grade, it is not surprising to find that a large +proportion accepted the rating of their time and lived down to it. +Largely in consequence, then, of the substitution of a fantastic +holiness for unromantic goodness, though the Church grew strong in the +world, morals remained much what they had been under paganism. True, +there were many of those professed virgins whose names are recorded in +history, and who, as the result of what seems to have been a prodigious +contest, maintained their character and withal achieved a noble and +deserved reputation; but it is at least open to question whether or not +the influence of these shining marks of sanctity was not offset by the +otherwise pernicious effect of the system. + +Before we proceed to the individual mention of some of these early +saints, we will glance at the secular women who were their +contemporaries. + +Constantine had thoroughly orientalized the imperial court, and all the +officials and aristocracy of the empire followed the fashion according +to the degree of their ability. Gorgeous apparel, trains of eunuchs, +barbaric splendor, and ostentatious titles replaced the white toga and +the stately, though severe, grandeur of the Roman citizen of former +times. The Roman spirit was dying out in sloth and effeminacy; it was +fitting that a new capital of the Empire should be erected in the East, +for the new times were strange and unrelated to the manes of the Roman +ancestors. Nobility of thought had likewise perished, at least from the +secular life of the Empire. As Duruy says: "Courts have sometimes been +schools of elegance in manners, refinement in mind, and politeness in +speech. Literature and art have received from them valuable +encouragement. But at the epoch of which we are writing, poetry and +art--those social forces by which the soul is elevated--no longer exist. +With an Asiatic government and a religion soon to become intolerant, +great subjects of thought are prohibited. There is no discussion of +political affairs, for the emperor gives absolute commands; no history, +for the truth is concealed or condemned to a complaisance which is +odious to honest men; no eloquence, for nowhere can it be employed +except in disgraceful adulation of the sovereign.... Only the Church is +to have mighty orators,--but in the interests of heaven, not earth; and +so, in this empire now exposed to countless perils, the little mental +activity now existing in civil society will occupy itself only with +court intrigues, the subtleties of philosophers aspiring to be +theologians, or the petty literature of some belated and feeble admirers +of the early Muses." + +The three sons of Constantine, among whom, by will, he divided the +Empire, were adherents of the Christian religion; but Constantius, who +soon became the sole ruler, though a weighty factor in the evolution of +the Church's doctrine, was no very edifying example of the moral effect +of her teaching. His jealousy and implacability almost exterminated the +race of Constantine, numerously represented as that sturdy emperor had +left himself. The closest ties of relationship did not avail to save the +lives of those who might stand in the way of the new ruler's ambitions. +Constantina, the sister of Constantius, had been married to +Hannibalianus, his cousin, but in spite of this double relationship the +latter cruelly perished. + +Constantina was a woman of whom it would be interesting to know more +than the few references which history affords. She must have been a +person of able as well as ambitious character, for her father had +invested her with the title of Augusta. After his death, she deemed that +the purple ought not to clothe a woman with mere powerless dignity, but +that the right was hers to take a hand in the affairs of the Empire. In +this view of her privileges she lacked the support of her three +brothers: the situation was sufficiently disturbed by their own +inharmonious claims. But after the death of Constans and Constantine, +the way was cleared for Constantina to push her own interests. This she +did by creating a puppet emperor out of Vetranio, a good-natured and +obliging old general who was commanding in Illyricum. Constantina +herself bound the diadem upon his brow; but during an interview with +Constantius, a menacing shout of the soldiers induced Vetranio hastily +to divest himself of the purple and thankfully accept his life with an +honorable exile. Constantina had the diplomacy to make her peace with +her brother as soon as she saw the fruitlessness of this scheme. She +probably had deserted Vetranio before he had ceased trying to reign for +her. Later on, she was married to Gallus, who, with his brother Julian, +alone of the princes of the house of Constantine had survived the +suspicion and the cruelty of Constantius. Gallus was appointed Cæsar of +the Eastern provinces, and thus Constantina's ambitions were appeased. +But as is frequently the case with those who are ambitious of political +power, though intensely eager for the purple, she was entirely unworthy +of the position. The historians of the time give this woman an +exceedingly bad name, and doubtless the people of Antioch, where she and +her husband established their court, agreed that it was abundantly +deserved. She is described, not as a woman, but as one of the infernal +furies, tormented with an insatiate thirst for human blood. That, of +course, we may consider an extravagance of rhetoric on the part of +Ammianus; but there is an ugly story of a pearl necklace which +Constantina received from the mother-in-law of one Clematius of +Alexandria. The ornament procured the death of Clematius, who had +incurred the malice of his relative by disappointing her of his love. +The rapacity and cruelty of Constantina, joined with the mad profligacy +of her husband, ended by ruining them both. The displeasure of +Constantius was aroused, and that was usually only appeased by the death +of its object. He sent urgent messages inviting Gallus to visit him in +the West, for the purpose of consulting on the affairs of the Empire; +and it was especially urged that the Cæsar should bring his wife, "that +beloved sister whom the emperor ardently desired to see." Constantina +"knew perfectly of what her brother was capable"; she was not deceived +by his protestations of affection for herself. But while she might be +able to pacify him on the ground of her sex and their relationship, it +was certain death for Gallus to put himself in the power of the tyrant +of the East. Constantina set out alone to make her plea to her brother, +but died on the way. There was nothing that her husband could do but +obey the "invitation" of the emperor; but he was not allowed to see the +face of Constantius. On the road, he was seized, and, after a mock +trial, in which no sort of defence could have saved him, was beheaded. + +Julian, the brother of Gallus, alone of the progeny of Constantine +remained. His life was constantly in danger from the suspicions of +Constantius; but it was preserved, and thereby paganism was destined to +have one more trial, or rather one more dying struggle. That Julian +escaped the dangers to which he was exposed was probably owing in a +large measure to the friendship of Eusebia, the wife of the emperor. He +afterward repaid this kindness by an eloquent, and we may be assured +sincere, eulogium upon her character. + +Eusebia was a native of Thessalonica, in Macedonia. Her family was of +consular rank. She became the second wife of Constantius in the year +352, and seems to have enjoyed in matters political a considerable +influence with her husband, which she always employed meritoriously. Her +beauty is frequently spoken of by the ancient authors as being +remarkable; but what is still more worthy of notice is the fact that, in +an age when there were so many divided interests, the historians of all +parties agree in the praise of her moral character. True, there is a +hint somewhere that her kindness to Julian sprung from a tenderer motive +than friendship; but all else that is known of her, as well as the +frozen nature of Julian himself, sufficiently refutes such a suggestion. + +In the time of Eusebia the Church was torn by the contentions between +the orthodox and the followers of Arius. Constantius, as the imperial +arbiter of eternal truth as well as of the temporal destinies of his +subjects, sought to obtain peace by banishing the principal disputants, +as he did Athanasius and Liberius of Rome. Eusebia's chief connection +with these events, though herself an Arian, seems to have been +influenced by her charitable inclination. When Liberius was going away +into exile she sent him five hundred pieces of gold with which to defray +his expenses. This however, rather churlishly as it would seem, he sent +back with the message that she "take it to the emperor, for he may want +it to pay his troops." + +In this connection there is an incident recorded by Theodoret which +indicates that the clergy, especially the bishops, of those times found +resolute champions among the ladies, as they have in all ages. Two years +after the exile of Liberius, Constantius went to Rome. "The ladies of +rank urged their husbands to petition the emperor for the restoration of +the shepherd to his flock: they added, that if this were not granted, +they would desert them, and go themselves after their great pastor. +Their husbands replied, that they were afraid of incurring the +resentment of the emperor. 'If we were to ask him,' they continued, +'being men, he would deem it an unpardonable offence; but if you were +yourselves to present the petition, he would at any rate spare you, and +would either accede to your request, or else dismiss you without +injury.' These noble ladies adopted this suggestion, and presented +themselves before the emperor in all their customary splendor of array, +that so the sovereign, judging their rank from their dress, might count +them worthy of being treated with courtesy and kindness. Thus entering +the presence, they besought him to take pity on the condition of so +large a city, deprived of its shepherd, and made an easy prey to the +attacks of wolves. The emperor replied, that the flock possessed a +shepherd capable of tending it, and that no other was needed in the +city. For after the banishment of the great Liberius, one of his +deacons, named Felix, had been appointed bishop. He preserved inviolate +the doctrines set forth in the Nicene confession of faith, yet he held +communion with those who had corrupted that faith. For this reason none +of the citizens of Rome would enter the house of prayer while he was in +it. The ladies mentioned these facts to the emperor. Their persuasions +were successful; and he commanded that the great Liberius should be +recalled from exile, and that the two bishops should conjointly rule the +Church. This latter arrangement did not suit the people, so Felix +retired to another city." + +Liberius generally refused to acknowledge Arians as Christians; whether +or not he had the boldness to refuse that name to the empress is not +told us. It is certain that Eusebia's kindness to Julian was worthy of a +Christian, even though it succored one who was to be the arch-enemy of +the faith. She befriended and protected him when he was summoned to a +court where it was to the interest of every courtier to report every +action and every chance word to Constantius. She may have been desirous +of making a friend of the heir-apparent, being herself childless; but it +is easy to believe that "the good and beautiful Eusebia," as Julian +calls her, was both sincere and disinterested in her kindness. She +brought it about that the emperor gave his permission to the young man, +who had hitherto been a prisoner, to retire to a beautiful estate which +he had inherited from his mother. + +The fortunes of Julian were in good hands at the court. Constantius was +greatly influenced by the eunuchs who surrounded him, and who were the +bureaucratic officers of those times; but Eusebia was stronger than all +others combined. When the emperor complained that the unaided rule was +too much for him, she suggested that he raise his young kinsman to the +Cæsarian dignity. Her advice was followed; and the imperial purple, and +with it the hand of Helena, the sister of Constantius, were conferred +upon Julian. As a wedding gift, Eusebia, with the most refined +consideration possible, presented him with a valuable collection of the +best Greek authors. It is likely that he felt more appreciative +gratitude for the books than he did either for the official dignity or +the highborn bride. As Cæsar, it was intended by Constantius that he +should be no more than a figure; and for his wife it is doubtful if he +ever felt any real affection. As historians have remarked, in his +numerous writings Julian sometimes mentions the Helen of Homer, but +never once his own Helen. She must have been considerably older than her +husband, and was probably a Christian, as were her brothers. That there +was no offspring of this marriage was imputed to the arts of Eusebia, +who, according to Ammianus Marcellinus, exercised a close and unnatural +supervision over the household of her protégé. Inasmuch as there appears +no motive for a wish on the part of the empress that Helena should be +childless, we are inclined, as Gibbon says, "to hope that the public +malignity imputed the effects of accident as the guilt of Eusebia." The +empress died in the year 360, immediately before Julian broke with +Constantius and began to rule on his own authority. + +Julian led a forlorn hope in the cause of the old gods. This at least +may be said for him: there was nothing in the treatment which he +received from those who professed to be Christians to hold his faith to +their religion. One only had befriended him, and she was regarded as a +heretic. The historians of the time endeavor to picture Julian as +leading a crusade of persecution against Christianity. Theodoret speaks +of his "mad fury"; but inasmuch as he is constrained to recount stories +which rather illustrate the triviality of the mind of the historian than +the cruelty of the persecutor, it is evident that the glory of martyrdom +was not won to any considerable extent under Julian. We are inclined to +think that one of these narratives exemplifies the latter's patience +more than any other of his characteristics. There was a woman named +Publia, who had become the prioress of a company of virgins. One day +these women, seeing the emperor coming, struck up the psalm which +recites how "the idols of the nations are of silver and gold," and, +after describing their insensibility, adds "like them be they that make +them and all those that put their trust in them." Julian required them +at least to hold their peace while he was passing by. Publia did not, +however, pay the least attention to his orders, except to urge her choir +to put still greater energy into their chaunt; and when again the +emperor passed by she told them to strike up: "Let God arise and let his +enemies be scattered." At last Julian commanded one of his escort to box +her ears. "She however took outrage for honor, and kept up her attack +upon him with her spiritual songs, just as the composer and teacher of +the song laid the wicked spirit that vexed Saul." + +Before we leave this brief reference to the secular matrons of the early +Church in order to turn our attention to the sacred virgins, it is +necessary to summon the testimony of Jerome. This learned and eloquent +Father is the great authority on the women of his time. Only those vowed +to celibacy enjoyed his highest approbation; yet he had many friends +among the married ladies of Rome. Jerome was a satirist. His pen was +caustic when it dealt with persons or matters that did not meet his +approval. He was the Juvenal of his age, but he wrote in prose, and not +for the sake of satire, but as the champion of orthodoxy and virginity. +Many of his writings are in the form of letters to ladies who were his +friends. The one to Eustochium, the daughter of Paula, is the most +striking of all. In this epistle Jerome sets forth the motives which +should actuate those who adopt the monastic life. It also gives us a +vivid picture of Roman society as it then was--the luxury, profligacy, +and hypocrisy prevalent among both men and women. This letter was +written at Rome in the year 384. "I write to you thus, Lady Eustochium +(I am bound to call my Lord's bride 'lady'), to show you by my opening +words that my object is not to praise the virginity which you follow, +and of which you have proved the value, or yet to recount the drawbacks +of marriage, such as pregnancy, the crying of infants, the torture +caused by a rival, the cares of household management, and all those +fancied blessings which death at last cuts short. Not that married women +are as such outside the pale; they have their own place, the marriage +that is honorable and the bed undefiled. My purpose is to show you that +you are fleeing from Sodom and should take warning by Lot's wife." Such +is the tone and tenor of Jerome's correspondence with the women of his +acquaintance. Among many other things, he cautions Eustochium not to +court the society of married ladies, and not to "look too often on the +life which you despised to become a virgin!" Many glimpses are given of +the characteristics of that life which was to be so carefully avoided. +The pride of those who are the wives of men in high position, and also +their delight in troops of callers, are noticed. They are pictured as +they are carried about the streets in gorgeous litters, with rows of +eunuchs walking in front. Their dress is mentioned: red cloaks, robes +inwrought with threads of gold, and creaking shoes. Jerome is even so +unsparing as to refer to those who "paint their eyes and lips with rouge +and cosmetics; whose chalked faces, unnaturally white, are like those of +idols; upon whose cheeks every chance tear leaves a furrow; who fail to +realize that years make them old; who heap their heads with hair not +their own; who smooth their faces, and rub out the wrinkles of age; and +who, in the presence of their grandsons, behave like trembling +school-girls." Some of Jerome's strictures are suggestive of modern +feminine habits. Speaking of Blaesilla, after she had become a widow and +was determined to persevere in that estate, he says that in days gone by +she had been extremely fastidious in her dress, and had spent whole days +before her mirror endeavoring to correct its deficiencies. Her head, +"which had done no harm, was forced into a waving head-dress." But all +this is changed. Now "no gold and jewels adorn her girdle; it is made of +wool, plain, and scrupulously clean. It is intended to keep her clothes +right, and not to cut her waist in two." + +Eustochium, as a professed virgin of the Church, is warned not to trifle +with verse, nor to make herself gay with lyric songs. "And do not, out +of affectation, follow the sickly taste of married ladies who, now +pressing their teeth together, now keeping their lips wide apart, speak +with a lisp, and purposely clip their words, because they fancy that to +pronounce them naturally is a mark of country breeding." + +In another place the Father of asceticism says: "To-day you may see +women cramming their wardrobes with dresses, changing their gowns from +day to day, and for all that unable to vanquish the moths. Now and then +one more scrupulous wears out a single dress; yet, while she appears in +rags, her boxes are full. Parchments are dyed purple, gold is melted +into lettering, manuscripts are decked with jewels, while Christ lies at +the door naked and dying. When they hold out a hand to the needy they +sound a trumpet; when they invite to a love-feast they engage a crier. I +lately saw the noblest lady in Rome--I suppress her name, for I am no +satirist--with a band of eunuchs before her in the basilica of the +blessed Peter. She was giving money to the poor, a coin apiece; and this +with her own hand, that she might be accounted more religious. Hereupon +a by no means uncommon incident occurred. An old woman, 'full of age and +rags,' ran forward to get a second coin, but when her turn came she +received, not a penny, but a blow hard enough to draw blood from her +guilty veins." Rome had always successfully withstood the rhetorical +lashings of her censors; had it not been for this power of resistance, +the castigations of a Jerome surely would have sufficed to hold the +natural frivolity of the women of his time at least within the bounds of +modesty. + +The moral influence of Jerome illustrated the danger of insisting on +perfection with the result of falling below the average of possible +attainment. In his letters to Paula, Eustochium, Marcella, and Asella, +women who delighted him by manifesting an astounding resolution in +mortifying the flesh, he continually laments those who, professing to +have made an offering of their virginity to Christ, were in reality a +scandal to the Church. + +Paula was a Roman lady of the highest rank and greatest wealth. The +genealogy of her father ascended through the highest names in Grecian +history; her mother, Blassilla, numbered the Scipios and the Gracchi +among her ancestors. Paula was Cornelia reincarnated in the fourth +century of Christianity; the only differences are that the former +maintained a chaste widowhood inspired by fuller hopes than earthly +renown, and instead of entertaining men of learning at Misenum she +studied Hebrew with Jerome in a squalid cave at Bethlehem. This devout +lady had much to resign in order that she might enter upon a life of +poverty. One of the most magnificent houses of Rome was hers, and she +drew her revenues from the city of Nicopolis, the whole of which she +owned. She was born in the year 347, ten years after the death of +Constantine. At the age of seventeen she was married to Toxotius, who +was a descendant of the illustrious Julian family. She was the mother of +five daughters and one son. It seems likely that she owed her conversion +to Christianity to the holy Marcella, one of that circle of ascetic +women to whom the letters of Jerome were addressed. Until the time of +her husband's death, the life of Paula in her magnificent palace on the +Aventine was similar to that of other wealthy Roman ladies, except that +her means enabled her to excel all others in elegance. On her +conversion, and as the best proof of its reality, in the estimation of +those days, she distributed a quarter of her immense estate to the poor. +The ideas then prevalent would not permit her to deem herself an earnest +Christian unless she entirely relinquished her habits of luxury. This +she did, and devoted herself to the care of the indigent and the nursing +of the infirm. Her piety would not even allow her sufficiently to +sustain her bodily strength for these noble labors. She lived on bread +and a little oil, on many days denying herself even that until after +sunset. Her dress was the rough garb of the slave; her couch was a mat +of straw, covered with haircloth. + +There was, however, one enjoyment which Paula allowed herself: she was +one of a circle of ladies, all ascetics like herself, who were devoted +to the study of literature. There was Marcella, who was the first of the +highborn Roman ladies to embrace the monastic life, and of whom Jerome +gives this account: "Her father's death left her an orphan, and she had +been married less than seven months when her husband was taken from her. +Then, as she was young and highborn, as well as distinguished for her +beauty and her self-control, an illustrious consular named Cerealis paid +court to her with great assiduity. Being an old man, he offered to make +over to her his fortune so that she might consider herself less his wife +than his daughter. Her mother Albina went out of her way to secure for +the young widow so exalted a protector. But Marcella answered: 'Had I a +wish to marry and not rather to dedicate myself to perpetual chastity, I +should look for a husband and not an inheritance; and when her suitor +argued that sometimes old men live long while young men die early, she +cleverly retorted: 'a young man may die early, but an old man cannot +live long.' This decided rejection of Cerealis convinced others that +they had no hope of winning her hand." + +Marcella may indeed be termed the prioress of the community of ascetics +which gathered in her house and in that of Paula on the Aventine hill. +She studied Hebrew with Jerome, and became so proficient in Scriptural +exposition that, after the latter's departure for the Holy Land, even +the clergy would bring to her for solution such questions as were too +difficult for them. When Alaric and his Goths sacked the city of Rome, +the prayers and the evident holiness of Marcella induced the barbarians +to spare her life and the honor of the virgin Principia, who dwelt with +her, and they even left her house unmolested. + +Another shining light in that Aventine circle was Asella, who had been +dedicated to the Church from her tenth year. Her fastings may be said to +have been almost unintermittent, so that Jerome thought it was only by +the grace of God that she survived until her fiftieth year without +weakening her digestion. "Lying on the dry ground did not affect her +limbs, and the rough sackcloth that she wore failed to make her skin +either foul or rough. With a sound body and a still sounder soul she +sought all her delight in solitude, and found for herself a monkish +hermitage in the centre of busy Rome." + +Among the good women of that day were also Albina and Marcellina, who +were the sisters of Saint Ambrose. Marcellina made a public profession +of virginity before a great congregation which gathered on Christmas day +in the Church of Saint Peter. She received the veil from the hands of +the bishop Liberius. In a work addressed to her Ambrose repeats the +instructions which his sister received from the bishop at that time. The +work is of no little interest, as it clearly sets forth the idea which +governed the lives of professed nuns of that early date. + +Paula also numbered among her companions Fabiola, a woman noble both in +character and race, who, after a stormy youth, found peace in the haven +of ascetic devotion. Jerome describes her life in his seventy-seventh +letter. Fabiola was censured for putting away one husband and marrying +again while the man whom she divorced was yet alive. Jerome's defence of +her divorce shows such liberality of thought on the rights of women in +this regard that part of it is worth quoting. He says: "I will urge only +this one plea, which is sufficient to exonerate a chaste matron and a +Christian woman. The Lord gave commandment that a wife must not be put +away 'except it be for fornication, and that, if put away, she must +remain unmarried.' Now a commandment which is given to men logically +applies to women also. For it cannot be that, while an adulterous wife +is to be put away, an incontinent husband is to be retained.... The laws +of Cæsar are different, it is true, from the laws of Christ.... Earthly +laws give a free rein to the unchastity of men, merely condemning +seduction and adultery; lust is allowed to range unrestrained among +brothels and slave-girls, as if the guilt were constituted by the rank +of the person assailed and not by the purpose of the assailant. But with +us Christians what is unlawful for women is equally unlawful for men." +It is only in very modern times that the secular law has conformed to +this just opinion, and even now the social treatment received by the +sinner is guided by a view the opposite of that expressed by Jerome. + +So Fabiola took another husband, and therein she was held to have sinned +deeply. Repentance, however, soon followed--a life-long penitence, an +expiation offered by a continual sacrifice of good works. The whole of +her property she gave to the poor; among other good deeds she founded a +hospice for the shelter of the destitute. She resided for a while with +Jerome, Paula, and Eustochium at Bethlehem, but returned to Rome to die. +Her funeral was a reminder of the old-time triumphs. All the streets, +porches, and roofs from which a view could be obtained of the procession +were insufficient to accommodate the spectators. + +Into this circle of holy women came Jerome, the most learned and the +most brilliant man of his time. He was their equal in birth, and he, +like them, had disposed of his property in charity to the poor. He +became their friend, their teacher, their oracle. So assured was he of +his ascendency over his friends that he often gave his advice in a +manner which savored of arrogance. + +In the year 385 Jerome bade farewell to these devoted friends and sailed +away to the land which was consecrated by the life and sufferings of +Christ. He desired retirement, in order that he might be free to +meditate and to prosecute his great work of translating the Scriptures. +From the ship in which the journey was made he addressed a letter to +Asella. It seems that slanderous tongues had foolishly assailed him in +regard to his friendship with those women whose attractions could not +have been other than spiritual. He admits that, of all the ladies of +Rome, one only had the power to subdue him, and that one was Paula. He +had been able to withstand countenances beautified both by nature and +also by art; with Paula alone, "who was squalid with dirt," and whose +eyes were dimmed with continual weeping, was his name associated. +Calumny on this subject was too absurd to be treated with seriousness. +The reference to Paula's personal untidiness gives us the occasion to +remark that, contrary to the generally accepted axiom regarding the +religious worth of cleanliness, those ancient nuns were taught to +believe that the bath was rather conducive to ungodliness. It was a +dangerous subserviency to the flesh: its eschewment was doubtless a +powerful safeguard to chastity. + +Two years after the departure of their friend, Paula and Eustochium +gratified a wish which they had long cherished, to visit the Holy Land. +A most graphic picture of Paula leaving her children and friends is +given us in one of Jerome's letters. They realized, what was not, +perhaps, openly acknowledged, that it was a final good-bye. We are shown +the young girls clinging to their mother in the endeavor to dissuade her +from her purpose. But the sails are unfurled and the stout-armed rowers +are in their places; Rufina, a maiden just entering womanhood, with +quiet sobs, beseeches her mother to wait until she should be married. As +the vessel moves away, little Toxotius, the youngest-born and her only +son, stretches out his tiny hand and pleads with his mother to come +back. But no entreaty could turn Paula from her pious though hardly +commendable purpose. "She overcame her love for her children by her love +for God." That was the favorable judgment of the time. A less +enthusiastic, but saner, age can hardly bestow such unmitigated praise. + +After a journey through all the places made famous by Scripture, in +every one of which they were received with great honor, Paula and her +daughter made their home at Bethlehem, where Jerome already had his +cell. There she built a convent; and for eighteen years she devoted her +life to the training of the many virgins who resorted to her company, +attracted by the fame of her holiness. At her death, the manner of which +was truly edifying, it was found that Paula had disposed of the whole of +her property in charity. Though it is probable that these ascetic women +were to a large extent under the influence of motives less exalted than +that mentioned above, much good intention must be laid to their credit; +and doubtless their extreme self-denial was not without a salutary +effect in a sensual world. At the end of his description of her death, +which he wrote for her daughter, Jerome says: "And now, Paula, farewell, +and aid with your prayers the old age of your votary." + + + + +VI + +THE NUNS OF THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH + + +WE have already given some attention to certain famous Christian women +who, in the earliest ages of the Church, dedicated themselves to the +ascetic life. But monasticism, occupying as it did so extensive and +important a field in the early Church, deserves the devotion of nothing +less than a chapter to the consideration of its effect upon the life of +women, and to the part they played in its establishment. In describing +the friends of Jerome--Paula, Eustochium, Asella, and the others--we +dwelt more on the moral aspect of primitive asceticism, its +exaggerations, its wrong-headedness, its influence upon family life; it +is now our purpose to take a brief glance at the organization of female +monasticism, and to notice its effect upon the social life of women. For +it cannot be otherwise than that so popular and general an institution +as this must at the time have profoundly affected human existence. A +great multitude of men and women taken out of common society and living +apart under conditions entirely contradictory to the instinct and usages +of the race must have shaken the body politic in every direction, +causing a movement of influences far-reaching in its effect. + +Monasticism was not the creation of Christianity; the religions of the +East had their devotees, like the Jewish Essenes, who abandoned the +common pursuits of men for a life of solitude, idle introspection, and +rapt contemplation. The wildernesses and solitary places of the East had +been made yet more weird by the presence of unhumanlike hermits, even +before the days of John the Baptist. Christian monasticism, also, had +its birth in the dreamy East. Antony, by his example, and Pachomius, by +enthusiastic propaganda of monastic ideas, laid the foundations of that +system which was to honeycomb the whole world with bands of men and +women who repudiated the natural pleasures and the essential duties of +the world. + +Of the motive that inspired the monastic life, St. Augustine says: "No +corporeal fecundity produces this race of virgins; they are no offspring +of flesh and blood. Ask you the mother of these? It is the Church. None +other bears these sacred virgins but that one espoused to a single +husband, Christ. Each of these so loved that beautiful One among the +sons of men, that, unable to conceive Him in the flesh as Mary did, they +conceived Him in their heart, and kept for him even the body in +integrity." + +We may admit this intense love of God as a moving force, and still claim +that the hermits and anchoresses of the early Church were actuated +largely by the desire to redeem themselves from the wrath to come and to +gain a personal entrance to the paradise of God. Salvation was an +individual responsibility, and it admitted of no compromise with the +world. The road to perfection could be cheered with company only, +providing others were willing to set out upon it by first renouncing all +natural joys, and by despising all human ties. The claims of close +kindred were not allowed to hinder in the personal quest for heavenly +rewards. The tearfully pleaded needs of an aged parent were not +permitted to detain at home the daughter who had consecrated herself as +the bride of Christ; Paula turned her back upon the outstretched hands +of her infant son, in order that in the Holy Land she might spend her +days in ecstatic contemplation of the Jerusalem above. It is recorded to +the high praise of Saint Fulgentius that he sorely wounded his mother's +heart by despising her sorrow at his departure. + +True it is that many of the earliest consecrated handmaidens of the +Church continued to reside in their city homes, and, in addition to +their prayers, devoted themselves to works of charity and mercy. But +they were scarcely less separated from the world and their kindred. +Their manner of life interdicted all common intercourse. The virgin who +could boast that for twenty-five years she never bathed, except the tips +of her fingers, and these only when she was about to receive the +Communion, must have been as foreign to the Rome in which she lived as +if she inhabited a cave in the Thebaid. Her kinsfolk may have reverenced +her sanctity, but it is doubtful if they unqualifiedly appreciated her +presence. The explanation of this transcendent personal neglect is to be +found in the dualism which was so considerable an element in the motif +of monasticism. The religious sphere was exclusively spiritual and of +the mind; the material world was considered to be wholly under the +dominion of the devil if it were not, indeed, his work. The body, with +all its appetites, instincts, pleasures, and pains, was regarded as a +spiritual misfortune. Holiness was not deemed to be in any degree +attainable except by constant and determined thwarting of all natural +desire. The compulsion to give way to any extent to the most essential +of these desires was, so far as it obtained, a moral imperfection. The +three great human faults are lust, pride, and avarice. To subjugate +these, celibacy, absolute submission, and complete poverty, were deemed +necessary by the advocates of monasticism. Because purity is enjoined, +the saint of one sex must treat a person of the other with the same +avoidance as would be displayed toward a poisonous reptile; readiness to +embrace a leper is none too severe a test of humility; and personal +property in a hair blanket is a pitfall laid by wealth. A body so wasted +by fasting as to be incapable of sustaining the continuous round of +tears and prayers is the surest warrant of saintliness. A virgin who has +so abused her stomach by improper and insufficient food that it refuses +a meal necessary to a healthy body is the object of high veneration; +indigestion is a most desirable corollary to holiness. In short, without +outraging reason and contradicting every dictum of common sense, it is +difficult to describe much that belonged to ancient monasticism in any +other spirit than that of impatience. + +Like most institutions, monasticism began in a formless, undirected +enthusiasm. Men and women rushed into the wilderness with an abundantly +zealous determination to get away from the wickedness of the world, but +with a still greater scarcity of understanding regarding a reasonable +discipline of life. Soon, however, organization was proposed by monks of +experience, and rules formulated which were generally adopted. Saint +Pachomius was the first to form monkish foundations in the East. These +were visited by Athanasius while he was in exile, and he came back with +a glowing account of the sanctity of life and the marvellous exploits of +their members. His narrative fired the hearts of the more devout +Christians of the West, especially of the women, and that of the monk or +the nun became at once the most illustrious vocation which a Christian +could follow. The result was, as the Count de Montalembert shows, that +"the town and environs of Rome were soon full of monasteries, rapidly +occupied by men distinguished alike by birth, fortune and knowledge, who +lived there in charity, sanctity and freedom. From Rome, the new +institution--already distinguished by the name of religion, or religious +life, par excellence--extended itself over all Italy. It was planted at +the foot of the Alps by the influence of a great bishop, Eusebius of +Vercelli. From the continent, the new institution rapidly gained the +isles of the Mediterranean, and even the rugged rocks of the Gargon and +of Capraja, where the monks, voluntarily exiled from the world, went to +take the place of the criminals and political victims whom the emperors +had been accustomed to banish thither." + +Western monasticism was inspired by a different genius from that of the +Eastern. Instead of being speculative and characterized by dreamy +indolence and meditative silence, it was far more practical. It was +active, stirring; duty, rather than esoteric wisdom, was its watchword. +Fasting, stated hours for prayer, reading, and vigorous manual work were +strictly enjoined by every rule. Consequently, the nuns and monks of the +West never went to the fantastic extremes which exhibited in the East a +stylite, or a female recluse, dwelling, like an animal, in a hollow +tree, or a drove of half wild and wholly maniacal humans who subsisted +by browsing on such edible roots as they found in the earth on which +they grovelled. Method, regularity, and purpose early gave character and +efficiency to Western monasteries, and prepared them for the literary +and industrial usefulness which followed in the wane of the first +frenzy, and which made monasticism, in spite of itself, a powerful +factor in the evolution of modern civilization. This systematizing was +due to the efforts of Ambrose, Athanasius, Gregory the Great, but more +especially to those of Benedict of Nursia. + +The first known ceremonial recognition by the Church of a professed nun +is the case of Marcellina. On Christmas Day, perhaps of the year 354, +she received a veil from the hands of Pope Liberius, and made her vows +before a large congregation gathered in the church of Saint Peter, at +Rome. Saint Ambrose, her brother, has preserved for us a summary of the +sermon preached by the bishop on the occasion. It consists of an earnest +but not very convincing--so it would seem to modern ears--exhortation to +abstinence from worldly pleasure and to perseverance in virginity. +Marcellina continued to dwell in private in her own home, for it had not +yet become customary for professed virgins to take up their residence in +a common abode. The inauguration of this new departure had begun, +however, as is shown by passages in the work of Saint Ambrose on +virginity, which he dedicated to his sister. In the eleventh chapter of +the first book, he says: "Some one may say, you are always singing the +praise of virgins. What shall I do who am always singing them and have +no success (in persuading them to the consecrated life)? But this is not +my fault. Then, too, virgins come from Placentia to be consecrated, or +from Bononia and Mauritania, in order to receive the veil here. I treat +the matter here, and persuade those who are elsewhere. If this be so, +let me treat the subject elsewhere, that I may persuade you. + +"Behold how sweet is the fruit of modesty, which has sprung up even in +the affections of barbarians. Virgins, coming from the greatest distance +on both sides of Mauritania, desire to be consecrated here; and though +all the family be in bonds, yet modesty cannot be bound. She who mourns +over the hardship of slavery professes to own an eternal kingdom. + +"And what shall I say of the virgins of Bononia, a fertile band of +chastity, who, forsaking worldly delights, inhabit the sanctuary of +virginity? Though not of the sex which lives in common, attaining in +their common chastity to the number of twenty, leaving their parents' +dwellings, they press into the houses of Christ; at one time singing +spiritual songs, they provide their sustenance by labor, and seek with +their hands the supplies for their liberal charity." + +So, then, it is evident that as early as the latter part of the fourth +century communities of nuns began to live in their own religious houses. +As yet, however, the inmates of these asylums of chastity were +answerable, only to themselves for the faithfulness with which they +fulfilled their vows. There was no organized order, no recognized rule; +each virgin observed her profession according as she interpreted the +terms thereof. The Church exercised no well-defined disciplinary +authority over these convents; of course, if a professed nun +scandalously repudiated her vows, she could be excommunicated, but the +efficacy of this punishment was conditioned entirely by the degree of +horror with which the woman viewed the forfeiture of ecclesiastical +privileges. It was not before the time of Gregory that the Church became +able to enforce its judgments. When all the world became Christian, then +the individual again lost his freedom of thought in relation to +religious matters; then, through its alliance with the secular arm, the +Church gained the power to sternly constrain its recalcitrant children. +This was brought about by the political advantages gained by Gregory, +and by Saint Benedict's gifts of organization. + +Saint Benedict was the father of Western organized monasticism; he not +only founded an order to which many religious houses already existing +united themselves, but he established a rule for their government, which +was adopted as the rule for monastic life by all such orders which +existed in the Church down to the time of Saint Francis and Saint +Dominic. What Benedict did for the monks, his sister Scholastica--who, +being a woman, has received far less mention--accomplished for the nuns. +Through her efforts, under the direction and advice of her brother, +greater dignity and weight were given to the female side of monasticism. + +We know that Benedict was born at Nursia, in the province of Spoleto, in +the year 480; whether Scholastica was older or younger than her more +famous brother is not said. Their parents were respectable people, +possessed of sufficient means to enable them to give their children a +good education, and to take up temporarily their residence in Rome for +that purpose. + +While at Rome, Benedict became enamored of the idea of devoting himself +to religion; and in order to get away from the moral dangers of the +city, he fled from his school and his parents to a small village called +Effide, about two miles from Subiaco. His nurse--Cyrilla--was his +accomplice and companion in this adventure, and for this she has +received her due meed of honor in the legends which have attached to the +life of the great founder. As an example of these legends, and as an +illustration of their historic value, we will notice one story. One day, +Cyrilla accidentally broke a stone sieve which she had borrowed for the +purpose of making the youthful saint some bread. Compassionating her +distress, Benedict placed the two pieces in position and then prayed +over them. To the great joy of Cyrilla and the no small wonderment of +the rustics, they became firmly cemented together and the sieve was +again made whole. This marvellous utensil was hung over the church door, +where it remained for many years an irrefutable proof of the power of +monastic holiness. + +Later on, Saint Benedict established twelve monasteries in the +neighborhood, at last settling at Monte Casino, not far from the place +where his sister, Saint Scholastica, also presided over a colony of +religious women. Here were formulated and adopted the regulations which +for so many years governed these religious recluses, both male and +female. Three virtues comprised the whole of the Benedictine discipline: +celibate seclusion, extended to the cultivation of silence as far as the +exigences of the convent would permit; humility to the very last degree; +and obedience to superiors even--so said the law--when impossibilities +were commanded. The effect designed was to concentrate the entire +thought of the recluse upon himself. Yet, idleness on the part of its +subjects was far from the purpose of this discipline. All the waking +hours--which were by far the greater part of the time--of these nuns +were devoted to the worship of God, reading, and manual labor. Besides +the essential work of their own household, the nuns occupied themselves +in spinning, weaving, and manufacturing clothing, which was distributed +in charity; thus their time was not wholly spent in vain. They also wove +and embroidered the beautiful tapestries and hangings which ornamented +the churches, and, in course of time, developed a textile art which was +one of the glories of the Middle Ages. With the time at their disposal, +it is no wonder that the ancient convents could exhibit histories of the +Creation, done in stitchwork. In imitation of the Psalmist, seven times +a day the nuns met in their chapel for prayer and praise. Sloth was not +possible with them; for they were obliged to waken for matins very early +in the morning, before the breaking of day, even in summer, and this +after having risen for a short service of praise at midnight. + +Abstinence from the flesh of four-footed animals was perpetually and +universally enforced. Fowls were allowed on festival occasions; but the +regular diet was vegetable broth and bread. A large part of the year was +a prescribed fast during which one meal a day was made to suffice and +that at even. No nun was permitted to speak of or consider anything as +her own, not even a girdle or any part of her dress. At first, when +members of the order became delinquent in their duties, only such +penalties as sequestration from the common table or the chapel, with +expulsion from the order in case of incorrigibility, could be enforced. +But, as the Church's disciplinary hand grew heavier on the lives of +mankind, severer punishments were adopted, which contumacy served only +to render yet more cruel, even to life-long solitary incarceration. + +But the most stringent rule of monasticism, as regulated by Saint +Benedict and Saint Scholastica, was that in relation to the sexes. +According to it, they were required to treat each other as natural, +irreconcilable enemies. Communion, even between those of the closest +kin, was almost entirely interdicted. The two founders, brother and +sister though they were, and united not only in a perfect harmony of +disposition and affection, but in devotion to the same life purpose, saw +each other but once a year. "There is something striking," says Milman, +"in the attachment of the brother and sister, the human affection +struggling with the hard spirit of monasticism. Saint Scholastica was a +female Benedict--equally devout, equally powerful in attracting and +ruling recluses of her own sex, the remote foundress of convents almost +as numerous as those of her brother's rule." We are indebted to Gregory +the Great for the narration of some interesting incidents in the lives +of these two saints. The only one which our space will permit, and +perhaps the one which best illustrates the spirit that governed them in +the hard and self-denying path which they elected to walk, is the +account of their last meeting. Though the convent was situated not far +from the monastery, though they were brother and sister, aged, and +devoted to the same holy aims, they met but once a year, for so said the +rule. Scholastica was dying, and the time came for Benedict to pay his +annual visit. Evening had come all too quickly, for the few hours had +rapidly passed in the delight of spiritual communion. Scholastica +entreated her brother to remain in the convent for that one night, as it +was likely that he would never again see her alive. But not even +sisterly affection could turn the monk from the rigid observance of his +rules, one of which was that neither he nor any of his brethren should +spend a night outside of the monastery. As he was preparing to bid her +farewell, she bent her head for a few moments in profound prayer. +Suddenly the sky, which had hitherto been clear and serene, became +overcast, the vivid lightning flashed, the thunder crashed, and the rain +swept down in torrents; heaven had come to the aged nun's assistance. +"The Lord have mercy on you, my sister!" said Benedict, "what have you +done?" "You," she replied, "have rejected my prayers; but the Lord hath +not. Go now, if you can!" Her intercession was rewarded with triumph, +and they passed the night in holy communion. Three days afterward, +Benedict saw the soul of Scholastica soaring to heaven in the shape of a +dove, whither, after a very little while, he followed her. + +As it is with all social movements, after a while the glory of the +initial purity of purpose which marked the inception of Benedictine +monasticism began to wane; its singleness of aim became diverted; its +disingenuousness was replaced by sophisticated evasion of its rule. The +monasteries and convents became wealthy; ways were discovered by which +their discipline could be softened without formally abrogating the rule; +and events rendered it advisable to legislate that houses for nuns and +for monks should not be erected in close proximity. + +The time came when the abbess took her place among the high dignitaries +of the Church, and the office grew to be one, not only of great +spiritual influence, but of enviable social standing. Even in the days +of Gregory the Great, who, though he lost no opportunity to magnify the +papal office, was a man of intense spiritual nature and powerful moral +character, the leaders of female monasticism began to realize the +possibilities of ecclesiastical officialdom. The honors of an abbess +were found to be a not altogether unsatisfactory substitute for the +undesired or the unattainable glories of the world. It was at least +something to be addressed in correspondence by the great bishop of Rome +as a coworker; and there are many letters extant written by Gregory to +abbesses in various parts of the Western world. These furnish us with +sidelights upon the personnel, the duties, customs, and standing of the +women who were placed in charge of these convents. + +In a letter written to Thalassia, abbess of the convent which Brunehaut +founded in the city of Autun, Saint Gregory sets forth the privileges +and the manner of electing a woman to that office. He says: "We indulge, +grant and confirm by decree of our present authority, privileges as +follows: Ordaining that no king, no bishop, no one endowed with any +dignity whatsoever, shall have power, under show of any cause or +occasion whatsoever, to diminish or take away, or apply to his own uses, +or grant as if to other pious uses for excuse of his own avarice, +anything of what has been given to the monastery by the above-written +king's children, or of what shall in future be bestowed on it by any +others whatever of their own possessions. But all things that have been +there offered, or may come to be offered, we will to be possessed by +thee, as well as those who shall succeed thee in thy office and place, +from the present time inviolate and without disturbance, provided thou +apply them in all ways to the uses of those for whose sustenance and +government they have been granted." The use and benefit of papal +supremacy is beginning to be seen. This cumbrous legal enactment +conferred upon Thalassia a life lease and freehold in the property of +her convent, as secure as the tithes of his parish are to an English +incumbent. + +In this same letter, which was written some time in the latter part of +the sixth century, there is also a clause concerning the election of an +abbess. There is to be nothing crafty or secret about it. The election +is to be conducted in the fear of God. The king is to choose such a +woman as will meet with the approval of the nuns; she is then to be +ordained by the bishop. This all goes to show that, even in those early +times, for a woman who was willing to forego the attractions of married +life, or was unwilling to accept its cares, the position of abbess was +one which might well stir the ambitious. But, however that might be, in +the same letter, Gregory, who evidently knew the weaknesses of human +nature, prevented the questionable methods which the ambitious might be +tempted to adopt. "No one," he says, "of the kings, no one of the +priests, or any one else in person or by proxy, shall dare to accept +anything in gold, or in any kind of consideration whatever, for the +ordination of such abbess, or for any causes whatever pertaining to this +monastery, and that the same abbess presume not to give anything on +account of her ordination, lest by such occasion what is offered or has +been offered to places of piety should be consumed. And inasmuch as many +occasions for the deception of religious women are sought out, as is +said, in your parts by bad men, we ordain that an abbess of this same +monastery shall in no wise be deprived or deposed unless in case of +criminality requiring it. Hence, it is necessary that if any complaint +of this kind should arise against her, not only the bishop of the city +of Autun should examine the case, but that he should call to his +assistance six other of his fellow-bishops, and so fully investigate the +matter to the end that, all judging with one accord, a strict canonical +decision may either smite if guilty, or absolve her if innocent." A law +against any wrong always predicates the existence of that fault. Hence, +the prohibitions we have quoted could not have been of unknown +occurrence among the fellow abbesses of Thalassia. + +Through other letters we learn that it was in contradiction of monastic +rule for those embracing that life to retain property of their own after +profession, or even the power of disposing of it by will; it became the +property of the convent. It appears, also, that if a nun were +transferred from one monastery to another, or if, as sometimes happened, +a consecrated virgin living at home had lapsed and was therefore sent to +a monastery, her property always went to the convent in which she at +that present time resided. This was so strictly enforced that when one +Sirica, abbess at Caralis, made a will and distributed her property, +Gregory ordered that it be restored to the monastery without dispute or +evasion. As many women of position were induced to become nuns, it is +easy to be seen how the convents quickly acquired great wealth. + +All the abbesses did not consider themselves slavishly bound to follow +the uniform rule. In the letter just mentioned, the same Sirica is seen +to have manifested a refreshing independence in relation to other +matters in regard to which a woman does not take kindly to outside +interference. Gregory says: "And when we enquired of the Solicitude of +your Holiness why you endured that property belonging to the monastery +should be detained by others, our common son Epiphanius, your +archpresbyter, being present before us, replied that the said abbess had +up to the day of her death refused to wear the monastic dress, but had +continued in the use of such dresses as are used by the presbyteresses +of that place. To this the aforesaid Gavina replied that the practice +had come to be almost lawful from custom, alleging that the abbess who +had been before the above-mentioned Sirica had used such dresses. When, +then, we begun to feel no small doubt with regard to the character of +the dresses, it appeared necessary for us to consider with our legal +advisers, as well as with the other learned men of this city, what was +to be done with regard to law. And they, having considered the matter, +answered that, after an abbess had been solemnly ordained by the bishop +and had presided in the government of a monastery for many years until +the end of her life, the character of her dress might attach blame to +the bishop for having allowed it so to be, but still could not prejudice +the monastery." Those "presbyteresses" whose attire Sirica considered +she had ample right to copy, were the wives of presbyters who had been +married before ordination. It is all very trivial; and yet there is to +be recognized such a touch of naturalness about this abbess of thirteen +centuries ago that it is worthy of remark. And it must be confessed that +Sirica has our entire approval as we fancy we see her going calmly about +the duties of her office, while Pope Gregory of Rome is calling together +his legal advisers to know what shall be done about her dress, she all +the while determined that she is going to array herself in exactly that +style which, to her independent mind, seems most befitting. + +When, however, serious faults on the part of nuns had to be dealt with, +Gregory possessed, even in that early day, the power as well as the will +to inflict punishment of a severe nature. Moreover, the Church had +become what Rome was in the time of the emperors,--so universal and +thoroughly organized that culprits could not hope to flee beyond the +reach of the disciplinary hand. Petronilla, a nun of Lucania, had given +way to the weakness of nature and the seducements of Agnellus, the son +of a bishop. Taking the property which Petronilla had brought to the +monastery, and also that which the father of Agnellus had given to the +institution, they fled to Sicily in the hope of there enjoying love and +affluence in their mutual companionship and that of their child. But +Gregory's supervision was as far-reaching as was the power of his hand. +He writes to Cyprian, Deacon and Rector of Sicily, "to cause the +aforesaid man, and the above-named woman, to be summarily brought before +thee, and institute a most thorough investigation into the case. And, if +thou shouldest find it to be as reported to us, determine an affair +defiled by so many iniquities with the utmost severity of expurgation; +to the end that both strict retribution may overtake the man, who has +regarded neither his own nor her condition, and that, she having been +first punished and consigned to a monastery under penance, all the +property that had been taken away from the above-named place, with all +its fruits and accessions, may be restored." What the exact nature of +the penance inflicted was we do not know; but in another place, speaking +of nuns who had been detected in the same fault, the great bishop orders +that they "afford an example of the more rigorous kind of discipline, +such as may inspire fear in others." The Church had already acquired the +power to enforce its artificial morality, which power it vigorously +employed on those with whom it could afford to be at no pains to +ingratiate itself. + +Rigid disciplinarian as he was, and zealous in his labors to aggrandize +the Church, Gregory was careful not to allow the privileges of +monasticism to be pushed to the endangering, as he thought, of the moral +welfare of those whom it concerned. The law was that if either a husband +or a wife decided to devote himself or herself to the monastic life, the +marriage bonds might be severed without the consent of the other +partner. But in a letter which he wrote to a notary of Panormus and sent +by the hand of a woman named Agathosa, he refers to the latter's claim +that her husband had entered a monastery without her consent. He +instructs the notary "to investigate the matter by diligent enquiry, so +as to see whether it may not be the case that the man's profession was +with her consent, or that she herself had promised to change her state. +And should it be found to be so, see to his remaining in the monastery, +and compel her to change her state, as she had promised. If, however, +neither of these things is the case, and you do not find that the +aforesaid woman has committed any crime of fornication on account of +which it is lawful for a man to leave his wife, then, lest his +profession should possibly be an occasion of perdition to the wife left +behind in the world, we desire thee, without any excuse allowed, to +restore her husband to her, even though he should be already tonsured." +It is quite noticeable that the bishop would much prefer that the woman +follow her husband's example and embrace the monastic life. It is +possible that Gregory, in addition to his constant zeal in gaining +recruits for this vocation, realized, personally inexperienced though he +was in such matters, that the wife would find but cold comfort in the +enforced embraces of a husband who preferred the monks of a religious +house to her own society. Still, even in the case of a professed nun who +had been forcibly compelled to marry against her will, he did not +suggest that the matrimonial bonds should be severed without the consent +of the enterprising husband, but only that she should have the right, +after providing for her children, to devote the residue of her property +to the Church to which she would gladly have sacrificed her whole life. + +In those parts of the Christian world to which the authority of Pope +Gregory did not extend, monasticism showed some peculiarities that were +very dissimilar to the Benedictine rule. Perhaps the most striking of +these is to be seen in the ancient British Church, that apostolic +foundation which, until after the Saxon conquest, had never come under +the influence of the Roman See. At Whitby, in Yorkshire, Saint Hild, the +daughter of a king, reared a monastery which included, under her own +personal government, both men and women. In adjoining buildings, nuns +and monks lived in contemplative retirement, their life and studies +superintended by this gifted woman, whose wisdom was such that her +counsel was eagerly sought by the highest nobles in the land. Her +institution was a training school for bishops and priests, as well as a +haven of religious recreation for women of the world. That her rule was +salutary, and this combination not prejudicial to good living, seems to +be proved by the fact that she included among those who were trained +under her supervision John of Beverly, who was as famous for his +holiness as for his learning. + +Thus, monasticism became an increasingly powerful factor in the social +life of that far distant age. The importance of the institution lay in +its complete universality. Wherever was found the Christian Church, +there also was the religious house, a harbor of sanctity, presided over +by an abbess chosen for her piety and strength of mind, filled with +women who were not loath to forsake the pleasures of the world for the +love of peace and divine contemplation. From the Eternal City where +Gregory was reviving in religious guise that power which for so many +centuries had dominated the world, and where alone was retained what +remained of a departed civilization, to Streonshealh where Hild, +daughter of barbaric chiefs, reared her abbey on the summit of the dark +cliffs of Whitby, looking out over the gloom of the Northern Sea, these +convents represented what was then considered as the acme of feminine +attainment. + +That feminine monasticism had its uses and conferred its benefits it +would be an absurdity to deny. Despite the falsity of the unnatural +moral theory which supplied too largely its motive, monasticism was an +outward and visible sign of that human evolution which makes for +progress. The selfishness of its spiritual aims was in accord with the +strenuous individualism of that new age; its dualistic theory of nature +was at least a revolt from the brutal animalism of the day. Moreover, it +furnished the only opportunity that human life then afforded for calm +and concentrated reflection on any subject save eating, breeding, and +killing. The monastery was the bridge by which the salvage from the +dissolution of ancient civilization was carried over the Dark Ages to +the Renaissance. + +When we seek for the peculiar benefits monasticism provided for women, +they are found to be two. The universally recognized sanctity of the +cloister provided, in an age of exceeding brutality, a sanctuary where +woman might take refuge, and where something at least of the +spirituality of her nature might be neither outraged nor obliterated. It +may be that, after all unfavorable judgments have been passed, if it had +not been for the veneration of cloistered virginity, in so rude an age +the world might have forgotten what modesty and purity are. Also, it is +not favorable to the highest development of womanhood to be absolutely +restricted to the one vocation of marriage. If, to-day, women are not +better wives, they surely are more self-respecting for the fact that +there is a possibility of their being independent and yet remain +unmarried. What business now does for woman, in the olden times was done +by the female monastery: it provided examples of the sex, who were +glorious, and yet unmarried. The woman crossed in love, or the girl +threatened with a union repugnant to her feelings, could say: "I will be +a nun," and thereby gain the highest esteem of the world. + + + + +VII + +WOMEN WHO WITNESSED THE FALL OF ROME + + +The Empire had forfeited its right to take its title from the ancient +city on the Tiber long before its final dismemberment. Constantine had +removed his court and capital to the Bosphorus, and there the metropolis +of the East remained. The Western emperors established their courts in +various parts of Europe, their locations being usually determined by the +exigences of rivalry and the territorial success of their usurpation. +Roman citizenship had become universal and at the same time meaningless: +it represented no privileges other than the bare fact that its owner was +not a slave. The freedom it conferred was only relative and, to a very +great extent, merely theoretical; practically, all were the slaves of +the emperor. The race of Romulus had degenerated into a pretentious but +pusillanimous aristocracy, who desired no title to glory save that found +in pedigree. There was not left in them sufficient virility to set up, +much less to maintain, an emperor of their own race; their rulers were +of barbarian extraction. The Roman army was a cosmopolitan aggregation, +in which Italy was the least represented of the provinces. Ammianus +Marcellinus, the historian, writing late in the fourth century, says: +"The modern nobles measure their rank and consequence according to the +loftiness of their chariots and the weighty magnificence of their dress. +Their long robes of silk and purple float in the wind; and as they are +agitated by art or accident, they occasionally discover the +under-garments, the rich tunics, embroidered with the figures of various +animals." Gibbon notes that the more pious coxcombs substituted the +figure of some favorite saint. Ammianus goes on to describe how, +"followed by a train of fifty servants, and tearing up the pavement, +they move along the streets with the same impetuous speed as if they +travelled with post-horses; and the example of the senators is boldly +imitated by the matrons and ladies, whose covered carriages are +continually driving round the immense space of the city and suburbs. +Whenever these persons of high distinction condescend to visit the +public baths, they assume, on their entrance, a tone of loud and +insolent command, and appropriate to their exclusive use the +conveniences which were designed for the Roman people. If, in these +places of mixed and general resort, they meet any of the infamous +ministers of their pleasures, they express their affection by a tender +embrace; while they proudly disdain the salutation of their +fellow-citizens who are not permitted to aspire above the honor of +kissing their hands or their knees. As soon as they have indulged +themselves in the refreshment of the bath, they resume their rings and +the other ensigns of their dignity, select from their private wardrobe +(of the finest linen, and of a quantity such as might suffice for a +dozen persons), the garments most agreeable to their fancy, and maintain +till their departure the same haughty demeanor.... The acquisition of +knowledge seldom engages the attention of nobles, who abhor the fatigue +and disdain the advantages of study. The libraries which they have +inherited from their fathers are secluded, like dreary sepulchres, from +the light of day. The art of obtaining the signature of a favorable +testament, and sometimes of hastening the moment of its execution, is +perfectly understood; and it has happened that in the same house, though +in different apartments, a husband and a wife, with the laudable design +of over-reaching each other, have summoned their respective lawyers, to +declare, at the same time, their mutual but contradictory wishes." + +It is probable that Ammianus, with the disdain which students are apt to +affect toward the unphilosophic multitude, has exaggerated the disregard +of the Roman nobility for books. We have seen that many of the female +friends of Jerome were most ardent lovers of literature; and the +Christian Fathers constantly evince an expectation of finding among +their female followers an enthusiastic reading public. These women read +theological works; it is not unreasonable to suppose that their less +heavenly-minded sisters were as assiduous students of the classical +secular books. + +We have the names and somewhat of the history of a few of the women who +lived in this period, but they are all from the highest and most +conspicuous society. History loves a shining mark. If the chroniclers of +the time had favored us with a detailed descriptive account of the life +of the common people, it would have been of more value than that of many +nobles. + +The population of Rome at this time has been estimated at between one +million two hundred thousand and two million. This, of course, includes +the vast army of slaves, which remained undiminished after the change of +the national religion. But there was also a great horde of free, poor +plebeians, who were the perpetual paupers of the government. These lived +in the same careless, indigent idleness as had the same class in +preceding centuries. They inhabited tenements not unlike those known to +the great cities of modern times. These houses were of several stories, +each tenement sheltering a number of families. That they were +exceedingly uncomfortable is easy to believe, seeing that even the +wealthy of ancient times, notwithstanding the architectural grandeur +which they could command, were ignorant of the ordinary modern domestic +conveniences. The free working class of the present day was then +practically unknown: that place was taken by the slaves. So the +poverty-stricken Roman citizen was both necessarily and willingly +unemployed. Generally, however, corn, wine, and oil were supplied him +with little or no expense to himself. Each morning, at a set time, his +wife would repair to a prescribed station in the district, and there, on +showing a citizen's ticket, she would receive a three-pound loaf of +bread. So indulgent was the government, that it ground and baked the +allowance which at one time was made in the shape of corn. During five +months in the year there was also distributed, to the poorer people, an +allowance of pork; the annual consumption of this kind of meat in Rome +was three million six hundred and twenty-eight thousand pounds. When the +populace had clamored before Augustus for free wine as well as bread, +that wise and firm ruler reminded them that since his friend Agrippa had +brought into the city a bountiful supply of pure water, no Roman need +complain of thirst. But those emperors who denuded Roman citizenship +entirely of its right of suffrage yet had an interest in keeping the +populace quiet and contented; hence, in the fourth century there existed +public cellars from whence was dispensed, at a small cost to the +inhabitants of Rome, the fermented vintage of Campania. + +It was also necessary, the people being idle, that they should be +amused. There were the magnificent public baths where they could while +away the time in luxury and gossip. But the amusement with which the +multitude was never satiated was found in the exhibitions of the circus. +On special occasions, many would sleep in the porticoes near by, in +order to be the first on hand to obtain seats in the morning. The +immense amphitheatre would accommodate four hundred thousand. +Christianity abolished the gladiatorial combat of former times; but +there still remained the exciting and perilous chariot race and the +hunting and fighting of wild beasts. Nor had Christianity been able to +purify the stage to any great extent. The Muses of Tragedy and a +statelier comedy were entirely abandoned for licentious farces. No fewer +than three thousand female dancers were occupied in the theatres of +Rome. At a time of famine when all strangers were banished from the +city, and also the teachers of the liberal arts, these dancers were +exempted by the edict. + +The people of Rome were afforded an additional source of interest in the +ecclesiastical contentions which were aroused by the ambitions and the +theological disputes of the clergy. Before the close of the fourth +century the bishopric of Rome had become an office more fitted to be +sought after by the worldly-minded than by the imitator of the humble +Galilean fishermen. Its vacation was the signal for a contention in +which rival candidates were not averse to employing the violence of the +common people as well as the influence of noble Christian ladies. +Ammianus describes how "the ardor of Damasus and Ursinus to seize the +episcopal seat surpassed the ordinary measure of human ambition. They +contended with the rage of party; the quarrel was maintained by the +wounds and death of their followers; and the prefect, unable to resist +or appease the tumult, was constrained, by superior violence, to retire +into the suburbs. Damasus prevailed: the well-disputed victory remained +on the side of his faction; one hundred and thirty-seven dead bodies +were found in the Basilica of Sicininus, where the Christians held their +religious assemblies; and it was long before the angry minds of the +people resumed their accustomed tranquillity. When I consider the +splendor of the capital, I am not astonished that so valuable a prize +should inflame the desires of ambitious men, and produce the fiercest +and most obstinate contests. The successful candidate is confident that +he will be enriched by the offerings of matrons; that, as soon as his +dress is composed with becoming care and elegance, he may proceed in his +chariot through the streets of Rome; and that the sumptuousness of the +imperial table will not equal the profuse and delicate entertainments +provided by the taste and expense of the Roman bishops." + +The practice of taking advantage of the charity--or the sentiment--of +wealthy ladies had become so prevalent among the clergy that the +government had been compelled to regard it as an abuse to be severely +legislated against. By his enemies, Bishop Damasus himself was nicknamed +Auriscalpius Matronarum (the ladies' ear scratcher). An edict on the +subject was addressed by Valentinian to this bishop who was directed to +have it read in the churches of his diocese. It must have been a +humiliating document for the clerics of the time to listen to in the +presence of their congregations. It admonished them not to frequent the +houses of virgins and widows. The habit had become popular for wealthy +and devout ladies to choose some monk or priest as their individual and +private spiritual director. That the confidence reposed in the latter +was often abused is indicated by the edict which prohibited him from +profiting by any gift or legacy from his spiritual protégée; the same +abuse is also frankly acknowledged in the writings of the Fathers. As we +have seen in the case of Jerome and Paula, such a relationship might be +perfectly innocent, though somewhat hysterical. Human nature is the same +in all ages; and, given a woman whose sentimental nature predisposed her +to seek an indemnification in spiritual companionship for those ordinary +delights which, by pious vows, she had denied herself; an ecclesiastic, +frail in principle, but apt to cloak his designs with the sanctity of +ghostly affection and disinterested charity, and the result is not +unlikely to be disastrous to the reputation of the lady and, also, to +the expectations of her heirs. The law of Valentinian, forbidding these +women to make clerics their legatees, precluded the former from the +comfort of an ostentatious guaranty of their piety, and stigmatized the +disinterestedness of the latter. + +Such, then, was the condition of the Roman Empire at the time when the +causes leading to its decline were nearing their culmination. After +Julian's death under the assassin's hand, Jovian followed in a brief +reign. Then Valentinian came to the throne. In this emperor is witnessed +that astonishing mixture of vice and virtue, barbarous cruelty and +Christian belief which characterized that period. It was an age of +bitter warfare; every human force was engaged in deadly contention; both +the Church and the Empire were fighting for their lives. The latter +could scarcely keep off the hordes of barbarians which were swarming and +surging upon its borders, and at times it seemed as if the former had +quite succumbed to the heresy of Arianism. It was the most deadly battle +that the Church has ever had to wage. After the question of who should +rule, theology was the most important item in the politics of the time. +Varying metaphysical definitions which baffled the acumen of the wisest +philosophers were confidently espoused in a spirit of partisanship by +mechanics and ignorant persons of both sexes. It was the difference of +an iota--_homoousios_ or _homoiousios_. + +Valentinian favored orthodoxy, not because of sturdy convictions (he +said it was a question for bishops), but because the Church in the West +was mainly Catholic; but in Justina, his wife, the Arians were +compensated by a powerful champion. Socrates, the historian, describes +the marriage of Justina as having taken place under most remarkable +circumstances. The story is interesting, though of somewhat doubtful +veracity: "Justus, the father of Justina, who had been governor of +Picenum under the reign of Constantius, had a dream in which he seemed +to himself to bring forth the imperial purple out of his right side. +When this dream had been told to many persons, it at length came to the +knowledge of Constantius, who conjecturing it to be a presage that a +descendant of Justus would become emperor, caused him to be +assassinated. Justina, being thus bereft of her father, still continued +a virgin. Some time after, she became known to Severa, wife of the +Emperor Valentinian, and had frequent intercourse with the empress, +until their intimacy at length grew to such an extent that they were +accustomed to bathe together. When Severa saw Justina in the bath she +was greatly struck with the beauty of the virgin, and spoke of her to +the emperor, saying that the daughter of Justus was so lovely a creature +and possessed of such symmetry of form, that she herself, though a +woman, was altogether charmed with her. The emperor, treasuring this +description by his wife in his own mind, considered with himself how he +could espouse Justina, without repudiating Severa, who had borne him +Gratian, whom he had created Augustus a short time before. He +accordingly framed a law, and caused it to be published throughout all +the cities, by which any man was permitted to have two lawful wives. The +law was promulgated and he married Justina, by whom he had Valentinian +the younger, and three daughters--Justa, Grata, and Galla.... Galla was +afterwards married to Theodosius the Great, who had by her a daughter +named Placidia." + +This story, romantic as it is, lacks all the hallmarks of credibility. +In the first place, there is absolutely no trace of this remarkable law +either in the codes or in other historians. Furthermore, the ancient +Church was more severely opposed to bigamy and polygamy than it was to +any other deviation from common morals. Also the Roman law strongly +discountenanced plurality in marriage. Moreover, we have it on the +authority of Ammianus, who is a most trustworthy witness, that +Valentinian was remarkable for his chastity, both at home and abroad. +Also in contradiction to what Socrates relates, Zosimus asserts that +Justina had already been married to Magnentius, and that the emperor was +joined to her in matrimony after the death of Severa, his first wife. +Either this latter statement must be accepted as the fact in the case, +or we must believe that the first empress was divorced, a procedure that +was certainly not difficult and was extremely customary for the rulers +of Rome. What is probably the truth of the matter is that this story of +Justina being the partner of Valentinian in bigamy was a malicious +invention; possibly the discredit of its promulgation should be laid at +the door of some of the Unscrupulous among the orthodox, who were +incensed at her support of heresy. + +It was customary for the empress to accompany her imperial husband in +his military expeditions about the Empire. Apart from other +considerations, this was necessary to her safety and that of her +offspring. Conspirators are apt to perpetrate their designs in the +absence of the ruler against whom they are plotting; and in that case, +the legitimate successor, with his protectors--if within reach--is the +first victim of the ambition or precaution of his father's enemies. +Consequently, it was usual for the emperors to take their families with +them even in the most distant journeys. The advantage of this was +illustrated in the death of Valentinian. He had marched against the +Quadi who were vexing the frontier on the bank of the Danube. In his +customary cruel manner, he put to death all who fell into his power, +murdering even the women and children. The desperate people sent envoys +begging for peace and forgiveness, but Valentinian broke out upon them +in one of those paroxysms of rage to which he was subject, and, in the +midst of his terrible invectives, ruptured a blood vessel in his lungs, +which caused his death upon the spot. + +At the moment, Justina was occupying a palace at a short distance from +Bregetio, where the death of her husband occurred. Gratian, the son of +Severa, had already been invested by his father with the imperial +purple; but the court ministers, inspired probably with the thought of +those advantages which such men enjoy during the reign of an infant, +immediately planned to exalt to the throne of Valentinian the latter's +four-year-old son, who bore the same name. Justina was sent for and +placed by the ministers on a regal platform facing the troops. She held +her young son in her arms; and the picture of a beautiful woman, endowed +both with the fruit and the graces of motherhood, had its never failing +effect of stirring the soldiers to an outburst of chivalric enthusiasm. +The infant was there and then invested with the purple and the insignia +of empire, which, it may be added, he never wore with greater effect +than in the hour when his puny infant form was first arrayed in them. +Whatever real influence his name had in the government was wielded by +Justina. But Gratian was emperor. He it was who commanded the army and +ruled the Empire, while Justina held court and engaged in petty domestic +politics at Milan and Sirmium. One thing is certain and is remarkable +enough to be mentioned--the two empress-mothers, Severa and Justina, +lived as co-widows in that mutual harmony which Socrates would have us +believe characterized them as co-wives. + +Perhaps the principal event of the life of Justina was her controversy +with Saint Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, who was one of the noblest men of +the ancient Church, and who, by his courage and integrity, set an +example for all succeeding bishops. Contemning the pomps and vanities of +the world, he did not disdain to use the powers of his office for the +political advantage of either the Church or the state; so, when Maximus +usurped the imperial privilege in the Gallic provinces, Ambrose was sent +as an ambassador by Justina to beg the clemency of the new emperor for +herself and her son. Maximus reigned in the far West, while at his +sufferance Valentinian II. was emperor in Italy. + +While this young emperor--who died at the age of twenty-one--reigned, +his mother ruled. Justina, however, appears to have been an easy-going +woman. She does not seem to have been possessed of much ambition, and +there is no indication that she interfered very strenuously in the +affairs of the Empire. She found herself in the position which she +occupied, and endeavored to preserve herself and her son in safety. +Tolerance was marked in all that she did, and there was a very evident +willingness to leave others unmolested, provided she and her son were +allowed to maintain their position in security. Of course, while they +retained the names of empress-mother and emperor, their real power was +but slight. Valentinian II. was never more than a boy, and Justina +possessed no military command. Nevertheless, it does seem as if she were +endowed with some real ability, or she could not have maintained herself +in comparative security during seventeen years of such troublous and +changeful times. + +Justina's controversy with Saint Ambrose seems to have been the one +point on which she had serious difficulty with her subjects, and this +appears to have affected only the people of Milan. Gibbon, in his +inimitable manner, thus describes the incident: "The government of Italy +and of the young emperor naturally devolved to his mother Justina, a +woman of beauty and spirit, but who, in the midst of an orthodox people, +had the misfortune of professing the Arian heresy, which she endeavored +to instil into the mind of her son. Justina was persuaded that a Roman +emperor might claim, in his own dominions, the public exercise of his +religion; and she proposed to the archbishop, as a moderate and +reasonable concession, that he should resign the use of a single church, +either in the city or suburbs of Milan. But the conduct of Ambrose was +governed by very different principles. The palaces of earth might indeed +belong to Cæsar, but the churches were the houses of God; and, within +the limits of his diocese, he himself, as the lawful successor of the +apostles, was the only minister of God. The privileges of Christianity, +temporal as well as spiritual, were confined to the true believers; and +the mind of Ambrose was satisfied that his own theological opinions were +the standard of truth and orthodoxy. The archbishop, who refused to hold +any conference or negotiation with the instruments of Satan, declared +with modest firmness his resolution to die a martyr rather than to yield +to the impious sacrilege; and Justina, who resented the refusal as an +act of insolence and rebellion, hastily determined to exert the imperial +prerogative of her son." + +Under ordinary circumstances, in a like situation, it is very probable +that the bishop's reiterated desire for martyrdom would have been +gratified. But Ambrose was secure, owing to the intense orthodoxy of all +Justina's subjects. In an attack on religion, there was no one to carry +out her commands. "As she desired to perform her public devotions on the +approaching festival of Easter, Ambrose was ordered to appear before the +council. He obeyed the summons with the respect of a faithful subject, +but he was followed, without his consent, by an innumerable people: they +pressed, with impetuous zeal, against the gates of the palace; and the +affrighted ministers of Valentinian, instead of pronouncing a sentence +of exile on the archbishop of Milan, humbly requested that he would +interpose his authority, to protect the person of the emperor, and to +restore the tranquillity of the capital." + +In the end the bishop prevailed. There are extant certain letters +written by the saint to his sister, Marcellina, in which he describes +the circumstances of this dispute with Justina. He recounts how soldiers +were sent to occupy the church which the empress desired for her own +heretical use, and how they fraternized with the Catholic people who +refused to give up the sacred building. The bishop asserts that in the +midst of all this tumult and public inharmony, he gave utterance only to +"freer groans." But there is evidence in bis own letters that Ambrose +took a more active and also a more effective course than mere pious +groaning; indeed, he showed a remarkable boldness of decision, as well +as astuteness, in his political methods. He met the occasion with a +sermon on the trials of Job, which could hardly have aroused pleasant +reflections in the mind of Justina. "But Job was tried by accumulated +tidings of evils, he was also tried by his wife, who said, 'Speak a word +against God and die.' You see what terrible things are of a sudden +stirred up, the Goths, armed men, the heathen.... You observe what was +commanded when the order was given: 'Surrender the Basilica!' that is, +speak a word against God and die.... So, then, we are prepared by the +imperial commands, but are strengthened by the words of Scripture, which +replies: 'Thou hast spoken as one of the foolish.' That temptation then +is no light one, for we know that those temptations are more severe +which arise through women. For even Adam was overthrown by Eve, whereby +it came to pass that he erred from the divine commandments.... Why +should I relate that Jezebel, also, persecuted Elijah after a +bloodthirsty fashion? Or that Herodias caused John the Baptist to be +slain?... Of women change follows on change, their hatreds alternate, +their falsehoods vary, elders assemble together, wrong done to the +emperor is made a pretence." + +This homiletic punishment of the empress by the intrepid saint was +opportunely followed by the discovery of certain holy and potent relics. +By means of these, the sick were healed and the blind restored, and thus +the people were convinced that God was on their side. The empress +derided these marvels with an incredulity which would do credit to the +present time; but she was compelled to take the wise counsel of +Theodosius and surrender her purpose. She took her revenge, however, by +publishing a decree that the Arian worship should be lawful throughout +the dominions of her son, Valentinian II. + +During this time, Maximus, the usurper of Gaul, had acted toward the +empress and her feeble son with apparent friendliness; but he had not in +reality set bounds to the range of his ambition. In 377, his first +hostile operations commenced. Justina was not prepared for warfare. She +fled with the emperor and her daughter, Galla, to Theodosius, the great +ruler of the East, who first married Galla, and then took up +successfully the cause of her mother and her brother. Of this marriage +was born Placidia whose strange adventures we shall shortly relate. It +is probable that Justina died during the war waged by Theodosius against +Maximus. Of her character nothing derogatory is recorded with the +exception of her heresy. It is hardly remarkable that, in an +ecclesiastical dispute, she should be unable to cope with the man who, +later, had the strength and the courage to close the door of the +cathedral in the face of the great Theodosius, after his crime at +Thessalonica. + +Events so moved that, by the year 394, Theodosius had become the sole +ruler of the Empire; but four months later he died at Milan, leaving the +dominion of the East and the West to his sons Arcadius and Honorius +respectively. Honorius was of a weakly constitution, and too young to +take part in public matters. Flavius Stilicho, a Vandal, and the ablest +man both in court and in camp that those times produced, defended the +Empire in the attacks of the barbarians who poured over the Danube and +over the Rhine. + +Stilicho had married the beautiful and accomplished Serena, the favorite +niece of Theodosius. Claudian, in a poem devoted to the praise of +Serena, has portrayed her excellences of mind and person as being of the +most attractive quality. To her devotion to her husband the modern +historian pays this tribute: "The arts of calumny might have been +successful, if the tender and vigilant Serena had not protected her +husband against his domestic foes, while he vanquished in the field the +enemies of the empire." + +The daughter of Serena, whose name was Maria, was made the wife of +Honorius when that emperor was in his fourteenth year. Claudian wrote an +epithalamium and some fescennine verses for the occasion, after the +ancient manner; nothing else of this kind could ever have been quite so +ridiculously conventional, for, on the authority of Zosimus, we learn +that Maria died a virgin after she had been ten years a wife. The +debility of her husband's constitution rendered the continence, which +the ecclesiastic of that time so greatly admired, uncommonly easy. +Honorius sat on the Roman throne through a period of twenty-eight years, +with little more influence or effect upon the history of his time than +would have been exerted if his place had been filled by a wooden image. + +In the meantime, those commotions had taken place in the interior of +Asia which were to result in the flooding and overthrowing of the Roman +Empire by hordes of migrating barbarians. The most formidable of these +were the Huns, a Mongol race which had roamed the steppes from time +immemorial. The Huns were the more terrible because of their extreme +ugliness. Their appearance was a fearful visitation for the women of the +civilized nations which they overran. These hardy and vicious savages +suddenly swarmed out from their own country, and, driving the Ostrogoths +before them, with devastating persistence rolled, a human wave, to the +westward. The Goths were between "the devil and the deep sea." But, +while the Huns were an irresistible force, the Romans were not an +immovable body. Steadily the Goths gained ground westward with the Huns +surging after them. Rome was doomed. The effeminating arts of +civilization prepared a prey for the necessities of virile barbarism. A +brave ruler like Theodosius, who was not of the enervated Roman race, +might stem the tide for a while; but the disintegration of the Empire +was as inevitable as is that of a pile of lumber when caught in the +flooding of a river. + +In the year 402, Alaric the Goth for the first time broke into the +Western empire. He carried his conquering arms into Italy, spreading a +pathway of devastation and misery wherever he went. In modern times, it +is impossible to estimate the suffering which an invasion brought upon +the women of that fated country. The old and those deficient in personal +attractions were robbed and, as likely as not, murdered; the young and +the beautiful were outraged and enslaved. All this wretchedness and +more, the barbarians visited upon Rome; but Alaric's first exploit was +ended at Pollentia by the brave generalship of Stilicho, though the +goodwill of the barbarian was purchased by tribute. As soon as this +danger was, for the time, averted, a new and not less fearful invasion +spread over the Empire. Horde after horde of Vandals, Alani, +Burgundians, and Alemannians crossed the frontiers in search of plunder +and adventure. They, too, were held in check by the able minister; but +gratitude for public service rendered is never so potential as is envy +of the high position of the one giving it, and the sole defender of the +Empire fell a victim to political machinations at the precise moment +when the peril of Rome was greatest. + +With Alaric pounding on the gates of the capital, the Romans, with the +consent of Honorius, murdered the only man in the world who had proved +himself the barbarian's match. Nor did they stop with the death of +Stilicho; as Gibbon says: "Perhaps in the person of Serena, the Romans +might have respected the niece of Theodosius, the aunt, nay, even the +adoptive mother of the reigning emperor; but they abhorred the widow of +Stilicho; and they listened with credulous passion to the tale of +calumny which accused her of maintaining a secret and criminal +correspondence with the Gothic invader. Actuated, or overawed, by the +same popular frenzy, the senate, without requiring any evidence of her +guilt, pronounced the sentence of her death. Serena was ignominiously +strangled; and the infatuated multitude were astonished to find that +this cruel act of injustice did not immediately produce the retreat of +the barbarians, and the deliverance of the city." One offence alleged +against Serena was that she had taken a necklace from the statue of +Vesta--it was then the fashion to clothe and adorn the statues, whether +in the interest of modesty or ostentation we cannot say. + +The description which the great student of ancient history just now +quoted gives of the siege which Rome at that time endured is entirely in +keeping with our subject. "That unfortunate city gradually experienced +the distress of scarcity, and at length the horrid calamities of famine. +The daily allowance of three pounds of bread was reduced to one-half, to +one-third, to nothing.... The poorer citizens, who were unable to +purchase the necessaries of life, solicited the precarious charity of +the rich; and for a while the public misery was alleviated by the +humanity of Lasta, the widow of the emperor Gratian, who had fixed her +residence at Rome, and consecrated to the use of the indigent the +princely revenue which she annually received from the grateful +successors of her husband. But these private and temporary donatives +were insufficient to appease the hunger of a numerous people; and the +progress of famine invaded the marble palaces of the senators +themselves. The persons of both sexes, who had been educated in the +enjoyment of ease and luxury, discovered how little is requisite to +supply the demands of nature; and lavished their unavailing treasures of +gold and silver, to obtain the coarse and scanty sustenance which they +would formerly have rejected with disdain." + +The outbreak of a pestilence soon added to the horrors of famine. Rome +again suffered the loss of thousands of her citizens through disease. If +the extent of this calamity was less than during the Great Plague, a +century and a half before, mourning was nevertheless almost universal. +Gibbon says, "many thousands of the inhabitants of Rome expired in their +houses or in the streets, for want of sustenance." But the almost +unending funeral procession of the former period was now lacking, as the +public sepulchres without the walls were within the circle of the +invading horde. + + [Illustration 4: _FAMINE AND PESTILENCE After the painting by A. + Hirschl. + + The outbreak of a pestilence soon added to the horrors of + famine. Rome again suffered the loss of thousands of her + citizens through disease. If the extent of this calamity was + less than during the Great Plague, a century and a half before, + mourning was nevertheless almost universal. Gibbon says, "many + thousands of the inhabitants of Rome expired in their houses or + in the streets, for want of sustenance." But the almost + unending funeral procession of the former period was now + lacking, as the public sepulchres without the walls were within + the circle of the invading horde._] + +There was no relief. When ambassadors pleaded with Alaric for the great +multitude of the people against whom he was contending, his sole reply +was: "The thicker the hay, the easier it is mowed." When he stipulated +the ransom by which alone the city could be saved, and the ministers of +the senate humbly inquired what he purposed to leave to them, he +haughtily replied: "Your lives." The promise of five thousand pounds of +gold, thirty thousand pounds of silver, four thousand robes of silk, +three thousand pieces of fine scarlet cloth, and three thousand pounds +of pepper suspended for a time the vengeance which centuries of +oppression by Rome had accumulated in barbarian hearts. + +The Roman courtiers, however, had neither the wisdom nor the honesty to +keep faith with the enemy whom they could not resist and on whose good +graces depended their safety. The patience of Alaric became exhausted. +He threw off all restraint, determining to take the fate and also the +resources of the Empire into his own hands. The year 410 saw the city, +which had for a millennium been the proud mistress of the world, +captured and at the mercy of the barbaric nations which for so many +centuries had furnished her wealth and slaves. + +The conqueror declared that he waged war with the Romans and not with +the Apostles. Consequently, while he encouraged his soldiers to seize +the opportunity to enrich themselves and enjoy the fruits of victory, he +gave commands that the sanctity of the churches should be observed. The +ecclesiastical writers recount instances of seemingly remarkable +protection vouchsafed to the holy virgins, who were at the mercy of a +licentious soldiery. But there is every evidence that the customary fate +of the conquered in those savage times was abundantly meted out. It is +on record that many Christian women, in order to save themselves from +what they dreaded still more, sought death in the waters of the Tiber. +Others were more fortunate in being able to find protection in flight. +"The most illustrious of these fugitives," says Gibbon, "was the noble +and pious Proba, the widow of the prefect, Petronius. After the death of +her husband, the most powerful subject of Rome, she had remained at the +head of the Anician family, and successively supplied, from her private +fortune, the expense of the consulships of her three sons. When the city +was besieged and taken by the Goths, Proba supported, with Christian +resignation, the loss of immense riches; embarked in a small vessel, +from which she beheld, at sea, the flames of her burning palace, and +fled with her daughter, Læta, and her grand-daughter, the celebrated +virgin, Demetrias, to the coast of Africa. The benevolent profusion with +which the matron distributed the fruits or the price of her estates +contributed to alleviate the misfortunes of exile and captivity. But the +family of Proba herself was not exempt from the rapacious oppression of +Count Heraclian, who basely sold, in matrimonial prostitution, the +noblest maidens of Rome to the lust or avarice of Syrian merchants." + +Alaric died shortly after his conquest, and the sceptre of the Gothic +kingdom passed to the hand of Adolphus, his brother-in-law. The latter +was a brave and able general, and seems to have possessed a nature not +discreditable to the time in which he lived. He proposed--the proposal +had all the effect of a command--a treaty of alliance with Honorius. It +practically amounted to annexation; but the Roman emperor was not in a +position to refuse any proposition which the Goth might see fit to make. +Nor could the Romans prevent Adolphus from strengthening his own +interest, as well as consulting his passion, in taking to wife the +half-sister of Honorius, Placidia, the daughter of Theodosius and Galla. + +Placidia was just ripening into womanhood when Alaric first appeared +before Rome. She was taken as a hostage by the Gothic conqueror, and, +though reduced to the indignity of being a prisoner in a barbarian camp, +was treated with great consideration. Her beauty and her mental gifts +won the regard of Adolphus: and no sooner had he succeeded to the +kingship, than he requested of Honorius her hand. Such an alliance was +repugnant to the Romans, but, as in other matters, the request was only +a polite form of command. Placidia herself does not appear to have been +unwilling to accept the situation, and her nuptials were celebrated in +splendid state. The exploits of his army in Italy had enabled Adolphus +to present his bride with a magnificent wedding gift. The historian +Olympiodorus recounts that fifty handsome boys were employed to carry +this present. They came before her, carrying a bowl in each hand. One +bowl was filled with pieces of gold, the other with precious gems. +Adolphus always manifested a strong and tender affection for his wife; +nor did he ever lose an opportunity to honor her birth, seating her +above himself on state occasions. + +This union, however, was destined to be short-lived. Adolphus was +stricken down by the hand of an assassin; his enemy was seated upon his +throne; and Placidia, being brutally and of purpose made one of a number +of common captives, was compelled to run for twelve miles before the +horse of the barbarian chieftain, the murderer of a husband whom she had +sincerely loved. Possibly it was her sufferings which aroused the +people; however, her persecutor was himself assassinated a few days +after his own murderous act; and Placidia was restored to her brother, +her ransom being six hundred thousand measures of wheat. + +Placidia would have been willing, in accordance with the Christian +teaching of the time, to have lamented the loss of Adolphus in continual +widowhood. But another marriage was arranged for her, without her +consent: she was awarded as a prize to Constantius the general for his +services to Honorius. The results of this marriage were the birth of +Honoria and of Valentinian III., and, probably through the schemes of +Placidia, the promotion of her husband to the title of Augustus. But it +was not long before the princess again found herself a widow; and though +mischievous tongues magnified the caresses of childish affection on the +part of Honorius to signs of a fondness warmer than their kinship would +warrant, a quarrel between these two caused Placidia to go with her +children to Constantinople. + +At the death of Honorius, Valentinian, though no more than six years of +age, was invested with the purple. But his mother was empress; the +policy of the Empire was directed by her; and for twenty-five years she +maintained her power. Gibbon speaks slightingly of her ability; but it +could not have been little, else how did she retain a rule which any +chance military adventurer might be tempted to seize? The historian +refers to Cassiodorus, who compares the regencies of Placidia and +Amalasuntha, to the disadvantage of the former. + +The life of the Roman empress had been filled with more adventures and +changes of fortune than were wont to fall to the lot of woman, even in +those troublous times, but her story is less strange and is certainly +happier than that of her daughter, Honoria. There is in existence a +medal bearing the countenance of Honoria, and it is a fair face; it +bears the inscription Augusta. The young princess was invested with this +honor and rank in order that she might be above the aspirations of any +subject. As early as her sixteenth year, however, she chafed against the +isolation to which she was doomed. Denied legitimate love, she abandoned +herself to an illicit relationship with one of the domestic officers of +the palace, the fact of which was soon revealed by her pregnancy. She +was exiled by her mother to Constantinople, where she spent several +years in close restraint and great unhappiness. Attila the Hun was at +that time the particular barbarian who was harassing the Empire; and +suddenly he announced that he had received the betrothal of the princess +Honoria, and that he claimed her as his bride. Then her astonished +relatives learned that she really had been in correspondence with +Attila, and had besought him to claim her in marriage. It is probable +that a spirit of mischief actuated Honoria in this; for no educated +woman could in reality desire to be joined in marriage with the Hun, +unless it were from motives very different from love. The king had at +first disdained her advances, and was willing to act upon them only when +it suited the policy dictated by his ambition. But Placidia steadfastly +refused to countenance her daughter's procedure; and Honoria, being +first married to a man of mean extraction, in order that the question of +her matrimonial disposal might never again be a source of trouble, was +shut up in a close prison for the rest of her days. It is not unlikely +that her misfortunes arose rather from her position than her character. +That her life with Attila, had she attained her object, would have +proved more desirable than perpetual imprisonment is difficult to +believe. His respect for woman may be estimated from the fact that he +was a polygamist, and also from the fact that he watched his soldiers +amuse themselves with the awful death agonies of two hundred maidens, +whom they tore limb from limb with wild horses and crushed under the +wheels of heavy wagons. + +Placidia died in the year 450. She was buried at Ravenna; and, with some +ambiguity of meaning, it is said that there her corpse, seated in a +chair of cypress wood, was preserved for ages. Her son perished by the +avenging hand of a senator whose wife he had perfidiously violated. He +was the last emperor of the house of Theodosius; and his mother was the +last woman, with a name in history, who was worthy of mention in the +records of the perishing Western Empire. + +With the death of Placidia, we arrive at the end of a cycle in the +evolution of the human race. It was contemporaneous with the terminus of +ancient Aryan civilization--it was during a climacteric in human +history. Again the world was to revert to the rudeness necessarily +accompanying the vigorous strength which characterizes the setting forth +of a new race. The world began again--polished manners and social order +gave place to strenuosity and individualism. The strong hand again +became the one thing needful. Literature was silent, and art was +forgotten. Of the glory of classic civilization there remained only a +memory; and even this grew faint, for the struggle for existence became +exacting. Nevertheless, from all that Rome had done and had been there +remained an imperishable deposit. From the ruins of one civilization +there is gathered the foundations for the succeeding. Rome left, among +other contributions to absolute progress, the idea of nationality and a +belief in the necessity of popular law. In these two respects, woman +shared in the determined progress of the world. The Roman woman +manifested the capacity of her sex to place a steady hand on the helm of +the state; she wrested for herself some of those legal rights to which, +by virtue of her humanity at least, she is indubitably entitled. + + + + +VIII + +WOMEN OF THE FRANKISH CHURCH + + +We may now consider ourselves to have nearly passed the transition +period between the Classic and the Middle Ages, and to have begun to +enter that indefinite range of history known as Mediævalism--indefinite +as to character rather than extent of period. A new world opens to our +view; a world which we examine under the influence of the romanticist +more than under that of the philosopher. In the age to which our +researches have now brought us we find that the life of woman has wholly +changed. Evolution has taken a new beginning. In place of the state as +the symbol and the object of power and progress individualism has come +to the front and asserted itself. There is now more play for personal +initiation on the part of the multitude. The activity of the individual +is more directly attributable to his personal motives and culminates +more fully in his own desires. Consequently, though woman is still held +down to an inferior level, and is hampered by unequal laws, she has more +room in which to assert herself, and she plays a stronger part in +historical events. Practically, though not theoretically, she is still +given in marriage without her consent; but she is no longer regarded as +a mere possession. Her surroundings also have wonderfully changed. In +place of the porticoed villa with its marble floor and beautiful +statuary, its highly decorated atrium and sparkling fountains, she is +now seen in what was the rudiment of the turreted castle with its rough +hall and rush-strewn floor. She has lost the learning by which she was +wont to delight her idle hours with classic poetry and Greek philosophy; +if she can read at all, her accomplishment is a rare one, and the most +powerful stimulus to her imagination is the song of illiterate bards who +recite the heroic achievements of her race. In this she has reverted to +literature in its embryonic condition. Her religion has gained morality, +though emphatically more in theory than in practice, but it has +distinctly lost in poetry. Elegance has disappeared from every phase of +her life. When she rides abroad it is no longer in a splendidly equipped +litter, but, in hardier fashion, upon horseback. While for her to lead +men-at-arms is an extreme rarity, she is far likelier to attain ruling +authority than she was under the refined civilization of older times. +With the Franks, however, supreme rule by a woman, in any direct manner, +was rendered impossible by the ancient Salic law which prescribed that +"no portion of really Salic land (that is to say, in the full +territorial ownership of the head of the family) should pass into the +possession of women, but it should belong altogether to the virile sex." + +To us the early Mediæval life seems more remote and less intelligible +than that of the classic age. We are more at home in the villas of Rome +than in the castles of Charlemagne. This is partly because the +literature of the latter age has not presented such a satisfying picture +as have the immortal productions of the former; but more largely because +the genius of modern civilization has its counterpart in the social +ideas of classic times, rather than in the individualistic motive of +mediævalism. + +The period covered by this chapter extends over four hundred years, from +the end of the fifth century to the tenth. In our selection of +characters from the successive generations during that term, we shall +have an eye to their utility as representing types of the feminine, even +more than to their aptitude for illustrating any special development in +civilized habits. Evolution proceeded slowly in those days, and, +consequently, a century or two did not greatly change social habits. + +Somewhere about the middle of the fifth century, a Frankish chief named +Childeric was driven from his own people by the varying fortunes of war. +He took refuge among the Thuringians, and rewarded their kindness by +seducing Basina, the wife of their king. After his return, she left her +husband and joined her lover, becoming his recognized wife. Childeric's +guilt in this affair is somewhat mitigated by the spirit of Basina, who +declared that she chose the Frank solely because she knew no man who was +wiser, stronger or handsomer, surely a frank admission of natural +sentiment. The offspring of this free union was Clovis, the founder of +the kingdom of the Franks, and the means whereby it became Christian. + +While still a youth, though established in the chieftainship by his +valor in marauding expeditions, Clovis heard of the beauty and the +desirable character of Clotilde, the niece of Gondebaud, King of the +Burgundians. She had been brought up amidst the most barbarous scenes +which those times could produce. Her father and her two brothers had +been put to death by her uncle, who had also caused her mother Agrippina +to be thrown into the Rhone, with a stone fastened to her neck, and +drowned. Clotilde and her sister Chrona, he permitted to live. The +latter had become a nun, while Clotilde, no less religious, was living +at Geneva where, as it is said, she employed her whole time in works of +piety and charity. Clovis sent to Gondebaud asking the hand of his +niece; but it appears that at first his suit was not favorably looked +upon, for the Frank resorted to unusual measures whereby he gained his +end and provided the material for an interesting story. It is told as +follows by Fredegaire in his commentary on the history by Gregory of +Tours: "As he was not allowed to see Clotilde, Clovis charged a certain +Roman, named Aurelian, to use all his wit to come nigh her. Aurelian +repaired alone to the spot, clothed in rags and with his wallet upon his +back, like a mendicant. To ensure confidence in himself, he took with +him the ring of Clovis. On his arrival at Geneva, Clotilde received him +as a pilgrim charitably, and whilst she was washing his feet, Aurelian, +bending toward her, said under his breath, 'Lady, I have great matters +to announce to thee if thou deign to permit me secret revelation.' She +consenting, replied, 'Say on.' 'Clovis, King of the Franks,' said he, +'hath sent me to thee: if it be the will of God, he would fain raise +thee to his high rank by marriage; and that thou mayest be certified +thereof, he sendeth thee this ring.' She accepted this ring with great +joy, and said to Aurelian, 'Take for recompense of thy pains these +hundred sous in gold and this ring of mine. Return promptly to thy lord; +if he would fain unite me to him in marriage, let him send without delay +messengers to demand me of my uncle Gondebaud, and let the messengers +who shall come take me away in haste, so soon as they shall have +obtained permission; if they haste not, I fear lest a certain sage, one +Aridius, may return from Constantinople; and if he arrive beforehand, +all this matter will by his counsel come to naught.'" + +Aurelian returned and told Clovis all that had passed and the +instructions he had received from Clotilde. "Clovis, pleased with his +success and with Clotilde's notion, at once sent a deputation to +Gondebaud to demand his niece in marriage. Gondebaud, not daring to +refuse, and flattered at the idea of making a friend of Clovis, promised +to give her to him. Then the deputation, having offered the denier and +the sou, according to the custom of the Franks, espoused Clotilde in the +name of Clovis, and demanded that she be given up to be married. Without +any delay, the council was assembled at Chalons, and preparations were +made for the nuptials. The Franks, having arrived with all speed, +received her from the hands of Gondebaud, put her into a covered +carriage and escorted her to Clovis, together with much treasure. She, +however, having already learned that Aridius was on his way back, said +to the Frankish lords, 'If ye would take me into the presence of your +lord, let me descend from this carriage, mount me on horseback, and get +you hence as fast as you may; for never in this carriage shall I reach +the presence of your lord.' + +"Aridius, in fact, returned very speedily from Marseilles; and +Gondebaud, on seeing him, said, 'Thou knowest that we have made friends +with the Franks, and that I have given my niece to Clovis to wife.' +'This,' answered Aridius, 'is no bond of friendship, but the beginning +of perpetual strife; thou shouldst have remembered, my lord, that thou +didst slay Clotilde's father, that thou didst drown her mother, and that +thou didst cut off her brothers' heads and cast their bodies into a +well. If Clotilde become powerful, she will avenge the wrongs of her +relatives. Send thou forthwith a troop in chase, and have her brought +back to thee. It will be easier for thee to bear the wrath of one person +than to be perpetually at strife, thyself and thine, with all the +Franks.' And Gondebaud did send forthwith a troop in chase to fetch back +Clotilde with the carriage and all the treasure; but she, on approaching +Villers (where Clovis was waiting for her), in the territory of Troyes, +and before passing the Burgundian frontier, urged them who escorted her +to disperse right and left over a space of twelve leagues in the country +whence she was departing, to plunder and burn; and that having been done +with the permission of Clovis, she cried aloud, 'I thank thee, God +omnipotent, for that I see the commencement of vengeance for my parents +and my brethren!'" + +The kingdom to which Clovis welcomed his queen was not large. It +comprised no more than the island of the Batavians, and the dioceses of +Tournay and Arras. Nevertheless, this marriage was of exceeding +importance in the history of Europe, for by virtue of his qualities +Clovis was destined to go far in conquest, and to establish the +beginning of a great nation; and the question of his conversion, whether +to Arianism or to Catholicism, was fairly certain to be answered by his +matrimonial alliance. The time had come when political wisdom provided +the most effective argument against paganism. + +It was not at once, however, that Clotilde was able to bring about the +conversion of her husband. The most she could accomplish was to gain his +consent, after the birth of their first son, to the baptism of the +latter. The child dying a few days afterward, serious misgivings arose +in the king's mind as to whether he had not been ill advised in +permitting the Christian rite. But Clotilde's second son also was +baptized, and fell sick. Said Clovis: "It cannot be otherwise with him +than with his brother; baptized in the name of your Christ, he is going +to die." The child lived, and thereby Clotilde was placed to better +advantage in attacking her husband's mind with her Christian arguments. +He was brought to the point of decision when, in his battle at Tolbiac +against the Alemannians, the day seeming about to be lost, Aurelian +cried: "My lord king, believe only on the Lord of heaven, whom the +queen, my mistress, preacheth!" Clovis exclaimed: "Christ Jesus, Thou +whom my queen Clotilde calleth the Son of the Living God, I have invoked +my own gods, and they have withdrawn from me; I believe that they have +no power, since they aid not those who call upon them. Thee, very God +and Lord, I invoke; if Thou give me victory over these foes; if I find +in Thee the power the people proclaim of Thee, I will believe on Thee, +and will be baptized in Thy name." The fortune of battle immediately +turned in favor of the Franks. + +On his return home, to make sure that her husband would fulfil his vow +while his gratitude was warm, Clotilde sent for Saint Remi, the holy +Bishop of Rheims, to perfect her own instructions and receive him into +the Church. Clovis was baptized, as were also the majority of his +subjects. To what extent the doctrines of Christianity had taken +possession of his mind may be gathered from the anecdote which recounts +how, after hearing from the bishop's lips the story of the sufferings of +Christ, he shouted: "Had I been present at the head of my valiant +Franks, I would have revenged his injuries!" As Gibbon says: "The savage +conqueror of Gaul was incapable of examining the proofs of a religion +which depended upon the laborious investigation of historic evidence and +speculative theology. He was still more incapable of feeling the mild +influence of the gospel, which persuades and purifies the heart of a +genuine convert. His ambitious reign was a perpetual violation of moral +and Christian duties: his hands were stained with blood in peace as well +as in war." He took part in a synod of the Gallican Church, and +immediately murdered in cold blood all the princes of the Merovingian +race. Into what, a pit the Christianity of those times had fallen may be +understood when we find Gregory of Tours, after calmly reciting the +murders of Clovis, concluding with these words: "For God thus daily +prostrated his enemies under his hands, and enlarged his kingdom, +because he walked before him with an upright heart, and did that which +was pleasing in his sight." Clovis was the only strictly orthodox +sovereign of that day--a day when orthodoxy was permitted to cover a +multitude of sins. + +After making himself sole monarch of the Frankish race, Clovis died in +the year 511, and was buried in the church which had been erected by +Clotilde. The queen survived her husband many years, but did not +exercise any noticeable influence. She could not even save her two +little grandsons from the ambitious cruelty of her sons--Clotaire and +Childebert. These sent a message to Clotilde saying: "Send the children +to us, that we may place them on the throne." Having sent them, there +soon came to her another messenger, bearing a sword and a pair of +shears. Unshorn locks were essential as a mark of the kingly race among +the Franks; the messenger said therefore: "Most glorious queen, thy +sons, our masters, desire to know thy will touching these children; wilt +thou that they live with shorn hair or that they be put to death?" +Clotilde, in her astonishment and despair, answered: "If they be not set +upon the throne, I would rather know that they were dead than shorn." +The messenger hastened back to the two kings and, with fatal and wilful +inaccuracy, said: "Finish ye your work, for the queen favoring your +plans, willeth that ye accomplish them." Forthwith the two children were +murdered in the most cold-blooded fashion. The tale is rendered the more +shocking by the addition of the fact that Guntheuque, the mother of the +lads, had become the wife of that uncle who killed them. + +The Merovingians allowed themselves as much license in love as they did +freedom from restraint in regard to the sterner passions. Nominal +Christians though they were, they felt no compunction of conscience as +to polygamy, when the vagaries of their fancy could be satisfied only by +its practice. Gregory of Tours records how: "King Clotaire I. had to +wife Ingonde, and her only did he love, when she made to him the +following request: 'My lord,' said she, 'hath made of his handmaid what +seemeth to him good; and now, to crown his favors, let my lord deign to +hear what his handmaid demandeth. I pray you be graciously pleased to +find for my sister Aregonde, your slave, a man both capable and rich, so +that I be rather exalted than abased thereby, and be enabled to serve +you still more faithfully.' At these words, Clotaire, who was but too +voluptuously disposed by nature, conceived a fancy for Aregonde, betook +himself to the country house where she dwelt, and united her to him in +marriage. When the union had taken place, he returned to Ingonde, and +said to her, 'I have labored to procure for thee the favor thou didst so +sweetly demand, and, on looking for a man of wealth and capability +worthy to be united to thy sister, I could find none better than myself: +know, therefore, that I have taken her to wife, and I trow that it will +not displease thee.' 'What seemeth good in my master's eyes, that let +him,' replied Ingonde; 'only let thy servant abide still in the king's +grace.'" + +From the above, it is noticeable that a servile manner of speech to +their husbands was customary to the Frankish women of that time. It is +possible that it was little more than an affectation. Doubtless the +women of character and strength then, as ever, were not without means of +holding their own. Chilperic, the King of Soissons, who was a son of +Clotaire, added to the not brief list of his wives--we may give him the +benefit of the doubt as to whether they were +contemporaneous--Galsuinthe, daughter of the King of Spain. Her +attractiveness consisted in no small measure of the wealth she brought +him. But he became enamored of Fredegonde. Galsuinthe could not brook +this, and she offered to willingly relinquish her dowry if he would send +her back to her father. Chilperic adopted a solution of the difficulty +that was more to his mind. The queen was found dead in her bed. She had +been strangled by a slave. Chilperic mourned for a season which was more +remarkable for its brevity than his sorrow was marked by its intensity, +and then took Fredegonde for his wife. This queen exerted an influence +upon the affairs of her time, both political and ecclesiastical. In her +life and character was fully illustrated that strong mixture of +viciousness and affected piety which occasions such a sad commentary on +the Christianity of her time. She was the daughter of peasants, and owed +her rise solely to her beauty and her mental gifts. Her numerous murders +included her stepson, a king, and the Archbishop of Rouen. How much +regard she entertained for her own personal chastity may be judged from +the fact that she took a public oath, with three bishops and four +hundred nobles as her vouchers, that her son was the true offspring of +her husband, Chilperic. Whether the value of this great mass of +testimony consisted in a personal denial of responsibility on the part +of all the men whose position and character might be prejudicial to +Chilperic's paternity is not made clear. And yet, despite all this, the +following pious act is recorded to her: her child was ill; "he was a +little brother, when his elder brother, Chlodebert, was attacked with +the same symptoms. His mother, Fredegonde, seeing him in danger of +death, and touched by tardy repentance, said to the king, 'Long hath +divine mercy borne with our misdeeds; it hath warned us by fevers and +other maladies, and we have not mended our ways, and now we are losing +our sons; now the tears of the poor, the lamentations of widows, and the +sighs of orphans are causing them to perish, and leaving us no hope of +laying by for anyone. We heap up riches and know not for whom. Our +treasures, all laden with plunder and curses, are like to remain without +possessors. Our cellars are they not bursting with wine, and our +granaries with corn? Our coffers were they not full to the brim with +gold and silver and precious stones and necklaces and other imperial +ornaments? And yet that which was our most beautiful possession we are +losing! Come then, if thou wilt, and let us burn all these wicked +lists!' Having thus spoken, and beating her breast, the queen had +brought to her the rolls, which Mark had consigned to her of each of the +cities that belonged to her, and cast them into the fire. Then, turning +again to the king, 'What!' she cried, 'dost thou hesitate? Do thou even +as I; if we lose our dear children, at least we escape everlasting +punishment!'" It may be taken for granted that Fredegonde's "works meet +for repentance" on this occasion have not suffered in the recital by +Gregory of Tours. She may have exhorted her husband to acts of mercy; +nevertheless she planned and saw executed the assassination of +Chilperic, being fearful lest he discover the guilty connection which +had sprung up between herself and an officer of her household. By this +act, she became the sovereign guardian of her infant, and held this +potential position during the last thirteen years of her life. Guizot +thus summarizes her character: "She was a true type of the +strong-willed, artful, and perverse woman in barbarous times; she +started low down in the scale and rose very high without a corresponding +elevation of soul; she was audacious and perfidious, as perfect in +deception as in effrontery, proceeding to atrocities either from cool +calculation or a spirit of revenge, abandoned to all kinds of passion, +and, for gratification of them, shrinking from no sort of crime. +However, she died quietly at Paris in 597 or 598, powerful and dreaded, +and leaving on the throne of Neustria her son, Clotaire II., who, +fifteen years later, was to become sole king of all the Frankish +dominions." + +Contemporaneous with Fredegonde, and exerting a stronger and indeed more +salutary influence upon her age, though scarcely superior in her moral +character, was Brunehaut, Queen of the Franks of Austrasia. She was a +younger sister of Galsuinthe, by the murder of whom the way was opened +to Chilperic's bed and throne for Fredegonde. The King of Austrasia was +Sigebert, brother of Chilperic. Among those fierce Merovingians kinship +of the closest degree had no deterring influence on their passions. In a +war between these two brothers, Sigebert was assassinated in his tent by +the emissaries of Fredegonde. Brunehaut fell into the latter's power, +and only the fact that she managed to make her way into the Cathedral of +Paris, and thus claim right of asylum, saved her life. Thence she was +sent to Rouen, where she met and married a son of Chilperic by a former +wife. This so enraged Fredegonde that she persecuted her stepson until, +in despair, he prevailed on a faithful servant to take his life. In the +meantime, the Austrasians, who had the custody of Brunehaut's infant +son, demanded their queen from Chilperic; she was surrendered to them, +and was instated as queen-guardian of her son. + +Brunehaut was in every sense a born ruler. A princess by birth, she also +possessed a mind that was capable of formulating plans which united her +people with herself in the enjoyment of the fruits of success as well as +in the labor of accomplishment. Faults she had in abundance. As callous +in regard to bloodshed and as loose in her morals as were the barbarians +of her time, she was not without conscience as to the opportunities of +her position, and she labored in many ways for the public good. +Brunehaut came from Spain, where the Visigoths retained much of the +Roman civilization. She endeavored to introduce some of these advantages +into Austrasia, which was peopled by the least cultivated of the Franks; +but, though forcing her reforms by sheer strength of will and intellect, +the result was her expulsion from the land. The history of her rule is +thus epitomized by Guizot: "She clung stoutly to the efficacious +exercise of the royal authority; she took a practical interest in the +public works, highways, bridges, monuments, and the progress of material +civilization; the Roman roads in a short time received and for a long +while kept in Austrasia the name of Brunehaufs Causeways; there used to +be shown, in a forest near Bourges, Brunehaufs castle, Brunehaufs tower +at Etampes, Brunehaufs stone near Tournay, and Brunehaufs fort near +Cahors. In the royal domains, and wheresoever she went, she showed +abundant charity to the poor, and many ages after her death the people +of those districts still spoke of Brunehaufs Alms. She liked and +protected men of letters, rare and mediocre indeed at that time, but the +only beings, such as they were, with the notion of seeking and giving +any kind of intellectual enjoyment; and they in turn took pleasure in +celebrating her name and her deserts. The most renowned of all during +that age, Fortunatus, Bishop of Poitiers, dedicated nearly all his +little poems to two queens: one, Brunehaut, plunging amidst all the +struggles and pleasures of the world; the other, Saint Radegonde, +sometime wife of Clotaire I, who had fled in all haste from a throne to +bury herself at Poitiers, in a convent she had founded there. To +compensate, Brunehaut was detested by the majority of the Austrasian +chiefs, those Leudes, land owners and warriors, whose sturdy and +turbulent independence she was continually fighting against. She +supported against them, with indomitable courage, the royal officers, +the servants of the palace, her agents, and frequently her favorites." + +Brunehaut maintained her power under the reigns of her son and her +grandson in Austrasia, the capital of which was Metz. In 599, however, +she was expelled from this kingdom, and went to that of Burgundy, where +her other grandson, Theodoric II., reigned, having his capital at +Orleans. In a letter written to Theodoric by Gregory the Great, the +latter says: "And this in you among other things is enough to call for +praise and admiration, that in such things as you know that our +daughter, your most excellent grandmother, desires for the love of God, +in these you make haste most earnestly to lend your aid, so that thereby +you may reign both happily here, and in a future life with the angels." +It is evident from this that in Burgundy the veteran queen was not +denied the opportunity to exercise that executive talent of which the +Austrasians had wearied. If the accounts given by Frankish historians +may be relied upon, Brunehaut's influence upon her grandson was not in +all respects calculated to fit him for a life among the angels. They +accuse her of having encouraged him in licentious living, in order that +her own power might not be undermined by the introduction into his court +of a lawful queen. + +There are several letters extant which were written to her by Pope +Gregory. They all, in that polite manner in which Church dignitaries +treat worldly potentates, speak of her virtuous acts and ignore all +mention of her frailties. Brunehaut would be an exceedingly estimable +woman if nothing more of her were known than what is to be gathered from +these epistles. Gregory was a severe moralist, but he allowed his +condemnation of many faults to be silenced by his gratitude for the +piety of the queen in erecting "the Church of Saint Martin in the +suburbs of Augustodunum (Autun), and a monastery for handmaidens of God, +and also a hospital in the same city." There is also a letter to +Thalassia, the first abbess of this convent, ordaining that the property +donated shall never be alienated from her and her successors; also, that +"on the death of an abbess of the aforementioned monastery, no other +shall be ordained by means of any kind of craftiness or secret scheming, +but that such a one as the king of the same province, with the consent +of the nuns, shall have chosen in the fear of God, and provided for the +ordination of." This also is evidence regarding the interior politics of +the nunneries of that time. + +Brunehaut lived a stormy life. Gentleness and modesty, the qualities +most esteemed in feminine character, were the least noticeable in her +nature; they would not have been consonant with either her ambitions or +her methods. She was ever striving with the chieftains of her realm, +endeavoring, with no little success, to force their independence into +submission to regal authority. With the clerics, also, she had her +quarrels. Saint Didier, Bishop of Vienne, was at her instigation +brutally murdered. Saint Columba, even, was visited with her displeasure +because he refused to connive at her faults with the award of his +blessing. In 614, after thirty-nine years of the most strenuous +political life and the most extreme vicissitudes of personal fortune +that ever fell to the lot of any queen, she perished most miserably at +the hands of Clotaire II., the son of her old enemy, Fredegonde. He +caused the venerable queen, now eighty years of age, to be paraded +before the army on the back of a camel; and then, by his order, she was +bound by the hair, one hand, and one foot, to the tail of an unbroken +steed by which she was kicked and dashed to pieces. Thus lived, and thus +died a "Christian" queen who had received high encomiums from one of the +greatest bishops of history. + +It must not be supposed, however, that feminine modesty, faithful love, +and the gentleness which is ever venerated in womankind, were entirely +unknown to that rough and licentious age. What could be more pleasing +than the romantic story of Theodelinda, Queen of the Lombards? In the +year 584, Authari succeeded to that kingdom. He asked in marriage the +beautiful and pious daughter of Garibald, King of the Bavarians. In +order that he might ascertain whether the attractions of this damsel +were in reality equal to their reputation, and also that he might hasten +matters in case he should be satisfied on this point, Authari +impersonated his own ambassador and visited the court of Garibald in +this guise. He there stated that he was the trusted friend of the +Lombard king, and that Authari had charged him to bring back a minute +report of the charm of his expected bride. Theodelinda submitted to the +inspection; and the supposed ambassador, being at once enamored of her +grace and beauty, hailed her as Queen of the Lombards, and requested +that, according to the custom of his people, she present a cup of wine +to him, her first subject. As she did this, he slyly touched her hand +and then his own lips. This familiarity astonished the maiden, but, +advised by her nurse, she said nothing, and Authari, before leaving the +court, succeeded in gaining her affections. As he left to return home, +he revealed his rank to her by saying, as he drove his huge battle-ax +into the trunk of a tree, "Thus strikes the king of the Langobardi." +After his departure, influenced by the Franks, Garibald withdrew his +consent to his daughter's marriage; whereupon Theodelinda took the +matter into her own hands and fled across the Alps to her lover and was +married to him at Verona. Although she was early left a widow, she had +so completely gained the love and the confidence of the Lombards, that +they intrusted her with the privilege of raising to the throne +whomsoever she might favor with her hand in marriage. Her choice fell +upon a handsome Thuringian named Agilulf. He knew not of his fortune +until it was announced to him by the queen herself in this fashion: one +day, as he bent to kiss her hand in faithful homage, she blushingly +said, "You have the right to kiss my cheek, for you are my king!" So +great was Theodelinda's influence over her people that at her request +the whole nation simultaneously became Christian; and in view of that +event, it is no wonder that she was on the most friendly terms with Pope +Gregory the Great, whose letters to her may still be read. Under her +happy reign, the kingdom of Lombardy was strengthened, and its +constitution established. Agilulf died, and his son and successor, +Adelwald, rendering himself obnoxious, was murdered by some of his +subjects; but to make amends to her for this act, the Lombards placed +the husband of her daughter Gerberga on the throne. Boccaccio, by making +Theodelinda the subject of one of his amorous tales, has taken an +unwarranted and reprehensible liberty with a good queen of whom her age +was justly proud. + +It is to these times, also, that the pathetic story of Saint Genevieve +belongs. She was the wife of Count Siegfried of Andernach. He, setting +out against the Moors who were then invading the land, intrusted her to +the care of Golo, his principal servant. This man, having failed in his +repeated attempts on her conjugal faithfulness, accused her of the fault +which he would fain have persuaded her to commit, and procured her +condemnation to death. Her executioners being merciful, spared her life +by having her conveyed far into the recesses of a forest. There she, +with her little daughter, lived for several years in absolute solitude. +They were sheltered by a cave; and a doe, whose tameness was regarded as +a miraculous providence, supplied them with milk. It was no less +regarded as a divine interposition which eventually led Siegfried to the +grotto while following the chase; her innocence being proved, she was +happily reinstated as his wife, and has ever since been honored as a +saint, which doubtless she was. + +Christianity, during the latter half of the first millennium, could show +triumphs of sanctification in personal character; it had its heroes of +morality, but it must be confessed that the conversion of the barbaric +nations was not accompanied with a very signal improvement in their +morals. Milman says: "It is difficult to conceive a more dark and odious +state of society than that of France under her Merovingian kings, the +descendants of Clovis, as described by Gregory of Tours. In the conflict +or coalition of barbarism with Roman Christianity, barbarism has +introduced into Christianity all its ferocity, with none of its +generosity or magnanimity; its energy shows itself in atrocity of +cruelty and even of sensuality. Christianity has given to barbarism +hardly more than its superstition and its hatred of heretics and +unbelievers. Throughout, assassinations, parricides, and fratricides +intermingle with adulteries and rapes.... + +"As to the intercourse of the sexes, wars of conquest where the females +are at the mercy of the victors, especially if female virtue is not in +much respect, would severely try the more rigid morals of the conqueror. +The strength of the Teutonic character, when it had once burst the +bounds of habitual or traditional restraint, might seem to disdain easy +and effeminate vice, and to seek a kind of wild zest in the indulgence +of lust, by mingling it with all other violent passions, rapacity, and +inhumanity. Marriage was a bond contracted and broken on the lightest +occasion. Some of the Merovingian kings took as many wives, either +together or in succession, as suited either their passions or their +politics. Christianity hardly interferes even to interdict incest." +Clotaire and Charibert each married two sisters. The latter was sternly +rebuked by Saint Germanus, but (so the historian informs us) as the king +already had many wives, he bore the rebuke with extreme patience. There +were laws against these irregularities; but, strict as they were in +their terms, they were completely nullified by failure of execution. +These laws, also, are models of the inequality which existed between the +sexes. When punishment for adultery is prescribed, it is always +understood that it refers solely to the wife. The man was burdened by no +legal responsibility in this matter. Free women were not permitted to +marry slaves; to do so reduced them to a position of servitude. This did +not apply to men, excepting such as were too poor to compound the felony +with the abducted slave's owner. The kings were free in this matter. + +Under the Carlovingian dynasty, manners were somewhat less ferocious +than those exhibited by the Merovingian kings; but it was rather the +result of the former being more confident of its security than any +evidence of real improvement in morals. Earnest champion of the Church +as was Charlemagne, and much as he honored religion, the records of his +own private life and those of his family are examples of wholesale +libidinosity such as is rarely equalled in history. + +Five women were united in marriage to the great emperor. The first was +Desirée, the daughter of the Lombard king, whom Pope Stephen so bitterly +opposed. This union, however, was short lived; during one year only did +Desirée hold the wandering affections of the sturdy monarch. He then +took Hildegarde, a Swabian princess; but in the same indifferent manner +he dissolved this connection, being instigated thereto by the +allegations of a servant named Taland, who was enraged at the contempt +with which the queen received his criminal advances. Charlemagne did not +trouble himself to look into the matter; like Cæsar, he held that his +wife should be above suspicion. There is a pleasing story in regard to +Hildegarde who, after her divorce, went to Rome and devoted herself to a +religious life. By her charitable deeds and acts of piety she gained a +great and well deserved name for sanctity. It is said that one day she +met Taland, who was reduced to the life of a blind mendicant. By the +power of her holiness, she restored his sight, and he, filled with +remorse, confessed his crime and brought about a reconciliation between +Hildegarde and the king. No less naive is the legend related of one of +Charlemagne's daughters. His children included several girls, all +beautiful; but for political reasons their father denied them the +privilege of marriage. He considered that if they were united to the +great nobles of the land, it would mean a division and consequent +weakening of the empire. But love laughed at politics. "His secretary, +young Eginhart, became deeply enamored of his daughter Emma, and the +youthful lovers, fearing his anger should he discover their affection, +met only at night. It happened that one night, while Eginhart was in the +princess's apartment, a fall of snow took place. To return across the +palace court must lead to the inevitable discovery by the traces of his +footsteps. The moment called for resolution; woman's wit came to the +assistance of the perplexed lover, and the faithful and prudent Emma, +taking her lover on her back, bore him across the court. The emperor, +who chanced to be gazing from his window, beheld this strange sight by +the clear moonlight, and the next morning sent for the young couple, who +stood before him in the expectation of being sentenced to death, when +the generous father bestowed upon Eginhart his daughter's hand, and the +Odinwald in fief. The tomb of Emma and Eginhart is still to be seen at +Erbach." Another daughter, Bertha, called after her grandmother--the +mother of Charlemagne, carried on a similar intrigue with Engelbert; +and, though not fortunate enough to receive her father's sanction to +marriage, with a gift of land, she became the mother of Nithart, who was +a famous historian of his time. Charlemagne's own character enabled him +to understand, and his justice prompted him to condone those instincts +which his policy would not allow to be satisfied in a lawful and +conventional manner. + + [Illustration 5: _THE LEGEND OF THE ROSES + After the painting by J. Nogales. + + We have seen that, save for the story of Hildegarde, the women + of Charlemagne's family did not present examples of Christian + piety or devotion, but it may be in place here to mention that + Saint Rosalie, the patron saint of Palermo, was of a family said + to have descended from that of Charlemagne. Saint Rosalie, + becoming filled with a spirit of devotion, retired to a grotto + on Mount Pelegrino, where in solitude she passed her time in + prayer and penitence. Of her is told the legend that, + surreptitiously conveying bread concealed in her apron to feed + the hungry, without her father's consent, she was discovered by + him and requested to open her apron, when it was found that the + bread had been changed into magnificent roses._] + +Charlemagne died in 813. From that time until the end of the tenth +century there were no women who can, by the greatest elasticity of which +the term is susceptible, be called Christian, and who, at the same time +were of any note in history. The gloom of the dark ages had not begun to +lift. There was nothing to stimulate the woman of ordinary birth to the +exercise of any powers save the most inferior. The broadening influence +of literature was unknown. Charlemagne encouraged study among his +courtiers; but he could not revive the smouldering embers. During the +succeeding centuries, Greek lore came to be forgotten in the Western +world. The manners, even among the noblest dames, were inconceivably +rude. Every woman, not excepting the daughters of the emperor, worked +with her hands in the common affairs of the household. What the morals +of the time were, we have already seen. Convents sprang up everywhere, +sheltering a great number of women, of both high and low degree. + +They were refuges from the barbarities which accompanied warfare, and, +to a lesser degree, safeguards against the temptation of the world, the +flesh and the devil. The former fanatical enthusiasm for celibacy had +greatly subsided; bishops and priests not infrequently were married, and +even the nunneries gave occasion for lively stories which became +traditional. It was an age when two sisters, Marozia and Theodora, both +prostitutes, could decide the succession to the papal tiara. The former +secured it for her bastard son, and also for her grandson, the infamous +John XII., during whose pontificate, as Gibbon puts it, "the Lateran +palace was turned in a school for prostitution, and his rapes of virgins +and widows deterred the female pilgrims from visiting the tomb of St. +Peter, lest, in the devout act, they should be violated by his +successor." It was an age fitted in all ways to produce such a story as +that of Pope Joan, which, though it was probably not founded on fact, is +a worthy illustration of the moral condition of the rulers of the Church +in that time. + +We have seen that, save for the story of Hildegarde, the women of +Charlemagne's family did not present examples of Christian piety or +devotion, but it may be in place here to mention that Saint Rosalie, the +patron saint of Palermo, was of a family said to have descended from +that of Charlemagne. Saint Rosalie, becoming filled with a spirit of +devotion, retired to a grotto on Mount Pelegrino, where in solitude she +passed her time in prayer and penitence. Miraculous power was ascribed +by the Sicilians to this saint, and of her is told the legend that, +surreptitiously conveying bread concealed in her apron to feed the +hungry, without her father's consent, she was discovered by him and +requested to open her apron, when it was found that the bread had been +changed into magnificent roses. + + + + +PART SECOND + +WOMEN OF THE EASTERN EMPIRE + + + + +IX + +THE EMPRESS EUDOXIA + + +From the story of Christian Womanhood in Old Rome on the Tiber we pass +naturally to the story of Christian Womanhood in that New Rome on the +Bosporus, where Constantine the Great had established an imperial city +which was destined to be the centre of the religious and political life +of the civilized peoples of the East for over a thousand years, and to +keep alive during the Dark Ages the torch of civilization. + +The victories of the Cæsars in the extensive domain Hellenized by +Alexander the Great had been surpassed only by the victories of the +Christ, and in Constantinople the authority of Church and State blended +in one inseparable union and determined the destinies of millions of men +and women in Europe, Asia, and Africa. + +As Greek culture was ever an important factor in the eastern half of the +Roman Empire, the story of the Christian women of the East is but a +continuation of the story of Greek women. Hence, it is our task to +consider how Hellenized womanhood was affected by that new principle +which had entered into the world. + +Christianity, with its emphasis on the affections, naturally appealed to +women, who, says Aristotle, "are creatures of passion, as opposed to +men, who are capable of living by reason." And from the days of Mary, +the Mother of Jesus, the women of antiquity accepted in large numbers +the new teaching. They found that their lives were uplifted by it, their +activities enlarged, their influence among men strengthened. + +The status of woman among Oriental peoples was consequently considerably +changed. The recognition, so slowly won, that women had immortal souls +equalized them with the other sex, and with the permeation of +Christianity into the life of paganism began the real emancipation of +the female sex. Functions beyond those of housewifery and maternity were +conceded to woman. Chrysostom, in a letter to a Roman lady, after +speaking of the division of duties assigned by nature to men and women, +says that the Christian life had extended woman's sphere beyond the +duties of the home, and had given her an important part to perform in +the work and struggles of the Church for the elevation of mankind. Her +chief function, in his opinion, was that of consoler and ministering +angel. Thus woman was acknowledged to have a mission--a view that has +prevailed through all the Christian ages. In the pursuit of this idea, +many of the loveliest and most highly endowed women of ancient times +devoted themselves to the relief of sickness and suffering and extended +the influence of the Church by this exhibition of the spirit of +humanity. + +Christianity was gradually transforming the spirit of the ancient world. +But these earlier centuries of the Christian era were a season of +twilight during which light and darkness mingled. Paganism and +Christianity were waging a silent but determined warfare, and the +latter, by absorbing the best that was in the former, left it but a +hollow shell, the connotation of worldliness and unbelief. The ethical +philosophy of the Greeks and the moral teachings of the Stoics and the +Epicureans had found their logical end in the philosophical doctrines of +Christianity and had prepared the way for the acceptance of the latter. +Christianity continued the idea of conformity to the divine government +of the world taught by the Stoics, and the insistence on friendship and +brotherly love emphasized by the Epicureans, and had given life to these +doctrines by the presentation of a divine example. This evolution of the +highest ethical ideas of the ancients in the nobler spirit of +Christianity had its logical outcome in the prevailing institutions of +the Christian world. Stoicism developed into the asceticism that +appealed so strongly to many consecrated men and women, and Christian +Epicureanism showed itself in the many brotherhoods and sisterhoods +which labored for the betterment of humanity in the care of the sick and +the unfortunate. + +One of the effects of the Stoical idea combined with the new conception +of the mission of woman was the prevalence of celibacy. Many women chose +to devote their time to good works rather than to the cares of family +life. Furthermore, "the horror of unchastity--the desecration of the +body, the temple of the soul--which had taken possession of the age with +a sort of morbid excess led to vows of perpetual virginity." + +This emphasis on the unmarried life was unfortunate for the race, as it +conduced to degeneracy and depopulation; but it produced many examples +of consecrated and devoted women, who have merited the homage bestowed +on them by later ages. + +As regards the relation of the sexes, the greatest contrast lay in the +Christian conception of a purified spiritual love, as compared with the +carnal and sensual love of the pagan peoples. This is illustrated by the +popularity of the celebrated legend of Cyprian and Justina, which was +later versified by the Empress Eudoxia. + +Justina was a young and beautiful maiden of Corinth, who was +passionately loved by a handsome pagan youth, Aglaides. Every effort to +win the maiden's affections, which were given to Christ, proving of no +avail, Aglaides determined to enlist in his cause the powers of +darkness. To this end he engaged the services of a powerful magician, +Cyprian by name, who was versed in all the magic lore of the Chaldeans +and the Egyptians. The wizard's art devised every form of temptation, +but the demons who were called up to accomplish the maiden's ruin fled +at the sign of the Cross which she made; and Justina emerged from the +ordeal pure and spotless, untainted by all the arts of the Evil One. +Cyprian, overcome by the beauty and innocence and unbounded faith of the +maiden, was himself inspired with the purest and most intense love for +Justina, and, renouncing all his arts, was converted to Christianity. +The devoted pair suffered martyrdom in the persecutions of Diocletian. + +Such Christian ideals, opposing all that was basest in paganism, +naturally developed a new and an exceedingly high type of womanhood. Of +the women of the provinces we know almost nothing, for the records of +the Eastern Empire centre about the capital city. We may be sure, +however, that throughout the Orient Christian womanhood exhibited its +characteristic traits of piety and unselfishness. In Constantinople, +though an intensely religious city, paganism for centuries continued to +exert a marked influence, and the type of woman there varied in +accordance with the proportions of the two ingredients--Christianity and +paganism--in the mental and spiritual aggregate of the individual woman. +Some, to avoid the vanities and temptations of the world, lived lives of +retirement in secluded monasteries; others, often of prominent social +position, partook not of the gay life of the city, but gave themselves +up to good works, ministering to the sick, providing for the poor, +uplifting the fallen; while others, chiefly in the court circles, knew +how to combine with their devotion to all the vanities and frivolities +of high life a strict attention to the external duties of Christianity. +The religious sisters of the day were an important factor in the society +of Constantinople, and the exercise of their spiritual duties often +brought them before the public in a manner inconsistent with the +prevailing ideas of female retirement. A popular priest or bishop became +the target of admiration on the part of enthusiastic women, who would +gather about him and espouse his cause in a way that was often more +embarrassing than helpful. As Jerome in Old Rome, so Chrysostom in New +Rome was the centre of such a spiritual circle. + +These various types of Christian womanhood present themselves in the +reign of Arcadius, the first independent emperor of the Eastern Empire +so called, and we are indebted to the sermons of the patriarch +Chrysostom for many glimpses into their lives. Far more than in Old Rome +the influence of women made itself felt in the government at +Constantinople, and under almost every dynasty and throughout the +centuries of its existence we find remarkable ladies of the imperial +house playing a prominent part in politics as well as in religion. + +The keynote of this new departure was struck by Eudoxia, empress of +Arcadius, and the influence of her personality and her example upon her +successors was marked. Hence, her career and that of the women of her +time constitute the initial stage in the prominence of Christian women +of the East. + +Owing to the intellectual weakness of Arcadius, who inherited the +eastern half of the Empire upon the death of Theodosius the Great in +395, the administration really fell into the hands of his minister, +Rufinus, a vicious and avaricious man. Having the entire control of the +army and an unbounded influence over the emperor, Rufinus cherished the +hope that he might himself become a wearer of the purple as the +colleague of Arcadius. To facilitate this end he fostered the scheme of +uniting Arcadius in marriage to his only daughter; once the emperor's +father-in-law, it would be but a step further to become a sharer of the +purple. + +While Rufinus, in secret with his confidants, nurtured this idea, the +wily head of the opposite party of the court, getting an inkling of it, +set everything in motion to turn the eyes of the inexperienced youth +toward another maiden. The eunuch Eutropius, the grand chamberlain of +the palace, a bold old man with Oriental craftiness, determined that to +himself, and not to Rufinus, should the emperor be bound. Hence, while +the old warrior was on a journey to Corinth avenging a private injury, +Eutropius fixed the attention of the emperor upon Eudoxia, a maiden of +singular beauty, the daughter of Bauto, a distinguished Frankish +general, and reared since her father's death by the family of the sons +of Promotus, an ancient Roman patrician. Eudoxia was at that time at the +dawn of perfect womanhood. Her education had been received under the +auspices of her rich and noble patrons, and in native gifts, as well as +in beauty, she seemed destined by the Fates to be the consort of an +emperor. Eutropius, by showing him her portrait and by glowing +descriptions of her charms, inflamed the heart of the young ruler with +his first passion, and he entered eagerly into the plans of Eutropius to +make Eudoxia his wife. + +Rufinus meanwhile returned, and prepared the ceremonies of the royal +nuptials, as he fancied, of his daughter. "A splendid train of eunuchs +and officers issued, in hymeneal pomp, from the gates of the palace, +bearing aloft the diadem, the robes and the inestimable ornaments of the +future empress. The solemn procession passed through the streets of the +city, which were adorned with garlands and filled with spectators; but +when it reached the house of the sons of Promotus, the principal eunuch +(Eutropius) respectfully entered the mansion, invested the fair Eudoxia +with the imperial robes and conducted her in triumph to the palace and +bed of Arcadius." The particulars of the ceremony show that the hymeneal +rites of the ancient Greeks, in which the bride was, as it were, +forcibly conducted to the house of her husband, were still practised, +though without idolatry, by the early Christians. + +The secrecy and success of the conspiracy brought great chagrin to the +overconfident Rufinus. He felt keenly the insult to himself and his +daughter, and he feared the growing power of Eutropius and the new +empress. Yet he merely tightened his grip upon the government and +continued to be a formidable factor in the intrigues of the palace. + +The Empress Eudoxia rapidly adapted herself to her new life and +displayed a superiority of sense and spirit which enabled her to +maintain over her fond and youthful husband the ascendancy that her +beauty had at first created. She soon made it evident that she would be +under the control of no intriguing courtier, but that she herself would +be a dominant factor in the life of the court. Rufinus continued his +plots against the throne of Arcadius, but was constantly thwarted by the +empress, assisted by Eutropius, and their counterplays finally brought +about the minister's assassination. + +After the murder of Rufinus, the empress endeavored to hold the balance +of power between the three political parties of the day--the German +party, headed by Gainas the Goth, which largely embraced the military +forces of the Empire; the party of Eutropius, who had under his control +the civil officers of the state; and the senatorial party, under the +leadership of the prefect Aurelian, who abhorred alike the growing +influence of the Goths and the bed-chamber administration of Eutropius. +Eudoxia naturally inclined to the third of these parties: she +strenuously opposed the Germans, who, under the leadership of Gainas, +demanded freedom for Arian worship, and she sought to overcome the +influence of her quondam benefactor Eutropius, that she herself might +have absolute dominion over her imperial husband. Hence, these three, +the empress, Eutropius, and Gainas, as Hodgkin remarks, "kept up a vivid +game of court intrigue and disputed with varying success for the chief +place in that empty chamber which represented the mind of the emperor." + +Eudoxia first combined with Gainas to get rid of their powerful rival +Eutropius, though she owed her own position to the machinations of the +wily chamberlain. Gainas instigated a revolt among the Ostrogoths under +their commander Tribigild, and when sent out against them he took no +active measures to suppress their incursions; the Goths, at the +instigation of Gainas, finally sent word to the emperor demanding the +death of Eutropius as the condition of their retiring. Eudoxia, from the +palace, joined in the demand and presenting her infant children, +Flacilla and Pulcheria, to their father, with a flood of forced tears, +implored his justice for some real or imaginary insult which she +attributed to the audacious eunuch. The tears of the empress succeeded +where the demand of Tribigild had only caused hesitation, and Arcadius +signed the death warrant of his favorite. The people rejoiced at the +downfall of the minister, whose venality and injustice had aroused the +public hatred. Eutropius fled for refuge to the Church of Saint Sophia, +where he was protected by the patriarch Chrysostom. So good an +opportunity, however, for impressing the lesson of the fatuity of human +greatness was not to be lost, and while the cowering chamberlain lay in +humiliation before the altar, Chrysostom preached to a crowded +congregation from the text: "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity," +illustrating every argument of his sermon by pointing to the fallen +Eutropius--yesterday prime minister of the emperor--to-day a hounded +criminal. Chrysostom finally gave him up on condition that he be not put +to death, and Eutropius was banished to Cyprus; but the empress and his +enemies would not be satisfied with anything less than his death, and he +was later recalled and executed at Chalcedon in A. D. 399. + +Not long afterward, Gainas met with a like evil destiny, and Eudoxia was +left without a rival to dispute her control over the emperor. The weak +Arcadius was permitted to spend the remaining years of his life in ease +and tranquillity under her mild but absolute control. Henceforth the +empress was the most conspicuous figure of the court. Possessing +limitless power, it was natural that she should become haughty and +rapacious. Endowed with rare beauty and remarkable cleverness, she gave +the tone to the court society of Arcadius's reign. Unfortunately, she +was fond of all the frivolities of life, and sought at the same time to +promote worldliness and religion. Hence, her influence on the ladies of +the court was such as to bring upon her the censure of the austere +Patriarch of Constantinople, Chrysostom, to whom we are indebted for +many glimpses into the life and manners of the fifth century. + +The empress was surrounded in the royal palace by a splendor which +rivalled that of Persia. Oriental richness and luxury characterized all +its appointments. We find exhibited in the court life of the day a +blending of the voluptuousness of the East with the refinement of the +Greeks and the luxury of the Romans. Thousands of eunuchs, parasites and +slaves, carried out the wishes of the empress. In her royal apartments +"the doors were of ivory, the ceilings lined with gold, the floors +inlaid with mosaics, or strewed with rich carpets; the walls of the +halls and bedrooms were of marble, and wherever commoner stone was used +the surface was beautified with gold plate. The beds were of ivory or +solid silver, or, if on a less expensive scale, of wood plated with +silver or gold. Chairs and stools were usually of ivory, and the most +homely vessels were often made of the most costly metal; the +semicircular tables or sigmas were so heavy that two youths could hardly +lift one. Oriental cooks were employed; and at banquets the atmosphere +was heavy with the perfumes of the East, while the harps and pipes of +the musicians delighted the ears of the feasters." + +Equal attention was paid to the details of dress. The empress was +renowned for the gorgeousness of her toilets, which enhanced her +personal charms and made her appear the most fascinating lady of her +court. Her imperial robes were of the richest character, consisting of +purple fabrics, embellished with gold and precious gems. + +Such was the external splendor of the court. The Bishop Synesius +censures the elaborate court etiquette which surrounded the emperor and +empress, keeping them from the knowledge of outside affairs and making +them the victims of eunuchs and courtiers. He criticises severely the +sensual retirement in which they lived and attributes it to the desire +to appear semi-divine. + +Some idea of the importance of the empress in affairs of state and of +the court etiquette which attended an audience with her can be gained +from the extant narrative of Marcus the deacon, who recounts incidents +in the visit of Porphyrius, Bishop of Gaza, when he and others came to +Constantinople to seek redress from the emperor for injuries inflicted +by the heathen on the Christians in Palestine. Knowing that the empress +was the real power, the bishop appealed to her, and the narrative tells +of his audiences with her and how she obtained for him a favorable +answer to his petition. As nothing is more effective in conveying an +idea of the ways and manners of an age than the actual words of a +contemporary writer, I present a rather free translation of Marcus's +narrative. + +Upon their arrival at Byzantium, the bishop and his party were honorably +received by the Patriarch John Chrysostom, who expressed regret that he +could not in person present them to the emperor, because of the royal +indignation the empress had excited against him. But he secured the +services of the eunuch Amantius, chamberlain of the empress, who +arranged for them an audience with Eudoxia. + +Amantius took the two bishops and introduced them to the empress, and +when she saw them she saluted them first and said: "Give me your +blessing, fathers," and they did obeisance to her. Now she was sitting +on a golden sofa, and she said to them: "Excuse me, priests of Christ, +on account of my situation, for I was anxious to meet your sanctity in +the antechamber. But pray God in my behalf that I may be delivered +happily of the child which is in my womb." And the bishops, wondering at +her condescension, said: "May He who blessed the womb of Sarah and +Rebecca and Elizabeth, bless and quicken the child in thine." After +further edifying conversation she said to them: "I know why ye came, as +the castrensis Amantius explained it to me. But if you are fain to +instruct me, fathers, I am at your service." Thus bidden, they told her +all about the idolaters, and the impious rites which they fearlessly +practised and their oppression of the Christians, whom they did not +allow to perform a public duty, nor to till their lands, "from which +produce they pay the dues to your imperial sovereignty." And the empress +said: "Do not despond; for I trust in the Lord Christ, the Son of God, +that I shall persuade the emperor to do those things that are due to +your saintly faith and to dismiss you hence well treated. Depart, then, +to your privacy, for you are fatigued, and pray God to cooperate with my +request." She then commanded money to be brought, and gave three darics +apiece to the most holy bishops, saying: "In the meantime take this for +your expenses." And the bishops took the money, and blessed her +abundantly, and departed. And when they went out they gave the greater +part of the money to the deacons who were standing at the door, +reserving little for themselves. + +And when the emperor came into the apartment of the empress, she told +him all touching the bishops, and requested him that the heathen temples +of Gaza should be thrown down. But the emperor was put out when he heard +it, and said: + +"I know that city is devoted to idols, but it is loyally disposed in the +matters of taxation and pays a large sum to the revenue. If then we +overwhelm them with terrors of a sudden, they will betake themselves to +flight, and we shall lose so much of the revenue. But if it must be, let +us afflict them partially, depriving idolaters of their dignities and +other public offices, and bid their temples be shut up and be used no +longer. For when they are afflicted and straitened on all sides, they +will recognize the truth; but an extreme measure coming suddenly is hard +on subjects." The empress was very much vexed at this reply, for she was +ardent in matters of faith, but she merely said: "The Lord can assist +his servants, the Christians, whether we consent or decline." + +We learned these details from the chamberlain Amantius. On the morrow +the Augusta sent for us, and having first saluted the holy bishops +according to her custom, she bade them sit down. And after a long +spiritual talk, she said: "I spoke to the emperor, and he was rather put +out. But do not despond, for, God willing, I cannot cease until ye be +satisfied and depart, having succeeded in your holy purpose." And the +bishops made obeisance. Then the saintly Porphynus, pricked by the +spirit, and recollecting the word of the thrice-blessed anchoret +Procopius, said to the empress: "Exert yourself for the sake of Christ, +and in recompense for your exertions he can bestow on you a son whose +life and reign you will see and enjoy for many years." + +At these words the empress was filled with joy, and her face flushed, +and new beauty beyond that which she already had passed into her face; +for the appearance shows what passes within. And she said: "Pray, +fathers, that, according to your word, with the will of God, I may bear +a male child, and if it so befall, I promise you to do all that ye ask. +And another thing, for which ye ask not, I intend to do with the consent +of Christ; I will found a church at Gaza in the centre of the city. +Depart then in peace, and rest quiet, praying constantly for my happy +delivery; for the time of my confinement is near." The bishops commended +her to God and left the palace, and prayer was made that she should bear +a male child; for we believed in the words of Saint Procopius the +anchoret. + +And every day we used to proceed to the most holy Johannes, the +archbishop, and had the fruition of his holy words, sweeter than honey +and the honeycomb. And Amantius the chamberlain used to come to us, +sometimes bearing messages from the empress, at other times merely to +pay a visit. And after a few days the empress brought forth a male +child, and he was called Theodosius, after his grandfather Theodosius, +the Spaniard, who reigned together with Gratian. And the child +Theodosius was born in the purple, wherefore he was proclaimed emperor +at his birth. And there was great joy in the city, and men were sent to +the cities of the Empire, bearing the good news, with gifts and +bounties. + +But the empress, who had only just been delivered and arisen from her +chair of confinement, sent Amantius to us with this message: "I thank +Christ that God bestowed on me a son on account of your holy prayers. +Pray then, fathers, for his life and for my lowly self, in order that I +may fulfil those things which I promised you, Christ himself again +consenting, through your holy prayers." And when the seven days of her +confinement were fulfilled, she sent for us and met us at the door of +the chamber, carrying in her arms the infant in a purple robe. And she +inclined her head and said: "Draw nigh, fathers, unto me and the child +which the Lord granted to me through your holy prayers." And she gave +them the child that they might seal it with God's signet. And the holy +bishops sealed both her and the child with the seal of the cross, and, +offering a prayer, sat down. And when they had spoken many words full of +heart pricking, the lady said to them: "Do ye know, fathers, what I +resolved to do in regard to your affairs?" (Here Porphyrius related a +dream which he had dreamed the night before: then Eudoxia resumed:) "If +Christ permit, the child will be privileged to receive the holy baptism +in a few days. Do ye then depart and compose a petition and insert in it +all the requests ye wish to make. And when the child comes forth from +the holy baptismal rite, give the petition to him who holds the child in +his arms; but I will instruct him what to do. And I trust in the Son of +God that He can arrange the whole matter according to the will of His +loving kindness." Having received these instructions we blessed her and +the infant and went out. Then we composed the petition, inserting many +things in the document, not only as to the overthrow of the idols, but +also that privileges and revenues should be granted to the holy Church +and the Christians; for the holy Church was poor. + +The days ran by, and the day on which the young emperor was to be +illuminated (_i. e._, baptized) arrived. And all the city was crowned +with garlands and decked out in garments entirely made of silk and gold +jewels and all kinds of ornaments, so that no one could describe the +adornment of the city. One might behold the inhabitants, multitudinous +as the waves, arrayed in all manner of various dresses. But it is beyond +my power to describe the brilliance of that pomp; it is a task for those +who are practised writers, and I shall proceed to my present true +history. When the young Theodosius was baptized and came forth from the +church to the palace, you might behold the excellence of the multitude +of the magnates and their dazzling raiments, for all were dressed in +white, and you would have thought they were covered with snow. The +patricians headed the procession with the illustres and all other ranks, +and the military contingents, all carrying wax candles, so that the +stars seemed to shine on earth. And close to the infant, which was +carried in arms, was the emperor Arcadius himself, his face cheerful and +more radiant than the purple robe he was wearing, and one of the +magnates carried the infant in brilliant apparel. And we marvelled, +beholding such glory. Then the holy Porphyrius said to us: "If the +things which vanish possess such glory, how much more glorious are the +things celestial, prepared for the elect, which neither eye hath beheld +nor ear heard, nor hath it come into the heart of man to consider!" + +And we stood at the portal of the church, with the document of our +petition, and when he came forth from the baptism we called aloud, +saying, "We petition your Piety," and held out the paper. And he who +carried the child seeing this, and knowing our concernment, for the +empress had instructed him, and when he received it halted, and he +commanded silence, and having unrolled a part he read it, and folding it +up, placed his hand under the head of the child, and cried out: "His +majesty has ordered the requests contained in the petition to be +ratified." And all having seen did obeisance to the emperor, +congratulating him that he had the privilege of seeing his son as +emperor in his lifetime; and he rejoiced thereat. And that which had +happened for the sake of her son was announced to the empress, and she +rejoiced and thanked God on her knees. And when the child entered the +palace, she met it and received it and kissed it, and, holding it in her +arms, greeted the emperor, saying: "You are blessed, my lord, for the +things which your eyes have beheld in your lifetime." And the emperor +rejoiced thereat. And the empress, seeing him in good humor, said: +"Please let us learn what the petition contains that its contents may be +fulfilled." + +And the emperor ordered the paper to be read; and when it was read, he +said: "The request is hard, but to refuse it is harder, since it is the +first mandate of our son." Thus the petition was granted, and the +empress herself saw to it that all its provisions were fulfilled; and +the bishops returned to Palestine well supplied with funds, having +obtained all they desired by working on the superstition of the empress, +and through her skill in managing the emperor. + +The narrative is highly instructive and interesting in the picture it +gives of the empress, her outward piety, her joy at the birth of a son, +her superstitious acceptance of the prophecy of the anchoret, and her +cleverness in the ruse she devised to win the consent of the emperor. It +is an altogether pleasing picture of a religious queen and a devoted +mother, and we could wish that all her conduct had conformed to these +high ideals. The worldly side of Eudoxia's character appeared in the +open war between the empress and the patriarch, which disturbed the +later years of the reign of Arcadius. + +John Chrysostom was an austere and eloquent prelate, who had studied the +art of rhetoric under Libanius and had been brought by Eutropius to +Constantinople from Antioch, where he had already achieved great +popularity and an enviable reputation for holiness and eloquence. He was +a man of saintly life and apostolic fervor, but rash and inconsiderate +alike in speech and in action. His charity and eloquence made him the +idol of the people, but his free speaking offended the court circles, +and his austere manners and autocratic methods made him disliked by the +clergy. He thundered against the degeneracy of the wealthy classes and +enlarged on the peculiar vices of the aristocrats, to the confusion of +the empress and her court ladies and to the delight of the populace. + +The worldliness and carnal ambitions of Eudoxia can be judged from the +sermons of Chrysostom; and she naturally gave the tone to the ladies of +her court. She was not above suspicion of criminal intrigues, as can be +inferred from the fact of the rumor prevailing that Count John, a +nobleman of the court, was the father of her son Theodosius; but whether +this was merely a court scandal cannot at this day be ascertained. With +the empress given to worldly vanity, we can imagine the nature of the +society over which she presided. "One curious trait of manner indicates +clearly enough the tone of the court. It was the custom of Christian +ladies to wear veils or bands over their foreheads, so as to conceal +their hair. Women of meretricious life were distinguished by the way +they wore their hair cut and combed over their brows, just like modern +fringes. The ladies of Eudoxia's court were so immodest, and had such +bad taste, as to adopt this fashion from the courtesans. The next step +probably was that the example of the court influenced respectable +Christian matrons to wear the obnoxious fringe." On the other hand, +actresses and public prostitutes retaliated by imitating the dress of +consecrated virgins, and this abuse had to be suppressed by legislation. +In the aristocratic society of Eudoxia three ladies were especially +prominent,--Marsa, the widow of Promotus, a distant relative of the +empress; Castricia, the widow of Saturninus; and Eugraphia, who had also +lost her husband. These ladies, though no longer young, were rich and +fashionable, and endeavored to preserve the appearance of youth by +inordinate attention to complexion and to dress. Eugraphia is mentioned +as given to using rouge and white lead to preserve her complexion, a +habit which was severely condemned by the austere Chrysostom. It was +hard to forgive a preacher who reproached the feminine tendency to +conceal by cosmetics and dress one's age and ugliness. + +Furthermore, the attractions of the theatre and the dissipations of high +life engaged the attention of this fashionable set quite as much as did +attendance on religious service and outward manifestations of piety. +Christianity had not suppressed the licentiousness of the stage or +improved the morality of greenrooms. Chrysostom complains of the +lawlessness of the theatre and the obscenity of the songs that delighted +the audience; he was especially shocked at the exhibitions of women +swimming. The professional courtesan, with all the accomplishments of +the actress, was the centre of attraction for the _habitués_ of the +theatre; and she was even allowed to contaminate fashionable weddings +with her presence. + +Other types of contemporary society are of interest, especially +instances of the ambitious and fashionable lady, not of the aristocracy, +who wished to work her way up into the court circle. Synesius gives us +the picture of such a one in a celebrated allegory presenting the career +of the noble and high-minded Aurelian, head of a patriot party, and of +his unscrupulous adversary, who wished to displace him. The subject of +the allegory is the contest between the two sons of Taurus, Osivis and +Typhos. Osivis represents Aurelian, the type of everything good and +laudable; Aurelian's antagonist is figured in Typhos, a perverse, gross, +and ignorant person, who favored the German party. He was a profligate +Roman, who had been guilty of malversation in office and hoped by his +new alliance to return to power. He had an active, though not very +discreet, ally in his wife, whom Synesius depicts in pregnant phrases. +Owing to her vanity she was her own tire-woman, a reproach which +suggests her excessive attention to the details of her toilet. She liked +to show herself in grand array in the market place, fancying that the +eyes of all were upon her. Owing to her desire to have her drawing rooms +filled and to be the object of notoriety, she did not close her doors +even against professional courtesans; and we may infer on that account +that select Byzantine society was not desirous of her acquaintance. +Synesius contrasts with her the wife of Aurelian, who never left the +house, and gives us a reminiscence of Thucydides in his sententious +expression that it was the greatest virtue of a woman for neither her +body nor her name ever to cross the threshold. Aurelian succeeds in +winning political honors in spite of the hostility of Typhos and his +wife, much to the disgust of the latter, who saw her intrigues for +social laurels defeated. + +The ladies of the court and those who wished to be such were in large +measure devoted to the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eye, and the +pride of life. Chrysostom's austere spirit was naturally offended at the +life of such a court and of fashionable and aspiring matrons, and in his +pastoral visits to these great ladies he undoubtedly rebuked them for +their worldliness. Furthermore, in his pulpit he preached valiantly +against luxury and worldliness, and would often add point to his remarks +by turning his eyes toward the part of the gallery where sat Eudoxia and +the ladies of her court. Great umbrage was aroused against him because +of his outspoken condemnation of their vices, petty and otherwise, and +he was hated as the wicked Herodias hated John the Baptist. His greatest +offence was reached in a sermon in which the empress was openly called +Jezebel--a statement which led to the spread of the unfounded scandal +that she had robbed a widow of a vineyard as Ahab robbed Naboth. + +The rank and file of the people enjoyed with great zest these attacks on +the aristocrats, and that which stung the great ladies most severely was +their being made objects of censure before the mob, as their consciences +were sufficiently hardened not to be deeply penetrated by the preacher's +shafts. Accordingly, the humiliation of their pride led them to form a +conspiracy against Chrysostom, the centre of which was the house of +Eugraphia. These ladies readily found allies. The archbishop's austerity +of life and rigid discipline had made him many enemies among the +bishops, monks, and nuns, for he had attacked the corruption of the +clergy as well as the corruption of the court. The sensuality, avarice, +and selfishness of the clergy laid them open to attack. Women were +admitted to the monasteries, or lived in the houses of priests as +"spiritual sisters," a custom that gave rise to much scandal. Still more +scandalous was the conduct of the order of deaconesses who, while not +following the fashions of the court, yet adorned their austere garb +"with an immodest coquetry which made them more piquant than an ordinary +courtesan." Chrysostom was especially severe on the monks, who would +linger about Constantinople for the sake of its licentious pleasures +instead of betaking themselves to their natural fields of labor. + +Though Chrysostom had his enemies among the fair sex, he had also his +circle of admirers, who were the more ardent in their attentions because +of the persecutions he had to undergo. The most distinguished and the +most devoted of these was the aristocratic Olympias, whose mother was at +one time betrothed to an emperor, but who was wedded to a king of +Armenia, and afterward became the wife of a Roman noble. Olympias was +renowned for her benevolence toward the poor and her constancy to +Chrysostom in his troubles, while her kindness of heart and sweetness of +spirit give her rank among the "good" women of the period. Another +constant friend was a Moorish princess, Salvina, who had been placed as +a hostage in Theodosius's charge by her father, and had been married to +the empress's nephew. In contrast to the restless activity of the ladies +about Eudoxia, she led a quiet and peaceful life devoted to good works, +and Chrysostom, in a "letter to a young widow," contrasts the serenity +and happiness she enjoyed with the turbulent life of her father. + +Chrysostom's sharp reproofs of the worldly minded, his close friendships +with Olympias and other ladies, whom he at times received alone in his +episcopal residence, and his retired, ascetic life, gave pretext for +unwarranted charges. His enemies even went so far as to assert that +under the cover of his unsocial habits he conducted "Cyclopean orgies" +in his home. + +An official journey which he made for the regulation of the affairs of +the churches, during which he removed many unworthy bishops, aroused +much umbrage against him, and gave his enemies at home an opportunity to +injure him. Severian, whom he left in his place, was an especial +favorite of the empress, and joined the court league against his +superior. Upon his return, Chrysostom acted with his customary decision. +Hearing of the unbecoming conduct of his subordinate, he severely and +openly attacked his time-serving relations with the empress, and, when +Severian grew defiant, promptly excommunicated him. Owing to the +entreaties of the empress and the emperor, however, he withdrew the ban +and restored Severian to his office. + +Soon afterward a louder storm burst, and from a new quarter. Theophilus, +the worldly prelate of Alexandria, was induced by the court ladies to +undertake their cause against the patriarch. He came to Constantinople +and took up his quarters in the palace of Placidia, and from this +centre, as well as from the house of Eugraphia, a violent warfare of +words was waged against Chrysostom. + +The emperor was prevailed upon to grant a synod for the trial of the +patriarch, which was held outside the city, owing to the strength of the +latter's adherents. Chrysostom was condemned by the packed assembly, +known as the "Synod of the Oak," and formally deposed. The city was in +an uproar. Chrysostom retired to Bithynia, but the people demanded his +return, and he was recalled from banishment and restored to his office. +Had he now adopted a policy of quiet tolerance, all would have been +well, but very soon an occasion arose which led him to make a further +attack on Eudoxia. In September, 403, a statue of silver on a column of +porphyry was erected to the empress near the precincts of Saint Sophia. +Chrysostom took occasion to censure severely the adulation of the +populace, and by his remarks he must have mortally offended the pride of +the empress, for henceforth even the mild emperor declined to have any +communication with the patriarch. + +The next year a new synod was held, and the action of the Synod of the +Oak was confirmed. The emperor ratified the sentence, and Chrysostom +quietly yielded to the inevitable and retired from the city. As soon as +the people heard of the occurrence, another uproar followed, which +resulted in the conflagration of Saint Sophia and other buildings and in +the persecution of many adherents of the exiled patriarch. Olympias and +many others were condemned to exile. "Among those who anticipated the +sentence by flight was an old maid named Nicarete, who deserves mention +as a curious figure of the time. She was a philanthropist who devoted +her means to works of charity, and who always went about with a chest of +drugs, which she used to dispose of gratuitously, and which rumor said +were always effectual." + +Meanwhile, Chrysostom was transported to a remote town among the ridges +of Mount Taurus, in Lesser Armenia. He suffered many hardships, but he +was sustained by the sympathy of his friends, especially Olympias, with +whom he corresponded, and who never told him of the persecutions she +herself underwent in his behalf. Her own last years, however, were +darkened by her afflictions, and Chrysostom tried to lighten her +melancholy by his letters of consolation. Her saintly life cast a halo +about her memory after she passed away, and a legend was current in +later times that her encoffined body had, by her own directions, been +cast into the sea at Nicomedia, whence it was borne to Constantinople, +and thence to Brochthi, where it reposed in the Church of Saint Thomas. + +Chrysostom's last years were perhaps his most useful ones, being spent +in regulating by letter the affairs of the churches. The Pope at Rome +never ratified his condemnation, and he was universally beloved as one +subjected to unjust persecution. Owing to his undiminished prominence in +all Church affairs, the ruthless empress pursued him in his exile, and +an order was despatched for him to be transported to Pityus, a desolate +place on the south-eastern coast of the Euxine; but on the way thither +he expired from exhaustion, in the sixtieth year of his age. He was the +last of the patriarchs to stand out against the corruption and the +frivolity of the court, and henceforth the archbishops were but +subservient adherents of the emperor and the empress. + +His innocence and merit were acknowledged by the succeeding generation, +and thirty years later, at the earnest solicitation of the people, +Chrysostom's remains were brought to Constantinople. The Emperor +Theodosius advanced to receive them as far as Chalcedon, and implored +the forgiveness of the injured saint in the name of his guilty parents, +Arcadius and Eudoxia. + +Less than four years after the birth of her son, Theodosius, Eudoxia, in +the bloom of her youth and the height of her power, came to her end as +the result of a miscarriage; and this untimely death confounded the +prophecy of Porphyrius of Gaza, who had foretold that she would live to +see the reign of her son. Pious Catholics saw in her untimely death the +vengeance of Heaven for the persecution of Saint Chrysostom; and few +save the emperor and her children bewailed the loss of the worldly and +ambitious empress. + + + + +X + +THE RIVAL EMPRESSES--PULCHERIA AND EUDOCIA + + +Beside the deathbed of the gentle Arcadius, whom destiny snatched from +life in the fulness of manhood, stood four weeping orphans of tenderest +years, three maidens and a little lad--all too young to realize the +greatness of their loss. These were the seven-year-old Theodosius, heir +to the throne, the nine-year-old Pulcheria and her two younger sisters, +Arcadia and Marina. In the orphanage of the children, it was natural +that the eldest daughter should feel that upon herself rested the +responsibility of acting as mother to her brother and sisters; and +Pulcheria possessed the mental endowments and the rapidly developing +nature which peculiarly fitted her for this task. Fortunately the +administration of the Empire was in the hands of the praetorian prefect +Anthemius, a wise and able counsellor, who acted as the guardian of the +young prince and his sisters and directed their education. He, with the +Patriarch Atticus, who was their religious guide and spiritual adviser, +provided them with every possible advantage for intellectual and +spiritual growth. Pulcheria early exhibited an earnest and almost manly +intelligence. Along with the sympathetic and mystical temperament of a +saint, she possessed the strong, practical sense of her grandfather, +Theodosius the Great. Hence she was quick to turn her attention to +problems of statecraft and displayed a precocious capacity for +administration. Her duties as guardian of her brother and sisters also +developed her innate love of mastery, so that as a child she gradually +conceived a longing for the duties and responsibilities of the imperial +station. + +At the tender age of fourteen, Pulcheria began to win influence in state +affairs. Proud and ambitious like her mother Eudoxia, she sought as +rapidly as possible to assert her authority; and, as her power and +influence grew, that of Anthemius gradually ceased to exert itself. By +no other hypothesis can we explain why Anthemius at this time retired +from active duties and did not retain his office as regent at least +until two years later, when Theodosius, in his fifteenth year, should +attain his majority. + +On July 4, 414, Pulcheria, the daughter of an emperor, assumed, contrary +to all precedent, the title of Augusta, previously reserved exclusively +for the wives of emperors, and formally took upon herself the honor and +the duties of regent in the name of her brother, who was still a minor. +So thoroughly did she gain the ascendency over the young prince that +even after he was created Augustus two years later she retained her +title and continued to be the real power in the imperial palace; indeed, +she was for forty years virtually the ruler of the Eastern Empire. + +The children of Arcadius and Eudoxia inherited the religious temperament +of their father rather than the worldly disposition of their mother. +Consequently, the court of Theodosius the Younger formed a great +contrast to that of Arcadius. Pulcheria determined to embrace a life of +celibacy. Resolving to remain a virgin, she induced her sisters to join +with her in vows of perpetual virginity. They were confirmed in this +step by their spiritual father, Atticus, who wrote for the princesses a +book in which he dwelt on the beauty of the single life. In the presence +of the clergy and the assembled people of Constantinople the three +daughters of Arcadius dedicated their virginity to God; and their solemn +vows were inscribed on a tablet of gold and jewels, which was publicly +offered in the Church of Saint Sophia. Pious souls saw in this vow of +Pulcheria only the natural result of her strict piety and her unselfish +love for her brother; but profane historians attributed it to her +extraordinary prudence, which was with her a gift of nature, and to her +unbounded ambition--on the ground that she could thus maintain +permanently her ascendency over the young prince, and, by controlling +his marriage, share his power. + +In her manner of life, however, Pulcheria emphasized the genuineness of +her piety. The imperial palace, as says a contemporary, assumed the +character of a cloister. All males, except saintly men who had forgotten +the distinction of sexes, were excluded from the holy threshold. +Pulcheria and a chosen band of Christian damsels formed a sort of +religious community. Spiritual practices were carried on, with strict +punctuality, from morning till evening. Whereas richly clad senators and +officers in sumptuous raiment had earlier passed in and out of the +palace, so now the black robes of priests and the dark cowls of monks +were to be seen thronging the entrance, and in place of the joyous songs +of banquetings and festivities, one could hear the monotonous intoning +of psalms. The vanity of dress which had scandalized the court of +Eudoxia was discarded, and the simple garb of nuns was the prevailing +fashion of the palace. The princesses did not employ themselves in +personal adornment or in the many vanities of royal station, but spent +much of their time at the loom, weaving garments for the poor and needy. +A frugal diet was adopted, and even this was interrupted by frequent +fasts. Thus Pulcheria and her maidens wearied not in their saintly life +and in the performance of deeds of mercy. + +These outward exercises of piety were attended by sumptuous beneficences +for the spread of the Christian religion. Magnificent churches were +built in various parts of the Empire at the expense of Pulcheria; +charitable foundations for the benefit of the poor and the unfortunate +were established in Constantinople and elsewhere, and ample donations +were given by her for the perpetual maintenance of monastic societies. +This imperial saint, who thus devoted a large part of her time and +energies to the performance of religious duties and of charitable +undertakings, naturally enjoyed the peculiar favor of the Deity. There +is a tradition that the knowledge of the location of sacred relics and +intimation of future events were communicated to her in dreams and +revelations. The common people attributed healing power to her. +Pulcheria's virtues aroused in the populace a feeling of admiration, and +the saintly life of the palace awakened and spread a deep spiritual +influence throughout the Empire. + +Religion, however, was accompanied with culture, and Pulcheria, with the +aid of the best masters, had her brother and sisters trained in all the +various branches of knowledge acquired up to that time. Under her +direction Theodosius became a student of natural science; and so great +was his skill in writing and in illuminating manuscripts that he +received the name of Calligraphus. Pulcheria acquired an elegant and +familiar command of both Greek and Latin; and she displayed her +intellectual discipline, and gift of expression on the various occasions +of speaking or writing on public business. + +Yet Pulcheria's devotion to religion and to learning never diverted her +indefatigable attention from public affairs. She strengthened the +influence of the senate and supported it in the reform of many abuses +which had crept in during the ascendancy of the eunuchs of the palace +and the struggles with the German party; but her energies were chiefly +directed toward acting as counsellor to the emperor, and protecting him +from the intrigues of court officials, to which his weak character made +him an easy victim. She instructed her brother in the art of government, +yet the tenderness of her discipline seems to have made him rather a +willing instrument in her own hands than an independent monarch. +Possibly she realized that the elements which go to form a great ruler +were lacking in his character; possibly her own love of power blinded +her to the right course of action toward her confiding ward. At any +rate, "her precepts may countenance some suspicion of the extent of her +capacity or the purity of her intention. She taught him to maintain a +grave and majestic deportment; to walk, to hold his robe, to seat +himself on his throne in a manner worthy of a great prince; to abstain +from laughter; to listen with condescension; to return suitable answers; +to assume, by turns, a serious or a placid countenance; in a word, to +represent with grace and dignity the external figure of a Roman +emperor." + +Though so careful and systematic in her training of the young prince, +Pulcheria did not deprive his boyhood of those companionships which add +zest to youthful pursuits and recreation and stimulate the growth of +manly qualities. She gave him as comrades two bright and spirited +youths, Paulinus and Placitus, with whom he associated in open-hearted +intimacy and who were destined to play a prominent part in his reign. +Paulinus especially became his most trusted friend, and the two were +united for many years by bonds which resembled those of Damon and +Pythias. Amid such surroundings and under such influence, Theodosius +grew up. The product of Pulcheria's instruction, however, was a ruler +who descended below even the weakness of her father and uncle. Chaste, +temperate, merciful, superstitious, pious, he was rich in negative +qualities; but, being feeble in energy and lacking all initiative, he +became merely a good-hearted and well-meaning, instead of active and +courageous, ruler. Consequently in every official act it was Pulcheria +who supplied the wisdom and the energy which made the earlier years of +Theodosius's reign such happy and peaceful ones. Pulcheria, however, was +content to keep her power in the background and to attribute to the +genius of the emperor the smoothness with which the wheels of government +turned, as well as the mildness and prosperity of his reign. + +The choice of a wife for Theodosius naturally lay in the hands of +Pulcheria. The young prince, influenced by the example of his father, +had expressed to his sister his preference for rare physical perfection +and high intellectual endowments over exalted station and royal blood in +the choice of a consort; and Pulcheria, in conjunction with his boyhood +friend Paulinus, set herself to the task of finding in the capital or in +the provinces an ideal corresponding to the wishes of the imperial +youth. Yet, while they were engaged in the search, by happy chance a +wonderful concatenation of events in the pagan city of Athens determined +the destiny of the nineteen-year-old ruler. + +In the story of Athenais we have the beautiful romance of a maiden of +modest station raised by destiny to the exalted dignity of a throne. She +was the favorite child of Leontius, an Athenian philosopher, who devoted +most of his time to training his daughter in the religion and philosophy +of his native city, and who sought to cultivate in her all that charm of +manner and richness of temperament which characterized the Greek women +in the best days of ancient Athens. The story goes that the old +philosopher was so confident that, because of her beauty and +intellectual gifts, a high destiny awaited his daughter, that he +bequeathed her as a legacy only a hundred pieces of gold, while he +divided the bulk of his estate between his two sons, Valerius and +Genesius. The brothers, being avaricious by nature and jealous of the +superior qualities of their sister, treated her with neglect and cruelty +in her distress. Athenais implored them to repair the obvious injustice +and to grant her her rights, representing to them how she did not +deserve this disgrace and that the indigence of their sister would be to +them, if not a cause of grief, yet certainly a continual reproach; but +her brothers would not listen to her appeals, and finally drove her from +the paternal mansion. Fortunately, a maternal aunt resided in Athens, +who received the disinherited maiden into her home and warmly espoused +her cause. She brought Athenais to Constantinople, where another aunt +dwelt, and made arrangements for the maiden to bring suit against the +hard-hearted brothers. To influence the decision, Athenais and her aunt +obtained audience with Pulcheria, and thus the link was formed which +joined the destinies of the young emperor and the hapless orphan. + +The youthful plaintiff was her own advocate, and so effectually did she +argue her case that the Augusta, charmed by the penetration and +cleverness which her speech revealed, as well as by the wonderful beauty +and modest demeanor of the maiden, was irresistibly forced to the +conviction that this girl was the very one who embodied the ideals and +longings of the young prince. And, in fact, Athenais was physically and +intellectually endowed in a manner seldom equalled. Imagine a maiden of +tall and slender proportions of figure, of rare perfection of form, of +fair complexion, of dark and luminous eyes which revealed the sweetness +and subtlety of the spirit within, while the perfect outline of the +countenance was framed by a luxuriant abundance of golden locks,--and +you have some conception of the stranger who stood with queenly grace +before the proud Augusta. Furthermore, every word that she uttered +revealed the rare subtlety of understanding or warmth of sensibilities +of the petitioner, who was in every regard the perfect picture of a +symmetrically developed maiden. So soon as Pulcheria ascertained that +Athenais was of good family and was still unmarried, she began to carry +out her plans as a royal matchmaker. She aroused the curiosity of her +brother by her account of the charms of the Greek maiden, and the +recital inspired in the young prince a lively impatience to see +Athenais. He besought his sister to arrange an opportunity for him, +unobserved, to see the maiden, and Pulcheria readily devised a plan. +After having concealed Theodosius and Paulinus behind the tapestries in +her apartment, she summoned Athenais to come to her for a further +interview. Athenais entered the room, and the young men were so charmed +by the view that Theodosius, enamored of the maiden at first sight, +desired to make her his bride. + +What must have been the emotions of the disinherited orphan, when the +Augusta, instead of granting her petition, told her that she was chosen +to be the bride of an emperor? Only one obstacle to the union presented +itself,--the pagan faith of the beautiful Athenian. While winning her +heart for himself, the pious Theodosius longed to win her soul for the +Saviour. To the patriarch Atticus was assigned the pleasing task of +convincing the beautiful maiden of the errors of paganism and of guiding +her spirit into the ways of eternal truth. The pure heart of the gentle +Athenais proved readily susceptible to the beauties of Christian +teaching; the waters of baptism were supposed to remove from her nature +the last vestiges of pagan unbelief; and in accordance with the wishes +of her betrothed, the converted Athenais received the baptismal name of +Eudocia. + +Finally, on June 7, 421, the royal nuptials were celebrated with great +pomp, amid the rejoicings of the populace. The prudent Pulcheria, +however, withheld from the bride of the emperor the title of Augusta +until the union was blessed by the birth of a daughter, who was named +Eudoxia, after her grandmother, and who, fifteen years later, became the +wife of Valentinian III., ruler of the Western Empire. + +The brothers of Eudocia richly deserved the resentment of the new +empress. They had fled from Athens when they heard of the elevation of +their despised sister, but she had them sought out and brought to +Constantinople. They entered into her presence trembling and +disconcerted; but instead of punishing them, as they felt they well +deserved, Eudocia received them in a friendly manner and forgave them +for their base conduct. Regarding them as the unconscious instruments of +her elevation, the new empress gave them part in some of the highest +offices of state. + +Having become a Christian, Eudocia dedicated her talents to the honor of +religion and to the glory of her husband. She indited religious poems +which were the admiration of the age. She composed a poetical paraphrase +of the five books of Moses, of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth, and of the +prophecies of Daniel and Zechariah. She devoted three books of verse to +the legend of Saint Cyprian, who was a martyr in the persecution +inaugurated by Diocletian. She wrote a panegyric on the Persian +victories of Theodosius; and there is extant from her pen a cento of +Homeric verse treating the life and miracles of Christ. She also +manifestly exerted a strong influence in the founding of the University +of Constantinople, if we judge from the preponderance of Greek chairs. +She also encouraged in every manner the cultivation of Greek letters; +and the support she gave to Greek poets and litterateurs gave umbrage to +the narrow religionists, who regarded everything Greek as pagan. + +Eudocia, by her beauty and sprightliness, rapidly gained an ascendancy +over the weak but noble-hearted emperor, who had now two masters, his +sister and his wife. The new empress, in spite of her devotion to +religion, still retained some pagan leanings, and the monastic life of +the court began to undergo a change. Both the empress--sister and the +empress--wife were ladies of strong will, and Eudocia by degrees became +less sensitive to the gratitude she owed Pulcheria because of her +elevation. Hence, as each of the Augustæ endeavored to have her own way, +there arose discord in the imperial family. Intriguing courtiers and +bishops knew how to take advantage of the division of sentiment in the +royal household, and, while there was no public outbreak, the wheels of +government did not run so smoothly as when Pulcheria held uncontested +sway. The rivalry and dissension in the court between the two empresses +showed itself particularly in the religious controversies of the time, +and especially in the so-called Nestorian heresy regarding the dual +nature of Christ. Pulcheria throughout was opposed to Nestorianism, as +to every doctrine which flavored of Greek metaphysics, while Eudocia is +credited with being an advocate of the new doctrine. Cyril, the bishop +of Alexandria and the principal opponent of Nestorius, left no stone +unturned to win the favor and support of Pulcheria, while ecclesiastics +of the opposite party doubtless attempted the same with Eudocia. + +The result of this conflict of opinion between the rival empresses was +that the policy of Theodosius was always wavering; he was consistent +neither in orthodoxy nor heterodoxy. At first a partisan of Nestorius, +he responded rather sharply to the appeals of Cyril; but he afterward +went over entirely to the opposite side--an indication that the +influence of Pulcheria was once more paramount. + +Thus passed the first decade and a half of Eudocia's reign. Finally in +438 occurred an event of momentous interest to the entire Roman +world--the marriage of the princess Eudoxia with Valentinian III., +Emperor of the West. As it seemed likely that Eudocia would never bear a +son to Theodosius, the union of the two reigning houses meant possibly +the reunion of the Empire under one emperor, should a son be born to the +newly married couple. Possibly feeling lonely after the marriage and +departure of her daughter; possibly tiring of the intrigues of the +court, Eudocia, with the concurrence of the emperor, shortly afterward +undertook a solemn pilgrimage to Jerusalem to discharge her vows and to +return thanks to the Deity for the welfare of her daughter. + +Attended by a royal cortege of courtiers and eunuchs and slaves, the +Empress Eudocia set out on her journey. Her ostentatious progress +through the East hardly seems in keeping with the spirit of Christian +humility. One of the most impressive events of her journey was the +sojourn in Antioch, the metropolis of the Far East. Here she pronounced +to the senate, from a throne of gold, studded with precious gems, an +eloquent Greek oration, which was regarded as a marvel of Hellenic +rhetoric. In Antioch, probably far more than in Constantinople or +Alexandria, there was a hearty appreciation of Greek culture and art, +and many of the renowned rhetoricians of the day had in this city their +lecture halls, to which thronged enthusiastic students; and to the most +cultivated audience of the metropolis was granted the presence of an +empress glorying in her Athenian nativity, trained in all the rhetorical +art of the Greek, and combining in her own personality all that was most +pleasing in both pagan and Christian culture. The last words of +Eudocia's address--a quotation from Homer--are said to have occasioned +prolonged applause: + + ταύτης τοι γενεης τε και αιματος ευχομαι ειναι--Iliad Ζ 211. + + "I boast to be of your own race and blood." + +Eudocia was also generous in her gifts to the city. She induced the +emperor to enlarge its walls, and herself bestowed upon it a donation of +two hundred pounds of gold to restore the public baths. She graciously +accepted the statues which were decreed to her in gratitude for her +munificence--a statue of gold erected in the Curia, and one of bronze in +the museum. To the empress, with her earlier love of the sacred +traditions of the city of the violet crown, her enthusiastic reception +in the most thoroughly Hellenized city of the Orient must have been a +most gratifying occurrence. + +From Antioch the empress probably followed the pilgrims highway to the +Holy Land. There with doubly chastened soul the cultivated convert +visited the places hallowed by the Saviour's sufferings and glory. From +Bethlehem, where the Mother found shelter in a stable, and therein "in a +manger laid" the newborn Redeemer, to receive the adoration of the +shepherds, on through the country which the Lord travelled in His +mission, till finally she beheld Mount Calvary and looked upon the place +of the Sepulchre, now marked by the Christian temple raised by Helena. +Her presence brings to mind the visit of this Helena, the Emperor +Constantine's mother, one hundred years before, but the Greek matron +must have beheld it with very different emotions. She had been reared in +the philosophers' gardens of Athens, amid the glories of the Parthenon +and the many wonderful works of art which the Greek genius had created, +and in her new home in Constantinople she had not been altogether weaned +from the traditions of her youth. In glowing contrast to ancient Athens +she now saw a city whose prized monuments were the chapels erected on +spots rendered sacred by the footsteps of the Christ and the relics of +saints and martyrs. To this city she came as a Christian pilgrim, and +her devoutness of spirit showed that her heathen culture, in which she +took a pardonable pride, had been consecrated to the religion she +professed, and her endeavor to relieve the sufferings of the poor and +the unfortunate proved that she had learned the lesson of caring for +others from the example of the Master. + +Her alms and pious foundations in the Holy Land exceeded even those of +the great Helena; and the destitute of the land had reason to be +grateful to the empress for her unbounded liberality. In return for her +zeal, she had the conscious satisfaction of returning to Constantinople +with some of the most sacred relics of the Church--the chains of Saint +Peter, the relics of Saint Stephen, and a portrait of the Virgin Mary, +reputed to be from the brush of Saint Luke. The first martyr's relics +were deposited with great ceremony in the chapel of Saint Laurence, and +the piety of the empress won for her the loving admiration of the devout +populace. + +But this pilgrimage to Jerusalem, with its many tokens of the affection +of her subjects, and her triumphal return to the capital city, marks the +termination of the glory of the Athenian maiden as empress of the East. +Then began the rivalries and conflicts which finally brought about +Eudocia's downfall. To understand these we must first of all take into +consideration the difference of temperament of the two empresses. +Pulcheria was essentially Roman; Eudocia was essentially Greek. +Pulcheria belonged to the orthodox party which strictly condemned +everything which savored in the least degree of paganism; Eudocia +encouraged Greek art and letters and lent a friendly ear to the heresies +which were the product of Greek speculation. Pulcheria was puritanical +and austere in her manner of life, while Eudocia had a fondness for +dress and for the innocent gayeties of life which characterized the +women of her race. It was utterly impossible for two women of such +marked difference of temperament to live in perfect harmony under the +same roof. + +Furthermore, during Eudocia's absence a new factor had entered +prominently into the life of the palace. The influence of the eunuchs, +which had been so marked during the reign of Arcadius, had not made +itself felt during the earlier years of Theodosius's reign, because of +the ascendency of the two women, but it gathered strength by degrees as +years passed. Antiochus was the first chamberlain to make himself +powerful, and upon his fall, the eunuch Chrysaphius, because of his +personal beauty and winning manner, won the favor of Theodosius and +acquired the art of bending the emperor to his will. Chrysaphius knew +also how to play the two empresses off against each other, so as to gain +his own ends. + +It seems altogether probable that immediately after her return from +Jerusalem, the spouse of the emperor more than ever dominated the court +at Constantinople. An important indication of this was the prominence of +one of her favorites during the years 439-441--Cyrus of Panopolis, who +was a poet of renown, a "Greek" in faith, and a student of art and +literature. He won great popularity during his long tenure of office as +prefect of the city. He restored Constantinople on so magnificent a +scale, after it had experienced a disastrous earthquake, that the people +once cried out in the circus: "Constantine built the city, but Cyrus +renewed it." + +The type of culture represented by Cyrus and Eudocia, and the manifest +sympathy between them, greatly offended the strictly orthodox, who +regarded it in the light of a Christian duty to sever all connection +with paganism, and who considered all tolerance of the Muses and Graces +of a more beautiful past to be a heinous sin. This religious party found +their ideal and their inspiration in Pulcheria, and she in consequence +became their natural leader. Hence, both their natural proclivities and +the zeal of their followers forced the two empresses into an attitude of +rivalry which could only be settled by the retirement or fall of one or +the other of them. + +Shortly after her return it seems that Eudocia, in union with +Chrysaphius, succeeded in lessening the influence of Pulcheria. So +thoroughly did she control her weak but fond husband that Pulcheria +withdrew from the palace to the retirement of her villa at Hebdomon, and +it has even been asserted that Theodosius, at the request of his wife, +meditated making his sister take orders as a deaconess, so that she +would have to relinquish her secular power. Thus for a time Eudocia +experienced the keen delight of sole and uncontested power. But the +retirement of the Augusta, who had for so many years exercised the +paramount influence in the court, was the very step to arouse the +orthodox and to lead them to undertake every form of intrigue for the +ruin of Eudocia and the return of Pulcheria. The result was that, after +enjoying for a brief period the sole supremacy, Eudocia fell from the +loftiest heights of supreme authority into the deepest depths of +humiliation and sorrow. + +The orthodox party, with a cleverness which discounted the aims of the +nobility, utilized the jealousy of Theodosius as the lever to overturn +the beautiful and talented empress. Paulinus had been the boyhood friend +of Theodosius, and their intimacy had grown with the passing of the +years. He had ardently approved the prince's determination to make the +Athenian maiden his wife, and had acted as his best man in the wedding +festivities. Owing to the affectionate relations between the two men, +Paulinus had enjoyed a free association with both emperor and empress, +unhindered by the restricting bonds of court etiquette; and his +relations with Eudocia were always of the most friendly and open-hearted +character. These relations the enemies of Eudocia seized upon for the +attainment of their ends, and their attempt succeeded only too well. It +is fitting to tell the story in the words of John Malalas, the earliest +chronicler who records it: + +"It so happened," says the chronicler, "that as the Emperor Theodosius +was proceeding to the church _In Sanctis Theophaniis_, the master of +offices, Paulinus, being indisposed on account of an ailment in his +foot, remained at home and made an excuse. But a certain poor man +brought to Theodosius a Phrygian apple, of enormously large size, and +the emperor was surprised at it, and all his court. And straightway the +emperor gave one hundred and fifty nomismata to the man who brought the +apple, and sent it to Eudocia Augusta; and the Augusta sent it to +Paulinus, the master of offices, as being a friend of the emperor. But +Paulinus, not being aware that the emperor had sent it to the empress, +took it and sent it to the Emperor Theodosius, even as he was entering +the palace. And when the emperor received it, he recognized it and +concealed it. And having called Augusta, he questioned her, saying: + +"'Where is the apple that I sent you?' And she said, 'I ate it.'--Then +he caused her to swear the truth by his salvation, whether she ate it or +sent it to some one; and she swore, 'I sent it unto no man, but ate it.' +And the emperor commanded the apple to be brought, and showed it to her. +And he was indignant against her, suspecting that she was enamored of +Paulinus, and sent him the apple and denied it. And on this account +Theodosius put Paulinus to death. And the Empress Eudocia was grieved, +and thought herself insulted, for it was known everywhere that Paulinus +was slain on account of her, for he was a very handsome young man. And +she asked the emperor that she might go the holy place to pray; and he +allowed her; and she went down from Constantinople to Jerusalem to +pray." + +In the opinion of Gregorovius, Eudocia's apple of Phrygia eludes +interpretation as completely as Eve's apple of Eden, but Bury explains +the story as an example of Oriental metaphor. He recalls a parallel to +it in the Arabian Nights, and fancies that its germ may have been an +allegorical mode of expression in which someone covertly told the story +of the suspected intrigue. In Hellenistic romance the apple was a +conventional love gift, and when presented to a man by a woman signified +a declaration of love. Hence, as the basis of the tale was presumed to +be the amorous intercourse of Paulinus and the empress, we can conceive +one accustomed to Oriental allegory saying or writing that Eudocia had +given her precious apple to Paulinus, symbolizing thereby that she had +surrendered her chastity. + +Such is the legend of the fall of the empress. All we know for certain +is that about this time a marked discord between husband and wife was +apparent, and that Paulinus, the emperor's boyhood friend and most +trusted confidant, was put to death by imperial order during the year +440. + +History seems entitled to draw the conclusion that it was probably a +charge, whether true or false, of a criminal attachment between Eudocia +and Paulinus that led to the disgrace of the empress and the execution +of the minister; but the probabilities are all in favor of the innocence +of the Augusta. Eudocia had passed the age of forty when the breach with +her husband occurred, and Paulinus was an official of mature years. The +conduct of both had always been above reproach, and it was almost +inconceivable that either would have acted unbecomingly at this late +date. + +For two or three years after the execution of Paulinus the empress +remained at court, under what circumstances and in just what relation to +the emperor we are not informed. It is evident, however, that her power +was gone. Feeling herself more and more relegated to the background, and +ever watched by hostile eyes, it was natural that she should find life +at Constantinople unbearable, and should long for a place where, far +from the turmoils and intrigues of the world, she might devote herself +to retirement and to pious practices. She therefore asked permission of +the emperor to be allowed to retire to Jerusalem and there pass the rest +of her life. After the tender bond of love which had for twenty years +united the Athenian maiden and the royal prince had once been violently +broken, there was no reason why her petition should be denied, and +Eudocia was granted the privilege of retiring to the sacred scenes whose +solitude and religious atmosphere had already appealed to her. + +So, some years after her first visit to the holy city, Eudocia withdrew +thither for a permanent abode. But what a contrast had a few years +wrought! With what different emotions did she now visit the sacred +shrines! Then a beloved wife, a happy mother, an all-puissant empress! +Now a voluntary exile, a discredited wife, an empress but in name! +Theodosius left her her royal honors and abundant means for her station, +so that she could not only have a moderate establishment at Jerusalem, +but could also adorn the city with charitable institutions. Yet even +here the hatred of her enemies and the jealousy of the emperor followed +her. Though so far from Constantinople, court spies watched and reported +her every movement, and in their malignity they recounted to the emperor +such a slanderous picture of her life and doings that he, in the year +444, with newly awakened jealousy, had two holy men--the presbyter +Severus and the deacon John, who had been favorites of Eudocia in +Constantinople and had followed her to Jerusalem--executed by the order +of Saturninus, her chamberlain. This cruel deed, however, did not remain +unavenged, for Eudocia did not interfere when Saturninus, in a monkish +riot, or at the hands of hired murderers, lost his life. Theodosius +punished her for this with undue severity, by removing all the officers +who attended her and reducing her to private station. + +The remainder of the life of Eudocia, sixteen long years, was spent in +retirement and in holy exercises. Troubles heaped themselves upon her. +Her only daughter, whose future at her marriage with Valentinian had +looked so promising, also lost her royal station and was led a captive +from Rome to Carthage. She had to endure all the insults which could +fall to one who from supreme power had been reduced to private station. +But in the consolation of religion and in self-sacrificing devotion to +others more unfortunate, Eudocia found solace in her grief. Finally, in +the sixty-seventh year of her age, after experiencing all the +vicissitudes of human life, the philosopher's daughter expired at +Jerusalem, protesting with her dying breath her faithfulness to her +marriage vows and expressing forgiveness of all those who had injured +her. + +In Constantinople, Eudocia's fall and exile had brought Pulcheria and +the orthodox party again to the front. The poetry-loving Cyrus, the head +of the Greek party, was deprived of his office and compelled to take +orders; and there was a return to the austerity which had characterized +the earlier years of Pulcheria's supremacy. Pulcheria and orthodoxy from +this time on controlled the court life and dominated the Empire. +Finally, in 450, Theodosius was fatally wounded while hunting, and upon +his demise Pulcheria was unanimously proclaimed Empress of the East. Her +first official act was one of popular justice as well as private +revenge--the execution of the crafty and rapacious eunuch, Chrysaphius. +In obedience to the murmur of the people, who objected to a woman being +sole ruler of the Empire, she selected an imperial consort in Marcian, +an aged senator who would respect the virginal vows and superior rank of +his wife. He was solemnly invested with the imperial purple, and proved +in every way equal to the demands of his exalted station. + +Three years later, Pulcheria passed away. Because of her austerity of +life, her deeds of charity, her advocacy of orthodoxy, she won the +eulogies of the Church; but her controlling attribute had been a love of +power, which had wrought much evil. Our sympathies are naturally with +the beautiful and gifted Athenais, a Greek by birth, by temperament and +by culture, but yet a Christian in religious fervor and pious practices, +whose personal fascination had given her the authority she richly +merited, until the stronger nature of Pulcheria, by despicable means, +had wrought her downfall. + +For four years after the death of Pulcheria, Marcian continued to hold +supreme power; finally, in 457, he too came to his end, and with Marcian +the house of Theodosius the Great ceased to reign in new Rome. + + + + +XI + +THE EMPRESS THEODORA + + +There are few stranger episodes in literary history than the fate of +Theodora, the celebrated consort of the Emperor Justinian. To us in this +day she is a Magdalene elevated to the throne of the Cæsars, a beautiful +and licentious actress suddenly raised by a freak of fortune to rule the +destinies of the Roman Empire. All this is due to the remarkable +discovery made by Nicholas Alemannus, librarian of the Vatican, toward +the end of the seventeenth century, of the Secret History of Procopius, +a work which purported to reveal the private life of the Byzantine court +in the days of Justinian. Before the publication of this work Theodora +was in public opinion chiefly remarkable for the prominent place she +occupied in Justinian's reign. Of her early life nothing was known, but +from the date of her accession to the throne she had exercised a +sovereign influence over the emperor. In an important crisis she had +exhibited admirable firmness and courage. She had taken an active part +in the court intrigues and religious controversies of the epoch, and to +her sagacity the emperor attributed many of his happiest inspirations in +legislation. The ecclesiastical historians accused her of serious lapses +into heresy and of having laid violent hands on the sacred person of a +pope; but, with all their vituperation, there never was in circulation a +calumny affecting her personal character. Such is a brief resume of the +history of Theodora as handed down unassailed for a thousand years. + +Then suddenly a startling revelation was made to the world concerning +the previously unknown period of Theodora's life. Alemannus disinterred +from the archives of the Vatican library, where it had long lain +forgotten, an Arcana Historia which purported to be from the pen of the +celebrated historian of the Wars and the Edifices of Justinian. Edited +with a learned commentary by a hostile critic, the work immediately +attained wide circulation and universal credence. For the first time the +character of the illustrious empress was presented in the blackest +colors. The world, it seemed, had been really mistaken in its estimate. +Theodora's antecedents and early life had been of the vilest character, +and her public life signalized by cruelty, avarice, and excess. From the +date of the publication of this _chronique scandaleuse_, and thanks to +Gibbon's trenchant paraphrase of its vilest sections, Theodora was +condemned. Her name became the connotation for all the depraved vices +known in high life. The silence of eleven centuries was overlooked, and +the garish picture of the Secret History has formed the modern world's +estimate of Rome's most illustrious empress. + +It becomes, therefore, an important problem to attempt to distinguish +the Theodora of history from the Theodora of romance. We must inquire +whether the startling "anecdotes" of the _Secret History_ justly +supersede the estimate and tradition of so long a period. Was Theodora +the grand courtesan she is represented to be in the modern drama, or was +she a great empress, worthy of the respect and admiration of Justinian +and of succeeding ages? To answer these questions we must first briefly +review the legendary history of Theodora, and then dwell more at length +on the authentic history of the empress. This will merit a recital, for +she appears to be a personality singularly original and powerful, +possessing both the qualities of a statesman and the unique traits of a +woman, a character of much complexity and of rare psychological +interest. During the first years of the sixth century there lived in +Constantinople a poor man, by name Acacius, a native of the isle of +Cyprus, who had the care of the wild beasts maintained by the green +faction of the city, and who, from his employment, was entitled the +Master of the Bears. This Acacius was the father of Theodora. Upon his +death, he left to the tender mercies of the world a widow and three +helpless orphans, Comito, Theodora, and Anastasia, the eldest being not +yet seven years of age. At a solemn festival these three children were +sent by their destitute mother into the theatre, dressed in the garb of +suppliants. The green faction scorned them; but the blues had compassion +and relieved their distress, and this difference of treatment made a +profound impression on the child Theodora, which had its influence on +her later conduct. As the maidens increased in age and improved in +beauty, they were trained by their mother for a theatrical career. +Theodora first followed Comito on the stage, playing the rôle of +chambermaid, but at length she exercised her talents independently. She +became neither a singer nor a dancer nor a flute player, but she figured +in the _tableaux Vivants_, where her beauty freely displayed itself, and +in the pantomimes, where her vivacity and grace and sprightliness caused +the whole theatre to resound with laughter and applause. She was, if the +panegyrists may be believed, the most beautiful woman of her age. +Procopius, the best historian of the day, says that "it was impossible +for mere man to describe her comeliness in words or to imitate it in +art." "Her features were delicate and regular; her complexion, though +somewhat pale, was tinged with a natural colour; every sensation was +instantly expressed by the vivacity of her eyes; her easy motions +displayed the graces of a small but elegant figure; and either love or +adulation might proclaim that painting and poetry were incapable of +delineating the matchless excellence of her form." It is unfortunate +that we have no likeness which portrays her exquisite beauty. The famous +mosaic in San Vitale at Ravenna is the best authentic representation of +the empress, but a mosaic can give but little idea of the original. + +But Theodora possessed other fascinations besides beauty: she was +intelligent, full of _esprit_, witty. However, with all these gifts +there was in her a deficiency of the moral sense and a natural +inclination to pleasure in all its forms. Sad to relate, her charms were +venal. If the Secret History be believed, her adventures were both +numerous and scandalous; to quote a piquant expression of Gibbon, "her +charity was universal." Procopius recounts memorable after-theatre +suppers and _tableaux vivants_ that would be excluded from the most +licentious of modern stages. After a wild career in the capital as the +reigning figure of the demi-monde, Theodora suddenly disappeared. She +condescended to accompany to his province a certain Ecebolus, who had +been appointed governor of the African Pentapolis. But this union was +transient. She either abandoned her lover or was deserted by him, and +for some time the fair Cyprian, a veritable priestess of the divine +Aphrodite, made conquests innumerable in all the great cities of the +Orient. Finally, she returned to Constantinople, to the scenes of her +first exploits, being then between twenty and twenty-five years of age. +In her bitterest humiliation, some vision had whispered to her that she +was destined to a great career. + +Wearied of amorous adventures and of a wandering career, she began from +this moment to adopt a retired and blameless life in a modest mansion, +where she relieved her poverty by the feminine task of spinning wool. It +was at this moment that happy chance threw the patrician Justinian in +her path. Captivated by her beauty and her feminine graces, this staid, +business-like, and eminently practical personage, already marked as his +uncle Justin's successor to the Empire, wished to make the fair Theodora +his wife. But there were obstacles in the way. The Empress Euphemia +flatly refused to accept the reformed courtesan as a niece; Justinian's +own mother, Vigilantia, feared that the vivacious and beautiful +worldling would corrupt her son. It was even said that at this time the +laws of Rome prohibited the marriage of a senator with a woman of +servile origin or of the theatrical profession. But Justinian remained +inflexible. The Empress Euphemia conveniently died; Justinian overrode +the opposition of his mother; and Justin was persuaded to pass a law +abolishing the rigid statute of antiquity and to make Theodora a +patrician. + +Soon followed the solemn nuptials of Justinian and Theodora; and when, +in 527, Justinian was officially associated with his uncle on the +throne, Theodora was also solemnly crowned in Saint Sophia by the hands +of the Patriarch as an equal and independent colleague in the +sovereignty of the Empire, and the oath of allegiance was imposed on +bishops and officials in the joint names of Justinian and Theodora; +while in the Hippodrome, the scene of her earlier triumphs, the daughter +of Acacius received as empress the adulation of the populace. + +Such, according to the Secret History, is the romance of Theodora. The +reason why it has been given general credence is because the work +purported to be that of a contemporary writer, the greatest historian of +his age, who has weighted his charges with emphasis and detail, and +because the recital received the convincing endorsement of Alemannus and +of Gibbon. The principle which governed Gibbon was as follows: "Of these +strange anecdotes a part may be true because probable, and a part true +because improbable. Procopius must have known the former and the latter +he could scarcely invent." Reassured by this argument, and seduced by +the masculine taste for adventure, most historians have complacently +accepted this piquant history and have applied to Theodora the vilest +epithets. But recent writers, especially Debidour, Ranke, Mallet, Bury, +and Diehl, have not regarded the case as proved, and through a careful +analysis of the _Secret History_ have presented convincing arguments +against the reputed authorship of the work and the authenticity of its +narrative. + +These later writers have called attention to the internal evidence of +the improbability of the picture of Theodora. There are in the +statements glaring inconsistencies with the other works of Procopius, +and inconsistencies within the anecdotes themselves. Many stories told +of Justinian are obviously overdrawn and dictated by inventive malice, +and these vitiate the entire narrative. Furthermore, the question of the +marriage law is triumphantly set aside. The edict abolishing the Old +Roman law was passed seven years after Justinian's succession, and was +in accordance with other legislation inspired by Theodora, to ameliorate +the condition of woman. The external evidence, also, has been carefully +sifted. The legal maxim, _Testis unus, Testis nullus_, applies in +history as well as in law. A single witness has related the most +incredible stories. Nowhere in other historians is there a shred of +evidence to support the story of Theodora's flagitious life. These +stories could have no basis other than in popular rumors; how is it, +therefore, that no other chronicle alludes to them? Orthodox +ecclesiastics violently attack Theodora's heresy, and speak of her as an +enemy of the Church, but write not a word against her private +reputation. Historians condemn in unmeasured terms certain features of +Justinian's administration, and dwell on other faults of Theodora, but +say never a word about her profligacy. Why are all other writers silent +about the dark passages in Theodora's history? Even the _Secret History_ +alleges nothing immoral against her after her marriage: why then should +we take its testimony seriously regarding the earlier period of her +life? The silence of all other chronicles about extraordinary +occurrences, which, if true, must have been generally known, throws +doubt over the whole narrative and places it in the light of an infamous +libel. + +And here is a final argument. Justinian was no mere youth when he +married, but a sober gentleman of thirty-five, the heir apparent to the +throne, who had to keep in the good graces of the people. Would he at so +momentous a time have perpetrated so infamous a scandal? And would it +have been possible for a woman of such notorious profligacy to ascend +the throne without a protest from patriarch or bishop or senators or +populace? The outward life of the Byzantine people, owing to the +influence of Christianity, was usually correct. A little later an +emperor lost his throne because he divorced one wife and took another. +Theodora's triumphant ascent to the throne, without a protesting voice, +is conclusive evidence that no great scandal had sullied her reputation. + +Yet, on the other hand, panegyrists never lauded Theodora as a saint. +She was neither a Pulcheria nor a Eudocia. Many traits in the character +of the empress accord well with the fact that her early life was not +passed amid beds of roses nor had been altogether free from temptation. +Hence, with the story reduced to its lowest terms, it seems probable +that Theodora was of obscure and lowly origin, that she was for a time +connected in some way with the Byzantine stage, and that, owing to her +beauty, her cleverness, and her strong personality, she was raised from +poverty to share Justinian's throne. But, whatever her career, her life +had been sufficiently upright to save appearances, and Justinian could +make her his wife without scandal. + +The turn of fortune which elevated Theodora from modest station to the +imperial throne deeply stirred the popular imagination, and a cycle of +legends has gathered about her name. The stranger in Byzantium in the +eleventh century was shown the site of a modest cottage, transformed +into a stately church dedicated to the spirit of charity, and was told +the story how the great empress, coming with her parents from their +native town in Cyprus, had here maintained herself in honorable poverty +by spinning wool, and how it was here that the patrician Justinian, +drawn thither by the fame of her beauty and her learning, had wooed and +won her for his bride. However little value we may attach to this +tradition, it shows that in Constantinople the popular estimate of +Theodora was not that of the _Secret History_. The Slavic traditions of +the twelfth and thirteenth centuries not only dwell on her marvellous +beauty, but also recount that she was the most queenly, the most +cultivated, the most learned of women. The Syriac traditions were still +more flattering. In their devout reverence for the pious empress who +espoused their cause, these Monophysites of the thirteenth century name +as the father of Theodora, not the poor man who guarded the bears in the +Hippodrome, but a pious old gentleman, perhaps a senator, attached to +the Monophysite heresy, and affirm that when Justinian, fascinated by +the beauty and intelligence of the young maiden, demanded her hand in +marriage, the good father did not consent that she should marry the heir +apparent until the latter had promised not to interfere with her +religious beliefs. + +A western chronicler, however, of the eleventh century, Aimoin de +Fleury, recounts a legend which has something of the flavor of the +_Secret History_. According to this story, Justinian and Belisarius, two +young men and intimate friends, encountered one day two sisters, Antonia +and Antonina, sprung from the race of Amazons, who, taken prisoners by +the Byzantines, were reduced to dire straits. Belisarius was enamored of +the latter, Justinian of the former. Antonia, presaging the future +destiny of her lover, made him promise that, if ever he became emperor, +he would take her as his wife. Their relations were interrupted, but not +before Justinian gave to Antonia a ring, as an assurance of his promise. +Years passed: the prince became emperor; and one day there appeared at +the gate of the palace, demanding audience, a woman in rich attire and +of wonderful beauty. Presented before the sovereign, Antonia was not at +first recognized; but she showed the ring and recalled his promise, and +Justinian, his love for her renewed, proclaimed straightway the +beautiful Amazon as his empress. The people and the senate expressed +some surprise at the impromptu marriage, but Antonia shared without +protest the throne of Justinian. + +Thus the marvellous destiny of Theodora was embellished by legend and +romance, and, whether good or bad, severely correct or profligate, she +has become one of the most remarkable figures of history and fiction. + +Questions as to the early life of Theodora, however, are secondary in +importance. We are interested not in the courtesan but in the empress, +and, for the incidents and the influence of her reign, we have +fortunately other information than that of the _Secret History_. + +Sardou's drama Theodora represents its heroine as preserving on the +throne the manners of the courtesan, as delighting in the life of the +theatre, as leaving the palace by night to frequent the streets of +Constantinople, as having an amorous intrigue with the beautiful +Andreas, as being in fact another, but baser and more voluptuous, +Messalina. But even the _Secret History_ represents Theodora, after she +mounted the throne, as being, with all her faults, the most austere, the +most correct, the most irreproachable of women in her conjugal +relations. + +Whatever her origin and her early life, Theodora adapted herself most +readily to the status and the duties of an imperial sovereign. She loved +and partook fully of the amenities which attended supreme authority. In +her apartments of the royal palace, and in her sumptuous villas and +gardens on the Propontis and the Bosporus, she availed herself of all +the luxuries and refinements of the royal station. Ever womanly and vain +of her physical charms, she took extreme care of her beauty. To make her +countenance reposeful and delicate, she prolonged her slumbers until +late in the morning; to give her figure sprightliness and grace, she +took frequent baths, to which succeeded long hours of repose. Not +content with the meagre fare which satisfied Justinian, her table was +always supplied with the best of Oriental dishes, which were served with +exquisite and delicate taste. Every wish was immediately gratified by +her favorite ladies and eunuchs. Like a true parvenue, she delighted in +the elaborate court etiquette. She made the highest dignitaries +prostrate themselves before her, imposing on those who wished audience +long and humiliating delays. Every morning one could see the most +illustrious personages of Byzantium crowded in her antechamber like a +troop of slaves, and, when they were admitted to kiss the feet of +Theodora, their reception depended altogether upon the humor of the +moment. These details show with what facility, with what complaisance, +Theodora adapted herself to the conditions of her rank. + +One must not infer, however, that the Theodora of history was a woman +merely captivated by the outward pomp of royalty. She possessed all the +intellectual and moral gifts which should attend absolute power, and her +rigid enforcement of Oriental etiquette was merely to impress upon +others her supreme authority, and was in conformity to the demand of her +age. Her salient characteristics were a spirit despotic and inflexible, +a will strong and passionate, an intelligence clever and subtle, a +temperament by turns frigid and sympathetic; and by these gifts she +dominated Justinian without intermission from the moment of her marriage +to her death, and impressed upon all those about her the knowledge that +she was in every sense an absolute sovereign. + +Furthermore, she possessed a calm courage, a masculine inflexibility, +which showed itself in the most difficult circumstances. One can never +forget the most ominous moment in the history of the Eastern Empire, +when the courage and firmness of Theodora saved the throne of Justinian. +This was during the celebrated revolt of 532, known as "The Nika Riot." +The factions of the "Blues" and the "Greens" were really the political +parties of the day; irritated to madness by the oppression of certain +officials, they momentarily united their forces and raised an +insurrection against the government, choosing Nika (Conquer!) as their +watchword, which has become the technical designation of the riot. +During five days, the city was a scene of conflict and witnessed all the +horrors of street warfare. Justinian yielded so far as to depose the +obnoxious officials, but the secret machinations of the "Green" faction, +who wished to place on the throne a nephew of Anastasius, a former +emperor, kept up the conflict. On the fateful morning of the 19th of +January, Hypatius, one of the nephews of Anastasius, was publicly +crowned in the Forum of Constantinople, and was then seated in the +cathisma of the Hippodrome, where the rebels and the populace saluted +him as emperor. Meanwhile, Justinian shut himself up in the palace with +his ministers and his favorites. Much of the city was in flames, the +tumult outside grew ever louder, and the rebels were preparing for an +attack on the palace. All seemed lost. The clamor of victory and the +cries of "Death to Justinian," reached the hall where the emperor, +utterly unnerved, was taking counsel of his ministers and generals. The +prefect John of Cappadocia and the general Belisarius recommended flight +to Heraclea. In haste, by the gardens which led to the sea, vessels were +loaded with the imperial treasures, and all was ready for the instant +flight of the emperor and empress. This was the decisive moment. Flight +meant the safety of their persons, but the abandoned throne was surely +lost, and the gigantic movements that had been started would collapse. +The prince was hesitating, and all his counsellors shared his +feebleness. Up to this time, the empress had said nothing. At length, +indignant at the general languor, Theodora thus called to their duty the +emperor and the ministers who would forsake all for personal safety: + +"The present occasion is, I think, too grave to take regard of the +principle that it is not meet for a woman to speak among men. Those +whose dearest interests are in the presence of extreme danger are +justified in thinking only of the wisest course of action. Now, in my +opinion, Nature is an unprofitable tutor, even if her guidance bring us +safety. It is impossible for a man when he has come into the world not +to die; but for one who has reigned it is intolerable to be an exile. +May I never exist without this purple robe, and may I never live to see +the day on which those who meet me shall not address me as Queen. If you +wish, O Emperor, to save yourself, there is no difficulty; we have ample +funds. Yonder is the sea, and there are the ships. Yet reflect whether, +when you have once escaped to a place of security, you will not prefer +death to safety. I agree with an old saying that 'Empire is a fair +winding-sheet.'" + +By these courageous words the resolution of Theodora saved the throne of +Justinian. Her firmness conquered the weakness and the pusillanimity of +the court. Belisarius triumphantly led his forces against the +revolutionists in the Hippodrome. A ruthless massacre followed, in which +thirty-five thousand persons perished. The power of the factions was +forever broken, and henceforth Justinian enjoyed absolute sovereignty +without a protest. The important public buildings which had been +destroyed in the conflagrations incident to the riot were restored on a +more magnificent scale, and the still standing Saint Sophia is a +monument to the genius and splendor of the reign of Justinian and +Theodora. + +One can readily understand what a dominating influence such a woman +would maintain over the indecisive Justinian. The passion with which she +had inspired the prince was preserved up to the last moment of her life; +and his devotion and regard ever increased and after her death took the +form of reverential awe, so influenced was he by her superior abilities. +She was to him, in the words of a contemporary historian, "the sweetest +charm"; or, as he himself says in a legal enactment, "the gift of +God"--a play upon her name. After her death, when he would make a solemn +promise, he swore by the name of Theodora. He withheld from her none of +the emoluments, none of the realities, of joint and equal sovereignty: +her name figured with his in the inscriptions placed upon the facades of +churches or the gates of citadels; her image was associated with his in +the decorations of the royal palace, as in the mosaics of San Vitale. +Her name appeared by the side of his on the imperial seal. A multitude +of cities and a newly created province bore her name. In every regard +she shared the sovereignty with the emperor. Magistrates, bishops, +generals, governors of provinces, swore by all that was sacred to render +good and true service to the very pious and sacred sovereigns, Justinian +and Theodora. + +When Theodora journeyed, a royal cortege accompanied her, consisting of +patricians, high dignitaries, and ministers, and an escort of four +thousand soldiers as guard. Her orders were received with deference +throughout the Empire; and when officials found them in contradiction +with those of the emperor, they often preferred the instructions of +Theodora to those of Justinian. Functionaries knew that her patronage +assured a rapid promotion in royal power and that her good will was a +guarantee against possible disgrace. Royal strangers sought to flatter +her vanity and to win her good graces. + +All the chroniclers record that in state papers on important affairs +Theodora was the collaborator with Justinian. The emperor gladly +acknowledged his indebtedness to her, and we read in one of his +ordinances: "Having this time again taken counsel of the most sacred +spouse whom God has given us...." Theodora likewise on occasion gave +evidence of her authority. She once ordered Theodatus to submit to her +the requests he wished to address to the emperor, and in a communication +to the ministers of the Persian king, Chosroes, she stated: "The emperor +never decides anything without consulting me." She was the regulating +power in both State and Church, appointing or disgracing generals and +ministers, making or unmaking patriarchs and pontiffs, raising to +fortune her favorites, and unsettling the power and position of her +opponents. + +Theodora's comprehension of the necessities of imperial politics was +something marvellous, and the wise moves of Justinian were due largely +to her counsel. Yet, though so superb a queen, she was all the more a +woman-fickle, passionate, avaricious of authority, and intensely jealous +of preserving the power she had. Apparently without scruples, she would +get rid of all influence which threatened to counterbalance her own, and +she brushed aside without pity all opposition which seemed to infringe +on her authority. In the intrigues of the palace she ever came off the +victor. Vainly did favorites and ministers who fancied themselves +indispensable attempt to ruin her credit with the emperor. The secretary +Priscus, whom the favor of Justinian had raised to office as count of +the bed-chamber, paid dearly for the insults which he addressed to +Theodora. He was exiled, imprisoned, and finally driven to take orders, +and his enormous fortune was confiscated. + +The history of John of Cappadocia is more significant still; at the same +time that it gives insight into the intrigues and plots of the Byzantine +courts, it throws a glowing light on the ambitious nature, the +unscrupulous energy, the vindictive spirit, and the perfidious +cleverness of the Empress Theodora. + +For six years John of Cappadocia occupied the exalted position of +praetorian prefect, which made him at the same time minister of finance +and minister of the interior, as well as the first minister of the +Empire. By his vices, his harshness, and his corruption he justified the +proverb: + +"The Cappadocian is bad by nature; if he attains to power he is worse; +but if he seeks to be supreme, he is the most detestable of all." But in +the eyes of Justinian he had one redeeming virtue: he furnished to every +request of the prince the funds which the vast expenditures of his reign +demanded. At the price of what exactions, of what sufferings of his +subjects, he obtained these admirable results, the emperor did not +inquire, or perhaps he ignored these considerations. At all events, the +prefect was a great favorite of the prince, and the court aides envied +the success of his administration. Having a dominating influence over +the emperor, possessing riches beyond the dreams of avarice, John +attained to the very apex of fortune. Superstitious by nature, the +promises of wizards had aroused in him the hope of attaining to the +supreme power, as the colleague or successor of Justinian. As a step +toward this he attempted to ruin the credit of Theodora with the +emperor. This was an offence which the haughty empress could not pardon. +The prefect was not ignorant how powerful an adversary he had aroused; +but, conscious of his influence with the emperor and of the state of the +finances which he alone could administer, he regarded himself as +indispensable. But he did not correctly gauge the subtlety of Theodora. +She first endeavored to convince the emperor of the sufferings which the +prefect inflicted on his subjects and then to arouse his suspicions as +to the dangers with which the throne was menaced by the ambition of +John: but the emperor, like all feeble natures, hesitated to separate +from himself a counsellor to whom by long habit and association he had +become attached. Then Theodora conceived a Machiavelian plot. + +Theodora's most intimate friend was Antonina, the wife of Belisarius, +whom Procopius describes as a woman "more capable than anyone else to +manage the impracticable." The two clever women devised an unscrupulous +bit of strategy which, if successful, would surely cause the downfall of +the much execrated minister of finance. Antonina, at Theodora's +suggestion, cultivated the friendship of John's daughter, Euphemia, and +intimated to her that her husband Belisarius was seriously disaffected +toward the emperor, because of the poor requital which his distinguished +services had received, but that he could not attempt to throw off the +imperial yoke unless he was assured of the sympathy and support of some +one of the important civil officials. Euphemia naturally told the news +to her father, who, seeing in the circumstance an opportunity to ascend +the throne with the aid of the powerful general, easily fell into the +trap. To perfect the plot the Cappadocian arranged a secret interview at +Rufinianum, one of the country seats of Belisarius. The empress arranged +to have two faithful officials, Marcellus and Narses, concealed in the +villa, with orders to arrest John if his treason became manifest, and, +if he resisted, straightway to put him to death. They overheard the +treasonable plot, but the minister succeeded in escaping arrest and fled +to the inviolable asylum of Saint Sophia. He was, however, exiled in +disgrace to Cyzicus; but the ruthless hatred of Theodora followed him, +and, after all his ill-gotten gains had been confiscated, he was exiled +to Egypt, where he remained until the death of the empress. He finally +returned to Constantinople, but Justinian had no further need of the +services of his quondam counsellor, and the latter, in the rude garb of +a priest, died upon the scene of his former triumphs. + +In her ruthless persecution of her opponents, as illustrated by this +incident, there seems to have been in this remarkable woman a singular +absence of the moral sense. + +True it is that she passionately loved power and luxury and wealth; +true, that she exercised her authority at times in a ruthless and +unscrupulous manner. Yet the hardness of her nature is offset by many +sympathetic qualities which show that, together with the sternness of an +empress, she had the heart of a woman. + +She showed a sympathetic interest in the welfare of her own family. She +married her sister Comito to Sittas, an officer of high rank. Her niece +Sophia was united in marriage with the nephew of Justin, heir +presumptive to the Empire. All her life she regretted that she did not +have a son to mount the throne: she had buried an infant daughter, the +sole offspring of her marriage. + +One of the most pleasing traits of her character was the large tolerance +and substantial sympathy she showed to fallen women. Severe on men, she +manifested for women a solicitude rarely equalled. On the Asiatic coast +of the Bosporus she converted a palace into a spacious and stately +monastery, known as the Convent of the Metanoia, or Repentance, and +richly endowed it for the benefit of her less fortunate sisters who had +been seduced or compelled to embrace the trade of prostitution. In this +safe and holy retreat were gathered hundreds of women, collected from +the streets and brothels of Constantinople; and many a hapless woman was +filled with gratitude toward the generous benefactress who had rescued +her from a life of sin and misery. + +Are we to see in this tender solicitude an exemplification of the words +of the poet, _Non ignara mali miseris succurrere disco_, or were her +endeavors merely the outcome of the religious exaltation of a pure and +noblewoman "naturally prone to succor women in misfortune," as a +Byzantine writer says of her? At any rate, this practical sympathy +exerted its influence also in enactments of the Justinian Code relating +to women; such as the ordinance tending to increase the dignity of +marriage and render it more indissoluble, or that to give to seduced +maidens recourse against their seducers, or that to relieve actresses of +the social disbarment which attended their calling. All these measures +were doubtless due to the inspiration of Theodora. + +She also carried her strict ideas as to the sanctity of marriage into +the life of the court, as is shown by the manner in which she pitilessly +spoiled the romance which would have united one of the most brilliant +generals of the Empire to a niece of Justinian. + +Præjecta, the emperor's niece, had fallen into the hands of Gontharis, a +usurper who had slain her husband, Areobindus. She had given up all as +lost when an unexpected savior appeared in the person of a handsome +Armenian officer, Artabanes, the commander in Africa, who overthrew the +usurper and restored her to liberty. From gratitude, Præjecta could +refuse her deliverer nothing, and she promised him her hand. The +ambitious Armenian saw in this brilliant marriage rapid promotion to the +height of power. The princess returned to Constantinople, and the Count +of Africa hastened to surrender his honorable office and sought a recall +to Constantinople to join his prospective bride. He was lionized in the +capital; his dignified demeanor, his burning eloquence and his unbounded +generosity won the admiration of all. To remove the social distance +between him and his fiancée he was loaded down with honors and +dignities. All went well until an unexpected and troublesome obstacle to +the nuptials presented itself. Artabanes had overlooked or forgotten the +fact that years before he had espoused an Armenian lady. They had been +separated a long time, and the warrior had never been heard to speak of +her. So long as he was an obscure soldier his wife was contented to +leave him in peace; but not so after his unexpected rise to fame. +Suddenly she appeared in Constantinople, claiming the rights of a lawful +spouse, and as a wronged woman she implored the sympathetic aid of +Theodora. + +The empress was inflexible when the sacred bonds of marriage were at +stake, and she forced the reluctant general to renounce all claims to +the princess and to take back his forsaken wife. By way of precaution, +she speedily married Præjecta to John, the grandson of the emperor +Anastasius, and the pretty romance was at an end. + +With equal regard to the sanctity of marriage, Theodora employed +numerous devices to reconcile Belisarius, the celebrated general, with +his wife Antonina, to whom the scandal of the _Secret History_ +attributes serious lapses from moral rectitude, though the charge cannot +be regarded as proved. + +A portrait of the Byzantine empress would be incomplete if it did not +speak of her religious sentiments and the prominent part she took in +ecclesiastical politics. In religious matters we see not only the best +side of Theodora's nature, but also the supreme exhibition of her +influence in the affairs of the Empire. Like all the Byzantines of her +time, she was pious and devoted in her manner of life. She was noted for +her almsgiving and her contributions to the foundations established by +the Church. Chroniclers cite the houses of refuge, the orphanages, and +the hospitals founded by her; and Justinian, in one of his ordinances, +speaks of the innumerable gifts which she made to churches, hospitals, +asylums, and bishoprics. + +Yet, in spite of these many exhibitions of inward piety, Theodora was +strongly suspected by the orthodox of heresy. She professed openly the +monophysite doctrine,--the belief in the one nature in the person of +Jesus Christ. She also endeavored to bring Justinian to her view, and, +with an eye to the interest of the state, she entered upon a course of +policy which reconciled the schismatics--but disgusted the orthodox +Catholics, who were in unison with Rome. The people of Syria and Egypt +were almost universally Monophysites and Separatists. Theodora, with a +political finesse far greater than that of her husband, saw that the +discontent in the Orient was prejudicial to the imperial power, and she +endeavored by her line of policy to reconcile the hostile parties and to +reestablish religious peace in the Empire. She recognized that the +centre of gravity of the government had passed permanently from Rome to +Constantinople, and that consequently the best policy was to keep at +peace the peoples of the East. + +Justinian, on the other hand, misled by the grandeur of Roman tradition, +wished to establish, through union with the Roman See, strict orthodoxy +in the restored empire of the Cæsars. Theodora, with greater acumen, +observed the irreconcilable lines of difference between East and West, +and recognized that to proscribe the learned and powerful party of +dissenters in the Orient would alienate important provinces and be fatal +to the authority of the monarchy. She therefore threw her influence into +the balance of heresy. She received the leaders of the Monophysites in +the palace, and listened sympathetically to their counsels, their +complaints, their remonstrances. She placed men of this faith in the +most prominent patriarchal sees--Severius at Antioch, Theodosius at +Alexandria, Anthimius at Constantinople. She transformed the palace on +Hormisdas into a monastery for the persecuted priests of Syria and Asia. +When Severius was subjected to persecution, she provided means for him +to escape from Constantinople; and when Anthimius was deposed from the +metropolitan see, she extended to him, in spite of imperial orders, her +open protection, and gave him an asylum in the palace. Her boldest coup, +however, consisted in placing on the pontifical seat at Rome a pope of +her own choice, pledged to act with the Monophysites. + +For this rôle she found the man in the Roman deacon Vigilius, for some +years apostolic legate at Constantinople. Vigilius was an ambitious and +clever priest who had won his way into the confidence of Theodora, and +the empress thought to find in him, when elevated to the pontifical +chair, a ready instrument for her purposes. It is recounted that, in +exchange for the imperial protection and patronage, Vigilius engaged to +reestablish Anthimius at Constantinople, to enter into a league with +Theodosius and Severius, and to annul the Council of Chalcedon. Upon the +death of the presiding pope, Agapetus, Vigilius set out for Rome with +letters for Belisarius, who was then at the height of his power in +Italy, and these letters were such that they did not admit of objection. +Apparently, in this affair Justinian had secretly assented to the plans +of the empress, seeing perhaps in the movement a solution which would +bring about the unity which he desired and place the Roman pontiff in +accord with the Orientals. But it was not without trouble that Vigilius +was installed. Immediately upon the death of Agapetus, the Roman party +had provided a successor in Silverius; and to seat Vigilius in the chair +of Saint Peter, they must first make Silverius descend. Belisarius was +charged with this repugnant task. With manifest reluctance, he undertook +his part in the questionable intrigue. He first suggested to Silverius a +dignified way of settling the affair by making the concessions which the +emperor desired of Vigilius. Silverius indignantly refused to make any +such compromise. Thereupon, under the imaginary pretext of treason, he +was brutally arrested, deposed, and sent into exile. Vigilius was at +once ordained pope in his stead. Theodora seemed to have conquered. + +But when securely installed, Vigilius, in spite of the threats of +Belisarius, deferred the fulfilment of his promises. Finally, however, +he was compelled to make important concessions to the empress. This was +the last triumph of Theodora; and toward the close of her life, in the +growing progress of the Eastern Church, and in the declining influence +of the pope, she had reason to believe that the dreams of her religious +diplomacy were realized. + +Theodora's advocacy of the cause of the dissenters accounts for much of +the vituperation heaped upon her by orthodox Catholics. In the eyes of +the Cardinal Baronius, the wife of Justinian was "a detestable creature, +a second Eve too ready to listen to the serpent, a new Delilah, another +Herodias, revelling in the blood of the saints, a citizen of Hell, +protected by demons, inspired by Satan, burning to break the concord +bought by the blood of confessors and of martyrs." It is worthy of note +that this was written before the discovery of the manuscript of the +_Secret History_. What would the learned cardinal have said had he known +of the alleged adventures of the youth of this woman, classed by pious +Catholics as one of the worst enemies of the Church? + +Perhaps, after all, we are to find in Theodora's religious defection the +source of all the scandal which has attached to her name. Damned in the +eyes of pious churchmen because of her religious faith that Christ's +nature was not dual, it was easy for the tongue of scandal regarding her +early life to gain credence. Had Theodora followed the orthodox in the +belief in the two natures, she might have committed worse offences than +were charged to her, and no such vituperation would have been uttered by +any member of the orthodox Church; but her position in the religious +controversies of the sixth century will certainly, in the twentieth +century, do her memory little harm. + +Theodora's health was always delicate. After these years of stormy +dissension, as her strength began to fail, she was directed to use the +famous Pythian warm baths. Her progress through Bithynia was made with +all the splendor of an imperial cortege, and all along the route she +distributed alms to churches, monasteries, and hospitals, with the +request that the devout should implore Heaven for the restoration of her +health. Finally, in the month of June, A. D. 548, in the twenty-fourth +year of her marriage and the twenty-second of her reign, Theodora died +of a cancer. Justinian was inconsolable at her loss, which rightly +seemed to him to be irreparable. His later years were lacking in the +energy and finesse that had characterized him during her lifetime, and +it was doubtless her loss which clouded his spirits and removed from him +the chief inspiration of his reign. Some years after Theodora's death, a +poet, desiring to gratify the emperor, recalled the memory of the +excellent, beautiful and wise sovereign, "who was beseeching at the +throne of grace God's favor on her spouse." + +We can hardly think of Theodora as a glorified saint, yet her goodness +of heart and her charity may atone for many of the serious defects in +her character. We know not whence she came nor the story of her early +life; but as an empress she exhibited all the defects of her qualities. +She was a woman cast in a large mould, and her faults stand out in equal +prominence with her virtues. She was at times cruel, selfish, and proud, +often despotic and violent, utterly unscrupulous and pitiless when it +was a question of maintaining her power. But she was resourceful, +resolute, energetic, courageous; her political acumen was truly +masculine; in a critical moment she saved the throne for Justinian, and +during all her lifetime she was his wise Egeria, by her counsel enabling +him to succeed in great movements; when her influence ceased to exercise +itself a decadence began which continued during the remaining years of +Justinian's reign. + +As a woman, she was capricious, passionate, vain, self-willed, but +sympathetic to the unfortunate and infinitely seductive. Truly imperial +was she in her vices, truly queenly in her virtues. Whatever may have +been her youth, her career on the throne is the best refutation of the +scandal of the _Secret History_, and she deserves a place in the records +of history as one of the world's greatest, most intelligent, most +fascinating empresses. + + + + +XII + +OTHER SELF-ASSERTING AUGUSTÆ--VERINA, ARIADNE, SOPHIA, MARTINA, IRENE + + +It is a noteworthy feature in the history of the Eastern Roman Empire +that periods in which empresses figure prominently in the affairs of +state alternate with periods in which the Augustæ are mere ciphers. +Eudoxia, the wife of Arcadius, marks the early limit of feminine +predominance in the independent history of the eastern section of the +Roman Empire. The Empress Irene, who reigned at first with her son +Constantine and afterward alone, marks the later limit of the Roman, as +distinguished from the strictly Byzantine Empire, since during her +reign, at the beginning of the ninth century, the Empire of the West was +completely dissevered from all connection with Constantinople through +the crowning of Charlemagne as Emperor of the West by Pope Leo. Thus a +masterful woman was the predominating influence at the beginning and at +the end of the existence of the Eastern Roman Empire as a separate +entity. + +In the interval between these two limits the most important reign was +that of Justinian and the most remarkable woman was, of course, the +Empress Theodora. Following Eudoxia were the rival Empresses Pulcheria +and Eudocia, celebrated for their beauty, their culture, and their +piety. + +When the house of Theodosius ceased to exist with Pulcheria and Marcian, +the Roman Empire in the East was safely guided through the stormy times +which saw its extinction in the West by a series of three men of +ability, Leo I. (457-474), Zeno (474-491), and Anastasius (491-518). +During this period two Augustæ--Verina and Ariadne--took a part in +imperial politics, and made up in wickedness and intrigue what they +lacked in culture and piety. Next followed the house of Justin, which +produced two remarkable women in Theodora and her niece Sophia, the +latter, though not the equal of her aunt in strength of character, yet +leaving her mark on the history of her times. + +Following the death of Sophia there was for nearly forty years a break +in the predominance of self-asserting Augustæ. Of the wives of Tiberius, +Maurice, and Phocas, we know merely the names--respectively, Anastasia, +Constantina, and Leontia Augusta. Heraclius's memorable reign was shared +with two empresses, the first of whom, Eudocia, did nothing to win +publicity, while the career of the second--Martina--recalls the +wickedness and the intrigue of Verina and Sophia. But the spouses of the +successors of Heraclius did not follow Martina's ignoble example, but +were women of whom nothing was recorded either of praise or blame. We do +not even know the name of the wife of Constans II., who entered upon a +long reign after the exile of Heracleonas, son of Martina. Anastasia, +the spouse of Constantine IV., Theodora, queen of the second Justinian, +Maria, spouse of Leo III., the Isaurian, and Irene, Maria, and Eudocia, +the three wives of Constantine V., played so little part in political +affairs that they are hardly better known than the nameless wives of the +emperors who filled up the interval between the second Justinian and Leo +the Isaurian (695-716). + +This brief resume brings us to the reign of the Empress Irene, who in +energy, in wickedness, and in ambition made up for all the deficiencies +of her predecessors. Having devoted separate chapters to the most +celebrated Augustæ of the Eastern Empire--Eudoxia, Pulcheria and +Eudocia, and Theodora--we shall group into one chapter our brief +consideration of the lives and characters of the less renowned but no +less pronounced Augustæ of the intervening periods--Verina, Ariadne, +Sophia, Martina, and Irene. + +Verina and her daughter Ariadne, through their wickedness and ambition, +cast dark shadows over the otherwise bright history of the house of Leo +the Great. Verina, the imperial consort of Leo, was a woman of little +cultivation but of great natural gifts, fond of intrigue, ambitious of +power, and implacable in hatred and revenge. Of her two daughters, +Ariadne had married Zeno the Isaurian, one of the most illustrious and +able officials of the Empire. Leo, the offspring of this union, was +selected as the heir and successor of Leo I., but upon the death of the +lad, shortly after his accession, Zeno was raised to the throne, much to +the disgust of the empress-mother Verina. She fostered'a conspiracy for +the downfall of Zeno and the elevation of Patricius, her paramour, and +as a result of her intrigues Zeno had to forsake his throne and flee to +the mountain fastnesses of Isauria, his native country, together with +his wife Ariadne and his mother Lallis. Verina's brother, Basiliscus, +aspired to the throne, but she opposed his claims in order to win the +purple for Patricius. After Zeno's flight, however, the ministers and +senators elected Basiliscus as his successor, and the new emperor +entered upon a most unpopular and checkered reign of only twenty months. +His queen was named Zenonis, a young and beautiful woman, who soon +gained an unenviable reputation because of her manifest fondness for her +husband's nephew Harmatius, a young fop, noted for his good looks and +his effeminate manners. An ancient chronicler tells the story of this +intrigue: + +"Basiliscus permitted Harmatius, inasmuch as he was a kinsman, to +associate freely with the empress Zenonis. Their intercourse became +intimate, and, as they were both persons of no ordinary beauty, they +became extravagantly enamored of each other. They used to exchange +glances of the eyes, they used constantly to turn their faces and smile +at each other, and the passion which they were obliged to conceal was +the cause of grief and vexation. They confided their trouble to Daniel, +a eunuch, and to Maria, a midwife, who hardly healed their malady by the +remedy of bringing them together. Then Zenonis coaxed Basiliscus to +grant her lover the highest office in the city." + +This palace intrigue was soon brought to an end, however, by the fall of +Basiliscus and the restoration of Zeno in 477, in spite of the intrigues +of Verina. After Zeno's return, his most powerful minister, the Isaurian +Illus, became the object of Verina's enmity and machinations. She even +formed a plot to assassinate him, which he was fortunate enough to +discover and frustrate. Recognizing that his power would not be secure +so long as Verina was at large, he begged Zeno to consign to him the +dangerous woman; and the emperor, doubtless glad to be rid of his +redoubtable mother-in-law, gave her over into his hands. Illus first +compelled her to take the vows of a nun at Tarsus, and then placed her +in confinement in Dalisandon, an Isaurian castle. + +But Illus had only got rid of one female foe to find a more bitter +antagonist in the latter's daughter, the empress Ariadne. She made the +second attempt on his life in 483, and used all her arts of intrigue to +estrange from him the Emperor Zeno. Finally, realizing that his life was +not safe in Constantinople, Illus withdrew from the court, and later +attached himself to the cause of the rebel Leontius, who sought to +overthrow Zeno. In support of the rebel's cause, Illus turned to his +quondam enemy Verina, the empress-mother, who from her prison castle was +glad to seize the opportunity to deal a blow to her ungrateful +son-in-law. To give the semblance of legitimacy to the cause of +Leontius, Verina was induced to crown him at Tarsus, and she also issued +a letter in his interest, which was sent to various cities and exerted a +marked influence on the disaffected. Leontius established an imperial +court at Antioch, but was speedily overthrown by Theodoric the +Ostrogoth. The two leaders of the conspiracy, with Verina, took refuge +in the Isaurian stronghold of Papirius, where they stood a siege for +four years, during which time Verina died. The fortress was finally +taken through the treachery of Illus's sister-in-law, and Illus and +Leontius were slain. + +After the death of Zeno, Anastasius was in 491 proclaimed emperor +through the influence of the widowed empress Ariadne, who married him +about six weeks later and continued to be an influence in politics +during Anastasius's long and successful reign. + +In Verina and Ariadne we see a mother and a daughter exceedingly alike +in character, but frequently at cross purposes with each other because +of their similar traits. Both were ambitious, both fond of intrigue, and +both ready to commit any crime when it answered their purpose. Verina, +pleased at the accession of her grandson Leo, whom she could control, +was chagrined and disappointed when upon the lad's death his masterful +father was elevated to the throne; and, continuing her intrigues, she +lost first her royal station and then her freedom and her life in her +endeavor to do an injury to her son-in-law. Ariadne quickly grasped the +power which her mother had lost, and has the unusual record of choosing +her husband's successor on the throne and of being the imperial consort +of two rulers in succession. + +We pass now to the dynasty of Justin and to a consideration of the niece +of the great Theodora, Sophia, empress of Justin the Younger, nephew and +successor of Justinian. + +The poet Corippus gives a dramatic account of the elevation of Justin +and Sophia. During Justinian's long illness the two were faithful +attendants at his bedside and ministered to his every want. Finally, one +morning, before the break of day, Justin was awakened by a patrician and +informed that the emperor was dead. Soon after, the members of the +Senate entered the palace and assembled in a beautiful room overlooking +the sea, where they found Justin conversing with his wife Sophia. They +greeted the royal pair as Augustus and Augusta; and the twain, with +apparent reluctance, submitted to the will of the Senate. They then +repaired to the imperial chamber, and gazed, with tearful eyes, upon the +corpse of their beloved uncle. Sophia at once ordered to be brought an +embroidered cloth, on which was wrought in gold and brilliant colors the +whole series of Justinian's labors, the emperor himself being +represented in the midst with his foot resting upon the neck of the +Vandal giant. The next morning, Justin and his imperial consort +proceeded to the church of Saint Sophia, where they made a public +declaration of the orthodox faith. + +In taking this step, Sophia showed that she had the ambition but not the +political acumen of her aunt Theodora. Like the latter, she had been +originally a Monophysite; but a wily bishop had suggested that her +heretical opinions stood in the way of her husband's promotion to the +rank of Cæsar, and in consequence she found it advisable to join the +ranks of the orthodox. Unfortunately, by this step the balance of the +religious parties, which Theodora had so successfully maintained, was +broken, and the later years of Justin's reign were disgraced by the +persecution of the Monophysites, so that great disaffection toward the +throne was created throughout the East. + +The religious ceremony was soon followed by the acclamations of the +populace in the Hippodrome, which were made all the more hearty through +the act of Justin in discharging the vast debts of his uncle Justinian; +and, before three years had elapsed, his example was imitated and +surpassed by the empress, who delivered many indigent citizens from the +weight of debt and usury--an act of benevolence which won for her the +gratitude and adoration of the populace. + +Thus auspiciously began the reign of Justin and Sophia, which the royal +pair had proclaimed was to be an new era of happiness and glory for +mankind; but, though the sentiments of the emperor were pure and +benevolent and it was the ambition of the empress to surpass her aunt +Theodora, neither had the intellectual gifts equal to the task, and +during their reign the Empire was subjected to disgrace abroad and to +wretchedness at home. + +Much the same ingratitude which Belisarius had experienced at the hand +of his imperial mistress was visited upon his eminent successor, Narses, +by the new empress. She sent Longinus, as the new exarch, to supersede +the conqueror of Italy, and in most insulting language recalled the +eunuch Narses to Constantinople. "Let him leave to men," she said, "the +exercise of arms, and return to his proper station among the maidens of +the palace, where a distaff should be again placed in the hands of the +eunuch." "I will spin her such a thread as she shall not easily +unravel!" is said to have been the indignant reply of the hero, who +alone had saved Italy to the Empire. Instead of returning to the +Byzantine palace, he returned to Naples and later dwelt at Rome, where +he passed away and with him the only military genius great enough to +ward off the invasion of the Lombards. + +After a reign of a few years the faculties of Justin, which were +impaired by disease, began to fail, and in 574 he became a hopeless +lunatic. The only son of the imperial pair had died in infancy, and the +question of a successor now became a serious one. The daughter, Arabia, +was the wife of Baduarius, superintendent of the palace, who vainly +aspired to the honor of adoption as the Cæsar. Domestic animosities +turned the empress elsewhere. + +The artful empress found a suitable successor in Tiberius, the young and +handsome captain of the guards, and, in one of his sane intervals, +Justin, at her instance, created him a Cæsar. During the few remaining +years of Justin's life, Tiberius showed himself to both his adopted +parents a filial and grateful son, and meekly submitted to all the +exactions of his empress-mother. Though relying on Tiberius for the +sterner duties of the imperial office, Sophia retained all her authority +and sovereignty as Augusta and would not submit to the presence of +another queen in the palace. Tiberius was already a husband and father. +In a sane moment, Justin, with masculine good nature and blindness to +feminine foibles, blandly suggested that Ino, the wife of the Cæsar, +should dwell with Tiberius in the palace, for, he added, "he is a young +man and the flesh is hard to rule." But Sophia immediately put her foot +down. "As long as I live," said she, "I will never give my kingdom to +another"--words that were possibly a reminiscence of the celebrated +saying of Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra, "I am a queen; and as long as I +live I will reign." Consequently, during the lifetime of Justin, Ino and +her two daughters lived in complete retirement in a modest house not far +from the palace. Her social status aroused considerable interest among +the ladies of the court circle, who found it difficult to decide whether +or not they should call on the wife of the Cæsar. At tables and +firesides this question was gravely discussed, but no one would take the +initiative of visiting Ino without first consulting the wishes of +Sophia. Finally, when one of the ladies, with considerable trepidation, +ventured to ask the empress, she was scolded for her pains; "Go away and +be quiet," responded the imperious Sophia, "it is no business of yours." + +When, however, a few days before the death of Justin, Tiberius was +inaugurated emperor, he at once installed his wife in the palace, to the +chagrin of the empress-mother, and had her recognized by the factions of +the Hippodrome. A conflict arose as to what should be her Christian name +as empress: the Blues wished to change her pagan name to "Anastasia," +while the Greens urged stoutly the adoption of the name of the sainted +"Helena." Tiberius decided with the Blues, and as Anastasia Ino was +crowned Empress of the East. + +During the long apprenticeship of Tiberius, Sophia had held the purse +strings and had kept the young Cæsar on an allowance which seemed too +small to comport with his imperial prospects. Upon becoming emperor, +however, Tiberius quickly rid himself of the dictation of his patroness. +He gave her a stately palace in which to live, and surrounded her with a +numerous train of eunuchs and courtiers; he paid her ceremonious visits +on formal occasions and always saluted the widow of his benefactor with +the title of mother. But it was impossible for Sophia to overcome her +disappointment at being deprived of power, and she set on foot numerous +conspiracies to dethrone Tiberius and to bring about the elevation of +some one whom she could control. The chief of these plots centred about +the young Justinian, the son of Germanus of the house of Anastasius. +Upon the death of Justin a faction had asserted the claims of Justinian; +but Tiberius had freely pardoned the youth for aspiring to the purple +and had given him the command of the Eastern army. Sophia seized upon +the acclamation which the renown of his victories inspired to start a +conspiracy in his interests, but Tiberius heard in time of the intended +uprising and by his personal exertions and firmness suppressed the +conspiracy. He once more forgave Justinian, but he realized the +necessity of restraining the activity of the rapidly aging, but still +clever and intriguing, ex-empress. Sophia was deprived of all imperial +honors and reduced to a modest station, and the care of her person was +committed to a faithful guard who should frustrate any further attempts +on her part to play a part in the game of imperial politics. Thus the +ambitious niece of Theodora passed off the stage of action after a +career which, beginning with every promise of brilliant success and high +renown, had, after many vicissitudes, ended in humiliation and disgrace. + +Heraclius's long and memorable reign, from 610 to 641, was characterized +by much domestic infelicity. Upon the day of his coronation he +celebrated his marriage with the delicate Eudocia, who bore him two +children, a daughter, Epiphania, and a son, Heraclius Constantine, the +natural successor to the throne. Heraclius's second wife was his own +niece Martina, the marriage being considered incestuous by the orthodox +and becoming the cause of much scandal. The curses of Heaven too seemed +to be upon the union; of the children, Flavius had a wry neck and +Theodosius was deaf and dumb; the third, Heracleonas, had no pronounced +physical deformity, but was lacking in intellectual power and in moral +force. The physical sufferings of Heraclius in his last years were also +looked upon as retribution for his sin. + +Martina's influence upon her aged husband in his declining years was +unbounded. Full of ambition and intrigue, she induced him upon his +deathbed to declare her son Heracleonas joint heir with Constantine, +hoping thus herself to wield imperial power. "When Martina first +appeared on the throne with the name and attributes of royalty, she was +checked by a firm, though respectful opposition; and the dying embers of +freedom were kindled by the breath of superstitious prejudice. 'We +reverence,' exclaimed the voice of a citizen, 'we reverence the mother +of our princes; but to those princes alone our obedience is due; and +Constantine, the elder emperor, is of an age to sustain in his own hand +the weight of the sceptre. Your sex is excluded by nature from the toils +of government. How could you combat, how could you answer, the +barbarians who, with hostile or friendly intentions, may approach the +royal city? May Heaven avert from the Roman Republic this national +disgrace which would provoke the patience of the slaves of Persia!' +Martina descended from the throne with indignation and sought a refuge +in the female apartment of the palace." + +But, though deprived of the outward prerogatives of supreme power, she +determined all the more to wield the sceptre through the power of her +son. The reign of Constantine III. lasted only one hundred and three +days, and at the early age of thirty he expired. The belief was +prevalent that poison was the means used by his inhuman stepmother to +bring him to his untimely end. Martina at once caused her son to +proclaim himself sole emperor. But the public abhorrence of the +incestuous widow of Heraclius was only increased by this deed, for +Constantine had left a son, Constans, the natural heir. Both Senate and +populace rose in indignation, and compelled Heracleonas to comply with +their demand that Constans be made his colleague. His submission saved +him for only a year. In 642 he was deposed by the Senate, and he and his +mother Martina were sent into exile. So violent was the popular rage +that the tongue of the mother and the nose of the son were slit--the +first instance of the barbarous Oriental custom being applied to members +of the royal house. + +Martina was always looked upon by the devout of her age as "the accursed +thing." She had by intrigue won the hand of her widowed uncle, by +intrigue exerted a dominating influence over the emperor even up to his +dying moments, and by intrigue tried to determine the destiny of her son +and her stepson. But the intriguing widow reaped in public abhorrence +the natural results of her offences. For a time the people endured the +abomination of her unnatural crimes, but at last they visited upon her a +well-merited punishment. + +The reign of the empress Irene is noteworthy because of her restoration +of the images banished by Leo the Isaurian and his successors, and +because it marks the end of all union between the Eastern and Western +Empires and the beginning of the Byzantine Empire strictly so called. +Hence, it deserves more minute attention than the other reigns we have +briefly sketched, and some mention must be made of the history of the +religious movement with which Irene's name is so intimately connected. + +Leo III., the Isaurian, the most remarkable of the Byzantine emperors +since the days of the great Justinian, made his long reign from 717 to +740 memorable by his victories over the Saracens and his long and bitter +conflict against the image worship and relic worship which had developed +rapidly throughout the Empire and had assumed the aspect of fetichism. + +The early Christians, owing to their Jewish proclivities, had felt an +unconquerable repugnance to the use of images, and their religious +worship was uniformly simple and spiritual. As the Greek influence +spread throughout the Church, however, there developed a veneration of +the Cross and of the relics of the saints. Then it was thought that if +the relics were esteemed, so much the more should be the faithful copies +of the persons of the saints, as delineated by the arts of painting and +sculpture. In course of time, by a natural development, the honors of +the original were transferred to the copy, and the Christian's prayer +before the image of the saint ceased to distinguish between the +counterfeit presentment and the saint it was designed to portray. As +healing power was attributed to many of the images and pictures, the +popular adoration of them grew. Thus, by the end of the sixth century +the worship of images was firmly established, especially among the +Greeks and Asiatics. Many pious souls began to see that this idolatry of +the Christians hardly differed from the idolatry of the Greeks, and that +they had no potent arguments against the assertions of Jews and +Mohammedans that Greek Christianity was but a continuation of Greek +paganism. Consequently, a reaction began, which reached its culmination +in the reign of Leo the Isaurian, who, because of his active hostility +to images, was surnamed Leo the Iconoclast. His measures were severe, +and he introduced a movement which involved the East in a tremendous +conflict of one hundred and twenty years. + +Leo's son, Constantine V.,--Copronymus,--was a more cruel and determined +iconoclast than his father; but into his own family circle he was +destined to introduce a member who was to set at naught the efforts of +father and son and restore the worship of images to its former +flourishing estate. Copronymus himself had had three wives, the most +prominent of whom was a barbarian, the daughter of a khan of the +Chazars; but for the wife of his son and heir, Leo IV., he selected an +Athenian virgin, an orphan of seventeen summers, whose sole endowment +consisted in her beauty and her personal charms. As in the case of +Athenais, nothing is known of the antecedents of Irene. Who her parents +were, what was her education, how many years she lived in her native +city--these are questions of idle speculation.--Her imperial career +shows that she was a woman of remarkable beauty and fascination, of +highly trained intellectual gifts and Hellenic temperament, and from +this we are led to infer that she had in her youth the best instruction +her native city afforded. + +The nuptials of Leo and Irene were celebrated with imposing splendor, +and the new princess rapidly became an important influence in the life +of the palace, winning the regard of her father-in-law and acquiring an +indisputable ascendency over her feeble husband. Irene, though a +Christian, inherited the idolatry and the love of images and ritual of +her ancestors; but during the remaining years of the reign of Copronymus +and the four short years in which her husband occupied the throne she +repressed her zeal, and by clever dissimulation hid her devotion to the +cause of the image worshippers. + +Leo left the Empire to his son Constantine VI., a lad of ten years, with +the empress-dowager Irene as sole regent and guardian of the Roman +world. During the minority of her son Irene discharged with vigor and +assiduity all the duties of public administration and enjoyed to the +full the irresponsible power of her office of regent. She took advantage +of her power to restore the worship of images and thus won the favor of +a large faction of the populace and the clergy. She endeavored to bring +up her son in such a way that he should continue to be subservient to +her, and as he approached the age at which he should assume the reins of +government, Irene showed no disposition to yield up her power. + +Even when Constantine became of age, he was excluded from state affairs. +He had been betrothed to Rotrud, daughter of Charlemagne; but Irene, for +the sake of her own power, had broken off the match and compelled him to +marry one of her favorites, who was distasteful to him. The maternal +yoke, which he had so patiently borne, finally became grievous, and +Constantine listened eagerly to the favorites of his own age who urged +him to assert his rights. He was finally persuaded to do so, and +succeeded in seizing the helm of state. His mother vigorously resisted, +but was overcome and compelled to go into seclusion for a time; but +Constantine at length pardoned her and restored her former dignity. +Irene, however, had by no means relinquished her ambition for sole +power, and availed herself of every opportunity to discredit the prince +and enhance her own popularity. + +Constantine became enamored of one of his mother's maids of honor, +Theodota. With the insidious purpose of making him odious to the clergy, +who discountenanced divorce and second marriage, Irene encouraged him to +put away his wife, Maria, and marry Theodota. The patriarch Tarasius, a +creature of the empress-mother, acquiesced in the emperor's wishes, and, +though he would not perform the ceremony himself, he ordered one of his +subordinates to celebrate the unpopular bans. The affair created great +scandal among the monks and was injurious to the prestige of the +emperor. + +A powerful conspiracy was secretly organized for the restoration of the +empress. At length the emperor, suspecting his danger, escaped from +Constantinople with the purpose of arousing the provinces and the armies +so that he might return to the city with sufficient force to overwhelm +the conspirators and establish beyond question his power. By this flight +the empress was left in danger, because of the possible exposure of the +plot and the indignation of the populace. She acted with her customary +shrewdness and duplicity. Among those about the emperor were some who +were involved in the conspiracy; so, while appearing to be making ready +to implore the mercy and beg the return of her son, she sent to these +men a secret communication in which she veiled the threat that if they +did not act, she would reveal their treason. Fearing for their lives, +they acted at once with the boldness of desperate criminals. Seizing the +emperor on the Asiatic shore, they conveyed him across the Hellespont to +the porphyry apartment of the palace, the chamber in which he was born. +The son was now completely in the power of the mother, in whom ambition +had stifled every maternal emotion. In the bloody council called by the +traitors she urged that Constantine should be rendered incapable of +holding the throne. Her emissaries blinded the young prince and immured +him in a monastery. As a blind monk Constantine survived five of his +successors; but his memory was revived among men only by the marriage of +his daughter Euphrosyne with the Emperor Michael the Second. + +For five years Irene enjoyed all the delights and experienced all the +bitterness of absolute power. Her crime called down upon her the +execration of all the best among mankind, but dread of her cruelty +prevented any open outbreak against her. She carried on the movement for +the restoration of images, and by her outward piety she caused men to +overlook the heinous nature of her crimes. Her reign was noted for its +external splendor and the strong influence she exerted on all affairs of +state. She offered marriage to the Emperor Charlemagne of the West, but +he repelled with repugnance all overtures from the unnatural mother and +reminded her that her intrigues had prevented the union of his daughter +with the Emperor Constantine. In fact, her accession brought about the +final severing of all bonds of union between the eastern and western +divisions of the Roman world. Pope Leo regarded a female sovereign as an +anomaly and an abomination in the eyes of all true Romans, and he +brought to an end all claims the Byzantine dynasty might have on Italy +at least, by creating Charlemagne Emperor of the West. + +These years of power were troublous ones to the wicked queen, because of +rebellions abroad and palace intrigues at home. She had surrounded +herself with servile patricians and eunuchs, whom she enriched and +elevated to the highest offices of state; but her own example had +fostered in them ingratitude and duplicity, and, while they showed her +every outward mark of deference, they secretly conspired for her +downfall and their own elevation. The grand treasurer, Nicephorus, won +over the leading eunuchs and courtiers about the person of the empress, +and the decision was reached that he should be invested with the purple. +Never was Irene more queenly than in the manner with which she received +the intelligence of her fall. When the conspirators informed her that +she must retire from the palace, she addressed them with becoming +dignity, recounting the revolutions of her life, and accepting with +composure her fate. She gently reproached Nicephorus for his perfidy and +reminded him that he owed his elevation to her, and she requested the +proper recognition of her imperial standing and asked for a safe and +honorable retreat. But the greed of Nicephorus would not grant this last +request; he deprived her of all her dignities and wealth, and exiled her +to the Isle of Lesbos, where she endured every hardship and gained a +scanty subsistence by the labors of her distaff. Irene survived the +change of her fortune for only one year, and in 803 died of +grief--destitute, forsaken, and lonely. + +Because of her wickedness Irene's name is perpetuated in history among +the Messalinas and the Lucrezia Borgias. Because of her religious +orthodoxy she was canonized as a saint,--a striking instance of how +outward conformity to religion covers a multitude of sins. + + + + +XIII + +BYZANTINE EMPRESSES THEODORA II., THEOPHANO, ZOE, THEODORA III. + + +The Iconoclastic controversy was far from being extinguished with the +fall (in the person of Irene) of the house of Leo the Isaurian. It was +destined to continue for over half a century longer and to be finally +settled by another empress whose career bore marked similarity to that +of the image-loving Irene; and it then remained settled because the +second image-loving queen was succeeded by a royal house sprung from one +of the European themes which was in sympathy, accordingly, with the +Church of the West, rather than with the religious sentiment of the +people of the Orient. + +But a greater change had come over the Eastern Empire with the exile and +death of Irene. Her elevation had, as we have seen, severed the +connection between East and West and led to the appointment of a Western +emperor in the person of Charlemagne. Hence, from this time onward the +interests and sympathies of the two sections of the later Roman Empire +diverge more and more, and the government at Constantinople becomes ever +more Oriental in its proclivities. It is, therefore, more appropriate to +use the adjective Byzantine for the remaining centuries of the history +of Constantinople to its conquest by the Turks in 1453. + +The careers of Irene and her successor, Theodora, the two +image-worshipping empresses, in the contrast of the vicissitudes of +their lives with the rapidity of their rise and the splendor of their +power, offer materials for romance more truly than for sober history. +Each was born in private station; and in each case it must have required +rare beauty and fascination and high intellectual gifts to fill so +successfully the exalted position of Empress of the Romans, and to +overturn the iconoclastic reforms of their predecessors on the throne. +Each of them, too, when regent, was grossly neglectful of the son over +whose youth she presided, and whom she should have fitted for the high +station to which he was destined. Yet herein lies the marked difference +between the two queens: Irene finally expelled her son from his royal +station, and sent him to pass his life as a blinded monk in a secluded +cell; Theodora, finding she could no longer control the wild nature of +her son, whose training she had neglected, retired from the court and +sought relief in a life of penitence. For their pious acts, both +empresses were canonized as orthodox saints, but Irene must ever be +regarded as a demon at heart, while Theodora must pass as a misguided +and self-deceived woman, who, in the performance of her religious +duties, overlooked the most important task just at hand. But we are +anticipating our consideration of Theodora, the second Irene. + +The iconoclastic controversy was renewed by Nicephorus, who usurped the +throne of Irene, as he was of Oriental extraction and therefore in +sympathy with the so-called heretics. Neither Nicephorus nor his +successor during a period of political anarchy came to a peaceful end, +but Michael II., in 829 died a natural death in the royal palace, still +wearing the crown he had won, and leaving the throne to his son +Theophilus, destined to rank as the Haroun Al Raschid of Byzantine +romance and story. Michael had married Euphrosyne, the daughter of +Irene's son, Constantine VI., and the last scion of Leo the Isaurian. +Euphrosyne had already taken the veil, but, to bring about a union which +might probably continue the line of Leo, the patriarch absolved her from +her vows, and she passed from the convent to the palace as Empress of +the East. Yet, so far as we know, there was no issue of the marriage, +and Michael's son--Theophilus--by a former wife succeeded his father on +the throne. Euphrosyne remained for a time in the palace as +empress-dowager, and seems to have been on the best of terms with her +stepson, whom she at length assisted in the important but difficult task +of selecting a consort. + +Theophilus, since the time of Constantine VI., was the first prince to +be brought up in the purple, and his education was the best the age +afforded. The ninth century was an age of romance, both in action and in +literature, and Theophilus was inspired with many of the ideas of +Oriental monarchs. His reign, therefore, furnishes a series of anecdotes +and tales like to those of the Arabian Nights, and was surrounded with +an Oriental glamour and mystery. And, like his predecessors, he was a +pronounced iconoclast. + +Theophilus was unmarried when he ascended the throne, and the matter of +choosing a wife presented many difficulties to the absolute ruler who +could have his choice from among the daughters of the aristocratic +families of Constantinople, or even from the provinces of his dominions. +He finally took counsel with the attractive empress-dowager Euphrosyne, +and between them they devised a plan which would permit of a wide range +of choice and yet possess all the romance of mythical times. + +The empress-dowager one day assembled at her levee all the most +beautiful and accomplished daughters of the nobles of the capital. While +the maidens were engaged in the interchange of friendly greetings, +Theophilus suddenly entered the room, carrying, like Paris of old, a +golden apple in his hand. He cast his eyes over the room, and there was +a flutter in many a feminine heart over the object of his coming and the +possible recipient of the golden apple. Struck by the beauty and grace +of the fair Eikasia, one of the noted belles of the day, he paused +before her to address a word to her. Already in the heart of the proud +beauty there were anticipations of an imperial career. But Theophilus +found no better topic to commence a conversation than the ungallant +remark: "Woman is the source of evil in the world;" to which the young +lady quickly replied: "Woman is also the cause of much good." Either the +ready retort or the tone of her voice jarred on the captious mind of the +monarch, and he passed on. His eye then fell on the modest features and +graceful figure of the young Theodora, a rival beauty, and to her, +without risking a word, he handed the apple. The shock was too severe +for the slighted Eikasia, who had for a moment felt the thrill of +gratified ambition, and was conscious of the possession of the +endowments that would adorn the throne. She straightway retired to a +monastery which she founded, and devoted her time to religious practices +and intellectual pursuits. Many hymns were composed by her, which +continued long in use in the Greek Church. + +Perhaps it would have been better for Theophilus had he chosen Eikasia. +Theodora, with all her modest demeanor, was self-assertive and proud, +and as a devoted iconodule she caused her husband many an unhappy hour +during his lifetime; and as soon as he was dead she set to work to undo +his policy. The Empress Euphrosyne too soon realized the masterful +spirit of the new empress as did Theodora's own mother, Theoktista, and +the two dowagers retired into the monastery of Gastria, which afforded +them an agreeable retreat from the intrigues of the court. + +Theodora is the heroine of another tale which illustrated an unbecoming +trait in her character and the love of justice of Theophilus. It was the +practice of money-loving officials to engage secretly in trade and to +avoid the payment of custom duties by engaging the empress, or members +of the imperial family, in commercial adventures. By these practices, +gross injustice was done the merchants, and the revenues of the state +suffered. Theophilus learned that the young empress had lent her name to +one of these trading speculations, and he determined to handle the +matter in such a way that, in future, a repetition would be impossible. +He ascertained the time when a ship laden with a valuable cargo in the +empress's name was about to arrive in Constantinople. He assembled his +whole court on the quay to witness its arrival, and when the captain of +the ship demanded free entry in the empress's name, Theophilus compelled +him to unload and expose his precious cargo of Syrian merchandise, and +then publicly burn it; then, turning to his wife, he remarked that never +in the history of man had a Roman emperor or empress turned trader, and +added the sharp reproach that her avarice had degraded the character of +an empress into that of a merchant. + +Theophilus died in 842, leaving the throne to his three-year-old son, +Michael. His mother, Theodora, as she had been crowned empress, was +regent in her own right, and she quickly proved herself one of the most +self-assertive of Byzantine princesses. As Theophilus and his +predecessors overturned the work of Irene, so Theodora immediately began +to undo the iconoclastic policy of her deceased husband; and as her +successors continued her policy, the regency of Theodora marks the end +of iconoclasm and the permanent establishment of image worship in the +churches of the East, as of the West. + +Within the first month of the commencement of the new reign, images had +appeared once more in the churches of Constantinople, and the banished +image worshippers were recalled from their places of exile. John the +Grammarian, the patriarch who had served Theophilus, was deposed because +he refused to convoke a synod for the repeal of iconoclastic decrees, +and Methodius was appointed in his stead. A council of the church was +held the same year at Constantinople, composed largely of the lately +exiled bishops, abbots, and monks who had distinguished themselves as +confessors in the cause of image worship. All the prominent bishops who +had held iconoclastic opinions were expelled from their sees, and their +places were filled by the orthodox. The practices and doctrines of the +Iconoclasts were formally anathematized and banished forever from the +orthodox church. + +While the synod was being held, in the heart of Theodora a conflict was +going on between her love of image worship and her affection for her +deceased husband. She did not waver in her zeal for the orthodox church, +but she did dread to think of her husband as consigned, as a heretic, to +the pangs of hell. Consequently, she presented herself one day to the +assembled clergy, and requested the passage of a decree to the effect +that her deceased husband's sins had all been pardoned by the Church, +and that divine grace had effaced the record of his persecutions of the +saints. Deep dissatisfaction showed itself on the faces of all the +clergy when she made this singular request, and when they hesitated to +speak she uttered, with innocent frankness, a mild threat that if they +did not act favorably on her petition, she would not exert her influence +as regent to give them the victory over the Iconoclasts, but would leave +the affairs of the Church in their present status. The patriarch +Methodius finally found his voice to tell her that the Church could use +its office to release the souls of orthodox princes from the pains of +hell, but unfortunately the prayers of the Church were of no avail in +obtaining forgiveness from God for those who died without the pale of +orthodoxy; that the Church was intrusted with the keys of heaven only to +open and shut the gates of salvation to the living, while the dead were +beyond its help. + +Theodora, however, was determined all the more to secure salvation for +her deceased husband. She declared that in his last moments the dying +Theophilus had tenderly grasped and kissed an image she had laid on his +breast. Although the probabilities were that the soul of Theophilus had +already sped ere such an event took place, the wily Methodius saw in the +statement an escape from the dilemma that faced the synod; and upon his +recommendation the assembled clergy consented to absolve the dead +emperor from excommunication and to receive him into the bosom of the +orthodox church, declaring that, as his last moments were spent in the +manner Theodora certified in a written attestation, Theophilus had found +pardon with God. + +Like her more celebrated predecessor Irene, Theodora exhibited a +masterful ability in governing, and, in spite of her persecuting policy +toward the Iconoclasts, she preserved the tranquillity of the Empire and +enhanced its prestige. Like Irene, too, she became so engrossed in +things religious and political that she shamefully neglected the +education of her son. It is a sad commentary on the history of the +Church that in the long series of emperors from Theodosius to Basil only +two were utterly unfit for the high station to which they fell heir, and +these were the sons of the two empresses whose names figure so largely +in the triumph of the image worshippers,--Irene's son, Constantine VI., +and Theodora's son, Michael III. + +Theodora, absorbed in imperial ambition, abandoned the training of her +child to her brother Bardas, of whose profligate life she could not have +been ignorant. Bardas reared the young Michael in the most reckless and +unconscientious manner, permitting him to neglect his serious studies, +and teaching him his own vices of drunkenness and debauchery. Michael +proved to be an apt pupil in profligacy, and before he reached his +majority had become a confirmed dipsomaniac. Meanwhile, his mother, with +the aid of her minister, Theoktistus, arrogated to herself the sole +direction of public business, and viewed with indifference her brother's +corruption of the principles of her son. Perhaps she saw in his ruin the +continuance and perpetuation of her own power; perhaps she feared that +his influence would be cast with the Iconoclasts, as had been his +father's before him, and that only by his wild career could he be +prevented from overturning the cherished plans of her heart. + +In spite of his irregular life, however, Michael manifested a strong +will of his own, and, as the time of the attainment of his majority +approached, he came to an open quarrel with his mother. He had fallen +violently in love with Eudocia, the daughter of Inger, of the powerful +family of Martinakes, and Theodora and her ministers saw in an alliance +with this house the probability of a potent opposition to their own +political influence. Theodora realized that she must in some manner +prevent this marriage, and she exerted her maternal influence so +strongly that she compelled the lad of sixteen to marry another lady +named Eudocia, the daughter of Dekapolitas--thus repeating the +unfortunate policy of Irene on a similar occasion. The young roué, +however, balked in his purpose to make Eudocia Ingerina his wife, +straightway made her his mistress, and thus brought public disgrace on +the court life of the day. His marriage also incensed him against the +regency; and at the first opportunity, he asserted his majority, +sanctioned the murder of the prime minister Theoktistus, and grew weary +of the presence of his mother. + +He succeeded in dismissing his mother and sisters from the palace, and +even attempted to persuade the patriarch to give them the veil. With the +hope of regaining her power over her son, Theodora formed a plot to +assassinate her brother Bardas; but the plot was discovered, and Michael +compelled her to retire to the monastery of Gastria, the usual residence +of the ladies of the imperial family who were secluded from the world. +Yet, the empress-mother never descended to the baseness of Irene, so as +to seek the injury of her ungrateful son. + +Meanwhile, Michael selected as his boon companion the courtier Basil, +who had begun his career as a groom in the stables of some nobleman of +the court. The two gave their time to debauchery and lust; and as a +token of his favor, Michael compelled Basil to marry his discarded +mistress, Eudocia Ingerina. + +In the solitude of the cloister, Theodora deplored the ingratitude, the +vices, and the inevitable ruin of her worthless son, and, repenting of +her earlier folly in neglecting his bringing up, endeavored to make +amends for the mistake of her past life. Finally, after the death of her +brother, Theodora regained some of her maternal influence and was +permitted to reside at the palace of Saint Mamas, where occurred the +last sad tragedy of her career. + +Basil, who in spite of all carousals could always keep his head, +observed how his friend Michael had thrown away the high privileges of +his station and had become an object of contempt in the eyes of all good +men. His overweening ambition to mount the throne overcame every noble +sentiment, and he plotted to assassinate the emperor and to usurp +supreme power. The tragedy occurred in the palace of the empress-mother. +Basil and his wife, Eudocia Ingerina, were invited by her to a feast at +her house, where Michael was present. An orgy ensued; Michael was +carried to his room in a state of intoxication, and Basil and his +conspirators succeeded in despatching him in his drunken sleep. Basil +mounted the throne, and was destined to found the longest dynasty in the +annals of the Empire. Theodora, bowed down with sorrows, and distressed +beyond measure at the cruel destiny of her first-born, died in the first +year of the reign of Basil I. + +Theodora, because of her zeal for image worship, was eulogized as a +saint by the ecclesiastical writers of both the Western and the Eastern +Church, and is honored with a place in the Greek Calendar. Had her +devotion to her children equalled her self-sacrificing loyalty to church +affairs, she might have changed the course of Byzantine history. But, +failing in her maternal duties, her name shared the ignominy as well as +the glory of Irene, and, while not possessing the wickedness of the +latter, she must rank as a queen who in neglecting her son brought +disgrace on the Empire. + +Basil I. was one of those remarkable men who after a career of infamy +are sobered by great responsibilities and perform well the part which it +was destined for them to play. But in his relations with women he had to +endure the natural outcome of his earlier licentiousness. His first +wife, whom he married at the beginning of his career, had lived but a +few years, leaving him a son, Constantine, whom he associated with him +on the throne, but who died after a lapse of ten years. Eudocia +Ingerina, whom Michael had compelled him to marry, had a son, Leo, who +succeeded Basil on the throne, but the emperor was ever haunted with the +suspicion that this lad was the son not of himself but of Michael. The +adventures of this empress and of Michael's sister, Thekla, who also +shared imperial honor, are sad proofs of the corruption of morals of the +age. With her brother's consent, Thekla had become the concubine of +Basil, and after he had assassinated Michael and ascended the throne, +Thekla consoled herself with other lovers. On one occasion it happened +that an attendant employed in the household of Thekla was waiting on the +emperor, when the latter asked the shameless question: "Who is living +with your mistress at present?" The attendant imprudently told the name +of the successful lover; Basil's jealousy was aroused, and he ordered +the paramour of the woman he had put aside to be seized, scourged, and +immured for life in a monastery. It is even said that he ill treated +Thekla and confiscated part of her property. But the Empress Eudocia +Ingerina avenged the unfortunate princess in a manner more pardonable in +the mistress of a besotted debauchee than in the wife of an emperor. +When her amours were discovered, the empress was prudent enough to avoid +scandal by merely compelling her lover to retire privately to a +monastery. + +In pleasing contrast to the story of these licentious princesses, +revealing the absence of any shame in the high life of Constantinople, +is that of the widow Danielis who played the lady bountiful to Basil in +his earlier years, and to whom he delighted to show his gratitude after +he had mounted the throne. + +Once when he was an attaché of the courtier Theophilitzes, whom Theodora +had sent on public business into the Peloponnesus, he fell sick at +Patras. A wealthy widow, Danielis by name, who had been struck with the +handsome looks of the gallant attaché, had him removed to her house and +carefully nursed him through his illness. When he recovered, she made +Basil a member of her family, by uniting him with her own son John in +those spiritual ties of brotherhood sanctioned by the Greek Church with +peculiar rites; also she bestowed on him considerable wealth so that +from that time on he could play well the part of a courtier, and had the +means to make himself the boon companion, friend, and colleague of the +erratic Michael. + +The lasting friendship between the widow and the emperor constitutes the +most interesting episode in the checkered career of Basil. When he +became emperor, he displayed his gratitude by sending for the son of his +former benefactress and making him protospatharios, or chief of the +guards. He also urged the widow to visit him, and see her adopted son +seated on the throne. The account of her journey to Constantinople, is a +most valuable commentary on the life of Greek women in the ninth +century, and shows how vast was the wealth of the few on Greek soil, and +what an important part a wealthy widow could play in the affairs of +state; the story is as follows: + +"The lady Danielis set off from Patras in a litter or covered couch, +carried on the shoulders of ten slaves; and the train which followed +her, destined to relieve these litter bearers, amounted to three hundred +persons. When she reached Constantinople, she was lodged in the palace +of Magnaura, appropriated for the reception of princely guests. The rich +presents she had prepared for the emperor astonished the inhabitants of +the capital, for no foreign monarch had ever offered gifts of equal +value to a Byzantine sovereign. + +"The slaves that bore the gifts were themselves a part of the present, +and were all distinguished for their youth, beauty, and accomplishments. +Four hundred young men, one hundred eunuchs and one hundred maidens, +formed the living portion of this magnificent offering; while there were +in addition, a hundred pieces of the richest colored drapery, one +hundred pieces of soft woollen cloth, two hundred pieces of linen, and +one hundred of cambric, so fine that each piece could be enclosed in the +joint of a reed. To all this, a service of cups, dishes, and plates of +gold and silver was added. When Danielis reached Constantinople, she +found that the emperor had constructed a magnificent church as an +expiation for the murder of his benefactor, Michael III. She sent orders +to the Peloponnesus to manufacture carpets of unusual size, in order to +cover the whole floor, that they might protect the rich mosaic pavement, +in which a peacock with outspread tail astonished, by the extreme +brilliancy of its coloring, every one who beheld it. Before the widow +quitted Constantinople, she settled a considerable portion of her estate +in Greece on her son, the protospatharios, and on her adopted child, the +emperor, in joint property. + +"After Basil's death, she again visited Constantinople; her own son was +dead, so she constituted the Emperor Leo VI. her sole heir. On quitting +the capital for the last time, she desired that the protospatharios, +Zenobius, might be dispatched to the Peloponnesus, for the purpose of +preparing a register of her extensive estate and immense property. She +died shortly after her return; and even the imperial officers were +amazed at the amount of her wealth; the quantity of gold coin, gold and +silver plate, works of art in bronze, furniture, rich stuffs in linen, +cotton, wool and silk, cattle and slaves, palaces and farms, formed an +inheritance that enriched even an Emperor of Constantinople. The slaves +of which Emperor Leo became the proprietor were so numerous that he +ordered three thousand to be enfranchised and sent to the _theme_ of +Longobardia (as Apulia was then called), where they were put in +possession of land which they cultivated as serfs. After the payment of +many legacies, and a division of part of the landed property, according +to the disposition of the testament, the emperor remained possessor of +eighty farms or villages." + +This narrative furnishes a curious glimpse into the condition of society +in Greece during the latter part of the ninth century, which is the +period when the Greek race began to recover a numerical superiority and +prepare for the consolidation of its political ascendency over the +Slavonian colonists in the Peloponnesus. + +It seems almost incredible that such wealth and power could be +concentrated in the hands of one woman; and only when we consider the +grinding poverty of the masses of the population through the extortions +of the rich and the oppressions of the governing classes can we account +for the resources which permitted the lavish luxuries of the +aristocrats. + +The fourscore years succeeding the death of Basil the Macedonian were +taken up by the two long reigns of Leo VI.--reputed to be the son of +Basil, but in all probability the son of Michael,--and Leo's son, +Constantine Porphyrogenitus. These years were important for literature, +as both son and grandson of the founder of the dynasty were authors of +renown; but in historical interest and especially as regards the story +of Byzantine womanhood they were the most uneventful and monotonous in +the many centuries of the Empire's existence. + +Constantine Porphyrogenitus was the child (by his fourth wife) of Leo's +old age, and was only seven years old when he fell heir to the Empire. +He was brought up under the tutelage of guardians; and so devoted was he +to the composing of books and the painting of pictures, that he was +forty years of age before he assumed entire control of the reins of +government; yet, twenty years of supreme power fell to his lot. + +In his works, we have a beautiful picture of his domestic life. We do +not know much of his wife, Helena, but he was devoted to his son Roman +us, a gay, pleasure-loving prince, and to his daughters, of whom the +youngest, Agatha, was his favorite secretary and the constant companion +of his studies. "Seated by his side, she read to him all the official +reports of the ministers; and when his health began to fail it was +through her intermediation that he consented to transact public +business. That such a proceeding created no alarming abuses and produced +neither serious complaints nor family quarrels is more honorable to the +heart of the princess than is her successful performance of her task to +her good sense and ability." + +The most interesting figure about him, however, was his daughter-in-law +Theophano, who was destined to play a fatal part in the story of the +Basilian house. Theophano was lowly born, and her beauty and grace could +never win the court circle and the public to pardon a low alliance which +disgraced the majesty of the purple. Hence, the vilest scandals were +circulated about her, which must be taken with some degree of allowance. + +According to the chroniclers, she was wildly ambitious and utterly +lacking in natural affection, charming in manner, but cruel in heart. +She and Romanus made a most striking couple as they appeared together in +the court or took part in the public processions. Romanus was +conspicuous for his beauty and strength, tall and erect, fair and florid +in complexion, with aquiline nose and sparkling eyes. Theophano was of +the pure Greek type in features, yet small of stature and of infinite +ease of manner and movement. According to the Byzantine writers, she +craved eagerly for supreme power, and poisoned her father-in-law to +hasten her husband's elevation to the throne. Constantine did not take +enough of the beverage administered by her hand to end his life, but his +constitution was weakened, and after a short period of time he passed +away. Romanus's name was also embraced in the story, he having been +induced, through the wiles of his wife, to enter into a conspiracy +against their father and benefactor. But Constantine's picture of his +own family life is so amiable, that it is as difficult to give credence +to the accusation brought against Romanus and Theophano as it is to +Procopius's tales regarding Theodora Justinian. + +Romanus II. had held the throne but five years when he too sickened and +died, and it was rumored that Theophano had mingled for him the same +deadly draught which she had prepared for her father-in-law. The young +empress was left as regent of her two little sons, Basil, aged seven, +and Constantine, who was only two. She aspired first to reign alone; but +soon realizing the Byzantine dislike for feminine rule, she found a +protector and a guardian for her sons in Nicephorus, the most valiant +soldier of the Empire. He was given the hand of the beautiful +empress-dowager, and was crowned as the colleague of the two young +Cæsars. His personal ugliness and deformity rendered it impossible for +Theophano to love him, and the match was one of interest rather than of +affection. But Nicephorus proved himself a most affectionate co-regent, +and paid scrupulous regard to the rights of the young princes. Much of +his time was spent in the field, and many were the victories which he +won for the Byzantine arms. But even his great achievements could not +enchain the heart of the capricious empress. + +Theophano, during the absence of her grim and ugly husband, had become +enamored of his favorite nephew, John Zimisces, who was also a warrior +of note. John listened to the voice of the tempter, not so much for lust +as for ambition, and conspired with the empress against his uncle and +benefactor. The treacherous murder was accomplished one December night +in the year 969, in the imperial apartments of the palace. + +Some of the conspirators had been concealed in the chamber of Theophano. +John Zimisces and his principal companions crossed the Bosporus in a +small boat, landed under the palace walls, and in the darkness of night +silently ascended a ladder of ropes which was cast down by the +handmaidens of the empress. Nicephorus, as was his custom, was sleeping +on a bearskin on the floor of his chamber, when he was awakened by the +noisy entrance of the conspirators. Their daggers were drawn, and, at +the word from John, were plunged into the body of the valiant general, +who exclaimed in his death agony: "Oh, God! grant me thy mercy." Though +by this base deed John came to the throne, he showed deep contrition for +the slaughter of his uncle; and through the connivance of the patriarch +and treachery toward his friends, he avoided marriage with the partner +of his guilt. + +"On the day of his coronation, he was stopped on the threshold of Saint +Sophia by the intrepid patriarch, who charged his conscience with the +deed of treason and blood, and required as a sign of repentance that he +should separate himself from his more criminal associate. This sally of +apostolic zeal was not offensive to the prince, since he could neither +love nor trust a woman who had violated the most sacred obligation; and +Theophano, instead of sharing his imperial throne, was dismissed with +ignominy from his bed and palace." Deprived of her place as regent, and +repudiated by her sons on whom she had brought shame, Theophano passed +the remaining years of her life in a monastery. + +Of the two sons of Theophano, Basil II., after a long reign of over half +a century,--963-1025,--distinguished by his many victories over the +Bulgarians, died childless, and was succeeded by his brother, +Constantine IX., who was destined to be the last male of the Macedonian +house. After his short reign of three years, the story of the remaining +twenty-nine years of the Basilian dynasty gathers itself about the names +of his two elderly daughters, Zoe and Theodora, and the series of +princes who owed their position on the throne solely to them. It is a +period of decadence, and the reader cannot help but pity the two sisters +who were endeavoring to uphold a decaying dynasty in the midst of +corruption and folly. Zoe constitutes the central figure of the period; +but Theodora was vastly her superior, and casts a sort of glamour about +the closing years of the house of Basil the Macedonian. + +Zoe, however, was notable not so much for her ability to govern as for +her extraordinary vanity and love of adulation. Yet, for some reason, +she had reached the age of forty-eight before she found a husband. Upon +his deathbed, Constantine summoned Romanus Argyrus, an aged nobleman, to +the palace and informed him that he had been selected to mount the +throne, but that he must divorce his wife and marry one of the imperial +princesses. Romanus hesitated, not that he cared not for the throne, but +because the conditions were too severe; he loved his wife, and he did +not fancy joining his lot with one of the elderly maidens. But he was +told that he must either obey or lose his eyesight. To relieve the +situation, his wife, with self-sacrificing devotion, took the veil and +entered a monastery. Constantine destined Theodora, the younger and more +capable of his daughters, for the throne as spouse to Romanus, but +through religious compunctions she refused to marry the husband of +another woman, and consequently Zoe was chosen as bride and empress at +the tender age of forty-eight. Romanus was sixty when he ascended the +throne. + +Zoe never forgave her sister Theodora the fact that because of her more +stable character their father had offered his younger daughter the +throne; Romanus had no love for her because she had refused him. +Consequently, spies were set over her movements, and every effort was +made to connect her with the various plots of courtiers who had designs +upon the throne. Finally, accused of being privy to the plans of one of +the most hostile of the courtiers, Theodora was driven from her palace +and imprisoned in the monastery of Petrion; sometime after, Zoe, upon a +visit to the monastery, compelled her sister to assume the monastic +habit. + +Romanus and Zoe were never an affectionate couple. He devoted himself +strictly to affairs of state and looked with indifference upon the many +intrigues of his amorous spouse, who, like Queen Elizabeth, believed +herself to be the mistress of all hearts. But one of these amours, +perhaps, cost him his life. + +The royal consorts had turned the management of the palace largely over +to eunuchs. One of these, John the Paphlagonian, became very powerful, +and, as he was precluded from the imperial title himself, sought to +raise a brother to that high honor. This brother, Michael, had begun +life as a goldsmith and money changer, but his brother appointed him to +a place in the imperial household. Owing to his personal beauty and +graceful and dignified manners, he soon became the favorite chamberlain +to his royal mistress. Unfortunately, however, he was subject to sudden +and violent attacks of epilepsy. This, instead of repelling Zoe, merely +aroused her pity, and she fell in love with her handsome servant and +carried on an amorous intrigue with him. Romanus was duly informed of +his wife's conduct, but remained indifferent to it and probably deemed +the accusation untenable because of the epilepsy of Michael. Zonaras, an +ancient chronicler, tells the story that in the night the emperor +frequently called Michael to rub his feet when he was in bed with Zoe. +And he naively adds: "Who can refrain from supposing that the hands of +the young valet-de-chambre did not find an opportunity of touching also +the feet of the empress?" During the last two years of his life, Romanus +was afflicted with a wasting disease and rumor had it that it was due to +a slow poison administered either by Zoe, or by the eunuch John, who +wished to bring about his brother's elevation. At any rate, in his dying +moments, before the breath had left his body, the empress quitted his +bedside to take measures with John the Paphlagonian for placing her +epileptic paramour on the throne. + +The moment Romanus III. ceased to live, Zoe called an assembly of the +officers of state in the palace and invested Michael IV. with the diadem +and the purple robe. He was straightway proclaimed Emperor of the +Romans, and was formally seated beside Zoe on the vacant throne. The +patriarch Alexius was filled with disgust at this flagrant display of +contempt for decency, but for reasons of state and to avoid greater +scandal, he celebrated the marriage between the empress and her +paramour. "Thus a single night saw the aged Zoe the wife of two +emperors, a widow and a bride, and Michael a menial and a sovereign." + +Michael was twenty-eight when he wedded Zoe at the age of fifty-four and +ascended the throne. In spite of his humble origin, he showed himself a +capable ruler, and succeeded in repelling some of the enemies of the +Empire. But his usefulness was hindered by his epileptic fits and by the +unfriendly attitude of his subjects who regarded his disease as evidence +of the divine wrath because of his ingratitude toward his benefactor, +Romanus. He became a hopeless invalid before the age of thirty-six, and, +when he felt his end approaching, he renounced the world and all the +vanities of imperial station, and retired to the monastery of Saint +Anarghyras where he became a monk. He died on December 10, 1041, after a +reign of seven years and eight months. + +After the death of her second husband, the irrepressible Zoe at first +attempted to carry on the Empire alone, with the assistance of the +eunuchs of her household, but the prevailing aversion to female +sovereignty and her own disinclination to be without companionship of +the male sex led her to a realization of the necessity of giving the +Empire a male sovereign. The alternative which presented itself was +whether she should adopt a son or marry a husband. Having twice +experienced matrimonial bliss, but never having tasted the joys of +filial devotion, for the sake of a new sensation Zoe adopted the former +expedient. + +She selected for the honor another Michael, the nephew of her late +husband, but, as she was aware of his volatile character, she made him +take a solemn oath, before conferring on him the crown, that he would +ever regard her as his benefactress and treat her as his mother. Michael +was ready enough to promise everything, and the diadem was placed on his +head. + +But as soon as he was established in power, Michael V. revealed his +meanness of soul, and showed both insolence and ingratitude toward the +woman through whom he had attained his elevation. He finally carried his +insolence so far that he banished the empress Zoe to Prince's Island and +compelled her to adopt the monastic habit. But this base act was more +than the people could stand. Their fury burst through every restraint. +The mob paraded the streets and proclaimed the reign of Michael at an +end. They threatened to seize him and scatter his bones abroad like +dust. An assembly was held in the church of Saint Sophia, to which the +aged Theodora was brought from the monastery of Petrion, and she was +proclaimed joint empress with her sister Zoe. In the meantime, Michael, +alarmed at the rapid and overwhelming spread of the sedition, had Zoe +brought back to the palace, and endeavored to pacify the people by +persuading her to appear on a balcony overlooking the Hippodrome. But it +was impossible for him to stem the current of the popular fury. The +palace was stormed, and three thousand people were killed in the +conflict which followed. Michael saved his life by escaping to the +monastery of Studion; his eyes were finally put out, and he passed the +rest of his days in the garb of a monk. + +Zoe immediately entered upon the duties and responsibilities of power, +of which for a time she had been deprived, and she endeavored to force +her sister back into religious retirement; but the Senate and people +insisted upon the joint reign of the two sisters. But this singular +union lasted less than two months. In temperament and in interests the +two sisters were antipodal. Different factions were their support, the +clerical party favoring the devout Theodora, and the worldlings the +volatile Zoe. For a time, the twain appeared always side by side at the +meetings of the Senate and at the courts of justice. Unlike Zoe, +Theodora showed great aptitude for public business, and took pleasure in +performing her administrative duties. + +Zoe's plots against her sister being frustrated, and recognizing that +Theodora was rapidly gaining the ascendency, she bethought herself of +taking a third husband, to whom she might resign the throne and thus +deprive her sister of the influence she was rapidly acquiring. + +Hence, at the advanced age of sixty-two, Zoe began to cast about for a +third husband, in spite of the canons of the Church, which forbade a +third marriage. Her thoughts first turned to a powerful nobleman, +Constantine Dalasennus, whom her father had once chosen for her in her +earlier years, and about whom her recollections cast a halo of romance. +But in place of the gallant hero of her imagination she found she had +summoned to the palace for an interview a stern old gentleman, who +strongly expressed his disapprobation of the existing imperial system; +who censured in unmeasured terms the vices of the court, and who took no +pains to conceal his contempt for her own questionable conduct. Such a +spouse would have been a most excellent antidote for the prevailing +corruption of the Empire, but Zoe had no desire to submit to the control +of so severe a master, and she quickly made up her mind to look +elsewhere. + +A former lover, Constantine Artoclinas, then became the object of her +matrimonial designs. But he already had a wife, who was not of the +self-sacrificing disposition of the wife of Romanus. As soon as she +heard of the honor to which Zoe destined her husband, Constantine +Artoclinas fell ill and did not long survive. It was the general opinion +that his wife had poisoned him, either through jealousy of Zoe, or +because she felt an aversion to passing the rest of her days in a +convent. Zoe, however, was readily consoled. + +She again selected an old admirer, Constantine Monomachus, whom Michael +IV. had banished to Mitylene because of his attentions to the empress, +but who had been recalled on the accession of Zoe and Theodora and +appointed to a high official position in Greece. An imperial galley was +despatched with a royal courier to notify him of the new dignity that +awaited him, and to bring him back to Constantinople. Upon his arrival +he was invested with the imperial robes. His marriage with Zoe was +performed by one of the clergy, for the patriarch Alexius declined to +officiate at the third marriage of the empress, which in this case was +doubly uncanonical, as both Zoe and Constantine had been twice married. + +The choice made by Zoe is a sad commentary on the immorality of the age. +The life and character of Constantine X. show the utter lack of moral +principle which prevailed in the court circles. After he had buried two +wives, Constantine Monomachus had won the affections of a beautiful and +wealthy young widow called Sclerena, who openly became his mistress and +accompanied him in his exile to Mitylene. Yet, in the eyes of the +orthodox, her position as mistress was more respectable, as being less +uncanonical than if she had become his third wife. As Sclerena had stood +by him in the days of his adversity, Constantine insisted upon her +sharing with him his prosperity, and when he assumed the purple he +bargained with Zoe that he should retain his mistress, a condition to +which Zoe in her shamelessness agreed. Hence, "the people of +Constantinople were treated to the singular spectacle of an Emperor of +the Romans making his public appearance with two female companions +dignified with the title of Empress, one as his wife, the other as his +mistress." + +Sclerena was officially saluted with the title of Augusta, and possessed +a rank equal to that of Theodora, whose relative importance had been +reduced by the advent of the Emperor Constantine X. She held a court of +her own and was installed in apartments of the imperial palace. + +Owing to her beauty and her elegant manners she gathered about her a +brilliant court circle, which in its sumptuousness and ostentation +contrasted greatly with the dull ceremony and sombre atmosphere of the +apartments of the elderly sisters, Zoe and Theodora. Sclerena's +disposition, too, was amiable and winning, and she was admired for the +constancy with which she had clung to her lover in the days of his +misfortune. Constantine, in return for her self-sacrificing devotion +when he was an impoverished exile, sought to repay her by the most +lavish expenditure of the public funds. Her apartments were made the +most elegant and luxurious in the city, and her toilettes were the envy +of all the aristocratic ladies of Constantinople. + +Though Constantine showed in every way his partiality for his mistress, +it did not disturb the domestic tranquillity of the imperial household. +Zoe and Sclerena lived on the best of terms, and the utter absence of +jealousy in the aged wife is less remarkable than her utter +shamelessness. + +The moral feelings of the people, however, were not so completely +corrupted as those of their superiors. They resented the lavish +expenditures of the public moneys upon the concubine of the emperor, and +they also resented the insult thus put upon their empress. They felt +that the lives of the aged sisters, the only survivors of the Macedonian +house, could not be safe in a palace where vice reigned supreme, and +where secret murders had so often occurred. + +The incensed populace raised a sedition on the feast of the Forty +Martyrs, when it became the duty of the emperor to walk in solemn +procession to the church of Our Saviour in Chalke, whence he proceeded +on horseback to the church of the Martyrs. As the procession was about +to move from the palace, a cry was raised: "Down with Sclerena; we will +not have her for empress! Zoe and Theodora are our mothers--we will not +allow them to be murdered!" The mob then sought to lay hands on the +emperor to tear him in pieces, but the tumult was quieted by the sudden +appearance of Zoe and Theodora on the balcony and the people were +dispersed without serious damage being done. + +The Empress Zoe died in 1050, at the age of seventy. Constantine X. +survived to the year 1055. He, before the end came, was anxious to name +his successor, but as soon as Theodora heard of the attempt of her +brother-in-law to deprive her of the throne, she hastened to the palace, +where the Senate was quickly convened, and presented herself as the +lawful empress. With universal acclamation, Theodora was proclaimed sole +sovereign of the Empire. + +Though seventy-five years of age when she became sole ruler of the +destinies of the Eastern Empire, Theodora exhibited great vigor of +character and her short reign was a fortunate period for the Byzantines, +owing to her attention to public business and the freedom from external +conflicts. To preserve power in her own hands, Theodora presided in +person at the meetings of the Cabinet and the Senate, and heard appeals +as supreme judge in civil cases. Her long monastic life had developed in +her the narrow views and acrimonious passions of a recluse, but an +ascetic spirit was a relief after the sensual performances of the court +of Constantinople. Even at the advanced age of seventy-six, Theodora +felt so robust that she looked forward to a long life. The monks +flattered her with prophecies that she was to reign for many years. But +in the midst of her plans, she was suddenly attacked by an intestinal +disorder that speedily brought her to the grave. Theodora was the last +scion of a family which had upheld with glory the institutions of the +Empire for nearly two centuries, and had secured to its subjects a +degree of internal tranquillity and commercial prosperity far greater +than that enjoyed during the same period by any other portion of the +human race. "And with her, expired the race of Basil, the Slavonian +groom, and the administrative glory of the Byzantine Empire, on the 30th +of August, 1057." + + [Illustration 6: _BYZANTINE INTERIOR, NINTH CENTURY From a + water-color by S. Baron, after a restoration by P. Bénard. + + In this period military exigencies did not permit of numerous + apartments. We find the great room, the place of reunion, a + sumptuously decorated apartment, in which also the meals were + served and the bed was placed. The floor was of bricks, and the + apartment was warmed by hot air supplied from a_ hypocaustum, + _placed below the floor, and admitted through a painted iron + grating. The wall decorations presented an infinite variety of + beautifully executed mouldings and scroll designs of flowers and + foliage, common to the Byzantine manner. The furniture of the + room was sober in style. The bed was shaped and ornamented + somewhat like a modern sofa. A curtain on sliding rings served + to screen from draughts, as well as to separate beds. In this + room the lady received her guests._] + +What a contrast is offered between the empresses of these later +centuries and the great names of the earlier period, Eudoxia and +Pulcheria and Eudocia and the great Theodora! We have fallen on evil +times; and in the general corruption, woman has degenerated. During the +remaining centuries which it falls to our lot to consider, we shall find +that the chronicles of women continue to exhibit the downward march of +womanhood, until with the utter debasement of woman, the fabric of +society gives way, and all is darkness in the history of the sex. + +We have had a glimpse of the luxury with which the Empress Eudoxia +surrounded herself in her palace on the Bosporus, and our curiosity and +interest may be satisfied concerning the domestic surroundings of a +woman of rank during the period of the Byzantine decadence. The only +truly original Christian art, down to the eleventh century, was the +Byzantine; it dominated both Christian and pagan artists. In the period +to which we refer, military exigencies did not permit of numerous +apartments. We find the great room, the place of reunion, a sumptuously +decorated apartment, in which also the meals were served and the bed was +placed. + +This chief room showed little constructive quality, but it was superbly +decorated. The square, heavy door was usually contrived below a +relieving arch, whose archivolt was richly charged with sculptured and +painted ornaments; the twin windows were supported by a pied-droit or on +small columns. The flat walls rarely had a real projecting entablature; +the ends of joists were simulated by cornices resting on consoles or +modillions; the architrave and the frieze were only a painted effect. +The floor was of bricks. Chimneys were not yet used, and the apartment +was warmed by hot air supplied from a hypocaustum, placed within the +walls or below the floor, and admitted through a painted iron grating. + +The wall decorations presented an infinite variety of beautifully +executed mouldings and scroll designs of flowers and foliage, common to +the Byzantine style. A prominent feature of the mural decoration was the +numerous figures, in stiff attitudes, draped with garments falling in +meagre folds, and decked with abundant fringes and precious stones, +after the Oriental fashion; close to these figures were placed groups of +Greek letters. + +The furniture of the room was sober in style. The bed was shaped and +ornamented somewhat like a modern sofa. The occupant reclined rather +than lay on it, for the cushions were heaped up increasingly toward the +head of the bed. It was customary to sleep without garments, the only +covering being an ample sheet. A curtain on sliding rings was +indispensable; it served to screen from draughts, as well as to separate +beds; moreover, it supplemented the scanty furniture of the room. + +Over the bed was a lighted lamp. This was invariably used, for darkness +was dreaded, and it was believed that the light kept off evil spirits +and prevented baleful apparitions. In this room the great lady of our +period received her guests; here intrigues were plotted; here she +partook of her repasts, waited upon by her many serving-maids; here she +passed, indeed, most of her life. + + + + +XIV + +THE PRINCESSES OF THE COMNENI + + +With the end of the Macedonian house in 1057, all the elements of +discord in the Byzantine Empire seemed to have been loosed. Civil war +and foreign invasions rapidly succeeded one another, and the empire +hastened to its doom. But the downward progress was for a time checked +by the rise of the Comneni, a prominent family, who controlled the +destinies and exerted a paramount influence over the career of the +Byzantine government for over a century, in fact, until its overthrow by +the Latin Crusaders in 1204. In the chronicles of the Comneni, its +princesses played a notable though not always creditable role; and the +undercurrent of Byzantine history for a century and a half was +determined largely by woman's influence and woman's artifice. + +Of the great families whose names appear on every page of the Byzantine +history of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, that of the Comneni is by +far the most illustrious. The hypothesis that the Comneni were an +ancient Roman house which followed Constantine from Old Rome to New Rome +must be given up: so important an item in the family glories of the +house would not have been passed over in silence by Anna Comnena and her +husband in their historical works. We must accept the testimony of a +contemporary, Psellus, that the family was of Greek or Thracian origin, +and derived its name from the ancestral seat, the village of Comne in +the valley of the Torniga, near the site of the city of Adrianople. + +The first of the line prominent in Byzantine annals was the illustrious +Manuel Comnenus, who, under Basil II., aided in settling the troubled +condition of the East and in reestablishing the Empire on a firm +footing. As a result of his labors for the state, Manuel acquired vast +estates in Cappadocia, and, from this time, his family ranked as one of +the wealthiest and most aristocratic houses of the Byzantine nobility. + +Manuel, upon his deathbed, left his two sons, Isaac and John, to the +care and the gratitude of his sovereign. The two lads were carefully +educated in all the learning and trained in all the manly +accomplishments of the day; and their brotherly love became the subject +of comment in an age when self-seeking was the most salient +characteristic of the aristocratic class. When they attained manhood, +both made brilliant marriages which greatly increased the lustre of +their family name: Isaac married a captive princess of Bulgaria, and +John wedded Anna Dalassena, the daughter of the patrician Dalassenus, +nicknamed Charon from the number of enemies he had sent to the infernal +regions. Isaac was fated to die childless and his wife is unknown to +fame, but Anna, the wife of John, was destined to be the most remarkable +woman of her house. + +The Empress Theodora, in her last days, had nominated Michael +VI.,--Stratioticus,--an aged and decrepit veteran, as her successor; but +his elevation was resented by the soldiers, who plotted and successfully +carried through a conspiracy by which Michael was dispossessed and Isaac +Comnenus, at that time the most popular general of the East, was +elevated to the throne. But the usurpation was not attended with the +blessings of heaven: Isaac was stricken with disease before he had +reigned a full year, and retired to a monastery to die, abdicating the +throne and selecting his brother John as his successor. For some +unaccountable reason, and much to the chagrin of his wife Anna, whose +ambitions were distinctly imperial, John declined the honor, and +persisted in his refusal in spite of the entreaties of his wife and +relatives, and with a seeming blindness to the welfare of the state. +Possibly he felt that a curse rested upon a dynasty which had usurped +the throne. Constantine Ducas, another Cappadocian patrician, was then +selected; during his reign of seven troubled years he proved himself to +be a sorry administrator. His empress, Eudocia Makremvolitissa, and Anna +Dalassena are the two dominating personalities who determined the tenor +of court intrigue and largely influenced the course of the events of +this period. Anna most intensely hated Ducas and all his house, for they +were occupying a throne which she thought should have been retained in +her own family; and her relations with the empress were those of rivalry +or of friendship, in proportion as Eudocia was acting in sympathy with +or in opposition to her husband's family. + +Constantine XI.--Ducas--was as intensely partisan as Anna; and when he +found his end approaching, he wished above all things to assure the +elevation of his three children, Michael, Andronicus, and Constantine. +Constantine was well aware of the dangers which his dynasty would incur +should the empress marry a second time; before conferring upon her the +regency of the Empire, he therefore exacted from her a most solemnly +attested promise that under no circumstances would she take a second +husband. This important document was deposited in the hands of the +patriarch, John Xiphilinus. Constantine made the Senate, also, take an +oath never to acknowledge any other emperor than one of his own +children. Feeling that he had bound his wife by irretrievable bonds, and +that every precaution had been taken to assure the implicit fulfilment +of his wishes, Constantine breathed his last with a contented mind. + +But Eudocia soon discovered the need of a strong arm for the protection +of her own rights and those of her sons. A woman of executive gifts, she +was also devoted to literary pursuits, and her knowledge of history had +taught her with how much reluctance the Byzantines submitted to the +sovereignty of a woman. She recalled, too, the experience of the Empress +Theophano, who had found prudent guardians for her sons, Basil II. and +Constantine IX., in the persons of the soldiers Nicephorus II. and John +I., though she was appalled by the vices of this empress, who had +married and murdered the first and been scorned by the second guardian. +Furthermore, threatening invasions and domestic unrest proved the need +of a soldier as her colleague in the Empire. Love came to the assistance +of reason, and Eudocia determined to break her vows and to take a second +husband. + +Romanus Diogenes, the most daring and popular general of the Empire, had +been convicted of treason for participation in a conspiracy against her +children's throne, and was then in prison awaiting sentence of death +from Eudocia as regent. The latter, however, became enamored of her +distinguished captive, and his beauty and valor convinced her that he +was destined to share with her the throne. The army was clamoring for +his release; and when he received a full pardon from the empress-regent, +it at first created no suspicion of her romantic designs. The Seljukian +Turks were at that time overrunning Cappadocia and it was necessary that +the army should be under the control of an able and a daring general. +Romanus was therefore raised from the scaffold to the headship of the +army. + +Before the empress could take any further step toward carrying out her +matrimonial intentions, it was necessary to secure possession of the +document which evidenced her pledge to her husband that she never would +contract a second marriage. Feminine diplomacy enabled her to accomplish +this delicate task; and the lack of principle and high moral character +in the patriarch caused him to fall readily into the net laid for him by +Eudocia. + +Xiphilinus at first urged upon her emissary the sanctity of the oath the +empress had taken, and the sacred nature of the trust he had assumed; +but when it was whispered in his presence that his own brother was +destined for the high honor, the patriarch's scruples were relaxed, and +he yielded--out of proper regard, as he alleged, for the welfare of the +state. He resigned the important paper into the empress's hand, and at +her solicitation proposed and carried through a measure in the Senate, +favoring her second marriage, and in addition released the senators from +their vow never to recognize as emperor any other than a son of +Constantine. Great was the confusion of the credulous patriarch when he +realized that he had been outwitted by the clever woman, who, when her +plans were fully matured, made an official proclamation that she had +selected Romanus IV.,--Diogenes,--the most brilliant general of the +Empire, to share with her the throne and to act as guardian to her sons. + +Her choice was the occasion of much satisfaction to the army and the +people, but caused jealousy and dissension in the imperial household. +John Ducas, the late emperor's brother, held the rank of Cæsar and was +the natural guardian of his nephews; he at once began to conspire for +the overthrow of Romanus and the retirement of Eudocia. + +The new emperor at once assumed his duties of warding off the enemies of +the Empire, and engaged in a deadly conflict with the Seljukian Turks. +Though at first successful, his army was finally routed and almost +annihilated, and Romanus himself was taken captive, on the fatal field +of Manzikert, 1071,--a decisive battle that marked the beginning of the +end of Byzantine history and presaged the final conquest of +Constantinople by the Turks. Romanus's capture produced a revolution at +court. John Ducas seized the reins of government, ostensibly in the +interests of Michael VII., son of Constantine; and when Romanus, having +been released by his gallant foe, returned to Constantinople, Ducas had +him seized and blinded and left to die through neglect. Eudocia was +forced to retire to a monastery and take the veil; there she devoted +herself to literary labors. She is reputed to be the author of a learned +work, still extant, entitled Ionia, a species of historical and +mythological dictionary. The last public appearance of the hapless +Eudocia was on the occasion of the funeral of the valiant Romanus, which +she was permitted to celebrate in an imposing manner. + +A period of anarchy followed the cruel death of Romanus, and there were +at one time no less than six pretenders to the throne. Throughout this +trying period John Ducas maintained his power as regent, relinquishing +his regency only when his ward, Michael VII., became of age and asserted +his rights. Michael was fortunate in the choice of his empress, Princess +Maria, daughter of the King of Iberia, whose beauty and grace are +celebrated by the historian Anna Comnena. When her husband was +overthrown and slain by the rebel Nicephorus Botaniates, Maria married +the latter, with the hope of securing the throne for her child and the +regency for herself. And from this time on her story is closely +interwoven with that of the Comneni princesses, to whom we now return. + +John Comnenus died soon after Constantine Ducas, leaving to the widowed +Anna the task of bringing up a large family of eight children,--Manuel, +Isaac, Alexius, Adrian, Nicephorus, Maria, Eudocia, and Theodora. But +Anna was equal to the task, and deserves to be ranked among the great +mothers of the world. She gave herself up to the proper education of her +sons and daughters, and to the promotion of their political advancement. +She could never console herself for the loss of an imperial crown +through the weakness of her husband, and all her tireless energy was +directed toward recovering her lost opportunity and reaching the throne +through the elevation of one of her sons. What is recounted of her shows +that she was a woman of extraordinary intelligence, inexhaustible +energy, remarkable political astuteness, and inordinate ambition. + +After performing political services of great merit, Manuel, the eldest, +died at an early age. The mother sought to make her sons Isaac and +Alexius men who could show themselves capable of performing every task +imposed upon them in the high station they were destined to acquire; and +the proof of the influence she exerted in the formation of their +characters is seen not only in their high attainments, but also in the +ascendency she retained over Alexius when he had reached the throne. + +Owing to her undying hatred of the house of Ducas, Anna attached herself +to the party of the Empress Eudocia and Romanus, and, being then in high +favor at court, she married her daughter Theodora to Romanus's son +Constantine. The revolution made by John Ducas to the advantage of +himself and his ward, Michael VII., upset all the well-laid plans of +Anna Dalassena; and the fall of Romanus marked for a time the end of the +favor of the Comneni. Anna showed her firmness of character by remaining +faithful to the cause of the dethroned emperor. Her correspondence with +him was detected, and she was exiled, with her children, to one of the +Prince's Isles. Her exile did not last long, however, for she was +recalled and restored to favor; and Michael VII. brought about the +marriage of Isaac, the eldest son since the death of Manuel, to Irene, +daughter of an Alanian prince, and cousin-german to the Empress Maria. + +Meanwhile, another matrimonial scheme was being matured, which was not +at all in accordance with the wishes of Anna and the empress. John +Ducas, from the monastery to which he had retired, projected the +marriage of his grand-daughter Irene, with Alexius Comnenus, who was +rapidly growing in promise and influence, and was already giving +evidence of his political astuteness and diplomacy. Alexius gladly +welcomed an alliance which would unite the two most powerful families of +Constantinople in his interest, but his patrician mother opposed any +affiliation with the rival house, and hated the very name of Ducas. The +Empress Maria also had plans for Alexius, with which she feared this +alliance would interfere, and at first threatened open opposition. But +Alexius won his point with his usual cleverness. Anna finally yielded to +his persuasion, and the empress gave her reluctant consent. The result +of the union was that Alexius at once became the most powerful of the +younger nobles at the court. + +The next step in his career was also determined by the profound wisdom +or wily caprice of a woman. To the surprise of her friends and +consternation of her enemies, the Empress Maria adopted Alexius as her +son. Anna Dalassena in all probability had a hand in this move for the +elevation of her house, but it is difficult to see what was the motive +of the empress, who had a young son, Constantine, whom she wished to +succeed to the purple. Perhaps she felt the need of a strong hand to +support the claims of herself and her son against her second husband, +the usurper Nicephorus Botaniates. Perhaps she was captivated by the +manly vigor and personal charms of the young man, and wished to play +with Alexius the rôle of Theophano with Zimisces. It is impossible to +state her motive, but the step was the first move toward the final +overthrow of her house and the succession of the Comneni. + +Alexius had now all the reins of power in his hands, and a revolution +against Botaniates ensued. The usurper was overthrown and Alexius was +proclaimed emperor by the army. At first Constantine, the son of the +Empress Maria and Michael VII., was associated with him on the throne, +though still in his minority. Anna Dalassena and Maria, dreading the +ascendency of Irene Ducas, wife of Alexius, plotted to prevent her +coronation as empress, but the patriarch, who was a partisan of the +house of Ducas, defeated their intrigues; a few days after Alexius +assumed the purple, Irene, with imposing ceremonies, was crowned +empress. + +Alexius well knew how to gain over to his support and utilize for his +schemes the intriguing women who were about him. He had a profound +respect for the political sagacity of his mother and during the earlier +years of his reign her word exerted a deep influence on the course of +government. When he was called away from Constantinople by the wars that +demanded his personal attention, he left his mother as regent during his +absence. + +The first offspring of the union of Alexius and Irene was a daughter, +Anna Comnena. She was in her infancy affianced to Constantine, and the +two were regarded as heirs to the throne, much to the delight of the +ex-Empress Maria. In the ceremonies of the court, the names of +Constantine and Anna immediately followed those of Alexius and Irene. + +Finally, in 1088, the empress bore a son, the third of her children. The +joy of Alexius was unbounded. Seeing the possibility of his son carrying +on the dynasty and perpetuating the name of Comnenus, Alexius determined +to set aside the claims of Constantine and his eldest daughter. An +estrangement with Maria Ducas followed. In 1092, John in his fourth year +was proclaimed emperor, and Constantine was deprived of his rights. The +rupture between Alexius and Maria was a source of enmity to the reigning +house. Chagrined at the failure of her plans, and at the usurpation of +one to whom she had shown every kindness, the ex-empress took part in a +conspiracy against Alexius. But the plot was exposed in time, and all +who were engaged in it were severely punished, except the ex-empress, +who was permitted by her adopted son to go into peaceful retirement. + +Constantine, though no longer associated on the throne, was still +affianced to Anna, but an early death removed him from the scene of +action and the intrigues of the court. In 1097, Anna was married to +Nicephorus Bryennius, scion of a noble house. The mother, Anna +Dalassena, continued for some time to be a powerful factor at court, +but, becoming unpopular and realizing that she was losing her hold on +her imperial son, she finally followed the usual custom of retiring to a +monastery. + +Thus the ex-Empress Maria and Anna--the real founder of the fortune of +her house--found in religious retirement and meditation a life of peace +and tranquillity after the turmoils of revolutions and the intrigues of +imperial politics. The one had seen the failure of her plans and the +downfall of her house; the other could look with pride upon the full +fruition of her plots for the elevation of the Comneni. + +The reign of Alexius I.,--Comnenus,--occupies a considerable place not +only in Byzantine, but, also, in general history. It inaugurated a new +era in the relations between the East and the West, between the Greek +and the Latin, both in affairs of Church and state, and the events of +which the tragic expedition of 1204 was the climax had their beginning +in the days when the courtiers of Alexius revelled with the companions +of Godfrey of Bouillon. Equally important is this reign from the point +of view of the Byzantine Empire; it put an end to the anarchy of the +eleventh century, it established a dynasty which restored much of the +territory that weak rulers had lost, and for over a century it preserved +the tottering Empire from its inevitable fall. It was a period in which +woman's influence was marked, and its record is well known to us because +of the literary skill of Anna Comnena. This imperial princess is the +first woman in the world's annals to write an extended history. Both in +learning and in personality she has won a place among the notable women +of the world, and hers is the last great name in the chronicles of +Byzantine womanhood. + +In the comprehensive education which Anna received, we have a view of +the literary prominence of the Comnenic epoch. She had the best masters +the Empire afforded, and in her childhood she exhibited a phenomenal +capacity for learning. Her teachers gave her thorough training in the +works of classical authors. She read Homer, Herodotus, Thucydides, +Aristophanes, the Tragedians and Polybius under suitable guidance, and +without assistance mastered the writings of the church fathers. She +studied with avidity ancient mythology, geography, history, rhetoric, +and dialectic, and was also versed in Platonic and Aristotelian +philosophy. It was in history, however, that she found her chief +delight, and she early conceived the idea of composing a work in honor +of her father's reign. + +We have already mentioned the incidents of her childhood. Anna never +forgave her brother John for supplanting her, and this disappointment of +her tender years largely influenced the course of her later life. She +was devoted to Maria, the mother of her first betrothed, and no doubt +imbibed from her much of the ambition and hatred which were the marked +characteristics of her career in politics. Her empress-mother, Irene, +also exhibited a marked partiality for her eldest daughter, to the +disparagement of her son, whom Alexius had destined for the throne. +Irene was a beautiful and intriguing princess of much natural ability, +and stood in awe of the greater learning of her daughter. The two became +companions in intrigue and diplomacy, and worked together for the +promotion of their own interests, against the schemes of Alexius and +John. Anna was married at a tender age to Nicephorus Bryennius. He was +the representative of one of the most aristocratic and powerful families +of Constantinople, and exhibited much ability both in authorship and +statecraft, but he seems mediocre and colorless by the side of his +spouse. + +Walter Scott laid the scene of his Count Robert of Paris in the +Constantinople of this period, and he presents an interesting picture of +Anna as a devotee of the Muses, and of the principal heroes and heroines +who figure in the intrigues of the court at this time: + +"It was an apartment of the palace of the Blaquemal, dedicated to the +especial service of the beloved daughter of the Emperor Alexius, the +Princess Anna Comnena, known to our times by her literary talents, which +record the history of her father's reign. She was seated, the queen and +sovereign of a literary circle, such as the imperial princess, +Porphyrogenita (or born in the sacred purple chamber itself), could +assemble in those days, and a glance round will enable us to form an +idea of her guests or companions. + +"The literary princess herself had the bright eyes, straight features +and comely and pleasing manners which all would have allowed to the +emperor's daughter, even if she could not have been, with severe truth, +said to have possessed them. She was placed upon a small bench, or sofa, +the fair sex here not being permitted to recline, as was the fashion of +the Roman ladies. A table before her was loaded with books, plants, +herbs, and drawings. She sat on a slight elevation, and those who +enjoyed the intimacy of the princess, or to whom she wished to speak in +particular, were allowed during such sublime colloquy to rest their +knees on the little dais or elevated place where her chair found its +station, in a posture half standing, half kneeling. Three other seats, +of different heights, were placed on the dais, and under the same canopy +of state which overshadowed that of Princess Anna. + +"The first, which strictly resembled her own chair in size and +convenience, was one designed for her husband, Nicephorus Bryennius. He +was said to entertain or affect the greatest respect for his wife's +erudition, though the courtiers were of the opinion that he would have +liked to absent himself from her evening parties more frequently than +was particularly agreeable to the Princess Anna and her imperial +parents. This was partly explained by the private tattle of the court, +which averred that the Princess Anna Comnena had been more beautiful +when she was less learned; and that, though still a fine woman, she had +somewhat lost the charms of her person as she became enriched in her +mind. + +"To atone for the lowly fashion of the seat of Nicephorus Bryennius, it +was placed as near to his princess as it could possibly be edged by the +ushers, so that she might not lose one look of her handsome spouse, nor +he the least particle of wisdom which might drop from the lips of his +erudite consort. + +"Two other seats of honor or, rather, thrones--for they had footstools +placed for the support of the feet, rests for the arms, and embroidered +pillows for the comfort of the back, not to mention the glories of the +outspreading canopy--were destined for the imperial couple, who +frequently attended their daughter's studies, which she prosecuted in +public in the way we have intimated. On such occasions, the Empress +Irene enjoyed the triumph peculiar to the mother of an accomplished +daughter, while Alexius, as it might happen, sometimes listened with +complacence to the rehearsal of his own exploits in the inflated +language of the princess, and sometimes mildly nodded over her dialogues +upon the mysteries of philosophy, with the Patriarch Zosimus, and other +sages." + +Scott's description gives a graphic presentation of the Princess Anna +and of her relations with the various members of her family; and if we +add the heir to the throne, her younger brother John, for whom she had +profound contempt in spite of his many virtues, we have the group about +whom revolve the narrative of her history and the chief events of her +life. + +It is not necessary for us to enter into the story of the First Crusade, +and of the incidents of the intercourse of Franks and Greeks, which Anna +tells so graphically in her history; but before calling attention to the +literary qualities and historical value of her work, we must note those +events which unfolded her character and, in her later years, brought +about her exclusive devotion to literature. + +Owing to his duplicity and lack of confidence in men, Alexius made his +wife and his learned daughter his confidantes and his advisers in many +of the affairs of State, and frequently utilized their services in +gaining his ends. Both the imperial ladies were apt pupils in the school +of political intrigue, and, in the last years of the emperor, endeavored +to utilize their influence over him to the detriment of the +heir-apparent and the elevation of Anna and her husband, the Cæsar +Nicephorus. They accordingly formed a plot, during Alexius's last +illness, to dispossess the eldest son John, that the three might share +the government among them. + +The empress introduced soldiers into the palace, and in the closing +hours of the emperor's life sought to prevail on him to pronounce the +words which would bring about the change in the succession. But the +astute emperor realized his son's eminent fitness to wear the crown, and +was not in sympathy with the ambitions of his learned but unscrupulous +daughter. To all the entreaties of the empress he but cast his eyes +heavenward and remarked on the vanities of human greatness. Despairing +and enraged, the empress at last hastily left the room with a parting +thrust at her imperial consort, which might fitly have been inscribed as +an epitaph on his tomb: "You die as you lived--a hypocrite!" Meanwhile, +during her absence, John entered the room, and, with the tacit consent +of his dying father, removed from his finger the signet which gave him +command of all the forces of the palace; and crushing, in their +inception, the plots of the empress and her daughter, he was solemnly +crowned the moment his father breathed his last. + +John proved to be the most amiable character that ever occupied the +Byzantine throne. But all his virtues did not suffice to quell the +malice and disappointed ambition of his imperial sister. In spite of the +failure of the first conspiracy, the Princess Anna, "whose philosophy +would not have refused the weight of a diadem," entered into another +plot to dispossess her brother--already secure in the confidence of +courtiers and subjects--and to elevate her husband, whom she felt sure +of ruling. As John was already on the throne, however, the only way by +which he could be disposed of was to have his eyes put out or to resort +to the still worse crime of secret assassination. When her mild and +gentle husband recoiled at the thought of such cruelty, Anna made to him +the memorable response that Nature had mistaken the two sexes and had +endowed him with the soul of a woman, contemptuously contrasting what +she termed his feminine weakness with her own manly inhumanity. + +This conspiracy, however, was also revealed before it had made any +serious headway, and John deemed it necessary to confiscate his sister's +wealth in order to make further intrigues impossible. He caused the +Princess Anna to retire to a convent and bestowed her luxuriously +furnished palace on his favorite minister, Axouchus. But the noble +nature of Axouchus recoiled at being benefited by the princess's fall, +and thought more of turning the situation to the emperor's advantage +than of enriching himself. Accordingly, he suggested to the emperor that +it would be better policy to ward off the malice of his enemies by +restoring the palace to Anna, and seeming to ignore her futile plots. +John felt the prudence of the advice, and impressed by the unselfish +devotion of his friend,--a quality most rare in late Byzantine +times,--replied in like spirit: "I should, indeed, be unworthy to reign +if I could not forget my anger as readily as you forget your interest." +Anna was reinstated in her palace. + +But little is known of the rest of Anna Comnena's life. Tiring finally +of the vanities of court life, disappointed in all her intrigues for +absolute power, and becoming ever more absorbed in her literary +undertakings, she seems to have voluntarily sought the life of the +cloister and to have spent the last decades of her career in peaceful +retirement, engaged on her monumental work. She survived her brother +John, who died in 1143, and was still at work on her history in 1145. +The date of her death is unknown. + +The great work of Anna Comnena is entitled the _Alexiad_, and is one of +the most important works in the voluminous collection of the Byzantine +historians. In fifteen books, it narrates the history of Alexius +Comnenus; and is a completion and continuation of a work in four books, +left by her husband, Nicephorus Bryennius. The first two books of Anna's +work treat of the rise into power of the Comneni house, and of the early +life of Alexius; the remaining thirteen are devoted to the events of his +reign. + +The work of Anna, as a contribution to historical literature, has very +decided deficiencies. In spite of her professed love of truth, her +filial vanity tempts her at all times to put her father and her family +in the best light. The very title, _Alexiad_ suggests rather an +_epos_--a poem in prose--than a serious historical work, and emphasizes +its epideictic tendency. As a woman, she is impressed with the concrete +rather than the abstract, and describes brilliant state functions, +church festivals, imposing audiences and the like with much more +familiarity and enthusiasm than she displays in her treatment of the +underlying causes and inner connections of events. But with all their +faults, these memoirs are an authoritative account of a brilliant and +important epoch, and of a ruler who for his military sagacity and +political shrewdness ranks among the great personages of the Middle +Ages. + +The human traits of the author reveal themselves in every chapter of her +work. Anna possessed a womanly weakness for gossip and slander, and +mingles her praise of the other prominent women of her time with a +tincture of disparagement that must often be attributed to feminine +jealousy. She possessed considerable wit and irony, but was intensely +vain of her rank, her Greek origin and especially of her literary +attainments. Nor must we fail to note the vaulting ambition of this +otherwise attractive woman, an ambition which made her untrue to her +brother and a conspirator against his throne and his life. + +Anna Comnena realized that the chief censure of her work at the hands of +contemporaries and of posterity would be the charge of partiality, and +against this she seeks to defend herself in a striking passage: + +"I must still once more repel the reproach which some may bring against +me, as if my history were composed merely according to the dictates of +the natural love for parents which is engraved on the hearts of +children. In truth, it is not the effect of that affection which I bear +to mine, but it is the evidence of matters of fact, which obliges me to +speak as I have done. Is it not possible that one can have at the same +time an affection for the memory of a father and for truth? For myself, +I have never directed my attempt to write history otherwise than for the +ascertainment of the matter of fact. With this purpose I have taken for +my subject the history of a worthy man. Is it just, then, by the single +accident of his being the author of my birth, his quality of my father +ought to form a prejudice against me, which would ruin my credit with my +readers? I have given, upon other occasions, proofs sufficiently strong +of the ardor which I had for the defence of my father's interests, which +those that know me can never doubt; but, on the present, I have been +limited by the inviolable fidelity with which I respect the truth, which +I should have felt conscious to have veiled, under pretence of serving +the renown of my father." + +The authoress felt assured that a number of disturbances of nature and +mysterious occurrences as interpreted by the soothsayers, foreboded the +death of Alexius; thus she claimed for her father the indications of +consequence, which were regarded by the ancients as necessary +intimations of the sympathy of nature with the removal of great +characters--from the world. During his latter days, the emperor was +afflicted with the gout. Weakened in body, and gradually losing his +native energy, he once responded to the empress, when she spoke of how +his deeds would be handed down in history: "The passages of my unhappy +life call rather for tears and lamentations than for the praises you +speak of." Finally asthma came to the assistance of the gout, and the +prayers of monks and clergy, as well as the lavish distribution of alms, +failed to stay the progress of the disease. At length passed away the +Emperor Alexius, who, with all his faults, was one of the best +sovereigns of the Eastern Empire. + +His learned daughter, in the greatness of her grief, threw aside the +reserve of literary eminence, and burst into tears and shrieks, tearing +her hair, and defacing her countenance, while the Empress Irene cut off +her hair, changed her purple buskins for black mourning shoes, and, +casting from her her princely robes, put on a robe of black. "Even at +the moment when she put it on," adds Anna, "the emperor gave up the +ghost, and in that moment the sun of my life set." + +Anna continues to express her lamentations at her loss, and upbraids +herself that she survived her father, "that light of the world"; Irene, +"the delight alike of the East and of the West"; and, also, her husband, +Nicephorus. "I am indignant," she adds, "that my soul, suffering under +such torrents of misfortune, should still deign to animate my body. Have +I not been more hard and unfeeling than the rocks themselves; and is it +not just that one who could survive such a father and a mother and such +a husband should be subjected to the influence of so much calamity? But +let me finish this history, rather than any longer fatigue my readers +with my unavailing and tragical lamentation!" The history then closes +with the following couplet: + + "The learned Comnena lays her pen aside, + What time her subject and her father died." + +Taking it all in all, the best appreciation of the _Alexiad_ is that of +Gibbon, who thus characterizes the qualities of the work: + +"The life of the Emperor Alexius has been delineated by a favorite +daughter, who was inspired by a tender regard for his person and a +laudable zeal to perpetuate his virtues. Conscious of the just suspicion +of her readers, Anna Comnena repeatedly protests that, besides her +personal knowledge, she has searched the discourse and writings of the +most respectable veterans; that after an interval of thirty years, +forgotten by, and forgetful of, the world, her mournful solitude was +inaccessible to hope and fear; and that truth, the naked perfect truth, +was more dear and sacred than the memory of her parent. Yet instead of +the simplicity of style and narrative which wins our belief, an +elaborate affectation of rhetoric and science betrays, in every page, +the vanity of the female author. + +"The genuine character of Alexius is lost in a vague constellation of +virtues; and the perpetual strain of panegyric and apology awakens our +jealousy to question the veracity of the historian and the merit of the +hero. We cannot, however, refuse her judicious and important remark that +the disorders of the times were the misfortune and the glory of Alexius; +and that every calamity which can afflict a declining empire was +accumulated in his reign by the justice of heaven and the vices of his +predecessors.... The reader may possibly smile at the lavish praise +which his daughter so often bestows on a flying hero; the weakness or +prudence of his situation might be mistaken for a want of personal +courage; and his political arts are branded by the Latins with the names +of deceit and dissimulation...." + +The story of the remaining princesses of the Comneni family is merely +the mirroring of feminine beauty and frailty; and its sad chronicle goes +to show that the Empire was deservedly hastening to its doom because the +stamina sufficient to keep it alive was lacking. + +John Comnenus was succeeded by his younger son Manuel, a renowned +warrior about whose name have gathered many of the romances of chivalry. +He was twice married, first to the virtuous Bertha of Germany, and, +after her decease, to the beautiful Maria, a French or Latin princess of +Antioch. Bertha had a daughter, who was destined for Bela, a Hungarian +prince educated at Constantinople under the name of Alexius and looked +upon as the heir-apparent. But his rights were set aside when Maria had +a son named Alexius, who was in the direct line of male succession. +Notwithstanding the virtues of his queens, Manuel, who was so valiant in +war, showed himself in peace a licentious voluptuary. "No sooner did he +return to Constantinople than he resigned himself to the arts and +pleasures of a life of luxury: the expense of his dress, his table and +his palace, surpassed the measure of his predecessors, and whole summer +days were idly wasted in the delicious isles of the Propontis in the +incestuous love of his niece, Theodora." + +Manuel had a cousin, Andronicus, who was even more of a voluptuary than +he--one whose career as a soldier of fortune and as a heartless roué +marks him as the Byzantine Alcibiades. He indulged his favorite +passions, love and war, without any regard to divine or human law. His +lofty stature, manly strength and beauty, and dare-devil manner were so +seductive that three ladies of royal birth fell victims to his charms. +His mistresses shared his company with his lawful wife, and divided his +affections with a crowd of actresses and dancing girls. He was a +partaker of the pleasures, as well as of the perils, of Manuel; and +while the emperor lived in public incest with his niece Theodora, +Andronicus enjoyed the favors of her sister Eudocia. So enamored was she +of her handsome lover, and so shameless in her conduct, that she gloried +in the title of his mistress, and accompanied him to his military +command in Cilicia. Upon his return, her brothers sought to expiate her +infamy in the blood of Andronicus, but, through Eudocia's aid, he eluded +his enemy. Proving treacherous, however, to the emperor, he was +imprisoned for a long period in a tower of the palace at Constantinople, +where his faithful wife shared his imprisonment and assisted him in +making his escape. + +Andronicus was later given a second command on the Cilician frontier. +While here, he made a conquest of the beautiful Philippa, sister of the +Empress Maria, and daughter of Raymond of Poitou, the Latin Prince of +Antioch. For her sake, he deserted his station and wasted his time in +balls and tournaments; and to his love the frail princess sacrificed her +innocence, her reputation, and the offer of an advantageous marriage. +The Emperor Manuel, however, urged on by his consort, resented this +violation of the family honor, and recalled Andronicus from his infamous +liaison. The indiscreet princess was left to weep and repent of her +folly; and Andronicus, deprived of his post, gathered together a band of +adventurers of like spirit and undertook a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. With +bold effrontery, he declared himself a champion of the Cross; and his +beauty, gallantry, and professions of piety captivated both king and +clergy. The Latin King of Jerusalem invested the Byzantine prince with +the lordship of Berytus, on the coast of Phoenicia. In his neighborhood +there dwelt the young and handsome queen, Theodora,--the daughter of his +cousin Isaac, and great-grand-daughter of the Emperor Alexius,--who was +widow of Baldwin III., King of Jerusalem. Because of her beauty, her +talents, and her prudence, Theodora enjoyed the respect and admiration +of all the Latin nobles. Andronicus became deeply enamored of his fair +cousin, and she, returning his passion with equal ardor, became the +third royal victim of his lust. So debased was the state of society +among the Latin Christians--which was the case at Constantinople +also--that the cousins carried on their amours with little affectation +of secrecy. The Emperor Manuel being again enraged by the disgrace to +the family name through the moral fall of another Comneni princess, +Andronicus had to flee for his life, and Theodora accompanied him in his +flight. She and her two illegitimate children were later captured and +sent to Constantinople. Andronicus finally sought forgiveness from the +emperor, and such was his charm that he was pardoned; he returned to +Constantinople, and soon began the career of intrigue which eventually +placed him on the throne. + +Upon the death of Manuel, the Empress Maria acted as regent for her son +Alexius II., a lad of thirteen. Her prime minister was Alexius Comnenus, +a grandson of John II. Maria's beauty and charm of manner gave her +considerable power over the young nobility. In the conflicts of the +nobles she warmly espoused the cause of her prime minister, and it was +believed that a criminal attachment existed between them. The young +emperor's sister Maria, with the Cæsar, her husband, attempted to drive +the prime minister from power by a popular uprising. In the turmoil and +chaos that followed, all eyes turned toward Andronicus. The voluptuary +and adventurer responded to the call, and entered the city to be +enthroned, alleging that it was his purpose to deliver the young emperor +from evil counsellors. Cruelty was now added to his other serious +crimes. The Princess Maria and her husband, the Cæsar, were poisoned; +the Empress Maria, on a charge of treason, was condemned to death, and +strangled; and Alexius II., the legitimate heir to the throne, was +deposed and subjected to the same form of death as his unfortunate +mother. The tyrant kicked the body of the innocent youth as it lay +before him, and addressed it with a sneer: "Thy father was a knave, thy +mother a whore, and thyself a fool!" + +Owing to debauchery and crime, the family of the Comneni had +degenerated. Through the nobility and greatness of its women in an +earlier period, it had risen to the height of power; and through the +debasement and weakness of its women, it finally fell. Andronicus was +the last of the line--the most heinous monster that ever sat on the +Byzantine throne. But his career in crime was cut short. The people rose +up against the author of so many assassinations. Isaac Angelus, a +nobleman, accused of treason, resisted arrest, and fled to Saint Sophia. +A mob gathered and took his side against the mercenaries of Andronicus. +The tyrant himself was seized and torn to pieces, and the Angeli +succeeded the Comneni on the throne of Constantinople. + +Isaac and Alexius Angelus, the two emperors whose reign occupied the +years 1185-1204, between the fall of Andronicus and the conquest of +Constantinople by the Crusaders, were the two most feeble and despicable +creatures who ever occupied the imperial throne. Euphrosyne, the empress +of Alexius, however, was a woman of strong personality, though of +licentious ways, and, as the last of the Byzantine empresses before the +fall of Constantinople, she exhibited the strength as well as the +weakness of that long line of self-asserting princesses whom we have +been considering. + +Owing to the idle disposition of her worthless husband, Euphrosyne +assisted in conducting the business of the Empire; and so masterful was +she that no minister dared take any step without her approval. Gibbon +considers that there was no greater indication of the degradation of +society at this time than that the proudest nobles of the Empire, +members of the celebrated families of Comnenus, Ducas, Palæologus, and +Cantacuzenus, contended for the honor of carrying Euphrosyne on her +litter at public ceremonies. Her influence over the nobility was due to +her beauty, her talents and her aptitude for business. But her +inordinate vanity, reckless extravagance, and flagrant licentiousness +brought great scandal upon the Empire even in those vicious times, and +frequently led to violent quarrels with Alexius. Finally, the jealousy +of the emperor at her licentious conduct lost all bounds. Alexius +ordered her paramour to be assassinated, and the female slaves and the +eunuchs of her household were put to the torture. The beautiful and +accomplished Euphrosyne was compelled to leave the palace, and, like so +many imperial dames noted for their devotion or their license, was +immured in a convent. + +The court, however, soon missed her talents and energy; Alexius himself +was not equal to the ordinary duties of his office; the courtiers were +unrestrained in their peculations, and nowhere was there a restraining +hand. Euphrosyne was recalled to save the dynasty, and, with even more +than her former insolence, she entered once more upon a career of +extravagance and shame. While her energy and skill in the affairs of +state won admiration, her lavish expenditures of the public funds +excited the dismay of the few thoughtful men of the day. The crowd +enjoyed the splendid spectacle of her hunting parties and applauded +their empress as she rode along on her richly caparisoned steed, with a +falcon perched on her gold-embroidered glove, but such extravagances +were but hastening the end of the doomed city. + +The rest of the story is but too quickly told. Alexius +III.,--Angelus,--had, by a clever coup d'état, displaced his brother +Isaac; Alexius IV., son of Isaac, implored outside aid, and gave the +marauders of the fourth Crusade an excuse to attack the city. Alexius +III. fled for his life, and Alexius IV., after a brief reign, was caught +and strangled by the usurper, Alexius Ducas. The Crusaders assaulted and +sacked Constantinople when Alexius V., Ducas, the last of the emperors, +fled in a galley by night, taking with him the Empress Euphrosyne and +her daughter Eudocia whom he had married. He was afterward captured, +tried for the murder of the young Alexius, and suffered death by being +hurled from the top of a lofty pillar. + +The end of Euphrosyne and her daughter Eudocia is not known. The latter +had already had a sufficiently tragical history. Eudocia had first been +married to Simeon, King of Servia, who later abdicated the throne and +retired to a monastery. His son Stephen, enamored of the beauty of his +young stepmother, married her. Later, a disgraceful quarrel arose. +Eudocia was divorced by her second husband and, almost naked, was +expelled from the palace. + +In her desperate condition, abandoned by all, she would probably have +perished had not Fulk, the king's brother, taken pity on her and sent +her back to Constantinople. Alexius Ducas, who had already divorced two +wives, was willing enough to wed the daughter of Euphrosyne, and after +his execution the hand of the accommodating Eudocia was bestowed on Leo +Sguros, the chief of Argos, Nauplia, and Corinth. + +The stories of Euphrosyne and Eudocia are a sufficient confirmation of +the corrupt state of society in the latter days of the Comneni and the +Angeli. Andronicus and his mistresses, and Euphrosyne and her daughter, +are no exaggerated types of the higher classes of the Empire. The clergy +had grown indifferent to the licentiousness of the age, and many bishops +and patriarchs were themselves venal and degraded. The people were too +ready to follow in the footsteps of the higher classes. Therefore, +through the loss of womanly virtue and manly strength, the Empire was on +the verge of ruin. + +Thus fell, on April 13, 1204, Constantinople--"The eye of the world, the +ornament of nations, the fairest sight on earth, the mother of churches, +the spring whence flowed the waters of faith, the mistress of orthodox +doctrine, the seat of the sciences, draining the cup mixed for her by +the hand of the Almighty, and consumed by fires as devouring as those +which ruined the five Cities of the Plain." + + + + +XV + +WOMANHOOD OF THE BYZANTINE DECADENCE + + +The Byzantine Empire had fallen with its capital Constantinople, and the +Latin Empire of Romania had taken its place. But the rule of the Franks +was too weak to take an abiding hold on the provinces, and, after a +brief and flickering existence, 1204-1261, it passed away, and a Greek +dynasty was once more established in New Rome. While the Ottoman power +was gaining strength, the Greek Empire was suffered to exist; but in the +course of two centuries, through internal corruption and mismanagement, +Byzantine dominion ceased to be an effective force in the world's +affairs, and the city of Constantine easily fell a prey to the +Mohammedan forces. + +Though the Crusaders had captured the capital, the provinces refused to +recognize the dominion of the Franks, and three Greek kingdoms were +carved out of the remains of the Byzantine Empire by adventurous spirits +who had left Constantinople rather than fall victims to the Western +conquerors. Theodore Lascaris, the last to strike a blow for the doomed +city, founded across the straits, out of the province of Bithynia, the +empire of Nicæa, though his rights to royal power lay merely in his +strong right arm and in his having married the daughter of the imbecile +Alexius III. Alexius Comnenus, grandson of Andronicus I., had betaken +himself to the eastern frontier of the Empire, and, chiefly through the +glamour of his name, had made for himself, out of the long strip of +coast land at the south-east corner of the Black Sea, a kingdom that was +destined to carry on an independent existence for nearly three hundred +years as the empire of Trebizond. Furthermore, Michael Angelus, a cousin +of Alexius III., became "despot" of Epirus and later conquered the Latin +kingdom of Thessalonica. Finally, after the Greek empire of Nicæa had +enjoyed a steady growth for over half a century, during which it +absorbed the kingdom of Thessalonica, Michael Palæologus, the usurper of +the Nicene throne, succeeded in wresting Constantinople from its Latin +rulers, and established anew the Byzantine Empire, under the dynasty of +the Palæologi. + +In the stories of the dynasties of these various kingdoms we have not +many glimpses into the history of woman, but wherever feminine names are +mentioned woman is found to be exerting her customary influence over the +affairs of state and the destinies of empires. + +The dynasty of Theodore Lascaris was handed down through his daughter +Irene, whose husband succeeded to the throne as the Emperor John III. +The Empress Irene was much beloved because of her amiable character and +domestic virtues, and there is preserved a beautiful incident of the +affection she inspired in a young maiden. John Asan, the King of +Bulgaria, had formed an alliance with John III. through the betrothal of +his daughter Helena to Theodore, the heir-apparent to the Nicene throne. +Highly esteeming the virtues of the Empress Irene, the Bulgarian king +had sent the young Helena to be educated under her care. Later, when the +alliance between the emperor and the king was broken off, Asan sent for +his daughter, with the request that she return to Bulgaria. John III. +scorned to retain his son's betrothed as a hostage, and suffered the +attendants to arrange her departure. But when the maiden ascertained +that she was not to return to her dear mother the empress, her grief was +inconsolable. Her tears and lamentations over the separation and her +praises of the Nicene queen at length excited the serious displeasure of +her father, and he had to threaten her with severe punishment if she did +not cease to weep and mourn for her Greek mother. But her love for Irene +was greater than the fear of punishment, and, in spite of the censure +and the blandishments of her parent, she could never reconcile herself +to the loss of the happy hours at the side of the virtuous and gifted +empress. During Irene's lifetime John was uniformly successful, +extending the bounds of his dominion and winning the love and devoted +admiration of his subjects. But, after her death, another woman led him +into evil ways. + +John married as his second wife, in her twelfth year, the Princess Anna, +natural daughter of the Emperor Frederick II. of Germany. Anna had +brought in her train, as directress of her court, a beautiful Italian +lady, Marchesina by name. The Emperor John fell violently in love with +his child-wife's chief attendant. Marchesina soon received the honors +conferred in courts on the recognized mistress of the sovereign, and was +permitted to wear the dress reserved for members of the imperial family. +Public opinion severely censured the emperor for his conduct, and one of +the prominent bishops of the day, Nicephorus Blemmidas by name, found +occasion to give Marchesina a severe rebuke. Blemmidas had so +beautifully embellished the church of the monastery of which he was +abbot, that it was frequently visited by members of the court. One day, +while the abbot was conducting divine service in the chapel, the +imperial mistress passed by with her attendants, and made up her mind to +enter. But when Blemmidas heard of her approach, he at once ordered the +doors to be closed, declaring that never with his permission should an +adulteress enter the sanctuary. Marchesina, incensed at so severe a +rebuke, so publicly inflicted, hurried back to the palace, threw herself +at the feet of her imperial lover, and implored him to avenge on the +abbot the insult he had put upon her. But John was not regardless of +public opinion, and, recognizing the mistake he had made, merely said in +response to Marchesina's entreaties: "The abbot would have respected me, +had I respected myself." + +Woman, too, was in large measure the cause of the overthrow of the +dynasty of Lascaris, and the usurpation of Michael Palæologus, scion of +one of the most influential families of Constantinople. Theodore II., +who succeeded his father John, grew testy and superstitious in his old +age, and had reason to suspect the cunning and able Michael who was +rapidly winning the popular favor. But Michael was undoubtedly spurred +on to action against the dynasty by Theodore's outrageous conduct toward +his sister Martha. The latter had a beautiful daughter who had been most +tenderly reared as became her rank. To the surprise of all, the emperor +ordered the family to bestow her in marriage on one of his pages, +Valanidiotes. Though beneath the maiden in rank, the page succeeded in +winning the affection of the highborn damsel, and the family were +consenting to the union, when the emperor capriciously changed his mind, +and compelled a betrothal between the maiden and a man of her own rank. +A report that this marriage was not consummated led the superstitious +emperor to suspect that both this event and a malignant attack of his +disease were due to some charm practised by the mother. + +In his vexation and rage, he ordered Martha, though connected by birth +with the imperial family, to be enclosed in a sack with a number of +cats, which were from time to time pricked with pins that they might +torture the unfortunate lady. Martha was brought into court with the +sack thus bound about her neck, and was examined concerning her supposed +witchcraft, but the suspicious tyrant could extract nothing from her on +which to base a condemnation. + +This unseemly action was an offence Michael could never forgive. From +this time he began assiduously to plot against the throne. The story of +his usurpation and of his cruelty toward the rightful emperor, the young +lad, John IV.,--Ducas,--does not concern us here. Suffice it to say that +he ascended the throne of Nicæa as Michael VIII.,--Palæologus,--and was +fortunate enough to capture the city of Constantinople and revive the +Greek Empire there. Through the Empire of Nicæa the thread of tradition +was unbroken, and from 1261 on we have once more a Byzantine Empire. + +The history of this concluding period, 1261-1453, embracing the dynasty +of the Palæologi, is the most degrading portion of the national annals. +Michael is renowned for being the restorer of the Eastern Empire, but +his throne was gained through baseness and cruelty, and he left to his +descendants a heritage of vice and crime of such a nature that the +Empire survived for a century or two not because of its intrinsic worth, +but because the Ottomans were not yet ready to seize it. It is a period +notable for the absence of literary taste, of patriotic feeling, of +political honesty, of civil liberty. The emperors are, as a rule, +immoral and capricious men, utterly selfish in their aims and their +pursuits, and each one leaves the Empire somewhat weaker than he found +it. + +The new Empire of Constantinople and that of Trebizond existed side by +side, and frequent intermarriages took place between the royal families. +By studying conjointly the annals of the Palæologi and the Comneni we +become acquainted with a number of the princesses of these royal houses, +and can form some idea of the character of Greek womanhood in this age +of decadence, and of the social life of the times as it affects woman's +position and aspirations. + +The women of the two rival houses appear, as a rule, superior in +character, judgment, and virtue to the men, and this difference between +the males and females of the imperial families is so marked, that we +would fain know more of the system of education for women which produced +an effect so singular and so uniform. It must have been due to the fact +that in spite of the general demoralization, the life of the convents in +which the princesses were trained was pure and uplifting, the methods of +instruction thorough, the discipline severe; while the clergy who had in +charge the education of the princes were so bent on their own preferment +and the acquirement of political power, that they aimed rather at +gaining an ascendency over their imperial wards than in imparting the +instruction which would have made them great rulers. + +The only empress of the Palæologi, however, to gain supreme power and to +win a place in history, was of foreign birth. Anne of Savoy, by the +nomination of her dying husband, Andronicus III. (1328-1341), and the +custom of the Empire, was made regent of her son, John V., Palæologus, a +lad of nine years. Her reign was made memorable through her struggles +with a powerful courtier, who aroused civil war and ascended the throne +for a time as John VI., Cantacuzenus (1347-1354). + +Byzantine etiquette required the widowed empress to weep for nine days +beside the body of her deceased husband, who was laid out in state in +the monastery of the Guiding Virgin, whither he had retired when death +was near and where he assumed the habit and the devotions of a monk. But +John Cantacuzenus, the grand domesticos and first minister of the +Empire, was bent on playing the rôle of earlier usurpers, and during her +absence determined to establish himself in the imperial palace as +guardian of the emperor. The empress, recognizing the danger of +infringement on the rights of her child, deemed it necessary to shorten +the period of mourning to three days, and returned to the palace to +assert her authority as regent. Then began a course of intrigue between +the two parties. Cantacuzenus instituted a rebellion against the regent, +and by his followers was crowned and invested with the imperial robe. +Under the guidance of the patriarch and the grand duke Apocaucus, the +Empress Anne adopted forceful measures to intimidate the partisans of +the rebels. Among the interesting women of this period was Theodora, the +mother of Cantacuzenus, a woman of preeminent virtue and talent, far +superior in ability and moral force to her son. But against her the +vengeance of Anne was chiefly directed. The aged lady was thrown into +prison by order of the regent, and was subjected to great cruelty and +privations until death came to her relief. The young emperor, John V., +was solemnly crowned. Apocaucus was appointed prime minister, and a +vigorous war was prosecuted against the rebels, who were threatened with +extermination. To save his cause Cantacuzenus treacherously turned to +the common enemy, the Turk, and sacrificing his daughter Theodora on the +altar of his ambition gave her in marriage to Orkhan, and sent her to +dwell at Brusa, as a member of the Sultan's harem. All the religious +people of the day were incensed at this violation of common decency and +lack of paternal feeling, but the tone of morality was too low to cause +serious opposition. + +Meanwhile, there was discord in the palace. The Empress Anne fell out +with her chief supporter. She had a violent quarrel with the patriarch. +Her prime minister Apocaucus was assassinated. Through the aid of his +Turkish ally Cantacuzenus was successful. The empress-regent showed a +determination to defend herself in the palace, but her partisans were +less courageous than she, and she was compelled to submit. But +Cantacuzenus was as wily as he was ambitious. Recognizing the strength +of his opponents, after he himself had been crowned emperor, he +determined on the marriage of his daughter Helena with the young +heir-apparent, and agreed to associate John V. with him on the throne +when he reached the age of twenty-five. The children, for John was only +fifteen and Helena thirteen, were betrothed and wedded with great +ceremony, and then received the crown, and the courtiers and people were +entertained by the rare spectacle of two emperors and three empresses +seated on their thrones. + +"The strange spectacle delighted the gazers; but it was not viewed +without some feeling of contempt, for it was generally known that the +imperial crowns were bright with false pearls and diamonds; that the +robes were stiffened with tinsel; that the vases were of brass, not +gold; and instead of the rich brocade of Thebes, the hangings were of +gilded leather." + +Cantacuzenus deserves to rank with the two Angeli as the third of the +great destroyers of the Eastern Empire. Through civil wars he depleted +its resources; and by introducing the Turk into his dominions, he paved +the way for the final downfall. Fortunately, John V. asserted himself at +the age of twenty-four; Cantacuzenus was tonsured and placed in a +monastery where he passed the rest of his days in literary labors. In +native gifts and force of character, and in her checkered history, the +Empress Anne of Savoy deserves a place by the side of the earlier +self-asserting empresses of Constantinople. + +The tale of the last hundred years of the Byzantine Empire is a mere bit +of local history, and no longer forms an important warp in the woof of +the annals of Christendom. Women there were who were deserving of a +better destiny, but they are naturally obscured in the general +demoralization. The Mussulman might have taken Constantinople +seventy-five years earlier. The end came on May 29,1453. The city was +captured by Mohammed II., and Constantine XIII., the last of the Cæsars, +the worthy scion of degenerate sires, fell in the breach. Mohammed +proceeded quickly to convert Constantinople from a Christian into a +Turkish capital. The city was sacked. The Byzantine women were sold into +slavery, or became wives or concubines of the conquerors and passed the +rest of their days in a Turkish harem. And, from this date, for +centuries the life of Greek womanhood under Turkish domination was +passed in oppression and obscurity. + +The fragment of the Greek Empire known in the history of the Middle Ages +as the Empire of Trebizond was the creation of accident. A young man +descended from the worst tyrant of Constantinople, but of an illustrious +name which retained the glamour inspired by the founder of the Comneni +dynasty, grasped the sovereignty of a most important commercial centre, +and his descendants continued to hold it until overwhelmed by the +all-conquering power of the Turk. The Empire of Trebizond possesses +unique grandeur in the romances of the West: the beauty of its +princesses was a theme of universal praise; its reputed wealth and +splendor excited the cupidity of Venetian and Genoese merchants. But it +was, after all, an insignificant kingdom, which owed its strength merely +to the weakness of surrounding peoples; and whose ostentatious court +ceremonials were but an attempt to keep up the traditions of the +Byzantine Empire and of the Comneni family in more prosperous days. + +Shortly after the assassination of Andronicus by Isaac II., +--Angelus,--his son Manuel, with other members of his family, met a +similar fate. Manuel was survived by two sons, Alexius and David, the +former a little lad of four. The boys were concealed for a time, and +were brought up in obscurity in Constantinople, where faithful friends +gave them an education worthy of their station. At the time when the +Crusaders captured the city, Alexius escaped, raised an army, and took +possession of Trebizond, then one of the most important commercial seats +on the borders of the Black Sea. The surrounding province gladly +recognized him as the lawful sovereign of the Roman Empire, and the +Comneni dynasty was continued through him for two and a half centuries +or more. To mark the legitimacy of his claim, and to prevent confusion +with the rival family of Alexius III.,--Angelus,--Alexius assumed the +designation of "Grand-Comnenus," and by this title the family was known +until its extermination. + +The earlier years of the Empire of Trebizond were notable chiefly for +the efforts of its rulers to retain and extend their power, which was +circumscribed by the stronger empire of Nicæa. After the latter had been +merged into the restored Byzantine Empire with Constantinople as its +capital, Trebizond was still strong enough to maintain an independent +existence. A league was formed between the reigning sovereigns, Michael +VIII.,--Palæologus,--of Constantinople, and John II., then Emperor of +Trebizond, through the espousal of the latter to Michael's youngest +daughter, Eudocia, who was destined to show herself one of the best and +most capable of the Palæologi princesses. + +The ceremony was solemnized with great ostentation on September 12, +1282. The question of precedence was an important one, as the Trebizond +government had considered itself the direct successor of the Empire of +the Cæsars. But through this marriage the wily monarch of Constantinople +gained the advantage; for John on this occasion laid aside the title of +"Emperor of the Romans," to be henceforth reserved exclusively for the +sovereign of the city of the Golden Horn, while that of Trebizond +assumed the title of "Emperor of all the East, Iberia, and Perateia." +Furthermore, the inhabitants of the city saw in the respective marriage +robes a certain inferiority of the Trebizontine monarch to the family of +his wife; for while the robes of John were embellished with +single-headed eagles, the bride appeared in a dress covered with +double-headed eagles to mark her rank in the Empire of the East and West +as a princess of the Palæologi, born in the purple chamber. + +John and his royal bride had not been long settled on the throne when he +experienced a sudden and unexpected discomfiture at the hands of an +aspiring sister. Theodora, the oldest child of Manuel I. by his marriage +with Roussadan, an Iberian princess, jealous of the popularity of her +sister-in-law, and proud of the superiority of Comneni traditions to +those of the usurper of Constantinople, availed herself of the party +intrigues of the nobles, and the popular dissensions in the capital, to +assemble an army, surprise her imperial brother, and mount the throne. +Her glory was of brief duration, but the existence of coins bearing her +name and effigy demonstrates that her power was stable and that she was +fully recognized as a sovereign of the Empire. No clue exists which +enables us to determine how Theodora obtained the throne or how she was +at length driven from power, but John appears to have finally recovered +his throne and capital and to have expelled the ambitious princess. + +During succeeding years the influence of Byzantine womanhood and the +relations between the two kingdoms continued prominent. John died in +1297, leaving two sons, Alexius II. and Michael. The former succeeded +his father at the age of fifteen, and was placed under the guardianship +of his mother Eudocia's brother, the Byzantine emperor Andronicus II. +Andronicus ordered his ward, the young emperor of Trebizond, though an +independent sovereign prince, to marry Irene, the daughter of a +Byzantine subject, Choumnus, one of his favorite ministers. But the idea +of a Comnenus marrying below his station was offensive both to Alexius +and his people. In obedience to the blood within his veins, and in +contempt of his guardian's command, Alexius rejected the proposed +mesalliance, and married the daughter of an Iberian prince. + +The young married couple presented a beautiful example of conjugal +tenderness and devotion, but this did not soften the hard heart of the +guardian. Andronicus even went so far as to endeavor, to make the Greek +Church declare the marriage null and void on the ground that it had been +contracted by a union without the consent of his guardian. But the +patriarch and clergy, sympathizing with the lovers, and alarmed at the +ludicrous position in which they would be placed, took advantage of the +interesting condition of the bride to refuse to gratify the spleen of +the chagrined emperor. + +At this time also, Eudocia, the mother of Alexius, who was in partial +durance in the imperial palace at Constantinople, saw an opportunity of +obtaining her freedom and of returning to her dominions. Her brother +Andronicus was offended with her because she had rejected his proposal +to form a second marriage with the Krai of Servia. + +She persuaded her brother that her influence over her son, who was +devotedly attached to her, would have far more weight in making the +young emperor agree to a divorce than the sentence of an ecclesiastical +tribunal whose authority he was able to decline; and to this end she +obtained her brother's permission to return to Trebizond. Upon arriving +at her son's court Eudocia was so much impressed with the conjugal +fidelity of her son Alexius that she at once approved of his conduct, +and supported him in his determination to resist the tyrannical +pretensions of his guardian. Eudocia is an excellent example of the +superiority of the Palæologi women over their weaker and more selfish +brothers. In every situation, even in her months of exile from her +dominions, she maintained herself with dignity, and in her careful +rearing of her son and regard for his interests she exhibited motherly +traits of a high order. + +In the next generation there was also an alliance between the royal +families of the two kingdoms. The emperor Basilius, second son of +Alexius II., married Irene Palæologina, the natural daughter of +Andronicus III. of Constantinople. Basilius had no legitimate issue, but +falling in love with a beautiful lady of Trebizond, also named Irene, he +made her his mistress and conferred on her every possible honor. She +bore him four children. To insure the succession of one of his natural +sons, Basilius in 1339 persuaded or forced the clergy to celebrate a +public marriage with his Trebizontine mistress, though there is no +evidence that he obtained a divorce from his lawful wife Irene, beyond +his own decree. He died suddenly in the April following his marriage to +his mistress. + +Irene Palæologina, who was, in spite of his second nuptials, universally +regarded as the lawful wife of Basilius, was suspected of having +hastened his end; and her unfaithful husband had certainly tried the +soul of the proud lady. At any rate she was prepared for the sad event, +and had already organized a faction which placed her on the throne, as +the second independent Empress of Trebizond. + +This promptitude in profiting by her husband's death, was worthy of the +first Empress Irene in Byzantine history, and gave just ground for +suspicion. But in considering an age when it was usual for people to +circulate calumnious reports against their rulers, the evidence should +be strong before we condemn the Palæologi princess. However, the +flagrant immorality of the court circles, and the lightness of character +of Irene herself, as well as her conduct after the event, tended to give +credibility to the rumor. + +Irene, as soon as she was safely established on the throne, sent off her +rival of Trebizond and the two sons of Basilius to Constantinople where +her father Andronicus detained them as hostages for the tranquillity of +her empire. A strong party of the nobility, however, who had hoped to +gain wealth and power through the favor of the Trebizontine Irene, whom +they purposed to make regent during the minority of her children, were +chagrined at the success of the schemes of the Palæologi princess, and +at once began to plan her downfall. Two great parties arose, and the +little empire was once more disturbed by the turmoil of civil war. +Irene, with all her daring, was, like her father, of a gay and +thoughtless disposition, and did not fully realize the danger of her +situation. She recognized, however, that a second husband would +strengthen her cause; and she urged her father Andronicus to send her a +husband chosen from among the Byzantine nobles, who could aid her in +repressing the factions which threatened her throne. Andronicus gave a +favorable reception to Irene's ambassadors, but died before he had time +seriously to attend to her request. The light-minded Irene consoled +herself during the delay by falling in love with the grand domesticos of +her palace. But this bit of favoritism only divided her own court into +factions and strengthened the cause of her enemies. + +A new storm now burst over the head of the thoughtless empress. Another +woman, whose title to rule was far stronger than that of Irene, appeared +to claim the throne. Anna, called Anachoutlon, was the eldest daughter +of the Emperor Alexius II. She had in early womanhood taken the veil, +and until this time had lived in seclusion. The opposition party +searched out her retreat and persuaded her to quit her monastic dress +and escape to Lazia, where she was proclaimed Empress of Trebizond, as +the nearest legitimate heir of her brother Basilius. All the provincials +united in demanding the sovereignty of a member of the house of +Grand-Comnenus in preference to the usurpation of a Palæologi princess, +who was planning to marry a foreigner. The popular demand for the rule +of a scion of the house of Grand-Comnenus gave Anna a triumphal march to +the capital, and with but little opposition she was admitted within the +citadel and universally recognized as the lawful empress. Irene was +dethroned after a troubled reign of one year and four months. Three +weeks later Michael Grand-Comnenus, second son of John II. and Eudocia, +who had been selected at Constantinople as a suitable husband of Irene, +arrived on the scene, to find the change of sovereignty. The Empress +Anna was surrounded by a cabal of powerful chiefs, who determined to +keep the reins of power in their hands. She graciously received her +kinsman, but he was later treacherously seized and imprisoned by Anna's +partisans. Irene was sent on, under suitable escort, to Constantinople, +to pass the rest of her life in retirement. The treatment of Michael +aroused the fury of many adherents of the house of Grand-Comnenus. +Another upheaval followed. John III., son of Michael, was brought over +from Constantinople, and proclaimed emperor by a constantly growing +faction. The hapless Anna, who had doubtless ofttimes regretted giving +up the peaceful life of the monastery for the troubles and cares of a +crown, was taken prisoner in the palace, and was immediately strangled. +She had occupied the throne hardly more than a year. + +The next period of importance in our study of Trebizontine princesses is +that covered by the long reign--1349-1390--of Alexius III., the second +son of Basilius by Irene of Trebizond. His wife was also a Byzantine +princess, Theodora, the daughter of Nicephorus Cantacuzenus, brother of +the emperor John V., Cantacuzenus, whose stormy career of opposition to +Anne of Savoy we have already noticed. Theodora bore to Alexius a number +of beautiful daughters, whom he utilized when they became of +marriageable age to form alliances with his powerful neighbors, both +Mohammedan and Christian. His eldest daughter, Eudocia, Alexius first +wedded to the Emir Tadjeddin, who had gained possession of the important +district of Limnia; after Tadjeddin was slain in a quarrel with a +neighboring emir, the beautiful and accomplished princess became the +wife of the Byzantine emperor, John V. That aged monarch had chosen her +to be the bride of his son, the emperor Manuel II.,--Palæologus; but +when she arrived at Constantinople for the celebration of the nuptials, +her beauty and grace so powerfully captivated the decrepit old debauchee +that he set aside the inclinations of his son, who was also enamored of +his prospective bride, and married the young widow himself. + +Anna, another daughter of Alexius, was married to Bagrat VI., King of +Georgia; and a third daughter was bestowed on Taharten, Emir of +Erdsendjan. Alexius's sisters met a similar fate. His sister Maria was +married to Koutloubeg, the chief of the great Turkoman horde of the +White Sheep; and his sister Theodora, to Hadji Omer, Emir of Chalybia. + +These marriages with Mohammedan nobles, though one revolts at the +immolation of Christian maidens on the altar of selfish expedience, are +yet the strongest proof how the Christian state was being surrounded by +powerful Mohammedan chieftains, who must be conciliated to ward off the +evil day of extinction. Such alliances, too, may account in part for the +moral degradation which henceforth characterizes the house of +Grand-Comnenus. + +In the next generation, Alexius IV. wedded Theodora Cantacuzenus, of the +celebrated Byzantine family of that name. Neglected by her husband, the +princess consoled herself with too close an intimacy with one of the +chamberlains of the palace; her son John, indignant at his mother's +disgrace, assassinated her lover with his own hands. He later murdered +his own father, and ascended the throne as John IV. + +Under this cruel and intriguing ruler and his successors, the Christian +population of the country regarded the dynasty of Grand-Comnenus as a +dynasty of pagan or foreign tyrants, so little of religion or morality +survived in Trebizond. His alliances with the Turkoman plunderers of the +frontiers increased the popular aversion. John early recognized the +growing strength of the Turks, and sought to prepare to meet the coming +invasion by forming an alliance with Ouzoun Hassan, chief of the +Turkomans of the White Horde, whose daring courage and rapid career of +conquest made him, in the general estimation, a formidable rival of +Mohammed II. + +When invited to join in the league against Mohammed, Hassan demanded as +the price of his assistance the hand of the emperor's daughter +Katherine, renowned throughout the Orient as the most beautiful virgin +in the East. John IV. was highly pleased at the prospect of purchasing +so powerful an alliance on such easy terms, and readily agreed, +doubtless without consulting the fair Katherine. Yet, in order to save +his credit as a Christian emperor, and perhaps as a balm to his own +conscience in sacrificing his daughter to an infidel, he stipulated in +the treaty that Katherine should be permitted always the exercise of her +own religion, and should have the privilege of keeping a certain number +of Christian ladies as her attendants, and of Greek priests in her +suite, to serve a private chapel in the harem. It is to the honor of a +Mussulman to observe that Hassan strictly kept his promises, even after +the empire of Trebizond and the house of Grand-Comnenus were no more. + +Before this matrimonial alliance was fulfilled, John came to his end; +but his brother David, who displaced the heir and usurped the throne,--a +fit agent for consummating the ruin of an empire,--completed the +arrangement. The beautiful Katherine was sent with suitable pomp to the +court of her bridegroom, Hassan, and readily adapted herself to the +changed conditions of her life. She soon acquired great influence over +her infidel husband, who was the soul of honor and good faith, and in +every phase of her life which is known to us she showed herself the most +attractive character of the whole house of Comnenus. + +But no matrimonial alliance could save the doomed empire. Constantinople +had fallen in 1453, and it was merely a matter of time when the last +surviving Greek kingdom should succumb to the Mohammedan yoke. Mohammed +II., by the exercise of intrigue, gradually detached from the emperor +his infidel allies. When finally the Mohammedan forces came against the +city, David showed that he possessed nothing of the heroic spirit of the +last Constantine. He offered but a feeble resistance, and readily +sacrificed the city to outrage and plunder on an assurance of safety for +himself and his family. David basely deserted his empire and embarked on +board one of the Turkish galleys, with his family and his treasures, to +enjoy for a brief period luxurious ease in the European appanage +assigned him by Mohammed. + +David's family consisted of seven sons and a daughter borne him by +Helena Cantacuzena, his second wife, who, through her devotion to +husband and children, deserves to rank among the noblest of mothers in +the chronicles of history. + +The dethroned emperor was not long permitted to enjoy the repose he had +purchased with so much infamy. Mohammed at length suspected him of +carrying on secret communications with Ouzoun Hassan, his niece's +husband, and plotting to reestablish the Empire of Trebizond. He was +suddenly arrested on his luxurious estate, and conveyed with his whole +family to Constantinople. While they were on the way a letter from +Despina Katon--the popular designation of the fair Katherine--to her +uncle David was intercepted by the Ottoman emissaries. In this the +amiable spouse of Hassan, requested David to send her brother, or one of +her cousins, to be educated at her husband's court. This letter afforded +convincing proof to the suspicious Sultan that David was plotting with +Ouzoun Hassan and other enemies of the Porte for the restoration of his +empire. + +The bare suspicion of Mohammed was a sentence of death to the whole race +of Grand-Comnenus. As soon as the unfortunate prisoners reached +Constantinople, David was ordered to embrace Islam under pain of death. +His life had been ignoble, but in his death David showed that he still +possessed something of the nobility of the Comneni, and he chose death +rather than dishonor his name by renouncing his religion. David, his +seven sons and his nephew Alexius were all slaughtered in one day, in +the year 1470: the daughter was lost in a Turkish harem. + +The bodies of the princes were thrown out unburied beyond the walls. No +one ventured to approach them for fear of the vengeance of the Sultan. +They would have been abandoned to the dogs, the usual scavengers of +Christian flesh, had not the Empress Helena, the wife and mother, +repaired to the spot where they lay. She was clad in a peasant's garb, +to escape detection, and carried a spade in her hand. The day was spent +in guarding the remains of husband and children from the ravenous dogs, +and in digging a grave to receive their bodies. In the darkness of the +night a few faithful souls came to her relief and assisted her in +committing the bodies to the dust. The widowed and childless empress, +who had seen the last of her race, the last of the glories of the +Byzantine kingdom, then retired to a convent to pass the remainder of +her days in prayers for the repose of the souls of her loved ones. Grief +soon brought her to a refuge from all earthly sorrows in the grave. + +The story of womanhood in the Byzantine Empire of the decadence is an +extremely sad one. The times were out of joint; corruption and +immorality prevailed; the emperors were almost without exception +extremely selfish, cruel, and unprincipled. It was impossible for +womanhood in such a period not to be tainted by the general ruin, yet we +have found many noble characters, and whatever may have been their +feminine weaknesses and foibles, however much their lots may have been +circumscribed by the caprices of sovereigns and the ceremonials of +courts, the princesses of the Comneni, the Palæologi and the Cantacuzeni +have, as a rule, shown themselves in virtue and in capability the +superiors of their brothers. + +The rest of our story of Christian women of Greek or Byzantine +traditions is soon told. During all the period we have covered in this +chapter there was a flourishing mediæval life further south under Greek +skies, in Athens, under a Frankish and, later, a Florentine duchy, and +in the Peloponnesus, or the Morea, under Frankish or Venetian princes. +But this was the feudal life of mediæval times transferred to Greek +soil, the life of foreigners among a conquered people, and does not +concern us here. + +When the Turks extended their conquests over Greek lands, it looked as +if the torch of freedom, the light of Hellenic tradition, the lamp of +Christianity which had for so many centuries brightened the life of +Oriental women, had been extinguished forever. But all during the dark +age of Turkish oppression, the Christian Church kept alive the nobler +aspirations of the Greek race. Women have always been the chief +exponents of religious faith, and Greek women handed on from generation +to generation the traditions of religion and liberty and intellectual +culture. Many of the women of Greek lands were forced to spend their +lives within the narrow walls of a Turkish harem; many saw their +children taken from them and carried to Constantinople to be brought up +as Mussulmans for the service of the Sultan; many had to undergo +ignominy and insults at the hands of petty officials. But the Church +found a constant and enthusiastic ally in Greek womanhood in preserving +the language, the spirit, the love of liberty, of the ancient Greeks. + +Hence, when in the early decades of the nineteenth century the fulness +of time had come for a portion of the Greek race to rid itself of +Turkish domination, the women showed an intense love of country which +enabled them not only to inspire their brothers in the fight for +freedom, but they also frequently shared with them the toils and +privations of actual conflict. We read in the histories of the Greek War +of Independence how women at times accompanied the Greek soldiers on +their forages, carrying arms and ammunition and frequently fighting +themselves; how they kept the standard of military honor high, and were +unsparing critics of the mettle of their husbands. + +There is no more inspiring folk tale in the records of history than the +legend of the Suliote women in the struggle of their people against Ali, +the cruel and rapacious tyrant of Janina. Bred in the mountains of +Chamouri, they refused to submit to his yoke, and the valiant people had +to see the gradual extermination of their race. They had ventured to +defy the rising star of Ali, and all that force or treachery could +accomplish was inflicted upon them. Tzavellas was one of their leaders, +and the valor of Moscho, his wife, has been commemorated in popular +verse, as typical of Greek womanhood in their struggle for independence: + + "This is the famous Suli, is Suli the renowned, + Where the little children march to war, the women and the children: + Where the wife of Tzavellas combats, her sabre in her hand, + Her babe upon one arm, her gun upon the other, and her apron filled + with cartridges." + +The final incident of the unequal struggle which shows the desperate +determination and courage of these Greek women, who suckled these +_klephts_ of the mountains and kept alive that spirit of liberty which +finally won independence from Turkish misrule, has been thus described: + +"Some sixty of these Suliote women, with their children, were assembled +on a ledge of rock overhanging a sheer precipice, and, having witnessed +the gradual extermination of their defenders, they resolved to die by +their own act rather than fall into the hands of the grisly tyrant of +Janina. The position which they occupied suggested an easy form of +death, and the manner in which they sought it was tragically weird and +grim. First, each mother took her child, embraced it, and, turning her +head away from the pitiful scene, pushed it over the edge of the abyss. +Then these sixty women linked their hands together, and, singing the +familiar daring song of Suli above the rattle of the musketry, danced +the old surtos measure round and round the ledge of rock, having each +her back to the void as the winding chain approached the brink. And +every time the chain wound round, one dancer, the last in the line, +unlinked her hand, took one step back, and fell down into annihilation. +One by one, without haste, without pause, singing the dancing song, they +followed each other down that leap of death, until the last sprung over +alone, consecrating the mountain with their blood an altar of liberty, +from which, ere long, a flame arose that fired those ancient ranges from +sea to sea." + +Such was the spirit of Greek womanhood in the trying year of the Greek +War of Independence; and it was this spirit which enabled the Greeks to +struggle on, without resources and allies, amid discouragements and +misrepresentations, till finally the nations of Europe came to their +rescue and established the modern Greek kingdom on a sure basis. + +Athens was finally chosen as the seat of the new Greek government; and +in 1837 the Bavarian king Otho and his lovely bride, the princess +Amalia, entered Athens in triumph, and the kingdom of Hellas was fairly +launched. Within the memory of living men the dynasty of Otho fell, and +a scion of the royal house of Denmark, King George, with his Russian +consort, Queen Olga, now holds sway in Athens. + +The modern Greek woman of the higher classes has become so thoroughly +cosmopolitan in her culture that she has lost in large measure her +distinctive traits. Her sympathy is rather with Parisian life than with +English, though her deportment is marked by a sobriety of manner +partaking rather of Greek repose than of French effusion. Many faces +seen in Greek lands exhibit, in profile especially, the Greek type of +beauty. + +The women of the lower classes, no doubt, preserve many of the +characteristics of the race in all ages, in spite of the intermingling +with foreign peoples and the results of centuries of Turkish oppression, +which time alone can eradicate. Domestic fidelity, maternal affection, +devotion to religious observances, the cheerful discharge of the duties +and responsibilities of wedded life, are nowhere more beautifully +illustrated than among the Greek women of to-day. + +It is the Christian religion which makes the life of Greek women under +King George superior to that of their sisters under the dominion of the +Sultan, and we may hope that in the fulness of time the Greek women of +Europe and Asia outside of the Hellenic kingdom may enjoy, untrammelled +by Turkish authority, the rights and privileges of that religion which +has elevated the sex, and that the Greek woman of the future may combine +the personal graces of her sister in antiquity with the cultivation of +the soul and the enlargement of spirit which comes to women with the +inculcation of Christianity. + + + + + CONTENTS + + + INTRODUCTION + + PREFACE + + PART FIRST + + I WOMEN OF THE GOSPEL NARRATIVE + II WOMEN OF THE APOSTOLIC AGE + III THE ERA OF PERSECUTION + IV SAINT HELENA AND THE TIME OF CONSTANTINE + V POST-NICENE MOTHERS + VI THE NUNS OF THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH + VII WOMEN WHO WITNESSED THE FALL OF ROME + VIII WOMEN OF THE FRANKISH CHURCH + + PART SECOND + + IX THE EMPRESS EUDOXIA + X THE RIVAL EMPRESSES--PULCHERIA AND EUDOCIA + XI THE EMPRESS THEODORA + XII OTHER SELF-ASSERTING AUGUSTÆ--VERINA, ARIADNE. + SOPHIA, MARTINA. IRENE + XIII BYZANTINE EMPRESSES--THEODORA II. THEOPHANO. + ZOE. THEODORA III. + XIV THE PRINCESSES OF THE COMNENI + XV WOMANHOOD OF THE BYZANTINE DECADENCE + + + + + List of Illustrations + + SUBJECT ARTIST + + Seeking shelter _Luc Oliver Merson_ + Christ and the daughter of Jairus _Albert Keller_ + Christians in the arena _L.P.de Laubadère_ + Famine and pestilence _A. Hirschl_ + The legend of the roses _J. Nogales_ + Byzantine interior, ninth century _S. Baron_ + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Women of Early Christianity, by +Alfred Brittain and Mitchell Carroll + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WOMEN OF EARLY CHRISTIANITY *** + +***** This file should be named 32451-0.txt or 32451-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/2/4/5/32451/ + +Produced by Rénald Lévesque + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/32451-0.zip b/32451-0.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a236458 --- /dev/null +++ b/32451-0.zip diff --git a/32451-8.txt b/32451-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..325b050 --- /dev/null +++ b/32451-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11036 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Women of Early Christianity, by +Alfred Brittain and Mitchell Carroll + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Women of Early Christianity + Woman: In all ages and in all countries, Vol. 3 (of 10) + +Author: Alfred Brittain + Mitchell Carroll + +Release Date: May 20, 2010 [EBook #32451] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WOMEN OF EARLY CHRISTIANITY *** + + + + +Produced by Rnald Lvesque + + + + + + +_WOMAN_ + +VOLUME III + +_WOMEN OF EARLY CHRISTIANITY_ + +BY + +Rev. ALFRED BRITTAIN and MITCHELL CARROLL, Ph.D. + +WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY +J. CULLEN AYER, Jr., Ph.D. +OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY + + + + + [Illustration 1: _SEEKING SHELTER After the painting by Luc + Oliver Merson + + Notwithstanding all that is said in these ancient writings in + the attempt to do her honor, we must conclude that the glory of + the halo which beautifies the head of the real Mary is derived + by reflection from the moral splendor of her Son.... We need + such a poetic creation as Mary; and her place at the head of all + the daughters of earth is the more secure and effective because + her figure in authentic history is but a shadowy outline. The + ideal woman whom all mankind loves and reverences as Virgin, + Mother, and Saint, is objectified by concentrating in Mary of + Nazareth all possible feminine grace, beauty, and purity._] + + + + +_Woman_ + +_In all ages and in all countries_ + + +_VOLUME III_ + + + +_WOMEN OF EARLY CHRISTIANITY_ + +BY + +Rev. ALFRED BRITTAIN +AND +MITCHELL CARROLL, Ph. D. + +WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY +J. CULLEN AYER, Jr., Ph. D. +_Of Harvard University_ + + +_ILLUSTRATED_ + + +_PHILADELPHIA +GEORGE BARRIE & SONS, Publishers_ + + + +COPYRIGHT, 1907, BY GEORGE BARRIE & SONS + +Entered at Stationers' Hall, London + + + + +INTRODUCTION + +WHEN the historian has described the rise and fall of empires and +dynasties, and has recounted with care and exactness the details of the +great political movements that have changed the map of continents, there +remains the question: What was the cause of these revolutions in human +society--what were the real motives that were operative in the hearts +and minds of the persons in the great drama of history that has been +displayed? The mere chain of events as they have passed before the eye +as it surveys the centuries does not give an explanation of itself. +There must be a cause that lies behind these events, and of which they +are but the effects. This cause, the true cause of history, lies in the +minds and hearts of the men and nations. The student of the past is +coming more and more to see that the only hope of making history a +science, and not a mere chronicle, is to be found in the clear +ascertainment and study of those psychological conditions which have +made actions what they were. Foremost among those conditions have been +the hopes, aspirations and ideals of men and women. These have been the +greatest motive forces in the history of the world. These, quite as much +as merely selfish considerations, have guided the conduct of the men who +have made history, not merely those who have been leaders in the great +movements of society, but the multitude of followers who have not +attracted the attention of historians, but have, nevertheless, given the +strength and force to the revolutions of the world. + +The deepest interest in the history of Christian women lies in the way +in which woman's status in society has been modified by the new +religion. The chronicle of saintly life and deeds is a part of that +history. But there are, also, women who have signally failed to attain +those virtues for which their religion called. These, too, have their +place, for both have either forwarded or retarded the realization of +woman's place in society. Often the heathen spirit is but half concealed +under the mask of Christianity. But the whole tone of society has been +changed, nevertheless, by the ideas and ideals which that religion +brought before men's minds in a new and vivid manner. + +The position of woman has been more influenced by Christianity than by +any other religion. This is not because there have not been noble +sentiments expressed by non-Christian writers; for among the rabbinical +writers, for instance, are many fine sentiments that could have come +only from men who clearly perceived the place of woman in an ideal human +society. Nor because in Christianity there have not been men whose +conception of woman was more suitable to the adherents of those faiths +that have regarded her as a thing unclean. But from the very nature of +the appeal which Christianity has made to the world, the place of woman +in society has been changed. The new faith appealed to all mankind in +the name of the humanity which the Son of God had assumed, and +consequently it was forced to treat men and women as on a spiritual +equality. It was forced by the natural desire for consistency to break +down any barriers that might keep one-half of the human race from the +full realization of the possibilities of their natures, which were made +in the image of God. It is in this relation of Christianity to the +world, quite as much as in the sayings and precepts of its Founder and +his Apostles, that has been found the ground for the great work of +Christianity in raising the position of women in the world. + +Christianity should in this respect be compared with the other religions +that have attained prominence. Among those that were national religions, +there has been no appeal to the world in general. They were bound up +with the race, and their adherents were those of the race or nation in +which they were to be found. Such religions have made no appeal to the +individual. They had no propaganda. They did not extend to other +nations. They were essentially national. In them there was no place for +women. The father of the household represented his family, and although +women had certain duties in connection with the household worship, it +was only because they were under the power of some men. This is true of +the religions of India, China, and the ancient religions of the Semitic +race. In two of the great world-religions, those centring on Mahomet and +Buddha, there has been no place for women as such. These religions are +primarily the religion of men. But in the case of Christianity, the +appeal has been to every human being, merely because of the human +element. If there were to be no distinction on account of race or social +condition, still less was there on account of sex. Male and female were +alike in Christ. The Christian must be a believer for himself--the faith +of no one else could serve for him. Marriage made no difference in the +religious position of anyone. Such sentiments applied day after day in +the course of the world's life could not remain without their effect, +and the change wrought by them has been profound and lasting. + +That there has not yet been the full realization of the ideal of +Christianity in the matter of the position of woman in society is no +stranger than the non-realization of the ideals of that or any other +faith. The eternal ideas of right are sometimes extremely slow in their +operation. The forces they have to overcome are strongly intrenched. But +slow as may seem the progress, the power of right steadily gains and the +temporary success of evil is soon past. The ways in which the triumph of +the Christian ideal has been brought nearer have been at times very +varied. At one time it may seem that the leaders in the cause of social +regeneration have been wholly blind to the full significance of the +faith they professed. Fantastic forms of asceticism have banished women +from the society of those who were trying to lead the perfect life. But +the more sympathetic study of the extravagances of religious enthusiasm +has been able to discover that even in ages in which ideals seemed to be +wholly opposed to those of latter ages, there has been the same +fundamental conception which has been constantly striving for +realization in the world. + +In the light of subsequent history, it appears fortunate that the +position of woman in the new society was not more fully and carefully +defined by the teachers of the new religion. If the early Christian +teachers had given their followers minute rules regulating their life +and conduct, there might easily have been a return to a legalism that +would have been disastrous for the new faith. Even the few regulations +that are to be found in connection with matters of order and discipline +in the Apostolic Church, so far as they have concerned women, have been +frequently misunderstood and misapplied. They have been made of lasting +obligation by many, rather than considered as the expression for the +times and circumstances in which the early Church was placed, of +principles of propriety which might be very different from, if not +indeed contrary to, the sentiments of another age. But by leaving the +whole question open, with but a very few exceptions, the great working +out of the freedom of the new faith was possible. Woman has been +recognized by the world as man's helpmate. She is not his toy or his +slave, but a sharer with him in the highest privileges of human nature. +An appreciation of the tremendous responsibilities that have been put +upon her by the fact of her womanhood has not separated her from man, +but both are seen standing side by side in the New Kingdom. + + JOSEPH CULLEN AYER, JR. + +_Episcopal Theological School, Cambridge._ + + + + +PREFACE + +Christianity introduced a new moral epoch in the course of human +history. Its effect was necessarily transforming upon those who came +under its sway. Being cosmopolitan in its nature, we have now to study +woman as being somewhat dissociated from racial type and national +manner, and we shall seek to ascertain how she met and was modified by +Christian conditions. These had a larger effect upon her life than upon +that of man; for, by its nature, Christianity gave an opening for the +higher possibilities of her being of which the old religions took little +account. In the realm of the spiritual, it, for the first time, assented +to her equality with man. That the women of the first Christian +centuries submitted themselves to the influence of that religion in a +varying degree, the following pages will abundantly show. And it will be +seen that in the many instances where the Christian doctrine was not +permitted to dominate the life, the dissimilarity of those women from +their prototypes in former heathendom is correspondingly lessened. While +it is not possible to treat this subject without illustrating the +above-mentioned fact, the authors beg to remind the reader that this is +distinctively a historical and not a religious work. Though, under other +circumstances, they would be very willing to state positive views in +regard to many questions herein suggested, it is not within the province +of this book to defend or refute any religious institution. The aim is +solely and impartially to represent the life of the Christian women of +the first ages. + +Though this is a work of collaboration, Mr. Brittain is solely +responsible for the part of the book treating of the women of the +Western Roman Empire, and Mr. Carroll is solely responsible for that +discussing the women of the Eastern Roman and Byzantine Empires. +Differences of personal characteristics, based upon dissimilarity of +national temperament, reveal themselves in these women of Rome and +Constantinople, but the Christian principle, through its transforming +and elevating influence on the lives of pagan women, gives unity to the +volume, and presents a type of womanhood far superior to any that had up +to this time been produced by the Orient or early Greece or ancient +Rome. + + ALFRED BRITTAIN, + MITCHELL CARROLL. + + + + +PART FIRST + +WOMEN OF THE WESTERN EMPIRE + + + + +I + +THE WOMEN OF THE GOSPEL NARRATIVE + + +The study of the early Christian women takes up a phase of the history +of woman which is peculiar to itself. It is, in a sense and to a degree, +out of historical sequence. It deals with a subject in which ideas and +spiritual forces, rather than the effect of racial development, are +brought into view. It presents difficulties all its own, for the reason +that not only historical facts about which there can be no contention +must be mentioned, but also theories of a more or less controversial +nature. We shall endeavor, however, as far as is possible, to confine +ourselves to the recapitulation of well-authenticated historical +developments and to a dispassionate portrayal of those feminine +characters who participated in and were influenced by the new doctrines +of early Christianity. + +In writing of the women who were the contemporaries and the +acquaintances of the Founder of Christianity the difficulty is very +greatly enhanced by the fact that everything related to the subject is +not only regarded as sacred, but is also enshrined in preconceptions +which are held by the majority of people with jealous partiality. Our +source of information is almost exclusively the Bible; and to deal with +Scriptural facts with the same impartiality with which one deals with +the narrative of common history is well-nigh impossible. There are few +persons who are exempt from a prejudicial leaning, either in favor of +the supernatural importance of every Scriptural detail or in opposition +to those claims which are commonly based upon the Gospel history. We +hear of the Bible being studied merely as literature, a method most +highly advantageous to a fair understanding of its meaning and purport, +but possible only to some imaginary, educated person, unacquainted with +the Christian religion and totally unequipped with theological +conceptions. That which is true of the Bible as literature is also +applicable to the Scripture considered as history. + +Yet we shall endeavor to bear in mind that we are not writing a +religious book, and that this is not a treatise on Church history; it is +ordinary history and must be written in ordinary methods. Consequently, +in order to do this subject justice and to treat it rightly, we must +endeavor to remove the women mentioned in the Gospels as far as possible +from the atmosphere of the supernatural and to see in them ordinary +persons of flesh and blood, typifying the times as well as the +circumstances to which they belonged. Though they played a part in an +event the most renowned and the most important in the world's history, +yet they were no more than women; in fact, they were women so +commonplace and naturally obscure, that they never would have been heard +of, were it not for the Character with whom they were adventitiously +connected. A memorial has been preserved, coeval, and coextensive with +the dissemination of the Gospel, of the woman who anointed Christ; but +solely on account of the greatness of the Object of her devotion. + +Our purpose in this chapter is to ascertain what manner of women they +were who took a part in the incomparable event of the life of Christ, +what their part was in that event, and how it affected their position +and their existence. + +The whole history of the Jewish race and all the circumstances relating +thereto abundantly justify the application to the Jews of the term "a +peculiar people." A branch of the great Semitic division, in many ways +they were yet most radically distinguished from every other part of the +human family. By many centuries of inspired introspection they had +developed a religion, a racial ideal, and national customs which +entirely differentiated them from all other Eastern peoples. The Jew is +one of the most remarkable figures in history. First there is his +magnificent contribution to religion and world-modifying influences, so +wonderfully disproportionate to his national importance; then there is +the marvellous persistency of his racial continuity. + +That which set apart the Jews from other nations was mainly their +religion. These peculiar people, inhabiting at the time of Christ a +small tract of country scarcely larger than Massachusetts, deprived of +national autonomy, being but a second-class province of the Roman +Empire, nevertheless presumed to hold all other races in contempt, as +being inferior to themselves. This religious arrogance, manifesting +itself in a vastly exaggerated conception of the superiority, both of +their origin and of their destiny, surrounded the Jews with an +impenetrable barrier of reserve. That national pride which in other +peoples is based on the memory of glorious achievements on the +battlefield, on artistic renown, or on commercial importance, found its +support among the Jews in their religious history, in their divinely +given pledges, and in laws of supernatural origin. And indeed they were +a race of religious geniuses; they were as superior in this respect as +were the Greeks in the realm of art and the Romans in that of +government. + +These facts, which are so universally acknowledged as to need no further +reference here, warrant a closer study of the manner of life of the +ancient Jewish women than that to which we can afford space. + +In the Gospel narrative women hold a large place. As is natural, a very +great deal of the grace and beauty of the record of Christ's life is +owing to the spirit and presence of the feminine characters. This the +Evangelists have ungrudgingly conceded. There does not seem to have been +the least inclination to minimize the part played by women; indeed, +their attitude toward Christ is by inference, and greatly to their +credit, contrasted with that of the men. The women were immediately and +entirely won to Christ's cause. They sat at His feet and listened with +gratitude to the gracious words which He spake; they brought their +children to be blessed by Him; they followed Him with lamentations when +He was led away to death. There were among their number no cavillers, no +disbelievers, none to deny or betray. When the enemies of Jesus were +clamoring for His death and His male disciples had fled, it was to the +women He turned and said: "Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but +weep for yourselves, and for your children." Well might the instincts of +the Daughters of Jerusalem incline them to sympathize with the work and +suffering of the Man of Nazareth, for it is incontrovertible that no +other influence seen in the world's history has done so much as +Christianity to raise the condition of woman. + +The position of woman in Palestine, though much inferior to that of man, +was far superior to that which she occupied in other Oriental nations. +Jewish law would not permit the wife to fall to the condition of a +slave, and Israelitish traditions contained too many memories of noble +and patriotic women for the sex to be held otherwise than in honor. A +nation whose most glorious records centred around such characters as +Sara, Miriam, Deborah, Esther, and Susanna could but recognize in their +sex the possibility of the sublimest traits of character. Moreover, +every Hebrew woman might be destined to become the mother of the long +hoped for Messiah, and the mere possibility of that event won for her a +high degree of reverence. + +At the same time, the Jewish women, like those of all other ancient +nations, were held in rigid subordination; nor was there any pretence +made of their equality with men before the law. A man might divorce his +wife for any cause: a woman could not put away her husband under any +circumstances. A Jewish woman could not insist on the performance of a +religious vow by which she had bound herself, if her husband or her +father made objection. Yet, from the earliest times, the property rights +of Israelitish women were very liberal. In the Book of Numbers it is +recorded how Moses decreed that "If a man die, and have no son, then ye +shall cause his inheritance to pass unto his daughter. And if he have no +daughter, then ye shall give his inheritance unto his brethren." But +tribal rights had to be considered. Possessions were not to be alienated +from one tribe to another. Hence it was also decreed that "Every +daughter that possesseth an inheritance in any tribe of the children of +Israel, shall be wife unto one of the family of the tribe of her father, +that the children of Israel may enjoy every man the inheritance of his +fathers." In the time of Christ, however, this restriction on marriage +was unnecessary, ten of the tribes not having returned from the +Captivity. The house at Bethany where Jesus was entertained belonged to +Martha; and we read of wealthy women following Him and providing for His +needs out of their own private fortunes. In the early days, among the +Hebrews, marriage by purchase from the father or brothers had been the +custom; but in the time of which we are writing a dowry was given with +the bride, and she also received a portion from the bridegroom. + +The inferior position of Jewish women is frequently referred to in the +rabbinical writings. A common prayer was: "O God, let not my offspring +be a girl: for very wretched is the life of women." It was said: "Happy +he whose children are boys, and woe unto him whose children are girls." +Public conversation between the sexes was interdicted by the rabbis. "No +one", says the Talmud, "is to speak with a woman, even if she be his +wife, in the public street." Even the disciples, accustomed as they were +to seeing the Master ignore rabbinical regulations, "marvelled" when +they found Him talking with the woman of Sychar. One of the chief things +which teachers of the Law were to avoid was multiplying speech with a +woman. The women themselves seem to have acquiesced in this degrading +injunction. There is a story of a learned lady who called the great +Rabbi Jose a "Galilean Ignoramus," because he had used two unnecessary +words in inquiring of her the way to Joppa. He had employed but four. + +By the Jews women were regarded as inferior not only in capacity but +also in nature. Their minds were supposed to be of an inferior order and +consequently incapable of appreciating the spiritual privileges which it +was an honor for a man to strive after. "Let the words of the Law be +burned," says Rabbi Eleazar, "rather than committed to women." The +Talmud says: "He who instructs his daughter in the Law, instructs her in +folly." In the synagogues women were obliged to sit in a gallery which +was separated from the main room by a lattice. + +Yet it is scarcely to be supposed that in everyday Jewish life the +pharisaical maxims quoted above were adhered to with any great degree of +strictness. Especially in Galilee, where there was much more freedom +than in the lower province, it may well be imagined that there existed a +wide difference between these arrogant "counsels of perfection" and the +common practice. There is no doubt that the rabbis and the scribes +observed the traditions to the minutest letter; but inasmuch as in these +days it would be misleading to delineate the common life of a people by +the enactments found on their statute books, we are justified in +concluding that ordinary existence in ancient Palestine was not nearly +such a burdensome absurdity as the rabbinical law sought to make it. +Human nature will not endure too great a strain. At any rate, we can but +believe that, subordinate as she may have been, the Jewish woman found +ample opportunity to assert herself. The rabbi may have scorned to +multiply speech with his wife on the street, but doubtless there were +occasions which compelled the husband to endure a multiplicity of speech +on the part of his wife at home. It was not without experience that the +wise man could say: "A continual dropping on a very rainy day and a +contentious woman are alike." + +The sayings of the scribes, which are derogatory to the female sex, are +abundantly offset by many injunctions of an opposite nature which are +found in the sacred and in the expository writings of the Jews. One of +the first things drilled into the mind of a young Hebrew was that his +prosperity in the land depended wholly upon his observance of the law +that he should "honor his father and his mother." The virtuous woman +portrayed by King Lemuel was still the ideal in the time of Christ: "Her +sons rise up and praise her; her husband also extols her." The +declaration in the book of Proverbs that "the price of a virtuous woman +is set far above that of rubies" is not to be understood in the sense of +irony. "Honor your wife, that you may be rich in the joy of your home," +says the Talmud; and there was a proverb: "Is thy wife little? then bow +down to her and speak." The Son of Sirach said: "He that honoreth his +mother is as one that layeth up treasure ... and he that angereth his +mother is cursed of God." + +As among all other Eastern peoples, the education of Jewish girls was +greatly neglected; but it can hardly be said that they were losers on +that account. They were simply saved a great deal of profitless labor +which fell upon their brothers. The learning of the Jews, so far as +higher education was concerned, did not add much either to the grace or +the enjoyment of life. It was pedantry of the driest and dreariest kind. +It consisted of interminable glosses upon the Law and of the "traditions +of the elders." It exercised no faculties of the mind excepting the +memory and such powers of reasoning as are employed in subtle casuistry. +There was in it nothing of art or science, or even of history, except +Jewish history. Greek learning was abhorred by the strictly orthodox. +They said the command was that a man's study should be on the Law day +and night; if anyone therefore could find time between day and night he +might apply it to Gentile literature. There were schools in abundance; +but they are spoken of only in relation to boys. In the fundamental +moral precepts, however, and in the highest national ideals, the Jewish +girls were no less thoroughly trained than were their brothers. Ozias +testified to Judith, who with feminine strategy and masculine courage +overthrew Holophernes: "This is not the first day wherein thy wisdom is +manifested; but from the beginning of thy days all the people have known +thy understanding, because the disposition of thy heart is good." Of the +chaste Susanna it was said that, her parents being righteous, they +taught their daughter according to the Law of Moses. Timothy owed his +early training to his mother Eunice and his grandmother Lois. The +Israelitish mother, in the dawn of her children's intelligence, +carefully taught them the lore of the ancient Scriptures and instructed +them in the principal tenets of the Jewish faith. There never existed +another nation that cared so thoroughly for the training of its young in +the doctrines of morality and in those national memories which are +efficacious in the perpetuation of an ardent patriotism. In all this the +girls were privileged equally with the boys. As Edersheim says: "What +Jewish fathers and mothers were; what they felt towards their children; +and with what reverence, affection, and care the latter returned what +they had received, is known to every reader of the Old Testament. The +relationship of father has its highest sanction and embodiment in that +of God towards Israel; the tenderness and care of a mother in that of +the watchfulness and pity of the Lord over his people." + +Religion was the breath of Jewish life. It is absolutely impossible to +touch on Hebrew history, customs, or ideals, in any period or to any +extent, and not to come into contact with Hebrew religion. This, as we +know, was full of burdensome ritual and formalities; the Law, with all +its elaborate ramifications, governed the minutiae of daily existence. +Yet it is again necessary to be careful not to judge too broadly of +Jewish life by the rules which the Talmud shows were laid down by the +rabbis. The Pharisees, who made the formalities of religion their one +business in life, could observe all the multitudinous feasts and fasts, +all the ritual of washings, and bear in mind the innumerable +possibilities of breaking the Sabbath--such, for example, as +accidentally treading on a ripe ear of grain, which would be the act of +threshing; but that the common people lived thus straitly is impossible +of belief, and for this reason they were held in contempt by the +strictest sect. How some of these troublesome laws related to the women +is suggested by Edersheim; "A woman (on the Sabbath) must not wear such +headgear as would require unloosing before taking a bath, nor go out +with such ornaments as could be taken off in the street, such as a +frontlet, unless it is attached to the cap, nor with a gold crown, nor +with a necklace or nose-ring, nor with rings, nor have a pin in her +dress. The reason for this prohibition of ornaments was, that in their +vanity women might take them off to show them to their companions, and +then, forgetful of the day, carry them, which would be a 'burden.' Women +were also forbidden to look in the glass on the Sabbath, because they +might discover a white hair and attempt to pull it out, which would be a +grievous sin; but men ought not to use looking-glasses even on weekdays, +because this was undignified. A woman may walk about her own court, but +not in the street, with false hair." + +These are only instances of regulations which were so numerous as +severely to tax the memory of those who did little else but study to +observe them. We are sure that they could not have characterized the +common Jewish life; yet there was not a man, however loose in conduct or +humble of birth, who was not well versed in the moral precepts of Moses +and in the exalted national ideals of the Prophets. In the cases--and +they were many--where this wisdom was not justified of her children, the +punctilious observance of outward forms, conjoined with the most extreme +arrogance of race, laid the Jew open to the contempt of both Greek and +Roman. Yet there was enough latent impetus and genuine religious life in +Israel to form the basis of that Christianity which was destined to +overreach Greek philosophy and to revolutionize Rome; and there are many +indications in the Gospels that the credit for the incalculable service +of preserving alive the smouldering embers of piety must, to a +predominant degree, be awarded to the mothers and daughters of Israel. +Elizabeth, no less than Zacharias her husband, was a type of many who +"walked in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord, blameless." +There was also one Anna whose devotion was so great that she seemed to +make the temple her constant home. Nevertheless, in religion, as in +other things, the Jewish women, as all of their sex in the ancient +world, were obliged to be content with an inferior position. In the +great temple at Jerusalem they were allowed to occupy only the second +court: to the Court of Israel, where their male relatives worshipped, +they could not penetrate. They had no occasion, however, to complain of +lack of space, for in this Court of the Women there was room for over +fifteen thousand persons; and, for their convenience, the priests had +very considerately placed therein the treasury chests. It was here that +the poor widow whom Christ eulogized cast in her "two mites." In this +court also was Solomon's Porch, where the Master, recognizing no +inequality, taught both sexes alike. In the synagogues, the women of +Palestine were obliged to occupy as inconspicuous a position as +possible, and on the way thither it was required of them that they +should take the back and less frequented streets, in order that the +minds of the men might not be diverted from sacred meditations by their +presence. This bit of hypocritical phariseeism not only indicates the +inferior plane which women were supposed to occupy, but also that, +however honored they may have been as wives and mothers, they enjoyed no +portent of that chivalry which afterward grew from and was fostered by +Christianity. + +The existence of the Jewish woman was by no means secluded. She was +allowed to mingle freely in outdoor life. She accompanied her family on +their journeys to the great festivals which were held in Jerusalem. +Indeed, we read of Galilean women following Jesus into Juda, evidently +unescorted by male relatives. Females also entertained mixed companies +in their own homes. It is probable, however, that there was more freedom +of movement among the lower-class women than was enjoyed by their +sisters of high degree. While the former dwelt in mean and small houses, +in which there was little possibility of seclusion, the latter had large +and luxurious homes, with great interior courts and special apartments +for their own use. The luxuriousness of these wealthy women rivalled +that of Rome itself. We read of one Martha, the wife of a high priest, +who, when she went to the temple, had carpets laid from her house to the +door of the temple. Upon the poorer women were imposed the hardships of +labor: "two women grinding at the mill" was a common sight in every +home. + +In that momentous drama the leading figure of which was the Son of Man, +women of greatly varying character and position played a part. There +were Herodias, and Procla, the wife of Pilate: these were the highest +ladies in the land; there were Martha of Bethany, and Joanna, the wife +of Herod's steward, representing the middle class; Mary, the mother of +Jesus, from among the poor; and Mary of Magdala, from among a class of +women who were numerous in Palestine, one of whom the Gospel designates +as "a woman who was a sinner." + +Of the two first mentioned little may be said in this connection, as +they were far from being Christian women, though the wife of Pilate +earned for herself the respect of all succeeding generations by pleading +for the life of Jesus. + +Herodias is connected with this story only on account of the cruel +determination with which she sought and compassed the death of John the +Baptist. The grand-daughter of Herod the Great, she inherited not only +his impetuous ambition, but also his ferocity. She had been married to +Herod Philip, her uncle. This son of the first Herod was a wealthy +private resident of Jerusalem; but Herodias could not be content to +stand aside as a mere spectator of the brilliant game of governing. So +she seized the opportunity which the presence of Antipas in her house, +by her husband's hospitality, gave her to begin an intrigue, which ended +in her marital union with the tetrarch. By this conduct she trampled on +Jewish law and offended the people. Not that the severing of the +marriage bonds was a thing unusual among the Jews; indeed, the +facilities for divorce were exceedingly liberal. A man could put away +his wife for the most trifling cause. "If anyone," said the rabbis, "see +a woman handsomer than his wife, he may dismiss his wife and marry that +woman." It was considered ample cause for divorce if a wife went out +without her veil. The disciples of Hillel even went so far as to hold +that if a woman spoiled her husband's dinner, by burning or over salting +it, sufficient cause was given him, if he so chose, to put her away. +This is the point of the question with which the Pharisees came to try +Christ. "Is it lawful," said they, "for a man to put away his wife for +every cause?" So, then, that which shocked the Jews and caused them to +agree with John in his denunciation of Herod was not that the latter +divorced his first wife, the daughter of Aretas, but that he took +Herodias, she not having been put away by her husband, Philip. Here is +some very remarkable moral sophistry. It would have been right, in the +sight of Jewish law, for Herod and Philip to have exchanged wives, after +legally divorcing them for any cause which might have seemed to them +proper; but there was no law, nor was there any conceivable wrong, which +could give Herodias the right to leave her husband of her own free will. +Women could not gain divorce. So, according to the Jewish idea, the +fault of Herod consisted solely in the fact that Philip had not yet seen +fit to release Herodias. Whether or not John the Baptist concurred with +the ideas of his time on this subject we do not know; but the One who +came after him put marriage on a far higher basis and restricted divorce +to its essential cause. + +Herodias plotted and achieved John's destruction perhaps as much on +account of her fear of the effect of his influence upon Herod's +ambitious projects as because of her resentment at his charges against +herself. She was determined that Herod should be a king, like her +brother Agrippa; but the latter was a great favorite with Caligula, and +when his letters were presented to the emperor at the same time that +Herod appeared, in obedience to the importunities of his wife, to press +his suit, the husband of Herodias was deposed and exiled to Lyons. The +only praiseworthy thing that Herodias ever did, so far as is known, was +on this occasion. Caligula wished to allow her to retain her own +fortune, and told her that "it was her brother who prevented her being +put under the same calamity with her husband." This was her reply: +"Thou, indeed, O emperor, actest after a magnificent manner, and as +becomes thyself in what thou offerest me; but the kindness which I have +for my husband hinders me from partaking of the favor of thy gift; for +it is not just that I, who have been made a partner in his prosperity, +should forsake him in his misfortunes." Thereupon Caligula sent her into +banishment with Herod, and gave her estate to Agrippa. + +Our curiosity is greatly aroused, but in no degree satisfied, regarding +another woman who dwelt at Jerusalem in the time of Christ. Pilate, the +Roman procurator, had taken his wife with him to Juda. Tradition has it +that she there became a proselyte to the Jewish faith. This is by no +means unlikely, for throughout the Roman world were found women who had +become converts to the religion of Zion; Josephus, by his own +experience, shows that at a later date even Poppa, the wife of Nero, +was extremely partial to the Jews. The Greek Church even goes further, +and places Procla in its calendar of saints. Though there is no evidence +extant of her having become a Christian, it need not be considered a +thing impossible; indeed, it is extremely reasonable to suppose that, +having endeavored to save the life of Jesus, the wonderful religious +movement which succeeded His death could not have been unknown or +without interest to Procla. At any rate, certain it is that she had some +knowledge of Jesus, that she was to no small degree disposed in his +favor, and that Pilate's wish to balk the priests in their designs on +Christ's life was, in a large measure, the result of his wife's +influence. But Pilate was caught with the argument that to save the +Prisoner would be a sign of disloyalty to Csar. This incident is the +most prominent instance that history affords of the unwisdom of opposing +masculine ratiocinations to feminine moral intuitions. + +We now turn to those women of the Gospels who were the acknowledged +friends of Jesus and of the founders of Christianity. The central figure +is, of course, the Blessed Mother--Mary, honored by Christians above all +the daughters of the earth and adored by many millions as the Queen of +Heaven; and yet how inadequate, how meagre is the veritable knowledge we +possess of this immortal woman! Never has human imagination so +magnificently triumphed as in the evolution of the concept of the +Blessed Virgin; never has fond adoration built so marvellous an ideal +upon so scanty a foundation of assured reality. A moderate-sized page +would contain all that is vouchsafed regarding her in the Gospels, yet +who ever disputed the claim for Mary that she is the highest +representative of all that is purest and most beautiful in womanhood. +This much is not a dogma of any church, but a universal feeling. This +prevailing conception of the character of Mary has grown out of the +conviction of what must have been the moral worth of the one fitted to +bear and rear the Son of Man; and it has also resulted to a large degree +from that strong human love for motherhood which seeks a perfect example +on which to expend itself. The Blessed Virgin is womanhood idealized. +She is the personification of all feminine beauty, both of soul and +body; she is the perfect expression of the poet's highest inspiration +and the artist's noblest dream. We cannot help wishing, however, that +more were known of the home life of Mary; the desire to place the +beautiful figure of the Representative Mother in the varied settings of +common feminine life is irresistible, but this can only be done by means +of what little we know of the manners and customs of her people and +time. + +As has been said, the sources of information about the Mother of Jesus +are the four Gospels. In addition to these, there are the apocryphal +Christian writings; but these are of too late origin and contain too +many manifestly absurd accounts to warrant credence, except where they +are corroborated by the Evangelists. The latter say nothing whatever of +Mary's direct parentage. She was an offspring of the regal line, that of +David; for though it is most probable that the puzzling genealogies of +Matthew and Luke are those of her husband, Joseph, there are many +reasons for believing that he and Mary were blood relations. Their home +was at Nazareth, a beautiful hill town of Galilee, noted for the +comeliness of its women. At the end of the sixth century, Antoninus +Martyr remarked that the Jewish women of Nazareth were not only fairer +but also more affable to Gentiles than were the other women of +Palestine, and modern travellers inform us that both these +characteristics are still preserved. Geikie says: "The free air of their +mountain home seems to have had its effect on the people of Nazareth. +Its bright-eyed, happy children and comely women strike the traveller, +and even their dress differs from that of other parts.... That of the +women usually consists of nothing but a long blue garment tied in round +the waist, a bonnet of red cloth, decorated with an edging or roll of +silver coins, bordering the forehead and extending to the ears, +reminding one of the crescent-shaped female head-dress worn by some of +the Egyptian priestesses. Over this, a veil or shawl of coarse white +cotton is thrown, which hangs down to the waist, serving to cover the +mouth, while the bosom is left exposed, for Eastern and Western ideas of +decorum differ in some things.... In a country where nothing changes, +through age after age, the dress of to-day is very likely, in most +respects, the same as it was two thousand years ago, though the +prevailing color of the Hebrew dress, at least in the better classes, +was the natural white of the materials employed, which the fuller made +even whiter." + +We are not informed on the authority of the Gospels as to Mary's age +when she was espoused to Joseph the carpenter. The apocryphal _Gospel of +Mary_ states that she was fourteen, while the _Protevangelion_ places +her age at twelve, which is in accordance with the custom of the East, +where girls mature much earlier than with us. The betrothal consisted of +mutual promises and the exchange of gifts in the presence of chosen +witnesses, followed by the engaged couple ceremonially tasting of the +same cup of wine, and was ended with a benediction pronounced by a +priest or a rabbi. After these solemn espousals the relation between +Mary and Joseph was as sacred as though marriage had really taken place; +the only difference was that the couple did not yet live together. The +woman was not allowed to withdraw from the contract, and the man could +not fail to fulfil his promise unless he gave her a formal bill of +divorcement for cause, as in the case of marriage; the laws relating to +adultery were also applicable. Yet many months might intervene between +the date of the betrothal and that of the marriage. + +What took place during this interval in the life of the Virgin is a +mystery which it would be a vain attempt to investigate. If it be judged +of from a purely rationalistic standpoint, there are no historical and +no scientific data which will enable us to do otherwise than simply +discredit the accounts of the Nativity, as they are given by Matthew and +Luke. On the other hand, if the narrative of Christ's birth is accepted +with that reverent faith which has endured through nineteen centuries of +Christendom, and has been and still is held by men of unrivalled +intellect, there is nothing more to be said than the language of worship +and wonder. We may well regret that John and Mark, or at least one of +the epistolary writers, did not corroborate the testimony of the two +first-named Evangelists; the scant importance Mary seems to have +acquired in the Apostolic Church may appear inconsistent with the +stupendous nature of her experiences; yet here is no subject for vain +reasoning; we stand before a mystery which belongs wholly to the realm +of faith. The science of Christology demands the acceptance of this +supernatural event. But it is as little within the province of this book +to defend the faith as it is to apply the canons of Higher Criticism to +the writings of the New Testament. + +In the picture which the Scriptures give us of Mary there is no touch so +human as that which represents her, at the first intimation of the +coming of her Son, hastening southward to confer with her cousin +Elizabeth. To a woman must the news first be whispered, before it gains +the observation of the man to whom she is espoused; and not to the +gossips of Nazareth, but to her holy and sober-minded kinswoman alone +could Mary impart her hopes and her fears. Poetic expression was a +Jewish woman's birthright; Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, and Judith, each had +magnified the Lord with a song; let Mary also, in the assurance that her +Offspring is to be the Messiah long foretold, voice the exultation of +her soul in like manner. "Behold, from henceforth, all generations shall +call me blessed.... He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and +exalted them of low degree." + +Augustus Csar sent forth an edict that all the world should be taxed. +It was an act of which we should have known little and thought less, had +it not marked the occasion of the birth of Him to whom the world will +never cease to pay a tribute of homage. + +In the birth of Jesus, the mystery of motherhood is glorified, nay, +almost deified. Mankind needed that also. The pagan world had always +sought to satisfy feelings which are deep rooted in the human heart by +conceiving of maternity under the form of a divine personality. A +religion which does not, in some way, recognize in its object the loving +kindness and the painful solicitude of the mother heart cannot survive. +Mary is a symbol of that natural tender reverence and supreme confidence +which motherhood inspires. The shepherds knelt before her in the stable +which the necessities of poverty made the scene of her lying-in, for the +inestimable graces of the mother depend not upon wealth or earthly +splendor. The Wise Men from the East brought their gifts, for there is +no greater wisdom than that which pays its homage before the babe at its +mother's breast. + +In the one great experience of maternity Mary's greatness ends, so far +as the records show. Did she settle down to all appearances as an +ordinary Nazareth housewife? Did she bear to Joseph other children? To +many, the latter question seems like sacrilege; and yet there is nothing +of authority written to the contrary. + +Tradition has it that Joseph died early in their married life. Mary then +was dependent for her support upon her Son's labors. Did He refrain from +His chief calling until He was thirty years of age in order that He +might know not only common toil but also filial duty in the support of +the mother? Was it to consult on some family business that His mother +and His brethren stood outside the house where He was teaching, being +desirous to speak with Him? All these questions are to us unanswerable; +but it surely does not detract from the sacredness of the pictures to +infuse into it every possible element of human interest. + +The Gospels turn their light once more, and for the last time, on Mary. +It reveals her at the foot of the Cross. Each of the Synoptists tells us +that many women followed Him out of Galilee; by John alone is Mary +mentioned as being present at the Crucifixion. "When Jesus saw his +mother, and the disciple standing by whom he loved, he saith unto his +mother, 'Woman, behold thy son.' Then saith he to the disciple, 'Behold +thy mother.' And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own +home." Why was this so if Mary had other living sons? John, who it is +probable was her own sister's son, would immediately lead the Mother +away from the terrible scene, where a sword was also piercing her own +soul, to a place where she could await the announcement of the end. The +fact that there is no record of an appearance to Mary after the +Resurrection must be accounted for by the belief that her faith did not +need this, in its assurance that death could not conquer her divine Son. + +Nevertheless, the paucity of the reference to Mary in the New Testament, +after the Nativity, is perplexing. For the other legends concerning her +history and character, which have been cherished by a very large portion +of Christendom, we are wholly indebted to what are known as the +Apocryphal Gospels. These consist of writings which were extant, in some +cases, before the present New Testament books were selected as being +alone authentic, but were not deemed of sufficient worth to be included +in the canon. There is _The Gospel of the Birth of Mary_. In the very +early ages this book was supposed to be the work of Saint Matthew. Many +ancient Christians believed it to be authentic and genuine, and Jerome, +who lived in the fourth century, quotes it entire. Another book, of the +same description, known as the _Protevangelion_ of Saint James, is +mentioned by writers equally ancient. Then there is the _Gospel of the +Infancy_. This, we are told, was accepted by the Gnostic Christians as +early as the second century; but it is full of manifest absurdities, +outrageous even to the most compliant credulity. A fair sample of its +stories--not including the miraculous, which are exceedingly puerile--is +the one which relates that at the circumcision of Jesus an old Hebrew +woman took the part that was severed "and preserved it in an +alabaster-box of old oil of spikenard. And she had a son who was a +druggist, to whom she said, 'Take heed thou sell not this alabaster-box +of spikenard-ointment, although thou shouldst be offered three hundred +pence for it.' Now this is that alabaster-box which Mary the sinner +procured, and poured forth the ointment out of it upon the head and the +feet of our Lord Jesus Christ, and wiped it off with the hairs of her +head." + +The _Gospel of Mary_ has been made the basis of much serious belief in +regard to the Blessed Virgin, and especially have Christian artists +drawn from its pages suggestions for their subjects. We will summarize +the account it gives of the Mother of Jesus. "The blessed and ever +glorious Virgin Mary, sprung from the royal race and family of David, +was born in the city of Nazareth, and educated at Jerusalem, in the +temple of the Lord. Her father's name was Joachim, and her mother's +Anna. The family of her father was of Galilee and the city of Nazareth. +The family of her mother was of Bethlehem. Their lives were plain and +right in the sight of the Lord." Nevertheless, for twenty years they +suffered what, in the eyes of the Jews, was one of the greatest of +misfortunes: they were childless. Joachim is taunted with this fact by +Issachar, the high priest. The good man, being much confounded with the +shame of such reproach, retired to the shepherds who were with the +cattle in their pastures; for he was not inclined to return home, lest +his neighbors, who were present and heard all this from the high-priest, +should publicly reproach him in the same manner. Thereupon an angel +appears to him and informs him that his wife Anna shall bring forth a +daughter, and that they shall call her Mary. "She shall, according to +your vow, be devoted to the Lord from her infancy, and be filled with +the Holy Ghost from her mother's womb; she shall neither eat nor drink +anything that is unclean, nor shall her conversation be without among +the common people, but in the temple of the Lord; that so she may not +fall under any slander or suspicion of anything that is bad." The angel +also appears to Anna, giving her the like information. "So Anna +conceived, and brought forth a daughter, and, according to the angel's +command, the parents did call her name Mary." + +"And when three years were expired, and the time of her weaning +complete, they brought the Virgin to the temple of the Lord with +offerings. And there were about the temple, according to the fifteen +Psalms of degrees, fifteen stairs to ascend. For the temple being built +on a mountain, the altar of burnt-offering, which was without, could not +be come near but by stairs; the parents of the blessed Virgin and infant +Mary put her upon one of these stairs; but while they were putting off +their clothes, in which they had travelled, and according to custom +putting on some that were more neat and clean, in the mean time the +Virgin of the Lord in such a manner went up all the stairs one after +another, without the help of any to lead or lift her, that anyone would +have judged from hence that she was of perfect age. Thus the Lord did, +in the infancy of his Virgin, work this extraordinary work, and evidence +by this miracle how great she was like to be hereafter. But the parents +having offered up their sacrifice, according to the custom of the law, +and perfected their vow, left the Virgin, with other virgins in the +apartments of the temple, who were to be brought up there, and they +returned home." + +Mary, we are told, was ministered unto by angels until her fourteenth +year, and preserved from all suspicion of evil, so that "all good +persons, who were acquainted with her, admired her life and +conversation. At that time the high-priest made a public order, that all +the virgins who had public settlements in the temple, and were come to +this age, should return home; and as they were now of a proper maturity, +should, according to the custom of their country, endeavor to be +married." This, Mary refuses to do, she having vowed her virginity to +the Lord. Then the high priest convenes a meeting of the chief persons +of Jerusalem to seek counsel from Heaven in this matter. A voice from +the mercy-seat directs that all the men of the family of David who were +marriageable and not married should bring their staves to the altar, +"and out of whatsoever person's staff after it was brought, a flower +should bud forth, and on the top of it the Spirit of the Lord should sit +in the appearance of a dove, he should be the man to whom the Virgin +should be given and be betrothed." + +Among the rest there was a man named Joseph, of the house and family of +David, and a person very far advanced in years, who drew back his staff, +when everyone besides presented his. Joseph, however, was clearly +pointed out, in the manner described, as being the chosen man. +"Accordingly, the usual ceremonies of betrothing being over, he returned +to his own city of Bethlehem, to set his house in order, and make the +needful provisions for the marriage. But the Virgin Mary, with seven +other virgins of the same age, who had been weaned at the same time, and +who had been appointed to attend her by the priest, returned to her +parents' house in Galilee." Then follows an account of the Annunciation, +similar to that given by Saint Luke, but somewhat elaborated. "Then +Mary, stretching forth her hands, and lifting her eyes to heaven, said, +'Behold the handmaid of the Lord. Let it be unto me according to thy +word.'" + + [Illustration 2: _CHRIST AND THE DAUGHTER OF JAIRUS After the + painting by Albert Keller. + + The ready faith of the Gospel women is illustrated by many + narratives of miracles wrought in their behalf. The faith of + Martha and Mary was rewarded by the restoration to life of their + brother Lazarus. There was the woman whom physicians could not + cure, yet her faith led her to touch the hem of the Master's + garment, and she was made whole. To the widow of Nain, as she + accompanied the dead body of her son to its sepulchre, was given + that son restored to life. The despised Syrophenician woman + proved her humility and her faith, and her daughter was made + whole. Christ's commiseration was manifested notably to woman, + though not exclusively, as we see in the case of the raising of + the daughter of Jairus in answer to the father's faith._] + +In the _Protevangelion_ all this is recited, but at greater length. It +is there said of Mary that, while she lived in the temple, "all the +house of Israel loved her." It is related also of her that she was +chosen by the priests to weave the purple veil for the temple. In this +writing, Mary is described as having received the announcement of the +angel as she went to the spring to draw water. There is also a curious +passage in which Joseph is represented as telling the experiences which +came to him as he went to seek a midwife in the village of Bethlehem. +"As I was going," he says, "I looked up into the air, and I saw the +clouds astonished, and the fowls of the air stopping in the midst of +their flight. And I looked down toward the earth, and saw a table +spread, and working people sitting around it, but their hands were upon +the table, and they did not move to eat. They who had meat in their +mouths did not eat. They who lifted their hands up to their heads did +not draw them back; and they who lifted them up to their mouths did not +put anything in; but all their faces were fixed upwards. And I beheld +the sheep dispersed, and yet the sheep stood still. And the shepherd +lifted up his hand to smite them, and his hand continued up. And I +looked unto a river, and saw the kids with their mouths close to the +water, and touching it, but they did not drink." + +Notwithstanding all that is said in these ancient writings in the +attempt to do her honor, we must conclude that the glory of the halo +which beautifies the head of the real Mary is derived by reflection from +the moral splendor of her Son. Of what intrinsic greatness of soul she +was possessed it is difficult for us to surmise from the slight +attention given to her in the Gospels. Yet she rightly holds her +position as woman idealized. We need such a poetic creation as Mary; and +her place at the head of all the daughters of earth is the more secure +and effective because her figure in authentic history is but a shadowy +outline. The ideal woman whom all mankind loves and reverences as +Virgin, Mother, and Saint, is objectified by concentrating in Mary of +Nazareth all possible feminine grace, beauty, and purity. + +Let us turn now to another Mary who, in the Gospel history, achieved a +fame hardly less renowned than that of her great namesake: Mary of +Magdala, out of whom Christ cast seven devils. Magdala was a town on the +lake of Galilee, as notorious for its profligacy as it was famous for +its wealth, derived from the manufacture of dyes. Mary's affliction was +doubtless as much of a moral as of a mental nature; it may refer to the +abandonment of immoral excess into which she was driven by her +passionate nature. The Jews at the time of Christ were wont to ascribe +every form of evil, physical and also spiritual, to the agency of +demons, who were supposed to have the power of taking possession of +human beings as a habitation. The tradition of the Church has always +identified Mary Magdalene with the woman who, in Simon's house, anointed +Christ's feet with ointment, after washing them with her tears. Still, +it must be confessed that there is no certain foundation for this +belief. On this point, Archdeacon Farrar says: "The Talmudists have much +to say respecting her--her wealth, her extreme beauty, her braided +locks, her shameless profligacy, her husband Pappus, and her paramour +Pandera; but all that we really know of the Magdalene from Scripture is +that enthusiasm of devotion and gratitude which attached her, heart and +soul, to her Saviour's service. In the chapter of Saint Luke which +follows the account of her anointing the Lord's feet in the Pharisee's +house she is mentioned first among the women who accompanied Jesus in +his wanderings, and ministered to him of their substance; and it may be +that in the narrative of the incident at Simon's house her name was +suppressed, out of that delicate consideration which, in other passages, +makes the Evangelist suppress the original condition of Matthew." + + +Mary Magdalene's great part in the Gospel history was at the +Resurrection. To her ardent love and intense imagination, enabling her +to visualize Him who, though dead, she could not relinquish, +rationalists ascribe the inception of the doctrine of the Resurrection. +According to this theory, as Mary of Nazareth brought Jesus into the +world, so through Mary of Magdala His risen Spirit was born into the +Church. But this is not the faith of Christendom; nor can the testimony +of the Gospels be reasonably disposed of in this manner. To the +Magdalene was given the supreme honor of receiving the first greeting of +her risen Lord; and her testimony is the chief cornerstone of the most +comforting doctrine of Christianity. + +The gospel narrative gives a prominent place to woman,--as a believer in +Christ, as His devoted follower and constant ministrant, and also as a +faithful and unswerving witness to His wondrous works. The ready faith +of the Gospel women is illustrated by many narratives of miracles +wrought in their behalf. The faith of Martha and Mary was rewarded by +the restoration to life of their brother Lazarus. There was the woman +whom physicians could not cure, yet her faith led her to touch the hem +of the Master's garment and she was made whole. To the widow of Nain, as +she accompanied the dead body of her son to its sepulchre, was given +that son restored to life. The despised Syrophenician woman proved her +humility and her faith, and her daughter was made whole. Christ's +commiseration was manifested notably to woman, though not exclusively, +as we see in the case of the raising of the daughter of Jairus in answer +to the father's faith. In the life of Christ, the supernal event in the +world's history, woman's influence and activity were not less than +man's; but, unlike his, her part was marked by unalloyed purity, +magnanimity, and faithfulness. + + + + +II + +THE WOMEN OF THE APOSTOLIC AGE + + +THE leaven of Christianity worked speedily and powerfully in raising +woman to a position of greater honor in the estimation of the adherents +of the new religion. In regard to mental and spiritual relations, it put +her at once upon an equal footing with men, which was an entirely new +development in human thought. We have seen how, even in Judaism,--the +purest religion and the highest moral system known to the world previous +to the coming of Christ,--woman held an inferior position and was +debarred from many of its privileges, though not from its moral +responsibilities. According to the Levitical code, when a man made an +offering of any person of his family to the Lord, the value of a male +was estimated at fifty shekels, while that of the female was put at +thirty shekels; and, as in all cases where an arbitrary comparison is +instituted between men and women, this computation was independent of +the possession or lack of personal excellences. The mere undeveloped +manhood in an otherwise worthless individual gave him, in Jewish +estimation, a two-fifths superiority over the noblest woman. The very +stupidity of this is an indication that sex can hardly have been +designed by the Creator as a basis on which to found the right to the +majority either of the duties or the privileges of human life. Under the +new dispensation Paul says: "There can be neither Jew nor Greek; there +can be neither bond nor free; there can be no male and female: for ye +are all one man in Christ Jesus." That the Apostle forbade women from +taking part in the public ministrations in the congregation is still +regarded, by the majority of people, as being harmonious with the +natural fitness of things; and in those times at least, when the +education of women was so terribly neglected, it was a measure +absolutely necessary to the preservation of decency. + +Of the new life opened to women in Christianity, Renan truly says: "The +women were naturally drawn toward a community in which the weak were +surrounded by so many guarantees." Their position in the society was +then humble and precarious; the widow in particular, despite several +protective laws, was the most often abandoned to misery, and the least +respected. Many of the doctors advocated the not giving of any religious +education to women. The Talmud placed in the same category with the +pests of the world the gossiping and inquisitive widow, who passed her +life in chattering with her neighbors, and the virgin who wasted her +time in praying. The new religion created for these disinherited +unfortunates an honorable and sure asylum. Some women held most +important places in the Church, and their houses served as places of +meeting. As for those women who had no houses, they were formed into a +species of order, or feminine presbyterial body, which also comprised +virgins, who played so capital a role in the collection of alms. +Institutions which are regarded as the later fruit of +Christianity--congregations of women, nuns, and sisters of charity--were +its first creations, the basis of its official strength, the most +perfect expression of its spirit. + +The Christian Church is described, as it existed in the earliest germ, +in the fourteenth verse of the first chapter of Acts: "These (the eleven +Apostles) all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with +the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren." The +women referred to were those faithful ones who followed Jesus from +Galilee and ministered to him of their substance; those who went early +to the tomb on Easter morning, to perform the last offices of affection, +and found the sepulchre empty: Mary Magdalene, Salome the mother of John +and James, Joanna, and "the other Mary." But these are no more mentioned +by name in the New Testament; nor is even the mother of Jesus again +referred to, except in that impersonal manner in which Saint Paul speaks +of Christ as "born of a woman." A large and prominent place was held by +women in the life of Jesus, but those same women are not accorded a +corresponding importance in the history of the founding of the Church. +It is a new set of names that we encounter in Apostolic history; +converts from heathendom, and those who labored with the Apostle to the +Gentiles. The records allow the women of the Gospels to fall into +obscurity; but they will never pass out of human memory as a galaxy +which surrounded the Bright and Morning Star. + +As yet the Church had not developed an organization, except that the +Twelve--the place of Judas having been filled--were recognized as +leaders by virtue of their having been chosen by Christ. The rest, women +equally with men, were simply believers. Even the Apostles had no plan, +no foresight of future development. Officers were created only as +conditions arose which required them. At first the Church was simply a +communistic family, bound together in holy love by a common enthusiasm. +The ordinary conventions of society were for the time suspended; men and +women lived together in the free communion of a great family. Their time +was almost wholly spent in prayer and the work of conversion; the +ordinary avocations of life were almost entirely discontinued. The +community was supported out of a common stock, which was daily +replenished by the proceeds of the sale of the possessions of converts. +No one called his own anything that he had; they held all in common. +Their number was too great for a common table, but they met in large +parties at each other's houses, none suffering disparagement on account +of condition or sex. Each evening meal was a commemoration of the Last +Supper of Christ with his disciples. This briefly enduring prototype of +a perfect human society contained in itself the prophecy of all that +Christianity would do for woman through all the slow development of the +ages. In the community of the Jerusalem Christians she was neither a +slave nor a subordinate. The burden of the daily provision, which still +falls so heavily on the vast majority of women, was here rendered +extremely light, for all helped each and each helped all. Equal +fellowship also in the great spiritual possession caused all the marks +of woman's inferiority to vanish, and the sexes freely mingled in a pure +and noble companionship. + +But this perfect type of society was not destined long to endure. It +appeared only for a brief season, barely sufficient to intimate what +human life might be, if governed by the Spirit of Jesus; and then a +woman was accessory to a deed which showed that the ideal was as yet far +too high for a practical and prudent world. Sapphira and Ananias had +sold their possession and had laid a part of the price at the Apostles' +feet, under the pretence that they were devoting their all. "Tell me," +said Saint Peter, "did ye sell the land for so much?" "Yes," answered +Sapphira, faithful to the conspiracy she had entered into with her +husband, "that was the amount." "Ye have agreed together to lie unto +God," said the Apostle. "The feet of them who have buried thy husband +are at the door; they shall carry thee out also." And she immediately +"gave up the ghost." And the young men carried her out and buried her by +her husband. The description of the burying seems to indicate that it +was done as quietly as possible, probably so as not to attract the +attention of the people. But great fear of the power of the Apostles +seized those who heard the rumor of these happenings. It is not a +pleasant story, and it jars on a conscience in which the memory of the +Gospel teaching is fresh and vivid. Yet the Church was not so strong in +itself but that it needed to resort to drastic measures in order to +protect itself from covetous hypocrisy within, more to be feared than +violent persecution from without. As to the pathological cause of the +death of Sapphira and her husband, no explanation is given. In the +market place of a town in Wiltshire, England, there is a remarkable +stone monument, which was erected by the corporation to commemorate a +"judgment" which took place on the spot many years ago. According to the +lengthy inscription engraved upon the column, three women had agreed to +purchase a certain quantity of flour, each contributing her share of the +price. A dispute arose, owing to one having declared that she had paid +her part, though the amount could not be accounted for. Being accused of +trying to cheat, she exclaimed that she wished she might fall dead if +she were not telling the truth. She immediately fell to the ground and +expired, whereupon the money was found upon her person. Those who caused +the inscription to be written for the warning of future marketers +believed it to be a "judgment." Doubtless it was the effect of +excitement upon a pathological condition of the heart. The comparison +between this case and that of Sapphira and Ananias is weakened only by +the strange fact that husband and wife should, on the same day, meet +death in this remarkable manner. It is perhaps worthy of notice that +Herodias and Sapphira are the only women mentioned by name in the New +Testament against whom anything discreditable is charged. + +As the number of believers increased in Jerusalem, trouble was +encountered in regard to the daily provision. The communistic plan of +living was by no means rigidly insisted upon, as is shown by the fact +that Peter admits that Ananias was not obliged to make an offering of +the whole or even of a part of the price of his possession. Converts +were added too rapidly, and their organization was too loose for the +perfecting of any economical system. We see, however, the congregation +making careful provision for the indigent by a daily distribution. + +There were in Jerusalem many Hellenistic Jews; that is, those who were +reared in foreign countries or were born of parents so reared. The +Palestinian Jew affected a distinct superiority over these. This seems +to have been allowed to result in a slight showing of ill will between +the native and foreign-born Jews who accepted Christ. The latter found +cause to complain that their widows were neglected in the daily +distribution; this seems to indicate that the widows were supported out +of the revenues of the Church, a fact which quickly resulted in their +being considered in the service of the Church. We find the widows early +mentioned in a sort of corporate capacity. In the account of the raising +of Dorcas, who was probably herself of this condition of life, it is +said that Peter called "the saints and the widows." From this narrative +we are led to infer that the manufacture of garments for the poor was +recognized as the contribution of these women to the corporate activity +of the Church. It was the inception of a distinctly female order in the +Christian ministry. + +In order that there should be no cause for complaint on the ground +mentioned above, the Apostles instructed the whole body of believers to +select from their number seven men, to whom should be intrusted the +charitable work of the Church. These men were not deacons, in the sense +in which this term has come to be applied, nor are they thus termed +anywhere in the Acts of the Apostles. The office remained, but the +duties changed; after the breaking up of the Christian community in +Jerusalem by persecution, these "deacons" devoted themselves to the more +attractive work of preaching, and from this time the ministry of good +works fell naturally into the hands of the women. + +Very early in the history of the Church there came into existence an +order of female deacons, or deaconesses. It is more particularly in the +Gentile congregations planted by Paul that we find this institution. In +his Epistle to the Romans, among many other matters of a personal +interest, we find the Apostle saying: "I commend unto you Phoebe our +sister, who is a deaconess of the church that is at Cenchreas;" and he +requests them to receive her worthily of the saints and to assist her in +whatsoever matter she may have in hand, for that she "hath been a +succorer of many, and of mine own self." It is extremely probable that +Phoebe was the bearer of this letter to the Romans. She may have been +travelling to the city on affairs of her own, or it may be that Paul is +referring to some commission from the Church which had been imparted to +her by word of mouth. + +He also sends greeting to Tryphaena and Tryphosa, who, with Persis, were +probably deaconesses serving the church at Rome. Euodias and Syntyche, +who are mentioned in the Epistle to the Philippians, were, there is +every reason to believe, in this same order of the ministry. The Apostle +testifies to the earnest cooperation in his work for which he is +indebted to these two women; but from his exhortation that they "be of +the same mind," we may infer that there was some disagreement among +them. Absolute harmony was not always maintained, even among the saints +of the early Church. Saintliness has never yet been able entirely to +eradicate from human nature all that is unseemly; and it is more than +likely that if it were only possible for us to gain an intimate and +personal knowledge of the conditions which prevailed in the Apostolic +Church, we should not be greatly discouraged by a comparison of those +days with our own times. The glamour of extraordinary holiness which +succeeding centuries have thrown over that age was not perceptible to +Paul. The lapse of time is of itself sufficient to idealize, and even to +apotheosize, remarkable personages who in reality were not without their +weaknesses. + +What were the precise duties of these female servants we do not know. In +the uncrystallized organism of early Christianity it is likely that +their field of activity was not closely defined. From the Apostle's rule +we know that they did not take part in the public ministrations. "Let +the women," says he, "keep silence in the churches." In his idea of +Christianity, the family is the unit, with the man as the responsible +head. "If they would learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at +home; for it is shameful for a woman to speak in the church." And yet, +in what he says in the eleventh chapter of his first Epistle to the +Church at Corinth, he seems to admit that the women have the right both +to pray and prophesy in the congregation. But it may be the Apostle is +judging the question not as _per se_, but in accordance with the +prevailing ideas of his time. He who was "all things to all men," in +order to win them, concluded that it was the duty of women to keep +silent rather than to arouse prejudice by trampling on custom and thus +endangering the success of the Gospel. The women of the Corinthian +Church seem to have abandoned the traditions of their time and people in +this respect and were in the habit of praying and prophesying in the +congregation, and, moreover, without the customary veil. In regard to +this last-mentioned departure, Paul is emphatic: "Every woman praying or +prophesying with her head unveiled dishonoreth her head. Judge ye among +yourselves, is it seemly that a woman pray unto God unveiled?" On this +subject Dr. McGiffert comments as follows: "The practice, which was so +out of accord with the custom of the age, was evidently a result of the +desire to put into practice Paul's principle that in Christ all +differences of rank, station, sex, and age are done away. But Paul, in +spite of his principle, opposed the practice. His opposition in the +present case was doubtless due in part to traditional prejudice, in part +to fear that so radical a departure from the common custom might bring +disrepute upon the Church, and even promote disorder and licentiousness. +But he found a basis for his opposition in the fact that by creation the +woman was made subject to the man. Paul's use of such an argument from +the natural order of things, when it was a fundamental principle with +him that in the spiritual realm the natural is displaced and destroyed, +must have sounded strange to the Corinthians; and Paul himself evidently +felt the weakness of the argument and its inconsistency with his general +principles, for he closed with an appeal to the custom of the churches: +'We have no such custom, neither have the churches of God,' therefore +you have no right to adopt it. This was the most he could say. Evidently +he was on uncertain ground." + +Those same restrictive traditions, which prevented the deaconesses from +taking part in public instruction or ministering in the congregation, +rendered their service imperatively necessary in many of the private +activities of the Christian Church. They instructed female catechumens +in the first principles of the new religion; they prepared them for +baptism, and by their attendance disarmed inimical criticism when this +sacrament was administered to women. To their hands was committed the +ministry of mercy. They relieved the sick, instructed the orphans, +consoled their sisters when in trouble, encouraged those who were +condemned to martyrdom, and were the official embodiment of that +characteristic fraternalism in the early Church which induced even their +heathen enemies to exclaim: "How these Christians love." + +It was not essential that a woman appointed to the office of a deaconess +should be free to devote her whole time to the service of the Church. +The two slave girls whom Pliny examined by torture upon the rack, and of +whom he wrote to the Emperor Trajan, were very probably deaconesses. The +order was composed of virgins who were tried and trained by a life of +chastity and devotion and finally set apart to the office at the mature +age of forty; or--and this was more commonly the case--of devout and +sober-minded widows. In all probability Paul is referring to this order +in that which he says of widows in his first letter to Timothy. There he +writes: "Let none be enrolled as a widow under threescore years old, +having been the wife of one man, well reported of for good works; if she +hath brought up children, if she hath used hospitality to strangers, if +she hath washed the saints' feet, if she hath relieved the afflicted, if +she hath diligently followed every good work. But younger widows refuse: +for when they have waxed wanton against Christ, they desire to marry; +having condemnation, because they have rejected their first faith. And +withal they learn also to be idle, going about from house to house; and +not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which +they ought not. I desire therefore that the younger women marry, bear +children, rule the household, give none occasion to the adversary for +reviling." + +It is very remarkable that we seem to be left to infer from the above +that the Apostle's indictment as to idling, tattling, gadding, and +meddling is not to be charged against widows of over threescore. + +Some students have held that the passage quoted above refers, not to +deaconesses, but to a sort of female presbyters, like those who in the +age succeeding that of the Apostles had a certain oversight over the +widows and orphans of the congregations. On the other hand, Neander, the +ecclesiastical historian, considers that the widows referred to were +simply those who depended upon the Church for support and were +consequently expected to manifest their worthiness by an example of +special devoutness. But it is hardly believable that the Christian +conscience would have refused such assistance to widows under sixty +years of age or to those who had married the second time and had been +again widowed. The probabilities are in favor of the view that all +indigent and unfortunate Christian females were tenderly cared for by +the charity which abounded in the Apostolic Church; but from those +widows who had arrived at the age of sixty, and had shown themselves to +be fitted for such an office by especial devotion to good works and by +their approved trustworthiness, certain ones were enrolled for the +service of the Church in the order of deaconesses. + +Thus one of the earliest effects of Christianity was to introduce into +its own society, in every city, an order of women who were looked up to +with respect and veneration and intrusted with power and authority such +as no women had previously enjoyed, except in the almost unique +instances of the vestals at Rome and the prophetesses among the ancient +Germans. This could not fail to raise the whole sex in general respect, +as well as in its own estimation. + +As we have already noticed, the order of deaconesses did not consist +exclusively of widows; it was, however, confined to those females who +were free from all matrimonial obligations. + +In the early Church, celibacy was held in exceeding high regard. Other +qualifications being equal, virginity greatly increased a woman's +reputation for sanctity. It is true that it is not until post-apostolic +times that we find this condition of life exalted to the contradiction +both of the laws of nature and the dictates of reason; but the +foundation for the belief that the virgin life is superior to the +married state was unquestionably laid by Paul himself. While he readily +admits that marriage is honorable, he, at the same time, +enthusiastically recommends celibacy to those who are able to persevere +in continence. To the Corinthians he wrote: "He that giveth (a daughter) +in marriage doeth well; but he that giveth her not in marriage doeth +better." Whence arose this idea of the moral superiority of virginity? +Surely not from Judaism; for among the Jews an unmarried woman was +regarded as being to the greatest degree unblessed. Nor did it come from +paganism; for though there were vestal devotees of the deities, the +materialism which governed Greek and Roman religion entirely precluded +any belief in a moral inferiority as resulting from the rightful +intercourse of the sexes. In the rebound from the materialism of +paganism, Christianity swung the thought of its adherents to the +opposite extreme. The body was considered as hopelessly corrupt until +regenerated by the resurrection. It is a dead weight, retarding the +development and the triumph of the spirit; its natural functions are +tainted with evil and should be ignored and mortified so far as +necessity will permit. The contemplation of the terrible licentiousness +which characterized paganism gave a great bias to the views of the early +Christians on this subject. The asceticism of celibacy seemed to them an +easier way to escape the contamination of the world than that which led +through the honorable path of married life. + +In the seventh chapter of Paul's first letter to the Corinthians he is +wholly on the side of celibacy, though he was far too reasonable a man +not to recognize the possibility of purity in marriage. "I say to the +unmarried and to widows, it is good for them if they abide even as I. +But if they have not continency, let them marry." It is very probable +that the Apostle was a widower; for very few Jews of his time lived +without marrying to the age which we may reasonably suppose he had +attained before his conversion. He also says: "Now concerning virgins I +have no commandment of the Lord; but I give my judgment, as one that +hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful." We are to understand +this mercy of which he speaks, not as referring to any deliverance from +past marital encumbrances, but to the gift of faithfulness. Then he says +that in view of the present distress from persecution, while it is good +to be married, it is at least not less good to be single. "But and if +thou marry, thou hast not sinned; and if a virgin marry, she hath not +sinned. Yet such shall have tribulation in the flesh, and I would spare +you." The tribulation he speaks of refers to the double portion of the +"present distress" to which the married would be subject. His principal +argument in favor of the unwedded state is that those who remain in it +are enabled to devote themselves more completely to the service of God. + +But there was no sign in the Apostolic Church of that morbid enthusiasm +for virginity which fills the pages of the post-Nicene writers. We know +that Peter was married; and there is evidence that he took his wife with +him on his missionary journeys. "Have we not," says Paul, "power to lead +about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles, and the brothers of +the Lord, and Cephas?" Tradition also informs us that Peter had a +daughter whose name was Petronilla. The Apostle Philip had three +daughters. Eusebius quotes from a letter written by Polycrates, who was +bishop of the church at Ephesus, to Victor, Bishop of Rome, in which he +says: "Philip, one of the twelve Apostles, sleeps in Hierapolis, and his +two aged virgin daughters. Another of his daughters, who lived in the +Holy Spirit, rests at Ephesus." Eusebius also in the same passage +speaks, on the authority of Proculus, of "four prophesying daughters of +Philip;" but it is most likely that he here confounds the deacon Philip +with the apostle of the same name. From Acts we learn that the former +had four daughters who prophesied and labored with their father at +Csarea in Palestine. + +Paul, in his Epistles, gives the names of about eighty friends and +disciples; about twenty more are referred to in the Acts of the +Apostles. Quite a large proportion of these are women, to whom the +Apostle sends kindly greeting. His mention of them is always in the +terms of respectful regard, and never merely complimentary or carefully +polite. To many of these women he was deeply indebted for the care with +which they had ministered to his comfort as he journeyed to and fro on +his missionary tours; the names of some of them were treasured in his +memory as those of zealous and valued fellow laborers in the cause of +the Gospel. In both these relations, and also, perhaps, in that of his +dearest female friend, stood Priscilla, the wife of Aquila. She is the +most frequently mentioned of all the women of the Apostolic Church, but +always in conjunction with her husband. These people were Jews whose +home was at Rome, but owing to the edict by which Claudius banished from +the city all of their nationality they were living in Corinth when Paul +first met them. In the Acts of the Apostles we learn that he was drawn +to them because they were tent-makers like himself. "He abode with them +and they wrought.... And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath." In +this picture is seen the whole simple machinery of apostolic missions. +Paul's first inquiry in Corinth is for a man of his own trade. He hears +of Priscilla and Aquila, and at once finds with them a welcome both to +lodging and also employment. Their work was such as could be readily +carried on in the room which served for a lodging, and required but +little in the way of implements, so that they could freely and easily +move from one city to another. The work probably consisted in the making +of tent cloth. This material was of goats' hair, which was plaited into +strips, these being joined together. We see the three sitting together, +and, with hands busy at the monotonous toil, which was not exacting in +the matter of attention, reasoning of the things pertaining to the +kingdom of God. It was probably thus that the conversion of this husband +and wife was brought about. Then on the Sabbath they would repair to the +Jewish synagogue, where Paul would in public expound the new and strange +doctrine. We can imagine how Priscilla would prepare for that week-end +preaching. There would be no Jewess within her circle of acquaintances +but would receive notice, with the admonition not to fail to be present. +It is the inception of the "woman's auxiliary" in missionary work; but +how simple was this first propaganda! + +There was no board of managers either to hamper or advise; the workers +were responsible only to the spirit that moved within them. There were +no collections, nor any hindrance for lack of funds. Paul, Aquila, and +Priscilla labored with their own hands, and they were free and enabled +to go everywhere preaching the Gospel. The result of their work was that +in Corinth, the city devoted to a lustful worship and exemplifying the +worst corruptions of paganism, there was to be seen a band of men and +women whose lives were glorified and purified by devotion to the +teachings of Jesus. + +It is noteworthy that the name of Priscilla is placed in the book of +Acts, and also elsewhere, before that of her husband. Possibly this may +indicate that she was of a higher rank or a nobler family; but we prefer +to think that it is a tribute and a testimony to her zeal and greater +prominence in the Church. It is not unlikely that Aquila was known as +the husband of the successful female missionary Priscilla. + +When the Apostle left Corinth these two fellow workers accompanied him +as far as Ephesus. There he left them, with affectionate promises to +return. Priscilla and Aquila settled in Ephesus for a time, and an +opportunity was afforded them to perform a service for the Church, the +effect of which it is impossible for us now to estimate. Apollos was a +great name in the Apostolic Church. He came to have a large following +among the Corinthian Christians; and he was probably the author of the +Epistle to the Hebrews. This man, who is described as "eloquent and +mighty in the Scriptures," was by Priscilla and her husband brought to a +full knowledge of the Gospel. + +When Paul was writing his first letter to the Corinthians he included +greetings from Priscilla and Aquila, and also "from the church that is +in their house," indicating that the home of this couple was the meeting +place of the Christians of Ephesus. He again mentions them in his letter +to the Romans: "Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my helpers in Christ Jesus, +who for my life laid down their own necks; unto whom not only I give +thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles." It is impossible to +ascertain what was the instance here referred to of their devotion to +him; perhaps it relates to the experience of the Apostle when he "fought +with beasts at Ephesus." + +There dwelt in the Macedonian city of Philippi a woman named Lydia, who +had come there from Thyatira. She was engaged in the business of selling +purple, whether the color itself or garments so dyed cannot be +determined; but as women of that time were often employed in the +manufacture of drugs and chemicals, it is likely that she prepared that +dye which was so popular in the ancient Roman world. She had become a +convert to Judaism. There seem to have been few Jews in Philippi, for it +is evident that they had no synagogue, but were in the habit of meeting +in the open air, on the banks of the river Strymon. Lydia, like many of +the women of her time, was an earnest seeker after religious truth. When +Paul came to Philippi, on the first Sabbath he went to the place of +prayer, "and spake unto the women which resorted thither." This is a +remarkable expression, inasmuch as it seems to indicate that only women +were present, an extremely unusual congregation in the ancient world. +But Paul, unlike the Jewish rabbis, did not deem a gathering of women +unworthy of his most solicitous efforts. Lydia justified his exertions, +for she became a convert to Christianity and was baptized with her whole +household. She was a person of considerable means. The selling of purple +was a very remunerative business. In gratitude for the new light which +she had received, and desirous to learn more of the Gospel, Lydia +importuned the Apostle and his friends to take up their abode in her +house, which, at least for the time, became the gathering place of the +church in Philippi. + +There is no possibility of overestimating the debt that Christianity +owes to the fostering care of the early female converts. Its story has +never been written from the standpoint of the women; if it could be so +written, it would be seen that the labors of love which were +accomplished by the feminine nature were no less fruitful than those +which are recorded of the more public masculine activities. + +While Paul was in Philippi, he encountered another woman, of a station +and occupation very different from that of Lydia. She was a slave girl, +who was in all probability what is known nowadays as a clairvoyant. The +people believed that she was inspired by the Pythian Apollo. The +narrative in the Acts of the Apostles says that she "was possessed of a +spirit of divination," and that "she brought her masters much gain by +soothsaying." There seems to have been a company or syndicate which, by +means of the mysterious powers of this girl, traded upon the +superstitions of the people. But Christianity was in opposition to this +form of spiritualism. The girl, we are told, followed Paul and his +friends and gave loud testimony to their divine mission. Very likely she +heard the Apostle's preaching, and received an impression that resulted, +owing to the peculiar condition of her mind, in an acute perception of +the true character of the missionaries. Paul, however, had no desire to +be introduced by any such medium as this. He exorcised the evil spirit +which, according to Jewish notions, possessed the damsel; that is, by +the influence of suggestion probably, he freed the girl from the +thraldom of the abnormal condition of mind which had hitherto made her +doubly a slave. + +While we are engaged with the subject of Paul's female converts and +acquaintances, it ought not to seem out of place if we give a little +notice to that remarkable piece of literature which was popular in the +early Church, and is known as the _Acts of Paul and Thecla_. It is +certain that the main facts set forth in this legend were credited by +such prominent ancient writers and theologians as Cyprian, Eusebius, +Augustin, Gregory Nazianzin, Chrysostom, and Severus Sulpitius. +Chrysostom especially gives a very clear indication of his belief in the +story of Paul and Thecla. Basil of Seleucia wrote the history of Thecla +in verse. Baronius, Archbishop Wake, and also the learned Grabe consider +the facts as being authentic history. On the other hand, Tertullian says +that it was forged by a presbyter of Asia, who confessed that he +invented the account out of respect for Paul. And again, it is held that +The _Acts of Paul and Thecla_, as we have it, is not the original book +of the early Christians. + +At any rate, even though it be nothing more than an imaginative +creation, inasmuch as an account of Thecla and her companionship with +Paul was extant early as the second century, as is proved by its being +mentioned by Tertullian, it is surely worthy of attention for it shows, +at a time so contiguous, how the age of the Apostles was pictured. + +The scene is laid in the beginning at Iconium, whither Paul had fled +from Antioch in Pisidia, as is related in the thirteenth chapter of the +Acts of the Apostles. There he is received by Onesiphorus and Lectra his +wife. In their house the Apostle preaches. At a window in a nearby house +sits the young maiden Thecla. She hears Paul's words, and is so +captivated by his discourse that nothing can tear her away. As her +mother says, she is there continuously, "like a spider's web fastened to +the window." At this rather long range the Gospel teaching takes effect +in her heart, and she becomes a convert to Christianity. Her mother and +Thamyris, her lover, endeavor by various means to divert her mind from +these things; but it is all in vain. Thamyris, chagrined because the +maiden no longer loves him, procures the arrest and imprisonment of +Paul. Thecla, by bribing the jailers with her ear-rings and silver +looking-glass, procures admittance to the prison, where she is still +more firmly established in the faith. + +On being found by her relatives, and refusing to marry Thamyris, she is +ordered to be burned at the stake; but in a miraculous manner the fire +is extinguished and Thecla is preserved. In the meantime, Paul, being +banished from the city, takes refuge with Onesiphorus and his family, in +a cave. There Thecla finds him, and begs to be allowed to accompany him +in his travels. They go on to Antioch, where Alexander, a magistrate, +falls in love with Thecla's beauty, and because she resists his advances +she is condemned to be thrown to the wild beasts. + +While she is waiting for the day on which her sentence is to be +executed, Thecla implores the governor that she may be preserved from +the unchaste designs of Alexander. To this end the governor gives her +into the charge of Trifina, a noble matron of the city. The maiden gains +not only the affection of Trifina, but also the sympathy of all the +women who learn of her unfortunate fate. When the time comes for her to +be thrown to the beasts, they refuse to attack her; and even though she +is tied to wild bulls, she is miraculously saved. Alarmed by this +wonder, the magistrate releases her, and she is adopted by Trifina. + +"So Thecla went with Trifina, and was entertained there a few days, +teaching her the word of the Lord, whereby many young women were +converted; and there was great joy in the family of Trifina. But Thecla +longed to see Paul, and enquired and sent everywhere to find him; and +when at length she was informed that he was at Myra, in Lycia, she took +with her many young men and women; and putting on a girdle, and dressing +herself in the habit of a man, she went to him to Myra, and there found +Paul preaching the word of God. + +"Then Paul took her, and led her to the house of Hermes; and Thecla +related to Paul all that had befallen her in Antioch, insomuch that Paul +exceedingly wondered, and all who heard were confirmed in the faith, and +prayed for Trifina's happiness. Then Thecla arose, and said to Paul, 'I +am going to Iconium.' Paul replied to her, 'Go, and teach the word of +the Lord.' But Trifina had sent large sums of money to Paul, and also +clothing by the hands of Thecla, for the relief of the poor." + +After this no further mention is made of the Apostle. Thecla returns to +Iconium, where she endeavors to convert her mother, but with no success. +Taking up her abode in the cave where she first talked with Paul, she +lives a virgin life and attains to a great age, doing many marvellous +works and acquiring a great fame for sanctity. + +This is a brief summary of the story which, whether it be fact or fancy, +was devoutly believed by many of the earliest Fathers of the Church. + +The Apostle to the Gentiles wrote: "Not many wise after the flesh, not +many mighty, not many noble are called." The Gospel of the Galilean +Carpenter found an eager reception chiefly among the humble; the names +of Lydia and Priscilla are those of workingwomen. Some of the names of +women that Paul mentions in his Epistles are those of bondservants. His +acquaintances in the houses of the great were among the menials. But +Christianity ennobled those to whom it came. We know nothing of Chloe of +Corinth, of Claudia of Rome, of Euodias, of Syntyche, of Persis, of +Phoebe, or of Damaris, except that they were among the first workers, +the charter members of the Church; their names are engraved ineffaceably +upon the foundations of the Faith. In an especial manner these women +were working for the uplifting of their sex. They were pioneers who +first ventured in that movement which inevitably brings enlargement of +life for all womankind. + +Yet Christianity was not wholly without its witnesses among the women of +the higher ranks of society. If Acte, Nero's freedwoman, really were a +Christian,--and it is strange that such a tradition should have arisen +without a foundation in fact,--she could not have been without an +influence upon the noble ladies with whom she was thrown into contact. +Pomponia Grcina was brought to trial for embracing a foreign religion. +This, in after ages, was believed to be Christianity; and it is +certainly possible that Sienkievicz's splendid portrayal of her as a +Christian matron is not wholly beside the mark. + +A little later, in the time of Domitian, we know that Christianity +invaded the imperial household. Domatilla, the niece of the emperor and +the wife of the noble Flavius Clemens, was an avowed Christian, and for +the sake of her faith was banished to the island of Pandataria, which +had been made the prison of women of far different character. + + + + +III + +THE ERA OF PERSECUTION + + +PERSECUTION of the early Christians was preordained by some of the most +prominent and essential qualities of human nature. Every new habit of +thought is at first looked upon with dislike. Political and religious +innovations are especially regarded with disfavor, because their +promulgation necessarily involves the disadvantage of official adherents +of prevailing systems, as well as the causing of that most disagreeable +form of mental irritation which follows upon the breaking in upon the +inertia of long-established prejudices. + +Christianity was calculated to arouse determined opposition both from +the political and also the religious forces of the empire. It was looked +upon as a menace to the state and a dishonor to the gods. Rome was +extremely tolerant of new religions, and its policy was to allow the +people of its widely diversified conquests to retain their traditional +forms and objects of worship; but the Roman deities must not know +disrespect, and the most fair-minded emperors could comprehend no +reason, except a treasonable one, why subjects should scruple to render +obedience to the statutes commanding that divine honors should be paid +to their imperial selves. But the very genius of Christianity +necessitated absolute intolerance of other religious cults. The +worshippers of Cybele or Isis had not the least objection to paying +their devotions to Vesta on the way to their own favorite temple; the +women who besought Mars for the victory of their husbands, absent with +the legions, freely offered incense before the statue of the emperor who +sent forth those legions; but, for the Christians, to give Christ a +place among the national deities was to do Him the greatest dishonor and +to commit mortal sin, and to burn a handful of incense before the statue +of the emperor was wicked idolatry and entailed the forfeiture of +eternal salvation. Their missionary zeal compelled them to manifest the +contempt in which they held the pagan gods, and thus the Christians laid +themselves open to the charge of atheism as well as to that of treason. +As Gibbon says: "By embracing the faith of the Gospel the Christians +incurred the supposed guilt of an unnatural and unpardonable offence. +They dissolved the sacred ties of custom and education, violated the +religious institutions of their country, and presumptuously despised +whatever their fathers had believed as true, or had reverenced as +sacred." And inasmuch as the religion of the state was a part of the +constitution of the state, their resolute rejection of it marked them, +in the eyes of the rulers, as enemies of the state. + +As the history of martyrdom is in almost every instance written by the +friends of the sufferers, the motive of the persecutors is usually +represented as wanton cruelty, while in fact it frequently was the case +that the civil magistrate honestly deemed himself to be carrying out +necessary precautions for the welfare of society. This assertion, which +tends to the defence of the credit of human nature, can confidently be +made in regard to most cases of official persecution. "Revere the gods +in everyway according to ancestral laws," said Maecenas to Augustus, +"and compel others so to revere them. Those, however, who introduce +anything foreign in this respect, hate and punish, not only for the sake +of the gods,--want of reverence toward whom argues want of reverence +toward everything else,--but because such, in that they introduce new +divinities, mislead many also to adopt foreign laws. Thence come +conspiracies and secret leagues which are in the highest degree opposed +to monarchy." Julius Paulus laid down as a fundamental principle in +Roman law: "Such as introduce new religions, whose bearing and nature +are not understood, by which the minds of men are disquieted, should, if +they are of the higher ranks, be transported; if of the lower, be +punished with death." To a Roman the state was everything; individual +liberty could only run in such courses as were parallel with the policy +of the state. Those who retained a sincere belief in the ancient deities +worshipped them as the patrons and guardians of the imperial destinies; +the philosophical sceptics were no less inclined to insist upon that +worship as a thing of political necessity, a means of binding the +unintelligent in loyalty to the government. + +In view of this, it is not to be wondered at that the contemptuous +attitude which the Christians manifested to the ancient religions seemed +to some of the wisest Romans to be nothing other than a stubborn +fanaticism, concealing a hateful antagonism to society. Their meetings, +which persecution necessarily made secret, were believed to be +treasonable; their resolute isolation from the common amusements, which +were deeply tainted with vice, caused them to be stigmatized as haters +of mankind; the mystery which surrounded their worship provided a ready +acceptance for the popular slander that in their secret gatherings the +worst atrocities were perpetrated. To such men as Trajan and Marcus +Aurelius, all this seemed a spreading evil to be determinedly stamped +out. + +On the other hand, it is true that the persecution of the Christians was +taken advantage of to minister to the lust for spectacles of blood and +agony which degraded the ancient world. There were the lions waiting; +there were Christians who deserved death: why waste so good an +opportunity to make a characteristic "Roman holiday." + +We are appalled at the remembrance of civilized savagery which could +delight in the sight of helpless women and tender maidens torn by beasts +or writhing in the fire; and yet, almost equal cruelty, though not +perpetrated in the same spirit, has been witnessed at so recent a date, +and at the hands of "Christians," that we can hardly with a good grace +reproach paganism for its atrocities of this kind. The potential +"devilishness" which is in human nature is surely one of its prime +mysteries. + +In the literature of Christian martyrdom it is frequently assumed that +there were ten general persecutions; but, as Mosheim says, this number +is not verified by the ancient history of the Church. For if, by these +persecutions, such only are meant as were singularly severe and +universal throughout the Empire, then it is certain that these amount +not to the number above mentioned. And if we take the provincial and +less remarkable persecutions into the account, they far exceed it. The +idea that the Church was to suffer ten great calamities arose from an +interpretation of certain passages of Scripture, particularly one in +Revelations. + +In these days of gentler manners and easier faith, we are hardly more +amazed at the cruelties which were enacted to abolish Christianity than +we are astonished at the fortitude with which its adherents endured +them. Never did punishment so signally fail as a deterrent. The Church +grew most rapidly when to be a Christian almost certainly ensured +martyrdom. It is a marvellous history, that of the three hundred years +of struggle between Christianity and paganism, in which all earthly +considerations were abandoned for a conception of morality and for a +faith in the existence of a life beyond the grave. The same spirit has +always characterized Christianity, but never with such enduring +persistence or with such success as in the early days. + +In the records of this struggle it is abundantly shown that women were +not spared, nor did they bear their part with less honor or courage than +the men. It was in the Church as it has been in all history: while the +government and the superior fame are awarded to one sex, equality in the +opportunity and in the endurance of suffering are not denied to the +other. The weaker sex has never been inferior in the ability to bear +pain, or in the courage to go cheerfully to a martyr's death. It was no +more common for women under the stress of torture to relinquish their +faithfulness than for men. In the enthusiasm born of their hope in the +Gospel, it was as much the wont of young virgins to meet the lion's eye +without flinching as it was that of wise and venerable bishops. + +The first principal persecution took place under Nero. There is no sign +of any general edict by him against the Christians; so it is probable +that the severities in this reign were confined to Rome. It is even +doubtful if Nero cherished any purpose of suppressing Christianity. He +found the Christians the most convenient victims for a charge of burning +the city; so he satisfied the people by affixing the guilt to these +hated sectaries, and at the same time amused the idle Roman populace by +an unusual exhibition. + +There is no mention of the names of those who suffered under the +imperial actor; but there is no doubt there were many women in the +number. Doubtless, some of those women to whom Paul sent greeting and +gave other mention in his Epistle suffered at this time. Though their +names are not recorded in the chronicles of martyrdom, the blood of many +of the Apostle's feminine friends at Rome helped to cement the +foundation of the Church. Of all the tragedies witnessed by the City of +the Seven Hills, in which women had taken a part, none was so +significant as this. The wives and daughters of kings, consuls, and +emperors had met death in the pursuit of ambitious projects. To them the +fatal violence of tyrants meant hopeless failure; to these Christian +women, who belonged to the lowest walks of society, it meant glorious +success. When those died, their ambitions ended; when these perished, +the faith which they so bravely confessed was only made stronger by +their sufferings. + +It is not unlikely that Poppa, the wife of Nero, may have played an +important part in this persecution. The Christians encountered as bitter +opposition from the Jews as from the heathen. The fellow countrymen of +Paul frequently succeeded in stirring up the animosity of the rulers +against him and the other teachers of the new religion. While, as a +rule, they themselves were extremely obnoxious to the Romans, it +happened that at this time they had a powerful friend in the wife of the +tyrant. Josephus relates how Poppa befriended him, and he is +enthusiastic in his praise of her "religious nature." So it may very +likely have been--as the gifted author of _Quo Vadis?_ describes--that +the accusation of firing the city was fastened upon the Christians by +the instrumentality of the Jews, and that Nero found a readier access to +this welcome expedient through the counsel of Poppa. + +No description could be more vivid, or more trustworthy,--seeing that +his prejudice is entirely against the Christians,--than that given by +Tacitus of the cruelties perpetrated by Nero upon the followers of +Christ. "He inflicted the most exquisite tortures on those men (we know +from other evidence that there was no discrimination in regard to sex in +these sufferings) who, under the vulgar appellation of Christians, were +already branded with deserved infamy. They derived their name and origin +from Christ, who in the reign of Tiberius had suffered death by the +sentence of Pontius Pilate. For a while this dire superstition was +checked; but it again burst forth; and not only spread itself over +Juda, the first seat of this mischievous sect, but was even introduced +into Rome, the common asylum which receives and protects whatever is +impure, whatever is atrocious. The confessions of those who were seized +discovered a great multitude of their accomplices, and they were all +convicted, not so much for the crime of setting fire to the city as for +their hatred of human kind. They died in torments, and their torments +were embittered by insult and derision. Some were nailed on crosses; +others sewn up in skins of wild beasts, and exposed to the fury of dogs; +others again, smeared over with combustible materials, were used as +torches to illuminate the darkness of the night. The gardens of Nero +were destined for the melancholy spectacle, which was accompanied with a +horse-race, and honored with the presence of the emperor, who mingled +with the populace in the dress and attitude of a charioteer. The guilt +of the Christians deserved indeed the most exemplary punishment, but the +public abhorrence was changed into commiseration, from the opinion that +those unhappy wretches were sacrificed, not so much to the public +welfare as to the cruelty of a jealous tyrant." Gibbon, commenting on +this passage, adds the reflection that in the strange revolutions of +history those same gardens of Nero have become the site of the triumph +and abuse of the persecuted religion. Where the first Roman followers of +the Galilean Carpenter suffered for their confession, the successors of +Peter exert a world-embracing hierarchical sway and a power far +surpassing that of the greatest emperor. + +No nation besides Rome ever systematically turned the torture of +criminals into a popular pastime; but there the people had become so +accustomed to the butchery of human beings in the public games that +nothing was so welcome as a new device for heightening the effect of +agonized death throes, except a large supply of judicially condemned men +and women on whom to prove it. Nero had good reason to be well assured +that he would not incur the displeasure of the people by condemning the +Christians to the circus and the amphitheatre. + +They were arrested in great numbers and crowded into a prison the +loathsomeness of which was itself a horrible torture. A holiday was +appointed so that the whole populace might be regaled by the sufferings +of these men and women. The orgy of cruelty which ensued seems beyond +the power of human nature to witness, much less to inflict. It is with +great reason that the early Christians looked upon Nero as the +Antichrist, the one representing in his nature the infinity of +opposition to the Saviour. From none of those horrors were women exempt. +Like the men they were crucified; they were covered with the skins of +wild beasts and mangled by dogs; and, their garments being dipped in +pitch, they were converted into living torches to light the gardens at +night. Clement of Rome also tells us that many Christian women were made +to play the part of the Danaids and of Dirce. It was the custom to give +realistic representation to mythological subjects by compelling +criminals to take the part of the victim of the tragedy. Consequently, +the women who represented Dirce were tied to the horns of a wild bull +and dragged about the arena until they were dead. The well-known piece +of ancient sculpture known as the Farnese Bull is the original tragedy +pictured in stone. An inscription in Pompeii indicates that this +exhibition was a common sight in the arena, women who were condemned +being frequently put to death in this manner. No point likely to add to +the effect of the scene was sacrificed to decency. The shame at being +exposed naked, which would humiliate a Christian maiden even at the +moment of impending death, simply afforded an element of jocularity to +the tragedy in the eyes of that barbarous Roman multitude. + +Doubtless the imperial author of these scenes took more pleasure in them +than did any of his subjects. Renan thus pictures him: "As he was +nearsighted, he used to put to his eye on such occasions a concave lens +of 'emerald,' which served him as an eyeglass. He liked to exhibit his +connoisseurship in matters of sculpture; it is said that he made brutal +remarks on his mother's dead body, praising this point and criticising +that. Living flesh quivering in a wild beast's jaw, or a poor shrinking +girl, screening herself by a modest gesture, then tossed by a bull and +cast in lifeless fragments on the gravel of the arena, must exhibit a +play of form and color worthy of an artist-sense like his. Here he was, +in the front row, on a low balcony, in a group of vestals and curule +magistrates,--with his ill-favored countenance, his short sight, his +blue eyes, his curled light-brown hair, his cruel mouth, his air like a +big silly baby, at once cross and dull, open-mouthed, swollen with +vanity, while brazen music throbbed in the air, turned to a bloody mist. +He would, no doubt, inspect with a critic's eye the shrinking attitudes +of these new Dirces; and I imagine he found a charm he had never known +before in the air of resignation with which these pure-hearted girls +faced their hideous death." + +Were these poor women, as they awaited in prison their doom, comforted +and encouraged by the presence of the Apostle charged to "feed my +lambs"? We do not know. But the firmness and constancy with which they +endured trials so horrible even unto death bespeak the marvellous effect +of the early enthusiasm of the Christian faith. These women were in the +vanguard of the Christian army which first met the deadly force of +heathen opposition; and because they did not flinch, but bore the pains +of martyrdom for their faith, that faith ultimately triumphed and filled +the world with its light. For more than two hundred years, however, the +women who embraced this faith were to live in the daily dread of the +terrible cry: "The Christians to the lions." + +After the death of Nero, for a time the Church was, comparatively +speaking, unmolested; though as Christianity was increasing in strength, +it was regarded with greater hatred on the part of the general populace. +Ugly stories began to be set afloat referring to the practices of this +new sect. Later on it came to be believed that its adherents were in the +habit of feasting, in their secret gatherings, on the body of a newborn +child. This feast was said to be followed by an entertainment in which +men and women abandoned themselves to the most abominable and +promiscuous licentiousness. These charges, absurd as they were, served +to obliterate any ray of pity which otherwise might have visited the +minds of their persecutors. + +In the year 81, Domitian, whom Tertullian describes as "of Nero's type +in cruelty," succeeded Titus on the imperial throne. Influenced by his +suspicion of all organizations, and also by the refusal of the Jewish +people to pay the capitation tax which was designed to provide for the +finishing of the Capitol, he instituted a persecution of the Jews, +which, for want of better knowledge on the part of the Romans, could not +fail to involve the Christians. His own niece, Domitilla, who had been +married to his cousin Flavius Clemens, was an avowed Christian, though +up to this time the faith had made few converts among the high and +mighty. Domitian banished her to the Island of Pandataria, and put to +death her husband, probably on the same charge. They were accused rather +vaguely of atheism and Jewish manners; but it seems probable that the +Church has made no mistake in placing them among her first sufferers. +This persecution by Domitian is counted as the second in the list of +ten; but, though many besides Domitilla were put to death, it hardly +seems possible that the persecution could have become very general, for +only a few months after it began Domitian was assassinated by a freedman +belonging to Domitilla, who, as Gibbon remarks, surely had not embraced +the faith of his mistress. + +The reign of the Emperor Trajan was, in many respects, marked by the +greatest prosperity and the best administration that Rome ever enjoyed; +but his strict government and close supervision, combined with his +loyalty to the ancient traditions, made that reign an era of severity +for the Christians. Pliny was governor of Bithynia and Pontus, and +thence he wrote to the emperor informing him that the Christians were +gaining headway everywhere, so much so that the temples of the gods were +being forsaken by the people of all classes. He desired advice as to how +he should proceed. By the application of torture to two maidservants who +held the office of deaconesses in the local church he had elicited the +information--for the learning of which, doubtless, torture was entirely +unnecessary--that "the whole sum of their error consisted in this, that +they were wont, at certain times appointed, to meet before day, and to +sing hymns to one Christ their God. They also agreed among themselves to +abstain from all theft, murder, and adultery; to keep their faith, and +to defraud no man: which done, they departed for that time, and +afterwards resorted again to take a meal in companies together, both men +and women, and yet without any act of evil." + +To this Trajan replied that the Christians should not be sought after, +nor should anonymous accusations be received; but when they were brought +before the magistrate they should be punished. A most inconsistent +decision; for, as Tertullian pointed out, if they deserved to be +punished when caught, they ought also to be sought after as guilty. + +In the legends of the martyrs there is an account of a widow named +Symphrosa who, with her seven sons, suffered death by the command of +Trajan. They refused to sacrifice to the gods at his behest. First, the +mother was tortured by being hung up for some time in the temple of +Hercules by the hair of the head, and then drowned; afterward, her sons +were by various means tortured and put to death. + +We now come to the time of the philosophic emperor, Marcus Aurelius. +During the reign of his predecessor, Antoninus Pius, the Christians were +generally left to practise and propagate their religion in peace. +Consequently, the Gospel made rapid inroads upon paganism; so much so +that the latter was stirred to a more bitter opposition than had ever +before been instituted. At the first glance it appears a difficult +problem in moral philosophy to explain how so wise and righteous a ruler +as Marcus Aurelius could bring himself to persecute so cruelly an +inoffensive people like the Christians. But in the first place it must +be remembered that ecclesiastic history of that time, as we have it, is +very uncertain; in fact, it is greatly distorted and exaggerated. There +are good reasons for believing that what is called a general persecution +was confined largely to the one province of Gaul. Then it is very likely +that the emperor knew but little of the character of the Christians or +of the nature of their doctrines; that he held an unfavorable opinion of +them is shown by his own words. It also seems to be the fact that he +issued no new edict against them; but the rescript of Trajan was still +in force, which was to the effect that Christians, when accused in legal +form, and failing to recant, should be punished. Marcus Aurelius simply +allowed this rule to be enforced by the magistrates. He saw in the +Christians only stubborn recalcitrants against the established +government. Whatever may have been the amount of the emperor's direct +responsibility in the matter, during his reign the flame of persecution +again burst out; and among many others, some women won lasting fame by +the glorious constancy and courage of their martyrdom. + +One of the most illustrious was Felicitas, a Roman lady of good family +and the mother of seven sons. It was the policy of the magistrates not +to punish unnecessarily, but to endeavor to win those who were accused +to an acknowledged abandonment of their faith. In this case the judge +deemed it the more efficacious method to proceed against the mother +first, in the hope that in winning her to change her religion, he would +have less trouble with her sons; but neither promises of freedom nor +threats of total destruction of herself and her family could prevail. +Then he caused each son to be brought before him separately, and +endeavored both by menaces and persuasion to turn them from their +allegiance. Felicitas, however, had too thoroughly instilled into her +sons' minds the principles upon which her own faith and courage were +founded; they were unanimous in their steadfastness. The consequence was +that the mother was doomed to see her offspring executed one by one; and +at last, her resolution being invincible even before this terrible +trial, Felicitas herself was beheaded. + +The brunt of the persecution which took place in the reign of Marcus +Aurelius was borne by the Christians of Gaul, particularly those of +Lyons and Vienne. We possess a good description of these sufferings in a +letter which has been preserved by Eusebius, and which was sent by the +survivors of these devoted churches to their brethren in the other parts +of the empire. "The greatness of the tribulation in this region," says +the epistle, "and the fury of the heathen against the saints, and the +sufferings of the blessed witnesses, we cannot recount accurately, nor +indeed could they possibly be recorded. For with all his might the +adversary fell upon us, giving us a foretaste of his unbridled activity +at his future coming. He endeavored in every way to practise and +exercise his servants against the servants of God, not only shutting us +out from houses and baths and markets, but forbidding any of us to be +seen in any place whatever. But the grace of God led the conflict +against him, and delivered the weak, and set them as firm pillars, able +through patience to endure all the wrath of the Evil One." + +The letter goes on to relate how the heathen servants of many of the +Christians were arrested, and, through fear of suffering the same +dreadful tortures which they saw visited upon the believers, testified +falsely that the Christians were wont to indulge in the most atrocious +practices. This was believed by the common people, with the result that +all pity was extirpated from their breasts, and they hunted the +Christians with a rage which could only be likened to that of wild +beasts. + +One of the most renowned of the sufferers on this occasion was the slave +Blandina, "through whom Christ showed that things which appear mean and +obscure and despicable to men are with God of great glory.... For while +we all trembled, and her earthly mistress, who was herself also one of +the witnesses, feared that on account of the weakness of her body she +would be unable to make a bold confession, Blandina was filled with such +power as to be delivered and raised above those who were torturing her +by turns from morning until evening in every manner, so that they +acknowledged that they were conquered, and could do nothing more to her. +And they were astonished at her endurance, as her entire body was +mangled and broken; and they testified that one of these forms of +torture was sufficient to destroy life, not to speak of so many and so +great sufferings. But the blessed woman, like a noble athlete, renewed +her strength in her confession; and her comfort and recreation and +relief from the pain of her sufferings was in exclaiming, 'I am a +Christian, and there is nothing vile done by us.'" + +All this torture seems to have taken place in the examination of +Blandina before the tribunal; for we read how, later, she with others +was taken to the amphitheatre to be exposed to the wild beasts, a +spectacle having been arranged in order that the people might be regaled +with the sight of the Christians' sufferings. At this exhibition the +people themselves decided as to what forms of cruelties the victims +should endure, shouting out their demands for the fiery stake or the +beasts, as their horrible fancies dictated. + +Blandina was suspended on a cross, and there left to the mercy of any of +the numerous wild beasts prowling around the arena that might choose to +attack her. But on this occasion she was left unmolested; and the sight +of her, hanging from the stake and thus reminding them of the Master +they served, as well as the prayers she continually offered, so +heartened her comrades that they were the better enabled to meet their +death with a good courage. + +The memory of Blandina has justly been preserved through all these +centuries as one of the bravest and best in the noble "army of martyrs." +No doctor of theology ever bore more effective testimony to the faith; +no Christian soldier ever contended more earnestly for the cause; no +philosopher ever advanced a stronger argument in evidence of the truth +of religion than this poor slave woman who thus suffered in the bloody +arena where Christianity fought and conquered seventeen centuries ago. +Women were not allowed by the law of the Church to teach in the +assembly; but Blandina, from her rostrum of pain which was set up in the +amphitheatre at Lyons, by her faith which could enable her to forget her +own misery in the desire to cheer other sufferers, preached such a +sermon as sentences of polished eloquence can never emulate. + +We cannot better finish our account of this great martyr than by quoting +the description of her end as it is given in the letter mentioned above. +"On the last day of the contests, Blandina was again brought in, with +Ponticus, a boy about fifteen years old. They had been brought every day +to witness the sufferings of the others, and had been pressed to swear +by the idols. But because they remained steadfast and despised them, the +multitude became furious, so that they had no compassion for the youth +of the boy nor respect for the sex of the woman. Therefore, they exposed +them to all the terrible sufferings and took them through the entire +round of torture, repeatedly urging them to swear, but being unable to +effect this; for Ponticus, encouraged by his sister so that even the +heathen could see that she was confirming and strengthening him, having +nobly endured every torture, gave up the ghost. But the blessed +Blandina, last of all, having, as a noble mother, encouraged her +children and sent them before her victorious to the King, endured +herself all their conflicts and hastened after them, glad and rejoicing +in her departure as if called to a marriage supper; rather than cast to +wild beasts. And, after the scourging, after the wild beasts, after the +roasting seat, she was finally enclosed in a net, and thrown before a +bull. And after being tossed about by the animal, but feeling none of +the things which were happening to her, on account of her hope and firm +hold upon that which had been entrusted to her, and her communion with +Christ, she also was sacrificed. And the heathen themselves confessed +that never among them had a woman endured so many and such terrible +tortures." + +The horrible circumstances attending the persecution at Lyons seem to +have been largely instigated by the fury of the ungovernable mob; there +are indications that the trial of Christians was oftentimes carried on +in strict conformity with legal measures, and also with some show of +pity on the part of the judges. The punishments in cases like these were +no less severe; but there is some, comfort in thinking, inasmuch as the +persecutors were members of the human race like ourselves, that they +felt bound by their consciences to proceed to these extreme measures in +the endeavor to put down what they believed to be a dangerous +innovation. To understand persecution rightly, it is necessary not only +to sympathize with the sufferers, but also, so far as is possible, to +take the viewpoint of the persecutors. It is only in comparatively +recent times that barbarities in legal proceedings have been +discontinued. Age has not yet destroyed all the implements of torture +that were considered part of the necessary furniture of a European +prison. Far down in Christian times, the examination of a prisoner was +considered to be very properly and justly facilitated by the application +of thumbscrews and iron boots. Even our own memory is not entirely +lacking in incidents where water has been used to the great discomfort +of a prisoner, with the object of expediting his confession. Hence, it +would be absurd to expect to find a Roman magistrate of the second +century after Christ contenting himself with expostulating with those +whom the laws, the traditions, and the customs of his country condemned. +This failing, he would naturally try a stronger argument. + +This is illustrated in the cases of the renowned martyrs Perpetua and +Felicitas. These were ladies of Carthage, who suffered during the reign +of Severus. Perpetua was only a learner in the Christian faith, not yet +having been baptized. She was young, married, and possessed a still +stronger tie to existence in the young infant which she carried in her +arms. Her father, by whom she was greatly beloved, visited her in prison +and endeavored to persuade her to renounce Christianity. Failing in his +arguments and entreaties, he even exercised the parental right which the +law of his day gave him to chastise his daughter; but he could elicit no +word of decision from her other than: "God's will must be done." + +While in the prison she was baptized, and was thus still more strongly +fortified to meet the trial which was before her. At her examination we +have such a picture as is indicated above. The judge entreated her to +have compassion on her father's tears, on her infant's helplessness, as +well as on her own life. He pointed out to her the cruel position in +which she was placed by her religion, and used this as an argument +against it. But it all availed nothing. She was returned to the prison +to await the day of execution. Her companion in this direful +anticipation was Felicitas, a married woman who was about to become a +mother. This Christian woman also, on being brought before the +procurator, had been entreated by him to have pity upon herself and her +condition; but she had replied that his compassion was useless, since no +thought of self-preservation could induce her to be unfaithful to her +religion. While in the prison she gave birth to a girl, which was +adopted by a Christian woman who as yet was free. + +On the day of their execution, Perpetua and Felicitas were taken to the +amphitheatre and stripped of their clothing; but on this occasion, +however lacking the people may have been in the quality of mercy, they +at least showed some feelings of decency, for they requested that the +women might be allowed to have their garments. The two martyrs were then +exposed to the fury of an enraged bull. The animal attacked them both; +but as neither of them was mortally wounded, an officer despatched them +with his sword. + +The authorities doubtless congratulated themselves that by the death of +these poor women the hated religion was by so much reduced; but "the +blood of the martyrs was the seed of the church," and by the courage of +its martyrs more people were incited to investigate the new faith than +by their sufferings were deterred from following it. In fact, there are +instances on record that the constancy of the Christians in their +sufferings bore immediate fruit in the conversion of the spectators; +where those who came to revile shared in the end the death of those they +helped to persecute. The most noted example of this kind is that of +Potamiana, who suffered under the emperor Severus. Rufinus says that she +was a disciple of Origen. We are also informed by Palladius that she was +a slave, and that her condemnation originated in the passion of her +master. Angered by her steadfast refusal to submit to his desires, he +accused her to the judges as a Christian, and bribed them to endeavor to +break her resolution and afterward return her to himself; but their +tortures proved as ineffectual as his persuasions. At last, being +sentenced to death, she was given in charge of Basilides, an officer of +the army, to be led to the place of execution. On the way thither, when +the people sought to annoy her by insult and abuse, Basilides drove them +back, and, probably more by his actions than by words, manifested for +her much kindness and pity. Eusebius says that Potamiana, "perceiving +the man's sympathy for her, exhorted him to be of good courage, for she +would supplicate her Lord for him after her departure, and he would soon +receive a reward for the kindness he had shown her. Having said this, +she nobly sustained the issue, burning pitch being poured, little by +little, over various parts of her body, from the soles of her feet to +the crown of her head. Such was the conflict endured by this famous +maiden." + +Shortly after this, Basilides, being requested by his fellow soldiers to +take an oath, refused; and he gave it as his reason that it was not +lawful for him to swear, he being a Christian. At first they thought he +was jesting; but as he persistently affirmed it, they took him before +the judge, with the result that the next day he was beheaded. He was +reported to have said that for three days after her martyrdom Potamiana +stood by him night and day, and that she placed a crown upon his head, +telling him that she had besought the Lord for him and had obtained what +she asked, which was that he should soon be with her. + +In the year 250 the Emperor of Rome was Decius. During his brief reign +he instituted one of the severest persecutions that the Church was +called upon to endure. Yet there is reason to believe that this emperor +was a man of superior character and high principles. Alarmed at the +corruption that prevailed in the empire, he sought to restore the +ancient customs and to strengthen the primitive religion. As a means +deemed by him necessary to this end, he endeavored to extirpate +Christianity. This was the first persecution in which the attempt was +universally made to destroy the Church. This persecution was +consequently far more terrible than any which had preceded it. +Fortunately, the reign of Decius lasted only two years; but during that +time vast numbers of Christians were put to death, and the women were as +little spared as they had been on former occasions. There is no need of +recounting their individual sufferings, as it would simply be a +repetition of the horrors described above. + +In the meantime, the Church had greatly changed in its character. It had +grown sufficiently strong to compete with paganism even in point of +numbers. During the periods of peace there were taken into its fold a +great many who were not strongly grounded in the faith, nor had they the +mind to endure in the time of persecution. Consequently, when it came to +the trial, great numbers would return to a formal practice of heathen +worship, with the purpose in mind of returning to the Church after the +storm had passed over. These often obtained certificates from the +magistrates to the effect that they had made the required recantation. +The Church had also begun to define its creed with metaphysical nicety +of expression, with the consequence that many discussions arose and +numerous heretical sects came into being. The heathen, however, did not +discriminate; therefore, the heretical had their martyrs as well as the +orthodox; and there is no proof that the former were less ready to die +for their faith than the latter. But, to show the jealousy which variety +in religious opinion will engender, it is recorded that even when +members of the various sects of Christians were suffering martyrdom +together, they refused to recognize each other. + +By this time also the doctrine of the superior sanctity of virginity had +become firmly established in the Church. It was probably owing to this +that, in the later persecutions, we frequently find reference made to +women being threatened with unchaste attacks on their persons with the +sole purpose of driving them to the abjuring of their religion. Gibbon, +referring to this, speaks of it in the following manner: "It is related +that pious females, who were prepared to despise death, were sometimes +condemned to a more severe trial, and were called upon to determine +whether they set a higher value upon their religion or upon their +chastity. The youths to whose licentious embraces they were abandoned +received a solemn exhortation from the judge to exert their most +strenuous efforts to maintain the honor of Venus against the impious +virgin who refused to burn incense on her altars. Their violence, +however, was commonly disappointed, and the seasonable interposition of +some miraculous power preserved the chaste spouses of Christ from the +dishonor of even an involuntary defeat. We should not indeed neglect to +remark that the more ancient as well as authentic memorials of the +Church are seldom polluted with these extravagant and indecent +fictions." + +There is no doubt that the monks of later times did waste their leisure +in fabricating such miraculous interposition; but there surely is a +flippancy in the tone of what is above quoted, as indeed in Gibbon's +whole treatment of the persecution of the early Christians, which is not +worthy of the great historian. + + [Illustration 3: _CHRISTIANS IN THE ARENA After the painting by + L. P. de Laubadre. + + Were these poor women, as they awaited in prison their doom, + comforted and encouraged by the presence of the Apostle charged + to "feed my lambs"? We do not know. But the firmness and + constancy with which they endured trials so horrible even unto + death bespeak the marvellous effect of the early enthusiasm of + the Christian faith. These women were in the vanguard of the + Christian army which first met the deadly force of heathen + opposition; and because they did not flinch, but bore the pains + of martyrdom for their faith, that faith ultimately triumphed + and filled the world with its light. For more than two hundred + years, however, the women who embraced this faith were to live + in the daily dread of the terrible cry: "The Christians to the + lions."_] + +Eusebius informs us that "the women were no less manly than the men in +behalf of the teaching of the Divine Word, as they endured conflicts +with the men, and bore away equal prizes of virtue. And when they were +dragged away for corrupt purposes, they surrendered their lives to death +rather than their bodies to impurity." He instances the case of a woman +and her two daughters, whom Chrysostom, in an oration in their honor, +names as Domnina, Bernice, and Prosdose. These women, being as beautiful +in their persons as they were virtuous in their minds, were threatened +during the Diocletian persecution with violation. While the guard was +taking them back to the place from which they had fled to avoid this +danger, they took advantage of a moment in which they were not watched +to throw themselves into the river, where they found safety in death. +Another case was that of the wife of the prefect of Rome. Maxentius, the +emperor, being seized with a passionate desire for her, sent officers to +bring her to the palace. The lady begged time in which to adorn herself +for the occasion. This being granted, as soon as she found herself +alone, she stabbed herself, so that the messengers going to her room +found nothing but her dead body. These instances are recorded with great +admiration by both Eusebius and Chrysostom, showing that the leaders of +the early Church deemed it less prejudicial to a woman's salvation for +her to take her own life than to suffer even the involuntary defilement +of her body. + +The reign of Diocletian and his colleagues saw the final struggle +between Christianity and paganism. It was a bloody conflict for the +Christians; and yet, though they refrained from resisting evil with +material weapons, they conquered. Women in great numbers were again +faithful unto death. Some were for the time frightened from their +allegiance to Christ; for the pure precepts were becoming increasingly +diluted with worldliness as well as superstition. Among these women were +the wife and daughter of Diocletian, Prisca and Valeria. These had +become converts to the faith; but when the edict was published against +the Christians, they sacrificed to the traditional gods. It availed them +little, however; for they gained only a few years of most distressful +life at the cost of the martyr's crown. In the end the violent death +came to them without the honor, for in the year 314 Licinius caused them +to be beheaded and their bodies thrown into the sea. They had committed +no fault of which any evidence is left; and for several years they had +suffered from the loss of their property and from the hardships of +exile. Diocletian was still alive, but could render them no aid, as he +had abdicated the throne and was now busying himself solely in growing +vegetables. Licinius was mistakenly supposed to be a friend to +Christianity; Constantine had become its champion. But, as Victor Duruy +says: "Notwithstanding celestial visions and marvellous dreams, these +men were destitute of heart, and their faith, if they had any, was +without influence upon their conduct. Their cruelty was universally +commended; in reference to all these murders, the Christian preceptor of +a son of Constantine utters a cry of triumph. The inspiration of the +gentle Galilean Teacher was replaced by that of the implacable Jehovah +of the Mosaic law." The tables had turned; Christianity was now in +power; the heretofore persecuted soon set out on the way to become the +persecutors. + + + + +IV + +SAINT HELENA AND THE TIME OF CONSTANTINE + + +At last we see Christianity triumphant. What has been an obscure but +hated and persecuted sect now becomes the dominant religion in the +Empire; the people who had hidden underground in the Catacombs are now +the favorites of the palace. It had been a conflict between spiritual +forces and carnal weapons, between patient propagandism and vindictive +conservatism; on one side, invincible missionary zeal joined with +undefensive submission, on the other, senseless misrepresentation and +cruel persecution. But what can overcome the idea for which men and +women are ready to die? It was a conflict in which, on the Christian +part, women were as well fitted to engage as were men. The exalted +purity of Christian maidens was as effective in setting at naught the +counsels of the ungodly as were the elaborate arguments of the +apologists; the blood of believing matrons was as fertile for the +increase of the Church as was that of bishops and presbyters. The +followers of Christ clung to the Cross and conquered. + +At the same time, victory did not come without heavy loss to the Church. +In this loss, however, must not be reckoned the lives of the martyrs. +The men and women who sacrificed themselves to the Cause were considered +to have won thereby, not mere fame, but the enjoyment of celestial glory +in a conscious eternal life; and their death was always repaid to the +Church by an increase of a hundred-fold. But as the Church gained in +extension, it lost in intention. The organization, the religion, the +name won; but the spirit, the inner principles of Christianity lost. In +this sense the victory was much in the nature of a compromise. +Christianity became the faith of the Empire; but the Empire did not +adopt for its rule the pure precepts of Christ. Constantine's court +worshipped the Nazarene; but Constantine's conduct was not superior to +that of many of his heathen predecessors. The ancient religion was +superstitious, and it is not possible to contend that the religion of +Helena was free from that fault. The women of an older Rome were greatly +subject to frailties of the flesh, and like scandals were by no means +uncommon in the palaces of Christian emperors. It is not difficult to +match Agrippina and Poppa in the history of Rome after the Council of +Nica. The religious revolution which took place in the world was much +more rapid in respect to theory than it was in practice. + +This is the history of all evolutions of the ideal. The first +missionaries are exalted by their enthusiasm above common nature; they +soar to the clouds. The martyrs are not restrained by any of the ties of +various sorts which bind humanity; they despise the flesh. But their +converts partake of their spirit in a lesser degree; as these increase, +a growing proportion of them realize that for them life must continue to +be very much what it always has been. It is not possible for all to +maintain themselves in an intense and eager quest for the ideal. The +heroic leaders may attain the empyrean, but the multitude must drag on +the ground, thankful if at the most they can keep their feet; for, be +our ideals what they may, in reality the chief business of life is +living. + +Again, as in all other movements, when the Church began to grow in +popularity, numbers came within her pale whose minds were more attracted +by her philosophy than their hearts were affected by her principles. +Consequently the Christians were early divided on matters of theological +opinion. There were all shades of variation in belief, and each +distinction of faith meant a sect more or less divided from the common +body of Christians. And it must be admitted that very quickly, even +before the fires of persecution had been quenched, there appeared that +bitterness which has always characterized and disgraced theological +differences in the Church. The leaders of orthodoxy began to deprecate +deviations from the common rule of faith with greater severity than they +did lapses from fundamental morality. The Church consequently lost much +of its pristine influence, which had been so successful in purifying the +lives of the Christians. Metaphysical dogmas were exalted at the expense +of holy deeds, and it became possible for corrupt rulers to be lauded as +defenders of the faith and for unchaste women to receive those +ecclesiastical privileges which formerly had been but grudgingly +restored to those who had done no more than burn a handful of incense on +the altar of Venus to save themselves from martyrdom. + +In the letter of the bishops against Paul of Samosata, who was +Metropolitan of Antioch about the year 290, he is charged with conniving +at the institution of the _subintrodut_,--that is, women who were +pledged to virginity and who yet were so intrepid as to take up their +abode in the houses of clergy who also professed celibacy. The idea of +this proceeding seems to have been that the constant presence of +temptation, which the people were supposed to believe was always +overcome, enhanced the victory achieved by these champions of purity. +The leaders of the Church, however, looked with disfavor upon this +hazardous method of demonstrating the power of the new religion; but +Paul of Samosata seems not only to have allowed this practice, but to +have been himself far from careful to avoid suspicious appearances. The +bishops, in their letter referred to above, complain thus: "We are not +ignorant how many have fallen or incurred suspicion through the women +whom they have thus brought in. So that, even if we should allow that he +commits no sinful act, yet he ought to avoid the suspicion which arises +from such a thing, lest he scandalize some one, or lead others to +imitate him. For how can he reprove or admonish another not to be too +familiar with women ... when he has sent one away already, and now has +two with him, blooming and beautiful, and takes them with him wherever +he goes." Paul was probably not so black as he was thus painted by his +enemies; especially is this likely, seeing that his patroness was +Zenobia, the queen of Palmyra, who was remarkably careful in her +conduct. But the point we wish to establish is found in the admission +made by the bishops that, since Paul was a heretic, they had no concern +about his conduct. In a note on this, Dr. McGiffert remarks: "We get +here a glimpse of the relative importance of orthodoxy and morality in +the minds of the Fathers. Had Paul been orthodox, they would have asked +him to explain his course, and would have endeavored to persuade him to +reform his conduct; but since he was a heretic it was not worth while. +It is noticeable that he is not condemned because he is immoral, but +because he is heretical. The implication is that he might have been even +worse than he was in his morals and yet no decisive steps taken against +him, had he not deviated from the orthodox faith." All this goes to show +that, after Christianity was established as the dominant religion of the +empire, the life of women as well as of men was less changed by the +effect of their new devotions than those devotions were altered in their +form and direction. Though a new heaven was proclaimed, the new earth +had not yet come into being. "The sweet reasonableness" of the Gospel +was beclouded by speculation; the primitive holiness degenerated into a +sickly asceticism; for half-converted pagans, the early saints served in +the place of the old divinities; and human nature still remained capable +of most of the vices to which it had formerly been addicted. + +Yet the ideal is never without its witnesses. Very early there arose +within the Church the movement known as Montanism, which endeavored to +reproduce the ancient purity by an exaggerated rigidity of discipline +and the early simplicity of the Church by a stern opposition to +ecclesiasticism. This movement carries an interest relative to our +subject, inasmuch as two women held a prominent place as its founders. +The three original prophets of the sect were Montanus, Priscilla, and +Maximilla. The former of the two women was so influential in the +movement that its adherents are frequently spoken of as Priscillianists. +The two women were ladies of noble birth who left their husbands in +order to attach themselves to Montanus. They believed themselves to be +the mediums of the divine Comforter promised by Christ. It was their +habit to fall into ecstasies, in which condition they would prophesy. +They claimed that their teaching was divinely inspired and consequently +infallible. According to them, all gross offenders were to be +excommunicated, and never afterward readmitted to the fold of the +Church. Celibacy was encouraged by them, all worldly amusements were to +be eschewed, and they greatly increased the number of the fasts. + +Of Priscilla and Maximilla, Dr. McGiffert says: "They were regarded with +the most profound reverence by all Montanists. It was a characteristic +of this sect that they insisted upon the religious equality of men and +women; that they accorded just as high honor to the women as to the men, +and listened to their prophecies with the same reverence. The human +person was but an instrument of the Spirit, according to their view, and +hence a woman might be chosen by the Spirit as his instrument just as +well as a man, the ignorant as well as the learned. Tertullian, for +instance, cites, in support of his doctrine of the materiality of the +soul, a vision seen by one of the female members of his church, whom he +believed to be in the habit of receiving revelations from God." + +These people were reactionaries; they rebelled against the spirit of +laxity, worldliness, and officialdom which was fast taking hold of the +Church. Their prophesying women were simply a revival of what had been +common in Apostolic times, when the daughters of Philip were +prophetesses. But order had been evolved in the ecclesia. In fact, out +of the numerous forms of evangelical activity that existed in the +original unsettled condition of the Church, three orders had been +established, in none of which were women represented. Moreover, the +female friends of Montanus seem to have been rather unconvincing in +regard to their prophecies. Maximilla declared that after her there +would be no other prophet, intimating that the end of the world was +about to take place, a prediction as common among such enthusiasts as it +is hazardous in its nature. She also prophesied that wars and anarchy +were near at hand, which, as an anonymous writer quoted by Eusebius +found no difficulty in showing, was clearly false. With a jubilation +which, under the circumstances, was not unwarranted, he cries: "It is +to-day more than thirteen years since the woman died, and there has been +neither a partial nor general war in the world; but rather, through the +mercy of God, continued peace even to the Christians." From this time, +any attempt, on the part of women or men, to revive the gift of prophecy +after the apostolic manner was always classed with heresy, schism, and +other works of the devil, which it was the duty of the faithful +zealously to cast out. + +During the many and long intermissions during which the Christians were +not persecuted, the Church steadily grew in prominence and in social +standing. Before the time of Diocletian, large and handsome edifices had +been erected in many places for the use of Christian worship. The +doctrines therein taught were no longer unknown to the rulers and chief +men of paganism; the faith was no longer the possession almost solely of +bondservants and the lowly. Among its conquests were men and women of +high position; even the imperial family was now and again strongly +suspected of contributing friends to the new religion. Prisca and +Valeria, the wife and daughter of Diocletian, were certainly +catechumens, though they sacrificed to the heathen deities when the +emperor gave his edict for persecution. The world was not to see a Roman +empress playing the tragic part of a martyr to Christianity. + +Of the time immediately preceding the persecution of Diocletian, +Eusebius says: "It is beyond our ability to describe in a suitable +manner the extent and nature of the glory and freedom with which the +word of piety toward the God of the universe, proclaimed to the world +through Christ, was honored among all men, both Greeks and barbarians. +The favor shown our people by the rulers might be adduced as evidence; +as they committed to them the government of provinces, and on account of +the great friendship which they entertained toward their doctrine, +released them from anxiety in regard to sacrificing. Why need I speak of +those in the royal palaces, and of the rulers over all, who allowed the +members of their households, wives and children and servants, to speak +openly before them for the divine word and life, and suffered them +almost to boast of the freedom of their faith?" + +Thus it came to pass that Christianity grew to be a power which must be +reckoned with in the state; all the more so, since, as the historian +just quoted admits, many of the motives, influences and usages natural +to the world began to be adopted in the Church. It is really doubtful +whether the persecution under Diocletian was at all instigated by any +animosity on the part of the rulers toward Christian principles. The +Church was looked upon as a great party in the state, opposed to +traditional conditions, and, while not yet strong enough to be courted, +was too numerous to be tolerated. Constantine saw the futility of +endeavoring to extirpate the Church, even if his disposition could have +allowed him to resort to such cruel measures, and--it is not +uncharitable to his memory to say it--he shrewdly concluded to attach +this vigorously growing power to himself. + +Before we enter upon the study of the character and time of a woman to +whose influence the political triumph of Christianity was probably very +largely due, it will not be out of place to notice a little more closely +the unfortunate career of Valeria, the daughter of Diocletian. She has +previously been referred to as a Christian who, with Prisca, her mother, +saved herself from martyrdom by sacrificing, though very reluctantly, to +the pagan deities. By her father, Diocletian, she had been given in +marriage to Galerius, who at that time was made Csar and was afterward +to become emperor. In every way she proved herself a most estimable +wife; and although her courage was not equal to the endurance of +martyrdom, her Christian principles beautified her life with the graces +of virtue and charity. Having no children of her own, she adopted +Candidianus, the illegitimate son of her husband, and evinced toward him +all the affection of a real mother. After the death of Galerius, the +great fortune, no less than the personal attractions, of Valeria aroused +the desires of Maximin, his successor. This Maximin was the most +licentious man that ever disgraced the imperial throne, and to attain +preeminence among such competitors required a monster of sensuality. His +eunuchs catered to his passions by forcing from their homes wives and +virgins of the noblest families; any sign of unwillingness on the part +of these victims was regarded as treason and punished accordingly. +During his reign, the custom arose that no person should marry without +the emperor's consent, in order that he might in all nuptials act the +part of _prgustator_. + +The fate of Valeria is best described in the words of Gibbon: "He +(Maximin) had a wife still alive; but divorce was permitted by the Roman +law, and the fierce passions of the tyrant demanded an immediate +gratification. The answer of Valeria was such as became the daughter and +widow of emperors; but it was tempered by the prudence which her +defenceless condition compelled her to observe. She represented to the +persons whom Maximin had employed on this occasion, 'that, even if honor +could permit a woman of her character and dignity to entertain a thought +of second nuptials, decency at least must forbid her to listen to his +addresses at a time when the ashes of her husband and his benefactor +were still warm, and while the sorrows of her mind were still expressed +by her mourning garments. She ventured to declare that she could place +very little confidence in the professions of a man whose cruel +inconstancy was capable of repudiating a faithful and affectionate +wife.' On this repulse the love of Maximin was converted into fury; and +as witnesses and judges were always at his disposal, it was easy for him +to cover his fury with an appearance of legal proceedings, and to +assault the reputation as well as the happiness of Valeria. Her estates +were confiscated, her eunuchs and domestics devoted to the most inhuman +tortures, and several innocent and respectable matrons, who were honored +with her friendship, suffered death, on a false accusation of adultery. +The empress herself, together with her mother Prisca, was condemned to +exile; and as they were ignominiously hurried from place to place before +they were confined to a sequestered village in the deserts of Syria, +they exposed their shame and distress to the provinces of the East, +which, during thirty years, had respected their august dignity. +Diocletian (who before this had abdicated his throne and was therefore +powerless) made several ineffectual efforts to alleviate the misfortunes +of his daughter; and, as the last return that he expected for the +imperial purple, which he had conferred upon Maximin, he entreated that +Valeria might be permitted to share his retirement at Salona, and to +close the eyes of her afflicted father. He entreated; but as he could no +longer threaten, his prayers were received with coldness and disdain; +and the pride of Maximin was gratified in treating Diocletian as a +suppliant, and his daughter as a criminal. + +"The death of Maximin seemed to assure the empresses of a favorable +alteration in their fortune. The public disorders relaxed the vigilance +of their guard, and they easily found means to escape from the place of +their exile, and to repair, though with some precaution, and in +disguise, to the court of Licinius. His behavior, in the first days of +his reign, and the honorable reception which he gave to young +Candidianus, inspired Valeria with secret satisfaction, both on her own +account and on that of her adopted son. But these grateful prospects +were soon succeeded by horror and astonishment; and the bloody +executions which stained the palace of Nicomedia sufficiently convinced +her that the throne of Maximin was filled by a tyrant more inhuman than +himself. Valeria consulted her safety by a hasty flight, and, still +accompanied by her mother, Prisca, they wandered above fifteen months +through the provinces, concealed in the disguise of plebeian habits. +They were at length discovered at Thessalonica; and as the sentence of +their death was already pronounced, they were immediately beheaded, and +their bodies thrown into the sea. The people gazed on the melancholy +spectacle; but their grief and indignation were suppressed by the +terrors of a military guard. Such was the unworthy fate of the wife and +daughter of Diocletian. We lament their misfortunes, we cannot discover +their crimes." It is by no means unlikely, judging from the character of +these women, that if the true facts were known, though they were not +martyrs in the accepted sense of the word, it would be seen that they +suffered for their Christianity, being induced by its principles to +refuse their consent to such conduct as would have gained the favor of +their persecutors. There have been many more martyrs for the substance +of Christianity than there have been for its form; and doubtless there +were not a few women, in the times of which we are writing, who would +have sacrificed on pagan altars, but who would not have defiled their +consciences with acts which paganism excused. + +In the preceding pages of this chapter, we have attempted to indicate +the fact that, while Christianity was growing in numbers and influence, +its effect upon the moral conditions of the world was not so great as +might be expected by a student who confines his attention to its +doctrines, rather than to an investigation of the character of the men +and women who made the history of that time. As has already been said, +the material and political triumph of Christianity was in reality a +moral compromise with the world. If the faithful practice of the +teachings and the humble following of the example of Christ had been +rigidly insisted upon as the _sine qua non_ of membership in the Church, +it is doubtful if Constantine would have proved a better friend to the +Church than was Trajan. Nevertheless, the fact that Constantine did find +himself able to favor the Christian religion, without incurring any +mental discomfort in the pursuit of his own ideas, rendered it possible +for earnest believers in Christ to devote themselves to their faith in +perfect security. + +How large a share may be rightfully imputed to Helena of the honor of +influencing her son's mind to the support of Christianity it is +impossible to determine, but that some credit is due to her in this +respect the nature of the circumstances warrants us in believing. In any +case, Helena was so important a figure in early Church history that her +life and doings were a favorite theme for the chroniclers of her time +and a welcome opportunity for the legendists of the mediaeval age. These +latter have so glorified her ancestry and confused the place of her +birth that it is entirely impossible to harmonize their statements with +those of the former. As an example of the legends of the Middle Ages we +give the account of her as it is found in Hakluyt's _Voyages_ and quoted +by Dr. McGiffert in his Prolegomena to Eusebius's _Constantine the +Great_. "Helena Flavia Augusta, the heire and only daughter of Coelus, +sometime the most excellent king of Britaine, by reason of her singular +beautie, faith, religion, goodnesse, and godly Maiestie (according to +the testimonie of Eusebius) was famous in all the world. Amongst all the +women of her time there was none either in the liberall arts more +learned, or in the instruments of musike more skilfull, or in the divers +languages of nations more abundant than herselfe. She had a naturall +quicknesse of wit, eloquence of speech, and most notable grace in all +her behaviour. She was seen in the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin tongues. Her +father (as Virumnius reporteth) had no other childe, ... Constantius had +by her a sonne called Constantine the great, while hee remained in +Britaine ... peace was granted to the Christian churches by her good +meanes. After the light and knowledge of the Gospel, she grew so +skilfull in divinity that she wrote and composed divers bookes and +certaine Greek verses also, which (as Ponticus reporteth) are yet +extant... went to Jerusalem... lived to the age of fourscore yeeres, and +then died at Rome the fifteenth day of August, in the yeere of oure +redemption 337.... Her body is to this day very carefully preserved at +Venice." As the learned author of the Prolegomena says, this is "a +matter-of-fact account of things which are not so." + +There is another story, to the effect that Helena was the daughter of a +nobleman of Treves. While on a pilgrimage to Rome she was seen by +Emperor Constantius, and he, falling in love with her beauty, caused her +to be detained in the city until after her companions had returned home. +The result was disastrous to Helena's character as a virgin. To assuage +her grief, the emperor presented her with an ornament of precious stones +and his ring. She continued to remain in Rome with the son that was born +to her, allowing it to be understood that her husband was dead. +Constantine, her son, grew up to be a young man of remarkably fine +presence and unusual parts. These qualities in him attracted the +attention of some rich merchants, who conceived the project of palming +him off on the Emperor of the Greeks as the son of the Roman emperor, so +that the former might accept him as a son-in-law. + +This scheme was successful, and after a time the merchants reembarked +for Rome, taking with them the princess as Constantine's wife, and also +much treasure, which presumably was the object of the adventure. One +night they went ashore on a little island, and in the morning the young +people awoke to find that they were deserted. Constantine then confessed +to the princess the fraud that had been practised upon her; but she +magnanimously declared that she was satisfied with him as her husband, +whatever his family might be. After some days of privation, they were +rescued by passing voyagers and taken on to Rome. There, with the +treasure which the princess had managed to retain, they purchased an +inn, and, with Helena's assistance, supported themselves by its means. +Constantine became so famous through his prowess at tournaments that he +attracted the attention of the emperor, who refused to believe that he +was of low extraction. Helena was sent for, and, after much questioning, +she at last confessed as to who she and her son really were. The truth +of her statement was confirmed by the ring which Constantius had given +her. The emperor then caused the merchants to be put to death and their +property given to Constantine. A treaty was made with the Greek emperor, +and Constantine was recognized as the heir to the whole Empire. This +story may be regarded as a sort of Middle Age historical novel, the +history being metamorphosed without stint in order to enhance the +interest of the tale. + +The old chroniclers, such as Henry of Huntington, Geoffrey of Monmouth, +and Pierre de Langtoft, assert that Helena was the daughter of Duke Coel +of Colchester, who became King of Britain. She was the most beautiful +and cultivated woman of her time-the attribute of beauty is always +awarded to women who have been so fortunate as to become legendary. The +most interesting thing about this story is the fact that modern students +have identified Duke Coel, the alleged father of Helena, with "Old King +Cole," who was the "merry old soul" immortalized in the Mother Goose +rhymes. + +Let us now turn to what may be seriously regarded as history and therein +ascertain what may be known of the life and character of the +empress-mother Helena. It must be taken as a well-established fact that +her father, so far from being either a king or a duke of Britain, was +indeed an innkeeper at Drepanum, a town on the Gulf of Nicomedia. The +story suggested by this circumstance is the commonplace one of a soldier +in the service of the emperor Aurelian passing a brief sojourn at the +hostelry in Drepanum, and, with the proverbially quick susceptibility of +the men of his calling, falling in love with the daughter of his host. +The necessary negotiations were easy, for a man like Constantius was an +unusual catch for a girl in the position of Helena. No time was lost +over preliminaries; in fact, the marriage was so little noted that some +historians claim that it never took place at all. These hold that Helena +was never anything more than the concubine of Constantius; but the fact +that Diocletian insisted upon her divorce proves that she was legally +married. That, as is often stated, the birth of Constantine took place +before the marriage of Helena may not be untrue. Some have found a +support for this allegation in the fact that "he first established that +natural children should be made legitimate by the subsequent marriage of +their parents." From the fact that a number of places lay claim to the +honor of being the birthplace of Constantine, it would seem that Helena +accompanied her husband in the wanderings consequent to the profession +of a soldier. Gibbon thinks that the historians who award this +distinction to Naissus, in Dacia, are the best authorities, though later +writers think it rightly belongs to Drepanum, the home of Helena. This +place was afterward called Helenopolis by Constantine, in honor of his +mother. + +Theodoret seems to have thought that Helena gave her son a Christian +education, while, on the other hand, we are plainly told by Eusebius +that she was indebted to Constantine for her knowledge of Christianity. +It is very easy to entertain a doubt of both these theories. If Helena +was a Christian when Constantine was a child, and if she trained him in +that belief, his after conduct shows extremely unsatisfactory results of +a mother's teaching. Constantine certainly did not withdraw his support +and patronage from the ancient religion until he was past forty years of +age; and it is well known that he delayed his baptism until near the end +of his life, so as to enjoy the advantage of its purifying effect at the +latest possible moment. These cumulative circumstances render us +exceedingly sceptical of the possibility of so zealous a convert as was +Helena resulting from so indifferent a teacher as was Constantine. + +When his son was eighteen years old, Constantius was promoted to the +rank of Csar. This majesty, however, Helena was not allowed to share +with her husband. The innkeeper's daughter was displaced by a more +advantageous match with Theodora, the daughter of the Augustus Maximian. +Later on, Fausta, another daughter of Maximian, was married to +Constantine, and thus Theodora was made sister-in-law to her own +stepson. Such intricate matrimonial alliances were not uncommon among +rulers, where the main object is to conserve the family prestige. + +How Helena consoled herself in her humiliation, or in what way she +occupied herself during the interval between her divorce and the +accession of Constantine, we do not know. As is the wont with women in +such circumstances who are no longer young, she turned her thoughts to +religion. It was most probably at this time that Helena became a +Christian openly, though she may have been friendly to the Church while +she was still the wife of Constantius. + +In the year 306 Constantius died. He left three sons and three +daughters, who had been born to him by his second wife Theodora; but the +son of Helena, a mature man and an experienced soldier, was immediately +promoted by the army from the Csarship to the Empire of the West. It is +much to his credit that in that age when family ties were no safeguard +against inhuman treatment by close but stronger relatives, who sought to +secure themselves in the possession of a throne, Constantine nobly cared +for the children of the woman for whose sake his own mother had been +repudiated. Unfortunately for his reputation, he was not always so +humane. + +The three half-sisters of the emperor were Constantia, Anastasia, and +Eutropia. This is perhaps as good a place as any in which to glance at +the history of these women, who did not greatly affect the course of +events. Constantia married the Emperor Licinius. She was greatly beloved +by Constantine, and at times seemed to wield some influence over his +decisions, not sufficient, however, to save the life of her husband or +that of her young son. It was during the magnificent festivities +occasioned by her marriage at Milan that the two emperors made the first +proclamation of religious liberty that was ever heard in an imperial +edict by the subjects of Rome. "Religious liberty," they said, "should +not be denied, but it should be granted to every man to perform his +duties toward God according to his own judgment." Licinius, however, did +not live up to this decision, nor was he loyal to his brother-in-law in +other matters. Civil war followed, in which Constantine was victorious, +and through his victory he became sole emperor. Constantia pleaded for +the life of her husband, and gained from her brother the promise that he +should suffer no severer punishment than banishment; but, +notwithstanding this brotherly pledge of mercy, a motive was soon +discovered which seemed to justify the death of Licinius. Gibbon +remarks: "The behavior of Constantia, and her relation to the contending +parties, naturally recall the remembrance of that virtuous matron who +was the sister of Augustus and the wife of Antony." In later years, when +Constantine had become the arbiter of the theological disputes which +rent the newly established Church and had banished Arius for his heresy, +Constantia again acted the part of peacemaker and, on her deathbed, +warned the emperor to "consider well lest he should incur the wrath of +God and suffer great temporal calamities, since he had been induced to +condemn good men to perpetual banishment." It was probably largely owing +to these good offices that Arius was recalled. Notwithstanding her +indulgent attitude toward heretics, Constantia seems to have been a +woman of genuine Christian feeling, honoring her faith by the nobility +of her life, a comment which cannot justly be passed upon all the +Christian princesses of her time. + +Anastasia, the second sister of Constantine, was married to Bassianus, a +man of high position, who, on being favored with this imperial alliance, +was further promoted to the rank of Csar. He was later discovered in a +conspiracy against Constantine and put to death. Further than this there +is nothing noteworthy to be told of Anastasia. Eutropia was espoused to +Nepotianus. Of her history there is nothing remarkable recorded except +that after the death of her great brother she was slain with her son, +who in Rome had headed the rebellion against the usurpation of +Magnentius. + +We will return now to the court of Constantine, where we shall find his +mother installed in great honor and dignity and not without an influence +of her own. Whatever may have been the faults of her son, Helena had no +cause to complain of any lack of duty on his part toward herself. + +The court of Constantine, nominally Christian though it was, exhibited +the same characteristics of jealousy and intrigue as had the palaces of +the pagan emperors. Before his marriage with Fausta, the emperor had, +like his father, contracted a "left-handed" marriage, in his case with a +woman named Minervina, whom he repudiated for the sake of an alliance +which policy dictated. Some authors, seem to insinuate, as in the case +of Helena, that there was no marriage in the legal sense; but the +testimony rather points to the contrary. However this may have been, +Crispus, the son of Minervina, was retained by his father and brought up +as a legitimate heir to the purple. This naturally resulted, on the part +of Fausta, in jealousy for the rights of her own children. This whole +story is deeply shrouded in mystery, as is the wont with the domestic +affairs of court; but the few rays of historical light which do +penetrate the gloom reveal to us nothing but a horrible intricacy of +moral turpitude. The murder of Crispus by the order of his father was +the outcome. Some ancient writers accuse Fausta of indulging an unchaste +passion for her stepson and of bringing about his death in revenge for +his disappointing her desires. They represent her as charging the young +man with an attempt of which his innocence was in reality the cause of +her malice toward him; but it is more likely that her fear of his +standing in the way of her own sons was the motive for bringing about +his downfall. Whether innocent or guilty, Crispus perished, for +Constantine, whatever may have been his religion, was as implacably +cruel as Tiberius. He even put to death the twelve-year-old son of his +favorite sister Constantia, for no other reason than that the lad's +existence might prove an injury to his own sons. + +But, as Victor Duruy writes, "the tragedy was not yet ended. In the +imperial palace lived Helena, the aged mother of the emperor, a +rough-mannered, energetic woman, to whom the murder of Crispus was a +horrible crime. Repudiated by Constantius Chlorus, she had seen the +imperial title and honors pass to a rival; when policy expelled +Minervina, as it had driven out herself, from an emperor's dwelling, +this similarity in misfortune attached her to the son whom that +daughter-in-law had borne to Constantine, and who was to grow up with a +stepmother in his father's house. Helena watched over the boy with +anxiety, and toward the children of Fausta she felt the same aversion +that the latter manifested toward Crispus. Between these two women, no +doubt, a mutual hatred existed. How did Helena succeed in making Fausta +appear the author of abominable machinations? This we do not know; but +we have the fact that, by order of Constantine, the empress was seized +by her women, shut up in a hot bath, and smothered." + +It must be admitted, however, that all the information that we have on +this subject is very hazy. The treatment which the ancient authors gave +to the reputation of Fausta depended very considerably upon their +purpose of either eulogizing or denouncing Constantine. While some +justify him by declaring that the empress was discovered in the arms of +a slave of the stables,--a most incredible story as told of a +middle-aged empress,--others speak of her as the most divine and pious +of empresses. There is in existence a bronze medallion showing a +portrait of Fausta; the strongly marked Grecian features are those of a +woman who is evidently fully conscious of the dignity which pertained to +"the daughter, wife, sister, and mother of emperors." + +After these tragedies had taken place, it is not surprising that Helena +decided to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, this being considered, even +in times so early, as one of the most effective of moral purgatives. It +is asserted that she was directed by dreams to repair to Jerusalem and +there search for the Holy Sepulchre. The difficulty of this task was so +great that there need be no wonder that the ancient chroniclers believed +that she was divinely led. The place of the tomb had been covered with +earth, and a temple to Venus erected thereupon. This, Helena caused to +be destroyed; and, after much excavating, the sacred cave was found. +What emotion, what pious promptings she must have then felt as she stood +where, a little over three centuries earlier, the trembling feet of the +holy women of Galilee had halted as they fearfully wondered how they +should remove the great stone from the mouth of the Sepulchre, when lo! +the stone was removed, the entrance was open, and before them stood an +angel all in white who announced to them that the Lord had arisen! + +Some authorities assert that, believing the Jewish inhabitants possessed +definite knowledge that would solve her difficulties, she determined to +secure it by the means usually employed by Christians in dealing with +reluctant Jews. First, she commanded that all the Jewish rabbis should +be assembled. They came in great fear, suspecting that the object of her +visit was to find the Cross. The whereabouts of this precious relic they +knew; but they had pledged themselves not to reveal it, even under +torture. When they would not satisfactorily answer Helena's questions, +she commanded that they should all be burned. This sufficiently overcame +their resolution to induce them to deliver up Judas, their leader, +saying that he could give the desired information. At first he was +obstinate; but Helena gave him the choice of either telling what he knew +or of being starved to death. Six days of total abstinence was +sufficient to bring him to terms. He was conducted to the place which he +indicated; and after prayer by the Christians, there occurred an +earthquake, and a beautiful perfume filled the air, because of which +Judas was converted. Then he set to digging vigorously, and at a depth +of twenty feet came upon three crosses. But how to know which was the +cross of the Saviour was the next puzzle to be solved. Macarius, the +Bishop of Jerusalem, was equal to the occasion. According to Socrates: +"A certain woman of the neighborhood, who had long been afflicted with +disease, was now just at the point of death; the bishop therefore +arranged that each cross should be brought to the dying woman, believing +that she would be healed on touching the precious Cross. Nor was he +disappointed in his expectation: for the two crosses having been applied +which were not the Lord's, the woman still continued in a dying state; +but when the third, which was the true Cross, touched her, she was +immediately healed, and recovered her former strength." + +Helena then set Judas to work at searching for the nails. They were +found shining like gold. These, with the larger portion of the Cross, +she sent to Constantine. The nails he converted into bridle-bits, and +the wood of the Cross he secretly enclosed in his own statue, which was +set up in the forum at Constantinople. + +Helena erected a magnificent church on the site of the Holy Sepulchre, +calling it New Jerusalem. She also built a Christian temple at +Bethlehem, and still another on the Mount of the Ascension. + +Sozomen tells us that "during her residence at Jerusalem, she assembled +the sacred virgins at a feast, ministered to them at supper, presented +them with food, poured water on their hands, and performed other similar +services customary to those who wait upon guests." It is no wonder that +the Christian devotees of celibacy came to believe that virginity +conferred upon them a rank superior to that obtained from nobility of +birth. + +It is also recorded of Helena that she not only enriched churches, but +that she liberally supplied the necessities of the poor, and released +prisoners and those condemned to labor in the mines. Sozomen writes: "It +seems to me that so many holy actions demanded a recompense; and indeed, +even in this life, she was raised to the summit of magnificence and +splendor; she was proclaimed Augusta; her image was stamped on golden +coins, and she was invested by her son with authority over the imperial +treasury to give it according to her judgment. Her death, too, was +glorious; for when, at the age of eighty, she departed this life, she +left her son and her descendants masters of the Roman world. And if +there be any advantage in such fame--forgetfulness did not conceal her +though she was dead--the coming age has the pledge of her perpetual +memory; for two cities are named after her, the one in Bithynia, and the +other in Palestine. Such is the history of Helena." + +Of the fact that Helena is rightly regarded as a prominent character in +the history of women there can be no question; that she was the mother +of Constantine and the first avowed Christian empress is enough to +warrant this opinion. Her virtue and charity may also be regarded as +unimpeachable. Her canonization as a saint, however, is founded upon her +alleged discovery of the Cross. Apart from the other difficulties which +a sceptical mind may find in this story, there is the fact that +Eusebius, who in the lifetime of Constantine wrote the account of +Helena's journey to Jerusalem, makes no mention whatever of the Cross, +notwithstanding his recital of the appearing of the sacred sign to the +emperor and its adoption as the Roman ensign. But the legend, be it true +or false, has highly glorified the name of Helena in the religious +history of the world. + + + + +V + +POST-NICENE MOTHERS + + +It requires a considerable amount of imagination, coupled with a +facility for overlooking untoward historical facts, to enable one to +draw an honest and at the same time an entirely pleasing picture of the +Church in the fourth and fifth centuries. And yet this may rightly be +looked upon as the heroic age of Christianity; it was the period of the +Church's greatest victories. It is true that, emerging from the +sickening asceticism and rising above the theological squabbles of the +time, are mighty men and women of didactic and also of moral renown. +"There were giants in those days." Nevertheless, the average moral +character of the "Christian" Empire was raised such a slight degree +above that of the pagan regime that it is barely perceptible in the +records of history. Both Constantine and Constantius stained their +palaces with the blood of their innocent relatives. The populace still +gloated over gladiatorial combats. Courtesans were licensed in order +that their trade might help to replenish the imperial treasury. The +rigor of slavery was somewhat softened; yet if a man beat his +bondservant to death, he was considered to be acting within his right, +providing that he declared that the killing was not in his intention. +For offences which to-day are treated with great leniency, slave women +were then punished by having melted lead poured down their throats. +Moreover, it was during the first centuries of the Christian state that +the fetters of feudalism were forged, by which the poor were bound down +to their hopeless wretchedness. Of the artisans the law said: "Let them +not dare to aspire to any honor, even if they might deserve it, the men +who are covered with the filth of labor, and let them remain forever in +their own condition." + +The leaven of Christian morality was present in the lump of traditional +social conditions; but it had not yet begun to work extensively. +Nineteen centuries have produced only the immature results we see at +present. The evolution of human kindliness is slow, though, as we may +believe, inevitable. A learned and lively English writer of the +beginning of the last century, referring to those Church doctors who +would have the world venerate the Nicene period as the ideal age of +Christianity, says that if "they could but be blindfolded (if any such +precaution, in their case, were needed) and were fairly set down in the +midst of the pristine Church, at Carthage, or at Alexandria, or at Rome, +or at Antioch, they would be fain to make their escape, with all +possible celerity, toward their own times and country; and that +thenceforward we should never hear another word from them about +'venerable antiquity' or the holy Catholic Church of the first ages. The +effect of such a trip would, I think, resemble that produced sometimes +by crossing the Atlantic, upon those who have set out, westward, +excellent Liberals, and have returned, eastward, as excellent Tories." + +There never has come to the world an opportunity to make substantial and +unusual progress in its moral development, but that there have been +plenty to turn the newly-acquired wisdom into foolishness. The great +opportunity in the history of Christianity came in the century marked by +the Nicene Council and in that succeeding it. + +With the exception of the interlude during the reign of the reactionist +Julian, Christianity was the established religion of the Empire. It was +popular; the whole world was becoming Christian. Wealth poured into the +Church: kings and princes came into its pale bringing their presents. +The learned men of the world were the champions of the religion of +Jesus. But truly judging from its moral effect on the age, the Church +"knew not the day of her visitation." However much honor we may owe them +for settling the faith of Christianity, it must be acknowledged that the +Nicene and post-Nicene Fathers spent their strength in advocating and +glorifying an unnatural virginity--a pitiable substitute for a higher +social morality and purer morals for the ordinary individual. Without a +first-hand acquaintance with those ancient writers, it is impossible to +conceive to what a degree the idea of celibacy was exalted in their +teachings. It overshadowed everything else. It overturned every +establishment of reason. It vitiated all the pure springs of life. It +proceeded on the assumption that everything that is natural is +monstrously evil. Gibbon is too indulgent when, as it were with a smile +of careless contempt, he thus characterizes this maudlin asceticism: +"The chaste severity of the Fathers, in whatever related to the commerce +of the two sexes, flowed from the same principle: their abhorrence of +every enjoyment which might gratify the sensual, and degrade the +spiritual nature of man. It was their favorite opinion, that if Adam had +preserved his obedience to the Creator, he would have lived forever in a +state of virgin purity, and that some harmless mode of vegetation might +have peopled Paradise with a race of innocent and immortal beings. The +use of marriage was permitted only to his fallen posterity, as a +necessary expedient to continue the human species, and as a restraint, +however imperfect, on the natural licentiousness of desire. The +hesitation of the orthodox casuists on this interesting subject betrays +the perplexity of men unwilling to approve an institution which they +were compelled to tolerate." + +If it did not inspire sadness to discover that human minds, of +intelligence above the average, can be capable of such fatuity, it would +provoke one to laughter to read the Fathers as they gravely asseverate +that they do not consider marriage as being necessarily +sinful--providing that it were not committed more than once. Jerome, who +was the great advocate of monasticism in the early Church, says that +virginity is to marriage what the fruit is to the tree, or what the +grain is to the chaff. Seizing upon Christ's parable of the sower, he +asserts that the thirty-fold increase refers to marriage; the sixty-fold +applies to widows, for the greater the difficulty in resisting the +allurements of pleasure once enjoyed the greater the reward; but by the +hundred-fold the crown of virginity is expressed. Was there no one to +suggest to him that in the natural expectation of increase his order is +reversed? As a sample of the turgid rodomontade with which those Fathers +of the Church induced the women of their time to sacrifice, for the +glory of God, the duties of wifehood and motherhood which the Creator +ordained that they should perform, we will quote from Cyprian at length: +"We come now to contemplate the lily blossom; and see, O thou, the +virgin of Christ! see how much fairer is this thy flower, than any +other! look at the special grace which, beyond any other flower of the +earth, it hath obtained! Nay, listen to the commendation bestowed upon +it by the Spouse himself, when he saith--Consider the lilies of the +field (the virgins) how they grow, and yet I say unto you that Solomon +in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these! Read therefore, O +virgin, and read again, and often read again, this word of thy Spouse, +and understand how, in the commendation of this flower, he commends thy +glory. In the glory of Solomon you are to understand that, whatever is +rich and great on earth, and the choicest of all, is prefigured; and in +the bloom of thy lily, which is thy likeness, and that of all the +virgins of Christ, the glory of virginity is intended.... Virginity hath +indeed a twofold prerogative, a virtue which, in others, is single only; +for while all the Church is virgin in soul, having neither spot, nor +wrinkle; being incorrupt in faith, hope, and charity, on which account +it is called a virgin, and merits the praise of the Spouse, what praise, +think you, are our lilies worthy of, who possess this purity in body, as +well as in soul, which the Church at large has in soul only! In truth, +the virgins of Christ are, as we may say, the fat and marrow of the +Church, and by right of an excellence altogether peculiar to themselves, +they enjoy His most familiar embraces." + +The effect of this senseless exaltation of virginity, and of persuading +great numbers of maidens to forswear the pleasures and the duties of +matrimony, in the conviction that they thereby rendered themselves far +more pleasing to God than were their mothers and married sisters, was +unquestionably injurious to the morals of the time. The result was as +bad for the "lilies" themselves as it was for the women who elected to +abide on the natural, but despised, plane for which the Almighty +intended them. Too many of the former gave scandalous proof that their +ambition for virginal sanctity was unequalled by their steadfastness in +the contest. Nature has a way, when insulted, of making reprisals. The +writings of the Fathers are full of lamentations and exhortations which +indicate that the youthful female saints of their time found it one +thing to aspire to the glory of virginity and quite another to live +consistently with its character. All were not satisfied with the +indemnification provided by the joys of conscious holiness for the loss +of those pleasures which they denied themselves by their vows. Very +early there sprang up among the celibates of the Church a fashion of +choosing spiritual companions, the choice usually being made from among +the opposite sex. The canons of many of the first councils dealt with +the _agapet_ who professed to be the spiritual sisters of the unmarried +clergy. Even in the days of persecution this had become prevalent; +Cyprian wrote severe strictures on the custom, but did not succeed in +bringing about its abolishment. Jerome speaks of it in unrestrained +terms: "How comes this plague of the _agapet_ to be in the Church? +Whence come these unwedded wives, these novel concubines, these +prostitutes, so I will call them, though they cling to a single partner? +One house holds them, and one chamber. They often occupy the same couch, +and yet they call us suspicious if we fancy anything amiss. A brother +leaves his virgin sister; a virgin, slighting her unmarried brother, +seeks a brother in a stranger. Both alike profess to have but one +object, to find spiritual consolation from those not their kin.... It is +on such that Solomon in the Book of Proverbs heaps his scorn. 'Can a man +take fire in his bosom,'" he says, '"and his clothes not be burned?'" +These insurrections of nature continued until Church celibacy became a +fully organized system and the women devoted to perpetual virginity were +shut away in convents; even then, if all reports be true, the enemy, +though cast down, was not effectually destroyed. + +The effect of this laudation of virginity upon the women who chose to +remain in the world was equally detrimental to good morals. The natural +result of the system might have been easily imagined, if the good sense +of the teachers of that age had not been dulled by the conception of the +human body as being hopelessly evil. Out of a large family of girls, +one, "Priscilla," or "Agnes," has been induced, by the fervid +representations of some apostle of celibacy as to the glorious sanctity +of virginity, to devote herself to this "higher life." What will be the +effect upon the "Marthas" and the "Elizabeths" who decide to remain in +the world? Believing, as they also do, in the greater sanctity of +virginity, they will necessarily consider themselves less pure and +chaste than they would if such a comparison with their seraphic sister +had not been thrust upon them. A line of demarcation is drawn between +the once united band. On the one side stand chastity and angelic purity +personified in the professed virgin; on the other side is marriage, not +forbidden, but merely tolerated; a little lower down, according to the +Nicene scale, is concubinage, and lower still, but on the same side, is +prostitution. The "Marthas" and the "Elizabeths" were given the +alternative of either following the example of "Agnes"--- against which +their good sense rebelled--or of considering themselves only at the top +of a class at the bottom of which were the notoriously impure. No +greater injustice than this was ever done to womanhood. + +In a society where the chaste love of a wife for her husband and the +privileges and duties of a mother were regarded as placing a woman upon +an inferior moral grade, it is not surprising to find that a large +proportion accepted the rating of their time and lived down to it. +Largely in consequence, then, of the substitution of a fantastic +holiness for unromantic goodness, though the Church grew strong in the +world, morals remained much what they had been under paganism. True, +there were many of those professed virgins whose names are recorded in +history, and who, as the result of what seems to have been a prodigious +contest, maintained their character and withal achieved a noble and +deserved reputation; but it is at least open to question whether or not +the influence of these shining marks of sanctity was not offset by the +otherwise pernicious effect of the system. + +Before we proceed to the individual mention of some of these early +saints, we will glance at the secular women who were their +contemporaries. + +Constantine had thoroughly orientalized the imperial court, and all the +officials and aristocracy of the empire followed the fashion according +to the degree of their ability. Gorgeous apparel, trains of eunuchs, +barbaric splendor, and ostentatious titles replaced the white toga and +the stately, though severe, grandeur of the Roman citizen of former +times. The Roman spirit was dying out in sloth and effeminacy; it was +fitting that a new capital of the Empire should be erected in the East, +for the new times were strange and unrelated to the manes of the Roman +ancestors. Nobility of thought had likewise perished, at least from the +secular life of the Empire. As Duruy says: "Courts have sometimes been +schools of elegance in manners, refinement in mind, and politeness in +speech. Literature and art have received from them valuable +encouragement. But at the epoch of which we are writing, poetry and +art--those social forces by which the soul is elevated--no longer exist. +With an Asiatic government and a religion soon to become intolerant, +great subjects of thought are prohibited. There is no discussion of +political affairs, for the emperor gives absolute commands; no history, +for the truth is concealed or condemned to a complaisance which is +odious to honest men; no eloquence, for nowhere can it be employed +except in disgraceful adulation of the sovereign.... Only the Church is +to have mighty orators,--but in the interests of heaven, not earth; and +so, in this empire now exposed to countless perils, the little mental +activity now existing in civil society will occupy itself only with +court intrigues, the subtleties of philosophers aspiring to be +theologians, or the petty literature of some belated and feeble admirers +of the early Muses." + +The three sons of Constantine, among whom, by will, he divided the +Empire, were adherents of the Christian religion; but Constantius, who +soon became the sole ruler, though a weighty factor in the evolution of +the Church's doctrine, was no very edifying example of the moral effect +of her teaching. His jealousy and implacability almost exterminated the +race of Constantine, numerously represented as that sturdy emperor had +left himself. The closest ties of relationship did not avail to save the +lives of those who might stand in the way of the new ruler's ambitions. +Constantina, the sister of Constantius, had been married to +Hannibalianus, his cousin, but in spite of this double relationship the +latter cruelly perished. + +Constantina was a woman of whom it would be interesting to know more +than the few references which history affords. She must have been a +person of able as well as ambitious character, for her father had +invested her with the title of Augusta. After his death, she deemed that +the purple ought not to clothe a woman with mere powerless dignity, but +that the right was hers to take a hand in the affairs of the Empire. In +this view of her privileges she lacked the support of her three +brothers: the situation was sufficiently disturbed by their own +inharmonious claims. But after the death of Constans and Constantine, +the way was cleared for Constantina to push her own interests. This she +did by creating a puppet emperor out of Vetranio, a good-natured and +obliging old general who was commanding in Illyricum. Constantina +herself bound the diadem upon his brow; but during an interview with +Constantius, a menacing shout of the soldiers induced Vetranio hastily +to divest himself of the purple and thankfully accept his life with an +honorable exile. Constantina had the diplomacy to make her peace with +her brother as soon as she saw the fruitlessness of this scheme. She +probably had deserted Vetranio before he had ceased trying to reign for +her. Later on, she was married to Gallus, who, with his brother Julian, +alone of the princes of the house of Constantine had survived the +suspicion and the cruelty of Constantius. Gallus was appointed Csar of +the Eastern provinces, and thus Constantina's ambitions were appeased. +But as is frequently the case with those who are ambitious of political +power, though intensely eager for the purple, she was entirely unworthy +of the position. The historians of the time give this woman an +exceedingly bad name, and doubtless the people of Antioch, where she and +her husband established their court, agreed that it was abundantly +deserved. She is described, not as a woman, but as one of the infernal +furies, tormented with an insatiate thirst for human blood. That, of +course, we may consider an extravagance of rhetoric on the part of +Ammianus; but there is an ugly story of a pearl necklace which +Constantina received from the mother-in-law of one Clematius of +Alexandria. The ornament procured the death of Clematius, who had +incurred the malice of his relative by disappointing her of his love. +The rapacity and cruelty of Constantina, joined with the mad profligacy +of her husband, ended by ruining them both. The displeasure of +Constantius was aroused, and that was usually only appeased by the death +of its object. He sent urgent messages inviting Gallus to visit him in +the West, for the purpose of consulting on the affairs of the Empire; +and it was especially urged that the Csar should bring his wife, "that +beloved sister whom the emperor ardently desired to see." Constantina +"knew perfectly of what her brother was capable"; she was not deceived +by his protestations of affection for herself. But while she might be +able to pacify him on the ground of her sex and their relationship, it +was certain death for Gallus to put himself in the power of the tyrant +of the East. Constantina set out alone to make her plea to her brother, +but died on the way. There was nothing that her husband could do but +obey the "invitation" of the emperor; but he was not allowed to see the +face of Constantius. On the road, he was seized, and, after a mock +trial, in which no sort of defence could have saved him, was beheaded. + +Julian, the brother of Gallus, alone of the progeny of Constantine +remained. His life was constantly in danger from the suspicions of +Constantius; but it was preserved, and thereby paganism was destined to +have one more trial, or rather one more dying struggle. That Julian +escaped the dangers to which he was exposed was probably owing in a +large measure to the friendship of Eusebia, the wife of the emperor. He +afterward repaid this kindness by an eloquent, and we may be assured +sincere, eulogium upon her character. + +Eusebia was a native of Thessalonica, in Macedonia. Her family was of +consular rank. She became the second wife of Constantius in the year +352, and seems to have enjoyed in matters political a considerable +influence with her husband, which she always employed meritoriously. Her +beauty is frequently spoken of by the ancient authors as being +remarkable; but what is still more worthy of notice is the fact that, in +an age when there were so many divided interests, the historians of all +parties agree in the praise of her moral character. True, there is a +hint somewhere that her kindness to Julian sprung from a tenderer motive +than friendship; but all else that is known of her, as well as the +frozen nature of Julian himself, sufficiently refutes such a suggestion. + +In the time of Eusebia the Church was torn by the contentions between +the orthodox and the followers of Arius. Constantius, as the imperial +arbiter of eternal truth as well as of the temporal destinies of his +subjects, sought to obtain peace by banishing the principal disputants, +as he did Athanasius and Liberius of Rome. Eusebia's chief connection +with these events, though herself an Arian, seems to have been +influenced by her charitable inclination. When Liberius was going away +into exile she sent him five hundred pieces of gold with which to defray +his expenses. This however, rather churlishly as it would seem, he sent +back with the message that she "take it to the emperor, for he may want +it to pay his troops." + +In this connection there is an incident recorded by Theodoret which +indicates that the clergy, especially the bishops, of those times found +resolute champions among the ladies, as they have in all ages. Two years +after the exile of Liberius, Constantius went to Rome. "The ladies of +rank urged their husbands to petition the emperor for the restoration of +the shepherd to his flock: they added, that if this were not granted, +they would desert them, and go themselves after their great pastor. +Their husbands replied, that they were afraid of incurring the +resentment of the emperor. 'If we were to ask him,' they continued, +'being men, he would deem it an unpardonable offence; but if you were +yourselves to present the petition, he would at any rate spare you, and +would either accede to your request, or else dismiss you without +injury.' These noble ladies adopted this suggestion, and presented +themselves before the emperor in all their customary splendor of array, +that so the sovereign, judging their rank from their dress, might count +them worthy of being treated with courtesy and kindness. Thus entering +the presence, they besought him to take pity on the condition of so +large a city, deprived of its shepherd, and made an easy prey to the +attacks of wolves. The emperor replied, that the flock possessed a +shepherd capable of tending it, and that no other was needed in the +city. For after the banishment of the great Liberius, one of his +deacons, named Felix, had been appointed bishop. He preserved inviolate +the doctrines set forth in the Nicene confession of faith, yet he held +communion with those who had corrupted that faith. For this reason none +of the citizens of Rome would enter the house of prayer while he was in +it. The ladies mentioned these facts to the emperor. Their persuasions +were successful; and he commanded that the great Liberius should be +recalled from exile, and that the two bishops should conjointly rule the +Church. This latter arrangement did not suit the people, so Felix +retired to another city." + +Liberius generally refused to acknowledge Arians as Christians; whether +or not he had the boldness to refuse that name to the empress is not +told us. It is certain that Eusebia's kindness to Julian was worthy of a +Christian, even though it succored one who was to be the arch-enemy of +the faith. She befriended and protected him when he was summoned to a +court where it was to the interest of every courtier to report every +action and every chance word to Constantius. She may have been desirous +of making a friend of the heir-apparent, being herself childless; but it +is easy to believe that "the good and beautiful Eusebia," as Julian +calls her, was both sincere and disinterested in her kindness. She +brought it about that the emperor gave his permission to the young man, +who had hitherto been a prisoner, to retire to a beautiful estate which +he had inherited from his mother. + +The fortunes of Julian were in good hands at the court. Constantius was +greatly influenced by the eunuchs who surrounded him, and who were the +bureaucratic officers of those times; but Eusebia was stronger than all +others combined. When the emperor complained that the unaided rule was +too much for him, she suggested that he raise his young kinsman to the +Csarian dignity. Her advice was followed; and the imperial purple, and +with it the hand of Helena, the sister of Constantius, were conferred +upon Julian. As a wedding gift, Eusebia, with the most refined +consideration possible, presented him with a valuable collection of the +best Greek authors. It is likely that he felt more appreciative +gratitude for the books than he did either for the official dignity or +the highborn bride. As Csar, it was intended by Constantius that he +should be no more than a figure; and for his wife it is doubtful if he +ever felt any real affection. As historians have remarked, in his +numerous writings Julian sometimes mentions the Helen of Homer, but +never once his own Helen. She must have been considerably older than her +husband, and was probably a Christian, as were her brothers. That there +was no offspring of this marriage was imputed to the arts of Eusebia, +who, according to Ammianus Marcellinus, exercised a close and unnatural +supervision over the household of her protg. Inasmuch as there appears +no motive for a wish on the part of the empress that Helena should be +childless, we are inclined, as Gibbon says, "to hope that the public +malignity imputed the effects of accident as the guilt of Eusebia." The +empress died in the year 360, immediately before Julian broke with +Constantius and began to rule on his own authority. + +Julian led a forlorn hope in the cause of the old gods. This at least +may be said for him: there was nothing in the treatment which he +received from those who professed to be Christians to hold his faith to +their religion. One only had befriended him, and she was regarded as a +heretic. The historians of the time endeavor to picture Julian as +leading a crusade of persecution against Christianity. Theodoret speaks +of his "mad fury"; but inasmuch as he is constrained to recount stories +which rather illustrate the triviality of the mind of the historian than +the cruelty of the persecutor, it is evident that the glory of martyrdom +was not won to any considerable extent under Julian. We are inclined to +think that one of these narratives exemplifies the latter's patience +more than any other of his characteristics. There was a woman named +Publia, who had become the prioress of a company of virgins. One day +these women, seeing the emperor coming, struck up the psalm which +recites how "the idols of the nations are of silver and gold," and, +after describing their insensibility, adds "like them be they that make +them and all those that put their trust in them." Julian required them +at least to hold their peace while he was passing by. Publia did not, +however, pay the least attention to his orders, except to urge her choir +to put still greater energy into their chaunt; and when again the +emperor passed by she told them to strike up: "Let God arise and let his +enemies be scattered." At last Julian commanded one of his escort to box +her ears. "She however took outrage for honor, and kept up her attack +upon him with her spiritual songs, just as the composer and teacher of +the song laid the wicked spirit that vexed Saul." + +Before we leave this brief reference to the secular matrons of the early +Church in order to turn our attention to the sacred virgins, it is +necessary to summon the testimony of Jerome. This learned and eloquent +Father is the great authority on the women of his time. Only those vowed +to celibacy enjoyed his highest approbation; yet he had many friends +among the married ladies of Rome. Jerome was a satirist. His pen was +caustic when it dealt with persons or matters that did not meet his +approval. He was the Juvenal of his age, but he wrote in prose, and not +for the sake of satire, but as the champion of orthodoxy and virginity. +Many of his writings are in the form of letters to ladies who were his +friends. The one to Eustochium, the daughter of Paula, is the most +striking of all. In this epistle Jerome sets forth the motives which +should actuate those who adopt the monastic life. It also gives us a +vivid picture of Roman society as it then was--the luxury, profligacy, +and hypocrisy prevalent among both men and women. This letter was +written at Rome in the year 384. "I write to you thus, Lady Eustochium +(I am bound to call my Lord's bride 'lady'), to show you by my opening +words that my object is not to praise the virginity which you follow, +and of which you have proved the value, or yet to recount the drawbacks +of marriage, such as pregnancy, the crying of infants, the torture +caused by a rival, the cares of household management, and all those +fancied blessings which death at last cuts short. Not that married women +are as such outside the pale; they have their own place, the marriage +that is honorable and the bed undefiled. My purpose is to show you that +you are fleeing from Sodom and should take warning by Lot's wife." Such +is the tone and tenor of Jerome's correspondence with the women of his +acquaintance. Among many other things, he cautions Eustochium not to +court the society of married ladies, and not to "look too often on the +life which you despised to become a virgin!" Many glimpses are given of +the characteristics of that life which was to be so carefully avoided. +The pride of those who are the wives of men in high position, and also +their delight in troops of callers, are noticed. They are pictured as +they are carried about the streets in gorgeous litters, with rows of +eunuchs walking in front. Their dress is mentioned: red cloaks, robes +inwrought with threads of gold, and creaking shoes. Jerome is even so +unsparing as to refer to those who "paint their eyes and lips with rouge +and cosmetics; whose chalked faces, unnaturally white, are like those of +idols; upon whose cheeks every chance tear leaves a furrow; who fail to +realize that years make them old; who heap their heads with hair not +their own; who smooth their faces, and rub out the wrinkles of age; and +who, in the presence of their grandsons, behave like trembling +school-girls." Some of Jerome's strictures are suggestive of modern +feminine habits. Speaking of Blaesilla, after she had become a widow and +was determined to persevere in that estate, he says that in days gone by +she had been extremely fastidious in her dress, and had spent whole days +before her mirror endeavoring to correct its deficiencies. Her head, +"which had done no harm, was forced into a waving head-dress." But all +this is changed. Now "no gold and jewels adorn her girdle; it is made of +wool, plain, and scrupulously clean. It is intended to keep her clothes +right, and not to cut her waist in two." + +Eustochium, as a professed virgin of the Church, is warned not to trifle +with verse, nor to make herself gay with lyric songs. "And do not, out +of affectation, follow the sickly taste of married ladies who, now +pressing their teeth together, now keeping their lips wide apart, speak +with a lisp, and purposely clip their words, because they fancy that to +pronounce them naturally is a mark of country breeding." + +In another place the Father of asceticism says: "To-day you may see +women cramming their wardrobes with dresses, changing their gowns from +day to day, and for all that unable to vanquish the moths. Now and then +one more scrupulous wears out a single dress; yet, while she appears in +rags, her boxes are full. Parchments are dyed purple, gold is melted +into lettering, manuscripts are decked with jewels, while Christ lies at +the door naked and dying. When they hold out a hand to the needy they +sound a trumpet; when they invite to a love-feast they engage a crier. I +lately saw the noblest lady in Rome--I suppress her name, for I am no +satirist--with a band of eunuchs before her in the basilica of the +blessed Peter. She was giving money to the poor, a coin apiece; and this +with her own hand, that she might be accounted more religious. Hereupon +a by no means uncommon incident occurred. An old woman, 'full of age and +rags,' ran forward to get a second coin, but when her turn came she +received, not a penny, but a blow hard enough to draw blood from her +guilty veins." Rome had always successfully withstood the rhetorical +lashings of her censors; had it not been for this power of resistance, +the castigations of a Jerome surely would have sufficed to hold the +natural frivolity of the women of his time at least within the bounds of +modesty. + +The moral influence of Jerome illustrated the danger of insisting on +perfection with the result of falling below the average of possible +attainment. In his letters to Paula, Eustochium, Marcella, and Asella, +women who delighted him by manifesting an astounding resolution in +mortifying the flesh, he continually laments those who, professing to +have made an offering of their virginity to Christ, were in reality a +scandal to the Church. + +Paula was a Roman lady of the highest rank and greatest wealth. The +genealogy of her father ascended through the highest names in Grecian +history; her mother, Blassilla, numbered the Scipios and the Gracchi +among her ancestors. Paula was Cornelia reincarnated in the fourth +century of Christianity; the only differences are that the former +maintained a chaste widowhood inspired by fuller hopes than earthly +renown, and instead of entertaining men of learning at Misenum she +studied Hebrew with Jerome in a squalid cave at Bethlehem. This devout +lady had much to resign in order that she might enter upon a life of +poverty. One of the most magnificent houses of Rome was hers, and she +drew her revenues from the city of Nicopolis, the whole of which she +owned. She was born in the year 347, ten years after the death of +Constantine. At the age of seventeen she was married to Toxotius, who +was a descendant of the illustrious Julian family. She was the mother of +five daughters and one son. It seems likely that she owed her conversion +to Christianity to the holy Marcella, one of that circle of ascetic +women to whom the letters of Jerome were addressed. Until the time of +her husband's death, the life of Paula in her magnificent palace on the +Aventine was similar to that of other wealthy Roman ladies, except that +her means enabled her to excel all others in elegance. On her +conversion, and as the best proof of its reality, in the estimation of +those days, she distributed a quarter of her immense estate to the poor. +The ideas then prevalent would not permit her to deem herself an earnest +Christian unless she entirely relinquished her habits of luxury. This +she did, and devoted herself to the care of the indigent and the nursing +of the infirm. Her piety would not even allow her sufficiently to +sustain her bodily strength for these noble labors. She lived on bread +and a little oil, on many days denying herself even that until after +sunset. Her dress was the rough garb of the slave; her couch was a mat +of straw, covered with haircloth. + +There was, however, one enjoyment which Paula allowed herself: she was +one of a circle of ladies, all ascetics like herself, who were devoted +to the study of literature. There was Marcella, who was the first of the +highborn Roman ladies to embrace the monastic life, and of whom Jerome +gives this account: "Her father's death left her an orphan, and she had +been married less than seven months when her husband was taken from her. +Then, as she was young and highborn, as well as distinguished for her +beauty and her self-control, an illustrious consular named Cerealis paid +court to her with great assiduity. Being an old man, he offered to make +over to her his fortune so that she might consider herself less his wife +than his daughter. Her mother Albina went out of her way to secure for +the young widow so exalted a protector. But Marcella answered: 'Had I a +wish to marry and not rather to dedicate myself to perpetual chastity, I +should look for a husband and not an inheritance; and when her suitor +argued that sometimes old men live long while young men die early, she +cleverly retorted: 'a young man may die early, but an old man cannot +live long.' This decided rejection of Cerealis convinced others that +they had no hope of winning her hand." + +Marcella may indeed be termed the prioress of the community of ascetics +which gathered in her house and in that of Paula on the Aventine hill. +She studied Hebrew with Jerome, and became so proficient in Scriptural +exposition that, after the latter's departure for the Holy Land, even +the clergy would bring to her for solution such questions as were too +difficult for them. When Alaric and his Goths sacked the city of Rome, +the prayers and the evident holiness of Marcella induced the barbarians +to spare her life and the honor of the virgin Principia, who dwelt with +her, and they even left her house unmolested. + +Another shining light in that Aventine circle was Asella, who had been +dedicated to the Church from her tenth year. Her fastings may be said to +have been almost unintermittent, so that Jerome thought it was only by +the grace of God that she survived until her fiftieth year without +weakening her digestion. "Lying on the dry ground did not affect her +limbs, and the rough sackcloth that she wore failed to make her skin +either foul or rough. With a sound body and a still sounder soul she +sought all her delight in solitude, and found for herself a monkish +hermitage in the centre of busy Rome." + +Among the good women of that day were also Albina and Marcellina, who +were the sisters of Saint Ambrose. Marcellina made a public profession +of virginity before a great congregation which gathered on Christmas day +in the Church of Saint Peter. She received the veil from the hands of +the bishop Liberius. In a work addressed to her Ambrose repeats the +instructions which his sister received from the bishop at that time. The +work is of no little interest, as it clearly sets forth the idea which +governed the lives of professed nuns of that early date. + +Paula also numbered among her companions Fabiola, a woman noble both in +character and race, who, after a stormy youth, found peace in the haven +of ascetic devotion. Jerome describes her life in his seventy-seventh +letter. Fabiola was censured for putting away one husband and marrying +again while the man whom she divorced was yet alive. Jerome's defence of +her divorce shows such liberality of thought on the rights of women in +this regard that part of it is worth quoting. He says: "I will urge only +this one plea, which is sufficient to exonerate a chaste matron and a +Christian woman. The Lord gave commandment that a wife must not be put +away 'except it be for fornication, and that, if put away, she must +remain unmarried.' Now a commandment which is given to men logically +applies to women also. For it cannot be that, while an adulterous wife +is to be put away, an incontinent husband is to be retained.... The laws +of Csar are different, it is true, from the laws of Christ.... Earthly +laws give a free rein to the unchastity of men, merely condemning +seduction and adultery; lust is allowed to range unrestrained among +brothels and slave-girls, as if the guilt were constituted by the rank +of the person assailed and not by the purpose of the assailant. But with +us Christians what is unlawful for women is equally unlawful for men." +It is only in very modern times that the secular law has conformed to +this just opinion, and even now the social treatment received by the +sinner is guided by a view the opposite of that expressed by Jerome. + +So Fabiola took another husband, and therein she was held to have sinned +deeply. Repentance, however, soon followed--a life-long penitence, an +expiation offered by a continual sacrifice of good works. The whole of +her property she gave to the poor; among other good deeds she founded a +hospice for the shelter of the destitute. She resided for a while with +Jerome, Paula, and Eustochium at Bethlehem, but returned to Rome to die. +Her funeral was a reminder of the old-time triumphs. All the streets, +porches, and roofs from which a view could be obtained of the procession +were insufficient to accommodate the spectators. + +Into this circle of holy women came Jerome, the most learned and the +most brilliant man of his time. He was their equal in birth, and he, +like them, had disposed of his property in charity to the poor. He +became their friend, their teacher, their oracle. So assured was he of +his ascendency over his friends that he often gave his advice in a +manner which savored of arrogance. + +In the year 385 Jerome bade farewell to these devoted friends and sailed +away to the land which was consecrated by the life and sufferings of +Christ. He desired retirement, in order that he might be free to +meditate and to prosecute his great work of translating the Scriptures. +From the ship in which the journey was made he addressed a letter to +Asella. It seems that slanderous tongues had foolishly assailed him in +regard to his friendship with those women whose attractions could not +have been other than spiritual. He admits that, of all the ladies of +Rome, one only had the power to subdue him, and that one was Paula. He +had been able to withstand countenances beautified both by nature and +also by art; with Paula alone, "who was squalid with dirt," and whose +eyes were dimmed with continual weeping, was his name associated. +Calumny on this subject was too absurd to be treated with seriousness. +The reference to Paula's personal untidiness gives us the occasion to +remark that, contrary to the generally accepted axiom regarding the +religious worth of cleanliness, those ancient nuns were taught to +believe that the bath was rather conducive to ungodliness. It was a +dangerous subserviency to the flesh: its eschewment was doubtless a +powerful safeguard to chastity. + +Two years after the departure of their friend, Paula and Eustochium +gratified a wish which they had long cherished, to visit the Holy Land. +A most graphic picture of Paula leaving her children and friends is +given us in one of Jerome's letters. They realized, what was not, +perhaps, openly acknowledged, that it was a final good-bye. We are shown +the young girls clinging to their mother in the endeavor to dissuade her +from her purpose. But the sails are unfurled and the stout-armed rowers +are in their places; Rufina, a maiden just entering womanhood, with +quiet sobs, beseeches her mother to wait until she should be married. As +the vessel moves away, little Toxotius, the youngest-born and her only +son, stretches out his tiny hand and pleads with his mother to come +back. But no entreaty could turn Paula from her pious though hardly +commendable purpose. "She overcame her love for her children by her love +for God." That was the favorable judgment of the time. A less +enthusiastic, but saner, age can hardly bestow such unmitigated praise. + +After a journey through all the places made famous by Scripture, in +every one of which they were received with great honor, Paula and her +daughter made their home at Bethlehem, where Jerome already had his +cell. There she built a convent; and for eighteen years she devoted her +life to the training of the many virgins who resorted to her company, +attracted by the fame of her holiness. At her death, the manner of which +was truly edifying, it was found that Paula had disposed of the whole of +her property in charity. Though it is probable that these ascetic women +were to a large extent under the influence of motives less exalted than +that mentioned above, much good intention must be laid to their credit; +and doubtless their extreme self-denial was not without a salutary +effect in a sensual world. At the end of his description of her death, +which he wrote for her daughter, Jerome says: "And now, Paula, farewell, +and aid with your prayers the old age of your votary." + + + + +VI + +THE NUNS OF THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH + + +WE have already given some attention to certain famous Christian women +who, in the earliest ages of the Church, dedicated themselves to the +ascetic life. But monasticism, occupying as it did so extensive and +important a field in the early Church, deserves the devotion of nothing +less than a chapter to the consideration of its effect upon the life of +women, and to the part they played in its establishment. In describing +the friends of Jerome--Paula, Eustochium, Asella, and the others--we +dwelt more on the moral aspect of primitive asceticism, its +exaggerations, its wrong-headedness, its influence upon family life; it +is now our purpose to take a brief glance at the organization of female +monasticism, and to notice its effect upon the social life of women. For +it cannot be otherwise than that so popular and general an institution +as this must at the time have profoundly affected human existence. A +great multitude of men and women taken out of common society and living +apart under conditions entirely contradictory to the instinct and usages +of the race must have shaken the body politic in every direction, +causing a movement of influences far-reaching in its effect. + +Monasticism was not the creation of Christianity; the religions of the +East had their devotees, like the Jewish Essenes, who abandoned the +common pursuits of men for a life of solitude, idle introspection, and +rapt contemplation. The wildernesses and solitary places of the East had +been made yet more weird by the presence of unhumanlike hermits, even +before the days of John the Baptist. Christian monasticism, also, had +its birth in the dreamy East. Antony, by his example, and Pachomius, by +enthusiastic propaganda of monastic ideas, laid the foundations of that +system which was to honeycomb the whole world with bands of men and +women who repudiated the natural pleasures and the essential duties of +the world. + +Of the motive that inspired the monastic life, St. Augustine says: "No +corporeal fecundity produces this race of virgins; they are no offspring +of flesh and blood. Ask you the mother of these? It is the Church. None +other bears these sacred virgins but that one espoused to a single +husband, Christ. Each of these so loved that beautiful One among the +sons of men, that, unable to conceive Him in the flesh as Mary did, they +conceived Him in their heart, and kept for him even the body in +integrity." + +We may admit this intense love of God as a moving force, and still claim +that the hermits and anchoresses of the early Church were actuated +largely by the desire to redeem themselves from the wrath to come and to +gain a personal entrance to the paradise of God. Salvation was an +individual responsibility, and it admitted of no compromise with the +world. The road to perfection could be cheered with company only, +providing others were willing to set out upon it by first renouncing all +natural joys, and by despising all human ties. The claims of close +kindred were not allowed to hinder in the personal quest for heavenly +rewards. The tearfully pleaded needs of an aged parent were not +permitted to detain at home the daughter who had consecrated herself as +the bride of Christ; Paula turned her back upon the outstretched hands +of her infant son, in order that in the Holy Land she might spend her +days in ecstatic contemplation of the Jerusalem above. It is recorded to +the high praise of Saint Fulgentius that he sorely wounded his mother's +heart by despising her sorrow at his departure. + +True it is that many of the earliest consecrated handmaidens of the +Church continued to reside in their city homes, and, in addition to +their prayers, devoted themselves to works of charity and mercy. But +they were scarcely less separated from the world and their kindred. +Their manner of life interdicted all common intercourse. The virgin who +could boast that for twenty-five years she never bathed, except the tips +of her fingers, and these only when she was about to receive the +Communion, must have been as foreign to the Rome in which she lived as +if she inhabited a cave in the Thebaid. Her kinsfolk may have reverenced +her sanctity, but it is doubtful if they unqualifiedly appreciated her +presence. The explanation of this transcendent personal neglect is to be +found in the dualism which was so considerable an element in the motif +of monasticism. The religious sphere was exclusively spiritual and of +the mind; the material world was considered to be wholly under the +dominion of the devil if it were not, indeed, his work. The body, with +all its appetites, instincts, pleasures, and pains, was regarded as a +spiritual misfortune. Holiness was not deemed to be in any degree +attainable except by constant and determined thwarting of all natural +desire. The compulsion to give way to any extent to the most essential +of these desires was, so far as it obtained, a moral imperfection. The +three great human faults are lust, pride, and avarice. To subjugate +these, celibacy, absolute submission, and complete poverty, were deemed +necessary by the advocates of monasticism. Because purity is enjoined, +the saint of one sex must treat a person of the other with the same +avoidance as would be displayed toward a poisonous reptile; readiness to +embrace a leper is none too severe a test of humility; and personal +property in a hair blanket is a pitfall laid by wealth. A body so wasted +by fasting as to be incapable of sustaining the continuous round of +tears and prayers is the surest warrant of saintliness. A virgin who has +so abused her stomach by improper and insufficient food that it refuses +a meal necessary to a healthy body is the object of high veneration; +indigestion is a most desirable corollary to holiness. In short, without +outraging reason and contradicting every dictum of common sense, it is +difficult to describe much that belonged to ancient monasticism in any +other spirit than that of impatience. + +Like most institutions, monasticism began in a formless, undirected +enthusiasm. Men and women rushed into the wilderness with an abundantly +zealous determination to get away from the wickedness of the world, but +with a still greater scarcity of understanding regarding a reasonable +discipline of life. Soon, however, organization was proposed by monks of +experience, and rules formulated which were generally adopted. Saint +Pachomius was the first to form monkish foundations in the East. These +were visited by Athanasius while he was in exile, and he came back with +a glowing account of the sanctity of life and the marvellous exploits of +their members. His narrative fired the hearts of the more devout +Christians of the West, especially of the women, and that of the monk or +the nun became at once the most illustrious vocation which a Christian +could follow. The result was, as the Count de Montalembert shows, that +"the town and environs of Rome were soon full of monasteries, rapidly +occupied by men distinguished alike by birth, fortune and knowledge, who +lived there in charity, sanctity and freedom. From Rome, the new +institution--already distinguished by the name of religion, or religious +life, par excellence--extended itself over all Italy. It was planted at +the foot of the Alps by the influence of a great bishop, Eusebius of +Vercelli. From the continent, the new institution rapidly gained the +isles of the Mediterranean, and even the rugged rocks of the Gargon and +of Capraja, where the monks, voluntarily exiled from the world, went to +take the place of the criminals and political victims whom the emperors +had been accustomed to banish thither." + +Western monasticism was inspired by a different genius from that of the +Eastern. Instead of being speculative and characterized by dreamy +indolence and meditative silence, it was far more practical. It was +active, stirring; duty, rather than esoteric wisdom, was its watchword. +Fasting, stated hours for prayer, reading, and vigorous manual work were +strictly enjoined by every rule. Consequently, the nuns and monks of the +West never went to the fantastic extremes which exhibited in the East a +stylite, or a female recluse, dwelling, like an animal, in a hollow +tree, or a drove of half wild and wholly maniacal humans who subsisted +by browsing on such edible roots as they found in the earth on which +they grovelled. Method, regularity, and purpose early gave character and +efficiency to Western monasteries, and prepared them for the literary +and industrial usefulness which followed in the wane of the first +frenzy, and which made monasticism, in spite of itself, a powerful +factor in the evolution of modern civilization. This systematizing was +due to the efforts of Ambrose, Athanasius, Gregory the Great, but more +especially to those of Benedict of Nursia. + +The first known ceremonial recognition by the Church of a professed nun +is the case of Marcellina. On Christmas Day, perhaps of the year 354, +she received a veil from the hands of Pope Liberius, and made her vows +before a large congregation gathered in the church of Saint Peter, at +Rome. Saint Ambrose, her brother, has preserved for us a summary of the +sermon preached by the bishop on the occasion. It consists of an earnest +but not very convincing--so it would seem to modern ears--exhortation to +abstinence from worldly pleasure and to perseverance in virginity. +Marcellina continued to dwell in private in her own home, for it had not +yet become customary for professed virgins to take up their residence in +a common abode. The inauguration of this new departure had begun, +however, as is shown by passages in the work of Saint Ambrose on +virginity, which he dedicated to his sister. In the eleventh chapter of +the first book, he says: "Some one may say, you are always singing the +praise of virgins. What shall I do who am always singing them and have +no success (in persuading them to the consecrated life)? But this is not +my fault. Then, too, virgins come from Placentia to be consecrated, or +from Bononia and Mauritania, in order to receive the veil here. I treat +the matter here, and persuade those who are elsewhere. If this be so, +let me treat the subject elsewhere, that I may persuade you. + +"Behold how sweet is the fruit of modesty, which has sprung up even in +the affections of barbarians. Virgins, coming from the greatest distance +on both sides of Mauritania, desire to be consecrated here; and though +all the family be in bonds, yet modesty cannot be bound. She who mourns +over the hardship of slavery professes to own an eternal kingdom. + +"And what shall I say of the virgins of Bononia, a fertile band of +chastity, who, forsaking worldly delights, inhabit the sanctuary of +virginity? Though not of the sex which lives in common, attaining in +their common chastity to the number of twenty, leaving their parents' +dwellings, they press into the houses of Christ; at one time singing +spiritual songs, they provide their sustenance by labor, and seek with +their hands the supplies for their liberal charity." + +So, then, it is evident that as early as the latter part of the fourth +century communities of nuns began to live in their own religious houses. +As yet, however, the inmates of these asylums of chastity were +answerable, only to themselves for the faithfulness with which they +fulfilled their vows. There was no organized order, no recognized rule; +each virgin observed her profession according as she interpreted the +terms thereof. The Church exercised no well-defined disciplinary +authority over these convents; of course, if a professed nun +scandalously repudiated her vows, she could be excommunicated, but the +efficacy of this punishment was conditioned entirely by the degree of +horror with which the woman viewed the forfeiture of ecclesiastical +privileges. It was not before the time of Gregory that the Church became +able to enforce its judgments. When all the world became Christian, then +the individual again lost his freedom of thought in relation to +religious matters; then, through its alliance with the secular arm, the +Church gained the power to sternly constrain its recalcitrant children. +This was brought about by the political advantages gained by Gregory, +and by Saint Benedict's gifts of organization. + +Saint Benedict was the father of Western organized monasticism; he not +only founded an order to which many religious houses already existing +united themselves, but he established a rule for their government, which +was adopted as the rule for monastic life by all such orders which +existed in the Church down to the time of Saint Francis and Saint +Dominic. What Benedict did for the monks, his sister Scholastica--who, +being a woman, has received far less mention--accomplished for the nuns. +Through her efforts, under the direction and advice of her brother, +greater dignity and weight were given to the female side of monasticism. + +We know that Benedict was born at Nursia, in the province of Spoleto, in +the year 480; whether Scholastica was older or younger than her more +famous brother is not said. Their parents were respectable people, +possessed of sufficient means to enable them to give their children a +good education, and to take up temporarily their residence in Rome for +that purpose. + +While at Rome, Benedict became enamored of the idea of devoting himself +to religion; and in order to get away from the moral dangers of the +city, he fled from his school and his parents to a small village called +Effide, about two miles from Subiaco. His nurse--Cyrilla--was his +accomplice and companion in this adventure, and for this she has +received her due meed of honor in the legends which have attached to the +life of the great founder. As an example of these legends, and as an +illustration of their historic value, we will notice one story. One day, +Cyrilla accidentally broke a stone sieve which she had borrowed for the +purpose of making the youthful saint some bread. Compassionating her +distress, Benedict placed the two pieces in position and then prayed +over them. To the great joy of Cyrilla and the no small wonderment of +the rustics, they became firmly cemented together and the sieve was +again made whole. This marvellous utensil was hung over the church door, +where it remained for many years an irrefutable proof of the power of +monastic holiness. + +Later on, Saint Benedict established twelve monasteries in the +neighborhood, at last settling at Monte Casino, not far from the place +where his sister, Saint Scholastica, also presided over a colony of +religious women. Here were formulated and adopted the regulations which +for so many years governed these religious recluses, both male and +female. Three virtues comprised the whole of the Benedictine discipline: +celibate seclusion, extended to the cultivation of silence as far as the +exigences of the convent would permit; humility to the very last degree; +and obedience to superiors even--so said the law--when impossibilities +were commanded. The effect designed was to concentrate the entire +thought of the recluse upon himself. Yet, idleness on the part of its +subjects was far from the purpose of this discipline. All the waking +hours--which were by far the greater part of the time--of these nuns +were devoted to the worship of God, reading, and manual labor. Besides +the essential work of their own household, the nuns occupied themselves +in spinning, weaving, and manufacturing clothing, which was distributed +in charity; thus their time was not wholly spent in vain. They also wove +and embroidered the beautiful tapestries and hangings which ornamented +the churches, and, in course of time, developed a textile art which was +one of the glories of the Middle Ages. With the time at their disposal, +it is no wonder that the ancient convents could exhibit histories of the +Creation, done in stitchwork. In imitation of the Psalmist, seven times +a day the nuns met in their chapel for prayer and praise. Sloth was not +possible with them; for they were obliged to waken for matins very early +in the morning, before the breaking of day, even in summer, and this +after having risen for a short service of praise at midnight. + +Abstinence from the flesh of four-footed animals was perpetually and +universally enforced. Fowls were allowed on festival occasions; but the +regular diet was vegetable broth and bread. A large part of the year was +a prescribed fast during which one meal a day was made to suffice and +that at even. No nun was permitted to speak of or consider anything as +her own, not even a girdle or any part of her dress. At first, when +members of the order became delinquent in their duties, only such +penalties as sequestration from the common table or the chapel, with +expulsion from the order in case of incorrigibility, could be enforced. +But, as the Church's disciplinary hand grew heavier on the lives of +mankind, severer punishments were adopted, which contumacy served only +to render yet more cruel, even to life-long solitary incarceration. + +But the most stringent rule of monasticism, as regulated by Saint +Benedict and Saint Scholastica, was that in relation to the sexes. +According to it, they were required to treat each other as natural, +irreconcilable enemies. Communion, even between those of the closest +kin, was almost entirely interdicted. The two founders, brother and +sister though they were, and united not only in a perfect harmony of +disposition and affection, but in devotion to the same life purpose, saw +each other but once a year. "There is something striking," says Milman, +"in the attachment of the brother and sister, the human affection +struggling with the hard spirit of monasticism. Saint Scholastica was a +female Benedict--equally devout, equally powerful in attracting and +ruling recluses of her own sex, the remote foundress of convents almost +as numerous as those of her brother's rule." We are indebted to Gregory +the Great for the narration of some interesting incidents in the lives +of these two saints. The only one which our space will permit, and +perhaps the one which best illustrates the spirit that governed them in +the hard and self-denying path which they elected to walk, is the +account of their last meeting. Though the convent was situated not far +from the monastery, though they were brother and sister, aged, and +devoted to the same holy aims, they met but once a year, for so said the +rule. Scholastica was dying, and the time came for Benedict to pay his +annual visit. Evening had come all too quickly, for the few hours had +rapidly passed in the delight of spiritual communion. Scholastica +entreated her brother to remain in the convent for that one night, as it +was likely that he would never again see her alive. But not even +sisterly affection could turn the monk from the rigid observance of his +rules, one of which was that neither he nor any of his brethren should +spend a night outside of the monastery. As he was preparing to bid her +farewell, she bent her head for a few moments in profound prayer. +Suddenly the sky, which had hitherto been clear and serene, became +overcast, the vivid lightning flashed, the thunder crashed, and the rain +swept down in torrents; heaven had come to the aged nun's assistance. +"The Lord have mercy on you, my sister!" said Benedict, "what have you +done?" "You," she replied, "have rejected my prayers; but the Lord hath +not. Go now, if you can!" Her intercession was rewarded with triumph, +and they passed the night in holy communion. Three days afterward, +Benedict saw the soul of Scholastica soaring to heaven in the shape of a +dove, whither, after a very little while, he followed her. + +As it is with all social movements, after a while the glory of the +initial purity of purpose which marked the inception of Benedictine +monasticism began to wane; its singleness of aim became diverted; its +disingenuousness was replaced by sophisticated evasion of its rule. The +monasteries and convents became wealthy; ways were discovered by which +their discipline could be softened without formally abrogating the rule; +and events rendered it advisable to legislate that houses for nuns and +for monks should not be erected in close proximity. + +The time came when the abbess took her place among the high dignitaries +of the Church, and the office grew to be one, not only of great +spiritual influence, but of enviable social standing. Even in the days +of Gregory the Great, who, though he lost no opportunity to magnify the +papal office, was a man of intense spiritual nature and powerful moral +character, the leaders of female monasticism began to realize the +possibilities of ecclesiastical officialdom. The honors of an abbess +were found to be a not altogether unsatisfactory substitute for the +undesired or the unattainable glories of the world. It was at least +something to be addressed in correspondence by the great bishop of Rome +as a coworker; and there are many letters extant written by Gregory to +abbesses in various parts of the Western world. These furnish us with +sidelights upon the personnel, the duties, customs, and standing of the +women who were placed in charge of these convents. + +In a letter written to Thalassia, abbess of the convent which Brunehaut +founded in the city of Autun, Saint Gregory sets forth the privileges +and the manner of electing a woman to that office. He says: "We indulge, +grant and confirm by decree of our present authority, privileges as +follows: Ordaining that no king, no bishop, no one endowed with any +dignity whatsoever, shall have power, under show of any cause or +occasion whatsoever, to diminish or take away, or apply to his own uses, +or grant as if to other pious uses for excuse of his own avarice, +anything of what has been given to the monastery by the above-written +king's children, or of what shall in future be bestowed on it by any +others whatever of their own possessions. But all things that have been +there offered, or may come to be offered, we will to be possessed by +thee, as well as those who shall succeed thee in thy office and place, +from the present time inviolate and without disturbance, provided thou +apply them in all ways to the uses of those for whose sustenance and +government they have been granted." The use and benefit of papal +supremacy is beginning to be seen. This cumbrous legal enactment +conferred upon Thalassia a life lease and freehold in the property of +her convent, as secure as the tithes of his parish are to an English +incumbent. + +In this same letter, which was written some time in the latter part of +the sixth century, there is also a clause concerning the election of an +abbess. There is to be nothing crafty or secret about it. The election +is to be conducted in the fear of God. The king is to choose such a +woman as will meet with the approval of the nuns; she is then to be +ordained by the bishop. This all goes to show that, even in those early +times, for a woman who was willing to forego the attractions of married +life, or was unwilling to accept its cares, the position of abbess was +one which might well stir the ambitious. But, however that might be, in +the same letter, Gregory, who evidently knew the weaknesses of human +nature, prevented the questionable methods which the ambitious might be +tempted to adopt. "No one," he says, "of the kings, no one of the +priests, or any one else in person or by proxy, shall dare to accept +anything in gold, or in any kind of consideration whatever, for the +ordination of such abbess, or for any causes whatever pertaining to this +monastery, and that the same abbess presume not to give anything on +account of her ordination, lest by such occasion what is offered or has +been offered to places of piety should be consumed. And inasmuch as many +occasions for the deception of religious women are sought out, as is +said, in your parts by bad men, we ordain that an abbess of this same +monastery shall in no wise be deprived or deposed unless in case of +criminality requiring it. Hence, it is necessary that if any complaint +of this kind should arise against her, not only the bishop of the city +of Autun should examine the case, but that he should call to his +assistance six other of his fellow-bishops, and so fully investigate the +matter to the end that, all judging with one accord, a strict canonical +decision may either smite if guilty, or absolve her if innocent." A law +against any wrong always predicates the existence of that fault. Hence, +the prohibitions we have quoted could not have been of unknown +occurrence among the fellow abbesses of Thalassia. + +Through other letters we learn that it was in contradiction of monastic +rule for those embracing that life to retain property of their own after +profession, or even the power of disposing of it by will; it became the +property of the convent. It appears, also, that if a nun were +transferred from one monastery to another, or if, as sometimes happened, +a consecrated virgin living at home had lapsed and was therefore sent to +a monastery, her property always went to the convent in which she at +that present time resided. This was so strictly enforced that when one +Sirica, abbess at Caralis, made a will and distributed her property, +Gregory ordered that it be restored to the monastery without dispute or +evasion. As many women of position were induced to become nuns, it is +easy to be seen how the convents quickly acquired great wealth. + +All the abbesses did not consider themselves slavishly bound to follow +the uniform rule. In the letter just mentioned, the same Sirica is seen +to have manifested a refreshing independence in relation to other +matters in regard to which a woman does not take kindly to outside +interference. Gregory says: "And when we enquired of the Solicitude of +your Holiness why you endured that property belonging to the monastery +should be detained by others, our common son Epiphanius, your +archpresbyter, being present before us, replied that the said abbess had +up to the day of her death refused to wear the monastic dress, but had +continued in the use of such dresses as are used by the presbyteresses +of that place. To this the aforesaid Gavina replied that the practice +had come to be almost lawful from custom, alleging that the abbess who +had been before the above-mentioned Sirica had used such dresses. When, +then, we begun to feel no small doubt with regard to the character of +the dresses, it appeared necessary for us to consider with our legal +advisers, as well as with the other learned men of this city, what was +to be done with regard to law. And they, having considered the matter, +answered that, after an abbess had been solemnly ordained by the bishop +and had presided in the government of a monastery for many years until +the end of her life, the character of her dress might attach blame to +the bishop for having allowed it so to be, but still could not prejudice +the monastery." Those "presbyteresses" whose attire Sirica considered +she had ample right to copy, were the wives of presbyters who had been +married before ordination. It is all very trivial; and yet there is to +be recognized such a touch of naturalness about this abbess of thirteen +centuries ago that it is worthy of remark. And it must be confessed that +Sirica has our entire approval as we fancy we see her going calmly about +the duties of her office, while Pope Gregory of Rome is calling together +his legal advisers to know what shall be done about her dress, she all +the while determined that she is going to array herself in exactly that +style which, to her independent mind, seems most befitting. + +When, however, serious faults on the part of nuns had to be dealt with, +Gregory possessed, even in that early day, the power as well as the will +to inflict punishment of a severe nature. Moreover, the Church had +become what Rome was in the time of the emperors,--so universal and +thoroughly organized that culprits could not hope to flee beyond the +reach of the disciplinary hand. Petronilla, a nun of Lucania, had given +way to the weakness of nature and the seducements of Agnellus, the son +of a bishop. Taking the property which Petronilla had brought to the +monastery, and also that which the father of Agnellus had given to the +institution, they fled to Sicily in the hope of there enjoying love and +affluence in their mutual companionship and that of their child. But +Gregory's supervision was as far-reaching as was the power of his hand. +He writes to Cyprian, Deacon and Rector of Sicily, "to cause the +aforesaid man, and the above-named woman, to be summarily brought before +thee, and institute a most thorough investigation into the case. And, if +thou shouldest find it to be as reported to us, determine an affair +defiled by so many iniquities with the utmost severity of expurgation; +to the end that both strict retribution may overtake the man, who has +regarded neither his own nor her condition, and that, she having been +first punished and consigned to a monastery under penance, all the +property that had been taken away from the above-named place, with all +its fruits and accessions, may be restored." What the exact nature of +the penance inflicted was we do not know; but in another place, speaking +of nuns who had been detected in the same fault, the great bishop orders +that they "afford an example of the more rigorous kind of discipline, +such as may inspire fear in others." The Church had already acquired the +power to enforce its artificial morality, which power it vigorously +employed on those with whom it could afford to be at no pains to +ingratiate itself. + +Rigid disciplinarian as he was, and zealous in his labors to aggrandize +the Church, Gregory was careful not to allow the privileges of +monasticism to be pushed to the endangering, as he thought, of the moral +welfare of those whom it concerned. The law was that if either a husband +or a wife decided to devote himself or herself to the monastic life, the +marriage bonds might be severed without the consent of the other +partner. But in a letter which he wrote to a notary of Panormus and sent +by the hand of a woman named Agathosa, he refers to the latter's claim +that her husband had entered a monastery without her consent. He +instructs the notary "to investigate the matter by diligent enquiry, so +as to see whether it may not be the case that the man's profession was +with her consent, or that she herself had promised to change her state. +And should it be found to be so, see to his remaining in the monastery, +and compel her to change her state, as she had promised. If, however, +neither of these things is the case, and you do not find that the +aforesaid woman has committed any crime of fornication on account of +which it is lawful for a man to leave his wife, then, lest his +profession should possibly be an occasion of perdition to the wife left +behind in the world, we desire thee, without any excuse allowed, to +restore her husband to her, even though he should be already tonsured." +It is quite noticeable that the bishop would much prefer that the woman +follow her husband's example and embrace the monastic life. It is +possible that Gregory, in addition to his constant zeal in gaining +recruits for this vocation, realized, personally inexperienced though he +was in such matters, that the wife would find but cold comfort in the +enforced embraces of a husband who preferred the monks of a religious +house to her own society. Still, even in the case of a professed nun who +had been forcibly compelled to marry against her will, he did not +suggest that the matrimonial bonds should be severed without the consent +of the enterprising husband, but only that she should have the right, +after providing for her children, to devote the residue of her property +to the Church to which she would gladly have sacrificed her whole life. + +In those parts of the Christian world to which the authority of Pope +Gregory did not extend, monasticism showed some peculiarities that were +very dissimilar to the Benedictine rule. Perhaps the most striking of +these is to be seen in the ancient British Church, that apostolic +foundation which, until after the Saxon conquest, had never come under +the influence of the Roman See. At Whitby, in Yorkshire, Saint Hild, the +daughter of a king, reared a monastery which included, under her own +personal government, both men and women. In adjoining buildings, nuns +and monks lived in contemplative retirement, their life and studies +superintended by this gifted woman, whose wisdom was such that her +counsel was eagerly sought by the highest nobles in the land. Her +institution was a training school for bishops and priests, as well as a +haven of religious recreation for women of the world. That her rule was +salutary, and this combination not prejudicial to good living, seems to +be proved by the fact that she included among those who were trained +under her supervision John of Beverly, who was as famous for his +holiness as for his learning. + +Thus, monasticism became an increasingly powerful factor in the social +life of that far distant age. The importance of the institution lay in +its complete universality. Wherever was found the Christian Church, +there also was the religious house, a harbor of sanctity, presided over +by an abbess chosen for her piety and strength of mind, filled with +women who were not loath to forsake the pleasures of the world for the +love of peace and divine contemplation. From the Eternal City where +Gregory was reviving in religious guise that power which for so many +centuries had dominated the world, and where alone was retained what +remained of a departed civilization, to Streonshealh where Hild, +daughter of barbaric chiefs, reared her abbey on the summit of the dark +cliffs of Whitby, looking out over the gloom of the Northern Sea, these +convents represented what was then considered as the acme of feminine +attainment. + +That feminine monasticism had its uses and conferred its benefits it +would be an absurdity to deny. Despite the falsity of the unnatural +moral theory which supplied too largely its motive, monasticism was an +outward and visible sign of that human evolution which makes for +progress. The selfishness of its spiritual aims was in accord with the +strenuous individualism of that new age; its dualistic theory of nature +was at least a revolt from the brutal animalism of the day. Moreover, it +furnished the only opportunity that human life then afforded for calm +and concentrated reflection on any subject save eating, breeding, and +killing. The monastery was the bridge by which the salvage from the +dissolution of ancient civilization was carried over the Dark Ages to +the Renaissance. + +When we seek for the peculiar benefits monasticism provided for women, +they are found to be two. The universally recognized sanctity of the +cloister provided, in an age of exceeding brutality, a sanctuary where +woman might take refuge, and where something at least of the +spirituality of her nature might be neither outraged nor obliterated. It +may be that, after all unfavorable judgments have been passed, if it had +not been for the veneration of cloistered virginity, in so rude an age +the world might have forgotten what modesty and purity are. Also, it is +not favorable to the highest development of womanhood to be absolutely +restricted to the one vocation of marriage. If, to-day, women are not +better wives, they surely are more self-respecting for the fact that +there is a possibility of their being independent and yet remain +unmarried. What business now does for woman, in the olden times was done +by the female monastery: it provided examples of the sex, who were +glorious, and yet unmarried. The woman crossed in love, or the girl +threatened with a union repugnant to her feelings, could say: "I will be +a nun," and thereby gain the highest esteem of the world. + + + + +VII + +WOMEN WHO WITNESSED THE FALL OF ROME + + +The Empire had forfeited its right to take its title from the ancient +city on the Tiber long before its final dismemberment. Constantine had +removed his court and capital to the Bosphorus, and there the metropolis +of the East remained. The Western emperors established their courts in +various parts of Europe, their locations being usually determined by the +exigences of rivalry and the territorial success of their usurpation. +Roman citizenship had become universal and at the same time meaningless: +it represented no privileges other than the bare fact that its owner was +not a slave. The freedom it conferred was only relative and, to a very +great extent, merely theoretical; practically, all were the slaves of +the emperor. The race of Romulus had degenerated into a pretentious but +pusillanimous aristocracy, who desired no title to glory save that found +in pedigree. There was not left in them sufficient virility to set up, +much less to maintain, an emperor of their own race; their rulers were +of barbarian extraction. The Roman army was a cosmopolitan aggregation, +in which Italy was the least represented of the provinces. Ammianus +Marcellinus, the historian, writing late in the fourth century, says: +"The modern nobles measure their rank and consequence according to the +loftiness of their chariots and the weighty magnificence of their dress. +Their long robes of silk and purple float in the wind; and as they are +agitated by art or accident, they occasionally discover the +under-garments, the rich tunics, embroidered with the figures of various +animals." Gibbon notes that the more pious coxcombs substituted the +figure of some favorite saint. Ammianus goes on to describe how, +"followed by a train of fifty servants, and tearing up the pavement, +they move along the streets with the same impetuous speed as if they +travelled with post-horses; and the example of the senators is boldly +imitated by the matrons and ladies, whose covered carriages are +continually driving round the immense space of the city and suburbs. +Whenever these persons of high distinction condescend to visit the +public baths, they assume, on their entrance, a tone of loud and +insolent command, and appropriate to their exclusive use the +conveniences which were designed for the Roman people. If, in these +places of mixed and general resort, they meet any of the infamous +ministers of their pleasures, they express their affection by a tender +embrace; while they proudly disdain the salutation of their +fellow-citizens who are not permitted to aspire above the honor of +kissing their hands or their knees. As soon as they have indulged +themselves in the refreshment of the bath, they resume their rings and +the other ensigns of their dignity, select from their private wardrobe +(of the finest linen, and of a quantity such as might suffice for a +dozen persons), the garments most agreeable to their fancy, and maintain +till their departure the same haughty demeanor.... The acquisition of +knowledge seldom engages the attention of nobles, who abhor the fatigue +and disdain the advantages of study. The libraries which they have +inherited from their fathers are secluded, like dreary sepulchres, from +the light of day. The art of obtaining the signature of a favorable +testament, and sometimes of hastening the moment of its execution, is +perfectly understood; and it has happened that in the same house, though +in different apartments, a husband and a wife, with the laudable design +of over-reaching each other, have summoned their respective lawyers, to +declare, at the same time, their mutual but contradictory wishes." + +It is probable that Ammianus, with the disdain which students are apt to +affect toward the unphilosophic multitude, has exaggerated the disregard +of the Roman nobility for books. We have seen that many of the female +friends of Jerome were most ardent lovers of literature; and the +Christian Fathers constantly evince an expectation of finding among +their female followers an enthusiastic reading public. These women read +theological works; it is not unreasonable to suppose that their less +heavenly-minded sisters were as assiduous students of the classical +secular books. + +We have the names and somewhat of the history of a few of the women who +lived in this period, but they are all from the highest and most +conspicuous society. History loves a shining mark. If the chroniclers of +the time had favored us with a detailed descriptive account of the life +of the common people, it would have been of more value than that of many +nobles. + +The population of Rome at this time has been estimated at between one +million two hundred thousand and two million. This, of course, includes +the vast army of slaves, which remained undiminished after the change of +the national religion. But there was also a great horde of free, poor +plebeians, who were the perpetual paupers of the government. These lived +in the same careless, indigent idleness as had the same class in +preceding centuries. They inhabited tenements not unlike those known to +the great cities of modern times. These houses were of several stories, +each tenement sheltering a number of families. That they were +exceedingly uncomfortable is easy to believe, seeing that even the +wealthy of ancient times, notwithstanding the architectural grandeur +which they could command, were ignorant of the ordinary modern domestic +conveniences. The free working class of the present day was then +practically unknown: that place was taken by the slaves. So the +poverty-stricken Roman citizen was both necessarily and willingly +unemployed. Generally, however, corn, wine, and oil were supplied him +with little or no expense to himself. Each morning, at a set time, his +wife would repair to a prescribed station in the district, and there, on +showing a citizen's ticket, she would receive a three-pound loaf of +bread. So indulgent was the government, that it ground and baked the +allowance which at one time was made in the shape of corn. During five +months in the year there was also distributed, to the poorer people, an +allowance of pork; the annual consumption of this kind of meat in Rome +was three million six hundred and twenty-eight thousand pounds. When the +populace had clamored before Augustus for free wine as well as bread, +that wise and firm ruler reminded them that since his friend Agrippa had +brought into the city a bountiful supply of pure water, no Roman need +complain of thirst. But those emperors who denuded Roman citizenship +entirely of its right of suffrage yet had an interest in keeping the +populace quiet and contented; hence, in the fourth century there existed +public cellars from whence was dispensed, at a small cost to the +inhabitants of Rome, the fermented vintage of Campania. + +It was also necessary, the people being idle, that they should be +amused. There were the magnificent public baths where they could while +away the time in luxury and gossip. But the amusement with which the +multitude was never satiated was found in the exhibitions of the circus. +On special occasions, many would sleep in the porticoes near by, in +order to be the first on hand to obtain seats in the morning. The +immense amphitheatre would accommodate four hundred thousand. +Christianity abolished the gladiatorial combat of former times; but +there still remained the exciting and perilous chariot race and the +hunting and fighting of wild beasts. Nor had Christianity been able to +purify the stage to any great extent. The Muses of Tragedy and a +statelier comedy were entirely abandoned for licentious farces. No fewer +than three thousand female dancers were occupied in the theatres of +Rome. At a time of famine when all strangers were banished from the +city, and also the teachers of the liberal arts, these dancers were +exempted by the edict. + +The people of Rome were afforded an additional source of interest in the +ecclesiastical contentions which were aroused by the ambitions and the +theological disputes of the clergy. Before the close of the fourth +century the bishopric of Rome had become an office more fitted to be +sought after by the worldly-minded than by the imitator of the humble +Galilean fishermen. Its vacation was the signal for a contention in +which rival candidates were not averse to employing the violence of the +common people as well as the influence of noble Christian ladies. +Ammianus describes how "the ardor of Damasus and Ursinus to seize the +episcopal seat surpassed the ordinary measure of human ambition. They +contended with the rage of party; the quarrel was maintained by the +wounds and death of their followers; and the prefect, unable to resist +or appease the tumult, was constrained, by superior violence, to retire +into the suburbs. Damasus prevailed: the well-disputed victory remained +on the side of his faction; one hundred and thirty-seven dead bodies +were found in the Basilica of Sicininus, where the Christians held their +religious assemblies; and it was long before the angry minds of the +people resumed their accustomed tranquillity. When I consider the +splendor of the capital, I am not astonished that so valuable a prize +should inflame the desires of ambitious men, and produce the fiercest +and most obstinate contests. The successful candidate is confident that +he will be enriched by the offerings of matrons; that, as soon as his +dress is composed with becoming care and elegance, he may proceed in his +chariot through the streets of Rome; and that the sumptuousness of the +imperial table will not equal the profuse and delicate entertainments +provided by the taste and expense of the Roman bishops." + +The practice of taking advantage of the charity--or the sentiment--of +wealthy ladies had become so prevalent among the clergy that the +government had been compelled to regard it as an abuse to be severely +legislated against. By his enemies, Bishop Damasus himself was nicknamed +Auriscalpius Matronarum (the ladies' ear scratcher). An edict on the +subject was addressed by Valentinian to this bishop who was directed to +have it read in the churches of his diocese. It must have been a +humiliating document for the clerics of the time to listen to in the +presence of their congregations. It admonished them not to frequent the +houses of virgins and widows. The habit had become popular for wealthy +and devout ladies to choose some monk or priest as their individual and +private spiritual director. That the confidence reposed in the latter +was often abused is indicated by the edict which prohibited him from +profiting by any gift or legacy from his spiritual protge; the same +abuse is also frankly acknowledged in the writings of the Fathers. As we +have seen in the case of Jerome and Paula, such a relationship might be +perfectly innocent, though somewhat hysterical. Human nature is the same +in all ages; and, given a woman whose sentimental nature predisposed her +to seek an indemnification in spiritual companionship for those ordinary +delights which, by pious vows, she had denied herself; an ecclesiastic, +frail in principle, but apt to cloak his designs with the sanctity of +ghostly affection and disinterested charity, and the result is not +unlikely to be disastrous to the reputation of the lady and, also, to +the expectations of her heirs. The law of Valentinian, forbidding these +women to make clerics their legatees, precluded the former from the +comfort of an ostentatious guaranty of their piety, and stigmatized the +disinterestedness of the latter. + +Such, then, was the condition of the Roman Empire at the time when the +causes leading to its decline were nearing their culmination. After +Julian's death under the assassin's hand, Jovian followed in a brief +reign. Then Valentinian came to the throne. In this emperor is witnessed +that astonishing mixture of vice and virtue, barbarous cruelty and +Christian belief which characterized that period. It was an age of +bitter warfare; every human force was engaged in deadly contention; both +the Church and the Empire were fighting for their lives. The latter +could scarcely keep off the hordes of barbarians which were swarming and +surging upon its borders, and at times it seemed as if the former had +quite succumbed to the heresy of Arianism. It was the most deadly battle +that the Church has ever had to wage. After the question of who should +rule, theology was the most important item in the politics of the time. +Varying metaphysical definitions which baffled the acumen of the wisest +philosophers were confidently espoused in a spirit of partisanship by +mechanics and ignorant persons of both sexes. It was the difference of +an iota--_homoousios_ or _homoiousios_. + +Valentinian favored orthodoxy, not because of sturdy convictions (he +said it was a question for bishops), but because the Church in the West +was mainly Catholic; but in Justina, his wife, the Arians were +compensated by a powerful champion. Socrates, the historian, describes +the marriage of Justina as having taken place under most remarkable +circumstances. The story is interesting, though of somewhat doubtful +veracity: "Justus, the father of Justina, who had been governor of +Picenum under the reign of Constantius, had a dream in which he seemed +to himself to bring forth the imperial purple out of his right side. +When this dream had been told to many persons, it at length came to the +knowledge of Constantius, who conjecturing it to be a presage that a +descendant of Justus would become emperor, caused him to be +assassinated. Justina, being thus bereft of her father, still continued +a virgin. Some time after, she became known to Severa, wife of the +Emperor Valentinian, and had frequent intercourse with the empress, +until their intimacy at length grew to such an extent that they were +accustomed to bathe together. When Severa saw Justina in the bath she +was greatly struck with the beauty of the virgin, and spoke of her to +the emperor, saying that the daughter of Justus was so lovely a creature +and possessed of such symmetry of form, that she herself, though a +woman, was altogether charmed with her. The emperor, treasuring this +description by his wife in his own mind, considered with himself how he +could espouse Justina, without repudiating Severa, who had borne him +Gratian, whom he had created Augustus a short time before. He +accordingly framed a law, and caused it to be published throughout all +the cities, by which any man was permitted to have two lawful wives. The +law was promulgated and he married Justina, by whom he had Valentinian +the younger, and three daughters--Justa, Grata, and Galla.... Galla was +afterwards married to Theodosius the Great, who had by her a daughter +named Placidia." + +This story, romantic as it is, lacks all the hallmarks of credibility. +In the first place, there is absolutely no trace of this remarkable law +either in the codes or in other historians. Furthermore, the ancient +Church was more severely opposed to bigamy and polygamy than it was to +any other deviation from common morals. Also the Roman law strongly +discountenanced plurality in marriage. Moreover, we have it on the +authority of Ammianus, who is a most trustworthy witness, that +Valentinian was remarkable for his chastity, both at home and abroad. +Also in contradiction to what Socrates relates, Zosimus asserts that +Justina had already been married to Magnentius, and that the emperor was +joined to her in matrimony after the death of Severa, his first wife. +Either this latter statement must be accepted as the fact in the case, +or we must believe that the first empress was divorced, a procedure that +was certainly not difficult and was extremely customary for the rulers +of Rome. What is probably the truth of the matter is that this story of +Justina being the partner of Valentinian in bigamy was a malicious +invention; possibly the discredit of its promulgation should be laid at +the door of some of the Unscrupulous among the orthodox, who were +incensed at her support of heresy. + +It was customary for the empress to accompany her imperial husband in +his military expeditions about the Empire. Apart from other +considerations, this was necessary to her safety and that of her +offspring. Conspirators are apt to perpetrate their designs in the +absence of the ruler against whom they are plotting; and in that case, +the legitimate successor, with his protectors--if within reach--is the +first victim of the ambition or precaution of his father's enemies. +Consequently, it was usual for the emperors to take their families with +them even in the most distant journeys. The advantage of this was +illustrated in the death of Valentinian. He had marched against the +Quadi who were vexing the frontier on the bank of the Danube. In his +customary cruel manner, he put to death all who fell into his power, +murdering even the women and children. The desperate people sent envoys +begging for peace and forgiveness, but Valentinian broke out upon them +in one of those paroxysms of rage to which he was subject, and, in the +midst of his terrible invectives, ruptured a blood vessel in his lungs, +which caused his death upon the spot. + +At the moment, Justina was occupying a palace at a short distance from +Bregetio, where the death of her husband occurred. Gratian, the son of +Severa, had already been invested by his father with the imperial +purple; but the court ministers, inspired probably with the thought of +those advantages which such men enjoy during the reign of an infant, +immediately planned to exalt to the throne of Valentinian the latter's +four-year-old son, who bore the same name. Justina was sent for and +placed by the ministers on a regal platform facing the troops. She held +her young son in her arms; and the picture of a beautiful woman, endowed +both with the fruit and the graces of motherhood, had its never failing +effect of stirring the soldiers to an outburst of chivalric enthusiasm. +The infant was there and then invested with the purple and the insignia +of empire, which, it may be added, he never wore with greater effect +than in the hour when his puny infant form was first arrayed in them. +Whatever real influence his name had in the government was wielded by +Justina. But Gratian was emperor. He it was who commanded the army and +ruled the Empire, while Justina held court and engaged in petty domestic +politics at Milan and Sirmium. One thing is certain and is remarkable +enough to be mentioned--the two empress-mothers, Severa and Justina, +lived as co-widows in that mutual harmony which Socrates would have us +believe characterized them as co-wives. + +Perhaps the principal event of the life of Justina was her controversy +with Saint Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, who was one of the noblest men of +the ancient Church, and who, by his courage and integrity, set an +example for all succeeding bishops. Contemning the pomps and vanities of +the world, he did not disdain to use the powers of his office for the +political advantage of either the Church or the state; so, when Maximus +usurped the imperial privilege in the Gallic provinces, Ambrose was sent +as an ambassador by Justina to beg the clemency of the new emperor for +herself and her son. Maximus reigned in the far West, while at his +sufferance Valentinian II. was emperor in Italy. + +While this young emperor--who died at the age of twenty-one--reigned, +his mother ruled. Justina, however, appears to have been an easy-going +woman. She does not seem to have been possessed of much ambition, and +there is no indication that she interfered very strenuously in the +affairs of the Empire. She found herself in the position which she +occupied, and endeavored to preserve herself and her son in safety. +Tolerance was marked in all that she did, and there was a very evident +willingness to leave others unmolested, provided she and her son were +allowed to maintain their position in security. Of course, while they +retained the names of empress-mother and emperor, their real power was +but slight. Valentinian II. was never more than a boy, and Justina +possessed no military command. Nevertheless, it does seem as if she were +endowed with some real ability, or she could not have maintained herself +in comparative security during seventeen years of such troublous and +changeful times. + +Justina's controversy with Saint Ambrose seems to have been the one +point on which she had serious difficulty with her subjects, and this +appears to have affected only the people of Milan. Gibbon, in his +inimitable manner, thus describes the incident: "The government of Italy +and of the young emperor naturally devolved to his mother Justina, a +woman of beauty and spirit, but who, in the midst of an orthodox people, +had the misfortune of professing the Arian heresy, which she endeavored +to instil into the mind of her son. Justina was persuaded that a Roman +emperor might claim, in his own dominions, the public exercise of his +religion; and she proposed to the archbishop, as a moderate and +reasonable concession, that he should resign the use of a single church, +either in the city or suburbs of Milan. But the conduct of Ambrose was +governed by very different principles. The palaces of earth might indeed +belong to Csar, but the churches were the houses of God; and, within +the limits of his diocese, he himself, as the lawful successor of the +apostles, was the only minister of God. The privileges of Christianity, +temporal as well as spiritual, were confined to the true believers; and +the mind of Ambrose was satisfied that his own theological opinions were +the standard of truth and orthodoxy. The archbishop, who refused to hold +any conference or negotiation with the instruments of Satan, declared +with modest firmness his resolution to die a martyr rather than to yield +to the impious sacrilege; and Justina, who resented the refusal as an +act of insolence and rebellion, hastily determined to exert the imperial +prerogative of her son." + +Under ordinary circumstances, in a like situation, it is very probable +that the bishop's reiterated desire for martyrdom would have been +gratified. But Ambrose was secure, owing to the intense orthodoxy of all +Justina's subjects. In an attack on religion, there was no one to carry +out her commands. "As she desired to perform her public devotions on the +approaching festival of Easter, Ambrose was ordered to appear before the +council. He obeyed the summons with the respect of a faithful subject, +but he was followed, without his consent, by an innumerable people: they +pressed, with impetuous zeal, against the gates of the palace; and the +affrighted ministers of Valentinian, instead of pronouncing a sentence +of exile on the archbishop of Milan, humbly requested that he would +interpose his authority, to protect the person of the emperor, and to +restore the tranquillity of the capital." + +In the end the bishop prevailed. There are extant certain letters +written by the saint to his sister, Marcellina, in which he describes +the circumstances of this dispute with Justina. He recounts how soldiers +were sent to occupy the church which the empress desired for her own +heretical use, and how they fraternized with the Catholic people who +refused to give up the sacred building. The bishop asserts that in the +midst of all this tumult and public inharmony, he gave utterance only to +"freer groans." But there is evidence in bis own letters that Ambrose +took a more active and also a more effective course than mere pious +groaning; indeed, he showed a remarkable boldness of decision, as well +as astuteness, in his political methods. He met the occasion with a +sermon on the trials of Job, which could hardly have aroused pleasant +reflections in the mind of Justina. "But Job was tried by accumulated +tidings of evils, he was also tried by his wife, who said, 'Speak a word +against God and die.' You see what terrible things are of a sudden +stirred up, the Goths, armed men, the heathen.... You observe what was +commanded when the order was given: 'Surrender the Basilica!' that is, +speak a word against God and die.... So, then, we are prepared by the +imperial commands, but are strengthened by the words of Scripture, which +replies: 'Thou hast spoken as one of the foolish.' That temptation then +is no light one, for we know that those temptations are more severe +which arise through women. For even Adam was overthrown by Eve, whereby +it came to pass that he erred from the divine commandments.... Why +should I relate that Jezebel, also, persecuted Elijah after a +bloodthirsty fashion? Or that Herodias caused John the Baptist to be +slain?... Of women change follows on change, their hatreds alternate, +their falsehoods vary, elders assemble together, wrong done to the +emperor is made a pretence." + +This homiletic punishment of the empress by the intrepid saint was +opportunely followed by the discovery of certain holy and potent relics. +By means of these, the sick were healed and the blind restored, and thus +the people were convinced that God was on their side. The empress +derided these marvels with an incredulity which would do credit to the +present time; but she was compelled to take the wise counsel of +Theodosius and surrender her purpose. She took her revenge, however, by +publishing a decree that the Arian worship should be lawful throughout +the dominions of her son, Valentinian II. + +During this time, Maximus, the usurper of Gaul, had acted toward the +empress and her feeble son with apparent friendliness; but he had not in +reality set bounds to the range of his ambition. In 377, his first +hostile operations commenced. Justina was not prepared for warfare. She +fled with the emperor and her daughter, Galla, to Theodosius, the great +ruler of the East, who first married Galla, and then took up +successfully the cause of her mother and her brother. Of this marriage +was born Placidia whose strange adventures we shall shortly relate. It +is probable that Justina died during the war waged by Theodosius against +Maximus. Of her character nothing derogatory is recorded with the +exception of her heresy. It is hardly remarkable that, in an +ecclesiastical dispute, she should be unable to cope with the man who, +later, had the strength and the courage to close the door of the +cathedral in the face of the great Theodosius, after his crime at +Thessalonica. + +Events so moved that, by the year 394, Theodosius had become the sole +ruler of the Empire; but four months later he died at Milan, leaving the +dominion of the East and the West to his sons Arcadius and Honorius +respectively. Honorius was of a weakly constitution, and too young to +take part in public matters. Flavius Stilicho, a Vandal, and the ablest +man both in court and in camp that those times produced, defended the +Empire in the attacks of the barbarians who poured over the Danube and +over the Rhine. + +Stilicho had married the beautiful and accomplished Serena, the favorite +niece of Theodosius. Claudian, in a poem devoted to the praise of +Serena, has portrayed her excellences of mind and person as being of the +most attractive quality. To her devotion to her husband the modern +historian pays this tribute: "The arts of calumny might have been +successful, if the tender and vigilant Serena had not protected her +husband against his domestic foes, while he vanquished in the field the +enemies of the empire." + +The daughter of Serena, whose name was Maria, was made the wife of +Honorius when that emperor was in his fourteenth year. Claudian wrote an +epithalamium and some fescennine verses for the occasion, after the +ancient manner; nothing else of this kind could ever have been quite so +ridiculously conventional, for, on the authority of Zosimus, we learn +that Maria died a virgin after she had been ten years a wife. The +debility of her husband's constitution rendered the continence, which +the ecclesiastic of that time so greatly admired, uncommonly easy. +Honorius sat on the Roman throne through a period of twenty-eight years, +with little more influence or effect upon the history of his time than +would have been exerted if his place had been filled by a wooden image. + +In the meantime, those commotions had taken place in the interior of +Asia which were to result in the flooding and overthrowing of the Roman +Empire by hordes of migrating barbarians. The most formidable of these +were the Huns, a Mongol race which had roamed the steppes from time +immemorial. The Huns were the more terrible because of their extreme +ugliness. Their appearance was a fearful visitation for the women of the +civilized nations which they overran. These hardy and vicious savages +suddenly swarmed out from their own country, and, driving the Ostrogoths +before them, with devastating persistence rolled, a human wave, to the +westward. The Goths were between "the devil and the deep sea." But, +while the Huns were an irresistible force, the Romans were not an +immovable body. Steadily the Goths gained ground westward with the Huns +surging after them. Rome was doomed. The effeminating arts of +civilization prepared a prey for the necessities of virile barbarism. A +brave ruler like Theodosius, who was not of the enervated Roman race, +might stem the tide for a while; but the disintegration of the Empire +was as inevitable as is that of a pile of lumber when caught in the +flooding of a river. + +In the year 402, Alaric the Goth for the first time broke into the +Western empire. He carried his conquering arms into Italy, spreading a +pathway of devastation and misery wherever he went. In modern times, it +is impossible to estimate the suffering which an invasion brought upon +the women of that fated country. The old and those deficient in personal +attractions were robbed and, as likely as not, murdered; the young and +the beautiful were outraged and enslaved. All this wretchedness and +more, the barbarians visited upon Rome; but Alaric's first exploit was +ended at Pollentia by the brave generalship of Stilicho, though the +goodwill of the barbarian was purchased by tribute. As soon as this +danger was, for the time, averted, a new and not less fearful invasion +spread over the Empire. Horde after horde of Vandals, Alani, +Burgundians, and Alemannians crossed the frontiers in search of plunder +and adventure. They, too, were held in check by the able minister; but +gratitude for public service rendered is never so potential as is envy +of the high position of the one giving it, and the sole defender of the +Empire fell a victim to political machinations at the precise moment +when the peril of Rome was greatest. + +With Alaric pounding on the gates of the capital, the Romans, with the +consent of Honorius, murdered the only man in the world who had proved +himself the barbarian's match. Nor did they stop with the death of +Stilicho; as Gibbon says: "Perhaps in the person of Serena, the Romans +might have respected the niece of Theodosius, the aunt, nay, even the +adoptive mother of the reigning emperor; but they abhorred the widow of +Stilicho; and they listened with credulous passion to the tale of +calumny which accused her of maintaining a secret and criminal +correspondence with the Gothic invader. Actuated, or overawed, by the +same popular frenzy, the senate, without requiring any evidence of her +guilt, pronounced the sentence of her death. Serena was ignominiously +strangled; and the infatuated multitude were astonished to find that +this cruel act of injustice did not immediately produce the retreat of +the barbarians, and the deliverance of the city." One offence alleged +against Serena was that she had taken a necklace from the statue of +Vesta--it was then the fashion to clothe and adorn the statues, whether +in the interest of modesty or ostentation we cannot say. + +The description which the great student of ancient history just now +quoted gives of the siege which Rome at that time endured is entirely in +keeping with our subject. "That unfortunate city gradually experienced +the distress of scarcity, and at length the horrid calamities of famine. +The daily allowance of three pounds of bread was reduced to one-half, to +one-third, to nothing.... The poorer citizens, who were unable to +purchase the necessaries of life, solicited the precarious charity of +the rich; and for a while the public misery was alleviated by the +humanity of Lasta, the widow of the emperor Gratian, who had fixed her +residence at Rome, and consecrated to the use of the indigent the +princely revenue which she annually received from the grateful +successors of her husband. But these private and temporary donatives +were insufficient to appease the hunger of a numerous people; and the +progress of famine invaded the marble palaces of the senators +themselves. The persons of both sexes, who had been educated in the +enjoyment of ease and luxury, discovered how little is requisite to +supply the demands of nature; and lavished their unavailing treasures of +gold and silver, to obtain the coarse and scanty sustenance which they +would formerly have rejected with disdain." + +The outbreak of a pestilence soon added to the horrors of famine. Rome +again suffered the loss of thousands of her citizens through disease. If +the extent of this calamity was less than during the Great Plague, a +century and a half before, mourning was nevertheless almost universal. +Gibbon says, "many thousands of the inhabitants of Rome expired in their +houses or in the streets, for want of sustenance." But the almost +unending funeral procession of the former period was now lacking, as the +public sepulchres without the walls were within the circle of the +invading horde. + + [Illustration 4: _FAMINE AND PESTILENCE After the painting by A. + Hirschl. + + The outbreak of a pestilence soon added to the horrors of + famine. Rome again suffered the loss of thousands of her + citizens through disease. If the extent of this calamity was + less than during the Great Plague, a century and a half before, + mourning was nevertheless almost universal. Gibbon says, "many + thousands of the inhabitants of Rome expired in their houses or + in the streets, for want of sustenance." But the almost + unending funeral procession of the former period was now + lacking, as the public sepulchres without the walls were within + the circle of the invading horde._] + +There was no relief. When ambassadors pleaded with Alaric for the great +multitude of the people against whom he was contending, his sole reply +was: "The thicker the hay, the easier it is mowed." When he stipulated +the ransom by which alone the city could be saved, and the ministers of +the senate humbly inquired what he purposed to leave to them, he +haughtily replied: "Your lives." The promise of five thousand pounds of +gold, thirty thousand pounds of silver, four thousand robes of silk, +three thousand pieces of fine scarlet cloth, and three thousand pounds +of pepper suspended for a time the vengeance which centuries of +oppression by Rome had accumulated in barbarian hearts. + +The Roman courtiers, however, had neither the wisdom nor the honesty to +keep faith with the enemy whom they could not resist and on whose good +graces depended their safety. The patience of Alaric became exhausted. +He threw off all restraint, determining to take the fate and also the +resources of the Empire into his own hands. The year 410 saw the city, +which had for a millennium been the proud mistress of the world, +captured and at the mercy of the barbaric nations which for so many +centuries had furnished her wealth and slaves. + +The conqueror declared that he waged war with the Romans and not with +the Apostles. Consequently, while he encouraged his soldiers to seize +the opportunity to enrich themselves and enjoy the fruits of victory, he +gave commands that the sanctity of the churches should be observed. The +ecclesiastical writers recount instances of seemingly remarkable +protection vouchsafed to the holy virgins, who were at the mercy of a +licentious soldiery. But there is every evidence that the customary fate +of the conquered in those savage times was abundantly meted out. It is +on record that many Christian women, in order to save themselves from +what they dreaded still more, sought death in the waters of the Tiber. +Others were more fortunate in being able to find protection in flight. +"The most illustrious of these fugitives," says Gibbon, "was the noble +and pious Proba, the widow of the prefect, Petronius. After the death of +her husband, the most powerful subject of Rome, she had remained at the +head of the Anician family, and successively supplied, from her private +fortune, the expense of the consulships of her three sons. When the city +was besieged and taken by the Goths, Proba supported, with Christian +resignation, the loss of immense riches; embarked in a small vessel, +from which she beheld, at sea, the flames of her burning palace, and +fled with her daughter, Lta, and her grand-daughter, the celebrated +virgin, Demetrias, to the coast of Africa. The benevolent profusion with +which the matron distributed the fruits or the price of her estates +contributed to alleviate the misfortunes of exile and captivity. But the +family of Proba herself was not exempt from the rapacious oppression of +Count Heraclian, who basely sold, in matrimonial prostitution, the +noblest maidens of Rome to the lust or avarice of Syrian merchants." + +Alaric died shortly after his conquest, and the sceptre of the Gothic +kingdom passed to the hand of Adolphus, his brother-in-law. The latter +was a brave and able general, and seems to have possessed a nature not +discreditable to the time in which he lived. He proposed--the proposal +had all the effect of a command--a treaty of alliance with Honorius. It +practically amounted to annexation; but the Roman emperor was not in a +position to refuse any proposition which the Goth might see fit to make. +Nor could the Romans prevent Adolphus from strengthening his own +interest, as well as consulting his passion, in taking to wife the +half-sister of Honorius, Placidia, the daughter of Theodosius and Galla. + +Placidia was just ripening into womanhood when Alaric first appeared +before Rome. She was taken as a hostage by the Gothic conqueror, and, +though reduced to the indignity of being a prisoner in a barbarian camp, +was treated with great consideration. Her beauty and her mental gifts +won the regard of Adolphus: and no sooner had he succeeded to the +kingship, than he requested of Honorius her hand. Such an alliance was +repugnant to the Romans, but, as in other matters, the request was only +a polite form of command. Placidia herself does not appear to have been +unwilling to accept the situation, and her nuptials were celebrated in +splendid state. The exploits of his army in Italy had enabled Adolphus +to present his bride with a magnificent wedding gift. The historian +Olympiodorus recounts that fifty handsome boys were employed to carry +this present. They came before her, carrying a bowl in each hand. One +bowl was filled with pieces of gold, the other with precious gems. +Adolphus always manifested a strong and tender affection for his wife; +nor did he ever lose an opportunity to honor her birth, seating her +above himself on state occasions. + +This union, however, was destined to be short-lived. Adolphus was +stricken down by the hand of an assassin; his enemy was seated upon his +throne; and Placidia, being brutally and of purpose made one of a number +of common captives, was compelled to run for twelve miles before the +horse of the barbarian chieftain, the murderer of a husband whom she had +sincerely loved. Possibly it was her sufferings which aroused the +people; however, her persecutor was himself assassinated a few days +after his own murderous act; and Placidia was restored to her brother, +her ransom being six hundred thousand measures of wheat. + +Placidia would have been willing, in accordance with the Christian +teaching of the time, to have lamented the loss of Adolphus in continual +widowhood. But another marriage was arranged for her, without her +consent: she was awarded as a prize to Constantius the general for his +services to Honorius. The results of this marriage were the birth of +Honoria and of Valentinian III., and, probably through the schemes of +Placidia, the promotion of her husband to the title of Augustus. But it +was not long before the princess again found herself a widow; and though +mischievous tongues magnified the caresses of childish affection on the +part of Honorius to signs of a fondness warmer than their kinship would +warrant, a quarrel between these two caused Placidia to go with her +children to Constantinople. + +At the death of Honorius, Valentinian, though no more than six years of +age, was invested with the purple. But his mother was empress; the +policy of the Empire was directed by her; and for twenty-five years she +maintained her power. Gibbon speaks slightingly of her ability; but it +could not have been little, else how did she retain a rule which any +chance military adventurer might be tempted to seize? The historian +refers to Cassiodorus, who compares the regencies of Placidia and +Amalasuntha, to the disadvantage of the former. + +The life of the Roman empress had been filled with more adventures and +changes of fortune than were wont to fall to the lot of woman, even in +those troublous times, but her story is less strange and is certainly +happier than that of her daughter, Honoria. There is in existence a +medal bearing the countenance of Honoria, and it is a fair face; it +bears the inscription Augusta. The young princess was invested with this +honor and rank in order that she might be above the aspirations of any +subject. As early as her sixteenth year, however, she chafed against the +isolation to which she was doomed. Denied legitimate love, she abandoned +herself to an illicit relationship with one of the domestic officers of +the palace, the fact of which was soon revealed by her pregnancy. She +was exiled by her mother to Constantinople, where she spent several +years in close restraint and great unhappiness. Attila the Hun was at +that time the particular barbarian who was harassing the Empire; and +suddenly he announced that he had received the betrothal of the princess +Honoria, and that he claimed her as his bride. Then her astonished +relatives learned that she really had been in correspondence with +Attila, and had besought him to claim her in marriage. It is probable +that a spirit of mischief actuated Honoria in this; for no educated +woman could in reality desire to be joined in marriage with the Hun, +unless it were from motives very different from love. The king had at +first disdained her advances, and was willing to act upon them only when +it suited the policy dictated by his ambition. But Placidia steadfastly +refused to countenance her daughter's procedure; and Honoria, being +first married to a man of mean extraction, in order that the question of +her matrimonial disposal might never again be a source of trouble, was +shut up in a close prison for the rest of her days. It is not unlikely +that her misfortunes arose rather from her position than her character. +That her life with Attila, had she attained her object, would have +proved more desirable than perpetual imprisonment is difficult to +believe. His respect for woman may be estimated from the fact that he +was a polygamist, and also from the fact that he watched his soldiers +amuse themselves with the awful death agonies of two hundred maidens, +whom they tore limb from limb with wild horses and crushed under the +wheels of heavy wagons. + +Placidia died in the year 450. She was buried at Ravenna; and, with some +ambiguity of meaning, it is said that there her corpse, seated in a +chair of cypress wood, was preserved for ages. Her son perished by the +avenging hand of a senator whose wife he had perfidiously violated. He +was the last emperor of the house of Theodosius; and his mother was the +last woman, with a name in history, who was worthy of mention in the +records of the perishing Western Empire. + +With the death of Placidia, we arrive at the end of a cycle in the +evolution of the human race. It was contemporaneous with the terminus of +ancient Aryan civilization--it was during a climacteric in human +history. Again the world was to revert to the rudeness necessarily +accompanying the vigorous strength which characterizes the setting forth +of a new race. The world began again--polished manners and social order +gave place to strenuosity and individualism. The strong hand again +became the one thing needful. Literature was silent, and art was +forgotten. Of the glory of classic civilization there remained only a +memory; and even this grew faint, for the struggle for existence became +exacting. Nevertheless, from all that Rome had done and had been there +remained an imperishable deposit. From the ruins of one civilization +there is gathered the foundations for the succeeding. Rome left, among +other contributions to absolute progress, the idea of nationality and a +belief in the necessity of popular law. In these two respects, woman +shared in the determined progress of the world. The Roman woman +manifested the capacity of her sex to place a steady hand on the helm of +the state; she wrested for herself some of those legal rights to which, +by virtue of her humanity at least, she is indubitably entitled. + + + + +VIII + +WOMEN OF THE FRANKISH CHURCH + + +We may now consider ourselves to have nearly passed the transition +period between the Classic and the Middle Ages, and to have begun to +enter that indefinite range of history known as Medivalism--indefinite +as to character rather than extent of period. A new world opens to our +view; a world which we examine under the influence of the romanticist +more than under that of the philosopher. In the age to which our +researches have now brought us we find that the life of woman has wholly +changed. Evolution has taken a new beginning. In place of the state as +the symbol and the object of power and progress individualism has come +to the front and asserted itself. There is now more play for personal +initiation on the part of the multitude. The activity of the individual +is more directly attributable to his personal motives and culminates +more fully in his own desires. Consequently, though woman is still held +down to an inferior level, and is hampered by unequal laws, she has more +room in which to assert herself, and she plays a stronger part in +historical events. Practically, though not theoretically, she is still +given in marriage without her consent; but she is no longer regarded as +a mere possession. Her surroundings also have wonderfully changed. In +place of the porticoed villa with its marble floor and beautiful +statuary, its highly decorated atrium and sparkling fountains, she is +now seen in what was the rudiment of the turreted castle with its rough +hall and rush-strewn floor. She has lost the learning by which she was +wont to delight her idle hours with classic poetry and Greek philosophy; +if she can read at all, her accomplishment is a rare one, and the most +powerful stimulus to her imagination is the song of illiterate bards who +recite the heroic achievements of her race. In this she has reverted to +literature in its embryonic condition. Her religion has gained morality, +though emphatically more in theory than in practice, but it has +distinctly lost in poetry. Elegance has disappeared from every phase of +her life. When she rides abroad it is no longer in a splendidly equipped +litter, but, in hardier fashion, upon horseback. While for her to lead +men-at-arms is an extreme rarity, she is far likelier to attain ruling +authority than she was under the refined civilization of older times. +With the Franks, however, supreme rule by a woman, in any direct manner, +was rendered impossible by the ancient Salic law which prescribed that +"no portion of really Salic land (that is to say, in the full +territorial ownership of the head of the family) should pass into the +possession of women, but it should belong altogether to the virile sex." + +To us the early Medival life seems more remote and less intelligible +than that of the classic age. We are more at home in the villas of Rome +than in the castles of Charlemagne. This is partly because the +literature of the latter age has not presented such a satisfying picture +as have the immortal productions of the former; but more largely because +the genius of modern civilization has its counterpart in the social +ideas of classic times, rather than in the individualistic motive of +medivalism. + +The period covered by this chapter extends over four hundred years, from +the end of the fifth century to the tenth. In our selection of +characters from the successive generations during that term, we shall +have an eye to their utility as representing types of the feminine, even +more than to their aptitude for illustrating any special development in +civilized habits. Evolution proceeded slowly in those days, and, +consequently, a century or two did not greatly change social habits. + +Somewhere about the middle of the fifth century, a Frankish chief named +Childeric was driven from his own people by the varying fortunes of war. +He took refuge among the Thuringians, and rewarded their kindness by +seducing Basina, the wife of their king. After his return, she left her +husband and joined her lover, becoming his recognized wife. Childeric's +guilt in this affair is somewhat mitigated by the spirit of Basina, who +declared that she chose the Frank solely because she knew no man who was +wiser, stronger or handsomer, surely a frank admission of natural +sentiment. The offspring of this free union was Clovis, the founder of +the kingdom of the Franks, and the means whereby it became Christian. + +While still a youth, though established in the chieftainship by his +valor in marauding expeditions, Clovis heard of the beauty and the +desirable character of Clotilde, the niece of Gondebaud, King of the +Burgundians. She had been brought up amidst the most barbarous scenes +which those times could produce. Her father and her two brothers had +been put to death by her uncle, who had also caused her mother Agrippina +to be thrown into the Rhone, with a stone fastened to her neck, and +drowned. Clotilde and her sister Chrona, he permitted to live. The +latter had become a nun, while Clotilde, no less religious, was living +at Geneva where, as it is said, she employed her whole time in works of +piety and charity. Clovis sent to Gondebaud asking the hand of his +niece; but it appears that at first his suit was not favorably looked +upon, for the Frank resorted to unusual measures whereby he gained his +end and provided the material for an interesting story. It is told as +follows by Fredegaire in his commentary on the history by Gregory of +Tours: "As he was not allowed to see Clotilde, Clovis charged a certain +Roman, named Aurelian, to use all his wit to come nigh her. Aurelian +repaired alone to the spot, clothed in rags and with his wallet upon his +back, like a mendicant. To ensure confidence in himself, he took with +him the ring of Clovis. On his arrival at Geneva, Clotilde received him +as a pilgrim charitably, and whilst she was washing his feet, Aurelian, +bending toward her, said under his breath, 'Lady, I have great matters +to announce to thee if thou deign to permit me secret revelation.' She +consenting, replied, 'Say on.' 'Clovis, King of the Franks,' said he, +'hath sent me to thee: if it be the will of God, he would fain raise +thee to his high rank by marriage; and that thou mayest be certified +thereof, he sendeth thee this ring.' She accepted this ring with great +joy, and said to Aurelian, 'Take for recompense of thy pains these +hundred sous in gold and this ring of mine. Return promptly to thy lord; +if he would fain unite me to him in marriage, let him send without delay +messengers to demand me of my uncle Gondebaud, and let the messengers +who shall come take me away in haste, so soon as they shall have +obtained permission; if they haste not, I fear lest a certain sage, one +Aridius, may return from Constantinople; and if he arrive beforehand, +all this matter will by his counsel come to naught.'" + +Aurelian returned and told Clovis all that had passed and the +instructions he had received from Clotilde. "Clovis, pleased with his +success and with Clotilde's notion, at once sent a deputation to +Gondebaud to demand his niece in marriage. Gondebaud, not daring to +refuse, and flattered at the idea of making a friend of Clovis, promised +to give her to him. Then the deputation, having offered the denier and +the sou, according to the custom of the Franks, espoused Clotilde in the +name of Clovis, and demanded that she be given up to be married. Without +any delay, the council was assembled at Chalons, and preparations were +made for the nuptials. The Franks, having arrived with all speed, +received her from the hands of Gondebaud, put her into a covered +carriage and escorted her to Clovis, together with much treasure. She, +however, having already learned that Aridius was on his way back, said +to the Frankish lords, 'If ye would take me into the presence of your +lord, let me descend from this carriage, mount me on horseback, and get +you hence as fast as you may; for never in this carriage shall I reach +the presence of your lord.' + +"Aridius, in fact, returned very speedily from Marseilles; and +Gondebaud, on seeing him, said, 'Thou knowest that we have made friends +with the Franks, and that I have given my niece to Clovis to wife.' +'This,' answered Aridius, 'is no bond of friendship, but the beginning +of perpetual strife; thou shouldst have remembered, my lord, that thou +didst slay Clotilde's father, that thou didst drown her mother, and that +thou didst cut off her brothers' heads and cast their bodies into a +well. If Clotilde become powerful, she will avenge the wrongs of her +relatives. Send thou forthwith a troop in chase, and have her brought +back to thee. It will be easier for thee to bear the wrath of one person +than to be perpetually at strife, thyself and thine, with all the +Franks.' And Gondebaud did send forthwith a troop in chase to fetch back +Clotilde with the carriage and all the treasure; but she, on approaching +Villers (where Clovis was waiting for her), in the territory of Troyes, +and before passing the Burgundian frontier, urged them who escorted her +to disperse right and left over a space of twelve leagues in the country +whence she was departing, to plunder and burn; and that having been done +with the permission of Clovis, she cried aloud, 'I thank thee, God +omnipotent, for that I see the commencement of vengeance for my parents +and my brethren!'" + +The kingdom to which Clovis welcomed his queen was not large. It +comprised no more than the island of the Batavians, and the dioceses of +Tournay and Arras. Nevertheless, this marriage was of exceeding +importance in the history of Europe, for by virtue of his qualities +Clovis was destined to go far in conquest, and to establish the +beginning of a great nation; and the question of his conversion, whether +to Arianism or to Catholicism, was fairly certain to be answered by his +matrimonial alliance. The time had come when political wisdom provided +the most effective argument against paganism. + +It was not at once, however, that Clotilde was able to bring about the +conversion of her husband. The most she could accomplish was to gain his +consent, after the birth of their first son, to the baptism of the +latter. The child dying a few days afterward, serious misgivings arose +in the king's mind as to whether he had not been ill advised in +permitting the Christian rite. But Clotilde's second son also was +baptized, and fell sick. Said Clovis: "It cannot be otherwise with him +than with his brother; baptized in the name of your Christ, he is going +to die." The child lived, and thereby Clotilde was placed to better +advantage in attacking her husband's mind with her Christian arguments. +He was brought to the point of decision when, in his battle at Tolbiac +against the Alemannians, the day seeming about to be lost, Aurelian +cried: "My lord king, believe only on the Lord of heaven, whom the +queen, my mistress, preacheth!" Clovis exclaimed: "Christ Jesus, Thou +whom my queen Clotilde calleth the Son of the Living God, I have invoked +my own gods, and they have withdrawn from me; I believe that they have +no power, since they aid not those who call upon them. Thee, very God +and Lord, I invoke; if Thou give me victory over these foes; if I find +in Thee the power the people proclaim of Thee, I will believe on Thee, +and will be baptized in Thy name." The fortune of battle immediately +turned in favor of the Franks. + +On his return home, to make sure that her husband would fulfil his vow +while his gratitude was warm, Clotilde sent for Saint Remi, the holy +Bishop of Rheims, to perfect her own instructions and receive him into +the Church. Clovis was baptized, as were also the majority of his +subjects. To what extent the doctrines of Christianity had taken +possession of his mind may be gathered from the anecdote which recounts +how, after hearing from the bishop's lips the story of the sufferings of +Christ, he shouted: "Had I been present at the head of my valiant +Franks, I would have revenged his injuries!" As Gibbon says: "The savage +conqueror of Gaul was incapable of examining the proofs of a religion +which depended upon the laborious investigation of historic evidence and +speculative theology. He was still more incapable of feeling the mild +influence of the gospel, which persuades and purifies the heart of a +genuine convert. His ambitious reign was a perpetual violation of moral +and Christian duties: his hands were stained with blood in peace as well +as in war." He took part in a synod of the Gallican Church, and +immediately murdered in cold blood all the princes of the Merovingian +race. Into what, a pit the Christianity of those times had fallen may be +understood when we find Gregory of Tours, after calmly reciting the +murders of Clovis, concluding with these words: "For God thus daily +prostrated his enemies under his hands, and enlarged his kingdom, +because he walked before him with an upright heart, and did that which +was pleasing in his sight." Clovis was the only strictly orthodox +sovereign of that day--a day when orthodoxy was permitted to cover a +multitude of sins. + +After making himself sole monarch of the Frankish race, Clovis died in +the year 511, and was buried in the church which had been erected by +Clotilde. The queen survived her husband many years, but did not +exercise any noticeable influence. She could not even save her two +little grandsons from the ambitious cruelty of her sons--Clotaire and +Childebert. These sent a message to Clotilde saying: "Send the children +to us, that we may place them on the throne." Having sent them, there +soon came to her another messenger, bearing a sword and a pair of +shears. Unshorn locks were essential as a mark of the kingly race among +the Franks; the messenger said therefore: "Most glorious queen, thy +sons, our masters, desire to know thy will touching these children; wilt +thou that they live with shorn hair or that they be put to death?" +Clotilde, in her astonishment and despair, answered: "If they be not set +upon the throne, I would rather know that they were dead than shorn." +The messenger hastened back to the two kings and, with fatal and wilful +inaccuracy, said: "Finish ye your work, for the queen favoring your +plans, willeth that ye accomplish them." Forthwith the two children were +murdered in the most cold-blooded fashion. The tale is rendered the more +shocking by the addition of the fact that Guntheuque, the mother of the +lads, had become the wife of that uncle who killed them. + +The Merovingians allowed themselves as much license in love as they did +freedom from restraint in regard to the sterner passions. Nominal +Christians though they were, they felt no compunction of conscience as +to polygamy, when the vagaries of their fancy could be satisfied only by +its practice. Gregory of Tours records how: "King Clotaire I. had to +wife Ingonde, and her only did he love, when she made to him the +following request: 'My lord,' said she, 'hath made of his handmaid what +seemeth to him good; and now, to crown his favors, let my lord deign to +hear what his handmaid demandeth. I pray you be graciously pleased to +find for my sister Aregonde, your slave, a man both capable and rich, so +that I be rather exalted than abased thereby, and be enabled to serve +you still more faithfully.' At these words, Clotaire, who was but too +voluptuously disposed by nature, conceived a fancy for Aregonde, betook +himself to the country house where she dwelt, and united her to him in +marriage. When the union had taken place, he returned to Ingonde, and +said to her, 'I have labored to procure for thee the favor thou didst so +sweetly demand, and, on looking for a man of wealth and capability +worthy to be united to thy sister, I could find none better than myself: +know, therefore, that I have taken her to wife, and I trow that it will +not displease thee.' 'What seemeth good in my master's eyes, that let +him,' replied Ingonde; 'only let thy servant abide still in the king's +grace.'" + +From the above, it is noticeable that a servile manner of speech to +their husbands was customary to the Frankish women of that time. It is +possible that it was little more than an affectation. Doubtless the +women of character and strength then, as ever, were not without means of +holding their own. Chilperic, the King of Soissons, who was a son of +Clotaire, added to the not brief list of his wives--we may give him the +benefit of the doubt as to whether they were +contemporaneous--Galsuinthe, daughter of the King of Spain. Her +attractiveness consisted in no small measure of the wealth she brought +him. But he became enamored of Fredegonde. Galsuinthe could not brook +this, and she offered to willingly relinquish her dowry if he would send +her back to her father. Chilperic adopted a solution of the difficulty +that was more to his mind. The queen was found dead in her bed. She had +been strangled by a slave. Chilperic mourned for a season which was more +remarkable for its brevity than his sorrow was marked by its intensity, +and then took Fredegonde for his wife. This queen exerted an influence +upon the affairs of her time, both political and ecclesiastical. In her +life and character was fully illustrated that strong mixture of +viciousness and affected piety which occasions such a sad commentary on +the Christianity of her time. She was the daughter of peasants, and owed +her rise solely to her beauty and her mental gifts. Her numerous murders +included her stepson, a king, and the Archbishop of Rouen. How much +regard she entertained for her own personal chastity may be judged from +the fact that she took a public oath, with three bishops and four +hundred nobles as her vouchers, that her son was the true offspring of +her husband, Chilperic. Whether the value of this great mass of +testimony consisted in a personal denial of responsibility on the part +of all the men whose position and character might be prejudicial to +Chilperic's paternity is not made clear. And yet, despite all this, the +following pious act is recorded to her: her child was ill; "he was a +little brother, when his elder brother, Chlodebert, was attacked with +the same symptoms. His mother, Fredegonde, seeing him in danger of +death, and touched by tardy repentance, said to the king, 'Long hath +divine mercy borne with our misdeeds; it hath warned us by fevers and +other maladies, and we have not mended our ways, and now we are losing +our sons; now the tears of the poor, the lamentations of widows, and the +sighs of orphans are causing them to perish, and leaving us no hope of +laying by for anyone. We heap up riches and know not for whom. Our +treasures, all laden with plunder and curses, are like to remain without +possessors. Our cellars are they not bursting with wine, and our +granaries with corn? Our coffers were they not full to the brim with +gold and silver and precious stones and necklaces and other imperial +ornaments? And yet that which was our most beautiful possession we are +losing! Come then, if thou wilt, and let us burn all these wicked +lists!' Having thus spoken, and beating her breast, the queen had +brought to her the rolls, which Mark had consigned to her of each of the +cities that belonged to her, and cast them into the fire. Then, turning +again to the king, 'What!' she cried, 'dost thou hesitate? Do thou even +as I; if we lose our dear children, at least we escape everlasting +punishment!'" It may be taken for granted that Fredegonde's "works meet +for repentance" on this occasion have not suffered in the recital by +Gregory of Tours. She may have exhorted her husband to acts of mercy; +nevertheless she planned and saw executed the assassination of +Chilperic, being fearful lest he discover the guilty connection which +had sprung up between herself and an officer of her household. By this +act, she became the sovereign guardian of her infant, and held this +potential position during the last thirteen years of her life. Guizot +thus summarizes her character: "She was a true type of the +strong-willed, artful, and perverse woman in barbarous times; she +started low down in the scale and rose very high without a corresponding +elevation of soul; she was audacious and perfidious, as perfect in +deception as in effrontery, proceeding to atrocities either from cool +calculation or a spirit of revenge, abandoned to all kinds of passion, +and, for gratification of them, shrinking from no sort of crime. +However, she died quietly at Paris in 597 or 598, powerful and dreaded, +and leaving on the throne of Neustria her son, Clotaire II., who, +fifteen years later, was to become sole king of all the Frankish +dominions." + +Contemporaneous with Fredegonde, and exerting a stronger and indeed more +salutary influence upon her age, though scarcely superior in her moral +character, was Brunehaut, Queen of the Franks of Austrasia. She was a +younger sister of Galsuinthe, by the murder of whom the way was opened +to Chilperic's bed and throne for Fredegonde. The King of Austrasia was +Sigebert, brother of Chilperic. Among those fierce Merovingians kinship +of the closest degree had no deterring influence on their passions. In a +war between these two brothers, Sigebert was assassinated in his tent by +the emissaries of Fredegonde. Brunehaut fell into the latter's power, +and only the fact that she managed to make her way into the Cathedral of +Paris, and thus claim right of asylum, saved her life. Thence she was +sent to Rouen, where she met and married a son of Chilperic by a former +wife. This so enraged Fredegonde that she persecuted her stepson until, +in despair, he prevailed on a faithful servant to take his life. In the +meantime, the Austrasians, who had the custody of Brunehaut's infant +son, demanded their queen from Chilperic; she was surrendered to them, +and was instated as queen-guardian of her son. + +Brunehaut was in every sense a born ruler. A princess by birth, she also +possessed a mind that was capable of formulating plans which united her +people with herself in the enjoyment of the fruits of success as well as +in the labor of accomplishment. Faults she had in abundance. As callous +in regard to bloodshed and as loose in her morals as were the barbarians +of her time, she was not without conscience as to the opportunities of +her position, and she labored in many ways for the public good. +Brunehaut came from Spain, where the Visigoths retained much of the +Roman civilization. She endeavored to introduce some of these advantages +into Austrasia, which was peopled by the least cultivated of the Franks; +but, though forcing her reforms by sheer strength of will and intellect, +the result was her expulsion from the land. The history of her rule is +thus epitomized by Guizot: "She clung stoutly to the efficacious +exercise of the royal authority; she took a practical interest in the +public works, highways, bridges, monuments, and the progress of material +civilization; the Roman roads in a short time received and for a long +while kept in Austrasia the name of Brunehaufs Causeways; there used to +be shown, in a forest near Bourges, Brunehaufs castle, Brunehaufs tower +at Etampes, Brunehaufs stone near Tournay, and Brunehaufs fort near +Cahors. In the royal domains, and wheresoever she went, she showed +abundant charity to the poor, and many ages after her death the people +of those districts still spoke of Brunehaufs Alms. She liked and +protected men of letters, rare and mediocre indeed at that time, but the +only beings, such as they were, with the notion of seeking and giving +any kind of intellectual enjoyment; and they in turn took pleasure in +celebrating her name and her deserts. The most renowned of all during +that age, Fortunatus, Bishop of Poitiers, dedicated nearly all his +little poems to two queens: one, Brunehaut, plunging amidst all the +struggles and pleasures of the world; the other, Saint Radegonde, +sometime wife of Clotaire I, who had fled in all haste from a throne to +bury herself at Poitiers, in a convent she had founded there. To +compensate, Brunehaut was detested by the majority of the Austrasian +chiefs, those Leudes, land owners and warriors, whose sturdy and +turbulent independence she was continually fighting against. She +supported against them, with indomitable courage, the royal officers, +the servants of the palace, her agents, and frequently her favorites." + +Brunehaut maintained her power under the reigns of her son and her +grandson in Austrasia, the capital of which was Metz. In 599, however, +she was expelled from this kingdom, and went to that of Burgundy, where +her other grandson, Theodoric II., reigned, having his capital at +Orleans. In a letter written to Theodoric by Gregory the Great, the +latter says: "And this in you among other things is enough to call for +praise and admiration, that in such things as you know that our +daughter, your most excellent grandmother, desires for the love of God, +in these you make haste most earnestly to lend your aid, so that thereby +you may reign both happily here, and in a future life with the angels." +It is evident from this that in Burgundy the veteran queen was not +denied the opportunity to exercise that executive talent of which the +Austrasians had wearied. If the accounts given by Frankish historians +may be relied upon, Brunehaut's influence upon her grandson was not in +all respects calculated to fit him for a life among the angels. They +accuse her of having encouraged him in licentious living, in order that +her own power might not be undermined by the introduction into his court +of a lawful queen. + +There are several letters extant which were written to her by Pope +Gregory. They all, in that polite manner in which Church dignitaries +treat worldly potentates, speak of her virtuous acts and ignore all +mention of her frailties. Brunehaut would be an exceedingly estimable +woman if nothing more of her were known than what is to be gathered from +these epistles. Gregory was a severe moralist, but he allowed his +condemnation of many faults to be silenced by his gratitude for the +piety of the queen in erecting "the Church of Saint Martin in the +suburbs of Augustodunum (Autun), and a monastery for handmaidens of God, +and also a hospital in the same city." There is also a letter to +Thalassia, the first abbess of this convent, ordaining that the property +donated shall never be alienated from her and her successors; also, that +"on the death of an abbess of the aforementioned monastery, no other +shall be ordained by means of any kind of craftiness or secret scheming, +but that such a one as the king of the same province, with the consent +of the nuns, shall have chosen in the fear of God, and provided for the +ordination of." This also is evidence regarding the interior politics of +the nunneries of that time. + +Brunehaut lived a stormy life. Gentleness and modesty, the qualities +most esteemed in feminine character, were the least noticeable in her +nature; they would not have been consonant with either her ambitions or +her methods. She was ever striving with the chieftains of her realm, +endeavoring, with no little success, to force their independence into +submission to regal authority. With the clerics, also, she had her +quarrels. Saint Didier, Bishop of Vienne, was at her instigation +brutally murdered. Saint Columba, even, was visited with her displeasure +because he refused to connive at her faults with the award of his +blessing. In 614, after thirty-nine years of the most strenuous +political life and the most extreme vicissitudes of personal fortune +that ever fell to the lot of any queen, she perished most miserably at +the hands of Clotaire II., the son of her old enemy, Fredegonde. He +caused the venerable queen, now eighty years of age, to be paraded +before the army on the back of a camel; and then, by his order, she was +bound by the hair, one hand, and one foot, to the tail of an unbroken +steed by which she was kicked and dashed to pieces. Thus lived, and thus +died a "Christian" queen who had received high encomiums from one of the +greatest bishops of history. + +It must not be supposed, however, that feminine modesty, faithful love, +and the gentleness which is ever venerated in womankind, were entirely +unknown to that rough and licentious age. What could be more pleasing +than the romantic story of Theodelinda, Queen of the Lombards? In the +year 584, Authari succeeded to that kingdom. He asked in marriage the +beautiful and pious daughter of Garibald, King of the Bavarians. In +order that he might ascertain whether the attractions of this damsel +were in reality equal to their reputation, and also that he might hasten +matters in case he should be satisfied on this point, Authari +impersonated his own ambassador and visited the court of Garibald in +this guise. He there stated that he was the trusted friend of the +Lombard king, and that Authari had charged him to bring back a minute +report of the charm of his expected bride. Theodelinda submitted to the +inspection; and the supposed ambassador, being at once enamored of her +grace and beauty, hailed her as Queen of the Lombards, and requested +that, according to the custom of his people, she present a cup of wine +to him, her first subject. As she did this, he slyly touched her hand +and then his own lips. This familiarity astonished the maiden, but, +advised by her nurse, she said nothing, and Authari, before leaving the +court, succeeded in gaining her affections. As he left to return home, +he revealed his rank to her by saying, as he drove his huge battle-ax +into the trunk of a tree, "Thus strikes the king of the Langobardi." +After his departure, influenced by the Franks, Garibald withdrew his +consent to his daughter's marriage; whereupon Theodelinda took the +matter into her own hands and fled across the Alps to her lover and was +married to him at Verona. Although she was early left a widow, she had +so completely gained the love and the confidence of the Lombards, that +they intrusted her with the privilege of raising to the throne +whomsoever she might favor with her hand in marriage. Her choice fell +upon a handsome Thuringian named Agilulf. He knew not of his fortune +until it was announced to him by the queen herself in this fashion: one +day, as he bent to kiss her hand in faithful homage, she blushingly +said, "You have the right to kiss my cheek, for you are my king!" So +great was Theodelinda's influence over her people that at her request +the whole nation simultaneously became Christian; and in view of that +event, it is no wonder that she was on the most friendly terms with Pope +Gregory the Great, whose letters to her may still be read. Under her +happy reign, the kingdom of Lombardy was strengthened, and its +constitution established. Agilulf died, and his son and successor, +Adelwald, rendering himself obnoxious, was murdered by some of his +subjects; but to make amends to her for this act, the Lombards placed +the husband of her daughter Gerberga on the throne. Boccaccio, by making +Theodelinda the subject of one of his amorous tales, has taken an +unwarranted and reprehensible liberty with a good queen of whom her age +was justly proud. + +It is to these times, also, that the pathetic story of Saint Genevieve +belongs. She was the wife of Count Siegfried of Andernach. He, setting +out against the Moors who were then invading the land, intrusted her to +the care of Golo, his principal servant. This man, having failed in his +repeated attempts on her conjugal faithfulness, accused her of the fault +which he would fain have persuaded her to commit, and procured her +condemnation to death. Her executioners being merciful, spared her life +by having her conveyed far into the recesses of a forest. There she, +with her little daughter, lived for several years in absolute solitude. +They were sheltered by a cave; and a doe, whose tameness was regarded as +a miraculous providence, supplied them with milk. It was no less +regarded as a divine interposition which eventually led Siegfried to the +grotto while following the chase; her innocence being proved, she was +happily reinstated as his wife, and has ever since been honored as a +saint, which doubtless she was. + +Christianity, during the latter half of the first millennium, could show +triumphs of sanctification in personal character; it had its heroes of +morality, but it must be confessed that the conversion of the barbaric +nations was not accompanied with a very signal improvement in their +morals. Milman says: "It is difficult to conceive a more dark and odious +state of society than that of France under her Merovingian kings, the +descendants of Clovis, as described by Gregory of Tours. In the conflict +or coalition of barbarism with Roman Christianity, barbarism has +introduced into Christianity all its ferocity, with none of its +generosity or magnanimity; its energy shows itself in atrocity of +cruelty and even of sensuality. Christianity has given to barbarism +hardly more than its superstition and its hatred of heretics and +unbelievers. Throughout, assassinations, parricides, and fratricides +intermingle with adulteries and rapes.... + +"As to the intercourse of the sexes, wars of conquest where the females +are at the mercy of the victors, especially if female virtue is not in +much respect, would severely try the more rigid morals of the conqueror. +The strength of the Teutonic character, when it had once burst the +bounds of habitual or traditional restraint, might seem to disdain easy +and effeminate vice, and to seek a kind of wild zest in the indulgence +of lust, by mingling it with all other violent passions, rapacity, and +inhumanity. Marriage was a bond contracted and broken on the lightest +occasion. Some of the Merovingian kings took as many wives, either +together or in succession, as suited either their passions or their +politics. Christianity hardly interferes even to interdict incest." +Clotaire and Charibert each married two sisters. The latter was sternly +rebuked by Saint Germanus, but (so the historian informs us) as the king +already had many wives, he bore the rebuke with extreme patience. There +were laws against these irregularities; but, strict as they were in +their terms, they were completely nullified by failure of execution. +These laws, also, are models of the inequality which existed between the +sexes. When punishment for adultery is prescribed, it is always +understood that it refers solely to the wife. The man was burdened by no +legal responsibility in this matter. Free women were not permitted to +marry slaves; to do so reduced them to a position of servitude. This did +not apply to men, excepting such as were too poor to compound the felony +with the abducted slave's owner. The kings were free in this matter. + +Under the Carlovingian dynasty, manners were somewhat less ferocious +than those exhibited by the Merovingian kings; but it was rather the +result of the former being more confident of its security than any +evidence of real improvement in morals. Earnest champion of the Church +as was Charlemagne, and much as he honored religion, the records of his +own private life and those of his family are examples of wholesale +libidinosity such as is rarely equalled in history. + +Five women were united in marriage to the great emperor. The first was +Desire, the daughter of the Lombard king, whom Pope Stephen so bitterly +opposed. This union, however, was short lived; during one year only did +Desire hold the wandering affections of the sturdy monarch. He then +took Hildegarde, a Swabian princess; but in the same indifferent manner +he dissolved this connection, being instigated thereto by the +allegations of a servant named Taland, who was enraged at the contempt +with which the queen received his criminal advances. Charlemagne did not +trouble himself to look into the matter; like Csar, he held that his +wife should be above suspicion. There is a pleasing story in regard to +Hildegarde who, after her divorce, went to Rome and devoted herself to a +religious life. By her charitable deeds and acts of piety she gained a +great and well deserved name for sanctity. It is said that one day she +met Taland, who was reduced to the life of a blind mendicant. By the +power of her holiness, she restored his sight, and he, filled with +remorse, confessed his crime and brought about a reconciliation between +Hildegarde and the king. No less naive is the legend related of one of +Charlemagne's daughters. His children included several girls, all +beautiful; but for political reasons their father denied them the +privilege of marriage. He considered that if they were united to the +great nobles of the land, it would mean a division and consequent +weakening of the empire. But love laughed at politics. "His secretary, +young Eginhart, became deeply enamored of his daughter Emma, and the +youthful lovers, fearing his anger should he discover their affection, +met only at night. It happened that one night, while Eginhart was in the +princess's apartment, a fall of snow took place. To return across the +palace court must lead to the inevitable discovery by the traces of his +footsteps. The moment called for resolution; woman's wit came to the +assistance of the perplexed lover, and the faithful and prudent Emma, +taking her lover on her back, bore him across the court. The emperor, +who chanced to be gazing from his window, beheld this strange sight by +the clear moonlight, and the next morning sent for the young couple, who +stood before him in the expectation of being sentenced to death, when +the generous father bestowed upon Eginhart his daughter's hand, and the +Odinwald in fief. The tomb of Emma and Eginhart is still to be seen at +Erbach." Another daughter, Bertha, called after her grandmother--the +mother of Charlemagne, carried on a similar intrigue with Engelbert; +and, though not fortunate enough to receive her father's sanction to +marriage, with a gift of land, she became the mother of Nithart, who was +a famous historian of his time. Charlemagne's own character enabled him +to understand, and his justice prompted him to condone those instincts +which his policy would not allow to be satisfied in a lawful and +conventional manner. + + [Illustration 5: _THE LEGEND OF THE ROSES + After the painting by J. Nogales. + + We have seen that, save for the story of Hildegarde, the women + of Charlemagne's family did not present examples of Christian + piety or devotion, but it may be in place here to mention that + Saint Rosalie, the patron saint of Palermo, was of a family said + to have descended from that of Charlemagne. Saint Rosalie, + becoming filled with a spirit of devotion, retired to a grotto + on Mount Pelegrino, where in solitude she passed her time in + prayer and penitence. Of her is told the legend that, + surreptitiously conveying bread concealed in her apron to feed + the hungry, without her father's consent, she was discovered by + him and requested to open her apron, when it was found that the + bread had been changed into magnificent roses._] + +Charlemagne died in 813. From that time until the end of the tenth +century there were no women who can, by the greatest elasticity of which +the term is susceptible, be called Christian, and who, at the same time +were of any note in history. The gloom of the dark ages had not begun to +lift. There was nothing to stimulate the woman of ordinary birth to the +exercise of any powers save the most inferior. The broadening influence +of literature was unknown. Charlemagne encouraged study among his +courtiers; but he could not revive the smouldering embers. During the +succeeding centuries, Greek lore came to be forgotten in the Western +world. The manners, even among the noblest dames, were inconceivably +rude. Every woman, not excepting the daughters of the emperor, worked +with her hands in the common affairs of the household. What the morals +of the time were, we have already seen. Convents sprang up everywhere, +sheltering a great number of women, of both high and low degree. + +They were refuges from the barbarities which accompanied warfare, and, +to a lesser degree, safeguards against the temptation of the world, the +flesh and the devil. The former fanatical enthusiasm for celibacy had +greatly subsided; bishops and priests not infrequently were married, and +even the nunneries gave occasion for lively stories which became +traditional. It was an age when two sisters, Marozia and Theodora, both +prostitutes, could decide the succession to the papal tiara. The former +secured it for her bastard son, and also for her grandson, the infamous +John XII., during whose pontificate, as Gibbon puts it, "the Lateran +palace was turned in a school for prostitution, and his rapes of virgins +and widows deterred the female pilgrims from visiting the tomb of St. +Peter, lest, in the devout act, they should be violated by his +successor." It was an age fitted in all ways to produce such a story as +that of Pope Joan, which, though it was probably not founded on fact, is +a worthy illustration of the moral condition of the rulers of the Church +in that time. + +We have seen that, save for the story of Hildegarde, the women of +Charlemagne's family did not present examples of Christian piety or +devotion, but it may be in place here to mention that Saint Rosalie, the +patron saint of Palermo, was of a family said to have descended from +that of Charlemagne. Saint Rosalie, becoming filled with a spirit of +devotion, retired to a grotto on Mount Pelegrino, where in solitude she +passed her time in prayer and penitence. Miraculous power was ascribed +by the Sicilians to this saint, and of her is told the legend that, +surreptitiously conveying bread concealed in her apron to feed the +hungry, without her father's consent, she was discovered by him and +requested to open her apron, when it was found that the bread had been +changed into magnificent roses. + + + + +PART SECOND + +WOMEN OF THE EASTERN EMPIRE + + + + +IX + +THE EMPRESS EUDOXIA + + +From the story of Christian Womanhood in Old Rome on the Tiber we pass +naturally to the story of Christian Womanhood in that New Rome on the +Bosporus, where Constantine the Great had established an imperial city +which was destined to be the centre of the religious and political life +of the civilized peoples of the East for over a thousand years, and to +keep alive during the Dark Ages the torch of civilization. + +The victories of the Csars in the extensive domain Hellenized by +Alexander the Great had been surpassed only by the victories of the +Christ, and in Constantinople the authority of Church and State blended +in one inseparable union and determined the destinies of millions of men +and women in Europe, Asia, and Africa. + +As Greek culture was ever an important factor in the eastern half of the +Roman Empire, the story of the Christian women of the East is but a +continuation of the story of Greek women. Hence, it is our task to +consider how Hellenized womanhood was affected by that new principle +which had entered into the world. + +Christianity, with its emphasis on the affections, naturally appealed to +women, who, says Aristotle, "are creatures of passion, as opposed to +men, who are capable of living by reason." And from the days of Mary, +the Mother of Jesus, the women of antiquity accepted in large numbers +the new teaching. They found that their lives were uplifted by it, their +activities enlarged, their influence among men strengthened. + +The status of woman among Oriental peoples was consequently considerably +changed. The recognition, so slowly won, that women had immortal souls +equalized them with the other sex, and with the permeation of +Christianity into the life of paganism began the real emancipation of +the female sex. Functions beyond those of housewifery and maternity were +conceded to woman. Chrysostom, in a letter to a Roman lady, after +speaking of the division of duties assigned by nature to men and women, +says that the Christian life had extended woman's sphere beyond the +duties of the home, and had given her an important part to perform in +the work and struggles of the Church for the elevation of mankind. Her +chief function, in his opinion, was that of consoler and ministering +angel. Thus woman was acknowledged to have a mission--a view that has +prevailed through all the Christian ages. In the pursuit of this idea, +many of the loveliest and most highly endowed women of ancient times +devoted themselves to the relief of sickness and suffering and extended +the influence of the Church by this exhibition of the spirit of +humanity. + +Christianity was gradually transforming the spirit of the ancient world. +But these earlier centuries of the Christian era were a season of +twilight during which light and darkness mingled. Paganism and +Christianity were waging a silent but determined warfare, and the +latter, by absorbing the best that was in the former, left it but a +hollow shell, the connotation of worldliness and unbelief. The ethical +philosophy of the Greeks and the moral teachings of the Stoics and the +Epicureans had found their logical end in the philosophical doctrines of +Christianity and had prepared the way for the acceptance of the latter. +Christianity continued the idea of conformity to the divine government +of the world taught by the Stoics, and the insistence on friendship and +brotherly love emphasized by the Epicureans, and had given life to these +doctrines by the presentation of a divine example. This evolution of the +highest ethical ideas of the ancients in the nobler spirit of +Christianity had its logical outcome in the prevailing institutions of +the Christian world. Stoicism developed into the asceticism that +appealed so strongly to many consecrated men and women, and Christian +Epicureanism showed itself in the many brotherhoods and sisterhoods +which labored for the betterment of humanity in the care of the sick and +the unfortunate. + +One of the effects of the Stoical idea combined with the new conception +of the mission of woman was the prevalence of celibacy. Many women chose +to devote their time to good works rather than to the cares of family +life. Furthermore, "the horror of unchastity--the desecration of the +body, the temple of the soul--which had taken possession of the age with +a sort of morbid excess led to vows of perpetual virginity." + +This emphasis on the unmarried life was unfortunate for the race, as it +conduced to degeneracy and depopulation; but it produced many examples +of consecrated and devoted women, who have merited the homage bestowed +on them by later ages. + +As regards the relation of the sexes, the greatest contrast lay in the +Christian conception of a purified spiritual love, as compared with the +carnal and sensual love of the pagan peoples. This is illustrated by the +popularity of the celebrated legend of Cyprian and Justina, which was +later versified by the Empress Eudoxia. + +Justina was a young and beautiful maiden of Corinth, who was +passionately loved by a handsome pagan youth, Aglaides. Every effort to +win the maiden's affections, which were given to Christ, proving of no +avail, Aglaides determined to enlist in his cause the powers of +darkness. To this end he engaged the services of a powerful magician, +Cyprian by name, who was versed in all the magic lore of the Chaldeans +and the Egyptians. The wizard's art devised every form of temptation, +but the demons who were called up to accomplish the maiden's ruin fled +at the sign of the Cross which she made; and Justina emerged from the +ordeal pure and spotless, untainted by all the arts of the Evil One. +Cyprian, overcome by the beauty and innocence and unbounded faith of the +maiden, was himself inspired with the purest and most intense love for +Justina, and, renouncing all his arts, was converted to Christianity. +The devoted pair suffered martyrdom in the persecutions of Diocletian. + +Such Christian ideals, opposing all that was basest in paganism, +naturally developed a new and an exceedingly high type of womanhood. Of +the women of the provinces we know almost nothing, for the records of +the Eastern Empire centre about the capital city. We may be sure, +however, that throughout the Orient Christian womanhood exhibited its +characteristic traits of piety and unselfishness. In Constantinople, +though an intensely religious city, paganism for centuries continued to +exert a marked influence, and the type of woman there varied in +accordance with the proportions of the two ingredients--Christianity and +paganism--in the mental and spiritual aggregate of the individual woman. +Some, to avoid the vanities and temptations of the world, lived lives of +retirement in secluded monasteries; others, often of prominent social +position, partook not of the gay life of the city, but gave themselves +up to good works, ministering to the sick, providing for the poor, +uplifting the fallen; while others, chiefly in the court circles, knew +how to combine with their devotion to all the vanities and frivolities +of high life a strict attention to the external duties of Christianity. +The religious sisters of the day were an important factor in the society +of Constantinople, and the exercise of their spiritual duties often +brought them before the public in a manner inconsistent with the +prevailing ideas of female retirement. A popular priest or bishop became +the target of admiration on the part of enthusiastic women, who would +gather about him and espouse his cause in a way that was often more +embarrassing than helpful. As Jerome in Old Rome, so Chrysostom in New +Rome was the centre of such a spiritual circle. + +These various types of Christian womanhood present themselves in the +reign of Arcadius, the first independent emperor of the Eastern Empire +so called, and we are indebted to the sermons of the patriarch +Chrysostom for many glimpses into their lives. Far more than in Old Rome +the influence of women made itself felt in the government at +Constantinople, and under almost every dynasty and throughout the +centuries of its existence we find remarkable ladies of the imperial +house playing a prominent part in politics as well as in religion. + +The keynote of this new departure was struck by Eudoxia, empress of +Arcadius, and the influence of her personality and her example upon her +successors was marked. Hence, her career and that of the women of her +time constitute the initial stage in the prominence of Christian women +of the East. + +Owing to the intellectual weakness of Arcadius, who inherited the +eastern half of the Empire upon the death of Theodosius the Great in +395, the administration really fell into the hands of his minister, +Rufinus, a vicious and avaricious man. Having the entire control of the +army and an unbounded influence over the emperor, Rufinus cherished the +hope that he might himself become a wearer of the purple as the +colleague of Arcadius. To facilitate this end he fostered the scheme of +uniting Arcadius in marriage to his only daughter; once the emperor's +father-in-law, it would be but a step further to become a sharer of the +purple. + +While Rufinus, in secret with his confidants, nurtured this idea, the +wily head of the opposite party of the court, getting an inkling of it, +set everything in motion to turn the eyes of the inexperienced youth +toward another maiden. The eunuch Eutropius, the grand chamberlain of +the palace, a bold old man with Oriental craftiness, determined that to +himself, and not to Rufinus, should the emperor be bound. Hence, while +the old warrior was on a journey to Corinth avenging a private injury, +Eutropius fixed the attention of the emperor upon Eudoxia, a maiden of +singular beauty, the daughter of Bauto, a distinguished Frankish +general, and reared since her father's death by the family of the sons +of Promotus, an ancient Roman patrician. Eudoxia was at that time at the +dawn of perfect womanhood. Her education had been received under the +auspices of her rich and noble patrons, and in native gifts, as well as +in beauty, she seemed destined by the Fates to be the consort of an +emperor. Eutropius, by showing him her portrait and by glowing +descriptions of her charms, inflamed the heart of the young ruler with +his first passion, and he entered eagerly into the plans of Eutropius to +make Eudoxia his wife. + +Rufinus meanwhile returned, and prepared the ceremonies of the royal +nuptials, as he fancied, of his daughter. "A splendid train of eunuchs +and officers issued, in hymeneal pomp, from the gates of the palace, +bearing aloft the diadem, the robes and the inestimable ornaments of the +future empress. The solemn procession passed through the streets of the +city, which were adorned with garlands and filled with spectators; but +when it reached the house of the sons of Promotus, the principal eunuch +(Eutropius) respectfully entered the mansion, invested the fair Eudoxia +with the imperial robes and conducted her in triumph to the palace and +bed of Arcadius." The particulars of the ceremony show that the hymeneal +rites of the ancient Greeks, in which the bride was, as it were, +forcibly conducted to the house of her husband, were still practised, +though without idolatry, by the early Christians. + +The secrecy and success of the conspiracy brought great chagrin to the +overconfident Rufinus. He felt keenly the insult to himself and his +daughter, and he feared the growing power of Eutropius and the new +empress. Yet he merely tightened his grip upon the government and +continued to be a formidable factor in the intrigues of the palace. + +The Empress Eudoxia rapidly adapted herself to her new life and +displayed a superiority of sense and spirit which enabled her to +maintain over her fond and youthful husband the ascendancy that her +beauty had at first created. She soon made it evident that she would be +under the control of no intriguing courtier, but that she herself would +be a dominant factor in the life of the court. Rufinus continued his +plots against the throne of Arcadius, but was constantly thwarted by the +empress, assisted by Eutropius, and their counterplays finally brought +about the minister's assassination. + +After the murder of Rufinus, the empress endeavored to hold the balance +of power between the three political parties of the day--the German +party, headed by Gainas the Goth, which largely embraced the military +forces of the Empire; the party of Eutropius, who had under his control +the civil officers of the state; and the senatorial party, under the +leadership of the prefect Aurelian, who abhorred alike the growing +influence of the Goths and the bed-chamber administration of Eutropius. +Eudoxia naturally inclined to the third of these parties: she +strenuously opposed the Germans, who, under the leadership of Gainas, +demanded freedom for Arian worship, and she sought to overcome the +influence of her quondam benefactor Eutropius, that she herself might +have absolute dominion over her imperial husband. Hence, these three, +the empress, Eutropius, and Gainas, as Hodgkin remarks, "kept up a vivid +game of court intrigue and disputed with varying success for the chief +place in that empty chamber which represented the mind of the emperor." + +Eudoxia first combined with Gainas to get rid of their powerful rival +Eutropius, though she owed her own position to the machinations of the +wily chamberlain. Gainas instigated a revolt among the Ostrogoths under +their commander Tribigild, and when sent out against them he took no +active measures to suppress their incursions; the Goths, at the +instigation of Gainas, finally sent word to the emperor demanding the +death of Eutropius as the condition of their retiring. Eudoxia, from the +palace, joined in the demand and presenting her infant children, +Flacilla and Pulcheria, to their father, with a flood of forced tears, +implored his justice for some real or imaginary insult which she +attributed to the audacious eunuch. The tears of the empress succeeded +where the demand of Tribigild had only caused hesitation, and Arcadius +signed the death warrant of his favorite. The people rejoiced at the +downfall of the minister, whose venality and injustice had aroused the +public hatred. Eutropius fled for refuge to the Church of Saint Sophia, +where he was protected by the patriarch Chrysostom. So good an +opportunity, however, for impressing the lesson of the fatuity of human +greatness was not to be lost, and while the cowering chamberlain lay in +humiliation before the altar, Chrysostom preached to a crowded +congregation from the text: "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity," +illustrating every argument of his sermon by pointing to the fallen +Eutropius--yesterday prime minister of the emperor--to-day a hounded +criminal. Chrysostom finally gave him up on condition that he be not put +to death, and Eutropius was banished to Cyprus; but the empress and his +enemies would not be satisfied with anything less than his death, and he +was later recalled and executed at Chalcedon in A. D. 399. + +Not long afterward, Gainas met with a like evil destiny, and Eudoxia was +left without a rival to dispute her control over the emperor. The weak +Arcadius was permitted to spend the remaining years of his life in ease +and tranquillity under her mild but absolute control. Henceforth the +empress was the most conspicuous figure of the court. Possessing +limitless power, it was natural that she should become haughty and +rapacious. Endowed with rare beauty and remarkable cleverness, she gave +the tone to the court society of Arcadius's reign. Unfortunately, she +was fond of all the frivolities of life, and sought at the same time to +promote worldliness and religion. Hence, her influence on the ladies of +the court was such as to bring upon her the censure of the austere +Patriarch of Constantinople, Chrysostom, to whom we are indebted for +many glimpses into the life and manners of the fifth century. + +The empress was surrounded in the royal palace by a splendor which +rivalled that of Persia. Oriental richness and luxury characterized all +its appointments. We find exhibited in the court life of the day a +blending of the voluptuousness of the East with the refinement of the +Greeks and the luxury of the Romans. Thousands of eunuchs, parasites and +slaves, carried out the wishes of the empress. In her royal apartments +"the doors were of ivory, the ceilings lined with gold, the floors +inlaid with mosaics, or strewed with rich carpets; the walls of the +halls and bedrooms were of marble, and wherever commoner stone was used +the surface was beautified with gold plate. The beds were of ivory or +solid silver, or, if on a less expensive scale, of wood plated with +silver or gold. Chairs and stools were usually of ivory, and the most +homely vessels were often made of the most costly metal; the +semicircular tables or sigmas were so heavy that two youths could hardly +lift one. Oriental cooks were employed; and at banquets the atmosphere +was heavy with the perfumes of the East, while the harps and pipes of +the musicians delighted the ears of the feasters." + +Equal attention was paid to the details of dress. The empress was +renowned for the gorgeousness of her toilets, which enhanced her +personal charms and made her appear the most fascinating lady of her +court. Her imperial robes were of the richest character, consisting of +purple fabrics, embellished with gold and precious gems. + +Such was the external splendor of the court. The Bishop Synesius +censures the elaborate court etiquette which surrounded the emperor and +empress, keeping them from the knowledge of outside affairs and making +them the victims of eunuchs and courtiers. He criticises severely the +sensual retirement in which they lived and attributes it to the desire +to appear semi-divine. + +Some idea of the importance of the empress in affairs of state and of +the court etiquette which attended an audience with her can be gained +from the extant narrative of Marcus the deacon, who recounts incidents +in the visit of Porphyrius, Bishop of Gaza, when he and others came to +Constantinople to seek redress from the emperor for injuries inflicted +by the heathen on the Christians in Palestine. Knowing that the empress +was the real power, the bishop appealed to her, and the narrative tells +of his audiences with her and how she obtained for him a favorable +answer to his petition. As nothing is more effective in conveying an +idea of the ways and manners of an age than the actual words of a +contemporary writer, I present a rather free translation of Marcus's +narrative. + +Upon their arrival at Byzantium, the bishop and his party were honorably +received by the Patriarch John Chrysostom, who expressed regret that he +could not in person present them to the emperor, because of the royal +indignation the empress had excited against him. But he secured the +services of the eunuch Amantius, chamberlain of the empress, who +arranged for them an audience with Eudoxia. + +Amantius took the two bishops and introduced them to the empress, and +when she saw them she saluted them first and said: "Give me your +blessing, fathers," and they did obeisance to her. Now she was sitting +on a golden sofa, and she said to them: "Excuse me, priests of Christ, +on account of my situation, for I was anxious to meet your sanctity in +the antechamber. But pray God in my behalf that I may be delivered +happily of the child which is in my womb." And the bishops, wondering at +her condescension, said: "May He who blessed the womb of Sarah and +Rebecca and Elizabeth, bless and quicken the child in thine." After +further edifying conversation she said to them: "I know why ye came, as +the castrensis Amantius explained it to me. But if you are fain to +instruct me, fathers, I am at your service." Thus bidden, they told her +all about the idolaters, and the impious rites which they fearlessly +practised and their oppression of the Christians, whom they did not +allow to perform a public duty, nor to till their lands, "from which +produce they pay the dues to your imperial sovereignty." And the empress +said: "Do not despond; for I trust in the Lord Christ, the Son of God, +that I shall persuade the emperor to do those things that are due to +your saintly faith and to dismiss you hence well treated. Depart, then, +to your privacy, for you are fatigued, and pray God to cooperate with my +request." She then commanded money to be brought, and gave three darics +apiece to the most holy bishops, saying: "In the meantime take this for +your expenses." And the bishops took the money, and blessed her +abundantly, and departed. And when they went out they gave the greater +part of the money to the deacons who were standing at the door, +reserving little for themselves. + +And when the emperor came into the apartment of the empress, she told +him all touching the bishops, and requested him that the heathen temples +of Gaza should be thrown down. But the emperor was put out when he heard +it, and said: + +"I know that city is devoted to idols, but it is loyally disposed in the +matters of taxation and pays a large sum to the revenue. If then we +overwhelm them with terrors of a sudden, they will betake themselves to +flight, and we shall lose so much of the revenue. But if it must be, let +us afflict them partially, depriving idolaters of their dignities and +other public offices, and bid their temples be shut up and be used no +longer. For when they are afflicted and straitened on all sides, they +will recognize the truth; but an extreme measure coming suddenly is hard +on subjects." The empress was very much vexed at this reply, for she was +ardent in matters of faith, but she merely said: "The Lord can assist +his servants, the Christians, whether we consent or decline." + +We learned these details from the chamberlain Amantius. On the morrow +the Augusta sent for us, and having first saluted the holy bishops +according to her custom, she bade them sit down. And after a long +spiritual talk, she said: "I spoke to the emperor, and he was rather put +out. But do not despond, for, God willing, I cannot cease until ye be +satisfied and depart, having succeeded in your holy purpose." And the +bishops made obeisance. Then the saintly Porphynus, pricked by the +spirit, and recollecting the word of the thrice-blessed anchoret +Procopius, said to the empress: "Exert yourself for the sake of Christ, +and in recompense for your exertions he can bestow on you a son whose +life and reign you will see and enjoy for many years." + +At these words the empress was filled with joy, and her face flushed, +and new beauty beyond that which she already had passed into her face; +for the appearance shows what passes within. And she said: "Pray, +fathers, that, according to your word, with the will of God, I may bear +a male child, and if it so befall, I promise you to do all that ye ask. +And another thing, for which ye ask not, I intend to do with the consent +of Christ; I will found a church at Gaza in the centre of the city. +Depart then in peace, and rest quiet, praying constantly for my happy +delivery; for the time of my confinement is near." The bishops commended +her to God and left the palace, and prayer was made that she should bear +a male child; for we believed in the words of Saint Procopius the +anchoret. + +And every day we used to proceed to the most holy Johannes, the +archbishop, and had the fruition of his holy words, sweeter than honey +and the honeycomb. And Amantius the chamberlain used to come to us, +sometimes bearing messages from the empress, at other times merely to +pay a visit. And after a few days the empress brought forth a male +child, and he was called Theodosius, after his grandfather Theodosius, +the Spaniard, who reigned together with Gratian. And the child +Theodosius was born in the purple, wherefore he was proclaimed emperor +at his birth. And there was great joy in the city, and men were sent to +the cities of the Empire, bearing the good news, with gifts and +bounties. + +But the empress, who had only just been delivered and arisen from her +chair of confinement, sent Amantius to us with this message: "I thank +Christ that God bestowed on me a son on account of your holy prayers. +Pray then, fathers, for his life and for my lowly self, in order that I +may fulfil those things which I promised you, Christ himself again +consenting, through your holy prayers." And when the seven days of her +confinement were fulfilled, she sent for us and met us at the door of +the chamber, carrying in her arms the infant in a purple robe. And she +inclined her head and said: "Draw nigh, fathers, unto me and the child +which the Lord granted to me through your holy prayers." And she gave +them the child that they might seal it with God's signet. And the holy +bishops sealed both her and the child with the seal of the cross, and, +offering a prayer, sat down. And when they had spoken many words full of +heart pricking, the lady said to them: "Do ye know, fathers, what I +resolved to do in regard to your affairs?" (Here Porphyrius related a +dream which he had dreamed the night before: then Eudoxia resumed:) "If +Christ permit, the child will be privileged to receive the holy baptism +in a few days. Do ye then depart and compose a petition and insert in it +all the requests ye wish to make. And when the child comes forth from +the holy baptismal rite, give the petition to him who holds the child in +his arms; but I will instruct him what to do. And I trust in the Son of +God that He can arrange the whole matter according to the will of His +loving kindness." Having received these instructions we blessed her and +the infant and went out. Then we composed the petition, inserting many +things in the document, not only as to the overthrow of the idols, but +also that privileges and revenues should be granted to the holy Church +and the Christians; for the holy Church was poor. + +The days ran by, and the day on which the young emperor was to be +illuminated (_i. e._, baptized) arrived. And all the city was crowned +with garlands and decked out in garments entirely made of silk and gold +jewels and all kinds of ornaments, so that no one could describe the +adornment of the city. One might behold the inhabitants, multitudinous +as the waves, arrayed in all manner of various dresses. But it is beyond +my power to describe the brilliance of that pomp; it is a task for those +who are practised writers, and I shall proceed to my present true +history. When the young Theodosius was baptized and came forth from the +church to the palace, you might behold the excellence of the multitude +of the magnates and their dazzling raiments, for all were dressed in +white, and you would have thought they were covered with snow. The +patricians headed the procession with the illustres and all other ranks, +and the military contingents, all carrying wax candles, so that the +stars seemed to shine on earth. And close to the infant, which was +carried in arms, was the emperor Arcadius himself, his face cheerful and +more radiant than the purple robe he was wearing, and one of the +magnates carried the infant in brilliant apparel. And we marvelled, +beholding such glory. Then the holy Porphyrius said to us: "If the +things which vanish possess such glory, how much more glorious are the +things celestial, prepared for the elect, which neither eye hath beheld +nor ear heard, nor hath it come into the heart of man to consider!" + +And we stood at the portal of the church, with the document of our +petition, and when he came forth from the baptism we called aloud, +saying, "We petition your Piety," and held out the paper. And he who +carried the child seeing this, and knowing our concernment, for the +empress had instructed him, and when he received it halted, and he +commanded silence, and having unrolled a part he read it, and folding it +up, placed his hand under the head of the child, and cried out: "His +majesty has ordered the requests contained in the petition to be +ratified." And all having seen did obeisance to the emperor, +congratulating him that he had the privilege of seeing his son as +emperor in his lifetime; and he rejoiced thereat. And that which had +happened for the sake of her son was announced to the empress, and she +rejoiced and thanked God on her knees. And when the child entered the +palace, she met it and received it and kissed it, and, holding it in her +arms, greeted the emperor, saying: "You are blessed, my lord, for the +things which your eyes have beheld in your lifetime." And the emperor +rejoiced thereat. And the empress, seeing him in good humor, said: +"Please let us learn what the petition contains that its contents may be +fulfilled." + +And the emperor ordered the paper to be read; and when it was read, he +said: "The request is hard, but to refuse it is harder, since it is the +first mandate of our son." Thus the petition was granted, and the +empress herself saw to it that all its provisions were fulfilled; and +the bishops returned to Palestine well supplied with funds, having +obtained all they desired by working on the superstition of the empress, +and through her skill in managing the emperor. + +The narrative is highly instructive and interesting in the picture it +gives of the empress, her outward piety, her joy at the birth of a son, +her superstitious acceptance of the prophecy of the anchoret, and her +cleverness in the ruse she devised to win the consent of the emperor. It +is an altogether pleasing picture of a religious queen and a devoted +mother, and we could wish that all her conduct had conformed to these +high ideals. The worldly side of Eudoxia's character appeared in the +open war between the empress and the patriarch, which disturbed the +later years of the reign of Arcadius. + +John Chrysostom was an austere and eloquent prelate, who had studied the +art of rhetoric under Libanius and had been brought by Eutropius to +Constantinople from Antioch, where he had already achieved great +popularity and an enviable reputation for holiness and eloquence. He was +a man of saintly life and apostolic fervor, but rash and inconsiderate +alike in speech and in action. His charity and eloquence made him the +idol of the people, but his free speaking offended the court circles, +and his austere manners and autocratic methods made him disliked by the +clergy. He thundered against the degeneracy of the wealthy classes and +enlarged on the peculiar vices of the aristocrats, to the confusion of +the empress and her court ladies and to the delight of the populace. + +The worldliness and carnal ambitions of Eudoxia can be judged from the +sermons of Chrysostom; and she naturally gave the tone to the ladies of +her court. She was not above suspicion of criminal intrigues, as can be +inferred from the fact of the rumor prevailing that Count John, a +nobleman of the court, was the father of her son Theodosius; but whether +this was merely a court scandal cannot at this day be ascertained. With +the empress given to worldly vanity, we can imagine the nature of the +society over which she presided. "One curious trait of manner indicates +clearly enough the tone of the court. It was the custom of Christian +ladies to wear veils or bands over their foreheads, so as to conceal +their hair. Women of meretricious life were distinguished by the way +they wore their hair cut and combed over their brows, just like modern +fringes. The ladies of Eudoxia's court were so immodest, and had such +bad taste, as to adopt this fashion from the courtesans. The next step +probably was that the example of the court influenced respectable +Christian matrons to wear the obnoxious fringe." On the other hand, +actresses and public prostitutes retaliated by imitating the dress of +consecrated virgins, and this abuse had to be suppressed by legislation. +In the aristocratic society of Eudoxia three ladies were especially +prominent,--Marsa, the widow of Promotus, a distant relative of the +empress; Castricia, the widow of Saturninus; and Eugraphia, who had also +lost her husband. These ladies, though no longer young, were rich and +fashionable, and endeavored to preserve the appearance of youth by +inordinate attention to complexion and to dress. Eugraphia is mentioned +as given to using rouge and white lead to preserve her complexion, a +habit which was severely condemned by the austere Chrysostom. It was +hard to forgive a preacher who reproached the feminine tendency to +conceal by cosmetics and dress one's age and ugliness. + +Furthermore, the attractions of the theatre and the dissipations of high +life engaged the attention of this fashionable set quite as much as did +attendance on religious service and outward manifestations of piety. +Christianity had not suppressed the licentiousness of the stage or +improved the morality of greenrooms. Chrysostom complains of the +lawlessness of the theatre and the obscenity of the songs that delighted +the audience; he was especially shocked at the exhibitions of women +swimming. The professional courtesan, with all the accomplishments of +the actress, was the centre of attraction for the _habitus_ of the +theatre; and she was even allowed to contaminate fashionable weddings +with her presence. + +Other types of contemporary society are of interest, especially +instances of the ambitious and fashionable lady, not of the aristocracy, +who wished to work her way up into the court circle. Synesius gives us +the picture of such a one in a celebrated allegory presenting the career +of the noble and high-minded Aurelian, head of a patriot party, and of +his unscrupulous adversary, who wished to displace him. The subject of +the allegory is the contest between the two sons of Taurus, Osivis and +Typhos. Osivis represents Aurelian, the type of everything good and +laudable; Aurelian's antagonist is figured in Typhos, a perverse, gross, +and ignorant person, who favored the German party. He was a profligate +Roman, who had been guilty of malversation in office and hoped by his +new alliance to return to power. He had an active, though not very +discreet, ally in his wife, whom Synesius depicts in pregnant phrases. +Owing to her vanity she was her own tire-woman, a reproach which +suggests her excessive attention to the details of her toilet. She liked +to show herself in grand array in the market place, fancying that the +eyes of all were upon her. Owing to her desire to have her drawing rooms +filled and to be the object of notoriety, she did not close her doors +even against professional courtesans; and we may infer on that account +that select Byzantine society was not desirous of her acquaintance. +Synesius contrasts with her the wife of Aurelian, who never left the +house, and gives us a reminiscence of Thucydides in his sententious +expression that it was the greatest virtue of a woman for neither her +body nor her name ever to cross the threshold. Aurelian succeeds in +winning political honors in spite of the hostility of Typhos and his +wife, much to the disgust of the latter, who saw her intrigues for +social laurels defeated. + +The ladies of the court and those who wished to be such were in large +measure devoted to the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eye, and the +pride of life. Chrysostom's austere spirit was naturally offended at the +life of such a court and of fashionable and aspiring matrons, and in his +pastoral visits to these great ladies he undoubtedly rebuked them for +their worldliness. Furthermore, in his pulpit he preached valiantly +against luxury and worldliness, and would often add point to his remarks +by turning his eyes toward the part of the gallery where sat Eudoxia and +the ladies of her court. Great umbrage was aroused against him because +of his outspoken condemnation of their vices, petty and otherwise, and +he was hated as the wicked Herodias hated John the Baptist. His greatest +offence was reached in a sermon in which the empress was openly called +Jezebel--a statement which led to the spread of the unfounded scandal +that she had robbed a widow of a vineyard as Ahab robbed Naboth. + +The rank and file of the people enjoyed with great zest these attacks on +the aristocrats, and that which stung the great ladies most severely was +their being made objects of censure before the mob, as their consciences +were sufficiently hardened not to be deeply penetrated by the preacher's +shafts. Accordingly, the humiliation of their pride led them to form a +conspiracy against Chrysostom, the centre of which was the house of +Eugraphia. These ladies readily found allies. The archbishop's austerity +of life and rigid discipline had made him many enemies among the +bishops, monks, and nuns, for he had attacked the corruption of the +clergy as well as the corruption of the court. The sensuality, avarice, +and selfishness of the clergy laid them open to attack. Women were +admitted to the monasteries, or lived in the houses of priests as +"spiritual sisters," a custom that gave rise to much scandal. Still more +scandalous was the conduct of the order of deaconesses who, while not +following the fashions of the court, yet adorned their austere garb +"with an immodest coquetry which made them more piquant than an ordinary +courtesan." Chrysostom was especially severe on the monks, who would +linger about Constantinople for the sake of its licentious pleasures +instead of betaking themselves to their natural fields of labor. + +Though Chrysostom had his enemies among the fair sex, he had also his +circle of admirers, who were the more ardent in their attentions because +of the persecutions he had to undergo. The most distinguished and the +most devoted of these was the aristocratic Olympias, whose mother was at +one time betrothed to an emperor, but who was wedded to a king of +Armenia, and afterward became the wife of a Roman noble. Olympias was +renowned for her benevolence toward the poor and her constancy to +Chrysostom in his troubles, while her kindness of heart and sweetness of +spirit give her rank among the "good" women of the period. Another +constant friend was a Moorish princess, Salvina, who had been placed as +a hostage in Theodosius's charge by her father, and had been married to +the empress's nephew. In contrast to the restless activity of the ladies +about Eudoxia, she led a quiet and peaceful life devoted to good works, +and Chrysostom, in a "letter to a young widow," contrasts the serenity +and happiness she enjoyed with the turbulent life of her father. + +Chrysostom's sharp reproofs of the worldly minded, his close friendships +with Olympias and other ladies, whom he at times received alone in his +episcopal residence, and his retired, ascetic life, gave pretext for +unwarranted charges. His enemies even went so far as to assert that +under the cover of his unsocial habits he conducted "Cyclopean orgies" +in his home. + +An official journey which he made for the regulation of the affairs of +the churches, during which he removed many unworthy bishops, aroused +much umbrage against him, and gave his enemies at home an opportunity to +injure him. Severian, whom he left in his place, was an especial +favorite of the empress, and joined the court league against his +superior. Upon his return, Chrysostom acted with his customary decision. +Hearing of the unbecoming conduct of his subordinate, he severely and +openly attacked his time-serving relations with the empress, and, when +Severian grew defiant, promptly excommunicated him. Owing to the +entreaties of the empress and the emperor, however, he withdrew the ban +and restored Severian to his office. + +Soon afterward a louder storm burst, and from a new quarter. Theophilus, +the worldly prelate of Alexandria, was induced by the court ladies to +undertake their cause against the patriarch. He came to Constantinople +and took up his quarters in the palace of Placidia, and from this +centre, as well as from the house of Eugraphia, a violent warfare of +words was waged against Chrysostom. + +The emperor was prevailed upon to grant a synod for the trial of the +patriarch, which was held outside the city, owing to the strength of the +latter's adherents. Chrysostom was condemned by the packed assembly, +known as the "Synod of the Oak," and formally deposed. The city was in +an uproar. Chrysostom retired to Bithynia, but the people demanded his +return, and he was recalled from banishment and restored to his office. +Had he now adopted a policy of quiet tolerance, all would have been +well, but very soon an occasion arose which led him to make a further +attack on Eudoxia. In September, 403, a statue of silver on a column of +porphyry was erected to the empress near the precincts of Saint Sophia. +Chrysostom took occasion to censure severely the adulation of the +populace, and by his remarks he must have mortally offended the pride of +the empress, for henceforth even the mild emperor declined to have any +communication with the patriarch. + +The next year a new synod was held, and the action of the Synod of the +Oak was confirmed. The emperor ratified the sentence, and Chrysostom +quietly yielded to the inevitable and retired from the city. As soon as +the people heard of the occurrence, another uproar followed, which +resulted in the conflagration of Saint Sophia and other buildings and in +the persecution of many adherents of the exiled patriarch. Olympias and +many others were condemned to exile. "Among those who anticipated the +sentence by flight was an old maid named Nicarete, who deserves mention +as a curious figure of the time. She was a philanthropist who devoted +her means to works of charity, and who always went about with a chest of +drugs, which she used to dispose of gratuitously, and which rumor said +were always effectual." + +Meanwhile, Chrysostom was transported to a remote town among the ridges +of Mount Taurus, in Lesser Armenia. He suffered many hardships, but he +was sustained by the sympathy of his friends, especially Olympias, with +whom he corresponded, and who never told him of the persecutions she +herself underwent in his behalf. Her own last years, however, were +darkened by her afflictions, and Chrysostom tried to lighten her +melancholy by his letters of consolation. Her saintly life cast a halo +about her memory after she passed away, and a legend was current in +later times that her encoffined body had, by her own directions, been +cast into the sea at Nicomedia, whence it was borne to Constantinople, +and thence to Brochthi, where it reposed in the Church of Saint Thomas. + +Chrysostom's last years were perhaps his most useful ones, being spent +in regulating by letter the affairs of the churches. The Pope at Rome +never ratified his condemnation, and he was universally beloved as one +subjected to unjust persecution. Owing to his undiminished prominence in +all Church affairs, the ruthless empress pursued him in his exile, and +an order was despatched for him to be transported to Pityus, a desolate +place on the south-eastern coast of the Euxine; but on the way thither +he expired from exhaustion, in the sixtieth year of his age. He was the +last of the patriarchs to stand out against the corruption and the +frivolity of the court, and henceforth the archbishops were but +subservient adherents of the emperor and the empress. + +His innocence and merit were acknowledged by the succeeding generation, +and thirty years later, at the earnest solicitation of the people, +Chrysostom's remains were brought to Constantinople. The Emperor +Theodosius advanced to receive them as far as Chalcedon, and implored +the forgiveness of the injured saint in the name of his guilty parents, +Arcadius and Eudoxia. + +Less than four years after the birth of her son, Theodosius, Eudoxia, in +the bloom of her youth and the height of her power, came to her end as +the result of a miscarriage; and this untimely death confounded the +prophecy of Porphyrius of Gaza, who had foretold that she would live to +see the reign of her son. Pious Catholics saw in her untimely death the +vengeance of Heaven for the persecution of Saint Chrysostom; and few +save the emperor and her children bewailed the loss of the worldly and +ambitious empress. + + + + +X + +THE RIVAL EMPRESSES--PULCHERIA AND EUDOCIA + + +Beside the deathbed of the gentle Arcadius, whom destiny snatched from +life in the fulness of manhood, stood four weeping orphans of tenderest +years, three maidens and a little lad--all too young to realize the +greatness of their loss. These were the seven-year-old Theodosius, heir +to the throne, the nine-year-old Pulcheria and her two younger sisters, +Arcadia and Marina. In the orphanage of the children, it was natural +that the eldest daughter should feel that upon herself rested the +responsibility of acting as mother to her brother and sisters; and +Pulcheria possessed the mental endowments and the rapidly developing +nature which peculiarly fitted her for this task. Fortunately the +administration of the Empire was in the hands of the praetorian prefect +Anthemius, a wise and able counsellor, who acted as the guardian of the +young prince and his sisters and directed their education. He, with the +Patriarch Atticus, who was their religious guide and spiritual adviser, +provided them with every possible advantage for intellectual and +spiritual growth. Pulcheria early exhibited an earnest and almost manly +intelligence. Along with the sympathetic and mystical temperament of a +saint, she possessed the strong, practical sense of her grandfather, +Theodosius the Great. Hence she was quick to turn her attention to +problems of statecraft and displayed a precocious capacity for +administration. Her duties as guardian of her brother and sisters also +developed her innate love of mastery, so that as a child she gradually +conceived a longing for the duties and responsibilities of the imperial +station. + +At the tender age of fourteen, Pulcheria began to win influence in state +affairs. Proud and ambitious like her mother Eudoxia, she sought as +rapidly as possible to assert her authority; and, as her power and +influence grew, that of Anthemius gradually ceased to exert itself. By +no other hypothesis can we explain why Anthemius at this time retired +from active duties and did not retain his office as regent at least +until two years later, when Theodosius, in his fifteenth year, should +attain his majority. + +On July 4, 414, Pulcheria, the daughter of an emperor, assumed, contrary +to all precedent, the title of Augusta, previously reserved exclusively +for the wives of emperors, and formally took upon herself the honor and +the duties of regent in the name of her brother, who was still a minor. +So thoroughly did she gain the ascendency over the young prince that +even after he was created Augustus two years later she retained her +title and continued to be the real power in the imperial palace; indeed, +she was for forty years virtually the ruler of the Eastern Empire. + +The children of Arcadius and Eudoxia inherited the religious temperament +of their father rather than the worldly disposition of their mother. +Consequently, the court of Theodosius the Younger formed a great +contrast to that of Arcadius. Pulcheria determined to embrace a life of +celibacy. Resolving to remain a virgin, she induced her sisters to join +with her in vows of perpetual virginity. They were confirmed in this +step by their spiritual father, Atticus, who wrote for the princesses a +book in which he dwelt on the beauty of the single life. In the presence +of the clergy and the assembled people of Constantinople the three +daughters of Arcadius dedicated their virginity to God; and their solemn +vows were inscribed on a tablet of gold and jewels, which was publicly +offered in the Church of Saint Sophia. Pious souls saw in this vow of +Pulcheria only the natural result of her strict piety and her unselfish +love for her brother; but profane historians attributed it to her +extraordinary prudence, which was with her a gift of nature, and to her +unbounded ambition--on the ground that she could thus maintain +permanently her ascendency over the young prince, and, by controlling +his marriage, share his power. + +In her manner of life, however, Pulcheria emphasized the genuineness of +her piety. The imperial palace, as says a contemporary, assumed the +character of a cloister. All males, except saintly men who had forgotten +the distinction of sexes, were excluded from the holy threshold. +Pulcheria and a chosen band of Christian damsels formed a sort of +religious community. Spiritual practices were carried on, with strict +punctuality, from morning till evening. Whereas richly clad senators and +officers in sumptuous raiment had earlier passed in and out of the +palace, so now the black robes of priests and the dark cowls of monks +were to be seen thronging the entrance, and in place of the joyous songs +of banquetings and festivities, one could hear the monotonous intoning +of psalms. The vanity of dress which had scandalized the court of +Eudoxia was discarded, and the simple garb of nuns was the prevailing +fashion of the palace. The princesses did not employ themselves in +personal adornment or in the many vanities of royal station, but spent +much of their time at the loom, weaving garments for the poor and needy. +A frugal diet was adopted, and even this was interrupted by frequent +fasts. Thus Pulcheria and her maidens wearied not in their saintly life +and in the performance of deeds of mercy. + +These outward exercises of piety were attended by sumptuous beneficences +for the spread of the Christian religion. Magnificent churches were +built in various parts of the Empire at the expense of Pulcheria; +charitable foundations for the benefit of the poor and the unfortunate +were established in Constantinople and elsewhere, and ample donations +were given by her for the perpetual maintenance of monastic societies. +This imperial saint, who thus devoted a large part of her time and +energies to the performance of religious duties and of charitable +undertakings, naturally enjoyed the peculiar favor of the Deity. There +is a tradition that the knowledge of the location of sacred relics and +intimation of future events were communicated to her in dreams and +revelations. The common people attributed healing power to her. +Pulcheria's virtues aroused in the populace a feeling of admiration, and +the saintly life of the palace awakened and spread a deep spiritual +influence throughout the Empire. + +Religion, however, was accompanied with culture, and Pulcheria, with the +aid of the best masters, had her brother and sisters trained in all the +various branches of knowledge acquired up to that time. Under her +direction Theodosius became a student of natural science; and so great +was his skill in writing and in illuminating manuscripts that he +received the name of Calligraphus. Pulcheria acquired an elegant and +familiar command of both Greek and Latin; and she displayed her +intellectual discipline, and gift of expression on the various occasions +of speaking or writing on public business. + +Yet Pulcheria's devotion to religion and to learning never diverted her +indefatigable attention from public affairs. She strengthened the +influence of the senate and supported it in the reform of many abuses +which had crept in during the ascendancy of the eunuchs of the palace +and the struggles with the German party; but her energies were chiefly +directed toward acting as counsellor to the emperor, and protecting him +from the intrigues of court officials, to which his weak character made +him an easy victim. She instructed her brother in the art of government, +yet the tenderness of her discipline seems to have made him rather a +willing instrument in her own hands than an independent monarch. +Possibly she realized that the elements which go to form a great ruler +were lacking in his character; possibly her own love of power blinded +her to the right course of action toward her confiding ward. At any +rate, "her precepts may countenance some suspicion of the extent of her +capacity or the purity of her intention. She taught him to maintain a +grave and majestic deportment; to walk, to hold his robe, to seat +himself on his throne in a manner worthy of a great prince; to abstain +from laughter; to listen with condescension; to return suitable answers; +to assume, by turns, a serious or a placid countenance; in a word, to +represent with grace and dignity the external figure of a Roman +emperor." + +Though so careful and systematic in her training of the young prince, +Pulcheria did not deprive his boyhood of those companionships which add +zest to youthful pursuits and recreation and stimulate the growth of +manly qualities. She gave him as comrades two bright and spirited +youths, Paulinus and Placitus, with whom he associated in open-hearted +intimacy and who were destined to play a prominent part in his reign. +Paulinus especially became his most trusted friend, and the two were +united for many years by bonds which resembled those of Damon and +Pythias. Amid such surroundings and under such influence, Theodosius +grew up. The product of Pulcheria's instruction, however, was a ruler +who descended below even the weakness of her father and uncle. Chaste, +temperate, merciful, superstitious, pious, he was rich in negative +qualities; but, being feeble in energy and lacking all initiative, he +became merely a good-hearted and well-meaning, instead of active and +courageous, ruler. Consequently in every official act it was Pulcheria +who supplied the wisdom and the energy which made the earlier years of +Theodosius's reign such happy and peaceful ones. Pulcheria, however, was +content to keep her power in the background and to attribute to the +genius of the emperor the smoothness with which the wheels of government +turned, as well as the mildness and prosperity of his reign. + +The choice of a wife for Theodosius naturally lay in the hands of +Pulcheria. The young prince, influenced by the example of his father, +had expressed to his sister his preference for rare physical perfection +and high intellectual endowments over exalted station and royal blood in +the choice of a consort; and Pulcheria, in conjunction with his boyhood +friend Paulinus, set herself to the task of finding in the capital or in +the provinces an ideal corresponding to the wishes of the imperial +youth. Yet, while they were engaged in the search, by happy chance a +wonderful concatenation of events in the pagan city of Athens determined +the destiny of the nineteen-year-old ruler. + +In the story of Athenais we have the beautiful romance of a maiden of +modest station raised by destiny to the exalted dignity of a throne. She +was the favorite child of Leontius, an Athenian philosopher, who devoted +most of his time to training his daughter in the religion and philosophy +of his native city, and who sought to cultivate in her all that charm of +manner and richness of temperament which characterized the Greek women +in the best days of ancient Athens. The story goes that the old +philosopher was so confident that, because of her beauty and +intellectual gifts, a high destiny awaited his daughter, that he +bequeathed her as a legacy only a hundred pieces of gold, while he +divided the bulk of his estate between his two sons, Valerius and +Genesius. The brothers, being avaricious by nature and jealous of the +superior qualities of their sister, treated her with neglect and cruelty +in her distress. Athenais implored them to repair the obvious injustice +and to grant her her rights, representing to them how she did not +deserve this disgrace and that the indigence of their sister would be to +them, if not a cause of grief, yet certainly a continual reproach; but +her brothers would not listen to her appeals, and finally drove her from +the paternal mansion. Fortunately, a maternal aunt resided in Athens, +who received the disinherited maiden into her home and warmly espoused +her cause. She brought Athenais to Constantinople, where another aunt +dwelt, and made arrangements for the maiden to bring suit against the +hard-hearted brothers. To influence the decision, Athenais and her aunt +obtained audience with Pulcheria, and thus the link was formed which +joined the destinies of the young emperor and the hapless orphan. + +The youthful plaintiff was her own advocate, and so effectually did she +argue her case that the Augusta, charmed by the penetration and +cleverness which her speech revealed, as well as by the wonderful beauty +and modest demeanor of the maiden, was irresistibly forced to the +conviction that this girl was the very one who embodied the ideals and +longings of the young prince. And, in fact, Athenais was physically and +intellectually endowed in a manner seldom equalled. Imagine a maiden of +tall and slender proportions of figure, of rare perfection of form, of +fair complexion, of dark and luminous eyes which revealed the sweetness +and subtlety of the spirit within, while the perfect outline of the +countenance was framed by a luxuriant abundance of golden locks,--and +you have some conception of the stranger who stood with queenly grace +before the proud Augusta. Furthermore, every word that she uttered +revealed the rare subtlety of understanding or warmth of sensibilities +of the petitioner, who was in every regard the perfect picture of a +symmetrically developed maiden. So soon as Pulcheria ascertained that +Athenais was of good family and was still unmarried, she began to carry +out her plans as a royal matchmaker. She aroused the curiosity of her +brother by her account of the charms of the Greek maiden, and the +recital inspired in the young prince a lively impatience to see +Athenais. He besought his sister to arrange an opportunity for him, +unobserved, to see the maiden, and Pulcheria readily devised a plan. +After having concealed Theodosius and Paulinus behind the tapestries in +her apartment, she summoned Athenais to come to her for a further +interview. Athenais entered the room, and the young men were so charmed +by the view that Theodosius, enamored of the maiden at first sight, +desired to make her his bride. + +What must have been the emotions of the disinherited orphan, when the +Augusta, instead of granting her petition, told her that she was chosen +to be the bride of an emperor? Only one obstacle to the union presented +itself,--the pagan faith of the beautiful Athenian. While winning her +heart for himself, the pious Theodosius longed to win her soul for the +Saviour. To the patriarch Atticus was assigned the pleasing task of +convincing the beautiful maiden of the errors of paganism and of guiding +her spirit into the ways of eternal truth. The pure heart of the gentle +Athenais proved readily susceptible to the beauties of Christian +teaching; the waters of baptism were supposed to remove from her nature +the last vestiges of pagan unbelief; and in accordance with the wishes +of her betrothed, the converted Athenais received the baptismal name of +Eudocia. + +Finally, on June 7, 421, the royal nuptials were celebrated with great +pomp, amid the rejoicings of the populace. The prudent Pulcheria, +however, withheld from the bride of the emperor the title of Augusta +until the union was blessed by the birth of a daughter, who was named +Eudoxia, after her grandmother, and who, fifteen years later, became the +wife of Valentinian III., ruler of the Western Empire. + +The brothers of Eudocia richly deserved the resentment of the new +empress. They had fled from Athens when they heard of the elevation of +their despised sister, but she had them sought out and brought to +Constantinople. They entered into her presence trembling and +disconcerted; but instead of punishing them, as they felt they well +deserved, Eudocia received them in a friendly manner and forgave them +for their base conduct. Regarding them as the unconscious instruments of +her elevation, the new empress gave them part in some of the highest +offices of state. + +Having become a Christian, Eudocia dedicated her talents to the honor of +religion and to the glory of her husband. She indited religious poems +which were the admiration of the age. She composed a poetical paraphrase +of the five books of Moses, of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth, and of the +prophecies of Daniel and Zechariah. She devoted three books of verse to +the legend of Saint Cyprian, who was a martyr in the persecution +inaugurated by Diocletian. She wrote a panegyric on the Persian +victories of Theodosius; and there is extant from her pen a cento of +Homeric verse treating the life and miracles of Christ. She also +manifestly exerted a strong influence in the founding of the University +of Constantinople, if we judge from the preponderance of Greek chairs. +She also encouraged in every manner the cultivation of Greek letters; +and the support she gave to Greek poets and litterateurs gave umbrage to +the narrow religionists, who regarded everything Greek as pagan. + +Eudocia, by her beauty and sprightliness, rapidly gained an ascendancy +over the weak but noble-hearted emperor, who had now two masters, his +sister and his wife. The new empress, in spite of her devotion to +religion, still retained some pagan leanings, and the monastic life of +the court began to undergo a change. Both the empress--sister and the +empress--wife were ladies of strong will, and Eudocia by degrees became +less sensitive to the gratitude she owed Pulcheria because of her +elevation. Hence, as each of the August endeavored to have her own way, +there arose discord in the imperial family. Intriguing courtiers and +bishops knew how to take advantage of the division of sentiment in the +royal household, and, while there was no public outbreak, the wheels of +government did not run so smoothly as when Pulcheria held uncontested +sway. The rivalry and dissension in the court between the two empresses +showed itself particularly in the religious controversies of the time, +and especially in the so-called Nestorian heresy regarding the dual +nature of Christ. Pulcheria throughout was opposed to Nestorianism, as +to every doctrine which flavored of Greek metaphysics, while Eudocia is +credited with being an advocate of the new doctrine. Cyril, the bishop +of Alexandria and the principal opponent of Nestorius, left no stone +unturned to win the favor and support of Pulcheria, while ecclesiastics +of the opposite party doubtless attempted the same with Eudocia. + +The result of this conflict of opinion between the rival empresses was +that the policy of Theodosius was always wavering; he was consistent +neither in orthodoxy nor heterodoxy. At first a partisan of Nestorius, +he responded rather sharply to the appeals of Cyril; but he afterward +went over entirely to the opposite side--an indication that the +influence of Pulcheria was once more paramount. + +Thus passed the first decade and a half of Eudocia's reign. Finally in +438 occurred an event of momentous interest to the entire Roman +world--the marriage of the princess Eudoxia with Valentinian III., +Emperor of the West. As it seemed likely that Eudocia would never bear a +son to Theodosius, the union of the two reigning houses meant possibly +the reunion of the Empire under one emperor, should a son be born to the +newly married couple. Possibly feeling lonely after the marriage and +departure of her daughter; possibly tiring of the intrigues of the +court, Eudocia, with the concurrence of the emperor, shortly afterward +undertook a solemn pilgrimage to Jerusalem to discharge her vows and to +return thanks to the Deity for the welfare of her daughter. + +Attended by a royal cortege of courtiers and eunuchs and slaves, the +Empress Eudocia set out on her journey. Her ostentatious progress +through the East hardly seems in keeping with the spirit of Christian +humility. One of the most impressive events of her journey was the +sojourn in Antioch, the metropolis of the Far East. Here she pronounced +to the senate, from a throne of gold, studded with precious gems, an +eloquent Greek oration, which was regarded as a marvel of Hellenic +rhetoric. In Antioch, probably far more than in Constantinople or +Alexandria, there was a hearty appreciation of Greek culture and art, +and many of the renowned rhetoricians of the day had in this city their +lecture halls, to which thronged enthusiastic students; and to the most +cultivated audience of the metropolis was granted the presence of an +empress glorying in her Athenian nativity, trained in all the rhetorical +art of the Greek, and combining in her own personality all that was most +pleasing in both pagan and Christian culture. The last words of +Eudocia's address--a quotation from Homer--are said to have occasioned +prolonged applause: + + tauts toi genes te kai aimatos euchonai einai--Iliad Z 211. + + "I boast to be of your own race and blood." + +Eudocia was also generous in her gifts to the city. She induced the +emperor to enlarge its walls, and herself bestowed upon it a donation of +two hundred pounds of gold to restore the public baths. She graciously +accepted the statues which were decreed to her in gratitude for her +munificence--a statue of gold erected in the Curia, and one of bronze in +the museum. To the empress, with her earlier love of the sacred +traditions of the city of the violet crown, her enthusiastic reception +in the most thoroughly Hellenized city of the Orient must have been a +most gratifying occurrence. + +From Antioch the empress probably followed the pilgrims highway to the +Holy Land. There with doubly chastened soul the cultivated convert +visited the places hallowed by the Saviour's sufferings and glory. From +Bethlehem, where the Mother found shelter in a stable, and therein "in a +manger laid" the newborn Redeemer, to receive the adoration of the +shepherds, on through the country which the Lord travelled in His +mission, till finally she beheld Mount Calvary and looked upon the place +of the Sepulchre, now marked by the Christian temple raised by Helena. +Her presence brings to mind the visit of this Helena, the Emperor +Constantine's mother, one hundred years before, but the Greek matron +must have beheld it with very different emotions. She had been reared in +the philosophers' gardens of Athens, amid the glories of the Parthenon +and the many wonderful works of art which the Greek genius had created, +and in her new home in Constantinople she had not been altogether weaned +from the traditions of her youth. In glowing contrast to ancient Athens +she now saw a city whose prized monuments were the chapels erected on +spots rendered sacred by the footsteps of the Christ and the relics of +saints and martyrs. To this city she came as a Christian pilgrim, and +her devoutness of spirit showed that her heathen culture, in which she +took a pardonable pride, had been consecrated to the religion she +professed, and her endeavor to relieve the sufferings of the poor and +the unfortunate proved that she had learned the lesson of caring for +others from the example of the Master. + +Her alms and pious foundations in the Holy Land exceeded even those of +the great Helena; and the destitute of the land had reason to be +grateful to the empress for her unbounded liberality. In return for her +zeal, she had the conscious satisfaction of returning to Constantinople +with some of the most sacred relics of the Church--the chains of Saint +Peter, the relics of Saint Stephen, and a portrait of the Virgin Mary, +reputed to be from the brush of Saint Luke. The first martyr's relics +were deposited with great ceremony in the chapel of Saint Laurence, and +the piety of the empress won for her the loving admiration of the devout +populace. + +But this pilgrimage to Jerusalem, with its many tokens of the affection +of her subjects, and her triumphal return to the capital city, marks the +termination of the glory of the Athenian maiden as empress of the East. +Then began the rivalries and conflicts which finally brought about +Eudocia's downfall. To understand these we must first of all take into +consideration the difference of temperament of the two empresses. +Pulcheria was essentially Roman; Eudocia was essentially Greek. +Pulcheria belonged to the orthodox party which strictly condemned +everything which savored in the least degree of paganism; Eudocia +encouraged Greek art and letters and lent a friendly ear to the heresies +which were the product of Greek speculation. Pulcheria was puritanical +and austere in her manner of life, while Eudocia had a fondness for +dress and for the innocent gayeties of life which characterized the +women of her race. It was utterly impossible for two women of such +marked difference of temperament to live in perfect harmony under the +same roof. + +Furthermore, during Eudocia's absence a new factor had entered +prominently into the life of the palace. The influence of the eunuchs, +which had been so marked during the reign of Arcadius, had not made +itself felt during the earlier years of Theodosius's reign, because of +the ascendency of the two women, but it gathered strength by degrees as +years passed. Antiochus was the first chamberlain to make himself +powerful, and upon his fall, the eunuch Chrysaphius, because of his +personal beauty and winning manner, won the favor of Theodosius and +acquired the art of bending the emperor to his will. Chrysaphius knew +also how to play the two empresses off against each other, so as to gain +his own ends. + +It seems altogether probable that immediately after her return from +Jerusalem, the spouse of the emperor more than ever dominated the court +at Constantinople. An important indication of this was the prominence of +one of her favorites during the years 439-441--Cyrus of Panopolis, who +was a poet of renown, a "Greek" in faith, and a student of art and +literature. He won great popularity during his long tenure of office as +prefect of the city. He restored Constantinople on so magnificent a +scale, after it had experienced a disastrous earthquake, that the people +once cried out in the circus: "Constantine built the city, but Cyrus +renewed it." + +The type of culture represented by Cyrus and Eudocia, and the manifest +sympathy between them, greatly offended the strictly orthodox, who +regarded it in the light of a Christian duty to sever all connection +with paganism, and who considered all tolerance of the Muses and Graces +of a more beautiful past to be a heinous sin. This religious party found +their ideal and their inspiration in Pulcheria, and she in consequence +became their natural leader. Hence, both their natural proclivities and +the zeal of their followers forced the two empresses into an attitude of +rivalry which could only be settled by the retirement or fall of one or +the other of them. + +Shortly after her return it seems that Eudocia, in union with +Chrysaphius, succeeded in lessening the influence of Pulcheria. So +thoroughly did she control her weak but fond husband that Pulcheria +withdrew from the palace to the retirement of her villa at Hebdomon, and +it has even been asserted that Theodosius, at the request of his wife, +meditated making his sister take orders as a deaconess, so that she +would have to relinquish her secular power. Thus for a time Eudocia +experienced the keen delight of sole and uncontested power. But the +retirement of the Augusta, who had for so many years exercised the +paramount influence in the court, was the very step to arouse the +orthodox and to lead them to undertake every form of intrigue for the +ruin of Eudocia and the return of Pulcheria. The result was that, after +enjoying for a brief period the sole supremacy, Eudocia fell from the +loftiest heights of supreme authority into the deepest depths of +humiliation and sorrow. + +The orthodox party, with a cleverness which discounted the aims of the +nobility, utilized the jealousy of Theodosius as the lever to overturn +the beautiful and talented empress. Paulinus had been the boyhood friend +of Theodosius, and their intimacy had grown with the passing of the +years. He had ardently approved the prince's determination to make the +Athenian maiden his wife, and had acted as his best man in the wedding +festivities. Owing to the affectionate relations between the two men, +Paulinus had enjoyed a free association with both emperor and empress, +unhindered by the restricting bonds of court etiquette; and his +relations with Eudocia were always of the most friendly and open-hearted +character. These relations the enemies of Eudocia seized upon for the +attainment of their ends, and their attempt succeeded only too well. It +is fitting to tell the story in the words of John Malalas, the earliest +chronicler who records it: + +"It so happened," says the chronicler, "that as the Emperor Theodosius +was proceeding to the church _In Sanctis Theophaniis_, the master of +offices, Paulinus, being indisposed on account of an ailment in his +foot, remained at home and made an excuse. But a certain poor man +brought to Theodosius a Phrygian apple, of enormously large size, and +the emperor was surprised at it, and all his court. And straightway the +emperor gave one hundred and fifty nomismata to the man who brought the +apple, and sent it to Eudocia Augusta; and the Augusta sent it to +Paulinus, the master of offices, as being a friend of the emperor. But +Paulinus, not being aware that the emperor had sent it to the empress, +took it and sent it to the Emperor Theodosius, even as he was entering +the palace. And when the emperor received it, he recognized it and +concealed it. And having called Augusta, he questioned her, saying: + +"'Where is the apple that I sent you?' And she said, 'I ate it.'--Then +he caused her to swear the truth by his salvation, whether she ate it or +sent it to some one; and she swore, 'I sent it unto no man, but ate it.' +And the emperor commanded the apple to be brought, and showed it to her. +And he was indignant against her, suspecting that she was enamored of +Paulinus, and sent him the apple and denied it. And on this account +Theodosius put Paulinus to death. And the Empress Eudocia was grieved, +and thought herself insulted, for it was known everywhere that Paulinus +was slain on account of her, for he was a very handsome young man. And +she asked the emperor that she might go the holy place to pray; and he +allowed her; and she went down from Constantinople to Jerusalem to +pray." + +In the opinion of Gregorovius, Eudocia's apple of Phrygia eludes +interpretation as completely as Eve's apple of Eden, but Bury explains +the story as an example of Oriental metaphor. He recalls a parallel to +it in the Arabian Nights, and fancies that its germ may have been an +allegorical mode of expression in which someone covertly told the story +of the suspected intrigue. In Hellenistic romance the apple was a +conventional love gift, and when presented to a man by a woman signified +a declaration of love. Hence, as the basis of the tale was presumed to +be the amorous intercourse of Paulinus and the empress, we can conceive +one accustomed to Oriental allegory saying or writing that Eudocia had +given her precious apple to Paulinus, symbolizing thereby that she had +surrendered her chastity. + +Such is the legend of the fall of the empress. All we know for certain +is that about this time a marked discord between husband and wife was +apparent, and that Paulinus, the emperor's boyhood friend and most +trusted confidant, was put to death by imperial order during the year +440. + +History seems entitled to draw the conclusion that it was probably a +charge, whether true or false, of a criminal attachment between Eudocia +and Paulinus that led to the disgrace of the empress and the execution +of the minister; but the probabilities are all in favor of the innocence +of the Augusta. Eudocia had passed the age of forty when the breach with +her husband occurred, and Paulinus was an official of mature years. The +conduct of both had always been above reproach, and it was almost +inconceivable that either would have acted unbecomingly at this late +date. + +For two or three years after the execution of Paulinus the empress +remained at court, under what circumstances and in just what relation to +the emperor we are not informed. It is evident, however, that her power +was gone. Feeling herself more and more relegated to the background, and +ever watched by hostile eyes, it was natural that she should find life +at Constantinople unbearable, and should long for a place where, far +from the turmoils and intrigues of the world, she might devote herself +to retirement and to pious practices. She therefore asked permission of +the emperor to be allowed to retire to Jerusalem and there pass the rest +of her life. After the tender bond of love which had for twenty years +united the Athenian maiden and the royal prince had once been violently +broken, there was no reason why her petition should be denied, and +Eudocia was granted the privilege of retiring to the sacred scenes whose +solitude and religious atmosphere had already appealed to her. + +So, some years after her first visit to the holy city, Eudocia withdrew +thither for a permanent abode. But what a contrast had a few years +wrought! With what different emotions did she now visit the sacred +shrines! Then a beloved wife, a happy mother, an all-puissant empress! +Now a voluntary exile, a discredited wife, an empress but in name! +Theodosius left her her royal honors and abundant means for her station, +so that she could not only have a moderate establishment at Jerusalem, +but could also adorn the city with charitable institutions. Yet even +here the hatred of her enemies and the jealousy of the emperor followed +her. Though so far from Constantinople, court spies watched and reported +her every movement, and in their malignity they recounted to the emperor +such a slanderous picture of her life and doings that he, in the year +444, with newly awakened jealousy, had two holy men--the presbyter +Severus and the deacon John, who had been favorites of Eudocia in +Constantinople and had followed her to Jerusalem--executed by the order +of Saturninus, her chamberlain. This cruel deed, however, did not remain +unavenged, for Eudocia did not interfere when Saturninus, in a monkish +riot, or at the hands of hired murderers, lost his life. Theodosius +punished her for this with undue severity, by removing all the officers +who attended her and reducing her to private station. + +The remainder of the life of Eudocia, sixteen long years, was spent in +retirement and in holy exercises. Troubles heaped themselves upon her. +Her only daughter, whose future at her marriage with Valentinian had +looked so promising, also lost her royal station and was led a captive +from Rome to Carthage. She had to endure all the insults which could +fall to one who from supreme power had been reduced to private station. +But in the consolation of religion and in self-sacrificing devotion to +others more unfortunate, Eudocia found solace in her grief. Finally, in +the sixty-seventh year of her age, after experiencing all the +vicissitudes of human life, the philosopher's daughter expired at +Jerusalem, protesting with her dying breath her faithfulness to her +marriage vows and expressing forgiveness of all those who had injured +her. + +In Constantinople, Eudocia's fall and exile had brought Pulcheria and +the orthodox party again to the front. The poetry-loving Cyrus, the head +of the Greek party, was deprived of his office and compelled to take +orders; and there was a return to the austerity which had characterized +the earlier years of Pulcheria's supremacy. Pulcheria and orthodoxy from +this time on controlled the court life and dominated the Empire. +Finally, in 450, Theodosius was fatally wounded while hunting, and upon +his demise Pulcheria was unanimously proclaimed Empress of the East. Her +first official act was one of popular justice as well as private +revenge--the execution of the crafty and rapacious eunuch, Chrysaphius. +In obedience to the murmur of the people, who objected to a woman being +sole ruler of the Empire, she selected an imperial consort in Marcian, +an aged senator who would respect the virginal vows and superior rank of +his wife. He was solemnly invested with the imperial purple, and proved +in every way equal to the demands of his exalted station. + +Three years later, Pulcheria passed away. Because of her austerity of +life, her deeds of charity, her advocacy of orthodoxy, she won the +eulogies of the Church; but her controlling attribute had been a love of +power, which had wrought much evil. Our sympathies are naturally with +the beautiful and gifted Athenais, a Greek by birth, by temperament and +by culture, but yet a Christian in religious fervor and pious practices, +whose personal fascination had given her the authority she richly +merited, until the stronger nature of Pulcheria, by despicable means, +had wrought her downfall. + +For four years after the death of Pulcheria, Marcian continued to hold +supreme power; finally, in 457, he too came to his end, and with Marcian +the house of Theodosius the Great ceased to reign in new Rome. + + + + +XI + +THE EMPRESS THEODORA + + +There are few stranger episodes in literary history than the fate of +Theodora, the celebrated consort of the Emperor Justinian. To us in this +day she is a Magdalene elevated to the throne of the Csars, a beautiful +and licentious actress suddenly raised by a freak of fortune to rule the +destinies of the Roman Empire. All this is due to the remarkable +discovery made by Nicholas Alemannus, librarian of the Vatican, toward +the end of the seventeenth century, of the Secret History of Procopius, +a work which purported to reveal the private life of the Byzantine court +in the days of Justinian. Before the publication of this work Theodora +was in public opinion chiefly remarkable for the prominent place she +occupied in Justinian's reign. Of her early life nothing was known, but +from the date of her accession to the throne she had exercised a +sovereign influence over the emperor. In an important crisis she had +exhibited admirable firmness and courage. She had taken an active part +in the court intrigues and religious controversies of the epoch, and to +her sagacity the emperor attributed many of his happiest inspirations in +legislation. The ecclesiastical historians accused her of serious lapses +into heresy and of having laid violent hands on the sacred person of a +pope; but, with all their vituperation, there never was in circulation a +calumny affecting her personal character. Such is a brief resume of the +history of Theodora as handed down unassailed for a thousand years. + +Then suddenly a startling revelation was made to the world concerning +the previously unknown period of Theodora's life. Alemannus disinterred +from the archives of the Vatican library, where it had long lain +forgotten, an Arcana Historia which purported to be from the pen of the +celebrated historian of the Wars and the Edifices of Justinian. Edited +with a learned commentary by a hostile critic, the work immediately +attained wide circulation and universal credence. For the first time the +character of the illustrious empress was presented in the blackest +colors. The world, it seemed, had been really mistaken in its estimate. +Theodora's antecedents and early life had been of the vilest character, +and her public life signalized by cruelty, avarice, and excess. From the +date of the publication of this _chronique scandaleuse_, and thanks to +Gibbon's trenchant paraphrase of its vilest sections, Theodora was +condemned. Her name became the connotation for all the depraved vices +known in high life. The silence of eleven centuries was overlooked, and +the garish picture of the Secret History has formed the modern world's +estimate of Rome's most illustrious empress. + +It becomes, therefore, an important problem to attempt to distinguish +the Theodora of history from the Theodora of romance. We must inquire +whether the startling "anecdotes" of the _Secret History_ justly +supersede the estimate and tradition of so long a period. Was Theodora +the grand courtesan she is represented to be in the modern drama, or was +she a great empress, worthy of the respect and admiration of Justinian +and of succeeding ages? To answer these questions we must first briefly +review the legendary history of Theodora, and then dwell more at length +on the authentic history of the empress. This will merit a recital, for +she appears to be a personality singularly original and powerful, +possessing both the qualities of a statesman and the unique traits of a +woman, a character of much complexity and of rare psychological +interest. During the first years of the sixth century there lived in +Constantinople a poor man, by name Acacius, a native of the isle of +Cyprus, who had the care of the wild beasts maintained by the green +faction of the city, and who, from his employment, was entitled the +Master of the Bears. This Acacius was the father of Theodora. Upon his +death, he left to the tender mercies of the world a widow and three +helpless orphans, Comito, Theodora, and Anastasia, the eldest being not +yet seven years of age. At a solemn festival these three children were +sent by their destitute mother into the theatre, dressed in the garb of +suppliants. The green faction scorned them; but the blues had compassion +and relieved their distress, and this difference of treatment made a +profound impression on the child Theodora, which had its influence on +her later conduct. As the maidens increased in age and improved in +beauty, they were trained by their mother for a theatrical career. +Theodora first followed Comito on the stage, playing the rle of +chambermaid, but at length she exercised her talents independently. She +became neither a singer nor a dancer nor a flute player, but she figured +in the _tableaux Vivants_, where her beauty freely displayed itself, and +in the pantomimes, where her vivacity and grace and sprightliness caused +the whole theatre to resound with laughter and applause. She was, if the +panegyrists may be believed, the most beautiful woman of her age. +Procopius, the best historian of the day, says that "it was impossible +for mere man to describe her comeliness in words or to imitate it in +art." "Her features were delicate and regular; her complexion, though +somewhat pale, was tinged with a natural colour; every sensation was +instantly expressed by the vivacity of her eyes; her easy motions +displayed the graces of a small but elegant figure; and either love or +adulation might proclaim that painting and poetry were incapable of +delineating the matchless excellence of her form." It is unfortunate +that we have no likeness which portrays her exquisite beauty. The famous +mosaic in San Vitale at Ravenna is the best authentic representation of +the empress, but a mosaic can give but little idea of the original. + +But Theodora possessed other fascinations besides beauty: she was +intelligent, full of _esprit_, witty. However, with all these gifts +there was in her a deficiency of the moral sense and a natural +inclination to pleasure in all its forms. Sad to relate, her charms were +venal. If the Secret History be believed, her adventures were both +numerous and scandalous; to quote a piquant expression of Gibbon, "her +charity was universal." Procopius recounts memorable after-theatre +suppers and _tableaux vivants_ that would be excluded from the most +licentious of modern stages. After a wild career in the capital as the +reigning figure of the demi-monde, Theodora suddenly disappeared. She +condescended to accompany to his province a certain Ecebolus, who had +been appointed governor of the African Pentapolis. But this union was +transient. She either abandoned her lover or was deserted by him, and +for some time the fair Cyprian, a veritable priestess of the divine +Aphrodite, made conquests innumerable in all the great cities of the +Orient. Finally, she returned to Constantinople, to the scenes of her +first exploits, being then between twenty and twenty-five years of age. +In her bitterest humiliation, some vision had whispered to her that she +was destined to a great career. + +Wearied of amorous adventures and of a wandering career, she began from +this moment to adopt a retired and blameless life in a modest mansion, +where she relieved her poverty by the feminine task of spinning wool. It +was at this moment that happy chance threw the patrician Justinian in +her path. Captivated by her beauty and her feminine graces, this staid, +business-like, and eminently practical personage, already marked as his +uncle Justin's successor to the Empire, wished to make the fair Theodora +his wife. But there were obstacles in the way. The Empress Euphemia +flatly refused to accept the reformed courtesan as a niece; Justinian's +own mother, Vigilantia, feared that the vivacious and beautiful +worldling would corrupt her son. It was even said that at this time the +laws of Rome prohibited the marriage of a senator with a woman of +servile origin or of the theatrical profession. But Justinian remained +inflexible. The Empress Euphemia conveniently died; Justinian overrode +the opposition of his mother; and Justin was persuaded to pass a law +abolishing the rigid statute of antiquity and to make Theodora a +patrician. + +Soon followed the solemn nuptials of Justinian and Theodora; and when, +in 527, Justinian was officially associated with his uncle on the +throne, Theodora was also solemnly crowned in Saint Sophia by the hands +of the Patriarch as an equal and independent colleague in the +sovereignty of the Empire, and the oath of allegiance was imposed on +bishops and officials in the joint names of Justinian and Theodora; +while in the Hippodrome, the scene of her earlier triumphs, the daughter +of Acacius received as empress the adulation of the populace. + +Such, according to the Secret History, is the romance of Theodora. The +reason why it has been given general credence is because the work +purported to be that of a contemporary writer, the greatest historian of +his age, who has weighted his charges with emphasis and detail, and +because the recital received the convincing endorsement of Alemannus and +of Gibbon. The principle which governed Gibbon was as follows: "Of these +strange anecdotes a part may be true because probable, and a part true +because improbable. Procopius must have known the former and the latter +he could scarcely invent." Reassured by this argument, and seduced by +the masculine taste for adventure, most historians have complacently +accepted this piquant history and have applied to Theodora the vilest +epithets. But recent writers, especially Debidour, Ranke, Mallet, Bury, +and Diehl, have not regarded the case as proved, and through a careful +analysis of the _Secret History_ have presented convincing arguments +against the reputed authorship of the work and the authenticity of its +narrative. + +These later writers have called attention to the internal evidence of +the improbability of the picture of Theodora. There are in the +statements glaring inconsistencies with the other works of Procopius, +and inconsistencies within the anecdotes themselves. Many stories told +of Justinian are obviously overdrawn and dictated by inventive malice, +and these vitiate the entire narrative. Furthermore, the question of the +marriage law is triumphantly set aside. The edict abolishing the Old +Roman law was passed seven years after Justinian's succession, and was +in accordance with other legislation inspired by Theodora, to ameliorate +the condition of woman. The external evidence, also, has been carefully +sifted. The legal maxim, _Testis unus, Testis nullus_, applies in +history as well as in law. A single witness has related the most +incredible stories. Nowhere in other historians is there a shred of +evidence to support the story of Theodora's flagitious life. These +stories could have no basis other than in popular rumors; how is it, +therefore, that no other chronicle alludes to them? Orthodox +ecclesiastics violently attack Theodora's heresy, and speak of her as an +enemy of the Church, but write not a word against her private +reputation. Historians condemn in unmeasured terms certain features of +Justinian's administration, and dwell on other faults of Theodora, but +say never a word about her profligacy. Why are all other writers silent +about the dark passages in Theodora's history? Even the _Secret History_ +alleges nothing immoral against her after her marriage: why then should +we take its testimony seriously regarding the earlier period of her +life? The silence of all other chronicles about extraordinary +occurrences, which, if true, must have been generally known, throws +doubt over the whole narrative and places it in the light of an infamous +libel. + +And here is a final argument. Justinian was no mere youth when he +married, but a sober gentleman of thirty-five, the heir apparent to the +throne, who had to keep in the good graces of the people. Would he at so +momentous a time have perpetrated so infamous a scandal? And would it +have been possible for a woman of such notorious profligacy to ascend +the throne without a protest from patriarch or bishop or senators or +populace? The outward life of the Byzantine people, owing to the +influence of Christianity, was usually correct. A little later an +emperor lost his throne because he divorced one wife and took another. +Theodora's triumphant ascent to the throne, without a protesting voice, +is conclusive evidence that no great scandal had sullied her reputation. + +Yet, on the other hand, panegyrists never lauded Theodora as a saint. +She was neither a Pulcheria nor a Eudocia. Many traits in the character +of the empress accord well with the fact that her early life was not +passed amid beds of roses nor had been altogether free from temptation. +Hence, with the story reduced to its lowest terms, it seems probable +that Theodora was of obscure and lowly origin, that she was for a time +connected in some way with the Byzantine stage, and that, owing to her +beauty, her cleverness, and her strong personality, she was raised from +poverty to share Justinian's throne. But, whatever her career, her life +had been sufficiently upright to save appearances, and Justinian could +make her his wife without scandal. + +The turn of fortune which elevated Theodora from modest station to the +imperial throne deeply stirred the popular imagination, and a cycle of +legends has gathered about her name. The stranger in Byzantium in the +eleventh century was shown the site of a modest cottage, transformed +into a stately church dedicated to the spirit of charity, and was told +the story how the great empress, coming with her parents from their +native town in Cyprus, had here maintained herself in honorable poverty +by spinning wool, and how it was here that the patrician Justinian, +drawn thither by the fame of her beauty and her learning, had wooed and +won her for his bride. However little value we may attach to this +tradition, it shows that in Constantinople the popular estimate of +Theodora was not that of the _Secret History_. The Slavic traditions of +the twelfth and thirteenth centuries not only dwell on her marvellous +beauty, but also recount that she was the most queenly, the most +cultivated, the most learned of women. The Syriac traditions were still +more flattering. In their devout reverence for the pious empress who +espoused their cause, these Monophysites of the thirteenth century name +as the father of Theodora, not the poor man who guarded the bears in the +Hippodrome, but a pious old gentleman, perhaps a senator, attached to +the Monophysite heresy, and affirm that when Justinian, fascinated by +the beauty and intelligence of the young maiden, demanded her hand in +marriage, the good father did not consent that she should marry the heir +apparent until the latter had promised not to interfere with her +religious beliefs. + +A western chronicler, however, of the eleventh century, Aimoin de +Fleury, recounts a legend which has something of the flavor of the +_Secret History_. According to this story, Justinian and Belisarius, two +young men and intimate friends, encountered one day two sisters, Antonia +and Antonina, sprung from the race of Amazons, who, taken prisoners by +the Byzantines, were reduced to dire straits. Belisarius was enamored of +the latter, Justinian of the former. Antonia, presaging the future +destiny of her lover, made him promise that, if ever he became emperor, +he would take her as his wife. Their relations were interrupted, but not +before Justinian gave to Antonia a ring, as an assurance of his promise. +Years passed: the prince became emperor; and one day there appeared at +the gate of the palace, demanding audience, a woman in rich attire and +of wonderful beauty. Presented before the sovereign, Antonia was not at +first recognized; but she showed the ring and recalled his promise, and +Justinian, his love for her renewed, proclaimed straightway the +beautiful Amazon as his empress. The people and the senate expressed +some surprise at the impromptu marriage, but Antonia shared without +protest the throne of Justinian. + +Thus the marvellous destiny of Theodora was embellished by legend and +romance, and, whether good or bad, severely correct or profligate, she +has become one of the most remarkable figures of history and fiction. + +Questions as to the early life of Theodora, however, are secondary in +importance. We are interested not in the courtesan but in the empress, +and, for the incidents and the influence of her reign, we have +fortunately other information than that of the _Secret History_. + +Sardou's drama Theodora represents its heroine as preserving on the +throne the manners of the courtesan, as delighting in the life of the +theatre, as leaving the palace by night to frequent the streets of +Constantinople, as having an amorous intrigue with the beautiful +Andreas, as being in fact another, but baser and more voluptuous, +Messalina. But even the _Secret History_ represents Theodora, after she +mounted the throne, as being, with all her faults, the most austere, the +most correct, the most irreproachable of women in her conjugal +relations. + +Whatever her origin and her early life, Theodora adapted herself most +readily to the status and the duties of an imperial sovereign. She loved +and partook fully of the amenities which attended supreme authority. In +her apartments of the royal palace, and in her sumptuous villas and +gardens on the Propontis and the Bosporus, she availed herself of all +the luxuries and refinements of the royal station. Ever womanly and vain +of her physical charms, she took extreme care of her beauty. To make her +countenance reposeful and delicate, she prolonged her slumbers until +late in the morning; to give her figure sprightliness and grace, she +took frequent baths, to which succeeded long hours of repose. Not +content with the meagre fare which satisfied Justinian, her table was +always supplied with the best of Oriental dishes, which were served with +exquisite and delicate taste. Every wish was immediately gratified by +her favorite ladies and eunuchs. Like a true parvenue, she delighted in +the elaborate court etiquette. She made the highest dignitaries +prostrate themselves before her, imposing on those who wished audience +long and humiliating delays. Every morning one could see the most +illustrious personages of Byzantium crowded in her antechamber like a +troop of slaves, and, when they were admitted to kiss the feet of +Theodora, their reception depended altogether upon the humor of the +moment. These details show with what facility, with what complaisance, +Theodora adapted herself to the conditions of her rank. + +One must not infer, however, that the Theodora of history was a woman +merely captivated by the outward pomp of royalty. She possessed all the +intellectual and moral gifts which should attend absolute power, and her +rigid enforcement of Oriental etiquette was merely to impress upon +others her supreme authority, and was in conformity to the demand of her +age. Her salient characteristics were a spirit despotic and inflexible, +a will strong and passionate, an intelligence clever and subtle, a +temperament by turns frigid and sympathetic; and by these gifts she +dominated Justinian without intermission from the moment of her marriage +to her death, and impressed upon all those about her the knowledge that +she was in every sense an absolute sovereign. + +Furthermore, she possessed a calm courage, a masculine inflexibility, +which showed itself in the most difficult circumstances. One can never +forget the most ominous moment in the history of the Eastern Empire, +when the courage and firmness of Theodora saved the throne of Justinian. +This was during the celebrated revolt of 532, known as "The Nika Riot." +The factions of the "Blues" and the "Greens" were really the political +parties of the day; irritated to madness by the oppression of certain +officials, they momentarily united their forces and raised an +insurrection against the government, choosing Nika (Conquer!) as their +watchword, which has become the technical designation of the riot. +During five days, the city was a scene of conflict and witnessed all the +horrors of street warfare. Justinian yielded so far as to depose the +obnoxious officials, but the secret machinations of the "Green" faction, +who wished to place on the throne a nephew of Anastasius, a former +emperor, kept up the conflict. On the fateful morning of the 19th of +January, Hypatius, one of the nephews of Anastasius, was publicly +crowned in the Forum of Constantinople, and was then seated in the +cathisma of the Hippodrome, where the rebels and the populace saluted +him as emperor. Meanwhile, Justinian shut himself up in the palace with +his ministers and his favorites. Much of the city was in flames, the +tumult outside grew ever louder, and the rebels were preparing for an +attack on the palace. All seemed lost. The clamor of victory and the +cries of "Death to Justinian," reached the hall where the emperor, +utterly unnerved, was taking counsel of his ministers and generals. The +prefect John of Cappadocia and the general Belisarius recommended flight +to Heraclea. In haste, by the gardens which led to the sea, vessels were +loaded with the imperial treasures, and all was ready for the instant +flight of the emperor and empress. This was the decisive moment. Flight +meant the safety of their persons, but the abandoned throne was surely +lost, and the gigantic movements that had been started would collapse. +The prince was hesitating, and all his counsellors shared his +feebleness. Up to this time, the empress had said nothing. At length, +indignant at the general languor, Theodora thus called to their duty the +emperor and the ministers who would forsake all for personal safety: + +"The present occasion is, I think, too grave to take regard of the +principle that it is not meet for a woman to speak among men. Those +whose dearest interests are in the presence of extreme danger are +justified in thinking only of the wisest course of action. Now, in my +opinion, Nature is an unprofitable tutor, even if her guidance bring us +safety. It is impossible for a man when he has come into the world not +to die; but for one who has reigned it is intolerable to be an exile. +May I never exist without this purple robe, and may I never live to see +the day on which those who meet me shall not address me as Queen. If you +wish, O Emperor, to save yourself, there is no difficulty; we have ample +funds. Yonder is the sea, and there are the ships. Yet reflect whether, +when you have once escaped to a place of security, you will not prefer +death to safety. I agree with an old saying that 'Empire is a fair +winding-sheet.'" + +By these courageous words the resolution of Theodora saved the throne of +Justinian. Her firmness conquered the weakness and the pusillanimity of +the court. Belisarius triumphantly led his forces against the +revolutionists in the Hippodrome. A ruthless massacre followed, in which +thirty-five thousand persons perished. The power of the factions was +forever broken, and henceforth Justinian enjoyed absolute sovereignty +without a protest. The important public buildings which had been +destroyed in the conflagrations incident to the riot were restored on a +more magnificent scale, and the still standing Saint Sophia is a +monument to the genius and splendor of the reign of Justinian and +Theodora. + +One can readily understand what a dominating influence such a woman +would maintain over the indecisive Justinian. The passion with which she +had inspired the prince was preserved up to the last moment of her life; +and his devotion and regard ever increased and after her death took the +form of reverential awe, so influenced was he by her superior abilities. +She was to him, in the words of a contemporary historian, "the sweetest +charm"; or, as he himself says in a legal enactment, "the gift of +God"--a play upon her name. After her death, when he would make a solemn +promise, he swore by the name of Theodora. He withheld from her none of +the emoluments, none of the realities, of joint and equal sovereignty: +her name figured with his in the inscriptions placed upon the facades of +churches or the gates of citadels; her image was associated with his in +the decorations of the royal palace, as in the mosaics of San Vitale. +Her name appeared by the side of his on the imperial seal. A multitude +of cities and a newly created province bore her name. In every regard +she shared the sovereignty with the emperor. Magistrates, bishops, +generals, governors of provinces, swore by all that was sacred to render +good and true service to the very pious and sacred sovereigns, Justinian +and Theodora. + +When Theodora journeyed, a royal cortege accompanied her, consisting of +patricians, high dignitaries, and ministers, and an escort of four +thousand soldiers as guard. Her orders were received with deference +throughout the Empire; and when officials found them in contradiction +with those of the emperor, they often preferred the instructions of +Theodora to those of Justinian. Functionaries knew that her patronage +assured a rapid promotion in royal power and that her good will was a +guarantee against possible disgrace. Royal strangers sought to flatter +her vanity and to win her good graces. + +All the chroniclers record that in state papers on important affairs +Theodora was the collaborator with Justinian. The emperor gladly +acknowledged his indebtedness to her, and we read in one of his +ordinances: "Having this time again taken counsel of the most sacred +spouse whom God has given us...." Theodora likewise on occasion gave +evidence of her authority. She once ordered Theodatus to submit to her +the requests he wished to address to the emperor, and in a communication +to the ministers of the Persian king, Chosroes, she stated: "The emperor +never decides anything without consulting me." She was the regulating +power in both State and Church, appointing or disgracing generals and +ministers, making or unmaking patriarchs and pontiffs, raising to +fortune her favorites, and unsettling the power and position of her +opponents. + +Theodora's comprehension of the necessities of imperial politics was +something marvellous, and the wise moves of Justinian were due largely +to her counsel. Yet, though so superb a queen, she was all the more a +woman-fickle, passionate, avaricious of authority, and intensely jealous +of preserving the power she had. Apparently without scruples, she would +get rid of all influence which threatened to counterbalance her own, and +she brushed aside without pity all opposition which seemed to infringe +on her authority. In the intrigues of the palace she ever came off the +victor. Vainly did favorites and ministers who fancied themselves +indispensable attempt to ruin her credit with the emperor. The secretary +Priscus, whom the favor of Justinian had raised to office as count of +the bed-chamber, paid dearly for the insults which he addressed to +Theodora. He was exiled, imprisoned, and finally driven to take orders, +and his enormous fortune was confiscated. + +The history of John of Cappadocia is more significant still; at the same +time that it gives insight into the intrigues and plots of the Byzantine +courts, it throws a glowing light on the ambitious nature, the +unscrupulous energy, the vindictive spirit, and the perfidious +cleverness of the Empress Theodora. + +For six years John of Cappadocia occupied the exalted position of +praetorian prefect, which made him at the same time minister of finance +and minister of the interior, as well as the first minister of the +Empire. By his vices, his harshness, and his corruption he justified the +proverb: + +"The Cappadocian is bad by nature; if he attains to power he is worse; +but if he seeks to be supreme, he is the most detestable of all." But in +the eyes of Justinian he had one redeeming virtue: he furnished to every +request of the prince the funds which the vast expenditures of his reign +demanded. At the price of what exactions, of what sufferings of his +subjects, he obtained these admirable results, the emperor did not +inquire, or perhaps he ignored these considerations. At all events, the +prefect was a great favorite of the prince, and the court aides envied +the success of his administration. Having a dominating influence over +the emperor, possessing riches beyond the dreams of avarice, John +attained to the very apex of fortune. Superstitious by nature, the +promises of wizards had aroused in him the hope of attaining to the +supreme power, as the colleague or successor of Justinian. As a step +toward this he attempted to ruin the credit of Theodora with the +emperor. This was an offence which the haughty empress could not pardon. +The prefect was not ignorant how powerful an adversary he had aroused; +but, conscious of his influence with the emperor and of the state of the +finances which he alone could administer, he regarded himself as +indispensable. But he did not correctly gauge the subtlety of Theodora. +She first endeavored to convince the emperor of the sufferings which the +prefect inflicted on his subjects and then to arouse his suspicions as +to the dangers with which the throne was menaced by the ambition of +John: but the emperor, like all feeble natures, hesitated to separate +from himself a counsellor to whom by long habit and association he had +become attached. Then Theodora conceived a Machiavelian plot. + +Theodora's most intimate friend was Antonina, the wife of Belisarius, +whom Procopius describes as a woman "more capable than anyone else to +manage the impracticable." The two clever women devised an unscrupulous +bit of strategy which, if successful, would surely cause the downfall of +the much execrated minister of finance. Antonina, at Theodora's +suggestion, cultivated the friendship of John's daughter, Euphemia, and +intimated to her that her husband Belisarius was seriously disaffected +toward the emperor, because of the poor requital which his distinguished +services had received, but that he could not attempt to throw off the +imperial yoke unless he was assured of the sympathy and support of some +one of the important civil officials. Euphemia naturally told the news +to her father, who, seeing in the circumstance an opportunity to ascend +the throne with the aid of the powerful general, easily fell into the +trap. To perfect the plot the Cappadocian arranged a secret interview at +Rufinianum, one of the country seats of Belisarius. The empress arranged +to have two faithful officials, Marcellus and Narses, concealed in the +villa, with orders to arrest John if his treason became manifest, and, +if he resisted, straightway to put him to death. They overheard the +treasonable plot, but the minister succeeded in escaping arrest and fled +to the inviolable asylum of Saint Sophia. He was, however, exiled in +disgrace to Cyzicus; but the ruthless hatred of Theodora followed him, +and, after all his ill-gotten gains had been confiscated, he was exiled +to Egypt, where he remained until the death of the empress. He finally +returned to Constantinople, but Justinian had no further need of the +services of his quondam counsellor, and the latter, in the rude garb of +a priest, died upon the scene of his former triumphs. + +In her ruthless persecution of her opponents, as illustrated by this +incident, there seems to have been in this remarkable woman a singular +absence of the moral sense. + +True it is that she passionately loved power and luxury and wealth; +true, that she exercised her authority at times in a ruthless and +unscrupulous manner. Yet the hardness of her nature is offset by many +sympathetic qualities which show that, together with the sternness of an +empress, she had the heart of a woman. + +She showed a sympathetic interest in the welfare of her own family. She +married her sister Comito to Sittas, an officer of high rank. Her niece +Sophia was united in marriage with the nephew of Justin, heir +presumptive to the Empire. All her life she regretted that she did not +have a son to mount the throne: she had buried an infant daughter, the +sole offspring of her marriage. + +One of the most pleasing traits of her character was the large tolerance +and substantial sympathy she showed to fallen women. Severe on men, she +manifested for women a solicitude rarely equalled. On the Asiatic coast +of the Bosporus she converted a palace into a spacious and stately +monastery, known as the Convent of the Metanoia, or Repentance, and +richly endowed it for the benefit of her less fortunate sisters who had +been seduced or compelled to embrace the trade of prostitution. In this +safe and holy retreat were gathered hundreds of women, collected from +the streets and brothels of Constantinople; and many a hapless woman was +filled with gratitude toward the generous benefactress who had rescued +her from a life of sin and misery. + +Are we to see in this tender solicitude an exemplification of the words +of the poet, _Non ignara mali miseris succurrere disco_, or were her +endeavors merely the outcome of the religious exaltation of a pure and +noblewoman "naturally prone to succor women in misfortune," as a +Byzantine writer says of her? At any rate, this practical sympathy +exerted its influence also in enactments of the Justinian Code relating +to women; such as the ordinance tending to increase the dignity of +marriage and render it more indissoluble, or that to give to seduced +maidens recourse against their seducers, or that to relieve actresses of +the social disbarment which attended their calling. All these measures +were doubtless due to the inspiration of Theodora. + +She also carried her strict ideas as to the sanctity of marriage into +the life of the court, as is shown by the manner in which she pitilessly +spoiled the romance which would have united one of the most brilliant +generals of the Empire to a niece of Justinian. + +Prjecta, the emperor's niece, had fallen into the hands of Gontharis, a +usurper who had slain her husband, Areobindus. She had given up all as +lost when an unexpected savior appeared in the person of a handsome +Armenian officer, Artabanes, the commander in Africa, who overthrew the +usurper and restored her to liberty. From gratitude, Prjecta could +refuse her deliverer nothing, and she promised him her hand. The +ambitious Armenian saw in this brilliant marriage rapid promotion to the +height of power. The princess returned to Constantinople, and the Count +of Africa hastened to surrender his honorable office and sought a recall +to Constantinople to join his prospective bride. He was lionized in the +capital; his dignified demeanor, his burning eloquence and his unbounded +generosity won the admiration of all. To remove the social distance +between him and his fiance he was loaded down with honors and +dignities. All went well until an unexpected and troublesome obstacle to +the nuptials presented itself. Artabanes had overlooked or forgotten the +fact that years before he had espoused an Armenian lady. They had been +separated a long time, and the warrior had never been heard to speak of +her. So long as he was an obscure soldier his wife was contented to +leave him in peace; but not so after his unexpected rise to fame. +Suddenly she appeared in Constantinople, claiming the rights of a lawful +spouse, and as a wronged woman she implored the sympathetic aid of +Theodora. + +The empress was inflexible when the sacred bonds of marriage were at +stake, and she forced the reluctant general to renounce all claims to +the princess and to take back his forsaken wife. By way of precaution, +she speedily married Prjecta to John, the grandson of the emperor +Anastasius, and the pretty romance was at an end. + +With equal regard to the sanctity of marriage, Theodora employed +numerous devices to reconcile Belisarius, the celebrated general, with +his wife Antonina, to whom the scandal of the _Secret History_ +attributes serious lapses from moral rectitude, though the charge cannot +be regarded as proved. + +A portrait of the Byzantine empress would be incomplete if it did not +speak of her religious sentiments and the prominent part she took in +ecclesiastical politics. In religious matters we see not only the best +side of Theodora's nature, but also the supreme exhibition of her +influence in the affairs of the Empire. Like all the Byzantines of her +time, she was pious and devoted in her manner of life. She was noted for +her almsgiving and her contributions to the foundations established by +the Church. Chroniclers cite the houses of refuge, the orphanages, and +the hospitals founded by her; and Justinian, in one of his ordinances, +speaks of the innumerable gifts which she made to churches, hospitals, +asylums, and bishoprics. + +Yet, in spite of these many exhibitions of inward piety, Theodora was +strongly suspected by the orthodox of heresy. She professed openly the +monophysite doctrine,--the belief in the one nature in the person of +Jesus Christ. She also endeavored to bring Justinian to her view, and, +with an eye to the interest of the state, she entered upon a course of +policy which reconciled the schismatics--but disgusted the orthodox +Catholics, who were in unison with Rome. The people of Syria and Egypt +were almost universally Monophysites and Separatists. Theodora, with a +political finesse far greater than that of her husband, saw that the +discontent in the Orient was prejudicial to the imperial power, and she +endeavored by her line of policy to reconcile the hostile parties and to +reestablish religious peace in the Empire. She recognized that the +centre of gravity of the government had passed permanently from Rome to +Constantinople, and that consequently the best policy was to keep at +peace the peoples of the East. + +Justinian, on the other hand, misled by the grandeur of Roman tradition, +wished to establish, through union with the Roman See, strict orthodoxy +in the restored empire of the Csars. Theodora, with greater acumen, +observed the irreconcilable lines of difference between East and West, +and recognized that to proscribe the learned and powerful party of +dissenters in the Orient would alienate important provinces and be fatal +to the authority of the monarchy. She therefore threw her influence into +the balance of heresy. She received the leaders of the Monophysites in +the palace, and listened sympathetically to their counsels, their +complaints, their remonstrances. She placed men of this faith in the +most prominent patriarchal sees--Severius at Antioch, Theodosius at +Alexandria, Anthimius at Constantinople. She transformed the palace on +Hormisdas into a monastery for the persecuted priests of Syria and Asia. +When Severius was subjected to persecution, she provided means for him +to escape from Constantinople; and when Anthimius was deposed from the +metropolitan see, she extended to him, in spite of imperial orders, her +open protection, and gave him an asylum in the palace. Her boldest coup, +however, consisted in placing on the pontifical seat at Rome a pope of +her own choice, pledged to act with the Monophysites. + +For this rle she found the man in the Roman deacon Vigilius, for some +years apostolic legate at Constantinople. Vigilius was an ambitious and +clever priest who had won his way into the confidence of Theodora, and +the empress thought to find in him, when elevated to the pontifical +chair, a ready instrument for her purposes. It is recounted that, in +exchange for the imperial protection and patronage, Vigilius engaged to +reestablish Anthimius at Constantinople, to enter into a league with +Theodosius and Severius, and to annul the Council of Chalcedon. Upon the +death of the presiding pope, Agapetus, Vigilius set out for Rome with +letters for Belisarius, who was then at the height of his power in +Italy, and these letters were such that they did not admit of objection. +Apparently, in this affair Justinian had secretly assented to the plans +of the empress, seeing perhaps in the movement a solution which would +bring about the unity which he desired and place the Roman pontiff in +accord with the Orientals. But it was not without trouble that Vigilius +was installed. Immediately upon the death of Agapetus, the Roman party +had provided a successor in Silverius; and to seat Vigilius in the chair +of Saint Peter, they must first make Silverius descend. Belisarius was +charged with this repugnant task. With manifest reluctance, he undertook +his part in the questionable intrigue. He first suggested to Silverius a +dignified way of settling the affair by making the concessions which the +emperor desired of Vigilius. Silverius indignantly refused to make any +such compromise. Thereupon, under the imaginary pretext of treason, he +was brutally arrested, deposed, and sent into exile. Vigilius was at +once ordained pope in his stead. Theodora seemed to have conquered. + +But when securely installed, Vigilius, in spite of the threats of +Belisarius, deferred the fulfilment of his promises. Finally, however, +he was compelled to make important concessions to the empress. This was +the last triumph of Theodora; and toward the close of her life, in the +growing progress of the Eastern Church, and in the declining influence +of the pope, she had reason to believe that the dreams of her religious +diplomacy were realized. + +Theodora's advocacy of the cause of the dissenters accounts for much of +the vituperation heaped upon her by orthodox Catholics. In the eyes of +the Cardinal Baronius, the wife of Justinian was "a detestable creature, +a second Eve too ready to listen to the serpent, a new Delilah, another +Herodias, revelling in the blood of the saints, a citizen of Hell, +protected by demons, inspired by Satan, burning to break the concord +bought by the blood of confessors and of martyrs." It is worthy of note +that this was written before the discovery of the manuscript of the +_Secret History_. What would the learned cardinal have said had he known +of the alleged adventures of the youth of this woman, classed by pious +Catholics as one of the worst enemies of the Church? + +Perhaps, after all, we are to find in Theodora's religious defection the +source of all the scandal which has attached to her name. Damned in the +eyes of pious churchmen because of her religious faith that Christ's +nature was not dual, it was easy for the tongue of scandal regarding her +early life to gain credence. Had Theodora followed the orthodox in the +belief in the two natures, she might have committed worse offences than +were charged to her, and no such vituperation would have been uttered by +any member of the orthodox Church; but her position in the religious +controversies of the sixth century will certainly, in the twentieth +century, do her memory little harm. + +Theodora's health was always delicate. After these years of stormy +dissension, as her strength began to fail, she was directed to use the +famous Pythian warm baths. Her progress through Bithynia was made with +all the splendor of an imperial cortege, and all along the route she +distributed alms to churches, monasteries, and hospitals, with the +request that the devout should implore Heaven for the restoration of her +health. Finally, in the month of June, A. D. 548, in the twenty-fourth +year of her marriage and the twenty-second of her reign, Theodora died +of a cancer. Justinian was inconsolable at her loss, which rightly +seemed to him to be irreparable. His later years were lacking in the +energy and finesse that had characterized him during her lifetime, and +it was doubtless her loss which clouded his spirits and removed from him +the chief inspiration of his reign. Some years after Theodora's death, a +poet, desiring to gratify the emperor, recalled the memory of the +excellent, beautiful and wise sovereign, "who was beseeching at the +throne of grace God's favor on her spouse." + +We can hardly think of Theodora as a glorified saint, yet her goodness +of heart and her charity may atone for many of the serious defects in +her character. We know not whence she came nor the story of her early +life; but as an empress she exhibited all the defects of her qualities. +She was a woman cast in a large mould, and her faults stand out in equal +prominence with her virtues. She was at times cruel, selfish, and proud, +often despotic and violent, utterly unscrupulous and pitiless when it +was a question of maintaining her power. But she was resourceful, +resolute, energetic, courageous; her political acumen was truly +masculine; in a critical moment she saved the throne for Justinian, and +during all her lifetime she was his wise Egeria, by her counsel enabling +him to succeed in great movements; when her influence ceased to exercise +itself a decadence began which continued during the remaining years of +Justinian's reign. + +As a woman, she was capricious, passionate, vain, self-willed, but +sympathetic to the unfortunate and infinitely seductive. Truly imperial +was she in her vices, truly queenly in her virtues. Whatever may have +been her youth, her career on the throne is the best refutation of the +scandal of the _Secret History_, and she deserves a place in the records +of history as one of the world's greatest, most intelligent, most +fascinating empresses. + + + + +XII + +OTHER SELF-ASSERTING AUGUST--VERINA, ARIADNE, SOPHIA, MARTINA, IRENE + + +It is a noteworthy feature in the history of the Eastern Roman Empire +that periods in which empresses figure prominently in the affairs of +state alternate with periods in which the August are mere ciphers. +Eudoxia, the wife of Arcadius, marks the early limit of feminine +predominance in the independent history of the eastern section of the +Roman Empire. The Empress Irene, who reigned at first with her son +Constantine and afterward alone, marks the later limit of the Roman, as +distinguished from the strictly Byzantine Empire, since during her +reign, at the beginning of the ninth century, the Empire of the West was +completely dissevered from all connection with Constantinople through +the crowning of Charlemagne as Emperor of the West by Pope Leo. Thus a +masterful woman was the predominating influence at the beginning and at +the end of the existence of the Eastern Roman Empire as a separate +entity. + +In the interval between these two limits the most important reign was +that of Justinian and the most remarkable woman was, of course, the +Empress Theodora. Following Eudoxia were the rival Empresses Pulcheria +and Eudocia, celebrated for their beauty, their culture, and their +piety. + +When the house of Theodosius ceased to exist with Pulcheria and Marcian, +the Roman Empire in the East was safely guided through the stormy times +which saw its extinction in the West by a series of three men of +ability, Leo I. (457-474), Zeno (474-491), and Anastasius (491-518). +During this period two August--Verina and Ariadne--took a part in +imperial politics, and made up in wickedness and intrigue what they +lacked in culture and piety. Next followed the house of Justin, which +produced two remarkable women in Theodora and her niece Sophia, the +latter, though not the equal of her aunt in strength of character, yet +leaving her mark on the history of her times. + +Following the death of Sophia there was for nearly forty years a break +in the predominance of self-asserting August. Of the wives of Tiberius, +Maurice, and Phocas, we know merely the names--respectively, Anastasia, +Constantina, and Leontia Augusta. Heraclius's memorable reign was shared +with two empresses, the first of whom, Eudocia, did nothing to win +publicity, while the career of the second--Martina--recalls the +wickedness and the intrigue of Verina and Sophia. But the spouses of the +successors of Heraclius did not follow Martina's ignoble example, but +were women of whom nothing was recorded either of praise or blame. We do +not even know the name of the wife of Constans II., who entered upon a +long reign after the exile of Heracleonas, son of Martina. Anastasia, +the spouse of Constantine IV., Theodora, queen of the second Justinian, +Maria, spouse of Leo III., the Isaurian, and Irene, Maria, and Eudocia, +the three wives of Constantine V., played so little part in political +affairs that they are hardly better known than the nameless wives of the +emperors who filled up the interval between the second Justinian and Leo +the Isaurian (695-716). + +This brief resume brings us to the reign of the Empress Irene, who in +energy, in wickedness, and in ambition made up for all the deficiencies +of her predecessors. Having devoted separate chapters to the most +celebrated August of the Eastern Empire--Eudoxia, Pulcheria and +Eudocia, and Theodora--we shall group into one chapter our brief +consideration of the lives and characters of the less renowned but no +less pronounced August of the intervening periods--Verina, Ariadne, +Sophia, Martina, and Irene. + +Verina and her daughter Ariadne, through their wickedness and ambition, +cast dark shadows over the otherwise bright history of the house of Leo +the Great. Verina, the imperial consort of Leo, was a woman of little +cultivation but of great natural gifts, fond of intrigue, ambitious of +power, and implacable in hatred and revenge. Of her two daughters, +Ariadne had married Zeno the Isaurian, one of the most illustrious and +able officials of the Empire. Leo, the offspring of this union, was +selected as the heir and successor of Leo I., but upon the death of the +lad, shortly after his accession, Zeno was raised to the throne, much to +the disgust of the empress-mother Verina. She fostered'a conspiracy for +the downfall of Zeno and the elevation of Patricius, her paramour, and +as a result of her intrigues Zeno had to forsake his throne and flee to +the mountain fastnesses of Isauria, his native country, together with +his wife Ariadne and his mother Lallis. Verina's brother, Basiliscus, +aspired to the throne, but she opposed his claims in order to win the +purple for Patricius. After Zeno's flight, however, the ministers and +senators elected Basiliscus as his successor, and the new emperor +entered upon a most unpopular and checkered reign of only twenty months. +His queen was named Zenonis, a young and beautiful woman, who soon +gained an unenviable reputation because of her manifest fondness for her +husband's nephew Harmatius, a young fop, noted for his good looks and +his effeminate manners. An ancient chronicler tells the story of this +intrigue: + +"Basiliscus permitted Harmatius, inasmuch as he was a kinsman, to +associate freely with the empress Zenonis. Their intercourse became +intimate, and, as they were both persons of no ordinary beauty, they +became extravagantly enamored of each other. They used to exchange +glances of the eyes, they used constantly to turn their faces and smile +at each other, and the passion which they were obliged to conceal was +the cause of grief and vexation. They confided their trouble to Daniel, +a eunuch, and to Maria, a midwife, who hardly healed their malady by the +remedy of bringing them together. Then Zenonis coaxed Basiliscus to +grant her lover the highest office in the city." + +This palace intrigue was soon brought to an end, however, by the fall of +Basiliscus and the restoration of Zeno in 477, in spite of the intrigues +of Verina. After Zeno's return, his most powerful minister, the Isaurian +Illus, became the object of Verina's enmity and machinations. She even +formed a plot to assassinate him, which he was fortunate enough to +discover and frustrate. Recognizing that his power would not be secure +so long as Verina was at large, he begged Zeno to consign to him the +dangerous woman; and the emperor, doubtless glad to be rid of his +redoubtable mother-in-law, gave her over into his hands. Illus first +compelled her to take the vows of a nun at Tarsus, and then placed her +in confinement in Dalisandon, an Isaurian castle. + +But Illus had only got rid of one female foe to find a more bitter +antagonist in the latter's daughter, the empress Ariadne. She made the +second attempt on his life in 483, and used all her arts of intrigue to +estrange from him the Emperor Zeno. Finally, realizing that his life was +not safe in Constantinople, Illus withdrew from the court, and later +attached himself to the cause of the rebel Leontius, who sought to +overthrow Zeno. In support of the rebel's cause, Illus turned to his +quondam enemy Verina, the empress-mother, who from her prison castle was +glad to seize the opportunity to deal a blow to her ungrateful +son-in-law. To give the semblance of legitimacy to the cause of +Leontius, Verina was induced to crown him at Tarsus, and she also issued +a letter in his interest, which was sent to various cities and exerted a +marked influence on the disaffected. Leontius established an imperial +court at Antioch, but was speedily overthrown by Theodoric the +Ostrogoth. The two leaders of the conspiracy, with Verina, took refuge +in the Isaurian stronghold of Papirius, where they stood a siege for +four years, during which time Verina died. The fortress was finally +taken through the treachery of Illus's sister-in-law, and Illus and +Leontius were slain. + +After the death of Zeno, Anastasius was in 491 proclaimed emperor +through the influence of the widowed empress Ariadne, who married him +about six weeks later and continued to be an influence in politics +during Anastasius's long and successful reign. + +In Verina and Ariadne we see a mother and a daughter exceedingly alike +in character, but frequently at cross purposes with each other because +of their similar traits. Both were ambitious, both fond of intrigue, and +both ready to commit any crime when it answered their purpose. Verina, +pleased at the accession of her grandson Leo, whom she could control, +was chagrined and disappointed when upon the lad's death his masterful +father was elevated to the throne; and, continuing her intrigues, she +lost first her royal station and then her freedom and her life in her +endeavor to do an injury to her son-in-law. Ariadne quickly grasped the +power which her mother had lost, and has the unusual record of choosing +her husband's successor on the throne and of being the imperial consort +of two rulers in succession. + +We pass now to the dynasty of Justin and to a consideration of the niece +of the great Theodora, Sophia, empress of Justin the Younger, nephew and +successor of Justinian. + +The poet Corippus gives a dramatic account of the elevation of Justin +and Sophia. During Justinian's long illness the two were faithful +attendants at his bedside and ministered to his every want. Finally, one +morning, before the break of day, Justin was awakened by a patrician and +informed that the emperor was dead. Soon after, the members of the +Senate entered the palace and assembled in a beautiful room overlooking +the sea, where they found Justin conversing with his wife Sophia. They +greeted the royal pair as Augustus and Augusta; and the twain, with +apparent reluctance, submitted to the will of the Senate. They then +repaired to the imperial chamber, and gazed, with tearful eyes, upon the +corpse of their beloved uncle. Sophia at once ordered to be brought an +embroidered cloth, on which was wrought in gold and brilliant colors the +whole series of Justinian's labors, the emperor himself being +represented in the midst with his foot resting upon the neck of the +Vandal giant. The next morning, Justin and his imperial consort +proceeded to the church of Saint Sophia, where they made a public +declaration of the orthodox faith. + +In taking this step, Sophia showed that she had the ambition but not the +political acumen of her aunt Theodora. Like the latter, she had been +originally a Monophysite; but a wily bishop had suggested that her +heretical opinions stood in the way of her husband's promotion to the +rank of Csar, and in consequence she found it advisable to join the +ranks of the orthodox. Unfortunately, by this step the balance of the +religious parties, which Theodora had so successfully maintained, was +broken, and the later years of Justin's reign were disgraced by the +persecution of the Monophysites, so that great disaffection toward the +throne was created throughout the East. + +The religious ceremony was soon followed by the acclamations of the +populace in the Hippodrome, which were made all the more hearty through +the act of Justin in discharging the vast debts of his uncle Justinian; +and, before three years had elapsed, his example was imitated and +surpassed by the empress, who delivered many indigent citizens from the +weight of debt and usury--an act of benevolence which won for her the +gratitude and adoration of the populace. + +Thus auspiciously began the reign of Justin and Sophia, which the royal +pair had proclaimed was to be an new era of happiness and glory for +mankind; but, though the sentiments of the emperor were pure and +benevolent and it was the ambition of the empress to surpass her aunt +Theodora, neither had the intellectual gifts equal to the task, and +during their reign the Empire was subjected to disgrace abroad and to +wretchedness at home. + +Much the same ingratitude which Belisarius had experienced at the hand +of his imperial mistress was visited upon his eminent successor, Narses, +by the new empress. She sent Longinus, as the new exarch, to supersede +the conqueror of Italy, and in most insulting language recalled the +eunuch Narses to Constantinople. "Let him leave to men," she said, "the +exercise of arms, and return to his proper station among the maidens of +the palace, where a distaff should be again placed in the hands of the +eunuch." "I will spin her such a thread as she shall not easily +unravel!" is said to have been the indignant reply of the hero, who +alone had saved Italy to the Empire. Instead of returning to the +Byzantine palace, he returned to Naples and later dwelt at Rome, where +he passed away and with him the only military genius great enough to +ward off the invasion of the Lombards. + +After a reign of a few years the faculties of Justin, which were +impaired by disease, began to fail, and in 574 he became a hopeless +lunatic. The only son of the imperial pair had died in infancy, and the +question of a successor now became a serious one. The daughter, Arabia, +was the wife of Baduarius, superintendent of the palace, who vainly +aspired to the honor of adoption as the Csar. Domestic animosities +turned the empress elsewhere. + +The artful empress found a suitable successor in Tiberius, the young and +handsome captain of the guards, and, in one of his sane intervals, +Justin, at her instance, created him a Csar. During the few remaining +years of Justin's life, Tiberius showed himself to both his adopted +parents a filial and grateful son, and meekly submitted to all the +exactions of his empress-mother. Though relying on Tiberius for the +sterner duties of the imperial office, Sophia retained all her authority +and sovereignty as Augusta and would not submit to the presence of +another queen in the palace. Tiberius was already a husband and father. +In a sane moment, Justin, with masculine good nature and blindness to +feminine foibles, blandly suggested that Ino, the wife of the Csar, +should dwell with Tiberius in the palace, for, he added, "he is a young +man and the flesh is hard to rule." But Sophia immediately put her foot +down. "As long as I live," said she, "I will never give my kingdom to +another"--words that were possibly a reminiscence of the celebrated +saying of Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra, "I am a queen; and as long as I +live I will reign." Consequently, during the lifetime of Justin, Ino and +her two daughters lived in complete retirement in a modest house not far +from the palace. Her social status aroused considerable interest among +the ladies of the court circle, who found it difficult to decide whether +or not they should call on the wife of the Csar. At tables and +firesides this question was gravely discussed, but no one would take the +initiative of visiting Ino without first consulting the wishes of +Sophia. Finally, when one of the ladies, with considerable trepidation, +ventured to ask the empress, she was scolded for her pains; "Go away and +be quiet," responded the imperious Sophia, "it is no business of yours." + +When, however, a few days before the death of Justin, Tiberius was +inaugurated emperor, he at once installed his wife in the palace, to the +chagrin of the empress-mother, and had her recognized by the factions of +the Hippodrome. A conflict arose as to what should be her Christian name +as empress: the Blues wished to change her pagan name to "Anastasia," +while the Greens urged stoutly the adoption of the name of the sainted +"Helena." Tiberius decided with the Blues, and as Anastasia Ino was +crowned Empress of the East. + +During the long apprenticeship of Tiberius, Sophia had held the purse +strings and had kept the young Csar on an allowance which seemed too +small to comport with his imperial prospects. Upon becoming emperor, +however, Tiberius quickly rid himself of the dictation of his patroness. +He gave her a stately palace in which to live, and surrounded her with a +numerous train of eunuchs and courtiers; he paid her ceremonious visits +on formal occasions and always saluted the widow of his benefactor with +the title of mother. But it was impossible for Sophia to overcome her +disappointment at being deprived of power, and she set on foot numerous +conspiracies to dethrone Tiberius and to bring about the elevation of +some one whom she could control. The chief of these plots centred about +the young Justinian, the son of Germanus of the house of Anastasius. +Upon the death of Justin a faction had asserted the claims of Justinian; +but Tiberius had freely pardoned the youth for aspiring to the purple +and had given him the command of the Eastern army. Sophia seized upon +the acclamation which the renown of his victories inspired to start a +conspiracy in his interests, but Tiberius heard in time of the intended +uprising and by his personal exertions and firmness suppressed the +conspiracy. He once more forgave Justinian, but he realized the +necessity of restraining the activity of the rapidly aging, but still +clever and intriguing, ex-empress. Sophia was deprived of all imperial +honors and reduced to a modest station, and the care of her person was +committed to a faithful guard who should frustrate any further attempts +on her part to play a part in the game of imperial politics. Thus the +ambitious niece of Theodora passed off the stage of action after a +career which, beginning with every promise of brilliant success and high +renown, had, after many vicissitudes, ended in humiliation and disgrace. + +Heraclius's long and memorable reign, from 610 to 641, was characterized +by much domestic infelicity. Upon the day of his coronation he +celebrated his marriage with the delicate Eudocia, who bore him two +children, a daughter, Epiphania, and a son, Heraclius Constantine, the +natural successor to the throne. Heraclius's second wife was his own +niece Martina, the marriage being considered incestuous by the orthodox +and becoming the cause of much scandal. The curses of Heaven too seemed +to be upon the union; of the children, Flavius had a wry neck and +Theodosius was deaf and dumb; the third, Heracleonas, had no pronounced +physical deformity, but was lacking in intellectual power and in moral +force. The physical sufferings of Heraclius in his last years were also +looked upon as retribution for his sin. + +Martina's influence upon her aged husband in his declining years was +unbounded. Full of ambition and intrigue, she induced him upon his +deathbed to declare her son Heracleonas joint heir with Constantine, +hoping thus herself to wield imperial power. "When Martina first +appeared on the throne with the name and attributes of royalty, she was +checked by a firm, though respectful opposition; and the dying embers of +freedom were kindled by the breath of superstitious prejudice. 'We +reverence,' exclaimed the voice of a citizen, 'we reverence the mother +of our princes; but to those princes alone our obedience is due; and +Constantine, the elder emperor, is of an age to sustain in his own hand +the weight of the sceptre. Your sex is excluded by nature from the toils +of government. How could you combat, how could you answer, the +barbarians who, with hostile or friendly intentions, may approach the +royal city? May Heaven avert from the Roman Republic this national +disgrace which would provoke the patience of the slaves of Persia!' +Martina descended from the throne with indignation and sought a refuge +in the female apartment of the palace." + +But, though deprived of the outward prerogatives of supreme power, she +determined all the more to wield the sceptre through the power of her +son. The reign of Constantine III. lasted only one hundred and three +days, and at the early age of thirty he expired. The belief was +prevalent that poison was the means used by his inhuman stepmother to +bring him to his untimely end. Martina at once caused her son to +proclaim himself sole emperor. But the public abhorrence of the +incestuous widow of Heraclius was only increased by this deed, for +Constantine had left a son, Constans, the natural heir. Both Senate and +populace rose in indignation, and compelled Heracleonas to comply with +their demand that Constans be made his colleague. His submission saved +him for only a year. In 642 he was deposed by the Senate, and he and his +mother Martina were sent into exile. So violent was the popular rage +that the tongue of the mother and the nose of the son were slit--the +first instance of the barbarous Oriental custom being applied to members +of the royal house. + +Martina was always looked upon by the devout of her age as "the accursed +thing." She had by intrigue won the hand of her widowed uncle, by +intrigue exerted a dominating influence over the emperor even up to his +dying moments, and by intrigue tried to determine the destiny of her son +and her stepson. But the intriguing widow reaped in public abhorrence +the natural results of her offences. For a time the people endured the +abomination of her unnatural crimes, but at last they visited upon her a +well-merited punishment. + +The reign of the empress Irene is noteworthy because of her restoration +of the images banished by Leo the Isaurian and his successors, and +because it marks the end of all union between the Eastern and Western +Empires and the beginning of the Byzantine Empire strictly so called. +Hence, it deserves more minute attention than the other reigns we have +briefly sketched, and some mention must be made of the history of the +religious movement with which Irene's name is so intimately connected. + +Leo III., the Isaurian, the most remarkable of the Byzantine emperors +since the days of the great Justinian, made his long reign from 717 to +740 memorable by his victories over the Saracens and his long and bitter +conflict against the image worship and relic worship which had developed +rapidly throughout the Empire and had assumed the aspect of fetichism. + +The early Christians, owing to their Jewish proclivities, had felt an +unconquerable repugnance to the use of images, and their religious +worship was uniformly simple and spiritual. As the Greek influence +spread throughout the Church, however, there developed a veneration of +the Cross and of the relics of the saints. Then it was thought that if +the relics were esteemed, so much the more should be the faithful copies +of the persons of the saints, as delineated by the arts of painting and +sculpture. In course of time, by a natural development, the honors of +the original were transferred to the copy, and the Christian's prayer +before the image of the saint ceased to distinguish between the +counterfeit presentment and the saint it was designed to portray. As +healing power was attributed to many of the images and pictures, the +popular adoration of them grew. Thus, by the end of the sixth century +the worship of images was firmly established, especially among the +Greeks and Asiatics. Many pious souls began to see that this idolatry of +the Christians hardly differed from the idolatry of the Greeks, and that +they had no potent arguments against the assertions of Jews and +Mohammedans that Greek Christianity was but a continuation of Greek +paganism. Consequently, a reaction began, which reached its culmination +in the reign of Leo the Isaurian, who, because of his active hostility +to images, was surnamed Leo the Iconoclast. His measures were severe, +and he introduced a movement which involved the East in a tremendous +conflict of one hundred and twenty years. + +Leo's son, Constantine V.,--Copronymus,--was a more cruel and determined +iconoclast than his father; but into his own family circle he was +destined to introduce a member who was to set at naught the efforts of +father and son and restore the worship of images to its former +flourishing estate. Copronymus himself had had three wives, the most +prominent of whom was a barbarian, the daughter of a khan of the +Chazars; but for the wife of his son and heir, Leo IV., he selected an +Athenian virgin, an orphan of seventeen summers, whose sole endowment +consisted in her beauty and her personal charms. As in the case of +Athenais, nothing is known of the antecedents of Irene. Who her parents +were, what was her education, how many years she lived in her native +city--these are questions of idle speculation.--Her imperial career +shows that she was a woman of remarkable beauty and fascination, of +highly trained intellectual gifts and Hellenic temperament, and from +this we are led to infer that she had in her youth the best instruction +her native city afforded. + +The nuptials of Leo and Irene were celebrated with imposing splendor, +and the new princess rapidly became an important influence in the life +of the palace, winning the regard of her father-in-law and acquiring an +indisputable ascendency over her feeble husband. Irene, though a +Christian, inherited the idolatry and the love of images and ritual of +her ancestors; but during the remaining years of the reign of Copronymus +and the four short years in which her husband occupied the throne she +repressed her zeal, and by clever dissimulation hid her devotion to the +cause of the image worshippers. + +Leo left the Empire to his son Constantine VI., a lad of ten years, with +the empress-dowager Irene as sole regent and guardian of the Roman +world. During the minority of her son Irene discharged with vigor and +assiduity all the duties of public administration and enjoyed to the +full the irresponsible power of her office of regent. She took advantage +of her power to restore the worship of images and thus won the favor of +a large faction of the populace and the clergy. She endeavored to bring +up her son in such a way that he should continue to be subservient to +her, and as he approached the age at which he should assume the reins of +government, Irene showed no disposition to yield up her power. + +Even when Constantine became of age, he was excluded from state affairs. +He had been betrothed to Rotrud, daughter of Charlemagne; but Irene, for +the sake of her own power, had broken off the match and compelled him to +marry one of her favorites, who was distasteful to him. The maternal +yoke, which he had so patiently borne, finally became grievous, and +Constantine listened eagerly to the favorites of his own age who urged +him to assert his rights. He was finally persuaded to do so, and +succeeded in seizing the helm of state. His mother vigorously resisted, +but was overcome and compelled to go into seclusion for a time; but +Constantine at length pardoned her and restored her former dignity. +Irene, however, had by no means relinquished her ambition for sole +power, and availed herself of every opportunity to discredit the prince +and enhance her own popularity. + +Constantine became enamored of one of his mother's maids of honor, +Theodota. With the insidious purpose of making him odious to the clergy, +who discountenanced divorce and second marriage, Irene encouraged him to +put away his wife, Maria, and marry Theodota. The patriarch Tarasius, a +creature of the empress-mother, acquiesced in the emperor's wishes, and, +though he would not perform the ceremony himself, he ordered one of his +subordinates to celebrate the unpopular bans. The affair created great +scandal among the monks and was injurious to the prestige of the +emperor. + +A powerful conspiracy was secretly organized for the restoration of the +empress. At length the emperor, suspecting his danger, escaped from +Constantinople with the purpose of arousing the provinces and the armies +so that he might return to the city with sufficient force to overwhelm +the conspirators and establish beyond question his power. By this flight +the empress was left in danger, because of the possible exposure of the +plot and the indignation of the populace. She acted with her customary +shrewdness and duplicity. Among those about the emperor were some who +were involved in the conspiracy; so, while appearing to be making ready +to implore the mercy and beg the return of her son, she sent to these +men a secret communication in which she veiled the threat that if they +did not act, she would reveal their treason. Fearing for their lives, +they acted at once with the boldness of desperate criminals. Seizing the +emperor on the Asiatic shore, they conveyed him across the Hellespont to +the porphyry apartment of the palace, the chamber in which he was born. +The son was now completely in the power of the mother, in whom ambition +had stifled every maternal emotion. In the bloody council called by the +traitors she urged that Constantine should be rendered incapable of +holding the throne. Her emissaries blinded the young prince and immured +him in a monastery. As a blind monk Constantine survived five of his +successors; but his memory was revived among men only by the marriage of +his daughter Euphrosyne with the Emperor Michael the Second. + +For five years Irene enjoyed all the delights and experienced all the +bitterness of absolute power. Her crime called down upon her the +execration of all the best among mankind, but dread of her cruelty +prevented any open outbreak against her. She carried on the movement for +the restoration of images, and by her outward piety she caused men to +overlook the heinous nature of her crimes. Her reign was noted for its +external splendor and the strong influence she exerted on all affairs of +state. She offered marriage to the Emperor Charlemagne of the West, but +he repelled with repugnance all overtures from the unnatural mother and +reminded her that her intrigues had prevented the union of his daughter +with the Emperor Constantine. In fact, her accession brought about the +final severing of all bonds of union between the eastern and western +divisions of the Roman world. Pope Leo regarded a female sovereign as an +anomaly and an abomination in the eyes of all true Romans, and he +brought to an end all claims the Byzantine dynasty might have on Italy +at least, by creating Charlemagne Emperor of the West. + +These years of power were troublous ones to the wicked queen, because of +rebellions abroad and palace intrigues at home. She had surrounded +herself with servile patricians and eunuchs, whom she enriched and +elevated to the highest offices of state; but her own example had +fostered in them ingratitude and duplicity, and, while they showed her +every outward mark of deference, they secretly conspired for her +downfall and their own elevation. The grand treasurer, Nicephorus, won +over the leading eunuchs and courtiers about the person of the empress, +and the decision was reached that he should be invested with the purple. +Never was Irene more queenly than in the manner with which she received +the intelligence of her fall. When the conspirators informed her that +she must retire from the palace, she addressed them with becoming +dignity, recounting the revolutions of her life, and accepting with +composure her fate. She gently reproached Nicephorus for his perfidy and +reminded him that he owed his elevation to her, and she requested the +proper recognition of her imperial standing and asked for a safe and +honorable retreat. But the greed of Nicephorus would not grant this last +request; he deprived her of all her dignities and wealth, and exiled her +to the Isle of Lesbos, where she endured every hardship and gained a +scanty subsistence by the labors of her distaff. Irene survived the +change of her fortune for only one year, and in 803 died of +grief--destitute, forsaken, and lonely. + +Because of her wickedness Irene's name is perpetuated in history among +the Messalinas and the Lucrezia Borgias. Because of her religious +orthodoxy she was canonized as a saint,--a striking instance of how +outward conformity to religion covers a multitude of sins. + + + + +XIII + +BYZANTINE EMPRESSES THEODORA II., THEOPHANO, ZOE, THEODORA III. + + +The Iconoclastic controversy was far from being extinguished with the +fall (in the person of Irene) of the house of Leo the Isaurian. It was +destined to continue for over half a century longer and to be finally +settled by another empress whose career bore marked similarity to that +of the image-loving Irene; and it then remained settled because the +second image-loving queen was succeeded by a royal house sprung from one +of the European themes which was in sympathy, accordingly, with the +Church of the West, rather than with the religious sentiment of the +people of the Orient. + +But a greater change had come over the Eastern Empire with the exile and +death of Irene. Her elevation had, as we have seen, severed the +connection between East and West and led to the appointment of a Western +emperor in the person of Charlemagne. Hence, from this time onward the +interests and sympathies of the two sections of the later Roman Empire +diverge more and more, and the government at Constantinople becomes ever +more Oriental in its proclivities. It is, therefore, more appropriate to +use the adjective Byzantine for the remaining centuries of the history +of Constantinople to its conquest by the Turks in 1453. + +The careers of Irene and her successor, Theodora, the two +image-worshipping empresses, in the contrast of the vicissitudes of +their lives with the rapidity of their rise and the splendor of their +power, offer materials for romance more truly than for sober history. +Each was born in private station; and in each case it must have required +rare beauty and fascination and high intellectual gifts to fill so +successfully the exalted position of Empress of the Romans, and to +overturn the iconoclastic reforms of their predecessors on the throne. +Each of them, too, when regent, was grossly neglectful of the son over +whose youth she presided, and whom she should have fitted for the high +station to which he was destined. Yet herein lies the marked difference +between the two queens: Irene finally expelled her son from his royal +station, and sent him to pass his life as a blinded monk in a secluded +cell; Theodora, finding she could no longer control the wild nature of +her son, whose training she had neglected, retired from the court and +sought relief in a life of penitence. For their pious acts, both +empresses were canonized as orthodox saints, but Irene must ever be +regarded as a demon at heart, while Theodora must pass as a misguided +and self-deceived woman, who, in the performance of her religious +duties, overlooked the most important task just at hand. But we are +anticipating our consideration of Theodora, the second Irene. + +The iconoclastic controversy was renewed by Nicephorus, who usurped the +throne of Irene, as he was of Oriental extraction and therefore in +sympathy with the so-called heretics. Neither Nicephorus nor his +successor during a period of political anarchy came to a peaceful end, +but Michael II., in 829 died a natural death in the royal palace, still +wearing the crown he had won, and leaving the throne to his son +Theophilus, destined to rank as the Haroun Al Raschid of Byzantine +romance and story. Michael had married Euphrosyne, the daughter of +Irene's son, Constantine VI., and the last scion of Leo the Isaurian. +Euphrosyne had already taken the veil, but, to bring about a union which +might probably continue the line of Leo, the patriarch absolved her from +her vows, and she passed from the convent to the palace as Empress of +the East. Yet, so far as we know, there was no issue of the marriage, +and Michael's son--Theophilus--by a former wife succeeded his father on +the throne. Euphrosyne remained for a time in the palace as +empress-dowager, and seems to have been on the best of terms with her +stepson, whom she at length assisted in the important but difficult task +of selecting a consort. + +Theophilus, since the time of Constantine VI., was the first prince to +be brought up in the purple, and his education was the best the age +afforded. The ninth century was an age of romance, both in action and in +literature, and Theophilus was inspired with many of the ideas of +Oriental monarchs. His reign, therefore, furnishes a series of anecdotes +and tales like to those of the Arabian Nights, and was surrounded with +an Oriental glamour and mystery. And, like his predecessors, he was a +pronounced iconoclast. + +Theophilus was unmarried when he ascended the throne, and the matter of +choosing a wife presented many difficulties to the absolute ruler who +could have his choice from among the daughters of the aristocratic +families of Constantinople, or even from the provinces of his dominions. +He finally took counsel with the attractive empress-dowager Euphrosyne, +and between them they devised a plan which would permit of a wide range +of choice and yet possess all the romance of mythical times. + +The empress-dowager one day assembled at her levee all the most +beautiful and accomplished daughters of the nobles of the capital. While +the maidens were engaged in the interchange of friendly greetings, +Theophilus suddenly entered the room, carrying, like Paris of old, a +golden apple in his hand. He cast his eyes over the room, and there was +a flutter in many a feminine heart over the object of his coming and the +possible recipient of the golden apple. Struck by the beauty and grace +of the fair Eikasia, one of the noted belles of the day, he paused +before her to address a word to her. Already in the heart of the proud +beauty there were anticipations of an imperial career. But Theophilus +found no better topic to commence a conversation than the ungallant +remark: "Woman is the source of evil in the world;" to which the young +lady quickly replied: "Woman is also the cause of much good." Either the +ready retort or the tone of her voice jarred on the captious mind of the +monarch, and he passed on. His eye then fell on the modest features and +graceful figure of the young Theodora, a rival beauty, and to her, +without risking a word, he handed the apple. The shock was too severe +for the slighted Eikasia, who had for a moment felt the thrill of +gratified ambition, and was conscious of the possession of the +endowments that would adorn the throne. She straightway retired to a +monastery which she founded, and devoted her time to religious practices +and intellectual pursuits. Many hymns were composed by her, which +continued long in use in the Greek Church. + +Perhaps it would have been better for Theophilus had he chosen Eikasia. +Theodora, with all her modest demeanor, was self-assertive and proud, +and as a devoted iconodule she caused her husband many an unhappy hour +during his lifetime; and as soon as he was dead she set to work to undo +his policy. The Empress Euphrosyne too soon realized the masterful +spirit of the new empress as did Theodora's own mother, Theoktista, and +the two dowagers retired into the monastery of Gastria, which afforded +them an agreeable retreat from the intrigues of the court. + +Theodora is the heroine of another tale which illustrated an unbecoming +trait in her character and the love of justice of Theophilus. It was the +practice of money-loving officials to engage secretly in trade and to +avoid the payment of custom duties by engaging the empress, or members +of the imperial family, in commercial adventures. By these practices, +gross injustice was done the merchants, and the revenues of the state +suffered. Theophilus learned that the young empress had lent her name to +one of these trading speculations, and he determined to handle the +matter in such a way that, in future, a repetition would be impossible. +He ascertained the time when a ship laden with a valuable cargo in the +empress's name was about to arrive in Constantinople. He assembled his +whole court on the quay to witness its arrival, and when the captain of +the ship demanded free entry in the empress's name, Theophilus compelled +him to unload and expose his precious cargo of Syrian merchandise, and +then publicly burn it; then, turning to his wife, he remarked that never +in the history of man had a Roman emperor or empress turned trader, and +added the sharp reproach that her avarice had degraded the character of +an empress into that of a merchant. + +Theophilus died in 842, leaving the throne to his three-year-old son, +Michael. His mother, Theodora, as she had been crowned empress, was +regent in her own right, and she quickly proved herself one of the most +self-assertive of Byzantine princesses. As Theophilus and his +predecessors overturned the work of Irene, so Theodora immediately began +to undo the iconoclastic policy of her deceased husband; and as her +successors continued her policy, the regency of Theodora marks the end +of iconoclasm and the permanent establishment of image worship in the +churches of the East, as of the West. + +Within the first month of the commencement of the new reign, images had +appeared once more in the churches of Constantinople, and the banished +image worshippers were recalled from their places of exile. John the +Grammarian, the patriarch who had served Theophilus, was deposed because +he refused to convoke a synod for the repeal of iconoclastic decrees, +and Methodius was appointed in his stead. A council of the church was +held the same year at Constantinople, composed largely of the lately +exiled bishops, abbots, and monks who had distinguished themselves as +confessors in the cause of image worship. All the prominent bishops who +had held iconoclastic opinions were expelled from their sees, and their +places were filled by the orthodox. The practices and doctrines of the +Iconoclasts were formally anathematized and banished forever from the +orthodox church. + +While the synod was being held, in the heart of Theodora a conflict was +going on between her love of image worship and her affection for her +deceased husband. She did not waver in her zeal for the orthodox church, +but she did dread to think of her husband as consigned, as a heretic, to +the pangs of hell. Consequently, she presented herself one day to the +assembled clergy, and requested the passage of a decree to the effect +that her deceased husband's sins had all been pardoned by the Church, +and that divine grace had effaced the record of his persecutions of the +saints. Deep dissatisfaction showed itself on the faces of all the +clergy when she made this singular request, and when they hesitated to +speak she uttered, with innocent frankness, a mild threat that if they +did not act favorably on her petition, she would not exert her influence +as regent to give them the victory over the Iconoclasts, but would leave +the affairs of the Church in their present status. The patriarch +Methodius finally found his voice to tell her that the Church could use +its office to release the souls of orthodox princes from the pains of +hell, but unfortunately the prayers of the Church were of no avail in +obtaining forgiveness from God for those who died without the pale of +orthodoxy; that the Church was intrusted with the keys of heaven only to +open and shut the gates of salvation to the living, while the dead were +beyond its help. + +Theodora, however, was determined all the more to secure salvation for +her deceased husband. She declared that in his last moments the dying +Theophilus had tenderly grasped and kissed an image she had laid on his +breast. Although the probabilities were that the soul of Theophilus had +already sped ere such an event took place, the wily Methodius saw in the +statement an escape from the dilemma that faced the synod; and upon his +recommendation the assembled clergy consented to absolve the dead +emperor from excommunication and to receive him into the bosom of the +orthodox church, declaring that, as his last moments were spent in the +manner Theodora certified in a written attestation, Theophilus had found +pardon with God. + +Like her more celebrated predecessor Irene, Theodora exhibited a +masterful ability in governing, and, in spite of her persecuting policy +toward the Iconoclasts, she preserved the tranquillity of the Empire and +enhanced its prestige. Like Irene, too, she became so engrossed in +things religious and political that she shamefully neglected the +education of her son. It is a sad commentary on the history of the +Church that in the long series of emperors from Theodosius to Basil only +two were utterly unfit for the high station to which they fell heir, and +these were the sons of the two empresses whose names figure so largely +in the triumph of the image worshippers,--Irene's son, Constantine VI., +and Theodora's son, Michael III. + +Theodora, absorbed in imperial ambition, abandoned the training of her +child to her brother Bardas, of whose profligate life she could not have +been ignorant. Bardas reared the young Michael in the most reckless and +unconscientious manner, permitting him to neglect his serious studies, +and teaching him his own vices of drunkenness and debauchery. Michael +proved to be an apt pupil in profligacy, and before he reached his +majority had become a confirmed dipsomaniac. Meanwhile, his mother, with +the aid of her minister, Theoktistus, arrogated to herself the sole +direction of public business, and viewed with indifference her brother's +corruption of the principles of her son. Perhaps she saw in his ruin the +continuance and perpetuation of her own power; perhaps she feared that +his influence would be cast with the Iconoclasts, as had been his +father's before him, and that only by his wild career could he be +prevented from overturning the cherished plans of her heart. + +In spite of his irregular life, however, Michael manifested a strong +will of his own, and, as the time of the attainment of his majority +approached, he came to an open quarrel with his mother. He had fallen +violently in love with Eudocia, the daughter of Inger, of the powerful +family of Martinakes, and Theodora and her ministers saw in an alliance +with this house the probability of a potent opposition to their own +political influence. Theodora realized that she must in some manner +prevent this marriage, and she exerted her maternal influence so +strongly that she compelled the lad of sixteen to marry another lady +named Eudocia, the daughter of Dekapolitas--thus repeating the +unfortunate policy of Irene on a similar occasion. The young rou, +however, balked in his purpose to make Eudocia Ingerina his wife, +straightway made her his mistress, and thus brought public disgrace on +the court life of the day. His marriage also incensed him against the +regency; and at the first opportunity, he asserted his majority, +sanctioned the murder of the prime minister Theoktistus, and grew weary +of the presence of his mother. + +He succeeded in dismissing his mother and sisters from the palace, and +even attempted to persuade the patriarch to give them the veil. With the +hope of regaining her power over her son, Theodora formed a plot to +assassinate her brother Bardas; but the plot was discovered, and Michael +compelled her to retire to the monastery of Gastria, the usual residence +of the ladies of the imperial family who were secluded from the world. +Yet, the empress-mother never descended to the baseness of Irene, so as +to seek the injury of her ungrateful son. + +Meanwhile, Michael selected as his boon companion the courtier Basil, +who had begun his career as a groom in the stables of some nobleman of +the court. The two gave their time to debauchery and lust; and as a +token of his favor, Michael compelled Basil to marry his discarded +mistress, Eudocia Ingerina. + +In the solitude of the cloister, Theodora deplored the ingratitude, the +vices, and the inevitable ruin of her worthless son, and, repenting of +her earlier folly in neglecting his bringing up, endeavored to make +amends for the mistake of her past life. Finally, after the death of her +brother, Theodora regained some of her maternal influence and was +permitted to reside at the palace of Saint Mamas, where occurred the +last sad tragedy of her career. + +Basil, who in spite of all carousals could always keep his head, +observed how his friend Michael had thrown away the high privileges of +his station and had become an object of contempt in the eyes of all good +men. His overweening ambition to mount the throne overcame every noble +sentiment, and he plotted to assassinate the emperor and to usurp +supreme power. The tragedy occurred in the palace of the empress-mother. +Basil and his wife, Eudocia Ingerina, were invited by her to a feast at +her house, where Michael was present. An orgy ensued; Michael was +carried to his room in a state of intoxication, and Basil and his +conspirators succeeded in despatching him in his drunken sleep. Basil +mounted the throne, and was destined to found the longest dynasty in the +annals of the Empire. Theodora, bowed down with sorrows, and distressed +beyond measure at the cruel destiny of her first-born, died in the first +year of the reign of Basil I. + +Theodora, because of her zeal for image worship, was eulogized as a +saint by the ecclesiastical writers of both the Western and the Eastern +Church, and is honored with a place in the Greek Calendar. Had her +devotion to her children equalled her self-sacrificing loyalty to church +affairs, she might have changed the course of Byzantine history. But, +failing in her maternal duties, her name shared the ignominy as well as +the glory of Irene, and, while not possessing the wickedness of the +latter, she must rank as a queen who in neglecting her son brought +disgrace on the Empire. + +Basil I. was one of those remarkable men who after a career of infamy +are sobered by great responsibilities and perform well the part which it +was destined for them to play. But in his relations with women he had to +endure the natural outcome of his earlier licentiousness. His first +wife, whom he married at the beginning of his career, had lived but a +few years, leaving him a son, Constantine, whom he associated with him +on the throne, but who died after a lapse of ten years. Eudocia +Ingerina, whom Michael had compelled him to marry, had a son, Leo, who +succeeded Basil on the throne, but the emperor was ever haunted with the +suspicion that this lad was the son not of himself but of Michael. The +adventures of this empress and of Michael's sister, Thekla, who also +shared imperial honor, are sad proofs of the corruption of morals of the +age. With her brother's consent, Thekla had become the concubine of +Basil, and after he had assassinated Michael and ascended the throne, +Thekla consoled herself with other lovers. On one occasion it happened +that an attendant employed in the household of Thekla was waiting on the +emperor, when the latter asked the shameless question: "Who is living +with your mistress at present?" The attendant imprudently told the name +of the successful lover; Basil's jealousy was aroused, and he ordered +the paramour of the woman he had put aside to be seized, scourged, and +immured for life in a monastery. It is even said that he ill treated +Thekla and confiscated part of her property. But the Empress Eudocia +Ingerina avenged the unfortunate princess in a manner more pardonable in +the mistress of a besotted debauchee than in the wife of an emperor. +When her amours were discovered, the empress was prudent enough to avoid +scandal by merely compelling her lover to retire privately to a +monastery. + +In pleasing contrast to the story of these licentious princesses, +revealing the absence of any shame in the high life of Constantinople, +is that of the widow Danielis who played the lady bountiful to Basil in +his earlier years, and to whom he delighted to show his gratitude after +he had mounted the throne. + +Once when he was an attach of the courtier Theophilitzes, whom Theodora +had sent on public business into the Peloponnesus, he fell sick at +Patras. A wealthy widow, Danielis by name, who had been struck with the +handsome looks of the gallant attach, had him removed to her house and +carefully nursed him through his illness. When he recovered, she made +Basil a member of her family, by uniting him with her own son John in +those spiritual ties of brotherhood sanctioned by the Greek Church with +peculiar rites; also she bestowed on him considerable wealth so that +from that time on he could play well the part of a courtier, and had the +means to make himself the boon companion, friend, and colleague of the +erratic Michael. + +The lasting friendship between the widow and the emperor constitutes the +most interesting episode in the checkered career of Basil. When he +became emperor, he displayed his gratitude by sending for the son of his +former benefactress and making him protospatharios, or chief of the +guards. He also urged the widow to visit him, and see her adopted son +seated on the throne. The account of her journey to Constantinople, is a +most valuable commentary on the life of Greek women in the ninth +century, and shows how vast was the wealth of the few on Greek soil, and +what an important part a wealthy widow could play in the affairs of +state; the story is as follows: + +"The lady Danielis set off from Patras in a litter or covered couch, +carried on the shoulders of ten slaves; and the train which followed +her, destined to relieve these litter bearers, amounted to three hundred +persons. When she reached Constantinople, she was lodged in the palace +of Magnaura, appropriated for the reception of princely guests. The rich +presents she had prepared for the emperor astonished the inhabitants of +the capital, for no foreign monarch had ever offered gifts of equal +value to a Byzantine sovereign. + +"The slaves that bore the gifts were themselves a part of the present, +and were all distinguished for their youth, beauty, and accomplishments. +Four hundred young men, one hundred eunuchs and one hundred maidens, +formed the living portion of this magnificent offering; while there were +in addition, a hundred pieces of the richest colored drapery, one +hundred pieces of soft woollen cloth, two hundred pieces of linen, and +one hundred of cambric, so fine that each piece could be enclosed in the +joint of a reed. To all this, a service of cups, dishes, and plates of +gold and silver was added. When Danielis reached Constantinople, she +found that the emperor had constructed a magnificent church as an +expiation for the murder of his benefactor, Michael III. She sent orders +to the Peloponnesus to manufacture carpets of unusual size, in order to +cover the whole floor, that they might protect the rich mosaic pavement, +in which a peacock with outspread tail astonished, by the extreme +brilliancy of its coloring, every one who beheld it. Before the widow +quitted Constantinople, she settled a considerable portion of her estate +in Greece on her son, the protospatharios, and on her adopted child, the +emperor, in joint property. + +"After Basil's death, she again visited Constantinople; her own son was +dead, so she constituted the Emperor Leo VI. her sole heir. On quitting +the capital for the last time, she desired that the protospatharios, +Zenobius, might be dispatched to the Peloponnesus, for the purpose of +preparing a register of her extensive estate and immense property. She +died shortly after her return; and even the imperial officers were +amazed at the amount of her wealth; the quantity of gold coin, gold and +silver plate, works of art in bronze, furniture, rich stuffs in linen, +cotton, wool and silk, cattle and slaves, palaces and farms, formed an +inheritance that enriched even an Emperor of Constantinople. The slaves +of which Emperor Leo became the proprietor were so numerous that he +ordered three thousand to be enfranchised and sent to the _theme_ of +Longobardia (as Apulia was then called), where they were put in +possession of land which they cultivated as serfs. After the payment of +many legacies, and a division of part of the landed property, according +to the disposition of the testament, the emperor remained possessor of +eighty farms or villages." + +This narrative furnishes a curious glimpse into the condition of society +in Greece during the latter part of the ninth century, which is the +period when the Greek race began to recover a numerical superiority and +prepare for the consolidation of its political ascendency over the +Slavonian colonists in the Peloponnesus. + +It seems almost incredible that such wealth and power could be +concentrated in the hands of one woman; and only when we consider the +grinding poverty of the masses of the population through the extortions +of the rich and the oppressions of the governing classes can we account +for the resources which permitted the lavish luxuries of the +aristocrats. + +The fourscore years succeeding the death of Basil the Macedonian were +taken up by the two long reigns of Leo VI.--reputed to be the son of +Basil, but in all probability the son of Michael,--and Leo's son, +Constantine Porphyrogenitus. These years were important for literature, +as both son and grandson of the founder of the dynasty were authors of +renown; but in historical interest and especially as regards the story +of Byzantine womanhood they were the most uneventful and monotonous in +the many centuries of the Empire's existence. + +Constantine Porphyrogenitus was the child (by his fourth wife) of Leo's +old age, and was only seven years old when he fell heir to the Empire. +He was brought up under the tutelage of guardians; and so devoted was he +to the composing of books and the painting of pictures, that he was +forty years of age before he assumed entire control of the reins of +government; yet, twenty years of supreme power fell to his lot. + +In his works, we have a beautiful picture of his domestic life. We do +not know much of his wife, Helena, but he was devoted to his son Roman +us, a gay, pleasure-loving prince, and to his daughters, of whom the +youngest, Agatha, was his favorite secretary and the constant companion +of his studies. "Seated by his side, she read to him all the official +reports of the ministers; and when his health began to fail it was +through her intermediation that he consented to transact public +business. That such a proceeding created no alarming abuses and produced +neither serious complaints nor family quarrels is more honorable to the +heart of the princess than is her successful performance of her task to +her good sense and ability." + +The most interesting figure about him, however, was his daughter-in-law +Theophano, who was destined to play a fatal part in the story of the +Basilian house. Theophano was lowly born, and her beauty and grace could +never win the court circle and the public to pardon a low alliance which +disgraced the majesty of the purple. Hence, the vilest scandals were +circulated about her, which must be taken with some degree of allowance. + +According to the chroniclers, she was wildly ambitious and utterly +lacking in natural affection, charming in manner, but cruel in heart. +She and Romanus made a most striking couple as they appeared together in +the court or took part in the public processions. Romanus was +conspicuous for his beauty and strength, tall and erect, fair and florid +in complexion, with aquiline nose and sparkling eyes. Theophano was of +the pure Greek type in features, yet small of stature and of infinite +ease of manner and movement. According to the Byzantine writers, she +craved eagerly for supreme power, and poisoned her father-in-law to +hasten her husband's elevation to the throne. Constantine did not take +enough of the beverage administered by her hand to end his life, but his +constitution was weakened, and after a short period of time he passed +away. Romanus's name was also embraced in the story, he having been +induced, through the wiles of his wife, to enter into a conspiracy +against their father and benefactor. But Constantine's picture of his +own family life is so amiable, that it is as difficult to give credence +to the accusation brought against Romanus and Theophano as it is to +Procopius's tales regarding Theodora Justinian. + +Romanus II. had held the throne but five years when he too sickened and +died, and it was rumored that Theophano had mingled for him the same +deadly draught which she had prepared for her father-in-law. The young +empress was left as regent of her two little sons, Basil, aged seven, +and Constantine, who was only two. She aspired first to reign alone; but +soon realizing the Byzantine dislike for feminine rule, she found a +protector and a guardian for her sons in Nicephorus, the most valiant +soldier of the Empire. He was given the hand of the beautiful +empress-dowager, and was crowned as the colleague of the two young +Csars. His personal ugliness and deformity rendered it impossible for +Theophano to love him, and the match was one of interest rather than of +affection. But Nicephorus proved himself a most affectionate co-regent, +and paid scrupulous regard to the rights of the young princes. Much of +his time was spent in the field, and many were the victories which he +won for the Byzantine arms. But even his great achievements could not +enchain the heart of the capricious empress. + +Theophano, during the absence of her grim and ugly husband, had become +enamored of his favorite nephew, John Zimisces, who was also a warrior +of note. John listened to the voice of the tempter, not so much for lust +as for ambition, and conspired with the empress against his uncle and +benefactor. The treacherous murder was accomplished one December night +in the year 969, in the imperial apartments of the palace. + +Some of the conspirators had been concealed in the chamber of Theophano. +John Zimisces and his principal companions crossed the Bosporus in a +small boat, landed under the palace walls, and in the darkness of night +silently ascended a ladder of ropes which was cast down by the +handmaidens of the empress. Nicephorus, as was his custom, was sleeping +on a bearskin on the floor of his chamber, when he was awakened by the +noisy entrance of the conspirators. Their daggers were drawn, and, at +the word from John, were plunged into the body of the valiant general, +who exclaimed in his death agony: "Oh, God! grant me thy mercy." Though +by this base deed John came to the throne, he showed deep contrition for +the slaughter of his uncle; and through the connivance of the patriarch +and treachery toward his friends, he avoided marriage with the partner +of his guilt. + +"On the day of his coronation, he was stopped on the threshold of Saint +Sophia by the intrepid patriarch, who charged his conscience with the +deed of treason and blood, and required as a sign of repentance that he +should separate himself from his more criminal associate. This sally of +apostolic zeal was not offensive to the prince, since he could neither +love nor trust a woman who had violated the most sacred obligation; and +Theophano, instead of sharing his imperial throne, was dismissed with +ignominy from his bed and palace." Deprived of her place as regent, and +repudiated by her sons on whom she had brought shame, Theophano passed +the remaining years of her life in a monastery. + +Of the two sons of Theophano, Basil II., after a long reign of over half +a century,--963-1025,--distinguished by his many victories over the +Bulgarians, died childless, and was succeeded by his brother, +Constantine IX., who was destined to be the last male of the Macedonian +house. After his short reign of three years, the story of the remaining +twenty-nine years of the Basilian dynasty gathers itself about the names +of his two elderly daughters, Zoe and Theodora, and the series of +princes who owed their position on the throne solely to them. It is a +period of decadence, and the reader cannot help but pity the two sisters +who were endeavoring to uphold a decaying dynasty in the midst of +corruption and folly. Zoe constitutes the central figure of the period; +but Theodora was vastly her superior, and casts a sort of glamour about +the closing years of the house of Basil the Macedonian. + +Zoe, however, was notable not so much for her ability to govern as for +her extraordinary vanity and love of adulation. Yet, for some reason, +she had reached the age of forty-eight before she found a husband. Upon +his deathbed, Constantine summoned Romanus Argyrus, an aged nobleman, to +the palace and informed him that he had been selected to mount the +throne, but that he must divorce his wife and marry one of the imperial +princesses. Romanus hesitated, not that he cared not for the throne, but +because the conditions were too severe; he loved his wife, and he did +not fancy joining his lot with one of the elderly maidens. But he was +told that he must either obey or lose his eyesight. To relieve the +situation, his wife, with self-sacrificing devotion, took the veil and +entered a monastery. Constantine destined Theodora, the younger and more +capable of his daughters, for the throne as spouse to Romanus, but +through religious compunctions she refused to marry the husband of +another woman, and consequently Zoe was chosen as bride and empress at +the tender age of forty-eight. Romanus was sixty when he ascended the +throne. + +Zoe never forgave her sister Theodora the fact that because of her more +stable character their father had offered his younger daughter the +throne; Romanus had no love for her because she had refused him. +Consequently, spies were set over her movements, and every effort was +made to connect her with the various plots of courtiers who had designs +upon the throne. Finally, accused of being privy to the plans of one of +the most hostile of the courtiers, Theodora was driven from her palace +and imprisoned in the monastery of Petrion; sometime after, Zoe, upon a +visit to the monastery, compelled her sister to assume the monastic +habit. + +Romanus and Zoe were never an affectionate couple. He devoted himself +strictly to affairs of state and looked with indifference upon the many +intrigues of his amorous spouse, who, like Queen Elizabeth, believed +herself to be the mistress of all hearts. But one of these amours, +perhaps, cost him his life. + +The royal consorts had turned the management of the palace largely over +to eunuchs. One of these, John the Paphlagonian, became very powerful, +and, as he was precluded from the imperial title himself, sought to +raise a brother to that high honor. This brother, Michael, had begun +life as a goldsmith and money changer, but his brother appointed him to +a place in the imperial household. Owing to his personal beauty and +graceful and dignified manners, he soon became the favorite chamberlain +to his royal mistress. Unfortunately, however, he was subject to sudden +and violent attacks of epilepsy. This, instead of repelling Zoe, merely +aroused her pity, and she fell in love with her handsome servant and +carried on an amorous intrigue with him. Romanus was duly informed of +his wife's conduct, but remained indifferent to it and probably deemed +the accusation untenable because of the epilepsy of Michael. Zonaras, an +ancient chronicler, tells the story that in the night the emperor +frequently called Michael to rub his feet when he was in bed with Zoe. +And he naively adds: "Who can refrain from supposing that the hands of +the young valet-de-chambre did not find an opportunity of touching also +the feet of the empress?" During the last two years of his life, Romanus +was afflicted with a wasting disease and rumor had it that it was due to +a slow poison administered either by Zoe, or by the eunuch John, who +wished to bring about his brother's elevation. At any rate, in his dying +moments, before the breath had left his body, the empress quitted his +bedside to take measures with John the Paphlagonian for placing her +epileptic paramour on the throne. + +The moment Romanus III. ceased to live, Zoe called an assembly of the +officers of state in the palace and invested Michael IV. with the diadem +and the purple robe. He was straightway proclaimed Emperor of the +Romans, and was formally seated beside Zoe on the vacant throne. The +patriarch Alexius was filled with disgust at this flagrant display of +contempt for decency, but for reasons of state and to avoid greater +scandal, he celebrated the marriage between the empress and her +paramour. "Thus a single night saw the aged Zoe the wife of two +emperors, a widow and a bride, and Michael a menial and a sovereign." + +Michael was twenty-eight when he wedded Zoe at the age of fifty-four and +ascended the throne. In spite of his humble origin, he showed himself a +capable ruler, and succeeded in repelling some of the enemies of the +Empire. But his usefulness was hindered by his epileptic fits and by the +unfriendly attitude of his subjects who regarded his disease as evidence +of the divine wrath because of his ingratitude toward his benefactor, +Romanus. He became a hopeless invalid before the age of thirty-six, and, +when he felt his end approaching, he renounced the world and all the +vanities of imperial station, and retired to the monastery of Saint +Anarghyras where he became a monk. He died on December 10, 1041, after a +reign of seven years and eight months. + +After the death of her second husband, the irrepressible Zoe at first +attempted to carry on the Empire alone, with the assistance of the +eunuchs of her household, but the prevailing aversion to female +sovereignty and her own disinclination to be without companionship of +the male sex led her to a realization of the necessity of giving the +Empire a male sovereign. The alternative which presented itself was +whether she should adopt a son or marry a husband. Having twice +experienced matrimonial bliss, but never having tasted the joys of +filial devotion, for the sake of a new sensation Zoe adopted the former +expedient. + +She selected for the honor another Michael, the nephew of her late +husband, but, as she was aware of his volatile character, she made him +take a solemn oath, before conferring on him the crown, that he would +ever regard her as his benefactress and treat her as his mother. Michael +was ready enough to promise everything, and the diadem was placed on his +head. + +But as soon as he was established in power, Michael V. revealed his +meanness of soul, and showed both insolence and ingratitude toward the +woman through whom he had attained his elevation. He finally carried his +insolence so far that he banished the empress Zoe to Prince's Island and +compelled her to adopt the monastic habit. But this base act was more +than the people could stand. Their fury burst through every restraint. +The mob paraded the streets and proclaimed the reign of Michael at an +end. They threatened to seize him and scatter his bones abroad like +dust. An assembly was held in the church of Saint Sophia, to which the +aged Theodora was brought from the monastery of Petrion, and she was +proclaimed joint empress with her sister Zoe. In the meantime, Michael, +alarmed at the rapid and overwhelming spread of the sedition, had Zoe +brought back to the palace, and endeavored to pacify the people by +persuading her to appear on a balcony overlooking the Hippodrome. But it +was impossible for him to stem the current of the popular fury. The +palace was stormed, and three thousand people were killed in the +conflict which followed. Michael saved his life by escaping to the +monastery of Studion; his eyes were finally put out, and he passed the +rest of his days in the garb of a monk. + +Zoe immediately entered upon the duties and responsibilities of power, +of which for a time she had been deprived, and she endeavored to force +her sister back into religious retirement; but the Senate and people +insisted upon the joint reign of the two sisters. But this singular +union lasted less than two months. In temperament and in interests the +two sisters were antipodal. Different factions were their support, the +clerical party favoring the devout Theodora, and the worldlings the +volatile Zoe. For a time, the twain appeared always side by side at the +meetings of the Senate and at the courts of justice. Unlike Zoe, +Theodora showed great aptitude for public business, and took pleasure in +performing her administrative duties. + +Zoe's plots against her sister being frustrated, and recognizing that +Theodora was rapidly gaining the ascendency, she bethought herself of +taking a third husband, to whom she might resign the throne and thus +deprive her sister of the influence she was rapidly acquiring. + +Hence, at the advanced age of sixty-two, Zoe began to cast about for a +third husband, in spite of the canons of the Church, which forbade a +third marriage. Her thoughts first turned to a powerful nobleman, +Constantine Dalasennus, whom her father had once chosen for her in her +earlier years, and about whom her recollections cast a halo of romance. +But in place of the gallant hero of her imagination she found she had +summoned to the palace for an interview a stern old gentleman, who +strongly expressed his disapprobation of the existing imperial system; +who censured in unmeasured terms the vices of the court, and who took no +pains to conceal his contempt for her own questionable conduct. Such a +spouse would have been a most excellent antidote for the prevailing +corruption of the Empire, but Zoe had no desire to submit to the control +of so severe a master, and she quickly made up her mind to look +elsewhere. + +A former lover, Constantine Artoclinas, then became the object of her +matrimonial designs. But he already had a wife, who was not of the +self-sacrificing disposition of the wife of Romanus. As soon as she +heard of the honor to which Zoe destined her husband, Constantine +Artoclinas fell ill and did not long survive. It was the general opinion +that his wife had poisoned him, either through jealousy of Zoe, or +because she felt an aversion to passing the rest of her days in a +convent. Zoe, however, was readily consoled. + +She again selected an old admirer, Constantine Monomachus, whom Michael +IV. had banished to Mitylene because of his attentions to the empress, +but who had been recalled on the accession of Zoe and Theodora and +appointed to a high official position in Greece. An imperial galley was +despatched with a royal courier to notify him of the new dignity that +awaited him, and to bring him back to Constantinople. Upon his arrival +he was invested with the imperial robes. His marriage with Zoe was +performed by one of the clergy, for the patriarch Alexius declined to +officiate at the third marriage of the empress, which in this case was +doubly uncanonical, as both Zoe and Constantine had been twice married. + +The choice made by Zoe is a sad commentary on the immorality of the age. +The life and character of Constantine X. show the utter lack of moral +principle which prevailed in the court circles. After he had buried two +wives, Constantine Monomachus had won the affections of a beautiful and +wealthy young widow called Sclerena, who openly became his mistress and +accompanied him in his exile to Mitylene. Yet, in the eyes of the +orthodox, her position as mistress was more respectable, as being less +uncanonical than if she had become his third wife. As Sclerena had stood +by him in the days of his adversity, Constantine insisted upon her +sharing with him his prosperity, and when he assumed the purple he +bargained with Zoe that he should retain his mistress, a condition to +which Zoe in her shamelessness agreed. Hence, "the people of +Constantinople were treated to the singular spectacle of an Emperor of +the Romans making his public appearance with two female companions +dignified with the title of Empress, one as his wife, the other as his +mistress." + +Sclerena was officially saluted with the title of Augusta, and possessed +a rank equal to that of Theodora, whose relative importance had been +reduced by the advent of the Emperor Constantine X. She held a court of +her own and was installed in apartments of the imperial palace. + +Owing to her beauty and her elegant manners she gathered about her a +brilliant court circle, which in its sumptuousness and ostentation +contrasted greatly with the dull ceremony and sombre atmosphere of the +apartments of the elderly sisters, Zoe and Theodora. Sclerena's +disposition, too, was amiable and winning, and she was admired for the +constancy with which she had clung to her lover in the days of his +misfortune. Constantine, in return for her self-sacrificing devotion +when he was an impoverished exile, sought to repay her by the most +lavish expenditure of the public funds. Her apartments were made the +most elegant and luxurious in the city, and her toilettes were the envy +of all the aristocratic ladies of Constantinople. + +Though Constantine showed in every way his partiality for his mistress, +it did not disturb the domestic tranquillity of the imperial household. +Zoe and Sclerena lived on the best of terms, and the utter absence of +jealousy in the aged wife is less remarkable than her utter +shamelessness. + +The moral feelings of the people, however, were not so completely +corrupted as those of their superiors. They resented the lavish +expenditures of the public moneys upon the concubine of the emperor, and +they also resented the insult thus put upon their empress. They felt +that the lives of the aged sisters, the only survivors of the Macedonian +house, could not be safe in a palace where vice reigned supreme, and +where secret murders had so often occurred. + +The incensed populace raised a sedition on the feast of the Forty +Martyrs, when it became the duty of the emperor to walk in solemn +procession to the church of Our Saviour in Chalke, whence he proceeded +on horseback to the church of the Martyrs. As the procession was about +to move from the palace, a cry was raised: "Down with Sclerena; we will +not have her for empress! Zoe and Theodora are our mothers--we will not +allow them to be murdered!" The mob then sought to lay hands on the +emperor to tear him in pieces, but the tumult was quieted by the sudden +appearance of Zoe and Theodora on the balcony and the people were +dispersed without serious damage being done. + +The Empress Zoe died in 1050, at the age of seventy. Constantine X. +survived to the year 1055. He, before the end came, was anxious to name +his successor, but as soon as Theodora heard of the attempt of her +brother-in-law to deprive her of the throne, she hastened to the palace, +where the Senate was quickly convened, and presented herself as the +lawful empress. With universal acclamation, Theodora was proclaimed sole +sovereign of the Empire. + +Though seventy-five years of age when she became sole ruler of the +destinies of the Eastern Empire, Theodora exhibited great vigor of +character and her short reign was a fortunate period for the Byzantines, +owing to her attention to public business and the freedom from external +conflicts. To preserve power in her own hands, Theodora presided in +person at the meetings of the Cabinet and the Senate, and heard appeals +as supreme judge in civil cases. Her long monastic life had developed in +her the narrow views and acrimonious passions of a recluse, but an +ascetic spirit was a relief after the sensual performances of the court +of Constantinople. Even at the advanced age of seventy-six, Theodora +felt so robust that she looked forward to a long life. The monks +flattered her with prophecies that she was to reign for many years. But +in the midst of her plans, she was suddenly attacked by an intestinal +disorder that speedily brought her to the grave. Theodora was the last +scion of a family which had upheld with glory the institutions of the +Empire for nearly two centuries, and had secured to its subjects a +degree of internal tranquillity and commercial prosperity far greater +than that enjoyed during the same period by any other portion of the +human race. "And with her, expired the race of Basil, the Slavonian +groom, and the administrative glory of the Byzantine Empire, on the 30th +of August, 1057." + + [Illustration 6: _BYZANTINE INTERIOR, NINTH CENTURY From a + water-color by S. Baron, after a restoration by P. Bnard. + + In this period military exigencies did not permit of numerous + apartments. We find the great room, the place of reunion, a + sumptuously decorated apartment, in which also the meals were + served and the bed was placed. The floor was of bricks, and the + apartment was warmed by hot air supplied from a_ hypocaustum, + _placed below the floor, and admitted through a painted iron + grating. The wall decorations presented an infinite variety of + beautifully executed mouldings and scroll designs of flowers and + foliage, common to the Byzantine manner. The furniture of the + room was sober in style. The bed was shaped and ornamented + somewhat like a modern sofa. A curtain on sliding rings served + to screen from draughts, as well as to separate beds. In this + room the lady received her guests._] + +What a contrast is offered between the empresses of these later +centuries and the great names of the earlier period, Eudoxia and +Pulcheria and Eudocia and the great Theodora! We have fallen on evil +times; and in the general corruption, woman has degenerated. During the +remaining centuries which it falls to our lot to consider, we shall find +that the chronicles of women continue to exhibit the downward march of +womanhood, until with the utter debasement of woman, the fabric of +society gives way, and all is darkness in the history of the sex. + +We have had a glimpse of the luxury with which the Empress Eudoxia +surrounded herself in her palace on the Bosporus, and our curiosity and +interest may be satisfied concerning the domestic surroundings of a +woman of rank during the period of the Byzantine decadence. The only +truly original Christian art, down to the eleventh century, was the +Byzantine; it dominated both Christian and pagan artists. In the period +to which we refer, military exigencies did not permit of numerous +apartments. We find the great room, the place of reunion, a sumptuously +decorated apartment, in which also the meals were served and the bed was +placed. + +This chief room showed little constructive quality, but it was superbly +decorated. The square, heavy door was usually contrived below a +relieving arch, whose archivolt was richly charged with sculptured and +painted ornaments; the twin windows were supported by a pied-droit or on +small columns. The flat walls rarely had a real projecting entablature; +the ends of joists were simulated by cornices resting on consoles or +modillions; the architrave and the frieze were only a painted effect. +The floor was of bricks. Chimneys were not yet used, and the apartment +was warmed by hot air supplied from a hypocaustum, placed within the +walls or below the floor, and admitted through a painted iron grating. + +The wall decorations presented an infinite variety of beautifully +executed mouldings and scroll designs of flowers and foliage, common to +the Byzantine style. A prominent feature of the mural decoration was the +numerous figures, in stiff attitudes, draped with garments falling in +meagre folds, and decked with abundant fringes and precious stones, +after the Oriental fashion; close to these figures were placed groups of +Greek letters. + +The furniture of the room was sober in style. The bed was shaped and +ornamented somewhat like a modern sofa. The occupant reclined rather +than lay on it, for the cushions were heaped up increasingly toward the +head of the bed. It was customary to sleep without garments, the only +covering being an ample sheet. A curtain on sliding rings was +indispensable; it served to screen from draughts, as well as to separate +beds; moreover, it supplemented the scanty furniture of the room. + +Over the bed was a lighted lamp. This was invariably used, for darkness +was dreaded, and it was believed that the light kept off evil spirits +and prevented baleful apparitions. In this room the great lady of our +period received her guests; here intrigues were plotted; here she +partook of her repasts, waited upon by her many serving-maids; here she +passed, indeed, most of her life. + + + + +XIV + +THE PRINCESSES OF THE COMNENI + + +With the end of the Macedonian house in 1057, all the elements of +discord in the Byzantine Empire seemed to have been loosed. Civil war +and foreign invasions rapidly succeeded one another, and the empire +hastened to its doom. But the downward progress was for a time checked +by the rise of the Comneni, a prominent family, who controlled the +destinies and exerted a paramount influence over the career of the +Byzantine government for over a century, in fact, until its overthrow by +the Latin Crusaders in 1204. In the chronicles of the Comneni, its +princesses played a notable though not always creditable role; and the +undercurrent of Byzantine history for a century and a half was +determined largely by woman's influence and woman's artifice. + +Of the great families whose names appear on every page of the Byzantine +history of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, that of the Comneni is by +far the most illustrious. The hypothesis that the Comneni were an +ancient Roman house which followed Constantine from Old Rome to New Rome +must be given up: so important an item in the family glories of the +house would not have been passed over in silence by Anna Comnena and her +husband in their historical works. We must accept the testimony of a +contemporary, Psellus, that the family was of Greek or Thracian origin, +and derived its name from the ancestral seat, the village of Comne in +the valley of the Torniga, near the site of the city of Adrianople. + +The first of the line prominent in Byzantine annals was the illustrious +Manuel Comnenus, who, under Basil II., aided in settling the troubled +condition of the East and in reestablishing the Empire on a firm +footing. As a result of his labors for the state, Manuel acquired vast +estates in Cappadocia, and, from this time, his family ranked as one of +the wealthiest and most aristocratic houses of the Byzantine nobility. + +Manuel, upon his deathbed, left his two sons, Isaac and John, to the +care and the gratitude of his sovereign. The two lads were carefully +educated in all the learning and trained in all the manly +accomplishments of the day; and their brotherly love became the subject +of comment in an age when self-seeking was the most salient +characteristic of the aristocratic class. When they attained manhood, +both made brilliant marriages which greatly increased the lustre of +their family name: Isaac married a captive princess of Bulgaria, and +John wedded Anna Dalassena, the daughter of the patrician Dalassenus, +nicknamed Charon from the number of enemies he had sent to the infernal +regions. Isaac was fated to die childless and his wife is unknown to +fame, but Anna, the wife of John, was destined to be the most remarkable +woman of her house. + +The Empress Theodora, in her last days, had nominated Michael +VI.,--Stratioticus,--an aged and decrepit veteran, as her successor; but +his elevation was resented by the soldiers, who plotted and successfully +carried through a conspiracy by which Michael was dispossessed and Isaac +Comnenus, at that time the most popular general of the East, was +elevated to the throne. But the usurpation was not attended with the +blessings of heaven: Isaac was stricken with disease before he had +reigned a full year, and retired to a monastery to die, abdicating the +throne and selecting his brother John as his successor. For some +unaccountable reason, and much to the chagrin of his wife Anna, whose +ambitions were distinctly imperial, John declined the honor, and +persisted in his refusal in spite of the entreaties of his wife and +relatives, and with a seeming blindness to the welfare of the state. +Possibly he felt that a curse rested upon a dynasty which had usurped +the throne. Constantine Ducas, another Cappadocian patrician, was then +selected; during his reign of seven troubled years he proved himself to +be a sorry administrator. His empress, Eudocia Makremvolitissa, and Anna +Dalassena are the two dominating personalities who determined the tenor +of court intrigue and largely influenced the course of the events of +this period. Anna most intensely hated Ducas and all his house, for they +were occupying a throne which she thought should have been retained in +her own family; and her relations with the empress were those of rivalry +or of friendship, in proportion as Eudocia was acting in sympathy with +or in opposition to her husband's family. + +Constantine XI.--Ducas--was as intensely partisan as Anna; and when he +found his end approaching, he wished above all things to assure the +elevation of his three children, Michael, Andronicus, and Constantine. +Constantine was well aware of the dangers which his dynasty would incur +should the empress marry a second time; before conferring upon her the +regency of the Empire, he therefore exacted from her a most solemnly +attested promise that under no circumstances would she take a second +husband. This important document was deposited in the hands of the +patriarch, John Xiphilinus. Constantine made the Senate, also, take an +oath never to acknowledge any other emperor than one of his own +children. Feeling that he had bound his wife by irretrievable bonds, and +that every precaution had been taken to assure the implicit fulfilment +of his wishes, Constantine breathed his last with a contented mind. + +But Eudocia soon discovered the need of a strong arm for the protection +of her own rights and those of her sons. A woman of executive gifts, she +was also devoted to literary pursuits, and her knowledge of history had +taught her with how much reluctance the Byzantines submitted to the +sovereignty of a woman. She recalled, too, the experience of the Empress +Theophano, who had found prudent guardians for her sons, Basil II. and +Constantine IX., in the persons of the soldiers Nicephorus II. and John +I., though she was appalled by the vices of this empress, who had +married and murdered the first and been scorned by the second guardian. +Furthermore, threatening invasions and domestic unrest proved the need +of a soldier as her colleague in the Empire. Love came to the assistance +of reason, and Eudocia determined to break her vows and to take a second +husband. + +Romanus Diogenes, the most daring and popular general of the Empire, had +been convicted of treason for participation in a conspiracy against her +children's throne, and was then in prison awaiting sentence of death +from Eudocia as regent. The latter, however, became enamored of her +distinguished captive, and his beauty and valor convinced her that he +was destined to share with her the throne. The army was clamoring for +his release; and when he received a full pardon from the empress-regent, +it at first created no suspicion of her romantic designs. The Seljukian +Turks were at that time overrunning Cappadocia and it was necessary that +the army should be under the control of an able and a daring general. +Romanus was therefore raised from the scaffold to the headship of the +army. + +Before the empress could take any further step toward carrying out her +matrimonial intentions, it was necessary to secure possession of the +document which evidenced her pledge to her husband that she never would +contract a second marriage. Feminine diplomacy enabled her to accomplish +this delicate task; and the lack of principle and high moral character +in the patriarch caused him to fall readily into the net laid for him by +Eudocia. + +Xiphilinus at first urged upon her emissary the sanctity of the oath the +empress had taken, and the sacred nature of the trust he had assumed; +but when it was whispered in his presence that his own brother was +destined for the high honor, the patriarch's scruples were relaxed, and +he yielded--out of proper regard, as he alleged, for the welfare of the +state. He resigned the important paper into the empress's hand, and at +her solicitation proposed and carried through a measure in the Senate, +favoring her second marriage, and in addition released the senators from +their vow never to recognize as emperor any other than a son of +Constantine. Great was the confusion of the credulous patriarch when he +realized that he had been outwitted by the clever woman, who, when her +plans were fully matured, made an official proclamation that she had +selected Romanus IV.,--Diogenes,--the most brilliant general of the +Empire, to share with her the throne and to act as guardian to her sons. + +Her choice was the occasion of much satisfaction to the army and the +people, but caused jealousy and dissension in the imperial household. +John Ducas, the late emperor's brother, held the rank of Csar and was +the natural guardian of his nephews; he at once began to conspire for +the overthrow of Romanus and the retirement of Eudocia. + +The new emperor at once assumed his duties of warding off the enemies of +the Empire, and engaged in a deadly conflict with the Seljukian Turks. +Though at first successful, his army was finally routed and almost +annihilated, and Romanus himself was taken captive, on the fatal field +of Manzikert, 1071,--a decisive battle that marked the beginning of the +end of Byzantine history and presaged the final conquest of +Constantinople by the Turks. Romanus's capture produced a revolution at +court. John Ducas seized the reins of government, ostensibly in the +interests of Michael VII., son of Constantine; and when Romanus, having +been released by his gallant foe, returned to Constantinople, Ducas had +him seized and blinded and left to die through neglect. Eudocia was +forced to retire to a monastery and take the veil; there she devoted +herself to literary labors. She is reputed to be the author of a learned +work, still extant, entitled Ionia, a species of historical and +mythological dictionary. The last public appearance of the hapless +Eudocia was on the occasion of the funeral of the valiant Romanus, which +she was permitted to celebrate in an imposing manner. + +A period of anarchy followed the cruel death of Romanus, and there were +at one time no less than six pretenders to the throne. Throughout this +trying period John Ducas maintained his power as regent, relinquishing +his regency only when his ward, Michael VII., became of age and asserted +his rights. Michael was fortunate in the choice of his empress, Princess +Maria, daughter of the King of Iberia, whose beauty and grace are +celebrated by the historian Anna Comnena. When her husband was +overthrown and slain by the rebel Nicephorus Botaniates, Maria married +the latter, with the hope of securing the throne for her child and the +regency for herself. And from this time on her story is closely +interwoven with that of the Comneni princesses, to whom we now return. + +John Comnenus died soon after Constantine Ducas, leaving to the widowed +Anna the task of bringing up a large family of eight children,--Manuel, +Isaac, Alexius, Adrian, Nicephorus, Maria, Eudocia, and Theodora. But +Anna was equal to the task, and deserves to be ranked among the great +mothers of the world. She gave herself up to the proper education of her +sons and daughters, and to the promotion of their political advancement. +She could never console herself for the loss of an imperial crown +through the weakness of her husband, and all her tireless energy was +directed toward recovering her lost opportunity and reaching the throne +through the elevation of one of her sons. What is recounted of her shows +that she was a woman of extraordinary intelligence, inexhaustible +energy, remarkable political astuteness, and inordinate ambition. + +After performing political services of great merit, Manuel, the eldest, +died at an early age. The mother sought to make her sons Isaac and +Alexius men who could show themselves capable of performing every task +imposed upon them in the high station they were destined to acquire; and +the proof of the influence she exerted in the formation of their +characters is seen not only in their high attainments, but also in the +ascendency she retained over Alexius when he had reached the throne. + +Owing to her undying hatred of the house of Ducas, Anna attached herself +to the party of the Empress Eudocia and Romanus, and, being then in high +favor at court, she married her daughter Theodora to Romanus's son +Constantine. The revolution made by John Ducas to the advantage of +himself and his ward, Michael VII., upset all the well-laid plans of +Anna Dalassena; and the fall of Romanus marked for a time the end of the +favor of the Comneni. Anna showed her firmness of character by remaining +faithful to the cause of the dethroned emperor. Her correspondence with +him was detected, and she was exiled, with her children, to one of the +Prince's Isles. Her exile did not last long, however, for she was +recalled and restored to favor; and Michael VII. brought about the +marriage of Isaac, the eldest son since the death of Manuel, to Irene, +daughter of an Alanian prince, and cousin-german to the Empress Maria. + +Meanwhile, another matrimonial scheme was being matured, which was not +at all in accordance with the wishes of Anna and the empress. John +Ducas, from the monastery to which he had retired, projected the +marriage of his grand-daughter Irene, with Alexius Comnenus, who was +rapidly growing in promise and influence, and was already giving +evidence of his political astuteness and diplomacy. Alexius gladly +welcomed an alliance which would unite the two most powerful families of +Constantinople in his interest, but his patrician mother opposed any +affiliation with the rival house, and hated the very name of Ducas. The +Empress Maria also had plans for Alexius, with which she feared this +alliance would interfere, and at first threatened open opposition. But +Alexius won his point with his usual cleverness. Anna finally yielded to +his persuasion, and the empress gave her reluctant consent. The result +of the union was that Alexius at once became the most powerful of the +younger nobles at the court. + +The next step in his career was also determined by the profound wisdom +or wily caprice of a woman. To the surprise of her friends and +consternation of her enemies, the Empress Maria adopted Alexius as her +son. Anna Dalassena in all probability had a hand in this move for the +elevation of her house, but it is difficult to see what was the motive +of the empress, who had a young son, Constantine, whom she wished to +succeed to the purple. Perhaps she felt the need of a strong hand to +support the claims of herself and her son against her second husband, +the usurper Nicephorus Botaniates. Perhaps she was captivated by the +manly vigor and personal charms of the young man, and wished to play +with Alexius the rle of Theophano with Zimisces. It is impossible to +state her motive, but the step was the first move toward the final +overthrow of her house and the succession of the Comneni. + +Alexius had now all the reins of power in his hands, and a revolution +against Botaniates ensued. The usurper was overthrown and Alexius was +proclaimed emperor by the army. At first Constantine, the son of the +Empress Maria and Michael VII., was associated with him on the throne, +though still in his minority. Anna Dalassena and Maria, dreading the +ascendency of Irene Ducas, wife of Alexius, plotted to prevent her +coronation as empress, but the patriarch, who was a partisan of the +house of Ducas, defeated their intrigues; a few days after Alexius +assumed the purple, Irene, with imposing ceremonies, was crowned +empress. + +Alexius well knew how to gain over to his support and utilize for his +schemes the intriguing women who were about him. He had a profound +respect for the political sagacity of his mother and during the earlier +years of his reign her word exerted a deep influence on the course of +government. When he was called away from Constantinople by the wars that +demanded his personal attention, he left his mother as regent during his +absence. + +The first offspring of the union of Alexius and Irene was a daughter, +Anna Comnena. She was in her infancy affianced to Constantine, and the +two were regarded as heirs to the throne, much to the delight of the +ex-Empress Maria. In the ceremonies of the court, the names of +Constantine and Anna immediately followed those of Alexius and Irene. + +Finally, in 1088, the empress bore a son, the third of her children. The +joy of Alexius was unbounded. Seeing the possibility of his son carrying +on the dynasty and perpetuating the name of Comnenus, Alexius determined +to set aside the claims of Constantine and his eldest daughter. An +estrangement with Maria Ducas followed. In 1092, John in his fourth year +was proclaimed emperor, and Constantine was deprived of his rights. The +rupture between Alexius and Maria was a source of enmity to the reigning +house. Chagrined at the failure of her plans, and at the usurpation of +one to whom she had shown every kindness, the ex-empress took part in a +conspiracy against Alexius. But the plot was exposed in time, and all +who were engaged in it were severely punished, except the ex-empress, +who was permitted by her adopted son to go into peaceful retirement. + +Constantine, though no longer associated on the throne, was still +affianced to Anna, but an early death removed him from the scene of +action and the intrigues of the court. In 1097, Anna was married to +Nicephorus Bryennius, scion of a noble house. The mother, Anna +Dalassena, continued for some time to be a powerful factor at court, +but, becoming unpopular and realizing that she was losing her hold on +her imperial son, she finally followed the usual custom of retiring to a +monastery. + +Thus the ex-Empress Maria and Anna--the real founder of the fortune of +her house--found in religious retirement and meditation a life of peace +and tranquillity after the turmoils of revolutions and the intrigues of +imperial politics. The one had seen the failure of her plans and the +downfall of her house; the other could look with pride upon the full +fruition of her plots for the elevation of the Comneni. + +The reign of Alexius I.,--Comnenus,--occupies a considerable place not +only in Byzantine, but, also, in general history. It inaugurated a new +era in the relations between the East and the West, between the Greek +and the Latin, both in affairs of Church and state, and the events of +which the tragic expedition of 1204 was the climax had their beginning +in the days when the courtiers of Alexius revelled with the companions +of Godfrey of Bouillon. Equally important is this reign from the point +of view of the Byzantine Empire; it put an end to the anarchy of the +eleventh century, it established a dynasty which restored much of the +territory that weak rulers had lost, and for over a century it preserved +the tottering Empire from its inevitable fall. It was a period in which +woman's influence was marked, and its record is well known to us because +of the literary skill of Anna Comnena. This imperial princess is the +first woman in the world's annals to write an extended history. Both in +learning and in personality she has won a place among the notable women +of the world, and hers is the last great name in the chronicles of +Byzantine womanhood. + +In the comprehensive education which Anna received, we have a view of +the literary prominence of the Comnenic epoch. She had the best masters +the Empire afforded, and in her childhood she exhibited a phenomenal +capacity for learning. Her teachers gave her thorough training in the +works of classical authors. She read Homer, Herodotus, Thucydides, +Aristophanes, the Tragedians and Polybius under suitable guidance, and +without assistance mastered the writings of the church fathers. She +studied with avidity ancient mythology, geography, history, rhetoric, +and dialectic, and was also versed in Platonic and Aristotelian +philosophy. It was in history, however, that she found her chief +delight, and she early conceived the idea of composing a work in honor +of her father's reign. + +We have already mentioned the incidents of her childhood. Anna never +forgave her brother John for supplanting her, and this disappointment of +her tender years largely influenced the course of her later life. She +was devoted to Maria, the mother of her first betrothed, and no doubt +imbibed from her much of the ambition and hatred which were the marked +characteristics of her career in politics. Her empress-mother, Irene, +also exhibited a marked partiality for her eldest daughter, to the +disparagement of her son, whom Alexius had destined for the throne. +Irene was a beautiful and intriguing princess of much natural ability, +and stood in awe of the greater learning of her daughter. The two became +companions in intrigue and diplomacy, and worked together for the +promotion of their own interests, against the schemes of Alexius and +John. Anna was married at a tender age to Nicephorus Bryennius. He was +the representative of one of the most aristocratic and powerful families +of Constantinople, and exhibited much ability both in authorship and +statecraft, but he seems mediocre and colorless by the side of his +spouse. + +Walter Scott laid the scene of his Count Robert of Paris in the +Constantinople of this period, and he presents an interesting picture of +Anna as a devotee of the Muses, and of the principal heroes and heroines +who figure in the intrigues of the court at this time: + +"It was an apartment of the palace of the Blaquemal, dedicated to the +especial service of the beloved daughter of the Emperor Alexius, the +Princess Anna Comnena, known to our times by her literary talents, which +record the history of her father's reign. She was seated, the queen and +sovereign of a literary circle, such as the imperial princess, +Porphyrogenita (or born in the sacred purple chamber itself), could +assemble in those days, and a glance round will enable us to form an +idea of her guests or companions. + +"The literary princess herself had the bright eyes, straight features +and comely and pleasing manners which all would have allowed to the +emperor's daughter, even if she could not have been, with severe truth, +said to have possessed them. She was placed upon a small bench, or sofa, +the fair sex here not being permitted to recline, as was the fashion of +the Roman ladies. A table before her was loaded with books, plants, +herbs, and drawings. She sat on a slight elevation, and those who +enjoyed the intimacy of the princess, or to whom she wished to speak in +particular, were allowed during such sublime colloquy to rest their +knees on the little dais or elevated place where her chair found its +station, in a posture half standing, half kneeling. Three other seats, +of different heights, were placed on the dais, and under the same canopy +of state which overshadowed that of Princess Anna. + +"The first, which strictly resembled her own chair in size and +convenience, was one designed for her husband, Nicephorus Bryennius. He +was said to entertain or affect the greatest respect for his wife's +erudition, though the courtiers were of the opinion that he would have +liked to absent himself from her evening parties more frequently than +was particularly agreeable to the Princess Anna and her imperial +parents. This was partly explained by the private tattle of the court, +which averred that the Princess Anna Comnena had been more beautiful +when she was less learned; and that, though still a fine woman, she had +somewhat lost the charms of her person as she became enriched in her +mind. + +"To atone for the lowly fashion of the seat of Nicephorus Bryennius, it +was placed as near to his princess as it could possibly be edged by the +ushers, so that she might not lose one look of her handsome spouse, nor +he the least particle of wisdom which might drop from the lips of his +erudite consort. + +"Two other seats of honor or, rather, thrones--for they had footstools +placed for the support of the feet, rests for the arms, and embroidered +pillows for the comfort of the back, not to mention the glories of the +outspreading canopy--were destined for the imperial couple, who +frequently attended their daughter's studies, which she prosecuted in +public in the way we have intimated. On such occasions, the Empress +Irene enjoyed the triumph peculiar to the mother of an accomplished +daughter, while Alexius, as it might happen, sometimes listened with +complacence to the rehearsal of his own exploits in the inflated +language of the princess, and sometimes mildly nodded over her dialogues +upon the mysteries of philosophy, with the Patriarch Zosimus, and other +sages." + +Scott's description gives a graphic presentation of the Princess Anna +and of her relations with the various members of her family; and if we +add the heir to the throne, her younger brother John, for whom she had +profound contempt in spite of his many virtues, we have the group about +whom revolve the narrative of her history and the chief events of her +life. + +It is not necessary for us to enter into the story of the First Crusade, +and of the incidents of the intercourse of Franks and Greeks, which Anna +tells so graphically in her history; but before calling attention to the +literary qualities and historical value of her work, we must note those +events which unfolded her character and, in her later years, brought +about her exclusive devotion to literature. + +Owing to his duplicity and lack of confidence in men, Alexius made his +wife and his learned daughter his confidantes and his advisers in many +of the affairs of State, and frequently utilized their services in +gaining his ends. Both the imperial ladies were apt pupils in the school +of political intrigue, and, in the last years of the emperor, endeavored +to utilize their influence over him to the detriment of the +heir-apparent and the elevation of Anna and her husband, the Csar +Nicephorus. They accordingly formed a plot, during Alexius's last +illness, to dispossess the eldest son John, that the three might share +the government among them. + +The empress introduced soldiers into the palace, and in the closing +hours of the emperor's life sought to prevail on him to pronounce the +words which would bring about the change in the succession. But the +astute emperor realized his son's eminent fitness to wear the crown, and +was not in sympathy with the ambitions of his learned but unscrupulous +daughter. To all the entreaties of the empress he but cast his eyes +heavenward and remarked on the vanities of human greatness. Despairing +and enraged, the empress at last hastily left the room with a parting +thrust at her imperial consort, which might fitly have been inscribed as +an epitaph on his tomb: "You die as you lived--a hypocrite!" Meanwhile, +during her absence, John entered the room, and, with the tacit consent +of his dying father, removed from his finger the signet which gave him +command of all the forces of the palace; and crushing, in their +inception, the plots of the empress and her daughter, he was solemnly +crowned the moment his father breathed his last. + +John proved to be the most amiable character that ever occupied the +Byzantine throne. But all his virtues did not suffice to quell the +malice and disappointed ambition of his imperial sister. In spite of the +failure of the first conspiracy, the Princess Anna, "whose philosophy +would not have refused the weight of a diadem," entered into another +plot to dispossess her brother--already secure in the confidence of +courtiers and subjects--and to elevate her husband, whom she felt sure +of ruling. As John was already on the throne, however, the only way by +which he could be disposed of was to have his eyes put out or to resort +to the still worse crime of secret assassination. When her mild and +gentle husband recoiled at the thought of such cruelty, Anna made to him +the memorable response that Nature had mistaken the two sexes and had +endowed him with the soul of a woman, contemptuously contrasting what +she termed his feminine weakness with her own manly inhumanity. + +This conspiracy, however, was also revealed before it had made any +serious headway, and John deemed it necessary to confiscate his sister's +wealth in order to make further intrigues impossible. He caused the +Princess Anna to retire to a convent and bestowed her luxuriously +furnished palace on his favorite minister, Axouchus. But the noble +nature of Axouchus recoiled at being benefited by the princess's fall, +and thought more of turning the situation to the emperor's advantage +than of enriching himself. Accordingly, he suggested to the emperor that +it would be better policy to ward off the malice of his enemies by +restoring the palace to Anna, and seeming to ignore her futile plots. +John felt the prudence of the advice, and impressed by the unselfish +devotion of his friend,--a quality most rare in late Byzantine +times,--replied in like spirit: "I should, indeed, be unworthy to reign +if I could not forget my anger as readily as you forget your interest." +Anna was reinstated in her palace. + +But little is known of the rest of Anna Comnena's life. Tiring finally +of the vanities of court life, disappointed in all her intrigues for +absolute power, and becoming ever more absorbed in her literary +undertakings, she seems to have voluntarily sought the life of the +cloister and to have spent the last decades of her career in peaceful +retirement, engaged on her monumental work. She survived her brother +John, who died in 1143, and was still at work on her history in 1145. +The date of her death is unknown. + +The great work of Anna Comnena is entitled the _Alexiad_, and is one of +the most important works in the voluminous collection of the Byzantine +historians. In fifteen books, it narrates the history of Alexius +Comnenus; and is a completion and continuation of a work in four books, +left by her husband, Nicephorus Bryennius. The first two books of Anna's +work treat of the rise into power of the Comneni house, and of the early +life of Alexius; the remaining thirteen are devoted to the events of his +reign. + +The work of Anna, as a contribution to historical literature, has very +decided deficiencies. In spite of her professed love of truth, her +filial vanity tempts her at all times to put her father and her family +in the best light. The very title, _Alexiad_ suggests rather an +_epos_--a poem in prose--than a serious historical work, and emphasizes +its epideictic tendency. As a woman, she is impressed with the concrete +rather than the abstract, and describes brilliant state functions, +church festivals, imposing audiences and the like with much more +familiarity and enthusiasm than she displays in her treatment of the +underlying causes and inner connections of events. But with all their +faults, these memoirs are an authoritative account of a brilliant and +important epoch, and of a ruler who for his military sagacity and +political shrewdness ranks among the great personages of the Middle +Ages. + +The human traits of the author reveal themselves in every chapter of her +work. Anna possessed a womanly weakness for gossip and slander, and +mingles her praise of the other prominent women of her time with a +tincture of disparagement that must often be attributed to feminine +jealousy. She possessed considerable wit and irony, but was intensely +vain of her rank, her Greek origin and especially of her literary +attainments. Nor must we fail to note the vaulting ambition of this +otherwise attractive woman, an ambition which made her untrue to her +brother and a conspirator against his throne and his life. + +Anna Comnena realized that the chief censure of her work at the hands of +contemporaries and of posterity would be the charge of partiality, and +against this she seeks to defend herself in a striking passage: + +"I must still once more repel the reproach which some may bring against +me, as if my history were composed merely according to the dictates of +the natural love for parents which is engraved on the hearts of +children. In truth, it is not the effect of that affection which I bear +to mine, but it is the evidence of matters of fact, which obliges me to +speak as I have done. Is it not possible that one can have at the same +time an affection for the memory of a father and for truth? For myself, +I have never directed my attempt to write history otherwise than for the +ascertainment of the matter of fact. With this purpose I have taken for +my subject the history of a worthy man. Is it just, then, by the single +accident of his being the author of my birth, his quality of my father +ought to form a prejudice against me, which would ruin my credit with my +readers? I have given, upon other occasions, proofs sufficiently strong +of the ardor which I had for the defence of my father's interests, which +those that know me can never doubt; but, on the present, I have been +limited by the inviolable fidelity with which I respect the truth, which +I should have felt conscious to have veiled, under pretence of serving +the renown of my father." + +The authoress felt assured that a number of disturbances of nature and +mysterious occurrences as interpreted by the soothsayers, foreboded the +death of Alexius; thus she claimed for her father the indications of +consequence, which were regarded by the ancients as necessary +intimations of the sympathy of nature with the removal of great +characters--from the world. During his latter days, the emperor was +afflicted with the gout. Weakened in body, and gradually losing his +native energy, he once responded to the empress, when she spoke of how +his deeds would be handed down in history: "The passages of my unhappy +life call rather for tears and lamentations than for the praises you +speak of." Finally asthma came to the assistance of the gout, and the +prayers of monks and clergy, as well as the lavish distribution of alms, +failed to stay the progress of the disease. At length passed away the +Emperor Alexius, who, with all his faults, was one of the best +sovereigns of the Eastern Empire. + +His learned daughter, in the greatness of her grief, threw aside the +reserve of literary eminence, and burst into tears and shrieks, tearing +her hair, and defacing her countenance, while the Empress Irene cut off +her hair, changed her purple buskins for black mourning shoes, and, +casting from her her princely robes, put on a robe of black. "Even at +the moment when she put it on," adds Anna, "the emperor gave up the +ghost, and in that moment the sun of my life set." + +Anna continues to express her lamentations at her loss, and upbraids +herself that she survived her father, "that light of the world"; Irene, +"the delight alike of the East and of the West"; and, also, her husband, +Nicephorus. "I am indignant," she adds, "that my soul, suffering under +such torrents of misfortune, should still deign to animate my body. Have +I not been more hard and unfeeling than the rocks themselves; and is it +not just that one who could survive such a father and a mother and such +a husband should be subjected to the influence of so much calamity? But +let me finish this history, rather than any longer fatigue my readers +with my unavailing and tragical lamentation!" The history then closes +with the following couplet: + + "The learned Comnena lays her pen aside, + What time her subject and her father died." + +Taking it all in all, the best appreciation of the _Alexiad_ is that of +Gibbon, who thus characterizes the qualities of the work: + +"The life of the Emperor Alexius has been delineated by a favorite +daughter, who was inspired by a tender regard for his person and a +laudable zeal to perpetuate his virtues. Conscious of the just suspicion +of her readers, Anna Comnena repeatedly protests that, besides her +personal knowledge, she has searched the discourse and writings of the +most respectable veterans; that after an interval of thirty years, +forgotten by, and forgetful of, the world, her mournful solitude was +inaccessible to hope and fear; and that truth, the naked perfect truth, +was more dear and sacred than the memory of her parent. Yet instead of +the simplicity of style and narrative which wins our belief, an +elaborate affectation of rhetoric and science betrays, in every page, +the vanity of the female author. + +"The genuine character of Alexius is lost in a vague constellation of +virtues; and the perpetual strain of panegyric and apology awakens our +jealousy to question the veracity of the historian and the merit of the +hero. We cannot, however, refuse her judicious and important remark that +the disorders of the times were the misfortune and the glory of Alexius; +and that every calamity which can afflict a declining empire was +accumulated in his reign by the justice of heaven and the vices of his +predecessors.... The reader may possibly smile at the lavish praise +which his daughter so often bestows on a flying hero; the weakness or +prudence of his situation might be mistaken for a want of personal +courage; and his political arts are branded by the Latins with the names +of deceit and dissimulation...." + +The story of the remaining princesses of the Comneni family is merely +the mirroring of feminine beauty and frailty; and its sad chronicle goes +to show that the Empire was deservedly hastening to its doom because the +stamina sufficient to keep it alive was lacking. + +John Comnenus was succeeded by his younger son Manuel, a renowned +warrior about whose name have gathered many of the romances of chivalry. +He was twice married, first to the virtuous Bertha of Germany, and, +after her decease, to the beautiful Maria, a French or Latin princess of +Antioch. Bertha had a daughter, who was destined for Bela, a Hungarian +prince educated at Constantinople under the name of Alexius and looked +upon as the heir-apparent. But his rights were set aside when Maria had +a son named Alexius, who was in the direct line of male succession. +Notwithstanding the virtues of his queens, Manuel, who was so valiant in +war, showed himself in peace a licentious voluptuary. "No sooner did he +return to Constantinople than he resigned himself to the arts and +pleasures of a life of luxury: the expense of his dress, his table and +his palace, surpassed the measure of his predecessors, and whole summer +days were idly wasted in the delicious isles of the Propontis in the +incestuous love of his niece, Theodora." + +Manuel had a cousin, Andronicus, who was even more of a voluptuary than +he--one whose career as a soldier of fortune and as a heartless rou +marks him as the Byzantine Alcibiades. He indulged his favorite +passions, love and war, without any regard to divine or human law. His +lofty stature, manly strength and beauty, and dare-devil manner were so +seductive that three ladies of royal birth fell victims to his charms. +His mistresses shared his company with his lawful wife, and divided his +affections with a crowd of actresses and dancing girls. He was a +partaker of the pleasures, as well as of the perils, of Manuel; and +while the emperor lived in public incest with his niece Theodora, +Andronicus enjoyed the favors of her sister Eudocia. So enamored was she +of her handsome lover, and so shameless in her conduct, that she gloried +in the title of his mistress, and accompanied him to his military +command in Cilicia. Upon his return, her brothers sought to expiate her +infamy in the blood of Andronicus, but, through Eudocia's aid, he eluded +his enemy. Proving treacherous, however, to the emperor, he was +imprisoned for a long period in a tower of the palace at Constantinople, +where his faithful wife shared his imprisonment and assisted him in +making his escape. + +Andronicus was later given a second command on the Cilician frontier. +While here, he made a conquest of the beautiful Philippa, sister of the +Empress Maria, and daughter of Raymond of Poitou, the Latin Prince of +Antioch. For her sake, he deserted his station and wasted his time in +balls and tournaments; and to his love the frail princess sacrificed her +innocence, her reputation, and the offer of an advantageous marriage. +The Emperor Manuel, however, urged on by his consort, resented this +violation of the family honor, and recalled Andronicus from his infamous +liaison. The indiscreet princess was left to weep and repent of her +folly; and Andronicus, deprived of his post, gathered together a band of +adventurers of like spirit and undertook a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. With +bold effrontery, he declared himself a champion of the Cross; and his +beauty, gallantry, and professions of piety captivated both king and +clergy. The Latin King of Jerusalem invested the Byzantine prince with +the lordship of Berytus, on the coast of Phoenicia. In his neighborhood +there dwelt the young and handsome queen, Theodora,--the daughter of his +cousin Isaac, and great-grand-daughter of the Emperor Alexius,--who was +widow of Baldwin III., King of Jerusalem. Because of her beauty, her +talents, and her prudence, Theodora enjoyed the respect and admiration +of all the Latin nobles. Andronicus became deeply enamored of his fair +cousin, and she, returning his passion with equal ardor, became the +third royal victim of his lust. So debased was the state of society +among the Latin Christians--which was the case at Constantinople +also--that the cousins carried on their amours with little affectation +of secrecy. The Emperor Manuel being again enraged by the disgrace to +the family name through the moral fall of another Comneni princess, +Andronicus had to flee for his life, and Theodora accompanied him in his +flight. She and her two illegitimate children were later captured and +sent to Constantinople. Andronicus finally sought forgiveness from the +emperor, and such was his charm that he was pardoned; he returned to +Constantinople, and soon began the career of intrigue which eventually +placed him on the throne. + +Upon the death of Manuel, the Empress Maria acted as regent for her son +Alexius II., a lad of thirteen. Her prime minister was Alexius Comnenus, +a grandson of John II. Maria's beauty and charm of manner gave her +considerable power over the young nobility. In the conflicts of the +nobles she warmly espoused the cause of her prime minister, and it was +believed that a criminal attachment existed between them. The young +emperor's sister Maria, with the Csar, her husband, attempted to drive +the prime minister from power by a popular uprising. In the turmoil and +chaos that followed, all eyes turned toward Andronicus. The voluptuary +and adventurer responded to the call, and entered the city to be +enthroned, alleging that it was his purpose to deliver the young emperor +from evil counsellors. Cruelty was now added to his other serious +crimes. The Princess Maria and her husband, the Csar, were poisoned; +the Empress Maria, on a charge of treason, was condemned to death, and +strangled; and Alexius II., the legitimate heir to the throne, was +deposed and subjected to the same form of death as his unfortunate +mother. The tyrant kicked the body of the innocent youth as it lay +before him, and addressed it with a sneer: "Thy father was a knave, thy +mother a whore, and thyself a fool!" + +Owing to debauchery and crime, the family of the Comneni had +degenerated. Through the nobility and greatness of its women in an +earlier period, it had risen to the height of power; and through the +debasement and weakness of its women, it finally fell. Andronicus was +the last of the line--the most heinous monster that ever sat on the +Byzantine throne. But his career in crime was cut short. The people rose +up against the author of so many assassinations. Isaac Angelus, a +nobleman, accused of treason, resisted arrest, and fled to Saint Sophia. +A mob gathered and took his side against the mercenaries of Andronicus. +The tyrant himself was seized and torn to pieces, and the Angeli +succeeded the Comneni on the throne of Constantinople. + +Isaac and Alexius Angelus, the two emperors whose reign occupied the +years 1185-1204, between the fall of Andronicus and the conquest of +Constantinople by the Crusaders, were the two most feeble and despicable +creatures who ever occupied the imperial throne. Euphrosyne, the empress +of Alexius, however, was a woman of strong personality, though of +licentious ways, and, as the last of the Byzantine empresses before the +fall of Constantinople, she exhibited the strength as well as the +weakness of that long line of self-asserting princesses whom we have +been considering. + +Owing to the idle disposition of her worthless husband, Euphrosyne +assisted in conducting the business of the Empire; and so masterful was +she that no minister dared take any step without her approval. Gibbon +considers that there was no greater indication of the degradation of +society at this time than that the proudest nobles of the Empire, +members of the celebrated families of Comnenus, Ducas, Palologus, and +Cantacuzenus, contended for the honor of carrying Euphrosyne on her +litter at public ceremonies. Her influence over the nobility was due to +her beauty, her talents and her aptitude for business. But her +inordinate vanity, reckless extravagance, and flagrant licentiousness +brought great scandal upon the Empire even in those vicious times, and +frequently led to violent quarrels with Alexius. Finally, the jealousy +of the emperor at her licentious conduct lost all bounds. Alexius +ordered her paramour to be assassinated, and the female slaves and the +eunuchs of her household were put to the torture. The beautiful and +accomplished Euphrosyne was compelled to leave the palace, and, like so +many imperial dames noted for their devotion or their license, was +immured in a convent. + +The court, however, soon missed her talents and energy; Alexius himself +was not equal to the ordinary duties of his office; the courtiers were +unrestrained in their peculations, and nowhere was there a restraining +hand. Euphrosyne was recalled to save the dynasty, and, with even more +than her former insolence, she entered once more upon a career of +extravagance and shame. While her energy and skill in the affairs of +state won admiration, her lavish expenditures of the public funds +excited the dismay of the few thoughtful men of the day. The crowd +enjoyed the splendid spectacle of her hunting parties and applauded +their empress as she rode along on her richly caparisoned steed, with a +falcon perched on her gold-embroidered glove, but such extravagances +were but hastening the end of the doomed city. + +The rest of the story is but too quickly told. Alexius +III.,--Angelus,--had, by a clever coup d'tat, displaced his brother +Isaac; Alexius IV., son of Isaac, implored outside aid, and gave the +marauders of the fourth Crusade an excuse to attack the city. Alexius +III. fled for his life, and Alexius IV., after a brief reign, was caught +and strangled by the usurper, Alexius Ducas. The Crusaders assaulted and +sacked Constantinople when Alexius V., Ducas, the last of the emperors, +fled in a galley by night, taking with him the Empress Euphrosyne and +her daughter Eudocia whom he had married. He was afterward captured, +tried for the murder of the young Alexius, and suffered death by being +hurled from the top of a lofty pillar. + +The end of Euphrosyne and her daughter Eudocia is not known. The latter +had already had a sufficiently tragical history. Eudocia had first been +married to Simeon, King of Servia, who later abdicated the throne and +retired to a monastery. His son Stephen, enamored of the beauty of his +young stepmother, married her. Later, a disgraceful quarrel arose. +Eudocia was divorced by her second husband and, almost naked, was +expelled from the palace. + +In her desperate condition, abandoned by all, she would probably have +perished had not Fulk, the king's brother, taken pity on her and sent +her back to Constantinople. Alexius Ducas, who had already divorced two +wives, was willing enough to wed the daughter of Euphrosyne, and after +his execution the hand of the accommodating Eudocia was bestowed on Leo +Sguros, the chief of Argos, Nauplia, and Corinth. + +The stories of Euphrosyne and Eudocia are a sufficient confirmation of +the corrupt state of society in the latter days of the Comneni and the +Angeli. Andronicus and his mistresses, and Euphrosyne and her daughter, +are no exaggerated types of the higher classes of the Empire. The clergy +had grown indifferent to the licentiousness of the age, and many bishops +and patriarchs were themselves venal and degraded. The people were too +ready to follow in the footsteps of the higher classes. Therefore, +through the loss of womanly virtue and manly strength, the Empire was on +the verge of ruin. + +Thus fell, on April 13, 1204, Constantinople--"The eye of the world, the +ornament of nations, the fairest sight on earth, the mother of churches, +the spring whence flowed the waters of faith, the mistress of orthodox +doctrine, the seat of the sciences, draining the cup mixed for her by +the hand of the Almighty, and consumed by fires as devouring as those +which ruined the five Cities of the Plain." + + + + +XV + +WOMANHOOD OF THE BYZANTINE DECADENCE + + +The Byzantine Empire had fallen with its capital Constantinople, and the +Latin Empire of Romania had taken its place. But the rule of the Franks +was too weak to take an abiding hold on the provinces, and, after a +brief and flickering existence, 1204-1261, it passed away, and a Greek +dynasty was once more established in New Rome. While the Ottoman power +was gaining strength, the Greek Empire was suffered to exist; but in the +course of two centuries, through internal corruption and mismanagement, +Byzantine dominion ceased to be an effective force in the world's +affairs, and the city of Constantine easily fell a prey to the +Mohammedan forces. + +Though the Crusaders had captured the capital, the provinces refused to +recognize the dominion of the Franks, and three Greek kingdoms were +carved out of the remains of the Byzantine Empire by adventurous spirits +who had left Constantinople rather than fall victims to the Western +conquerors. Theodore Lascaris, the last to strike a blow for the doomed +city, founded across the straits, out of the province of Bithynia, the +empire of Nica, though his rights to royal power lay merely in his +strong right arm and in his having married the daughter of the imbecile +Alexius III. Alexius Comnenus, grandson of Andronicus I., had betaken +himself to the eastern frontier of the Empire, and, chiefly through the +glamour of his name, had made for himself, out of the long strip of +coast land at the south-east corner of the Black Sea, a kingdom that was +destined to carry on an independent existence for nearly three hundred +years as the empire of Trebizond. Furthermore, Michael Angelus, a cousin +of Alexius III., became "despot" of Epirus and later conquered the Latin +kingdom of Thessalonica. Finally, after the Greek empire of Nica had +enjoyed a steady growth for over half a century, during which it +absorbed the kingdom of Thessalonica, Michael Palologus, the usurper of +the Nicene throne, succeeded in wresting Constantinople from its Latin +rulers, and established anew the Byzantine Empire, under the dynasty of +the Palologi. + +In the stories of the dynasties of these various kingdoms we have not +many glimpses into the history of woman, but wherever feminine names are +mentioned woman is found to be exerting her customary influence over the +affairs of state and the destinies of empires. + +The dynasty of Theodore Lascaris was handed down through his daughter +Irene, whose husband succeeded to the throne as the Emperor John III. +The Empress Irene was much beloved because of her amiable character and +domestic virtues, and there is preserved a beautiful incident of the +affection she inspired in a young maiden. John Asan, the King of +Bulgaria, had formed an alliance with John III. through the betrothal of +his daughter Helena to Theodore, the heir-apparent to the Nicene throne. +Highly esteeming the virtues of the Empress Irene, the Bulgarian king +had sent the young Helena to be educated under her care. Later, when the +alliance between the emperor and the king was broken off, Asan sent for +his daughter, with the request that she return to Bulgaria. John III. +scorned to retain his son's betrothed as a hostage, and suffered the +attendants to arrange her departure. But when the maiden ascertained +that she was not to return to her dear mother the empress, her grief was +inconsolable. Her tears and lamentations over the separation and her +praises of the Nicene queen at length excited the serious displeasure of +her father, and he had to threaten her with severe punishment if she did +not cease to weep and mourn for her Greek mother. But her love for Irene +was greater than the fear of punishment, and, in spite of the censure +and the blandishments of her parent, she could never reconcile herself +to the loss of the happy hours at the side of the virtuous and gifted +empress. During Irene's lifetime John was uniformly successful, +extending the bounds of his dominion and winning the love and devoted +admiration of his subjects. But, after her death, another woman led him +into evil ways. + +John married as his second wife, in her twelfth year, the Princess Anna, +natural daughter of the Emperor Frederick II. of Germany. Anna had +brought in her train, as directress of her court, a beautiful Italian +lady, Marchesina by name. The Emperor John fell violently in love with +his child-wife's chief attendant. Marchesina soon received the honors +conferred in courts on the recognized mistress of the sovereign, and was +permitted to wear the dress reserved for members of the imperial family. +Public opinion severely censured the emperor for his conduct, and one of +the prominent bishops of the day, Nicephorus Blemmidas by name, found +occasion to give Marchesina a severe rebuke. Blemmidas had so +beautifully embellished the church of the monastery of which he was +abbot, that it was frequently visited by members of the court. One day, +while the abbot was conducting divine service in the chapel, the +imperial mistress passed by with her attendants, and made up her mind to +enter. But when Blemmidas heard of her approach, he at once ordered the +doors to be closed, declaring that never with his permission should an +adulteress enter the sanctuary. Marchesina, incensed at so severe a +rebuke, so publicly inflicted, hurried back to the palace, threw herself +at the feet of her imperial lover, and implored him to avenge on the +abbot the insult he had put upon her. But John was not regardless of +public opinion, and, recognizing the mistake he had made, merely said in +response to Marchesina's entreaties: "The abbot would have respected me, +had I respected myself." + +Woman, too, was in large measure the cause of the overthrow of the +dynasty of Lascaris, and the usurpation of Michael Palologus, scion of +one of the most influential families of Constantinople. Theodore II., +who succeeded his father John, grew testy and superstitious in his old +age, and had reason to suspect the cunning and able Michael who was +rapidly winning the popular favor. But Michael was undoubtedly spurred +on to action against the dynasty by Theodore's outrageous conduct toward +his sister Martha. The latter had a beautiful daughter who had been most +tenderly reared as became her rank. To the surprise of all, the emperor +ordered the family to bestow her in marriage on one of his pages, +Valanidiotes. Though beneath the maiden in rank, the page succeeded in +winning the affection of the highborn damsel, and the family were +consenting to the union, when the emperor capriciously changed his mind, +and compelled a betrothal between the maiden and a man of her own rank. +A report that this marriage was not consummated led the superstitious +emperor to suspect that both this event and a malignant attack of his +disease were due to some charm practised by the mother. + +In his vexation and rage, he ordered Martha, though connected by birth +with the imperial family, to be enclosed in a sack with a number of +cats, which were from time to time pricked with pins that they might +torture the unfortunate lady. Martha was brought into court with the +sack thus bound about her neck, and was examined concerning her supposed +witchcraft, but the suspicious tyrant could extract nothing from her on +which to base a condemnation. + +This unseemly action was an offence Michael could never forgive. From +this time he began assiduously to plot against the throne. The story of +his usurpation and of his cruelty toward the rightful emperor, the young +lad, John IV.,--Ducas,--does not concern us here. Suffice it to say that +he ascended the throne of Nica as Michael VIII.,--Palologus,--and was +fortunate enough to capture the city of Constantinople and revive the +Greek Empire there. Through the Empire of Nica the thread of tradition +was unbroken, and from 1261 on we have once more a Byzantine Empire. + +The history of this concluding period, 1261-1453, embracing the dynasty +of the Palologi, is the most degrading portion of the national annals. +Michael is renowned for being the restorer of the Eastern Empire, but +his throne was gained through baseness and cruelty, and he left to his +descendants a heritage of vice and crime of such a nature that the +Empire survived for a century or two not because of its intrinsic worth, +but because the Ottomans were not yet ready to seize it. It is a period +notable for the absence of literary taste, of patriotic feeling, of +political honesty, of civil liberty. The emperors are, as a rule, +immoral and capricious men, utterly selfish in their aims and their +pursuits, and each one leaves the Empire somewhat weaker than he found +it. + +The new Empire of Constantinople and that of Trebizond existed side by +side, and frequent intermarriages took place between the royal families. +By studying conjointly the annals of the Palologi and the Comneni we +become acquainted with a number of the princesses of these royal houses, +and can form some idea of the character of Greek womanhood in this age +of decadence, and of the social life of the times as it affects woman's +position and aspirations. + +The women of the two rival houses appear, as a rule, superior in +character, judgment, and virtue to the men, and this difference between +the males and females of the imperial families is so marked, that we +would fain know more of the system of education for women which produced +an effect so singular and so uniform. It must have been due to the fact +that in spite of the general demoralization, the life of the convents in +which the princesses were trained was pure and uplifting, the methods of +instruction thorough, the discipline severe; while the clergy who had in +charge the education of the princes were so bent on their own preferment +and the acquirement of political power, that they aimed rather at +gaining an ascendency over their imperial wards than in imparting the +instruction which would have made them great rulers. + +The only empress of the Palologi, however, to gain supreme power and to +win a place in history, was of foreign birth. Anne of Savoy, by the +nomination of her dying husband, Andronicus III. (1328-1341), and the +custom of the Empire, was made regent of her son, John V., Palologus, a +lad of nine years. Her reign was made memorable through her struggles +with a powerful courtier, who aroused civil war and ascended the throne +for a time as John VI., Cantacuzenus (1347-1354). + +Byzantine etiquette required the widowed empress to weep for nine days +beside the body of her deceased husband, who was laid out in state in +the monastery of the Guiding Virgin, whither he had retired when death +was near and where he assumed the habit and the devotions of a monk. But +John Cantacuzenus, the grand domesticos and first minister of the +Empire, was bent on playing the rle of earlier usurpers, and during her +absence determined to establish himself in the imperial palace as +guardian of the emperor. The empress, recognizing the danger of +infringement on the rights of her child, deemed it necessary to shorten +the period of mourning to three days, and returned to the palace to +assert her authority as regent. Then began a course of intrigue between +the two parties. Cantacuzenus instituted a rebellion against the regent, +and by his followers was crowned and invested with the imperial robe. +Under the guidance of the patriarch and the grand duke Apocaucus, the +Empress Anne adopted forceful measures to intimidate the partisans of +the rebels. Among the interesting women of this period was Theodora, the +mother of Cantacuzenus, a woman of preeminent virtue and talent, far +superior in ability and moral force to her son. But against her the +vengeance of Anne was chiefly directed. The aged lady was thrown into +prison by order of the regent, and was subjected to great cruelty and +privations until death came to her relief. The young emperor, John V., +was solemnly crowned. Apocaucus was appointed prime minister, and a +vigorous war was prosecuted against the rebels, who were threatened with +extermination. To save his cause Cantacuzenus treacherously turned to +the common enemy, the Turk, and sacrificing his daughter Theodora on the +altar of his ambition gave her in marriage to Orkhan, and sent her to +dwell at Brusa, as a member of the Sultan's harem. All the religious +people of the day were incensed at this violation of common decency and +lack of paternal feeling, but the tone of morality was too low to cause +serious opposition. + +Meanwhile, there was discord in the palace. The Empress Anne fell out +with her chief supporter. She had a violent quarrel with the patriarch. +Her prime minister Apocaucus was assassinated. Through the aid of his +Turkish ally Cantacuzenus was successful. The empress-regent showed a +determination to defend herself in the palace, but her partisans were +less courageous than she, and she was compelled to submit. But +Cantacuzenus was as wily as he was ambitious. Recognizing the strength +of his opponents, after he himself had been crowned emperor, he +determined on the marriage of his daughter Helena with the young +heir-apparent, and agreed to associate John V. with him on the throne +when he reached the age of twenty-five. The children, for John was only +fifteen and Helena thirteen, were betrothed and wedded with great +ceremony, and then received the crown, and the courtiers and people were +entertained by the rare spectacle of two emperors and three empresses +seated on their thrones. + +"The strange spectacle delighted the gazers; but it was not viewed +without some feeling of contempt, for it was generally known that the +imperial crowns were bright with false pearls and diamonds; that the +robes were stiffened with tinsel; that the vases were of brass, not +gold; and instead of the rich brocade of Thebes, the hangings were of +gilded leather." + +Cantacuzenus deserves to rank with the two Angeli as the third of the +great destroyers of the Eastern Empire. Through civil wars he depleted +its resources; and by introducing the Turk into his dominions, he paved +the way for the final downfall. Fortunately, John V. asserted himself at +the age of twenty-four; Cantacuzenus was tonsured and placed in a +monastery where he passed the rest of his days in literary labors. In +native gifts and force of character, and in her checkered history, the +Empress Anne of Savoy deserves a place by the side of the earlier +self-asserting empresses of Constantinople. + +The tale of the last hundred years of the Byzantine Empire is a mere bit +of local history, and no longer forms an important warp in the woof of +the annals of Christendom. Women there were who were deserving of a +better destiny, but they are naturally obscured in the general +demoralization. The Mussulman might have taken Constantinople +seventy-five years earlier. The end came on May 29,1453. The city was +captured by Mohammed II., and Constantine XIII., the last of the Csars, +the worthy scion of degenerate sires, fell in the breach. Mohammed +proceeded quickly to convert Constantinople from a Christian into a +Turkish capital. The city was sacked. The Byzantine women were sold into +slavery, or became wives or concubines of the conquerors and passed the +rest of their days in a Turkish harem. And, from this date, for +centuries the life of Greek womanhood under Turkish domination was +passed in oppression and obscurity. + +The fragment of the Greek Empire known in the history of the Middle Ages +as the Empire of Trebizond was the creation of accident. A young man +descended from the worst tyrant of Constantinople, but of an illustrious +name which retained the glamour inspired by the founder of the Comneni +dynasty, grasped the sovereignty of a most important commercial centre, +and his descendants continued to hold it until overwhelmed by the +all-conquering power of the Turk. The Empire of Trebizond possesses +unique grandeur in the romances of the West: the beauty of its +princesses was a theme of universal praise; its reputed wealth and +splendor excited the cupidity of Venetian and Genoese merchants. But it +was, after all, an insignificant kingdom, which owed its strength merely +to the weakness of surrounding peoples; and whose ostentatious court +ceremonials were but an attempt to keep up the traditions of the +Byzantine Empire and of the Comneni family in more prosperous days. + +Shortly after the assassination of Andronicus by Isaac II., +--Angelus,--his son Manuel, with other members of his family, met a +similar fate. Manuel was survived by two sons, Alexius and David, the +former a little lad of four. The boys were concealed for a time, and +were brought up in obscurity in Constantinople, where faithful friends +gave them an education worthy of their station. At the time when the +Crusaders captured the city, Alexius escaped, raised an army, and took +possession of Trebizond, then one of the most important commercial seats +on the borders of the Black Sea. The surrounding province gladly +recognized him as the lawful sovereign of the Roman Empire, and the +Comneni dynasty was continued through him for two and a half centuries +or more. To mark the legitimacy of his claim, and to prevent confusion +with the rival family of Alexius III.,--Angelus,--Alexius assumed the +designation of "Grand-Comnenus," and by this title the family was known +until its extermination. + +The earlier years of the Empire of Trebizond were notable chiefly for +the efforts of its rulers to retain and extend their power, which was +circumscribed by the stronger empire of Nica. After the latter had been +merged into the restored Byzantine Empire with Constantinople as its +capital, Trebizond was still strong enough to maintain an independent +existence. A league was formed between the reigning sovereigns, Michael +VIII.,--Palologus,--of Constantinople, and John II., then Emperor of +Trebizond, through the espousal of the latter to Michael's youngest +daughter, Eudocia, who was destined to show herself one of the best and +most capable of the Palologi princesses. + +The ceremony was solemnized with great ostentation on September 12, +1282. The question of precedence was an important one, as the Trebizond +government had considered itself the direct successor of the Empire of +the Csars. But through this marriage the wily monarch of Constantinople +gained the advantage; for John on this occasion laid aside the title of +"Emperor of the Romans," to be henceforth reserved exclusively for the +sovereign of the city of the Golden Horn, while that of Trebizond +assumed the title of "Emperor of all the East, Iberia, and Perateia." +Furthermore, the inhabitants of the city saw in the respective marriage +robes a certain inferiority of the Trebizontine monarch to the family of +his wife; for while the robes of John were embellished with +single-headed eagles, the bride appeared in a dress covered with +double-headed eagles to mark her rank in the Empire of the East and West +as a princess of the Palologi, born in the purple chamber. + +John and his royal bride had not been long settled on the throne when he +experienced a sudden and unexpected discomfiture at the hands of an +aspiring sister. Theodora, the oldest child of Manuel I. by his marriage +with Roussadan, an Iberian princess, jealous of the popularity of her +sister-in-law, and proud of the superiority of Comneni traditions to +those of the usurper of Constantinople, availed herself of the party +intrigues of the nobles, and the popular dissensions in the capital, to +assemble an army, surprise her imperial brother, and mount the throne. +Her glory was of brief duration, but the existence of coins bearing her +name and effigy demonstrates that her power was stable and that she was +fully recognized as a sovereign of the Empire. No clue exists which +enables us to determine how Theodora obtained the throne or how she was +at length driven from power, but John appears to have finally recovered +his throne and capital and to have expelled the ambitious princess. + +During succeeding years the influence of Byzantine womanhood and the +relations between the two kingdoms continued prominent. John died in +1297, leaving two sons, Alexius II. and Michael. The former succeeded +his father at the age of fifteen, and was placed under the guardianship +of his mother Eudocia's brother, the Byzantine emperor Andronicus II. +Andronicus ordered his ward, the young emperor of Trebizond, though an +independent sovereign prince, to marry Irene, the daughter of a +Byzantine subject, Choumnus, one of his favorite ministers. But the idea +of a Comnenus marrying below his station was offensive both to Alexius +and his people. In obedience to the blood within his veins, and in +contempt of his guardian's command, Alexius rejected the proposed +mesalliance, and married the daughter of an Iberian prince. + +The young married couple presented a beautiful example of conjugal +tenderness and devotion, but this did not soften the hard heart of the +guardian. Andronicus even went so far as to endeavor, to make the Greek +Church declare the marriage null and void on the ground that it had been +contracted by a union without the consent of his guardian. But the +patriarch and clergy, sympathizing with the lovers, and alarmed at the +ludicrous position in which they would be placed, took advantage of the +interesting condition of the bride to refuse to gratify the spleen of +the chagrined emperor. + +At this time also, Eudocia, the mother of Alexius, who was in partial +durance in the imperial palace at Constantinople, saw an opportunity of +obtaining her freedom and of returning to her dominions. Her brother +Andronicus was offended with her because she had rejected his proposal +to form a second marriage with the Krai of Servia. + +She persuaded her brother that her influence over her son, who was +devotedly attached to her, would have far more weight in making the +young emperor agree to a divorce than the sentence of an ecclesiastical +tribunal whose authority he was able to decline; and to this end she +obtained her brother's permission to return to Trebizond. Upon arriving +at her son's court Eudocia was so much impressed with the conjugal +fidelity of her son Alexius that she at once approved of his conduct, +and supported him in his determination to resist the tyrannical +pretensions of his guardian. Eudocia is an excellent example of the +superiority of the Palologi women over their weaker and more selfish +brothers. In every situation, even in her months of exile from her +dominions, she maintained herself with dignity, and in her careful +rearing of her son and regard for his interests she exhibited motherly +traits of a high order. + +In the next generation there was also an alliance between the royal +families of the two kingdoms. The emperor Basilius, second son of +Alexius II., married Irene Palologina, the natural daughter of +Andronicus III. of Constantinople. Basilius had no legitimate issue, but +falling in love with a beautiful lady of Trebizond, also named Irene, he +made her his mistress and conferred on her every possible honor. She +bore him four children. To insure the succession of one of his natural +sons, Basilius in 1339 persuaded or forced the clergy to celebrate a +public marriage with his Trebizontine mistress, though there is no +evidence that he obtained a divorce from his lawful wife Irene, beyond +his own decree. He died suddenly in the April following his marriage to +his mistress. + +Irene Palologina, who was, in spite of his second nuptials, universally +regarded as the lawful wife of Basilius, was suspected of having +hastened his end; and her unfaithful husband had certainly tried the +soul of the proud lady. At any rate she was prepared for the sad event, +and had already organized a faction which placed her on the throne, as +the second independent Empress of Trebizond. + +This promptitude in profiting by her husband's death, was worthy of the +first Empress Irene in Byzantine history, and gave just ground for +suspicion. But in considering an age when it was usual for people to +circulate calumnious reports against their rulers, the evidence should +be strong before we condemn the Palologi princess. However, the +flagrant immorality of the court circles, and the lightness of character +of Irene herself, as well as her conduct after the event, tended to give +credibility to the rumor. + +Irene, as soon as she was safely established on the throne, sent off her +rival of Trebizond and the two sons of Basilius to Constantinople where +her father Andronicus detained them as hostages for the tranquillity of +her empire. A strong party of the nobility, however, who had hoped to +gain wealth and power through the favor of the Trebizontine Irene, whom +they purposed to make regent during the minority of her children, were +chagrined at the success of the schemes of the Palologi princess, and +at once began to plan her downfall. Two great parties arose, and the +little empire was once more disturbed by the turmoil of civil war. +Irene, with all her daring, was, like her father, of a gay and +thoughtless disposition, and did not fully realize the danger of her +situation. She recognized, however, that a second husband would +strengthen her cause; and she urged her father Andronicus to send her a +husband chosen from among the Byzantine nobles, who could aid her in +repressing the factions which threatened her throne. Andronicus gave a +favorable reception to Irene's ambassadors, but died before he had time +seriously to attend to her request. The light-minded Irene consoled +herself during the delay by falling in love with the grand domesticos of +her palace. But this bit of favoritism only divided her own court into +factions and strengthened the cause of her enemies. + +A new storm now burst over the head of the thoughtless empress. Another +woman, whose title to rule was far stronger than that of Irene, appeared +to claim the throne. Anna, called Anachoutlon, was the eldest daughter +of the Emperor Alexius II. She had in early womanhood taken the veil, +and until this time had lived in seclusion. The opposition party +searched out her retreat and persuaded her to quit her monastic dress +and escape to Lazia, where she was proclaimed Empress of Trebizond, as +the nearest legitimate heir of her brother Basilius. All the provincials +united in demanding the sovereignty of a member of the house of +Grand-Comnenus in preference to the usurpation of a Palologi princess, +who was planning to marry a foreigner. The popular demand for the rule +of a scion of the house of Grand-Comnenus gave Anna a triumphal march to +the capital, and with but little opposition she was admitted within the +citadel and universally recognized as the lawful empress. Irene was +dethroned after a troubled reign of one year and four months. Three +weeks later Michael Grand-Comnenus, second son of John II. and Eudocia, +who had been selected at Constantinople as a suitable husband of Irene, +arrived on the scene, to find the change of sovereignty. The Empress +Anna was surrounded by a cabal of powerful chiefs, who determined to +keep the reins of power in their hands. She graciously received her +kinsman, but he was later treacherously seized and imprisoned by Anna's +partisans. Irene was sent on, under suitable escort, to Constantinople, +to pass the rest of her life in retirement. The treatment of Michael +aroused the fury of many adherents of the house of Grand-Comnenus. +Another upheaval followed. John III., son of Michael, was brought over +from Constantinople, and proclaimed emperor by a constantly growing +faction. The hapless Anna, who had doubtless ofttimes regretted giving +up the peaceful life of the monastery for the troubles and cares of a +crown, was taken prisoner in the palace, and was immediately strangled. +She had occupied the throne hardly more than a year. + +The next period of importance in our study of Trebizontine princesses is +that covered by the long reign--1349-1390--of Alexius III., the second +son of Basilius by Irene of Trebizond. His wife was also a Byzantine +princess, Theodora, the daughter of Nicephorus Cantacuzenus, brother of +the emperor John V., Cantacuzenus, whose stormy career of opposition to +Anne of Savoy we have already noticed. Theodora bore to Alexius a number +of beautiful daughters, whom he utilized when they became of +marriageable age to form alliances with his powerful neighbors, both +Mohammedan and Christian. His eldest daughter, Eudocia, Alexius first +wedded to the Emir Tadjeddin, who had gained possession of the important +district of Limnia; after Tadjeddin was slain in a quarrel with a +neighboring emir, the beautiful and accomplished princess became the +wife of the Byzantine emperor, John V. That aged monarch had chosen her +to be the bride of his son, the emperor Manuel II.,--Palologus; but +when she arrived at Constantinople for the celebration of the nuptials, +her beauty and grace so powerfully captivated the decrepit old debauchee +that he set aside the inclinations of his son, who was also enamored of +his prospective bride, and married the young widow himself. + +Anna, another daughter of Alexius, was married to Bagrat VI., King of +Georgia; and a third daughter was bestowed on Taharten, Emir of +Erdsendjan. Alexius's sisters met a similar fate. His sister Maria was +married to Koutloubeg, the chief of the great Turkoman horde of the +White Sheep; and his sister Theodora, to Hadji Omer, Emir of Chalybia. + +These marriages with Mohammedan nobles, though one revolts at the +immolation of Christian maidens on the altar of selfish expedience, are +yet the strongest proof how the Christian state was being surrounded by +powerful Mohammedan chieftains, who must be conciliated to ward off the +evil day of extinction. Such alliances, too, may account in part for the +moral degradation which henceforth characterizes the house of +Grand-Comnenus. + +In the next generation, Alexius IV. wedded Theodora Cantacuzenus, of the +celebrated Byzantine family of that name. Neglected by her husband, the +princess consoled herself with too close an intimacy with one of the +chamberlains of the palace; her son John, indignant at his mother's +disgrace, assassinated her lover with his own hands. He later murdered +his own father, and ascended the throne as John IV. + +Under this cruel and intriguing ruler and his successors, the Christian +population of the country regarded the dynasty of Grand-Comnenus as a +dynasty of pagan or foreign tyrants, so little of religion or morality +survived in Trebizond. His alliances with the Turkoman plunderers of the +frontiers increased the popular aversion. John early recognized the +growing strength of the Turks, and sought to prepare to meet the coming +invasion by forming an alliance with Ouzoun Hassan, chief of the +Turkomans of the White Horde, whose daring courage and rapid career of +conquest made him, in the general estimation, a formidable rival of +Mohammed II. + +When invited to join in the league against Mohammed, Hassan demanded as +the price of his assistance the hand of the emperor's daughter +Katherine, renowned throughout the Orient as the most beautiful virgin +in the East. John IV. was highly pleased at the prospect of purchasing +so powerful an alliance on such easy terms, and readily agreed, +doubtless without consulting the fair Katherine. Yet, in order to save +his credit as a Christian emperor, and perhaps as a balm to his own +conscience in sacrificing his daughter to an infidel, he stipulated in +the treaty that Katherine should be permitted always the exercise of her +own religion, and should have the privilege of keeping a certain number +of Christian ladies as her attendants, and of Greek priests in her +suite, to serve a private chapel in the harem. It is to the honor of a +Mussulman to observe that Hassan strictly kept his promises, even after +the empire of Trebizond and the house of Grand-Comnenus were no more. + +Before this matrimonial alliance was fulfilled, John came to his end; +but his brother David, who displaced the heir and usurped the throne,--a +fit agent for consummating the ruin of an empire,--completed the +arrangement. The beautiful Katherine was sent with suitable pomp to the +court of her bridegroom, Hassan, and readily adapted herself to the +changed conditions of her life. She soon acquired great influence over +her infidel husband, who was the soul of honor and good faith, and in +every phase of her life which is known to us she showed herself the most +attractive character of the whole house of Comnenus. + +But no matrimonial alliance could save the doomed empire. Constantinople +had fallen in 1453, and it was merely a matter of time when the last +surviving Greek kingdom should succumb to the Mohammedan yoke. Mohammed +II., by the exercise of intrigue, gradually detached from the emperor +his infidel allies. When finally the Mohammedan forces came against the +city, David showed that he possessed nothing of the heroic spirit of the +last Constantine. He offered but a feeble resistance, and readily +sacrificed the city to outrage and plunder on an assurance of safety for +himself and his family. David basely deserted his empire and embarked on +board one of the Turkish galleys, with his family and his treasures, to +enjoy for a brief period luxurious ease in the European appanage +assigned him by Mohammed. + +David's family consisted of seven sons and a daughter borne him by +Helena Cantacuzena, his second wife, who, through her devotion to +husband and children, deserves to rank among the noblest of mothers in +the chronicles of history. + +The dethroned emperor was not long permitted to enjoy the repose he had +purchased with so much infamy. Mohammed at length suspected him of +carrying on secret communications with Ouzoun Hassan, his niece's +husband, and plotting to reestablish the Empire of Trebizond. He was +suddenly arrested on his luxurious estate, and conveyed with his whole +family to Constantinople. While they were on the way a letter from +Despina Katon--the popular designation of the fair Katherine--to her +uncle David was intercepted by the Ottoman emissaries. In this the +amiable spouse of Hassan, requested David to send her brother, or one of +her cousins, to be educated at her husband's court. This letter afforded +convincing proof to the suspicious Sultan that David was plotting with +Ouzoun Hassan and other enemies of the Porte for the restoration of his +empire. + +The bare suspicion of Mohammed was a sentence of death to the whole race +of Grand-Comnenus. As soon as the unfortunate prisoners reached +Constantinople, David was ordered to embrace Islam under pain of death. +His life had been ignoble, but in his death David showed that he still +possessed something of the nobility of the Comneni, and he chose death +rather than dishonor his name by renouncing his religion. David, his +seven sons and his nephew Alexius were all slaughtered in one day, in +the year 1470: the daughter was lost in a Turkish harem. + +The bodies of the princes were thrown out unburied beyond the walls. No +one ventured to approach them for fear of the vengeance of the Sultan. +They would have been abandoned to the dogs, the usual scavengers of +Christian flesh, had not the Empress Helena, the wife and mother, +repaired to the spot where they lay. She was clad in a peasant's garb, +to escape detection, and carried a spade in her hand. The day was spent +in guarding the remains of husband and children from the ravenous dogs, +and in digging a grave to receive their bodies. In the darkness of the +night a few faithful souls came to her relief and assisted her in +committing the bodies to the dust. The widowed and childless empress, +who had seen the last of her race, the last of the glories of the +Byzantine kingdom, then retired to a convent to pass the remainder of +her days in prayers for the repose of the souls of her loved ones. Grief +soon brought her to a refuge from all earthly sorrows in the grave. + +The story of womanhood in the Byzantine Empire of the decadence is an +extremely sad one. The times were out of joint; corruption and +immorality prevailed; the emperors were almost without exception +extremely selfish, cruel, and unprincipled. It was impossible for +womanhood in such a period not to be tainted by the general ruin, yet we +have found many noble characters, and whatever may have been their +feminine weaknesses and foibles, however much their lots may have been +circumscribed by the caprices of sovereigns and the ceremonials of +courts, the princesses of the Comneni, the Palologi and the Cantacuzeni +have, as a rule, shown themselves in virtue and in capability the +superiors of their brothers. + +The rest of our story of Christian women of Greek or Byzantine +traditions is soon told. During all the period we have covered in this +chapter there was a flourishing medival life further south under Greek +skies, in Athens, under a Frankish and, later, a Florentine duchy, and +in the Peloponnesus, or the Morea, under Frankish or Venetian princes. +But this was the feudal life of medival times transferred to Greek +soil, the life of foreigners among a conquered people, and does not +concern us here. + +When the Turks extended their conquests over Greek lands, it looked as +if the torch of freedom, the light of Hellenic tradition, the lamp of +Christianity which had for so many centuries brightened the life of +Oriental women, had been extinguished forever. But all during the dark +age of Turkish oppression, the Christian Church kept alive the nobler +aspirations of the Greek race. Women have always been the chief +exponents of religious faith, and Greek women handed on from generation +to generation the traditions of religion and liberty and intellectual +culture. Many of the women of Greek lands were forced to spend their +lives within the narrow walls of a Turkish harem; many saw their +children taken from them and carried to Constantinople to be brought up +as Mussulmans for the service of the Sultan; many had to undergo +ignominy and insults at the hands of petty officials. But the Church +found a constant and enthusiastic ally in Greek womanhood in preserving +the language, the spirit, the love of liberty, of the ancient Greeks. + +Hence, when in the early decades of the nineteenth century the fulness +of time had come for a portion of the Greek race to rid itself of +Turkish domination, the women showed an intense love of country which +enabled them not only to inspire their brothers in the fight for +freedom, but they also frequently shared with them the toils and +privations of actual conflict. We read in the histories of the Greek War +of Independence how women at times accompanied the Greek soldiers on +their forages, carrying arms and ammunition and frequently fighting +themselves; how they kept the standard of military honor high, and were +unsparing critics of the mettle of their husbands. + +There is no more inspiring folk tale in the records of history than the +legend of the Suliote women in the struggle of their people against Ali, +the cruel and rapacious tyrant of Janina. Bred in the mountains of +Chamouri, they refused to submit to his yoke, and the valiant people had +to see the gradual extermination of their race. They had ventured to +defy the rising star of Ali, and all that force or treachery could +accomplish was inflicted upon them. Tzavellas was one of their leaders, +and the valor of Moscho, his wife, has been commemorated in popular +verse, as typical of Greek womanhood in their struggle for independence: + + "This is the famous Suli, is Suli the renowned, + Where the little children march to war, the women and the children: + Where the wife of Tzavellas combats, her sabre in her hand, + Her babe upon one arm, her gun upon the other, and her apron filled + with cartridges." + +The final incident of the unequal struggle which shows the desperate +determination and courage of these Greek women, who suckled these +_klephts_ of the mountains and kept alive that spirit of liberty which +finally won independence from Turkish misrule, has been thus described: + +"Some sixty of these Suliote women, with their children, were assembled +on a ledge of rock overhanging a sheer precipice, and, having witnessed +the gradual extermination of their defenders, they resolved to die by +their own act rather than fall into the hands of the grisly tyrant of +Janina. The position which they occupied suggested an easy form of +death, and the manner in which they sought it was tragically weird and +grim. First, each mother took her child, embraced it, and, turning her +head away from the pitiful scene, pushed it over the edge of the abyss. +Then these sixty women linked their hands together, and, singing the +familiar daring song of Suli above the rattle of the musketry, danced +the old surtos measure round and round the ledge of rock, having each +her back to the void as the winding chain approached the brink. And +every time the chain wound round, one dancer, the last in the line, +unlinked her hand, took one step back, and fell down into annihilation. +One by one, without haste, without pause, singing the dancing song, they +followed each other down that leap of death, until the last sprung over +alone, consecrating the mountain with their blood an altar of liberty, +from which, ere long, a flame arose that fired those ancient ranges from +sea to sea." + +Such was the spirit of Greek womanhood in the trying year of the Greek +War of Independence; and it was this spirit which enabled the Greeks to +struggle on, without resources and allies, amid discouragements and +misrepresentations, till finally the nations of Europe came to their +rescue and established the modern Greek kingdom on a sure basis. + +Athens was finally chosen as the seat of the new Greek government; and +in 1837 the Bavarian king Otho and his lovely bride, the princess +Amalia, entered Athens in triumph, and the kingdom of Hellas was fairly +launched. Within the memory of living men the dynasty of Otho fell, and +a scion of the royal house of Denmark, King George, with his Russian +consort, Queen Olga, now holds sway in Athens. + +The modern Greek woman of the higher classes has become so thoroughly +cosmopolitan in her culture that she has lost in large measure her +distinctive traits. Her sympathy is rather with Parisian life than with +English, though her deportment is marked by a sobriety of manner +partaking rather of Greek repose than of French effusion. Many faces +seen in Greek lands exhibit, in profile especially, the Greek type of +beauty. + +The women of the lower classes, no doubt, preserve many of the +characteristics of the race in all ages, in spite of the intermingling +with foreign peoples and the results of centuries of Turkish oppression, +which time alone can eradicate. Domestic fidelity, maternal affection, +devotion to religious observances, the cheerful discharge of the duties +and responsibilities of wedded life, are nowhere more beautifully +illustrated than among the Greek women of to-day. + +It is the Christian religion which makes the life of Greek women under +King George superior to that of their sisters under the dominion of the +Sultan, and we may hope that in the fulness of time the Greek women of +Europe and Asia outside of the Hellenic kingdom may enjoy, untrammelled +by Turkish authority, the rights and privileges of that religion which +has elevated the sex, and that the Greek woman of the future may combine +the personal graces of her sister in antiquity with the cultivation of +the soul and the enlargement of spirit which comes to women with the +inculcation of Christianity. + + + + + CONTENTS + + + INTRODUCTION + + PREFACE + + PART FIRST + + I WOMEN OF THE GOSPEL NARRATIVE + II WOMEN OF THE APOSTOLIC AGE + III THE ERA OF PERSECUTION + IV SAINT HELENA AND THE TIME OF CONSTANTINE + V POST-NICENE MOTHERS + VI THE NUNS OF THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH + VII WOMEN WHO WITNESSED THE FALL OF ROME + VIII WOMEN OF THE FRANKISH CHURCH + + PART SECOND + + IX THE EMPRESS EUDOXIA + X THE RIVAL EMPRESSES--PULCHERIA AND EUDOCIA + XI THE EMPRESS THEODORA + XII OTHER SELF-ASSERTING AUGUST--VERINA, ARIADNE. + SOPHIA, MARTINA. IRENE + XIII BYZANTINE EMPRESSES--THEODORA II. THEOPHANO. + ZOE. THEODORA III. + XIV THE PRINCESSES OF THE COMNENI + XV WOMANHOOD OF THE BYZANTINE DECADENCE + + + + + List of Illustrations + + SUBJECT ARTIST + + Seeking shelter _Luc Oliver Merson_ + Christ and the daughter of Jairus _Albert Keller_ + Christians in the arena _L.P.de Laubadre_ + Famine and pestilence _A. Hirschl_ + The legend of the roses _J. Nogales_ + Byzantine interior, ninth century _S. Baron_ + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Women of Early Christianity, by +Alfred Brittain and Mitchell Carroll + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WOMEN OF EARLY CHRISTIANITY *** + +***** This file should be named 32451-8.txt or 32451-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/2/4/5/32451/ + +Produced by Rnald Lvesque + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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Alfred Brittain and Mitchell Carroll</title> + + +<style type="text/css"> +<!-- + +body {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%} + +h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {text-align: center;} +p {text-align: justify} +blockquote {text-align: justify} + +hr {width: 50%; text-align: center} +hr.full {width: 100%} +hr.short {width: 10%; text-align: center} + + +.red {color: red; font-style: italic;} +.sc {font-variant: small-caps} +.lef {float: left} +.mid {text-align: center} +.rig {float: right} +.sml {font-size: 10pt} + + +.poem {margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; + text-align: left} +.poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em} +.poem .stanza.i {margin: 1em 0em; font-style: italic;} +.poem p {padding-left: 3em; margin: 0px; text-indent: -3em} +.poem p.i2 {margin-left: 1em} +.poem p.i4 {margin-left: 2em} +.poem p.i6 {margin-left: 3em} +.poem p.i8 {margin-left: 4em} +.poem p.i10 {margin-left: 5em} +.poem p.i12 {margin-left: 6em} +.poem p.i14 {margin-left: 7em} +.poem p.i16 {margin-left: 8em} +.poem p.i18 {margin-left: 9em} +.poem p.i20 {margin-left: 10em} +.poem p.i30 {margin-left: 15em} + + +--> +</style> +</head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Women of Early Christianity, by +Alfred Brittain and Mitchell Carroll + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Women of Early Christianity + Woman: In all ages and in all countries, Vol. 3 (of 10) + +Author: Alfred Brittain + Mitchell Carroll + +Release Date: May 20, 2010 [EBook #32451] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WOMEN OF EARLY CHRISTIANITY *** + + + + +Produced by Rénald Lévesque + + + + + +</pre> + + + + +<br><br> + +<h2><i>WOMAN</i></h2> + +<hr class="short"> +<h3>VOLUME III</h3> + +<h3><i>WOMEN OF EARLY CHRISTIANITY</i></h3> + +<h5>BY</h5> + +<h4>Rev. ALFRED BRITTAIN and MITCHELL CARROLL, Ph.D.</h4> + +<h5>WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY</h5> + +<h4>J. CULLEN AYER, Jr., Ph.D.</h4> + +<h5>OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY</h5> +<br><br> + +<a name="ill1" id="ill1"></a> +<p class="mid"><img alt="" src="images/001.png"><br> <b><i>SEEKING SHELTER<br> After the painting by Luc Oliver +Merson</i></b></p> + +<blockquote><b><i>Notwithstanding all that is said in these ancient writings in the +attempt to do her honor, we must conclude that the glory of the halo +which beautifies the head of the real Mary is derived by reflection from +the moral splendor of her Son.... We need such a poetic creation as +Mary; and her place at the head of all the daughters of earth is the +more secure and effective because her figure in authentic history is but +a shadowy outline. The ideal woman whom all mankind loves and reverences +as Virgin, Mother, and Saint, is objectified by concentrating in Mary of +Nazareth all possible feminine grace, beauty, and purity.</i></b></blockquote> + +<br><br> + +<h1 class="red"><i>Woman</i></h1> + +<h4><i>In all ages and in all countries</i></h4> + +<h4><i>VOLUME III</i></h4> + +<br><br> + +<h2><i>WOMEN OF EARLY CHRISTIANITY</i></h2> + +<h5>BY</h5> + +<h3>Rev. ALFRED BRITTAIN</h3> + +<h5>AND</h5> + +<h3>MITCHELL CARROLL, Ph. D.</h3> + +<h5>WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY</h5> + +<h4>J. CULLEN AYER, Jr., Ph. D.</h4> + +<h5><i>Of Harvard University</i></h5> + +<br><br> + +<h2 class="red"><i>ILLUSTRATED</i></h2> + +<br><br> + +<p class="mid"><i>PHILADELPHIA</i><br> +<i>GEORGE BARRIE & SONS, Publishers</i></p> + +<br><br> + +<p class="mid"><span class="sml"><i>COPYRIGHT, 1907, BY GEORGE BARRIE & SONS</i><br> + +Entered at Stationers' Hall, London</span></p> + +<a name="intro" id="intro"></a> +<br><br> + +<h3>INTRODUCTION</h3> + +<p>When the historian has described the rise and fall of empires and +dynasties, and has recounted with care and exactness the details of the +great political movements that have changed the map of continents, there +remains the question: What was the cause of these revolutions in human +society--what were the real motives that were operative in the hearts +and minds of the persons in the great drama of history that has been +displayed? The mere chain of events as they have passed before the eye +as it surveys the centuries does not give an explanation of itself. +There must be a cause that lies behind these events, and of which they +are but the effects. This cause, the true cause of history, lies in the +minds and hearts of the men and nations. The student of the past is +coming more and more to see that the only hope of making history a +science, and not a mere chronicle, is to be found in the clear +ascertainment and study of those psychological conditions which have +made actions what they were. Foremost among those conditions have been +the hopes, aspirations and ideals of men and women. These have been the +greatest motive forces in the history of the world. These, quite as much +as merely selfish considerations, have guided the conduct of the men who +have made history, not merely those who have been leaders in the great +movements of society, but the multitude of followers who have not +attracted the attention of historians, but have, nevertheless, given the +strength and force to the revolutions of the world.</p> + +<p>The deepest interest in the history of Christian women lies in the way +in which woman's status in society has been modified by the new +religion. The chronicle of saintly life and deeds is a part of that +history. But there are, also, women who have signally failed to attain +those virtues for which their religion called. These, too, have their +place, for both have either forwarded or retarded the realization of +woman's place in society. Often the heathen spirit is but half concealed +under the mask of Christianity. But the whole tone of society has been +changed, nevertheless, by the ideas and ideals which that religion +brought before men's minds in a new and vivid manner.</p> + +<p>The position of woman has been more influenced by Christianity than by +any other religion. This is not because there have not been noble +sentiments expressed by non-Christian writers; for among the rabbinical +writers, for instance, are many fine sentiments that could have come +only from men who clearly perceived the place of woman in an ideal human +society. Nor because in Christianity there have not been men whose +conception of woman was more suitable to the adherents of those faiths +that have regarded her as a thing unclean. But from the very nature of +the appeal which Christianity has made to the world, the place of woman +in society has been changed. The new faith appealed to all mankind in +the name of the humanity which the Son of God had assumed, and +consequently it was forced to treat men and women as on a spiritual +equality. It was forced by the natural desire for consistency to break +down any barriers that might keep one-half of the human race from the +full realization of the possibilities of their natures, which were made +in the image of God. It is in this relation of Christianity to the +world, quite as much as in the sayings and precepts of its Founder and +his Apostles, that has been found the ground for the great work of +Christianity in raising the position of women in the world.</p> + +<p>Christianity should in this respect be compared with the other religions +that have attained prominence. Among those that were national religions, +there has been no appeal to the world in general. They were bound up +with the race, and their adherents were those of the race or nation in +which they were to be found. Such religions have made no appeal to the +individual. They had no propaganda. They did not extend to other +nations. They were essentially national. In them there was no place for +women. The father of the household represented his family, and although +women had certain duties in connection with the household worship, it +was only because they were under the power of some men. This is true of +the religions of India, China, and the ancient religions of the Semitic +race. In two of the great world-religions, those centring on Mahomet and +Buddha, there has been no place for women as such. These religions are +primarily the religion of men. But in the case of Christianity, the +appeal has been to every human being, merely because of the human +element. If there were to be no distinction on account of race or social +condition, still less was there on account of sex. Male and female were +alike in Christ. The Christian must be a believer for himself--the faith +of no one else could serve for him. Marriage made no difference in the +religious position of anyone. Such sentiments applied day after day in +the course of the world's life could not remain without their effect, +and the change wrought by them has been profound and lasting.</p> + +<p>That there has not yet been the full realization of the ideal of +Christianity in the matter of the position of woman in society is no +stranger than the non-realization of the ideals of that or any other +faith. The eternal ideas of right are sometimes extremely slow in their +operation. The forces they have to overcome are strongly intrenched. But +slow as may seem the progress, the power of right steadily gains and the +temporary success of evil is soon past. The ways in which the triumph of +the Christian ideal has been brought nearer have been at times very +varied. At one time it may seem that the leaders in the cause of social +regeneration have been wholly blind to the full significance of the +faith they professed. Fantastic forms of asceticism have banished women +from the society of those who were trying to lead the perfect life. But +the more sympathetic study of the extravagances of religious enthusiasm +has been able to discover that even in ages in which ideals seemed to be +wholly opposed to those of latter ages, there has been the same +fundamental conception which has been constantly striving for +realization in the world.</p> + +<p>In the light of subsequent history, it appears fortunate that the +position of woman in the new society was not more fully and carefully +defined by the teachers of the new religion. If the early Christian +teachers had given their followers minute rules regulating their life +and conduct, there might easily have been a return to a legalism that +would have been disastrous for the new faith. Even the few regulations +that are to be found in connection with matters of order and discipline +in the Apostolic Church, so far as they have concerned women, have been +frequently misunderstood and misapplied. They have been made of lasting +obligation by many, rather than considered as the expression for the +times and circumstances in which the early Church was placed, of +principles of propriety which might be very different from, if not +indeed contrary to, the sentiments of another age. But by leaving the +whole question open, with but a very few exceptions, the great working +out of the freedom of the new faith was possible. Woman has been +recognized by the world as man's helpmate. She is not his toy or his +slave, but a sharer with him in the highest privileges of human nature. +An appreciation of the tremendous responsibilities that have been put +upon her by the fact of her womanhood has not separated her from man, +but both are seen standing side by side in the New Kingdom.</p> + +<p class="rig">JOSEPH CULLEN AYER, JR.</p><br> + +<p><i>Episcopal Theological School, Cambridge.</i></p> + +<a name="pre" id="pre"></a> +<br><br> + +<h3>PREFACE</h3> + +<p>Christianity introduced a new moral epoch in the course of human +history. Its effect was necessarily transforming upon those who came +under its sway. Being cosmopolitan in its nature, we have now to study +woman as being somewhat dissociated from racial type and national +manner, and we shall seek to ascertain how she met and was modified by +Christian conditions. These had a larger effect upon her life than upon +that of man; for, by its nature, Christianity gave an opening for the +higher possibilities of her being of which the old religions took little +account. In the realm of the spiritual, it, for the first time, assented +to her equality with man. That the women of the first Christian +centuries submitted themselves to the influence of that religion in a +varying degree, the following pages will abundantly show. And it will be +seen that in the many instances where the Christian doctrine was not +permitted to dominate the life, the dissimilarity of those women from +their prototypes in former heathendom is correspondingly lessened. While +it is not possible to treat this subject without illustrating the +above-mentioned fact, the authors beg to remind the reader that this is +distinctively a historical and not a religious work. Though, under other +circumstances, they would be very willing to state positive views in +regard to many questions herein suggested, it is not within the province +of this book to defend or refute any religious institution. The aim is +solely and impartially to represent the life of the Christian women of +the first ages.</p> + +<p>Though this is a work of collaboration, Mr. Brittain is solely +responsible for the part of the book treating of the women of the +Western Roman Empire, and Mr. Carroll is solely responsible for that +discussing the women of the Eastern Roman and Byzantine Empires. +Differences of personal characteristics, based upon dissimilarity of +national temperament, reveal themselves in these women of Rome and +Constantinople, but the Christian principle, through its transforming +and elevating influence on the lives of pagan women, gives unity to the +volume, and presents a type of womanhood far superior to any that had up +to this time been produced by the Orient or early Greece or ancient +Rome.</p> + +<p class="rig"><span class="sc">Alfred Brittain,<br> Mitchell Carroll.</span></p> +<br><br> +<a name="p1" id="p1"></a> +<br><br> + +<h2>PART FIRST</h2> + +<h2>WOMEN OF THE WESTERN EMPIRE</h2> + +<a name="c1" id="c1"></a> +<br><br> + +<h3>I</h3> + +<h3>THE WOMEN OF THE GOSPEL NARRATIVE</h3> + +<p>The study of the early Christian women takes up a phase of the history +of woman which is peculiar to itself. It is, in a sense and to a degree, +out of historical sequence. It deals with a subject in which ideas and +spiritual forces, rather than the effect of racial development, are +brought into view. It presents difficulties all its own, for the reason +that not only historical facts about which there can be no contention +must be mentioned, but also theories of a more or less controversial +nature. We shall endeavor, however, as far as is possible, to confine +ourselves to the recapitulation of well-authenticated historical +developments and to a dispassionate portrayal of those feminine +characters who participated in and were influenced by the new doctrines +of early Christianity.</p> + +<p>In writing of the women who were the contemporaries and the +acquaintances of the Founder of Christianity the difficulty is very +greatly enhanced by the fact that everything related to the subject is +not only regarded as sacred, but is also enshrined in preconceptions +which are held by the majority of people with jealous partiality. Our +source of information is almost exclusively the Bible; and to deal with +Scriptural facts with the same impartiality with which one deals with +the narrative of common history is well-nigh impossible. There are few +persons who are exempt from a prejudicial leaning, either in favor of +the supernatural importance of every Scriptural detail or in opposition +to those claims which are commonly based upon the Gospel history. We +hear of the Bible being studied merely as literature, a method most +highly advantageous to a fair understanding of its meaning and purport, +but possible only to some imaginary, educated person, unacquainted with +the Christian religion and totally unequipped with theological +conceptions. That which is true of the Bible as literature is also +applicable to the Scripture considered as history.</p> + +<p>Yet we shall endeavor to bear in mind that we are not writing a +religious book, and that this is not a treatise on Church history; it is +ordinary history and must be written in ordinary methods. Consequently, +in order to do this subject justice and to treat it rightly, we must +endeavor to remove the women mentioned in the Gospels as far as possible +from the atmosphere of the supernatural and to see in them ordinary +persons of flesh and blood, typifying the times as well as the +circumstances to which they belonged. Though they played a part in an +event the most renowned and the most important in the world's history, +yet they were no more than women; in fact, they were women so +commonplace and naturally obscure, that they never would have been heard +of, were it not for the Character with whom they were adventitiously +connected. A memorial has been preserved, coeval, and coextensive with +the dissemination of the Gospel, of the woman who anointed Christ; but +solely on account of the greatness of the Object of her devotion.</p> + +<p>Our purpose in this chapter is to ascertain what manner of women they +were who took a part in the incomparable event of the life of Christ, +what their part was in that event, and how it affected their position +and their existence.</p> + +<p>The whole history of the Jewish race and all the circumstances relating +thereto abundantly justify the application to the Jews of the term "a +peculiar people." A branch of the great Semitic division, in many ways +they were yet most radically distinguished from every other part of the +human family. By many centuries of inspired introspection they had +developed a religion, a racial ideal, and national customs which +entirely differentiated them from all other Eastern peoples. The Jew is +one of the most remarkable figures in history. First there is his +magnificent contribution to religion and world-modifying influences, so +wonderfully disproportionate to his national importance; then there is +the marvellous persistency of his racial continuity.</p> + +<p>That which set apart the Jews from other nations was mainly their +religion. These peculiar people, inhabiting at the time of Christ a +small tract of country scarcely larger than Massachusetts, deprived of +national autonomy, being but a second-class province of the Roman +Empire, nevertheless presumed to hold all other races in contempt, as +being inferior to themselves. This religious arrogance, manifesting +itself in a vastly exaggerated conception of the superiority, both of +their origin and of their destiny, surrounded the Jews with an +impenetrable barrier of reserve. That national pride which in other +peoples is based on the memory of glorious achievements on the +battlefield, on artistic renown, or on commercial importance, found its +support among the Jews in their religious history, in their divinely +given pledges, and in laws of supernatural origin. And indeed they were +a race of religious geniuses; they were as superior in this respect as +were the Greeks in the realm of art and the Romans in that of +government.</p> + +<p>These facts, which are so universally acknowledged as to need no further +reference here, warrant a closer study of the manner of life of the +ancient Jewish women than that to which we can afford space.</p> + +<p>In the Gospel narrative women hold a large place. As is natural, a very +great deal of the grace and beauty of the record of Christ's life is +owing to the spirit and presence of the feminine characters. This the +Evangelists have ungrudgingly conceded. There does not seem to have been +the least inclination to minimize the part played by women; indeed, +their attitude toward Christ is by inference, and greatly to their +credit, contrasted with that of the men. The women were immediately and +entirely won to Christ's cause. They sat at His feet and listened with +gratitude to the gracious words which He spake; they brought their +children to be blessed by Him; they followed Him with lamentations when +He was led away to death. There were among their number no cavillers, no +disbelievers, none to deny or betray. When the enemies of Jesus were +clamoring for His death and His male disciples had fled, it was to the +women He turned and said: "Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but +weep for yourselves, and for your children." Well might the instincts of +the Daughters of Jerusalem incline them to sympathize with the work and +suffering of the Man of Nazareth, for it is incontrovertible that no +other influence seen in the world's history has done so much as +Christianity to raise the condition of woman.</p> + +<p>The position of woman in Palestine, though much inferior to that of man, +was far superior to that which she occupied in other Oriental nations. +Jewish law would not permit the wife to fall to the condition of a +slave, and Israelitish traditions contained too many memories of noble +and patriotic women for the sex to be held otherwise than in honor. A +nation whose most glorious records centred around such characters as +Sara, Miriam, Deborah, Esther, and Susanna could but recognize in their +sex the possibility of the sublimest traits of character. Moreover, +every Hebrew woman might be destined to become the mother of the long +hoped for Messiah, and the mere possibility of that event won for her a +high degree of reverence.</p> + +<p>At the same time, the Jewish women, like those of all other ancient +nations, were held in rigid subordination; nor was there any pretence +made of their equality with men before the law. A man might divorce his +wife for any cause: a woman could not put away her husband under any +circumstances. A Jewish woman could not insist on the performance of a +religious vow by which she had bound herself, if her husband or her +father made objection. Yet, from the earliest times, the property rights +of Israelitish women were very liberal. In the Book of Numbers it is +recorded how Moses decreed that "If a man die, and have no son, then ye +shall cause his inheritance to pass unto his daughter. And if he have no +daughter, then ye shall give his inheritance unto his brethren." But +tribal rights had to be considered. Possessions were not to be alienated +from one tribe to another. Hence it was also decreed that "Every +daughter that possesseth an inheritance in any tribe of the children of +Israel, shall be wife unto one of the family of the tribe of her father, +that the children of Israel may enjoy every man the inheritance of his +fathers." In the time of Christ, however, this restriction on marriage +was unnecessary, ten of the tribes not having returned from the +Captivity. The house at Bethany where Jesus was entertained belonged to +Martha; and we read of wealthy women following Him and providing for His +needs out of their own private fortunes. In the early days, among the +Hebrews, marriage by purchase from the father or brothers had been the +custom; but in the time of which we are writing a dowry was given with +the bride, and she also received a portion from the bridegroom.</p> + +<p>The inferior position of Jewish women is frequently referred to in the +rabbinical writings. A common prayer was: "O God, let not my offspring +be a girl: for very wretched is the life of women." It was said: "Happy +he whose children are boys, and woe unto him whose children are girls." +Public conversation between the sexes was interdicted by the rabbis. "No +one", says the Talmud, "is to speak with a woman, even if she be his +wife, in the public street." Even the disciples, accustomed as they were +to seeing the Master ignore rabbinical regulations, "marvelled" when +they found Him talking with the woman of Sychar. One of the chief things +which teachers of the Law were to avoid was multiplying speech with a +woman. The women themselves seem to have acquiesced in this degrading +injunction. There is a story of a learned lady who called the great +Rabbi Jose a "Galilean Ignoramus," because he had used two unnecessary +words in inquiring of her the way to Joppa. He had employed but four.</p> + +<p>By the Jews women were regarded as inferior not only in capacity but +also in nature. Their minds were supposed to be of an inferior order and +consequently incapable of appreciating the spiritual privileges which it +was an honor for a man to strive after. "Let the words of the Law be +burned," says Rabbi Eleazar, "rather than committed to women." The +Talmud says: "He who instructs his daughter in the Law, instructs her in +folly." In the synagogues women were obliged to sit in a gallery which +was separated from the main room by a lattice.</p> + +<p>Yet it is scarcely to be supposed that in everyday Jewish life the +pharisaical maxims quoted above were adhered to with any great degree of +strictness. Especially in Galilee, where there was much more freedom +than in the lower province, it may well be imagined that there existed a +wide difference between these arrogant "counsels of perfection" and the +common practice. There is no doubt that the rabbis and the scribes +observed the traditions to the minutest letter; but inasmuch as in these +days it would be misleading to delineate the common life of a people by +the enactments found on their statute books, we are justified in +concluding that ordinary existence in ancient Palestine was not nearly +such a burdensome absurdity as the rabbinical law sought to make it. +Human nature will not endure too great a strain. At any rate, we can but +believe that, subordinate as she may have been, the Jewish woman found +ample opportunity to assert herself. The rabbi may have scorned to +multiply speech with his wife on the street, but doubtless there were +occasions which compelled the husband to endure a multiplicity of speech +on the part of his wife at home. It was not without experience that the +wise man could say: "A continual dropping on a very rainy day and a +contentious woman are alike."</p> + +<p>The sayings of the scribes, which are derogatory to the female sex, are +abundantly offset by many injunctions of an opposite nature which are +found in the sacred and in the expository writings of the Jews. One of +the first things drilled into the mind of a young Hebrew was that his +prosperity in the land depended wholly upon his observance of the law +that he should "honor his father and his mother." The virtuous woman +portrayed by King Lemuel was still the ideal in the time of Christ: "Her +sons rise up and praise her; her husband also extols her." The +declaration in the book of Proverbs that "the price of a virtuous woman +is set far above that of rubies" is not to be understood in the sense of +irony. "Honor your wife, that you may be rich in the joy of your home," +says the Talmud; and there was a proverb: "Is thy wife little? then bow +down to her and speak." The Son of Sirach said: "He that honoreth his +mother is as one that layeth up treasure ... and he that angereth his +mother is cursed of God."</p> + +<p>As among all other Eastern peoples, the education of Jewish girls was +greatly neglected; but it can hardly be said that they were losers on +that account. They were simply saved a great deal of profitless labor +which fell upon their brothers. The learning of the Jews, so far as +higher education was concerned, did not add much either to the grace or +the enjoyment of life. It was pedantry of the driest and dreariest kind. +It consisted of interminable glosses upon the Law and of the "traditions +of the elders." It exercised no faculties of the mind excepting the +memory and such powers of reasoning as are employed in subtle casuistry. +There was in it nothing of art or science, or even of history, except +Jewish history. Greek learning was abhorred by the strictly orthodox. +They said the command was that a man's study should be on the Law day +and night; if anyone therefore could find time between day and night he +might apply it to Gentile literature. There were schools in abundance; +but they are spoken of only in relation to boys. In the fundamental +moral precepts, however, and in the highest national ideals, the Jewish +girls were no less thoroughly trained than were their brothers. Ozias +testified to Judith, who with feminine strategy and masculine courage +overthrew Holophernes: "This is not the first day wherein thy wisdom is +manifested; but from the beginning of thy days all the people have known +thy understanding, because the disposition of thy heart is good." Of the +chaste Susanna it was said that, her parents being righteous, they +taught their daughter according to the Law of Moses. Timothy owed his +early training to his mother Eunice and his grandmother Lois. The +Israelitish mother, in the dawn of her children's intelligence, +carefully taught them the lore of the ancient Scriptures and instructed +them in the principal tenets of the Jewish faith. There never existed +another nation that cared so thoroughly for the training of its young in +the doctrines of morality and in those national memories which are +efficacious in the perpetuation of an ardent patriotism. In all this the +girls were privileged equally with the boys. As Edersheim says: "What +Jewish fathers and mothers were; what they felt towards their children; +and with what reverence, affection, and care the latter returned what +they had received, is known to every reader of the Old Testament. The +relationship of father has its highest sanction and embodiment in that +of God towards Israel; the tenderness and care of a mother in that of +the watchfulness and pity of the Lord over his people."</p> + +<p>Religion was the breath of Jewish life. It is absolutely impossible to +touch on Hebrew history, customs, or ideals, in any period or to any +extent, and not to come into contact with Hebrew religion. This, as we +know, was full of burdensome ritual and formalities; the Law, with all +its elaborate ramifications, governed the minutiae of daily existence. +Yet it is again necessary to be careful not to judge too broadly of +Jewish life by the rules which the Talmud shows were laid down by the +rabbis. The Pharisees, who made the formalities of religion their one +business in life, could observe all the multitudinous feasts and fasts, +all the ritual of washings, and bear in mind the innumerable +possibilities of breaking the Sabbath--such, for example, as +accidentally treading on a ripe ear of grain, which would be the act of +threshing; but that the common people lived thus straitly is impossible +of belief, and for this reason they were held in contempt by the +strictest sect. How some of these troublesome laws related to the women +is suggested by Edersheim; "A woman (on the Sabbath) must not wear such +headgear as would require unloosing before taking a bath, nor go out +with such ornaments as could be taken off in the street, such as a +frontlet, unless it is attached to the cap, nor with a gold crown, nor +with a necklace or nose-ring, nor with rings, nor have a pin in her +dress. The reason for this prohibition of ornaments was, that in their +vanity women might take them off to show them to their companions, and +then, forgetful of the day, carry them, which would be a 'burden.' Women +were also forbidden to look in the glass on the Sabbath, because they +might discover a white hair and attempt to pull it out, which would be a +grievous sin; but men ought not to use looking-glasses even on weekdays, +because this was undignified. A woman may walk about her own court, but +not in the street, with false hair."</p> + +<p>These are only instances of regulations which were so numerous as +severely to tax the memory of those who did little else but study to +observe them. We are sure that they could not have characterized the +common Jewish life; yet there was not a man, however loose in conduct or +humble of birth, who was not well versed in the moral precepts of Moses +and in the exalted national ideals of the Prophets. In the cases--and +they were many--where this wisdom was not justified of her children, the +punctilious observance of outward forms, conjoined with the most extreme +arrogance of race, laid the Jew open to the contempt of both Greek and +Roman. Yet there was enough latent impetus and genuine religious life in +Israel to form the basis of that Christianity which was destined to +overreach Greek philosophy and to revolutionize Rome; and there are many +indications in the Gospels that the credit for the incalculable service +of preserving alive the smouldering embers of piety must, to a +predominant degree, be awarded to the mothers and daughters of Israel. +Elizabeth, no less than Zacharias her husband, was a type of many who +"walked in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord, blameless." +There was also one Anna whose devotion was so great that she seemed to +make the temple her constant home. Nevertheless, in religion, as in +other things, the Jewish women, as all of their sex in the ancient +world, were obliged to be content with an inferior position. In the +great temple at Jerusalem they were allowed to occupy only the second +court: to the Court of Israel, where their male relatives worshipped, +they could not penetrate. They had no occasion, however, to complain of +lack of space, for in this Court of the Women there was room for over +fifteen thousand persons; and, for their convenience, the priests had +very considerately placed therein the treasury chests. It was here that +the poor widow whom Christ eulogized cast in her "two mites." In this +court also was Solomon's Porch, where the Master, recognizing no +inequality, taught both sexes alike. In the synagogues, the women of +Palestine were obliged to occupy as inconspicuous a position as +possible, and on the way thither it was required of them that they +should take the back and less frequented streets, in order that the +minds of the men might not be diverted from sacred meditations by their +presence. This bit of hypocritical phariseeism not only indicates the +inferior plane which women were supposed to occupy, but also that, +however honored they may have been as wives and mothers, they enjoyed no +portent of that chivalry which afterward grew from and was fostered by +Christianity.</p> + +<p>The existence of the Jewish woman was by no means secluded. She was +allowed to mingle freely in outdoor life. She accompanied her family on +their journeys to the great festivals which were held in Jerusalem. +Indeed, we read of Galilean women following Jesus into Judæa, evidently +unescorted by male relatives. Females also entertained mixed companies +in their own homes. It is probable, however, that there was more freedom +of movement among the lower-class women than was enjoyed by their +sisters of high degree. While the former dwelt in mean and small houses, +in which there was little possibility of seclusion, the latter had large +and luxurious homes, with great interior courts and special apartments +for their own use. The luxuriousness of these wealthy women rivalled +that of Rome itself. We read of one Martha, the wife of a high priest, +who, when she went to the temple, had carpets laid from her house to the +door of the temple. Upon the poorer women were imposed the hardships of +labor: "two women grinding at the mill" was a common sight in every +home.</p> + +<p>In that momentous drama the leading figure of which was the Son of Man, +women of greatly varying character and position played a part. There +were Herodias, and Procla, the wife of Pilate: these were the highest +ladies in the land; there were Martha of Bethany, and Joanna, the wife +of Herod's steward, representing the middle class; Mary, the mother of +Jesus, from among the poor; and Mary of Magdala, from among a class of +women who were numerous in Palestine, one of whom the Gospel designates +as "a woman who was a sinner."</p> + +<p>Of the two first mentioned little may be said in this connection, as +they were far from being Christian women, though the wife of Pilate +earned for herself the respect of all succeeding generations by pleading +for the life of Jesus.</p> + +<p>Herodias is connected with this story only on account of the cruel +determination with which she sought and compassed the death of John the +Baptist. The grand-daughter of Herod the Great, she inherited not only +his impetuous ambition, but also his ferocity. She had been married to +Herod Philip, her uncle. This son of the first Herod was a wealthy +private resident of Jerusalem; but Herodias could not be content to +stand aside as a mere spectator of the brilliant game of governing. So +she seized the opportunity which the presence of Antipas in her house, +by her husband's hospitality, gave her to begin an intrigue, which ended +in her marital union with the tetrarch. By this conduct she trampled on +Jewish law and offended the people. Not that the severing of the +marriage bonds was a thing unusual among the Jews; indeed, the +facilities for divorce were exceedingly liberal. A man could put away +his wife for the most trifling cause. "If anyone," said the rabbis, "see +a woman handsomer than his wife, he may dismiss his wife and marry that +woman." It was considered ample cause for divorce if a wife went out +without her veil. The disciples of Hillel even went so far as to hold +that if a woman spoiled her husband's dinner, by burning or over salting +it, sufficient cause was given him, if he so chose, to put her away. +This is the point of the question with which the Pharisees came to try +Christ. "Is it lawful," said they, "for a man to put away his wife for +every cause?" So, then, that which shocked the Jews and caused them to +agree with John in his denunciation of Herod was not that the latter +divorced his first wife, the daughter of Aretas, but that he took +Herodias, she not having been put away by her husband, Philip. Here is +some very remarkable moral sophistry. It would have been right, in the +sight of Jewish law, for Herod and Philip to have exchanged wives, after +legally divorcing them for any cause which might have seemed to them +proper; but there was no law, nor was there any conceivable wrong, which +could give Herodias the right to leave her husband of her own free will. +Women could not gain divorce. So, according to the Jewish idea, the +fault of Herod consisted solely in the fact that Philip had not yet seen +fit to release Herodias. Whether or not John the Baptist concurred with +the ideas of his time on this subject we do not know; but the One who +came after him put marriage on a far higher basis and restricted divorce +to its essential cause.</p> + +<p>Herodias plotted and achieved John's destruction perhaps as much on +account of her fear of the effect of his influence upon Herod's +ambitious projects as because of her resentment at his charges against +herself. She was determined that Herod should be a king, like her +brother Agrippa; but the latter was a great favorite with Caligula, and +when his letters were presented to the emperor at the same time that +Herod appeared, in obedience to the importunities of his wife, to press +his suit, the husband of Herodias was deposed and exiled to Lyons. The +only praiseworthy thing that Herodias ever did, so far as is known, was +on this occasion. Caligula wished to allow her to retain her own +fortune, and told her that "it was her brother who prevented her being +put under the same calamity with her husband." This was her reply: +"Thou, indeed, O emperor, actest after a magnificent manner, and as +becomes thyself in what thou offerest me; but the kindness which I have +for my husband hinders me from partaking of the favor of thy gift; for +it is not just that I, who have been made a partner in his prosperity, +should forsake him in his misfortunes." Thereupon Caligula sent her into +banishment with Herod, and gave her estate to Agrippa.</p> + +<p>Our curiosity is greatly aroused, but in no degree satisfied, regarding +another woman who dwelt at Jerusalem in the time of Christ. Pilate, the +Roman procurator, had taken his wife with him to Judæa. Tradition has it +that she there became a proselyte to the Jewish faith. This is by no +means unlikely, for throughout the Roman world were found women who had +become converts to the religion of Zion; Josephus, by his own +experience, shows that at a later date even Poppæa, the wife of Nero, +was extremely partial to the Jews. The Greek Church even goes further, +and places Procla in its calendar of saints. Though there is no evidence +extant of her having become a Christian, it need not be considered a +thing impossible; indeed, it is extremely reasonable to suppose that, +having endeavored to save the life of Jesus, the wonderful religious +movement which succeeded His death could not have been unknown or +without interest to Procla. At any rate, certain it is that she had some +knowledge of Jesus, that she was to no small degree disposed in his +favor, and that Pilate's wish to balk the priests in their designs on +Christ's life was, in a large measure, the result of his wife's +influence. But Pilate was caught with the argument that to save the +Prisoner would be a sign of disloyalty to Cæsar. This incident is the +most prominent instance that history affords of the unwisdom of opposing +masculine ratiocinations to feminine moral intuitions.</p> + +<p>We now turn to those women of the Gospels who were the acknowledged +friends of Jesus and of the founders of Christianity. The central figure +is, of course, the Blessed Mother--Mary, honored by Christians above all +the daughters of the earth and adored by many millions as the Queen of +Heaven; and yet how inadequate, how meagre is the veritable knowledge we +possess of this immortal woman! Never has human imagination so +magnificently triumphed as in the evolution of the concept of the +Blessed Virgin; never has fond adoration built so marvellous an ideal +upon so scanty a foundation of assured reality. A moderate-sized page +would contain all that is vouchsafed regarding her in the Gospels, yet +who ever disputed the claim for Mary that she is the highest +representative of all that is purest and most beautiful in womanhood. +This much is not a dogma of any church, but a universal feeling. This +prevailing conception of the character of Mary has grown out of the +conviction of what must have been the moral worth of the one fitted to +bear and rear the Son of Man; and it has also resulted to a large degree +from that strong human love for motherhood which seeks a perfect example +on which to expend itself. The Blessed Virgin is womanhood idealized. +She is the personification of all feminine beauty, both of soul and +body; she is the perfect expression of the poet's highest inspiration +and the artist's noblest dream. We cannot help wishing, however, that +more were known of the home life of Mary; the desire to place the +beautiful figure of the Representative Mother in the varied settings of +common feminine life is irresistible, but this can only be done by means +of what little we know of the manners and customs of her people and +time.</p> + +<p>As has been said, the sources of information about the Mother of Jesus +are the four Gospels. In addition to these, there are the apocryphal +Christian writings; but these are of too late origin and contain too +many manifestly absurd accounts to warrant credence, except where they +are corroborated by the Evangelists. The latter say nothing whatever of +Mary's direct parentage. She was an offspring of the regal line, that of +David; for though it is most probable that the puzzling genealogies of +Matthew and Luke are those of her husband, Joseph, there are many +reasons for believing that he and Mary were blood relations. Their home +was at Nazareth, a beautiful hill town of Galilee, noted for the +comeliness of its women. At the end of the sixth century, Antoninus +Martyr remarked that the Jewish women of Nazareth were not only fairer +but also more affable to Gentiles than were the other women of +Palestine, and modern travellers inform us that both these +characteristics are still preserved. Geikie says: "The free air of their +mountain home seems to have had its effect on the people of Nazareth. +Its bright-eyed, happy children and comely women strike the traveller, +and even their dress differs from that of other parts.... That of the +women usually consists of nothing but a long blue garment tied in round +the waist, a bonnet of red cloth, decorated with an edging or roll of +silver coins, bordering the forehead and extending to the ears, +reminding one of the crescent-shaped female head-dress worn by some of +the Egyptian priestesses. Over this, a veil or shawl of coarse white +cotton is thrown, which hangs down to the waist, serving to cover the +mouth, while the bosom is left exposed, for Eastern and Western ideas of +decorum differ in some things.... In a country where nothing changes, +through age after age, the dress of to-day is very likely, in most +respects, the same as it was two thousand years ago, though the +prevailing color of the Hebrew dress, at least in the better classes, +was the natural white of the materials employed, which the fuller made +even whiter."</p> + +<p>We are not informed on the authority of the Gospels as to Mary's age +when she was espoused to Joseph the carpenter. The apocryphal <i>Gospel of +Mary</i> states that she was fourteen, while the <i>Protevangelion</i> places +her age at twelve, which is in accordance with the custom of the East, +where girls mature much earlier than with us. The betrothal consisted of +mutual promises and the exchange of gifts in the presence of chosen +witnesses, followed by the engaged couple ceremonially tasting of the +same cup of wine, and was ended with a benediction pronounced by a +priest or a rabbi. After these solemn espousals the relation between +Mary and Joseph was as sacred as though marriage had really taken place; +the only difference was that the couple did not yet live together. The +woman was not allowed to withdraw from the contract, and the man could +not fail to fulfil his promise unless he gave her a formal bill of +divorcement for cause, as in the case of marriage; the laws relating to +adultery were also applicable. Yet many months might intervene between +the date of the betrothal and that of the marriage.</p> + +<p>What took place during this interval in the life of the Virgin is a +mystery which it would be a vain attempt to investigate. If it be judged +of from a purely rationalistic standpoint, there are no historical and +no scientific data which will enable us to do otherwise than simply +discredit the accounts of the Nativity, as they are given by Matthew and +Luke. On the other hand, if the narrative of Christ's birth is accepted +with that reverent faith which has endured through nineteen centuries of +Christendom, and has been and still is held by men of unrivalled +intellect, there is nothing more to be said than the language of worship +and wonder. We may well regret that John and Mark, or at least one of +the epistolary writers, did not corroborate the testimony of the two +first-named Evangelists; the scant importance Mary seems to have +acquired in the Apostolic Church may appear inconsistent with the +stupendous nature of her experiences; yet here is no subject for vain +reasoning; we stand before a mystery which belongs wholly to the realm +of faith. The science of Christology demands the acceptance of this +supernatural event. But it is as little within the province of this book +to defend the faith as it is to apply the canons of Higher Criticism to +the writings of the New Testament.</p> + +<p>In the picture which the Scriptures give us of Mary there is no touch so +human as that which represents her, at the first intimation of the +coming of her Son, hastening southward to confer with her cousin +Elizabeth. To a woman must the news first be whispered, before it gains +the observation of the man to whom she is espoused; and not to the +gossips of Nazareth, but to her holy and sober-minded kinswoman alone +could Mary impart her hopes and her fears. Poetic expression was a +Jewish woman's birthright; Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, and Judith, each had +magnified the Lord with a song; let Mary also, in the assurance that her +Offspring is to be the Messiah long foretold, voice the exultation of +her soul in like manner. "Behold, from henceforth, all generations shall +call me blessed.... He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and +exalted them of low degree."</p> + +<p>Augustus Cæsar sent forth an edict that all the world should be taxed. +It was an act of which we should have known little and thought less, had +it not marked the occasion of the birth of Him to whom the world will +never cease to pay a tribute of homage.</p> + +<p>In the birth of Jesus, the mystery of motherhood is glorified, nay, +almost deified. Mankind needed that also. The pagan world had always +sought to satisfy feelings which are deep rooted in the human heart by +conceiving of maternity under the form of a divine personality. A +religion which does not, in some way, recognize in its object the loving +kindness and the painful solicitude of the mother heart cannot survive. +Mary is a symbol of that natural tender reverence and supreme confidence +which motherhood inspires. The shepherds knelt before her in the stable +which the necessities of poverty made the scene of her lying-in, for the +inestimable graces of the mother depend not upon wealth or earthly +splendor. The Wise Men from the East brought their gifts, for there is +no greater wisdom than that which pays its homage before the babe at its +mother's breast.</p> + +<p>In the one great experience of maternity Mary's greatness ends, so far +as the records show. Did she settle down to all appearances as an +ordinary Nazareth housewife? Did she bear to Joseph other children? To +many, the latter question seems like sacrilege; and yet there is nothing +of authority written to the contrary.</p> + +<p>Tradition has it that Joseph died early in their married life. Mary then +was dependent for her support upon her Son's labors. Did He refrain from +His chief calling until He was thirty years of age in order that He +might know not only common toil but also filial duty in the support of +the mother? Was it to consult on some family business that His mother +and His brethren stood outside the house where He was teaching, being +desirous to speak with Him? All these questions are to us unanswerable; +but it surely does not detract from the sacredness of the pictures to +infuse into it every possible element of human interest.</p> + +<p>The Gospels turn their light once more, and for the last time, on Mary. +It reveals her at the foot of the Cross. Each of the Synoptists tells us +that many women followed Him out of Galilee; by John alone is Mary +mentioned as being present at the Crucifixion. "When Jesus saw his +mother, and the disciple standing by whom he loved, he saith unto his +mother, 'Woman, behold thy son.' Then saith he to the disciple, 'Behold +thy mother.' And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own +home." Why was this so if Mary had other living sons? John, who it is +probable was her own sister's son, would immediately lead the Mother +away from the terrible scene, where a sword was also piercing her own +soul, to a place where she could await the announcement of the end. The +fact that there is no record of an appearance to Mary after the +Resurrection must be accounted for by the belief that her faith did not +need this, in its assurance that death could not conquer her divine Son.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, the paucity of the reference to Mary in the New Testament, +after the Nativity, is perplexing. For the other legends concerning her +history and character, which have been cherished by a very large portion +of Christendom, we are wholly indebted to what are known as the +Apocryphal Gospels. These consist of writings which were extant, in some +cases, before the present New Testament books were selected as being +alone authentic, but were not deemed of sufficient worth to be included +in the canon. There is <i>The Gospel of the Birth of Mary</i>. In the very +early ages this book was supposed to be the work of Saint Matthew. Many +ancient Christians believed it to be authentic and genuine, and Jerome, +who lived in the fourth century, quotes it entire. Another book, of the +same description, known as the <i>Protevangelion</i> of Saint James, is +mentioned by writers equally ancient. Then there is the <i>Gospel of the +Infancy</i>. This, we are told, was accepted by the Gnostic Christians as +early as the second century; but it is full of manifest absurdities, +outrageous even to the most compliant credulity. A fair sample of its +stories--not including the miraculous, which are exceedingly puerile--is +the one which relates that at the circumcision of Jesus an old Hebrew +woman took the part that was severed "and preserved it in an +alabaster-box of old oil of spikenard. And she had a son who was a +druggist, to whom she said, 'Take heed thou sell not this alabaster-box +of spikenard-ointment, although thou shouldst be offered three hundred +pence for it.' Now this is that alabaster-box which Mary the sinner +procured, and poured forth the ointment out of it upon the head and the +feet of our Lord Jesus Christ, and wiped it off with the hairs of her +head."</p> + +<p>The <i>Gospel of Mary</i> has been made the basis of much serious belief in +regard to the Blessed Virgin, and especially have Christian artists +drawn from its pages suggestions for their subjects. We will summarize +the account it gives of the Mother of Jesus. "The blessed and ever +glorious Virgin Mary, sprung from the royal race and family of David, +was born in the city of Nazareth, and educated at Jerusalem, in the +temple of the Lord. Her father's name was Joachim, and her mother's +Anna. The family of her father was of Galilee and the city of Nazareth. +The family of her mother was of Bethlehem. Their lives were plain and +right in the sight of the Lord." Nevertheless, for twenty years they +suffered what, in the eyes of the Jews, was one of the greatest of +misfortunes: they were childless. Joachim is taunted with this fact by +Issachar, the high priest. The good man, being much confounded with the +shame of such reproach, retired to the shepherds who were with the +cattle in their pastures; for he was not inclined to return home, lest +his neighbors, who were present and heard all this from the high-priest, +should publicly reproach him in the same manner. Thereupon an angel +appears to him and informs him that his wife Anna shall bring forth a +daughter, and that they shall call her Mary. "She shall, according to +your vow, be devoted to the Lord from her infancy, and be filled with +the Holy Ghost from her mother's womb; she shall neither eat nor drink +anything that is unclean, nor shall her conversation be without among +the common people, but in the temple of the Lord; that so she may not +fall under any slander or suspicion of anything that is bad." The angel +also appears to Anna, giving her the like information. "So Anna +conceived, and brought forth a daughter, and, according to the angel's +command, the parents did call her name Mary."</p> + +<p>"And when three years were expired, and the time of her weaning +complete, they brought the Virgin to the temple of the Lord with +offerings. And there were about the temple, according to the fifteen +Psalms of degrees, fifteen stairs to ascend. For the temple being built +on a mountain, the altar of burnt-offering, which was without, could not +be come near but by stairs; the parents of the blessed Virgin and infant +Mary put her upon one of these stairs; but while they were putting off +their clothes, in which they had travelled, and according to custom +putting on some that were more neat and clean, in the mean time the +Virgin of the Lord in such a manner went up all the stairs one after +another, without the help of any to lead or lift her, that anyone would +have judged from hence that she was of perfect age. Thus the Lord did, +in the infancy of his Virgin, work this extraordinary work, and evidence +by this miracle how great she was like to be hereafter. But the parents +having offered up their sacrifice, according to the custom of the law, +and perfected their vow, left the Virgin, with other virgins in the +apartments of the temple, who were to be brought up there, and they +returned home."</p> + +<p>Mary, we are told, was ministered unto by angels until her fourteenth +year, and preserved from all suspicion of evil, so that "all good +persons, who were acquainted with her, admired her life and +conversation. At that time the high-priest made a public order, that all +the virgins who had public settlements in the temple, and were come to +this age, should return home; and as they were now of a proper maturity, +should, according to the custom of their country, endeavor to be +married." This, Mary refuses to do, she having vowed her virginity to +the Lord. Then the high priest convenes a meeting of the chief persons +of Jerusalem to seek counsel from Heaven in this matter. A voice from +the mercy-seat directs that all the men of the family of David who were +marriageable and not married should bring their staves to the altar, +"and out of whatsoever person's staff after it was brought, a flower +should bud forth, and on the top of it the Spirit of the Lord should sit +in the appearance of a dove, he should be the man to whom the Virgin +should be given and be betrothed."</p> + +<p>Among the rest there was a man named Joseph, of the house and family of +David, and a person very far advanced in years, who drew back his staff, +when everyone besides presented his. Joseph, however, was clearly +pointed out, in the manner described, as being the chosen man. +"Accordingly, the usual ceremonies of betrothing being over, he returned +to his own city of Bethlehem, to set his house in order, and make the +needful provisions for the marriage. But the Virgin Mary, with seven +other virgins of the same age, who had been weaned at the same time, and +who had been appointed to attend her by the priest, returned to her +parents' house in Galilee." Then follows an account of the Annunciation, +similar to that given by Saint Luke, but somewhat elaborated. "Then +Mary, stretching forth her hands, and lifting her eyes to heaven, said, +'Behold the handmaid of the Lord. Let it be unto me according to thy +word.'"</p> + +<a name="ill2" id="ill2"></a> +<p class="mid"><img alt="" src="images/002.png"><br><b><i>CHRIST AND THE DAUGHTER OF JAIRUS<br>After the +painting by Albert Keller.</i></b></p> + +<blockquote><b><i>The ready faith of the Gospel women is illustrated by many narratives of +miracles wrought in their behalf. The faith of Martha and Mary was +rewarded by the restoration to life of their brother Lazarus. There was +the woman whom physicians could not cure, yet her faith led her to touch +the hem of the Master's garment, and she was made whole. To the widow of +Nain, as she accompanied the dead body of her son to its sepulchre, was +given that son restored to life. The despised Syrophenician woman proved +her humility and her faith, and her daughter was made whole. Christ's +commiseration was manifested notably to woman, though not exclusively, +as we see in the case of the raising of the daughter of Jairus in answer +to the father's faith.</i></b></blockquote> + + +<p>In the <i>Protevangelion</i> all this is recited, but at greater length. It +is there said of Mary that, while she lived in the temple, "all the +house of Israel loved her." It is related also of her that she was +chosen by the priests to weave the purple veil for the temple. In this +writing, Mary is described as having received the announcement of the +angel as she went to the spring to draw water. There is also a curious +passage in which Joseph is represented as telling the experiences which +came to him as he went to seek a midwife in the village of Bethlehem. +"As I was going," he says, "I looked up into the air, and I saw the +clouds astonished, and the fowls of the air stopping in the midst of +their flight. And I looked down toward the earth, and saw a table +spread, and working people sitting around it, but their hands were upon +the table, and they did not move to eat. They who had meat in their +mouths did not eat. They who lifted their hands up to their heads did +not draw them back; and they who lifted them up to their mouths did not +put anything in; but all their faces were fixed upwards. And I beheld +the sheep dispersed, and yet the sheep stood still. And the shepherd +lifted up his hand to smite them, and his hand continued up. And I +looked unto a river, and saw the kids with their mouths close to the +water, and touching it, but they did not drink."</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding all that is said in these ancient writings in the +attempt to do her honor, we must conclude that the glory of the halo +which beautifies the head of the real Mary is derived by reflection from +the moral splendor of her Son. Of what intrinsic greatness of soul she +was possessed it is difficult for us to surmise from the slight +attention given to her in the Gospels. Yet she rightly holds her +position as woman idealized. We need such a poetic creation as Mary; and +her place at the head of all the daughters of earth is the more secure +and effective because her figure in authentic history is but a shadowy +outline. The ideal woman whom all mankind loves and reverences as +Virgin, Mother, and Saint, is objectified by concentrating in Mary of +Nazareth all possible feminine grace, beauty, and purity.</p> + +<p>Let us turn now to another Mary who, in the Gospel history, achieved a +fame hardly less renowned than that of her great namesake: Mary of +Magdala, out of whom Christ cast seven devils. Magdala was a town on the +lake of Galilee, as notorious for its profligacy as it was famous for +its wealth, derived from the manufacture of dyes. Mary's affliction was +doubtless as much of a moral as of a mental nature; it may refer to the +abandonment of immoral excess into which she was driven by her +passionate nature. The Jews at the time of Christ were wont to ascribe +every form of evil, physical and also spiritual, to the agency of +demons, who were supposed to have the power of taking possession of +human beings as a habitation. The tradition of the Church has always +identified Mary Magdalene with the woman who, in Simon's house, anointed +Christ's feet with ointment, after washing them with her tears. Still, +it must be confessed that there is no certain foundation for this +belief. On this point, Archdeacon Farrar says: "The Talmudists have much +to say respecting her--her wealth, her extreme beauty, her braided +locks, her shameless profligacy, her husband Pappus, and her paramour +Pandera; but all that we really know of the Magdalene from Scripture is +that enthusiasm of devotion and gratitude which attached her, heart and +soul, to her Saviour's service. In the chapter of Saint Luke which +follows the account of her anointing the Lord's feet in the Pharisee's +house she is mentioned first among the women who accompanied Jesus in +his wanderings, and ministered to him of their substance; and it may be +that in the narrative of the incident at Simon's house her name was +suppressed, out of that delicate consideration which, in other passages, +makes the Evangelist suppress the original condition of Matthew."</p> + +<p>Mary Magdalene's great part in the Gospel history was at the +Resurrection. To her ardent love and intense imagination, enabling her +to visualize Him who, though dead, she could not relinquish, +rationalists ascribe the inception of the doctrine of the Resurrection. +According to this theory, as Mary of Nazareth brought Jesus into the +world, so through Mary of Magdala His risen Spirit was born into the +Church. But this is not the faith of Christendom; nor can the testimony +of the Gospels be reasonably disposed of in this manner. To the +Magdalene was given the supreme honor of receiving the first greeting of +her risen Lord; and her testimony is the chief cornerstone of the most +comforting doctrine of Christianity.</p> + +<p>The gospel narrative gives a prominent place to woman,--as a believer in +Christ, as His devoted follower and constant ministrant, and also as a +faithful and unswerving witness to His wondrous works. The ready faith +of the Gospel women is illustrated by many narratives of miracles +wrought in their behalf. The faith of Martha and Mary was rewarded by +the restoration to life of their brother Lazarus. There was the woman +whom physicians could not cure, yet her faith led her to touch the hem +of the Master's garment and she was made whole. To the widow of Nain, as +she accompanied the dead body of her son to its sepulchre, was given +that son restored to life. The despised Syrophenician woman proved her +humility and her faith, and her daughter was made whole. Christ's +commiseration was manifested notably to woman, though not exclusively, +as we see in the case of the raising of the daughter of Jairus in answer +to the father's faith. In the life of Christ, the supernal event in the +world's history, woman's influence and activity were not less than +man's; but, unlike his, her part was marked by unalloyed purity, +magnanimity, and faithfulness.</p> + +<a name="c2" id="c2"></a> +<br><br> + +<h3>II</h3> + +<h3>THE WOMEN OF THE APOSTOLIC AGE</h3> + +<p>THE leaven of Christianity worked speedily and powerfully in raising +woman to a position of greater honor in the estimation of the adherents +of the new religion. In regard to mental and spiritual relations, it put +her at once upon an equal footing with men, which was an entirely new +development in human thought. We have seen how, even in Judaism,--the +purest religion and the highest moral system known to the world previous +to the coming of Christ,--woman held an inferior position and was +debarred from many of its privileges, though not from its moral +responsibilities. According to the Levitical code, when a man made an +offering of any person of his family to the Lord, the value of a male +was estimated at fifty shekels, while that of the female was put at +thirty shekels; and, as in all cases where an arbitrary comparison is +instituted between men and women, this computation was independent of +the possession or lack of personal excellences. The mere undeveloped +manhood in an otherwise worthless individual gave him, in Jewish +estimation, a two-fifths superiority over the noblest woman. The very +stupidity of this is an indication that sex can hardly have been +designed by the Creator as a basis on which to found the right to the +majority either of the duties or the privileges of human life. Under the +new dispensation Paul says: "There can be neither Jew nor Greek; there +can be neither bond nor free; there can be no male and female: for ye +are all one man in Christ Jesus." That the Apostle forbade women from +taking part in the public ministrations in the congregation is still +regarded, by the majority of people, as being harmonious with the +natural fitness of things; and in those times at least, when the +education of women was so terribly neglected, it was a measure +absolutely necessary to the preservation of decency.</p> + +<p>Of the new life opened to women in Christianity, Renan truly says: "The +women were naturally drawn toward a community in which the weak were +surrounded by so many guarantees." Their position in the society was +then humble and precarious; the widow in particular, despite several +protective laws, was the most often abandoned to misery, and the least +respected. Many of the doctors advocated the not giving of any religious +education to women. The Talmud placed in the same category with the +pests of the world the gossiping and inquisitive widow, who passed her +life in chattering with her neighbors, and the virgin who wasted her +time in praying. The new religion created for these disinherited +unfortunates an honorable and sure asylum. Some women held most +important places in the Church, and their houses served as places of +meeting. As for those women who had no houses, they were formed into a +species of order, or feminine presbyterial body, which also comprised +virgins, who played so capital a role in the collection of alms. +Institutions which are regarded as the later fruit of +Christianity--congregations of women, nuns, and sisters of charity--were +its first creations, the basis of its official strength, the most +perfect expression of its spirit.</p> + +<p>The Christian Church is described, as it existed in the earliest germ, +in the fourteenth verse of the first chapter of Acts: "These (the eleven +Apostles) all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with +the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren." The +women referred to were those faithful ones who followed Jesus from +Galilee and ministered to him of their substance; those who went early +to the tomb on Easter morning, to perform the last offices of affection, +and found the sepulchre empty: Mary Magdalene, Salome the mother of John +and James, Joanna, and "the other Mary." But these are no more mentioned +by name in the New Testament; nor is even the mother of Jesus again +referred to, except in that impersonal manner in which Saint Paul speaks +of Christ as "born of a woman." A large and prominent place was held by +women in the life of Jesus, but those same women are not accorded a +corresponding importance in the history of the founding of the Church. +It is a new set of names that we encounter in Apostolic history; +converts from heathendom, and those who labored with the Apostle to the +Gentiles. The records allow the women of the Gospels to fall into +obscurity; but they will never pass out of human memory as a galaxy +which surrounded the Bright and Morning Star.</p> + +<p>As yet the Church had not developed an organization, except that the +Twelve--the place of Judas having been filled--were recognized as +leaders by virtue of their having been chosen by Christ. The rest, women +equally with men, were simply believers. Even the Apostles had no plan, +no foresight of future development. Officers were created only as +conditions arose which required them. At first the Church was simply a +communistic family, bound together in holy love by a common enthusiasm. +The ordinary conventions of society were for the time suspended; men and +women lived together in the free communion of a great family. Their time +was almost wholly spent in prayer and the work of conversion; the +ordinary avocations of life were almost entirely discontinued. The +community was supported out of a common stock, which was daily +replenished by the proceeds of the sale of the possessions of converts. +No one called his own anything that he had; they held all in common. +Their number was too great for a common table, but they met in large +parties at each other's houses, none suffering disparagement on account +of condition or sex. Each evening meal was a commemoration of the Last +Supper of Christ with his disciples. This briefly enduring prototype of +a perfect human society contained in itself the prophecy of all that +Christianity would do for woman through all the slow development of the +ages. In the community of the Jerusalem Christians she was neither a +slave nor a subordinate. The burden of the daily provision, which still +falls so heavily on the vast majority of women, was here rendered +extremely light, for all helped each and each helped all. Equal +fellowship also in the great spiritual possession caused all the marks +of woman's inferiority to vanish, and the sexes freely mingled in a pure +and noble companionship.</p> + +<p>But this perfect type of society was not destined long to endure. It +appeared only for a brief season, barely sufficient to intimate what +human life might be, if governed by the Spirit of Jesus; and then a +woman was accessory to a deed which showed that the ideal was as yet far +too high for a practical and prudent world. Sapphira and Ananias had +sold their possession and had laid a part of the price at the Apostles' +feet, under the pretence that they were devoting their all. "Tell me," +said Saint Peter, "did ye sell the land for so much?" "Yes," answered +Sapphira, faithful to the conspiracy she had entered into with her +husband, "that was the amount." "Ye have agreed together to lie unto +God," said the Apostle. "The feet of them who have buried thy husband +are at the door; they shall carry thee out also." And she immediately +"gave up the ghost." And the young men carried her out and buried her by +her husband. The description of the burying seems to indicate that it +was done as quietly as possible, probably so as not to attract the +attention of the people. But great fear of the power of the Apostles +seized those who heard the rumor of these happenings. It is not a +pleasant story, and it jars on a conscience in which the memory of the +Gospel teaching is fresh and vivid. Yet the Church was not so strong in +itself but that it needed to resort to drastic measures in order to +protect itself from covetous hypocrisy within, more to be feared than +violent persecution from without. As to the pathological cause of the +death of Sapphira and her husband, no explanation is given. In the +market place of a town in Wiltshire, England, there is a remarkable +stone monument, which was erected by the corporation to commemorate a +"judgment" which took place on the spot many years ago. According to the +lengthy inscription engraved upon the column, three women had agreed to +purchase a certain quantity of flour, each contributing her share of the +price. A dispute arose, owing to one having declared that she had paid +her part, though the amount could not be accounted for. Being accused of +trying to cheat, she exclaimed that she wished she might fall dead if +she were not telling the truth. She immediately fell to the ground and +expired, whereupon the money was found upon her person. Those who caused +the inscription to be written for the warning of future marketers +believed it to be a "judgment." Doubtless it was the effect of +excitement upon a pathological condition of the heart. The comparison +between this case and that of Sapphira and Ananias is weakened only by +the strange fact that husband and wife should, on the same day, meet +death in this remarkable manner. It is perhaps worthy of notice that +Herodias and Sapphira are the only women mentioned by name in the New +Testament against whom anything discreditable is charged.</p> + +<p>As the number of believers increased in Jerusalem, trouble was +encountered in regard to the daily provision. The communistic plan of +living was by no means rigidly insisted upon, as is shown by the fact +that Peter admits that Ananias was not obliged to make an offering of +the whole or even of a part of the price of his possession. Converts +were added too rapidly, and their organization was too loose for the +perfecting of any economical system. We see, however, the congregation +making careful provision for the indigent by a daily distribution.</p> + +<p>There were in Jerusalem many Hellenistic Jews; that is, those who were +reared in foreign countries or were born of parents so reared. The +Palestinian Jew affected a distinct superiority over these. This seems +to have been allowed to result in a slight showing of ill will between +the native and foreign-born Jews who accepted Christ. The latter found +cause to complain that their widows were neglected in the daily +distribution; this seems to indicate that the widows were supported out +of the revenues of the Church, a fact which quickly resulted in their +being considered in the service of the Church. We find the widows early +mentioned in a sort of corporate capacity. In the account of the raising +of Dorcas, who was probably herself of this condition of life, it is +said that Peter called "the saints and the widows." From this narrative +we are led to infer that the manufacture of garments for the poor was +recognized as the contribution of these women to the corporate activity +of the Church. It was the inception of a distinctly female order in the +Christian ministry.</p> + +<p>In order that there should be no cause for complaint on the ground +mentioned above, the Apostles instructed the whole body of believers to +select from their number seven men, to whom should be intrusted the +charitable work of the Church. These men were not deacons, in the sense +in which this term has come to be applied, nor are they thus termed +anywhere in the Acts of the Apostles. The office remained, but the +duties changed; after the breaking up of the Christian community in +Jerusalem by persecution, these "deacons" devoted themselves to the more +attractive work of preaching, and from this time the ministry of good +works fell naturally into the hands of the women.</p> + +<p>Very early in the history of the Church there came into existence an +order of female deacons, or deaconesses. It is more particularly in the +Gentile congregations planted by Paul that we find this institution. In +his Epistle to the Romans, among many other matters of a personal +interest, we find the Apostle saying: "I commend unto you Phoebe our +sister, who is a deaconess of the church that is at Cenchreas;" and he +requests them to receive her worthily of the saints and to assist her in +whatsoever matter she may have in hand, for that she "hath been a +succorer of many, and of mine own self." It is extremely probable that +Phoebe was the bearer of this letter to the Romans. She may have been +travelling to the city on affairs of her own, or it may be that Paul is +referring to some commission from the Church which had been imparted to +her by word of mouth.</p> + +<p>He also sends greeting to Tryphaena and Tryphosa, who, with Persis, were +probably deaconesses serving the church at Rome. Euodias and Syntyche, +who are mentioned in the Epistle to the Philippians, were, there is +every reason to believe, in this same order of the ministry. The Apostle +testifies to the earnest cooperation in his work for which he is +indebted to these two women; but from his exhortation that they "be of +the same mind," we may infer that there was some disagreement among +them. Absolute harmony was not always maintained, even among the saints +of the early Church. Saintliness has never yet been able entirely to +eradicate from human nature all that is unseemly; and it is more than +likely that if it were only possible for us to gain an intimate and +personal knowledge of the conditions which prevailed in the Apostolic +Church, we should not be greatly discouraged by a comparison of those +days with our own times. The glamour of extraordinary holiness which +succeeding centuries have thrown over that age was not perceptible to +Paul. The lapse of time is of itself sufficient to idealize, and even to +apotheosize, remarkable personages who in reality were not without their +weaknesses.</p> + +<p>What were the precise duties of these female servants we do not know. In +the uncrystallized organism of early Christianity it is likely that +their field of activity was not closely defined. From the Apostle's rule +we know that they did not take part in the public ministrations. "Let +the women," says he, "keep silence in the churches." In his idea of +Christianity, the family is the unit, with the man as the responsible +head. "If they would learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at +home; for it is shameful for a woman to speak in the church." And yet, +in what he says in the eleventh chapter of his first Epistle to the +Church at Corinth, he seems to admit that the women have the right both +to pray and prophesy in the congregation. But it may be the Apostle is +judging the question not as <i>per se</i>, but in accordance with the +prevailing ideas of his time. He who was "all things to all men," in +order to win them, concluded that it was the duty of women to keep +silent rather than to arouse prejudice by trampling on custom and thus +endangering the success of the Gospel. The women of the Corinthian +Church seem to have abandoned the traditions of their time and people in +this respect and were in the habit of praying and prophesying in the +congregation, and, moreover, without the customary veil. In regard to +this last-mentioned departure, Paul is emphatic: "Every woman praying or +prophesying with her head unveiled dishonoreth her head. Judge ye among +yourselves, is it seemly that a woman pray unto God unveiled?" On this +subject Dr. McGiffert comments as follows: "The practice, which was so +out of accord with the custom of the age, was evidently a result of the +desire to put into practice Paul's principle that in Christ all +differences of rank, station, sex, and age are done away. But Paul, in +spite of his principle, opposed the practice. His opposition in the +present case was doubtless due in part to traditional prejudice, in part +to fear that so radical a departure from the common custom might bring +disrepute upon the Church, and even promote disorder and licentiousness. +But he found a basis for his opposition in the fact that by creation the +woman was made subject to the man. Paul's use of such an argument from +the natural order of things, when it was a fundamental principle with +him that in the spiritual realm the natural is displaced and destroyed, +must have sounded strange to the Corinthians; and Paul himself evidently +felt the weakness of the argument and its inconsistency with his general +principles, for he closed with an appeal to the custom of the churches: +'We have no such custom, neither have the churches of God,' therefore +you have no right to adopt it. This was the most he could say. Evidently +he was on uncertain ground."</p> + +<p>Those same restrictive traditions, which prevented the deaconesses from +taking part in public instruction or ministering in the congregation, +rendered their service imperatively necessary in many of the private +activities of the Christian Church. They instructed female catechumens +in the first principles of the new religion; they prepared them for +baptism, and by their attendance disarmed inimical criticism when this +sacrament was administered to women. To their hands was committed the +ministry of mercy. They relieved the sick, instructed the orphans, +consoled their sisters when in trouble, encouraged those who were +condemned to martyrdom, and were the official embodiment of that +characteristic fraternalism in the early Church which induced even their +heathen enemies to exclaim: "How these Christians love."</p> + +<p>It was not essential that a woman appointed to the office of a deaconess +should be free to devote her whole time to the service of the Church. +The two slave girls whom Pliny examined by torture upon the rack, and of +whom he wrote to the Emperor Trajan, were very probably deaconesses. The +order was composed of virgins who were tried and trained by a life of +chastity and devotion and finally set apart to the office at the mature +age of forty; or--and this was more commonly the case--of devout and +sober-minded widows. In all probability Paul is referring to this order +in that which he says of widows in his first letter to Timothy. There he +writes: "Let none be enrolled as a widow under threescore years old, +having been the wife of one man, well reported of for good works; if she +hath brought up children, if she hath used hospitality to strangers, if +she hath washed the saints' feet, if she hath relieved the afflicted, if +she hath diligently followed every good work. But younger widows refuse: +for when they have waxed wanton against Christ, they desire to marry; +having condemnation, because they have rejected their first faith. And +withal they learn also to be idle, going about from house to house; and +not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which +they ought not. I desire therefore that the younger women marry, bear +children, rule the household, give none occasion to the adversary for +reviling."</p> + +<p>It is very remarkable that we seem to be left to infer from the above +that the Apostle's indictment as to idling, tattling, gadding, and +meddling is not to be charged against widows of over threescore.</p> + +<p>Some students have held that the passage quoted above refers, not to +deaconesses, but to a sort of female presbyters, like those who in the +age succeeding that of the Apostles had a certain oversight over the +widows and orphans of the congregations. On the other hand, Neander, the +ecclesiastical historian, considers that the widows referred to were +simply those who depended upon the Church for support and were +consequently expected to manifest their worthiness by an example of +special devoutness. But it is hardly believable that the Christian +conscience would have refused such assistance to widows under sixty +years of age or to those who had married the second time and had been +again widowed. The probabilities are in favor of the view that all +indigent and unfortunate Christian females were tenderly cared for by +the charity which abounded in the Apostolic Church; but from those +widows who had arrived at the age of sixty, and had shown themselves to +be fitted for such an office by especial devotion to good works and by +their approved trustworthiness, certain ones were enrolled for the +service of the Church in the order of deaconesses.</p> + +<p>Thus one of the earliest effects of Christianity was to introduce into +its own society, in every city, an order of women who were looked up to +with respect and veneration and intrusted with power and authority such +as no women had previously enjoyed, except in the almost unique +instances of the vestals at Rome and the prophetesses among the ancient +Germans. This could not fail to raise the whole sex in general respect, +as well as in its own estimation.</p> + +<p>As we have already noticed, the order of deaconesses did not consist +exclusively of widows; it was, however, confined to those females who +were free from all matrimonial obligations.</p> + +<p>In the early Church, celibacy was held in exceeding high regard. Other +qualifications being equal, virginity greatly increased a woman's +reputation for sanctity. It is true that it is not until post-apostolic +times that we find this condition of life exalted to the contradiction +both of the laws of nature and the dictates of reason; but the +foundation for the belief that the virgin life is superior to the +married state was unquestionably laid by Paul himself. While he readily +admits that marriage is honorable, he, at the same time, +enthusiastically recommends celibacy to those who are able to persevere +in continence. To the Corinthians he wrote: "He that giveth [a daughter] +in marriage doeth well; but he that giveth her not in marriage doeth +better." Whence arose this idea of the moral superiority of virginity? +Surely not from Judaism; for among the Jews an unmarried woman was +regarded as being to the greatest degree unblessed. Nor did it come from +paganism; for though there were vestal devotees of the deities, the +materialism which governed Greek and Roman religion entirely precluded +any belief in a moral inferiority as resulting from the rightful +intercourse of the sexes. In the rebound from the materialism of +paganism, Christianity swung the thought of its adherents to the +opposite extreme. The body was considered as hopelessly corrupt until +regenerated by the resurrection. It is a dead weight, retarding the +development and the triumph of the spirit; its natural functions are +tainted with evil and should be ignored and mortified so far as +necessity will permit. The contemplation of the terrible licentiousness +which characterized paganism gave a great bias to the views of the early +Christians on this subject. The asceticism of celibacy seemed to them an +easier way to escape the contamination of the world than that which led +through the honorable path of married life.</p> + +<p>In the seventh chapter of Paul's first letter to the Corinthians he is +wholly on the side of celibacy, though he was far too reasonable a man +not to recognize the possibility of purity in marriage. "I say to the +unmarried and to widows, it is good for them if they abide even as I. +But if they have not continency, let them marry." It is very probable +that the Apostle was a widower; for very few Jews of his time lived +without marrying to the age which we may reasonably suppose he had +attained before his conversion. He also says: "Now concerning virgins I +have no commandment of the Lord; but I give my judgment, as one that +hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful." We are to understand +this mercy of which he speaks, not as referring to any deliverance from +past marital encumbrances, but to the gift of faithfulness. Then he says +that in view of the present distress from persecution, while it is good +to be married, it is at least not less good to be single. "But and if +thou marry, thou hast not sinned; and if a virgin marry, she hath not +sinned. Yet such shall have tribulation in the flesh, and I would spare +you." The tribulation he speaks of refers to the double portion of the +"present distress" to which the married would be subject. His principal +argument in favor of the unwedded state is that those who remain in it +are enabled to devote themselves more completely to the service of God.</p> + +<p>But there was no sign in the Apostolic Church of that morbid enthusiasm +for virginity which fills the pages of the post-Nicene writers. We know +that Peter was married; and there is evidence that he took his wife with +him on his missionary journeys. "Have we not," says Paul, "power to lead +about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles, and the brothers of +the Lord, and Cephas?" Tradition also informs us that Peter had a +daughter whose name was Petronilla. The Apostle Philip had three +daughters. Eusebius quotes from a letter written by Polycrates, who was +bishop of the church at Ephesus, to Victor, Bishop of Rome, in which he +says: "Philip, one of the twelve Apostles, sleeps in Hierapolis, and his +two aged virgin daughters. Another of his daughters, who lived in the +Holy Spirit, rests at Ephesus." Eusebius also in the same passage +speaks, on the authority of Proculus, of "four prophesying daughters of +Philip;" but it is most likely that he here confounds the deacon Philip +with the apostle of the same name. From Acts we learn that the former +had four daughters who prophesied and labored with their father at +Cæsarea in Palestine.</p> + +<p>Paul, in his Epistles, gives the names of about eighty friends and +disciples; about twenty more are referred to in the Acts of the +Apostles. Quite a large proportion of these are women, to whom the +Apostle sends kindly greeting. His mention of them is always in the +terms of respectful regard, and never merely complimentary or carefully +polite. To many of these women he was deeply indebted for the care with +which they had ministered to his comfort as he journeyed to and fro on +his missionary tours; the names of some of them were treasured in his +memory as those of zealous and valued fellow laborers in the cause of +the Gospel. In both these relations, and also, perhaps, in that of his +dearest female friend, stood Priscilla, the wife of Aquila. She is the +most frequently mentioned of all the women of the Apostolic Church, but +always in conjunction with her husband. These people were Jews whose +home was at Rome, but owing to the edict by which Claudius banished from +the city all of their nationality they were living in Corinth when Paul +first met them. In the Acts of the Apostles we learn that he was drawn +to them because they were tent-makers like himself. "He abode with them +and they wrought.... And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath." In +this picture is seen the whole simple machinery of apostolic missions. +Paul's first inquiry in Corinth is for a man of his own trade. He hears +of Priscilla and Aquila, and at once finds with them a welcome both to +lodging and also employment. Their work was such as could be readily +carried on in the room which served for a lodging, and required but +little in the way of implements, so that they could freely and easily +move from one city to another. The work probably consisted in the making +of tent cloth. This material was of goats' hair, which was plaited into +strips, these being joined together. We see the three sitting together, +and, with hands busy at the monotonous toil, which was not exacting in +the matter of attention, reasoning of the things pertaining to the +kingdom of God. It was probably thus that the conversion of this husband +and wife was brought about. Then on the Sabbath they would repair to the +Jewish synagogue, where Paul would in public expound the new and strange +doctrine. We can imagine how Priscilla would prepare for that week-end +preaching. There would be no Jewess within her circle of acquaintances +but would receive notice, with the admonition not to fail to be present. +It is the inception of the "woman's auxiliary" in missionary work; but +how simple was this first propaganda!</p> + +<p>There was no board of managers either to hamper or advise; the workers +were responsible only to the spirit that moved within them. There were +no collections, nor any hindrance for lack of funds. Paul, Aquila, and +Priscilla labored with their own hands, and they were free and enabled +to go everywhere preaching the Gospel. The result of their work was that +in Corinth, the city devoted to a lustful worship and exemplifying the +worst corruptions of paganism, there was to be seen a band of men and +women whose lives were glorified and purified by devotion to the +teachings of Jesus.</p> + +<p>It is noteworthy that the name of Priscilla is placed in the book of +Acts, and also elsewhere, before that of her husband. Possibly this may +indicate that she was of a higher rank or a nobler family; but we prefer +to think that it is a tribute and a testimony to her zeal and greater +prominence in the Church. It is not unlikely that Aquila was known as +the husband of the successful female missionary Priscilla.</p> + +<p>When the Apostle left Corinth these two fellow workers accompanied him +as far as Ephesus. There he left them, with affectionate promises to +return. Priscilla and Aquila settled in Ephesus for a time, and an +opportunity was afforded them to perform a service for the Church, the +effect of which it is impossible for us now to estimate. Apollos was a +great name in the Apostolic Church. He came to have a large following +among the Corinthian Christians; and he was probably the author of the +Epistle to the Hebrews. This man, who is described as "eloquent and +mighty in the Scriptures," was by Priscilla and her husband brought to a +full knowledge of the Gospel.</p> + +<p>When Paul was writing his first letter to the Corinthians he included +greetings from Priscilla and Aquila, and also "from the church that is +in their house," indicating that the home of this couple was the meeting +place of the Christians of Ephesus. He again mentions them in his letter +to the Romans: "Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my helpers in Christ Jesus, +who for my life laid down their own necks; unto whom not only I give +thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles." It is impossible to +ascertain what was the instance here referred to of their devotion to +him; perhaps it relates to the experience of the Apostle when he "fought +with beasts at Ephesus."</p> + +<p>There dwelt in the Macedonian city of Philippi a woman named Lydia, who +had come there from Thyatira. She was engaged in the business of selling +purple, whether the color itself or garments so dyed cannot be +determined; but as women of that time were often employed in the +manufacture of drugs and chemicals, it is likely that she prepared that +dye which was so popular in the ancient Roman world. She had become a +convert to Judaism. There seem to have been few Jews in Philippi, for it +is evident that they had no synagogue, but were in the habit of meeting +in the open air, on the banks of the river Strymon. Lydia, like many of +the women of her time, was an earnest seeker after religious truth. When +Paul came to Philippi, on the first Sabbath he went to the place of +prayer, "and spake unto the women which resorted thither." This is a +remarkable expression, inasmuch as it seems to indicate that only women +were present, an extremely unusual congregation in the ancient world. +But Paul, unlike the Jewish rabbis, did not deem a gathering of women +unworthy of his most solicitous efforts. Lydia justified his exertions, +for she became a convert to Christianity and was baptized with her whole +household. She was a person of considerable means. The selling of purple +was a very remunerative business. In gratitude for the new light which +she had received, and desirous to learn more of the Gospel, Lydia +importuned the Apostle and his friends to take up their abode in her +house, which, at least for the time, became the gathering place of the +church in Philippi.</p> + +<p>There is no possibility of overestimating the debt that Christianity +owes to the fostering care of the early female converts. Its story has +never been written from the standpoint of the women; if it could be so +written, it would be seen that the labors of love which were +accomplished by the feminine nature were no less fruitful than those +which are recorded of the more public masculine activities.</p> + +<p>While Paul was in Philippi, he encountered another woman, of a station +and occupation very different from that of Lydia. She was a slave girl, +who was in all probability what is known nowadays as a clairvoyant. The +people believed that she was inspired by the Pythian Apollo. The +narrative in the Acts of the Apostles says that she "was possessed of a +spirit of divination," and that "she brought her masters much gain by +soothsaying." There seems to have been a company or syndicate which, by +means of the mysterious powers of this girl, traded upon the +superstitions of the people. But Christianity was in opposition to this +form of spiritualism. The girl, we are told, followed Paul and his +friends and gave loud testimony to their divine mission. Very likely she +heard the Apostle's preaching, and received an impression that resulted, +owing to the peculiar condition of her mind, in an acute perception of +the true character of the missionaries. Paul, however, had no desire to +be introduced by any such medium as this. He exorcised the evil spirit +which, according to Jewish notions, possessed the damsel; that is, by +the influence of suggestion probably, he freed the girl from the +thraldom of the abnormal condition of mind which had hitherto made her +doubly a slave.</p> + +<p>While we are engaged with the subject of Paul's female converts and +acquaintances, it ought not to seem out of place if we give a little +notice to that remarkable piece of literature which was popular in the +early Church, and is known as the <i>Acts of Paul and Thecla</i>. It is +certain that the main facts set forth in this legend were credited by +such prominent ancient writers and theologians as Cyprian, Eusebius, +Augustin, Gregory Nazianzin, Chrysostom, and Severus Sulpitius. +Chrysostom especially gives a very clear indication of his belief in the +story of Paul and Thecla. Basil of Seleucia wrote the history of Thecla +in verse. Baronius, Archbishop Wake, and also the learned Grabe consider +the facts as being authentic history. On the other hand, Tertullian says +that it was forged by a presbyter of Asia, who confessed that he +invented the account out of respect for Paul. And again, it is held that +The <i>Acts of Paul and Thecla</i>, as we have it, is not the original book +of the early Christians.</p> + +<p>At any rate, even though it be nothing more than an imaginative +creation, inasmuch as an account of Thecla and her companionship with +Paul was extant early as the second century, as is proved by its being +mentioned by Tertullian, it is surely worthy of attention for it shows, +at a time so contiguous, how the age of the Apostles was pictured.</p> + +<p>The scene is laid in the beginning at Iconium, whither Paul had fled +from Antioch in Pisidia, as is related in the thirteenth chapter of the +Acts of the Apostles. There he is received by Onesiphorus and Lectra his +wife. In their house the Apostle preaches. At a window in a nearby house +sits the young maiden Thecla. She hears Paul's words, and is so +captivated by his discourse that nothing can tear her away. As her +mother says, she is there continuously, "like a spider's web fastened to +the window." At this rather long range the Gospel teaching takes effect +in her heart, and she becomes a convert to Christianity. Her mother and +Thamyris, her lover, endeavor by various means to divert her mind from +these things; but it is all in vain. Thamyris, chagrined because the +maiden no longer loves him, procures the arrest and imprisonment of +Paul. Thecla, by bribing the jailers with her ear-rings and silver +looking-glass, procures admittance to the prison, where she is still +more firmly established in the faith.</p> + +<p>On being found by her relatives, and refusing to marry Thamyris, she is +ordered to be burned at the stake; but in a miraculous manner the fire +is extinguished and Thecla is preserved. In the meantime, Paul, being +banished from the city, takes refuge with Onesiphorus and his family, in +a cave. There Thecla finds him, and begs to be allowed to accompany him +in his travels. They go on to Antioch, where Alexander, a magistrate, +falls in love with Thecla's beauty, and because she resists his advances +she is condemned to be thrown to the wild beasts.</p> + +<p>While she is waiting for the day on which her sentence is to be +executed, Thecla implores the governor that she may be preserved from +the unchaste designs of Alexander. To this end the governor gives her +into the charge of Trifina, a noble matron of the city. The maiden gains +not only the affection of Trifina, but also the sympathy of all the +women who learn of her unfortunate fate. When the time comes for her to +be thrown to the beasts, they refuse to attack her; and even though she +is tied to wild bulls, she is miraculously saved. Alarmed by this +wonder, the magistrate releases her, and she is adopted by Trifina.</p> + +<p>"So Thecla went with Trifina, and was entertained there a few days, +teaching her the word of the Lord, whereby many young women were +converted; and there was great joy in the family of Trifina. But Thecla +longed to see Paul, and enquired and sent everywhere to find him; and +when at length she was informed that he was at Myra, in Lycia, she took +with her many young men and women; and putting on a girdle, and dressing +herself in the habit of a man, she went to him to Myra, and there found +Paul preaching the word of God.</p> + +<p>"Then Paul took her, and led her to the house of Hermes; and Thecla +related to Paul all that had befallen her in Antioch, insomuch that Paul +exceedingly wondered, and all who heard were confirmed in the faith, and +prayed for Trifina's happiness. Then Thecla arose, and said to Paul, 'I +am going to Iconium.' Paul replied to her, 'Go, and teach the word of +the Lord.' But Trifina had sent large sums of money to Paul, and also +clothing by the hands of Thecla, for the relief of the poor."</p> + +<p>After this no further mention is made of the Apostle. Thecla returns to +Iconium, where she endeavors to convert her mother, but with no success. +Taking up her abode in the cave where she first talked with Paul, she +lives a virgin life and attains to a great age, doing many marvellous +works and acquiring a great fame for sanctity.</p> + +<p>This is a brief summary of the story which, whether it be fact or fancy, +was devoutly believed by many of the earliest Fathers of the Church.</p> + +<p>The Apostle to the Gentiles wrote: "Not many wise after the flesh, not +many mighty, not many noble are called." The Gospel of the Galilean +Carpenter found an eager reception chiefly among the humble; the names +of Lydia and Priscilla are those of workingwomen. Some of the names of +women that Paul mentions in his Epistles are those of bondservants. His +acquaintances in the houses of the great were among the menials. But +Christianity ennobled those to whom it came. We know nothing of Chloe of +Corinth, of Claudia of Rome, of Euodias, of Syntyche, of Persis, of +Phoebe, or of Damaris, except that they were among the first workers, +the charter members of the Church; their names are engraved ineffaceably +upon the foundations of the Faith. In an especial manner these women +were working for the uplifting of their sex. They were pioneers who +first ventured in that movement which inevitably brings enlargement of +life for all womankind.</p> + +<p>Yet Christianity was not wholly without its witnesses among the women of +the higher ranks of society. If Acte, Nero's freedwoman, really were a +Christian,--and it is strange that such a tradition should have arisen +without a foundation in fact,--she could not have been without an +influence upon the noble ladies with whom she was thrown into contact. +Pomponia Græcina was brought to trial for embracing a foreign religion. +This, in after ages, was believed to be Christianity; and it is +certainly possible that Sienkievicz's splendid portrayal of her as a +Christian matron is not wholly beside the mark.</p> + +<p>A little later, in the time of Domitian, we know that Christianity +invaded the imperial household. Domatilla, the niece of the emperor and +the wife of the noble Flavius Clemens, was an avowed Christian, and for +the sake of her faith was banished to the island of Pandataria, which +had been made the prison of women of far different character.</p> + +<a name="c3" id="c3"></a> +<br><br> + +<h3>III</h3> + +<h3>THE ERA OF PERSECUTION</h3> + +<p>Persecution of the early Christians was preordained by some of the most +prominent and essential qualities of human nature. Every new habit of +thought is at first looked upon with dislike. Political and religious +innovations are especially regarded with disfavor, because their +promulgation necessarily involves the disadvantage of official adherents +of prevailing systems, as well as the causing of that most disagreeable +form of mental irritation which follows upon the breaking in upon the +inertia of long-established prejudices.</p> + +<p>Christianity was calculated to arouse determined opposition both from +the political and also the religious forces of the empire. It was looked +upon as a menace to the state and a dishonor to the gods. Rome was +extremely tolerant of new religions, and its policy was to allow the +people of its widely diversified conquests to retain their traditional +forms and objects of worship; but the Roman deities must not know +disrespect, and the most fair-minded emperors could comprehend no +reason, except a treasonable one, why subjects should scruple to render +obedience to the statutes commanding that divine honors should be paid +to their imperial selves. But the very genius of Christianity +necessitated absolute intolerance of other religious cults. The +worshippers of Cybele or Isis had not the least objection to paying +their devotions to Vesta on the way to their own favorite temple; the +women who besought Mars for the victory of their husbands, absent with +the legions, freely offered incense before the statue of the emperor who +sent forth those legions; but, for the Christians, to give Christ a +place among the national deities was to do Him the greatest dishonor and +to commit mortal sin, and to burn a handful of incense before the statue +of the emperor was wicked idolatry and entailed the forfeiture of +eternal salvation. Their missionary zeal compelled them to manifest the +contempt in which they held the pagan gods, and thus the Christians laid +themselves open to the charge of atheism as well as to that of treason. +As Gibbon says: "By embracing the faith of the Gospel the Christians +incurred the supposed guilt of an unnatural and unpardonable offence. +They dissolved the sacred ties of custom and education, violated the +religious institutions of their country, and presumptuously despised +whatever their fathers had believed as true, or had reverenced as +sacred." And inasmuch as the religion of the state was a part of the +constitution of the state, their resolute rejection of it marked them, +in the eyes of the rulers, as enemies of the state.</p> + +<p>As the history of martyrdom is in almost every instance written by the +friends of the sufferers, the motive of the persecutors is usually +represented as wanton cruelty, while in fact it frequently was the case +that the civil magistrate honestly deemed himself to be carrying out +necessary precautions for the welfare of society. This assertion, which +tends to the defence of the credit of human nature, can confidently be +made in regard to most cases of official persecution. "Revere the gods +in everyway according to ancestral laws," said Maecenas to Augustus, +"and compel others so to revere them. Those, however, who introduce +anything foreign in this respect, hate and punish, not only for the sake +of the gods,--want of reverence toward whom argues want of reverence +toward everything else,--but because such, in that they introduce new +divinities, mislead many also to adopt foreign laws. Thence come +conspiracies and secret leagues which are in the highest degree opposed +to monarchy." Julius Paulus laid down as a fundamental principle in +Roman law: "Such as introduce new religions, whose bearing and nature +are not understood, by which the minds of men are disquieted, should, if +they are of the higher ranks, be transported; if of the lower, be +punished with death." To a Roman the state was everything; individual +liberty could only run in such courses as were parallel with the policy +of the state. Those who retained a sincere belief in the ancient deities +worshipped them as the patrons and guardians of the imperial destinies; +the philosophical sceptics were no less inclined to insist upon that +worship as a thing of political necessity, a means of binding the +unintelligent in loyalty to the government.</p> + +<p>In view of this, it is not to be wondered at that the contemptuous +attitude which the Christians manifested to the ancient religions seemed +to some of the wisest Romans to be nothing other than a stubborn +fanaticism, concealing a hateful antagonism to society. Their meetings, +which persecution necessarily made secret, were believed to be +treasonable; their resolute isolation from the common amusements, which +were deeply tainted with vice, caused them to be stigmatized as haters +of mankind; the mystery which surrounded their worship provided a ready +acceptance for the popular slander that in their secret gatherings the +worst atrocities were perpetrated. To such men as Trajan and Marcus +Aurelius, all this seemed a spreading evil to be determinedly stamped +out.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, it is true that the persecution of the Christians was +taken advantage of to minister to the lust for spectacles of blood and +agony which degraded the ancient world. There were the lions waiting; +there were Christians who deserved death: why waste so good an +opportunity to make a characteristic "Roman holiday."</p> + +<p>We are appalled at the remembrance of civilized savagery which could +delight in the sight of helpless women and tender maidens torn by beasts +or writhing in the fire; and yet, almost equal cruelty, though not +perpetrated in the same spirit, has been witnessed at so recent a date, +and at the hands of "Christians," that we can hardly with a good grace +reproach paganism for its atrocities of this kind. The potential +"devilishness" which is in human nature is surely one of its prime +mysteries.</p> + +<p>In the literature of Christian martyrdom it is frequently assumed that +there were ten general persecutions; but, as Mosheim says, this number +is not verified by the ancient history of the Church. For if, by these +persecutions, such only are meant as were singularly severe and +universal throughout the Empire, then it is certain that these amount +not to the number above mentioned. And if we take the provincial and +less remarkable persecutions into the account, they far exceed it. The +idea that the Church was to suffer ten great calamities arose from an +interpretation of certain passages of Scripture, particularly one in +Revelations.</p> + +<p>In these days of gentler manners and easier faith, we are hardly more +amazed at the cruelties which were enacted to abolish Christianity than +we are astonished at the fortitude with which its adherents endured +them. Never did punishment so signally fail as a deterrent. The Church +grew most rapidly when to be a Christian almost certainly ensured +martyrdom. It is a marvellous history, that of the three hundred years +of struggle between Christianity and paganism, in which all earthly +considerations were abandoned for a conception of morality and for a +faith in the existence of a life beyond the grave. The same spirit has +always characterized Christianity, but never with such enduring +persistence or with such success as in the early days.</p> + +<p>In the records of this struggle it is abundantly shown that women were +not spared, nor did they bear their part with less honor or courage than +the men. It was in the Church as it has been in all history: while the +government and the superior fame are awarded to one sex, equality in the +opportunity and in the endurance of suffering are not denied to the +other. The weaker sex has never been inferior in the ability to bear +pain, or in the courage to go cheerfully to a martyr's death. It was no +more common for women under the stress of torture to relinquish their +faithfulness than for men. In the enthusiasm born of their hope in the +Gospel, it was as much the wont of young virgins to meet the lion's eye +without flinching as it was that of wise and venerable bishops.</p> + +<p>The first principal persecution took place under Nero. There is no sign +of any general edict by him against the Christians; so it is probable +that the severities in this reign were confined to Rome. It is even +doubtful if Nero cherished any purpose of suppressing Christianity. He +found the Christians the most convenient victims for a charge of burning +the city; so he satisfied the people by affixing the guilt to these +hated sectaries, and at the same time amused the idle Roman populace by +an unusual exhibition.</p> + +<p>There is no mention of the names of those who suffered under the +imperial actor; but there is no doubt there were many women in the +number. Doubtless, some of those women to whom Paul sent greeting and +gave other mention in his Epistle suffered at this time. Though their +names are not recorded in the chronicles of martyrdom, the blood of many +of the Apostle's feminine friends at Rome helped to cement the +foundation of the Church. Of all the tragedies witnessed by the City of +the Seven Hills, in which women had taken a part, none was so +significant as this. The wives and daughters of kings, consuls, and +emperors had met death in the pursuit of ambitious projects. To them the +fatal violence of tyrants meant hopeless failure; to these Christian +women, who belonged to the lowest walks of society, it meant glorious +success. When those died, their ambitions ended; when these perished, +the faith which they so bravely confessed was only made stronger by +their sufferings.</p> + +<p>It is not unlikely that Poppæa, the wife of Nero, may have played an +important part in this persecution. The Christians encountered as bitter +opposition from the Jews as from the heathen. The fellow countrymen of +Paul frequently succeeded in stirring up the animosity of the rulers +against him and the other teachers of the new religion. While, as a +rule, they themselves were extremely obnoxious to the Romans, it +happened that at this time they had a powerful friend in the wife of the +tyrant. Josephus relates how Poppæa befriended him, and he is +enthusiastic in his praise of her "religious nature." So it may very +likely have been--as the gifted author of <i>Quo Vadis?</i> describes--that +the accusation of firing the city was fastened upon the Christians by +the instrumentality of the Jews, and that Nero found a readier access to +this welcome expedient through the counsel of Poppæa.</p> + +<p>No description could be more vivid, or more trustworthy,--seeing that +his prejudice is entirely against the Christians,--than that given by +Tacitus of the cruelties perpetrated by Nero upon the followers of +Christ. "He inflicted the most exquisite tortures on those men (we know +from other evidence that there was no discrimination in regard to sex in +these sufferings) who, under the vulgar appellation of Christians, were +already branded with deserved infamy. They derived their name and origin +from Christ, who in the reign of Tiberius had suffered death by the +sentence of Pontius Pilate. For a while this dire superstition was +checked; but it again burst forth; and not only spread itself over +Judæa, the first seat of this mischievous sect, but was even introduced +into Rome, the common asylum which receives and protects whatever is +impure, whatever is atrocious. The confessions of those who were seized +discovered a great multitude of their accomplices, and they were all +convicted, not so much for the crime of setting fire to the city as for +their hatred of human kind. They died in torments, and their torments +were embittered by insult and derision. Some were nailed on crosses; +others sewn up in skins of wild beasts, and exposed to the fury of dogs; +others again, smeared over with combustible materials, were used as +torches to illuminate the darkness of the night. The gardens of Nero +were destined for the melancholy spectacle, which was accompanied with a +horse-race, and honored with the presence of the emperor, who mingled +with the populace in the dress and attitude of a charioteer. The guilt +of the Christians deserved indeed the most exemplary punishment, but the +public abhorrence was changed into commiseration, from the opinion that +those unhappy wretches were sacrificed, not so much to the public +welfare as to the cruelty of a jealous tyrant." Gibbon, commenting on +this passage, adds the reflection that in the strange revolutions of +history those same gardens of Nero have become the site of the triumph +and abuse of the persecuted religion. Where the first Roman followers of +the Galilean Carpenter suffered for their confession, the successors of +Peter exert a world-embracing hierarchical sway and a power far +surpassing that of the greatest emperor.</p> + +<p>No nation besides Rome ever systematically turned the torture of +criminals into a popular pastime; but there the people had become so +accustomed to the butchery of human beings in the public games that +nothing was so welcome as a new device for heightening the effect of +agonized death throes, except a large supply of judicially condemned men +and women on whom to prove it. Nero had good reason to be well assured +that he would not incur the displeasure of the people by condemning the +Christians to the circus and the amphitheatre.</p> + +<p>They were arrested in great numbers and crowded into a prison the +loathsomeness of which was itself a horrible torture. A holiday was +appointed so that the whole populace might be regaled by the sufferings +of these men and women. The orgy of cruelty which ensued seems beyond +the power of human nature to witness, much less to inflict. It is with +great reason that the early Christians looked upon Nero as the +Antichrist, the one representing in his nature the infinity of +opposition to the Saviour. From none of those horrors were women exempt. +Like the men they were crucified; they were covered with the skins of +wild beasts and mangled by dogs; and, their garments being dipped in +pitch, they were converted into living torches to light the gardens at +night. Clement of Rome also tells us that many Christian women were made +to play the part of the Danaids and of Dirce. It was the custom to give +realistic representation to mythological subjects by compelling +criminals to take the part of the victim of the tragedy. Consequently, +the women who represented Dirce were tied to the horns of a wild bull +and dragged about the arena until they were dead. The well-known piece +of ancient sculpture known as the Farnese Bull is the original tragedy +pictured in stone. An inscription in Pompeii indicates that this +exhibition was a common sight in the arena, women who were condemned +being frequently put to death in this manner. No point likely to add to +the effect of the scene was sacrificed to decency. The shame at being +exposed naked, which would humiliate a Christian maiden even at the +moment of impending death, simply afforded an element of jocularity to +the tragedy in the eyes of that barbarous Roman multitude.</p> + +<p>Doubtless the imperial author of these scenes took more pleasure in them +than did any of his subjects. Renan thus pictures him: "As he was +nearsighted, he used to put to his eye on such occasions a concave lens +of 'emerald,' which served him as an eyeglass. He liked to exhibit his +connoisseurship in matters of sculpture; it is said that he made brutal +remarks on his mother's dead body, praising this point and criticising +that. Living flesh quivering in a wild beast's jaw, or a poor shrinking +girl, screening herself by a modest gesture, then tossed by a bull and +cast in lifeless fragments on the gravel of the arena, must exhibit a +play of form and color worthy of an artist-sense like his. Here he was, +in the front row, on a low balcony, in a group of vestals and curule +magistrates,--with his ill-favored countenance, his short sight, his +blue eyes, his curled light-brown hair, his cruel mouth, his air like a +big silly baby, at once cross and dull, open-mouthed, swollen with +vanity, while brazen music throbbed in the air, turned to a bloody mist. +He would, no doubt, inspect with a critic's eye the shrinking attitudes +of these new Dirces; and I imagine he found a charm he had never known +before in the air of resignation with which these pure-hearted girls +faced their hideous death."</p> + +<p>Were these poor women, as they awaited in prison their doom, comforted +and encouraged by the presence of the Apostle charged to "feed my +lambs"? We do not know. But the firmness and constancy with which they +endured trials so horrible even unto death bespeak the marvellous effect +of the early enthusiasm of the Christian faith. These women were in the +vanguard of the Christian army which first met the deadly force of +heathen opposition; and because they did not flinch, but bore the pains +of martyrdom for their faith, that faith ultimately triumphed and filled +the world with its light. For more than two hundred years, however, the +women who embraced this faith were to live in the daily dread of the +terrible cry: "The Christians to the lions."</p> + +<p>After the death of Nero, for a time the Church was, comparatively +speaking, unmolested; though as Christianity was increasing in strength, +it was regarded with greater hatred on the part of the general populace. +Ugly stories began to be set afloat referring to the practices of this +new sect. Later on it came to be believed that its adherents were in the +habit of feasting, in their secret gatherings, on the body of a newborn +child. This feast was said to be followed by an entertainment in which +men and women abandoned themselves to the most abominable and +promiscuous licentiousness. These charges, absurd as they were, served +to obliterate any ray of pity which otherwise might have visited the +minds of their persecutors.</p> + +<p>In the year 81, Domitian, whom Tertullian describes as "of Nero's type +in cruelty," succeeded Titus on the imperial throne. Influenced by his +suspicion of all organizations, and also by the refusal of the Jewish +people to pay the capitation tax which was designed to provide for the +finishing of the Capitol, he instituted a persecution of the Jews, +which, for want of better knowledge on the part of the Romans, could not +fail to involve the Christians. His own niece, Domitilla, who had been +married to his cousin Flavius Clemens, was an avowed Christian, though +up to this time the faith had made few converts among the high and +mighty. Domitian banished her to the Island of Pandataria, and put to +death her husband, probably on the same charge. They were accused rather +vaguely of atheism and Jewish manners; but it seems probable that the +Church has made no mistake in placing them among her first sufferers. +This persecution by Domitian is counted as the second in the list of +ten; but, though many besides Domitilla were put to death, it hardly +seems possible that the persecution could have become very general, for +only a few months after it began Domitian was assassinated by a freedman +belonging to Domitilla, who, as Gibbon remarks, surely had not embraced +the faith of his mistress.</p> + +<p>The reign of the Emperor Trajan was, in many respects, marked by the +greatest prosperity and the best administration that Rome ever enjoyed; +but his strict government and close supervision, combined with his +loyalty to the ancient traditions, made that reign an era of severity +for the Christians. Pliny was governor of Bithynia and Pontus, and +thence he wrote to the emperor informing him that the Christians were +gaining headway everywhere, so much so that the temples of the gods were +being forsaken by the people of all classes. He desired advice as to how +he should proceed. By the application of torture to two maidservants who +held the office of deaconesses in the local church he had elicited the +information--for the learning of which, doubtless, torture was entirely +unnecessary--that "the whole sum of their error consisted in this, that +they were wont, at certain times appointed, to meet before day, and to +sing hymns to one Christ their God. They also agreed among themselves to +abstain from all theft, murder, and adultery; to keep their faith, and +to defraud no man: which done, they departed for that time, and +afterwards resorted again to take a meal in companies together, both men +and women, and yet without any act of evil."</p> + +<p>To this Trajan replied that the Christians should not be sought after, +nor should anonymous accusations be received; but when they were brought +before the magistrate they should be punished. A most inconsistent +decision; for, as Tertullian pointed out, if they deserved to be +punished when caught, they ought also to be sought after as guilty.</p> + +<p>In the legends of the martyrs there is an account of a widow named +Symphrosa who, with her seven sons, suffered death by the command of +Trajan. They refused to sacrifice to the gods at his behest. First, the +mother was tortured by being hung up for some time in the temple of +Hercules by the hair of the head, and then drowned; afterward, her sons +were by various means tortured and put to death.</p> + +<p>We now come to the time of the philosophic emperor, Marcus Aurelius. +During the reign of his predecessor, Antoninus Pius, the Christians were +generally left to practise and propagate their religion in peace. +Consequently, the Gospel made rapid inroads upon paganism; so much so +that the latter was stirred to a more bitter opposition than had ever +before been instituted. At the first glance it appears a difficult +problem in moral philosophy to explain how so wise and righteous a ruler +as Marcus Aurelius could bring himself to persecute so cruelly an +inoffensive people like the Christians. But in the first place it must +be remembered that ecclesiastic history of that time, as we have it, is +very uncertain; in fact, it is greatly distorted and exaggerated. There +are good reasons for believing that what is called a general persecution +was confined largely to the one province of Gaul. Then it is very likely +that the emperor knew but little of the character of the Christians or +of the nature of their doctrines; that he held an unfavorable opinion of +them is shown by his own words. It also seems to be the fact that he +issued no new edict against them; but the rescript of Trajan was still +in force, which was to the effect that Christians, when accused in legal +form, and failing to recant, should be punished. Marcus Aurelius simply +allowed this rule to be enforced by the magistrates. He saw in the +Christians only stubborn recalcitrants against the established +government. Whatever may have been the amount of the emperor's direct +responsibility in the matter, during his reign the flame of persecution +again burst out; and among many others, some women won lasting fame by +the glorious constancy and courage of their martyrdom.</p> + +<p>One of the most illustrious was Felicitas, a Roman lady of good family +and the mother of seven sons. It was the policy of the magistrates not +to punish unnecessarily, but to endeavor to win those who were accused +to an acknowledged abandonment of their faith. In this case the judge +deemed it the more efficacious method to proceed against the mother +first, in the hope that in winning her to change her religion, he would +have less trouble with her sons; but neither promises of freedom nor +threats of total destruction of herself and her family could prevail. +Then he caused each son to be brought before him separately, and +endeavored both by menaces and persuasion to turn them from their +allegiance. Felicitas, however, had too thoroughly instilled into her +sons' minds the principles upon which her own faith and courage were +founded; they were unanimous in their steadfastness. The consequence was +that the mother was doomed to see her offspring executed one by one; and +at last, her resolution being invincible even before this terrible +trial, Felicitas herself was beheaded.</p> + +<p>The brunt of the persecution which took place in the reign of Marcus +Aurelius was borne by the Christians of Gaul, particularly those of +Lyons and Vienne. We possess a good description of these sufferings in a +letter which has been preserved by Eusebius, and which was sent by the +survivors of these devoted churches to their brethren in the other parts +of the empire. "The greatness of the tribulation in this region," says +the epistle, "and the fury of the heathen against the saints, and the +sufferings of the blessed witnesses, we cannot recount accurately, nor +indeed could they possibly be recorded. For with all his might the +adversary fell upon us, giving us a foretaste of his unbridled activity +at his future coming. He endeavored in every way to practise and +exercise his servants against the servants of God, not only shutting us +out from houses and baths and markets, but forbidding any of us to be +seen in any place whatever. But the grace of God led the conflict +against him, and delivered the weak, and set them as firm pillars, able +through patience to endure all the wrath of the Evil One."</p> + +<p>The letter goes on to relate how the heathen servants of many of the +Christians were arrested, and, through fear of suffering the same +dreadful tortures which they saw visited upon the believers, testified +falsely that the Christians were wont to indulge in the most atrocious +practices. This was believed by the common people, with the result that +all pity was extirpated from their breasts, and they hunted the +Christians with a rage which could only be likened to that of wild +beasts.</p> + +<p>One of the most renowned of the sufferers on this occasion was the slave +Blandina, "through whom Christ showed that things which appear mean and +obscure and despicable to men are with God of great glory.... For while +we all trembled, and her earthly mistress, who was herself also one of +the witnesses, feared that on account of the weakness of her body she +would be unable to make a bold confession, Blandina was filled with such +power as to be delivered and raised above those who were torturing her +by turns from morning until evening in every manner, so that they +acknowledged that they were conquered, and could do nothing more to her. +And they were astonished at her endurance, as her entire body was +mangled and broken; and they testified that one of these forms of +torture was sufficient to destroy life, not to speak of so many and so +great sufferings. But the blessed woman, like a noble athlete, renewed +her strength in her confession; and her comfort and recreation and +relief from the pain of her sufferings was in exclaiming, 'I am a +Christian, and there is nothing vile done by us.'"</p> + +<p>All this torture seems to have taken place in the examination of +Blandina before the tribunal; for we read how, later, she with others +was taken to the amphitheatre to be exposed to the wild beasts, a +spectacle having been arranged in order that the people might be regaled +with the sight of the Christians' sufferings. At this exhibition the +people themselves decided as to what forms of cruelties the victims +should endure, shouting out their demands for the fiery stake or the +beasts, as their horrible fancies dictated.</p> + +<p>Blandina was suspended on a cross, and there left to the mercy of any of +the numerous wild beasts prowling around the arena that might choose to +attack her. But on this occasion she was left unmolested; and the sight +of her, hanging from the stake and thus reminding them of the Master +they served, as well as the prayers she continually offered, so +heartened her comrades that they were the better enabled to meet their +death with a good courage.</p> + +<p>The memory of Blandina has justly been preserved through all these +centuries as one of the bravest and best in the noble "army of martyrs." +No doctor of theology ever bore more effective testimony to the faith; +no Christian soldier ever contended more earnestly for the cause; no +philosopher ever advanced a stronger argument in evidence of the truth +of religion than this poor slave woman who thus suffered in the bloody +arena where Christianity fought and conquered seventeen centuries ago. +Women were not allowed by the law of the Church to teach in the +assembly; but Blandina, from her rostrum of pain which was set up in the +amphitheatre at Lyons, by her faith which could enable her to forget her +own misery in the desire to cheer other sufferers, preached such a +sermon as sentences of polished eloquence can never emulate.</p> + +<p>We cannot better finish our account of this great martyr than by quoting +the description of her end as it is given in the letter mentioned above. +"On the last day of the contests, Blandina was again brought in, with +Ponticus, a boy about fifteen years old. They had been brought every day +to witness the sufferings of the others, and had been pressed to swear +by the idols. But because they remained steadfast and despised them, the +multitude became furious, so that they had no compassion for the youth +of the boy nor respect for the sex of the woman. Therefore, they exposed +them to all the terrible sufferings and took them through the entire +round of torture, repeatedly urging them to swear, but being unable to +effect this; for Ponticus, encouraged by his sister so that even the +heathen could see that she was confirming and strengthening him, having +nobly endured every torture, gave up the ghost. But the blessed +Blandina, last of all, having, as a noble mother, encouraged her +children and sent them before her victorious to the King, endured +herself all their conflicts and hastened after them, glad and rejoicing +in her departure as if called to a marriage supper; rather than cast to +wild beasts. And, after the scourging, after the wild beasts, after the +roasting seat, she was finally enclosed in a net, and thrown before a +bull. And after being tossed about by the animal, but feeling none of +the things which were happening to her, on account of her hope and firm +hold upon that which had been entrusted to her, and her communion with +Christ, she also was sacrificed. And the heathen themselves confessed +that never among them had a woman endured so many and such terrible +tortures."</p> + +<p>The horrible circumstances attending the persecution at Lyons seem to +have been largely instigated by the fury of the ungovernable mob; there +are indications that the trial of Christians was oftentimes carried on +in strict conformity with legal measures, and also with some show of +pity on the part of the judges. The punishments in cases like these were +no less severe; but there is some, comfort in thinking, inasmuch as the +persecutors were members of the human race like ourselves, that they +felt bound by their consciences to proceed to these extreme measures in +the endeavor to put down what they believed to be a dangerous +innovation. To understand persecution rightly, it is necessary not only +to sympathize with the sufferers, but also, so far as is possible, to +take the viewpoint of the persecutors. It is only in comparatively +recent times that barbarities in legal proceedings have been +discontinued. Age has not yet destroyed all the implements of torture +that were considered part of the necessary furniture of a European +prison. Far down in Christian times, the examination of a prisoner was +considered to be very properly and justly facilitated by the application +of thumbscrews and iron boots. Even our own memory is not entirely +lacking in incidents where water has been used to the great discomfort +of a prisoner, with the object of expediting his confession. Hence, it +would be absurd to expect to find a Roman magistrate of the second +century after Christ contenting himself with expostulating with those +whom the laws, the traditions, and the customs of his country condemned. +This failing, he would naturally try a stronger argument.</p> + +<p>This is illustrated in the cases of the renowned martyrs Perpetua and +Felicitas. These were ladies of Carthage, who suffered during the reign +of Severus. Perpetua was only a learner in the Christian faith, not yet +having been baptized. She was young, married, and possessed a still +stronger tie to existence in the young infant which she carried in her +arms. Her father, by whom she was greatly beloved, visited her in prison +and endeavored to persuade her to renounce Christianity. Failing in his +arguments and entreaties, he even exercised the parental right which the +law of his day gave him to chastise his daughter; but he could elicit no +word of decision from her other than: "God's will must be done."</p> + +<p>While in the prison she was baptized, and was thus still more strongly +fortified to meet the trial which was before her. At her examination we +have such a picture as is indicated above. The judge entreated her to +have compassion on her father's tears, on her infant's helplessness, as +well as on her own life. He pointed out to her the cruel position in +which she was placed by her religion, and used this as an argument +against it. But it all availed nothing. She was returned to the prison +to await the day of execution. Her companion in this direful +anticipation was Felicitas, a married woman who was about to become a +mother. This Christian woman also, on being brought before the +procurator, had been entreated by him to have pity upon herself and her +condition; but she had replied that his compassion was useless, since no +thought of self-preservation could induce her to be unfaithful to her +religion. While in the prison she gave birth to a girl, which was +adopted by a Christian woman who as yet was free.</p> + +<p>On the day of their execution, Perpetua and Felicitas were taken to the +amphitheatre and stripped of their clothing; but on this occasion, +however lacking the people may have been in the quality of mercy, they +at least showed some feelings of decency, for they requested that the +women might be allowed to have their garments. The two martyrs were then +exposed to the fury of an enraged bull. The animal attacked them both; +but as neither of them was mortally wounded, an officer despatched them +with his sword.</p> + +<p>The authorities doubtless congratulated themselves that by the death of +these poor women the hated religion was by so much reduced; but "the +blood of the martyrs was the seed of the church," and by the courage of +its martyrs more people were incited to investigate the new faith than +by their sufferings were deterred from following it. In fact, there are +instances on record that the constancy of the Christians in their +sufferings bore immediate fruit in the conversion of the spectators; +where those who came to revile shared in the end the death of those they +helped to persecute. The most noted example of this kind is that of +Potamiana, who suffered under the emperor Severus. Rufinus says that she +was a disciple of Origen. We are also informed by Palladius that she was +a slave, and that her condemnation originated in the passion of her +master. Angered by her steadfast refusal to submit to his desires, he +accused her to the judges as a Christian, and bribed them to endeavor to +break her resolution and afterward return her to himself; but their +tortures proved as ineffectual as his persuasions. At last, being +sentenced to death, she was given in charge of Basilides, an officer of +the army, to be led to the place of execution. On the way thither, when +the people sought to annoy her by insult and abuse, Basilides drove them +back, and, probably more by his actions than by words, manifested for +her much kindness and pity. Eusebius says that Potamiana, "perceiving +the man's sympathy for her, exhorted him to be of good courage, for she +would supplicate her Lord for him after her departure, and he would soon +receive a reward for the kindness he had shown her. Having said this, +she nobly sustained the issue, burning pitch being poured, little by +little, over various parts of her body, from the soles of her feet to +the crown of her head. Such was the conflict endured by this famous +maiden."</p> + +<p>Shortly after this, Basilides, being requested by his fellow soldiers to +take an oath, refused; and he gave it as his reason that it was not +lawful for him to swear, he being a Christian. At first they thought he +was jesting; but as he persistently affirmed it, they took him before +the judge, with the result that the next day he was beheaded. He was +reported to have said that for three days after her martyrdom Potamiana +stood by him night and day, and that she placed a crown upon his head, +telling him that she had besought the Lord for him and had obtained what +she asked, which was that he should soon be with her.</p> + +<p>In the year 250 the Emperor of Rome was Decius. During his brief reign +he instituted one of the severest persecutions that the Church was +called upon to endure. Yet there is reason to believe that this emperor +was a man of superior character and high principles. Alarmed at the +corruption that prevailed in the empire, he sought to restore the +ancient customs and to strengthen the primitive religion. As a means +deemed by him necessary to this end, he endeavored to extirpate +Christianity. This was the first persecution in which the attempt was +universally made to destroy the Church. This persecution was +consequently far more terrible than any which had preceded it. +Fortunately, the reign of Decius lasted only two years; but during that +time vast numbers of Christians were put to death, and the women were as +little spared as they had been on former occasions. There is no need of +recounting their individual sufferings, as it would simply be a +repetition of the horrors described above.</p> + +<p>In the meantime, the Church had greatly changed in its character. It had +grown sufficiently strong to compete with paganism even in point of +numbers. During the periods of peace there were taken into its fold a +great many who were not strongly grounded in the faith, nor had they the +mind to endure in the time of persecution. Consequently, when it came to +the trial, great numbers would return to a formal practice of heathen +worship, with the purpose in mind of returning to the Church after the +storm had passed over. These often obtained certificates from the +magistrates to the effect that they had made the required recantation. +The Church had also begun to define its creed with metaphysical nicety +of expression, with the consequence that many discussions arose and +numerous heretical sects came into being. The heathen, however, did not +discriminate; therefore, the heretical had their martyrs as well as the +orthodox; and there is no proof that the former were less ready to die +for their faith than the latter. But, to show the jealousy which variety +in religious opinion will engender, it is recorded that even when +members of the various sects of Christians were suffering martyrdom +together, they refused to recognize each other.</p> + +<p>By this time also the doctrine of the superior sanctity of virginity had +become firmly established in the Church. It was probably owing to this +that, in the later persecutions, we frequently find reference made to +women being threatened with unchaste attacks on their persons with the +sole purpose of driving them to the abjuring of their religion. Gibbon, +referring to this, speaks of it in the following manner: "It is related +that pious females, who were prepared to despise death, were sometimes +condemned to a more severe trial, and were called upon to determine +whether they set a higher value upon their religion or upon their +chastity. The youths to whose licentious embraces they were abandoned +received a solemn exhortation from the judge to exert their most +strenuous efforts to maintain the honor of Venus against the impious +virgin who refused to burn incense on her altars. Their violence, +however, was commonly disappointed, and the seasonable interposition of +some miraculous power preserved the chaste spouses of Christ from the +dishonor of even an involuntary defeat. We should not indeed neglect to +remark that the more ancient as well as authentic memorials of the +Church are seldom polluted with these extravagant and indecent +fictions."</p> + +<p>There is no doubt that the monks of later times did waste their leisure +in fabricating such miraculous interposition; but there surely is a +flippancy in the tone of what is above quoted, as indeed in Gibbon's +whole treatment of the persecution of the early Christians, which is not +worthy of the great historian.</p> + +<a name="ill3" id="ill3"></a> + +<p class="mid"><img alt="" src="images/003.png"><br> +<b><i>CHRISTIANS IN THE ARENA<br> +After the painting by L. P. de Laubadère.</i></b></p> + +<blockquote><b><i>Were these poor women, as they awaited in prison their doom, comforted +and encouraged by the presence of the Apostle charged to "feed my +lambs"? We do not know. But the firmness and constancy with which they +endured trials so horrible even unto death bespeak the marvellous effect +of the early enthusiasm of the Christian faith. These women were in the +vanguard of the Christian army which first met the deadly force of +heathen opposition; and because they did not flinch, but bore the pains +of martyrdom for their faith, that faith ultimately triumphed and filled +the world with its light. For more than two hundred years, however, the +women who embraced this faith were to live in the daily dread of the +terrible cry: "The Christians to the lions."</i></b></blockquote> + + +<p>Eusebius informs us that "the women were no less manly than the men in +behalf of the teaching of the Divine Word, as they endured conflicts +with the men, and bore away equal prizes of virtue. And when they were +dragged away for corrupt purposes, they surrendered their lives to death +rather than their bodies to impurity." He instances the case of a woman +and her two daughters, whom Chrysostom, in an oration in their honor, +names as Domnina, Bernice, and Prosdose. These women, being as beautiful +in their persons as they were virtuous in their minds, were threatened +during the Diocletian persecution with violation. While the guard was +taking them back to the place from which they had fled to avoid this +danger, they took advantage of a moment in which they were not watched +to throw themselves into the river, where they found safety in death. +Another case was that of the wife of the prefect of Rome. Maxentius, the +emperor, being seized with a passionate desire for her, sent officers to +bring her to the palace. The lady begged time in which to adorn herself +for the occasion. This being granted, as soon as she found herself +alone, she stabbed herself, so that the messengers going to her room +found nothing but her dead body. These instances are recorded with great +admiration by both Eusebius and Chrysostom, showing that the leaders of +the early Church deemed it less prejudicial to a woman's salvation for +her to take her own life than to suffer even the involuntary defilement +of her body.</p> + +<p>The reign of Diocletian and his colleagues saw the final struggle +between Christianity and paganism. It was a bloody conflict for the +Christians; and yet, though they refrained from resisting evil with +material weapons, they conquered. Women in great numbers were again +faithful unto death. Some were for the time frightened from their +allegiance to Christ; for the pure precepts were becoming increasingly +diluted with worldliness as well as superstition. Among these women were +the wife and daughter of Diocletian, Prisca and Valeria. These had +become converts to the faith; but when the edict was published against +the Christians, they sacrificed to the traditional gods. It availed them +little, however; for they gained only a few years of most distressful +life at the cost of the martyr's crown. In the end the violent death +came to them without the honor, for in the year 314 Licinius caused them +to be beheaded and their bodies thrown into the sea. They had committed +no fault of which any evidence is left; and for several years they had +suffered from the loss of their property and from the hardships of +exile. Diocletian was still alive, but could render them no aid, as he +had abdicated the throne and was now busying himself solely in growing +vegetables. Licinius was mistakenly supposed to be a friend to +Christianity; Constantine had become its champion. But, as Victor Duruy +says: "Notwithstanding celestial visions and marvellous dreams, these +men were destitute of heart, and their faith, if they had any, was +without influence upon their conduct. Their cruelty was universally +commended; in reference to all these murders, the Christian preceptor of +a son of Constantine utters a cry of triumph. The inspiration of the +gentle Galilean Teacher was replaced by that of the implacable Jehovah +of the Mosaic law." The tables had turned; Christianity was now in +power; the heretofore persecuted soon set out on the way to become the +persecutors.</p> + +<a name="c4" id="c4"></a> +<br><br> + +<h3>IV</h3> + +<h3>SAINT HELENA AND THE TIME OF CONSTANTINE</h3> + +<p>At last we see Christianity triumphant. What has been an obscure but +hated and persecuted sect now becomes the dominant religion in the +Empire; the people who had hidden underground in the Catacombs are now +the favorites of the palace. It had been a conflict between spiritual +forces and carnal weapons, between patient propagandism and vindictive +conservatism; on one side, invincible missionary zeal joined with +undefensive submission, on the other, senseless misrepresentation and +cruel persecution. But what can overcome the idea for which men and +women are ready to die? It was a conflict in which, on the Christian +part, women were as well fitted to engage as were men. The exalted +purity of Christian maidens was as effective in setting at naught the +counsels of the ungodly as were the elaborate arguments of the +apologists; the blood of believing matrons was as fertile for the +increase of the Church as was that of bishops and presbyters. The +followers of Christ clung to the Cross and conquered.</p> + +<p>At the same time, victory did not come without heavy loss to the Church. +In this loss, however, must not be reckoned the lives of the martyrs. +The men and women who sacrificed themselves to the Cause were considered +to have won thereby, not mere fame, but the enjoyment of celestial glory +in a conscious eternal life; and their death was always repaid to the +Church by an increase of a hundred-fold. But as the Church gained in +extension, it lost in intention. The organization, the religion, the +name won; but the spirit, the inner principles of Christianity lost. In +this sense the victory was much in the nature of a compromise. +Christianity became the faith of the Empire; but the Empire did not +adopt for its rule the pure precepts of Christ. Constantine's court +worshipped the Nazarene; but Constantine's conduct was not superior to +that of many of his heathen predecessors. The ancient religion was +superstitious, and it is not possible to contend that the religion of +Helena was free from that fault. The women of an older Rome were greatly +subject to frailties of the flesh, and like scandals were by no means +uncommon in the palaces of Christian emperors. It is not difficult to +match Agrippina and Poppæa in the history of Rome after the Council of +Nicæa. The religious revolution which took place in the world was much +more rapid in respect to theory than it was in practice.</p> + +<p>This is the history of all evolutions of the ideal. The first +missionaries are exalted by their enthusiasm above common nature; they +soar to the clouds. The martyrs are not restrained by any of the ties of +various sorts which bind humanity; they despise the flesh. But their +converts partake of their spirit in a lesser degree; as these increase, +a growing proportion of them realize that for them life must continue to +be very much what it always has been. It is not possible for all to +maintain themselves in an intense and eager quest for the ideal. The +heroic leaders may attain the empyrean, but the multitude must drag on +the ground, thankful if at the most they can keep their feet; for, be +our ideals what they may, in reality the chief business of life is +living.</p> + +<p>Again, as in all other movements, when the Church began to grow in +popularity, numbers came within her pale whose minds were more attracted +by her philosophy than their hearts were affected by her principles. +Consequently the Christians were early divided on matters of theological +opinion. There were all shades of variation in belief, and each +distinction of faith meant a sect more or less divided from the common +body of Christians. And it must be admitted that very quickly, even +before the fires of persecution had been quenched, there appeared that +bitterness which has always characterized and disgraced theological +differences in the Church. The leaders of orthodoxy began to deprecate +deviations from the common rule of faith with greater severity than they +did lapses from fundamental morality. The Church consequently lost much +of its pristine influence, which had been so successful in purifying the +lives of the Christians. Metaphysical dogmas were exalted at the expense +of holy deeds, and it became possible for corrupt rulers to be lauded as +defenders of the faith and for unchaste women to receive those +ecclesiastical privileges which formerly had been but grudgingly +restored to those who had done no more than burn a handful of incense on +the altar of Venus to save themselves from martyrdom.</p> + +<p>In the letter of the bishops against Paul of Samosata, who was +Metropolitan of Antioch about the year 290, he is charged with conniving +at the institution of the <i>subintroduçtæ</i>,--that is, women who were +pledged to virginity and who yet were so intrepid as to take up their +abode in the houses of clergy who also professed celibacy. The idea of +this proceeding seems to have been that the constant presence of +temptation, which the people were supposed to believe was always +overcome, enhanced the victory achieved by these champions of purity. +The leaders of the Church, however, looked with disfavor upon this +hazardous method of demonstrating the power of the new religion; but +Paul of Samosata seems not only to have allowed this practice, but to +have been himself far from careful to avoid suspicious appearances. The +bishops, in their letter referred to above, complain thus: "We are not +ignorant how many have fallen or incurred suspicion through the women +whom they have thus brought in. So that, even if we should allow that he +commits no sinful act, yet he ought to avoid the suspicion which arises +from such a thing, lest he scandalize some one, or lead others to +imitate him. For how can he reprove or admonish another not to be too +familiar with women ... when he has sent one away already, and now has +two with him, blooming and beautiful, and takes them with him wherever +he goes." Paul was probably not so black as he was thus painted by his +enemies; especially is this likely, seeing that his patroness was +Zenobia, the queen of Palmyra, who was remarkably careful in her +conduct. But the point we wish to establish is found in the admission +made by the bishops that, since Paul was a heretic, they had no concern +about his conduct. In a note on this, Dr. McGiffert remarks: "We get +here a glimpse of the relative importance of orthodoxy and morality in +the minds of the Fathers. Had Paul been orthodox, they would have asked +him to explain his course, and would have endeavored to persuade him to +reform his conduct; but since he was a heretic it was not worth while. +It is noticeable that he is not condemned because he is immoral, but +because he is heretical. The implication is that he might have been even +worse than he was in his morals and yet no decisive steps taken against +him, had he not deviated from the orthodox faith." All this goes to show +that, after Christianity was established as the dominant religion of the +empire, the life of women as well as of men was less changed by the +effect of their new devotions than those devotions were altered in their +form and direction. Though a new heaven was proclaimed, the new earth +had not yet come into being. "The sweet reasonableness" of the Gospel +was beclouded by speculation; the primitive holiness degenerated into a +sickly asceticism; for half-converted pagans, the early saints served in +the place of the old divinities; and human nature still remained capable +of most of the vices to which it had formerly been addicted.</p> + +<p>Yet the ideal is never without its witnesses. Very early there arose +within the Church the movement known as Montanism, which endeavored to +reproduce the ancient purity by an exaggerated rigidity of discipline +and the early simplicity of the Church by a stern opposition to +ecclesiasticism. This movement carries an interest relative to our +subject, inasmuch as two women held a prominent place as its founders. +The three original prophets of the sect were Montanus, Priscilla, and +Maximilla. The former of the two women was so influential in the +movement that its adherents are frequently spoken of as Priscillianists. +The two women were ladies of noble birth who left their husbands in +order to attach themselves to Montanus. They believed themselves to be +the mediums of the divine Comforter promised by Christ. It was their +habit to fall into ecstasies, in which condition they would prophesy. +They claimed that their teaching was divinely inspired and consequently +infallible. According to them, all gross offenders were to be +excommunicated, and never afterward readmitted to the fold of the +Church. Celibacy was encouraged by them, all worldly amusements were to +be eschewed, and they greatly increased the number of the fasts.</p> + +<p>Of Priscilla and Maximilla, Dr. McGiffert says: "They were regarded with +the most profound reverence by all Montanists. It was a characteristic +of this sect that they insisted upon the religious equality of men and +women; that they accorded just as high honor to the women as to the men, +and listened to their prophecies with the same reverence. The human +person was but an instrument of the Spirit, according to their view, and +hence a woman might be chosen by the Spirit as his instrument just as +well as a man, the ignorant as well as the learned. Tertullian, for +instance, cites, in support of his doctrine of the materiality of the +soul, a vision seen by one of the female members of his church, whom he +believed to be in the habit of receiving revelations from God."</p> + +<p>These people were reactionaries; they rebelled against the spirit of +laxity, worldliness, and officialdom which was fast taking hold of the +Church. Their prophesying women were simply a revival of what had been +common in Apostolic times, when the daughters of Philip were +prophetesses. But order had been evolved in the ecclesia. In fact, out +of the numerous forms of evangelical activity that existed in the +original unsettled condition of the Church, three orders had been +established, in none of which were women represented. Moreover, the +female friends of Montanus seem to have been rather unconvincing in +regard to their prophecies. Maximilla declared that after her there +would be no other prophet, intimating that the end of the world was +about to take place, a prediction as common among such enthusiasts as it +is hazardous in its nature. She also prophesied that wars and anarchy +were near at hand, which, as an anonymous writer quoted by Eusebius +found no difficulty in showing, was clearly false. With a jubilation +which, under the circumstances, was not unwarranted, he cries: "It is +to-day more than thirteen years since the woman died, and there has been +neither a partial nor general war in the world; but rather, through the +mercy of God, continued peace even to the Christians." From this time, +any attempt, on the part of women or men, to revive the gift of prophecy +after the apostolic manner was always classed with heresy, schism, and +other works of the devil, which it was the duty of the faithful +zealously to cast out.</p> + +<p>During the many and long intermissions during which the Christians were +not persecuted, the Church steadily grew in prominence and in social +standing. Before the time of Diocletian, large and handsome edifices had +been erected in many places for the use of Christian worship. The +doctrines therein taught were no longer unknown to the rulers and chief +men of paganism; the faith was no longer the possession almost solely of +bondservants and the lowly. Among its conquests were men and women of +high position; even the imperial family was now and again strongly +suspected of contributing friends to the new religion. Prisca and +Valeria, the wife and daughter of Diocletian, were certainly +catechumens, though they sacrificed to the heathen deities when the +emperor gave his edict for persecution. The world was not to see a Roman +empress playing the tragic part of a martyr to Christianity.</p> + +<p>Of the time immediately preceding the persecution of Diocletian, +Eusebius says: "It is beyond our ability to describe in a suitable +manner the extent and nature of the glory and freedom with which the +word of piety toward the God of the universe, proclaimed to the world +through Christ, was honored among all men, both Greeks and barbarians. +The favor shown our people by the rulers might be adduced as evidence; +as they committed to them the government of provinces, and on account of +the great friendship which they entertained toward their doctrine, +released them from anxiety in regard to sacrificing. Why need I speak of +those in the royal palaces, and of the rulers over all, who allowed the +members of their households, wives and children and servants, to speak +openly before them for the divine word and life, and suffered them +almost to boast of the freedom of their faith?"</p> + +<p>Thus it came to pass that Christianity grew to be a power which must be +reckoned with in the state; all the more so, since, as the historian +just quoted admits, many of the motives, influences and usages natural +to the world began to be adopted in the Church. It is really doubtful +whether the persecution under Diocletian was at all instigated by any +animosity on the part of the rulers toward Christian principles. The +Church was looked upon as a great party in the state, opposed to +traditional conditions, and, while not yet strong enough to be courted, +was too numerous to be tolerated. Constantine saw the futility of +endeavoring to extirpate the Church, even if his disposition could have +allowed him to resort to such cruel measures, and--it is not +uncharitable to his memory to say it--he shrewdly concluded to attach +this vigorously growing power to himself.</p> + +<p>Before we enter upon the study of the character and time of a woman to +whose influence the political triumph of Christianity was probably very +largely due, it will not be out of place to notice a little more closely +the unfortunate career of Valeria, the daughter of Diocletian. She has +previously been referred to as a Christian who, with Prisca, her mother, +saved herself from martyrdom by sacrificing, though very reluctantly, to +the pagan deities. By her father, Diocletian, she had been given in +marriage to Galerius, who at that time was made Cæsar and was afterward +to become emperor. In every way she proved herself a most estimable +wife; and although her courage was not equal to the endurance of +martyrdom, her Christian principles beautified her life with the graces +of virtue and charity. Having no children of her own, she adopted +Candidianus, the illegitimate son of her husband, and evinced toward him +all the affection of a real mother. After the death of Galerius, the +great fortune, no less than the personal attractions, of Valeria aroused +the desires of Maximin, his successor. This Maximin was the most +licentious man that ever disgraced the imperial throne, and to attain +preeminence among such competitors required a monster of sensuality. His +eunuchs catered to his passions by forcing from their homes wives and +virgins of the noblest families; any sign of unwillingness on the part +of these victims was regarded as treason and punished accordingly. +During his reign, the custom arose that no person should marry without +the emperor's consent, in order that he might in all nuptials act the +part of <i>prægustator</i>.</p> + +<p>The fate of Valeria is best described in the words of Gibbon: "He +[Maximin] had a wife still alive; but divorce was permitted by the Roman +law, and the fierce passions of the tyrant demanded an immediate +gratification. The answer of Valeria was such as became the daughter and +widow of emperors; but it was tempered by the prudence which her +defenceless condition compelled her to observe. She represented to the +persons whom Maximin had employed on this occasion, 'that, even if honor +could permit a woman of her character and dignity to entertain a thought +of second nuptials, decency at least must forbid her to listen to his +addresses at a time when the ashes of her husband and his benefactor +were still warm, and while the sorrows of her mind were still expressed +by her mourning garments. She ventured to declare that she could place +very little confidence in the professions of a man whose cruel +inconstancy was capable of repudiating a faithful and affectionate +wife.' On this repulse the love of Maximin was converted into fury; and +as witnesses and judges were always at his disposal, it was easy for him +to cover his fury with an appearance of legal proceedings, and to +assault the reputation as well as the happiness of Valeria. Her estates +were confiscated, her eunuchs and domestics devoted to the most inhuman +tortures, and several innocent and respectable matrons, who were honored +with her friendship, suffered death, on a false accusation of adultery. +The empress herself, together with her mother Prisca, was condemned to +exile; and as they were ignominiously hurried from place to place before +they were confined to a sequestered village in the deserts of Syria, +they exposed their shame and distress to the provinces of the East, +which, during thirty years, had respected their august dignity. +Diocletian [who before this had abdicated his throne and was therefore +powerless] made several ineffectual efforts to alleviate the misfortunes +of his daughter; and, as the last return that he expected for the +imperial purple, which he had conferred upon Maximin, he entreated that +Valeria might be permitted to share his retirement at Salona, and to +close the eyes of her afflicted father. He entreated; but as he could no +longer threaten, his prayers were received with coldness and disdain; +and the pride of Maximin was gratified in treating Diocletian as a +suppliant, and his daughter as a criminal.</p> + +<p>"The death of Maximin seemed to assure the empresses of a favorable +alteration in their fortune. The public disorders relaxed the vigilance +of their guard, and they easily found means to escape from the place of +their exile, and to repair, though with some precaution, and in +disguise, to the court of Licinius. His behavior, in the first days of +his reign, and the honorable reception which he gave to young +Candidianus, inspired Valeria with secret satisfaction, both on her own +account and on that of her adopted son. But these grateful prospects +were soon succeeded by horror and astonishment; and the bloody +executions which stained the palace of Nicomedia sufficiently convinced +her that the throne of Maximin was filled by a tyrant more inhuman than +himself. Valeria consulted her safety by a hasty flight, and, still +accompanied by her mother, Prisca, they wandered above fifteen months +through the provinces, concealed in the disguise of plebeian habits. +They were at length discovered at Thessalonica; and as the sentence of +their death was already pronounced, they were immediately beheaded, and +their bodies thrown into the sea. The people gazed on the melancholy +spectacle; but their grief and indignation were suppressed by the +terrors of a military guard. Such was the unworthy fate of the wife and +daughter of Diocletian. We lament their misfortunes, we cannot discover +their crimes." It is by no means unlikely, judging from the character of +these women, that if the true facts were known, though they were not +martyrs in the accepted sense of the word, it would be seen that they +suffered for their Christianity, being induced by its principles to +refuse their consent to such conduct as would have gained the favor of +their persecutors. There have been many more martyrs for the substance +of Christianity than there have been for its form; and doubtless there +were not a few women, in the times of which we are writing, who would +have sacrificed on pagan altars, but who would not have defiled their +consciences with acts which paganism excused.</p> + +<p>In the preceding pages of this chapter, we have attempted to indicate +the fact that, while Christianity was growing in numbers and influence, +its effect upon the moral conditions of the world was not so great as +might be expected by a student who confines his attention to its +doctrines, rather than to an investigation of the character of the men +and women who made the history of that time. As has already been said, +the material and political triumph of Christianity was in reality a +moral compromise with the world. If the faithful practice of the +teachings and the humble following of the example of Christ had been +rigidly insisted upon as the <i>sine qua non</i> of membership in the Church, +it is doubtful if Constantine would have proved a better friend to the +Church than was Trajan. Nevertheless, the fact that Constantine did find +himself able to favor the Christian religion, without incurring any +mental discomfort in the pursuit of his own ideas, rendered it possible +for earnest believers in Christ to devote themselves to their faith in +perfect security.</p> + +<p>How large a share may be rightfully imputed to Helena of the honor of +influencing her son's mind to the support of Christianity it is +impossible to determine, but that some credit is due to her in this +respect the nature of the circumstances warrants us in believing. In any +case, Helena was so important a figure in early Church history that her +life and doings were a favorite theme for the chroniclers of her time +and a welcome opportunity for the legendists of the mediaeval age. These +latter have so glorified her ancestry and confused the place of her +birth that it is entirely impossible to harmonize their statements with +those of the former. As an example of the legends of the Middle Ages we +give the account of her as it is found in Hakluyt's <i>Voyages</i> and +quoted +by Dr. McGiffert in his Prolegomena to Eusebius's <i>Constantine the +Great</i>. "Helena Flavia Augusta, the heire and only daughter of Coelus, +sometime the most excellent king of Britaine, by reason of her singular +beautie, faith, religion, goodnesse, and godly Maiestie (according to +the testimonie of Eusebius) was famous in all the world. Amongst all the +women of her time there was none either in the liberall arts more +learned, or in the instruments of musike more skilfull, or in the divers +languages of nations more abundant than herselfe. She had a naturall +quicknesse of wit, eloquence of speech, and most notable grace in all +her behaviour. She was seen in the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin tongues. Her +father (as Virumnius reporteth) had no other childe, ... Constantius had +by her a sonne called Constantine the great, while hee remained in +Britaine ... peace was granted to the Christian churches by her good +meanes. After the light and knowledge of the Gospel, she grew so +skilfull in divinity that she wrote and composed divers bookes and +certaine Greek verses also, which (as Ponticus reporteth) are yet +extant... went to Jerusalem... lived to the age of fourscore yeeres, and +then died at Rome the fifteenth day of August, in the yeere of oure +redemption 337.... Her body is to this day very carefully preserved at +Venice." As the learned author of the Prolegomena says, this is "a +matter-of-fact account of things which are not so."</p> + +<p>There is another story, to the effect that Helena was the daughter of a +nobleman of Treves. While on a pilgrimage to Rome she was seen by +Emperor Constantius, and he, falling in love with her beauty, caused her +to be detained in the city until after her companions had returned home. +The result was disastrous to Helena's character as a virgin. To assuage +her grief, the emperor presented her with an ornament of precious stones +and his ring. She continued to remain in Rome with the son that was born +to her, allowing it to be understood that her husband was dead. +Constantine, her son, grew up to be a young man of remarkably fine +presence and unusual parts. These qualities in him attracted the +attention of some rich merchants, who conceived the project of palming +him off on the Emperor of the Greeks as the son of the Roman emperor, so +that the former might accept him as a son-in-law.</p> + +<p>This scheme was successful, and after a time the merchants reembarked +for Rome, taking with them the princess as Constantine's wife, and also +much treasure, which presumably was the object of the adventure. One +night they went ashore on a little island, and in the morning the young +people awoke to find that they were deserted. Constantine then confessed +to the princess the fraud that had been practised upon her; but she +magnanimously declared that she was satisfied with him as her husband, +whatever his family might be. After some days of privation, they were +rescued by passing voyagers and taken on to Rome. There, with the +treasure which the princess had managed to retain, they purchased an +inn, and, with Helena's assistance, supported themselves by its means. +Constantine became so famous through his prowess at tournaments that he +attracted the attention of the emperor, who refused to believe that he +was of low extraction. Helena was sent for, and, after much questioning, +she at last confessed as to who she and her son really were. The truth +of her statement was confirmed by the ring which Constantius had given +her. The emperor then caused the merchants to be put to death and their +property given to Constantine. A treaty was made with the Greek emperor, +and Constantine was recognized as the heir to the whole Empire. This +story may be regarded as a sort of Middle Age historical novel, the +history being metamorphosed without stint in order to enhance the +interest of the tale.</p> + +<p>The old chroniclers, such as Henry of Huntington, Geoffrey of Monmouth, +and Pierre de Langtoft, assert that Helena was the daughter of Duke Coel +of Colchester, who became King of Britain. She was the most beautiful +and cultivated woman of her time-the attribute of beauty is always +awarded to women who have been so fortunate as to become legendary. The +most interesting thing about this story is the fact that modern students +have identified Duke Coel, the alleged father of Helena, with "Old King +Cole," who was the "merry old soul" immortalized in the Mother Goose +rhymes.</p> + +<p>Let us now turn to what may be seriously regarded as history and therein +ascertain what may be known of the life and character of the +empress-mother Helena. It must be taken as a well-established fact that +her father, so far from being either a king or a duke of Britain, was +indeed an innkeeper at Drepanum, a town on the Gulf of Nicomedia. The +story suggested by this circumstance is the commonplace one of a soldier +in the service of the emperor Aurelian passing a brief sojourn at the +hostelry in Drepanum, and, with the proverbially quick susceptibility of +the men of his calling, falling in love with the daughter of his host. +The necessary negotiations were easy, for a man like Constantius was an +unusual catch for a girl in the position of Helena. No time was lost +over preliminaries; in fact, the marriage was so little noted that some +historians claim that it never took place at all. These hold that Helena +was never anything more than the concubine of Constantius; but the fact +that Diocletian insisted upon her divorce proves that she was legally +married. That, as is often stated, the birth of Constantine took place +before the marriage of Helena may not be untrue. Some have found a +support for this allegation in the fact that "he first established that +natural children should be made legitimate by the subsequent marriage of +their parents." From the fact that a number of places lay claim to the +honor of being the birthplace of Constantine, it would seem that Helena +accompanied her husband in the wanderings consequent to the profession +of a soldier. Gibbon thinks that the historians who award this +distinction to Naissus, in Dacia, are the best authorities, though later +writers think it rightly belongs to Drepanum, the home of Helena. This +place was afterward called Helenopolis by Constantine, in honor of his +mother.</p> + +<p>Theodoret seems to have thought that Helena gave her son a Christian +education, while, on the other hand, we are plainly told by Eusebius +that she was indebted to Constantine for her knowledge of Christianity. +It is very easy to entertain a doubt of both these theories. If Helena +was a Christian when Constantine was a child, and if she trained him in +that belief, his after conduct shows extremely unsatisfactory results of +a mother's teaching. Constantine certainly did not withdraw his support +and patronage from the ancient religion until he was past forty years of +age; and it is well known that he delayed his baptism until near the end +of his life, so as to enjoy the advantage of its purifying effect at the +latest possible moment. These cumulative circumstances render us +exceedingly sceptical of the possibility of so zealous a convert as was +Helena resulting from so indifferent a teacher as was Constantine.</p> + +<p>When his son was eighteen years old, Constantius was promoted to the +rank of Cæsar. This majesty, however, Helena was not allowed to share +with her husband. The innkeeper's daughter was displaced by a more +advantageous match with Theodora, the daughter of the Augustus Maximian. +Later on, Fausta, another daughter of Maximian, was married to +Constantine, and thus Theodora was made sister-in-law to her own +stepson. Such intricate matrimonial alliances were not uncommon among +rulers, where the main object is to conserve the family prestige.</p> + +<p>How Helena consoled herself in her humiliation, or in what way she +occupied herself during the interval between her divorce and the +accession of Constantine, we do not know. As is the wont with women in +such circumstances who are no longer young, she turned her thoughts to +religion. It was most probably at this time that Helena became a +Christian openly, though she may have been friendly to the Church while +she was still the wife of Constantius.</p> + +<p>In the year 306 Constantius died. He left three sons and three +daughters, who had been born to him by his second wife Theodora; but the +son of Helena, a mature man and an experienced soldier, was immediately +promoted by the army from the Cæsarship to the Empire of the West. It is +much to his credit that in that age when family ties were no safeguard +against inhuman treatment by close but stronger relatives, who sought to +secure themselves in the possession of a throne, Constantine nobly cared +for the children of the woman for whose sake his own mother had been +repudiated. Unfortunately for his reputation, he was not always so +humane.</p> + +<p>The three half-sisters of the emperor were Constantia, Anastasia, and +Eutropia. This is perhaps as good a place as any in which to glance at +the history of these women, who did not greatly affect the course of +events. Constantia married the Emperor Licinius. She was greatly beloved +by Constantine, and at times seemed to wield some influence over his +decisions, not sufficient, however, to save the life of her husband or +that of her young son. It was during the magnificent festivities +occasioned by her marriage at Milan that the two emperors made the first +proclamation of religious liberty that was ever heard in an imperial +edict by the subjects of Rome. "Religious liberty," they said, "should +not be denied, but it should be granted to every man to perform his +duties toward God according to his own judgment." Licinius, however, did +not live up to this decision, nor was he loyal to his brother-in-law in +other matters. Civil war followed, in which Constantine was victorious, +and through his victory he became sole emperor. Constantia pleaded for +the life of her husband, and gained from her brother the promise that he +should suffer no severer punishment than banishment; but, +notwithstanding this brotherly pledge of mercy, a motive was soon +discovered which seemed to justify the death of Licinius. Gibbon +remarks: "The behavior of Constantia, and her relation to the contending +parties, naturally recall the remembrance of that virtuous matron who +was the sister of Augustus and the wife of Antony." In later years, when +Constantine had become the arbiter of the theological disputes which +rent the newly established Church and had banished Arius for his heresy, +Constantia again acted the part of peacemaker and, on her deathbed, +warned the emperor to "consider well lest he should incur the wrath of +God and suffer great temporal calamities, since he had been induced to +condemn good men to perpetual banishment." It was probably largely owing +to these good offices that Arius was recalled. Notwithstanding her +indulgent attitude toward heretics, Constantia seems to have been a +woman of genuine Christian feeling, honoring her faith by the nobility +of her life, a comment which cannot justly be passed upon all the +Christian princesses of her time.</p> + +<p>Anastasia, the second sister of Constantine, was married to Bassianus, a +man of high position, who, on being favored with this imperial alliance, +was further promoted to the rank of Cæsar. He was later discovered in a +conspiracy against Constantine and put to death. Further than this there +is nothing noteworthy to be told of Anastasia. Eutropia was espoused to +Nepotianus. Of her history there is nothing remarkable recorded except +that after the death of her great brother she was slain with her son, +who in Rome had headed the rebellion against the usurpation of +Magnentius.</p> + +<p>We will return now to the court of Constantine, where we shall find his +mother installed in great honor and dignity and not without an influence +of her own. Whatever may have been the faults of her son, Helena had no +cause to complain of any lack of duty on his part toward herself.</p> + +<p>The court of Constantine, nominally Christian though it was, exhibited +the same characteristics of jealousy and intrigue as had the palaces of +the pagan emperors. Before his marriage with Fausta, the emperor had, +like his father, contracted a "left-handed" marriage, in his case with a +woman named Minervina, whom he repudiated for the sake of an alliance +which policy dictated. Some authors, seem to insinuate, as in the case +of Helena, that there was no marriage in the legal sense; but the +testimony rather points to the contrary. However this may have been, +Crispus, the son of Minervina, was retained by his father and brought up +as a legitimate heir to the purple. This naturally resulted, on the part +of Fausta, in jealousy for the rights of her own children. This whole +story is deeply shrouded in mystery, as is the wont with the domestic +affairs of court; but the few rays of historical light which do +penetrate the gloom reveal to us nothing but a horrible intricacy of +moral turpitude. The murder of Crispus by the order of his father was +the outcome. Some ancient writers accuse Fausta of indulging an unchaste +passion for her stepson and of bringing about his death in revenge for +his disappointing her desires. They represent her as charging the young +man with an attempt of which his innocence was in reality the cause of +her malice toward him; but it is more likely that her fear of his +standing in the way of her own sons was the motive for bringing about +his downfall. Whether innocent or guilty, Crispus perished, for +Constantine, whatever may have been his religion, was as implacably +cruel as Tiberius. He even put to death the twelve-year-old son of his +favorite sister Constantia, for no other reason than that the lad's +existence might prove an injury to his own sons.</p> + +<p>But, as Victor Duruy writes, "the tragedy was not yet ended. In the +imperial palace lived Helena, the aged mother of the emperor, a +rough-mannered, energetic woman, to whom the murder of Crispus was a +horrible crime. Repudiated by Constantius Chlorus, she had seen the +imperial title and honors pass to a rival; when policy expelled +Minervina, as it had driven out herself, from an emperor's dwelling, +this similarity in misfortune attached her to the son whom that +daughter-in-law had borne to Constantine, and who was to grow up with a +stepmother in his father's house. Helena watched over the boy with +anxiety, and toward the children of Fausta she felt the same aversion +that the latter manifested toward Crispus. Between these two women, no +doubt, a mutual hatred existed. How did Helena succeed in making Fausta +appear the author of abominable machinations? This we do not know; but +we have the fact that, by order of Constantine, the empress was seized +by her women, shut up in a hot bath, and smothered."</p> + +<p>It must be admitted, however, that all the information that we have on +this subject is very hazy. The treatment which the ancient authors gave +to the reputation of Fausta depended very considerably upon their +purpose of either eulogizing or denouncing Constantine. While some +justify him by declaring that the empress was discovered in the arms of +a slave of the stables,--a most incredible story as told of a +middle-aged empress,--others speak of her as the most divine and pious +of empresses. There is in existence a bronze medallion showing a +portrait of Fausta; the strongly marked Grecian features are those of a +woman who is evidently fully conscious of the dignity which pertained to +"the daughter, wife, sister, and mother of emperors."</p> + +<p>After these tragedies had taken place, it is not surprising that Helena +decided to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, this being considered, even +in times so early, as one of the most effective of moral purgatives. It +is asserted that she was directed by dreams to repair to Jerusalem and +there search for the Holy Sepulchre. The difficulty of this task was so +great that there need be no wonder that the ancient chroniclers believed +that she was divinely led. The place of the tomb had been covered with +earth, and a temple to Venus erected thereupon. This, Helena caused to +be destroyed; and, after much excavating, the sacred cave was found. +What emotion, what pious promptings she must have then felt as she stood +where, a little over three centuries earlier, the trembling feet of the +holy women of Galilee had halted as they fearfully wondered how they +should remove the great stone from the mouth of the Sepulchre, when lo! +the stone was removed, the entrance was open, and before them stood an +angel all in white who announced to them that the Lord had arisen!</p> + +<p>Some authorities assert that, believing the Jewish inhabitants possessed +definite knowledge that would solve her difficulties, she determined to +secure it by the means usually employed by Christians in dealing with +reluctant Jews. First, she commanded that all the Jewish rabbis should +be assembled. They came in great fear, suspecting that the object of her +visit was to find the Cross. The whereabouts of this precious relic they +knew; but they had pledged themselves not to reveal it, even under +torture. When they would not satisfactorily answer Helena's questions, +she commanded that they should all be burned. This sufficiently overcame +their resolution to induce them to deliver up Judas, their leader, +saying that he could give the desired information. At first he was +obstinate; but Helena gave him the choice of either telling what he knew +or of being starved to death. Six days of total abstinence was +sufficient to bring him to terms. He was conducted to the place which he +indicated; and after prayer by the Christians, there occurred an +earthquake, and a beautiful perfume filled the air, because of which +Judas was converted. Then he set to digging vigorously, and at a depth +of twenty feet came upon three crosses. But how to know which was the +cross of the Saviour was the next puzzle to be solved. Macarius, the +Bishop of Jerusalem, was equal to the occasion. According to Socrates: +"A certain woman of the neighborhood, who had long been afflicted with +disease, was now just at the point of death; the bishop therefore +arranged that each cross should be brought to the dying woman, believing +that she would be healed on touching the precious Cross. Nor was he +disappointed in his expectation: for the two crosses having been applied +which were not the Lord's, the woman still continued in a dying state; +but when the third, which was the true Cross, touched her, she was +immediately healed, and recovered her former strength."</p> + +<p>Helena then set Judas to work at searching for the nails. They were +found shining like gold. These, with the larger portion of the Cross, +she sent to Constantine. The nails he converted into bridle-bits, and +the wood of the Cross he secretly enclosed in his own statue, which was +set up in the forum at Constantinople.</p> + +<p>Helena erected a magnificent church on the site of the Holy Sepulchre, +calling it New Jerusalem. She also built a Christian temple at +Bethlehem, and still another on the Mount of the Ascension.</p> + +<p>Sozomen tells us that "during her residence at Jerusalem, she assembled +the sacred virgins at a feast, ministered to them at supper, presented +them with food, poured water on their hands, and performed other similar +services customary to those who wait upon guests." It is no wonder that +the Christian devotees of celibacy came to believe that virginity +conferred upon them a rank superior to that obtained from nobility of +birth.</p> + +<p>It is also recorded of Helena that she not only enriched churches, but +that she liberally supplied the necessities of the poor, and released +prisoners and those condemned to labor in the mines. Sozomen writes: "It +seems to me that so many holy actions demanded a recompense; and indeed, +even in this life, she was raised to the summit of magnificence and +splendor; she was proclaimed Augusta; her image was stamped on golden +coins, and she was invested by her son with authority over the imperial +treasury to give it according to her judgment. Her death, too, was +glorious; for when, at the age of eighty, she departed this life, she +left her son and her descendants masters of the Roman world. And if +there be any advantage in such fame--forgetfulness did not conceal her +though she was dead--the coming age has the pledge of her perpetual +memory; for two cities are named after her, the one in Bithynia, and the +other in Palestine. Such is the history of Helena."</p> + +<p>Of the fact that Helena is rightly regarded as a prominent character in +the history of women there can be no question; that she was the mother +of Constantine and the first avowed Christian empress is enough to +warrant this opinion. Her virtue and charity may also be regarded as +unimpeachable. Her canonization as a saint, however, is founded upon her +alleged discovery of the Cross. Apart from the other difficulties which +a sceptical mind may find in this story, there is the fact that +Eusebius, who in the lifetime of Constantine wrote the account of +Helena's journey to Jerusalem, makes no mention whatever of the Cross, +notwithstanding his recital of the appearing of the sacred sign to the +emperor and its adoption as the Roman ensign. But the legend, be it true +or false, has highly glorified the name of Helena in the religious +history of the world.</p> + +<a name="c5" id="c5"></a> +<br><br> + +<h3>V</h3> + +<h3>POST-NICENE MOTHERS</h3> + +<p>It requires a considerable amount of imagination, coupled with a +facility for overlooking untoward historical facts, to enable one to +draw an honest and at the same time an entirely pleasing picture of the +Church in the fourth and fifth centuries. And yet this may rightly be +looked upon as the heroic age of Christianity; it was the period of the +Church's greatest victories. It is true that, emerging from the +sickening asceticism and rising above the theological squabbles of the +time, are mighty men and women of didactic and also of moral renown. +"There were giants in those days." Nevertheless, the average moral +character of the "Christian" Empire was raised such a slight degree +above that of the pagan regime that it is barely perceptible in the +records of history. Both Constantine and Constantius stained their +palaces with the blood of their innocent relatives. The populace still +gloated over gladiatorial combats. Courtesans were licensed in order +that their trade might help to replenish the imperial treasury. The +rigor of slavery was somewhat softened; yet if a man beat his +bondservant to death, he was considered to be acting within his right, +providing that he declared that the killing was not in his intention. +For offences which to-day are treated with great leniency, slave women +were then punished by having melted lead poured down their throats. +Moreover, it was during the first centuries of the Christian state that +the fetters of feudalism were forged, by which the poor were bound down +to their hopeless wretchedness. Of the artisans the law said: "Let them +not dare to aspire to any honor, even if they might deserve it, the men +who are covered with the filth of labor, and let them remain forever in +their own condition."</p> + +<p>The leaven of Christian morality was present in the lump of traditional +social conditions; but it had not yet begun to work extensively. +Nineteen centuries have produced only the immature results we see at +present. The evolution of human kindliness is slow, though, as we may +believe, inevitable. A learned and lively English writer of the +beginning of the last century, referring to those Church doctors who +would have the world venerate the Nicene period as the ideal age of +Christianity, says that if "they could but be blindfolded (if any such +precaution, in their case, were needed) and were fairly set down in the +midst of the pristine Church, at Carthage, or at Alexandria, or at Rome, +or at Antioch, they would be fain to make their escape, with all +possible celerity, toward their own times and country; and that +thenceforward we should never hear another word from them about +'venerable antiquity' or the holy Catholic Church of the first ages. The +effect of such a trip would, I think, resemble that produced sometimes +by crossing the Atlantic, upon those who have set out, westward, +excellent Liberals, and have returned, eastward, as excellent Tories."</p> + +<p>There never has come to the world an opportunity to make substantial and +unusual progress in its moral development, but that there have been +plenty to turn the newly-acquired wisdom into foolishness. The great +opportunity in the history of Christianity came in the century marked by +the Nicene Council and in that succeeding it.</p> + +<p>With the exception of the interlude during the reign of the reactionist +Julian, Christianity was the established religion of the Empire. It was +popular; the whole world was becoming Christian. Wealth poured into the +Church: kings and princes came into its pale bringing their presents. +The learned men of the world were the champions of the religion of +Jesus. But truly judging from its moral effect on the age, the Church +"knew not the day of her visitation." However much honor we may owe them +for settling the faith of Christianity, it must be acknowledged that the +Nicene and post-Nicene Fathers spent their strength in advocating and +glorifying an unnatural virginity--a pitiable substitute for a higher +social morality and purer morals for the ordinary individual. Without a +first-hand acquaintance with those ancient writers, it is impossible to +conceive to what a degree the idea of celibacy was exalted in their +teachings. It overshadowed everything else. It overturned every +establishment of reason. It vitiated all the pure springs of life. It +proceeded on the assumption that everything that is natural is +monstrously evil. Gibbon is too indulgent when, as it were with a smile +of careless contempt, he thus characterizes this maudlin asceticism: +"The chaste severity of the Fathers, in whatever related to the commerce +of the two sexes, flowed from the same principle: their abhorrence of +every enjoyment which might gratify the sensual, and degrade the +spiritual nature of man. It was their favorite opinion, that if Adam had +preserved his obedience to the Creator, he would have lived forever in a +state of virgin purity, and that some harmless mode of vegetation might +have peopled Paradise with a race of innocent and immortal beings. The +use of marriage was permitted only to his fallen posterity, as a +necessary expedient to continue the human species, and as a restraint, +however imperfect, on the natural licentiousness of desire. The +hesitation of the orthodox casuists on this interesting subject betrays +the perplexity of men unwilling to approve an institution which they +were compelled to tolerate."</p> + +<p>If it did not inspire sadness to discover that human minds, of +intelligence above the average, can be capable of such fatuity, it would +provoke one to laughter to read the Fathers as they gravely asseverate +that they do not consider marriage as being necessarily +sinful--providing that it were not committed more than once. Jerome, who +was the great advocate of monasticism in the early Church, says that +virginity is to marriage what the fruit is to the tree, or what the +grain is to the chaff. Seizing upon Christ's parable of the sower, he +asserts that the thirty-fold increase refers to marriage; the sixty-fold +applies to widows, for the greater the difficulty in resisting the +allurements of pleasure once enjoyed the greater the reward; but by the +hundred-fold the crown of virginity is expressed. Was there no one to +suggest to him that in the natural expectation of increase his order is +reversed? As a sample of the turgid rodomontade with which those Fathers +of the Church induced the women of their time to sacrifice, for the +glory of God, the duties of wifehood and motherhood which the Creator +ordained that they should perform, we will quote from Cyprian at length: +"We come now to contemplate the lily blossom; and see, O thou, the +virgin of Christ! see how much fairer is this thy flower, than any +other! look at the special grace which, beyond any other flower of the +earth, it hath obtained! Nay, listen to the commendation bestowed upon +it by the Spouse himself, when he saith--Consider the lilies of the +field (the virgins) how they grow, and yet I say unto you that Solomon +in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these! Read therefore, O +virgin, and read again, and often read again, this word of thy Spouse, +and understand how, in the commendation of this flower, he commends thy +glory. In the glory of Solomon you are to understand that, whatever is +rich and great on earth, and the choicest of all, is prefigured; and in +the bloom of thy lily, which is thy likeness, and that of all the +virgins of Christ, the glory of virginity is intended.... Virginity hath +indeed a twofold prerogative, a virtue which, in others, is single only; +for while all the Church is virgin in soul, having neither spot, nor +wrinkle; being incorrupt in faith, hope, and charity, on which account +it is called a virgin, and merits the praise of the Spouse, what praise, +think you, are our lilies worthy of, who possess this purity in body, as +well as in soul, which the Church at large has in soul only! In truth, +the virgins of Christ are, as we may say, the fat and marrow of the +Church, and by right of an excellence altogether peculiar to themselves, +they enjoy His most familiar embraces."</p> + +<p>The effect of this senseless exaltation of virginity, and of persuading +great numbers of maidens to forswear the pleasures and the duties of +matrimony, in the conviction that they thereby rendered themselves far +more pleasing to God than were their mothers and married sisters, was +unquestionably injurious to the morals of the time. The result was as +bad for the "lilies" themselves as it was for the women who elected to +abide on the natural, but despised, plane for which the Almighty +intended them. Too many of the former gave scandalous proof that their +ambition for virginal sanctity was unequalled by their steadfastness in +the contest. Nature has a way, when insulted, of making reprisals. The +writings of the Fathers are full of lamentations and exhortations which +indicate that the youthful female saints of their time found it one +thing to aspire to the glory of virginity and quite another to live +consistently with its character. All were not satisfied with the +indemnification provided by the joys of conscious holiness for the loss +of those pleasures which they denied themselves by their vows. Very +early there sprang up among the celibates of the Church a fashion of +choosing spiritual companions, the choice usually being made from among +the opposite sex. The canons of many of the first councils dealt with +the <i>agapetæ</i> who professed to be the spiritual sisters of the +unmarried +clergy. Even in the days of persecution this had become prevalent; +Cyprian wrote severe strictures on the custom, but did not succeed in +bringing about its abolishment. Jerome speaks of it in unrestrained +terms: "How comes this plague of the <i>agapetæ</i> to be in the Church? +Whence come these unwedded wives, these novel concubines, these +prostitutes, so I will call them, though they cling to a single partner? +One house holds them, and one chamber. They often occupy the same couch, +and yet they call us suspicious if we fancy anything amiss. A brother +leaves his virgin sister; a virgin, slighting her unmarried brother, +seeks a brother in a stranger. Both alike profess to have but one +object, to find spiritual consolation from those not their kin.... It is +on such that Solomon in the Book of Proverbs heaps his scorn. 'Can a man +take fire in his bosom,'" he says, '"and his clothes not be burned?'" +These insurrections of nature continued until Church celibacy became a +fully organized system and the women devoted to perpetual virginity were +shut away in convents; even then, if all reports be true, the enemy, +though cast down, was not effectually destroyed.</p> + +<p>The effect of this laudation of virginity upon the women who chose to +remain in the world was equally detrimental to good morals. The natural +result of the system might have been easily imagined, if the good sense +of the teachers of that age had not been dulled by the conception of the +human body as being hopelessly evil. Out of a large family of girls, +one, "Priscilla," or "Agnes," has been induced, by the fervid +representations of some apostle of celibacy as to the glorious sanctity +of virginity, to devote herself to this "higher life." What will be the +effect upon the "Marthas" and the "Elizabeths" who decide to remain in +the world? Believing, as they also do, in the greater sanctity of +virginity, they will necessarily consider themselves less pure and +chaste than they would if such a comparison with their seraphic sister +had not been thrust upon them. A line of demarcation is drawn between +the once united band. On the one side stand chastity and angelic purity +personified in the professed virgin; on the other side is marriage, not +forbidden, but merely tolerated; a little lower down, according to the +Nicene scale, is concubinage, and lower still, but on the same side, is +prostitution. The "Marthas" and the "Elizabeths" were given the +alternative of either following the example of "Agnes"--- against which +their good sense rebelled--or of considering themselves only at the top +of a class at the bottom of which were the notoriously impure. No +greater injustice than this was ever done to womanhood.</p> + +<p>In a society where the chaste love of a wife for her husband and the +privileges and duties of a mother were regarded as placing a woman upon +an inferior moral grade, it is not surprising to find that a large +proportion accepted the rating of their time and lived down to it. +Largely in consequence, then, of the substitution of a fantastic +holiness for unromantic goodness, though the Church grew strong in the +world, morals remained much what they had been under paganism. True, +there were many of those professed virgins whose names are recorded in +history, and who, as the result of what seems to have been a prodigious +contest, maintained their character and withal achieved a noble and +deserved reputation; but it is at least open to question whether or not +the influence of these shining marks of sanctity was not offset by the +otherwise pernicious effect of the system.</p> + +<p>Before we proceed to the individual mention of some of these early +saints, we will glance at the secular women who were their +contemporaries.</p> + +<p>Constantine had thoroughly orientalized the imperial court, and all the +officials and aristocracy of the empire followed the fashion according +to the degree of their ability. Gorgeous apparel, trains of eunuchs, +barbaric splendor, and ostentatious titles replaced the white toga and +the stately, though severe, grandeur of the Roman citizen of former +times. The Roman spirit was dying out in sloth and effeminacy; it was +fitting that a new capital of the Empire should be erected in the East, +for the new times were strange and unrelated to the manes of the Roman +ancestors. Nobility of thought had likewise perished, at least from the +secular life of the Empire. As Duruy says: "Courts have sometimes been +schools of elegance in manners, refinement in mind, and politeness in +speech. Literature and art have received from them valuable +encouragement. But at the epoch of which we are writing, poetry and +art--those social forces by which the soul is elevated--no longer exist. +With an Asiatic government and a religion soon to become intolerant, +great subjects of thought are prohibited. There is no discussion of +political affairs, for the emperor gives absolute commands; no history, +for the truth is concealed or condemned to a complaisance which is +odious to honest men; no eloquence, for nowhere can it be employed +except in disgraceful adulation of the sovereign.... Only the Church is +to have mighty orators,--but in the interests of heaven, not earth; and +so, in this empire now exposed to countless perils, the little mental +activity now existing in civil society will occupy itself only with +court intrigues, the subtleties of philosophers aspiring to be +theologians, or the petty literature of some belated and feeble admirers +of the early Muses."</p> + +<p>The three sons of Constantine, among whom, by will, he divided the +Empire, were adherents of the Christian religion; but Constantius, who +soon became the sole ruler, though a weighty factor in the evolution of +the Church's doctrine, was no very edifying example of the moral effect +of her teaching. His jealousy and implacability almost exterminated the +race of Constantine, numerously represented as that sturdy emperor had +left himself. The closest ties of relationship did not avail to save the +lives of those who might stand in the way of the new ruler's ambitions. +Constantina, the sister of Constantius, had been married to +Hannibalianus, his cousin, but in spite of this double relationship the +latter cruelly perished.</p> + +<p>Constantina was a woman of whom it would be interesting to know more +than the few references which history affords. She must have been a +person of able as well as ambitious character, for her father had +invested her with the title of Augusta. After his death, she deemed that +the purple ought not to clothe a woman with mere powerless dignity, but +that the right was hers to take a hand in the affairs of the Empire. In +this view of her privileges she lacked the support of her three +brothers: the situation was sufficiently disturbed by their own +inharmonious claims. But after the death of Constans and Constantine, +the way was cleared for Constantina to push her own interests. This she +did by creating a puppet emperor out of Vetranio, a good-natured and +obliging old general who was commanding in Illyricum. Constantina +herself bound the diadem upon his brow; but during an interview with +Constantius, a menacing shout of the soldiers induced Vetranio hastily +to divest himself of the purple and thankfully accept his life with an +honorable exile. Constantina had the diplomacy to make her peace with +her brother as soon as she saw the fruitlessness of this scheme. She +probably had deserted Vetranio before he had ceased trying to reign for +her. Later on, she was married to Gallus, who, with his brother Julian, +alone of the princes of the house of Constantine had survived the +suspicion and the cruelty of Constantius. Gallus was appointed Cæsar of +the Eastern provinces, and thus Constantina's ambitions were appeased. +But as is frequently the case with those who are ambitious of political +power, though intensely eager for the purple, she was entirely unworthy +of the position. The historians of the time give this woman an +exceedingly bad name, and doubtless the people of Antioch, where she and +her husband established their court, agreed that it was abundantly +deserved. She is described, not as a woman, but as one of the infernal +furies, tormented with an insatiate thirst for human blood. That, of +course, we may consider an extravagance of rhetoric on the part of +Ammianus; but there is an ugly story of a pearl necklace which +Constantina received from the mother-in-law of one Clematius of +Alexandria. The ornament procured the death of Clematius, who had +incurred the malice of his relative by disappointing her of his love. +The rapacity and cruelty of Constantina, joined with the mad profligacy +of her husband, ended by ruining them both. The displeasure of +Constantius was aroused, and that was usually only appeased by the death +of its object. He sent urgent messages inviting Gallus to visit him in +the West, for the purpose of consulting on the affairs of the Empire; +and it was especially urged that the Cæsar should bring his wife, "that +beloved sister whom the emperor ardently desired to see." Constantina +"knew perfectly of what her brother was capable"; she was not deceived +by his protestations of affection for herself. But while she might be +able to pacify him on the ground of her sex and their relationship, it +was certain death for Gallus to put himself in the power of the tyrant +of the East. Constantina set out alone to make her plea to her brother, +but died on the way. There was nothing that her husband could do but +obey the "invitation" of the emperor; but he was not allowed to see the +face of Constantius. On the road, he was seized, and, after a mock +trial, in which no sort of defence could have saved him, was beheaded.</p> + +<p>Julian, the brother of Gallus, alone of the progeny of Constantine +remained. His life was constantly in danger from the suspicions of +Constantius; but it was preserved, and thereby paganism was destined to +have one more trial, or rather one more dying struggle. That Julian +escaped the dangers to which he was exposed was probably owing in a +large measure to the friendship of Eusebia, the wife of the emperor. He +afterward repaid this kindness by an eloquent, and we may be assured +sincere, eulogium upon her character.</p> + +<p>Eusebia was a native of Thessalonica, in Macedonia. Her family was of +consular rank. She became the second wife of Constantius in the year +352, and seems to have enjoyed in matters political a considerable +influence with her husband, which she always employed meritoriously. Her +beauty is frequently spoken of by the ancient authors as being +remarkable; but what is still more worthy of notice is the fact that, in +an age when there were so many divided interests, the historians of all +parties agree in the praise of her moral character. True, there is a +hint somewhere that her kindness to Julian sprung from a tenderer motive +than friendship; but all else that is known of her, as well as the +frozen nature of Julian himself, sufficiently refutes such a suggestion.</p> + +<p>In the time of Eusebia the Church was torn by the contentions between +the orthodox and the followers of Arius. Constantius, as the imperial +arbiter of eternal truth as well as of the temporal destinies of his +subjects, sought to obtain peace by banishing the principal disputants, +as he did Athanasius and Liberius of Rome. Eusebia's chief connection +with these events, though herself an Arian, seems to have been +influenced by her charitable inclination. When Liberius was going away +into exile she sent him five hundred pieces of gold with which to defray +his expenses. This however, rather churlishly as it would seem, he sent +back with the message that she "take it to the emperor, for he may want +it to pay his troops."</p> + +<p>In this connection there is an incident recorded by Theodoret which +indicates that the clergy, especially the bishops, of those times found +resolute champions among the ladies, as they have in all ages. Two years +after the exile of Liberius, Constantius went to Rome. "The ladies of +rank urged their husbands to petition the emperor for the restoration of +the shepherd to his flock: they added, that if this were not granted, +they would desert them, and go themselves after their great pastor. +Their husbands replied, that they were afraid of incurring the +resentment of the emperor. 'If we were to ask him,' they continued, +'being men, he would deem it an unpardonable offence; but if you were +yourselves to present the petition, he would at any rate spare you, and +would either accede to your request, or else dismiss you without +injury.' These noble ladies adopted this suggestion, and presented +themselves before the emperor in all their customary splendor of array, +that so the sovereign, judging their rank from their dress, might count +them worthy of being treated with courtesy and kindness. Thus entering +the presence, they besought him to take pity on the condition of so +large a city, deprived of its shepherd, and made an easy prey to the +attacks of wolves. The emperor replied, that the flock possessed a +shepherd capable of tending it, and that no other was needed in the +city. For after the banishment of the great Liberius, one of his +deacons, named Felix, had been appointed bishop. He preserved inviolate +the doctrines set forth in the Nicene confession of faith, yet he held +communion with those who had corrupted that faith. For this reason none +of the citizens of Rome would enter the house of prayer while he was in +it. The ladies mentioned these facts to the emperor. Their persuasions +were successful; and he commanded that the great Liberius should be +recalled from exile, and that the two bishops should conjointly rule the +Church. This latter arrangement did not suit the people, so Felix +retired to another city."</p> + +<p>Liberius generally refused to acknowledge Arians as Christians; whether +or not he had the boldness to refuse that name to the empress is not +told us. It is certain that Eusebia's kindness to Julian was worthy of a +Christian, even though it succored one who was to be the arch-enemy of +the faith. She befriended and protected him when he was summoned to a +court where it was to the interest of every courtier to report every +action and every chance word to Constantius. She may have been desirous +of making a friend of the heir-apparent, being herself childless; but it +is easy to believe that "the good and beautiful Eusebia," as Julian +calls her, was both sincere and disinterested in her kindness. She +brought it about that the emperor gave his permission to the young man, +who had hitherto been a prisoner, to retire to a beautiful estate which +he had inherited from his mother.</p> + +<p>The fortunes of Julian were in good hands at the court. Constantius was +greatly influenced by the eunuchs who surrounded him, and who were the +bureaucratic officers of those times; but Eusebia was stronger than all +others combined. When the emperor complained that the unaided rule was +too much for him, she suggested that he raise his young kinsman to the +Cæsarian dignity. Her advice was followed; and the imperial purple, and +with it the hand of Helena, the sister of Constantius, were conferred +upon Julian. As a wedding gift, Eusebia, with the most refined +consideration possible, presented him with a valuable collection of the +best Greek authors. It is likely that he felt more appreciative +gratitude for the books than he did either for the official dignity or +the highborn bride. As Cæsar, it was intended by Constantius that he +should be no more than a figure; and for his wife it is doubtful if he +ever felt any real affection. As historians have remarked, in his +numerous writings Julian sometimes mentions the Helen of Homer, but +never once his own Helen. She must have been considerably older than her +husband, and was probably a Christian, as were her brothers. That there +was no offspring of this marriage was imputed to the arts of Eusebia, +who, according to Ammianus Marcellinus, exercised a close and unnatural +supervision over the household of her protégé. Inasmuch as there appears +no motive for a wish on the part of the empress that Helena should be +childless, we are inclined, as Gibbon says, "to hope that the public +malignity imputed the effects of accident as the guilt of Eusebia." The +empress died in the year 360, immediately before Julian broke with +Constantius and began to rule on his own authority.</p> + +<p>Julian led a forlorn hope in the cause of the old gods. This at least +may be said for him: there was nothing in the treatment which he +received from those who professed to be Christians to hold his faith to +their religion. One only had befriended him, and she was regarded as a +heretic. The historians of the time endeavor to picture Julian as +leading a crusade of persecution against Christianity. Theodoret speaks +of his "mad fury"; but inasmuch as he is constrained to recount stories +which rather illustrate the triviality of the mind of the historian than +the cruelty of the persecutor, it is evident that the glory of martyrdom +was not won to any considerable extent under Julian. We are inclined to +think that one of these narratives exemplifies the latter's patience +more than any other of his characteristics. There was a woman named +Publia, who had become the prioress of a company of virgins. One day +these women, seeing the emperor coming, struck up the psalm which +recites how "the idols of the nations are of silver and gold," and, +after describing their insensibility, adds "like them be they that make +them and all those that put their trust in them." Julian required them +at least to hold their peace while he was passing by. Publia did not, +however, pay the least attention to his orders, except to urge her choir +to put still greater energy into their chaunt; and when again the +emperor passed by she told them to strike up: "Let God arise and let his +enemies be scattered." At last Julian commanded one of his escort to box +her ears. "She however took outrage for honor, and kept up her attack +upon him with her spiritual songs, just as the composer and teacher of +the song laid the wicked spirit that vexed Saul."</p> + +<p>Before we leave this brief reference to the secular matrons of the early +Church in order to turn our attention to the sacred virgins, it is +necessary to summon the testimony of Jerome. This learned and eloquent +Father is the great authority on the women of his time. Only those vowed +to celibacy enjoyed his highest approbation; yet he had many friends +among the married ladies of Rome. Jerome was a satirist. His pen was +caustic when it dealt with persons or matters that did not meet his +approval. He was the Juvenal of his age, but he wrote in prose, and not +for the sake of satire, but as the champion of orthodoxy and virginity. +Many of his writings are in the form of letters to ladies who were his +friends. The one to Eustochium, the daughter of Paula, is the most +striking of all. In this epistle Jerome sets forth the motives which +should actuate those who adopt the monastic life. It also gives us a +vivid picture of Roman society as it then was--the luxury, profligacy, +and hypocrisy prevalent among both men and women. This letter was +written at Rome in the year 384. "I write to you thus, Lady Eustochium +(I am bound to call my Lord's bride 'lady'), to show you by my opening +words that my object is not to praise the virginity which you follow, +and of which you have proved the value, or yet to recount the drawbacks +of marriage, such as pregnancy, the crying of infants, the torture +caused by a rival, the cares of household management, and all those +fancied blessings which death at last cuts short. Not that married women +are as such outside the pale; they have their own place, the marriage +that is honorable and the bed undefiled. My purpose is to show you that +you are fleeing from Sodom and should take warning by Lot's wife." Such +is the tone and tenor of Jerome's correspondence with the women of his +acquaintance. Among many other things, he cautions Eustochium not to +court the society of married ladies, and not to "look too often on the +life which you despised to become a virgin!" Many glimpses are given of +the characteristics of that life which was to be so carefully avoided. +The pride of those who are the wives of men in high position, and also +their delight in troops of callers, are noticed. They are pictured as +they are carried about the streets in gorgeous litters, with rows of +eunuchs walking in front. Their dress is mentioned: red cloaks, robes +inwrought with threads of gold, and creaking shoes. Jerome is even so +unsparing as to refer to those who "paint their eyes and lips with rouge +and cosmetics; whose chalked faces, unnaturally white, are like those of +idols; upon whose cheeks every chance tear leaves a furrow; who fail to +realize that years make them old; who heap their heads with hair not +their own; who smooth their faces, and rub out the wrinkles of age; and +who, in the presence of their grandsons, behave like trembling +school-girls." Some of Jerome's strictures are suggestive of modern +feminine habits. Speaking of Blaesilla, after she had become a widow and +was determined to persevere in that estate, he says that in days gone by +she had been extremely fastidious in her dress, and had spent whole days +before her mirror endeavoring to correct its deficiencies. Her head, +"which had done no harm, was forced into a waving head-dress." But all +this is changed. Now "no gold and jewels adorn her girdle; it is made of +wool, plain, and scrupulously clean. It is intended to keep her clothes +right, and not to cut her waist in two."</p> + +<p>Eustochium, as a professed virgin of the Church, is warned not to trifle +with verse, nor to make herself gay with lyric songs. "And do not, out +of affectation, follow the sickly taste of married ladies who, now +pressing their teeth together, now keeping their lips wide apart, speak +with a lisp, and purposely clip their words, because they fancy that to +pronounce them naturally is a mark of country breeding."</p> + +<p>In another place the Father of asceticism says: "To-day you may see +women cramming their wardrobes with dresses, changing their gowns from +day to day, and for all that unable to vanquish the moths. Now and then +one more scrupulous wears out a single dress; yet, while she appears in +rags, her boxes are full. Parchments are dyed purple, gold is melted +into lettering, manuscripts are decked with jewels, while Christ lies at +the door naked and dying. When they hold out a hand to the needy they +sound a trumpet; when they invite to a love-feast they engage a crier. I +lately saw the noblest lady in Rome--I suppress her name, for I am no +satirist--with a band of eunuchs before her in the basilica of the +blessed Peter. She was giving money to the poor, a coin apiece; and this +with her own hand, that she might be accounted more religious. Hereupon +a by no means uncommon incident occurred. An old woman, 'full of age and +rags,' ran forward to get a second coin, but when her turn came she +received, not a penny, but a blow hard enough to draw blood from her +guilty veins." Rome had always successfully withstood the rhetorical +lashings of her censors; had it not been for this power of resistance, +the castigations of a Jerome surely would have sufficed to hold the +natural frivolity of the women of his time at least within the bounds of +modesty.</p> + +<p>The moral influence of Jerome illustrated the danger of insisting on +perfection with the result of falling below the average of possible +attainment. In his letters to Paula, Eustochium, Marcella, and Asella, +women who delighted him by manifesting an astounding resolution in +mortifying the flesh, he continually laments those who, professing to +have made an offering of their virginity to Christ, were in reality a +scandal to the Church.</p> + +<p>Paula was a Roman lady of the highest rank and greatest wealth. The +genealogy of her father ascended through the highest names in Grecian +history; her mother, Blassilla, numbered the Scipios and the Gracchi +among her ancestors. Paula was Cornelia reincarnated in the fourth +century of Christianity; the only differences are that the former +maintained a chaste widowhood inspired by fuller hopes than earthly +renown, and instead of entertaining men of learning at Misenum she +studied Hebrew with Jerome in a squalid cave at Bethlehem. This devout +lady had much to resign in order that she might enter upon a life of +poverty. One of the most magnificent houses of Rome was hers, and she +drew her revenues from the city of Nicopolis, the whole of which she +owned. She was born in the year 347, ten years after the death of +Constantine. At the age of seventeen she was married to Toxotius, who +was a descendant of the illustrious Julian family. She was the mother of +five daughters and one son. It seems likely that she owed her conversion +to Christianity to the holy Marcella, one of that circle of ascetic +women to whom the letters of Jerome were addressed. Until the time of +her husband's death, the life of Paula in her magnificent palace on the +Aventine was similar to that of other wealthy Roman ladies, except that +her means enabled her to excel all others in elegance. On her +conversion, and as the best proof of its reality, in the estimation of +those days, she distributed a quarter of her immense estate to the poor. +The ideas then prevalent would not permit her to deem herself an earnest +Christian unless she entirely relinquished her habits of luxury. This +she did, and devoted herself to the care of the indigent and the nursing +of the infirm. Her piety would not even allow her sufficiently to +sustain her bodily strength for these noble labors. She lived on bread +and a little oil, on many days denying herself even that until after +sunset. Her dress was the rough garb of the slave; her couch was a mat +of straw, covered with haircloth.</p> + +<p>There was, however, one enjoyment which Paula allowed herself: she was +one of a circle of ladies, all ascetics like herself, who were devoted +to the study of literature. There was Marcella, who was the first of the +highborn Roman ladies to embrace the monastic life, and of whom Jerome +gives this account: "Her father's death left her an orphan, and she had +been married less than seven months when her husband was taken from her. +Then, as she was young and highborn, as well as distinguished for her +beauty and her self-control, an illustrious consular named Cerealis paid +court to her with great assiduity. Being an old man, he offered to make +over to her his fortune so that she might consider herself less his wife +than his daughter. Her mother Albina went out of her way to secure for +the young widow so exalted a protector. But Marcella answered: 'Had I a +wish to marry and not rather to dedicate myself to perpetual chastity, I +should look for a husband and not an inheritance; and when her suitor +argued that sometimes old men live long while young men die early, she +cleverly retorted: 'a young man may die early, but an old man cannot +live long.' This decided rejection of Cerealis convinced others that +they had no hope of winning her hand."</p> + +<p>Marcella may indeed be termed the prioress of the community of ascetics +which gathered in her house and in that of Paula on the Aventine hill. +She studied Hebrew with Jerome, and became so proficient in Scriptural +exposition that, after the latter's departure for the Holy Land, even +the clergy would bring to her for solution such questions as were too +difficult for them. When Alaric and his Goths sacked the city of Rome, +the prayers and the evident holiness of Marcella induced the barbarians +to spare her life and the honor of the virgin Principia, who dwelt with +her, and they even left her house unmolested.</p> + +<p>Another shining light in that Aventine circle was Asella, who had been +dedicated to the Church from her tenth year. Her fastings may be said to +have been almost unintermittent, so that Jerome thought it was only by +the grace of God that she survived until her fiftieth year without +weakening her digestion. "Lying on the dry ground did not affect her +limbs, and the rough sackcloth that she wore failed to make her skin +either foul or rough. With a sound body and a still sounder soul she +sought all her delight in solitude, and found for herself a monkish +hermitage in the centre of busy Rome."</p> + +<p>Among the good women of that day were also Albina and Marcellina, who +were the sisters of Saint Ambrose. Marcellina made a public profession +of virginity before a great congregation which gathered on Christmas day +in the Church of Saint Peter. She received the veil from the hands of +the bishop Liberius. In a work addressed to her Ambrose repeats the +instructions which his sister received from the bishop at that time. The +work is of no little interest, as it clearly sets forth the idea which +governed the lives of professed nuns of that early date.</p> + +<p>Paula also numbered among her companions Fabiola, a woman noble both in +character and race, who, after a stormy youth, found peace in the haven +of ascetic devotion. Jerome describes her life in his seventy-seventh +letter. Fabiola was censured for putting away one husband and marrying +again while the man whom she divorced was yet alive. Jerome's defence of +her divorce shows such liberality of thought on the rights of women in +this regard that part of it is worth quoting. He says: "I will urge only +this one plea, which is sufficient to exonerate a chaste matron and a +Christian woman. The Lord gave commandment that a wife must not be put +away 'except it be for fornication, and that, if put away, she must +remain unmarried.' Now a commandment which is given to men logically +applies to women also. For it cannot be that, while an adulterous wife +is to be put away, an incontinent husband is to be retained.... The laws +of Cæsar are different, it is true, from the laws of Christ.... Earthly +laws give a free rein to the unchastity of men, merely condemning +seduction and adultery; lust is allowed to range unrestrained among +brothels and slave-girls, as if the guilt were constituted by the rank +of the person assailed and not by the purpose of the assailant. But with +us Christians what is unlawful for women is equally unlawful for men." +It is only in very modern times that the secular law has conformed to +this just opinion, and even now the social treatment received by the +sinner is guided by a view the opposite of that expressed by Jerome.</p> + +<p>So Fabiola took another husband, and therein she was held to have sinned +deeply. Repentance, however, soon followed--a life-long penitence, an +expiation offered by a continual sacrifice of good works. The whole of +her property she gave to the poor; among other good deeds she founded a +hospice for the shelter of the destitute. She resided for a while with +Jerome, Paula, and Eustochium at Bethlehem, but returned to Rome to die. +Her funeral was a reminder of the old-time triumphs. All the streets, +porches, and roofs from which a view could be obtained of the procession +were insufficient to accommodate the spectators.</p> + +<p>Into this circle of holy women came Jerome, the most learned and the +most brilliant man of his time. He was their equal in birth, and he, +like them, had disposed of his property in charity to the poor. He +became their friend, their teacher, their oracle. So assured was he of +his ascendency over his friends that he often gave his advice in a +manner which savored of arrogance.</p> + +<p>In the year 385 Jerome bade farewell to these devoted friends and sailed +away to the land which was consecrated by the life and sufferings of +Christ. He desired retirement, in order that he might be free to +meditate and to prosecute his great work of translating the Scriptures. +From the ship in which the journey was made he addressed a letter to +Asella. It seems that slanderous tongues had foolishly assailed him in +regard to his friendship with those women whose attractions could not +have been other than spiritual. He admits that, of all the ladies of +Rome, one only had the power to subdue him, and that one was Paula. He +had been able to withstand countenances beautified both by nature and +also by art; with Paula alone, "who was squalid with dirt," and whose +eyes were dimmed with continual weeping, was his name associated. +Calumny on this subject was too absurd to be treated with seriousness. +The reference to Paula's personal untidiness gives us the occasion to +remark that, contrary to the generally accepted axiom regarding the +religious worth of cleanliness, those ancient nuns were taught to +believe that the bath was rather conducive to ungodliness. It was a +dangerous subserviency to the flesh: its eschewment was doubtless a +powerful safeguard to chastity.</p> + +<p>Two years after the departure of their friend, Paula and Eustochium +gratified a wish which they had long cherished, to visit the Holy Land. +A most graphic picture of Paula leaving her children and friends is +given us in one of Jerome's letters. They realized, what was not, +perhaps, openly acknowledged, that it was a final good-bye. We are shown +the young girls clinging to their mother in the endeavor to dissuade her +from her purpose. But the sails are unfurled and the stout-armed rowers +are in their places; Rufina, a maiden just entering womanhood, with +quiet sobs, beseeches her mother to wait until she should be married. As +the vessel moves away, little Toxotius, the youngest-born and her only +son, stretches out his tiny hand and pleads with his mother to come +back. But no entreaty could turn Paula from her pious though hardly +commendable purpose. "She overcame her love for her children by her love +for God." That was the favorable judgment of the time. A less +enthusiastic, but saner, age can hardly bestow such unmitigated praise.</p> + +<p>After a journey through all the places made famous by Scripture, in +every one of which they were received with great honor, Paula and her +daughter made their home at Bethlehem, where Jerome already had his +cell. There she built a convent; and for eighteen years she devoted her +life to the training of the many virgins who resorted to her company, +attracted by the fame of her holiness. At her death, the manner of which +was truly edifying, it was found that Paula had disposed of the whole of +her property in charity. Though it is probable that these ascetic women +were to a large extent under the influence of motives less exalted than +that mentioned above, much good intention must be laid to their credit; +and doubtless their extreme self-denial was not without a salutary +effect in a sensual world. At the end of his description of her death, +which he wrote for her daughter, Jerome says: "And now, Paula, farewell, +and aid with your prayers the old age of your votary."</p> + +<a name="c6" id="c6"></a> +<br><br> + +<h3>VI</h3> + +<h3>THE NUNS OF THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH</h3> + +<p>WE have already given some attention to certain famous Christian women +who, in the earliest ages of the Church, dedicated themselves to the +ascetic life. But monasticism, occupying as it did so extensive and +important a field in the early Church, deserves the devotion of nothing +less than a chapter to the consideration of its effect upon the life of +women, and to the part they played in its establishment. In describing +the friends of Jerome--Paula, Eustochium, Asella, and the others--we +dwelt more on the moral aspect of primitive asceticism, its +exaggerations, its wrong-headedness, its influence upon family life; it +is now our purpose to take a brief glance at the organization of female +monasticism, and to notice its effect upon the social life of women. For +it cannot be otherwise than that so popular and general an institution +as this must at the time have profoundly affected human existence. A +great multitude of men and women taken out of common society and living +apart under conditions entirely contradictory to the instinct and usages +of the race must have shaken the body politic in every direction, +causing a movement of influences far-reaching in its effect.</p> + +<p>Monasticism was not the creation of Christianity; the religions of the +East had their devotees, like the Jewish Essenes, who abandoned the +common pursuits of men for a life of solitude, idle introspection, and +rapt contemplation. The wildernesses and solitary places of the East had +been made yet more weird by the presence of unhumanlike hermits, even +before the days of John the Baptist. Christian monasticism, also, had +its birth in the dreamy East. Antony, by his example, and Pachomius, by +enthusiastic propaganda of monastic ideas, laid the foundations of that +system which was to honeycomb the whole world with bands of men and +women who repudiated the natural pleasures and the essential duties of +the world.</p> + +<p>Of the motive that inspired the monastic life, St. Augustine says: "No +corporeal fecundity produces this race of virgins; they are no offspring +of flesh and blood. Ask you the mother of these? It is the Church. None +other bears these sacred virgins but that one espoused to a single +husband, Christ. Each of these so loved that beautiful One among the +sons of men, that, unable to conceive Him in the flesh as Mary did, they +conceived Him in their heart, and kept for him even the body in +integrity."</p> + +<p>We may admit this intense love of God as a moving force, and still claim +that the hermits and anchoresses of the early Church were actuated +largely by the desire to redeem themselves from the wrath to come and to +gain a personal entrance to the paradise of God. Salvation was an +individual responsibility, and it admitted of no compromise with the +world. The road to perfection could be cheered with company only, +providing others were willing to set out upon it by first renouncing all +natural joys, and by despising all human ties. The claims of close +kindred were not allowed to hinder in the personal quest for heavenly +rewards. The tearfully pleaded needs of an aged parent were not +permitted to detain at home the daughter who had consecrated herself as +the bride of Christ; Paula turned her back upon the outstretched hands +of her infant son, in order that in the Holy Land she might spend her +days in ecstatic contemplation of the Jerusalem above. It is recorded to +the high praise of Saint Fulgentius that he sorely wounded his mother's +heart by despising her sorrow at his departure.</p> + +<p>True it is that many of the earliest consecrated handmaidens of the +Church continued to reside in their city homes, and, in addition to +their prayers, devoted themselves to works of charity and mercy. But +they were scarcely less separated from the world and their kindred. +Their manner of life interdicted all common intercourse. The virgin who +could boast that for twenty-five years she never bathed, except the tips +of her fingers, and these only when she was about to receive the +Communion, must have been as foreign to the Rome in which she lived as +if she inhabited a cave in the Thebaid. Her kinsfolk may have reverenced +her sanctity, but it is doubtful if they unqualifiedly appreciated her +presence. The explanation of this transcendent personal neglect is to be +found in the dualism which was so considerable an element in the motif +of monasticism. The religious sphere was exclusively spiritual and of +the mind; the material world was considered to be wholly under the +dominion of the devil if it were not, indeed, his work. The body, with +all its appetites, instincts, pleasures, and pains, was regarded as a +spiritual misfortune. Holiness was not deemed to be in any degree +attainable except by constant and determined thwarting of all natural +desire. The compulsion to give way to any extent to the most essential +of these desires was, so far as it obtained, a moral imperfection. The +three great human faults are lust, pride, and avarice. To subjugate +these, celibacy, absolute submission, and complete poverty, were deemed +necessary by the advocates of monasticism. Because purity is enjoined, +the saint of one sex must treat a person of the other with the same +avoidance as would be displayed toward a poisonous reptile; readiness to +embrace a leper is none too severe a test of humility; and personal +property in a hair blanket is a pitfall laid by wealth. A body so wasted +by fasting as to be incapable of sustaining the continuous round of +tears and prayers is the surest warrant of saintliness. A virgin who has +so abused her stomach by improper and insufficient food that it refuses +a meal necessary to a healthy body is the object of high veneration; +indigestion is a most desirable corollary to holiness. In short, without +outraging reason and contradicting every dictum of common sense, it is +difficult to describe much that belonged to ancient monasticism in any +other spirit than that of impatience.</p> + +<p>Like most institutions, monasticism began in a formless, undirected +enthusiasm. Men and women rushed into the wilderness with an abundantly +zealous determination to get away from the wickedness of the world, but +with a still greater scarcity of understanding regarding a reasonable +discipline of life. Soon, however, organization was proposed by monks of +experience, and rules formulated which were generally adopted. Saint +Pachomius was the first to form monkish foundations in the East. These +were visited by Athanasius while he was in exile, and he came back with +a glowing account of the sanctity of life and the marvellous exploits of +their members. His narrative fired the hearts of the more devout +Christians of the West, especially of the women, and that of the monk or +the nun became at once the most illustrious vocation which a Christian +could follow. The result was, as the Count de Montalembert shows, that +"the town and environs of Rome were soon full of monasteries, rapidly +occupied by men distinguished alike by birth, fortune and knowledge, who +lived there in charity, sanctity and freedom. From Rome, the new +institution--already distinguished by the name of religion, or religious +life, par excellence--extended itself over all Italy. It was planted at +the foot of the Alps by the influence of a great bishop, Eusebius of +Vercelli. From the continent, the new institution rapidly gained the +isles of the Mediterranean, and even the rugged rocks of the Gargon and +of Capraja, where the monks, voluntarily exiled from the world, went to +take the place of the criminals and political victims whom the emperors +had been accustomed to banish thither."</p> + +<p>Western monasticism was inspired by a different genius from that of the +Eastern. Instead of being speculative and characterized by dreamy +indolence and meditative silence, it was far more practical. It was +active, stirring; duty, rather than esoteric wisdom, was its watchword. +Fasting, stated hours for prayer, reading, and vigorous manual work were +strictly enjoined by every rule. Consequently, the nuns and monks of the +West never went to the fantastic extremes which exhibited in the East a +stylite, or a female recluse, dwelling, like an animal, in a hollow +tree, or a drove of half wild and wholly maniacal humans who subsisted +by browsing on such edible roots as they found in the earth on which +they grovelled. Method, regularity, and purpose early gave character and +efficiency to Western monasteries, and prepared them for the literary +and industrial usefulness which followed in the wane of the first +frenzy, and which made monasticism, in spite of itself, a powerful +factor in the evolution of modern civilization. This systematizing was +due to the efforts of Ambrose, Athanasius, Gregory the Great, but more +especially to those of Benedict of Nursia.</p> + +<p>The first known ceremonial recognition by the Church of a professed nun +is the case of Marcellina. On Christmas Day, perhaps of the year 354, +she received a veil from the hands of Pope Liberius, and made her vows +before a large congregation gathered in the church of Saint Peter, at +Rome. Saint Ambrose, her brother, has preserved for us a summary of the +sermon preached by the bishop on the occasion. It consists of an earnest +but not very convincing--so it would seem to modern ears--exhortation to +abstinence from worldly pleasure and to perseverance in virginity. +Marcellina continued to dwell in private in her own home, for it had not +yet become customary for professed virgins to take up their residence in +a common abode. The inauguration of this new departure had begun, +however, as is shown by passages in the work of Saint Ambrose on +virginity, which he dedicated to his sister. In the eleventh chapter of +the first book, he says: "Some one may say, you are always singing the +praise of virgins. What shall I do who am always singing them and have +no success (in persuading them to the consecrated life)? But this is not +my fault. Then, too, virgins come from Placentia to be consecrated, or +from Bononia and Mauritania, in order to receive the veil here. I treat +the matter here, and persuade those who are elsewhere. If this be so, +let me treat the subject elsewhere, that I may persuade you.</p> + +<p>"Behold how sweet is the fruit of modesty, which has sprung up even in +the affections of barbarians. Virgins, coming from the greatest distance +on both sides of Mauritania, desire to be consecrated here; and though +all the family be in bonds, yet modesty cannot be bound. She who mourns +over the hardship of slavery professes to own an eternal kingdom.</p> + +<p>"And what shall I say of the virgins of Bononia, a fertile band of +chastity, who, forsaking worldly delights, inhabit the sanctuary of +virginity? Though not of the sex which lives in common, attaining in +their common chastity to the number of twenty, leaving their parents' +dwellings, they press into the houses of Christ; at one time singing +spiritual songs, they provide their sustenance by labor, and seek with +their hands the supplies for their liberal charity."</p> + +<p>So, then, it is evident that as early as the latter part of the fourth +century communities of nuns began to live in their own religious houses. +As yet, however, the inmates of these asylums of chastity were +answerable, only to themselves for the faithfulness with which they +fulfilled their vows. There was no organized order, no recognized rule; +each virgin observed her profession according as she interpreted the +terms thereof. The Church exercised no well-defined disciplinary +authority over these convents; of course, if a professed nun +scandalously repudiated her vows, she could be excommunicated, but the +efficacy of this punishment was conditioned entirely by the degree of +horror with which the woman viewed the forfeiture of ecclesiastical +privileges. It was not before the time of Gregory that the Church became +able to enforce its judgments. When all the world became Christian, then +the individual again lost his freedom of thought in relation to +religious matters; then, through its alliance with the secular arm, the +Church gained the power to sternly constrain its recalcitrant children. +This was brought about by the political advantages gained by Gregory, +and by Saint Benedict's gifts of organization.</p> + +<p>Saint Benedict was the father of Western organized monasticism; he not +only founded an order to which many religious houses already existing +united themselves, but he established a rule for their government, which +was adopted as the rule for monastic life by all such orders which +existed in the Church down to the time of Saint Francis and Saint +Dominic. What Benedict did for the monks, his sister Scholastica--who, +being a woman, has received far less mention--accomplished for the nuns. +Through her efforts, under the direction and advice of her brother, +greater dignity and weight were given to the female side of monasticism.</p> + +<p>We know that Benedict was born at Nursia, in the province of Spoleto, in +the year 480; whether Scholastica was older or younger than her more +famous brother is not said. Their parents were respectable people, +possessed of sufficient means to enable them to give their children a +good education, and to take up temporarily their residence in Rome for +that purpose.</p> + +<p>While at Rome, Benedict became enamored of the idea of devoting himself +to religion; and in order to get away from the moral dangers of the +city, he fled from his school and his parents to a small village called +Effide, about two miles from Subiaco. His nurse--Cyrilla--was his +accomplice and companion in this adventure, and for this she has +received her due meed of honor in the legends which have attached to the +life of the great founder. As an example of these legends, and as an +illustration of their historic value, we will notice one story. One day, +Cyrilla accidentally broke a stone sieve which she had borrowed for the +purpose of making the youthful saint some bread. Compassionating her +distress, Benedict placed the two pieces in position and then prayed +over them. To the great joy of Cyrilla and the no small wonderment of +the rustics, they became firmly cemented together and the sieve was +again made whole. This marvellous utensil was hung over the church door, +where it remained for many years an irrefutable proof of the power of +monastic holiness.</p> + +<p>Later on, Saint Benedict established twelve monasteries in the +neighborhood, at last settling at Monte Casino, not far from the place +where his sister, Saint Scholastica, also presided over a colony of +religious women. Here were formulated and adopted the regulations which +for so many years governed these religious recluses, both male and +female. Three virtues comprised the whole of the Benedictine discipline: +celibate seclusion, extended to the cultivation of silence as far as the +exigences of the convent would permit; humility to the very last degree; +and obedience to superiors even--so said the law--when impossibilities +were commanded. The effect designed was to concentrate the entire +thought of the recluse upon himself. Yet, idleness on the part of its +subjects was far from the purpose of this discipline. All the waking +hours--which were by far the greater part of the time--of these nuns +were devoted to the worship of God, reading, and manual labor. Besides +the essential work of their own household, the nuns occupied themselves +in spinning, weaving, and manufacturing clothing, which was distributed +in charity; thus their time was not wholly spent in vain. They also wove +and embroidered the beautiful tapestries and hangings which ornamented +the churches, and, in course of time, developed a textile art which was +one of the glories of the Middle Ages. With the time at their disposal, +it is no wonder that the ancient convents could exhibit histories of the +Creation, done in stitchwork. In imitation of the Psalmist, seven times +a day the nuns met in their chapel for prayer and praise. Sloth was not +possible with them; for they were obliged to waken for matins very early +in the morning, before the breaking of day, even in summer, and this +after having risen for a short service of praise at midnight.</p> + +<p>Abstinence from the flesh of four-footed animals was perpetually and +universally enforced. Fowls were allowed on festival occasions; but the +regular diet was vegetable broth and bread. A large part of the year was +a prescribed fast during which one meal a day was made to suffice and +that at even. No nun was permitted to speak of or consider anything as +her own, not even a girdle or any part of her dress. At first, when +members of the order became delinquent in their duties, only such +penalties as sequestration from the common table or the chapel, with +expulsion from the order in case of incorrigibility, could be enforced. +But, as the Church's disciplinary hand grew heavier on the lives of +mankind, severer punishments were adopted, which contumacy served only +to render yet more cruel, even to life-long solitary incarceration.</p> + +<p>But the most stringent rule of monasticism, as regulated by Saint +Benedict and Saint Scholastica, was that in relation to the sexes. +According to it, they were required to treat each other as natural, +irreconcilable enemies. Communion, even between those of the closest +kin, was almost entirely interdicted. The two founders, brother and +sister though they were, and united not only in a perfect harmony of +disposition and affection, but in devotion to the same life purpose, saw +each other but once a year. "There is something striking," says Milman, +"in the attachment of the brother and sister, the human affection +struggling with the hard spirit of monasticism. Saint Scholastica was a +female Benedict--equally devout, equally powerful in attracting and +ruling recluses of her own sex, the remote foundress of convents almost +as numerous as those of her brother's rule." We are indebted to Gregory +the Great for the narration of some interesting incidents in the lives +of these two saints. The only one which our space will permit, and +perhaps the one which best illustrates the spirit that governed them in +the hard and self-denying path which they elected to walk, is the +account of their last meeting. Though the convent was situated not far +from the monastery, though they were brother and sister, aged, and +devoted to the same holy aims, they met but once a year, for so said the +rule. Scholastica was dying, and the time came for Benedict to pay his +annual visit. Evening had come all too quickly, for the few hours had +rapidly passed in the delight of spiritual communion. Scholastica +entreated her brother to remain in the convent for that one night, as it +was likely that he would never again see her alive. But not even +sisterly affection could turn the monk from the rigid observance of his +rules, one of which was that neither he nor any of his brethren should +spend a night outside of the monastery. As he was preparing to bid her +farewell, she bent her head for a few moments in profound prayer. +Suddenly the sky, which had hitherto been clear and serene, became +overcast, the vivid lightning flashed, the thunder crashed, and the rain +swept down in torrents; heaven had come to the aged nun's assistance. +"The Lord have mercy on you, my sister!" said Benedict, "what have you +done?" "You," she replied, "have rejected my prayers; but the Lord hath +not. Go now, if you can!" Her intercession was rewarded with triumph, +and they passed the night in holy communion. Three days afterward, +Benedict saw the soul of Scholastica soaring to heaven in the shape of a +dove, whither, after a very little while, he followed her.</p> + +<p>As it is with all social movements, after a while the glory of the +initial purity of purpose which marked the inception of Benedictine +monasticism began to wane; its singleness of aim became diverted; its +disingenuousness was replaced by sophisticated evasion of its rule. The +monasteries and convents became wealthy; ways were discovered by which +their discipline could be softened without formally abrogating the rule; +and events rendered it advisable to legislate that houses for nuns and +for monks should not be erected in close proximity.</p> + +<p>The time came when the abbess took her place among the high dignitaries +of the Church, and the office grew to be one, not only of great +spiritual influence, but of enviable social standing. Even in the days +of Gregory the Great, who, though he lost no opportunity to magnify the +papal office, was a man of intense spiritual nature and powerful moral +character, the leaders of female monasticism began to realize the +possibilities of ecclesiastical officialdom. The honors of an abbess +were found to be a not altogether unsatisfactory substitute for the +undesired or the unattainable glories of the world. It was at least +something to be addressed in correspondence by the great bishop of Rome +as a coworker; and there are many letters extant written by Gregory to +abbesses in various parts of the Western world. These furnish us with +sidelights upon the personnel, the duties, customs, and standing of the +women who were placed in charge of these convents.</p> + +<p>In a letter written to Thalassia, abbess of the convent which Brunehaut +founded in the city of Autun, Saint Gregory sets forth the privileges +and the manner of electing a woman to that office. He says: "We indulge, +grant and confirm by decree of our present authority, privileges as +follows: Ordaining that no king, no bishop, no one endowed with any +dignity whatsoever, shall have power, under show of any cause or +occasion whatsoever, to diminish or take away, or apply to his own uses, +or grant as if to other pious uses for excuse of his own avarice, +anything of what has been given to the monastery by the above-written +king's children, or of what shall in future be bestowed on it by any +others whatever of their own possessions. But all things that have been +there offered, or may come to be offered, we will to be possessed by +thee, as well as those who shall succeed thee in thy office and place, +from the present time inviolate and without disturbance, provided thou +apply them in all ways to the uses of those for whose sustenance and +government they have been granted." The use and benefit of papal +supremacy is beginning to be seen. This cumbrous legal enactment +conferred upon Thalassia a life lease and freehold in the property of +her convent, as secure as the tithes of his parish are to an English +incumbent.</p> + +<p>In this same letter, which was written some time in the latter part of +the sixth century, there is also a clause concerning the election of an +abbess. There is to be nothing crafty or secret about it. The election +is to be conducted in the fear of God. The king is to choose such a +woman as will meet with the approval of the nuns; she is then to be +ordained by the bishop. This all goes to show that, even in those early +times, for a woman who was willing to forego the attractions of married +life, or was unwilling to accept its cares, the position of abbess was +one which might well stir the ambitious. But, however that might be, in +the same letter, Gregory, who evidently knew the weaknesses of human +nature, prevented the questionable methods which the ambitious might be +tempted to adopt. "No one," he says, "of the kings, no one of the +priests, or any one else in person or by proxy, shall dare to accept +anything in gold, or in any kind of consideration whatever, for the +ordination of such abbess, or for any causes whatever pertaining to this +monastery, and that the same abbess presume not to give anything on +account of her ordination, lest by such occasion what is offered or has +been offered to places of piety should be consumed. And inasmuch as many +occasions for the deception of religious women are sought out, as is +said, in your parts by bad men, we ordain that an abbess of this same +monastery shall in no wise be deprived or deposed unless in case of +criminality requiring it. Hence, it is necessary that if any complaint +of this kind should arise against her, not only the bishop of the city +of Autun should examine the case, but that he should call to his +assistance six other of his fellow-bishops, and so fully investigate the +matter to the end that, all judging with one accord, a strict canonical +decision may either smite if guilty, or absolve her if innocent." A law +against any wrong always predicates the existence of that fault. Hence, +the prohibitions we have quoted could not have been of unknown +occurrence among the fellow abbesses of Thalassia.</p> + +<p>Through other letters we learn that it was in contradiction of monastic +rule for those embracing that life to retain property of their own after +profession, or even the power of disposing of it by will; it became the +property of the convent. It appears, also, that if a nun were +transferred from one monastery to another, or if, as sometimes happened, +a consecrated virgin living at home had lapsed and was therefore sent to +a monastery, her property always went to the convent in which she at +that present time resided. This was so strictly enforced that when one +Sirica, abbess at Caralis, made a will and distributed her property, +Gregory ordered that it be restored to the monastery without dispute or +evasion. As many women of position were induced to become nuns, it is +easy to be seen how the convents quickly acquired great wealth.</p> + +<p>All the abbesses did not consider themselves slavishly bound to follow +the uniform rule. In the letter just mentioned, the same Sirica is seen +to have manifested a refreshing independence in relation to other +matters in regard to which a woman does not take kindly to outside +interference. Gregory says: "And when we enquired of the Solicitude of +your Holiness why you endured that property belonging to the monastery +should be detained by others, our common son Epiphanius, your +archpresbyter, being present before us, replied that the said abbess had +up to the day of her death refused to wear the monastic dress, but had +continued in the use of such dresses as are used by the presbyteresses +of that place. To this the aforesaid Gavina replied that the practice +had come to be almost lawful from custom, alleging that the abbess who +had been before the above-mentioned Sirica had used such dresses. When, +then, we begun to feel no small doubt with regard to the character of +the dresses, it appeared necessary for us to consider with our legal +advisers, as well as with the other learned men of this city, what was +to be done with regard to law. And they, having considered the matter, +answered that, after an abbess had been solemnly ordained by the bishop +and had presided in the government of a monastery for many years until +the end of her life, the character of her dress might attach blame to +the bishop for having allowed it so to be, but still could not prejudice +the monastery." Those "presbyteresses" whose attire Sirica considered +she had ample right to copy, were the wives of presbyters who had been +married before ordination. It is all very trivial; and yet there is to +be recognized such a touch of naturalness about this abbess of thirteen +centuries ago that it is worthy of remark. And it must be confessed that +Sirica has our entire approval as we fancy we see her going calmly about +the duties of her office, while Pope Gregory of Rome is calling together +his legal advisers to know what shall be done about her dress, she all +the while determined that she is going to array herself in exactly that +style which, to her independent mind, seems most befitting.</p> + +<p>When, however, serious faults on the part of nuns had to be dealt with, +Gregory possessed, even in that early day, the power as well as the will +to inflict punishment of a severe nature. Moreover, the Church had +become what Rome was in the time of the emperors,--so universal and +thoroughly organized that culprits could not hope to flee beyond the +reach of the disciplinary hand. Petronilla, a nun of Lucania, had given +way to the weakness of nature and the seducements of Agnellus, the son +of a bishop. Taking the property which Petronilla had brought to the +monastery, and also that which the father of Agnellus had given to the +institution, they fled to Sicily in the hope of there enjoying love and +affluence in their mutual companionship and that of their child. But +Gregory's supervision was as far-reaching as was the power of his hand. +He writes to Cyprian, Deacon and Rector of Sicily, "to cause the +aforesaid man, and the above-named woman, to be summarily brought before +thee, and institute a most thorough investigation into the case. And, if +thou shouldest find it to be as reported to us, determine an affair +defiled by so many iniquities with the utmost severity of expurgation; +to the end that both strict retribution may overtake the man, who has +regarded neither his own nor her condition, and that, she having been +first punished and consigned to a monastery under penance, all the +property that had been taken away from the above-named place, with all +its fruits and accessions, may be restored." What the exact nature of +the penance inflicted was we do not know; but in another place, speaking +of nuns who had been detected in the same fault, the great bishop orders +that they "afford an example of the more rigorous kind of discipline, +such as may inspire fear in others." The Church had already acquired the +power to enforce its artificial morality, which power it vigorously +employed on those with whom it could afford to be at no pains to +ingratiate itself.</p> + +<p>Rigid disciplinarian as he was, and zealous in his labors to aggrandize +the Church, Gregory was careful not to allow the privileges of +monasticism to be pushed to the endangering, as he thought, of the moral +welfare of those whom it concerned. The law was that if either a husband +or a wife decided to devote himself or herself to the monastic life, the +marriage bonds might be severed without the consent of the other +partner. But in a letter which he wrote to a notary of Panormus and sent +by the hand of a woman named Agathosa, he refers to the latter's claim +that her husband had entered a monastery without her consent. He +instructs the notary "to investigate the matter by diligent enquiry, so +as to see whether it may not be the case that the man's profession was +with her consent, or that she herself had promised to change her state. +And should it be found to be so, see to his remaining in the monastery, +and compel her to change her state, as she had promised. If, however, +neither of these things is the case, and you do not find that the +aforesaid woman has committed any crime of fornication on account of +which it is lawful for a man to leave his wife, then, lest his +profession should possibly be an occasion of perdition to the wife left +behind in the world, we desire thee, without any excuse allowed, to +restore her husband to her, even though he should be already tonsured." +It is quite noticeable that the bishop would much prefer that the woman +follow her husband's example and embrace the monastic life. It is +possible that Gregory, in addition to his constant zeal in gaining +recruits for this vocation, realized, personally inexperienced though he +was in such matters, that the wife would find but cold comfort in the +enforced embraces of a husband who preferred the monks of a religious +house to her own society. Still, even in the case of a professed nun who +had been forcibly compelled to marry against her will, he did not +suggest that the matrimonial bonds should be severed without the consent +of the enterprising husband, but only that she should have the right, +after providing for her children, to devote the residue of her property +to the Church to which she would gladly have sacrificed her whole life.</p> + +<p>In those parts of the Christian world to which the authority of Pope +Gregory did not extend, monasticism showed some peculiarities that were +very dissimilar to the Benedictine rule. Perhaps the most striking of +these is to be seen in the ancient British Church, that apostolic +foundation which, until after the Saxon conquest, had never come under +the influence of the Roman See. At Whitby, in Yorkshire, Saint Hild, the +daughter of a king, reared a monastery which included, under her own +personal government, both men and women. In adjoining buildings, nuns +and monks lived in contemplative retirement, their life and studies +superintended by this gifted woman, whose wisdom was such that her +counsel was eagerly sought by the highest nobles in the land. Her +institution was a training school for bishops and priests, as well as a +haven of religious recreation for women of the world. That her rule was +salutary, and this combination not prejudicial to good living, seems to +be proved by the fact that she included among those who were trained +under her supervision John of Beverly, who was as famous for his +holiness as for his learning.</p> + +<p>Thus, monasticism became an increasingly powerful factor in the social +life of that far distant age. The importance of the institution lay in +its complete universality. Wherever was found the Christian Church, +there also was the religious house, a harbor of sanctity, presided over +by an abbess chosen for her piety and strength of mind, filled with +women who were not loath to forsake the pleasures of the world for the +love of peace and divine contemplation. From the Eternal City where +Gregory was reviving in religious guise that power which for so many +centuries had dominated the world, and where alone was retained what +remained of a departed civilization, to Streonshealh where Hild, +daughter of barbaric chiefs, reared her abbey on the summit of the dark +cliffs of Whitby, looking out over the gloom of the Northern Sea, these +convents represented what was then considered as the acme of feminine +attainment.</p> + +<p>That feminine monasticism had its uses and conferred its benefits it +would be an absurdity to deny. Despite the falsity of the unnatural +moral theory which supplied too largely its motive, monasticism was an +outward and visible sign of that human evolution which makes for +progress. The selfishness of its spiritual aims was in accord with the +strenuous individualism of that new age; its dualistic theory of nature +was at least a revolt from the brutal animalism of the day. Moreover, it +furnished the only opportunity that human life then afforded for calm +and concentrated reflection on any subject save eating, breeding, and +killing. The monastery was the bridge by which the salvage from the +dissolution of ancient civilization was carried over the Dark Ages to +the Renaissance.</p> + +<p>When we seek for the peculiar benefits monasticism provided for women, +they are found to be two. The universally recognized sanctity of the +cloister provided, in an age of exceeding brutality, a sanctuary where +woman might take refuge, and where something at least of the +spirituality of her nature might be neither outraged nor obliterated. It +may be that, after all unfavorable judgments have been passed, if it had +not been for the veneration of cloistered virginity, in so rude an age +the world might have forgotten what modesty and purity are. Also, it is +not favorable to the highest development of womanhood to be absolutely +restricted to the one vocation of marriage. If, to-day, women are not +better wives, they surely are more self-respecting for the fact that +there is a possibility of their being independent and yet remain +unmarried. What business now does for woman, in the olden times was done +by the female monastery: it provided examples of the sex, who were +glorious, and yet unmarried. The woman crossed in love, or the girl +threatened with a union repugnant to her feelings, could say: "I will be +a nun," and thereby gain the highest esteem of the world.</p> + +<a name="c7" id="c7"></a> +<br><br> + +<h3>VII</h3> + +<h3>WOMEN WHO WITNESSED THE FALL OF ROME</h3> + +<p>The Empire had forfeited its right to take its title from the ancient +city on the Tiber long before its final dismemberment. Constantine had +removed his court and capital to the Bosphorus, and there the metropolis +of the East remained. The Western emperors established their courts in +various parts of Europe, their locations being usually determined by the +exigences of rivalry and the territorial success of their usurpation. +Roman citizenship had become universal and at the same time meaningless: +it represented no privileges other than the bare fact that its owner was +not a slave. The freedom it conferred was only relative and, to a very +great extent, merely theoretical; practically, all were the slaves of +the emperor. The race of Romulus had degenerated into a pretentious but +pusillanimous aristocracy, who desired no title to glory save that found +in pedigree. There was not left in them sufficient virility to set up, +much less to maintain, an emperor of their own race; their rulers were +of barbarian extraction. The Roman army was a cosmopolitan aggregation, +in which Italy was the least represented of the provinces. Ammianus +Marcellinus, the historian, writing late in the fourth century, says: +"The modern nobles measure their rank and consequence according to the +loftiness of their chariots and the weighty magnificence of their dress. +Their long robes of silk and purple float in the wind; and as they are +agitated by art or accident, they occasionally discover the +under-garments, the rich tunics, embroidered with the figures of various +animals." Gibbon notes that the more pious coxcombs substituted the +figure of some favorite saint. Ammianus goes on to describe how, +"followed by a train of fifty servants, and tearing up the pavement, +they move along the streets with the same impetuous speed as if they +travelled with post-horses; and the example of the senators is boldly +imitated by the matrons and ladies, whose covered carriages are +continually driving round the immense space of the city and suburbs. +Whenever these persons of high distinction condescend to visit the +public baths, they assume, on their entrance, a tone of loud and +insolent command, and appropriate to their exclusive use the +conveniences which were designed for the Roman people. If, in these +places of mixed and general resort, they meet any of the infamous +ministers of their pleasures, they express their affection by a tender +embrace; while they proudly disdain the salutation of their +fellow-citizens who are not permitted to aspire above the honor of +kissing their hands or their knees. As soon as they have indulged +themselves in the refreshment of the bath, they resume their rings and +the other ensigns of their dignity, select from their private wardrobe +(of the finest linen, and of a quantity such as might suffice for a +dozen persons), the garments most agreeable to their fancy, and maintain +till their departure the same haughty demeanor.... The acquisition of +knowledge seldom engages the attention of nobles, who abhor the fatigue +and disdain the advantages of study. The libraries which they have +inherited from their fathers are secluded, like dreary sepulchres, from +the light of day. The art of obtaining the signature of a favorable +testament, and sometimes of hastening the moment of its execution, is +perfectly understood; and it has happened that in the same house, though +in different apartments, a husband and a wife, with the laudable design +of over-reaching each other, have summoned their respective lawyers, to +declare, at the same time, their mutual but contradictory wishes."</p> + +<p>It is probable that Ammianus, with the disdain which students are apt to +affect toward the unphilosophic multitude, has exaggerated the disregard +of the Roman nobility for books. We have seen that many of the female +friends of Jerome were most ardent lovers of literature; and the +Christian Fathers constantly evince an expectation of finding among +their female followers an enthusiastic reading public. These women read +theological works; it is not unreasonable to suppose that their less +heavenly-minded sisters were as assiduous students of the classical +secular books.</p> + +<p>We have the names and somewhat of the history of a few of the women who +lived in this period, but they are all from the highest and most +conspicuous society. History loves a shining mark. If the chroniclers of +the time had favored us with a detailed descriptive account of the life +of the common people, it would have been of more value than that of many +nobles.</p> + +<p>The population of Rome at this time has been estimated at between one +million two hundred thousand and two million. This, of course, includes +the vast army of slaves, which remained undiminished after the change of +the national religion. But there was also a great horde of free, poor +plebeians, who were the perpetual paupers of the government. These lived +in the same careless, indigent idleness as had the same class in +preceding centuries. They inhabited tenements not unlike those known to +the great cities of modern times. These houses were of several stories, +each tenement sheltering a number of families. That they were +exceedingly uncomfortable is easy to believe, seeing that even the +wealthy of ancient times, notwithstanding the architectural grandeur +which they could command, were ignorant of the ordinary modern domestic +conveniences. The free working class of the present day was then +practically unknown: that place was taken by the slaves. So the +poverty-stricken Roman citizen was both necessarily and willingly +unemployed. Generally, however, corn, wine, and oil were supplied him +with little or no expense to himself. Each morning, at a set time, his +wife would repair to a prescribed station in the district, and there, on +showing a citizen's ticket, she would receive a three-pound loaf of +bread. So indulgent was the government, that it ground and baked the +allowance which at one time was made in the shape of corn. During five +months in the year there was also distributed, to the poorer people, an +allowance of pork; the annual consumption of this kind of meat in Rome +was three million six hundred and twenty-eight thousand pounds. When the +populace had clamored before Augustus for free wine as well as bread, +that wise and firm ruler reminded them that since his friend Agrippa had +brought into the city a bountiful supply of pure water, no Roman need +complain of thirst. But those emperors who denuded Roman citizenship +entirely of its right of suffrage yet had an interest in keeping the +populace quiet and contented; hence, in the fourth century there existed +public cellars from whence was dispensed, at a small cost to the +inhabitants of Rome, the fermented vintage of Campania.</p> + +<p>It was also necessary, the people being idle, that they should be +amused. There were the magnificent public baths where they could while +away the time in luxury and gossip. But the amusement with which the +multitude was never satiated was found in the exhibitions of the circus. +On special occasions, many would sleep in the porticoes near by, in +order to be the first on hand to obtain seats in the morning. The +immense amphitheatre would accommodate four hundred thousand. +Christianity abolished the gladiatorial combat of former times; but +there still remained the exciting and perilous chariot race and the +hunting and fighting of wild beasts. Nor had Christianity been able to +purify the stage to any great extent. The Muses of Tragedy and a +statelier comedy were entirely abandoned for licentious farces. No fewer +than three thousand female dancers were occupied in the theatres of +Rome. At a time of famine when all strangers were banished from the +city, and also the teachers of the liberal arts, these dancers were +exempted by the edict.</p> + +<p>The people of Rome were afforded an additional source of interest in the +ecclesiastical contentions which were aroused by the ambitions and the +theological disputes of the clergy. Before the close of the fourth +century the bishopric of Rome had become an office more fitted to be +sought after by the worldly-minded than by the imitator of the humble +Galilean fishermen. Its vacation was the signal for a contention in +which rival candidates were not averse to employing the violence of the +common people as well as the influence of noble Christian ladies. +Ammianus describes how "the ardor of Damasus and Ursinus to seize the +episcopal seat surpassed the ordinary measure of human ambition. They +contended with the rage of party; the quarrel was maintained by the +wounds and death of their followers; and the prefect, unable to resist +or appease the tumult, was constrained, by superior violence, to retire +into the suburbs. Damasus prevailed: the well-disputed victory remained +on the side of his faction; one hundred and thirty-seven dead bodies +were found in the Basilica of Sicininus, where the Christians held their +religious assemblies; and it was long before the angry minds of the +people resumed their accustomed tranquillity. When I consider the +splendor of the capital, I am not astonished that so valuable a prize +should inflame the desires of ambitious men, and produce the fiercest +and most obstinate contests. The successful candidate is confident that +he will be enriched by the offerings of matrons; that, as soon as his +dress is composed with becoming care and elegance, he may proceed in his +chariot through the streets of Rome; and that the sumptuousness of the +imperial table will not equal the profuse and delicate entertainments +provided by the taste and expense of the Roman bishops."</p> + +<p>The practice of taking advantage of the charity--or the sentiment--of +wealthy ladies had become so prevalent among the clergy that the +government had been compelled to regard it as an abuse to be severely +legislated against. By his enemies, Bishop Damasus himself was nicknamed +Auriscalpius Matronarum (the ladies' ear scratcher). An edict on the +subject was addressed by Valentinian to this bishop who was directed to +have it read in the churches of his diocese. It must have been a +humiliating document for the clerics of the time to listen to in the +presence of their congregations. It admonished them not to frequent the +houses of virgins and widows. The habit had become popular for wealthy +and devout ladies to choose some monk or priest as their individual and +private spiritual director. That the confidence reposed in the latter +was often abused is indicated by the edict which prohibited him from +profiting by any gift or legacy from his spiritual protégée; the same +abuse is also frankly acknowledged in the writings of the Fathers. As we +have seen in the case of Jerome and Paula, such a relationship might be +perfectly innocent, though somewhat hysterical. Human nature is the same +in all ages; and, given a woman whose sentimental nature predisposed her +to seek an indemnification in spiritual companionship for those ordinary +delights which, by pious vows, she had denied herself; an ecclesiastic, +frail in principle, but apt to cloak his designs with the sanctity of +ghostly affection and disinterested charity, and the result is not +unlikely to be disastrous to the reputation of the lady and, also, to +the expectations of her heirs. The law of Valentinian, forbidding these +women to make clerics their legatees, precluded the former from the +comfort of an ostentatious guaranty of their piety, and stigmatized the +disinterestedness of the latter.</p> + +<p>Such, then, was the condition of the Roman Empire at the time when the +causes leading to its decline were nearing their culmination. After +Julian's death under the assassin's hand, Jovian followed in a brief +reign. Then Valentinian came to the throne. In this emperor is witnessed +that astonishing mixture of vice and virtue, barbarous cruelty and +Christian belief which characterized that period. It was an age of +bitter warfare; every human force was engaged in deadly contention; both +the Church and the Empire were fighting for their lives. The latter +could scarcely keep off the hordes of barbarians which were swarming and +surging upon its borders, and at times it seemed as if the former had +quite succumbed to the heresy of Arianism. It was the most deadly battle +that the Church has ever had to wage. After the question of who should +rule, theology was the most important item in the politics of the time. +Varying metaphysical definitions which baffled the acumen of the wisest +philosophers were confidently espoused in a spirit of partisanship by +mechanics and ignorant persons of both sexes. It was the difference of +an iota--<i>homoousios</i> or <i>homoiousios</i>.</p> + +<p>Valentinian favored orthodoxy, not because of sturdy convictions (he +said it was a question for bishops), but because the Church in the West +was mainly Catholic; but in Justina, his wife, the Arians were +compensated by a powerful champion. Socrates, the historian, describes +the marriage of Justina as having taken place under most remarkable +circumstances. The story is interesting, though of somewhat doubtful +veracity: "Justus, the father of Justina, who had been governor of +Picenum under the reign of Constantius, had a dream in which he seemed +to himself to bring forth the imperial purple out of his right side. +When this dream had been told to many persons, it at length came to the +knowledge of Constantius, who conjecturing it to be a presage that a +descendant of Justus would become emperor, caused him to be +assassinated. Justina, being thus bereft of her father, still continued +a virgin. Some time after, she became known to Severa, wife of the +Emperor Valentinian, and had frequent intercourse with the empress, +until their intimacy at length grew to such an extent that they were +accustomed to bathe together. When Severa saw Justina in the bath she +was greatly struck with the beauty of the virgin, and spoke of her to +the emperor, saying that the daughter of Justus was so lovely a creature +and possessed of such symmetry of form, that she herself, though a +woman, was altogether charmed with her. The emperor, treasuring this +description by his wife in his own mind, considered with himself how he +could espouse Justina, without repudiating Severa, who had borne him +Gratian, whom he had created Augustus a short time before. He +accordingly framed a law, and caused it to be published throughout all +the cities, by which any man was permitted to have two lawful wives. The +law was promulgated and he married Justina, by whom he had Valentinian +the younger, and three daughters--Justa, Grata, and Galla.... Galla was +afterwards married to Theodosius the Great, who had by her a daughter +named Placidia."</p> + +<p>This story, romantic as it is, lacks all the hallmarks of credibility. +In the first place, there is absolutely no trace of this remarkable law +either in the codes or in other historians. Furthermore, the ancient +Church was more severely opposed to bigamy and polygamy than it was to +any other deviation from common morals. Also the Roman law strongly +discountenanced plurality in marriage. Moreover, we have it on the +authority of Ammianus, who is a most trustworthy witness, that +Valentinian was remarkable for his chastity, both at home and abroad. +Also in contradiction to what Socrates relates, Zosimus asserts that +Justina had already been married to Magnentius, and that the emperor was +joined to her in matrimony after the death of Severa, his first wife. +Either this latter statement must be accepted as the fact in the case, +or we must believe that the first empress was divorced, a procedure that +was certainly not difficult and was extremely customary for the rulers +of Rome. What is probably the truth of the matter is that this story of +Justina being the partner of Valentinian in bigamy was a malicious +invention; possibly the discredit of its promulgation should be laid at +the door of some of the Unscrupulous among the orthodox, who were +incensed at her support of heresy.</p> + +<p>It was customary for the empress to accompany her imperial husband in +his military expeditions about the Empire. Apart from other +considerations, this was necessary to her safety and that of her +offspring. Conspirators are apt to perpetrate their designs in the +absence of the ruler against whom they are plotting; and in that case, +the legitimate successor, with his protectors--if within reach--is the +first victim of the ambition or precaution of his father's enemies. +Consequently, it was usual for the emperors to take their families with +them even in the most distant journeys. The advantage of this was +illustrated in the death of Valentinian. He had marched against the +Quadi who were vexing the frontier on the bank of the Danube. In his +customary cruel manner, he put to death all who fell into his power, +murdering even the women and children. The desperate people sent envoys +begging for peace and forgiveness, but Valentinian broke out upon them +in one of those paroxysms of rage to which he was subject, and, in the +midst of his terrible invectives, ruptured a blood vessel in his lungs, +which caused his death upon the spot.</p> + +<p>At the moment, Justina was occupying a palace at a short distance from +Bregetio, where the death of her husband occurred. Gratian, the son of +Severa, had already been invested by his father with the imperial +purple; but the court ministers, inspired probably with the thought of +those advantages which such men enjoy during the reign of an infant, +immediately planned to exalt to the throne of Valentinian the latter's +four-year-old son, who bore the same name. Justina was sent for and +placed by the ministers on a regal platform facing the troops. She held +her young son in her arms; and the picture of a beautiful woman, endowed +both with the fruit and the graces of motherhood, had its never failing +effect of stirring the soldiers to an outburst of chivalric enthusiasm. +The infant was there and then invested with the purple and the insignia +of empire, which, it may be added, he never wore with greater effect +than in the hour when his puny infant form was first arrayed in them. +Whatever real influence his name had in the government was wielded by +Justina. But Gratian was emperor. He it was who commanded the army and +ruled the Empire, while Justina held court and engaged in petty domestic +politics at Milan and Sirmium. One thing is certain and is remarkable +enough to be mentioned--the two empress-mothers, Severa and Justina, +lived as co-widows in that mutual harmony which Socrates would have us +believe characterized them as co-wives.</p> + +<p>Perhaps the principal event of the life of Justina was her controversy +with Saint Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, who was one of the noblest men of +the ancient Church, and who, by his courage and integrity, set an +example for all succeeding bishops. Contemning the pomps and vanities of +the world, he did not disdain to use the powers of his office for the +political advantage of either the Church or the state; so, when Maximus +usurped the imperial privilege in the Gallic provinces, Ambrose was sent +as an ambassador by Justina to beg the clemency of the new emperor for +herself and her son. Maximus reigned in the far West, while at his +sufferance Valentinian II. was emperor in Italy.</p> + +<p>While this young emperor--who died at the age of twenty-one--reigned, +his mother ruled. Justina, however, appears to have been an easy-going +woman. She does not seem to have been possessed of much ambition, and +there is no indication that she interfered very strenuously in the +affairs of the Empire. She found herself in the position which she +occupied, and endeavored to preserve herself and her son in safety. +Tolerance was marked in all that she did, and there was a very evident +willingness to leave others unmolested, provided she and her son were +allowed to maintain their position in security. Of course, while they +retained the names of empress-mother and emperor, their real power was +but slight. Valentinian II. was never more than a boy, and Justina +possessed no military command. Nevertheless, it does seem as if she were +endowed with some real ability, or she could not have maintained herself +in comparative security during seventeen years of such troublous and +changeful times.</p> + +<p>Justina's controversy with Saint Ambrose seems to have been the one +point on which she had serious difficulty with her subjects, and this +appears to have affected only the people of Milan. Gibbon, in his +inimitable manner, thus describes the incident: "The government of Italy +and of the young emperor naturally devolved to his mother Justina, a +woman of beauty and spirit, but who, in the midst of an orthodox people, +had the misfortune of professing the Arian heresy, which she endeavored +to instil into the mind of her son. Justina was persuaded that a Roman +emperor might claim, in his own dominions, the public exercise of his +religion; and she proposed to the archbishop, as a moderate and +reasonable concession, that he should resign the use of a single church, +either in the city or suburbs of Milan. But the conduct of Ambrose was +governed by very different principles. The palaces of earth might indeed +belong to Cæsar, but the churches were the houses of God; and, within +the limits of his diocese, he himself, as the lawful successor of the +apostles, was the only minister of God. The privileges of Christianity, +temporal as well as spiritual, were confined to the true believers; and +the mind of Ambrose was satisfied that his own theological opinions were +the standard of truth and orthodoxy. The archbishop, who refused to hold +any conference or negotiation with the instruments of Satan, declared +with modest firmness his resolution to die a martyr rather than to yield +to the impious sacrilege; and Justina, who resented the refusal as an +act of insolence and rebellion, hastily determined to exert the imperial +prerogative of her son."</p> + +<p>Under ordinary circumstances, in a like situation, it is very probable +that the bishop's reiterated desire for martyrdom would have been +gratified. But Ambrose was secure, owing to the intense orthodoxy of all +Justina's subjects. In an attack on religion, there was no one to carry +out her commands. "As she desired to perform her public devotions on the +approaching festival of Easter, Ambrose was ordered to appear before the +council. He obeyed the summons with the respect of a faithful subject, +but he was followed, without his consent, by an innumerable people: they +pressed, with impetuous zeal, against the gates of the palace; and the +affrighted ministers of Valentinian, instead of pronouncing a sentence +of exile on the archbishop of Milan, humbly requested that he would +interpose his authority, to protect the person of the emperor, and to +restore the tranquillity of the capital."</p> + +<p>In the end the bishop prevailed. There are extant certain letters +written by the saint to his sister, Marcellina, in which he describes +the circumstances of this dispute with Justina. He recounts how soldiers +were sent to occupy the church which the empress desired for her own +heretical use, and how they fraternized with the Catholic people who +refused to give up the sacred building. The bishop asserts that in the +midst of all this tumult and public inharmony, he gave utterance only to +"freer groans." But there is evidence in bis own letters that Ambrose +took a more active and also a more effective course than mere pious +groaning; indeed, he showed a remarkable boldness of decision, as well +as astuteness, in his political methods. He met the occasion with a +sermon on the trials of Job, which could hardly have aroused pleasant +reflections in the mind of Justina. "But Job was tried by accumulated +tidings of evils, he was also tried by his wife, who said, 'Speak a word +against God and die.' You see what terrible things are of a sudden +stirred up, the Goths, armed men, the heathen.... You observe what was +commanded when the order was given: 'Surrender the Basilica!' that is, +speak a word against God and die.... So, then, we are prepared by the +imperial commands, but are strengthened by the words of Scripture, which +replies: 'Thou hast spoken as one of the foolish.' That temptation then +is no light one, for we know that those temptations are more severe +which arise through women. For even Adam was overthrown by Eve, whereby +it came to pass that he erred from the divine commandments.... Why +should I relate that Jezebel, also, persecuted Elijah after a +bloodthirsty fashion? Or that Herodias caused John the Baptist to be +slain?... Of women change follows on change, their hatreds alternate, +their falsehoods vary, elders assemble together, wrong done to the +emperor is made a pretence."</p> + +<p>This homiletic punishment of the empress by the intrepid saint was +opportunely followed by the discovery of certain holy and potent relics. +By means of these, the sick were healed and the blind restored, and thus +the people were convinced that God was on their side. The empress +derided these marvels with an incredulity which would do credit to the +present time; but she was compelled to take the wise counsel of +Theodosius and surrender her purpose. She took her revenge, however, by +publishing a decree that the Arian worship should be lawful throughout +the dominions of her son, Valentinian II.</p> + +<p>During this time, Maximus, the usurper of Gaul, had acted toward the +empress and her feeble son with apparent friendliness; but he had not in +reality set bounds to the range of his ambition. In 377, his first +hostile operations commenced. Justina was not prepared for warfare. She +fled with the emperor and her daughter, Galla, to Theodosius, the great +ruler of the East, who first married Galla, and then took up +successfully the cause of her mother and her brother. Of this marriage +was born Placidia whose strange adventures we shall shortly relate. It +is probable that Justina died during the war waged by Theodosius against +Maximus. Of her character nothing derogatory is recorded with the +exception of her heresy. It is hardly remarkable that, in an +ecclesiastical dispute, she should be unable to cope with the man who, +later, had the strength and the courage to close the door of the +cathedral in the face of the great Theodosius, after his crime at +Thessalonica.</p> + +<p>Events so moved that, by the year 394, Theodosius had become the sole +ruler of the Empire; but four months later he died at Milan, leaving the +dominion of the East and the West to his sons Arcadius and Honorius +respectively. Honorius was of a weakly constitution, and too young to +take part in public matters. Flavius Stilicho, a Vandal, and the ablest +man both in court and in camp that those times produced, defended the +Empire in the attacks of the barbarians who poured over the Danube and +over the Rhine.</p> + +<p>Stilicho had married the beautiful and accomplished Serena, the favorite +niece of Theodosius. Claudian, in a poem devoted to the praise of +Serena, has portrayed her excellences of mind and person as being of the +most attractive quality. To her devotion to her husband the modern +historian pays this tribute: "The arts of calumny might have been +successful, if the tender and vigilant Serena had not protected her +husband against his domestic foes, while he vanquished in the field the +enemies of the empire."</p> + +<p>The daughter of Serena, whose name was Maria, was made the wife of +Honorius when that emperor was in his fourteenth year. Claudian wrote an +epithalamium and some fescennine verses for the occasion, after the +ancient manner; nothing else of this kind could ever have been quite so +ridiculously conventional, for, on the authority of Zosimus, we learn +that Maria died a virgin after she had been ten years a wife. The +debility of her husband's constitution rendered the continence, which +the ecclesiastic of that time so greatly admired, uncommonly easy. +Honorius sat on the Roman throne through a period of twenty-eight years, +with little more influence or effect upon the history of his time than +would have been exerted if his place had been filled by a wooden image.</p> + +<p>In the meantime, those commotions had taken place in the interior of +Asia which were to result in the flooding and overthrowing of the Roman +Empire by hordes of migrating barbarians. The most formidable of these +were the Huns, a Mongol race which had roamed the steppes from time +immemorial. The Huns were the more terrible because of their extreme +ugliness. Their appearance was a fearful visitation for the women of the +civilized nations which they overran. These hardy and vicious savages +suddenly swarmed out from their own country, and, driving the Ostrogoths +before them, with devastating persistence rolled, a human wave, to the +westward. The Goths were between "the devil and the deep sea." But, +while the Huns were an irresistible force, the Romans were not an +immovable body. Steadily the Goths gained ground westward with the Huns +surging after them. Rome was doomed. The effeminating arts of +civilization prepared a prey for the necessities of virile barbarism. A +brave ruler like Theodosius, who was not of the enervated Roman race, +might stem the tide for a while; but the disintegration of the Empire +was as inevitable as is that of a pile of lumber when caught in the +flooding of a river.</p> + +<p>In the year 402, Alaric the Goth for the first time broke into the +Western empire. He carried his conquering arms into Italy, spreading a +pathway of devastation and misery wherever he went. In modern times, it +is impossible to estimate the suffering which an invasion brought upon +the women of that fated country. The old and those deficient in personal +attractions were robbed and, as likely as not, murdered; the young and +the beautiful were outraged and enslaved. All this wretchedness and +more, the barbarians visited upon Rome; but Alaric's first exploit was +ended at Pollentia by the brave generalship of Stilicho, though the +goodwill of the barbarian was purchased by tribute. As soon as this +danger was, for the time, averted, a new and not less fearful invasion +spread over the Empire. Horde after horde of Vandals, Alani, +Burgundians, and Alemannians crossed the frontiers in search of plunder +and adventure. They, too, were held in check by the able minister; but +gratitude for public service rendered is never so potential as is envy +of the high position of the one giving it, and the sole defender of the +Empire fell a victim to political machinations at the precise moment +when the peril of Rome was greatest.</p> + +<p>With Alaric pounding on the gates of the capital, the Romans, with the +consent of Honorius, murdered the only man in the world who had proved +himself the barbarian's match. Nor did they stop with the death of +Stilicho; as Gibbon says: "Perhaps in the person of Serena, the Romans +might have respected the niece of Theodosius, the aunt, nay, even the +adoptive mother of the reigning emperor; but they abhorred the widow of +Stilicho; and they listened with credulous passion to the tale of +calumny which accused her of maintaining a secret and criminal +correspondence with the Gothic invader. Actuated, or overawed, by the +same popular frenzy, the senate, without requiring any evidence of her +guilt, pronounced the sentence of her death. Serena was ignominiously +strangled; and the infatuated multitude were astonished to find that +this cruel act of injustice did not immediately produce the retreat of +the barbarians, and the deliverance of the city." One offence alleged +against Serena was that she had taken a necklace from the statue of +Vesta--it was then the fashion to clothe and adorn the statues, whether +in the interest of modesty or ostentation we cannot say.</p> + +<p>The description which the great student of ancient history just now +quoted gives of the siege which Rome at that time endured is entirely in +keeping with our subject. "That unfortunate city gradually experienced +the distress of scarcity, and at length the horrid calamities of famine. +The daily allowance of three pounds of bread was reduced to one-half, to +one-third, to nothing.... The poorer citizens, who were unable to +purchase the necessaries of life, solicited the precarious charity of +the rich; and for a while the public misery was alleviated by the +humanity of Lasta, the widow of the emperor Gratian, who had fixed her +residence at Rome, and consecrated to the use of the indigent the +princely revenue which she annually received from the grateful +successors of her husband. But these private and temporary donatives +were insufficient to appease the hunger of a numerous people; and the +progress of famine invaded the marble palaces of the senators +themselves. The persons of both sexes, who had been educated in the +enjoyment of ease and luxury, discovered how little is requisite to +supply the demands of nature; and lavished their unavailing treasures of +gold and silver, to obtain the coarse and scanty sustenance which they +would formerly have rejected with disdain."</p> + +<p>The outbreak of a pestilence soon added to the horrors of famine. Rome +again suffered the loss of thousands of her citizens through disease. If +the extent of this calamity was less than during the Great Plague, a +century and a half before, mourning was nevertheless almost universal. +Gibbon says, "many thousands of the inhabitants of Rome expired in their +houses or in the streets, for want of sustenance." But the almost +unending funeral procession of the former period was now lacking, as the +public sepulchres without the walls were within the circle of the +invading horde.</p> + +<a name="ill4" id="ill4"></a> +<p class="mid"><img alt="" src="images/004.png"><br><b><i>FAMINE AND PESTILENCE<br> After the painting by +A. Hirschl.</i></b></p> + +<blockquote><b><i>The outbreak of a pestilence soon added to the horrors of famine. Rome +again suffered the loss of thousands of her citizens through disease. If +the extent of this calamity was less than during the Great Plague, a +century and a half before, mourning was nevertheless almost universal. +Gibbon says, "many thousands of the inhabitants of Rome expired in their +houses or in the streets, for want of sustenance." But the almost +unending funeral procession of the former period was now lacking, as +the public sepulchres without the walls were within the circle of the +invading horde.</i></b></blockquote> + + +<p>There was no relief. When ambassadors pleaded with Alaric for the great +multitude of the people against whom he was contending, his sole reply +was: "The thicker the hay, the easier it is mowed." When he stipulated +the ransom by which alone the city could be saved, and the ministers of +the senate humbly inquired what he purposed to leave to them, he +haughtily replied: "Your lives." The promise of five thousand pounds of +gold, thirty thousand pounds of silver, four thousand robes of silk, +three thousand pieces of fine scarlet cloth, and three thousand pounds +of pepper suspended for a time the vengeance which centuries of +oppression by Rome had accumulated in barbarian hearts.</p> + +<p>The Roman courtiers, however, had neither the wisdom nor the honesty to +keep faith with the enemy whom they could not resist and on whose good +graces depended their safety. The patience of Alaric became exhausted. +He threw off all restraint, determining to take the fate and also the +resources of the Empire into his own hands. The year 410 saw the city, +which had for a millennium been the proud mistress of the world, +captured and at the mercy of the barbaric nations which for so many +centuries had furnished her wealth and slaves.</p> + +<p>The conqueror declared that he waged war with the Romans and not with +the Apostles. Consequently, while he encouraged his soldiers to seize +the opportunity to enrich themselves and enjoy the fruits of victory, he +gave commands that the sanctity of the churches should be observed. The +ecclesiastical writers recount instances of seemingly remarkable +protection vouchsafed to the holy virgins, who were at the mercy of a +licentious soldiery. But there is every evidence that the customary fate +of the conquered in those savage times was abundantly meted out. It is +on record that many Christian women, in order to save themselves from +what they dreaded still more, sought death in the waters of the Tiber. +Others were more fortunate in being able to find protection in flight. +"The most illustrious of these fugitives," says Gibbon, "was the noble +and pious Proba, the widow of the prefect, Petronius. After the death of +her husband, the most powerful subject of Rome, she had remained at the +head of the Anician family, and successively supplied, from her private +fortune, the expense of the consulships of her three sons. When the city +was besieged and taken by the Goths, Proba supported, with Christian +resignation, the loss of immense riches; embarked in a small vessel, +from which she beheld, at sea, the flames of her burning palace, and +fled with her daughter, Læta, and her grand-daughter, the celebrated +virgin, Demetrias, to the coast of Africa. The benevolent profusion with +which the matron distributed the fruits or the price of her estates +contributed to alleviate the misfortunes of exile and captivity. But the +family of Proba herself was not exempt from the rapacious oppression of +Count Heraclian, who basely sold, in matrimonial prostitution, the +noblest maidens of Rome to the lust or avarice of Syrian merchants."</p> + +<p>Alaric died shortly after his conquest, and the sceptre of the Gothic +kingdom passed to the hand of Adolphus, his brother-in-law. The latter +was a brave and able general, and seems to have possessed a nature not +discreditable to the time in which he lived. He proposed--the proposal +had all the effect of a command--a treaty of alliance with Honorius. It +practically amounted to annexation; but the Roman emperor was not in a +position to refuse any proposition which the Goth might see fit to make. +Nor could the Romans prevent Adolphus from strengthening his own +interest, as well as consulting his passion, in taking to wife the +half-sister of Honorius, Placidia, the daughter of Theodosius and Galla.</p> + +<p>Placidia was just ripening into womanhood when Alaric first appeared +before Rome. She was taken as a hostage by the Gothic conqueror, and, +though reduced to the indignity of being a prisoner in a barbarian camp, +was treated with great consideration. Her beauty and her mental gifts +won the regard of Adolphus: and no sooner had he succeeded to the +kingship, than he requested of Honorius her hand. Such an alliance was +repugnant to the Romans, but, as in other matters, the request was only +a polite form of command. Placidia herself does not appear to have been +unwilling to accept the situation, and her nuptials were celebrated in +splendid state. The exploits of his army in Italy had enabled Adolphus +to present his bride with a magnificent wedding gift. The historian +Olympiodorus recounts that fifty handsome boys were employed to carry +this present. They came before her, carrying a bowl in each hand. One +bowl was filled with pieces of gold, the other with precious gems. +Adolphus always manifested a strong and tender affection for his wife; +nor did he ever lose an opportunity to honor her birth, seating her +above himself on state occasions.</p> + +<p>This union, however, was destined to be short-lived. Adolphus was +stricken down by the hand of an assassin; his enemy was seated upon his +throne; and Placidia, being brutally and of purpose made one of a number +of common captives, was compelled to run for twelve miles before the +horse of the barbarian chieftain, the murderer of a husband whom she had +sincerely loved. Possibly it was her sufferings which aroused the +people; however, her persecutor was himself assassinated a few days +after his own murderous act; and Placidia was restored to her brother, +her ransom being six hundred thousand measures of wheat.</p> + +<p>Placidia would have been willing, in accordance with the Christian +teaching of the time, to have lamented the loss of Adolphus in continual +widowhood. But another marriage was arranged for her, without her +consent: she was awarded as a prize to Constantius the general for his +services to Honorius. The results of this marriage were the birth of +Honoria and of Valentinian III., and, probably through the schemes of +Placidia, the promotion of her husband to the title of Augustus. But it +was not long before the princess again found herself a widow; and though +mischievous tongues magnified the caresses of childish affection on the +part of Honorius to signs of a fondness warmer than their kinship would +warrant, a quarrel between these two caused Placidia to go with her +children to Constantinople.</p> + +<p>At the death of Honorius, Valentinian, though no more than six years of +age, was invested with the purple. But his mother was empress; the +policy of the Empire was directed by her; and for twenty-five years she +maintained her power. Gibbon speaks slightingly of her ability; but it +could not have been little, else how did she retain a rule which any +chance military adventurer might be tempted to seize? The historian +refers to Cassiodorus, who compares the regencies of Placidia and +Amalasuntha, to the disadvantage of the former.</p> + +<p>The life of the Roman empress had been filled with more adventures and +changes of fortune than were wont to fall to the lot of woman, even in +those troublous times, but her story is less strange and is certainly +happier than that of her daughter, Honoria. There is in existence a +medal bearing the countenance of Honoria, and it is a fair face; it +bears the inscription Augusta. The young princess was invested with this +honor and rank in order that she might be above the aspirations of any +subject. As early as her sixteenth year, however, she chafed against the +isolation to which she was doomed. Denied legitimate love, she abandoned +herself to an illicit relationship with one of the domestic officers of +the palace, the fact of which was soon revealed by her pregnancy. She +was exiled by her mother to Constantinople, where she spent several +years in close restraint and great unhappiness. Attila the Hun was at +that time the particular barbarian who was harassing the Empire; and +suddenly he announced that he had received the betrothal of the princess +Honoria, and that he claimed her as his bride. Then her astonished +relatives learned that she really had been in correspondence with +Attila, and had besought him to claim her in marriage. It is probable +that a spirit of mischief actuated Honoria in this; for no educated +woman could in reality desire to be joined in marriage with the Hun, +unless it were from motives very different from love. The king had at +first disdained her advances, and was willing to act upon them only when +it suited the policy dictated by his ambition. But Placidia steadfastly +refused to countenance her daughter's procedure; and Honoria, being +first married to a man of mean extraction, in order that the question of +her matrimonial disposal might never again be a source of trouble, was +shut up in a close prison for the rest of her days. It is not unlikely +that her misfortunes arose rather from her position than her character. +That her life with Attila, had she attained her object, would have +proved more desirable than perpetual imprisonment is difficult to +believe. His respect for woman may be estimated from the fact that he +was a polygamist, and also from the fact that he watched his soldiers +amuse themselves with the awful death agonies of two hundred maidens, +whom they tore limb from limb with wild horses and crushed under the +wheels of heavy wagons.</p> + +<p>Placidia died in the year 450. She was buried at Ravenna; and, with some +ambiguity of meaning, it is said that there her corpse, seated in a +chair of cypress wood, was preserved for ages. Her son perished by the +avenging hand of a senator whose wife he had perfidiously violated. He +was the last emperor of the house of Theodosius; and his mother was the +last woman, with a name in history, who was worthy of mention in the +records of the perishing Western Empire.</p> + +<p>With the death of Placidia, we arrive at the end of a cycle in the +evolution of the human race. It was contemporaneous with the terminus of +ancient Aryan civilization--it was during a climacteric in human +history. Again the world was to revert to the rudeness necessarily +accompanying the vigorous strength which characterizes the setting forth +of a new race. The world began again--polished manners and social order +gave place to strenuosity and individualism. The strong hand again +became the one thing needful. Literature was silent, and art was +forgotten. Of the glory of classic civilization there remained only a +memory; and even this grew faint, for the struggle for existence became +exacting. Nevertheless, from all that Rome had done and had been there +remained an imperishable deposit. From the ruins of one civilization +there is gathered the foundations for the succeeding. Rome left, among +other contributions to absolute progress, the idea of nationality and a +belief in the necessity of popular law. In these two respects, woman +shared in the determined progress of the world. The Roman woman +manifested the capacity of her sex to place a steady hand on the helm of +the state; she wrested for herself some of those legal rights to which, +by virtue of her humanity at least, she is indubitably entitled.</p> + + +<a name="c8" id="c8"></a> +<br><br> + +<h3>VIII</h3> + +<h3>WOMEN OF THE FRANKISH CHURCH</h3> + +<p>We may now consider ourselves to have nearly passed the transition +period between the Classic and the Middle Ages, and to have begun to +enter that indefinite range of history known as Mediævalism--indefinite +as to character rather than extent of period. A new world opens to our +view; a world which we examine under the influence of the romanticist +more than under that of the philosopher. In the age to which our +researches have now brought us we find that the life of woman has wholly +changed. Evolution has taken a new beginning. In place of the state as +the symbol and the object of power and progress individualism has come +to the front and asserted itself. There is now more play for personal +initiation on the part of the multitude. The activity of the individual +is more directly attributable to his personal motives and culminates +more fully in his own desires. Consequently, though woman is still held +down to an inferior level, and is hampered by unequal laws, she has more +room in which to assert herself, and she plays a stronger part in +historical events. Practically, though not theoretically, she is still +given in marriage without her consent; but she is no longer regarded as +a mere possession. Her surroundings also have wonderfully changed. In +place of the porticoed villa with its marble floor and beautiful +statuary, its highly decorated atrium and sparkling fountains, she is +now seen in what was the rudiment of the turreted castle with its rough +hall and rush-strewn floor. She has lost the learning by which she was +wont to delight her idle hours with classic poetry and Greek philosophy; +if she can read at all, her accomplishment is a rare one, and the most +powerful stimulus to her imagination is the song of illiterate bards who +recite the heroic achievements of her race. In this she has reverted to +literature in its embryonic condition. Her religion has gained morality, +though emphatically more in theory than in practice, but it has +distinctly lost in poetry. Elegance has disappeared from every phase of +her life. When she rides abroad it is no longer in a splendidly equipped +litter, but, in hardier fashion, upon horseback. While for her to lead +men-at-arms is an extreme rarity, she is far likelier to attain ruling +authority than she was under the refined civilization of older times. +With the Franks, however, supreme rule by a woman, in any direct manner, +was rendered impossible by the ancient Salic law which prescribed that +"no portion of really Salic land (that is to say, in the full +territorial ownership of the head of the family) should pass into the +possession of women, but it should belong altogether to the virile sex."</p> + +<p>To us the early Mediæval life seems more remote and less intelligible +than that of the classic age. We are more at home in the villas of Rome +than in the castles of Charlemagne. This is partly because the +literature of the latter age has not presented such a satisfying picture +as have the immortal productions of the former; but more largely because +the genius of modern civilization has its counterpart in the social +ideas of classic times, rather than in the individualistic motive of +mediævalism.</p> + +<p>The period covered by this chapter extends over four hundred years, from +the end of the fifth century to the tenth. In our selection of +characters from the successive generations during that term, we shall +have an eye to their utility as representing types of the feminine, even +more than to their aptitude for illustrating any special development in +civilized habits. Evolution proceeded slowly in those days, and, +consequently, a century or two did not greatly change social habits.</p> + +<p>Somewhere about the middle of the fifth century, a Frankish chief named +Childeric was driven from his own people by the varying fortunes of war. +He took refuge among the Thuringians, and rewarded their kindness by +seducing Basina, the wife of their king. After his return, she left her +husband and joined her lover, becoming his recognized wife. Childeric's +guilt in this affair is somewhat mitigated by the spirit of Basina, who +declared that she chose the Frank solely because she knew no man who was +wiser, stronger or handsomer, surely a frank admission of natural +sentiment. The offspring of this free union was Clovis, the founder of +the kingdom of the Franks, and the means whereby it became Christian.</p> + +<p>While still a youth, though established in the chieftainship by his +valor in marauding expeditions, Clovis heard of the beauty and the +desirable character of Clotilde, the niece of Gondebaud, King of the +Burgundians. She had been brought up amidst the most barbarous scenes +which those times could produce. Her father and her two brothers had +been put to death by her uncle, who had also caused her mother Agrippina +to be thrown into the Rhone, with a stone fastened to her neck, and +drowned. Clotilde and her sister Chrona, he permitted to live. The +latter had become a nun, while Clotilde, no less religious, was living +at Geneva where, as it is said, she employed her whole time in works of +piety and charity. Clovis sent to Gondebaud asking the hand of his +niece; but it appears that at first his suit was not favorably looked +upon, for the Frank resorted to unusual measures whereby he gained his +end and provided the material for an interesting story. It is told as +follows by Fredegaire in his commentary on the history by Gregory of +Tours: "As he was not allowed to see Clotilde, Clovis charged a certain +Roman, named Aurelian, to use all his wit to come nigh her. Aurelian +repaired alone to the spot, clothed in rags and with his wallet upon his +back, like a mendicant. To ensure confidence in himself, he took with +him the ring of Clovis. On his arrival at Geneva, Clotilde received him +as a pilgrim charitably, and whilst she was washing his feet, Aurelian, +bending toward her, said under his breath, 'Lady, I have great matters +to announce to thee if thou deign to permit me secret revelation.' She +consenting, replied, 'Say on.' 'Clovis, King of the Franks,' said he, +'hath sent me to thee: if it be the will of God, he would fain raise +thee to his high rank by marriage; and that thou mayest be certified +thereof, he sendeth thee this ring.' She accepted this ring with great +joy, and said to Aurelian, 'Take for recompense of thy pains these +hundred sous in gold and this ring of mine. Return promptly to thy lord; +if he would fain unite me to him in marriage, let him send without delay +messengers to demand me of my uncle Gondebaud, and let the messengers +who shall come take me away in haste, so soon as they shall have +obtained permission; if they haste not, I fear lest a certain sage, one +Aridius, may return from Constantinople; and if he arrive beforehand, +all this matter will by his counsel come to naught.'"</p> + +<p>Aurelian returned and told Clovis all that had passed and the +instructions he had received from Clotilde. "Clovis, pleased with his +success and with Clotilde's notion, at once sent a deputation to +Gondebaud to demand his niece in marriage. Gondebaud, not daring to +refuse, and flattered at the idea of making a friend of Clovis, promised +to give her to him. Then the deputation, having offered the denier and +the sou, according to the custom of the Franks, espoused Clotilde in the +name of Clovis, and demanded that she be given up to be married. Without +any delay, the council was assembled at Chalons, and preparations were +made for the nuptials. The Franks, having arrived with all speed, +received her from the hands of Gondebaud, put her into a covered +carriage and escorted her to Clovis, together with much treasure. She, +however, having already learned that Aridius was on his way back, said +to the Frankish lords, 'If ye would take me into the presence of your +lord, let me descend from this carriage, mount me on horseback, and get +you hence as fast as you may; for never in this carriage shall I reach +the presence of your lord.'</p> + +<p>"Aridius, in fact, returned very speedily from Marseilles; and +Gondebaud, on seeing him, said, 'Thou knowest that we have made friends +with the Franks, and that I have given my niece to Clovis to wife.' +'This,' answered Aridius, 'is no bond of friendship, but the beginning +of perpetual strife; thou shouldst have remembered, my lord, that thou +didst slay Clotilde's father, that thou didst drown her mother, and that +thou didst cut off her brothers' heads and cast their bodies into a +well. If Clotilde become powerful, she will avenge the wrongs of her +relatives. Send thou forthwith a troop in chase, and have her brought +back to thee. It will be easier for thee to bear the wrath of one person +than to be perpetually at strife, thyself and thine, with all the +Franks.' And Gondebaud did send forthwith a troop in chase to fetch back +Clotilde with the carriage and all the treasure; but she, on approaching +Villers (where Clovis was waiting for her), in the territory of Troyes, +and before passing the Burgundian frontier, urged them who escorted her +to disperse right and left over a space of twelve leagues in the country +whence she was departing, to plunder and burn; and that having been done +with the permission of Clovis, she cried aloud, 'I thank thee, God +omnipotent, for that I see the commencement of vengeance for my parents +and my brethren!'"</p> + +<p>The kingdom to which Clovis welcomed his queen was not large. It +comprised no more than the island of the Batavians, and the dioceses of +Tournay and Arras. Nevertheless, this marriage was of exceeding +importance in the history of Europe, for by virtue of his qualities +Clovis was destined to go far in conquest, and to establish the +beginning of a great nation; and the question of his conversion, whether +to Arianism or to Catholicism, was fairly certain to be answered by his +matrimonial alliance. The time had come when political wisdom provided +the most effective argument against paganism.</p> + +<p>It was not at once, however, that Clotilde was able to bring about the +conversion of her husband. The most she could accomplish was to gain his +consent, after the birth of their first son, to the baptism of the +latter. The child dying a few days afterward, serious misgivings arose +in the king's mind as to whether he had not been ill advised in +permitting the Christian rite. But Clotilde's second son also was +baptized, and fell sick. Said Clovis: "It cannot be otherwise with him +than with his brother; baptized in the name of your Christ, he is going +to die." The child lived, and thereby Clotilde was placed to better +advantage in attacking her husband's mind with her Christian arguments. +He was brought to the point of decision when, in his battle at Tolbiac +against the Alemannians, the day seeming about to be lost, Aurelian +cried: "My lord king, believe only on the Lord of heaven, whom the +queen, my mistress, preacheth!" Clovis exclaimed: "Christ Jesus, Thou +whom my queen Clotilde calleth the Son of the Living God, I have invoked +my own gods, and they have withdrawn from me; I believe that they have +no power, since they aid not those who call upon them. Thee, very God +and Lord, I invoke; if Thou give me victory over these foes; if I find +in Thee the power the people proclaim of Thee, I will believe on Thee, +and will be baptized in Thy name." The fortune of battle immediately +turned in favor of the Franks.</p> + +<p>On his return home, to make sure that her husband would fulfil his vow +while his gratitude was warm, Clotilde sent for Saint Remi, the holy +Bishop of Rheims, to perfect her own instructions and receive him into +the Church. Clovis was baptized, as were also the majority of his +subjects. To what extent the doctrines of Christianity had taken +possession of his mind may be gathered from the anecdote which recounts +how, after hearing from the bishop's lips the story of the sufferings of +Christ, he shouted: "Had I been present at the head of my valiant +Franks, I would have revenged his injuries!" As Gibbon says: "The savage +conqueror of Gaul was incapable of examining the proofs of a religion +which depended upon the laborious investigation of historic evidence and +speculative theology. He was still more incapable of feeling the mild +influence of the gospel, which persuades and purifies the heart of a +genuine convert. His ambitious reign was a perpetual violation of moral +and Christian duties: his hands were stained with blood in peace as well +as in war." He took part in a synod of the Gallican Church, and +immediately murdered in cold blood all the princes of the Merovingian +race. Into what, a pit the Christianity of those times had fallen may be +understood when we find Gregory of Tours, after calmly reciting the +murders of Clovis, concluding with these words: "For God thus daily +prostrated his enemies under his hands, and enlarged his kingdom, +because he walked before him with an upright heart, and did that which +was pleasing in his sight." Clovis was the only strictly orthodox +sovereign of that day--a day when orthodoxy was permitted to cover a +multitude of sins.</p> + +<p>After making himself sole monarch of the Frankish race, Clovis died in +the year 511, and was buried in the church which had been erected by +Clotilde. The queen survived her husband many years, but did not +exercise any noticeable influence. She could not even save her two +little grandsons from the ambitious cruelty of her sons--Clotaire and +Childebert. These sent a message to Clotilde saying: "Send the children +to us, that we may place them on the throne." Having sent them, there +soon came to her another messenger, bearing a sword and a pair of +shears. Unshorn locks were essential as a mark of the kingly race among +the Franks; the messenger said therefore: "Most glorious queen, thy +sons, our masters, desire to know thy will touching these children; wilt +thou that they live with shorn hair or that they be put to death?" +Clotilde, in her astonishment and despair, answered: "If they be not set +upon the throne, I would rather know that they were dead than shorn." +The messenger hastened back to the two kings and, with fatal and wilful +inaccuracy, said: "Finish ye your work, for the queen favoring your +plans, willeth that ye accomplish them." Forthwith the two children were +murdered in the most cold-blooded fashion. The tale is rendered the more +shocking by the addition of the fact that Guntheuque, the mother of the +lads, had become the wife of that uncle who killed them.</p> + +<p>The Merovingians allowed themselves as much license in love as they did +freedom from restraint in regard to the sterner passions. Nominal +Christians though they were, they felt no compunction of conscience as +to polygamy, when the vagaries of their fancy could be satisfied only by +its practice. Gregory of Tours records how: "King Clotaire I. had to +wife Ingonde, and her only did he love, when she made to him the +following request: 'My lord,' said she, 'hath made of his handmaid what +seemeth to him good; and now, to crown his favors, let my lord deign to +hear what his handmaid demandeth. I pray you be graciously pleased to +find for my sister Aregonde, your slave, a man both capable and rich, so +that I be rather exalted than abased thereby, and be enabled to serve +you still more faithfully.' At these words, Clotaire, who was but too +voluptuously disposed by nature, conceived a fancy for Aregonde, betook +himself to the country house where she dwelt, and united her to him in +marriage. When the union had taken place, he returned to Ingonde, and +said to her, 'I have labored to procure for thee the favor thou didst so +sweetly demand, and, on looking for a man of wealth and capability +worthy to be united to thy sister, I could find none better than myself: +know, therefore, that I have taken her to wife, and I trow that it will +not displease thee.' 'What seemeth good in my master's eyes, that let +him,' replied Ingonde; 'only let thy servant abide still in the king's +grace.'"</p> + +<p>From the above, it is noticeable that a servile manner of speech to +their husbands was customary to the Frankish women of that time. It is +possible that it was little more than an affectation. Doubtless the +women of character and strength then, as ever, were not without means of +holding their own. Chilperic, the King of Soissons, who was a son of +Clotaire, added to the not brief list of his wives--we may give him the +benefit of the doubt as to whether they were +contemporaneous--Galsuinthe, daughter of the King of Spain. Her +attractiveness consisted in no small measure of the wealth she brought +him. But he became enamored of Fredegonde. Galsuinthe could not brook +this, and she offered to willingly relinquish her dowry if he would send +her back to her father. Chilperic adopted a solution of the difficulty +that was more to his mind. The queen was found dead in her bed. She had +been strangled by a slave. Chilperic mourned for a season which was more +remarkable for its brevity than his sorrow was marked by its intensity, +and then took Fredegonde for his wife. This queen exerted an influence +upon the affairs of her time, both political and ecclesiastical. In her +life and character was fully illustrated that strong mixture of +viciousness and affected piety which occasions such a sad commentary on +the Christianity of her time. She was the daughter of peasants, and owed +her rise solely to her beauty and her mental gifts. Her numerous murders +included her stepson, a king, and the Archbishop of Rouen. How much +regard she entertained for her own personal chastity may be judged from +the fact that she took a public oath, with three bishops and four +hundred nobles as her vouchers, that her son was the true offspring of +her husband, Chilperic. Whether the value of this great mass of +testimony consisted in a personal denial of responsibility on the part +of all the men whose position and character might be prejudicial to +Chilperic's paternity is not made clear. And yet, despite all this, the +following pious act is recorded to her: her child was ill; "he was a +little brother, when his elder brother, Chlodebert, was attacked with +the same symptoms. His mother, Fredegonde, seeing him in danger of +death, and touched by tardy repentance, said to the king, 'Long hath +divine mercy borne with our misdeeds; it hath warned us by fevers and +other maladies, and we have not mended our ways, and now we are losing +our sons; now the tears of the poor, the lamentations of widows, and the +sighs of orphans are causing them to perish, and leaving us no hope of +laying by for anyone. We heap up riches and know not for whom. Our +treasures, all laden with plunder and curses, are like to remain without +possessors. Our cellars are they not bursting with wine, and our +granaries with corn? Our coffers were they not full to the brim with +gold and silver and precious stones and necklaces and other imperial +ornaments? And yet that which was our most beautiful possession we are +losing! Come then, if thou wilt, and let us burn all these wicked +lists!' Having thus spoken, and beating her breast, the queen had +brought to her the rolls, which Mark had consigned to her of each of the +cities that belonged to her, and cast them into the fire. Then, turning +again to the king, 'What!' she cried, 'dost thou hesitate? Do thou even +as I; if we lose our dear children, at least we escape everlasting +punishment!'" It may be taken for granted that Fredegonde's "works meet +for repentance" on this occasion have not suffered in the recital by +Gregory of Tours. She may have exhorted her husband to acts of mercy; +nevertheless she planned and saw executed the assassination of +Chilperic, being fearful lest he discover the guilty connection which +had sprung up between herself and an officer of her household. By this +act, she became the sovereign guardian of her infant, and held this +potential position during the last thirteen years of her life. Guizot +thus summarizes her character: "She was a true type of the +strong-willed, artful, and perverse woman in barbarous times; she +started low down in the scale and rose very high without a corresponding +elevation of soul; she was audacious and perfidious, as perfect in +deception as in effrontery, proceeding to atrocities either from cool +calculation or a spirit of revenge, abandoned to all kinds of passion, +and, for gratification of them, shrinking from no sort of crime. +However, she died quietly at Paris in 597 or 598, powerful and dreaded, +and leaving on the throne of Neustria her son, Clotaire II., who, +fifteen years later, was to become sole king of all the Frankish +dominions."</p> + +<p>Contemporaneous with Fredegonde, and exerting a stronger and indeed more +salutary influence upon her age, though scarcely superior in her moral +character, was Brunehaut, Queen of the Franks of Austrasia. She was a +younger sister of Galsuinthe, by the murder of whom the way was opened +to Chilperic's bed and throne for Fredegonde. The King of Austrasia was +Sigebert, brother of Chilperic. Among those fierce Merovingians kinship +of the closest degree had no deterring influence on their passions. In a +war between these two brothers, Sigebert was assassinated in his tent by +the emissaries of Fredegonde. Brunehaut fell into the latter's power, +and only the fact that she managed to make her way into the Cathedral of +Paris, and thus claim right of asylum, saved her life. Thence she was +sent to Rouen, where she met and married a son of Chilperic by a former +wife. This so enraged Fredegonde that she persecuted her stepson until, +in despair, he prevailed on a faithful servant to take his life. In the +meantime, the Austrasians, who had the custody of Brunehaut's infant +son, demanded their queen from Chilperic; she was surrendered to them, +and was instated as queen-guardian of her son.</p> + +<p>Brunehaut was in every sense a born ruler. A princess by birth, she also +possessed a mind that was capable of formulating plans which united her +people with herself in the enjoyment of the fruits of success as well as +in the labor of accomplishment. Faults she had in abundance. As callous +in regard to bloodshed and as loose in her morals as were the barbarians +of her time, she was not without conscience as to the opportunities of +her position, and she labored in many ways for the public good. +Brunehaut came from Spain, where the Visigoths retained much of the +Roman civilization. She endeavored to introduce some of these advantages +into Austrasia, which was peopled by the least cultivated of the Franks; +but, though forcing her reforms by sheer strength of will and intellect, +the result was her expulsion from the land. The history of her rule is +thus epitomized by Guizot: "She clung stoutly to the efficacious +exercise of the royal authority; she took a practical interest in the +public works, highways, bridges, monuments, and the progress of material +civilization; the Roman roads in a short time received and for a long +while kept in Austrasia the name of Brunehaufs Causeways; there used to +be shown, in a forest near Bourges, Brunehaufs castle, Brunehaufs tower +at Etampes, Brunehaufs stone near Tournay, and Brunehaufs fort near +Cahors. In the royal domains, and wheresoever she went, she showed +abundant charity to the poor, and many ages after her death the people +of those districts still spoke of Brunehaufs Alms. She liked and +protected men of letters, rare and mediocre indeed at that time, but the +only beings, such as they were, with the notion of seeking and giving +any kind of intellectual enjoyment; and they in turn took pleasure in +celebrating her name and her deserts. The most renowned of all during +that age, Fortunatus, Bishop of Poitiers, dedicated nearly all his +little poems to two queens: one, Brunehaut, plunging amidst all the +struggles and pleasures of the world; the other, Saint Radegonde, +sometime wife of Clotaire I, who had fled in all haste from a throne to +bury herself at Poitiers, in a convent she had founded there. To +compensate, Brunehaut was detested by the majority of the Austrasian +chiefs, those Leudes, land owners and warriors, whose sturdy and +turbulent independence she was continually fighting against. She +supported against them, with indomitable courage, the royal officers, +the servants of the palace, her agents, and frequently her favorites."</p> + +<p>Brunehaut maintained her power under the reigns of her son and her +grandson in Austrasia, the capital of which was Metz. In 599, however, +she was expelled from this kingdom, and went to that of Burgundy, where +her other grandson, Theodoric II., reigned, having his capital at +Orleans. In a letter written to Theodoric by Gregory the Great, the +latter says: "And this in you among other things is enough to call for +praise and admiration, that in such things as you know that our +daughter, your most excellent grandmother, desires for the love of God, +in these you make haste most earnestly to lend your aid, so that thereby +you may reign both happily here, and in a future life with the angels." +It is evident from this that in Burgundy the veteran queen was not +denied the opportunity to exercise that executive talent of which the +Austrasians had wearied. If the accounts given by Frankish historians +may be relied upon, Brunehaut's influence upon her grandson was not in +all respects calculated to fit him for a life among the angels. They +accuse her of having encouraged him in licentious living, in order that +her own power might not be undermined by the introduction into his court +of a lawful queen.</p> + +<p>There are several letters extant which were written to her by Pope +Gregory. They all, in that polite manner in which Church dignitaries +treat worldly potentates, speak of her virtuous acts and ignore all +mention of her frailties. Brunehaut would be an exceedingly estimable +woman if nothing more of her were known than what is to be gathered from +these epistles. Gregory was a severe moralist, but he allowed his +condemnation of many faults to be silenced by his gratitude for the +piety of the queen in erecting "the Church of Saint Martin in the +suburbs of Augustodunum (Autun), and a monastery for handmaidens of God, +and also a hospital in the same city." There is also a letter to +Thalassia, the first abbess of this convent, ordaining that the property +donated shall never be alienated from her and her successors; also, that +"on the death of an abbess of the aforementioned monastery, no other +shall be ordained by means of any kind of craftiness or secret scheming, +but that such a one as the king of the same province, with the consent +of the nuns, shall have chosen in the fear of God, and provided for the +ordination of." This also is evidence regarding the interior politics of +the nunneries of that time.</p> + +<p>Brunehaut lived a stormy life. Gentleness and modesty, the qualities +most esteemed in feminine character, were the least noticeable in her +nature; they would not have been consonant with either her ambitions or +her methods. She was ever striving with the chieftains of her realm, +endeavoring, with no little success, to force their independence into +submission to regal authority. With the clerics, also, she had her +quarrels. Saint Didier, Bishop of Vienne, was at her instigation +brutally murdered. Saint Columba, even, was visited with her displeasure +because he refused to connive at her faults with the award of his +blessing. In 614, after thirty-nine years of the most strenuous +political life and the most extreme vicissitudes of personal fortune +that ever fell to the lot of any queen, she perished most miserably at +the hands of Clotaire II., the son of her old enemy, Fredegonde. He +caused the venerable queen, now eighty years of age, to be paraded +before the army on the back of a camel; and then, by his order, she was +bound by the hair, one hand, and one foot, to the tail of an unbroken +steed by which she was kicked and dashed to pieces. Thus lived, and thus +died a "Christian" queen who had received high encomiums from one of the +greatest bishops of history.</p> + +<p>It must not be supposed, however, that feminine modesty, faithful love, +and the gentleness which is ever venerated in womankind, were entirely +unknown to that rough and licentious age. What could be more pleasing +than the romantic story of Theodelinda, Queen of the Lombards? In the +year 584, Authari succeeded to that kingdom. He asked in marriage the +beautiful and pious daughter of Garibald, King of the Bavarians. In +order that he might ascertain whether the attractions of this damsel +were in reality equal to their reputation, and also that he might hasten +matters in case he should be satisfied on this point, Authari +impersonated his own ambassador and visited the court of Garibald in +this guise. He there stated that he was the trusted friend of the +Lombard king, and that Authari had charged him to bring back a minute +report of the charm of his expected bride. Theodelinda submitted to the +inspection; and the supposed ambassador, being at once enamored of her +grace and beauty, hailed her as Queen of the Lombards, and requested +that, according to the custom of his people, she present a cup of wine +to him, her first subject. As she did this, he slyly touched her hand +and then his own lips. This familiarity astonished the maiden, but, +advised by her nurse, she said nothing, and Authari, before leaving the +court, succeeded in gaining her affections. As he left to return home, +he revealed his rank to her by saying, as he drove his huge battle-ax +into the trunk of a tree, "Thus strikes the king of the Langobardi." +After his departure, influenced by the Franks, Garibald withdrew his +consent to his daughter's marriage; whereupon Theodelinda took the +matter into her own hands and fled across the Alps to her lover and was +married to him at Verona. Although she was early left a widow, she had +so completely gained the love and the confidence of the Lombards, that +they intrusted her with the privilege of raising to the throne +whomsoever she might favor with her hand in marriage. Her choice fell +upon a handsome Thuringian named Agilulf. He knew not of his fortune +until it was announced to him by the queen herself in this fashion: one +day, as he bent to kiss her hand in faithful homage, she blushingly +said, "You have the right to kiss my cheek, for you are my king!" So +great was Theodelinda's influence over her people that at her request +the whole nation simultaneously became Christian; and in view of that +event, it is no wonder that she was on the most friendly terms with Pope +Gregory the Great, whose letters to her may still be read. Under her +happy reign, the kingdom of Lombardy was strengthened, and its +constitution established. Agilulf died, and his son and successor, +Adelwald, rendering himself obnoxious, was murdered by some of his +subjects; but to make amends to her for this act, the Lombards placed +the husband of her daughter Gerberga on the throne. Boccaccio, by making +Theodelinda the subject of one of his amorous tales, has taken an +unwarranted and reprehensible liberty with a good queen of whom her age +was justly proud.</p> + +<p>It is to these times, also, that the pathetic story of Saint Genevieve +belongs. She was the wife of Count Siegfried of Andernach. He, setting +out against the Moors who were then invading the land, intrusted her to +the care of Golo, his principal servant. This man, having failed in his +repeated attempts on her conjugal faithfulness, accused her of the fault +which he would fain have persuaded her to commit, and procured her +condemnation to death. Her executioners being merciful, spared her life +by having her conveyed far into the recesses of a forest. There she, +with her little daughter, lived for several years in absolute solitude. +They were sheltered by a cave; and a doe, whose tameness was regarded as +a miraculous providence, supplied them with milk. It was no less +regarded as a divine interposition which eventually led Siegfried to the +grotto while following the chase; her innocence being proved, she was +happily reinstated as his wife, and has ever since been honored as a +saint, which doubtless she was.</p> + +<p>Christianity, during the latter half of the first millennium, could show +triumphs of sanctification in personal character; it had its heroes of +morality, but it must be confessed that the conversion of the barbaric +nations was not accompanied with a very signal improvement in their +morals. Milman says: "It is difficult to conceive a more dark and odious +state of society than that of France under her Merovingian kings, the +descendants of Clovis, as described by Gregory of Tours. In the conflict +or coalition of barbarism with Roman Christianity, barbarism has +introduced into Christianity all its ferocity, with none of its +generosity or magnanimity; its energy shows itself in atrocity of +cruelty and even of sensuality. Christianity has given to barbarism +hardly more than its superstition and its hatred of heretics and +unbelievers. Throughout, assassinations, parricides, and fratricides +intermingle with adulteries and rapes....</p> + +<p>"As to the intercourse of the sexes, wars of conquest where the females +are at the mercy of the victors, especially if female virtue is not in +much respect, would severely try the more rigid morals of the conqueror. +The strength of the Teutonic character, when it had once burst the +bounds of habitual or traditional restraint, might seem to disdain easy +and effeminate vice, and to seek a kind of wild zest in the indulgence +of lust, by mingling it with all other violent passions, rapacity, and +inhumanity. Marriage was a bond contracted and broken on the lightest +occasion. Some of the Merovingian kings took as many wives, either +together or in succession, as suited either their passions or their +politics. Christianity hardly interferes even to interdict incest." +Clotaire and Charibert each married two sisters. The latter was sternly +rebuked by Saint Germanus, but (so the historian informs us) as the king +already had many wives, he bore the rebuke with extreme patience. There +were laws against these irregularities; but, strict as they were in +their terms, they were completely nullified by failure of execution. +These laws, also, are models of the inequality which existed between the +sexes. When punishment for adultery is prescribed, it is always +understood that it refers solely to the wife. The man was burdened by no +legal responsibility in this matter. Free women were not permitted to +marry slaves; to do so reduced them to a position of servitude. This did +not apply to men, excepting such as were too poor to compound the felony +with the abducted slave's owner. The kings were free in this matter.</p> + +<p>Under the Carlovingian dynasty, manners were somewhat less ferocious +than those exhibited by the Merovingian kings; but it was rather the +result of the former being more confident of its security than any +evidence of real improvement in morals. Earnest champion of the Church +as was Charlemagne, and much as he honored religion, the records of his +own private life and those of his family are examples of wholesale +libidinosity such as is rarely equalled in history.</p> + +<p>Five women were united in marriage to the great emperor. The first was +Desirée, the daughter of the Lombard king, whom Pope Stephen so bitterly +opposed. This union, however, was short lived; during one year only did +Desirée hold the wandering affections of the sturdy monarch. He then +took Hildegarde, a Swabian princess; but in the same indifferent manner +he dissolved this connection, being instigated thereto by the +allegations of a servant named Taland, who was enraged at the contempt +with which the queen received his criminal advances. Charlemagne did not +trouble himself to look into the matter; like Cæsar, he held that his +wife should be above suspicion. There is a pleasing story in regard to +Hildegarde who, after her divorce, went to Rome and devoted herself to a +religious life. By her charitable deeds and acts of piety she gained a +great and well deserved name for sanctity. It is said that one day she +met Taland, who was reduced to the life of a blind mendicant. By the +power of her holiness, she restored his sight, and he, filled with +remorse, confessed his crime and brought about a reconciliation between +Hildegarde and the king. No less naive is the legend related of one of +Charlemagne's daughters. His children included several girls, all +beautiful; but for political reasons their father denied them the +privilege of marriage. He considered that if they were united to the +great nobles of the land, it would mean a division and consequent +weakening of the empire. But love laughed at politics. "His secretary, +young Eginhart, became deeply enamored of his daughter Emma, and the +youthful lovers, fearing his anger should he discover their affection, +met only at night. It happened that one night, while Eginhart was in the +princess's apartment, a fall of snow took place. To return across the +palace court must lead to the inevitable discovery by the traces of his +footsteps. The moment called for resolution; woman's wit came to the +assistance of the perplexed lover, and the faithful and prudent Emma, +taking her lover on her back, bore him across the court. The emperor, +who chanced to be gazing from his window, beheld this strange sight by +the clear moonlight, and the next morning sent for the young couple, who +stood before him in the expectation of being sentenced to death, when +the generous father bestowed upon Eginhart his daughter's hand, and the +Odinwald in fief. The tomb of Emma and Eginhart is still to be seen at +Erbach." Another daughter, Bertha, called after her grandmother--the +mother of Charlemagne, carried on a similar intrigue with Engelbert; +and, though not fortunate enough to receive her father's sanction to +marriage, with a gift of land, she became the mother of Nithart, who was +a famous historian of his time. Charlemagne's own character enabled him +to understand, and his justice prompted him to condone those instincts +which his policy would not allow to be satisfied in a lawful and +conventional manner.</p> + +<a name="ill5" id="ill5"></a> + +<p class="mid"><img alt="" src="images/005.png"><br><b><i>THE LEGEND OF THE ROSES<br> +After the painting +by J. Nogales.</i></b></p> + +<blockquote><b><i>We have seen that, save for the story of Hildegarde, the women of +Charlemagne's family did not present examples of Christian piety or +devotion, but it may be in place here to mention that Saint Rosalie, the +patron saint of Palermo, was of a family said to have descended from +that of Charlemagne. Saint Rosalie, becoming filled with a spirit of +devotion, retired to a grotto on Mount Pelegrino, where in solitude she +passed her time in prayer and penitence. Of her is told the legend that, +surreptitiously conveying bread concealed in her apron to feed the +hungry, without her father's consent, she was discovered by him and +requested to open her apron, when it was found that the bread had been +changed into magnificent roses.</i></b></blockquote> + + +<p>Charlemagne died in 813. From that time until the end of the tenth +century there were no women who can, by the greatest elasticity of which +the term is susceptible, be called Christian, and who, at the same time +were of any note in history. The gloom of the dark ages had not begun to +lift. There was nothing to stimulate the woman of ordinary birth to the +exercise of any powers save the most inferior. The broadening influence +of literature was unknown. Charlemagne encouraged study among his +courtiers; but he could not revive the smouldering embers. During the +succeeding centuries, Greek lore came to be forgotten in the Western +world. The manners, even among the noblest dames, were inconceivably +rude. Every woman, not excepting the daughters of the emperor, worked +with her hands in the common affairs of the household. What the morals +of the time were, we have already seen. Convents sprang up everywhere, +sheltering a great number of women, of both high and low degree.</p> + +<p>They were refuges from the barbarities which accompanied warfare, and, +to a lesser degree, safeguards against the temptation of the world, the +flesh and the devil. The former fanatical enthusiasm for celibacy had +greatly subsided; bishops and priests not infrequently were married, and +even the nunneries gave occasion for lively stories which became +traditional. It was an age when two sisters, Marozia and Theodora, both +prostitutes, could decide the succession to the papal tiara. The former +secured it for her bastard son, and also for her grandson, the infamous +John XII., during whose pontificate, as Gibbon puts it, "the Lateran +palace was turned in a school for prostitution, and his rapes of virgins +and widows deterred the female pilgrims from visiting the tomb of St. +Peter, lest, in the devout act, they should be violated by his +successor." It was an age fitted in all ways to produce such a story as +that of Pope Joan, which, though it was probably not founded on fact, is +a worthy illustration of the moral condition of the rulers of the Church +in that time.</p> + +<p>We have seen that, save for the story of Hildegarde, the women of +Charlemagne's family did not present examples of Christian piety or +devotion, but it may be in place here to mention that Saint Rosalie, the +patron saint of Palermo, was of a family said to have descended from +that of Charlemagne. Saint Rosalie, becoming filled with a spirit of +devotion, retired to a grotto on Mount Pelegrino, where in solitude she +passed her time in prayer and penitence. Miraculous power was ascribed +by the Sicilians to this saint, and of her is told the legend that, +surreptitiously conveying bread concealed in her apron to feed the +hungry, without her father's consent, she was discovered by him and +requested to open her apron, when it was found that the bread had been +changed into magnificent roses.</p> + +<a name="p2" id="p2"></a> +<br><br><br> + +<h2>PART SECOND</h2> + +<h2>WOMEN OF THE EASTERN EMPIRE</h2> + +<a name="c9" id="c9"></a> +<br><br> + +<h3>IX</h3> + +<h3>THE EMPRESS EUDOXIA</h3> + +<p>From the story of Christian Womanhood in Old Rome on the Tiber we pass +naturally to the story of Christian Womanhood in that New Rome on the +Bosporus, where Constantine the Great had established an imperial city +which was destined to be the centre of the religious and political life +of the civilized peoples of the East for over a thousand years, and to +keep alive during the Dark Ages the torch of civilization.</p> + +<p>The victories of the Cæsars in the extensive domain Hellenized by +Alexander the Great had been surpassed only by the victories of the +Christ, and in Constantinople the authority of Church and State blended +in one inseparable union and determined the destinies of millions of men +and women in Europe, Asia, and Africa.</p> + +<p>As Greek culture was ever an important factor in the eastern half of the +Roman Empire, the story of the Christian women of the East is but a +continuation of the story of Greek women. Hence, it is our task to +consider how Hellenized womanhood was affected by that new principle +which had entered into the world.</p> + +<p>Christianity, with its emphasis on the affections, naturally appealed to +women, who, says Aristotle, "are creatures of passion, as opposed to +men, who are capable of living by reason." And from the days of Mary, +the Mother of Jesus, the women of antiquity accepted in large numbers +the new teaching. They found that their lives were uplifted by it, their +activities enlarged, their influence among men strengthened.</p> + +<p>The status of woman among Oriental peoples was consequently considerably +changed. The recognition, so slowly won, that women had immortal souls +equalized them with the other sex, and with the permeation of +Christianity into the life of paganism began the real emancipation of +the female sex. Functions beyond those of housewifery and maternity were +conceded to woman. Chrysostom, in a letter to a Roman lady, after +speaking of the division of duties assigned by nature to men and women, +says that the Christian life had extended woman's sphere beyond the +duties of the home, and had given her an important part to perform in +the work and struggles of the Church for the elevation of mankind. Her +chief function, in his opinion, was that of consoler and ministering +angel. Thus woman was acknowledged to have a mission--a view that has +prevailed through all the Christian ages. In the pursuit of this idea, +many of the loveliest and most highly endowed women of ancient times +devoted themselves to the relief of sickness and suffering and extended +the influence of the Church by this exhibition of the spirit of +humanity.</p> + +<p>Christianity was gradually transforming the spirit of the ancient world. +But these earlier centuries of the Christian era were a season of +twilight during which light and darkness mingled. Paganism and +Christianity were waging a silent but determined warfare, and the +latter, by absorbing the best that was in the former, left it but a +hollow shell, the connotation of worldliness and unbelief. The ethical +philosophy of the Greeks and the moral teachings of the Stoics and the +Epicureans had found their logical end in the philosophical doctrines of +Christianity and had prepared the way for the acceptance of the latter. +Christianity continued the idea of conformity to the divine government +of the world taught by the Stoics, and the insistence on friendship and +brotherly love emphasized by the Epicureans, and had given life to these +doctrines by the presentation of a divine example. This evolution of the +highest ethical ideas of the ancients in the nobler spirit of +Christianity had its logical outcome in the prevailing institutions of +the Christian world. Stoicism developed into the asceticism that +appealed so strongly to many consecrated men and women, and Christian +Epicureanism showed itself in the many brotherhoods and sisterhoods +which labored for the betterment of humanity in the care of the sick and +the unfortunate.</p> + +<p>One of the effects of the Stoical idea combined with the new conception +of the mission of woman was the prevalence of celibacy. Many women chose +to devote their time to good works rather than to the cares of family +life. Furthermore, "the horror of unchastity--the desecration of the +body, the temple of the soul--which had taken possession of the age with +a sort of morbid excess led to vows of perpetual virginity."</p> + +<p>This emphasis on the unmarried life was unfortunate for the race, as it +conduced to degeneracy and depopulation; but it produced many examples +of consecrated and devoted women, who have merited the homage bestowed +on them by later ages.</p> + +<p>As regards the relation of the sexes, the greatest contrast lay in the +Christian conception of a purified spiritual love, as compared with the +carnal and sensual love of the pagan peoples. This is illustrated by the +popularity of the celebrated legend of Cyprian and Justina, which was +later versified by the Empress Eudoxia.</p> + +<p>Justina was a young and beautiful maiden of Corinth, who was +passionately loved by a handsome pagan youth, Aglaides. Every effort to +win the maiden's affections, which were given to Christ, proving of no +avail, Aglaides determined to enlist in his cause the powers of +darkness. To this end he engaged the services of a powerful magician, +Cyprian by name, who was versed in all the magic lore of the Chaldeans +and the Egyptians. The wizard's art devised every form of temptation, +but the demons who were called up to accomplish the maiden's ruin fled +at the sign of the Cross which she made; and Justina emerged from the +ordeal pure and spotless, untainted by all the arts of the Evil One. +Cyprian, overcome by the beauty and innocence and unbounded faith of the +maiden, was himself inspired with the purest and most intense love for +Justina, and, renouncing all his arts, was converted to Christianity. +The devoted pair suffered martyrdom in the persecutions of Diocletian.</p> + +<p>Such Christian ideals, opposing all that was basest in paganism, +naturally developed a new and an exceedingly high type of womanhood. Of +the women of the provinces we know almost nothing, for the records of +the Eastern Empire centre about the capital city. We may be sure, +however, that throughout the Orient Christian womanhood exhibited its +characteristic traits of piety and unselfishness. In Constantinople, +though an intensely religious city, paganism for centuries continued to +exert a marked influence, and the type of woman there varied in +accordance with the proportions of the two ingredients--Christianity and +paganism--in the mental and spiritual aggregate of the individual woman. +Some, to avoid the vanities and temptations of the world, lived lives of +retirement in secluded monasteries; others, often of prominent social +position, partook not of the gay life of the city, but gave themselves +up to good works, ministering to the sick, providing for the poor, +uplifting the fallen; while others, chiefly in the court circles, knew +how to combine with their devotion to all the vanities and frivolities +of high life a strict attention to the external duties of Christianity. +The religious sisters of the day were an important factor in the society +of Constantinople, and the exercise of their spiritual duties often +brought them before the public in a manner inconsistent with the +prevailing ideas of female retirement. A popular priest or bishop became +the target of admiration on the part of enthusiastic women, who would +gather about him and espouse his cause in a way that was often more +embarrassing than helpful. As Jerome in Old Rome, so Chrysostom in New +Rome was the centre of such a spiritual circle.</p> + +<p>These various types of Christian womanhood present themselves in the +reign of Arcadius, the first independent emperor of the Eastern Empire +so called, and we are indebted to the sermons of the patriarch +Chrysostom for many glimpses into their lives. Far more than in Old Rome +the influence of women made itself felt in the government at +Constantinople, and under almost every dynasty and throughout the +centuries of its existence we find remarkable ladies of the imperial +house playing a prominent part in politics as well as in religion.</p> + +<p>The keynote of this new departure was struck by Eudoxia, empress of +Arcadius, and the influence of her personality and her example upon her +successors was marked. Hence, her career and that of the women of her +time constitute the initial stage in the prominence of Christian women +of the East.</p> + +<p>Owing to the intellectual weakness of Arcadius, who inherited the +eastern half of the Empire upon the death of Theodosius the Great in +395, the administration really fell into the hands of his minister, +Rufinus, a vicious and avaricious man. Having the entire control of the +army and an unbounded influence over the emperor, Rufinus cherished the +hope that he might himself become a wearer of the purple as the +colleague of Arcadius. To facilitate this end he fostered the scheme of +uniting Arcadius in marriage to his only daughter; once the emperor's +father-in-law, it would be but a step further to become a sharer of the +purple.</p> + +<p>While Rufinus, in secret with his confidants, nurtured this idea, the +wily head of the opposite party of the court, getting an inkling of it, +set everything in motion to turn the eyes of the inexperienced youth +toward another maiden. The eunuch Eutropius, the grand chamberlain of +the palace, a bold old man with Oriental craftiness, determined that to +himself, and not to Rufinus, should the emperor be bound. Hence, while +the old warrior was on a journey to Corinth avenging a private injury, +Eutropius fixed the attention of the emperor upon Eudoxia, a maiden of +singular beauty, the daughter of Bauto, a distinguished Frankish +general, and reared since her father's death by the family of the sons +of Promotus, an ancient Roman patrician. Eudoxia was at that time at the +dawn of perfect womanhood. Her education had been received under the +auspices of her rich and noble patrons, and in native gifts, as well as +in beauty, she seemed destined by the Fates to be the consort of an +emperor. Eutropius, by showing him her portrait and by glowing +descriptions of her charms, inflamed the heart of the young ruler with +his first passion, and he entered eagerly into the plans of Eutropius to +make Eudoxia his wife.</p> + +<p>Rufinus meanwhile returned, and prepared the ceremonies of the royal +nuptials, as he fancied, of his daughter. "A splendid train of eunuchs +and officers issued, in hymeneal pomp, from the gates of the palace, +bearing aloft the diadem, the robes and the inestimable ornaments of the +future empress. The solemn procession passed through the streets of the +city, which were adorned with garlands and filled with spectators; but +when it reached the house of the sons of Promotus, the principal eunuch +(Eutropius) respectfully entered the mansion, invested the fair Eudoxia +with the imperial robes and conducted her in triumph to the palace and +bed of Arcadius." The particulars of the ceremony show that the hymeneal +rites of the ancient Greeks, in which the bride was, as it were, +forcibly conducted to the house of her husband, were still practised, +though without idolatry, by the early Christians.</p> + +<p>The secrecy and success of the conspiracy brought great chagrin to the +overconfident Rufinus. He felt keenly the insult to himself and his +daughter, and he feared the growing power of Eutropius and the new +empress. Yet he merely tightened his grip upon the government and +continued to be a formidable factor in the intrigues of the palace.</p> + +<p>The Empress Eudoxia rapidly adapted herself to her new life and +displayed a superiority of sense and spirit which enabled her to +maintain over her fond and youthful husband the ascendancy that her +beauty had at first created. She soon made it evident that she would be +under the control of no intriguing courtier, but that she herself would +be a dominant factor in the life of the court. Rufinus continued his +plots against the throne of Arcadius, but was constantly thwarted by the +empress, assisted by Eutropius, and their counterplays finally brought +about the minister's assassination.</p> + +<p>After the murder of Rufinus, the empress endeavored to hold the balance +of power between the three political parties of the day--the German +party, headed by Gainas the Goth, which largely embraced the military +forces of the Empire; the party of Eutropius, who had under his control +the civil officers of the state; and the senatorial party, under the +leadership of the prefect Aurelian, who abhorred alike the growing +influence of the Goths and the bed-chamber administration of Eutropius. +Eudoxia naturally inclined to the third of these parties: she +strenuously opposed the Germans, who, under the leadership of Gainas, +demanded freedom for Arian worship, and she sought to overcome the +influence of her quondam benefactor Eutropius, that she herself might +have absolute dominion over her imperial husband. Hence, these three, +the empress, Eutropius, and Gainas, as Hodgkin remarks, "kept up a vivid +game of court intrigue and disputed with varying success for the chief +place in that empty chamber which represented the mind of the emperor."</p> + +<p>Eudoxia first combined with Gainas to get rid of their powerful rival +Eutropius, though she owed her own position to the machinations of the +wily chamberlain. Gainas instigated a revolt among the Ostrogoths under +their commander Tribigild, and when sent out against them he took no +active measures to suppress their incursions; the Goths, at the +instigation of Gainas, finally sent word to the emperor demanding the +death of Eutropius as the condition of their retiring. Eudoxia, from the +palace, joined in the demand and presenting her infant children, +Flacilla and Pulcheria, to their father, with a flood of forced tears, +implored his justice for some real or imaginary insult which she +attributed to the audacious eunuch. The tears of the empress succeeded +where the demand of Tribigild had only caused hesitation, and Arcadius +signed the death warrant of his favorite. The people rejoiced at the +downfall of the minister, whose venality and injustice had aroused the +public hatred. Eutropius fled for refuge to the Church of Saint Sophia, +where he was protected by the patriarch Chrysostom. So good an +opportunity, however, for impressing the lesson of the fatuity of human +greatness was not to be lost, and while the cowering chamberlain lay in +humiliation before the altar, Chrysostom preached to a crowded +congregation from the text: "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity," +illustrating every argument of his sermon by pointing to the fallen +Eutropius--yesterday prime minister of the emperor--to-day a hounded +criminal. Chrysostom finally gave him up on condition that he be not put +to death, and Eutropius was banished to Cyprus; but the empress and his +enemies would not be satisfied with anything less than his death, and he +was later recalled and executed at Chalcedon in A. D. 399.</p> + +<p>Not long afterward, Gainas met with a like evil destiny, and Eudoxia was +left without a rival to dispute her control over the emperor. The weak +Arcadius was permitted to spend the remaining years of his life in ease +and tranquillity under her mild but absolute control. Henceforth the +empress was the most conspicuous figure of the court. Possessing +limitless power, it was natural that she should become haughty and +rapacious. Endowed with rare beauty and remarkable cleverness, she gave +the tone to the court society of Arcadius's reign. Unfortunately, she +was fond of all the frivolities of life, and sought at the same time to +promote worldliness and religion. Hence, her influence on the ladies of +the court was such as to bring upon her the censure of the austere +Patriarch of Constantinople, Chrysostom, to whom we are indebted for +many glimpses into the life and manners of the fifth century.</p> + +<p>The empress was surrounded in the royal palace by a splendor which +rivalled that of Persia. Oriental richness and luxury characterized all +its appointments. We find exhibited in the court life of the day a +blending of the voluptuousness of the East with the refinement of the +Greeks and the luxury of the Romans. Thousands of eunuchs, parasites and +slaves, carried out the wishes of the empress. In her royal apartments +"the doors were of ivory, the ceilings lined with gold, the floors +inlaid with mosaics, or strewed with rich carpets; the walls of the +halls and bedrooms were of marble, and wherever commoner stone was used +the surface was beautified with gold plate. The beds were of ivory or +solid silver, or, if on a less expensive scale, of wood plated with +silver or gold. Chairs and stools were usually of ivory, and the most +homely vessels were often made of the most costly metal; the +semicircular tables or sigmas were so heavy that two youths could hardly +lift one. Oriental cooks were employed; and at banquets the atmosphere +was heavy with the perfumes of the East, while the harps and pipes of +the musicians delighted the ears of the feasters."</p> + +<p>Equal attention was paid to the details of dress. The empress was +renowned for the gorgeousness of her toilets, which enhanced her +personal charms and made her appear the most fascinating lady of her +court. Her imperial robes were of the richest character, consisting of +purple fabrics, embellished with gold and precious gems.</p> + +<p>Such was the external splendor of the court. The Bishop Synesius +censures the elaborate court etiquette which surrounded the emperor and +empress, keeping them from the knowledge of outside affairs and making +them the victims of eunuchs and courtiers. He criticises severely the +sensual retirement in which they lived and attributes it to the desire +to appear semi-divine.</p> + +<p>Some idea of the importance of the empress in affairs of state and of +the court etiquette which attended an audience with her can be gained +from the extant narrative of Marcus the deacon, who recounts incidents +in the visit of Porphyrius, Bishop of Gaza, when he and others came to +Constantinople to seek redress from the emperor for injuries inflicted +by the heathen on the Christians in Palestine. Knowing that the empress +was the real power, the bishop appealed to her, and the narrative tells +of his audiences with her and how she obtained for him a favorable +answer to his petition. As nothing is more effective in conveying an +idea of the ways and manners of an age than the actual words of a +contemporary writer, I present a rather free translation of Marcus's +narrative.</p> + +<p>Upon their arrival at Byzantium, the bishop and his party were honorably +received by the Patriarch John Chrysostom, who expressed regret that he +could not in person present them to the emperor, because of the royal +indignation the empress had excited against him. But he secured the +services of the eunuch Amantius, chamberlain of the empress, who +arranged for them an audience with Eudoxia.</p> + +<p>Amantius took the two bishops and introduced them to the empress, and +when she saw them she saluted them first and said: "Give me your +blessing, fathers," and they did obeisance to her. Now she was sitting +on a golden sofa, and she said to them: "Excuse me, priests of Christ, +on account of my situation, for I was anxious to meet your sanctity in +the antechamber. But pray God in my behalf that I may be delivered +happily of the child which is in my womb." And the bishops, wondering at +her condescension, said: "May He who blessed the womb of Sarah and +Rebecca and Elizabeth, bless and quicken the child in thine." After +further edifying conversation she said to them: "I know why ye came, as +the castrensis Amantius explained it to me. But if you are fain to +instruct me, fathers, I am at your service." Thus bidden, they told her +all about the idolaters, and the impious rites which they fearlessly +practised and their oppression of the Christians, whom they did not +allow to perform a public duty, nor to till their lands, "from which +produce they pay the dues to your imperial sovereignty." And the empress +said: "Do not despond; for I trust in the Lord Christ, the Son of God, +that I shall persuade the emperor to do those things that are due to +your saintly faith and to dismiss you hence well treated. Depart, then, +to your privacy, for you are fatigued, and pray God to cooperate with my +request." She then commanded money to be brought, and gave three darics +apiece to the most holy bishops, saying: "In the meantime take this for +your expenses." And the bishops took the money, and blessed her +abundantly, and departed. And when they went out they gave the greater +part of the money to the deacons who were standing at the door, +reserving little for themselves.</p> + +<p>And when the emperor came into the apartment of the empress, she told +him all touching the bishops, and requested him that the heathen temples +of Gaza should be thrown down. But the emperor was put out when he heard +it, and said:</p> + +<p>"I know that city is devoted to idols, but it is loyally disposed in the +matters of taxation and pays a large sum to the revenue. If then we +overwhelm them with terrors of a sudden, they will betake themselves to +flight, and we shall lose so much of the revenue. But if it must be, let +us afflict them partially, depriving idolaters of their dignities and +other public offices, and bid their temples be shut up and be used no +longer. For when they are afflicted and straitened on all sides, they +will recognize the truth; but an extreme measure coming suddenly is hard +on subjects." The empress was very much vexed at this reply, for she was +ardent in matters of faith, but she merely said: "The Lord can assist +his servants, the Christians, whether we consent or decline."</p> + +<p>We learned these details from the chamberlain Amantius. On the morrow +the Augusta sent for us, and having first saluted the holy bishops +according to her custom, she bade them sit down. And after a long +spiritual talk, she said: "I spoke to the emperor, and he was rather put +out. But do not despond, for, God willing, I cannot cease until ye be +satisfied and depart, having succeeded in your holy purpose." And the +bishops made obeisance. Then the saintly Porphynus, pricked by the +spirit, and recollecting the word of the thrice-blessed anchoret +Procopius, said to the empress: "Exert yourself for the sake of Christ, +and in recompense for your exertions he can bestow on you a son whose +life and reign you will see and enjoy for many years."</p> + +<p>At these words the empress was filled with joy, and her face flushed, +and new beauty beyond that which she already had passed into her face; +for the appearance shows what passes within. And she said: "Pray, +fathers, that, according to your word, with the will of God, I may bear +a male child, and if it so befall, I promise you to do all that ye ask. +And another thing, for which ye ask not, I intend to do with the consent +of Christ; I will found a church at Gaza in the centre of the city. +Depart then in peace, and rest quiet, praying constantly for my happy +delivery; for the time of my confinement is near." The bishops commended +her to God and left the palace, and prayer was made that she should bear +a male child; for we believed in the words of Saint Procopius the +anchoret.</p> + +<p>And every day we used to proceed to the most holy Johannes, the +archbishop, and had the fruition of his holy words, sweeter than honey +and the honeycomb. And Amantius the chamberlain used to come to us, +sometimes bearing messages from the empress, at other times merely to +pay a visit. And after a few days the empress brought forth a male +child, and he was called Theodosius, after his grandfather Theodosius, +the Spaniard, who reigned together with Gratian. And the child +Theodosius was born in the purple, wherefore he was proclaimed emperor +at his birth. And there was great joy in the city, and men were sent to +the cities of the Empire, bearing the good news, with gifts and +bounties.</p> + +<p>But the empress, who had only just been delivered and arisen from her +chair of confinement, sent Amantius to us with this message: "I thank +Christ that God bestowed on me a son on account of your holy prayers. +Pray then, fathers, for his life and for my lowly self, in order that I +may fulfil those things which I promised you, Christ himself again +consenting, through your holy prayers." And when the seven days of her +confinement were fulfilled, she sent for us and met us at the door of +the chamber, carrying in her arms the infant in a purple robe. And she +inclined her head and said: "Draw nigh, fathers, unto me and the child +which the Lord granted to me through your holy prayers." And she gave +them the child that they might seal it with God's signet. And the holy +bishops sealed both her and the child with the seal of the cross, and, +offering a prayer, sat down. And when they had spoken many words full of +heart pricking, the lady said to them: "Do ye know, fathers, what I +resolved to do in regard to your affairs?" (Here Porphyrius related a +dream which he had dreamed the night before: then Eudoxia resumed:) "If +Christ permit, the child will be privileged to receive the holy baptism +in a few days. Do ye then depart and compose a petition and insert in it +all the requests ye wish to make. And when the child comes forth from +the holy baptismal rite, give the petition to him who holds the child in +his arms; but I will instruct him what to do. And I trust in the Son of +God that He can arrange the whole matter according to the will of His +loving kindness." Having received these instructions we blessed her and +the infant and went out. Then we composed the petition, inserting many +things in the document, not only as to the overthrow of the idols, but +also that privileges and revenues should be granted to the holy Church +and the Christians; for the holy Church was poor.</p> + +<p>The days ran by, and the day on which the young emperor was to be +illuminated (<i>i. e.</i>, baptized) arrived. And all the city was crowned +with garlands and decked out in garments entirely made of silk and gold +jewels and all kinds of ornaments, so that no one could describe the +adornment of the city. One might behold the inhabitants, multitudinous +as the waves, arrayed in all manner of various dresses. But it is beyond +my power to describe the brilliance of that pomp; it is a task for those +who are practised writers, and I shall proceed to my present true +history. When the young Theodosius was baptized and came forth from the +church to the palace, you might behold the excellence of the multitude +of the magnates and their dazzling raiments, for all were dressed in +white, and you would have thought they were covered with snow. The +patricians headed the procession with the illustres and all other ranks, +and the military contingents, all carrying wax candles, so that the +stars seemed to shine on earth. And close to the infant, which was +carried in arms, was the emperor Arcadius himself, his face cheerful and +more radiant than the purple robe he was wearing, and one of the +magnates carried the infant in brilliant apparel. And we marvelled, +beholding such glory. Then the holy Porphyrius said to us: "If the +things which vanish possess such glory, how much more glorious are the +things celestial, prepared for the elect, which neither eye hath beheld +nor ear heard, nor hath it come into the heart of man to consider!"</p> + +<p>And we stood at the portal of the church, with the document of our +petition, and when he came forth from the baptism we called aloud, +saying, "We petition your Piety," and held out the paper. And he who +carried the child seeing this, and knowing our concernment, for the +empress had instructed him, and when he received it halted, and he +commanded silence, and having unrolled a part he read it, and folding it +up, placed his hand under the head of the child, and cried out: "His +majesty has ordered the requests contained in the petition to be +ratified." And all having seen did obeisance to the emperor, +congratulating him that he had the privilege of seeing his son as +emperor in his lifetime; and he rejoiced thereat. And that which had +happened for the sake of her son was announced to the empress, and she +rejoiced and thanked God on her knees. And when the child entered the +palace, she met it and received it and kissed it, and, holding it in her +arms, greeted the emperor, saying: "You are blessed, my lord, for the +things which your eyes have beheld in your lifetime." And the emperor +rejoiced thereat. And the empress, seeing him in good humor, said: +"Please let us learn what the petition contains that its contents may be +fulfilled."</p> + +<p>And the emperor ordered the paper to be read; and when it was read, he +said: "The request is hard, but to refuse it is harder, since it is the +first mandate of our son." Thus the petition was granted, and the +empress herself saw to it that all its provisions were fulfilled; and +the bishops returned to Palestine well supplied with funds, having +obtained all they desired by working on the superstition of the empress, +and through her skill in managing the emperor.</p> + +<p>The narrative is highly instructive and interesting in the picture it +gives of the empress, her outward piety, her joy at the birth of a son, +her superstitious acceptance of the prophecy of the anchoret, and her +cleverness in the ruse she devised to win the consent of the emperor. It +is an altogether pleasing picture of a religious queen and a devoted +mother, and we could wish that all her conduct had conformed to these +high ideals. The worldly side of Eudoxia's character appeared in the +open war between the empress and the patriarch, which disturbed the +later years of the reign of Arcadius.</p> + +<p>John Chrysostom was an austere and eloquent prelate, who had studied the +art of rhetoric under Libanius and had been brought by Eutropius to +Constantinople from Antioch, where he had already achieved great +popularity and an enviable reputation for holiness and eloquence. He was +a man of saintly life and apostolic fervor, but rash and inconsiderate +alike in speech and in action. His charity and eloquence made him the +idol of the people, but his free speaking offended the court circles, +and his austere manners and autocratic methods made him disliked by the +clergy. He thundered against the degeneracy of the wealthy classes and +enlarged on the peculiar vices of the aristocrats, to the confusion of +the empress and her court ladies and to the delight of the populace.</p> + +<p>The worldliness and carnal ambitions of Eudoxia can be judged from the +sermons of Chrysostom; and she naturally gave the tone to the ladies of +her court. She was not above suspicion of criminal intrigues, as can be +inferred from the fact of the rumor prevailing that Count John, a +nobleman of the court, was the father of her son Theodosius; but whether +this was merely a court scandal cannot at this day be ascertained. With +the empress given to worldly vanity, we can imagine the nature of the +society over which she presided. "One curious trait of manner indicates +clearly enough the tone of the court. It was the custom of Christian +ladies to wear veils or bands over their foreheads, so as to conceal +their hair. Women of meretricious life were distinguished by the way +they wore their hair cut and combed over their brows, just like modern +fringes. The ladies of Eudoxia's court were so immodest, and had such +bad taste, as to adopt this fashion from the courtesans. The next step +probably was that the example of the court influenced respectable +Christian matrons to wear the obnoxious fringe." On the other hand, +actresses and public prostitutes retaliated by imitating the dress of +consecrated virgins, and this abuse had to be suppressed by legislation. +In the aristocratic society of Eudoxia three ladies were especially +prominent,--Marsa, the widow of Promotus, a distant relative of the +empress; Castricia, the widow of Saturninus; and Eugraphia, who had also +lost her husband. These ladies, though no longer young, were rich and +fashionable, and endeavored to preserve the appearance of youth by +inordinate attention to complexion and to dress. Eugraphia is mentioned +as given to using rouge and white lead to preserve her complexion, a +habit which was severely condemned by the austere Chrysostom. It was +hard to forgive a preacher who reproached the feminine tendency to +conceal by cosmetics and dress one's age and ugliness.</p> + +<p>Furthermore, the attractions of the theatre and the dissipations of high +life engaged the attention of this fashionable set quite as much as did +attendance on religious service and outward manifestations of piety. +Christianity had not suppressed the licentiousness of the stage or +improved the morality of greenrooms. Chrysostom complains of the +lawlessness of the theatre and the obscenity of the songs that delighted +the audience; he was especially shocked at the exhibitions of women +swimming. The professional courtesan, with all the accomplishments of +the actress, was the centre of attraction for the <i>habitués</i> of the +theatre; and she was even allowed to contaminate fashionable weddings +with her presence.</p> + +<p>Other types of contemporary society are of interest, especially +instances of the ambitious and fashionable lady, not of the aristocracy, +who wished to work her way up into the court circle. Synesius gives us +the picture of such a one in a celebrated allegory presenting the career +of the noble and high-minded Aurelian, head of a patriot party, and of +his unscrupulous adversary, who wished to displace him. The subject of +the allegory is the contest between the two sons of Taurus, Osivis and +Typhos. Osivis represents Aurelian, the type of everything good and +laudable; Aurelian's antagonist is figured in Typhos, a perverse, gross, +and ignorant person, who favored the German party. He was a profligate +Roman, who had been guilty of malversation in office and hoped by his +new alliance to return to power. He had an active, though not very +discreet, ally in his wife, whom Synesius depicts in pregnant phrases. +Owing to her vanity she was her own tire-woman, a reproach which +suggests her excessive attention to the details of her toilet. She liked +to show herself in grand array in the market place, fancying that the +eyes of all were upon her. Owing to her desire to have her drawing rooms +filled and to be the object of notoriety, she did not close her doors +even against professional courtesans; and we may infer on that account +that select Byzantine society was not desirous of her acquaintance. +Synesius contrasts with her the wife of Aurelian, who never left the +house, and gives us a reminiscence of Thucydides in his sententious +expression that it was the greatest virtue of a woman for neither her +body nor her name ever to cross the threshold. Aurelian succeeds in +winning political honors in spite of the hostility of Typhos and his +wife, much to the disgust of the latter, who saw her intrigues for +social laurels defeated.</p> + +<p>The ladies of the court and those who wished to be such were in large +measure devoted to the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eye, and the +pride of life. Chrysostom's austere spirit was naturally offended at the +life of such a court and of fashionable and aspiring matrons, and in his +pastoral visits to these great ladies he undoubtedly rebuked them for +their worldliness. Furthermore, in his pulpit he preached valiantly +against luxury and worldliness, and would often add point to his remarks +by turning his eyes toward the part of the gallery where sat Eudoxia and +the ladies of her court. Great umbrage was aroused against him because +of his outspoken condemnation of their vices, petty and otherwise, and +he was hated as the wicked Herodias hated John the Baptist. His greatest +offence was reached in a sermon in which the empress was openly called +Jezebel--a statement which led to the spread of the unfounded scandal +that she had robbed a widow of a vineyard as Ahab robbed Naboth.</p> + +<p>The rank and file of the people enjoyed with great zest these attacks on +the aristocrats, and that which stung the great ladies most severely was +their being made objects of censure before the mob, as their consciences +were sufficiently hardened not to be deeply penetrated by the preacher's +shafts. Accordingly, the humiliation of their pride led them to form a +conspiracy against Chrysostom, the centre of which was the house of +Eugraphia. These ladies readily found allies. The archbishop's austerity +of life and rigid discipline had made him many enemies among the +bishops, monks, and nuns, for he had attacked the corruption of the +clergy as well as the corruption of the court. The sensuality, avarice, +and selfishness of the clergy laid them open to attack. Women were +admitted to the monasteries, or lived in the houses of priests as +"spiritual sisters," a custom that gave rise to much scandal. Still more +scandalous was the conduct of the order of deaconesses who, while not +following the fashions of the court, yet adorned their austere garb +"with an immodest coquetry which made them more piquant than an ordinary +courtesan." Chrysostom was especially severe on the monks, who would +linger about Constantinople for the sake of its licentious pleasures +instead of betaking themselves to their natural fields of labor.</p> + +<p>Though Chrysostom had his enemies among the fair sex, he had also his +circle of admirers, who were the more ardent in their attentions because +of the persecutions he had to undergo. The most distinguished and the +most devoted of these was the aristocratic Olympias, whose mother was at +one time betrothed to an emperor, but who was wedded to a king of +Armenia, and afterward became the wife of a Roman noble. Olympias was +renowned for her benevolence toward the poor and her constancy to +Chrysostom in his troubles, while her kindness of heart and sweetness of +spirit give her rank among the "good" women of the period. Another +constant friend was a Moorish princess, Salvina, who had been placed as +a hostage in Theodosius's charge by her father, and had been married to +the empress's nephew. In contrast to the restless activity of the ladies +about Eudoxia, she led a quiet and peaceful life devoted to good works, +and Chrysostom, in a "letter to a young widow," contrasts the serenity +and happiness she enjoyed with the turbulent life of her father.</p> + +<p>Chrysostom's sharp reproofs of the worldly minded, his close friendships +with Olympias and other ladies, whom he at times received alone in his +episcopal residence, and his retired, ascetic life, gave pretext for +unwarranted charges. His enemies even went so far as to assert that +under the cover of his unsocial habits he conducted "Cyclopean orgies" +in his home.</p> + +<p>An official journey which he made for the regulation of the affairs of +the churches, during which he removed many unworthy bishops, aroused +much umbrage against him, and gave his enemies at home an opportunity to +injure him. Severian, whom he left in his place, was an especial +favorite of the empress, and joined the court league against his +superior. Upon his return, Chrysostom acted with his customary decision. +Hearing of the unbecoming conduct of his subordinate, he severely and +openly attacked his time-serving relations with the empress, and, when +Severian grew defiant, promptly excommunicated him. Owing to the +entreaties of the empress and the emperor, however, he withdrew the ban +and restored Severian to his office.</p> + +<p>Soon afterward a louder storm burst, and from a new quarter. Theophilus, +the worldly prelate of Alexandria, was induced by the court ladies to +undertake their cause against the patriarch. He came to Constantinople +and took up his quarters in the palace of Placidia, and from this +centre, as well as from the house of Eugraphia, a violent warfare of +words was waged against Chrysostom.</p> + +<p>The emperor was prevailed upon to grant a synod for the trial of the +patriarch, which was held outside the city, owing to the strength of the +latter's adherents. Chrysostom was condemned by the packed assembly, +known as the "Synod of the Oak," and formally deposed. The city was in +an uproar. Chrysostom retired to Bithynia, but the people demanded his +return, and he was recalled from banishment and restored to his office. +Had he now adopted a policy of quiet tolerance, all would have been +well, but very soon an occasion arose which led him to make a further +attack on Eudoxia. In September, 403, a statue of silver on a column of +porphyry was erected to the empress near the precincts of Saint Sophia. +Chrysostom took occasion to censure severely the adulation of the +populace, and by his remarks he must have mortally offended the pride of +the empress, for henceforth even the mild emperor declined to have any +communication with the patriarch.</p> + +<p>The next year a new synod was held, and the action of the Synod of the +Oak was confirmed. The emperor ratified the sentence, and Chrysostom +quietly yielded to the inevitable and retired from the city. As soon as +the people heard of the occurrence, another uproar followed, which +resulted in the conflagration of Saint Sophia and other buildings and in +the persecution of many adherents of the exiled patriarch. Olympias and +many others were condemned to exile. "Among those who anticipated the +sentence by flight was an old maid named Nicarete, who deserves mention +as a curious figure of the time. She was a philanthropist who devoted +her means to works of charity, and who always went about with a chest of +drugs, which she used to dispose of gratuitously, and which rumor said +were always effectual."</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, Chrysostom was transported to a remote town among the ridges +of Mount Taurus, in Lesser Armenia. He suffered many hardships, but he +was sustained by the sympathy of his friends, especially Olympias, with +whom he corresponded, and who never told him of the persecutions she +herself underwent in his behalf. Her own last years, however, were +darkened by her afflictions, and Chrysostom tried to lighten her +melancholy by his letters of consolation. Her saintly life cast a halo +about her memory after she passed away, and a legend was current in +later times that her encoffined body had, by her own directions, been +cast into the sea at Nicomedia, whence it was borne to Constantinople, +and thence to Brochthi, where it reposed in the Church of Saint Thomas.</p> + +<p>Chrysostom's last years were perhaps his most useful ones, being spent +in regulating by letter the affairs of the churches. The Pope at Rome +never ratified his condemnation, and he was universally beloved as one +subjected to unjust persecution. Owing to his undiminished prominence in +all Church affairs, the ruthless empress pursued him in his exile, and +an order was despatched for him to be transported to Pityus, a desolate +place on the south-eastern coast of the Euxine; but on the way thither +he expired from exhaustion, in the sixtieth year of his age. He was the +last of the patriarchs to stand out against the corruption and the +frivolity of the court, and henceforth the archbishops were but +subservient adherents of the emperor and the empress.</p> + +<p>His innocence and merit were acknowledged by the succeeding generation, +and thirty years later, at the earnest solicitation of the people, +Chrysostom's remains were brought to Constantinople. The Emperor +Theodosius advanced to receive them as far as Chalcedon, and implored +the forgiveness of the injured saint in the name of his guilty parents, +Arcadius and Eudoxia.</p> + +<p>Less than four years after the birth of her son, Theodosius, Eudoxia, in +the bloom of her youth and the height of her power, came to her end as +the result of a miscarriage; and this untimely death confounded the +prophecy of Porphyrius of Gaza, who had foretold that she would live to +see the reign of her son. Pious Catholics saw in her untimely death the +vengeance of Heaven for the persecution of Saint Chrysostom; and few +save the emperor and her children bewailed the loss of the worldly and +ambitious empress.</p> + +<br><br> +<a name="c10" id="c10"></a> + +<h3>X</h3> + +<h3>THE RIVAL EMPRESSES--PULCHERIA AND EUDOCIA</h3> + +<p>Beside the deathbed of the gentle Arcadius, whom destiny snatched from +life in the fulness of manhood, stood four weeping orphans of tenderest +years, three maidens and a little lad--all too young to realize the +greatness of their loss. These were the seven-year-old Theodosius, heir +to the throne, the nine-year-old Pulcheria and her two younger sisters, +Arcadia and Marina. In the orphanage of the children, it was natural +that the eldest daughter should feel that upon herself rested the +responsibility of acting as mother to her brother and sisters; and +Pulcheria possessed the mental endowments and the rapidly developing +nature which peculiarly fitted her for this task. Fortunately the +administration of the Empire was in the hands of the praetorian prefect +Anthemius, a wise and able counsellor, who acted as the guardian of the +young prince and his sisters and directed their education. He, with the +Patriarch Atticus, who was their religious guide and spiritual adviser, +provided them with every possible advantage for intellectual and +spiritual growth. Pulcheria early exhibited an earnest and almost manly +intelligence. Along with the sympathetic and mystical temperament of a +saint, she possessed the strong, practical sense of her grandfather, +Theodosius the Great. Hence she was quick to turn her attention to +problems of statecraft and displayed a precocious capacity for +administration. Her duties as guardian of her brother and sisters also +developed her innate love of mastery, so that as a child she gradually +conceived a longing for the duties and responsibilities of the imperial +station.</p> + +<p>At the tender age of fourteen, Pulcheria began to win influence in state +affairs. Proud and ambitious like her mother Eudoxia, she sought as +rapidly as possible to assert her authority; and, as her power and +influence grew, that of Anthemius gradually ceased to exert itself. By +no other hypothesis can we explain why Anthemius at this time retired +from active duties and did not retain his office as regent at least +until two years later, when Theodosius, in his fifteenth year, should +attain his majority.</p> + +<p>On July 4, 414, Pulcheria, the daughter of an emperor, assumed, contrary +to all precedent, the title of Augusta, previously reserved exclusively +for the wives of emperors, and formally took upon herself the honor and +the duties of regent in the name of her brother, who was still a minor. +So thoroughly did she gain the ascendency over the young prince that +even after he was created Augustus two years later she retained her +title and continued to be the real power in the imperial palace; indeed, +she was for forty years virtually the ruler of the Eastern Empire.</p> + +<p>The children of Arcadius and Eudoxia inherited the religious temperament +of their father rather than the worldly disposition of their mother. +Consequently, the court of Theodosius the Younger formed a great +contrast to that of Arcadius. Pulcheria determined to embrace a life of +celibacy. Resolving to remain a virgin, she induced her sisters to join +with her in vows of perpetual virginity. They were confirmed in this +step by their spiritual father, Atticus, who wrote for the princesses a +book in which he dwelt on the beauty of the single life. In the presence +of the clergy and the assembled people of Constantinople the three +daughters of Arcadius dedicated their virginity to God; and their solemn +vows were inscribed on a tablet of gold and jewels, which was publicly +offered in the Church of Saint Sophia. Pious souls saw in this vow of +Pulcheria only the natural result of her strict piety and her unselfish +love for her brother; but profane historians attributed it to her +extraordinary prudence, which was with her a gift of nature, and to her +unbounded ambition--on the ground that she could thus maintain +permanently her ascendency over the young prince, and, by controlling +his marriage, share his power.</p> + +<p>In her manner of life, however, Pulcheria emphasized the genuineness of +her piety. The imperial palace, as says a contemporary, assumed the +character of a cloister. All males, except saintly men who had forgotten +the distinction of sexes, were excluded from the holy threshold. +Pulcheria and a chosen band of Christian damsels formed a sort of +religious community. Spiritual practices were carried on, with strict +punctuality, from morning till evening. Whereas richly clad senators and +officers in sumptuous raiment had earlier passed in and out of the +palace, so now the black robes of priests and the dark cowls of monks +were to be seen thronging the entrance, and in place of the joyous songs +of banquetings and festivities, one could hear the monotonous intoning +of psalms. The vanity of dress which had scandalized the court of +Eudoxia was discarded, and the simple garb of nuns was the prevailing +fashion of the palace. The princesses did not employ themselves in +personal adornment or in the many vanities of royal station, but spent +much of their time at the loom, weaving garments for the poor and needy. +A frugal diet was adopted, and even this was interrupted by frequent +fasts. Thus Pulcheria and her maidens wearied not in their saintly life +and in the performance of deeds of mercy.</p> + +<p>These outward exercises of piety were attended by sumptuous beneficences +for the spread of the Christian religion. Magnificent churches were +built in various parts of the Empire at the expense of Pulcheria; +charitable foundations for the benefit of the poor and the unfortunate +were established in Constantinople and elsewhere, and ample donations +were given by her for the perpetual maintenance of monastic societies. +This imperial saint, who thus devoted a large part of her time and +energies to the performance of religious duties and of charitable +undertakings, naturally enjoyed the peculiar favor of the Deity. There +is a tradition that the knowledge of the location of sacred relics and +intimation of future events were communicated to her in dreams and +revelations. The common people attributed healing power to her. +Pulcheria's virtues aroused in the populace a feeling of admiration, and +the saintly life of the palace awakened and spread a deep spiritual +influence throughout the Empire.</p> + +<p>Religion, however, was accompanied with culture, and Pulcheria, with the +aid of the best masters, had her brother and sisters trained in all the +various branches of knowledge acquired up to that time. Under her +direction Theodosius became a student of natural science; and so great +was his skill in writing and in illuminating manuscripts that he +received the name of Calligraphus. Pulcheria acquired an elegant and +familiar command of both Greek and Latin; and she displayed her +intellectual discipline, and gift of expression on the various occasions +of speaking or writing on public business.</p> + +<p>Yet Pulcheria's devotion to religion and to learning never diverted her +indefatigable attention from public affairs. She strengthened the +influence of the senate and supported it in the reform of many abuses +which had crept in during the ascendancy of the eunuchs of the palace +and the struggles with the German party; but her energies were chiefly +directed toward acting as counsellor to the emperor, and protecting him +from the intrigues of court officials, to which his weak character made +him an easy victim. She instructed her brother in the art of government, +yet the tenderness of her discipline seems to have made him rather a +willing instrument in her own hands than an independent monarch. +Possibly she realized that the elements which go to form a great ruler +were lacking in his character; possibly her own love of power blinded +her to the right course of action toward her confiding ward. At any +rate, "her precepts may countenance some suspicion of the extent of her +capacity or the purity of her intention. She taught him to maintain a +grave and majestic deportment; to walk, to hold his robe, to seat +himself on his throne in a manner worthy of a great prince; to abstain +from laughter; to listen with condescension; to return suitable answers; +to assume, by turns, a serious or a placid countenance; in a word, to +represent with grace and dignity the external figure of a Roman +emperor."</p> + +<p>Though so careful and systematic in her training of the young prince, +Pulcheria did not deprive his boyhood of those companionships which add +zest to youthful pursuits and recreation and stimulate the growth of +manly qualities. She gave him as comrades two bright and spirited +youths, Paulinus and Placitus, with whom he associated in open-hearted +intimacy and who were destined to play a prominent part in his reign. +Paulinus especially became his most trusted friend, and the two were +united for many years by bonds which resembled those of Damon and +Pythias. Amid such surroundings and under such influence, Theodosius +grew up. The product of Pulcheria's instruction, however, was a ruler +who descended below even the weakness of her father and uncle. Chaste, +temperate, merciful, superstitious, pious, he was rich in negative +qualities; but, being feeble in energy and lacking all initiative, he +became merely a good-hearted and well-meaning, instead of active and +courageous, ruler. Consequently in every official act it was Pulcheria +who supplied the wisdom and the energy which made the earlier years of +Theodosius's reign such happy and peaceful ones. Pulcheria, however, was +content to keep her power in the background and to attribute to the +genius of the emperor the smoothness with which the wheels of government +turned, as well as the mildness and prosperity of his reign.</p> + +<p>The choice of a wife for Theodosius naturally lay in the hands of +Pulcheria. The young prince, influenced by the example of his father, +had expressed to his sister his preference for rare physical perfection +and high intellectual endowments over exalted station and royal blood in +the choice of a consort; and Pulcheria, in conjunction with his boyhood +friend Paulinus, set herself to the task of finding in the capital or in +the provinces an ideal corresponding to the wishes of the imperial +youth. Yet, while they were engaged in the search, by happy chance a +wonderful concatenation of events in the pagan city of Athens determined +the destiny of the nineteen-year-old ruler.</p> + +<p>In the story of Athenais we have the beautiful romance of a maiden of +modest station raised by destiny to the exalted dignity of a throne. She +was the favorite child of Leontius, an Athenian philosopher, who devoted +most of his time to training his daughter in the religion and philosophy +of his native city, and who sought to cultivate in her all that charm of +manner and richness of temperament which characterized the Greek women +in the best days of ancient Athens. The story goes that the old +philosopher was so confident that, because of her beauty and +intellectual gifts, a high destiny awaited his daughter, that he +bequeathed her as a legacy only a hundred pieces of gold, while he +divided the bulk of his estate between his two sons, Valerius and +Genesius. The brothers, being avaricious by nature and jealous of the +superior qualities of their sister, treated her with neglect and cruelty +in her distress. Athenais implored them to repair the obvious injustice +and to grant her her rights, representing to them how she did not +deserve this disgrace and that the indigence of their sister would be to +them, if not a cause of grief, yet certainly a continual reproach; but +her brothers would not listen to her appeals, and finally drove her from +the paternal mansion. Fortunately, a maternal aunt resided in Athens, +who received the disinherited maiden into her home and warmly espoused +her cause. She brought Athenais to Constantinople, where another aunt +dwelt, and made arrangements for the maiden to bring suit against the +hard-hearted brothers. To influence the decision, Athenais and her aunt +obtained audience with Pulcheria, and thus the link was formed which +joined the destinies of the young emperor and the hapless orphan.</p> + +<p>The youthful plaintiff was her own advocate, and so effectually did she +argue her case that the Augusta, charmed by the penetration and +cleverness which her speech revealed, as well as by the wonderful beauty +and modest demeanor of the maiden, was irresistibly forced to the +conviction that this girl was the very one who embodied the ideals and +longings of the young prince. And, in fact, Athenais was physically and +intellectually endowed in a manner seldom equalled. Imagine a maiden of +tall and slender proportions of figure, of rare perfection of form, of +fair complexion, of dark and luminous eyes which revealed the sweetness +and subtlety of the spirit within, while the perfect outline of the +countenance was framed by a luxuriant abundance of golden locks,--and +you have some conception of the stranger who stood with queenly grace +before the proud Augusta. Furthermore, every word that she uttered +revealed the rare subtlety of understanding or warmth of sensibilities +of the petitioner, who was in every regard the perfect picture of a +symmetrically developed maiden. So soon as Pulcheria ascertained that +Athenais was of good family and was still unmarried, she began to carry +out her plans as a royal matchmaker. She aroused the curiosity of her +brother by her account of the charms of the Greek maiden, and the +recital inspired in the young prince a lively impatience to see +Athenais. He besought his sister to arrange an opportunity for him, +unobserved, to see the maiden, and Pulcheria readily devised a plan. +After having concealed Theodosius and Paulinus behind the tapestries in +her apartment, she summoned Athenais to come to her for a further +interview. Athenais entered the room, and the young men were so charmed +by the view that Theodosius, enamored of the maiden at first sight, +desired to make her his bride.</p> + +<p>What must have been the emotions of the disinherited orphan, when the +Augusta, instead of granting her petition, told her that she was chosen +to be the bride of an emperor? Only one obstacle to the union presented +itself,--the pagan faith of the beautiful Athenian. While winning her +heart for himself, the pious Theodosius longed to win her soul for the +Saviour. To the patriarch Atticus was assigned the pleasing task of +convincing the beautiful maiden of the errors of paganism and of guiding +her spirit into the ways of eternal truth. The pure heart of the gentle +Athenais proved readily susceptible to the beauties of Christian +teaching; the waters of baptism were supposed to remove from her nature +the last vestiges of pagan unbelief; and in accordance with the wishes +of her betrothed, the converted Athenais received the baptismal name of +Eudocia.</p> + +<p>Finally, on June 7, 421, the royal nuptials were celebrated with great +pomp, amid the rejoicings of the populace. The prudent Pulcheria, +however, withheld from the bride of the emperor the title of Augusta +until the union was blessed by the birth of a daughter, who was named +Eudoxia, after her grandmother, and who, fifteen years later, became the +wife of Valentinian III., ruler of the Western Empire.</p> + +<p>The brothers of Eudocia richly deserved the resentment of the new +empress. They had fled from Athens when they heard of the elevation of +their despised sister, but she had them sought out and brought to +Constantinople. They entered into her presence trembling and +disconcerted; but instead of punishing them, as they felt they well +deserved, Eudocia received them in a friendly manner and forgave them +for their base conduct. Regarding them as the unconscious instruments of +her elevation, the new empress gave them part in some of the highest +offices of state.</p> + +<p>Having become a Christian, Eudocia dedicated her talents to the honor of +religion and to the glory of her husband. She indited religious poems +which were the admiration of the age. She composed a poetical paraphrase +of the five books of Moses, of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth, and of the +prophecies of Daniel and Zechariah. She devoted three books of verse to +the legend of Saint Cyprian, who was a martyr in the persecution +inaugurated by Diocletian. She wrote a panegyric on the Persian +victories of Theodosius; and there is extant from her pen a cento of +Homeric verse treating the life and miracles of Christ. She also +manifestly exerted a strong influence in the founding of the University +of Constantinople, if we judge from the preponderance of Greek chairs. +She also encouraged in every manner the cultivation of Greek letters; +and the support she gave to Greek poets and litterateurs gave umbrage to +the narrow religionists, who regarded everything Greek as pagan.</p> + +<p>Eudocia, by her beauty and sprightliness, rapidly gained an ascendancy +over the weak but noble-hearted emperor, who had now two masters, his +sister and his wife. The new empress, in spite of her devotion to +religion, still retained some pagan leanings, and the monastic life of +the court began to undergo a change. Both the empress--sister and the +empress--wife were ladies of strong will, and Eudocia by degrees became +less sensitive to the gratitude she owed Pulcheria because of her +elevation. Hence, as each of the Augustæ endeavored to have her own way, +there arose discord in the imperial family. Intriguing courtiers and +bishops knew how to take advantage of the division of sentiment in the +royal household, and, while there was no public outbreak, the wheels of +government did not run so smoothly as when Pulcheria held uncontested +sway. The rivalry and dissension in the court between the two empresses +showed itself particularly in the religious controversies of the time, +and especially in the so-called Nestorian heresy regarding the dual +nature of Christ. Pulcheria throughout was opposed to Nestorianism, as +to every doctrine which flavored of Greek metaphysics, while Eudocia is +credited with being an advocate of the new doctrine. Cyril, the bishop +of Alexandria and the principal opponent of Nestorius, left no stone +unturned to win the favor and support of Pulcheria, while ecclesiastics +of the opposite party doubtless attempted the same with Eudocia.</p> + +<p>The result of this conflict of opinion between the rival empresses was +that the policy of Theodosius was always wavering; he was consistent +neither in orthodoxy nor heterodoxy. At first a partisan of Nestorius, +he responded rather sharply to the appeals of Cyril; but he afterward +went over entirely to the opposite side--an indication that the +influence of Pulcheria was once more paramount.</p> + +<p>Thus passed the first decade and a half of Eudocia's reign. Finally in +438 occurred an event of momentous interest to the entire Roman +world--the marriage of the princess Eudoxia with Valentinian III., +Emperor of the West. As it seemed likely that Eudocia would never bear a +son to Theodosius, the union of the two reigning houses meant possibly +the reunion of the Empire under one emperor, should a son be born to the +newly married couple. Possibly feeling lonely after the marriage and +departure of her daughter; possibly tiring of the intrigues of the +court, Eudocia, with the concurrence of the emperor, shortly afterward +undertook a solemn pilgrimage to Jerusalem to discharge her vows and to +return thanks to the Deity for the welfare of her daughter.</p> + +<p>Attended by a royal cortege of courtiers and eunuchs and slaves, the +Empress Eudocia set out on her journey. Her ostentatious progress +through the East hardly seems in keeping with the spirit of Christian +humility. One of the most impressive events of her journey was the +sojourn in Antioch, the metropolis of the Far East. Here she pronounced +to the senate, from a throne of gold, studded with precious gems, an +eloquent Greek oration, which was regarded as a marvel of Hellenic +rhetoric. In Antioch, probably far more than in Constantinople or +Alexandria, there was a hearty appreciation of Greek culture and art, +and many of the renowned rhetoricians of the day had in this city their +lecture halls, to which thronged enthusiastic students; and to the most +cultivated audience of the metropolis was granted the presence of an +empress glorying in her Athenian nativity, trained in all the rhetorical +art of the Greek, and combining in her own personality all that was most +pleasing in both pagan and Christian culture. The last words of +Eudocia's address--a quotation from Homer--are said to have occasioned +prolonged applause:</p> + +<p class="mid">ταύτης τοι γενεης τε και αιματος ευχομαι ειναι--Iliad Ζ 211.</p> + +<p class="mid">"I boast to be of your own race and blood."</p> + +<p>Eudocia was also generous in her gifts to the city. She induced the +emperor to enlarge its walls, and herself bestowed upon it a donation of +two hundred pounds of gold to restore the public baths. She graciously +accepted the statues which were decreed to her in gratitude for her +munificence--a statue of gold erected in the Curia, and one of bronze in +the museum. To the empress, with her earlier love of the sacred +traditions of the city of the violet crown, her enthusiastic reception +in the most thoroughly Hellenized city of the Orient must have been a +most gratifying occurrence.</p> + +<p>From Antioch the empress probably followed the pilgrims highway to the +Holy Land. There with doubly chastened soul the cultivated convert +visited the places hallowed by the Saviour's sufferings and glory. From +Bethlehem, where the Mother found shelter in a stable, and therein "in a +manger laid" the newborn Redeemer, to receive the adoration of the +shepherds, on through the country which the Lord travelled in His +mission, till finally she beheld Mount Calvary and looked upon the place +of the Sepulchre, now marked by the Christian temple raised by Helena. +Her presence brings to mind the visit of this Helena, the Emperor +Constantine's mother, one hundred years before, but the Greek matron +must have beheld it with very different emotions. She had been reared in +the philosophers' gardens of Athens, amid the glories of the Parthenon +and the many wonderful works of art which the Greek genius had created, +and in her new home in Constantinople she had not been altogether weaned +from the traditions of her youth. In glowing contrast to ancient Athens +she now saw a city whose prized monuments were the chapels erected on +spots rendered sacred by the footsteps of the Christ and the relics of +saints and martyrs. To this city she came as a Christian pilgrim, and +her devoutness of spirit showed that her heathen culture, in which she +took a pardonable pride, had been consecrated to the religion she +professed, and her endeavor to relieve the sufferings of the poor and +the unfortunate proved that she had learned the lesson of caring for +others from the example of the Master.</p> + +<p>Her alms and pious foundations in the Holy Land exceeded even those of +the great Helena; and the destitute of the land had reason to be +grateful to the empress for her unbounded liberality. In return for her +zeal, she had the conscious satisfaction of returning to Constantinople +with some of the most sacred relics of the Church--the chains of Saint +Peter, the relics of Saint Stephen, and a portrait of the Virgin Mary, +reputed to be from the brush of Saint Luke. The first martyr's relics +were deposited with great ceremony in the chapel of Saint Laurence, and +the piety of the empress won for her the loving admiration of the devout +populace.</p> + +<p>But this pilgrimage to Jerusalem, with its many tokens of the affection +of her subjects, and her triumphal return to the capital city, marks the +termination of the glory of the Athenian maiden as empress of the East. +Then began the rivalries and conflicts which finally brought about +Eudocia's downfall. To understand these we must first of all take into +consideration the difference of temperament of the two empresses. +Pulcheria was essentially Roman; Eudocia was essentially Greek. +Pulcheria belonged to the orthodox party which strictly condemned +everything which savored in the least degree of paganism; Eudocia +encouraged Greek art and letters and lent a friendly ear to the heresies +which were the product of Greek speculation. Pulcheria was puritanical +and austere in her manner of life, while Eudocia had a fondness for +dress and for the innocent gayeties of life which characterized the +women of her race. It was utterly impossible for two women of such +marked difference of temperament to live in perfect harmony under the +same roof.</p> + +<p>Furthermore, during Eudocia's absence a new factor had entered +prominently into the life of the palace. The influence of the eunuchs, +which had been so marked during the reign of Arcadius, had not made +itself felt during the earlier years of Theodosius's reign, because of +the ascendency of the two women, but it gathered strength by degrees as +years passed. Antiochus was the first chamberlain to make himself +powerful, and upon his fall, the eunuch Chrysaphius, because of his +personal beauty and winning manner, won the favor of Theodosius and +acquired the art of bending the emperor to his will. Chrysaphius knew +also how to play the two empresses off against each other, so as to gain +his own ends.</p> + +<p>It seems altogether probable that immediately after her return from +Jerusalem, the spouse of the emperor more than ever dominated the court +at Constantinople. An important indication of this was the prominence of +one of her favorites during the years 439-441--Cyrus of Panopolis, who +was a poet of renown, a "Greek" in faith, and a student of art and +literature. He won great popularity during his long tenure of office as +prefect of the city. He restored Constantinople on so magnificent a +scale, after it had experienced a disastrous earthquake, that the people +once cried out in the circus: "Constantine built the city, but Cyrus +renewed it."</p> + +<p>The type of culture represented by Cyrus and Eudocia, and the manifest +sympathy between them, greatly offended the strictly orthodox, who +regarded it in the light of a Christian duty to sever all connection +with paganism, and who considered all tolerance of the Muses and Graces +of a more beautiful past to be a heinous sin. This religious party found +their ideal and their inspiration in Pulcheria, and she in consequence +became their natural leader. Hence, both their natural proclivities and +the zeal of their followers forced the two empresses into an attitude of +rivalry which could only be settled by the retirement or fall of one or +the other of them.</p> + +<p>Shortly after her return it seems that Eudocia, in union with +Chrysaphius, succeeded in lessening the influence of Pulcheria. So +thoroughly did she control her weak but fond husband that Pulcheria +withdrew from the palace to the retirement of her villa at Hebdomon, and +it has even been asserted that Theodosius, at the request of his wife, +meditated making his sister take orders as a deaconess, so that she +would have to relinquish her secular power. Thus for a time Eudocia +experienced the keen delight of sole and uncontested power. But the +retirement of the Augusta, who had for so many years exercised the +paramount influence in the court, was the very step to arouse the +orthodox and to lead them to undertake every form of intrigue for the +ruin of Eudocia and the return of Pulcheria. The result was that, after +enjoying for a brief period the sole supremacy, Eudocia fell from the +loftiest heights of supreme authority into the deepest depths of +humiliation and sorrow.</p> + +<p>The orthodox party, with a cleverness which discounted the aims of the +nobility, utilized the jealousy of Theodosius as the lever to overturn +the beautiful and talented empress. Paulinus had been the boyhood friend +of Theodosius, and their intimacy had grown with the passing of the +years. He had ardently approved the prince's determination to make the +Athenian maiden his wife, and had acted as his best man in the wedding +festivities. Owing to the affectionate relations between the two men, +Paulinus had enjoyed a free association with both emperor and empress, +unhindered by the restricting bonds of court etiquette; and his +relations with Eudocia were always of the most friendly and open-hearted +character. These relations the enemies of Eudocia seized upon for the +attainment of their ends, and their attempt succeeded only too well. It +is fitting to tell the story in the words of John Malalas, the earliest +chronicler who records it:</p> + +<p>"It so happened," says the chronicler, "that as the Emperor Theodosius +was proceeding to the church <i>In Sanctis Theophaniis</i>, the master of +offices, Paulinus, being indisposed on account of an ailment in his +foot, remained at home and made an excuse. But a certain poor man +brought to Theodosius a Phrygian apple, of enormously large size, and +the emperor was surprised at it, and all his court. And straightway the +emperor gave one hundred and fifty nomismata to the man who brought the +apple, and sent it to Eudocia Augusta; and the Augusta sent it to +Paulinus, the master of offices, as being a friend of the emperor. But +Paulinus, not being aware that the emperor had sent it to the empress, +took it and sent it to the Emperor Theodosius, even as he was entering +the palace. And when the emperor received it, he recognized it and +concealed it. And having called Augusta, he questioned her, saying:</p> + +<p>"'Where is the apple that I sent you?' And she said, 'I ate it.'--Then +he caused her to swear the truth by his salvation, whether she ate it or +sent it to some one; and she swore, 'I sent it unto no man, but ate it.' +And the emperor commanded the apple to be brought, and showed it to her. +And he was indignant against her, suspecting that she was enamored of +Paulinus, and sent him the apple and denied it. And on this account +Theodosius put Paulinus to death. And the Empress Eudocia was grieved, +and thought herself insulted, for it was known everywhere that Paulinus +was slain on account of her, for he was a very handsome young man. And +she asked the emperor that she might go the holy place to pray; and he +allowed her; and she went down from Constantinople to Jerusalem to +pray."</p> + +<p>In the opinion of Gregorovius, Eudocia's apple of Phrygia eludes +interpretation as completely as Eve's apple of Eden, but Bury explains +the story as an example of Oriental metaphor. He recalls a parallel to +it in the Arabian Nights, and fancies that its germ may have been an +allegorical mode of expression in which someone covertly told the story +of the suspected intrigue. In Hellenistic romance the apple was a +conventional love gift, and when presented to a man by a woman signified +a declaration of love. Hence, as the basis of the tale was presumed to +be the amorous intercourse of Paulinus and the empress, we can conceive +one accustomed to Oriental allegory saying or writing that Eudocia had +given her precious apple to Paulinus, symbolizing thereby that she had +surrendered her chastity.</p> + +<p>Such is the legend of the fall of the empress. All we know for certain +is that about this time a marked discord between husband and wife was +apparent, and that Paulinus, the emperor's boyhood friend and most +trusted confidant, was put to death by imperial order during the year +440.</p> + +<p>History seems entitled to draw the conclusion that it was probably a +charge, whether true or false, of a criminal attachment between Eudocia +and Paulinus that led to the disgrace of the empress and the execution +of the minister; but the probabilities are all in favor of the innocence +of the Augusta. Eudocia had passed the age of forty when the breach with +her husband occurred, and Paulinus was an official of mature years. The +conduct of both had always been above reproach, and it was almost +inconceivable that either would have acted unbecomingly at this late +date.</p> + +<p>For two or three years after the execution of Paulinus the empress +remained at court, under what circumstances and in just what relation to +the emperor we are not informed. It is evident, however, that her power +was gone. Feeling herself more and more relegated to the background, and +ever watched by hostile eyes, it was natural that she should find life +at Constantinople unbearable, and should long for a place where, far +from the turmoils and intrigues of the world, she might devote herself +to retirement and to pious practices. She therefore asked permission of +the emperor to be allowed to retire to Jerusalem and there pass the rest +of her life. After the tender bond of love which had for twenty years +united the Athenian maiden and the royal prince had once been violently +broken, there was no reason why her petition should be denied, and +Eudocia was granted the privilege of retiring to the sacred scenes whose +solitude and religious atmosphere had already appealed to her.</p> + +<p>So, some years after her first visit to the holy city, Eudocia withdrew +thither for a permanent abode. But what a contrast had a few years +wrought! With what different emotions did she now visit the sacred +shrines! Then a beloved wife, a happy mother, an all-puissant empress! +Now a voluntary exile, a discredited wife, an empress but in name! +Theodosius left her her royal honors and abundant means for her station, +so that she could not only have a moderate establishment at Jerusalem, +but could also adorn the city with charitable institutions. Yet even +here the hatred of her enemies and the jealousy of the emperor followed +her. Though so far from Constantinople, court spies watched and reported +her every movement, and in their malignity they recounted to the emperor +such a slanderous picture of her life and doings that he, in the year +444, with newly awakened jealousy, had two holy men--the presbyter +Severus and the deacon John, who had been favorites of Eudocia in +Constantinople and had followed her to Jerusalem--executed by the order +of Saturninus, her chamberlain. This cruel deed, however, did not remain +unavenged, for Eudocia did not interfere when Saturninus, in a monkish +riot, or at the hands of hired murderers, lost his life. Theodosius +punished her for this with undue severity, by removing all the officers +who attended her and reducing her to private station.</p> + +<p>The remainder of the life of Eudocia, sixteen long years, was spent in +retirement and in holy exercises. Troubles heaped themselves upon her. +Her only daughter, whose future at her marriage with Valentinian had +looked so promising, also lost her royal station and was led a captive +from Rome to Carthage. She had to endure all the insults which could +fall to one who from supreme power had been reduced to private station. +But in the consolation of religion and in self-sacrificing devotion to +others more unfortunate, Eudocia found solace in her grief. Finally, in +the sixty-seventh year of her age, after experiencing all the +vicissitudes of human life, the philosopher's daughter expired at +Jerusalem, protesting with her dying breath her faithfulness to her +marriage vows and expressing forgiveness of all those who had injured +her.</p> + +<p>In Constantinople, Eudocia's fall and exile had brought Pulcheria and +the orthodox party again to the front. The poetry-loving Cyrus, the head +of the Greek party, was deprived of his office and compelled to take +orders; and there was a return to the austerity which had characterized +the earlier years of Pulcheria's supremacy. Pulcheria and orthodoxy from +this time on controlled the court life and dominated the Empire. +Finally, in 450, Theodosius was fatally wounded while hunting, and upon +his demise Pulcheria was unanimously proclaimed Empress of the East. Her +first official act was one of popular justice as well as private +revenge--the execution of the crafty and rapacious eunuch, Chrysaphius. +In obedience to the murmur of the people, who objected to a woman being +sole ruler of the Empire, she selected an imperial consort in Marcian, +an aged senator who would respect the virginal vows and superior rank of +his wife. He was solemnly invested with the imperial purple, and proved +in every way equal to the demands of his exalted station.</p> + +<p>Three years later, Pulcheria passed away. Because of her austerity of +life, her deeds of charity, her advocacy of orthodoxy, she won the +eulogies of the Church; but her controlling attribute had been a love of +power, which had wrought much evil. Our sympathies are naturally with +the beautiful and gifted Athenais, a Greek by birth, by temperament and +by culture, but yet a Christian in religious fervor and pious practices, +whose personal fascination had given her the authority she richly +merited, until the stronger nature of Pulcheria, by despicable means, +had wrought her downfall.</p> + +<p>For four years after the death of Pulcheria, Marcian continued to hold +supreme power; finally, in 457, he too came to his end, and with Marcian +the house of Theodosius the Great ceased to reign in new Rome.</p> + +<a name="c11" id="c11"></a> +<br><br> + +<h3>XI</h3> + +<h3>THE EMPRESS THEODORA</h3> + +<p>There are few stranger episodes in literary history than the fate of +Theodora, the celebrated consort of the Emperor Justinian. To us in this +day she is a Magdalene elevated to the throne of the Cæsars, a beautiful +and licentious actress suddenly raised by a freak of fortune to rule the +destinies of the Roman Empire. All this is due to the remarkable +discovery made by Nicholas Alemannus, librarian of the Vatican, toward +the end of the seventeenth century, of the Secret History of Procopius, +a work which purported to reveal the private life of the Byzantine court +in the days of Justinian. Before the publication of this work Theodora +was in public opinion chiefly remarkable for the prominent place she +occupied in Justinian's reign. Of her early life nothing was known, but +from the date of her accession to the throne she had exercised a +sovereign influence over the emperor. In an important crisis she had +exhibited admirable firmness and courage. She had taken an active part +in the court intrigues and religious controversies of the epoch, and to +her sagacity the emperor attributed many of his happiest inspirations in +legislation. The ecclesiastical historians accused her of serious lapses +into heresy and of having laid violent hands on the sacred person of a +pope; but, with all their vituperation, there never was in circulation a +calumny affecting her personal character. Such is a brief resume of the +history of Theodora as handed down unassailed for a thousand years.</p> + +<p>Then suddenly a startling revelation was made to the world concerning +the previously unknown period of Theodora's life. Alemannus disinterred +from the archives of the Vatican library, where it had long lain +forgotten, an Arcana Historia which purported to be from the pen of the +celebrated historian of the Wars and the Edifices of Justinian. Edited +with a learned commentary by a hostile critic, the work immediately +attained wide circulation and universal credence. For the first time the +character of the illustrious empress was presented in the blackest +colors. The world, it seemed, had been really mistaken in its estimate. +Theodora's antecedents and early life had been of the vilest character, +and her public life signalized by cruelty, avarice, and excess. From the +date of the publication of this <i>chronique scandaleuse</i>, and thanks to +Gibbon's trenchant paraphrase of its vilest sections, Theodora was +condemned. Her name became the connotation for all the depraved vices +known in high life. The silence of eleven centuries was overlooked, and +the garish picture of the Secret History has formed the modern world's +estimate of Rome's most illustrious empress.</p> + +<p>It becomes, therefore, an important problem to attempt to distinguish +the Theodora of history from the Theodora of romance. We must inquire +whether the startling "anecdotes" of the <i>Secret History</i> justly +supersede the estimate and tradition of so long a period. Was Theodora +the grand courtesan she is represented to be in the modern drama, or was +she a great empress, worthy of the respect and admiration of Justinian +and of succeeding ages? To answer these questions we must first briefly +review the legendary history of Theodora, and then dwell more at length +on the authentic history of the empress. This will merit a recital, for +she appears to be a personality singularly original and powerful, +possessing both the qualities of a statesman and the unique traits of a +woman, a character of much complexity and of rare psychological +interest. During the first years of the sixth century there lived in +Constantinople a poor man, by name Acacius, a native of the isle of +Cyprus, who had the care of the wild beasts maintained by the green +faction of the city, and who, from his employment, was entitled the +Master of the Bears. This Acacius was the father of Theodora. Upon his +death, he left to the tender mercies of the world a widow and three +helpless orphans, Comito, Theodora, and Anastasia, the eldest being not +yet seven years of age. At a solemn festival these three children were +sent by their destitute mother into the theatre, dressed in the garb of +suppliants. The green faction scorned them; but the blues had compassion +and relieved their distress, and this difference of treatment made a +profound impression on the child Theodora, which had its influence on +her later conduct. As the maidens increased in age and improved in +beauty, they were trained by their mother for a theatrical career. +Theodora first followed Comito on the stage, playing the rôle of +chambermaid, but at length she exercised her talents independently. She +became neither a singer nor a dancer nor a flute player, but she figured +in the <i>tableaux Vivants</i>, where her beauty freely displayed itself, +and +in the pantomimes, where her vivacity and grace and sprightliness caused +the whole theatre to resound with laughter and applause. She was, if the +panegyrists may be believed, the most beautiful woman of her age. +Procopius, the best historian of the day, says that "it was impossible +for mere man to describe her comeliness in words or to imitate it in +art." "Her features were delicate and regular; her complexion, though +somewhat pale, was tinged with a natural colour; every sensation was +instantly expressed by the vivacity of her eyes; her easy motions +displayed the graces of a small but elegant figure; and either love or +adulation might proclaim that painting and poetry were incapable of +delineating the matchless excellence of her form." It is unfortunate +that we have no likeness which portrays her exquisite beauty. The famous +mosaic in San Vitale at Ravenna is the best authentic representation of +the empress, but a mosaic can give but little idea of the original.</p> + +<p>But Theodora possessed other fascinations besides beauty: she was +intelligent, full of <i>esprit</i>, witty. However, with all these gifts +there was in her a deficiency of the moral sense and a natural +inclination to pleasure in all its forms. Sad to relate, her charms were +venal. If the Secret History be believed, her adventures were both +numerous and scandalous; to quote a piquant expression of Gibbon, "her +charity was universal." Procopius recounts memorable after-theatre +suppers and <i>tableaux vivants</i> that would be excluded from the most +licentious of modern stages. After a wild career in the capital as the +reigning figure of the demi-monde, Theodora suddenly disappeared. She +condescended to accompany to his province a certain Ecebolus, who had +been appointed governor of the African Pentapolis. But this union was +transient. She either abandoned her lover or was deserted by him, and +for some time the fair Cyprian, a veritable priestess of the divine +Aphrodite, made conquests innumerable in all the great cities of the +Orient. Finally, she returned to Constantinople, to the scenes of her +first exploits, being then between twenty and twenty-five years of age. +In her bitterest humiliation, some vision had whispered to her that she +was destined to a great career.</p> + +<p>Wearied of amorous adventures and of a wandering career, she began from +this moment to adopt a retired and blameless life in a modest mansion, +where she relieved her poverty by the feminine task of spinning wool. It +was at this moment that happy chance threw the patrician Justinian in +her path. Captivated by her beauty and her feminine graces, this staid, +business-like, and eminently practical personage, already marked as his +uncle Justin's successor to the Empire, wished to make the fair Theodora +his wife. But there were obstacles in the way. The Empress Euphemia +flatly refused to accept the reformed courtesan as a niece; Justinian's +own mother, Vigilantia, feared that the vivacious and beautiful +worldling would corrupt her son. It was even said that at this time the +laws of Rome prohibited the marriage of a senator with a woman of +servile origin or of the theatrical profession. But Justinian remained +inflexible. The Empress Euphemia conveniently died; Justinian overrode +the opposition of his mother; and Justin was persuaded to pass a law +abolishing the rigid statute of antiquity and to make Theodora a +patrician.</p> + +<p>Soon followed the solemn nuptials of Justinian and Theodora; and when, +in 527, Justinian was officially associated with his uncle on the +throne, Theodora was also solemnly crowned in Saint Sophia by the hands +of the Patriarch as an equal and independent colleague in the +sovereignty of the Empire, and the oath of allegiance was imposed on +bishops and officials in the joint names of Justinian and Theodora; +while in the Hippodrome, the scene of her earlier triumphs, the daughter +of Acacius received as empress the adulation of the populace.</p> + +<p>Such, according to the Secret History, is the romance of Theodora. The +reason why it has been given general credence is because the work +purported to be that of a contemporary writer, the greatest historian of +his age, who has weighted his charges with emphasis and detail, and +because the recital received the convincing endorsement of Alemannus and +of Gibbon. The principle which governed Gibbon was as follows: "Of these +strange anecdotes a part may be true because probable, and a part true +because improbable. Procopius must have known the former and the latter +he could scarcely invent." Reassured by this argument, and seduced by +the masculine taste for adventure, most historians have complacently +accepted this piquant history and have applied to Theodora the vilest +epithets. But recent writers, especially Debidour, Ranke, Mallet, Bury, +and Diehl, have not regarded the case as proved, and through a careful +analysis of the <i>Secret History</i> have presented convincing arguments +against the reputed authorship of the work and the authenticity of its +narrative.</p> + +<p>These later writers have called attention to the internal evidence of +the improbability of the picture of Theodora. There are in the +statements glaring inconsistencies with the other works of Procopius, +and inconsistencies within the anecdotes themselves. Many stories told +of Justinian are obviously overdrawn and dictated by inventive malice, +and these vitiate the entire narrative. Furthermore, the question of the +marriage law is triumphantly set aside. The edict abolishing the Old +Roman law was passed seven years after Justinian's succession, and was +in accordance with other legislation inspired by Theodora, to ameliorate +the condition of woman. The external evidence, also, has been carefully +sifted. The legal maxim, <i>Testis unus, Testis nullus</i>, applies in +history as well as in law. A single witness has related the most +incredible stories. Nowhere in other historians is there a shred of +evidence to support the story of Theodora's flagitious life. These +stories could have no basis other than in popular rumors; how is it, +therefore, that no other chronicle alludes to them? Orthodox +ecclesiastics violently attack Theodora's heresy, and speak of her as an +enemy of the Church, but write not a word against her private +reputation. Historians condemn in unmeasured terms certain features of +Justinian's administration, and dwell on other faults of Theodora, but +say never a word about her profligacy. Why are all other writers silent +about the dark passages in Theodora's history? Even the <i>Secret History</i> +alleges nothing immoral against her after her marriage: why then should +we take its testimony seriously regarding the earlier period of her +life? The silence of all other chronicles about extraordinary +occurrences, which, if true, must have been generally known, throws +doubt over the whole narrative and places it in the light of an infamous +libel.</p> + +<p>And here is a final argument. Justinian was no mere youth when he +married, but a sober gentleman of thirty-five, the heir apparent to the +throne, who had to keep in the good graces of the people. Would he at so +momentous a time have perpetrated so infamous a scandal? And would it +have been possible for a woman of such notorious profligacy to ascend +the throne without a protest from patriarch or bishop or senators or +populace? The outward life of the Byzantine people, owing to the +influence of Christianity, was usually correct. A little later an +emperor lost his throne because he divorced one wife and took another. +Theodora's triumphant ascent to the throne, without a protesting voice, +is conclusive evidence that no great scandal had sullied her reputation.</p> + +<p>Yet, on the other hand, panegyrists never lauded Theodora as a saint. +She was neither a Pulcheria nor a Eudocia. Many traits in the character +of the empress accord well with the fact that her early life was not +passed amid beds of roses nor had been altogether free from temptation. +Hence, with the story reduced to its lowest terms, it seems probable +that Theodora was of obscure and lowly origin, that she was for a time +connected in some way with the Byzantine stage, and that, owing to her +beauty, her cleverness, and her strong personality, she was raised from +poverty to share Justinian's throne. But, whatever her career, her life +had been sufficiently upright to save appearances, and Justinian could +make her his wife without scandal.</p> + +<p>The turn of fortune which elevated Theodora from modest station to the +imperial throne deeply stirred the popular imagination, and a cycle of +legends has gathered about her name. The stranger in Byzantium in the +eleventh century was shown the site of a modest cottage, transformed +into a stately church dedicated to the spirit of charity, and was told +the story how the great empress, coming with her parents from their +native town in Cyprus, had here maintained herself in honorable poverty +by spinning wool, and how it was here that the patrician Justinian, +drawn thither by the fame of her beauty and her learning, had wooed and +won her for his bride. However little value we may attach to this +tradition, it shows that in Constantinople the popular estimate of +Theodora was not that of the <i>Secret History</i>. The Slavic traditions of +the twelfth and thirteenth centuries not only dwell on her marvellous +beauty, but also recount that she was the most queenly, the most +cultivated, the most learned of women. The Syriac traditions were still +more flattering. In their devout reverence for the pious empress who +espoused their cause, these Monophysites of the thirteenth century name +as the father of Theodora, not the poor man who guarded the bears in the +Hippodrome, but a pious old gentleman, perhaps a senator, attached to +the Monophysite heresy, and affirm that when Justinian, fascinated by +the beauty and intelligence of the young maiden, demanded her hand in +marriage, the good father did not consent that she should marry the heir +apparent until the latter had promised not to interfere with her +religious beliefs.</p> + +<p>A western chronicler, however, of the eleventh century, Aimoin de +Fleury, recounts a legend which has something of the flavor of the +<i>Secret History</i>. According to this story, Justinian and Belisarius, two +young men and intimate friends, encountered one day two sisters, Antonia +and Antonina, sprung from the race of Amazons, who, taken prisoners by +the Byzantines, were reduced to dire straits. Belisarius was enamored of +the latter, Justinian of the former. Antonia, presaging the future +destiny of her lover, made him promise that, if ever he became emperor, +he would take her as his wife. Their relations were interrupted, but not +before Justinian gave to Antonia a ring, as an assurance of his promise. +Years passed: the prince became emperor; and one day there appeared at +the gate of the palace, demanding audience, a woman in rich attire and +of wonderful beauty. Presented before the sovereign, Antonia was not at +first recognized; but she showed the ring and recalled his promise, and +Justinian, his love for her renewed, proclaimed straightway the +beautiful Amazon as his empress. The people and the senate expressed +some surprise at the impromptu marriage, but Antonia shared without +protest the throne of Justinian.</p> + +<p>Thus the marvellous destiny of Theodora was embellished by legend and +romance, and, whether good or bad, severely correct or profligate, she +has become one of the most remarkable figures of history and fiction.</p> + +<p>Questions as to the early life of Theodora, however, are secondary in +importance. We are interested not in the courtesan but in the empress, +and, for the incidents and the influence of her reign, we have +fortunately other information than that of the <i>Secret History</i>.</p> + +<p>Sardou's drama Theodora represents its heroine as preserving on the +throne the manners of the courtesan, as delighting in the life of the +theatre, as leaving the palace by night to frequent the streets of +Constantinople, as having an amorous intrigue with the beautiful +Andreas, as being in fact another, but baser and more voluptuous, +Messalina. But even the <i>Secret History</i> represents Theodora, after she +mounted the throne, as being, with all her faults, the most austere, the +most correct, the most irreproachable of women in her conjugal +relations.</p> + +<p>Whatever her origin and her early life, Theodora adapted herself most +readily to the status and the duties of an imperial sovereign. She loved +and partook fully of the amenities which attended supreme authority. In +her apartments of the royal palace, and in her sumptuous villas and +gardens on the Propontis and the Bosporus, she availed herself of all +the luxuries and refinements of the royal station. Ever womanly and vain +of her physical charms, she took extreme care of her beauty. To make her +countenance reposeful and delicate, she prolonged her slumbers until +late in the morning; to give her figure sprightliness and grace, she +took frequent baths, to which succeeded long hours of repose. Not +content with the meagre fare which satisfied Justinian, her table was +always supplied with the best of Oriental dishes, which were served with +exquisite and delicate taste. Every wish was immediately gratified by +her favorite ladies and eunuchs. Like a true parvenue, she delighted in +the elaborate court etiquette. She made the highest dignitaries +prostrate themselves before her, imposing on those who wished audience +long and humiliating delays. Every morning one could see the most +illustrious personages of Byzantium crowded in her antechamber like a +troop of slaves, and, when they were admitted to kiss the feet of +Theodora, their reception depended altogether upon the humor of the +moment. These details show with what facility, with what complaisance, +Theodora adapted herself to the conditions of her rank.</p> + +<p>One must not infer, however, that the Theodora of history was a woman +merely captivated by the outward pomp of royalty. She possessed all the +intellectual and moral gifts which should attend absolute power, and her +rigid enforcement of Oriental etiquette was merely to impress upon +others her supreme authority, and was in conformity to the demand of her +age. Her salient characteristics were a spirit despotic and inflexible, +a will strong and passionate, an intelligence clever and subtle, a +temperament by turns frigid and sympathetic; and by these gifts she +dominated Justinian without intermission from the moment of her marriage +to her death, and impressed upon all those about her the knowledge that +she was in every sense an absolute sovereign.</p> + +<p>Furthermore, she possessed a calm courage, a masculine inflexibility, +which showed itself in the most difficult circumstances. One can never +forget the most ominous moment in the history of the Eastern Empire, +when the courage and firmness of Theodora saved the throne of Justinian. +This was during the celebrated revolt of 532, known as "The Nika Riot." +The factions of the "Blues" and the "Greens" were really the political +parties of the day; irritated to madness by the oppression of certain +officials, they momentarily united their forces and raised an +insurrection against the government, choosing Nika (Conquer!) as their +watchword, which has become the technical designation of the riot. +During five days, the city was a scene of conflict and witnessed all the +horrors of street warfare. Justinian yielded so far as to depose the +obnoxious officials, but the secret machinations of the "Green" faction, +who wished to place on the throne a nephew of Anastasius, a former +emperor, kept up the conflict. On the fateful morning of the 19th of +January, Hypatius, one of the nephews of Anastasius, was publicly +crowned in the Forum of Constantinople, and was then seated in the +cathisma of the Hippodrome, where the rebels and the populace saluted +him as emperor. Meanwhile, Justinian shut himself up in the palace with +his ministers and his favorites. Much of the city was in flames, the +tumult outside grew ever louder, and the rebels were preparing for an +attack on the palace. All seemed lost. The clamor of victory and the +cries of "Death to Justinian," reached the hall where the emperor, +utterly unnerved, was taking counsel of his ministers and generals. The +prefect John of Cappadocia and the general Belisarius recommended flight +to Heraclea. In haste, by the gardens which led to the sea, vessels were +loaded with the imperial treasures, and all was ready for the instant +flight of the emperor and empress. This was the decisive moment. Flight +meant the safety of their persons, but the abandoned throne was surely +lost, and the gigantic movements that had been started would collapse. +The prince was hesitating, and all his counsellors shared his +feebleness. Up to this time, the empress had said nothing. At length, +indignant at the general languor, Theodora thus called to their duty the +emperor and the ministers who would forsake all for personal safety:</p> + +<p>"The present occasion is, I think, too grave to take regard of the +principle that it is not meet for a woman to speak among men. Those +whose dearest interests are in the presence of extreme danger are +justified in thinking only of the wisest course of action. Now, in my +opinion, Nature is an unprofitable tutor, even if her guidance bring us +safety. It is impossible for a man when he has come into the world not +to die; but for one who has reigned it is intolerable to be an exile. +May I never exist without this purple robe, and may I never live to see +the day on which those who meet me shall not address me as Queen. If you +wish, O Emperor, to save yourself, there is no difficulty; we have ample +funds. Yonder is the sea, and there are the ships. Yet reflect whether, +when you have once escaped to a place of security, you will not prefer +death to safety. I agree with an old saying that 'Empire is a fair +winding-sheet.'"</p> + +<p>By these courageous words the resolution of Theodora saved the throne of +Justinian. Her firmness conquered the weakness and the pusillanimity of +the court. Belisarius triumphantly led his forces against the +revolutionists in the Hippodrome. A ruthless massacre followed, in which +thirty-five thousand persons perished. The power of the factions was +forever broken, and henceforth Justinian enjoyed absolute sovereignty +without a protest. The important public buildings which had been +destroyed in the conflagrations incident to the riot were restored on a +more magnificent scale, and the still standing Saint Sophia is a +monument to the genius and splendor of the reign of Justinian and +Theodora.</p> + +<p>One can readily understand what a dominating influence such a woman +would maintain over the indecisive Justinian. The passion with which she +had inspired the prince was preserved up to the last moment of her life; +and his devotion and regard ever increased and after her death took the +form of reverential awe, so influenced was he by her superior abilities. +She was to him, in the words of a contemporary historian, "the sweetest +charm"; or, as he himself says in a legal enactment, "the gift of +God"--a play upon her name. After her death, when he would make a solemn +promise, he swore by the name of Theodora. He withheld from her none of +the emoluments, none of the realities, of joint and equal sovereignty: +her name figured with his in the inscriptions placed upon the facades of +churches or the gates of citadels; her image was associated with his in +the decorations of the royal palace, as in the mosaics of San Vitale. +Her name appeared by the side of his on the imperial seal. A multitude +of cities and a newly created province bore her name. In every regard +she shared the sovereignty with the emperor. Magistrates, bishops, +generals, governors of provinces, swore by all that was sacred to render +good and true service to the very pious and sacred sovereigns, Justinian +and Theodora.</p> + +<p>When Theodora journeyed, a royal cortege accompanied her, consisting of +patricians, high dignitaries, and ministers, and an escort of four +thousand soldiers as guard. Her orders were received with deference +throughout the Empire; and when officials found them in contradiction +with those of the emperor, they often preferred the instructions of +Theodora to those of Justinian. Functionaries knew that her patronage +assured a rapid promotion in royal power and that her good will was a +guarantee against possible disgrace. Royal strangers sought to flatter +her vanity and to win her good graces.</p> + +<p>All the chroniclers record that in state papers on important affairs +Theodora was the collaborator with Justinian. The emperor gladly +acknowledged his indebtedness to her, and we read in one of his +ordinances: "Having this time again taken counsel of the most sacred +spouse whom God has given us...." Theodora likewise on occasion gave +evidence of her authority. She once ordered Theodatus to submit to her +the requests he wished to address to the emperor, and in a communication +to the ministers of the Persian king, Chosroes, she stated: "The emperor +never decides anything without consulting me." She was the regulating +power in both State and Church, appointing or disgracing generals and +ministers, making or unmaking patriarchs and pontiffs, raising to +fortune her favorites, and unsettling the power and position of her +opponents.</p> + +<p>Theodora's comprehension of the necessities of imperial politics was +something marvellous, and the wise moves of Justinian were due largely +to her counsel. Yet, though so superb a queen, she was all the more a +woman-fickle, passionate, avaricious of authority, and intensely jealous +of preserving the power she had. Apparently without scruples, she would +get rid of all influence which threatened to counterbalance her own, and +she brushed aside without pity all opposition which seemed to infringe +on her authority. In the intrigues of the palace she ever came off the +victor. Vainly did favorites and ministers who fancied themselves +indispensable attempt to ruin her credit with the emperor. The secretary +Priscus, whom the favor of Justinian had raised to office as count of +the bed-chamber, paid dearly for the insults which he addressed to +Theodora. He was exiled, imprisoned, and finally driven to take orders, +and his enormous fortune was confiscated.</p> + +<p>The history of John of Cappadocia is more significant still; at the same +time that it gives insight into the intrigues and plots of the Byzantine +courts, it throws a glowing light on the ambitious nature, the +unscrupulous energy, the vindictive spirit, and the perfidious +cleverness of the Empress Theodora.</p> + +<p>For six years John of Cappadocia occupied the exalted position of +praetorian prefect, which made him at the same time minister of finance +and minister of the interior, as well as the first minister of the +Empire. By his vices, his harshness, and his corruption he justified the +proverb:</p> + +<p>"The Cappadocian is bad by nature; if he attains to power he is worse; +but if he seeks to be supreme, he is the most detestable of all." But in +the eyes of Justinian he had one redeeming virtue: he furnished to every +request of the prince the funds which the vast expenditures of his reign +demanded. At the price of what exactions, of what sufferings of his +subjects, he obtained these admirable results, the emperor did not +inquire, or perhaps he ignored these considerations. At all events, the +prefect was a great favorite of the prince, and the court aides envied +the success of his administration. Having a dominating influence over +the emperor, possessing riches beyond the dreams of avarice, John +attained to the very apex of fortune. Superstitious by nature, the +promises of wizards had aroused in him the hope of attaining to the +supreme power, as the colleague or successor of Justinian. As a step +toward this he attempted to ruin the credit of Theodora with the +emperor. This was an offence which the haughty empress could not pardon. +The prefect was not ignorant how powerful an adversary he had aroused; +but, conscious of his influence with the emperor and of the state of the +finances which he alone could administer, he regarded himself as +indispensable. But he did not correctly gauge the subtlety of Theodora. +She first endeavored to convince the emperor of the sufferings which the +prefect inflicted on his subjects and then to arouse his suspicions as +to the dangers with which the throne was menaced by the ambition of +John: but the emperor, like all feeble natures, hesitated to separate +from himself a counsellor to whom by long habit and association he had +become attached. Then Theodora conceived a Machiavelian plot.</p> + +<p>Theodora's most intimate friend was Antonina, the wife of Belisarius, +whom Procopius describes as a woman "more capable than anyone else to +manage the impracticable." The two clever women devised an unscrupulous +bit of strategy which, if successful, would surely cause the downfall of +the much execrated minister of finance. Antonina, at Theodora's +suggestion, cultivated the friendship of John's daughter, Euphemia, and +intimated to her that her husband Belisarius was seriously disaffected +toward the emperor, because of the poor requital which his distinguished +services had received, but that he could not attempt to throw off the +imperial yoke unless he was assured of the sympathy and support of some +one of the important civil officials. Euphemia naturally told the news +to her father, who, seeing in the circumstance an opportunity to ascend +the throne with the aid of the powerful general, easily fell into the +trap. To perfect the plot the Cappadocian arranged a secret interview at +Rufinianum, one of the country seats of Belisarius. The empress arranged +to have two faithful officials, Marcellus and Narses, concealed in the +villa, with orders to arrest John if his treason became manifest, and, +if he resisted, straightway to put him to death. They overheard the +treasonable plot, but the minister succeeded in escaping arrest and fled +to the inviolable asylum of Saint Sophia. He was, however, exiled in +disgrace to Cyzicus; but the ruthless hatred of Theodora followed him, +and, after all his ill-gotten gains had been confiscated, he was exiled +to Egypt, where he remained until the death of the empress. He finally +returned to Constantinople, but Justinian had no further need of the +services of his quondam counsellor, and the latter, in the rude garb of +a priest, died upon the scene of his former triumphs.</p> + +<p>In her ruthless persecution of her opponents, as illustrated by this +incident, there seems to have been in this remarkable woman a singular +absence of the moral sense.</p> + +<p>True it is that she passionately loved power and luxury and wealth; +true, that she exercised her authority at times in a ruthless and +unscrupulous manner. Yet the hardness of her nature is offset by many +sympathetic qualities which show that, together with the sternness of an +empress, she had the heart of a woman.</p> + +<p>She showed a sympathetic interest in the welfare of her own family. She +married her sister Comito to Sittas, an officer of high rank. Her niece +Sophia was united in marriage with the nephew of Justin, heir +presumptive to the Empire. All her life she regretted that she did not +have a son to mount the throne: she had buried an infant daughter, the +sole offspring of her marriage.</p> + +<p>One of the most pleasing traits of her character was the large tolerance +and substantial sympathy she showed to fallen women. Severe on men, she +manifested for women a solicitude rarely equalled. On the Asiatic coast +of the Bosporus she converted a palace into a spacious and stately +monastery, known as the Convent of the Metanoia, or Repentance, and +richly endowed it for the benefit of her less fortunate sisters who had +been seduced or compelled to embrace the trade of prostitution. In this +safe and holy retreat were gathered hundreds of women, collected from +the streets and brothels of Constantinople; and many a hapless woman was +filled with gratitude toward the generous benefactress who had rescued +her from a life of sin and misery.</p> + +<p>Are we to see in this tender solicitude an exemplification of the words +of the poet, <i>Non ignara mali miseris succurrere disco</i>, or were her +endeavors merely the outcome of the religious exaltation of a pure and +noblewoman "naturally prone to succor women in misfortune," as a +Byzantine writer says of her? At any rate, this practical sympathy +exerted its influence also in enactments of the Justinian Code relating +to women; such as the ordinance tending to increase the dignity of +marriage and render it more indissoluble, or that to give to seduced +maidens recourse against their seducers, or that to relieve actresses of +the social disbarment which attended their calling. All these measures +were doubtless due to the inspiration of Theodora.</p> + +<p>She also carried her strict ideas as to the sanctity of marriage into +the life of the court, as is shown by the manner in which she pitilessly +spoiled the romance which would have united one of the most brilliant +generals of the Empire to a niece of Justinian.</p> + +<p>Præjecta, the emperor's niece, had fallen into the hands of Gontharis, a +usurper who had slain her husband, Areobindus. She had given up all as +lost when an unexpected savior appeared in the person of a handsome +Armenian officer, Artabanes, the commander in Africa, who overthrew the +usurper and restored her to liberty. From gratitude, Præjecta could +refuse her deliverer nothing, and she promised him her hand. The +ambitious Armenian saw in this brilliant marriage rapid promotion to the +height of power. The princess returned to Constantinople, and the Count +of Africa hastened to surrender his honorable office and sought a recall +to Constantinople to join his prospective bride. He was lionized in the +capital; his dignified demeanor, his burning eloquence and his unbounded +generosity won the admiration of all. To remove the social distance +between him and his fiancée he was loaded down with honors and +dignities. All went well until an unexpected and troublesome obstacle to +the nuptials presented itself. Artabanes had overlooked or forgotten the +fact that years before he had espoused an Armenian lady. They had been +separated a long time, and the warrior had never been heard to speak of +her. So long as he was an obscure soldier his wife was contented to +leave him in peace; but not so after his unexpected rise to fame. +Suddenly she appeared in Constantinople, claiming the rights of a lawful +spouse, and as a wronged woman she implored the sympathetic aid of +Theodora.</p> + +<p>The empress was inflexible when the sacred bonds of marriage were at +stake, and she forced the reluctant general to renounce all claims to +the princess and to take back his forsaken wife. By way of precaution, +she speedily married Præjecta to John, the grandson of the emperor +Anastasius, and the pretty romance was at an end.</p> + +<p>With equal regard to the sanctity of marriage, Theodora employed +numerous devices to reconcile Belisarius, the celebrated general, with +his wife Antonina, to whom the scandal of the <i>Secret History</i> +attributes serious lapses from moral rectitude, though the charge cannot +be regarded as proved.</p> + +<p>A portrait of the Byzantine empress would be incomplete if it did not +speak of her religious sentiments and the prominent part she took in +ecclesiastical politics. In religious matters we see not only the best +side of Theodora's nature, but also the supreme exhibition of her +influence in the affairs of the Empire. Like all the Byzantines of her +time, she was pious and devoted in her manner of life. She was noted for +her almsgiving and her contributions to the foundations established by +the Church. Chroniclers cite the houses of refuge, the orphanages, and +the hospitals founded by her; and Justinian, in one of his ordinances, +speaks of the innumerable gifts which she made to churches, hospitals, +asylums, and bishoprics.</p> + +<p>Yet, in spite of these many exhibitions of inward piety, Theodora was +strongly suspected by the orthodox of heresy. She professed openly the +monophysite doctrine,--the belief in the one nature in the person of +Jesus Christ. She also endeavored to bring Justinian to her view, and, +with an eye to the interest of the state, she entered upon a course of +policy which reconciled the schismatics--but disgusted the orthodox +Catholics, who were in unison with Rome. The people of Syria and Egypt +were almost universally Monophysites and Separatists. Theodora, with a +political finesse far greater than that of her husband, saw that the +discontent in the Orient was prejudicial to the imperial power, and she +endeavored by her line of policy to reconcile the hostile parties and to +reestablish religious peace in the Empire. She recognized that the +centre of gravity of the government had passed permanently from Rome to +Constantinople, and that consequently the best policy was to keep at +peace the peoples of the East.</p> + +<p>Justinian, on the other hand, misled by the grandeur of Roman tradition, +wished to establish, through union with the Roman See, strict orthodoxy +in the restored empire of the Cæsars. Theodora, with greater acumen, +observed the irreconcilable lines of difference between East and West, +and recognized that to proscribe the learned and powerful party of +dissenters in the Orient would alienate important provinces and be fatal +to the authority of the monarchy. She therefore threw her influence into +the balance of heresy. She received the leaders of the Monophysites in +the palace, and listened sympathetically to their counsels, their +complaints, their remonstrances. She placed men of this faith in the +most prominent patriarchal sees--Severius at Antioch, Theodosius at +Alexandria, Anthimius at Constantinople. She transformed the palace on +Hormisdas into a monastery for the persecuted priests of Syria and Asia. +When Severius was subjected to persecution, she provided means for him +to escape from Constantinople; and when Anthimius was deposed from the +metropolitan see, she extended to him, in spite of imperial orders, her +open protection, and gave him an asylum in the palace. Her boldest coup, +however, consisted in placing on the pontifical seat at Rome a pope of +her own choice, pledged to act with the Monophysites.</p> + +<p>For this rôle she found the man in the Roman deacon Vigilius, for some +years apostolic legate at Constantinople. Vigilius was an ambitious and +clever priest who had won his way into the confidence of Theodora, and +the empress thought to find in him, when elevated to the pontifical +chair, a ready instrument for her purposes. It is recounted that, in +exchange for the imperial protection and patronage, Vigilius engaged to +reestablish Anthimius at Constantinople, to enter into a league with +Theodosius and Severius, and to annul the Council of Chalcedon. Upon the +death of the presiding pope, Agapetus, Vigilius set out for Rome with +letters for Belisarius, who was then at the height of his power in +Italy, and these letters were such that they did not admit of objection. +Apparently, in this affair Justinian had secretly assented to the plans +of the empress, seeing perhaps in the movement a solution which would +bring about the unity which he desired and place the Roman pontiff in +accord with the Orientals. But it was not without trouble that Vigilius +was installed. Immediately upon the death of Agapetus, the Roman party +had provided a successor in Silverius; and to seat Vigilius in the chair +of Saint Peter, they must first make Silverius descend. Belisarius was +charged with this repugnant task. With manifest reluctance, he undertook +his part in the questionable intrigue. He first suggested to Silverius a +dignified way of settling the affair by making the concessions which the +emperor desired of Vigilius. Silverius indignantly refused to make any +such compromise. Thereupon, under the imaginary pretext of treason, he +was brutally arrested, deposed, and sent into exile. Vigilius was at +once ordained pope in his stead. Theodora seemed to have conquered.</p> + +<p>But when securely installed, Vigilius, in spite of the threats of +Belisarius, deferred the fulfilment of his promises. Finally, however, +he was compelled to make important concessions to the empress. This was +the last triumph of Theodora; and toward the close of her life, in the +growing progress of the Eastern Church, and in the declining influence +of the pope, she had reason to believe that the dreams of her religious +diplomacy were realized.</p> + +<p>Theodora's advocacy of the cause of the dissenters accounts for much of +the vituperation heaped upon her by orthodox Catholics. In the eyes of +the Cardinal Baronius, the wife of Justinian was "a detestable creature, +a second Eve too ready to listen to the serpent, a new Delilah, another +Herodias, revelling in the blood of the saints, a citizen of Hell, +protected by demons, inspired by Satan, burning to break the concord +bought by the blood of confessors and of martyrs." It is worthy of note +that this was written before the discovery of the manuscript of the +<i>Secret History</i>. What would the learned cardinal have said had he known +of the alleged adventures of the youth of this woman, classed by pious +Catholics as one of the worst enemies of the Church?</p> + +<p>Perhaps, after all, we are to find in Theodora's religious defection the +source of all the scandal which has attached to her name. Damned in the +eyes of pious churchmen because of her religious faith that Christ's +nature was not dual, it was easy for the tongue of scandal regarding her +early life to gain credence. Had Theodora followed the orthodox in the +belief in the two natures, she might have committed worse offences than +were charged to her, and no such vituperation would have been uttered by +any member of the orthodox Church; but her position in the religious +controversies of the sixth century will certainly, in the twentieth +century, do her memory little harm.</p> + +<p>Theodora's health was always delicate. After these years of stormy +dissension, as her strength began to fail, she was directed to use the +famous Pythian warm baths. Her progress through Bithynia was made with +all the splendor of an imperial cortege, and all along the route she +distributed alms to churches, monasteries, and hospitals, with the +request that the devout should implore Heaven for the restoration of her +health. Finally, in the month of June, A. D. 548, in the twenty-fourth +year of her marriage and the twenty-second of her reign, Theodora died +of a cancer. Justinian was inconsolable at her loss, which rightly +seemed to him to be irreparable. His later years were lacking in the +energy and finesse that had characterized him during her lifetime, and +it was doubtless her loss which clouded his spirits and removed from him +the chief inspiration of his reign. Some years after Theodora's death, a +poet, desiring to gratify the emperor, recalled the memory of the +excellent, beautiful and wise sovereign, "who was beseeching at the +throne of grace God's favor on her spouse."</p> + +<p>We can hardly think of Theodora as a glorified saint, yet her goodness +of heart and her charity may atone for many of the serious defects in +her character. We know not whence she came nor the story of her early +life; but as an empress she exhibited all the defects of her qualities. +She was a woman cast in a large mould, and her faults stand out in equal +prominence with her virtues. She was at times cruel, selfish, and proud, +often despotic and violent, utterly unscrupulous and pitiless when it +was a question of maintaining her power. But she was resourceful, +resolute, energetic, courageous; her political acumen was truly +masculine; in a critical moment she saved the throne for Justinian, and +during all her lifetime she was his wise Egeria, by her counsel enabling +him to succeed in great movements; when her influence ceased to exercise +itself a decadence began which continued during the remaining years of +Justinian's reign.</p> + +<p>As a woman, she was capricious, passionate, vain, self-willed, but +sympathetic to the unfortunate and infinitely seductive. Truly imperial +was she in her vices, truly queenly in her virtues. Whatever may have +been her youth, her career on the throne is the best refutation of the +scandal of the <i>Secret History</i>, and she deserves a place in the records +of history as one of the world's greatest, most intelligent, most +fascinating empresses.</p> + +<br><br> +<a name="c12" id="c12"></a> + +<h3>XII</h3> + +<h3>OTHER SELF-ASSERTING AUGUSTÆ--VERINA, ARIADNE, SOPHIA, MARTINA, IRENE</h3> + +<p>It is a noteworthy feature in the history of the Eastern Roman Empire +that periods in which empresses figure prominently in the affairs of +state alternate with periods in which the Augustæ are mere ciphers. +Eudoxia, the wife of Arcadius, marks the early limit of feminine +predominance in the independent history of the eastern section of the +Roman Empire. The Empress Irene, who reigned at first with her son +Constantine and afterward alone, marks the later limit of the Roman, as +distinguished from the strictly Byzantine Empire, since during her +reign, at the beginning of the ninth century, the Empire of the West was +completely dissevered from all connection with Constantinople through +the crowning of Charlemagne as Emperor of the West by Pope Leo. Thus a +masterful woman was the predominating influence at the beginning and at +the end of the existence of the Eastern Roman Empire as a separate +entity.</p> + +<p>In the interval between these two limits the most important reign was +that of Justinian and the most remarkable woman was, of course, the +Empress Theodora. Following Eudoxia were the rival Empresses Pulcheria +and Eudocia, celebrated for their beauty, their culture, and their +piety.</p> + +<p>When the house of Theodosius ceased to exist with Pulcheria and Marcian, +the Roman Empire in the East was safely guided through the stormy times +which saw its extinction in the West by a series of three men of +ability, Leo I. (457-474), Zeno (474-491), and Anastasius (491-518). +During this period two Augustæ--Verina and Ariadne--took a part in +imperial politics, and made up in wickedness and intrigue what they +lacked in culture and piety. Next followed the house of Justin, which +produced two remarkable women in Theodora and her niece Sophia, the +latter, though not the equal of her aunt in strength of character, yet +leaving her mark on the history of her times.</p> + +<p>Following the death of Sophia there was for nearly forty years a break +in the predominance of self-asserting Augustæ. Of the wives of Tiberius, +Maurice, and Phocas, we know merely the names--respectively, Anastasia, +Constantina, and Leontia Augusta. Heraclius's memorable reign was shared +with two empresses, the first of whom, Eudocia, did nothing to win +publicity, while the career of the second--Martina--recalls the +wickedness and the intrigue of Verina and Sophia. But the spouses of the +successors of Heraclius did not follow Martina's ignoble example, but +were women of whom nothing was recorded either of praise or blame. We do +not even know the name of the wife of Constans II., who entered upon a +long reign after the exile of Heracleonas, son of Martina. Anastasia, +the spouse of Constantine IV., Theodora, queen of the second Justinian, +Maria, spouse of Leo III., the Isaurian, and Irene, Maria, and Eudocia, +the three wives of Constantine V., played so little part in political +affairs that they are hardly better known than the nameless wives of the +emperors who filled up the interval between the second Justinian and Leo +the Isaurian (695-716).</p> + +<p>This brief resume brings us to the reign of the Empress Irene, who in +energy, in wickedness, and in ambition made up for all the deficiencies +of her predecessors. Having devoted separate chapters to the most +celebrated Augustæ of the Eastern Empire--Eudoxia, Pulcheria and +Eudocia, and Theodora--we shall group into one chapter our brief +consideration of the lives and characters of the less renowned but no +less pronounced Augustæ of the intervening periods--Verina, Ariadne, +Sophia, Martina, and Irene.</p> + +<p>Verina and her daughter Ariadne, through their wickedness and ambition, +cast dark shadows over the otherwise bright history of the house of Leo +the Great. Verina, the imperial consort of Leo, was a woman of little +cultivation but of great natural gifts, fond of intrigue, ambitious of +power, and implacable in hatred and revenge. Of her two daughters, +Ariadne had married Zeno the Isaurian, one of the most illustrious and +able officials of the Empire. Leo, the offspring of this union, was +selected as the heir and successor of Leo I., but upon the death of the +lad, shortly after his accession, Zeno was raised to the throne, much to +the disgust of the empress-mother Verina. She fostered'a conspiracy for +the downfall of Zeno and the elevation of Patricius, her paramour, and +as a result of her intrigues Zeno had to forsake his throne and flee to +the mountain fastnesses of Isauria, his native country, together with +his wife Ariadne and his mother Lallis. Verina's brother, Basiliscus, +aspired to the throne, but she opposed his claims in order to win the +purple for Patricius. After Zeno's flight, however, the ministers and +senators elected Basiliscus as his successor, and the new emperor +entered upon a most unpopular and checkered reign of only twenty months. +His queen was named Zenonis, a young and beautiful woman, who soon +gained an unenviable reputation because of her manifest fondness for her +husband's nephew Harmatius, a young fop, noted for his good looks and +his effeminate manners. An ancient chronicler tells the story of this +intrigue:</p> + +<p>"Basiliscus permitted Harmatius, inasmuch as he was a kinsman, to +associate freely with the empress Zenonis. Their intercourse became +intimate, and, as they were both persons of no ordinary beauty, they +became extravagantly enamored of each other. They used to exchange +glances of the eyes, they used constantly to turn their faces and smile +at each other, and the passion which they were obliged to conceal was +the cause of grief and vexation. They confided their trouble to Daniel, +a eunuch, and to Maria, a midwife, who hardly healed their malady by the +remedy of bringing them together. Then Zenonis coaxed Basiliscus to +grant her lover the highest office in the city."</p> + +<p>This palace intrigue was soon brought to an end, however, by the fall of +Basiliscus and the restoration of Zeno in 477, in spite of the intrigues +of Verina. After Zeno's return, his most powerful minister, the Isaurian +Illus, became the object of Verina's enmity and machinations. She even +formed a plot to assassinate him, which he was fortunate enough to +discover and frustrate. Recognizing that his power would not be secure +so long as Verina was at large, he begged Zeno to consign to him the +dangerous woman; and the emperor, doubtless glad to be rid of his +redoubtable mother-in-law, gave her over into his hands. Illus first +compelled her to take the vows of a nun at Tarsus, and then placed her +in confinement in Dalisandon, an Isaurian castle.</p> + +<p>But Illus had only got rid of one female foe to find a more bitter +antagonist in the latter's daughter, the empress Ariadne. She made the +second attempt on his life in 483, and used all her arts of intrigue to +estrange from him the Emperor Zeno. Finally, realizing that his life was +not safe in Constantinople, Illus withdrew from the court, and later +attached himself to the cause of the rebel Leontius, who sought to +overthrow Zeno. In support of the rebel's cause, Illus turned to his +quondam enemy Verina, the empress-mother, who from her prison castle was +glad to seize the opportunity to deal a blow to her ungrateful +son-in-law. To give the semblance of legitimacy to the cause of +Leontius, Verina was induced to crown him at Tarsus, and she also issued +a letter in his interest, which was sent to various cities and exerted a +marked influence on the disaffected. Leontius established an imperial +court at Antioch, but was speedily overthrown by Theodoric the +Ostrogoth. The two leaders of the conspiracy, with Verina, took refuge +in the Isaurian stronghold of Papirius, where they stood a siege for +four years, during which time Verina died. The fortress was finally +taken through the treachery of Illus's sister-in-law, and Illus and +Leontius were slain.</p> + +<p>After the death of Zeno, Anastasius was in 491 proclaimed emperor +through the influence of the widowed empress Ariadne, who married him +about six weeks later and continued to be an influence in politics +during Anastasius's long and successful reign.</p> + +<p>In Verina and Ariadne we see a mother and a daughter exceedingly alike +in character, but frequently at cross purposes with each other because +of their similar traits. Both were ambitious, both fond of intrigue, and +both ready to commit any crime when it answered their purpose. Verina, +pleased at the accession of her grandson Leo, whom she could control, +was chagrined and disappointed when upon the lad's death his masterful +father was elevated to the throne; and, continuing her intrigues, she +lost first her royal station and then her freedom and her life in her +endeavor to do an injury to her son-in-law. Ariadne quickly grasped the +power which her mother had lost, and has the unusual record of choosing +her husband's successor on the throne and of being the imperial consort +of two rulers in succession.</p> + +<p>We pass now to the dynasty of Justin and to a consideration of the niece +of the great Theodora, Sophia, empress of Justin the Younger, nephew and +successor of Justinian.</p> + +<p>The poet Corippus gives a dramatic account of the elevation of Justin +and Sophia. During Justinian's long illness the two were faithful +attendants at his bedside and ministered to his every want. Finally, one +morning, before the break of day, Justin was awakened by a patrician and +informed that the emperor was dead. Soon after, the members of the +Senate entered the palace and assembled in a beautiful room overlooking +the sea, where they found Justin conversing with his wife Sophia. They +greeted the royal pair as Augustus and Augusta; and the twain, with +apparent reluctance, submitted to the will of the Senate. They then +repaired to the imperial chamber, and gazed, with tearful eyes, upon the +corpse of their beloved uncle. Sophia at once ordered to be brought an +embroidered cloth, on which was wrought in gold and brilliant colors the +whole series of Justinian's labors, the emperor himself being +represented in the midst with his foot resting upon the neck of the +Vandal giant. The next morning, Justin and his imperial consort +proceeded to the church of Saint Sophia, where they made a public +declaration of the orthodox faith.</p> + +<p>In taking this step, Sophia showed that she had the ambition but not the +political acumen of her aunt Theodora. Like the latter, she had been +originally a Monophysite; but a wily bishop had suggested that her +heretical opinions stood in the way of her husband's promotion to the +rank of Cæsar, and in consequence she found it advisable to join the +ranks of the orthodox. Unfortunately, by this step the balance of the +religious parties, which Theodora had so successfully maintained, was +broken, and the later years of Justin's reign were disgraced by the +persecution of the Monophysites, so that great disaffection toward the +throne was created throughout the East.</p> + +<p>The religious ceremony was soon followed by the acclamations of the +populace in the Hippodrome, which were made all the more hearty through +the act of Justin in discharging the vast debts of his uncle Justinian; +and, before three years had elapsed, his example was imitated and +surpassed by the empress, who delivered many indigent citizens from the +weight of debt and usury--an act of benevolence which won for her the +gratitude and adoration of the populace.</p> + +<p>Thus auspiciously began the reign of Justin and Sophia, which the royal +pair had proclaimed was to be an new era of happiness and glory for +mankind; but, though the sentiments of the emperor were pure and +benevolent and it was the ambition of the empress to surpass her aunt +Theodora, neither had the intellectual gifts equal to the task, and +during their reign the Empire was subjected to disgrace abroad and to +wretchedness at home.</p> + +<p>Much the same ingratitude which Belisarius had experienced at the hand +of his imperial mistress was visited upon his eminent successor, Narses, +by the new empress. She sent Longinus, as the new exarch, to supersede +the conqueror of Italy, and in most insulting language recalled the +eunuch Narses to Constantinople. "Let him leave to men," she said, "the +exercise of arms, and return to his proper station among the maidens of +the palace, where a distaff should be again placed in the hands of the +eunuch." "I will spin her such a thread as she shall not easily +unravel!" is said to have been the indignant reply of the hero, who +alone had saved Italy to the Empire. Instead of returning to the +Byzantine palace, he returned to Naples and later dwelt at Rome, where +he passed away and with him the only military genius great enough to +ward off the invasion of the Lombards.</p> + +<p>After a reign of a few years the faculties of Justin, which were +impaired by disease, began to fail, and in 574 he became a hopeless +lunatic. The only son of the imperial pair had died in infancy, and the +question of a successor now became a serious one. The daughter, Arabia, +was the wife of Baduarius, superintendent of the palace, who vainly +aspired to the honor of adoption as the Cæsar. Domestic animosities +turned the empress elsewhere.</p> + +<p>The artful empress found a suitable successor in Tiberius, the young and +handsome captain of the guards, and, in one of his sane intervals, +Justin, at her instance, created him a Cæsar. During the few remaining +years of Justin's life, Tiberius showed himself to both his adopted +parents a filial and grateful son, and meekly submitted to all the +exactions of his empress-mother. Though relying on Tiberius for the +sterner duties of the imperial office, Sophia retained all her authority +and sovereignty as Augusta and would not submit to the presence of +another queen in the palace. Tiberius was already a husband and father. +In a sane moment, Justin, with masculine good nature and blindness to +feminine foibles, blandly suggested that Ino, the wife of the Cæsar, +should dwell with Tiberius in the palace, for, he added, "he is a young +man and the flesh is hard to rule." But Sophia immediately put her foot +down. "As long as I live," said she, "I will never give my kingdom to +another"--words that were possibly a reminiscence of the celebrated +saying of Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra, "I am a queen; and as long as I +live I will reign." Consequently, during the lifetime of Justin, Ino and +her two daughters lived in complete retirement in a modest house not far +from the palace. Her social status aroused considerable interest among +the ladies of the court circle, who found it difficult to decide whether +or not they should call on the wife of the Cæsar. At tables and +firesides this question was gravely discussed, but no one would take the +initiative of visiting Ino without first consulting the wishes of +Sophia. Finally, when one of the ladies, with considerable trepidation, +ventured to ask the empress, she was scolded for her pains; "Go away and +be quiet," responded the imperious Sophia, "it is no business of yours."</p> + +<p>When, however, a few days before the death of Justin, Tiberius was +inaugurated emperor, he at once installed his wife in the palace, to the +chagrin of the empress-mother, and had her recognized by the factions of +the Hippodrome. A conflict arose as to what should be her Christian name +as empress: the Blues wished to change her pagan name to "Anastasia," +while the Greens urged stoutly the adoption of the name of the sainted +"Helena." Tiberius decided with the Blues, and as Anastasia Ino was +crowned Empress of the East.</p> + +<p>During the long apprenticeship of Tiberius, Sophia had held the purse +strings and had kept the young Cæsar on an allowance which seemed too +small to comport with his imperial prospects. Upon becoming emperor, +however, Tiberius quickly rid himself of the dictation of his patroness. +He gave her a stately palace in which to live, and surrounded her with a +numerous train of eunuchs and courtiers; he paid her ceremonious visits +on formal occasions and always saluted the widow of his benefactor with +the title of mother. But it was impossible for Sophia to overcome her +disappointment at being deprived of power, and she set on foot numerous +conspiracies to dethrone Tiberius and to bring about the elevation of +some one whom she could control. The chief of these plots centred about +the young Justinian, the son of Germanus of the house of Anastasius. +Upon the death of Justin a faction had asserted the claims of Justinian; +but Tiberius had freely pardoned the youth for aspiring to the purple +and had given him the command of the Eastern army. Sophia seized upon +the acclamation which the renown of his victories inspired to start a +conspiracy in his interests, but Tiberius heard in time of the intended +uprising and by his personal exertions and firmness suppressed the +conspiracy. He once more forgave Justinian, but he realized the +necessity of restraining the activity of the rapidly aging, but still +clever and intriguing, ex-empress. Sophia was deprived of all imperial +honors and reduced to a modest station, and the care of her person was +committed to a faithful guard who should frustrate any further attempts +on her part to play a part in the game of imperial politics. Thus the +ambitious niece of Theodora passed off the stage of action after a +career which, beginning with every promise of brilliant success and high +renown, had, after many vicissitudes, ended in humiliation and disgrace.</p> + +<p>Heraclius's long and memorable reign, from 610 to 641, was characterized +by much domestic infelicity. Upon the day of his coronation he +celebrated his marriage with the delicate Eudocia, who bore him two +children, a daughter, Epiphania, and a son, Heraclius Constantine, the +natural successor to the throne. Heraclius's second wife was his own +niece Martina, the marriage being considered incestuous by the orthodox +and becoming the cause of much scandal. The curses of Heaven too seemed +to be upon the union; of the children, Flavius had a wry neck and +Theodosius was deaf and dumb; the third, Heracleonas, had no pronounced +physical deformity, but was lacking in intellectual power and in moral +force. The physical sufferings of Heraclius in his last years were also +looked upon as retribution for his sin.</p> + +<p>Martina's influence upon her aged husband in his declining years was +unbounded. Full of ambition and intrigue, she induced him upon his +deathbed to declare her son Heracleonas joint heir with Constantine, +hoping thus herself to wield imperial power. "When Martina first +appeared on the throne with the name and attributes of royalty, she was +checked by a firm, though respectful opposition; and the dying embers of +freedom were kindled by the breath of superstitious prejudice. 'We +reverence,' exclaimed the voice of a citizen, 'we reverence the mother +of our princes; but to those princes alone our obedience is due; and +Constantine, the elder emperor, is of an age to sustain in his own hand +the weight of the sceptre. Your sex is excluded by nature from the toils +of government. How could you combat, how could you answer, the +barbarians who, with hostile or friendly intentions, may approach the +royal city? May Heaven avert from the Roman Republic this national +disgrace which would provoke the patience of the slaves of Persia!' +Martina descended from the throne with indignation and sought a refuge +in the female apartment of the palace."</p> + +<p>But, though deprived of the outward prerogatives of supreme power, she +determined all the more to wield the sceptre through the power of her +son. The reign of Constantine III. lasted only one hundred and three +days, and at the early age of thirty he expired. The belief was +prevalent that poison was the means used by his inhuman stepmother to +bring him to his untimely end. Martina at once caused her son to +proclaim himself sole emperor. But the public abhorrence of the +incestuous widow of Heraclius was only increased by this deed, for +Constantine had left a son, Constans, the natural heir. Both Senate and +populace rose in indignation, and compelled Heracleonas to comply with +their demand that Constans be made his colleague. His submission saved +him for only a year. In 642 he was deposed by the Senate, and he and his +mother Martina were sent into exile. So violent was the popular rage +that the tongue of the mother and the nose of the son were slit--the +first instance of the barbarous Oriental custom being applied to members +of the royal house.</p> + +<p>Martina was always looked upon by the devout of her age as "the accursed +thing." She had by intrigue won the hand of her widowed uncle, by +intrigue exerted a dominating influence over the emperor even up to his +dying moments, and by intrigue tried to determine the destiny of her son +and her stepson. But the intriguing widow reaped in public abhorrence +the natural results of her offences. For a time the people endured the +abomination of her unnatural crimes, but at last they visited upon her a +well-merited punishment.</p> + +<p>The reign of the empress Irene is noteworthy because of her restoration +of the images banished by Leo the Isaurian and his successors, and +because it marks the end of all union between the Eastern and Western +Empires and the beginning of the Byzantine Empire strictly so called. +Hence, it deserves more minute attention than the other reigns we have +briefly sketched, and some mention must be made of the history of the +religious movement with which Irene's name is so intimately connected.</p> + +<p>Leo III., the Isaurian, the most remarkable of the Byzantine emperors +since the days of the great Justinian, made his long reign from 717 to +740 memorable by his victories over the Saracens and his long and bitter +conflict against the image worship and relic worship which had developed +rapidly throughout the Empire and had assumed the aspect of fetichism.</p> + +<p>The early Christians, owing to their Jewish proclivities, had felt an +unconquerable repugnance to the use of images, and their religious +worship was uniformly simple and spiritual. As the Greek influence +spread throughout the Church, however, there developed a veneration of +the Cross and of the relics of the saints. Then it was thought that if +the relics were esteemed, so much the more should be the faithful copies +of the persons of the saints, as delineated by the arts of painting and +sculpture. In course of time, by a natural development, the honors of +the original were transferred to the copy, and the Christian's prayer +before the image of the saint ceased to distinguish between the +counterfeit presentment and the saint it was designed to portray. As +healing power was attributed to many of the images and pictures, the +popular adoration of them grew. Thus, by the end of the sixth century +the worship of images was firmly established, especially among the +Greeks and Asiatics. Many pious souls began to see that this idolatry of +the Christians hardly differed from the idolatry of the Greeks, and that +they had no potent arguments against the assertions of Jews and +Mohammedans that Greek Christianity was but a continuation of Greek +paganism. Consequently, a reaction began, which reached its culmination +in the reign of Leo the Isaurian, who, because of his active hostility +to images, was surnamed Leo the Iconoclast. His measures were severe, +and he introduced a movement which involved the East in a tremendous +conflict of one hundred and twenty years.</p> + +<p>Leo's son, Constantine V.,--Copronymus,--was a more cruel and determined +iconoclast than his father; but into his own family circle he was +destined to introduce a member who was to set at naught the efforts of +father and son and restore the worship of images to its former +flourishing estate. Copronymus himself had had three wives, the most +prominent of whom was a barbarian, the daughter of a khan of the +Chazars; but for the wife of his son and heir, Leo IV., he selected an +Athenian virgin, an orphan of seventeen summers, whose sole endowment +consisted in her beauty and her personal charms. As in the case of +Athenais, nothing is known of the antecedents of Irene. Who her parents +were, what was her education, how many years she lived in her native +city--these are questions of idle speculation.--Her imperial career +shows that she was a woman of remarkable beauty and fascination, of +highly trained intellectual gifts and Hellenic temperament, and from +this we are led to infer that she had in her youth the best instruction +her native city afforded.</p> + +<p>The nuptials of Leo and Irene were celebrated with imposing splendor, +and the new princess rapidly became an important influence in the life +of the palace, winning the regard of her father-in-law and acquiring an +indisputable ascendency over her feeble husband. Irene, though a +Christian, inherited the idolatry and the love of images and ritual of +her ancestors; but during the remaining years of the reign of Copronymus +and the four short years in which her husband occupied the throne she +repressed her zeal, and by clever dissimulation hid her devotion to the +cause of the image worshippers.</p> + +<p>Leo left the Empire to his son Constantine VI., a lad of ten years, with +the empress-dowager Irene as sole regent and guardian of the Roman +world. During the minority of her son Irene discharged with vigor and +assiduity all the duties of public administration and enjoyed to the +full the irresponsible power of her office of regent. She took advantage +of her power to restore the worship of images and thus won the favor of +a large faction of the populace and the clergy. She endeavored to bring +up her son in such a way that he should continue to be subservient to +her, and as he approached the age at which he should assume the reins of +government, Irene showed no disposition to yield up her power.</p> + +<p>Even when Constantine became of age, he was excluded from state affairs. +He had been betrothed to Rotrud, daughter of Charlemagne; but Irene, for +the sake of her own power, had broken off the match and compelled him to +marry one of her favorites, who was distasteful to him. The maternal +yoke, which he had so patiently borne, finally became grievous, and +Constantine listened eagerly to the favorites of his own age who urged +him to assert his rights. He was finally persuaded to do so, and +succeeded in seizing the helm of state. His mother vigorously resisted, +but was overcome and compelled to go into seclusion for a time; but +Constantine at length pardoned her and restored her former dignity. +Irene, however, had by no means relinquished her ambition for sole +power, and availed herself of every opportunity to discredit the prince +and enhance her own popularity.</p> + +<p>Constantine became enamored of one of his mother's maids of honor, +Theodota. With the insidious purpose of making him odious to the clergy, +who discountenanced divorce and second marriage, Irene encouraged him to +put away his wife, Maria, and marry Theodota. The patriarch Tarasius, a +creature of the empress-mother, acquiesced in the emperor's wishes, and, +though he would not perform the ceremony himself, he ordered one of his +subordinates to celebrate the unpopular bans. The affair created great +scandal among the monks and was injurious to the prestige of the +emperor.</p> + +<p>A powerful conspiracy was secretly organized for the restoration of the +empress. At length the emperor, suspecting his danger, escaped from +Constantinople with the purpose of arousing the provinces and the armies +so that he might return to the city with sufficient force to overwhelm +the conspirators and establish beyond question his power. By this flight +the empress was left in danger, because of the possible exposure of the +plot and the indignation of the populace. She acted with her customary +shrewdness and duplicity. Among those about the emperor were some who +were involved in the conspiracy; so, while appearing to be making ready +to implore the mercy and beg the return of her son, she sent to these +men a secret communication in which she veiled the threat that if they +did not act, she would reveal their treason. Fearing for their lives, +they acted at once with the boldness of desperate criminals. Seizing the +emperor on the Asiatic shore, they conveyed him across the Hellespont to +the porphyry apartment of the palace, the chamber in which he was born. +The son was now completely in the power of the mother, in whom ambition +had stifled every maternal emotion. In the bloody council called by the +traitors she urged that Constantine should be rendered incapable of +holding the throne. Her emissaries blinded the young prince and immured +him in a monastery. As a blind monk Constantine survived five of his +successors; but his memory was revived among men only by the marriage of +his daughter Euphrosyne with the Emperor Michael the Second.</p> + +<p>For five years Irene enjoyed all the delights and experienced all the +bitterness of absolute power. Her crime called down upon her the +execration of all the best among mankind, but dread of her cruelty +prevented any open outbreak against her. She carried on the movement for +the restoration of images, and by her outward piety she caused men to +overlook the heinous nature of her crimes. Her reign was noted for its +external splendor and the strong influence she exerted on all affairs of +state. She offered marriage to the Emperor Charlemagne of the West, but +he repelled with repugnance all overtures from the unnatural mother and +reminded her that her intrigues had prevented the union of his daughter +with the Emperor Constantine. In fact, her accession brought about the +final severing of all bonds of union between the eastern and western +divisions of the Roman world. Pope Leo regarded a female sovereign as an +anomaly and an abomination in the eyes of all true Romans, and he +brought to an end all claims the Byzantine dynasty might have on Italy +at least, by creating Charlemagne Emperor of the West.</p> + +<p>These years of power were troublous ones to the wicked queen, because of +rebellions abroad and palace intrigues at home. She had surrounded +herself with servile patricians and eunuchs, whom she enriched and +elevated to the highest offices of state; but her own example had +fostered in them ingratitude and duplicity, and, while they showed her +every outward mark of deference, they secretly conspired for her +downfall and their own elevation. The grand treasurer, Nicephorus, won +over the leading eunuchs and courtiers about the person of the empress, +and the decision was reached that he should be invested with the purple. +Never was Irene more queenly than in the manner with which she received +the intelligence of her fall. When the conspirators informed her that +she must retire from the palace, she addressed them with becoming +dignity, recounting the revolutions of her life, and accepting with +composure her fate. She gently reproached Nicephorus for his perfidy and +reminded him that he owed his elevation to her, and she requested the +proper recognition of her imperial standing and asked for a safe and +honorable retreat. But the greed of Nicephorus would not grant this last +request; he deprived her of all her dignities and wealth, and exiled her +to the Isle of Lesbos, where she endured every hardship and gained a +scanty subsistence by the labors of her distaff. Irene survived the +change of her fortune for only one year, and in 803 died of +grief--destitute, forsaken, and lonely.</p> + +<p>Because of her wickedness Irene's name is perpetuated in history among +the Messalinas and the Lucrezia Borgias. Because of her religious +orthodoxy she was canonized as a saint,--a striking instance of how +outward conformity to religion covers a multitude of sins.</p> + +<br><br> +<a name="c13" id="c13"></a> + +<h3>XIII</h3> + +<h3>BYZANTINE EMPRESSES--THEODORA II., THEOPHANO, ZOE, THEODORA III.</h3> + +<p>The Iconoclastic controversy was far from being extinguished with the +fall (in the person of Irene) of the house of Leo the Isaurian. It was +destined to continue for over half a century longer and to be finally +settled by another empress whose career bore marked similarity to that +of the image-loving Irene; and it then remained settled because the +second image-loving queen was succeeded by a royal house sprung from one +of the European themes which was in sympathy, accordingly, with the +Church of the West, rather than with the religious sentiment of the +people of the Orient.</p> + +<p>But a greater change had come over the Eastern Empire with the exile and +death of Irene. Her elevation had, as we have seen, severed the +connection between East and West and led to the appointment of a Western +emperor in the person of Charlemagne. Hence, from this time onward the +interests and sympathies of the two sections of the later Roman Empire +diverge more and more, and the government at Constantinople becomes ever +more Oriental in its proclivities. It is, therefore, more appropriate to +use the adjective Byzantine for the remaining centuries of the history +of Constantinople to its conquest by the Turks in 1453.</p> + +<p>The careers of Irene and her successor, Theodora, the two +image-worshipping empresses, in the contrast of the vicissitudes of +their lives with the rapidity of their rise and the splendor of their +power, offer materials for romance more truly than for sober history. +Each was born in private station; and in each case it must have required +rare beauty and fascination and high intellectual gifts to fill so +successfully the exalted position of Empress of the Romans, and to +overturn the iconoclastic reforms of their predecessors on the throne. +Each of them, too, when regent, was grossly neglectful of the son over +whose youth she presided, and whom she should have fitted for the high +station to which he was destined. Yet herein lies the marked difference +between the two queens: Irene finally expelled her son from his royal +station, and sent him to pass his life as a blinded monk in a secluded +cell; Theodora, finding she could no longer control the wild nature of +her son, whose training she had neglected, retired from the court and +sought relief in a life of penitence. For their pious acts, both +empresses were canonized as orthodox saints, but Irene must ever be +regarded as a demon at heart, while Theodora must pass as a misguided +and self-deceived woman, who, in the performance of her religious +duties, overlooked the most important task just at hand. But we are +anticipating our consideration of Theodora, the second Irene.</p> + +<p>The iconoclastic controversy was renewed by Nicephorus, who usurped the +throne of Irene, as he was of Oriental extraction and therefore in +sympathy with the so-called heretics. Neither Nicephorus nor his +successor during a period of political anarchy came to a peaceful end, +but Michael II., in 829 died a natural death in the royal palace, still +wearing the crown he had won, and leaving the throne to his son +Theophilus, destined to rank as the Haroun Al Raschid of Byzantine +romance and story. Michael had married Euphrosyne, the daughter of +Irene's son, Constantine VI., and the last scion of Leo the Isaurian. +Euphrosyne had already taken the veil, but, to bring about a union which +might probably continue the line of Leo, the patriarch absolved her from +her vows, and she passed from the convent to the palace as Empress of +the East. Yet, so far as we know, there was no issue of the marriage, +and Michael's son--Theophilus--by a former wife succeeded his father on +the throne. Euphrosyne remained for a time in the palace as +empress-dowager, and seems to have been on the best of terms with her +stepson, whom she at length assisted in the important but difficult task +of selecting a consort.</p> + +<p>Theophilus, since the time of Constantine VI., was the first prince to +be brought up in the purple, and his education was the best the age +afforded. The ninth century was an age of romance, both in action and in +literature, and Theophilus was inspired with many of the ideas of +Oriental monarchs. His reign, therefore, furnishes a series of anecdotes +and tales like to those of the Arabian Nights, and was surrounded with +an Oriental glamour and mystery. And, like his predecessors, he was a +pronounced iconoclast.</p> + +<p>Theophilus was unmarried when he ascended the throne, and the matter of +choosing a wife presented many difficulties to the absolute ruler who +could have his choice from among the daughters of the aristocratic +families of Constantinople, or even from the provinces of his dominions. +He finally took counsel with the attractive empress-dowager Euphrosyne, +and between them they devised a plan which would permit of a wide range +of choice and yet possess all the romance of mythical times.</p> + +<p>The empress-dowager one day assembled at her levee all the most +beautiful and accomplished daughters of the nobles of the capital. While +the maidens were engaged in the interchange of friendly greetings, +Theophilus suddenly entered the room, carrying, like Paris of old, a +golden apple in his hand. He cast his eyes over the room, and there was +a flutter in many a feminine heart over the object of his coming and the +possible recipient of the golden apple. Struck by the beauty and grace +of the fair Eikasia, one of the noted belles of the day, he paused +before her to address a word to her. Already in the heart of the proud +beauty there were anticipations of an imperial career. But Theophilus +found no better topic to commence a conversation than the ungallant +remark: "Woman is the source of evil in the world;" to which the young +lady quickly replied: "Woman is also the cause of much good." Either the +ready retort or the tone of her voice jarred on the captious mind of the +monarch, and he passed on. His eye then fell on the modest features and +graceful figure of the young Theodora, a rival beauty, and to her, +without risking a word, he handed the apple. The shock was too severe +for the slighted Eikasia, who had for a moment felt the thrill of +gratified ambition, and was conscious of the possession of the +endowments that would adorn the throne. She straightway retired to a +monastery which she founded, and devoted her time to religious practices +and intellectual pursuits. Many hymns were composed by her, which +continued long in use in the Greek Church.</p> + +<p>Perhaps it would have been better for Theophilus had he chosen Eikasia. +Theodora, with all her modest demeanor, was self-assertive and proud, +and as a devoted iconodule she caused her husband many an unhappy hour +during his lifetime; and as soon as he was dead she set to work to undo +his policy. The Empress Euphrosyne too soon realized the masterful +spirit of the new empress as did Theodora's own mother, Theoktista, and +the two dowagers retired into the monastery of Gastria, which afforded +them an agreeable retreat from the intrigues of the court.</p> + +<p>Theodora is the heroine of another tale which illustrated an unbecoming +trait in her character and the love of justice of Theophilus. It was the +practice of money-loving officials to engage secretly in trade and to +avoid the payment of custom duties by engaging the empress, or members +of the imperial family, in commercial adventures. By these practices, +gross injustice was done the merchants, and the revenues of the state +suffered. Theophilus learned that the young empress had lent her name to +one of these trading speculations, and he determined to handle the +matter in such a way that, in future, a repetition would be impossible. +He ascertained the time when a ship laden with a valuable cargo in the +empress's name was about to arrive in Constantinople. He assembled his +whole court on the quay to witness its arrival, and when the captain of +the ship demanded free entry in the empress's name, Theophilus compelled +him to unload and expose his precious cargo of Syrian merchandise, and +then publicly burn it; then, turning to his wife, he remarked that never +in the history of man had a Roman emperor or empress turned trader, and +added the sharp reproach that her avarice had degraded the character of +an empress into that of a merchant.</p> + +<p>Theophilus died in 842, leaving the throne to his three-year-old son, +Michael. His mother, Theodora, as she had been crowned empress, was +regent in her own right, and she quickly proved herself one of the most +self-assertive of Byzantine princesses. As Theophilus and his +predecessors overturned the work of Irene, so Theodora immediately began +to undo the iconoclastic policy of her deceased husband; and as her +successors continued her policy, the regency of Theodora marks the end +of iconoclasm and the permanent establishment of image worship in the +churches of the East, as of the West.</p> + +<p>Within the first month of the commencement of the new reign, images had +appeared once more in the churches of Constantinople, and the banished +image worshippers were recalled from their places of exile. John the +Grammarian, the patriarch who had served Theophilus, was deposed because +he refused to convoke a synod for the repeal of iconoclastic decrees, +and Methodius was appointed in his stead. A council of the church was +held the same year at Constantinople, composed largely of the lately +exiled bishops, abbots, and monks who had distinguished themselves as +confessors in the cause of image worship. All the prominent bishops who +had held iconoclastic opinions were expelled from their sees, and their +places were filled by the orthodox. The practices and doctrines of the +Iconoclasts were formally anathematized and banished forever from the +orthodox church.</p> + +<p>While the synod was being held, in the heart of Theodora a conflict was +going on between her love of image worship and her affection for her +deceased husband. She did not waver in her zeal for the orthodox church, +but she did dread to think of her husband as consigned, as a heretic, to +the pangs of hell. Consequently, she presented herself one day to the +assembled clergy, and requested the passage of a decree to the effect +that her deceased husband's sins had all been pardoned by the Church, +and that divine grace had effaced the record of his persecutions of the +saints. Deep dissatisfaction showed itself on the faces of all the +clergy when she made this singular request, and when they hesitated to +speak she uttered, with innocent frankness, a mild threat that if they +did not act favorably on her petition, she would not exert her influence +as regent to give them the victory over the Iconoclasts, but would leave +the affairs of the Church in their present status. The patriarch +Methodius finally found his voice to tell her that the Church could use +its office to release the souls of orthodox princes from the pains of +hell, but unfortunately the prayers of the Church were of no avail in +obtaining forgiveness from God for those who died without the pale of +orthodoxy; that the Church was intrusted with the keys of heaven only to +open and shut the gates of salvation to the living, while the dead were +beyond its help.</p> + +<p>Theodora, however, was determined all the more to secure salvation for +her deceased husband. She declared that in his last moments the dying +Theophilus had tenderly grasped and kissed an image she had laid on his +breast. Although the probabilities were that the soul of Theophilus had +already sped ere such an event took place, the wily Methodius saw in the +statement an escape from the dilemma that faced the synod; and upon his +recommendation the assembled clergy consented to absolve the dead +emperor from excommunication and to receive him into the bosom of the +orthodox church, declaring that, as his last moments were spent in the +manner Theodora certified in a written attestation, Theophilus had found +pardon with God.</p> + +<p>Like her more celebrated predecessor Irene, Theodora exhibited a +masterful ability in governing, and, in spite of her persecuting policy +toward the Iconoclasts, she preserved the tranquillity of the Empire and +enhanced its prestige. Like Irene, too, she became so engrossed in +things religious and political that she shamefully neglected the +education of her son. It is a sad commentary on the history of the +Church that in the long series of emperors from Theodosius to Basil only +two were utterly unfit for the high station to which they fell heir, and +these were the sons of the two empresses whose names figure so largely +in the triumph of the image worshippers,--Irene's son, Constantine VI., +and Theodora's son, Michael III.</p> + +<p>Theodora, absorbed in imperial ambition, abandoned the training of her +child to her brother Bardas, of whose profligate life she could not have +been ignorant. Bardas reared the young Michael in the most reckless and +unconscientious manner, permitting him to neglect his serious studies, +and teaching him his own vices of drunkenness and debauchery. Michael +proved to be an apt pupil in profligacy, and before he reached his +majority had become a confirmed dipsomaniac. Meanwhile, his mother, with +the aid of her minister, Theoktistus, arrogated to herself the sole +direction of public business, and viewed with indifference her brother's +corruption of the principles of her son. Perhaps she saw in his ruin the +continuance and perpetuation of her own power; perhaps she feared that +his influence would be cast with the Iconoclasts, as had been his +father's before him, and that only by his wild career could he be +prevented from overturning the cherished plans of her heart.</p> + +<p>In spite of his irregular life, however, Michael manifested a strong +will of his own, and, as the time of the attainment of his majority +approached, he came to an open quarrel with his mother. He had fallen +violently in love with Eudocia, the daughter of Inger, of the powerful +family of Martinakes, and Theodora and her ministers saw in an alliance +with this house the probability of a potent opposition to their own +political influence. Theodora realized that she must in some manner +prevent this marriage, and she exerted her maternal influence so +strongly that she compelled the lad of sixteen to marry another lady +named Eudocia, the daughter of Dekapolitas--thus repeating the +unfortunate policy of Irene on a similar occasion. The young roué, +however, balked in his purpose to make Eudocia Ingerina his wife, +straightway made her his mistress, and thus brought public disgrace on +the court life of the day. His marriage also incensed him against the +regency; and at the first opportunity, he asserted his majority, +sanctioned the murder of the prime minister Theoktistus, and grew weary +of the presence of his mother.</p> + +<p>He succeeded in dismissing his mother and sisters from the palace, and +even attempted to persuade the patriarch to give them the veil. With the +hope of regaining her power over her son, Theodora formed a plot to +assassinate her brother Bardas; but the plot was discovered, and Michael +compelled her to retire to the monastery of Gastria, the usual residence +of the ladies of the imperial family who were secluded from the world. +Yet, the empress-mother never descended to the baseness of Irene, so as +to seek the injury of her ungrateful son.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, Michael selected as his boon companion the courtier Basil, +who had begun his career as a groom in the stables of some nobleman of +the court. The two gave their time to debauchery and lust; and as a +token of his favor, Michael compelled Basil to marry his discarded +mistress, Eudocia Ingerina.</p> + +<p>In the solitude of the cloister, Theodora deplored the ingratitude, the +vices, and the inevitable ruin of her worthless son, and, repenting of +her earlier folly in neglecting his bringing up, endeavored to make +amends for the mistake of her past life. Finally, after the death of her +brother, Theodora regained some of her maternal influence and was +permitted to reside at the palace of Saint Mamas, where occurred the +last sad tragedy of her career.</p> + +<p>Basil, who in spite of all carousals could always keep his head, +observed how his friend Michael had thrown away the high privileges of +his station and had become an object of contempt in the eyes of all good +men. His overweening ambition to mount the throne overcame every noble +sentiment, and he plotted to assassinate the emperor and to usurp +supreme power. The tragedy occurred in the palace of the empress-mother. +Basil and his wife, Eudocia Ingerina, were invited by her to a feast at +her house, where Michael was present. An orgy ensued; Michael was +carried to his room in a state of intoxication, and Basil and his +conspirators succeeded in despatching him in his drunken sleep. Basil +mounted the throne, and was destined to found the longest dynasty in the +annals of the Empire. Theodora, bowed down with sorrows, and distressed +beyond measure at the cruel destiny of her first-born, died in the first +year of the reign of Basil I.</p> + +<p>Theodora, because of her zeal for image worship, was eulogized as a +saint by the ecclesiastical writers of both the Western and the Eastern +Church, and is honored with a place in the Greek Calendar. Had her +devotion to her children equalled her self-sacrificing loyalty to church +affairs, she might have changed the course of Byzantine history. But, +failing in her maternal duties, her name shared the ignominy as well as +the glory of Irene, and, while not possessing the wickedness of the +latter, she must rank as a queen who in neglecting her son brought +disgrace on the Empire.</p> + +<p>Basil I. was one of those remarkable men who after a career of infamy +are sobered by great responsibilities and perform well the part which it +was destined for them to play. But in his relations with women he had to +endure the natural outcome of his earlier licentiousness. His first +wife, whom he married at the beginning of his career, had lived but a +few years, leaving him a son, Constantine, whom he associated with him +on the throne, but who died after a lapse of ten years. Eudocia +Ingerina, whom Michael had compelled him to marry, had a son, Leo, who +succeeded Basil on the throne, but the emperor was ever haunted with the +suspicion that this lad was the son not of himself but of Michael. The +adventures of this empress and of Michael's sister, Thekla, who also +shared imperial honor, are sad proofs of the corruption of morals of the +age. With her brother's consent, Thekla had become the concubine of +Basil, and after he had assassinated Michael and ascended the throne, +Thekla consoled herself with other lovers. On one occasion it happened +that an attendant employed in the household of Thekla was waiting on the +emperor, when the latter asked the shameless question: "Who is living +with your mistress at present?" The attendant imprudently told the name +of the successful lover; Basil's jealousy was aroused, and he ordered +the paramour of the woman he had put aside to be seized, scourged, and +immured for life in a monastery. It is even said that he ill treated +Thekla and confiscated part of her property. But the Empress Eudocia +Ingerina avenged the unfortunate princess in a manner more pardonable in +the mistress of a besotted debauchee than in the wife of an emperor. +When her amours were discovered, the empress was prudent enough to avoid +scandal by merely compelling her lover to retire privately to a +monastery.</p> + +<p>In pleasing contrast to the story of these licentious princesses, +revealing the absence of any shame in the high life of Constantinople, +is that of the widow Danielis who played the lady bountiful to Basil in +his earlier years, and to whom he delighted to show his gratitude after +he had mounted the throne.</p> + +<p>Once when he was an attaché of the courtier Theophilitzes, whom Theodora +had sent on public business into the Peloponnesus, he fell sick at +Patras. A wealthy widow, Danielis by name, who had been struck with the +handsome looks of the gallant attaché, had him removed to her house and +carefully nursed him through his illness. When he recovered, she made +Basil a member of her family, by uniting him with her own son John in +those spiritual ties of brotherhood sanctioned by the Greek Church with +peculiar rites; also she bestowed on him considerable wealth so that +from that time on he could play well the part of a courtier, and had the +means to make himself the boon companion, friend, and colleague of the +erratic Michael.</p> + +<p>The lasting friendship between the widow and the emperor constitutes the +most interesting episode in the checkered career of Basil. When he +became emperor, he displayed his gratitude by sending for the son of his +former benefactress and making him protospatharios, or chief of the +guards. He also urged the widow to visit him, and see her adopted son +seated on the throne. The account of her journey to Constantinople, is a +most valuable commentary on the life of Greek women in the ninth +century, and shows how vast was the wealth of the few on Greek soil, and +what an important part a wealthy widow could play in the affairs of +state; the story is as follows:</p> + +<p>"The lady Danielis set off from Patras in a litter or covered couch, +carried on the shoulders of ten slaves; and the train which followed +her, destined to relieve these litter bearers, amounted to three hundred +persons. When she reached Constantinople, she was lodged in the palace +of Magnaura, appropriated for the reception of princely guests. The rich +presents she had prepared for the emperor astonished the inhabitants of +the capital, for no foreign monarch had ever offered gifts of equal +value to a Byzantine sovereign.</p> + +<p>"The slaves that bore the gifts were themselves a part of the present, +and were all distinguished for their youth, beauty, and accomplishments. +Four hundred young men, one hundred eunuchs and one hundred maidens, +formed the living portion of this magnificent offering; while there were +in addition, a hundred pieces of the richest colored drapery, one +hundred pieces of soft woollen cloth, two hundred pieces of linen, and +one hundred of cambric, so fine that each piece could be enclosed in the +joint of a reed. To all this, a service of cups, dishes, and plates of +gold and silver was added. When Danielis reached Constantinople, she +found that the emperor had constructed a magnificent church as an +expiation for the murder of his benefactor, Michael III. She sent orders +to the Peloponnesus to manufacture carpets of unusual size, in order to +cover the whole floor, that they might protect the rich mosaic pavement, +in which a peacock with outspread tail astonished, by the extreme +brilliancy of its coloring, every one who beheld it. Before the widow +quitted Constantinople, she settled a considerable portion of her estate +in Greece on her son, the protospatharios, and on her adopted child, the +emperor, in joint property.</p> + +<p>"After Basil's death, she again visited Constantinople; her own son was +dead, so she constituted the Emperor Leo VI. her sole heir. On quitting +the capital for the last time, she desired that the protospatharios, +Zenobius, might be dispatched to the Peloponnesus, for the purpose of +preparing a register of her extensive estate and immense property. She +died shortly after her return; and even the imperial officers were +amazed at the amount of her wealth; the quantity of gold coin, gold and +silver plate, works of art in bronze, furniture, rich stuffs in linen, +cotton, wool and silk, cattle and slaves, palaces and farms, formed an +inheritance that enriched even an Emperor of Constantinople. The slaves +of which Emperor Leo became the proprietor were so numerous that he +ordered three thousand to be enfranchised and sent to the <i>theme</i> of +Longobardia (as Apulia was then called), where they were put in +possession of land which they cultivated as serfs. After the payment of +many legacies, and a division of part of the landed property, according +to the disposition of the testament, the emperor remained possessor of +eighty farms or villages."</p> + +<p>This narrative furnishes a curious glimpse into the condition of society +in Greece during the latter part of the ninth century, which is the +period when the Greek race began to recover a numerical superiority and +prepare for the consolidation of its political ascendency over the +Slavonian colonists in the Peloponnesus.</p> + +<p>It seems almost incredible that such wealth and power could be +concentrated in the hands of one woman; and only when we consider the +grinding poverty of the masses of the population through the extortions +of the rich and the oppressions of the governing classes can we account +for the resources which permitted the lavish luxuries of the +aristocrats.</p> + +<p>The fourscore years succeeding the death of Basil the Macedonian were +taken up by the two long reigns of Leo VI.--reputed to be the son of +Basil, but in all probability the son of Michael,--and Leo's son, +Constantine Porphyrogenitus. These years were important for literature, +as both son and grandson of the founder of the dynasty were authors of +renown; but in historical interest and especially as regards the story +of Byzantine womanhood they were the most uneventful and monotonous in +the many centuries of the Empire's existence.</p> + +<p>Constantine Porphyrogenitus was the child (by his fourth wife) of Leo's +old age, and was only seven years old when he fell heir to the Empire. +He was brought up under the tutelage of guardians; and so devoted was he +to the composing of books and the painting of pictures, that he was +forty years of age before he assumed entire control of the reins of +government; yet, twenty years of supreme power fell to his lot.</p> + +<p>In his works, we have a beautiful picture of his domestic life. We do +not know much of his wife, Helena, but he was devoted to his son Roman +us, a gay, pleasure-loving prince, and to his daughters, of whom the +youngest, Agatha, was his favorite secretary and the constant companion +of his studies. "Seated by his side, she read to him all the official +reports of the ministers; and when his health began to fail it was +through her intermediation that he consented to transact public +business. That such a proceeding created no alarming abuses and produced +neither serious complaints nor family quarrels is more honorable to the +heart of the princess than is her successful performance of her task to +her good sense and ability."</p> + +<p>The most interesting figure about him, however, was his daughter-in-law +Theophano, who was destined to play a fatal part in the story of the +Basilian house. Theophano was lowly born, and her beauty and grace could +never win the court circle and the public to pardon a low alliance which +disgraced the majesty of the purple. Hence, the vilest scandals were +circulated about her, which must be taken with some degree of allowance.</p> + +<p>According to the chroniclers, she was wildly ambitious and utterly +lacking in natural affection, charming in manner, but cruel in heart. +She and Romanus made a most striking couple as they appeared together in +the court or took part in the public processions. Romanus was +conspicuous for his beauty and strength, tall and erect, fair and florid +in complexion, with aquiline nose and sparkling eyes. Theophano was of +the pure Greek type in features, yet small of stature and of infinite +ease of manner and movement. According to the Byzantine writers, she +craved eagerly for supreme power, and poisoned her father-in-law to +hasten her husband's elevation to the throne. Constantine did not take +enough of the beverage administered by her hand to end his life, but his +constitution was weakened, and after a short period of time he passed +away. Romanus's name was also embraced in the story, he having been +induced, through the wiles of his wife, to enter into a conspiracy +against their father and benefactor. But Constantine's picture of his +own family life is so amiable, that it is as difficult to give credence +to the accusation brought against Romanus and Theophano as it is to +Procopius's tales regarding Theodora Justinian.</p> + +<p>Romanus II. had held the throne but five years when he too sickened and +died, and it was rumored that Theophano had mingled for him the same +deadly draught which she had prepared for her father-in-law. The young +empress was left as regent of her two little sons, Basil, aged seven, +and Constantine, who was only two. She aspired first to reign alone; but +soon realizing the Byzantine dislike for feminine rule, she found a +protector and a guardian for her sons in Nicephorus, the most valiant +soldier of the Empire. He was given the hand of the beautiful +empress-dowager, and was crowned as the colleague of the two young +Cæsars. His personal ugliness and deformity rendered it impossible for +Theophano to love him, and the match was one of interest rather than of +affection. But Nicephorus proved himself a most affectionate co-regent, +and paid scrupulous regard to the rights of the young princes. Much of +his time was spent in the field, and many were the victories which he +won for the Byzantine arms. But even his great achievements could not +enchain the heart of the capricious empress.</p> + +<p>Theophano, during the absence of her grim and ugly husband, had become +enamored of his favorite nephew, John Zimisces, who was also a warrior +of note. John listened to the voice of the tempter, not so much for lust +as for ambition, and conspired with the empress against his uncle and +benefactor. The treacherous murder was accomplished one December night +in the year 969, in the imperial apartments of the palace.</p> + +<p>Some of the conspirators had been concealed in the chamber of Theophano. +John Zimisces and his principal companions crossed the Bosporus in a +small boat, landed under the palace walls, and in the darkness of night +silently ascended a ladder of ropes which was cast down by the +handmaidens of the empress. Nicephorus, as was his custom, was sleeping +on a bearskin on the floor of his chamber, when he was awakened by the +noisy entrance of the conspirators. Their daggers were drawn, and, at +the word from John, were plunged into the body of the valiant general, +who exclaimed in his death agony: "Oh, God! grant me thy mercy." Though +by this base deed John came to the throne, he showed deep contrition for +the slaughter of his uncle; and through the connivance of the patriarch +and treachery toward his friends, he avoided marriage with the partner +of his guilt.</p> + +<p>"On the day of his coronation, he was stopped on the threshold of Saint +Sophia by the intrepid patriarch, who charged his conscience with the +deed of treason and blood, and required as a sign of repentance that he +should separate himself from his more criminal associate. This sally of +apostolic zeal was not offensive to the prince, since he could neither +love nor trust a woman who had violated the most sacred obligation; and +Theophano, instead of sharing his imperial throne, was dismissed with +ignominy from his bed and palace." Deprived of her place as regent, and +repudiated by her sons on whom she had brought shame, Theophano passed +the remaining years of her life in a monastery.</p> + +<p>Of the two sons of Theophano, Basil II., after a long reign of over half +a century,--963-1025,--distinguished by his many victories over the +Bulgarians, died childless, and was succeeded by his brother, +Constantine IX., who was destined to be the last male of the Macedonian +house. After his short reign of three years, the story of the remaining +twenty-nine years of the Basilian dynasty gathers itself about the names +of his two elderly daughters, Zoe and Theodora, and the series of +princes who owed their position on the throne solely to them. It is a +period of decadence, and the reader cannot help but pity the two sisters +who were endeavoring to uphold a decaying dynasty in the midst of +corruption and folly. Zoe constitutes the central figure of the period; +but Theodora was vastly her superior, and casts a sort of glamour about +the closing years of the house of Basil the Macedonian.</p> + +<p>Zoe, however, was notable not so much for her ability to govern as for +her extraordinary vanity and love of adulation. Yet, for some reason, +she had reached the age of forty-eight before she found a husband. Upon +his deathbed, Constantine summoned Romanus Argyrus, an aged nobleman, to +the palace and informed him that he had been selected to mount the +throne, but that he must divorce his wife and marry one of the imperial +princesses. Romanus hesitated, not that he cared not for the throne, but +because the conditions were too severe; he loved his wife, and he did +not fancy joining his lot with one of the elderly maidens. But he was +told that he must either obey or lose his eyesight. To relieve the +situation, his wife, with self-sacrificing devotion, took the veil and +entered a monastery. Constantine destined Theodora, the younger and more +capable of his daughters, for the throne as spouse to Romanus, but +through religious compunctions she refused to marry the husband of +another woman, and consequently Zoe was chosen as bride and empress at +the tender age of forty-eight. Romanus was sixty when he ascended the +throne.</p> + +<p>Zoe never forgave her sister Theodora the fact that because of her more +stable character their father had offered his younger daughter the +throne; Romanus had no love for her because she had refused him. +Consequently, spies were set over her movements, and every effort was +made to connect her with the various plots of courtiers who had designs +upon the throne. Finally, accused of being privy to the plans of one of +the most hostile of the courtiers, Theodora was driven from her palace +and imprisoned in the monastery of Petrion; sometime after, Zoe, upon a +visit to the monastery, compelled her sister to assume the monastic +habit.</p> + +<p>Romanus and Zoe were never an affectionate couple. He devoted himself +strictly to affairs of state and looked with indifference upon the many +intrigues of his amorous spouse, who, like Queen Elizabeth, believed +herself to be the mistress of all hearts. But one of these amours, +perhaps, cost him his life.</p> + +<p>The royal consorts had turned the management of the palace largely over +to eunuchs. One of these, John the Paphlagonian, became very powerful, +and, as he was precluded from the imperial title himself, sought to +raise a brother to that high honor. This brother, Michael, had begun +life as a goldsmith and money changer, but his brother appointed him to +a place in the imperial household. Owing to his personal beauty and +graceful and dignified manners, he soon became the favorite chamberlain +to his royal mistress. Unfortunately, however, he was subject to sudden +and violent attacks of epilepsy. This, instead of repelling Zoe, merely +aroused her pity, and she fell in love with her handsome servant and +carried on an amorous intrigue with him. Romanus was duly informed of +his wife's conduct, but remained indifferent to it and probably deemed +the accusation untenable because of the epilepsy of Michael. Zonaras, an +ancient chronicler, tells the story that in the night the emperor +frequently called Michael to rub his feet when he was in bed with Zoe. +And he naively adds: "Who can refrain from supposing that the hands of +the young valet-de-chambre did not find an opportunity of touching also +the feet of the empress?" During the last two years of his life, Romanus +was afflicted with a wasting disease and rumor had it that it was due to +a slow poison administered either by Zoe, or by the eunuch John, who +wished to bring about his brother's elevation. At any rate, in his dying +moments, before the breath had left his body, the empress quitted his +bedside to take measures with John the Paphlagonian for placing her +epileptic paramour on the throne.</p> + +<p>The moment Romanus III. ceased to live, Zoe called an assembly of the +officers of state in the palace and invested Michael IV. with the diadem +and the purple robe. He was straightway proclaimed Emperor of the +Romans, and was formally seated beside Zoe on the vacant throne. The +patriarch Alexius was filled with disgust at this flagrant display of +contempt for decency, but for reasons of state and to avoid greater +scandal, he celebrated the marriage between the empress and her +paramour. "Thus a single night saw the aged Zoe the wife of two +emperors, a widow and a bride, and Michael a menial and a sovereign."</p> + +<p>Michael was twenty-eight when he wedded Zoe at the age of fifty-four and +ascended the throne. In spite of his humble origin, he showed himself a +capable ruler, and succeeded in repelling some of the enemies of the +Empire. But his usefulness was hindered by his epileptic fits and by the +unfriendly attitude of his subjects who regarded his disease as evidence +of the divine wrath because of his ingratitude toward his benefactor, +Romanus. He became a hopeless invalid before the age of thirty-six, and, +when he felt his end approaching, he renounced the world and all the +vanities of imperial station, and retired to the monastery of Saint +Anarghyras where he became a monk. He died on December 10, 1041, after a +reign of seven years and eight months.</p> + +<p>After the death of her second husband, the irrepressible Zoe at first +attempted to carry on the Empire alone, with the assistance of the +eunuchs of her household, but the prevailing aversion to female +sovereignty and her own disinclination to be without companionship of +the male sex led her to a realization of the necessity of giving the +Empire a male sovereign. The alternative which presented itself was +whether she should adopt a son or marry a husband. Having twice +experienced matrimonial bliss, but never having tasted the joys of +filial devotion, for the sake of a new sensation Zoe adopted the former +expedient.</p> + +<p>She selected for the honor another Michael, the nephew of her late +husband, but, as she was aware of his volatile character, she made him +take a solemn oath, before conferring on him the crown, that he would +ever regard her as his benefactress and treat her as his mother. Michael +was ready enough to promise everything, and the diadem was placed on his +head.</p> + +<p>But as soon as he was established in power, Michael V. revealed his +meanness of soul, and showed both insolence and ingratitude toward the +woman through whom he had attained his elevation. He finally carried his +insolence so far that he banished the empress Zoe to Prince's Island and +compelled her to adopt the monastic habit. But this base act was more +than the people could stand. Their fury burst through every restraint. +The mob paraded the streets and proclaimed the reign of Michael at an +end. They threatened to seize him and scatter his bones abroad like +dust. An assembly was held in the church of Saint Sophia, to which the +aged Theodora was brought from the monastery of Petrion, and she was +proclaimed joint empress with her sister Zoe. In the meantime, Michael, +alarmed at the rapid and overwhelming spread of the sedition, had Zoe +brought back to the palace, and endeavored to pacify the people by +persuading her to appear on a balcony overlooking the Hippodrome. But it +was impossible for him to stem the current of the popular fury. The +palace was stormed, and three thousand people were killed in the +conflict which followed. Michael saved his life by escaping to the +monastery of Studion; his eyes were finally put out, and he passed the +rest of his days in the garb of a monk.</p> + +<p>Zoe immediately entered upon the duties and responsibilities of power, +of which for a time she had been deprived, and she endeavored to force +her sister back into religious retirement; but the Senate and people +insisted upon the joint reign of the two sisters. But this singular +union lasted less than two months. In temperament and in interests the +two sisters were antipodal. Different factions were their support, the +clerical party favoring the devout Theodora, and the worldlings the +volatile Zoe. For a time, the twain appeared always side by side at the +meetings of the Senate and at the courts of justice. Unlike Zoe, +Theodora showed great aptitude for public business, and took pleasure in +performing her administrative duties.</p> + +<p>Zoe's plots against her sister being frustrated, and recognizing that +Theodora was rapidly gaining the ascendency, she bethought herself of +taking a third husband, to whom she might resign the throne and thus +deprive her sister of the influence she was rapidly acquiring.</p> + +<p>Hence, at the advanced age of sixty-two, Zoe began to cast about for a +third husband, in spite of the canons of the Church, which forbade a +third marriage. Her thoughts first turned to a powerful nobleman, +Constantine Dalasennus, whom her father had once chosen for her in her +earlier years, and about whom her recollections cast a halo of romance. +But in place of the gallant hero of her imagination she found she had +summoned to the palace for an interview a stern old gentleman, who +strongly expressed his disapprobation of the existing imperial system; +who censured in unmeasured terms the vices of the court, and who took no +pains to conceal his contempt for her own questionable conduct. Such a +spouse would have been a most excellent antidote for the prevailing +corruption of the Empire, but Zoe had no desire to submit to the control +of so severe a master, and she quickly made up her mind to look +elsewhere.</p> + +<p>A former lover, Constantine Artoclinas, then became the object of her +matrimonial designs. But he already had a wife, who was not of the +self-sacrificing disposition of the wife of Romanus. As soon as she +heard of the honor to which Zoe destined her husband, Constantine +Artoclinas fell ill and did not long survive. It was the general opinion +that his wife had poisoned him, either through jealousy of Zoe, or +because she felt an aversion to passing the rest of her days in a +convent. Zoe, however, was readily consoled.</p> + +<p>She again selected an old admirer, Constantine Monomachus, whom Michael +IV. had banished to Mitylene because of his attentions to the empress, +but who had been recalled on the accession of Zoe and Theodora and +appointed to a high official position in Greece. An imperial galley was +despatched with a royal courier to notify him of the new dignity that +awaited him, and to bring him back to Constantinople. Upon his arrival +he was invested with the imperial robes. His marriage with Zoe was +performed by one of the clergy, for the patriarch Alexius declined to +officiate at the third marriage of the empress, which in this case was +doubly uncanonical, as both Zoe and Constantine had been twice married.</p> + +<p>The choice made by Zoe is a sad commentary on the immorality of the age. +The life and character of Constantine X. show the utter lack of moral +principle which prevailed in the court circles. After he had buried two +wives, Constantine Monomachus had won the affections of a beautiful and +wealthy young widow called Sclerena, who openly became his mistress and +accompanied him in his exile to Mitylene. Yet, in the eyes of the +orthodox, her position as mistress was more respectable, as being less +uncanonical than if she had become his third wife. As Sclerena had stood +by him in the days of his adversity, Constantine insisted upon her +sharing with him his prosperity, and when he assumed the purple he +bargained with Zoe that he should retain his mistress, a condition to +which Zoe in her shamelessness agreed. Hence, "the people of +Constantinople were treated to the singular spectacle of an Emperor of +the Romans making his public appearance with two female companions +dignified with the title of Empress, one as his wife, the other as his +mistress."</p> + +<p>Sclerena was officially saluted with the title of Augusta, and possessed +a rank equal to that of Theodora, whose relative importance had been +reduced by the advent of the Emperor Constantine X. She held a court of +her own and was installed in apartments of the imperial palace.</p> + +<p>Owing to her beauty and her elegant manners she gathered about her a +brilliant court circle, which in its sumptuousness and ostentation +contrasted greatly with the dull ceremony and sombre atmosphere of the +apartments of the elderly sisters, Zoe and Theodora. Sclerena's +disposition, too, was amiable and winning, and she was admired for the +constancy with which she had clung to her lover in the days of his +misfortune. Constantine, in return for her self-sacrificing devotion +when he was an impoverished exile, sought to repay her by the most +lavish expenditure of the public funds. Her apartments were made the +most elegant and luxurious in the city, and her toilettes were the envy +of all the aristocratic ladies of Constantinople.</p> + +<p>Though Constantine showed in every way his partiality for his mistress, +it did not disturb the domestic tranquillity of the imperial household. +Zoe and Sclerena lived on the best of terms, and the utter absence of +jealousy in the aged wife is less remarkable than her utter +shamelessness.</p> + +<p>The moral feelings of the people, however, were not so completely +corrupted as those of their superiors. They resented the lavish +expenditures of the public moneys upon the concubine of the emperor, and +they also resented the insult thus put upon their empress. They felt +that the lives of the aged sisters, the only survivors of the Macedonian +house, could not be safe in a palace where vice reigned supreme, and +where secret murders had so often occurred.</p> + +<p>The incensed populace raised a sedition on the feast of the Forty +Martyrs, when it became the duty of the emperor to walk in solemn +procession to the church of Our Saviour in Chalke, whence he proceeded +on horseback to the church of the Martyrs. As the procession was about +to move from the palace, a cry was raised: "Down with Sclerena; we will +not have her for empress! Zoe and Theodora are our mothers--we will not +allow them to be murdered!" The mob then sought to lay hands on the +emperor to tear him in pieces, but the tumult was quieted by the sudden +appearance of Zoe and Theodora on the balcony and the people were +dispersed without serious damage being done.</p> + +<p>The Empress Zoe died in 1050, at the age of seventy. Constantine X. +survived to the year 1055. He, before the end came, was anxious to name +his successor, but as soon as Theodora heard of the attempt of her +brother-in-law to deprive her of the throne, she hastened to the palace, +where the Senate was quickly convened, and presented herself as the +lawful empress. With universal acclamation, Theodora was proclaimed sole +sovereign of the Empire.</p> + +<p>Though seventy-five years of age when she became sole ruler of the +destinies of the Eastern Empire, Theodora exhibited great vigor of +character and her short reign was a fortunate period for the Byzantines, +owing to her attention to public business and the freedom from external +conflicts. To preserve power in her own hands, Theodora presided in +person at the meetings of the Cabinet and the Senate, and heard appeals +as supreme judge in civil cases. Her long monastic life had developed in +her the narrow views and acrimonious passions of a recluse, but an +ascetic spirit was a relief after the sensual performances of the court +of Constantinople. Even at the advanced age of seventy-six, Theodora +felt so robust that she looked forward to a long life. The monks +flattered her with prophecies that she was to reign for many years. But +in the midst of her plans, she was suddenly attacked by an intestinal +disorder that speedily brought her to the grave. Theodora was the last +scion of a family which had upheld with glory the institutions of the +Empire for nearly two centuries, and had secured to its subjects a +degree of internal tranquillity and commercial prosperity far greater +than that enjoyed during the same period by any other portion of the +human race. "And with her, expired the race of Basil, the Slavonian +groom, and the administrative glory of the Byzantine Empire, on the 30th +of August, 1057."</p> + +<a name="ill6" id="ill6"></a> +<p class="mid"><img alt="" src="images/006.png"><br><b><i>BYZANTINE INTERIOR, NINTH CENTURY<br> From a +water-color by S. Baron, after a restoration by P. Bénard.</i></b></p> + +<blockquote><b><i>In this period military exigencies did not permit of numerous +apartments. We find the great room, the place of reunion, a sumptuously +decorated apartment, in which also the meals were served and the bed was +placed. The floor was of bricks, and the apartment was warmed by hot air +supplied from a</i> hypocaustum, <i>placed below the floor, and admitted +through a painted iron grating. The wall decorations presented an +infinite variety of beautifully executed mouldings and scroll designs of +flowers and foliage, common to the Byzantine manner. The furniture of +the room was sober in style. The bed was shaped and ornamented somewhat +like a modern sofa. A curtain on sliding rings served to screen from +draughts, as well as to separate beds. In this room the lady received +her guests.</i></b></blockquote> + + +<p>What a contrast is offered between the empresses of these later +centuries and the great names of the earlier period, Eudoxia and +Pulcheria and Eudocia and the great Theodora! We have fallen on evil +times; and in the general corruption, woman has degenerated. During the +remaining centuries which it falls to our lot to consider, we shall find +that the chronicles of women continue to exhibit the downward march of +womanhood, until with the utter debasement of woman, the fabric of +society gives way, and all is darkness in the history of the sex.</p> + +<p>We have had a glimpse of the luxury with which the Empress Eudoxia +surrounded herself in her palace on the Bosporus, and our curiosity and +interest may be satisfied concerning the domestic surroundings of a +woman of rank during the period of the Byzantine decadence. The only +truly original Christian art, down to the eleventh century, was the +Byzantine; it dominated both Christian and pagan artists. In the period +to which we refer, military exigencies did not permit of numerous +apartments. We find the great room, the place of reunion, a sumptuously +decorated apartment, in which also the meals were served and the bed was +placed.</p> + +<p>This chief room showed little constructive quality, but it was superbly +decorated. The square, heavy door was usually contrived below a +relieving arch, whose archivolt was richly charged with sculptured and +painted ornaments; the twin windows were supported by a pied-droit or on +small columns. The flat walls rarely had a real projecting entablature; +the ends of joists were simulated by cornices resting on consoles or +modillions; the architrave and the frieze were only a painted effect. +The floor was of bricks. Chimneys were not yet used, and the apartment +was warmed by hot air supplied from a hypocaustum, placed within the +walls or below the floor, and admitted through a painted iron grating.</p> + +<p>The wall decorations presented an infinite variety of beautifully +executed mouldings and scroll designs of flowers and foliage, common to +the Byzantine style. A prominent feature of the mural decoration was the +numerous figures, in stiff attitudes, draped with garments falling in +meagre folds, and decked with abundant fringes and precious stones, +after the Oriental fashion; close to these figures were placed groups of +Greek letters.</p> + +<p>The furniture of the room was sober in style. The bed was shaped and +ornamented somewhat like a modern sofa. The occupant reclined rather +than lay on it, for the cushions were heaped up increasingly toward the +head of the bed. It was customary to sleep without garments, the only +covering being an ample sheet. A curtain on sliding rings was +indispensable; it served to screen from draughts, as well as to separate +beds; moreover, it supplemented the scanty furniture of the room.</p> + +<p>Over the bed was a lighted lamp. This was invariably used, for darkness +was dreaded, and it was believed that the light kept off evil spirits +and prevented baleful apparitions. In this room the great lady of our +period received her guests; here intrigues were plotted; here she +partook of her repasts, waited upon by her many serving-maids; here she +passed, indeed, most of her life.</p> + +<a name="c14" id="c14"></a> +<br><br> + +<h3>XIV</h3> + +<h3>THE PRINCESSES OF THE COMNENI</h3> + +<p>With the end of the Macedonian house in 1057, all the elements of +discord in the Byzantine Empire seemed to have been loosed. Civil war +and foreign invasions rapidly succeeded one another, and the empire +hastened to its doom. But the downward progress was for a time checked +by the rise of the Comneni, a prominent family, who controlled the +destinies and exerted a paramount influence over the career of the +Byzantine government for over a century, in fact, until its overthrow by +the Latin Crusaders in 1204. In the chronicles of the Comneni, its +princesses played a notable though not always creditable role; and the +undercurrent of Byzantine history for a century and a half was +determined largely by woman's influence and woman's artifice.</p> + +<p>Of the great families whose names appear on every page of the Byzantine +history of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, that of the Comneni is by +far the most illustrious. The hypothesis that the Comneni were an +ancient Roman house which followed Constantine from Old Rome to New Rome +must be given up: so important an item in the family glories of the +house would not have been passed over in silence by Anna Comnena and her +husband in their historical works. We must accept the testimony of a +contemporary, Psellus, that the family was of Greek or Thracian origin, +and derived its name from the ancestral seat, the village of Comne in +the valley of the Torniga, near the site of the city of Adrianople.</p> + +<p>The first of the line prominent in Byzantine annals was the illustrious +Manuel Comnenus, who, under Basil II., aided in settling the troubled +condition of the East and in reestablishing the Empire on a firm +footing. As a result of his labors for the state, Manuel acquired vast +estates in Cappadocia, and, from this time, his family ranked as one of +the wealthiest and most aristocratic houses of the Byzantine nobility.</p> + +<p>Manuel, upon his deathbed, left his two sons, Isaac and John, to the +care and the gratitude of his sovereign. The two lads were carefully +educated in all the learning and trained in all the manly +accomplishments of the day; and their brotherly love became the subject +of comment in an age when self-seeking was the most salient +characteristic of the aristocratic class. When they attained manhood, +both made brilliant marriages which greatly increased the lustre of +their family name: Isaac married a captive princess of Bulgaria, and +John wedded Anna Dalassena, the daughter of the patrician Dalassenus, +nicknamed Charon from the number of enemies he had sent to the infernal +regions. Isaac was fated to die childless and his wife is unknown to +fame, but Anna, the wife of John, was destined to be the most remarkable +woman of her house.</p> + +<p>The Empress Theodora, in her last days, had nominated Michael +VI.,--Stratioticus,--an aged and decrepit veteran, as her successor; but +his elevation was resented by the soldiers, who plotted and successfully +carried through a conspiracy by which Michael was dispossessed and Isaac +Comnenus, at that time the most popular general of the East, was +elevated to the throne. But the usurpation was not attended with the +blessings of heaven: Isaac was stricken with disease before he had +reigned a full year, and retired to a monastery to die, abdicating the +throne and selecting his brother John as his successor. For some +unaccountable reason, and much to the chagrin of his wife Anna, whose +ambitions were distinctly imperial, John declined the honor, and +persisted in his refusal in spite of the entreaties of his wife and +relatives, and with a seeming blindness to the welfare of the state. +Possibly he felt that a curse rested upon a dynasty which had usurped +the throne. Constantine Ducas, another Cappadocian patrician, was then +selected; during his reign of seven troubled years he proved himself to +be a sorry administrator. His empress, Eudocia Makremvolitissa, and Anna +Dalassena are the two dominating personalities who determined the tenor +of court intrigue and largely influenced the course of the events of +this period. Anna most intensely hated Ducas and all his house, for they +were occupying a throne which she thought should have been retained in +her own family; and her relations with the empress were those of rivalry +or of friendship, in proportion as Eudocia was acting in sympathy with +or in opposition to her husband's family.</p> + +<p>Constantine XI.--Ducas--was as intensely partisan as Anna; and when he +found his end approaching, he wished above all things to assure the +elevation of his three children, Michael, Andronicus, and Constantine. +Constantine was well aware of the dangers which his dynasty would incur +should the empress marry a second time; before conferring upon her the +regency of the Empire, he therefore exacted from her a most solemnly +attested promise that under no circumstances would she take a second +husband. This important document was deposited in the hands of the +patriarch, John Xiphilinus. Constantine made the Senate, also, take an +oath never to acknowledge any other emperor than one of his own +children. Feeling that he had bound his wife by irretrievable bonds, and +that every precaution had been taken to assure the implicit fulfilment +of his wishes, Constantine breathed his last with a contented mind.</p> + +<p>But Eudocia soon discovered the need of a strong arm for the protection +of her own rights and those of her sons. A woman of executive gifts, she +was also devoted to literary pursuits, and her knowledge of history had +taught her with how much reluctance the Byzantines submitted to the +sovereignty of a woman. She recalled, too, the experience of the Empress +Theophano, who had found prudent guardians for her sons, Basil II. and +Constantine IX., in the persons of the soldiers Nicephorus II. and John +I., though she was appalled by the vices of this empress, who had +married and murdered the first and been scorned by the second guardian. +Furthermore, threatening invasions and domestic unrest proved the need +of a soldier as her colleague in the Empire. Love came to the assistance +of reason, and Eudocia determined to break her vows and to take a second +husband.</p> + +<p>Romanus Diogenes, the most daring and popular general of the Empire, had +been convicted of treason for participation in a conspiracy against her +children's throne, and was then in prison awaiting sentence of death +from Eudocia as regent. The latter, however, became enamored of her +distinguished captive, and his beauty and valor convinced her that he +was destined to share with her the throne. The army was clamoring for +his release; and when he received a full pardon from the empress-regent, +it at first created no suspicion of her romantic designs. The Seljukian +Turks were at that time overrunning Cappadocia and it was necessary that +the army should be under the control of an able and a daring general. +Romanus was therefore raised from the scaffold to the headship of the +army.</p> + +<p>Before the empress could take any further step toward carrying out her +matrimonial intentions, it was necessary to secure possession of the +document which evidenced her pledge to her husband that she never would +contract a second marriage. Feminine diplomacy enabled her to accomplish +this delicate task; and the lack of principle and high moral character +in the patriarch caused him to fall readily into the net laid for him by +Eudocia.</p> + +<p>Xiphilinus at first urged upon her emissary the sanctity of the oath the +empress had taken, and the sacred nature of the trust he had assumed; +but when it was whispered in his presence that his own brother was +destined for the high honor, the patriarch's scruples were relaxed, and +he yielded--out of proper regard, as he alleged, for the welfare of the +state. He resigned the important paper into the empress's hand, and at +her solicitation proposed and carried through a measure in the Senate, +favoring her second marriage, and in addition released the senators from +their vow never to recognize as emperor any other than a son of +Constantine. Great was the confusion of the credulous patriarch when he +realized that he had been outwitted by the clever woman, who, when her +plans were fully matured, made an official proclamation that she had +selected Romanus IV.,--Diogenes,--the most brilliant general of the +Empire, to share with her the throne and to act as guardian to her sons.</p> + +<p>Her choice was the occasion of much satisfaction to the army and the +people, but caused jealousy and dissension in the imperial household. +John Ducas, the late emperor's brother, held the rank of Cæsar and was +the natural guardian of his nephews; he at once began to conspire for +the overthrow of Romanus and the retirement of Eudocia.</p> + +<p>The new emperor at once assumed his duties of warding off the enemies of +the Empire, and engaged in a deadly conflict with the Seljukian Turks. +Though at first successful, his army was finally routed and almost +annihilated, and Romanus himself was taken captive, on the fatal field +of Manzikert, 1071,--a decisive battle that marked the beginning of the +end of Byzantine history and presaged the final conquest of +Constantinople by the Turks. Romanus's capture produced a revolution at +court. John Ducas seized the reins of government, ostensibly in the +interests of Michael VII., son of Constantine; and when Romanus, having +been released by his gallant foe, returned to Constantinople, Ducas had +him seized and blinded and left to die through neglect. Eudocia was +forced to retire to a monastery and take the veil; there she devoted +herself to literary labors. She is reputed to be the author of a learned +work, still extant, entitled Ionia, a species of historical and +mythological dictionary. The last public appearance of the hapless +Eudocia was on the occasion of the funeral of the valiant Romanus, which +she was permitted to celebrate in an imposing manner.</p> + +<p>A period of anarchy followed the cruel death of Romanus, and there were +at one time no less than six pretenders to the throne. Throughout this +trying period John Ducas maintained his power as regent, relinquishing +his regency only when his ward, Michael VII., became of age and asserted +his rights. Michael was fortunate in the choice of his empress, Princess +Maria, daughter of the King of Iberia, whose beauty and grace are +celebrated by the historian Anna Comnena. When her husband was +overthrown and slain by the rebel Nicephorus Botaniates, Maria married +the latter, with the hope of securing the throne for her child and the +regency for herself. And from this time on her story is closely +interwoven with that of the Comneni princesses, to whom we now return.</p> + +<p>John Comnenus died soon after Constantine Ducas, leaving to the widowed +Anna the task of bringing up a large family of eight children,--Manuel, +Isaac, Alexius, Adrian, Nicephorus, Maria, Eudocia, and Theodora. But +Anna was equal to the task, and deserves to be ranked among the great +mothers of the world. She gave herself up to the proper education of her +sons and daughters, and to the promotion of their political advancement. +She could never console herself for the loss of an imperial crown +through the weakness of her husband, and all her tireless energy was +directed toward recovering her lost opportunity and reaching the throne +through the elevation of one of her sons. What is recounted of her shows +that she was a woman of extraordinary intelligence, inexhaustible +energy, remarkable political astuteness, and inordinate ambition.</p> + +<p>After performing political services of great merit, Manuel, the eldest, +died at an early age. The mother sought to make her sons Isaac and +Alexius men who could show themselves capable of performing every task +imposed upon them in the high station they were destined to acquire; and +the proof of the influence she exerted in the formation of their +characters is seen not only in their high attainments, but also in the +ascendency she retained over Alexius when he had reached the throne.</p> + +<p>Owing to her undying hatred of the house of Ducas, Anna attached herself +to the party of the Empress Eudocia and Romanus, and, being then in high +favor at court, she married her daughter Theodora to Romanus's son +Constantine. The revolution made by John Ducas to the advantage of +himself and his ward, Michael VII., upset all the well-laid plans of +Anna Dalassena; and the fall of Romanus marked for a time the end of the +favor of the Comneni. Anna showed her firmness of character by remaining +faithful to the cause of the dethroned emperor. Her correspondence with +him was detected, and she was exiled, with her children, to one of the +Prince's Isles. Her exile did not last long, however, for she was +recalled and restored to favor; and Michael VII. brought about the +marriage of Isaac, the eldest son since the death of Manuel, to Irene, +daughter of an Alanian prince, and cousin-german to the Empress Maria.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, another matrimonial scheme was being matured, which was not +at all in accordance with the wishes of Anna and the empress. John +Ducas, from the monastery to which he had retired, projected the +marriage of his grand-daughter Irene, with Alexius Comnenus, who was +rapidly growing in promise and influence, and was already giving +evidence of his political astuteness and diplomacy. Alexius gladly +welcomed an alliance which would unite the two most powerful families of +Constantinople in his interest, but his patrician mother opposed any +affiliation with the rival house, and hated the very name of Ducas. The +Empress Maria also had plans for Alexius, with which she feared this +alliance would interfere, and at first threatened open opposition. But +Alexius won his point with his usual cleverness. Anna finally yielded to +his persuasion, and the empress gave her reluctant consent. The result +of the union was that Alexius at once became the most powerful of the +younger nobles at the court.</p> + +<p>The next step in his career was also determined by the profound wisdom +or wily caprice of a woman. To the surprise of her friends and +consternation of her enemies, the Empress Maria adopted Alexius as her +son. Anna Dalassena in all probability had a hand in this move for the +elevation of her house, but it is difficult to see what was the motive +of the empress, who had a young son, Constantine, whom she wished to +succeed to the purple. Perhaps she felt the need of a strong hand to +support the claims of herself and her son against her second husband, +the usurper Nicephorus Botaniates. Perhaps she was captivated by the +manly vigor and personal charms of the young man, and wished to play +with Alexius the rôle of Theophano with Zimisces. It is impossible to +state her motive, but the step was the first move toward the final +overthrow of her house and the succession of the Comneni.</p> + +<p>Alexius had now all the reins of power in his hands, and a revolution +against Botaniates ensued. The usurper was overthrown and Alexius was +proclaimed emperor by the army. At first Constantine, the son of the +Empress Maria and Michael VII., was associated with him on the throne, +though still in his minority. Anna Dalassena and Maria, dreading the +ascendency of Irene Ducas, wife of Alexius, plotted to prevent her +coronation as empress, but the patriarch, who was a partisan of the +house of Ducas, defeated their intrigues; a few days after Alexius +assumed the purple, Irene, with imposing ceremonies, was crowned +empress.</p> + +<p>Alexius well knew how to gain over to his support and utilize for his +schemes the intriguing women who were about him. He had a profound +respect for the political sagacity of his mother and during the earlier +years of his reign her word exerted a deep influence on the course of +government. When he was called away from Constantinople by the wars that +demanded his personal attention, he left his mother as regent during his +absence.</p> + +<p>The first offspring of the union of Alexius and Irene was a daughter, +Anna Comnena. She was in her infancy affianced to Constantine, and the +two were regarded as heirs to the throne, much to the delight of the +ex-Empress Maria. In the ceremonies of the court, the names of +Constantine and Anna immediately followed those of Alexius and Irene.</p> + +<p>Finally, in 1088, the empress bore a son, the third of her children. The +joy of Alexius was unbounded. Seeing the possibility of his son carrying +on the dynasty and perpetuating the name of Comnenus, Alexius determined +to set aside the claims of Constantine and his eldest daughter. An +estrangement with Maria Ducas followed. In 1092, John in his fourth year +was proclaimed emperor, and Constantine was deprived of his rights. The +rupture between Alexius and Maria was a source of enmity to the reigning +house. Chagrined at the failure of her plans, and at the usurpation of +one to whom she had shown every kindness, the ex-empress took part in a +conspiracy against Alexius. But the plot was exposed in time, and all +who were engaged in it were severely punished, except the ex-empress, +who was permitted by her adopted son to go into peaceful retirement.</p> + +<p>Constantine, though no longer associated on the throne, was still +affianced to Anna, but an early death removed him from the scene of +action and the intrigues of the court. In 1097, Anna was married to +Nicephorus Bryennius, scion of a noble house. The mother, Anna +Dalassena, continued for some time to be a powerful factor at court, +but, becoming unpopular and realizing that she was losing her hold on +her imperial son, she finally followed the usual custom of retiring to a +monastery.</p> + +<p>Thus the ex-Empress Maria and Anna--the real founder of the fortune of +her house--found in religious retirement and meditation a life of peace +and tranquillity after the turmoils of revolutions and the intrigues of +imperial politics. The one had seen the failure of her plans and the +downfall of her house; the other could look with pride upon the full +fruition of her plots for the elevation of the Comneni.</p> + +<p>The reign of Alexius I.,--Comnenus,--occupies a considerable place not +only in Byzantine, but, also, in general history. It inaugurated a new +era in the relations between the East and the West, between the Greek +and the Latin, both in affairs of Church and state, and the events of +which the tragic expedition of 1204 was the climax had their beginning +in the days when the courtiers of Alexius revelled with the companions +of Godfrey of Bouillon. Equally important is this reign from the point +of view of the Byzantine Empire; it put an end to the anarchy of the +eleventh century, it established a dynasty which restored much of the +territory that weak rulers had lost, and for over a century it preserved +the tottering Empire from its inevitable fall. It was a period in which +woman's influence was marked, and its record is well known to us because +of the literary skill of Anna Comnena. This imperial princess is the +first woman in the world's annals to write an extended history. Both in +learning and in personality she has won a place among the notable women +of the world, and hers is the last great name in the chronicles of +Byzantine womanhood.</p> + +<p>In the comprehensive education which Anna received, we have a view of +the literary prominence of the Comnenic epoch. She had the best masters +the Empire afforded, and in her childhood she exhibited a phenomenal +capacity for learning. Her teachers gave her thorough training in the +works of classical authors. She read Homer, Herodotus, Thucydides, +Aristophanes, the Tragedians and Polybius under suitable guidance, and +without assistance mastered the writings of the church fathers. She +studied with avidity ancient mythology, geography, history, rhetoric, +and dialectic, and was also versed in Platonic and Aristotelian +philosophy. It was in history, however, that she found her chief +delight, and she early conceived the idea of composing a work in honor +of her father's reign.</p> + +<p>We have already mentioned the incidents of her childhood. Anna never +forgave her brother John for supplanting her, and this disappointment of +her tender years largely influenced the course of her later life. She +was devoted to Maria, the mother of her first betrothed, and no doubt +imbibed from her much of the ambition and hatred which were the marked +characteristics of her career in politics. Her empress-mother, Irene, +also exhibited a marked partiality for her eldest daughter, to the +disparagement of her son, whom Alexius had destined for the throne. +Irene was a beautiful and intriguing princess of much natural ability, +and stood in awe of the greater learning of her daughter. The two became +companions in intrigue and diplomacy, and worked together for the +promotion of their own interests, against the schemes of Alexius and +John. Anna was married at a tender age to Nicephorus Bryennius. He was +the representative of one of the most aristocratic and powerful families +of Constantinople, and exhibited much ability both in authorship and +statecraft, but he seems mediocre and colorless by the side of his +spouse.</p> + +<p>Walter Scott laid the scene of his Count Robert of Paris in the +Constantinople of this period, and he presents an interesting picture of +Anna as a devotee of the Muses, and of the principal heroes and heroines +who figure in the intrigues of the court at this time:</p> + +<p>"It was an apartment of the palace of the Blaquemal, dedicated to the +especial service of the beloved daughter of the Emperor Alexius, the +Princess Anna Comnena, known to our times by her literary talents, which +record the history of her father's reign. She was seated, the queen and +sovereign of a literary circle, such as the imperial princess, +Porphyrogenita (or born in the sacred purple chamber itself), could +assemble in those days, and a glance round will enable us to form an +idea of her guests or companions.</p> + +<p>"The literary princess herself had the bright eyes, straight features +and comely and pleasing manners which all would have allowed to the +emperor's daughter, even if she could not have been, with severe truth, +said to have possessed them. She was placed upon a small bench, or sofa, +the fair sex here not being permitted to recline, as was the fashion of +the Roman ladies. A table before her was loaded with books, plants, +herbs, and drawings. She sat on a slight elevation, and those who +enjoyed the intimacy of the princess, or to whom she wished to speak in +particular, were allowed during such sublime colloquy to rest their +knees on the little dais or elevated place where her chair found its +station, in a posture half standing, half kneeling. Three other seats, +of different heights, were placed on the dais, and under the same canopy +of state which overshadowed that of Princess Anna.</p> + +<p>"The first, which strictly resembled her own chair in size and +convenience, was one designed for her husband, Nicephorus Bryennius. He +was said to entertain or affect the greatest respect for his wife's +erudition, though the courtiers were of the opinion that he would have +liked to absent himself from her evening parties more frequently than +was particularly agreeable to the Princess Anna and her imperial +parents. This was partly explained by the private tattle of the court, +which averred that the Princess Anna Comnena had been more beautiful +when she was less learned; and that, though still a fine woman, she had +somewhat lost the charms of her person as she became enriched in her +mind.</p> + +<p>"To atone for the lowly fashion of the seat of Nicephorus Bryennius, it +was placed as near to his princess as it could possibly be edged by the +ushers, so that she might not lose one look of her handsome spouse, nor +he the least particle of wisdom which might drop from the lips of his +erudite consort.</p> + +<p>"Two other seats of honor or, rather, thrones--for they had footstools +placed for the support of the feet, rests for the arms, and embroidered +pillows for the comfort of the back, not to mention the glories of the +outspreading canopy--were destined for the imperial couple, who +frequently attended their daughter's studies, which she prosecuted in +public in the way we have intimated. On such occasions, the Empress +Irene enjoyed the triumph peculiar to the mother of an accomplished +daughter, while Alexius, as it might happen, sometimes listened with +complacence to the rehearsal of his own exploits in the inflated +language of the princess, and sometimes mildly nodded over her dialogues +upon the mysteries of philosophy, with the Patriarch Zosimus, and other +sages."</p> + +<p>Scott's description gives a graphic presentation of the Princess Anna +and of her relations with the various members of her family; and if we +add the heir to the throne, her younger brother John, for whom she had +profound contempt in spite of his many virtues, we have the group about +whom revolve the narrative of her history and the chief events of her +life.</p> + +<p>It is not necessary for us to enter into the story of the First Crusade, +and of the incidents of the intercourse of Franks and Greeks, which Anna +tells so graphically in her history; but before calling attention to the +literary qualities and historical value of her work, we must note those +events which unfolded her character and, in her later years, brought +about her exclusive devotion to literature.</p> + +<p>Owing to his duplicity and lack of confidence in men, Alexius made his +wife and his learned daughter his confidantes and his advisers in many +of the affairs of State, and frequently utilized their services in +gaining his ends. Both the imperial ladies were apt pupils in the school +of political intrigue, and, in the last years of the emperor, endeavored +to utilize their influence over him to the detriment of the +heir-apparent and the elevation of Anna and her husband, the Cæsar +Nicephorus. They accordingly formed a plot, during Alexius's last +illness, to dispossess the eldest son John, that the three might share +the government among them.</p> + +<p>The empress introduced soldiers into the palace, and in the closing +hours of the emperor's life sought to prevail on him to pronounce the +words which would bring about the change in the succession. But the +astute emperor realized his son's eminent fitness to wear the crown, and +was not in sympathy with the ambitions of his learned but unscrupulous +daughter. To all the entreaties of the empress he but cast his eyes +heavenward and remarked on the vanities of human greatness. Despairing +and enraged, the empress at last hastily left the room with a parting +thrust at her imperial consort, which might fitly have been inscribed as +an epitaph on his tomb: "You die as you lived--a hypocrite!" Meanwhile, +during her absence, John entered the room, and, with the tacit consent +of his dying father, removed from his finger the signet which gave him +command of all the forces of the palace; and crushing, in their +inception, the plots of the empress and her daughter, he was solemnly +crowned the moment his father breathed his last.</p> + +<p>John proved to be the most amiable character that ever occupied the +Byzantine throne. But all his virtues did not suffice to quell the +malice and disappointed ambition of his imperial sister. In spite of the +failure of the first conspiracy, the Princess Anna, "whose philosophy +would not have refused the weight of a diadem," entered into another +plot to dispossess her brother--already secure in the confidence of +courtiers and subjects--and to elevate her husband, whom she felt sure +of ruling. As John was already on the throne, however, the only way by +which he could be disposed of was to have his eyes put out or to resort +to the still worse crime of secret assassination. When her mild and +gentle husband recoiled at the thought of such cruelty, Anna made to him +the memorable response that Nature had mistaken the two sexes and had +endowed him with the soul of a woman, contemptuously contrasting what +she termed his feminine weakness with her own manly inhumanity.</p> + +<p>This conspiracy, however, was also revealed before it had made any +serious headway, and John deemed it necessary to confiscate his sister's +wealth in order to make further intrigues impossible. He caused the +Princess Anna to retire to a convent and bestowed her luxuriously +furnished palace on his favorite minister, Axouchus. But the noble +nature of Axouchus recoiled at being benefited by the princess's fall, +and thought more of turning the situation to the emperor's advantage +than of enriching himself. Accordingly, he suggested to the emperor that +it would be better policy to ward off the malice of his enemies by +restoring the palace to Anna, and seeming to ignore her futile plots. +John felt the prudence of the advice, and impressed by the unselfish +devotion of his friend,--a quality most rare in late Byzantine +times,--replied in like spirit: "I should, indeed, be unworthy to reign +if I could not forget my anger as readily as you forget your interest." +Anna was reinstated in her palace.</p> + +<p>But little is known of the rest of Anna Comnena's life. Tiring finally +of the vanities of court life, disappointed in all her intrigues for +absolute power, and becoming ever more absorbed in her literary +undertakings, she seems to have voluntarily sought the life of the +cloister and to have spent the last decades of her career in peaceful +retirement, engaged on her monumental work. She survived her brother +John, who died in 1143, and was still at work on her history in 1145. +The date of her death is unknown.</p> + +<p>The great work of Anna Comnena is entitled the <i>Alexiad</i>, and is one of +the most important works in the voluminous collection of the Byzantine +historians. In fifteen books, it narrates the history of Alexius +Comnenus; and is a completion and continuation of a work in four books, +left by her husband, Nicephorus Bryennius. The first two books of Anna's +work treat of the rise into power of the Comneni house, and of the early +life of Alexius; the remaining thirteen are devoted to the events of his +reign.</p> + +<p>The work of Anna, as a contribution to historical literature, has very +decided deficiencies. In spite of her professed love of truth, her +filial vanity tempts her at all times to put her father and her family +in the best light. The very title, <i>Alexiad</i> suggests rather an +<i>epos</i>--a poem in prose--than a serious historical work, and emphasizes +its epideictic tendency. As a woman, she is impressed with the concrete +rather than the abstract, and describes brilliant state functions, +church festivals, imposing audiences and the like with much more +familiarity and enthusiasm than she displays in her treatment of the +underlying causes and inner connections of events. But with all their +faults, these memoirs are an authoritative account of a brilliant and +important epoch, and of a ruler who for his military sagacity and +political shrewdness ranks among the great personages of the Middle +Ages.</p> + +<p>The human traits of the author reveal themselves in every chapter of her +work. Anna possessed a womanly weakness for gossip and slander, and +mingles her praise of the other prominent women of her time with a +tincture of disparagement that must often be attributed to feminine +jealousy. She possessed considerable wit and irony, but was intensely +vain of her rank, her Greek origin and especially of her literary +attainments. Nor must we fail to note the vaulting ambition of this +otherwise attractive woman, an ambition which made her untrue to her +brother and a conspirator against his throne and his life.</p> + +<p>Anna Comnena realized that the chief censure of her work at the hands of +contemporaries and of posterity would be the charge of partiality, and +against this she seeks to defend herself in a striking passage:</p> + +<p>"I must still once more repel the reproach which some may bring against +me, as if my history were composed merely according to the dictates of +the natural love for parents which is engraved on the hearts of +children. In truth, it is not the effect of that affection which I bear +to mine, but it is the evidence of matters of fact, which obliges me to +speak as I have done. Is it not possible that one can have at the same +time an affection for the memory of a father and for truth? For myself, +I have never directed my attempt to write history otherwise than for the +ascertainment of the matter of fact. With this purpose I have taken for +my subject the history of a worthy man. Is it just, then, by the single +accident of his being the author of my birth, his quality of my father +ought to form a prejudice against me, which would ruin my credit with my +readers? I have given, upon other occasions, proofs sufficiently strong +of the ardor which I had for the defence of my father's interests, which +those that know me can never doubt; but, on the present, I have been +limited by the inviolable fidelity with which I respect the truth, which +I should have felt conscious to have veiled, under pretence of serving +the renown of my father."</p> + +<p>The authoress felt assured that a number of disturbances of nature and +mysterious occurrences as interpreted by the soothsayers, foreboded the +death of Alexius; thus she claimed for her father the indications of +consequence, which were regarded by the ancients as necessary +intimations of the sympathy of nature with the removal of great +characters--from the world. During his latter days, the emperor was +afflicted with the gout. Weakened in body, and gradually losing his +native energy, he once responded to the empress, when she spoke of how +his deeds would be handed down in history: "The passages of my unhappy +life call rather for tears and lamentations than for the praises you +speak of." Finally asthma came to the assistance of the gout, and the +prayers of monks and clergy, as well as the lavish distribution of alms, +failed to stay the progress of the disease. At length passed away the +Emperor Alexius, who, with all his faults, was one of the best +sovereigns of the Eastern Empire.</p> + +<p>His learned daughter, in the greatness of her grief, threw aside the +reserve of literary eminence, and burst into tears and shrieks, tearing +her hair, and defacing her countenance, while the Empress Irene cut off +her hair, changed her purple buskins for black mourning shoes, and, +casting from her her princely robes, put on a robe of black. "Even at +the moment when she put it on," adds Anna, "the emperor gave up the +ghost, and in that moment the sun of my life set."</p> + +<p>Anna continues to express her lamentations at her loss, and upbraids +herself that she survived her father, "that light of the world"; Irene, +"the delight alike of the East and of the West"; and, also, her husband, +Nicephorus. "I am indignant," she adds, "that my soul, suffering under +such torrents of misfortune, should still deign to animate my body. Have +I not been more hard and unfeeling than the rocks themselves; and is it +not just that one who could survive such a father and a mother and such +a husband should be subjected to the influence of so much calamity? But +let me finish this history, rather than any longer fatigue my readers +with my unavailing and tragical lamentation!" The history then closes +with the following couplet:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p class="i18"> "The learned Comnena lays her pen aside, </p> +<p class="i14"> What time her subject and her father died." </p> +</div></div> + +<p>Taking it all in all, the best appreciation of the <i>Alexiad</i> is that of +Gibbon, who thus characterizes the qualities of the work:</p> + +<p>"The life of the Emperor Alexius has been delineated by a favorite +daughter, who was inspired by a tender regard for his person and a +laudable zeal to perpetuate his virtues. Conscious of the just suspicion +of her readers, Anna Comnena repeatedly protests that, besides her +personal knowledge, she has searched the discourse and writings of the +most respectable veterans; that after an interval of thirty years, +forgotten by, and forgetful of, the world, her mournful solitude was +inaccessible to hope and fear; and that truth, the naked perfect truth, +was more dear and sacred than the memory of her parent. Yet instead of +the simplicity of style and narrative which wins our belief, an +elaborate affectation of rhetoric and science betrays, in every page, +the vanity of the female author.</p> + +<p>"The genuine character of Alexius is lost in a vague constellation of +virtues; and the perpetual strain of panegyric and apology awakens our +jealousy to question the veracity of the historian and the merit of the +hero. We cannot, however, refuse her judicious and important remark that +the disorders of the times were the misfortune and the glory of Alexius; +and that every calamity which can afflict a declining empire was +accumulated in his reign by the justice of heaven and the vices of his +predecessors.... The reader may possibly smile at the lavish praise +which his daughter so often bestows on a flying hero; the weakness or +prudence of his situation might be mistaken for a want of personal +courage; and his political arts are branded by the Latins with the names +of deceit and dissimulation...."</p> + +<p>The story of the remaining princesses of the Comneni family is merely +the mirroring of feminine beauty and frailty; and its sad chronicle goes +to show that the Empire was deservedly hastening to its doom because the +stamina sufficient to keep it alive was lacking.</p> + +<p>John Comnenus was succeeded by his younger son Manuel, a renowned +warrior about whose name have gathered many of the romances of chivalry. +He was twice married, first to the virtuous Bertha of Germany, and, +after her decease, to the beautiful Maria, a French or Latin princess of +Antioch. Bertha had a daughter, who was destined for Bela, a Hungarian +prince educated at Constantinople under the name of Alexius and looked +upon as the heir-apparent. But his rights were set aside when Maria had +a son named Alexius, who was in the direct line of male succession. +Notwithstanding the virtues of his queens, Manuel, who was so valiant in +war, showed himself in peace a licentious voluptuary. "No sooner did he +return to Constantinople than he resigned himself to the arts and +pleasures of a life of luxury: the expense of his dress, his table and +his palace, surpassed the measure of his predecessors, and whole summer +days were idly wasted in the delicious isles of the Propontis in the +incestuous love of his niece, Theodora."</p> + +<p>Manuel had a cousin, Andronicus, who was even more of a voluptuary than +he--one whose career as a soldier of fortune and as a heartless roué +marks him as the Byzantine Alcibiades. He indulged his favorite +passions, love and war, without any regard to divine or human law. His +lofty stature, manly strength and beauty, and dare-devil manner were so +seductive that three ladies of royal birth fell victims to his charms. +His mistresses shared his company with his lawful wife, and divided his +affections with a crowd of actresses and dancing girls. He was a +partaker of the pleasures, as well as of the perils, of Manuel; and +while the emperor lived in public incest with his niece Theodora, +Andronicus enjoyed the favors of her sister Eudocia. So enamored was she +of her handsome lover, and so shameless in her conduct, that she gloried +in the title of his mistress, and accompanied him to his military +command in Cilicia. Upon his return, her brothers sought to expiate her +infamy in the blood of Andronicus, but, through Eudocia's aid, he eluded +his enemy. Proving treacherous, however, to the emperor, he was +imprisoned for a long period in a tower of the palace at Constantinople, +where his faithful wife shared his imprisonment and assisted him in +making his escape.</p> + +<p>Andronicus was later given a second command on the Cilician frontier. +While here, he made a conquest of the beautiful Philippa, sister of the +Empress Maria, and daughter of Raymond of Poitou, the Latin Prince of +Antioch. For her sake, he deserted his station and wasted his time in +balls and tournaments; and to his love the frail princess sacrificed her +innocence, her reputation, and the offer of an advantageous marriage. +The Emperor Manuel, however, urged on by his consort, resented this +violation of the family honor, and recalled Andronicus from his infamous +liaison. The indiscreet princess was left to weep and repent of her +folly; and Andronicus, deprived of his post, gathered together a band of +adventurers of like spirit and undertook a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. With +bold effrontery, he declared himself a champion of the Cross; and his +beauty, gallantry, and professions of piety captivated both king and +clergy. The Latin King of Jerusalem invested the Byzantine prince with +the lordship of Berytus, on the coast of Phoenicia. In his neighborhood +there dwelt the young and handsome queen, Theodora,--the daughter of his +cousin Isaac, and great-grand-daughter of the Emperor Alexius,--who was +widow of Baldwin III., King of Jerusalem. Because of her beauty, her +talents, and her prudence, Theodora enjoyed the respect and admiration +of all the Latin nobles. Andronicus became deeply enamored of his fair +cousin, and she, returning his passion with equal ardor, became the +third royal victim of his lust. So debased was the state of society +among the Latin Christians--which was the case at Constantinople +also--that the cousins carried on their amours with little affectation +of secrecy. The Emperor Manuel being again enraged by the disgrace to +the family name through the moral fall of another Comneni princess, +Andronicus had to flee for his life, and Theodora accompanied him in his +flight. She and her two illegitimate children were later captured and +sent to Constantinople. Andronicus finally sought forgiveness from the +emperor, and such was his charm that he was pardoned; he returned to +Constantinople, and soon began the career of intrigue which eventually +placed him on the throne.</p> + +<p>Upon the death of Manuel, the Empress Maria acted as regent for her son +Alexius II., a lad of thirteen. Her prime minister was Alexius Comnenus, +a grandson of John II. Maria's beauty and charm of manner gave her +considerable power over the young nobility. In the conflicts of the +nobles she warmly espoused the cause of her prime minister, and it was +believed that a criminal attachment existed between them. The young +emperor's sister Maria, with the Cæsar, her husband, attempted to drive +the prime minister from power by a popular uprising. In the turmoil and +chaos that followed, all eyes turned toward Andronicus. The voluptuary +and adventurer responded to the call, and entered the city to be +enthroned, alleging that it was his purpose to deliver the young emperor +from evil counsellors. Cruelty was now added to his other serious +crimes. The Princess Maria and her husband, the Cæsar, were poisoned; +the Empress Maria, on a charge of treason, was condemned to death, and +strangled; and Alexius II., the legitimate heir to the throne, was +deposed and subjected to the same form of death as his unfortunate +mother. The tyrant kicked the body of the innocent youth as it lay +before him, and addressed it with a sneer: "Thy father was a knave, thy +mother a whore, and thyself a fool!"</p> + +<p>Owing to debauchery and crime, the family of the Comneni had +degenerated. Through the nobility and greatness of its women in an +earlier period, it had risen to the height of power; and through the +debasement and weakness of its women, it finally fell. Andronicus was +the last of the line--the most heinous monster that ever sat on the +Byzantine throne. But his career in crime was cut short. The people rose +up against the author of so many assassinations. Isaac Angelus, a +nobleman, accused of treason, resisted arrest, and fled to Saint Sophia. +A mob gathered and took his side against the mercenaries of Andronicus. +The tyrant himself was seized and torn to pieces, and the Angeli +succeeded the Comneni on the throne of Constantinople.</p> + +<p>Isaac and Alexius Angelus, the two emperors whose reign occupied the +years 1185-1204, between the fall of Andronicus and the conquest of +Constantinople by the Crusaders, were the two most feeble and despicable +creatures who ever occupied the imperial throne. Euphrosyne, the empress +of Alexius, however, was a woman of strong personality, though of +licentious ways, and, as the last of the Byzantine empresses before the +fall of Constantinople, she exhibited the strength as well as the +weakness of that long line of self-asserting princesses whom we have +been considering.</p> + +<p>Owing to the idle disposition of her worthless husband, Euphrosyne +assisted in conducting the business of the Empire; and so masterful was +she that no minister dared take any step without her approval. Gibbon +considers that there was no greater indication of the degradation of +society at this time than that the proudest nobles of the Empire, +members of the celebrated families of Comnenus, Ducas, Palæologus, and +Cantacuzenus, contended for the honor of carrying Euphrosyne on her +litter at public ceremonies. Her influence over the nobility was due to +her beauty, her talents and her aptitude for business. But her +inordinate vanity, reckless extravagance, and flagrant licentiousness +brought great scandal upon the Empire even in those vicious times, and +frequently led to violent quarrels with Alexius. Finally, the jealousy +of the emperor at her licentious conduct lost all bounds. Alexius +ordered her paramour to be assassinated, and the female slaves and the +eunuchs of her household were put to the torture. The beautiful and +accomplished Euphrosyne was compelled to leave the palace, and, like so +many imperial dames noted for their devotion or their license, was +immured in a convent.</p> + +<p>The court, however, soon missed her talents and energy; Alexius himself +was not equal to the ordinary duties of his office; the courtiers were +unrestrained in their peculations, and nowhere was there a restraining +hand. Euphrosyne was recalled to save the dynasty, and, with even more +than her former insolence, she entered once more upon a career of +extravagance and shame. While her energy and skill in the affairs of +state won admiration, her lavish expenditures of the public funds +excited the dismay of the few thoughtful men of the day. The crowd +enjoyed the splendid spectacle of her hunting parties and applauded +their empress as she rode along on her richly caparisoned steed, with a +falcon perched on her gold-embroidered glove, but such extravagances +were but hastening the end of the doomed city.</p> + +<p>The rest of the story is but too quickly told. Alexius +III.,--Angelus,--had, by a clever coup d'état, displaced his brother +Isaac; Alexius IV., son of Isaac, implored outside aid, and gave the +marauders of the fourth Crusade an excuse to attack the city. Alexius +III. fled for his life, and Alexius IV., after a brief reign, was caught +and strangled by the usurper, Alexius Ducas. The Crusaders assaulted and +sacked Constantinople when Alexius V., Ducas, the last of the emperors, +fled in a galley by night, taking with him the Empress Euphrosyne and +her daughter Eudocia whom he had married. He was afterward captured, +tried for the murder of the young Alexius, and suffered death by being +hurled from the top of a lofty pillar.</p> + +<p>The end of Euphrosyne and her daughter Eudocia is not known. The latter +had already had a sufficiently tragical history. Eudocia had first been +married to Simeon, King of Servia, who later abdicated the throne and +retired to a monastery. His son Stephen, enamored of the beauty of his +young stepmother, married her. Later, a disgraceful quarrel arose. +Eudocia was divorced by her second husband and, almost naked, was +expelled from the palace.</p> + +<p>In her desperate condition, abandoned by all, she would probably have +perished had not Fulk, the king's brother, taken pity on her and sent +her back to Constantinople. Alexius Ducas, who had already divorced two +wives, was willing enough to wed the daughter of Euphrosyne, and after +his execution the hand of the accommodating Eudocia was bestowed on Leo +Sguros, the chief of Argos, Nauplia, and Corinth.</p> + +<p>The stories of Euphrosyne and Eudocia are a sufficient confirmation of +the corrupt state of society in the latter days of the Comneni and the +Angeli. Andronicus and his mistresses, and Euphrosyne and her daughter, +are no exaggerated types of the higher classes of the Empire. The clergy +had grown indifferent to the licentiousness of the age, and many bishops +and patriarchs were themselves venal and degraded. The people were too +ready to follow in the footsteps of the higher classes. Therefore, +through the loss of womanly virtue and manly strength, the Empire was on +the verge of ruin.</p> + +<p>Thus fell, on April 13, 1204, Constantinople--"The eye of the world, the +ornament of nations, the fairest sight on earth, the mother of churches, +the spring whence flowed the waters of faith, the mistress of orthodox +doctrine, the seat of the sciences, draining the cup mixed for her by +the hand of the Almighty, and consumed by fires as devouring as those +which ruined the five Cities of the Plain."</p> + +<br><br> +<a name="c15" id="c15"></a> + +<h3>XV</h3> + +<h3>WOMANHOOD OF THE BYZANTINE DECADENCE</h3> + +<p>The Byzantine Empire had fallen with its capital Constantinople, and the +Latin Empire of Romania had taken its place. But the rule of the Franks +was too weak to take an abiding hold on the provinces, and, after a +brief and flickering existence, 1204-1261, it passed away, and a Greek +dynasty was once more established in New Rome. While the Ottoman power +was gaining strength, the Greek Empire was suffered to exist; but in the +course of two centuries, through internal corruption and mismanagement, +Byzantine dominion ceased to be an effective force in the world's +affairs, and the city of Constantine easily fell a prey to the +Mohammedan forces.</p> + +<p>Though the Crusaders had captured the capital, the provinces refused to +recognize the dominion of the Franks, and three Greek kingdoms were +carved out of the remains of the Byzantine Empire by adventurous spirits +who had left Constantinople rather than fall victims to the Western +conquerors. Theodore Lascaris, the last to strike a blow for the doomed +city, founded across the straits, out of the province of Bithynia, the +empire of Nicæa, though his rights to royal power lay merely in his +strong right arm and in his having married the daughter of the imbecile +Alexius III. Alexius Comnenus, grandson of Andronicus I., had betaken +himself to the eastern frontier of the Empire, and, chiefly through the +glamour of his name, had made for himself, out of the long strip of +coast land at the south-east corner of the Black Sea, a kingdom that was +destined to carry on an independent existence for nearly three hundred +years as the empire of Trebizond. Furthermore, Michael Angelus, a cousin +of Alexius III., became "despot" of Epirus and later conquered the Latin +kingdom of Thessalonica. Finally, after the Greek empire of Nicæa had +enjoyed a steady growth for over half a century, during which it +absorbed the kingdom of Thessalonica, Michael Palæologus, the usurper of +the Nicene throne, succeeded in wresting Constantinople from its Latin +rulers, and established anew the Byzantine Empire, under the dynasty of +the Palæologi.</p> + +<p>In the stories of the dynasties of these various kingdoms we have not +many glimpses into the history of woman, but wherever feminine names are +mentioned woman is found to be exerting her customary influence over the +affairs of state and the destinies of empires.</p> + +<p>The dynasty of Theodore Lascaris was handed down through his daughter +Irene, whose husband succeeded to the throne as the Emperor John III. +The Empress Irene was much beloved because of her amiable character and +domestic virtues, and there is preserved a beautiful incident of the +affection she inspired in a young maiden. John Asan, the King of +Bulgaria, had formed an alliance with John III. through the betrothal of +his daughter Helena to Theodore, the heir-apparent to the Nicene throne. +Highly esteeming the virtues of the Empress Irene, the Bulgarian king +had sent the young Helena to be educated under her care. Later, when the +alliance between the emperor and the king was broken off, Asan sent for +his daughter, with the request that she return to Bulgaria. John III. +scorned to retain his son's betrothed as a hostage, and suffered the +attendants to arrange her departure. But when the maiden ascertained +that she was not to return to her dear mother the empress, her grief was +inconsolable. Her tears and lamentations over the separation and her +praises of the Nicene queen at length excited the serious displeasure of +her father, and he had to threaten her with severe punishment if she did +not cease to weep and mourn for her Greek mother. But her love for Irene +was greater than the fear of punishment, and, in spite of the censure +and the blandishments of her parent, she could never reconcile herself +to the loss of the happy hours at the side of the virtuous and gifted +empress. During Irene's lifetime John was uniformly successful, +extending the bounds of his dominion and winning the love and devoted +admiration of his subjects. But, after her death, another woman led him +into evil ways.</p> + +<p>John married as his second wife, in her twelfth year, the Princess Anna, +natural daughter of the Emperor Frederick II. of Germany. Anna had +brought in her train, as directress of her court, a beautiful Italian +lady, Marchesina by name. The Emperor John fell violently in love with +his child-wife's chief attendant. Marchesina soon received the honors +conferred in courts on the recognized mistress of the sovereign, and was +permitted to wear the dress reserved for members of the imperial family. +Public opinion severely censured the emperor for his conduct, and one of +the prominent bishops of the day, Nicephorus Blemmidas by name, found +occasion to give Marchesina a severe rebuke. Blemmidas had so +beautifully embellished the church of the monastery of which he was +abbot, that it was frequently visited by members of the court. One day, +while the abbot was conducting divine service in the chapel, the +imperial mistress passed by with her attendants, and made up her mind to +enter. But when Blemmidas heard of her approach, he at once ordered the +doors to be closed, declaring that never with his permission should an +adulteress enter the sanctuary. Marchesina, incensed at so severe a +rebuke, so publicly inflicted, hurried back to the palace, threw herself +at the feet of her imperial lover, and implored him to avenge on the +abbot the insult he had put upon her. But John was not regardless of +public opinion, and, recognizing the mistake he had made, merely said in +response to Marchesina's entreaties: "The abbot would have respected me, +had I respected myself."</p> + +<p>Woman, too, was in large measure the cause of the overthrow of the +dynasty of Lascaris, and the usurpation of Michael Palæologus, scion of +one of the most influential families of Constantinople. Theodore II., +who succeeded his father John, grew testy and superstitious in his old +age, and had reason to suspect the cunning and able Michael who was +rapidly winning the popular favor. But Michael was undoubtedly spurred +on to action against the dynasty by Theodore's outrageous conduct toward +his sister Martha. The latter had a beautiful daughter who had been most +tenderly reared as became her rank. To the surprise of all, the emperor +ordered the family to bestow her in marriage on one of his pages, +Valanidiotes. Though beneath the maiden in rank, the page succeeded in +winning the affection of the highborn damsel, and the family were +consenting to the union, when the emperor capriciously changed his mind, +and compelled a betrothal between the maiden and a man of her own rank. +A report that this marriage was not consummated led the superstitious +emperor to suspect that both this event and a malignant attack of his +disease were due to some charm practised by the mother.</p> + +<p>In his vexation and rage, he ordered Martha, though connected by birth +with the imperial family, to be enclosed in a sack with a number of +cats, which were from time to time pricked with pins that they might +torture the unfortunate lady. Martha was brought into court with the +sack thus bound about her neck, and was examined concerning her supposed +witchcraft, but the suspicious tyrant could extract nothing from her on +which to base a condemnation.</p> + +<p>This unseemly action was an offence Michael could never forgive. From +this time he began assiduously to plot against the throne. The story of +his usurpation and of his cruelty toward the rightful emperor, the young +lad, John IV.,--Ducas,--does not concern us here. Suffice it to say that +he ascended the throne of Nicæa as Michael VIII.,--Palæologus,--and was +fortunate enough to capture the city of Constantinople and revive the +Greek Empire there. Through the Empire of Nicæa the thread of tradition +was unbroken, and from 1261 on we have once more a Byzantine Empire.</p> + +<p>The history of this concluding period, 1261-1453, embracing the dynasty +of the Palæologi, is the most degrading portion of the national annals. +Michael is renowned for being the restorer of the Eastern Empire, but +his throne was gained through baseness and cruelty, and he left to his +descendants a heritage of vice and crime of such a nature that the +Empire survived for a century or two not because of its intrinsic worth, +but because the Ottomans were not yet ready to seize it. It is a period +notable for the absence of literary taste, of patriotic feeling, of +political honesty, of civil liberty. The emperors are, as a rule, +immoral and capricious men, utterly selfish in their aims and their +pursuits, and each one leaves the Empire somewhat weaker than he found +it.</p> + +<p>The new Empire of Constantinople and that of Trebizond existed side by +side, and frequent intermarriages took place between the royal families. +By studying conjointly the annals of the Palæologi and the Comneni we +become acquainted with a number of the princesses of these royal houses, +and can form some idea of the character of Greek womanhood in this age +of decadence, and of the social life of the times as it affects woman's +position and aspirations.</p> + +<p>The women of the two rival houses appear, as a rule, superior in +character, judgment, and virtue to the men, and this difference between +the males and females of the imperial families is so marked, that we +would fain know more of the system of education for women which produced +an effect so singular and so uniform. It must have been due to the fact +that in spite of the general demoralization, the life of the convents in +which the princesses were trained was pure and uplifting, the methods of +instruction thorough, the discipline severe; while the clergy who had in +charge the education of the princes were so bent on their own preferment +and the acquirement of political power, that they aimed rather at +gaining an ascendency over their imperial wards than in imparting the +instruction which would have made them great rulers.</p> + +<p>The only empress of the Palæologi, however, to gain supreme power and to +win a place in history, was of foreign birth. Anne of Savoy, by the +nomination of her dying husband, Andronicus III. (1328-1341), and the +custom of the Empire, was made regent of her son, John V., Palæologus, a +lad of nine years. Her reign was made memorable through her struggles +with a powerful courtier, who aroused civil war and ascended the throne +for a time as John VI., Cantacuzenus (1347-1354).</p> + +<p>Byzantine etiquette required the widowed empress to weep for nine days +beside the body of her deceased husband, who was laid out in state in +the monastery of the Guiding Virgin, whither he had retired when death +was near and where he assumed the habit and the devotions of a monk. But +John Cantacuzenus, the grand domesticos and first minister of the +Empire, was bent on playing the rôle of earlier usurpers, and during her +absence determined to establish himself in the imperial palace as +guardian of the emperor. The empress, recognizing the danger of +infringement on the rights of her child, deemed it necessary to shorten +the period of mourning to three days, and returned to the palace to +assert her authority as regent. Then began a course of intrigue between +the two parties. Cantacuzenus instituted a rebellion against the regent, +and by his followers was crowned and invested with the imperial robe. +Under the guidance of the patriarch and the grand duke Apocaucus, the +Empress Anne adopted forceful measures to intimidate the partisans of +the rebels. Among the interesting women of this period was Theodora, the +mother of Cantacuzenus, a woman of preeminent virtue and talent, far +superior in ability and moral force to her son. But against her the +vengeance of Anne was chiefly directed. The aged lady was thrown into +prison by order of the regent, and was subjected to great cruelty and +privations until death came to her relief. The young emperor, John V., +was solemnly crowned. Apocaucus was appointed prime minister, and a +vigorous war was prosecuted against the rebels, who were threatened with +extermination. To save his cause Cantacuzenus treacherously turned to +the common enemy, the Turk, and sacrificing his daughter Theodora on the +altar of his ambition gave her in marriage to Orkhan, and sent her to +dwell at Brusa, as a member of the Sultan's harem. All the religious +people of the day were incensed at this violation of common decency and +lack of paternal feeling, but the tone of morality was too low to cause +serious opposition.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, there was discord in the palace. The Empress Anne fell out +with her chief supporter. She had a violent quarrel with the patriarch. +Her prime minister Apocaucus was assassinated. Through the aid of his +Turkish ally Cantacuzenus was successful. The empress-regent showed a +determination to defend herself in the palace, but her partisans were +less courageous than she, and she was compelled to submit. But +Cantacuzenus was as wily as he was ambitious. Recognizing the strength +of his opponents, after he himself had been crowned emperor, he +determined on the marriage of his daughter Helena with the young +heir-apparent, and agreed to associate John V. with him on the throne +when he reached the age of twenty-five. The children, for John was only +fifteen and Helena thirteen, were betrothed and wedded with great +ceremony, and then received the crown, and the courtiers and people were +entertained by the rare spectacle of two emperors and three empresses +seated on their thrones.</p> + +<p>"The strange spectacle delighted the gazers; but it was not viewed +without some feeling of contempt, for it was generally known that the +imperial crowns were bright with false pearls and diamonds; that the +robes were stiffened with tinsel; that the vases were of brass, not +gold; and instead of the rich brocade of Thebes, the hangings were of +gilded leather."</p> + +<p>Cantacuzenus deserves to rank with the two Angeli as the third of the +great destroyers of the Eastern Empire. Through civil wars he depleted +its resources; and by introducing the Turk into his dominions, he paved +the way for the final downfall. Fortunately, John V. asserted himself at +the age of twenty-four; Cantacuzenus was tonsured and placed in a +monastery where he passed the rest of his days in literary labors. In +native gifts and force of character, and in her checkered history, the +Empress Anne of Savoy deserves a place by the side of the earlier +self-asserting empresses of Constantinople.</p> + +<p>The tale of the last hundred years of the Byzantine Empire is a mere bit +of local history, and no longer forms an important warp in the woof of +the annals of Christendom. Women there were who were deserving of a +better destiny, but they are naturally obscured in the general +demoralization. The Mussulman might have taken Constantinople +seventy-five years earlier. The end came on May 29,1453. The city was +captured by Mohammed II., and Constantine XIII., the last of the Cæsars, +the worthy scion of degenerate sires, fell in the breach. Mohammed +proceeded quickly to convert Constantinople from a Christian into a +Turkish capital. The city was sacked. The Byzantine women were sold into +slavery, or became wives or concubines of the conquerors and passed the +rest of their days in a Turkish harem. And, from this date, for +centuries the life of Greek womanhood under Turkish domination was +passed in oppression and obscurity.</p> + +<p>The fragment of the Greek Empire known in the history of the Middle Ages +as the Empire of Trebizond was the creation of accident. A young man +descended from the worst tyrant of Constantinople, but of an illustrious +name which retained the glamour inspired by the founder of the Comneni +dynasty, grasped the sovereignty of a most important commercial centre, +and his descendants continued to hold it until overwhelmed by the +all-conquering power of the Turk. The Empire of Trebizond possesses +unique grandeur in the romances of the West: the beauty of its +princesses was a theme of universal praise; its reputed wealth and +splendor excited the cupidity of Venetian and Genoese merchants. But it +was, after all, an insignificant kingdom, which owed its strength merely +to the weakness of surrounding peoples; and whose ostentatious court +ceremonials were but an attempt to keep up the traditions of the +Byzantine Empire and of the Comneni family in more prosperous days.</p> + +<p>Shortly after the assassination of Andronicus by Isaac II., +--Angelus,--his son Manuel, with other members of his family, met a +similar fate. Manuel was survived by two sons, Alexius and David, the +former a little lad of four. The boys were concealed for a time, and +were brought up in obscurity in Constantinople, where faithful friends +gave them an education worthy of their station. At the time when the +Crusaders captured the city, Alexius escaped, raised an army, and took +possession of Trebizond, then one of the most important commercial seats +on the borders of the Black Sea. The surrounding province gladly +recognized him as the lawful sovereign of the Roman Empire, and the +Comneni dynasty was continued through him for two and a half centuries +or more. To mark the legitimacy of his claim, and to prevent confusion +with the rival family of Alexius III.,--Angelus,--Alexius assumed the +designation of "Grand-Comnenus," and by this title the family was known +until its extermination.</p> + +<p>The earlier years of the Empire of Trebizond were notable chiefly for +the efforts of its rulers to retain and extend their power, which was +circumscribed by the stronger empire of Nicæa. After the latter had been +merged into the restored Byzantine Empire with Constantinople as its +capital, Trebizond was still strong enough to maintain an independent +existence. A league was formed between the reigning sovereigns, Michael +VIII.,--Palæologus,--of Constantinople, and John II., then Emperor of +Trebizond, through the espousal of the latter to Michael's youngest +daughter, Eudocia, who was destined to show herself one of the best and +most capable of the Palæologi princesses.</p> + +<p>The ceremony was solemnized with great ostentation on September 12, +1282. The question of precedence was an important one, as the Trebizond +government had considered itself the direct successor of the Empire of +the Cæsars. But through this marriage the wily monarch of Constantinople +gained the advantage; for John on this occasion laid aside the title of +"Emperor of the Romans," to be henceforth reserved exclusively for the +sovereign of the city of the Golden Horn, while that of Trebizond +assumed the title of "Emperor of all the East, Iberia, and Perateia." +Furthermore, the inhabitants of the city saw in the respective marriage +robes a certain inferiority of the Trebizontine monarch to the family of +his wife; for while the robes of John were embellished with +single-headed eagles, the bride appeared in a dress covered with +double-headed eagles to mark her rank in the Empire of the East and West +as a princess of the Palæologi, born in the purple chamber.</p> + +<p>John and his royal bride had not been long settled on the throne when he +experienced a sudden and unexpected discomfiture at the hands of an +aspiring sister. Theodora, the oldest child of Manuel I. by his marriage +with Roussadan, an Iberian princess, jealous of the popularity of her +sister-in-law, and proud of the superiority of Comneni traditions to +those of the usurper of Constantinople, availed herself of the party +intrigues of the nobles, and the popular dissensions in the capital, to +assemble an army, surprise her imperial brother, and mount the throne. +Her glory was of brief duration, but the existence of coins bearing her +name and effigy demonstrates that her power was stable and that she was +fully recognized as a sovereign of the Empire. No clue exists which +enables us to determine how Theodora obtained the throne or how she was +at length driven from power, but John appears to have finally recovered +his throne and capital and to have expelled the ambitious princess.</p> + +<p>During succeeding years the influence of Byzantine womanhood and the +relations between the two kingdoms continued prominent. John died in +1297, leaving two sons, Alexius II. and Michael. The former succeeded +his father at the age of fifteen, and was placed under the guardianship +of his mother Eudocia's brother, the Byzantine emperor Andronicus II. +Andronicus ordered his ward, the young emperor of Trebizond, though an +independent sovereign prince, to marry Irene, the daughter of a +Byzantine subject, Choumnus, one of his favorite ministers. But the idea +of a Comnenus marrying below his station was offensive both to Alexius +and his people. In obedience to the blood within his veins, and in +contempt of his guardian's command, Alexius rejected the proposed +mesalliance, and married the daughter of an Iberian prince.</p> + +<p>The young married couple presented a beautiful example of conjugal +tenderness and devotion, but this did not soften the hard heart of the +guardian. Andronicus even went so far as to endeavor, to make the Greek +Church declare the marriage null and void on the ground that it had been +contracted by a union without the consent of his guardian. But the +patriarch and clergy, sympathizing with the lovers, and alarmed at the +ludicrous position in which they would be placed, took advantage of the +interesting condition of the bride to refuse to gratify the spleen of +the chagrined emperor.</p> + +<p>At this time also, Eudocia, the mother of Alexius, who was in partial +durance in the imperial palace at Constantinople, saw an opportunity of +obtaining her freedom and of returning to her dominions. Her brother +Andronicus was offended with her because she had rejected his proposal +to form a second marriage with the Krai of Servia.</p> + +<p>She persuaded her brother that her influence over her son, who was +devotedly attached to her, would have far more weight in making the +young emperor agree to a divorce than the sentence of an ecclesiastical +tribunal whose authority he was able to decline; and to this end she +obtained her brother's permission to return to Trebizond. Upon arriving +at her son's court Eudocia was so much impressed with the conjugal +fidelity of her son Alexius that she at once approved of his conduct, +and supported him in his determination to resist the tyrannical +pretensions of his guardian. Eudocia is an excellent example of the +superiority of the Palæologi women over their weaker and more selfish +brothers. In every situation, even in her months of exile from her +dominions, she maintained herself with dignity, and in her careful +rearing of her son and regard for his interests she exhibited motherly +traits of a high order.</p> + +<p>In the next generation there was also an alliance between the royal +families of the two kingdoms. The emperor Basilius, second son of +Alexius II., married Irene Palæologina, the natural daughter of +Andronicus III. of Constantinople. Basilius had no legitimate issue, but +falling in love with a beautiful lady of Trebizond, also named Irene, he +made her his mistress and conferred on her every possible honor. She +bore him four children. To insure the succession of one of his natural +sons, Basilius in 1339 persuaded or forced the clergy to celebrate a +public marriage with his Trebizontine mistress, though there is no +evidence that he obtained a divorce from his lawful wife Irene, beyond +his own decree. He died suddenly in the April following his marriage to +his mistress.</p> + +<p>Irene Palæologina, who was, in spite of his second nuptials, universally +regarded as the lawful wife of Basilius, was suspected of having +hastened his end; and her unfaithful husband had certainly tried the +soul of the proud lady. At any rate she was prepared for the sad event, +and had already organized a faction which placed her on the throne, as +the second independent Empress of Trebizond.</p> + +<p>This promptitude in profiting by her husband's death, was worthy of the +first Empress Irene in Byzantine history, and gave just ground for +suspicion. But in considering an age when it was usual for people to +circulate calumnious reports against their rulers, the evidence should +be strong before we condemn the Palæologi princess. However, the +flagrant immorality of the court circles, and the lightness of character +of Irene herself, as well as her conduct after the event, tended to give +credibility to the rumor.</p> + +<p>Irene, as soon as she was safely established on the throne, sent off her +rival of Trebizond and the two sons of Basilius to Constantinople where +her father Andronicus detained them as hostages for the tranquillity of +her empire. A strong party of the nobility, however, who had hoped to +gain wealth and power through the favor of the Trebizontine Irene, whom +they purposed to make regent during the minority of her children, were +chagrined at the success of the schemes of the Palæologi princess, and +at once began to plan her downfall. Two great parties arose, and the +little empire was once more disturbed by the turmoil of civil war. +Irene, with all her daring, was, like her father, of a gay and +thoughtless disposition, and did not fully realize the danger of her +situation. She recognized, however, that a second husband would +strengthen her cause; and she urged her father Andronicus to send her a +husband chosen from among the Byzantine nobles, who could aid her in +repressing the factions which threatened her throne. Andronicus gave a +favorable reception to Irene's ambassadors, but died before he had time +seriously to attend to her request. The light-minded Irene consoled +herself during the delay by falling in love with the grand domesticos of +her palace. But this bit of favoritism only divided her own court into +factions and strengthened the cause of her enemies.</p> + +<p>A new storm now burst over the head of the thoughtless empress. Another +woman, whose title to rule was far stronger than that of Irene, appeared +to claim the throne. Anna, called Anachoutlon, was the eldest daughter +of the Emperor Alexius II. She had in early womanhood taken the veil, +and until this time had lived in seclusion. The opposition party +searched out her retreat and persuaded her to quit her monastic dress +and escape to Lazia, where she was proclaimed Empress of Trebizond, as +the nearest legitimate heir of her brother Basilius. All the provincials +united in demanding the sovereignty of a member of the house of +Grand-Comnenus in preference to the usurpation of a Palæologi princess, +who was planning to marry a foreigner. The popular demand for the rule +of a scion of the house of Grand-Comnenus gave Anna a triumphal march to +the capital, and with but little opposition she was admitted within the +citadel and universally recognized as the lawful empress. Irene was +dethroned after a troubled reign of one year and four months. Three +weeks later Michael Grand-Comnenus, second son of John II. and Eudocia, +who had been selected at Constantinople as a suitable husband of Irene, +arrived on the scene, to find the change of sovereignty. The Empress +Anna was surrounded by a cabal of powerful chiefs, who determined to +keep the reins of power in their hands. She graciously received her +kinsman, but he was later treacherously seized and imprisoned by Anna's +partisans. Irene was sent on, under suitable escort, to Constantinople, +to pass the rest of her life in retirement. The treatment of Michael +aroused the fury of many adherents of the house of Grand-Comnenus. +Another upheaval followed. John III., son of Michael, was brought over +from Constantinople, and proclaimed emperor by a constantly growing +faction. The hapless Anna, who had doubtless ofttimes regretted giving +up the peaceful life of the monastery for the troubles and cares of a +crown, was taken prisoner in the palace, and was immediately strangled. +She had occupied the throne hardly more than a year.</p> + +<p>The next period of importance in our study of Trebizontine princesses is +that covered by the long reign--1349-1390--of Alexius III., the second +son of Basilius by Irene of Trebizond. His wife was also a Byzantine +princess, Theodora, the daughter of Nicephorus Cantacuzenus, brother of +the emperor John V., Cantacuzenus, whose stormy career of opposition to +Anne of Savoy we have already noticed. Theodora bore to Alexius a number +of beautiful daughters, whom he utilized when they became of +marriageable age to form alliances with his powerful neighbors, both +Mohammedan and Christian. His eldest daughter, Eudocia, Alexius first +wedded to the Emir Tadjeddin, who had gained possession of the important +district of Limnia; after Tadjeddin was slain in a quarrel with a +neighboring emir, the beautiful and accomplished princess became the +wife of the Byzantine emperor, John V. That aged monarch had chosen her +to be the bride of his son, the emperor Manuel II.,--Palæologus; but +when she arrived at Constantinople for the celebration of the nuptials, +her beauty and grace so powerfully captivated the decrepit old debauchee +that he set aside the inclinations of his son, who was also enamored of +his prospective bride, and married the young widow himself.</p> + +<p>Anna, another daughter of Alexius, was married to Bagrat VI., King of +Georgia; and a third daughter was bestowed on Taharten, Emir of +Erdsendjan. Alexius's sisters met a similar fate. His sister Maria was +married to Koutloubeg, the chief of the great Turkoman horde of the +White Sheep; and his sister Theodora, to Hadji Omer, Emir of Chalybia.</p> + +<p>These marriages with Mohammedan nobles, though one revolts at the +immolation of Christian maidens on the altar of selfish expedience, are +yet the strongest proof how the Christian state was being surrounded by +powerful Mohammedan chieftains, who must be conciliated to ward off the +evil day of extinction. Such alliances, too, may account in part for the +moral degradation which henceforth characterizes the house of +Grand-Comnenus.</p> + +<p>In the next generation, Alexius IV. wedded Theodora Cantacuzenus, of the +celebrated Byzantine family of that name. Neglected by her husband, the +princess consoled herself with too close an intimacy with one of the +chamberlains of the palace; her son John, indignant at his mother's +disgrace, assassinated her lover with his own hands. He later murdered +his own father, and ascended the throne as John IV.</p> + +<p>Under this cruel and intriguing ruler and his successors, the Christian +population of the country regarded the dynasty of Grand-Comnenus as a +dynasty of pagan or foreign tyrants, so little of religion or morality +survived in Trebizond. His alliances with the Turkoman plunderers of the +frontiers increased the popular aversion. John early recognized the +growing strength of the Turks, and sought to prepare to meet the coming +invasion by forming an alliance with Ouzoun Hassan, chief of the +Turkomans of the White Horde, whose daring courage and rapid career of +conquest made him, in the general estimation, a formidable rival of +Mohammed II.</p> + +<p>When invited to join in the league against Mohammed, Hassan demanded as +the price of his assistance the hand of the emperor's daughter +Katherine, renowned throughout the Orient as the most beautiful virgin +in the East. John IV. was highly pleased at the prospect of purchasing +so powerful an alliance on such easy terms, and readily agreed, +doubtless without consulting the fair Katherine. Yet, in order to save +his credit as a Christian emperor, and perhaps as a balm to his own +conscience in sacrificing his daughter to an infidel, he stipulated in +the treaty that Katherine should be permitted always the exercise of her +own religion, and should have the privilege of keeping a certain number +of Christian ladies as her attendants, and of Greek priests in her +suite, to serve a private chapel in the harem. It is to the honor of a +Mussulman to observe that Hassan strictly kept his promises, even after +the empire of Trebizond and the house of Grand-Comnenus were no more.</p> + +<p>Before this matrimonial alliance was fulfilled, John came to his end; +but his brother David, who displaced the heir and usurped the throne,--a +fit agent for consummating the ruin of an empire,--completed the +arrangement. The beautiful Katherine was sent with suitable pomp to the +court of her bridegroom, Hassan, and readily adapted herself to the +changed conditions of her life. She soon acquired great influence over +her infidel husband, who was the soul of honor and good faith, and in +every phase of her life which is known to us she showed herself the most +attractive character of the whole house of Comnenus.</p> + +<p>But no matrimonial alliance could save the doomed empire. Constantinople +had fallen in 1453, and it was merely a matter of time when the last +surviving Greek kingdom should succumb to the Mohammedan yoke. Mohammed +II., by the exercise of intrigue, gradually detached from the emperor +his infidel allies. When finally the Mohammedan forces came against the +city, David showed that he possessed nothing of the heroic spirit of the +last Constantine. He offered but a feeble resistance, and readily +sacrificed the city to outrage and plunder on an assurance of safety for +himself and his family. David basely deserted his empire and embarked on +board one of the Turkish galleys, with his family and his treasures, to +enjoy for a brief period luxurious ease in the European appanage +assigned him by Mohammed.</p> + +<p>David's family consisted of seven sons and a daughter borne him by +Helena Cantacuzena, his second wife, who, through her devotion to +husband and children, deserves to rank among the noblest of mothers in +the chronicles of history.</p> + +<p>The dethroned emperor was not long permitted to enjoy the repose he had +purchased with so much infamy. Mohammed at length suspected him of +carrying on secret communications with Ouzoun Hassan, his niece's +husband, and plotting to reestablish the Empire of Trebizond. He was +suddenly arrested on his luxurious estate, and conveyed with his whole +family to Constantinople. While they were on the way a letter from +Despina Katon--the popular designation of the fair Katherine--to her +uncle David was intercepted by the Ottoman emissaries. In this the +amiable spouse of Hassan, requested David to send her brother, or one of +her cousins, to be educated at her husband's court. This letter afforded +convincing proof to the suspicious Sultan that David was plotting with +Ouzoun Hassan and other enemies of the Porte for the restoration of his +empire.</p> + +<p>The bare suspicion of Mohammed was a sentence of death to the whole race +of Grand-Comnenus. As soon as the unfortunate prisoners reached +Constantinople, David was ordered to embrace Islam under pain of death. +His life had been ignoble, but in his death David showed that he still +possessed something of the nobility of the Comneni, and he chose death +rather than dishonor his name by renouncing his religion. David, his +seven sons and his nephew Alexius were all slaughtered in one day, in +the year 1470: the daughter was lost in a Turkish harem.</p> + +<p>The bodies of the princes were thrown out unburied beyond the walls. No +one ventured to approach them for fear of the vengeance of the Sultan. +They would have been abandoned to the dogs, the usual scavengers of +Christian flesh, had not the Empress Helena, the wife and mother, +repaired to the spot where they lay. She was clad in a peasant's garb, +to escape detection, and carried a spade in her hand. The day was spent +in guarding the remains of husband and children from the ravenous dogs, +and in digging a grave to receive their bodies. In the darkness of the +night a few faithful souls came to her relief and assisted her in +committing the bodies to the dust. The widowed and childless empress, +who had seen the last of her race, the last of the glories of the +Byzantine kingdom, then retired to a convent to pass the remainder of +her days in prayers for the repose of the souls of her loved ones. Grief +soon brought her to a refuge from all earthly sorrows in the grave.</p> + +<p>The story of womanhood in the Byzantine Empire of the decadence is an +extremely sad one. The times were out of joint; corruption and +immorality prevailed; the emperors were almost without exception +extremely selfish, cruel, and unprincipled. It was impossible for +womanhood in such a period not to be tainted by the general ruin, yet we +have found many noble characters, and whatever may have been their +feminine weaknesses and foibles, however much their lots may have been +circumscribed by the caprices of sovereigns and the ceremonials of +courts, the princesses of the Comneni, the Palæologi and the Cantacuzeni +have, as a rule, shown themselves in virtue and in capability the +superiors of their brothers.</p> + +<p>The rest of our story of Christian women of Greek or Byzantine +traditions is soon told. During all the period we have covered in this +chapter there was a flourishing mediæval life further south under Greek +skies, in Athens, under a Frankish and, later, a Florentine duchy, and +in the Peloponnesus, or the Morea, under Frankish or Venetian princes. +But this was the feudal life of mediæval times transferred to Greek +soil, the life of foreigners among a conquered people, and does not +concern us here.</p> + +<p>When the Turks extended their conquests over Greek lands, it looked as +if the torch of freedom, the light of Hellenic tradition, the lamp of +Christianity which had for so many centuries brightened the life of +Oriental women, had been extinguished forever. But all during the dark +age of Turkish oppression, the Christian Church kept alive the nobler +aspirations of the Greek race. Women have always been the chief +exponents of religious faith, and Greek women handed on from generation +to generation the traditions of religion and liberty and intellectual +culture. Many of the women of Greek lands were forced to spend their +lives within the narrow walls of a Turkish harem; many saw their +children taken from them and carried to Constantinople to be brought up +as Mussulmans for the service of the Sultan; many had to undergo +ignominy and insults at the hands of petty officials. But the Church +found a constant and enthusiastic ally in Greek womanhood in preserving +the language, the spirit, the love of liberty, of the ancient Greeks.</p> + +<p>Hence, when in the early decades of the nineteenth century the fulness +of time had come for a portion of the Greek race to rid itself of +Turkish domination, the women showed an intense love of country which +enabled them not only to inspire their brothers in the fight for +freedom, but they also frequently shared with them the toils and +privations of actual conflict. We read in the histories of the Greek War +of Independence how women at times accompanied the Greek soldiers on +their forages, carrying arms and ammunition and frequently fighting +themselves; how they kept the standard of military honor high, and were +unsparing critics of the mettle of their husbands.</p> + +<p>There is no more inspiring folk tale in the records of history than the +legend of the Suliote women in the struggle of their people against Ali, +the cruel and rapacious tyrant of Janina. Bred in the mountains of +Chamouri, they refused to submit to his yoke, and the valiant people had +to see the gradual extermination of their race. They had ventured to +defy the rising star of Ali, and all that force or treachery could +accomplish was inflicted upon them. Tzavellas was one of their leaders, +and the valor of Moscho, his wife, has been commemorated in popular +verse, as typical of Greek womanhood in their struggle for independence:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p class="i4"> "This is the famous Suli, is Suli the renowned, </p> +<p class="i4"> Where the little children march to war, the women and the children: </p> +<p class="i4"> Where the wife of Tzavellas combats, her sabre in her hand, </p> +<p class="i4"> Her babe upon one arm, her gun upon the other, and her apron filled with cartridges." </p> +</div></div> + +<p>The final incident of the unequal struggle which shows the desperate +determination and courage of these Greek women, who suckled these +<i>klephts</i> of the mountains and kept alive that spirit of liberty which +finally won independence from Turkish misrule, has been thus described:</p> + +<p>"Some sixty of these Suliote women, with their children, were assembled +on a ledge of rock overhanging a sheer precipice, and, having witnessed +the gradual extermination of their defenders, they resolved to die by +their own act rather than fall into the hands of the grisly tyrant of +Janina. The position which they occupied suggested an easy form of +death, and the manner in which they sought it was tragically weird and +grim. First, each mother took her child, embraced it, and, turning her +head away from the pitiful scene, pushed it over the edge of the abyss. +Then these sixty women linked their hands together, and, singing the +familiar daring song of Suli above the rattle of the musketry, danced +the old surtos measure round and round the ledge of rock, having each +her back to the void as the winding chain approached the brink. And +every time the chain wound round, one dancer, the last in the line, +unlinked her hand, took one step back, and fell down into annihilation. +One by one, without haste, without pause, singing the dancing song, they +followed each other down that leap of death, until the last sprung over +alone, consecrating the mountain with their blood an altar of liberty, +from which, ere long, a flame arose that fired those ancient ranges from +sea to sea."</p> + +<p>Such was the spirit of Greek womanhood in the trying year of the Greek +War of Independence; and it was this spirit which enabled the Greeks to +struggle on, without resources and allies, amid discouragements and +misrepresentations, till finally the nations of Europe came to their +rescue and established the modern Greek kingdom on a sure basis.</p> + +<p>Athens was finally chosen as the seat of the new Greek government; and +in 1837 the Bavarian king Otho and his lovely bride, the princess +Amalia, entered Athens in triumph, and the kingdom of Hellas was fairly +launched. Within the memory of living men the dynasty of Otho fell, and +a scion of the royal house of Denmark, King George, with his Russian +consort, Queen Olga, now holds sway in Athens.</p> + +<p>The modern Greek woman of the higher classes has become so thoroughly +cosmopolitan in her culture that she has lost in large measure her +distinctive traits. Her sympathy is rather with Parisian life than with +English, though her deportment is marked by a sobriety of manner +partaking rather of Greek repose than of French effusion. Many faces +seen in Greek lands exhibit, in profile especially, the Greek type of +beauty.</p> + +<p>The women of the lower classes, no doubt, preserve many of the +characteristics of the race in all ages, in spite of the intermingling +with foreign peoples and the results of centuries of Turkish oppression, +which time alone can eradicate. Domestic fidelity, maternal affection, +devotion to religious observances, the cheerful discharge of the duties +and responsibilities of wedded life, are nowhere more beautifully +illustrated than among the Greek women of to-day.</p> + +<p>It is the Christian religion which makes the life of Greek women under +King George superior to that of their sisters under the dominion of the +Sultan, and we may hope that in the fulness of time the Greek women of +Europe and Asia outside of the Hellenic kingdom may enjoy, untrammelled +by Turkish authority, the rights and privileges of that religion which +has elevated the sex, and that the Greek woman of the future may combine +the personal graces of her sister in antiquity with the cultivation of +the soul and the enlargement of spirit which comes to women with the +inculcation of Christianity.</p> +<br><br> + +<h3> CONTENTS</h3> + +<table cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2" border="0" + style="width: 100%; text-align: left;" summary="content"> + <tbody> + <tr> + <td style="vertical-align: top; width: 8%;"> + <br> + <br> + <br> + <br> + <br> + <br> + <a href="#c1">I</a><br> + <a href="#c2">II</a><br> + <a href="#c3">III</a><br> + <a href="#c4">IV</a><br> + <a href="#c5">V</a><br> + <a href="#c6">VI</a><br> + <a href="#c7">VII</a><br> + <a href="#c8">VIII</a><br> + <br> + <br> + <br> + <a href="#c9">IX</a><br> + <a href="#c10">X</a><br> + <a href="#c11">XI</a><br> + <a href="#c12">XII</a><br> + <br> + <a href="#c13">XIII</a><br> + <a href="#c14">XIV</a><br> + <a href="#c15">XV</a><br> + </td> + <td style="vertical-align: top; width: 92%;"> + <a href="#intro">INTRODUCTION</a><br> + <br> + <a href="#pre">PREFACE</a><br> + <br> + <a href="#p1">PART FIRST</a><br> + <br> + WOMEN OF THE GOSPEL NARRATIVE<br> + WOMEN OF THE APOSTOLIC AGE<br> + THE ERA OF PERSECUTION<br> + SAINT HELENA AND THE TIME OF CONSTANTINE<br> + POST-NICENE MOTHERS<br> + THE NUNS OF THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH<br> + WOMEN WHO WITNESSED THE FALL OF ROME<br> + WOMEN OF THE FRANKISH CHURCH<br> + <br> + <a href="#p2">PART SECOND</a><br> + <br> + THE EMPRESS EUDOXIA<br> + THE RIVAL EMPRESSES--PULCHERIA AND EUDOCIA<br> + THE EMPRESS THEODORA<br> + OTHER SELF-ASSERTING AUGUSTÆ--VERINA, ARIADNE. + SOPHIA, MARTINA. IRENE<br> + BYZANTINE EMPRESSES--THEODORA II. THEOPHANO. + ZOE. THEODORA III.<br> + THE PRINCESSES OF THE COMNENI<br> + WOMANHOOD OF THE BYZANTINE DECADENCE<br> + + </td> + </tr> + </tbody> +</table> + +<br><br> + + +<h3> List of Illustrations</h3> + +<table cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2" border="0" + style="width: 100%; text-align: left;" summary="Illustrations"> + <tbody> + <tr> + <td style="vertical-align: top; width: 50%; text-align: left;"> +SUBJECT<br> + </td> + <td style="vertical-align: top; width: 50%; text-align: left;"> +ARTIST<br> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td style="vertical-align: top; width: 50%;"> + <a href="#ill1">Seeking shelter</a><br> + <a href="#ill2">Christ and the daughter of Jairus</a><br> + <a href="#ill3">Christians in the arena</a><br> + <a href="#ill4">Famine and pestilence</a><br> + <a href="#ill5">The legend of the roses</a><br> + <a href="#ill6">Byzantine interior, ninth century</a><br> + </td> + <td style="vertical-align: top; width: 50%;"> + <i>Luc Oliver Merson</i><br> + <i>Albert Keller</i><br> + <i>L.P.de Laubadère</i><br> + <i>A. Hirschl</i><br> + <i>J. Nogales</i><br> + <i>S. Baron</i><br> + </td> + </tr> + </tbody> +</table> + + + + + + +<br><br> + + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Women of Early Christianity, by +Alfred Brittain and Mitchell Carroll + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WOMEN OF EARLY CHRISTIANITY *** + +***** This file should be named 32451-h.htm or 32451-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/2/4/5/32451/ + +Produced by Rénald Lévesque + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Women of Early Christianity + Woman: In all ages and in all countries, Vol. 3 (of 10) + +Author: Alfred Brittain + Mitchell Carroll + +Release Date: May 20, 2010 [EBook #32451] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WOMEN OF EARLY CHRISTIANITY *** + + + + +Produced by Renald Levesque + + + + + + +_WOMAN_ + +VOLUME III + +_WOMEN OF EARLY CHRISTIANITY_ + +BY + +Rev. ALFRED BRITTAIN and MITCHELL CARROLL, Ph.D. + +WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY +J. CULLEN AYER, Jr., Ph.D. +OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY + + + + + [Illustration 1: _SEEKING SHELTER After the painting by Luc + Oliver Merson + + Notwithstanding all that is said in these ancient writings in + the attempt to do her honor, we must conclude that the glory of + the halo which beautifies the head of the real Mary is derived + by reflection from the moral splendor of her Son.... We need + such a poetic creation as Mary; and her place at the head of all + the daughters of earth is the more secure and effective because + her figure in authentic history is but a shadowy outline. The + ideal woman whom all mankind loves and reverences as Virgin, + Mother, and Saint, is objectified by concentrating in Mary of + Nazareth all possible feminine grace, beauty, and purity._] + + + + +_Woman_ + +_In all ages and in all countries_ + + +_VOLUME III_ + + + +_WOMEN OF EARLY CHRISTIANITY_ + +BY + +Rev. ALFRED BRITTAIN +AND +MITCHELL CARROLL, Ph. D. + +WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY +J. CULLEN AYER, Jr., Ph. D. +_Of Harvard University_ + + +_ILLUSTRATED_ + + +_PHILADELPHIA +GEORGE BARRIE & SONS, Publishers_ + + + +COPYRIGHT, 1907, BY GEORGE BARRIE & SONS + +Entered at Stationers' Hall, London + + + + +INTRODUCTION + +WHEN the historian has described the rise and fall of empires and +dynasties, and has recounted with care and exactness the details of the +great political movements that have changed the map of continents, there +remains the question: What was the cause of these revolutions in human +society--what were the real motives that were operative in the hearts +and minds of the persons in the great drama of history that has been +displayed? The mere chain of events as they have passed before the eye +as it surveys the centuries does not give an explanation of itself. +There must be a cause that lies behind these events, and of which they +are but the effects. This cause, the true cause of history, lies in the +minds and hearts of the men and nations. The student of the past is +coming more and more to see that the only hope of making history a +science, and not a mere chronicle, is to be found in the clear +ascertainment and study of those psychological conditions which have +made actions what they were. Foremost among those conditions have been +the hopes, aspirations and ideals of men and women. These have been the +greatest motive forces in the history of the world. These, quite as much +as merely selfish considerations, have guided the conduct of the men who +have made history, not merely those who have been leaders in the great +movements of society, but the multitude of followers who have not +attracted the attention of historians, but have, nevertheless, given the +strength and force to the revolutions of the world. + +The deepest interest in the history of Christian women lies in the way +in which woman's status in society has been modified by the new +religion. The chronicle of saintly life and deeds is a part of that +history. But there are, also, women who have signally failed to attain +those virtues for which their religion called. These, too, have their +place, for both have either forwarded or retarded the realization of +woman's place in society. Often the heathen spirit is but half concealed +under the mask of Christianity. But the whole tone of society has been +changed, nevertheless, by the ideas and ideals which that religion +brought before men's minds in a new and vivid manner. + +The position of woman has been more influenced by Christianity than by +any other religion. This is not because there have not been noble +sentiments expressed by non-Christian writers; for among the rabbinical +writers, for instance, are many fine sentiments that could have come +only from men who clearly perceived the place of woman in an ideal human +society. Nor because in Christianity there have not been men whose +conception of woman was more suitable to the adherents of those faiths +that have regarded her as a thing unclean. But from the very nature of +the appeal which Christianity has made to the world, the place of woman +in society has been changed. The new faith appealed to all mankind in +the name of the humanity which the Son of God had assumed, and +consequently it was forced to treat men and women as on a spiritual +equality. It was forced by the natural desire for consistency to break +down any barriers that might keep one-half of the human race from the +full realization of the possibilities of their natures, which were made +in the image of God. It is in this relation of Christianity to the +world, quite as much as in the sayings and precepts of its Founder and +his Apostles, that has been found the ground for the great work of +Christianity in raising the position of women in the world. + +Christianity should in this respect be compared with the other religions +that have attained prominence. Among those that were national religions, +there has been no appeal to the world in general. They were bound up +with the race, and their adherents were those of the race or nation in +which they were to be found. Such religions have made no appeal to the +individual. They had no propaganda. They did not extend to other +nations. They were essentially national. In them there was no place for +women. The father of the household represented his family, and although +women had certain duties in connection with the household worship, it +was only because they were under the power of some men. This is true of +the religions of India, China, and the ancient religions of the Semitic +race. In two of the great world-religions, those centring on Mahomet and +Buddha, there has been no place for women as such. These religions are +primarily the religion of men. But in the case of Christianity, the +appeal has been to every human being, merely because of the human +element. If there were to be no distinction on account of race or social +condition, still less was there on account of sex. Male and female were +alike in Christ. The Christian must be a believer for himself--the faith +of no one else could serve for him. Marriage made no difference in the +religious position of anyone. Such sentiments applied day after day in +the course of the world's life could not remain without their effect, +and the change wrought by them has been profound and lasting. + +That there has not yet been the full realization of the ideal of +Christianity in the matter of the position of woman in society is no +stranger than the non-realization of the ideals of that or any other +faith. The eternal ideas of right are sometimes extremely slow in their +operation. The forces they have to overcome are strongly intrenched. But +slow as may seem the progress, the power of right steadily gains and the +temporary success of evil is soon past. The ways in which the triumph of +the Christian ideal has been brought nearer have been at times very +varied. At one time it may seem that the leaders in the cause of social +regeneration have been wholly blind to the full significance of the +faith they professed. Fantastic forms of asceticism have banished women +from the society of those who were trying to lead the perfect life. But +the more sympathetic study of the extravagances of religious enthusiasm +has been able to discover that even in ages in which ideals seemed to be +wholly opposed to those of latter ages, there has been the same +fundamental conception which has been constantly striving for +realization in the world. + +In the light of subsequent history, it appears fortunate that the +position of woman in the new society was not more fully and carefully +defined by the teachers of the new religion. If the early Christian +teachers had given their followers minute rules regulating their life +and conduct, there might easily have been a return to a legalism that +would have been disastrous for the new faith. Even the few regulations +that are to be found in connection with matters of order and discipline +in the Apostolic Church, so far as they have concerned women, have been +frequently misunderstood and misapplied. They have been made of lasting +obligation by many, rather than considered as the expression for the +times and circumstances in which the early Church was placed, of +principles of propriety which might be very different from, if not +indeed contrary to, the sentiments of another age. But by leaving the +whole question open, with but a very few exceptions, the great working +out of the freedom of the new faith was possible. Woman has been +recognized by the world as man's helpmate. She is not his toy or his +slave, but a sharer with him in the highest privileges of human nature. +An appreciation of the tremendous responsibilities that have been put +upon her by the fact of her womanhood has not separated her from man, +but both are seen standing side by side in the New Kingdom. + + JOSEPH CULLEN AYER, JR. + +_Episcopal Theological School, Cambridge._ + + + + +PREFACE + +Christianity introduced a new moral epoch in the course of human +history. Its effect was necessarily transforming upon those who came +under its sway. Being cosmopolitan in its nature, we have now to study +woman as being somewhat dissociated from racial type and national +manner, and we shall seek to ascertain how she met and was modified by +Christian conditions. These had a larger effect upon her life than upon +that of man; for, by its nature, Christianity gave an opening for the +higher possibilities of her being of which the old religions took little +account. In the realm of the spiritual, it, for the first time, assented +to her equality with man. That the women of the first Christian +centuries submitted themselves to the influence of that religion in a +varying degree, the following pages will abundantly show. And it will be +seen that in the many instances where the Christian doctrine was not +permitted to dominate the life, the dissimilarity of those women from +their prototypes in former heathendom is correspondingly lessened. While +it is not possible to treat this subject without illustrating the +above-mentioned fact, the authors beg to remind the reader that this is +distinctively a historical and not a religious work. Though, under other +circumstances, they would be very willing to state positive views in +regard to many questions herein suggested, it is not within the province +of this book to defend or refute any religious institution. The aim is +solely and impartially to represent the life of the Christian women of +the first ages. + +Though this is a work of collaboration, Mr. Brittain is solely +responsible for the part of the book treating of the women of the +Western Roman Empire, and Mr. Carroll is solely responsible for that +discussing the women of the Eastern Roman and Byzantine Empires. +Differences of personal characteristics, based upon dissimilarity of +national temperament, reveal themselves in these women of Rome and +Constantinople, but the Christian principle, through its transforming +and elevating influence on the lives of pagan women, gives unity to the +volume, and presents a type of womanhood far superior to any that had up +to this time been produced by the Orient or early Greece or ancient +Rome. + + ALFRED BRITTAIN, + MITCHELL CARROLL. + + + + +PART FIRST + +WOMEN OF THE WESTERN EMPIRE + + + + +I + +THE WOMEN OF THE GOSPEL NARRATIVE + + +The study of the early Christian women takes up a phase of the history +of woman which is peculiar to itself. It is, in a sense and to a degree, +out of historical sequence. It deals with a subject in which ideas and +spiritual forces, rather than the effect of racial development, are +brought into view. It presents difficulties all its own, for the reason +that not only historical facts about which there can be no contention +must be mentioned, but also theories of a more or less controversial +nature. We shall endeavor, however, as far as is possible, to confine +ourselves to the recapitulation of well-authenticated historical +developments and to a dispassionate portrayal of those feminine +characters who participated in and were influenced by the new doctrines +of early Christianity. + +In writing of the women who were the contemporaries and the +acquaintances of the Founder of Christianity the difficulty is very +greatly enhanced by the fact that everything related to the subject is +not only regarded as sacred, but is also enshrined in preconceptions +which are held by the majority of people with jealous partiality. Our +source of information is almost exclusively the Bible; and to deal with +Scriptural facts with the same impartiality with which one deals with +the narrative of common history is well-nigh impossible. There are few +persons who are exempt from a prejudicial leaning, either in favor of +the supernatural importance of every Scriptural detail or in opposition +to those claims which are commonly based upon the Gospel history. We +hear of the Bible being studied merely as literature, a method most +highly advantageous to a fair understanding of its meaning and purport, +but possible only to some imaginary, educated person, unacquainted with +the Christian religion and totally unequipped with theological +conceptions. That which is true of the Bible as literature is also +applicable to the Scripture considered as history. + +Yet we shall endeavor to bear in mind that we are not writing a +religious book, and that this is not a treatise on Church history; it is +ordinary history and must be written in ordinary methods. Consequently, +in order to do this subject justice and to treat it rightly, we must +endeavor to remove the women mentioned in the Gospels as far as possible +from the atmosphere of the supernatural and to see in them ordinary +persons of flesh and blood, typifying the times as well as the +circumstances to which they belonged. Though they played a part in an +event the most renowned and the most important in the world's history, +yet they were no more than women; in fact, they were women so +commonplace and naturally obscure, that they never would have been heard +of, were it not for the Character with whom they were adventitiously +connected. A memorial has been preserved, coeval, and coextensive with +the dissemination of the Gospel, of the woman who anointed Christ; but +solely on account of the greatness of the Object of her devotion. + +Our purpose in this chapter is to ascertain what manner of women they +were who took a part in the incomparable event of the life of Christ, +what their part was in that event, and how it affected their position +and their existence. + +The whole history of the Jewish race and all the circumstances relating +thereto abundantly justify the application to the Jews of the term "a +peculiar people." A branch of the great Semitic division, in many ways +they were yet most radically distinguished from every other part of the +human family. By many centuries of inspired introspection they had +developed a religion, a racial ideal, and national customs which +entirely differentiated them from all other Eastern peoples. The Jew is +one of the most remarkable figures in history. First there is his +magnificent contribution to religion and world-modifying influences, so +wonderfully disproportionate to his national importance; then there is +the marvellous persistency of his racial continuity. + +That which set apart the Jews from other nations was mainly their +religion. These peculiar people, inhabiting at the time of Christ a +small tract of country scarcely larger than Massachusetts, deprived of +national autonomy, being but a second-class province of the Roman +Empire, nevertheless presumed to hold all other races in contempt, as +being inferior to themselves. This religious arrogance, manifesting +itself in a vastly exaggerated conception of the superiority, both of +their origin and of their destiny, surrounded the Jews with an +impenetrable barrier of reserve. That national pride which in other +peoples is based on the memory of glorious achievements on the +battlefield, on artistic renown, or on commercial importance, found its +support among the Jews in their religious history, in their divinely +given pledges, and in laws of supernatural origin. And indeed they were +a race of religious geniuses; they were as superior in this respect as +were the Greeks in the realm of art and the Romans in that of +government. + +These facts, which are so universally acknowledged as to need no further +reference here, warrant a closer study of the manner of life of the +ancient Jewish women than that to which we can afford space. + +In the Gospel narrative women hold a large place. As is natural, a very +great deal of the grace and beauty of the record of Christ's life is +owing to the spirit and presence of the feminine characters. This the +Evangelists have ungrudgingly conceded. There does not seem to have been +the least inclination to minimize the part played by women; indeed, +their attitude toward Christ is by inference, and greatly to their +credit, contrasted with that of the men. The women were immediately and +entirely won to Christ's cause. They sat at His feet and listened with +gratitude to the gracious words which He spake; they brought their +children to be blessed by Him; they followed Him with lamentations when +He was led away to death. There were among their number no cavillers, no +disbelievers, none to deny or betray. When the enemies of Jesus were +clamoring for His death and His male disciples had fled, it was to the +women He turned and said: "Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but +weep for yourselves, and for your children." Well might the instincts of +the Daughters of Jerusalem incline them to sympathize with the work and +suffering of the Man of Nazareth, for it is incontrovertible that no +other influence seen in the world's history has done so much as +Christianity to raise the condition of woman. + +The position of woman in Palestine, though much inferior to that of man, +was far superior to that which she occupied in other Oriental nations. +Jewish law would not permit the wife to fall to the condition of a +slave, and Israelitish traditions contained too many memories of noble +and patriotic women for the sex to be held otherwise than in honor. A +nation whose most glorious records centred around such characters as +Sara, Miriam, Deborah, Esther, and Susanna could but recognize in their +sex the possibility of the sublimest traits of character. Moreover, +every Hebrew woman might be destined to become the mother of the long +hoped for Messiah, and the mere possibility of that event won for her a +high degree of reverence. + +At the same time, the Jewish women, like those of all other ancient +nations, were held in rigid subordination; nor was there any pretence +made of their equality with men before the law. A man might divorce his +wife for any cause: a woman could not put away her husband under any +circumstances. A Jewish woman could not insist on the performance of a +religious vow by which she had bound herself, if her husband or her +father made objection. Yet, from the earliest times, the property rights +of Israelitish women were very liberal. In the Book of Numbers it is +recorded how Moses decreed that "If a man die, and have no son, then ye +shall cause his inheritance to pass unto his daughter. And if he have no +daughter, then ye shall give his inheritance unto his brethren." But +tribal rights had to be considered. Possessions were not to be alienated +from one tribe to another. Hence it was also decreed that "Every +daughter that possesseth an inheritance in any tribe of the children of +Israel, shall be wife unto one of the family of the tribe of her father, +that the children of Israel may enjoy every man the inheritance of his +fathers." In the time of Christ, however, this restriction on marriage +was unnecessary, ten of the tribes not having returned from the +Captivity. The house at Bethany where Jesus was entertained belonged to +Martha; and we read of wealthy women following Him and providing for His +needs out of their own private fortunes. In the early days, among the +Hebrews, marriage by purchase from the father or brothers had been the +custom; but in the time of which we are writing a dowry was given with +the bride, and she also received a portion from the bridegroom. + +The inferior position of Jewish women is frequently referred to in the +rabbinical writings. A common prayer was: "O God, let not my offspring +be a girl: for very wretched is the life of women." It was said: "Happy +he whose children are boys, and woe unto him whose children are girls." +Public conversation between the sexes was interdicted by the rabbis. "No +one", says the Talmud, "is to speak with a woman, even if she be his +wife, in the public street." Even the disciples, accustomed as they were +to seeing the Master ignore rabbinical regulations, "marvelled" when +they found Him talking with the woman of Sychar. One of the chief things +which teachers of the Law were to avoid was multiplying speech with a +woman. The women themselves seem to have acquiesced in this degrading +injunction. There is a story of a learned lady who called the great +Rabbi Jose a "Galilean Ignoramus," because he had used two unnecessary +words in inquiring of her the way to Joppa. He had employed but four. + +By the Jews women were regarded as inferior not only in capacity but +also in nature. Their minds were supposed to be of an inferior order and +consequently incapable of appreciating the spiritual privileges which it +was an honor for a man to strive after. "Let the words of the Law be +burned," says Rabbi Eleazar, "rather than committed to women." The +Talmud says: "He who instructs his daughter in the Law, instructs her in +folly." In the synagogues women were obliged to sit in a gallery which +was separated from the main room by a lattice. + +Yet it is scarcely to be supposed that in everyday Jewish life the +pharisaical maxims quoted above were adhered to with any great degree of +strictness. Especially in Galilee, where there was much more freedom +than in the lower province, it may well be imagined that there existed a +wide difference between these arrogant "counsels of perfection" and the +common practice. There is no doubt that the rabbis and the scribes +observed the traditions to the minutest letter; but inasmuch as in these +days it would be misleading to delineate the common life of a people by +the enactments found on their statute books, we are justified in +concluding that ordinary existence in ancient Palestine was not nearly +such a burdensome absurdity as the rabbinical law sought to make it. +Human nature will not endure too great a strain. At any rate, we can but +believe that, subordinate as she may have been, the Jewish woman found +ample opportunity to assert herself. The rabbi may have scorned to +multiply speech with his wife on the street, but doubtless there were +occasions which compelled the husband to endure a multiplicity of speech +on the part of his wife at home. It was not without experience that the +wise man could say: "A continual dropping on a very rainy day and a +contentious woman are alike." + +The sayings of the scribes, which are derogatory to the female sex, are +abundantly offset by many injunctions of an opposite nature which are +found in the sacred and in the expository writings of the Jews. One of +the first things drilled into the mind of a young Hebrew was that his +prosperity in the land depended wholly upon his observance of the law +that he should "honor his father and his mother." The virtuous woman +portrayed by King Lemuel was still the ideal in the time of Christ: "Her +sons rise up and praise her; her husband also extols her." The +declaration in the book of Proverbs that "the price of a virtuous woman +is set far above that of rubies" is not to be understood in the sense of +irony. "Honor your wife, that you may be rich in the joy of your home," +says the Talmud; and there was a proverb: "Is thy wife little? then bow +down to her and speak." The Son of Sirach said: "He that honoreth his +mother is as one that layeth up treasure ... and he that angereth his +mother is cursed of God." + +As among all other Eastern peoples, the education of Jewish girls was +greatly neglected; but it can hardly be said that they were losers on +that account. They were simply saved a great deal of profitless labor +which fell upon their brothers. The learning of the Jews, so far as +higher education was concerned, did not add much either to the grace or +the enjoyment of life. It was pedantry of the driest and dreariest kind. +It consisted of interminable glosses upon the Law and of the "traditions +of the elders." It exercised no faculties of the mind excepting the +memory and such powers of reasoning as are employed in subtle casuistry. +There was in it nothing of art or science, or even of history, except +Jewish history. Greek learning was abhorred by the strictly orthodox. +They said the command was that a man's study should be on the Law day +and night; if anyone therefore could find time between day and night he +might apply it to Gentile literature. There were schools in abundance; +but they are spoken of only in relation to boys. In the fundamental +moral precepts, however, and in the highest national ideals, the Jewish +girls were no less thoroughly trained than were their brothers. Ozias +testified to Judith, who with feminine strategy and masculine courage +overthrew Holophernes: "This is not the first day wherein thy wisdom is +manifested; but from the beginning of thy days all the people have known +thy understanding, because the disposition of thy heart is good." Of the +chaste Susanna it was said that, her parents being righteous, they +taught their daughter according to the Law of Moses. Timothy owed his +early training to his mother Eunice and his grandmother Lois. The +Israelitish mother, in the dawn of her children's intelligence, +carefully taught them the lore of the ancient Scriptures and instructed +them in the principal tenets of the Jewish faith. There never existed +another nation that cared so thoroughly for the training of its young in +the doctrines of morality and in those national memories which are +efficacious in the perpetuation of an ardent patriotism. In all this the +girls were privileged equally with the boys. As Edersheim says: "What +Jewish fathers and mothers were; what they felt towards their children; +and with what reverence, affection, and care the latter returned what +they had received, is known to every reader of the Old Testament. The +relationship of father has its highest sanction and embodiment in that +of God towards Israel; the tenderness and care of a mother in that of +the watchfulness and pity of the Lord over his people." + +Religion was the breath of Jewish life. It is absolutely impossible to +touch on Hebrew history, customs, or ideals, in any period or to any +extent, and not to come into contact with Hebrew religion. This, as we +know, was full of burdensome ritual and formalities; the Law, with all +its elaborate ramifications, governed the minutiae of daily existence. +Yet it is again necessary to be careful not to judge too broadly of +Jewish life by the rules which the Talmud shows were laid down by the +rabbis. The Pharisees, who made the formalities of religion their one +business in life, could observe all the multitudinous feasts and fasts, +all the ritual of washings, and bear in mind the innumerable +possibilities of breaking the Sabbath--such, for example, as +accidentally treading on a ripe ear of grain, which would be the act of +threshing; but that the common people lived thus straitly is impossible +of belief, and for this reason they were held in contempt by the +strictest sect. How some of these troublesome laws related to the women +is suggested by Edersheim; "A woman (on the Sabbath) must not wear such +headgear as would require unloosing before taking a bath, nor go out +with such ornaments as could be taken off in the street, such as a +frontlet, unless it is attached to the cap, nor with a gold crown, nor +with a necklace or nose-ring, nor with rings, nor have a pin in her +dress. The reason for this prohibition of ornaments was, that in their +vanity women might take them off to show them to their companions, and +then, forgetful of the day, carry them, which would be a 'burden.' Women +were also forbidden to look in the glass on the Sabbath, because they +might discover a white hair and attempt to pull it out, which would be a +grievous sin; but men ought not to use looking-glasses even on weekdays, +because this was undignified. A woman may walk about her own court, but +not in the street, with false hair." + +These are only instances of regulations which were so numerous as +severely to tax the memory of those who did little else but study to +observe them. We are sure that they could not have characterized the +common Jewish life; yet there was not a man, however loose in conduct or +humble of birth, who was not well versed in the moral precepts of Moses +and in the exalted national ideals of the Prophets. In the cases--and +they were many--where this wisdom was not justified of her children, the +punctilious observance of outward forms, conjoined with the most extreme +arrogance of race, laid the Jew open to the contempt of both Greek and +Roman. Yet there was enough latent impetus and genuine religious life in +Israel to form the basis of that Christianity which was destined to +overreach Greek philosophy and to revolutionize Rome; and there are many +indications in the Gospels that the credit for the incalculable service +of preserving alive the smouldering embers of piety must, to a +predominant degree, be awarded to the mothers and daughters of Israel. +Elizabeth, no less than Zacharias her husband, was a type of many who +"walked in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord, blameless." +There was also one Anna whose devotion was so great that she seemed to +make the temple her constant home. Nevertheless, in religion, as in +other things, the Jewish women, as all of their sex in the ancient +world, were obliged to be content with an inferior position. In the +great temple at Jerusalem they were allowed to occupy only the second +court: to the Court of Israel, where their male relatives worshipped, +they could not penetrate. They had no occasion, however, to complain of +lack of space, for in this Court of the Women there was room for over +fifteen thousand persons; and, for their convenience, the priests had +very considerately placed therein the treasury chests. It was here that +the poor widow whom Christ eulogized cast in her "two mites." In this +court also was Solomon's Porch, where the Master, recognizing no +inequality, taught both sexes alike. In the synagogues, the women of +Palestine were obliged to occupy as inconspicuous a position as +possible, and on the way thither it was required of them that they +should take the back and less frequented streets, in order that the +minds of the men might not be diverted from sacred meditations by their +presence. This bit of hypocritical phariseeism not only indicates the +inferior plane which women were supposed to occupy, but also that, +however honored they may have been as wives and mothers, they enjoyed no +portent of that chivalry which afterward grew from and was fostered by +Christianity. + +The existence of the Jewish woman was by no means secluded. She was +allowed to mingle freely in outdoor life. She accompanied her family on +their journeys to the great festivals which were held in Jerusalem. +Indeed, we read of Galilean women following Jesus into Judaea, evidently +unescorted by male relatives. Females also entertained mixed companies +in their own homes. It is probable, however, that there was more freedom +of movement among the lower-class women than was enjoyed by their +sisters of high degree. While the former dwelt in mean and small houses, +in which there was little possibility of seclusion, the latter had large +and luxurious homes, with great interior courts and special apartments +for their own use. The luxuriousness of these wealthy women rivalled +that of Rome itself. We read of one Martha, the wife of a high priest, +who, when she went to the temple, had carpets laid from her house to the +door of the temple. Upon the poorer women were imposed the hardships of +labor: "two women grinding at the mill" was a common sight in every +home. + +In that momentous drama the leading figure of which was the Son of Man, +women of greatly varying character and position played a part. There +were Herodias, and Procla, the wife of Pilate: these were the highest +ladies in the land; there were Martha of Bethany, and Joanna, the wife +of Herod's steward, representing the middle class; Mary, the mother of +Jesus, from among the poor; and Mary of Magdala, from among a class of +women who were numerous in Palestine, one of whom the Gospel designates +as "a woman who was a sinner." + +Of the two first mentioned little may be said in this connection, as +they were far from being Christian women, though the wife of Pilate +earned for herself the respect of all succeeding generations by pleading +for the life of Jesus. + +Herodias is connected with this story only on account of the cruel +determination with which she sought and compassed the death of John the +Baptist. The grand-daughter of Herod the Great, she inherited not only +his impetuous ambition, but also his ferocity. She had been married to +Herod Philip, her uncle. This son of the first Herod was a wealthy +private resident of Jerusalem; but Herodias could not be content to +stand aside as a mere spectator of the brilliant game of governing. So +she seized the opportunity which the presence of Antipas in her house, +by her husband's hospitality, gave her to begin an intrigue, which ended +in her marital union with the tetrarch. By this conduct she trampled on +Jewish law and offended the people. Not that the severing of the +marriage bonds was a thing unusual among the Jews; indeed, the +facilities for divorce were exceedingly liberal. A man could put away +his wife for the most trifling cause. "If anyone," said the rabbis, "see +a woman handsomer than his wife, he may dismiss his wife and marry that +woman." It was considered ample cause for divorce if a wife went out +without her veil. The disciples of Hillel even went so far as to hold +that if a woman spoiled her husband's dinner, by burning or over salting +it, sufficient cause was given him, if he so chose, to put her away. +This is the point of the question with which the Pharisees came to try +Christ. "Is it lawful," said they, "for a man to put away his wife for +every cause?" So, then, that which shocked the Jews and caused them to +agree with John in his denunciation of Herod was not that the latter +divorced his first wife, the daughter of Aretas, but that he took +Herodias, she not having been put away by her husband, Philip. Here is +some very remarkable moral sophistry. It would have been right, in the +sight of Jewish law, for Herod and Philip to have exchanged wives, after +legally divorcing them for any cause which might have seemed to them +proper; but there was no law, nor was there any conceivable wrong, which +could give Herodias the right to leave her husband of her own free will. +Women could not gain divorce. So, according to the Jewish idea, the +fault of Herod consisted solely in the fact that Philip had not yet seen +fit to release Herodias. Whether or not John the Baptist concurred with +the ideas of his time on this subject we do not know; but the One who +came after him put marriage on a far higher basis and restricted divorce +to its essential cause. + +Herodias plotted and achieved John's destruction perhaps as much on +account of her fear of the effect of his influence upon Herod's +ambitious projects as because of her resentment at his charges against +herself. She was determined that Herod should be a king, like her +brother Agrippa; but the latter was a great favorite with Caligula, and +when his letters were presented to the emperor at the same time that +Herod appeared, in obedience to the importunities of his wife, to press +his suit, the husband of Herodias was deposed and exiled to Lyons. The +only praiseworthy thing that Herodias ever did, so far as is known, was +on this occasion. Caligula wished to allow her to retain her own +fortune, and told her that "it was her brother who prevented her being +put under the same calamity with her husband." This was her reply: +"Thou, indeed, O emperor, actest after a magnificent manner, and as +becomes thyself in what thou offerest me; but the kindness which I have +for my husband hinders me from partaking of the favor of thy gift; for +it is not just that I, who have been made a partner in his prosperity, +should forsake him in his misfortunes." Thereupon Caligula sent her into +banishment with Herod, and gave her estate to Agrippa. + +Our curiosity is greatly aroused, but in no degree satisfied, regarding +another woman who dwelt at Jerusalem in the time of Christ. Pilate, the +Roman procurator, had taken his wife with him to Judaea. Tradition has it +that she there became a proselyte to the Jewish faith. This is by no +means unlikely, for throughout the Roman world were found women who had +become converts to the religion of Zion; Josephus, by his own +experience, shows that at a later date even Poppaea, the wife of Nero, +was extremely partial to the Jews. The Greek Church even goes further, +and places Procla in its calendar of saints. Though there is no evidence +extant of her having become a Christian, it need not be considered a +thing impossible; indeed, it is extremely reasonable to suppose that, +having endeavored to save the life of Jesus, the wonderful religious +movement which succeeded His death could not have been unknown or +without interest to Procla. At any rate, certain it is that she had some +knowledge of Jesus, that she was to no small degree disposed in his +favor, and that Pilate's wish to balk the priests in their designs on +Christ's life was, in a large measure, the result of his wife's +influence. But Pilate was caught with the argument that to save the +Prisoner would be a sign of disloyalty to Caesar. This incident is the +most prominent instance that history affords of the unwisdom of opposing +masculine ratiocinations to feminine moral intuitions. + +We now turn to those women of the Gospels who were the acknowledged +friends of Jesus and of the founders of Christianity. The central figure +is, of course, the Blessed Mother--Mary, honored by Christians above all +the daughters of the earth and adored by many millions as the Queen of +Heaven; and yet how inadequate, how meagre is the veritable knowledge we +possess of this immortal woman! Never has human imagination so +magnificently triumphed as in the evolution of the concept of the +Blessed Virgin; never has fond adoration built so marvellous an ideal +upon so scanty a foundation of assured reality. A moderate-sized page +would contain all that is vouchsafed regarding her in the Gospels, yet +who ever disputed the claim for Mary that she is the highest +representative of all that is purest and most beautiful in womanhood. +This much is not a dogma of any church, but a universal feeling. This +prevailing conception of the character of Mary has grown out of the +conviction of what must have been the moral worth of the one fitted to +bear and rear the Son of Man; and it has also resulted to a large degree +from that strong human love for motherhood which seeks a perfect example +on which to expend itself. The Blessed Virgin is womanhood idealized. +She is the personification of all feminine beauty, both of soul and +body; she is the perfect expression of the poet's highest inspiration +and the artist's noblest dream. We cannot help wishing, however, that +more were known of the home life of Mary; the desire to place the +beautiful figure of the Representative Mother in the varied settings of +common feminine life is irresistible, but this can only be done by means +of what little we know of the manners and customs of her people and +time. + +As has been said, the sources of information about the Mother of Jesus +are the four Gospels. In addition to these, there are the apocryphal +Christian writings; but these are of too late origin and contain too +many manifestly absurd accounts to warrant credence, except where they +are corroborated by the Evangelists. The latter say nothing whatever of +Mary's direct parentage. She was an offspring of the regal line, that of +David; for though it is most probable that the puzzling genealogies of +Matthew and Luke are those of her husband, Joseph, there are many +reasons for believing that he and Mary were blood relations. Their home +was at Nazareth, a beautiful hill town of Galilee, noted for the +comeliness of its women. At the end of the sixth century, Antoninus +Martyr remarked that the Jewish women of Nazareth were not only fairer +but also more affable to Gentiles than were the other women of +Palestine, and modern travellers inform us that both these +characteristics are still preserved. Geikie says: "The free air of their +mountain home seems to have had its effect on the people of Nazareth. +Its bright-eyed, happy children and comely women strike the traveller, +and even their dress differs from that of other parts.... That of the +women usually consists of nothing but a long blue garment tied in round +the waist, a bonnet of red cloth, decorated with an edging or roll of +silver coins, bordering the forehead and extending to the ears, +reminding one of the crescent-shaped female head-dress worn by some of +the Egyptian priestesses. Over this, a veil or shawl of coarse white +cotton is thrown, which hangs down to the waist, serving to cover the +mouth, while the bosom is left exposed, for Eastern and Western ideas of +decorum differ in some things.... In a country where nothing changes, +through age after age, the dress of to-day is very likely, in most +respects, the same as it was two thousand years ago, though the +prevailing color of the Hebrew dress, at least in the better classes, +was the natural white of the materials employed, which the fuller made +even whiter." + +We are not informed on the authority of the Gospels as to Mary's age +when she was espoused to Joseph the carpenter. The apocryphal _Gospel of +Mary_ states that she was fourteen, while the _Protevangelion_ places +her age at twelve, which is in accordance with the custom of the East, +where girls mature much earlier than with us. The betrothal consisted of +mutual promises and the exchange of gifts in the presence of chosen +witnesses, followed by the engaged couple ceremonially tasting of the +same cup of wine, and was ended with a benediction pronounced by a +priest or a rabbi. After these solemn espousals the relation between +Mary and Joseph was as sacred as though marriage had really taken place; +the only difference was that the couple did not yet live together. The +woman was not allowed to withdraw from the contract, and the man could +not fail to fulfil his promise unless he gave her a formal bill of +divorcement for cause, as in the case of marriage; the laws relating to +adultery were also applicable. Yet many months might intervene between +the date of the betrothal and that of the marriage. + +What took place during this interval in the life of the Virgin is a +mystery which it would be a vain attempt to investigate. If it be judged +of from a purely rationalistic standpoint, there are no historical and +no scientific data which will enable us to do otherwise than simply +discredit the accounts of the Nativity, as they are given by Matthew and +Luke. On the other hand, if the narrative of Christ's birth is accepted +with that reverent faith which has endured through nineteen centuries of +Christendom, and has been and still is held by men of unrivalled +intellect, there is nothing more to be said than the language of worship +and wonder. We may well regret that John and Mark, or at least one of +the epistolary writers, did not corroborate the testimony of the two +first-named Evangelists; the scant importance Mary seems to have +acquired in the Apostolic Church may appear inconsistent with the +stupendous nature of her experiences; yet here is no subject for vain +reasoning; we stand before a mystery which belongs wholly to the realm +of faith. The science of Christology demands the acceptance of this +supernatural event. But it is as little within the province of this book +to defend the faith as it is to apply the canons of Higher Criticism to +the writings of the New Testament. + +In the picture which the Scriptures give us of Mary there is no touch so +human as that which represents her, at the first intimation of the +coming of her Son, hastening southward to confer with her cousin +Elizabeth. To a woman must the news first be whispered, before it gains +the observation of the man to whom she is espoused; and not to the +gossips of Nazareth, but to her holy and sober-minded kinswoman alone +could Mary impart her hopes and her fears. Poetic expression was a +Jewish woman's birthright; Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, and Judith, each had +magnified the Lord with a song; let Mary also, in the assurance that her +Offspring is to be the Messiah long foretold, voice the exultation of +her soul in like manner. "Behold, from henceforth, all generations shall +call me blessed.... He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and +exalted them of low degree." + +Augustus Caesar sent forth an edict that all the world should be taxed. +It was an act of which we should have known little and thought less, had +it not marked the occasion of the birth of Him to whom the world will +never cease to pay a tribute of homage. + +In the birth of Jesus, the mystery of motherhood is glorified, nay, +almost deified. Mankind needed that also. The pagan world had always +sought to satisfy feelings which are deep rooted in the human heart by +conceiving of maternity under the form of a divine personality. A +religion which does not, in some way, recognize in its object the loving +kindness and the painful solicitude of the mother heart cannot survive. +Mary is a symbol of that natural tender reverence and supreme confidence +which motherhood inspires. The shepherds knelt before her in the stable +which the necessities of poverty made the scene of her lying-in, for the +inestimable graces of the mother depend not upon wealth or earthly +splendor. The Wise Men from the East brought their gifts, for there is +no greater wisdom than that which pays its homage before the babe at its +mother's breast. + +In the one great experience of maternity Mary's greatness ends, so far +as the records show. Did she settle down to all appearances as an +ordinary Nazareth housewife? Did she bear to Joseph other children? To +many, the latter question seems like sacrilege; and yet there is nothing +of authority written to the contrary. + +Tradition has it that Joseph died early in their married life. Mary then +was dependent for her support upon her Son's labors. Did He refrain from +His chief calling until He was thirty years of age in order that He +might know not only common toil but also filial duty in the support of +the mother? Was it to consult on some family business that His mother +and His brethren stood outside the house where He was teaching, being +desirous to speak with Him? All these questions are to us unanswerable; +but it surely does not detract from the sacredness of the pictures to +infuse into it every possible element of human interest. + +The Gospels turn their light once more, and for the last time, on Mary. +It reveals her at the foot of the Cross. Each of the Synoptists tells us +that many women followed Him out of Galilee; by John alone is Mary +mentioned as being present at the Crucifixion. "When Jesus saw his +mother, and the disciple standing by whom he loved, he saith unto his +mother, 'Woman, behold thy son.' Then saith he to the disciple, 'Behold +thy mother.' And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own +home." Why was this so if Mary had other living sons? John, who it is +probable was her own sister's son, would immediately lead the Mother +away from the terrible scene, where a sword was also piercing her own +soul, to a place where she could await the announcement of the end. The +fact that there is no record of an appearance to Mary after the +Resurrection must be accounted for by the belief that her faith did not +need this, in its assurance that death could not conquer her divine Son. + +Nevertheless, the paucity of the reference to Mary in the New Testament, +after the Nativity, is perplexing. For the other legends concerning her +history and character, which have been cherished by a very large portion +of Christendom, we are wholly indebted to what are known as the +Apocryphal Gospels. These consist of writings which were extant, in some +cases, before the present New Testament books were selected as being +alone authentic, but were not deemed of sufficient worth to be included +in the canon. There is _The Gospel of the Birth of Mary_. In the very +early ages this book was supposed to be the work of Saint Matthew. Many +ancient Christians believed it to be authentic and genuine, and Jerome, +who lived in the fourth century, quotes it entire. Another book, of the +same description, known as the _Protevangelion_ of Saint James, is +mentioned by writers equally ancient. Then there is the _Gospel of the +Infancy_. This, we are told, was accepted by the Gnostic Christians as +early as the second century; but it is full of manifest absurdities, +outrageous even to the most compliant credulity. A fair sample of its +stories--not including the miraculous, which are exceedingly puerile--is +the one which relates that at the circumcision of Jesus an old Hebrew +woman took the part that was severed "and preserved it in an +alabaster-box of old oil of spikenard. And she had a son who was a +druggist, to whom she said, 'Take heed thou sell not this alabaster-box +of spikenard-ointment, although thou shouldst be offered three hundred +pence for it.' Now this is that alabaster-box which Mary the sinner +procured, and poured forth the ointment out of it upon the head and the +feet of our Lord Jesus Christ, and wiped it off with the hairs of her +head." + +The _Gospel of Mary_ has been made the basis of much serious belief in +regard to the Blessed Virgin, and especially have Christian artists +drawn from its pages suggestions for their subjects. We will summarize +the account it gives of the Mother of Jesus. "The blessed and ever +glorious Virgin Mary, sprung from the royal race and family of David, +was born in the city of Nazareth, and educated at Jerusalem, in the +temple of the Lord. Her father's name was Joachim, and her mother's +Anna. The family of her father was of Galilee and the city of Nazareth. +The family of her mother was of Bethlehem. Their lives were plain and +right in the sight of the Lord." Nevertheless, for twenty years they +suffered what, in the eyes of the Jews, was one of the greatest of +misfortunes: they were childless. Joachim is taunted with this fact by +Issachar, the high priest. The good man, being much confounded with the +shame of such reproach, retired to the shepherds who were with the +cattle in their pastures; for he was not inclined to return home, lest +his neighbors, who were present and heard all this from the high-priest, +should publicly reproach him in the same manner. Thereupon an angel +appears to him and informs him that his wife Anna shall bring forth a +daughter, and that they shall call her Mary. "She shall, according to +your vow, be devoted to the Lord from her infancy, and be filled with +the Holy Ghost from her mother's womb; she shall neither eat nor drink +anything that is unclean, nor shall her conversation be without among +the common people, but in the temple of the Lord; that so she may not +fall under any slander or suspicion of anything that is bad." The angel +also appears to Anna, giving her the like information. "So Anna +conceived, and brought forth a daughter, and, according to the angel's +command, the parents did call her name Mary." + +"And when three years were expired, and the time of her weaning +complete, they brought the Virgin to the temple of the Lord with +offerings. And there were about the temple, according to the fifteen +Psalms of degrees, fifteen stairs to ascend. For the temple being built +on a mountain, the altar of burnt-offering, which was without, could not +be come near but by stairs; the parents of the blessed Virgin and infant +Mary put her upon one of these stairs; but while they were putting off +their clothes, in which they had travelled, and according to custom +putting on some that were more neat and clean, in the mean time the +Virgin of the Lord in such a manner went up all the stairs one after +another, without the help of any to lead or lift her, that anyone would +have judged from hence that she was of perfect age. Thus the Lord did, +in the infancy of his Virgin, work this extraordinary work, and evidence +by this miracle how great she was like to be hereafter. But the parents +having offered up their sacrifice, according to the custom of the law, +and perfected their vow, left the Virgin, with other virgins in the +apartments of the temple, who were to be brought up there, and they +returned home." + +Mary, we are told, was ministered unto by angels until her fourteenth +year, and preserved from all suspicion of evil, so that "all good +persons, who were acquainted with her, admired her life and +conversation. At that time the high-priest made a public order, that all +the virgins who had public settlements in the temple, and were come to +this age, should return home; and as they were now of a proper maturity, +should, according to the custom of their country, endeavor to be +married." This, Mary refuses to do, she having vowed her virginity to +the Lord. Then the high priest convenes a meeting of the chief persons +of Jerusalem to seek counsel from Heaven in this matter. A voice from +the mercy-seat directs that all the men of the family of David who were +marriageable and not married should bring their staves to the altar, +"and out of whatsoever person's staff after it was brought, a flower +should bud forth, and on the top of it the Spirit of the Lord should sit +in the appearance of a dove, he should be the man to whom the Virgin +should be given and be betrothed." + +Among the rest there was a man named Joseph, of the house and family of +David, and a person very far advanced in years, who drew back his staff, +when everyone besides presented his. Joseph, however, was clearly +pointed out, in the manner described, as being the chosen man. +"Accordingly, the usual ceremonies of betrothing being over, he returned +to his own city of Bethlehem, to set his house in order, and make the +needful provisions for the marriage. But the Virgin Mary, with seven +other virgins of the same age, who had been weaned at the same time, and +who had been appointed to attend her by the priest, returned to her +parents' house in Galilee." Then follows an account of the Annunciation, +similar to that given by Saint Luke, but somewhat elaborated. "Then +Mary, stretching forth her hands, and lifting her eyes to heaven, said, +'Behold the handmaid of the Lord. Let it be unto me according to thy +word.'" + + [Illustration 2: _CHRIST AND THE DAUGHTER OF JAIRUS After the + painting by Albert Keller. + + The ready faith of the Gospel women is illustrated by many + narratives of miracles wrought in their behalf. The faith of + Martha and Mary was rewarded by the restoration to life of their + brother Lazarus. There was the woman whom physicians could not + cure, yet her faith led her to touch the hem of the Master's + garment, and she was made whole. To the widow of Nain, as she + accompanied the dead body of her son to its sepulchre, was given + that son restored to life. The despised Syrophenician woman + proved her humility and her faith, and her daughter was made + whole. Christ's commiseration was manifested notably to woman, + though not exclusively, as we see in the case of the raising of + the daughter of Jairus in answer to the father's faith._] + +In the _Protevangelion_ all this is recited, but at greater length. It +is there said of Mary that, while she lived in the temple, "all the +house of Israel loved her." It is related also of her that she was +chosen by the priests to weave the purple veil for the temple. In this +writing, Mary is described as having received the announcement of the +angel as she went to the spring to draw water. There is also a curious +passage in which Joseph is represented as telling the experiences which +came to him as he went to seek a midwife in the village of Bethlehem. +"As I was going," he says, "I looked up into the air, and I saw the +clouds astonished, and the fowls of the air stopping in the midst of +their flight. And I looked down toward the earth, and saw a table +spread, and working people sitting around it, but their hands were upon +the table, and they did not move to eat. They who had meat in their +mouths did not eat. They who lifted their hands up to their heads did +not draw them back; and they who lifted them up to their mouths did not +put anything in; but all their faces were fixed upwards. And I beheld +the sheep dispersed, and yet the sheep stood still. And the shepherd +lifted up his hand to smite them, and his hand continued up. And I +looked unto a river, and saw the kids with their mouths close to the +water, and touching it, but they did not drink." + +Notwithstanding all that is said in these ancient writings in the +attempt to do her honor, we must conclude that the glory of the halo +which beautifies the head of the real Mary is derived by reflection from +the moral splendor of her Son. Of what intrinsic greatness of soul she +was possessed it is difficult for us to surmise from the slight +attention given to her in the Gospels. Yet she rightly holds her +position as woman idealized. We need such a poetic creation as Mary; and +her place at the head of all the daughters of earth is the more secure +and effective because her figure in authentic history is but a shadowy +outline. The ideal woman whom all mankind loves and reverences as +Virgin, Mother, and Saint, is objectified by concentrating in Mary of +Nazareth all possible feminine grace, beauty, and purity. + +Let us turn now to another Mary who, in the Gospel history, achieved a +fame hardly less renowned than that of her great namesake: Mary of +Magdala, out of whom Christ cast seven devils. Magdala was a town on the +lake of Galilee, as notorious for its profligacy as it was famous for +its wealth, derived from the manufacture of dyes. Mary's affliction was +doubtless as much of a moral as of a mental nature; it may refer to the +abandonment of immoral excess into which she was driven by her +passionate nature. The Jews at the time of Christ were wont to ascribe +every form of evil, physical and also spiritual, to the agency of +demons, who were supposed to have the power of taking possession of +human beings as a habitation. The tradition of the Church has always +identified Mary Magdalene with the woman who, in Simon's house, anointed +Christ's feet with ointment, after washing them with her tears. Still, +it must be confessed that there is no certain foundation for this +belief. On this point, Archdeacon Farrar says: "The Talmudists have much +to say respecting her--her wealth, her extreme beauty, her braided +locks, her shameless profligacy, her husband Pappus, and her paramour +Pandera; but all that we really know of the Magdalene from Scripture is +that enthusiasm of devotion and gratitude which attached her, heart and +soul, to her Saviour's service. In the chapter of Saint Luke which +follows the account of her anointing the Lord's feet in the Pharisee's +house she is mentioned first among the women who accompanied Jesus in +his wanderings, and ministered to him of their substance; and it may be +that in the narrative of the incident at Simon's house her name was +suppressed, out of that delicate consideration which, in other passages, +makes the Evangelist suppress the original condition of Matthew." + + +Mary Magdalene's great part in the Gospel history was at the +Resurrection. To her ardent love and intense imagination, enabling her +to visualize Him who, though dead, she could not relinquish, +rationalists ascribe the inception of the doctrine of the Resurrection. +According to this theory, as Mary of Nazareth brought Jesus into the +world, so through Mary of Magdala His risen Spirit was born into the +Church. But this is not the faith of Christendom; nor can the testimony +of the Gospels be reasonably disposed of in this manner. To the +Magdalene was given the supreme honor of receiving the first greeting of +her risen Lord; and her testimony is the chief cornerstone of the most +comforting doctrine of Christianity. + +The gospel narrative gives a prominent place to woman,--as a believer in +Christ, as His devoted follower and constant ministrant, and also as a +faithful and unswerving witness to His wondrous works. The ready faith +of the Gospel women is illustrated by many narratives of miracles +wrought in their behalf. The faith of Martha and Mary was rewarded by +the restoration to life of their brother Lazarus. There was the woman +whom physicians could not cure, yet her faith led her to touch the hem +of the Master's garment and she was made whole. To the widow of Nain, as +she accompanied the dead body of her son to its sepulchre, was given +that son restored to life. The despised Syrophenician woman proved her +humility and her faith, and her daughter was made whole. Christ's +commiseration was manifested notably to woman, though not exclusively, +as we see in the case of the raising of the daughter of Jairus in answer +to the father's faith. In the life of Christ, the supernal event in the +world's history, woman's influence and activity were not less than +man's; but, unlike his, her part was marked by unalloyed purity, +magnanimity, and faithfulness. + + + + +II + +THE WOMEN OF THE APOSTOLIC AGE + + +THE leaven of Christianity worked speedily and powerfully in raising +woman to a position of greater honor in the estimation of the adherents +of the new religion. In regard to mental and spiritual relations, it put +her at once upon an equal footing with men, which was an entirely new +development in human thought. We have seen how, even in Judaism,--the +purest religion and the highest moral system known to the world previous +to the coming of Christ,--woman held an inferior position and was +debarred from many of its privileges, though not from its moral +responsibilities. According to the Levitical code, when a man made an +offering of any person of his family to the Lord, the value of a male +was estimated at fifty shekels, while that of the female was put at +thirty shekels; and, as in all cases where an arbitrary comparison is +instituted between men and women, this computation was independent of +the possession or lack of personal excellences. The mere undeveloped +manhood in an otherwise worthless individual gave him, in Jewish +estimation, a two-fifths superiority over the noblest woman. The very +stupidity of this is an indication that sex can hardly have been +designed by the Creator as a basis on which to found the right to the +majority either of the duties or the privileges of human life. Under the +new dispensation Paul says: "There can be neither Jew nor Greek; there +can be neither bond nor free; there can be no male and female: for ye +are all one man in Christ Jesus." That the Apostle forbade women from +taking part in the public ministrations in the congregation is still +regarded, by the majority of people, as being harmonious with the +natural fitness of things; and in those times at least, when the +education of women was so terribly neglected, it was a measure +absolutely necessary to the preservation of decency. + +Of the new life opened to women in Christianity, Renan truly says: "The +women were naturally drawn toward a community in which the weak were +surrounded by so many guarantees." Their position in the society was +then humble and precarious; the widow in particular, despite several +protective laws, was the most often abandoned to misery, and the least +respected. Many of the doctors advocated the not giving of any religious +education to women. The Talmud placed in the same category with the +pests of the world the gossiping and inquisitive widow, who passed her +life in chattering with her neighbors, and the virgin who wasted her +time in praying. The new religion created for these disinherited +unfortunates an honorable and sure asylum. Some women held most +important places in the Church, and their houses served as places of +meeting. As for those women who had no houses, they were formed into a +species of order, or feminine presbyterial body, which also comprised +virgins, who played so capital a role in the collection of alms. +Institutions which are regarded as the later fruit of +Christianity--congregations of women, nuns, and sisters of charity--were +its first creations, the basis of its official strength, the most +perfect expression of its spirit. + +The Christian Church is described, as it existed in the earliest germ, +in the fourteenth verse of the first chapter of Acts: "These (the eleven +Apostles) all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with +the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren." The +women referred to were those faithful ones who followed Jesus from +Galilee and ministered to him of their substance; those who went early +to the tomb on Easter morning, to perform the last offices of affection, +and found the sepulchre empty: Mary Magdalene, Salome the mother of John +and James, Joanna, and "the other Mary." But these are no more mentioned +by name in the New Testament; nor is even the mother of Jesus again +referred to, except in that impersonal manner in which Saint Paul speaks +of Christ as "born of a woman." A large and prominent place was held by +women in the life of Jesus, but those same women are not accorded a +corresponding importance in the history of the founding of the Church. +It is a new set of names that we encounter in Apostolic history; +converts from heathendom, and those who labored with the Apostle to the +Gentiles. The records allow the women of the Gospels to fall into +obscurity; but they will never pass out of human memory as a galaxy +which surrounded the Bright and Morning Star. + +As yet the Church had not developed an organization, except that the +Twelve--the place of Judas having been filled--were recognized as +leaders by virtue of their having been chosen by Christ. The rest, women +equally with men, were simply believers. Even the Apostles had no plan, +no foresight of future development. Officers were created only as +conditions arose which required them. At first the Church was simply a +communistic family, bound together in holy love by a common enthusiasm. +The ordinary conventions of society were for the time suspended; men and +women lived together in the free communion of a great family. Their time +was almost wholly spent in prayer and the work of conversion; the +ordinary avocations of life were almost entirely discontinued. The +community was supported out of a common stock, which was daily +replenished by the proceeds of the sale of the possessions of converts. +No one called his own anything that he had; they held all in common. +Their number was too great for a common table, but they met in large +parties at each other's houses, none suffering disparagement on account +of condition or sex. Each evening meal was a commemoration of the Last +Supper of Christ with his disciples. This briefly enduring prototype of +a perfect human society contained in itself the prophecy of all that +Christianity would do for woman through all the slow development of the +ages. In the community of the Jerusalem Christians she was neither a +slave nor a subordinate. The burden of the daily provision, which still +falls so heavily on the vast majority of women, was here rendered +extremely light, for all helped each and each helped all. Equal +fellowship also in the great spiritual possession caused all the marks +of woman's inferiority to vanish, and the sexes freely mingled in a pure +and noble companionship. + +But this perfect type of society was not destined long to endure. It +appeared only for a brief season, barely sufficient to intimate what +human life might be, if governed by the Spirit of Jesus; and then a +woman was accessory to a deed which showed that the ideal was as yet far +too high for a practical and prudent world. Sapphira and Ananias had +sold their possession and had laid a part of the price at the Apostles' +feet, under the pretence that they were devoting their all. "Tell me," +said Saint Peter, "did ye sell the land for so much?" "Yes," answered +Sapphira, faithful to the conspiracy she had entered into with her +husband, "that was the amount." "Ye have agreed together to lie unto +God," said the Apostle. "The feet of them who have buried thy husband +are at the door; they shall carry thee out also." And she immediately +"gave up the ghost." And the young men carried her out and buried her by +her husband. The description of the burying seems to indicate that it +was done as quietly as possible, probably so as not to attract the +attention of the people. But great fear of the power of the Apostles +seized those who heard the rumor of these happenings. It is not a +pleasant story, and it jars on a conscience in which the memory of the +Gospel teaching is fresh and vivid. Yet the Church was not so strong in +itself but that it needed to resort to drastic measures in order to +protect itself from covetous hypocrisy within, more to be feared than +violent persecution from without. As to the pathological cause of the +death of Sapphira and her husband, no explanation is given. In the +market place of a town in Wiltshire, England, there is a remarkable +stone monument, which was erected by the corporation to commemorate a +"judgment" which took place on the spot many years ago. According to the +lengthy inscription engraved upon the column, three women had agreed to +purchase a certain quantity of flour, each contributing her share of the +price. A dispute arose, owing to one having declared that she had paid +her part, though the amount could not be accounted for. Being accused of +trying to cheat, she exclaimed that she wished she might fall dead if +she were not telling the truth. She immediately fell to the ground and +expired, whereupon the money was found upon her person. Those who caused +the inscription to be written for the warning of future marketers +believed it to be a "judgment." Doubtless it was the effect of +excitement upon a pathological condition of the heart. The comparison +between this case and that of Sapphira and Ananias is weakened only by +the strange fact that husband and wife should, on the same day, meet +death in this remarkable manner. It is perhaps worthy of notice that +Herodias and Sapphira are the only women mentioned by name in the New +Testament against whom anything discreditable is charged. + +As the number of believers increased in Jerusalem, trouble was +encountered in regard to the daily provision. The communistic plan of +living was by no means rigidly insisted upon, as is shown by the fact +that Peter admits that Ananias was not obliged to make an offering of +the whole or even of a part of the price of his possession. Converts +were added too rapidly, and their organization was too loose for the +perfecting of any economical system. We see, however, the congregation +making careful provision for the indigent by a daily distribution. + +There were in Jerusalem many Hellenistic Jews; that is, those who were +reared in foreign countries or were born of parents so reared. The +Palestinian Jew affected a distinct superiority over these. This seems +to have been allowed to result in a slight showing of ill will between +the native and foreign-born Jews who accepted Christ. The latter found +cause to complain that their widows were neglected in the daily +distribution; this seems to indicate that the widows were supported out +of the revenues of the Church, a fact which quickly resulted in their +being considered in the service of the Church. We find the widows early +mentioned in a sort of corporate capacity. In the account of the raising +of Dorcas, who was probably herself of this condition of life, it is +said that Peter called "the saints and the widows." From this narrative +we are led to infer that the manufacture of garments for the poor was +recognized as the contribution of these women to the corporate activity +of the Church. It was the inception of a distinctly female order in the +Christian ministry. + +In order that there should be no cause for complaint on the ground +mentioned above, the Apostles instructed the whole body of believers to +select from their number seven men, to whom should be intrusted the +charitable work of the Church. These men were not deacons, in the sense +in which this term has come to be applied, nor are they thus termed +anywhere in the Acts of the Apostles. The office remained, but the +duties changed; after the breaking up of the Christian community in +Jerusalem by persecution, these "deacons" devoted themselves to the more +attractive work of preaching, and from this time the ministry of good +works fell naturally into the hands of the women. + +Very early in the history of the Church there came into existence an +order of female deacons, or deaconesses. It is more particularly in the +Gentile congregations planted by Paul that we find this institution. In +his Epistle to the Romans, among many other matters of a personal +interest, we find the Apostle saying: "I commend unto you Phoebe our +sister, who is a deaconess of the church that is at Cenchreas;" and he +requests them to receive her worthily of the saints and to assist her in +whatsoever matter she may have in hand, for that she "hath been a +succorer of many, and of mine own self." It is extremely probable that +Phoebe was the bearer of this letter to the Romans. She may have been +travelling to the city on affairs of her own, or it may be that Paul is +referring to some commission from the Church which had been imparted to +her by word of mouth. + +He also sends greeting to Tryphaena and Tryphosa, who, with Persis, were +probably deaconesses serving the church at Rome. Euodias and Syntyche, +who are mentioned in the Epistle to the Philippians, were, there is +every reason to believe, in this same order of the ministry. The Apostle +testifies to the earnest cooperation in his work for which he is +indebted to these two women; but from his exhortation that they "be of +the same mind," we may infer that there was some disagreement among +them. Absolute harmony was not always maintained, even among the saints +of the early Church. Saintliness has never yet been able entirely to +eradicate from human nature all that is unseemly; and it is more than +likely that if it were only possible for us to gain an intimate and +personal knowledge of the conditions which prevailed in the Apostolic +Church, we should not be greatly discouraged by a comparison of those +days with our own times. The glamour of extraordinary holiness which +succeeding centuries have thrown over that age was not perceptible to +Paul. The lapse of time is of itself sufficient to idealize, and even to +apotheosize, remarkable personages who in reality were not without their +weaknesses. + +What were the precise duties of these female servants we do not know. In +the uncrystallized organism of early Christianity it is likely that +their field of activity was not closely defined. From the Apostle's rule +we know that they did not take part in the public ministrations. "Let +the women," says he, "keep silence in the churches." In his idea of +Christianity, the family is the unit, with the man as the responsible +head. "If they would learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at +home; for it is shameful for a woman to speak in the church." And yet, +in what he says in the eleventh chapter of his first Epistle to the +Church at Corinth, he seems to admit that the women have the right both +to pray and prophesy in the congregation. But it may be the Apostle is +judging the question not as _per se_, but in accordance with the +prevailing ideas of his time. He who was "all things to all men," in +order to win them, concluded that it was the duty of women to keep +silent rather than to arouse prejudice by trampling on custom and thus +endangering the success of the Gospel. The women of the Corinthian +Church seem to have abandoned the traditions of their time and people in +this respect and were in the habit of praying and prophesying in the +congregation, and, moreover, without the customary veil. In regard to +this last-mentioned departure, Paul is emphatic: "Every woman praying or +prophesying with her head unveiled dishonoreth her head. Judge ye among +yourselves, is it seemly that a woman pray unto God unveiled?" On this +subject Dr. McGiffert comments as follows: "The practice, which was so +out of accord with the custom of the age, was evidently a result of the +desire to put into practice Paul's principle that in Christ all +differences of rank, station, sex, and age are done away. But Paul, in +spite of his principle, opposed the practice. His opposition in the +present case was doubtless due in part to traditional prejudice, in part +to fear that so radical a departure from the common custom might bring +disrepute upon the Church, and even promote disorder and licentiousness. +But he found a basis for his opposition in the fact that by creation the +woman was made subject to the man. Paul's use of such an argument from +the natural order of things, when it was a fundamental principle with +him that in the spiritual realm the natural is displaced and destroyed, +must have sounded strange to the Corinthians; and Paul himself evidently +felt the weakness of the argument and its inconsistency with his general +principles, for he closed with an appeal to the custom of the churches: +'We have no such custom, neither have the churches of God,' therefore +you have no right to adopt it. This was the most he could say. Evidently +he was on uncertain ground." + +Those same restrictive traditions, which prevented the deaconesses from +taking part in public instruction or ministering in the congregation, +rendered their service imperatively necessary in many of the private +activities of the Christian Church. They instructed female catechumens +in the first principles of the new religion; they prepared them for +baptism, and by their attendance disarmed inimical criticism when this +sacrament was administered to women. To their hands was committed the +ministry of mercy. They relieved the sick, instructed the orphans, +consoled their sisters when in trouble, encouraged those who were +condemned to martyrdom, and were the official embodiment of that +characteristic fraternalism in the early Church which induced even their +heathen enemies to exclaim: "How these Christians love." + +It was not essential that a woman appointed to the office of a deaconess +should be free to devote her whole time to the service of the Church. +The two slave girls whom Pliny examined by torture upon the rack, and of +whom he wrote to the Emperor Trajan, were very probably deaconesses. The +order was composed of virgins who were tried and trained by a life of +chastity and devotion and finally set apart to the office at the mature +age of forty; or--and this was more commonly the case--of devout and +sober-minded widows. In all probability Paul is referring to this order +in that which he says of widows in his first letter to Timothy. There he +writes: "Let none be enrolled as a widow under threescore years old, +having been the wife of one man, well reported of for good works; if she +hath brought up children, if she hath used hospitality to strangers, if +she hath washed the saints' feet, if she hath relieved the afflicted, if +she hath diligently followed every good work. But younger widows refuse: +for when they have waxed wanton against Christ, they desire to marry; +having condemnation, because they have rejected their first faith. And +withal they learn also to be idle, going about from house to house; and +not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which +they ought not. I desire therefore that the younger women marry, bear +children, rule the household, give none occasion to the adversary for +reviling." + +It is very remarkable that we seem to be left to infer from the above +that the Apostle's indictment as to idling, tattling, gadding, and +meddling is not to be charged against widows of over threescore. + +Some students have held that the passage quoted above refers, not to +deaconesses, but to a sort of female presbyters, like those who in the +age succeeding that of the Apostles had a certain oversight over the +widows and orphans of the congregations. On the other hand, Neander, the +ecclesiastical historian, considers that the widows referred to were +simply those who depended upon the Church for support and were +consequently expected to manifest their worthiness by an example of +special devoutness. But it is hardly believable that the Christian +conscience would have refused such assistance to widows under sixty +years of age or to those who had married the second time and had been +again widowed. The probabilities are in favor of the view that all +indigent and unfortunate Christian females were tenderly cared for by +the charity which abounded in the Apostolic Church; but from those +widows who had arrived at the age of sixty, and had shown themselves to +be fitted for such an office by especial devotion to good works and by +their approved trustworthiness, certain ones were enrolled for the +service of the Church in the order of deaconesses. + +Thus one of the earliest effects of Christianity was to introduce into +its own society, in every city, an order of women who were looked up to +with respect and veneration and intrusted with power and authority such +as no women had previously enjoyed, except in the almost unique +instances of the vestals at Rome and the prophetesses among the ancient +Germans. This could not fail to raise the whole sex in general respect, +as well as in its own estimation. + +As we have already noticed, the order of deaconesses did not consist +exclusively of widows; it was, however, confined to those females who +were free from all matrimonial obligations. + +In the early Church, celibacy was held in exceeding high regard. Other +qualifications being equal, virginity greatly increased a woman's +reputation for sanctity. It is true that it is not until post-apostolic +times that we find this condition of life exalted to the contradiction +both of the laws of nature and the dictates of reason; but the +foundation for the belief that the virgin life is superior to the +married state was unquestionably laid by Paul himself. While he readily +admits that marriage is honorable, he, at the same time, +enthusiastically recommends celibacy to those who are able to persevere +in continence. To the Corinthians he wrote: "He that giveth (a daughter) +in marriage doeth well; but he that giveth her not in marriage doeth +better." Whence arose this idea of the moral superiority of virginity? +Surely not from Judaism; for among the Jews an unmarried woman was +regarded as being to the greatest degree unblessed. Nor did it come from +paganism; for though there were vestal devotees of the deities, the +materialism which governed Greek and Roman religion entirely precluded +any belief in a moral inferiority as resulting from the rightful +intercourse of the sexes. In the rebound from the materialism of +paganism, Christianity swung the thought of its adherents to the +opposite extreme. The body was considered as hopelessly corrupt until +regenerated by the resurrection. It is a dead weight, retarding the +development and the triumph of the spirit; its natural functions are +tainted with evil and should be ignored and mortified so far as +necessity will permit. The contemplation of the terrible licentiousness +which characterized paganism gave a great bias to the views of the early +Christians on this subject. The asceticism of celibacy seemed to them an +easier way to escape the contamination of the world than that which led +through the honorable path of married life. + +In the seventh chapter of Paul's first letter to the Corinthians he is +wholly on the side of celibacy, though he was far too reasonable a man +not to recognize the possibility of purity in marriage. "I say to the +unmarried and to widows, it is good for them if they abide even as I. +But if they have not continency, let them marry." It is very probable +that the Apostle was a widower; for very few Jews of his time lived +without marrying to the age which we may reasonably suppose he had +attained before his conversion. He also says: "Now concerning virgins I +have no commandment of the Lord; but I give my judgment, as one that +hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful." We are to understand +this mercy of which he speaks, not as referring to any deliverance from +past marital encumbrances, but to the gift of faithfulness. Then he says +that in view of the present distress from persecution, while it is good +to be married, it is at least not less good to be single. "But and if +thou marry, thou hast not sinned; and if a virgin marry, she hath not +sinned. Yet such shall have tribulation in the flesh, and I would spare +you." The tribulation he speaks of refers to the double portion of the +"present distress" to which the married would be subject. His principal +argument in favor of the unwedded state is that those who remain in it +are enabled to devote themselves more completely to the service of God. + +But there was no sign in the Apostolic Church of that morbid enthusiasm +for virginity which fills the pages of the post-Nicene writers. We know +that Peter was married; and there is evidence that he took his wife with +him on his missionary journeys. "Have we not," says Paul, "power to lead +about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles, and the brothers of +the Lord, and Cephas?" Tradition also informs us that Peter had a +daughter whose name was Petronilla. The Apostle Philip had three +daughters. Eusebius quotes from a letter written by Polycrates, who was +bishop of the church at Ephesus, to Victor, Bishop of Rome, in which he +says: "Philip, one of the twelve Apostles, sleeps in Hierapolis, and his +two aged virgin daughters. Another of his daughters, who lived in the +Holy Spirit, rests at Ephesus." Eusebius also in the same passage +speaks, on the authority of Proculus, of "four prophesying daughters of +Philip;" but it is most likely that he here confounds the deacon Philip +with the apostle of the same name. From Acts we learn that the former +had four daughters who prophesied and labored with their father at +Caesarea in Palestine. + +Paul, in his Epistles, gives the names of about eighty friends and +disciples; about twenty more are referred to in the Acts of the +Apostles. Quite a large proportion of these are women, to whom the +Apostle sends kindly greeting. His mention of them is always in the +terms of respectful regard, and never merely complimentary or carefully +polite. To many of these women he was deeply indebted for the care with +which they had ministered to his comfort as he journeyed to and fro on +his missionary tours; the names of some of them were treasured in his +memory as those of zealous and valued fellow laborers in the cause of +the Gospel. In both these relations, and also, perhaps, in that of his +dearest female friend, stood Priscilla, the wife of Aquila. She is the +most frequently mentioned of all the women of the Apostolic Church, but +always in conjunction with her husband. These people were Jews whose +home was at Rome, but owing to the edict by which Claudius banished from +the city all of their nationality they were living in Corinth when Paul +first met them. In the Acts of the Apostles we learn that he was drawn +to them because they were tent-makers like himself. "He abode with them +and they wrought.... And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath." In +this picture is seen the whole simple machinery of apostolic missions. +Paul's first inquiry in Corinth is for a man of his own trade. He hears +of Priscilla and Aquila, and at once finds with them a welcome both to +lodging and also employment. Their work was such as could be readily +carried on in the room which served for a lodging, and required but +little in the way of implements, so that they could freely and easily +move from one city to another. The work probably consisted in the making +of tent cloth. This material was of goats' hair, which was plaited into +strips, these being joined together. We see the three sitting together, +and, with hands busy at the monotonous toil, which was not exacting in +the matter of attention, reasoning of the things pertaining to the +kingdom of God. It was probably thus that the conversion of this husband +and wife was brought about. Then on the Sabbath they would repair to the +Jewish synagogue, where Paul would in public expound the new and strange +doctrine. We can imagine how Priscilla would prepare for that week-end +preaching. There would be no Jewess within her circle of acquaintances +but would receive notice, with the admonition not to fail to be present. +It is the inception of the "woman's auxiliary" in missionary work; but +how simple was this first propaganda! + +There was no board of managers either to hamper or advise; the workers +were responsible only to the spirit that moved within them. There were +no collections, nor any hindrance for lack of funds. Paul, Aquila, and +Priscilla labored with their own hands, and they were free and enabled +to go everywhere preaching the Gospel. The result of their work was that +in Corinth, the city devoted to a lustful worship and exemplifying the +worst corruptions of paganism, there was to be seen a band of men and +women whose lives were glorified and purified by devotion to the +teachings of Jesus. + +It is noteworthy that the name of Priscilla is placed in the book of +Acts, and also elsewhere, before that of her husband. Possibly this may +indicate that she was of a higher rank or a nobler family; but we prefer +to think that it is a tribute and a testimony to her zeal and greater +prominence in the Church. It is not unlikely that Aquila was known as +the husband of the successful female missionary Priscilla. + +When the Apostle left Corinth these two fellow workers accompanied him +as far as Ephesus. There he left them, with affectionate promises to +return. Priscilla and Aquila settled in Ephesus for a time, and an +opportunity was afforded them to perform a service for the Church, the +effect of which it is impossible for us now to estimate. Apollos was a +great name in the Apostolic Church. He came to have a large following +among the Corinthian Christians; and he was probably the author of the +Epistle to the Hebrews. This man, who is described as "eloquent and +mighty in the Scriptures," was by Priscilla and her husband brought to a +full knowledge of the Gospel. + +When Paul was writing his first letter to the Corinthians he included +greetings from Priscilla and Aquila, and also "from the church that is +in their house," indicating that the home of this couple was the meeting +place of the Christians of Ephesus. He again mentions them in his letter +to the Romans: "Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my helpers in Christ Jesus, +who for my life laid down their own necks; unto whom not only I give +thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles." It is impossible to +ascertain what was the instance here referred to of their devotion to +him; perhaps it relates to the experience of the Apostle when he "fought +with beasts at Ephesus." + +There dwelt in the Macedonian city of Philippi a woman named Lydia, who +had come there from Thyatira. She was engaged in the business of selling +purple, whether the color itself or garments so dyed cannot be +determined; but as women of that time were often employed in the +manufacture of drugs and chemicals, it is likely that she prepared that +dye which was so popular in the ancient Roman world. She had become a +convert to Judaism. There seem to have been few Jews in Philippi, for it +is evident that they had no synagogue, but were in the habit of meeting +in the open air, on the banks of the river Strymon. Lydia, like many of +the women of her time, was an earnest seeker after religious truth. When +Paul came to Philippi, on the first Sabbath he went to the place of +prayer, "and spake unto the women which resorted thither." This is a +remarkable expression, inasmuch as it seems to indicate that only women +were present, an extremely unusual congregation in the ancient world. +But Paul, unlike the Jewish rabbis, did not deem a gathering of women +unworthy of his most solicitous efforts. Lydia justified his exertions, +for she became a convert to Christianity and was baptized with her whole +household. She was a person of considerable means. The selling of purple +was a very remunerative business. In gratitude for the new light which +she had received, and desirous to learn more of the Gospel, Lydia +importuned the Apostle and his friends to take up their abode in her +house, which, at least for the time, became the gathering place of the +church in Philippi. + +There is no possibility of overestimating the debt that Christianity +owes to the fostering care of the early female converts. Its story has +never been written from the standpoint of the women; if it could be so +written, it would be seen that the labors of love which were +accomplished by the feminine nature were no less fruitful than those +which are recorded of the more public masculine activities. + +While Paul was in Philippi, he encountered another woman, of a station +and occupation very different from that of Lydia. She was a slave girl, +who was in all probability what is known nowadays as a clairvoyant. The +people believed that she was inspired by the Pythian Apollo. The +narrative in the Acts of the Apostles says that she "was possessed of a +spirit of divination," and that "she brought her masters much gain by +soothsaying." There seems to have been a company or syndicate which, by +means of the mysterious powers of this girl, traded upon the +superstitions of the people. But Christianity was in opposition to this +form of spiritualism. The girl, we are told, followed Paul and his +friends and gave loud testimony to their divine mission. Very likely she +heard the Apostle's preaching, and received an impression that resulted, +owing to the peculiar condition of her mind, in an acute perception of +the true character of the missionaries. Paul, however, had no desire to +be introduced by any such medium as this. He exorcised the evil spirit +which, according to Jewish notions, possessed the damsel; that is, by +the influence of suggestion probably, he freed the girl from the +thraldom of the abnormal condition of mind which had hitherto made her +doubly a slave. + +While we are engaged with the subject of Paul's female converts and +acquaintances, it ought not to seem out of place if we give a little +notice to that remarkable piece of literature which was popular in the +early Church, and is known as the _Acts of Paul and Thecla_. It is +certain that the main facts set forth in this legend were credited by +such prominent ancient writers and theologians as Cyprian, Eusebius, +Augustin, Gregory Nazianzin, Chrysostom, and Severus Sulpitius. +Chrysostom especially gives a very clear indication of his belief in the +story of Paul and Thecla. Basil of Seleucia wrote the history of Thecla +in verse. Baronius, Archbishop Wake, and also the learned Grabe consider +the facts as being authentic history. On the other hand, Tertullian says +that it was forged by a presbyter of Asia, who confessed that he +invented the account out of respect for Paul. And again, it is held that +The _Acts of Paul and Thecla_, as we have it, is not the original book +of the early Christians. + +At any rate, even though it be nothing more than an imaginative +creation, inasmuch as an account of Thecla and her companionship with +Paul was extant early as the second century, as is proved by its being +mentioned by Tertullian, it is surely worthy of attention for it shows, +at a time so contiguous, how the age of the Apostles was pictured. + +The scene is laid in the beginning at Iconium, whither Paul had fled +from Antioch in Pisidia, as is related in the thirteenth chapter of the +Acts of the Apostles. There he is received by Onesiphorus and Lectra his +wife. In their house the Apostle preaches. At a window in a nearby house +sits the young maiden Thecla. She hears Paul's words, and is so +captivated by his discourse that nothing can tear her away. As her +mother says, she is there continuously, "like a spider's web fastened to +the window." At this rather long range the Gospel teaching takes effect +in her heart, and she becomes a convert to Christianity. Her mother and +Thamyris, her lover, endeavor by various means to divert her mind from +these things; but it is all in vain. Thamyris, chagrined because the +maiden no longer loves him, procures the arrest and imprisonment of +Paul. Thecla, by bribing the jailers with her ear-rings and silver +looking-glass, procures admittance to the prison, where she is still +more firmly established in the faith. + +On being found by her relatives, and refusing to marry Thamyris, she is +ordered to be burned at the stake; but in a miraculous manner the fire +is extinguished and Thecla is preserved. In the meantime, Paul, being +banished from the city, takes refuge with Onesiphorus and his family, in +a cave. There Thecla finds him, and begs to be allowed to accompany him +in his travels. They go on to Antioch, where Alexander, a magistrate, +falls in love with Thecla's beauty, and because she resists his advances +she is condemned to be thrown to the wild beasts. + +While she is waiting for the day on which her sentence is to be +executed, Thecla implores the governor that she may be preserved from +the unchaste designs of Alexander. To this end the governor gives her +into the charge of Trifina, a noble matron of the city. The maiden gains +not only the affection of Trifina, but also the sympathy of all the +women who learn of her unfortunate fate. When the time comes for her to +be thrown to the beasts, they refuse to attack her; and even though she +is tied to wild bulls, she is miraculously saved. Alarmed by this +wonder, the magistrate releases her, and she is adopted by Trifina. + +"So Thecla went with Trifina, and was entertained there a few days, +teaching her the word of the Lord, whereby many young women were +converted; and there was great joy in the family of Trifina. But Thecla +longed to see Paul, and enquired and sent everywhere to find him; and +when at length she was informed that he was at Myra, in Lycia, she took +with her many young men and women; and putting on a girdle, and dressing +herself in the habit of a man, she went to him to Myra, and there found +Paul preaching the word of God. + +"Then Paul took her, and led her to the house of Hermes; and Thecla +related to Paul all that had befallen her in Antioch, insomuch that Paul +exceedingly wondered, and all who heard were confirmed in the faith, and +prayed for Trifina's happiness. Then Thecla arose, and said to Paul, 'I +am going to Iconium.' Paul replied to her, 'Go, and teach the word of +the Lord.' But Trifina had sent large sums of money to Paul, and also +clothing by the hands of Thecla, for the relief of the poor." + +After this no further mention is made of the Apostle. Thecla returns to +Iconium, where she endeavors to convert her mother, but with no success. +Taking up her abode in the cave where she first talked with Paul, she +lives a virgin life and attains to a great age, doing many marvellous +works and acquiring a great fame for sanctity. + +This is a brief summary of the story which, whether it be fact or fancy, +was devoutly believed by many of the earliest Fathers of the Church. + +The Apostle to the Gentiles wrote: "Not many wise after the flesh, not +many mighty, not many noble are called." The Gospel of the Galilean +Carpenter found an eager reception chiefly among the humble; the names +of Lydia and Priscilla are those of workingwomen. Some of the names of +women that Paul mentions in his Epistles are those of bondservants. His +acquaintances in the houses of the great were among the menials. But +Christianity ennobled those to whom it came. We know nothing of Chloe of +Corinth, of Claudia of Rome, of Euodias, of Syntyche, of Persis, of +Phoebe, or of Damaris, except that they were among the first workers, +the charter members of the Church; their names are engraved ineffaceably +upon the foundations of the Faith. In an especial manner these women +were working for the uplifting of their sex. They were pioneers who +first ventured in that movement which inevitably brings enlargement of +life for all womankind. + +Yet Christianity was not wholly without its witnesses among the women of +the higher ranks of society. If Acte, Nero's freedwoman, really were a +Christian,--and it is strange that such a tradition should have arisen +without a foundation in fact,--she could not have been without an +influence upon the noble ladies with whom she was thrown into contact. +Pomponia Graecina was brought to trial for embracing a foreign religion. +This, in after ages, was believed to be Christianity; and it is +certainly possible that Sienkievicz's splendid portrayal of her as a +Christian matron is not wholly beside the mark. + +A little later, in the time of Domitian, we know that Christianity +invaded the imperial household. Domatilla, the niece of the emperor and +the wife of the noble Flavius Clemens, was an avowed Christian, and for +the sake of her faith was banished to the island of Pandataria, which +had been made the prison of women of far different character. + + + + +III + +THE ERA OF PERSECUTION + + +PERSECUTION of the early Christians was preordained by some of the most +prominent and essential qualities of human nature. Every new habit of +thought is at first looked upon with dislike. Political and religious +innovations are especially regarded with disfavor, because their +promulgation necessarily involves the disadvantage of official adherents +of prevailing systems, as well as the causing of that most disagreeable +form of mental irritation which follows upon the breaking in upon the +inertia of long-established prejudices. + +Christianity was calculated to arouse determined opposition both from +the political and also the religious forces of the empire. It was looked +upon as a menace to the state and a dishonor to the gods. Rome was +extremely tolerant of new religions, and its policy was to allow the +people of its widely diversified conquests to retain their traditional +forms and objects of worship; but the Roman deities must not know +disrespect, and the most fair-minded emperors could comprehend no +reason, except a treasonable one, why subjects should scruple to render +obedience to the statutes commanding that divine honors should be paid +to their imperial selves. But the very genius of Christianity +necessitated absolute intolerance of other religious cults. The +worshippers of Cybele or Isis had not the least objection to paying +their devotions to Vesta on the way to their own favorite temple; the +women who besought Mars for the victory of their husbands, absent with +the legions, freely offered incense before the statue of the emperor who +sent forth those legions; but, for the Christians, to give Christ a +place among the national deities was to do Him the greatest dishonor and +to commit mortal sin, and to burn a handful of incense before the statue +of the emperor was wicked idolatry and entailed the forfeiture of +eternal salvation. Their missionary zeal compelled them to manifest the +contempt in which they held the pagan gods, and thus the Christians laid +themselves open to the charge of atheism as well as to that of treason. +As Gibbon says: "By embracing the faith of the Gospel the Christians +incurred the supposed guilt of an unnatural and unpardonable offence. +They dissolved the sacred ties of custom and education, violated the +religious institutions of their country, and presumptuously despised +whatever their fathers had believed as true, or had reverenced as +sacred." And inasmuch as the religion of the state was a part of the +constitution of the state, their resolute rejection of it marked them, +in the eyes of the rulers, as enemies of the state. + +As the history of martyrdom is in almost every instance written by the +friends of the sufferers, the motive of the persecutors is usually +represented as wanton cruelty, while in fact it frequently was the case +that the civil magistrate honestly deemed himself to be carrying out +necessary precautions for the welfare of society. This assertion, which +tends to the defence of the credit of human nature, can confidently be +made in regard to most cases of official persecution. "Revere the gods +in everyway according to ancestral laws," said Maecenas to Augustus, +"and compel others so to revere them. Those, however, who introduce +anything foreign in this respect, hate and punish, not only for the sake +of the gods,--want of reverence toward whom argues want of reverence +toward everything else,--but because such, in that they introduce new +divinities, mislead many also to adopt foreign laws. Thence come +conspiracies and secret leagues which are in the highest degree opposed +to monarchy." Julius Paulus laid down as a fundamental principle in +Roman law: "Such as introduce new religions, whose bearing and nature +are not understood, by which the minds of men are disquieted, should, if +they are of the higher ranks, be transported; if of the lower, be +punished with death." To a Roman the state was everything; individual +liberty could only run in such courses as were parallel with the policy +of the state. Those who retained a sincere belief in the ancient deities +worshipped them as the patrons and guardians of the imperial destinies; +the philosophical sceptics were no less inclined to insist upon that +worship as a thing of political necessity, a means of binding the +unintelligent in loyalty to the government. + +In view of this, it is not to be wondered at that the contemptuous +attitude which the Christians manifested to the ancient religions seemed +to some of the wisest Romans to be nothing other than a stubborn +fanaticism, concealing a hateful antagonism to society. Their meetings, +which persecution necessarily made secret, were believed to be +treasonable; their resolute isolation from the common amusements, which +were deeply tainted with vice, caused them to be stigmatized as haters +of mankind; the mystery which surrounded their worship provided a ready +acceptance for the popular slander that in their secret gatherings the +worst atrocities were perpetrated. To such men as Trajan and Marcus +Aurelius, all this seemed a spreading evil to be determinedly stamped +out. + +On the other hand, it is true that the persecution of the Christians was +taken advantage of to minister to the lust for spectacles of blood and +agony which degraded the ancient world. There were the lions waiting; +there were Christians who deserved death: why waste so good an +opportunity to make a characteristic "Roman holiday." + +We are appalled at the remembrance of civilized savagery which could +delight in the sight of helpless women and tender maidens torn by beasts +or writhing in the fire; and yet, almost equal cruelty, though not +perpetrated in the same spirit, has been witnessed at so recent a date, +and at the hands of "Christians," that we can hardly with a good grace +reproach paganism for its atrocities of this kind. The potential +"devilishness" which is in human nature is surely one of its prime +mysteries. + +In the literature of Christian martyrdom it is frequently assumed that +there were ten general persecutions; but, as Mosheim says, this number +is not verified by the ancient history of the Church. For if, by these +persecutions, such only are meant as were singularly severe and +universal throughout the Empire, then it is certain that these amount +not to the number above mentioned. And if we take the provincial and +less remarkable persecutions into the account, they far exceed it. The +idea that the Church was to suffer ten great calamities arose from an +interpretation of certain passages of Scripture, particularly one in +Revelations. + +In these days of gentler manners and easier faith, we are hardly more +amazed at the cruelties which were enacted to abolish Christianity than +we are astonished at the fortitude with which its adherents endured +them. Never did punishment so signally fail as a deterrent. The Church +grew most rapidly when to be a Christian almost certainly ensured +martyrdom. It is a marvellous history, that of the three hundred years +of struggle between Christianity and paganism, in which all earthly +considerations were abandoned for a conception of morality and for a +faith in the existence of a life beyond the grave. The same spirit has +always characterized Christianity, but never with such enduring +persistence or with such success as in the early days. + +In the records of this struggle it is abundantly shown that women were +not spared, nor did they bear their part with less honor or courage than +the men. It was in the Church as it has been in all history: while the +government and the superior fame are awarded to one sex, equality in the +opportunity and in the endurance of suffering are not denied to the +other. The weaker sex has never been inferior in the ability to bear +pain, or in the courage to go cheerfully to a martyr's death. It was no +more common for women under the stress of torture to relinquish their +faithfulness than for men. In the enthusiasm born of their hope in the +Gospel, it was as much the wont of young virgins to meet the lion's eye +without flinching as it was that of wise and venerable bishops. + +The first principal persecution took place under Nero. There is no sign +of any general edict by him against the Christians; so it is probable +that the severities in this reign were confined to Rome. It is even +doubtful if Nero cherished any purpose of suppressing Christianity. He +found the Christians the most convenient victims for a charge of burning +the city; so he satisfied the people by affixing the guilt to these +hated sectaries, and at the same time amused the idle Roman populace by +an unusual exhibition. + +There is no mention of the names of those who suffered under the +imperial actor; but there is no doubt there were many women in the +number. Doubtless, some of those women to whom Paul sent greeting and +gave other mention in his Epistle suffered at this time. Though their +names are not recorded in the chronicles of martyrdom, the blood of many +of the Apostle's feminine friends at Rome helped to cement the +foundation of the Church. Of all the tragedies witnessed by the City of +the Seven Hills, in which women had taken a part, none was so +significant as this. The wives and daughters of kings, consuls, and +emperors had met death in the pursuit of ambitious projects. To them the +fatal violence of tyrants meant hopeless failure; to these Christian +women, who belonged to the lowest walks of society, it meant glorious +success. When those died, their ambitions ended; when these perished, +the faith which they so bravely confessed was only made stronger by +their sufferings. + +It is not unlikely that Poppaea, the wife of Nero, may have played an +important part in this persecution. The Christians encountered as bitter +opposition from the Jews as from the heathen. The fellow countrymen of +Paul frequently succeeded in stirring up the animosity of the rulers +against him and the other teachers of the new religion. While, as a +rule, they themselves were extremely obnoxious to the Romans, it +happened that at this time they had a powerful friend in the wife of the +tyrant. Josephus relates how Poppaea befriended him, and he is +enthusiastic in his praise of her "religious nature." So it may very +likely have been--as the gifted author of _Quo Vadis?_ describes--that +the accusation of firing the city was fastened upon the Christians by +the instrumentality of the Jews, and that Nero found a readier access to +this welcome expedient through the counsel of Poppaea. + +No description could be more vivid, or more trustworthy,--seeing that +his prejudice is entirely against the Christians,--than that given by +Tacitus of the cruelties perpetrated by Nero upon the followers of +Christ. "He inflicted the most exquisite tortures on those men (we know +from other evidence that there was no discrimination in regard to sex in +these sufferings) who, under the vulgar appellation of Christians, were +already branded with deserved infamy. They derived their name and origin +from Christ, who in the reign of Tiberius had suffered death by the +sentence of Pontius Pilate. For a while this dire superstition was +checked; but it again burst forth; and not only spread itself over +Judaea, the first seat of this mischievous sect, but was even introduced +into Rome, the common asylum which receives and protects whatever is +impure, whatever is atrocious. The confessions of those who were seized +discovered a great multitude of their accomplices, and they were all +convicted, not so much for the crime of setting fire to the city as for +their hatred of human kind. They died in torments, and their torments +were embittered by insult and derision. Some were nailed on crosses; +others sewn up in skins of wild beasts, and exposed to the fury of dogs; +others again, smeared over with combustible materials, were used as +torches to illuminate the darkness of the night. The gardens of Nero +were destined for the melancholy spectacle, which was accompanied with a +horse-race, and honored with the presence of the emperor, who mingled +with the populace in the dress and attitude of a charioteer. The guilt +of the Christians deserved indeed the most exemplary punishment, but the +public abhorrence was changed into commiseration, from the opinion that +those unhappy wretches were sacrificed, not so much to the public +welfare as to the cruelty of a jealous tyrant." Gibbon, commenting on +this passage, adds the reflection that in the strange revolutions of +history those same gardens of Nero have become the site of the triumph +and abuse of the persecuted religion. Where the first Roman followers of +the Galilean Carpenter suffered for their confession, the successors of +Peter exert a world-embracing hierarchical sway and a power far +surpassing that of the greatest emperor. + +No nation besides Rome ever systematically turned the torture of +criminals into a popular pastime; but there the people had become so +accustomed to the butchery of human beings in the public games that +nothing was so welcome as a new device for heightening the effect of +agonized death throes, except a large supply of judicially condemned men +and women on whom to prove it. Nero had good reason to be well assured +that he would not incur the displeasure of the people by condemning the +Christians to the circus and the amphitheatre. + +They were arrested in great numbers and crowded into a prison the +loathsomeness of which was itself a horrible torture. A holiday was +appointed so that the whole populace might be regaled by the sufferings +of these men and women. The orgy of cruelty which ensued seems beyond +the power of human nature to witness, much less to inflict. It is with +great reason that the early Christians looked upon Nero as the +Antichrist, the one representing in his nature the infinity of +opposition to the Saviour. From none of those horrors were women exempt. +Like the men they were crucified; they were covered with the skins of +wild beasts and mangled by dogs; and, their garments being dipped in +pitch, they were converted into living torches to light the gardens at +night. Clement of Rome also tells us that many Christian women were made +to play the part of the Danaids and of Dirce. It was the custom to give +realistic representation to mythological subjects by compelling +criminals to take the part of the victim of the tragedy. Consequently, +the women who represented Dirce were tied to the horns of a wild bull +and dragged about the arena until they were dead. The well-known piece +of ancient sculpture known as the Farnese Bull is the original tragedy +pictured in stone. An inscription in Pompeii indicates that this +exhibition was a common sight in the arena, women who were condemned +being frequently put to death in this manner. No point likely to add to +the effect of the scene was sacrificed to decency. The shame at being +exposed naked, which would humiliate a Christian maiden even at the +moment of impending death, simply afforded an element of jocularity to +the tragedy in the eyes of that barbarous Roman multitude. + +Doubtless the imperial author of these scenes took more pleasure in them +than did any of his subjects. Renan thus pictures him: "As he was +nearsighted, he used to put to his eye on such occasions a concave lens +of 'emerald,' which served him as an eyeglass. He liked to exhibit his +connoisseurship in matters of sculpture; it is said that he made brutal +remarks on his mother's dead body, praising this point and criticising +that. Living flesh quivering in a wild beast's jaw, or a poor shrinking +girl, screening herself by a modest gesture, then tossed by a bull and +cast in lifeless fragments on the gravel of the arena, must exhibit a +play of form and color worthy of an artist-sense like his. Here he was, +in the front row, on a low balcony, in a group of vestals and curule +magistrates,--with his ill-favored countenance, his short sight, his +blue eyes, his curled light-brown hair, his cruel mouth, his air like a +big silly baby, at once cross and dull, open-mouthed, swollen with +vanity, while brazen music throbbed in the air, turned to a bloody mist. +He would, no doubt, inspect with a critic's eye the shrinking attitudes +of these new Dirces; and I imagine he found a charm he had never known +before in the air of resignation with which these pure-hearted girls +faced their hideous death." + +Were these poor women, as they awaited in prison their doom, comforted +and encouraged by the presence of the Apostle charged to "feed my +lambs"? We do not know. But the firmness and constancy with which they +endured trials so horrible even unto death bespeak the marvellous effect +of the early enthusiasm of the Christian faith. These women were in the +vanguard of the Christian army which first met the deadly force of +heathen opposition; and because they did not flinch, but bore the pains +of martyrdom for their faith, that faith ultimately triumphed and filled +the world with its light. For more than two hundred years, however, the +women who embraced this faith were to live in the daily dread of the +terrible cry: "The Christians to the lions." + +After the death of Nero, for a time the Church was, comparatively +speaking, unmolested; though as Christianity was increasing in strength, +it was regarded with greater hatred on the part of the general populace. +Ugly stories began to be set afloat referring to the practices of this +new sect. Later on it came to be believed that its adherents were in the +habit of feasting, in their secret gatherings, on the body of a newborn +child. This feast was said to be followed by an entertainment in which +men and women abandoned themselves to the most abominable and +promiscuous licentiousness. These charges, absurd as they were, served +to obliterate any ray of pity which otherwise might have visited the +minds of their persecutors. + +In the year 81, Domitian, whom Tertullian describes as "of Nero's type +in cruelty," succeeded Titus on the imperial throne. Influenced by his +suspicion of all organizations, and also by the refusal of the Jewish +people to pay the capitation tax which was designed to provide for the +finishing of the Capitol, he instituted a persecution of the Jews, +which, for want of better knowledge on the part of the Romans, could not +fail to involve the Christians. His own niece, Domitilla, who had been +married to his cousin Flavius Clemens, was an avowed Christian, though +up to this time the faith had made few converts among the high and +mighty. Domitian banished her to the Island of Pandataria, and put to +death her husband, probably on the same charge. They were accused rather +vaguely of atheism and Jewish manners; but it seems probable that the +Church has made no mistake in placing them among her first sufferers. +This persecution by Domitian is counted as the second in the list of +ten; but, though many besides Domitilla were put to death, it hardly +seems possible that the persecution could have become very general, for +only a few months after it began Domitian was assassinated by a freedman +belonging to Domitilla, who, as Gibbon remarks, surely had not embraced +the faith of his mistress. + +The reign of the Emperor Trajan was, in many respects, marked by the +greatest prosperity and the best administration that Rome ever enjoyed; +but his strict government and close supervision, combined with his +loyalty to the ancient traditions, made that reign an era of severity +for the Christians. Pliny was governor of Bithynia and Pontus, and +thence he wrote to the emperor informing him that the Christians were +gaining headway everywhere, so much so that the temples of the gods were +being forsaken by the people of all classes. He desired advice as to how +he should proceed. By the application of torture to two maidservants who +held the office of deaconesses in the local church he had elicited the +information--for the learning of which, doubtless, torture was entirely +unnecessary--that "the whole sum of their error consisted in this, that +they were wont, at certain times appointed, to meet before day, and to +sing hymns to one Christ their God. They also agreed among themselves to +abstain from all theft, murder, and adultery; to keep their faith, and +to defraud no man: which done, they departed for that time, and +afterwards resorted again to take a meal in companies together, both men +and women, and yet without any act of evil." + +To this Trajan replied that the Christians should not be sought after, +nor should anonymous accusations be received; but when they were brought +before the magistrate they should be punished. A most inconsistent +decision; for, as Tertullian pointed out, if they deserved to be +punished when caught, they ought also to be sought after as guilty. + +In the legends of the martyrs there is an account of a widow named +Symphrosa who, with her seven sons, suffered death by the command of +Trajan. They refused to sacrifice to the gods at his behest. First, the +mother was tortured by being hung up for some time in the temple of +Hercules by the hair of the head, and then drowned; afterward, her sons +were by various means tortured and put to death. + +We now come to the time of the philosophic emperor, Marcus Aurelius. +During the reign of his predecessor, Antoninus Pius, the Christians were +generally left to practise and propagate their religion in peace. +Consequently, the Gospel made rapid inroads upon paganism; so much so +that the latter was stirred to a more bitter opposition than had ever +before been instituted. At the first glance it appears a difficult +problem in moral philosophy to explain how so wise and righteous a ruler +as Marcus Aurelius could bring himself to persecute so cruelly an +inoffensive people like the Christians. But in the first place it must +be remembered that ecclesiastic history of that time, as we have it, is +very uncertain; in fact, it is greatly distorted and exaggerated. There +are good reasons for believing that what is called a general persecution +was confined largely to the one province of Gaul. Then it is very likely +that the emperor knew but little of the character of the Christians or +of the nature of their doctrines; that he held an unfavorable opinion of +them is shown by his own words. It also seems to be the fact that he +issued no new edict against them; but the rescript of Trajan was still +in force, which was to the effect that Christians, when accused in legal +form, and failing to recant, should be punished. Marcus Aurelius simply +allowed this rule to be enforced by the magistrates. He saw in the +Christians only stubborn recalcitrants against the established +government. Whatever may have been the amount of the emperor's direct +responsibility in the matter, during his reign the flame of persecution +again burst out; and among many others, some women won lasting fame by +the glorious constancy and courage of their martyrdom. + +One of the most illustrious was Felicitas, a Roman lady of good family +and the mother of seven sons. It was the policy of the magistrates not +to punish unnecessarily, but to endeavor to win those who were accused +to an acknowledged abandonment of their faith. In this case the judge +deemed it the more efficacious method to proceed against the mother +first, in the hope that in winning her to change her religion, he would +have less trouble with her sons; but neither promises of freedom nor +threats of total destruction of herself and her family could prevail. +Then he caused each son to be brought before him separately, and +endeavored both by menaces and persuasion to turn them from their +allegiance. Felicitas, however, had too thoroughly instilled into her +sons' minds the principles upon which her own faith and courage were +founded; they were unanimous in their steadfastness. The consequence was +that the mother was doomed to see her offspring executed one by one; and +at last, her resolution being invincible even before this terrible +trial, Felicitas herself was beheaded. + +The brunt of the persecution which took place in the reign of Marcus +Aurelius was borne by the Christians of Gaul, particularly those of +Lyons and Vienne. We possess a good description of these sufferings in a +letter which has been preserved by Eusebius, and which was sent by the +survivors of these devoted churches to their brethren in the other parts +of the empire. "The greatness of the tribulation in this region," says +the epistle, "and the fury of the heathen against the saints, and the +sufferings of the blessed witnesses, we cannot recount accurately, nor +indeed could they possibly be recorded. For with all his might the +adversary fell upon us, giving us a foretaste of his unbridled activity +at his future coming. He endeavored in every way to practise and +exercise his servants against the servants of God, not only shutting us +out from houses and baths and markets, but forbidding any of us to be +seen in any place whatever. But the grace of God led the conflict +against him, and delivered the weak, and set them as firm pillars, able +through patience to endure all the wrath of the Evil One." + +The letter goes on to relate how the heathen servants of many of the +Christians were arrested, and, through fear of suffering the same +dreadful tortures which they saw visited upon the believers, testified +falsely that the Christians were wont to indulge in the most atrocious +practices. This was believed by the common people, with the result that +all pity was extirpated from their breasts, and they hunted the +Christians with a rage which could only be likened to that of wild +beasts. + +One of the most renowned of the sufferers on this occasion was the slave +Blandina, "through whom Christ showed that things which appear mean and +obscure and despicable to men are with God of great glory.... For while +we all trembled, and her earthly mistress, who was herself also one of +the witnesses, feared that on account of the weakness of her body she +would be unable to make a bold confession, Blandina was filled with such +power as to be delivered and raised above those who were torturing her +by turns from morning until evening in every manner, so that they +acknowledged that they were conquered, and could do nothing more to her. +And they were astonished at her endurance, as her entire body was +mangled and broken; and they testified that one of these forms of +torture was sufficient to destroy life, not to speak of so many and so +great sufferings. But the blessed woman, like a noble athlete, renewed +her strength in her confession; and her comfort and recreation and +relief from the pain of her sufferings was in exclaiming, 'I am a +Christian, and there is nothing vile done by us.'" + +All this torture seems to have taken place in the examination of +Blandina before the tribunal; for we read how, later, she with others +was taken to the amphitheatre to be exposed to the wild beasts, a +spectacle having been arranged in order that the people might be regaled +with the sight of the Christians' sufferings. At this exhibition the +people themselves decided as to what forms of cruelties the victims +should endure, shouting out their demands for the fiery stake or the +beasts, as their horrible fancies dictated. + +Blandina was suspended on a cross, and there left to the mercy of any of +the numerous wild beasts prowling around the arena that might choose to +attack her. But on this occasion she was left unmolested; and the sight +of her, hanging from the stake and thus reminding them of the Master +they served, as well as the prayers she continually offered, so +heartened her comrades that they were the better enabled to meet their +death with a good courage. + +The memory of Blandina has justly been preserved through all these +centuries as one of the bravest and best in the noble "army of martyrs." +No doctor of theology ever bore more effective testimony to the faith; +no Christian soldier ever contended more earnestly for the cause; no +philosopher ever advanced a stronger argument in evidence of the truth +of religion than this poor slave woman who thus suffered in the bloody +arena where Christianity fought and conquered seventeen centuries ago. +Women were not allowed by the law of the Church to teach in the +assembly; but Blandina, from her rostrum of pain which was set up in the +amphitheatre at Lyons, by her faith which could enable her to forget her +own misery in the desire to cheer other sufferers, preached such a +sermon as sentences of polished eloquence can never emulate. + +We cannot better finish our account of this great martyr than by quoting +the description of her end as it is given in the letter mentioned above. +"On the last day of the contests, Blandina was again brought in, with +Ponticus, a boy about fifteen years old. They had been brought every day +to witness the sufferings of the others, and had been pressed to swear +by the idols. But because they remained steadfast and despised them, the +multitude became furious, so that they had no compassion for the youth +of the boy nor respect for the sex of the woman. Therefore, they exposed +them to all the terrible sufferings and took them through the entire +round of torture, repeatedly urging them to swear, but being unable to +effect this; for Ponticus, encouraged by his sister so that even the +heathen could see that she was confirming and strengthening him, having +nobly endured every torture, gave up the ghost. But the blessed +Blandina, last of all, having, as a noble mother, encouraged her +children and sent them before her victorious to the King, endured +herself all their conflicts and hastened after them, glad and rejoicing +in her departure as if called to a marriage supper; rather than cast to +wild beasts. And, after the scourging, after the wild beasts, after the +roasting seat, she was finally enclosed in a net, and thrown before a +bull. And after being tossed about by the animal, but feeling none of +the things which were happening to her, on account of her hope and firm +hold upon that which had been entrusted to her, and her communion with +Christ, she also was sacrificed. And the heathen themselves confessed +that never among them had a woman endured so many and such terrible +tortures." + +The horrible circumstances attending the persecution at Lyons seem to +have been largely instigated by the fury of the ungovernable mob; there +are indications that the trial of Christians was oftentimes carried on +in strict conformity with legal measures, and also with some show of +pity on the part of the judges. The punishments in cases like these were +no less severe; but there is some, comfort in thinking, inasmuch as the +persecutors were members of the human race like ourselves, that they +felt bound by their consciences to proceed to these extreme measures in +the endeavor to put down what they believed to be a dangerous +innovation. To understand persecution rightly, it is necessary not only +to sympathize with the sufferers, but also, so far as is possible, to +take the viewpoint of the persecutors. It is only in comparatively +recent times that barbarities in legal proceedings have been +discontinued. Age has not yet destroyed all the implements of torture +that were considered part of the necessary furniture of a European +prison. Far down in Christian times, the examination of a prisoner was +considered to be very properly and justly facilitated by the application +of thumbscrews and iron boots. Even our own memory is not entirely +lacking in incidents where water has been used to the great discomfort +of a prisoner, with the object of expediting his confession. Hence, it +would be absurd to expect to find a Roman magistrate of the second +century after Christ contenting himself with expostulating with those +whom the laws, the traditions, and the customs of his country condemned. +This failing, he would naturally try a stronger argument. + +This is illustrated in the cases of the renowned martyrs Perpetua and +Felicitas. These were ladies of Carthage, who suffered during the reign +of Severus. Perpetua was only a learner in the Christian faith, not yet +having been baptized. She was young, married, and possessed a still +stronger tie to existence in the young infant which she carried in her +arms. Her father, by whom she was greatly beloved, visited her in prison +and endeavored to persuade her to renounce Christianity. Failing in his +arguments and entreaties, he even exercised the parental right which the +law of his day gave him to chastise his daughter; but he could elicit no +word of decision from her other than: "God's will must be done." + +While in the prison she was baptized, and was thus still more strongly +fortified to meet the trial which was before her. At her examination we +have such a picture as is indicated above. The judge entreated her to +have compassion on her father's tears, on her infant's helplessness, as +well as on her own life. He pointed out to her the cruel position in +which she was placed by her religion, and used this as an argument +against it. But it all availed nothing. She was returned to the prison +to await the day of execution. Her companion in this direful +anticipation was Felicitas, a married woman who was about to become a +mother. This Christian woman also, on being brought before the +procurator, had been entreated by him to have pity upon herself and her +condition; but she had replied that his compassion was useless, since no +thought of self-preservation could induce her to be unfaithful to her +religion. While in the prison she gave birth to a girl, which was +adopted by a Christian woman who as yet was free. + +On the day of their execution, Perpetua and Felicitas were taken to the +amphitheatre and stripped of their clothing; but on this occasion, +however lacking the people may have been in the quality of mercy, they +at least showed some feelings of decency, for they requested that the +women might be allowed to have their garments. The two martyrs were then +exposed to the fury of an enraged bull. The animal attacked them both; +but as neither of them was mortally wounded, an officer despatched them +with his sword. + +The authorities doubtless congratulated themselves that by the death of +these poor women the hated religion was by so much reduced; but "the +blood of the martyrs was the seed of the church," and by the courage of +its martyrs more people were incited to investigate the new faith than +by their sufferings were deterred from following it. In fact, there are +instances on record that the constancy of the Christians in their +sufferings bore immediate fruit in the conversion of the spectators; +where those who came to revile shared in the end the death of those they +helped to persecute. The most noted example of this kind is that of +Potamiana, who suffered under the emperor Severus. Rufinus says that she +was a disciple of Origen. We are also informed by Palladius that she was +a slave, and that her condemnation originated in the passion of her +master. Angered by her steadfast refusal to submit to his desires, he +accused her to the judges as a Christian, and bribed them to endeavor to +break her resolution and afterward return her to himself; but their +tortures proved as ineffectual as his persuasions. At last, being +sentenced to death, she was given in charge of Basilides, an officer of +the army, to be led to the place of execution. On the way thither, when +the people sought to annoy her by insult and abuse, Basilides drove them +back, and, probably more by his actions than by words, manifested for +her much kindness and pity. Eusebius says that Potamiana, "perceiving +the man's sympathy for her, exhorted him to be of good courage, for she +would supplicate her Lord for him after her departure, and he would soon +receive a reward for the kindness he had shown her. Having said this, +she nobly sustained the issue, burning pitch being poured, little by +little, over various parts of her body, from the soles of her feet to +the crown of her head. Such was the conflict endured by this famous +maiden." + +Shortly after this, Basilides, being requested by his fellow soldiers to +take an oath, refused; and he gave it as his reason that it was not +lawful for him to swear, he being a Christian. At first they thought he +was jesting; but as he persistently affirmed it, they took him before +the judge, with the result that the next day he was beheaded. He was +reported to have said that for three days after her martyrdom Potamiana +stood by him night and day, and that she placed a crown upon his head, +telling him that she had besought the Lord for him and had obtained what +she asked, which was that he should soon be with her. + +In the year 250 the Emperor of Rome was Decius. During his brief reign +he instituted one of the severest persecutions that the Church was +called upon to endure. Yet there is reason to believe that this emperor +was a man of superior character and high principles. Alarmed at the +corruption that prevailed in the empire, he sought to restore the +ancient customs and to strengthen the primitive religion. As a means +deemed by him necessary to this end, he endeavored to extirpate +Christianity. This was the first persecution in which the attempt was +universally made to destroy the Church. This persecution was +consequently far more terrible than any which had preceded it. +Fortunately, the reign of Decius lasted only two years; but during that +time vast numbers of Christians were put to death, and the women were as +little spared as they had been on former occasions. There is no need of +recounting their individual sufferings, as it would simply be a +repetition of the horrors described above. + +In the meantime, the Church had greatly changed in its character. It had +grown sufficiently strong to compete with paganism even in point of +numbers. During the periods of peace there were taken into its fold a +great many who were not strongly grounded in the faith, nor had they the +mind to endure in the time of persecution. Consequently, when it came to +the trial, great numbers would return to a formal practice of heathen +worship, with the purpose in mind of returning to the Church after the +storm had passed over. These often obtained certificates from the +magistrates to the effect that they had made the required recantation. +The Church had also begun to define its creed with metaphysical nicety +of expression, with the consequence that many discussions arose and +numerous heretical sects came into being. The heathen, however, did not +discriminate; therefore, the heretical had their martyrs as well as the +orthodox; and there is no proof that the former were less ready to die +for their faith than the latter. But, to show the jealousy which variety +in religious opinion will engender, it is recorded that even when +members of the various sects of Christians were suffering martyrdom +together, they refused to recognize each other. + +By this time also the doctrine of the superior sanctity of virginity had +become firmly established in the Church. It was probably owing to this +that, in the later persecutions, we frequently find reference made to +women being threatened with unchaste attacks on their persons with the +sole purpose of driving them to the abjuring of their religion. Gibbon, +referring to this, speaks of it in the following manner: "It is related +that pious females, who were prepared to despise death, were sometimes +condemned to a more severe trial, and were called upon to determine +whether they set a higher value upon their religion or upon their +chastity. The youths to whose licentious embraces they were abandoned +received a solemn exhortation from the judge to exert their most +strenuous efforts to maintain the honor of Venus against the impious +virgin who refused to burn incense on her altars. Their violence, +however, was commonly disappointed, and the seasonable interposition of +some miraculous power preserved the chaste spouses of Christ from the +dishonor of even an involuntary defeat. We should not indeed neglect to +remark that the more ancient as well as authentic memorials of the +Church are seldom polluted with these extravagant and indecent +fictions." + +There is no doubt that the monks of later times did waste their leisure +in fabricating such miraculous interposition; but there surely is a +flippancy in the tone of what is above quoted, as indeed in Gibbon's +whole treatment of the persecution of the early Christians, which is not +worthy of the great historian. + + [Illustration 3: _CHRISTIANS IN THE ARENA After the painting by + L. P. de Laubadere. + + Were these poor women, as they awaited in prison their doom, + comforted and encouraged by the presence of the Apostle charged + to "feed my lambs"? We do not know. But the firmness and + constancy with which they endured trials so horrible even unto + death bespeak the marvellous effect of the early enthusiasm of + the Christian faith. These women were in the vanguard of the + Christian army which first met the deadly force of heathen + opposition; and because they did not flinch, but bore the pains + of martyrdom for their faith, that faith ultimately triumphed + and filled the world with its light. For more than two hundred + years, however, the women who embraced this faith were to live + in the daily dread of the terrible cry: "The Christians to the + lions."_] + +Eusebius informs us that "the women were no less manly than the men in +behalf of the teaching of the Divine Word, as they endured conflicts +with the men, and bore away equal prizes of virtue. And when they were +dragged away for corrupt purposes, they surrendered their lives to death +rather than their bodies to impurity." He instances the case of a woman +and her two daughters, whom Chrysostom, in an oration in their honor, +names as Domnina, Bernice, and Prosdose. These women, being as beautiful +in their persons as they were virtuous in their minds, were threatened +during the Diocletian persecution with violation. While the guard was +taking them back to the place from which they had fled to avoid this +danger, they took advantage of a moment in which they were not watched +to throw themselves into the river, where they found safety in death. +Another case was that of the wife of the prefect of Rome. Maxentius, the +emperor, being seized with a passionate desire for her, sent officers to +bring her to the palace. The lady begged time in which to adorn herself +for the occasion. This being granted, as soon as she found herself +alone, she stabbed herself, so that the messengers going to her room +found nothing but her dead body. These instances are recorded with great +admiration by both Eusebius and Chrysostom, showing that the leaders of +the early Church deemed it less prejudicial to a woman's salvation for +her to take her own life than to suffer even the involuntary defilement +of her body. + +The reign of Diocletian and his colleagues saw the final struggle +between Christianity and paganism. It was a bloody conflict for the +Christians; and yet, though they refrained from resisting evil with +material weapons, they conquered. Women in great numbers were again +faithful unto death. Some were for the time frightened from their +allegiance to Christ; for the pure precepts were becoming increasingly +diluted with worldliness as well as superstition. Among these women were +the wife and daughter of Diocletian, Prisca and Valeria. These had +become converts to the faith; but when the edict was published against +the Christians, they sacrificed to the traditional gods. It availed them +little, however; for they gained only a few years of most distressful +life at the cost of the martyr's crown. In the end the violent death +came to them without the honor, for in the year 314 Licinius caused them +to be beheaded and their bodies thrown into the sea. They had committed +no fault of which any evidence is left; and for several years they had +suffered from the loss of their property and from the hardships of +exile. Diocletian was still alive, but could render them no aid, as he +had abdicated the throne and was now busying himself solely in growing +vegetables. Licinius was mistakenly supposed to be a friend to +Christianity; Constantine had become its champion. But, as Victor Duruy +says: "Notwithstanding celestial visions and marvellous dreams, these +men were destitute of heart, and their faith, if they had any, was +without influence upon their conduct. Their cruelty was universally +commended; in reference to all these murders, the Christian preceptor of +a son of Constantine utters a cry of triumph. The inspiration of the +gentle Galilean Teacher was replaced by that of the implacable Jehovah +of the Mosaic law." The tables had turned; Christianity was now in +power; the heretofore persecuted soon set out on the way to become the +persecutors. + + + + +IV + +SAINT HELENA AND THE TIME OF CONSTANTINE + + +At last we see Christianity triumphant. What has been an obscure but +hated and persecuted sect now becomes the dominant religion in the +Empire; the people who had hidden underground in the Catacombs are now +the favorites of the palace. It had been a conflict between spiritual +forces and carnal weapons, between patient propagandism and vindictive +conservatism; on one side, invincible missionary zeal joined with +undefensive submission, on the other, senseless misrepresentation and +cruel persecution. But what can overcome the idea for which men and +women are ready to die? It was a conflict in which, on the Christian +part, women were as well fitted to engage as were men. The exalted +purity of Christian maidens was as effective in setting at naught the +counsels of the ungodly as were the elaborate arguments of the +apologists; the blood of believing matrons was as fertile for the +increase of the Church as was that of bishops and presbyters. The +followers of Christ clung to the Cross and conquered. + +At the same time, victory did not come without heavy loss to the Church. +In this loss, however, must not be reckoned the lives of the martyrs. +The men and women who sacrificed themselves to the Cause were considered +to have won thereby, not mere fame, but the enjoyment of celestial glory +in a conscious eternal life; and their death was always repaid to the +Church by an increase of a hundred-fold. But as the Church gained in +extension, it lost in intention. The organization, the religion, the +name won; but the spirit, the inner principles of Christianity lost. In +this sense the victory was much in the nature of a compromise. +Christianity became the faith of the Empire; but the Empire did not +adopt for its rule the pure precepts of Christ. Constantine's court +worshipped the Nazarene; but Constantine's conduct was not superior to +that of many of his heathen predecessors. The ancient religion was +superstitious, and it is not possible to contend that the religion of +Helena was free from that fault. The women of an older Rome were greatly +subject to frailties of the flesh, and like scandals were by no means +uncommon in the palaces of Christian emperors. It is not difficult to +match Agrippina and Poppaea in the history of Rome after the Council of +Nicaea. The religious revolution which took place in the world was much +more rapid in respect to theory than it was in practice. + +This is the history of all evolutions of the ideal. The first +missionaries are exalted by their enthusiasm above common nature; they +soar to the clouds. The martyrs are not restrained by any of the ties of +various sorts which bind humanity; they despise the flesh. But their +converts partake of their spirit in a lesser degree; as these increase, +a growing proportion of them realize that for them life must continue to +be very much what it always has been. It is not possible for all to +maintain themselves in an intense and eager quest for the ideal. The +heroic leaders may attain the empyrean, but the multitude must drag on +the ground, thankful if at the most they can keep their feet; for, be +our ideals what they may, in reality the chief business of life is +living. + +Again, as in all other movements, when the Church began to grow in +popularity, numbers came within her pale whose minds were more attracted +by her philosophy than their hearts were affected by her principles. +Consequently the Christians were early divided on matters of theological +opinion. There were all shades of variation in belief, and each +distinction of faith meant a sect more or less divided from the common +body of Christians. And it must be admitted that very quickly, even +before the fires of persecution had been quenched, there appeared that +bitterness which has always characterized and disgraced theological +differences in the Church. The leaders of orthodoxy began to deprecate +deviations from the common rule of faith with greater severity than they +did lapses from fundamental morality. The Church consequently lost much +of its pristine influence, which had been so successful in purifying the +lives of the Christians. Metaphysical dogmas were exalted at the expense +of holy deeds, and it became possible for corrupt rulers to be lauded as +defenders of the faith and for unchaste women to receive those +ecclesiastical privileges which formerly had been but grudgingly +restored to those who had done no more than burn a handful of incense on +the altar of Venus to save themselves from martyrdom. + +In the letter of the bishops against Paul of Samosata, who was +Metropolitan of Antioch about the year 290, he is charged with conniving +at the institution of the _subintroductae_,--that is, women who were +pledged to virginity and who yet were so intrepid as to take up their +abode in the houses of clergy who also professed celibacy. The idea of +this proceeding seems to have been that the constant presence of +temptation, which the people were supposed to believe was always +overcome, enhanced the victory achieved by these champions of purity. +The leaders of the Church, however, looked with disfavor upon this +hazardous method of demonstrating the power of the new religion; but +Paul of Samosata seems not only to have allowed this practice, but to +have been himself far from careful to avoid suspicious appearances. The +bishops, in their letter referred to above, complain thus: "We are not +ignorant how many have fallen or incurred suspicion through the women +whom they have thus brought in. So that, even if we should allow that he +commits no sinful act, yet he ought to avoid the suspicion which arises +from such a thing, lest he scandalize some one, or lead others to +imitate him. For how can he reprove or admonish another not to be too +familiar with women ... when he has sent one away already, and now has +two with him, blooming and beautiful, and takes them with him wherever +he goes." Paul was probably not so black as he was thus painted by his +enemies; especially is this likely, seeing that his patroness was +Zenobia, the queen of Palmyra, who was remarkably careful in her +conduct. But the point we wish to establish is found in the admission +made by the bishops that, since Paul was a heretic, they had no concern +about his conduct. In a note on this, Dr. McGiffert remarks: "We get +here a glimpse of the relative importance of orthodoxy and morality in +the minds of the Fathers. Had Paul been orthodox, they would have asked +him to explain his course, and would have endeavored to persuade him to +reform his conduct; but since he was a heretic it was not worth while. +It is noticeable that he is not condemned because he is immoral, but +because he is heretical. The implication is that he might have been even +worse than he was in his morals and yet no decisive steps taken against +him, had he not deviated from the orthodox faith." All this goes to show +that, after Christianity was established as the dominant religion of the +empire, the life of women as well as of men was less changed by the +effect of their new devotions than those devotions were altered in their +form and direction. Though a new heaven was proclaimed, the new earth +had not yet come into being. "The sweet reasonableness" of the Gospel +was beclouded by speculation; the primitive holiness degenerated into a +sickly asceticism; for half-converted pagans, the early saints served in +the place of the old divinities; and human nature still remained capable +of most of the vices to which it had formerly been addicted. + +Yet the ideal is never without its witnesses. Very early there arose +within the Church the movement known as Montanism, which endeavored to +reproduce the ancient purity by an exaggerated rigidity of discipline +and the early simplicity of the Church by a stern opposition to +ecclesiasticism. This movement carries an interest relative to our +subject, inasmuch as two women held a prominent place as its founders. +The three original prophets of the sect were Montanus, Priscilla, and +Maximilla. The former of the two women was so influential in the +movement that its adherents are frequently spoken of as Priscillianists. +The two women were ladies of noble birth who left their husbands in +order to attach themselves to Montanus. They believed themselves to be +the mediums of the divine Comforter promised by Christ. It was their +habit to fall into ecstasies, in which condition they would prophesy. +They claimed that their teaching was divinely inspired and consequently +infallible. According to them, all gross offenders were to be +excommunicated, and never afterward readmitted to the fold of the +Church. Celibacy was encouraged by them, all worldly amusements were to +be eschewed, and they greatly increased the number of the fasts. + +Of Priscilla and Maximilla, Dr. McGiffert says: "They were regarded with +the most profound reverence by all Montanists. It was a characteristic +of this sect that they insisted upon the religious equality of men and +women; that they accorded just as high honor to the women as to the men, +and listened to their prophecies with the same reverence. The human +person was but an instrument of the Spirit, according to their view, and +hence a woman might be chosen by the Spirit as his instrument just as +well as a man, the ignorant as well as the learned. Tertullian, for +instance, cites, in support of his doctrine of the materiality of the +soul, a vision seen by one of the female members of his church, whom he +believed to be in the habit of receiving revelations from God." + +These people were reactionaries; they rebelled against the spirit of +laxity, worldliness, and officialdom which was fast taking hold of the +Church. Their prophesying women were simply a revival of what had been +common in Apostolic times, when the daughters of Philip were +prophetesses. But order had been evolved in the ecclesia. In fact, out +of the numerous forms of evangelical activity that existed in the +original unsettled condition of the Church, three orders had been +established, in none of which were women represented. Moreover, the +female friends of Montanus seem to have been rather unconvincing in +regard to their prophecies. Maximilla declared that after her there +would be no other prophet, intimating that the end of the world was +about to take place, a prediction as common among such enthusiasts as it +is hazardous in its nature. She also prophesied that wars and anarchy +were near at hand, which, as an anonymous writer quoted by Eusebius +found no difficulty in showing, was clearly false. With a jubilation +which, under the circumstances, was not unwarranted, he cries: "It is +to-day more than thirteen years since the woman died, and there has been +neither a partial nor general war in the world; but rather, through the +mercy of God, continued peace even to the Christians." From this time, +any attempt, on the part of women or men, to revive the gift of prophecy +after the apostolic manner was always classed with heresy, schism, and +other works of the devil, which it was the duty of the faithful +zealously to cast out. + +During the many and long intermissions during which the Christians were +not persecuted, the Church steadily grew in prominence and in social +standing. Before the time of Diocletian, large and handsome edifices had +been erected in many places for the use of Christian worship. The +doctrines therein taught were no longer unknown to the rulers and chief +men of paganism; the faith was no longer the possession almost solely of +bondservants and the lowly. Among its conquests were men and women of +high position; even the imperial family was now and again strongly +suspected of contributing friends to the new religion. Prisca and +Valeria, the wife and daughter of Diocletian, were certainly +catechumens, though they sacrificed to the heathen deities when the +emperor gave his edict for persecution. The world was not to see a Roman +empress playing the tragic part of a martyr to Christianity. + +Of the time immediately preceding the persecution of Diocletian, +Eusebius says: "It is beyond our ability to describe in a suitable +manner the extent and nature of the glory and freedom with which the +word of piety toward the God of the universe, proclaimed to the world +through Christ, was honored among all men, both Greeks and barbarians. +The favor shown our people by the rulers might be adduced as evidence; +as they committed to them the government of provinces, and on account of +the great friendship which they entertained toward their doctrine, +released them from anxiety in regard to sacrificing. Why need I speak of +those in the royal palaces, and of the rulers over all, who allowed the +members of their households, wives and children and servants, to speak +openly before them for the divine word and life, and suffered them +almost to boast of the freedom of their faith?" + +Thus it came to pass that Christianity grew to be a power which must be +reckoned with in the state; all the more so, since, as the historian +just quoted admits, many of the motives, influences and usages natural +to the world began to be adopted in the Church. It is really doubtful +whether the persecution under Diocletian was at all instigated by any +animosity on the part of the rulers toward Christian principles. The +Church was looked upon as a great party in the state, opposed to +traditional conditions, and, while not yet strong enough to be courted, +was too numerous to be tolerated. Constantine saw the futility of +endeavoring to extirpate the Church, even if his disposition could have +allowed him to resort to such cruel measures, and--it is not +uncharitable to his memory to say it--he shrewdly concluded to attach +this vigorously growing power to himself. + +Before we enter upon the study of the character and time of a woman to +whose influence the political triumph of Christianity was probably very +largely due, it will not be out of place to notice a little more closely +the unfortunate career of Valeria, the daughter of Diocletian. She has +previously been referred to as a Christian who, with Prisca, her mother, +saved herself from martyrdom by sacrificing, though very reluctantly, to +the pagan deities. By her father, Diocletian, she had been given in +marriage to Galerius, who at that time was made Caesar and was afterward +to become emperor. In every way she proved herself a most estimable +wife; and although her courage was not equal to the endurance of +martyrdom, her Christian principles beautified her life with the graces +of virtue and charity. Having no children of her own, she adopted +Candidianus, the illegitimate son of her husband, and evinced toward him +all the affection of a real mother. After the death of Galerius, the +great fortune, no less than the personal attractions, of Valeria aroused +the desires of Maximin, his successor. This Maximin was the most +licentious man that ever disgraced the imperial throne, and to attain +preeminence among such competitors required a monster of sensuality. His +eunuchs catered to his passions by forcing from their homes wives and +virgins of the noblest families; any sign of unwillingness on the part +of these victims was regarded as treason and punished accordingly. +During his reign, the custom arose that no person should marry without +the emperor's consent, in order that he might in all nuptials act the +part of _praegustator_. + +The fate of Valeria is best described in the words of Gibbon: "He +(Maximin) had a wife still alive; but divorce was permitted by the Roman +law, and the fierce passions of the tyrant demanded an immediate +gratification. The answer of Valeria was such as became the daughter and +widow of emperors; but it was tempered by the prudence which her +defenceless condition compelled her to observe. She represented to the +persons whom Maximin had employed on this occasion, 'that, even if honor +could permit a woman of her character and dignity to entertain a thought +of second nuptials, decency at least must forbid her to listen to his +addresses at a time when the ashes of her husband and his benefactor +were still warm, and while the sorrows of her mind were still expressed +by her mourning garments. She ventured to declare that she could place +very little confidence in the professions of a man whose cruel +inconstancy was capable of repudiating a faithful and affectionate +wife.' On this repulse the love of Maximin was converted into fury; and +as witnesses and judges were always at his disposal, it was easy for him +to cover his fury with an appearance of legal proceedings, and to +assault the reputation as well as the happiness of Valeria. Her estates +were confiscated, her eunuchs and domestics devoted to the most inhuman +tortures, and several innocent and respectable matrons, who were honored +with her friendship, suffered death, on a false accusation of adultery. +The empress herself, together with her mother Prisca, was condemned to +exile; and as they were ignominiously hurried from place to place before +they were confined to a sequestered village in the deserts of Syria, +they exposed their shame and distress to the provinces of the East, +which, during thirty years, had respected their august dignity. +Diocletian (who before this had abdicated his throne and was therefore +powerless) made several ineffectual efforts to alleviate the misfortunes +of his daughter; and, as the last return that he expected for the +imperial purple, which he had conferred upon Maximin, he entreated that +Valeria might be permitted to share his retirement at Salona, and to +close the eyes of her afflicted father. He entreated; but as he could no +longer threaten, his prayers were received with coldness and disdain; +and the pride of Maximin was gratified in treating Diocletian as a +suppliant, and his daughter as a criminal. + +"The death of Maximin seemed to assure the empresses of a favorable +alteration in their fortune. The public disorders relaxed the vigilance +of their guard, and they easily found means to escape from the place of +their exile, and to repair, though with some precaution, and in +disguise, to the court of Licinius. His behavior, in the first days of +his reign, and the honorable reception which he gave to young +Candidianus, inspired Valeria with secret satisfaction, both on her own +account and on that of her adopted son. But these grateful prospects +were soon succeeded by horror and astonishment; and the bloody +executions which stained the palace of Nicomedia sufficiently convinced +her that the throne of Maximin was filled by a tyrant more inhuman than +himself. Valeria consulted her safety by a hasty flight, and, still +accompanied by her mother, Prisca, they wandered above fifteen months +through the provinces, concealed in the disguise of plebeian habits. +They were at length discovered at Thessalonica; and as the sentence of +their death was already pronounced, they were immediately beheaded, and +their bodies thrown into the sea. The people gazed on the melancholy +spectacle; but their grief and indignation were suppressed by the +terrors of a military guard. Such was the unworthy fate of the wife and +daughter of Diocletian. We lament their misfortunes, we cannot discover +their crimes." It is by no means unlikely, judging from the character of +these women, that if the true facts were known, though they were not +martyrs in the accepted sense of the word, it would be seen that they +suffered for their Christianity, being induced by its principles to +refuse their consent to such conduct as would have gained the favor of +their persecutors. There have been many more martyrs for the substance +of Christianity than there have been for its form; and doubtless there +were not a few women, in the times of which we are writing, who would +have sacrificed on pagan altars, but who would not have defiled their +consciences with acts which paganism excused. + +In the preceding pages of this chapter, we have attempted to indicate +the fact that, while Christianity was growing in numbers and influence, +its effect upon the moral conditions of the world was not so great as +might be expected by a student who confines his attention to its +doctrines, rather than to an investigation of the character of the men +and women who made the history of that time. As has already been said, +the material and political triumph of Christianity was in reality a +moral compromise with the world. If the faithful practice of the +teachings and the humble following of the example of Christ had been +rigidly insisted upon as the _sine qua non_ of membership in the Church, +it is doubtful if Constantine would have proved a better friend to the +Church than was Trajan. Nevertheless, the fact that Constantine did find +himself able to favor the Christian religion, without incurring any +mental discomfort in the pursuit of his own ideas, rendered it possible +for earnest believers in Christ to devote themselves to their faith in +perfect security. + +How large a share may be rightfully imputed to Helena of the honor of +influencing her son's mind to the support of Christianity it is +impossible to determine, but that some credit is due to her in this +respect the nature of the circumstances warrants us in believing. In any +case, Helena was so important a figure in early Church history that her +life and doings were a favorite theme for the chroniclers of her time +and a welcome opportunity for the legendists of the mediaeval age. These +latter have so glorified her ancestry and confused the place of her +birth that it is entirely impossible to harmonize their statements with +those of the former. As an example of the legends of the Middle Ages we +give the account of her as it is found in Hakluyt's _Voyages_ and quoted +by Dr. McGiffert in his Prolegomena to Eusebius's _Constantine the +Great_. "Helena Flavia Augusta, the heire and only daughter of Coelus, +sometime the most excellent king of Britaine, by reason of her singular +beautie, faith, religion, goodnesse, and godly Maiestie (according to +the testimonie of Eusebius) was famous in all the world. Amongst all the +women of her time there was none either in the liberall arts more +learned, or in the instruments of musike more skilfull, or in the divers +languages of nations more abundant than herselfe. She had a naturall +quicknesse of wit, eloquence of speech, and most notable grace in all +her behaviour. She was seen in the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin tongues. Her +father (as Virumnius reporteth) had no other childe, ... Constantius had +by her a sonne called Constantine the great, while hee remained in +Britaine ... peace was granted to the Christian churches by her good +meanes. After the light and knowledge of the Gospel, she grew so +skilfull in divinity that she wrote and composed divers bookes and +certaine Greek verses also, which (as Ponticus reporteth) are yet +extant... went to Jerusalem... lived to the age of fourscore yeeres, and +then died at Rome the fifteenth day of August, in the yeere of oure +redemption 337.... Her body is to this day very carefully preserved at +Venice." As the learned author of the Prolegomena says, this is "a +matter-of-fact account of things which are not so." + +There is another story, to the effect that Helena was the daughter of a +nobleman of Treves. While on a pilgrimage to Rome she was seen by +Emperor Constantius, and he, falling in love with her beauty, caused her +to be detained in the city until after her companions had returned home. +The result was disastrous to Helena's character as a virgin. To assuage +her grief, the emperor presented her with an ornament of precious stones +and his ring. She continued to remain in Rome with the son that was born +to her, allowing it to be understood that her husband was dead. +Constantine, her son, grew up to be a young man of remarkably fine +presence and unusual parts. These qualities in him attracted the +attention of some rich merchants, who conceived the project of palming +him off on the Emperor of the Greeks as the son of the Roman emperor, so +that the former might accept him as a son-in-law. + +This scheme was successful, and after a time the merchants reembarked +for Rome, taking with them the princess as Constantine's wife, and also +much treasure, which presumably was the object of the adventure. One +night they went ashore on a little island, and in the morning the young +people awoke to find that they were deserted. Constantine then confessed +to the princess the fraud that had been practised upon her; but she +magnanimously declared that she was satisfied with him as her husband, +whatever his family might be. After some days of privation, they were +rescued by passing voyagers and taken on to Rome. There, with the +treasure which the princess had managed to retain, they purchased an +inn, and, with Helena's assistance, supported themselves by its means. +Constantine became so famous through his prowess at tournaments that he +attracted the attention of the emperor, who refused to believe that he +was of low extraction. Helena was sent for, and, after much questioning, +she at last confessed as to who she and her son really were. The truth +of her statement was confirmed by the ring which Constantius had given +her. The emperor then caused the merchants to be put to death and their +property given to Constantine. A treaty was made with the Greek emperor, +and Constantine was recognized as the heir to the whole Empire. This +story may be regarded as a sort of Middle Age historical novel, the +history being metamorphosed without stint in order to enhance the +interest of the tale. + +The old chroniclers, such as Henry of Huntington, Geoffrey of Monmouth, +and Pierre de Langtoft, assert that Helena was the daughter of Duke Coel +of Colchester, who became King of Britain. She was the most beautiful +and cultivated woman of her time-the attribute of beauty is always +awarded to women who have been so fortunate as to become legendary. The +most interesting thing about this story is the fact that modern students +have identified Duke Coel, the alleged father of Helena, with "Old King +Cole," who was the "merry old soul" immortalized in the Mother Goose +rhymes. + +Let us now turn to what may be seriously regarded as history and therein +ascertain what may be known of the life and character of the +empress-mother Helena. It must be taken as a well-established fact that +her father, so far from being either a king or a duke of Britain, was +indeed an innkeeper at Drepanum, a town on the Gulf of Nicomedia. The +story suggested by this circumstance is the commonplace one of a soldier +in the service of the emperor Aurelian passing a brief sojourn at the +hostelry in Drepanum, and, with the proverbially quick susceptibility of +the men of his calling, falling in love with the daughter of his host. +The necessary negotiations were easy, for a man like Constantius was an +unusual catch for a girl in the position of Helena. No time was lost +over preliminaries; in fact, the marriage was so little noted that some +historians claim that it never took place at all. These hold that Helena +was never anything more than the concubine of Constantius; but the fact +that Diocletian insisted upon her divorce proves that she was legally +married. That, as is often stated, the birth of Constantine took place +before the marriage of Helena may not be untrue. Some have found a +support for this allegation in the fact that "he first established that +natural children should be made legitimate by the subsequent marriage of +their parents." From the fact that a number of places lay claim to the +honor of being the birthplace of Constantine, it would seem that Helena +accompanied her husband in the wanderings consequent to the profession +of a soldier. Gibbon thinks that the historians who award this +distinction to Naissus, in Dacia, are the best authorities, though later +writers think it rightly belongs to Drepanum, the home of Helena. This +place was afterward called Helenopolis by Constantine, in honor of his +mother. + +Theodoret seems to have thought that Helena gave her son a Christian +education, while, on the other hand, we are plainly told by Eusebius +that she was indebted to Constantine for her knowledge of Christianity. +It is very easy to entertain a doubt of both these theories. If Helena +was a Christian when Constantine was a child, and if she trained him in +that belief, his after conduct shows extremely unsatisfactory results of +a mother's teaching. Constantine certainly did not withdraw his support +and patronage from the ancient religion until he was past forty years of +age; and it is well known that he delayed his baptism until near the end +of his life, so as to enjoy the advantage of its purifying effect at the +latest possible moment. These cumulative circumstances render us +exceedingly sceptical of the possibility of so zealous a convert as was +Helena resulting from so indifferent a teacher as was Constantine. + +When his son was eighteen years old, Constantius was promoted to the +rank of Caesar. This majesty, however, Helena was not allowed to share +with her husband. The innkeeper's daughter was displaced by a more +advantageous match with Theodora, the daughter of the Augustus Maximian. +Later on, Fausta, another daughter of Maximian, was married to +Constantine, and thus Theodora was made sister-in-law to her own +stepson. Such intricate matrimonial alliances were not uncommon among +rulers, where the main object is to conserve the family prestige. + +How Helena consoled herself in her humiliation, or in what way she +occupied herself during the interval between her divorce and the +accession of Constantine, we do not know. As is the wont with women in +such circumstances who are no longer young, she turned her thoughts to +religion. It was most probably at this time that Helena became a +Christian openly, though she may have been friendly to the Church while +she was still the wife of Constantius. + +In the year 306 Constantius died. He left three sons and three +daughters, who had been born to him by his second wife Theodora; but the +son of Helena, a mature man and an experienced soldier, was immediately +promoted by the army from the Caesarship to the Empire of the West. It is +much to his credit that in that age when family ties were no safeguard +against inhuman treatment by close but stronger relatives, who sought to +secure themselves in the possession of a throne, Constantine nobly cared +for the children of the woman for whose sake his own mother had been +repudiated. Unfortunately for his reputation, he was not always so +humane. + +The three half-sisters of the emperor were Constantia, Anastasia, and +Eutropia. This is perhaps as good a place as any in which to glance at +the history of these women, who did not greatly affect the course of +events. Constantia married the Emperor Licinius. She was greatly beloved +by Constantine, and at times seemed to wield some influence over his +decisions, not sufficient, however, to save the life of her husband or +that of her young son. It was during the magnificent festivities +occasioned by her marriage at Milan that the two emperors made the first +proclamation of religious liberty that was ever heard in an imperial +edict by the subjects of Rome. "Religious liberty," they said, "should +not be denied, but it should be granted to every man to perform his +duties toward God according to his own judgment." Licinius, however, did +not live up to this decision, nor was he loyal to his brother-in-law in +other matters. Civil war followed, in which Constantine was victorious, +and through his victory he became sole emperor. Constantia pleaded for +the life of her husband, and gained from her brother the promise that he +should suffer no severer punishment than banishment; but, +notwithstanding this brotherly pledge of mercy, a motive was soon +discovered which seemed to justify the death of Licinius. Gibbon +remarks: "The behavior of Constantia, and her relation to the contending +parties, naturally recall the remembrance of that virtuous matron who +was the sister of Augustus and the wife of Antony." In later years, when +Constantine had become the arbiter of the theological disputes which +rent the newly established Church and had banished Arius for his heresy, +Constantia again acted the part of peacemaker and, on her deathbed, +warned the emperor to "consider well lest he should incur the wrath of +God and suffer great temporal calamities, since he had been induced to +condemn good men to perpetual banishment." It was probably largely owing +to these good offices that Arius was recalled. Notwithstanding her +indulgent attitude toward heretics, Constantia seems to have been a +woman of genuine Christian feeling, honoring her faith by the nobility +of her life, a comment which cannot justly be passed upon all the +Christian princesses of her time. + +Anastasia, the second sister of Constantine, was married to Bassianus, a +man of high position, who, on being favored with this imperial alliance, +was further promoted to the rank of Caesar. He was later discovered in a +conspiracy against Constantine and put to death. Further than this there +is nothing noteworthy to be told of Anastasia. Eutropia was espoused to +Nepotianus. Of her history there is nothing remarkable recorded except +that after the death of her great brother she was slain with her son, +who in Rome had headed the rebellion against the usurpation of +Magnentius. + +We will return now to the court of Constantine, where we shall find his +mother installed in great honor and dignity and not without an influence +of her own. Whatever may have been the faults of her son, Helena had no +cause to complain of any lack of duty on his part toward herself. + +The court of Constantine, nominally Christian though it was, exhibited +the same characteristics of jealousy and intrigue as had the palaces of +the pagan emperors. Before his marriage with Fausta, the emperor had, +like his father, contracted a "left-handed" marriage, in his case with a +woman named Minervina, whom he repudiated for the sake of an alliance +which policy dictated. Some authors, seem to insinuate, as in the case +of Helena, that there was no marriage in the legal sense; but the +testimony rather points to the contrary. However this may have been, +Crispus, the son of Minervina, was retained by his father and brought up +as a legitimate heir to the purple. This naturally resulted, on the part +of Fausta, in jealousy for the rights of her own children. This whole +story is deeply shrouded in mystery, as is the wont with the domestic +affairs of court; but the few rays of historical light which do +penetrate the gloom reveal to us nothing but a horrible intricacy of +moral turpitude. The murder of Crispus by the order of his father was +the outcome. Some ancient writers accuse Fausta of indulging an unchaste +passion for her stepson and of bringing about his death in revenge for +his disappointing her desires. They represent her as charging the young +man with an attempt of which his innocence was in reality the cause of +her malice toward him; but it is more likely that her fear of his +standing in the way of her own sons was the motive for bringing about +his downfall. Whether innocent or guilty, Crispus perished, for +Constantine, whatever may have been his religion, was as implacably +cruel as Tiberius. He even put to death the twelve-year-old son of his +favorite sister Constantia, for no other reason than that the lad's +existence might prove an injury to his own sons. + +But, as Victor Duruy writes, "the tragedy was not yet ended. In the +imperial palace lived Helena, the aged mother of the emperor, a +rough-mannered, energetic woman, to whom the murder of Crispus was a +horrible crime. Repudiated by Constantius Chlorus, she had seen the +imperial title and honors pass to a rival; when policy expelled +Minervina, as it had driven out herself, from an emperor's dwelling, +this similarity in misfortune attached her to the son whom that +daughter-in-law had borne to Constantine, and who was to grow up with a +stepmother in his father's house. Helena watched over the boy with +anxiety, and toward the children of Fausta she felt the same aversion +that the latter manifested toward Crispus. Between these two women, no +doubt, a mutual hatred existed. How did Helena succeed in making Fausta +appear the author of abominable machinations? This we do not know; but +we have the fact that, by order of Constantine, the empress was seized +by her women, shut up in a hot bath, and smothered." + +It must be admitted, however, that all the information that we have on +this subject is very hazy. The treatment which the ancient authors gave +to the reputation of Fausta depended very considerably upon their +purpose of either eulogizing or denouncing Constantine. While some +justify him by declaring that the empress was discovered in the arms of +a slave of the stables,--a most incredible story as told of a +middle-aged empress,--others speak of her as the most divine and pious +of empresses. There is in existence a bronze medallion showing a +portrait of Fausta; the strongly marked Grecian features are those of a +woman who is evidently fully conscious of the dignity which pertained to +"the daughter, wife, sister, and mother of emperors." + +After these tragedies had taken place, it is not surprising that Helena +decided to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, this being considered, even +in times so early, as one of the most effective of moral purgatives. It +is asserted that she was directed by dreams to repair to Jerusalem and +there search for the Holy Sepulchre. The difficulty of this task was so +great that there need be no wonder that the ancient chroniclers believed +that she was divinely led. The place of the tomb had been covered with +earth, and a temple to Venus erected thereupon. This, Helena caused to +be destroyed; and, after much excavating, the sacred cave was found. +What emotion, what pious promptings she must have then felt as she stood +where, a little over three centuries earlier, the trembling feet of the +holy women of Galilee had halted as they fearfully wondered how they +should remove the great stone from the mouth of the Sepulchre, when lo! +the stone was removed, the entrance was open, and before them stood an +angel all in white who announced to them that the Lord had arisen! + +Some authorities assert that, believing the Jewish inhabitants possessed +definite knowledge that would solve her difficulties, she determined to +secure it by the means usually employed by Christians in dealing with +reluctant Jews. First, she commanded that all the Jewish rabbis should +be assembled. They came in great fear, suspecting that the object of her +visit was to find the Cross. The whereabouts of this precious relic they +knew; but they had pledged themselves not to reveal it, even under +torture. When they would not satisfactorily answer Helena's questions, +she commanded that they should all be burned. This sufficiently overcame +their resolution to induce them to deliver up Judas, their leader, +saying that he could give the desired information. At first he was +obstinate; but Helena gave him the choice of either telling what he knew +or of being starved to death. Six days of total abstinence was +sufficient to bring him to terms. He was conducted to the place which he +indicated; and after prayer by the Christians, there occurred an +earthquake, and a beautiful perfume filled the air, because of which +Judas was converted. Then he set to digging vigorously, and at a depth +of twenty feet came upon three crosses. But how to know which was the +cross of the Saviour was the next puzzle to be solved. Macarius, the +Bishop of Jerusalem, was equal to the occasion. According to Socrates: +"A certain woman of the neighborhood, who had long been afflicted with +disease, was now just at the point of death; the bishop therefore +arranged that each cross should be brought to the dying woman, believing +that she would be healed on touching the precious Cross. Nor was he +disappointed in his expectation: for the two crosses having been applied +which were not the Lord's, the woman still continued in a dying state; +but when the third, which was the true Cross, touched her, she was +immediately healed, and recovered her former strength." + +Helena then set Judas to work at searching for the nails. They were +found shining like gold. These, with the larger portion of the Cross, +she sent to Constantine. The nails he converted into bridle-bits, and +the wood of the Cross he secretly enclosed in his own statue, which was +set up in the forum at Constantinople. + +Helena erected a magnificent church on the site of the Holy Sepulchre, +calling it New Jerusalem. She also built a Christian temple at +Bethlehem, and still another on the Mount of the Ascension. + +Sozomen tells us that "during her residence at Jerusalem, she assembled +the sacred virgins at a feast, ministered to them at supper, presented +them with food, poured water on their hands, and performed other similar +services customary to those who wait upon guests." It is no wonder that +the Christian devotees of celibacy came to believe that virginity +conferred upon them a rank superior to that obtained from nobility of +birth. + +It is also recorded of Helena that she not only enriched churches, but +that she liberally supplied the necessities of the poor, and released +prisoners and those condemned to labor in the mines. Sozomen writes: "It +seems to me that so many holy actions demanded a recompense; and indeed, +even in this life, she was raised to the summit of magnificence and +splendor; she was proclaimed Augusta; her image was stamped on golden +coins, and she was invested by her son with authority over the imperial +treasury to give it according to her judgment. Her death, too, was +glorious; for when, at the age of eighty, she departed this life, she +left her son and her descendants masters of the Roman world. And if +there be any advantage in such fame--forgetfulness did not conceal her +though she was dead--the coming age has the pledge of her perpetual +memory; for two cities are named after her, the one in Bithynia, and the +other in Palestine. Such is the history of Helena." + +Of the fact that Helena is rightly regarded as a prominent character in +the history of women there can be no question; that she was the mother +of Constantine and the first avowed Christian empress is enough to +warrant this opinion. Her virtue and charity may also be regarded as +unimpeachable. Her canonization as a saint, however, is founded upon her +alleged discovery of the Cross. Apart from the other difficulties which +a sceptical mind may find in this story, there is the fact that +Eusebius, who in the lifetime of Constantine wrote the account of +Helena's journey to Jerusalem, makes no mention whatever of the Cross, +notwithstanding his recital of the appearing of the sacred sign to the +emperor and its adoption as the Roman ensign. But the legend, be it true +or false, has highly glorified the name of Helena in the religious +history of the world. + + + + +V + +POST-NICENE MOTHERS + + +It requires a considerable amount of imagination, coupled with a +facility for overlooking untoward historical facts, to enable one to +draw an honest and at the same time an entirely pleasing picture of the +Church in the fourth and fifth centuries. And yet this may rightly be +looked upon as the heroic age of Christianity; it was the period of the +Church's greatest victories. It is true that, emerging from the +sickening asceticism and rising above the theological squabbles of the +time, are mighty men and women of didactic and also of moral renown. +"There were giants in those days." Nevertheless, the average moral +character of the "Christian" Empire was raised such a slight degree +above that of the pagan regime that it is barely perceptible in the +records of history. Both Constantine and Constantius stained their +palaces with the blood of their innocent relatives. The populace still +gloated over gladiatorial combats. Courtesans were licensed in order +that their trade might help to replenish the imperial treasury. The +rigor of slavery was somewhat softened; yet if a man beat his +bondservant to death, he was considered to be acting within his right, +providing that he declared that the killing was not in his intention. +For offences which to-day are treated with great leniency, slave women +were then punished by having melted lead poured down their throats. +Moreover, it was during the first centuries of the Christian state that +the fetters of feudalism were forged, by which the poor were bound down +to their hopeless wretchedness. Of the artisans the law said: "Let them +not dare to aspire to any honor, even if they might deserve it, the men +who are covered with the filth of labor, and let them remain forever in +their own condition." + +The leaven of Christian morality was present in the lump of traditional +social conditions; but it had not yet begun to work extensively. +Nineteen centuries have produced only the immature results we see at +present. The evolution of human kindliness is slow, though, as we may +believe, inevitable. A learned and lively English writer of the +beginning of the last century, referring to those Church doctors who +would have the world venerate the Nicene period as the ideal age of +Christianity, says that if "they could but be blindfolded (if any such +precaution, in their case, were needed) and were fairly set down in the +midst of the pristine Church, at Carthage, or at Alexandria, or at Rome, +or at Antioch, they would be fain to make their escape, with all +possible celerity, toward their own times and country; and that +thenceforward we should never hear another word from them about +'venerable antiquity' or the holy Catholic Church of the first ages. The +effect of such a trip would, I think, resemble that produced sometimes +by crossing the Atlantic, upon those who have set out, westward, +excellent Liberals, and have returned, eastward, as excellent Tories." + +There never has come to the world an opportunity to make substantial and +unusual progress in its moral development, but that there have been +plenty to turn the newly-acquired wisdom into foolishness. The great +opportunity in the history of Christianity came in the century marked by +the Nicene Council and in that succeeding it. + +With the exception of the interlude during the reign of the reactionist +Julian, Christianity was the established religion of the Empire. It was +popular; the whole world was becoming Christian. Wealth poured into the +Church: kings and princes came into its pale bringing their presents. +The learned men of the world were the champions of the religion of +Jesus. But truly judging from its moral effect on the age, the Church +"knew not the day of her visitation." However much honor we may owe them +for settling the faith of Christianity, it must be acknowledged that the +Nicene and post-Nicene Fathers spent their strength in advocating and +glorifying an unnatural virginity--a pitiable substitute for a higher +social morality and purer morals for the ordinary individual. Without a +first-hand acquaintance with those ancient writers, it is impossible to +conceive to what a degree the idea of celibacy was exalted in their +teachings. It overshadowed everything else. It overturned every +establishment of reason. It vitiated all the pure springs of life. It +proceeded on the assumption that everything that is natural is +monstrously evil. Gibbon is too indulgent when, as it were with a smile +of careless contempt, he thus characterizes this maudlin asceticism: +"The chaste severity of the Fathers, in whatever related to the commerce +of the two sexes, flowed from the same principle: their abhorrence of +every enjoyment which might gratify the sensual, and degrade the +spiritual nature of man. It was their favorite opinion, that if Adam had +preserved his obedience to the Creator, he would have lived forever in a +state of virgin purity, and that some harmless mode of vegetation might +have peopled Paradise with a race of innocent and immortal beings. The +use of marriage was permitted only to his fallen posterity, as a +necessary expedient to continue the human species, and as a restraint, +however imperfect, on the natural licentiousness of desire. The +hesitation of the orthodox casuists on this interesting subject betrays +the perplexity of men unwilling to approve an institution which they +were compelled to tolerate." + +If it did not inspire sadness to discover that human minds, of +intelligence above the average, can be capable of such fatuity, it would +provoke one to laughter to read the Fathers as they gravely asseverate +that they do not consider marriage as being necessarily +sinful--providing that it were not committed more than once. Jerome, who +was the great advocate of monasticism in the early Church, says that +virginity is to marriage what the fruit is to the tree, or what the +grain is to the chaff. Seizing upon Christ's parable of the sower, he +asserts that the thirty-fold increase refers to marriage; the sixty-fold +applies to widows, for the greater the difficulty in resisting the +allurements of pleasure once enjoyed the greater the reward; but by the +hundred-fold the crown of virginity is expressed. Was there no one to +suggest to him that in the natural expectation of increase his order is +reversed? As a sample of the turgid rodomontade with which those Fathers +of the Church induced the women of their time to sacrifice, for the +glory of God, the duties of wifehood and motherhood which the Creator +ordained that they should perform, we will quote from Cyprian at length: +"We come now to contemplate the lily blossom; and see, O thou, the +virgin of Christ! see how much fairer is this thy flower, than any +other! look at the special grace which, beyond any other flower of the +earth, it hath obtained! Nay, listen to the commendation bestowed upon +it by the Spouse himself, when he saith--Consider the lilies of the +field (the virgins) how they grow, and yet I say unto you that Solomon +in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these! Read therefore, O +virgin, and read again, and often read again, this word of thy Spouse, +and understand how, in the commendation of this flower, he commends thy +glory. In the glory of Solomon you are to understand that, whatever is +rich and great on earth, and the choicest of all, is prefigured; and in +the bloom of thy lily, which is thy likeness, and that of all the +virgins of Christ, the glory of virginity is intended.... Virginity hath +indeed a twofold prerogative, a virtue which, in others, is single only; +for while all the Church is virgin in soul, having neither spot, nor +wrinkle; being incorrupt in faith, hope, and charity, on which account +it is called a virgin, and merits the praise of the Spouse, what praise, +think you, are our lilies worthy of, who possess this purity in body, as +well as in soul, which the Church at large has in soul only! In truth, +the virgins of Christ are, as we may say, the fat and marrow of the +Church, and by right of an excellence altogether peculiar to themselves, +they enjoy His most familiar embraces." + +The effect of this senseless exaltation of virginity, and of persuading +great numbers of maidens to forswear the pleasures and the duties of +matrimony, in the conviction that they thereby rendered themselves far +more pleasing to God than were their mothers and married sisters, was +unquestionably injurious to the morals of the time. The result was as +bad for the "lilies" themselves as it was for the women who elected to +abide on the natural, but despised, plane for which the Almighty +intended them. Too many of the former gave scandalous proof that their +ambition for virginal sanctity was unequalled by their steadfastness in +the contest. Nature has a way, when insulted, of making reprisals. The +writings of the Fathers are full of lamentations and exhortations which +indicate that the youthful female saints of their time found it one +thing to aspire to the glory of virginity and quite another to live +consistently with its character. All were not satisfied with the +indemnification provided by the joys of conscious holiness for the loss +of those pleasures which they denied themselves by their vows. Very +early there sprang up among the celibates of the Church a fashion of +choosing spiritual companions, the choice usually being made from among +the opposite sex. The canons of many of the first councils dealt with +the _agapetae_ who professed to be the spiritual sisters of the unmarried +clergy. Even in the days of persecution this had become prevalent; +Cyprian wrote severe strictures on the custom, but did not succeed in +bringing about its abolishment. Jerome speaks of it in unrestrained +terms: "How comes this plague of the _agapetae_ to be in the Church? +Whence come these unwedded wives, these novel concubines, these +prostitutes, so I will call them, though they cling to a single partner? +One house holds them, and one chamber. They often occupy the same couch, +and yet they call us suspicious if we fancy anything amiss. A brother +leaves his virgin sister; a virgin, slighting her unmarried brother, +seeks a brother in a stranger. Both alike profess to have but one +object, to find spiritual consolation from those not their kin.... It is +on such that Solomon in the Book of Proverbs heaps his scorn. 'Can a man +take fire in his bosom,'" he says, '"and his clothes not be burned?'" +These insurrections of nature continued until Church celibacy became a +fully organized system and the women devoted to perpetual virginity were +shut away in convents; even then, if all reports be true, the enemy, +though cast down, was not effectually destroyed. + +The effect of this laudation of virginity upon the women who chose to +remain in the world was equally detrimental to good morals. The natural +result of the system might have been easily imagined, if the good sense +of the teachers of that age had not been dulled by the conception of the +human body as being hopelessly evil. Out of a large family of girls, +one, "Priscilla," or "Agnes," has been induced, by the fervid +representations of some apostle of celibacy as to the glorious sanctity +of virginity, to devote herself to this "higher life." What will be the +effect upon the "Marthas" and the "Elizabeths" who decide to remain in +the world? Believing, as they also do, in the greater sanctity of +virginity, they will necessarily consider themselves less pure and +chaste than they would if such a comparison with their seraphic sister +had not been thrust upon them. A line of demarcation is drawn between +the once united band. On the one side stand chastity and angelic purity +personified in the professed virgin; on the other side is marriage, not +forbidden, but merely tolerated; a little lower down, according to the +Nicene scale, is concubinage, and lower still, but on the same side, is +prostitution. The "Marthas" and the "Elizabeths" were given the +alternative of either following the example of "Agnes"--- against which +their good sense rebelled--or of considering themselves only at the top +of a class at the bottom of which were the notoriously impure. No +greater injustice than this was ever done to womanhood. + +In a society where the chaste love of a wife for her husband and the +privileges and duties of a mother were regarded as placing a woman upon +an inferior moral grade, it is not surprising to find that a large +proportion accepted the rating of their time and lived down to it. +Largely in consequence, then, of the substitution of a fantastic +holiness for unromantic goodness, though the Church grew strong in the +world, morals remained much what they had been under paganism. True, +there were many of those professed virgins whose names are recorded in +history, and who, as the result of what seems to have been a prodigious +contest, maintained their character and withal achieved a noble and +deserved reputation; but it is at least open to question whether or not +the influence of these shining marks of sanctity was not offset by the +otherwise pernicious effect of the system. + +Before we proceed to the individual mention of some of these early +saints, we will glance at the secular women who were their +contemporaries. + +Constantine had thoroughly orientalized the imperial court, and all the +officials and aristocracy of the empire followed the fashion according +to the degree of their ability. Gorgeous apparel, trains of eunuchs, +barbaric splendor, and ostentatious titles replaced the white toga and +the stately, though severe, grandeur of the Roman citizen of former +times. The Roman spirit was dying out in sloth and effeminacy; it was +fitting that a new capital of the Empire should be erected in the East, +for the new times were strange and unrelated to the manes of the Roman +ancestors. Nobility of thought had likewise perished, at least from the +secular life of the Empire. As Duruy says: "Courts have sometimes been +schools of elegance in manners, refinement in mind, and politeness in +speech. Literature and art have received from them valuable +encouragement. But at the epoch of which we are writing, poetry and +art--those social forces by which the soul is elevated--no longer exist. +With an Asiatic government and a religion soon to become intolerant, +great subjects of thought are prohibited. There is no discussion of +political affairs, for the emperor gives absolute commands; no history, +for the truth is concealed or condemned to a complaisance which is +odious to honest men; no eloquence, for nowhere can it be employed +except in disgraceful adulation of the sovereign.... Only the Church is +to have mighty orators,--but in the interests of heaven, not earth; and +so, in this empire now exposed to countless perils, the little mental +activity now existing in civil society will occupy itself only with +court intrigues, the subtleties of philosophers aspiring to be +theologians, or the petty literature of some belated and feeble admirers +of the early Muses." + +The three sons of Constantine, among whom, by will, he divided the +Empire, were adherents of the Christian religion; but Constantius, who +soon became the sole ruler, though a weighty factor in the evolution of +the Church's doctrine, was no very edifying example of the moral effect +of her teaching. His jealousy and implacability almost exterminated the +race of Constantine, numerously represented as that sturdy emperor had +left himself. The closest ties of relationship did not avail to save the +lives of those who might stand in the way of the new ruler's ambitions. +Constantina, the sister of Constantius, had been married to +Hannibalianus, his cousin, but in spite of this double relationship the +latter cruelly perished. + +Constantina was a woman of whom it would be interesting to know more +than the few references which history affords. She must have been a +person of able as well as ambitious character, for her father had +invested her with the title of Augusta. After his death, she deemed that +the purple ought not to clothe a woman with mere powerless dignity, but +that the right was hers to take a hand in the affairs of the Empire. In +this view of her privileges she lacked the support of her three +brothers: the situation was sufficiently disturbed by their own +inharmonious claims. But after the death of Constans and Constantine, +the way was cleared for Constantina to push her own interests. This she +did by creating a puppet emperor out of Vetranio, a good-natured and +obliging old general who was commanding in Illyricum. Constantina +herself bound the diadem upon his brow; but during an interview with +Constantius, a menacing shout of the soldiers induced Vetranio hastily +to divest himself of the purple and thankfully accept his life with an +honorable exile. Constantina had the diplomacy to make her peace with +her brother as soon as she saw the fruitlessness of this scheme. She +probably had deserted Vetranio before he had ceased trying to reign for +her. Later on, she was married to Gallus, who, with his brother Julian, +alone of the princes of the house of Constantine had survived the +suspicion and the cruelty of Constantius. Gallus was appointed Caesar of +the Eastern provinces, and thus Constantina's ambitions were appeased. +But as is frequently the case with those who are ambitious of political +power, though intensely eager for the purple, she was entirely unworthy +of the position. The historians of the time give this woman an +exceedingly bad name, and doubtless the people of Antioch, where she and +her husband established their court, agreed that it was abundantly +deserved. She is described, not as a woman, but as one of the infernal +furies, tormented with an insatiate thirst for human blood. That, of +course, we may consider an extravagance of rhetoric on the part of +Ammianus; but there is an ugly story of a pearl necklace which +Constantina received from the mother-in-law of one Clematius of +Alexandria. The ornament procured the death of Clematius, who had +incurred the malice of his relative by disappointing her of his love. +The rapacity and cruelty of Constantina, joined with the mad profligacy +of her husband, ended by ruining them both. The displeasure of +Constantius was aroused, and that was usually only appeased by the death +of its object. He sent urgent messages inviting Gallus to visit him in +the West, for the purpose of consulting on the affairs of the Empire; +and it was especially urged that the Caesar should bring his wife, "that +beloved sister whom the emperor ardently desired to see." Constantina +"knew perfectly of what her brother was capable"; she was not deceived +by his protestations of affection for herself. But while she might be +able to pacify him on the ground of her sex and their relationship, it +was certain death for Gallus to put himself in the power of the tyrant +of the East. Constantina set out alone to make her plea to her brother, +but died on the way. There was nothing that her husband could do but +obey the "invitation" of the emperor; but he was not allowed to see the +face of Constantius. On the road, he was seized, and, after a mock +trial, in which no sort of defence could have saved him, was beheaded. + +Julian, the brother of Gallus, alone of the progeny of Constantine +remained. His life was constantly in danger from the suspicions of +Constantius; but it was preserved, and thereby paganism was destined to +have one more trial, or rather one more dying struggle. That Julian +escaped the dangers to which he was exposed was probably owing in a +large measure to the friendship of Eusebia, the wife of the emperor. He +afterward repaid this kindness by an eloquent, and we may be assured +sincere, eulogium upon her character. + +Eusebia was a native of Thessalonica, in Macedonia. Her family was of +consular rank. She became the second wife of Constantius in the year +352, and seems to have enjoyed in matters political a considerable +influence with her husband, which she always employed meritoriously. Her +beauty is frequently spoken of by the ancient authors as being +remarkable; but what is still more worthy of notice is the fact that, in +an age when there were so many divided interests, the historians of all +parties agree in the praise of her moral character. True, there is a +hint somewhere that her kindness to Julian sprung from a tenderer motive +than friendship; but all else that is known of her, as well as the +frozen nature of Julian himself, sufficiently refutes such a suggestion. + +In the time of Eusebia the Church was torn by the contentions between +the orthodox and the followers of Arius. Constantius, as the imperial +arbiter of eternal truth as well as of the temporal destinies of his +subjects, sought to obtain peace by banishing the principal disputants, +as he did Athanasius and Liberius of Rome. Eusebia's chief connection +with these events, though herself an Arian, seems to have been +influenced by her charitable inclination. When Liberius was going away +into exile she sent him five hundred pieces of gold with which to defray +his expenses. This however, rather churlishly as it would seem, he sent +back with the message that she "take it to the emperor, for he may want +it to pay his troops." + +In this connection there is an incident recorded by Theodoret which +indicates that the clergy, especially the bishops, of those times found +resolute champions among the ladies, as they have in all ages. Two years +after the exile of Liberius, Constantius went to Rome. "The ladies of +rank urged their husbands to petition the emperor for the restoration of +the shepherd to his flock: they added, that if this were not granted, +they would desert them, and go themselves after their great pastor. +Their husbands replied, that they were afraid of incurring the +resentment of the emperor. 'If we were to ask him,' they continued, +'being men, he would deem it an unpardonable offence; but if you were +yourselves to present the petition, he would at any rate spare you, and +would either accede to your request, or else dismiss you without +injury.' These noble ladies adopted this suggestion, and presented +themselves before the emperor in all their customary splendor of array, +that so the sovereign, judging their rank from their dress, might count +them worthy of being treated with courtesy and kindness. Thus entering +the presence, they besought him to take pity on the condition of so +large a city, deprived of its shepherd, and made an easy prey to the +attacks of wolves. The emperor replied, that the flock possessed a +shepherd capable of tending it, and that no other was needed in the +city. For after the banishment of the great Liberius, one of his +deacons, named Felix, had been appointed bishop. He preserved inviolate +the doctrines set forth in the Nicene confession of faith, yet he held +communion with those who had corrupted that faith. For this reason none +of the citizens of Rome would enter the house of prayer while he was in +it. The ladies mentioned these facts to the emperor. Their persuasions +were successful; and he commanded that the great Liberius should be +recalled from exile, and that the two bishops should conjointly rule the +Church. This latter arrangement did not suit the people, so Felix +retired to another city." + +Liberius generally refused to acknowledge Arians as Christians; whether +or not he had the boldness to refuse that name to the empress is not +told us. It is certain that Eusebia's kindness to Julian was worthy of a +Christian, even though it succored one who was to be the arch-enemy of +the faith. She befriended and protected him when he was summoned to a +court where it was to the interest of every courtier to report every +action and every chance word to Constantius. She may have been desirous +of making a friend of the heir-apparent, being herself childless; but it +is easy to believe that "the good and beautiful Eusebia," as Julian +calls her, was both sincere and disinterested in her kindness. She +brought it about that the emperor gave his permission to the young man, +who had hitherto been a prisoner, to retire to a beautiful estate which +he had inherited from his mother. + +The fortunes of Julian were in good hands at the court. Constantius was +greatly influenced by the eunuchs who surrounded him, and who were the +bureaucratic officers of those times; but Eusebia was stronger than all +others combined. When the emperor complained that the unaided rule was +too much for him, she suggested that he raise his young kinsman to the +Caesarian dignity. Her advice was followed; and the imperial purple, and +with it the hand of Helena, the sister of Constantius, were conferred +upon Julian. As a wedding gift, Eusebia, with the most refined +consideration possible, presented him with a valuable collection of the +best Greek authors. It is likely that he felt more appreciative +gratitude for the books than he did either for the official dignity or +the highborn bride. As Caesar, it was intended by Constantius that he +should be no more than a figure; and for his wife it is doubtful if he +ever felt any real affection. As historians have remarked, in his +numerous writings Julian sometimes mentions the Helen of Homer, but +never once his own Helen. She must have been considerably older than her +husband, and was probably a Christian, as were her brothers. That there +was no offspring of this marriage was imputed to the arts of Eusebia, +who, according to Ammianus Marcellinus, exercised a close and unnatural +supervision over the household of her protege. Inasmuch as there appears +no motive for a wish on the part of the empress that Helena should be +childless, we are inclined, as Gibbon says, "to hope that the public +malignity imputed the effects of accident as the guilt of Eusebia." The +empress died in the year 360, immediately before Julian broke with +Constantius and began to rule on his own authority. + +Julian led a forlorn hope in the cause of the old gods. This at least +may be said for him: there was nothing in the treatment which he +received from those who professed to be Christians to hold his faith to +their religion. One only had befriended him, and she was regarded as a +heretic. The historians of the time endeavor to picture Julian as +leading a crusade of persecution against Christianity. Theodoret speaks +of his "mad fury"; but inasmuch as he is constrained to recount stories +which rather illustrate the triviality of the mind of the historian than +the cruelty of the persecutor, it is evident that the glory of martyrdom +was not won to any considerable extent under Julian. We are inclined to +think that one of these narratives exemplifies the latter's patience +more than any other of his characteristics. There was a woman named +Publia, who had become the prioress of a company of virgins. One day +these women, seeing the emperor coming, struck up the psalm which +recites how "the idols of the nations are of silver and gold," and, +after describing their insensibility, adds "like them be they that make +them and all those that put their trust in them." Julian required them +at least to hold their peace while he was passing by. Publia did not, +however, pay the least attention to his orders, except to urge her choir +to put still greater energy into their chaunt; and when again the +emperor passed by she told them to strike up: "Let God arise and let his +enemies be scattered." At last Julian commanded one of his escort to box +her ears. "She however took outrage for honor, and kept up her attack +upon him with her spiritual songs, just as the composer and teacher of +the song laid the wicked spirit that vexed Saul." + +Before we leave this brief reference to the secular matrons of the early +Church in order to turn our attention to the sacred virgins, it is +necessary to summon the testimony of Jerome. This learned and eloquent +Father is the great authority on the women of his time. Only those vowed +to celibacy enjoyed his highest approbation; yet he had many friends +among the married ladies of Rome. Jerome was a satirist. His pen was +caustic when it dealt with persons or matters that did not meet his +approval. He was the Juvenal of his age, but he wrote in prose, and not +for the sake of satire, but as the champion of orthodoxy and virginity. +Many of his writings are in the form of letters to ladies who were his +friends. The one to Eustochium, the daughter of Paula, is the most +striking of all. In this epistle Jerome sets forth the motives which +should actuate those who adopt the monastic life. It also gives us a +vivid picture of Roman society as it then was--the luxury, profligacy, +and hypocrisy prevalent among both men and women. This letter was +written at Rome in the year 384. "I write to you thus, Lady Eustochium +(I am bound to call my Lord's bride 'lady'), to show you by my opening +words that my object is not to praise the virginity which you follow, +and of which you have proved the value, or yet to recount the drawbacks +of marriage, such as pregnancy, the crying of infants, the torture +caused by a rival, the cares of household management, and all those +fancied blessings which death at last cuts short. Not that married women +are as such outside the pale; they have their own place, the marriage +that is honorable and the bed undefiled. My purpose is to show you that +you are fleeing from Sodom and should take warning by Lot's wife." Such +is the tone and tenor of Jerome's correspondence with the women of his +acquaintance. Among many other things, he cautions Eustochium not to +court the society of married ladies, and not to "look too often on the +life which you despised to become a virgin!" Many glimpses are given of +the characteristics of that life which was to be so carefully avoided. +The pride of those who are the wives of men in high position, and also +their delight in troops of callers, are noticed. They are pictured as +they are carried about the streets in gorgeous litters, with rows of +eunuchs walking in front. Their dress is mentioned: red cloaks, robes +inwrought with threads of gold, and creaking shoes. Jerome is even so +unsparing as to refer to those who "paint their eyes and lips with rouge +and cosmetics; whose chalked faces, unnaturally white, are like those of +idols; upon whose cheeks every chance tear leaves a furrow; who fail to +realize that years make them old; who heap their heads with hair not +their own; who smooth their faces, and rub out the wrinkles of age; and +who, in the presence of their grandsons, behave like trembling +school-girls." Some of Jerome's strictures are suggestive of modern +feminine habits. Speaking of Blaesilla, after she had become a widow and +was determined to persevere in that estate, he says that in days gone by +she had been extremely fastidious in her dress, and had spent whole days +before her mirror endeavoring to correct its deficiencies. Her head, +"which had done no harm, was forced into a waving head-dress." But all +this is changed. Now "no gold and jewels adorn her girdle; it is made of +wool, plain, and scrupulously clean. It is intended to keep her clothes +right, and not to cut her waist in two." + +Eustochium, as a professed virgin of the Church, is warned not to trifle +with verse, nor to make herself gay with lyric songs. "And do not, out +of affectation, follow the sickly taste of married ladies who, now +pressing their teeth together, now keeping their lips wide apart, speak +with a lisp, and purposely clip their words, because they fancy that to +pronounce them naturally is a mark of country breeding." + +In another place the Father of asceticism says: "To-day you may see +women cramming their wardrobes with dresses, changing their gowns from +day to day, and for all that unable to vanquish the moths. Now and then +one more scrupulous wears out a single dress; yet, while she appears in +rags, her boxes are full. Parchments are dyed purple, gold is melted +into lettering, manuscripts are decked with jewels, while Christ lies at +the door naked and dying. When they hold out a hand to the needy they +sound a trumpet; when they invite to a love-feast they engage a crier. I +lately saw the noblest lady in Rome--I suppress her name, for I am no +satirist--with a band of eunuchs before her in the basilica of the +blessed Peter. She was giving money to the poor, a coin apiece; and this +with her own hand, that she might be accounted more religious. Hereupon +a by no means uncommon incident occurred. An old woman, 'full of age and +rags,' ran forward to get a second coin, but when her turn came she +received, not a penny, but a blow hard enough to draw blood from her +guilty veins." Rome had always successfully withstood the rhetorical +lashings of her censors; had it not been for this power of resistance, +the castigations of a Jerome surely would have sufficed to hold the +natural frivolity of the women of his time at least within the bounds of +modesty. + +The moral influence of Jerome illustrated the danger of insisting on +perfection with the result of falling below the average of possible +attainment. In his letters to Paula, Eustochium, Marcella, and Asella, +women who delighted him by manifesting an astounding resolution in +mortifying the flesh, he continually laments those who, professing to +have made an offering of their virginity to Christ, were in reality a +scandal to the Church. + +Paula was a Roman lady of the highest rank and greatest wealth. The +genealogy of her father ascended through the highest names in Grecian +history; her mother, Blassilla, numbered the Scipios and the Gracchi +among her ancestors. Paula was Cornelia reincarnated in the fourth +century of Christianity; the only differences are that the former +maintained a chaste widowhood inspired by fuller hopes than earthly +renown, and instead of entertaining men of learning at Misenum she +studied Hebrew with Jerome in a squalid cave at Bethlehem. This devout +lady had much to resign in order that she might enter upon a life of +poverty. One of the most magnificent houses of Rome was hers, and she +drew her revenues from the city of Nicopolis, the whole of which she +owned. She was born in the year 347, ten years after the death of +Constantine. At the age of seventeen she was married to Toxotius, who +was a descendant of the illustrious Julian family. She was the mother of +five daughters and one son. It seems likely that she owed her conversion +to Christianity to the holy Marcella, one of that circle of ascetic +women to whom the letters of Jerome were addressed. Until the time of +her husband's death, the life of Paula in her magnificent palace on the +Aventine was similar to that of other wealthy Roman ladies, except that +her means enabled her to excel all others in elegance. On her +conversion, and as the best proof of its reality, in the estimation of +those days, she distributed a quarter of her immense estate to the poor. +The ideas then prevalent would not permit her to deem herself an earnest +Christian unless she entirely relinquished her habits of luxury. This +she did, and devoted herself to the care of the indigent and the nursing +of the infirm. Her piety would not even allow her sufficiently to +sustain her bodily strength for these noble labors. She lived on bread +and a little oil, on many days denying herself even that until after +sunset. Her dress was the rough garb of the slave; her couch was a mat +of straw, covered with haircloth. + +There was, however, one enjoyment which Paula allowed herself: she was +one of a circle of ladies, all ascetics like herself, who were devoted +to the study of literature. There was Marcella, who was the first of the +highborn Roman ladies to embrace the monastic life, and of whom Jerome +gives this account: "Her father's death left her an orphan, and she had +been married less than seven months when her husband was taken from her. +Then, as she was young and highborn, as well as distinguished for her +beauty and her self-control, an illustrious consular named Cerealis paid +court to her with great assiduity. Being an old man, he offered to make +over to her his fortune so that she might consider herself less his wife +than his daughter. Her mother Albina went out of her way to secure for +the young widow so exalted a protector. But Marcella answered: 'Had I a +wish to marry and not rather to dedicate myself to perpetual chastity, I +should look for a husband and not an inheritance; and when her suitor +argued that sometimes old men live long while young men die early, she +cleverly retorted: 'a young man may die early, but an old man cannot +live long.' This decided rejection of Cerealis convinced others that +they had no hope of winning her hand." + +Marcella may indeed be termed the prioress of the community of ascetics +which gathered in her house and in that of Paula on the Aventine hill. +She studied Hebrew with Jerome, and became so proficient in Scriptural +exposition that, after the latter's departure for the Holy Land, even +the clergy would bring to her for solution such questions as were too +difficult for them. When Alaric and his Goths sacked the city of Rome, +the prayers and the evident holiness of Marcella induced the barbarians +to spare her life and the honor of the virgin Principia, who dwelt with +her, and they even left her house unmolested. + +Another shining light in that Aventine circle was Asella, who had been +dedicated to the Church from her tenth year. Her fastings may be said to +have been almost unintermittent, so that Jerome thought it was only by +the grace of God that she survived until her fiftieth year without +weakening her digestion. "Lying on the dry ground did not affect her +limbs, and the rough sackcloth that she wore failed to make her skin +either foul or rough. With a sound body and a still sounder soul she +sought all her delight in solitude, and found for herself a monkish +hermitage in the centre of busy Rome." + +Among the good women of that day were also Albina and Marcellina, who +were the sisters of Saint Ambrose. Marcellina made a public profession +of virginity before a great congregation which gathered on Christmas day +in the Church of Saint Peter. She received the veil from the hands of +the bishop Liberius. In a work addressed to her Ambrose repeats the +instructions which his sister received from the bishop at that time. The +work is of no little interest, as it clearly sets forth the idea which +governed the lives of professed nuns of that early date. + +Paula also numbered among her companions Fabiola, a woman noble both in +character and race, who, after a stormy youth, found peace in the haven +of ascetic devotion. Jerome describes her life in his seventy-seventh +letter. Fabiola was censured for putting away one husband and marrying +again while the man whom she divorced was yet alive. Jerome's defence of +her divorce shows such liberality of thought on the rights of women in +this regard that part of it is worth quoting. He says: "I will urge only +this one plea, which is sufficient to exonerate a chaste matron and a +Christian woman. The Lord gave commandment that a wife must not be put +away 'except it be for fornication, and that, if put away, she must +remain unmarried.' Now a commandment which is given to men logically +applies to women also. For it cannot be that, while an adulterous wife +is to be put away, an incontinent husband is to be retained.... The laws +of Caesar are different, it is true, from the laws of Christ.... Earthly +laws give a free rein to the unchastity of men, merely condemning +seduction and adultery; lust is allowed to range unrestrained among +brothels and slave-girls, as if the guilt were constituted by the rank +of the person assailed and not by the purpose of the assailant. But with +us Christians what is unlawful for women is equally unlawful for men." +It is only in very modern times that the secular law has conformed to +this just opinion, and even now the social treatment received by the +sinner is guided by a view the opposite of that expressed by Jerome. + +So Fabiola took another husband, and therein she was held to have sinned +deeply. Repentance, however, soon followed--a life-long penitence, an +expiation offered by a continual sacrifice of good works. The whole of +her property she gave to the poor; among other good deeds she founded a +hospice for the shelter of the destitute. She resided for a while with +Jerome, Paula, and Eustochium at Bethlehem, but returned to Rome to die. +Her funeral was a reminder of the old-time triumphs. All the streets, +porches, and roofs from which a view could be obtained of the procession +were insufficient to accommodate the spectators. + +Into this circle of holy women came Jerome, the most learned and the +most brilliant man of his time. He was their equal in birth, and he, +like them, had disposed of his property in charity to the poor. He +became their friend, their teacher, their oracle. So assured was he of +his ascendency over his friends that he often gave his advice in a +manner which savored of arrogance. + +In the year 385 Jerome bade farewell to these devoted friends and sailed +away to the land which was consecrated by the life and sufferings of +Christ. He desired retirement, in order that he might be free to +meditate and to prosecute his great work of translating the Scriptures. +From the ship in which the journey was made he addressed a letter to +Asella. It seems that slanderous tongues had foolishly assailed him in +regard to his friendship with those women whose attractions could not +have been other than spiritual. He admits that, of all the ladies of +Rome, one only had the power to subdue him, and that one was Paula. He +had been able to withstand countenances beautified both by nature and +also by art; with Paula alone, "who was squalid with dirt," and whose +eyes were dimmed with continual weeping, was his name associated. +Calumny on this subject was too absurd to be treated with seriousness. +The reference to Paula's personal untidiness gives us the occasion to +remark that, contrary to the generally accepted axiom regarding the +religious worth of cleanliness, those ancient nuns were taught to +believe that the bath was rather conducive to ungodliness. It was a +dangerous subserviency to the flesh: its eschewment was doubtless a +powerful safeguard to chastity. + +Two years after the departure of their friend, Paula and Eustochium +gratified a wish which they had long cherished, to visit the Holy Land. +A most graphic picture of Paula leaving her children and friends is +given us in one of Jerome's letters. They realized, what was not, +perhaps, openly acknowledged, that it was a final good-bye. We are shown +the young girls clinging to their mother in the endeavor to dissuade her +from her purpose. But the sails are unfurled and the stout-armed rowers +are in their places; Rufina, a maiden just entering womanhood, with +quiet sobs, beseeches her mother to wait until she should be married. As +the vessel moves away, little Toxotius, the youngest-born and her only +son, stretches out his tiny hand and pleads with his mother to come +back. But no entreaty could turn Paula from her pious though hardly +commendable purpose. "She overcame her love for her children by her love +for God." That was the favorable judgment of the time. A less +enthusiastic, but saner, age can hardly bestow such unmitigated praise. + +After a journey through all the places made famous by Scripture, in +every one of which they were received with great honor, Paula and her +daughter made their home at Bethlehem, where Jerome already had his +cell. There she built a convent; and for eighteen years she devoted her +life to the training of the many virgins who resorted to her company, +attracted by the fame of her holiness. At her death, the manner of which +was truly edifying, it was found that Paula had disposed of the whole of +her property in charity. Though it is probable that these ascetic women +were to a large extent under the influence of motives less exalted than +that mentioned above, much good intention must be laid to their credit; +and doubtless their extreme self-denial was not without a salutary +effect in a sensual world. At the end of his description of her death, +which he wrote for her daughter, Jerome says: "And now, Paula, farewell, +and aid with your prayers the old age of your votary." + + + + +VI + +THE NUNS OF THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH + + +WE have already given some attention to certain famous Christian women +who, in the earliest ages of the Church, dedicated themselves to the +ascetic life. But monasticism, occupying as it did so extensive and +important a field in the early Church, deserves the devotion of nothing +less than a chapter to the consideration of its effect upon the life of +women, and to the part they played in its establishment. In describing +the friends of Jerome--Paula, Eustochium, Asella, and the others--we +dwelt more on the moral aspect of primitive asceticism, its +exaggerations, its wrong-headedness, its influence upon family life; it +is now our purpose to take a brief glance at the organization of female +monasticism, and to notice its effect upon the social life of women. For +it cannot be otherwise than that so popular and general an institution +as this must at the time have profoundly affected human existence. A +great multitude of men and women taken out of common society and living +apart under conditions entirely contradictory to the instinct and usages +of the race must have shaken the body politic in every direction, +causing a movement of influences far-reaching in its effect. + +Monasticism was not the creation of Christianity; the religions of the +East had their devotees, like the Jewish Essenes, who abandoned the +common pursuits of men for a life of solitude, idle introspection, and +rapt contemplation. The wildernesses and solitary places of the East had +been made yet more weird by the presence of unhumanlike hermits, even +before the days of John the Baptist. Christian monasticism, also, had +its birth in the dreamy East. Antony, by his example, and Pachomius, by +enthusiastic propaganda of monastic ideas, laid the foundations of that +system which was to honeycomb the whole world with bands of men and +women who repudiated the natural pleasures and the essential duties of +the world. + +Of the motive that inspired the monastic life, St. Augustine says: "No +corporeal fecundity produces this race of virgins; they are no offspring +of flesh and blood. Ask you the mother of these? It is the Church. None +other bears these sacred virgins but that one espoused to a single +husband, Christ. Each of these so loved that beautiful One among the +sons of men, that, unable to conceive Him in the flesh as Mary did, they +conceived Him in their heart, and kept for him even the body in +integrity." + +We may admit this intense love of God as a moving force, and still claim +that the hermits and anchoresses of the early Church were actuated +largely by the desire to redeem themselves from the wrath to come and to +gain a personal entrance to the paradise of God. Salvation was an +individual responsibility, and it admitted of no compromise with the +world. The road to perfection could be cheered with company only, +providing others were willing to set out upon it by first renouncing all +natural joys, and by despising all human ties. The claims of close +kindred were not allowed to hinder in the personal quest for heavenly +rewards. The tearfully pleaded needs of an aged parent were not +permitted to detain at home the daughter who had consecrated herself as +the bride of Christ; Paula turned her back upon the outstretched hands +of her infant son, in order that in the Holy Land she might spend her +days in ecstatic contemplation of the Jerusalem above. It is recorded to +the high praise of Saint Fulgentius that he sorely wounded his mother's +heart by despising her sorrow at his departure. + +True it is that many of the earliest consecrated handmaidens of the +Church continued to reside in their city homes, and, in addition to +their prayers, devoted themselves to works of charity and mercy. But +they were scarcely less separated from the world and their kindred. +Their manner of life interdicted all common intercourse. The virgin who +could boast that for twenty-five years she never bathed, except the tips +of her fingers, and these only when she was about to receive the +Communion, must have been as foreign to the Rome in which she lived as +if she inhabited a cave in the Thebaid. Her kinsfolk may have reverenced +her sanctity, but it is doubtful if they unqualifiedly appreciated her +presence. The explanation of this transcendent personal neglect is to be +found in the dualism which was so considerable an element in the motif +of monasticism. The religious sphere was exclusively spiritual and of +the mind; the material world was considered to be wholly under the +dominion of the devil if it were not, indeed, his work. The body, with +all its appetites, instincts, pleasures, and pains, was regarded as a +spiritual misfortune. Holiness was not deemed to be in any degree +attainable except by constant and determined thwarting of all natural +desire. The compulsion to give way to any extent to the most essential +of these desires was, so far as it obtained, a moral imperfection. The +three great human faults are lust, pride, and avarice. To subjugate +these, celibacy, absolute submission, and complete poverty, were deemed +necessary by the advocates of monasticism. Because purity is enjoined, +the saint of one sex must treat a person of the other with the same +avoidance as would be displayed toward a poisonous reptile; readiness to +embrace a leper is none too severe a test of humility; and personal +property in a hair blanket is a pitfall laid by wealth. A body so wasted +by fasting as to be incapable of sustaining the continuous round of +tears and prayers is the surest warrant of saintliness. A virgin who has +so abused her stomach by improper and insufficient food that it refuses +a meal necessary to a healthy body is the object of high veneration; +indigestion is a most desirable corollary to holiness. In short, without +outraging reason and contradicting every dictum of common sense, it is +difficult to describe much that belonged to ancient monasticism in any +other spirit than that of impatience. + +Like most institutions, monasticism began in a formless, undirected +enthusiasm. Men and women rushed into the wilderness with an abundantly +zealous determination to get away from the wickedness of the world, but +with a still greater scarcity of understanding regarding a reasonable +discipline of life. Soon, however, organization was proposed by monks of +experience, and rules formulated which were generally adopted. Saint +Pachomius was the first to form monkish foundations in the East. These +were visited by Athanasius while he was in exile, and he came back with +a glowing account of the sanctity of life and the marvellous exploits of +their members. His narrative fired the hearts of the more devout +Christians of the West, especially of the women, and that of the monk or +the nun became at once the most illustrious vocation which a Christian +could follow. The result was, as the Count de Montalembert shows, that +"the town and environs of Rome were soon full of monasteries, rapidly +occupied by men distinguished alike by birth, fortune and knowledge, who +lived there in charity, sanctity and freedom. From Rome, the new +institution--already distinguished by the name of religion, or religious +life, par excellence--extended itself over all Italy. It was planted at +the foot of the Alps by the influence of a great bishop, Eusebius of +Vercelli. From the continent, the new institution rapidly gained the +isles of the Mediterranean, and even the rugged rocks of the Gargon and +of Capraja, where the monks, voluntarily exiled from the world, went to +take the place of the criminals and political victims whom the emperors +had been accustomed to banish thither." + +Western monasticism was inspired by a different genius from that of the +Eastern. Instead of being speculative and characterized by dreamy +indolence and meditative silence, it was far more practical. It was +active, stirring; duty, rather than esoteric wisdom, was its watchword. +Fasting, stated hours for prayer, reading, and vigorous manual work were +strictly enjoined by every rule. Consequently, the nuns and monks of the +West never went to the fantastic extremes which exhibited in the East a +stylite, or a female recluse, dwelling, like an animal, in a hollow +tree, or a drove of half wild and wholly maniacal humans who subsisted +by browsing on such edible roots as they found in the earth on which +they grovelled. Method, regularity, and purpose early gave character and +efficiency to Western monasteries, and prepared them for the literary +and industrial usefulness which followed in the wane of the first +frenzy, and which made monasticism, in spite of itself, a powerful +factor in the evolution of modern civilization. This systematizing was +due to the efforts of Ambrose, Athanasius, Gregory the Great, but more +especially to those of Benedict of Nursia. + +The first known ceremonial recognition by the Church of a professed nun +is the case of Marcellina. On Christmas Day, perhaps of the year 354, +she received a veil from the hands of Pope Liberius, and made her vows +before a large congregation gathered in the church of Saint Peter, at +Rome. Saint Ambrose, her brother, has preserved for us a summary of the +sermon preached by the bishop on the occasion. It consists of an earnest +but not very convincing--so it would seem to modern ears--exhortation to +abstinence from worldly pleasure and to perseverance in virginity. +Marcellina continued to dwell in private in her own home, for it had not +yet become customary for professed virgins to take up their residence in +a common abode. The inauguration of this new departure had begun, +however, as is shown by passages in the work of Saint Ambrose on +virginity, which he dedicated to his sister. In the eleventh chapter of +the first book, he says: "Some one may say, you are always singing the +praise of virgins. What shall I do who am always singing them and have +no success (in persuading them to the consecrated life)? But this is not +my fault. Then, too, virgins come from Placentia to be consecrated, or +from Bononia and Mauritania, in order to receive the veil here. I treat +the matter here, and persuade those who are elsewhere. If this be so, +let me treat the subject elsewhere, that I may persuade you. + +"Behold how sweet is the fruit of modesty, which has sprung up even in +the affections of barbarians. Virgins, coming from the greatest distance +on both sides of Mauritania, desire to be consecrated here; and though +all the family be in bonds, yet modesty cannot be bound. She who mourns +over the hardship of slavery professes to own an eternal kingdom. + +"And what shall I say of the virgins of Bononia, a fertile band of +chastity, who, forsaking worldly delights, inhabit the sanctuary of +virginity? Though not of the sex which lives in common, attaining in +their common chastity to the number of twenty, leaving their parents' +dwellings, they press into the houses of Christ; at one time singing +spiritual songs, they provide their sustenance by labor, and seek with +their hands the supplies for their liberal charity." + +So, then, it is evident that as early as the latter part of the fourth +century communities of nuns began to live in their own religious houses. +As yet, however, the inmates of these asylums of chastity were +answerable, only to themselves for the faithfulness with which they +fulfilled their vows. There was no organized order, no recognized rule; +each virgin observed her profession according as she interpreted the +terms thereof. The Church exercised no well-defined disciplinary +authority over these convents; of course, if a professed nun +scandalously repudiated her vows, she could be excommunicated, but the +efficacy of this punishment was conditioned entirely by the degree of +horror with which the woman viewed the forfeiture of ecclesiastical +privileges. It was not before the time of Gregory that the Church became +able to enforce its judgments. When all the world became Christian, then +the individual again lost his freedom of thought in relation to +religious matters; then, through its alliance with the secular arm, the +Church gained the power to sternly constrain its recalcitrant children. +This was brought about by the political advantages gained by Gregory, +and by Saint Benedict's gifts of organization. + +Saint Benedict was the father of Western organized monasticism; he not +only founded an order to which many religious houses already existing +united themselves, but he established a rule for their government, which +was adopted as the rule for monastic life by all such orders which +existed in the Church down to the time of Saint Francis and Saint +Dominic. What Benedict did for the monks, his sister Scholastica--who, +being a woman, has received far less mention--accomplished for the nuns. +Through her efforts, under the direction and advice of her brother, +greater dignity and weight were given to the female side of monasticism. + +We know that Benedict was born at Nursia, in the province of Spoleto, in +the year 480; whether Scholastica was older or younger than her more +famous brother is not said. Their parents were respectable people, +possessed of sufficient means to enable them to give their children a +good education, and to take up temporarily their residence in Rome for +that purpose. + +While at Rome, Benedict became enamored of the idea of devoting himself +to religion; and in order to get away from the moral dangers of the +city, he fled from his school and his parents to a small village called +Effide, about two miles from Subiaco. His nurse--Cyrilla--was his +accomplice and companion in this adventure, and for this she has +received her due meed of honor in the legends which have attached to the +life of the great founder. As an example of these legends, and as an +illustration of their historic value, we will notice one story. One day, +Cyrilla accidentally broke a stone sieve which she had borrowed for the +purpose of making the youthful saint some bread. Compassionating her +distress, Benedict placed the two pieces in position and then prayed +over them. To the great joy of Cyrilla and the no small wonderment of +the rustics, they became firmly cemented together and the sieve was +again made whole. This marvellous utensil was hung over the church door, +where it remained for many years an irrefutable proof of the power of +monastic holiness. + +Later on, Saint Benedict established twelve monasteries in the +neighborhood, at last settling at Monte Casino, not far from the place +where his sister, Saint Scholastica, also presided over a colony of +religious women. Here were formulated and adopted the regulations which +for so many years governed these religious recluses, both male and +female. Three virtues comprised the whole of the Benedictine discipline: +celibate seclusion, extended to the cultivation of silence as far as the +exigences of the convent would permit; humility to the very last degree; +and obedience to superiors even--so said the law--when impossibilities +were commanded. The effect designed was to concentrate the entire +thought of the recluse upon himself. Yet, idleness on the part of its +subjects was far from the purpose of this discipline. All the waking +hours--which were by far the greater part of the time--of these nuns +were devoted to the worship of God, reading, and manual labor. Besides +the essential work of their own household, the nuns occupied themselves +in spinning, weaving, and manufacturing clothing, which was distributed +in charity; thus their time was not wholly spent in vain. They also wove +and embroidered the beautiful tapestries and hangings which ornamented +the churches, and, in course of time, developed a textile art which was +one of the glories of the Middle Ages. With the time at their disposal, +it is no wonder that the ancient convents could exhibit histories of the +Creation, done in stitchwork. In imitation of the Psalmist, seven times +a day the nuns met in their chapel for prayer and praise. Sloth was not +possible with them; for they were obliged to waken for matins very early +in the morning, before the breaking of day, even in summer, and this +after having risen for a short service of praise at midnight. + +Abstinence from the flesh of four-footed animals was perpetually and +universally enforced. Fowls were allowed on festival occasions; but the +regular diet was vegetable broth and bread. A large part of the year was +a prescribed fast during which one meal a day was made to suffice and +that at even. No nun was permitted to speak of or consider anything as +her own, not even a girdle or any part of her dress. At first, when +members of the order became delinquent in their duties, only such +penalties as sequestration from the common table or the chapel, with +expulsion from the order in case of incorrigibility, could be enforced. +But, as the Church's disciplinary hand grew heavier on the lives of +mankind, severer punishments were adopted, which contumacy served only +to render yet more cruel, even to life-long solitary incarceration. + +But the most stringent rule of monasticism, as regulated by Saint +Benedict and Saint Scholastica, was that in relation to the sexes. +According to it, they were required to treat each other as natural, +irreconcilable enemies. Communion, even between those of the closest +kin, was almost entirely interdicted. The two founders, brother and +sister though they were, and united not only in a perfect harmony of +disposition and affection, but in devotion to the same life purpose, saw +each other but once a year. "There is something striking," says Milman, +"in the attachment of the brother and sister, the human affection +struggling with the hard spirit of monasticism. Saint Scholastica was a +female Benedict--equally devout, equally powerful in attracting and +ruling recluses of her own sex, the remote foundress of convents almost +as numerous as those of her brother's rule." We are indebted to Gregory +the Great for the narration of some interesting incidents in the lives +of these two saints. The only one which our space will permit, and +perhaps the one which best illustrates the spirit that governed them in +the hard and self-denying path which they elected to walk, is the +account of their last meeting. Though the convent was situated not far +from the monastery, though they were brother and sister, aged, and +devoted to the same holy aims, they met but once a year, for so said the +rule. Scholastica was dying, and the time came for Benedict to pay his +annual visit. Evening had come all too quickly, for the few hours had +rapidly passed in the delight of spiritual communion. Scholastica +entreated her brother to remain in the convent for that one night, as it +was likely that he would never again see her alive. But not even +sisterly affection could turn the monk from the rigid observance of his +rules, one of which was that neither he nor any of his brethren should +spend a night outside of the monastery. As he was preparing to bid her +farewell, she bent her head for a few moments in profound prayer. +Suddenly the sky, which had hitherto been clear and serene, became +overcast, the vivid lightning flashed, the thunder crashed, and the rain +swept down in torrents; heaven had come to the aged nun's assistance. +"The Lord have mercy on you, my sister!" said Benedict, "what have you +done?" "You," she replied, "have rejected my prayers; but the Lord hath +not. Go now, if you can!" Her intercession was rewarded with triumph, +and they passed the night in holy communion. Three days afterward, +Benedict saw the soul of Scholastica soaring to heaven in the shape of a +dove, whither, after a very little while, he followed her. + +As it is with all social movements, after a while the glory of the +initial purity of purpose which marked the inception of Benedictine +monasticism began to wane; its singleness of aim became diverted; its +disingenuousness was replaced by sophisticated evasion of its rule. The +monasteries and convents became wealthy; ways were discovered by which +their discipline could be softened without formally abrogating the rule; +and events rendered it advisable to legislate that houses for nuns and +for monks should not be erected in close proximity. + +The time came when the abbess took her place among the high dignitaries +of the Church, and the office grew to be one, not only of great +spiritual influence, but of enviable social standing. Even in the days +of Gregory the Great, who, though he lost no opportunity to magnify the +papal office, was a man of intense spiritual nature and powerful moral +character, the leaders of female monasticism began to realize the +possibilities of ecclesiastical officialdom. The honors of an abbess +were found to be a not altogether unsatisfactory substitute for the +undesired or the unattainable glories of the world. It was at least +something to be addressed in correspondence by the great bishop of Rome +as a coworker; and there are many letters extant written by Gregory to +abbesses in various parts of the Western world. These furnish us with +sidelights upon the personnel, the duties, customs, and standing of the +women who were placed in charge of these convents. + +In a letter written to Thalassia, abbess of the convent which Brunehaut +founded in the city of Autun, Saint Gregory sets forth the privileges +and the manner of electing a woman to that office. He says: "We indulge, +grant and confirm by decree of our present authority, privileges as +follows: Ordaining that no king, no bishop, no one endowed with any +dignity whatsoever, shall have power, under show of any cause or +occasion whatsoever, to diminish or take away, or apply to his own uses, +or grant as if to other pious uses for excuse of his own avarice, +anything of what has been given to the monastery by the above-written +king's children, or of what shall in future be bestowed on it by any +others whatever of their own possessions. But all things that have been +there offered, or may come to be offered, we will to be possessed by +thee, as well as those who shall succeed thee in thy office and place, +from the present time inviolate and without disturbance, provided thou +apply them in all ways to the uses of those for whose sustenance and +government they have been granted." The use and benefit of papal +supremacy is beginning to be seen. This cumbrous legal enactment +conferred upon Thalassia a life lease and freehold in the property of +her convent, as secure as the tithes of his parish are to an English +incumbent. + +In this same letter, which was written some time in the latter part of +the sixth century, there is also a clause concerning the election of an +abbess. There is to be nothing crafty or secret about it. The election +is to be conducted in the fear of God. The king is to choose such a +woman as will meet with the approval of the nuns; she is then to be +ordained by the bishop. This all goes to show that, even in those early +times, for a woman who was willing to forego the attractions of married +life, or was unwilling to accept its cares, the position of abbess was +one which might well stir the ambitious. But, however that might be, in +the same letter, Gregory, who evidently knew the weaknesses of human +nature, prevented the questionable methods which the ambitious might be +tempted to adopt. "No one," he says, "of the kings, no one of the +priests, or any one else in person or by proxy, shall dare to accept +anything in gold, or in any kind of consideration whatever, for the +ordination of such abbess, or for any causes whatever pertaining to this +monastery, and that the same abbess presume not to give anything on +account of her ordination, lest by such occasion what is offered or has +been offered to places of piety should be consumed. And inasmuch as many +occasions for the deception of religious women are sought out, as is +said, in your parts by bad men, we ordain that an abbess of this same +monastery shall in no wise be deprived or deposed unless in case of +criminality requiring it. Hence, it is necessary that if any complaint +of this kind should arise against her, not only the bishop of the city +of Autun should examine the case, but that he should call to his +assistance six other of his fellow-bishops, and so fully investigate the +matter to the end that, all judging with one accord, a strict canonical +decision may either smite if guilty, or absolve her if innocent." A law +against any wrong always predicates the existence of that fault. Hence, +the prohibitions we have quoted could not have been of unknown +occurrence among the fellow abbesses of Thalassia. + +Through other letters we learn that it was in contradiction of monastic +rule for those embracing that life to retain property of their own after +profession, or even the power of disposing of it by will; it became the +property of the convent. It appears, also, that if a nun were +transferred from one monastery to another, or if, as sometimes happened, +a consecrated virgin living at home had lapsed and was therefore sent to +a monastery, her property always went to the convent in which she at +that present time resided. This was so strictly enforced that when one +Sirica, abbess at Caralis, made a will and distributed her property, +Gregory ordered that it be restored to the monastery without dispute or +evasion. As many women of position were induced to become nuns, it is +easy to be seen how the convents quickly acquired great wealth. + +All the abbesses did not consider themselves slavishly bound to follow +the uniform rule. In the letter just mentioned, the same Sirica is seen +to have manifested a refreshing independence in relation to other +matters in regard to which a woman does not take kindly to outside +interference. Gregory says: "And when we enquired of the Solicitude of +your Holiness why you endured that property belonging to the monastery +should be detained by others, our common son Epiphanius, your +archpresbyter, being present before us, replied that the said abbess had +up to the day of her death refused to wear the monastic dress, but had +continued in the use of such dresses as are used by the presbyteresses +of that place. To this the aforesaid Gavina replied that the practice +had come to be almost lawful from custom, alleging that the abbess who +had been before the above-mentioned Sirica had used such dresses. When, +then, we begun to feel no small doubt with regard to the character of +the dresses, it appeared necessary for us to consider with our legal +advisers, as well as with the other learned men of this city, what was +to be done with regard to law. And they, having considered the matter, +answered that, after an abbess had been solemnly ordained by the bishop +and had presided in the government of a monastery for many years until +the end of her life, the character of her dress might attach blame to +the bishop for having allowed it so to be, but still could not prejudice +the monastery." Those "presbyteresses" whose attire Sirica considered +she had ample right to copy, were the wives of presbyters who had been +married before ordination. It is all very trivial; and yet there is to +be recognized such a touch of naturalness about this abbess of thirteen +centuries ago that it is worthy of remark. And it must be confessed that +Sirica has our entire approval as we fancy we see her going calmly about +the duties of her office, while Pope Gregory of Rome is calling together +his legal advisers to know what shall be done about her dress, she all +the while determined that she is going to array herself in exactly that +style which, to her independent mind, seems most befitting. + +When, however, serious faults on the part of nuns had to be dealt with, +Gregory possessed, even in that early day, the power as well as the will +to inflict punishment of a severe nature. Moreover, the Church had +become what Rome was in the time of the emperors,--so universal and +thoroughly organized that culprits could not hope to flee beyond the +reach of the disciplinary hand. Petronilla, a nun of Lucania, had given +way to the weakness of nature and the seducements of Agnellus, the son +of a bishop. Taking the property which Petronilla had brought to the +monastery, and also that which the father of Agnellus had given to the +institution, they fled to Sicily in the hope of there enjoying love and +affluence in their mutual companionship and that of their child. But +Gregory's supervision was as far-reaching as was the power of his hand. +He writes to Cyprian, Deacon and Rector of Sicily, "to cause the +aforesaid man, and the above-named woman, to be summarily brought before +thee, and institute a most thorough investigation into the case. And, if +thou shouldest find it to be as reported to us, determine an affair +defiled by so many iniquities with the utmost severity of expurgation; +to the end that both strict retribution may overtake the man, who has +regarded neither his own nor her condition, and that, she having been +first punished and consigned to a monastery under penance, all the +property that had been taken away from the above-named place, with all +its fruits and accessions, may be restored." What the exact nature of +the penance inflicted was we do not know; but in another place, speaking +of nuns who had been detected in the same fault, the great bishop orders +that they "afford an example of the more rigorous kind of discipline, +such as may inspire fear in others." The Church had already acquired the +power to enforce its artificial morality, which power it vigorously +employed on those with whom it could afford to be at no pains to +ingratiate itself. + +Rigid disciplinarian as he was, and zealous in his labors to aggrandize +the Church, Gregory was careful not to allow the privileges of +monasticism to be pushed to the endangering, as he thought, of the moral +welfare of those whom it concerned. The law was that if either a husband +or a wife decided to devote himself or herself to the monastic life, the +marriage bonds might be severed without the consent of the other +partner. But in a letter which he wrote to a notary of Panormus and sent +by the hand of a woman named Agathosa, he refers to the latter's claim +that her husband had entered a monastery without her consent. He +instructs the notary "to investigate the matter by diligent enquiry, so +as to see whether it may not be the case that the man's profession was +with her consent, or that she herself had promised to change her state. +And should it be found to be so, see to his remaining in the monastery, +and compel her to change her state, as she had promised. If, however, +neither of these things is the case, and you do not find that the +aforesaid woman has committed any crime of fornication on account of +which it is lawful for a man to leave his wife, then, lest his +profession should possibly be an occasion of perdition to the wife left +behind in the world, we desire thee, without any excuse allowed, to +restore her husband to her, even though he should be already tonsured." +It is quite noticeable that the bishop would much prefer that the woman +follow her husband's example and embrace the monastic life. It is +possible that Gregory, in addition to his constant zeal in gaining +recruits for this vocation, realized, personally inexperienced though he +was in such matters, that the wife would find but cold comfort in the +enforced embraces of a husband who preferred the monks of a religious +house to her own society. Still, even in the case of a professed nun who +had been forcibly compelled to marry against her will, he did not +suggest that the matrimonial bonds should be severed without the consent +of the enterprising husband, but only that she should have the right, +after providing for her children, to devote the residue of her property +to the Church to which she would gladly have sacrificed her whole life. + +In those parts of the Christian world to which the authority of Pope +Gregory did not extend, monasticism showed some peculiarities that were +very dissimilar to the Benedictine rule. Perhaps the most striking of +these is to be seen in the ancient British Church, that apostolic +foundation which, until after the Saxon conquest, had never come under +the influence of the Roman See. At Whitby, in Yorkshire, Saint Hild, the +daughter of a king, reared a monastery which included, under her own +personal government, both men and women. In adjoining buildings, nuns +and monks lived in contemplative retirement, their life and studies +superintended by this gifted woman, whose wisdom was such that her +counsel was eagerly sought by the highest nobles in the land. Her +institution was a training school for bishops and priests, as well as a +haven of religious recreation for women of the world. That her rule was +salutary, and this combination not prejudicial to good living, seems to +be proved by the fact that she included among those who were trained +under her supervision John of Beverly, who was as famous for his +holiness as for his learning. + +Thus, monasticism became an increasingly powerful factor in the social +life of that far distant age. The importance of the institution lay in +its complete universality. Wherever was found the Christian Church, +there also was the religious house, a harbor of sanctity, presided over +by an abbess chosen for her piety and strength of mind, filled with +women who were not loath to forsake the pleasures of the world for the +love of peace and divine contemplation. From the Eternal City where +Gregory was reviving in religious guise that power which for so many +centuries had dominated the world, and where alone was retained what +remained of a departed civilization, to Streonshealh where Hild, +daughter of barbaric chiefs, reared her abbey on the summit of the dark +cliffs of Whitby, looking out over the gloom of the Northern Sea, these +convents represented what was then considered as the acme of feminine +attainment. + +That feminine monasticism had its uses and conferred its benefits it +would be an absurdity to deny. Despite the falsity of the unnatural +moral theory which supplied too largely its motive, monasticism was an +outward and visible sign of that human evolution which makes for +progress. The selfishness of its spiritual aims was in accord with the +strenuous individualism of that new age; its dualistic theory of nature +was at least a revolt from the brutal animalism of the day. Moreover, it +furnished the only opportunity that human life then afforded for calm +and concentrated reflection on any subject save eating, breeding, and +killing. The monastery was the bridge by which the salvage from the +dissolution of ancient civilization was carried over the Dark Ages to +the Renaissance. + +When we seek for the peculiar benefits monasticism provided for women, +they are found to be two. The universally recognized sanctity of the +cloister provided, in an age of exceeding brutality, a sanctuary where +woman might take refuge, and where something at least of the +spirituality of her nature might be neither outraged nor obliterated. It +may be that, after all unfavorable judgments have been passed, if it had +not been for the veneration of cloistered virginity, in so rude an age +the world might have forgotten what modesty and purity are. Also, it is +not favorable to the highest development of womanhood to be absolutely +restricted to the one vocation of marriage. If, to-day, women are not +better wives, they surely are more self-respecting for the fact that +there is a possibility of their being independent and yet remain +unmarried. What business now does for woman, in the olden times was done +by the female monastery: it provided examples of the sex, who were +glorious, and yet unmarried. The woman crossed in love, or the girl +threatened with a union repugnant to her feelings, could say: "I will be +a nun," and thereby gain the highest esteem of the world. + + + + +VII + +WOMEN WHO WITNESSED THE FALL OF ROME + + +The Empire had forfeited its right to take its title from the ancient +city on the Tiber long before its final dismemberment. Constantine had +removed his court and capital to the Bosphorus, and there the metropolis +of the East remained. The Western emperors established their courts in +various parts of Europe, their locations being usually determined by the +exigences of rivalry and the territorial success of their usurpation. +Roman citizenship had become universal and at the same time meaningless: +it represented no privileges other than the bare fact that its owner was +not a slave. The freedom it conferred was only relative and, to a very +great extent, merely theoretical; practically, all were the slaves of +the emperor. The race of Romulus had degenerated into a pretentious but +pusillanimous aristocracy, who desired no title to glory save that found +in pedigree. There was not left in them sufficient virility to set up, +much less to maintain, an emperor of their own race; their rulers were +of barbarian extraction. The Roman army was a cosmopolitan aggregation, +in which Italy was the least represented of the provinces. Ammianus +Marcellinus, the historian, writing late in the fourth century, says: +"The modern nobles measure their rank and consequence according to the +loftiness of their chariots and the weighty magnificence of their dress. +Their long robes of silk and purple float in the wind; and as they are +agitated by art or accident, they occasionally discover the +under-garments, the rich tunics, embroidered with the figures of various +animals." Gibbon notes that the more pious coxcombs substituted the +figure of some favorite saint. Ammianus goes on to describe how, +"followed by a train of fifty servants, and tearing up the pavement, +they move along the streets with the same impetuous speed as if they +travelled with post-horses; and the example of the senators is boldly +imitated by the matrons and ladies, whose covered carriages are +continually driving round the immense space of the city and suburbs. +Whenever these persons of high distinction condescend to visit the +public baths, they assume, on their entrance, a tone of loud and +insolent command, and appropriate to their exclusive use the +conveniences which were designed for the Roman people. If, in these +places of mixed and general resort, they meet any of the infamous +ministers of their pleasures, they express their affection by a tender +embrace; while they proudly disdain the salutation of their +fellow-citizens who are not permitted to aspire above the honor of +kissing their hands or their knees. As soon as they have indulged +themselves in the refreshment of the bath, they resume their rings and +the other ensigns of their dignity, select from their private wardrobe +(of the finest linen, and of a quantity such as might suffice for a +dozen persons), the garments most agreeable to their fancy, and maintain +till their departure the same haughty demeanor.... The acquisition of +knowledge seldom engages the attention of nobles, who abhor the fatigue +and disdain the advantages of study. The libraries which they have +inherited from their fathers are secluded, like dreary sepulchres, from +the light of day. The art of obtaining the signature of a favorable +testament, and sometimes of hastening the moment of its execution, is +perfectly understood; and it has happened that in the same house, though +in different apartments, a husband and a wife, with the laudable design +of over-reaching each other, have summoned their respective lawyers, to +declare, at the same time, their mutual but contradictory wishes." + +It is probable that Ammianus, with the disdain which students are apt to +affect toward the unphilosophic multitude, has exaggerated the disregard +of the Roman nobility for books. We have seen that many of the female +friends of Jerome were most ardent lovers of literature; and the +Christian Fathers constantly evince an expectation of finding among +their female followers an enthusiastic reading public. These women read +theological works; it is not unreasonable to suppose that their less +heavenly-minded sisters were as assiduous students of the classical +secular books. + +We have the names and somewhat of the history of a few of the women who +lived in this period, but they are all from the highest and most +conspicuous society. History loves a shining mark. If the chroniclers of +the time had favored us with a detailed descriptive account of the life +of the common people, it would have been of more value than that of many +nobles. + +The population of Rome at this time has been estimated at between one +million two hundred thousand and two million. This, of course, includes +the vast army of slaves, which remained undiminished after the change of +the national religion. But there was also a great horde of free, poor +plebeians, who were the perpetual paupers of the government. These lived +in the same careless, indigent idleness as had the same class in +preceding centuries. They inhabited tenements not unlike those known to +the great cities of modern times. These houses were of several stories, +each tenement sheltering a number of families. That they were +exceedingly uncomfortable is easy to believe, seeing that even the +wealthy of ancient times, notwithstanding the architectural grandeur +which they could command, were ignorant of the ordinary modern domestic +conveniences. The free working class of the present day was then +practically unknown: that place was taken by the slaves. So the +poverty-stricken Roman citizen was both necessarily and willingly +unemployed. Generally, however, corn, wine, and oil were supplied him +with little or no expense to himself. Each morning, at a set time, his +wife would repair to a prescribed station in the district, and there, on +showing a citizen's ticket, she would receive a three-pound loaf of +bread. So indulgent was the government, that it ground and baked the +allowance which at one time was made in the shape of corn. During five +months in the year there was also distributed, to the poorer people, an +allowance of pork; the annual consumption of this kind of meat in Rome +was three million six hundred and twenty-eight thousand pounds. When the +populace had clamored before Augustus for free wine as well as bread, +that wise and firm ruler reminded them that since his friend Agrippa had +brought into the city a bountiful supply of pure water, no Roman need +complain of thirst. But those emperors who denuded Roman citizenship +entirely of its right of suffrage yet had an interest in keeping the +populace quiet and contented; hence, in the fourth century there existed +public cellars from whence was dispensed, at a small cost to the +inhabitants of Rome, the fermented vintage of Campania. + +It was also necessary, the people being idle, that they should be +amused. There were the magnificent public baths where they could while +away the time in luxury and gossip. But the amusement with which the +multitude was never satiated was found in the exhibitions of the circus. +On special occasions, many would sleep in the porticoes near by, in +order to be the first on hand to obtain seats in the morning. The +immense amphitheatre would accommodate four hundred thousand. +Christianity abolished the gladiatorial combat of former times; but +there still remained the exciting and perilous chariot race and the +hunting and fighting of wild beasts. Nor had Christianity been able to +purify the stage to any great extent. The Muses of Tragedy and a +statelier comedy were entirely abandoned for licentious farces. No fewer +than three thousand female dancers were occupied in the theatres of +Rome. At a time of famine when all strangers were banished from the +city, and also the teachers of the liberal arts, these dancers were +exempted by the edict. + +The people of Rome were afforded an additional source of interest in the +ecclesiastical contentions which were aroused by the ambitions and the +theological disputes of the clergy. Before the close of the fourth +century the bishopric of Rome had become an office more fitted to be +sought after by the worldly-minded than by the imitator of the humble +Galilean fishermen. Its vacation was the signal for a contention in +which rival candidates were not averse to employing the violence of the +common people as well as the influence of noble Christian ladies. +Ammianus describes how "the ardor of Damasus and Ursinus to seize the +episcopal seat surpassed the ordinary measure of human ambition. They +contended with the rage of party; the quarrel was maintained by the +wounds and death of their followers; and the prefect, unable to resist +or appease the tumult, was constrained, by superior violence, to retire +into the suburbs. Damasus prevailed: the well-disputed victory remained +on the side of his faction; one hundred and thirty-seven dead bodies +were found in the Basilica of Sicininus, where the Christians held their +religious assemblies; and it was long before the angry minds of the +people resumed their accustomed tranquillity. When I consider the +splendor of the capital, I am not astonished that so valuable a prize +should inflame the desires of ambitious men, and produce the fiercest +and most obstinate contests. The successful candidate is confident that +he will be enriched by the offerings of matrons; that, as soon as his +dress is composed with becoming care and elegance, he may proceed in his +chariot through the streets of Rome; and that the sumptuousness of the +imperial table will not equal the profuse and delicate entertainments +provided by the taste and expense of the Roman bishops." + +The practice of taking advantage of the charity--or the sentiment--of +wealthy ladies had become so prevalent among the clergy that the +government had been compelled to regard it as an abuse to be severely +legislated against. By his enemies, Bishop Damasus himself was nicknamed +Auriscalpius Matronarum (the ladies' ear scratcher). An edict on the +subject was addressed by Valentinian to this bishop who was directed to +have it read in the churches of his diocese. It must have been a +humiliating document for the clerics of the time to listen to in the +presence of their congregations. It admonished them not to frequent the +houses of virgins and widows. The habit had become popular for wealthy +and devout ladies to choose some monk or priest as their individual and +private spiritual director. That the confidence reposed in the latter +was often abused is indicated by the edict which prohibited him from +profiting by any gift or legacy from his spiritual protegee; the same +abuse is also frankly acknowledged in the writings of the Fathers. As we +have seen in the case of Jerome and Paula, such a relationship might be +perfectly innocent, though somewhat hysterical. Human nature is the same +in all ages; and, given a woman whose sentimental nature predisposed her +to seek an indemnification in spiritual companionship for those ordinary +delights which, by pious vows, she had denied herself; an ecclesiastic, +frail in principle, but apt to cloak his designs with the sanctity of +ghostly affection and disinterested charity, and the result is not +unlikely to be disastrous to the reputation of the lady and, also, to +the expectations of her heirs. The law of Valentinian, forbidding these +women to make clerics their legatees, precluded the former from the +comfort of an ostentatious guaranty of their piety, and stigmatized the +disinterestedness of the latter. + +Such, then, was the condition of the Roman Empire at the time when the +causes leading to its decline were nearing their culmination. After +Julian's death under the assassin's hand, Jovian followed in a brief +reign. Then Valentinian came to the throne. In this emperor is witnessed +that astonishing mixture of vice and virtue, barbarous cruelty and +Christian belief which characterized that period. It was an age of +bitter warfare; every human force was engaged in deadly contention; both +the Church and the Empire were fighting for their lives. The latter +could scarcely keep off the hordes of barbarians which were swarming and +surging upon its borders, and at times it seemed as if the former had +quite succumbed to the heresy of Arianism. It was the most deadly battle +that the Church has ever had to wage. After the question of who should +rule, theology was the most important item in the politics of the time. +Varying metaphysical definitions which baffled the acumen of the wisest +philosophers were confidently espoused in a spirit of partisanship by +mechanics and ignorant persons of both sexes. It was the difference of +an iota--_homoousios_ or _homoiousios_. + +Valentinian favored orthodoxy, not because of sturdy convictions (he +said it was a question for bishops), but because the Church in the West +was mainly Catholic; but in Justina, his wife, the Arians were +compensated by a powerful champion. Socrates, the historian, describes +the marriage of Justina as having taken place under most remarkable +circumstances. The story is interesting, though of somewhat doubtful +veracity: "Justus, the father of Justina, who had been governor of +Picenum under the reign of Constantius, had a dream in which he seemed +to himself to bring forth the imperial purple out of his right side. +When this dream had been told to many persons, it at length came to the +knowledge of Constantius, who conjecturing it to be a presage that a +descendant of Justus would become emperor, caused him to be +assassinated. Justina, being thus bereft of her father, still continued +a virgin. Some time after, she became known to Severa, wife of the +Emperor Valentinian, and had frequent intercourse with the empress, +until their intimacy at length grew to such an extent that they were +accustomed to bathe together. When Severa saw Justina in the bath she +was greatly struck with the beauty of the virgin, and spoke of her to +the emperor, saying that the daughter of Justus was so lovely a creature +and possessed of such symmetry of form, that she herself, though a +woman, was altogether charmed with her. The emperor, treasuring this +description by his wife in his own mind, considered with himself how he +could espouse Justina, without repudiating Severa, who had borne him +Gratian, whom he had created Augustus a short time before. He +accordingly framed a law, and caused it to be published throughout all +the cities, by which any man was permitted to have two lawful wives. The +law was promulgated and he married Justina, by whom he had Valentinian +the younger, and three daughters--Justa, Grata, and Galla.... Galla was +afterwards married to Theodosius the Great, who had by her a daughter +named Placidia." + +This story, romantic as it is, lacks all the hallmarks of credibility. +In the first place, there is absolutely no trace of this remarkable law +either in the codes or in other historians. Furthermore, the ancient +Church was more severely opposed to bigamy and polygamy than it was to +any other deviation from common morals. Also the Roman law strongly +discountenanced plurality in marriage. Moreover, we have it on the +authority of Ammianus, who is a most trustworthy witness, that +Valentinian was remarkable for his chastity, both at home and abroad. +Also in contradiction to what Socrates relates, Zosimus asserts that +Justina had already been married to Magnentius, and that the emperor was +joined to her in matrimony after the death of Severa, his first wife. +Either this latter statement must be accepted as the fact in the case, +or we must believe that the first empress was divorced, a procedure that +was certainly not difficult and was extremely customary for the rulers +of Rome. What is probably the truth of the matter is that this story of +Justina being the partner of Valentinian in bigamy was a malicious +invention; possibly the discredit of its promulgation should be laid at +the door of some of the Unscrupulous among the orthodox, who were +incensed at her support of heresy. + +It was customary for the empress to accompany her imperial husband in +his military expeditions about the Empire. Apart from other +considerations, this was necessary to her safety and that of her +offspring. Conspirators are apt to perpetrate their designs in the +absence of the ruler against whom they are plotting; and in that case, +the legitimate successor, with his protectors--if within reach--is the +first victim of the ambition or precaution of his father's enemies. +Consequently, it was usual for the emperors to take their families with +them even in the most distant journeys. The advantage of this was +illustrated in the death of Valentinian. He had marched against the +Quadi who were vexing the frontier on the bank of the Danube. In his +customary cruel manner, he put to death all who fell into his power, +murdering even the women and children. The desperate people sent envoys +begging for peace and forgiveness, but Valentinian broke out upon them +in one of those paroxysms of rage to which he was subject, and, in the +midst of his terrible invectives, ruptured a blood vessel in his lungs, +which caused his death upon the spot. + +At the moment, Justina was occupying a palace at a short distance from +Bregetio, where the death of her husband occurred. Gratian, the son of +Severa, had already been invested by his father with the imperial +purple; but the court ministers, inspired probably with the thought of +those advantages which such men enjoy during the reign of an infant, +immediately planned to exalt to the throne of Valentinian the latter's +four-year-old son, who bore the same name. Justina was sent for and +placed by the ministers on a regal platform facing the troops. She held +her young son in her arms; and the picture of a beautiful woman, endowed +both with the fruit and the graces of motherhood, had its never failing +effect of stirring the soldiers to an outburst of chivalric enthusiasm. +The infant was there and then invested with the purple and the insignia +of empire, which, it may be added, he never wore with greater effect +than in the hour when his puny infant form was first arrayed in them. +Whatever real influence his name had in the government was wielded by +Justina. But Gratian was emperor. He it was who commanded the army and +ruled the Empire, while Justina held court and engaged in petty domestic +politics at Milan and Sirmium. One thing is certain and is remarkable +enough to be mentioned--the two empress-mothers, Severa and Justina, +lived as co-widows in that mutual harmony which Socrates would have us +believe characterized them as co-wives. + +Perhaps the principal event of the life of Justina was her controversy +with Saint Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, who was one of the noblest men of +the ancient Church, and who, by his courage and integrity, set an +example for all succeeding bishops. Contemning the pomps and vanities of +the world, he did not disdain to use the powers of his office for the +political advantage of either the Church or the state; so, when Maximus +usurped the imperial privilege in the Gallic provinces, Ambrose was sent +as an ambassador by Justina to beg the clemency of the new emperor for +herself and her son. Maximus reigned in the far West, while at his +sufferance Valentinian II. was emperor in Italy. + +While this young emperor--who died at the age of twenty-one--reigned, +his mother ruled. Justina, however, appears to have been an easy-going +woman. She does not seem to have been possessed of much ambition, and +there is no indication that she interfered very strenuously in the +affairs of the Empire. She found herself in the position which she +occupied, and endeavored to preserve herself and her son in safety. +Tolerance was marked in all that she did, and there was a very evident +willingness to leave others unmolested, provided she and her son were +allowed to maintain their position in security. Of course, while they +retained the names of empress-mother and emperor, their real power was +but slight. Valentinian II. was never more than a boy, and Justina +possessed no military command. Nevertheless, it does seem as if she were +endowed with some real ability, or she could not have maintained herself +in comparative security during seventeen years of such troublous and +changeful times. + +Justina's controversy with Saint Ambrose seems to have been the one +point on which she had serious difficulty with her subjects, and this +appears to have affected only the people of Milan. Gibbon, in his +inimitable manner, thus describes the incident: "The government of Italy +and of the young emperor naturally devolved to his mother Justina, a +woman of beauty and spirit, but who, in the midst of an orthodox people, +had the misfortune of professing the Arian heresy, which she endeavored +to instil into the mind of her son. Justina was persuaded that a Roman +emperor might claim, in his own dominions, the public exercise of his +religion; and she proposed to the archbishop, as a moderate and +reasonable concession, that he should resign the use of a single church, +either in the city or suburbs of Milan. But the conduct of Ambrose was +governed by very different principles. The palaces of earth might indeed +belong to Caesar, but the churches were the houses of God; and, within +the limits of his diocese, he himself, as the lawful successor of the +apostles, was the only minister of God. The privileges of Christianity, +temporal as well as spiritual, were confined to the true believers; and +the mind of Ambrose was satisfied that his own theological opinions were +the standard of truth and orthodoxy. The archbishop, who refused to hold +any conference or negotiation with the instruments of Satan, declared +with modest firmness his resolution to die a martyr rather than to yield +to the impious sacrilege; and Justina, who resented the refusal as an +act of insolence and rebellion, hastily determined to exert the imperial +prerogative of her son." + +Under ordinary circumstances, in a like situation, it is very probable +that the bishop's reiterated desire for martyrdom would have been +gratified. But Ambrose was secure, owing to the intense orthodoxy of all +Justina's subjects. In an attack on religion, there was no one to carry +out her commands. "As she desired to perform her public devotions on the +approaching festival of Easter, Ambrose was ordered to appear before the +council. He obeyed the summons with the respect of a faithful subject, +but he was followed, without his consent, by an innumerable people: they +pressed, with impetuous zeal, against the gates of the palace; and the +affrighted ministers of Valentinian, instead of pronouncing a sentence +of exile on the archbishop of Milan, humbly requested that he would +interpose his authority, to protect the person of the emperor, and to +restore the tranquillity of the capital." + +In the end the bishop prevailed. There are extant certain letters +written by the saint to his sister, Marcellina, in which he describes +the circumstances of this dispute with Justina. He recounts how soldiers +were sent to occupy the church which the empress desired for her own +heretical use, and how they fraternized with the Catholic people who +refused to give up the sacred building. The bishop asserts that in the +midst of all this tumult and public inharmony, he gave utterance only to +"freer groans." But there is evidence in bis own letters that Ambrose +took a more active and also a more effective course than mere pious +groaning; indeed, he showed a remarkable boldness of decision, as well +as astuteness, in his political methods. He met the occasion with a +sermon on the trials of Job, which could hardly have aroused pleasant +reflections in the mind of Justina. "But Job was tried by accumulated +tidings of evils, he was also tried by his wife, who said, 'Speak a word +against God and die.' You see what terrible things are of a sudden +stirred up, the Goths, armed men, the heathen.... You observe what was +commanded when the order was given: 'Surrender the Basilica!' that is, +speak a word against God and die.... So, then, we are prepared by the +imperial commands, but are strengthened by the words of Scripture, which +replies: 'Thou hast spoken as one of the foolish.' That temptation then +is no light one, for we know that those temptations are more severe +which arise through women. For even Adam was overthrown by Eve, whereby +it came to pass that he erred from the divine commandments.... Why +should I relate that Jezebel, also, persecuted Elijah after a +bloodthirsty fashion? Or that Herodias caused John the Baptist to be +slain?... Of women change follows on change, their hatreds alternate, +their falsehoods vary, elders assemble together, wrong done to the +emperor is made a pretence." + +This homiletic punishment of the empress by the intrepid saint was +opportunely followed by the discovery of certain holy and potent relics. +By means of these, the sick were healed and the blind restored, and thus +the people were convinced that God was on their side. The empress +derided these marvels with an incredulity which would do credit to the +present time; but she was compelled to take the wise counsel of +Theodosius and surrender her purpose. She took her revenge, however, by +publishing a decree that the Arian worship should be lawful throughout +the dominions of her son, Valentinian II. + +During this time, Maximus, the usurper of Gaul, had acted toward the +empress and her feeble son with apparent friendliness; but he had not in +reality set bounds to the range of his ambition. In 377, his first +hostile operations commenced. Justina was not prepared for warfare. She +fled with the emperor and her daughter, Galla, to Theodosius, the great +ruler of the East, who first married Galla, and then took up +successfully the cause of her mother and her brother. Of this marriage +was born Placidia whose strange adventures we shall shortly relate. It +is probable that Justina died during the war waged by Theodosius against +Maximus. Of her character nothing derogatory is recorded with the +exception of her heresy. It is hardly remarkable that, in an +ecclesiastical dispute, she should be unable to cope with the man who, +later, had the strength and the courage to close the door of the +cathedral in the face of the great Theodosius, after his crime at +Thessalonica. + +Events so moved that, by the year 394, Theodosius had become the sole +ruler of the Empire; but four months later he died at Milan, leaving the +dominion of the East and the West to his sons Arcadius and Honorius +respectively. Honorius was of a weakly constitution, and too young to +take part in public matters. Flavius Stilicho, a Vandal, and the ablest +man both in court and in camp that those times produced, defended the +Empire in the attacks of the barbarians who poured over the Danube and +over the Rhine. + +Stilicho had married the beautiful and accomplished Serena, the favorite +niece of Theodosius. Claudian, in a poem devoted to the praise of +Serena, has portrayed her excellences of mind and person as being of the +most attractive quality. To her devotion to her husband the modern +historian pays this tribute: "The arts of calumny might have been +successful, if the tender and vigilant Serena had not protected her +husband against his domestic foes, while he vanquished in the field the +enemies of the empire." + +The daughter of Serena, whose name was Maria, was made the wife of +Honorius when that emperor was in his fourteenth year. Claudian wrote an +epithalamium and some fescennine verses for the occasion, after the +ancient manner; nothing else of this kind could ever have been quite so +ridiculously conventional, for, on the authority of Zosimus, we learn +that Maria died a virgin after she had been ten years a wife. The +debility of her husband's constitution rendered the continence, which +the ecclesiastic of that time so greatly admired, uncommonly easy. +Honorius sat on the Roman throne through a period of twenty-eight years, +with little more influence or effect upon the history of his time than +would have been exerted if his place had been filled by a wooden image. + +In the meantime, those commotions had taken place in the interior of +Asia which were to result in the flooding and overthrowing of the Roman +Empire by hordes of migrating barbarians. The most formidable of these +were the Huns, a Mongol race which had roamed the steppes from time +immemorial. The Huns were the more terrible because of their extreme +ugliness. Their appearance was a fearful visitation for the women of the +civilized nations which they overran. These hardy and vicious savages +suddenly swarmed out from their own country, and, driving the Ostrogoths +before them, with devastating persistence rolled, a human wave, to the +westward. The Goths were between "the devil and the deep sea." But, +while the Huns were an irresistible force, the Romans were not an +immovable body. Steadily the Goths gained ground westward with the Huns +surging after them. Rome was doomed. The effeminating arts of +civilization prepared a prey for the necessities of virile barbarism. A +brave ruler like Theodosius, who was not of the enervated Roman race, +might stem the tide for a while; but the disintegration of the Empire +was as inevitable as is that of a pile of lumber when caught in the +flooding of a river. + +In the year 402, Alaric the Goth for the first time broke into the +Western empire. He carried his conquering arms into Italy, spreading a +pathway of devastation and misery wherever he went. In modern times, it +is impossible to estimate the suffering which an invasion brought upon +the women of that fated country. The old and those deficient in personal +attractions were robbed and, as likely as not, murdered; the young and +the beautiful were outraged and enslaved. All this wretchedness and +more, the barbarians visited upon Rome; but Alaric's first exploit was +ended at Pollentia by the brave generalship of Stilicho, though the +goodwill of the barbarian was purchased by tribute. As soon as this +danger was, for the time, averted, a new and not less fearful invasion +spread over the Empire. Horde after horde of Vandals, Alani, +Burgundians, and Alemannians crossed the frontiers in search of plunder +and adventure. They, too, were held in check by the able minister; but +gratitude for public service rendered is never so potential as is envy +of the high position of the one giving it, and the sole defender of the +Empire fell a victim to political machinations at the precise moment +when the peril of Rome was greatest. + +With Alaric pounding on the gates of the capital, the Romans, with the +consent of Honorius, murdered the only man in the world who had proved +himself the barbarian's match. Nor did they stop with the death of +Stilicho; as Gibbon says: "Perhaps in the person of Serena, the Romans +might have respected the niece of Theodosius, the aunt, nay, even the +adoptive mother of the reigning emperor; but they abhorred the widow of +Stilicho; and they listened with credulous passion to the tale of +calumny which accused her of maintaining a secret and criminal +correspondence with the Gothic invader. Actuated, or overawed, by the +same popular frenzy, the senate, without requiring any evidence of her +guilt, pronounced the sentence of her death. Serena was ignominiously +strangled; and the infatuated multitude were astonished to find that +this cruel act of injustice did not immediately produce the retreat of +the barbarians, and the deliverance of the city." One offence alleged +against Serena was that she had taken a necklace from the statue of +Vesta--it was then the fashion to clothe and adorn the statues, whether +in the interest of modesty or ostentation we cannot say. + +The description which the great student of ancient history just now +quoted gives of the siege which Rome at that time endured is entirely in +keeping with our subject. "That unfortunate city gradually experienced +the distress of scarcity, and at length the horrid calamities of famine. +The daily allowance of three pounds of bread was reduced to one-half, to +one-third, to nothing.... The poorer citizens, who were unable to +purchase the necessaries of life, solicited the precarious charity of +the rich; and for a while the public misery was alleviated by the +humanity of Lasta, the widow of the emperor Gratian, who had fixed her +residence at Rome, and consecrated to the use of the indigent the +princely revenue which she annually received from the grateful +successors of her husband. But these private and temporary donatives +were insufficient to appease the hunger of a numerous people; and the +progress of famine invaded the marble palaces of the senators +themselves. The persons of both sexes, who had been educated in the +enjoyment of ease and luxury, discovered how little is requisite to +supply the demands of nature; and lavished their unavailing treasures of +gold and silver, to obtain the coarse and scanty sustenance which they +would formerly have rejected with disdain." + +The outbreak of a pestilence soon added to the horrors of famine. Rome +again suffered the loss of thousands of her citizens through disease. If +the extent of this calamity was less than during the Great Plague, a +century and a half before, mourning was nevertheless almost universal. +Gibbon says, "many thousands of the inhabitants of Rome expired in their +houses or in the streets, for want of sustenance." But the almost +unending funeral procession of the former period was now lacking, as the +public sepulchres without the walls were within the circle of the +invading horde. + + [Illustration 4: _FAMINE AND PESTILENCE After the painting by A. + Hirschl. + + The outbreak of a pestilence soon added to the horrors of + famine. Rome again suffered the loss of thousands of her + citizens through disease. If the extent of this calamity was + less than during the Great Plague, a century and a half before, + mourning was nevertheless almost universal. Gibbon says, "many + thousands of the inhabitants of Rome expired in their houses or + in the streets, for want of sustenance." But the almost + unending funeral procession of the former period was now + lacking, as the public sepulchres without the walls were within + the circle of the invading horde._] + +There was no relief. When ambassadors pleaded with Alaric for the great +multitude of the people against whom he was contending, his sole reply +was: "The thicker the hay, the easier it is mowed." When he stipulated +the ransom by which alone the city could be saved, and the ministers of +the senate humbly inquired what he purposed to leave to them, he +haughtily replied: "Your lives." The promise of five thousand pounds of +gold, thirty thousand pounds of silver, four thousand robes of silk, +three thousand pieces of fine scarlet cloth, and three thousand pounds +of pepper suspended for a time the vengeance which centuries of +oppression by Rome had accumulated in barbarian hearts. + +The Roman courtiers, however, had neither the wisdom nor the honesty to +keep faith with the enemy whom they could not resist and on whose good +graces depended their safety. The patience of Alaric became exhausted. +He threw off all restraint, determining to take the fate and also the +resources of the Empire into his own hands. The year 410 saw the city, +which had for a millennium been the proud mistress of the world, +captured and at the mercy of the barbaric nations which for so many +centuries had furnished her wealth and slaves. + +The conqueror declared that he waged war with the Romans and not with +the Apostles. Consequently, while he encouraged his soldiers to seize +the opportunity to enrich themselves and enjoy the fruits of victory, he +gave commands that the sanctity of the churches should be observed. The +ecclesiastical writers recount instances of seemingly remarkable +protection vouchsafed to the holy virgins, who were at the mercy of a +licentious soldiery. But there is every evidence that the customary fate +of the conquered in those savage times was abundantly meted out. It is +on record that many Christian women, in order to save themselves from +what they dreaded still more, sought death in the waters of the Tiber. +Others were more fortunate in being able to find protection in flight. +"The most illustrious of these fugitives," says Gibbon, "was the noble +and pious Proba, the widow of the prefect, Petronius. After the death of +her husband, the most powerful subject of Rome, she had remained at the +head of the Anician family, and successively supplied, from her private +fortune, the expense of the consulships of her three sons. When the city +was besieged and taken by the Goths, Proba supported, with Christian +resignation, the loss of immense riches; embarked in a small vessel, +from which she beheld, at sea, the flames of her burning palace, and +fled with her daughter, Laeta, and her grand-daughter, the celebrated +virgin, Demetrias, to the coast of Africa. The benevolent profusion with +which the matron distributed the fruits or the price of her estates +contributed to alleviate the misfortunes of exile and captivity. But the +family of Proba herself was not exempt from the rapacious oppression of +Count Heraclian, who basely sold, in matrimonial prostitution, the +noblest maidens of Rome to the lust or avarice of Syrian merchants." + +Alaric died shortly after his conquest, and the sceptre of the Gothic +kingdom passed to the hand of Adolphus, his brother-in-law. The latter +was a brave and able general, and seems to have possessed a nature not +discreditable to the time in which he lived. He proposed--the proposal +had all the effect of a command--a treaty of alliance with Honorius. It +practically amounted to annexation; but the Roman emperor was not in a +position to refuse any proposition which the Goth might see fit to make. +Nor could the Romans prevent Adolphus from strengthening his own +interest, as well as consulting his passion, in taking to wife the +half-sister of Honorius, Placidia, the daughter of Theodosius and Galla. + +Placidia was just ripening into womanhood when Alaric first appeared +before Rome. She was taken as a hostage by the Gothic conqueror, and, +though reduced to the indignity of being a prisoner in a barbarian camp, +was treated with great consideration. Her beauty and her mental gifts +won the regard of Adolphus: and no sooner had he succeeded to the +kingship, than he requested of Honorius her hand. Such an alliance was +repugnant to the Romans, but, as in other matters, the request was only +a polite form of command. Placidia herself does not appear to have been +unwilling to accept the situation, and her nuptials were celebrated in +splendid state. The exploits of his army in Italy had enabled Adolphus +to present his bride with a magnificent wedding gift. The historian +Olympiodorus recounts that fifty handsome boys were employed to carry +this present. They came before her, carrying a bowl in each hand. One +bowl was filled with pieces of gold, the other with precious gems. +Adolphus always manifested a strong and tender affection for his wife; +nor did he ever lose an opportunity to honor her birth, seating her +above himself on state occasions. + +This union, however, was destined to be short-lived. Adolphus was +stricken down by the hand of an assassin; his enemy was seated upon his +throne; and Placidia, being brutally and of purpose made one of a number +of common captives, was compelled to run for twelve miles before the +horse of the barbarian chieftain, the murderer of a husband whom she had +sincerely loved. Possibly it was her sufferings which aroused the +people; however, her persecutor was himself assassinated a few days +after his own murderous act; and Placidia was restored to her brother, +her ransom being six hundred thousand measures of wheat. + +Placidia would have been willing, in accordance with the Christian +teaching of the time, to have lamented the loss of Adolphus in continual +widowhood. But another marriage was arranged for her, without her +consent: she was awarded as a prize to Constantius the general for his +services to Honorius. The results of this marriage were the birth of +Honoria and of Valentinian III., and, probably through the schemes of +Placidia, the promotion of her husband to the title of Augustus. But it +was not long before the princess again found herself a widow; and though +mischievous tongues magnified the caresses of childish affection on the +part of Honorius to signs of a fondness warmer than their kinship would +warrant, a quarrel between these two caused Placidia to go with her +children to Constantinople. + +At the death of Honorius, Valentinian, though no more than six years of +age, was invested with the purple. But his mother was empress; the +policy of the Empire was directed by her; and for twenty-five years she +maintained her power. Gibbon speaks slightingly of her ability; but it +could not have been little, else how did she retain a rule which any +chance military adventurer might be tempted to seize? The historian +refers to Cassiodorus, who compares the regencies of Placidia and +Amalasuntha, to the disadvantage of the former. + +The life of the Roman empress had been filled with more adventures and +changes of fortune than were wont to fall to the lot of woman, even in +those troublous times, but her story is less strange and is certainly +happier than that of her daughter, Honoria. There is in existence a +medal bearing the countenance of Honoria, and it is a fair face; it +bears the inscription Augusta. The young princess was invested with this +honor and rank in order that she might be above the aspirations of any +subject. As early as her sixteenth year, however, she chafed against the +isolation to which she was doomed. Denied legitimate love, she abandoned +herself to an illicit relationship with one of the domestic officers of +the palace, the fact of which was soon revealed by her pregnancy. She +was exiled by her mother to Constantinople, where she spent several +years in close restraint and great unhappiness. Attila the Hun was at +that time the particular barbarian who was harassing the Empire; and +suddenly he announced that he had received the betrothal of the princess +Honoria, and that he claimed her as his bride. Then her astonished +relatives learned that she really had been in correspondence with +Attila, and had besought him to claim her in marriage. It is probable +that a spirit of mischief actuated Honoria in this; for no educated +woman could in reality desire to be joined in marriage with the Hun, +unless it were from motives very different from love. The king had at +first disdained her advances, and was willing to act upon them only when +it suited the policy dictated by his ambition. But Placidia steadfastly +refused to countenance her daughter's procedure; and Honoria, being +first married to a man of mean extraction, in order that the question of +her matrimonial disposal might never again be a source of trouble, was +shut up in a close prison for the rest of her days. It is not unlikely +that her misfortunes arose rather from her position than her character. +That her life with Attila, had she attained her object, would have +proved more desirable than perpetual imprisonment is difficult to +believe. His respect for woman may be estimated from the fact that he +was a polygamist, and also from the fact that he watched his soldiers +amuse themselves with the awful death agonies of two hundred maidens, +whom they tore limb from limb with wild horses and crushed under the +wheels of heavy wagons. + +Placidia died in the year 450. She was buried at Ravenna; and, with some +ambiguity of meaning, it is said that there her corpse, seated in a +chair of cypress wood, was preserved for ages. Her son perished by the +avenging hand of a senator whose wife he had perfidiously violated. He +was the last emperor of the house of Theodosius; and his mother was the +last woman, with a name in history, who was worthy of mention in the +records of the perishing Western Empire. + +With the death of Placidia, we arrive at the end of a cycle in the +evolution of the human race. It was contemporaneous with the terminus of +ancient Aryan civilization--it was during a climacteric in human +history. Again the world was to revert to the rudeness necessarily +accompanying the vigorous strength which characterizes the setting forth +of a new race. The world began again--polished manners and social order +gave place to strenuosity and individualism. The strong hand again +became the one thing needful. Literature was silent, and art was +forgotten. Of the glory of classic civilization there remained only a +memory; and even this grew faint, for the struggle for existence became +exacting. Nevertheless, from all that Rome had done and had been there +remained an imperishable deposit. From the ruins of one civilization +there is gathered the foundations for the succeeding. Rome left, among +other contributions to absolute progress, the idea of nationality and a +belief in the necessity of popular law. In these two respects, woman +shared in the determined progress of the world. The Roman woman +manifested the capacity of her sex to place a steady hand on the helm of +the state; she wrested for herself some of those legal rights to which, +by virtue of her humanity at least, she is indubitably entitled. + + + + +VIII + +WOMEN OF THE FRANKISH CHURCH + + +We may now consider ourselves to have nearly passed the transition +period between the Classic and the Middle Ages, and to have begun to +enter that indefinite range of history known as Mediaevalism--indefinite +as to character rather than extent of period. A new world opens to our +view; a world which we examine under the influence of the romanticist +more than under that of the philosopher. In the age to which our +researches have now brought us we find that the life of woman has wholly +changed. Evolution has taken a new beginning. In place of the state as +the symbol and the object of power and progress individualism has come +to the front and asserted itself. There is now more play for personal +initiation on the part of the multitude. The activity of the individual +is more directly attributable to his personal motives and culminates +more fully in his own desires. Consequently, though woman is still held +down to an inferior level, and is hampered by unequal laws, she has more +room in which to assert herself, and she plays a stronger part in +historical events. Practically, though not theoretically, she is still +given in marriage without her consent; but she is no longer regarded as +a mere possession. Her surroundings also have wonderfully changed. In +place of the porticoed villa with its marble floor and beautiful +statuary, its highly decorated atrium and sparkling fountains, she is +now seen in what was the rudiment of the turreted castle with its rough +hall and rush-strewn floor. She has lost the learning by which she was +wont to delight her idle hours with classic poetry and Greek philosophy; +if she can read at all, her accomplishment is a rare one, and the most +powerful stimulus to her imagination is the song of illiterate bards who +recite the heroic achievements of her race. In this she has reverted to +literature in its embryonic condition. Her religion has gained morality, +though emphatically more in theory than in practice, but it has +distinctly lost in poetry. Elegance has disappeared from every phase of +her life. When she rides abroad it is no longer in a splendidly equipped +litter, but, in hardier fashion, upon horseback. While for her to lead +men-at-arms is an extreme rarity, she is far likelier to attain ruling +authority than she was under the refined civilization of older times. +With the Franks, however, supreme rule by a woman, in any direct manner, +was rendered impossible by the ancient Salic law which prescribed that +"no portion of really Salic land (that is to say, in the full +territorial ownership of the head of the family) should pass into the +possession of women, but it should belong altogether to the virile sex." + +To us the early Mediaeval life seems more remote and less intelligible +than that of the classic age. We are more at home in the villas of Rome +than in the castles of Charlemagne. This is partly because the +literature of the latter age has not presented such a satisfying picture +as have the immortal productions of the former; but more largely because +the genius of modern civilization has its counterpart in the social +ideas of classic times, rather than in the individualistic motive of +mediaevalism. + +The period covered by this chapter extends over four hundred years, from +the end of the fifth century to the tenth. In our selection of +characters from the successive generations during that term, we shall +have an eye to their utility as representing types of the feminine, even +more than to their aptitude for illustrating any special development in +civilized habits. Evolution proceeded slowly in those days, and, +consequently, a century or two did not greatly change social habits. + +Somewhere about the middle of the fifth century, a Frankish chief named +Childeric was driven from his own people by the varying fortunes of war. +He took refuge among the Thuringians, and rewarded their kindness by +seducing Basina, the wife of their king. After his return, she left her +husband and joined her lover, becoming his recognized wife. Childeric's +guilt in this affair is somewhat mitigated by the spirit of Basina, who +declared that she chose the Frank solely because she knew no man who was +wiser, stronger or handsomer, surely a frank admission of natural +sentiment. The offspring of this free union was Clovis, the founder of +the kingdom of the Franks, and the means whereby it became Christian. + +While still a youth, though established in the chieftainship by his +valor in marauding expeditions, Clovis heard of the beauty and the +desirable character of Clotilde, the niece of Gondebaud, King of the +Burgundians. She had been brought up amidst the most barbarous scenes +which those times could produce. Her father and her two brothers had +been put to death by her uncle, who had also caused her mother Agrippina +to be thrown into the Rhone, with a stone fastened to her neck, and +drowned. Clotilde and her sister Chrona, he permitted to live. The +latter had become a nun, while Clotilde, no less religious, was living +at Geneva where, as it is said, she employed her whole time in works of +piety and charity. Clovis sent to Gondebaud asking the hand of his +niece; but it appears that at first his suit was not favorably looked +upon, for the Frank resorted to unusual measures whereby he gained his +end and provided the material for an interesting story. It is told as +follows by Fredegaire in his commentary on the history by Gregory of +Tours: "As he was not allowed to see Clotilde, Clovis charged a certain +Roman, named Aurelian, to use all his wit to come nigh her. Aurelian +repaired alone to the spot, clothed in rags and with his wallet upon his +back, like a mendicant. To ensure confidence in himself, he took with +him the ring of Clovis. On his arrival at Geneva, Clotilde received him +as a pilgrim charitably, and whilst she was washing his feet, Aurelian, +bending toward her, said under his breath, 'Lady, I have great matters +to announce to thee if thou deign to permit me secret revelation.' She +consenting, replied, 'Say on.' 'Clovis, King of the Franks,' said he, +'hath sent me to thee: if it be the will of God, he would fain raise +thee to his high rank by marriage; and that thou mayest be certified +thereof, he sendeth thee this ring.' She accepted this ring with great +joy, and said to Aurelian, 'Take for recompense of thy pains these +hundred sous in gold and this ring of mine. Return promptly to thy lord; +if he would fain unite me to him in marriage, let him send without delay +messengers to demand me of my uncle Gondebaud, and let the messengers +who shall come take me away in haste, so soon as they shall have +obtained permission; if they haste not, I fear lest a certain sage, one +Aridius, may return from Constantinople; and if he arrive beforehand, +all this matter will by his counsel come to naught.'" + +Aurelian returned and told Clovis all that had passed and the +instructions he had received from Clotilde. "Clovis, pleased with his +success and with Clotilde's notion, at once sent a deputation to +Gondebaud to demand his niece in marriage. Gondebaud, not daring to +refuse, and flattered at the idea of making a friend of Clovis, promised +to give her to him. Then the deputation, having offered the denier and +the sou, according to the custom of the Franks, espoused Clotilde in the +name of Clovis, and demanded that she be given up to be married. Without +any delay, the council was assembled at Chalons, and preparations were +made for the nuptials. The Franks, having arrived with all speed, +received her from the hands of Gondebaud, put her into a covered +carriage and escorted her to Clovis, together with much treasure. She, +however, having already learned that Aridius was on his way back, said +to the Frankish lords, 'If ye would take me into the presence of your +lord, let me descend from this carriage, mount me on horseback, and get +you hence as fast as you may; for never in this carriage shall I reach +the presence of your lord.' + +"Aridius, in fact, returned very speedily from Marseilles; and +Gondebaud, on seeing him, said, 'Thou knowest that we have made friends +with the Franks, and that I have given my niece to Clovis to wife.' +'This,' answered Aridius, 'is no bond of friendship, but the beginning +of perpetual strife; thou shouldst have remembered, my lord, that thou +didst slay Clotilde's father, that thou didst drown her mother, and that +thou didst cut off her brothers' heads and cast their bodies into a +well. If Clotilde become powerful, she will avenge the wrongs of her +relatives. Send thou forthwith a troop in chase, and have her brought +back to thee. It will be easier for thee to bear the wrath of one person +than to be perpetually at strife, thyself and thine, with all the +Franks.' And Gondebaud did send forthwith a troop in chase to fetch back +Clotilde with the carriage and all the treasure; but she, on approaching +Villers (where Clovis was waiting for her), in the territory of Troyes, +and before passing the Burgundian frontier, urged them who escorted her +to disperse right and left over a space of twelve leagues in the country +whence she was departing, to plunder and burn; and that having been done +with the permission of Clovis, she cried aloud, 'I thank thee, God +omnipotent, for that I see the commencement of vengeance for my parents +and my brethren!'" + +The kingdom to which Clovis welcomed his queen was not large. It +comprised no more than the island of the Batavians, and the dioceses of +Tournay and Arras. Nevertheless, this marriage was of exceeding +importance in the history of Europe, for by virtue of his qualities +Clovis was destined to go far in conquest, and to establish the +beginning of a great nation; and the question of his conversion, whether +to Arianism or to Catholicism, was fairly certain to be answered by his +matrimonial alliance. The time had come when political wisdom provided +the most effective argument against paganism. + +It was not at once, however, that Clotilde was able to bring about the +conversion of her husband. The most she could accomplish was to gain his +consent, after the birth of their first son, to the baptism of the +latter. The child dying a few days afterward, serious misgivings arose +in the king's mind as to whether he had not been ill advised in +permitting the Christian rite. But Clotilde's second son also was +baptized, and fell sick. Said Clovis: "It cannot be otherwise with him +than with his brother; baptized in the name of your Christ, he is going +to die." The child lived, and thereby Clotilde was placed to better +advantage in attacking her husband's mind with her Christian arguments. +He was brought to the point of decision when, in his battle at Tolbiac +against the Alemannians, the day seeming about to be lost, Aurelian +cried: "My lord king, believe only on the Lord of heaven, whom the +queen, my mistress, preacheth!" Clovis exclaimed: "Christ Jesus, Thou +whom my queen Clotilde calleth the Son of the Living God, I have invoked +my own gods, and they have withdrawn from me; I believe that they have +no power, since they aid not those who call upon them. Thee, very God +and Lord, I invoke; if Thou give me victory over these foes; if I find +in Thee the power the people proclaim of Thee, I will believe on Thee, +and will be baptized in Thy name." The fortune of battle immediately +turned in favor of the Franks. + +On his return home, to make sure that her husband would fulfil his vow +while his gratitude was warm, Clotilde sent for Saint Remi, the holy +Bishop of Rheims, to perfect her own instructions and receive him into +the Church. Clovis was baptized, as were also the majority of his +subjects. To what extent the doctrines of Christianity had taken +possession of his mind may be gathered from the anecdote which recounts +how, after hearing from the bishop's lips the story of the sufferings of +Christ, he shouted: "Had I been present at the head of my valiant +Franks, I would have revenged his injuries!" As Gibbon says: "The savage +conqueror of Gaul was incapable of examining the proofs of a religion +which depended upon the laborious investigation of historic evidence and +speculative theology. He was still more incapable of feeling the mild +influence of the gospel, which persuades and purifies the heart of a +genuine convert. His ambitious reign was a perpetual violation of moral +and Christian duties: his hands were stained with blood in peace as well +as in war." He took part in a synod of the Gallican Church, and +immediately murdered in cold blood all the princes of the Merovingian +race. Into what, a pit the Christianity of those times had fallen may be +understood when we find Gregory of Tours, after calmly reciting the +murders of Clovis, concluding with these words: "For God thus daily +prostrated his enemies under his hands, and enlarged his kingdom, +because he walked before him with an upright heart, and did that which +was pleasing in his sight." Clovis was the only strictly orthodox +sovereign of that day--a day when orthodoxy was permitted to cover a +multitude of sins. + +After making himself sole monarch of the Frankish race, Clovis died in +the year 511, and was buried in the church which had been erected by +Clotilde. The queen survived her husband many years, but did not +exercise any noticeable influence. She could not even save her two +little grandsons from the ambitious cruelty of her sons--Clotaire and +Childebert. These sent a message to Clotilde saying: "Send the children +to us, that we may place them on the throne." Having sent them, there +soon came to her another messenger, bearing a sword and a pair of +shears. Unshorn locks were essential as a mark of the kingly race among +the Franks; the messenger said therefore: "Most glorious queen, thy +sons, our masters, desire to know thy will touching these children; wilt +thou that they live with shorn hair or that they be put to death?" +Clotilde, in her astonishment and despair, answered: "If they be not set +upon the throne, I would rather know that they were dead than shorn." +The messenger hastened back to the two kings and, with fatal and wilful +inaccuracy, said: "Finish ye your work, for the queen favoring your +plans, willeth that ye accomplish them." Forthwith the two children were +murdered in the most cold-blooded fashion. The tale is rendered the more +shocking by the addition of the fact that Guntheuque, the mother of the +lads, had become the wife of that uncle who killed them. + +The Merovingians allowed themselves as much license in love as they did +freedom from restraint in regard to the sterner passions. Nominal +Christians though they were, they felt no compunction of conscience as +to polygamy, when the vagaries of their fancy could be satisfied only by +its practice. Gregory of Tours records how: "King Clotaire I. had to +wife Ingonde, and her only did he love, when she made to him the +following request: 'My lord,' said she, 'hath made of his handmaid what +seemeth to him good; and now, to crown his favors, let my lord deign to +hear what his handmaid demandeth. I pray you be graciously pleased to +find for my sister Aregonde, your slave, a man both capable and rich, so +that I be rather exalted than abased thereby, and be enabled to serve +you still more faithfully.' At these words, Clotaire, who was but too +voluptuously disposed by nature, conceived a fancy for Aregonde, betook +himself to the country house where she dwelt, and united her to him in +marriage. When the union had taken place, he returned to Ingonde, and +said to her, 'I have labored to procure for thee the favor thou didst so +sweetly demand, and, on looking for a man of wealth and capability +worthy to be united to thy sister, I could find none better than myself: +know, therefore, that I have taken her to wife, and I trow that it will +not displease thee.' 'What seemeth good in my master's eyes, that let +him,' replied Ingonde; 'only let thy servant abide still in the king's +grace.'" + +From the above, it is noticeable that a servile manner of speech to +their husbands was customary to the Frankish women of that time. It is +possible that it was little more than an affectation. Doubtless the +women of character and strength then, as ever, were not without means of +holding their own. Chilperic, the King of Soissons, who was a son of +Clotaire, added to the not brief list of his wives--we may give him the +benefit of the doubt as to whether they were +contemporaneous--Galsuinthe, daughter of the King of Spain. Her +attractiveness consisted in no small measure of the wealth she brought +him. But he became enamored of Fredegonde. Galsuinthe could not brook +this, and she offered to willingly relinquish her dowry if he would send +her back to her father. Chilperic adopted a solution of the difficulty +that was more to his mind. The queen was found dead in her bed. She had +been strangled by a slave. Chilperic mourned for a season which was more +remarkable for its brevity than his sorrow was marked by its intensity, +and then took Fredegonde for his wife. This queen exerted an influence +upon the affairs of her time, both political and ecclesiastical. In her +life and character was fully illustrated that strong mixture of +viciousness and affected piety which occasions such a sad commentary on +the Christianity of her time. She was the daughter of peasants, and owed +her rise solely to her beauty and her mental gifts. Her numerous murders +included her stepson, a king, and the Archbishop of Rouen. How much +regard she entertained for her own personal chastity may be judged from +the fact that she took a public oath, with three bishops and four +hundred nobles as her vouchers, that her son was the true offspring of +her husband, Chilperic. Whether the value of this great mass of +testimony consisted in a personal denial of responsibility on the part +of all the men whose position and character might be prejudicial to +Chilperic's paternity is not made clear. And yet, despite all this, the +following pious act is recorded to her: her child was ill; "he was a +little brother, when his elder brother, Chlodebert, was attacked with +the same symptoms. His mother, Fredegonde, seeing him in danger of +death, and touched by tardy repentance, said to the king, 'Long hath +divine mercy borne with our misdeeds; it hath warned us by fevers and +other maladies, and we have not mended our ways, and now we are losing +our sons; now the tears of the poor, the lamentations of widows, and the +sighs of orphans are causing them to perish, and leaving us no hope of +laying by for anyone. We heap up riches and know not for whom. Our +treasures, all laden with plunder and curses, are like to remain without +possessors. Our cellars are they not bursting with wine, and our +granaries with corn? Our coffers were they not full to the brim with +gold and silver and precious stones and necklaces and other imperial +ornaments? And yet that which was our most beautiful possession we are +losing! Come then, if thou wilt, and let us burn all these wicked +lists!' Having thus spoken, and beating her breast, the queen had +brought to her the rolls, which Mark had consigned to her of each of the +cities that belonged to her, and cast them into the fire. Then, turning +again to the king, 'What!' she cried, 'dost thou hesitate? Do thou even +as I; if we lose our dear children, at least we escape everlasting +punishment!'" It may be taken for granted that Fredegonde's "works meet +for repentance" on this occasion have not suffered in the recital by +Gregory of Tours. She may have exhorted her husband to acts of mercy; +nevertheless she planned and saw executed the assassination of +Chilperic, being fearful lest he discover the guilty connection which +had sprung up between herself and an officer of her household. By this +act, she became the sovereign guardian of her infant, and held this +potential position during the last thirteen years of her life. Guizot +thus summarizes her character: "She was a true type of the +strong-willed, artful, and perverse woman in barbarous times; she +started low down in the scale and rose very high without a corresponding +elevation of soul; she was audacious and perfidious, as perfect in +deception as in effrontery, proceeding to atrocities either from cool +calculation or a spirit of revenge, abandoned to all kinds of passion, +and, for gratification of them, shrinking from no sort of crime. +However, she died quietly at Paris in 597 or 598, powerful and dreaded, +and leaving on the throne of Neustria her son, Clotaire II., who, +fifteen years later, was to become sole king of all the Frankish +dominions." + +Contemporaneous with Fredegonde, and exerting a stronger and indeed more +salutary influence upon her age, though scarcely superior in her moral +character, was Brunehaut, Queen of the Franks of Austrasia. She was a +younger sister of Galsuinthe, by the murder of whom the way was opened +to Chilperic's bed and throne for Fredegonde. The King of Austrasia was +Sigebert, brother of Chilperic. Among those fierce Merovingians kinship +of the closest degree had no deterring influence on their passions. In a +war between these two brothers, Sigebert was assassinated in his tent by +the emissaries of Fredegonde. Brunehaut fell into the latter's power, +and only the fact that she managed to make her way into the Cathedral of +Paris, and thus claim right of asylum, saved her life. Thence she was +sent to Rouen, where she met and married a son of Chilperic by a former +wife. This so enraged Fredegonde that she persecuted her stepson until, +in despair, he prevailed on a faithful servant to take his life. In the +meantime, the Austrasians, who had the custody of Brunehaut's infant +son, demanded their queen from Chilperic; she was surrendered to them, +and was instated as queen-guardian of her son. + +Brunehaut was in every sense a born ruler. A princess by birth, she also +possessed a mind that was capable of formulating plans which united her +people with herself in the enjoyment of the fruits of success as well as +in the labor of accomplishment. Faults she had in abundance. As callous +in regard to bloodshed and as loose in her morals as were the barbarians +of her time, she was not without conscience as to the opportunities of +her position, and she labored in many ways for the public good. +Brunehaut came from Spain, where the Visigoths retained much of the +Roman civilization. She endeavored to introduce some of these advantages +into Austrasia, which was peopled by the least cultivated of the Franks; +but, though forcing her reforms by sheer strength of will and intellect, +the result was her expulsion from the land. The history of her rule is +thus epitomized by Guizot: "She clung stoutly to the efficacious +exercise of the royal authority; she took a practical interest in the +public works, highways, bridges, monuments, and the progress of material +civilization; the Roman roads in a short time received and for a long +while kept in Austrasia the name of Brunehaufs Causeways; there used to +be shown, in a forest near Bourges, Brunehaufs castle, Brunehaufs tower +at Etampes, Brunehaufs stone near Tournay, and Brunehaufs fort near +Cahors. In the royal domains, and wheresoever she went, she showed +abundant charity to the poor, and many ages after her death the people +of those districts still spoke of Brunehaufs Alms. She liked and +protected men of letters, rare and mediocre indeed at that time, but the +only beings, such as they were, with the notion of seeking and giving +any kind of intellectual enjoyment; and they in turn took pleasure in +celebrating her name and her deserts. The most renowned of all during +that age, Fortunatus, Bishop of Poitiers, dedicated nearly all his +little poems to two queens: one, Brunehaut, plunging amidst all the +struggles and pleasures of the world; the other, Saint Radegonde, +sometime wife of Clotaire I, who had fled in all haste from a throne to +bury herself at Poitiers, in a convent she had founded there. To +compensate, Brunehaut was detested by the majority of the Austrasian +chiefs, those Leudes, land owners and warriors, whose sturdy and +turbulent independence she was continually fighting against. She +supported against them, with indomitable courage, the royal officers, +the servants of the palace, her agents, and frequently her favorites." + +Brunehaut maintained her power under the reigns of her son and her +grandson in Austrasia, the capital of which was Metz. In 599, however, +she was expelled from this kingdom, and went to that of Burgundy, where +her other grandson, Theodoric II., reigned, having his capital at +Orleans. In a letter written to Theodoric by Gregory the Great, the +latter says: "And this in you among other things is enough to call for +praise and admiration, that in such things as you know that our +daughter, your most excellent grandmother, desires for the love of God, +in these you make haste most earnestly to lend your aid, so that thereby +you may reign both happily here, and in a future life with the angels." +It is evident from this that in Burgundy the veteran queen was not +denied the opportunity to exercise that executive talent of which the +Austrasians had wearied. If the accounts given by Frankish historians +may be relied upon, Brunehaut's influence upon her grandson was not in +all respects calculated to fit him for a life among the angels. They +accuse her of having encouraged him in licentious living, in order that +her own power might not be undermined by the introduction into his court +of a lawful queen. + +There are several letters extant which were written to her by Pope +Gregory. They all, in that polite manner in which Church dignitaries +treat worldly potentates, speak of her virtuous acts and ignore all +mention of her frailties. Brunehaut would be an exceedingly estimable +woman if nothing more of her were known than what is to be gathered from +these epistles. Gregory was a severe moralist, but he allowed his +condemnation of many faults to be silenced by his gratitude for the +piety of the queen in erecting "the Church of Saint Martin in the +suburbs of Augustodunum (Autun), and a monastery for handmaidens of God, +and also a hospital in the same city." There is also a letter to +Thalassia, the first abbess of this convent, ordaining that the property +donated shall never be alienated from her and her successors; also, that +"on the death of an abbess of the aforementioned monastery, no other +shall be ordained by means of any kind of craftiness or secret scheming, +but that such a one as the king of the same province, with the consent +of the nuns, shall have chosen in the fear of God, and provided for the +ordination of." This also is evidence regarding the interior politics of +the nunneries of that time. + +Brunehaut lived a stormy life. Gentleness and modesty, the qualities +most esteemed in feminine character, were the least noticeable in her +nature; they would not have been consonant with either her ambitions or +her methods. She was ever striving with the chieftains of her realm, +endeavoring, with no little success, to force their independence into +submission to regal authority. With the clerics, also, she had her +quarrels. Saint Didier, Bishop of Vienne, was at her instigation +brutally murdered. Saint Columba, even, was visited with her displeasure +because he refused to connive at her faults with the award of his +blessing. In 614, after thirty-nine years of the most strenuous +political life and the most extreme vicissitudes of personal fortune +that ever fell to the lot of any queen, she perished most miserably at +the hands of Clotaire II., the son of her old enemy, Fredegonde. He +caused the venerable queen, now eighty years of age, to be paraded +before the army on the back of a camel; and then, by his order, she was +bound by the hair, one hand, and one foot, to the tail of an unbroken +steed by which she was kicked and dashed to pieces. Thus lived, and thus +died a "Christian" queen who had received high encomiums from one of the +greatest bishops of history. + +It must not be supposed, however, that feminine modesty, faithful love, +and the gentleness which is ever venerated in womankind, were entirely +unknown to that rough and licentious age. What could be more pleasing +than the romantic story of Theodelinda, Queen of the Lombards? In the +year 584, Authari succeeded to that kingdom. He asked in marriage the +beautiful and pious daughter of Garibald, King of the Bavarians. In +order that he might ascertain whether the attractions of this damsel +were in reality equal to their reputation, and also that he might hasten +matters in case he should be satisfied on this point, Authari +impersonated his own ambassador and visited the court of Garibald in +this guise. He there stated that he was the trusted friend of the +Lombard king, and that Authari had charged him to bring back a minute +report of the charm of his expected bride. Theodelinda submitted to the +inspection; and the supposed ambassador, being at once enamored of her +grace and beauty, hailed her as Queen of the Lombards, and requested +that, according to the custom of his people, she present a cup of wine +to him, her first subject. As she did this, he slyly touched her hand +and then his own lips. This familiarity astonished the maiden, but, +advised by her nurse, she said nothing, and Authari, before leaving the +court, succeeded in gaining her affections. As he left to return home, +he revealed his rank to her by saying, as he drove his huge battle-ax +into the trunk of a tree, "Thus strikes the king of the Langobardi." +After his departure, influenced by the Franks, Garibald withdrew his +consent to his daughter's marriage; whereupon Theodelinda took the +matter into her own hands and fled across the Alps to her lover and was +married to him at Verona. Although she was early left a widow, she had +so completely gained the love and the confidence of the Lombards, that +they intrusted her with the privilege of raising to the throne +whomsoever she might favor with her hand in marriage. Her choice fell +upon a handsome Thuringian named Agilulf. He knew not of his fortune +until it was announced to him by the queen herself in this fashion: one +day, as he bent to kiss her hand in faithful homage, she blushingly +said, "You have the right to kiss my cheek, for you are my king!" So +great was Theodelinda's influence over her people that at her request +the whole nation simultaneously became Christian; and in view of that +event, it is no wonder that she was on the most friendly terms with Pope +Gregory the Great, whose letters to her may still be read. Under her +happy reign, the kingdom of Lombardy was strengthened, and its +constitution established. Agilulf died, and his son and successor, +Adelwald, rendering himself obnoxious, was murdered by some of his +subjects; but to make amends to her for this act, the Lombards placed +the husband of her daughter Gerberga on the throne. Boccaccio, by making +Theodelinda the subject of one of his amorous tales, has taken an +unwarranted and reprehensible liberty with a good queen of whom her age +was justly proud. + +It is to these times, also, that the pathetic story of Saint Genevieve +belongs. She was the wife of Count Siegfried of Andernach. He, setting +out against the Moors who were then invading the land, intrusted her to +the care of Golo, his principal servant. This man, having failed in his +repeated attempts on her conjugal faithfulness, accused her of the fault +which he would fain have persuaded her to commit, and procured her +condemnation to death. Her executioners being merciful, spared her life +by having her conveyed far into the recesses of a forest. There she, +with her little daughter, lived for several years in absolute solitude. +They were sheltered by a cave; and a doe, whose tameness was regarded as +a miraculous providence, supplied them with milk. It was no less +regarded as a divine interposition which eventually led Siegfried to the +grotto while following the chase; her innocence being proved, she was +happily reinstated as his wife, and has ever since been honored as a +saint, which doubtless she was. + +Christianity, during the latter half of the first millennium, could show +triumphs of sanctification in personal character; it had its heroes of +morality, but it must be confessed that the conversion of the barbaric +nations was not accompanied with a very signal improvement in their +morals. Milman says: "It is difficult to conceive a more dark and odious +state of society than that of France under her Merovingian kings, the +descendants of Clovis, as described by Gregory of Tours. In the conflict +or coalition of barbarism with Roman Christianity, barbarism has +introduced into Christianity all its ferocity, with none of its +generosity or magnanimity; its energy shows itself in atrocity of +cruelty and even of sensuality. Christianity has given to barbarism +hardly more than its superstition and its hatred of heretics and +unbelievers. Throughout, assassinations, parricides, and fratricides +intermingle with adulteries and rapes.... + +"As to the intercourse of the sexes, wars of conquest where the females +are at the mercy of the victors, especially if female virtue is not in +much respect, would severely try the more rigid morals of the conqueror. +The strength of the Teutonic character, when it had once burst the +bounds of habitual or traditional restraint, might seem to disdain easy +and effeminate vice, and to seek a kind of wild zest in the indulgence +of lust, by mingling it with all other violent passions, rapacity, and +inhumanity. Marriage was a bond contracted and broken on the lightest +occasion. Some of the Merovingian kings took as many wives, either +together or in succession, as suited either their passions or their +politics. Christianity hardly interferes even to interdict incest." +Clotaire and Charibert each married two sisters. The latter was sternly +rebuked by Saint Germanus, but (so the historian informs us) as the king +already had many wives, he bore the rebuke with extreme patience. There +were laws against these irregularities; but, strict as they were in +their terms, they were completely nullified by failure of execution. +These laws, also, are models of the inequality which existed between the +sexes. When punishment for adultery is prescribed, it is always +understood that it refers solely to the wife. The man was burdened by no +legal responsibility in this matter. Free women were not permitted to +marry slaves; to do so reduced them to a position of servitude. This did +not apply to men, excepting such as were too poor to compound the felony +with the abducted slave's owner. The kings were free in this matter. + +Under the Carlovingian dynasty, manners were somewhat less ferocious +than those exhibited by the Merovingian kings; but it was rather the +result of the former being more confident of its security than any +evidence of real improvement in morals. Earnest champion of the Church +as was Charlemagne, and much as he honored religion, the records of his +own private life and those of his family are examples of wholesale +libidinosity such as is rarely equalled in history. + +Five women were united in marriage to the great emperor. The first was +Desiree, the daughter of the Lombard king, whom Pope Stephen so bitterly +opposed. This union, however, was short lived; during one year only did +Desiree hold the wandering affections of the sturdy monarch. He then +took Hildegarde, a Swabian princess; but in the same indifferent manner +he dissolved this connection, being instigated thereto by the +allegations of a servant named Taland, who was enraged at the contempt +with which the queen received his criminal advances. Charlemagne did not +trouble himself to look into the matter; like Caesar, he held that his +wife should be above suspicion. There is a pleasing story in regard to +Hildegarde who, after her divorce, went to Rome and devoted herself to a +religious life. By her charitable deeds and acts of piety she gained a +great and well deserved name for sanctity. It is said that one day she +met Taland, who was reduced to the life of a blind mendicant. By the +power of her holiness, she restored his sight, and he, filled with +remorse, confessed his crime and brought about a reconciliation between +Hildegarde and the king. No less naive is the legend related of one of +Charlemagne's daughters. His children included several girls, all +beautiful; but for political reasons their father denied them the +privilege of marriage. He considered that if they were united to the +great nobles of the land, it would mean a division and consequent +weakening of the empire. But love laughed at politics. "His secretary, +young Eginhart, became deeply enamored of his daughter Emma, and the +youthful lovers, fearing his anger should he discover their affection, +met only at night. It happened that one night, while Eginhart was in the +princess's apartment, a fall of snow took place. To return across the +palace court must lead to the inevitable discovery by the traces of his +footsteps. The moment called for resolution; woman's wit came to the +assistance of the perplexed lover, and the faithful and prudent Emma, +taking her lover on her back, bore him across the court. The emperor, +who chanced to be gazing from his window, beheld this strange sight by +the clear moonlight, and the next morning sent for the young couple, who +stood before him in the expectation of being sentenced to death, when +the generous father bestowed upon Eginhart his daughter's hand, and the +Odinwald in fief. The tomb of Emma and Eginhart is still to be seen at +Erbach." Another daughter, Bertha, called after her grandmother--the +mother of Charlemagne, carried on a similar intrigue with Engelbert; +and, though not fortunate enough to receive her father's sanction to +marriage, with a gift of land, she became the mother of Nithart, who was +a famous historian of his time. Charlemagne's own character enabled him +to understand, and his justice prompted him to condone those instincts +which his policy would not allow to be satisfied in a lawful and +conventional manner. + + [Illustration 5: _THE LEGEND OF THE ROSES + After the painting by J. Nogales. + + We have seen that, save for the story of Hildegarde, the women + of Charlemagne's family did not present examples of Christian + piety or devotion, but it may be in place here to mention that + Saint Rosalie, the patron saint of Palermo, was of a family said + to have descended from that of Charlemagne. Saint Rosalie, + becoming filled with a spirit of devotion, retired to a grotto + on Mount Pelegrino, where in solitude she passed her time in + prayer and penitence. Of her is told the legend that, + surreptitiously conveying bread concealed in her apron to feed + the hungry, without her father's consent, she was discovered by + him and requested to open her apron, when it was found that the + bread had been changed into magnificent roses._] + +Charlemagne died in 813. From that time until the end of the tenth +century there were no women who can, by the greatest elasticity of which +the term is susceptible, be called Christian, and who, at the same time +were of any note in history. The gloom of the dark ages had not begun to +lift. There was nothing to stimulate the woman of ordinary birth to the +exercise of any powers save the most inferior. The broadening influence +of literature was unknown. Charlemagne encouraged study among his +courtiers; but he could not revive the smouldering embers. During the +succeeding centuries, Greek lore came to be forgotten in the Western +world. The manners, even among the noblest dames, were inconceivably +rude. Every woman, not excepting the daughters of the emperor, worked +with her hands in the common affairs of the household. What the morals +of the time were, we have already seen. Convents sprang up everywhere, +sheltering a great number of women, of both high and low degree. + +They were refuges from the barbarities which accompanied warfare, and, +to a lesser degree, safeguards against the temptation of the world, the +flesh and the devil. The former fanatical enthusiasm for celibacy had +greatly subsided; bishops and priests not infrequently were married, and +even the nunneries gave occasion for lively stories which became +traditional. It was an age when two sisters, Marozia and Theodora, both +prostitutes, could decide the succession to the papal tiara. The former +secured it for her bastard son, and also for her grandson, the infamous +John XII., during whose pontificate, as Gibbon puts it, "the Lateran +palace was turned in a school for prostitution, and his rapes of virgins +and widows deterred the female pilgrims from visiting the tomb of St. +Peter, lest, in the devout act, they should be violated by his +successor." It was an age fitted in all ways to produce such a story as +that of Pope Joan, which, though it was probably not founded on fact, is +a worthy illustration of the moral condition of the rulers of the Church +in that time. + +We have seen that, save for the story of Hildegarde, the women of +Charlemagne's family did not present examples of Christian piety or +devotion, but it may be in place here to mention that Saint Rosalie, the +patron saint of Palermo, was of a family said to have descended from +that of Charlemagne. Saint Rosalie, becoming filled with a spirit of +devotion, retired to a grotto on Mount Pelegrino, where in solitude she +passed her time in prayer and penitence. Miraculous power was ascribed +by the Sicilians to this saint, and of her is told the legend that, +surreptitiously conveying bread concealed in her apron to feed the +hungry, without her father's consent, she was discovered by him and +requested to open her apron, when it was found that the bread had been +changed into magnificent roses. + + + + +PART SECOND + +WOMEN OF THE EASTERN EMPIRE + + + + +IX + +THE EMPRESS EUDOXIA + + +From the story of Christian Womanhood in Old Rome on the Tiber we pass +naturally to the story of Christian Womanhood in that New Rome on the +Bosporus, where Constantine the Great had established an imperial city +which was destined to be the centre of the religious and political life +of the civilized peoples of the East for over a thousand years, and to +keep alive during the Dark Ages the torch of civilization. + +The victories of the Caesars in the extensive domain Hellenized by +Alexander the Great had been surpassed only by the victories of the +Christ, and in Constantinople the authority of Church and State blended +in one inseparable union and determined the destinies of millions of men +and women in Europe, Asia, and Africa. + +As Greek culture was ever an important factor in the eastern half of the +Roman Empire, the story of the Christian women of the East is but a +continuation of the story of Greek women. Hence, it is our task to +consider how Hellenized womanhood was affected by that new principle +which had entered into the world. + +Christianity, with its emphasis on the affections, naturally appealed to +women, who, says Aristotle, "are creatures of passion, as opposed to +men, who are capable of living by reason." And from the days of Mary, +the Mother of Jesus, the women of antiquity accepted in large numbers +the new teaching. They found that their lives were uplifted by it, their +activities enlarged, their influence among men strengthened. + +The status of woman among Oriental peoples was consequently considerably +changed. The recognition, so slowly won, that women had immortal souls +equalized them with the other sex, and with the permeation of +Christianity into the life of paganism began the real emancipation of +the female sex. Functions beyond those of housewifery and maternity were +conceded to woman. Chrysostom, in a letter to a Roman lady, after +speaking of the division of duties assigned by nature to men and women, +says that the Christian life had extended woman's sphere beyond the +duties of the home, and had given her an important part to perform in +the work and struggles of the Church for the elevation of mankind. Her +chief function, in his opinion, was that of consoler and ministering +angel. Thus woman was acknowledged to have a mission--a view that has +prevailed through all the Christian ages. In the pursuit of this idea, +many of the loveliest and most highly endowed women of ancient times +devoted themselves to the relief of sickness and suffering and extended +the influence of the Church by this exhibition of the spirit of +humanity. + +Christianity was gradually transforming the spirit of the ancient world. +But these earlier centuries of the Christian era were a season of +twilight during which light and darkness mingled. Paganism and +Christianity were waging a silent but determined warfare, and the +latter, by absorbing the best that was in the former, left it but a +hollow shell, the connotation of worldliness and unbelief. The ethical +philosophy of the Greeks and the moral teachings of the Stoics and the +Epicureans had found their logical end in the philosophical doctrines of +Christianity and had prepared the way for the acceptance of the latter. +Christianity continued the idea of conformity to the divine government +of the world taught by the Stoics, and the insistence on friendship and +brotherly love emphasized by the Epicureans, and had given life to these +doctrines by the presentation of a divine example. This evolution of the +highest ethical ideas of the ancients in the nobler spirit of +Christianity had its logical outcome in the prevailing institutions of +the Christian world. Stoicism developed into the asceticism that +appealed so strongly to many consecrated men and women, and Christian +Epicureanism showed itself in the many brotherhoods and sisterhoods +which labored for the betterment of humanity in the care of the sick and +the unfortunate. + +One of the effects of the Stoical idea combined with the new conception +of the mission of woman was the prevalence of celibacy. Many women chose +to devote their time to good works rather than to the cares of family +life. Furthermore, "the horror of unchastity--the desecration of the +body, the temple of the soul--which had taken possession of the age with +a sort of morbid excess led to vows of perpetual virginity." + +This emphasis on the unmarried life was unfortunate for the race, as it +conduced to degeneracy and depopulation; but it produced many examples +of consecrated and devoted women, who have merited the homage bestowed +on them by later ages. + +As regards the relation of the sexes, the greatest contrast lay in the +Christian conception of a purified spiritual love, as compared with the +carnal and sensual love of the pagan peoples. This is illustrated by the +popularity of the celebrated legend of Cyprian and Justina, which was +later versified by the Empress Eudoxia. + +Justina was a young and beautiful maiden of Corinth, who was +passionately loved by a handsome pagan youth, Aglaides. Every effort to +win the maiden's affections, which were given to Christ, proving of no +avail, Aglaides determined to enlist in his cause the powers of +darkness. To this end he engaged the services of a powerful magician, +Cyprian by name, who was versed in all the magic lore of the Chaldeans +and the Egyptians. The wizard's art devised every form of temptation, +but the demons who were called up to accomplish the maiden's ruin fled +at the sign of the Cross which she made; and Justina emerged from the +ordeal pure and spotless, untainted by all the arts of the Evil One. +Cyprian, overcome by the beauty and innocence and unbounded faith of the +maiden, was himself inspired with the purest and most intense love for +Justina, and, renouncing all his arts, was converted to Christianity. +The devoted pair suffered martyrdom in the persecutions of Diocletian. + +Such Christian ideals, opposing all that was basest in paganism, +naturally developed a new and an exceedingly high type of womanhood. Of +the women of the provinces we know almost nothing, for the records of +the Eastern Empire centre about the capital city. We may be sure, +however, that throughout the Orient Christian womanhood exhibited its +characteristic traits of piety and unselfishness. In Constantinople, +though an intensely religious city, paganism for centuries continued to +exert a marked influence, and the type of woman there varied in +accordance with the proportions of the two ingredients--Christianity and +paganism--in the mental and spiritual aggregate of the individual woman. +Some, to avoid the vanities and temptations of the world, lived lives of +retirement in secluded monasteries; others, often of prominent social +position, partook not of the gay life of the city, but gave themselves +up to good works, ministering to the sick, providing for the poor, +uplifting the fallen; while others, chiefly in the court circles, knew +how to combine with their devotion to all the vanities and frivolities +of high life a strict attention to the external duties of Christianity. +The religious sisters of the day were an important factor in the society +of Constantinople, and the exercise of their spiritual duties often +brought them before the public in a manner inconsistent with the +prevailing ideas of female retirement. A popular priest or bishop became +the target of admiration on the part of enthusiastic women, who would +gather about him and espouse his cause in a way that was often more +embarrassing than helpful. As Jerome in Old Rome, so Chrysostom in New +Rome was the centre of such a spiritual circle. + +These various types of Christian womanhood present themselves in the +reign of Arcadius, the first independent emperor of the Eastern Empire +so called, and we are indebted to the sermons of the patriarch +Chrysostom for many glimpses into their lives. Far more than in Old Rome +the influence of women made itself felt in the government at +Constantinople, and under almost every dynasty and throughout the +centuries of its existence we find remarkable ladies of the imperial +house playing a prominent part in politics as well as in religion. + +The keynote of this new departure was struck by Eudoxia, empress of +Arcadius, and the influence of her personality and her example upon her +successors was marked. Hence, her career and that of the women of her +time constitute the initial stage in the prominence of Christian women +of the East. + +Owing to the intellectual weakness of Arcadius, who inherited the +eastern half of the Empire upon the death of Theodosius the Great in +395, the administration really fell into the hands of his minister, +Rufinus, a vicious and avaricious man. Having the entire control of the +army and an unbounded influence over the emperor, Rufinus cherished the +hope that he might himself become a wearer of the purple as the +colleague of Arcadius. To facilitate this end he fostered the scheme of +uniting Arcadius in marriage to his only daughter; once the emperor's +father-in-law, it would be but a step further to become a sharer of the +purple. + +While Rufinus, in secret with his confidants, nurtured this idea, the +wily head of the opposite party of the court, getting an inkling of it, +set everything in motion to turn the eyes of the inexperienced youth +toward another maiden. The eunuch Eutropius, the grand chamberlain of +the palace, a bold old man with Oriental craftiness, determined that to +himself, and not to Rufinus, should the emperor be bound. Hence, while +the old warrior was on a journey to Corinth avenging a private injury, +Eutropius fixed the attention of the emperor upon Eudoxia, a maiden of +singular beauty, the daughter of Bauto, a distinguished Frankish +general, and reared since her father's death by the family of the sons +of Promotus, an ancient Roman patrician. Eudoxia was at that time at the +dawn of perfect womanhood. Her education had been received under the +auspices of her rich and noble patrons, and in native gifts, as well as +in beauty, she seemed destined by the Fates to be the consort of an +emperor. Eutropius, by showing him her portrait and by glowing +descriptions of her charms, inflamed the heart of the young ruler with +his first passion, and he entered eagerly into the plans of Eutropius to +make Eudoxia his wife. + +Rufinus meanwhile returned, and prepared the ceremonies of the royal +nuptials, as he fancied, of his daughter. "A splendid train of eunuchs +and officers issued, in hymeneal pomp, from the gates of the palace, +bearing aloft the diadem, the robes and the inestimable ornaments of the +future empress. The solemn procession passed through the streets of the +city, which were adorned with garlands and filled with spectators; but +when it reached the house of the sons of Promotus, the principal eunuch +(Eutropius) respectfully entered the mansion, invested the fair Eudoxia +with the imperial robes and conducted her in triumph to the palace and +bed of Arcadius." The particulars of the ceremony show that the hymeneal +rites of the ancient Greeks, in which the bride was, as it were, +forcibly conducted to the house of her husband, were still practised, +though without idolatry, by the early Christians. + +The secrecy and success of the conspiracy brought great chagrin to the +overconfident Rufinus. He felt keenly the insult to himself and his +daughter, and he feared the growing power of Eutropius and the new +empress. Yet he merely tightened his grip upon the government and +continued to be a formidable factor in the intrigues of the palace. + +The Empress Eudoxia rapidly adapted herself to her new life and +displayed a superiority of sense and spirit which enabled her to +maintain over her fond and youthful husband the ascendancy that her +beauty had at first created. She soon made it evident that she would be +under the control of no intriguing courtier, but that she herself would +be a dominant factor in the life of the court. Rufinus continued his +plots against the throne of Arcadius, but was constantly thwarted by the +empress, assisted by Eutropius, and their counterplays finally brought +about the minister's assassination. + +After the murder of Rufinus, the empress endeavored to hold the balance +of power between the three political parties of the day--the German +party, headed by Gainas the Goth, which largely embraced the military +forces of the Empire; the party of Eutropius, who had under his control +the civil officers of the state; and the senatorial party, under the +leadership of the prefect Aurelian, who abhorred alike the growing +influence of the Goths and the bed-chamber administration of Eutropius. +Eudoxia naturally inclined to the third of these parties: she +strenuously opposed the Germans, who, under the leadership of Gainas, +demanded freedom for Arian worship, and she sought to overcome the +influence of her quondam benefactor Eutropius, that she herself might +have absolute dominion over her imperial husband. Hence, these three, +the empress, Eutropius, and Gainas, as Hodgkin remarks, "kept up a vivid +game of court intrigue and disputed with varying success for the chief +place in that empty chamber which represented the mind of the emperor." + +Eudoxia first combined with Gainas to get rid of their powerful rival +Eutropius, though she owed her own position to the machinations of the +wily chamberlain. Gainas instigated a revolt among the Ostrogoths under +their commander Tribigild, and when sent out against them he took no +active measures to suppress their incursions; the Goths, at the +instigation of Gainas, finally sent word to the emperor demanding the +death of Eutropius as the condition of their retiring. Eudoxia, from the +palace, joined in the demand and presenting her infant children, +Flacilla and Pulcheria, to their father, with a flood of forced tears, +implored his justice for some real or imaginary insult which she +attributed to the audacious eunuch. The tears of the empress succeeded +where the demand of Tribigild had only caused hesitation, and Arcadius +signed the death warrant of his favorite. The people rejoiced at the +downfall of the minister, whose venality and injustice had aroused the +public hatred. Eutropius fled for refuge to the Church of Saint Sophia, +where he was protected by the patriarch Chrysostom. So good an +opportunity, however, for impressing the lesson of the fatuity of human +greatness was not to be lost, and while the cowering chamberlain lay in +humiliation before the altar, Chrysostom preached to a crowded +congregation from the text: "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity," +illustrating every argument of his sermon by pointing to the fallen +Eutropius--yesterday prime minister of the emperor--to-day a hounded +criminal. Chrysostom finally gave him up on condition that he be not put +to death, and Eutropius was banished to Cyprus; but the empress and his +enemies would not be satisfied with anything less than his death, and he +was later recalled and executed at Chalcedon in A. D. 399. + +Not long afterward, Gainas met with a like evil destiny, and Eudoxia was +left without a rival to dispute her control over the emperor. The weak +Arcadius was permitted to spend the remaining years of his life in ease +and tranquillity under her mild but absolute control. Henceforth the +empress was the most conspicuous figure of the court. Possessing +limitless power, it was natural that she should become haughty and +rapacious. Endowed with rare beauty and remarkable cleverness, she gave +the tone to the court society of Arcadius's reign. Unfortunately, she +was fond of all the frivolities of life, and sought at the same time to +promote worldliness and religion. Hence, her influence on the ladies of +the court was such as to bring upon her the censure of the austere +Patriarch of Constantinople, Chrysostom, to whom we are indebted for +many glimpses into the life and manners of the fifth century. + +The empress was surrounded in the royal palace by a splendor which +rivalled that of Persia. Oriental richness and luxury characterized all +its appointments. We find exhibited in the court life of the day a +blending of the voluptuousness of the East with the refinement of the +Greeks and the luxury of the Romans. Thousands of eunuchs, parasites and +slaves, carried out the wishes of the empress. In her royal apartments +"the doors were of ivory, the ceilings lined with gold, the floors +inlaid with mosaics, or strewed with rich carpets; the walls of the +halls and bedrooms were of marble, and wherever commoner stone was used +the surface was beautified with gold plate. The beds were of ivory or +solid silver, or, if on a less expensive scale, of wood plated with +silver or gold. Chairs and stools were usually of ivory, and the most +homely vessels were often made of the most costly metal; the +semicircular tables or sigmas were so heavy that two youths could hardly +lift one. Oriental cooks were employed; and at banquets the atmosphere +was heavy with the perfumes of the East, while the harps and pipes of +the musicians delighted the ears of the feasters." + +Equal attention was paid to the details of dress. The empress was +renowned for the gorgeousness of her toilets, which enhanced her +personal charms and made her appear the most fascinating lady of her +court. Her imperial robes were of the richest character, consisting of +purple fabrics, embellished with gold and precious gems. + +Such was the external splendor of the court. The Bishop Synesius +censures the elaborate court etiquette which surrounded the emperor and +empress, keeping them from the knowledge of outside affairs and making +them the victims of eunuchs and courtiers. He criticises severely the +sensual retirement in which they lived and attributes it to the desire +to appear semi-divine. + +Some idea of the importance of the empress in affairs of state and of +the court etiquette which attended an audience with her can be gained +from the extant narrative of Marcus the deacon, who recounts incidents +in the visit of Porphyrius, Bishop of Gaza, when he and others came to +Constantinople to seek redress from the emperor for injuries inflicted +by the heathen on the Christians in Palestine. Knowing that the empress +was the real power, the bishop appealed to her, and the narrative tells +of his audiences with her and how she obtained for him a favorable +answer to his petition. As nothing is more effective in conveying an +idea of the ways and manners of an age than the actual words of a +contemporary writer, I present a rather free translation of Marcus's +narrative. + +Upon their arrival at Byzantium, the bishop and his party were honorably +received by the Patriarch John Chrysostom, who expressed regret that he +could not in person present them to the emperor, because of the royal +indignation the empress had excited against him. But he secured the +services of the eunuch Amantius, chamberlain of the empress, who +arranged for them an audience with Eudoxia. + +Amantius took the two bishops and introduced them to the empress, and +when she saw them she saluted them first and said: "Give me your +blessing, fathers," and they did obeisance to her. Now she was sitting +on a golden sofa, and she said to them: "Excuse me, priests of Christ, +on account of my situation, for I was anxious to meet your sanctity in +the antechamber. But pray God in my behalf that I may be delivered +happily of the child which is in my womb." And the bishops, wondering at +her condescension, said: "May He who blessed the womb of Sarah and +Rebecca and Elizabeth, bless and quicken the child in thine." After +further edifying conversation she said to them: "I know why ye came, as +the castrensis Amantius explained it to me. But if you are fain to +instruct me, fathers, I am at your service." Thus bidden, they told her +all about the idolaters, and the impious rites which they fearlessly +practised and their oppression of the Christians, whom they did not +allow to perform a public duty, nor to till their lands, "from which +produce they pay the dues to your imperial sovereignty." And the empress +said: "Do not despond; for I trust in the Lord Christ, the Son of God, +that I shall persuade the emperor to do those things that are due to +your saintly faith and to dismiss you hence well treated. Depart, then, +to your privacy, for you are fatigued, and pray God to cooperate with my +request." She then commanded money to be brought, and gave three darics +apiece to the most holy bishops, saying: "In the meantime take this for +your expenses." And the bishops took the money, and blessed her +abundantly, and departed. And when they went out they gave the greater +part of the money to the deacons who were standing at the door, +reserving little for themselves. + +And when the emperor came into the apartment of the empress, she told +him all touching the bishops, and requested him that the heathen temples +of Gaza should be thrown down. But the emperor was put out when he heard +it, and said: + +"I know that city is devoted to idols, but it is loyally disposed in the +matters of taxation and pays a large sum to the revenue. If then we +overwhelm them with terrors of a sudden, they will betake themselves to +flight, and we shall lose so much of the revenue. But if it must be, let +us afflict them partially, depriving idolaters of their dignities and +other public offices, and bid their temples be shut up and be used no +longer. For when they are afflicted and straitened on all sides, they +will recognize the truth; but an extreme measure coming suddenly is hard +on subjects." The empress was very much vexed at this reply, for she was +ardent in matters of faith, but she merely said: "The Lord can assist +his servants, the Christians, whether we consent or decline." + +We learned these details from the chamberlain Amantius. On the morrow +the Augusta sent for us, and having first saluted the holy bishops +according to her custom, she bade them sit down. And after a long +spiritual talk, she said: "I spoke to the emperor, and he was rather put +out. But do not despond, for, God willing, I cannot cease until ye be +satisfied and depart, having succeeded in your holy purpose." And the +bishops made obeisance. Then the saintly Porphynus, pricked by the +spirit, and recollecting the word of the thrice-blessed anchoret +Procopius, said to the empress: "Exert yourself for the sake of Christ, +and in recompense for your exertions he can bestow on you a son whose +life and reign you will see and enjoy for many years." + +At these words the empress was filled with joy, and her face flushed, +and new beauty beyond that which she already had passed into her face; +for the appearance shows what passes within. And she said: "Pray, +fathers, that, according to your word, with the will of God, I may bear +a male child, and if it so befall, I promise you to do all that ye ask. +And another thing, for which ye ask not, I intend to do with the consent +of Christ; I will found a church at Gaza in the centre of the city. +Depart then in peace, and rest quiet, praying constantly for my happy +delivery; for the time of my confinement is near." The bishops commended +her to God and left the palace, and prayer was made that she should bear +a male child; for we believed in the words of Saint Procopius the +anchoret. + +And every day we used to proceed to the most holy Johannes, the +archbishop, and had the fruition of his holy words, sweeter than honey +and the honeycomb. And Amantius the chamberlain used to come to us, +sometimes bearing messages from the empress, at other times merely to +pay a visit. And after a few days the empress brought forth a male +child, and he was called Theodosius, after his grandfather Theodosius, +the Spaniard, who reigned together with Gratian. And the child +Theodosius was born in the purple, wherefore he was proclaimed emperor +at his birth. And there was great joy in the city, and men were sent to +the cities of the Empire, bearing the good news, with gifts and +bounties. + +But the empress, who had only just been delivered and arisen from her +chair of confinement, sent Amantius to us with this message: "I thank +Christ that God bestowed on me a son on account of your holy prayers. +Pray then, fathers, for his life and for my lowly self, in order that I +may fulfil those things which I promised you, Christ himself again +consenting, through your holy prayers." And when the seven days of her +confinement were fulfilled, she sent for us and met us at the door of +the chamber, carrying in her arms the infant in a purple robe. And she +inclined her head and said: "Draw nigh, fathers, unto me and the child +which the Lord granted to me through your holy prayers." And she gave +them the child that they might seal it with God's signet. And the holy +bishops sealed both her and the child with the seal of the cross, and, +offering a prayer, sat down. And when they had spoken many words full of +heart pricking, the lady said to them: "Do ye know, fathers, what I +resolved to do in regard to your affairs?" (Here Porphyrius related a +dream which he had dreamed the night before: then Eudoxia resumed:) "If +Christ permit, the child will be privileged to receive the holy baptism +in a few days. Do ye then depart and compose a petition and insert in it +all the requests ye wish to make. And when the child comes forth from +the holy baptismal rite, give the petition to him who holds the child in +his arms; but I will instruct him what to do. And I trust in the Son of +God that He can arrange the whole matter according to the will of His +loving kindness." Having received these instructions we blessed her and +the infant and went out. Then we composed the petition, inserting many +things in the document, not only as to the overthrow of the idols, but +also that privileges and revenues should be granted to the holy Church +and the Christians; for the holy Church was poor. + +The days ran by, and the day on which the young emperor was to be +illuminated (_i. e._, baptized) arrived. And all the city was crowned +with garlands and decked out in garments entirely made of silk and gold +jewels and all kinds of ornaments, so that no one could describe the +adornment of the city. One might behold the inhabitants, multitudinous +as the waves, arrayed in all manner of various dresses. But it is beyond +my power to describe the brilliance of that pomp; it is a task for those +who are practised writers, and I shall proceed to my present true +history. When the young Theodosius was baptized and came forth from the +church to the palace, you might behold the excellence of the multitude +of the magnates and their dazzling raiments, for all were dressed in +white, and you would have thought they were covered with snow. The +patricians headed the procession with the illustres and all other ranks, +and the military contingents, all carrying wax candles, so that the +stars seemed to shine on earth. And close to the infant, which was +carried in arms, was the emperor Arcadius himself, his face cheerful and +more radiant than the purple robe he was wearing, and one of the +magnates carried the infant in brilliant apparel. And we marvelled, +beholding such glory. Then the holy Porphyrius said to us: "If the +things which vanish possess such glory, how much more glorious are the +things celestial, prepared for the elect, which neither eye hath beheld +nor ear heard, nor hath it come into the heart of man to consider!" + +And we stood at the portal of the church, with the document of our +petition, and when he came forth from the baptism we called aloud, +saying, "We petition your Piety," and held out the paper. And he who +carried the child seeing this, and knowing our concernment, for the +empress had instructed him, and when he received it halted, and he +commanded silence, and having unrolled a part he read it, and folding it +up, placed his hand under the head of the child, and cried out: "His +majesty has ordered the requests contained in the petition to be +ratified." And all having seen did obeisance to the emperor, +congratulating him that he had the privilege of seeing his son as +emperor in his lifetime; and he rejoiced thereat. And that which had +happened for the sake of her son was announced to the empress, and she +rejoiced and thanked God on her knees. And when the child entered the +palace, she met it and received it and kissed it, and, holding it in her +arms, greeted the emperor, saying: "You are blessed, my lord, for the +things which your eyes have beheld in your lifetime." And the emperor +rejoiced thereat. And the empress, seeing him in good humor, said: +"Please let us learn what the petition contains that its contents may be +fulfilled." + +And the emperor ordered the paper to be read; and when it was read, he +said: "The request is hard, but to refuse it is harder, since it is the +first mandate of our son." Thus the petition was granted, and the +empress herself saw to it that all its provisions were fulfilled; and +the bishops returned to Palestine well supplied with funds, having +obtained all they desired by working on the superstition of the empress, +and through her skill in managing the emperor. + +The narrative is highly instructive and interesting in the picture it +gives of the empress, her outward piety, her joy at the birth of a son, +her superstitious acceptance of the prophecy of the anchoret, and her +cleverness in the ruse she devised to win the consent of the emperor. It +is an altogether pleasing picture of a religious queen and a devoted +mother, and we could wish that all her conduct had conformed to these +high ideals. The worldly side of Eudoxia's character appeared in the +open war between the empress and the patriarch, which disturbed the +later years of the reign of Arcadius. + +John Chrysostom was an austere and eloquent prelate, who had studied the +art of rhetoric under Libanius and had been brought by Eutropius to +Constantinople from Antioch, where he had already achieved great +popularity and an enviable reputation for holiness and eloquence. He was +a man of saintly life and apostolic fervor, but rash and inconsiderate +alike in speech and in action. His charity and eloquence made him the +idol of the people, but his free speaking offended the court circles, +and his austere manners and autocratic methods made him disliked by the +clergy. He thundered against the degeneracy of the wealthy classes and +enlarged on the peculiar vices of the aristocrats, to the confusion of +the empress and her court ladies and to the delight of the populace. + +The worldliness and carnal ambitions of Eudoxia can be judged from the +sermons of Chrysostom; and she naturally gave the tone to the ladies of +her court. She was not above suspicion of criminal intrigues, as can be +inferred from the fact of the rumor prevailing that Count John, a +nobleman of the court, was the father of her son Theodosius; but whether +this was merely a court scandal cannot at this day be ascertained. With +the empress given to worldly vanity, we can imagine the nature of the +society over which she presided. "One curious trait of manner indicates +clearly enough the tone of the court. It was the custom of Christian +ladies to wear veils or bands over their foreheads, so as to conceal +their hair. Women of meretricious life were distinguished by the way +they wore their hair cut and combed over their brows, just like modern +fringes. The ladies of Eudoxia's court were so immodest, and had such +bad taste, as to adopt this fashion from the courtesans. The next step +probably was that the example of the court influenced respectable +Christian matrons to wear the obnoxious fringe." On the other hand, +actresses and public prostitutes retaliated by imitating the dress of +consecrated virgins, and this abuse had to be suppressed by legislation. +In the aristocratic society of Eudoxia three ladies were especially +prominent,--Marsa, the widow of Promotus, a distant relative of the +empress; Castricia, the widow of Saturninus; and Eugraphia, who had also +lost her husband. These ladies, though no longer young, were rich and +fashionable, and endeavored to preserve the appearance of youth by +inordinate attention to complexion and to dress. Eugraphia is mentioned +as given to using rouge and white lead to preserve her complexion, a +habit which was severely condemned by the austere Chrysostom. It was +hard to forgive a preacher who reproached the feminine tendency to +conceal by cosmetics and dress one's age and ugliness. + +Furthermore, the attractions of the theatre and the dissipations of high +life engaged the attention of this fashionable set quite as much as did +attendance on religious service and outward manifestations of piety. +Christianity had not suppressed the licentiousness of the stage or +improved the morality of greenrooms. Chrysostom complains of the +lawlessness of the theatre and the obscenity of the songs that delighted +the audience; he was especially shocked at the exhibitions of women +swimming. The professional courtesan, with all the accomplishments of +the actress, was the centre of attraction for the _habitues_ of the +theatre; and she was even allowed to contaminate fashionable weddings +with her presence. + +Other types of contemporary society are of interest, especially +instances of the ambitious and fashionable lady, not of the aristocracy, +who wished to work her way up into the court circle. Synesius gives us +the picture of such a one in a celebrated allegory presenting the career +of the noble and high-minded Aurelian, head of a patriot party, and of +his unscrupulous adversary, who wished to displace him. The subject of +the allegory is the contest between the two sons of Taurus, Osivis and +Typhos. Osivis represents Aurelian, the type of everything good and +laudable; Aurelian's antagonist is figured in Typhos, a perverse, gross, +and ignorant person, who favored the German party. He was a profligate +Roman, who had been guilty of malversation in office and hoped by his +new alliance to return to power. He had an active, though not very +discreet, ally in his wife, whom Synesius depicts in pregnant phrases. +Owing to her vanity she was her own tire-woman, a reproach which +suggests her excessive attention to the details of her toilet. She liked +to show herself in grand array in the market place, fancying that the +eyes of all were upon her. Owing to her desire to have her drawing rooms +filled and to be the object of notoriety, she did not close her doors +even against professional courtesans; and we may infer on that account +that select Byzantine society was not desirous of her acquaintance. +Synesius contrasts with her the wife of Aurelian, who never left the +house, and gives us a reminiscence of Thucydides in his sententious +expression that it was the greatest virtue of a woman for neither her +body nor her name ever to cross the threshold. Aurelian succeeds in +winning political honors in spite of the hostility of Typhos and his +wife, much to the disgust of the latter, who saw her intrigues for +social laurels defeated. + +The ladies of the court and those who wished to be such were in large +measure devoted to the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eye, and the +pride of life. Chrysostom's austere spirit was naturally offended at the +life of such a court and of fashionable and aspiring matrons, and in his +pastoral visits to these great ladies he undoubtedly rebuked them for +their worldliness. Furthermore, in his pulpit he preached valiantly +against luxury and worldliness, and would often add point to his remarks +by turning his eyes toward the part of the gallery where sat Eudoxia and +the ladies of her court. Great umbrage was aroused against him because +of his outspoken condemnation of their vices, petty and otherwise, and +he was hated as the wicked Herodias hated John the Baptist. His greatest +offence was reached in a sermon in which the empress was openly called +Jezebel--a statement which led to the spread of the unfounded scandal +that she had robbed a widow of a vineyard as Ahab robbed Naboth. + +The rank and file of the people enjoyed with great zest these attacks on +the aristocrats, and that which stung the great ladies most severely was +their being made objects of censure before the mob, as their consciences +were sufficiently hardened not to be deeply penetrated by the preacher's +shafts. Accordingly, the humiliation of their pride led them to form a +conspiracy against Chrysostom, the centre of which was the house of +Eugraphia. These ladies readily found allies. The archbishop's austerity +of life and rigid discipline had made him many enemies among the +bishops, monks, and nuns, for he had attacked the corruption of the +clergy as well as the corruption of the court. The sensuality, avarice, +and selfishness of the clergy laid them open to attack. Women were +admitted to the monasteries, or lived in the houses of priests as +"spiritual sisters," a custom that gave rise to much scandal. Still more +scandalous was the conduct of the order of deaconesses who, while not +following the fashions of the court, yet adorned their austere garb +"with an immodest coquetry which made them more piquant than an ordinary +courtesan." Chrysostom was especially severe on the monks, who would +linger about Constantinople for the sake of its licentious pleasures +instead of betaking themselves to their natural fields of labor. + +Though Chrysostom had his enemies among the fair sex, he had also his +circle of admirers, who were the more ardent in their attentions because +of the persecutions he had to undergo. The most distinguished and the +most devoted of these was the aristocratic Olympias, whose mother was at +one time betrothed to an emperor, but who was wedded to a king of +Armenia, and afterward became the wife of a Roman noble. Olympias was +renowned for her benevolence toward the poor and her constancy to +Chrysostom in his troubles, while her kindness of heart and sweetness of +spirit give her rank among the "good" women of the period. Another +constant friend was a Moorish princess, Salvina, who had been placed as +a hostage in Theodosius's charge by her father, and had been married to +the empress's nephew. In contrast to the restless activity of the ladies +about Eudoxia, she led a quiet and peaceful life devoted to good works, +and Chrysostom, in a "letter to a young widow," contrasts the serenity +and happiness she enjoyed with the turbulent life of her father. + +Chrysostom's sharp reproofs of the worldly minded, his close friendships +with Olympias and other ladies, whom he at times received alone in his +episcopal residence, and his retired, ascetic life, gave pretext for +unwarranted charges. His enemies even went so far as to assert that +under the cover of his unsocial habits he conducted "Cyclopean orgies" +in his home. + +An official journey which he made for the regulation of the affairs of +the churches, during which he removed many unworthy bishops, aroused +much umbrage against him, and gave his enemies at home an opportunity to +injure him. Severian, whom he left in his place, was an especial +favorite of the empress, and joined the court league against his +superior. Upon his return, Chrysostom acted with his customary decision. +Hearing of the unbecoming conduct of his subordinate, he severely and +openly attacked his time-serving relations with the empress, and, when +Severian grew defiant, promptly excommunicated him. Owing to the +entreaties of the empress and the emperor, however, he withdrew the ban +and restored Severian to his office. + +Soon afterward a louder storm burst, and from a new quarter. Theophilus, +the worldly prelate of Alexandria, was induced by the court ladies to +undertake their cause against the patriarch. He came to Constantinople +and took up his quarters in the palace of Placidia, and from this +centre, as well as from the house of Eugraphia, a violent warfare of +words was waged against Chrysostom. + +The emperor was prevailed upon to grant a synod for the trial of the +patriarch, which was held outside the city, owing to the strength of the +latter's adherents. Chrysostom was condemned by the packed assembly, +known as the "Synod of the Oak," and formally deposed. The city was in +an uproar. Chrysostom retired to Bithynia, but the people demanded his +return, and he was recalled from banishment and restored to his office. +Had he now adopted a policy of quiet tolerance, all would have been +well, but very soon an occasion arose which led him to make a further +attack on Eudoxia. In September, 403, a statue of silver on a column of +porphyry was erected to the empress near the precincts of Saint Sophia. +Chrysostom took occasion to censure severely the adulation of the +populace, and by his remarks he must have mortally offended the pride of +the empress, for henceforth even the mild emperor declined to have any +communication with the patriarch. + +The next year a new synod was held, and the action of the Synod of the +Oak was confirmed. The emperor ratified the sentence, and Chrysostom +quietly yielded to the inevitable and retired from the city. As soon as +the people heard of the occurrence, another uproar followed, which +resulted in the conflagration of Saint Sophia and other buildings and in +the persecution of many adherents of the exiled patriarch. Olympias and +many others were condemned to exile. "Among those who anticipated the +sentence by flight was an old maid named Nicarete, who deserves mention +as a curious figure of the time. She was a philanthropist who devoted +her means to works of charity, and who always went about with a chest of +drugs, which she used to dispose of gratuitously, and which rumor said +were always effectual." + +Meanwhile, Chrysostom was transported to a remote town among the ridges +of Mount Taurus, in Lesser Armenia. He suffered many hardships, but he +was sustained by the sympathy of his friends, especially Olympias, with +whom he corresponded, and who never told him of the persecutions she +herself underwent in his behalf. Her own last years, however, were +darkened by her afflictions, and Chrysostom tried to lighten her +melancholy by his letters of consolation. Her saintly life cast a halo +about her memory after she passed away, and a legend was current in +later times that her encoffined body had, by her own directions, been +cast into the sea at Nicomedia, whence it was borne to Constantinople, +and thence to Brochthi, where it reposed in the Church of Saint Thomas. + +Chrysostom's last years were perhaps his most useful ones, being spent +in regulating by letter the affairs of the churches. The Pope at Rome +never ratified his condemnation, and he was universally beloved as one +subjected to unjust persecution. Owing to his undiminished prominence in +all Church affairs, the ruthless empress pursued him in his exile, and +an order was despatched for him to be transported to Pityus, a desolate +place on the south-eastern coast of the Euxine; but on the way thither +he expired from exhaustion, in the sixtieth year of his age. He was the +last of the patriarchs to stand out against the corruption and the +frivolity of the court, and henceforth the archbishops were but +subservient adherents of the emperor and the empress. + +His innocence and merit were acknowledged by the succeeding generation, +and thirty years later, at the earnest solicitation of the people, +Chrysostom's remains were brought to Constantinople. The Emperor +Theodosius advanced to receive them as far as Chalcedon, and implored +the forgiveness of the injured saint in the name of his guilty parents, +Arcadius and Eudoxia. + +Less than four years after the birth of her son, Theodosius, Eudoxia, in +the bloom of her youth and the height of her power, came to her end as +the result of a miscarriage; and this untimely death confounded the +prophecy of Porphyrius of Gaza, who had foretold that she would live to +see the reign of her son. Pious Catholics saw in her untimely death the +vengeance of Heaven for the persecution of Saint Chrysostom; and few +save the emperor and her children bewailed the loss of the worldly and +ambitious empress. + + + + +X + +THE RIVAL EMPRESSES--PULCHERIA AND EUDOCIA + + +Beside the deathbed of the gentle Arcadius, whom destiny snatched from +life in the fulness of manhood, stood four weeping orphans of tenderest +years, three maidens and a little lad--all too young to realize the +greatness of their loss. These were the seven-year-old Theodosius, heir +to the throne, the nine-year-old Pulcheria and her two younger sisters, +Arcadia and Marina. In the orphanage of the children, it was natural +that the eldest daughter should feel that upon herself rested the +responsibility of acting as mother to her brother and sisters; and +Pulcheria possessed the mental endowments and the rapidly developing +nature which peculiarly fitted her for this task. Fortunately the +administration of the Empire was in the hands of the praetorian prefect +Anthemius, a wise and able counsellor, who acted as the guardian of the +young prince and his sisters and directed their education. He, with the +Patriarch Atticus, who was their religious guide and spiritual adviser, +provided them with every possible advantage for intellectual and +spiritual growth. Pulcheria early exhibited an earnest and almost manly +intelligence. Along with the sympathetic and mystical temperament of a +saint, she possessed the strong, practical sense of her grandfather, +Theodosius the Great. Hence she was quick to turn her attention to +problems of statecraft and displayed a precocious capacity for +administration. Her duties as guardian of her brother and sisters also +developed her innate love of mastery, so that as a child she gradually +conceived a longing for the duties and responsibilities of the imperial +station. + +At the tender age of fourteen, Pulcheria began to win influence in state +affairs. Proud and ambitious like her mother Eudoxia, she sought as +rapidly as possible to assert her authority; and, as her power and +influence grew, that of Anthemius gradually ceased to exert itself. By +no other hypothesis can we explain why Anthemius at this time retired +from active duties and did not retain his office as regent at least +until two years later, when Theodosius, in his fifteenth year, should +attain his majority. + +On July 4, 414, Pulcheria, the daughter of an emperor, assumed, contrary +to all precedent, the title of Augusta, previously reserved exclusively +for the wives of emperors, and formally took upon herself the honor and +the duties of regent in the name of her brother, who was still a minor. +So thoroughly did she gain the ascendency over the young prince that +even after he was created Augustus two years later she retained her +title and continued to be the real power in the imperial palace; indeed, +she was for forty years virtually the ruler of the Eastern Empire. + +The children of Arcadius and Eudoxia inherited the religious temperament +of their father rather than the worldly disposition of their mother. +Consequently, the court of Theodosius the Younger formed a great +contrast to that of Arcadius. Pulcheria determined to embrace a life of +celibacy. Resolving to remain a virgin, she induced her sisters to join +with her in vows of perpetual virginity. They were confirmed in this +step by their spiritual father, Atticus, who wrote for the princesses a +book in which he dwelt on the beauty of the single life. In the presence +of the clergy and the assembled people of Constantinople the three +daughters of Arcadius dedicated their virginity to God; and their solemn +vows were inscribed on a tablet of gold and jewels, which was publicly +offered in the Church of Saint Sophia. Pious souls saw in this vow of +Pulcheria only the natural result of her strict piety and her unselfish +love for her brother; but profane historians attributed it to her +extraordinary prudence, which was with her a gift of nature, and to her +unbounded ambition--on the ground that she could thus maintain +permanently her ascendency over the young prince, and, by controlling +his marriage, share his power. + +In her manner of life, however, Pulcheria emphasized the genuineness of +her piety. The imperial palace, as says a contemporary, assumed the +character of a cloister. All males, except saintly men who had forgotten +the distinction of sexes, were excluded from the holy threshold. +Pulcheria and a chosen band of Christian damsels formed a sort of +religious community. Spiritual practices were carried on, with strict +punctuality, from morning till evening. Whereas richly clad senators and +officers in sumptuous raiment had earlier passed in and out of the +palace, so now the black robes of priests and the dark cowls of monks +were to be seen thronging the entrance, and in place of the joyous songs +of banquetings and festivities, one could hear the monotonous intoning +of psalms. The vanity of dress which had scandalized the court of +Eudoxia was discarded, and the simple garb of nuns was the prevailing +fashion of the palace. The princesses did not employ themselves in +personal adornment or in the many vanities of royal station, but spent +much of their time at the loom, weaving garments for the poor and needy. +A frugal diet was adopted, and even this was interrupted by frequent +fasts. Thus Pulcheria and her maidens wearied not in their saintly life +and in the performance of deeds of mercy. + +These outward exercises of piety were attended by sumptuous beneficences +for the spread of the Christian religion. Magnificent churches were +built in various parts of the Empire at the expense of Pulcheria; +charitable foundations for the benefit of the poor and the unfortunate +were established in Constantinople and elsewhere, and ample donations +were given by her for the perpetual maintenance of monastic societies. +This imperial saint, who thus devoted a large part of her time and +energies to the performance of religious duties and of charitable +undertakings, naturally enjoyed the peculiar favor of the Deity. There +is a tradition that the knowledge of the location of sacred relics and +intimation of future events were communicated to her in dreams and +revelations. The common people attributed healing power to her. +Pulcheria's virtues aroused in the populace a feeling of admiration, and +the saintly life of the palace awakened and spread a deep spiritual +influence throughout the Empire. + +Religion, however, was accompanied with culture, and Pulcheria, with the +aid of the best masters, had her brother and sisters trained in all the +various branches of knowledge acquired up to that time. Under her +direction Theodosius became a student of natural science; and so great +was his skill in writing and in illuminating manuscripts that he +received the name of Calligraphus. Pulcheria acquired an elegant and +familiar command of both Greek and Latin; and she displayed her +intellectual discipline, and gift of expression on the various occasions +of speaking or writing on public business. + +Yet Pulcheria's devotion to religion and to learning never diverted her +indefatigable attention from public affairs. She strengthened the +influence of the senate and supported it in the reform of many abuses +which had crept in during the ascendancy of the eunuchs of the palace +and the struggles with the German party; but her energies were chiefly +directed toward acting as counsellor to the emperor, and protecting him +from the intrigues of court officials, to which his weak character made +him an easy victim. She instructed her brother in the art of government, +yet the tenderness of her discipline seems to have made him rather a +willing instrument in her own hands than an independent monarch. +Possibly she realized that the elements which go to form a great ruler +were lacking in his character; possibly her own love of power blinded +her to the right course of action toward her confiding ward. At any +rate, "her precepts may countenance some suspicion of the extent of her +capacity or the purity of her intention. She taught him to maintain a +grave and majestic deportment; to walk, to hold his robe, to seat +himself on his throne in a manner worthy of a great prince; to abstain +from laughter; to listen with condescension; to return suitable answers; +to assume, by turns, a serious or a placid countenance; in a word, to +represent with grace and dignity the external figure of a Roman +emperor." + +Though so careful and systematic in her training of the young prince, +Pulcheria did not deprive his boyhood of those companionships which add +zest to youthful pursuits and recreation and stimulate the growth of +manly qualities. She gave him as comrades two bright and spirited +youths, Paulinus and Placitus, with whom he associated in open-hearted +intimacy and who were destined to play a prominent part in his reign. +Paulinus especially became his most trusted friend, and the two were +united for many years by bonds which resembled those of Damon and +Pythias. Amid such surroundings and under such influence, Theodosius +grew up. The product of Pulcheria's instruction, however, was a ruler +who descended below even the weakness of her father and uncle. Chaste, +temperate, merciful, superstitious, pious, he was rich in negative +qualities; but, being feeble in energy and lacking all initiative, he +became merely a good-hearted and well-meaning, instead of active and +courageous, ruler. Consequently in every official act it was Pulcheria +who supplied the wisdom and the energy which made the earlier years of +Theodosius's reign such happy and peaceful ones. Pulcheria, however, was +content to keep her power in the background and to attribute to the +genius of the emperor the smoothness with which the wheels of government +turned, as well as the mildness and prosperity of his reign. + +The choice of a wife for Theodosius naturally lay in the hands of +Pulcheria. The young prince, influenced by the example of his father, +had expressed to his sister his preference for rare physical perfection +and high intellectual endowments over exalted station and royal blood in +the choice of a consort; and Pulcheria, in conjunction with his boyhood +friend Paulinus, set herself to the task of finding in the capital or in +the provinces an ideal corresponding to the wishes of the imperial +youth. Yet, while they were engaged in the search, by happy chance a +wonderful concatenation of events in the pagan city of Athens determined +the destiny of the nineteen-year-old ruler. + +In the story of Athenais we have the beautiful romance of a maiden of +modest station raised by destiny to the exalted dignity of a throne. She +was the favorite child of Leontius, an Athenian philosopher, who devoted +most of his time to training his daughter in the religion and philosophy +of his native city, and who sought to cultivate in her all that charm of +manner and richness of temperament which characterized the Greek women +in the best days of ancient Athens. The story goes that the old +philosopher was so confident that, because of her beauty and +intellectual gifts, a high destiny awaited his daughter, that he +bequeathed her as a legacy only a hundred pieces of gold, while he +divided the bulk of his estate between his two sons, Valerius and +Genesius. The brothers, being avaricious by nature and jealous of the +superior qualities of their sister, treated her with neglect and cruelty +in her distress. Athenais implored them to repair the obvious injustice +and to grant her her rights, representing to them how she did not +deserve this disgrace and that the indigence of their sister would be to +them, if not a cause of grief, yet certainly a continual reproach; but +her brothers would not listen to her appeals, and finally drove her from +the paternal mansion. Fortunately, a maternal aunt resided in Athens, +who received the disinherited maiden into her home and warmly espoused +her cause. She brought Athenais to Constantinople, where another aunt +dwelt, and made arrangements for the maiden to bring suit against the +hard-hearted brothers. To influence the decision, Athenais and her aunt +obtained audience with Pulcheria, and thus the link was formed which +joined the destinies of the young emperor and the hapless orphan. + +The youthful plaintiff was her own advocate, and so effectually did she +argue her case that the Augusta, charmed by the penetration and +cleverness which her speech revealed, as well as by the wonderful beauty +and modest demeanor of the maiden, was irresistibly forced to the +conviction that this girl was the very one who embodied the ideals and +longings of the young prince. And, in fact, Athenais was physically and +intellectually endowed in a manner seldom equalled. Imagine a maiden of +tall and slender proportions of figure, of rare perfection of form, of +fair complexion, of dark and luminous eyes which revealed the sweetness +and subtlety of the spirit within, while the perfect outline of the +countenance was framed by a luxuriant abundance of golden locks,--and +you have some conception of the stranger who stood with queenly grace +before the proud Augusta. Furthermore, every word that she uttered +revealed the rare subtlety of understanding or warmth of sensibilities +of the petitioner, who was in every regard the perfect picture of a +symmetrically developed maiden. So soon as Pulcheria ascertained that +Athenais was of good family and was still unmarried, she began to carry +out her plans as a royal matchmaker. She aroused the curiosity of her +brother by her account of the charms of the Greek maiden, and the +recital inspired in the young prince a lively impatience to see +Athenais. He besought his sister to arrange an opportunity for him, +unobserved, to see the maiden, and Pulcheria readily devised a plan. +After having concealed Theodosius and Paulinus behind the tapestries in +her apartment, she summoned Athenais to come to her for a further +interview. Athenais entered the room, and the young men were so charmed +by the view that Theodosius, enamored of the maiden at first sight, +desired to make her his bride. + +What must have been the emotions of the disinherited orphan, when the +Augusta, instead of granting her petition, told her that she was chosen +to be the bride of an emperor? Only one obstacle to the union presented +itself,--the pagan faith of the beautiful Athenian. While winning her +heart for himself, the pious Theodosius longed to win her soul for the +Saviour. To the patriarch Atticus was assigned the pleasing task of +convincing the beautiful maiden of the errors of paganism and of guiding +her spirit into the ways of eternal truth. The pure heart of the gentle +Athenais proved readily susceptible to the beauties of Christian +teaching; the waters of baptism were supposed to remove from her nature +the last vestiges of pagan unbelief; and in accordance with the wishes +of her betrothed, the converted Athenais received the baptismal name of +Eudocia. + +Finally, on June 7, 421, the royal nuptials were celebrated with great +pomp, amid the rejoicings of the populace. The prudent Pulcheria, +however, withheld from the bride of the emperor the title of Augusta +until the union was blessed by the birth of a daughter, who was named +Eudoxia, after her grandmother, and who, fifteen years later, became the +wife of Valentinian III., ruler of the Western Empire. + +The brothers of Eudocia richly deserved the resentment of the new +empress. They had fled from Athens when they heard of the elevation of +their despised sister, but she had them sought out and brought to +Constantinople. They entered into her presence trembling and +disconcerted; but instead of punishing them, as they felt they well +deserved, Eudocia received them in a friendly manner and forgave them +for their base conduct. Regarding them as the unconscious instruments of +her elevation, the new empress gave them part in some of the highest +offices of state. + +Having become a Christian, Eudocia dedicated her talents to the honor of +religion and to the glory of her husband. She indited religious poems +which were the admiration of the age. She composed a poetical paraphrase +of the five books of Moses, of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth, and of the +prophecies of Daniel and Zechariah. She devoted three books of verse to +the legend of Saint Cyprian, who was a martyr in the persecution +inaugurated by Diocletian. She wrote a panegyric on the Persian +victories of Theodosius; and there is extant from her pen a cento of +Homeric verse treating the life and miracles of Christ. She also +manifestly exerted a strong influence in the founding of the University +of Constantinople, if we judge from the preponderance of Greek chairs. +She also encouraged in every manner the cultivation of Greek letters; +and the support she gave to Greek poets and litterateurs gave umbrage to +the narrow religionists, who regarded everything Greek as pagan. + +Eudocia, by her beauty and sprightliness, rapidly gained an ascendancy +over the weak but noble-hearted emperor, who had now two masters, his +sister and his wife. The new empress, in spite of her devotion to +religion, still retained some pagan leanings, and the monastic life of +the court began to undergo a change. Both the empress--sister and the +empress--wife were ladies of strong will, and Eudocia by degrees became +less sensitive to the gratitude she owed Pulcheria because of her +elevation. Hence, as each of the Augustae endeavored to have her own way, +there arose discord in the imperial family. Intriguing courtiers and +bishops knew how to take advantage of the division of sentiment in the +royal household, and, while there was no public outbreak, the wheels of +government did not run so smoothly as when Pulcheria held uncontested +sway. The rivalry and dissension in the court between the two empresses +showed itself particularly in the religious controversies of the time, +and especially in the so-called Nestorian heresy regarding the dual +nature of Christ. Pulcheria throughout was opposed to Nestorianism, as +to every doctrine which flavored of Greek metaphysics, while Eudocia is +credited with being an advocate of the new doctrine. Cyril, the bishop +of Alexandria and the principal opponent of Nestorius, left no stone +unturned to win the favor and support of Pulcheria, while ecclesiastics +of the opposite party doubtless attempted the same with Eudocia. + +The result of this conflict of opinion between the rival empresses was +that the policy of Theodosius was always wavering; he was consistent +neither in orthodoxy nor heterodoxy. At first a partisan of Nestorius, +he responded rather sharply to the appeals of Cyril; but he afterward +went over entirely to the opposite side--an indication that the +influence of Pulcheria was once more paramount. + +Thus passed the first decade and a half of Eudocia's reign. Finally in +438 occurred an event of momentous interest to the entire Roman +world--the marriage of the princess Eudoxia with Valentinian III., +Emperor of the West. As it seemed likely that Eudocia would never bear a +son to Theodosius, the union of the two reigning houses meant possibly +the reunion of the Empire under one emperor, should a son be born to the +newly married couple. Possibly feeling lonely after the marriage and +departure of her daughter; possibly tiring of the intrigues of the +court, Eudocia, with the concurrence of the emperor, shortly afterward +undertook a solemn pilgrimage to Jerusalem to discharge her vows and to +return thanks to the Deity for the welfare of her daughter. + +Attended by a royal cortege of courtiers and eunuchs and slaves, the +Empress Eudocia set out on her journey. Her ostentatious progress +through the East hardly seems in keeping with the spirit of Christian +humility. One of the most impressive events of her journey was the +sojourn in Antioch, the metropolis of the Far East. Here she pronounced +to the senate, from a throne of gold, studded with precious gems, an +eloquent Greek oration, which was regarded as a marvel of Hellenic +rhetoric. In Antioch, probably far more than in Constantinople or +Alexandria, there was a hearty appreciation of Greek culture and art, +and many of the renowned rhetoricians of the day had in this city their +lecture halls, to which thronged enthusiastic students; and to the most +cultivated audience of the metropolis was granted the presence of an +empress glorying in her Athenian nativity, trained in all the rhetorical +art of the Greek, and combining in her own personality all that was most +pleasing in both pagan and Christian culture. The last words of +Eudocia's address--a quotation from Homer--are said to have occasioned +prolonged applause: + + tautes toi genees te kai aimatos euchonai einai--Iliad Z 211. + + "I boast to be of your own race and blood." + +Eudocia was also generous in her gifts to the city. She induced the +emperor to enlarge its walls, and herself bestowed upon it a donation of +two hundred pounds of gold to restore the public baths. She graciously +accepted the statues which were decreed to her in gratitude for her +munificence--a statue of gold erected in the Curia, and one of bronze in +the museum. To the empress, with her earlier love of the sacred +traditions of the city of the violet crown, her enthusiastic reception +in the most thoroughly Hellenized city of the Orient must have been a +most gratifying occurrence. + +From Antioch the empress probably followed the pilgrims highway to the +Holy Land. There with doubly chastened soul the cultivated convert +visited the places hallowed by the Saviour's sufferings and glory. From +Bethlehem, where the Mother found shelter in a stable, and therein "in a +manger laid" the newborn Redeemer, to receive the adoration of the +shepherds, on through the country which the Lord travelled in His +mission, till finally she beheld Mount Calvary and looked upon the place +of the Sepulchre, now marked by the Christian temple raised by Helena. +Her presence brings to mind the visit of this Helena, the Emperor +Constantine's mother, one hundred years before, but the Greek matron +must have beheld it with very different emotions. She had been reared in +the philosophers' gardens of Athens, amid the glories of the Parthenon +and the many wonderful works of art which the Greek genius had created, +and in her new home in Constantinople she had not been altogether weaned +from the traditions of her youth. In glowing contrast to ancient Athens +she now saw a city whose prized monuments were the chapels erected on +spots rendered sacred by the footsteps of the Christ and the relics of +saints and martyrs. To this city she came as a Christian pilgrim, and +her devoutness of spirit showed that her heathen culture, in which she +took a pardonable pride, had been consecrated to the religion she +professed, and her endeavor to relieve the sufferings of the poor and +the unfortunate proved that she had learned the lesson of caring for +others from the example of the Master. + +Her alms and pious foundations in the Holy Land exceeded even those of +the great Helena; and the destitute of the land had reason to be +grateful to the empress for her unbounded liberality. In return for her +zeal, she had the conscious satisfaction of returning to Constantinople +with some of the most sacred relics of the Church--the chains of Saint +Peter, the relics of Saint Stephen, and a portrait of the Virgin Mary, +reputed to be from the brush of Saint Luke. The first martyr's relics +were deposited with great ceremony in the chapel of Saint Laurence, and +the piety of the empress won for her the loving admiration of the devout +populace. + +But this pilgrimage to Jerusalem, with its many tokens of the affection +of her subjects, and her triumphal return to the capital city, marks the +termination of the glory of the Athenian maiden as empress of the East. +Then began the rivalries and conflicts which finally brought about +Eudocia's downfall. To understand these we must first of all take into +consideration the difference of temperament of the two empresses. +Pulcheria was essentially Roman; Eudocia was essentially Greek. +Pulcheria belonged to the orthodox party which strictly condemned +everything which savored in the least degree of paganism; Eudocia +encouraged Greek art and letters and lent a friendly ear to the heresies +which were the product of Greek speculation. Pulcheria was puritanical +and austere in her manner of life, while Eudocia had a fondness for +dress and for the innocent gayeties of life which characterized the +women of her race. It was utterly impossible for two women of such +marked difference of temperament to live in perfect harmony under the +same roof. + +Furthermore, during Eudocia's absence a new factor had entered +prominently into the life of the palace. The influence of the eunuchs, +which had been so marked during the reign of Arcadius, had not made +itself felt during the earlier years of Theodosius's reign, because of +the ascendency of the two women, but it gathered strength by degrees as +years passed. Antiochus was the first chamberlain to make himself +powerful, and upon his fall, the eunuch Chrysaphius, because of his +personal beauty and winning manner, won the favor of Theodosius and +acquired the art of bending the emperor to his will. Chrysaphius knew +also how to play the two empresses off against each other, so as to gain +his own ends. + +It seems altogether probable that immediately after her return from +Jerusalem, the spouse of the emperor more than ever dominated the court +at Constantinople. An important indication of this was the prominence of +one of her favorites during the years 439-441--Cyrus of Panopolis, who +was a poet of renown, a "Greek" in faith, and a student of art and +literature. He won great popularity during his long tenure of office as +prefect of the city. He restored Constantinople on so magnificent a +scale, after it had experienced a disastrous earthquake, that the people +once cried out in the circus: "Constantine built the city, but Cyrus +renewed it." + +The type of culture represented by Cyrus and Eudocia, and the manifest +sympathy between them, greatly offended the strictly orthodox, who +regarded it in the light of a Christian duty to sever all connection +with paganism, and who considered all tolerance of the Muses and Graces +of a more beautiful past to be a heinous sin. This religious party found +their ideal and their inspiration in Pulcheria, and she in consequence +became their natural leader. Hence, both their natural proclivities and +the zeal of their followers forced the two empresses into an attitude of +rivalry which could only be settled by the retirement or fall of one or +the other of them. + +Shortly after her return it seems that Eudocia, in union with +Chrysaphius, succeeded in lessening the influence of Pulcheria. So +thoroughly did she control her weak but fond husband that Pulcheria +withdrew from the palace to the retirement of her villa at Hebdomon, and +it has even been asserted that Theodosius, at the request of his wife, +meditated making his sister take orders as a deaconess, so that she +would have to relinquish her secular power. Thus for a time Eudocia +experienced the keen delight of sole and uncontested power. But the +retirement of the Augusta, who had for so many years exercised the +paramount influence in the court, was the very step to arouse the +orthodox and to lead them to undertake every form of intrigue for the +ruin of Eudocia and the return of Pulcheria. The result was that, after +enjoying for a brief period the sole supremacy, Eudocia fell from the +loftiest heights of supreme authority into the deepest depths of +humiliation and sorrow. + +The orthodox party, with a cleverness which discounted the aims of the +nobility, utilized the jealousy of Theodosius as the lever to overturn +the beautiful and talented empress. Paulinus had been the boyhood friend +of Theodosius, and their intimacy had grown with the passing of the +years. He had ardently approved the prince's determination to make the +Athenian maiden his wife, and had acted as his best man in the wedding +festivities. Owing to the affectionate relations between the two men, +Paulinus had enjoyed a free association with both emperor and empress, +unhindered by the restricting bonds of court etiquette; and his +relations with Eudocia were always of the most friendly and open-hearted +character. These relations the enemies of Eudocia seized upon for the +attainment of their ends, and their attempt succeeded only too well. It +is fitting to tell the story in the words of John Malalas, the earliest +chronicler who records it: + +"It so happened," says the chronicler, "that as the Emperor Theodosius +was proceeding to the church _In Sanctis Theophaniis_, the master of +offices, Paulinus, being indisposed on account of an ailment in his +foot, remained at home and made an excuse. But a certain poor man +brought to Theodosius a Phrygian apple, of enormously large size, and +the emperor was surprised at it, and all his court. And straightway the +emperor gave one hundred and fifty nomismata to the man who brought the +apple, and sent it to Eudocia Augusta; and the Augusta sent it to +Paulinus, the master of offices, as being a friend of the emperor. But +Paulinus, not being aware that the emperor had sent it to the empress, +took it and sent it to the Emperor Theodosius, even as he was entering +the palace. And when the emperor received it, he recognized it and +concealed it. And having called Augusta, he questioned her, saying: + +"'Where is the apple that I sent you?' And she said, 'I ate it.'--Then +he caused her to swear the truth by his salvation, whether she ate it or +sent it to some one; and she swore, 'I sent it unto no man, but ate it.' +And the emperor commanded the apple to be brought, and showed it to her. +And he was indignant against her, suspecting that she was enamored of +Paulinus, and sent him the apple and denied it. And on this account +Theodosius put Paulinus to death. And the Empress Eudocia was grieved, +and thought herself insulted, for it was known everywhere that Paulinus +was slain on account of her, for he was a very handsome young man. And +she asked the emperor that she might go the holy place to pray; and he +allowed her; and she went down from Constantinople to Jerusalem to +pray." + +In the opinion of Gregorovius, Eudocia's apple of Phrygia eludes +interpretation as completely as Eve's apple of Eden, but Bury explains +the story as an example of Oriental metaphor. He recalls a parallel to +it in the Arabian Nights, and fancies that its germ may have been an +allegorical mode of expression in which someone covertly told the story +of the suspected intrigue. In Hellenistic romance the apple was a +conventional love gift, and when presented to a man by a woman signified +a declaration of love. Hence, as the basis of the tale was presumed to +be the amorous intercourse of Paulinus and the empress, we can conceive +one accustomed to Oriental allegory saying or writing that Eudocia had +given her precious apple to Paulinus, symbolizing thereby that she had +surrendered her chastity. + +Such is the legend of the fall of the empress. All we know for certain +is that about this time a marked discord between husband and wife was +apparent, and that Paulinus, the emperor's boyhood friend and most +trusted confidant, was put to death by imperial order during the year +440. + +History seems entitled to draw the conclusion that it was probably a +charge, whether true or false, of a criminal attachment between Eudocia +and Paulinus that led to the disgrace of the empress and the execution +of the minister; but the probabilities are all in favor of the innocence +of the Augusta. Eudocia had passed the age of forty when the breach with +her husband occurred, and Paulinus was an official of mature years. The +conduct of both had always been above reproach, and it was almost +inconceivable that either would have acted unbecomingly at this late +date. + +For two or three years after the execution of Paulinus the empress +remained at court, under what circumstances and in just what relation to +the emperor we are not informed. It is evident, however, that her power +was gone. Feeling herself more and more relegated to the background, and +ever watched by hostile eyes, it was natural that she should find life +at Constantinople unbearable, and should long for a place where, far +from the turmoils and intrigues of the world, she might devote herself +to retirement and to pious practices. She therefore asked permission of +the emperor to be allowed to retire to Jerusalem and there pass the rest +of her life. After the tender bond of love which had for twenty years +united the Athenian maiden and the royal prince had once been violently +broken, there was no reason why her petition should be denied, and +Eudocia was granted the privilege of retiring to the sacred scenes whose +solitude and religious atmosphere had already appealed to her. + +So, some years after her first visit to the holy city, Eudocia withdrew +thither for a permanent abode. But what a contrast had a few years +wrought! With what different emotions did she now visit the sacred +shrines! Then a beloved wife, a happy mother, an all-puissant empress! +Now a voluntary exile, a discredited wife, an empress but in name! +Theodosius left her her royal honors and abundant means for her station, +so that she could not only have a moderate establishment at Jerusalem, +but could also adorn the city with charitable institutions. Yet even +here the hatred of her enemies and the jealousy of the emperor followed +her. Though so far from Constantinople, court spies watched and reported +her every movement, and in their malignity they recounted to the emperor +such a slanderous picture of her life and doings that he, in the year +444, with newly awakened jealousy, had two holy men--the presbyter +Severus and the deacon John, who had been favorites of Eudocia in +Constantinople and had followed her to Jerusalem--executed by the order +of Saturninus, her chamberlain. This cruel deed, however, did not remain +unavenged, for Eudocia did not interfere when Saturninus, in a monkish +riot, or at the hands of hired murderers, lost his life. Theodosius +punished her for this with undue severity, by removing all the officers +who attended her and reducing her to private station. + +The remainder of the life of Eudocia, sixteen long years, was spent in +retirement and in holy exercises. Troubles heaped themselves upon her. +Her only daughter, whose future at her marriage with Valentinian had +looked so promising, also lost her royal station and was led a captive +from Rome to Carthage. She had to endure all the insults which could +fall to one who from supreme power had been reduced to private station. +But in the consolation of religion and in self-sacrificing devotion to +others more unfortunate, Eudocia found solace in her grief. Finally, in +the sixty-seventh year of her age, after experiencing all the +vicissitudes of human life, the philosopher's daughter expired at +Jerusalem, protesting with her dying breath her faithfulness to her +marriage vows and expressing forgiveness of all those who had injured +her. + +In Constantinople, Eudocia's fall and exile had brought Pulcheria and +the orthodox party again to the front. The poetry-loving Cyrus, the head +of the Greek party, was deprived of his office and compelled to take +orders; and there was a return to the austerity which had characterized +the earlier years of Pulcheria's supremacy. Pulcheria and orthodoxy from +this time on controlled the court life and dominated the Empire. +Finally, in 450, Theodosius was fatally wounded while hunting, and upon +his demise Pulcheria was unanimously proclaimed Empress of the East. Her +first official act was one of popular justice as well as private +revenge--the execution of the crafty and rapacious eunuch, Chrysaphius. +In obedience to the murmur of the people, who objected to a woman being +sole ruler of the Empire, she selected an imperial consort in Marcian, +an aged senator who would respect the virginal vows and superior rank of +his wife. He was solemnly invested with the imperial purple, and proved +in every way equal to the demands of his exalted station. + +Three years later, Pulcheria passed away. Because of her austerity of +life, her deeds of charity, her advocacy of orthodoxy, she won the +eulogies of the Church; but her controlling attribute had been a love of +power, which had wrought much evil. Our sympathies are naturally with +the beautiful and gifted Athenais, a Greek by birth, by temperament and +by culture, but yet a Christian in religious fervor and pious practices, +whose personal fascination had given her the authority she richly +merited, until the stronger nature of Pulcheria, by despicable means, +had wrought her downfall. + +For four years after the death of Pulcheria, Marcian continued to hold +supreme power; finally, in 457, he too came to his end, and with Marcian +the house of Theodosius the Great ceased to reign in new Rome. + + + + +XI + +THE EMPRESS THEODORA + + +There are few stranger episodes in literary history than the fate of +Theodora, the celebrated consort of the Emperor Justinian. To us in this +day she is a Magdalene elevated to the throne of the Caesars, a beautiful +and licentious actress suddenly raised by a freak of fortune to rule the +destinies of the Roman Empire. All this is due to the remarkable +discovery made by Nicholas Alemannus, librarian of the Vatican, toward +the end of the seventeenth century, of the Secret History of Procopius, +a work which purported to reveal the private life of the Byzantine court +in the days of Justinian. Before the publication of this work Theodora +was in public opinion chiefly remarkable for the prominent place she +occupied in Justinian's reign. Of her early life nothing was known, but +from the date of her accession to the throne she had exercised a +sovereign influence over the emperor. In an important crisis she had +exhibited admirable firmness and courage. She had taken an active part +in the court intrigues and religious controversies of the epoch, and to +her sagacity the emperor attributed many of his happiest inspirations in +legislation. The ecclesiastical historians accused her of serious lapses +into heresy and of having laid violent hands on the sacred person of a +pope; but, with all their vituperation, there never was in circulation a +calumny affecting her personal character. Such is a brief resume of the +history of Theodora as handed down unassailed for a thousand years. + +Then suddenly a startling revelation was made to the world concerning +the previously unknown period of Theodora's life. Alemannus disinterred +from the archives of the Vatican library, where it had long lain +forgotten, an Arcana Historia which purported to be from the pen of the +celebrated historian of the Wars and the Edifices of Justinian. Edited +with a learned commentary by a hostile critic, the work immediately +attained wide circulation and universal credence. For the first time the +character of the illustrious empress was presented in the blackest +colors. The world, it seemed, had been really mistaken in its estimate. +Theodora's antecedents and early life had been of the vilest character, +and her public life signalized by cruelty, avarice, and excess. From the +date of the publication of this _chronique scandaleuse_, and thanks to +Gibbon's trenchant paraphrase of its vilest sections, Theodora was +condemned. Her name became the connotation for all the depraved vices +known in high life. The silence of eleven centuries was overlooked, and +the garish picture of the Secret History has formed the modern world's +estimate of Rome's most illustrious empress. + +It becomes, therefore, an important problem to attempt to distinguish +the Theodora of history from the Theodora of romance. We must inquire +whether the startling "anecdotes" of the _Secret History_ justly +supersede the estimate and tradition of so long a period. Was Theodora +the grand courtesan she is represented to be in the modern drama, or was +she a great empress, worthy of the respect and admiration of Justinian +and of succeeding ages? To answer these questions we must first briefly +review the legendary history of Theodora, and then dwell more at length +on the authentic history of the empress. This will merit a recital, for +she appears to be a personality singularly original and powerful, +possessing both the qualities of a statesman and the unique traits of a +woman, a character of much complexity and of rare psychological +interest. During the first years of the sixth century there lived in +Constantinople a poor man, by name Acacius, a native of the isle of +Cyprus, who had the care of the wild beasts maintained by the green +faction of the city, and who, from his employment, was entitled the +Master of the Bears. This Acacius was the father of Theodora. Upon his +death, he left to the tender mercies of the world a widow and three +helpless orphans, Comito, Theodora, and Anastasia, the eldest being not +yet seven years of age. At a solemn festival these three children were +sent by their destitute mother into the theatre, dressed in the garb of +suppliants. The green faction scorned them; but the blues had compassion +and relieved their distress, and this difference of treatment made a +profound impression on the child Theodora, which had its influence on +her later conduct. As the maidens increased in age and improved in +beauty, they were trained by their mother for a theatrical career. +Theodora first followed Comito on the stage, playing the role of +chambermaid, but at length she exercised her talents independently. She +became neither a singer nor a dancer nor a flute player, but she figured +in the _tableaux Vivants_, where her beauty freely displayed itself, and +in the pantomimes, where her vivacity and grace and sprightliness caused +the whole theatre to resound with laughter and applause. She was, if the +panegyrists may be believed, the most beautiful woman of her age. +Procopius, the best historian of the day, says that "it was impossible +for mere man to describe her comeliness in words or to imitate it in +art." "Her features were delicate and regular; her complexion, though +somewhat pale, was tinged with a natural colour; every sensation was +instantly expressed by the vivacity of her eyes; her easy motions +displayed the graces of a small but elegant figure; and either love or +adulation might proclaim that painting and poetry were incapable of +delineating the matchless excellence of her form." It is unfortunate +that we have no likeness which portrays her exquisite beauty. The famous +mosaic in San Vitale at Ravenna is the best authentic representation of +the empress, but a mosaic can give but little idea of the original. + +But Theodora possessed other fascinations besides beauty: she was +intelligent, full of _esprit_, witty. However, with all these gifts +there was in her a deficiency of the moral sense and a natural +inclination to pleasure in all its forms. Sad to relate, her charms were +venal. If the Secret History be believed, her adventures were both +numerous and scandalous; to quote a piquant expression of Gibbon, "her +charity was universal." Procopius recounts memorable after-theatre +suppers and _tableaux vivants_ that would be excluded from the most +licentious of modern stages. After a wild career in the capital as the +reigning figure of the demi-monde, Theodora suddenly disappeared. She +condescended to accompany to his province a certain Ecebolus, who had +been appointed governor of the African Pentapolis. But this union was +transient. She either abandoned her lover or was deserted by him, and +for some time the fair Cyprian, a veritable priestess of the divine +Aphrodite, made conquests innumerable in all the great cities of the +Orient. Finally, she returned to Constantinople, to the scenes of her +first exploits, being then between twenty and twenty-five years of age. +In her bitterest humiliation, some vision had whispered to her that she +was destined to a great career. + +Wearied of amorous adventures and of a wandering career, she began from +this moment to adopt a retired and blameless life in a modest mansion, +where she relieved her poverty by the feminine task of spinning wool. It +was at this moment that happy chance threw the patrician Justinian in +her path. Captivated by her beauty and her feminine graces, this staid, +business-like, and eminently practical personage, already marked as his +uncle Justin's successor to the Empire, wished to make the fair Theodora +his wife. But there were obstacles in the way. The Empress Euphemia +flatly refused to accept the reformed courtesan as a niece; Justinian's +own mother, Vigilantia, feared that the vivacious and beautiful +worldling would corrupt her son. It was even said that at this time the +laws of Rome prohibited the marriage of a senator with a woman of +servile origin or of the theatrical profession. But Justinian remained +inflexible. The Empress Euphemia conveniently died; Justinian overrode +the opposition of his mother; and Justin was persuaded to pass a law +abolishing the rigid statute of antiquity and to make Theodora a +patrician. + +Soon followed the solemn nuptials of Justinian and Theodora; and when, +in 527, Justinian was officially associated with his uncle on the +throne, Theodora was also solemnly crowned in Saint Sophia by the hands +of the Patriarch as an equal and independent colleague in the +sovereignty of the Empire, and the oath of allegiance was imposed on +bishops and officials in the joint names of Justinian and Theodora; +while in the Hippodrome, the scene of her earlier triumphs, the daughter +of Acacius received as empress the adulation of the populace. + +Such, according to the Secret History, is the romance of Theodora. The +reason why it has been given general credence is because the work +purported to be that of a contemporary writer, the greatest historian of +his age, who has weighted his charges with emphasis and detail, and +because the recital received the convincing endorsement of Alemannus and +of Gibbon. The principle which governed Gibbon was as follows: "Of these +strange anecdotes a part may be true because probable, and a part true +because improbable. Procopius must have known the former and the latter +he could scarcely invent." Reassured by this argument, and seduced by +the masculine taste for adventure, most historians have complacently +accepted this piquant history and have applied to Theodora the vilest +epithets. But recent writers, especially Debidour, Ranke, Mallet, Bury, +and Diehl, have not regarded the case as proved, and through a careful +analysis of the _Secret History_ have presented convincing arguments +against the reputed authorship of the work and the authenticity of its +narrative. + +These later writers have called attention to the internal evidence of +the improbability of the picture of Theodora. There are in the +statements glaring inconsistencies with the other works of Procopius, +and inconsistencies within the anecdotes themselves. Many stories told +of Justinian are obviously overdrawn and dictated by inventive malice, +and these vitiate the entire narrative. Furthermore, the question of the +marriage law is triumphantly set aside. The edict abolishing the Old +Roman law was passed seven years after Justinian's succession, and was +in accordance with other legislation inspired by Theodora, to ameliorate +the condition of woman. The external evidence, also, has been carefully +sifted. The legal maxim, _Testis unus, Testis nullus_, applies in +history as well as in law. A single witness has related the most +incredible stories. Nowhere in other historians is there a shred of +evidence to support the story of Theodora's flagitious life. These +stories could have no basis other than in popular rumors; how is it, +therefore, that no other chronicle alludes to them? Orthodox +ecclesiastics violently attack Theodora's heresy, and speak of her as an +enemy of the Church, but write not a word against her private +reputation. Historians condemn in unmeasured terms certain features of +Justinian's administration, and dwell on other faults of Theodora, but +say never a word about her profligacy. Why are all other writers silent +about the dark passages in Theodora's history? Even the _Secret History_ +alleges nothing immoral against her after her marriage: why then should +we take its testimony seriously regarding the earlier period of her +life? The silence of all other chronicles about extraordinary +occurrences, which, if true, must have been generally known, throws +doubt over the whole narrative and places it in the light of an infamous +libel. + +And here is a final argument. Justinian was no mere youth when he +married, but a sober gentleman of thirty-five, the heir apparent to the +throne, who had to keep in the good graces of the people. Would he at so +momentous a time have perpetrated so infamous a scandal? And would it +have been possible for a woman of such notorious profligacy to ascend +the throne without a protest from patriarch or bishop or senators or +populace? The outward life of the Byzantine people, owing to the +influence of Christianity, was usually correct. A little later an +emperor lost his throne because he divorced one wife and took another. +Theodora's triumphant ascent to the throne, without a protesting voice, +is conclusive evidence that no great scandal had sullied her reputation. + +Yet, on the other hand, panegyrists never lauded Theodora as a saint. +She was neither a Pulcheria nor a Eudocia. Many traits in the character +of the empress accord well with the fact that her early life was not +passed amid beds of roses nor had been altogether free from temptation. +Hence, with the story reduced to its lowest terms, it seems probable +that Theodora was of obscure and lowly origin, that she was for a time +connected in some way with the Byzantine stage, and that, owing to her +beauty, her cleverness, and her strong personality, she was raised from +poverty to share Justinian's throne. But, whatever her career, her life +had been sufficiently upright to save appearances, and Justinian could +make her his wife without scandal. + +The turn of fortune which elevated Theodora from modest station to the +imperial throne deeply stirred the popular imagination, and a cycle of +legends has gathered about her name. The stranger in Byzantium in the +eleventh century was shown the site of a modest cottage, transformed +into a stately church dedicated to the spirit of charity, and was told +the story how the great empress, coming with her parents from their +native town in Cyprus, had here maintained herself in honorable poverty +by spinning wool, and how it was here that the patrician Justinian, +drawn thither by the fame of her beauty and her learning, had wooed and +won her for his bride. However little value we may attach to this +tradition, it shows that in Constantinople the popular estimate of +Theodora was not that of the _Secret History_. The Slavic traditions of +the twelfth and thirteenth centuries not only dwell on her marvellous +beauty, but also recount that she was the most queenly, the most +cultivated, the most learned of women. The Syriac traditions were still +more flattering. In their devout reverence for the pious empress who +espoused their cause, these Monophysites of the thirteenth century name +as the father of Theodora, not the poor man who guarded the bears in the +Hippodrome, but a pious old gentleman, perhaps a senator, attached to +the Monophysite heresy, and affirm that when Justinian, fascinated by +the beauty and intelligence of the young maiden, demanded her hand in +marriage, the good father did not consent that she should marry the heir +apparent until the latter had promised not to interfere with her +religious beliefs. + +A western chronicler, however, of the eleventh century, Aimoin de +Fleury, recounts a legend which has something of the flavor of the +_Secret History_. According to this story, Justinian and Belisarius, two +young men and intimate friends, encountered one day two sisters, Antonia +and Antonina, sprung from the race of Amazons, who, taken prisoners by +the Byzantines, were reduced to dire straits. Belisarius was enamored of +the latter, Justinian of the former. Antonia, presaging the future +destiny of her lover, made him promise that, if ever he became emperor, +he would take her as his wife. Their relations were interrupted, but not +before Justinian gave to Antonia a ring, as an assurance of his promise. +Years passed: the prince became emperor; and one day there appeared at +the gate of the palace, demanding audience, a woman in rich attire and +of wonderful beauty. Presented before the sovereign, Antonia was not at +first recognized; but she showed the ring and recalled his promise, and +Justinian, his love for her renewed, proclaimed straightway the +beautiful Amazon as his empress. The people and the senate expressed +some surprise at the impromptu marriage, but Antonia shared without +protest the throne of Justinian. + +Thus the marvellous destiny of Theodora was embellished by legend and +romance, and, whether good or bad, severely correct or profligate, she +has become one of the most remarkable figures of history and fiction. + +Questions as to the early life of Theodora, however, are secondary in +importance. We are interested not in the courtesan but in the empress, +and, for the incidents and the influence of her reign, we have +fortunately other information than that of the _Secret History_. + +Sardou's drama Theodora represents its heroine as preserving on the +throne the manners of the courtesan, as delighting in the life of the +theatre, as leaving the palace by night to frequent the streets of +Constantinople, as having an amorous intrigue with the beautiful +Andreas, as being in fact another, but baser and more voluptuous, +Messalina. But even the _Secret History_ represents Theodora, after she +mounted the throne, as being, with all her faults, the most austere, the +most correct, the most irreproachable of women in her conjugal +relations. + +Whatever her origin and her early life, Theodora adapted herself most +readily to the status and the duties of an imperial sovereign. She loved +and partook fully of the amenities which attended supreme authority. In +her apartments of the royal palace, and in her sumptuous villas and +gardens on the Propontis and the Bosporus, she availed herself of all +the luxuries and refinements of the royal station. Ever womanly and vain +of her physical charms, she took extreme care of her beauty. To make her +countenance reposeful and delicate, she prolonged her slumbers until +late in the morning; to give her figure sprightliness and grace, she +took frequent baths, to which succeeded long hours of repose. Not +content with the meagre fare which satisfied Justinian, her table was +always supplied with the best of Oriental dishes, which were served with +exquisite and delicate taste. Every wish was immediately gratified by +her favorite ladies and eunuchs. Like a true parvenue, she delighted in +the elaborate court etiquette. She made the highest dignitaries +prostrate themselves before her, imposing on those who wished audience +long and humiliating delays. Every morning one could see the most +illustrious personages of Byzantium crowded in her antechamber like a +troop of slaves, and, when they were admitted to kiss the feet of +Theodora, their reception depended altogether upon the humor of the +moment. These details show with what facility, with what complaisance, +Theodora adapted herself to the conditions of her rank. + +One must not infer, however, that the Theodora of history was a woman +merely captivated by the outward pomp of royalty. She possessed all the +intellectual and moral gifts which should attend absolute power, and her +rigid enforcement of Oriental etiquette was merely to impress upon +others her supreme authority, and was in conformity to the demand of her +age. Her salient characteristics were a spirit despotic and inflexible, +a will strong and passionate, an intelligence clever and subtle, a +temperament by turns frigid and sympathetic; and by these gifts she +dominated Justinian without intermission from the moment of her marriage +to her death, and impressed upon all those about her the knowledge that +she was in every sense an absolute sovereign. + +Furthermore, she possessed a calm courage, a masculine inflexibility, +which showed itself in the most difficult circumstances. One can never +forget the most ominous moment in the history of the Eastern Empire, +when the courage and firmness of Theodora saved the throne of Justinian. +This was during the celebrated revolt of 532, known as "The Nika Riot." +The factions of the "Blues" and the "Greens" were really the political +parties of the day; irritated to madness by the oppression of certain +officials, they momentarily united their forces and raised an +insurrection against the government, choosing Nika (Conquer!) as their +watchword, which has become the technical designation of the riot. +During five days, the city was a scene of conflict and witnessed all the +horrors of street warfare. Justinian yielded so far as to depose the +obnoxious officials, but the secret machinations of the "Green" faction, +who wished to place on the throne a nephew of Anastasius, a former +emperor, kept up the conflict. On the fateful morning of the 19th of +January, Hypatius, one of the nephews of Anastasius, was publicly +crowned in the Forum of Constantinople, and was then seated in the +cathisma of the Hippodrome, where the rebels and the populace saluted +him as emperor. Meanwhile, Justinian shut himself up in the palace with +his ministers and his favorites. Much of the city was in flames, the +tumult outside grew ever louder, and the rebels were preparing for an +attack on the palace. All seemed lost. The clamor of victory and the +cries of "Death to Justinian," reached the hall where the emperor, +utterly unnerved, was taking counsel of his ministers and generals. The +prefect John of Cappadocia and the general Belisarius recommended flight +to Heraclea. In haste, by the gardens which led to the sea, vessels were +loaded with the imperial treasures, and all was ready for the instant +flight of the emperor and empress. This was the decisive moment. Flight +meant the safety of their persons, but the abandoned throne was surely +lost, and the gigantic movements that had been started would collapse. +The prince was hesitating, and all his counsellors shared his +feebleness. Up to this time, the empress had said nothing. At length, +indignant at the general languor, Theodora thus called to their duty the +emperor and the ministers who would forsake all for personal safety: + +"The present occasion is, I think, too grave to take regard of the +principle that it is not meet for a woman to speak among men. Those +whose dearest interests are in the presence of extreme danger are +justified in thinking only of the wisest course of action. Now, in my +opinion, Nature is an unprofitable tutor, even if her guidance bring us +safety. It is impossible for a man when he has come into the world not +to die; but for one who has reigned it is intolerable to be an exile. +May I never exist without this purple robe, and may I never live to see +the day on which those who meet me shall not address me as Queen. If you +wish, O Emperor, to save yourself, there is no difficulty; we have ample +funds. Yonder is the sea, and there are the ships. Yet reflect whether, +when you have once escaped to a place of security, you will not prefer +death to safety. I agree with an old saying that 'Empire is a fair +winding-sheet.'" + +By these courageous words the resolution of Theodora saved the throne of +Justinian. Her firmness conquered the weakness and the pusillanimity of +the court. Belisarius triumphantly led his forces against the +revolutionists in the Hippodrome. A ruthless massacre followed, in which +thirty-five thousand persons perished. The power of the factions was +forever broken, and henceforth Justinian enjoyed absolute sovereignty +without a protest. The important public buildings which had been +destroyed in the conflagrations incident to the riot were restored on a +more magnificent scale, and the still standing Saint Sophia is a +monument to the genius and splendor of the reign of Justinian and +Theodora. + +One can readily understand what a dominating influence such a woman +would maintain over the indecisive Justinian. The passion with which she +had inspired the prince was preserved up to the last moment of her life; +and his devotion and regard ever increased and after her death took the +form of reverential awe, so influenced was he by her superior abilities. +She was to him, in the words of a contemporary historian, "the sweetest +charm"; or, as he himself says in a legal enactment, "the gift of +God"--a play upon her name. After her death, when he would make a solemn +promise, he swore by the name of Theodora. He withheld from her none of +the emoluments, none of the realities, of joint and equal sovereignty: +her name figured with his in the inscriptions placed upon the facades of +churches or the gates of citadels; her image was associated with his in +the decorations of the royal palace, as in the mosaics of San Vitale. +Her name appeared by the side of his on the imperial seal. A multitude +of cities and a newly created province bore her name. In every regard +she shared the sovereignty with the emperor. Magistrates, bishops, +generals, governors of provinces, swore by all that was sacred to render +good and true service to the very pious and sacred sovereigns, Justinian +and Theodora. + +When Theodora journeyed, a royal cortege accompanied her, consisting of +patricians, high dignitaries, and ministers, and an escort of four +thousand soldiers as guard. Her orders were received with deference +throughout the Empire; and when officials found them in contradiction +with those of the emperor, they often preferred the instructions of +Theodora to those of Justinian. Functionaries knew that her patronage +assured a rapid promotion in royal power and that her good will was a +guarantee against possible disgrace. Royal strangers sought to flatter +her vanity and to win her good graces. + +All the chroniclers record that in state papers on important affairs +Theodora was the collaborator with Justinian. The emperor gladly +acknowledged his indebtedness to her, and we read in one of his +ordinances: "Having this time again taken counsel of the most sacred +spouse whom God has given us...." Theodora likewise on occasion gave +evidence of her authority. She once ordered Theodatus to submit to her +the requests he wished to address to the emperor, and in a communication +to the ministers of the Persian king, Chosroes, she stated: "The emperor +never decides anything without consulting me." She was the regulating +power in both State and Church, appointing or disgracing generals and +ministers, making or unmaking patriarchs and pontiffs, raising to +fortune her favorites, and unsettling the power and position of her +opponents. + +Theodora's comprehension of the necessities of imperial politics was +something marvellous, and the wise moves of Justinian were due largely +to her counsel. Yet, though so superb a queen, she was all the more a +woman-fickle, passionate, avaricious of authority, and intensely jealous +of preserving the power she had. Apparently without scruples, she would +get rid of all influence which threatened to counterbalance her own, and +she brushed aside without pity all opposition which seemed to infringe +on her authority. In the intrigues of the palace she ever came off the +victor. Vainly did favorites and ministers who fancied themselves +indispensable attempt to ruin her credit with the emperor. The secretary +Priscus, whom the favor of Justinian had raised to office as count of +the bed-chamber, paid dearly for the insults which he addressed to +Theodora. He was exiled, imprisoned, and finally driven to take orders, +and his enormous fortune was confiscated. + +The history of John of Cappadocia is more significant still; at the same +time that it gives insight into the intrigues and plots of the Byzantine +courts, it throws a glowing light on the ambitious nature, the +unscrupulous energy, the vindictive spirit, and the perfidious +cleverness of the Empress Theodora. + +For six years John of Cappadocia occupied the exalted position of +praetorian prefect, which made him at the same time minister of finance +and minister of the interior, as well as the first minister of the +Empire. By his vices, his harshness, and his corruption he justified the +proverb: + +"The Cappadocian is bad by nature; if he attains to power he is worse; +but if he seeks to be supreme, he is the most detestable of all." But in +the eyes of Justinian he had one redeeming virtue: he furnished to every +request of the prince the funds which the vast expenditures of his reign +demanded. At the price of what exactions, of what sufferings of his +subjects, he obtained these admirable results, the emperor did not +inquire, or perhaps he ignored these considerations. At all events, the +prefect was a great favorite of the prince, and the court aides envied +the success of his administration. Having a dominating influence over +the emperor, possessing riches beyond the dreams of avarice, John +attained to the very apex of fortune. Superstitious by nature, the +promises of wizards had aroused in him the hope of attaining to the +supreme power, as the colleague or successor of Justinian. As a step +toward this he attempted to ruin the credit of Theodora with the +emperor. This was an offence which the haughty empress could not pardon. +The prefect was not ignorant how powerful an adversary he had aroused; +but, conscious of his influence with the emperor and of the state of the +finances which he alone could administer, he regarded himself as +indispensable. But he did not correctly gauge the subtlety of Theodora. +She first endeavored to convince the emperor of the sufferings which the +prefect inflicted on his subjects and then to arouse his suspicions as +to the dangers with which the throne was menaced by the ambition of +John: but the emperor, like all feeble natures, hesitated to separate +from himself a counsellor to whom by long habit and association he had +become attached. Then Theodora conceived a Machiavelian plot. + +Theodora's most intimate friend was Antonina, the wife of Belisarius, +whom Procopius describes as a woman "more capable than anyone else to +manage the impracticable." The two clever women devised an unscrupulous +bit of strategy which, if successful, would surely cause the downfall of +the much execrated minister of finance. Antonina, at Theodora's +suggestion, cultivated the friendship of John's daughter, Euphemia, and +intimated to her that her husband Belisarius was seriously disaffected +toward the emperor, because of the poor requital which his distinguished +services had received, but that he could not attempt to throw off the +imperial yoke unless he was assured of the sympathy and support of some +one of the important civil officials. Euphemia naturally told the news +to her father, who, seeing in the circumstance an opportunity to ascend +the throne with the aid of the powerful general, easily fell into the +trap. To perfect the plot the Cappadocian arranged a secret interview at +Rufinianum, one of the country seats of Belisarius. The empress arranged +to have two faithful officials, Marcellus and Narses, concealed in the +villa, with orders to arrest John if his treason became manifest, and, +if he resisted, straightway to put him to death. They overheard the +treasonable plot, but the minister succeeded in escaping arrest and fled +to the inviolable asylum of Saint Sophia. He was, however, exiled in +disgrace to Cyzicus; but the ruthless hatred of Theodora followed him, +and, after all his ill-gotten gains had been confiscated, he was exiled +to Egypt, where he remained until the death of the empress. He finally +returned to Constantinople, but Justinian had no further need of the +services of his quondam counsellor, and the latter, in the rude garb of +a priest, died upon the scene of his former triumphs. + +In her ruthless persecution of her opponents, as illustrated by this +incident, there seems to have been in this remarkable woman a singular +absence of the moral sense. + +True it is that she passionately loved power and luxury and wealth; +true, that she exercised her authority at times in a ruthless and +unscrupulous manner. Yet the hardness of her nature is offset by many +sympathetic qualities which show that, together with the sternness of an +empress, she had the heart of a woman. + +She showed a sympathetic interest in the welfare of her own family. She +married her sister Comito to Sittas, an officer of high rank. Her niece +Sophia was united in marriage with the nephew of Justin, heir +presumptive to the Empire. All her life she regretted that she did not +have a son to mount the throne: she had buried an infant daughter, the +sole offspring of her marriage. + +One of the most pleasing traits of her character was the large tolerance +and substantial sympathy she showed to fallen women. Severe on men, she +manifested for women a solicitude rarely equalled. On the Asiatic coast +of the Bosporus she converted a palace into a spacious and stately +monastery, known as the Convent of the Metanoia, or Repentance, and +richly endowed it for the benefit of her less fortunate sisters who had +been seduced or compelled to embrace the trade of prostitution. In this +safe and holy retreat were gathered hundreds of women, collected from +the streets and brothels of Constantinople; and many a hapless woman was +filled with gratitude toward the generous benefactress who had rescued +her from a life of sin and misery. + +Are we to see in this tender solicitude an exemplification of the words +of the poet, _Non ignara mali miseris succurrere disco_, or were her +endeavors merely the outcome of the religious exaltation of a pure and +noblewoman "naturally prone to succor women in misfortune," as a +Byzantine writer says of her? At any rate, this practical sympathy +exerted its influence also in enactments of the Justinian Code relating +to women; such as the ordinance tending to increase the dignity of +marriage and render it more indissoluble, or that to give to seduced +maidens recourse against their seducers, or that to relieve actresses of +the social disbarment which attended their calling. All these measures +were doubtless due to the inspiration of Theodora. + +She also carried her strict ideas as to the sanctity of marriage into +the life of the court, as is shown by the manner in which she pitilessly +spoiled the romance which would have united one of the most brilliant +generals of the Empire to a niece of Justinian. + +Praejecta, the emperor's niece, had fallen into the hands of Gontharis, a +usurper who had slain her husband, Areobindus. She had given up all as +lost when an unexpected savior appeared in the person of a handsome +Armenian officer, Artabanes, the commander in Africa, who overthrew the +usurper and restored her to liberty. From gratitude, Praejecta could +refuse her deliverer nothing, and she promised him her hand. The +ambitious Armenian saw in this brilliant marriage rapid promotion to the +height of power. The princess returned to Constantinople, and the Count +of Africa hastened to surrender his honorable office and sought a recall +to Constantinople to join his prospective bride. He was lionized in the +capital; his dignified demeanor, his burning eloquence and his unbounded +generosity won the admiration of all. To remove the social distance +between him and his fiancee he was loaded down with honors and +dignities. All went well until an unexpected and troublesome obstacle to +the nuptials presented itself. Artabanes had overlooked or forgotten the +fact that years before he had espoused an Armenian lady. They had been +separated a long time, and the warrior had never been heard to speak of +her. So long as he was an obscure soldier his wife was contented to +leave him in peace; but not so after his unexpected rise to fame. +Suddenly she appeared in Constantinople, claiming the rights of a lawful +spouse, and as a wronged woman she implored the sympathetic aid of +Theodora. + +The empress was inflexible when the sacred bonds of marriage were at +stake, and she forced the reluctant general to renounce all claims to +the princess and to take back his forsaken wife. By way of precaution, +she speedily married Praejecta to John, the grandson of the emperor +Anastasius, and the pretty romance was at an end. + +With equal regard to the sanctity of marriage, Theodora employed +numerous devices to reconcile Belisarius, the celebrated general, with +his wife Antonina, to whom the scandal of the _Secret History_ +attributes serious lapses from moral rectitude, though the charge cannot +be regarded as proved. + +A portrait of the Byzantine empress would be incomplete if it did not +speak of her religious sentiments and the prominent part she took in +ecclesiastical politics. In religious matters we see not only the best +side of Theodora's nature, but also the supreme exhibition of her +influence in the affairs of the Empire. Like all the Byzantines of her +time, she was pious and devoted in her manner of life. She was noted for +her almsgiving and her contributions to the foundations established by +the Church. Chroniclers cite the houses of refuge, the orphanages, and +the hospitals founded by her; and Justinian, in one of his ordinances, +speaks of the innumerable gifts which she made to churches, hospitals, +asylums, and bishoprics. + +Yet, in spite of these many exhibitions of inward piety, Theodora was +strongly suspected by the orthodox of heresy. She professed openly the +monophysite doctrine,--the belief in the one nature in the person of +Jesus Christ. She also endeavored to bring Justinian to her view, and, +with an eye to the interest of the state, she entered upon a course of +policy which reconciled the schismatics--but disgusted the orthodox +Catholics, who were in unison with Rome. The people of Syria and Egypt +were almost universally Monophysites and Separatists. Theodora, with a +political finesse far greater than that of her husband, saw that the +discontent in the Orient was prejudicial to the imperial power, and she +endeavored by her line of policy to reconcile the hostile parties and to +reestablish religious peace in the Empire. She recognized that the +centre of gravity of the government had passed permanently from Rome to +Constantinople, and that consequently the best policy was to keep at +peace the peoples of the East. + +Justinian, on the other hand, misled by the grandeur of Roman tradition, +wished to establish, through union with the Roman See, strict orthodoxy +in the restored empire of the Caesars. Theodora, with greater acumen, +observed the irreconcilable lines of difference between East and West, +and recognized that to proscribe the learned and powerful party of +dissenters in the Orient would alienate important provinces and be fatal +to the authority of the monarchy. She therefore threw her influence into +the balance of heresy. She received the leaders of the Monophysites in +the palace, and listened sympathetically to their counsels, their +complaints, their remonstrances. She placed men of this faith in the +most prominent patriarchal sees--Severius at Antioch, Theodosius at +Alexandria, Anthimius at Constantinople. She transformed the palace on +Hormisdas into a monastery for the persecuted priests of Syria and Asia. +When Severius was subjected to persecution, she provided means for him +to escape from Constantinople; and when Anthimius was deposed from the +metropolitan see, she extended to him, in spite of imperial orders, her +open protection, and gave him an asylum in the palace. Her boldest coup, +however, consisted in placing on the pontifical seat at Rome a pope of +her own choice, pledged to act with the Monophysites. + +For this role she found the man in the Roman deacon Vigilius, for some +years apostolic legate at Constantinople. Vigilius was an ambitious and +clever priest who had won his way into the confidence of Theodora, and +the empress thought to find in him, when elevated to the pontifical +chair, a ready instrument for her purposes. It is recounted that, in +exchange for the imperial protection and patronage, Vigilius engaged to +reestablish Anthimius at Constantinople, to enter into a league with +Theodosius and Severius, and to annul the Council of Chalcedon. Upon the +death of the presiding pope, Agapetus, Vigilius set out for Rome with +letters for Belisarius, who was then at the height of his power in +Italy, and these letters were such that they did not admit of objection. +Apparently, in this affair Justinian had secretly assented to the plans +of the empress, seeing perhaps in the movement a solution which would +bring about the unity which he desired and place the Roman pontiff in +accord with the Orientals. But it was not without trouble that Vigilius +was installed. Immediately upon the death of Agapetus, the Roman party +had provided a successor in Silverius; and to seat Vigilius in the chair +of Saint Peter, they must first make Silverius descend. Belisarius was +charged with this repugnant task. With manifest reluctance, he undertook +his part in the questionable intrigue. He first suggested to Silverius a +dignified way of settling the affair by making the concessions which the +emperor desired of Vigilius. Silverius indignantly refused to make any +such compromise. Thereupon, under the imaginary pretext of treason, he +was brutally arrested, deposed, and sent into exile. Vigilius was at +once ordained pope in his stead. Theodora seemed to have conquered. + +But when securely installed, Vigilius, in spite of the threats of +Belisarius, deferred the fulfilment of his promises. Finally, however, +he was compelled to make important concessions to the empress. This was +the last triumph of Theodora; and toward the close of her life, in the +growing progress of the Eastern Church, and in the declining influence +of the pope, she had reason to believe that the dreams of her religious +diplomacy were realized. + +Theodora's advocacy of the cause of the dissenters accounts for much of +the vituperation heaped upon her by orthodox Catholics. In the eyes of +the Cardinal Baronius, the wife of Justinian was "a detestable creature, +a second Eve too ready to listen to the serpent, a new Delilah, another +Herodias, revelling in the blood of the saints, a citizen of Hell, +protected by demons, inspired by Satan, burning to break the concord +bought by the blood of confessors and of martyrs." It is worthy of note +that this was written before the discovery of the manuscript of the +_Secret History_. What would the learned cardinal have said had he known +of the alleged adventures of the youth of this woman, classed by pious +Catholics as one of the worst enemies of the Church? + +Perhaps, after all, we are to find in Theodora's religious defection the +source of all the scandal which has attached to her name. Damned in the +eyes of pious churchmen because of her religious faith that Christ's +nature was not dual, it was easy for the tongue of scandal regarding her +early life to gain credence. Had Theodora followed the orthodox in the +belief in the two natures, she might have committed worse offences than +were charged to her, and no such vituperation would have been uttered by +any member of the orthodox Church; but her position in the religious +controversies of the sixth century will certainly, in the twentieth +century, do her memory little harm. + +Theodora's health was always delicate. After these years of stormy +dissension, as her strength began to fail, she was directed to use the +famous Pythian warm baths. Her progress through Bithynia was made with +all the splendor of an imperial cortege, and all along the route she +distributed alms to churches, monasteries, and hospitals, with the +request that the devout should implore Heaven for the restoration of her +health. Finally, in the month of June, A. D. 548, in the twenty-fourth +year of her marriage and the twenty-second of her reign, Theodora died +of a cancer. Justinian was inconsolable at her loss, which rightly +seemed to him to be irreparable. His later years were lacking in the +energy and finesse that had characterized him during her lifetime, and +it was doubtless her loss which clouded his spirits and removed from him +the chief inspiration of his reign. Some years after Theodora's death, a +poet, desiring to gratify the emperor, recalled the memory of the +excellent, beautiful and wise sovereign, "who was beseeching at the +throne of grace God's favor on her spouse." + +We can hardly think of Theodora as a glorified saint, yet her goodness +of heart and her charity may atone for many of the serious defects in +her character. We know not whence she came nor the story of her early +life; but as an empress she exhibited all the defects of her qualities. +She was a woman cast in a large mould, and her faults stand out in equal +prominence with her virtues. She was at times cruel, selfish, and proud, +often despotic and violent, utterly unscrupulous and pitiless when it +was a question of maintaining her power. But she was resourceful, +resolute, energetic, courageous; her political acumen was truly +masculine; in a critical moment she saved the throne for Justinian, and +during all her lifetime she was his wise Egeria, by her counsel enabling +him to succeed in great movements; when her influence ceased to exercise +itself a decadence began which continued during the remaining years of +Justinian's reign. + +As a woman, she was capricious, passionate, vain, self-willed, but +sympathetic to the unfortunate and infinitely seductive. Truly imperial +was she in her vices, truly queenly in her virtues. Whatever may have +been her youth, her career on the throne is the best refutation of the +scandal of the _Secret History_, and she deserves a place in the records +of history as one of the world's greatest, most intelligent, most +fascinating empresses. + + + + +XII + +OTHER SELF-ASSERTING AUGUSTAE--VERINA, ARIADNE, SOPHIA, MARTINA, IRENE + + +It is a noteworthy feature in the history of the Eastern Roman Empire +that periods in which empresses figure prominently in the affairs of +state alternate with periods in which the Augustae are mere ciphers. +Eudoxia, the wife of Arcadius, marks the early limit of feminine +predominance in the independent history of the eastern section of the +Roman Empire. The Empress Irene, who reigned at first with her son +Constantine and afterward alone, marks the later limit of the Roman, as +distinguished from the strictly Byzantine Empire, since during her +reign, at the beginning of the ninth century, the Empire of the West was +completely dissevered from all connection with Constantinople through +the crowning of Charlemagne as Emperor of the West by Pope Leo. Thus a +masterful woman was the predominating influence at the beginning and at +the end of the existence of the Eastern Roman Empire as a separate +entity. + +In the interval between these two limits the most important reign was +that of Justinian and the most remarkable woman was, of course, the +Empress Theodora. Following Eudoxia were the rival Empresses Pulcheria +and Eudocia, celebrated for their beauty, their culture, and their +piety. + +When the house of Theodosius ceased to exist with Pulcheria and Marcian, +the Roman Empire in the East was safely guided through the stormy times +which saw its extinction in the West by a series of three men of +ability, Leo I. (457-474), Zeno (474-491), and Anastasius (491-518). +During this period two Augustae--Verina and Ariadne--took a part in +imperial politics, and made up in wickedness and intrigue what they +lacked in culture and piety. Next followed the house of Justin, which +produced two remarkable women in Theodora and her niece Sophia, the +latter, though not the equal of her aunt in strength of character, yet +leaving her mark on the history of her times. + +Following the death of Sophia there was for nearly forty years a break +in the predominance of self-asserting Augustae. Of the wives of Tiberius, +Maurice, and Phocas, we know merely the names--respectively, Anastasia, +Constantina, and Leontia Augusta. Heraclius's memorable reign was shared +with two empresses, the first of whom, Eudocia, did nothing to win +publicity, while the career of the second--Martina--recalls the +wickedness and the intrigue of Verina and Sophia. But the spouses of the +successors of Heraclius did not follow Martina's ignoble example, but +were women of whom nothing was recorded either of praise or blame. We do +not even know the name of the wife of Constans II., who entered upon a +long reign after the exile of Heracleonas, son of Martina. Anastasia, +the spouse of Constantine IV., Theodora, queen of the second Justinian, +Maria, spouse of Leo III., the Isaurian, and Irene, Maria, and Eudocia, +the three wives of Constantine V., played so little part in political +affairs that they are hardly better known than the nameless wives of the +emperors who filled up the interval between the second Justinian and Leo +the Isaurian (695-716). + +This brief resume brings us to the reign of the Empress Irene, who in +energy, in wickedness, and in ambition made up for all the deficiencies +of her predecessors. Having devoted separate chapters to the most +celebrated Augustae of the Eastern Empire--Eudoxia, Pulcheria and +Eudocia, and Theodora--we shall group into one chapter our brief +consideration of the lives and characters of the less renowned but no +less pronounced Augustae of the intervening periods--Verina, Ariadne, +Sophia, Martina, and Irene. + +Verina and her daughter Ariadne, through their wickedness and ambition, +cast dark shadows over the otherwise bright history of the house of Leo +the Great. Verina, the imperial consort of Leo, was a woman of little +cultivation but of great natural gifts, fond of intrigue, ambitious of +power, and implacable in hatred and revenge. Of her two daughters, +Ariadne had married Zeno the Isaurian, one of the most illustrious and +able officials of the Empire. Leo, the offspring of this union, was +selected as the heir and successor of Leo I., but upon the death of the +lad, shortly after his accession, Zeno was raised to the throne, much to +the disgust of the empress-mother Verina. She fostered'a conspiracy for +the downfall of Zeno and the elevation of Patricius, her paramour, and +as a result of her intrigues Zeno had to forsake his throne and flee to +the mountain fastnesses of Isauria, his native country, together with +his wife Ariadne and his mother Lallis. Verina's brother, Basiliscus, +aspired to the throne, but she opposed his claims in order to win the +purple for Patricius. After Zeno's flight, however, the ministers and +senators elected Basiliscus as his successor, and the new emperor +entered upon a most unpopular and checkered reign of only twenty months. +His queen was named Zenonis, a young and beautiful woman, who soon +gained an unenviable reputation because of her manifest fondness for her +husband's nephew Harmatius, a young fop, noted for his good looks and +his effeminate manners. An ancient chronicler tells the story of this +intrigue: + +"Basiliscus permitted Harmatius, inasmuch as he was a kinsman, to +associate freely with the empress Zenonis. Their intercourse became +intimate, and, as they were both persons of no ordinary beauty, they +became extravagantly enamored of each other. They used to exchange +glances of the eyes, they used constantly to turn their faces and smile +at each other, and the passion which they were obliged to conceal was +the cause of grief and vexation. They confided their trouble to Daniel, +a eunuch, and to Maria, a midwife, who hardly healed their malady by the +remedy of bringing them together. Then Zenonis coaxed Basiliscus to +grant her lover the highest office in the city." + +This palace intrigue was soon brought to an end, however, by the fall of +Basiliscus and the restoration of Zeno in 477, in spite of the intrigues +of Verina. After Zeno's return, his most powerful minister, the Isaurian +Illus, became the object of Verina's enmity and machinations. She even +formed a plot to assassinate him, which he was fortunate enough to +discover and frustrate. Recognizing that his power would not be secure +so long as Verina was at large, he begged Zeno to consign to him the +dangerous woman; and the emperor, doubtless glad to be rid of his +redoubtable mother-in-law, gave her over into his hands. Illus first +compelled her to take the vows of a nun at Tarsus, and then placed her +in confinement in Dalisandon, an Isaurian castle. + +But Illus had only got rid of one female foe to find a more bitter +antagonist in the latter's daughter, the empress Ariadne. She made the +second attempt on his life in 483, and used all her arts of intrigue to +estrange from him the Emperor Zeno. Finally, realizing that his life was +not safe in Constantinople, Illus withdrew from the court, and later +attached himself to the cause of the rebel Leontius, who sought to +overthrow Zeno. In support of the rebel's cause, Illus turned to his +quondam enemy Verina, the empress-mother, who from her prison castle was +glad to seize the opportunity to deal a blow to her ungrateful +son-in-law. To give the semblance of legitimacy to the cause of +Leontius, Verina was induced to crown him at Tarsus, and she also issued +a letter in his interest, which was sent to various cities and exerted a +marked influence on the disaffected. Leontius established an imperial +court at Antioch, but was speedily overthrown by Theodoric the +Ostrogoth. The two leaders of the conspiracy, with Verina, took refuge +in the Isaurian stronghold of Papirius, where they stood a siege for +four years, during which time Verina died. The fortress was finally +taken through the treachery of Illus's sister-in-law, and Illus and +Leontius were slain. + +After the death of Zeno, Anastasius was in 491 proclaimed emperor +through the influence of the widowed empress Ariadne, who married him +about six weeks later and continued to be an influence in politics +during Anastasius's long and successful reign. + +In Verina and Ariadne we see a mother and a daughter exceedingly alike +in character, but frequently at cross purposes with each other because +of their similar traits. Both were ambitious, both fond of intrigue, and +both ready to commit any crime when it answered their purpose. Verina, +pleased at the accession of her grandson Leo, whom she could control, +was chagrined and disappointed when upon the lad's death his masterful +father was elevated to the throne; and, continuing her intrigues, she +lost first her royal station and then her freedom and her life in her +endeavor to do an injury to her son-in-law. Ariadne quickly grasped the +power which her mother had lost, and has the unusual record of choosing +her husband's successor on the throne and of being the imperial consort +of two rulers in succession. + +We pass now to the dynasty of Justin and to a consideration of the niece +of the great Theodora, Sophia, empress of Justin the Younger, nephew and +successor of Justinian. + +The poet Corippus gives a dramatic account of the elevation of Justin +and Sophia. During Justinian's long illness the two were faithful +attendants at his bedside and ministered to his every want. Finally, one +morning, before the break of day, Justin was awakened by a patrician and +informed that the emperor was dead. Soon after, the members of the +Senate entered the palace and assembled in a beautiful room overlooking +the sea, where they found Justin conversing with his wife Sophia. They +greeted the royal pair as Augustus and Augusta; and the twain, with +apparent reluctance, submitted to the will of the Senate. They then +repaired to the imperial chamber, and gazed, with tearful eyes, upon the +corpse of their beloved uncle. Sophia at once ordered to be brought an +embroidered cloth, on which was wrought in gold and brilliant colors the +whole series of Justinian's labors, the emperor himself being +represented in the midst with his foot resting upon the neck of the +Vandal giant. The next morning, Justin and his imperial consort +proceeded to the church of Saint Sophia, where they made a public +declaration of the orthodox faith. + +In taking this step, Sophia showed that she had the ambition but not the +political acumen of her aunt Theodora. Like the latter, she had been +originally a Monophysite; but a wily bishop had suggested that her +heretical opinions stood in the way of her husband's promotion to the +rank of Caesar, and in consequence she found it advisable to join the +ranks of the orthodox. Unfortunately, by this step the balance of the +religious parties, which Theodora had so successfully maintained, was +broken, and the later years of Justin's reign were disgraced by the +persecution of the Monophysites, so that great disaffection toward the +throne was created throughout the East. + +The religious ceremony was soon followed by the acclamations of the +populace in the Hippodrome, which were made all the more hearty through +the act of Justin in discharging the vast debts of his uncle Justinian; +and, before three years had elapsed, his example was imitated and +surpassed by the empress, who delivered many indigent citizens from the +weight of debt and usury--an act of benevolence which won for her the +gratitude and adoration of the populace. + +Thus auspiciously began the reign of Justin and Sophia, which the royal +pair had proclaimed was to be an new era of happiness and glory for +mankind; but, though the sentiments of the emperor were pure and +benevolent and it was the ambition of the empress to surpass her aunt +Theodora, neither had the intellectual gifts equal to the task, and +during their reign the Empire was subjected to disgrace abroad and to +wretchedness at home. + +Much the same ingratitude which Belisarius had experienced at the hand +of his imperial mistress was visited upon his eminent successor, Narses, +by the new empress. She sent Longinus, as the new exarch, to supersede +the conqueror of Italy, and in most insulting language recalled the +eunuch Narses to Constantinople. "Let him leave to men," she said, "the +exercise of arms, and return to his proper station among the maidens of +the palace, where a distaff should be again placed in the hands of the +eunuch." "I will spin her such a thread as she shall not easily +unravel!" is said to have been the indignant reply of the hero, who +alone had saved Italy to the Empire. Instead of returning to the +Byzantine palace, he returned to Naples and later dwelt at Rome, where +he passed away and with him the only military genius great enough to +ward off the invasion of the Lombards. + +After a reign of a few years the faculties of Justin, which were +impaired by disease, began to fail, and in 574 he became a hopeless +lunatic. The only son of the imperial pair had died in infancy, and the +question of a successor now became a serious one. The daughter, Arabia, +was the wife of Baduarius, superintendent of the palace, who vainly +aspired to the honor of adoption as the Caesar. Domestic animosities +turned the empress elsewhere. + +The artful empress found a suitable successor in Tiberius, the young and +handsome captain of the guards, and, in one of his sane intervals, +Justin, at her instance, created him a Caesar. During the few remaining +years of Justin's life, Tiberius showed himself to both his adopted +parents a filial and grateful son, and meekly submitted to all the +exactions of his empress-mother. Though relying on Tiberius for the +sterner duties of the imperial office, Sophia retained all her authority +and sovereignty as Augusta and would not submit to the presence of +another queen in the palace. Tiberius was already a husband and father. +In a sane moment, Justin, with masculine good nature and blindness to +feminine foibles, blandly suggested that Ino, the wife of the Caesar, +should dwell with Tiberius in the palace, for, he added, "he is a young +man and the flesh is hard to rule." But Sophia immediately put her foot +down. "As long as I live," said she, "I will never give my kingdom to +another"--words that were possibly a reminiscence of the celebrated +saying of Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra, "I am a queen; and as long as I +live I will reign." Consequently, during the lifetime of Justin, Ino and +her two daughters lived in complete retirement in a modest house not far +from the palace. Her social status aroused considerable interest among +the ladies of the court circle, who found it difficult to decide whether +or not they should call on the wife of the Caesar. At tables and +firesides this question was gravely discussed, but no one would take the +initiative of visiting Ino without first consulting the wishes of +Sophia. Finally, when one of the ladies, with considerable trepidation, +ventured to ask the empress, she was scolded for her pains; "Go away and +be quiet," responded the imperious Sophia, "it is no business of yours." + +When, however, a few days before the death of Justin, Tiberius was +inaugurated emperor, he at once installed his wife in the palace, to the +chagrin of the empress-mother, and had her recognized by the factions of +the Hippodrome. A conflict arose as to what should be her Christian name +as empress: the Blues wished to change her pagan name to "Anastasia," +while the Greens urged stoutly the adoption of the name of the sainted +"Helena." Tiberius decided with the Blues, and as Anastasia Ino was +crowned Empress of the East. + +During the long apprenticeship of Tiberius, Sophia had held the purse +strings and had kept the young Caesar on an allowance which seemed too +small to comport with his imperial prospects. Upon becoming emperor, +however, Tiberius quickly rid himself of the dictation of his patroness. +He gave her a stately palace in which to live, and surrounded her with a +numerous train of eunuchs and courtiers; he paid her ceremonious visits +on formal occasions and always saluted the widow of his benefactor with +the title of mother. But it was impossible for Sophia to overcome her +disappointment at being deprived of power, and she set on foot numerous +conspiracies to dethrone Tiberius and to bring about the elevation of +some one whom she could control. The chief of these plots centred about +the young Justinian, the son of Germanus of the house of Anastasius. +Upon the death of Justin a faction had asserted the claims of Justinian; +but Tiberius had freely pardoned the youth for aspiring to the purple +and had given him the command of the Eastern army. Sophia seized upon +the acclamation which the renown of his victories inspired to start a +conspiracy in his interests, but Tiberius heard in time of the intended +uprising and by his personal exertions and firmness suppressed the +conspiracy. He once more forgave Justinian, but he realized the +necessity of restraining the activity of the rapidly aging, but still +clever and intriguing, ex-empress. Sophia was deprived of all imperial +honors and reduced to a modest station, and the care of her person was +committed to a faithful guard who should frustrate any further attempts +on her part to play a part in the game of imperial politics. Thus the +ambitious niece of Theodora passed off the stage of action after a +career which, beginning with every promise of brilliant success and high +renown, had, after many vicissitudes, ended in humiliation and disgrace. + +Heraclius's long and memorable reign, from 610 to 641, was characterized +by much domestic infelicity. Upon the day of his coronation he +celebrated his marriage with the delicate Eudocia, who bore him two +children, a daughter, Epiphania, and a son, Heraclius Constantine, the +natural successor to the throne. Heraclius's second wife was his own +niece Martina, the marriage being considered incestuous by the orthodox +and becoming the cause of much scandal. The curses of Heaven too seemed +to be upon the union; of the children, Flavius had a wry neck and +Theodosius was deaf and dumb; the third, Heracleonas, had no pronounced +physical deformity, but was lacking in intellectual power and in moral +force. The physical sufferings of Heraclius in his last years were also +looked upon as retribution for his sin. + +Martina's influence upon her aged husband in his declining years was +unbounded. Full of ambition and intrigue, she induced him upon his +deathbed to declare her son Heracleonas joint heir with Constantine, +hoping thus herself to wield imperial power. "When Martina first +appeared on the throne with the name and attributes of royalty, she was +checked by a firm, though respectful opposition; and the dying embers of +freedom were kindled by the breath of superstitious prejudice. 'We +reverence,' exclaimed the voice of a citizen, 'we reverence the mother +of our princes; but to those princes alone our obedience is due; and +Constantine, the elder emperor, is of an age to sustain in his own hand +the weight of the sceptre. Your sex is excluded by nature from the toils +of government. How could you combat, how could you answer, the +barbarians who, with hostile or friendly intentions, may approach the +royal city? May Heaven avert from the Roman Republic this national +disgrace which would provoke the patience of the slaves of Persia!' +Martina descended from the throne with indignation and sought a refuge +in the female apartment of the palace." + +But, though deprived of the outward prerogatives of supreme power, she +determined all the more to wield the sceptre through the power of her +son. The reign of Constantine III. lasted only one hundred and three +days, and at the early age of thirty he expired. The belief was +prevalent that poison was the means used by his inhuman stepmother to +bring him to his untimely end. Martina at once caused her son to +proclaim himself sole emperor. But the public abhorrence of the +incestuous widow of Heraclius was only increased by this deed, for +Constantine had left a son, Constans, the natural heir. Both Senate and +populace rose in indignation, and compelled Heracleonas to comply with +their demand that Constans be made his colleague. His submission saved +him for only a year. In 642 he was deposed by the Senate, and he and his +mother Martina were sent into exile. So violent was the popular rage +that the tongue of the mother and the nose of the son were slit--the +first instance of the barbarous Oriental custom being applied to members +of the royal house. + +Martina was always looked upon by the devout of her age as "the accursed +thing." She had by intrigue won the hand of her widowed uncle, by +intrigue exerted a dominating influence over the emperor even up to his +dying moments, and by intrigue tried to determine the destiny of her son +and her stepson. But the intriguing widow reaped in public abhorrence +the natural results of her offences. For a time the people endured the +abomination of her unnatural crimes, but at last they visited upon her a +well-merited punishment. + +The reign of the empress Irene is noteworthy because of her restoration +of the images banished by Leo the Isaurian and his successors, and +because it marks the end of all union between the Eastern and Western +Empires and the beginning of the Byzantine Empire strictly so called. +Hence, it deserves more minute attention than the other reigns we have +briefly sketched, and some mention must be made of the history of the +religious movement with which Irene's name is so intimately connected. + +Leo III., the Isaurian, the most remarkable of the Byzantine emperors +since the days of the great Justinian, made his long reign from 717 to +740 memorable by his victories over the Saracens and his long and bitter +conflict against the image worship and relic worship which had developed +rapidly throughout the Empire and had assumed the aspect of fetichism. + +The early Christians, owing to their Jewish proclivities, had felt an +unconquerable repugnance to the use of images, and their religious +worship was uniformly simple and spiritual. As the Greek influence +spread throughout the Church, however, there developed a veneration of +the Cross and of the relics of the saints. Then it was thought that if +the relics were esteemed, so much the more should be the faithful copies +of the persons of the saints, as delineated by the arts of painting and +sculpture. In course of time, by a natural development, the honors of +the original were transferred to the copy, and the Christian's prayer +before the image of the saint ceased to distinguish between the +counterfeit presentment and the saint it was designed to portray. As +healing power was attributed to many of the images and pictures, the +popular adoration of them grew. Thus, by the end of the sixth century +the worship of images was firmly established, especially among the +Greeks and Asiatics. Many pious souls began to see that this idolatry of +the Christians hardly differed from the idolatry of the Greeks, and that +they had no potent arguments against the assertions of Jews and +Mohammedans that Greek Christianity was but a continuation of Greek +paganism. Consequently, a reaction began, which reached its culmination +in the reign of Leo the Isaurian, who, because of his active hostility +to images, was surnamed Leo the Iconoclast. His measures were severe, +and he introduced a movement which involved the East in a tremendous +conflict of one hundred and twenty years. + +Leo's son, Constantine V.,--Copronymus,--was a more cruel and determined +iconoclast than his father; but into his own family circle he was +destined to introduce a member who was to set at naught the efforts of +father and son and restore the worship of images to its former +flourishing estate. Copronymus himself had had three wives, the most +prominent of whom was a barbarian, the daughter of a khan of the +Chazars; but for the wife of his son and heir, Leo IV., he selected an +Athenian virgin, an orphan of seventeen summers, whose sole endowment +consisted in her beauty and her personal charms. As in the case of +Athenais, nothing is known of the antecedents of Irene. Who her parents +were, what was her education, how many years she lived in her native +city--these are questions of idle speculation.--Her imperial career +shows that she was a woman of remarkable beauty and fascination, of +highly trained intellectual gifts and Hellenic temperament, and from +this we are led to infer that she had in her youth the best instruction +her native city afforded. + +The nuptials of Leo and Irene were celebrated with imposing splendor, +and the new princess rapidly became an important influence in the life +of the palace, winning the regard of her father-in-law and acquiring an +indisputable ascendency over her feeble husband. Irene, though a +Christian, inherited the idolatry and the love of images and ritual of +her ancestors; but during the remaining years of the reign of Copronymus +and the four short years in which her husband occupied the throne she +repressed her zeal, and by clever dissimulation hid her devotion to the +cause of the image worshippers. + +Leo left the Empire to his son Constantine VI., a lad of ten years, with +the empress-dowager Irene as sole regent and guardian of the Roman +world. During the minority of her son Irene discharged with vigor and +assiduity all the duties of public administration and enjoyed to the +full the irresponsible power of her office of regent. She took advantage +of her power to restore the worship of images and thus won the favor of +a large faction of the populace and the clergy. She endeavored to bring +up her son in such a way that he should continue to be subservient to +her, and as he approached the age at which he should assume the reins of +government, Irene showed no disposition to yield up her power. + +Even when Constantine became of age, he was excluded from state affairs. +He had been betrothed to Rotrud, daughter of Charlemagne; but Irene, for +the sake of her own power, had broken off the match and compelled him to +marry one of her favorites, who was distasteful to him. The maternal +yoke, which he had so patiently borne, finally became grievous, and +Constantine listened eagerly to the favorites of his own age who urged +him to assert his rights. He was finally persuaded to do so, and +succeeded in seizing the helm of state. His mother vigorously resisted, +but was overcome and compelled to go into seclusion for a time; but +Constantine at length pardoned her and restored her former dignity. +Irene, however, had by no means relinquished her ambition for sole +power, and availed herself of every opportunity to discredit the prince +and enhance her own popularity. + +Constantine became enamored of one of his mother's maids of honor, +Theodota. With the insidious purpose of making him odious to the clergy, +who discountenanced divorce and second marriage, Irene encouraged him to +put away his wife, Maria, and marry Theodota. The patriarch Tarasius, a +creature of the empress-mother, acquiesced in the emperor's wishes, and, +though he would not perform the ceremony himself, he ordered one of his +subordinates to celebrate the unpopular bans. The affair created great +scandal among the monks and was injurious to the prestige of the +emperor. + +A powerful conspiracy was secretly organized for the restoration of the +empress. At length the emperor, suspecting his danger, escaped from +Constantinople with the purpose of arousing the provinces and the armies +so that he might return to the city with sufficient force to overwhelm +the conspirators and establish beyond question his power. By this flight +the empress was left in danger, because of the possible exposure of the +plot and the indignation of the populace. She acted with her customary +shrewdness and duplicity. Among those about the emperor were some who +were involved in the conspiracy; so, while appearing to be making ready +to implore the mercy and beg the return of her son, she sent to these +men a secret communication in which she veiled the threat that if they +did not act, she would reveal their treason. Fearing for their lives, +they acted at once with the boldness of desperate criminals. Seizing the +emperor on the Asiatic shore, they conveyed him across the Hellespont to +the porphyry apartment of the palace, the chamber in which he was born. +The son was now completely in the power of the mother, in whom ambition +had stifled every maternal emotion. In the bloody council called by the +traitors she urged that Constantine should be rendered incapable of +holding the throne. Her emissaries blinded the young prince and immured +him in a monastery. As a blind monk Constantine survived five of his +successors; but his memory was revived among men only by the marriage of +his daughter Euphrosyne with the Emperor Michael the Second. + +For five years Irene enjoyed all the delights and experienced all the +bitterness of absolute power. Her crime called down upon her the +execration of all the best among mankind, but dread of her cruelty +prevented any open outbreak against her. She carried on the movement for +the restoration of images, and by her outward piety she caused men to +overlook the heinous nature of her crimes. Her reign was noted for its +external splendor and the strong influence she exerted on all affairs of +state. She offered marriage to the Emperor Charlemagne of the West, but +he repelled with repugnance all overtures from the unnatural mother and +reminded her that her intrigues had prevented the union of his daughter +with the Emperor Constantine. In fact, her accession brought about the +final severing of all bonds of union between the eastern and western +divisions of the Roman world. Pope Leo regarded a female sovereign as an +anomaly and an abomination in the eyes of all true Romans, and he +brought to an end all claims the Byzantine dynasty might have on Italy +at least, by creating Charlemagne Emperor of the West. + +These years of power were troublous ones to the wicked queen, because of +rebellions abroad and palace intrigues at home. She had surrounded +herself with servile patricians and eunuchs, whom she enriched and +elevated to the highest offices of state; but her own example had +fostered in them ingratitude and duplicity, and, while they showed her +every outward mark of deference, they secretly conspired for her +downfall and their own elevation. The grand treasurer, Nicephorus, won +over the leading eunuchs and courtiers about the person of the empress, +and the decision was reached that he should be invested with the purple. +Never was Irene more queenly than in the manner with which she received +the intelligence of her fall. When the conspirators informed her that +she must retire from the palace, she addressed them with becoming +dignity, recounting the revolutions of her life, and accepting with +composure her fate. She gently reproached Nicephorus for his perfidy and +reminded him that he owed his elevation to her, and she requested the +proper recognition of her imperial standing and asked for a safe and +honorable retreat. But the greed of Nicephorus would not grant this last +request; he deprived her of all her dignities and wealth, and exiled her +to the Isle of Lesbos, where she endured every hardship and gained a +scanty subsistence by the labors of her distaff. Irene survived the +change of her fortune for only one year, and in 803 died of +grief--destitute, forsaken, and lonely. + +Because of her wickedness Irene's name is perpetuated in history among +the Messalinas and the Lucrezia Borgias. Because of her religious +orthodoxy she was canonized as a saint,--a striking instance of how +outward conformity to religion covers a multitude of sins. + + + + +XIII + +BYZANTINE EMPRESSES THEODORA II., THEOPHANO, ZOE, THEODORA III. + + +The Iconoclastic controversy was far from being extinguished with the +fall (in the person of Irene) of the house of Leo the Isaurian. It was +destined to continue for over half a century longer and to be finally +settled by another empress whose career bore marked similarity to that +of the image-loving Irene; and it then remained settled because the +second image-loving queen was succeeded by a royal house sprung from one +of the European themes which was in sympathy, accordingly, with the +Church of the West, rather than with the religious sentiment of the +people of the Orient. + +But a greater change had come over the Eastern Empire with the exile and +death of Irene. Her elevation had, as we have seen, severed the +connection between East and West and led to the appointment of a Western +emperor in the person of Charlemagne. Hence, from this time onward the +interests and sympathies of the two sections of the later Roman Empire +diverge more and more, and the government at Constantinople becomes ever +more Oriental in its proclivities. It is, therefore, more appropriate to +use the adjective Byzantine for the remaining centuries of the history +of Constantinople to its conquest by the Turks in 1453. + +The careers of Irene and her successor, Theodora, the two +image-worshipping empresses, in the contrast of the vicissitudes of +their lives with the rapidity of their rise and the splendor of their +power, offer materials for romance more truly than for sober history. +Each was born in private station; and in each case it must have required +rare beauty and fascination and high intellectual gifts to fill so +successfully the exalted position of Empress of the Romans, and to +overturn the iconoclastic reforms of their predecessors on the throne. +Each of them, too, when regent, was grossly neglectful of the son over +whose youth she presided, and whom she should have fitted for the high +station to which he was destined. Yet herein lies the marked difference +between the two queens: Irene finally expelled her son from his royal +station, and sent him to pass his life as a blinded monk in a secluded +cell; Theodora, finding she could no longer control the wild nature of +her son, whose training she had neglected, retired from the court and +sought relief in a life of penitence. For their pious acts, both +empresses were canonized as orthodox saints, but Irene must ever be +regarded as a demon at heart, while Theodora must pass as a misguided +and self-deceived woman, who, in the performance of her religious +duties, overlooked the most important task just at hand. But we are +anticipating our consideration of Theodora, the second Irene. + +The iconoclastic controversy was renewed by Nicephorus, who usurped the +throne of Irene, as he was of Oriental extraction and therefore in +sympathy with the so-called heretics. Neither Nicephorus nor his +successor during a period of political anarchy came to a peaceful end, +but Michael II., in 829 died a natural death in the royal palace, still +wearing the crown he had won, and leaving the throne to his son +Theophilus, destined to rank as the Haroun Al Raschid of Byzantine +romance and story. Michael had married Euphrosyne, the daughter of +Irene's son, Constantine VI., and the last scion of Leo the Isaurian. +Euphrosyne had already taken the veil, but, to bring about a union which +might probably continue the line of Leo, the patriarch absolved her from +her vows, and she passed from the convent to the palace as Empress of +the East. Yet, so far as we know, there was no issue of the marriage, +and Michael's son--Theophilus--by a former wife succeeded his father on +the throne. Euphrosyne remained for a time in the palace as +empress-dowager, and seems to have been on the best of terms with her +stepson, whom she at length assisted in the important but difficult task +of selecting a consort. + +Theophilus, since the time of Constantine VI., was the first prince to +be brought up in the purple, and his education was the best the age +afforded. The ninth century was an age of romance, both in action and in +literature, and Theophilus was inspired with many of the ideas of +Oriental monarchs. His reign, therefore, furnishes a series of anecdotes +and tales like to those of the Arabian Nights, and was surrounded with +an Oriental glamour and mystery. And, like his predecessors, he was a +pronounced iconoclast. + +Theophilus was unmarried when he ascended the throne, and the matter of +choosing a wife presented many difficulties to the absolute ruler who +could have his choice from among the daughters of the aristocratic +families of Constantinople, or even from the provinces of his dominions. +He finally took counsel with the attractive empress-dowager Euphrosyne, +and between them they devised a plan which would permit of a wide range +of choice and yet possess all the romance of mythical times. + +The empress-dowager one day assembled at her levee all the most +beautiful and accomplished daughters of the nobles of the capital. While +the maidens were engaged in the interchange of friendly greetings, +Theophilus suddenly entered the room, carrying, like Paris of old, a +golden apple in his hand. He cast his eyes over the room, and there was +a flutter in many a feminine heart over the object of his coming and the +possible recipient of the golden apple. Struck by the beauty and grace +of the fair Eikasia, one of the noted belles of the day, he paused +before her to address a word to her. Already in the heart of the proud +beauty there were anticipations of an imperial career. But Theophilus +found no better topic to commence a conversation than the ungallant +remark: "Woman is the source of evil in the world;" to which the young +lady quickly replied: "Woman is also the cause of much good." Either the +ready retort or the tone of her voice jarred on the captious mind of the +monarch, and he passed on. His eye then fell on the modest features and +graceful figure of the young Theodora, a rival beauty, and to her, +without risking a word, he handed the apple. The shock was too severe +for the slighted Eikasia, who had for a moment felt the thrill of +gratified ambition, and was conscious of the possession of the +endowments that would adorn the throne. She straightway retired to a +monastery which she founded, and devoted her time to religious practices +and intellectual pursuits. Many hymns were composed by her, which +continued long in use in the Greek Church. + +Perhaps it would have been better for Theophilus had he chosen Eikasia. +Theodora, with all her modest demeanor, was self-assertive and proud, +and as a devoted iconodule she caused her husband many an unhappy hour +during his lifetime; and as soon as he was dead she set to work to undo +his policy. The Empress Euphrosyne too soon realized the masterful +spirit of the new empress as did Theodora's own mother, Theoktista, and +the two dowagers retired into the monastery of Gastria, which afforded +them an agreeable retreat from the intrigues of the court. + +Theodora is the heroine of another tale which illustrated an unbecoming +trait in her character and the love of justice of Theophilus. It was the +practice of money-loving officials to engage secretly in trade and to +avoid the payment of custom duties by engaging the empress, or members +of the imperial family, in commercial adventures. By these practices, +gross injustice was done the merchants, and the revenues of the state +suffered. Theophilus learned that the young empress had lent her name to +one of these trading speculations, and he determined to handle the +matter in such a way that, in future, a repetition would be impossible. +He ascertained the time when a ship laden with a valuable cargo in the +empress's name was about to arrive in Constantinople. He assembled his +whole court on the quay to witness its arrival, and when the captain of +the ship demanded free entry in the empress's name, Theophilus compelled +him to unload and expose his precious cargo of Syrian merchandise, and +then publicly burn it; then, turning to his wife, he remarked that never +in the history of man had a Roman emperor or empress turned trader, and +added the sharp reproach that her avarice had degraded the character of +an empress into that of a merchant. + +Theophilus died in 842, leaving the throne to his three-year-old son, +Michael. His mother, Theodora, as she had been crowned empress, was +regent in her own right, and she quickly proved herself one of the most +self-assertive of Byzantine princesses. As Theophilus and his +predecessors overturned the work of Irene, so Theodora immediately began +to undo the iconoclastic policy of her deceased husband; and as her +successors continued her policy, the regency of Theodora marks the end +of iconoclasm and the permanent establishment of image worship in the +churches of the East, as of the West. + +Within the first month of the commencement of the new reign, images had +appeared once more in the churches of Constantinople, and the banished +image worshippers were recalled from their places of exile. John the +Grammarian, the patriarch who had served Theophilus, was deposed because +he refused to convoke a synod for the repeal of iconoclastic decrees, +and Methodius was appointed in his stead. A council of the church was +held the same year at Constantinople, composed largely of the lately +exiled bishops, abbots, and monks who had distinguished themselves as +confessors in the cause of image worship. All the prominent bishops who +had held iconoclastic opinions were expelled from their sees, and their +places were filled by the orthodox. The practices and doctrines of the +Iconoclasts were formally anathematized and banished forever from the +orthodox church. + +While the synod was being held, in the heart of Theodora a conflict was +going on between her love of image worship and her affection for her +deceased husband. She did not waver in her zeal for the orthodox church, +but she did dread to think of her husband as consigned, as a heretic, to +the pangs of hell. Consequently, she presented herself one day to the +assembled clergy, and requested the passage of a decree to the effect +that her deceased husband's sins had all been pardoned by the Church, +and that divine grace had effaced the record of his persecutions of the +saints. Deep dissatisfaction showed itself on the faces of all the +clergy when she made this singular request, and when they hesitated to +speak she uttered, with innocent frankness, a mild threat that if they +did not act favorably on her petition, she would not exert her influence +as regent to give them the victory over the Iconoclasts, but would leave +the affairs of the Church in their present status. The patriarch +Methodius finally found his voice to tell her that the Church could use +its office to release the souls of orthodox princes from the pains of +hell, but unfortunately the prayers of the Church were of no avail in +obtaining forgiveness from God for those who died without the pale of +orthodoxy; that the Church was intrusted with the keys of heaven only to +open and shut the gates of salvation to the living, while the dead were +beyond its help. + +Theodora, however, was determined all the more to secure salvation for +her deceased husband. She declared that in his last moments the dying +Theophilus had tenderly grasped and kissed an image she had laid on his +breast. Although the probabilities were that the soul of Theophilus had +already sped ere such an event took place, the wily Methodius saw in the +statement an escape from the dilemma that faced the synod; and upon his +recommendation the assembled clergy consented to absolve the dead +emperor from excommunication and to receive him into the bosom of the +orthodox church, declaring that, as his last moments were spent in the +manner Theodora certified in a written attestation, Theophilus had found +pardon with God. + +Like her more celebrated predecessor Irene, Theodora exhibited a +masterful ability in governing, and, in spite of her persecuting policy +toward the Iconoclasts, she preserved the tranquillity of the Empire and +enhanced its prestige. Like Irene, too, she became so engrossed in +things religious and political that she shamefully neglected the +education of her son. It is a sad commentary on the history of the +Church that in the long series of emperors from Theodosius to Basil only +two were utterly unfit for the high station to which they fell heir, and +these were the sons of the two empresses whose names figure so largely +in the triumph of the image worshippers,--Irene's son, Constantine VI., +and Theodora's son, Michael III. + +Theodora, absorbed in imperial ambition, abandoned the training of her +child to her brother Bardas, of whose profligate life she could not have +been ignorant. Bardas reared the young Michael in the most reckless and +unconscientious manner, permitting him to neglect his serious studies, +and teaching him his own vices of drunkenness and debauchery. Michael +proved to be an apt pupil in profligacy, and before he reached his +majority had become a confirmed dipsomaniac. Meanwhile, his mother, with +the aid of her minister, Theoktistus, arrogated to herself the sole +direction of public business, and viewed with indifference her brother's +corruption of the principles of her son. Perhaps she saw in his ruin the +continuance and perpetuation of her own power; perhaps she feared that +his influence would be cast with the Iconoclasts, as had been his +father's before him, and that only by his wild career could he be +prevented from overturning the cherished plans of her heart. + +In spite of his irregular life, however, Michael manifested a strong +will of his own, and, as the time of the attainment of his majority +approached, he came to an open quarrel with his mother. He had fallen +violently in love with Eudocia, the daughter of Inger, of the powerful +family of Martinakes, and Theodora and her ministers saw in an alliance +with this house the probability of a potent opposition to their own +political influence. Theodora realized that she must in some manner +prevent this marriage, and she exerted her maternal influence so +strongly that she compelled the lad of sixteen to marry another lady +named Eudocia, the daughter of Dekapolitas--thus repeating the +unfortunate policy of Irene on a similar occasion. The young roue, +however, balked in his purpose to make Eudocia Ingerina his wife, +straightway made her his mistress, and thus brought public disgrace on +the court life of the day. His marriage also incensed him against the +regency; and at the first opportunity, he asserted his majority, +sanctioned the murder of the prime minister Theoktistus, and grew weary +of the presence of his mother. + +He succeeded in dismissing his mother and sisters from the palace, and +even attempted to persuade the patriarch to give them the veil. With the +hope of regaining her power over her son, Theodora formed a plot to +assassinate her brother Bardas; but the plot was discovered, and Michael +compelled her to retire to the monastery of Gastria, the usual residence +of the ladies of the imperial family who were secluded from the world. +Yet, the empress-mother never descended to the baseness of Irene, so as +to seek the injury of her ungrateful son. + +Meanwhile, Michael selected as his boon companion the courtier Basil, +who had begun his career as a groom in the stables of some nobleman of +the court. The two gave their time to debauchery and lust; and as a +token of his favor, Michael compelled Basil to marry his discarded +mistress, Eudocia Ingerina. + +In the solitude of the cloister, Theodora deplored the ingratitude, the +vices, and the inevitable ruin of her worthless son, and, repenting of +her earlier folly in neglecting his bringing up, endeavored to make +amends for the mistake of her past life. Finally, after the death of her +brother, Theodora regained some of her maternal influence and was +permitted to reside at the palace of Saint Mamas, where occurred the +last sad tragedy of her career. + +Basil, who in spite of all carousals could always keep his head, +observed how his friend Michael had thrown away the high privileges of +his station and had become an object of contempt in the eyes of all good +men. His overweening ambition to mount the throne overcame every noble +sentiment, and he plotted to assassinate the emperor and to usurp +supreme power. The tragedy occurred in the palace of the empress-mother. +Basil and his wife, Eudocia Ingerina, were invited by her to a feast at +her house, where Michael was present. An orgy ensued; Michael was +carried to his room in a state of intoxication, and Basil and his +conspirators succeeded in despatching him in his drunken sleep. Basil +mounted the throne, and was destined to found the longest dynasty in the +annals of the Empire. Theodora, bowed down with sorrows, and distressed +beyond measure at the cruel destiny of her first-born, died in the first +year of the reign of Basil I. + +Theodora, because of her zeal for image worship, was eulogized as a +saint by the ecclesiastical writers of both the Western and the Eastern +Church, and is honored with a place in the Greek Calendar. Had her +devotion to her children equalled her self-sacrificing loyalty to church +affairs, she might have changed the course of Byzantine history. But, +failing in her maternal duties, her name shared the ignominy as well as +the glory of Irene, and, while not possessing the wickedness of the +latter, she must rank as a queen who in neglecting her son brought +disgrace on the Empire. + +Basil I. was one of those remarkable men who after a career of infamy +are sobered by great responsibilities and perform well the part which it +was destined for them to play. But in his relations with women he had to +endure the natural outcome of his earlier licentiousness. His first +wife, whom he married at the beginning of his career, had lived but a +few years, leaving him a son, Constantine, whom he associated with him +on the throne, but who died after a lapse of ten years. Eudocia +Ingerina, whom Michael had compelled him to marry, had a son, Leo, who +succeeded Basil on the throne, but the emperor was ever haunted with the +suspicion that this lad was the son not of himself but of Michael. The +adventures of this empress and of Michael's sister, Thekla, who also +shared imperial honor, are sad proofs of the corruption of morals of the +age. With her brother's consent, Thekla had become the concubine of +Basil, and after he had assassinated Michael and ascended the throne, +Thekla consoled herself with other lovers. On one occasion it happened +that an attendant employed in the household of Thekla was waiting on the +emperor, when the latter asked the shameless question: "Who is living +with your mistress at present?" The attendant imprudently told the name +of the successful lover; Basil's jealousy was aroused, and he ordered +the paramour of the woman he had put aside to be seized, scourged, and +immured for life in a monastery. It is even said that he ill treated +Thekla and confiscated part of her property. But the Empress Eudocia +Ingerina avenged the unfortunate princess in a manner more pardonable in +the mistress of a besotted debauchee than in the wife of an emperor. +When her amours were discovered, the empress was prudent enough to avoid +scandal by merely compelling her lover to retire privately to a +monastery. + +In pleasing contrast to the story of these licentious princesses, +revealing the absence of any shame in the high life of Constantinople, +is that of the widow Danielis who played the lady bountiful to Basil in +his earlier years, and to whom he delighted to show his gratitude after +he had mounted the throne. + +Once when he was an attache of the courtier Theophilitzes, whom Theodora +had sent on public business into the Peloponnesus, he fell sick at +Patras. A wealthy widow, Danielis by name, who had been struck with the +handsome looks of the gallant attache, had him removed to her house and +carefully nursed him through his illness. When he recovered, she made +Basil a member of her family, by uniting him with her own son John in +those spiritual ties of brotherhood sanctioned by the Greek Church with +peculiar rites; also she bestowed on him considerable wealth so that +from that time on he could play well the part of a courtier, and had the +means to make himself the boon companion, friend, and colleague of the +erratic Michael. + +The lasting friendship between the widow and the emperor constitutes the +most interesting episode in the checkered career of Basil. When he +became emperor, he displayed his gratitude by sending for the son of his +former benefactress and making him protospatharios, or chief of the +guards. He also urged the widow to visit him, and see her adopted son +seated on the throne. The account of her journey to Constantinople, is a +most valuable commentary on the life of Greek women in the ninth +century, and shows how vast was the wealth of the few on Greek soil, and +what an important part a wealthy widow could play in the affairs of +state; the story is as follows: + +"The lady Danielis set off from Patras in a litter or covered couch, +carried on the shoulders of ten slaves; and the train which followed +her, destined to relieve these litter bearers, amounted to three hundred +persons. When she reached Constantinople, she was lodged in the palace +of Magnaura, appropriated for the reception of princely guests. The rich +presents she had prepared for the emperor astonished the inhabitants of +the capital, for no foreign monarch had ever offered gifts of equal +value to a Byzantine sovereign. + +"The slaves that bore the gifts were themselves a part of the present, +and were all distinguished for their youth, beauty, and accomplishments. +Four hundred young men, one hundred eunuchs and one hundred maidens, +formed the living portion of this magnificent offering; while there were +in addition, a hundred pieces of the richest colored drapery, one +hundred pieces of soft woollen cloth, two hundred pieces of linen, and +one hundred of cambric, so fine that each piece could be enclosed in the +joint of a reed. To all this, a service of cups, dishes, and plates of +gold and silver was added. When Danielis reached Constantinople, she +found that the emperor had constructed a magnificent church as an +expiation for the murder of his benefactor, Michael III. She sent orders +to the Peloponnesus to manufacture carpets of unusual size, in order to +cover the whole floor, that they might protect the rich mosaic pavement, +in which a peacock with outspread tail astonished, by the extreme +brilliancy of its coloring, every one who beheld it. Before the widow +quitted Constantinople, she settled a considerable portion of her estate +in Greece on her son, the protospatharios, and on her adopted child, the +emperor, in joint property. + +"After Basil's death, she again visited Constantinople; her own son was +dead, so she constituted the Emperor Leo VI. her sole heir. On quitting +the capital for the last time, she desired that the protospatharios, +Zenobius, might be dispatched to the Peloponnesus, for the purpose of +preparing a register of her extensive estate and immense property. She +died shortly after her return; and even the imperial officers were +amazed at the amount of her wealth; the quantity of gold coin, gold and +silver plate, works of art in bronze, furniture, rich stuffs in linen, +cotton, wool and silk, cattle and slaves, palaces and farms, formed an +inheritance that enriched even an Emperor of Constantinople. The slaves +of which Emperor Leo became the proprietor were so numerous that he +ordered three thousand to be enfranchised and sent to the _theme_ of +Longobardia (as Apulia was then called), where they were put in +possession of land which they cultivated as serfs. After the payment of +many legacies, and a division of part of the landed property, according +to the disposition of the testament, the emperor remained possessor of +eighty farms or villages." + +This narrative furnishes a curious glimpse into the condition of society +in Greece during the latter part of the ninth century, which is the +period when the Greek race began to recover a numerical superiority and +prepare for the consolidation of its political ascendency over the +Slavonian colonists in the Peloponnesus. + +It seems almost incredible that such wealth and power could be +concentrated in the hands of one woman; and only when we consider the +grinding poverty of the masses of the population through the extortions +of the rich and the oppressions of the governing classes can we account +for the resources which permitted the lavish luxuries of the +aristocrats. + +The fourscore years succeeding the death of Basil the Macedonian were +taken up by the two long reigns of Leo VI.--reputed to be the son of +Basil, but in all probability the son of Michael,--and Leo's son, +Constantine Porphyrogenitus. These years were important for literature, +as both son and grandson of the founder of the dynasty were authors of +renown; but in historical interest and especially as regards the story +of Byzantine womanhood they were the most uneventful and monotonous in +the many centuries of the Empire's existence. + +Constantine Porphyrogenitus was the child (by his fourth wife) of Leo's +old age, and was only seven years old when he fell heir to the Empire. +He was brought up under the tutelage of guardians; and so devoted was he +to the composing of books and the painting of pictures, that he was +forty years of age before he assumed entire control of the reins of +government; yet, twenty years of supreme power fell to his lot. + +In his works, we have a beautiful picture of his domestic life. We do +not know much of his wife, Helena, but he was devoted to his son Roman +us, a gay, pleasure-loving prince, and to his daughters, of whom the +youngest, Agatha, was his favorite secretary and the constant companion +of his studies. "Seated by his side, she read to him all the official +reports of the ministers; and when his health began to fail it was +through her intermediation that he consented to transact public +business. That such a proceeding created no alarming abuses and produced +neither serious complaints nor family quarrels is more honorable to the +heart of the princess than is her successful performance of her task to +her good sense and ability." + +The most interesting figure about him, however, was his daughter-in-law +Theophano, who was destined to play a fatal part in the story of the +Basilian house. Theophano was lowly born, and her beauty and grace could +never win the court circle and the public to pardon a low alliance which +disgraced the majesty of the purple. Hence, the vilest scandals were +circulated about her, which must be taken with some degree of allowance. + +According to the chroniclers, she was wildly ambitious and utterly +lacking in natural affection, charming in manner, but cruel in heart. +She and Romanus made a most striking couple as they appeared together in +the court or took part in the public processions. Romanus was +conspicuous for his beauty and strength, tall and erect, fair and florid +in complexion, with aquiline nose and sparkling eyes. Theophano was of +the pure Greek type in features, yet small of stature and of infinite +ease of manner and movement. According to the Byzantine writers, she +craved eagerly for supreme power, and poisoned her father-in-law to +hasten her husband's elevation to the throne. Constantine did not take +enough of the beverage administered by her hand to end his life, but his +constitution was weakened, and after a short period of time he passed +away. Romanus's name was also embraced in the story, he having been +induced, through the wiles of his wife, to enter into a conspiracy +against their father and benefactor. But Constantine's picture of his +own family life is so amiable, that it is as difficult to give credence +to the accusation brought against Romanus and Theophano as it is to +Procopius's tales regarding Theodora Justinian. + +Romanus II. had held the throne but five years when he too sickened and +died, and it was rumored that Theophano had mingled for him the same +deadly draught which she had prepared for her father-in-law. The young +empress was left as regent of her two little sons, Basil, aged seven, +and Constantine, who was only two. She aspired first to reign alone; but +soon realizing the Byzantine dislike for feminine rule, she found a +protector and a guardian for her sons in Nicephorus, the most valiant +soldier of the Empire. He was given the hand of the beautiful +empress-dowager, and was crowned as the colleague of the two young +Caesars. His personal ugliness and deformity rendered it impossible for +Theophano to love him, and the match was one of interest rather than of +affection. But Nicephorus proved himself a most affectionate co-regent, +and paid scrupulous regard to the rights of the young princes. Much of +his time was spent in the field, and many were the victories which he +won for the Byzantine arms. But even his great achievements could not +enchain the heart of the capricious empress. + +Theophano, during the absence of her grim and ugly husband, had become +enamored of his favorite nephew, John Zimisces, who was also a warrior +of note. John listened to the voice of the tempter, not so much for lust +as for ambition, and conspired with the empress against his uncle and +benefactor. The treacherous murder was accomplished one December night +in the year 969, in the imperial apartments of the palace. + +Some of the conspirators had been concealed in the chamber of Theophano. +John Zimisces and his principal companions crossed the Bosporus in a +small boat, landed under the palace walls, and in the darkness of night +silently ascended a ladder of ropes which was cast down by the +handmaidens of the empress. Nicephorus, as was his custom, was sleeping +on a bearskin on the floor of his chamber, when he was awakened by the +noisy entrance of the conspirators. Their daggers were drawn, and, at +the word from John, were plunged into the body of the valiant general, +who exclaimed in his death agony: "Oh, God! grant me thy mercy." Though +by this base deed John came to the throne, he showed deep contrition for +the slaughter of his uncle; and through the connivance of the patriarch +and treachery toward his friends, he avoided marriage with the partner +of his guilt. + +"On the day of his coronation, he was stopped on the threshold of Saint +Sophia by the intrepid patriarch, who charged his conscience with the +deed of treason and blood, and required as a sign of repentance that he +should separate himself from his more criminal associate. This sally of +apostolic zeal was not offensive to the prince, since he could neither +love nor trust a woman who had violated the most sacred obligation; and +Theophano, instead of sharing his imperial throne, was dismissed with +ignominy from his bed and palace." Deprived of her place as regent, and +repudiated by her sons on whom she had brought shame, Theophano passed +the remaining years of her life in a monastery. + +Of the two sons of Theophano, Basil II., after a long reign of over half +a century,--963-1025,--distinguished by his many victories over the +Bulgarians, died childless, and was succeeded by his brother, +Constantine IX., who was destined to be the last male of the Macedonian +house. After his short reign of three years, the story of the remaining +twenty-nine years of the Basilian dynasty gathers itself about the names +of his two elderly daughters, Zoe and Theodora, and the series of +princes who owed their position on the throne solely to them. It is a +period of decadence, and the reader cannot help but pity the two sisters +who were endeavoring to uphold a decaying dynasty in the midst of +corruption and folly. Zoe constitutes the central figure of the period; +but Theodora was vastly her superior, and casts a sort of glamour about +the closing years of the house of Basil the Macedonian. + +Zoe, however, was notable not so much for her ability to govern as for +her extraordinary vanity and love of adulation. Yet, for some reason, +she had reached the age of forty-eight before she found a husband. Upon +his deathbed, Constantine summoned Romanus Argyrus, an aged nobleman, to +the palace and informed him that he had been selected to mount the +throne, but that he must divorce his wife and marry one of the imperial +princesses. Romanus hesitated, not that he cared not for the throne, but +because the conditions were too severe; he loved his wife, and he did +not fancy joining his lot with one of the elderly maidens. But he was +told that he must either obey or lose his eyesight. To relieve the +situation, his wife, with self-sacrificing devotion, took the veil and +entered a monastery. Constantine destined Theodora, the younger and more +capable of his daughters, for the throne as spouse to Romanus, but +through religious compunctions she refused to marry the husband of +another woman, and consequently Zoe was chosen as bride and empress at +the tender age of forty-eight. Romanus was sixty when he ascended the +throne. + +Zoe never forgave her sister Theodora the fact that because of her more +stable character their father had offered his younger daughter the +throne; Romanus had no love for her because she had refused him. +Consequently, spies were set over her movements, and every effort was +made to connect her with the various plots of courtiers who had designs +upon the throne. Finally, accused of being privy to the plans of one of +the most hostile of the courtiers, Theodora was driven from her palace +and imprisoned in the monastery of Petrion; sometime after, Zoe, upon a +visit to the monastery, compelled her sister to assume the monastic +habit. + +Romanus and Zoe were never an affectionate couple. He devoted himself +strictly to affairs of state and looked with indifference upon the many +intrigues of his amorous spouse, who, like Queen Elizabeth, believed +herself to be the mistress of all hearts. But one of these amours, +perhaps, cost him his life. + +The royal consorts had turned the management of the palace largely over +to eunuchs. One of these, John the Paphlagonian, became very powerful, +and, as he was precluded from the imperial title himself, sought to +raise a brother to that high honor. This brother, Michael, had begun +life as a goldsmith and money changer, but his brother appointed him to +a place in the imperial household. Owing to his personal beauty and +graceful and dignified manners, he soon became the favorite chamberlain +to his royal mistress. Unfortunately, however, he was subject to sudden +and violent attacks of epilepsy. This, instead of repelling Zoe, merely +aroused her pity, and she fell in love with her handsome servant and +carried on an amorous intrigue with him. Romanus was duly informed of +his wife's conduct, but remained indifferent to it and probably deemed +the accusation untenable because of the epilepsy of Michael. Zonaras, an +ancient chronicler, tells the story that in the night the emperor +frequently called Michael to rub his feet when he was in bed with Zoe. +And he naively adds: "Who can refrain from supposing that the hands of +the young valet-de-chambre did not find an opportunity of touching also +the feet of the empress?" During the last two years of his life, Romanus +was afflicted with a wasting disease and rumor had it that it was due to +a slow poison administered either by Zoe, or by the eunuch John, who +wished to bring about his brother's elevation. At any rate, in his dying +moments, before the breath had left his body, the empress quitted his +bedside to take measures with John the Paphlagonian for placing her +epileptic paramour on the throne. + +The moment Romanus III. ceased to live, Zoe called an assembly of the +officers of state in the palace and invested Michael IV. with the diadem +and the purple robe. He was straightway proclaimed Emperor of the +Romans, and was formally seated beside Zoe on the vacant throne. The +patriarch Alexius was filled with disgust at this flagrant display of +contempt for decency, but for reasons of state and to avoid greater +scandal, he celebrated the marriage between the empress and her +paramour. "Thus a single night saw the aged Zoe the wife of two +emperors, a widow and a bride, and Michael a menial and a sovereign." + +Michael was twenty-eight when he wedded Zoe at the age of fifty-four and +ascended the throne. In spite of his humble origin, he showed himself a +capable ruler, and succeeded in repelling some of the enemies of the +Empire. But his usefulness was hindered by his epileptic fits and by the +unfriendly attitude of his subjects who regarded his disease as evidence +of the divine wrath because of his ingratitude toward his benefactor, +Romanus. He became a hopeless invalid before the age of thirty-six, and, +when he felt his end approaching, he renounced the world and all the +vanities of imperial station, and retired to the monastery of Saint +Anarghyras where he became a monk. He died on December 10, 1041, after a +reign of seven years and eight months. + +After the death of her second husband, the irrepressible Zoe at first +attempted to carry on the Empire alone, with the assistance of the +eunuchs of her household, but the prevailing aversion to female +sovereignty and her own disinclination to be without companionship of +the male sex led her to a realization of the necessity of giving the +Empire a male sovereign. The alternative which presented itself was +whether she should adopt a son or marry a husband. Having twice +experienced matrimonial bliss, but never having tasted the joys of +filial devotion, for the sake of a new sensation Zoe adopted the former +expedient. + +She selected for the honor another Michael, the nephew of her late +husband, but, as she was aware of his volatile character, she made him +take a solemn oath, before conferring on him the crown, that he would +ever regard her as his benefactress and treat her as his mother. Michael +was ready enough to promise everything, and the diadem was placed on his +head. + +But as soon as he was established in power, Michael V. revealed his +meanness of soul, and showed both insolence and ingratitude toward the +woman through whom he had attained his elevation. He finally carried his +insolence so far that he banished the empress Zoe to Prince's Island and +compelled her to adopt the monastic habit. But this base act was more +than the people could stand. Their fury burst through every restraint. +The mob paraded the streets and proclaimed the reign of Michael at an +end. They threatened to seize him and scatter his bones abroad like +dust. An assembly was held in the church of Saint Sophia, to which the +aged Theodora was brought from the monastery of Petrion, and she was +proclaimed joint empress with her sister Zoe. In the meantime, Michael, +alarmed at the rapid and overwhelming spread of the sedition, had Zoe +brought back to the palace, and endeavored to pacify the people by +persuading her to appear on a balcony overlooking the Hippodrome. But it +was impossible for him to stem the current of the popular fury. The +palace was stormed, and three thousand people were killed in the +conflict which followed. Michael saved his life by escaping to the +monastery of Studion; his eyes were finally put out, and he passed the +rest of his days in the garb of a monk. + +Zoe immediately entered upon the duties and responsibilities of power, +of which for a time she had been deprived, and she endeavored to force +her sister back into religious retirement; but the Senate and people +insisted upon the joint reign of the two sisters. But this singular +union lasted less than two months. In temperament and in interests the +two sisters were antipodal. Different factions were their support, the +clerical party favoring the devout Theodora, and the worldlings the +volatile Zoe. For a time, the twain appeared always side by side at the +meetings of the Senate and at the courts of justice. Unlike Zoe, +Theodora showed great aptitude for public business, and took pleasure in +performing her administrative duties. + +Zoe's plots against her sister being frustrated, and recognizing that +Theodora was rapidly gaining the ascendency, she bethought herself of +taking a third husband, to whom she might resign the throne and thus +deprive her sister of the influence she was rapidly acquiring. + +Hence, at the advanced age of sixty-two, Zoe began to cast about for a +third husband, in spite of the canons of the Church, which forbade a +third marriage. Her thoughts first turned to a powerful nobleman, +Constantine Dalasennus, whom her father had once chosen for her in her +earlier years, and about whom her recollections cast a halo of romance. +But in place of the gallant hero of her imagination she found she had +summoned to the palace for an interview a stern old gentleman, who +strongly expressed his disapprobation of the existing imperial system; +who censured in unmeasured terms the vices of the court, and who took no +pains to conceal his contempt for her own questionable conduct. Such a +spouse would have been a most excellent antidote for the prevailing +corruption of the Empire, but Zoe had no desire to submit to the control +of so severe a master, and she quickly made up her mind to look +elsewhere. + +A former lover, Constantine Artoclinas, then became the object of her +matrimonial designs. But he already had a wife, who was not of the +self-sacrificing disposition of the wife of Romanus. As soon as she +heard of the honor to which Zoe destined her husband, Constantine +Artoclinas fell ill and did not long survive. It was the general opinion +that his wife had poisoned him, either through jealousy of Zoe, or +because she felt an aversion to passing the rest of her days in a +convent. Zoe, however, was readily consoled. + +She again selected an old admirer, Constantine Monomachus, whom Michael +IV. had banished to Mitylene because of his attentions to the empress, +but who had been recalled on the accession of Zoe and Theodora and +appointed to a high official position in Greece. An imperial galley was +despatched with a royal courier to notify him of the new dignity that +awaited him, and to bring him back to Constantinople. Upon his arrival +he was invested with the imperial robes. His marriage with Zoe was +performed by one of the clergy, for the patriarch Alexius declined to +officiate at the third marriage of the empress, which in this case was +doubly uncanonical, as both Zoe and Constantine had been twice married. + +The choice made by Zoe is a sad commentary on the immorality of the age. +The life and character of Constantine X. show the utter lack of moral +principle which prevailed in the court circles. After he had buried two +wives, Constantine Monomachus had won the affections of a beautiful and +wealthy young widow called Sclerena, who openly became his mistress and +accompanied him in his exile to Mitylene. Yet, in the eyes of the +orthodox, her position as mistress was more respectable, as being less +uncanonical than if she had become his third wife. As Sclerena had stood +by him in the days of his adversity, Constantine insisted upon her +sharing with him his prosperity, and when he assumed the purple he +bargained with Zoe that he should retain his mistress, a condition to +which Zoe in her shamelessness agreed. Hence, "the people of +Constantinople were treated to the singular spectacle of an Emperor of +the Romans making his public appearance with two female companions +dignified with the title of Empress, one as his wife, the other as his +mistress." + +Sclerena was officially saluted with the title of Augusta, and possessed +a rank equal to that of Theodora, whose relative importance had been +reduced by the advent of the Emperor Constantine X. She held a court of +her own and was installed in apartments of the imperial palace. + +Owing to her beauty and her elegant manners she gathered about her a +brilliant court circle, which in its sumptuousness and ostentation +contrasted greatly with the dull ceremony and sombre atmosphere of the +apartments of the elderly sisters, Zoe and Theodora. Sclerena's +disposition, too, was amiable and winning, and she was admired for the +constancy with which she had clung to her lover in the days of his +misfortune. Constantine, in return for her self-sacrificing devotion +when he was an impoverished exile, sought to repay her by the most +lavish expenditure of the public funds. Her apartments were made the +most elegant and luxurious in the city, and her toilettes were the envy +of all the aristocratic ladies of Constantinople. + +Though Constantine showed in every way his partiality for his mistress, +it did not disturb the domestic tranquillity of the imperial household. +Zoe and Sclerena lived on the best of terms, and the utter absence of +jealousy in the aged wife is less remarkable than her utter +shamelessness. + +The moral feelings of the people, however, were not so completely +corrupted as those of their superiors. They resented the lavish +expenditures of the public moneys upon the concubine of the emperor, and +they also resented the insult thus put upon their empress. They felt +that the lives of the aged sisters, the only survivors of the Macedonian +house, could not be safe in a palace where vice reigned supreme, and +where secret murders had so often occurred. + +The incensed populace raised a sedition on the feast of the Forty +Martyrs, when it became the duty of the emperor to walk in solemn +procession to the church of Our Saviour in Chalke, whence he proceeded +on horseback to the church of the Martyrs. As the procession was about +to move from the palace, a cry was raised: "Down with Sclerena; we will +not have her for empress! Zoe and Theodora are our mothers--we will not +allow them to be murdered!" The mob then sought to lay hands on the +emperor to tear him in pieces, but the tumult was quieted by the sudden +appearance of Zoe and Theodora on the balcony and the people were +dispersed without serious damage being done. + +The Empress Zoe died in 1050, at the age of seventy. Constantine X. +survived to the year 1055. He, before the end came, was anxious to name +his successor, but as soon as Theodora heard of the attempt of her +brother-in-law to deprive her of the throne, she hastened to the palace, +where the Senate was quickly convened, and presented herself as the +lawful empress. With universal acclamation, Theodora was proclaimed sole +sovereign of the Empire. + +Though seventy-five years of age when she became sole ruler of the +destinies of the Eastern Empire, Theodora exhibited great vigor of +character and her short reign was a fortunate period for the Byzantines, +owing to her attention to public business and the freedom from external +conflicts. To preserve power in her own hands, Theodora presided in +person at the meetings of the Cabinet and the Senate, and heard appeals +as supreme judge in civil cases. Her long monastic life had developed in +her the narrow views and acrimonious passions of a recluse, but an +ascetic spirit was a relief after the sensual performances of the court +of Constantinople. Even at the advanced age of seventy-six, Theodora +felt so robust that she looked forward to a long life. The monks +flattered her with prophecies that she was to reign for many years. But +in the midst of her plans, she was suddenly attacked by an intestinal +disorder that speedily brought her to the grave. Theodora was the last +scion of a family which had upheld with glory the institutions of the +Empire for nearly two centuries, and had secured to its subjects a +degree of internal tranquillity and commercial prosperity far greater +than that enjoyed during the same period by any other portion of the +human race. "And with her, expired the race of Basil, the Slavonian +groom, and the administrative glory of the Byzantine Empire, on the 30th +of August, 1057." + + [Illustration 6: _BYZANTINE INTERIOR, NINTH CENTURY From a + water-color by S. Baron, after a restoration by P. Benard. + + In this period military exigencies did not permit of numerous + apartments. We find the great room, the place of reunion, a + sumptuously decorated apartment, in which also the meals were + served and the bed was placed. The floor was of bricks, and the + apartment was warmed by hot air supplied from a_ hypocaustum, + _placed below the floor, and admitted through a painted iron + grating. The wall decorations presented an infinite variety of + beautifully executed mouldings and scroll designs of flowers and + foliage, common to the Byzantine manner. The furniture of the + room was sober in style. The bed was shaped and ornamented + somewhat like a modern sofa. A curtain on sliding rings served + to screen from draughts, as well as to separate beds. In this + room the lady received her guests._] + +What a contrast is offered between the empresses of these later +centuries and the great names of the earlier period, Eudoxia and +Pulcheria and Eudocia and the great Theodora! We have fallen on evil +times; and in the general corruption, woman has degenerated. During the +remaining centuries which it falls to our lot to consider, we shall find +that the chronicles of women continue to exhibit the downward march of +womanhood, until with the utter debasement of woman, the fabric of +society gives way, and all is darkness in the history of the sex. + +We have had a glimpse of the luxury with which the Empress Eudoxia +surrounded herself in her palace on the Bosporus, and our curiosity and +interest may be satisfied concerning the domestic surroundings of a +woman of rank during the period of the Byzantine decadence. The only +truly original Christian art, down to the eleventh century, was the +Byzantine; it dominated both Christian and pagan artists. In the period +to which we refer, military exigencies did not permit of numerous +apartments. We find the great room, the place of reunion, a sumptuously +decorated apartment, in which also the meals were served and the bed was +placed. + +This chief room showed little constructive quality, but it was superbly +decorated. The square, heavy door was usually contrived below a +relieving arch, whose archivolt was richly charged with sculptured and +painted ornaments; the twin windows were supported by a pied-droit or on +small columns. The flat walls rarely had a real projecting entablature; +the ends of joists were simulated by cornices resting on consoles or +modillions; the architrave and the frieze were only a painted effect. +The floor was of bricks. Chimneys were not yet used, and the apartment +was warmed by hot air supplied from a hypocaustum, placed within the +walls or below the floor, and admitted through a painted iron grating. + +The wall decorations presented an infinite variety of beautifully +executed mouldings and scroll designs of flowers and foliage, common to +the Byzantine style. A prominent feature of the mural decoration was the +numerous figures, in stiff attitudes, draped with garments falling in +meagre folds, and decked with abundant fringes and precious stones, +after the Oriental fashion; close to these figures were placed groups of +Greek letters. + +The furniture of the room was sober in style. The bed was shaped and +ornamented somewhat like a modern sofa. The occupant reclined rather +than lay on it, for the cushions were heaped up increasingly toward the +head of the bed. It was customary to sleep without garments, the only +covering being an ample sheet. A curtain on sliding rings was +indispensable; it served to screen from draughts, as well as to separate +beds; moreover, it supplemented the scanty furniture of the room. + +Over the bed was a lighted lamp. This was invariably used, for darkness +was dreaded, and it was believed that the light kept off evil spirits +and prevented baleful apparitions. In this room the great lady of our +period received her guests; here intrigues were plotted; here she +partook of her repasts, waited upon by her many serving-maids; here she +passed, indeed, most of her life. + + + + +XIV + +THE PRINCESSES OF THE COMNENI + + +With the end of the Macedonian house in 1057, all the elements of +discord in the Byzantine Empire seemed to have been loosed. Civil war +and foreign invasions rapidly succeeded one another, and the empire +hastened to its doom. But the downward progress was for a time checked +by the rise of the Comneni, a prominent family, who controlled the +destinies and exerted a paramount influence over the career of the +Byzantine government for over a century, in fact, until its overthrow by +the Latin Crusaders in 1204. In the chronicles of the Comneni, its +princesses played a notable though not always creditable role; and the +undercurrent of Byzantine history for a century and a half was +determined largely by woman's influence and woman's artifice. + +Of the great families whose names appear on every page of the Byzantine +history of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, that of the Comneni is by +far the most illustrious. The hypothesis that the Comneni were an +ancient Roman house which followed Constantine from Old Rome to New Rome +must be given up: so important an item in the family glories of the +house would not have been passed over in silence by Anna Comnena and her +husband in their historical works. We must accept the testimony of a +contemporary, Psellus, that the family was of Greek or Thracian origin, +and derived its name from the ancestral seat, the village of Comne in +the valley of the Torniga, near the site of the city of Adrianople. + +The first of the line prominent in Byzantine annals was the illustrious +Manuel Comnenus, who, under Basil II., aided in settling the troubled +condition of the East and in reestablishing the Empire on a firm +footing. As a result of his labors for the state, Manuel acquired vast +estates in Cappadocia, and, from this time, his family ranked as one of +the wealthiest and most aristocratic houses of the Byzantine nobility. + +Manuel, upon his deathbed, left his two sons, Isaac and John, to the +care and the gratitude of his sovereign. The two lads were carefully +educated in all the learning and trained in all the manly +accomplishments of the day; and their brotherly love became the subject +of comment in an age when self-seeking was the most salient +characteristic of the aristocratic class. When they attained manhood, +both made brilliant marriages which greatly increased the lustre of +their family name: Isaac married a captive princess of Bulgaria, and +John wedded Anna Dalassena, the daughter of the patrician Dalassenus, +nicknamed Charon from the number of enemies he had sent to the infernal +regions. Isaac was fated to die childless and his wife is unknown to +fame, but Anna, the wife of John, was destined to be the most remarkable +woman of her house. + +The Empress Theodora, in her last days, had nominated Michael +VI.,--Stratioticus,--an aged and decrepit veteran, as her successor; but +his elevation was resented by the soldiers, who plotted and successfully +carried through a conspiracy by which Michael was dispossessed and Isaac +Comnenus, at that time the most popular general of the East, was +elevated to the throne. But the usurpation was not attended with the +blessings of heaven: Isaac was stricken with disease before he had +reigned a full year, and retired to a monastery to die, abdicating the +throne and selecting his brother John as his successor. For some +unaccountable reason, and much to the chagrin of his wife Anna, whose +ambitions were distinctly imperial, John declined the honor, and +persisted in his refusal in spite of the entreaties of his wife and +relatives, and with a seeming blindness to the welfare of the state. +Possibly he felt that a curse rested upon a dynasty which had usurped +the throne. Constantine Ducas, another Cappadocian patrician, was then +selected; during his reign of seven troubled years he proved himself to +be a sorry administrator. His empress, Eudocia Makremvolitissa, and Anna +Dalassena are the two dominating personalities who determined the tenor +of court intrigue and largely influenced the course of the events of +this period. Anna most intensely hated Ducas and all his house, for they +were occupying a throne which she thought should have been retained in +her own family; and her relations with the empress were those of rivalry +or of friendship, in proportion as Eudocia was acting in sympathy with +or in opposition to her husband's family. + +Constantine XI.--Ducas--was as intensely partisan as Anna; and when he +found his end approaching, he wished above all things to assure the +elevation of his three children, Michael, Andronicus, and Constantine. +Constantine was well aware of the dangers which his dynasty would incur +should the empress marry a second time; before conferring upon her the +regency of the Empire, he therefore exacted from her a most solemnly +attested promise that under no circumstances would she take a second +husband. This important document was deposited in the hands of the +patriarch, John Xiphilinus. Constantine made the Senate, also, take an +oath never to acknowledge any other emperor than one of his own +children. Feeling that he had bound his wife by irretrievable bonds, and +that every precaution had been taken to assure the implicit fulfilment +of his wishes, Constantine breathed his last with a contented mind. + +But Eudocia soon discovered the need of a strong arm for the protection +of her own rights and those of her sons. A woman of executive gifts, she +was also devoted to literary pursuits, and her knowledge of history had +taught her with how much reluctance the Byzantines submitted to the +sovereignty of a woman. She recalled, too, the experience of the Empress +Theophano, who had found prudent guardians for her sons, Basil II. and +Constantine IX., in the persons of the soldiers Nicephorus II. and John +I., though she was appalled by the vices of this empress, who had +married and murdered the first and been scorned by the second guardian. +Furthermore, threatening invasions and domestic unrest proved the need +of a soldier as her colleague in the Empire. Love came to the assistance +of reason, and Eudocia determined to break her vows and to take a second +husband. + +Romanus Diogenes, the most daring and popular general of the Empire, had +been convicted of treason for participation in a conspiracy against her +children's throne, and was then in prison awaiting sentence of death +from Eudocia as regent. The latter, however, became enamored of her +distinguished captive, and his beauty and valor convinced her that he +was destined to share with her the throne. The army was clamoring for +his release; and when he received a full pardon from the empress-regent, +it at first created no suspicion of her romantic designs. The Seljukian +Turks were at that time overrunning Cappadocia and it was necessary that +the army should be under the control of an able and a daring general. +Romanus was therefore raised from the scaffold to the headship of the +army. + +Before the empress could take any further step toward carrying out her +matrimonial intentions, it was necessary to secure possession of the +document which evidenced her pledge to her husband that she never would +contract a second marriage. Feminine diplomacy enabled her to accomplish +this delicate task; and the lack of principle and high moral character +in the patriarch caused him to fall readily into the net laid for him by +Eudocia. + +Xiphilinus at first urged upon her emissary the sanctity of the oath the +empress had taken, and the sacred nature of the trust he had assumed; +but when it was whispered in his presence that his own brother was +destined for the high honor, the patriarch's scruples were relaxed, and +he yielded--out of proper regard, as he alleged, for the welfare of the +state. He resigned the important paper into the empress's hand, and at +her solicitation proposed and carried through a measure in the Senate, +favoring her second marriage, and in addition released the senators from +their vow never to recognize as emperor any other than a son of +Constantine. Great was the confusion of the credulous patriarch when he +realized that he had been outwitted by the clever woman, who, when her +plans were fully matured, made an official proclamation that she had +selected Romanus IV.,--Diogenes,--the most brilliant general of the +Empire, to share with her the throne and to act as guardian to her sons. + +Her choice was the occasion of much satisfaction to the army and the +people, but caused jealousy and dissension in the imperial household. +John Ducas, the late emperor's brother, held the rank of Caesar and was +the natural guardian of his nephews; he at once began to conspire for +the overthrow of Romanus and the retirement of Eudocia. + +The new emperor at once assumed his duties of warding off the enemies of +the Empire, and engaged in a deadly conflict with the Seljukian Turks. +Though at first successful, his army was finally routed and almost +annihilated, and Romanus himself was taken captive, on the fatal field +of Manzikert, 1071,--a decisive battle that marked the beginning of the +end of Byzantine history and presaged the final conquest of +Constantinople by the Turks. Romanus's capture produced a revolution at +court. John Ducas seized the reins of government, ostensibly in the +interests of Michael VII., son of Constantine; and when Romanus, having +been released by his gallant foe, returned to Constantinople, Ducas had +him seized and blinded and left to die through neglect. Eudocia was +forced to retire to a monastery and take the veil; there she devoted +herself to literary labors. She is reputed to be the author of a learned +work, still extant, entitled Ionia, a species of historical and +mythological dictionary. The last public appearance of the hapless +Eudocia was on the occasion of the funeral of the valiant Romanus, which +she was permitted to celebrate in an imposing manner. + +A period of anarchy followed the cruel death of Romanus, and there were +at one time no less than six pretenders to the throne. Throughout this +trying period John Ducas maintained his power as regent, relinquishing +his regency only when his ward, Michael VII., became of age and asserted +his rights. Michael was fortunate in the choice of his empress, Princess +Maria, daughter of the King of Iberia, whose beauty and grace are +celebrated by the historian Anna Comnena. When her husband was +overthrown and slain by the rebel Nicephorus Botaniates, Maria married +the latter, with the hope of securing the throne for her child and the +regency for herself. And from this time on her story is closely +interwoven with that of the Comneni princesses, to whom we now return. + +John Comnenus died soon after Constantine Ducas, leaving to the widowed +Anna the task of bringing up a large family of eight children,--Manuel, +Isaac, Alexius, Adrian, Nicephorus, Maria, Eudocia, and Theodora. But +Anna was equal to the task, and deserves to be ranked among the great +mothers of the world. She gave herself up to the proper education of her +sons and daughters, and to the promotion of their political advancement. +She could never console herself for the loss of an imperial crown +through the weakness of her husband, and all her tireless energy was +directed toward recovering her lost opportunity and reaching the throne +through the elevation of one of her sons. What is recounted of her shows +that she was a woman of extraordinary intelligence, inexhaustible +energy, remarkable political astuteness, and inordinate ambition. + +After performing political services of great merit, Manuel, the eldest, +died at an early age. The mother sought to make her sons Isaac and +Alexius men who could show themselves capable of performing every task +imposed upon them in the high station they were destined to acquire; and +the proof of the influence she exerted in the formation of their +characters is seen not only in their high attainments, but also in the +ascendency she retained over Alexius when he had reached the throne. + +Owing to her undying hatred of the house of Ducas, Anna attached herself +to the party of the Empress Eudocia and Romanus, and, being then in high +favor at court, she married her daughter Theodora to Romanus's son +Constantine. The revolution made by John Ducas to the advantage of +himself and his ward, Michael VII., upset all the well-laid plans of +Anna Dalassena; and the fall of Romanus marked for a time the end of the +favor of the Comneni. Anna showed her firmness of character by remaining +faithful to the cause of the dethroned emperor. Her correspondence with +him was detected, and she was exiled, with her children, to one of the +Prince's Isles. Her exile did not last long, however, for she was +recalled and restored to favor; and Michael VII. brought about the +marriage of Isaac, the eldest son since the death of Manuel, to Irene, +daughter of an Alanian prince, and cousin-german to the Empress Maria. + +Meanwhile, another matrimonial scheme was being matured, which was not +at all in accordance with the wishes of Anna and the empress. John +Ducas, from the monastery to which he had retired, projected the +marriage of his grand-daughter Irene, with Alexius Comnenus, who was +rapidly growing in promise and influence, and was already giving +evidence of his political astuteness and diplomacy. Alexius gladly +welcomed an alliance which would unite the two most powerful families of +Constantinople in his interest, but his patrician mother opposed any +affiliation with the rival house, and hated the very name of Ducas. The +Empress Maria also had plans for Alexius, with which she feared this +alliance would interfere, and at first threatened open opposition. But +Alexius won his point with his usual cleverness. Anna finally yielded to +his persuasion, and the empress gave her reluctant consent. The result +of the union was that Alexius at once became the most powerful of the +younger nobles at the court. + +The next step in his career was also determined by the profound wisdom +or wily caprice of a woman. To the surprise of her friends and +consternation of her enemies, the Empress Maria adopted Alexius as her +son. Anna Dalassena in all probability had a hand in this move for the +elevation of her house, but it is difficult to see what was the motive +of the empress, who had a young son, Constantine, whom she wished to +succeed to the purple. Perhaps she felt the need of a strong hand to +support the claims of herself and her son against her second husband, +the usurper Nicephorus Botaniates. Perhaps she was captivated by the +manly vigor and personal charms of the young man, and wished to play +with Alexius the role of Theophano with Zimisces. It is impossible to +state her motive, but the step was the first move toward the final +overthrow of her house and the succession of the Comneni. + +Alexius had now all the reins of power in his hands, and a revolution +against Botaniates ensued. The usurper was overthrown and Alexius was +proclaimed emperor by the army. At first Constantine, the son of the +Empress Maria and Michael VII., was associated with him on the throne, +though still in his minority. Anna Dalassena and Maria, dreading the +ascendency of Irene Ducas, wife of Alexius, plotted to prevent her +coronation as empress, but the patriarch, who was a partisan of the +house of Ducas, defeated their intrigues; a few days after Alexius +assumed the purple, Irene, with imposing ceremonies, was crowned +empress. + +Alexius well knew how to gain over to his support and utilize for his +schemes the intriguing women who were about him. He had a profound +respect for the political sagacity of his mother and during the earlier +years of his reign her word exerted a deep influence on the course of +government. When he was called away from Constantinople by the wars that +demanded his personal attention, he left his mother as regent during his +absence. + +The first offspring of the union of Alexius and Irene was a daughter, +Anna Comnena. She was in her infancy affianced to Constantine, and the +two were regarded as heirs to the throne, much to the delight of the +ex-Empress Maria. In the ceremonies of the court, the names of +Constantine and Anna immediately followed those of Alexius and Irene. + +Finally, in 1088, the empress bore a son, the third of her children. The +joy of Alexius was unbounded. Seeing the possibility of his son carrying +on the dynasty and perpetuating the name of Comnenus, Alexius determined +to set aside the claims of Constantine and his eldest daughter. An +estrangement with Maria Ducas followed. In 1092, John in his fourth year +was proclaimed emperor, and Constantine was deprived of his rights. The +rupture between Alexius and Maria was a source of enmity to the reigning +house. Chagrined at the failure of her plans, and at the usurpation of +one to whom she had shown every kindness, the ex-empress took part in a +conspiracy against Alexius. But the plot was exposed in time, and all +who were engaged in it were severely punished, except the ex-empress, +who was permitted by her adopted son to go into peaceful retirement. + +Constantine, though no longer associated on the throne, was still +affianced to Anna, but an early death removed him from the scene of +action and the intrigues of the court. In 1097, Anna was married to +Nicephorus Bryennius, scion of a noble house. The mother, Anna +Dalassena, continued for some time to be a powerful factor at court, +but, becoming unpopular and realizing that she was losing her hold on +her imperial son, she finally followed the usual custom of retiring to a +monastery. + +Thus the ex-Empress Maria and Anna--the real founder of the fortune of +her house--found in religious retirement and meditation a life of peace +and tranquillity after the turmoils of revolutions and the intrigues of +imperial politics. The one had seen the failure of her plans and the +downfall of her house; the other could look with pride upon the full +fruition of her plots for the elevation of the Comneni. + +The reign of Alexius I.,--Comnenus,--occupies a considerable place not +only in Byzantine, but, also, in general history. It inaugurated a new +era in the relations between the East and the West, between the Greek +and the Latin, both in affairs of Church and state, and the events of +which the tragic expedition of 1204 was the climax had their beginning +in the days when the courtiers of Alexius revelled with the companions +of Godfrey of Bouillon. Equally important is this reign from the point +of view of the Byzantine Empire; it put an end to the anarchy of the +eleventh century, it established a dynasty which restored much of the +territory that weak rulers had lost, and for over a century it preserved +the tottering Empire from its inevitable fall. It was a period in which +woman's influence was marked, and its record is well known to us because +of the literary skill of Anna Comnena. This imperial princess is the +first woman in the world's annals to write an extended history. Both in +learning and in personality she has won a place among the notable women +of the world, and hers is the last great name in the chronicles of +Byzantine womanhood. + +In the comprehensive education which Anna received, we have a view of +the literary prominence of the Comnenic epoch. She had the best masters +the Empire afforded, and in her childhood she exhibited a phenomenal +capacity for learning. Her teachers gave her thorough training in the +works of classical authors. She read Homer, Herodotus, Thucydides, +Aristophanes, the Tragedians and Polybius under suitable guidance, and +without assistance mastered the writings of the church fathers. She +studied with avidity ancient mythology, geography, history, rhetoric, +and dialectic, and was also versed in Platonic and Aristotelian +philosophy. It was in history, however, that she found her chief +delight, and she early conceived the idea of composing a work in honor +of her father's reign. + +We have already mentioned the incidents of her childhood. Anna never +forgave her brother John for supplanting her, and this disappointment of +her tender years largely influenced the course of her later life. She +was devoted to Maria, the mother of her first betrothed, and no doubt +imbibed from her much of the ambition and hatred which were the marked +characteristics of her career in politics. Her empress-mother, Irene, +also exhibited a marked partiality for her eldest daughter, to the +disparagement of her son, whom Alexius had destined for the throne. +Irene was a beautiful and intriguing princess of much natural ability, +and stood in awe of the greater learning of her daughter. The two became +companions in intrigue and diplomacy, and worked together for the +promotion of their own interests, against the schemes of Alexius and +John. Anna was married at a tender age to Nicephorus Bryennius. He was +the representative of one of the most aristocratic and powerful families +of Constantinople, and exhibited much ability both in authorship and +statecraft, but he seems mediocre and colorless by the side of his +spouse. + +Walter Scott laid the scene of his Count Robert of Paris in the +Constantinople of this period, and he presents an interesting picture of +Anna as a devotee of the Muses, and of the principal heroes and heroines +who figure in the intrigues of the court at this time: + +"It was an apartment of the palace of the Blaquemal, dedicated to the +especial service of the beloved daughter of the Emperor Alexius, the +Princess Anna Comnena, known to our times by her literary talents, which +record the history of her father's reign. She was seated, the queen and +sovereign of a literary circle, such as the imperial princess, +Porphyrogenita (or born in the sacred purple chamber itself), could +assemble in those days, and a glance round will enable us to form an +idea of her guests or companions. + +"The literary princess herself had the bright eyes, straight features +and comely and pleasing manners which all would have allowed to the +emperor's daughter, even if she could not have been, with severe truth, +said to have possessed them. She was placed upon a small bench, or sofa, +the fair sex here not being permitted to recline, as was the fashion of +the Roman ladies. A table before her was loaded with books, plants, +herbs, and drawings. She sat on a slight elevation, and those who +enjoyed the intimacy of the princess, or to whom she wished to speak in +particular, were allowed during such sublime colloquy to rest their +knees on the little dais or elevated place where her chair found its +station, in a posture half standing, half kneeling. Three other seats, +of different heights, were placed on the dais, and under the same canopy +of state which overshadowed that of Princess Anna. + +"The first, which strictly resembled her own chair in size and +convenience, was one designed for her husband, Nicephorus Bryennius. He +was said to entertain or affect the greatest respect for his wife's +erudition, though the courtiers were of the opinion that he would have +liked to absent himself from her evening parties more frequently than +was particularly agreeable to the Princess Anna and her imperial +parents. This was partly explained by the private tattle of the court, +which averred that the Princess Anna Comnena had been more beautiful +when she was less learned; and that, though still a fine woman, she had +somewhat lost the charms of her person as she became enriched in her +mind. + +"To atone for the lowly fashion of the seat of Nicephorus Bryennius, it +was placed as near to his princess as it could possibly be edged by the +ushers, so that she might not lose one look of her handsome spouse, nor +he the least particle of wisdom which might drop from the lips of his +erudite consort. + +"Two other seats of honor or, rather, thrones--for they had footstools +placed for the support of the feet, rests for the arms, and embroidered +pillows for the comfort of the back, not to mention the glories of the +outspreading canopy--were destined for the imperial couple, who +frequently attended their daughter's studies, which she prosecuted in +public in the way we have intimated. On such occasions, the Empress +Irene enjoyed the triumph peculiar to the mother of an accomplished +daughter, while Alexius, as it might happen, sometimes listened with +complacence to the rehearsal of his own exploits in the inflated +language of the princess, and sometimes mildly nodded over her dialogues +upon the mysteries of philosophy, with the Patriarch Zosimus, and other +sages." + +Scott's description gives a graphic presentation of the Princess Anna +and of her relations with the various members of her family; and if we +add the heir to the throne, her younger brother John, for whom she had +profound contempt in spite of his many virtues, we have the group about +whom revolve the narrative of her history and the chief events of her +life. + +It is not necessary for us to enter into the story of the First Crusade, +and of the incidents of the intercourse of Franks and Greeks, which Anna +tells so graphically in her history; but before calling attention to the +literary qualities and historical value of her work, we must note those +events which unfolded her character and, in her later years, brought +about her exclusive devotion to literature. + +Owing to his duplicity and lack of confidence in men, Alexius made his +wife and his learned daughter his confidantes and his advisers in many +of the affairs of State, and frequently utilized their services in +gaining his ends. Both the imperial ladies were apt pupils in the school +of political intrigue, and, in the last years of the emperor, endeavored +to utilize their influence over him to the detriment of the +heir-apparent and the elevation of Anna and her husband, the Caesar +Nicephorus. They accordingly formed a plot, during Alexius's last +illness, to dispossess the eldest son John, that the three might share +the government among them. + +The empress introduced soldiers into the palace, and in the closing +hours of the emperor's life sought to prevail on him to pronounce the +words which would bring about the change in the succession. But the +astute emperor realized his son's eminent fitness to wear the crown, and +was not in sympathy with the ambitions of his learned but unscrupulous +daughter. To all the entreaties of the empress he but cast his eyes +heavenward and remarked on the vanities of human greatness. Despairing +and enraged, the empress at last hastily left the room with a parting +thrust at her imperial consort, which might fitly have been inscribed as +an epitaph on his tomb: "You die as you lived--a hypocrite!" Meanwhile, +during her absence, John entered the room, and, with the tacit consent +of his dying father, removed from his finger the signet which gave him +command of all the forces of the palace; and crushing, in their +inception, the plots of the empress and her daughter, he was solemnly +crowned the moment his father breathed his last. + +John proved to be the most amiable character that ever occupied the +Byzantine throne. But all his virtues did not suffice to quell the +malice and disappointed ambition of his imperial sister. In spite of the +failure of the first conspiracy, the Princess Anna, "whose philosophy +would not have refused the weight of a diadem," entered into another +plot to dispossess her brother--already secure in the confidence of +courtiers and subjects--and to elevate her husband, whom she felt sure +of ruling. As John was already on the throne, however, the only way by +which he could be disposed of was to have his eyes put out or to resort +to the still worse crime of secret assassination. When her mild and +gentle husband recoiled at the thought of such cruelty, Anna made to him +the memorable response that Nature had mistaken the two sexes and had +endowed him with the soul of a woman, contemptuously contrasting what +she termed his feminine weakness with her own manly inhumanity. + +This conspiracy, however, was also revealed before it had made any +serious headway, and John deemed it necessary to confiscate his sister's +wealth in order to make further intrigues impossible. He caused the +Princess Anna to retire to a convent and bestowed her luxuriously +furnished palace on his favorite minister, Axouchus. But the noble +nature of Axouchus recoiled at being benefited by the princess's fall, +and thought more of turning the situation to the emperor's advantage +than of enriching himself. Accordingly, he suggested to the emperor that +it would be better policy to ward off the malice of his enemies by +restoring the palace to Anna, and seeming to ignore her futile plots. +John felt the prudence of the advice, and impressed by the unselfish +devotion of his friend,--a quality most rare in late Byzantine +times,--replied in like spirit: "I should, indeed, be unworthy to reign +if I could not forget my anger as readily as you forget your interest." +Anna was reinstated in her palace. + +But little is known of the rest of Anna Comnena's life. Tiring finally +of the vanities of court life, disappointed in all her intrigues for +absolute power, and becoming ever more absorbed in her literary +undertakings, she seems to have voluntarily sought the life of the +cloister and to have spent the last decades of her career in peaceful +retirement, engaged on her monumental work. She survived her brother +John, who died in 1143, and was still at work on her history in 1145. +The date of her death is unknown. + +The great work of Anna Comnena is entitled the _Alexiad_, and is one of +the most important works in the voluminous collection of the Byzantine +historians. In fifteen books, it narrates the history of Alexius +Comnenus; and is a completion and continuation of a work in four books, +left by her husband, Nicephorus Bryennius. The first two books of Anna's +work treat of the rise into power of the Comneni house, and of the early +life of Alexius; the remaining thirteen are devoted to the events of his +reign. + +The work of Anna, as a contribution to historical literature, has very +decided deficiencies. In spite of her professed love of truth, her +filial vanity tempts her at all times to put her father and her family +in the best light. The very title, _Alexiad_ suggests rather an +_epos_--a poem in prose--than a serious historical work, and emphasizes +its epideictic tendency. As a woman, she is impressed with the concrete +rather than the abstract, and describes brilliant state functions, +church festivals, imposing audiences and the like with much more +familiarity and enthusiasm than she displays in her treatment of the +underlying causes and inner connections of events. But with all their +faults, these memoirs are an authoritative account of a brilliant and +important epoch, and of a ruler who for his military sagacity and +political shrewdness ranks among the great personages of the Middle +Ages. + +The human traits of the author reveal themselves in every chapter of her +work. Anna possessed a womanly weakness for gossip and slander, and +mingles her praise of the other prominent women of her time with a +tincture of disparagement that must often be attributed to feminine +jealousy. She possessed considerable wit and irony, but was intensely +vain of her rank, her Greek origin and especially of her literary +attainments. Nor must we fail to note the vaulting ambition of this +otherwise attractive woman, an ambition which made her untrue to her +brother and a conspirator against his throne and his life. + +Anna Comnena realized that the chief censure of her work at the hands of +contemporaries and of posterity would be the charge of partiality, and +against this she seeks to defend herself in a striking passage: + +"I must still once more repel the reproach which some may bring against +me, as if my history were composed merely according to the dictates of +the natural love for parents which is engraved on the hearts of +children. In truth, it is not the effect of that affection which I bear +to mine, but it is the evidence of matters of fact, which obliges me to +speak as I have done. Is it not possible that one can have at the same +time an affection for the memory of a father and for truth? For myself, +I have never directed my attempt to write history otherwise than for the +ascertainment of the matter of fact. With this purpose I have taken for +my subject the history of a worthy man. Is it just, then, by the single +accident of his being the author of my birth, his quality of my father +ought to form a prejudice against me, which would ruin my credit with my +readers? I have given, upon other occasions, proofs sufficiently strong +of the ardor which I had for the defence of my father's interests, which +those that know me can never doubt; but, on the present, I have been +limited by the inviolable fidelity with which I respect the truth, which +I should have felt conscious to have veiled, under pretence of serving +the renown of my father." + +The authoress felt assured that a number of disturbances of nature and +mysterious occurrences as interpreted by the soothsayers, foreboded the +death of Alexius; thus she claimed for her father the indications of +consequence, which were regarded by the ancients as necessary +intimations of the sympathy of nature with the removal of great +characters--from the world. During his latter days, the emperor was +afflicted with the gout. Weakened in body, and gradually losing his +native energy, he once responded to the empress, when she spoke of how +his deeds would be handed down in history: "The passages of my unhappy +life call rather for tears and lamentations than for the praises you +speak of." Finally asthma came to the assistance of the gout, and the +prayers of monks and clergy, as well as the lavish distribution of alms, +failed to stay the progress of the disease. At length passed away the +Emperor Alexius, who, with all his faults, was one of the best +sovereigns of the Eastern Empire. + +His learned daughter, in the greatness of her grief, threw aside the +reserve of literary eminence, and burst into tears and shrieks, tearing +her hair, and defacing her countenance, while the Empress Irene cut off +her hair, changed her purple buskins for black mourning shoes, and, +casting from her her princely robes, put on a robe of black. "Even at +the moment when she put it on," adds Anna, "the emperor gave up the +ghost, and in that moment the sun of my life set." + +Anna continues to express her lamentations at her loss, and upbraids +herself that she survived her father, "that light of the world"; Irene, +"the delight alike of the East and of the West"; and, also, her husband, +Nicephorus. "I am indignant," she adds, "that my soul, suffering under +such torrents of misfortune, should still deign to animate my body. Have +I not been more hard and unfeeling than the rocks themselves; and is it +not just that one who could survive such a father and a mother and such +a husband should be subjected to the influence of so much calamity? But +let me finish this history, rather than any longer fatigue my readers +with my unavailing and tragical lamentation!" The history then closes +with the following couplet: + + "The learned Comnena lays her pen aside, + What time her subject and her father died." + +Taking it all in all, the best appreciation of the _Alexiad_ is that of +Gibbon, who thus characterizes the qualities of the work: + +"The life of the Emperor Alexius has been delineated by a favorite +daughter, who was inspired by a tender regard for his person and a +laudable zeal to perpetuate his virtues. Conscious of the just suspicion +of her readers, Anna Comnena repeatedly protests that, besides her +personal knowledge, she has searched the discourse and writings of the +most respectable veterans; that after an interval of thirty years, +forgotten by, and forgetful of, the world, her mournful solitude was +inaccessible to hope and fear; and that truth, the naked perfect truth, +was more dear and sacred than the memory of her parent. Yet instead of +the simplicity of style and narrative which wins our belief, an +elaborate affectation of rhetoric and science betrays, in every page, +the vanity of the female author. + +"The genuine character of Alexius is lost in a vague constellation of +virtues; and the perpetual strain of panegyric and apology awakens our +jealousy to question the veracity of the historian and the merit of the +hero. We cannot, however, refuse her judicious and important remark that +the disorders of the times were the misfortune and the glory of Alexius; +and that every calamity which can afflict a declining empire was +accumulated in his reign by the justice of heaven and the vices of his +predecessors.... The reader may possibly smile at the lavish praise +which his daughter so often bestows on a flying hero; the weakness or +prudence of his situation might be mistaken for a want of personal +courage; and his political arts are branded by the Latins with the names +of deceit and dissimulation...." + +The story of the remaining princesses of the Comneni family is merely +the mirroring of feminine beauty and frailty; and its sad chronicle goes +to show that the Empire was deservedly hastening to its doom because the +stamina sufficient to keep it alive was lacking. + +John Comnenus was succeeded by his younger son Manuel, a renowned +warrior about whose name have gathered many of the romances of chivalry. +He was twice married, first to the virtuous Bertha of Germany, and, +after her decease, to the beautiful Maria, a French or Latin princess of +Antioch. Bertha had a daughter, who was destined for Bela, a Hungarian +prince educated at Constantinople under the name of Alexius and looked +upon as the heir-apparent. But his rights were set aside when Maria had +a son named Alexius, who was in the direct line of male succession. +Notwithstanding the virtues of his queens, Manuel, who was so valiant in +war, showed himself in peace a licentious voluptuary. "No sooner did he +return to Constantinople than he resigned himself to the arts and +pleasures of a life of luxury: the expense of his dress, his table and +his palace, surpassed the measure of his predecessors, and whole summer +days were idly wasted in the delicious isles of the Propontis in the +incestuous love of his niece, Theodora." + +Manuel had a cousin, Andronicus, who was even more of a voluptuary than +he--one whose career as a soldier of fortune and as a heartless roue +marks him as the Byzantine Alcibiades. He indulged his favorite +passions, love and war, without any regard to divine or human law. His +lofty stature, manly strength and beauty, and dare-devil manner were so +seductive that three ladies of royal birth fell victims to his charms. +His mistresses shared his company with his lawful wife, and divided his +affections with a crowd of actresses and dancing girls. He was a +partaker of the pleasures, as well as of the perils, of Manuel; and +while the emperor lived in public incest with his niece Theodora, +Andronicus enjoyed the favors of her sister Eudocia. So enamored was she +of her handsome lover, and so shameless in her conduct, that she gloried +in the title of his mistress, and accompanied him to his military +command in Cilicia. Upon his return, her brothers sought to expiate her +infamy in the blood of Andronicus, but, through Eudocia's aid, he eluded +his enemy. Proving treacherous, however, to the emperor, he was +imprisoned for a long period in a tower of the palace at Constantinople, +where his faithful wife shared his imprisonment and assisted him in +making his escape. + +Andronicus was later given a second command on the Cilician frontier. +While here, he made a conquest of the beautiful Philippa, sister of the +Empress Maria, and daughter of Raymond of Poitou, the Latin Prince of +Antioch. For her sake, he deserted his station and wasted his time in +balls and tournaments; and to his love the frail princess sacrificed her +innocence, her reputation, and the offer of an advantageous marriage. +The Emperor Manuel, however, urged on by his consort, resented this +violation of the family honor, and recalled Andronicus from his infamous +liaison. The indiscreet princess was left to weep and repent of her +folly; and Andronicus, deprived of his post, gathered together a band of +adventurers of like spirit and undertook a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. With +bold effrontery, he declared himself a champion of the Cross; and his +beauty, gallantry, and professions of piety captivated both king and +clergy. The Latin King of Jerusalem invested the Byzantine prince with +the lordship of Berytus, on the coast of Phoenicia. In his neighborhood +there dwelt the young and handsome queen, Theodora,--the daughter of his +cousin Isaac, and great-grand-daughter of the Emperor Alexius,--who was +widow of Baldwin III., King of Jerusalem. Because of her beauty, her +talents, and her prudence, Theodora enjoyed the respect and admiration +of all the Latin nobles. Andronicus became deeply enamored of his fair +cousin, and she, returning his passion with equal ardor, became the +third royal victim of his lust. So debased was the state of society +among the Latin Christians--which was the case at Constantinople +also--that the cousins carried on their amours with little affectation +of secrecy. The Emperor Manuel being again enraged by the disgrace to +the family name through the moral fall of another Comneni princess, +Andronicus had to flee for his life, and Theodora accompanied him in his +flight. She and her two illegitimate children were later captured and +sent to Constantinople. Andronicus finally sought forgiveness from the +emperor, and such was his charm that he was pardoned; he returned to +Constantinople, and soon began the career of intrigue which eventually +placed him on the throne. + +Upon the death of Manuel, the Empress Maria acted as regent for her son +Alexius II., a lad of thirteen. Her prime minister was Alexius Comnenus, +a grandson of John II. Maria's beauty and charm of manner gave her +considerable power over the young nobility. In the conflicts of the +nobles she warmly espoused the cause of her prime minister, and it was +believed that a criminal attachment existed between them. The young +emperor's sister Maria, with the Caesar, her husband, attempted to drive +the prime minister from power by a popular uprising. In the turmoil and +chaos that followed, all eyes turned toward Andronicus. The voluptuary +and adventurer responded to the call, and entered the city to be +enthroned, alleging that it was his purpose to deliver the young emperor +from evil counsellors. Cruelty was now added to his other serious +crimes. The Princess Maria and her husband, the Caesar, were poisoned; +the Empress Maria, on a charge of treason, was condemned to death, and +strangled; and Alexius II., the legitimate heir to the throne, was +deposed and subjected to the same form of death as his unfortunate +mother. The tyrant kicked the body of the innocent youth as it lay +before him, and addressed it with a sneer: "Thy father was a knave, thy +mother a whore, and thyself a fool!" + +Owing to debauchery and crime, the family of the Comneni had +degenerated. Through the nobility and greatness of its women in an +earlier period, it had risen to the height of power; and through the +debasement and weakness of its women, it finally fell. Andronicus was +the last of the line--the most heinous monster that ever sat on the +Byzantine throne. But his career in crime was cut short. The people rose +up against the author of so many assassinations. Isaac Angelus, a +nobleman, accused of treason, resisted arrest, and fled to Saint Sophia. +A mob gathered and took his side against the mercenaries of Andronicus. +The tyrant himself was seized and torn to pieces, and the Angeli +succeeded the Comneni on the throne of Constantinople. + +Isaac and Alexius Angelus, the two emperors whose reign occupied the +years 1185-1204, between the fall of Andronicus and the conquest of +Constantinople by the Crusaders, were the two most feeble and despicable +creatures who ever occupied the imperial throne. Euphrosyne, the empress +of Alexius, however, was a woman of strong personality, though of +licentious ways, and, as the last of the Byzantine empresses before the +fall of Constantinople, she exhibited the strength as well as the +weakness of that long line of self-asserting princesses whom we have +been considering. + +Owing to the idle disposition of her worthless husband, Euphrosyne +assisted in conducting the business of the Empire; and so masterful was +she that no minister dared take any step without her approval. Gibbon +considers that there was no greater indication of the degradation of +society at this time than that the proudest nobles of the Empire, +members of the celebrated families of Comnenus, Ducas, Palaeologus, and +Cantacuzenus, contended for the honor of carrying Euphrosyne on her +litter at public ceremonies. Her influence over the nobility was due to +her beauty, her talents and her aptitude for business. But her +inordinate vanity, reckless extravagance, and flagrant licentiousness +brought great scandal upon the Empire even in those vicious times, and +frequently led to violent quarrels with Alexius. Finally, the jealousy +of the emperor at her licentious conduct lost all bounds. Alexius +ordered her paramour to be assassinated, and the female slaves and the +eunuchs of her household were put to the torture. The beautiful and +accomplished Euphrosyne was compelled to leave the palace, and, like so +many imperial dames noted for their devotion or their license, was +immured in a convent. + +The court, however, soon missed her talents and energy; Alexius himself +was not equal to the ordinary duties of his office; the courtiers were +unrestrained in their peculations, and nowhere was there a restraining +hand. Euphrosyne was recalled to save the dynasty, and, with even more +than her former insolence, she entered once more upon a career of +extravagance and shame. While her energy and skill in the affairs of +state won admiration, her lavish expenditures of the public funds +excited the dismay of the few thoughtful men of the day. The crowd +enjoyed the splendid spectacle of her hunting parties and applauded +their empress as she rode along on her richly caparisoned steed, with a +falcon perched on her gold-embroidered glove, but such extravagances +were but hastening the end of the doomed city. + +The rest of the story is but too quickly told. Alexius +III.,--Angelus,--had, by a clever coup d'etat, displaced his brother +Isaac; Alexius IV., son of Isaac, implored outside aid, and gave the +marauders of the fourth Crusade an excuse to attack the city. Alexius +III. fled for his life, and Alexius IV., after a brief reign, was caught +and strangled by the usurper, Alexius Ducas. The Crusaders assaulted and +sacked Constantinople when Alexius V., Ducas, the last of the emperors, +fled in a galley by night, taking with him the Empress Euphrosyne and +her daughter Eudocia whom he had married. He was afterward captured, +tried for the murder of the young Alexius, and suffered death by being +hurled from the top of a lofty pillar. + +The end of Euphrosyne and her daughter Eudocia is not known. The latter +had already had a sufficiently tragical history. Eudocia had first been +married to Simeon, King of Servia, who later abdicated the throne and +retired to a monastery. His son Stephen, enamored of the beauty of his +young stepmother, married her. Later, a disgraceful quarrel arose. +Eudocia was divorced by her second husband and, almost naked, was +expelled from the palace. + +In her desperate condition, abandoned by all, she would probably have +perished had not Fulk, the king's brother, taken pity on her and sent +her back to Constantinople. Alexius Ducas, who had already divorced two +wives, was willing enough to wed the daughter of Euphrosyne, and after +his execution the hand of the accommodating Eudocia was bestowed on Leo +Sguros, the chief of Argos, Nauplia, and Corinth. + +The stories of Euphrosyne and Eudocia are a sufficient confirmation of +the corrupt state of society in the latter days of the Comneni and the +Angeli. Andronicus and his mistresses, and Euphrosyne and her daughter, +are no exaggerated types of the higher classes of the Empire. The clergy +had grown indifferent to the licentiousness of the age, and many bishops +and patriarchs were themselves venal and degraded. The people were too +ready to follow in the footsteps of the higher classes. Therefore, +through the loss of womanly virtue and manly strength, the Empire was on +the verge of ruin. + +Thus fell, on April 13, 1204, Constantinople--"The eye of the world, the +ornament of nations, the fairest sight on earth, the mother of churches, +the spring whence flowed the waters of faith, the mistress of orthodox +doctrine, the seat of the sciences, draining the cup mixed for her by +the hand of the Almighty, and consumed by fires as devouring as those +which ruined the five Cities of the Plain." + + + + +XV + +WOMANHOOD OF THE BYZANTINE DECADENCE + + +The Byzantine Empire had fallen with its capital Constantinople, and the +Latin Empire of Romania had taken its place. But the rule of the Franks +was too weak to take an abiding hold on the provinces, and, after a +brief and flickering existence, 1204-1261, it passed away, and a Greek +dynasty was once more established in New Rome. While the Ottoman power +was gaining strength, the Greek Empire was suffered to exist; but in the +course of two centuries, through internal corruption and mismanagement, +Byzantine dominion ceased to be an effective force in the world's +affairs, and the city of Constantine easily fell a prey to the +Mohammedan forces. + +Though the Crusaders had captured the capital, the provinces refused to +recognize the dominion of the Franks, and three Greek kingdoms were +carved out of the remains of the Byzantine Empire by adventurous spirits +who had left Constantinople rather than fall victims to the Western +conquerors. Theodore Lascaris, the last to strike a blow for the doomed +city, founded across the straits, out of the province of Bithynia, the +empire of Nicaea, though his rights to royal power lay merely in his +strong right arm and in his having married the daughter of the imbecile +Alexius III. Alexius Comnenus, grandson of Andronicus I., had betaken +himself to the eastern frontier of the Empire, and, chiefly through the +glamour of his name, had made for himself, out of the long strip of +coast land at the south-east corner of the Black Sea, a kingdom that was +destined to carry on an independent existence for nearly three hundred +years as the empire of Trebizond. Furthermore, Michael Angelus, a cousin +of Alexius III., became "despot" of Epirus and later conquered the Latin +kingdom of Thessalonica. Finally, after the Greek empire of Nicaea had +enjoyed a steady growth for over half a century, during which it +absorbed the kingdom of Thessalonica, Michael Palaeologus, the usurper of +the Nicene throne, succeeded in wresting Constantinople from its Latin +rulers, and established anew the Byzantine Empire, under the dynasty of +the Palaeologi. + +In the stories of the dynasties of these various kingdoms we have not +many glimpses into the history of woman, but wherever feminine names are +mentioned woman is found to be exerting her customary influence over the +affairs of state and the destinies of empires. + +The dynasty of Theodore Lascaris was handed down through his daughter +Irene, whose husband succeeded to the throne as the Emperor John III. +The Empress Irene was much beloved because of her amiable character and +domestic virtues, and there is preserved a beautiful incident of the +affection she inspired in a young maiden. John Asan, the King of +Bulgaria, had formed an alliance with John III. through the betrothal of +his daughter Helena to Theodore, the heir-apparent to the Nicene throne. +Highly esteeming the virtues of the Empress Irene, the Bulgarian king +had sent the young Helena to be educated under her care. Later, when the +alliance between the emperor and the king was broken off, Asan sent for +his daughter, with the request that she return to Bulgaria. John III. +scorned to retain his son's betrothed as a hostage, and suffered the +attendants to arrange her departure. But when the maiden ascertained +that she was not to return to her dear mother the empress, her grief was +inconsolable. Her tears and lamentations over the separation and her +praises of the Nicene queen at length excited the serious displeasure of +her father, and he had to threaten her with severe punishment if she did +not cease to weep and mourn for her Greek mother. But her love for Irene +was greater than the fear of punishment, and, in spite of the censure +and the blandishments of her parent, she could never reconcile herself +to the loss of the happy hours at the side of the virtuous and gifted +empress. During Irene's lifetime John was uniformly successful, +extending the bounds of his dominion and winning the love and devoted +admiration of his subjects. But, after her death, another woman led him +into evil ways. + +John married as his second wife, in her twelfth year, the Princess Anna, +natural daughter of the Emperor Frederick II. of Germany. Anna had +brought in her train, as directress of her court, a beautiful Italian +lady, Marchesina by name. The Emperor John fell violently in love with +his child-wife's chief attendant. Marchesina soon received the honors +conferred in courts on the recognized mistress of the sovereign, and was +permitted to wear the dress reserved for members of the imperial family. +Public opinion severely censured the emperor for his conduct, and one of +the prominent bishops of the day, Nicephorus Blemmidas by name, found +occasion to give Marchesina a severe rebuke. Blemmidas had so +beautifully embellished the church of the monastery of which he was +abbot, that it was frequently visited by members of the court. One day, +while the abbot was conducting divine service in the chapel, the +imperial mistress passed by with her attendants, and made up her mind to +enter. But when Blemmidas heard of her approach, he at once ordered the +doors to be closed, declaring that never with his permission should an +adulteress enter the sanctuary. Marchesina, incensed at so severe a +rebuke, so publicly inflicted, hurried back to the palace, threw herself +at the feet of her imperial lover, and implored him to avenge on the +abbot the insult he had put upon her. But John was not regardless of +public opinion, and, recognizing the mistake he had made, merely said in +response to Marchesina's entreaties: "The abbot would have respected me, +had I respected myself." + +Woman, too, was in large measure the cause of the overthrow of the +dynasty of Lascaris, and the usurpation of Michael Palaeologus, scion of +one of the most influential families of Constantinople. Theodore II., +who succeeded his father John, grew testy and superstitious in his old +age, and had reason to suspect the cunning and able Michael who was +rapidly winning the popular favor. But Michael was undoubtedly spurred +on to action against the dynasty by Theodore's outrageous conduct toward +his sister Martha. The latter had a beautiful daughter who had been most +tenderly reared as became her rank. To the surprise of all, the emperor +ordered the family to bestow her in marriage on one of his pages, +Valanidiotes. Though beneath the maiden in rank, the page succeeded in +winning the affection of the highborn damsel, and the family were +consenting to the union, when the emperor capriciously changed his mind, +and compelled a betrothal between the maiden and a man of her own rank. +A report that this marriage was not consummated led the superstitious +emperor to suspect that both this event and a malignant attack of his +disease were due to some charm practised by the mother. + +In his vexation and rage, he ordered Martha, though connected by birth +with the imperial family, to be enclosed in a sack with a number of +cats, which were from time to time pricked with pins that they might +torture the unfortunate lady. Martha was brought into court with the +sack thus bound about her neck, and was examined concerning her supposed +witchcraft, but the suspicious tyrant could extract nothing from her on +which to base a condemnation. + +This unseemly action was an offence Michael could never forgive. From +this time he began assiduously to plot against the throne. The story of +his usurpation and of his cruelty toward the rightful emperor, the young +lad, John IV.,--Ducas,--does not concern us here. Suffice it to say that +he ascended the throne of Nicaea as Michael VIII.,--Palaeologus,--and was +fortunate enough to capture the city of Constantinople and revive the +Greek Empire there. Through the Empire of Nicaea the thread of tradition +was unbroken, and from 1261 on we have once more a Byzantine Empire. + +The history of this concluding period, 1261-1453, embracing the dynasty +of the Palaeologi, is the most degrading portion of the national annals. +Michael is renowned for being the restorer of the Eastern Empire, but +his throne was gained through baseness and cruelty, and he left to his +descendants a heritage of vice and crime of such a nature that the +Empire survived for a century or two not because of its intrinsic worth, +but because the Ottomans were not yet ready to seize it. It is a period +notable for the absence of literary taste, of patriotic feeling, of +political honesty, of civil liberty. The emperors are, as a rule, +immoral and capricious men, utterly selfish in their aims and their +pursuits, and each one leaves the Empire somewhat weaker than he found +it. + +The new Empire of Constantinople and that of Trebizond existed side by +side, and frequent intermarriages took place between the royal families. +By studying conjointly the annals of the Palaeologi and the Comneni we +become acquainted with a number of the princesses of these royal houses, +and can form some idea of the character of Greek womanhood in this age +of decadence, and of the social life of the times as it affects woman's +position and aspirations. + +The women of the two rival houses appear, as a rule, superior in +character, judgment, and virtue to the men, and this difference between +the males and females of the imperial families is so marked, that we +would fain know more of the system of education for women which produced +an effect so singular and so uniform. It must have been due to the fact +that in spite of the general demoralization, the life of the convents in +which the princesses were trained was pure and uplifting, the methods of +instruction thorough, the discipline severe; while the clergy who had in +charge the education of the princes were so bent on their own preferment +and the acquirement of political power, that they aimed rather at +gaining an ascendency over their imperial wards than in imparting the +instruction which would have made them great rulers. + +The only empress of the Palaeologi, however, to gain supreme power and to +win a place in history, was of foreign birth. Anne of Savoy, by the +nomination of her dying husband, Andronicus III. (1328-1341), and the +custom of the Empire, was made regent of her son, John V., Palaeologus, a +lad of nine years. Her reign was made memorable through her struggles +with a powerful courtier, who aroused civil war and ascended the throne +for a time as John VI., Cantacuzenus (1347-1354). + +Byzantine etiquette required the widowed empress to weep for nine days +beside the body of her deceased husband, who was laid out in state in +the monastery of the Guiding Virgin, whither he had retired when death +was near and where he assumed the habit and the devotions of a monk. But +John Cantacuzenus, the grand domesticos and first minister of the +Empire, was bent on playing the role of earlier usurpers, and during her +absence determined to establish himself in the imperial palace as +guardian of the emperor. The empress, recognizing the danger of +infringement on the rights of her child, deemed it necessary to shorten +the period of mourning to three days, and returned to the palace to +assert her authority as regent. Then began a course of intrigue between +the two parties. Cantacuzenus instituted a rebellion against the regent, +and by his followers was crowned and invested with the imperial robe. +Under the guidance of the patriarch and the grand duke Apocaucus, the +Empress Anne adopted forceful measures to intimidate the partisans of +the rebels. Among the interesting women of this period was Theodora, the +mother of Cantacuzenus, a woman of preeminent virtue and talent, far +superior in ability and moral force to her son. But against her the +vengeance of Anne was chiefly directed. The aged lady was thrown into +prison by order of the regent, and was subjected to great cruelty and +privations until death came to her relief. The young emperor, John V., +was solemnly crowned. Apocaucus was appointed prime minister, and a +vigorous war was prosecuted against the rebels, who were threatened with +extermination. To save his cause Cantacuzenus treacherously turned to +the common enemy, the Turk, and sacrificing his daughter Theodora on the +altar of his ambition gave her in marriage to Orkhan, and sent her to +dwell at Brusa, as a member of the Sultan's harem. All the religious +people of the day were incensed at this violation of common decency and +lack of paternal feeling, but the tone of morality was too low to cause +serious opposition. + +Meanwhile, there was discord in the palace. The Empress Anne fell out +with her chief supporter. She had a violent quarrel with the patriarch. +Her prime minister Apocaucus was assassinated. Through the aid of his +Turkish ally Cantacuzenus was successful. The empress-regent showed a +determination to defend herself in the palace, but her partisans were +less courageous than she, and she was compelled to submit. But +Cantacuzenus was as wily as he was ambitious. Recognizing the strength +of his opponents, after he himself had been crowned emperor, he +determined on the marriage of his daughter Helena with the young +heir-apparent, and agreed to associate John V. with him on the throne +when he reached the age of twenty-five. The children, for John was only +fifteen and Helena thirteen, were betrothed and wedded with great +ceremony, and then received the crown, and the courtiers and people were +entertained by the rare spectacle of two emperors and three empresses +seated on their thrones. + +"The strange spectacle delighted the gazers; but it was not viewed +without some feeling of contempt, for it was generally known that the +imperial crowns were bright with false pearls and diamonds; that the +robes were stiffened with tinsel; that the vases were of brass, not +gold; and instead of the rich brocade of Thebes, the hangings were of +gilded leather." + +Cantacuzenus deserves to rank with the two Angeli as the third of the +great destroyers of the Eastern Empire. Through civil wars he depleted +its resources; and by introducing the Turk into his dominions, he paved +the way for the final downfall. Fortunately, John V. asserted himself at +the age of twenty-four; Cantacuzenus was tonsured and placed in a +monastery where he passed the rest of his days in literary labors. In +native gifts and force of character, and in her checkered history, the +Empress Anne of Savoy deserves a place by the side of the earlier +self-asserting empresses of Constantinople. + +The tale of the last hundred years of the Byzantine Empire is a mere bit +of local history, and no longer forms an important warp in the woof of +the annals of Christendom. Women there were who were deserving of a +better destiny, but they are naturally obscured in the general +demoralization. The Mussulman might have taken Constantinople +seventy-five years earlier. The end came on May 29,1453. The city was +captured by Mohammed II., and Constantine XIII., the last of the Caesars, +the worthy scion of degenerate sires, fell in the breach. Mohammed +proceeded quickly to convert Constantinople from a Christian into a +Turkish capital. The city was sacked. The Byzantine women were sold into +slavery, or became wives or concubines of the conquerors and passed the +rest of their days in a Turkish harem. And, from this date, for +centuries the life of Greek womanhood under Turkish domination was +passed in oppression and obscurity. + +The fragment of the Greek Empire known in the history of the Middle Ages +as the Empire of Trebizond was the creation of accident. A young man +descended from the worst tyrant of Constantinople, but of an illustrious +name which retained the glamour inspired by the founder of the Comneni +dynasty, grasped the sovereignty of a most important commercial centre, +and his descendants continued to hold it until overwhelmed by the +all-conquering power of the Turk. The Empire of Trebizond possesses +unique grandeur in the romances of the West: the beauty of its +princesses was a theme of universal praise; its reputed wealth and +splendor excited the cupidity of Venetian and Genoese merchants. But it +was, after all, an insignificant kingdom, which owed its strength merely +to the weakness of surrounding peoples; and whose ostentatious court +ceremonials were but an attempt to keep up the traditions of the +Byzantine Empire and of the Comneni family in more prosperous days. + +Shortly after the assassination of Andronicus by Isaac II., +--Angelus,--his son Manuel, with other members of his family, met a +similar fate. Manuel was survived by two sons, Alexius and David, the +former a little lad of four. The boys were concealed for a time, and +were brought up in obscurity in Constantinople, where faithful friends +gave them an education worthy of their station. At the time when the +Crusaders captured the city, Alexius escaped, raised an army, and took +possession of Trebizond, then one of the most important commercial seats +on the borders of the Black Sea. The surrounding province gladly +recognized him as the lawful sovereign of the Roman Empire, and the +Comneni dynasty was continued through him for two and a half centuries +or more. To mark the legitimacy of his claim, and to prevent confusion +with the rival family of Alexius III.,--Angelus,--Alexius assumed the +designation of "Grand-Comnenus," and by this title the family was known +until its extermination. + +The earlier years of the Empire of Trebizond were notable chiefly for +the efforts of its rulers to retain and extend their power, which was +circumscribed by the stronger empire of Nicaea. After the latter had been +merged into the restored Byzantine Empire with Constantinople as its +capital, Trebizond was still strong enough to maintain an independent +existence. A league was formed between the reigning sovereigns, Michael +VIII.,--Palaeologus,--of Constantinople, and John II., then Emperor of +Trebizond, through the espousal of the latter to Michael's youngest +daughter, Eudocia, who was destined to show herself one of the best and +most capable of the Palaeologi princesses. + +The ceremony was solemnized with great ostentation on September 12, +1282. The question of precedence was an important one, as the Trebizond +government had considered itself the direct successor of the Empire of +the Caesars. But through this marriage the wily monarch of Constantinople +gained the advantage; for John on this occasion laid aside the title of +"Emperor of the Romans," to be henceforth reserved exclusively for the +sovereign of the city of the Golden Horn, while that of Trebizond +assumed the title of "Emperor of all the East, Iberia, and Perateia." +Furthermore, the inhabitants of the city saw in the respective marriage +robes a certain inferiority of the Trebizontine monarch to the family of +his wife; for while the robes of John were embellished with +single-headed eagles, the bride appeared in a dress covered with +double-headed eagles to mark her rank in the Empire of the East and West +as a princess of the Palaeologi, born in the purple chamber. + +John and his royal bride had not been long settled on the throne when he +experienced a sudden and unexpected discomfiture at the hands of an +aspiring sister. Theodora, the oldest child of Manuel I. by his marriage +with Roussadan, an Iberian princess, jealous of the popularity of her +sister-in-law, and proud of the superiority of Comneni traditions to +those of the usurper of Constantinople, availed herself of the party +intrigues of the nobles, and the popular dissensions in the capital, to +assemble an army, surprise her imperial brother, and mount the throne. +Her glory was of brief duration, but the existence of coins bearing her +name and effigy demonstrates that her power was stable and that she was +fully recognized as a sovereign of the Empire. No clue exists which +enables us to determine how Theodora obtained the throne or how she was +at length driven from power, but John appears to have finally recovered +his throne and capital and to have expelled the ambitious princess. + +During succeeding years the influence of Byzantine womanhood and the +relations between the two kingdoms continued prominent. John died in +1297, leaving two sons, Alexius II. and Michael. The former succeeded +his father at the age of fifteen, and was placed under the guardianship +of his mother Eudocia's brother, the Byzantine emperor Andronicus II. +Andronicus ordered his ward, the young emperor of Trebizond, though an +independent sovereign prince, to marry Irene, the daughter of a +Byzantine subject, Choumnus, one of his favorite ministers. But the idea +of a Comnenus marrying below his station was offensive both to Alexius +and his people. In obedience to the blood within his veins, and in +contempt of his guardian's command, Alexius rejected the proposed +mesalliance, and married the daughter of an Iberian prince. + +The young married couple presented a beautiful example of conjugal +tenderness and devotion, but this did not soften the hard heart of the +guardian. Andronicus even went so far as to endeavor, to make the Greek +Church declare the marriage null and void on the ground that it had been +contracted by a union without the consent of his guardian. But the +patriarch and clergy, sympathizing with the lovers, and alarmed at the +ludicrous position in which they would be placed, took advantage of the +interesting condition of the bride to refuse to gratify the spleen of +the chagrined emperor. + +At this time also, Eudocia, the mother of Alexius, who was in partial +durance in the imperial palace at Constantinople, saw an opportunity of +obtaining her freedom and of returning to her dominions. Her brother +Andronicus was offended with her because she had rejected his proposal +to form a second marriage with the Krai of Servia. + +She persuaded her brother that her influence over her son, who was +devotedly attached to her, would have far more weight in making the +young emperor agree to a divorce than the sentence of an ecclesiastical +tribunal whose authority he was able to decline; and to this end she +obtained her brother's permission to return to Trebizond. Upon arriving +at her son's court Eudocia was so much impressed with the conjugal +fidelity of her son Alexius that she at once approved of his conduct, +and supported him in his determination to resist the tyrannical +pretensions of his guardian. Eudocia is an excellent example of the +superiority of the Palaeologi women over their weaker and more selfish +brothers. In every situation, even in her months of exile from her +dominions, she maintained herself with dignity, and in her careful +rearing of her son and regard for his interests she exhibited motherly +traits of a high order. + +In the next generation there was also an alliance between the royal +families of the two kingdoms. The emperor Basilius, second son of +Alexius II., married Irene Palaeologina, the natural daughter of +Andronicus III. of Constantinople. Basilius had no legitimate issue, but +falling in love with a beautiful lady of Trebizond, also named Irene, he +made her his mistress and conferred on her every possible honor. She +bore him four children. To insure the succession of one of his natural +sons, Basilius in 1339 persuaded or forced the clergy to celebrate a +public marriage with his Trebizontine mistress, though there is no +evidence that he obtained a divorce from his lawful wife Irene, beyond +his own decree. He died suddenly in the April following his marriage to +his mistress. + +Irene Palaeologina, who was, in spite of his second nuptials, universally +regarded as the lawful wife of Basilius, was suspected of having +hastened his end; and her unfaithful husband had certainly tried the +soul of the proud lady. At any rate she was prepared for the sad event, +and had already organized a faction which placed her on the throne, as +the second independent Empress of Trebizond. + +This promptitude in profiting by her husband's death, was worthy of the +first Empress Irene in Byzantine history, and gave just ground for +suspicion. But in considering an age when it was usual for people to +circulate calumnious reports against their rulers, the evidence should +be strong before we condemn the Palaeologi princess. However, the +flagrant immorality of the court circles, and the lightness of character +of Irene herself, as well as her conduct after the event, tended to give +credibility to the rumor. + +Irene, as soon as she was safely established on the throne, sent off her +rival of Trebizond and the two sons of Basilius to Constantinople where +her father Andronicus detained them as hostages for the tranquillity of +her empire. A strong party of the nobility, however, who had hoped to +gain wealth and power through the favor of the Trebizontine Irene, whom +they purposed to make regent during the minority of her children, were +chagrined at the success of the schemes of the Palaeologi princess, and +at once began to plan her downfall. Two great parties arose, and the +little empire was once more disturbed by the turmoil of civil war. +Irene, with all her daring, was, like her father, of a gay and +thoughtless disposition, and did not fully realize the danger of her +situation. She recognized, however, that a second husband would +strengthen her cause; and she urged her father Andronicus to send her a +husband chosen from among the Byzantine nobles, who could aid her in +repressing the factions which threatened her throne. Andronicus gave a +favorable reception to Irene's ambassadors, but died before he had time +seriously to attend to her request. The light-minded Irene consoled +herself during the delay by falling in love with the grand domesticos of +her palace. But this bit of favoritism only divided her own court into +factions and strengthened the cause of her enemies. + +A new storm now burst over the head of the thoughtless empress. Another +woman, whose title to rule was far stronger than that of Irene, appeared +to claim the throne. Anna, called Anachoutlon, was the eldest daughter +of the Emperor Alexius II. She had in early womanhood taken the veil, +and until this time had lived in seclusion. The opposition party +searched out her retreat and persuaded her to quit her monastic dress +and escape to Lazia, where she was proclaimed Empress of Trebizond, as +the nearest legitimate heir of her brother Basilius. All the provincials +united in demanding the sovereignty of a member of the house of +Grand-Comnenus in preference to the usurpation of a Palaeologi princess, +who was planning to marry a foreigner. The popular demand for the rule +of a scion of the house of Grand-Comnenus gave Anna a triumphal march to +the capital, and with but little opposition she was admitted within the +citadel and universally recognized as the lawful empress. Irene was +dethroned after a troubled reign of one year and four months. Three +weeks later Michael Grand-Comnenus, second son of John II. and Eudocia, +who had been selected at Constantinople as a suitable husband of Irene, +arrived on the scene, to find the change of sovereignty. The Empress +Anna was surrounded by a cabal of powerful chiefs, who determined to +keep the reins of power in their hands. She graciously received her +kinsman, but he was later treacherously seized and imprisoned by Anna's +partisans. Irene was sent on, under suitable escort, to Constantinople, +to pass the rest of her life in retirement. The treatment of Michael +aroused the fury of many adherents of the house of Grand-Comnenus. +Another upheaval followed. John III., son of Michael, was brought over +from Constantinople, and proclaimed emperor by a constantly growing +faction. The hapless Anna, who had doubtless ofttimes regretted giving +up the peaceful life of the monastery for the troubles and cares of a +crown, was taken prisoner in the palace, and was immediately strangled. +She had occupied the throne hardly more than a year. + +The next period of importance in our study of Trebizontine princesses is +that covered by the long reign--1349-1390--of Alexius III., the second +son of Basilius by Irene of Trebizond. His wife was also a Byzantine +princess, Theodora, the daughter of Nicephorus Cantacuzenus, brother of +the emperor John V., Cantacuzenus, whose stormy career of opposition to +Anne of Savoy we have already noticed. Theodora bore to Alexius a number +of beautiful daughters, whom he utilized when they became of +marriageable age to form alliances with his powerful neighbors, both +Mohammedan and Christian. His eldest daughter, Eudocia, Alexius first +wedded to the Emir Tadjeddin, who had gained possession of the important +district of Limnia; after Tadjeddin was slain in a quarrel with a +neighboring emir, the beautiful and accomplished princess became the +wife of the Byzantine emperor, John V. That aged monarch had chosen her +to be the bride of his son, the emperor Manuel II.,--Palaeologus; but +when she arrived at Constantinople for the celebration of the nuptials, +her beauty and grace so powerfully captivated the decrepit old debauchee +that he set aside the inclinations of his son, who was also enamored of +his prospective bride, and married the young widow himself. + +Anna, another daughter of Alexius, was married to Bagrat VI., King of +Georgia; and a third daughter was bestowed on Taharten, Emir of +Erdsendjan. Alexius's sisters met a similar fate. His sister Maria was +married to Koutloubeg, the chief of the great Turkoman horde of the +White Sheep; and his sister Theodora, to Hadji Omer, Emir of Chalybia. + +These marriages with Mohammedan nobles, though one revolts at the +immolation of Christian maidens on the altar of selfish expedience, are +yet the strongest proof how the Christian state was being surrounded by +powerful Mohammedan chieftains, who must be conciliated to ward off the +evil day of extinction. Such alliances, too, may account in part for the +moral degradation which henceforth characterizes the house of +Grand-Comnenus. + +In the next generation, Alexius IV. wedded Theodora Cantacuzenus, of the +celebrated Byzantine family of that name. Neglected by her husband, the +princess consoled herself with too close an intimacy with one of the +chamberlains of the palace; her son John, indignant at his mother's +disgrace, assassinated her lover with his own hands. He later murdered +his own father, and ascended the throne as John IV. + +Under this cruel and intriguing ruler and his successors, the Christian +population of the country regarded the dynasty of Grand-Comnenus as a +dynasty of pagan or foreign tyrants, so little of religion or morality +survived in Trebizond. His alliances with the Turkoman plunderers of the +frontiers increased the popular aversion. John early recognized the +growing strength of the Turks, and sought to prepare to meet the coming +invasion by forming an alliance with Ouzoun Hassan, chief of the +Turkomans of the White Horde, whose daring courage and rapid career of +conquest made him, in the general estimation, a formidable rival of +Mohammed II. + +When invited to join in the league against Mohammed, Hassan demanded as +the price of his assistance the hand of the emperor's daughter +Katherine, renowned throughout the Orient as the most beautiful virgin +in the East. John IV. was highly pleased at the prospect of purchasing +so powerful an alliance on such easy terms, and readily agreed, +doubtless without consulting the fair Katherine. Yet, in order to save +his credit as a Christian emperor, and perhaps as a balm to his own +conscience in sacrificing his daughter to an infidel, he stipulated in +the treaty that Katherine should be permitted always the exercise of her +own religion, and should have the privilege of keeping a certain number +of Christian ladies as her attendants, and of Greek priests in her +suite, to serve a private chapel in the harem. It is to the honor of a +Mussulman to observe that Hassan strictly kept his promises, even after +the empire of Trebizond and the house of Grand-Comnenus were no more. + +Before this matrimonial alliance was fulfilled, John came to his end; +but his brother David, who displaced the heir and usurped the throne,--a +fit agent for consummating the ruin of an empire,--completed the +arrangement. The beautiful Katherine was sent with suitable pomp to the +court of her bridegroom, Hassan, and readily adapted herself to the +changed conditions of her life. She soon acquired great influence over +her infidel husband, who was the soul of honor and good faith, and in +every phase of her life which is known to us she showed herself the most +attractive character of the whole house of Comnenus. + +But no matrimonial alliance could save the doomed empire. Constantinople +had fallen in 1453, and it was merely a matter of time when the last +surviving Greek kingdom should succumb to the Mohammedan yoke. Mohammed +II., by the exercise of intrigue, gradually detached from the emperor +his infidel allies. When finally the Mohammedan forces came against the +city, David showed that he possessed nothing of the heroic spirit of the +last Constantine. He offered but a feeble resistance, and readily +sacrificed the city to outrage and plunder on an assurance of safety for +himself and his family. David basely deserted his empire and embarked on +board one of the Turkish galleys, with his family and his treasures, to +enjoy for a brief period luxurious ease in the European appanage +assigned him by Mohammed. + +David's family consisted of seven sons and a daughter borne him by +Helena Cantacuzena, his second wife, who, through her devotion to +husband and children, deserves to rank among the noblest of mothers in +the chronicles of history. + +The dethroned emperor was not long permitted to enjoy the repose he had +purchased with so much infamy. Mohammed at length suspected him of +carrying on secret communications with Ouzoun Hassan, his niece's +husband, and plotting to reestablish the Empire of Trebizond. He was +suddenly arrested on his luxurious estate, and conveyed with his whole +family to Constantinople. While they were on the way a letter from +Despina Katon--the popular designation of the fair Katherine--to her +uncle David was intercepted by the Ottoman emissaries. In this the +amiable spouse of Hassan, requested David to send her brother, or one of +her cousins, to be educated at her husband's court. This letter afforded +convincing proof to the suspicious Sultan that David was plotting with +Ouzoun Hassan and other enemies of the Porte for the restoration of his +empire. + +The bare suspicion of Mohammed was a sentence of death to the whole race +of Grand-Comnenus. As soon as the unfortunate prisoners reached +Constantinople, David was ordered to embrace Islam under pain of death. +His life had been ignoble, but in his death David showed that he still +possessed something of the nobility of the Comneni, and he chose death +rather than dishonor his name by renouncing his religion. David, his +seven sons and his nephew Alexius were all slaughtered in one day, in +the year 1470: the daughter was lost in a Turkish harem. + +The bodies of the princes were thrown out unburied beyond the walls. No +one ventured to approach them for fear of the vengeance of the Sultan. +They would have been abandoned to the dogs, the usual scavengers of +Christian flesh, had not the Empress Helena, the wife and mother, +repaired to the spot where they lay. She was clad in a peasant's garb, +to escape detection, and carried a spade in her hand. The day was spent +in guarding the remains of husband and children from the ravenous dogs, +and in digging a grave to receive their bodies. In the darkness of the +night a few faithful souls came to her relief and assisted her in +committing the bodies to the dust. The widowed and childless empress, +who had seen the last of her race, the last of the glories of the +Byzantine kingdom, then retired to a convent to pass the remainder of +her days in prayers for the repose of the souls of her loved ones. Grief +soon brought her to a refuge from all earthly sorrows in the grave. + +The story of womanhood in the Byzantine Empire of the decadence is an +extremely sad one. The times were out of joint; corruption and +immorality prevailed; the emperors were almost without exception +extremely selfish, cruel, and unprincipled. It was impossible for +womanhood in such a period not to be tainted by the general ruin, yet we +have found many noble characters, and whatever may have been their +feminine weaknesses and foibles, however much their lots may have been +circumscribed by the caprices of sovereigns and the ceremonials of +courts, the princesses of the Comneni, the Palaeologi and the Cantacuzeni +have, as a rule, shown themselves in virtue and in capability the +superiors of their brothers. + +The rest of our story of Christian women of Greek or Byzantine +traditions is soon told. During all the period we have covered in this +chapter there was a flourishing mediaeval life further south under Greek +skies, in Athens, under a Frankish and, later, a Florentine duchy, and +in the Peloponnesus, or the Morea, under Frankish or Venetian princes. +But this was the feudal life of mediaeval times transferred to Greek +soil, the life of foreigners among a conquered people, and does not +concern us here. + +When the Turks extended their conquests over Greek lands, it looked as +if the torch of freedom, the light of Hellenic tradition, the lamp of +Christianity which had for so many centuries brightened the life of +Oriental women, had been extinguished forever. But all during the dark +age of Turkish oppression, the Christian Church kept alive the nobler +aspirations of the Greek race. Women have always been the chief +exponents of religious faith, and Greek women handed on from generation +to generation the traditions of religion and liberty and intellectual +culture. Many of the women of Greek lands were forced to spend their +lives within the narrow walls of a Turkish harem; many saw their +children taken from them and carried to Constantinople to be brought up +as Mussulmans for the service of the Sultan; many had to undergo +ignominy and insults at the hands of petty officials. But the Church +found a constant and enthusiastic ally in Greek womanhood in preserving +the language, the spirit, the love of liberty, of the ancient Greeks. + +Hence, when in the early decades of the nineteenth century the fulness +of time had come for a portion of the Greek race to rid itself of +Turkish domination, the women showed an intense love of country which +enabled them not only to inspire their brothers in the fight for +freedom, but they also frequently shared with them the toils and +privations of actual conflict. We read in the histories of the Greek War +of Independence how women at times accompanied the Greek soldiers on +their forages, carrying arms and ammunition and frequently fighting +themselves; how they kept the standard of military honor high, and were +unsparing critics of the mettle of their husbands. + +There is no more inspiring folk tale in the records of history than the +legend of the Suliote women in the struggle of their people against Ali, +the cruel and rapacious tyrant of Janina. Bred in the mountains of +Chamouri, they refused to submit to his yoke, and the valiant people had +to see the gradual extermination of their race. They had ventured to +defy the rising star of Ali, and all that force or treachery could +accomplish was inflicted upon them. Tzavellas was one of their leaders, +and the valor of Moscho, his wife, has been commemorated in popular +verse, as typical of Greek womanhood in their struggle for independence: + + "This is the famous Suli, is Suli the renowned, + Where the little children march to war, the women and the children: + Where the wife of Tzavellas combats, her sabre in her hand, + Her babe upon one arm, her gun upon the other, and her apron filled + with cartridges." + +The final incident of the unequal struggle which shows the desperate +determination and courage of these Greek women, who suckled these +_klephts_ of the mountains and kept alive that spirit of liberty which +finally won independence from Turkish misrule, has been thus described: + +"Some sixty of these Suliote women, with their children, were assembled +on a ledge of rock overhanging a sheer precipice, and, having witnessed +the gradual extermination of their defenders, they resolved to die by +their own act rather than fall into the hands of the grisly tyrant of +Janina. The position which they occupied suggested an easy form of +death, and the manner in which they sought it was tragically weird and +grim. First, each mother took her child, embraced it, and, turning her +head away from the pitiful scene, pushed it over the edge of the abyss. +Then these sixty women linked their hands together, and, singing the +familiar daring song of Suli above the rattle of the musketry, danced +the old surtos measure round and round the ledge of rock, having each +her back to the void as the winding chain approached the brink. And +every time the chain wound round, one dancer, the last in the line, +unlinked her hand, took one step back, and fell down into annihilation. +One by one, without haste, without pause, singing the dancing song, they +followed each other down that leap of death, until the last sprung over +alone, consecrating the mountain with their blood an altar of liberty, +from which, ere long, a flame arose that fired those ancient ranges from +sea to sea." + +Such was the spirit of Greek womanhood in the trying year of the Greek +War of Independence; and it was this spirit which enabled the Greeks to +struggle on, without resources and allies, amid discouragements and +misrepresentations, till finally the nations of Europe came to their +rescue and established the modern Greek kingdom on a sure basis. + +Athens was finally chosen as the seat of the new Greek government; and +in 1837 the Bavarian king Otho and his lovely bride, the princess +Amalia, entered Athens in triumph, and the kingdom of Hellas was fairly +launched. Within the memory of living men the dynasty of Otho fell, and +a scion of the royal house of Denmark, King George, with his Russian +consort, Queen Olga, now holds sway in Athens. + +The modern Greek woman of the higher classes has become so thoroughly +cosmopolitan in her culture that she has lost in large measure her +distinctive traits. Her sympathy is rather with Parisian life than with +English, though her deportment is marked by a sobriety of manner +partaking rather of Greek repose than of French effusion. Many faces +seen in Greek lands exhibit, in profile especially, the Greek type of +beauty. + +The women of the lower classes, no doubt, preserve many of the +characteristics of the race in all ages, in spite of the intermingling +with foreign peoples and the results of centuries of Turkish oppression, +which time alone can eradicate. Domestic fidelity, maternal affection, +devotion to religious observances, the cheerful discharge of the duties +and responsibilities of wedded life, are nowhere more beautifully +illustrated than among the Greek women of to-day. + +It is the Christian religion which makes the life of Greek women under +King George superior to that of their sisters under the dominion of the +Sultan, and we may hope that in the fulness of time the Greek women of +Europe and Asia outside of the Hellenic kingdom may enjoy, untrammelled +by Turkish authority, the rights and privileges of that religion which +has elevated the sex, and that the Greek woman of the future may combine +the personal graces of her sister in antiquity with the cultivation of +the soul and the enlargement of spirit which comes to women with the +inculcation of Christianity. + + + + + CONTENTS + + + INTRODUCTION + + PREFACE + + PART FIRST + + I WOMEN OF THE GOSPEL NARRATIVE + II WOMEN OF THE APOSTOLIC AGE + III THE ERA OF PERSECUTION + IV SAINT HELENA AND THE TIME OF CONSTANTINE + V POST-NICENE MOTHERS + VI THE NUNS OF THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH + VII WOMEN WHO WITNESSED THE FALL OF ROME + VIII WOMEN OF THE FRANKISH CHURCH + + PART SECOND + + IX THE EMPRESS EUDOXIA + X THE RIVAL EMPRESSES--PULCHERIA AND EUDOCIA + XI THE EMPRESS THEODORA + XII OTHER SELF-ASSERTING AUGUSTAE--VERINA, ARIADNE. + SOPHIA, MARTINA. IRENE + XIII BYZANTINE EMPRESSES--THEODORA II. THEOPHANO. + ZOE. THEODORA III. + XIV THE PRINCESSES OF THE COMNENI + XV WOMANHOOD OF THE BYZANTINE DECADENCE + + + + + List of Illustrations + + SUBJECT ARTIST + + Seeking shelter _Luc Oliver Merson_ + Christ and the daughter of Jairus _Albert Keller_ + Christians in the arena _L.P.de Laubadere_ + Famine and pestilence _A. Hirschl_ + The legend of the roses _J. Nogales_ + Byzantine interior, ninth century _S. Baron_ + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Women of Early Christianity, by +Alfred Brittain and Mitchell Carroll + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WOMEN OF EARLY CHRISTIANITY *** + +***** This file should be named 32451.txt or 32451.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/2/4/5/32451/ + +Produced by Renald Levesque + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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